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OLD WORLD STEPS 
 TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
Old World Steps 
 to American History 
 
 BY 
 
 HARMON Ba^VNIYER 
 
 Author of "A School History of England' 
 
 ATKINSON, MENTZER & COMPANY 
 
 Boston New York Chicago Atlanta Dallas 
 
^^ 
 
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 ^-^ 
 
 Copyright, 1915, 
 
 BY 
 
 HARMON B. NIVER. 
 
 APR 12 ISIo 
 
 ©CI.A397538 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THIS book has been prepared by combining 
 the author's two earlier vobames on " Great 
 Names and Nations," Ancient and Modern. In 
 the preface to the second volume it was stated: 
 
 " The idea that first lessons in history should be 
 given in chronological order, is one that has gained 
 strength in recent years. This study as usually 
 pursued in our elementary schools begins and ends 
 with our own country — a method which leaves the 
 children profoundly ignorant of the rest of the 
 world, and gives them the most erroneous ideas 
 of the relative age and importance of the United 
 States." 
 
 While a patriotic pride in the land of our birth 
 is a most commendable quality, an arrogant self- 
 sufficiency is as deplorable in nations as in men. It 
 is highly desirable and entirely practicable to give 
 children in our elementary schools, through story- 
 telling and reading, some notion of the great actors 
 in the world's history and of the beginnings of the 
 
great modern nations of which the United States is 
 one. When the pupil has some understanding of 
 " how the world has come to be known as we find it 
 today," he is prepared to take up with fuller appre- 
 ciation, the story of his own country. 
 
 To furnish this background for the study of 
 American history is the purpose of the present 
 volume. Especial attention has been given to the 
 great leaders in the world's history and to the rise 
 of the nations contemporary with the United 
 States. The migrations of mankind from the ear- 
 liest ages, and the great inventions and discoveries 
 which have shaped the history of the world, have 
 also been made prominent. In short, it has been 
 our purpose to fully conform to the spirit and 
 letter of the new " Course of Study in History " 
 for the public schools. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VII. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 IX. 
 
 X. 
 
 XI. 
 
 XII. 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 
 XV. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 XX. 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 ANCIENT HISTORY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Study of History 1 
 
 The Chinese Republic 6 
 
 Japan 19 
 
 India 23 
 
 Egypt 38 
 
 Assyria and Babylonia 47 
 
 The Phoenicians 56 
 
 The Hebrews 59 
 
 Media and Persia 63 
 
 Greece 69 
 
 Rome 107 
 
 The Republic 120 
 
 The Empire 140 
 
 MEDIAEVAL HISTORY. 
 
 The Barbarian Invaders 157 
 
 Clovis 161 
 
 The Beginning of England 166 
 
 Mohammed and the Saracens 170 
 
 The Empire of Charlemagne 181 
 
 The Northmen 191 
 
 The Norman Conquest of England 201 
 
 The Crusades 209 
 
 Beginning of New Nations 218 
 
 The Revival of Learning 227 
 
 MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 The Search for the Indies 236 
 
 Peter the Great and Russia 246 
 
 People Against Kings 253 
 
 The Settlement of New Lands 270 
 
 The New German Empire 277 
 
 How Italy Became One Nation 290 
 
 The Turks 299 
 
 The American Republics 307 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 I. THE STUDY OF HISTORY 
 
 TVIIOSE COUNTRY IS THE BEST 
 
 There is an old poem about four German kings 
 who met together, and were boasting, each about 
 the merits of his own country. 
 
 " My land is great and powerful," said the 
 Saxon king, " because of the treasures of silver, 
 found in the deep mines among the mountains." 
 
 " Behold my land," cried the king from the 
 Rhineland; "its valleys are covered with golden 
 harvests, and the vineyards on its hills yield the 
 best of wine." 
 
 " I have great cities and rich churches," cried 
 Louis of Bavaria, " which make my land better 
 than yours." 
 
 Eberhard, the king of Wiirttemburg, then 
 spoke : 
 
 " My country has only small cities, and its 
 mountains yield no silver. My greatest treasure 
 is the love of my people." 
 
 Then the other kings said to Eberhard: " Your 
 
 wealth is greater than ours, and your country has 
 
 the most costly treasure." 
 
 1 
 
2 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 If I were to ask you what country you think 
 the best, you would answer, like the German 
 kings, " My own." The German loves his " Father- 
 land," the Englishman his " Mother Country," the 
 Frenchman, his " Beautiful France," the China- 
 man, his "Flowery Kingdom," and the Japanese, 
 his " Sunrise " Land. The country that we love 
 most, is the best country. 
 
 OLD COUNTRIES AND NEW COUNTRIES 
 
 How shall we tell the age of a country? We 
 speak of the " Old World," and the " New World," 
 and of " Old Countries " and " New Countries." 
 We say that Columbus " discovered the New World 
 and the Indians who inhabited it"; but the New 
 World was here and the Indians were here, thou- 
 sands of years before Columbus came. 
 
 The birthday of our own country was July 4, 
 1776. It was on that day that the EngHsh colonies 
 declared their independence of Great Britain and 
 became a new nation. When a country separates 
 itself from another country and begins a life of its 
 own, we may call it a new country or a new nation. 
 We call America the New World because a new 
 race of people came into it and made it their own. 
 
 Nations are like men: they are born, they grow 
 up, and pass away. Some nations have been living 
 
THE 8TUDY OF HISTORY 3 
 
 for thousands of years; others have lived only a 
 few centuries, or a few years. 
 
 IMMIGRATION 
 
 Most countries of the world have been settled 
 by people from older countries. Men are like cer- 
 tain birds and animals ; they are migratoi^y , that is, 
 they move from place to place in search of new 
 homes where they can live more comfortably. Our 
 country was settled by people from the countries 
 of Europe, and people from these countries are 
 still coming to America at the rate of about a 
 million a year. When we study the history of the 
 countries from which these people come, we find 
 that Spain, England, France, Germany, and other 
 countries of Europe, were themselves settled by 
 people who emigrated from countries lying still 
 farther east. 
 
 Even the very oldest nations, the Chinese, the 
 Japanese and the Hindus, have not always occupied 
 the country where they now live. Their legends 
 tell us that their ancestors came from some older 
 country in Central Asia. The Greek and Roman 
 legends also, say that the first people who came into 
 Greece and Italy, once lived in Asia. Oh account 
 of these stories it has been thought that the first 
 home of the human race was somewhere in Asia; 
 but the oldest nations of that continent have long 
 since passed away and have left no records. 
 
4 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 WHERE THE STUDY OF HISTORY BEGINS 
 
 Where, then, shall we begin our study of his- 
 tory? We cannot begin with our own country, be- 
 cause all of us or our ancestors have come from 
 other countries across the ocean. We cannot begin 
 with England, Germany, or France, because those 
 countries were settled by people from older coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Let us think for a moment what history is. We 
 may call it a stoi^y of the lives of nations. But in 
 order to study such a story we must have books 
 or records of some sort. Now, the oldest nations 
 did not know how to write, and all that we know 
 about them must be found out from the stories 
 handed down from one age to another, or from the 
 monuments and works which they left. We be- 
 lieve that the oldest nations are those of Asia and 
 of Northern Africa, but we do not know whether 
 China or India or Egypt is the oldest nation still 
 living. It will be convenient, however, to begin our 
 study with the nations of Asia, because throughout 
 the history of the world, men have moved from the 
 east toward the west. 
 
 WHY WE SHOULD STUDY HISTORY 
 
 Why do you love your country? Perhaps it 
 would be better to ask first " Why do you love 
 your home? " Your home is a comfortable place in 
 
THE STUDY OF HISTORY 
 
 which to Hve; it provides you with food, shelter, 
 and the other necessities of life. Your parents 
 provide for your wants, and do all they can for 
 your comfort and happiness. We love our coun- 
 try because it is a safe and comfortable home; be- 
 cause it protects our lives and property; because 
 it protects us in whatever part of the world we may 
 happen to be. We love our country, too, because 
 of the great deeds of those who founded it, and 
 who built up its cities and its schools, who fought 
 its battles, and who made it one of the great and 
 powerful nations of the earth. 
 
 If we study the history of our country, we shall 
 love it more and we shall try to do all that we can 
 to make it a better country. 
 
II. THE CHINESE REPUBLIC 
 
 Though China was ruled by kings and em- 
 perors for thousands of years, it has recently be- 
 come a republic like that of the United States. 
 During all their early history, the Chinese had little 
 to do with the rest of the world, and the rest of 
 the world knew very little about them. Occasion- 
 ally a traveler from Europe would make his way 
 into China, and on his return would have wonder- 
 ful tales to tell about the wealth and splendor of 
 that distant country and of the other countries 
 through which he had passed. 
 
 The Chinese have an ancient book telling of a 
 voyage made across the Pacific Ocean in the fifth 
 century, by one of their priests and his companions. 
 The priest's name was Holi-shin, the first part of 
 the name sounding much like our word whey. This 
 company discovered a great country on the east side 
 of the ocean, and called it Fusang, which was their 
 name for a certain cactus plant that grows abun- 
 dantly in Mexico. It is generally believed that the 
 account of this voyage is true. Fusang may have 
 been Mexico, including our State of California, or, 
 possibly, it may have been Peru. But the Chinese 
 seem to have made no use of their discovery of 
 America, as the Europeans nlade of the discovery 
 by Columbus, about a thousand years later. 
 
 When the people of Europe had learned to 
 
THE CHINESE REPUBLIC / 
 
 make long voyages by sea, they began to search for 
 the rich countries of the East. Columbus was look- 
 ing for China and the Indies, when he accidentally 
 stumbled upon the New World. It was a long time 
 before the Europeans made their way to China, and 
 it was a still longer time before the Chinese would 
 have anything to do with them. Of late years, 
 however, China has greatly changed; or perhaps 
 it would be better to say she has begun to change. 
 She has adopted many of the ideas of Europe and 
 America. She is building railroads, opening mines, 
 and building factories. She has improved her 
 schools and sends her young men and women to 
 Europe and America to be educated in the mod- 
 ern way. And as the greatest change of all, she 
 has driven out her kings and established a govern- 
 ment of the people, which we call a republic. 
 
 OLD CHINESE CUSTOMS 
 
 The Chinese ways of doing things are so differ- 
 ent from ours that we think many of them ridicu- 
 lous. But we must remember that thcij have the 
 same opinion of owr ways. It seems strange to 
 begin a book on the last page and read the lines 
 up and down, but tliat is the way a Chinese book is 
 made. 
 
 In the schools the boj^s sit with their backs to 
 the teacher; and when they study and recite their 
 lessons, they shout as loud as they can. 
 
8 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 When a Chinaman meets a friend on the street 
 he bows low and clasps his hands together, moving 
 them up and down in front of him. If one should 
 be on horseback or riding in a sedan chair or 
 carriage, he must get down on the ground before 
 speaking. If he wears spectacles he must take 
 them off, for it is a great offense to a Chinaman 
 to be looked at through glasses. If either should 
 be too busy to stop he puts a fan before his face. 
 This means, "In a hurry; can't stop today." 
 
 When you call at a Chinaman's home be care- 
 ful to keep a little ahead of him on entering and 
 leaving, and to sit down at the same time with your 
 host, because it is thought very impolite to sit 
 when others are standing. During your call he 
 will give you a cup of tea, using both hands. This 
 you must receive in the same way; but do not 
 'drink it until you are ready to go, for a Chinaman 
 never drinks until he wishes to end his visit, and 
 the host then expects him to go at once. You may 
 inquire of a Chinese gentleman how many sons he 
 has and how they are getting along at school, but 
 if you should ask after his wife or daughters he 
 would become your enemy for life. 
 
 SOME AVISE OLD KINGS 
 
 The Chinese are very proud of the great age 
 of their country and of the wisdom of their kings. 
 
THE CHINESE REPUBLTC 
 
 They call their emperor the " Son of Heaven," and 
 their empire the " Celestial Empire." They believe 
 that the world itself was made by a great giant, 
 especially for Chinamen, and that they are the 
 greatest and wisest people on the whole earth. 
 They tell us that many, very many years ago the 
 first Chinamen came from a far distant country. 
 For a long time they led a wandering life, living 
 in tents, until their first great king, Yu-Chau, led 
 them into the land along the Yellow River and 
 taught them to build huts from the boughs of 
 trees. But they never forgot their tent life, and 
 the Chinese house is still built to look like a tent. 
 
 The next king was the wise Su-jin, who, like 
 our Indians, found that he could kindle a fire by 
 rubbing two dry sticks together. He also taught 
 the people how to count the days, by tying knots 
 in a string. Fo-hi found out the use of iron, and 
 Chin-nung invented the plow. 
 
 The next king was Hoang-ti. Hoang-^i means 
 Yellow Emperor, just as Hoang-/zo means Yel- 
 low River. This emperor divided the year into 
 months and made the first calendar. He also built 
 roads and ships. His wife, Se-ling, taught the 
 people how to unwind silk cocoons and to weave 
 the fiber into cloth. 
 
 During the reign of Yao and Shun, the Yel- 
 low River caused great destruction and death by 
 
10 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 overflowing its banks. The people call this river 
 China's Sorrow, because of the millions that 
 have been swept away by its floods. The next 
 emperor, Yu, spent nine years in digging canals 
 to drain off the waters. But the unruly stream 
 refused to stay in its new channels, and from time 
 to time, when the spring floods came, it would 
 break over its banks, drowning people and carry- 
 ing away their houses. 
 
 The greatest of all the old Chinese kings was 
 Che-Hoang-ti, who is sometimes called The Great. 
 When he came to the throne there were a number 
 of kings ruling in difl'erent parts of China who 
 would not obey the Yellow emperors of the Middle 
 Kingdom. But Che-Hoang-ti made war on them 
 and united all their countries into one, which we 
 now call the Chinese Empire. He was really the 
 first emperor. 
 
 North of China lived a fierce race of yellow 
 warriors called Tartars. They began to break 
 into Hoang-ti's country, killing the people and 
 carrying ofl* their property. He gathered a large 
 army and defeated the Tartars in many battles, 
 driving them back into their own land. 
 
 To protect his people against these robbers the 
 emperor then began to build the Great Wall, which 
 still stands on the northern border of China. 
 
 When he was safe from all his enemies, Hoang- 
 ti divided his empire into thirty-six provinces and 
 
THE CHINESE REPUBLIC 
 
 u 
 
 set a man over each to govern it. He then made 
 a grand tour of his whole country. It had been 
 the custom in China to keep in repair only those 
 roads over which the kings traveled. But Hoang- 
 ti said the people needed good roads as well as the 
 
 The Great \Vall of China. 
 
 king, and he caused all of them to be kept in good 
 condition. 
 
 We have one thing to tell about this emperor 
 that is not so worthy of praise. He had made 
 many changes in the religion and government of 
 China that the learned men did not like. Wishing 
 to gain their favor, he called them all together to 
 a great meeting and explained to them why he had 
 done these things. 
 
 One man arose and said: " You, O king, are the 
 
12 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 greatest man of all time, and you have done more 
 for the good of your country than all the kings 
 that have lived before you." 
 
 At this one of the learned men said: " That 
 fellow is a vile flatterer, O king, and is unworthy 
 of the position he occupies. What he has told you 
 is not true; for in our books we read of kings that 
 were far greater and wiser than you." 
 
 You may be sure that this made Hoang-ti very 
 angry. He declared that if such things were in 
 the books he would destroy them, and that he would 
 put to death any man who should ever speak of 
 them again. Then he commanded that all the 
 books in the Empire should be burned, saving only 
 those which were written about farming, medicine, 
 building, and astronomy. Four hundred and sixty 
 of the learned men who would not obey him he 
 buried alive in a great pit, and many more were put 
 to death. 
 
 But Hoang-ti and his men could not find all 
 the books. Some were hidden away in secret 
 places, and after his death they were brought out 
 and printed again, so that many of the oldest 
 Chinese books are still treasvired and read by the 
 students and wise men of China. 
 
 CONFUCIUS, THE CHINESE SAGE 
 
 A sage is a wise man, and Con-fu'-cius, or 
 Kung-Fu-tse, was the wisest Chinaman that ever 
 lived. 
 
THE CHINESE REPUBLIC 13 
 
 The names of persons, like everything else in 
 China, are upside down. John Smith would be 
 called Smith John, and Willie Jones, Jones Willie. 
 Confucius belonged to the Kung family, and was 
 named Fu-tse, or The Teacher. His father, Kung- 
 Heih, who was a soldier and a judge, died when the 
 little Confucius was only three years old, so that 
 his mother brought him up. 
 
 She sent him to school, where he astonished 
 everyone by his knowledge. He became so famous 
 that he w^as appointed to a public office at the age 
 of seventeen. When his mother died, a few years 
 later, he left his office and went into mourning for 
 three years, as the custom is in China. After that 
 he became a teacher of young men, for he thought 
 he could do the most good in that way. So many 
 came to learn of him that at one time he is said to 
 have had 5,000 pupils. 
 
 Once he was passing with his pupils through 
 a field where a man was snaring birds. After 
 watching for a while Confucius said to the man: 
 
 "I do not see any old birds here. Where have 
 you put them? " 
 
 " The old birds are too wary to be caught," re- 
 plied the hunter, " and the young ones which fly 
 with them also escape. I can catch only those that 
 fly by themselves, or that go in company with other 
 young birds." 
 
 "Do you hear that?" asked Confucius of his 
 
14 CK» w«Bij> 5Y5z^ r^:« amehcax hethikt 
 
 The Toon^ luds escape onhr when ther 
 
 In Has wsT he wtnU teach his piqMls to re s pe c t 
 and obey tteir paifnts and teachos^ and also to fed- 
 low Ike oU cnslims of ^!!^ i-fmitrT, si^ 
 
 Confb*: _ ^ : -eventy-three 
 
 te _ _ 'WTitiiigs 
 
 f>f ^^ cfTT r H r ^ _ 3^>^ of 
 
 H- — -:if B. £ :: Rires. --. 2 ■: : Jies, 
 
 V izid Airr^ziz - These 
 
 It 7 7 '^ just 
 
 - T : _ _ :) Us 
 
 7 : ~ :t t most of 
 
 and 
 
 ■" Yes. -bat yoa 
 
 wmldnot 7 ' :oyoa- 
 
 Hoe;^: . dns: 
 
 To see _._: _ ^ _ do it k to be a 
 
 eowazd. 
 
 He wi - . - Hr--- h-i^ zTt to 
 
 whom be : 
 
 T"'^ ' :^ -'- -low in his words and 
 
 ear 
 
 _ " iiig^ by Confocios 
 
THZ CHES-Z.-Z RZPTTBLIC 15 
 
 was the duty of cfafldren to love and obey iixsr 
 parents when alive, and to h<»0r and worship them 
 after death. When a Chinaman does wronsr or 
 changes the old ways he is thought to dishonor the 
 memory of his parents, and there is no greater 
 crime than this in China. 
 
 HOW THE CHESTIiE CaAIZ TO wy ^R PIGTAILS 
 
 Many years after Confucius and the great Che- 
 Hoang-ti had passed away the yellow robbers of 
 the Xorth came climbing over the Great Wall into 
 China. The Emperor had brave soldiers to guard 
 the wall and see that no one should cross it : but now 
 the Tartars had grown very strong and the Chinese 
 were not able to keep them out. Their king was 
 called Gen'-ghis Khan, a name meaning Very 
 flighty King. Genghis was one of the greatest 
 generals that ever Hved. and he conquered all of 
 central and southern Asia and killed millions of 
 people. He did not hve long enough to subdue the 
 Chinese, for they fought bravely. But his grand- 
 son. Ku'-blai Khan, carried on the war until the 
 Chinese were forced to yield. 
 
 Their great leader. General Chang, escaped to 
 Indo-China. where he raised a large lieet for a last 
 attack on the Tartars. But it was caught in a terri- 
 ble storm in the China Sea and Chang was drowned. 
 
 Kublai Khan then became the first Tartar em- 
 peror of China. He compelled every Chinaman to 
 
16 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 shave the top of his head and to braid the rest of 
 his hair in a queue as a sign that he was the slave of 
 the Tartars. 
 
 Kublai Khan built the city of Pekin, which is 
 still the capital of the Chinese Empire. The city 
 was eight miles square and surrounded by a high 
 wall. Within the outer wall was another city, six 
 miles square, and within this still another, one mile 
 square. In the inner square was the royal palace, 
 containing dining halls for hundreds of guests, and 
 there were hundreds of other rooms, made very 
 beautiful with pictures and statues. The palace 
 was surrounded by a park and a lake, where the 
 king fished and hunted. Outside of the park the 
 king kept his army of a hundred thousand men al- 
 ways ready for war. Marco Polo, a traveler from 
 Venice in Italy, once visited Kublai at Pekin and 
 remained many years at his court. When he re- 
 turned home he wrote an account of his visit. He 
 told his countrymen all about the wonderful land 
 of China, with its wealth of gold and jewels, and 
 his stories made the people of Europe eager to visit 
 the rich country. 
 
 SOME CHINESE IN^^NTIONS 
 
 The Chinese have made many useful inventions, 
 some of which have been made also in other coun- 
 tries. The people of Europe, for example, began 
 to use the mariner's compass about the year 1300; 
 
THE CHINESE REPUBLIC 17 
 
 but the Chinese understood the use of this instru- 
 ment probably 2,000 years before that time. The 
 art of printing also has been practised in China for 
 several thousand years. It was discovered in Europe 
 only in the time of Columbus. The Chinese were 
 the first discoverers of the art of making gun- 
 powder, but the only use they made of it was in 
 celebrating festival days. This discovery was made 
 in Europe about 2,000 years later by Roger Bacon 
 It is interesting to note that the Chinese forbade 
 the making of gunpowder when they found that 
 it was dangerous to human life ; but when the peo- 
 ple of Europe found that human life could be de- 
 stroyed by the use of gunpowder, they were all the 
 more eager to manufacture guns and rifles. 
 
 One of the most useful discoveries of the 
 Chinese was the art of reeling the fiber from the 
 cocoons of the silk worm and of manufacturing the 
 silk into cloth. When the people of Europe first 
 saw Chinese silk, they thought that the fiber was 
 obtained from some kind of plant. The Chinese 
 kept the secret carefully, but it was eventually dis- 
 covered by some travelers from Europe, who took 
 home with them some eggs of the silk worm con- 
 cealed in a bamboo rod. Thus the cultivation of 
 silk was introduced into Europe. 
 
 The Chinese discovered also the way to make 
 porcelain and paper. All nations have found out 
 how to make potter}^ of some sort, but the Chinese 
 
18 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 manufactured beautiful vases and other articles 
 from clay several thousands of years ago. The 
 Chinese made paper from rice straw and they now 
 make many varieties of paper goods which are sold 
 to all parts of the world. 
 
III. JAPAN 
 
 We have no means of learning anything about 
 the very early history of Japan. The Japanese 
 learned the art of writing from China about 2,000 
 years ago. Before that time there was no means 
 of keeping records, and we have to depend upon 
 what we can learn from the records of other nations. 
 The Japanese stories of the early times tell us that 
 the first Japanese came from somewhere in the 
 western part of Asia. They tell us that their first 
 king, whose name was Jimmu, began his rule about 
 660 B. C. At that time the people believed that 
 their ruler was descended from a god and that he 
 became a god again after he died. 
 
 The old religion of Japan was a worship of 
 dead kings and heroes. The war god of old Japan 
 is O'-jin, who was once a noted warrior. The Japa- 
 nese take great pride in soldierly qualities. They 
 are brave and hardy. They are very courteous and 
 dignified in their intercourse with strangers. Every 
 man is ready to fight and to give his life for his 
 country in case of need. 
 
 In the early times Japan was greatly troubled 
 by the wars of rival kings and chiefs. It was like 
 the condition of Germany in the Middle Ages, 
 when the nobles were often stronger than the king. 
 
 The warlike chiefs, or shoguns, at last got con- 
 trol of the government, and the mikados retired to 
 
 19 
 
20 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 private life. It was not until 1868 that they were 
 restored to their old power and position. 
 
 When the Tartars overran China and made 
 themselves masters of that country, they tried also 
 to take Japan. The Tartar emperor sent a great 
 fleet in 1281 to make the conquest of the islands. 
 But a tj'phoon, or fierce tropical storm, swept over 
 the sea and completely wrecked the Tartar fleet. 
 
 Gradually the Japanese established a feudal 
 system. The shogun was the chief lord, and his 
 vassals were called dai'-mi-os. They ruled over 
 the various provinces, or divisions, of the empire. 
 In 1889 a constitution was adopted, giving the 
 people the right to vote and to take part in making 
 laws. Japan is therefore now a constitutional mon- 
 archy, like England or Germany. 
 
 NEW JAPAN 
 
 In 1855 the President of the United States sent 
 Commodore Perry to Japan to make a treaty which 
 would allow Americans to visit that country and 
 trade with the merchants there. This was the first 
 time that Japan consented to allow foreigners to 
 come into their country. After the treaty was 
 made we sent a Mr. Harris to Japan as minister. 
 
 A minister is one who looks after a country's 
 interests in a foreign land. Mr. Harris was re- 
 ceived with great honor. Men were sent ahead to 
 see that the road and bridges over which he must 
 
JAPAN 21 
 
 pass were in order. People were asked to sweep 
 the streets clean in front of their houses. And they 
 were forbidden to gather in crowds to look at the 
 procession, as this in Japan is not considered pohte. 
 
 One of the mikado's palaces was given him 
 to live in during his stay at the capital. Every 
 street that he passed through and every place that 
 he visited was selected beforehand, so that every- 
 where he might receive every courtesy and kindness. 
 
 The most wonderful thing about Japan is the 
 quickness with which she learned the ways of 
 civilized nations. For years she annually sent five 
 hundred young men to England, France, Ger- 
 many, and the United States. These young men 
 remained in foreign countries to get an education. 
 They studied the arn ies and navies of these coun- 
 tries. They studied the laws, occupations, and the 
 manufactures of the people among whom they 
 lived. When they returned to their own land they 
 taught their countrymen the best things they had 
 learned. 
 
 The Japanese soon began to make the articles 
 that they brought from abroad. They learned to 
 build their own war vessels, to make their own can- 
 non, rifles, and ammunition. They drilled their 
 soldiers after the German method, because they 
 thought that the best. They built railroads and 
 telegraph and telephone lines. During the yeais 
 since Commodore Perry visited them, they 
 
99 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 have made as much progress as other nations have 
 made in two hundred years. 
 
 They are called the Yankees of the East, be- 
 cause they are so ingenious; they are called the 
 French of the East, because they are so polite; and 
 some one has called them the English of the East, 
 because they are so persevering. They have taken 
 to themselves all the good qualities of the other 
 nations. 
 
 In 1904-05 Japan engaged in war against 
 Russia, because that country did not keep an agree- 
 ment she made to take her armies out of China. 
 Russia despised the Japanese, calling them yellow 
 dwarfs. But in a few months the "dwarfs" sank 
 all the war vessels that Russia had in that part of 
 the world. By stubborn perseverance and skillful 
 fighting they took from Russia the strong fortress 
 at Port Arthur that Russia declared could not be 
 taken. The Japanese defeated Russia's armies in 
 many battles by their superior skill, and drove her 
 out of China. Japan is now counted among the 
 great nations of the world. 
 
IV. INDIA 
 
 THE HINDUS 
 
 North of India once lived a people who called 
 themselves Ar'-yans, or the noble race. They 
 kept cattle, sheep, and pigs. They also raised 
 wheat, which they cut with a sickle and drew away 
 in wagons with wooden wheels and axles. The 
 women spun wool and wove it into cloth, and the 
 men tanned the skins of animals into leather for 
 shoes. They built canoes and skiffs in which they 
 sailed upon the rivers, and for weapons they had 
 spears and the bow and arrow. 
 
 After a time the Aryans began to leave their 
 country. Some climbed the snowy passes of the 
 mountains and settled along the Indus River in 
 northern India. There they found a dark-skinned 
 people. They drove them out and took the land 
 for themselves. They soon spread over the Indus 
 valley and came to be called Hindus, or Dwellers 
 on the Indus. Then they moved southward into 
 the great plain of the Gan-ges, driving the native 
 tribes across the hills into the Dec'-can, as the high 
 plain in the south of India is called. 
 
 There is an old collection of hymns from which 
 we learn much about the Hindu religion. A favor- 
 ite god was In'-dra, the god of rain. Without 
 rain the crops fail, and the people die of hunger. 
 
 23 
 
24 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Indra was thought to fight battles with the clouds 
 and compel them to give forth rain. Agni was the 
 god of fire, Soma the god of wine. 
 
 After a time this simple worship became a 
 wicked idolatry. Human beings were sacrificed in 
 honor of idols. The chief gods became Brah'ma, 
 the Creator; Vish'-nu, the Preserver, and Si'-va, 
 the Destroyer. 
 
 At O-ris'-sa there is a temple of the god Vishnu. 
 At the yearly festival in honor of the god a great 
 wagon containing the idol was drawn through the 
 streets, and men and women would throw them- 
 selves under the wheels and be crushed to death. 
 They believed that this pleased the god, and that 
 he would make them happy after death. 
 
 The Ganges is regarded as a holy river, and the 
 Hindus will travel hundreds of miles to bathe in 
 its waters. 
 
 The Hindus are divided into four great classes 
 called " castes." The priests, or Brah'-mans, are 
 the first, or highest caste. The soldiers and rulers 
 form the second caste. The farmers and mechan- 
 ics are the third, and the lowest caste is composed 
 of common laborers. A man must always remain 
 in the caste in which he was born and follow the 
 business of his father. According to their belief, 
 if he lives a good life his soul may pass at death 
 into the body of an infant born into a higher caste, 
 but if a Hindu does not remain in his caste and 
 
INDIA 25 
 
 keep all the rules of his religion, then his soul may 
 enter the body of an animal or of an insect, and 
 thousands of years must pass before he can hope 
 to again become a man. 
 
 At the same time that Confucius was teaching 
 the Chinese to return to the old ways of living, a 
 man arose in India who opposed the foolish ideas 
 of the Brahmans. 
 
 This man was Prince Sidd-hartha, or Gau- 
 ta'-ma, whose beautiful life, spent for the good of 
 his fellows, is made familiar in our time by the pop- 
 ular poem of Sir Edwin Arnold entitled "The 
 Light of Asia." The story is legendary in its de- 
 tails. It is interesting to note that Jesus of Naza- 
 reth came, with His religion of love and purity and 
 peace, almost midway in time between the gentle 
 Gautama and the fierce conqueror JNIahomet. 
 
 GAUTAMA BUDDHA 
 
 Gau-ta'-ma was the son of a king in northern 
 India. In later life he was called The Buddha, 
 meaning the Enlightened One. His mother, 
 ]Ma'-ya, was thought to be the most beautiful 
 woman in the world. She died soon after Gautama 
 was born, and he was brought up by his aunt. You 
 will not be surprised to learn that he was a very 
 beautiful boy and that he soon became more 
 thoughtful and wise than any of his playmates. 
 
26 (JLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 When he went to school his teachers soon found that 
 he already knew more than they did. He could 
 write from memory all the old hymns, and in arith- 
 metic the}^ found that he could write numbers large 
 enough to tell how many drops of water would fall 
 upon the earth if it rained every day for ten thou- 
 sand years. 
 
 Gautama loved to be by himself. He would 
 wander into the forest and stay all day lost in 
 thought. 
 
 He wanted to do something to help his fellow- 
 men to be happy. He felt that he was in the world 
 to do something, and not to lead a life of pleasure. 
 His father would not allow him to see any un- 
 pleasant thing. 
 
 People who were old, sick, or poor were kept 
 away from the palace. But one day when the 
 prince was riding with a company of friends in a 
 park, he met an old man, lame, wrinkled, gray- 
 haired, tottering upon his staff. 
 
 " Who is this man? " he asked of his servant. 
 
 " Sir," replied the servant, " this man is old, 
 his senses are feeble, his strength is gone, he is 
 despised by everybody and left here to die. But 
 such a fate is not for this man alone; your father 
 and all your relatives and friends shall come to the 
 same state, and there is no other end for living 
 beings." 
 
 "Alas! " said the prince, " why are we so proud 
 
INDIA 27 
 
 of our youth, seeing that old age soon comes upon 
 us? Coachman, turn the chariot quickly. What 
 have I to do with pleasure? " 
 
 Another day, going out again, they met a poor 
 man suffering with fever. Farther on a funeral 
 procession was seen bearing a body to the tomb. 
 He again asked his coachman what these things 
 meant, and learned that all men could become sick 
 and die. Once more he met a tall, thin, stern- 
 looking man, who told the prince that he had left 
 his home and every pleasure; that he was living 
 upon alms, wandering about trying to make him- 
 self better. Gautama liked that kind of life, and 
 one night he left his young wife and his beautiful 
 palace and rode away into the forest. 
 
 He met an old hunter and gave his beautiful 
 garments of silk for the hunter's yellow coat made 
 from the skin of a stag. He then sought a noted 
 teacher who had a school of three hundred pupils; 
 but he soon went away, for the priest could not tell 
 him the things he wanted to know. He then heard 
 of another still more famous teacher. But even 
 that one could not tell him how to find happiness. 
 He then went away by himself, and after long 
 study he found out how to be happy. During that 
 time we are told that many bad spirits came and 
 tempted him to return to his old life. When they 
 found he w^ould not do this, they came in great 
 armies to kill him. and the rocks and spears which 
 
28 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 they threw at him were changed into flowers which 
 formed in wreaths about his head. 
 
 When Gautama, or Buddha, as he then called 
 himself, was satisfied that he had found out the 
 true religion, he wanted to teach it to others. Soon 
 he had sixty followers. He sent them out as mis- 
 sionaries to teach others. Buddha declared that 
 the Brahmans played tricks upon the people to get 
 their money. He said that the system of caste was 
 wrong. " Between a Brahman and a man of an- 
 other caste," said he, " there is no difference." This 
 was good news to the poor Hindus. Thieves and 
 robbers, beggars and cripples gathered around 
 him. Mighty kings came also to confess their 
 sins, and even many of the proud Brahmans con- 
 fessed their ignorance before him. The sacrifices 
 to the old idols were stopped. Beautiful churches 
 were built for Buddha. They were open to all 
 classes of people, men and women. Missionaries 
 were sent to Ceylon, to Siam, to Burma, to Thibet, 
 and to China, and many of the people in those coun- 
 tries still hold to the religion of Buddha. 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND KING PORUS 
 
 Many years after Buddha was dead, the Greek 
 general, Alexander, set out to conquer the world. 
 Alexander was King of Macedonia, and we shall 
 hear about him in the stories of Greece. 
 
INDIA 29 
 
 He had heard of the rich country of the Hindus 
 along the Indus, and was eager to conquer them. 
 In the eastern part of Af-ghan-is-tan' there is a 
 deep valley across the mountains called " Khai'-her 
 Pass." India, you know, is cut off from the rest 
 of Asia by high mountains, and there are only a 
 few passes by which travelers may reach it. Khai- 
 ber Pass is the chief one, and many mighty armies 
 have come that way to India. 
 
 At the beginning of summer Alexander brought 
 his army to Ca'-bul, and then came marching down 
 Khaiber Pass into the Pun- jab, or " land of the 
 five rivers." 
 
 It was the rainy season, and the rivers were so 
 swollen that he had a hard task to get his men 
 across. The Hindus were astonished at the fear- 
 less conduct of the Greeks and a good deal fright- 
 ened by their dangerous-looking swords and spears. 
 Several of the Hindu kings hastened to surrender 
 to Alexander. But when he came to the river bor- 
 dering the country of Porus, that king gathered 
 an army of soldiers, horsemen, chariots, and ele- 
 phants to keep him out. 
 
 The war-elephants looked dangerous, and Alex- 
 ander sent his soldiers to another place to cross. 
 But Porus also sent his men to meet them, and the 
 Greeks did not dare go into the water. 
 
 At last Alexander ordered his soldiers to pitch 
 their tents as though they meant to remain there. 
 
30 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 But in the middle of the night he took his bravest 
 men and hurried up the river to a good crossing- 
 place. Long before light they came upon the 
 astonished Porus. The Hindu king and his men 
 fought bravely, but they were no match for the 
 Greeks. Porus was made prisoner and taken into 
 Alexander's tent. 
 
 " How do you wish me to treat you? " asked 
 Alexander. 
 
 " As a king," replied Porus. 
 
 The Greek was so pleased with his brave fight 
 and with his noble answer that he made him his 
 friend and gave him back his kingdom. 
 
 Alexander's men had grown weary of war, so 
 they went sailing down the Indus to the sea, where 
 they met their ships that were to take them back to 
 Greece. 
 
 THE MIGHTY MAH'-MOUD 
 
 For many years after Alexander left India, 
 Porus, his children, and grandchildren were left to 
 rule in peace. But the Hindus were worshipers of 
 idols ; and when people of the Mo-ham'-me-dan re-' 
 ligion began to spread over Asia, they made war 
 on every people who would not accept their faith. 
 
 Mahmoud, King of Afghanistan, believed that 
 God had commanded him to destroy all idols and 
 idol-worship and to make all Hindus worship the 
 one true God. Many of the idols were made of 
 gold and silver, and the temples were stored with 
 
INDIA 31 
 
 money and jewels. All this wealth Mahmoiid 
 carried off to his own country. Mahmoud was a 
 mighty warrior. Seventeen times he led liis sol- 
 diers to victory in India. 
 
 Once he heard of a very rich temple which stood 
 near the sea in western India. As many as 300,- 
 000 people worshiped the idol, which was made of 
 pure gold. Every day the idol was washed with 
 water brought from the holy river, the Ganges, 
 a thousand miles away. It took two thousand 
 priests and three hundred musicians to conduct the 
 services of the temple. 
 
 To reach the temple Mahmoud had to lead his 
 army across a wide desert where there was no food 
 or water. • Twenty thousand camels were loaded 
 with water and provisions for the march. 
 
 When he approached the temple a messenger 
 came out to see him. 
 
 " You and all your army will be instantly killed 
 by our god," said he, " if you offer any disrespect 
 to his temple." 
 
 INIahmoud laughed loudly at this. " We will 
 see about that to-morrow," he replied. But when 
 he attacked the walls around the temple, the Hindus 
 fought so bravely that it was several days before 
 he broke through. 
 
 At last he came in sight of the gold idol, an 
 ugly-looking object over fifteen feet high. He 
 hurled his spear at the idol's head and broke off 
 
32 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 the golden nose. Then the priests fell on their 
 knees about him and cried, " We will load all your 
 camels with gold if you will only leave us our 
 god!" His friends urged him to do this, but 
 Mahmoud said, " No; I have come to destroy idols, 
 as God has commanded me." 
 
 Then his soldiers threw their spears at the idol 
 until they broke a great hole in its side. Out 
 poured a glittering stream of diamonds, rubies, 
 pearls, and emeralds, which had been stored in the 
 hollow image. Besides this there were thousands 
 of images of gold and silver in various parts of the 
 temple, and Mahmoud carried away more wealth 
 than he had gained in all his former wars in India. 
 
 When this rich king came to die he had all his 
 gold, silver, and jewels brought out of his treasury 
 and put before him. All his army, elephants, cam- 
 els, horses, and chariots passed in review. Then 
 the king wept at the thought of never seeing any 
 of his treasures again. He retired to his palace 
 and a few days afterwards died. 
 
 THE GREAT MO-GULS' 
 
 Near the city of A'-gra, in India, stands a build- 
 ing which is said to be the most beautiful in the 
 world. It is the Taj Ma-hal', or royal tomb of the 
 wife of the Shah Je'-han, the greatest of the Great 
 Moguls. 
 
 " But who were the Great Moguls? " you ask. 
 
INDIA 
 
 The Moguls, or Monguls, were people of the 
 yellow or Mon^go'-li-an race who conquered India. 
 They drove out the descendants of Mahmoud and 
 made DeF-hi their capital city. After that the 
 Yellow Emperor of India, who lived at Delhi, 
 was called the Great Mogul. The first Mogul in- 
 vader was Ti'-mour, the Lame, or Tam-er-lane', a 
 descendant of the Tartar, Genghis Khan, of whom 
 we have read. His capital was at Sa-mar-cand', in 
 Tur-kes-tan'. He was a very bloody warrior, and 
 delighted to pile up the heads of his prisoners in 
 front of the cities he conquered. When he took 
 Delhi he made a great pyramid of 100,000 heads. 
 Though he stayed only two weeks at Delhi, he 
 caused greater destruction and suffering than any 
 other invader. 
 
 Many years after his death, Ba'-ber, the great 
 grandson of Tamerlane, who ruled at Cabul, led 
 his army into India and made himself emperor at 
 Delhi. He was the first Great Mogul. 
 
 Baber died before he could entirely conquer 
 India, but his work was finished by another em- 
 peror, Ac'-bar, who made himself ruler over the 
 whole country. The Mogul emperors were noted 
 for their great wealth and their splendid palaces 
 and festivals. One of the finest holiday celebra- 
 tions was held on the emperor's birthday. There 
 was a fair at which all sorts of goods were sold, 
 and processions were held lasting several days. A 
 
34 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN inSTORY 
 
 splendid tent was erected for the emperor. There 
 were rich hangings of silk embroidered with gold 
 and precious stones. Each noble also had a rich 
 tent. Several acres of ground were covered with 
 silken carpets and rugs, where the court met to see 
 the ceremonies. 
 
 On the great day of the festival hundreds of 
 elephants passed in review, having on their heads 
 great golden plates set with gems, and covered 
 with cloths of silk embroidered with gold thread. 
 Next came thousands of horses and trained ani- 
 mals — lions, tigers, rhinoceroses, leopards, and 
 hounds. Then an enormous troop of horsemen, all 
 glittering in cloth of gold, closed the procession. 
 
 Then a great golden scale was brought out. On 
 one side sat the emperor. The courtiers piled up 
 gold, silver, gems, and curious ornaments on the 
 other side until the mass balanced the weight of the 
 emperor. All the treasures were then scattered 
 among the crowd, and there was a mad scramble 
 to get them. 
 
 Many forts, towers, and tombs built by Acbar 
 are still standing, but Jehan was the greatest 
 builder; for, besides the Taj Mahal, he left pal- 
 aces at Agra, and a mosque, or church, called 
 the Pearl Mosque, on account of its whiteness and 
 beauty. 
 
 The throne on which Jehan sat was one of the 
 wonders of the world. It was called the Peacock 
 
INDIA 
 
 35 
 
 Throne, because the back of it was formed by two 
 peacocks with tails spread out. The beautiful col- 
 ors of the plumage were shown by rubies, sapphires, 
 emeralds, and diamonds, while just above them was 
 perched a parrot carved from a single emerald. 
 The framework of the throne was solid gold. The 
 
 The Taj Mahal. 
 
 throne was worth over thirty millions of dollars, and 
 the jewelers of Shah Jehan labored seven years to 
 build it. 
 
 Nothing now remains of the throne except the 
 marble base on which it stood; for a king of Persia 
 captured Delhi and carried it away, and no one 
 
36 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 knows what became of it afterwards. The Moguls 
 with all their glory, gold, and gems are gone for- 
 ever, but the palaces, tombs, and monuments which 
 they left are still the most beautiful structures in 
 the world. 
 
 HOW THE ENGLISH CAME TO INDIA 
 
 Many tales of the rich Mogul Empire had been 
 carried by travelers to the countries of Europe, and 
 every sea captain was eager to find a way to that 
 land. Many tried in vain. Columbus thought he 
 had found India, but it proved to be a new world. 
 At last a Por'-tu-guese sailor, Vas-co da Ga'-ma, 
 reached Cal'-i-cut on the western coast. Then came 
 the Dutch, the French, and the English. 
 
 In 1600 the great queen, Elizabeth, gave a 
 company of merchants permission to trade in In- 
 dia. They were called the East India Company. 
 This company built trading stations at Cal-cut'-ta 
 and Ma-dras'. Many years afterwards there was a 
 clerk in their employ at the Madras station named 
 Robert Clive. Clive was noted for his courage. 
 He once accused a young officer, with whom he was 
 playing cards, of cheating. The officer held a pis- 
 tol at Clive's head. 
 
 " Make me an apology at once," he said, " or I 
 will fire." 
 
 "Fire away, then," answered Robert; "I said 
 you cheated, and now I say it again." 
 
INDIA ^7 
 
 The officer did not fire. 
 
 At this time there was war between the French 
 and the English. The French held Arcot, a city 
 with a hundred thousand inhabitants. With only 
 five hundred men Clive attacked the city and took it. 
 
 As he came near the town a terrible thunder- 
 storm arose. The natives were afraid to fight dur- 
 ing the storm and soon surrendered. 
 
 Clive was then besieged in the city by the 
 French with ten thousand men. They had war ele- 
 phants with iron plates on their heads, which were 
 trained to butt against the gates to break them 
 down. But Clive, although besieged for many 
 weeks, drove all his enemies off and saved the town 
 for the English. 
 
 Soon after this there came terrible news from 
 Calcutta. An Indian prince, Su-ra'-jah Dow'-lah, 
 had captured the English garrison. He locked up 
 146 of them in a narrow room, where all but 
 twenty-three died of suffocation and thirst in one 
 night. 
 
 Clive determined to have revenge. He marched 
 to Calcutta with 3,000 men. He defeated the 
 Sura j ah, who had 30,000 men, in the famous battle 
 of Plas'-sey, and thus made the English power 
 strong in India. Since that time the English have 
 conquered the entire country, and the King of 
 England is Emperor of India. But he owes his 
 throne to Robert Clive more than to any other man. 
 
V. EGYPT 
 
 THE LAND OF THE XHE 
 
 About the time that Confucius was teaching 
 the Chinese to follow the good old ways of their 
 fatliers. and Buddha was teaching the Hindus 
 how to live better lives, an old Greek traveler 
 was writing about the wonderful land of Egypt. 
 '* Egypt." said he. " is the gift of the Xile.'' In 
 that country it rains not more than once in a thou- 
 sand years: but every smnmer the great river, fed 
 by the rains of Central Africa, overflows its banks. 
 All the country then becomes a great Like. The 
 houses are surrounded by water, and the boys and 
 girls go about barefooted, wading from place to 
 place. 
 
 When at last the waters go away, a thin l?yer 
 of black mud is left spread over all the country. 
 It was on this account that the country was called 
 Kent, meaning black land. 
 
 Year after year the Xile has been bringing 
 down its layer of black mud. Every year the lake 
 grows wider and the mud deeper, until now the soil 
 of Eg^'pt is deep and rich, and cotton, corn, and 
 wheat grow quickly and yield large crops to feed 
 and clothe the people. 
 
 Great dams are built to hold back the water, 
 
 38 
 
EGYPT 
 
 39 
 
 and during the long dry seasons the farmers use it 
 to water their gardens and fields. Without the 
 river this rich land would be only a barren waste of 
 sand, where neither plants nor animals could live. 
 
 The Pyramids. 
 
 Do you wonder that the old Greek traveler called 
 Egypt the " gift of the Nile "? 
 
 At the mouth of the river a great three-sided 
 piece of black soil has been left. This is called the 
 "Delta," because the Greek letter delta, or A, is 
 three-sided. The Delta is the richest land in all 
 Egypt. 
 
40 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Very long ago a company of people came into 
 the Delta to live. They found it very easy to get 
 food from the rich, black soil. They did not need 
 to plow or cultivate. They sowed the grain in the 
 soft mud, and it grew up and gave them a hundred 
 bushels for one. These people were ruled over by 
 kings. They built strong cities, with splendid tem- 
 ples, monuments, and tombs. 
 
 CHEOPS, THE PYRAMID BUILDER 
 
 One of these cities was called Mem'-phis. It 
 stood on the left bank of the Nile, and was 
 once ruled over by a great king by the name of 
 Che'-ops. 
 
 Near Memphis is a wonderful pile of stone 
 which is called the Great Pyramid. It covers as 
 much ground as five city blocks, and is nearly 
 twice as tall as the tallest building in our large 
 cities. It is built of great blocks of hard, red stone, 
 each one as large as a trolley car. The Egyptians 
 must have been good builders, for each one of these 
 stones was cut out in a quarry hundreds of miles 
 up the Nile, and brought all the way to Memphis. 
 Then they had some machinery for raising them 
 high up in the air so that they might be built into 
 the pyramid. 
 
 For hundreds of years no one knew what the 
 pyramid was for. As it was of no use to anyone, 
 men began to take away the stone to make other 
 
EGYPT 
 
 41 
 
 buildings. But one day, when a workman was busy 
 on the side of the pyramid cutting out a block of 
 stone, a piece fell through an opening and rolled 
 down inside the pyramid with a clattering sound. 
 
 Obelisk and Ruined Gate to an Egyptian Temple. 
 
 He called other workmen, and they found a 
 long passage leading into the pyramid. Follow- 
 ing this they came to three large stone rooms, one 
 
42 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN inSTORY 
 
 of which had beautiful walls and ceilings made of 
 a kind of marble polished until it shone like glass. 
 In the middle of this room was a large stone coffin. 
 There was no dead body within, but upon the walls 
 was written in many places the name of Cheops. 
 Then they knew that this king had built the pyra- 
 mid for his tomb. 
 
 There are seventy pyramids still standing along 
 the Nile, but that of Cheops is the largest. Nearly 
 all of them were meant to be the burial places of 
 kings. 
 
 The Egyptians were careful to preserve the 
 bodies of their friends, for they thought that if the 
 body should decay it could never be raised from 
 the dead; so they embalmed it with oils and spices, 
 and wound it with linen. Thousands of such em- 
 balmed bodies are found in the tombs of Egypt. 
 We call them " mummies," and some of them are 
 so well preserved that they still look like the pictures 
 and statues of the kings who once lived in them. 
 
 It is said that Cheops employed a hundred thou- 
 sand men for thirty years in building the pyramid. 
 He seized the people and made them work as 
 slaves, and even closed the temples in order that he 
 might have all the money for his work. And after 
 spending nearly all his life in building a tomb, his 
 body was not buried in it after all. The people 
 were so angry on account of his wicked deeds that 
 they would not allow it to be placed there, and the 
 
EGYPT 43 
 
 statues that he had made of himself they broke. 
 The pieces of one of them have been found. 
 
 THE SHEPHERD KINGS 
 
 If you look at the map of the continents, you 
 will see that Asia and Africa are joined together 
 by a neck of land called the Isthmus of Suez. This 
 isthmus is a green and delightful country, and 
 was very attractive to the shepherds who tended 
 their flocks among the dry hills of Par-es-tine. 
 Sometimes a famine would compel the shepherds to 
 go down into Egypt to buy food. The granaries 
 of that country were always well filled, and there 
 was plenty to sell to those who needed it. 
 
 Once the shepherd tribes joined together and 
 formed a kingdom called the Hit'-tite kingdom. 
 One of their kings led them into Egypt, and they 
 fought with the King of Memphis and drove him 
 out. They then made Egypt their own country 
 and lived there for two hundred years. 
 
 It was in the time of these shepherd kings that 
 the sons of Jacob went down to Egypt to buy corn. 
 They found that their brother Joseph, whom they 
 had sold as a slave, had become the chief officer of 
 the Egyptian king. 
 
 The Hittites were of the same race as the He- 
 brews and felt friendly toward them. So King 
 Pharaoh invited them into Egypt, and gave them 
 the land of Goshen in which to live. 
 
44 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 ram'-e-ses the great and the hittites 
 
 After a time the Egyptians drove the Hittite 
 kings out of Egypt, but the Hebrews still remained 
 in the land of Goshen. 
 
 The Hittites had formed a new kingdom near 
 the Red Sea. Rameses the Great had become King 
 of Egypt, and he was afraid the Hittites were go- 
 ing to attack his land again, so he made war on 
 them. He defeated them in a great battle at 
 Kadesh. A poet who wrote about the battle says 
 that Rameses drove his chariot right through the 
 Hittite army, scattering them right and left and 
 killing many of them. The Hittites were so ter- 
 rified that they tumbled one over another in their 
 flight. 
 
 When Rameses came back from Kadesh he 
 rode through Goshen. 
 
 " Who are these people that have these fine 
 sheep and cattle? " he asked. 
 
 He was told that they were Israelites, who 
 had come into Egypt in the time of the Shepherd 
 Kings. 
 
 " Well," said Rameses, " there are more of them 
 than there are of us, and some day they will drive 
 us out of our own country, if we do not take care." 
 
 " They belong to the same race as the Hittites," 
 his servant told him, " and they have been kept 
 hard at work, but, in spite of all that can be done 
 
EGYPT 45 
 
 to keep them down, they become stronger every 
 year." 
 
 " Let them be divided into companies of a hun- 
 dred each, and put an overseer at the head of each 
 company," said Rameses, " and set them to making 
 bricks. I am going to build a great wall to shut 
 out these enemies of Egypt." 
 
 The wall was built. It reached from the Nile 
 near Memphis to the Med-i-ter-ra'-ne-an Sea, a dis- 
 tance of ninety miles. 
 
 Then the king built a canal from the Red Sea 
 to the Nile. Along the wall and the canal he built 
 " treasure cities." These contained great store- 
 houses and forts, where food and supplies for war 
 were kept. 
 
 He had plenty of work for them, for he then 
 decided to build a new capital in the Delta. He 
 chose the treasure city Ta'-nis. There he built pal- 
 aces, temples, and gardens, and made it the most 
 beautiful place in the world. 
 
 When Rameses had finished his wall and his 
 cities he began to build temples. He finished the 
 great temple of Kar'-nak, which his father, Se'-ti, 
 began. The Hall of Columns in this temple is the 
 most wonderful structure in the world. The col- 
 umns are sixty feet high and twelve feet thick. 
 
 On the outer wall of the Karnak temple is one 
 of the most interesting things in Egypt. The 
 treaty of peace which Rameses made with the Hit- 
 
46 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 tites is carved there. This is the oldest treaty in 
 the world. In some of the larger books about 
 Egypt you may read it all. 
 
 Whatever the Egyptians build is noted for 
 great size. Rameses had a number of huge statues 
 of himself carved out of the rock. Four of these 
 stand in front of a great temple. Another, which 
 is now broken, stood fifty-four feet high — as high 
 as a four-story building. A beautiful obelisk 
 which Rameses had placed in front of his temple of 
 the sun now stands in a public square in Paris. It 
 is eighty -two feet high and cut out of a single piece 
 of pink granite. 
 
 Ruins of a Temple of Rameses. 
 
VI. ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 
 
 NATIONS THAT ARE DEAD AND BURIED 
 
 If you turn to the map of the Ancient World 
 and look in the southwestern part of Asia, you will 
 find two rivers, called Ti'-gris and Eu-phra'-tes. 
 These rivers join in the lower part of their course 
 and flow into the Persian Gulf. Like the Nile, they 
 overflow their banks in the rainy season and spread 
 a rich, dark soil over the plains. 
 
 Thousands of years ago people made their 
 homes along these rivers, because it was very easy 
 to get food. Wheat grew wild there, and when 
 cultivated yielded large crops. Palm trees of 
 many kinds were found, from which were obtained 
 bread, wine, and fruit. The bark furnished a fiber 
 for cloth, and the trunks, wood to build houses. 
 
 The clay along the river banks, and pitch found 
 in the lakes of the plains, were used to build temples 
 and palaces. The clay was molded into bricks and 
 baked in ovens. Often it was made into slabs and 
 hollow cylinders, which when soft, were written 
 over with curious wedge-shaped letters. They 
 were then baked and became clay books, which last 
 much longer than books made of paper. 
 
 Rain seldom fell in this region, but the water 
 
 47 
 
48 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 of the river was led through the land by a network 
 of canals and used to moisten the growing crops. 
 
 To-day this great river plain is almost a desert. 
 The traveler sees a vast stretch of level country, 
 with hundreds of mounds or hillocks of earth rising 
 here and there. A few thousand wandering Arabs, 
 living in small villages or tents, form the only 
 population. 
 
 Many years ago some curious travelers began 
 to dig into these mounds, and made the most won- 
 derful discoveries. They were found to be remains 
 of cities, temples, and royal palaces built by the 
 nations who lived there six thousand years ago. 
 Three great nations, one after another, ruled in 
 this land — Chal-de'-a, As-syr'-i-a, and Bab-y-lo'- 
 ni-a. We can learn much about them from the 
 Bible and from the books of old travelers. But we 
 have learned far more from the clay books, the tem- 
 ples, and carvings which have been dug out of the 
 mounds. We know little about the very earliest 
 people of Chaldea, as we call the southern half of 
 the plain, except that they were of the Yellow race, 
 and that they had a kind of picture-writing re- 
 sembling that of the Chinese. The Bible tells us 
 that Nim'-rod, the great-grandson of Noah and a 
 mighty hunter, was the first settler in this countryc 
 
ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 49 
 
 SARGON 
 
 The first great King of Chaldea was Sar'-gon I. 
 A clay cylinder tells a story about Sargon which 
 reminds us of Moses. This cylinder was written 
 by Sargon's son and ]jlaced in a temple. It says: 
 " My mother put me in an ark of bulrushes and 
 closed up the door with pitch. She threw me into 
 the river." A water-carrier found the little Sar- 
 gon and brought him up. 
 
 Sargon was the founder of the first public libra- 
 ries. He translated the books of the older race 
 into his own language and placed them in these 
 libraries for the people to read. 
 
 These clay books contain stories of the gods of 
 the Chaldeans, and prayers and hymns addressed 
 to them. There are astronomies, geographies, his- 
 tories, and arithmetics. There is a story of the 
 Creation, of the Garden of Eden and the Tree of 
 Life, of the Flood and the Tower of Babel, nearly 
 as it is found in the Book of Genesis. There is a 
 story of a great hero named Iz-du-bar", who per- 
 formed twelve labors, reminding us of the story of 
 Her'-cu-les. 
 
 The Chaldeans were famous astronomers. As 
 the land was level and the sky clear, it was easy for 
 them to study tlie stars. They divided the year into 
 twelve months, and the day and night into twelve 
 hours each. They invented the weeks of seven 
 
50 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 days, the last day of each week being, hke our Sun- 
 day, given to rest. The Chaldeans pretended to 
 foretell events by a study of the stars. They in- 
 vented weights and measures, made linens, muslin, 
 and silk, engraved gems, and were the first to be- 
 gin trade with other nations. Their gods were the 
 heavenly bodies, the earth, and the waters. They 
 also worshiped good and evil spirits, which they 
 represented as monsters, part animal and part 
 human. 
 
 The Chaldeans were the wisest people of an- 
 cient times, and much of their wisdom has come all 
 the way down to us. 
 
 Chaldea was at last conquered by the As-syr'- 
 i-ans, a strong nation which had grown up in the 
 northern part of the plain. Their chief city was 
 Nin'-e-veh. But the Chaldeans were a peaceful 
 people, devoted to useful occupations, while the 
 Assyrians were cruel and warlike, giving all their 
 energy to conquest and plunder. The cities they 
 conquered were ruled with great severity, and the 
 prisoners taken were often tortured and put to 
 death. 
 
 The palace of the Assyrian kings has been dug 
 up from the great mound which contains all that 
 is left of the city of Nineveh. In one room thou- 
 sands of clay books were found, and cylinders which 
 give accounts of the deeds of great kings. The 
 carved walls of the palace show scenes in the life 
 
ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 
 
 51 
 
 of a monarch, such as the taking of a city, the tor- 
 turing of captives, and the king on a Hon hunt. 
 
 One clay cyhnder tells of another Sargon, who 
 invaded Sa-ma'-ri-a and carried the ten tribes of 
 Israel away into captivity. 
 
 Sen-nach'-e-rib, the son of Sargon, made war 
 
 An Assyrian King Hunting. 
 
 on Hez-e-ki'-ah, king of Judah. 'The royal tab- 
 let reads: "I took forty-six of his strong, fenced 
 cities. . . . And Hezekiah I shut up in Jerusalem 
 like a bird in a cage, building towers to hem him in, 
 and raising banks of earth to prevent his escape." 
 But a great calamity came upon the army of the 
 
52 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Assyrian, compelling him to retreat. The Bible 
 tells us that one hundred and eighty-five thousand 
 of his men died, '' smitten by the angel of the 
 Lord." 
 
 For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, 
 And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ; 
 And the eves of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill. 
 And their hearts but once heaved — and forever gi-ew still. 
 
 And the widows of Asshur are loud in their wail. 
 And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal ; 
 And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, 
 Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord. 
 
 sar-da-na-pa'-lus 
 
 Another noted Assyrian king was Asshur-bani- 
 par, or Sar-da-na-pa'-lus, as he was called by th( 
 Greeks. He was the king who decorated the walL^ 
 of the palace at Nineveh with the scenes of his bat- 
 tles. He was a swift and terrible warrior, and did 
 really, as he says, " break his enemies into pieces " 
 and " level their cities with the ground." He built 
 splendid palaces and made great collections of 
 books. After being buried for two thousand five 
 hundred years, .his library has been dug up, and 
 we have learned much from it about Chaldea and 
 Assyria. 
 
 NEB-U-CHAD-NEZ'-ZAR 
 
 After seven centuries of Assyrian rule, Chal- 
 dea, or Babylonia, as the later nation was called. 
 
ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 53 
 
 rebelled and became independent. Under Neb-u- 
 chad-nez'-zar it joined with the king of Media, and 
 destroyed the city of Nineveh. This king was the 
 Napoleon of ancient times. He conquered every 
 kingdom from the Za'-gros mountains to the Medi- 
 terranean Sea. He captured Jerusalem, put King 
 Zed-e-ki'-ah to death, burned the beautiful temple 
 of Solomon, and carried away all the people of any 
 note to Babylon, where they remained for seventy 
 years. 
 
 But his greatest work was the rebuilding of the 
 city of Babylon. The new city was ten miles 
 square, surrounded by a wall eighty feet high, of 
 vast width, and surmounted by two hundred and 
 fifty towers. On each of the four sides of the city 
 were twenty-five gates of brass. Outside the wall 
 was a broad and deep ditch, filled with water. The 
 Euphrates river ran through the middle of the city. 
 There were many wharves on each side of the river. 
 
 The streets were laid out straight, and beautiful 
 green fields, gardens, and parks were frequent. 
 The king's palace, and the Hanging Gardens near 
 it, excited the wonder of every traveler. The 
 Hanging Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar 
 to please his queen, A-my'-tis. A series of square 
 platforms, each smaller than the one below it, were 
 supported on stone arches. The whole structure 
 sloped upward like a pyramid^ and rose to the height 
 of seventy-five feet. Each platform was filled 
 
54 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 with earth, and planted with trees and flowers, so 
 that the whole structure looked like small moun- 
 tains covered with plants. Thus it reminded Amy- 
 tis of the green hills of her own country, Media. 
 The palace and Gardens were inclosed by a wall 
 three miles in circumference. 
 
 The great temple of Bel, the chief Babylonian 
 god, was another wonderful building. It was a 
 quarter of a mile in length and breadth. A stair- 
 way wound around the outside of the temple to the 
 top. Each stage or story became smaller as you 
 ascended. There were, in all, seven stories, each 
 sacred to one of the seven heavenly bodies that were 
 known to them. 
 
 In the midst of his beautiful city, in the royal 
 palace, Nebuchadnezzar stood one day listening to 
 an explanation of a dream by the Hebrew captive, 
 Daniel. " Thou shalt be driven from men, and thy 
 dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. 
 Wherefore, O king, break off thy sins by right- 
 eousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy 
 to the poor." But the proud king replied: " Is not 
 this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal 
 dwelling place, by the might of my power, and for 
 the glory of my majesty? " 
 
 And in the same hour a disease came upon the 
 king which drove him from among men, and he 
 " ate grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the 
 dew of heaven." 
 
ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 55 
 
 A few years later Babylon was taken by the 
 Persian king, Cy'-rus, who entered the city at night 
 by turning the Euphrates out of its course and 
 marching through the bed of the river. 
 
 The last king, Bel-shaz-zar, was giving a ban- 
 quet to his lords that night, and the city was given 
 up to feasting and song. The Persians found the 
 river gates unguarded, and their army reached the 
 center of the city before being discovered. 
 
VII. THE PHOE-NI'CIANS 
 
 Phoe-ni'-cia was a little strip of seacoast north- 
 west of Par-es-tine, along the Med-i-ter-ra'-ne-an 
 Sea. The people who lived there were Ca'-naan- 
 ites, who had come into the land from the East long 
 before A'-bra-ham left Haran (p. 59). 
 
 The rough, rocky soil did not tempt the Phoe- 
 ni'-cians to become farmers; but the great blue 
 waters before them, and the splendid cedar forests 
 which covered their mountains, made them the first 
 sailors who ever sailed out of sight of land. 
 
 They were good workmen, too. We shall read 
 how they were employed by King Solomon to build 
 the temple at Je-ru'-sa-lem. They could work 
 metals, make glass and cloth, and cut jewels. It is 
 said that some shipwrecked Phoenician sailors once 
 built a great fire on a sandy shore where there were 
 many shells ground up by the waves. Shells are 
 made of lime. The fire melted the sand and lime 
 into glass, thus teaching the sailors how to make 
 this very useful article. The Tyr'-i-an purple 
 was a rich cloth famous all over the world. The 
 purple dye was obtained from a small shellfish that 
 was found along their coast. 
 
 To obtain metals for their workmen, they sailed 
 into every part of the Mediterranean and Black 
 seas, and even out into the Atlantic Ocean to Gaul 
 
 56 
 
THE PHOENICIANS 57 
 
 and Britain. They brought gold and silver from 
 Spain, copper from Cyprus, and iron and tin from 
 Britain. They brought pearls from the East, lions' 
 and panthers' skins from Africa, linen from Egypt, 
 and perfumes and spices from Arabia. They made 
 all these into useful articles, and sold them in all 
 parts of the world. 
 
 The Phoenicians had colonies along the coasts 
 where they traded. Cadiz, in Spain, and Carthage 
 are two of their famous colonies. Being mer- 
 chants, they had to have some way of writing and 
 of keeping accounts. In order to do this, they ob- 
 tained in Egypt twenty-two of the picture-letters 
 of the priests. These they changed into letters like 
 ours, and gave each letter a name. This alphabet 
 they taught to all nations with whom they traded. 
 And so it happened that the Greeks and Romans, 
 the Germans, and the people of Spain and France, 
 received a knowledge of writing. 
 
 Almost the only king of Phoenicia whose name 
 has come down to us is that of Hiram, who is men- 
 tioned in the Bible. Althovigh these people in- 
 vented the alphabet, they wrote no books, and so we 
 know little about them. Of Hiram we only know 
 that he was Solomon's friend and furnished him the 
 materials to build the temple. 
 
 The ships and sailors of Phoenicia carried goods 
 for nearly every nation of ancient times. They 
 carried timber to Assyria and Babylonia to con- 
 
58 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 struct the palaces of kings. When Xerx'-es wanted 
 to bridge the Her-les-pont, to carry his armies into 
 Greece, it was the Phoenicians who furnished the 
 boats for the bridge. The King of Egypt hired 
 their sailors to find a route around Africa by sea. 
 After a voyage lasting 'several years, they sailed 
 their ships out of the Red Sea and back through 
 the Mediterranean to the mouth of the Nile. 
 
 After many centuries the Phoenician nation 
 was conquered by the Greeks and Romans, and 
 died out. Nothing but tombs and a few ruins re- 
 main. But we will remember them on account of 
 the alphabet, for no invention has done so much 
 good to the nations of the world as this. 
 
VIII. THE HEBREWS 
 
 About f(3ur thousand years a^o, when Chaldea 
 was yet a great kingdom, one of the descendants of 
 Shem left his native city of Ur, in Chaldea, and 
 moved with his family into the desert to the wxst. 
 His name was Te'-rah, and he made his home at 
 Ha'-ran. There he died, and his son Abram came 
 into possession of all his goods. 
 
 Abram became tired of life in the desert. He 
 had heard of a fertile land farther west, nearer the 
 great sea. 
 
 Once he heard a voice speaking to him and tell- 
 ing him to leave Haran with his family and goods. 
 The voice told him that he should have many de- 
 scendants, and that his name should be changed to 
 A'-bra-ham, which means " father of nations." 
 
 So Abraham began to lead a wandering life. 
 He went westward into Ca'-naan, as the country 
 between Babylonia and Phoenicia was then called. 
 This country was the home of wandering tribes, 
 who lived in tents and moved from place to place 
 to find grass for their cattle and sheep. 
 
 Abraham's family and servants soon became 
 such a tribe. They were called Hebrews, a word 
 meaning " from the other side," because they came 
 from the other side of the Euphrates River. For a 
 long time he lived at Shec'-hem, on the w^est of the 
 
 59 
 
60 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 river Jordan. Once, in a time of famine, he went 
 into Egypt to live. He soon became very rich in 
 flocks and herds. 
 
 At last he died, and his son, Isaac, became 
 chief of the Hebrews. When Isaac died, his son, 
 Jacob, became the head of the tribe. Jacob had 
 twelve sons. Joseph was the youngest, and his 
 father loved him so much that the older brothers 
 became jealous. Once, when Joseph was sent to 
 them with a message, they seized him and sold him 
 to a company of traveling merchants. The mer- 
 chants took him to Egypt and sold him to Pot'-i- 
 phar, the chief servant of the king. Joseph was so 
 honest and faithful that he became the chief ser- 
 vant of Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. 
 
 When Jacob had become old another terrible 
 famine came into the land of Canaan. He sent his 
 sons into Egypt to buy food. They were brought 
 to Joseph, and he knew his brothers, although they 
 did not know him. 
 
 After a time Joseph brought his father, his 
 brothers, and their families into Egypt to live — 
 seventy-two persons in all. He gave them homes 
 in Goshen, a fertile region north of the Red Sea. 
 
 THE HEBREWS LEAVE EGYPT 
 
 For many years the Hebrews continued to live 
 in the land of Goshen; but at last the King of 
 Egypt began to treat them as slaves and oppressed 
 
THE HEBREWS 61 
 
 them in many ways. In order that they might not 
 become too numerous, he caused all the male chil- 
 dren to be killed. Of course, this order was not 
 carried out. One of the little ones that escaped 
 was adopted by the king's daughter and grew up 
 as a prince in the king's court. His name was 
 Moses, and he afterwards led the children of Israel 
 out of Egypt into the wilderness, where they re- 
 mained wandering back and forth for forty years. 
 
 After the death of JNIoses, Joshua became the 
 leader of the people. They invaded the land of 
 Canaan, took possession of it, and divided it among 
 the twelve tribes. For 200 years, the tribes were 
 governed by judges; but at last, so many enemies 
 appeared and the people became so rebellious, that 
 a king was chosen to rule over them. 
 
 The first of the Hebrew kings was Saul. He 
 was a brave soldier and defended the country 
 against its enemies, but he disobeyed the commands 
 of God, and the prophet, Samuel, was commanded 
 to choose a new king. 
 
 The new king was David, who became the great- 
 est of the kings of the Hebrew people. He con- 
 quered their enemies, and established his capital at 
 Jerusalem. He built many cities and traded with 
 the Phoenicians, who lived along the ^lediterranean 
 Sea. He collected vast quantities of gold, silver, 
 and cedar wood to build a great temple at Jeru- 
 salem. His son, Solomon, who succeeded him. 
 
62 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 built the temple, which was one of the most beau- 
 tiful buildings in the world. 
 
 After the death of King Solomon, the land was 
 divided into two kingdoms. This made the people 
 weaker, and they fell a prey to the kings of Assyria 
 and Babylonia. Finally, in the days of the Romans, 
 the Hebrew kingdom was utterly destroyed, and 
 the country became a Roman province. 
 
IX. MEDIA AND PERSIA 
 
 In the highlands east of the Ti'-gris River lived 
 two nations, the Medes and the Persians. They 
 were of the Aryan branch of the white race, and 
 had come from the region of Bac'-tri-a, along the 
 Oxus River. We have read of a Median princess 
 who became the queen of Nebuchadnezzar, and of 
 a Persian king who took the Bab'-y-lon-i-an king- 
 dom under Bel-shaz'zar. 
 
 The Medes at first ruled over the Persians, but 
 when Cy'-rus became King of Persia he conquered 
 the Medes and founded the Persian Empire, the 
 greatest nation that had yet appeared in the world. 
 
 The first great king of the Medes was Cy-ax'-a- 
 res. We have read in the story of As-syr'-i-a how 
 he joined with Nebuchadnezzar and destroyed Nin'- 
 e-veh and its last king, Sar-da-na-pa'-lus. It is 
 said that Sardanapalus heaped all his possessions 
 together into a great heap, and when the Medes 
 and Babylonians burst into his city he set fire to it 
 and died in the flames. 
 
 As-ty'-a-ges, the son of Cyaxares, was the next 
 King of ^ledia. 
 
 CYRUS THE GREAT 
 
 The Greek traveler and historian, He-rod'-o-tus, 
 
 63 
 
 tells the story of how Cyrus became king 
 
64 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Astyages had dreamed that his daughter, Man- 
 da'-ne, would bring trouble to his kingdom, so he 
 married her to a Persian chief, Cam-by'-ses, and 
 sent her out of his country, hoping thus to avoid 
 any trouble she might cause him. When her son 
 Cyrus was born, Astyages dreamed again that the 
 child would one day become King of Media instead 
 of him. He consulted his wise men, and they ad- 
 vised him to kill Cyrus. He invited his daughter 
 to bring the child to his court. He then sent for 
 Har'-pa-gus, one of his chief nobles, and gave him 
 the baby in a basket, ordering him to put it to death 
 and bury it. 
 
 But Harpagus, fearing to bring trouble upon 
 himself, called in one of the king's herdsmen, to 
 whom he gave the child. He told the man what 
 the king had commanded, and directed him to ex- 
 pose the child upon the mountains. " After it is 
 dead," said Harpagus, " send for me, and I will 
 send one of my trusted servants to see the body, 
 that I may be sure the king's will has been carried 
 out." 
 
 The herdsman took the little Cyrus to his home, 
 and told the story to his wife. It happened that 
 her own baby had just died, so she put the dead 
 child in the basket, and brought up Cyrus as her 
 own son. 
 
 When Cyrus was ten years old he was one day 
 playing with the other boys of the village a game 
 
MEDIA AND PERSIA 65 
 
 which they called " choosing a king." One of their 
 number was made king. The king would then 
 choose his officers and give them various duties to 
 perform. On the day that Cyrus was chosen, one 
 of the boys, who was the son of a nobleman of the 
 court, refused to obey the orders of the cowherd's 
 son. Whereupon Cyrus, in true Persian fashion, 
 had him tied up and beaten with rods. The noble- 
 man complained to King Astyages of the treatment 
 his son had received, and the cowherd and his sup- 
 posed son were summoned. Astyages recognized 
 the royal boy, and compelled the herdsman to tell 
 the whole story. 
 
 When he asked his wise men what he should do 
 with Cyrus, they told him that when the boys made 
 Cyrus king his dream had been fulfilled, and that 
 there was no further danger. So Astyages sent 
 him back to his parents in Persia. 
 
 But the king was terribly enraged at Harpagus, 
 who had failed to carry out his commands. In his 
 anger, he actually seized a young son of Harpagus 
 and cruelly killed him. The king then told Har- 
 pagus what he had done. 
 
 " Whatever the king does is well," said Harpa- 
 gus ; but in his heart he began planning revenge. 
 
 The Persians had long been weary of the rule 
 of Media, and when Cyrus had grown to manhood 
 it seemed a good time to rebel. Harpagus now 
 saw a good chance to get revenge upon King Asty- 
 
66 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 ages for the murder of his son. He sent a secret 
 message to Cyrus, urging him to gather his soldiers 
 and attack Media. " The army of Astyages," he 
 said, " will desert to your side." Astyages heard 
 that Cyrus was raising men, and sent an invitation 
 to visit him at Ec-bat'-a-na, his capital city. " Tell 
 him," said Cyrus to the king's messenger, " that I 
 will be there when he is ready to receive me." 
 
 Astyages did not suspect Harpagus, and had 
 put him in command of his army. When Cyrus 
 advanced into Media, Harpagus deserted with his 
 men and joined the Persians. Astyages was made 
 prisoner, and Cyrus became the king of the Medes 
 and Persians. 
 
 DARIUS 
 
 The next great king was Da-ri'-us. He was the 
 first king of a new family. That no one should 
 ever be in doubt as to his race, he had this inscrip- 
 tion cut on his tomb: " Darius, the great king, the 
 king of kings; the king of all inhabited countries; 
 the king of the great earth far and near ; the son of 
 Hys-tas'-pes, a Persian, the son of a Persian; an 
 Aryan, of Aryan descent." 
 
 Darius made peace everywhere. Then he built 
 great roads throughout his empire, all leading to 
 Susa, his capital. He coined new money for the 
 empire. At Be-his-tun', in Persia, he made smooth 
 the face of a lofty rock, and had carved upon it an 
 
MEDIA AND PERSIA 67 
 
 account of all his deeds, in three languages, in the 
 old picture-writing of Chaldea. It has been the 
 chief means of helping us to learn this strange 
 language. 
 
 Having secured j^eace within his empire, by put- 
 ting down a number of small rebellions, Darius then 
 set out to conquer new lands. There were still two 
 countries where the Persian armies had not reached 
 — India on the east and Greece on the west. The 
 king was especially angry with the Greeks, for 
 wlien he sent envoys there to demand earth and 
 water as a sign of submission, the A-the'-ni-aiiS ana 
 Spar'-tans threw his messengers into wells head 
 foremost, and bade them " help themselves to earth 
 and water." 
 
 The army which he sent into India was victori- 
 ous, and the whole northwestern part of that coun- 
 try was added to Persian rule. The story of his 
 attacks upon Greece, and of his son, Xerxes, w ill be 
 told in the chapter on Greece. 
 
 The religion of the Persians was the worship of 
 one god, whom they called Or'-mazd. They be- 
 lieved also in a bad spirit, whom they called Ah'-ri- 
 man. After a time new religion teachers, called 
 JNIagi, appeared, who taught the worship of the 
 Sun, or of fire. The descendants of the fire-wor- 
 shipers are found today in India, and are known 
 as Parsees'. Zo-ro-as'-ter was the great prophet, 
 or religious teacher, of the Persians. He lived in 
 
68 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Bac-tri-a before the race emigrated to Persia. His 
 book of religion is called the " Zend-Aves'-ta," and 
 still exists. Deceit of every kind was hateful to the 
 Persians, and contrary to their religion. He-rod'- 
 o-tus says they taught their boys three things: *' to 
 ride, to shoot with the bow, and to speak the truth." 
 
X. GREECE 
 
 Greece consists of the most southern penin- 
 sula of Europe. It is a small country, but in early- 
 times it was divided into twenty-four little states, 
 each one managing its own affairs. 
 
 The coast line is very ragged, with many inlets 
 and bays. This made it easy for ships to sail to 
 any part of the country. Then there were hun- 
 dreds of little islands, which stretched away across 
 the sea to the shore of Asia. You will see why it 
 was that the Greeks soon became the most famous 
 sailors in the world. They became the rivals of 
 the Phoe-ni'-cians, and, in the end, took their place 
 as the leading merchant people of the world. 
 
 In the early days the Greek states had kings: 
 but the people finally put down their kings, and car- 
 ried on the governments themselves. The Greeks, 
 like the JNIedes and Persians, were of the Aryan 
 branch of the white race. In early times, of which 
 we know but little, they had wandered westward 
 along the northern shore of the Black Sea into 
 Greece. The name Greek was not used by them. 
 They called themselves Hel-le'-nes, and their coun- 
 try Hel'-las. These words come from the name 
 Her-len, the ancestor from whom all the Greeks 
 were thought to be descended. 
 
 We are very uncertain as to just what happened 
 in Greece before 776 b. c. At that time writing 
 began; but the Greeks had lived in their country 
 
 69 
 
GREECE 
 
 71 
 
 at least a thousand years before. All that we 
 know of this early period is found in the poems 
 of Homer and He'-si-od, who recited their poems 
 about one hundred years before the first records 
 were made. 
 
 A Wall Built by the Early Inhabitants of Greece. 
 
 Hesiod tells about the creation of the world 
 and the birth of the gods, and Homer tells of the 
 great deeds of the early heroes. 
 
 TIEE GODS OF GREECE 
 
 Hesiod tells us that first in order of time came 
 Cha'-os, or Confusion. Out of Chaos came Heaven 
 and Earth. The children of Heaven and Earth 
 
72 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 were the Titans, or giants, the Cy'-clops, and 
 the Cent-i-ma'-nes, or hundred-handed tieings. 
 
 Cro'-nos, a Titan, 
 married R h e ' a. 
 Their children were 
 Hes'-ti-a, De-me^- 
 ter, He'- re, and 
 three sons, Ha'-des, 
 Po-sei'-don, and 
 Zeus. We are better 
 acquainted with 
 these deities under 
 their Latin names — 
 Ves'-ta, Ce'-res, Ju'- 
 no, Plu'-to, Nep'- 
 tune, and Ju'-pi-ter. 
 Jupiter and his 
 brothers engaged 
 in a war against 
 their father. A 
 desperate struggle, 
 lasting ten years, 
 followed, in which 
 all the gods, god- 
 desses, and Titans 
 took part. Jupiter 
 and his followers 
 occupied Mount O-lym'-pus, while Cronos and 
 his Titans stood on Mount Oth'-rys. Crags and 
 
 Ulysses Bending His Bow, 
 
GREECE 
 
 73 
 
 mountains were hurled back and forth. The noise 
 and thunder of the battle caused the distant ocean 
 to boil, and all nature was in confusion. 
 
 Finally, Jupiter, aided by his thunder and hght- 
 
 Wars of the Gods and Titans. 
 
 ning, conquered. These terrible weapons were fur- 
 nished him by the Cyclops (round-eyed), whom he 
 had released from their gloomy prison, Tar'-tar- 
 us, under the earth, where Cronos had imprisoned 
 them. Cronos and his Titans were then thrust 
 
74 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 down there instead, to remain forever. Neptune 
 built a great wall of brass around them, and the 
 hundred -handed giants were placed on guard in 
 front of the entrance. 
 
 Jupiter had many wives. A-poF-lo and Diana 
 were his children. JMinerva, the goddess of wis- 
 dom, sprang full-grown from his brain. He mar- 
 ried Ma'-ia, the daughter of At-las, and their son 
 was Mer-cu-ry. His last and permanent wife was 
 Juno, and their children were Mars, the god of 
 war, and Vul-can, the divine mechanic who made 
 armor and weapons for the gods and heroes. Ve'- 
 nus, the goddess of love, sprang from the foam of 
 the sea near the island of Cyth'-e-ra. 
 
 Thus we have the twelve great gods and god- 
 desses who lived on Mount Olympus and ruled the 
 world. Besides these twelve there were many 
 other divinities of less importance, such as the 
 Muses, the Fates, the Graces, the Dry'-ads of the 
 woods, and the nymphs of the streams and foun- 
 tains. Then came the Har'-pies, the Gor'-gons, 
 the three-headed dog Cer'-be-rus, the Hy'-dra, the 
 Cen'-taurs, the Sphinx, the winged-horse Peg'-a- 
 sus, and a hundred others. Death, Strife, Sleep, 
 I^aw, and similar objects, were often looked upon 
 as divine persons. 
 
 The deeds of the heroes are the first things we 
 read of in the story of Greece. For this reason we 
 call the early times '' the heroic age." Every city 
 
GREECE 
 
 75 
 
 and village had its hero, whose deeds were told in 
 song and story. Some heroes became so famous 
 that their renown spread throughout Hellas. Such 
 were Ja'-son, Her'-cu-les, A-chil'-les, The'seus, and 
 Ulysses. Then there were great adventures in 
 
 Jupiter. 
 
 which many heroes took part. The most noted of 
 these were the Ar-go-nau'-tic Ex-pe-di-tion in 
 search of the golden fleece, The Trojan War, The 
 Seven against Thebes, and the Cal-y-do'-ni-an 
 Hunt. These stories were told over and over in 
 
76 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 old Greek poems. Ulysses, or Odysseus, is the hero 
 of the famous "Odyssey" of Homer. 
 
 After the return of the Greeks the Heroic Age 
 of Greece came to an end. Instead of myths we 
 find history. The Greeks had already received the 
 alphabet from the Phcenicians, and they began to 
 make a record of the leading events in each state. 
 
 LEAGUES, ORACLES, AND GAMES 
 
 In the days of the heroes it was believed that 
 the gods and goddesses came down to earth and 
 talked with men. But in later times it was thought 
 that they chose certain places where they spoke 
 through a priestess. 
 
 Such places were called " oracles," and the mes- 
 sage which the gods gave was also called an 
 " oracle." 
 
 The god Apollo was especially the one who re- 
 vealed the future. There were about twenty of 
 his oracles scattered through Greece, and a smaller 
 number of those of Jupiter. 
 
 When one wished to ask a question of an oracle, 
 a gift had to be made for the support of the temple. 
 The priestess would then listen to the question, and 
 after several days of fasting and ceremony she 
 would write the answer. 
 
 The oracle of Apollo at Del'-phi was the most 
 noted in all Greece. There a temple was built over 
 a cleft in the rock, through which a gas arose out 
 
GREECE 77 
 
 of the earth. The priestess sat on a stone over this 
 cleft and breathed the gas. It was then that the 
 god was thought to tell her how to answer the 
 questioner. 
 
 The Greeks had the greatest respect for the 
 oracles. After a time there was much money 
 stored in the temples, made up of the gifts which 
 had been brought by those who came to inquire c^f 
 the oracles. 
 
 As it was necessary to protect these treasures, 
 the cities in the neighborhood of an oracle formed 
 unions to keep the oracle free and to protect t)ie 
 temple. The most important of these unions was 
 that of Delphi. Men chosen from each state in 
 this league formed a council, and important ques- 
 tions were decided by them. Often they could stop 
 wars. 
 
 In case of a war they would not allow any town 
 in the union to be destroyed, or the running water 
 cut off. They built good roads leading to the tem- 
 ple, and protected all those who traveled thereon. 
 Thus the oracles and unions were a means of keep- 
 ing the cities friendly to one another, and of unit- 
 ing them against enemies. 
 
 Another important thing in Greek life was the 
 Sacred Games. The Greeks thought that the souls 
 of the dead were pleased by the same things that 
 they had enjoyed in life. So games were held, 
 such as boxing, leaping, running, and wrestling, 
 
78 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 near the tombs of their heroes. After a time these 
 games were held in the honor of the gods. 
 
 The most important of the Sacred Games were 
 those held at O-lym'-pi-a, every four years, in honor 
 of Jupiter. There was a splendid temple at Olym- 
 pia, and the statue within it, called the Olympian 
 Jupiter, was one of the wonders of the world. 
 
 The first games were held in 776 B.C.; the sec- 
 ond in 772 B.C. This period of four years was 
 called an O-lym'-pi-ad. The Greeks reckoned time 
 by Olympiads. They would tell you, for example, 
 that Co-roe'-bus won the foot-race in the first year 
 of the first Olympiad. 
 
 Greeks from every part of the world attended 
 the Sacred Games. During the games no war or 
 military expedition could be begun. The victors 
 in the sports received the highest honors and rich 
 rewards from their native cities. The reward 
 given in the field was a simple wreath of laurel, or 
 olive, twined about the head. 
 
 After a time it was the custom for poets and 
 historians to bring their best writings to read at the 
 games. A kind of fair was also held, where mer- 
 chants sold or exchanged their goods. All this 
 made the Greeks more friendly one to another, and 
 prevented many quarrels. 
 
 Besides those at Olympia, Sacred Games were 
 held at Delphi, in honor of Apollo ; at Cor'-inth, in 
 honor of Nep'-tune; and at Ne-me'-a, in honor of 
 Jupiter. 
 
GREECE 79 
 
 ATHENS AND SPARTA, AND THEIR LAWGIVERS 
 
 After the return of the Greeks from the Trojan 
 War there was a great deal of confusion in Greece. 
 This was caused by many people changing their 
 homes. 
 
 There were four branches of the Greeks: the 
 Do'-ri-ans, I-o'-ni-ans, ^-o'-li-ans, and A-chse'- 
 ans. The Dorians moved south into the Pel-o- 
 pon-ne'-sus, or Mo-re'-a, as we now call it, and 
 drove out the Achseans, who lived there. The 
 Achseans in turn crowded out the ^olians to the 
 north. 
 
 The result of all this was that many Greeks 
 of all races crossed over to Asia and established 
 colonies along the shores of the Aegean Sea. 
 It took a long time for the country to become quiet 
 again. When the confusion was over, we find that 
 two cities had become more powerful than the rest — 
 Sparta, in southern Greece, and Athens, in central 
 Greece. These two cities established a kind of 
 leadership over the others, and afterwards became 
 rivals for the first place. 
 
 The noble families became jealous of the kings, 
 and drove them out. They then governed the cities 
 themselves. When a few people have control, we 
 call the government an oK-i-gar-chy. 
 
 Next, we find the common people rising up 
 against the nobles. Some brave man would become 
 
80 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 their leader. They would then put down the 
 nobles. To do this, an army had to be raised. The 
 crafty leader would get control of the army, and 
 after the nobles were driven out he would set him- 
 self up as chief ruler. Such a ruler the Greeks 
 called a ty'-rant. This meant one who ruled with- 
 out authority, but not a bad ruler, for a tyrant 
 might be a good man. 
 
 One of the most noted tyrants was Pi-sis'-tra- 
 tus of Athens. One day he came running into the 
 market-place with a number of wounds upon his 
 body, which he had made himself. 
 
 " See," he cried to the people, " how the nobles 
 have treated me, because I have been your friend! " 
 
 The people at once gave him a guard of fifty 
 men. He soon gathered a much larger force, 
 seized the A-crop'-o-lis, or hill, where there was a 
 strong fort, and made himself master of the city. 
 Pisistratus ruled Athens for thirty-three years. 
 He made the city beautiful with parks and fine 
 buildings. He gathered a large library and gave 
 it to the people, and collected and published for the 
 first time the poems of Homer. 
 
 Another tyrant who was a friend to educa- 
 tion was Per-i-an'-der of Corinth. The Greeks 
 thought so well of him that they counted him 
 among their seven wisest men. 
 
 The Greeks were too fond of liberty to submit 
 very long to the rule of the tyrants. They were 
 
GREECE 81 
 
 soon put down, and free governments established. 
 Athens and other Ionian cities had dem-o-crat'-ie 
 governments — that is, the people ruled. Sparta 
 and the other Dorian cities were ruled by a few of 
 the nobles. 
 
 In times of strife and trouble it usually happens 
 that some wise man appears who makes good laws 
 or plans a new kind of government. Ma'-nu in 
 India, Me'-nes in Egypt, and Moses, the leader of 
 the Hebrews, were such lawgivers. 
 
 The lawgiver who planned the government of 
 Sparta was Ly-cur'-gus. Before undertaking his 
 great work in Sparta, he is said to have traveled 
 in India and Egypt, studying the laws of those 
 countries. He went to Crete to learn about the 
 laws of ]\Ii'-nos, the first king and lawgiver of that 
 island. He then came home and made the laws 
 of Sparta. 
 
 When his work was done, he went to consult the 
 oracle at Delphi. He made the people promise to 
 obey all his laws until he should return. In answer 
 to his questions about the welfare of Sparta, the 
 oracle told him that his country would " prosper as 
 long as she should obey his laws." 
 
 Lycurgus sent this answer to his countrymen, 
 and then went far away into a strange country, and 
 died an exile. No one knew what became of him, 
 but the Spartans always honored his memory with 
 temples and with festivals. 
 
C2 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 In Sparta there were two kings, each to keep 
 watch of the other. Laws were made by an 
 assembly of all the men over thirty years of 
 age. There was at first a senate of twenty-eight 
 men to conduct the government, but later all the 
 power was given to ^ve men called eph'-ors, or 
 overseers. 
 
 The object of Lycurgus's laws was to make a 
 race of warriors. The Spartans trained the body 
 by athletic exercises. The boys practiced the use 
 of weapons until they became very expert. But 
 reading, writing, and oratory were despised. 
 They had martial music, for that gave the soldiers 
 courage. The children were taken from their 
 parents at the age of seven and brought up by the 
 government. From that time until the age of 
 sixty they never returned to their homes, except for 
 a visit. All ate at the public tables. The food 
 was of the simplest kind, but no complaints were 
 ever heard. An Athenian who once dined with 
 them said he saw why the Spartans were not afraid 
 of death. " For anyone," he said, " would prefer 
 death to living on such food as this." 
 
 The Spartans built no walls or defenses for 
 their city. A traveler once asked the Spartan king, 
 " Where are your walls? " 
 
 " These are our walls," the king replied as he 
 pointed to his soldiers. 
 
 Athens was just the opposite of Sparta. There 
 
GREECE 83 
 
 the body was trained, but only that the mind might 
 be made better. 
 
 The people ruled in Athens, and there were no 
 kings. The last Athenian king was Co'-drus, who 
 gave his life for his country, in this way: The 
 Dorians had invaded the land, and the oracle said 
 that " if the king should die the country would be 
 safe." Codrus went out with only one companion, 
 and attacked the enemy. He was soon killed. 
 
 His successor was called simply ar'-chon, or 
 ruler, for the Athenians said that " no one was 
 worthy to be called king after Codrus." 
 
 After a time a strife arose between the nobles 
 and the people, and Dra'-co was appointed to pre- 
 pare new laws. 
 
 These laws were so severe that it was said they 
 were " written in blood, not ink." Draco said, 
 " The smallest offenses deserve death, and I know 
 of no severer punishment for the great ones." 
 
 The people soon murmured against Draco's 
 laws, and So'-lon, another of the " seven wise men," 
 was chosen to make new laws. His laws were 
 noted for their mildness. 
 
 Under the laws of Draco a man could be sold 
 into slavery for debt. Solon did away with this. 
 He gave all power to the assembly of all the people, 
 in which every man had the right to speak. This 
 assembly selected the nine archons, and a senate of 
 four hmidred. 
 
84 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 After the tyrants had been driven out, another 
 lawgiver, named CUs'-the-nes, arose. He divided 
 all the people of At'-ti-ca into ten tribes, and 
 increased the number of the senate to five 
 hundred. 
 
 Clisthenes also introduced the practice of os'- 
 tra-cism. This was a way of getting rid of a 
 troublesome man by exiling him for ten years. It 
 was so called from the word ostrakon, which means 
 a shell. If six thousand persons handed in a man's 
 name written on a shell, that man had to leave the 
 country. 
 
 Under this good government Athens soon be- 
 came the strongest state in Greece. Such progress 
 did she make that the Spartans became jealous of 
 her, and tried to change her government and set up 
 one like their own. 
 
 But Sparta failed. Her armies were twice de- 
 feated, and Athens became stronger than ever. 
 
 GREECE AND PERSIA 
 
 When Darius was trying to subdue the revolt 
 of his Greek cities in Asia, the Athenians had sent 
 soldiers to help their countrymen. During this 
 revolt, Sardis, the old capital of Lydia, was taken 
 and burned by the Greeks. Darius was so angry 
 at their insolence that he had one of his servants 
 repeat to him every day the words " Master, re- 
 member the Athenians." 
 
GREECE 85 
 
 The time had now come, 500 B.C., when he was 
 to attempt to punish them. 
 
 His first attempt to invade Greece failed, on 
 account of a terrible storm, which wrecked his fleet 
 and compelled the army to retreat. But ten years 
 later he came again, with one hundred and twenty 
 thousand men and six hundred ships. The Persian 
 army landed at Mar'-a-thon, a broad plain on the 
 coast of Attica, near Athens. 
 
 The Athenians had sent to several of the Greek 
 cities for aid, but only Pla-tse'-a responded, with a 
 thousand men. The Spartans were delayed on ac- 
 count of a religious festival, and came too late for 
 the battle. 
 
 Mil-ti'-a-des, the Athenian general, drew up his 
 ten thousand men on the hills back of Marathon, 
 facing a Persian army ten times as large, arranged 
 near the seashore. Back of them, along the shore, 
 lay their ships. 
 
 Singing their war hymn, the long, thin line of 
 Greeks came running down the hill, and fiercely 
 attacked the Persians as they were crowded to- 
 gether in masses. The Persians were too aston- 
 ished and frightened to fight long, and throwing 
 away their spears, they ran to the ships. 
 
 The Greeks followed, but the Persians fought 
 desperately, and lost only ten ships. 
 
 The Greeks lost one hundred and ninety-two 
 men ; but sixty- four hundred of the enemy lay dead 
 
86 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 on the field. A swift herald was sent to Athens 
 with the news of the victory. 
 
 Before the battle was over, the flash of a bright 
 shield on the top of a hill near Athens, twenty miles 
 away, caught the eye of Miltiades. It was a signal 
 from some treacherous Greek to the Persian com- 
 manders to sail to Athens and destroy the city while 
 its defenders were away. But Miltiades under- 
 
 Greek Warriors. 
 
 stood the signal, and he at once marched his army 
 toward Athens. 
 
 When the Persians came sailing to Athens the 
 next morning they saw the very men who had de- 
 feated them on the previous day. They had no 
 mind to try the mettle of 'such men any further; 
 they gave up the war and returned to Asia. 
 
 When Darius heard of the defeat at Marathon, 
 
GREECE 87 
 
 he at once began to gather men, ships, and supphes. 
 He would attack Greece with so large a force that 
 failure should be impossible. 
 
 While he was still making preparations he 
 died, and his son Xerx'-es came to the throne. 
 Xerxes continued the work of his father, and for 
 eight years all Asia was busy making ready to 
 destroy Greece. Men were gathered from every 
 part of the empire, from India to the African 
 deserts. 
 
 Storehouses along the line of march were filled 
 with grain. A great bridge of boats was built 
 across the Hellespont, so that the army might 
 march as if on dry ground. A canal was cut 
 around Mount Athos, the dangerous promontory 
 where his former fleet had been wrecked. 
 
 At last everything was ready. The fleet and 
 army met at Sardis. For seven days and nights 
 the Persian host streamed over the bridge. Xerx- 
 es's bodyguard, tlie " ten thousand immortals," 
 in holiday dress, led the van. Behind them came 
 the king, drawn by eight milk-white horses, in the 
 chariot of the sun. 
 
 On the plain of Do-ris'-cus the vast host was 
 covmted. A wall was built around ten thousand 
 men drawn up as closely together as they could 
 stand. This space was filled one hinidred and 
 seventy times, making the number of the army 
 one million seven hundred thousand men. 
 
88 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The fleet carried a half milhon more. Adding 
 to these numbers the servants and slaves who accom- 
 panied the army, it is probable that the whole host 
 numbered over five millions of men. 
 
 The Greeks were kept informed of the doings 
 of the Persians, and they were preparing to meet 
 them. The two leaders at Athens were The-mis'- 
 to-cles and Ar-is-ti'-des. Both loved their coun- 
 try. Themistocles was the abler man, but Aristi- 
 des w^as so famed for honesty that he received the 
 surname The Just. Aristides wished to strengthen 
 the army, but Themistocles thought it better to 
 build up the fleet. The strife between them be- 
 came so violent that the city decided to ostracize 
 one of them. When the shells cast into the urn 
 were counted, it was found that there were six 
 thousand bearing the name of Aristides. He there- 
 fore went into exile. 
 
 A story is told of Aristides that he was once 
 stopped along the road by a rough countryman, 
 who asked him, not knowing who he was, to write 
 the name Aristides upon a shell. " And what harm 
 has Aristides done you, that you wish to banish 
 him? " he asked. " He has done me no harm," 
 said the man; "I do not even know him, but I 
 am tired of hearing him called ' The Just.' " 
 
 Themistocles, left in power, made the Athenian 
 fleet the strongest in Greece. A congress of all 
 the Greek cities was held at Corinth the year before 
 
GREECE 89 
 
 Xerxes crossed the Plellespont. But some of them 
 had been bribed by the Persians; some were jealous 
 of Athens, some of Sparta, who was to have chief 
 command, and only fifteen united against the 
 enemy. 
 
 The road which Xerxes was following along 
 the coast of Greece is interrupted at one point by 
 a narrow pass called Ther-mop'-y-lae, or the Hot 
 Gates, from the hot springs that break out at the 
 foot of the cliffs. Here the Greeks had stationed 
 the Spartan king Le-on'-i-das, with three hundred 
 of his own men and six thousand allies from dif- 
 ferent states. The main body of the Greeks were 
 celebrating the Sacred Games. 
 
 Leonidas was expected to hold the pass till the 
 games were over, when reenforcements would be 
 sent. Xerxes waited a few days for the Greeks to 
 retreat, not dreaming that so small a number would 
 dare to resist. But when the Spartan king Dem- 
 a-ra'-tus, who had been driven from his own coun- 
 try and had joined the Persians, told Xerxes that 
 the Spartans would surely fight, the king sent a 
 messenger to Leonidas ordering him to give up his 
 arms. The reply of the Spartan was, " Come and 
 take them!" 
 
 For two days the Persians stormed the pass. 
 The wall of their dead along the Spartan front 
 grew steadily larger. The " immortals " attacked 
 again and again, with no better success. Xerxes, 
 
90 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 from his throne on a high diff overlooking the pass, 
 three times leaped up in anger and astonishment at 
 their failure. 
 
 At length a treacherous Greek pointed out to 
 Xerxes a mountain path by which he could gain 
 the rear of the Spartans. When Leonidas saw the 
 danger he allowed his allies to retreat. All but 
 seven hundred Thespians retired. The laws of 
 Sparta forbade retreat or surrender, and the little 
 band, surrounded by the Persian host, fought and 
 died to the last man. 
 
 Above their graves in after years a marble shaft 
 was placed, with the following inscription: 
 
 Go tell the Spartans, thou who passest by, 
 That here obedient to her laws we lie. 
 
 Athens now lay open to the invaders. The 
 oracle had said, " When everything else in Attica 
 is taken, you shall find shelter behind your wooden 
 walls." This was thought to mean the ships. So 
 the town was left, and the women and children sent 
 to a place of safety. The soldiers were all placed 
 upon the ships in the bay of SaF-a-mis. Here, 
 too, were the fleets of other cities, nearly four hun- 
 dred ships in all. 
 
 They were attacked by a Persian force of seven 
 hundred and fifty ships. King Xerxes himself 
 witnessed the battle. 
 
GREECE 91 
 
 A king sat on the rocky brow 
 
 That looks o'er sea-born Salamis ; 
 
 And ships by thousands lay below, 
 And men in nations — all were his. 
 
 He counted them at break of day, 
 
 And when the sun set, where were they ? 
 
 Two hundred Persian ships were destroyed, and 
 the rest fled. The terrified Xerxes hastened back 
 to Asia before his bridge should be destroyed. He 
 left a fleet and an army under Mar-do'-ni-us to con- 
 tinue the war. But in the following year his army 
 was defeated at Platsea by the Spartan general 
 Pau-sa'-ni-as, and his fleet was destroyed at Myc'- 
 a-le, in Asia Minor, where it had been drawn up 
 on shore to escape the Greeks. The Persians never 
 invaded Greece again. 
 
 AVARS AMONG THE GREEK STATES 
 
 The close of the Persian War left Themistocles 
 the foremost man in Athens, and Athens the fore- 
 most city in Greece. The people speedily built up 
 their homes, which the Persians had burned. They 
 enlarged their city, and built a wall around it seven 
 miles in extent. 
 
 The Spartans sent messengers to persuade them* 
 not to build the wall. " For," said they, " if the 
 Persians take your city again they may remain in 
 it, and it will be hard to drive them out." 
 
92 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 What the Spartans really feared was that Ath- 
 ens would become stronger than they. The Athe- 
 nians said they would send men to talk the matter 
 over with them. They sent Themistocles ahead, 
 but the other men were not to start till the walls 
 were built high enough to defy the Spartans, if 
 they should try to stop the work. 
 
 In the meantime Themistocles managed to keep 
 the Spartans quiet. When they would wait no 
 longer for his friends, he ordered them to send to 
 Athens to inquire the cause of the delay. Secretly 
 he sent word to detain the Spartan messengers in 
 Athens. 
 
 In this way time enough was gained to build 
 the wall so high that it could be defended. The 
 Athenians also built walls, four miles long and 
 sixty feet high, running from the town down to 
 the harbor. They increased their fleet by adding 
 to it twenty vessels each year. After a few years 
 they felt safe. If they should be attacked from 
 the land, the high walls would protect them; while 
 their strong fleet could supply them with food. 
 
 Aristides the Just had returned from exile in 
 time to fight the Persians at Salamis. He now 
 did another work which made Athens the strong- 
 est power in the world. He formed all the island 
 cities, and some of the cities in northern Greece, 
 into a great union called the Con-fed'-er-a-cy of 
 De'-los. This league was to defend Greece against 
 
GREECE 93 
 
 the Persians. All the cities were taxed to build up 
 a fleet, which Athens kept for herself. 
 
 Soon she became so powerful in her navy that 
 Ci'-mon, the son of Miltiades, was sent to drive the 
 Persians out of the Greek cities in Asia. He was 
 very successful, and the rich spoils that he brought 
 home were used to beautify the city. Public build- 
 ings were erected, and walks and parks were laid 
 out. 
 
 One of these parks, called the Academy, was 
 a favorite resort of the Athenians, and was noted as 
 the place where the wise men and philosophers, like 
 Soc'-ra-tes and Plato, met to talk with their pupils. 
 
 Cimon's very generosity at last brought about 
 his disgrace and exile. A great earthquake had 
 destroyed a large part of the city of Sparta. In 
 the confusion, their slaves, called he'-lots, took up 
 arms against their masters. The Spartans were 
 not able to conquer the slaves, who were more in 
 number than they, and called on Athens for help. 
 
 The advice of Per'-i-cles, the greatest man in 
 Athens next to Cimon, was not to send aid. 
 
 But Cimon said, " Athens and Sparta are the 
 two legs of Greece; do not let one of them be 
 lamed." 
 
 So the Athenians decided to return good for 
 evil, and sent Cimon with an army to help Sparta. 
 But when he arrived there the Spartans did not 
 trust him, fearing that he would take sides with the 
 
94 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 helots. They therefore sent him back to Athens. 
 This so angered the people that they drove Cimon 
 into exile, and Pericles became the chief statesman 
 in Athens. 
 
 Pericles made some changes in the government 
 which gave the people more power. He said that 
 the poorest man ought to take part in the govern- 
 ment as well as the richest. He therefore intro- 
 duced the method of filling the public offices by 
 lot, so that every citizen had an equal chance. Be- 
 fore his time all public officials had served without 
 pay, but to enable the poor man to take part in the 
 government, he introduced the system of paying 
 salaries to those who gave their time to the work 
 of the State. He also had allowances made to the 
 poorer citizens so that they might attend the per- 
 formances in the theater and the religious festivals. 
 
 Themistocles had been exiled for taking bribes, 
 but Pericles carried out his plan for strengthening 
 the navy. He built many ships and equipped them 
 in the best possible manner, for he saw that if the 
 Greeks were to be the strongest nation they must 
 rule the sea. Once he said to the people: " There 
 is no king or nation in the world which can at this 
 moment withstand the navy which you can put out 
 to sea." 
 
 It was Pericles who built the splendid temples 
 and gateways which you may still see crowning the 
 
GREECE 95 
 
 A-crop'-o-lis at Athens. He built the Par'-the- 
 non, the ruins of which still remain, and the splen- 
 did approaches to the Acropolis. He adorned the 
 streets and public places with statues of gods and 
 heroes. There were so many of them that it was 
 said " One met more statues than men in the streets 
 of Athens." Pericles encouraged artists and sculp- 
 tors to perform their best work. It was during his 
 time that the great sculptor Phid-i-as, who designed 
 the Parthenon, lived, and that the famous dramas 
 of Eu-rip'-i-des, Soph'-o-cles, and other poets, were 
 written and performed in the theaters of Athens. 
 
 Pericles was the most distinguished statesman 
 and political leader of Greece. Though rich and 
 of noble birth he was the friend and leader of the 
 people, and insisted that all were entitled to equal 
 rights and privileges in the states. One reason for 
 his great success was his power as a speaker. Some 
 of his public addresses are preserved and may be 
 read in the history of Greece written by Thu-cyd'- 
 i-des. The period of 28 years, from 459 to 481 B. c. 
 is called the " Age of Pericles ; " during this period 
 Athens had more famous men than the whole world 
 ever produced in the same length of time. 
 
 During the time of Pericles, all the Greek cities 
 were either joined to Sparta or Athens. These two 
 cities had never been very friendly, and soon a 
 great war arose between them which had the most 
 
Italy and Neighboring Countries. 
 
GREECE 97 
 
 terrible results for Athens, and weakened the whol© 
 of Greece. 
 
 Athens had interfered with some Dorian col- 
 onies on the coast of Macedonia, and Sparta de- 
 clared war. When the Spartans invaded Attica 
 all the Athenians gathered behind their walls in 
 Athens. Here a terrible disease broke out, and 
 one-fourth of the fighting men died. Among them 
 was the great statesman Pericles. At his death he 
 said that he had so lived " that no Athenian need 
 ever put on mourning through act of his." 
 
 The leader in the later part of this war 
 was a brilliant young man named Al-ci-bi'-a-des. 
 Though he was reckless and wicked, he won the 
 love of the Athenian people, and could get them 
 to vote for any of his measures. 
 
 He persuaded the people to send out a large 
 army and fleet, with himself as commander, to 
 attack the Dorian city of Syr'-a-cuse, in Sicily. 
 " Then," he said, " we will conquer Africa and 
 unite all the armies with our own. With such a 
 force we can afterwards crush Sparta at one blow." 
 This seemed easy, but the forty thousand men who 
 sailed away from Athens to Sicily never returned. 
 They were defeated, and perished miserably. 
 
 Those that were not killed were sold as slaves. 
 Alcibiades was called home to answer to a charge 
 of destroying some statues of the gods in Athens; 
 but he deserted to Sparta, and advised them to send 
 
98 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 an army and their best general to Sicily. This was 
 done, and helped to destroy the Athenians. 
 
 The Athenians raised another fleet and army, 
 but they were finally defeated by the Spartan gen- 
 eral Ly-san'-der at ^-gos-pot'-a-mus, on the Hel- 
 lespont. The Athenians had lost sixty thousand 
 men and nearly all their ships. Sparta then com- 
 pelled them to pull down all their walls and forts 
 that defended the harbors, and allowed them 
 to keep only twelve ships of war. 
 
 For thirty years Sparta was the strongest na- 
 tion in Greece. Then the army of Thebes, com- 
 manded by E-pam-i-non'-das and Pe-lop'-i-das, 
 vanquished her in the battles of Leuc'-tra and Man- 
 ti-ne'-a. 
 
 For a few years Thebes held the first place. 
 Then a mighty power arose in Macedonia under 
 Philip, and in 338 B.C., by the battle of Chasr-o- 
 ne'-a, he became the ruler of Greece. 
 
 For many years Philip had been planning to 
 get control of affairs in Greece, and now something 
 happened that gave him a chance to do it. The 
 Pho'-cians had robbed the temple of Apollo at 
 Delphi. When the other Greek cities found that 
 they were not strong enough to punish them, they 
 called on Philip for aid. This he gladly gave, 
 and was made a member of the union. 
 
 There was one man at Athens who saw that 
 Philip would soon attack them. This was the ora- 
 
GREECE 
 
 99 
 
 tor De-mos'-the-nes. He made twelve speeches to 
 
 the Athenians, urging them to fight Phihp before 
 
 he should take 
 away their liber- 
 ties. But the peo- 
 ple had grown 
 careless and idle, 
 and did not heed 
 what he said. And 
 when at last the 
 Thebans and Athe- 
 nians did try to 
 drive Philip out, 
 he was too strong 
 for them. 
 
 Though Athens 
 had ceased to be 
 strong in w^ar, she 
 became more tluin 
 ever the leader in 
 education, in phi- 
 losophy, in art and 
 science. It was 
 during the time 
 that Sparta ruled 
 that Soc'-ra-tes, 
 the greatest of 
 
 Greek teachers and philosophers, lived in Athens. 
 
 His father was a sculptor, and Socrates had begun 
 
 Demosthenes. 
 
100 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 to learn the same art, when he was obliged to lay 
 down the chisel and take up spear and shield to 
 fight Sparta. 
 
 After the war he became a teacher. He had no 
 school, and charged nothing for instruction. His 
 pupils were those whom he met on the street or in 
 the shops and parks. He neglected his home, and 
 did not provide well for his children. It is no 
 wonder that his wife Xan-thip'-pe scolded him. 
 Once she threw a pitcher of water over him. " I 
 am not surprised," said Socrates, " that it has be- 
 gun to rain, for Xanthippe has been thundering 
 for a long time." 
 
 Socrates did not believe in the gods that the 
 Greeks worshiped, and the charge of impiety was 
 brought against him. He was also accused of mis- 
 leading the young men by his teaching. For these 
 things he was sentenced to drink poison. His last 
 days were spent in prison. His friends were 
 allowed to visit him, and his chief pupil, Plato, has 
 given us an account of his death. 
 
 One of his pupils asked, " In what way shall we 
 bury you, Socrates? " 
 
 "Just as you please," he replied; " if you can 
 catch me and I do not escape you. I cannot per- 
 suade Cri'-to," he said to the others, " that when I 
 have drunk the poison I shall no longer remain 
 with you, but shall depart to some happy state of 
 the blessed. You cannot bury Socrates, but you 
 
GREECE 101 
 
 may bury my body in any way agreeable to our 
 laws." 
 
 Soon after this he drank the poison that the 
 jailer brought, and lay down. He soon felt him- 
 self growing cold, but death came so easily that he 
 said to Crito, " We owe a sacrifice to the god of 
 medicine; pay it, and do not neglect it." 
 
 " This was the end of our friend," says Plato, 
 " the best man of all his time, and the most just 
 and wise." 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 
 
 Socrates's famous pupil Plato had a still more 
 famous pupil, Ar-is-tot'-le, of the city of Sta-gi'-ra, 
 in JNIacedonia. He became the teacher of Alexan- 
 der, the son of Philip of Macedonia. 
 
 Aristotle was the greatest thinker and writer of 
 ancient times, and no man has ever lived since who 
 was wiser than he. For two thousand years his 
 books were studied by all those who wished to have 
 the best education. 
 
 His pupil, Alexander, liked much better to read 
 the poems of Homer than to listen to the instruc- 
 tion of Aristotle. He loved those books because 
 they told of war and heroes. When he saw his 
 father conquering one city after another, he cried 
 out, "Alas, there will be nothing left for me to do! " 
 He was fond of athletic sports, and was a fine horse- 
 man. He succeeded in training a war horse called 
 
102 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Bu-ceph'-a-lus, that had been given to his father, 
 and which was so fierce that no man could be found 
 to ride him. 
 
 Alexander was twenty years old when he be- 
 came King of Macedonia. He soon found plenty 
 of work to do. The Greek cities and the wild 
 tribes on the north all revolted at once ; and because 
 so young a king had come to the throne, it seemed 
 a good time to get back their liberty. But in two 
 years he had crushed all his enemies. 
 
 The city of Thebes revolted the second time, 
 and Alexander appeared suddenly with an army 
 and leveled the city with the ground, leaving only 
 the house of the poet Pindar. He put six hundred 
 of the people to death and sold the rest as slaves. 
 
 It was the ambition of Alexander to conquer 
 the world. The Persian empire was still the chief 
 power in Asia, and it was this empire that he set 
 out to conquer in 334 B.C. 
 
 He crossed the Hellespont with thirty-five thou- 
 sand men. A third Darius was now ruling in Per- 
 sia. On the banks of the river Gra-ni'-cus he met 
 a Persian army and defeated it. With his own 
 hand Alexander slew two Persian nobles. He sent 
 three hundred suits of armor, gathered from the 
 battle field, as an oiFering to the goddess Mi-ner'-va 
 at Athens. 
 
 The chief means by which Philip and Alexander 
 won their battles was the phalanx. This was a body 
 
GREECE 103 
 
 of men sixteen deep and a thousand in line, making 
 sixteen thousand in all. They were armed with 
 pikes or spears so long that the spears of the first 
 five lines reached out in front of the phalanx. 
 This body moved in a mass, and nothing could with- 
 stand it on level ground. When the phalanx struck 
 the Persian army it plowed a road through it like 
 some great machine. 
 
 Alexander marched on toward Persia. Pass- 
 ing through the city of Gor'-di-um, he visited the 
 temple of Jupiter. Here he heard this story: A 
 peasant named Gordius was once chosen king of 
 that country. In gratitude he had placed his 
 wagon and the yoke for the oxen as an offering in 
 the temple. The yoke was fastened to the pole by 
 a rope tied in a very intricate knot. The oracle 
 had said that " whoever could untie the knot would 
 be the master of all Asia." 
 
 When the knot was shown to Alexander he 
 drew his sword and cut it. This was thought to be 
 the meaning of the oracle. From this story we 
 have received the expression " cutting the Gordian 
 knot," meaning a quick way out of a difficulty. 
 
 By the following year Darius had raised a force 
 of six hundred thousand men, and he advanced to 
 attack Alexander. The two armies met on the nar- 
 row plain of Is'-sus, near the Mediterranean Sea. 
 At the first attack of the Macedonian cavalry the 
 Persians broke and fled. A vast number of the 
 
104 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 fugitives were killed, and the tent of Darius, his 
 wife and children, and a large amount of money, 
 fell into the hands of the Greeks. 
 
 From Issus, Alexander marched southward into 
 Phoenicia and Palestine. The city of Tyre alone 
 held out against him, and refused to allow him 
 to enter. Tyre stood upon an island half a mile 
 from the mainland. As Alexander had no ships, 
 he built a solid road of timbers and earth through 
 the sea to the island. Even then he could not break 
 down the wall which surrounded the city. He then 
 went among the towns he had conquered and gath- 
 ered a fleet of two hundred ships. He surrounded 
 Tyre and attacked it on all sides at once. 
 
 The Greeks at last broke through the walls and 
 took the city. Eight thousand men were killed, 
 and the rest of the people were sold as slaves. This 
 siege of Tyre took nine months, and is considered 
 to be the most difficult task that Alexander accom- 
 plished. 
 
 The conqueror next marched to Egypt. The 
 Egyptians had been ruled harshly by Persia, and 
 were only too glad to change masters. Here Alex- 
 ander founded, at the western mouth of the Nile, 
 a city which has become the most important in 
 Egypt. He marked out the streets with his own 
 hand, and named it after himself, Alexandria. 
 But he also did a very foolish thing in Egypt. He 
 went to the temple of Jupiter in the desert, where 
 
GREECE 105 
 
 there was a noted oracle. He had the priests of 
 the temple say that he was not the son of Philip, 
 but the son of the god Jupiter, and that he was 
 destined to conquer the world. 
 
 After leaving Egypt Alexander again set out 
 in pursuit of Darius, who was raising an army to 
 meet him. The final battle took place at Ar-be'-la, 
 where the Persians were so badly defeated and scat- 
 tered that they could not be united. The different 
 nations composing their great army went to their 
 homes, and Darius fled away with only a small 
 bodyguard. 
 
 He was afterwards killed in Bactria by his own 
 nobles, who hoped by putting an end to the king to 
 stop the pursuit of Alexander. The Greeks then 
 took possession of the chief cities of Asia. Susa, 
 Babylon, and Per-sep'-o-lis, wdth immense treas- 
 ures, fell into their hands. 
 
 In Bactria Alexander met a beautiful princess, 
 Roxana, and was so charmed with her that he made 
 her his queen. He next crossed the Hindu Kush 
 Mountains into India. Along the upper waters 
 of the Indus River he found and conquered a rich 
 country ruled by a king named Porns. 
 
 Alexander soon afterwards returned to Baby- 
 lon, which he intended to make the capital of his 
 vast empire. Here he was taken sick with a fever, 
 of which he died at the age of thirty-two years. 
 His empire was divided among his generals. 
 
106 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Ptor-e-my received Egypt and the coast of the 
 Mediterranean Sea; Cas-san'-der took Macedonia; 
 L<y-sim'-a-chus, Asia Minor and Thrace; while to 
 Se-leu'-cus fell the greater part of Asia. Only the 
 kingdom of Ptolemy lasted very long, and all of 
 them fell, one after another, into the hands of the 
 Romans. 
 
 The wars of Alexander had spread the Greek 
 language and learning throughout Asia. It made 
 the two continents that had been so long at war bet- 
 ter acquainted, and henceforth they lived in peace. 
 
 But a nation in the West, the Romans, had 
 grown powerful, and began to move eastward, as 
 Alexander had done, conquering all nations and 
 making them a part of their own empire. 
 
XI. ROME 
 
 The story of Rome, like that of Athens, is the 
 story of a single city. This city grew so strong 
 that it conquered country after country, until, like 
 Alexander, it ruled the known world. 
 
 The founding of Rome was a matter of little 
 importance at the time, for no one could then have 
 foreseen the destiny in store for the "Eternal City," 
 as it is now called, after more than twenty-six and 
 a half centuries. We have only legendary stories 
 of the early life of the city. These have been told 
 in the writings of poets and historians until they 
 are known over all the world, being written in books 
 of all languages. 
 
 The stories of early Rome, however much they 
 may have been exaggerated in retelling, for many 
 generations before they were first written, are in- 
 teresting as showing the old Roman love for truth, 
 heroism, and virtue in all its forms; for they deal 
 chiefly with men and women of high character and 
 noble lives, according to the standard of those rude 
 times. 
 
 EARLY KINGS 
 
 The Roman historian Livy tells us that after 
 Troy was burned by the Greeks, a Trojan prince, 
 Ae-ne'-as, escaped with the remnant of his people, 
 to Italy. 
 
 107 
 
108 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 There they were kindly received by King La-ti'- 
 nus, who gave Aeneas his daughter La-vin'-i-a in 
 marriage. 
 
 The Trojans built first the city of La-vin'-i-um, 
 and afterward, Alba Longa, where their kings ruled 
 for many years. 
 
 The last of the Trojan kings was Sil'-vi-us 
 Pro'-cas, who had two sons, Nu'-mi-tor and A-mu'- 
 li-us. Amulius, the younger, seized the crown, which 
 rightfully belonged to Numitor. 
 
 But Numitor had a son and daughter who 
 might make trouble for the unlawful king. The 
 son he put to death, and the daughter, whose name 
 was Rhea Silvia, he compelled to become a Vestal 
 virgin. The Vestal virgins were girls chosen to 
 take care of the temple of the goddess Vesta and to 
 keep the sacred fire burning. They took a vow 
 not to marry, and were buried alive if they did. 
 But Silvia fell in love with Mars, the god of war, 
 who came to her as a handsome young man and 
 married her. By and by she had twin sons, Rom'- 
 u-lus and Re'-mus. 
 
 When Amulius heard of this he seized her and 
 put her to death, according to the custom. He put 
 the two babies in a basket and threw it into the river 
 Tiber. The basket washed ashore, and the two 
 children were found by a mother wolf, who took 
 care of them as if they were her own cubs. A 
 
ROME 109 
 
 woodpecker also, according to the Roman story, 
 brought them food. At length a good shepherd, 
 Faus'-tu-lus, found the twins, took them to his 
 house, and brought them up as his own children. 
 
 ROMULUS AND REMUS 
 
 When Romulus and Remus found out that 
 they were the sons of Rhea Silvia, and how Amu- 
 lius had murdered their mother, they attacked and 
 slew him in his palace, and made their old grand- 
 father, Nvmiitor, king. 
 
 After a time Romulus and Remus were led by 
 signs to found a city of their own on the bank of 
 the river where their lives had been so wonder- 
 fully saved. So they went away from Alba Longa 
 with their friends and followers, and laid out a 
 new city. 
 
 But a quarrel arose between the two brothers 
 about a name for it, each claiming the honor, and 
 Romulus, by accident, killed his brother. And so 
 Romulus became the founder and king of the new 
 city, and named it Rome. This was in the year 
 753 B.C. The Romans made a wall about the city 
 to protect their homes. 
 
 There were several hills in Rome, and on one 
 of these, the Palatine Hill, Romulus built a fort to 
 guard the city. Around this fort were built the 
 first houses. In after years the city was made 
 larger, and included seven hills within the walls. 
 
110 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 After a time, another people called Sabines, 
 joined the Romans and then the Lu'-ce-res came 
 from Etruria, north of the Tiber. 
 
 The Roman people were now made up of three 
 tribes; the Ram'-nes, or Romans of Romulus; the 
 Ti'-ti-es, or Sabines, and the Luceres. These three 
 tribes wxre the nobles, or pa-tri'-cians. But there 
 was another class of people, called ple-be'-ians. 
 ^L^iey were the workmen, mechanics, and servants 
 of the patricians. None of them had anything to 
 do with the government, and they could not figlit 
 in the army. 
 
 From the patricians Romulus chose two hun- 
 dred men called senators, or old men. There was 
 also an assembly made of the heads of families, or 
 men capable of bearing arms. This was called the 
 Co-mi'-tia Cu-ri-a'-ta. 
 
 The Senate made laws and carried on the gov- 
 ernment, but they always had to have the consent 
 of the assembly of fighting men. In case of war 
 each tribe sent one thousand men on foot and one 
 hundred horsemen. The assembled army of thirty- 
 three hundred men was called the Legion. 
 
 After making this form of government for his 
 people, Romulus suddenly disappeared. A story 
 tells us that he was carried oiF to heaven by his 
 father. Mars, in the midst of a thunderstorm. 
 There he became one of the gods and was worshiped 
 under the name Qui-ri'-nus. The Roman people 
 
ROME 111 
 
 were often called Qui-ri'-tes, or Men of the Spear. 
 The next king was Nu'-ma Pom-pir-i-us, a Sa- 
 bine. He told the Romans just how and when they 
 should worship the gods. 
 
 He appointed four pon'-tiifs, or priests, and a 
 chief priest called Pon'-ti-fex Max'-i-mus. These 
 priests had charge of the worship of all the gods, 
 and settled all cases of dispute. Then there was 
 a priest of Jupiter, one to Quirinus, and four Vestal 
 virgins. 
 
 Numa appointed also four men, called au'-gurs, 
 whose business it was to find out the will of the 
 gods. This was done in various ways, such as 
 watching the flight of birds, and by inspecting the 
 entrails of the animals sacrificed. Numa is said 
 also to have divided the year into twelve months, 
 and to have appointed certain da^^s as holidays, 
 when no business might be done. 
 
 TUI/-LUS HOS-TIL'-I-US 
 
 Soon after the death of the good King Xuma 
 the assembly chose Tullus Hostilius as his successor. 
 The chief event in the reign of Tullus was a war 
 with the old city of Alba, in which the Albans were 
 defeated. 
 
 They were forced to come to Rome to live, and 
 they added to the numbers and strength of the city. 
 Tullus also built a house in front of the Palatine 
 
112 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Hill, where for centuries the Senate held its meet- 
 ings. 
 
 an'-cus mar'-ti-us 
 
 The next king was Ancus JNIartius, a Sabine. 
 He built the first prison in Rome and the first 
 bridge over the Tiber. He also appointed a num- 
 ber of men called heralds, whose duty it was to 
 conduct public business with foreign nations. They 
 declared war by going to the hostile country and 
 hurling a spear over the boundary. 
 
 tar'-quin 
 
 Before the time of Tarquin, the next king, all 
 the power at Rome was in the hands of the two 
 older tribes, the Ramnes and the Tities. But Tar- 
 quin added one hundred new senators from the 
 Etruscan tribe, the Luceres. He also wanted to 
 make three new tribes from the common people, or 
 plebeians, many of whom had become rich, and 
 Tarquin saw that they would soon demand a share 
 in the government. 
 
 Tarquin is best known for his great public 
 works. He planned the fo'-rum, or public meet- 
 ing place, and built shops along two sides of it. 
 Between the Palatine and Av'-en-tine hills he laid 
 out the Circus Maximus, a great race course for 
 the celebration of the Roman games. 
 
 His greatest work was the Clo-a'-ca Maxima, or 
 
ROME 113 
 
 great sewer, which led off the stagnant waters that 
 gathered in some low, swampy ground within the 
 city. So well was this sewer built that it is still 
 used in Rome. It is so large that a boat can sail 
 through it, and the joining of the arched stones 
 is so exact that a knife cannot be thrust between 
 them. 
 
 After reigning thirty-eight years Tarquin was 
 murdered by two countrymen, who were urged on 
 by the sons of Ancus Martins. They planned to 
 seize the throne, but they were outwitted by Tana- 
 quil, the wife of Tarquin, who caused Servius Tul- 
 lius, an Etruscan, to put on the royal robe and 
 declare himself king. 
 
 Though he was not lawfully chosen, Servius 
 proved to be the wisest and best of all the Roman 
 kings. 
 
 ser'-vi-us tul'-ij-us 
 
 Servius carried out the plans of Tarquin to give 
 all the people a share in the government. He 
 divided the w^hole people into five great classes, ac- 
 cording to their property. 
 
 Each class was divided into companies, called 
 centuries. There wxre in all one hundred and 
 ninety-three centuries. 
 
 When all the centuries met in the Field of JNIars 
 to attend to public business, they were called the 
 Co-mi'-ti-a Cen-tu-ri-a'-ta, or the meeting of the 
 
114 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 centuries. This assembly gradually took the place 
 of the older Comitia Curiata, which was made up 
 of patricians only. 
 
 The greater number of the plebeians lived on 
 farms outside the city. Servius divided the land 
 into twenty districts; afterwards thirty-five. The 
 men from these districts, which were called tribes, 
 met together to attend to business which concerned 
 the plebeians alone. This assembly was called the 
 Comitia Tri-bu'-ta, or meeting of the tribes. 
 
 TxVRQUIN THE PROUD 
 
 Tarquin the Proud was the last and worst of 
 the seven Roman kings. He showed so much favor 
 to his Etruscan friends that the Romans hated 
 him. 
 
 Though he was an able ruler, and did much to 
 improve the city, he was looked upon as a foreigner 
 and a despot. A crime of almost incredible base- 
 ness, committed by a prince of his family, named 
 Sextus, against a noble Roman household, led to 
 the overthrow of the monarchy ; and the very name 
 of king {recc in Latin) became so odious that it was 
 not assumed even by the great Roman emperors of 
 a later date. 
 
 A very singular story of Tarquin the Proud 
 tells how the Romans came to possess their sacred 
 books. 
 
ROME 115 
 
 While he was building a temple to Jupiter, a 
 mysterious woman came to him and offered to sell 
 him nine books at a huge price. He refused to buy, 
 and the woman went away and destroyed three of 
 the books. She then came again, and offered him 
 the remaining six at the same price. Tarquin 
 again refused. The woman then destroyed three 
 more books, and then came again, o|f ering the three 
 that were left at the original price. 
 
 By this time Tarquin was curious as to what 
 the books contained, and he asked the augur about 
 them. 
 
 The augur said that the woman was a prophet- 
 ess, or sibyl, and that the books contained prophe- 
 cies about Rome. The king bought the three 
 books, and put two men in charge of them. The 
 books were kept in a stone chest in a cellar under 
 the temple, and were always consulted when any 
 danger threatened the city. They were called the 
 Sib'-yl-line Books. 
 
 This temple had been begun by the elder Tar- 
 quin. His workmen, in digging the fovmdation, 
 had come across a human head. This the avigur 
 said was a sign that Rome would become the capi- 
 tal, or head city, of the world. 
 
 After this that part of Rome where the temple 
 stood was called the Cap'-i-to-line Hill, and the 
 temple was the Capitol, or meeting place, of the 
 Senate. 
 
116 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 A few years later, on account of his wicked 
 deeds, the people voted to banish Tarquin and to do 
 away with the office of king. 
 
 Then the assembly of the centuries elected two 
 men, called consuls, to carry on the government. 
 
 Junius Brutus, the First Consul. 
 
 Brutus and Collatinus were chosen as the first 
 consuls; but Collatinus himself being of the Tar- 
 quin family, resigned, and Publius Va-le'-ri-us was 
 chosen in his place. 
 
ROME 117 
 
 Tarquin prevailed on the Etruscan people to 
 bring war on the Romans. In the battle that fol- 
 lowed, Brutus and Aruns, the king's son, met. 
 Both were on horseback, and with leveled spears 
 they rode straight at each other. Both fell dead, 
 pierced through their breasts. The Etruscans fled 
 soon after. 
 
 Tarquin next obtained the help of Lars Por'- 
 se-na, the King of Clusium. They came to Rome 
 so suddenly with an arm}^ that the Romans had no 
 time to muster their soldiers. Valerius decided to 
 destroy the bridge, as the only way of keeping the 
 enemy out of the city. But the foe had to be held 
 back while workmen with axes and levers cut down 
 the bridge. Horatius Co'-cles was the first to vol- 
 unteer. Nearly everybody at some time of life hears 
 the story of "Horatius at the Bridge." This is told 
 in stirring verse in one of Lord Macaula^^'s "Lays 
 of Ancient Rome," much as it was told, probably, 
 in old Latin songs of the people. Perhaps the Ro- 
 man writers, when they first wrote the history of 
 their great city, gathered much of the earlier nar- 
 ratives from old, unwritten songs. 
 
 Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, 
 With all the speed ye may ; 
 
 I with two more to help me 
 Will hold the foe in play. 
 
118 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 In yon straight path a thousand 
 May well be stopped by three ; 
 
 Now who will stand on either hand 
 And hold the bridge with me? 
 
 Spu'-ri-us Lar'-tius and Ti'-tus Her-min'-i-us 
 ran to him quickly, and the three crossed to the 
 Etruscan end of the bridge. 
 
 Could three men keep back an army? Yes; 
 the roadway was so narrow that only three men 
 could walk abreast on it. Three Etruscans ad- 
 vanced to give battle, but the Romans killed them 
 all. In the meantime the bridge began to crack 
 and tremble. Horatius sent his two companions 
 back, while he remained alone. 
 
 As the bridge fell he leaped into the river wdth 
 all his armor on and swam safely to the other side. 
 With shouts of joy they drew him from the water. 
 The Senate voted him as much land as he could 
 plow around in a day, and his statue was placed in 
 a public square, with the story of his heroic deed 
 engraved upon it. 
 
 The Romans tried in various ways to kill Tar- 
 quin. Once a noble youth named Ca'-ius Mu'-cius 
 went to his camp to stab him. It happened that 
 the king's secretary was paying out money to the 
 soldiers. Mucins, thinking that this was the king, 
 struck him dead. 
 
 The Roman was at once seized and dragged be- 
 fore Tarquin, who ordered him to confess the plot 
 
ROME 119 
 
 or be burned to death. Mucius stretched out his 
 right hand and held it in an altar-fire that was burn- 
 ing in the room until it was nearly burned off. 
 
 " Do you think," he said, " that all your tortures 
 can make a brave man tell his secret? " 
 
 The king was astonished at his courage and set 
 him free. Then Mucius said: 
 
 " There are three hundred young Romans who 
 have sworn to kill you. My lot came first, and I 
 have failed; but some one will succeed." 
 
 In the next battle the Romans were badly de- 
 feated, but at the battle of Lake Regillus they 
 were successful. After this the Latin and Etrus- 
 can cities refused to help Tarquin. His sons were 
 all dead, and he was old, so he went to a Greek 
 city in the south of Italy, where he died. Ever 
 after his time the Romans hated the very name of 
 king. 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 
 
 PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS 
 
 The many wars against Tarquin had been very 
 hard on the poorer plebeians, who had to do the 
 fighting and to pay the larger amount of the tax. 
 Their farms were plundered, and they had to bor- 
 row money of the rich patricians to buy tools and 
 cattle, and to pay the tax. 
 
 When the plebeians could not pay their debts, 
 the patricians could beat them, sell them as slaves, 
 and even put them to death. The only one who 
 could protect them was the consul; but as the con- 
 suls were always patricians, there was no help or 
 mercy from them. 
 
 One day an old man, a plebeian, dressed in rags, 
 screaming and calling for help, rushed into the 
 market-place. To the crowd that gathered around 
 him he said: 
 
 " I was born free; I served my full time in the 
 army in my youth, fought in twenty-eight battles, 
 and have often received testimonials of bravery in 
 the wars. But in the troublous times which came 
 upon the city I was obliged to get into debt to pay 
 taxes that were levied upon me, because my farm 
 was laid waste and my property destroyed. Then, 
 when I could not pay my debts, I was seized as a 
 slave by my creditors, with my two sons. My mas- 
 
 120 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 121 
 
 ter laid hard tasks upon me, and when I refused 
 to do them I was beaten with many stripes." 
 
 And then the poor old plebeian showed his 
 breast seamed with the scars of battle, and his back 
 covered with blood. 
 
 Once, when the VoF-scians invaded Rome, the 
 plebeians refused to fight until the patricians 
 agreed not to put them in prison for debt any 
 more. But when the war was over everything was 
 as bad as before. Then the plebeians marched 
 in a body out of the city to a hill a short distance 
 from Rome, and resolved to build a new city for 
 themselves. 
 
 The patricians could not have their best soldiers 
 leave when there were so many enemies about, so 
 they allowed two men to be chosen, to be called 
 tribunes, who should have the power to forbid 
 any law or any decision of a judge that was cruel 
 or unjust to the plebeians. 
 
 This satisfied the plebeians, and they returned 
 to Rome. 
 
 Another just cause for complaint on the part 
 of the plebeians was that there were no written 
 laws. No one but the patricians knew what the 
 laws were. When a poor plebeian was brought be- 
 fore a patrician judge, you may imagine that the 
 patrician would generally find that the law was not 
 on the side of the plebeian. 
 
 At last it was decided to have the laws written. 
 
122 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Two men were sent to Athens to study the good 
 laws made by Solon and Clisthenes. When they 
 returned, ten more men were appointed, and these 
 twelve ^^Tote out the laws. 
 
 These laws were engraved on brass plates and 
 set up in the forum, or market-place, where every 
 Roman could see them. Every schoolboy was 
 obliged to commit them to memory. These laws 
 were the source of all future laws. They were like 
 our Con-sti-tu'-tion. There are traces of them 
 today in all the countries of Europe and America. 
 Just as Greece gave us the best poetry and art, 
 Rome gave us the best laws. 
 
 THE WARS IX ITALY 
 
 In the early days of Rome, Italy was occupied 
 by many different races and tribes. Just north of 
 the Tiber were the Etruscans, who, after the kings 
 were driven from Rome, became enemies of that 
 city. On the east were the Ae'-qui-ans and Sam'- 
 nites, and on the south were the Volscians and 
 Her-ni'-cians. 
 
 In the far north, in the valley of the river Po, 
 lived the Gauls, a wild and savage race. With all 
 of these nations Rome fought long and bitter wars. 
 In the end she conquered all of them, and ruled 
 over the entire peninsula from the Alps to the 
 Mediterranean Sea. 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 123 
 
 THE PUNIC \\ Alls 
 
 Oil the iiorthern shore of Africa lay the city of 
 Carthage. It has already been mentioned as a 
 colony of Tyre. It was a great and fioiu'ishing 
 city. It had a population of seven hundred thou- 
 sand, and commerce had made it the richest city 
 in the world. For maiw years there had been w^ar 
 between Carthage and the Greek city of Syracuse 
 in Sicily. Rome then took part in this war. As 
 Carthage had a strong navy it was necessary to 
 build ships to fight it. 
 
 Up to that time the Romans had fought all 
 their wars on land and had not needed ships. They 
 took as a model a Carthaginian vessel that had been 
 wrecked on their coast, and soon they had a fleet 
 of one hundred and twxnty ships. These ships 
 were propelled by oars. The rowers sat on long 
 benches, one above the other. The war vessels had 
 five banks of oars, and could be moved very fast. 
 There was a sharp beak in the prow of each ship, 
 and the mode of fighting was to strike the hostile 
 ship with this beak and sink it. 
 
 In the first battle the Romans lost. Then Du- 
 il'-i-us, the admiral, had a long bridge made to 
 board the enemy. This bridge was fastened at 
 one end to the deck of the vessel. The other end 
 had a long iron spike on its under side, and was 
 held up by ropes passing through the mast. 
 
124 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 When a Roman ship came alongside the enemy 
 it let fall the boarding-bridge. The spike held it 
 to the deck of the enemy. Then the soldiers rushed 
 over the bridge, and a hand-to-hand fight took place 
 in which the Romans easily conquered. 
 
 For twenty-three years the war went on. At 
 last the Romans won a great victory near the coast 
 of Sicily, and Carthage was forced to make peace. 
 
 Roman Ship in Battle. 
 
 She gave Rome all her possessions in Sicily, and 
 paid a large amount of money in addition. 
 
 There were three wars with Carthage. We 
 call them the Punic wars, because the Latin name 
 for Carthaginian was Pu'-ni-cus, a word which 
 means the same as Phoenician. You will remem- 
 ber that the people of Tyre who settled at Carthage 
 were Phoenicians. 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 125 
 
 The great general of Carthage in the second 
 Punic war was Han'-ni-bal. He was one of the 
 four generals of the world who are thought to 
 be the greatest: Csesar, Napoleon, Hannibal, and 
 Alexander. His father, Hamilcar, had built up a 
 strong empire in Spain. From that country they 
 meant to attack Italy. 
 
 To traverse Spain, to cross the Pyrenees Moun- 
 tains, then to go eastward and climb over the Alps, 
 and thus to enter Italy at the north end and ad- 
 vance southward to Rome, was a plan astonishing 
 in its boldness, and is one of the wonders of history. 
 
 In 219 B. c. Hannibal led an army across the 
 Alps into northern Italy. There he was joined by 
 the Gauls, who hated Rome. The Roman general 
 Scip'-i-o had gone to Spain to attack Hannibal, and 
 he was astonished to learn that the Carthaginian 
 was on the march for Italy. 
 
 Hannibal's first victory at the river Tre'-bi-a 
 showed his skill as a general. He sent his cavalry 
 across the river to attack the Romans. After a 
 short fight they pretended to run. The Roman 
 general ordered his army to pursue. The Romans 
 waded through the icy water and followed the re- 
 treating enemy. In a few moments they found 
 themselves surrounded. Hannibal had concealed 
 his men until the Romans were in the trap, then 
 he attacked them and killed them all. 
 
 At Lake Tras-i-me'-nus Hannibal beat the 
 
126 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Romans again. At the battle of Cannae, the 
 bloodiest of all, the Romans lost forty thousand 
 men. 
 
 Before the battle Hannibal and his officers rode 
 to the top of a hill to see the field. One general, 
 named Gisgo, said " The numbers of the Romans 
 are wonderful." 
 
 '' Yes," said Hannibal; " but there is one thing 
 about them more wonderful than their numbers: 
 in all that host there is not one man by the name 
 of Gisgo." He meant that one man may be worth 
 more than an army. 
 
 It is said that after the battle Hannibal gath- 
 ered up a bushel of gold rings from the bodies of 
 the dead patricians. He sent them to Carthage 
 as a sign of his great victory. 
 
 Fabius was then the general chosen by Rome 
 to oppose Hannibal. He received the name Cunc- 
 ta'-tor, or Delayer, because he would not risk a 
 battle, but tried to wear out his enemy by continual 
 marching and by cutting off food and supplies. 
 
 Soon Hannibal's army became so thinned by 
 disease and famine that he sent to Spain for more 
 men. 
 
 He had left his brother Has'-dru-bal to com- 
 mand in Spain. The two Roman brothers, Pub- 
 lius and Gnae-us Scip'-i-o, had been sent against 
 him; the latter fell in battle. The younger, 
 Publius Scipio, then succeeded to the command and 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 127 
 
 soon drove Hasdrubal out of Spain. Hasdrubal 
 passed through Gaul, now called France, and 
 into Italy to the aid of his brother. But he was 
 met by Claudius Nero, and his whole army was 
 destroyed. 
 
 One night a bloody head was thrown into Han- 
 nibal's camp, in southern Italy. It was that of 
 Hasdrubal, his brother. 
 
 The Romans then sent Scipio into Africa with 
 an army, and Hannibal had to follow him to de- 
 fend Carthage. At Za'-ma he was defeated by the 
 good generalship of Scipio. The second Punic 
 war then came to an end. Spain was given to 
 Rome, and Carthage was allowed to keep only 
 twenty ships of war, and had to pay Rome $250,- 
 000 every year for fifty years. Scipio received 
 the surname Af-ri-ca'-nus, on account of his victory 
 in Africa. 
 
 Hannibal remained in Carthage and managed 
 affairs so well that the city became strong again. 
 Rome demanded that he be given up to them as a 
 prisoner, but Hannibal fled from his native land 
 to the court of An-ti'-o-chus, King of Syria, the 
 successor of Se-leu'-cus, the general of Alexander. 
 He became the adviser of Antiochus in his war 
 against Rome, for the Romans made war on him 
 for sheltering Hannibal. They defeated him at 
 the battle of Mag-ne'-sia, and made him give up a 
 large part of his empire. 
 
128 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Hannibal escaped, but at last he took poison to 
 avoid being sent to Rome. 
 
 Macedonia and Greece were also conquered 
 about this time, and added to the empire of Rome. 
 
 One man who became famous in these Eastern 
 wars was Marcus Porcius Cato. He held the office 
 of censor at Rome. It was his duty to appoint the 
 senators, to keep a list of all the citizens and of their 
 property, and to oversee the customs and morals of 
 the people. If a senator did not behave well, Cato 
 expelled him from the senate; and he put a tax on 
 all those who wore jewels and had fine things. He 
 said that the Romans spent too much money and 
 lived too finely. 
 
 Once Cato was sent on public business to Car- 
 thage. He saw how rich and prosperous the city 
 had grown, and feared that it might again become 
 the rival of Rome. He advised his countrymen to 
 destroy the city. Every speech he made in the 
 senate after that closed with the words, " Carthage 
 must be destroyed." 
 
 Rome soon picked a quarrel with Carthage. 
 The poor Carthaginians tried to avoid war. They 
 gave up to Rome all their weapons and implements 
 of war, and surrendered three hundred young men 
 as hostages. But when the Roman general Scipio 
 told them that their city by the sea must be pulled 
 down, and that they must go inland to live, they 
 became furious with despair. They set to work to 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 
 
 129 
 
 make new arms and defenses. The women cut off 
 their long hair to make bow-strings and gave up 
 their jewels and other ornaments to aid in buying 
 new weapons. 
 
 The Women of Carthage. 
 
 When the Roman army came Carthage was de- 
 fended. Scipio blocked up the harbor and besieged 
 it on every side. At last the Romans broke 
 through the defenses and took the city. It was 
 
130 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 burned to the ground and never rebuilt. Some of 
 the ruins may still be seen. 
 
 Then Rome became the ruler of nearly all lands 
 bordering on the Mediterranean Sea. Only Egypt, 
 Syria, and some small states and barbarous tribes 
 remained to be conquered. 
 
 LAND TROUBLES AND THE CIA^IL WARS 
 
 In the early days of the Republic the people of 
 Italy were mostly farmers, who worked their own 
 land. But after the wars with Hannibal and the 
 conquest of foreign countries, the small farmers 
 disappeared, and the land was held in large estates 
 by rich nobles. They cultivated it with slaves 
 brought to Rome from conquered countries and 
 the free laborers were crowded out, many becom- 
 ing idle. 
 
 Two parties had grown up in Rome: one called 
 the popular party, which favored the common peo- 
 ple; another called the aristocratic party, which 
 favored the nobles and the rich. 
 
 In order to get the votes of the idle crowd, it 
 became the custom to make them gifts of food and 
 money. After a time they began to depend on the 
 government to support them withovit work. 
 
 The first attempts to cure this bad state of af- 
 fairs were made by Tiberius and Caius Grac-chus, 
 who are usually called the Gracchi. 
 
 Tiberius was chosen tribune, and had a law 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 131 
 
 passed by which the pubHc lands, which were un- 
 lawfully held by rich nobles, were given to the poor. 
 Farms of fifteen acres each were given to eighty 
 thousand Romans. 
 
 This was a good law, because it gave the idle 
 men at the capital a chance to work for their own 
 living. But the nobles were so angry at Tiberius 
 that a party of them set upon him in the street and 
 beat him to death. 
 
 Ten years later Caius Gracclius took up his 
 brother's office and work. He tried to take aAvay 
 the power of the Senate by putting in new mem- 
 bers from the Knights, the second order of Roman 
 citizens. But he, too, was killed by a mob led by 
 the consul himself. 
 
 This struggle betw^een the two political parties 
 continued until the old Roman republic broke 
 down, and a new empire ruled by one man was set 
 up by Augustus Cassar. 
 
 The next popular leader was Caius Marius, 
 who was soon elected consul. A host of savages, 
 called Cimbri and Teutones, were then threatening 
 to invade Italy. Finally they did come, and Marius 
 led his army against them. 
 
 In three great battles he slew so many of them, 
 that in after years the farmers made fences Avith 
 their bones. 
 
 When Marius returned to Rome a new war had 
 broken out in Italy. 
 
132 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The cities outside of Rome were called the 
 Allies. Their people did not have the same rights 
 as the people in Rome. They could not vote or 
 hold office, and they began a war to have them- 
 selves made Roman citizens. They were defeated, 
 but only after they had obtained what they 
 asked for. 
 
 In this war, called the SociaJ War, a young 
 patrician officer named Sulla won great success. 
 He became the rival of Marius, and the wars of 
 these two men for the next ten years took away 
 the lives of thousands of innocent people. 
 
 POM ^PEY 
 
 The next great name in Roman history is 
 Gnae'us Pompey, who received the surname Mag- 
 nus, or The Great. He was sent to Spain to sub- 
 due Ser-to'-ri-us, the last great friend of Marius. 
 He succeeded, but only after Sertorius had been 
 assassinated by his own officer. 
 
 While Pompey was in Spain a dangerous up- 
 rising of the gladiators, under the lead of Spar'-ta- 
 cus, took place in Rome. The gladiators were men 
 who were trained to fight in the circus for the 
 amusement of the people. 
 
 Spartacus gathered his men near Mount Ve- 
 suvius. So many discontented people, runaway 
 slaves, and pirates joined him that he soon had an 
 army of one hundred thousand men. 
 
134 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 For two years they defied the Roman armies. 
 Marcus Crassus, a rich senator, took command, and 
 succeeded in scattering them. Pompey and Cras- 
 sus were the most popular men at Rome, and were 
 chosen consuls. 
 
 Pompey then began his war against the pirates 
 in the eastern Mediterranean, and in a few months 
 cleared the sea of them. He also finished the third 
 war against Mithradates, and added Syria to the 
 empire. He captured Jerusalem and stood within 
 the Jewish temple. He looked about, and was 
 astonished that there was not a single image of 
 a god. 
 
 In the year 63 B.C. Marcus TuUius Cicero be- 
 came consul. He loved the freedom of the repub- 
 lic, and many a time helped to save it from its 
 enemies. 
 
 Cicero was the most famous orator of Rome. 
 He was also the most polished and graceful writer. 
 His speeches are read yet in every school where 
 Latin is taught. 
 
 During his consulship a dissolute young noble, 
 Catiline, gathered an army of discontented and 
 vicious men. He intended to burn Rome and 
 seize the government; but Cicero discovered the 
 plot, and the leaders were seized and put to death. 
 Catiline escaped to his army outside the city, but 
 was defeated and killed. 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 135 
 
 A new man had arisen in Rome. This was 
 Caius JuHus Csesar. He had held several offices; 
 he had been pontifex maximus, had been a judge, 
 and a governor of Spain. On his return to Italy 
 he joined Crassus and Pompey to form the first 
 tri-um'-vi-rate, or three-man government. 
 
 There had always been two consuls, but now 
 there were to be three. When a consul's year of 
 office was up, he was usually sent out to govern a 
 province; he was then called "proconsul." Such 
 an office was very profitable. The governor had 
 to pay a certain amount of tax to the public treas- 
 ury; but all he could get out of his province above 
 that sum was his own. So it was easy for a prc- 
 consul to become rich. 
 
 Cassar received the province of Gaul to govern 
 for five years. When he received it only the south- 
 ern part was under the power of Rome; but dur- 
 ing the next four years Cassar subdued the whole 
 country from the Pyrenees Mountains to the Eng- 
 lish Channel and the Rhine. He twice invaded 
 Britain to punish that people for assisting the Gauls 
 against him. He drove back the German tribes 
 who had crossed the Rhine into Gaul. He sub- 
 dued a rebellion of all the Gallic tribes under Ver- 
 cin-get'-o-rix. Caesar made this chief a prisoner, 
 and exhibited him in his triumphal procession at 
 Rome. 
 
136 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Caesar remained eight years in Gaul. He had 
 made it into an orderly, well-governed province. 
 The people soon learned the Latin language, as 
 that was used in trade and in the schools which were 
 established. There were sixty tribes, each with its 
 
 Julius Caesar. 
 
 own language, but soon there was only one. To- 
 day Gaul is called France, but the French language 
 is in many ways like the Latin, the language of 
 Cgesar. 
 
 During Caesar's wars Crassus died, but Pom- 
 
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC ] ;37 
 
 pey continued to rule Italy. He was jealous of 
 Cassar, and when the Senate ordered both of them 
 to give up their commands, Pompey refused. 
 
 Csesar did not think his life safe if he yielded 
 to Pompey. He had his army drawn up on the 
 banks of the river Rubicon, that separated his prov- 
 ince from Italy. When he found that Pompey 
 was determined to remain unlawfully in office, he 
 exclaimed, " The die is cast! " and led his army into 
 Italy. Pompey fled into Greece. Csesar soon sub- 
 dued Italy. He then led his army against Pom- 
 pey, and defeated him at Phar'-sa-lus. Pompey 
 fled to Egypt, where he was murdered. A last 
 battle was won by Cccsar at Thap'-sa-cus, in Africa. 
 Cato fell upon his sword at Utica, and the Roman 
 republic died with him, for Julius Csesar was then 
 the ruler of the world. 
 
 But many Romans were jealous of Csesar. 
 Some loved the old republic, and when it was hinted 
 that Csesar desired to be made king, the old hatred 
 of the name of king rose up. 
 
 Caius Cassius had been refused an office by 
 Csesar. He gathered a number of men about him, 
 and they resolved to kill the tyrant, as they called 
 Caesar. Marcus Brutus and Decimus Brutus were 
 among the conspirators. IVIark Antony was a firm 
 friend of Csesar, and some of the plotters wanted 
 to kill both at the same time; but Brutus objected 
 to this. 
 
138 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 One day the Senate met in a theater built by 
 Poinpey in the Field of Mars. While one of the 
 conspirators presented a paper for Caesar to read, 
 Casca, from behind, struck him in the neck with 
 his dagger. Then the others stabbed him, and. 
 
 Mark Antony at Caesar's Funeral. 
 
 pierced with twenty-three wounds, Csesar fell dead 
 at the foot of Pompey's statue. 
 
 A public funeral was held for Casar, and An- 
 tony read his will, which gave all his wealth to the 
 people. "This," said Antony, "was a Csesar, 
 
TJIE ROMAN REPUBLIC DJU 
 
 When comes there such another?" The people 
 were so enraged that they drove the murderers from 
 Rome. Antony and Oc-ta'-vi-us Csesar seized the 
 government. Octavius was Caesar's nephew, but 
 had been adopted as his son and heir. These two 
 associated with them Lepidus, who was in command 
 of the army, and thus formed the second trium- 
 virate. 
 
 Cassius, Brutus, and their friends fled to INIace- 
 donia, where they mustered an army. But the tri- 
 umvirate defeated them at the battle of Phi'-lip-pi, 
 and both Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. 
 
 The three then divided the world among them. 
 Lepidus was soon robbed of his share, and a con- 
 test arose between Octavius and Antony. Antony 
 had married Octavia, the sister of Octavius, but he 
 deserted her to marry Cle-o-pa'-tra, the beautiful 
 Queen of Egypt. Angry at this insult, Octavius 
 began war, and crushed Antony in a naval battle in 
 the bay of Ac'-ti-um, on the west coast of Greece. 
 
 Thus Octavius became the emperor of the 
 Roman world. The Senate recognized him as em- 
 peror, and gave him the title of Augustus. The 
 temple of Janus was closed, for the civil wars were 
 over, and the Roman empire began 27 B.C. 
 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE 
 
 Although we call Augustus Emperor, he did 
 not have that title. He was careful not to call him- 
 self king, or to behave in any way like one. 
 
 Julius Caesar had been killed because it was 
 thought he had wished to make himself king. 
 Augustus was called prince, which then meant 
 merely the chief citizen. He was made com- 
 mander of the army, tribune, and judge, so that 
 he had all the power that a king could have. 
 
 The assemblies of the people were done away 
 with, but the Senate was kej)t up. The prince and 
 the Senate governed the empire. 
 
 ar-min'-i-us 
 
 Augustus had already conquered part of Ger- 
 many, but he wanted to take possession of another 
 part, which lay between the Rhine and the Elbe 
 rivers. This would give him a boundary for his 
 empire which could be more easily defended. The 
 Roman governor of Germany was Lu'-cius Va'- 
 rus, a brave man and a good soldier; but he did 
 not know what terrible fighters the wild German 
 tribes were. 
 
 The chief of the Che-rus'-ci, a German tribe, 
 was Arminius, or Hermann. He had been a sol- 
 dier in the Roman army, but he decided to fight for 
 
 140 
 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE 141 
 
 his people when he learned that the Romans were 
 taking away their freedom or driving them from 
 their houses. 
 
 When his warriors were ready, Hermann sent 
 word to Varus that the Germans were going to 
 revolt. As Varus was leading his army through 
 the dark paths of the Teu'-to-berg forest, he was 
 suddenly assailed on all sides by the fierce German 
 warriors. 
 
 For three days the Romans struggled on, but 
 they could not escape, and were slain to the last 
 man. 
 
 When the terrible news reached Augustus he 
 was so stricken with grief that for several days he 
 did nothing but walk about, exclaiming, " O Varus, 
 give me back my legions! " 
 
 A few years afterwards, Ger-man'-i-cus, an- 
 other brave Roman general, took vengeance on the 
 Germans, and brought back to Rome the flags and 
 standards of Varus's army; but no attempt was 
 made to keep the land. The Rhine and the Dan- 
 ube rivers were made the boundaries of the empire 
 on the north. It was tlie first time the Romans 
 had ever given up land that they had once occupied. 
 
 Augustus lived only five years after this mis- 
 fortune, dying in 14 a.d. Thus he reigned from 
 27 B.C. to 14 A.D., forty-one years in all. You will 
 notice that the Christian era began in his reign. 
 The year of the birth of Christ should be called 
 
142 
 
 OLD AVORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 the year 1 ; but an error of four years was made 
 in fixing the time of His birth, so that we have to 
 say now that He was born 4 B.C. 
 
 The reign of Augustus is often called the Au- 
 gustan Age. It was a time when many poets, 
 
 Vergil Reading to His Friends. 
 
 historians, and philosophers lived. Vergil, Horace, 
 and the historian, Livy, were friends of the Em- 
 peror. Much was done in art and building. Au- 
 gustus so improved the capital that he said, " I 
 found Rome brick, but I have left it marble." 
 
 Augustus was succeeded by his stepson Ti-be'- 
 ri-us, a good soldier, who ruled well for fifteen years. 
 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE 143 
 
 Then he grew gloomy and suspicious, and was 
 afraid that he woukl be murdered. He put many 
 to death who were unjustly accused of treason. At 
 last he retired to private life, and put the govern- 
 ment into the hands of his general, Se-ja'-nus. 
 Sejanus plotted and was strangled in prison. 
 
 We pass over the reigns of many emperors who 
 ruled Rome from 31 to 48 B. C. Vespasian was 
 engaged in a war against Judea when he received 
 notice of his election. 
 
 VESPASIAN AND TITUS 
 
 Leaving his son Titus to finish the war, he 
 returned to Rome and took charge of the govern- 
 ment. 
 
 For ten years peace and good government pre- 
 vailed throughout the empire. Titus captured the 
 famous Jewish capital after a six-months' siege. 
 The Jews defended it with great bravery, but it was 
 taken and burned to the ground. The gold and 
 silver vessels used in the services of the temple were 
 brought to Rome. 
 
 A grand triumph was given to Titus, and a 
 splendid arch was built in memory of his victory. 
 Carved in relief upon the arch one may still see 
 the trumpets and vessels brought from Jerusalem, 
 and the seven-branched candlestick which stood in 
 the Holy of Holies, or inner temple. 
 
 Vespasian and his son Titus built the most 
 
144 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 famous building that still remains to remind us 
 of the grandeur of Rome. This was the Col-os- 
 se'-um, or Fla'-vi-an Am-phi-the'-a-ter, so called 
 from the family name of the builders. It could 
 accommodate eighty thousand people, and was 
 used for the amusements which the Roman emper- 
 ors gave the people. When it was dedicated, or 
 first opened, it is said that five thousand wild beasts 
 were killed in the arena by the trained gladiators. 
 Then there was chariot racing and an exhibition of 
 naval warfare, for the great arena could be turned 
 into a lake large enough for ships to sail on. 
 
 pom-pe'-i-i and her-cu-la'-ne-um 
 
 But the most wonderful event in the reign of 
 Titus was one with which he had nothing to do. 
 The old Romans thought that a great giant had 
 been buried under Mount Vesuvius, and that when 
 he grew tired and turned over the mountain would 
 thunder and the lightning and smoke would dart 
 out of its summit. But for many centuries the 
 giant had lain still. The sloping sides of the 
 mountain were covered with green fields and vine- 
 yards, dotted here and there with the country places 
 of the rich Romans. Two fine and well-built cities, 
 Pompeii and Herculaneum, had grown up near the 
 Bay of Naples. 
 
 But in the year 79, in the reign of Titus, 
 
146 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 without any warning the whole top of the moun- 
 tain blew off, and great showers of stones and 
 ashes rained down upon the surrounding country. 
 Streams of melted rock ran down the mountain 
 side, burning and destroying the homes of rich and 
 poor, while poisonous gases suiFocated those who 
 had escaped the stones and lava. The two cities 
 were buried so deep that for centuries all trace of 
 them was lost. 
 
 In 1713, while some workmen were digging a 
 well in Naples, they came to a paved street. Fur- 
 ther search showed that a whole buried city had 
 been discovered. Many of the houses and temples 
 of Pompeii have been uncovered, and we are able 
 to see just how the old Romans lived. A prison 
 was found, and the skeleton of a Roman sentinel 
 in armor, still standing on guard, tells of the stern 
 discipline enforced in the days of Rome. 
 
 Titus had a kindly and generous disposition, 
 although he had been a stern commander in time 
 of war. Once, when at evening he could not recall 
 some good action done, he exclaimed, " I have lost 
 a day!" 
 
 We may learn this excellent precept from him: 
 "Do not let a day pass without doing some good 
 thing." 
 
 Do-mi'-tian, the brother of Titus, succeeded 
 him; but he was just as bad as Titus had been good. 
 
 Then came the five good emperors: Ner'-va, 
 
148 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Tra'-jan, Ha'-dri-an, An-to-ni'-nus, and Mar'-cus 
 Au-re'-lius. 
 
 All of these emperors persecuted the Christians, 
 who were regarded as a mischievous sect because 
 they taught that all the gods of Rome were false, 
 and that the God they worshiped was the only true 
 God. 
 
 Hadrian is noted for the wall which he built in 
 Britain to defend the colony against the wild tribes 
 on the north. 
 
 In the reign of Marcus Aurelius the German 
 tribe of the Mar'-co-man'-ni invaded the empire, 
 and it was all the armies could do to keep back 
 these fierce fighters. 
 
 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE 
 
 We pass over the reigns of twenty or more 
 emperors, who are of little interest to us. But in 
 the year 284 a.d. a great ruler, Di-o-cle'-tian, came 
 to the throne. He saw that the empire was too 
 large to be ruled by one man, and wisely divided 
 it into two, the Eastern Empire and the Western 
 Empire. 
 
 He chose Max-im'-i-an to rule over the western 
 half, with his capital at Milan, in northern Italy. 
 Diocletian ruled the eastern half, and had his capi- 
 tal at Nic-o-me'-di-a. 
 
 Each emperor chose an assistant, who was called 
 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE 
 
 149 
 
 a Csesar. It was the duty of the Caesar to look 
 out for the distant parts of the empire, and see that 
 
 The Vision of Constantine. 
 
 the taxes were collected and order kept. In case 
 the emperor died, the Csesar was to become the next 
 
150 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 emperor. In this way disputes about the succes- 
 sion to the throne would be avoided. 
 
 The plan of Diocletian was not followed after 
 his death. The man he had made Csesar, Con- 
 stan'-ti-us, succeeded him. But when Constantius 
 died the soldiers chose his son Constantine to be the 
 next emperor of the West. A series of bloody 
 civil wars followed. There were six who claimed 
 the throne, but Constantine crushed them all, and 
 became the sole emperor of the West in 306. He 
 was given the surname The Great. 
 
 The most important thing to remember about 
 Constantine is that he made Christianity the religion 
 of the empire. He was led to do this by a strange 
 vision that came to him in the midst of his wars. 
 He was standing among his officers one day in the 
 field, when suddenly the sky was lighted up by a 
 cross of fire. Below the cross he saw the words in 
 Greek, " By this sign conquer." 
 
 That very night he dreamed that Christ stood 
 before him in shining garments bearing a cross, 
 and said: 
 
 " If you make this your standard I will lead 
 you to victory." 
 
 Constantine at once declared himself a Chris- 
 tian. He had his banner made in the shape of a 
 cross with the name of Christ inscribed upon it. 
 
 The persecution of Christians then ceased, and 
 the temples of the heathen gods were changed into 
 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE 151 
 
 Christian churches. A later emperor, named Julian, 
 tried to bring back the old religion, but his attempt 
 failed. Missionaries were sent out, and the prov- 
 inces were converted to the religion of Christ. 
 
 Constantine then determined to found a new 
 capital which should be more conveniently situated. 
 He chose the city then called By-zan'-ti-um, on the 
 Bos'-po-rus. He enlarged and rebuilt it, naming 
 it Con-stan-ti-no'-ple, or the City of Constantine. 
 
 He commenced building the church of St. 
 Sophia, which became the most splendid Christian 
 temple in the world at that time. 
 
 In 325 a meeting of all the bishops of the 
 Church was held at Ni-cae'-a. They drew up the 
 Nicene Creed, which contains the doctrine that all 
 Christians believe. 
 
 Soon after the death of Constantine the empire 
 was again divided into eastern and western divi- 
 sions. Va'-lens ruled the Eastern Empire, at Con- 
 stantinople, and Val-en-tin'-i-an the Western, at 
 Milan. 
 
 At this time the powerful tribe of the Goths had 
 their empire north of the Danube and along the 
 Black Sea. They were attacked by the Huns, a 
 Tartar tribe, who were moving westward. 
 
 These Huns were the most terrible savages that 
 ever invaded Europe. They were filthy in their 
 habits, and their short, thick bodies and small, 
 fierce eyes were repulsive to look upon. They rode 
 
152 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 small, strong horses, and seldom dismounted even 
 to sleep. The Goths fled before them across the 
 Danube, and Valens gave them the province of 
 ]Moe'-si-a to live in. They afterwards attacked and 
 killed Valens and defeated his army in the battle 
 of A-dri-an-op'-o-lis. 
 
 ALARIC THE GOTH 
 
 The Western emperor Gra'-tian checked the 
 Goths and enlisted many of them in his army. His 
 general, The-o-do'-si-us, became the last great ruler 
 of the whole Roman Empire. At his death he 
 again divided it between his two sons, Ar-ca'-di-us 
 and Ho-no'-ri-us ; the latter ruled the West. His 
 general, Stil'-i-cho, was the most noted man of the 
 time. The Vis'-i-goths (Western Goths) had again 
 gathered under their king, AF-a-ric. They ravaged 
 Greece and then marched for Italy, but they were 
 beaten by Stilicho in two battles and forced to 
 retire. But soon there came another Gothic army 
 into Italy, and again Stilicho saved the empire by 
 defeating them and killing their general. 
 
 The foolish Honorius thought that his brave 
 general was planning to seize the empire, and 
 caused him to be murdered. When Alaric came 
 again with his Goths, in 408, there was no one 
 strong enovigh to defend Italy. Alaric besieged 
 Rome. The terrified Senate sent messengers to ask 
 his terms. 
 
THE ROMAN EMPIRE 153 
 
 " I will take all your gold and silver, your mov- 
 able property, and your slaves," said Alaric. 
 
 " What, then, do you leave us? " asked the mes- 
 sengers. 
 
 " I leave you your lives," replied the Goth. 
 
 Twice again Alaric came to Rome. The last 
 time he took the city by assault, and gave it to 
 his soldiers to plunder. He then passed on to the 
 south of Italy, where he died. His burial was a 
 strange one: the river Busento was turned out of 
 its course, and the young king was buried in the 
 bed of the stream. The river was then restored to 
 its former channel, and the slaves who did the work 
 were put to death, that no one might know the 
 place of his burial. 
 
 ATTILA THE HUN 
 
 In the meantime a more terrible enemy than 
 Goth or Vandal had appeared in Europe. This 
 was At'-til-a the Hun, whose name inspired terror 
 wherever it was heard. He was called the Scourge 
 of God. His banner was a sword set on the end of 
 a pole. So dreadful was the devastation wrought 
 by these savages that Attila boasted that where 
 once his horse had trod the grass never grew again. 
 
 Attila set out from Hungary, where he had 
 established his kingdom, with half a million follow- 
 ers, saying that he would never stop until he reached 
 the sea. 
 
154 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The German tribes of the West joined with the 
 Roman general A-e'-tius to oppose them. The 
 armies met on the plain of Chalons, in eastern Gaul. 
 It was a long and terrible battle, but in the end 
 Aetius won, and the boastful Attila retreated with 
 a loss of three hundred thousand men. The next 
 year Attila died after an unsuccessful attempt to 
 invade Italy. 
 
 The Western Empire was held together a few 
 years longer by Ric'-i-mer, a Goth, who commanded 
 the hired German soldiers in the Roman army. 
 Then another leader of hired soldiers, Orestes, 
 made his son, a boy of six years, emperor, and gave 
 him the title of Romulus Augustulus. 
 
 The army had grown tired of camp life, and 
 they demanded that one-third of the lands in Italy 
 be given to them for homes. When Orestes re- 
 fused this they mutinied under the lead of O-do- 
 a'-cer. The little Augustulus was retired to a coun- 
 try villa, and Odoacer became King of Italy. Every 
 part of the Western Empire, Spain, Gaul, Africa, 
 and Italy, was then ruled by kings of the Teutonic 
 race. 
 
 Odoacer sent the crown, the scepter, and the 
 purple robe of Augustulus to Zeno, the Eastern 
 emperor at Constantinople, as a sign that the West- 
 ern Empire had passed away. Out of its various 
 divisions came the new nations, France, Germany, 
 Spain, Italy, and Great Britain. 
 
C3- 
 
 o 
 3 
 
 W 
 3 
 
 C/2 
 
 P 
 *^ 
 
 P 
 Q 
 
MEDIAEVAL HISTORY 
 
 XII. THE BARBARIAN INVADERS 
 
 On the northern boundary of the Roman Em- 
 pire there was a vast stretch of country inhabited 
 by many wild tribes. 
 
 The Romans gave little attention to these peo- 
 ple except to beat them back when they invaded 
 the Roman lands. But the time came when the 
 empire grew weak and the barbarians grew strong. 
 Then they swarmed over the Roman boundaries 
 and divided the old empire among themselves. 
 
 With the exception of At'-ti-la and his Huns, 
 these invaders belonged to the Teu-ton'-ic, or Ger- 
 man'-ic, race. They were a tall, strong people, 
 with light hair and eyes that Tac'-i-tus says were 
 '^fiercely blue.'' Tacitus was a Roman who wrote 
 a book about the Germans. Julius Csesar also tells 
 us about them in his account of his wars in Gaul. 
 
 The Germans lived in villages and were ruled 
 by chiefs. A collection of villages was called a 
 hundred. The hundred was ruled by a count, or 
 chief of high rank. The whole tribe was ruled by 
 a king. The people were farmers and raised cat- 
 
 157 
 
158 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 tie, but hunting and war were their favorite occu- 
 pations. 
 
 When a new chief was to be elected, all the 
 warriors met together. If a man was proposed 
 whom they favored, they beat their weapons to- 
 gether with a great noise. When the chief was 
 chosen, they raised him up on their shields and took 
 him to his tent. The warriors were greatly at- 
 tached to their chiefs. They followed them to war ; 
 and when land and goods were taken from the 
 enemy, the chief divided them among his men. 
 
 Most of the men in a German tribe were free. 
 But prisoners taken in war became the slaves of 
 their captors. None but freemen might carry 
 weapons or go to war. 
 
 Before they became Christians, these nations 
 were heathen. They worshiped many gods, which 
 in some ways were like the Greek and Roman gods. 
 The king of their gods was Wo'-den, or O'-din. 
 He was the god of the sky, and was said to ride 
 through the air on a swift horse called Sleip'-nir. 
 Two ravens perched upon his shoulders and told 
 him all that happened in the vv^orld. 
 
 Woden was the god of the warrior. His home, 
 Val-hal'-la, the German heaven, was hung with 
 swords, shields, and glittering weapons. His maid- 
 ens were the Val-ky'-ries. When a brave warrior 
 died, the Valkyries carried him to Valhalla, so that 
 it was peopled by a multitude of heroes. 
 
A \alkvrie ('Mrrying a Slain AVarrior to \alhalla. 
 
160 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Every morning Odin led his brave warriors out 
 to battle. At night they returned and feasted, and 
 drank the mead, or liquor, that the god himself 
 liked best. 
 
 Thor, the god of thunder, was the son of 
 Woden. He rode in a chariot drawn by goats, 
 and had a hammer which came back to his hand 
 every time he threw it. This glittering hammer 
 darting through the air was the lightning. The 
 crashing sound of the hammer as it smote the ene- 
 mies of Thor, or shattered the ice mountains where 
 they lived, was the thunder. 
 
 Ti'-eu was, like Mars, a god of war. He was 
 armed with a sword. It was Tieu's sword that 
 Attila believed he had found, and which he made 
 his standard in battle. 
 
XIII. CLOVIS 
 
 We have read how the German tribes under 
 O-do-a'-cer overthrew the Roman Empire in Italy. 
 Twelve years afterwards, in 489, The-od'-o-ric, 
 King of the Os'-tro-goths (East Goths) , led a great 
 army with their families and goods into Italy. He 
 overthrew Odoacer and set up a kingdom of his 
 own. 
 
 Another race of Teutons called the Franks, or 
 freemen, lived along the east bank of the Rhine. 
 In the year 481 a youthful king named Clo'-vis 
 became their leader. The Franks had always 
 looked with longing eyes across the Rhine upon 
 the cultivated fields and fine cities of Gaul. The 
 merits and generous conduct of Clovis soon led 
 other tribes to join him. Whatever he won in 
 battle was thrown together in one great pile and 
 was divided among his soldiers, the king sharing 
 equally with them. 
 
 The Romans still held the province of Northern 
 Gaul, and Clovis decided to drive them out and 
 make it his own kingdom. He led his men against 
 the Roman governor, Sy-a'-gri-us, and defeated 
 him. Syagrius fled and Clovis took possession of 
 Sois'-sons, the capital of the province. Afterwards 
 he moved his couii; to a village of clay huts on the 
 
 161 
 
162 «J> in]iaj> STEPS TV> AMEKICjlX hktoky 
 
 Seine. whiA has grown into the beautiful dty of 
 Paris. This part of Gaul became known as France 
 or the land of the Franks, Thus Cloris founded 
 c»e of the great modem nations of the world. 
 
 During this campaign agaiust Syagrius an in- 
 cident occurred that shows the rough manners of 
 these Frankish tribes and tells us somethinor about 
 the kind of man Clovis was. 
 
 Some of his soldiers had carried away from one 
 of tiie diurches at Rheiois a beautiful vase, which 
 the bi^K)p entreated Clovis to return as a special 
 favor to him. Accordingly when the spoils were 
 divided Clovis asked his men to set aside the vase 
 for himself. 
 
 A soldier standing by exclaimed. * Xever shall 
 you have more than your just share I " And as he 
 spoke he broke the vase to pieces with a blow of 
 his ax. 
 
 Clovis o^ncealed his anger for the time, and 
 said not a word. A year afterwards when he was 
 reviewing his soldiers he approadied the one who 
 had insulted him. Taking the man's weapon he 
 threw it upon the ground, chiding him for not 
 keeping it in better condition. As the soldier 
 stooped to pick it up. Clovis blattered his skull with 
 Mie blow, exclaiming; " Thus didst thou with the 
 vase at Soissons I " 
 
 Clovis married Clo-til'-de, niece of Gun '-do- 
 bald, the Kin or of Burcrundv. ClotOde was a Chns- 
 
CLOVIS 
 
 163 
 
 tian, and did all in her power to convert her pagan 
 husband and his people to her own rehgion. 
 
 Clovis was not satisfied with the extent of his 
 new kingdom, and he soon made war on the Al'-e- 
 man-ni. another German tribe living along the 
 
 Thus Di, 
 
 tiio'j wi: 
 
 \.^^ 
 
 at ^oisjohs '. 
 
 upper Rhine. It must be remembered that these 
 Germans thought the most honorable way to get 
 an}i:liing was to take it by war. It was thought 
 a disgrace to get anything peacefully when it 
 could be obtained bv a fair fii:rht. 
 
164 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The Alemanni were stubborn fighters and three 
 times they drove Clovis from the field. Then the 
 king thought of the God that Clotilde had told him 
 about, and he prayed earnestly for victory to Clo- 
 tilde's God. At the next charge of the Franks they 
 swept the Alemanni from the field. 
 
 When Clovis returned home he announced to 
 his people that he had become a Christian. He or- 
 dered all heathen gods and temples to be broken 
 down, and on Christmas day he and three thou- 
 sand of his warriors were baptized by the arch- 
 bishop in the church at Rheims. 
 
 When Clovis died, his kingdom was divided 
 among his four sons. Their descendants continued 
 to rule France for a century. Then in 613 the 
 whole kingdom was united under Clo-taire'. His 
 son, Dag'-o-bert, was a worthless king, and a man 
 named Pip'-in was made mayor of the palace. 
 This mayor was the real king. A descendant of 
 Pipin, known as Pipin the Short, retired the '' do- 
 nothing " king to his country place and made him- 
 self the founder of a new line of kings. The great- 
 est of this line was Char-le-magne' who in 811 be- 
 came king of all the Franks. 
 
The Baptism of Clovis. 
 
XIV. THE BEGINNING OF ENGLAND 
 
 In the Lowlands along the North Sea between 
 the Rhine and the Elbe and on the peninsula of 
 Jutland lived the Sax'-ons, An'-gles, and Jutes. 
 These were German tribes like the Franks and 
 Goths. They became good sailors on account of 
 their situation, and often made voyages to Britain 
 and along the coast of Europe. Like their brother 
 tribes, they lived by war and plunder, and they 
 soon became the terror of the Britons living along 
 the eastern coast. 
 
 The Roman army had long protected their 
 British colony against the sea robbers. But in 410 
 Ho-no'-ri-us, the Roman emperor, called his sol- 
 diers awa/ from Britain to guard Italy against 
 invasion. Then the Jutes, the Saxons, and the 
 Angles swarmed over into Britain. Two chiefs of 
 the Jutes named Hengist and Horsa are said to 
 liave been the first comers. They soon drove out 
 the Britons and took possession of the larger part 
 of the island. Some of the Britons escaped into 
 Wales and Cornwall, where their descendants con- 
 tinue to live. 
 
 The Britons had long before this been con- 
 verted to Christianity by the Romans, and a Chris- 
 tian king in Wales fought bravely to save his coun- 
 try from the heathen invaders. 
 
 166 
 
THE BEGINNING OF ENGLAND 167 
 
 This king" was Arthur, about whom many tales 
 are told. He is said to have lived in a splendid 
 palace at Car'-le-on in Wales where he gathered 
 about him many brave knights. Twelve of these 
 are known as the " Knights of the Round Table." 
 They were wont to go out in search of adventures, 
 chaining up wicked giants, protecting the helpless, 
 and driving back the heathen. 
 
 While Arthur and his knights were warring 
 against the Saxons, a Christian priest, St. Patrick, 
 was converting the wild Irish tribes, baptizing 
 thousands of them. He founded churches and 
 schools, where young men were trained to become 
 missionaries. They were then sent out to teach 
 the faith to the Picts in Scotland and to the Gauls 
 across the English channel. 
 
 The Saxons and their brother tribes built up 
 seven kingdoms in Britain. These were united into 
 one by King Egbert of Wessex, who began to 
 reign in 802. Egbert was the first to be called 
 King of England. Long before this the Saxons 
 also had been converted to Christianity. By Sax- 
 ons we mean all the Germanic tribes in Britain. It 
 is strange that although the greater part of the 
 invaders were Saxons, it was the Angles who gave 
 a name to the new country — An'-gle-land, or Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Pope Gregory the Great, while he was yet a 
 priest, was attracted by the fair faces of some 
 
THE BEGINNING OF ENGLAND 169 
 
 Angle children who were exjiosed for sale in one 
 of the slave markets in Rome. They were so heau- 
 tiful that he said, " They have the faces of angels.'' 
 When he became the head of the church, he sent 
 Aug'-us-tine with forty monks as missionaries to 
 convert the Angles to Christianity. Augustine 
 landed in Kent in 597. Eth'-el-bert was then king 
 of Kent. Like Clovis, he had married a Chris- 
 tian princess, Bertha, the daughter of a Frankish 
 king. 
 
 Augustine was welcomed, and in a short time 
 King Ethelbert and a thousand of his men were 
 baptized. 
 
 During the next century missionaries visited 
 the other kingdoms of Britain and they too ac- 
 cepted the Christian faith. An old Roman church 
 at Can'-ter-bur-y where Jupiter and Juno were 
 once worshiped was made into a Christian church. 
 It grew to be the Cathedral of Canterbury and 
 Augustine became the first archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. 
 
XV. MOHAMMED AND THE 
 SARACENS 
 
 The three religions which have taught the world 
 that there is but one God are the Jewish, the Chris- 
 tian, and the Mohammedan. These religions have 
 all come from that branch of the Semitic race 
 which is descended from Abraham. The wander- 
 ing Arabs, the tribes of the Arabian desert, claim 
 Ish'-ma-el, the son of Abraham, as their ancestor. 
 Their holy city is Mecca. 
 
 In Mecca is the Ca'-a-ba, or holy temple, where 
 a black stone is kept that is believed to have been 
 given to Abraham by the angel Gabriel. Pilgrims 
 from all over Arabia came here to worship and to 
 kiss the sacred stone. 
 
 The Arabs were worshipers of the sun, moon, 
 and stars. The level plain and clear sky made 
 them familiar with the motions of these bodies. 
 They found their way across the desert by the stars, 
 and they thought that their own lives were guided 
 by the position and motion of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 Mohammed was the founder of Islam, as the 
 Mohammedans call their religion. He was born 
 in Mecca about 570 a.d. His family belonged to 
 the tribe of the Ko'-reish-ites, who had charge of 
 the temple of the Caaba. His parents died when 
 he was a child and he grew up as a shepherd boy, 
 
 170 
 

 
 .liiiiliiiiiliillilliiiliiiiiilll 
 
172 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 tending the flocks and camels of his uncle, A'-bu 
 Ta'-lib. 
 
 Every owner of camels in the East frequently 
 has occasion to join caravans carrying merchandise 
 across the desert. He would receive pay for the 
 use of his camels and for his own services. Mo- 
 hammed traveled with his uncle to all parts of 
 Arabia as a camel driver. Soon he became himself 
 the leader of a caravan. He became known for his 
 honesty, and merchants frequently intrusted to him 
 valuable goods and large sums of money. 
 
 When Mohammed was about twenty-five years 
 old, he was engaged by a widow named Kha-di'- 
 jah to take charge of her caravans. Her husband 
 had been successful in this business, and Khadijah 
 wished to carry it on. Khadijah was so pleased 
 with his skillful management, and he became so 
 fond of his mistress, that they decided to be mar- 
 ried. As his wife was rich he did not need to make 
 so many journej^s as before. 
 
 For fifteen years they lived at JNIecca. At the 
 end of this time Mohammed began to think much 
 about religion. He knew about the religion of the 
 Jews and that of the Christians, but he did not 
 exactly like either of them. He liked still less the 
 idol worship of Arabia. Mohammed had always 
 been thoughtful about religion. Each year dur- 
 ing the holy month of Ram-a-dan', he went away 
 to a cave near Mecca and there he spent the 
 
174 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 time in fasting and prayer. It was in this cave 
 that the angel Gabriel first appeared to him and 
 taught him the religion that he afterwards taught 
 to his followers. 
 
 From time to time the angel came to him, tell- 
 ing him more and more about the new religion. 
 All of this JNIohammed remembered carefully and 
 had it written in a book. This book is the Moham- 
 medan Bible. They call it the Koran, a word 
 which like our word Bible means book. The most 
 important teaching of the Koran is this: " There is 
 only one God and Mohammed is his prophet." 
 
 He first taught his religion to his own family, 
 and they became his first converts. But when he 
 began to preach in the streets of Mecca, the crowd 
 called him a fool and thought he was not right in 
 his mind. 
 
 At last the chiefs of the Koreishites threatened 
 to kill him if he did not keep silent. They were the 
 guardians of the Caaba; and Mohammed, by con- 
 demning their worship of idols and men, of sun 
 and stars, made the care of the temple less profit- 
 ablco He was at last obliged to flee from Mecca 
 at night, and he escaped death only by hiding in 
 a cave while his nephew put on his clothes and lay 
 down on the couch of the prophet. This made the 
 pursuers think that Mohammed was still at his 
 home. 
 
 A story tells us that the spiders spun their webs 
 
MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS 175 
 
 across the entrance of the cave, and that the doves 
 built nests in front of it to deceive the angry chiefs, 
 who sought the prophet's life. 
 
 The flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Me- 
 dina took place in 622. This is the event from 
 which all Mohammedans reckon time, just as we 
 reckon the years from the birth of Christ. The 
 Arabic word for this event is Heg'-i-ra, or flight. 
 Since 622 was the first year of the flight, 1915 
 would be 1293 in the Arabic reckoning. 
 
 Mohammed had many followers in Medina, 
 and a mosque, or place of prayer, was soon built 
 and the prophet taught the people a form of wor- 
 ship. One God only must be worshiped five times 
 each day with the face turned toward JNIecca. A 
 part of one's goods must be given each year to 
 the poor, and the yearly fast in the month Rama- 
 dan must be kept. Every good Mohammedan 
 must also make once in his life a pilgrimage to 
 Mecca. All this was not taught at once, however. 
 
 Soon after coming to Medina the prophet said 
 that the angel Gabriel had told him that Islam 
 must be forced upon the whole world. All heathen 
 nations must accept the new religion or be put to 
 the sword. Jews and Christians must become Mo- 
 hammedans or pay tribute to the prophet. 
 
 Mohammed soon had an army at his command. 
 He attacked and defeated a caravan of the Ko- 
 reishites, and finally captured the city of Mecca 
 
176 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 itself. He broke all the idols of the Caaba, shout- 
 ing* as each one fell, " Truth has come and false- 
 hood gone forever! " 
 
 He continued his conquests until all Arabia was 
 converted. Hearing that the Greek emperor, 
 Her-a'-cli-us, was preparing to attack him, he 
 made ready an expedition against him. In the 
 midst of this he died in the year 632. 
 
 Mohammed's father-in-law, A'-bu Bek'-er, was 
 chosen caliph, or successor, to the prophet. Under 
 O'-mar, the next caliph, Persia, Palestine, and Sy- 
 ria were conquered and made to accept the new re- 
 ligion. Egypt was next added to the rapidly 
 growing Mohammedan Empire. When Al-ex-an'- 
 dri-a was taken, a Moslem leader inquired of Omar 
 what should be done with the books in the famous 
 library there. 
 
 " If these books agree with the Koran, they are 
 not needed; if they disagree with it they should 
 be destroyed," said Omar. 
 
 The seven hundred thousand rolls of parchment 
 which the library was thought to contain were dis- 
 tributed among the public baths of the city and 
 used for fuel. 
 
 In 710 the conquest of Africa was finished and 
 the leader Ta'-rik crossed into Spain. In 711 in 
 one great battle he destroyed the Visigothic king- 
 dom there. When Spain was secured, a great 
 army crossed the Pyrenees into Gaul. There the 
 
MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS 177 
 
 Mohammedans were met by Charles Martel with 
 an army of Franks. At Tours in 732, a battle was 
 fought that saved Christian Europe from de- 
 struction. The Mohammedan cavalry rode again 
 and again upon the Frankish infantry, but were 
 beaten back as if from a wall of iron. All day the 
 battle lasted. Toward evening a charge was made 
 by the Franks and the Moslem leader, Abd-er- 
 Rah'man was killed. During the night the enemy 
 retreated, and they never appeared in France 
 again. It was decided by the battle of Tours that 
 Christians and not Moslems should rule Europe. 
 
 Charles was the son of that Pipin who was the 
 mayor of the palace in the time of the do-nothing 
 Merovingian kings. From the stout blows which 
 he dealt the Mohammedans with his battle ax, he 
 got the surname Martel, or the Hammer. He be- 
 came the hero of Europe, for he had saved it 
 from becoming subject to a false religion. 
 
 Some time before this the capital of the Mo- 
 hammedan Empire had been fixed at Bag'-dad on 
 the Tigris River. This city became the most beau- 
 tiful in the world. Five bridges spanned the river, 
 and six hundred canals ran through the city. 
 There were a thousand mosques and as many tem- 
 ples. All the wealth obtained by conquest was 
 spent there. The palace of the caliph was equal 
 to the golden house of Nero or the cedar house 
 of SolomoUo 
 
178 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The empire became so large that a second cap- 
 ital was set up at Cor-do'-va in Spain, where the 
 cahph of the West ruled. 
 
 Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours. 
 
 From 768 to 809 there ruled at Bagdad the 
 most noted of all the caliphs. This was Ha-roun'- 
 
MOHAMMED AND THE SARACENS 179 
 
 al-Ra'-shid (Aaron the Just) . The wonderful tales 
 of the Arabian Nights are stories of Bagdad in the 
 good days of Haroun. 
 
 When Haroun was a young man he became a 
 general in the army. He defeated the army of the 
 Empress Irene of Constantinople and compelled 
 her to send to Bagdad every year seventy thousand 
 pieces of gold. This money was paid regularly for 
 many 3^ears; but when Ni-ceph'-o-rus came to the 
 throne he sent this letter to Haroun : 
 
 " The weak and faint-hearted Irene agreed to 
 pay tribute to you when she should have made you 
 pay tribute to her. Now, pay back to me all the 
 gold she sent you or else we will settle with the 
 sword." 
 
 When Haroun had read the letter the messen- 
 ger of Nicephorus threw down before him a bundle 
 of swords. 
 
 " Then," the story goes, " the caliph drew his 
 keen scimiter and with a stroke cut in two the 
 Roman swords without dulling the edge of the 
 weapon." 
 
 Then he wrote a letter to Nicephoiiis. This is 
 what it said: 
 
 " Haroun-al-Raschid, Commander of the Faith- 
 ful, to Nicephorus the Roman dog : I have read thy 
 letter. Thou shalt not hear, thou shalt see my 
 reply." 
 
 The army which he sent utterly routed the Ro- 
 
180 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 mans. The emperor promised to pay the tribute 
 again. He did not keep his promise, and Haroun 
 prepared again to punish him. But he died be- 
 fore his army was ready to march. It was left for 
 the Turks, a Tartar tribe which had been converted 
 to Mohammedanism, to take the city of Constanti- 
 nople. 
 
XVI. THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE 
 
 PiPiN THE Short, who set aside the last Me- 
 rovingian king and made himself king of Frank- 
 land, had two sons, Charles and Carloman. As 
 Carloman lived only a short time Charles became 
 king. He ruled from 768 to 814. In after times 
 he was called Charlemagne (Shar-le-mane'), the 
 I*'rench form of Karl the Great. 
 
 We must remember that in his time there was 
 yet no France and no French people. Charle- 
 magne was a German and spoke the German 
 language. The Franks, too, were Germans, who 
 had settled among the Gauls and Romans. The 
 French people and language came from the mix- 
 ing of these three races and languages. 
 
 On the east of the Rhine, where there were no 
 Gauls or Romans, a pure German race lived, and 
 their country is now called Germany. 
 
 Why was this king called the Great? Only a 
 few kings have received this title, and there is al- 
 ways some good reason for it. 
 
 In the first place, Charlemagne was of great 
 size and stature. He was seven feet high, broad in 
 shoulders and chest, and of immense strength. He 
 was fond of hunting, riding, and swimming. 
 
 He shrank from no toil and feared no danger. 
 He was a successful general; he fought fifty-two 
 
 181 
 
182 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 military campaigns and never met defeat. He en- 
 larged his empire so that it took in all of western 
 Europe except Spain, and he was crowned by the 
 Vo])e as Roman emperor. 
 
 Besides knowing how to win battles, he knew 
 how to govern his empire. He divided it into dis- 
 tricts ; at the head of each district he placed a count, 
 who could be removed if he did not manage well. 
 
 Twice each year he called together all the chiefs 
 and the people to take part in the making of laws. 
 Every Frank felt that he was a part of the great 
 empire, and that he was helping to govern it. 
 After the laws were made, judges were chosen and 
 sent to all parts of the kingdom to hold courts and 
 enforce the laws. 
 
 Charlemagne was the first barbarian king to 
 establish schools. In his own palace at Aa'-chen 
 (Aix) he had a school for his own children. He 
 brought a learned Englishman named AF-cuin 
 from the school of York in England to direct the 
 teaching in his schools. 
 
 He himself never learned to read and write 
 until he became a king. But then he saw the need 
 of it and studied so diligently that he learned to 
 speak in Latin and to read Greek. 
 
 These languages were the most important then 
 because all the books were written in them. Char- 
 lemagne cared little for eating and drinking, and 
 usually read a book while he ate. He was prompt 
 
Charlemagne. 
 
184 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 in all his actions, never lost time, and in this way 
 he had time enough left for recreation when his 
 work was done. 
 
 His first war was against the Lom'-bards in 
 Italy. The Lombards were a German tribe who 
 had been invited into Italy by N arses, the general 
 of Justinian. 
 
 After the Gothic kingdom of Theodoric was 
 destroyed, the Lombard kingdom became the chief 
 power in northern and central Italy. As the Lom- 
 bards were Greek Christians they were not friendly 
 to the Roman Pope and they soon began to 
 threaten Rome. 
 
 This was about the time that Pipin made himself 
 king of the Franks. As L-^ wanted to be crowned 
 by the Pope, he was invited to help Rome against 
 the Lombards. Pipin marched his army into Italy, 
 took from the Lombard king a large part of his 
 territory, and gave it to Pope Stephen III. In 
 return for this, the Pope solemnly crowned him 
 king. 
 
 In the time of Charlemagne another quarrel 
 came up with the Lombards. He had married the 
 daughter of Des-i-de'-ri-us, the Lombard king, and 
 afterwards divorced her and sent her home to her 
 father. Desiderius was so angry at this that he 
 called upon Pope Ha'-dri-an to make the son of 
 Carloman king instead of Charlemagne. 
 
 The Frank king promptly led his army across 
 
THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE 185 
 
 the Alps, took Desiderius prisoner and shut him 
 up in a convent. He then put the iron crown of 
 the Lombard upon his own head and declared hii^i- 
 self lord of all Italy. 
 
 On account of the crimes of the Empress Irene 
 at Constantinople, who had blinded her own son 
 that she might rule, the Italians declared them- 
 selves independent of her. The Eastern emperors 
 had gone on calling themselves Roman emperors 
 ever since the time of Constantine, although they 
 had no power at Rome. 
 
 The Greek and Roman churches had come to 
 think differently about religion. A great dispute 
 about the use of images came up in the eighth cen- 
 tury. In the East the mosaics and pictures were 
 taken out of the churches and destroyed, the priests 
 claiming that the people worshiped these things as 
 idols. But the Roman Church held that it was 
 right to adorn the house of worship with the statues 
 and pictures of the Saviour, the Virgin, and the 
 saints. 
 
 The Pope thought that there should be an em- 
 peror in the West who agreed with the Roman 
 Church. Accordingly, on Christmas Day, 800, in 
 the Church of St. Peter, Pope Leo III crowned 
 Charlemagne Roman emperor. As the golden 
 crown was placed upon his head, all the people 
 shouted, " Long live Charles Augustus, Emperor 
 of the Romans! " 
 
The Crowning of Charlemagne. 
 
THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE 187 
 
 After this, the eastern half of the old Roman 
 Empire came to be called the Greek Empire. The 
 language spoken there was Greek, while in the west 
 only Latin was spoken. 
 
 The war against the Saxons was the most stub- 
 born in which Charlemagne engaged. These fierce 
 people lived on the eastern bank of the lower 
 Rhine. They were still worshipers of Thor and 
 Woden, and they hated the Franks because they 
 had become Christians. 
 
 It took eighteen campaigns and thirty years of 
 warfare to conquer them. JVIany times they seemed 
 to be subdued but then the war broke out afresh. 
 
 Charlemagne insisted on making Christians of 
 them, and baptized many at the point of the sword. 
 Once he massacred forty-five hundred of them for 
 breaking a treaty. At last he gave up trying to 
 conquer them and offered to make peace, if their 
 heroic leader, Wit'-te-kind, would consent to be 
 baptized. 
 
 After his baptism many of the Saxons became 
 Christians. Their name still remains in the king- 
 dom of Saxony, one of the German states. 
 
 The emperor built a splendid cathedral at 
 Aachen, his capital. There he was buried, under 
 the floor and beneath the dome of the church. His 
 body was placed sitting in a marble chair, dressed 
 in his royal robes and crown. His horn, and a 
 copy of the Gospels were upon his lap and his 
 
THE EMPIRE OP CHARLEMAGNE 189 
 
 sword by his side. The marble chair may still be 
 seen in the cathedral at Aix, but the other relics 
 were taken to Vienna by later emperors. 
 
 His son Louis was a weak ruler and had a 
 troubled reign. He divided the kingdom among 
 his three sons. Louis received the eastern, or Ger- 
 man part, Charles the western part, and Lothair, 
 Italy, with a long strip of land running north be- 
 tween the other two. Such was the beginning of 
 the modern countries, France, Germany, and Italy. 
 
Roland in the Pass of Roncesvalles. 
 
 {Roland was one of Charlnnagne s bravest warriors.) 
 
XVII. THE NORTHMEN 
 
 The Teutonic tribes living on the northern 
 shores of Europe, in Denmark, and in Norway and 
 Sweden are known in history as Northmen. 
 
 Just as their brother tribes in Central Europe 
 invaded and conquered the Roman Empire in the 
 fifth century, so they invaded and conquered parts 
 of the older Christian countries in the ninth and 
 tenth centuries. 
 
 But the Northmen, living along the bays and 
 inlets of the coast, became expert sailors and ship- 
 builders, and their raids and invasions were made 
 by sea. Like the Franks and Goths they were 
 strong and warlike, and despised getting anything 
 by labor which they could get by plunder. 
 
 Their ships were long and narrow. There was 
 one mast in the center which carried a large square 
 sail. Along the sides there were benches for 
 twenty or more rowers. Their weapons and food 
 were packed snugly away in the bottom of the 
 boat — in the bow and stern and under the benches. 
 
 In these boats they made long voyages. Set- 
 ting out from Denmark or Norway, they would 
 cross over to England and to the coast of France, 
 and even to Iceland, Greenland, and America. 
 They would frequently sail up a river until they 
 came to a rich city or town. They would then land 
 
 191 
 
192 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 their warriors and plunder the place, carrying off 
 all the valuable things they could find. Then they 
 would sail away before enough men could be got 
 together to catch them. 
 
 At first their raids were made in the summer. 
 When winter came they would all go away to their 
 homes along the fiords and harbol's of Norway. 
 But toward the end of the ninth century they be- 
 gan to make settlements along the coasts that they 
 plundered. 
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT 
 
 Just 100 years after Charlemagne became king 
 of France, Alfred, the greatest of English kings, 
 came to the throne. Alfred and Charlemagne were 
 much alike in some things. Both were great in 
 war, both loved learning, and both were expert in 
 the art of governing their countries. 
 
 Alfred was the first English king who learned 
 to read. A Welshman named Asser, who wrote the 
 life of King Alfred, tells this story : 
 
 One day Alfred's mother was showing her sons 
 a poem written on parchment, and beautifully orna- 
 mented with colors. She said — 
 
 " Whichever of you will first learn to read this 
 poem shall have it to keep for himself." 
 
 Alfred at once sought out a teacher, and soon 
 learned to read, but his brothers gave no further 
 thought to the matter. From that time, he devoted 
 
THE NORTHMEN 193 
 
 every spare moment to improving his mind, and 
 became himself a writer of books. 
 
 Alfred was twenty-two years old when he be- 
 came king, and he at once entered into a terrible 
 war against the Danes, who had invaded the coun- 
 try. Three shiploads of these robbers had landed 
 on the English coast in 787, and when the sheriff 
 of the place went to inquire who they were, they 
 slew him. That was the first appearance of the 
 Northmen in England; but afterward, more and 
 more of them came. As they were heathen and 
 hated the Christians, they took delight in plunder- 
 ing and burning the churches. In those days valu- 
 able things were usually put in the churches for 
 safe-keeping. The Danes soon found this out, and 
 they killed the priests and carried away the treas- 
 ures. 
 
 The Danes proved to be more than a match for 
 King Alfred and his soldiers; so he decided that 
 he must build a navy and fight the enemy on the 
 sea. The English quickly captured a Danish ves- 
 sel, and they felt so encouraged that they soon had 
 a good sized fleet of larger and stronger ships than 
 even those of the Danes. Alfred thus became the 
 founder of the English navy. 
 
 In the sixth year of Alfred's reign, a large 
 Danish army landed on the coast. They marched 
 across the country, burning houses and villages, and 
 robbing the people. King Alfred was driven from 
 
194 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 his capitol, and with a few of his followers, he hid 
 in the swamps and woods. But he soon got to- 
 gether another army and attacked the Danes at 
 Eddington, where he defeated them in a hard 
 fought battle. 
 
 It was during these wars that Alfred disguised 
 himself as a minstrel and went into the Danish 
 camp, where he amused Guthrum, their king, by 
 singing and playing on the harp. While so doing 
 he found all about the situation of the Danish camp 
 and the best way to attack it. After defeating the 
 Danes, Alfred forced them to make peace and he 
 baptised Guthrum and thirty of his men. He gave 
 them the eastern half of England, north of the 
 Thames River, for their home. 
 
 As soon as the war was over, Alfred set to work 
 to organize an army in case war should break out 
 again. He stationed his ships along the coast and 
 built strong forts for the defense of the country. 
 After doing this, the king gave his attention to 
 making good laws and in appointing judges who 
 would study them and make just decisions. He 
 rebuilt the chvu'ches and convents which had been 
 destroyed by the Danes; and he had many manu- 
 scripts copied for the use of the priests and other 
 learned men, for there were yet no printed books. 
 He kept a record of all the events of his reign, and 
 this record is the chief means we have of finding 
 out what happened in King Alfred's time. 
 
THE NORTHMEN 1IJ5 
 
 Besides all these things, Alfred was interested 
 in architecture, in art, in working metals, and in 
 cutting gems. He measured his time by means of 
 candles, which were made so that each one would 
 burn out in four hours. He placed his candles in 
 horn boxes so that they would not be blown out by 
 the wind which came through the walls of ihis 
 palace. These horn boxes were the first laiiterns 
 used in England. 
 
 It was Alfred's work as an author that distin- 
 guished him from nearly all the kings of history 
 from the time of David and Solomon. Other kings 
 patronized literature, engaging men to write for 
 them; but Alfred toiled over his own manuscripts 
 amid all his other cares, and added greatly to the 
 meaning of our language by fixing the use of words 
 and supplying to the people good forms of speech, 
 while at the same time cultivating their moral and 
 religious characters and securing to them an endur- 
 ing record of his reign. 
 
 Alfred died in the year 901; and the lasting 
 gratitude of his people was shown by the observ- 
 ances in his honor after the lapse of a thousand 
 years, in 1901. 
 
 In the reign of Ethelred the Unready, the 
 Danes began to come in greater numbers than ever. 
 The king gave them great sums of money to go 
 away. They took the money and were ever de- 
 manding more and more. 
 
03 
 
 o 
 
 OS 
 O 
 
 > 
 
 I 
 
 O 
 
THE NORTHMEN 
 
 197 
 
 At last in 1002 Ethelred ordered a general mas- 
 sacre of the Danes all over England. Thousands 
 
 Alfred in the Camp of Guthrum. 
 
198 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 were killed and among them was Gunhilda, the sis- 
 ter of King Sweyn of Denmark. Sweyn vowed 
 vengeance on the English king. He came with a 
 large army to England and drove Ethelred out 
 and made himself king of England. In 1016 
 Canute, his son, succeeded him. He was a good 
 king and made excellent laws for England. He 
 was a Christian and forbade the worship of the old 
 gods. He forbade slavery also, and punished crim- 
 inals, the strong as well as the weak. 
 
 In 1042 the Danish line of kings died out and 
 Edward the Confessor, the son of Ethelred, was 
 restored to his throne. 
 
 ROLF THE GANGER 
 
 While these things were going on in England, 
 the Northmen were making conquests in northern 
 France. Once the}^ stabled their horses in the great 
 church that Charlemagne built at Aachen. 
 
 Rollo was a noted leader in the attacks on 
 France. He was called Rolf the Ganger, or goer, 
 on account of his long legs. In 885 Rolf came 
 sailing up the Seine with thirty thousand men and 
 seven hundred ships, and laid siege to the city of 
 Paris. The city stood on an island, and was con- 
 nected with the mainland by two bridges. These 
 bridges were defended by two high and strong 
 towers. The Northmen after staying for eighteen 
 months gave up the task and retreated. 
 
THE NORTHMEN 199 
 
 In 911 Kolf and his Noi*tlimen came again. 
 They were routed in one battle, but King Charles 
 saw that they were too strong to be driven out. He 
 then did what Alfred had done in England. He 
 gave them two provinces in the northern part of 
 France. Rolf received a French princess for his 
 wife and became the vassal of the French king. 
 
 When Rolf was told that he must kiss the 
 king's foot as a sign of faithfulness, he scornfully 
 refused. When the French said that that part of 
 the ceremony could not be left out, the chief told 
 one of his men to kiss the king's foot for him. The 
 soldier knelt before the king and lifted up his foot 
 so high to kiss it that Charles rolled off his seat. 
 The Northmen burst into laughter at his ridiculous 
 appearance. 
 
 The land given to Rolf became known as the 
 duchy of Xormandy, and the Northmen were 
 called Normans. Although Rolf had been a pirate 
 and a plunderer himself, he would not allow any 
 lawlessness in his new duchy. He made strict laws, 
 and robliery was punished by hanging. Normandy 
 became the best governed part of France. 
 
 The new duke divided the land among his 
 chiefs. They in turn gave part of their land to 
 their vien, that is, the soldiers who fought with 
 them, and kept the rest for themselves. Each man 
 who thus received land of a chief had to give him 
 part of the grain and fruit that he raised. He also 
 
200 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 had to do a certain number of days' work for his 
 lord each year and fight for him in case of war. 
 Any man who received lands from another became 
 a vassal and he had to take the oath of fealty, or 
 faithfulness, to his lord. 
 
 The land thus received was called a fief or feud, 
 and this system of landholding was called the 
 feudal system. 
 
 The vassal was a freeman. But the great mass 
 of the people were serfs. Some were slaves that 
 could be bought and sold. The serfs could not be 
 sold but were obliged to live always upon the estate 
 of their lord. They could not get any pay for their 
 labor ajid when the land changed hands the serfs 
 went with it. 
 
 Wherever the Northmen went, they learned the 
 language and accepted the religion of the land in 
 which they lived. In France they became French- 
 men, in England they became Englishmen. 
 
 One of the descendants of Duke Rollo was 
 William I, the conqueror and King of England. 
 
 In Russia also a band of Northmen under a 
 chief named Rurik set up a government with Nov'- 
 go-rod as his capital. This was the beginning of 
 the Russian Empire. Under King Vlad'-i-mir 
 they were converted to Christianity and became 
 Russians just as Rollo and his men became French. 
 
 Wherever the Northmen were found, they were 
 skillful in both war and government. 
 
XVIII. THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF 
 ENGLAND 
 
 When the Danes drove King Ethelred from 
 his throne in England, he fled to Normandy. His 
 wife was Emma, the great-granddaughter of the 
 first duke, Rollo. His son Edward, called the Con- 
 fessor, on account of his piety, grew up at the Nor- 
 man court. 
 
 When Edward wa^ restored to his father's 
 kingdom he took along many Norman friends to 
 whom he gave good places as officers in the English 
 government. This was very displeasing to the 
 English nobles, especially to the Earl Godwin, who 
 was the most powerful among them. After a time 
 Godwin drove the Norman families back to Nor- 
 mandy. 
 
 Edward married Edith, the daughter of God- 
 win, but they had no children. After Edward's 
 death, therefore, the English people chose Harold, 
 the son of Godwin, to rule over them. 
 
 Duke William of Normandy now laid claim to 
 the English throne. He said that Edward had 
 agreed to leave it to him. 
 
 Once Harold had been shipwrecked on the Nor- 
 man coast and found his way to the court of Wil- 
 liam. Before William would allow him to return 
 to England, he made him lay his hand upon an 
 
 201 
 
202 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 altar and swear that when Hdw^ard died, he would 
 support William's claim to the throne. 
 
 The top of the altar was then removed and 
 Harold was shown that his hand had rested just 
 above the bones of certain holy men, or saints. To 
 swear upon the bones of the saints was considered 
 the most solemn kind of oath, and anyone who 
 broke it would be treated as an outlaw. 
 
 William sent a message to Harold reminding 
 him of his oath. 
 
 But Harold replied that he had been chosen 
 king by the people of England and that he w^ould 
 stand vip for his rights. 
 
 William then made preparation to invade Eng- 
 land. For eight months Normandy was a busy 
 workshop. Bows and arrows, swords and spears, 
 helmets and armor, were made ready. Along the 
 coast hundreds of ships were fitted out and stored 
 with provisions. 
 
 William had asked the Pope for consent to con- 
 quer England. It was given and the Pope sent 
 also a beautiful flag, that he had blessed, to be car- 
 ried at the head of the Norman Army. 
 
 At last everything was ready and the Normans 
 crossed the English Channel and landed on the 
 English coast near Hastings. As William went 
 ashore he stumbled and nearly fell. Some men 
 near him exclaimed that it was a bad sign. But the 
 duke showed them the earth which he had in his 
 
THE NORMAN CONQUEST OP ENGLAND 203 
 
 hand saying, "It is a sign that I am taking pos- 
 session of England." 
 
 The Normans found no one to oppose them, 
 for King Harold was away in the North fighting 
 an army led by the King of Norway, who had in- 
 vaded England. At Stamford Bridge Harold's 
 army nearly destroyed the Norwegians and the 
 English rebels who were with them. The English 
 were celebrating the victory at a banquet, when 
 news came from the South that Duke William had 
 landed in England. 
 
 Harold hastened to meet him, gathering men 
 as he advanced. He placed his army on a hill near 
 William's camp, and fortified it by driving stakes 
 into the ground around it. 
 
 Here the Normans made several attacks, but 
 were driven back. At last the English soldiers 
 came out of their defenses to attack the retreating 
 Normans and were slain. Then William made a 
 fierce attack on the king's standard, around which 
 the best of the English soldiers were gathered. 
 The king was wounded, the standard taken, and 
 the battle of Hastings was won. This battle made 
 Duke William of Normandy King William of 
 England. 
 
 The new king soon had orderly government es- 
 tablished. Those English who refused to accept 
 his rule were harshly treated and lost all their es- 
 tates ; but those who submitted were kindly treated. 
 
204 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The feudal system was set up in England. All 
 land belonged to the king. It was divided among 
 the barons who came with him, and they in turn 
 divided their shares among their men. The small- 
 est division of land was called a knight's fee, be- 
 cause anyone holding this amount of land must 
 furnish one knight to fight for the king. There 
 were sixty thousand knights' fees in England. 
 When the king needed an army, he called upon his 
 barons to come with a number of soldiers accord- 
 ing to the land they held. The barons called upon 
 their men and an army was soon assembled. 
 
 Three times each year William called together 
 all the men in England that held land of him, to 
 make laws and advise him about the state of the 
 kingdom. It is said: " He made such good peace 
 in the land that a man might travel all over Eng- 
 land with his bosom full of gold without molesta- 
 tion." 
 
 For a long time there were two nations, two 
 languages, and two kinds of law in England. But 
 just as the Northmen became Frenchmen in 
 France, the Norman-French became Englishmen 
 in England. It required nearly two hundred years 
 to blend the two nations into one. But King John 
 lost the province of Normandy, and from that time 
 the Norman conquerors became more and more 
 English. 
 
 The feudal system continued a long time iii 
 
Harold lieceiviiig tlie News of the Norman Invasion of 
 
 England. 
 
206 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 England, but it was finally abolished, and every 
 man became the owner of the land that he had once 
 held of the king. 
 
 There were two bad things about this system 
 that caused it to be set aside. One was that it made 
 the barons too strong. Sometimes one baron would 
 have at his command several hundred knights. 
 With such a force he could defy the king. Many 
 barons set up an independent rule of their own. 
 Some became highwaymen and robbed merchants 
 and plundered the people. Often a quarrel would 
 arise between two barons and then they would carry 
 on war until one was conquered. 
 
 All of this made the country unsafe to travel in 
 or even to live in. The only way to be safe w^as 
 to become the vassal of some powerful noble who 
 made it a point of honor to stand by his men. 
 
 Every baron lived in a strong house built of 
 stone which we call a feudal castle. This castle 
 was a huge structure. It contained great courts 
 and dining halls large enough to accommodate 
 hundreds of men. There were stables for horses 
 and storehouses for food and supplies of war. 
 Outside was a deep moat, or ditch, filled with wa- 
 ter. This made it possible for a baron to gather 
 all his men within the castle and to remain there 
 for a long time if he was besieged. 
 
 His men could gather on the high walls and 
 towers and throw down stones and weapons upon 
 
THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND 207 
 
 the besiegers. The only way to take a castle was 
 to batter a hole through the walls, or to build up 
 high towers alongside of them. Then a bridge 
 could be made from the tower to the wall of the 
 castle. But with brave defenders inside, the baron 
 could usually bid defiance to any foe. 
 
 The feudal system was a bad thing for the king, 
 the people, the merchants, and for all the weak and 
 unprotected. It made the king too weak to pro- 
 tect his people. It made the people the slaves of 
 the nobles. The man who was not protected by 
 some lord might be killed as an outlaw. The mer- 
 chants had to travel in large companies with armed 
 men to protect them. 
 
 After the death of Charlemagne and the divi- 
 sion of his empire, there were no more strong and 
 able kings to keep the nobles in order. The result 
 was that each noble built a strong castle and be- 
 came partly independent. In this way the feudal 
 system spread over Europe. After a time it came 
 about that the people joined with the kings to put 
 down the nobles. 
 
 A witty writer said that the king was the cat, 
 tlie nobles were the rats, and the people were the 
 mice. Both cats and rats eat mice, but there was 
 only one cat while there were many rats. So it 
 was prudent for the mice to help the cat to kill off 
 the rats, even if the cat ate a few of them. 
 
 The merchants and mechanics lived mainly in 
 
208 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 cities. Soon the cities grew strong and rich enough 
 to purchase their independence of the noble in 
 whose province they stood. The noble was always 
 in need of money for his wars, and the city would 
 furnish the money in return for the privilege of 
 governing itself. 
 
 When gunpowder came into use the power of 
 the nobles was soon broken down. A musket ball 
 could pierce their armor and a cannon could batter 
 down their castles. A few pieces of cannon, with 
 the help of the people and the free cities, made the 
 kings strong again; and in place of the feudal 
 system, Europe became divided into monarchies 
 ruled by powerful kings. 
 
XIX. THE CRUSADES 
 
 We have read how the followers of Mohammed 
 overran all Western Asia and compelled the inhabi- 
 tants to accept their religion. Jerusalem, Naza- 
 reth, Bethlehem, and all the places associated with 
 the life of Christ fell into their hands. 
 
 Among the early Christians it was thought to 
 be a very pious act to make a ]3ilgrimage, or jour- 
 ney, to some»sacred place. The tomb of some saint, 
 like that of St. Thomas at Canterbury in England, 
 might be the place. But a visit to the birthplace 
 of the Saviour at Bethlehem or to His tomb at 
 Jerusalem, was thought to bring upon the pilgrims 
 the choicest blessing of heaven. 
 
 The Saracen caliphs at Bagdad ruled over 
 Palestine and the holy places. Haroun-al-Raschid 
 was one of these caliphs. They were usually intel- 
 ligent and liberal men, and were willing that the 
 Christian pilgrims from Europe should be allowed 
 to visit Palestine. They even encouraged such pil- 
 grims and treated them courteously for the pil- 
 grims brought considerable money into the country. 
 
 But in the wars of the caliphs, a Tartar tribe 
 living near the Caspian Sea was converted to the 
 faith. These were the Turks. They soon became 
 stronger than the caliphs, and took away almost 
 all their possessions. The Turks were ignorant 
 
 209 
 
210 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 and barbarous. They called the Christian pilgrims 
 dogs and unbelievers, and seized and plundered 
 them. They even tortured, insulted, and killed 
 many. The holy church at Jerusalem was made 
 into a stable and the other holy places were treated 
 with like contempt. 
 
 When stories of these insults were brought 
 back to Europe, it made the Christians very angry. 
 The Pope and the priests began to urge the 
 kings and nobles to take revenge upon the infidel 
 Turks. 
 
 You may imagine how the Christian knight 
 was affected by this oppression. He had taken a 
 vow to aid the persecuted and the helpless, and to 
 be a champion in the cause of religion. What 
 could please his chivalrous nature more than to 
 go to the Holy Land to fight the heathen and pro- 
 tect the pilgrims? 
 
 The father of the first Crusade, or War of the 
 Cross, was Peter the Hermit, a monk of Am'-i-ens, 
 France. A council of the church was held at Cler- 
 mont in France to consider what should be done. 
 Pope Urban made a speech to a great throng of 
 people telling them of the wrongs suffered at the 
 hands of the Turks. 
 
 " When Christ calls you to defend Him," cried 
 the Pope, " let nothing keep you at home. Who- 
 ever shall leave his house, his father, or his mother, 
 his wife, or his children in the name of Christ, shall 
 
THE CRUSADES 211 
 
 be rewarded a hundredfold, and shall have eternal 
 hfe." 
 
 The vast assembly rose up in their enthusiasm 
 and shouted: " It is the will of God! It is the will 
 of God!" Those who were wilhng to join in a 
 war against the Turks placed crosses upon the 
 breast or shoulder. 
 
 Peter was at the council and immediately after- 
 wards he set out on a journey through Europe 
 preaching with great earnestness to enormous 
 crowds of people. Everywhere he was welcomed, 
 and thousands of men in every land took the cross. 
 Finally a day was set when the expedition should 
 start for Constantinople. From that place they 
 were to cross into Asia Minor, and march through 
 ^yria to Jerusalem. 
 
 Peter himself led an advanced guard of eighty 
 thousand men, women, and children through Eu- 
 rope. But they had made no arrangement for food 
 or shelter. On the way through Hungary they 
 compelled the people to feed them. The Hun- 
 garians attacked and killed many of them. Hun- 
 ger and cold killed more. Not more than seven 
 thousand crossed the Bosporus into Asia, and these 
 were cut to pieces by a Turkish army. 
 
 In the meantime the main army of the cru- 
 saders gathered. It was a splendid body of v/ell- 
 disciplined soldiers. There were a hundred thou- 
 sand mail-clad knights and six hundred thousand 
 

 cu 
 
 K 
 
 -M 
 
THE CRUSADES 213 
 
 footmen, commanded by Godfrey, the Duke of 
 Lor-raine', and Tan'-cred of Sicily, two of the 
 noblest knights in Europe. 
 
 The different bodies of troops met at the Bos- 
 porus. The capital city of the Turks, Ni-C£e'-a, 
 was taken. The crusaders then took up the march 
 to An'-ti-och, a distance of two hundred miles. 
 Disease, starvation, and the enemy killed nearly 
 half of them before they reached that city. It was 
 seven months before the stronghold fell into their 
 hands. Then they pushed on to Jerusalem. 
 
 At last they came in sight of the Holy City. 
 All their strife and toils were forgotten in their 
 enthusiasm. They kissed the ground and marched 
 bareheaded and barefooted, in the manner of pious 
 pilgrims. 
 
 A month was spent in building machines to 
 scale the walls. A first assault was unsuccessful. 
 But at the second the crusaders burst in the city. 
 For seven days there was a fearful slaughter of 
 Moslems and Jews, and it only ceased when there 
 was no one left to kill. 
 
 Jerusalem was then made into a Christian king- 
 dom with Godfrey at the head of it. He would 
 not be called king but took the title. Defender of 
 the Holy Sepulcher. This was the end of the first 
 Crusade. It had lasted three years (1096-99). 
 The crusaders then returned to Europe leaving a 
 few hundred knights to guard the holy places. 
 
THE CRUSADES 215 
 
 About a hundred years after the first Crusade, 
 the city of Jerusalem was taken by Sal'-a-din, the 
 JNlohammedan ruler of Egypt. But Saladin showed 
 a nobler nature than the Christians or Turks. 
 There was no slaughter of prisoners or of defense- 
 less women and children. 
 
 Three great sovereigns then set out, each with 
 an army, to recover the Holy City; Richard, King 
 of England, Philip Augustus of France, and the 
 distinguished German emperor, Frederick Bar- 
 ba-ros'-sa. The emperor was drowned while cross- 
 ing a swollen stream in Asia Minor and his son, 
 Frederick II, also lost his life in this, the third 
 Crusade. The chief event was the siege of A'-cre, 
 a city on the coast which blocked the way to Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 It took a long time to capture the place. It 
 is said that six hundred thousand men were gath- 
 ered about its walls. Saladin made strong efforts 
 to drive the besiegers off, but he failed, and the 
 city surrendered in 1191. 
 
 Philip and Richard could not agree, and the 
 French king led his army home. Richard re- 
 mained two years after the fall of Acre trying 
 in vain to take Jerusalem. But his troops were 
 so thinned by disease and battle that they were 
 scarcely equal in number to the Moslem garrison 
 in the Holy City, and Saladin with an enormous 
 army was hovering near. So he made a truce with 
 
1 
 
 
THE CRUSADES 217 
 
 Saladin. It was agreed that the Christians should 
 go untroubled to the holy places, and that a strip 
 of coast from Tyre to Joppa should be held by 
 Richard. 
 
 There were in all eight crusades, but the re- 
 maining five are of little importance. They closed 
 in 1291, having lasted almost two hundred years. 
 In that year the last Christian was driven out of 
 Palestine and the Mohammedans have held the 
 land to this day. 
 
 Though the Crusades did not keep Jerusalem 
 out of the hands of the Moslems, they had some 
 good results. They helped to take away power 
 from the feudal nobles who had oppressed the peo- 
 ple. Thousands of the nobles died in war. Many 
 more got so far into debt that they could not afford 
 to keep knights about them. When a noble died 
 and had no heirs, his estates went to the king. In 
 that way the kings became strong enough to control 
 the rest of the nobles. 
 
 The Crusades also led to commerce between 
 Europe and the East. The Italian cities, Venice 
 and Genoa, became rich in supplying the needs of 
 the crusading armies, and they kept up the trade 
 that they had begun. Soon the products of India, 
 China, Persia, and Arabia, were brought to Venice 
 and Genoa. From these cities merchants sold them 
 all over Europe. 
 
XX. BEGINNING OF NEW NATIONS 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 The nobles were much less in number after the 
 Crusades. But those that were left became more 
 powerful and the fights between them and the 
 kings in the different countries of Europe still 
 went on. 
 
 When Richard the Lion-hearted died, his 
 brother John, a very wicked man, became king. 
 It would take a long time to tell all the bad things 
 he did, but here is one of them. 
 
 The rightful heir to the throne was Arthur, 
 the son of John's older brother, Geoffrey. John 
 took Arthur prisoner and shut him up in a castle 
 in Rouen. He ordered the jailer to put out the 
 boy's eyes, but Arthur begged so pitifully that 
 the jailer did not have the heart to do it. 
 
 Then John came one night accompanied by his 
 squire, and the two men took Arthur out on the 
 Seine in a boat where they killed him and sunk his 
 body in the river. Whether this is true or not, it 
 is certain that Arthur was never seen again after 
 he left the castle with his uncle. 
 
 The French king fought against John and took 
 Normandy away from him. When John sum- 
 moned his barons to go with him to France to win 
 
 218 
 
BEGINNING OF THE NATIONS 219 
 
 the lost province back, they refused to go. Then 
 he began to take away their property and to abuse 
 their famiUes. Some of them were secretly mur- 
 dered as Arthur had been. No man's life was safe 
 in England while John was king. 
 
 At last the barons made war on the king and 
 compelled him to sign a paper called the Great 
 Charter. By doing this he agreed not to take any 
 more money from the people without the consent 
 of the great council composed of the nobles and 
 the bishops of England. He also promised that 
 no man should be unlawfully imprisoned or put to 
 death. 
 
 The Great Charter contained many other 
 things that took away the power of the king, and 
 made the life and property of the people safer. 
 
 In the reign of John's son, Henry III, Simon 
 de Montfort, the leader of the barons, called to- 
 gether the representatives of the people. These 
 with the nobles and bishops made up the English 
 Parliament, the body which still governs England. 
 
 Thus in England the barons and the people 
 joined together to take away power from a wicked 
 king and give it to the people. 
 
 For the next two hundred and fifty years the 
 nobles remained very powerful in England; but 
 they did not try to rule independently of the king 
 as in France and Germany. In the middle of the 
 fifteenth century a civil war, called the " Wars of 
 
King John Signing the Great Charter. 
 
BEGINNING OF THE NATIONS 221 
 
 the Roses," broke out in England between the rival 
 houses of York and Lancaster. Both these fami- 
 lies claimed the throne. So many of the nobles 
 were killed in this war that they never became 
 powerful again. 
 
 King Henry VII would not allow them to 
 keep any armed men in their castles. The kings 
 of England then became so strong that they ruled 
 the country without consulting the people very 
 mucli about it. 
 
 After a time one of the kings, Charles I, be- 
 came so tyrannical that the people rebelled against 
 him and put him to death. England then became 
 a republic for a time. Charles II, the son of 
 Charles I, was restored to the throne, but from 
 that time the people gained more and more power. 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 When the empire of Charlemagne was divided 
 in 841, his grandson, Charles, became king of the 
 western Franks. He gave the county of Paris to 
 a brave soldier, Robert the Strong. Just as the 
 descendants of Clovis became worthless and were 
 set aside by Pepin, so Pepin's descendants became 
 weak, and at last died out altogether. 
 
 Then the counts of Frankland chose Hugh 
 Capet, the great-grandson of Robert the Strong, to 
 be king. Hugh's domain had become known as 
 
222 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 the Duchy of France. He was therefore the first 
 King of France. 
 
 The French counts and dukes were just as 
 strong as the king, and considered themselves his 
 equal. A large part of the history of France for 
 four centuries is taken up with wars between the 
 kings and their vassals. Louis XI at last subdued 
 the last of them and made himself supreme. 
 France became a strong monarchy. The common 
 people in France had little power. They were 
 mostly serfs or slaves, and they did not gain en- 
 tire freedom from their lords until the outbreak of 
 the French Revolution. 
 
 GERMANY AND ITALY 
 
 The story of the feudal lords and the kings in 
 Germany is quite different from that of France or 
 England. The countrj^ became divided into five 
 duchies, Sax'-o-ny, Fran-co'-ni-a, Swa'-bi-a, Ba- 
 va'-ri-a, and Lor-raine'. These great dukes with 
 the bishops elected the German emperor. 
 
 In 1356 four princes and three archbishops ob- 
 tained the right to choose the emperor of Germany. 
 These were called the seven electors, and Germany 
 and Italy together were known as the Holy Roman 
 Empire. 
 
 In 911 the family of Charlemagne had died 
 out. The last king of his house was known as 
 
BEGINNING OP THE NATIONS 223 
 
 Louis the Child. At his death the nobles met and 
 chose Conrad, of Franconia, king. At this time a 
 tribe of fierce Tartar warriors called Magyars 
 (Ma-jarz') invaded Germany, and a strong king 
 was needed to defend the country. Conrad lived 
 only a few years. On his deathbed he called his 
 brother to him and gave him the crown and 
 jewels. 
 
 " Take these to Henry of Saxony," he said. 
 " He is the only one strong enough to defend the 
 country." 
 
 The princes met at Aachen and elected Henry. 
 The messengers sent to inform him of his election 
 found him hunting birds. On this account he be- 
 came known as Henry the Fowler. 
 
 Henry proved to be a vigorous ruler. First he 
 compelled the Duke of Lorraine, who had set up 
 an independent kingdom, to obey his authority. 
 Soon the Magyars began to pour into the country. 
 Henry beat them in one battle, but seeing that his 
 soldiers were not fit for war, he made a truce with 
 the barbarians for nine years agreeing to pay them 
 every year a large sum of gold. 
 
 Then Henry set to work to train his army. He 
 built forts along the border and stocked them with 
 food and supplies. Before the truce was up he was 
 ready to meet the enemy again. 
 
 In the tenth year the JNIagyar king sent to de- 
 mand the tribute again. 
 
224 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 " Xo," said Henry, " not a piece of gold will 
 I give you.'' 
 
 There was a hard struggle, but at ]Mer'-se- 
 burg, in 933, Henry took the camp of the ^lagyars 
 and got back a large amount of money that they 
 had taken from him. The ]Magyars then settled 
 along the lower Danube and called their kingdom 
 Hungary, and there they are to-day. They are the 
 only people in Eiu'ope except the Turks who do 
 not belong to the white race. 
 
 The greatest of all the old German emperors 
 was Frederick I of the house of Ho'-hen-stau-fen. 
 He is known as Frederick Barbarossa, or Red- 
 beard. One of the best of his acts was to stop the 
 wars and plundering^ of the barons. He com- 
 pelled all the princes to obey him, and made the 
 kings of Poland and Bohemia his vassals. 
 
 But Frederick with all his power could not con- 
 quer the Italian cities. These cities were founded 
 by the Lombard nation whom X arses had brought 
 into Italy. JNIilan w^as the leading one. They had 
 grown rich by trade, and wxre determined to gov- 
 ern themselves. They drove out the counts and 
 bishops w^ho had ruled them. When Frederick 
 came into Italy with his army, they joined in a 
 leagaie against him. 
 
 The king captured and burned ]Milan, but in 
 the end he was defeated and the cities became free 
 and independent. 
 
Henry the Fowler Chosen Emperor of Germany. 
 
226 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Frederick's death during the third Crusade has 
 been mentioned. He was the best loved of all the 
 emperors, and the people mourned for him many 
 years. A legend grew up among the peasants 
 that the hero was not dead, but asleep in a cav- 
 ern among the mountains. In after years, when 
 the empire fell into disorder and weakness, the 
 people sighed for the return of the times of 
 Barbarossa. 
 
XXI. THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING 
 
 Revival means a bringing to life again. 
 When a country has schools and colleges, books, 
 and works of art, and when the people are edu- 
 cated, we may say learning is found there. 
 
 The barbarian tribes that swarmed into Europe 
 cared nothing for learning. The books of the 
 Greeks and Romans were destroyed. There were 
 no schools worthy the name. Here and there a wise 
 king like Alfred the Great or Charlemagne, had 
 established schools, but most kings cared only for 
 war. 
 
 The knights and nobles despised learning. 
 Study was for priests and not a fit occupation for 
 a soldier. A few schools were kept up in the 
 churches or in the convents where the monks lived; 
 but these were only for the education of the priests. 
 
 We may say truly that learning had died out 
 in Europe. 
 
 During the fifteenth century it was revived, or 
 brought to life again in Italy. 
 
 Italy was less exposed to the attacks of the bar- 
 barians than the other European countries. The 
 Lombard cities were the first to grow rich. Flor- 
 ence, Venice, Genoa, and Pavia, had many citizens 
 who had grown wealthy by trade. When people 
 
 227 
 
228 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 have mone}^ they can devote their time to writing 
 hooks or to painting and sculpture. 
 
 The jDeople of these rich Itahan cities were the 
 first people in Europe to give some attention to 
 books. 
 
 The poet Petrarch was the first to begin to study 
 the old Greek and Latin books. He loved to 
 read the poems of Homer. He said that there were 
 not more than ten men in Ital}^ who could under- 
 stand them. 
 
 Petrarch and other Italian scholars began to 
 search through the old libraries of the churches and 
 monasteries for rolls of parchment containing old 
 writings. In neglected cellars among heaps of 
 rubbish, and in strange nooks and out-of-the-way 
 corners they found here and there a manuscript 
 which was priceless. 
 
 These precious old rolls were unrolled and 
 copies were made and placed in libraries. It was 
 in the fifteenth century that Pope Nicholas V 
 founded the great Vatican library at Rome. He 
 collected five thousand volumes at a cost of $250,- 
 000. This Pope kept several hundred clerks at 
 work copying books, for you must remember that 
 there were no printing presses at that time. 
 
 Constantinople was the only city that had not 
 been taken by the invading tribes. Many valuable 
 collections of books were kept there. Schools were 
 kept up and many learned Greeks taught in them. 
 
THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING 229 
 
 In the thirteenth century the Turks began to attack 
 this city. They crossed the Bosporus and cap- 
 tured all the land about the city. The Turkish Sul- 
 tan, Baj-a-zet', defeated an army of one hundred 
 thousand French and German knights and swore 
 that in a short time " he would stable his horse in 
 St. Peter's Church at Rome." 
 
 But before Bajazet could carry out his plans, 
 his own kingdom in Asia was invaded by Tam-er- 
 lane', a descendant of the great Genghis Khan of 
 whom we read in the story of China. His name 
 was really Timour the Lame. He was so called 
 because he was lame in one of his legs. But this 
 name was changed into Tamerlane. 
 
 Tamerlane ruled in Turkestan. His capital 
 was at Sam-ar-cand', where he lived in a fine palace 
 of marble. He was chief of the Mongols, a tribe 
 of Tartars. He had conquered all of Asia except 
 India and Turkey, both of which he afterwards did 
 conquer. He was more cruel than Attila, the 
 " scourge of God." It is estimated that he burned 
 and plundered fifty thousand towns and killed five 
 millions of people. When he took Ispahan in Per- 
 sia he slew seventy thousand. At Delhi in India, 
 one hundred thousand prisoners were massacred. 
 He took Bagdad, the old capital of Haroun-al- 
 Raschid, and made a pyramid of ninety thousand 
 heads at the gates of the city. 
 
 He now decided to subdue the whole world. 
 
statue of Gutenburg, the Inventor of the Printing Pres* 
 
THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING 281 
 
 " There is only one God in heaven," said he, 
 " and there should be only one king on earth." 
 From Bagdad he marched west. Bajazet hurried 
 away from Constantinople to meet him. They met 
 at Angora in Asia Minor. The Turkish army was 
 destroyed. Bajazet was made a prisoner. Tim- 
 our put him in an iron cage and chained him to 
 one of the bars. In this way he was carried from 
 place to place for the amusement of the Mongol 
 soldiers. 
 
 Tamerlane returned to his capital and gave sev- 
 eral weeks to feasting. Then he called his armies 
 together and set out to reconquer China which had 
 just rebelled and had driven out her Mongol em- 
 perors. On the march he died. His empire fell to 
 pieces at once, and the world breathed a little more 
 freely when it heard that he was dead. 
 
 The people of Constantinople knew that sooner 
 or later their city would be taken. They could 
 hardly muster ten thousand soldiers while their ene- 
 my had several hundred thousand. Many Greeks 
 began to leave the city for Italy. Teachers and 
 scholars, who owned precious parchment rolls, took 
 their treasures to Italy. They set up schools in the 
 Italian cities, where they taught Greek and Latin. 
 
 They were made welcome. The Italians had 
 become earnest students of these languages and 
 they gave their wealth to these Greek teachers. 
 Many hundreds and even thousands of these pre- 
 
232 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 cious old books of Greece and Rome were thus 
 saved. For in 1453 Mohammed II besieged Con- 
 stantinople with two hundred thousand men and 
 took it by storm. He took down the cross from 
 
 Mohammed II. Entering Constantinople. 
 
THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING 288 
 
 the steeple of the cathedral of St. Sophia, and put 
 up the crescent, the sign of the Mohammedan re- 
 ligion. 
 
 Since 1453 the Turks have continued to hold 
 the city on the Bosporus, that Constant ine had 
 thought the finest place in the whole world for a 
 capital. 
 
 While the Italian clerks were slowly copying 
 old manuscripts with pen and ink, a German, John 
 Gutenhurg, of Mainz, was inventing a quicker 
 method of book-making. Long ages ago the Chi- 
 nese had discovered a way of printing. Before 
 Gutenburg's time this Chinese method was in use 
 in Europe also. 
 
 A block of hard wood was made of the size of 
 the page to be printed. On this block was care- 
 fully carved the words and sentences of that page. 
 When this was done, the wood around the letters 
 was cut away leaving the letters standing out in 
 relief. 
 
 Ink was put on the block. It was then care- 
 fully pressed down on a sheet of paper, just as we 
 use a rubber stamp to-day. 
 
 Gutenhurg improved this method by cutting 
 out each letter separately on a piece of wood or 
 metal. When this movable type had been used to 
 print one page, it could be taken out to set up 
 another page. Thus the printing press was in- 
 vented in 1438. About the same time also the art 
 
234 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 of making paper from linen rags was discovered. 
 These were two of the greatest inventions ever 
 made by man. 
 
 A few years after this invention, printing 
 presses were set up in Italy. The greatest printer 
 of the age was Al'-dus Ma-nu'-ti-us of Venice. 
 
 John Gutenburg and the First Printing Press. 
 
 Gutenbm-g's first printed book was a Latin Bible 
 made about 1450. 
 
 Aldus printed hundreds of books in Greek and 
 Latin. His books were famous for their beauty 
 and freedom from mistakes. 
 
 Scholars from England, France, and Germapy 
 
THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING 235 
 
 flocked to Italy to learn of the great teachers there. 
 When they returned to their homes they carried 
 with them copies of the books they had studied. 
 Teaching in the Italian schools consisted in read- 
 ing and copying the old Greek and Latin manu- 
 scripts. First the teacher would read a passage. 
 This was written down by the class. Then the 
 teacher would explain the meaning of the passage 
 copied ; this was also written. When the course was 
 finished, each pupil would have a complete copy of 
 the book along with the explanations given by the 
 teacher. 
 
 In a few years schools were established all over 
 Europe for the study of Greek and Latin, or the 
 New Learning, as it was called. Books on geog- 
 raphy and travel were eagerly read, for men had 
 begun to make voyages along the coasts of Africa 
 and northern Europe. 
 
MODERN HISTORY 
 
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238 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Euphrates rivers and the Persian Gulf. There 
 these caravans bought goods of other caravans that 
 came from countries still farther east. 
 
 When the Turks took possession of Western 
 Asia they would no longer allow the Christian mer- 
 chants to trade in those parts, and after they took 
 Constantinople they shut the vessels of Genoa out 
 of the Black Sea. Their pirate ships swarmed in 
 the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea, and it 
 was unsafe for a merchant vessel to venture into 
 those parts, unless well armed. 
 
 The Turks sailed even out into the Atlantic and 
 along the coasts of Europe and Africa, and many 
 a battle was fought with them by sailors of Italy 
 and Portugal. 
 
 Columbus tells of a sea fight which a vessel of 
 Genoa had with a Turk off the Portuguese coast. 
 The Genoese ship was sunk and the crew swam 
 ashore, Columbus among them. 
 
 When the Eastern trade routes were thus cut 
 oiF by the Turks, the Italian cities began to search 
 for a new route to India by sea. In this work the 
 Portuguese took the lead. Marco Polo had told of 
 a great ocean on the east coast of India and China. 
 If they could only find this ocean! But Africa was 
 in the way. They must sail around it. It was not 
 thought to be very far. But there were strange 
 ideas about the ocean in those times. People 
 thought that if one sailed out to the edge of the 
 
240 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 ocean, the ship would fall off the earth, or else be 
 destroyed by the terrible monsters that were 
 thought to live there. They thought the earth to be 
 flat, like a round pie dish, and that the ocean was a 
 great stream flowing around the outer edge. 
 
 Then it was believed that as one approached the 
 equator, the water became boiling hot, and of 
 course no one could sail a ship on boiling water. 
 
 But Prince Henry of Portugal was not dis- 
 turbed by these tales. He sent out ship after ship 
 along the coast of Africa to look for a strait 
 through it or a way around it. He also told his 
 sailors to go ashore and look for gold. The sailors 
 were easily frightened and soon turned back. 
 When they reached Cape Non, they were met with 
 such terrible storms that they did not think it pos- 
 sible to go farther. 
 
 When Prince Henry died in 1463, his sailors 
 had gone as far as the gold coast. In 1471 they 
 crossed the equator and were astonished not to find 
 boiling water. At last in 1486, Batholomew Diaz 
 reached the most southern point of Africa, which 
 was named the Cape of Good Hope. For now 
 they had " good hope " of reaching Polo's won- 
 derful ocean and the Indies. 
 
 In 1498 four ships sailed under the command 
 of Vasco da Gama, a young man, but one who was 
 never frightened by anything. When he reached 
 the Cape, the storms so alarmed his men that they 
 
THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES 241 
 
 resolved to turn back. But Vasco locked them up 
 and sailed on. 
 
 He passed the Natal coast on Christmas Day, 
 which he named in honor of the birth of Christ. 
 On he sailed vip the eastern coast. At Mozambique 
 he found a pilot who knew the way to India. Then 
 they struck eastward across the Indian Ocean and 
 arrived at last in the harbor of Calicut on the west- 
 tern coast of India. The road to the Indies was 
 found at last. 
 
 Everywhere da Gama found the Moors in pos- 
 session of the trade. A battle was fought with them 
 at Calicut before they would allow the Portuguese 
 to go ashore. In 1500 da Gama returned to Lis- 
 bon with his ships laden with the treasures of the 
 East. The Portuguese then sailed frequently over 
 da Gama's route to India. Their great generals, 
 Al-me'-i-da and Al-bu-quer'-que, drove out the 
 JVIohammedans, and Portuguese settlements took 
 their place along the African coast. 
 
 While the Portuguese were sailing east around 
 Africa in search of the Indies, Columbus was hop- 
 ing to find them by sailing west. When he read 
 Polo's tale of a great ocean east of Asia, he said 
 that this ocean was only the western side of the 
 Atlantic Ocean, and that the world was round like 
 a globe and not flat like a plate as most people 
 thought. Being round, India could be reached by 
 sailing west, just as a fly can walk around an apple. 
 
THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES 243 
 
 When Columbus asked help of the King of 
 Spain to fit out a fleet, that king was making a 
 final effort to drive the INIohammedans out of 
 Spain. After ten years of bloody war, the Moorish 
 kingdom of Gra-na'-da was taken. Bo-ab-dil', the 
 last king, fell in battle, and the people were given 
 the choice of becoming Christians or leaving the 
 country. For a hundred years longer the Moorish 
 people remained in Spain. But on account of cruel 
 persecution many left. In 1609 Philip III drove 
 the last of them, about a million, out of the land. 
 
 It was in 1492 that Queen Isabella at last gave 
 Columbus three ships for his western voyage. His 
 discovery of a new world in the West was the most 
 important event in the history of the world. 
 
 For many years America was thought to be a 
 part of India. But in 1513 a Spaniard, Bal-bo'-a, 
 crossed the Isthmus of Darien and saw the great 
 Pacific Ocean. Six years later, Ferdinand Ma- 
 gel'-lan, a Portuguese sailor, was trying to find a 
 shorter voyage around the southern end of South 
 America into the Pacific Ocean. He crossed this 
 ocean to the islands south of Asia and came back to 
 Portugal by way of the Cape of Good Hope. He 
 had sailed around the world. 
 
 Magellan had proved that America was a new 
 continent separate from India. But he had also 
 found the voyage to be far longer than the route 
 around Africa. Magellan did not live to reach 
 
THE SEARCH FOR THE INDIES 245 
 
 home, and only one of his five ships returned. The 
 tale of his voyage is one of the most thrilling and 
 interesting in history. 
 
 These voyages would n.ot huve been possible 
 had it not been for the mariner's compass, by which 
 the sailor can steer his ship in fair weather or in 
 storm, by day or by night. And without gun- 
 powder and muskets the explorers would not have 
 been able to conquer the fierce natives that they 
 found on every coast. It was the savage tribes in 
 the Philippine Islands that killed JMagellan, and 
 the first colony that Columbus established in Hayti 
 was soon destroyed by the Indians. 
 
 A new period in the history of the world begins 
 with the voyage of Columbus and the finding of the 
 Indians. We call it modern history. Three great 
 inventions mark the beginning of this perio:!, 
 the printing press, the compass, and gunpowder. 
 
 The story of printing has already been told in 
 the Chapter on " The Revival of Learning." Both 
 gunpowder and the compass wxre known in China 
 at least 2,000 years before they were invented in 
 Europe. The compass now in use was invented 
 by Flavio Gioja (Fla'-vi-o Jo'-ya), an Italian, 
 about 1300. A few years before this, gunpowder 
 was discovered by Roger Bacon, a learned stu- 
 dent and professor at Oxford, England. It was 
 first used in war by the English at the battle of 
 Cre'-cy in France, 1346. 
 
XXIII. PETER THE GREAT AND 
 RUSSIA 
 
 In the story of the Northmen we have seen how 
 a pirate chief, Rurik, began the kingdom of Rus- 
 sia. The Finns, living along the Baltic Sea, called 
 the invaders Rustsi (pirates). From this came the 
 word Russia. But the Mongols and Turks, who 
 invaded Europe from time to time, completely 
 crushed the little kingdom. The Russians were 
 made slaves and forced to pay tribute for more 
 than two hundred years. 
 
 In the fifteenth century, Ivan the Great freed 
 his country from the Tartars and built up a new 
 kingdom at Moscow. In 1682 the greatest of the 
 Russian rulers, Peter the Great, came to the throne 
 of Muscovy, as the country was then called. Dur- 
 ing his reign of forty-three years, he changed his 
 little barbarous kingdom into a great and progres- 
 sive modern empire. 
 
 One of Peter's intimate friends was a Swiss 
 named Lefort. Lefort had traveled widely, and 
 he told Peter how affairs were managed in the 
 great European nations. 
 
 Peter's first work was to get seaports. His only 
 port was Archangel, in the north. The harbor was 
 frozen during the greater part of the year and 
 was of little use. The Swedes held the Baltic, and 
 the Tartars kept the region bordering on the Black 
 
 216 
 
PETER THE GREAT AND RUSSIA 247 
 
 Sea. In two expeditions Peter broke the Tartar 
 power in the south and seized a port on the Sea of 
 Azof. 
 
 But he needed a fleet. The Russians had no 
 ships and did not know how to build them. 
 
 Peter determined to learn how. He disguised 
 himself as a common laborer and went to Holland. 
 The Dutch were the best shipbuilders in the world 
 at that time. He hired himself to a rich shipbuilder 
 at Amsterdam and helped to build a large vessel for 
 the East Indian service. He learned the whole proc- 
 ess of building a ship, from the laying of the keel 
 to the rigging of the sails. 
 
 After a time it leaked out that the active and 
 hustling workman was the King of Russia. The 
 Dutch called him Boss Peter. They have preserved 
 the little house where he lived, and you may still 
 see the two rooms where he cooked his food and 
 slept. 
 
 Peter was not content to learn one thing. He 
 also studied medicine, learned to pull teeth, and 
 studied the manufacture of paper, flour, and the 
 construction of mills and printing presses. In 
 fact, every art and industry that he thought might 
 be of use to build up his own country was care- 
 fully studied. He was not interested in war, but 
 later he became a good soldier. 
 
 From Holland he went to England. King 
 William III gave him a beautiful vessel fitted out 
 
PETER THE GREAT AND RUSSIA 249 
 
 for war, and arranged a mock naval battle to show 
 him how to use it. When Peter departed he slipped 
 into the king's hand a large and beautiful ruby of 
 great value. 
 
 Ivan the Great had organized a powerful com- 
 pany of guards called the Strel'-it-zes. This im- 
 perial, bodyguard reminds us of the Pretorian 
 Guard at Rome. When the government did not 
 suit them, they rebelled and set up a king that they 
 liked better. 
 
 While Peter was studying naval tactics in Eng- 
 land, he heard that the Strelitzes had revolted. He 
 hurried back to Moscow, and with his own sword 
 he cut off the heads of a hundred of the rebels in 
 an hour. He then disbanded them altogether and 
 organized a new army. 
 
 The dress of the Russians was like that of the 
 Turks. They wore long robes with wide sleeves, 
 and long beards were the height of fashion. Peter 
 wanted them to dress like the people of civilized 
 countries, and made a law that every man except the 
 priests should cut off his beard. He ordered the 
 long robes to be shortened, and the loose sleeves to 
 be made smaller. When some of his courtiers ob- 
 jected to this new regulation, Peter took a pair of 
 shears and clipped off their beards and skirts him- 
 self. He also placed barbers and tailors at the 
 gates of the city, and when a long-bearded Russian 
 came along he was seized and shaved. 
 
250 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The results of Peter's travels were now seen in 
 other changes. He began by building schools and 
 factories. Then he laid out roads and canals, and 
 established a postal system. The gold and silver 
 were made into new coins, mining was begun, and 
 new laws were made, giving the people of each 
 town a share in the government. 
 
 While Peter was busy with these things, a boy 
 of fifteen years became King of Sweden. Several 
 kings of Europe thought this a good time to rob 
 Sweden of some of her land. Peter wanted the 
 Baltic coast as a place to build a new capital, and 
 to afford harbors for his ships. 
 
 But the new king was Charles XII, who turned 
 out to be a young Alexander. He attacked Peter 
 at Narva, and with eight thousand men beat twenty 
 thousand Russians. 
 
 " The Swedes have beaten us this time," said 
 Peter, " but they will soon teach us how to beat 
 them." And they did. At Pul'-to-wa, the Rus- 
 sians so defeated the army of Charles that he fled 
 into Turkey with less than a dozen men. 
 
 Peter then filled in the marshes along the river 
 Neva and built the city of St. Petersburg. This 
 brought Russia into the midst of European affairs, 
 and made her one of the greatest of the nations. 
 
 One more war, this time against Persia, brought 
 to Russia the Caspian Sea and the land around it. 
 Two years later Peter died of a fever which he got 
 
PETER THE GREAT AND RUSSIA 
 
 251 
 
 by exposing himself in assisting some shipwrecked 
 sailors in the Gulf of Finland. 
 
 Forty years after his death (1762) another 
 great sovereign came to the throne of Russia. This 
 was Catherine the Great, the ablest woman that 
 
 The Battle of Pultowa. 
 
 ever sat on a throne. She was fully as active and 
 far more wicked than the great Peter himself. 
 
 There is only one of Catherine's many deeds 
 that we shall now try to remember, and that one is 
 the seizure of Poland. With Prussia and Austria 
 she divided that kingdom, and each of the robbers 
 
252 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 took a part. The Poles fought desperately under 
 their patriotic leader, Kos-ci-us'-ko, but they were 
 defeated by the three giants who seized their 
 country. 
 
 " Now," said Catherine, " I have a doormat on 
 which I may step when I go into Europe." 
 
 Poland was ruled by a Russian governor at 
 first, and the people were allowed to have their own 
 laws and the Catholic religion. But in 1832 they 
 rebelled on account of harsh government. 
 
 After a series of bloody battles they were put 
 down, and eighty thousand of them were exiled to 
 Siberia in one year. 
 
 The Roman Catholic religion was suppressed 
 and the Greek Catholic faith forced upon the 
 people. 
 
 The Russian Government is still the harshest in 
 Europe. Some day the people will no doubt rise 
 up and demand liberty. 
 
XXIV. PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 
 
 There was once an uprising of the people in an 
 old city of Europe. Some of the rebels were seized 
 by the soldiers, and one poor stuttering fellow was 
 brought before the king. 
 
 " Why have you rebelled against me? " sternly 
 asked the king. 
 
 " For t-t-to-o m-much taxes," was the ]30or fel- 
 low's reply. 
 
 " Too much taxes " has been the cause of much 
 trouble between people and kings. It has brought 
 about revolutions, or changes of government. The 
 revolutions in England, in France, and in America 
 were all caused by too much taxes. The people will 
 put up longer with a king who takes their lives 
 than they will with one who takes their money. 
 
 A great deal of the old history is about kings 
 and nobles. But in the modern history we find 
 more about the people. In most countries they 
 were kept under by the king, the priests, and the 
 soldiers. But gradually they have gained a share 
 in the affairs of government. Usually they gained 
 their rights through bloody wars and deeds of vio- 
 lence, for tyrants do not give up power easily. 
 
 Let us see now how the people threw off the 
 rule of their kings in some of the leading nations. 
 
 After the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the Scotch 
 
 253 
 
254 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 king, James Stuart, became King James I of Eng- 
 land. He believed that a king had the right to 
 make any laws he pleased, whether the people liked 
 them or not. He also thought he had a right to 
 tax them without their consent. James's son, 
 Charles I, succeeded him in 1625. 
 
 In England, as we have learned, there was a 
 body of men called the Parliament. Every county 
 and city chose two men to represent them in this 
 Parliament. These men made up the House of 
 Commons. The nobles and bishops composed the 
 House of Lords. No tax could be raised without 
 the consent of the House of Commons. 
 
 As soon as Charles began to reign, he levied 
 taxes on the people without asking the House of 
 Commons. They then drew up a document called 
 the Petition of Right, and made the king sign it. 
 In this he agreed not to take money from the 
 people in any way without the consent of Par- 
 liament. 
 
 But the king broke his word and taxed the 
 people more than ever. At last they and the Par- 
 liament began war against him. The great leader 
 in this civil war was Oliver Cromwell. For three 
 years the war went on. Cromwell won the battles 
 of Marston Moor and Nase'-by. The king was 
 taken prisoner, and put to death as a " tyrant, 
 traitor, murderer, and public enemy." 
 
 England then became a republic with CromWell 
 
256 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 at the head of it. He was called Protector of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 After his death, the son of Charles I became 
 king. He ruled according to the laws of the coun- 
 try. But his brother, James II, came to the throne 
 in 1685, and began to iiile in the old way, without 
 the consent of the Parliament. 
 
 James tried to change the religion of the coun- 
 try, as well as to collect taxes unlawfully. He put 
 many people to death without a fair trial. The 
 people soon came to hate him so much that they de- 
 clared the throne vacant and made William of Or- 
 ange king. William was King of Holland, and a 
 descendant of William the Silent, who had fought 
 against Philip II. This change of kings is called 
 the English Revolution. 
 
 Since that event the people have gained more 
 and more power in England, until to-day they 
 have entire charge of the government, while the 
 king has very little power left. 
 
 In 1775 the American colonies rebelled against 
 another English king, George III. He tried to do 
 what the Stuart kings had done — tax them without 
 their consent. A long war followed, which we call 
 our Revolutionary War. The colonies won and 
 became the United States of America. The great 
 leader of the colonial armies was George Wash- 
 ington, who took command at Boston in 1775. By 
 March of the following year he had driven the Brit- 
 
PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 257 
 
 ish out of that city. But he was defeated in Au- 
 gust, 1776, in the battle of Long Island, and was 
 obliged to retreat across the Delaware River into 
 Pennsylvania. In the meantime the Declaration 
 of Independence had been signed at Philadelphia, 
 July 4, 1776. For five years longer the war went 
 on until the British were surrounded at Yorktown, 
 and their general, Lord Cornwallis, compelled to 
 surrender. The independence of the new republic 
 of the United States was acknowledged when a 
 treaty of peace was made in 1783. 
 
 George III was the last English king who had 
 very much power. The Parliament declared that 
 the " King's power had increased too much and 
 ought to be diminished." And they speedily di- 
 minished it. 
 
 The next uprising of the people took place in 
 France. Again it was " too much taxes " that 
 caused the trouble. France had been governed by 
 kings since the time of Clovis, twelve hundred years 
 before. The king was assisted in the government 
 by a council of his nobles, and by an assembly of 
 the people. We have read how all the freemen 
 met in the time of Charlemagne to assist the king. 
 But after Louis XI conquered his vassals he took 
 all the power himself, and neither the nobles nor 
 the people had anything to do in ruling the country. 
 
 From 1643 to 1715 Louis XIV had been king. 
 The French called him the Magnificent. He ruled 
 
PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 259 
 
 alone. Such a government we call an absolute 
 monarchy. He fought long and expensive wars 
 with England, Germany, and the Netherlands. 
 These wars made the taxes very heavy. 
 
 There were about one hundred thousand nobles 
 and priests in France who owned one half the land. 
 They paid no tax at all. The people who owned 
 the other half of the land paid all the taxes. The 
 nobles as well as the king taxed the people. It was 
 said: " The nobles take half of the people's money 
 and the king takes the rest." 
 
 They had to work on roads and pubHc works 
 without pay. They were taxed for everything 
 they bought ; and every peasant who sold any vege- 
 tables or grain had to pay a tax when he took them 
 to market. 
 
 Black bread with a piece of onion to flavor it 
 was their food. Besides, they had to make the flour 
 in the lord's mill and bake the bread in his oven, 
 and pay well for the privilege. They were not 
 allowed to build fences to protect their crops, be- 
 cause that interfered with the lord's hunting. At 
 night they had to stay up and thrash the frog- 
 ponds, so that the croaking of the frogs might not 
 disturb the lord's sleep. 
 
 During the reign of Louis XV (171.5-74), 
 things grew worse and worse. He was wicked and 
 wasted the public money. England took away 
 the French colonies in India and America. France 
 
260 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 lost her fleets and armies. More taxes were laid 
 on the suffering people until they became rebel- 
 lious and desperate from starvation. 
 
 " After me comes the deluge," said Louis to his 
 courtiers on his deathbed. And a deluge of fire 
 and blood did come in the shape of the French 
 Revolution. 
 
 The next king was Louis XVI, the grandson 
 of Louis XV. He was married to Marie Antoi- 
 nette, the daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria. 
 A boy and girl became the rulers of a country that 
 needed the genius of a Csesar or a Napoleon. 
 
 The king called the clergy and the nobles to- 
 gether to see what could be done to pay the great 
 debt that had been brought on by the foolish wars. 
 But they refused to pay a cent of tax, and the peo- 
 ple could not pay auy more. 
 
 Next the States General was summoned. This 
 included, besides the nobles and the clergy, the rep- 
 resentatives of the people, who were called the 
 Third Estate. 
 
 The Third Estate soon took the power into their 
 own hands, and called themselves the National As- 
 sembly. The king attempted to send them home, 
 but they declared that they would never go till they 
 had reformed the government of France. They 
 drew up a constitution, or law, which took away 
 from the king the power to levy taxes, and gave 
 it to an assembly of the people. This government 
 
PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 261 
 
 lasted only a year. Then a new assembly, called 
 the National Convention, met in 1792. 
 
 During this time (1789-92) the king had en- 
 listed a bodyguard of German and Swiss soldiers. 
 This angered the people. They took the Bastile 
 (Bas-teer), or state prison where the tyrannical 
 kings had kept their prisoners, and leveled it to 
 the ground. The king and queen were made pris- 
 oners in Paris. Once they nearly succeeded in es- 
 caping from France, but they were captured and 
 brought back and kept as prisoners in the palace 
 of the Tuileries (Twe'-le-riz). Many French 
 nobles had fled from the country to get help to 
 restore the king to power. Prussia and Austria 
 sent armies to Paris under the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick. But the Revolutionary generals defeated 
 him. 
 
 A Paris mob attacked the Tuileries and killed 
 the Swiss guards to the last man. Then about ten 
 thousand royalists, that is, those who favored the 
 king, were taken from the jails and killed. 
 
 When the National Convention met, they abol- 
 ished the monarchy, and made France a republic. 
 The king and queen were put to death. Now be- 
 gan the time that is called the Reign of Terror. 
 During this period everybody suspected of favor- 
 ing a return to the old government was beheaded. 
 An instiTiment called the guiF-lo-tine was invented 
 for cutting off heads quickly, and a special sewer 
 
262 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 had to be made to carry off the blood. It was Hke 
 fhe days of Marius and Sulla in ancient Rome. 
 
 In the city of Nantes (Nants), thirty thousand 
 were killed. Killing one at a time took too long, 
 so the prisoners were lined up and mowed down 
 with cannon. Sometimes a ship would be loaded 
 with victims and sunk in the river. Three hundred 
 little children were drowned at one time in the river 
 Loire. 
 
 At last Robes-pierre", the leader in the work of 
 blood, was himself sent to the guillotine. The peo- 
 ple came to their senses again, and the work of the 
 mob was over. 
 
 In October, 1795, the Convention met to form 
 another government for France. Its members had 
 seen enough blood, but the Paris mob, " Terror- 
 ists " they were called, had not. About forty 
 thousand men and women surrounded the palace 
 where the Convention met. They forced back the 
 troops, and the members were in fear of their 
 lives. 
 
 Two years before this, when the French army 
 had captured the city of Toulon, a young officer 
 of the artillery had shown great skill in planting 
 the guns. There was one man in the Convention 
 who had been present. 
 
 " I know of a man," cried he, " who can pro- 
 tect us from the mob." 
 
 That man was Napoleon Bo'-na-parte, a native 
 
PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 26/5 
 
 of the island of Corsica. He was then twenty-six 
 years of age. The Convention put him in com- 
 mand of the troops, and adjourned until the next 
 day. During the night Napoleon planted cannon 
 facing every street that led to the Tuileries palace 
 and charged them with grape shot. 
 
 The next day came, and the Convention met. 
 The mob again advanced, determined to kill the 
 men who were trying to restore order. They were 
 allowed to approach within a hundred yards; when 
 boom! whiiF! they were met by a hail of shot that 
 sent them flying back in wild disorder, leaving hun- 
 dreds of dead and dying on the ground. The mob 
 and France had found a master. 
 
 The young man who thus became famous in a 
 day was born in the island of Corsica in 1769. He 
 was educated in a French military school and ap- 
 pointed to the army at the age of sixteen. In 
 school he was noted for industry and perseverance. 
 A hard problem was once given to his class. Napo- 
 leon shut himself in his room and worked at it for 
 seventy-two hours, and solved it. 
 
 The Directory at once made him commander 
 of the National Guard. It was his business to de- 
 fend Paris. But the enemies of France were com- 
 ing on every side, and he was first sent to Italy to 
 meet the Austrians and Sar-din'-i-ans. 
 
 In eighteen months he had compelled both coun- 
 tries to make peace. He had won fourteen battles. 
 
264 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 and taken a hundred thousand prisoners with two 
 thousand pieces of cannon. 
 
 France then declared war against England, and 
 Napoleon was put in command. He took a fleet 
 and army to Egypt, intending to take possession 
 
 Napoleon at School. 
 
 of that country, and then to attack the English pos- 
 sessions in India. 
 
 But there he failed. Admiral Nelson destroyed 
 his fleet in the Battle of the Nile, and Napoleon re- 
 turned to Paris. The people received him joy- 
 fully. The Directory had failed to govern success- 
 fully, and Napoleon drove them out. He then took 
 charge of afl'airs himself. He was called the 
 
PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 265 
 
 " First Consul,** There wera two other consuls, but 
 Napoleon ha4 all the power. 
 
 Austria had begun war again, but was defeated 
 in the battles of Ma-ren'-go and Ho-hen-lin'-den 
 and forced to make peace. 
 
 Napoleon was made First Consul for life in 
 1802 by a vote of the people. In 1804 they chose 
 him Emperor of France. From that time until 
 the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815, he was constantly 
 engaged in war. The story of Napoleon's life is 
 a story of battles. 
 
 Let us see what these wars were about. It was 
 a rule in Europe that no one country should be al- 
 lowed to become too strong, for fear it might seize 
 upon its weaker neighbors. This was called keep- 
 ing the balance of power. The balance of power 
 was then in favor of France. Napoleon had seized 
 lands in Italy and Germany which did not belong 
 to France, and the other countries joined together 
 to make him give up the conquered territories. 
 
 England, Russia, Austria, and Sweden made 
 the first great attempt to overthrow him. 
 
 To fight England, he must invade that coun- 
 try. So he gathered a great army at Bou-logne', 
 and was only waiting for his ships to come to take 
 his army across the English Channel. But Nelson 
 destroyed his fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, and 
 Napoleon was obliged to give up the attempt. 
 
 He then marched his army into Austria, where 
 
'EOPLE AGAINST KINGS 
 
 267 
 
 he defeated one hundred thousand Russians and 
 Austrians at Aus'-ter-htz. It was his greatest 
 victory. 
 
 In 1806 Prussia joined the alhance against him. 
 In two battles he crushed that country and took 
 possession of Berhn. 
 
 While there he visited the tomb of the famous 
 fighter, Frederick the Great. The sword of the 
 great general was kept suspended over his grave. 
 
 Napoleon took it down and said: 
 
 " I will send this to France as a relic." 
 
 Said one of his generals, "If I were you I 
 should keep it for myself." 
 
 " Have I not then a sword of my own? " asked 
 the emperor. 
 
 The next year (1807) Russia was completely 
 overwhelmed at the Battle of Fried'-land and com- 
 pelled to ask for peace. 
 
 The emperor and the czar met on a raft. " Do 
 you hate England? " asked Napoleon. 
 
 " As much as you do," answered the czar. 
 
 " Then," said Napoleon, " peace is soon made." 
 
 He next began war against Spain and Portu- 
 gal to get control of those countries. This war was 
 called the " Peninsular War." 
 
 England sent an army under Sir Arthur Wel- 
 lesley ( afterwards Duke of Wellington ) to the aid 
 of these countries. After a long struggle Napo- 
 leon's generals were defeated and driven out. 
 
 During the Peninsular War Russia had broken 
 
PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 269 
 
 her agreement with Napoleon, so he invaded that 
 country with half a million of soldiers. The Rus- 
 sians allowed him to march as far as Moscow, and 
 they then burned the city. But they would not 
 fight him. They destroyed all the food, and made 
 the country through which he must march a desert. 
 
 Winter came on and Napoleon had to retreat to 
 France. In that terrible retreat he lost three hun- 
 dred thousand men. 
 
 Again his enemies joined against him and de- 
 feated him at Leip'-sic. He then resigned the em- 
 pire and went to the little island of Elba to live. 
 
 But he broke his agreement to live a private 
 life and escaped to France. He soon raised a fresh 
 army and hurried to meet the English and Prus- 
 sians in Belgium. 
 
 At Waterloo he met the English under the 
 Duke of Wellington. After a stubborn battle he 
 was defeated and his army driven from the field. 
 
 He was not allowed to escape again, but was 
 taken in an English vessel to the island of St. Hel- 
 ena. There he died. May 1, 1821. 
 
 Louis XVIII, a brother of Louis XVI, was 
 then placed upon the throne a second time. He was 
 succeeded by Charles X. Charles was driven out 
 in 1830, and Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans, was 
 chosen king. He was driven out in 1848 and a 
 republic established for the second time. Louis 
 Napoleon, nephew of the great general, was chosen 
 president. 
 
XXV. THE SETTLEMENT OF 
 NEW LANDS 
 
 After the route to the Indies was discovered 
 by the Portuguese, and a new world found by Co- 
 kimbus, the nations of Europe made haste to send 
 ships and colonists to the new lands. Although 
 these lands were occupied already by other races, 
 it was considered right for Christian nations to 
 drive out the heathen and take their lands. The 
 Portuguese were the first to establish trading ports 
 along the coast of Africa. They also settled in 
 the islands of Java, Sumatra, and in the Moluccas. 
 When Philip II conquered Portugal all these col- 
 onies of Portugal became Spanish. 
 
 The Dutch were famous merchants and ship- 
 builders, and when Philip made war on them on 
 account of their religion, they sent their ships to the 
 East and seized all the Spanish settlements. Soon 
 all the tea, coiFee, and spices of the Indies were 
 in the hands of the Dutch merchants, and they 
 grew rich by selling them to the nations of Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 The Dutch East India Company employed 
 Henry Hudson to look for a shorter road to the 
 Indies. He sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean 
 and entered the Delaware and Hudson rivers. He 
 took possession of all the land between these rivers 
 for Holland. They named it New Netherlands. 
 
 270 
 
PEOPLE AGAINST KINGS 271 
 
 The English king, Henry VII, sent out John 
 Cabot to find a western route to the Indies. Ca- 
 bot sailed along the coast of North America 
 and claimed all that part of it lying between 
 Nova Scotia and the Spanish possession on the 
 south. 
 
 Columbus had discovered the West India is- 
 lands and the coast of South America. Ponce de 
 Leon found the coast of Florida. Cortez con- 
 quered Mexico, and Pizarro, Peru. And so, the 
 southern half of the New World came into the pos- 
 session of Spain. The Pope had divided the new 
 lands between Spain and Portugal by drawing 
 a line straight around the globe, near the fifteenth 
 meridian. This gave Brazil and the East Indies 
 to Portugal. But all the Western world belonged 
 to Spain. 
 
 But France, England, and Holland paid no 
 a ttention to the Pope's division of the world. It is 
 told of Francis I, the French king, that he asked 
 Philip to " show him the will of Father Adam by 
 which the New World was divided between Spain 
 and Portugal." The will was not found, evidently, 
 for Francis, too, sent out explorers, who sailed up 
 the St. Lawrence River and discovered the great 
 fisheries along the coast of Newfoundland. This 
 part of the New World became known as Canada, 
 and was settled by the French. 
 
 The trade with the mainland of India was first 
 
272 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 in the control of Portugal and Holland. But 
 France and England soon took the greater part 
 of it from them. The English East India Com- 
 pany was established by Queen Elizabeth in 1600. 
 The merchants of this company built trading sta- 
 tions at Ma-dras' and Cal-cut'-ta in India. 
 
 From 1689 to 1782 France and England were 
 almost constantly at war. These wars were due to 
 the ambition of the kings of France, Louis XIV 
 and Louis XV, to make France more powerful 
 than the other nations. The war in America was 
 decided by the capture of Quebec in 1759. General 
 Wolfe and his army climbed the steep cliiFs above 
 the city during the night. In the morning they 
 waited for the French to attack them on the Plains 
 of Abraham. Montcalm, the French commander, 
 led his men against the foe, but the French were 
 defeated, and both Montcalm and Wolfe were 
 killed. A single monument has been built to the 
 memory of both. 
 
 Only two years before this, in 1757, Robert 
 Clive had won the battle of Plassey in India. " This 
 made the English supreme in the Valley of the 
 Ganges River, the richest part of India. The Eng- 
 lish continued to take town after town until now 
 they rule the whole of India. They owe their vast 
 empire in America and India to James Wolfe and 
 Robert Clive more than to any other two men. 
 Peace was made in 1763, and England made 
 
p 
 
274 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 France give up nearly all her colonies in America 
 and India. 
 
 The English also gradually drove the Dutch 
 out of their African colonies. In 1806 they seized 
 Cape Colony, and the Dutch moved into Natal. 
 Then England took this also. Finally the Boers 
 (Boors) , as the Dutch were called, crossed the Vaal 
 River and settled the Orange Free State and the 
 Transvaal. These colonies were also taken by 
 England at the end of the Great Boer War in 
 1901. British East Africa, Egypt, and the Sudan, 
 are also under the control of England. 
 
 About 1775 the English began to settle Aus- 
 tralia. Gold was found there in 1851, and the 
 country grew rapidly. Sheep were found to thrive 
 in the dry climate, and stock-raising has become 
 the leading occupation. The English have also 
 settlements in the islands of the Pacific, in the East 
 Indies, and on the coast of China. About one-fifth 
 of the land surface of the globe is under the control 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 When the power of the Turks began to grow 
 less, France crossed the Mediterranean to attack 
 the pirates who had for several centuries made that 
 sea unsafe for merchants. She took Algiers and 
 kept it. Later she seized Algeria and Tunis, while 
 Italy captured Tripoli from the Turks in 1911. 
 
 The discovery of the New World and the In- 
 
THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW LANDS 275 
 
 dies came at a time when many people in Europe 
 were most anxious to find new homes. The Span- 
 ish were led to go to the colonies in America by the 
 discovery of gold and silver in Mexico and Peru. 
 The Dutch were content with the profits of the 
 spice trade. Great coffee plantations grew up in 
 Java and Sumatra, and the Dutch farmers found 
 them very profitable. The French began a valu- 
 able fur trade with the Indians, and the fisheries 
 kept thousands of men busy. 
 
 The religious wars in Europe drove a multitude 
 of settlers to the New World. Protestants from 
 Germany, France, and England emigrated to 
 America. During the reign of the tyrannical 
 English king Charles I, the Pilgrims and Puritans 
 left England and settled in Massachusetts. The 
 Quakers and Catholics also were persecuted, and 
 found homes in Pennsylvania and Maryland. 
 When Cromwell ruled, the friends of the Stuart 
 kings, called Royalists or Cavaliers, came in thou- 
 sands and built up the Virginia colony. 
 
 Thousands of people in England were out of 
 work. The land had been taken away from the 
 farmers by the landlords and turned into sheep 
 pastures. This left many laborers out of employ- 
 ment, and they were glad to find a home in the 
 American colonies. 
 
 The Thirty Years' War in Germany compelled 
 many Germans to leave the country. The Hugue- 
 
276 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 nots, or French Protestants, were persecuted and 
 driven out of France by the CathoHc kings. Many 
 went into Germany and Holland, and still more 
 found homes in America. All of these causes 
 brought thousands of good, industrious settlers to 
 the new lands. 
 
 The new colonies grew rapidly, and New Eng- 
 land, New France, New Netherlands, and New 
 Spain added much honor and wealth to the old 
 countries of Europe. After a time many of the 
 colonies across the ocean broke away from the 
 mother countries and made themselves into inde- 
 pendent nations. 
 
XXVI. THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 
 
 A GREAT deal has been said in this book about 
 a German Empire. The old empire was a disor- 
 derly empire, where rival kings were constantly 
 engaged in war. The emperor always had hard 
 work to keep his vassals in order. But the German 
 Empire of to-day is a united, orderly, and well- 
 governed nation. It was established in 1871, and 
 the King of Prussia became the emperor. Prussia 
 was the youngest of the German states, but be- 
 came the strongest one. In this chapter we want 
 to learn something about the growth of Prussia 
 and how the new German Empire was formed. 
 
 The old German Empire was always exposed 
 to the attacks of savage people on the eastern bor- 
 der. It was the custom of the emperors to appoint 
 their bravest soldiers to rule over the mark, or bor- 
 der land, in order to keep out invaders. This offi- 
 cer was called markgraf, or count of the border. 
 In the times of Charlemagne, there was a border 
 state called the ost mark, or eastern border. Later 
 this state was called ost reich, or Austria, meaning 
 eastern kingdom. 
 
 The markgraf was allowed to conquer as much 
 of the enemy's land as he could and add it to his 
 mark. So it came about that the border state be- 
 came the largest and most powerful of the empire. 
 
278 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 In the twelfth century, the emperor appointed 
 a daring soldier, Albert the Bear, to govern the 
 north mark. He took the city of Branitu from 
 the Wends, a Slavonic race, and from it he called 
 his mark, Bran'-den-burg. When Albert's family 
 died out, Brandenburg was given to Frederick of 
 Ho-hen-zolF-ern, an ancestor of the present Ger- 
 man emperor. In 1356 the Markgraf of Bran- 
 denburg obtained the right to vote at the elec- 
 tion of the emperor. This gave him the title of 
 Elector. 
 
 The greatest of the Electors of Brandenburg 
 was Frederick William, a HohenzoUern, who be- 
 gan to rule in 1640. In return for help which he 
 gave to the King of Poland in a war, he received 
 the Duchy of Prussia. This had been taken from 
 the Slavonic tribes by the Teutonic knights, when 
 they returned from the Crusades. Frederick, the 
 son of Frederick William, was crowned at Konigs- 
 berg, in 1688, as the first King of Prussia. 
 
 The next king was a rough, despotic man also 
 named Frederick William. He loved two things 
 above all else, money and big soldiers. He had a 
 regiment, called the Potsdam giants, numbering 
 two thousand four hundred men. Some of them 
 were eight feet tall. He hunted all Europe for big 
 men, and wherever he heard of one, he induced him 
 in some -way to join his famous regiment. 
 
 He was always busy, rushing about, and look- 
 
THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 279 
 
 ing over his shoulder right and left. If he saw 
 anyone idle, or lounging about, he would give him 
 a rap with his stick, and tell him to "be oiF and 
 get to work!" He especially despised fine and 
 showy clothes, and anyone who met him dressed 
 in this way was pretty certain to get a caning. 
 Though rough in his ways, he was very just, and 
 he would not suffer the poor people to be wronged 
 or injured in any way. 
 
 His little son Frederick, who was to become 
 Frederick the Great, had a harder time than most 
 boys. He was fond of pictures and music — things 
 which his father despised. He had a flute, but woe 
 to him if his father caught him playing on it. The 
 king wanted his son to study history, geography, 
 mathematics, and about guns and war, for he in- 
 tended to make a soldier of him. But Frederick 
 liked Latin and French — languages which his 
 father could see no use for. 
 
 At last Frederick and his tutor, Kat'-te, planned 
 to rim away to England to the court of his uncle, 
 George 11. But the plan was discovered. The 
 angry old king hanged Katte, and he came very 
 near hanging Frederick too. For a long time he 
 was kept in prison and fed on bread and water. 
 When his sister Mina was married, he was re- 
 leased, and his father seemed glad to have him 
 about again. 
 
 When Frederick William died, in 1740, Pros- 
 
280 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 sia was one of the strongest states in Europe. He 
 left a well-filled treasury and a well-disciplined 
 army of eighty thousand men. 
 
 Frederick — of course he was not called the 
 Great till after his death — soon showed that he had 
 a genius for war. His first war began at once. 
 The emperor, Charles VI of Austria, had left his 
 throne to his daughter, Maria Theresa. Being a 
 woman, the neighboring kings hoped to rob her of 
 part of her possessions. In those days " right was 
 the might of the strongest." Frederick wanted 
 Si-le'-sia, as it bordered on his kingdom, so he 
 marched his army into it and took possession. 
 France, Spain, and Bavaria also made ready to 
 seize other provinces. 
 
 Thus beset with enemies, Maria Theresa ap- 
 pealed to the Hungarian nobles. Dressed in 
 mourning, with crown on her head and sword at 
 her side, and carrying her infant son in her arms, 
 she appeared before the Diet. She was a beautiful 
 woman, and her beauty, her tears, and the pathetic 
 and eloquent address she made, stirred the chival- 
 rous Hungarian blood. In the old-time manner 
 they clashed their swords upon their scabbards, and 
 with uplifted blades, swore that they would die for 
 their queen. 
 
 England and Sardinia joined Austria in the 
 war that followed. But when it ended, Silesia re- 
 mained in the hands of Frederick. Prussia was 
 
THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 281 
 
 never known to give up anything that she had once 
 taken. 
 
 But Maria Theresa determined to have revenge 
 and to get Silesia. During the next eight years 
 she was busy enhsting alHes on her side, while Fred- 
 erick enlarged and disciplined his army. Then the 
 Seven Years' War began. France, Russia, Po- 
 land, Saxony, and Sweden fought with Austria, 
 while Frederick had only the half-hearted support 
 of England. 
 
 Frederick, surrounded by enemies, attacked 
 them with a vigor and success that earned him the 
 title of Great. He beat the French at Ross'-bach, 
 the Austrians at Leuthen ( Loi'-ten ) , and the Rus- 
 sians at Zorn'-dorf. But then his fortune failed 
 him. He lost two battles. The Russians and Aus- 
 trians defeated him so badly at Ku'-ners-dorf that 
 he wrote to his minister, " All is lost." The Rus- 
 sians took Berlin. He defeated the Austrians 
 again, but his treasury and his army were ex- 
 hausted, and Spain, too, joined his enemies. 
 
 At this point Peter III, a friend to Frederick, 
 came to the throne of Russia. Peter said that 
 he and Frederick together would " conquer the 
 world." They won a victory, but Peter was mur- 
 dered, and Russia called home her troops. 
 
 By this time Frederick's enemies were also ex- 
 hausted and ready for peace. It was made at Paris 
 in 1763. It was this treaty that stripped France 
 
THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 283 
 
 of her colonies. Frederick had won a reputation 
 as the greatest general in Europe, and Silesia is 
 still a part of the German Empire. 
 
 Frederick ruled Prussia until 1786. He was 
 a friend of the American colonies during the strug- 
 gle for independence, and sent a sword to General 
 George Washington. In his love for the common 
 people, and in respect for their rights, he was like 
 his father. In the beautiful street, " Unter den 
 Linden," in Berlin, is a splendid bronze statue of 
 Frederick on horseback. A copy of this statue 
 was presented to the United States in 1904, and 
 now stands in the city of Washington. 
 
 During the wars of Napoleon, Prussia was ut- 
 terly crushed by the battles of Jena (Ya'-na) and 
 Auerstadt ( Ou'-er-stet ) . Half of her possessions 
 were taken away and given to Napoleon's brother, 
 Jerome, who was made King of West-pha'-li-a. 
 But after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo by the 
 English and Prussians, Prussia got back all that 
 was lost. 
 
 There were at this time (1815) thirty-nine Ger- 
 man states, still separate and independent. But 
 there was a congress or diet, composed of delegates 
 from all these states, that had power to settle dis- 
 putes among them, and could act on matters that 
 concerned them all alike. 
 
 The German people felt that the states ought 
 to be joined together into one nation, instead of 
 
284 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 having thirty-nine nations. The leading German 
 states were Prussia and Austria. Since the time 
 of Frederick the Great they had been enemies. If 
 the German states were to be united, it was clear 
 that one of these rival states must remain out- 
 side the union. It was like the case of two quar- 
 relsome families. One house would not be big 
 enough to hold both. 
 
 In 1848 Austria had a war with her Hungarian 
 subjects, who had revolted under the lead of Louis 
 Kossuth. In early life Kossuth had been a law- 
 yer and editor of a newspaper. The peasants of 
 Hungary were serfs, and the country was gov- 
 erned harshly by Austria. Kossuth wanted the 
 peasants to be made free, and the people to have 
 more rights. He had once been put into prison 
 for printing a newspaper, and he wanted a free 
 press. 
 
 In 1848 there was a great uprising of the peo- 
 ple through all Europe, demanding freedom and a 
 share in the government. Kossuth at this time was 
 a member of the Hungarian Diet. He now de- 
 manded an independent government for Hungary. 
 He became the head of the nation, raised armies, 
 and made ready for war. In 1849 Hungary was 
 declared independent of Austria. He won several 
 victories over the Austrians, and would have be- 
 come another Washington if Russia had not come 
 to the aid of his enemies. A Russian army joined 
 
THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 
 
 285 
 
 the Austrians, and Kossuth was forced to surren- 
 der, August 13, 1849. 
 
 Kossuth fled into Turkey, and afterwards vis- 
 ited England and America. He was welcomed 
 
 
 
 
 ^^^Bafeafc-i •'i'^IBl 
 
 
 Bl 
 
 rvT' 1 
 
 ■ 
 
 Louis Kossuth. 
 
 everywhere as a patriot and the hero of his country. 
 
 We come now to the work of the greatest of 
 
 German statesmen, Otto von Bismarck. It was 
 
 he who united the German states and founded the 
 
286 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 German Empire. The King of Austria was presi- 
 dent of the German Diet, but Prussia was really 
 the strongest state. 
 
 In 1861 William I became King of Prussia, 
 and soon afterwards Bismarck became his Prime 
 Minister. Bismarck had been a member of the Diet 
 and minister to Russia and France. He was a 
 shrewd, bold man, but he knew how to work secretly 
 for his own ends, too. He had fully made up his 
 mind to make Prussia the head of the German 
 states, and to drive Austria out of German affairs. 
 
 Year after year he added soldiers to the army 
 until he had nearly half a million trained men. He 
 made a secret treaty with the King of Sardinia to 
 help against Austria, in case of war. He formed 
 a new plan of government for Germany, leaving 
 i^ustria out. 
 
 When two nations want to fight, they will soon 
 find something to fight about. In this case the 
 quarrel was about the two provinces, HoF-stein and 
 Schles'-wig. These had been taken from Denmark, 
 Old Prussia and Austria could not agree as to the 
 division of them. Austria wanted the question to 
 be settled by the Diet, but Bismarck sent twenty 
 thousand soldiers into Holstein and said that " only 
 blood and iron could settle the question." 
 
 The war called the " Austro-Prussian War " 
 then began. Von Moltke, the commander of the 
 German armies, had the war all planned out before 
 
THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 
 
 287 
 
 it began, and everything worked to perfection. 
 The states that were the alHes of Austria were com- 
 pelled to remain neutral. King George of Hano- 
 
 Bismarck. 
 
 ver refused, and his army was surrounded and 
 taken prisoners. 
 
 The three Prussian armies then took up their 
 march toward Vienna. At the village of Sa-do'-wa 
 they met the Austrian army. Several victories had 
 
288 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 been won, but tbe battle at Sadowa was decisive. 
 A half million of men fought until noon without 
 victory on either side. Then a fresh Prussian army 
 arrived, and the Austrians were driven from the 
 field. By the treaty of peace that King Francis 
 Joseph was forced to make, Austria was no longer 
 to take any part in the affairs of Germany. 
 
 A union of the chief German states called the 
 North German Union was now^ formed. The 
 Prussian King was to be president of the union 
 and command the armies. The king and Bismarck 
 already knew where they would soon have need of 
 armies. 
 
 Louis Napoleon was elected president of the sec- 
 ond French republic in 1848. This was called the 
 year of revolutions, because there were so many 
 of them. He made himself emperor in 1852, and 
 was called Napoleon III. He saw^ how strong 
 Prussia was growing, and hoped to be able to 
 check her. He was anxious to extend France to 
 the river Rhine. But when the French ambassador 
 spoke to Bismarck about giving up the rest of 
 Alsace to France, the man of " blood and iron " 
 very gruffly refused to think of it. 
 
 In 1870 something happened that brought on 
 war between France and Germany. The crown of 
 Spain was offered to a member of the House of 
 Hohenzollern, that is, the Prussian royal family. 
 
 Prince Leopold, to whom it was offered, re- 
 
THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 289 
 
 fused to accept. But Napoleon III wanted King 
 William to promise that no relative of his should 
 occupy the Spanish throne. The French minister 
 made this demand of the king" on a public street 
 at Ems. The king told him " to see the ministry 
 at Berlin." At Berlin, Bismarck dismissed the am- 
 bassador with a rude refusal. 
 
 France began to call her armies together at 
 once. Every German state joined with Prussia, 
 and a million of German soldiers were soon in the 
 field. They were eager to avenge the wrongs that 
 the first Napoleon had brought upon them fifty 
 years before. The war with Austria lasted only 
 seven weeks. This war lasted only eight. The 
 French were beaten everywhere. The decisive bat- 
 tle was fought at Sedan, where the French had to 
 surrender ninety thousand men. Two months later 
 they surrendered their main army, one hundred 
 and seventy-six thousand men. Paris was then be- 
 sieged and taken. 
 
 Napoleon had surrendered his sword to King 
 William at Sedan. He did not dare return to 
 Paris, but at the close of the war fled to England. 
 His empire was over, and for the third time France 
 became a republic. 
 
 On January 18, 1871, in the palace of the 
 French kings at Ver-sailles', King William of 
 Prussia was crowned Emperor of Germany. The 
 German states were at last united to form a Ger- 
 man nation. 
 
XXVII. HOW ITALY BECAME 
 ONE NATION 
 
 AxL during the JVIiddle Ages, that is, from 476 
 to 1492, Italy had no king ruhng the whole coun- 
 try like England or France. But each city had its 
 own duke or prince. Rome and the near-by ter- 
 ritory was ruled by the Pope. This state of affairs 
 made the country weak. The stronger nations, es- 
 pecially Spain, France, and Austria, overran Italy, 
 seized upon such of the cities as they wanted, and 
 added them to their own possessions. 
 
 During the first half of the fourteenth century 
 an attempt was made to unite the parts of Italy. 
 At this time the residence of the popes was in 
 France, and Rome was in great confusion, owing 
 to the quarrels of leading families. These fami- 
 lies built strong castles and behaved like the feudal 
 barons of Germany. 
 
 Nicolo di Rienzi is the hero of this first attempt 
 to unite Italy. His brother, a boy, had been killed 
 in the strife of the nobles, and he wished to be re- 
 venged upon them. Rienzi was a persuasive orator, 
 and he called the people together in secret meetings. 
 He asked them to meet him in Rome on a certain 
 day. On that day he appeared before them and 
 read to them a form of government and laws that 
 he had prepared. The people shouted their ap- 
 proval. They chose him chief ruler, and called 
 
 290 
 
HOW ITALY BECAME ONE NATION 291 
 
 him Tribune, after the old Roman officer of the 
 people. 
 
 For a time Rienzi ruled Rome well. Then he 
 planned to bring under his government the other 
 Italian cities. INIany of them favored his plans. 
 But the success he had seems to have turned his 
 head. He began to take on the appearance of roy- 
 alty. He called himself high-sounding titles, as, 
 August Tribune, Defender of Italy, and Friend 
 of JNIankind. Finally, he had himself publicly 
 crowned with seven crowns. 
 
 Soon the clergy, the nobles, and many of the 
 people turned against him and drove him out of 
 Italy. Affairs in Rome became as bad as before. 
 After a time Rienzi returned. But he soon began 
 to levy high taxes, and behaved as foolishly as be- 
 fore. Then the people rebelled again. This time 
 they pursued him to the capital and stabbed him 
 to death. Petrarch, the poet who led in the revival 
 of learning, said of him: 
 
 " I loved his virtues. I praised his ends, and I 
 looked forward to the rule of Rome over a united 
 and happy Italy at peace with the world." 
 
 During the rule of the free cities of Italy, more 
 great men flourished than at any time in the world's 
 history. Athens, in the time of Pericles, is the only 
 city that can compare with Florence in the days of 
 Rienzi. The greatest artists and sculptors, poets, 
 and historians were born in that city. Dan'-te, 
 
292 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Raph'-a-el, and Michaelangelo were some of the 
 greatest artists and poets. 
 
 In geography and science, too, Italy took the 
 lead. To prove this we need only name Colmn- 
 bus, Vespucius, and Cabot among the discoverers. 
 
 In the early times man thought the earth to be 
 fixed and immovable, and that the sun and the stars 
 revolved around it. An early astronomer, Ptolemy 
 (Tol'-e-my), had taught this, and for many cen- 
 turies men believed it. Toward the end of the six- 
 teenth century a Polish astronomer, Co-per'-ni- 
 cus, taught that the sun is the center around which 
 the earth and the planets revolve, and that the stars 
 are fixed. 
 
 This idea of Copernicus was taught by the most 
 famous of Italian scientific men, Gal-i-le'-o. The 
 first discoveries of Galileo were made while he was 
 a medical student at the University of Pi'-sa. 
 There is a famous tower there that leans to one 
 side on account of the foundation having settled 
 unequally. It is known as the " leaning " tower. 
 From the top of this tower Galileo would drop 
 objects of different weight and material. He 
 found that two objects of the same size and shape 
 would strike the ground at the same time, no mat- 
 ter if one weighed more than the other. 
 
 He observed the swaying of a large chandelier 
 in the cathedral. It suggested to him the pendu- 
 lum, which is used in measuring time. But Gali- 
 
HOW ITALY BECAME ONE NATION 293 
 
 leo's greatest work was the invention of the tele- 
 scope, an instrument that makes distant objects 
 seem near. With it he discovered the moons of 
 Jupiter, and watched them revolve around that 
 planet. He also saw the black spots on the sun, 
 and could tell by the movement of these spots that 
 the sun turns on an axis like the earth. 
 
 He was the first to see the mountains and val- 
 leys on the surface of the moon. The telescope 
 enabled him to see thousands of stars that could 
 not be seen by the naked eye. 
 
 Galileo became nearly blind in his old age. 
 John Milton, the greatest of English poets, went 
 to see him when, as a young man, he traveled in 
 Italy. The old philosopher took pleasure in ex- 
 plaining to the young Milton the mystery of the 
 sun, the planets, and their motions. 
 
 Before his death, in 1642, Italy had become the 
 most wicked country in Europe. Nowhere else 
 were there so many murders, poisonings, and revo- 
 lutions. Rulers were treacherous, and no man's 
 word could be trusted. 
 
 Much of this wickedness was caused by bad gov- 
 ernment. Early in the nineteenth centmy. Napo- 
 leon put the Pope in prison and added Italy to the 
 French Empire, but after his defeat it was given 
 back to its former owners. In the peace which came 
 to Europe at the end of the NajDoleonic wars, in 
 
294 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 1815, the rulers of the nations banded together to 
 put down all opposition to their governments. Ex- 
 hausted by the long reign of disorder, the people 
 submitted for a time. Then the opportunity was 
 given for a gradual and orderly advancement in 
 self-government. 
 
 Instead of this, however, a distrust of the people 
 and a repression of their desires were conspicuous 
 in the governments of the nations of Continental 
 Europe. The pent-up force of the people's will 
 grew stronger with the years, and was certain to 
 burst forth in revolutionary uprisings sooner or 
 later. The very map of Europe was an absurdity. 
 
 The Austrian Empire was a patchwork made 
 up of many nationalities. There was no such thing 
 as an Austrian language or Austrian blood. Italy, 
 on the other hand, was divided among numerous 
 governments despite its unity of language, litera- 
 ture, and history. Venice and the northern part be- 
 longed to Austria ; the Pope ruled the central part ; 
 the south was called the Kingdom of Naples, and 
 was ruled by a king of the French Royal house, 
 the Bourbons. The northwestern part, called 
 Piedmont, was part of the domain of Victor 
 Emmanuel I, King of Sardinia. 
 
 The French had given Italy a taste of liberty, 
 and when the old rulers began to rule harshly, there 
 were soon mutterings of discontent. 
 
296 
 
 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Plots and societies were soon formed to over- 
 throw the tyrants. Two of the most noted leaders 
 of the patriots were Joseph Mazzini (Mat-se'-ne) 
 and Joseph Ga-ri-bar-di. They founded a secret 
 
 ■ " X 
 
 
 k ^^ 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 k 
 
 liHI 
 
 ,#f 
 
 1^ 
 
 w" 
 
 Garibaldi. 
 
 society called Young* Italy, whose object was to 
 fight for the freedom and unity of Italy whenever 
 and wherever the chance came. Another older so- 
 ciety was the Car-bo-na'-ri, or charcoal-burners. 
 
HOW ITALY BECAME ONE NATION 297 
 
 These societies stirred up many revolts, but all 
 attempts to obtain rights for the people were put 
 down by the troops of Austria. Mazzini and Gari- 
 baldi had to flee from Italy to save their lives. 
 Garibaldi spent fourteen years in South America, 
 where he married a Spanish girl, Anita. In peace 
 or in war, this devoted wife was always with him 
 until her death. 
 
 In 1849 he returned to Rome where he stirred 
 up the people to resist the French and the Aus- 
 trians. When he saw that he was sure to be de- 
 feated, he led five thousand of his men through the 
 enemy to join the Sardinian king, Victor Emman- 
 uel II, in the north. The Austrians triumphed 
 again over conquered Italy. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel had for his minister a shrewd 
 statesman named Count Ca-vour'. Cavour in- 
 duced Napoleon III to help drive Austria out of 
 Italy. Sardinia had helped France in the Crimean 
 War (p. 220) , and now France returned the favor. 
 The armies of France and Sardinia won two great 
 victories over the Austrians at Ma-gen'-ta and at 
 Sol-fe-ri'-no. Austria gave up all her Italian pos- 
 sessions, except Venice. That city and territory she 
 was soon to lose also. 
 
 In 1860 came one of the romantic adventures 
 of Garibaldi. The people of Naples and of Sicily 
 had rebelled against their king. Gathering a thou- 
 sand of his men, the hero of the " red shirt " sailed 
 
298 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 from Genoa for Sicily. He drove the troops of the 
 king out of Sicily. Then he crossed for Naples, 
 where the people welcomed him as their saviour. 
 A vote was taken, and the people of Naples and 
 Sicily all agreed to join the kingdom of Victor 
 Emmanuel II. 
 
 The next step in uniting Italy was made in 
 1866, at the close of the Seven Weeks' War. Ca- 
 vour and Bismarck had agreed to make Austria 
 give up Venice, and it was done. 
 
 The final step was the most important of all. 
 The capital had been first at Turin, then at Flor- 
 ence. Rome was still held by the Pope, who was 
 protected by a French army. 
 
 When the Franco-Prussian War began, in 1870, 
 Napoleon III withdrew his troops from Rome to 
 fight Germany. Victor Emmanuel at once gave 
 notice to the Pope that Rome would now be made 
 the capital of the Italian kingdom. The people of 
 Rome voted to join the new kingdom. Thus the 
 domains of the popes, over which they had ruled 
 since the time of Pepin, King of the Franks, were 
 taken from them. It was the last stroke, Victor 
 Emmanuel at last ruled over a united Italy ; from 
 the Alps to the Mediterranean his rule was gladly 
 accepted. 
 
XXVIII. THE TURKS 
 
 The city of Constantine on the Bosporus came 
 into the hands of the Turks in 1453, and is still a 
 Mohammedan city. Five times each day from the 
 
 Calling to Prayer. 
 
 tower of each of the five hundred mosques of the 
 city, the voice of the muezzin, or priest, may be 
 heard calling the people to prayer: 
 
 " God is great; there is but one God; Moham- 
 
 299 
 
300 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 med is the prophet of God. Prayer is better than 
 sleep; come to prayer! " 
 
 Every good ^Mohammedan then turns his face 
 toward jNIecca, the birthplace of the prophet, and 
 repeats a prayer. 
 
 The Turks are the only people of Europe who 
 are not Christians. They have always illtreated 
 the Christians who live in their country. This per- 
 secution has led to many wars, w^hich have ended 
 in taking away from Turkey several of her prov- 
 inces. The Turks would have been driven out of 
 Europe long ago if the Christian nations could 
 have agreed as to who should have their capital city. 
 
 In some ways Constantinople is the most impor- 
 tant city in Europe. One reason why it is impor- 
 tant is because it controls the entrance to the Black 
 Sea. Then, the nation that owns Constantinople 
 can send ships to any part of the eastern INIediter- 
 ranean, and to the mouth of the Nile. The Suez 
 Canal has become the great highway to the Indies. 
 More ships pass through this canal than any other. 
 England depends upon it to reach India, her great- 
 est colony. Now, a strong nation in control of 
 Constantinople and the Black Sea could easily 
 send war vessels and seize the Suez Canal. When 
 Turkey was a strong nation, she would not allow 
 any ships of other nations to sail on the eastern 
 JMediterranean. Now she is a weak nation and can- 
 not do this. 
 
o 
 
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 P 
 
 a 
 
 5' 
 o 
 
302 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 Russia has made many attempts to drive out 
 the Turks and get Constantinople for herself. But 
 England and France have prevented this, for fear 
 that Russia would try to shut their ships out of the 
 Mediterranean and the Suez Canal. 
 
 The meaning of the " Eastern Question " is 
 this: if the Turks are driven out of Europe, what 
 nation shall have Constantinople? 
 
 In 1820 Turkey was greatly weakened by a 
 revolt among the imperial guard of the sultan. 
 This body of men was called the jan'-i-za-ries. Sev- 
 eral times they had rebelled and put the sultan to 
 death. At last Mohammed II determined to get 
 rid of them. Eight thousand were penned up in 
 their barracks and burned. Twenty thousand more 
 were executed or exiled. The rest were disbanded 
 and scattered. 
 
 In 1825 Greece rebelled against Turkey and 
 gained her independence. The hero of this war 
 was Marco Bozzaris (bot'za-res), who is sometimes 
 called the Leonidas of modern Greece. His great- 
 est deed was a night attack on the Turkish army, 
 in which he routed them and captured their camp. 
 It was his last battle. 
 
 ' ' They fought like brave men, long and well ; 
 They piled that ground with Moslem slain ; 
 They conquered, but Bozzaris fell 
 Bleeding at every vein. 
 
THE TURKS 303 
 
 " Bozzaris, with the storied brave, 
 
 Greece nutured in her glory's prime, 
 Rest thee ! There is no prouder grave, 
 Even in her own proud dime. 
 
 " We tell thy doom without a sigh, 
 
 For thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's, 
 One of the few — the innnortal names, 
 That were not born to die. " 
 
 Turkey had been further weakened after the 
 Greek rebellion. Me'-hem-et Ali, the sultan's vice- 
 roy in Egypt, had rebelled against his lord. He 
 had destroyed the sultan's fleet and robbed him 
 of half his possessions. JVIehemet even threatened 
 Constantinople. If England and other European 
 nations had not stopped him, he would have made 
 himself master of the whole Turkish Empire. 
 
 The bad treatment of the Christians living in 
 Turkey led to several wars with Russia. In 1853 
 Nicholas I, the Czar of Russia, proposed to Eng- 
 land to drive out the Turks and divide up the coun- 
 try between them. When England refused, the 
 czar began a war against Turkey " to protect the 
 Christians," he said. But England and France 
 thought what he wanted was Constantinople, and 
 they joined the Turks against him. This war is 
 called the Cri-me'-an War, because it was fought 
 mainly on the peninsula of Cri-me'-a. 
 
 The French and English defeated the Russians 
 in nearly every battle. 
 
304 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 At the battle of Bal-a-kla'-va occurred the fa- 
 mous *' charge of the hght brigade." about which 
 the EngUsh poet Tennyson has written a splendid 
 poem. This brigade was ordered to recapture some 
 gmis which had been taken from the English. But 
 by mistake they attempted to take a batter}' two 
 miles away, in the very center of the Russian army. 
 
 '• Half a league, half a league, 
 Half a league onwai*d. 
 All in the vallev of death 
 Rode the six hundred. 
 ' Forward, the Light Bngade ! 
 Charge for the guns ! ' he said ? 
 Into the vallev of death 
 Rode the six hundi-ed."' 
 
 '••'Forward, the Light Brigade!* 
 Was there a man dismayed ? 
 Not tho' the soldier knew 
 
 Some one had blmidered. 
 Theii-s not to make i*eply, 
 Theirs not to reason why. 
 Theirs but to do and die : 
 Into the Valley of Death 
 
 Rode the six hundred. 
 
 *' Cannon to right of them, 
 Cannon to left of them. 
 Cannon in ft-ont of them 
 Volleved and thundered : 
 
THE TURKS 
 
 305 
 
 Stormed at with shot and > 
 Boldly they rode and well. 
 Into the jaws of Death, 
 Into the mouth of Hell 
 Rode the six hundred. 
 
 hell. 
 
 ^^^H 
 
 ^^^^^H^^^sppipmfpHPii 
 
 
 
 _ JU^^. .^f- ^^BHifeK '■^^^^■^^^ 
 
 > " t^^- 
 
 The Capture of Sebastopol. 
 
 " When can their glory fade ? 
 O the wild charge they made! 
 
 All the world wondered. 
 Honor the charge they made ! 
 Honor the Light Brigade, 
 
 Noble six hundred ! "^ 
 
 This war was ended when the Russian strong- 
 hold of Se-bas'-to-pol was taken. The Russians 
 
306 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 agreed not to keep a war fleet in the Black Sea, and 
 not to interfere any more in the affairs of Turkey. 
 In 1876 Turkey massacred thousands of Chris- 
 tians in Bulgaria. This led to another war with 
 Russia. Turkey lost Bulgaria and two other prov- 
 inces. In 1911, still another war was fought be- 
 tween Turkey and the Christian states of the Bal- 
 kan Peninsula. Turkey lost all her European 
 possessions except the city of Constantinople, and 
 a small adjoining territory. 
 
XXIX. THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS 
 
 All the colonies in America, before 1776, had 
 been ruled by governors sent out by the mother 
 countries. In that year the thirteen English colo- 
 nies along the Atlantic coast of North America 
 declared themselves independent of Great Britain 
 and became the United States of America. 
 
 A republic is a country where the people them- 
 selves choose the men v^^ho govern it. The United 
 States was the first republic to be formed in the 
 New World. 
 
 The example of the United States in freeing 
 itself from the rule of a king was soon felt in both 
 Europe and in the Spanish colonies of America. 
 The French soldiers who fought with Washington 
 went home to take part in the French revolution. 
 The French king was put to death and France be- 
 came a republic. But the French did not act as 
 wisely as the American colonists. They had had 
 no experience in governing themselves, while the 
 Americans were accustomed to manage their own 
 affairs in the towns and cities. 
 
 Since the French people could not bring about 
 order, they fell under the control of a man who 
 could keep order, Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 In 1808 Napoleon conquered Spain and made 
 his brother, Joseph, king of that country. 
 
 307 
 
808 OLD WORLD STEPS TO AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 The Spanish colonies in America refused to 
 submit to the rule of a French king and revolted 
 under the lead of Simon Bolivar. 
 
 Bolivar was born in Caracas, Venezuela. When 
 a young man, he visited the tomb of Washington 
 at Mount Vernon. He resolved to follow the ex- 
 ample of the great patriot and devote his life to 
 obtaining the independence of Venezuela. 
 
 In 1811 he called a meeting of the citizens of 
 Caracas. A declaration of independence was 
 signed, and Fran-cis'-co Miran'-da, an older patriot 
 than Bolivar, was made chief. A few days after 
 this a fearful earthquake destroyed the city and 
 killed several thousand of Miranda's soldiers. 
 
 The Spanish governor had ten thousand men 
 sent from Spain, and he soon got his power back. 
 Miranda was sent to Spain where he died in prison. 
 But Bolivar escaped and lived to see his country 
 free and independent. 
 
 He at first fled to the island of Jamaica. A 
 few years later he returned to South America. He 
 was made dictator at Lima in 1823. Peru and 
 Venezuela joined forces. They defeated the Span- 
 ish army on the lofty plain of A-ya-cu'-cho, twelve 
 thousand feet above the sea. A new republic was 
 formed and named Bolivia in honor of the leader. 
 
 Soon afterwards the republics of Colombia, 
 Ecuador, and Venezuela were formed. 
 
 A few years before this, in 1818, Chile and the 
 
THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS 309 
 
 Argentine Republic were organized. Ten years 
 later Paraguay and U'-ru-guay were separated 
 from Argentina and became distinct republics. 
 Brazil remained an empire under the rule of Dom 
 Pe'-dro II till 1889. It then became a republic. 
 
 In Mexico there was a long and bloody war 
 with Spain. The leader in the war for Mexican 
 independence was I-tur-bi'-de, who finally de- 
 feated the Spanish in 1821. Mexico was declared 
 independent and Iturbide became emperor of the 
 country. In 1824, the form of government was 
 changed to a republic. 
 
 Napoleon III attempted to seize Mexico in 
 1861 and make an Austrian noble, Max-i-mil'-i-an, 
 emperor. But the United States interfered, and 
 declared that she would protect the young repub- 
 lics in America. The French troops sailed back 
 to France, and Maximilian was captured and shot 
 by Mexican soldiers. 
 
 During this same period (1808-21) the little 
 states of Central America also drove out their 
 Spanish governors, and began to govern themselves 
 as republics. We might call the time between our 
 own Revolution and 1824 the revolutionary age, 
 since there were no less than sixteen new republics 
 formed by revolutions during that time. 
 
Reference Index 
 
 Aachen {d'hen), 182 
 
 Abd er Rah'man, 177 
 
 A'bra ham. 59. 170 
 
 Ac 'bar, 33 
 
 Achaeans (a herons), 79 
 
 Achilles {a hiVlez), 75 
 
 A crop'o lis. 80. 95 
 
 Ac'ti urn. 139 
 
 A'dri an op'o lis. 152 
 
 Ae gos Pot'a mos {e'gos), 98 
 
 Ae o li ans {e o^li ans), 79 
 
 Ae ne as {e ne^as). 107 
 
 Ae qui ans {e'quians), 122 
 
 Aetius {a e'shus). 154 
 
 Afghan is tan', 29 
 
 A^gra, 32 
 
 Al'a ric, 152 
 
 Al'ba Lon'ga, 108 
 
 Al ci bi'a des, 97 
 
 Al'cuin, 182 
 
 Aleman'ni, 163 
 
 Al ex an'der, the Great, 28, 101 
 
 Al ex an'dri a. 104. 176 
 
 Al'fred, 192 
 
 Amu'lius, 108 
 
 A my'tis, 52 
 
 An'cus Martius {mar' shi us) . 
 
 112 
 An'gles, 166 
 An'tioch, 213 
 An ti'o ehus, 127 
 An to ni'nus, 148 
 
 An 'to ny, 137 
 
 A pol'lo, 74 
 
 Arbe'la, 105 
 
 Ar ca'di us, 152 
 
 Ar cot', 37 
 
 Ar'go nau'tic Ex pe di' ti on, 
 
 175 
 Ar is ti'des. 88 
 Aris tot'le, 101 
 Ar min'i us, 140 
 A'runs, 117 
 Ar'thur. King, 167 
 Ar'vans. 23 
 As'shur ba ni pal', 52 
 As syr'i a, 47, 62 
 As ty'a ges, 63 
 Ath'ens, 79 
 Ath OS, Mount, 87 
 At'las, 74 
 At'tila, 153 
 Aug'us tine, 169 
 Augus'tus, 139 
 Aus'ter litz, 267 
 Av'entine, 112 
 
 B 
 
 Ba'bel, 49 
 Ba'ber, 33 
 Bab'y Ion, 105 
 Bab y lo'nia, 47, 63 
 Ba'con, Roger, 17, 245 
 Bactri a, 63, 105 
 Bagdad', 177,209,231 
 
 310 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 Bal bo'a, 243 
 
 Be his tun', 66 
 
 Bel, 54 
 
 Bel shaz'zar, 55, 63 
 
 Bis'marck, Otto von, 285 
 
 3o ab dil', 243 
 
 Bon var, 308 
 
 Bo'na parte, Xa po'le on, 262 
 
 Bozzaris (hot za'res) , 302 
 
 Britain, 135 
 
 Brit'ons, 166 
 
 Bru'tus, 116, 137 
 
 Bu ceph^a lus, 102 
 
 Buddha {hood' da) ,2^ 
 
 Bu sen'to, 153 
 
 Bv zan'ti um. 151 
 
 'a'a ba. 170 
 
 "a'diz, 57 
 
 'ae sar {se'zar), 131, 135 
 
 ^al cut'ta, 36 
 
 lal'i cut, 36 
 
 !al'y do'ni an Hunt. 75 
 
 'am by^'ses, 64 
 
 'a'naan, 59 
 
 'an'nae, 126 
 
 a nute', 198 
 
 an'ter bury. 169 
 
 a'pet, Hugh, 221 
 
 'ar'le on, 167 
 
 ar'lo man, 181 
 
 ;ar'thage, 57, 123 
 
 as san'der, 106 
 
 as'sius, 137 
 
 ath'er ine. the Great. 251 
 
 at'iline, 134 
 
 a'to, 128, 137 
 
 a vour', 297 
 
 en taurs'. 74 
 
 Ce'res, 72 
 
 Cer'be rus, 74 
 
 Chae ro ne a {ker o ne'a), 98 
 
 Chaldea (kal de'a),i8 
 
 Chalons (sha Ion'), 154 
 
 Chang, 15 
 
 Charlemagne (shar'le man'), 
 
 164 
 Charles XII of Sweden, 250 
 Che Hoang ti (che hn-an^'te), 
 
 10 
 Cheops (ke ops), -^0 
 Che rus'ci, 140 
 Christians, 148 
 Cic'ero, 134 
 Cim'bri. 131 
 Ci'mon. 93 
 
 Cir'cus Max'i mus, 112 
 Clau'di us, 127 
 Cle'opa'tra. 139 
 Clis'the nes, 84 
 Clive, 36 
 Clo taire', 164 
 Clotil'de, 162 
 Clo'vis, 161 
 Co'drus. 83 
 Col la ti'nus, 116 
 Col'os se'um, 144 
 Co lum'bus. 238 
 Co mit'i a Cu'ri a'ta. 110 
 Co mit'ia Cen tu'ri a'ta. 113 
 Comit'ia Tri bu'ta, 114 
 Con fu'cius, 12 
 Con'stan tine, 148 
 Con'stan ti no'ple. 151 
 Con stan'ti us, 150 
 Cor do'va, 178 
 Cor'inth, 78, 88 
 Coroebus (ko re'bus), 78 
 Cor'tez, 271 
 
312 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cras'sus, 134 
 Crete (kret), 80 
 Cri'to, 100 
 
 Crom'well, Oliver^ 254 
 Cro'nos, 72 
 Cy ax'a res, 63 
 Cy'clops, 73 
 Cy'pruS;, 57 
 Cy'rus, 55, 63 
 
 D 
 
 Dag'obert, 164 
 
 Danes, 193 
 
 Dan'iel, 54 
 
 Dan'te, 291 
 
 Da ri'us, 66, 84 
 
 Delhi {deVle),dS 
 
 De'los, 92 
 
 Del'phi, 76, 77 
 
 Del'ta, 39 
 
 Dem'a ra tus, 89 
 
 De me'ter, 72 
 
 De mos'the nes, 99 
 
 Des'i de'rius, 184 
 
 Di an'a, 74 
 
 Di'o cle'tian, 148 
 
 Domitian (do mish'an), 146' 
 
 Do'ri ans, 79 
 
 Do ris'cus, 87 
 
 Dra'co, 83 
 
 Dry'ads, 74 
 
 Duil'lius, 123 
 
 E 
 
 Ec bat'a na, 66 
 
 E'dith, 201 
 
 Edward the Confessor, 198 
 
 Egbert, 167 
 
 E'gypt, 38 
 
 E pam i non'das, 98 
 
 Eth'el bert, 169 
 Eth'el red, 195 
 E tru'ria, 110 
 Eu rip'i des, 95 
 Eu phra'tes, 47 
 
 Fa'bius, 126 
 
 Faus'tulus, 109 
 
 Francis I, 271 
 
 Francis Joseph, 288 
 
 P'ranks, 161 
 
 Fred'er ick Bar'ba ros'sa, 215, 
 
 224 
 Frederick II, 215 
 Frederick the Great, 279 
 
 Gal'i le'o, 292 
 
 Ga ri baFdi, 296 
 
 Gauls, 122 
 
 Gen'ghis Khan, 15 
 
 Gen'o a, 217 
 
 George III, 256 
 
 Ger man'i cus, 141 
 
 Gis'go, 126 
 
 God'frey, 213 
 
 God win. Earl, 201 
 
 Gor di an Knot, 103 
 
 Gor'gons, 74 
 
 Go'shen, 44, 60 
 
 Goths, 151 
 
 Gracchus (grak^us), 130 
 
 Graces, 74 
 
 Gra ni'cus, 102 
 
 Gra'tian, 152 
 
 Greg'o ry, the Great, 167 
 
 Gun hiFda, 198 
 
 Gufen berg, John, 233 
 
 Guth rum (goth'rom), 194 
 
INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 H 
 
 Ha'des, 72 
 
 Ha'dri an, 148 
 
 Hamircar, 125 
 
 Han'ni bal, 125 
 
 Har'old, 201 
 
 Haroun al Raschid {ha roon^al 
 
 ra'shed), 178 
 Har'pa gus, 64 
 Har'pies, 74 
 Has'drubal, 126 
 Has'tings, 202 
 He'brews, 58 
 Hegira (he jVra), 175 
 Hel'las, 69 
 Hel'len, 69 
 HeFles pont, 58, 87 
 Hen'gist, 166 
 Henry VII, 221, 271 
 Henry, Prince, 240 
 Henry the Fowler, 223 
 Her a'cli us, 176 
 Her'cu la'ne um, 144 
 Her'cu les, 75 
 He're, 72 
 Her ni'cians, 122 
 He rod'o tus, 63, 68 
 He'si od, 71 
 Hes'ti a, 72 
 Hez'eki'ah, 51 
 Hin'dus, 23 
 Hi'ram, 57 
 Hit'tites, 43 
 
 Hoang ti (hwang^ti), 10 
 Ho'mer, 71 
 Ho no'ri us, 152 
 Hor'ace, 142 
 Ho ra'ti us, 117 
 Hor'sa, 166 
 
 Hun'gary, 153 
 Huns, 151 
 HyMra, 74 
 Hys tas'pes, 66 
 
 I 
 Id'za bar, 49 
 In'dia, 105" 
 In'dra, 23 
 In'dus, 105 
 I o'ni ans, 79 
 I'rene, 179 
 Is a bel'la, 243 
 Ish'mael, 170 
 Is'sus, 103 
 Iturbide (e^oor bertha) , S09 
 
 Ja'cob, 43, 60 
 James I, 254 
 Ja'nus, 139 
 Ja'son, 75 
 Je'han, 34 
 Je ru'sa lem, 61, 134 
 Jira'mu, 19 
 John, King, 204 
 Jop'pa, 217 
 Jor'dan, 60 
 Jo seph, 43, 60 
 Josh'u a, 61 
 Ju'li an, 151 
 Ju'no, 74 
 Ju'pi ter, 72, 74 
 Jus tin'i an, 184 
 Jutes, 166 
 
 K 
 
 Kar'nak, 45 
 
 Khai'ber Pass {ki'ber), 29 
 
 Ko'ran, 174 
 
314 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Kos suth', 284 
 
 Kublai Khan {koo'bli kari) ,75 
 
 Lars Por'se na, 117 
 Lati'nus, 108 
 La vin'ia, 108 
 La vin i um, 108 
 Le'o, 185 
 Le on'i das, 89 
 Leuc'tra, 98 
 Liv'y, 107, 142 
 Lom'bards, 184 
 Lothaire', 189 
 Louis XIV, 257 
 Louis XV, 259 
 Louis XVI, 260 
 Lu'ce res, 110 
 Ly cur'gus, 81 
 Ly san'der, 98 
 Ly sim'a chus, 106 
 
 M 
 
 Mac e do'ni a, 97, 128 
 Ma dras', 36 
 Ma gel'lan, 243 
 Ma'gi, 67 
 Magne'si a, 127 
 Mag'yars, 223 
 Mah'moud, 30 
 Man da'ne, 64 
 Man ti ne'a, 98 
 Ma'nu, 81 
 Mar'a thon, 85 
 Mar cell' us, 
 Mar'co man'ni, 148 
 Mar'co Polo, 16,237 
 Mar'cus Au re li us, 148 
 Mar do'ni us, 91 
 Ma'ri us, 131 
 
 Mars, 74, 108 
 
 MarteF, Charles, 177 
 
 Max im'i an, 148 
 
 Mazzini (mat se^ne), 296 
 
 Mec'ca, 170 
 
 Medes, 63, 69 
 
 Me'di a, 63 
 
 Mem phis, 40 
 
 Me'nes, 81 
 
 Mer'cu ry, 74 
 
 Mi'chael An'ge lo, 272 
 
 Mil'an, 224 
 
 Mil ti'a des, 85 
 
 Mi ner'va, 74 
 
 Mi'nos, 81 
 
 Mi ran'da Fran cis'co, 308 
 
 Mith'ra da'tes, 134 
 
 Mo guls', 33 
 
 Mo ham'med,170 
 
 Mo ham'med II, 232 
 
 Molt'ke, von, 286 
 
 Mont calm', 272 
 
 Mont' fort, Simon de, 219 
 
 Mo'ses, 81 
 
 Mu'ses, 74 
 
 Myc'ale, 91 
 
 N 
 
 Na po le on III, 269 
 
 Nar'ces, 184 
 
 Neb'u chad Nez'zar, 52 
 
 Nel'son, 264 
 
 Ne me'a, 78 
 
 Nep'tune, 74 
 
 Ner'va, 146 
 
 Neth'er lands. New, 270 
 
 Nicae'a, 151,213 
 
 Ni ceph'o rus, 179 
 
 Nich'o las V, Pope, 228 
 
 Nic o me'di a, 148 
 
INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Nile, 39 
 Nim'rod, 48 
 Nin'e veh, 50 
 No'ah, 4-8 
 North'men, 191 
 Nu'ma, 1 1 1 
 Nu'mi tor, 108 
 
 o 
 
 Octa'vius, 139 
 
 O'din, 158 
 
 Odoa'cer, 152 
 
 O'jin, 19 
 
 O lym'pi a, 78 
 
 O lym'pus, Mount, 74 
 
 O'mar, 176 
 
 O res'tes, 154 
 
 Or'mazda, 67 
 
 Os'tro goths, 161 
 
 Oth'rys, Mount, 73 
 
 Phar'salus, 137 
 
 Phid'i as, 95 
 
 Phil'ip, 98 
 
 Phirip Au gus'tus, 215 
 
 Philip pi, 139 
 
 Pho ci ans ( fo^ she ans), 98 
 
 Phoenicia (fe nish^a), 56,61, 
 
 69,76, 104 
 Picts, 167 
 Pin'dar, 102 
 Pip'pin, 164 
 Pi sis'tra tus, 80 
 Pizar'ro, 271 
 Plas'sey, 37 
 
 Plataea (pla te'a), 85,91 
 Pla'to, 93 
 Plebe'ians, 120 
 Plu'to, 72 
 
 Pompeii (pom pa^ye), 14!4i 
 Pom'pey, 132 
 Pon'ti fex Max'i mus. 111 
 •Po'rus, 29, 105 
 
 Pal'atine, 109 
 
 Po sei'don, 72 
 
 Palestine, 104,217 
 
 Ptolemy (toVe my), 106 
 
 Par'is, 162 
 
 Pu'nic Wars, 123 
 
 Par'sees, 67 
 
 Pun jab', 29 
 
 Par'the non, 95 
 
 Q 
 
 Pa tri'cians, 120 
 
 Patrick, Saint, 167 
 
 Qui ri'nus, 110 
 
 Pau sa'ni as, 91 
 
 Quiri'tes, 110 
 
 Pe lop'i das, 98 
 
 R 
 
 Pel o pon ne'sus, 79 
 
 Per i an'der, 80 
 
 Ramadan', 172 
 
 Per'i cles, 93 
 
 Ram'e ses, 45 
 
 Perry, 21 
 
 Ram'nes, 110 
 
 Per sep'o lis, 105 
 
 Raph'a el, 292 
 
 Peter the Great, 246 
 
 Regillus (re jiVlus), 119 
 
 Peter the Hermit, 210 
 
 Re'mus, 108 
 
 Petrarch, 228 
 
 Rhe'a, 108 
 
 Pharaoh (faVo), 43 
 
 Richard, 215 
 
316 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Ri'en zi, 290 
 Rol'lo, 198 
 Rom'ulus, 108 
 Rox a'na^ 105 
 Ru'bicon, 139 
 Ru'rik, 200, 246 
 
 Sa'bines, 110 
 
 Saradin, 215 
 
 Sal'a mis, 90 
 
 St. Sophi'a, 151 
 
 Sa ma'ri a, 5 1 
 
 Sam nites, 122 
 
 Sar'da na pa'lus, 52, 63 
 
 Sar'dis, 84, 87 
 
 Sar'gon, 49 
 
 Sax'ons, 166 
 
 Scipio (sip'i o), 125 
 
 Se ja'nus, 143 
 
 Seleu'cus, 106, 127 
 
 Sen nach'e rib, 51 
 
 Ser to'rius, 132 
 
 Se'ti, 45 
 
 Sex'tus, 114 
 
 Shech'em, 59 
 
 Sib'ylline Books, 115 
 
 Sicily, 97 
 
 Sil'vi us Pro cas, 108 
 
 Soc'ra tes, 93, 99 
 
 SoFo mon, 6 1 
 
 So'lon, 83 
 
 Soph'o cles, 95 
 
 Spar'ta, 79, 89 
 
 Spar'ta cus, 132 
 
 Sphinx, 74 
 
 Spu'ri us Lar'tius, 118 
 
 Sta gi'ra, 101 
 
 StiFicho, 152 
 
 SuFla, 131 
 
 Su ra'jah Dow'lah, 37 
 Su'sa, 66, 105 
 Sweyn, 198 
 Syr'acuse, 97, 123 
 
 Tac'i tus, 157 
 Tam'er lane, 33, 229 
 Tan'a quil, 113 
 Tan'cred, 213 
 Ta'nis, 45 
 Ta'rik, 176 
 Tar'quin, 112, 114 
 Te'rah, 59 
 Teu'toberg, 141 
 Thap'sa cus, 137 
 Thebes, 98 
 
 The mis'to cles, 88,91 
 The od'o ric, 161 
 The o do'si us, 152 
 Ther mop'y lae (le), 89 
 Thes'pi ans, 90 
 Thor, 160 
 Thu cyd'i des, 95 
 Ti'tans, 73 
 Titus, 143 
 
 Ti'tus Her min'i us, 118 
 Tra'jan, 148 
 Treb'ia, 125 
 Tras i me'nus, 125 
 Tro jan War, 75 
 Troy, 107 
 
 TuI'lus Hos tin us, 1 1 1 
 Turks, 274, 299 
 Tyre, 104, 123 
 
 u 
 
 U lys'ses, 75 
 Ur, 59 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Ur'ban, 210 
 U'tica, 137 
 
 V 
 
 Va'lens, 151 
 
 Val en tin'i an^ 151 
 
 Valhal'la, 158 
 
 Valky'rie, 158 
 
 Va'rus, 140 
 
 Vas'co da Ga'ma, 36, 240 
 
 Ven'ice, 217 
 
 Ve'nus, 74 
 
 Ver cin get'o ris, 135 
 
 Ver'gil, 142 
 
 Ves pa'sian, 143 
 
 Ves'ta, 108 
 
 Victor Em man'u el, 294 
 
 Vis'igoths, 152 
 
 Vlad'i mir, 200 
 
 Volscians (voV shi ans) , 121 
 
 Vul'can, 74 
 
 w 
 
 Wash'ing ton, 256 
 
 WelFing ton, 267 
 William the Conqueror, 200 
 William of Orange, 256 
 William I, 289 
 Wit'tekind, 187 
 Wolfe, James, 272 
 
 Xanthippe (zan tip'e), 100 
 Xanthippus (zantip^us), 
 Xerxes {zerVs es), 58, 87. 
 
 Ya'o, 9 
 Yu, 10 
 Yu' Chau, 9 
 
 Za gros Mountains, 53 
 
 Za'ma, 127 
 
 Zed e ki'ah, 53 
 
 Zend'-A ves'ta, 68 
 
 Ze'no, 154 
 
 Zo ro as'ter, 67