teba 
 
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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 ChapM.l Copyright No 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
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Stantarb ?^tst0rical SMorfes. 
 
 DURUY'S HISTORY OF FRANCE. Edited 
 by J. F. Jameson. With 12 Colored 
 Maps. l2mo, cloth, $2.00. 
 
 DURUY'S GENERAL HISTORY OF THE 
 WORLD. Revised and continued by 
 Edwin A. Grosvenor. With 25 Colored 
 Maps. l2nno, cloth, $2.00. 
 
 DURUY'S ANCIENT HISTORY. Revised 
 by Edwin A. Grosvenor. With Colored 
 Maps. l2nno, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 CONTEMPORARY HISTORY (1848-1899). 
 By Edwin A. Grosvenor. With Colored 
 Maps. l2nno, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 HALLAM'S MIDDLE AGES. New Edition, 
 with Colored Maps. l2mo, cloth, $1.50. 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY, 
 
 NEW YORK AND BOSTON. 
 
ANCIEOT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE GEEEKS 
 HISTOEY OF THE EOMANS 
 
 BY 
 
 VICTOR DURUY 
 
 FORMERLY MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION AND MEMBER 
 OF THE ACADEMY 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 - REVISED AND EDITED BY 
 
 EDWIN A. GEOSVENOR 
 
 PROFESSOR OF EUROPEAN HISTORY IN AMHERST COLLEGE 
 
 NEW YORK: 46 East 14th Street 
 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON : 100 Purchase Street 
 

 
 COPTBIGHT, 1898 AND 1899, 
 
 By THOMAS Y. CEOWELL & CO. 
 
 
 . ^^'^'^ 1 m\i 
 
 
 NatfaootJ ?PresB 
 
 J. S. Gushing & Co. - Berwick & Smith 
 Norwood Mass. U.S.A. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Every work written by M. Duruy bears the stamp of bis 
 peculiar genius. His knowledge of history was immense. 
 But above all in marvellous degree he possessed the faculty, 
 when confronted by a mass of facts, of recognizing the im- 
 portant and essential, and of presenting it in vivid and not 
 easily forgotten language. What sense of perspective is to 
 the artist, that such ability to appreciate and compare is to 
 the real historian. Some histories resemble monotonous 
 plains, which never do more than undulate, where the hills 
 are never high and the valleys are never profound. M. Duruy 
 grasps the great ideas, the great events, the great achieve- 
 ments of the past, and plants them upon his pages like 
 mountain peaks. His narration is like a military parade, 
 each captain stepping out in front of his troop. This fact 
 not only adds interest and charm to his writings, but 
 enhances their value. It furthermore guarantees that the 
 worth of the present volume cannot be measured by its size. 
 
 This book begins with the emergence of man from the 
 cradle of the river basins in most remote antiquity. It 
 traces the development of civilization in the Chinese, In- 
 dian, Egyptian, Assyrian, Phoenician, Hebrew, and Per- 
 sian monarchies. It brings to light whatever was best and 
 most memorable in those distant societies, as well as their 
 weaknesses and the causes of their decline. It sets forth 
 the religions of Confucius, Brahma, Buddha, and Zoroaster, 
 all, however impartially portrayed, paling before the unap- 
 proached moral greatness of that Hebrew code which was 
 confirmed by Jehovah from Sinai. 
 
 The larger portion of the book is devoted to the two pre- 
 eminent nations of the past, — 
 
 " To the glory that was Greece, 
 And the grandeur that was Rome," 
 
 iii 
 
ir INTRODUCTION 
 
 Combining philosophy and narration, yet ever pursuing the 
 golden mean between the two, the author transports his 
 reader into the very heart of Athens, and Sparta, and Rome. 
 Long-dead heroes and long-vanished scenes he summons to 
 life. Always preserving the truth and splendor of history, 
 he breathes upon his pages the attractiveness of romance. 
 The story ends with the wreck of the Roman Empire, while 
 the Christian Church, unsubmerged in the ruins, is subduing 
 to herself the barbarians who have come down like a flood. 
 
 In addition to its claim upon the general reader, the whole 
 affords an admirable text-book in preparation for college. 
 It imparts ample information to answer the requirements of 
 a college entrance examination in Greek and Roman history, 
 and bestows that information in a manner that is never dull. 
 The practical value of this English version is largely in- 
 creased by a plentiful supply of maps. None were contained 
 in the French original. But both book and map must be 
 supplemented by the teacher. In every class-room, whatever 
 the branch of study, the teacher, and not the text-book, how- 
 ever excellent, must be the stimulating factor in instruction. 
 
 EDWIN A. GROSVENOR. 
 
 Ahhesst, Massachusetts, U. S. A, 
 February 9, 1899. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 PACK 
 
 I. The Beginning 1 
 
 The Earth. 
 
 Man. 
 
 Race and Language. 
 
 The Black and Yellow Races. 
 
 The White Race. The Aryans and Semites. 
 
 Earliest Centres of Civilization. 
 
 Primitive Books. 
 
 II. China and the Mongols 8 
 
 Great Antiquity of Chinese Civilization. 
 
 Imperial Dynasties and Chinese Feudalism. 
 
 The Great Wall and the Burning of the Books. Im- 
 mense Extent of the Empire at the Beginning of 
 our Era. 
 
 Invasion of the Mongols in the Thirteenth Century. 
 
 First Europeans in China. 
 
 New Mongol Empire in Central Asia and India. 
 
 China in Modern Times. 
 
 Confucius and Chinese Society. 
 
 m. India 16 
 
 Contrast between India and China. 
 
 Primitive Populations. The Aryans. The Vedas. 
 
 History of India. 
 
 The Castes. Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Sudras. 
 
 Political Organization and Religion. 
 
 Buddhism. 
 
 IV. Egypt . . • 24 
 
 First Inhabitants. 
 
 First Dynasties. 
 
 Invasion of the Hyksos or Shepherds. 
 
 Decline of Egypt. Invasion of the Ethiopians. 
 
 The Last Pharaohs. 
 
 Egypt under the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, 
 
 and the Arabs. 
 Egyptian Religion, Government, and Art. 
 
Vi CONTENTS 
 
 V. The Assyrians 32 
 
 The Tigris and the Euphrates. Babylon and Nineveh. 
 Second Assyrian Empire. 
 
 Last Assyrian Empire. Capture of Babylon by Cyrus. 
 Government, Religion, and Arts of Assyria. 
 
 VI. The Ph(enician8 . . . . . . . .36 
 
 Phoenician Cities between Lebanon and the Sea. 
 Phoenician Commerce and Colonies. 
 Conquerors of Phoenicia. 
 
 VIL The Hebrews 38 
 
 Ancient Traditions. 
 Eeligious and Civil Legislation. 
 Moral Grandeur of Helarew Legislation. 
 Conquest of Palestine. The Judges. The Kings. 
 The Schism and the Captivity. 
 
 The Jews under the Persians, the Greeks, and the 
 Romans. 
 
 VIII. The Medes and Persians 45 
 
 Mazdeism. 
 
 The Medes. 
 
 The Persians under Cyrus. Conquest of Western Asia. 
 
 The Persians under Cambyses and Darius. 
 
 Government. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS 
 
 I. Primitive Times .51 
 
 Ancient Populations. Pelasgi and Hellenes. 
 
 Heroic Times. The Trojan War. 
 
 The Dorian Invasion. Greek Colonies and Institutions. 
 
 II. Customs and Religion of the Greeks ... 55 
 Spirit of Liberty in Customs and Institutions. 
 Religion. 
 
 III. Ltcurgus and Solon 60 
 
 Sparta before Lycurgus. 
 
 Lycurgus. His Political Ideas. 
 
 Civil Laws. 
 
 The Messenian Wars. 
 
 Athens until the Time of Solon. The Archonship. 
 
 Solon. 
 
 The Pisistratidse. Clisthenes, Themistocles, 
 
CONTENTS vii 
 
 ^ IV. The Persian Wars (492-449) 66 
 
 Eevolt of the Asiatic Greeks from the Persians. 
 
 First Persian War. Marathon and MUtiades (490). 
 
 Second Persian War. Salamis. 
 
 Platsea. 
 
 Continuance of the War by Athens. 
 
 Last Victories of the Greeks. 
 
 ^V. The Age of Pericles 6& 
 
 The Athenian People, 
 Pericles. 
 •^ Great Intellects at Athens. 
 The Parthenon. 
 
 VI. Rivalry of Sparta, Athens, and Thebes (431-359) . 70 
 
 Irritation of the Allies against Athens. 
 
 The Peloponnesian War to the Peace of Nicias, 
 
 The Sicilian Expedition. Alcibiades. 
 
 The Battle of ^gos Potamos. Capture of Athens. 
 
 Power of Sparta. Expedition of the Ten Thousand. 
 
 Agesilaus. 
 Treaty of Antalcidas. 
 Struggle between Sparta and Thebes. Epaminondas. 
 
 V VII. Philip of Macedon and Demosthenes (359-336) . 75 
 Philip. 
 
 Capture of Amphipolis. Occupation of Thessaly. 
 Demosthenes. 
 Second Sacred War. Battle of Chseronea. 
 
 VIII. Alexander (336-323) 78 
 
 Submission of Greece to Alexander (336-334). 
 
 Expedition against Persia (334). Conquest of the 
 Asiatic Coast and of Egypt. 
 
 Conquest of Persia. Death of Darius. Murder of 
 Clitus (334-327). 
 
 Alexander beyond the Indus. His Eeturn to Baby- 
 lon, and Death (337-323). 
 
 The Age of Alexander. 
 
 IX. Conversion of Greece and of the Greek Kingdoms 
 
 into Roman Provinces (323-146) ... 82 
 
 Dismemberment of Alexander's Empire. 
 
 Kingdoms of Syria (201-64) and of Egypt (301-30). 
 
 Kingdom of Macedon (301-146). Cynocephalae and 
 Pydna. 
 
 Death of Demosthenes (322). The Achaean League 
 (251-146). 
 
VIU CONTENTS 
 
 FAOB 
 
 ScsiMART OF Greek History 86 
 
 Services rendered by the Greeks to General Civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 Defects of the Political and Religious Spirit among 
 the Greeks. 
 
 HISTOEY OF THE ROMANS 
 
 I. Rome. The Ancient Roman Constitution (753-366) . 89 
 
 The Royal Period (753-510), 
 
 The Republic. Consuls. Tribunes. 
 
 The Decemvirate and the Twelve Tables. 
 
 The Plebeians attain Admission to All Offices. 
 
 n. The Conquest of Italy (343-265) .... 94 
 
 Capture of Rome by the Gauls (390). 
 The Samnite Wars. 
 Pyrrhus. 
 The Gauls, 
 
 III. The Punic Wars (264-146) 98 
 
 First Punic War (264-241). Conquest of Sicily. 
 "War of the Mercenaries against Carthage (241-238). 
 Second Punic War (218-201). 
 Third Punic War (149-146). Destruction of Carthage. 
 
 IV. Foreign Conquests of Rome (229-129) . . .103 
 
 Partial Conquest of Illyricum (229) and of Istria 
 
 (217). 
 The Conquerors of Asia Minor, Macedon, and Greece. 
 Conquest of Spain (197-133). Viriathus. Numantia. 
 
 V. First Civil Wars. The Gracchi. Marius. Sulla 
 
 (133-79) 106 
 
 Results of Roman Conquests on Roman Maimers and 
 
 Constitution. 
 The Gracchi (133-121). 
 Marius. Conquest of Numidia (118-104). 
 Invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones (113-102). 
 Renewal of Civil Troubles. Saturninus (106-98). 
 Sulla. The Italian Revolt (98-88). 
 Proscriptions in Rome. Sulpicius and Cinna (88-84). 
 Victory of Sulla. His Proscriptions and Dictatorship 
 
 (84-79). 
 The Popular Party ruined by the Defeat of Sertorius 
 
 (72). 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 VI. From Sulla to C^sar, Pompey, and Cicero (79-60) . 115 
 
 War against Mithridates under Sulla (90-84). 
 
 War against Mithridates under Lucullus and Pompey 
 (74-63). 
 
 Revival of the Popular Party at Eome. The Gladia- 
 tors (71). 
 
 Alliance of Pompey with the Popular Party. War 
 with the Pirates (67). 
 
 Cicero. Conspiracy of Catiline (63). 
 
 VII. C^SAR (60-44) 121 
 
 Caesar, Leader of the Popular Party. His Consulship 
 (60). 
 
 The Gallic War. Victories over the Helvetii, Ario- 
 vistus, and the Belgae (58-57). 
 
 Submission of Armoricum and Aquitaine, Expedi- 
 tions to Britain and beyond the Rhine (56-53). 
 
 General Insurrection. Vercingetorix. 
 
 Defeat of Crassus by the Parthians (53). 
 
 Civil War between Csesar and Pompey (49-48). 
 
 War at Alexandria. Caesar Dictator (48-44). 
 
 VIII. The Second Triumvirate 127 
 
 Octavius. 
 
 Second Triumvirate. Proscription. Battle of Philippi 
 (42). 
 
 Antony in the East. The Persian War. Treaty of 
 Misenum (39). 
 
 Wise Administration of Octavius. Expedition of An- 
 tony against the Parthians. 
 
 Actium. Death of Antony and Reduction of Egypt 
 to a Province (30). 
 
 IX. Augustus and the Julian Emperors (31 b.c. to 68 a.d.) 134 
 
 Constitution of the Imperial Power (30-12). 
 Administration of Augustus in the Provinces and at 
 
 Rome. 
 Foreign Policy. Defeat of Varus (9 a.d.). 
 Tiberius (14-37). 
 Caligula (37-41). 
 Claudius (41-64). 
 Nero (54-68). 
 
 X. The Flavians (69-96) 144 
 
 Galba, Otho, and Vitellius (68-69). 
 Vespasian (69-79). 
 Titus (79-81). 
 Domitian (81-96). 
 
X CONTENTS 
 
 PAGK 
 
 XL The Antonines (96-192) 147 
 
 Nerva (96-98). 
 Trajan (98-117). 
 Hadrian (117-138). 
 Antoninus (138-161), 
 Marcus Aurelius (161-180). 
 Commodus (180-192), 
 
 XII. Military Anakcht (192-285) 152 
 
 Pertinax and Didius Julianus (192-193). 
 
 Septimius Severus (193-211). 
 
 Caracalla (211-217). 
 
 Macrinus (217). 
 
 Heliogabalus (218-222), 
 
 Alexander Severus (222-235). 
 
 Six Emperors in Nine Years (235-244), 
 
 Philip (244-249). Decius (249-251). The Thirty 
 
 Tyrants (251-268). 
 Claudius (268). Aurelian (270). Tacitus (275). 
 
 Probus (275), Carus (282). 
 
 XIII. Diocletian and Constantine (285-337), Christianity 159 
 
 Diocletian (285-305). The Tetrarchy. 
 
 New Emperors and Civil Wars (303-323), 
 
 Christianity. 
 
 Reorganization of the Imperial Administration. 
 
 Last Years of Constantine, 
 
 XIV. CoNSTANTius (337). Julian, Theodosius . . . 170 
 
 Constantius (337), 
 
 Julian (361). 
 
 Jovian (363). Valentinian and Valens (364). 
 
 Theodosius (378). 
 
 End of the Western Empire (476). 
 
 Summary. 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 THE BEGINNING 
 
 The Earth. — Every primitive religion has sought to 
 explain God, the world, the creation of man, and the co- 
 existence on earth of good and evil. Therefore all ancient 
 peoples had or still preserve pious legends in harmony with 
 their country and climate, their customs and social state; 
 that is to say, with the conditions under which they lived, 
 felt, thought, and believed. Of these early narratives the 
 most simple and the grandest is Genesis, the sacred book 
 of the Jews and Christians. 
 
 Science, in its turn, seeks to fathom those mysteries, 
 although the origin of things must forever elude it. It 
 indeed renounces the task of solving questions which faith 
 alone must decide. Yet, by a magnificent elfort of exam- 
 ination and comparison, it has succeeded in acquiring a mass 
 of truths, the discovery of which would prove the greatness 
 of man, were not his littleness demonstrated every moment 
 by the infinity of time and space into which his gaze and 
 thought plunge with an insatiable and too often powerless 
 curiosity. 
 
 Our solar system, with all the stars which compose it, is 
 only a speck in immensity. According to the hypothesis 
 of Laplace, which nothing so far has disproved, those stars 
 themselves originally formed but a single whole. It was 
 one of those prodigious nebulae, such as are still seen in the 
 vastitude of the heavens, and are probably so many suns in 
 process of formation. Our nebula became concentrated 
 into a focus of heat and light, but as it followed its path 
 through space, it now and again threw off masses of cosmic 
 matter which formed the planets. The latter, as if demon- 
 
 B 1 
 
2 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 strating their origin, still revolve in the orbit of the sun 
 from which they emanated. 
 
 The globe which we inhabit is therefore a tiny fragment 
 of the sun, which extinguished as it cooled and enveloped 
 itself successively in a gaseous ocean, the atmosphere; 
 then in a liquid ocean, the sea; and finally in a solid crust, 
 the land, the highest points of which emerge above the 
 waves. 
 
 Animal life awoke first in the bosom of the waters, where 
 it was represented in most ancient times, thousands of cen- 
 turies ago, by species intermediate between the vegetable 
 and animal, and analogous to corals and sponges. Then 
 came molluscs, Crustacea, and the first fishes. At the same 
 time the seaweeds had their birth in shallow waters. 
 Meanwhile the air, saturated with carbonic acid and nitro- 
 gen, developed upon the half-submerged land a mighty 
 vegetation, wherein predominated those tree-ferns and 
 calamites whose remains we find in mines of anthracite and 
 bituminous coal. 
 
 Thus in the animal and vegetable kingdoms the simplest 
 organisms were produced. Time passed, many thousand 
 centuries elapsed, but the work of creation went on. 
 Ancient forms were changed or new forms were created. 
 The organism became complicated; functions were multi- 
 plied; life took possession of the earth, the sea, and the 
 air, blossoming in greater variety of forms, and richer and 
 more powerful in its means of action. At last man appeared. 
 
 Thus, continual ascent toward a more perfect life seems 
 to have been the law of the physical as it was, later on, of 
 the intellectual world. During the geological period nature 
 was modifying the organism, and hence the functions, and 
 was developing instinct, that first gleam of intelligence. 
 In the historical period, civilization modifies social order 
 and develops human faculties. In the first case, progress 
 is marked by change of form ; in the second, by change of 
 ideas. 
 
 Man. — At what epoch did man make his appearance upon 
 the earth? Hardly more than half a century ago unlooked- 
 for discoveries shattered all the old systems of chronology, 
 and proved that man himself had part in the geological 
 evolutions of our globe. Flints and bones shaped into axes, 
 knives, needles, arrow heads, and spear heads; bones of 
 huge animals cleft lengthwise, so that the marrow might 
 
THE BEGINNING * 3 
 
 be extracted for nourishment; heaps of shells and debris 
 of repasts; ashes, the evident remains of antediluvian 
 hearths ; even pictures traced on shoulder bones and slate 
 rocks, representing animals now extinct or seen only in 
 places very distant from those they then inhabited; finally, 
 human remains found unquestionably in the deposits of the 
 quaternary epoch, and traces of human industry, which 
 seem to be detected even in the tertiary strata, — prove that 
 man lived at a time when our continents had neither the 
 fauna, the flora, the climate, nor the shape which they have 
 to-day. 
 
 The most numerous discoveries have been made in 
 France. But, on the slopes of Lebanon as in the caves of 
 Perigord, in the valleys of the Himalayas as in those of 
 the Pyrenees, on the banks of the Missouri as on those 
 of the Somme, primitive man appears with the same arms, 
 the same customs, the same savage and precarious life, 
 which certain tribes of Africa, Australia, and the New 
 World still preserve under our very eyes. The future king 
 of creation was as yet only its most miserable product. 
 Thus, science has moved back the birth of mankind toward 
 an epoch when the measure of time is no longer furnished, 
 as in our day, by a few generations of men, but where we 
 must reckon by hundreds of centuries. This is the Stone 
 Age. It is already possible for us to divide it into many 
 periods, each showing progress over the one preceding. 
 We begin with stones roughly fashioned into implements 
 and weapons, and with caverns which serve for refuge ; we 
 reach stones artistically worked and polished, pottery 
 shaped by hand and even ornamented, and lake cities or 
 habitations raised on piles ; at last we arrive at dolmens 
 and menhirs, those so-called druidic monuments which were 
 formerly recognized only in France and England, but which 
 now are found almost everywhere. Thus the first man 
 recedes and becomes lost in a vague and appalling antiquity. 
 
 Do all men descend from a single pair? Yes, if we de- 
 termine the unity of the species from the sole consideration 
 that intermarriage of any two varieties of the human race 
 may resvilt in offspring. Nevertheless, physiology and 
 linguistic science set forth very wide differences between 
 the various branches of the human family. 
 
 Race and Language. — Intermarriage and the influence of 
 habitation, that is, of soil and climate, have produced many 
 
4 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 varieties of race. These are generally grouped in three 
 principal classes, the White, the Yellow, and the Black. 
 To them may be added a number of intermediate shades 
 arising from amalgamations that have taken place on the 
 borders of the three dominant classes. If all spring from 
 a common origin, they have none the less developed in dis- 
 tinct regions: the White, or Caucasian, on the table-land 
 of Iran, whence it reached India, Western Asia, and all 
 Europe; the Yellow, or Mongolian, in China, in Northern 
 Asia, and the Malay peninsula; the Black in Africa and 
 Australia. This race is regarded by certain authors as 
 descending from an earlier creation of mankind. The 
 aborigines of America appear to have Mongolian blood. 
 
 Languages are also classed in three great groups, the 
 monosyllabic, the agglutinative, and the inflected. The 
 first class possesses only roots, which are at once both nouns 
 and verbs, and which the voice expresses by a single sound, 
 but the meaning of which varies according to position in 
 the sentence and the relation they sustain to other words. 
 In the second class the root does not change, but is built 
 upon by the juxtaposition of particles that are easily rec- 
 ognized and answer all grammatical demands. In the third 
 class the root undergoes modifications of form, sound, 
 accent, and meaning. In this way the noun is made to 
 express gender, number, and relation; and the verb, tense, 
 and mode. Hence the inflected languages are the most 
 perfect medium for the expression and development of 
 ideas. 
 
 All the languages spoken on the globe, whether in former 
 times or to-day, represent one of these phases. The white 
 race, being the most developed, employs the third. The 
 Turanian idioms (Tartar, Turkish, Finnish), those of the 
 African tribes, and of the American Indians, belong to 
 the second. The ancient Chinese stopped at the first phase. 
 Their descendants advance slowly toward the second, retain- 
 ing for their written language some fifty thousand ideo- 
 graphic characters, each of which was, like the Egyptian 
 hieroglyphics, originally the image of an object or the con- 
 ventional representation of an idea. 
 
 The Black and Yellow Races. — History preserves no 
 narrative of the Black Kace, whose existence, passed in the 
 depths of Africa, has resembled rivers, the sources of 
 which are unknown and the waters of which are lost in the 
 
THE BEGINNING 5 
 
 desert. We know little more about the American Indians 
 or the islanders of Oceanica. Our science is small as yet, 
 for it is young. In our own time it has created paleon- 
 tology or the history of the earth, and comparative philology 
 or the history of languages, races, and primitive ideas. 
 Thus it has lifted one corner of the veil that conceals the 
 creation of nature and the beginning of civilization. Hence, 
 of the black and red races, the ancient masters of Africa, 
 Oceanica, and the New World, there is nothing to inscribe 
 in the book of history save their names. 
 
 The Yellow Race, on the contrary, boasts the most ancient 
 annals of the world, an original civilization, and empires 
 which still exist. The Chinese and the Mongols are its 
 best-known representatives. Attached to it are all the 
 peoples of Indo-China and several among the most primitive 
 populations of Hindustan. So, too, are the Thibetan, 
 Turkish, and Tartar tribes, whose fixed or nomadic habita- 
 tions extend from the west of China as far as the Caspian 
 Sea; also the Huns, so terrible to Europe in the fifth cen- 
 tury of our era, and probably the Hungarians or Magyars. 
 
 The White Race : The Aryans and Semites. — The White 
 Race, which has accomplished almost alone the work of civi- 
 lization, is divided into two principal families: the Semites, 
 in the southwest of Asia and Northern Africa; the Aryans 
 or Indo-Europeans, in the rest of Western Asia and Europe. 
 They appear to have had their cradle in the lands north- 
 west of the Indus toward ancient Bactria, now the khanate 
 of Balkh, in Turkestan. Thence powerful colonies set out 
 which planted themselves at intervals from the banks of the 
 Ganges to the uttermost parts of the West. The kinship 
 of the Hindus, Medes, and Persians in the East; of the 
 Pelasgi and Hellenes in Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy ; of 
 the Celts, Germans, and Slavs north of the Black Sea, the 
 Balkans, and the Alps, has been proved by their idioms, by 
 grammatical analogies, and by word-roots. Thus Greek 
 and Latin are sister tongues, closely allied to Sanskrit, 
 the sacred language of the Indian Brahmans. Celtic, Ger- 
 manic, and Slavic languages or dialects show likewise that 
 they are vigorous offshoots of this great stock. 
 
 Before their separation these tribes had already domesti- 
 cated the sheep, goat, pig, and goose, and had subdued the 
 ox and horse to the yoke. They had begun to till the earth, 
 to work certain metals, and to construct fixed dwellings. 
 
6 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 Marriage among them was a religious act. The family -was 
 the foundation of all public order. Associated families 
 formed the tribe ; many tribes constituted the people, whose 
 chief was the supreme judge during peace, and led the war- 
 riors in battle. They had the vague consciousness of a First 
 Cause, "of a G-od raised above other gods." But this doc- 
 trine, too exalted for people in their infancy, was obscured 
 and concealed by the deification of natural forces. 
 
 As for the Semites, established between the Tigris, the 
 Mediterranean, and the Red Sea, they had, as far back as 
 we can penetrate, one single system of languages, which 
 leads us to attribute to them a single origin. Moreover, 
 the Bible makes the Arabs, as well as the Jews, descend 
 from Abraham. The Syrians and Phoenicians were of the 
 same blood. Semitic colonies peopled Northern Africa 
 as far as the Straits of Gibraltar. It was in the midst of 
 this race, born in the desert where nature is simple and 
 changeless, that in all its purity and splendor the dogma of 
 one only God was to be preserved. 
 
 Thus two great currents of white populations were 
 formed, which, starting from the centre of Asia, flowed 
 from east to west, over the western region of that conti- 
 nent, the north of Africa, and the whole of Europe. 
 
 Earliest Centres of Civilization. — These men of the ancient 
 ages, the first-born of the world, continued for a long time 
 savage and miserable before they constituted regular socie- 
 ties. When, at last, they had found localities endowed 
 with natural fertility, where the search for means of exist- 
 ence did not absorb all the forces of the body and mind, 
 association assumed regular forms. The elementary arts 
 were invented, the first compacts made, and the great work 
 of civilization was begun, which man will never complete, 
 but which he will always carry farther. 
 
 If we study the physical configuration of Asia, we shall 
 readily understand why in that continent there were three 
 centres of primitive civilization : China, India, and Assyria. 
 Like waters which, held back for a time in elevated regions, 
 flow toward lower levels and there form great streams, so 
 men descend into the plain sheltered by mountains and ren- 
 dered fertile by rivers. Such great natural basins, cradles, 
 as it were, of flowers and fruits, prepared by the hand of 
 God for infant races, were the valley of the Ganges, which 
 the Himalayas surround with an impassable rampart, the 
 
THE BEGINNING 7 
 
 plain of the Tigris and the Euphrates, which the mountains 
 of Media, Ararat, Taurus, and Lebanon encompass, and the 
 fertile regions of the Kiang or Blue River and of the 
 Hoang-Ho or Yellow River, bounded on the west by 
 the Yung-Ling and In-Chan mountains. Egypt offers 
 another example of such civilization blossoming out upon 
 the banks of a great stream in a fertile land. 
 
 Primitive Books. — If from these general facts which his- 
 tory has recovered we wish to pass to more precise details, 
 we must scrutinize the books which go far back in the series 
 of the centuries, and which narrate, without hesitation, the 
 creation of heaven and earth, and of man and animals, the 
 formation of the oldest societies, and the invention of 
 the first arts. But the examination and comparison of cos- 
 mogonies, of religions, and primitive legends, make us 
 recognize everywhere the creative power of popular imagina- 
 tion in the youth of the world. We see man in the state 
 of childhood, with the rashness of ignorance, applying his 
 curiosity to nature in its entirety. As the laws of the phys- 
 ical world were then hidden from him, we see him trying 
 to understand everything by conjecture. We see him, still 
 like the child in his effort to explain all, transforming into 
 living persons the effects derived from the First Cause, 
 while the Supreme Legislator remains hidden behind the 
 multiplicity of phenomena resulting from his laws. Even 
 in these venerable books, the exhaustive study of lan- 
 guages, following the order of their historical develop- 
 ment, has enabled us to discern the interpolations of 
 various later epochs. Therefore it has been necessary, 
 sometimes, to separate what has been brought together, to 
 bring together what has been separated, and to give a new 
 meaning to expressions, images, and ideas that had been 
 wrongly understood. All the sacred books of ancient 
 peoples have been subjected to these sure processes of 
 modern science. This mighty work of philological re- 
 search, dating almost from our own day, has already shed 
 upon the relation of peoples and the formation of their 
 beliefs a light which, though vacillating on many points, 
 the preceding centuries could not even suspect. 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 2200-247. 
 
 II 
 
 CHINA AND THE MONGOLS 
 
 Great Antiquity of Chinese Civilization. — To all ancient 
 peoples their antiquity is a title of honor. Thus the Chinese 
 inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, or, as they still call it, 
 the Middle Kingdom, claim for themselves eighty or a hun- 
 dred thousand years of existence prior to their half -authentic 
 history. Even that goes back to the thirty-fifth century be- 
 fore Christ, and about ten centuries later becomes suflBciently 
 positive to present connected annals. 
 
 We know not when or how that strange society was formed, 
 which for at least four thousand years has retained the same 
 character. Its practical mind was wholly occupied with the 
 earth, which it conquered by agriculture and by industry, 
 and but little concerned with heaven, which it left empty 
 and deserted. On one side of the Himalayas, man, cradled 
 with half -closed eyes on the bosom of an over-fertile nature, 
 was intoxicated by the enervating breath of the mighty 
 magician, and dreamed of countless benevolent or terrible 
 divinities, who enjoined upon him contempt for life, and 
 annihilation in Brahma. But on the other side of the moun- 
 tains, a laborious, patient, active race drew from life all 
 that it could give, and replaced the formidable systems of 
 the Hindu gods by a merely human system of morality. 
 The Emperor Chun, who reigned in the twenty-third cen- 
 tury before our era, had already established for his people 
 the five immutable rules, or the five duties of a father and 
 his children, of a king and his subjects, of the aged and the 
 young, of married persons, and of friends. At that time the 
 empire was divided into provinces, departments, districts, 
 and cities, with a great number of tributary peoples and 
 vassal princes, who often revolted. 
 
 Imperial Dynasties and Chinese Feudalism. — Until about 
 the year 2200, the emperors were elected. Beginning with 
 that period heredity was established, but with the corrective 
 that the grandees could still select the most capable from 
 
B.C. 2200-247.] CEINA AND THE MONGOLS 9 
 
 among the sons of the dead sovereign as his successor. The 
 Emperor Yu began the Hia dynasty, which lasted four cen- 
 turies, and ended as an abominable tyranny with frightful 
 disorders. The founder of the second or Chang dynasty was 
 a superior man, whose virtues were celebrated by Confucius. 
 To appease the wrath of heaven during a famine, he made 
 a public confession of his faults; and afterwards, whenever 
 a great calamity occurred, his successors followed his exam- 
 ple. They and their people believed that heaven would 
 certainly be moved by this voluntary expiation, and there 
 was both grandeur and lofty morality in this belief. 
 
 The last of the Chang resembled the last of the Hia. 
 When one of his ministers remonstrated with him, he re- 
 plied: "Thy discourse is that of a wise man. But it is 
 said that the heart of a wise man is pierced with seven 
 holes. I wish to make sure of it," and he ordered him to 
 be disembowelled. Wou Wang, prince of Tchu, revolted 
 against the tyrant, who was vanquished, and died like Sar- 
 danapalus. He heaped together all his wealth in a palace, 
 set fire, and flung himself into the flames (1122). Wou 
 Wang reorganized the ancient Tribunal of History, whose 
 members held office for life that they might be independent. 
 The political wisdom of the Chinese was chiefly founded on 
 respect for their ancestors and for the examples which these 
 had left. Under this dynasty the feudal kingdoms in- 
 creased to the number of one hundred and twenty-five, and 
 China had a real feudal system, which favored its civiliza- 
 tion. To this epoch must be referred the construction of 
 an observatory, which still exists, as well as the sun-dial 
 set up by the successor of Wou Wang. The Chinese were 
 already acquainted with the compass and with the proper- 
 ties of a right-angled triangle. 
 
 The Great Wall and the Burning of the Books. Immense 
 Extent of the Empire at the Beginning of our Era. — Never- 
 theless, Chinese feudalism ended, like our own, by produ- 
 cing a vast anarchy. The emperor was without power. 
 One of his tributaries asserted his prerogative of offering 
 the sacrifice to Heaven, and confined the last Tchu in a 
 palace. A new dynasty, that of the Tsin, overthrew all 
 the feudal lords, and restored the great empire, which took 
 its name. Its most illustrious chief, Tsin-Chi-Hoang-Ti, 
 accomplished this revolution (247 b.c). He opened roads, 
 tunnelled mountains, and, in order to stop the incursions of 
 
10 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 247-a.d. 1203. 
 
 the nomad Tartars, constructed the Great Wall, twenty-five 
 kilometres long ; but he has a deplorable celebrity for hav- 
 ing burned books and persecuted men of letters. That 
 everything might date from his reign, he wished to efface 
 the past. Fortunately he could not destroy all the books 
 or kill all the learned men. Chinese society was disturbed 
 for the moment by this violent reformer, but soon returned 
 to its traditional life. The Tsin dynasty did not last long. 
 It was replaced by that of the Han, who ruled from 202 b.c. 
 to 226 A.D. Under them the literati regained their influ- 
 ence, and China attained the apogee of her power. Her 
 armies penetrated even to the Caspian Sea, almost within 
 sight of the frontier of the Koman Empire; and on the 
 shores of the Eastern Sea kings and peoples obeyed her. 
 
 Invasion of the Mongols in the Thirteenth Century. — But 
 the two empires which shared between them the greater 
 part of the then known world, secretly undermined by the 
 vices fostered by too great success, tottered and fell under 
 the repeated shocks of invasion. From the steppes, extend- 
 ing from the Great Wall to the Caspian Sea, hordes set out 
 at different periods and hurled themselves, right and left, 
 upon the two societies where civilization had accumulated 
 the wealth which these barbarians coveted. The result, for 
 China, was its first dismemberment in two kingdoms, sepa- 
 rated by the Blue River; and in both many obscure dynasties 
 followed one another. The two were reunited in 618, but 
 the new empire did not possess sufficient strength to resist 
 the continual incursions of the Mongols, 
 
 These nomads inhabited the same places whence, in the 
 fourth century, had begun the invasion of the Huns which 
 resulted in hurling barbarian Europe upon Roman Europe. 
 They were always easily set in motion. Horses, herds, 
 houses, all moved, or were readily carried, for the houses 
 were only chariots or cabins placed on wheels and drawn 
 by oxen. Such was the itinerant dwelling of the Tartar. 
 He himself lived on horseback, remaining there, in case of 
 need, day and night, awake or asleep. Meat packed between 
 his saddle and the back of his horse, and milk curdled and 
 dried, furnished his food. He feared neither fatigue nor 
 privations, yielded to his chief a passive obedience, but was 
 proud of his race and ambitious for his horde. 
 
 Temudjin, the chieftain of one of these Mongolian hordes, 
 united them all under his authority, in 1203. He took the 
 
A.D. 1203-1644.] CHINA AND THE MONGOLS 11 
 
 name of Genghis Khan, or chief of chiefs, and promised 
 this irresistible cavalry, ferocious and cunning as few people 
 ever were, to lead them to the conquest of the world. He 
 began by overwhelming the Tartars, his former masters, 
 wrested from them northern China, which they had con- 
 quered, and, leaving to his successors the task of subjugat- 
 ing the provinces to the south of the Blue River and Corea, 
 threw his armies upon Western Asia and Europe, where they 
 marked their road across Persia, Russia, and Poland by 
 bloody ruins. The hardy horsemen who had bathed their 
 horses in the Eastern Ocean made them drink the waters 
 of the Oder and the Morava at the foot of the Bohemian 
 Mountains. Never had the sun shone upon such a wide 
 dominion. It was necessarily brittle, yet the Russians were 
 forced to endure it for two centuries, and were released from 
 the Mongol yoke only by Ivan III., at the beginning of 
 modern times. 
 
 At the death of Genghis Khan (1227) his empire was 
 divided into four states, — China, Turkestan, Persia, and 
 Kaptchak, or southern Russia. His grandson, Kublai, who 
 reigned over all China, Thibet, Pegu, and Cochin China, 
 bore the title of grand khan, to which was attached an idea 
 of superiority, so that, from Pekin to the banks of the 
 Dnieper, everything seemed to obey him. But this suzer- 
 ainty was not exercised long. Before the end of the thir- 
 teenth century, the separation between the four kingdoms 
 was complete. 
 
 First Europeans in China. — Kublai Khan, founder of the 
 Yen dynasty (1279), adopted the customs of his new sub- 
 jects, respected their traditions, encouraged letters and 
 agriculture, but embraced Buddhism, a religion originating 
 in India, and now claiming in China two hundred million 
 adherents, or half the population. A Venetian, Marco Polo, 
 lived seventeen years at his court, and we still possess the 
 interesting account of his travels. A national revolution 
 in 1368 expelled the foreigners, when the Chinese Ming 
 dynasty replaced that of the Mongols. This family occu- 
 pied the throne until 1644, or till long after the arrival of 
 the first European colonists in China, since the Portuguese 
 establishment at Macao dates from the year 1514. 
 
 New Mongol Empire in Central Asia and India. — During 
 this period are determined the destiny of the Ottoman 
 Turks, a people originally from Turkestan, and hence re- 
 
12 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [a.d. 1453-1860 
 
 lated to the Mongols, and the career of Timur, surnamed 
 Lenk, or the Lame, a descendant of Genghis Khan, The 
 Turks took Constantinople in 1453. Timur, best known as 
 Tamerlane, for the second time united the nomad Mongol 
 hordes. Between 1370 and 1405 this terrible rival of Attila 
 conquered Turkestan, Persia, India, and Asia Minor, de- 
 feated in the Kaptchak the Mongols of the Golden horde, 
 though he did not destroy their kingdom, and at the famous 
 battle of Angora vanquished the Turks, whose sultan he 
 took prisoner. Gazing from one end of Asia to the other, 
 Tamerlane saw no empire still standing except that of China. 
 He was marching his innumerable hordes against it, when 
 death at last arrested the tireless old man who lives in his- 
 tory as the most terrible incarnation of the malignant spirit 
 of conquest. His empire was divided, and disappeared with 
 the exception of a magnificent fragment, the Empire of the 
 Great Mogul, which arose in the peninsula of the Ganges, 
 and which fell only at the close of the last century under 
 the blows of the English. 
 
 China in Modern Times. — In China the indigenous Ming 
 dynasty reigned with honor, but, content with prosperity 
 and peace, neglected the customs and institutions of war. 
 Thus the Celestial Empire was once more invaded in 1644 
 by western nomads, the Mantchu Tartars. The Tsin dy- 
 nasty, which they founded, still reigns at Pekin. Yet such 
 was the resistant and absorbent force of this great Chinese 
 society that, far from yielding to foreign influences, it has 
 always conquered its conquerors. The Mantchu emperors 
 made no change in its customs, and restored its fortune by 
 giving it the boundaries which it possesses to-day. It was 
 these princes who in 1840 waged with the English the opium 
 war, which ended by the opening of five ports to foreign 
 commerce, and who carried on with the English and French 
 the war of 1860, which resulted in the victory of Palikao 
 and the capture of Pekin. 
 
 So the yellow race has made a great noise in the world. 
 Through the Huns, it brought about the fall of the Roman 
 Empire; through the Mongols of Genghis Khan, it raised, 
 in the thirteenth century, the vastest dominion of the uni- 
 verse ; through those of Tamerlane, it overthrew and crushed 
 the population of twenty kingdoms ; through the Turks, it 
 held Christianity in check for centuries ; through the Chi- 
 nese, it has constituted a great society which, for fifty cen- 
 
B.C. 550-470.] CHINA AND THE MONGOLS 13 
 
 turies and with unbroken continuity, has caused a large 
 portion of the human race to enjoy the benefits of civilized 
 life. 
 
 Confucius and Chinese Society. — One man contributed, if 
 not to establish, at least to maintain, the character which 
 the Chinese constitution still preserves. This was Kung- 
 fu-tsze, or Confucius. His books, serving as a gospel in 
 the Middle Kingdom, must be learned by those who undergo 
 the examinations required for obtaining literary rank and 
 for admission to public functions. Confucius was not a 
 legislator; he never had authority to publish laws, but he 
 taught wisdom. "There is nothing so simple," he says, 
 "as the moral code practised by our wise men of old; it is 
 summed up in the observance of the three fundamental laws 
 which regulate the relations between the sovereign and his 
 subjects, between father and children, and between husband 
 and wife, and in the exercise of the five capital virtues. 
 These are : humanity or universal charity toward all mem- 
 bers of our own species without distinction; justice, which 
 gives his due to each individual without partiality; con- 
 formity to prescribed rites and established usages, so that 
 those who make up society may live alike and share the 
 same advantages as well as the same disadvantages; up- 
 rightness, or that rectitude of mind and heart which causes 
 one to seek the truth in everything, without deception of 
 self or of others; sincerity and good faith, or that frank- 
 ness mingled with confidence, which excludes all pretence 
 and disguise in conduct as well as in speech. These things 
 are what have rendered our first teachers worthy of respect, 
 and have immortalized their names after death. Let us 
 take them for our models ; let us make every effort to imi- 
 tate them." 
 
 Elsewhere he sets forth the principles of religion and 
 worship. "Heaven," he says, "is the universal principle, 
 the fruitful source whence all things have flowed. Ances- 
 tors who emerged therefrom have themselves been the source 
 of succeeding generations. To give to Heaven proofs of 
 one's gratitude is the first duty of man; to show himself 
 grateful toward his ancestors is the second. For this reason 
 Fou Hi established ceremonies in honor of Heaven and of 
 ancestors." Thus religion and government rest iipon filial 
 piety. Heaven is honored as the author of beings, and the 
 emperor, the son of Heaven, is the father of his nation. 
 
14 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 Thanks to the strength of this sentiment, China has been 
 enabled to pass through the numerous revohitions which 
 the succession of its twenty-two native or foreign dynasties 
 have brought upon it, while no essential change has been 
 wrought in the internal system of government, under which 
 the welfare of 400,000,000 men has been developed. Thus 
 the Chinese have the right to say to us: "We envy you 
 nothing; we enjoy all the useful arts; we cultivate wheat, 
 vegetables, fruits. In addition to cotton, silk, and hemp, 
 a great number of roots and barks furnish us with tissues 
 and stuffs. Like you we understand mining, carpentry, 
 joinery, the manufacture of pottery, porcelain, and paper. 
 We excel as dyers, stone-cutters, and wheelwrights. Our 
 roads and canals furrow the whole empire. Suspension 
 bridges, as daring and lighter than yours, span our rivers 
 or unite the summits of mountains." They might add, 
 "We have a literature which goes back more than four 
 thousand years, and a moral code as good as many another. 
 Our sciences need no aid from those of Europe to compete 
 with some of yours. Earlier than you we were acquainted 
 with the mariner's compass, gunpowder, and printing, those 
 great discoveries of which you make such boast. Now, if 
 we have reached this point without foreign assistance, it is 
 because, fixing our eyes on the past, we have not made over 
 our institutions with every generation. Despite the changes 
 of individuals on the throne of Pekin, and modifications of 
 our frontiers, we have, through the confusion of conquests 
 and invasions, preserved our social order and respected the 
 state, because we respect the family." 
 
 In that country there are neither nobility to guide and 
 govern the people, nor slaves to corrupt it. The emperor, 
 in homage to la,bor, himself at certain seasons opens the 
 furrow with a plough. Intellect has forced a recognition of 
 its rights, since office is bestowed with regard to neither 
 birth nor fortune, but on account only of learning. Never- 
 theless, there we see the vice and misery to which immense 
 agglomerations of men or long-continued prosperity gives 
 rise. Falsehood works its way into the institutions, which 
 it distorts. Since, so to speak, this people has neither relig- 
 ion, nor philosophy, nor art, and is ignorant of an ideal, 
 it has remained on that midway mental level whence the 
 fall to a still lower plane is easy. Absorbed by its needs 
 and pleasures, it has not undergone those painful birth- 
 
CHINA AND THE MONGOLS 15 
 
 throes of ideas, on account of which other nations have 
 suffered so much, but have gained thereby an imperishable 
 name. China has given nothing to the world; to the world 
 she has been as though she existed not. 
 
 Thus they have an airy architecture but no monuments. 
 Their brick and wooden houses suggest the primitive tent. 
 Their palaces are only piles of buildings constructed upon 
 the tent type, sometimes not devoid of grace, but always 
 devoid of grandeur. In painting and sculpture they imitate 
 what they see, but they see the ugly and grotesque rather 
 than the beautiful and true. Their imagination takes 
 pleasure in strange forms, instead of idealizing natural' 
 forms. Their landscapes are without perspective and their 
 paintings without moral life. Everywhere are vulgar scenes 
 which represent neither a sentiment nor an idea, but only 
 reveal the sensual appetites of this listless and yet active 
 race. 
 
16 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 1500-1000. 
 
 Ill 
 
 INDIA 
 
 Contrast between India and China. — China and India 
 adjoin each other. Nevertheless, between them intervenes 
 more than the bulk of the Himalayas, "the Palace of 
 Snow," as the Hindus call it. The two races are absolutely- 
 separate by natural character and disposition. On the one 
 side a harsh, positive spirit, without horizon, has settled 
 and prescribed the rules of a moral code ; on the other are 
 a disordered imagination, a faith ardent but without works, 
 a useless asceticism which kills the flesh, and unbridled 
 passions which satiate it; in short, man lost in the bosom 
 of nature, and aspiring only to lose himself in the bosom of 
 divinity. On both sides, a regular, changeless machine is 
 the idea of government. With the former, this machine is 
 set in motion by the learned, who devote all their attention 
 to the life of the body; with the latter, it is set in motion 
 by the priests, who issue their commands in the name of 
 the gods. In the former case, any one can attain anything; 
 in the latter, no one has the right or power to leave the caste 
 in which he was born. 
 
 Primitive Populations : the Aryans. The Vedas. — India, 
 which consists of the two great valleys of the Indus and 
 the Ganges, Hindustan, and of a peninsula, the Deccan, was 
 first peopled by a black race, of which the Gonds are the 
 last remnants; then by the Turanian tribes, such as the 
 Tamils and Telingas, a distant branch of the Mongolian race; 
 and lastly by men with brown and reddish skin, who appear 
 to have been the base of population along the shores of the 
 Indian Ocean, and with whom Herodotus was acquainted 
 in Gedrosia, under the name of Ethiopians. It was the 
 Aryans, however, who gave India its place in history. 
 These Aryans formed part of a large group of white people 
 permanently established in the valleys of the Hindu-koosh, 
 the Indian Caucasus, possessing the same degree of civiliza- 
 tion with similar languages, habits, and beliefs. When 
 
B.C. 1500-1000.] INDIA 17 
 
 long centuries had crowded into this narrow place a too 
 numerous population, had accentuated tribal differences, 
 and aroused political and religious quarrels, then from this 
 table-land, in four directions and at different epochs, streams 
 of men poured forth who inundated half of Asia, India, and 
 the whole of Europe. The Celts, Pelasgi, laones, or loni- 
 ans, flowed toward Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and Gaul; 
 the Iranians toward Media and Persia; the Germans and 
 Slavs, from the Ural Mountains to the Rhine; as for the 
 Aryans, they turned to the southeast and crossed the Indus. 
 They subjected the region of the Five Rivers, or Punjaub, 
 after a prolonged struggle, the memory of which has been 
 preserved in the Vedas, the first of their sacred books and 
 among the most ancient monuments of our race. 
 
 Fifteen centuries, perhaps, before Christ, the Aryans of 
 the Punjaub conquered the fertile valley v/hich the Ganges 
 overflows tvith periodical inundations like the Nile, and 
 advanced as far as its mouths, which mingle with those of 
 the Brahmapootra, a river equally mighty, whose source is 
 found upon the northern slope of the Palace of Snow. 
 Checked on the east by the mountains and the mass of 
 Mongolian nations of Indo-China, the Aryans fell to fight- 
 ing among themselves. The Mahabharata, the great Indian 
 epic, still tells in 250,000 verses the story of the terrible 
 war between the Kurus and the Pandavas, which ended 
 only on the appearance of the hero Krishna, the incarna- 
 tion of the god Vishnu. 
 
 Delhi is the theatre of the principal events in the Maha- 
 bharata, whose heroes do not quit the valley of the Ganges. 
 This Indian Iliad presents singular affinities with the Greek 
 Iliad, in certain parts surpasses the latter in beauty, and is, 
 like it, the work of centuries. Together with the Vedas it 
 throws light upon the origin of many beliefs and symbols 
 spread among the ancient populations of Greece, Italy, and 
 Northern Europe. The Ramatana, another epic poem, re- 
 lates to the conquest by the Aryans of the peninsula of 
 Hindustan and of the great island of Ceylon, whither Rama, 
 " of the divine bow," carried the Vedic religion. This time 
 a single author, Valmik, narrates in 48,000 verses the ex- 
 ploits of the hero. The brilliancy and grandeur of his pict- 
 ures and the touching grace of his poetry place him by the 
 side of Virgil and Homer. 
 
 History of India. — Unfortunately, this poetic and relig- 
 
18 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 50&-A.D. 1498. 
 
 ions race possesses no other history than that of its gods. 
 The conquest by Darius of the countries on the right of the 
 Indus gave Herodotus no information concerning the India 
 of the Ganges. On the left bank Alexander found the two 
 Pori and many kings and independent peoples. He wished 
 to go to Patna, the capital of the great Prasian Empire, at 
 the junction of the Jamna and the Ganges. A revolt among 
 his soldiers stopped him on the banks of the Hyphasis. 
 An Indian of humble origin, named Tchandragoupta, ex- 
 pelled the governors whom the Macedonian hero left in the 
 Punjaub. He overthrew the empire of the Prasians, and 
 received the ambassadors of Seleucus Nicator. The Greek 
 kings of Bactriana held a part of the valley of the Indus, 
 where we still find their medals. Later on, regular commer- 
 cial relations were established between Egypt and the 
 Indian peninsula, where Roman merchants founded count- 
 ing-houses. Every year they carried thither more than 
 four million dollars in cash to purchase silks, pearls, per- 
 fumes, ivory, and spices. Thus, at the expense of the rest 
 of the world, began that flow of precious metals to India 
 whereby such enormous wealth has been accumulated in 
 the hands of its princes. 
 
 Such treasures tempted the Mussulmans of Persia. Early 
 in the eleventh century, a Turkish chieftain, Mahmoud the 
 Gaznevid, carried into the midst of those inoffensive popu- 
 lations his iconoclastic rage, his cupidity, and his religion. 
 The latter was adopted by a large number of the Hindus. 
 The Turks were followed by the Mongols, whose chief 
 reigned at Delhi until the last century under the name of 
 Great Mogul. The discovery of the Cape of Good Hope 
 and the arrival, in 1498, of Vasco da Gama at Calicut, 
 placed India for the first time in direct relations with Europe. 
 After the merchants of Lisbon came those of Amsterdam, 
 Prance, and England. The English ended by seizing every- 
 thing, and now reign from the Himalayas to Ceylon over 
 200,000,000 subjects. 
 
 The Castes : Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Sudras. — Thus, 
 nearly ten centuries ago, this intelligent and gentle race 
 lost its independence, but it preserved its social organiza- 
 tion, religion, and literature. The great god Brahma, say 
 the sacred books, divided the people into four castes : the 
 Brahmans, or priests, who sprang from his head; the 
 Kshatriyas, or warriors, who came from his arms ; the Vai- 
 
B.C. 120O-900.] INDIA 19 
 
 syas, or laborers and merchants, who issued from his belly 
 and thighs; and the Sudras, or artisans, who came from his 
 feet. The first three, or "the regenerated," who represent 
 the Aryan conquerors, are the ruling castes. Marriage is 
 prohibited between them and the lowest caste, which also 
 includes the descendants of the aborigines, or the vanquished 
 first inhabitants. The children born of forbidden unions, 
 and all violators of religious laws are the parias or impure. 
 They cannot inhabit the cities, bathe in the Ganges, or 
 read the Vedas. To touch them occasions defilement. The 
 Brahman s alone had the right to read and expound the 
 Holy Scriptures or the revealed book. As all science and 
 all wisdom were contained therein, they were both priests, 
 physicians, judges, and poets. Interpreters of the will of 
 heaven, they reigned by virtue of religious terror. Thus 
 they were able to surround the rajahs or kings, chosen 
 from the warrior caste, with the thousand prescriptions 
 of a ceremonial which the laws of Manu have preserved 
 for us. 
 
 Not without terrible struggles did the Kshatriyas submit 
 to this sacerdotal supremacy. Legends have preserved the 
 memory of their resistance. The final triumph of the 
 priests does not appear to have been complete until after 
 the ninth century before Christ. India then received the 
 organization, which in its principal features it still retains, 
 and which we find in the book of the laws of Manu. The 
 last compilation of these laws, certainly prior to the Buddh- 
 ist reform in the sixth century before Christ, carries back 
 this religious, political, and civil code to a far distant 
 antiquity. 
 
 Political Organizations and Eeligion. — The laws of Manu 
 remind one of the Pentateuch of Moses. They undertake 
 to set forth as by divine revelation the origin of the world; 
 the institution of priests; certain precepts for the indi- 
 vidual, the family, and the town ; "the duties of the prince 
 and of the castes ; the civil and military organization, and 
 penal and religious laws. Everything is summed up in two 
 rules : for society, the subordination of castes ; for the indi- 
 vidual, physical and moral purity. The Vedic gods are 
 preserved therein, but are subordinated to Brahmi, the 
 being absolute and eternal, impersonal and sexless, whence, 
 nevertheless, emanates Brahma, the active principle of the 
 universe, which in turn produces Paramatma, the soul of 
 
20 ANCIENT mSTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 900-600. 
 
 the world. He, uniting with Manas, or the intellectual 
 principle, gives origin to all beings, who deviate less from 
 Brahma, their supreme source, in proportion as they possess 
 more wisdom. 
 
 Thus heaven and earth, with all the powers and beings 
 therein, are the product of a series of successive emana- 
 tions. In this immense chain, each being has the rank 
 which his intellectual or moral value has assigned him. 
 Thus, below the absolute Being appears the Indian Tri- 
 murti : Brahma, who creates the worlds ; Vishnu, who regu- 
 lates them ; and Siva, who destroys in order to regenerate 
 them; then the Devas or gods, symbolical representations 
 of the forces of nature ; then man ; still lower, the inferior 
 creatures, real or imaginary, such as the Xagas and the 
 Raxasas, with changing forms. By means of learning and 
 of the rigorous observance of religious practices, especially 
 by austerities which subdue the flesh, and ecstasy which 
 annihilates personality and empties the individual soul into 
 the soul of the world, man may equal the gods, command 
 nature, and deserve at death annihilation in the bosom of 
 Brahma. They whose asceticism and piety have not sufficed 
 to secure such supernatural power and such annihilation in 
 God are recompensed for their vulgar merits, after Yama, 
 the god of death, has touched them, by entrance into the 
 Svarga, and into the seven and twenty places of delight. 
 The guilty are hurled into Xaraka, which is divided into 
 twenty-one parts, according to the diversity of tortures 
 undergone there. 
 
 But the effect of good, as of bad works, is worn out by 
 time. Heaven and hell cast back into life the souls which 
 they have received. These souls reenter existence in differ- 
 ent conditions, which are always determined, nevertheless, 
 by the law of rise and descent in the scale of being according 
 to their merit and demerit. This is metempsychosis, a doc- 
 trine which subjected to successive transmigrations all or- 
 ganized nature from the plant up to man. At the time 
 fixed for the completion of a cycle everything was engulfed 
 in Brahma, but speedily another creation emerged from him, 
 and a new cycle began. The soul of the righteous alone 
 was exempt from these painful rebirths, since his perfec- 
 tions had won for him the privilege of alDSorption into the 
 eternal essence. This was the reward awaited by the priests 
 who had traversed a series of previous existences in such a 
 
B.C. 60O-530.] IXDIA 21 
 
 manner as to deserve a final rebirth in the superior caste, 
 whence they were to pass into the bosom of Brahma. 
 
 This original conception of the transmigration of the soul, 
 at once profound and simple, forced a vast system of expia- 
 tion and reAvard, wherein evil and misery were explained by 
 sin, and good fortune and power by virtue. Unfortunately 
 this doctrine rendered legitimate a hierarchy of beings. It 
 ratified the unalterable distinction of castes, and the con- 
 tempt of the high for the low. It confirmed the constitu- 
 tion of a theocracy which, the better to defend its power, 
 made purity consist, not in real virtue, but in the observance 
 of innumerable rites, the performance of which the priest 
 superintended and regulated. 
 
 Buddhism. — This theocracy, the most powerful which 
 the world has ever known, was shaken in the sixth century 
 before our era by the preaching of Gautama, surnamed 
 Buddha, or the Wise. His father was the rajah of a country 
 near oSTepaul. He was born in a royal palace, but at the 
 age of twenty-nine abandoned his famil}^, wealth, and rank 
 to seek truth in the desert. Seven years later he returned 
 from his wanderings. To mixed crowds, regardless of indi- 
 vidual position or origin, he began to preach, but only by 
 parables. He moved his hearers profoundly. This popular 
 teaching was in itself a revolt agiainst the Brahmaus, who 
 forbade teaching of doctrines to the Sudras. Although it 
 was presented only as a reformation, the new doctrine went 
 much farther. Gautama was destroying Brahmanism by 
 substituting the equality of all men before the moral law 
 for the principle of caste, and by substituting virtues which 
 consist in the practice of the good, for the spurious virtues 
 exacted by a ritual. The promises of salvation, of union 
 with the divine essence, made to the Brahman alone, he 
 replaced by the recognized capacity of all men by their 
 merits to win Nirvana, or deliverance. In short, he broke 
 up priestly heredity by calling to the priesthood the poor 
 and the beggars who devoted themselves to a religious life. 
 
 Buddha established for men six perfections: knowledge, 
 which must, above all, apply itself to distinguishing be- 
 tween the true and the false; energy, which makes us war 
 against our chief enemies, the pleasures of sense; purity, 
 which demonstrates victory ; patience in enduring imaginary 
 ills; charity, the bond of society; alms, the necessary con- 
 sequence of charity. " I am come," he said, " to give to the 
 
22 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 530-150. 
 
 ignorant wisdom, and wisdom is knowledge, virtue, alms. 
 The perfect man is nothing unless he comforts the afflicted 
 and succors the miserable. My doctrine is a doctrine of 
 pity. The prosperous find it difficult, and pride themselves 
 on their birth; but the way of salvation is open to all those 
 who annihilate their passions as an elephant overturns a 
 hut of reeds." 
 
 These words, this so pure moral code, were astounding 
 novelties. " This law of grace," opposed to a law of terror, 
 made rapid progress among the lower castes, and even among 
 the Kshatriyas, who had to endure the haughty domination 
 of the Brahmans. Thus, despite the hatred of the priests 
 against the reformer, Gautama was able to continue his 
 apostolic work in peace until the age of eighty, without 
 ever appealing to force, because he respected established 
 order, and taught that men should render to princes that 
 which was their due. When he died, his disciples collected 
 his discourses, and convoked the first Buddhist council. 
 Five hundred monks were present. After seven months of 
 discussion they formulated their religious ceremonies and 
 doctrine, which were stated with precision in a second 
 council held in the fifth century, and in a third council 
 about one hundred and fifty years before Christ. 
 
 The ritual is extremely simple. The temple contains the 
 image of Gautama, who is honored and respected as the 
 wisest of men, but who receives no adoration. There are 
 no sacrifices or superstitious practices ; at least there were 
 none at the time when Buddhism had not yet been corrupted 
 by the idolatrous traditions of the peoples among whom it 
 spread and degenerated. In matter of dogma there was no 
 separation from the ancient church. It even added to the 
 Vedic divinities new but purer gods. It preserved the 
 theory of rebirths, which, according to the Brahmanic doc- 
 trine, were for the mass of the faithful only periodical returns 
 to misery and despair; but it gave to all men the means of 
 escaping from these evils by the individual's own merit 
 without the providential intervention of the gods. 
 
 The Western religions submit human personality during 
 life to the action of Providence, and eternally preserve that 
 personality after death by the resurrection of the body. In 
 the pantheistic religions of the East, on the contrary, since 
 all beings are of the same substance, they end by absorp- 
 tion into the bosom of the absolute Being, which is the 
 
B.C.15O-A.D.800.] INDIA 23 
 
 metaphysical bond of the universe. Buddhism did, it is 
 true, recognize man's power to accomplish his own sal- 
 vation; but the soul, for it, as for Brahmanism, was a 
 temporary emanation from the infinite substance. Conse- 
 quently, it solved the problem of the future life by the 
 return of this particle of light to its home, by the absorp- 
 tion of the part in the great Whole. 
 
 The Hindu has at once less and more ambition than the 
 Jew, the Mussulman, and the Christian. The latter hope 
 to live again after death, and behold God face to face ; the 
 former consents to lose all individual existence on condition 
 of becoming God himself. 
 
 We lay emphasis upon this moral history of India, be- 
 cause, in the first place, its political history is not known ; 
 and because, in the second, that country has been the main 
 reservoir of philosophical and religious ideas, which, start- 
 ing thence, have taken their course in different directions. 
 The Brahmans, like the priests of Egypt, could well say to 
 the Greeks: "You are children." Who would affirm that 
 no echo of those great collisions of ideas of which India was 
 the theatre, of those philosophical and religious controver- 
 sies, of that peculiar organization of Buddhist churches 
 which were animated by an ardent proselyting spirit, did 
 not reach the commercial cities of the Asiatic coast, where 
 Hellenic civilization had its awakening, and even as far as 
 that great city of Alexandria whither the Ptolemies caused 
 the books of the nations to be brought and translated? 
 
 Against Buddhism the most terrible persecution finally 
 arose. "Let the Buddhists be exterminated," cried the 
 Brahmans, "from the bridge of Rama (Ceylon) to the snow- 
 whitened Himalayas ! Whoever spares the child or the old 
 man, shall himself be put to death." Persecution was suc- 
 cessful in India, which returned to the Brahmans; but 
 Buddhism spread into Thibet, which is its stronghold 
 to-day, and into Mongolia, China, Indo-China, and Ceylon. 
 In those countries it still numbers multitudes of believers, 
 very few of whom, it is true, know and practise the pure 
 doctrine of Gautama. 
 
 From this brief history it is evident that, if India has 
 acted little, she has thought much. Let us add that the 
 country is covered with imposing monuments of great ele- 
 gance, of which we as yet are acquainted only with a small 
 part. In thought, poetry, and art, India has developed 
 three of the glories of Greece. 
 
24 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 5000. 
 
 IV 
 
 EGYPT 
 
 First Inhabitants. — Herodotus said of a part of Egypt, 
 "It is a gift of the Nile." The same might be said of the 
 whole country, for without the periodical inundations of 
 that river the desert would cover everything which was not 
 hidden under the water. 
 
 This country is certainly not the one where the first 
 civilized society was formed. Nevertheless, its history, 
 explicit as to a very great number of facts and persons, 
 covers seventy centuries. Before the Persians conquered 
 it (527 B.C.), it had already been ruled by twenty-six 
 dynasties. The names and acts of many of its sovereigns 
 are carved on the monuments with which they covered 
 Egypt. To the fourth king of the first dynasty we may 
 attribute the step pyramid of Saccara, whose worn and 
 crumbling stones seem to support with diificulty the weight 
 of the centuries accumulated upon its head. 
 
 The first inhabitants of Egypt did not come from the 
 south, descending the Nile, as was long supposed, but from 
 the north, via the Isthmus of Suez. They belong to the 
 race personified in Genesis under the name of Ham, and 
 called by the Arabs " the Red " from the color of their com- 
 plexion. This race appears to have formed, under the name 
 of Cushites, the basis of the population all along the shore 
 of the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, and the Red Sea. 
 These Cushites founded small states, which doubtless 
 existed for long centuries before a powerful chief, Menes, 
 subdued the whole valley from the sea to the cataracts of 
 Syene, and founded, at least five thousand years before our 
 era, the first royal race. To account for this unknown 
 period and for the revolution in which it ended, it was said 
 that at first the gods had reigned, then the demi-gods, that 
 is, the priests, their representatives, and that the latter had 
 been forced to yield their power to a warrior chieftain. 
 
 First Dynasties (5000 years b.c). — Little is known of 
 the first three dynasties, whose sway, eight centuries in 
 
t^l'irlgkl, KS. I.) T. V. C 
 
B.C. 5000-2200.] EGYPT 25 
 
 duration, reached the peninsula of Sinai, where on a rock 
 the name of one of their princes has been found, who 
 worked the copper mines in the peninsula. Under the 
 fourth we behold all the marvels of a civilization then un- 
 paralleled. Art then reached such development as the 
 most brilliant periods will hardly surpass. What space of 
 time must have elapsed between the day when the first man 
 was cast naked upon the earth with the instincts of a wild 
 animal, and that day six thousand years ago, which saw 
 the admirable statue of Chephren come forth from the 
 hands of an Egyptian Phidias, the pyramids of Gizeh rise, 
 and a great monarchical society formed with a strong 
 political and religious organization? The paintings or the 
 inscriptions of temples and tombs recall to us its industry, 
 its commerce, its agriculture, and all the bloom of its vigor- 
 ous youth. So early did Egypt enjoy all the art and science 
 which it ever possessed, and subsequent centuries found 
 themselves able to teach it little. 
 
 The most celebrated members of the sixth dynasty are a 
 conqueror, Apapu, and a queen, Nitocris. Manetho calls 
 the latter " the rosy-cheeked Beauty, " and says that in order 
 to avenge her brother, she invited the persons guilty of his 
 murder to a banquet in a subterranean chamber, into which 
 the waters of the Nile were suddenly admitted. 
 
 From the sixth to the eleventh dynasty, monuments are 
 rare, and consequently history is silent. Great calamities 
 must have befallen the country during this period. When 
 the light reappears, we find royalty banished to the The- 
 baid, whence it emerged in triumph with the kings of the 
 twelfth dynasty, who restored to Egypt its natural bounda- 
 ries, and began the great struggle against the Ethiopians. 
 One of the family constructed an artificial reservoir, cover- 
 ing sixty-three square miles, and called Lake Moeris, to 
 regulate the overflow on the left bank of the Nile. 
 
 Invasion of the Hyksos or Shepherds (2200 b.c). — A 
 horde of shepherds, without doubt crowded westward by 
 some great movement of humanity in Assyria, penetrated 
 into the valley of the Nile by the Isthmus of Suez and sub- 
 jugated the Delta and Middle Egypt. Their kings, who 
 formed the seventeenth or Hyksos dynasty, established 
 themselves at Memphis, and fortified the town of Avaris or 
 Plusium at the entrance of the Delta in order to prevent 
 other nomads from following in their footsteps. Appar- 
 
26 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 1750-1288. 
 
 ently it was one of these kings whom Joseph served as 
 minister. After having reigned for five hundred years, the 
 Hyksos were at last defeated by the kings of Thebes, and 
 gradually forced back to the very walls of Pelusium. 
 Ahmes I. succeeded in driving them thence, and the greater 
 part of the nation quitted Egypt. Nevertheless to this day, 
 in the vicinity of Lake Menzaleh, men of robust limbs and 
 angular features are to be found, who may be descendants 
 of the Shepherds. 
 
 Prosperity of Egjrpt from the Eighteenth to the Thirteenth 
 Century. — The expulsion of the Hyksos was followed by 
 prosperity that lasted for more than five hundred years. 
 Thanks to the protecting deserts and its strong political 
 organization, Egypt again developed a brilliant civilization 
 which the greatest men of Greece came to study. This epoch 
 begins with the princes of the eighteenth dynasty (1703- 
 1462): Ahmes the Liberator; Thothmes I., who commem- 
 orated his victories by columns on the banks of the Euphrates 
 and Nile ; the regent Hatasu, whose exploits the temple of 
 Deir-el-Bahari at Thebes hands down; Thothmes III., the 
 conqueror of western Asia and of the Soudan, " who set the 
 frontiers of Egypt wherever he pleased," as says the author 
 of a heroic song carved on a pillar in the Museum of Boulaq ; 
 Amenophis III., the Memnon of the Greeks, the King of 
 the Speaking Statue, which at sunrise saluted Aurora, his 
 divine mother. In the tomb of the mother of Ahmes a 
 veritable treasure of precious stones of the rarest workman- 
 ship has been found. 
 
 This good fortune continued under the princes of the 
 nineteenth dynasty (1462-1288), several of whom rendered 
 the name Kameses glorious. Seti I., after having carried 
 his arms as far as Armenia, built the pillared hall of Karnak, 
 a masterpiece of Egyptian architecture. He even opened 
 from the Nile to the Red Sea a canal, vestiges of which can 
 still be discerned, and on the arid road to the gold mines of 
 Gebel Atoky he dug a well, which must be called artesian, 
 since the water spouted from it. His successor, Rameses II., 
 is the Sesostris to whom the Greeks have ascribed all the 
 conquests of those ancient kings. He was indeed a warlike 
 prince. Columns found near Beirout, and a whole poem 
 carved on a wall of Karnak, still attest his achievements. 
 He was above all a great builder. He erected the two 
 temples of Ipsamboul, the Ramesseum of Thebes, and the 
 
B.C. 1288-665.] EGYPT 27 
 
 obelisks of Luxor, one of which, a granite monolith seventy- 
 seven feet high, covered with inscriptions in his honor, is 
 the central monument of the Place de la Concorde in Paris. 
 He compelled his captives to work on these monuments. 
 The Israelites, scattered in great numbers over Lower 
 Egypt, were treated as slaves. They were forced to labor 
 in the quarries, to make bricks, and construct embankments 
 to protect the cities from inundation. The oppression of 
 their taskmasters fired the slaves with resolution. Under 
 Meneptah the Hebrews departed from Egypt. The tomb of 
 this Pharaoh is still to be seen in the valley of Bab-el-Moluk. 
 
 Decline of Egypt. Invasion of the Ethiopians. — The 
 twentieth dynasty (1288-1110) begins with a great king, 
 Rameses III., who represented on the magnificent temple 
 of Medinet Abu at Thebes his exploits in Syria and the 
 Soudan. After him came the decline. Egypt had become 
 enfeebled in attempting to expand. Instead of remaining 
 upon the banks of her sacred river, wherein was her 
 strength, and in the midst of the deserts which gave her 
 security, she sought to subdue Asia and the country of the 
 Cushites and Libyans, and even the great island of Cyprus. 
 She desired to control the sea. When indolent kings suc- 
 ceeded the glorious Pharaohs, priestly intrigue seated the 
 high priest of Ammon upon the throne of Thebes, while 
 another dynasty, the twenty-first, reigned at Tanis in the 
 Delta. Thus divided, Egypt submitted to the influence of 
 neighboring peoples instead of imposing her own. Her 
 kings assumed Assyrian names, gave princesses of their 
 blood to Solomon's harem, and surrounded themselves with 
 a Libyan guard, which portioned out the country among its 
 chiefs. The Cushites or Ethiopians took advantage of these 
 discords to seize Upper Egypt. Sabaco, their prince, even 
 captured King Bocchoris and burned him alive. " The vile 
 race of Cushites," as the twenty -fifth dynasty, reigned for 
 fifty years over all the land of the Pharaohs (715-655). 
 Among their kings are Sebichus or Sua, whom Uzziah 
 invoked against Shalmaneser, and Tharaka, who helped 
 Hezekiah against Sennacherib. According to Manetho, a 
 revolution drove the third successor of Sabaco back to 
 Ethiopia. The leaders of this movement were natives of 
 Sais and founded the twenty-sixth dynasty. 
 
 The Last Pharaohs. — Herodotus thus narrates the expul- 
 sion of the Ethiopians ; " The last of the Ethiopian kings 
 
28 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 700-a.d. 381. 
 
 was terrified by a dream, and fled to his native states, leav- 
 ing the government of the country to the priest Sethos. 
 At his death the warriors seized the supreme power and 
 intrusted it to twelve of their number. Psammeticus, one 
 of the twelve, overthrew his colleagues by means of Carian 
 and Ionian pirates. Realizing the military superiority of 
 the Greeks, he invited them in great numbers to the coun- 
 try, and thereby angered the native army, part of which 
 emigrated to Ethiopia. Aided by the newcomers, he tried 
 to recover Syria, and for twenty-eight years besieged Azoth, 
 which he finally captured." Necho, his successor, attempted 
 to complete Seti's canal and unite the Red Sea and Mediter- 
 ranean. He caused the Phoenicians to circumnavigate 
 Africa, and defeated Josiah, king of Judah, at Mageddo. 
 Master of Palestine, he pushed on to the Euphrates, but 
 was defeated by the Babylonians and lost all his conquests. 
 The second of his successors, Apries, likewise failed in his 
 attempts against the Cyrenians. His soldiers, believing 
 themselves betrayed, installed in his place Amasis, one of 
 their own number, under whom Egypt emitted a final gleam 
 of brilliancy. Twenty thousand cities are then said to have 
 covered the borders of the Nile. This prince gave the city 
 of Naucratis to the Greeks, and entered into close relations 
 with the Median, Lydian, and Babylonian kings, who were 
 themselves menaced by a fresh invasion of the barbarous 
 Persian mountaineers. He could not avert their ruin, and 
 beheld the successive fall of Astyages, Crcesus, and Bal- 
 thasar. The same fate awaited his own son, Psammeticus 
 III., who, after a reign of six months, was overthrown by 
 the Persian Cambyses (527). 
 
 Eg^ypt under the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the 
 Arabs. — Since that day Egypt has never been independent, 
 though often rebelling against the yoke of foreigners. An 
 unruly province of Persia, she was conquered by Alexander, 
 who founded the famous city which bears his name (331). 
 The dynasty of the Ptolemies reigned gloriously for a cen- 
 tury, and ingloriously twice as long. The Romans took 
 their place after the death of Cleopatra (30 b.c). In 
 381 A.D. an edict of Theodosius suppressed the religion of 
 the Pharaohs. The temples were mutilated, the statues of 
 the gods destroyed, and of one of the richest civilizations 
 of the world nothing was left except the ruins, which at the 
 present day we piously preserve. 
 
A.D. 640-1880.] EGYPT 29 
 
 Egypt, thus violently forced into Christianity, remained 
 nominally Christian for two centuries and a half without 
 finding peace. The Arabs brought Islam (640). It took 
 definite root, and under the Fatimite caliphs the land en- 
 joyed a brief splendor. Cairo, a city which they founded, 
 still contains the largest Mussulman school in the world. 
 Thrice has France touched the land, always leaving glorious 
 recollections of herself: in the thirteenth century with Saint 
 Louis ; in the eighteenth with Bonaparte ; in the nineteenth 
 with Frenchmen who conquered Egypt by their science and 
 opened to the commerce of the globe the Isthmus of Suez, 
 thus grandly realizing the dream of a Pharaoh who had been 
 dead thirty-five centuries ! 
 
 Egyptian Religion, Government, and Art. — Two religions 
 existed side by side, the one held by the people and the 
 other by the priests. The former was coarse and material. 
 It regarded certain animals, the ichneumon, ibis, crocodile, 
 hippopotamus, cat, bull, and many more, as divine beings. 
 It was the old African fetichism, though elevated by theo- 
 gonic ideas, as is shown by those gods with the head of a 
 dog or falcon, and by the worship of the bull Apis, ** en- 
 gendered by a flash of lightning." The latter religion 
 sought to account for the mysterious phenomena of nature, 
 and explained the good and evil encountered everywhere by 
 the opposition of two principles as Osiris, the representative 
 of all beneficent influences, and Typhon, the god of night 
 and of evil days. It even seems at first to have taught 
 belief in one God without beginning or end. The care 
 taken by the Egyptians to preserve the bodies of the dead 
 proves that they hoped for a future life. The inscriptions 
 even speak of numerous rebirths, which recall the metemp- 
 sychosis of the Hindus. But this idea of the absolute and 
 eternal Being was veiled from the eyes of the people and 
 the priests by the conception of a divine trinity, — Osiris 
 or the sun, the principle of all life, Isis or nature, and 
 Horus, their divine child. After once abandoning pure 
 monotheism, the Egyptians glided rapidly down the 
 descent of polytheism. The representations on their 
 monuments and in their religious rites of a host of 
 secondary divinities made them forget the chief god, 
 of whose attributes the others had at first been merely 
 symbols. 
 
 The government was a monarchy, all the stronger because 
 
30 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST 
 
 its kings, according to common belief, were participants of 
 divinity. All were " Sons of the Sun," and in that capacity 
 were chiefs of religion as well as of society. 
 
 Society had neither a sacerdotal nor aristocratic caste, 
 nor a popular body which might form a counterpoise to 
 the king. This state of affairs ended in the establishment 
 of a certain number of classes, which were non-hereditary, 
 but in which the son habitually remained in the father's 
 state of life. Herodotus enumerated seven of these classes : 
 priests, warriors, laborers, herdsmen, merchants, mariners, 
 and, after Psammeticus, interpreters. There were, no 
 doubt, many others. "Egypt," says Bossuet, "was the 
 source of all good police regulation." We read in Diodorus 
 that perjury was punished with death ; that he who did not 
 succor a man engaged in combat with an assassin, suffered 
 the same penalty; that the slanderer was punished. Every 
 Egyptian was obliged to deposit with a magistrate a docu- 
 ment setting forth his means of livelihood, and a severe 
 penalty discouraged false statements. The tongue of the 
 spy, who betrayed state secrets to enemies, and both hands 
 of counterfeiters, were cut off. In no case was accumulated 
 interest allowed to exceed the capital; the property of the 
 debtor, not his person, constituted the security for his debt. 
 An Egyptian could borrow, giving his father's mummy as 
 surety, and he who did not pay his debt was deprived of 
 burial with his family. 
 
 The Egyptians successfully cultivated many industrial 
 arts, as well as mechanics, geometry, and astronomy. 
 They invented hieroglyphic writing, whose characters, at 
 first simple figurative representations of objects or symbols 
 of certain ideas, were completed by phonetic signs, which 
 like our letters and syllables stood only for sounds. In 
 painting they employed vivid colors, which time has not 
 effaced. Some of their finest statues might rival those of 
 Greece, did not a certain stiffness indicate a conventional 
 art wherein liberty was lacking; but their architecture is 
 unrivalled in its grand impressiveness. In proof are the 
 temples of Thebes; the hall of Karnak, where the vault 
 is supported by 140 colossal columns, many of which are 
 seventy feet high and eleven feet in diameter; and the 
 pyramids, one of which, 481 feet in height, is the most 
 tremendous pile of stone ever heaped up by man. Further 
 demonstration is furnished by the obelisks, the rock tombs, 
 
EGYPT 31 
 
 the labyrinth, the enormous Sphinx, which measures twenty- 
 six feet from the chin to the crown of the head, the dikes, 
 the highways, the canals to contain or guide the waters of 
 the Nile, and Lake Moeris. No people in ancient times 
 moved so much earth and granite. 
 
32 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 1200-606. 
 
 THE ASSYRIANS 
 
 The Tigris and the Euphrates. Babylon and Nineveh. — 
 
 From the mountains of Armenia descend two rivers, the 
 Tigris and the Euphrates, whose sources lie near each other, 
 and which, after uniting their waters, fall into the Persian 
 Gulf. These two rivers embrace in their course a vast 
 tract of country, mountainous on the north and flat and 
 sandy in the centre and south, to which the general name 
 of Mesopotamia is applied. Its first inhabitants were : in 
 Chaldaea, or the southern part, those Cushites with whom 
 we are already acquainted ; toward the mountains, Turanian 
 tribes, which perhaps made the great Hyksos invasion 
 along the banks of the Nile ; in the centre, Semitic peoples 
 of a white race whose origin is unknown, but who are 
 famous in history as the Assyrians, Hebrews, Arabs, and 
 Phoenicians. 
 
 In this country rose two splendid cities, Babylon on the 
 Euphrates and Nineveh on the Tigris, each in turn the 
 capital of the Assyrian Empire. Nothing in antiquity is 
 so celebrated as Babylon, whose walls measured a circuit 
 of twenty leagues, and rose three or four hundred feet high. 
 The Chaldaean priests ascribed to it an antiquity of four 
 hundred thousand years, but Genesis fixes its foundation 
 within the historical period, where also it places the origin 
 of the Hebrews. It ascribes the building of Babylon to 
 Nimrod, the mighty hunter. His descendants reigned there 
 until the time of the great Iranian migration, which bore 
 one body of Aryans toward the Indus, and another to the 
 middle of Persia. Those who took the latter direction 
 arrived at Babylon, but did not rule there long, and Assyria 
 reverted to her first masters. The Pharaohs of the eigh- 
 teenth dynasty held her in subjection for more than two 
 centuries, and Arab chiefs, as their vassals, reigned on the 
 banks of the Euphrates. When the decline of Egypt began 
 with the twentieth dynasty, the Assyrian princes freed 
 
B.C. 1200-606.] THE ASSYBIANS 33 
 
 themselves, and became conquerors in turn. All the coun- 
 try between the Euphrates and the Lebanon recognized their 
 sway. On the east of the Tigris, Media became their vassal 
 province. If we are to believe the Chaldean priest Berosus, 
 they penetrated to Bactriana and India. The monuments 
 begin to give us certain information only with the ferocious 
 Assurnazirpal and his son, Shalmaneser, whose war against 
 the Hebrews and whose victory over Hosea, king of Israel, 
 are recorded in the Bible. A successor of these princes had 
 for his queen Semiramis, who was left at his death sole 
 mistress of the empire. She enlarged Babylon, constructed 
 quays and hanging gardens, and surrounded the city with 
 a wall forty-two miles long and broad enough for six chariots 
 to pass abreast on top. 
 
 Sardanapalus was the last sovereign of the first Assyrian 
 Empire. His excesses and effeminate life encouraged the 
 Chaldaean Phul and the Median Arbaces to rebel. Not dis- 
 couraged by four successive defeats, they succeeded finally 
 in imprisoning the king in Nineveh. Rather than sur- 
 render, Sardanapalus caused a funeral pyre to be prepared, 
 and flung himself into it with his wives and treasures. 
 Nineveh was destroyed (789). 
 
 Second Assyrian Empire. — The Medes had regained their 
 independence, and the Babylonians ruled over Assyria. 
 His victory rendered Phul, their leader, sufiiciently strong 
 to resume the wars of the Ninevite kings against the nations 
 west of the Euphrates, and to compel Menahem, king of 
 Judah, to pay tribute. At his death, the Assyrians rebelled 
 under Tiglathpileser, a descendant of their ancient kings, 
 who conquered Babylon and set up a second Assyrian 
 Empire (744 B.C.). The distant expeditions of this prince 
 from Palestine to the Indus, the victory of Sargon at Rapha 
 over the Ethiopian, Sabaco, the successes of Sennacherib, 
 who rebuilt Nineveh (707), of Esarhaddon (681), who con- 
 quered Egypt, and of a new Sardanapalus, who subdued 
 Asia Minor, show the might of the new empire. But it 
 fell, like the first, before a coalition of the Babylonians 
 and Medes. Sarac, its last king, following the example of 
 Sardanapalus, threw himself and his treasures upon a funeral 
 pile, and the victors, entering Nineveh, utterly destroyed 
 the detested city (606). Wiped from the face of the earth 
 for twenty-four centuries, no one knew even the site of its 
 famous temples, when suddenly it reappeared in the world. 
 
34 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 58^-330. 
 
 with its arts, its language, its customs, its civilization, all 
 rescued from oblivion and attested by its numerous bas- 
 reliefs and sculptures, which the Frenchman Botta dis- 
 covered in 1844 at Mosoul, and which can now be wondered 
 at in the Louvre. 
 
 Last Assyrian Empire. Capture of Babylon by Cyrus. — 
 Babylon replaced Nineveh. Nebuchadnezzar, its king, won 
 a glorious victory over the Egyptian Necho at Circesium. 
 He destroyed Jerusalem (588), took Tyre after a siege of 
 thirteen years, traversed Egypt as a conqueror, and adorned 
 Babylon with magnificent monuments. His four successors 
 reigned shamefully. Cyrus, king of the Persians, besieged 
 Babylon and entered it by the bed of the Euphrates, which 
 he had diverted from its channel (538). Instead of destroy- 
 ing the city, he made it one of his capitals. So did Alex- 
 ander. The construction of Seleucia caused its abandonment 
 by the Greek kings. To-day nothing is to be seen on the 
 spot which it occupied except a heap of ruins, upon which 
 the Arab rarely plants his tent, and which furnish a lair 
 for the beasts of the desert. When the Parthians, and 
 afterwards the Persians, raised the great Oriental Empire 
 which the Romans were unable to overthrow, Ctesiphon 
 was their royal residence. Each new sovereign authority 
 gave birth to a new capital. Under the Arabian caliphs 
 Bagdad was the queen of the Orient. It is still one of the 
 great cities of the heir of the caliphs, the sultan of Con- 
 stantinople. 
 
 Government, Religion, and Arts of Assyria. — The king of 
 Nineveh or of Babylon was the absolute master of the life 
 and possessions of his subjects. Such is the law of oriental 
 monarchies. At least, on the banks of the Tigris and the 
 Euphrates, the king was not considered a deity, as on the 
 banks of the Nile. Neither were there any castes, nor even 
 a hierarchy of classes. Assyrian society was that sort of 
 promiscuous mass which is not displeasing to despotism, 
 because it permits the prince to raise or degrade whomso- 
 ever he sees fit. 
 
 At the base of the religion of these peoples, the idea of 
 a single God can be descried; but there also this idea was 
 concealed by a throng of secondary divinities, who are 
 always the personification of some force of nature. In 
 those immense plains of Chaldsea, where the horizon ex- 
 tends so far, under that cloudless sky, and during those 
 
B.C. 900-538.] THE ASSYRIANS 35 
 
 nights which the Orient makes so beautiful, because the 
 stars shine there with a brilliancy unknown to us, the 
 dominating worship was Sabianism, or the adoration of 
 the stars. The sun, Baal, was the great god of the Assyr- 
 ians, and in the celestial bodies they located spirits which 
 exercised upon man and upon his destiny a powerful influ- 
 ence. Thus their priests had a great reputation as astrono- 
 mers. To them we owe the zodiac, the division of the 
 circle into 360 degrees, and that of the degree into sixty 
 minutes, the calculation of lunar eclipses, the so-called 
 table of Pythagoras, and a system of measures, weights, 
 and money which served nearly all the commerce of the 
 ancient world, since it was employed by the Phoenicians 
 and the ancient Greeks. To them also we owe astrology, 
 whereby they developed a lucrative trade through the sale 
 of talismans or consecrated signs, supposed to give their 
 possessors magical powers. The common people found 
 the objects of their adoration nearer at hand. They had 
 fish gods, like Oannes and Derceto, or bird gods, like the 
 doves which typified Semiramis. The worship of Mylitta, 
 the goddess of generation and fecundity, gave rise to 
 abominable disorders by sanctifying the grossest sensual 
 appetites. 
 
 The inhabitants, by their industry, their skilful agricul- 
 ture, and their commerce, which two magnificent rivers 
 favored, accumulated prodigious riches in this empire, so 
 long the rival of the empire of the Pharaohs. The carpets 
 of Babylon, its textile fabrics, its enamelled potteries, its 
 amulets and canes, and its thousand objects of the gold- 
 smith's art, were in great demand, even in the Eoman 
 Empire. The Assyrian sculptures reveal a degree of skill 
 hardly suspected. Herodotus, visiting Egypt in the time 
 of its full splendor, believed that the Greeks had derived 
 their art and gods from the banks of the Nile. We now 
 know that in the depths of Asia the origin of their religious 
 ideas must be sought. Probably through Cilicia and Asia 
 Minor Assyrian art reached the Greek Asiatic colonies, and 
 from them awoke the genius of artists in the mother coun- 
 try. More than one sculpture at Athens recalls forms on 
 the monuments of Khorsabad. The figures of Selinus, and 
 even in a certain degree the marbles of Egina, seem to have 
 been touched by the Ninevites. 
 
36 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 1500. 
 
 VI 
 
 THE PHCBNICIANS 
 
 Phoenician Cities between Lebanon and the Sea. — Be- 
 tween the Euphrates and the western sea stretch the desert, 
 which belonged to the Semitic nomads, and the Lebanon, 
 the fertile valleys of which became the habitation of numer- 
 ous Canaanitish tribes who originally occupied the shores 
 of the Persian Gulf. The Phoenicians, near kinsmen of the 
 Hebrews, the most famous of all these tribes, established 
 themselves in the country of the Jordan, and on the farther 
 side of the mountain chain on the narrow strip of coast 
 which is bathed by the Mediterranean. The conquests of 
 Joshua gave the valley of the Jordan to the Hebrews. 
 Hemmed in between the mountains, whose venerable forests 
 furnished the timber for the construction of ships, and the 
 sea, which formed numerous harbors and invited to naviga- 
 tion and commerce, the Phoenicians became skilful mariners, 
 both from necessity and natural situation. Their ships 
 ploughed the Mediterranean. Population increased with 
 general prosperity, and cities multiplied. Soon, both for 
 the interests of commerce and to relieve the congestion of 
 population, it became necessary to plant colonies at a dis- 
 tance. The most widely known of Phoenician cities were 
 Sidon, whose glassware and purple were celebrated; Tyre, 
 which held the highest rank; Aradus, Byblos, and Berytus. 
 We learn from Holy Writ what luxury and effeminacy and 
 what an impure and often sanguinary religion reigned in 
 Phoenicia. Mothers burned their children alive in honor 
 of Baal-Moloch, and the utmost license was approved by 
 their chief goddess, Astarte. 
 
 Phoenician Commerce and Colonies. — But the Phoenicians 
 offset their vices by industry and commerce, and above all 
 by those colonies which so contributed to the expansion and 
 progress of civilization. They established themselves in 
 the -^gean islands long before the Greeks ; founded count- 
 ing-houses in Africa, Spain, Gaul, and Sicily ; and profited 
 
B.C. 1500-332.] THE PHCENICIANS 37 
 
 by the commerce of Arabia, India, and Ethiopia. In the 
 fifth century they still possessed in Sicily the three cities 
 of Motya, Selinus and Panormus. In Gaul the traces of 
 their settlement vanished early, but they covered the whole 
 south of Spain, then so rich in silver mines, with their 
 colonies. On the African coast rose Leptis, Adrumetum, 
 Utica, and Carthage, the new Tyre, which became the most 
 powerful maritime state of antiquity, and forced the neigh- 
 boring Phoenician colonies to acknowledge its supremacy. 
 While Carthage thus monopolized the commerce of the 
 western Mediterranean, the Phoenicians of the mother 
 country shared with the Greeks that of the eastern Mediter- 
 ranean, and endeavored to form closer relations with the 
 countries washed by the Indian Ocean. They forced the 
 Jews to cede to them two ports on the Red Sea, Eliath and 
 Eziongeber, whence their fleets sailed to seek ivory and 
 gold dust in the land of Ophir, incense and spices in Arabia 
 Eelix, the most beautiful pearls then known in the Persian 
 Gulf, and in India a thousand precious wares. For them 
 numerous caravans traversed Babylonia, Arabia, Persia, 
 Bactriana, and Thibet, whence they brought back the silk 
 of China, which sold for its weight in gold, the furs of 
 Tartary, and the precious stones of India. They added to 
 this commerce the products of their national industry in 
 glass, purple, and a thousand articles of attire. 
 
 Conquerors of Phoenicia. — This prosperity of Phoenicia 
 excited the cupidity of invaders. She was conquered by 
 the Pharaohs of the eighteenth dynasty. The Assyrians 
 many times appeared under the walls of Tyre, which was 
 taken by Sennacherib, almost ruined by Nebuchadnezzar, 
 and destroyed by Alexander. Phoenicia found herself al- 
 most lost in the vast empires of the Persians, the Seleucidae, 
 and the Romans ; but, placed between two great centres of 
 civilization, Egypt and Assyria, she took from them and 
 carried to the West whatever they had best developed. She 
 diffused something of the art, the industry, the science, of 
 those two nations. Above all she took from Babylon a 
 metric system, the necessary agent of commerce, and from 
 Memphis the idea and form of alphabetical writing, which 
 so many peoples have copied and modified, and which has 
 been tlie indispensable instrument of intellectual progress. 
 
38 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 1490. 
 
 VII 
 
 THE HEBREWS 
 
 Ancient Traditions. — At the head of their race, the He- 
 brews place Abraham, who came from Chaldsea, perhaps 
 two thousand years before Christ, and settled in the land of 
 Canaan; Isaac, son of the patriarch; and Jacob, the father 
 of twelve sons, whose posterity formed the twelve tribes of 
 Israel. The touching story is well known of Joseph, one 
 of the twelve, whom his brethren sold to Egyptian mer- 
 chants. By dint of wisdom and tact the Hebrew slave at- 
 tained the highest honors, became the minister of a Pharaoh, 
 and called to him his family, whom he established in the 
 land of Goshen between the Nile and the Red Sea. 
 
 In this fertile district the Hebrews multiplied without 
 mixing with the Egyptians, who eventually looked upon 
 this foreign race with distrust, and treated them like the 
 captives brought back by the Pharaohs from their distant 
 conquests. They tried to compel them to abandon pastoral 
 life and to shut themselves up in cities. They forced them 
 to build the cities of Rameses, Pithon, and On; they made 
 them work on the canals and on the constructions of every 
 sort with which Egypt was being, covered. The Israelite 
 traditions assert that, in order to diminish their numbers, 
 which increased in spite of every hardship, the Pharaohs 
 commanded that all male infants should be killed at birth. 
 An Israelitish woman of the tribe of Levi, after having 
 hidden her child for three months, exposed it on the Nile 
 in a basket of bulrushes at the spot where the daughter of 
 Pharaoh was in the habit of bathing. The princess heard 
 the cries of the infant and took pity on it. He was called 
 Moses, or the " drawn out," because he had been drawn from 
 the waters. He was reared by his adopted mother in the 
 royal palace, and instructed in all the learning of the Egyp- 
 tian priests. However, his own mother had revealed to 
 him his origin, and one day he killed an Egyptian whom 
 he saw beating a Hebrew. Forced to flight by this murder. 
 
Thapsacus ^ 
 
 Ei.gr,iv«lbyC«llo.., 
 
B.C. 1490.] THE HEBREWS 39 
 
 he escaped to Jethro, in the extreme south of Arabia Petraea, 
 where he found again the ancient belief of his fathers, pure 
 and simple manners, and the patriarchal life of Abraham 
 and Jacob. He returned to Egypt, resolved to deliver his 
 people " from the house of bondage, " and led the Hebrews 
 back to the desert with their herds. 
 
 Religious and Civil Legislation. — They wandered long in 
 the solitudes of Arabia, where the majesty of the one God 
 everywhere is revealed. Mount Sinai was consecrated by 
 the promulgation of the civil and religious law, and Moses 
 tried to chain his people to the precious dogma of the one- 
 ness of God by numerous ordinances which imparted to the 
 Hebrew laws an incomparable superiority over every system 
 of legislation. Instead of the distinction of castes, which 
 moreover cannot be enforced in the desert, the Hebrews 
 had the equality of citizens before God, before the law, 
 and, in a certain measure, before fortune. In the sabbatical 
 year, and at the jubilee which occurred, the one at the end 
 of every seven years, the other at the end of forty-nine 
 years, the slave was emancipated, debt was outlawed, and 
 alienated property was restored to its former owner. The 
 leaders of the Jews sprang from the people. If their priest- 
 hood became hereditary, inasmuch as always restricted to 
 the tribe of Levi, the priests possessed only the inheritance 
 of poverty. In the ancient world society reposed on slavery, 
 but the Jews had servants rather than slaves. Elsewhere 
 the legislator disregarded the poor and repelled the stranger. 
 Here the law distinguished in favor of the poor. It pro- 
 hibited usury, enjoined alms, prescribed charity, even toward 
 animals, and was kindly to the stranger. Thus everything 
 which the ancient world degraded and rejected, the Mosaic 
 law exalted. In this society, the stranger was no longer 
 an enemy, the slave was still a man, and woman took her 
 seat worthily beside the head of the family, enjoying the 
 same respect. 
 
 Moral Grandeur of Hebrew Legislation. — In the Deca- 
 logue, or summary of the entire moral code, human and 
 divine, in ten commandments, we read : " Thou shalt have 
 none other gods before me." "Honor thy father and thy 
 mother that thy days may be long." "Thou shalt not 
 steal. " " Thou shalt not kill. " " Thou shalt not bear false 
 witness against thy neighbor." "Thou shalt not covet thy 
 neighbor's house . . . nor anything that is thy neighbor's." 
 
40 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 1097. 
 
 In the law we find these beautiful and touching precepts : 
 "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil." " Ye shall 
 not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict 
 them in any wise, and they cry at all under me, I will 
 surely hear their cry." " Thou shalt not oppress a stranger : 
 for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers 
 in the land of Egypt." "Six years thou shalt sow thy 
 land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof : but the seventh 
 year thou shalt let it rest and lie still ; that the poor of thy 
 people may eat : and what they leave the beasts of the field 
 shall eat." " When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou 
 shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field . . . neither 
 slialt thou gather every grape of thy vineyards ; thou shalt 
 leave them for the poor and stranger." " The wages of him 
 that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the 
 morning." "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 " Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the 
 face of the old man." " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when 
 he treadeth out the corn." "Thou shalt not seethe a kid 
 in his mother's milk." 
 
 Conquest of Palestine. The Judges. The Kings (1097 b.c). 
 — Moses wished his people to return to the land which 
 Abraham had chosen wherein to pitch his tent. Joshua, 
 his successor, crossed the Jordan, destroyed Jericho, and 
 divided the land of Canaan among the twelve tribes of 
 Israel. 
 
 At his death the political bond broke which held the tribes 
 together, and the government of the elders was too feeble to 
 complete the conquest of the country or to repulse the 
 attacks of neighboring kings. Hence ensued periods of 
 servitude, from which the Hebrews were rescued by strong 
 and brave men, who after the victory remained their 
 judges, thus erecting in the midst of this patriarchal re- 
 public a sort of temporary monarchy. These heroes of 
 Israel were Othniel; Ehud, who fought with both hands; 
 Shamgar; the prophetess Deborah; Gideon, who scattered 
 a whole army with three hundred men; Jephthah, who 
 immolated his daughter in order to fulfil a rash vow; Sam- 
 son, celebrated for his prodigious strength ; the high priest 
 Eli, under whom the Philistines captured the Ark of the 
 Covenant, wherein was kept the book of the law; and, 
 lastly, Samuel, who, despite his wise and just administra- 
 tion, was forced by the Hebrews to give them a king. 
 
B.C. 1019.] THE HEBREWS 41 
 
 He chose Saul, a valiant man of the tribe of Benjamin, 
 who seemed simple-minded and docile. He poured the holy 
 oil of consecration on the head of the new prince, and de- 
 posited in the Ark a book wherein he had written down 
 the rights and duties of the kingly office (1097 b.c). At first 
 Saul justified the prophet's choice by his moderation and 
 victories. But rendered proud by success, he abandoned 
 his rustic habits, surrounded himself by a body-guard of 
 three thousand men, and shook off the yoke of the high 
 priest. Samuel secretly anointed David, a Hebrew shep- 
 herd, and introduced him into the palace, that some day he 
 might install him in the place of the unruly prince. The 
 young shield-bearer of the king attracted the attention of 
 all Israel by slaying the Philistine Goliath. Saul, consumed 
 by jealousy, made several attempts to slay him with his 
 javelin. When he himself fell in 1058 in a battle against 
 the Philistines, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and a 
 few years later the other ten tribes, recognized David as 
 king of Israel. 
 
 For the time being no danger threatened from Egypt and 
 Assyria. The little Hebrew state was able to develop and 
 extend without encountering too formidable adversaries. 
 Palestine, which had so often been the road of the con- 
 querors, became a conqueror in her turn. The capture of 
 Sion or Jerusalem, the destruction of the Philistines and 
 the Moabites, numerous successes over all other neighbor- 
 ing peoples, territorial extension of the kingdom as far as 
 the Euphrates on the north and as far as the Red Sea on the 
 south, set forth in David the victorious prince. His regu- 
 lations for worship, for the public administration, for jus- 
 tice, for the establishment of a numerous army, one-tenth 
 of which was always under arms, and, lastly, the materials 
 which he collected for the building of the temple, and the 
 treaties of commerce concluded with Tyre, bear witness to 
 his solicitude during peace. But a crime, the murder of 
 Uriah, and the revolt of his son Absalom, saddened his last 
 years. The Church still sings his sublime psalms. 
 
 Solomon, a peaceful prince, fond of splendor and civiliza- 
 tion, governed from the recesses of his palace like the other 
 kings of the East. At his accession (1019) he consolidated 
 his power by bloody acts, reduced the high priesthood to de- 
 pendence upon the king, so as to emancipate the sovereign 
 from all equal opposing authority, and built with magnifi- 
 
42 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 978-586, 
 
 cence the temple at Jerusalem. He proved his wisdom 
 by a famous decision, founded Palmyra in the heart of the 
 desert, created a navy, and made alliances with Tyre and 
 Egypt. His fame spread abroad, and the Queen of Sheba 
 came to visit the great king of the East. But notwith- 
 standing outward splendor, the provinces were being im- 
 poverished, and Solomon himself destroyed the foundation 
 of his power by introducing idolatry into his palace. The 
 Idumgeans and Syrians revolted. His subjects rose in re- 
 bellion because of the growing burden of taxation, and he 
 died in the midst of public misery (978). 
 
 The Schism and the Captivity. — His son, Rehoboam, re- 
 fused to lessen the exactions of the royal treasury, and ten 
 tribes seceded. Benjamin and Judah alone remained faith- 
 ful to the house of David. From that time on there existed 
 two nations, two kingdoms, Israel and Judah : Israel more 
 populous, more extensive ; Judah richer and more respected. 
 Every year all Jews were bound to bring their offerings to 
 the temple at Jerusalem. To prevent his new subjects from 
 going to settle in the kingdom of Judah, which possessed 
 the national sanctuary, Jeroboam erected two altars, one at 
 Bethel and one at Dan. Hither his people came to sacrifice. 
 This violation of the religious law prepared Israel for the 
 introduction of idolatry, the establishment of which was 
 also favored by the constant relations of its kings with the 
 Syrians. Judah showed more respect to the Mosaic law. 
 But there also idolatry made its way, and for its expulsion 
 prophets were needed, fired by the double inspiration of 
 religion and patriotism. Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Micah, 
 Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, by turns threatened and roused 
 the Jews from despair by the promise of a glorious future. 
 
 The separation of the Hebrew people into two kingdoms 
 ruined its power. After the schism it possessed only Pales- 
 tine. Surrounded by enemies, the Hebrews engaged also in 
 bloody civil wars, and after deplorable anarchy succumbed 
 under the attacks of the Babylonians. The kingdom of 
 Israel fell in 721, when King Hoshea, captured in Samaria, 
 was carried by Sargon to Nineveh. Judah fell in 586, when 
 Zedekiah, captured by Nebuchadnezzar, was dragged to 
 Babylon, loaded with chains, and had his eyes put out after 
 he had seen all his sons and the leaders of his people slain 
 before his face. 
 
 The Jews under the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. 
 
B.C. 606-A.D. 10.] THE HEBREWS 43 
 
 — The captivity, which dates from the first capture of 
 Jerusalem (606 b.c.) lasted for seventy years, until the 
 edict of Cyrus, who in 536 permitted the Hebrews to rebuild 
 their Temple. Zerubbabel was accompanied by forty -two 
 thousand Jews in his return to the ruins of the holy city. 
 The work of construction, stopped under Cambyses through 
 the jealousy of the Samaritans, was continued with ardor 
 under Darius, who is, perhaps, the Ahasuerus of Scripture. 
 In 516 the Temple was finished. Under Artaxerxes Longi- 
 manus, Esdras conducted to Jerusalem another great com- 
 pany of Jews, and brought the people back to the faithful 
 observance of the Mosaic commands. About the same time 
 Nehemiah again raised the walls of the city of David. 
 Thus the nation had recovered its law, its Temple, its 
 capital, and all the energy of its religious patriotism. 
 Unfortunately, many persons, whom Esdras and Nehemiah 
 expelled for lawlessness, took refuge with the Samaritans, 
 and built upon Mount Gerizim a temple to rival that at 
 Jerusalem. Judsea was generally quiet under the Persians. 
 After the siege of Tyre Alexander came to Jerusalem to 
 offer sacrifice in the Temple, and exempted the country from 
 taxation during the sabbatical year. After his death the 
 Jews remained for nearly a century subject to the kings of 
 Egypt. Ptolemy II. Philadelphus even placed their sacred 
 books in the famous library of Alexandria, having caused 
 them to be translated by learned men, whose work has re- 
 mained famous as the Septuagint Version. Ptolemy Philo- 
 pator persecuted them ; so they passed gladly, though with 
 no greater security, under the rule of the kings of Syria. 
 Seleucus IV. sent his minister, Heliodorus, to strip the 
 Temple of its riches, and Antigonus IV. placed upon the 
 very altar the statue of Jupiter Olympius. 
 
 This attempt to install Greek polytheism in the sanctuary 
 of the only God brought about a formidable insurrection. . 
 After being delivered by the heroic family of the Maccabees, 
 the Jews endured the most cruel vicissitudes during two 
 centuries, sometimes free under their own kings, sometimes 
 subject to the Romans, often disturbed by the quarrels of 
 the Pharisees and Sadducees, the two rival political and 
 religious sects. In the time of Augustus they formed, 
 under the cruel Herod, a flourishing state, whose existence 
 Rome respected for several years. Then it was that Jesus 
 was born, and four years before the death of Tiberius began 
 
44 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [a.d. 70. 
 
 to preach his holy doctrine. The Jews, who had become 
 Roman subjects, revolted during the last days of Nero. 
 Thirteen hundred thousand men perished in that supreme 
 struggle for fatherland and religion. Jerusalem was re- 
 duced to ruins, the Temple was destroyed, and the disper- 
 sion began (70 a.d.). 
 
 The Jews, a stiff-necked people, as their prophets de- 
 clared, did nothing for art, science, or industry, but their 
 moral laws were the most elevated and their religious doc- 
 trine the purest the world has seen. At the cost of cruel 
 sufferings they preserved the priceless doctrine of divine 
 unity. Their ancient law, transformed by Jesus, has be- 
 come the law of charity and fraternal love which should 
 govern mankind. 
 
B.C. 1500.] THE MEDES AND PERSIANS 45 
 
 VIII 
 
 THE MEDES AND PERSIANS 
 
 Mazdeism. — We have seen that Bactriana and Sogdiana 
 were the cradle of numerous white tribes which, under the 
 name of Aryans, emigrated to the southeast toward the 
 Indus, and under that of Iranians went toward Media and 
 Persia. Perhaps a religious schism caused the separation 
 of this great race. At all events, the Medes and Persians 
 carried to their new country a doctrine which differed pro- 
 foundly from that afterwards prevalent upon the banks of 
 the Ganges. They recognized as their legislator Zoroaster, 
 who seems to have lived fifteen centuries before Christ, and 
 whose teachings are contained in the Avesta, or sacred book 
 of the Persians. 
 
 This doctrine, which is called Mazdeism, or universal 
 knowledge, is the purest and mildest with which polytheis- 
 tic antiquity was acquainted. Zervane Akerene, the first 
 principle, eternal, infinite, immutable, immobile, created 
 Ormazd, the lord of knowledge or wisdom, the source of 
 light and of life like his emblem the sun, the author of all 
 good, all justice, and Ahriman, his enemy, the principle of 
 physical and moral evil. Each of them commands a hie- 
 rarchy of celestial and infernal spirits who labor to extend 
 the empire of their chief: the former by disseminating 
 light, life, purity, happiness; the latter by multiplying 
 malevolent animals and pernicious influences. But a day 
 will come when Ahriman, finally vanquished, will recog- 
 nize his defeat, and reascend to Ormazd to enjoy with him 
 a life of blessedness, together with all the wicked who have 
 been enticed by him into evil and whom suffering shall 
 have purified. Thus the goodness of Ormazd is eternal and 
 boundless; the wickedness of Ahriman is limited to the 
 time of ordeals, which prepare for and justify redemption. 
 The compassion of God, therefore, exceeds his justice, and 
 the hell of the Persians was only a purgatory. 
 
 Man, created with a free and immortal soul, is the prize 
 
46 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 1500. 
 
 for which the two warring principles contend. As the 
 devas of Ahriman ceaselessly urge him to evil, Zoroaster 
 has given him the law of Ormazd to preserve him for the 
 good. This law is humane and mild. It recognizes the 
 rights of life while proclaiming those of heaven. It de- 
 mands faith, but also works, as labor, alms, and moral and 
 physical purity. It rejects barren asceticism and permits 
 interest in earthly things, so that man, satisfying the legiti- 
 mate demands of his nature without excess, has the greater 
 merit in resisting natural temptations. '*If a man eat," 
 says the revealed book, " he will listen better to the sacred 
 word; if he do not eat, he will have no strength for pure 
 works." Work is a holy thing: "Plough and sow. He 
 who soweth with purity fulfilleth the whole law. He who 
 giveth good grain to the earth is as great as if he had offered 
 ten thousand sacrifices." The believer must pay the same 
 care to the earth which nourishes him and to the animals 
 which serve him. Common affection results from com- 
 munity of labor. Finally, marriage is a sacred bond, and 
 numerous children are a blessing. 
 
 Worship required prayers and an offering, consisting of 
 animal's flesh, of the sap of certain plants, and of sacred 
 cakes, which after the sacrifice are consumed by the priest 
 and attendants. The sacred fire, the vase of elevation, the 
 vestments of the celebrant, all the utensils of sacrifice, are 
 provided for by the priests, who are the interpreters of the 
 religious law, which they expound to the faithful. Prayer 
 is frequent. There is a prayer for every act in life. 
 Thereby the living are saved and the punishment of the 
 dead diminished and their deliverance secured. Prayer 
 must be made to Ormazd and to the celestial spirits, the 
 izeds, who wage incessant war with the devas of Ahriman. 
 One must "pray to the sun, the brilliant and vigorous 
 courser which never dies," the sun which purifies the earth 
 and the waters, and bestows abundance. "If it did not 
 rise, the devas would destroy everything upon the earth, 
 and there would be no celestial izeds." One must pray by 
 day and also by night, for at night Ahriman keeps watch, 
 and he is all-powerful. " Rise then at midnight, wash thy 
 hands, fetch wood and feed the fire which must always shine 
 as symbol of the presence of Ormazd at each hearth." 
 Prayer is sometimes a confession, but made to God and not 
 to man. " Before thee, Father ! I confess the sins which 
 
B.C. 800-595.] THE MEDES AND PERSIANS 47 
 
 I have committed in thought, in word, and in action. God 
 have pity on my body and on my soul, in this world and in 
 the next." 
 
 Unfortunately, man too often ignores his creed to obey 
 his passions. The followers of this pure doctrine have 
 inflicted on the world as many evils as have done adherents 
 of other religions. Nevertheless, they never seem to have 
 become as brutal and depraved as the peoples who sought 
 their gods in physical ideas of fecundity and generation, or 
 in the phenomena of active and passive nature. 
 
 We know nothing of the children of this race who re- 
 mained on the banks of the Oxus in Sogdiana and Bactriana. 
 Thanks to the narratives of the Greeks and the cuneiform 
 inscriptions, we are better acquainted with the Medes. 
 Through the Persians the connection was formed between 
 Asia and Europe which since their wars with the Greeks 
 has not been broken. 
 
 The Medes. — Nevertheless, our details as to Media are 
 very late. They begin only in the eighth century before 
 our era, when Arbaces, who governed that country for the 
 Assyrian kings, revolted successfully against Sardanapalus 
 (789). From the long anarchy following their emancipa- 
 tion, the Medes were rescued by Dejoces. He proclaimed 
 himself king (710), built Ecbatana, and reigned fifty-three 
 years in profound peace. His son, Phraortes (657), ren- 
 dered the Persians tributary, but was slain by a king of 
 Nineveh. Cyaxares, son of Phraortes, avenged him by 
 attacking that city, which was rescued by an invasion of 
 the Scythians. These barbarians ravaged Western Asia for 
 twenty-eight years. The Median king rid himself of their 
 chiefs by causing their throats to be cut at a banqviet, over- 
 threw Nineveh in 606, and subdued Asia Minor as far as the 
 Halys. An eclipse of the sun, predicted by Thales, pre- 
 vented a battle which he was on the point of engaging in 
 with the Lydians (602). 
 
 Under Astyages, his successor (595), this great dominion 
 of the Medes crumbled away. This prince had given his 
 daughter Mandana to a Persian chieftain, Cambyses, and 
 from this marriage Cyrus was born. A dream caused 
 Astyages, says Herodotus, to fear that his grandson would 
 some day dethrone him, so he ordered Harpagus to put 
 him to death. A herdsman saved the child and brought 
 Jiim up in secret. Later on, his grandson was acknowledged 
 
48 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 595-522. 
 
 by Astyages. Angry with Harpagiis, Astyages put Har- 
 pagus' own son to death, and had a portion of the body 
 served to the father at a banquet. The courtier controlled 
 himself, but waited for revenge. 
 
 The Persians under Cyrus. Conquest of Western Asia. — 
 The Persians, poor and warlike mountaineers, wished for 
 independence. Cyrus, on reaching manhood, offered to be 
 their chief, and led them against the Medes, whom Astyages 
 had placed under the orders of Harpagus. The treachery 
 of that general assured the defeat of his troops. In a 
 second battle Astyages himself was taken prisoner, and the 
 dominion of Asia passed from the Medes to the Persians 
 (559). The conqueror, profiting by the ardor of his fol- 
 lowers, overran the countries in the vicinity of the Caucasus, 
 and attacked the Lydians, who ruled between the Halys and 
 the ^gean Sea. Their king, Croesus, after defeat in the 
 plains of Thymbria, shut himself in Sardis, where he was 
 taken alive. Babylon fell eight years later (538). The 
 Greek colonies in Asia Minor, together with Phoenicia and 
 Palestine, were added to the new empire. The Scythians 
 were devastating its northern provinces. Cyrus attacked 
 them on the banks of the Araxus, gained one victory, but 
 perished in a second battle (529). Nevertheless, the enemy 
 were not strong enough to invade Persia in their turn, and 
 Cambyses was able to continue in another direction the 
 conquests of his father. 
 
 The Persians under Cambyses and Darius. — Cambyses 
 undertook to subdue Africa, beginning with Egypt, the last 
 great monarchy which Cyrus had left standing. It fell in 
 a single battle (527). The conqueror then wished to attack 
 Carthage, but for such an expedition a fleet was necessary, 
 which the Phoenicians refused to furnish. An army, sent 
 against the oasis of Ammon, perished in the desert ; another, 
 led against the Ethiopians, suffered from famine, and re- 
 turned in disgrace. Cambyses revenged himself for these 
 reverses by cruelties of which the priests of Egypt and his 
 own family were the victims. He put both his brother and 
 sister to death. Recalled to Asia by a revolution, he acci- 
 dentally injured himself while mounting his horse, and died 
 of the wound (522). 
 
 The rebellion which had broken out was a reaction of the 
 Medes against the Persians. A magian, Smerdis, passed 
 himself off as the brother of Cambyses, whom he resembled, 
 
B.C. 522-509.] THE MEDES AND PERSIANS 49 
 
 and was the principal conspirator. Seven Persian noble- 
 men replied to this attempt by another conspiracy, stabbed 
 the magian, and proclaimed as king one of their own num- 
 ber, Darius, the son of Hystaspes. The usurpation of the 
 magian had shaken the whole empire. A cuneiform inscrip- 
 tion recently deciphered proves that Darius was obliged to 
 put down successive rebellions in all the eastern provinces. 
 Of all these insurrections we know in some detail only that 
 of Babylon, which Herodotus has narrated. It is rendered 
 famous by the self-sacrifice of Zopyrus. He mutilated him- 
 self to induce the Babylonians to admit him to their city 
 as a victim who sought only revenge, but who afterward 
 betrayed them (517). 
 
 To assure the collection of the taxes and the support of 
 his regular troops, Darius divided into twenty satrapies 
 the immense country comprised between the Mediterranean, 
 the Ked Sea, and the deserts of Africa, Arabia, and India. 
 To occupy the warlike spirit of the Persians he resumed 
 the expedition begun by Cyrus against the Scythians, but 
 attacked them in Europe rather than in Asia. He crossed 
 the Bosphorus, passed over the Danube on a bridge of 
 boats which the Asiatic or Thracian Greeks had con- 
 structed and guarded, and pushed on far in vain pursuit of 
 the Scythians. As the time fixed for his returning to the 
 Danube had elapsed, the Athenian, Miltiades, proposed to 
 destroy the bridge, and thus leave the Persian army to 
 perish. Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, opposed this plan, 
 representing to the chiefs, all of whom were tyrants of 
 Greek cities, that they would be overthrown if they no 
 longer had the support of the foreigner. Thus Darius 
 was saved. On his return the king left 80,000 men to 
 complete the conquest of Thrace and to undertake the con- 
 quest of Macedon. He despatched two other expeditions 
 to the extremities of the empire (509). The first subdued 
 Barca in Cyrenai'ca, and the second overran other lands 
 bathed on the west by the Indus. 
 
 The Persian Empire was then at the apogee of its great- 
 ness. From the Indus to the Mediterranean, from the 
 Danube and Araxes to the Indian Ocean, all owned the 
 sway of the great king, and he was about to throw a mill- 
 ion men upon Greece. But the Greco-Persian wars will 
 show what feebleness existed under this outward show of 
 strength. 
 
50 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE EAST [b.c. 509. 
 
 Government. -The government was despotic, tempered 
 perhaps m the case of the Medes, bj the iuthority of the 
 magi, but without other check in the Persian EmW than 
 the exaggerated power of the satraps, whose numbeJ Darius 
 had imprudently reduced to twenty". MoreoveMhe central 
 
 CvYded^r' '''""' '^^ responsibility of adm'inistra?L 
 Provided the provinces paid their taxes in money or kind 
 
 "dependent ^^^C '"^f f ^- ?^^'^^' *^^^' P^^^^^ ^^e^^ 
 maependence The great Asiatic courts have always loved 
 
 effeminacy and luxury. The Persians became corrupt like 
 
 their predecessors, in spite of the superiority of their relk- 
 
 Tain'Itf • '^^^l '^'^' ^^' ^^°^^d ^^ ^ con^tinual s ruggfe 
 against evil. They erected few monuments. But the 
 
 wal pH ^.•r^''*'/'^'^^^^^^^^^^^ °f Ecbatana, the seven- 
 walled city, and modern travellers have been able to admire 
 the imposing ruins of Persepolis, which the Arabs cLll 
 Tchil-Mmar, or the Forty Columns. 
 
HISTORY OF THE GREEKS 
 
 PRIMITIVE TIMES 
 
 Ancient Peoples : the Pelasgi and Hellenes. — Greece is 
 a very small country. It occupies the extremity of one of 
 the three peninsulas which terminate Europe on the south. 
 Its territory, inclusive of the islands, does not equal that 
 of Portugal or of the State of Maine ; but its shores are so 
 indented that its coast line exceeds that of the whole Span- 
 ish peninsula. On the north it is attached to the prolonged 
 mass of the eastern Alps, which form one of the walls of the 
 Danube valley. On the south at three points it projects 
 into the Mediterranean. The sea separates it on the west 
 from Italy and on the east from Asia. 
 
 As far as one can pierce the obscurity of those remote 
 ages, apparently the first inhabitants of Greece were the 
 Pelasgi and the laones, or lonians, members of the great 
 Aryan race. 
 
 The Pelasgi covered with their tribes Asia Minor, Greece, 
 and Italy, and planted in those countries the first seeds of 
 civilization. In their monuments they have left imperish- 
 able proofs of their activity and power, but they themselves 
 have disappeared, and no trustworthy tradition concerning 
 them exists. At Mycense, Tiryns, and Argos the remains 
 of structures, called cyclopean and attributed to them, are 
 still seen. 
 
 By the unaided efforts of her aborigines Greece was 
 emerging from a savage condition, when, according to tradi- 
 tions now abandoned, but rendered lifelike by legend and 
 poetry, colonies arrived from the more civilized countries 
 of Asia and Africa, who brought with them knowledge of 
 the useful arts and a purer religion. Thus the Egyptian 
 
 51 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 1200. 
 
 Cecrops, disembarking in Attica, is said to have collected 
 the inhabitants into twelve small towns, of which Athens 
 became later on the capital, and to have taught them to 
 cultivate the olive, to extract its oil, and to till the ground. 
 To draw closer the bonds of this new society, he is said to 
 have instituted the laws of marriage and the tribunal of 
 the Areopagus, whose just decisions prevented injurious 
 quarrels. 
 
 What Cecrops did in Attica, Cadmus is reported to have 
 done in Boeotia, whither he brought the Phcenician alpha- 
 bet, and where he built the Cadmeum around which Thebes 
 sprang up. At Argos Danaus introduced some of the Egyp- 
 tian arts. The Phrygian Pelops settled in Elis, whence his 
 progeny spread over almost the whole peninsula, which, 
 as the Peloponnesus, preserves his name. Though only 
 legends, these traditions hand down the memory of the 
 ancient relations between Greece and the opposite coasts. 
 
 For Greece the most important event of this far-distant 
 age was the invasion of the Hellenes. From the north of 
 Greece, their first halting-place, they scattered all over the 
 country, and effaced the Pelasgi by absorbing them. 
 
 Heroic Times. The Trojan War. — The Hellenes were 
 divided into four tribes : the lonians and Dorians, who at 
 first remained in obscurity, and the ^Eolians and Achseans, 
 who were prominent during the heroic period. History had 
 not yet begun. Tradition was content with legends, which 
 describe heroes travelling over Greece to deliver her from 
 the scourge of brigands, oppressors, and ferocious beasts. 
 They passed their lives in combating every form of evil, 
 and received national gratitude and the title and honors of 
 demi-gods, but were slaves to their own passions and abused 
 their strength. Such men were Hercules and Theseus. Also 
 popular songs celebrated the adventurous voyage of the 
 Argonauts to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece; the 
 exploits of the Seven Chiefs, who besieged Thebes, defiled 
 by the crimes of CEdipus and the quarrels of the Epigoni, 
 his sons ; the wise Minos, and many other heroes of those 
 fabulous days, whose tragic adventures poetry and art have 
 consecrated. 
 
 The Trojan War, which for the first time brought Greece 
 into immediate conflict with Asia, is, if considered in its 
 general features, a historic fact. Troy was the capital of 
 a powerful kingdom in the northwest of Asia Minor and 
 
B.C. llOi.] PRIMITIVE TIMES 63 
 
 tlie last relic of the Pelasgic power. The hostility of race 
 was increased by a deadly injury. Paris, one of the sons 
 of King Priam, was smitten by the beauty of Helen, wife 
 of Menelaus, king of Sparta, who had shown him hos- 
 pitality. He carried her off, and thus enraged all Greece, 
 which took the part of the outraged husband. An immense 
 fleet, led by his brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, 
 landed a numerous army on the shores of the Troad. No 
 decisive engagement took place for ten years. Troy, de- 
 fended by Hector, the son of Priam, seemed likely to main- 
 tain a prolonged resistance, even after her chieftain had 
 fallen under the blows of Achilles. The Greeks, then called 
 the Achaeans, employed stratagem. Pretending to with- 
 draw, they left behind as an offering to the gods a mam- 
 moth wooden horse, which the Trojans carried inside their 
 walls. The bravest of the Greeks were hidden in its flanks. 
 Thus Troy fell. Hecuba, wife of Priam, and her daughters 
 were carried into slavery. Priam was slain at the foot of 
 the altar. Those of the Achsean princes who had not 
 already fallen, like Patroclus, Ajax, and Achilles, set out 
 for their own country. Some of them perished on the way. 
 Some, like Ulysses, were long held back by contrary winds. 
 Still others, like Agamemnon, found their throne and mar- 
 riage-bed occupied by usurpers, whose victims they became. 
 Many others, like Diomedes and Idomeneus, were forced to 
 seek a new home in distant regions. The Iliad and the 
 Odyssey relate with incomparable charm these old legends 
 in which the popular imagination delighted. 
 
 The Dorian Invasion (1104 b.c). Greek Colonies and Insti- 
 tutions. — The eighty years which followed the capture of 
 Troy were filled with domestic quarrels, which overthrew 
 the ancient royal families and caused the power to pass to 
 new hands. The Dorians, led by the Heraclidae, or descend- 
 ants of Hercules, invaded the Peloponnesus, surprised de- 
 fenceless Laconia, drove the ^olians from Messenia and 
 the Achseans from Argos, took possession of Corinth and 
 Megara, and later on marched against Athens, whither the 
 fugitives had retreated. An oracle promised victory to that 
 party whose king should perish first. Codrus, king of 
 Athens, entered the hostile camp in disguise and caused him- 
 self to be slain. Thereupon the Dorians immediately with- 
 drew. On account of the troubled times many inhabitants 
 emigrated. On the coast of Asia Minor at Smyrna, Phocaea, 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 776. 
 
 Ephesus, and Miletus, of Africa at Cyrene, of Sicily at 
 Messina and Syracuse, and of Italy at Tarentum, Naples, 
 and Sybaris, something like a new Greece was formed, which 
 for a long time was richer and more beautiful than the 
 mother country. In the Asiatic colonies, at the point of 
 contact with Eastern society, was first established that 
 civilization of which Athens afterward became the resplen- 
 dent centre. 
 
 Despite its dispersion on so many shores and its division 
 into so many states, the great Hellenic family preserved its 
 national unity. This was brought about by community of 
 language and religion, by the renown of certain oracles, and 
 of Delphi in particular, whither people flocked from all 
 parts of the Greek world, and by general institutions such 
 as the Amphyctionic Councils and the Public Games. At 
 the most celebrated of the Amphyctionic Councils, convened 
 at Thermopylae and Delphi, the deputies of a dozen peoples 
 discussed common interests, and punished attacks upon the 
 national religion or honor. The Olympian Games, where 
 victory was passionately disputed, occurred every four 
 years. They furnished the basis for chronology because, 
 beginning with the year 776 b.c, the name of Coroebus, 
 who won the prize of the stadium, was inscribed on the 
 public register of the Elians, and it became customary to 
 take the date of his victory as the starting-point in mark- 
 ing events. 
 
B.C. 750.] CUSTOMS AND RELIGION OF THE GREEKS 65 
 
 II 
 
 CUSTOMS AND RELIGION OP THE GREEKS 
 
 Spirit of Liberty in Customs and Institutions. — In that 
 mountainous land, where nature renders life a struggle, and 
 which the free waters surround, has always breathed the 
 spirit of independence, even in its most ancient traditions. 
 
 The kings were only military chieftains. When render- 
 ing justice, they were aided by the old men. Their revenues 
 were voluntary gifts and a larger share of the booty and of 
 the sacrifices. There is no trace of that servile adoration 
 which Eastern monarchs received. There was no separate 
 clergy and no holy book like the Bible, the Vedas, or the 
 Avesta. Consecrated doctrines were lacking, and imagina- 
 tion was unrestrained. Every head of a family was the 
 priest of his own home. 
 
 The aristocracy did not form a caste. The nobles were 
 the strongest, the most agile, the bravest. Because they 
 possessed those qualities, they were considered sons of the 
 gods. Between them and the people there existed no im- 
 passable barrier, and no one lived idly on the renown of his 
 ancestors. Each man made his own place, at first by force 
 and later on by intelligence. What a distance from the 
 East, with its absolute rule of deities or of kings and priests, 
 their representatives! Here man commands! All must be 
 movement, passion, boundless desires, audacious efforts. 
 Prometheus has broken his chains and stolen fire from 
 heaven in the form of life and thought! 
 
 Below the nobles, who constituted the king's council and 
 held the line of the war-chariots in battle, was the body of 
 freemen who, in the middle of the public square, formed 
 the assembly around the circle of polished stones where the 
 leaders sat with the prince. Though they took as yet no 
 part in the deliberations, they heard all important ques- 
 tions discussed, and by their approving or hostile murmurs 
 influenced the decision. Thus from most distant times 
 Greece had the custom of public assemblies. The necessity 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 750. 
 
 of convincing before commanding stimulated the mind of 
 the people. The condition of the slave was mild. He was 
 the f amity servant. When the aged herdsman Eumseus 
 recognized his master's son, he kissed him on the brow and 
 eyes, and the dying Alcestis offered her hand to her women 
 as she bade them her last farewell. 
 
 The family was better constituted than among any 
 oriental nation, the Jews alone excepted. Polygamy was 
 prohibited. If Greek women were still bought, more than 
 one already possessed the severe dignity of the Roman 
 matron. They exercised care over domestic affairs. The 
 daughters of kings drew water at the fountain like the fair 
 Nausicaa, and Andromache fed the horses of Hector. 
 
 The Greek had no liking for tedious repasts or coarse 
 pleasures or drunkenness. Immediately after a frugal meal 
 he wished for games, exercise, dances, bards to chant the 
 glory of the heroes. A stranger at his door was received 
 without indiscreet curiosity, "for the guest is the mes- 
 senger of Zeus." His wrath was terrible. On the field of 
 battle he did not spare the fallen enemy. Still he might 
 be appeased by gifts and entreaties, "those halting but 
 tireless daughters of great Zeus, who follow after wrong to 
 heal the wounds it has made, and who know how to touch 
 the hearts of the valiant." Each warrior, feeling the need 
 of friends, had a brother-in-arms, and self-sacrifice was the 
 first law of those indissoluble friendships. Ten years after 
 his return to Lacedeemon Menelaus still shut himself up in 
 his palace to mourn for the friends whom he had lost under 
 the walls of Troy. 
 
 Later on two unpleasant traits were naturally developed 
 in Greek character: venality, because the Greeks were poor 
 and the East had gold in profusion; duplicity, because they 
 were surrounded by barbarians and must resist force by 
 cunning. 
 
 We must furthermore remark that, though the amiable 
 and charming qualities we have mentioned caused among 
 this people many instances of individual greatness through 
 courage, poetry, art, and thought, yet they did not result in 
 the durable greatness of the nation. Political sagacity, 
 which knows how to conciliate conflicting interests and found 
 great states, was not included among the gifts which this 
 privileged race received or acquired. 
 
 Religion. — Their religion was, at first, only the natural- 
 
B.C. 750.] CUSTOMS AND RELIGION OF THE GREEKS 57 
 
 ism brought by them from Asia which had been their 
 cradle. At the side of the legends of the heroes and gods, 
 we find the adoration of forests, mountains, winds, and 
 rivers. Agamemnon invokes the latter as great divinities, 
 and to one of them Achilles consecrated his hair. This 
 nature worship outlived paganism. In modern Greece peo- 
 ple may still be met who believe in spirits of the waters. 
 Nature assumes imaginary and changing forms. When 
 looked at through mental darkness, these speedily become, 
 in the eyes of faith, realities which anthropomorphism seizes 
 upon and converts into personal gods. Idealized physical 
 forces seem to be spiritual beings, and these spiritual beings 
 acquire a body. *' God made man in his own image, " says 
 Genesis. The Greeks made their gods in the image of man. 
 The conception is the same at bottom, and yet the difference 
 is great, for the point of departure is, on the one hand, the 
 infinite perfections of the Supreme Being, and on the other, 
 the finiteness of humanity. Hence the scandals of Olympus, 
 together with its grandeurs, and the unsavory history of 
 those gods, who were subject to all human passions, wrath, 
 hatred, violence, and even human woes. "Servitude," ex- 
 claims a poet, "why, Demeter endured it! The smith of 
 Lemnos, and Poseidon, and Apollo of the silver bow, and 
 Ares the terrible endured it also ! " In the combats before 
 Troy many are wounded. " Their blood flows," says Homer, 
 "but a blood that resembles dew, a sort of divine vapor." 
 
 When the theodicy of later times had defined with preci- 
 sion the functions of the immortals, those who counted the 
 greatest number of worshippers were the twelve great gods 
 of Olympus. Their chief, the enfeebled reiDresentative of 
 the ancient idea of a Supreme Cause, was Zeus, who still 
 shook the universe with his frown. But there were many 
 other divinities, since Greek polytheism, by raising to 
 divine rank the phenomena of nature, the passions of men, 
 good things and evil, was led to multiply the gods inces- 
 santly. 
 
 These gods, not always respectable, were, nevertheless, 
 considered the vigilant guardians of justice. The Furies, 
 inexorable ministers of their vengeance, attached themselves 
 to the guilty, whether living or dead. Their hair inter- 
 woven with serpents, one hand armed with a scourge of 
 vipers and the other brandishing a torch, they filled the 
 soul with terror and the heart with torture. This deifica- 
 
58 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c.750. 
 
 tion of remorse was all the more necessary as a moral sanc- 
 tion because this religion was as uncertain of the future life 
 as was ancient Judaism. No doubt punishment awaited 
 the criminal in the infernal regions, and the just were re- 
 warded, but how empty the rewards! In the Elysian 
 Fields, amid groves of fruit and flowers in a perpetual 
 summer the souls of the blessed continued to enjoy the 
 pleasures which they had loved on earth. Minos still sat 
 in judgment as in his island of Crete ; Nestor recounted his 
 exploits; Tiresias uttered oracles, and Orion hunted the 
 wild beasts which he had formerly slain on the mountains, 
 all regretting their life the while. "Console me not for 
 my death," said the shade of Achilles. "I would rather 
 till the soil for some poor husbandman than reign here." 
 Moreover this immortality is promised only to heroes. As 
 for the masses, they can count only on the good and the ill 
 of this present life which the gods deal out to them. There 
 is a kinship between the members of the city as of the 
 family. The sons will be punished or rewarded even unto 
 the third generation for the faults and virtues of their 
 fathers; peoples likewise for those of their kings, and kings 
 for their peoples. Such is the blessing and the warning of 
 Abraham ; a precious belief in default of a more energetic 
 spring of action, and one which Hesiod sets forth in mag- 
 nificent verses. 
 
 The gods could be appeased by offerings and prayers. At 
 the door of the temple stood the priest, sprinkling lustral 
 water upon the hands and heads of the worshippers. The 
 sacrifice, always celebrated in the open air, was a sacred 
 banquet, a sort of religious communion between the god, 
 the priests, and the devotees. In the centre of the temple 
 rose the statue of the god, surrounded by the statues of 
 deities or heroes whom he condescended to admit within his 
 sanctuary. On the walls offerings and votive gifts were 
 suspended in gratitude for some marvellous cure or unex- 
 pected deliverance. Eelics of the heroes were preserved. 
 At Olympia the shoulder of Pelops by contact healed cer- 
 tain maladies. At Tegaea the bones of Orestes rendered 
 that city victorious as long as it possessed them. The 
 statues of the gods exerted special influences; one cured 
 colds, another the gout. The image of Hercules at Erythrae 
 restored sight to a blind man. Often the images exuded 
 perspiration, moved their arms and eyes, and rattled their 
 
B.C. 750.] CUSTOMS AND RELIGION OF THE GREEKS 59 
 
 weapons. At Andros, annually on the festival of Bacchus, 
 water was changed into wine. The temples possessed prop- 
 erty which did not belong to the priests, and, like churches 
 in the Middle Ages, many enjoyed the right of asylum. 
 Private persons or cities could be excluded from the sacri- 
 fices. Whole nations, placed under the ban of excommuni- 
 cation, were exterminated, like the Albigenses in France. 
 
 All peoples have tried to wrest from the future its secrets. 
 All have had sorcerers or magicians or augurs, like the 
 Greeks who interpreted celestial signs, dreamers who beheld 
 the invisible, or rhapsodists, like the Pythia of Delphi, who 
 felt the god move within and gave forth his oracles. By a 
 strange misconception the philosophers accepted this super- 
 stition. "God," said Plato, "has bestowed divination upon 
 man to supply his lack of intelligence," and the generals 
 and politicians were obliged to reckon with it. However, 
 let us note Hector's indignant protest against these pre- 
 tended voices from on high, which may deceive. " The best 
 of omens," said he, "is to defend one's country." 
 
 If the Hellenic gods did not greatly influence the moral 
 development of their worshippers, they did much for art 
 and poetry, and they did not fetter philosophic thought. 
 "You will die," was the apostrophe to them of Prometheus 
 through the mouth of ^schylus in a century of faith, " and 
 some day these nations will hear a voice crying, 'The gods 
 are dead ! ' " 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 830. 
 
 Ill 
 
 LYCURGUS AND SOLON 
 
 Sparta before Lycurgus. — We know almost nothing con- 
 cerning the liistory of Sparta during the two centuries 
 which preceded Lycurgus. Only we see that the Spartans, 
 few in number in the midst of a people who had not emi- 
 grated at the time of conquest, were obliged to remain 
 constantly under arms, like an army encamped in a hostile 
 country. The Dorians concentrated around Sparta, and 
 alone constituted the state, since they alone could be pres- 
 ent at the assemblies where the laws were enacted, and alone 
 held public office. They had two classes of subjects: in 
 the open town the Laconians, who possessed civil rights ; in 
 the country the Helots, or serfs attached to the soil, con- 
 demned to plough and harvest for their masters. The 
 Spartans composed the ruling race, and were all equal to 
 one another. 
 
 However, this equality gradually became disturbed, 
 jpowerful families arose, while others lost their lands. 
 Hence there was disorder within the city and weakness 
 outside. One man attempted to stop this premature decline 
 by restoring the ancient customs. This man was Lycurgus. 
 
 Lycurgus : His Political Ideas. — The widow of his brother, 
 King Polydectes, offered him her hand and the Spartan 
 throne if he would put his nephew Charilaus to death. He 
 refused, but the nobles, irritated by his wise administration 
 during the minority of the young prince, forced him into 
 exile. He travelled for a long time, studying the laws of 
 other nations, and returned to Lacedaemon with Homer's 
 poems after an absence of eighteen years. With her relig- 
 ious authority the Pythia of Delphi supported the reforms 
 which he proposed, and which the Spartans, weary of their 
 dissensions, welcomed with favor. His laws maintained 
 the relation already established between the dominant Spar- 
 tans and the subject Laconians. They regulated the rights 
 of the two kings, Sparta being a dual monarchy; of the 
 
B.C. 830.] LYCURGUS AND SOLON 61 
 
 senate, composed of twenty-eight members of at least sixty 
 years of age; of the general assembly, which could adopt 
 or reject propositions presented by the senate and kings; 
 and lastly of the Ephory, a body of magistrates appointed 
 annually, perhaps instituted by Lycurgus, but whose great 
 power dates from a later period. By hereditary right the 
 two kings were the high priests of the nation, commanded 
 the army, and were to enforce the decrees formulated by 
 the senate and freely accepted by the popular assembly. 
 
 Civil Laws. — His civil laws aimed at the establishment 
 of equality among the citizens. To effect this, he divided 
 the land into 39,000 plots, — 30,000 for the Laconians and 
 9,000 for the Spartans. This division was attended with 
 great difficulties, and led to a riot, in which Lycurgus was 
 wounded; nevertheless, it succeeded. The 9,000 lots of the 
 Spartans comprised the greater part of Laconia, and naturally 
 included the most fertile lands, whose value the Helots were 
 to increase. Forbidding the alienation to strangers of any 
 of these lots, Lycurgus erected them into a sort of perma- 
 nent military fiefs. War constantly diminished the number 
 of the Spartans, so that they numbered only a thousand in 
 the time of Aristotle. Consequently great wealth accumu- 
 lated in the hands of a few families. The Laconians, on 
 the contrary, could ally themselves with foreigners, so 
 their number increased; but their possessions relatively 
 decreased, and the time came when there was only a small 
 number of rich people and below them a multitude of poor. 
 Hence arose revolutions which disturbed the last days of 
 Sparta. 
 
 To maintain equality, Lycurgus prohibited luxury and 
 the use of gold or silver money, and instituted public re- 
 pasts, where the strictest frugality always reigned. At the 
 same time, he forbade to the Spartans commerce, arts, or 
 letters, and prescribed for all the citizens the same exer- 
 cises, setting forth as the single aim of their whole life to 
 provide and train robust defenders for the country. The 
 same principle guided the education of the children, who 
 belonged far more to the state than to their parents. The 
 child born deformed was put to death. The rest, by means 
 of violent exercises, which were imposed also on the girls, 
 acquired strength and suppleness, and all were inspired 
 with sentiments of respect for old age and the law, and of 
 contempt for pain and death. 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 743-594 
 
 The Messenian Wars. — Delivered from dissensions by 
 this rigorous legislation, Sparta completed the conquest of 
 Laconia, and bega,n that of the Peloponnesus. She first 
 turned her arms against the Messenians, a Doric tribe settled 
 west of the Taygetus mountains. There were two wars; 
 the one lasted twenty years (743-723), the other seventeen 
 (685-668). The hero of the first was the fierce Aristodemus, 
 who immolated his daughter in obedience to an oracle, and 
 killed himself, that he might not witness the humiliation of 
 his people after the capture of Ithome, which he had de- 
 fended for ten years. In the second, Aristomenes per- 
 formed marvels. Not only did he vanquish the Spartans, 
 but he made his way by night into their city and hung up 
 a trophy in one of their temples. In vain did the poet 
 Tyrtaeus stimulate the courage of the Lacedaemonians. 
 Aristomenes, after being made prisoner, and cast alive into 
 the deep pit called Ceadas, escaped, and recommenced his 
 daring career. When betrayed by his ally, the king of the 
 Arcadians, and defeated in a great battle, he retired to 
 Mount Ira and there held out for eleven years. At last 
 he was forced to yield, but preferred exile to servitude. 
 Many Messenians emigrated and founded Messina in Sicily. 
 Those who remained in Messenia shared the fate of the 
 Helots. 
 
 This conquest was followed by wars against the cities of 
 Tegea and Argos, but neither was completely subdued. 
 The Spartans, in the sixth century before our era, were 
 considered the leading people of Greece, and were in fact 
 the most formidable. 
 
 Athens until the Time of Solon. The Archonship. — After 
 the death of Codrus, Athens abolished the monarchy and 
 appointed archons. Their office until 752 was for life, then 
 for ten years, after 683 for only one year, and finally was 
 shared by nine magistrates. This divided authority could 
 not check the excesses of the aristocracy or the projects of 
 the ambitious. The stern code of Draco, which punished 
 every offence with death, was rejected, and troubles con- 
 tinued. 
 
 Solon. — In 594 the task of reforming the laws and the 
 constitution was intrusted to Solon, then famous for his 
 poetry. He began by making the payment of debt easier, 
 and by releasing all debtors, but he refused to allow the 
 partition of land which the poor demanded. His aim was 
 
B.C. 594-514.] LYCURGUS AND SOLON 63 
 
 to abolish an oppressive aristocracy, without, however, estab- 
 lishing what would be called to-day a radical democracy. 
 He divided the people into four classes, according to prop- 
 erty. To belong to the first class, one must possess an 
 income of 500 medimni, about eighty-five dollars ; for the 
 second class, 400; for the third, 300. Those who had a 
 smaller income were the fourth class, or Thetes. Only 
 members of the first three classes were eligible to public 
 office, but all might attend the public assemblies and sit in 
 the tribunals. The nine archons, the supreme magistrates 
 of the state, could not discharge military duties. The 
 senate consisted of 400 members, chosen by lot from the 
 first three classes, and subjected to severe tests. Every 
 proposition, made to the public assembly, must be first dis- 
 cussed by it. The people confirmed the laws, nominated 
 to office, deliberated on state affairs, and filled the courts 
 in order to try great lawsuits. The Areopagus, composed 
 of former archons, was the supreme tribunal for capital 
 causes. It superintended morals and magistrates, and 
 could even annul the decisions of the people. Thus this 
 constitution was a clever mixture of aristocracy and de- 
 mocracy, where the management of public affairs was re- 
 served to the enlightened citizens. In his civil laws Solon 
 encouraged labor, and never, like Lycurgus, sacrificed the 
 man to the citizen, or the moral code to politics. 
 
 The Pisistratidae. Clisthenes. Themistocles. — After pro- 
 mulgating his laws, the Athenian legislator departed to 
 consult the wisdom of the ancient Eastern nations. When 
 he returned in 565, he found that Athens had given itself a 
 master. The parties, which he had thought to stifle, had 
 reappeared. From these fresh struggles had sprung the 
 tyranny of Pisistratus, who, without abolishing the consti- 
 tution, managed, as the favorite of the people and the 
 leader of the democracy, to exercise in the city an influ- 
 ence which annulled that of the magistrates. His mild 
 tyranny, however, was friendly to letters and arts. In 560, 
 by pretending that an attempt had been made upon his life, 
 he succeeded in having ^ards appointed for his protection. 
 Twice exiled, he was twice recalled, and retained power 
 until his death. He had honored, if not legitimized, his 
 usurpation by a skilful and prosperous administration. 
 
 His two sons, Hipparchus and Hippias, succeeded (528), 
 and governed together; but when Hipparchus fell, in 514, 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 514-500. 
 
 under the dagger of Harmodius and Aristogeiton, Hippias 
 became a cruel tyrant. The powerful family of the Alc- 
 meonidee, who had fled from Athens, thought the occasion 
 favorable to overthrow the last of the Pisistratidse. They 
 bribed the Pythia of Delphi, who induced the Spartans to 
 support them. Aided by a Dorian army, they did in fact 
 return to Athens, and compel Hippias to flee to the Persians 
 (510). The city, thus delivered, fell at once into intestine 
 quarrels. Clisthenes and Isagoras, leaders of the people 
 and of the aristocrats, banished each other in turn. The 
 former finally carried the day, in spite of the succor fur- 
 nished his rival by the Spartans. To reward the people who 
 had supported him, he made the constitution more demo- 
 cratic, and established ostracism, a custom which consisted 
 in exiling, as dangerous to the city, any citizen whose name 
 was inscribed on at least 6000 voting shells. Athens, the 
 mistress of Euboea, the Thracian Chersonese, and the island 
 of Lemnos, which Miltiades had conquered, was already a 
 maritime power. To increase her strength, Themistocles 
 built 200 vessels with the income of the silver mines of 
 Larium. This fleet was destined to save Athens and Greece. 
 
B.C. 500-490.] THE PERSIAN WARS 65 
 
 IV 
 
 THE PERSIAN WARS 
 
 Revolt of the Asiatic Greeks from the Persians (500). — 
 Darius had undertaken his expedition against the Scythians, 
 and had conquered Thrace, without the Greeks paying any 
 heed to this formidable aggressor, who must inevitably be 
 tempted to lay his hand upon their country also. The 
 Asiatic Greeks, who were subject to Persia, struck a blow 
 for liberty. Miletus, a colony of Athens, was the centre of 
 the movement. It asked of the mother city the aid which 
 Sparta had refused to give. Athens furnished vessels and 
 a body of troops, which contributed to the capture and burn- 
 ing of Sardis. A defeat, sustained in their return from this 
 expedition, disgusted the Athenians with the war, the bur- 
 den of which then fell upon the lonians, who were crushed 
 in a naval battle. After Miletus was taken, and all the 
 Greek cities of Asia were again subdued, a Persian army 
 commanded by Mardonius crossed to Europe to chastise the 
 allies of the rebels. The Persian fleet was destroyed by a 
 tempest near Mount Athos, and the Thracians inflicted heavy 
 losses upon the land forces, so Mardonius returned to Asia. 
 
 First Persian War. Marathon and Miltiades (490). — A 
 second expedition, under the command of Datis and Arta- 
 phernes, guided by the tyrant Hippias, set out by sea through 
 the Cyclades, which it subdued, and disembarked 100,000 
 Persians at Marathon. There 10,000 Athenians and 1000 
 Plataeans, under the command of Miltiades, by their heroic 
 courage saved not only their country, but the liberty and the 
 civilization of the world. Hippias fell upon the field of 
 battle. The Persian fleet, after a vain attempt to surprise 
 Athens, sailed away in shame to Asia. Miltiades, the hero 
 of that grand day, was commissioned to subdue the Cyclades, 
 but he failed before Paros. Being accused of treason, he 
 was condemned to a fine, which he could not pay, and died 
 in prison of his wounds. Then Themistocles became the 
 most influential man at Athens. He realized that the Per- 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 480-479. 
 
 sians would renew their attempt. Taking advantage of an 
 insurrection in Egypt, which forced Darius to postpone his 
 revenge, he devoted all the resources of Athens to increas- 
 ing the fleet. 
 
 Second Persian War. Salamis (480). — Xerxes succeeded 
 Darius. After he had reduced Egypt once more to submis- 
 sion, he agitated his immense empire to make a resistless 
 invasion of Greece with a million men and more than 1200 
 ships. On arriving from Susa at Abydos he threw a bridge 
 across the Dardanelles. To punish Athos, as he said, he 
 had a canal dug, which relieved his fleet of the necessity of 
 sailing round that dangerous promontory. Thrace, Mace- 
 don, and Thessaly were deluged with troops, and submitted. 
 He encountered resistance only at the Pass of Thermopylae. 
 King Leonidas, who held it with 300 Spartans and a few 
 Thespians, thwarted all his efforts, but a traitor showed the 
 Persians a path by which they could outflank the heroic 
 band. They still refused to retreat, and in the very camp 
 of Xerxes sought a glorious death. After Thermopylae had 
 been forced, the Greek fleet could no longer remain off 
 Artemisium, at the north of Euboea, where it had anchored 
 at first. It withdrew to Salamis, leaving Attica and cen- 
 tral Greece defenceless. Xerxes entered Athens, which he 
 burned. He believed the war was finished, but all Athens 
 was on board her ships. Themistocles employed a stratagem 
 to keep the Greeks together at a favorable point, and ex- 
 cited Xerxes to end all by a naval battle. From the throne 
 erected for him on the shore the great king beheld the de- 
 feat and destruction of his fleet at the battle of Salamis. 
 Six months after crossing the Hellespont as a conqueror, 
 he repassed it as a fugitive. 
 
 Flatsea (479). — He had, however, left Mardonius in 
 Greece with 300,000 men. A hundred thousand Greeks 
 collected at Plataea under the orders of Pausanias, king of' 
 Sparta. Of the barbarian host only a detachment escaped, 
 which had retreated before the battle. On the same day the 
 Greek fleet won a complete victory at Mycale on the Asiatic 
 coast. Thus the European continent was purged from the 
 barbarians, and the sea was free. Athens launched out 
 upon it. 
 
 Continuance of the War by Athens. — To Athens belongs 
 the chief honor in resisting the Persian invasion. Alone 
 she had conquered at Marathon with Miltiades. At Salamis 
 
B.C. 479^48.] THE PERSIAN WARS 67 
 
 her Themistocles had again assured the victory by forcing 
 the allies to conquer in spite of themselves. The glory of 
 Mycale belonged almost wholly to her, and she had shared 
 that of Plataea. Sparta could cite only the immortal but 
 futile self-sacrifice of Leonidas. The treachery of King 
 Pausanias, whom the ephors had sent to Thrace to expel 
 the Persian garrisons, and who treated secretly with Xerxes, 
 completely disgusted Lacedaemon with this war. Athens, 
 thus left alone at the head of the allies, boldly accepted the 
 role of antagonist to the great king. She herself assumed 
 the offensive. Soon, asking vessels and money from her 
 allies instead of soldiers, she continued the struggle in the 
 name of Greece, but on her own account and for her own 
 advantage. She subdued Amphipolis and a part of Thrace, 
 whither she sent 10,000 colonists, and undertook to free the 
 Asiatic Greeks. Cimdn in one day gained two victories, one 
 by land and one by sea, near the banks of the Eurymedon 
 (466). Thereby he secured for Athens the empire of the 
 seas, and, taking possession of the Thracian Chersonese, he 
 wrested from the Persians the key to Europe. 
 
 Last Victories of the Greeks. Cimon. — Artaxerxes Lon- 
 gimanus ascended the throne in 465, and beheld the shame 
 of his empire still further increased. Another rebellion in 
 Egypt threatened the Persian monarchy with dismember- 
 ment. The Athenians hastened to aid the rebels, who held 
 out for seven years. The banishment of Cimon, who was 
 ostraoized, and the rivalry of Sparta and Athens, which led 
 to the first war between the two republics and their allies, 
 gave a little respite to the Persians. But Cimon was re- 
 called, and reconciled Athens and Sparta. Immediately he 
 began hostilities against the common enemy. One victory 
 near Cyprus, and another on the coast of Asia, gloriously 
 terminated both his military career and the Persian wars. 
 The great king, threatened even in his own dominions, 
 signed a humiliating treaty, which restored liberty to the 
 Asiatic Greeks (448). His fleet was prohibited from enter- 
 ing the iEgean Sea, and his armies from approaching within 
 three days' march of its coasts. Cimon died in his triumph. 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 460-430 
 
 THE AGE OP PERICLES 
 
 The Athenian People. — During this struggle Athens had 
 been admirably served by the great men who had succeeded 
 each other as her generals or statesmen : Miltiades, the hero 
 of Marathon; Themistocles, who so often mingled craft 
 with courage ; Aristides, more upright, more just, benefiting 
 Athens by his virtues equally with his valor ; and thus inspir- 
 ing the allies with sufficient confidence to trust to him their 
 vessels and treasures, a man who, after having administered 
 the most opulent treasury in Europe, died without leaving 
 enough property to defray his funeral expenses, and be- 
 queathed to the state the duty of paying them and of dower- 
 ing his daughter; Cimon, son of Miltiades, greater than his 
 father, a hero whose single passion was to unite the Greek 
 cities in fraternal bonds, and pursue the Persians to the 
 death, and avenge the burning of Athens and of her temples. 
 With these illustrious leaders we must associate the Athe- 
 nian people, a populace often fickle, thankless, and violent, 
 but which redeemed its faults and crimes by its enthusiasm 
 for everything beautiful and grand, by the masterpieces 
 which it inspired, and by the artists and poets whom it gave 
 mankind, and who will forever plead its cause with pos- 
 terity. 
 
 Pericles. — Pericles, the son of Xanthippus, the conqueror 
 of Mycale, deserves special mention in this roll of honor. 
 From a fancied facial resemblance to Pisistratus, he long 
 held himself aloof from politics. Though by birth an aris- 
 tocrat, he attached himself to the popular party. The 
 powerful influence which he acquired by the dignity of his 
 life and his military services he employed to restrain the 
 evil and to develop the good impulses of the people. This 
 little city controlled too vast an empire. To assure its con- 
 tinuance, he sent out numerous colonies, which did not, like 
 those of preceding centuries, become cities independent of 
 the mother country, but rather fortresses and garrisons 
 
B.C. 460-430.] THE AGE OF PERICLES 69 
 
 whereby the country in which they were established was 
 held in submission to Athens. 
 
 Great Intellects at Athens. — Pericles desired that Athens 
 should be not only rich and powerful, but also glorious. 
 He invited thither those superior men who then honored 
 the Hellenic race. From all directions mankind flocked to 
 the city of Minerva as an intellectual capital. The festi- 
 vals were thronged, where the loftiest pleasures of the mind 
 were associated with the most imposing spectacles of re- 
 ligious pomp, of perfect art, and of nature in her most 
 charming aspect. These festivals were not, like those of 
 the Eoman populace, sanguinary games of the amphitheatre 
 with spectacles of death, blood, and corpses, but consisted 
 of pious hymns, patriotic songs, and dramatic representa- 
 tions of events in the history of the gods or of the heroes. 
 
 Thus this period, often called the Age of Pericles, beheld 
 at Athens one of the most brilliant bursts of civilization 
 which has ever illumined the world. What a century that 
 was, when, in a single city, there met each other Sophocles 
 and Euripides, two of the greatest tragic poets of all ages ; 
 Lysias, the powerful orator ; Herodotus, the inimitable nar- 
 rator; Meton, the astronomer, and Hippocrates, the father 
 of medicine; Aristophanes, foremost of the comic poets 
 of antiquity; Phidias, the most illustrious of its artists; 
 Apollodorus, Zeuxis Polygnotus, and Parrhasius, its most 
 celebrated painters ; and in conclusion, two immortal phi- 
 losophers, Anaxagoras and Socrates. If we remember that 
 this city had just lost J^schylus, and that it was soon to 
 possess Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle, we 
 shall not be surprised that it was called '' the preceptress 
 of Greece," and that it became the teacher of the world. 
 
 The Parthenon. — We still read the works of those poets, 
 historians, and philosophers, but of the achievements of the 
 artists only fragments remain. Nevertheless when, seated 
 on the tribune from which Demosthenes spoke, one con- 
 templates the Acropolis, and beholds the exquisite grace, 
 the incomparable beauty, and the imposing grandeur which 
 those ruins of what once were the Parthenon, the Erec- 
 theum, and the Propylaea still preserve, he is overwhelmed 
 with admiration. However vivid be in his mind the memory 
 of vast Egyptian monuments, he says to himself that the 
 art eternal is here. 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 457-424 
 
 VI 
 
 RIVALRY OP SPARTA, ATHENS, AND THEBES 
 
 Irritation of the Allies against Athens. — After the Persian 
 wars were finished, Athens continued to exact tribute 
 money from her confederates on the plea that the Greeks 
 must be ready to repel a fresh invasion. The money thus 
 collected she spent upon herself. The allies grew tired of 
 always paying for those monuments and festivals, which 
 gave such brilliancy to only one city. When their com- 
 plaints were harshly repressed, they addressed mute suppli- 
 cations to Sparta. Jealous of the glory of Athens, Sparta 
 labored to form a continental league which she could oppose 
 to that of the maritime cities and islands which were sub- 
 ject to the Athenians. From 457 to 431 there were several 
 hostile encounters, but the general war did not break out 
 until the Thebans, who were allies of Sparta, attacked 
 Plataea, which was an ally of Athens. 
 
 The Peloponnesian War to the Peace of Nicias (431^24). 
 — The struggle at first consisted only of pillaging expedi- 
 tions on both sides. The Spartans devastated Attica every 
 spring, while every summer the Athenian fleet ravaged the 
 coasts of the Peloponnesus. Unfortunately, in the third 
 year, a pestilence mowed down the people packed together 
 in Athens, and carried off Pericles. Demagogues, unable to 
 control the masses, took the place of the dead statesman. 
 Cleon, the new popular favorite, gave free rein to the pas- 
 sions of the crowd. After the revolt of Mitylene in 427, 
 the Athenian mob condemned a whole people to death, 
 and a thousand Mitylenean prisoners were slain. From 
 429 to 426 the successes were balanced. The Boeotians de- 
 stroyed Platsea, but Potidaea was captured by the Athenians. 
 In 424 Brasidas took Amphipolis, thereby apparently giv- 
 ing the advantage to Lacedaemon, but Demosthenes seized 
 Pylos, and thence called the helots to liberty, while 400 
 Spartans, who had allowed themselves to be shut up in 
 Sphacteria while attempting to reconquer Pylos, were them- 
 
B.C. 421-408.] RIVALRY OF SPARTA, ATHENS, AND THEBES 71 
 
 selves overpowered and made prisoners. The Lacedaemo- 
 nian allies, the Boeotians and Megarians, were beaten. The 
 Athenians in turn met a check at Delium, and Cleon was 
 slain at Potidaea. The Spartan, Brasidas, also fell in the 
 same action. The partisans of peace then regained the 
 upper hand (421), and Nicias caused the treaty to be signed 
 which bears his name. 
 
 The Sicilian Expedition. Alcibiades (425-413). — This 
 peace upset the calculations of the ambitious and brilliant 
 Alcibiades, the nephew of Pericles. As he desired war that 
 he might win distinction, he proposed and caused to be 
 voted the disastrous expedition to Sicily, which might per- 
 haps have succeeded, had he not been accused of sacrilege 
 and recalled. The traitor then fled to Sparta, and from 
 there directed fatal blows against his own country. The 
 siege of Syracuse, weakly conducted by Nicias, ended in the 
 destruction of the Athenian fleet and army (413). The 
 leaders were put to death by the Syracusans, and the sol- 
 diers sold as slaves. 
 
 This disaster dealt the power of Athens a blow from 
 which she did not recover. By the advice of Alcibiades, 
 the Spartans fortified Decelea at the entrance to Attica, 
 which they held as though besieged, and allied themselves 
 with the Persians. Athens heroically braved the storm, 
 displayed unexpected resources, and held all her allies to 
 their duty. Fortunately for her, Alcibiades was compelled 
 to flee from Sparta. He withdrew into Asia, and won the 
 good-will of Tissaphernes, by showing him the advantage to 
 the great king in supporting a war so useful to the Persian 
 Empire. By the promise of subsidies from Persia, Alcibi- 
 ades seduced an Athenian army then at Samos, and brought 
 about a revolution at Athens. The democracy was curbed 
 by the establishment of a superior council, with 400 mem- 
 bers, which replaced the senate, and by an assembly of 
 5000 chosen citizens, which replaced the assembly of the 
 people (411), But the army of Alcibiades, while appoint- 
 ing Alcibiades as its general, repudiated the new govern- 
 ment, which fell at the end of four months. The Assembly 
 of the Five Thousand was retained, however, and the recon- 
 ciliation of the army and people was sealed by the recall of 
 Alcibiades. Two naval battles won in the Hellespont (411), 
 a great victory on land and sea near Cyzicus (410), and 
 lastly the capture of Byzantium (408), consolidated the 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 407-396. 
 
 dominion of Athens over Thrace and Ionia, and Alcibiades 
 made a triumphal return to his country (407). But the 
 same year several disasters which he was unable to prevent 
 aroused suspicion ; he was again stripped of his power and 
 forced into exile. He finally perished at the hands of the 
 Persians. 
 
 The Battle of Mgos Potamos, Capture of Athens (404). — 
 The younger Cyrus, who was already plotting the overthrow 
 of his brother, King Artaxerxes II, then held command 
 in Asia Minor. For the accomplishment of his projects he 
 counted upon the assistance of the Spartans, whom he re- 
 garded as the best soldiers in Greece or in the world. So 
 he gave them unreserved support. By the crushing vic- 
 tory of ^gos Potamos, Lysander wrested from Athens the 
 empire of the sea (405). Athens was unable to resist 
 further, and was captured the following year. Her walls 
 were razed, her fleet reduced to twelve galleys, and the 
 government intrusted to an oligarchy of thirty tyrants, 
 who sanctioned abominable atrocities, and even put to death 
 one of their colleagues, Theramenes, for having suggested 
 moderation. After a few months a returned exile, Thrasy- 
 boulos, defeated the army of the tyrants and reestablished 
 the former constitution (403). 
 
 Four years later Socrates was condemned to drink hem- 
 lock. He was one of the most illustrious victims of super- 
 stition and intolerance. 
 
 Power of Sparta. Expedition of the Ten Thousand. Age- 
 silaus. — The supremacy in the Greek world had passed from 
 Athens to Lacedeemon, who used it badly. She did little 
 for art or learning, and her chiefs displayed nothing but 
 brutal rapacity and greed. 
 
 The younger Cyrus was pursuing his plans. With thir- 
 teen thousand Greek mercenaries, he made his way as far 
 as the neighborhood of Babylon, and won the battle of Cu- 
 naxa, but he died in the moment of triumph (401). The 
 Greeks, surrounded on all sides, managed, under the leader- 
 ship of the Lacedsemonian Clearchus, and afterwards of the 
 Athenian Xenophon, to make their way across four hundred 
 leagues of country, over the pathless mountains of upper 
 Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Pontus, to the shores of the 
 Black Sea. This famous retreat, known as that of the Ten 
 Thousand, revealed the weakness of the great empire. There- 
 fore as early as the year 396 Agesilaus, king of Sparta, pro- 
 
B.C. 396-371.] RIVALRY OF SPARTA, ATHENS, AND THEBES 73 
 
 posed its conquest. Conqueror of the satraps of Asia Minor, 
 ally of the Egyptians, who had again revolted, and master of 
 the forces of many barbarian kings, he was about to under- 
 take the Persian expedition, sixty years before Alexander, 
 when the Persians found means to incite a war against 
 Sparta in the very heart of Greece itself. At their instiga- 
 tion, Corinth, Thebes, and Argos formed a league, which 
 Athens and Thessaly joined. Agesilaus, thus recalled from 
 Asia, won the battle of Coronea, which strengthened the 
 dominion of Sparta on land; but the Athenian Conon, in 
 command of a Phoenician fleet, deprived her of the empire 
 of the sea, and with Persian gold rebuilt the ramparts of 
 Athens. 
 
 Treaty of Antalcidas. — The Spartans, disturbed by the 
 strength of their rivals, sent Antalcidas to treat with the 
 great king. The Asiatic Greeks became his subjects, Athens 
 retained Lemnos, Imbros, and Seyros, but the independence 
 of the other Greek cities was recognized (387). In Cimon's 
 treaty it had been Athens who imposed her conditions upon 
 Persia. The change had come, not because Persia was more 
 powerful, but Greece less virtuous. Everything was for sale, 
 and as the great king had much gold, he bought everything, 
 orators, soldiers, fleets, cities. The outcome of a war no 
 longer depended upon the patriotism of the citizens and the 
 talent of the leaders, but upon an obolus more or less in the 
 wages of the mercenaries which induced them to pass from 
 one camp to the other. 
 
 Struggle between Sparta and Thebes. Epaminondas (381- 
 362). — The alliance against Sparta had placed Greece at 
 the feet of Persia. Yet Sparta seemed strong, and believed 
 herself able to act as she pleased. One day she destroyed 
 Mantinea without cause and overthrew Olynthus. Finally 
 one of her generals, Phibidias, violating all justice, sur- 
 prised the Cadmeum, the citadel of Thebes, which was then 
 the ally of Lacedaemon. The Spartans retained what treach- 
 ery had given them (382). The Theban Pelopidas at the 
 head of many exiles delivered his country, and reunited in 
 a common alliance all the cities of Boeotia. At Leuctra 
 Epaminondas crushed the army the Spartans had sent 
 against them (371), and ventured to carry the war into the 
 Peloponnesus. He fought his way to the very walls of 
 Sparta, which however he was unable to enter. To hold 
 it in check he built on its flanks Megalopolis and Messene, 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 362. 
 
 which became fortresses and camps of refuge for the Arca- 
 dian and Messenian foes of Sparta (369). Against Thebes 
 Sparta excited Athens, Persia, and Dionysius, tyrant of 
 Syracuse. Then Epaminondas invaded the Peloponnesus 
 a second time, made an alliance with the Persian court, and 
 created a navy of one hundred vessels which supported 
 Rhodes, Chios, and Byzantium in revolt against Athens. 
 Unhappily for Thebes, Epaminondas a third time invaded 
 the Peloponnesus, and perished in the arms of victory at 
 Mantineia (362). The power of his country fell with him. 
 
B.C. 359.] PHILIP OF MACEDON, AND DEMOSTHENES 75 
 
 VII 
 
 PHILIP OF MACEDON, AND DEMOSTHENES 
 
 Philip. — Macedon, a vast region to the north of Thessaly 
 and of the ^gean Sea, very early had kings who, sur- 
 rounded by barbarous peoples and dominated by a powerful 
 aristocracy, had hitherto played only an insignificant part. 
 Before Philip, the father of Alexander, Macedon was even 
 in a desperate situation. She paid tribute to the Illyrians, 
 and the haughty intervention of Thebes and Athens in her 
 affairs only increased the chaos. Philip, who had been sent 
 to Thebes as a hostage, was brought up in the house of 
 Epaminondas, and saw how the genius of one man could 
 elevate a nation. Therefore on attaining power (359) he 
 was able in two years, by means of the phalanx which he 
 had organized in accordance with the ideas of Epaminondas, 
 to rid the kingdom of the barbarians and himself of two 
 competitors. 
 
 Capture of Amphipolis. Occupation of Thessaly. — Macedon 
 once set free, he wished to enlarge and make it the ruler 
 of Greece. The Greek colonies, established on her coasts, 
 cut her off from the sea and prevented her having a navy ; 
 so he captured them one after another. First he purchased 
 the neutrality of the powerful republic of Olynthus by 
 giving it Potidaea, which he had seized. Then he took 
 Amphipolis, which Athens deceived by his promises was 
 unable to succor. Next he completed the conquest of the 
 country between the Nestos and the Strymon, where he 
 found building-timber for his navy, and the gold mines of 
 Mount Pangseus, that furnished him a revenue of a thou- 
 sand talents. Afterwards he penetrated into Thrace, which 
 he partially subdued, and attacked Byzantium, which was 
 delivered by Athens. Checked in that quarter, he turned 
 to another. He interfered in the affairs of Thessaly, where 
 he overthrew the tyrants of Pherse, and appointed himself 
 the champion of religion against the Phocians, who had just 
 been condemned by the Amphictyonic Council for having 
 
76 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b. 0.352-338.' 
 
 tilled a sacred field. He crushed them in a great battle 
 (352). The grateful Thessalians opened three of their 
 towns to the avenger of the gods. He put a garrison in- 
 side and thereby held the entire province. He wished to 
 go further and seize Thermopylae. But the Athenians by 
 their vigilance at first frustrated this project, as they had 
 frustrated one attempt upon Byzantium and another upon 
 Europe. 
 
 Demosthenes. — The Athenians alone seemed active in the 
 interests of Greece. They were led by a great citizen, 
 Demosthenes, who constantly employed his vigorous elo- 
 quence in unveiling the ambitious designs of the king. But 
 his philippics could not overcome craft supported by force. 
 Olynthus, which Demosthenes tried to save, fell, and with it 
 the barrier that embarrassed Macedonia the most (348). 
 Athens, now menaced in Euboea and even in Attica, whither 
 Macedonian troops had come to remove the trophies of Mara- 
 thon and Salamis, signed a peace which Demosthenes him- 
 self advised and which he negotiated with the king. 
 
 Second Sacred War (346). Battle of Chaeronea (338).— 
 While Athens confiding in this treaty gave herself up to 
 festivals, Philip passed through Thermopylae, overwhelmed 
 the Phocians and made them give him the vote which they 
 had in the Amphictyonic Council (346). This was a de- 
 cisive step, for, once a member of the Hellenic body, the 
 king could make the Amphictyonic Council speak in ac- 
 cordance with his interests and use it as his own instrument 
 of oppression. Nevertheless, since he knew how to wait, 
 he halted almost immediately in order to avoid any dan- 
 gerous outbreak of despair, and turned his arms toward the 
 Danube, which he made the boundary of his kingdom, and 
 toward Thrace, where Phocion still prevented him from 
 seizing the Greek colonies established on the Hellespont. 
 While he was so far from Thermopylae, his agents worked 
 for him in Greece, ^schines caused the management of a 
 new sacred war against the Locrians to be intrusted to him. 
 For the second time religion was going to ruin this far 
 from religious people. Philip, on arriving in central Greece, 
 seized Elatea. 
 
 Demosthenes immediately broke silence. He reunited 
 Athens and Thebes for a supreme effort, but Greek liberty 
 was overthrown at Chaeronea (338). The victor did himself 
 honor by his moderation, and in order to justify the supreme 
 
B.C. 336.] PHILIP OF MACEDON, AND DEMOSTHENES 77 
 
 authority which he had just grasped, he had himself ap- 
 pointed by the Amphictyonic Council general-in-chief of the 
 Greeks against the Persians. He was about to repeat the 
 expedition of Agesilaus, though with far larger forces. 
 
 Macedon was now a powerful state extending from Ther- 
 mopylae to the Danube, and from the Adriatic to the Black 
 Sea. Its government had nothing to fear from internal 
 troubles or pretenders to the throne. The aristocracy, the 
 cause of previous disorders, had been won over by the glory 
 of the monarch, by honors and offices, or were restrained by 
 the hostages which they had been compelled to give that the 
 royal guard might be composed entirely of young nobles. 
 But death arrested Philip at the age of forty-seven in the 
 midst of his plans. He was assassinated by a noble Pau- 
 sanias, probably instigated by the Persians (336). 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 336-332. 
 
 VIII 
 
 ALEXANDER 
 (336-323) 
 
 Submission of Greece to Alexander (336-334). — Great 
 disturbances broke out at the news tbat Philip had left as 
 his heir Alexander, a young man of twenty. However, 
 Alexander rapidly subdued Thrace and lUyricum, van- 
 quished the barbarians on both banks of the Danube, and, 
 learning that the Macedonian garrison had been massacred 
 at Thebes, arrived in BcEotia thirteen days after leaving the 
 Danube. " Demosthenes called me a child," he said, " when 
 I was in Illyricum, and a youth when I arrived in Thessaly. 
 Under the walls of Athens I will show him that I am a 
 man." He took Thebes, slew six thousand of its inhabi- 
 tants, and sold thirty thousand into slavery. The terrified 
 Greeks at Corinth conferred upon him the title, already 
 bestowed upon his father, of general-in-chief for the Persian 
 War. 
 
 Expedition against Persia (334). Conquest of the Asiatic 
 Coast and Egypt. — - He crossed the Hellespont with 30,000 
 foot and 4500 horse, defeated at Granicus 110,000 Persians, 
 then marched along the coast so as to shut Greece from the 
 agents of Darius, and thus deprive them of the means of 
 exciting disorders there. Darius tried to arrest him at Issus 
 in Cilicia. Alexander vanquished him (333). Disdaining 
 to pursue he continued the plan which he had marked out 
 in the occupation of the maritime cities. Without anxiety 
 he devoted seven months to the siege of Tyre, and spent 
 another year in Egypt, where he sacrificed to the native 
 gods so as to win over the inhabitants. He founded Alex- 
 andria, and induced the priests of Ammon to bestow upon 
 him the title of Son of the Gods, which the ancient Phar 
 raohs had borne (332). 
 
 Conquest of Persia. Death of Darius. Murder of Clitus 
 (334-327). — After conquering the maritime provinces of 
 the empire, Alexander traversed Palestine and Syria, 
 
, , Route of Alexander 
 ^J < Voyage of Nearchus 
 
 CowrijI.i. 1898. L) T. V. Crowcll i Co. 
 
Eufrsvid liy Culloii, Ohiusn It Co.. K. Y. 
 
B.C. 332-327.] ALEXANDER 79 
 
 crossed tlie Euphrates, where the Persians did not oppose 
 his passage, and the Tigris, which they defended no better, 
 and at last attacked and completely defeated Darius in the 
 plain of Arbela (331). Sure that no army of the Persian 
 king could resist his Macedonians, he allowed that prince 
 to again flee toward his eastern provinces. He descended 
 to Babylon, where he sacrificed to Bel, whose temple over- 
 thrown by Xerxes he restored, and hurried to occupy the 
 other capitals of Darius: Susa, which contained immense 
 riches ; Pasargadae, the sanctuary of the empire ; and Persep- 
 olis, which he burned, thereby announcing to the whole East 
 that a new conqueror had seated himself upon the throne 
 of Cyrus. With headlong speed he subdued, or caused his 
 generals to subdue, the neighboring movintaineers. He en- 
 tered Ecbatana a week after the king had left it, continued 
 the pursuit and was on the point of again attacking him, 
 when three satraps, whose prisoner the vmfortunate prince 
 had become, cut the throat of Darius and left only a corpse 
 for the conqueror. Bessus, one of the assassins, tried to 
 make Bactriana a centre of resistance. Alexander gave 
 him no time. He rapidly traversed Aria and Bactriana as 
 far as the Oxus. Bessus, who had retreated beyond that 
 river, was delivered into his hands, and a council of Medes 
 and Persians surrendered him to the brother of Darius, who 
 caused him to undergo a thousand tortures. 
 
 Alexander wintered in those regions. On the shores of 
 the laxartes he founded a new Alexandria, which he peopled 
 with Greek mercenaries, invalid soldiers, and barbarians. 
 The capture of the Sogdian Rock, the marriage of Alexan- 
 der with Roxana, the daughter of a Persian nobleman, and 
 the foundation of many cities completed the subjugation of 
 Sogdiana, where the conqueror left great but also terrible 
 memories. He tortured Philotas and his father, Parmenio, 
 because of a conspiracy which they had not revealed, mur- 
 dered Clitus during an orgy, and put to death the philoso- 
 pher Callisthenes for a plot to which he was a stranger. 
 
 Alexander beyond the Indus. His Return to Babylon, and 
 Death (327-323). — The Persian Empire no longer existed. 
 It was now the Macedonian Empire. Alexander did not 
 find it large enough, and wished to add India thereto. Upon 
 the banks of the Cophen he met an Indian king, Taxiles, 
 who entreated his aid against Porus, another Indian monarch. 
 His soldiers felled a whole forest to construct a fleet upon 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 325. 
 
 the Indus, and Porus was conquered and captured. " How- 
 do you wish to be treated ? " Alexander asked his prisoner. 
 " Like a king," replied Porus. The captive was allowed to 
 retain his states, which were also enlarged, and was assigned 
 the duty of maintaining the country in submission. Alex- 
 ander wished to penetrate into the valley of the Ganges, 
 but his army refused to go farther and he was obliged to 
 halt. After marking the extreme limit of his triumphant 
 course by twelve altars around which he celebrated games, 
 he returned to the Indus, which he descended to the ocean, 
 subjugating the people along the banks, founding cities, 
 dockyards, and ports, and carefully exploring the mouths of 
 the river. He returned to Babylon through the deserts of 
 Gedrosia and Carmania, through which no army had ever 
 marched. Meanwhile his admiral, Nearchus, coasted with 
 the fleet along the shore and returned by the Persian Gulf 
 that he might indicate to commerce the road to India. 
 
 Notwithstanding the many recruits which Macedon and 
 Greece had sent him, Alexander could not have founded so 
 many cities and maintained his subjects in obedience, if he 
 had not pursued a wise policy toward the conquered. He 
 sacrificed to their gods, respected their customs, left the 
 civil government in the hands of the natives, and endeavored 
 to unite victors and vanquished by marriages, of which he 
 himself set the example by wedding Barsina, or Statira, the 
 daughter of Darius. The military forces alone remained in 
 the hands of his Macedonians. He counted that the benefi- 
 cent influence of commerce would create between East and 
 West, between Persia and Greece, common interests and 
 weld those many diverse peoples into one formidable em- 
 pire. Death overtook him at Babylon (323) and put an end 
 to his mighty plans. No one after him had sufficient 
 strength or authority to take them up. When about to 
 draw his last breath, he had given his ring to Perdiccas. 
 His other lieutenants asked him to whom he left his crown. 
 " To the most worthy, but I fear I shall have a bloody 
 funeral." He was only thirty-two years of age and had 
 reigned twelve. 
 
 The Age of Alexander. — Great men again in the age of 
 Philip and Alexander added to the glorious patrimony 
 which their ancestors had bequeathed. Praxiteles, the most 
 graceful of Greek sculptors, and the painter Pamphilus, the 
 master of Apelles, followed Phidias, Polycletus, and Zeuxis. 
 
B.C. 323.] ALEXANDER 81 
 
 Nevertheless art diminished. Taste became less pure and 
 style less severe. Too much was yielded to form. Art 
 spoke to the eye rather than to the mind. Eloquence and 
 philosophy, however, showed no decline. The tribune of 
 Athens resounded with the impassioned and virile accents of 
 Demosthenes, Lycurgus, Hyperides, and Hegesippus. ^s- 
 chines, the rival of Demosthenes, contributed the movement 
 and splendor of his periods, and Phocion his virtue, the 
 most powerful weapon of oratory. 
 
 After the death of Socrates his disciples dispersed. 
 Plato, the most illustrious of them all, had returned to 
 Athens and taught in the gardens of Academus. The 
 Greeks, charmed by the matchless grace of his speech, 
 reported that his father was Apollo and that the bees of 
 Hymettus had deposited their honey upon his lips in the 
 cradle. Aristotle, his pupil and rival, the teacher of Alex- 
 ander, has fastened upon himself the eternal attention of 
 mankind by other merits. His vast and mighty genius 
 desired to understand all, the laws of the human mind as 
 well as the laws of nature. Philosophy still pursues the 
 double path which those preeminent intellects marked out, 
 idealistic with the one, rational and positive with the other. 
 Xenophon, a gentle spirit and amiable narrator, ranks far 
 below them. 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 323-64. 
 
 IX 
 
 CONVERSION OF GREECE AND OP THE GREEK KING- 
 DOMS INTO ROMAN PROVINCES 
 
 (3»3-146) 
 
 Dismemberment of Alexander's Empire. — Three months 
 after Alexander's death, his wife Eoxana gave birth to 
 Alexander Aigos. The conqueror left a natural son named 
 Hercules; a half-brother, the imbecile Arrhideus, and two 
 sisters, Cleopatra and Thessalonica. His imperious mother, 
 Olympias, was still alive. After long debates Arrhideus 
 and Alexander Aigos were both proclaimed. Antipater was 
 placed over the European forces, Craterus was made a sort 
 of guardian to Arrhideus, and Perdiccas became a general 
 prime minister. Continual convulsions during twenty-four 
 years resulted from this divided authority, and cost the lives 
 of all the members of the royal family and of a majority of 
 the generals. The empire was rent asunder along the lines 
 of its ancient nationalities. Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and 
 Macedon were reconstructed after the decisive battle of 
 Ipsus, where Antigonus made a last effort to restore unity 
 (301). 
 
 Kingdoms of Syria (201-64) and Egypt (301-30).— Seleu- 
 cus Nicator, one of the victors of Ipsus, founded the dynasty 
 of the Seleucidae, to whom he gave for capitals Seleucia and 
 Antioch and for empire all the countries comprised between 
 the Indus and the ^gean Sea. His son could not prevent 
 the Gauls from settling in Galatia. Antiochus II, despite 
 his surname of the God, saw two kingdoms rise in his east- 
 ern provinces, that of the Bactrians, which did not last, and 
 that of the Parthians, which renewed the Persian monarchy. 
 Antiochus III the Great (224-187) ventured to attack the 
 Romans, who vanquished him at Thermopylae (191) and 
 Magnesia (190), wrested from him Asia on this side of the 
 Tarsus, and reduced Syria itself to a Roman province (64). 
 
 Egypt saw better days under the first of the Lagidae, all 
 
B.C. 301-30.] GREECE BECOMES A ROMAN PROVINCE 83 
 
 of whom bore the name of Ptolemy. It was then a power- 
 ful state, the centre of the world's commerce, the asylum 
 of letters and science, with a magnificent library at Alexan- 
 dria. But the clever kings were speedily succeeded by 
 debauched, cruel, incapable sovereigns, and after them by 
 foreign intervention. 
 
 Thus Ptolemy Soter (301) added to his kingdom Cyre- 
 naica, Cyprus, Coele-Syria, and Phoenicia. Philadelphus 
 (285) developed the navy and maintained two successful 
 wars, one against his brother Magas, governor of Cyrene, 
 and the other against the king of Syria, who was unable to 
 conquer Egypt. Euergetes (247) penetrated in Asia as far 
 as Bactriana and in Africa to the interior of Ethiopia, while 
 his lieutenants subjugated the coasts of Arabia Felix to 
 secure the trade-route to India. Philopator (222) began the 
 decline, which Epiphanes (205) hastened by placing himself 
 under the tutelage of the Romans, who thenceforth con- 
 stantly intermeddled in Egyptian affairs till the days of Caesar 
 and Cleopatra. The latter was a dangerous siren, to whom 
 Antony sacrificed his honor, his fortune, and his life. Octa- 
 vius resisted her, and the queen, threatened with adorning a 
 Roman triumph, died from the poison of an asp. Egypt 
 became a Roman province (30), as the kingdom of Perga- 
 mos in Asia Minor had done (129) by virtue of the testa- 
 ment of its last king. 
 
 Kingdom of Macedon (301-146). Cynocephalae and Pydna. 
 — Macedon did not exist so long, but fell with greater honor, 
 for her last two kings dared withstand Rome, who had 
 become through her triumph over Carthage the greatest 
 military power in the world. The descendants of Antigo- 
 nus, who was vanquished at Ipsus, had secured for themselves 
 the throne of Macedon, and like Philip and Alexander tried 
 to obtain the supreme power over Greece. During the 
 second Punic War, the Romans by the conquest of lUyri- 
 cum gained a footing on the Greek peninsula. Philip of 
 Macedon tried to drive them into the sea, and made with 
 Hannibal (215) a treaty which was to assure him the posses- 
 sion of Greece ; but a defeat on the banks of the Aotis forced 
 him to beat a rapid retreat to his kingdom. The Roman 
 senate, taking advantage of the enmities which his ambition 
 had aroused, announced itself the protector of the nations 
 threatened by him. He had the impudence to provoke 
 Rome, now rid of Hannibal. The reply was prompt and 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS [b.c. 322-221. 
 
 terrible. The legions crushed at Cynocephalae the phalanx, 
 which had conquered Greece and Asia (197). His son 
 Perseus was no more fortunate at Pydna (168). In 146 
 Macedon was effaced from the list of nations and the king- 
 dom of Alexander was henceforth nothing but a Koman 
 province. 
 
 Death of Demosthenes (322). The Achsean League (251- 
 146). — While the successors of Alexander were disputing 
 the fragments of his purple robe in Asia, Greece made an 
 effort to recover her liberty. Demosthenes, who had re- 
 mained the soul of the national party, and Athens, who 
 hoped to be able to break once more the dominion of the 
 stranger, stirred up the Lanian war. It began well but 
 ended in disaster. Demosthenes was banished and took 
 poison (322). On the base of the statue which, later on, 
 his fellow-countrymen erected to his memory, these words 
 were inscribed : " If thy power had equalled thy eloquence, 
 Greece would not to-day be captive." Phocion perished five 
 years later by the order of the Macedonians. However, the 
 Greek cities profiting by the disorders in Macedon regained 
 their liberty; but the foreign rule when it withdrew left 
 behind, like an impure deposit, tyrants in every town. Sup- 
 ported by mercenaries, these men terrorized over the citizens 
 and extorted from their cowardice the gold which served to 
 rivet their bonds. One man, Aratus, undertook to overthrow 
 these detestable rulers. First he reconstituted the ancient 
 federation of the twelve Achaean cities. Then he delivered 
 Sicyon (251), Corinth, Megara, Trezene, Argos, Mantineia, 
 Epidaurus, and Megalopolis from their tyrants, and made 
 alliance with the ^tolian league in order to raise a barrier 
 against the ambition of Macedon. To extend his patriotic 
 work to central Greece, he aided in the deliverance of Athens 
 and Orchomenus. A few efforts more and the Achsean league 
 would have embraced the whole of Hellas. 
 
 Unfortunately, Sparta revived with a spasm of reform. 
 Cleomenes made all property common, reestablished the pub- 
 lic meals and reconstituted with foreigners a new Spartan 
 people which immediately contended with the Achaeans, and 
 disputed their preponderance in the Peloponnesus. Aratus 
 was constrained to implore assistance from the Macedoni- 
 ans, who defeated Cleomenes at Sellasia (221). This defeat 
 crushed new Sparta, but placed the Achaeans in depen- 
 dence upon Macedon, who made everything bend before 
 
B.C. 221-146.] GREECE BECOMES A ROMAN PROVINCE 85 
 
 her. The Eomans becoming disquieted at this reviving 
 strength prepared to intervene so as to destroy it. The 
 violent deeds of Philip and the murder of Aratus gave 
 them numerous allies, and the ^Etolians helped win the bat- 
 tle of Cynocephalae. Victorious Rome took nothing for 
 herself, but divided everything in order to weaken all. She 
 destroyed the leagues in Thessaly and central Greece by 
 declaring that every city should be free. The Greeks 
 applauded, not without perceiving that this liberty would 
 lead them to servitude. Philopoemen of Megalopolis, the 
 worthy successor of Aratus, at the head of the Achaean 
 league tried to delay the moment of inevitable ruin. Lace- 
 dsemon, which had fallen into the hands of the tyrants, was 
 a hotbed of intrigue, Philopoemen slew with his own hand 
 in battle the tyrant Machanidas, and forced his successor 
 Nabis to raise the siege of Messene. Entering Sparta as a 
 victor, he united it to the Achaean league. It was not the 
 policy of Rome that the whole Peloponnesus should form a 
 single state. Her envoys urged Messene to revolt. Philo- 
 poemen in an expedition against her fell from his horse, was 
 captured and condemned to drink hemlock (183). 
 
 During the war against Perseus, the Achaeans secretly 
 but fervently desired his success, and for this Rome called 
 them to account after the victory of Pydna. A thousand of 
 their best citizens were deported to Italy (168). Released 
 seventeen years afterwards, they brought back to their coun- 
 try an imprudent hatred of Rome. When the senate an- 
 nounced that Corinth, Sparta, and Argos must cease to form 
 part of the league, the Achaeans flew to arms and fought the 
 last battle for liberty (146) at Leucopetra, near Corinth. 
 Corinth was burned by Mummius, Greece reduced to a prov- 
 ince, and this people, who had held so great a place in the 
 world, were lost in the ocean of the Roman power. 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS 
 
 SUMMARY OF GREEK HISTORY 
 
 Services Rendered by the Greeks to General Civilization. 
 
 — Epicharmes, the creator of Greek comedy, said twenty- 
 four centuries ago : " All blessings are bought from the 
 gods by labor." What the poet said, Greece proved. By 
 dint of an activity, of which no other people had until 
 then ever furnished an example, did the Greeks succeed in 
 taking so high a rank among the nations. They covered 
 the coasts of the Mediterannean with flourishing cities. 
 They raised a poor and petty country to mastery of the 
 world by arms and commerce, but, above all, by civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 Among the sciences by establishing the methods or pro- 
 cesses they also created mathematics, geometry, mechanics, 
 and astronomy, which Egypt and Chaldsea had only out- 
 lined. They laid the foundations of botany and medicine. 
 
 In the sciences indeed we have advanced much farther 
 than they by following the path of patient investigation and 
 pure reasoning which Hippocrates, Archimedes, and Aris- 
 totle opened up, but in letters, arts, and philosophy the 
 Greeks have remained the eternal masters. The E/Omans 
 and the moderns have been only their pupils. 
 
 They carried to perfection the epic poem with Homer; 
 the elegy with Simonides; the ode with Pindar; tragedy 
 with ^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, who succeeded in 
 making it grandly religious, patriotic and moral; comedy 
 with Aristophanes and Menander; history with Herodotus 
 and Thucydides ; forensic and legal eloquence with Demos- 
 thenes, ^schines, Isocrates, and Lysias. 
 
 In the arts the world still follows their impulse and imi- 
 tates their models. While varying their three orders, we 
 copy their architecture. Their mutilated statues are the 
 pride of our museums. Our decorative arts draw inspira- 
 tion from the graceful designs of their vases or from the 
 ornaments of their temples and tombs. The moderns have 
 
SUMMARY OF GREEK HISTORY 87 
 
 created only one new art, music, and developed one ancient 
 art, painting. 
 
 In philosophy, as they had no holy books and conse- 
 quently no body of fixed doctrines, no sacerdotal class 
 jealously guarding for itself both dogma and learning, no 
 social aristocracy limiting the field of thought, they allowed 
 the utmost freedom to the mind. Thus they created moral 
 and political philosophy in entire independence. They 
 made it the domain of all and assigned as its only aim the 
 quest of truth. Thereby they threw open to the human 
 intellect an immense horizon. That which feeling only 
 vaguely attained, reason proceeded to grasp, and with un- 
 equalled power. What have twenty centuries added to the 
 philosophical discoveries of the Hellenes ? 
 
 In short, such was the fruitfulness of their prolific nature, 
 that on the very ruins of Greek society sprang forth that 
 elevated moral doctrine of stoicism which, combined with 
 and modified by the Christian spirit, is still capable of 
 developing great characters. 
 
 The East, earlier than the Hellenes, gave birth to sages, 
 but the people below them were only herds, docile to the 
 voice of the master. In Greece, humanity became conscious 
 of itself. There man assumed full possession of the facul- 
 ties planted in him by the Creator, and of the sentiment 
 of his own personal dignity. Slavery, preserved in the 
 cities by the politicians and justified in books by the phi- 
 losophers, was a relic of that past from which the emanci- 
 pation of the freest nations is always slow. 
 
 Defects of the Political and Eeligious Spirit among the 
 Greeks. — Still, this picture has its shadows. Admirable 
 political theorists, with Aristotle at their head, they were 
 able to organize nothing but cities. The idea of a great 
 state was unwelcome to them. Never, except partially 
 and for a brief space during the Persian wars, or too late 
 at the time of the Achaean league, did they consent to join 
 their forces and destinies in fraternal union. Thus they 
 lost their independence on that day when the half-barbaric, 
 half-Hellenic, wholly military Macedonian monarchy was 
 formed at their gates. To Kome their subjugation was 
 still more easy. 
 
 The Greek religion, so favorable to art and poetry, was 
 less so to virtue. By representing the gods, personifica- 
 tions of natural forces, as enslaved by the most shameful 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE GREEKS 
 
 passions, committing theft, incest, and adultery, breathing 
 hatred and revenge, it obscured the idea of uprightness, 
 and rendered evil legitimate by the example of those who 
 should have been the incarnation of good. Then when 
 human reason contradicted the divine legends, Greek poly- 
 theism at last found itself in that fatal condition wherein 
 religion and the moral code are opposed to each other. 
 The latter attacked the former and won the battle. The 
 gods fell from Olympus. Grass grew in the courtyards 
 of the temples. This would have been a gain, if the de- 
 throned deities had been replaced by such a virile system 
 of instruction as would enlighten and purify human reason. 
 That virile instruction was found here and there on the 
 lips of the poets and philosophers, but the masses did not 
 listen. Delivered to the grovelling superstitions in which 
 among the weak the great beliefs end, Greek religion was 
 without defence when assailed by the Asiatic corruption 
 introduced by the conquests of Alexander. Gold depraved 
 alike men and institutions. The mercenaries of the Seleu- 
 cidse and of the Ptolemies, men without a country inas- 
 much as without liberty, lost together with their manly 
 virtues the generous self-devotion which had made them 
 so great at Marathon and Thermopylae, and the self-respect 
 and reverence for the true and the beautiful which had 
 formed so many good citizens and created so many master- 
 pieces. Greece from time to time did still produce some 
 superior men, but only as a long-time fertile but exhausted 
 soil yields at intervals a scanty fruit. 
 
HISTOEY OF THE ROMANS 
 
 ROME. THE ANCIENT ROMAN CONSTITUTION 
 (753-366) 
 
 The Royal Period (753-510).— The fertile plains of 
 Latium and Etruria meet under the Sabine mountains on 
 the banks of the Tiber, the largest stream of the Italian 
 peninsula. At some distance from its junction with the 
 Anio, this river flows between nine hills, two of which, Ja- 
 niculus and Vaticanus, dominate the right bank, while the 
 other seven distinguish the left. It was there that Eome 
 arose. 
 
 Legend, which explains every beginning and delights in 
 the marvellous, recognizes seven kings of Rome : Romulus, 
 the son of Mars, nursed by a she-wolf, the founder upon the 
 Palatine of the present city ; Numa, the religious king, 
 whom the nymph Egeria inspired; Tullus Hostilius, who 
 overthrew Alba Longa after the combat between the Ho- 
 ratii and Curiatii; Ancus Martins, the founder of Ostia; 
 Tarquinius Priscus, who perhaps owed his crown to an 
 Etruscan conquest of Rome ; Servius Tullius, the legislator ; 
 and lastly Tarquinius Superbus, the abominable tyrant 
 whom the Romans expelled. 
 
 History, more sedate, has many doubts concerning this 
 royal period of which the only glimpse is afforded by 
 charming tales. Nevertheless it credits the foundation 
 upon the Palatine of Roma Quadrata, a city whose walls 
 have recently been discovered. This city exercised its 
 robust youth against its Latin, Sabine and Etruscan neigh- 
 bors, and grew so rapidly that Servius was obliged to erect 
 those extensive walls which sufficed during the whole period 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 51(M93. 
 
 of the republic. It had customs, institutions and a political 
 organization such as would require much time to develop. 
 We must admit that under her last king Rome was already 
 the capital of Latium, the strongest power in Italy. Her 
 inhabitants constituted two peoples, as it were the patri- 
 cians and the plebeians. The patricians consisted of fami- 
 lies, each of which formed a clan with its own gods, its 
 common property and its chief. The latter was at once 
 high priest of the domestic altar, judge without appeal over 
 his wife and children, patron whom his clients obeyed, 
 absolute master of his slaves, and in the forum and at the 
 curia a member of the sovereign people who elected the 
 prince, enacted the laws and decided questions of peace and 
 war. The plebeians were a confused mass of conquered 
 captives, transported to the city, of foreigners settled there, 
 and perhaps of natives dispossessed by the original con- 
 quest. They had nothing in common with the patricians, 
 neither gods nor marriage nor political rights. Nevertheless 
 to Servius is attributed the division: of the city into four 
 quarters or urban tribes; of the territory into twenty-six 
 cantons or rural tribes; of the people, patricians and ple- 
 beians, into live classes according to wealth, and into 193 
 hundreds or centuries. The first class alone had ninety- 
 eight centuries. After the kings were expelled, as each 
 century represented one vote, it had ninety-eight votes, 
 while all the other classes combined had only ninety-five. 
 
 The Republic. Consuls. Tribunes (510-493). — The patri- 
 cians overthrew Tarquin and replaced the king by two con- 
 suls, chosen annually by them from among themselves. This 
 was therefore an aristocratic revolution. Brutus, one of the 
 consuls, discovered that his sons were implicated in a con- 
 spiracy to recall the king. He ordered that they should be 
 put to death and stoically witnessed their execution, Tar- 
 quin sought revenge by rousing all the neighboring peoples 
 against Rome. The bloody victory of Lake Eegillus saved 
 the city, but her strength was undermined by debts incurred 
 by the losses and expenses of the recent wars. The Roman 
 law favored the creditors, who abused their rights, and the 
 poor in resentment would not allow themselves to be en- 
 rolled. Then the senate created the dictatorship, an abso- 
 lute magistracy from which there was no appeal. Its power, 
 more arbitrary than that of the kings had ever been, was to 
 last six months. The people were terrified and yielded, but 
 
B.C. 403^48.] ROME. THE ANCIENT ROMAN CONSTITUTION 91 
 
 the violence of the creditors increased. At last the poor 
 abandoned the city and retired to Mons Sacer. They came 
 back only after tribunes had been promised them, who 
 should be annually elected from the plebeians and by their 
 veto could reverse the decisions of the consuls and senate. 
 At first the tribunes employed their power as a shield 
 wherewith to defend the people. Later on they used it to 
 attack the nobles and make themselves masters of the republic. 
 
 The Decemvirate and the Twelve Tables. — The years 
 which elapsed between the establishment of the tribuneship 
 and that of the decemvirate were filled by petty wars and 
 internal troubles. The tribune Tereutillus Arsa in 461 
 demanded that a code, written and known to the citizens, 
 should be drawn up. For a long time the patricians re- 
 sisted. At last the proposition was passed, and decemvirs 
 were elected with unlimited powers to draw up the new 
 laws. One of them, Appius Claudius, tried to usurp the 
 authority. He fell in consequence of an outrage, which 
 forced a father to kill his daughter to save her from dis- 
 honor (449). 
 
 In the legislation of the Twelve Tables, published by the 
 decemvirs (448), attacks upon property were cruelly pun- 
 ished. The thief might be killed with impunity at night 
 and even during the day if he defended himself. " Who- 
 ever sets fire to a lot of grain shall be bound, beaten with 
 rods and burned." " The insolvent debtor shall be sold or 
 cut in pieces." For offences regarded as less grave, we find 
 two systems of penalties in use among all barbarous peo- 
 ples, the talion or corporal reprisals, and settlement by 
 agreement. " Whoever breaks a limb shall pay three hun- 
 dred Roman pounds to the injured person. If he does not 
 settle with him, let him be subjected to the lex talionis." 
 
 However some provisions favored the plebeians. The 
 rate of interest was diminished and guaranties for individ- 
 ual liberty were provided. " Let the false witness and the 
 corrupt judge be hurled from the rock," said the law. 
 "The people shall always have the right of appeal from the 
 sentence of the magistrates. The people alone in their 
 assemblies by centuries shall have the power to pronounce 
 sentence of death." Thus criminal jurisdiction was be- 
 stowed upon the people. Thus the power passed to the 
 comitia centuriata, where according to their property patri-. 
 cians and plebeians were mingled without distinction. 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. M8-4M, 
 
 The general character of the law was another advantage 
 for the plebeians. "No more personal laws." The civil 
 legislation of the Twelve Tables recognized only Roman 
 citizens. Its provisions were not made for one order or one 
 class. Its formula was always '' If any one," inasmuch as 
 patrician and plebeian, senator and priest and laborer, were 
 equal in its eyes. Thus, by ignoring differences formerly 
 so profound, was proclaimed the definite union of the two 
 peoples. It was a new people, all the citizens in a body, 
 which now held sovereign authority and was the source of 
 all power and all right. " Whatever the people shall ordain 
 shall constitute the final law." Thus the people had at- 
 tained through the Twelve Tables several material benefits, 
 which may be summed up as civil equality. Not yet eligi- 
 ble to many of&ces, their political equality was still in the 
 future. 
 
 The Plebeians attain Admission to All Offices (448-286). — 
 The revolution of 510, instituted by the patricians, had ben- 
 efited only the aristocracy. That of 448, instituted by the 
 people, benefited only the people. The new consuls, Hora- 
 tius and Valerius, forbade under pain of death that any 
 magistracy without appeal should ever be created, gave the 
 force of law to the plebiscites or votes passed in the 
 assembly of the tribes, and repeated the anathema pro- 
 nounced against any one who should attack the inviolability 
 of the tribuneship. Nevertheless the prohibition of inter- 
 marriage and the occupation of all offices by the patricians 
 still maintained an insulting distinction between the two 
 orders. In 445 the tribune Canuleius demanded the aboli- 
 tion of the prohibition regarding marriage, and his col- 
 leagues demanded that plebeians should be eligible to the 
 consulship. This was equivalent to demanding political 
 equality. The patricians were indignant, but the people 
 withdrew to the Janiculine Hill. The senate, thinking 
 that custom would be stronger than law, accepted the prop- 
 osition concerning intermarriage. Instead of granting the 
 consulship to the plebeians, they diminished its functions. 
 Two new magistrates, called censors, were appointed in 444, 
 at first for five years and later for eighteen months. These 
 officers were to take the census, administer the public do- 
 mains and finances, regulate the classes, draw up the list of 
 the senate and of the equestrian order, and have control of 
 the city police. The other consular duties — military and 
 
B.C. 444-286.] ROME. THE ANCIENT ROMAN CONSTITUTION 93 
 
 judicial administration, presidency of the assemblies and of 
 the senate, and protection of the city and laws — were 
 divided and intrusted to three, four, and sometimes six 
 generals under the name of military tribunes. 
 
 The constitution of 444 made plebeians eligible to the 
 military tribuneship, yet until the year 400 no plebeian at- 
 tained it. Meanwhile Rome was carrying on a five years' 
 siege of Veii, which the patrician Camillus finally captured. 
 The Gallic invasion interrupted the political strife, that 
 burst forth more fiercely after the danger was past. The 
 tribunes, Licinius Stolo and Sextius, in 376, renewed the 
 demand for division of the consulship, and proposed an 
 agrarian law limiting to 500 acres the amount of land which 
 a citizen could own. The crisis of the struggle had arrived. 
 The same two tribunes were reelected for ten successive 
 years. In vain did the senate persuade their colleagues to 
 interpose their veto. Twice did they have recourse to the 
 dictatorship. The dictator, Camillus, abdicated when threat- 
 ened with a fine of 500 pounds. Against the tribunes the 
 patricians invoked the sanctity of religion, for not a single 
 plebeian was a priest. At last the patricians agreed that 
 " instead of two custodians of the Sibylline books, ten shall 
 be appointed, five of whom shall be plebeians." The year 
 366 beheld for the first time a plebeian consul. Then the 
 patricians created the praetorship, an office exercising the 
 judicial functions of the consuls. To this the plebeians be- 
 came eligible in 337. The dictatorship was opened to them 
 in 355, the censorship in 350, the proconsulship in 326, and 
 the augurship in 302. Two additional laws assured political 
 equality and founded that union at home and that strength 
 abroad which enabled Rome to triumph over every obsta- 
 cle. The one imposed the plebiscite equally on the two 
 orders, and declared that both consuls might be plebeians. 
 The other summarized and confirmed all the rights the 
 plebeians had acquired. 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 390-343. 
 
 II 
 
 THE CONQUEST OF ITALY 
 (343-265) 
 
 Capture of Rome by the Gauls (390). — The capture of 
 Veil, a great Etruscan city, made Eome preponderant in 
 central Italy. The Gauls, established for two centuries in 
 the valley of the Po, threatened to destroy the growing state 
 at its centre. They besieged Clusium, which had refused 
 them lands, and marched upon Rome. They defeated her 
 armies on the banks of the Allia, and made their way to the 
 foot of the Capitol, where the senate and the young men 
 had shut themselves up. They maintained a close siege, 
 until an invasion of the Veneti called them back to their 
 own country, whereupon they consented to accept a ransom. 
 As Camillus, on being appointed dictator, had destroyed 
 some of their detachments, Eoman vanity represented these 
 petty successes as a complete victory. 
 
 It took Rome nearly half a century to recover. Mean- 
 while Camillus, Manlius Torquatus, and Valerius Corvus 
 defeated several rebellious Latin tribes and their Gallic 
 allies, and captured some of the Etruscan cities. They 
 subjugated southern Etruria and most of Latium, and ap- 
 proached the Samnite borders. Then burst out the Samnite 
 war, or the war of Italian independence. All the nations 
 of the peninsula entered the lists in turn, always commit- 
 ting the fatal mistake of not attacking together. This war 
 lasted seventy-eight years, desolated all central Italy, and 
 placed the entire peninsula under the heel of Rome. 
 
 The Samnite Wars. — The wealthy city of Capua, being 
 threatened by the Samnites, submitted to the Romans, who 
 defeated her adversaries, but the hostile attitude of the 
 Latins prevented them from following up their successes. 
 The Latins demanded full political equality with the 
 Romans. On the senate's refusal a difficult war began. 
 In deference to discipline, Manlius Torquatus condemned 
 
C-wriJlil. I89». >.j T. V, Cr..«,-n A C. 
 
 ITALY 
 
 DIVIDED 8V AUGUSTUS 
 I.NTO ELEVEN KEfJIOXS 
 
 ROMAN MILES 
 
 < _1 , 
 
 1110 \:>n 
 
 EiigravfC I,) C.-llf>t. Uliuiun ii Co.. N. V. 
 
B.C. 340-295.] THE CONQUEST OF ITALY 95 
 
 to death his own son who had fought without orders, and 
 Decius sacrificed himself to save the legions. Varying con- 
 ditions, imposed on the Latin cities after the victory, 
 assured their obedience. 
 
 In 327 the Samnites, to expel the Romans from Cam- 
 pania, incited the city of Palaepolis to revolt. Defeated by 
 Papirius Cursor and Fabius Maximus, who commanded the 
 Romans, the Samnites took their revenge at the Caudine 
 Forks, where they surrounded the whole army, forced it to 
 pass under the yoke, and to sign a humiliating treaty of 
 peace. The senate repudiated the treaty and surrendered 
 the consuls to the Samnites who were unwilling to receive 
 them. Finally Publilius Pliilo penetrated victoriously into 
 Samnium, while Papirius subdued Apulia on the farther 
 side of the Samnite mountains. The senate endeavored to 
 confine its formidable foes in the Apennines by a line of 
 fortresses or military colonies. 
 
 The northern peoples of the peninsula now came to the 
 aid of the Samnites. Fifty or sixty thousand Etruscans fell 
 upon the Roman colony of Sutrium but were defeated by 
 Fabius near Perusia. He systematically devastated Sam- 
 nium till its exhausted tribes begged for an end of a war 
 which had already lasted more than a generation. They 
 retained their territory and the externals of independence, 
 but agreed to recognize "the majesty of the Roman people." 
 Circumstances were soon to show what the senate meant by 
 this term. 
 
 The Samnites with the Sabines, Etruscans, Umbrians 
 and Gauls rose in general revolt. At Rome the tribunals 
 were closed. All able-bodied citizens were enrolled, and 
 an army was raised, at least 90,000 strong. The massacre 
 of a whole legion near Camerinum opened to the Senones 
 the passage of the Apennines. Should they effect their 
 junction with the Umbrians and Etruscans, the consular 
 army was doomed. Fabius by a diversion recalled the 
 Etruscans to the defence of their homes, and then hastened 
 to encounter the Gauls in the plains of Sentinum. The 
 shock was terrible. Seven thousand Romans had already 
 perished on the left wing which was commanded by Decius, 
 when the consul sacrificed himself, imitating the example 
 of his father. The barbarians retreated in disorder and 
 returned to their country. The destruction of a Samnite 
 legion and the defeat of Pontius Herennius, the victor of the 
 
96 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 290-275. 
 
 Caudine Forks, finally wrung from this obstinate nation 
 the confession of its defeat. A treaty, whose clauses are 
 unknown, ranged them among the allies of Kome. To hold 
 them in check Venusia was occupied hj a powerful colony. 
 
 The centre of Italy thus submitted to the Roman suprem- 
 acy or the Roman alliance. In the north the Etruscans 
 were still hostile and the Gauls had forgotten their defeat 
 at Sentinum. In the south Samnite bands wandered among 
 the mountains of Calabria. The Lucanians were uneasy, 
 and the Greeks with apprehension beheld the approach of 
 the Roman rule. Tarentum especially manifested dissatis- 
 faction. Still the union of so many peoples was impossible. 
 The only real moment of serious danger was when the 
 Etruscans once destroyed a Roman army. The senate re- 
 plied by the utter extermination of the Senones. The Boii, 
 another Gallic tribe, when endeavoring to avenge their 
 brethren, were themselves crushed together with the Etrus- 
 cans near Lake Vadimo (283). Northern like Central Italy 
 then acknowledged the Roman sway. 
 
 Pyrrhus. — Tarentum alone held out in arms but realized 
 her weakness too late. She summoned to her assistance 
 Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. On arriving in that wealthy and 
 luxurious city, Pyrrhus closed the baths and theatres and 
 compelled the citizens to arm themselves. At the first 
 battle near Heraclea the elephants, with which the Romans 
 were unacquainted, threw their ranks into disorder. They 
 left 15,000 men on the field, but Pyrrhus had lost 13,000. 
 "Another such victory," he exclaimed, ''and I shall return 
 to Epirus without an army." He sent his minister Cineas 
 to Rome to propose peace. " Let Pyrrhus first leave Italy," 
 replied the aged Appius, " and then we will see about treat- 
 ing with him." Cineas was ordered to quit Rome that 
 very day. "The senate," he said on his return, "seemed 
 to me an assembly of kings." 
 
 Pyrrhus tried to surprise the city, but all its citizens 
 were soldiers. He could only gaze at the walls from a dis- 
 tance. A second battle near Asculum, where a third Decius 
 sacrificed himself, proved that he was only wearing out his 
 forces in vain against this determined people. He crossed 
 to Sicily to fight the Carthaginians who were besieging 
 Syracuse. Though he raised the siege and drove the Afri- 
 cans back to Lilybseum, he soon wearied of this expedition 
 and returned to Italy. A defeat at Beneventum drove the 
 
B.C. 275-202.] THE CONQUEST OF ITALY 97 
 
 royal adventurer back to Greece, Undertaking to conquer 
 Macedon, he was proclaimed its king but perished miser- 
 ably at the siege of Argos. Tarentum, thus abandoned, 
 opened its gates (272). Graecia Magna, like northern and 
 central Italy, was subdued. 
 
 The Gauls. — The Cisalpine Gauls still inspired a legiti- 
 mate fear. Receiving the news that they had called for an 
 army of their transalpine compatriots, the senate declared 
 "emergency" and put on foot 700,000 soldiers, 500,000 of 
 whom were furnished by the Italians. The victory of 
 Telamon averted all danger and Marcellus slew their king 
 with his own hand. Eoman colonies, sent to the banks of 
 the Po, overawed Cisalpine Gaul. The barbarians then 
 implored the help of Hannibal but, satisfied to be delivered 
 by his victories, did not themselves rise en masse to help 
 him crush Eome. After the battle of Zama the senate 
 again took measures against them. All the Boii emigrated, 
 going in search of other habitations on the banks of the 
 Danube, and thus delivered their rich country and the bar- 
 riers of the Alps to the Eomans. 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 264-256. 
 
 in 
 
 THE PUNIC WARS 
 (S64-146) 
 
 First Punic War (264-241). Conquest of Sicily. —Car- 
 thage, a colony of Tyre, had extended her sway from 
 Numidia to the frontiers of Cyrenaica, organized an im- 
 mense caravan traffic in the interior of Africa and seized 
 the control of the western Mediterranean. While Rome 
 was contending with the Etruscans and the Italian Greeks, 
 the Carthaginians had applauded her successes and had 
 signed friendly treaties. The absolute victory of Rome 
 filled them with consternation. With alarm they beheld 
 a single power ruling over the beautiful country which was 
 bathed by the Tuscan, the Adriatic and the Ionian seas. 
 
 Sicily speedily became the cause of war between the two 
 republics. Neither could abandon to a rival that splen- 
 did island which lies in the centre of the Mediterranean, 
 touches Italy and looks out upon Africa. Carthage had 
 been there long. Rome was invited thither by Mamertine 
 mercenaries who had mastered Messina, which Hiero of 
 Syracuse and the Carthaginians were besieging. The 
 Romans delivered the city, defeated Hiero and imposed 
 upon him a treaty to which he remained faithful for fifty 
 years. Finally they expelled the Carthaginians from the 
 interior of the island. The latter retained their seaports 
 inasmuch as they were masters at sea. One fleet, con- 
 structed by the Romans and armed with powerful grap- 
 pling irons, defeated the Carthaginian vessels in the first 
 encounter. Another naval battle gained by Regulus at 
 Ecnomos decided Rome to make a descent upon Africa. 
 In a few months Carthage found herself reduced to her 
 walls. The Lacedaemonian Xanthippus changed the aspect 
 of affairs. After weakening Regulus by successive skir- 
 mishes, he defeated him in one great battle and destroyed 
 his army. The war was again transferred to Sicily and 
 
B.C. 251-216.] THE PUNIC WARS 99 
 
 languished there for years. The victory of Metellus at 
 Panormus revived the hopes of the Eomans. Eegulus was 
 sent by Carthage to demand peace, which he exhorted the 
 senate to refuse, and on his return is said to have been put 
 to death with torture. But a great general had just arrived 
 in Sicily, Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal. Fortifying 
 himself at Eryx, he held the Eomans in check for six 
 years. Under these conditions the war might have dragged 
 on many years longer, had not patriotism given to the 
 senate a new fleet, that rendered the Eomans supreme at 
 sea. Hamilcar could not be provisioned. Carthage was 
 compelled to end a ruinous war. She abandoned Sicily, 
 restored all her prisoners without ransom and in the course 
 of ten years paid 3200 Euboean talents. 
 
 War of the Mercenaries against Carthage (241-238). — 
 The soldiers of Carthage were not citizens but mercenaries. 
 These mercenaries rebelled and for three years Cartha- 
 ginian Africa was desolated by the Libyan war. Hamilcar 
 delivered his country from this scourge, but fell under sus- 
 picion and was exiled to Spain, whose conquest he under- 
 took. In a few years the whole country as far as the Ebro 
 was subdued by him and his son-in-law Hasdrubal. Eome 
 in alarm stopped their progress by a treaty which stipulated 
 the liberty of Saguntum, a Grseco-Latin city, south of the 
 Ebro. 
 
 Second Punic War (218-201). — Hannibal, the son of 
 Hamilcar, wishing at any cost to renew the war against 
 the Eomans, attacked and destroyed this town without 
 waiting for orders from Carthage. With a carefully 
 equipped army he crossed the Pyrenees, the Ehone and 
 the Alps. This audacious expedition consumed half of his 
 forces but brought him into the midst of his allies, the 
 Cisalpine Gauls. The consul Scipio was first beaten near 
 the Ticinus in a cavalry engagement. A more serious 
 affair on the banks of the Trebia drove the Eomans from 
 Cisalpine Gaul. In the following year they lost in Etruria, 
 near Lake Thrasymenus, another sanguinary battle, and 
 Hannibal was able to reach the centre and south of Italy. 
 Thanks to the wise delay of the dictator Eabius several 
 months passed without any fresh disaster. The awful bat- 
 tle of Cannge, in 216, cost the legions 50,000 men. Capua 
 with a part of southern Italy believed that the Eomans were 
 lost and renounced their allegiance. Eome was a marvel 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 215-205. 
 
 of constancy. She abandoned offensive warfare, fortified 
 the strongholds, and tried by a line of intrenched places to 
 hem in the general who thus far had been so fortunate in 
 battle. Before this circle was complete Hannibal quitted 
 Campania. 
 
 Since Carthage sent him no assistance, he sought to rouse 
 Sardinia, Sicily and Macedon. He summoned from Spain 
 his brother Hasdrubal with a new army of Spaniards over 
 the route which he himself had traced. But Sardinia was 
 checked, rebellious Syracuse was taken by Marcellus de- 
 spite the machines of Archimedes, and Philip of Macedon, 
 vanquished on the banks of the Aotis and threatened through 
 the wiles of Rome by many Greek peoples, could not bring 
 his phalanxes to assist Hannibal. 
 
 While her enemy made these fruitless efforts, Rome 
 armed twenty legions, pressed Hannibal harder every day 
 in Apulia and Lucania and waged a fierce war against 
 Capua, to make a terrible example of that city which had 
 been the first to give the signal of defection. To save it 
 Hannibal forced his way to the very walls of Rome, but as 
 vainly as Pyrrhus. Capua fell and its entire population 
 was sold into slavery. Only one hope was left to Hannibal. 
 His brother Hasdrubal was bringing him 60,000 men. Met 
 on the banks of the Metaurus by the two consuls, Hasdrubal 
 perished there with his whole army. Nevertheless Han- 
 nibal held out five years longer in the recesses of Brutium, 
 until Scipio forced him from Italy by besieging Carthage. 
 
 The two Scipios, Cneus and Cornelius, had been fighting 
 for years in Spain. After brilliant successes they were 
 overcome by superior forces and perished. Marcius, a 
 young knight, saved the few survivors and confidence was 
 already returning, when Publius Scipio, barely twenty -four 
 years of age, the son of Cornelius, arrived to take command. 
 At the very beginning he distinguished himself by a daring 
 stroke in the surprise of Carthagena, the arsenal of the 
 Carthaginians in the peninsula. Aided by the Spaniards, 
 whom his gentleness had won over, he defeated Hasdrubal, 
 but allowed him to escape. Then he crossed to Africa 
 where he persuaded the Numidian king, Syphax, to sign 
 an alliance with Rome. 
 
 Being rewarded for his successes by the consulship, he 
 resolved to attack Carthage itself. Despite the opposition 
 of Fabius, whom such rashness appalled, he landed his 
 
B.C. 205-149.] THE PUNIC WARS 101 
 
 army in Africa. Though the Numidians on whom he 
 counted failed him he routed all the armies sent against 
 him and left Carthage, which he threatened with a siege, 
 no other alternative than the recall of Hannibal. That 
 unequalled general was himself defeated at his last battle 
 at Zama. To his honor Scipio did not demand the extradi- 
 tion of Hannibal but imposed the following conditions: 
 Carthage might retain her laws and her African possessions, 
 but must give up the prisoners and deserters, must surrender 
 all her ships except ten, also all her elephants, and was to 
 tame no more elephants in future; she must make no war, 
 even in Africa, without the consent of Rome, and must 
 raise no foreign mercenary troops; she must pay 10,000 
 talents in fifty years, must indemnify Massinissa and 
 recognize him as an ally. To Scipio were delivered 4000 
 prisoners, a large number of fugitives whom he crucified 
 or beheaded, and 500 ships which he burned on the open 
 sea. Carthage was disarmed. That she might never re- 
 cover, Scipio placed at her side a relentless enemy in 
 Massinissa whom he recognized as king of Numidia. 
 
 Returning to Rome Scipio received a magnificent triumph. 
 He gained the name of Africanus and was offered the con- 
 sulship and dictatorship for life. Thus Rome forgot her 
 laws to honor her fortunate general. She offered Scipio 
 what she was afterwards to allow Caesar to take. Zama was 
 not only the end of the second Punic War but also the begin- 
 ning of universal conquest. 
 
 Third Punic War (149-146). Destruction of Carthage. — 
 After Zama the existence of Carthage was only one long 
 death agony. In 193 Massinissa robbed her of the rich 
 territory of Emporia, a few years afterward of other large 
 tracts of land, and finally of the whole province of Tysca 
 with sixty-three cities. The Carthaginians complained to 
 Rome, and the Romans promised justice; but Massinissa 
 retained the disputed territory. Cato was sent as arbi- 
 trator. He was astonished and indignant at finding Car- 
 thage wealthy, populous and prosperous. Returning with 
 hatred in his heart, he henceforth closed his speeches with 
 the invariable words, " Furthermore, I think Carthage must 
 be destroyed" (Delenda est Carthago). 
 
 One day Carthage resisted an attack of Massinissa. The 
 senate denounced this violation of the treaty. The two 
 consuls immediately disembarked in Africa with 80; 000 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 146. 
 
 men. They demanded the surrender of all the weapons 
 and machines of war. Then, after receiving everything, 
 they ordered the Carthaginians to abandon their city and 
 settle ten miles inland. Grief and indignation inflamed 
 the tumultuous people. Day and night they spent in mak- 
 ing arms. Hasdrubal collected in his camp at Nepheris as 
 many as 70,000 men. The Roman operations being unsuc- 
 cessful, the consulate was given to Scipio ^milianus, the 
 second Africanus, though he had asked only the aedileship. 
 He restored discipline to the army and increased the courage 
 of the soldiers. 
 
 Carthage was built upon an isthmus. Cutting off this 
 isthmus by a trench and wall he prevented sorties. To 
 starve out the 700,000 inhabitants he closed the port by 
 an immense dike. The Carthaginians cut a new passage 
 through the rock toward the open sea. A fleet, built from 
 the wreck of their houses, came near surprising the Eoman 
 galleys but was repulsed by Scipio. When the ravages of 
 famine had weakened the defence, he forced a part of the 
 walls and took the city. The citadel, Byrsa, still held out. 
 Situated at the centre, it could be reached only through 
 long, narrow streets, where the Carthaginians intrenched 
 in their houses offered desperate resistance. It took six 
 days and six nights for the army to reach the foot of the 
 citadel. The garrison of 50,000 men surrendered on condi- 
 tion of saving their lives. At their head was Hasdrubal. 
 His wife, after taunting her husband from the top of the 
 wall for his cowardice, cut the throats of her two children 
 and threw herself into the flames. Scipio abandoned the 
 smoking ruins to pillage. Commissioners sent by the 
 senate reduced the Carthaginian territory to a Eoman 
 province called Africa (146). 
 
B.C. 229-183.] FOREIGN CONQUESTS OF ROME 103 
 
 IV 
 
 FOREIGN CONQUESTS OP ROME 
 (339 139) 
 
 Partial Conquest of Illyricum (229) and of Istria (221). — 
 Between the first and second Punic wars, Rome had ob- 
 tained a foothold upon the Greek continent. The Adriatic 
 was then infested by Illyrian pirates, and Teuta, the widow 
 of their last king, had butchered two insolent Roman envoys. 
 The senate despatched 200 ships and 20,000 legionaries 
 under the two consuls, who forced Teuta to pay tribute and 
 to cede a large part of Illyricum. On occupying Istria the 
 Romans became masters of one of the gates of Italy and 
 also planted themselves at the north of Macedon which 
 they threatened from Illyriciim. 
 
 The Conquerors of Asia Minor, Macedon and Greece. — 
 The wars against Antiochus, Philip, Perseus and the Achae- 
 ans have been already mentioned. Here we will merely 
 make brief reference to the generals in command. 
 
 Scipio Asiaticus, the conqueror of Antiochus at Magnesia, 
 was the brother of Scipio Africanus, who accompanied him 
 as his lieutenant. On their return to Rome, the tribunes 
 accused the two brothers of accepting bribes to grant peace 
 to the king of Syria. Scipio Africanus indignantly refused 
 to answer, and quitted Rome. Scipio Asiaticus, degraded 
 by Cato from the equestrian order, was condemned to pay 
 the sum he was accused of receiving. His poverty proved 
 his innocence. 
 
 Titus Quintus Flaminius was the conqueror of Philip at 
 Cynocephalae and the founder of the Roman policy in 
 Greece. He remained there a long time after his command 
 expired, so as to organize a Roman party in all the cities 
 and to expel the enemies of the senate. Thus he thwarted 
 the patriotic plans of Philopcemen and brought about the 
 rebellion of Messene which cost that great citizen his 
 life. He also demanded from Prusias, king of Bithynia, 
 
104 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 183-135. 
 
 the head of Hannibal, who had taken refuge in his states. 
 The hero poisoned himself rather than fall into the hands 
 of Rome. 
 
 Paulus ^milius, who overthrew Perseus at Pydna, had 
 won renown in the Lusitanian and Ligurian wars. His tri- 
 umph, adorned with the spoils of Macedon, was the richest 
 thus far seen. But of his two sons, who were to ride with 
 him in his chariot, one had just died and the other expired 
 three days later. Paulus ^milius in his manly grief re- 
 joiced that he was the one chosen to expiate the public 
 prosperity. " My triumph," said he, " placed between the 
 two funerals of my children, will satisfy the cruel sport of 
 Pate. At the age of sixty years I find my hearth solitary, 
 but the prosperity of the state consoles me." 
 
 Mummius, the destroyer of Corinth and of the Achaean 
 league, was famous for his roughness. From the pillage 
 of that opulent city he kept nothing for himself, but he 
 made the persons who were to transport to Rome the mas- 
 terpieces of Grecian art promise to replace whatever was 
 lost or injured on the way. 
 
 Conquest of Spain (197-133). Viriathus. Numantia. — 
 In Spain the war was longer and more difficult. The Span- 
 iards, through hatred of Carthage, had supported the Ro- 
 mans during the second Punic War, but Rome did not grant 
 them liberty. They revolted and Rome had to begin a 
 reconquest of the whole country. Sixty-four years were 
 required for the task. They slew 9000 men in the army of 
 the Roman Galba. He pretended to treat, offered them 
 fertile lands and then massacred 30,000 of them. Such 
 perfidy bore its natural fruit. A herdsman, Viriathus, 
 escaped from the massacre and carried on a guerilla war in 
 which the Romans lost their best soldiers. During five 
 years he defeated all the generals sent against him. One 
 day he surrounded the Consul Fabius in a narrow pass and 
 forced him to sign a treaty, that declared '^ There shall be 
 peace between the Roman people and Viriathus." Cepio, 
 the brother of Fabius, avenged him by fraud. He hired 
 two officers of Viriathus to assassinate their chief. There- 
 upon his followers surrendered and were removed by Cepio 
 to the shores of the Mediterranean where they built Va- 
 lencia. 
 
 The Spanish war in the north toward Numantia was 
 tedious and obstinate. Consul after consul was baffled or 
 
B.C. 133-30.] FOREIGN CONQUESTS OF ROME 105 
 
 defeated until the general arrived who had conquered Car- 
 thage. Gradually Scipio forced the Numantines back into 
 their city, and surrounded it by four lines of intrench- 
 ments. Hard pressed by horrible famine, the inhabitants 
 demanded battle but Scipio refused. Then they slew 
 each other. Only fifty Numantines followed his triumphal 
 chariot in Rome. Even then the northern mountaineers 
 were not subdued. Spain was completely pacified only 
 under Augustus. In 124 Metellus took possession of the 
 Balearic Islands after nearly exterminating their inhab- 
 itants, and in 133 Attains ceded his kingdom of Pergamus 
 to the Romans. 
 
 Thus thirty years before Christ, the city which we have 
 seen rise upon the Palatine Hill ruled from the Spanish 
 coast on the Western Ocean to the centre of Asia Minor. 
 She possessed the three peninsulas of southern Europe, 
 Spain, Italy and Greece. Between Italy and Greece, 
 through the subjection of the Illyrians, she had secured 
 herself a road around the Adriatic, and Marseilles lent her 
 its vessels and its pilots from the Var to the Ebro. Thus 
 her conquest of the ancient world was far advanced. Her 
 success was due to three forces which in politics generate 
 other forces also. These were an astute senate, where the 
 traditions of government were long preserved, a sagacious 
 people, amenable to the laws which they had made for 
 themselves, and that organized discipline in the legions 
 which formed the most perfect military engine the world 
 had yet known. 
 
106 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 150. 
 
 V 
 
 FIRST CIVIL WARS. THE GRACCHI. MARIUS. SULLA 
 (133-79) 
 
 Results of Roman Conquests on Roman Manners and Con- 
 stitution. — Yet the conquest of so many wealthy provinces 
 had upon the manners and likewise upon the constitution 
 of the Romans disastrous effects, which were already felt, 
 and which on development were to destroy both the re- 
 public and liberty. Ancient simplicity was gradually aban- 
 doned. The descendants of Fabricius, Curius Dentatus and 
 Eegulus displayed a ruinous luxury. To replace the sums 
 squandered in debauch or in empty display, they robbed 
 their allies and the public treasury. The censors, guardians 
 of the public manners, had already been forced to expel 
 certain high-born personages from the senate. If the great 
 became greedy, the people became venal. The middle class 
 had disappeared, decimated by continuous wars, ruined by 
 the decay of agriculture and by the competition of the 
 slaves and free laborers. 
 
 In place of that robust, proud, energetic population which 
 had founded liberty and conquered Italy, there began to be 
 seen in Rome only an idle, hungry crowd of beggars, con- 
 tinually recruited by the emancipation of slaves, inheriting 
 neither the ideas nor the blood of the ancient plebeia,ns. 
 " There are not two thousand property-holders," said one of 
 the tribunes. Such then was the situation. Two or three 
 hundred families possessed millions, and below, very far 
 below, were 300,000 beggars. Nothing between these two 
 extremes of an arrogant aristocracy and a feeble and servile 
 mob. The Gracchi undertook two things : to restore respect 
 for the laws among those nobles who no longer respected 
 anything ; and to reawaken the sentiments of citizenship 
 among men who were still called the sovereign people, but 
 whom Scipio ^milianus knowing their origin dubbed coun- 
 rerfeit sons of Italy, 
 
B.C. 133-119.] FIRST CIVIL WARS 107 
 
 The Gracchi (133-121). — Tiberius Gracchus, elected trib- 
 une in 133, began with the people. To regain their former 
 virtues, they must resume their former habits. He wished to 
 convert the poor into landowners, and to regenerate them 
 by means of work. The republic owned immense territory, 
 which had been encroached upon by the nobles. His project 
 was to reclaim these appropriated lands and distribute them 
 among the poor in small, inalienable lots. The reafiirmed 
 Licinian law forbade any person to possess more than 500 
 jugera of public lands. However, he promised an in- 
 demnity for any outlay which occupants had made upon 
 the property restored by them. The nobles resisted stub- 
 bornly. Tiberius, to break the veto of one of his colleagues, 
 Octavius, caused him to be deposed. By thus trampling under 
 foot the inviolable tribuneship, he provided a dangerous ex- 
 ample, of which advantage was taken against himself. The 
 nobles armed their slaves, attacked his partisans and slew 
 him on the steps of the Capitol (133). 
 
 In 123 Caius Gracchus was elected tribune, and openly 
 resumed his brother's plans. He caused the agrarian law 
 to be confirmed, established distributions of corn to the 
 people, founded colonies for the poor citizens and dealt a 
 fatal blow to the authority of the senate by taking from it 
 the administration of justice and giving it to the knights. 
 During two years he was all-powerful in the city. But the 
 senate to ruin his credit caused, for every measure he pro- 
 posed, some more popular measure to be brought forward 
 by one of their creatures, and Caius was unable to obtain 
 reelection for a third term. This check was a signal for 
 which the Consul Opimius had been waiting. Caius suf- 
 fered the fate of his brother, and 3000 of his partisans 
 perished with him (121). The tribunes were dumb with 
 terror during the next twelve years, and only recovered 
 their voice at the scandals of the Numidian war, which 
 brought into prominence Marius, the avenger of the Gracchi. 
 
 Marius. Conquest of Numidia (118-104). — He was a 
 rough, illiterate citizen of Arpinum, an intrepid soldier and 
 good general. Scipio had noticed him at the siege of Nu- 
 mantia. The support of Metellus, who had always protected 
 his family, gave him the tribuneship in 119. At once he 
 introduced a decree against intrigue. All the nobility 
 denounced this audacity on the part of an unknown young 
 man; but in the senate Marius threatened the consul with 
 
108 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 119-107. 
 
 prison and summoned MSfViator to arrest Metellus. The 
 populace applauded. A fejv-^ays later, the tribune forbade 
 a gratuitous distribution -c^grain. This assumption of 
 the right to read a lesson to&|>th parties turned every one 
 against him. His zeal din^ished with difficulty of pro- 
 motion. He served obscuyely as a praetor in Rome and 
 a propraetor in Spain. Cki his return, the peasant of 
 Arpinum sealed his peace t0k,h. the nobles by a great mar- 
 riage. He wedded the patripian Julia, great-aunt of Caesar ; 
 and Metellus, forgetting his conduct as tribune in consider- 
 ation of his military talents, took him to Numidia. 
 
 Micipsa, son of Massinissa and king of Numidia, had at 
 his death (118) divided his states between his two sons and 
 his nephew Jugurtha. The latter rid himself of one rival 
 by assassination. Unable to surprise the other, he attacked 
 him with open force in spite of Roman protection, and put 
 him to death with torture, when famine had compelled his 
 victim to open the gates of Cirtha, his last refuge (112). 
 The senate had in vain sent two embassies to save him. 
 Such audacity called for chastisement, but the first general 
 sent against Jugurtha accepted bribes (111). A tribune 
 summoned the king to Rome. Jugurtha had the hardihood 
 to appear, but when one tribune ordered him to answer, 
 another, whom he had bought, prohibited his replying. 
 
 A competitor for the Numidian throne was in the city. 
 He had him killed (110). The senate ordered him to 
 leave Rome at once. " City for sale ! " he cried, as he 
 passed through the gates ; " thou only lackest a purchaser ! " 
 A consul followed him to Africa. The legions, cut off by 
 the Numidians, repeated the disgrace endured before Nu- 
 mantia and passed under the yoke. 
 
 This war, which they had played with at first, soon 
 became alarming, for the Cimbrians were threatening Italy 
 with one more terrible. The honest but severe Metellus 
 was sent to Numidia. He restored discipline and pursued 
 his tireless enemy without truce or relaxation. He defeated 
 him near Muthul (109), and took from him Vacca, his 
 capital. Sicca, Cirtha and all the coast cities. When about 
 to destroy the usurper, his lieutenant was appointed consul 
 (107), and robbed him of the honor of finishing this war. 
 The new general came near killing Jugurtha in battle with 
 his own hand and made him fall back upon Mauritania. 
 Jugurtha fled as a suppliant to his father-in-law Bocchus, 
 
B.C. 106-101.] FIRST CIVIL WARS 109 
 
 who delivered him to the Eomans. The captive monarch 
 in chains (106) traversed his ,"whole kingdom, followed 
 Marius to Rome, and after tfie triumph was thrown into 
 the Tullianum, a prison excayaied in the Capitoline mount. 
 " By the gods," he exclaimed -j^jth a laugh, " how cold your 
 baths are." He died there six days after from hunger (104). 
 Part of Numidia was added to "the province of Africa. 
 
 Invasion of the Cimbri and^'Jhe Teutones (113-102). — 
 This success arrived at a fortunate time to reassure Rome, 
 then threatened by a great peril. Three hundred thou- 
 sand Cimbri and Teutones, retreating before an overflow 
 of the Baltic, had crossed the Danube, defeated a consul 
 (113), and for three years had been devastating Noricum, 
 Pannonia and Illyricum. When there was nothing left 
 to take, the horde fought its way into Gaul and crushed 
 five Roman armies (110-105). Italy was uncovered but, 
 instead of crossing the Alps, the barbarians turned toward 
 Spain, and Rome had time to recall Marius from Africa. 
 In order to harden his soldiers, he subjected them to the 
 severest labors. When a part of the horde reappeared, 
 he refused for a long time to fight, that his army might 
 become accustomed to seeing the barbarians close at hand. 
 The action took place near Aix, and the Romans made a 
 horrible carnage among the Teutones (102). 
 
 Meanwhile the Cimbri, who had flanked the Alps, entered 
 the peninsula through the valley of the Adige. Marius 
 returned in all haste to the banks of the Po to the succor 
 of his colleague Caculus. The barbarians were awaiting 
 the arrival of the Teutones before fighting. They even 
 asked Marius for lands for themselves and their brethren. 
 "Do not trouble yourselves about your brethren," the con- 
 sul replied; "they have the land which we have given 
 them, and which they will keep forever." The Cimbri 
 allowed him to choose the day and place of battle. At 
 Vercellae, as at Aix, there was an immense massacre. Nev- 
 ertheless more than 60,000 were made prisoners, but twice 
 as many were massacred. The barbarian women, rather 
 than be taken captive, slew their children and then killed 
 themselves (101). 
 
 Renewal of Civil Troubles. Saturninus (106-98). — Marius 
 had been continued four successive years in the consulship 
 in reward of his services. His ambition was not satisfied. 
 On reentering Rome, he intrigued for the fasces of the 
 
110 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 100-91. 
 
 magistracy. The nobles thought that the peasant of 
 Arpinum had been honored enough. They put up Metellus 
 Numidicus, his personal enemy, against him and reduced 
 him to buying votes. Marius could not pardon this insult, 
 and had them attacked by Saturninus, a low demagogue. 
 Saturninus aspired to the tribunate. A partisan of the 
 nobles was elected but the demagogue slew him and seized 
 his place. For the benefit of Marius' veterans he immedi- 
 ately proposed an agrarian law, opposition to which caused 
 the exile of Metellus. 
 
 Soon afterwards Metellus was recalled. That he might 
 not witness his triumphant return, Marius betook himself 
 to Asia in the secret hope of bringing about a rupture be- 
 tween Mithridates and the republic (98). He needed a 
 war to restore his credit in the eyes of his fellow-citizens. 
 " They look upon me," he said, " as a sword which rusts 
 in peace." 
 
 Sulla. The Italian Revolt (91-88). — The wars with Ju- 
 gurtha and the Cimbri had made the fortune of the plebeian 
 Marius. Three other wars made the fortune of the patrician 
 Sulla, who has left a sanguinary name. Descendant of the 
 illustrious Cornelian house, he was Marius' first quaestor 
 in the Numidian war. Ambitious, brave, eloquent, zealous 
 and energetic, Sulla soon became dear to the soldiers and 
 their officers. Marius himself loved this young noble who 
 did not rely upon his ancestors, and confided to him the 
 dangerous mission of treating with Bocchus. It was into 
 Sulla's hands that Jugurtha was betrayed. Marius associ- 
 ated him with his triumph, and employed him again in the 
 war with the Cimbri. A misunderstanding having arisen, 
 Sulla joined the army of Catulus. Later on, he commanded 
 in Asia. The Social War brought his talents into promi- 
 nence. 
 
 It was a period of general ferment. In the city, the 
 people were rising against the nobles ; in Sicily, the slaves 
 were rebelling against their masters. Her allies were turn- 
 ing against Eome, whom they brought to the brink of the 
 abyss. The Italians, after long sharing all the dangers of 
 the Romans, wished to enjoy equal privileges and claimed 
 the right of citizenship. Scipio ^Emilianus, Tiberius Grac- 
 chus, Saturninus and finally the tribune Drusus encouraged 
 them to hope for this title of citizen, which would have 
 relieved them from the exactions and violence of the Roman 
 
B.C. 91-88.] FIRST CIVIL WARS 111 
 
 magistrates. But the knights assassinated Drusus, and the 
 allies, wearied by their long patience, resolved to obtain 
 justice by force of arms. 
 
 Eight peoples of central and southern Italy exchanged 
 hostages and arranged a general rising. They were to- 
 gether to form but one republic, organized after the pat- 
 tern of Rome, with a senate of 500 members, two consuls 
 and twelve praetors. Their capital was to be the stronghold 
 Corfinium, which they called by the significant name of 
 Italica. The Latins, the Etruscans, the Umbrians and 
 the Gauls remained faithful to their allegiance. The sig- 
 nal was given from Asculum, where the consul Servilius 
 was massacred together with all the Romans who were in 
 the town ; even the women were not spared (90). At first 
 the allies had the advantage. Campania was invaded, one 
 consul routed, another killed. Marius, who held a command, 
 accomplished nothing worthy of his reputation. He con- 
 tented himself with acting on the defensive, and soon he 
 even withdrew, alleging his infirmities. His former relations 
 with the Italians did not permit him to play a more active 
 part. Sulla, who was hampered by nothing, was on the 
 contrary energetic and deserved all the honor of this brief 
 and terrible war. The prudence of the senate aided the 
 skill of the generals. The Julian and Plautia-Papirian 
 laws, which accorded the right of citizenship to the allies 
 who had remained loyal, led to desertions, and at the end of 
 the second year only the Samnites and Lucanians remained 
 under arms. From the new citizens eight tribes were formed. 
 
 In this way Sulla had gained the consulship and the com- 
 mand of the war against Mithridates which Marius solicited 
 in vain. This was the beginning of their rivalry and of the 
 civil wars which led to military rule. 
 
 Proscriptions in Rome. Sulpicius and Cinna (88-84). — In 
 order to annul the last-mentioned decree Marius made an 
 agreement with the tribune Sulpicius, and a riot forced the 
 new consul to leave Rome (88) ; but he came back at the 
 head of his troops. Marius in turn fled before a sentence 
 which put a price on his life. Dragged from the marshes 
 of Minturnae, where he had taken refuge, and covered with 
 mire, he was thrown into the city prison. A Cimbrian, sent 
 to kill him, was terrified by his glance and words and dared 
 not strike. The inhabitants, who cherished no anger against 
 the friend of the Italians, employed as a pretext the reli- 
 
112 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 88-82. 
 
 gious dread which he had inspired and furnished him the 
 means to cross over into Africa. 
 
 However in Rome Sulla had diminished by several laws the 
 power of the tribunes of the people. Hardly had he departed 
 for Asia, when the consul Cinna demanded that their dan- 
 gerous power be restored. On being driven out of Rome 
 he began a war against the senate. Marius hastened to 
 return and join him. With an army of fugitive slaves and 
 Italians they routed the troops of the senate, forced the gates 
 of the city and put to death the friends of Sulla. For five 
 days and five nights they slew without cessation, even on the 
 altars of the gods. From Rome the proscription spread over 
 Italy. They murdered in the cities and on the highways. 
 It was forbidden under pain of death to bury the dead, who 
 lay where they had fallen until devoured by dogs and birds 
 of prey. 
 
 On January 1, 86, Marius and Cinna seized the consul- 
 ship without election ; but debauch hastened the end of the 
 former. Twelve days afterward he expired. He had set a 
 price on Sulla's head. Valerius Flaccus undertook to get it, 
 but was himself killed by one of his lieutenants. Cinna, 
 thus left alone, continued himself iu the consulship during 
 the two following years, and fell under the blows of his 
 soldiers. 
 
 Victory of SuUa. His Proscriptions and Dictatorship (84- 
 79). — At that moment Sulla was returning from Asia to 
 avenge his friends and himself. His 40,000 veterans 
 were so devoted to his person that they offered him 
 their savings to fill his military chest. Unopposed he made 
 his way into Campania (83), defeated one army, corrupted 
 another and vanquished the son of Marius in the great 
 battle of Sacriportus (82). This success opened the road to 
 Rome. He arrived there too late to prevent fresh murders. 
 The most illustrious senators had been massacred in the 
 curia itself. Sulla rapidly passed through Rome on his way 
 to fight the other consul, Carbo, in Etruria. One desperate 
 battle which lasted all day had no result; but desertions 
 decided Carbo to flee to Africa. Sertorius, another leader 
 of the popular party, had already set out for Spain ; only 
 the young Marius, who was shut up in Praeneste, remained 
 in Italy. The Italians tried by a bold stroke to save him. 
 A Samnite chief, Pontus Telesinus, who had not laid down 
 Ms arms since the Social War, tried to surprise Rome and 
 
B.C. 82-81.] FIRST CIVIL WARS 113 
 
 destroy it. Sulla had time to arrive. The battle near the 
 Colline Gate lasted one whole day and night. The left wing 
 commanded by Sulla was routed; but Crassus with the right 
 wing dispersed the enemy. The field of battle was strewn 
 with 50,000 corpses, half of which were Roman. 
 
 The next day Sulla harangued the senate in the temple 
 of Bellona. Suddenly cries of despair were heard and 
 the senators became uneasy. " It is nothing," said he, 
 "except the punishment of a few seditious persons," and 
 he continued his discourse. Meanwhile 8000 Samnite 
 and Lucanian prisoners were being slain. When he re- 
 turned from Praeneste, which had surrendered and all of 
 whose population had been massacred, the butchery began 
 in Rome. Every day a list of the outlawed was drawn up. 
 From the first of December, 82, to the first of June, 81, 
 during six long months, men could murder with impunity. 
 There were assassinations afterward also, for Sulla's inti- 
 mates sold the right to place a name on the fatal list. " One 
 man's splendid villa, or the marble baths of another, or the 
 magnificent gardens of a third caused him to perish." The 
 property of the proscribed was confiscated, and sold at 
 auction. The estate of Roscius was valued at six million 
 sesterces, and Chrysogonus got it for two thousand. What 
 was the number of the victims ? Appian mentions ninety 
 senators, fifteen former consuls and 2600 knights. Valerius 
 Maximus speaks of 4700 proscribed. " But who could 
 reckon," says another, *' all those who were sacrificed to pri- 
 vate grudge ? " The proscription did not stop with the vic- 
 tims. The sons and grandsons of the proscribed were 
 declared forever ineligible to a public office. In Italy 
 entire peoples were outlawed. The richest cities, Spoletum, 
 Interamna, Praeneste, Terni, Florence, were, so to speak, sold 
 at auction. In Samnium, Beneventum alone remained 
 standing. 
 
 After having slain men by the sword, Sulla tried to destroy 
 the popular party by laws. To issue these laws he had 
 himself proclaimed dictator, and took all the measures which 
 he thought calculated to assure the power in Rome to the 
 aristocracy. To the senate he restored the right of decision 
 and of preliminary discussion, or in other words the legis- 
 lative veto. He deprived the tribunes of the right to pre- 
 sent a rogation to the people. Their veto was restricted 
 to civil affairs, and the tribune could hold no other office. 
 
114 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 76-72. 
 
 Thus the people and the nobles moved backward four cen- 
 turies ; the former to the obscurity of the time when they 
 withdrew to Mons Sacer, the latter to the brilliancy and 
 power of the early days of the republic. 
 
 When Sulla had accomplished his purposes, he abdicated. 
 This abdication (76) seemed a defiance of his enemies and 
 an audacious confidence in his own fortunes. He lived a 
 year longer in the retirement of his villa at Cumae. The 
 epitaph he had written for himself was veracious : " No one 
 has ever done more good to his friends, or more evil to his 
 enemies." 
 
 The Popular Party ruined by the Defeat of Sertorius (72). 
 — The popular party was crushed at Rome. Sertorius tried 
 to revive it in S^oain. Driven out at first by one of Sulla's 
 lieutenants before he had had time to organize anything, 
 and then recalled by the Lusitanians, he gained over the 
 Spaniards who thought that they were fighting for their 
 independence. Successfully he resisted for ten years the 
 best generals of the senate (82-72). He wore out Metellus, 
 his first adversary, by a war of skirmishes and surprises, 
 and defeated Pompey in many encounters. Unfortunately 
 the clever leader was badly seconded. Whenever he was 
 absent his lieutenants were worsted. He was assassinated 
 in his tent by Perpenna, one of his officers, who, unable to 
 carry on the war which his victim had conducted, fell into 
 the hands of Pompey. The conqueror boasted that he had 
 captured 800 cities and ended the Civil Wars. The latter 
 had in fact been averted but only for twenty years. 
 
B.C. 90-86.] FROM SULLA TO C^SAR 115 
 
 VI 
 
 FROM SULLA TO C^SAR. POMPEY AND CICERO 
 (79-60) 
 
 War against Mithridates tinder Sulla (90-84). — The shock 
 which the empire had undergone from the popular turmoils 
 in the times of the Gracchi and Marius, from the revolt 
 of the slaves in Sicily, and the Social War in Italy, had 
 affected the provinces. The provincials, horribly oppressed 
 by the governors, wished to escape from that Roman domi- 
 nation in which the Italians merely had demanded a share. 
 The Western provincials had joined Sertorius. Those in 
 the East followed Mithridates. 
 
 Mithridates, king of Pontus, had subdued many Scythian 
 nations beyond the Caucasus, also the kingdom of the Cim- 
 merian Bosphorus, and in Asia Minor, Cappadocia, Phrygia 
 and Bithynia. The senate, alarmed at this great power 
 which was forming in the neighborhood of its provinces, 
 ordered the praetor of Asia to restore the Bithynian and 
 Cappadocian kings to their thrones (90). Mithridates 
 silently made immense preparations. When he learned 
 that Italy was on fire, through the insurrection of the Sam- 
 nite peoples, he deluged Asia with his armies. Such hatred 
 had the greed of the Roman publicans everywhere excited, 
 that 80,000 Italians were assassinated in Asiatic cities 
 at the order of Mithridates. Having subdued Asia, the 
 king of Pontus invaded Greece and captured Athens (88). 
 At any cost this conqueror who dared approach Italy 
 must be stopped. Fortunately the Social War was nearing 
 its end. In the spring of 87 Sulla arrived in Greece with 
 five legions, and began the siege of Athens which lasted 
 ten months. The city was bathed in blood. The Pontic 
 army encountered Sulla near Chaeronea. His soldiers were 
 appalled at the hosts of the enemy. Like Marius he 
 exhausted them with work until they themselves demanded 
 battle. Of the 120,000 Asiatics only 10,000 escaped. 
 
 Sulla was still at Thebes, celebrating his victory, when he 
 
116 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 85-71. 
 
 learned that the consul Valerius Flaccus was crossing the 
 Adriatic with an army to rob him of the honor of termi- 
 nating this war, and to execute the decree of proscription 
 issued against him at Rome. At the same time Dorylaos, 
 a general of Mithridates, arrived from Asia with 80,000 
 men. Thus placed between two perils Sulla chose the 
 more glorious. He marched against Dorylaos whom he 
 met in Boeotia near Orchomenus. This time the enga:;e- 
 ment was fierce ; Sulla was wounded but the Asiatic hordes 
 were again dispersed. Thebes and three other cities of 
 Boeotia met the fate of Athens. 
 
 While he was winning this second victory, Flaccus had 
 preceded him into Asia. Mithridates, threatened by two 
 armies, secretly sued for peace from Sulla, intimating that 
 he could obtain very mild terms from Fimbria, who had 
 killed Flaccus and was making war on his own account. 
 Mithridates vainly hoped to profit by the rivalry of the two 
 chiefs. Finally the king humbly asked for an interview. 
 It took place at Dardanus in the Troad. Mithridates made 
 full submission, restored his conquests, delivered up the 
 captives and deserters with 2000 talents and seventy 
 galleys. Fimbria was then in Lydia. Sulla marched 
 upon him, won over his army and reduced him to suicide 
 (84). With the soldiers trained in this war he returned 
 to Italy to overthrow the party of Marius. 
 
 War against Mithridates under Lucullns and Pompey 
 (74-63). — When six years later the king of Pontus heard 
 of the dictator's death (78), he secretly incited the king of 
 Armenia, Tigranes, to invade Cappadocia, and he himself 
 prepared to enter the arena. All the barbaric tribes from 
 the Caucasus to the Balkans furnished auxiliaries. Eomau 
 exiles drilled his troops and Sertorius sent him of&cers 
 from Spain (74). 
 
 Lucullus, proconsul of Cilicia, having received orders to 
 oppose him, was marching on Pontus, when he learned that 
 his colleague Cotta had been twice defeated and blocked in 
 Macedon (74). Hastening to his help, he drove Mithridates 
 into Cyzicus, where that prince would have been captured 
 had not a subordinate ofl&cer been negligent. Then he pen- 
 etrated into Pontus and took the stronghold of Amisus (72). 
 In the following year he surrounded the enemy again. The 
 king escaped by scattering his treasures along the road so 
 as to delay pursuit. He found refuge with Tigranes, who 
 
B.C. 71-63.] FROM SULLA TO CJSSAR 117 
 
 was then the most powerful monarch of the East, being 
 master of Armenia and Syria, conqueror of the Parthians, 
 and bearing the title of King of kings. Mithridates in his 
 former prosperity had refused to recognize his supremacy. 
 Therefore he was coldly received, but when Lucullus de- 
 manded that he should be surrendered, Tigranes in anger 
 dismissed the envoy of the Roman general. The latter 
 immediately began hostilities against his new enemy. He 
 crossed the Tigris and with 11,000 foot and a few horse 
 marched to encounter 250,000 Armenians. He dispersed 
 the immense army of Tigranes and captured his capital, 
 Tigranocerta. 
 
 Lucullus wintered in Gordyene, where he invited the king 
 of the Parthians to join him. As that prince hesitated, he 
 resolved to attack him, for he held in profound contempt 
 those mobs which their princes mistook for armies. But 
 his officers and soldiers, content with the immense booty 
 they had already captured, refused, like those of Alexander, 
 to follow him further. In 67 Pompey came to replace 
 him. Mithridates had collected another army, which was 
 destroyed at the first encounter, and Tigranes, threatened 
 by a treacherous and rebellious son who fled to the Romans, 
 was forced to humble himself. Reassured in this direction, 
 Pompey pursued Mithridates to the Caucasus and con- 
 quered the Albanians and the Iberians. As the king still 
 fled before him, he abandoned this fruitless pursuit. In 
 the spring of 64, after having organized the Roman admin- 
 istration in Pontus, he descended into Syria, reduced that 
 country and Phoenicia to provinces and captured Jerusalem, 
 where he reestablished Hyrcanus who promised an annual 
 tribute. 
 
 During these operations, Mithridates, who was reputed 
 dead, reappeared with an army on the Bosphorus and forced 
 his son Machares to kill himself. Then, despite his sixty 
 years, this indomitable enemy wished to penetrate Thrace, 
 attach the barbarians to his cause and descend upon Italy 
 at the head of their innumerable hordes. His soldiers, 
 alarmed at the magnitude of his plans, revolted at the insti- 
 gation of his son Pharnaces. In order to escape being de- 
 livered alive to the Romans, he had himself killed by a 
 Gaul (63). Pompey had only to finish in Asia "the splen- 
 did work of the Roman empire," distributing principalities 
 and kingdoms to the friends of the senate. 
 
118 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 71-67. 
 
 Revival of the Popular Party at Rome. The Gladiators 
 
 (71). — After the death of Sulla and during the recent 
 war against Mithridates, events of considerable importance 
 had been taking place in Italy. The consul Lepidus had 
 aroused a tempest by merely uttering the words : " Re- 
 establishment of the authority of the tribuneship." The 
 whole party, which Sulla thought he had drowned in blood, 
 had at once raised its head. The governor of Cisalpine 
 Gaul joined Lepidus. The senate and the patricians trem- 
 bled when Pompey, still at the head of the army which he 
 had himself raised against the followers of Marius, offered 
 to fight the new chiefs of the people. He vanquished one 
 at the Milvian Bridge close to the gates of Rome and the 
 other in Cisalpine Gaul. We have seen his success in paci- 
 fying Spain. 
 
 Seventy-eight gladiators escaped from Capua, where they 
 were being trained in great numbers, and seized upon a 
 natural stronghold under the guidance of a Thracian slave 
 Spartacus. There they repulsed troops sent against them. 
 This success attracted to their ranks many herdsmen of the 
 neighborhood. A second general was beaten. Spartacus 
 wished to lead his army toward the Alps, cross those moun- 
 tains and restore each slave to his native country. His 
 men, greedy for booty and vengeance, refused to follow and 
 dispersed all over Italy for pillage. Then two consuls 
 were defeated. Crassus finally succeeded in shutting up the 
 gladiators in the extreme end of Brutium, whither their 
 chief had conducted them with the intention of leading them 
 across into Sicily. Before the investment was complete 
 Spartacus took advantage of a snowy night to escape. Dis- 
 sension arose among his men and several detached corps 
 were destroyed. Spartacus alone seemed invincible. The 
 confidence which his successes inspired among the gladiators 
 ended in his ruin. They forced him to fight a decisive 
 battle, in which he succumbed after having displayed heroic 
 courage (71). Shortly afterward Pompey arrived from 
 Spain. He met several bands of these unfortunate men and 
 cut them in pieces. From this paltry victory he attributed 
 to himself the honor of having terminated this war. 
 
 Pompey turns toward the People. War with the Pirates 
 (67). — The nobles began to think that the vainglorious gen- 
 eral had held commands enough and received him coldly. 
 The people on the contrary to win him to their side greeted 
 
B.C. 67-63.] FROM SULLA TO C^SAR 119 
 
 him with applause, so Pompey inclined toward the popular 
 party. He proposed a law which restored to the tribunate 
 its ancient prerogatives. This was the overthrow of Sulla's 
 constitution. The grateful populace committed to him the 
 charge of an easy but brilliant expedition against the pirates 
 who infested the seas (67), and the command of the war 
 against Mithridates whom Lucullus had already reduced. 
 While accomplishing these enterprises, a memorable con- 
 spiracy was on the point of overturning the republic itself, 
 
 Cicero. Conspiracy of Catiline (63). — Cicero, like Marius, 
 came from Arpinum. His fluent and flowery speech early 
 revealed in him the ready orator. After a few successes 
 at the bar he had the wisdom to continue his studies in 
 Greece. He began his public career as a qusestor, and in 
 the name of the Sicilians arraigned Verres, their former 
 governor, the most shameless and greedy plunderer that 
 Rome had ever seen. This trial, which had immense celeb- 
 rity, raised to the highest pitch the renown of the prose- 
 cutor, whose speeches against Verres we still admire at the 
 present day. Cicero being a new man needed support. 
 He sought that of Pompey and helped to confer extraordi- 
 nary powers upon him. Eventually recognizing the goal 
 whither that ambitious general was tending, he labored to 
 form a party of honest men who assumed the mission of 
 defending the republic. His consulship appears to have 
 been the realization of this plan. 
 
 The government was then menaced by a vast conspiracy. 
 Catiline during the proscriptions had signalized himself 
 among the most bloodthirsty. He had killed his brother- 
 in-law, and murdered his wife and son to secure another 
 woman in marriage. While propraetor in Africa he had 
 committed terrible extortions. On his return he solicited 
 the consulship, but a deputation from his province brought 
 accusations against him, and the senate struck his name 
 from the list of candidates. He had long been in league 
 with the criminal classes at Rome. His plot to kill the 
 consuls twice failed, and the enterprise was postponed to 
 the year 63. Cicero was then consul, and realized how im- 
 minent was the danger. Catiline had collected forces in 
 several places. The veterans of Umbria, Etruria and Sam- 
 nium were arming in his cause. The fleet at Ostia was 
 apparently won over : Sittius in Africa promised to stir up 
 that province and perhaps Spain also to rebellion. In Rome 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 63. 
 
 itself, Catiline believed he could count upon the consul An- 
 tonius. One of the conspirators was a tribune elect, an- 
 other a praetor. In a full senate Catiline had dared to say, 
 " The Roman people is a robust body without a head : I will 
 be that head." It soon became known that troops were 
 mustering in Picenum and Apulia, and that Manlius, one 
 of Sulla's former officers, was threatening Faesulae with an 
 army. The consuls were invested by the senate with dis- 
 cretionary power, but Catiline remained in Rome. Cicero 
 drove him out by a vehement oration, in which he disclosed 
 the conspirator's plans. Having thus expelled the leader, 
 who joined Manlius and thereby proclaimed himself a public 
 enemy, he seized his accomplices, caused their condemna- 
 tion by the senate and had them executed at once. This 
 energy disheartened the rest of the conspirators. Antonius 
 himself marched against Catiline, who was slain near Pis- 
 toia, after having fought valiantly. 
 
 On quitting office, when Cicero wished to harangue the 
 people, a factious tribune ordered that he should confine 
 himself to the customary oath of having done nothing con- 
 trary to the laws. "I swear," exclaimed Cicero, "I swear 
 that I have saved the republic ! " To this eloquent out- 
 burst Cato and the senators responded by saluting him with 
 the title, " Father of his country," which the whole people 
 confirmed by their applause. 
 

 INDICATIONS 
 
 I Region 
 
 - Porta Capena 
 
 II 
 
 
 Coelimontiura 
 
 III 
 
 
 Isis ct Serapia 
 
 IV 
 
 
 Via Sacra 
 
 V 
 
 
 MonsEsquilinus 
 
 VI 
 
 
 Alta Seniita 
 
 vn 
 
 
 Via Lata 
 
 VIII 
 
 
 Forum Romanura 
 
 IX 
 
 
 CircuB Flaininius 
 
 X 
 
 
 Palatium 
 
 XI 
 
 
 Circus Maximus 
 
 XII 
 
 
 Piscina Publica 
 
 XIII 
 
 
 Avuutinus 
 
 XIV 
 
 
 Trans Tiberine 
 
 a 
 
 
 Tarpeian Rock 
 
 m 
 
 CToniT) of Augu'^tS 
 
 Tomb of Hadrian /''/ ''' 
 
 SSBSi ^a^^y ^ a Amph^^tatihuB^ 
 
 ^ Column of Antt 
 \ Stadium ■''r .. 
 
 i,Doniitian | WQi 
 
 IX JssSJi^nV \ p. j Colum,S\ 
 
 w^ / \^ '°^^S^/ /^ 
 
 ^ ^^--"''' ATM Pai<.rt«i,rC!^j <>s'>' ""^d 
 
 >f/;.-^.rT^^|^_ xiy !:- ^ 
 
 (ENTINl 
 
B.C. 65-59.] C^SAR 121 
 
 VII 
 (60-44) 
 
 Caesar, leader of the Popular Party. His Consulship (60). 
 — Caesar, of the illustrious Julian family which claimed de- 
 scent from Venus through lulus, the son of Anchises, had 
 braved Sulla when only seventeen years old. Nominated 
 curule sedile in 65, he had won the people by magnificent 
 games, and in spite of the senate had restored to the Capitol 
 the trophies of his great-uncle Marius. The grateful people 
 had nominated him sovereign pontiff. In 62 he already 
 was in debt 850 talents. The wealthy Crassus, who owned 
 a whole quarter in Rome, had to become his bondsman. 
 Otherwise his debtors would not allow him to depart and 
 take possession of his province of Farther Spain. 
 
 When he returned in 60, he found Pompey and Crassus 
 at variance with the senate; the first because it did not 
 ratify his acts in Asia, the second because it left him no 
 influence in the state. Caesar brought them together, and 
 induced them to form a secret union which has been desig- 
 nated as the triumvirate. All three swore to unite their 
 resources and influence, and in every matter to act only in 
 accordance with their common interest. Caesar reaped the 
 first and the surest profits from the alliance. His two col- 
 leagues agreed to support him for the consulship. In office 
 he secured popularity by proposing and carrying an agrarian 
 law in spite of the senate and of his colleague Bibulus. He 
 won over the equestrian order by diminishing by a third 
 the rents which the knights paid the state. He caused the 
 acts of Pompey in Asia to be confirmed, and obtained for 
 himself the government of Cisalpine Gaul and of lUyricum 
 with three legions for a term of five years. In vain did 
 Cato cry with prophetic voice : " You are arming tyranny 
 and setting it in a fortress above your heads ! " The trem- 
 bling senate added as an earnest of reconciliation a fourth 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 59-52. 
 
 legion and a third province, Transalpine Gaul, where war 
 was imminent (59) . Before his departure Caesar took great 
 care to have Clodius, one of his creatures, appointed tribune. 
 Thus he could hold both the senate and Pompey in check 
 during his absence. Clodius soon delivered him from two 
 obnoxious persons, Cato and Cicero, accusing the great 
 orator of illegally putting to death Catiline's accomplices. 
 Clodius secured against him a sentence of exile to a dis- 
 tance of 400 miles from Eome. Cato was ordered to reduce 
 Cyprus to a province. 
 
 The Grallic War. Victories over the Helvetii, Ariovistus, and 
 the Belgse (58-57). — Since 125 the Eomans had held Nar- 
 bonensis, a province in Gaul, and were on friendly terms 
 with the iEdui, a tribe in central Gaul. Their neighbors, 
 the Sequani, were attacked by Ariovistus, a German chief. 
 He had crossed the Rhine with 120,000 Suevi, overthrown 
 the Sequani and Mihxi, and harshly oppressed eastern Gaul. 
 This was the beginning of the Germanic invasion. Another 
 fact directed Caesar's attention to this quarter. The Hel- 
 vetii, constantly attacked by the Suevi, wished to abandon 
 their mountains and seek on the shores of the ocean a milder 
 climate and an easier existence. Caesar resolved to oppose 
 these changes as unfavorable to Roman supremacy. The 
 Helvetii having crossed the Jura in spite of his prohibition, 
 he exterminated many of them on the banks of the Saone, 
 and forced the rest to return to their mountains. Then in 
 a sanguinary encounter he drove Ariovistus back beyond 
 the Rhine (58). Gaul was delivered. As the legions estab- 
 lished their camps at the very frontiers of Belgium, the 
 Belgic tribes grew alarmed at seeing the Romans so near 
 them. They formed a vast league, which was broken by 
 the treachery of the Remi, and the tribes, attacked sepa- 
 rately, were forced to submit. 
 
 Submission of Armoricum and Aquitaine. Expeditions to 
 Britain and beyond the Rhine (56-53). — The third cam- 
 paign subdued Armoricum and the Aquitani. In the fourth 
 and fifth, two expeditions beyond the Rhine deprived the 
 barbarians of all desire of crossing that river or of aiding 
 the Gauls in their resistance. Two descents upon Britain 
 cut off Gaul from that island, the centre of the druidic 
 religion. The whole of Gaul was apparently resigned to 
 the yoke. 
 
 General Insurrection. Vercingetorix. — Nevertheless a 
 
B.C. 53-52.] C^SAB 123 
 
 general insurrection was preparing from the Garonne to 
 the Seine. A young chieftain of the Arverni, Vercin- 
 getorix, directed the movement (52). The legions were 
 dispersed but Caesar acted with great celerity and skill. 
 With his lieutenant, Labienus', who had won a battle near 
 Paris, Caesar attacked 200,000 Gauls, who were trying to 
 cut him off from the Alps. He gained a decisive victory, 
 crowded his enemy into Alesia, and surrounded it with 
 formidable earthworks. Vercingetorix was forced to sur- 
 render. 
 
 Defeat of Crassus by the Parthians. — While Caesar was 
 conquering Gaul by his activity and genius, one of the 
 triumvirs, Crassus, undertook an expedition against the 
 Parthians. After pillaging the temples of Syria and Jeru- 
 salem, he crossed the Euphrates with seven legions, plunged 
 into the immense plains of Mesopotamia and soon encoun- 
 tered the innumerable cavalry of the Parthians. When these 
 horsemen hurled themselves upon the legions, the Koman 
 arms and courage proved of no avail against the tactics of 
 the enemy. When they advanced, the Parthians fled; when 
 they halted, the squadrons hovered around the stationary 
 host and slew tliem with arrows from a distance. Dis- 
 heartened, the legions retreated to Carrhae, leaving 4000 
 wounded. The very next day the Roman army was over- 
 taken by the Parthians, and the terrified soldiers forced 
 Crassus to accept an interview with the surena, or Par- 
 thian general-in-chief. The interview was an ambuscade. 
 Crassus and his escort were killed. Only a few feeble 
 remnants recrossed the Euphrates (53). 
 
 Civil War between Caesar and Pompey (49-48). — Between 
 the two surviving triumvirs peace could not long endure. 
 While Crassus was fighting in Syria and Caesar in Gaul, 
 Pompey had remained in Rome. Daily insulted by Clodius, 
 he soon recalled Cicero, the personal enemy of that dema- 
 gogue, and then stirred up the tribune Milo, who opposed 
 Clodius with a band of gladiators and finally killed him. 
 The senate won Pompey to its side by causing his election 
 as sole consul with absolute power (52). This was mon- 
 archy in disguise; but the senate desired a general and an 
 army to oppose Caesar, whose glory daily became more 
 menacing. Cato approved these concessions. Though 
 Pompey was a usurper, his usurpation was acquired by 
 legal means; but how was he to defend himself against his 
 
124 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 51-47. 
 
 former associate in the triumvirate? Then began attacks 
 upon Caesar, for the purpose of taking away his command. 
 In vain did the tribune Curio declare that Pompey must 
 abdicate to save liberty, if Caesar were dispossessed. On 
 January 1, 49, a decree of the senate declared Csesar a pub- 
 lic enemy if by a certain day he did not abandon his troops 
 and his provinces. Two tribunes who opposed were threat- 
 ened by the followers of Pompey and fled to Caesar's camp. 
 He no longer hesitated, crossed the Rubicon, the boundary 
 of his government, and in sixty days drove from Italy Pom- 
 pey and the senators who wished to follow him (49). Then 
 he attacked the Pompeian party in Spain and forced it to 
 lay down its arms. On his way back he captured Marseilles 
 and returned to Rome where the people had conferred upon 
 him the title of dictator, 
 
 Pompey had retired toward Dyrrachium in Epirus and 
 thence called to him all the forces of the East. In January, 
 48, Caesar crossed the Adriatic, and although his army was 
 greatly inferior in numbers tried to surround his adversary. 
 Being repulsed in an attack against positions which were 
 too strong, and in need of food, he marched to Thessaly 
 whither Pompey imprudently folloAved. The battle of 
 Pharsalia, the defeat and flight of Pompey to Egypt, where 
 he was treacherously murdered at the moment of his disem- 
 barkation in a supposed friendly land, left Caesar without 
 a rival. 
 
 War of Alexandria. Caesar Dictator (48-44), — With his 
 usual activity, he had followed on the heels of Pompey and 
 had arrived in Egypt a few days after him. The ministers 
 of the young Ptolemy expected a reward for their treachery. 
 He showed only horror. Fascinated by the charms of Cleo- 
 patra, the sister of the king, he wished her to reign jointly 
 with her brother. Then the ministers stirred up the im- 
 mense population of Alexandria, and the victor of Pharsalia 
 beheld himself with 7000 legionaries besieged for seven 
 months in the palace of the Lagidae. Reinforcements came 
 to him from Asia. He assumed the offensive and defeated 
 the royal army. The fleeing king was drowned in the 
 Nile, and Cleopatra remained sole mistress of Egypt (48). 
 Caesar returned to Rome by way of Asia, where he routed 
 Pharnaces. Veni, vidi, vici, he wrote to the senate (47). 
 Another war awaited him. The survivors of Pharsalia, 
 who had taken refuge in Africa, now formed a formidable 
 
B.C. 46-44.] C^SAR 126 
 
 army supported by Juba, king of the Kumidians. He con- 
 quered it at Thapsus and captured Utica, where Cato had 
 just committed suicide rather than survive liberty (46). 
 
 The sons of Pompey roused Spain to revolt in the fol- 
 lowing year. This last was a difificult struggle. At Munda 
 Csesar was obliged to fight for his life, but his enemies were 
 crushed. All the honors which flattery could invent were 
 bestowed upon the conqueror. He was declared almost a 
 god. All the prerogatives of authority were surrendered 
 to him. However no man ever made a nobler use of his 
 power. There were no proscriptions. All injuries were 
 forgotten. Discipline was sternly maintained in the army. 
 The people, while surfeited with festivals and games, were 
 firmly ruled and Italian agriculture was encouraged as the 
 Gracchi had wished that it should be. No new names were 
 invented for this new authority. The senate, the comitia, 
 the magistracies, existed as in the past. Only Caesar con- 
 centrated in himself all public action by uniting in his own 
 hands all the offices of the republic. As dictator for life 
 and consul for five years, he had the executive power with 
 the right to draw upon the treasury; as imperator, the 
 military power; as tribune, the veto on the legislative 
 power. Chief of the senate, he directed the debates of that 
 assembly; prefect of customs, he decided them according 
 to his pleasure; grand pontiff, he made religion speak in 
 accordance with his interests and watched over his minis- 
 ters. The finances, the army, religion, the executive power, 
 a part of the judicial power, and indirectly nearly all the 
 legislative power were thus at his discretion. 
 
 Caesar had conceived grand projects. He wished to crush 
 the Daci and Getee, avenge Crassus, penetrate even to the 
 Indus, and, returning through conquered Scythia and Ger- 
 many, in the Babylon of the West place on his brow the 
 crown of Alexander. Then, master of the world, he would 
 cut the Corinthian isthmus, drain the Pontine marshes, 
 pierce Lake Fucinus and throw across the Apennines a 
 great road from the Adriatic to the Tuscan sea. Then he 
 would extend the rights of citizenship in order to cement 
 the unity of the empire ; would collect in one code the laws, 
 the decrees of the senate, the plebiscites and the edicts ; and 
 would gather in a public library all the products of human 
 thought. 
 
 But for many months a conspiracy had been forming. 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c.44. 
 
 Cassius was its head. He carried with him Brutus, nephew 
 and son-in-law of Cato, a man of many virtues, but egotistic 
 and a blind partisan of former institutions. On the ides of 
 March (March 15), 44, the conspirators assassinated Caesar 
 in the senate house. 
 
B.C. 44-43.] THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 127 
 
 VIII 
 
 THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 
 
 Octavius. — With Caesar dead the conspirators supposed 
 liberty would return unaided; but Antony, then consul, 
 stirred up the people against them at the dictator's funeral 
 and drove them from the city. Caesar had left no son, only 
 a nephew, Octavius, whom he had adopted. When this 
 young man, eighteen years of age, came to Rome, Antony, 
 expecting to inherit the power of his former chief, dis- 
 dained the friendless aspirant ; but the name of Caesar ral- 
 lied round Octavius all the veterans. As he agreed to 
 discharge the legacy bequeathed by Caesar to the people 
 and the soldiers, he created for himself by that declaration 
 alone a numerous faction. The senate, where Cicero tried 
 once more to rescue liberty from the furious hands which 
 sought to stifle it, needed an army wherewith to oppose 
 Antony. This army Octavius alone could give. Cicero 
 flattered the youth, whom he hoped to lead, and caused 
 some empty honors to be conferred upon him. He was sent 
 with two consuls to the relief of Decimus Brutus, one of 
 Caesar's murderers, whom Antony was besieging in Modena. 
 The campaign was short and sanguinary (43). Antony 
 was defeated, but the two consuls perished, and Octavius 
 demanded for himself one of the vacant ofiices. The senate, 
 which thought it needed him no longer, disdainfully rejected 
 his demand. He immediately led eight legions to the very 
 gates of Rome, made his entry amid the plaudits of the 
 people, who declared him consul, had his election ratified, 
 and distributed to his troops at the expense of the public 
 treasury the promised rewards. 
 
 Second Triumvirate. Proscription. Battle of Philippi. — 
 He could now treat with Antony without fear of suffering 
 eclipse. He was consul. He had an army. He was mas- 
 ter of Rome, and around him all those Caesarians had ral- 
 lied whom the violence of his rival had estranged. The 
 negotiations made rapid progress. Antony, Lepidus, the 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 43^2. 
 
 former general of Caesar's cavalry, and Octavius met near 
 Bologna on an island of the little river Reno. There they 
 spent three days in forming the plan of the second trium- 
 virate. A new magistracy was created under the title of 
 *' triumviri reipublicae constituendse. " Lepidus, Antony and 
 Octavius conferred upon themselves the consular power for 
 five years, with the right to dispose for the same period of 
 all the offices. Their decrees were to have the force of law, 
 and each reserved to himself two provinces on the outskirts 
 of Italy: Lepidus, Narbonensis and Spain; Antony, the two 
 Gauls; Octavius, Africa, Sicily and Sardinia. To make 
 sure of their soldiers, the triumvirs promised them 5000 
 drachmae apiece and the lands of eighteen of the finest 
 cities in Italy. 
 
 Before returning to Rome they issued an order to put to 
 death seventeen of the most prominent persons of the state. 
 Cicero was among the number. On their arrival they pro- 
 mulgated the following edict : '' Let no one conceal any of 
 those whose names are hereinafter given. Whoever shall 
 assist a proscribed person to escape shall himself be pro- 
 scribed. Let the heads be brought to us. In recompense, 
 the freeman shall receive 25,000 drachmae, the slave 10,000 
 together with free liberty and citizenship." Then followed 
 a list of 130 names. A second list of 150 appeared almost 
 immediately afterward, soon followed by others. At the 
 head of the first stood the names of a brother of Lepidus, 
 of an uncle of Antony and of a tutor of Octavius. Each 
 leader had given up a kinsman, thus purchasing the privi- 
 lege of not being hampered in his vengeance. The ill- 
 omened days of Marius and Sulla began anew and again 
 were seen hideous trophies of bleeding heads. One was 
 presented to Antony: "I do not recognize it," said he; 
 "carry it to my wife." In fact it was that of a wealthy 
 private person who had once refused to sell Fulvia one of 
 his villas. Many escaped on the ships of Sextus Pompey, 
 who had just seized Sicily, or made their way to Africa, 
 Syria and Macedon. Cicero, whom Octavius had aban- 
 doned to the rancor of his colleague, was less fortunate. 
 He was killed in his villa at Gaeta. His head and hand 
 were cut of£ and brought to Antony while he was at table. 
 At the spectacle he manifested a ferocious joy. Fulvia, 
 taking in her hands that bleeding head, with a bodkin 
 pierced the tongue which had pursued her with so many 
 
B.C. 42^1.] THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 129 
 
 deserved sarcasms. The pitiable remains were then attached 
 to the rostrum. 
 
 On leaving Italy Brutus had gone to Athens. The gov- 
 ernor of Macedon resigned his command to him. From the 
 Adriatic to Thrace in a few days everything obeyed the 
 republican general. Cassius for his part had seduced 
 the eastern legions. 
 
 To raise money, he made the provinces pay in one instal- 
 ment the taxes of the next ten years. The republican army, 
 loaded down with the plunder of Asia, reentered Europe 
 and advanced as far as Philippi in Macedon to meet the 
 triumvirs. Antony posted himself opposite Cassius; Oc- 
 tavius opposed Brutus. The two armies were nearly equal 
 in numbers, but the republicans had a formidable fleet, 
 which cut off communication by sea. Thus Antony, threat- 
 ened with famine, was anxious for battle, but Cassius for 
 the contrary reason wished to defer it. Brutus, eager to 
 end the civil war, desired action. Octavius, who was ill, 
 had been removed from his camp when Messala, attacking 
 with impetuosity, penetrated his lines. Brutus thought 
 the victory was won. But on the other wing Antony had 
 dispersed his antagonists, and Cassius regarding his party 
 as ruined had committed suicide. 
 
 Twenty days after this action, another took place, in 
 which the troops of Brutus were surrounded and put to 
 rout. Their leader, who escaped with difficulty, halted on 
 an eminence to accomplish what he called his deliverance. 
 He threw himself on his sword, exclaiming: "Virtue, thou 
 art only a word ! " Antony showed some mildness toward 
 the captives, but Octavius was pitiless. The republican 
 fleet proceeded to join Sextus Pompey (42). 
 
 Antony in the East. The Perusian War. Treaty of Mise- 
 num (39). — The two conquerors made a new partition of 
 the world between them, regardless of Lepidus, who was 
 supposed to have an understanding with Pompey. The 
 share of the leaders having been arranged, it remained to 
 settle that of the soldiers, Octavius, ill as he was, under- 
 took the apparently difficult task of distributing lands in 
 Italy to the veterans. Antony was to go to Asia and obtain 
 the 200, 000 talents required. He traversed Greece and Asia 
 in a continual festival, horribly oppressing the people to 
 provide the means for extravagance. In Asia he demanded 
 the imposts for the next ten years on the spot. For a 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 41-35. 
 
 savory disli he rewarded his cook with the house of a 
 wealthy citizen of Magnesia. Cleopatra had furnished 
 money and troops to Cassius. Antony demanded an ex- 
 planation of her conduct. To Tarsus in Cilicia, where he 
 was, she came in person hoping to conquer him as she had 
 conquered Caesar by her charms. 
 
 Antony was an easy prey. When he beheld this elegaiL*^ 
 and accomplished woman, who spoke six languages, holding 
 her own with him in his orgies, he forgot Rome and Fulvia 
 his wife to follow her, tamed and docile, to Alexandria 
 (41). While he was wasting precious time in shameful de- 
 bauchery, Octavius in Italy was attempting the impossible 
 task of satisfactorily dividing the lands. The dispossessed 
 proprietors, who unlike Virgil could not buy back their 
 property with fine verses, hastened to Rome, lamented their 
 misfortunes and excited the people to revolt. The brother 
 of Antony thought this an opportunity to overthrow Oc- 
 tavius and collected seventeen legions, with which he 
 seized Rome, announcing the speedy restoration of the re- 
 public. But Agrippa, the best officer of Octavius, drove 
 him from the city and forced him to take refuge in Perusia, 
 where famine compelled his surrender (40). Fulvia fled to 
 Greece with all Antony's friends and Octavius remained 
 sole master of Italy. The news roused the triumvir from 
 his unmanly torpor but his soldiers ordered peace, and the 
 two adversaries made a new partition, which gave Antony 
 the east as far as the Adriatic with the obligation to tight 
 the Parthians, and the west to Octavius with the war 
 against Sextus Pompey. The latter however a few days 
 later signed the treaty of Misenum. He was to retain 
 Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and Achaea. Lepidus received 
 Africa (39). 
 
 Wise Administration of Octavius. Expedition of Antony 
 against the Parthians. — The peace of Misenum was only a 
 truce. Octavius could not consent to leave the provisioning 
 of Rome and of his legions at the mercy of Pompey. The 
 struggle broke out in 38. The victory of Naulochus assured 
 the success of Octavius (36). Sextus, who had taken refuge 
 in Asia, was put to death in Miletus by one of Antony's 
 officers (35). Octavius rid himself at the same time of 
 Lepidus, whom he banished to Circeii where he lived some 
 twenty-three years longer. When Octavius returned to 
 Rome the people, who beheld prosperity suddenly revived, 
 
B.C. 37-32.] THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 131 
 
 accompanied him to the Capitol and crowned him with 
 flowers. They wished to lavish honors upon him. Already 
 beginning his role of self-abnegation and modesty, he sup- 
 pressed several taxes, and declared his intention of abdi- 
 cating as soon as Antony terminated the war against the 
 Parthians. Meanwhile his energetic administration rees- 
 tablished order in the peninsula. Bandits were hunted 
 down and fugitive slaves restored to their masters or put 
 to death when not reclaimed. In less than a year security 
 reigned at the capital and in the country. Rome was gov- 
 erned. 
 
 In 37 Antony came to Tarentum to renew the triumvirate 
 for five years. Excited by the victories of his lieutenants, 
 he decided to assume in person the command of the Par- 
 thian War. Scarcely had he touched Asiatic soil when his 
 passion for Cleopatra revived more madly than ever. He 
 had her come to Laodicea, recognized the children she had 
 borne him, and added to her dominions almost the whole 
 coast from the Nile as far as Mount Taurus. Though those 
 countries were for the most part Roman provinces, the 
 caprice of the all-powerful triumvir had more influence 
 than senate or laws. 
 
 At last Antony decided to march against the Parthians 
 with 60,000 men, 10,000 horsemen and 30,000 auxiliaries. 
 He marched through Armenia, whose king Artavasdes 
 was his ally, and penetrated as far as Phraata near the 
 Caspian Sea; but he had not brought his siege machines, 
 and was obliged to retreat. After twenty -seven days' march, 
 during which they fought eighteen battles, the Eomans 
 reached the Araxes, the frontier of Armenia. Their road 
 from Phraata was marked by the corpses of 24,000 legion- 
 aries. Fortune offered Antony a last opportunity to re- 
 pair his reverses. A quarrel had arisen between the king 
 of the Parthians and the king of the Medes as to division of 
 the spoils. The angry Mede intimated that he was ready 
 to join the Romans. Cleopatra prevented Antony from 
 replying to this appeal, and carried him off in her train to 
 Alexandria. 
 
 While Antony was disgracing himself in the East, Oc- 
 tavius was giving to Italy that repose for which she hun- 
 gered. He conquered the pirates of the Adriatic and the 
 turbulent tribes, the Liburni and Dalmati, at the north. 
 At the siege of Metulum, he himself mounted to the assault 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 32-30. 
 
 and received three wounds. He penetrated as far as the 
 Sava, and subdued a part of Pannonia. Thus, of the two 
 triumvirs, the one was bestowing Eoman countries upon a 
 barbarous queen, and the other was increasing the territory 
 of the empire. However Antony complained and demanded 
 a share in the spoils of Sextus and Lepidus. Octavius re- 
 plied with bitter criticisms of his conduct in the East, and 
 read to the senate the will of Antony, which bequeathed to 
 Cleopatra and her children the greater part of the provinces 
 which he had in his power. Octavius wished by this means 
 to strengthen the rumor that Antony, should he become 
 the master, would make a gift to Cleopatra of Rome itself. 
 A decree of the senate declared war against the queen of 
 Egypt. 
 
 Actium. Death of Antony and Reduction of Egypt to a 
 Province. — Antony had collected 100,000 foot, 12,000 horse 
 and 500 great ships of war. Octavius had only 80,000 
 foot, 12,000 horse and 250 vessels of inferior size. His 
 galleys however were lighter and swifter and were manned 
 by the veteran sailors and soldiers who had defeated Sextus 
 Pompey. The battle was fought off Actium on the coast of 
 Acarnania (31). Cleopatra took to flight in the middle of 
 the action with sixty Egyptian ships, and Antony cowardly 
 followed her. The abandoned fleet surrendered. The 
 army for seven days resisted all solicitation. This time 
 Octavius did not stain his victory by acts of revenge. No 
 suppliant for life was refused. The victor, recalled to Italy 
 to quiet troubles there, could not pursue his rival until the 
 following year. Antony tried to defend Alexandria but 
 was betrayed by Cleopatra and committed suicide. The 
 queen herself, having vainly sought to move the conqueror, 
 had herself stung by an asp. Octavius reduced Egypt to a 
 Eoman province (30). 
 
 Eome belonged to a master. Two centuries of war, pil- 
 lage and conqiiests had destroyed equality in the city of 
 Fabricius, had taught insolence to the nobles, servility to 
 men of low degree, and replaced the citizen army by a mer- 
 cenary rabble, who cared nothing for the state, its laws or 
 liberty, and recognized only the leader whose hand offered 
 them booty and gold. The establishment of the empire was 
 certainly a military revolution. But, since Eome had not 
 been able to halt at the popular reforms of the Gracchi or 
 the aristocratic reform of Sulla, this revolution had be- 
 
B.C. 30.] THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 133 
 
 come inevitable. It was impossible that tbe institu- 
 tions, adequate for a city of a few thousand inhabitants, 
 should be adequate for a society of 80,000,000 souls; that 
 the city, now become the capital of the world, should con- 
 tinue to be disturbed by sterile and bloody rivalries ; that 
 the kings, the allied nations and the provinces should re- 
 main the prey of the 200 families which composed the 
 Roman aristocracy. 
 
 But in place of the citizens who were despoiled and 
 who merited their fate, could men be formed, capable by 
 their voluntary discipline and political intelligence of win- 
 ning new rights, higher perhaps than those which they had 
 lost? 
 
 If liberty was destined not to return, could any one under- 
 stand how to organize those multitudes, ignorant henceforth 
 of any will save that of the prince, into a vigorous body 
 capable of a long existence? Since there is to be an empire 
 instead of a city, shall we see a great nation take the place 
 of the oligarchy which had just been overthrown, and of 
 the populace which regarded the victory of Caesar and of 
 Octavius as its triumph? The history of Augustus and 
 of his successors will be the answer. 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 30. 
 
 IX 
 
 AUGUSTUS AND THE JULIAN EMPERORS 
 (B.C. 31-A.1>. 68) 
 
 Constitution of the Imperial Power (30-12). — Antony was 
 dead and Egypt attached to the imperial domain. Octa- 
 vius returned to Asia Minor. There he spent the winter 
 in regulating the affairs of the East, while Maecenas and 
 Agrippa kept watch for him in Rome. Their task was 
 easy, for the only sounds were the adulatory decrees of the 
 senate. When at last he returned to his capital after his 
 triumph, he distributed to the soldiers 1000 sesterces apiece, 
 to the citizens four hundred, and shut the temple of Janus 
 to announce the new era of peace and order that had begun. 
 
 As consul he was legally to retain for six years almost 
 the entire executive power. Yet above all he had need of 
 the army. In order to remain at its head he caused the 
 senate to bestow upon him the title of imperator with the 
 supreme command of all the military forces. The generals 
 were henceforth only his lieutenants, and the soldiers took 
 the oath of loyalty to him. 
 
 He preserved the senate and resolved to make of it the 
 pivot of his government. First however with Agrippa as 
 his colleague he was proclaimed censor; this enabled him 
 to expel from the senatorial body unworthy members or 
 opponents of the new order. When the former censors 
 completed the census, the man whose name they had placed 
 at the head of the list, generally one of themselves, was 
 called chief of the senate. This purely honorary post Octa- 
 vius retained during the remainder of his life. Agrippa 
 had given his colleague this republican title, and thus 
 placed the deliberations of the senate under his direction ; 
 for, in accordance with ancient usage, the chief always 
 expressed his opinion first and this first opinion exercised 
 an influence now destined to be decisive. 
 
 The senators had placed nearly all the provinces under 
 
B.C. 30-12.] AUGUSTUS AND THE JULIAN EMPERORS 135 
 
 his authority by investing him with the proconsulship. 
 Octavius wished that they should at least share this office 
 with him. He left them the tranquil and prosperous regions 
 of the interior, and took for himself those still in turmoil 
 or threatened by the barbarians, and where in consequence the 
 troops were stationed. In the fervor of its gratitude, the 
 senate called him Augustus, a title which had been applied 
 only to the gods. It is by this title he is commonly known. 
 Three years later it bestowed upon him the tribuneship for 
 life or inviolability in office. In the year 19 he was de- 
 creed consul for life. He had formerly accepted the com- 
 mand of the provinces and the armies for ten years only. 
 In the year 18 he caused his powers to be renewed, each 
 time protesting against the violence done his preferences in 
 the name of the public interest. Finally he caused him- 
 self to be named sovereign pontiff. There was nothing 
 else left worth the taking (12). Thus centring in himself 
 every high office, conferred in accordance with all the 
 forms of law, he was absolute master of Rome and the 
 empire. His reign of forty-four years was employed in 
 tranquil organization of the monarchy. The emasculated 
 senate still existed as the council of state. He even in- 
 creased its attributes by intrusting to it the decision in all 
 political cases and important suits. The people also retained 
 the form of their assemblies, but the public elections were 
 merely to confirm the choice made by the prince. 
 
 Military and Financial Organization. — As the real power 
 rested upon the soldiers, he made the army a permanent 
 organization, and stationed it along the frontiers in in- 
 trenched camps ready to resist the barbarians. Regula- 
 tions determined the duration of service, the treatment 
 of veterans and the pay of the three or four hundred thou- 
 sand men. Fleets at Frejus, Misenum and Ravenna acted 
 as the police of the Mediterranean. Flotillas were sta- 
 tioned on the Danube and Euxine. As he was chief of all 
 the legions and as the generals were only his lieutenants 
 fighting under the auspices of the imperator, none of them, 
 according to Roman ideas, could enjoy a triumph. 
 
 The civil was patterned after the military administration. 
 Annually the senate continued to send proconsuls to the 
 interior provinces which the emperor left it. The frontier 
 provinces were governed by imperial legates who retained 
 office as long as the sovereign saw fit. This was a salutary 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [b.c. 12. 
 
 innovation, because now the officers remained long at their 
 posts, and hence became acquainted with the needs of those 
 under their administration. 
 
 As there were apparently two kinds of provinces, there 
 were two financial administrations, the public treasury 
 or aerarium, and the treasury of the prince or the fiscus. 
 The serarium, which received the tributes of the senatorial 
 provinces, was moreover put by the senate at the sover- 
 eign's disposition, so he disposed of all the financial re- 
 sources of the empire just as lie disposed of all its military 
 forces. These resources were insufficient to defray the new 
 expenses. It became necessary to reestablish customs 
 duties and create new taxes, such as a twentieth on inheri- 
 tances, a hundredth on commodities and fines for celibacy. 
 All these revenues, joined to the tributes of the provinces, 
 yielded perhaps eighty or a hundred million dollars. 
 
 Administration of Augustus in the Provinces and at Rome. 
 — If everything belonged to Augustus, his time, his ser- 
 vices, and even his fortune belonged to all. During his 
 long journeys through the provinces, he relieved cities in 
 debt and rebuilt those which some calamity had destroyed. 
 Tralles, Laodicea, Paphos, overthrown by earthquake, arose 
 from their ruins more beautiful than before. One year he 
 even defrayed from his own revenues all the taxes of the 
 province of Asia. The measures of the imperial adminis- 
 tration in general accorded with the conduct of the prince, 
 who was an example and a lesson to his officers. In re- 
 ligious matters no violence was allowed save in Gaul, 
 where druidism with its human sacrifices was vigorously 
 assailed. That the taxes might be justly apportioned a 
 general register of valuation was needed. Augustus had 
 this drawn up. 
 
 Three geometers travelled throughout the empire and 
 measured distances. This work served also another end. 
 The empire once surveyed and measured, it was easy to 
 make roads. Augustus repaired those of Italy, constructed 
 those of Cisalpine Gaul and covered all Gaul and the Ibe- 
 rian peninsula with highways. Then upon these roads a 
 regular service of posts was organized. The messengers 
 of the prince and the armies could be rapidly transported 
 from one province to another. Commerce and civilization 
 gained thereby. New life circulated in this empire, so 
 admirably planted all around the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
A.D. 9.] AUGUSTUS AND THE JULIAN EMPERORS 137 
 
 Augustus devoted particular attention to contenting the 
 people of Eorae with games and distribution of corn. He 
 adorned the city Avith numerous monuments, appointed a 
 prefect and city cohorts to preserve public tranquillity, and 
 night watches to prevent or extinguish fires. He could 
 boast of leaving a city of marble where he had found one 
 of brick. In the still barbarous Western provinces, by 
 making new territorial divisions, he effaced their former 
 independent habits, and founded numerous colonies to mul- 
 tiply the Roman element in the midst of these populations. 
 
 During the triumvirate Octavius had often exhibited 
 cruelty, but Augustus almost always pardoned. He lived 
 less like a prince than like a plain private person, simply 
 and with dignity with his friends, Maecenas, Horace, Virgil, 
 Agrippa, who were not always courtiers. 
 
 Foreign Policy. Defeat of Varus (9 a.d.). — After 
 Actium he thought the wars were finished, and by closing 
 the doors of the temple of Janus he had declared that the 
 new monarchy renounced the spirit of conquest which had 
 animated the republic. In fact, there were no serious wars 
 in the East, where the mere threat of an expedition decided 
 the Parthians to restore the flags of Crassus. But in 
 Europe the empire had not yet found its natural limits. 
 In order to place Italy, Greece and Macedon beyond the 
 danger of invasion, it was necessary to control the course 
 of the Danube. To avoid apprehension on the left bank of 
 the Rhine the German tribes must be expelled from the 
 right bank. This was the object of a series of expeditions, 
 all of which succeeded with one exception. In the year 
 16, Drusus and Tiberius subdued the tribes in Rhaetia, Vin- 
 delicia and Noricum on the northern slope of the Alps, 
 thereby extending the Roman frontier to the upper Danube. 
 Seven years later Drusus crossed the lower Rhine and 
 penetrated to the banks of the Elbe. After his death his 
 brother Tiberius took up his winter quarters in the very 
 heart of Germany, and the Roman influence spread by 
 degrees from his camp. Meanwhile the Marcoman Marbod 
 was founding in Bohemia a kingdom defended by 70,000 
 foot and 4000 horse, all disciplined in the Roman manner. 
 Augustus became alarmed at these neighbors, and was pre- 
 paring a formidable array to destroy this rising state beyond 
 the Danube, when the Pannonii and Dalmatae rebelled in its 
 rear. Tiberius induced Marbod to treat, and thus was able 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 9-14. 
 
 to fall upon the rebels with fifteen legions. However 
 three campaigns were necessary to overcome their desperate 
 resistance. 
 
 Only five days after the definite submission of the Pannoni 
 and Dalraati, Eome learned with consternation that three 
 legions had been drawn into an ambush by Hermann, a 
 young chieftain of the Cherusci, and had been utterly 
 destroyed together with their general Varus. Northern 
 Germany was rising in revolt, and was pushing the Roman 
 domination back upon the Rhine. "Varus, Varus! Give 
 me back my legions," Augustus cried in sorrow. Marbod, 
 jealous of Hermann, made no movement, and Augustus, 
 reassured on the score of the Danube, was able to send 
 Tiberius into Gaul. He fortified the strongholds along the 
 Rhine, reestablished discipline and for the sake of restor- 
 ing a little confidence even risked the eagles on the other 
 side of the river. Germanicus took his place in command 
 of the eight legions which garrisoned the left bank of the 
 Rhine. The enemy content with their victory were not 
 yet desirous to attack. The empire was saved, but the 
 glory of a long and pacific reign was tarnished by this 
 disaster. Augustus died five years afterwards (14 a.d.). 
 
 Augustus gave his name to a great literary epoch. Pos- 
 terity pictures him surrounded by Titus Livius, Horace 
 and Virgil, whom the other illustrious writers, Lucretius, 
 Catullus, Cicero, Sallust and Caesar, had preceded by a few 
 years. We possess nothing of Varius, a tragic poet much 
 lauded at the time, but many elegies are left us of Tibullus, 
 Ga^xtii^ and Propertius, and almost all the works of Ovid. 
 Trogus Pompeius compiled a universal history which un- 
 happily is lost; Celsus, a sort of encyclopaedia, of which 
 only the books relating to medicine remain; and the Greek 
 Strabo composed his geography. 
 
 Tiberius (14-37). — Augustus had adopted Tiberius, a 
 son of his wife Livia by a former husband. He succeeded 
 without difficulty. To occupy the turbulent legions on the 
 frontier, Tiberius ordered Germanicus, who was both his 
 nephew and his adopted son, to lead the army beyond the 
 Rhine. They marched as far as the forest of Teutoberg, 
 where the three legions of Varus had perished. At first 
 the Germans nowhere made a stand. Growing bolder in 
 the following campaign they ventured to meet the Roman 
 army, and were defeated in the great battle of Idistavisus. 
 
A.D. 14-26,] AUGUSTUS AND THE JULIAN EMPERORS 139 
 
 A second battle was a second massacre, and Varus was 
 avenged. Germanicus then returned to Gaul, where he 
 found letters from Tiberius recalling him to Rome to 
 receive the consulship, and to undertake an important mis- 
 sion in Asia. 
 
 In Rome Tiberius governed mildly, refusing the honors 
 and temples offered to him. He disdained the base flattery 
 of the senate as one who knew its value. To the prov- 
 inces he sent able governors, did not increase taxation, and 
 relieved the frequent distress. Twelve Asiatic cities, 
 ruined by an earthquake, were exempted for five years 
 from all dues. Tiberius practised his maxim, "A good 
 shepherd shears his sheep, but does not flay them." 
 
 In the East, Germanicus without drawing his sword 
 humbled the Parthians, who allowed him to give the Arme- 
 nian crown to a faithful vassal of the empire, and to reduce 
 Cappadocia and the Comagene to provinces. On returning 
 from a journey to Egypt he had violent disputes with Piso, 
 governor of Syria. His death, which occurred some time 
 afterward, was attributed to poison, and Piso's indecent joy 
 seemed to designate him as the criminal. Piso to regain 
 the government, which he had resigned rather than obey 
 Germanicus, did not shrink from civil war. Defeated, he 
 committed suicide. Tacitus intimS,tes, without direct as- 
 sertion, that Tiberius poisoned Germanicus and then caused 
 Piso to disappear. 
 
 The first nine years of Tiberius' reign were prosperous. 
 After the death of his son Drusus, everything changed. 
 He had a favorite, Sejanus, who had once saved his life 
 when a vault fell in upon him, and whom he made prefect 
 of the praetorian guard. Dazzled by success, Sejanus wished 
 to mount higher still. He believed that he might reach 
 the supreme power by overthrowing the sovereign and his 
 children. His first victim was the emperor's own son, 
 Drusus, whom he secretly poisoned. This death was a 
 mortal blow to Tiberius. He felt himself alone and friend- 
 less. Naturally suspicious, he now everywhere beheld 
 plots and intrigues. To foil real or imaginary conspira- 
 tors he employed his power mercilessly. About this 
 time, Tiberius, then sixty-nine years of age, quitted Rome 
 never to return and withdrew to the delicious island of 
 Capreae, at the entrance of the Gulf of Naples (26). Se- 
 janus had become the intermediary between him and the 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 26^1. 
 
 empire, /nflaming the suspicions of the old man, he per- 
 suaded him to become the executioner of all his relatives 
 whom he represented as impatient heirs coveting their in- 
 heritance. Agrippina, the widow of Germanicus, was shut 
 up in the island of Pandataria, where four years later she 
 died of starvation. Of her three sons, Nero was put to 
 death or killed himself; Drusus was thrown into prison, 
 where he perished of hunger ; the youth of Caius protected 
 him against the fears of Tiberius. 
 
 The whole family of Germanicus being practically de- 
 stroyed, Sejanus, drawing more closely to his goal, dared 
 solicit the hand of Drusus' widow. This was almost 
 equivalent to asking to be made the emperor's heir. His 
 suit was refused. Hence he resolved to strike at the em- 
 peror himself and gained accomplices even in the palace. 
 But Tiberius understood him. Craftily depriving him of 
 his guard, he had him suddenly arrested in the open senate. 
 The people tore his body to pieces, and numerous executions 
 followed his death. 
 
 "The cruelty of Tiberius," says Suetonius, "knew no 
 bounds when he learned that his son Drusus had died of 
 poison. The place of execution is still shown at Caprese. 
 It is a rock, whence the condemned at a given signal were 
 hurled into the sea." Close beside it rose the palaces, scenes 
 of infamous orgies, as Tacitus asserts. Tiberius maintained 
 peace along the frontiers, which were seldom disturbed. 
 He died at the age of seventy-eight. 
 
 Caligula (37-41). — With acclamations Eome hailed the 
 accession of Caligula, son of Germanicus, and the new 
 emperor at first justified all her hopes. Soon however, in 
 consequence of an illness which seemed to have unsettled 
 his reason, he entered upon a war against the gods, whom 
 he blasphemed; against nature, whose laws he wished to 
 violate, as in spanning the sea between Baise and Puteoli 
 by a bridge ; against the nobility of Rome, whom he deci- 
 mated; and against the provinces, which he drained by his 
 exactions. In less than two years he had squandered in 
 mad extravagance sixty million dollars, the savings of 
 Tiberius. To replenish his treasury he appropriated the 
 lives and fortunes of the rich. One day in Gaul he lost 
 while playing at dice. He ordered the registers of the 
 province to be brought, and marked for death those citizens 
 who paid the heaviest taxes. " You play for a few miser- 
 
A.D. 41-54.] AUGUSTUS AND THE JULIAN EMPERORS 141 
 
 able drachmas," he said afterward to his courtiers, "but I 
 have just won millions at a throw!" For four years the 
 world endured this raving madman, who wished the Roman 
 people had but one head that he might strike it off at a 
 blow. At last he was killed by Chserea, a tribune of the 
 praetorian cohorts. 
 
 Claudius (41-54). — Chaerea was a republican. The occa- 
 sion seemed favorable for the senate to again grasp the 
 power. It made the attempt, and for three days one could 
 imagine that 'he was in a republic. This did not suit the 
 soldiers. In a recess of the palace they found Claudius, 
 the brother of Germanicus, and carried him to their camp. 
 He was then fifty years of age, a man of learning who wrote 
 the history of the Etruscans and Carthaginians, but sickly 
 and timid. His lack of resolution had the most deplorable 
 results. The real masters of the empire were his wife, 
 Messalina, and his freedmen, Polybius, Narcissus and 
 Pallas. Nevertheless they effected some wise reforms, 
 made a seaport at Ostia, and drained Lake Fucinus. Clau- 
 dius persecuted the Druids, whose worship he sought to 
 abolish. 
 
 Abroad, Mauritania and half of Britain were conquered, 
 the Germans repressed, the Bosphorus held to its allegiance, 
 Thrace, Lydia, and Judaea reduced to provinces, and the 
 divisions among the Parthians encouraged. But nine or 
 ten plots formed against the life of Claudius brought on 
 terrible vengeance. Thirty-five senators and three hundred 
 knights perished. Many were the victims of the hatred of 
 Messalina, who in defiance of the emperor, the laws and 
 public decency contracted a second marriage before death 
 or divorce had dissolved the first, and with the usual cere- 
 monies espoused the senator Silius. The freedmen, alarmed 
 for their own safety, wrested from Claudius an order of 
 death, and replaced Messalina by Agrippina, a niece of the 
 emperor, who acquired for herself hardly less notoriety. 
 The new empress, desirous to secure for her son Nero, then 
 eleven years of age, the heritage which rightfully belonged 
 to the young Britannicus, the son of Claudius, surrounded 
 the emperor with her creatures, appointed Burrus prefect 
 of the praetorian guard, and Seneca tutor to Nero. Then 
 by way of finishing the affair she poisoned Claudius. 
 
 Nero (54-68). — At his accession Claudius to assure the 
 fidelity of the soldiers had given a donative of nearly eight 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 54^-66. 
 
 hundred dollars to each praetorian and a proportionate sum 
 to each legionary. This unfortunate innovation the army 
 established as a law, and eventually it put the empire at 
 auction to the highest bidder. Thus revolutions became 
 more frequent. It was the interest of the soldiers to have 
 the throne often vacant that they might receive the dona- 
 tive the oftener. 
 
 Nero began well. The first five years of his reign de- 
 served praise. " How I wish that I did not know how to 
 write ! " he said one day, when a death sentence was pre- 
 sented for his signature. Seneca and Burrus worked in 
 concert to restrain the fiery passions of their pupil, but 
 Agrippiua's ambition brought about the explosion. In 
 league with the freedman Pallas, she intended that nothing 
 should be done in the palace without her. Seneca and 
 Burrus, in order to remove a domination which had debased 
 Claudius, had the freedman disgraced. On Agrippina's 
 threat to lead Britannicus to the praetorian camp, Nero poi- 
 soned his adopted brother (55). A little later he robbed 
 Otho of his wife Poppaea, and, irritated by the reproaches 
 of his mother, caused a vessel upon which she had embarked 
 to sink on the open sea. As she saved herself by swim- 
 ming, he sent soldiers to kill her. His wife Octavia and 
 perhaps Burrus also suffered the same fate. The Eomans 
 beheld their emperor, the heir of Caesar, drive chariots in 
 the arena and on the stage recite verses to the accom- 
 paniment of the lyre! The burning of Eome in the year 
 64 cannot be imputed to him. But he made use of it as a 
 pretext to persecute the Christians. Some of them, envel- 
 oped in the skins of beasts, were torn by dogs; others, 
 smeared with pitch, were set on fire alive, and like torches 
 lit up the gardens of Nero during a festival which he gave 
 the populace. To pay for his extravagance he dealt exile 
 and confiscation. At last a conspiracy of senators and 
 knights was found out. Seneca, his nephew, the poet 
 Lucan and the virtuous Thrasea were forced to open their 
 own veins. This raving madman had the sickly vanity of 
 inferior artists. To find more worthy appreciation of his 
 talents he made a journey to Greece, where he took part in 
 all the games and collected many crowns, even at Olympia, 
 although he fell in the middle of the stadium; but he paid 
 for these plaudits by proclaiming the liberty of Greece {&Q)- 
 
 Nevertheless the empire began to weary of obeying a bad 
 
A.D.68.] AUGUSTUS AND THE JULIAN EMPERORS 143 
 
 singer, as he was called by Vindex, propraetor of Gaul, 
 who offered the empire to Galba. Despite the death of 
 Vindex the rebellion was successful and extended to Eome, 
 whence Nero abandoned by all was forced to flee. He 
 took refuge at the farm of one of his freedmen. When he 
 saw himself about to be captured, he thrust a dagger into 
 his throat, exclaiming, " What an artist the world is about 
 to lose ! " With him the race of the Caesars became extinct. 
 Since the time of the great Julius, however, it had been 
 continued only through adoption. 
 
 Under Xero, Queen Boadicea in Britain rose against the 
 Romans. Corbulo won victories over the Germans and 
 Parthians. The reward of the skilful general was an order 
 to commit suicide. 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 69. 
 
 THE FLAVIANS 
 (69-96) 
 
 Galba, Otho and Vitellius (68-69). — The praetorians de- 
 manded the rich donative which had been promised them 
 in the name of Galba. " I choose my soldiers," he replied, 
 ''but I do not buy them." This haughty speech was not 
 borne out by vigorous acts. Otho, a former friend of Nero, 
 an ambitious man overwhelmed with debts, had no difficulty 
 in stirring up the praetorians to massacre Galba. 
 
 But already the legions of the Rhine had at Cologne 
 proclaimed their commander, Vitellius, emperor. They 
 marched upon Italy, and near Cremona won a great battle 
 in consequence of which Otho killed himself. 
 
 Vitellius was famous above all for his voracity. He per- 
 mitted the soldiers to do everything and troubled himself 
 about nothing except his pleasures, never dreaming that the 
 Eastern legions might feel tempted to imitate what the 
 Gallic legions had done for Galba, the praetorians for Otho, 
 and the legions of the Rhine for himself. The profits of a 
 revolution were now so certain that each army desired to 
 secure them. Vespasian was then at the head of powerful 
 forces, charged with subduing the rebellious Jews. His 
 troops proclaimed him emperor. Leaving to his son Titus 
 the task of besieging Jerusalem, he marched to take posses- 
 sion of Egypt and despatched Mucianus to Italy. The latter 
 was forestalled by Antonius Primus, who defeated the troops 
 of Vitellius near Cremona and a few days later captured Rome. 
 Vitellius, after suffering many outrages, was put to death. 
 
 Vespasian (69-79). — Flavins Vespasianus, the son of a 
 tax collector, was of plain manners and had made his way 
 by merit. He learned in Egypt of the successes of his gen- 
 erals and the death of his rival. But two wars were still 
 going on. Titus conducted that against the Jews which 
 though fierce was not dangerous to the empire. The other, 
 of far more serious nature, sprang from the rebellion of the 
 
A.D. 70-79.] THE FLAVIANS 145 
 
 Batavian Civilis. This man, a member of the Batavian 
 royal family, had resolved to free his nation. He sum- 
 moned the Gauls to independence and the Germans to the 
 pillage of the provinces. The Gauls could not agree among 
 themselves. Cerealis, one of Vespasian's generals, van- 
 quished Civilis, who retired to his island, organized there 
 a vigorous resistance and finally obtained an honorable 
 peace for the Batavi. They remained, not the tributaries 
 but the allies of Rome, on condition of furnishing soldiers. 
 While these events were taking place, Titus was repress- 
 ing the revolt of the Jews. Roused to sedition by the 
 extortions of their last governors, they had heroically re- 
 commenced the struggle of the Maccabees against foreign 
 domination. They believed that the time was come for 
 that Messiah whom their sacred books foretold. Refusing 
 to recognize him in the holy victim of Golgotha, they 
 thought that he was about to manifest himself, glorious and 
 mighty, amid the crash of arms. The insurrection had in- 
 vaded Galilee, where the historian Josephus organized the 
 rebellion. Vespasian and Titus confined it in the capital 
 of Judgea. After a memorable siege Jerusalem fell. The 
 Temple was burned, the ploughshare passed over its ruins 
 and the dispersion of the Hebrew people began (70). 
 Eleven hundred thousand Jews fell in this war. 
 
 While Vespasian's generals were rendering his arms tri- 
 umphant, he himself at Rome was degrading unworthy sen- 
 ators and knights, improving the finances that Nero had 
 left in a wretched state, restoring the Capitol which had 
 been destroyed in a conflagration, constructing the immense 
 Coliseum and the temple of peace, founding a library, and 
 appointing teachers of rhetoric whom the state paid. 
 Nevertheless Vespasian felt obliged to expel from Rome 
 the Stoics, who ostentatiously displayed republican senti- 
 ments. Because of his too great freedom of speech the 
 most respected of the senators, Helvidius Priscus, was 
 exiled and afterward put to death, though contrary to the 
 intention of Vespasian. Of serious mind, a man of business 
 and method, Vespasian laughed at flatteries as at apotheosis. 
 " I feel myself becoming a god," he said when he beheld 
 his last hour approaching. But he tried to rise, saying, 
 " An emperor should die on his feet." 
 
 Titus (79-81). — He was succeeded by Titus, who had 
 distinguished himself in the German and British wars and 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 79-96. 
 
 especially in Judaea. Though his dissoluteness and violence 
 had been feared, he surprised all by his self-control, and 
 his gentle and affable manners won for him the surname of 
 " Delight of the human race." He considered a day lost in 
 which he had done no good action. 
 
 Frightful calamities attended his brief reign. A confla- 
 gration lasting three days devastated a part of Eome. 
 Pestilence ravaged Italy. On November 1, 79, Vesuvius 
 suddenly vomited forth masses of ashes and lava which 
 buried Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae. Pliny the nat- 
 uralist, then commanding the fleet of Misenum, wished to 
 behold this terrible phenomenon close by, and was either 
 stifled by the ashes or crushed by the stones shot forth from 
 the volcano. Titus reigned only seventeen months. 
 
 Domitian (81-96). — Domitian, his brother, was immedi- 
 ately proclaimed. In his first acts he showed firmness and 
 justice, repressed all the abuses of which he could obtain 
 information, and by his active watchfulness assured to the 
 provinces an almost paternal government. The frontiers 
 were well guarded and the barbarians held in check, includ- 
 ing the Dacians who were becoming formidable. But as 
 his thirst for money grew with his fears, he soon became 
 grasping and cruel. Informers multiplied and were followed 
 by executions. His cousin Sabinus was put to death, be- 
 cause the crier who was to name him consul by mistake had 
 called him emperor. Many rich persons on account of their 
 wealth were accused of high treason. 
 
 A revolt of the governor of upper Germany increased his 
 tyranny, because Domitian believed himself to be surrounded 
 even in Rome by the accomplices of the rebel. Many sena- 
 tors perished. Some were accused of the new crime of 
 judaizing. Under this pretext his cousin Plavius Clemens 
 and his own niece Domitilla were condemned. At last a 
 plot was formed among the people of the palace, by whom 
 he was murdered. 
 
 It was Domitian however who completed the conquest 
 of the greater part of Britain. Vespasian had sent thither 
 Agricola, the father-in-law of Tacitus, who pacified the 
 island without however subduing the mountaineers of 
 Caledonia. Only the south of Scotland was united to the 
 province. To protect it against incursions from the north, 
 Agricola raised a line of fortified posts between the firths 
 of the Clyde and the Forth, and Roman civilization aided 
 by numerous colonists speedily took possession of Britain. 
 
CoijyrigKt. ItJW. by T. V. C're.well 
 
ti.etA.eJ 1,) C"llo... Ol.j, 
 
A.D. 96-100.] THE ANTONINES 147 
 
 XI 
 
 THE ANTONINES 
 (96-192) 
 
 Nerva (96-98). — The Flavian family was extinct. The 
 senate made haste to proclaim Nerva, a former consul. 
 With this prince began a period of eighty years which has 
 been called the golden age of humanity. It is the epoch of 
 the Antonines. Though !Nerva displayed good intentions, 
 he had neither the strength nor the time to realize them. 
 He adopted the Spanish Trajan, the best general of the 
 empire. 
 
 Trajan (98-117). — When Nerva died, Trajan was at 
 Cologne. Recognized as emperor by the senate, the people 
 and the armies, he remained one year more on the banks 
 of the Rhine to pacify the frontiers and restore discipline. 
 He wished to enter Rome on foot. The Empress Plotina 
 followed his example. As she ascended the palace steps, 
 she turned toward the crowd to say, " What I am on enter- 
 ing, I wish to be on departing." Trajan banished informers, 
 diminished the taxes and sold the numerous palaces which 
 his predecessors had acquired by confiscations. In order to 
 encourage the free population, he distributed among the 
 cities of Italy revenues intended for the support of poor 
 children. The senate could almost believe itself transported 
 to the days of its ancient power, for it deliberated on seri- 
 ous affairs and really assigned the offices. Trajan even 
 restored the elections to the comitia. At least the candi- 
 dates presented themselves to solicit as in former days the 
 votes of the people. He himself in Campus Martins can- 
 vassed in the midst of the crowd. The monuments which 
 he raised had as their object public utility or the adornment 
 of Rome, like the Trajan column which still recounts his 
 exploits. Among his works the most important were the 
 completion of a highway which traversed the whole Roman 
 empire from the Pontus Euxinus to Gaul, and the restora- 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 100-117. 
 
 tion of the road thrown across the Pontine marshes. He 
 caused the seaports of Ancona and Civita-Vecchia to be 
 excavated at his expense, established colonies in differ- 
 ent places, either as military or commercial stations, and. 
 founded the Ulpian library, which became the richest in 
 Rome. Only two reproaches can be brought against him; 
 he had not the sobriety of Cato and he persecuted the 
 Christians. He forbade their being hunted, but ordered 
 that such as made themselves prominent should be beaten.. 
 He himself condemned Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, to be 
 cast to the lions. 
 
 His reign was the most warlike which the empire had 
 beheld. He directed in person an expedition against the 
 Dacians (101), crossed the Danube at the head of 60,000 
 men, vanquished the barbarians in three battles, capt- 
 ured their capital, Sarmizegethusa, and forced them to 
 sue for peace (103). The following year they rebelled 
 again. Trajan threw over the river a stone bridge, the 
 remains of which are still to be seen, several times entered 
 Dacia, vanquished Decebalus, who killed himself, and re- 
 duced the country to a province. Numerous colonists were 
 sent thither and flourishing cities rose. In consequence the 
 Roumanian nation still speaks on the banks of the Danube a 
 dialect which is almost the language of the contemporaries 
 of Trajan. 
 
 In the East he reduced Armenia to a province. The 
 kings of Colchis and Iberia promised entire obedience, and 
 the Albanians of the Caspian accepted the ruler whom he 
 gave them. One of his lieutenants, Cornelius Palma, had 
 already subjugated some of the Arabs. Trajan penetrated 
 into Mesopotamia, captured Ctesiphon, Seleucia and Susa, 
 and descended as far as the Persian Gulf. "If I were 
 younger," said he, "I would go and subdue the Indies." 
 Such rapid conquests could not be durable. The vanquished 
 rose as soon as the emperor departed and the Jews again 
 revolted everywhere. Blood flowed in streams. Trajan 
 had not even the consolation of seeing the end of this for- 
 midable insurrection. He died at Selinus in Cilicia. 
 
 Hadrian (117-138). — Hadrian abandoned the useless con- 
 quests of his predecessors in the East. To prevent the 
 inroads of the Caledonian mountaineers into Britain, he 
 constructed from the mouth of the Tyne to the Solway 
 Eirth the wall of the Picts, numerous remains of which 
 
A.D. 117-138.] THE ANTONINES 149 
 
 are still to be seen. His only war was a fierce one against 
 the Jews. He changed the name of the city of David to 
 ^lia Capitolina, erected there altars to all the gods and for- 
 bade the Jews to observe the bloody rite of circumcision. 
 Thus they were now threatened with the loss of their re- 
 ligious, as they had lost already their political, existence. 
 At the call of the doctor Akiba they once more appealed to 
 the verdict of arms under the leadership of Barkochba, 
 the Son of the Star, who claimed to be the long-expected 
 Messiah. Nearly 600,000 Jews perished and the siirvivors 
 v/ere sold. 
 
 Hadrian's internal administration was sagacious. He 
 relieved the provinces from those arrears of debt which 
 had accumulated during sixteen years, and did away with 
 the republican forms which since the time of Augustus had 
 perpetuated the false image of Roman liberty. He divided 
 the offices into those of the state, palace and army, the 
 civil magistracies holding the highest rank and the military 
 the lowest. For the transaction of business he established 
 four chanceries, and invested the praetorian prefects with 
 both civil and military authority. So they formed a sort of 
 upper ministry. And lastly Salvius Julianus by command 
 of the emperor formed a sort of code from existing edicts 
 which, under the name of perpetual edict, acquired the 
 force of laAv (131). 
 
 The army, like the palace and the higher administration 
 of the government, was subjected to a severe reform. Ha- 
 drian made many regulations which have survived him, touch- 
 ing discipline, drill and the age at which a man became eligible 
 to the different grades. He visited all the provinces one after 
 the other, most of the time on foot, accompanied only by a 
 few lawyers and artists. A number of cities were enriched 
 by him with splendid monuments, as Nimes, where he prob- 
 ably erected the amphitheatre in honor of Plotina ; Athens, 
 where he passed two winters ; Alexandria ; and Kome, which 
 owes to him the castle of San Angelo (Moles Hadriani) and 
 the bridge which connects the two banks. He encouraged 
 commerce and industry, and rendered the slaves amenable 
 to the courts alone, and not to the caprice of their masters. 
 
 The good deeds of this prince make \is forget his shameful 
 morals, Avhich however were those of his age, the influence 
 exercised over him by Antinous, of whom he eventually 
 made a god, and certain acts of excessive severity. In 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 138-180. 
 
 the early days of his reign, the senate executed four 
 men of consular rank accused of conspiracy without even 
 awaiting his orders. Toward the end of his life, after 
 his successive adoption of Verus and Antoninus, plots real 
 or imaginary began again and many senators were sacrificed. 
 He died at Baiae. 
 
 Antoninus (138-161). — Antoninus, a native of Nimes, had 
 been adopted by Hadrian on condition that he in turu would 
 adopt Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. He reigned twenty- 
 three years in profound peace, and received from his grateful 
 contemporaries the surname of " Father of the human race." 
 A wise economy in the administration of the finances enabled 
 him to found useful institutions and to assist cities afl&icted 
 with some calamity, like Rome, Antioch, Narbonne and 
 Rhodes, which had been ruined by fire and earthquake. 
 " The wealth of a prince," he said, " is public happiness." 
 Two conspiracies against him were discovered. Only their 
 chiefs perished. A defence of Christianity composed by 
 the philosopher Justinus obtained for the Christians, who 
 were already numerous in Rome and in the provinces, tolera- 
 tion from the emperor and the magistrates. Antoninus car- 
 ried on no important war, nothing more than petty expeditions 
 for the maintenance of order on the frontiers. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius (161-180). — Marcus Aurelius, surnamed 
 the Philosopher, undertook to continue the administration 
 of his three predecessors. He had shared the title of Augus- 
 tus with Verus, his son-in-law and adopted brother. He 
 sent him to the East during a crisis, but Verus concerned 
 himself at Antioch only with his debauches, and left the 
 skilful Avidius Cassius to capture Ctesiphon and Seleucia. 
 A terrible pestilence raged at Rome ; earthquakes devastated 
 the empire ; the German tribes on the Danube rose in revolt. 
 The Stoic philosopher who occupied the throne did not allow 
 himself to be alarmed, and amid the perils of the war against 
 the Marcomanni wrote the admirable maxims of Stoic wisdom 
 contained in the twelve books of his work entitled MeditOr 
 tions. 
 
 Almost all the barbarian world was in commotion. The 
 Sarmatian Roxolani, the Vandals and other tribes of whom 
 we know only the names, crossed the Danube and penetrated 
 even to the neighborhood of Aquileia. The two emperors 
 marched against them, and the barbarians retreated without 
 giving battle so as to secure their booty. A certain number 
 
A.D. 180-192.] THE ANTONINES 151 
 
 even accepted the lands which Marcus Aurelius gave them, 
 or enrolled among the auxiliaries of the legions. Verus 
 died on his return from this expedition. The as yet uncon- 
 quered Germans appeared once more under the walls of 
 Aquileia. In order to obtain the money required for this 
 war, Marcus Aurelius sold the treasures and jewels of the 
 imperial palace. He was obliged to arm the slaves and 
 gladiators and enroll the barbarians (172). The enemy 
 retreated. The emperor pursued the Quadi even to their 
 own country, where on the banks of the Gran he incurred 
 a serious danger. A storm accompanied by thunder and 
 lightning saved him, and gave rise to the tradition of the 
 Christian legion that hurled thunderbolts. A treaty of 
 peace with many nations apparently gave a glorious termina- 
 tion to this war. From the banks of the Danube, Marcus 
 Aurelius hurried to Syria to suppress the revolt of Cassius, 
 who Avas killed by his soldiers. Almost immediately the 
 Marcomanni, the Bastarnae and the Goths resumed their 
 incursions. The unhappy emperor, whom fate condemned 
 to pass his life in the camp, hastened to march against them 
 with his son Commodus. He died without having finished 
 the war at Vindobona, now Vienna.^ 
 
 Commodus (180-192). — Commodus, aged nineteen years, 
 concluded a hasty peace with the Marcomanni and the Quadi, 
 took 20,000 of those barbarians into the service of the em- 
 pire, and returned to Rome to contend more than 700 times 
 in the arena, to drive chariots and play the part of Hercules. 
 Perennis, the prefect of the guards on whom at first de- 
 volved the cares of government, was massacred in 186. He 
 was replaced, both as prsetorian prefect and imperial favor- 
 ite, by the freedman Cleander, a Phrygian, who made money 
 out of the life and honor of the citizens. Three years later 
 the cruel and avaricious favorite was killed in a popular 
 sedition which plague and famine had excited. Then Com- 
 modus launched sentences of death against the most virtu- 
 ous citizens, against his relatives, against the senate, even 
 against the great jurisconsult Salvius Julianus and allowed 
 the praetorians the utmost license. As those nearest to him 
 were the most endangered, it was their hand which smote 
 him. His concubine Marcia, the chamberlain Electus, and 
 the prefect of the guards Laetus, whom he intended to put 
 to death, had him strangled by an athlete. 
 
152 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 192-197. 
 
 XII 
 
 MILITARY ANARCHY 
 
 (198-285) 
 
 Pertinax and Didius Julianus (192-193). — Pertinax, pre- 
 fect of the city, proclaimed emperor by the murderers of 
 Commodus, was recognized by the senate and the praeto- 
 rians, but, when he tried to restore order in the state and 
 the finances, he displeased the soldiers, who murdered him 
 in his palace. Then began scenes without a name, and 
 happily without example. The soldiers literally put the 
 empire up at auction. Two purchasers presented them- 
 selves, who rivalled each other in promises. The mon- 
 archy of Augustus was adjudged to the aged ex-consul, 
 Didius Julianus, at 6250 drachmas for each soldier. The 
 sale finished, the praetorians in battle array conducted Didius 
 to the palace, and the senators accepted the man whom the 
 soldiers had elected. He had promised more than he could 
 perform. The creditors, implacable toward their imprudent 
 debtor, would no doubt have overthrown him themselves, 
 had they not been forestalled by the legions of the frontiers, 
 who also wished to bestow the empire. The British legions 
 proclaimed their chief Albinus; the Syrians, Pescennius 
 Niger ; the Albanians, the African Septimius Severus. The 
 latter being the nearest to Eome immediately set out for the 
 capital. The senate, encouraged by his approach, declared 
 Didius a public enemy, had him slain, punished the murder- 
 ers of Pertinax and recognized Severus as emperor. 
 
 Septimius Severus (193-211). — He broke the power of 
 the praetorians ; but, instead of abolishing that turbulent 
 guard, he contented himself with certain changes and even 
 rendered it more numerous. In Asia Minor he defeated 
 Niger, who was killed while about to flee to the Parthians 
 (194). Near Lyons he overthrew Albinus (197), whose head 
 he sent to the senate with a threatening letter. On his 
 return to Rome, he multiplied the executions. Forty-one 
 
A.D. 197-217.] MILITARY ANARCHY 153 
 
 senatorial families became extinct under the headsman's 
 axe. 
 
 To extenuate his cruelties by a little glory, he endeavored 
 to seize Seleucia and Ctesiphon from the Parthians, who 
 had made an alliance with Niger. On his return he ordered 
 a persecution against the Christians, in spite of the elo- 
 quent apologies of Tertullian and Minutius Felix. Severus 
 administered the finances with economy. After his death 
 corn sufficient for seven years was found in the granaries 
 at Rome. "Keep the soldiers contented," he said to his 
 children, "and do not trouble yourselves about the rest. 
 With them you can repulse the barbarians and repress the 
 people." Military discipline was strictly maintained, but 
 at the same time the soldiers obtained privileges and in- 
 crease of pay. After a few quiet years Severus was called 
 to Britain by a revolt which he had no difficulty in quelling. 
 He penetrated a great distance into the Caledonian moun- 
 tains, but incessantly harassed and worn out by continual 
 attacks which cost him as many as 50,000 men, he returned 
 to the policy of Antoninus, and constructed a wall from one 
 shore to the other along the line traced by Agricola. 
 
 During this expedition he had been constantly ill. Never- 
 theless his son Bassianus, called Caracalla from the name 
 of a Gallic garment which he was fond of wearing, could 
 not wait for his approaching end, and tried to assassinate 
 him. From that time the emperor's malady increased. 
 He expired with the words : " I have been everything, and 
 everything is nothing." His last countersign had been 
 " laboremus." He left two sons, Caracalla and Geta. 
 
 Caracalla (211-217). — The two princes had already dis- 
 turbed the palace by their quarrels. On his return to Rome 
 Caracalla stabbed his brother in the arms of their mother. 
 Papinianus, refusing to make a public defence of the fratri- 
 cide, was put to death and with him perished 20,000 parti- 
 sans of Geta. Caracalla made his cruelty felt in all the 
 provinces, particularly at Alexandria, where in order to 
 avenge himself for some epigrams he ordered a massacre of 
 the unarmed people. A centurion, who had an injury to 
 revenge, killed him. 
 
 Macrinus (217). — The army elected the prefect of the 
 guards Macrinus, who, after a sanguinary battle with the 
 Parthians in Mesopotamia, purchased peace at the price of 
 50,000,000 denarii ; but the severe measures which he took 
 
154 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 218-244. 
 
 for the restoration of discipline destroyed his popularity. 
 The soldiers mutinied in their camp, proclaimed Bassianus, 
 the young and handsome high priest of Emesa, and massa- 
 cred Macrinus. 
 
 Heliogabalus (218-222). — Bassianus, better known as 
 Heliogabalus from the Syrian god whose priest he was, 
 brought to Rome the most shameful passions of the East. 
 His luxury and depravity would have made Nero blush. 
 He formed for himself a senate of women and, like the 
 great king, wished to be adored. His palace was strewed 
 with gold and silver dust, and his fish ponds filled with 
 rose water in which to bathe. The soldiers were soon hor- 
 rified at this unnatural emperor, who attired himself in 
 women's clothes. They killed him, together with his mother 
 Soemis, and saluted as emperor his cousin Alexander, aged 
 fourteen, who remained under the guidance of his grand- 
 mother Maesa and his mother Mamaea. 
 
 Alexander Severus (222-235). — The two empresses devoted 
 themselves to developing the natural virtues of the young 
 prince. They gave him as ministers the lawyers Paulus 
 and Ulpianus and formed for him a council of twelve sena- 
 tors. The empire passed many peaceful years under his 
 reign. On the front of his palace these words, the founda- 
 tion of all social morality, were carved: "Do unto others 
 as thou wouldest have them do unto thee." Nevertheless, 
 his hand was not firm enough to maintain discipline among 
 the soldiers. One day they slew their prefect Ulpianus 
 under his very eyes. 
 
 The ruin of the Parthian kingdom and the foundation of 
 a second Persian empire by the Sassanide Artaxerxes in 
 226 occasioned a war on the Euphrates. The new monarch, 
 who restored to the Persian mountaineers the domination 
 which the Parthians had wrested from them, declared him- 
 self of the ancient royal race, and claimed all the provinces 
 which Darius had formerly possessed. Alexander replied 
 by attacking the Persians. The expedition was fully suc- 
 cessful. The news that the Germans had invaded Gaul 
 and Illyricum hastened his return. He hurried to the Rhine 
 and was there killed in a sedition. 
 
 Six Emperors in Nine Years (235-244). — The soldiers 
 proclaimed Maximinus, a Thracian Goth, who in his youth 
 had been a shepherd. He was a giant, eight feet tall. He 
 is said to have eaten daily thirty pounds of meat and to 
 
A.D. 244-253.] MILITARY ANARCHY 155 
 
 have drunk an amphora of wine. This barbarian, who did 
 not dare even once to come to Rome, treated the empire like 
 a conquered country, pillaging cities and temples alike. 
 Mankind soon tired of him. Despite their entreaties, the 
 proconsul of Africa, Gordianus I, and his son, Gordianus II, 
 who boasted their descent from the Gracchi and Trajan, 
 were proclaimed emperors. Recognized by the senate but 
 overthrown, the senate afterwards itself proclaimed Pu- 
 pienus and Balbinus. The people demanded that a son of 
 the younger Gordianus should be declared emperor. As for 
 Maximinus, he and his son were assassinated before Aqui- 
 leia which he was besieging, and a little later the senate's 
 two emperors were massacred in their palaces. Then the 
 praetorians proclaimed Gordianus III. He was only thir- 
 teen years of age. Misitheus, his tutor and father-in-law, 
 governed wisely in his name, but the death of the clever 
 counsellor enabled the Arab Philip to become prefect of the 
 praetorian guard. He slew the emperor and took his place. 
 
 During the reign of Gordianus the Franks are mentioned 
 for the first time. They were a confederation of Germanic 
 tribes on the lower Rhine, like that of the Alemanni on the 
 upper Rhine. The latter constantly threatened Rhaetia and 
 even Gaul itself, whose northern provinces the former in- 
 vaded. At the other extremity of Germany, the Goths had 
 gradually descended from Scandinavia upon the lower 
 Danube and the Black Sea. They were for the time being 
 the empire's most dangerous neighbors. 
 
 Philip (244-249). Decius (249-251). The Thirty Tyrants 
 (251-268). — At the end of five years the soldiers decided 
 that Philip had reigned long enough and revolts broke out 
 everywhere. Meanwhile the Goths crossed the Danube, and 
 the senator Decius, whom he sent against them, was pro- 
 claimed by the troops. A battle was fought near Verona 
 and Philip was killed. The quiet enjoyed by the Church 
 during Philip's reign has led to the erroneous belief that 
 he was a Christian. Decius on the contrary persecuted it 
 cruelly. However he reigned only two years and perished 
 in a great battle with the Goths in Moesia (251). 
 
 The army acknowledged Galbus, one of its generals, who 
 promised the barbarians an annual tribute. This had the 
 effect of inducing them to return. iErailianus, who routed 
 them, assumed the purple. Both were killed by their sol- 
 diers (253). Valerian, saluted as emperor, named his son 
 
156 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 258-270. 
 
 Gallienus as Caesar and endeavored to arrest the imminent 
 dissolution of the empire. In 258 he recaptured from the 
 Parthians the great city of Antioch and penetrated into 
 Mesopotamia; but near Edessa he was vanquished and 
 made prisoner by King Sapor (260), who retained him in 
 captivity exposed to insults until he died. Sapor had re- 
 entered Syria. He was forced back across the Euphrates 
 by the praetorian prefect Balista and the Arab chief Ode- 
 nath. The latter grew powerful enough to secure recogni- 
 tion as Augustus by Gallienus (264). Palmyra his capital, 
 situated in an oasis at three days' distance from the Eu- 
 phrates, had become rich and powerful through its immense 
 commerce. Imposing ruins still testify to its past greatness. 
 
 After the captivity of his father Gallienus ruled alone 
 for eight years. His reign was one ceaseless struggle 
 against the usurpers, barbarians and calamities of all sorts 
 that descended upon the empire. This period is called that 
 of the Thirty Tyrants. There were in reality only nineteen 
 or twenty, all of whom died violent deaths like Saturnus, 
 who said to his soldiers, " Comrades, you are losing a good 
 general and making a wretched emperor," and who was slain 
 because of his severity. Odenath, a valiant prince, delivered 
 the East from the Persians and the Goths, who had disem- 
 barked in Asia Minor, but was himself assassinated in 267 
 by his nephew. Zenobia, his wife, slew the murderer and 
 succeeded to her husband's power. Gaul was independent 
 for fourteen years under five Gallic emperors. To internal 
 disorder had been added barbarian invasions. The Goths 
 and the Heruli had ravaged Greece and Asia Minor. One 
 Goth wished to burn the library at Athens, but another pre- 
 vented him. " Leave to our enemies," said he, " these books 
 which deprive them of the love of arms." The Athenians 
 however, led by the historian Dexippus, had the honor of 
 defeating these brigands. 
 
 Claudius (268). Aurelian (270). Tacitus (275). Probus 
 (275). Carus (282). — Gallienus, who alone appeared legiti- 
 mate among all these usurpers, was mortally wounded by 
 traitors while besieging one of his competitors in Milan. As 
 he expired, he chose for his successor a Dalmatian, Claudius, 
 who was then the most renowned general of the empire. 
 Claudius had only the time for a hurried march to Macedon, 
 where he defeated 300,000 Goths near Naissus, and there 
 died of the pest. Aurelian took his place (270). He had 
 
A.D. 271-275.] MILITARY ANARCHY 157 
 
 first to check an invasion of the Alemanni, who pene- 
 trated through Rhaetia as far as Placentia where they 
 destroyed a Roman army and thence as far as the shores 
 of the Adriatic. Rome was terror-stricken. The senate 
 consulted the Sibylline books and in obedience to their 
 responses sacrificed human victims. A victory gained on 
 the banks of Metaurus delivered Italy; but the danger 
 which Rome had incurred determined the emperor to 
 surround it with a strong wall. He was less fortunate 
 against the Goths. A treaty abandoned to them Dacia, 
 whose inhabitants he transported into Moesia. The Danube 
 again became the boundary of the empire. 
 
 Tranquillity reestablished on that frontier, he marched 
 to the East (273) to encounter Zenobia, queen of PpJmyra. 
 This princess, celebrated for her courage and her rare intel- 
 ligence, dreamed of forming a vast Oriental empire. He 
 wrested from her Syria, Egypt and a part of Asia Minor, 
 defeated her near Antioch and Emesa and besieged her in 
 Palmyra, her capital, where she had taken refuge. When 
 the resources of the city were exhausted, Zenobia fled on a 
 dromedary toward the Euphrates but was captured and 
 taken to Aurelian. Her principal minister, the sophist 
 Longinus, whose treatise on the Sublime we still possess, 
 was suspected of being the author of an offensive letter sent 
 by Zenobia to Aurelian and was put to death. The emperor 
 reserved the queen to adorn his triumph and afterward 
 assigned her a splendid villa at Tibur. In the West, Tetri- 
 cus, who had usurped Gaul, Spain and Britain, himself 
 betrayed his army and passed over to the side of Aurelian, 
 who appointed him governor of Lucania. 
 
 Delivered from foreign troubles Aurelian tried to restore 
 order in the administration and discipline in the army. 
 Desirous of occupying the restless minds of the legions he 
 was preparing an expedition against the Persians, when his 
 secretary, accused of extortion and afraid of punishment, 
 had him assassinated (275). The soldiers, ashamed of hav- 
 ing permitted the murder of their glorious chieftain, forced 
 the senate to choose an emperor. It appointed the aged 
 Tacitus, who died after six months. 
 
 The soldiers then proclaimed Probus, who immediately 
 hastened to Gaul, which had been invaded by the Alemanni. 
 He recaptured sixty towns, followed the enemy across the 
 Rhine and pursued them beyond the Neckar. The Germans 
 
158 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 276-285. 
 
 delivered to him 16,000 of their young warriors, whom 
 he enrolled, though dispersing them among his troops. 
 In Illyricum he routed the Sarmatae ; in Thrace the Getaj ; 
 in Asia Minor the brigands of Isauria and Pamphylia; 
 in Egypt the Blemyes, who had seized Coptos. Narses, 
 king of Persia, alarmed by these successes, sued for peace. 
 On his return through Thrace Probus established on the 
 lands of the empire 100,000 Bastarnse, just as he had 
 already established Germans in Britain and Franks on 
 the shores of the Pontus Euxinus. He was preparing to 
 march against the Persians when the hard labor which he 
 imposed upon his soldiers, compelling them to plant vine- 
 yards and drain marshes, caused a revolt in which he 
 perished (282). The next day the soldiers mourned him. 
 They chose the prefect of the guards. Cams, who bestowed 
 the title of Caesar on his two sons, Carinus and Numerianus. 
 The elder received the government of the West. The 
 younger after a victory over the Goths and Sarmatae fol- 
 lowed his father to the East. Cams captured Seleucia and 
 Ctesiphon but died suddenly, and Nuraerianus hastened to 
 treat with the Persians. As he was leading the legions back 
 to the Bosphorus, he was killed by his father-in-law Arrius 
 Aper (284). Five days later under the walls of Chalcedon 
 the soldiers proclaimed the Dalmatian Diocletian, who slew 
 Aper with his own hand before the eyes of the whole army. 
 Carinus endeavored to overthrow the new emperor, but he 
 was slain in battle near Margus in Moesia (285). 
 
A.D. 285-293.] DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 159 
 
 XIII 
 
 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE. CHRISTIANITY 
 (285-337) 
 
 Diocletian (285-305). The Tetrarchy. — Forty-five em- 
 perors had already worn the purple. Of this number 
 twenty-nine, not to mention the thirty tyrants, had been 
 assassinated. Four or five others had perished by violence. 
 Only eleven or twelve had met natural deaths. Such was 
 the organization of supreme power in the Roman Empire! 
 
 Diocletian imposed upon himself the double task of rees- 
 tablishing order at home and security on the frontiers. 
 While the tyranny of the governors of Gaul drove the 
 peasants of that province to revolt, the Alemanni crossed 
 the Danube and ravaged Rheetia; the Saxons pillaged the 
 coasts of Britain and Gaul ; the Franks went as far as Sicily 
 to plunder Syracuse, and Carausius, on being ordered to 
 arrest those pirates, caused himself to be proclaimed em- 
 peror in Britain (287). Alarmed at this critical situation 
 Diocletian took as colleague Maximianus, one of his former 
 comrades in arms (285), who assumed the surname of Her- 
 culius as Diocletian had assumed that of Jovius. Disorder 
 and invasion threatening everywhere, the two Augusti as- 
 sociated with themselves two inferior rulers, the Caesars 
 Galerius and Constantius Chlorus (293). 
 
 In the partition of the empire Diocletian kept the East 
 and Thrace; Galerius had the Danubian provinces; Max- 
 imianus Italy, Africa and Spain, with Mauritania; Con- 
 stantius Gaul and Britain. The ordinances issued by each 
 prince were valid in the provinces of his colleagues. Dio- 
 cletian remained the supreme head of the state and by his 
 skill and conciliatory spirit maintained harmony among 
 princes who were already rivals. He was the first Roman 
 emperor to surround the throne with all the pomp of an 
 Asiatic court. He adopted a diadem, clothed himself in 
 silk and gold, and compelled all, who obtained permission to 
 
160 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 294-303. 
 
 approach, to adore on their knees the imperial divinity and 
 majesty. He began to establish that regulated hierarchy 
 so necessary in a monarchical administration to protect the 
 prince from military revolutions, and also that despotism 
 of the court, that seraglio government, which slays public 
 spirit and makes service rendered to the person of the prince 
 more esteemed than service rendered to the state. But suc- 
 cessful wars justified the measures of Diocletian. 
 
 In the East, the Persians had driven a partisan of the 
 Eomans from the Armenian throne and were threatening 
 Syria. Galerius marched against them. A defeat which 
 he suffered was gloriously redeemed, and Narses ceded 
 Mesopotamia, five provinces beyond the Tigris and the su- 
 zerainty of Armenia and Iberia at the foot of the Caucasus 
 (297). This was the most glorious treaty which the empire 
 had yet signed. Diocletian erected numerous fortifications 
 there to preserve the conquest. At the other extremity of 
 the Roman world, Constantius, after having expelled the 
 Franks from Gaul and Batavia, made a descent on Britain 
 and vanquished the usurper Alectus (296) who had suc- 
 ceeded Carausius. 
 
 Tranquillity having been everywhere restored, Diocletian 
 sowed discord among the barbarians. He armed Goths and 
 Vandals, Gepidae and Burgundiones, against each other. 
 Then he repaired all the fortifications on the frontiers and 
 constructed new posts. In these few years the empire re- 
 gained a formidable footing. These successes were cele- 
 brated by a splendid triumph, the last which Rome beheld 
 (303). 
 
 Unfortunately Diocletian was persuaded by Galerms to 
 order a cruel persecution of the church. A conflagration, 
 which burst out in the imperial palace and with which the 
 Christians were charged, increased his wrath. Through- 
 out the empire, except in the provinces where Constantius 
 Chlorus reigned, the victims were hunted down and tortured. 
 Shortly afterward Diocletian grew weary of power and 
 abdicated at Nicomedia. Maximianus unwillingly followed 
 his example and laid down the diadem the same day at 
 Milan. The former chief of the Roman world retired to a 
 magnificent villa, which he had built near Salona on the 
 Dalmatian coast, and passed his old age in peaceful pursuits. 
 One day when Maximianus was urging him to reascend the 
 throne, he replied: "If you could only see the splendid 
 
A..D. 303-313.] DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 161 
 
 vegetables which I raise myself, you would not talk to me 
 of such worries." He died there in 313. The ruins of his 
 palace are still to be seen. 
 
 New Emperors and New Civil Wars (303-323). — Galerius 
 and Constantius assumed the title of Augustus and chose 
 two new Csesars. These were Maximinus, who received 
 the government of Syria and Egypt, and Severus, who had 
 Italy and Africa and who became Augustus after the death 
 of Constantius. Constantine, the son of this last prince, 
 whom a brilliant destiny awaited, succeeded his father with 
 the title of Caesar. 
 
 The scheme of Diocletian, apparently so cleverly con- 
 trived to prevent usurpation by sharing the power in advance 
 with a few ambitious men and rendering the supreme au- 
 thority almost everywhere present, was in reality imprac- 
 ticable. This empire, so vast and now so menaced, could 
 be held together for a moment by a firm and experienced 
 hand like that of Constantine or Diocletian, but ultimate 
 dismemberment was sure. Rome herself gave the signal 
 for new wars. Incensed at the desertion in which the new 
 emperors left her, she bestowed the title of Augustus upon 
 Maxentius, son of Maximianus (306), who took his father 
 as his colleague. Thus the empire had six masters at once : 
 the two Augusti, Galerius and Severus; the two Csesars, 
 Constantine and Maximinus ; and the two usurpers, Maxen- 
 tius and Maximianus. Severus was the first to fall, van- 
 quished and slain by Maximianus. The latter was the next 
 to disappear, banished by his son and put to death by his 
 son-in-law Constantine, whom he was attempting to over- 
 throw (310). In the following year Galerius died in con- 
 sequence of his debauches. Maxentius succumbed in turn 
 to the blows of his brother-in-law, Constantine, near the 
 Milvian Bridge which spans the Tiber. For this expedi- 
 tion Constantine had gained the support of Christianity by 
 placing the cross upon his standards (312). 
 
 Licinius, the successor of Galerius, had at the same time 
 vanquished Maximinus who took poison (313). Thus the 
 empire had now only two masters, Licinius in the East and 
 Constantine in the West. This was one too many for these 
 ambitious and perfidious princes, who sought each other's 
 destruction. Licinius fomented a conspiracy against his 
 rival. The latter in reply declared war, defeated his enemy 
 and imposed upon him an onerous peace. 
 
■^Q2 HISTORY OF TEE ROMANS [a.d. 323. 
 
 This peace lasted nine years, during which Constantine 
 introduced order into the administration and gained glory 
 and power by a victory over the Goths, 40,000 of whom en- 
 tered his service under the name of Foederati. Under pre- 
 text of protecting the Christians, Constantine attacked his 
 colleague and took him prisoner after two victories. He 
 stripped him of the purple promising that J^e would respect 
 his life, but some time afterward put him to death (^Jc}). 
 
 Christianity. — Pagan morality had risen to a great heignt 
 with Seneca, Lucan, Persius, Epictetus and Marcus Aure- 
 lius. The activity of the philosophers had some effect 
 upon the intellect. But the brilliancy with which certain 
 intellects still shine in our eyes prevents our seeing the 
 state of spiritual infancy in which the greater part ot tlie 
 human race then lay. Por it the fairest doctrines wrought 
 bv human reason remained without effect, because they 
 were not sustained by creeds born of faith alone. The phi- 
 losophers talked grandly of their scorn for fortune, pain 
 and death; but they knew little concerning the life to come 
 or the pains and rewards in store. Their haughty virtue 
 suited hopeless wise men, like some of those Roman nobles 
 who, having lost the dignity of the citizen, had taken refuge 
 in the dignity of the man. For the masses such marvels 
 were required as impress the imagination and impose cer- 
 tainty without being understood. -o t • i ^ 
 Credo quia absurdum, Tertullian says. Religion alone 
 can provide those beliefs with which reason has nothing to 
 do. Placed between Egypt and Persia, that is to say, be- 
 tween the two countries which have professed the most 
 ardent faith in a life to come, Judaea had finally added to 
 the grand Semitic idea of divine unity the idea of the 
 resurrection and of the judgment of the dead The simple 
 purity of the parables of Jesus, his i^/i'^cibl^f ^^^ V/^, J^*J^ 
 and in his justice, his teaching, which devoted itself to 
 ardent charity for all the suffering and wretched, went to 
 the heart of tL lower classes. Meanwhile the Fathers and 
 the Doctors, constructing with Platonic ideas the most 
 rational and hence the most philosophical system of meta- 
 physics which the world had ever known, won gifted minds 
 to the cause of the new Gospel. . 
 
 Jesus was born five years before our era m the town of 
 Bethlehem in the midst of Jews who, overwhelmed with 
 misery, awaited the advent of the Messiah promised by their 
 
A.D. 323.] DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 163 
 
 prophets. In the fifteenth year of Tiberius he began to 
 journey throughout Judaea, teaching love of God and man, 
 purity and justice, the reward of the good and the punish- 
 ment of the bad. The Pharisees, the strict sectaries of the 
 Mosaic law, caused the holy victim of humanity to be con- 
 demned and nailed to the cross. After the Passion the 
 apostles dispersed among the provinces where many Jewish 
 colonies had been established. The Church welcomed a mul- 
 titude of pagans who were disgusted with their marble 
 gods and many slaves and miserable people, who at last 
 heard a human voice whisper in their ears words of con- 
 solation and hope. In the time of Nero there were already 
 enough Christians in Rome to excite persecution. Some 
 suffered under Domitian. A larger number were con- 
 demned under Trajan. That emperor forbade search being 
 made after them but, applying the ancient decrees of the 
 senate, he punished whoever were convicted of holding 
 secret meetings or of showing contempt for imperial au- 
 thority by refusing to sacrifice to the gods, the worship of 
 whom the emperor as pontif ex maximus was bound to protect. 
 Nevertheless as the Church grew her doctrines became 
 better known. The pagans set up in opposition the pre- 
 tended miracles of Vespasian and of Apollonius of Tyana, 
 philosopher and wonder-worker. They also tried to purify 
 paganism, thereby rendering it less unworthy of contending 
 with the religion of Christ. They introduced into their wor- 
 ship mysterious forms, such as initiations and expiations, 
 calculated to impress the popular imagination. These inno- 
 vations did not succeed in preventing men from embracing 
 a doctrine which was both more simple and mild. Chris- 
 tianity encountered another danger. Like philosophy it 
 had its different schools or heresies. The four Gospels, the 
 Epistles, the Apostles' Creed, maintained union, and Aris- 
 tides and Justin presented to Hadrian and Antoninus two 
 Apologies, which gained for the believers a little repose. 
 But the sophists induced Marcus Aurelius to decree fresh 
 persecutions in which Justin, Polycarp and many others 
 were martyred. The Christians were generally tranquil 
 until Severus, a rude disciplinarian, took alarm at their 
 secret assemblies and ordered a persecution (199-204) to 
 wliich the sympathetic tolerance of Alexander Severus put 
 a stop. Under Decius the calamities of the empire were 
 attributed to the wrath of the gods on account of Christian- 
 
164 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 323. 
 
 ity, and the last persecution, that of Diocletian or rather 
 of Galerius, deserved to be called the era of martyrdom 
 (303-312). It was all the more severe because the Chris- 
 tians were then very numerous in the empire. Constantine 
 determined to make himself the head of this increasing 
 party, and to this resolution owed his victory. 
 
 In his expedition against Maxentius (312) he declared 
 himself the protector of the new faith. The following year 
 he published at Milan an edict of toleration. As long as 
 Licinius lived Constantine used discretion with the pagans. 
 Beginning with the year 321 he granted the Church the 
 right to receive donations and legacies. He repaid the 
 assistance which it had afforded him against his last rival 
 by lavishing upon it at the expense of the state property 
 which he guaranteed to it in perpetual possession. He 
 transferred to the Christian priests all the privileges which 
 the pontiffs of paganism enjoyed, that is to say, the right 
 of asylum for their temples, and for themselves exemption 
 from public service, statute labor and imposts. Even the 
 humblest ecclesiastic could not be put to torture, and rest 
 on Sanday was prescribed, a great boon to the slaves. 
 
 To multiply conversions he made it plain in what quarter 
 imperial favors were to be found, bestowing offices on Chris- 
 tians and privileges on the cities which overturned the pagan 
 altars. On the other hand he tried to destroy paganism by 
 frequent exhortations to his peoples, and afterward when 
 triumphant Christianity no longer feared dangerous tumults, 
 by severe ordinances which in many places closed the tem- 
 ples and overthrew the idols, without however shedding 
 the blood of those who remained attached to the ancient 
 worship. The Council of ISTicaea, convoked by Constantine 
 in 323, finally drew up the creed of Christianity. When 
 it had dispersed, the emperor wrote to all the churches 
 " that they were to conform to the will of God as expressed 
 by the Council." 
 
 Reorganization of the Imperial Administration. — The 
 revolution had been accomplished in the religious order. 
 He completed it in the political order. Diocletian had 
 only outlined the organization which was destined to put 
 an end to military revolutions. Constantine resumed this 
 enterprise. The first thing he did was to abandon Rome, 
 still filled with her gods with whom he' wished nothing to 
 do, and to found another capital on the banks of the Bos- 
 
A.D. 330.] DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 165 
 
 phorus between Europe and Asia. Constantinople rose 
 upon the site of Byzantium, far enough from the eastern 
 frontiers to have small fear of hostile attack, while suffi- 
 ciently near them to assure their being better watched and 
 defended. The site was so well chosen that for ten cen- 
 turies every invasion passed her by. In 330 Constantine 
 inaugurated the new city as capital of the empire. He es- 
 tablished a senate, tribes and curiae. He erected a Capitol, 
 consecrated not to the Olympian gods, now dethroned and 
 dead, but to learning. He built palaces, aqueducts, baths, 
 porticoes and eleven churches. It was like Rome a seven- 
 hilled city and divided into fourteen regions. Gratuitous 
 distributions of corn were made. Egypt sent thither her 
 grain and the provinces their statues and finest monu- 
 ments. Rome abandoned by her emperor and by her 
 wealthiest families, who went away to establish themselves 
 near the court, " gradually became isolated in the centre of 
 the empire; and, while fighting went on around her, sat 
 in the shadow of her name awaiting her ruin." 
 
 The empire was divided into four prefectures and these 
 again into thirteen dioceses. The enormous size of the 
 provinces had often inspired their governors with the idea 
 of mounting higher, even to the imperial power. So the 
 twenty provinces of Augustus were cut up into the 116 
 provinces of Constantine. A numerous body of adminis- 
 trators, graded in a lengthy hierarchy, was interposed be- 
 tween the people and the emperor, whose will, transmitted 
 by the ministers to the praetorian prefects, passed from 
 the latter to the presidents of the dioceses and descended 
 through the provincial governors to the cities. At the 
 head of this hierarchy seven great officers formed the im- 
 perial ministry: the Count of the Sacred Chamber or 
 Grand Chamberlain; the Master of Offices or Minister of 
 State, who directed the household of the emperor and the 
 police of the empire; the Quaestor of the Palace, a sort of 
 Chancellor; the Count of the Sacred Largesses or Minister 
 of Finance; the Count of the Private Domain; the Count 
 of the Domestic Cavalry; and the Count of the Domestic 
 Infantry. The two latter were chiefs of the emperor's 
 guards. Add to these officials the throng of inferior agents 
 who encumbered the palace and were more numerous, says 
 Libanius, than the swarming flies in summer. 
 
 The four praetorian prefects of the East, Illyricum, Italy 
 
166 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 330. 
 
 and Gaul had no longer any military command, but they 
 published the emperor's decrees, made assessments, super- 
 intended the collection of taxes and sat as appellate judges 
 over the chiefs of the diocese. Their rich appointments 
 and their numerous staff made them resemble four kings of 
 secondary rank commanding the governors of the dioceses 
 and of the provinces. 
 
 The Masters of Cavalry and Infantry had under their 
 orders the Military Counts of the provinces. 
 
 Diocletian had already surrounded himself with the 
 splendor of the Asiatic courts in order to exalt the majesty 
 of the prince. Constantino imitated his example. The 
 posts of the imperial court conferred upon those invested 
 with them titles of personal but not transmissible nobility. 
 Tiie consuls, the prefects and the seven ministers were 
 called the illustres ; the proconsuls, the vicars, the counts 
 and the dukes were spectabiles ; the former consuls and the 
 presidents were clarissimi. There were also perfectissimi 
 and egregii. The princes of the imperial house bore the 
 title of nobilissimi. 
 
 This divine hierarchy, as in official language the army of 
 functionaries surrounding and concealing the sacred person 
 of the emperor was called, added to the brilliancy of the 
 court without increasing the strength of the government. 
 Salaries were required for this immense staff, who took 
 much greater pains to please the prince than to labor for 
 the p4blic good. The expenses of administration increased 
 and taxes increased with them while poverty was already 
 draining the richest provinces. Then between the treasury 
 and the taxpayer began a war of ruse and violence, which 
 fretted the people and extinguished the last remnants of 
 patriotism. 
 
 The free institutions of former days still lived in the 
 municipal system of government. Each city had its own 
 senate or curia, composed of curiales or proprietors of at 
 least fifteen acres of land, who deliberated on municipal 
 matters and from their own number elected magistrates to 
 administer affairs. It had also its duumvirs who presided 
 over the curia, watched over the interests of the city and 
 judged law cases of minor importance; an aedile; a curator 
 or steward; a tax collector; irenarchs or police commis- 
 sioners ; scribes and notaries. Beginning with the Emperor 
 Valentinian I each had a defensor, or sort of tribune, 
 
A.D. 330.] DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 167 
 
 elected by the city to defend its interests with the gov- 
 ernor or prince. 
 
 But the curiales, charged with collecting the tax, guaran- 
 teed its payment with their own property. Thus their 
 condition became more and more wretched. They sought 
 escape by taking refuge in the privileged bodies of the 
 clergy or army, but were thrust back by force into the 
 curia, where at their death their sons were to take their 
 place. Their exemption from torture and from certain 
 ignominious penalties was only slight compensation. Thus 
 the number of the curiales was already diminishing in the 
 cities. 
 
 The imposts for which they were responsible were very 
 heavy. In the first place there was the indiction or land- 
 tax, which was assessed according to the fortune of each 
 person as indicated in the register drawn up every fifteen 
 years or cycle of indictions ; then the twentieth of inheri- 
 tances ; the hundredth of the proceeds of auction sales ; the 
 poll-tax, paid by non-landholders and for slaves; the customs 
 dues; and lastly the chrysargyron, levied every four years 
 on petty commerce and petty industry. The aurum coro- 
 narium, formerly voluntary when the cities sent crowns of 
 gold to consuls or emperors, had become an obligatory tax. 
 
 These charges pressed all the heavier on small or moder- 
 ate fortunes since they fell upon the rich lightly or not at 
 all. The nobilissimi, the patricii, the illustres, the spec- 
 tabiles, the clarissimi, the egregii, all the staff of the palace, 
 all the courtiers and the clergy, were exempt from the 
 heaviest of the imposts, which fell wholly upon the curiales. 
 The third class, that of simple freemen comprising those 
 who owned less than fifteen acres, the merchants and arti- 
 sans, were no less unfortunate. The corporations which 
 the artisans of the cities had formed had, especially since 
 the time of Alexander Severiis, become prisons from which 
 exit was prohibited. While destroying industry, the gov- 
 ernment supposed it could in this way force men to labor. 
 In the rural districts the petty proprietors, despoiled by 
 the violence and craft of the great or by the invasions of 
 the barbarians, were reduced to becoming the dependents 
 of the rich. Thus attached to the soil, they were deprived 
 of the greater part of the rights though not of the name of 
 freemen. The slaves alone gained in the midst of all these 
 miseries. Stoic philosophy and afterwards Christianity had 
 
168 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 330. 
 
 somewhat humanized ideas and laws concerning them. 
 At last they were regarded as men. They were authorized 
 to dispose more freely of their savings, and it was forbidden 
 to kill or torture them or to separate families when they 
 were sold. As freemen were abased and slaves exalted, a 
 new condition began to take form in serfdom of the soil. 
 This was preferable to slavery, but the discouraged freeman 
 ceased to work. Population diminished, and it became 
 necessary to repopulate with barbarians the abandoned 
 provinces. 
 
 The real army whose duty it was to repel invasion was 
 now composed only of barbarians, mainly Germans, to whom 
 the guardianship of the frontiers was imprudently confided. 
 The legions, reduced from 6000 to 1500 men each so that 
 their commanders might be less ambitious, garrisoned the 
 cities of the interior. The palatines, who formed the em- 
 peror's private guard, were the best paid and most honored. 
 Otherwise there was the same system in the army as in 
 civil life, of servitude and privilege, which repelled every 
 man of value from the profession of arms. The recruits 
 were obtained from the dregs of society or among the vaga- 
 bonds of those barbarian nations who were soon to dictate 
 the law. Sense of military honor did not exist. The sol- 
 diers were branded like galley slaves. Thus in spite of its 
 133 legions, its arsenals, its magazines, its magnificent 
 belt of fortifications along the Rhine, the Main, the Dan- 
 ube, the Euphrates and the desert of Arabia, the empire 
 was about to be assailed by despised enemies. 
 
 If then the new state of things elevated the classes 
 formerly humble as the slave, the woman, the child, it 
 on the other hand degraded whatever had been strong and 
 proud as the freeman or citizen. As soldiers were want- 
 ing, so were writers and artists. Nothing great could issue 
 from the schools, which Valentinian was to reorganize. 
 They had only sophists and rhetoricians like Libanius, or 
 scribblers of light verses and of epithalamia like Claudian. 
 Literature and art, still closely linked with paganism, fell 
 with the creed whose followers were soon to be found only 
 in rural districts. 
 
 Faith and life, withdrawing from the old worship and 
 the old society, passed to those that were new. Christian- 
 ity had developed and received form in the fires of perse- 
 cution. It had ascended the throne with Constantine, who 
 
A.D. 323-337.] DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 169 
 
 heaped privileges, immunities and wealth upon the Church. 
 Thus an influence was added to that which it already pos- 
 sessed through its young and ardent faith, its proselyting 
 spirit and the genius of its leaders. Even heresy had 
 served to strengthen it. From its bosom sprang forth a 
 lofty, passionate, active literature, represented by Ter- 
 tullian. Saint Athanasius, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, 
 Saint Gregory of Nazianzen, Lactantius, Salvian and many 
 more. Fifteen great councils held in the fourth century 
 bore witness to its activity, and were already regulating its 
 doctrine, its discipline and its ecclesiastical hierarchy. 
 Though empire and ancient social order crumble away, the 
 Church will survive. It will welcome the barbarians to its 
 embrace, sending to the Dacian Goths an Arian bishop 
 Ulphilas, to translate the Bible into their dialect, and 
 other missionaries to convert the Burgundians. 
 
 Last Years of Constantine (323-337). — These three mighty 
 facts — the establishment of Christianity as the dominant 
 religion of the empire, the foundation of Constantinople 
 and the administrative reorganization — fill the reign of 
 Constantine. From his defeat of Licinius in 323 to his 
 death in 337, we find nothing in his personal history except 
 the bloody tragedies of the imperial palace, in which by his 
 orders his son Crispus, his empress Fausta and the son of 
 Licinius, a child of twelve, were put to death. Embassies 
 of Blemmyes, Ethiopians and Indians, a treaty with Sapor 
 II, who promised to ameliorate the condition of the Chris- 
 tians in Persia, and two successful expeditions against the 
 Goths and the Sarmatse (332), caused all these domestic mis- 
 fortunes to be forgotten. A few days before expiring Con- 
 stantine was baptized. 
 
170 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 337-36L 
 
 XIV 
 
 CONSTANTIUS. JULIAN. THEODOSIUS 
 
 Constantius (337). — Constantine committed the mistake 
 of dividing the empire between his three sons and several 
 of his nephews, without deciding upon a definitive dismem- 
 berment. This procedure caused fresh wars and fresh 
 crimes. First of all the soldiers massacred his nephews 
 with the exception of Gallus and Julian. The eldest of his 
 sons, Constantine II, perished in battle against one of his 
 brothers (340) who himself was killed (350) by the Frank 
 Magnentius. Constantius, who had to check the Persians 
 in the East and to combat a usurper in the West, appointed 
 his cousin Gallus as Csesar and intrusted to him the war 
 against Sapor. Magnentius killed himself on being de- 
 feated in Pannonia (351), whereupon Gaul, Spain and Brit- 
 ain submitted. Thus all the provinces were once more 
 united under one master, but they were no better governed. 
 The palace was distracted by the intrigues of women, eu- 
 nuchs and courtiers, and the empire by the quarrels of 
 Arianism and by the continued inroads of barbarians. 
 From false reports Constantius believed that Gallus, the 
 Caesar of the East, was preparing to revolt. The young 
 prince, recalled from Asia by flattering promises, was taken 
 to Pola in Istria and beheaded. His brother Julian was 
 spared. Exiled to Athens, he was able to fully gratify his 
 taste for study and to become initiated into the Platonic 
 doctrines. But imperial authority must be present on all 
 the menaced frontiers. So after fourteen months it became 
 necessary to recall Julian and intrust to him, as Caesar, the 
 defence of Gaul, now invaded by the Franks and the Ale- 
 manni. He vanquished the barbarians in the battle of 
 Strasburg (357), expelled them from all the country com- 
 prised between Basle and Cologne, crossed the Rhine and 
 brought back a great number of captive Gauls and legiona- 
 ries as prisoners. His skilful administration rendered him 
 as popular with the citizens as his victories had done with 
 the soldiers. Constantius grew uneasy and wished to take 
 
Cojiyiigbt. l!i9U, L> T. V. Crbwell ,5c Co. 
 
Ebgri-^l) CuUui.. Ul.iuauJiCo., N. V. 
 
A.D. 361-363.] CONSTANTIUS. JULIAN. THEODOSIUS 171 
 
 away his troops, but they mutinied and proclaimed him 
 Augustus. This was a declaration of war. A bold and 
 rapid march had already brought Julian to the heart of 
 Illyricum, when Constantius died (361). 
 
 Julian (361). —Julian, a conqueror without a combat 
 abjured Christianity and received the surname of the Apos- 
 tate. He publicly professed the ancient faith and reopened 
 the temples. He strangely misunderstood the society which 
 he was called to rule by attempting to restore life to the 
 dead. Had he lived longer, he would doubtless have cruelly 
 expiated this unintelligent return to the past. Neverthe- 
 less he did not summon the aid of violence to effect the 
 triumph of reaction. He promulgated an edict of toleration 
 which permitted the sacrifices forbidden by Constantius 
 and recalled the exiled members of all religious parties • 
 but he must be reproached for one astute order which for- 
 bade Christians to teach belles-lettres. The reign of Con 
 stantius had been incessantly troubled by the contentions 
 of the Arians and the Orthodox. Alexandria and Constanti- 
 nople were the principal theatres of this struggle These 
 quarrels assisted Julian in his attempted restoration of 
 paganism. Also the sect of the Donatists was devastating 
 Africa at the same time. The Circumcelliones, separating 
 from the Donatists, wished to establish social equality. They 
 liberated debtors, broke the chains of the slaves and divided 
 the property of the masters. Hence arose a savage war 
 
 Austere himself, he lay claim to the simplicity of a rigid 
 stoic. He was sometimes harsh toward others. Thus to 
 judge faithless officers, after his accession he established a 
 tribunal which was charged with revising unjust decisions. 
 Unce when severity would have been justified he displayed 
 a patience which does him honor. Anxious to avenge upon 
 the Fersians the long injuries of the empire, he had reached 
 byria with his army. At Antioch the inhabitants, zealous 
 Christians, loudly ridiculed him for his untrimmed beard 
 and shabby clothing and even proceeded to insult The 
 emperor could punish, but the philosopher contented him- 
 self with replying by the Misoj^ogon, a satire on their effem- 
 inate habits. At the head of 60,000 men he penetrated 
 to ^tesiphon where he crossed the Tigris and burned 
 his fleet that his soldiers might have no other hope than 
 victory. But misled by traitors and in need of provisions 
 he was obliged to fall back upon Gordyene to which a vic^ 
 
172 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 36^-378. 
 
 tory opened the road. In a second combat he fell severely 
 wounded, and died conversing with his friends concerning 
 the immortality promised to the just. Only thirty-two 
 years of age, he had sat upon the throne less than twenty- 
 three months (363). 
 
 Jovian (363). Valentinian and Valens (364). — The army 
 proclaimed Jovian. By a disgraceful treaty he abandoned 
 to Sapor the supremacy in Armenia and the five provinces 
 beyond the Tigris with many strongholds which served as 
 bulwarks to the empire. He died seven months afterward 
 (364). The generals agreed to proclaim Valentinian, who 
 gave the East to his brother Valens, and established himself 
 at Paris whence he could observe the Germans. He sowed 
 discord among the barbarians, set the Burgundians against 
 the Alemanni and after conquering several of those turbu- 
 lent tribes rebuilt the fortresses which guarded the pas- 
 sages of the Ehine. In his internal government, he was 
 stern even to cruelty. Death was the punishment for all 
 offences. But he showed himself tolerant in religious af- 
 fairs. Unfortunately for the empire this valiant chief died 
 in an expedition against the Quadi (375). His son Gratian 
 who succeeded abandoned to his younger brother, Valenti- 
 nian II, the prefectures of Italy and Illyricum. 
 
 In the East Valens less wise had entered into religious 
 quarrels instead of reorganizing the army. A great peril 
 threatened. A horde of Huns, belonging to the Mongol 
 race of Eastern Asia, had crossed the Ural, subjugated the 
 Alani and driven back upon the Danube the Goths, who 
 stretched out supplicating hands to the emperor (375). 
 , Valens, whose pride was flattered, forgot his prudence 
 and welcomed this host of 200,000 fighting men. After- 
 ward they rose against him, and Valens near Adrianople 
 experienced a defeat more disastrous than that of Cannae 
 (378). Barely a third of the Roman army escaped. The 
 wounded emperor perished in a hut to which the barbarians 
 set fire. The whole country was horribly ravaged. Some 
 bands of Saracens, summoned from Asia, saved Constanti- 
 nople. Those children of the southern deserts found them- 
 selves for the first time in hand-to-hand combat with the 
 men of the north whom they were destined to encounter 
 three and a half centuries later at the other extremity of 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 Theodosius (378). — At this very time Gratian was fight- 
 
A.D. 378-394.] CONSTANTIUS. JULIAN. THEODOSIVS 173 
 
 ing the Alemanni near Colmar, while the empire of the 
 East was without a head. To replace his uncle he chose a 
 skilful general, Theodosius, who reorganized the army and 
 restored the soldiers' courage by affording them the oppor- 
 tunity of fighting petty engagements in which he took care 
 that they should have the advantage. He allowed no for- 
 tress to fall into the hands of the enemy and diminished their 
 numbers by provoking desertions. At last without having 
 won a victory he forced the Goths to make a treaty (382). 
 In reality Theodosius gave them what they wished. He 
 established them in Thrace and Moesia with the duty of 
 defending the passage of the Danube. Forty thousand of 
 their warriors were admitted to the imperial ranks. 
 
 In Gaul Gratian had been overthrown by the usurper 
 Maximus (383) who, taking advantage of the Arian troubles 
 in Italy, crossed the Alps and forced Valentinian II to take 
 refuge with Theodosius. This prince brought him back to 
 Italy after a victory over Maximus, who was put to death 
 by his own soldiers in Aquileia. He gave him as his prin- 
 cipal minister the Frank Arbogast, who had just freed Gaul 
 from the Germans, but who filled all the civil and military 
 offices with barbarians. After the departure of Theodosius, 
 Valentinian wished delivery from this tutelage, but a few 
 days later he was found strangled in his bed (392). 
 
 Arbogast threw the purple over the shoulders of a depend- 
 ent of his own, the pagan orator Eugenius, and tried to 
 rally to his cause what pagans remained. This imprudent 
 conduct roused the Christians against him. A single battle 
 near Aquileia ended his ephemeral domination. Eugenius 
 was made prisoner and put to death. Arbogast killed him- 
 self (394). This time the victor retained his conquest. 
 This victory was also the triumph of orthodoxy. Theodo- 
 sius forbade under severe penalties the worship of the pagan 
 gods. He forbade the bestowal of honors on heretics, nor 
 could they dispose of their property by will. On the other 
 hand he made wise regulations in the effort to heal some of 
 the evils infesting this moribund society. He honored the 
 last days of the empire by exhibiting upon the throne those 
 virtues which the people had rarely beheld there. 
 
 The inhabitants of Thessalonica during a riot had killed 
 the governor and several imperial officers. Theodosius 
 gave orders which cost 7000 persons their lives. This 
 massacre excited a sentiment of horror throughout the em- 
 
174 HISTORY OF THE ROMANS [a.d. 395-476. 
 
 pire. When he presented himself some time later at the 
 doors of the cathedral of Milan, Saint Ambrose in the pres- 
 ence of all the people reproached him with his crime and 
 forbade him to enter the church. The emperor accepted the 
 public penance which the saintly bishop thus imposed in 
 the name of God and outraged humanity. At his death he 
 divided the empire between his two sons, Arcadius and 
 Honorius (395). This final partition corresponded with the 
 real state of affairs, for the Adriatic separated two languages 
 and almost two religions. Constantinople, Greek-Orthodox 
 though so often Arian, and Rome, Latin and Catholic, had 
 each desired its own emperor. This separation still exists 
 in the different creeds and civilizations of those two halves 
 of the ancient world. 
 
 End of the Western Empire (476). — The barbarians who 
 for four centuries had remained on the defensive were now 
 beginning incessant attacks. Thanks to her situation, Con- 
 stantinople was almost impregnable to assault. Eome, on 
 the contrary, was speedily captured. The empire of the 
 West writhed for eighty years in a painful death agony, the 
 chief features of which we shall find in the subsequent his- 
 tory of Alaric, Attila and Genseric. Honorius died in 423. 
 His nephew Valentinian III reigned miserably until 455 
 and perished by assassination. Majorian, worthy of a better 
 epoch, was killed by the Sueve Eicimer who bestowed the 
 crown on three senators in succession. ^Finally a chieftain 
 of the Heruli, Odoacer, put an end to the Western Empire 
 (476) by deposing the last emperor Eomulus Augustus. 
 Proclaimed king of Italy by his barbarians, he assigned 
 them one-third of the territory of the country, and re- 
 quested at Constantinople the title of patrician, thereby 
 recognizing the rights of the Eastern Emperor as suzerain 
 of the new kingdom. 
 
 Summary. — The Roman Empire fell because it had at its 
 origin detestable political principles, and in its latter days a 
 deplorable military organization. Taxes, constantly becom- 
 ing more burdensome, and a merciless fiscal system alien- 
 ated the affection of subjects whom the army no longer 
 defended. A new religion, which tended to detach attention 
 from the earth, did not strengthen the devotion for the pub- 
 lic cause. Thus the empire was not thrown down headlong 
 by a violent and unexpected blow. It collapsed because it 
 could no longer live. 
 
A.D.476.] CONSTANTIUS. JULIAN. THEODOSIUS 175 
 
 The Roman people added nothing to the heritage Greece 
 had bequeathed. Nevertheless it also left behind great 
 deeds and great lessons, though belonging to another order 
 of facts and ideas. Its language has been and still in a 
 measure is the bond of the learned world. Its laws have 
 inspired modern legislation. Its military roads, its bridges, 
 its aqueducts, have made men understand the necessity of 
 public works. Its administration has taught how to control 
 multitudes of men. Its government has served as a model 
 to the absolute monarchies which have succeeded the feudal 
 system. Its municipal institutions are the source of our 
 own and could still offer useful examples. Lastly it began 
 the transformation of ancient slavery into serfdom. 
 
 The barbaric kings, dazzled at the splendor shed by this 
 dying empire, had at first no other idea than to continue it. 
 Clovis will be a patrician of Rome. Theodoric will count 
 himself the colleague of the emperor of the East. Charle- 
 magne, Otho, Frederick Barbarossa, will call themselves the 
 successors of Constantine. The Christianity of Jerusalem, 
 become Catholicism at Rome, will be the most powerful 
 government of the soul. The spiritual monarchy of the 
 popes will copy and strive to replace the temporal monarchy 
 of the emperors. The intellectual heirs of Ulpian and of 
 Papinian will attach to feudal royalty the powers bestowed 
 upon the Caesars by the lex regia. When those royalties 
 shall all have perished in their turn. Napoleon will assume 
 a Roman title as representative of an idea both new and old, 
 the idea of the protectorate of popular interests exercised at 
 Rome by the tribunes of the people, whose power, tribunicia 
 potestas, the emperors had absorbed. 
 
 Thus the history of Rome will long remain the training- 
 school of the lawyer and the statesman, even as artists, 
 thinkers and poets will always turn toward Greece. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abraham, 38. 
 
 Absalom, 41. 
 
 Ach»an League, 84. 
 
 Achilles, 53, 57, 58. 
 
 Acropolis, 09. 
 
 Actium, battle of, 132. 
 
 ^gos Potamos, battle of, 72. 
 
 Jimilianus, 155. 
 
 .(Erarium, 136. 
 
 ^schlnes, 81, 86. 
 
 ^schylus, 59, 86. 
 
 Agamemnon, 53, 57. 
 
 Age of Ale.\ander, 80, 81. 
 
 Age of Pericles, 69. 
 
 Agesilaus, king of tiparta, 72, 78. 
 
 Agricola, 146. 
 
 Agrippa, 134, 137. 
 
 Ahmes the Liberator, 26. 
 
 Ahriman, 45, 46. 
 
 Ai.x, battle of, 109. 
 
 Akiba, 149. 
 
 Albinus, 152. 
 
 Alcestis, 56. 
 
 Alcibiades, 71, 72. 
 
 Alcmeonidae, the, 64. 
 
 Alemanni, 155, 157, 159, 170, 173. 
 
 Alexander the Great, 18, 28, 34, 37, 43, 78- 
 
 81. 
 Alexander Arigos, 82. 
 Alexander Severus, Roman emperor, 154. 
 Alexandria, 78, 124, 181, 132, 149. 
 Allia, battle of the, 94. 
 Amasis, 28. 
 
 Ambrose, Saint, 169, 174. 
 Amenophis III, 26. 
 Amisus, 116. 
 Amos, 42. 
 
 Amphictyonic Councils, 54. 
 Anaxagoras, 69. 
 Angora, battle of, 12. 
 Antalcidas, treaty of, 73. 
 Autinous, 149. 
 Antioch, 150, 156, 171. 
 Antiochus, 103. 
 Antoninos, 147-151. 
 Antoninus, 150. 
 Antony, 127-132. 
 Aoiis, battle of, 83, 100. 
 Apapu, 25. 
 Apelles, 80. 
 Apollodorus, 69. 
 ApoUonius of Tyana, 168. 
 Appius Claudius, 91. 
 
 Apries, 28. 
 
 Aquileia, 150, 151. 
 
 Aquitani, 122. 
 
 Aratus, 84. 
 
 Arbaces, 47. 
 
 Arbela, battle of, 79. 
 
 Arbogast, 173. 
 
 Arcadius, 174. 
 
 Archimedes, 100. 
 
 Archons, 62. 
 
 Areopagus, 63. 
 
 Ariovistus, 122. 
 
 Arlstides, 68. 
 
 Aristodemus, 62. 
 
 Aristomenes, 62. 
 
 Aristophanes, 69, 86. 
 
 Aristotle, 69, 81. 
 Armenia, 148. 
 Armoricum, 122. 
 Arrhideus, 82. 
 Arrius A per, 158. 
 Artaphernes, 65. 
 
 Artaxerxes Longimanus, 43 ; and the Athe- 
 nians, 6V. 
 Artaxer.xes II, 72. 
 Arverni, 123. 
 Aryans, 5-6, 51. 
 Assurnazirpal, 33. 
 Assyrians, 32-35. 
 Astarte, 36. 
 Astyages, 47, 48. 
 Athanasius, Saint, 169. 
 Athens, 62 ; B.C. 594 to 510, 62-64 ; in Per- 
 sian wars, 65-67 ; at her height, 68-70 ; 
 decHne of power of, 71-72 ; Emperor 
 Hadrian at, 149 ; Goths at, 156. 
 Attains, 105. 
 Augustine, Saint, 169. 
 Augustus. See Octavius Cffisar. 
 Aurelian, 156. 
 Avaris, 25. 
 Avesta, 45. 
 Azoth, 28. 
 
 Baal, 35. 
 
 Baal-.Moloch, 36. 
 
 Babylon, 32, 33, 34 ; taken by Cyrus, 48 ; 
 
 Alexander at, 79. 
 Bagdad, 34. 
 Balbinus, 155. 
 
 Barkochba, the Son of the St»r, 149. 
 Bassianus, 154. 
 Bastarnce, 151. 
 
 177 
 
178 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Belgae, 122. 
 
 Beneventum, Pyrrhus defeated at, 96. 
 
 Bibulus, 121. 
 
 Boadicea, Queen, 143. 
 
 Bocchoris, King, 27. 
 
 Bocchus, 108. 
 
 Botta, M., 34. 
 
 Brahma, 19, 20. 
 
 Brahraanism, 18-21. 
 
 Brasidas, 70, 71. 
 
 Britain, 122, 141, 143, 146, 148, 153, 159, 170. 
 
 Brutus, Roman consul, 90. 
 
 Brutus, Decimus, 126, 127, 129. 
 
 Buddhism, 11, 21-23. 
 
 Burrus, 141, 142. 
 
 Caculus, 109. 
 Cadmus, 52. 
 Csesar, Julius, consulship, 122 ; Gallic wars, 
 
 122-123 ; civil war with Pompey, 123-124 ; 
 
 dictator, 124-126 ; assassinated, 126. 
 Cairo founded, 29. 
 Caligula, 140-141. 
 Calisthenes, 79. 
 Cambyses, father of Cyrus, 47. 
 Cambyses, son of Cyrus, 28, 48. 
 Camillus, 93. 
 Cannae, battle of, 99. 
 Captivity of the Jews, 43. 
 Caracalla, 153. 
 Caransius, 159. 
 Carbo, 112. 
 Carthage, 95-102. 
 Carus, 158. 
 Cassius, 126, 129. 
 Castes, Indian, 18, 19. 
 Catiline, conspiracy of, 119-120. 
 Cato, 101, 103, 120, 121, 123, 125. 
 Caudine Forks, battle of the, 95. 
 Cecrops, 52. 
 Celestial Empire, 8. 
 Celsus, 138. 
 Censors, 92. 
 Cepio, 104. 
 Cerealis, 145. 
 Chajrea, 141. 
 Chieronea, battle of, 76. 
 Chang dynasty, 9. 
 Charlemagne, 175. 
 China, 8-15. 
 Christianity and Roman emperors, 162- 
 
 164. 
 Chun, 8. 
 Church, from its beginning to the Middle 
 
 Ages, 162-184. 
 Cicero, 119-120, 128. 
 Cimbri, 109. 
 Clmon, 67, 68. 
 Cinna, 112. 
 
 Circesium, battle of, 84. 
 Circumcelliones, 171. 
 Civilis, 145. 
 Claudius, 141, 156. 
 Cleander, 151. 
 Clearchus, 72. 
 Cleomenes, 84. 
 Cleon, 71. 
 Cleopatra, 83, 124, 130, 132. 
 
 Clisthenes, 64. 
 
 Clodius, 122, 123. 
 
 Clusium, 94. 
 
 Code, of Draco, 62. 
 
 Codrus, 53. 
 
 Commodus, 151. 
 
 Confucius, 9, 13-14. 
 
 Conon, 73. 
 
 Constantine, Roman emperor, 161-169. 
 
 Constantinople, 12, 165, 172, 174. 
 
 Constantius, 170. 
 
 Constantius Chlorus, 159. 
 
 Consuls in Rome, 90. 
 
 Corbulo, 143. 
 
 Corinth, 85. 
 
 Cornelius Palma, 148. 
 
 Corcebus, 54. 
 
 Coronea, battle of, 73. 
 
 Corvus, Valerius, 94. 
 
 Cotta, 116. 
 
 Council of Nicaea, 164. 
 
 Crassus, 113, 123. 
 
 Crcesus, 48. 
 
 Ctesiphon, 84, 148, 150. 
 
 Cuna.xa, battle of, 72. 
 
 Cursor, Papirius, 95. 
 
 Cushites, 24, 32. 
 
 Cyaxares, 47. 
 
 CynocephaliB, battle of, 84, 85, 103. 
 
 Cyrus, king of the Persians, 34, 47-48. 
 
 Cyrus, the younger, 72. 
 
 Cyzicus, 116. 
 
 Dacians, 148. 
 
 Dalmati, 137. 
 
 Danaus, 52. 
 
 Darius, Persian king, 48. 
 
 Darius, son of Hystaspes, king of Persia, 
 
 49, 66. 
 Darius, opponent of Alexander the Great, 
 
 79. 
 Datis, 65. 
 David, 41. 
 Deborah, 40. 
 Decalogue, 39, 40. 
 Decebalus, 148. 
 Decemvirate, 91. 
 Decius, Roman consul, 95; his son, 95; 
 
 another, 96. 
 Decius, Roman emperor, 155. 
 Dejoces, 47. 
 
 Demosthenes, 70, 76, 84, 86. 
 Devas, 20. 
 Dexippus, 156. 
 Dictatorship in Rome, 90. 
 Didius Julianus, 152. 
 Diocletian, 15S 161. 
 Domitian, 146. 
 Donatists, 171. 
 Dorians, 53, 60. 
 Dorylaos, 116. 
 Draco, code of, 62. 
 Drusus, 110, 111, 137. 
 
 Ecbatana, 47, 79. 
 Ecnomos. naval battle at, 98. 
 Egypt, 24-31, 82-88 ; made a Roman prov- 
 ince, 132. 
 
INDEX 
 
 179 
 
 Ehud, 40. 
 
 Eli, 40. 
 
 EUjah, 42. 
 
 Elisha, 42. 
 
 Empire, Assyrian, 82-35; Chinese, 8-13; 
 of the East founded, 164; Macedonian, 
 79-80 ; Persian, 48-49 ; Roman, 134-175. 
 
 Epaminondas, 73, 74. 
 
 Ephors, 61. 
 
 Epicharmes, 86. 
 
 Epiphanes, 83. 
 
 Esarhaddon, 83. 
 
 Esdras, 43. 
 
 Euergetes, 83. 
 
 Eugenius, pagan orator, 173. 
 
 Eumieus, 56. 
 
 Euripides, 69, 86. 
 
 Fabius, 104. 
 
 Fabius Maximus, 95. 
 
 Fatimites, 29. 
 
 Feudalism, in China, 9. 
 
 Fimbria, 116. 
 
 Fiscus, 136. 
 
 Flaminius, Titus Quintus, 103. 
 
 Flavians, 144-146. 
 
 Franks, 155, 160, 170. 
 
 Frederick I Barbarossa, Emperor, 175. 
 
 Furies, the, 57. 
 
 Galba, 104. 
 
 Galba, Roman emperor, 144. 
 
 Galbus, 155. 
 
 Galerius Cwsar, 159, 161. 
 
 Gallic war, Caesar's, 122. 
 
 Gallienus, 156. 
 
 Gallus, 138. 
 
 Gauls, capture Rome, 94; conquered by 
 
 Cfesar, 122. 
 Gautama, 21-22. 
 Germanicus, 138. 
 Germany, Romans in, 137-138. 
 Geta, 153. 
 Gideon, 40. 
 
 Gizeh, pyramids of, 25. 
 Gladiators, 118. 
 Golden Age, 147-151. 
 Golden Fleece, 52. 
 Goliath, 41. 
 
 Gordianus I, II, and III, 155. 
 Goths, 151, 155, 156, 172. 
 Gracchi, 106, 107. 
 Grand Mogul, 12. 
 Granicus, battle of, 78. 
 Great Wall of China, 10. 
 Greece, 51-74, 86-88; becomes a Roman 
 
 province, 82 ; Goths and Heruli in, 156. 
 Gregory of Nazianzen, Saint, 169. 
 
 Hadrian, 148-150. 
 
 Hamilcar, 99. 
 
 Han dvnasty, 10. 
 
 Hannibal, 83, 99-101, 104. 
 
 Harpagus, 47, 48. 
 
 Hasdrubal, son-in-law of Hamilcar, 99. 
 
 Hatasu, 26. 
 
 Hebrews, 38-44. 
 
 Heliogabalus, 164. 
 
 Helots, 60. 
 Helvetil, 122. 
 Herculaneum, 146. 
 Hercules, 52. 
 Hermann, 138. 
 Herodotus, 69, 86. 
 Heruli, 156. 
 Hia dynasty, 9. 
 Hiero, 97. 
 Hipparchus, 63, 64. 
 Hippias, 64, 65. 
 Hippocrates, 69. 
 Histiaeus, 49. 
 Homer, 86. 
 Honorius, 174. 
 Horace, 137. 
 Horus, 29. 
 Hosea, 33, 42. 
 Hoshea, King, 42. 
 Huns, 172. 
 
 Hyksos dynasty, 25, 26. 
 Hyrcanus, 117. 
 
 Idistavisus, battle of, 138. 
 Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, 148. 
 Iliad, the, 53. 
 Illyricum, 103. 
 India, 16-23. 
 lonians, 51. 
 
 Ipsamboul, temples of, 26. 
 Isaac, 38. 
 Isagoras, 64. 
 Isaiah, 42. 
 Isis, 29. 
 Isocrates, 86. 
 Israelites in Egypt, 27. 
 Issus, battle of, 78. 
 Istria, 103. 
 
 Italy, conquest by Romans, 94-96 ; rebels 
 against Rome, 110-111. 
 
 Jacob, 38. 
 
 Jephthah, 40. 
 
 Jeremiah, 42. 
 
 Jerusalem, 34, 41, 43, 44, 144, 145. 
 
 Jesus Christ, 162. 
 
 Jews, 38--14, 144-145, 148, 149. 
 
 Joseph, 88. 
 
 Josephus, 145. 
 
 Joshua, 40. 
 
 Josiah, kingof Judah, 28. 
 
 Jovian, 172. 
 
 Juba, 125. 
 
 Judaizing, crime of, 146. 
 
 Jugurtha, 108, 109. 
 
 Julia, wife of Marius, 108. 
 
 Julian, 171. 
 
 Julian law. 111. 
 
 Justinus, 150. 
 
 Karnak, hall of, 30. 
 
 Kings of Rome, legendary, 89. 
 
 Krishna, 17. 
 
 Kublai Khan, 11. 
 
 Labienus, 123. 
 Laconians, 60. 
 Lactantius, 169. 
 
180 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lake Eegillus, battle of, 90. 
 
 Lake Thrasymenua, battle of, 99. 
 
 Lake Vadimo, battle of, 96. 
 
 Laodicea, 136. 
 
 Leonidas, 66. 
 
 Lepidus, 118, 12T, 128, 130. 
 
 Leucopetra, battle of, 85. 
 
 Leuctra, battle of, 73. 
 
 Library, at Alexandria, 48 ; at Athens, 156 ; 
 
 Ulpian, 148. 
 Licinian law, 107. 
 Licinius, 161. 
 Licinius Stolo, 93. 
 Longinus, 157. 
 Lucan, 142. 
 LucuUus, 116. 
 Luxor, obelisks of, 27. 
 Lycurgus, 60-61. 
 Lydia, 141. 
 Lysander, 72. 
 Lysias, 69, 86. 
 
 Maccabees, family of, 43. 
 
 Macedon, 75. 79-80, 83, 104. 
 
 Machares. 117. 
 
 Macrinus, 153-154. 
 
 Mfecenas, 137. 
 
 Magnentius, 170. 
 
 Magnesia, battle of, 82, 103. 
 
 Mahabharata, the, 17. 
 
 Mahmoud the Gaznevid, 13. 
 
 Majorian, 174. 
 
 Manas, 20. 
 
 Mandana, mother of Cyrus, 47. 
 
 Manlius, 120. 
 
 Mantchu Tartars, 12. 
 
 Mantineia, battle of, 74. 
 
 Manu, book of the laws of, 19. 
 
 Marathon, battle of, 65. 
 
 Marbod, the Marcoman, 137, 138. 
 
 Marcomanni, 150, 151. 
 
 Marco Polo, 11. 
 
 Marcus Aurelius, 150-151. 
 
 Mardonius, 65. 
 
 Marius, 107-112. 
 
 Massinissa, 101. 
 
 Maxentius, 161. 
 
 Maximianus, 159, 160, 161. 
 
 Maximinus, 154-155. 
 
 Mazdeism, 45-47. 
 
 Medes, 47-48, 50. 
 
 Meditations of Marcus Anrelius, 150. 
 
 Menahem, 33. 
 
 Menelaus, 53, 56. 
 
 Meneptah, 27. 
 
 Menes, 24. 
 
 Messalina, 141. 
 
 Messenian wars, 62. 
 
 Messina, founded, 62. 
 
 Metaurus, battle of the, 100. 
 
 Metellus, 99, 105. 
 
 Meton, 69. 
 
 Metulum, siege of, 131. 
 
 Micah, 42. 
 
 Micipsa, 108. 
 
 Miltiades, 49, 64, 65. 
 
 Ming dynasty, 11, 12. 
 
 Minutius Felix, 153. 
 
 Miseuum, treaty of, 130. 
 Misopogon, Julian's, 171. 
 Mithridates, 110, 115-117. 
 Mitylene, revolt of, 70. 
 Moeris, Lake, 25, 31. 
 Mole of Hadrian, 149. 
 Mongols, 10-12. 
 Mons Sacer, 91. 
 Moses, 3S, 39, 40. 
 Mummius, 85, 104. 
 Munda, battle of, 125. 
 Muthul, 108. 
 Mylitta, 35. 
 
 Narbonne, 150. 
 
 Narses, 158, 160. 
 
 Naulochus, battle of, 130. 
 
 Nearchus, 80. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, 34, 42. 
 
 Necho, 28. 
 
 Nehemiah, 43. 
 
 Nero, 141-143. 
 
 Nerva, 147. 
 
 Niciea, Council of, 164. 
 
 Nicias, 71. 
 
 Nimes, 149. 
 
 Nineveh, 32, 33, 34, 47. 
 
 Nitocris, queen of Egypt, 25. 
 
 Numantia, 104, 105. 
 
 Numerianus, 158. 
 
 Numidia, conquest of, 107, 108. 
 
 Octavius Csesar, 127-138. 
 
 Odenath, 156. 
 
 Odoacer, 174. 
 
 Odyssey, 53. 
 
 CEdipus, 52. 
 
 Olympian Games, 54. 
 
 On, city of, 38. 
 
 Opimius, 107. 
 
 Opium War, 12. 
 
 Orchomenus, battle of, 116. 
 
 Ormazd, 45, 46. 
 
 Osiris, 29. 
 
 Ostracism, 64. 
 
 Othniel, 40. 
 
 Otho, 144. 
 
 Ottoman Turks, 11, 12. 
 
 Ovid, 138. 
 
 Palikao, battle of, 12. 
 
 Palmyra, 42, 156. 
 
 Pamphilus, 80. 
 
 Pannoni, 137. 
 
 Panormus, battle of, 99. 
 
 Paphos, 136. 
 
 Papirius Cursor, 95. 
 
 Paramatma, 19, 20. 
 
 Parmenio, 79. 
 
 Parrhasius, 69. 
 
 Parthenon, 69. 
 
 Parthians, 123. 
 
 Patricians, 90-92. 
 
 Paulus, minister of Alexander Sevenis, 
 
 154. 
 Paulus ^mihus, 104. 
 Pausanias, assassin, 77. 
 Pausanias, king of Sparta, 66, 67. 
 
INDEX 
 
 181 
 
 Pelasgi, 61. 
 
 Pelopidas, 73. 
 
 Peloponnesian wars, 70-74. 
 
 Pelops, 52. 
 
 Perennis, 151. 
 
 Pericles, 68. 
 
 Peipenna, 114. 
 
 Perseus, 104. 
 
 Persia, 48, 78-79. 
 
 Pertinax, 152. 
 
 Perusia, battle of, 95. 
 
 Perusian War, 130. 
 
 Peacennius Niger, 152. 
 
 Phalanx, Philip organizes the, 75. 
 
 Pharaohs, the, 26-28. 
 
 Pharnaces, 117. 
 
 Pharsalia, battle of, 124. 
 
 Phidias, 69. 
 
 Philadelphus, 83. 
 
 Philip, Roman emperor, 155. 
 
 Philip of Macedon, 75-77. 
 
 Philippi, battle of, 129. 
 
 Phllopator, 33. 
 
 Philopcemen, 85, 103. 
 
 Philotas, 79. 
 
 Phocion, 84. 
 
 Phoenicians, 36-37. 
 
 Phraortes, 47. 
 
 Picts, 148, 183. 
 
 Pindar, 86. 
 
 Pisistratus, 63. 
 
 Pithon, 38. 
 
 Platiea, battle of, 66. 
 
 Plato, 59, 69, 81. 
 
 Plautia-Papirlan law, 111. 
 
 Plebeians, 90-92. 
 
 Pliny, 146. 
 
 Plotina, 147. 
 
 Polycarp, 163. 
 
 Polytheism, Greek, 57. 
 
 Pompeii, 146. 
 
 Pompey, 117, 121, 124, 128. 
 
 Pontius Herennius, 95. 
 
 Pontus Telesinus, 112. 
 
 Poppaea, 142. 
 
 Pra.\iteles, 80. 
 
 Priscus, Helvidius, 145. 
 
 Propertius, 138. 
 
 Prusias. king of Bithynia, 103. 
 
 Psammeticus, 28. 
 
 Ptolemies, the, 28. 
 
 Ptolemv Soter, 83. 
 
 Publiliiis Philo, 95. 
 
 Punic wars, 98-102. 
 
 Pupienus, 155. 
 
 Pydna, battle of, 84. 
 
 Pyrrhus, 96, 97. 
 
 Pythagoras, table of, 85. 
 
 Quadi, the, 151. 
 Queen of Sheba, 42. 
 
 Ramatana, 17. 
 Rameses, city of, 38. 
 Rameses II, 26. 
 Ramesseum of Thebes, 26. 
 Rehoboam, 42. 
 Rhodes, 150. 
 
 Rome, ancient, 89-175 ; captured by Gauls, 
 94 ; civil wars in, 106-114, 123-124 ; Em- 
 pire of, 134-174. 
 
 Roxana, 79. 
 
 Roxolani, 150. 
 
 Rubicon, Csesar crosses the, 124. 
 
 Sabaco, 27, 38. 
 Sabianism, 35. 
 Sabinus, 146. 
 
 Sacriportus, battle of, 112. 
 Salamis, battle of, 66. 
 Sallust, 138. 
 Salvian, 169. 
 
 Salvius Julianus, 149, 151. 
 Samnite wars, 94-96. 
 Samson, 40. 
 Samuel, 40. 
 
 San Angelo, castle of, 149. 
 Sapor II, 169. 
 Sarac, 33. 
 
 Sardanapalus, 33, 47. 
 Sardis, burning of, 65. 
 Sargon, 33. 
 Saturninus, 110. 
 Saturnus, 156. 
 Saul, 41. 
 
 Scipio Asiaticus, 103. 
 Scipio, Cneus, 100. 
 Scipio, Cornelius, 100. 
 Scipio, Pubhus (Africanus), in Africa, 100, 
 101 ; in Asia Minor, 103 ; in Spain, 105. 
 Sebichus, 27. 
 Sejanus, 139, 140. 
 Seleucia, 148, 150. 
 Seleucidae, dynasty of the, 82. 
 Seleucus Nicator, 82. 
 Semiramis, queen of Assyria, 33. 
 Semites, 5-6. 
 Seneca, 141, 142. 
 Sennacherib, 33, 37. 
 Septimius Severus, 152-153. 
 Sertorius, 112, 114. 
 Servilius, 111. 
 Servius TuUius, 89-90. 
 Sesostris, 26. 
 Seti I, 26. 
 Severus, 161. 
 Sextius, 93. 
 Shalmaneser, S3. 
 Shamgar, 40. 
 
 Sicilian expedition, Athens, 71. 
 Silius, 141. 
 Simonides, 86. 
 Sittius, 119. 
 Siva, 20. 
 Smerdis, 48, 49. 
 Social War, 110. 
 Socrates, 69, 72. 
 Soemis, 154. 
 Sogdian Rock, 79. 
 Solomon, 41, 42. 
 Solon, 62-63. 
 Sophocles, 69, 86. 
 
 Spain, conquest of, by Romans, 104. 
 Sparta, 60-62, 66, 70-74, 84. 
 Spartacus, 118. 
 Sphinx, 81. 
 
182 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Stabiae, 146. 
 
 Stoics, 145. 
 
 Strafeo, 138. 
 
 gtrasburg, battle of, 170. 
 
 Sublifne, Longinus' treatise ou the, 157. 
 
 Suetonius, 140. 
 
 Suevi, the, 122. 
 
 Sulla, 110-114. 
 
 Sulpicius, 111. 
 
 Susa, 148. 
 
 Syphax, 100. 
 
 Syracuse, 71, 100. 
 
 Syria, 82. 
 
 Tacitus, historian, 140. 
 
 Tacitus, Roman emperor, 157. 
 
 Tamerlane, 12. 
 
 Tchandragoupta, 18. 
 
 Telamon, battle of, 97. 
 
 Temple at Jerusalem, built, 46 ; burned 
 
 by Romans, 145. 
 Temudjin, 10, 11. 
 
 Ten Thousand, expedition of the, 72. 
 Terentillus Arsa, 91. 
 Tertullian, 153, 169. 
 Tetrarchy, Roman, 159. 
 Teuta, 103. 
 
 Teutoberg, forest of, 138. 
 Teutoues, 109. 
 Thapsus, battle of, 125. 
 Tharaka, 27. 
 
 Thebes, 52, 70, 73-74, 75, 76, 78. 
 Themistocles, 64, 65, 66. 
 Theodosius, 173. 
 Thermopylffi, 66. 
 Theseus, 52. 
 Thessalonica, 173. 
 Thessaly, 75, 78. 
 Thetes, 63. 
 
 Thirty Tyrants, period of the, 156. 
 Thothmes I, 26. 
 Thothmes III, 26. 
 Thrace, 72, 75, 78, 141. 
 Thrasyboulos, 72. 
 Thucydides, 69, 86. 
 Tiberius, 138-140. 
 TibuUus, 138. 
 Ticinus, battle of, 99. 
 Tiglathpileser, 88. 
 Tigranes, 116, 117. 
 Tigranocerta, 117. 
 Timur the Lame, 12. 
 Titus, 145-146. 
 Torquatus, Manlius, 94. 
 Trajan, 147 
 
 Traian, Column of, 147. 
 TraUes, 186. 
 
 Trebia, battle of (b.c. 218), 99. 
 
 Tribunal of History, 9. 
 
 Tribunes in Rome, 90 ; military, 93. 
 
 Triumvirate, First, 121 ; Second, 127. 
 
 Trogus Pompeius, 138. 
 
 Trojan "War, 52-53. 
 
 Tsin dynasty, 9, 12. 
 
 Tsin-Chi-Hoang-Ti, 9. 
 
 Twelve Tables, the, 91. 
 
 Tyre, 37, 41, 78. 
 
 Tyrtseus, 62. 
 
 Ulphilas, Bishop, 169, 
 Ulpianus, 154. 
 Uriah, 41. 
 
 Valentinian I, 166, 172. 
 
 Valentinian II, 172. 
 
 Valerian, 155. 
 
 Valerius Flaccus, 112. 
 
 Valmik, 17. 
 
 Vandals, 150, 160. 
 
 Varius, 138. 
 
 Varus, 138. 
 
 Vasco da Gama, 18. 
 
 Vedas, 17. 
 
 Veil, siege of, 93. 
 
 Ve7ii, vidi, vici, 124. 
 
 Vercellae, battle of, 109. 
 
 Vercingetorix, 128. 
 
 Verus, 150. 
 
 Vespasian, 144-145. 
 
 Vesuvius, great eruption of, 146. 
 
 Vindex, 143. 
 
 Virgil, 130, 137, 188. 
 
 Viriathus, 104. 
 
 Vishnu, 17, 20. 
 
 Vitellius, 144. 
 
 Wou Wang, prince of Tchu, 9. 
 
 Xenophon, 69, 72, 81. 
 Xerxes, 66. 
 
 Tama, 20. 
 
 Yen dynasty, 11. 
 
 Tu, Chinese emperor, 8. 
 
 Zama, battle of, 101. 
 Zedekiah, 42. 
 Zenobia, 156, 157. 
 Zerubbabel, 43. 
 Zervane Akerene, 45. 
 Zeus, 57. 
 
 Zeuxis Polygnotus, 69. 
 Zodiac, 35. 
 Zoroaster, 45, 46. 
 
c 
 
A^H ;x 1899