THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES UJ THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS IN FIVE VOLUMES A HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN TIMES B.C. 4004 TO A.D. 1903 By ESTHER SINGLETON ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS FULL-PAGE DRAWINGS EXECUTED IN DUOGRAPH VOLUME ONE— ANCIENT b.Q. 4004 TO A.D. 70 NEW YORK P. F. COLLIER & SON MCM I V / Copyright iqo-\ Bv P. F. COLLIER & SON D2t V. 1 PREFACE T is not easy to find a satisfactory definition of the term History. In its widest sense, of course, it is the nar- ration of events, or, as Von Humboldt puts it: "the exhibition of what has happened.' The dictionary of the French Academy somewhat Hmits the field of its activities by defining it as the recital of things worthy of remem- brance. This definition is good enough for our purpose, however, since it covers the field of the present work. In accordance with this definition, therefore, History consists of exceptional matters, of celebrated or notorious events, of the lives and actions of great men whether good or evil, of conspicuous achievements in war, politics, ex- ploration, science, art, religion, and literature. This work attempts to g^ve a summary of history thus regarded, by selecting some of the more important events as described and considered by historians. # In relating the great events of history, this work does not attempt to deal^vith the vast mass of knowledge recently LIBRAT^f 2 PREFACE • gained from tlie deciphering of monuments and cylinders. It treats only of those events that have been described and discussed by historians beginning wirti Herodotus and the Hebrew scribes. American, German, EngHsh, and French expeditions year after year delve and rummage among the ruins of ancient cities and add enormous additions to our knowledge of the past, and with this constantly in- creasing wealth of detail the gaps of the distant centuries are gradually being filled up, and a connected view of the whole will be eventually gained. At present, however, not- withstanding the labors of Lenormant, Sayce, Rawlinson, Hincks, Oppert, de Riancy, Guillemin, Robiou, Mariette, Morris, de Luynes, and many others, the material collected has not yet been presented in such an authoritative form as to enable us to follow the stream of ancient history and recognize all its branches and tributaries. So rapid indeed has been the progress of research that the essays attached to the best translations of Herodotus become antiquated almost before the ink is dry, and the best manuals of ancient history need annual revision. While matters are still in this chaotic state, it is perhaps allowable to confine our selections of the great events of ancient history to those that are recorded in the pages^of Greek and Latin writers, although some of these accounts, such as the details of the foundation of Rome, are al^iittedly legendary. The early writers leaned much on hearsay evidence, although if they had cared to take the trouble they migh»have gone to the PREFACE 3 monuments for their facts, as the modern searchers after truth have been forced to do with infinitely greater pains. It has been pointed out that the Egyptian hieroglyphics were still written and read two centuries and a half after the birth of Christ, and that the Babylonian cuneiform characters were employed till after the destruction of Jerusa- lem, hong before this, the Egyptian records had been trans- lated into Greek by Manetho, and the Babylonian records by Berosus. But these translators were neglected by the contemporary literary world, as being "barbarians," and it was only a Jew, like Josephus, or such orientalizing Chris- tians as Eusebius, who made any use of them. The chief source of information on Oriental history for the literary circles of Greece and Rome were Herodotus, pieced out with excerpts from Ctesius, or Hecateus of Abdera, and ex- panded by compilers like Diodorus. Unfortunately no manu- script containing the work of either Berosus or Manetho has yet been recovered from the tomb, and therefore, since the revival of learning, the world has had to go to Herodotus for all its ideas of the ancient East. Ancient History is improperly separated from Modern by the arbitrary assumption of a particular date. A more convenient and logical division may be made by regarding as ancient all that belongs to a state of things that has com- pletely passed away, and as modern all that connects itself inseparably with the present. In Western Europe, the irrup- 4 PREFACE tioii of the Xorthern Barbarians, in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa the Mohammedan conquests, form the line of demarcation between the two portions of the historic field, since these events broug^ht to a close the old condition of things and introduced the condition which continues to the present day. For practical purposes, historians have agreed to group the leading epochs and dominant phases in general history under six heads. I. The early Oriental Theocracies, represented by the Eg^'ptian, Assyrian, Persian, and Indian monarchies, the Chinese, Japanese, and other Buddhist empires, and some modern states. II. The rise and development of the Greek world, in- volving the story of the separate Hellenic states. III. The rise and consolidation of the Roman world, showing the origin of the Republic, the growth of the Dic- tatorship, and the final fall of the divided empire. IV. The Catholic and feudal world, known as the Middle Ages. V. The formation and development of the great Euro- pean states, — including the rise and progress of the modern PREFACE ^ monarchies, the revival of learning, the Reformation, and what is called modern history down to the close of the Eighteenth Century. VI. The political and industrial revolution of the modern world, including the rise and consolidation of Prussia and of the United States; the intellectual, scientific and indus- trial revolution of the last century; the French Revolution and the wars to which it gave rise; the development of transmarine empires and international communication; democracy and socialism in their various types. Rome is the centre of all European histor)\ The his- tory of Europe is almost wholly made up of the steps by which the older states came under the power of Rome, and secondly, of the way in which the modern states of Europe were formed by the breaking up of that power. Greece alone has a real history of its own, earlier th^n that of Rome and independent of it. The first step toward grasping the history of those centuries through which the ancient world evolved into the modern is the comprehension of the fact that the old Roman Empire did not cease to exist until the year 1453. The line of Roman Emperors continued in unbroken suc- cession from Octavius Augustus to Constantine Paleologus. Historians who first use the phrase Byzantine Empire are PREFACE not very precise as to the date at which the Roman Empire ends and the Byzantine Empire begins. Sometimes the Hne is drawn at the foundation of Constantinople by Con- stantine the Great, sometimes at the death of Theodosius the Great, sometimes at the reign of Justinian, and some- times at the accession of Leo the Isaurian. All these lines are purely arbitrary. No "Byzantine Empire" ever began to exist. The Roman Empire, moreover, was one and un- divided in the Fifth Century: though there were generally more Emperors than one, there were never two Empires. However independent one of another, or even hostile, theo- retically the unity of the Empire which they ruled was unaffected. The transition from the ancient to the mediaeval world may be said to have taken place between the Fourth and the Eighth Century. We can hardly apply the term Mediae- val to the Fourth Century, or the term Ancient to the Eighth. In the year 395 A. D. the Empire was still intact, but with the Fifth Century its dismemberment began. A rival Roman Empire was founded in 800 A. D. The Cor- onation of Charles the Great marks a new departure in European history, and therefore, as Arnold noted, it forms a suitable end as well as a suitable beginning. Such unity as had been given to Western Europe by the Mediaeval Empire and the Papacy disappeared with the Great PREFACE 7 Interregnum in the middle of the Thirteenth Century; and such unity as was afterward suppHed by the growth of formal international relations can not be said to begin before the invasion of Naples by Charles VIII. of France at the end of the Fifteenth Century. In the interval between these two dates there is apparent chaos, and the germs of future order can only be detected by the closest examination. The dominant characteristic of the age is its diversity, A cursory glance over some of the most striking episodes of the period will serve to show the multi- plicity of its interests. The Hundred Years' War between England and France; the rise and fall of the House of Burgundy; the struggle between the old and the new con- ceptions of ecclesiastical polity in the Papal schism ; the coun- cils of Constance and Basle, and the Hussite War ; the mar- vellous achievements of Venice and Florence under both republican and Medicean rule ; the revival of art and letters in many large and small centres ; the growth and decline of great corporations, such as the Hanseatic League and the Teutonic Order; the expansion of Christian at the expense of Mohammedan Spain, and, per contra, the conquest of the Eastern Empire by the Turks. The present work presents history by events in detail. and does not pretend to give a general review of the course of human progress. In many cases, the selections will he found to be descriptions of events specially treated without 8 PREFACE reference to contemporary history. In other cases, the selec- tion shows broader treatment; for example, the Siege of Syracuse by Creasy gfives a comprehensive view of the Greek politics of the day. Carlyle's Destruction of the Bastille is a rhapsodical account of a special tumult. The reader will be able to form a very clear idea, however, of the course of history from the events selected with the variety of treat- ment they have received from the different historians. It will be well, however, here to give a rapid summary of the general movements and characteristics of the centuries of the Christian Era. The First Century saw the first serious check to the Roman arms by the "barbarians" under Arminius, the de- struction of Jerusalem, the assumption of dictatorial power by the Pretorian Guard with regard to the succession, and the persecution of the Christians. The Second, Third, and Fourth Centuries saw the splen- dors of the Antonines and the vices and follies of their suc- cessors, bewildering revolutions, wars upon the frontier, torrents of barbarian invasion, and the still greater changes that gave the world a new religion. By the end of the Fifth Century, Imperial Rome has almost insensibly vanished from the scene, and Italy has become a Gothic kingdom, surrounded by the monarchies of Europe in the first stage of their formation. The Queen of the East has arisen, as PREFACE » if by enchantment, from the waters of the Bosphorus, and her splendor has again been overcast. Christianity has tri- umphed, but the triumph has been abused by her ministers. The West is ripe for FeudaHsm; and the Past seems to await the doom of her idolatries from the sword of Mo- hammed. During- the Fourth and Fifth Centuries, Christianity gradually won its way in the Roman Empire, and was adopted by the Teutonic nations who had settled in the Roman dominions. The Romance nations arose and the English first assailed Britain. The Western Empire was cut up till Italy, all that was left of it, was nominally joined again to the Eastern Empire. Constantinople was the cap- ital of the whole Empire when united and of the Eastern portion when divided. In the Sixth Century, the Eastern Emperors regained some of their lost provinces, including all Italy, Africa, and part of Spain. But the Lombards soon reconquered the greater part of Italy. In the Seventh Century, Persia and the Roman Empire alternately threat- ened to destroy each other. Then the Saracens conquered Persia, the Eastern and African Roman provinces, Spain, and part of Gaul. In the meanwhile, the Franks united Germany and Gaul into one kingdom. Called into Italy, their king was elected Emperor of the Western in oppo- sition to the Eastern Roman Empire. Thus, in the Ninth Century there were again two Roman Empires, one German 10 PREFACE and the other Greek. There were now, also, two Caliphates, the Eastern one being pressed by the Turks. The Ninth and Tenth Centuries saw the birth of the chief modern nations of Europe. The Turkish Kingdom of the West, which had been joined to the Western Empire under Charlemagne, broke up into the four Kingdoms of France, Germany, Burgundy, and Italy. The Kingdoms of Germany and Italy under Otto the Great were united with the Western Empire, and Burgundy was added soon after. The union of the Western Kingdom with the duchy of France gave rise to modern France. In Britain, the su- premacy of Wessex created the Kingdom of England. In Scandinavia, the Kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Den- mark were formed, and Norse settlements, of which Nor- mandy was the chief, were made in Britain and on the Con- tinent. Under Cnut, a great northern empire was tem- porarily created, the Danes and Northmen being at the height of their power. The Eastern Empire was becom- ing almost entirely Greek, and its power increased during the Tenth Century : it gained territory at the expense of the Saracens and Bulgarians. Poles, Russians, and Hunga- rians also formed Christian Kingdoms. The Eleventh Century saw the sway of the Franconian Emperors, the beginnings of the Crusades, the Turkish power, and the struggle between the Empire and the Papacy. PREFACE 11 The Normans conquered England and the Christians began to gain ground in Spain. During the Dark Ages, civiU- zation and Christianity had been on the wane. The Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries were strongly transitional. They saw the almost universal monarchy of the Papacy, the Crusades, the monastic revivals, a strong though limited intellectual revival, and a resulting marvel- lous development of art, letters, and material civilization. It was a period of many-sided activity and general progress. It was "the age of feudalism, of the Papacy and the Empire, of the Crusades, of chivalry, of scholasticism and the early universities, of monasticism in its noblest types, of mediae- val art in its highest aspects, and of national monarchy in its earliest form." During this time both the Eastern and Western Empire practically came to an end, for though their titles persisted they were no longer the two great powers of Europe. The two Caliphates also came to an end. The Western Caliphate was broken up into small Kingdoms till St. Ferdinand (1217-1252) won back Seville and Cordova, and only Granada remained to the Moors. The Eastern Caliphate also was in the first place broken up by the Moguls in 1258. There was no longer, therefore, any universal temporal power, either Christian or Moham- medan. As the Emperors grew weaker, the Popes grew stronger. What Christendom lost by the conquests of the Turks in the Eastern Empire and the establishment of the 12 PREFACE Mogul power in Russia, it gained by the recovery of Spain and Sicily. Castile became the chief power in Spain, and after a struggle with the Nonnan and Angevin Kings of England, France became the chief power in Gaul. The Imperial power was weakened in Germany and Italy to the gain of the princes of Germany and the cities of Italy. The Kingdom of Sicily grew up and broke in two and the East- ern power of Venice began. The Teutonic Knights hin- dered the Eastern growth of Denmark and originated the power of Prussia. The Crusades came to an end. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries laid the final foundation for Modern History. Both Empires really came to an end. The Eastern Empire was destroyed by the Turks; and the Western Empire lost all its power, and Frederick III, (1452) was the last Emperor crowned at Rome. While a great Mohammedan power arose at By- zantium, Spain got rid of the last Mohammedan Kingdom at the other extremity of Europe, and Russia freed herself from the Mohammedans in the Northeast. The long and devastating wars between England and France began and ended, France coming out of the contest with enlarged territories. Protracted civil wars raged also in England. The states of Burgundy and Switzerland arose, the former coming to a speedy end, and the latter lasting. In Italy, most of the commonwealths fell under tyrants who grew into princes, and the Popes became mere Italian sovereigns. PREFACE 13 In Italy, also, learning revived. The Scandinavian King- doms were somewhat loosely united. Poland grew into a great power, and shared with Hungary and Venice the work of defending Christendom against the Turks. The Fifteenth Century, "the threshold of modern his- tory," witnessed a complete revolution in the aspect and relations of society. The capture of Constantinople scat- tered its fugitive scholars over Europe as missionaries of classical learning, and the invention of printing produced just at the right moment a ready supply for the intellectual demand thus newly created. The use of gunpowder revolu- tionized the tactics and practice of war. Kings also began to keep standing armies. Maritime for overland commerce was also substituted by the discoveries of the New World and the Cape passage to India. , During the Sixteenth Century, there were great changes in the relative importance of the European powers. Though the title of Emperor was still given to the German kings of the House of Austria, the Empire practically came to an end. The Spanish branch of that House rose to the first place in Europe. The Italian States became dependencies of Spain, except so far as Venice still remained a bulwark against the Turks. Hungary ceased to be an independent kingdom ; the Turks held the greater part, and the Austrian archdukes were kings of the rest. Under the House of 14 PREFACE Jagellon, Poland at this period was one of the greatest States in Europe, stretching over a great part of Russia. The Teutonic knights were abohshed, and their Grand Mas- ter became hereditary Duke of East Prussia, A new nation was formed by the revolt of the United Provinces against Spain. Sweden suddenly became one of the chief powers of Europe, and Russia took the first steps toward greatness under Ivan the Terrible. Meanwhile, the changes in relig- ion split the churches in the West altogether asunder, and the religious wars began. The first half of the Seventeenth Century in England was filled with the Puritan Revolution, culminating with the Protectorate. Northern Europe was convulsed with the great religious wars; while France under Richelieu was ^ curbing the nobility and the Huguenots. The power of Spain was crumbling, till at last the great Spanish mon- archy was altogether cut to pieces. France now took the lead in Europe instead of Spain, and grew so fast under Louis XIV. that the union of several other powers was needed to keep her in check. After the second revolution, England assumed a high place in Continental afifairs. She also planted many colonies in America. The Empire had become a mere name ; but the Emperors, as Austrian princes, had gained greatly in the Netherlands and Italy, and also as Kings of Hungary against the Turks. Prussia was growing up into a great German power. Italy was dead, PREFACE 15 save that Savoy was advancing and Venice was gallantly maintaining her strength with the Turks. By the time Louis XIV. was dead, Sweden and Poland had fallen from the rank of great powers. Russia, however, had sprung up and was rapidly growing at the expense of Sweden, Poland, and Turkey. The Eighteenth Century saw the decline and fall of Spain as a first-class power. England and Scotland united more closely and began to take a more important part in Continental affairs, winning a foothold in the Mediterra- nean for the first time. The German power, Brandenburg or Prussia, rose to greatness, and Russia also constantly increased in power. Sweden, Poland, and Turkey greatly declined. The Dutch power increased in the East at the expense of the Portuguese, and the British supplanted the French in India. The end of the period saw the estab- lishment of the United States. Italy scarcely existed po- litically except as the battlefield for other powers, but the House of Savoy was pushing its way into prominence. The greatest events of the century were the foundation of the United States and the French Revolution. By the end of the century, Europe was more changed than it had ever been before in the same space of time. Old ideas and old institutions were utterly swept away by the Revolution in a way that had never happened before. 16 PREFACE The Nineteenth Century saw great changes. The fall of Napoleon made little difference to France from a terri- torial point of view. She came out of the great war with nearly the same boundaries and under the same dynasty that she had at the outbreak of the Revolution, but her internal state was entirely changed. England had raised her position in Europe to the highest point; her European acquisitions of territory were represented by only one or two small islands, but her colonial possessions had been vastly increased. The German Empire had given way to a Confederation : Italy was still cut up into small States in which Austrian influence was dominant. The old Span- ish dynasty had been restored and Portugal was governed by Brazil. Sweden had finally given up all territory south and east of the Baltic, and Scandinavia, though still two kingdoms, had only one King. The Netherlands now also formed a kingdom. France rapidly recovered from the Napoleonic Wars and resumed her influence in the councils of Europe. After several revolutions, her ambi- tion to be paramount was defeated by the allied German States who deprived her of some of her former conquests. The unification of Germany and restoration of the Empire were the direct results of the war. The various Italian States united in one kingdom under the House of Savoy and got rid of Austrian rule. Austria united with Hun- gary to form a dual kingdom. All vestiges of Polish in- dependence were destroyed by Russia and Denmark was PREFACE 17 shorn of the duchies. Two new kingdoms, Belgium and Greece, were formed and guaranteed by the Powers. Not- withstanding the temporary check of the Crimean War, Russia has greatly increased in aggressiveness and power, principally at Turkey's expense. Spain's loss of her co- lonial possessions, Japan's rise to the rank of a first-class Power, and the wonderful strides in prosperity and influ- ence made by the United States, mark the closing years of the century. The selection of the events has been guided by several considerations. In representing a great event, it has fre- quently been found difficult to take the work of a great historian on account of the amount of space he devotes to it, and the small amount of space available in these pages. Whenever possible, however, a famous name has been chosen and the material has been cut down to the limits assigned. Beyond cutting out sentences and para- graphs, no other liberties have been taken with the text. In the above general review of the historical field, I have adopted the views, and occasionally the words, of historical authorities. E. S. New York, September, 1903. THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS VOLUME ONE LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS VOLUME ONE The Deluge. From Engraving by Martin. Dido Building Carthage (The Founding of Carthage — b.c. 872). From Painting by Turner. The Fall of Jerusalem (b.c. 586). From Painting by Kaulbach. The Nativity of Christ. From Painting by Correggio. The Crucifixion of Christ (a.d. 33). From Painting by Hilton. The Persecution of the Christians (a.d. 64-303). From Painting by Gerome. CONTENTS VOLUME ONE B.C. 4004— A. D. 70 From the Creation of the World to the Fall of Troy (b.c. 4004-1 184). Jacques Benigne Bossuet 25 The Deluge. Francois Lenormant 35 The Founding of Chaldea (b.c. 2250). George Rawlinson . . 45 Zoroaster (about b.c. iooo). James Darmesteter 58 The Delphic Oracle. William Mitford 69 The Founding of Carthage (b.c. 872). Frangois Lenormant . . 79 Laws of Lycurgus (b.c. 820). Plutarch 84 First Destruction of Nineveh (b.c. 789). Frangois Lenormant . 96 The Olympic Games (b.c. 776). Max Duncker 103 The Founding of Rome (b.c. 753). Plutarch 112 Gautama Buddha (b.c. 623-543). T. W, Rhys-Davids .... 124 Laws of Solon (b.c. 597). Plutarch 136 The Fall of Tyre and the Siege of Jerusalem (b.c. 586). G. Maspero 148 Cyrus Founds Persia (b.c. 558). George Rawlinson 159 Confucius (b.c. 550-478). James Legge 168 The Conquest of Lydia (b.c. 548), Herodotus 179 The Fall of Babylon (b.c. 538). Sir Walter Raleigh . . . 188 Conquest of Egypt by Cambyses (b.c. 525). G. Maspero . . 197 Expulsion of the Peisistrat/e (b.c. 510). William Mitford . . 208 Expulsion of the Tarquins (b.c. 510). Thomas Arnold . . 220 The Battle of Marathon (b.c. 490). Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton 236 The Battle of Salamis (b.c. 480). Plutarch 247 Fall of the Decemvirate (b.c. 449). Charles Merivale . . . 261 The Plague at Athens (b.c. 420). Thucydides 271 24 CONTENTS Siege of Syracuse (b.c. 415). E. S. Creasy 279 Expedition of the Ten Thousand (b.c. 400). Leopold von Ranke 296 Death of Socrates (b.c. 399). Plato 302 The Gauls' First Attack on Rome (b.c. 390). Livy .... 311 End of the Peloponnesian War (Battle of Cheronea) (b.c. 338). Leopold von Ranke 324 The Battle of Arbela (b.c. 331). E. S. Creasy 337 The Battle of the Metaurus (b.c. 207). E. S. Creasy . . . 359 The Fall of Carthage (b.c. 150-146). Henry George Liddell . 383 The Fall of Greece (b.c. 151-146). Henry George Liddell . . 398 Social and Mithridatic Wars (b.c. 90-64). Edward Augustus Freeman 407 The Battle of Actium (b.c. 31). Plutarch 4^5 The Nativity of Christ. Frederic W. Farrar 431 Victory of Arminius (a.d. 9). E. S. Creasy 44^ The Crucifixion (a.d. 33). Frederic W. Farrar 454 Persecutions of the Christians (a.d. 64-303). William Francis Collier 474 The Siege of Jerusalem (a.d. 70). Heinrich Graetz .... 485 FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD TO THE FALL OF TROY (B.C. 4004—1 184) JACQUES BENIGNE BOSSUET THE first epoch immediately presents to you a grand and awful spectacle; God^^^^f^fhe creating the heavens and the earth by'''°'''^" his word, and making man after his own image. With this begins Moses, the most ancient of historians, most sublime of phi- losophers, and wisest of legislators. Thus he lays the foundation as well of his history as of his doctrines and laws. Next he , , , _ . ■, . J Creation of shows us all men contamed m one man, and man. his wife extracted from him; matrimonial union and the society of mankind established upon this foundation; the perfection and power of man, so far as he bears the image of God in his first estate; his dominion over ani- mals; his innocence, together with his felicity, in paradise, the memory whereof is preserved in the golden age of the poets ; the divine com- mand given to our first parents; the malice of the tempting spirit, and his appearance under the form of a serpent; the fall of Adam and^^cfaHof Eve, fatal to all their posterity; the first man justly punished in all his children, and man- 9 Vol. 1 26 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS Abel and Cain con- trasted. Degrada- tion of mankind. kind cursed by God; the first promise of re- demption, and the future victory of men over the devil who had undone them. The earth begins to be filled, and wicked- ness increases. Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve, shows the infant world the first trag- ical action; and from that time virtue dates her persecution from vice. There we see the contrary manners of the two brothers; the in- nocence of Abel, his pastoral life, and his of- ferings accepted; those of Cain rejected, his avarice, his impiety, his fratricide and jeal- ousy, the parent of murders; the punishment of that crime, the conscience of the parricide racked with continual terrors; the first city built by this miscreant, now a vagabond upon the face of the earth, seeking an asylum from the hatred and horror of mankind; the inven- tion of some arts by his children; the tyranny of passions, and the prodigious malignity of man's heart ever prone to evil; the posterity of Seth, faithful to God, notwithstanding that depravation; the pious Enoch, miraculously snatched out of the world, which was not worthy of him; the distinction of the chil- dren of God from the children of man; that is, of those who lived after the spirit from those who lived after the flesh; their inter- mixture, and the universal corruption of the world; the destruction of men decreed by a just judgment of God; his wrath denounced against sinners by his servant Noah; their im- O B.C. 4004 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD 27 penitence and hardness of heart punished at last by the Deluge; Noah and his family re- served for the restoration of mankind. This is the sum of what passed in 1,656 The begin, years. Such is the beginnmg of all histories, histories. wherein are displayed the omnipotence, wis- dom, and goodness of God; innocence happy under his protection; his justice in avenging crimes, and at the same time his long-suffer- ing patience in waiting the conversion of sin- ners; the greatness and dignity of mankind in their primitive state; the temper of mankind after their corruption, the nature of jealousy, and the secret causes of violences and of wars, that is, all the foundations of religion and morality. With mankind Noah preserved the arts, as Noah pre- '■ , ' serves the well those which were essential to human life, =^'^'^- and which men knew from their original, as those they had afterward invented. Those first arts which men learned immediately, and probably from their creator, were agricul- ture, the pastoral art, that of clothing them- selves, and, perhaps, that of building houses for their accommodation. And, indeed, do we not trace the commencement of those arts from those places of the East from whence mankind was propagated? The tradition of the universal Deluge pre- Theoeiuge vails over all the earth. The Ark, wherein the remnant of mankind was saved, has ever been celebrated in the East, particularly in 28 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 2348 Second ag'c of the world, B.C. avjS. The three fathers of nations. The first conqueror, Nimrod. those places where it rested after the Deluge. Many other circumstances of that famous story are to be found marked in the annals and traditions of ancient nations; the times agree and everything answers as far as could be expected in so remote a piece of antiquity. Near the Deluge are to be ranged the de- crease of man's life, the alteration of diet, and a new food substituted in place of the fruits of the earth; some oral precepts delivered to Noah ; the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel, which was the first monu- ment of the pride and weakness of men; the portion of the three sons of Noah, and the first distribution of lands. The memory of those three first fathers of nations has still been preserved among men. Japetus, who peopled the greatest part of the western world, has continued famous there under the celebrated name of Japheth. Ham and his son Canaan have been no less noted among the Egyptians and Phenicians; and the memory of Shem has ever lasted with the Hebrew people, who are descended from him. A little after this first division of mankind, Nimrod, a man of a fierce and violent dispo- sition, becomes the first conqueror; and such is the origin of conquests. He sets up the throne of his kingdom at Babylon, in the same place where the tower had been begun, and already raised to a great height, but not so B.C. 19" THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM 29 high as man's vanity wished it. About the same time Nineveh was built, and some an- ing^of"' ' Nineveh. cient kingdoms established. They were but petty in those early times, for in Egypt alone we find four dynasties or principalities, those of Thebes, Thin, Memphis, and Tanis; this last was the capital of the lower Egypt. To this time we may also refer the commence- ment of the laws and polity of the Egyptians, that of their pyramids which stand to this day, and that of the astronomical observations, as well of that people as of the Chaldeans. So we may trace up to this time, and no higher, the observations which the Chaldeans, who were, without dispute, the first observers of the stars, gave in Babylon to Calisthenes for Aristotle. Four hundred and twenty-six years after the Deluge, when men walked every one in his own way, and grew forgetful of him that made them, that great God, to stop the progress of so great an evil, in the midst of corruption be- gan to set apart a chosen people for himself. Abraham was made choice of to be the stock and father of all believers. God called him Jgh^^^^^-^jf^ into the land of Canaan, where he intended to ^u'ng 'il^ establish his worship, and the children of thatB-c'Vi*!*' patriarch, whom he had resolved to multiply as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea. To the promise he made him of giving that land to his offspring, he added somewhat far more glorious, and this was that great blessing which was to be extended to all the B.C. 1689. 80 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS 0.0.1571 nations of the world in Jesus Christ proceed- ing from his race. After Abraham we find Isaac, his son, and Jacob, his grandson, imitators of his faith and simplicity in the same pastoral life. God re- peats to them also the same promises he had made to their father, and conducts them, as he had done him, in all things. Jacob dies, and a little before his death he makes that celebrated prophecy, where in discovering to his children the state of their posterity, he points out particularly to Judah the times of the Messiah, who was to spring from his race. The house of that patriarch in a little time becomes a great nation; this prodigious multi- plication excites the jealousy of the Egyptians; the Hebrews are unjustly hated and unmerci- fully persecuted: God raises up Moses, their deliverer, whom he saves from the waters of the Nile, and makes him fall into the hands of Pharaoh's daughter; she brings him up as her own son, and causes him to be instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. This great man, losing hopes of delivering his people, or waiting a better opportunity, had spent forty years in feeding the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law, when he saw the burning bush in the desert, and heard the voice of the God of his fathers, who sent him back into Egypt to bring his brethren out of bondage. Then appear the humility, the courage and the miracles of that divine law- B.C. 1571. B.C. X49I THE EPOCH OF MOSES 31 giver; the hardness of Pharaoh's heart, and the terrible plagues God sends upon him; the Passover, and next the passage of the Red Sea; Pharaoh and the Egyptians buried in the waters and the total deliverance of the Israelites. Here begin the times of the written law. Epoch of Moses or It was given to Moses 430 years after the call- thejvriuen ing of Abraham, 856 years after the Deluge, ''•^- '«'• and in the same year that the Hebrew people came out of Egypt. This date is remarkable, being made use of to denominate all the time from Moses to Jesus Christ. All that time is called the time of the written law to distin- guish it from the preceding, called the time of the law of nature, wherein men had nothing to direct them but natural reason and the tra- ditions of their ancestors. God then having set his people free from the tyranny of the Egyptians, in order to con- duct them into the land where he will be served and before he settles them in it, sets forth to them the law by which they are to live. He writes with his own hand upon two The tables, which he gives to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai, the foundation of that law, that is, the Decalogue, or ten commandments, which contain the first principles of the wor- ship of God and of human society. Toward the end of the journeyings of the people of God in the wilderness, we see the beginning of the wars which the prayers of 32 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 1267 Moses render successful. He dies and leaves m"m.° the Israelites their whole history, which he had carefully digested from the origin of the world down to the time of his death. That history is continued by the command of Joshua and his successors. It was afterward divided into several books, which are handed down to us under the titles of Joshua, Judges, and the four books of Kings. The history which Moses had written and wherein the whole law was contained, was also parted into ThePenta- five books, callcd the Pentateuch, which are teucn. ' ' the foundation of religion. After the death of the man of God, we find the wars of Joshua, the conquest and division of the Holy Land, and the rebellions of the people who are at various times chastised and re-established. During this age there happened some very considerable events among the Gentiles; for if we follow the computation of Herodotus, which seems the most exact, we must place in these times, 514 years before Rome, and in the time of Deborah, Ninus the son of Belus, and the foundation of the first empire of the As- syrians. The seat of it was established at Nineveh, an ancient and already famous city, but beautified and adorned by Ninus. Those B.C. 1267. -' who give 1,300 years to the first Assyrians, go upon the antiquity of the city; and Herodotus, who allows them but 500, speaks only of the duration of the empire, which they began un- der Ninus, son of Belus, to extend into upper B.C. ii84 THE FALL OP TROY 33 Asia. A little after, and during that con- queror's reign, ought to be placed the foun- dation, or rebuilding of the ancient city of Tyre, so celebrated for its navigation and colo- nies. Some time after Abimelech, we find the famous combats of Hercules, son of Amphit- H°eTcuks°* ryon, and those of Theseus, King of Athens, Theseus. who made but one city of the twelve boroughs of Cecrops, and gave a better form of govern- ment to the Athenians. In the days of Jeph- thah, while Semiramis, widow of Ninus, and guardian of Ninyas, enlarged the empire of the Assyrians by her conquests, the celebrated city of Troy, already taken over by the Greeks, under Laomedon, its third king, was again reduced to ashes by the Greeks, in the reign of Priam, son of Laomedon, after the siege of ten years. This epoch of the destruction of Troy, which IgeoWi" happened about the 308th year after the de- ^r'V parture out of Egypt, and 1,164 years after the Deluge, is considerable, as well by reason of the importance of so great an event cele- brated by the two greatest poets of Greece and Italy; as because to this date may be referred whatever is most remarkable in the times called fabulous, or heroic; fabulous, on ac- count of the fables, wherein the histories of those times are inwrapped; heroic, on account of those whom the poets have styled sons of the gods and heroes. They lived not far from this period; for in the days of Laomedon, 34 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. ..s* Priam's father, appear all the heroes of the Golden Fleece; Jason, Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, and the rest, whom you The taking vcry wcll know ; and in the time of Priam '"''■ himself, during the last siege of Troy, we see Achilles, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Ulysses, Hector, Sarpedon, son of Jupiter, i^neas, son of Venus, whom the Romans acknowledge for their founder; and so many others, from whom illustrious families and whole nations have gloried to descend. THE DELUGE FRANCOIS LENORMANT 5 THE one tradition which is really uni- umversau- versal among those bearing on the his- i^eiuge.^ tory of primitive man is that of the Deluge. It would, perhaps, be too much to say that it is found among all people; but it occurs among all the great races of the human species, with one important exception, the black race, among whom no trace of the tra- dition has been found, either among the Afri- can tribes or the populations of Polynesia. This absolute silence of a whole race as to the memory of an event so important, in the face of the unanimous voice of all the others, is a fact which science should carefully note, for it may involve most important conse- quences. But we must first eliminate some legends which have been erroneously connected with the Biblical Deluge, whose essential features, however, compel sound criticism to reject them. They refer only to merely local phe- (,f,i„ggg nomena, of a historical date, relatively very ?eiaieS!" near our own. Such is the character of the great inundation placed by the historical rec- ords of China under the reign of Yao. It has (35) 86 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS no real connection with, and not even any re- semblance to, the Biblical Deluge; it was an event purely local, and its date even can be determined as long subsequent to the com- mencement of historical times in Egypt and Babylon. A South Not less clear is the local character of the American legend. legend of Bochica related by the Muyscas, ancient inhabitants of the province of Cundi- namarca, in South America, though the fabu- lous element is here in greater proportion to the historical foundation. Huythaca, wife of the divine man Bochica, gave herself up to abominable sorceries, to cause the river Funzha to leave its bed. All the plain of Bogota was inundated, men and animals per- ished in this catastrophe, a few only escaped by reaching the high mountains. The tradition adds that Bochica broke open the rocks which form the valley of Canoas and Tequendama, to allow of the escape of the waters; afterward he reassembled the dispersed people of the Muyscas tribe, taught them the worship of the sun, and died. Of all the true traditions relative to the great Deluge, by far the most curious is that of the Chaldeans, made known to the Greeks by the historian Berosus. It is a story more exactly parallel to that of the Bible than any other, omitting no characteristic particular in the de- tail, even to the birds sent out of the ark. It must be evident to any one who compares the THE DELUGE 37 two narratives that they were one up to the time when Abraham went out from among the Chaldeans to journey to Palestine. But in the Chaldean cosmogony, the tradition em- bodies no moral lesson, as does the Bible nar- rative. The Deluge is but an accidental event, a sort of fatal accident in the history of Thechai- ' . dean the world, in place of being a punishment '«&end. sent for the sins of mankind. The man chosen by heaven to escape the Deluge is called by Berosus, Xisuthrus, a name the original form of which we do not know, and therefore can not guess its meaning. The Chaldean legend adds one incident, not to be found in the Bible: Xisuthrus, warned by the gods of the approaching Deluge, buried at Sippara, the city of the Sun, tables, on which were en- graven the revelation of the mysteries of the origin of the world, and of religious ordi- nances. His children dug them up after the Deluge, and they became the basis of the sacer- dotal institutions of Chaldea. On the other Egyptian monuments hand, the original monuments and texts of X'3^,j,"„"° Egypt, amid all their speculations on the cos- mogony, do not contain one single, even dis- tant, allusion to the recollection of a Deluge. The importance of the tradition of the Del- uge among all the Aryan people is the greater when we remember that the name of "Noah," unlike those of the other primitive patriarchs, bears no appropriate meaning in any of the Semitic idioms, and appears to derive its 88 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS origin from some one of the languages of the Noih"c™rf- Aryan stock. Its fundamental root is Na, to ncctcd with , . , . i . . i /- i i water. which m all the languages of the latter race, is attached the meaning of water — vdeiv, to flow, vd/ia, water, k7?/££i/, to swim; Nympha, Neptunus, water deities, Nix, Nick, the Un- dine of the northern races. It seems then to have been applied by tradition, precisely on account of the Deluge, to that righteous man who was spared by the Divine will, and may consequently be compared to the name Ogy- ges, embodying a similar idea, which one of the forms of the Greek legend connects with the Deluge. This observation on the probability of an Aryan origin for the name of Noah makes it easy to see why we find it, with the slight modification of a reduplication of the first syl- lable, in that of the King Nannachus, under whom the Phrygian tradition placed the Del- uge. The memory of this event had a great Phyrgian placc in thc Icgcnds of Phrygia. The city of Apamea drew from it its surname of "Kibo- tos," or "Ark," professing to be the place where the Ark rested. Also the history of Noah, with his name, was inscribed on cer- tain medals which issued from the mint of Apamea in the Third Century of our era, when Christian ideas had spread over all the Roman world and begun to infuse themselves into the minds of those even who remained attached to Paganism. THE DELUGE 39 Among the American legends on the Del- uge, the most important are those of Mexico, ^'jf,^'!^^-^ as they existed in a written and definite form previous to any contact with Europeans. Don Fernando d'Alva Extlilxochitl, in his history of the Chichimeques, entirely founded on na- tive documents, says that, according to the traditions of that people, the first age, called Atonatiuh, that is, 'The Sun of the Waters," was terminated by a universal deluge. The Noah of the Mexican cataclysm is Coxcox, called by some people Teo Cipactli, or Tezpi. He saved himself with his wife, Xochiquet- zal, in a bark, or, according to other tradi- tions, a raft of cypress wood. The Peruvians, whose civilization was notJ^ePen^- below that of the Mexicans, also had a tra- "°"- dition of the Deluge, and placed that event under King Viracocho, first of the Incas of Cuzco. The traditions of those American tribes who remained in a savage state must, from their very nature, be to a certain extent open to doubt. The following is the translation by Max Miiller of a Sanscrit poem of the age im- mediately following the Vedic period, called the Satapathabrahmana: "To Manu they brought in the morning water to wash. As they bring it with their hands for the washing, a fish comes into the hands of Manu as soon as he had washed himself. 40 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS "He spoke to Manu the word: 'Keep me, I shall preserve thee.' Manu said: 'From what Manu°' wilt thou pTeservc me?' The fish said: 'The flood will carry away all these creatures. I shall preserve thee from it.' 'How canst thou be kept?' said Manu. The fish replied: 'As long as we are small there is much destruc- tion for us; fish swallows fish. First, then, thou must keep me in a jar. If I outgrow it, dig a hole and keep me in it. If I outgrow this, take me to the sea, and I shall be saved from destruction.' "He soon became a large fish. He said to Manu: 'When I am full grown, in the same year the flood will come. Build a ship, then, and worship me; and when the flood rises go to the ship, and I shall preserve thee from it.' "Manu brought the fish to the sea, after he had kept him thus. And in the year which the fish had pointed out Manu had built a ship, and worshipped the fish. Then when the flood had risen he went into the ship. The fish came swimming to him, and Manu fastened the rope of the ship to a horn of the fish. The fish carried him by it over the northern moun- tain. The fish said: 'I have preserved thee. Bind the ship to a tree. May the water not cut thee asunder while thou art on the moun- tain. As the water wilt sink thou wilt slide down.' Manu slid down with the water, and this is called the Slope of Manu on the north- ern mountain. The flood had carried away THE DELIiGE 41 all these creatures, and thus Manu was left there alone." Manu then was saved; and then he offered the sacrifice, to be "the model for all future generations." By this sacrifice he obtained a daughter, named Ida, or Ila, who became supernaturally the mother of humanity. Manu received the title of "Father of mankind" (Manush pitar) ^ and his name even became their generic appellation for men, who are called Manor apatya, "descendants of Manu," and Manu means "the intelligent being, Man." The Greeks had two different traditions pe Greek traditions. as to the Deluge which destroyed primitive humanity. With the first was connected the name of Ogyges, the first king of Attica, an entirely mythical personage, who is lost in the mist of ages; his name even is derived from the primitive designation of the Del- uge (Sanscrit augha). It was reported that in his time all the country was covered by the Deluge, and that the waters reached even to the heavens, and that he escaped in a vessel with some companions. The second tradition is the Thessalian story of Deuca- lion. Zeus having resolved to destroy the men of the age of bronze, whose crimes had excited his wrath, Deucalion by the advice of Prometheus, his father, constructed an ark, in which he took refuge with his wife Pyrrha. The Deluge came; the ark floated above the 42 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS waters for nine days and nine nights, and was at last left stranded on Mount Parnassus. Deucalion and Pyrrha came out, offered a sacrifice, and repeopled the world, accord- ing to the orders of Jupiter, by casting be- hind them the bones of the earth, that is, stones which were changed into men. This Greek tradition is worthy of notice, as, like that in the Book of Genesis, it records the moral cause of the catastrophe — the destruc- tion of wicked men, which the Indian legend does not allude to. Among the Celts in Great Britain there Ti'rsion'^'^ was a similar tradition. "The first misfor- tune," says an ancient Welsh poem, "was the overflow of the Llynn-llion, or lake of waves, and the occurrence of a great inundation, by which all men were destroyed, with the exception of Dwyfan and Dwyfach, who saved themselves in a vessel without sails, by them the island of Britain was repeopled." In the Scandinavian Edda, the three sons of Borr, Odin, Vili, and Ve, grandsons of Bure, the first man, kill Ymir, father of the ice- giants, from whose body they make the earth. Blood runs from his wounds in such abun- dance that all the race of giants is de- stroyed, except Begelmir, who saves himself in a ship with his wife, and repeoplcs the earth. The Lithuanians, the one of the Japhetic races whose language has sustained least al- THE DELUGE 43 teration, related, before their conversion tOTheLkh- Christianity, that the god Pramzimas, seeing oe'iJfge. the earth full of disorder, sent two giants, Wandu and Wejas (water and wind), to de- stroy it. They overturned everything in their rage; only a few men saved themselves on a mountain. Touched with compassion, Pram- zimas, who was then eating some of the nuts of heaven, let fall near the mountain a nut- shell, in which men took refuge, and which the giants dared not touch. Having thus es- caped this disaster, mankind afterward dis- persed. Only one very old couple remained in the country, and they were in distress at not having any children. Pramzimas sent a rain- bow to give them hope, and told them to dance on the bones of the earth, for the Lithuanian legend employs here the same expression as that of Deucalion. The aged couple jumped nine times, and the result was nine couples, who became the ancestors of the nine Lithu- anian tribes. We see that each of the Japhetic races, who, starting from the common centre of Bactria, dispersed themselves over the earth in various directions, has added to the groundwork of the original tradition ornaments more or less puerile. But the groundwork, in spite of all additions, remains the same, and contains all the essential features of the Biblical narrative — a deluge destroying the human race as a punishment for its sins, except one righteous 44 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS man, chosen by Providence to escape with his family from this disaster, and to repeople the earth. [According to Egyptian tradition, the old E^pt^and Empire was founded by Menes^ B.C. 3000. The Shepherd Kings (Hyksos) conquered Egypt about 2100 and were finally driven out about B.C. 1650. Egypt attained her zenith in art and industry under Rameses II. (19th dy- nasty) about 1350. This king probably was the oppressor of the Israelites. During this period the great rival Empire was that of As- syria. The great religious systems were grad- ually developing: Judaism in Palestine and Zoroastrianism further East. The worship of Apollo and the pre-eminence of his oracle at Delphi assume importance in Greece.] THE FOUNDING OF CHALDEA (B.C. 2250) T GEORGE RAWLINSON HE establishment of a Cushite kingdom in Lower Babylonia dates probably kingdom"^ from (at least) the twenty- fourth or twenty-fifth century before our era. Greek traditions assigned to the city of Babylon an antiquity nearly as remote; and the native his- torian, Berosus, spoke of a Chaldean dynasty as bearing rule anterior to B.C. 2250. Unfor- tunately the works of this great authority have been lost; and even the general outline of his chronological scheme, whereof some writers have left us an account, is to a certain extent imperfect; so that, in order to obtain a definite Difficult chronology for the early times, we are forced pming. to have recourse, in some degree, to conjec- ture. Berosus declared that six dynasties had reigned in Chaldea since the great flood of Xisusthrus, or Noah. To the first, which consisted of 86 kings, he allowed the extrava- gant period of 34,080 years. Evechoiis, the founder of the dynasty, had enjoyed the royal dignity for 2,400 years, and Chomasbelus, his son and successor, had reigned 300 years longer (45) 46 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.c.2250 than his father. The other 84 monarchs had filled up the remaining space of 28,980 From the . • • i luilforiiies. yC'^^s — their reigns thus averaging 345 years apiece. It is clear that these numbers are un- historic; and though it would be easy to re- duce them within the limits of credibility by arbitrary suppositions — as, for instance, that the years of the narrative represent months or days — yet it may reasonably be doubted whether we should in this way be doing any service to the cause of historic truth. The na^sties ck- namcs Evechoiis and Chomasbelus seem mythic veloped in •' Sfst^^"'* rather than real; they represent personages in the Babylonian Pantheon, and can scarcely have been borne by men. It is likely that the entire series of names partook of the same character, and that, if we possessed them, their bearing would be found to be, not historic, but mythological. We may parallel this dy- nasty of Berosus, where he reckons kings' reigns by the cyclical periods of sosses and Tiers, with Manetho's dynasties of Gods and Demigods in Egypt, where the sum of years is nearly as great. Beginning Chaldcan history may therefore be re- of Chaldean . -' -^ history, garded as opening upon us at a time anterior, at any rate, by a century or two, to B.C. 2286. It was then that Nimrod, the son or descen- dant of Cush, set up a kingdom in Lower Mesopotamia, which attracted the attention of surrounding nations. The people, whom he led, came probably by sea; at any rate, their B.C.2250 THE FOUNDING OF CHALDEA 47 earliest settlements were on the coast; and Ur or Hur,on the right bank of the Euphrates, at a very short distance from its embouchure, was the primitive capital. The "mighty hunter" rapidly spread his dominion inland, subduing or expelling the various tribes by which the country was previously occupied. His kingdom extended northward, at least as far as Babylon, which (as well as Erech or Huruk, Accad, and Calneh) was first founded by this monarch. Further historical details Nimrod, of his reign are wantmg; but the strength of ^'^^g"^^*"' °^ his character and the greatness of his achieve- ^•*^"^''^^" ments are remarkably indicated by a variety of testimonies, which place him among the foremost men of the Old World, and guaran- tee him a never-ending remembrance. At least as early as the time of Moses his name had passed into a proverb. He was known as "the mighty hunter before the Lord" — an expression which had probably a double mean- ing, implying at once skill and bravery in the pursuit and destruction of wild beasts, and also a genius for war and success in his ag- gressions upon men. In his own nation he seems to have been deified, and to have con- tinued down to the latest times one of the leading objects of worship, under the title of Bilu-Nipru or Bel-Nimrod, which may be translated "the god of the chase," or "the great hunter." One of his capitals, Calneh, which was regarded as his special city,, ap- 48 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ,0.2250 pears afterward to have been known by his name (probably as being the chief seat of his worship in the early times) ; and this name it still retains, slightly corrupted. In the mod- ern Niffer we may recognize the Talmudical Nopher, and the Assyrian Nipur which is Nipru, with a mere metathesis of the two final letters. The fame of Nimrod has always been rife in the country of his domination. Arab writers record a number of remarkable tra- ditions, in which he plays a conspicuous part; and there is little doubt but that it is in honor of his apotheosis that the constellation Orion SnconI bears in Arabian astronomy the title of El TijaiiaV.Jabbar, or "the giant." Even at the present day his name lives in the mouth of the people inhabiting Chaldea and the adjacent regions, whose memory of ancient heroes is almost con- fined to three — Nimrod, Solomon, and Alex- ander. Wherever a mound of ashes is to be seen in Babylonia or the adjoining countries, the local traditions attach to it the name of Nimrud or Nimrod; and the most striking ruins now existing in the Mesopotamian val- ley, whether in its upper or its lower portion, are made in this way monuments of his glory. Thesemitic Qf thc immediate successors of Nimrod we emigration. have no account that even the most lenient criticism can view as historical. It appears that his conquest was followed rapidly by a Semitic emigration from the country — an emigration which took a northerly direction. B.C. 2250 THE FOUNDING OF CHALDEA 49 The Assyrians withdrew from Babylonia, which they still always regarded as their parent land, and, occupying the upper or non- alluvial portion of the Mesopotamian plain, commenced the building of great cities in a tract upon the middle Tigris. The Pheni- cians removed from the shores of the Persian Gulf, and, journeying toward the northwest, formed settlements upon the coast of Canaan, where they became a rich and prosperous people. The family of Abraham, and prob- ably other Aramean families, ascended the Euphrates, withdrawing from a yoke which was oppressive, or at any rate unpleasant. Abundant room was thus made for the Cushite emigrants, who rapidly established their preponderance over the whole of the southern region. As war ceased to be the necessary daily occupation of the new-comers, civilization and the arts of life began to ap- pear. The reign of the "Hunter" was fol- lowed, after no long time, by that of the Nimrods "Builder." A monumental king, whose nameuS"'' is read doubtfully as Urkham or Urukh, be- longs almost certainly to this early dynasty, and may be placed next in succession, though at what interval we can not say, to Nimrod. He is beyond question the earliest Chaldean monarch of whom any remains have been ob- tained in the country. Not only are his bricks found in a lower position than any others, at the very foundations of buildings, but they 3 Vol. 1 50 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 2:50 are of a rude and coarse make, and the in- scriptions upon them contrast more remark- ably, in the simplicity of the style of writing used and in their general archaic type, with the elaborate and often complicated symbols of the later monarchs. The style of Urukh's urukh'^s'"' buildings is also primitive and simple in the buildings, e^freme; his bricks are of many sizes, and ill fitted together; he belongs to a time when even the baking of bricks seems to have been com- paratively rare, for sometimes he employs only the sun-dried material; and he is altogether unacquainted with the use of lime mortar, for which his substitute is moist mud, or else bi- tumen. There can be little doubt that he stands at the head of the present series of monumental kings, another of whom prob- ably reigned as early as B.C. 2286. As he was succeeded by a son, whose reign seems to have been of the average length, we must place his accession at least as early as B.C. 2326. Pos- sibly it may have fallen a century earlier. It is as a builder of gigantic works that Urukh is chiefly known to us. The basement platforms of his temples are of an enormous size ; and though they can not seriously be com- pared with the Egyptian pyramids, yet indi- cate the employment for many years of a vast amount of human labor in a very unproduc- tive sort of industry. The Bowariyeh mound at Warka is two hundred feet square, and about one hundred feet high. Its cubic con- B.C.2250 THE FOUNDING OF CHALDEA 51 tents, as originally built, can have been little, if at all, under three million feet; and above thirty million of bricks must have been used_^ . J The gigan- in its construction. Constructions of a similar builffnPJhls character, and not very different in their di-'^'^" mensions, are proved by the bricks compos- ing them to have been raised by the same monarch at Ur, Calneh or Nipur, and La- rancha or Larsa, which is perhaps EUasar. It is evident, from the size and number of these works, that their erector had the com- mand of a vast amount of "naked human strength," and did not scruple to employ that strength in constructions from which no ma- terial benefit was derivable, but which were probably designed chiefly to extend his own fame and perpetuate his glory. We may gather from this that he was either an oppres- sor of his people, like some of the Pyramid Kings in Egypt, or else a conqueror, who thus employed the numerous captives carried ofif in his expeditions. Perhaps the latter is probability the more probable supposition; for the build- pLyTng'"' ers of the great fabrics in Babylonia and Chal-''^^"''^^* dea do not seem to have left behind them any character of oppressiveness, such as attaches commonly to those monarchs who have ground down their own people by servile labor. The great buildings of Urukh appear to have been all designed for temples. They are carefully placed with their angles facing the cardinal points, and are dedicated to the 62 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. »so Sun, the Moon, to Belus (Bel-Nimrod), or to Beltis. The temple at Mugheir was built in honor of the Moon-God, Sin or Hurki, who was the tutelary deity of the city. The Warka temple was dedicated to Beltis. At Calneh or Nipur, Urukh erected two temples, deXat*^ one to Beltis and one to Belus. At Larsa or Mc^n-god Ellasar the object of his worship was the Sun- and Sun- ^^ lo o 'tt 111 god. God, San or bansi. He would thus seem to have been no special devotee of a single god, but to have divided out his favors very fairly among the chief personages of the Pantheon. We are further, perhaps, justified in con- cluding, from the careful emplacement of Urukh's temples, that the science of astron- omy was already cultivated in his reign, and was regarded as having a certain connection with religion. We have seen that the early di^'n^^'' worship of the Chaldeans was to a great ex- "hlpp'^re' tent astral — a fact which naturally made the cultivate heavenly bodies special objects of attention. astronomy. ■^ If the series of observations which Callis- thenes sent to Aristotle, dating from B.C. 2234, was in reality a record, and not a mere calcu- lation backward of the dates at which certain celestial phenomena must have taken place, astronomical studies must have been pretty well advanced at a period not long subse- quent to Urukh. This monarchy which we have had under review is one, no doubt, rather curious from its antiquity than illustrious from its great B.C. 2250 THE FOUNDING OF CHALDEA 63 names, or admirable for the extent of its do- minions. Less ancient than the Egyptian, it claims the advantage of priority over every j^p^^^^^^^ empire or kingdom which has grown up upon dlan^^*^^'' the soil of Asia. The Aryan, Turanian, and ^"^' even the Semitic tribes, appear to have been in the nomadic condition when the Cushite settlers in Lower Babylonia betook them- selves to agriculture, erected temples, built cities, and established a strong and settled government. The leaven which was to spread by degrees through the Asiatic peoples was first deposited on the shores of the Persian Gulf at the mouth of the ''Great River"; and hence civilization, science, letters, art, ex- tended themselves northward, and eastward, and westward. Assyria, Media, Semitic Babylonia, Persia, as they derived from Chal- dea the character of their writing, so were they indebted to the same country for their general notions of government and adminis- tration, for their architecture, their decora- tive art, and still more for their science and literature. Each people no doubt modified in some measure the boon received, adding [j,e^J,'^/^ent more or less of its own to the common inheri- civmzalion. tance. But Chaldea stands forth as the great parent and original inventress of Asiatic civ- ilization, without any rival that can reason- ably dispute her claims. The great men of the Empire are Nimrod, Urukh, and Chedorlaomer. Nimrod, the 54 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 2250 founder, has the testimony of Scripture that he was "a mighty one in the earth"; "a mighty hunter"; the establisher of a "king- Liuidcas dom," when kingdoms had scarcely begun to grcaimcn. ^^ knowtt ; the builder of four great and fa- mous cities — "Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar," or Meso- potamia. To him belongs the merit of select- ing a site peculiarly fitted for the develop- ment of a great power in the early ages of the world, and of binding men together into a Nimrod iiie community which events proved to possess founder. -^ • 1 withm It the elements of prosperity and per- manence. Whether Nimrod had, indeed, the rebel- lious and apostate character w^hich numer- ous traditions, Jewish, Arabian, and Arme- nian, assign to him; whether he was in reality concerned in the building of the tower related in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Gene- sis*, we have no means of positively deter- mining. The language of Scripture with re- gard to Nimrod is laudatory rather than the contrary; and it would seem to have been from a misapprehension of the nexus of the Mosaic narrative that the traditions above mentioned originated. Nimrod, "the mighty hunter before the Lord," had not in the days of Moses that ill reputation which attached to him in later ages, when he was regarded as * The Tower of Babel. B.C. 2250 THE FOUNDING OF CHALDEA 55 the great Titan or Giant, \yho made war upon the gods, and who was at once the builder of the tower, and the persecutor who forced Abraham to quit his original country. It is at least doubtful whether we ought to allow any weight at all to the additions and embellish- ments with which the later writers, so much wiser than Moses, have overlaid the sim- plicity of his narrative. Urukh, whose fame may possibly haveurukhthe reached the Romans, was the great Chaldean *''''''^^''- architect. To him belongs, apparently, the conception of the Babylonian temple, with its rectangular base, carefully placed so as to present its angles to the four cardinal points, its receding stages, its buttresses, its drains, its sloped walls, its external staircases for as- cent, and its ornamental shrine crowning the whole. At any rate, if he was not the first to conceive and erect such structures, he set the example of building them on such a scale and with such solidity as to secure their long con- tinuance, and render them wellnigh imper- ishable. The great builder was followed shortly by the great conqueror, Kudur-Lagamer, the Elamitic prince, who, more than twenty cen- ^ ^ » ' ' •' ^ Kudur- turies before our era, having extended his f{f/^'n«''> dominion over Babylonia and the adjoining "'"''"^""■• regions, marched an army a distance of 1,200 miles from the shores of the Persian Gulf to the Dead Sea, and held Palestine and Syria 56 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. aaso in subjection for twelve years, thus effecting conquests which were not again made from the same quarter till the time of Nebuchad- nezzar, fifteen or sixteen hundred years after- ward, has a good claim to be regarded as one of the most remarkable personages in the world's history — being, as he is, the forerun- ner and prototype of all those great Oriental conquerors who from time to time have built up vast empires in Asia out of heterogeneous materials, which have in a longer or shorter space successively crumbled to decay. At a time when the kings of Egypt had never ven- tured beyond their borders, unless it were for expa'n^o^n° a foray in Ethiopia, and when in Asia no mon- empire. arch had held dominion over more than a few petty tribes, and a few hundred miles of terri- tory, he conceived the magnificent notion of binding into one the manifold nations in- habiting the vast tract which lies between the Zagos mountain-range and the Mediter- ranean. Lord by inheritance (as we may pre- sume) of Elam and Chaldea or Babylonia, His he was not content with these ample tracts, influence . j i i_ i j i upon future but covctmg morc, proceeded boldly on a career of conquest up the Euphrates valley, and through Syria into Palestine. Success- ful here, he governed for twelve years do- minions extending near a thousand miles from east to west, and from north to south, probably not much short of five hundred. It is true that he was not able to hold this large extent B.C. 2250 THE FOUNDING OF CHALDEA 57 of territory; but the attempt and the success temporarily attending it are memorable cir- cumstances, and were probably long held in remembrance through Western Asia, where they served as a stimulus and incentive to the ambition of later monarchs. T ZOROASTER (ABOUT B.C. 1000) JAMES DARMESTETER HE Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the Parsis, that is to say, of the few remaining followers of that religion which reigned over Persia at the time when The the second successor of Mohammed overthrew [he?a?srs. the Sassanian dynasty,* and which has been called Dualism, or Mazdeism, or Magism, or Zoroastrianism, or Fire-worship, according as its main tenet, or its supreme God,t or its priests, or its supposed founder, or its appar- ent object of worship has been most kept in view. In less than a century after their defeat, nearly all the conquered people were brought over to the faith of their new rulers, either by the Parsis forcc, or poHcy, or the attractive power of a and their . , <• , , -r. /• i emigration. Simpler form of creed. But many of those who clung to the faith of their fathers went and sought abroad for a new home, where they might freely worship their old gods, say their old prayers, and perform their old rites. That home they found at last among the tol- * At the Battle of Nihavand, 642. f Ahiira Mazda. (58) B.C. looo ZOROASTER 59 erant Hindus, on the western coast of India and in the peninsula of Guzerat.* They throve, and there they live still, while the ranks of their coreligionists in Persia are daily thinning and dwindling away.f As the Parsis are the ruins of a people, so are their sacred books the ruins of a religion. There has been no other great belief in theSordsof , , , 1 f i 1 the sacred world that ever left such poor and meagre writings. monuments of its past splendor. Yet great is the value which that small book, the Avesta, and the belief of that scanty people, the Par- sis, have in the eyes of the historian and the- ologist, as they present to us the last reflex of the ideas which prevailed in Iran during the five centuries which preceded and the seven which followed the birth of Christ, a period which gave to the world the Gospels, the Tal- mud, and the Qur'an. Persia, it is known, had much influence on each of the movements which produced, or preceded from, those books; she lent much to the first heresiarchs, much to the Rabbis, much to Mohammed. By help of the Parsi religion and the Avesta, tVe Av°estr„ we are enabled to go back to the very heart * They settled first at Sangan, not far from Daman ; thence they spread over Surat, Nowsari, Broach, and Kambay ; and within the last two centuries they have settled at Bombay, which now contains the bulk of the Parsi people, nearly 150,- 000 souls. t A century ago, it is said, they still numbered nearly 100,000 souls ; but there now remain no more than 8,000 or nearly 9,000 souls, scattered in the Yizd, and the surrounding villages. 60 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. tooo of that most momentous period in the history ia°pcri^' of religious thought, which saw the blending of rcliifious , , ° • . • I , o • ■ , , ihougbt. of the Aryan mmd with the bemitic, and thus opened the second stage of Aryan thought. Inquiries into the religion of ancient Per- sia began long ago, and it was the old foe of Persia, the Greek, who first studied it. Aris- totle, Hermippus, and many others wrote of it in books of which unfortunately nothing more than a few fragments or merely the titles have come down to us. We find much valuable information about it scattered in the accounts of historians and travellers, extend- ing over ten centuries, from Herodotus down ^ to Agathias and Procopius. It was never Early study ° ^ rl\\%nXy ^^^^ cagerly studied than in the first centuries chrrsuans.%f thc Christian era; but that study had no longer anything of the disinterested and al- most scientific character it had in earlier times. Religious and philosophic sects, in search of new dogmas, eagerly received what- ever came to them bearing the name of Zoro- aster. Mazdeism has often been called Zoroaster's religion in the same sense as Islam is called Mohammed's religion, that is, as being the work of a man named Zoroaster, a view which was favored, not only by the Parsi and Greek accounts, but by the strong unity and sym- metry of the whole system. Moreover, as the moral and abstract spirit which pervades Mazdeism is different from the Vedic spirit, B.c.,000 ZOROASTER 61 and as the word deva, which means a god in Sanscrit, means a demon in the Avesta, it was thought that Zoroaster's work had been a work ^a^jeis^ of reaction against Indian polytheism, in fact, ihe^refrgion a religious schism. When he lived no oneaste?."^"' knows, and every one agrees that all that the Parsis and the Greeks tell of him is mere legend, through which no solid historical facts can be arrived at. The question is whether Zoroaster was a man converted into a god, or a god converted into a man. No one who reads with a mind free from the yoke of classical recollections, I do not say the book of Zoroaster (which may be charged with being a modern romance of recent invention), but the Avesta itself, will have any doubt that Zoroaster is no less an essential part of the Mazdean mythology than the son expected to be born to him, at the end of time, to de- stroy Ahriman. Zoroaster is not described as one who brings new truth and drives away error, but as one who overthrows the demons; he is a smiter of fiends, like Verethraghna, Apam Napat, Tistrya, Vayu, or Keresaspa, and he is stronger and more valiant than Keresaspa himself; the diflference between him and them is that, whereas they smite the fiend with ma- terial weapons, he smites them chiefly with a spiritual one, the word or prayer. We say "chiefly" because the holy word is not his only weapon; he repels the assaults of Ahri- 62 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. looo man with stones as big as a house which conSon* Ahura has given to him, and which were fur- . with the , , siorm-gods. nishccl, no doubt, from the same quarry as the stones which are cast at their enemies by In- dra, by Agni, by the Maruts, or by Thor, and which are "the flame, wherewith as a stone," the storm-god aims at the fiend. Therefore his birth, like the birth of every storm-god, is longed for and hailed with joy as the signal of its deliverance by the whole living crea- tion, because it is the end of the dark and arid reign of the demon: "In his birth, in his growth, did the floods and trees rejoice; in his birth, in his growth, the floods and trees did grow up; in his birth, in his growth, the floods and trees exclaimed with joy." Ahura him- self longs for him and fears lest the hero about to be born may not stand by him: "He ofTfered up a sacrifice to Ardvi Sura Anahita, he, the Maker, Ahura Mazda; he ofifereld up the Haoma, the Myazda, the Baresma, the holy words, he besought her, saying: Vouch- safe me that boon, O high, mighty, undefiled goddess, that I may bring about the son of Pourushaspa, the holy Zarathustra, to think according to the law, to speak according to the law, to work according to the law!" Ardvi Sura Anahita granted that boon to him who was offering up libations, sacrificing and beseeching. Zarathustra stands by Ahura. The fiends come rushing along from hell to kill him, B.C. looo ZOROASTER 63 and fly away terrified by his hvareno: Angra Mainyu himself is driven away by the stones 1 1 1 1 • T-» I /■ ^^^ "^^^^ 'S he hurls at him. But the great weapon of zoroaster-s " '^ weapon. Zarathustra is neither the thunder-stones he hurls, nor the glory with which he is sur- rounded, it is the Word. In the voice of the thunder the Greeks rec- ognized the warning of a god which the wise understand, and they worshipped it as, Offffa Atd9 ayyekoq^ "thc Word, mcsscngcr of Zeus"; the Romans worshipped it as a goddess, Fama; India adores it as "the Voice in the cloud," Vak Ambhrini, which issues from the waters, from the forehead of the father, and hurls the deadly arrow against the foe of Brahma. So the word from above is either a weapon that kills, or a revelation that . teaches: in the mouth of Zarathustra it is both: now "he smites down Angra Mainyu with the Ahuna vairya (Honover) as he would do with stones as big as a house, and he burns him up with the Ashem vohu as with melted brass"; now he converses with A L 1 • /- 1 f t • Voice of the Anura, on the mountam of the holy questions, thunder. in the forest of the holy questions. Any storm god whose voice descends from above to the earth may become a godlike messenger, a law- giver, a Zarathustra. Nor is Zarathustra the only lawgiver, the only prophet, of whom the Avesta knows: Gayo Maratan, Yima, the bird Karsiptan, each of whom, under different names, forms, and functions, are one and the Zoroaster, the law- giver. 64 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. looo same being with Zarathustra; that is to say, the godlike champion in the struggle for light knew the law as well as Zarathustra. But as mythology, like language and life, likes to reduce every organ to one function, Zara- thustra became the titulary lawgiver. As he overwhelmed Angra Mainyu dur- ing his lifetime by his spell, he is to over- whelm him at the end of time by the hands of a son yet unborn. "Three times he came near unto his wife Hrogvi, and three times the seed fell upon the ground. The Ized Neriosengh took what was bright and strong in it and intrusted it to the Ized Ana- hita. At the appointed time, it will be united again with a maternal womb: 99,- . 999 Fravashis of the faithful watch over it, «>".>•«' lest the fiends destroy it." A maid bathing in unborn, -' o conquer all thc lakc Kasava will conceive by it and bring forth the victorious Saoshyant (Soshyos), who will come from the region of the dawn to free the world from death and decay, from corrup- tion and rottenness, ever living and ever thriv- ing, when the dead shall rise and immortality commence. All the features in Zarathustra point to a god : that the god may have grown up from a man, that pre-existent mythic elements may have gathered around the name of a man, born on earth, and by and by surrounded the human face with the aureole of a god, may of course be maintained, but only on condition that one B.C. looo ZOROASTER 65 may distinctly express what was the real work of Zoroaster. That he raised a new relig- Son^of ion against the Vedic religion, and castn^^^'.^.n^^ down into hell the gods of older days can no longer be maintained, since the gods, the ideas, and the worship of Mazdeism are shown to emanate directly from the old re- ligion, and have nothing more of a reaction against it than Zend has against Sanscrit. Nowhere in the Avesta is the effort of any man felt who, standing against the belief of his people, enforces upon them a new creed, by the ascendency of his genius, and turns the stream of their thoughts from the bed wherein it had flowed for centuries. There was no religious revolution: there was only a long and slow movement which led, by insensible STgrowth degrees, the vague and unconscious dualism i'sm. " ^' of the Indo-Iranian religion onward to the sharply defined dualism of the Magi. It does not follow, hence, of course, that there was nothing left to individual genius in the formation of Mazdeism; the contrary is evident a priori from the fact that Mazdeism expresses the ideas of a sacerdotal caste. It sprang from the long elaboration of successive generations of priests, and that elaboration is so far from having been the work of one day and of one man that the exact symmetry which is the chief characteristic of Mazdeism is still imperfect in the Avesta on certain most impor- tant points. For instance, the opposition of 66 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ».c. looo six arch-fiends to the six arch-gods which we find in Plutarch and in the Bundahis was still unknown when the Xth Fragard of the Ven- didad and the XlXth Yast were composed, and the stars were not yet members of the Or- mazdean army when the bulk of the Vlllth Yast was written. The reflective spirit that had given rise to Mazdeism never rested but continued to pro- duce new systems; and there is hardly any re- ligion in which slow growth and continual change is more apparent. When the Magi had accounted for the existence of evil by the existence of two principles, there arose the question how there could be two prin- Phiioso hi ciples, and a longing for unity was felt, which fnto'^he''^ found its satisfaction in the assumption that of goodfnd both are derived from one and the same prin- ciple. This principle was, according to di- vers sects, either Space, or Infinite Light, or Boundless Time, or Fate.* Of most of these systems no direct trace is found in the Avesta, yet they existed already in the time of Aris- totle. They came at last to pure monotheism. Some forty years ago, when the Rev. Dr. Wilson was engaged in his controversy with the Par- sis, some of his opponents repelled the charge * All these four principles are only abstract forins of Or- mazd himself, at least in his first naturalistic character of the Heaven God. Heaven is Infinite Space, it is Infinite Light, and by its movement it gives rise to Time and to Fate. B.C.X0OO ZOROASTER 67 of dualism by denying to Ahriman any real existence and making him a symbolical per- sonification of bad instincts in man. It was not difficult for the Doctor to show that The Parsi thev were at variance with their sacred books, moSe- -' istic one. and critics in Europe occasionally wondered at the progress made by the Parsis in rational- ism of the school of Voltaire and Gibbon. Yet there was no European influence at the bot- tom; and long before the Parsis had heard of Europe and Christianity, commentators, ex- plaining the mythof Tahmurath, who rode for thirty years on Ahriman as a horse, inter- preted the feat of the old legendary king as the curbing of evil passion and restraining the Ahriman in the heart of man. That idealistic interpretation was current as early as the Fifteenth Century, and is prevalent now with most of the Dasturs.* To what extent f^j^rpreu- that alteration may have been influenced by""" Islamism, can hardly be decided; there are even some faint signs that it began at a time when the old religion was still flourishing; at any rate, no one can think of ascribing to one man, or to one time, that slow * "The Parsis are now strict monotheists, and whatever may have been the views of former philosophical writings, their one supreme deity is Ahura Mazda. Their views of Angra Mainyu seem to differ in no respect from what is sup- posed to be the orthodox Christian view of the devil." Haug's Essays. Mandelslo, in the Seventeenth Century, speaks of Parsiism as a monotheistic religion. 68 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. looo Jsuian'°' change from dualism to monotheism, which o''lfow"°"*is, however, really deeper and wider than the prchlsiVrrc movemcn t which, in prehistoric times, brought the Magi from an imperfect form of dualism to one more perfect. THE DELPHIC ORACLE WILLIAM MITFORD ON the southern side of Mount Par- nassus, within the western border of Phocis against Locris, and at no great distance from the seaport towns of Crissa and Cirrha, the mountain crags form a natural amphitheatre difficult of access; in the midst of which a deep cavern discharged, from a Natural narrow orifice, a vapor powerfully affecting Mo^um"" ,,. ,' r .... .^ Parnassus. the bram of those who came withm its influ- ence. This, we are told, was first brought to public notice by a goatherd, whose goats, browsing on the brink, were thrown into sin- gular convulsions; upon which the man going to the spot and endeavoring to look into the chasm, became himself agitated like one fran- tic. These extraordinary circumstances were communicated through the neighborhood ; and the superstitious ignorance of the age imme- diately attributed them to a deity residing in the place. Frenzy of every kind, among the Greeks, even in more enlightened times, was supposed the effect of divine inspiration, and the incoherent speeches of the frantic were re- garded as prophetical. A spot, therefore, to (69) 70 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS which hcrdmen only and their goats had hith- erto been accustomed to climb over the rugged sides of the mountain, now became an object of extensive curiosity: it was said to be the oracle of the goddess Earth: the rude inhab- The^d- itants, from all the neighboring parts, resorted to it for information concerning futurity; to obtain which any of them inhaled the vapor, and whatever he uttered in the insuing intoxi- cation, passed for prophecy. But the function of prophet, under these cir- cumstances, was not a little dangerous; for many, through the superinduced giddiness, fell into the cavern and were lost. An assem- bly of the neighboring inhabitants was there- fore convened ; in which it was determined that one person, appointed by public author- ity, should alone be permitted to receive the inspiration and render the responses of the divinity; and that the security of the prophet should be provided for by a frame placed over ^ „ . the chasm, through which the maddening; va- The Pythia ' => o onew!*'" P^'' rnight be inhaled with safety. A virgin was preferred for the sacred office; and a frame was prepared, resting on three feet, whence it had the name of tripod. The place bore the name of Pytho, of uncertain origin, but attributed in aftertimes to some adven- tures of the gods there, which gave it a mys- tical dignity; and thence the title of Pythoness, or Pythia, became attached to the prophetess. To obtain the inspiration which, it was sup- THE DELPHIC ORACLE 71 posed, not only enabled, but forced her to re- veal the will of the divinity, the Pythoness was placed on the tripod. A sacred estimation thus became attached to the form of that ma- chine, insomuch that thence, according to Di- odorus, arose the partiality which induced not the Greeks only, but the Romans, to prefer it for every utensil, whether for sacred or do- mestic purposes, to which it could be applied. The importance of the oracle being in- creased by this interference of public author- ity, a farther establishment became necessary. A rude temple was built over the cavern, xempieand priests were appointed, ceremonies were pre-Kefphi. scribed, sacrifices were performed. A rev- enue now was necessary. All therefore who would consult the oracle henceforward, must come with offerings in their hands. The rep- utation of the place no longer then depended simply on the superstition of the people: the interest of the priests became its guardian. Hence, according to popular conjecture, the change of divinities supposed to preside at Delphi. The profits produced by the pro- oi^imu^ phetical abilities of the goddess Earth begin- ning to fail, it was asserted that the god Nep- tune was associated with her in the oracle. After this the goddess Themis was said to have succeeded her mother, Earth, in the inheri- tance. Still new incentives to public credulity and curiosity became necessary. If the at- tempt to sift fact from fable may in any case ApolTo 72 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS be indulged to the historian, the hymn to Apollo, transmitted to us as the composition of Homer, seems to offer so probable an ac- count of the next and final change in the prop- erty of this celebrated place, that it may be permitted to introduce it here. Thegod Apollo was a deity of great reputation in the islands and in Asia Minor, but hitherto of little fame on the continent of Greece, when a vessel from Gnossus in Crete came to the port of Crissa; and, the crew landing, proceeded immediately up the neighboring mountain Parnassus to Delphi. Presently a wonderful story was circulated, "That this vessel, being bound to Pylus on the coast of Messenia, had been forced by a preternatural power beyond that port; and, while the astonished crew were perfectly passive, had been conducted with surprising exactness and expedition to Crissa: that a dolphin of uncommon magnitude had accompanied the vessel, apparently with au- thority, and, on their arrival at Crissa, discov- ered himself to the crew to be the great and beneficent god Apollo; ordering them at the same time to follow him to Delphi, where they should become his ministers." The proj- ect succeeded beyond expectation. Sacrifices and petitions to Themis and Neptune had plainly for some time been wrong: Apollo was now the presiding power of the place; and under this god, through the skill of his new ministers (for Crete, as we have seen, was THE DELPHIC ORACLE 73 earlier civilized, and had probably more in- tercourse with Egypt than the rest of Greece), the oracle recovered and increased its reputa- ^p^„^ ^^^ tion. Delphi, which had the advantage of be- pSing^ ing really near the centre of Greece, was re-^^"^' ported to be the centre of the world; miracles were invented to prove so important a circum- stance, and Navel of the Earth was among the titles which it acquired. Perhaps at this time the Pythian games had their origin in the prize offered for a hymn in honor of Apollo, to be performed by the voice accompanied by the cithara. The first victor, Pausanias in- forms us, was a Cretan. It was not till some ages after that athletic exercises were intro- duced, in imitation of the Olympian. Delphi, however, prospering through its oracle, became early a considerable town. Sit-ofoeiphi uate as it was among barren mountain-crags, the rich vale of Crissa was at hand for its sup- ply; the Beotian plain was not far distant, and the neighborhood of the sea was a great additional convenience. Previous to Homer's time, if we may credit the hymn to Apollo, the temple of that deity was built of stone, with some magnificence. But the Dorian con- quest seems to have been the fortunate circum- stance that principally spread its fame and enlarged its influence ; which quickly so ex- tended, that nothing of moment within Greece was undertaken by states, or even by private persons who could afiford the expense, with- 4 Vol. 1 74 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS out first consulting the oracle of Delphi; par- ticularly in circumstances of doubt, anxiety, and distress, Delphi was the refuge. A pres- ent upon these occasions was always necessary; and princes and opulent persons endeavored Gifts to the ^^ conciliate the favor of the deity by oflferings temple. Qj great value. Afterward vanity came in aid to superstition in bringing riches to the tem- ple. The names of those who made consider- able presents were always registered; and when statues, tripods, or other ornaments of valuable materials or elegant workmanship were given, they were publicly exhibited in honor of the donor. But the wealth and growing estimation of Delphi had also another source of which in- formation remains only so far as to assure us of the fact, with far less explanation of cir- cumstances than for its importance might be desired. In the general insecurity of prop- Wealthof ., , ° , •,, .^ Delphi, erty in the early ages, and especially in Greece, it was highly desirable to convert all that could be spared from immediate use into that which might most easily be removed from approach- ing danger. By a compact understood among men, with this view, the precious metals ap- pear to have obtained their early estimation. Gold then and silver having acquired their certain value as signs of wealth, a deposit se- cure against the dangers continually threaten- ing, not individuals only, but every town and State in Greece, would be the next object of THE DELPHIC ORACLE 75 the wealthy. Such security offered nowhere in equal amount as in those temples which be- longed not to any single State, but were re- spected by the common religion of the nation. The priesthood, not likely to refuse the charge, would have a large interest in acquiring the reputation of fidelity to it. Thus Delphi ap- pears to have become the great bank of Greece, perhaps before Homer, in whose time its riches seem to have been already proverbial. Such then was found the value of this insti- Delphi the bank of tution, that when the Dorian conquest drove Greece so large a part of the Greek nation into exile, the fugitives, who acquired new settlements in Asia, established there their own national bank, in the manner of that of their former country, recommending it to the protection of the same divinity: the temple of Apollo at Branchidae became the great depository of the wealth of Ionia. Of the management of the prophetical busi- ness of Delphi, some information remains, bearing the appearance of authenticity. The ■r. I , r ■ Choice of rythoness was chosen from among mountam- ^^^^^J^^' cottagers, the most unacquainted with man- kind that could be found. It was always re- quired that she should be a virgin, and origi- nally she was taken very young. The purity of virgin innocence, to which the Greeks at- tached an idea of mysterious sanctity, made a girl most fit, in vulgar opinion, to receive the influence of the god; and ignorance, which 76 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS evinced purity of mind, was at the same time very commodious for the purposes of the priests. Once appointed, she was never to quit the temple. But unfortunately it hap- pened that one Pythoness made her escape : her singular beauty enamored a young Thessalian, who succeeded in the hazardous attempt to carry her ofif. It was afterward decreed that no Pythoness should be appointed under fifty years of age: but that in simplicity she should still be the nearest possible to a child; and that even the dress appropriated to girls should be preserved to her. The office of Pythoness appears not to have been desirable. Either How the J ^ obuiner^ the emanation from the cavern, or some art of the managers, threw her into real convulsions. Priests, entitled prophets, led her to the sacred tripod, force being often necessary for the pur- pose, and held her on it till her frenzy rose to whatever pitch was, in their judgment, most fit for the occasion. To secure themselves was not difficult; because those noxious vapors, which have been observed in caverns, in vari- ous parts of the world, are so much specifi- cally heavier than the wholesome air, that they never rise above a certain height. But Pyth- onesses are said to have expired almost im- mediately after quitting the tripod, and even on the tripod. The broken accents, which the wretch uttered in her agony, were collected and arranged by the prophets, and then pro- mulgated, till a late period always in verse, as voidance of direct answers. THE DELPHIC ORACLE 77 the answer of the god. There were, however, a few days only in the year on which the god might be interrogated; and those variable within the power of the priests. Previous sac- rifices were, moreover, necessary, and if the victims were not favorable the Pythoness would in vain solicit inspiration. Thus the priests had it always in their power to deny ^ answers, to delay answers, or to give answers direct, dubious, or unintelligible, as they judged most advantageous for the credit of the oracle. With frequent opportunities, there- fore, of arrogating the merit of true prophecy, the oracle generally avoided the risk of being convicted of false; though such misfortune happened to many oracles less ably conducted, to the no small advantage of Delphi; vv^hich thence acquired the reputation, delivered to us in words not advantageous to the general character of those fixed seats of prophecy, of being the least fallacious of all oracles. But if princes or great men applied in a proper manner for the sanction of the god to any undertaking, they seldom failed to receive it in direct terms, provided the reputation of the oracle for truth was not liable to immediate danger from the event. [The great trading community of the Phe- nician cities, headed by Tyre and Sidon, at- tained its greatest power about B.C. 1300. It had a great caravan trade with Eabylonia, 78 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS Arabia, Assyria, Armenia, etc., and its mar- iners traded along the whole coast of south- Riseofthc ^^'^ ^^^ western Europe as far as the shores Phcnician' ^f ^^^ Baltic. It pUntcd colonies in Cicilia, Rhodes, Crete, Cythera, Malta, Cyprus, Sic- ily, Sardinia, Marseilles, the Balearic Isl- ands, Southern Spain and Northern Africa. The most important of these was Carthage.] THE FOUNDING OF CARTHAGE (B.C. 872) FRANCOIS LENORMANT ETHBAAL* died in B.C. 894 and left the crown to his son, Baaleazar 11. , who reigned only six years, and was suc- ceeded by his son, Mathan, whose reign be- gan in 888 and ended in B.C. 879. Under this prince, in the winter of 884-883, the Assyr- ians, who were beginning frequently to di- rect their attacks toward Syria, and were at the time engaged in wars with the kings of|"s.|"ack Damascus, as well as with the Hittites on the borders of the Orontes, again made their ap- pearance on the frontiers of Phenicia. This attack terminated like the one made in the time of Ethbaal. Shalmaneser V. says in an inscription on the Nimrud obelisk, "In my twenty-first campaign I crossed the Euphrates for the twenty-first time. I marched toward the towns of Hazael of Damascus. I received tributes from Tyre, Sidon and Gebal." Under the reign of Mathan, or during the first years of that of his successor, the Phe- * King of Tyre. (79) 80 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 872 nicians lost their settlements of Melos and Thera, and also their towns of Camirus and lalysus, in the island of Rhodes. This date Loss oi the is the necessary consequence of the one we pos^sSns. have admitted for the taking of Troy. We know, as a positive fact, that the last posses- sions of the Phenicians in the Sporades were taken from them by the Dorians, about sixty years after they made their appearance in the Peloponnesus; and the great event known in Grecian history under the name of the Return of the Heraclidae took place eighty years after the fall of the city of Priam. We have no de- tails of the conquest of Melos and Thera; but the historians of the island of Rhodes record that at the time of the arrival of the Dorians, lalysus and Camirus were governed by a prince named Phalia, and did not surrender till after a protracted siege. The commencement of the reign of the fourth prince of the dynasty founded by Eth- baal was marked by the great political revo- lution at Tyre that led to the foundation of the great African city which was destined to Mathan. bccomc thc rival of Rome. Mathan died leaving two children, a son, aged eleven years, named Piimeliun, celebrated in poetical tra- dition under the name of Pygmalion, and a daughter, some years older, named Elissar, the Elissa of classical authors; his last wish was that the two should reign conjointly. But the populace, desirous of changing the purely B.C.872 THE FOUNDING OF CARTHAGE 81 aristocratic form of government, revolted, proclaimed Piimeliun sole monarch, and sur- rounded him by councillors of the democratic party. Elissar, excluded from the throne, Marriage married Zicharbaal, the Sicheus of Virgil, ° the Acerbas or Acerbal of other traditions, high-priest of Melkarth, a personage ranking next after the king, whose position placed him at the head of the aristocratic party. Some years later Piimeliun, brought up in the interests of the popular party, caused Zicharbaal, in whom he saw a rival, to be assassinated. Elissar, burning to revenge her husband, headed a conspiracy, with the ob- ject of dethroning her brother and re-estab- lishing the ancient power of the aristocracy. The three hundred members of the Senate, the heads of the patrician families, conspired with her; but the democracy was so vigilant as to leave the conspirators no hope of success in Tyre itself. They then resolved to expa-con- triate themselves rather than remain submis-^^Va- tion. sive to Piimeliun and the popular party. Seizing by surprise some ships in the port ready for sea, they embarked to the number of several thousand, and departed to found a new Tyre beneath other skies, under the guid- ance of Elissar, who from this emigration re- ceived the surname of Dido, "the fugitive." This occurred in 872, the seventh year of the reign of Piimeliun. The Tyrian emigrants directed their course toward Africa, where 82 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ,.c. 87a the settlements of their countrymen had been constantly increasing in number, and where they were sure of finding friends ready to welcome them. They disembarked in Zeugi- tania, on the site where, six centuries before, the Sidonians had founded Cambe, a city now fallen into ruin, and, perhaps, entirely abandoned, in consequence of the increase and prosperity of Utica, in its immediate vi- cinity. The Lyby-Phenicians, inhabitants of the country, were then tributary to Japon, a king of the native Libyans. Elissar bought of him a territory for her colony of fugitives, and built there a town named Kiryath-Hadeschath (doubtless pronounced by the Phenicians Kereth-Hadesheth, "the new town"). This name the Greeks transformed into Carche- don, and the Romans into Carthago. Elissar, so celebrated under the name of Dido, be- came later, in poetic and popular legends, almost a mythical personage; and the true history of the foundation of Carthage was surrounded and almost completely obscured by fabulous accessories. But the story, as we have related it, seems really historical, and is recorded by the elder Cato, by Trogus Pom- peius, and by Saint Augustine, who derived his information from the national annals of Carthage. Elissar founds a new city. B.C.872 THE FOUNDING OF CARTHAGE 83 [The date of the Trojan war is placed at about B.C. 1 200. The next four hundred years are occupied in Greek history by the Thes- ^j^^^^,^^ salian and Dorian migrations. About i loo, mi^at^'ifs" under the leadership of the Heraclidae, the Peloponnesus was conquered by the Dorians and i^tolians, the old inhabitants, the Ache- ans, being expelled or subjugated. From B.C. 1000 to 900, Eolian, Ionian, and Dorian colonists spread Greek influence throughout the Levant. Athens and Sparta rose into rival power. Lycurgus gave a constitution and laws to Sparta about 820. In 776 is recorded for the first time the name of the victor in the Olympian games. This date is therefore Jhej^»«t called the First Olympiad. Twenty-three years later we also reach the date at which Rome is supposed to have been founded, which event is, therefore, the basis of Roman chronolgy.] LAWS OF LYCURGUS (B.C. 820) A PLUTARCH MONG the many new institutions of Lycurgus, the first and most important was that of a Senate; which sharing, as Plato says, in the power of the kings, too Thesenate. imperious and unrestrained before, and hav- ing equal authority with them, was the means of keeping them within the bounds of modera- tion, and highly contributed to the preserva- tion of the State. For before it had been veer- ing and unsettled, sometimes inclining to arbi- trary power, and sometimes toward a pure democracy; but this establishment of a Senate, an intermediate body, like ballast, kept it in a just equilibrium, and put it in a safe posture : the twenty-eight senators adhering to the kings, whenever they saw the people too en- croaching, and, on the other hand, supporting the people, when the kings attempted to make themselves absolute. A second and bolder political enterprise of Lycurgus was a new division of the lands. For he found a prodigious inequality, the city (84) B.C.820 LAWS OF LYCURGUS 85 overcharged with many indigent persons, who had no land, and the wealth centred in the hands of a few. Determined, therefore, to root out the evils of insolence, envy, avarice, and luxury, and those distempers of a state still more inveterate and fatal, I mean poverty and ^jj^j|'°" °' riches, he persuaded them to cancel all former divisions of land, and to make new ones, in such a manner that they might be perfectly equal in their possessions and way of living. His proposal was put in practice. He made nine thousand lots for the territory of Sparta, which he distributed among so many citizens, and thirty thousand for the inhabitants of the rest of Laconia. After this he attempted to divide also the Division of * movables. movables, in order to take away all appear- ance of inequality; but he soon perceived that they could not bear to have their goods di- rectly taken from them, and therefore took an- other method, counterworking their avarice by a stratagem. First he stopped the currency of the gold and silver coin, and ordered that they should make use of iron money only: then to a great quantity and weight of this he assigned but a small value; so that to lay up ten minae, a whole room was required, and to remove it, nothing less than a yoke of oxen. When this became current, many kinds of in- justice ceased in Lacedemon. Who would steal or take a bribe, who would defraud or rob, when he could not conceal the booty; 86 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ..c. 82.; when he could neither be dignified by the possession of it, nor if it were cut in pieces be served by its use? When it was hot, they quenched it in vinegar, to make it brittle and unmalleable, and consequently unfit for any other service. In the next place, he excluded unprofitable and superfluous arts: indeed, if he had not done this, most of them would have fallen of themselves, when the new money took place, as the manufactures could not be iron disposed of. Their iron coin would not pass noncy in the rest of Greece, but was ridiculed and despised; so that the Spartans had no means of purchasing any foreign or curious wares; nor did any merchant-ship unlade in their har- bors. There were not even to be found in all their country either sophists, wandering fortune-tellers, keepers of infamous houses, or dealers in gold and silver trinkets, because di^om. there was no money. Thus luxury, losing by degrees the means that cherished and support- ed it, died away of itself: even they who had great possessions had no advantage from them, since they could not be displayed in public, but must lie useless, in unregarded repositories. Hence it was, that excellent workmanship was shown in their useful and necessary furniture, as beds, chairs, and tables. Of these improve- ments the lawgiver was the cause; for the workmen, having no more employment in mat- ters of mere curiosity, showed the excellence of their art in necessary things. B.C. 820 LAWS OF LYCURGUS 87 Desirous to complete the conquest of luxury, and exterminate the love of riches, he intro- ' . Use of pub- duced a third institution, which was wisely ''^tables. enough and ingeniously contrived. This was the use of public tables, where all were to eat in common of the same meat, and such kinds of it as were appointed by law. At the same time they were forbidden to eat at home, or on expensive couches and tables, to call in the assistance of butchers and cooks, or to fatten like voracious animals in private. For so not only their manners would be corrupted, but their bodies disordered ; abandoned to all man- ner of sensuality and dissoluteness, they would require long sleep, warm baths, and the same indulgence as in perpetual sickness. The public repasts were called by the Cre- tans Andria; but the Lacedemonians styled them Phiditia. There were fifteen persons "ppued. to a table, or a few more or less. Each of them was obliged to bring in monthly a bushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds and a half of figs, and a little money to buy flesh and fish. If any of them happened to offer a sacrifice of first fruits, or to kill venison, he sent a part of it to the public table: for, after a sacrifice or hunting, he was at liberty to sup at home: but the rest were to appear at the usual place. Children also were introduced at these public tables, as so many schools of sobriety. There they heard discourses concerning government, 88 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.c.820 and were instructed in the most liberal breed- ing. There they were allowed to jest without scurrility, and were not to take it ill when the Manners at J ' tabic. raillery was returned. For it was reckoned worthy of a Lacedemonian to bear a jest: but if any one's patience failed, he had only to de- sire them to be quiet, and they left off imme- diately. When they first entered, the oldest man present pointed to the door, and said, "Not a word spoken in this company goes out there." The admitting of any man to a par- ticular table was under the following regula- tion. Each member of that small society took a little ball of soft bread in his hand. Admission rr-i • 1 1 • 1 • 1 members ^ ^^^ "^ ^^^ ^^ orop, without saymg a word, into a vessel called caddos, which the waiter carried upon his head. In case he approved of the candidate, he did it without altering the figure, if not, he first pressed it flat in his hand; for a flatted ball was considered as a negative. And if but one such was found, the person was not admitted, as they thought it proper that the whole company should be sat- isfied with one another. The dish that was in the highest esteem among them was the black broth. The old men were so fond of it that they ranged themselves on one side and ate it, leaving the meat to the young people. After they had drunk moderately, they went home without lights. Indeed, they were forbidden to walk with a light either on this or any other occasion, that they might accustom themselves B.C. 820 LAWS OF LYCURGUS 89 to march in the darkest night boldly and reso- lutely. Such was the order of their public repasts. Another ordinance levelled against magnifi- cence and expense, directed that the ceilings of houses should be wrought with no tool but ^/f^"^"^^ the axe, and the doors with nothing but the ^"P''"'*' saw. For, as Epaminondas is reported to have said afterward of his table, "Treason lurks not under such a dinner," so Lycurgus per- ceived before him that such a house admits of no luxury and needless splendor. Indeed, no man could be so absurd as to bring into a dwelling so homely and simple, bedsteads with silver feet, purple coverlets, golden cups, and a train of expense that follows these: but all would necessarily have the bed suitable to the room, the coverlet of the bed and the rest of their utensils and furniture to that. A third ordinance of Lycurgus was, that they should not often make war against the^^'°^*''' same enemy, lest, by being frequently put upon defending themselves, they too should become able warriors in their turn. And this they most blamed King Agesilaus for afterward, that by frequent and continued incursions into Beotia, he taught the Thebans to make head against the Lacedemonians. ' As for the education of youth, which he looked upon as the greatest and most glorious work of a lawgiver, he began with it at the very source, taking into consideration their 90 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 82* conception and birth, by regulating the mar- riages. For he did not (as Aristotle says) de- „, , sist from his attempt to bring the women un- Education • ° oi youth, ^jgj. sober rules. They had, indeed, assumed great liberty and power on account of the fre- quent expeditions of their husbands, during which they were left sole mistresses at home, and so gained an undue deference and im- proper titles; but notwithstanding this he took all possible care of them. He ordered the virgins to exercise themselves in running, wrestling, and throwing quoits and darts; that, their bodies being strong and vigorous, the children afterward produced from them might be the same; and that, thus fortified by exer- cise, they might the better support the pangs Training of of child'birth, and be delivered with safety. women j^ order to take away the excessive tenderness and delicacy of the sex, the consequence of a recluse life, he accustomed the virgins occa- sionally to be seen naked as well as the young men, and to dance and sing in their presence on certain festivals. There they sometimes indulged in a little raillery upon those that had misbehaved themselves, and sometimes they sung encomiums on such as deserved them, thus exciting in the young men a useful emulation and love of glory. For he who was praised for his bravery and celebrated among the virgins, went away perfectly happy: while their satirical glances thrown out in sport, were no less cutting than serious admonitions; B.C.820 LAWS OF LYCURGUS ^ 91 especially as the Kings and Senate went with the other citizens to see all that passed. It was not left to the father to rear what^,. .. Disposition children he pleased, but he was obliged to °^ ^^'"^'■^" carry the child to a place called Lesche, to be examined by the most ancient men of the tribe, who were assembled there. If it was strong and well proportioned, they gave or-, ders for its education, and assigned it one of nine thousand shares of land; but if it was weakly and deformed, they ordered it to be thrown into the place called Apothetae, which is a deep cavern near the mountain Taygetus; concluding that its life could be no advantage either to itself or to the public, since nature had not given it at first any strength or good- ness of constitution. The Spartan children were not under tutors purchased or hired with money, nor were the parents at liberty to edu- cate them as they pleased : but as soon as they were seven years old, Lycurgus ordered them "■a°ining. to be enrolled in companies, where they were all kept under the same order and discipline, and had their exercises and recreations in com- mon. He who showed the most conduct and courage among them, was made captain of the company. The rest kept their eyes upon him, obeyed his orders, and bore with patience the punishment he inflicted: so that their whole education was an exercise of obedience. The old men were present at their diversions, and often suggested some occasion of dispute or 92 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. Sao Exercises of youth. Valor of Lycur^s. quarrel, that they might observe with exact- ness the spirit of each, and their firmness in battle. At this age, the most distinguished among them became the favorite companions of the elders; and the old men attended more con- stantly their places of exercise, observing their trials of strength and wit, not slightly and in a cursory manner, but as their fathers, guar- dians, and governors: so that there was neither time nor place where persons were wanting to instruct and chastise them. One of the best and ablest men of the city was, moreover, ap- pointed inspector of the youth: and he gave the command of each company to the discreet- est and most spirited of those called Irens. An Iren was one that had been two years out of the class of boys: a Melliren one of the oldest lads. Lycurgus himself was a man of great per- sonal valor, and an experienced commander. Philostephanus also ascribes to him the first division of cavalry into troops of fifty, who were drawn up in a square body. But De- metrius the Phalcrean says, that he never had any military employment, and that there was the profoundest peace imaginable when he established the constitution of Sparta. His providing for a cessation of arms during the Olympic games is likewise a mark of the hu- mane and peaceable man. The discipline of the Lacedemonians con- B.C.820 LAWS OP LYCURGUS 93 tinued after they were arrived at years of ma- turity. For no man was at liberty to live as he pleased ; the city being like one great camp, where all had their stated allowance, and knew their public charge, each man concluding that he was born, not for himself, but for his coun- try. Hence, if they had no particular orders, oaiiy they employed themselves in inspecting the boys, and teaching them something useful, or in learning of those that were older than them- selves. One of the greatest privileges that Lycurgus procured for his countrymen was the enjoyment of leisure, the consequence of his forbidding them to exercise any mechanic trade. It was not worth their while to take great pains to raise a fortune, since riches were there of no account: and the Helotes, who tilled the ground, were answerable for the produce above-mentioned. Lawsuits were banished from Lacedemon with money. The Spartans knew neither riches nor poverty, but possessed an equal com- petency, and had a cheap and easy way of supplying their few wants. Hence, when they were not engaged in war, their time was taken up with dancing, feasting, hunting, or meeting to exercise, or converse. They went not to market under thirty years of age, all their necessary concerns being managed by their relations and adopters. Nor was it reckoned a credit to the old to be seen saun- tering in the market-place; it was deemed Subjects of discourse. W THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ,.c, 820 more suitable for them to pass great part of the day in the schools of exercise, or places of conversation. Their discourse seldom turned upon money, or business, or trade, but upon the praise of the excellent, or the contempt of the worthless; and the last was expressed with that pleasantry and humor which conveyed in- struction and correction without seeming to intend it. Nor was Lycurgus himself im- moderately severe in his manner; but, as So- sibius tells us, he dedicated a little statue to the god of laughter in each hall. He considered facetiousness as a seasoning of the hard exer- cise and diet, and therefore ordered it to take place on all proper occasions, in their com- mon entertainments and parties of pleasure. Upon the whole, he taught his citizens to think nothing more disagreeable than to live by (or for) themselves. Like bees, they acted with one impulse for the public good, and al- ways assembled about their prince. They were possessed with a thirst of honor and en- thusiasm bordering upon insanity, and had not a wish but for their country. Lycurgus likewise made good regulations with respect to burials. In the first place, to take away all superstition, he ordered the dead to be buried in the city, and even permitted their monuments to be erected near the tem- ples; accustoming the youth to such sights from their infancy, that they might have no uneasiness from them, nor any horror for B.C.820 LAWS OF LYCURGUS 95 death, as if people were polluted with the touch of a dead body, or with treading upon a grave. In the next place, he suffered noth- g^^^,^ ing to be buried with the corpse, except the'*"^^ red cloth and the olive leaves in which it was wrapped. Nor would he suffer the relations to inscribe any names upon the tombs, except of those men that fell in battle, or those women who died in some sacred office. He fixed eleven days for the time of mourning: on the twelfth day they were to put an end to it, after offering sacrifice to Ceres. For the same reason he would not permit all that desired it to go abroad and see other countries, lest they should contract foreign manners, gain traces of a life of little disci- pline, and of a different form of government. He forbid strangers too to resort to Sparta who could not assign a good reason for their coming; not, as Thucydides says, out of fear they should imitate the constitution of thatpisijkeof -^ foreign city, and make improvements in virtue, but™*"""*- lest they should teach his own people some evil. For along with foreigners come new subjects of discourse; new discourse produces new opinions; and from these there necessarily spring new passions and desires, which, like discords in music, would disturb the estab- lished government. He, therefore, thought it more expedient for the city to keep out of it corrupt customs and manners than even to prevent the introduction of a pestilence. FIRST DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH (B.C. 789) T FRANCOIS LENORMANT HE exaggerated development of the Assyrian empire was quite unnatural; the Kings of Nineveh had never suc- TheAssyri- ceeded in welding into one nation the nu- w"ithout"^ merous tribes whom they subdued by force of unity. ^ •' •' ^ ^ arms, or in checking in them the spirit of in- dependence; they had not even attempted to do so. The empire was absolutely without cohesion; the administrative system was so imperfect, the bond attaching the various provinces to each other, and to the centre of the monarchy, so weak, that at the commence- ment of almost every reign a revolt broke out, sometimes at one point, sometimes at another. It was therefore easy to foresee that, so soon as the reins of government were no longer in a really strong hand — so soon as the King of Assyria should cease to be an active and war- like king, always in the field, always at the head of his troops — the great edifice labori- ously built up by his predecessors of the tenth and ninth centuries would collapse, and the (96) B.C. 789 FIRST DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH 97 immense fabric of empire would vanish like smoke with such rapidity as to astonish the world. And this is exactly what occurred after the death of Binlikhish III. The tablet in the British Museum allows us to follow year by year the events and the prog- dissolution. ress of the dissolution of the empire. Under Shalmaneser V., who reigned from 828 to 818, some foreign expeditions were still made, as, for instance, to Damascus in 819; but the forces of the empire were specially engaged during many following years, in at- tempting to hold countries already subdued, such as Armenia, then in a chronic state of revolt; the wars in one and the same province were constant, and occupied some six succes- sive campaigns (the Armenian war was from 827 to 822), proving that no decisive results were obtained. Under Asshur-edil-ilani II., who reigned from 818 to 800, we do not see any new con- quests; insurrections constantly broke out, and were no longer confined to the extremities of the empire; they encroached on the heart of the country, and gradually approached nearer to Nineveh. The revolutionary spirit in- creased in the provinces, a great insurrection became imminent, and was ready to break out ' •' Reig-n of on the slightest excuse. At this period, 804, ^^^^H^^'^jn^ it is that the British Museum tablet registers, as a memorable fact in the column of events, "peace in the land." Two great plagues are 98 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 789 also mentioned under this reign, in 8ii and 805, and on the 13th of June, 809 (30 Sivan in the eponomy of Bur-el-salkhi), an almost total eclipse of the sun visible at Nineveh. The revolution was not long in coming. Asshurlikhish ascended the throne in 800, and fixed his residence at Nineveh; he is the Sar- danapalus of the Greeks, the ever-famous pro- totype of the voluptuous and effeminate prince. The tablet in the British Museum only men- tions two expeditions in his reign, both of small importance, in 795 and 794; to all the other years the only notice is "in the country," proving that nothing was done, and that all thought of war was abandoned. Sardanapa- The lus had entirely given himself up to the orgies efleminaie .' r> r o saj-danapa- qj j^jg harcm, and never left his palace walls, entirely renouncing all manly and warlike habits of life. He had reigned thus for seven years, and discontent continued to increase; the desire for independence was spreading in the subject provinces; the bond of their obe- dience each year relaxed still more, and was nearer breaking, when Arbaces, who com- manded the Median contingent of the army and was himself a Mede, chanced to see in the palace at Nineveh the king, in a female dress, spindle in hand, hiding in the retirement of the harem his slothful cowardice and vo- luptuous life. He considered that it would be easy to deal with a prince so degraded, who would be unable to renew the valorous tradi- B.C. 789 FIRST DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH 99 tions of his ancestors. The time seemed to him to have come when the provinces, held only by force of arms, might finally throw off ^^^^^^^^j^^ the weighty Assyrian yoke. Arbaces com- ^^'^^■ municated his ideas and projects to the prince then intrusted with the government of Baby- lon, the Chaldean Phul (Palia ?), surnamed Balazu (the terrible), a name the Greeks have made into Belesis; he entered into the plot with the willingness to be expected from a Babylonian, one of a nation so frequently rising in revolt. Arbaces and Balazu con- sulted with other chiefs, who commanded contingents of foreign troops, and with the vassal kings of those countries that aspired to independence; and they all formed the reso- lution of overthrowing Sardanapalus. Ar- baces engaged to raise the Medes and Per- sians, while Balazu set on foot the insurrec- tion in Babylon and Chaldea. At the end of a year the chiefs assembled their soldiers, to the number of 40,000, in Assyria, under the pretext of relieving, according to custom, the troops who had served the former year. When once there, the soldiers broke into open rebel- lion. The tablet in the British Museum tells us that the insurrection commenced at Calah in 792. Immediately after this the confusion became so great that from this year there was no nomination of an eponym. Sardanapalus, rudely interrupted in his de- baucheries by a danger he had not been able 100 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 789 to foresee, showed himself suddenly inspired Sardanapa- . . . . 1 . 1 • 1 /■ lusshows with activity and courage; he put himself at unexpected -^ o » 1 valor. tiie head of the native Assyrian troops who re- mained faithful to him, met the rebels and gained three complete victories over them. The confederates already began to despair of success, when Phul, calling in the aid of superstition to a cause that seemed lost, de- clared to them that if they would hold to- gether for five days more, the gods, whose will he had ascertained by consulting the stars, would undoubtedly give them the vic- tory. In fact, some days afterward a large body of troops, whom the king had summoned to his assistance from the provinces near the Cas- pian Sea, went over, on their arrival, to the side of the insurgents and gained them a vic- tory. Sardanapalus then shut himself up in Nineveh, and determined to defend himself to A siege of thc last. Thc siege continued two years, for two years. ,, r . • /• 1 the walls of the city were too strong for the battering machines of the enemy, who were compelled to trust to reducing it by famine. Sardanapalus was under no apprehension, confiding in an oracle declaring that Nineveh should never be taken until the river became its enemy. But, in the third year, rain fell in such abundance that the waters of the Tigris inundated part of the city and overturned one of its walls for a distance of twenty stades. Then the king, convinced that the oracle was B.C.789 FIRST DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH 101 accomplished and despairing of any means of escape, to avoid falling alive into the Jy/e!""^''^' enemy's hands, constructed in his palace an immense funeral pyre, placed on it his gold and silver, and his royal robes, and then, shut- ting himself up with his wives and eunuchs in a chamber formed in the midst of the pile, disappeared in the flames. Nineveh opened its gates to the besiegers, but this tardy submission did not save the proud city. It was pillaged and burned, and then razed to the ground so completely as to evidence the implacable hatred enkindled in the minds of subject nations by the fierce and cruel Assyrian government. The Medes and Babylonians did not leave one stone upon an- other in the ramparts, palaces, temples, or houses of the city that for two centuries had been dominant over all Western Asia. So complete was the destruction that the exca- vations of modern explorers on the site of ,,. ^ Nmeven Nineveh have not yet found one single wall ^^"^• slab earlier than the capture of the city by Arbaces and Balazu. All we possess of the first Nineveh is one broken statue. History has no other example of so complete a de- struction. The Assyrian empire was, like the capi- tal, overthrown, and the people who had taken part in the revolt formed independent states — the Medes under Arbaces, the Baby- lonians under Phul, or Balazu, and the Susi- 102 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.c.789 anians under Shutruk-Nakhunta. Assyria, re- ^d^epend duccd to thc cnslavcd state in which she had encv. so long held other countries, remained for some time a dependency of Bahylon. This great event occurred in the year B.C. 789. ^ The Greek year. THE OLYMPIC GAMES (B.C. 776) MAX DUNCKER THE great festival at Olympia was held at the first full moon after the sum- mer solstice; it recurred at the end of three years, in every fourth year, alternately, after forty-nine and fifty months. The Greek year contained twelve months: six of these months had twenty-nine, and six thirty, days; the whole number of days be- i^g 354- During the octennial cycle this year, which was too short as compared with the course of the sun, was again brought into harmony with the solar year by the intercalation of three months, each consist- ing of thirty days. On this cycle was also based the return of the Olympic festival; for an intercalary month was inserted in the course of the four years of the Olympic cycle; in the following four years two such months were added, and so on alternately. Only the priesthood and the necessary func- tionaries and servants resided constantly at Olympia near the holy precinct. This holy (103) 104 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.c.776 precinct, the Altis, as it was called, situated onheXitte! at the point where the Cladeus falls into the Alpheus from the north, formed a tolerably regular square, surrounded by a wall, and shaded by plane trees and olives; each side of the square measured a stadium. The north wall extended to the foot of the hill of Cronos. The road from the coast, from the mouth of the Alpheus, led up the river, along its right bank. At Heraclea, probably, this road was joined by the road from the city of Elis. Southward of the Altis it crossed the Cladeus; from this road was the entrance to the Altis, on the south. To the left of the entrance gate stood the olive tree from which the vic- tors' garlands were cut; to the left also, north- west of the Altis, was the temple of Pelops, surrounded by a separate wall; and to the northeast, opposite to this, stood the great Aitarof the altar of the Olympian Zeus. The substruc- jove'"'"^" ture, which was of an elliptical form, and about 60 paces in circuit, was over 20 feet in height; steps led up to it. In the centre of the substructure there rose an altar, on the surface of which the victims were slain; from the manner in which the thighs, bones, and fat burned "the seers" (the lamidae), as Pin- dar says, "discerned the counsel of bright- lightening Zeus." Opposite the great altar, on the east wall of the Altis, there was a high platform from which the embassies to the fes- tival and all to whom the right of predria be- B.C.776 THE OLYMPIC GAMES 105 longed, surveyed the sacrifice. The ashes of the sacrificial fire, and of the consumed por- tions of the offerings, raised the altar upon the substructure from year to year, and from fes- tival to festival. On the hill of Cronos, in the northw^est corner of the Altis, to the north of the temple of Pelops, stood the temple of Hera, which the Scilluntians had erected to that goddess: it was a simple building, and^^^^.^,^^ the roof was supported by wooden pillars. p'^°^J""°- Outside the wall that surrounded it, at the northeast corner, was the course for the run- ners, wrestlers, boxers, athletes of the Pentath- lum, and pugilists. This course was carried along the base of the hill of Cronos. After the introduction of the chariot race, the hip- podrome was added to the Stadium to the south and east. Toward the south, raised like ^ ' Description a mole above the bed of the Alpheus, four "^^V^g";;^"" times as long and at least four times as broad as the Stadium, was the chariot course; this had to be traversed twelve times, beginning at the west, in order finally to attain the win- ning post at the east, for which, in after times, a statue of Hippodamia, the daughter of CEnomaus, was substituted. As soon as the truce and the celebration of the sacrifice had been announced by the mes- sengers of the presiding body of Eleans and Pisatae, the sacrificial embassies of the Pelo- ponnesus flocked thither from all sides; those of the northern cantons generally came over 106 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.c.776 the isthmus; embassies and pilgrims from the ih^^SJ'- islands of the i^gean Sea and the coast of oiympia. Asia landed in the Bay of Cenchreae; those from Lower Italy and Sicily at the mouth of the Alpheus. The various cantons and states vied with one another in the magnificent equipment of their official representatives, of the afjyto itopo?, oT Icadcr, and the Oewpoi who accompanied him; and in providing splendid tents, valuable sacrificial implements, victims without blemish for sacrifice: these function- aries not only had to take part in the great sacrifice in the name of their state, but had also to offer special sacrifices at Oiympia for their homes. Wealthy men were chosen for this office, who supplied out of their own Magnifi- means whatever was omitted by the state. cence dis- n-€; Het :aks in ebrew. Terms of peace. a loud voice, so that the crowds gathered on the wall could hear him, the delegates be- sought him to speak in Aramaic, which they understood, but "speak not to us in the Jew's language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall!" Instead, however, of granting their request, the Assyrian general advanced toward the spectators and addressed them in Hebrew: "Hear ye the words of the great king, the King of Assyria. Let not Heze- kiah deceive you; for he shall not be able to deliver you: neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be given into the hand of the King of Assyria, Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the King of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out with me ; and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern: until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying. The Lord will deliver usl" The specified conditions were less hard than might have been feared. The Jewish king was to give up his wives and daughters as hostages, to pledge himself to pay a regular tribute, and disburse immediately a ransom of thirty tal- ents of gold, and eight hundred talents of sil- ver: he could only make up this large sum by emptying the royal and sacred treasuries, and victorious advance. ,.c.s86 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM 155 taking down the plates of gold with which merely a short while before he had adorned the doors and lintels of the temple. Padi was released from his long captivity, reseatedon his throne, and received several Jewish towns as an indemnity; other portions of territory were bestowed upon Mitinti of Ashdod and Zillibel of Gaza as a reward for their loyalty. Heze- kiah issued from the struggle with his terri-^^^^^^ tory curtailed and his kingdom devastated ; the l^^ last obstacle which stood in the way of the Assyrians' victorious advance fell with him, and Sennacherib could now push forward with perfect safety toward the Nile. He had, indeed, already planned an attack on Egypt, and had reached the Isthmus, when a myste- rious accident arrested his further progress. The conflict on the plains of Altaku had been severe; and the army, already seriously di- minished by its victory, had been still further weakened during the campaign in Judea, and possibly the excesses indulged in by the sol- diery had developed in them the germs of one of those terrible epidemics which had devas- tated Western Asia several times in the course of the century; whatever may have been the cause, half the army was destroyed by pesti- lence before it reached the frontier of the Delta, and Sennacherib led back the shattered remnants of his force to Nineveh. The He-Hisretum bi . , , . •11 'o Nineveh, rews did not hesitate to ascribe the event to the vengeance of Jahveh, and to make it a 156 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. s86 Senn.ich- crib blas- y hemes chovah. His de- struction. subject of thankfulness. They related that before their brutal conqueror quitted the country he had sent a parting message to Heze- kiah: *'Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the King of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the Kings of As- syria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? Where is the King of Hamath, and the King of Arpad, and the King of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah?" Hezekiah, having received this letter of defiance, laid it in the temple before Jahveh, and prostrated himself in prayer: the response came to him through the mouth of Isaiah. "Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor cast a mount against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come unto this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for Mine own sake and for My servant David's sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when the men arose early in B.C.586 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM 157 the morning, behold they were all dead corpses." The Egyptians considered this event no less miraculous than did the Hebrews, and one of their popular tales ascribed the prodigy to Phtah, the god of Memphis. Sethon, the high priest of Phtah, lived in a time of national dis- tress, and the warrior class, whom he had de- prived of some of its privileges, refused to take up arms in its behalf. He repaired, therefore, to the temple to implore divine as- sistance, and, falling asleep, was visited by a dream. The god appeared to him, and prom- E^puan ised to send him some auxiliaries who should ^^^" " ensure him success. He enlisted such of the Egyptians as were willing to follow him, shop- keepers, fullers, and sutlers, and led them to Pelusium to resist the threatened invasion. In the night a legion of field-mice came forth, whence no one knew, and, noiselessly spread- ing throughout the camp of the Assyrians, gnawed the quivers, the bow-strings, and the straps of the bucklers in such a way that, on the morrow, the enemy, finding themselves disarmed, fled after a mere pretence at re- sistance, and suffered severe losses. A statue was long shown in the temple at Memphis portraying this Sethon: he was represented holding a mouse in his hand, and the inscrip- tion bade men reverence the god who had wrought this miracle. The disaster was a terrible one: Sennach- aster 158 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c sfc^- crib's triumphant advance was suddenly checked, and he was forced to return to Asia when the goal of his ambition was almost reached. The loss of a single army, however thfdi^° much to be deplored, was not irreparable, since Assyria could furnish her sovereign with a second force as numerous as that which lay buried in the desert on the road to Egypt, but it was uncertain what effect the news of the calamity and the sight of the survivors might have on the minds of his subjects and rivals. The latter took no immediate action, and the secret joy which they must have experienced did not blind them to the real facts of the case ; for, though the power of Assyria was shaken, she was still stronger than any one of them sev- erally, or even than all of them together, and to attack her, or rebel against her now, was to court defeat with as much certainty as in past days. CYRUS FOUNDS PERSIA (B.C. 558) GEORGE RAWLINSON THE residence of Cyrus at the Median Court, which is asserted in almost every narrative of his life before he became king, inexplicable if Persia w^as in- dependent, becomes thoroughly intelligible on the supposition that she was a great Median feudatory. In such cases the residence of the Crown Prince at the capital of the suze- . . Cyrus at ram is constantly desired, or even required, byg^^^^edian the superior power, which sees in the pres- ence of the son and heir the best security against disaffection or rebellion on the part of the father. It appears that Cyrus, while at the Median Court, observing the unwarlike temper of the existing generation of Medes, who had not seen any actual service, and despising the personal character of the monarch, who led a luxurious life, chiefly at Ecbatana, amid eunuchs, concubines, and dancing-girls, re- solved on raising the standard of rebellion, (159) 160 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ».c. 558 and seeking at any rate to free his own coun- try. It may be suspected that the Persian prince was not actuated solely by political mo- tives. To earnest Zoroastrians, such as the Achemenians are shown to have been by their inscriptions, the yoke of a power which had so greatly corrupted, if it had not wholly laid aside, the worship of Ormazd, must have been Reasons for 1 • <• 1 /^ ikfnof^'" extremely distasteful ; and Cyrus may have Cyrus. wished by his rebellion as much to vindicate the honor of his religion as to obtain a loftier position for his nation. If the Magi occu- pied really the position at the Median Court which Herodotus assigns to them — if they "were held in high honor by the king, and shared in his sovereignty" — if the priest-rid- den monarch was perpetually dreaming and perpetually referring his dreams to the Ma- gian seers for exposition, and then guiding his actions by the advice they tendered him, the religious zeal of the young Zoroastrian may very naturally have been aroused, and the con- test into which he plunged may have been, in his eyes, not so much a national struggle as a crusade against the infidels. It will be found hereafter that religious fervor animated the Persians Pcrsians in most of those wars by which they a religious nation. Spread their dominion. We may suspect, therefore, though it must be admitted we can not prove, that a religious motive was among those which led them to make their first ef- forts after independence. B.C. 558 CYRUS FOUNDS PERSIA 161 According to the account of the struggle which is most circumstantial, and on the whole most probable, the first difficulty which the would-be rebel had to meet and vanquish was that of quitting the Court. Alleging that his father was in weak health, and required his care, he requested leave of absence for a short time; but his petition was refused on the flattering ground that the Great King was too much attached to him to lose sight of him even for a day. A second application, how- ever, made through a favorite eunuch after a certain interval of time, was more success- ful : Cyrus received permission to absent him- Cyrus self from Court for the next five months: Je^^es the Court. whereupon, with a few attendants, he left Ec- batana by night, and took the road leading to his native country. The next evening Astyages, enjoying him- self as usual over his wine, surrounded by a crowd of his concubines, singing-girls, and dancing-girls, called on one of them for a song. The girl took her lyre and sang as fol- lows: "The lion had the wild boar in his , , , . , , . , . . Sang of the power, but let him depart to his own lair; in dancing- his lair he will wax in strength, and will cause the lion a world of toil; till, at length, although the weaker, he will overcome the stronger." The words of the song greatly disquieted the king, who had been already made aware that a Chaldean prophecy desig- nated Cyrus as future king of the Persians. escapes. 162 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ..c. 558 Repenting of the indulgence which he had granted him, Astyages forthwith summoned an officer into his presence, and ordered him to take a body of horsemen, pursue the Per- sian prince, and bring him back, either alive or dead. The officer obeyed, overtook Cyrus, and announced his errand; upon which Cyrus expressed his perfect willingness to return, but proposed that, as it was late, they should defer their start till the next day. The Medes consenting, Cyrus feasted them, and suc- ceeded in making them all drunk; then mount- cynis i"g ^'is horse, he rode ofTf at full speed with his attendants, and reached a Persian outpost, where he had arranged with his father that he should find a body of Persian troops. When the Medes had slept off their drunkenness, and found their prisoner gone, they pursued, and again overtaking Cyrus, who was now at the head of an armed force, engaged him. They were, however, defeated with great loss, and forced to retreat, while Cyrus, having beaten them ofif, made good his escape into Persia. When Astyages heard what had happened, he was greatly vexed; and, smiting his thigh, he exclaimed: "Ah! fool, thou knewest well that it boots not to heap favors on the vile; yet didst thou suffer thyself to be gulled by smooth words; and so thou hast brought upon thyself this mischief. But even now he shall not get off scotfree." And instantly he sent for his generals, and commanded them to col- B.C. 558 CYRUS FOUNDS PERSIA 163 lect his host, and proceed to reduce Persia to obedience. Three thousand chariots, two Pursuit by ' Astyages. hundred thousand horse, and a million foot- men (1) were soon brought together; and with these Astyages in person invaded the revolted province, and engaged the army which Cyrus and his father, Cambyses, had collected for defence. This consisted of a hundred char- iots, fifty thousand horsemen, and three hun- dred thousand light-armed foot, who were drawn up in front of a fortified town near the frontier. The first day's battle was long and bloody, terminating without any decisive ad- vantage to either side; but on the second day Astyages, making skilful use of his superior v^ctory^^f numbers, gained a great victory. Having de- tached one hundred thousand men with orders to make a circuit and get into the rear of the town, he renewed the attack; and when the Persians were all intent on the battle in their front, the troops detached fell on the city and took it, almost before its defenders were aware. Cambyses, who commanded in the town, was mortally wounded, and fell into the enemy's hands. The army in the field, finding itself between two fires, broke and fled toward the interior, bent on defending Pasargadae, the capital. Meanwhile Astyages, having given Cambyses honorable burial, pressed on in pursuit. The country had now become rugged and difficult. Between Pasargadae and the place 164 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 558 where the two days' battle was fought, lay a barrier of lofty hills, only penetrated by a Difficuiiics single narrow pass. On either side were two adval^c'l" smooth surfaces of rock, while the mountain towered above, lofty and precipitous. The pass was guarded by ten thousand Persians. Recognizing the impossibility of forcing it, Astyages again detached a body of troops, who marched along the foot of the range till they found a place where it could be as- cended, when they climbed it and seized the heights directly over the defile. The Per- sians upon this had to evacuate their strong position, and to retire to a lower range of hills very near to Pasargadae. Here again there was a two days' fight. On the first day all the efiforts of the Medes to ascend the range (which, though low, was steep, and covered with thickets of wild olive) were fruitless. Their enemy met them, not merely with the ordinary weapons, but w^ith great masses of stone, which they hurled down with crushing force upon their ascending columns. On the second day, however, the resistance was weaker or less effective. Astyages had placed at the foot of the range, below his attacking columns, a body of troops with orders to kill all who refused to ascend, or who, having as- cended, attempted to quit the heights and re- turn to the valley. Thus compelled to ad- vance, his men fought with desperation, and drove the Persians before them up the slopes ,.c.5s8 CYRUS FOUNDS PERSIA 165 of the hill to its very summit, where the wo- men and children had been placed for the sake of security. There, however, the tide of success turned. The taunts and upbraidings of their mothers and wives restored the cour- age of the Persians; and, turning upon their foe, they made a sudden furious charge. TheJ.IP^g'^^ Medes, astonished and overborne, were driven headlong down the hill, and fell into such confusion that the Persians slew sixty thou- sand of them. Still Astyages did not desist from his at- tack. The authority whom we have been fol- lowing here to a great extent fails us, and we have only a few scattered notices from which to reconstruct the closing scenes of the war. It would seem from these that Astyages still maintained the offensive, and that there was a fifth battle in the immediate neighborhood of Pasargadae, wherein he was completely defeated by Cyrus, who routed the Median army, and, pressing upon them in their flight, took their camp. All the insignia of Median royalty fell into his hands; and, amid the ac- clamations of his army, he assumed them, and was saluted by his soldiers "King of Media and Persia." Meanwhile Astyages SfrJ^I kfng had sought for safety in flight; the greater and Pertia. part of his army had dispersed, and he was left with only a few friends, who still ad- hered to his fortunes. Could he have reached Ecbatana, he might have greatly prolonged 166 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS m.c. 558 the Struggle; but his enemy pressed him ^a'JiK close ; and, being compelled to an engagement, he not only suffered a complete defeat, but was made prisoner by his fortunate adversary. By this capture, the Median monarchy was brought abruptly to an end. Astyages had no son to take his place and continue the struggle. Even had it been otherwise, the capture of the monarch would probably have involved his people's submission. In the East the king is so identified with his kingdom that the possession of the royal person is re- garded as conveying to the possessor all regal rights. Cyrus, apparently, had no need even to besiege Ecbatana; the whole Median state, together with its dependencies, at once sub- mitted to him, on learning what had hap- pened. This ready submission was no doubt partly owing to the general recognition of a close connection between Media and Persia, which made the transfer of empire from the JJlm'kfo^" one to the other but slightly galling to the subjected power, and a matter of complete in- difference to the dependent countries. Ex- cept in so far as religion was concerned, the change from one Iranic race to the other would make scarcely a perceptible difference to the subjects of either kingdom. The law of the state would still be "the law of the Medes and Persians." Official employments would be open to the people of both countries. Even the fame and glory of empire would attach, B.C. ss8 CYRUS FOUNDS PERSIA 167 in the minds of men, almost as much to the one nation as the other. If Media descended posufon. from her pre-eminent rank, it was to occupy a station only a little below the highest, and one which left her a very distinct superiority over all the subject races. CONFUCIUS (B.C. 550-478) JAMES LEGGE CONFUCIUS appeared, according to Mencius, one of his most distinguished followers (B.C. 371-288), at a crisis in the nation's history. "The world," he says, "had fallen into decay, and right principles had disappeared. Perverse discourses and op- pressive deeds were waxen rife. Ministers murdered their rulers and sons their fathers. Confucius was frightened by what he saw — and he undertook the work of reformation." The sage was born, according to the his- torian Sze-ma Ts'in, in the year B.C. 550; ac- iiiustrious cording to Kung-yang and Kuh-liang, two descent of i •/«//• r Confucius, earlier commentators On his Annals of Lu, in 551 ; but all three agree in the month and day assigned to his birth, which took place in the winter. His clan name was K'ung, and it need hardly be stated that Confucius is merely the Latinized form of K'ung Fu-tze, meaning "the philosopher or master K'ung." He was a native of the state of Lu, a part of the mod- ern Shan-tung, embracing the present depart- ment of Yen-chow and other portions of the province. Lu had a great name among the (168) B.C. S5<^478 CONFUCIUS 169 other states of Chow, its marquises being de- scended from the Duke of Chow, the legisla- tor and consolidator of the dynasty which had been founded by his father and brother, the famous kings Wan and Wu. Confucius's own ancestry is traced up through the sovereigns of the previous dynasty of Shang, to Hwang- ti, whose figure looms out through the mists of antiquity. There was thus no grander lineage in China than that of Confucius; and on all his pro- genitors, since the throne of Shang passed from their line, with perhaps one exception, he could look back with complacency. He was the son of Heih's old age. That officer when over seventy years, and having already nine daughters and one son, because that son confudus-s was a cripple, sought an alliance with a gen- p"^"'*^^* tleman of the Yen clan who had three daugh- ters. The father submitted to them Heih's ap- plication, saying that, though he was old and austere, he was of most illustrious descent, and they need have no misgivings about him. Ching-tsai, the youngest of the three, observed that it was for their father to decide in the case. "You shall marry him then," said the father, and accordingly she became the bride of the old man, and in the next year the mother of the sage. It is one of the unde- signed coincidences which confirm the credi- bility of Confucius's history, that his favorite disciple was a scion of the Yen clan. a Vol 1 170 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 550-478 Death of his father Heih died in his child's third year, leaving his family in straitened circumstances. Long afterward, when Confucius was complimented on his acquaintance with many arts, he ac- counted for it on the ground of the poverty of his youth, which obliged him to acquire a knowledge of matters belonging to a mean condition. When he was five or six, people took notice of his fondness for playing with edu(^d!.n companions at setting out sacrifices, and at filgl"^"^' postures of ceremony. He tells us himself that at fifteen his mind -yvas set on learning; and at nineteen, according to the ancient and modern practice in China, in regard to early unions, he was married — his wife being from his ancestral state of Sung. A son, the only one, so far as we know, that he ever had, was born in the following year; but he had sub- sequently two daughters. Immediately after his marriage, we find him employed under the chief of the Ki clan, to whose jurisdiction the district of Tsow belonged, first as keeper of stores, and then as superintendent of parks and herds. Mencius says that he undertook such mean offices because of his poverty, and distinguished himself by the efficiency with which he discharged them, without any at- tempt to become rich. In his twenty-second year Confucius com- hlrwo^klsmenced his labors as a teacher. He did so at first, probably, in a humble way; but a school, not of boys to be taught the elements of learn- hii work as a teacher, B.C. 550-478 CONFUCIUS 171 ing, but of young and inquiring spirits who wished to be instructed in the principles of right conduct and government, gradually gathered round him. He accepted the sub- stantial aid of his disciples; but he rejected none who could give him even the smallest fee, and he would retain none who did not show earnestness and capacity. "When I have presented," he said, "one corner of a subject, and the pupil can not of himself make out the other three, I do not repeat the lesson." His professed disciples amounted to 3,000, and among them were between seventy and"*^!^!®* eighty whom he described as "scholars of extraordinary ability." The most attached of them were seldom long away from him. They stood or sat reverently by his side, watched the minutest particulars of his con- duct, studied under his direction the ancient history, poetry and rites of their country, and treasured up every syllable which dropped from his lips. They have told us how he never shot at a bird perching nor fished with a confudus's , I • • I habits. net, the creatures not havmg m such a case a fair chance for their lives; how he con- ducted himself in court and among villagers; how he ate his food, and lay in his bed, and sat in his carriage; how he rose up before the old man and the mourner; how he changed countenance when it thundered, and when he saw a grand display of viands at a feast. He 172 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c 550-478 was free and unreserved in his intercourse with them, and was hurt once when they seemed to think that he kept back some of his doctrines from them. Several of them were men of mark among the statesmen of the time, and it is the highest testimony to the character of Confucius that he inspired them with feel- ings of admiration and reverence. It was they who set the example of speaking of him as the greatest of mortal men ; it was they who struck the first notes of that paean which has gone on resounding to the present day. The wan- Confucius was in his fifty-sixth year when Confucius, he left Lu; and thirteen years elapsed ere he returned to it. In this period were comprised the travels among the different states, when he hoped, and ever hoped in vain, to meet with some prince who would accept him as his counsellor, and initiate a government that should become the centre of a universal refor- mation. Several of the princes were willing to entertain and support him; but for all that he could say, they would not change their ways. It was in his sixty-ninth year, B.C. 483, that Confucius returned to Lu. One of his dis- ciples, who had remained in the state, had been successful in the command of a military ^ , . expedition, and told the prime minister that Confucius ' ) r [oTu"' he had learned his skill in war from the Mas- ter — urging his recall, and that thereafter mean persons should not be allowed to come between the ruler and him. The state was B.C. 5S<^478 CONFUCIUS 173 now in the hands of the marquis whose neglect had driven the sage away; but Confucius would not again take office. Only a few years remained to him, and he devoted them to the completion of his literary tasks, and the de- livery of his lessons to his disciples. The next year was marked by the death of his son, which he bore with equanimity. His wife had died many years before, and it jars^^^^^^^^,^ upon us to read how he then commanded the and o/ws young man to hush his lamentations of sor- ^^"dis*-^*"^' row. We like him better when he mourned for his own mother. It is not true, however, as has often been said, that he had divorced his wife before her death. The death of his favorite disciple. Yen Hwui, in B.C. 481, was more trying to him. Then he wept and mourned beyond what seemed to his other followers the bounds of propriety, exclaiming that Heaven was destroying him. His own last year, B.C. 478, dawned" on him with the tragic end of his next beloved disciple, Tze-lu. Early one morning, we are told, in the fourth month, he got up and with his hands behind his back, dragging his staff, he moved about his door, crooning over: "The great mountain must crumble, The strong beam must break, The wise man must wither away like a plant." Tze-lu heard the words and hastened to him. The master told him a dream of the previous THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. SSO-478 night, which, he thought, presaged his death. buALi^ "No intelligent ruler," he said, "arises to take Confucius. » * • 1 1 • )i me as his master. My time has come to die. So it was. He took to his bed, and after seven days expired. Such is the account we have of the last days of the sage of China. When their master thus died, his disciples buried him with great pomp. A multitude of them built huts near his grave, and re- mained there, mourning as for a father, for nearly three years; and when all the rest were gone, Tze-kung, the last of the favorite three, continued alone by the grave for another period of the same duration. The news of his death went through the states as with an elec- tric thrill. The man who had been neglected when alive seemed to become all at once an object of unbounded admiration. The tide began to flow which has hardly ever ebbed during three-and-twenty centuries. The grave of Confucius is in a large rec- tangle separated from the rest of the K'ung cemetery, outside the city of K'iuh-fow. A magnificent gate gives admission to a fine avenue, lined with cypress trees and conduct- Tomb of ing to the tomb, a large and lofty mound, with Confucius. ^ marble statue in front bearing the inscrip- tion of the title given to Confucius under the Sung dynasty: "The most sagely ancient Teacher; the all-accomplished, all-informed King." A little in front of the tomb, on the left and right, are smaller mounds over the B.C. 550-478 CONFUCIUS 175 graves of his son and grandson, from the lat- ter of whom we have the remarkable treatise called The Doctrine of the Mean. All over the place are imperial tablets of different dy- nasties, with glowing tributes to the one man whom China delights to honor; and on the right of the grandson's mound is a small house, said to mark the place of the hut where Tze-kung passed his nearly five years of lov- ing vigil. On the mound grow cypresses, acacias, what is called "the crystal tree," said not to be elsewhere found, and the Achillea, the plant whose stalks were employed in an- cient times for purposes of divination. The adioinin? city is still the home of theHisnumer- K'ung family; and there are said to be in it^^^'^^^'s- between 40,000 and 50,000 of the descendants of the sage. Confucius said that ''by the Spring and Autumn* men would know him and men^'po'^unt would condemn him." It certainly obliges uswork!^ to make a large deduction from our estimate of his character and of the beneficial influence which he has exerted. The examination of his literary labors does not on the whole in- crease our appreciation of him. We get a higher idea of the man from the accounts which his disciples have given us of his inter- course and conversations with them, and the attempts which they made to present his * The Ch'un Ts'in, his last literary labor. 176 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. SSO-478 teachings in some systematic form. If he could not arrest the progress of disorder in his country, nor throw out principles which should be helpful in guiding it to a better state under some new constitutional system, he gave important lessons for the formation of individual character, and the manner in which one's duties in the relations of society should be discharged. Foremost among these we must rank his distinct enunciation of "the golden rule," de- confucius duced by him from his study of man's mental enunciates J •> en^RS."' constitution. Several times he gave that rule in express words : "What you do not like when done to yourself do not do to others." The peculiar nature of the Chinese language en- abled him to express this rule by one char- acter, which, for want of a better term, we may translate in English by "reciprocity." When the ideogram is looked at, it tells the meaning to the eye — "a thing seen weightier than a thing heard." It is composed of two Howthe other characters, one denoting "heart," and "Golden , , • \ r • 1 • u ?) Rule" is ex- the othcr — Itself composite — denotmg as. pressed in i cz> Tram!^ Tzc-kung once asked if there were any one word which would serve as a rule of practice for all one's life, and the Master replied, yes, naming this character (shu), the "as heart," my heart, that is, in sympathy with yours; and then he added his usual explanation of it, which has been given above. It has been said that he only gave the rule in a negative B.C. SSO-478 CONFUCIUS 177 form, but he understood it also in its positive and most comprehensive force, and deplored, on one occasion at least, that he had not him- self always attained to taking the initiative in doing to others as he would have them do to him. A few of his characteristic sayirtgs may here be given, the pith and point of which attest his discrimination of character, and show the tendencies of his views: "What the superior man seeks is himself ; some of what the small man seeks is in others." maxims. "A poor man who does not flatter, and a rich man who is not proud, are passable char- acters; but they are not equal to the poor who are yet cheerful, and the rich who yet love the rules of propriety." "Learning, undigested by thought, is labor lost; thought, unassisted by learning, is per- ilous." "In style all that is required is that it con- veys the meaning." "The cautious seldom err." Sententious sayings like these have gone far to form the ordinary Chinese character. Hundreds of thousands of the literati can re- peat every sentence in the classical books ; the masses of the people have scores of the Con- fucian maxims, and little else of an ethical nature, in their memories, — and with a bene- ficial result. Confucius laid no claim, it has been seen, 1<8 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ■.0.550-478 to divine revelations. Twice or thrice he did vaguely intimate that he had a mission from heaven; and that until it v;as accomplished he was safe against all attempts to injure him; but his teachings were singularly devoid of reference to anything but what was seen and "ndS'°" tempora'l. Man as he is, and the duties be- °^°^ ^' longing to him in society, were all that he concerned himself about. Man's nature was from God; the harmonious acting out of it was obedience to the will of God; and the violation of it was disobedience. His teach- ing was thus hardly more than a pure secu- larism. He had faith in man, man made for society, but he did not care to follow him out of society, nor to present to him motives of conduct derived from the consideration of a future state. Good and evil would be recom- pensed by the natural issues of conduct within the sphere of time, — if not in the person of the actor, yet in the persons of his descendants. If there were any joys of heaven to reward virtue, terrors of future retribution to punish vice, the sage took no heed of the one or the other. THE CONQUEST OF LYDIA (B.C. 548) HERODOTUS HAVING passed the Halys with the forces under his command, Croesus entered the district of Cappadocia, which is called Pteria. It lies in the neigh- borhood of the city of Sinope upon the Eux- ine, and is the strongest position in the whole country thereabout. Here Croesus pitched ouestTCf his camp, and began to ravage the fields of the Syrians. He besieged and took the chief city of the Pterians, and reduced the inhabi- tants to slavery: he likewise made himself master of the surrounding villages. Thus he brought ruin on the Syrians, who were guilty of no offence toward him. Meanwhile, Cyrus had levied an army and marched against Croesus, increasing his numbers at every step by the forces of the nations that lay in his way. ^ ^^ Before beginning his march he had sent her-^^^Ji^^'^^f aids to the lonians, with an invitation to them ^'*^"*- to revolt from the Lydian king: they, how- ever, had refused compliance. Cyrus, not- withstanding, marched against the enemy, and (179) 180 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 548 encamped opposite them in the district of combitat Pteria, where the trial of strength took place between the contending powers. The com- bat was hot and bloody, and upon both sides the number of the slain was great; nor had victory declared in favor of either party, when night came down upon the battlefield. Thus both armies fought valiantly. Croesus laid the blame of his ill success on the number of his troops, which fell very short of the enemy; and as on the next day Cyrus did not repeat the attack, he set off on his re- turn to Sardis, intending to collect his allies and renew the contest in the spring. Cyrus, however, when Croesus broke up so suddenly from his quarters after the battle of Pteria, conceiving that he had marched away with the intention of disbanding his army, aulcksthe considered a little, and soon saw that it was monarch, advisablc for him to advance upon Sardis with all haste, before the Lydians could get their forces together a second time. Having thus determined, he lost no time in carrying out his plan. He marched forward with such speed that he was himself the first to announce his coming to the Lydian king. That monarch, placed in the utmost difficulty by the turn of events, which had gone so entirely against ail his calculations, nevertheless led out the Lyd- ians to battle. In all Asia there was not at o/thir^ that time a braver or more warlike people. Lydians. Their manner of fighting was on horseback; B.C. 548 THE CONQUEST OF LYDIA 18.1 they carried long lances, and were clever in the management of their steeds. The two armies met in the plains before Sardis. It is a vast flat, bare of trees, watered by the Hyllus and a number of other streams, which all flow into one larger than the rest, called the Hermus. This river rises in the sacred mountainof the Dindymenian Mother,* and falls into the sea near the town of Phocea. When Cyrus beheld the Lydians arranging themselves in order of battle on this plain, fearful of the strength of their cavalry, hecyrusre- tJ J ' sorts to a adopted a device which Harpagus, one of the '"■^'^^^™- Medes, suggested to him. He collected to- gether all the camels that had come in the train of his army to carry the provisions and the baggage, and, taking off their loads, he mounted riders upon them accoutred as horse- men. These he commanded to advance in front of his other troops against the Lydian horse ; behind them were to follow the foot sol- diers, and last of all the cavalry. When his arrangements were complete, he gave his troops orders to slay all the other Lydians who came in their way without mercy, but to spare Croesus and not kill him, even if he should be seized and offer resistance. The reason why Cyrus opposed his camels to the enemy's horse was, because the horse has a natural dread of the camel, and can not abide either the sight *Cybele, the special deity of Phrygia. 182 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 548 or the smell of that animal. By this stratagem he hoped to make Croesus's horse useless to him, the horse being what he chiefly depended on for victory. The two armies then joined battle, and immediately the Lydian war- horses, seeing and smelling the camels, turned round and galloped off; and so it came to pass that all Croesus's hopes withered away. The Lydians, however, behaved manfully. As soon as they understood what was happen- ing, they leaped off their horses, and engaged with the Persians on foot. The combat was long; but at last, after a great slaughter on both sides, the Lydians turned and fled. They were driven within their walls, and the Per- sians lay siege to Sardis. Thus the siege began. Meanwhile Croesus, The Lydi- ans are overcome. The Persians thinkins; that the place would hold out no in- besiege Sardis. considerable time, sent off fresh heralds to his allies from the beleaguered town. His former messengers had been charged to bid them as- semble at Sardis in the course of the fifth month; they whom he now sent were to say Croesus that hc was already besieged, and to beseech sends to his 1 • • 1 • 1 ,, -i 1 1 allies lor fhcm to comc to his aid with all possible speed. The following is the way in which Sardis was taken. On the fourteenth day of the siege Cyrus bade some horsemen ride about his lines and make proclamation to the whole army that he would give a reward to the man who should first mount the wall. After this he made an assault, but without success. His B.C.S48 THE CONQUEST OF LYDIA 183 troops retired, but a certain Mardian, Hy- reades by name, resolved to approach the cita- del and attempt it at a place where no guards ^^^sardis were ever set. On this side the rock was sOtTrld.^^" precipitous, and the citadel (as it seemed) so impregnable, that no fear was entertained of its being carried in this place. Here was the only portion of the circuit round which their old King Meles did not carry the lion which his leman bore to him. For when the Tel- messians had declared that if the lion were taken round the defences, Sardis would be impregnable, and Meles, in consequence, car- ried it round the rest of the fortress where the citadel seemed open to attack, he scorned to take it round this side, which he looked on as a sheer precipice, and therefore absolutely se- cure. It is on that side of the city which faces Mount Tmolus. Hyreades, however, hav- ing the day before observed a Lydian soldier descend the rock after a helmet that had rolled down from the top, and having seen him pick it up and carry it back, thought over what he had witnessed, and formed his plan. He climbed the rock himself, and other Persians followed in his track, until a large number had mounted to the top. Thus was Sardis taken, and given up entirely to pillage. With respect to Croesus himself, this is what befell him at the taking of the town. He had a son, a worthy youth, whose only defect was that he was deaf and dumb. In the days of his 184 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 548 prosperity Croesus had done the utmost that he could for him, and among other plans which he had devised, had sent to Delphi to consult the oracle on his behalf. The answer which he had received from the Pythoness ran thus : — "Lydian, wide-ruling monarch, thou wondrous simple Croesus, Wish not ever to hear in thy palace the voice thou hast prayed for. Uttering intelligent sounds ! Far better thy son should be silent ! Ah ! woe worth the day when thine ear shall first list to his accents." When the town was taken, one of the Per- sians was just going to kill Croesus, not know- ing who he was. Croesus saw the man com- ing, but under the pressure of his affliction, did not care to avoid the blow, not minding whether or no he died beneath the stroke. Then this son of his, who was voiceless, be- holding the Persian as he rushed toward Croesus, in the agony of his fear and grief burst into speech, and said, "Man, do not kill Croesus." This was the first time that he had ever spoken a word, but afterward he re- tained the power of speech for the remainder of his life. Thus was Sardis taken by the Persians, and Croesus himself fell into their hands, after having reigned fourteen years, and been be- sieged in his capital fourteen days; thus too did Croesus fulfil the oracle, which said that he should destroy a mighty empire, — by de- The dumb son of CrcESUs speaks. B.C. 548 THE CONQUEST OF LYDIA 185 stroying his own. Then the Persians who had made Croesus prisoner brought him be- fore Cyrus. Now a vast pile had been raised by his orders, and CrcESus, laden with fetters, crcesus on , , . I'll- • 'he funeral was placed upon it, and with him twice seven pyre. of the sons of the Lydians. I know not whether Cyrus was minded to make an offer- ing of the first fruits to some god or other, or whether he had vowed a vow and was per- forming it, or whether, as may well be, he had heard that Crcesus was a holy man, and so wished to see if any of the heavenly powers would appear to save him from being burned alive. However it might be, Cyrus was thus engaged, and Croesus was already on the pile, when it entered his mind in the depth of his woe that there was a divine warning in the words which had come to him from the lips of Solon, "No man while he lives is happy." When this thought smote him he fetched a long breath, and breaking his deep silence, groaned out aloud, thrice uttering the name of Solon. Cyrus caught the sounds, and bade the interpreters inquire of Croesus who it was he called on. They drew near and asked him, but he held his peace, and for a long time made no answer to their questionings, until at length, forced to say something, he ex- claimed, "One I would give much to see con- verse with every monarch." Not knowing what he meant by this reply, the interpreters begged him to explain himself; and as they 186 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 548 pressed for an answer, and grew to be trouble- some, he told them how, a long time before, Solon, an Athenian, had come and seen all his splendor, and made light of it; and how what- ever he had said to him had fallen out exactly as he foreshowed, although it was nothing that especially concerned him, but applied to all mankind alike, and most to those who seemed to themselves happy. Meanwhile, as he thus spoke, the pile was lighted, and the outer portion began to blaze. Then Cyrus, Cyrus hearing from the interpreters what Croesus relents. <=' ^ had said, relented, bethinking himself that he too was a man, and that it was a fellow-man, and one who had once been as blessed by for- tune as himself, that he was burning alive; afraid, moreover, of retribution, and full of the thought that whatever is human is inse- cure. So he bade them quench the blazing fire as quickly as they could, and take down Croesus and the other Lydians, which they tried to do, but the flames were not to be mastered. Then, the Lydians say that Croesus, per- ceiving by the efforts made to quench the fire that Cyrus had relented, and seeing also that all was in vain, and that the men could not get the fire under, called with a loud voice upon the god Apollo, and prayed him, if he had ever received at his hands any acceptable gift, to come to his aid, and deliver him from his present danger. As thus with tears he be- B.C. 548 THE CONQUEST OF LYDIA 187 sought the god, suddenly, though up to that time the sky had been clear and the day with- out a breath of wind, dark clouds gathered, and the storm burst over their heads with rain Apoiioex- of such violence, that the flames were speedily tiTe^flamll. extinguished. Cyrus, convinced by this that Crcesus was a good man and a favorite of heaven, asked him, after he was taken ofif the pile, "Who it was that had persuaded him to lead an army into his country, and so become his foe rather than continue his friend?" to which Croesus made answer as follows: "What I did, O King, was to thy advantage and to my loss. If there be blame, it rests with the god of the Greeks, who encouraged me to be- gin the war. No one is so foolish as to prefer war to peace, in which, instead of sons bury- ing their fathers, fathers bury their sons. But the gods willed it so." Thus did Crcesus speak. Cyrus then or- dered his fetters to be taken ofif, and made him sit down near himself, and paid him much re- spect, looking upon him, as did also the cour- tiers, with a sort of wonder. THE FALL OF BABYLON (B.C. 538) T SIR WALTER RALEIGH HE only hope of the Medes and Per- sians, who despaired of carrying by assault a city so well fortified and The manned, was in cutting off all supplies of slby^n." victuals and other necessities : whereof, though the town was said to be stored sufficiently for more than twenty years, yet might it be well deemed that in such a world of people as dwelt within those gates, one great want or other would soon appear and vanquish the resolu- tion of that unwarlike multitude. In expect- ing the success of this course, the besiegers were likely to endure much travail, and all in vain if they did not keep strict watch and strong guards upon all quarters. This was hard to do, in regard of the vast circuit of those walls which they were to gird Its vast- in, with numbers neither great enough, nor of men sufficiently assured unto their com- manders, the consideration whereof minis- tered unto the Babylonians matter of good pastime, when they saw the Lydians, Phryg- (188) B.C.538 THE FALL OF BABYLON 189 ians, Cappadocians, and others quartered about their town to keep them in, who having been their ancient friends and allies, were more likely to join with them, if occasion were offered, than to use much diligence on the be- half of Cyrus, who had, as it were, yesterday, laid upon their necks the galling yoke of ser- vitude. While the besieged were pleasing themselves in this deceitful gladness, that is ^ o ' Cyrus plans the ordinary forerunner of sudden calamity, Euphrates. Cyrus, whom the Ordinance of God made strong and constant, and inventive, devised, by so many channels and trenches as were suf- ficient and capable of Euphrates, to draw the same from the walls of Babylon, thereby to make his approach the more facile and as- sured, which when by the labor of many hands he had performed, he stayed the time of his ad- vantage for the execution; for he had left cer- tain banks or heads uncut between the main river which surrounded the city and his own trenches. Now Balthasar, finding neither any want or weakness within, nor any possibility of ap- proach for his enemies without, prepared an * 7 r- r- -pijg great exceedmg sumptuous feast, public plays and ^B^fsh«zar. other pastimes ; and thereto invited a thousand of his princes or nobility, besides his wives, courtesans and others of that trade. This he did either to let the besiegers know that his provisions were either sufficient, not only for all needful uses, but even for jollity and ex- 190 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. sjS cess; or because he hoped that his enemies, under the burden of many distresses, were well near broken ; or in honor of Bell, his most rev- erenced idol; or that it was his birth, or coro- nation-day; or for many or all these respects. And he was not contented with such magnifi- cence as no prince else could equal, but (using Daniel's words), "he lifted himself up against the Lord of Heaven": for he and his princes, wives and concubines made carousing cups of the vessels of God, in contempt of whom he praised his own puppets, made of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood and stone: Quanta fuit stultitia in vasibus aureis bibentes, ligneos et lapideos deos laudare? "How great a fool- ishness was it," saith St. Hierom, "drinking in golden cups, to praise gods of wood and stone ?" While Balthasar was in this sort triumphing. The hand \ '^' the wliT ^"d his brains well filled with vapors, he be- held a hand, which by divine power wrote on the wall opposite unto him certain words which he understood not: wherewith so great a fear and amazement seized him, as the "joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against the other." Which passion, when he had in some part recovered, he cried out for his Chaldeans, astrologians and sooth- sayers, promising them great rewards, and the Theastroi- third placc of honor in the kingdom to him sfoTh^yers that could read and expound the writing; but foUer-"'^ it exceeded their art. In this disturbance and astonishment, the queen, hearing what had B.C.538 THE FALL OF BABYLON 191 passed and of the king's amazement, after a reverence done, used this speech: "There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and in the days of thy father, light and understanding, and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him, whom the King Nabuchodonosor, thy father, the king (I say), thy father, made chief of the enchanters, astrologians, Chaldeans, and sooth- sayers, because a more excellent spirit and knowledge, and understanding, etc., were found in him, even in Daniel, etc. Now let Daniel be called, and he will declare the in- terpretation." This queen Josephus takes for the grand- mother, Origen and Theodoret for the mother JJ^^^^^f^^" of Balthasar; either of which may be true; forLe^'sentTor. it appeareth that she was not any of the king's wives, because absent from the feast; and being past the age of dancing and banqueting, she came in upon the bruit of the miracle, and to comfort the king in his distraction. And whereas Daniel was forgotten and neglected by others both of younger years and times, this old queen remembered well what he had done in the days of Nabuchodonosor, grandfather to Balthasar, and kept in mind both his re- ligion and divine gifts. When Daniel was brought to the king's presence, who acknowledged those excellent broughun. graces wherewith God had enriched him, he prayed him, together with promises of reward 192 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 5j« and honor, to read and interpret those words miraculously written; to whom Daniel made answer in a far different style from that he used toward his grandfather: for, the evil which he foretold Nabuchodonosor he wished that the same might befall his enemies; but to this king (whose neglect of God, and vice, he hated) he answered in these words: "Keep thy reward to thyself, and give thy gifts to an- other; yet will I read the writing unto the king and show him the interpretation." Which, relds^and bccausc hc had performed, he gave him first interprets. ' ' '^ the cause of God's just judgment agamst him, and the reason of this terrible sentence, where- of the king and all his wise men were utterly ignorant. Which being written large in Dan- iel, hath this effect. That forgetting God's goodness to his father, whom all nations feared and obeyed, and that for his pride and neglect of those benefits as he deprived him of his estate and understanding, so upon the acknowledgment of God's infinite power he restored him to both. This king, notwith- standing, lifted himself up against the same God; and presuming both to abuse those ves- sels dedicated to holy uses, and neglecting the Lord of all power, praised and worshipped the dead idols of gold, silver, brass, iron, stone and wood : and therefore those words from the oracle of a true God delivered (to wit), Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, gave the king knowl- edge that God hath numbered the time of his B.C. 538 THE FALL OF BABYLON 193 kingdom, and finished it; that he was weighed in the balance of God's justice and found too light; and that his empire was divided and given to the Medes and Persians. The very evening or night of this day wherein Balthasar feasted and perished, Cyrus, either by his espials, according to Xenophon, or inspired by God himself, whose ensign he followed in this war, found the time and opportunity to invite him: and therefore while the king's head and the heads of his no- bility were no less filled with the vapors of wine than their hearts with the fear of God's judgment, he caused all the banks and heads of his trenches to be opened and cut down with that diligence, as by them he drew the^^^^^^^^^ great river of Euphrates dry for the present, ""^"^ by whose channel running, his army made their entrance, finding none to disturb them. All the town lay buried (as the poet saith) in sleep and wine: such as came in the Persian's way were put to the sword, unless they saved themselves by flight, as some did, who ran away crying and filling the streets with an uncertain tumult. Such Assyrian lords as had revolted from Balthasar and betaken themselves to the party of Cyrus did now conduct a selected company to the king's palace; which having easily forced, they rushed into the chamber where of ^^e ' -' revellers. the king with his princes were banqueting, slew both him and them without any mercy, <> Vol. 1 194 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c.ssS who Struggled in vain to keep those lives which God had newly threatened to take away. And now was the prophecy of Jeremy fulfilled, and that of Esay two hundred years before this subversion; who in his seventh and fortieth Chapter, and elsewhere, writeth this destruction so feelingly and lively, as if he had been present both at the terrible slaughter there committed, and had seen the great and unfeared change and calamity of this great empire; yea, and had also heard the sorrows and bewailings of every surviving soul thereunto subject. His prophecy of this place he be^inneth in these words: "Come Jewish Fuffn/d'" ^^^^'^ ^^^ sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babel: sit on the ground, there is no throne," etc. And again, "Sit still, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called the Lady of Kingdoms." For, though it can not be doubted that God used Nabuchodonosor and the Chal- deans to punish the idolatry of the Judeans, yet Esay teacheth us in this place, That he did not yet forget, that the execution of his judg- ments was mixed with a righteous extremity. For (saith Esay) in the person of God, "I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy; but thou didst lay thy very heavy yoke upon the ancient. I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of Hosts, and will cut ofif from Babel the Name, B.C.538 THE FALL OF BABYLON 195 and the Remnant, and the Son and the Nephew." And in the thirteenth, "Every one that is found shall be stricken through: who- soever joined himself shall fall by the sword, their children also shall be broken in pieces before their eyes, their houses spoiled, and their wives ravished." So as there is no his- torian who was either present at this victory of Cyrus, or that received the report from others truly as it was, that could better leave the same to posterity after it happened, than Esay hath done in many places of his prophe- cies, which were written two hundred years before anything attempted. The greatness and magnificence of Baby- lon, were it not by divers grave authors set down, might seem altogether fabulous: for besides the reports of Saint Hierom, Solinus, and Orosius, Aristotle in the third of his Politics, the second chapter, received thcandmag-^ __, . nificence of report for true. That one part of the city knew Babylon. not the rest was taken three days after. Which is not impossible, if the testimony of Diodorus Siculus may be taken; who finds the compass at three hundred and threescore stadia or fur- longs, which makes five and forty miles: the walls whereof had so great a breadth that six chariots might pass in front thereon. And of height, according to Ctesias, three hundred threescore and five foot, garnished with a hundred and fifty towers. Strabo, in the beginning of his sixteenth book of 196 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.c.538 geography, gives it a greater circuit, adding five and twenty furlongs more to the former compass, reckoning the same at three hundred fourscore and five furlongs, which make eight and forty miles and one furlong, but finds the walls far under that which Diodorus reports: and so doth Curtius measure their thickness but at two and thirty feet, and their height at _. ,, a hundred cubits, which is also very much; The walls ' -' ' of Babylon. g^gj.y Q^^\)[l containing a foot and a half of the large measure, though to the whole circuit of the city he gives the same with Siculus, and eight furlongs more. Herodotus finds a greater content than Strabo doth, namely, four hundred and fourscore furlongs circle; the thickness of the wall he measures at fifty cubits, and the height at two hundred of the same regal cubit. For instance, it had a hun- dred gates of brass, with posts and hooks to hang them on of the same metal; and there- fore did the prophet Esay rightly entitle Babylon, The Princess and Glory of King- doms. But when Cyrus had won her, he stripped Jtruafon of her of her princely robes, and made her a the city, slave; dividing not only all her goodly houses, and her whole territory, with all the riches therein contained, among his soldiers; but be- stowing the inhabitants themselves as bond slaves upon those that had taken possession of their goods. CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY CAMBYSES (B.C. 325) G. MASPERO AS soon as Cyrus was dead, Amasis pre- pared for war. Cambyses, seeking for a pretext to declare it, seized the first that offered itself. According to the Per- sians, he asked for the hand of the daughter of the old king in the hope that he would be J^e^g^'y^*,^ refused and that he would have an insult tOEgJpt. avenge: instead of sending his own daughter, Amasis sent Nitetis, the daughter of Ouhabra. Some time afterward Cambyses, being with her, called her by the name of her pretended father. Upon this she said: "I perceive, O King, that you have no suspicion of the way you have been deceived by Amasis: he took^^^^ ^^ me, and, having covered me with jewels, sent^'^"'^- me to you as his own daughter. I am really the daughter of Apries, who was his lord and master until the day that he revolted, and, in concert with the rest of the Egyptians, put him to death." This discovery and the motive for a quarrel contained in it, aroused the anger of Cambyses, son of Cyrus, and drew his arms upon Egypt. In Egypt the story is related (197) 198 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 525 differently. Nitetis had been sent to Cyrus %xrsiKf and bore him Cambyses: the conquest was ihis story. r 1 1 • • r -t merely a revenge of the legitimate family upon the usurper Amasis, and Cambyses as- cended the throne less as a conqueror than as the grandson of Ouhabra. It was by such a childish fiction as this, that the Egyptians, in their decadence, consoled themselves for their weakness and their shame. Always proud of their past glory, but incapable of vanquishing and ruling, they pretended that they were only vanquished and ruled by one of themselves. It was not Persia that imposed her king upon Egypt: it was Egypt that imposed hers upon Persia, and through Persia upon the rest of the world. For a long time the desert and the marshes formed a real bulwark for Egypt against the attacks of the Asiatic princes. Between the Egypt's last important post of Syria lenysos and Lake defences. Scrbonis, wherc the Egyptian outposts were sit- uated, there is a distance of nearly ninety kilo- metres (fifty-six miles), which an army could not traverse in less than three days' march. In past centuries, the extent of the desert had been smaller: but the ravages of the Assyrians and the Chaldeans had depopulated the coun- try and delivered into the power of the nomad Arabs regions that were formerly easy to cross. An unforeseen event helped Cambyses out of the embarrassment caused by the crossing of the desert. One of the generals of Amasis, B.C. 525 CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY CAMBYSES 199 Phanes of Halicarnassus, deserted and entered the service of Persia. He possessed judgment desertl. and energy, and a deep knowledge of Egypt. He advised the king to ally himself with the Sheikh, who ruled over this coast, and to de- mand a safe passage from him. The Arab stationed all along the way relays of camels laden with a sufficient quantity of water for the needs of an army. On arriving at Pelusium, the Persians learned that Amasis was dead and that hisAmasisis succeeded son, Psammetichus HI., had succeeded him.byP^'n ■ ' meticnus Notwithstanding their belief in their gods"^' and in themselves, the Egyptians had been a prey to gloomy presentiments. It was not only the nations of the Tigris and Euphrates, but the whole of Asia, from the Ganges to the Hellespont, that was rushing upon the valley of the Nile and threatening to crush her. The people, disturbed with fears of the stranger, saw evil omens in everything, and interpreted the slightest natural phenomenon as a bad sign. Rain is rare in the Thebaid, and storms occur there only once or twice in a century. Several days after the accession of Psammet- ichus, "rain fell at Thebes in little drops — n omens. a thing that had never happened before." The battle that took place before Pelusium was conducted from beginning to end with a des- perate bravery. Phanes had left his children in Egypt. His former soldiers, the Carians and lonians in the service of Pharaoh, cut 200 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 525 their throats before his eyes, poured their blood in a large vase half filled with wine, drank the mixture and furiously threw them- The battle selves iuto the hottest of the fight. Toward sium*:"' evening the Egyptian lines gave way and the defeat began. Instead of rallying the rem- nant of his troops and defending the passage of the canals, Psammetichus, losing his head, ran away to hide in Memphis. Cambyses sent to him a summons to deliver himself up, but the furious populace massacred the heralds. After several days of siege, the city was taken. Upper Egypt yielded without resistance. The su^S-" Libyans and the Cyreneans did not wait to be asked to offer their tribute. One successful battle had sufficed to destroy the Empire of the Pharaohs. This sudden collapse of a power that had defied all the attacks of the East for centuries, and the fate of this king, who had mounted the throne only to fall from it, instantly filled contemporaries with astonishment and pity. It is related that ten days after the capitula- tion of Memphis, the conqueror wished to test the endurance of his prisoner. He saw his daughter dressed as a slave pass before him and his sons and the sons of noble Egyptians led to death, without losing any of his imper- turbability. But when one of his former com- panions in pleasure walked past him, clothed in rags like a beggar, Psammetichus burst into sobs and beat his forehead in despair. Cam- CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY CAMBYSES 201 ses tries the en- byses, surprised at this excessive grief in acambyi man who had just shown such fortitude, asked du^nceof 1 • 1 Psammeti- the reason of it. To this question he replied : ^^^^^s. "O, son of Cyrus, my own misfortunes are too deep for tears, but not the affliction of my friend. When a man falls from luxury and abundance into misery at the threshold of old age, one may well weep over him." When the messenger reported these words to Cam- byses, he realized that they were true ; Croesus also burst into tears — for he was in Egypt with Cyrus — and all the Persians present began to cry. Even Cambyses was touched with pity. He treated his prisoner royally, and was prob- ably going to place him as a vassal on the throne of Egypt, when he learned that Psam-ThePer- metichus was conspiring against him. HchasPha- had him put to death, and confided the govern- <^e^'h. ment of Egypt to the Persian Aryandes. All the civilized world of the ancients was now under a single sceptre for the first time: one might have asked if it would be possible to hold for a long time in the same empire the people of the Caucasus and those of Egypt, the Greeks of Asia Minor and the Turanians of Media, the Aryans of Bactria and the Se- mites of the borders of the Euphrates. Cam- byses first tried to conciliate his new subjects by conforminG: to their customs and prejudices. He adopted the double cartouche, the proto- col and the royal costume of the old Pharaohs; as much to satisfy his own personal animosity 202 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ».c. 325 as to win the favor of the old loyalist party, he repaired to Sais, violated the tomb of Amasis and burned his mummy. This act of posthumous justice against the usurper accom- plished, he treated Ladike, the widow of his cambyses rival, Very well, and sent her back to her re- leasethe lations. He ordered an evacuation of the I' gyptians. His expedi' tion to Carthage. great Temple of Nit, where the Persian troops were lodged to the great displeasure of the faithful, and repaired, at his own expense, the damages they had made. He carried his zeal so far as to be instructed in the religion, and was initiated into the mysteries of Osiris by the priest Uzaharrisniti. His dream was to make Egypt a basis of solid operations for the conquest of the whole of Africa. On the west, the renown of Carthage, increased by uncer- tainty and distance, excited his cupidity. At first he wanted to attack this by sea, but the Phenicians, who manned his flotilla, refused to serve against their old colony. Forced to undertake it by land, he sent from Thebes an army of 50,000 men to occupy the Oasis o! Ammon and to open the way for the rest of the troops. They all perished in the sands of the desert, and the Persian Empire never suc- ceeded in passing this frontier of Egypt. The enterprise toward the south appeared easier: it seemed as if by going up the Nile one might reach the very heart of Africa with- out any great difficulty. Since the retreat of Tanuatamanu, the kingdom of Napata had CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY CAMBYSES 203 severed all relations with the nations of Asia. Attacked by Psammetichus I. and Psammeti- chus II., it had preserved its independence and had broken off relations with Egypt. The ^-he king- countries of lower Nubia, between the first Napauand I'll 1 J J '^^ legends. and second cataracts, so thickly populated dur- ing the period of the great Egyptian kings, had become almost depopulated: the towns founded by the princes of the XVIIIth and XlXth dynasties were in ruins and their tem- ples were beginning to disappear beneath the sands. Below the second cataract the king- dom of Napata began, divided, like Egypt, > into two regions. The isolation in which these Egyptians had lived since they had lost Egypt had rather increased than lessened their re- nown. Almost invisible in the distance to the nations of the Mediterranean, they had grad- ually been invested with marvellous and half divine virtues. It was said that they were the largest and handsomest of men who lived up to a hundred and twenty years and more, that they possessed a marvellous fountain whose waters imparted perpetual youth to their bodies. Near their capital therewas a meadow that perpetually furnished food and drink al- ready prepared; any who wished could enter and eat to his content. Gold was so abundant that it was used for the commonest purposes, even for the chains of the prisoners: copper was rare and greatly prized. Cambyses sent some spies to explore the country, and on their 204 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS Cambyses report, left Memphis at the head of an army. decTdS't" Instead of ascending the Nile as far as Na- pata, he took the shorter route through the desert; but he had taken no precautions: pro- visions failed at a quarter of the march, and famine obliged him to return to Egypt after he had lost many of his men. This disaster exasperated him so much that he forgot a lit- uonfai^s.^'' tie of the diplomatic policy that he had shown up to now, and he let himself be carried away by the violence of his nature. The bull. Apis, had died during his absence, and the Egyp- tians, after having mourned for him during the prescribed number of days, were about to invest a new Apis with the rites, when the remnant of the Persian army re-entered Mem- phis. Cambyses, finding the city in festal ar- ray, imagined that it was rejoicing over his disaster. He summoned the magistrates and then the priests before him, and had them put Cambyses to dcath without listening to their explana- tions. He then commanded the Bull to be led before him, and he himself plunged his dag- ger into its flank, which caused the death of the animal within a few days. This sacrilege excited more indignation in the hearts of the faithful than the ruin of their country had done: their hatred was redoubled when the Persian took as much trouble to wound their prejudices as he had formerly taken to con- ciliate them. He entered the Temple of Phtah in Memphis and mocked at one of the ■.C.S2S CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY CAMBYSES 205 figures that represented the god. He vio- lated ancient sepulchres so that he might ex- viXtel^ "^ ° tombs. amine the mummies. The Aryans themselves and his courtiers did not escape his rage. He killed his sister, whom he had made his wife in spite of the law that prohibited marriages between children of the same father and mother. At another time, he pierced with his arrow the son of Prexaspes, buried alive twelve important Persians, and ordered the execution of Croesus, of which he repented, and then, however, condemned the officers who had not executed the order that he re- pented of having given. The Egyptians maintained that the gods had driven him mad as a punishment for his sacrileges. There was nothing to keep him now on the Cambyses banks of the Nile: he returned to Asia. He'^^S'^^'^sto was in the northern part of Syria when a her- ald presented himself before him, and pro- claimed, in the hearing of the entire army, that Cambyses, son of Cyrus, had ceased to reign, and summoned all those who had here- tofore obeyed him, to acknowledge as their king Smerdis, son of Cyrus. Cambyses at first believed that his brother had been spared by the officer commanded to assassinate him: he soon learned that his orders had been only too faithfully executed, and he wept at the memory of this useless crime. He soon learned that the usurper was a certain Gau- mata, whose resemblance to Smerdis was so Asia. 206 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. S3S Gaumata, the impos- tor. Death of Carabyses. Striking that even those persons who knew it were easily deceived. Gaumata had a brother, Oropastes, to whom Cambyses had confided the superintendence of his house- hold. Both of them knew of the death of Smerdis; they also knew that most of the Persians were ignorant of it and believed that he was still alive. Gaumata profited by these circumstances to proclaim himself king, and his imposture was accepted everywhere; the western provinces of the Empire were com- ing to offer submission without any opposi- tion when the herald met the army of Cam- byses. At first thunderstruck with this news, Cambyses was about to march forward at the head of his troops, who were still loyal, when he died mysteriously. The inscription of Behistun insinuates that he killed himself in a moment of despair. Herodotus relates that in mounting his horse, the point of his dagger pierced his thigh in the same spot in which he had stabbed the Bull Apis. "Feeling himself seriously wounded, he asked the name of the place where he was, and was told that it was Agbatana." Not long before this, the oracle of Buto had announced that he would end his days in Agbatana. He had imagined it Agbatana in Media, where all his treasures lay, and had believed that he would die there in old age : but the oracle had meant Agbatana in Syria. When he was told the name of this place, it came back to him: he understood the B.C. S2S CONQUEST OF EGYPT BY CAMBYSES 207 meaning of the oracle and said: "It is here then that Cambyses, son of Cyrus, must die!" He died about twenty days afterward, leaving no posterity and having appointed no suc- cessor. [Peisistratus ruled as tyrant of Athens, 560-527, without, however, revoking Solon's constitution, and was succeeded by his son Hippias, 527-510. His brother, Hipparchus, being murdered in 514, Hippias revenged himself on the party of the murderers.] EXPULSION OF THE PEISISTRAT/E (B.C. 510) tus, P WILLIAM MITFORD LUTARCH reports that Solon died at the age of eighty, about two years after the elevation of Peisistratus. The usurper, if he were such, fell soon after from his high situation; expelled by the united strength of Megacles and Lycurgus. This appears fresh proof in favor of Peisistratus. He flourished and enjoyed Solon's friendship while Solon lived: when he had lost that ex- cellent man's support, his opponents acquired the superiority. But the confederate rivals could not long agree. Megacles sent pro- posals of reconciliation to Peisistratus; and, at the same time to evince his sincerity and to ensure permanence of union, offered him his daughter in marriage. Peisistratus accepted ptilistra- *^^ condition. But a majority in the Athenian assembly must be procured to favor their views, or all their private compacts would be vain. The account, given by Herodotus, of the manner in which this was effected is among the strangest in all history; yet that author lived so nearly within memory of the (208) B.C. 510 EXPULSION OF THE PEISISTRAT^ 209 event, the story is so little flattering to any, and the circumstances were of so public a nature, that, though party prejudice is likely enough to have disguised it, we scarcely can suppose it wholly unfounded. They found, we are told, a woman of the Peanian borough, named Phya, far ex- ceeding common size; of low birth, and by occupation a garland-seller; but, with her extraordinary stature, well-proportioned and handsome. Her they dressed in a com- plete suit of armor, with every ornament that could add grace and splendor to a fine, natu- ral figure; and seating her in a magnificent chariot, they drove into the city, heralds pre- ceding, who proclaimed, "O Athenians, with^^^^^,^ willing minds receive Peisistratus, whom'^'""''^ Minerva, honoring above all men, herself con- ducts into your citadel." The people, adds the historian, believed the woman to be the goddess, and worshipped her, and received Peisistratus, who thus recovered the tyranny. Whatsoever the authority of Peisistratus was in the Athenian state, by whatsoever means supported, and in whatsoever way ex- erted, it appears certain that he never assumed the tone of royalty. On his death, his influ- ence descended to sons worthy of such a father: but so entirely was the administration of the republic still conducted according to the forms prescribed by the constitution, that, when afterward it became popular at Athens 210 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. sio to call Peisistratus and his successors kings and tyrants, no one public act recorded who was his successor. Herodotus, who lived within memory of his contemporaries, men- tions Hippias and Hipparchus as sons of Peisistratus, without saying which was the elder or the superior. However this might be, those brothers had certainly together the principal influence in the administration of Athens. Heads of the prevailing party, their friends only could obtain the principal magistracies. But that power, which the favor of their party gave them, they used very advantageously for the public, and without asperity toward their opponents. The character of Hipparchus is transmitted to us, on no less authority than that of Plato, as one of the most perfect in his- Hiopus tory. Such were his virtues, his abilities, and ^rchut his diligence, that the philosopher does not scruple to say the period of his administration was like another golden age. He was in the highest degree a friend to learning and learned men. The collection and digestion of Ho- mer's works, by others ascribed to his father, is by Plato attributed to him. Hipparchus, however, introduced them more generally to the knowledge of the Athenians, by directing that a public recital of them should always make a part of the entertainment at the Pan- athenean festival. He invited the poets An- acreon of Teos, and Simonides of Ceos, to B.C. 5TO EXPULSION OF THE PEISISTRAT^ 211 Athens, and liberally maintained them there. Desirous of diffusing instruction as widely as possible among his fellow countrymen, while books were yet few, and copies not easily mul- tiplied, he caused marble terms of Mercury, with short moral sentences engraved on the sides, to be erected in the streets and principal highways throughout Attica. Such are the anecdotes remaining of Hipparchus. Hip- pias was at the same time beneficially active Good rule in public business. He improved the public" '^^'^^ revenue. Under his superintendency the money of Attica was called in and recoined. He was author of a law allowing composi- tions in money for various burdensome offices, which before none could avoid. He prose- cuted the improvements of the city begun by his father. Attic taste in every branch ap- pears to have had its rise principally under the Peisistratids. The administration of the commonwealth was at the same time con- ducted, in peace, and in war, happily at home and honorably abroad; and, according to the remarkable expression of the able and impar- tial Thucydides, "Those tyrants singularly cultivated wisdom and virtue." The circumstances which produced the death of Hipparchus, the expulsion of his family, and a number of great events, are, as common in conspiracies,wrapped in inexplica- ble mystery. The account given by Thucyd- ides, utterly abhorrent as it is from our man- 212 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. s«« ners, was, we must suppose, not inconsistent with those of Athens; yet did not satisfy Plato, who relates a different story. Succeeding writers have differed from both. But there is one circumstance, of principal histcwical consequence, in which all agree : it was private revenge, and not any political motive, that induced Aristogeiton and Harmodius, two Athenians of middle rank, to conspire the death of Hippias and Hipparchus. For the time of executing their intention they chose the festival of Panathenea; because, part of the ceremony consisting in a procession of armed citizens, they could then go . armed Mystery of . . . . , irlT' Without excitmg suspicion. 1 hey engaged few in their plot: nothing remains from which to suppose they had any object beyond killing the two brothers; and even for this their meas- ures appear to have been ill-concerted. Their first attempt was intended against Hippias, while he was directing the ceremony in the Cerameicus, a place in the suburbs: but, as they approached, they saw one of their fellow- conspirators familiarly conversing with him; for, says Thucydides, Hippias was easy of ac- cess to all. This excited a suspicion that they were betrayed ; upon which they suddenly re- solved to go against Hipparchus, who was su- perintending in the Leocorion, within the city walls. There they so far succeeded as to kill Hipparchus; but Harmodius was also killed on the spot. Aristogeiton escaped the guards B.C. SIO EXPULSION OF THE PEISISTRAT^ 213 who attended Hipparchus, but, being taken by the people, was not mildly treated. Such is Thucydides's expression. Now it was, according to the testimony which Plato has delivered in very pointed terms, that the tyranny properly began. Ttje^^ Anger at so atrocious a deed, together with uncertainty from what quarter he might have next to fear, led Hippias immediately to se- verities. Many Athenians were put to death. And, this change of conduct once made, to revert to the former course was not a matter of option. Other support than the love of his fellow-countrymen became necessary, not merely to the power, but even to the personal safety of Hippias. Looking around, there- fore, for means of improving his connections among foreign states, he married his only daughter to ^Eantides, son of Hippovles, ty- rant of Lampsacus, who had intercourse with the Persian court, and considerable interest there. The Alcmaeonids, ejected by Peisistratus, were numerous and wealthy. Under these generic names the Greek writers include, with the family, often all the partisans of the family. They had settled themselves at Lyp- sydrium above Paeonia, so Herodotus de- scribes the place, and had fortified it. But their hopes did not rest there: they were un- ceasingly watchful for opportunities to re- cover Athens. With this object in view, they 214 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. SXO omitted no means of preserving and increas- ing their consideration among the Grecian states. It happened that the temple of Delphi was burned. The Amphictyons, of course, were to provide for the rebuilding of it. The Alcmaeonids offered for a certain sum to un- dertake the work. A contract was in conse- quence made with them, by which they were The Ale- bound to erect a temple, according to a plan maeonids. agreed upon, of Porine stone. It was, un- doubtedly, a very desirable circumstance, for an exiled family, objects of persecution to the rulers of a powerful state, to thus become con- nected with so respectable a body as the Am- phictyons. But they used the opportunity to make all Greece in a manner their debtors, and even to involve the divinity of the place in obligation to them, by exceeding their con- tract in the sumptuousness of the execution, particularly by building the whole front of the temple of Parian marble. Another ad- vantage, however, of still greater importance, they derived, as common report went in He- rodotus's time, from engaging in this business. J°[h^P*'°" They found means to corrupt the managers of the oracle: in consequence of which, when- ever application, public or private, was made from Lacedemon to the god of Delphi, the answer constantly concluded with the admo- nition to the Lacedemon to give liberty to Athens. This artifice at length had the desired ef- B.C. sio EXPULSION OF THE PEISISTRAT^ 215 feet Though Lacedemon was in particular alliance with the Peisistratids, and bound to them by the sacred ties of hospitality, it was determined to invade Attica. A small force only was first sent under Anchimolius, who was defeated and slain. But the Alcmaeonid party was gaining strength; the severities of Hippias drove numbers to join them; and the Lacedemonians, irritated by their loss and disgrace, prepared earnestly for revenge. They sent a larger army into Attica under their king, Cleomenes. It was joined by the ^"j.^'o" of Alcmaeonids. A battle was fought at Pal- ienium, where the tyrants were defeated, and siege was laid to Athens. Little hope, how- ever, was entertained of taking the city by force, but some expectation was founded on intrigue. This also Hippias and his principal partisans dreaded, and therefore sent their children out of the garrison, to be conveyed to a place of safety. They fell into the enemy's hands; and the fathers, unable by any other means to save them, consented to surrender Athens and leave its territory in five days. Hippias retired to Sigeium on the Helles- pont, which was under the government of Hegesistratus, his natural brother, who had been established there by Peisistratus. The Lacedemonians were at this time by far the first people of Greece. Bound by their The Lace- Singular laws to a kmd of monkish poverty, their ambition was unbounded. Masters of 216 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS d.c. s«o Messenia by conquest, allied from of old with Corinth, and, as the more powerful state, al- ways taking the lead in the league, they in a great degree commanded Peloponnesus. Still they watched every opportunity to extend their power. Whenever the Grecian states had war with one another, or sedition within themselves, the Lacedemonians were ready to interfere as mediators. Generally they con- ducted the business wisely, and with great ap- pearance of moderation; but always having in view to extend the authority, or at least the influence of their state. One measure which they constantly practiced for this purpose was to favor aristocratical power; or rather, wherever they could, to establish an oligar- chy; for in almost every Grecian city there was an aristocratical or oligarchal, and a dem- ocratical, faction; and a few chiefs indebted to Lacedemon for their situation, and generally unable to retain it without her assistance, would be the readiest instruments for holding their state in what, though termed alliance, was always a degree of subjection. This policy it was proposed to follow at Athens; and the strife of factions, which quickly arose there, gave great opportunity. aSs"^*' By the late revolution, Cleisthenes, son of Megacles, head of the Alcmsonids, was of course the first person of the commonwealth. But he was a man not of those superior abili- ties necessary to hold the sway in a turbulent B.C. 510 EXPULSION OF THE PEISISTRAT^ 217 democracy. A party was soon formed against him under Isagoras, with whom most of the principal Athenians sided. The resource of Cleisthenes was therefore among the lower people. These being all-powerful in the gen- eral assembly, by their means he made some ^^j^j^^jj^^^g alterations in the constitution favorable to hisfsa'^goras. own influence : particularly he divided anew the Athenian territory and people; instead of four, making the number of tribes ten, to which he gave entirely new names. It ap- pears from Herodotus that Cleisthenes was at this time not less tyrant of Athens than Pei- sistratus had been. His power was equal, but his moderation was not equal. In the con- tests of Grecian factions the alternative was commonly victory or exile, and sometimes death. We must not wonder, therefore, if the inferior party sometimes resorted to very harsh expedients. Isagoras and his adherents applied to Lacedemon. Cleomenes, violent in his temper, but of considerable abilities, had more influence in the administration of his country than its kings always possessed. Im- mediately entering into the interest of Isag- oras, he sent a herald to Athens, by whom he imperiously decreed banishment against Cleisthenes and others of the Alcmaeonids, on the old pretence of inherited criminality from the sacrilegious execution of the partisans of Cylon. Cleisthenes obeyed the decree. En- couraged by such proof of the respect or dread 10 V®^ ^ 218 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. s'o in which the Spartan power was held, Cleom- enes thought the season favorable for mak- ing that change in the Athenian constitution which would suit the views of Spartan ambi- tion. He went to Athens, attended by a small military force, and at once banished seven hundred families. Such was at this time Athenian liberty. He was then proceeding to dissolve the council of five hundred, and to commit the whole power of the common- wealth to a new council consisting of three hundred, all partisans of Isagoras. But Athens was not so far prepared for subjection. The five hundred both refused themselves to sub- Revoiuiion "^^^' ^^^ cxcltcd the people to opposition. at Athens. 'Yhc pcople rau to arms. Cleomenes and Isag- oras, taking refuge in the citadel, were be- sieged there two days. On the third they sur- rendered, upon condition that the Lacede- monians might depart in safety. Isagoras went with them; but many Athenians of his party were executed. Cleisthenes and the ex- iled families immediately returned. Those who now took the lead in the Athe- nian government, though without opposition at home, were in extreme apprehension of the consequences of such a breach with Lacede- mon. At a loss for allies within Greece capa- ble of giving them effectual support, they sent ambassadors to Sardis to endeavor to form a connection with Artaphernes, the Persian sa- trap. Hitherto there had been scarcely any B.C. 510 EXPULSION OF THE PEISISTRAT^ 219 communication between any branch of the vast empire of Persia and the European Greeks. The satrap received the deputies of a little unheard-of republic with that haughti- ness which might be expected. Having ad- mitted them to audience, he asked who they were, and from what part of the world they came, that they desired alliance with the Per- sians? Being informed, he answered them^^^^^^^, very shortly, "That if they would give earth ^S!° and water to King Darius," the usual cere- mony in acknowledging subjection, "they might be received into alliance; otherwise they must depart." The ambassadors, con- sidering only the immediate danger of their country, consented to those humiliating terms. Such was the first public transaction between Greece and Persia. [The mythical period of Roman royalty lasted from 753 to 510, when the Tarquins were expelled and Rome became a republic] EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS (B.C. 510) W THOMAS ARNOLD HILE King Tarquinius was at the height of his greatness, it chanced upon a time that from the altar in the court of his palace there crawled out a snake, which devoured the offerings laid on the altar. So the king thought it not enough to consult the soothsayers of the Etruscans whom he had with him, but he sent two of Kin? Tar- ^is owH sons to Delphi to ask counsel of the ^"nds'to oracle of the Greeks; for the oracle of Delphi was famous in all lands. So his sons Titus and Aruns went to Delphi, and they took with them their cousin, Lucius Junius, whom men call Brutus, that is, the Dullard; for he seemed to be wholly without wit, and he would eat wild figs with honey. This Lucius was not really dull, but very subtle ; and it was for fear of his uncle's cruelty that he made himself as one without sense; for he was very rich, and he feared lest King Tarquinius should kill him for the sake of his inheri- tance. So when he went to Delphi he carried (220) B.C. 5IO EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 221 with him a staff of horn, and the staff was hol- low, and it was filled within with gold, and he gave the staff to the oracle as a likeness of himself; for though he seemed dull, and of no account to look upon, yet he had a golden wit within. When the three young men had performed the king's bidding, they asked the oracle for themselves, and they said: "Oh, Lord Apollo, tell us which of us shall be king of Rome?" Then there came a voice from the sanctuary and said: "Whichever of you shall first kiss his mother." So the sons of Tarquinius agreed to draw lots between themselves which of them should first kiss their mother, when they should have returned to Rome; and they said they would keep the oracle secret from their brother Sextus, lest he should be king rather than they. But Lu-sr^^us^^^ cius understood the mind of the oracle better ;'''^°'^^^'^- so as they all went down from the temple, he stumbled as if by chance, and fell with his face to the earth, and kissed the earth; for he said: "The earth is the true mother of us all." Now when they came back to Rome, King Tarquinius was at war with the people of Ardea; and as the city was strong, his army lay a long while before it, till it should be forced to yield through famine. So the Romans had leisure for feasting and for di- verting themselves: and once Titus and Aruns were supping with their brother Sextus, and their cousin Tarquinius of Collatia was sup- 222 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 510 ping with them. And they disputed about their wives, whose wife of them all was the worthiest lady. Then said Tarquinius of Col- latia, "Let us go and see with our own eyes what our wives are doing, so shall we know which is the worthiest." Upon this they all mounted their horses, and rode first to Rome; and there they found the wives of Titus, and of Aruns, and of Sextus feasting and making merry. Then they rode on to Collatia, and it was late in the night, but they found Lu- cretia, the wife of Tarquinius of Collatia, Story of neither feasting nor yet sleeping, but she was Lucretia. ° J r to? sitting with all her handmaids around her, and all were working at the loom. So when they saw this, they all said: "Lucretia is the worthiest lady." And she entertained her husband and his kinsmen, and after that they rode back to the camp before Ardea. But a spirit of wicked passion seized upon Sextus, and a few days afterward he went alone to Collatia, and Lucretia received him hospitably, for he was her husband's kinsman. At midnight he arose and went to her cham- ber, and he said that if she yielded not to him he would slay her and one of her slaves with her, and would say to her husband that he had slain her in her adultery. So when Sex- tus had accomplished his wicked purpose, he went back again to the camp. Then Lucretia sent in haste to Rome, to pray that her father, Spurius Lucretius, B.C.5IO EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 223 would come to her; and she sent to Ardea to summon her husband. Her father b rought husband ^ •11' T-. 1 • IT 1 ^"'^ father along with him Publius Valerius, and her ^wear re- husband brought with him Lucius Junius, whom men call Brutus. When they arrived, they asked earnestly: "Is all well?" Then she told them of the wicked deed of Sextus, and she said: "If ye be men, avenge it." And they all swore to her that they would avenge it. Then she said again: "I am not guilty; yet must I too share in the punishment of this deed, lest any should think that they may be false to their husbands and live." And shemcretia drew a knife from her bosom, and stabbed he^lif. herself to the heart. At that sight her husband and her father cried aloud; but Lucius drew the knife from the wound, and held it up, and said: "By this blood I swear that I will visit this deed upon King Tarquinius, and all his accursed race; neither shall any man hereafter be king in Rome, lest he do the like wickedness." And he gave the knife to her husband, and to her father, and to Publius Valerius. They mar- velled to hear such words from him whom men called dull; but they swore also, and they took up the body of Lucretia, and carried it down into the forum; and they said: "Behold the deeds of the wicked family of Tarquin- ius." All the people of Collatia were moved, and the men took up arms, and they set a guard at the gates that none might go out to carry 224 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. $10 the tidings to Tarquinius, and they followed revoS'°^* Lucius to Rome. There, too, all the people came together, and the crier summoned them to assemble before the tribune of the Celeres, for Lucius held that office. And Lucius spoke to them of all the tyranny of Tarquinius and his sons, and of the wicked deed of Sextus. And the people in their curiae took back from Tarquinius the sovereign power, which they had given him, and they banished him and all his family. Then the younger men followed Lucius to Ardea, to win over the army there to join them; and the city was left in the charge of Spurius Lucretius. But the wicked Tullia fled in haste from her house, and all, both men and women, cursed her as she passed, and prayed that the furies of her father's blood might visit her with vengeance. Meanwhile King Tarquinius set out with speed to Rome to put down the tumult. But Lucius turned aside from the road, that he might not meet him, and came to the camp; and the soldiers joyfully received him, and they drove out the sons of Tarquinius. King Tarquinius came to Rome, but the gates were shut, and they declared to him, from the walls, the sentence of banishment which had been Tarquin is deposed, passed against him and his family. So he yielded to his fortune, and went to live at Caere with his sons Titus and Aruns. His other son, Sextus, went to Gabii, and the peo- ple there, remembering how he had betrayed B.C. 5IO EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 225 them to his father, slew him. Then the army left the camp before Ardea, and went back to Rome. And all men said: "Let us follow the good laws of the good King Servius; and let us meet in our centuries, according as he di- rected, and let us choose two men year by year to govern us instead of a king." Then the people met in their centuries in the Field of Mars, and they chose two men to rule over them, Lucius Junius, whom men call Brutus, and Lucius Tarquinius of Collatia. But the people were afraid of Lucius Tar- quinius for his name's sake, for it seemed as though a Tarquinius was still king over them. So they prayed him to depart from Rome, and he went and took all his goods with him, and settled himself at Lavinium. Then the senate and the people decreed that all the house of the Tarquinii should be banished, even though they were not of the king's fam- ily. And the people met again in their cen- turies, and chose Publius Valerius to rule over them, together with Brutus, in the room of Lucius Tarquinius of Collatia. Now at this time many of the laws of the good King Servius were restored, which Tar- plib\h!s^"'* quinius the tyrant had overthrown. For the are chosen * -' to rule. commons again chose their own judges to try all causes between a man and his neighbor; and they had again their meetings and their sacrifices in the city and in the country, every man in his own tribe and in his own district. 226 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. SIO And lest there should seem to be two kings instead of one, it was ordered that one only of the two should bear rule at one time, and that the lictors, with their rods and axes, should walk before him alone. And the two were to bear rule month by month. Then King Tarquinius sent to Rome, to ask for all the goods that had belonged to him; ^ , , and the senate, after a while, decreed that the A plot for ' ' ^esEion. goods should be given back. But those whom he had sent to Rome to ask for his goods had meetings with many young men of noble birth, and a plot was laid to bring back King Tar- quinius. So the young men wrote letters to Tarquinius, pledging to him their faith, and among them were Titus and Tiberius, the sons of Brutus. But a slave happened to overhear them talking together, and when he knew that the letters were to be given to the messengers of Tarquinius, he went and told all that he had heard to Brutus and to Publius Valerius. Then they came and seized the young men and their letters, and so the plot was broken up. After this there was a strange and piteous sight to behold. Brutus and Publius sat on their judgment-seats in the Forum, and the young Bnituscon.men were brought before them. Then Brutus soTs"o " bade the lictors to bind his own two sons, death. • i i Titus and Tiberius, together with the others, and to scourge them with rods, according to the law. And after they had been scourged, the lictors struck oft their heads with their B.C.5IO EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 227 axes, before the eyes of their father; and Bru- tus neither stirred from his seat, nor turned away his eyes from the sight, yet men saw as they looked on him that his heart was grieving inwardly over his children. Then they mar- velled at him, because he had loved justice more than his own blood, and had not spared his own children when they had been false to their country, and had offended against the law. ' When King Tarquinius found that the plot was broken up, he persuaded the people of Veii and the people of Tarquinii, cities of the Etruscans, to try to bring him back to Rome by force of arms. So they assembled their armies, and Tarquinius led them within the Roman border. Brutus and Publius led the Romans out to meet them, and it chanced that Brutus with the Roman horsemen, and Aruns, the son of King Tarquinius, with the Etruscan horse, met each other in advance of the main battles. Aruns seized Brutus in his kingly robe, and with the lictors of a king around him, levelled his spear, and spurred his horse against him. Brutus met him, and^rm'^g"^ each ran his spear through the body of the other, and they both fell dead. Then the horsemen on both parts fought, and afterward the main battles, and the Veientians were beaten, but the Tarquinians beat the Romans, and the battle was neither won nor lost; but in the night there came a voice out of the 228 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. 510 wood that was hard by, and it said, "One man more has fallen on the part of the Etruscans than on the part of the Romans; the Romans are to conquer in the war." At this the Etrus- cans were afraid, and believing the voice, they immediately marched home to their own country, while the Romans took up Brutus, and carried him home and buried him; and Publius made an oration in his praise, and all the matrons of Rome mourned for him for a whole year, because he had avenged Lucretia well. Then Publius called the people together in their centuries, and they chose Spurius Lu- successors. cTetlus, thc father of Lucretia, to be their mag- istrate for the year in the room of Brutus. But he was an old man, and his strength was so much gone, that after a few days he died. Then they chose in his room Marcus Horatius. But when King Tarquinius found that the Veientians and Tarquinians were not able to restore him to his kingdom, he went to Clu- sium, a city in the furthest part of Etruria, be- yond the Ciminian forest, and besought Lars Ss"Si"^ Porsenna, the king of Clusium, to aid him. Porsin^" So Porsenna raised a great army, and marched against Rome, and attacked the Romans on the hill Janiculum, the hill on the outside of the city beyond the Tiber; and he drove them down from the hill into the city. There was a wooden bridge over the Tiber at the bot- tom of the hill, and the Etruscans followed B.C. Sio EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 229 close Upon the Romans to win the bridge, but a single man, named Horatius Codes, stood fast upon the bridge, and faced the Etruscans; two others then resolved to stay with him, Spurius Lartius and Titus Herminius; and these three men stopped the Etruscans, while the Romans, who had fled over the river, were busy in cutting away the bridge. When it was nearly all cut away, Horatius made his two companions leave him, and pass over the bridge into the city. Then he stood alone on the bridge, and defied all the army of the Etruscans; and they showered their javelins upon him, and he caught them upon his shield, and stood yet unhurt. But just as they were^^f^^^^'^* rushing on him to drive him from his post by main force, the last beams of the bridge were cut away, and it all fell with a mighty crash into the river; and while the Etruscans won- dered, and stopped in their course, Horatius turned and prayed to the god of the river: *'0 Father Tiber, I pray thee to receive these arms, and me who bear them, and to let thy waters befriend and save me." Then he leaped into the river; and though the darts fell thick around him, yet they did not hit him, and he swam across to the city safe and sound. For this the Romans set up his statue in the comitium, and gave him as much land as he could drive the plow round in the space of a whole day. But King Porsenna was greatly moved, and 230 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS Clcelia swims across the Tiber. made the Romans offers of peace, to which they listened gladly, and gave up the land be- yond the Tiber, which had been won in for- mer times from the Veientians; and he gave back to them the hill Janiculum. Besides this, the Romans gave hostages to the king, ten youths and ten maidens, children of noble fathers, as a pledge that they would truly keep the peace which they had made. But it chanced, as the camp of the Etruscans was near the Tiber, that Cloelia, one of the maid- ens, escaped with her fellows, and fled to the brink of the river, and as the Etruscans pur- sued them, Cloelia spoke to the other maidens, and persuaded them, and they rushed all into the water, and swam across the river, and got safely over. At this King Porsenna marvelled more than ever, and when the Romans sent back Clcelia and her fellows to him, for they kept their faith truly, he bade her go home free, and he gave her some of the youths also who were hostages, to choose whom she would ; and she chose those who were of tenderest age, and King Porsenna set them free. Then the Romans gave lands to Caius, and set up a statue of Clcelia in the highest part of the Sa- cred Way; and King Porsenna led away his army home in peace. So Tarquinius, seeing that there was no more hope of aid from King Porsenna, left Clusium and went to Tusculum of the Latins; for Mamilius Octavius, the chief of the Tus- B.C. 510 EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 231 culans, had married his daughter, and he hoped that the Latins would restore him to Rome, for their cities were many, and when he had been king he had favored them rather than the Romans. So after a time some thirty cities of the Latins joined together and made Octavius Mamilius their general, and declared war against the Romans. Now Publius Valerius was dead, and the Romans so loved and hon- ored him that they buried him within the city, near the hill Velia, and all the matrons ofTheLatms Rome had mourned for him for a whole year;°"^°'°^- also because the Romans had the Sabines for their enemies as well as the Latins, they had made one man to be their ruler for a time in- stead of t\vo; and he was called the Master of the people, or the commander, and he had all the power which the kings of Rome had in times past. So Aulus Postumius was ap- pointed Master of the people at this time, and Titus ^butius was the chief or Master of the horsemen; and they led out the whole force of the Romans, and met the Latins by the lake Regillus, in the country of Tusculum. Then the Romans and the Latins joined bat- tle by the lake Regillus. There might youLtki^J^^ see King Tarquinius, though far advanced in years, yet mounted on his horse and bearing his lance in his hand as bravely as though he were still young. There was his son Tar- quinius, leading on to battle all the band of 282 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 510 the house of the Tarquinii, whom the Romans had banished for their name's sake, and who thought it a proud thing to win back their country by their swords, and to become again the royal house, to give a king to the Romans. And on the side of the Romans might be seen Aulus Postumius, the Master of the people, and Titus -^butius, the Master of the horse- men. There also was Titus Herminius, who had fought on the bridge by the side of Hora- tius Codes, on the day when they saved Rome from King Porsenna. But Titus drew back, and sheltered himself amid his band; and Marcus rode after him in his fury, and plunged into the midst of the enemy, and a Latin ran a lance into his side as he was rush- ing on; but his horse stayed not in his career till Marcus dropped from him dead upon the ground. Then the Romans feared yet more, and the Tarquinii charged yet more vehe- mently, till Aulus, the leader of the Romans, rode up with his own chosen band; and he bade them level their lances, and slay all whose faces were toward them, whether they were friends or foes. So the Romans turned from their flight, and Aulus and his chosen band fell upon the Tarquinii; and Aulus praved, Aulusprays ^ '^ ' . ' " LndPouux ^^^ vowed that he would raise a temple to foraid. Castor and to Pollux, the twin heroes, if they would aid him to win the battle; and he prom- ised to his soldiers that the two who should be the first to break into the camp of the enemy B.C. 5X0 EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 233 should receive a rich reward. When, behold, there rode two horsemen at the head of his chosen band, and they were taller and fairer The mo^^ than after the stature and beauty of men, and ^'"■'^'"^"• they were in the first bloom of youth, and their horses were white as snow. And the two horsemen on white horses rode before the Ro- mans; and the enemy fled before them, and the Tarquinii were beaten down and slain, and Titus Tarquinius was slain among them; and the Latins fled, and the Romans followed them to their camp, and the two horsemen on white horses were the first who broke into the camp. But when the camp was taken, and the battle was fully won, Aulus sought for the two horsemen to give them the rewards which he had promised; and they were not found either among the living or among the dead, only there was seen imprinted on the hard black rock the mark of a horse's hoof, which no earthly horse had ever made; and the mark was there to be seen in after ages. And the battle was ended, and the sun went down. Now they knew at Rome that the armies had joined battle, and as the day wore away all men longed for tidings. And the sun went down, and suddenly there were seen in the Forum two horsemen, taller and fairer than the tallest and fairest of men, and they rode on white horses, and they were as men just come from the battle, and their horses were all bathed in foam. They alighted by the temple 234 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. s-o of Vesta, where a spring of water bubbles up from the ground and fills a small deep pool. There they washed away the stains of the bat- tle, and when men crowded around them, and asked for tidings, they told them how the bat- tle had been fought, and how it was won. And they mounted their horses and rode from the Forum, and were seen no more; and men sought for them in every place, but they were not found. Then Aulus and all the Romans knew how Castor and Pollux, the twin heroes, had heard his prayer, and had fought for the Romans, and had vanquished their enemies, and had been the first to break into the enemies' camp, and had themselves, with more than mortal speed, borne the tidings of their victory to Rome. So Aulus built a temple according to his vow to Castor and Pollux, and gave buiidl rich offerings; for he said: "These are the castorand fewards which I promised to the two who Pollux. '^ should first break into the enemies' camp; and the twin heroes have won them, and they and no mortal men have won the battle for Rome this day." So perished the house of the Tarquinii, in the great battle by the lake Regillus, and all the sons of King Tarquinius, and his son-in- law, Octavius Mamilius, were slain on that battlefield. Thus King Tarquinius was the ruin of all his family and of all his house, and he was left alone, utterly without hope. B.c.sio EXPULSION OF THE TARQUINS 235 So he went to Cumae, a city of the Greeks, and there he died. And thus the deeds ofKin^Tar- Tarquinius and of the wicked Tullia, and of Sextus their son, were visited upon their own heads; and the Romans lived in peace, and none threatened their freedom any more. [The great city of Sybaris in Magna Greca was totally destroyed by her rival, Crotona, in 510. In 509, Clisthenes reformed the con- stitution of Athens. There was a short reac- tion brought about by the Athenian nobility by the help of a Spartan force in 507, but a popular uprising defeated the allies and Clis- thenes returned. Sparta was now the first power in the Peloponnesus. Persia now at- tacked Greece in a series of campaigns, last- ing from 500 to 449. After many reverses, the Greeks gained a great victory at Marathon (490) in the second campaign, and the third campaign was distinguished by the defence of the Pass of Thermopylae and the great naval victory of Salamis (480).] THE BATTLE OF MARATHON (B.C. 490) SIR EDWARD BULWER-LYTTON AT length Darius resolved no longer to de- lay the accomplishment of his designs. He recalled Mardonius, whose energy, indeed, had not been proportioned to his pow- ers, and appointed two other generals — Datis, a native of the warlike Media, and Arta- phernes, his own nephew, son to the former satrap of that name. These were expressly Expedition , , , • x^ • j against Ordered to march at once agamst bretria and Eretria and *^ Athens. Athens. And Hippias, now broken in frame, advanced in age, and after an exile of twenty years, accompanied the Persian army — san- guine of success, and grasping, at the verge of life, the shadow of his former sceptre. On the Cilician coast the Persian armament encamped — thence, in a fleet of six hundred triremes, it sailed to Samos — passed through the midst of the clustering Cyclades, and along that part of the iEgean sea called "the Ica- rean," from the legendary fate of the son of Dedalus — invaded Naxos — burned her town and temples, and sparing the sacred Delos, in (236) B.C. 490 THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 237 which the Median Datis reverenced the tra- ditionary birthplace of two deities analogous to those most honored in the Persian creed* — awed into subjection the various isles, until it arrived at Eubea, divided but by a strait from Attica, and containing the city of the Eretri- ans. The fleet first assailed Carystus, whose generous citizens refused both to aid against their neighbors, and to give hostages for their conduct. Closely besieged, and their lands wasted, they were compelled, however, to sur- render to the Persians. Thence the victorious armament passed to Eretria. The Athenians had sent to the relief of that city the four thou- sand colonists whom they had established in the island — but fear, jealousy, division, were within the walls. Ruin seemed certain, and a chief of the Eretrians urged the colonists to quit a city which they were unable to save. They complied with the advice, and reached Attica in safety. Eretria, however, withstood a siege of six days; on the seventh the city was betrayed to the Barbarians by two of that fatal IrlldL oligarchical party, who in every Grecian city seem to have considered no enemy so detes- table as the majority of their own citizens; the place was pillaged — the temples burned — the inhabitants enslaved. Here the Persians rested for a few days ere they embarked for Attica. Thp Sun and Moon. 238 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ■ X. 49» Unsupported and alone, the Athenians were Athenians not dismaycd. A swift-footed messenger was fjflid despatched to Sparta, to implore its prompt assistance. The resource the Athenians had so much right to expect failed them. The Spartans, indeed, resolved to assist Athens, but not until assistance would have come too late. They declared that their religion for- bade them to commence a march till the moon was at her full, and this was only the ninth day of the month. With this unsatisfying re- ply, the messenger returned to Athens. The mighty thousands of the Mede and Per- sian landed on the Attic coast, and, conducted by Hippias among their leaders, marched to the plain of Marathon, which the traveller still beholds, stretching wide and level, amid hills and marshes, at the distance of only ten miles from the gates of Athens. Along the shore the plain extends to the length of six miles — inland it exceeds t\vo. It will be remembered that the Athenians were divided into ten tribes at the instigation of Clisthenes. Each of these tribes nominated a general; there were therefore ten leaders to The the Athenian army. Among them was Mil- comml^d- tiades, who had succeeded in ingratiating him- self with the Athenian people, and obtained from their suffrages a command. Aided by a thousand men from Platea, then on terms of intimate friendship with the Athenians, the little army marched from the B.C.490 THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 239 city, and advanced to the entrance of the plain of Marathon. Here they arrayed themselves in martial order, near the temple of Hercules, to the east of the hills that guard the upper part of the valley. Thus encamped, and in sight of the gigantic power of the enemy, darkening the long expanse that skirts the sea, fmongthe divisions broke out among the leaders; — some ^ ^^' contended that a battle was by no means to be risked with such inferior forces — others, on the contrary, were for giving immediate battle. Of this latter advice was Miltiades — he was supported by a man already of high re- pute, though now first presented to our notice, and afterward destined to act a great and splendid part in the drama of his times. Aris- tides was one of the generals of the army, and strenuously co-operated with Miltiades in the policy of immediate battle. The arguments of Miltiades convinced Cal- limachus, who knew well the many divisions of the city, the strength which Hippias and the Pisistratidae still probably possessed within the walls, and who could not but allow that a superior force becomes ever more fearful theMiuiades more deliberately it is regarded. He inter- '"^*''*'*^' posed his authority. It was decided to give battle. On the night before Hippias conducted the Barbarians to the plains of Marathon, he is said to have dreamt a dream. He thought he was with his mother. In the fondness of 240 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 490 human hopes he interpreted the vision favor- ably, and flattered himself that he should re- gain his authority, and die in his own house of old age. The morning now arrived that was to attest the veracity of the interpretation. To the left of the Athenians was a low chain of hills, clothed with trees (and which fur- nished them timber to break the charge of the Persian horse) — to their right a torrent; — their front was long, for to render it more im- posing in extent and to prevent being out- Disgos't'on flanked by the Persian numbers, the centre Athenian j-^uks Were left weak and shallow, but on either wing the troops were drawn up more solidly and strong. Callimachus, the Pole- march, commanded the right wing — the Pla- teans formed the left. They had few, if any, horsemen or archers. The details which we possess of their armband military array, if not in this, in other engagements of the same pe- riod, will complete the picture. We may be- hold them clad in bright armor, well-proof and tempered, which covered breast and back — the greaves, so often mentioned by Homer, Appear- wcre Still retained — their helmets were ance ot the Greeks, wrought and crested, the cones mostly painted in glowing colors, and the plumage of feath- ers or horsehair rich and waving, in propor- tion to the rank of the wearer. Broad, sturdy, and richlv ornamented, were their bucklers — the pride and darling of their arms, the loss of which was the loss of honor; their spears B.C. 49° THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 241 were ponderous, thick, and long — a chief mark of contradistinction from the slight shaft of Persia — and, with their short broadsword, constituted their main weapons of offence. No Greek army marched to battle without vows, and sacrifice, and prayer — and now, in the stillness of the pause, the soothsayers exam- ined the entrails of the victims — they were propitious, and Callimachus solemnly vowed to Diana a victim for the slaughter of every foe. Loud broke the trumpets* — the stan- dards wrought with the sacred bird of Athens 'r*^^<=^^''i^« were raised on high;t it was the signal of battle — and the Athenians rushed with an im- petuous vehemence upon the Persian power. "The first Greeks of whom I have heard," says the simple Halicarnassean, "who ever ran to attack a foe — the first, too, who ever beheld without dismay the garb and armor of the Medes; for hitherto in Greece the very name of Mede had excited terror." When the Persian army, with its numerous horse, animal as well as man protected by plates of mail — its expert bowmen — its lines and deep files of turbaned soldiers, gorgeous with many a blazing standard — headed by leaders well hardened, despite their gay garbs and adorned breast-plates, on many a more even field; — when, I say, this force beheld the Athenians * The Goddess of Athens was supposed to have invented a peculiar trumpet used by her favored votaries. t To raise the standard was the sign of battle. y^^j ^ 242 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 490 rushing toward them, they considered them, thus few, and destitute alike of cavalry and archers, as madmen hurrying to destruction. Advan- But it was evidently not without deliberate lrtfa*?kinff calculation that Miltiades had so commenced the attack. The warlike experience of his guerilla life had taught him to know the foe against whom he fought. To volunteer the assault was to forestall and cripple the charge of the Persian horse — besides, the long lances, the heavy arms, the hand-to-hand valor of the Greeks, must have been no light encounter to the more weakly mailed and less formidably armed infantry of the East. Accustomed themselves to give the charge, it was a novelty and a disadvantage to receive it. Long, fierce and stubborn was the battle. The centre wing of the Barbarians, composed of the Sacians and the pure Persian race, at length pressed hard upon the shallow centre of the Greeks, drove them back into the country, and, eager with pursuit, left their own wings to the charge of Callimachus on the one side and the Platean forces on the other. The brave Pole- march, after the most signal feats of valor, fell fighting in the field; but his troops, undis- mayed, smote on with spear and sword. The Barbarians retreated backward to the sea, where swamps and marshes encumbered their movements, and here (though the Athenians did not pursue them far) the greater portion were slain, hemmed in by the morasses, and B.C. 49° THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 243 probably ridden down by their own disor- dered cavalry. Meanwhile, the two tribes the PeV° sians. that had formed the centre, one of which was commanded by Aristides, retrieved them- selves with a mighty efifort, and the two wings, having routed their antagonists, now inclining toward each other, intercepted the Barbarian centre, which, thus attacked front and rear (large trees felled and scattered over the plain, obstructing the movements of their cavalry), was defeated with prodigious slaughter. Evening came on : — confused and disorderly, the Persians now only thought of flight: the whole army retired to their ships, hard chased by the Grecian victors, who amid the carnage fired the fleet. Cynegirus, brother to Eschylus, the tragic poet (himself highly distinguished for his feats that day), seized one of the vessels by the poop: his hand was severed by an axe; — he died gloriously of his wounds. But to none did the fortunes of that^^^^^^^^^ field open a more illustrious career than to a^^^*""*^^ youth of the tribe Leontis, in whom, though probably then but a simple soldier in the ranks, was first made manifest the nature and the genius destined to command. The name of that youth was Themistocles. Seven ves- sels were captured — six thousand four hun- dred of the Barbarians fell in the field — the Athenians and their brave ally lost only one hundred and ninety-two; but among them per- ished many of their bravest nobles. It was a 244 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS dx. 490 superstition not uncharacteristic of that im- aginative people, and evincing how greatly their ardor was aroused, that many of them (according to Plutarch) fancied they beheld the gigantic shade of Theseus, completely armed, and bearing down before them upon the foe. So perished the hopes of the unfortunate Hippias; — obscure and inglorious in his last hour, the exiled prince fell confounded amid the general slaughter. The moon had passed her full, when two thousand Spartans arrived at Athens: the bat- tle was over and the victory won; but so great was their desire to see the bodies of the for- midable Medes that they proceeded to Mara-. The Spar- thott, aud retumiug to Athens, swelled the tri- umph of her citizens by their applause and congratulations. The marble which the Persians had brought with them, in order to erect as a trophy of the victory they anticipated, was, at a subsequent period, wrought by Phidias into a statue of Nemesis. A picture of the battle, represent- ing Miltiades in the foremost place, and sol- emnly preserved in public, was deemed no in- adequate reward to that great captain; and yet, conspicuous above the level plain of Marathon, rises a long barrow, fifteen feet in height, the supposed sepulchre of the Athe- nian heroes. Still does a romantic legend, not unfamiliar with our traditions of the north, tans arrive. B.C.490 THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 246 give a supernatural terror to the spot. Nightly along the plain are yet heard by superstition the neighings of chargers, and the rushing shadows of spectral war. And still, through- out the civilized world (civilized how much by the arts and lore of Athens!) men of every clime, of every political persuasion, feel as Greeks at the name of Marathon. Later fields have presented the spectacle of an equal valor, and almost the same disparities of slaughter; but never, in the annals of earth, were united so closely in our applause, ad- miration for the heroism of the victors, and sympathy for the holiness of their cause. It was the first great victory of opinion! and its fruits were reaped, not by Athens only, but by all Greece then, as by all time thereafter, in a mighty and imperishable harvest — the in- visible not less than the actual force of despot- ism was broken. Nor was it only that the Marathon dread which had hung upon the Median name Sn""""*' was dispelled — nor that free states were taught their pre-eminence over the unwieldy em- pires which the Persian conquerors had de- stroyed, — a greater lesson was bestowed on Greece, when she discovered that the mon- arch of Asia could not force upon a petty state the fashion of its government or the selection of its rulers. The defeat of Hippias was of no less value than that of Darius, and the same blow which struck down the foreign invader smote also the hopes of domestic tyrants. 246 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS dc. 49* One successful battle for liberty quickens and exalts that proud and emulous spirit from a'^Jwnd" which are called forth the civilization and the arts that liberty should produce more rapidly than centuries of repose. To Athens the victory of Marathon was a second Solon. Solon. The fleet returns. THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS (B.C. 480) PLUTARCH THE news of what had happened at Ther- mopylae being brought to Artemisium, when the confederates were informed that Leonidas was slain there, and Xerxes mas- ter of the passages by land, they sailed back to Greece; and the Athenians, elated with their late distinguished valor, brought up the rear. As Themistocles sailed along the coasts, wherever he saw any harbors or places proper for the enemy's ships to put in at, he took such stones as he happened to find, or caused to be brought thither for that purpose, and set them up in the ports and watering places, with the following inscription engraved in large char- acters, and addressed to the lonians. "Let the lonians, if it be possible, come over to the Greeks, from whom they are descended, and who now risk their lives for their liberty. If this be impracticable, let them at least perplex the barbarians, and put them in disorder in time of action." By this he hoped either to bring the lonians over to his side, or to sow (247) help. 248 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. ^80 discord among them, by causing them to be suspected by the Persians. Though Xerxes had passed through Doris down to Phocis, and was burning and destroy- ing the Phocian cities, yet the Greeks sent them no succors. And, notwithstanding all ^blain^no" thc cntrcatics the Athenians could use to prevail with the confederates to repair with them into Beotia, and cover the frontiers of Attica, as they had sent a fleet to Artemisium to serve the common cause, no one gave ear to their request. All eyes were turned upon Peloponnesus, and all were determined to collect their forces within the Isthmus, and to build a wall across it from sea to sea. The Athenians were greatly incensed to see them- selves thus betrayed, and, at the same time, de- jected and discouraged at so general a defec- tion. They alone could not think of giving battle to so prodigious an army. To quit the city, and embark on board their ships, was the only expedient at present; and this the generality were very unwilling to hearken to, as they could neither have any great ambition for victory, nor idea of safety, when they had left the temples of their gods and the monu- ments of their ancestors. Themistocles, perceiving that he could not by the force of human reason prevail with the multitude, set his machinery to work, as a poet would do in a tragedy, and had recourse to prodigies and oracles. The prodigy he B.C.480 THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 249 availed himself of, was the disappearing of the dragon of Minerva, which at that time quitted the holy place; and the priests, finding the daily offerings set before it untouched, gave it out among the people, at the suggestion of JesTiom Themistocles, that the goddess had forsaken ^°°'^''^^' the city, and that she offered to conduct them to sea. Moreover, by way of explaining to the people an oracle then received, he told them that, by wooden walls, there could not possibly be any thing meant but ships; and that Apollo, now calling Salamis divine, not wretched and unfortunate, as formerly, signi- fied by such an epithet that it would be pro- ductive of some great advantage to Greece. His counsels prevailed, and he proposed a de- cree that the city should be left to the protec- tion of Minerva, the tutelary goddess of the Athenians; that the young men should go on board the ships, and that every one should provide as well as he possibly could for the safety of the children, the women, and the slaves. When this decree was made, most of the Athenians removed their parents and wives to Trezene, where they were received with a generous hospitality. As the treasury of Athens was then but low, Aristotle informs us that the court of Areopa- gus distributed to every man who took part in the expedition eight drachmas; which was the principal means of manning the fleet. But 260 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS bx. 480 Clidemus ascribes this also to a stratagem of Themistocles ; for, he tells us, that when the Athenians went down to the harbor of Pireus, the Egis was lost from the statue of Minerva; and Themistocles, as he ransacked everything, under pretence of searching for it, found large sums of money hid among the baggage, which he applied to the public use; and out of it all necessaries were provided for the fleet. The embarkation of the people of Athens The was a very affecting scene. What pity! what emteJk"* admiration of the firmness of those men, who, sending their parents and families to a distant place, unm.oved with their cries, their tears, or embraces, had the fortitude to leave the city, and embark for Salamis! What greatly heightened the distress, was the number of citizens whom they were forced to leave be- hind, because of their extreme old age. And some emotions of tenderness were due even to the tame domestic animals, which, running to the shore, with lamentable bowlings, ex- pressed their afifection and regret for the per- xanthip- sons that had fed them. One of these, a dog pus s faith- ' " fuidog. that belonged to Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, unwilling to be left behind, is said to have leaped into the sea, and to have swum by the side of the ship, till it reached Salamis, where, quite spent with toil, it died immedi- ately. And they show us to this day a place called Synos Sema, where they tell us that dog was buried. B.C. 480 THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 251 * Eurybiades, by reason of the dignity of Sparta, had the command of the fleet; but, as he was apprehensive af the danger, he pro- posed to set sail for the Isthmus, and fix his station near the Peloponnesian army. The- mistocles, however, opposed it. While Themistocles was maintaining his arguments upon deck, some tell us an owl was seen flying to the right of the fleet,* which came and perched upon the shrouds. This omen determined the confederates to accede to his opinion, and to prepare for a sea fight. But no sooner did the enemy's fleet appear advancing toward the harbor of Phalerius in Attico, and covering all the neighboring coasts, while Xerxes himself was seen march- ing his land forces to the shore, than thespTr'edby ,.,,., , t"S enemi Greeks, struck with the sight of such prodig- ious armaments, began to forget the counsel of Themistocles, and the Peloponnesians once more looked toward the Isthmus. Nay, they resolved to set sail that very night, and such orders were given to all the pilots. Themisto- cles, greatly concerned that the Greeks were going to give up the advantage of their station in the straits,t and to retire to their respective * The owl was sacred to Minerva, the protectress of the Athenians f If the confederates had quitted the Straits of Salamis, where they could equal the Persians in the line of battle, such of the Athenians as were on that island must have become an easy prey to the enemy , and the Persians would have found an open sea on the Peloponnesian coast, where they could act with all their force against the ships of the allies. Terror in- ed by enemy. 252 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS bx. 480 countries, contrived that stratagem which was put in execution by Sicinus. This Sicinus was of Persian extraction, and a captive, but much attached to Thcmistocles, and the tutor of his children. On this occasion Themistocles sent him privately to the King of Persia, with or- ders to tell him that the commander of the Athenians, having espoused his interest, was the first to inform him of the intended flight of the Greeks; and that he exhorted him not to suffer them to escape; but while they were in this confusion, and at a distance from their land forces, to attack and destroy their whole army. Xerxes took this information kindly, sup- posing it to proceed from friendship, and im- mediately gave orders to his officers, with two hundred ships, to surround all the passages, and to inclose the islands, that none of the Greeks might escape, and then to follow with the rest of the ships at their leisure. Aristides, the son of Lysimachus, was the first that per- ceived this motio*n of the enemy; and though he was not in friendship with Themistocles, but had been banished by his means, he went to him, and told him they were surrounded by the enemy.* Themistocles, knowing his probity, and charmed with his coming to give this intelligence, acquainted him with the af- * Aristides was not then in the confederate fleet, but in the isle of Egina, from whence he sailed by night, with great hazard, through the Persian fleet, to carry this intelligence. Xerxes is deceived. B.C.480 THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 253 fair of Sicinus, and entreated him to lend his assistance to keep the Greeks in their station; and, as they had a confidence in his honor, to persuade them to come to an engagement in the straits. Aristides approved the proceed- ings of Themistocles, and going to the other admirals and captains, encouraged them to engage. As soon as it was day, Xerxes sat down on an eminence to view the fleet and its order of xerxes watches the battle. He placed himself, as Phanodemus ^^"'^• writes, above the temple of Hercules, where the isle of Salamis is separated from Attica by a narrow frith; but according to Acestodorus, on the confines of Megara, upon a spot called Kerata, the horns. He was seated on a throne of gold,* and had many secretaries about him, whose business it was to write down the particulars of the action. In the meantime, as Themistocles was sac- rificing on the deck of the admiral-galley, three captives were brought to him of un- common beauty, elegantly attired, and set off with golden ornaments. They were said to be the sons of Autarctus and Sandace, sister to Xerxes. Euphrantide, the soothsayer, cast- ing his eye upon them, and at the same time observing that a bright flame blazed out from * This throne or seat, whether of gold or silver, or both, was taken and carried to Athens, where it was consecrated in the temple of the Minerva, with the golden sabre of Mar- donius, which was taken afterward in the battle of Platea. 254: THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 480 the victims,* while a sneezing was heard from the right, took Themistocles by the hand, and Thcmisto- , ^ ', , , , , , J , ciessacri- ordcrcd that the three youths should be con- hccs the -' xTrxir"^ sec rated and sacrificed to Bacchus Omestes, for by this means the Greeks might be as- sured not only of safety, but victory. Themistocles was astonished at the strange- ness and cruelty of the order; but the multi- tude, who, in great and pressing difficulties, trust rather to absurd than rational methods, invoked the god with one voice, and leading the captives to the altar, insisted upon their being oflfered up, as the soothsayer had di- rected. As to the number of the Persian ships, the rhe'fllefs P°^^ Eschylus speaks of it, in his tragedy entitled Persae, as a matter he was well assured of: A thousand ships (for well I know the number) The Persian flag obey'd : two hundred more • And seven, o'erspread the seas. The Athenians had only one hundred and eighty galleys; each carried eighteen men that fought upon deck, four of whom were archers, and the rest heavy armed. If Themistocles was happy in choosing a * A bright flame was always considered as a fortunate omen, whether it were a real one issuing from an altar, or a seeming one (what we call shell-fire) from the head of a living person. Virgil mentions one of the latter sort, which appeared about the head of Julus and Florus, another that A s seen about the head of Servius TuUius. A sneezing on the right hand, too, was deemed a lucky omen both by the Greeks and Latins. ■.C.480 THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 255 place for action, he was no less so in taking advantage of a proper time for it; for he would not engage the enemy till that time of day when a brisk wind usually arises from the sea, which occasions a high surf in the chan- nel. This was no inconvenience to the Gre- cian vessels, which were low built and well compacted; but a very great one to the Per- sian ships, which had high sterns and lofty decks, and were heavy and unwieldy; for it caused them to veer in such a manner that their sides were exposed to the Greeks, who attacked them furiously. During the whole dispute, great attention was given to the mo- tions of Themistocles, as it was believed he knew best how to proceed. Ariamenes, the Persian admiral, a man of distinguished The bauie. honor, and by far the bravest of the king's brothers, directed his manoeuvres chiefly against him. His ship was very tall, and from thence he threw darts and shot forth arrows as from the walls of a castle. But Aminias the Decelean, and Sosicles the Pedian, who sailed in one bottom, bore down upon him with their prow, and both ships meeting, they were fastened together by means of their brazen beaks; when Ariamenes boarding their galley, they received him with their pikes, and pushed him into the sea. Artemisia* knew * Artemisia, Queen of Halicarnassus, distinguished herself above all the rest of the Persian forces, her ships being the last that fled, which Xerxes observing, cried out that the men 256 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c.^so the body among others that were floating with the wreck, and carried it to Xerxes. While the fight was thus raging, we are told a great light appeared, as from Eleusis; and loud sounds and voices were heard through all the plain of Thriasia to the sea, as of a great number of people carrying the mystic symbols of Bacchus in procession.* A cloud, too, seemed to rise from among the crowd that made this noise, and to ascend by degrees, till Apparitions it fell upon thc galleys. Other phantoms also thl"ba"u?^ and apparitions of armed men, they thought they saw, stretching out their hands from Egina before the Grecian fleet. These they conjectured to be the Eacidae,t to whom, be- fore the battle, they had addressed their prayers for succor. The first man that took a ship was an Athe- behaved like women, and the women with the courage and intrepidity of men. The Athenians were so incensed against her that they offered a reward of ten thousand drachmas to any one that should take her alive. This princess must not be confounded with that Artemisia who was the wife of Mausojas, king of Caria. * Herodotus says, these voices were heard, and this vision seen, some days before the battle, while the Persian land forces were ravaging the territories of Attica. Diceus, an Athenian exile (who hoped thereby to procure a mitigation of his country's fate), was the first that observed the thing, and carried an account of it to Xerxes. t A vessel had been sent to Egina to implore the assistance of Ecus and his descendants. Ecus was the son of Jupiter, and had been king of Egina. He was so remarkable for his justice, that his prayers, while he lived, are said to have pro- cured great advantages to the Greeks; and, after his death, it was believed that he was appointed one of the three judges in the infernal regions. B.C. 48o THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 257 nian named Lycomedes, captain of a galley, who cut down the ensigns from the enemy's ship, and consecrated them to the laurelled Apollo. As the Persians could come up in the The Per. , /■ . If t sians are Straits but few at a time, and often put each defeated. other in confusion, the Greeks equalling them in the line, fought them till the evening, when they broke them entirely, and gained that sig- nal and complete victory, than which (as Simonides says) no other naval achievement, either of the Greeks or barbarians, ever was more glorious. This success was owing to the valor, indeed, of all the confederates, but chiefly to the sagacity and conduct of The- mistocles.* After the battle, Xerxes, full of indigna- tion at his disappointment, attempted to join Xerxes Salamis to the continent, by a mole so well se- Heulspom. cured that his land forces might pass over it into the island, and that he might shut up the pass entirely against the Greeks. At the same time, Themistocles, to sound Aristides, pre- tended it was his own opinion that they should sail to the Hellespont, and break down the bridge of ships: "For so," says he, "we may take Asia, without stirring out of Europe." Aristides did not in the least relish his pro- posal, but answered him to this purpose: "Till now we have had to do with an enemy im- * In this battle, which was one of the most memorable we find in history, the Grecians lost forty ships, and the Persians two hundred, besides a great many more that were taken. 258 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c..8o mersed in luxury; but if we shut him up in Greece, and drive him to necessity, he who is master of such prodigious forces will no longer sit under a golden canopy, and be a quiet spectator of the proceedings of the war, but, awaked by danger, attempting every- aSm! thing, and present everywhere, he will cor- rect his past errors, and follow counsels better calculated for success. Instead, therefore, of breaking that bridge, we should, if possible, provide another, that he may retire the sooner out of Europe." "If that is the case," said Themistocles, "we must all consider and cort- trive how to put him upon the most speedy retreat out of Greece." This being resolved upon, he sent one of the king's eunuchs, whom he found among the prisoners, Arnaces by name, to acquaint him, "That the Greeks, since their victory at sea, were determined to sail to the Hellespont, and destroy the bridge; but that Themistocles, in care for the king's safety, advised him to hasten toward his own seas, and pass over into Asia, while his friend endeavored to find out t'^eltstnto pretences of delay, to prevent the confederates ^^'^' from pursuing him." Xerxes, terrified at the news, retired with the greatest precipitation.* * Xerxes, having left Mardonius in Greece with an army of three hundred thousand men, marched with the rest toward Thrace, in order to cross the Hellespont. As no provisions had been prepared beforehand, his army underwent great hardships durmg the whole time of his march, which lasted five-and- forty days. The king, finding they were not in a B.C. 480 THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 259 How prudent the management of Themisto- cles and Aristides was, Mardonius afforded a proof, when, with a small part of the king's forces, he put the Greeks in extreme danger of losing all in the battle of Platea. [In 479, the allied Greeks won the great battle of Platea, and on the same day they captured the camp of Mycale. Samos, Les- bos, and Chios and many Greek colonies on Athens and the coast of Asia Minor then joined the Hel- ^^'^' lenic League, and carried on an offensive war against the Persians till 449. In 475, the leadership was transferred from Sparta to Athens, and the Hellenic Confederacy, with the temple of Apollo in Delos as a religious centre, was formed. Cimon, the admiral of the League, defeated the Persian army and fleet in the battle of Eurymedon in 465. The constantly growing power of Athens excited the jealousy of her allies and led to war against the Spartans and Beotians (457-451). In 445, peace was concluded for thirty years be- tween Athens and Sparta. In 462, the quar- rels in Rome between the plebeians and p^-^nf^^ tricians culminated in a period of anarchy Rome'" lasting for ten years. This was ended by the condition to pursue their route so expeditiously as he desired, advanced with a small retinue; but, when he arrived at the Hellespont, he found his bridge of boats broken down by the violence of the storms, and was reduced to the necessity of crossing over in a fishing boat. From the Hellespont he con- tinued his flight to Sardis. 260 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS „.c. 480 drawing up of a famous code of laws known as the Twelve Tables, and the appointment The ' . . Decemviri, of tco patficians called the Decemviri, whose government, however, lasted only two years. Rome had gradually been gathering strength at the expense of her neighbors in wars with the southern Etruscans, Volscians, and Equi.] FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE (B.C. 449) CHARLES MERIVALE THE agrarian laws of the earlier tribunes had taken, it would seem, little effect; but the people acquiesced in their dis- appointment perhaps the rhore readily because the territory for division had rather dimin- ished than increased, and in the face of the constant ravages of the enemy had for the most part become less an object of greed. On another point, however, the plebeians had a Grievances real grievance, and to this they now more di- plebeians. rectly addressed themselves. The civil law of Rome at this period was the law of the primi- tive race, the law of the patricians only, and the patricians alone claimed the right of ex- pounding it. In their dealings with one an- other the plebeians might follow acommon law or custom of their own ; but as against the rival order, the real masters of the state, or, as they still asserted of themselves, the state itself, the commons, as the inferior or vassal race, had no standing in the law courts. The grand object now at last presented itself to the most large- minded of the plebeian chiefs to effect the fu- (261) 262 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 449 sion of the Quiritary law, the primitive code of the patricians, w4th the equity or usage of the classes beneath, or now more truly beside Dissensions them. Thc tribune Tercntilius Harsa took violence, thc lead in this bold and politic movement. He began by proposing in the year 462 that a commission of five or ten persons should be appointed to define the power of the consuls, which was no less arbitrary in the tribunals at home than in the camp beyond the walls. The measure was of course delayed and thwarted. Foreign perils as well as internal dissension prevailed for a long time against it. Within the city this dissension broke out into open vio- lence. In 460, the faction of the commons, un- der the daring lead of the Sabine, Appius Her- donius, actually seized the Capitol by night, and was dislodged not without bloodshed. Keso Quinctius, the son of Cincinnatus, dis- tinguished himself for at least equal violence on the other side; but Virginius the tribune accused him before the people, and he only escaped the penalty of death by taking refuge in exile. It was, indeed, the large fine which the father paid for him on this occasion that reduced Cincinnatus to the poverty which was thus doubly honorable to him. But the ple- beians were the gainers by this struggle. In 454, the tribune Icilius carried a measure for surrendering to the poorer commons the whole The Aven =• ^ .ineHiii. of the Aventine Hill, which was public do- main, and which became from this time en- B.C. 449 FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE 263 tirely occupied by the second order. The Aventine, the loftiest, and, next to the Capito- line, reputed the strongest eminence in Rome, now constituted the citadel of the plebeians, and henceforth greatly increased their politi- cal consideration. The plebeians boasted moreover a champion of their own to rival the prowess of a Corio- T r\ T^ Dentatus, lanus or a Cincinnatus. L. Sicinius Dentatus '^^5^^°^^ was one of a family which had led the people to the Mons Sacer, and made the most vigor- ous attacks on the patricians in their behalf. He was so distinguished for his personal valor as to have been designated the Roman Achil- les ; but, unlike the hero whom a special charm had rendered invulnerable except in his heel, he had received no less than forty-five wounds in front in the hundred and twenty battles in which he had been engaged. The rewards he had gained and the triumphs in which he had partaken were in due proportion to his merits and his sufferings. As tribune in the year 452 he gained a victory over the oppo- nents of his party, and compelled them at last to concede the measure pressed upon them by Terentilius. To himself, indeed, this victory was fatal, for the patricians vowed to get rid of him by any means; and at no distant period Q. Fabius, who commanded the army, caused him to be despatched by a band of soldiers with whom he was sent to reconnoitre the ene- my. But his popular policy did not fail to 864 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 449 bear fruit. Three commissioners — a Postumi- sionersto US, 2L Maiilius, and a Sulpicius, all patricians Greckiavvs — wcrc scnt to study and report on the civil laws of the Greeks. Whether, as the Romans of a later age imagined, they were actually de- puted to visit Greece proper and Athens, the headquarters of public law in Greece, or whether their journey was really limited to the peoples of Greek descent in the south of Italy, we may accept the general truth of this curious incident, and conclude that at this pe- riod Rome did actually seek for principles of wise and liberal legislation from the superior civilization, not of the Etruscans or the Car- thaginians, but of the Greeks. The salutary reformation thus begun rolled on apace. In the year 450 the consuls, the tribunes, the aediles, and the questors, all the great magistrates of the city of either party, were summarily superseded by the ten com- missioners, who, under the title of Decemvirs, were appointed to prepare the new code. To facilitate the movement the plebeians were content to waive the most precious of their conquests, the right of appeal from the con- suls, while they acceded to the claim of the pa- tricians, as recognized expounders of the ex- isting law, to occupy all the places in the com- Decemvirs. mission that should revise it. On March 15 that year the decemvirs entered on their office, and each of them exercised supreme authority with the lictors and its other insignia day by B.C. 449 FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE 265 day in turn. The leading spirit among them was one Appius Claudius, according to some accounts the same whose boldness and haughti- ness have been before noticed; but if the ac- counts we have followed be at all trustworthy, the elder Appius had perished twenty years earlier, and the chief of the decemvirs was another doubtless of the same race and of kin- dred spirit. The fanatical pride of the Appii Claudii (the nomen and the prenomen were generally borne together) was for many hun- dred years a constant tradition of Roman story. At first, indeed, these new magistrates are said to have borne their honors meekly, and to have taken measures to secure the favor of the whole body of the people to their legislation. They promulgated in the course of the year ten tables of enactments compiled on the principles of Grecian jurisprudence. During their second year of office, however, when some of the more moderate of their number had given place to successors of a fiercer spirit, TheTweive the prejudices of Appius prevailed, and two more tables were set forth, which altogether failed to obtain general approbation. Then it was that these ten tyrants, as they came to be regarded, constrained the people to go forth to battle, and effected by treachery the slaugh- ter of their hero Dentatus. But it was the per- sonal and more domestic crime of the cruel Appius that raised the people at last in fury against them. The well-known tragedy of 12 Vol. 1 266 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c.449 Virginia need only be glanced at. Daughter vWnu of the noble plebeian Virginius, she was be- trothed to the not less noble Icilius. Appius, inflamed with loose passion, sought to obtain her person by setting one of his clients to claim her as his own slave. Her friends appealed to the law and to testimony; but the audacious violence of the decemvir prevailed, and Vir- ginia was adjudged to the wicked claimant, when her father, despairing of redress, took her for a moment aside from the crowd to the booths which skirted the Forum, and laying hold of a butcher's knife struck her dead at his feet. This done, he rushed away to the camp, proclaimed the deed to the legions, and prevailed on them to break up from their outposts on the frontier, hasten back to Rome, and occupy their stronghold on the Aventine. There or on the Mons Sacer they collected a vast following of the citizens, and combining with the forces of the Sabines, defied in full revolt the tyranny of their rulers. The de- cemvirs made a faint show of reducing the people to obedience. But they felt that the general sentiment was against them, and speed- ily relinquished their power. Two of the number, however, Valerius and Horatius, re- paired to the popular stronghold, and prom- ised the restoration of the tribunate and the right of appeal. The comitia were held and tribunes elected for the plebeians, while Vale- rius and Horatius succeeded, as they so well B.C. 449 FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE 267 deserved, to the consulship. The liberties of the people were assured by several enactments ; but vengeance was still due to the blood which had been shed. Virginius accused the decem- virs. Appius killed himself in the prison to ■■^ * ^ Suicide of which he had been consigned. Oppius did^^^'^y^^'*'^ the same. The others fled self-banished, and their property was confiscated. After this an amnesty was proclaimed. The whole nation, now firmly united, gained a decisive victory over the Equians and the Sabines. Never- theless the Senate, which had hitherto exer- cised the sole right of according triumphs, refused the honor, and it was by a special and irregular decree of the people that the pop- ular consuls mounted to the Capitol. Such was one of the steps by which the tribunes slowly raised their order to an equal position with their rivals. The law of Terentilius, as has been said, The new was directed to the establishment of new prin- i^^s. ciples of legislation in the interest of the ple- beians. We are tempted to suppose that it was intended to place the two orders under a common law as regarded their personal and proprietary, if not as yet their political rights also. For so, undoubtedly, the Grecian states, which were to furnish the model of the new system, were already in a more advanced so- cial state when the political pretensions of the different orders out of which they had origi- nally sprung had become fused for the most 268 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 449 part together. But the slender fragments that remain to us of the laws of the Twelve Tables go but a little way to justify this conception; nor do the references made to them by the Ro- mans themselves at a later period, when they were still in living force, and might be called by Livy "the spring of all public and private law," seem to bear it out. We can see, in- deed, or seem to see, that in these enactments lay the foundation of the later Roman law; and if it were the purpose of these pages to give a full antiquarian history of Roman life and manners, it would be well to take this op- portunity of explaining the groundwork at least of the Jus Civile; but the connection between them and the circumstances out of which they are stated to have arisen — the ri- valries, namely, of patricians and plebeians, and their conflicting claims and jealousies — seems actually so slight that it can only disap- point close scrutiny. It was no quarrel of Absolute class against class that was adjusted by the theXthir. laws which specially secured to the father of a family his absolute power over his slaves, his children, his wife, and his property. The interests, indeed, of the plebeians might be somewhat more concerned with the enact- ments now made for the protection of the clients against the neglect of their patrons; for the clients of the patricians were gradually escaping from their patrons' authority, and throwing in their lot more and more with the B.C. 449 FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE 269 plebeians. Some provisions that were now effected for the security of property, and for giving the actual possessor the fee simple after a short unopposed occupation, may indicate the gradual advance of the low^er order in territorial proprietorship; but the protection which the law was made to afford to property generally, as compared with that which it ex- tended to the person, applied to all classes equally. It bespeaks the character of the Ro- man people, who could be trusted to defend themselves, but while constantly called away to serve their country were often obliged to leave home and land undefended; but it tells us nothing of the relative position of orders and classes among them. On the whole we must conclude, from a review of what little personal is known to us of the decemviral legislation, that it was to the personal equality of all classes in the eye of the law rather than to the equalizing of political privileges that it pointed. The poor citizen was protected by special enactment against the usurious exac- tions of the wealthy creditor, the feeble was defended against the strong man in the law courts, the false witness and the corrupt judge were subjected to summary punishment, ap- peal was given to the people in full assembly against the unjust sentence of the patrician magistrate, and, on the other hand, the people themselves were enabled, by a popular sen- tence, to inflict capital punishment. Doubt- 270 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. 449 less the importance of the comitia of the cen- turies was enhanced by such an authority con- ceded to it; but the centuries, as we have seen, represented wealth, in the tribes it was num- ber alone that prevailed, and a great revolu- tionary principle was sanctioned in the decree that whatever the comitia of the tribes should determine should have the force of law for all the citizens. Hitherto the decision of the tribes could bind the plebeians only. In the face of such a power the comitia of the curies and the centuries soon gave way altogether. [From 444 to 429, Athens prospered under Athenssuc- the brilliant rule of Pericles. In 471, the cumbs to '^ ' Sparta. envy of the Dorian confederacy and the ambi- tion of Athens led to the outbreak of the Pel- oponnesian War. During this war, Athens suffered terribly from the ravages of plague, to which, among others, Pericles fell a victim. The war ended with the surrender of Athens in 404 and the consequent supremacy of Sparta.] THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS (B.C. 420) THUCYDIDES AS soon as summer returned, the Pelopon- nesian army, comprising, as before, two-thirds of the force of each con- federate state, under the command of the Lacederfionian king, Archidamus, the son of Zeuxidamus, invaded Attica, where they es- tablished themselves and ravaged the country. They had not been there many days when the outbreak plague broke out at Athens for the first time.p'^^^ A similar disorder is said to have previously smitten many places, particularly Lemnos, but there is no record of such a pestilence oc- curring elsewhere, or of so great a destruction of human life. For a while physicians, in ig- norance of the nature of the disease, sought to apply remedies; but it was in vain, and they themselves were among the first victims, be- cause they oftenest came into contact with it. No human art was of any avail, and as to sup- plications in temples, inquiries of oracles, and the like, they were utterly useless, and at last men were overpowered by the calamity and gave them all up. (271) 272 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 4ao The disease is said to have begun south of thc^ile^ase. Egypt in Ethiopia; thence it descended into Egypt and Libya, and after spreading over the greater part of the Persian empire, sud- denly fell upon Athens. It first attacked the inhabitants of the Pireus, and it was supposed that the Peloponnesians had poisoned the cis- terns, no conduits having as yet been made there. It afterward reached the upper city, and then the mortality became far greater. As to its probable origin, or the causes which might or could have produced such a dis- turbance of nature, every man, whether a phy- sician or not, will give his own opinion. But I shall describe its actual course, and the symp- toms by which any one who knows them be- forehand may recognize the disorder should it ever reappear. For I was myself attacked, and witnessed the sufferings of others. The season was admitted to have been re- markably free from ordinary sickness; and if anybody was already ill of any other disease, Character- it was absorbcd in this. Many who were in IhTdisease. pcrfcct health, all in a moment, and without any apparent reason, were seized with violent heats in the head and with redness and inflam- mation of the eyes. Internally the throat and the tongue were quickly suffused with blood, and the breath became unnatural and fetid. There followed sneezing and hoarseness; in a short time the disorder, accompanied by a violent cough, reached the chest; then fasten- B.C.420 THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 273 ing lower down, it would move the stomach and bring on all the vomits of bile to which physicians have ever given names; and they were very distressing. An ineffectual retch- ing, producing violent convulsions, attacked most of the sufferers; some as soon as the pre- vious symptoms had abated, others not until long afterward. The body, externally, was not so very hot to the touch, nor yet pale; it was of a livid color inclining to red, and break- ing out in pustules and ulcers. But the in- ternal fever was intense; the sufferers could not bear to have on them even the finest linen garment; they insisted on being naked, and there was nothing which they longed for more eagerly than to throw themselves into cold water. And many of those who had no onexerribie to look after them actually plunged into the cisterns, for they were tormented by unceas- ing thirst, which was not in the least assuaged whether they drank little or much. They could not sleep ; a restlessness which was in- tolerable never left them. While the disease was at its height the body, instead of wasting away, held out amid these sufferings in a mar- vellous manner, and either they died on the seventh or ninth day, not of weakness, for their strength was not exhausted, but of in- ternal fever; which was the end of most; or, if they survived, then the disease descended into the bowels and there produced violent ulceration; severe diarrhoea at the same time 274 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS •c 4«» set in, and at a later stage caused exhaustion, which finally, with few exceptions, carried them off. For the disorder which had origi- nally settled in the head passed gradually through the whole body, and if a person got over the worst, would often seize the extremi- ties and leave its mark, attacking the privy parts and the fingers and the toes; and some escaped with the loss of these, some with the loss of their eyes. Some again had no sooner recovered than they were seized with a for- getfulness of all things and knew neither themselves nor their friends. The malady took a form not to be described, and the fury with which it fastened upon each sufferer was too much for human nature to Birds and cndurc. Thcre was one circumstance in par- avmd^the ticular which distinguished it from ordinary diseases. The birds and animals which feed on human flesh, although so many bodies were lying unburied, either never came near them, or died if they touched them. This was proved by a remarkable disappearance of the birds of prey, who were not to be seen either about the bodies or anywhere else; while in the case of the dogs the fact was even more obvious, because they live with man. Such was the general nature of the disease: I omit many strange peculiarities which char- acterized individual cases. None of the ordi- nary sicknesses attacked any one while it lasted, or, if they did, they ended in the corpses. B.C. 420 THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 276 plague. Some of the sufferers died from want of care, others equally who were receiving the greatest attention. No single remedy could be deemed a specific; for that which did good to one did harm to another. No constitution was of itself strong enough to resist or weak enough to escape the attacks; the disease car- ried ofif all alike and defied every mode of treatment. Most appalling was the despon- dency which seized upon any one who felt himself sickening; for he instantly abandoned his mind to despair, and, instead of holding out, absolutely threw away his chance of life. ^t^'^^^Lh Appalling too was the rapidity with which tioVsprekd. men caught the infection; dying like sheep if they attended on one another; and this was the principal cause of mortality. When they were afraid to visit one another, the sufferers died in their solitude, so that many houses were empty because there had been no one left to take care of the sick; or if they ventured they perished, especially those who aspired to heroism. For they went to see their friends without thought of themselves and were ashamed to leave them, even at a time when the very relations of the dying were at last growing weary and ceased to make lamenta- tions, overwhelmed by the vastness of the ca- lamity. But whatever instances there may have been of such devotion, more often the sick and the dying were tended by the pitying care of those who had recovered, because they 276 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 430 knew the course of the disease and were them- selves free from apprehension. For no one was ever attacked a second time, or not with a fatal result. All men congratulated them, and they themselves, in the excess of their joy at the moment, had an innocent fancy that they could not die of any other sickness. The crowding of the people out of the coun- ^jowding try mto the city aggravated the misery; and the newly-arrived suffered most. For, having no houses of their own, but inhabiting in the height of summer stifling huts, the mortality among them was dreadful, and they perished in wild disorder. The dead lay as they had died, one upon another, while others hardly alive wallowed in the streets and crawled about every fountain craving for water. The temples in which they lodged were full of corpses of those who died in them; for the violence of the calamity was such that men, not knowing where to turn, grew reckless of all law, human and divine. The customs which had hitherto been observed at funerals Violation were universally violated, and they buried of ancient . •' °^ their dead each one as best he could. Maiiy, having no proper appliances, because the deaths in their households had been so fre- quent, made no scruple of using the burial- place of others. When one man had raised a funeral pile, others would come, and throw- ing on their dead first, set fire to it; or when some other corpse was already burning, before customs burial. B.C.420 THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 277 they could be stopped would throw their own dead upon it and depart. There were other and worse forms of law- lessness which the plague introduced at Ath- ens. Men who had hitherto concealed their indulgence in pleasure now grew bolder. For, seeing the sudden change — how the rich died in a moment, and those who had nothing im- mediately inherited their property — they re-^m^^^j fleeted that life and riches were alike transi- fo"us''re-^' tory, and they resolved to enjoy themselves asippeak'^ they could and think only of pleasure. Who would be willing to sacrifice himself to the law of honor when he knew not whether he would ever live to be held in honor? The pleasure of the moment, and any sort "of thing which conduced to it, took the place both of honor and expediency. No fear of God or law of man deterred a criminal. Those who saw all perishing alike, thought that the wor- ship or neglect of the gods made no differ- ence. For offences against human law no punishment was to be feared; no one would live long enough to be called to account. Al- ready a far heavier sentence had been passed and was hanging over a man's head; before that fell why should he not take a little pleasure? Such was the grievous calamity which now afflicted the Athenians: within the walls their people were dying, and without, their coun- try was being ravaged. In their troubles they ancient oracle. 278 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 420 naturally called to mind a verse which the elder men among them declared to have been current long ago: — "A Dorian war will come, and a plague with it" There was a dispute about the precise ex- anckm" pression; some saymg that limos, a famine, and not loimos, a plague, was the word. Nev- ertheless, as might have been expected, for men's memories reflected their sufferings, the argument in favor of loimos prevailed at the time. But if ever in future years another Do- rian war arises which happens to be accom- panied by a famine, they will probably repeat the verse in the other form. The answer of the oracle to the Lacedemonians when the god was asked "whether they should go to war or not," and he replied "that if they fought with all their might, they would conquer, and that he himself would take their part," was not forgotten by those who had heard of it, and they quite imagined that they were witness- ing the fulfilment of his words. The disease certainly did set in immediately after the in- vasion of the Peloponnesians, and did not spread into Peloponnesus in any degree worth speaking of, while Athens felt its ravages most severely, and next to Athens the places which were most populous. Such was the history of the plague. SIEGE OF SYRACUSE (B.C. 415) E. S. CREASY A CITY built close to the sea, like Syra- cuse, was impregnable, save by the combined operations of a superior hostile fleet and a superior hostile army; and Syracuse, from her size, her population, and her military and naval resources, not unnatu- besieged, rally thought herself secure from finding in another Greek city a foe capable of sending a sufficient armament to menace her with cap- ture and subjection. But in the spring of B.C. 414, the Athenian navy was mistress of her harbor and the adjacent seas; an Athenian army had defeated her troops, and cooped them within the town; and from bay to bay a blockading wall was being rapidly carried across the strips of level ground and the high ridge outside the city (then termed Epipolae), which, if completed, would have cut the Syra- cusans ofif from all succor from the interior of Sicily, and have left them at the mercy of the Athenian generals. The besiegers' works were, indeed, unfinished; but every day the (279) 280 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. 4IS aggrression. unfortified interval in their lines grew nar- rower, and with it diminished all apparent hope of safety for the beleaguered town. Athenian Athens was now staking the flower of her forces, and the accumulated fruits of seventy years of glory, on one bold throw for the do- minion of the Western world. At Marathon we beheld Athens struggling for self-preservation against the invading armies of the East. At Syracuse she appears as the ambitious and oppressive invader of others. In her, as in other republics of old and of modern times, the same energy that had inspired the most heroic efforts in de- fence of the national independence, soon learned to employ itself in daring and unscru- pulous schemes of self-aggrandizement at the expense of neighboring nations. In the inter- val between the Persian and the Peloponne- sian wars she had rapidly grown into a con- quering and dominant state, the chief of a thousand tributary cities, and the mistress of the largest and best-manned navy that the Mediterranean had yet beheld. The occupa- tions of her territory by Xerxes and Mardo- nius, in the second Persian war, had forced her whole population to become mariners; and the glorious results of that struggle confirmed them in their zeal for their country's service at sea. The voluntary suffrage of the Greek cities of the coasts and islands of the Egean first placed Athens at the head of the confed- Athenians all sailors. B.C. 41S SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 281 eration formed for the further prosecution of the war against Persia. But this titular as- cendency was soon converted by her into prac- tical and arbitrary dominion. She protected them from piracy and the Persian power, which soon fell into decrepitude and decay, - but she exacted in return implicit obedience to herself. She claimed and enforced a pre- rogative of taxing them at her discretion, and proudly refused to be accountable for her mode of expending their supplies. Remon- strance against her assessments was treated as factious disloyalty, and refusal to pay was promptly punished as revolt. Permitting and encouraging her subject allies to furnish all their contingents in money, instead of part consisting of ships and men, the sovereign re- public gained the double object of training her own citizens by constant and well-paid service in her fleets, and of seeing her confed- erates lose their skill and discipline by inac- tion, and become more and more passive and powerless under her yoke. All republics that acquire supremacy over other nations rule them selfishly and oppres-^^^^|jJ,°p- sively. There is no exception to this in either ancient or modern" times. Carthage, Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Pisa, Holland, and Republican France, all tyrannized over every province and subject state where they gained authority. But none of them openly avowed their system of doing so upon principle with 282 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.t.,.s the candor which the Athenian republicans displayed when any remonstrance was made against the severe exactions which they im- posed upon their vassal allies. They avowed that their empire was a tyranny, and frankly stated that they solely trusted to force and ter- ror to uphold it. They appealed to what they called "the eternal law of nature, that the weak should be coerced by the strong." Some- times they stated, and not without some truth, that the unjust hatred of Sparta against them- selves forced them to be unjust to others in self-defence. To be safe, they must be power- ful; and to be powerful, they must plunder and coerce their neighbors. Her great political dramatist speaks of the Athenian empire as comprehending a thou- sand states. The language of the stage must not be taken too literally; but the number of Affs.** "^ the dependencies of Athens, at the time when the Peloponnesian confederacy attacked her, was undoubtedly very great. With a few trifling exceptions, all the islands of the Egean, and all the Greek cities, which in that age fringed the coasts of Asia Minor, the Hel- lespont and Thrace, paid tribute to Athens, and implicitly obeyed her orders. The Egean Sea was an Attic lake. Westward of Greece, her influence, though strong, was not equally predominant. She had colonies and allies among the wealthy and populous Greek set- tlements in Sicily and South Italy, but she had B.C. 415 SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 283 no organized system of confederates in those regions ; and her galleys brought her no tribute con^eder- 1 TTT rr^i • /• I acy formed. from the Western seas. The extension of her empire over Sicily was the favorite project of her ambitious orators and generals. When her bitterest enemies, the Corinthians, suc- ceeded, in B.C. 431, in inducing Sparta to at- tack her, and a confederacy was formed of five-sixths of the continental Greeks, all ani- mated by anxious jealousy and bitter hatred of Athens; when armies far superior in num- bers and equipment to those which had marched against the Persians were poured into the Athenian territory, and laid it waste to the city walls, the general opinion was that Athens would be reduced, in two or three years at the furthest, to submit to the requi- sitions of her invaders. Athens accepted the war with which her enemies threatened her rather than descend Athens suf- f rom her pride of place ; and though the awful calamities. visitation of the Plague came upon her, and swept away more of her citizens than the Dorian spear laid low, she held her own gal- lantly against her enemies. If the Pelopon- nesian armies in irresistible strength wasted every spring her cornlands, her vineyards, and her olive groves with fire and sword, she retaliated on their coasts with her fleets; which, if resisted, were only resisted to dis- play the pre-eminent skill and bravery of her seamen. Some of her subject allies revolted, 284 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 415 but the revolts were in general sternly and promptly quelled. The genius of one enemy had indeed inflicted blows on her power in Thrace which she was unable to remedy; but he fell in battle in the tenth year of the war, and with the loss of Brasidas the Lacede- monians seemed to have lost all energy and judgment. Both sides at length grew weary yikre"war. of the war, and in 421 a truce for fifty years was concluded, which, though ill kept, and though many of the confederates of Sparta refused to recognize it, and hostilities still continued in many parts of Greece, protected the Athenian territory from the ravages of enemies, and enabled Athens to accumulate large sums out of the proceeds of her annual revenues. So also, as a few years passed by, the havoc which the pestilence and the sword had made in her population was repaired ; and in B.C. 415 Athens was full of bold and restless spirits, who longed for some field of distant enterprise wherein they might signalize them- selves and aggrandize the state, and who looked on the alarm of Spartan hostility as a mere old woman's tale. The West was now the quarter toward which the thoughts of every aspiring Athe- nian were directed. From the very beginning Athens of the war Athens had kept up an interest in s?cii5% Sicily, and her squadron had, from time to time, appeared on its coasts and taken part in the discussions in which the Sicilian Greeks B.C. 415 SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 285 were universally engaged one against each other. There were plausible grounds for a direct quarrel, and an open attack by the Athenians upon Syracuse. With the capture of Syracuse, all Sicily, it was hoped, would be secured. CartHage and Italy were next to be attacked. With large levies of Iberian mercenaries she then meant to overwhelm her Peloponnesian ene- mies. The Persian monarchy lay in hopeless imbecility, inviting Greek invasion; nor did the known world contain the power that seemed capable of checking the growing might of Athens, if Syracuse once could be hers. The armament which the Athenians The Athe- equipped against Syracuse was in every way"'^""^"' worthy of the state which formed such proj- ects of universal empire, and it has been truly termed "the noblest that ever yet had been set forth by a free and civilized common- wealth." The fleet consisted of one hundred and thirty-four war-galleys, with a multitude of store-ships. A powerful force of the best heavy-armed infantry that Athens and her allies could furnish was sent on board it, to- gether with a smaller number of slingers and bowmen. The quality of the forces was even more remarkable than the number. The zeal of individuals vied with that of the republic in giving every galley the best possible crew, and every troop the most perfect accoutre- 286 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ■c 415 ments. And with private as well as public wealth eagerly lavished on all that could give splendor as well as efficiency to the expedi- tion, the fatal fleet began its voyage for the Sicilian shores in the summer of 415. Of the three generals who led the Athenian Mhenian cxpcdition, two only were men of ability, and generals. ^^^ ^^^ most wcak and incompetent. Fortu- nately for Syracuse, Alcibiades, the most skil- ful of the three, was soon deposed from his command by a factious and fanatic vote of his fellow-countrymen, and the other compe- tent one, Lamachus, fell early in a skirmish; while, more fortunately still for her, the feeble and vacillating Nicias remained unrecalled and unhurt, to assume the undivided leader- ship of the Athenian army and fleet, and to mar, by alternate over-caution and over-care- lessness, every chance of success which the early part of the operations offered. Still, even under him, the Athenians nearly won the town. They defeated the raw levies of the Syracusans, cooped them wnthin the walls, and, as before mentioned, almost effected a continuous fortification from bay to bay over Epipolae, the completion of which would cer- tainly have been followed by a capitulation. Alcibiades, the most complete example of genius without principle that history .pro- AidbSdes. duces, but with high military talents super- added to diplomatic oratorical powers, on being summoned home from his command in B.C. 415 SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 287 Sicily to take his trial before the Athenian tribunal, had escaped to Sparta, and had ex- erted himself there with all the selfish rancor of a renegade to renew the war with Athens, and to send instant assistance to Syracuse. The renegade then proceeded to urge on them the necessity of encouraging their friends in Sicily, by showing that they themselves were in earnest in hostility to Athens. He ex- horted them not only to march their armies into Attica again, but to take up a permanent fortified position in the country; but he gave them in detail information of all that the Athe- nians most dreaded, and how his country might receive the most distressing and endur- ing injury at their hands. The Spartans resolved to act on his advice, and appointed Gylippus to the Sicilian com-spana mand. His country gave him neither men gyhppus. nor money, but she gave him her authority; and the influence of her name and of his own talents was speedily seen in the zeal with which the Corinthians and other Pelopon- nesian Greeks began to equip a squadron to act under him for the rescue of Sicily. As soon as four galleys were ready, he hurried over with them. The sight of actual succor, and the promise of more, revived the drooping spirits of the Syracusans. They felt that they were not left desolate to perish, and the tidings that a Spar- tan was coming to command them confirmed 288 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS I.e. .«i5 their resolution to continue their resistance. Gylippus was already near the city. He had learned at Locri that the first report which had reached him of the state of Syracuse was exaggerated, and that there was unfinished space in the besiegers' lines through which it was barely possible to introduce reinforce- ments into the town. Crossing the Straits of Messina, which the culpable negligence of Nicias had left unguarded, Gylippus landed on the northern coast of Sicily, and there be- gan to collect from the Greek cities an army, of which the regular troops that he brought from Peloponnesus formed the nucleus. Such was the influence of the name of Sparta, and such were his own abilities and activity, that he succeeded in raising a force of about two thousand fully armed infantry, with a larger number of irregular troops. Nicias, as if in- S'yof fatuated, made no attempt to counteract his operations, nor, when Gylippus marched his little army toward Syracuse, did the Athenian commander endeavor to check him. The Syracusans marched out to meet him; and while the Athenians were solely intent on com- pleting their fortifications on the southern side toward the harbor, Gylippus turned their po- sition by occupying the high ground in the extreme rear of Epipolae. He then marched through the unfortified interval of Nicias's lines into the besieged town, and joining his troops with the Syracusan forces, after some B.C. 415 SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 289 engagements with varying success, gained the mastery over Nicias, drove the Athenians from Epipolae, and hemmed them into a dis- advantageous position in the low grounds near the great harbor. The attention of all Greece was now fixed on Syracuse; and every enemy of Athens feltrecdvef the importance of the opportunity now offered °'"^"^' • of checking her ambition, and, perhaps, of striking a deadly blow at her power. Large reinforcements from Corinth, Thebes, and other cities now reached the Syracusans, while the baffled and dispirited Athenian general earnestly besought his countrymen to recall him, and represented the further prosecution of the siege as hopeless. But Athens had made it a maxim never to let difficulty or disaster drive her back from any enterprise once undertaken, so long as she possessed the means of making any effort, how- ever desperate, for its accomplishment. With indomitable pertinacity, she now decreed, in- stead of recalling her first armament from be- fore Syracuse, to send out a second, though her enemies near home had now renewed open warfare against her, and by occupying a per- manent fortification in her territory had se- verely distressed her population, and were pressing her with almost all the hardships of an actual siege. She still was mistress of the sea, and she sent forth another fleet of seventy galleys, and another army, which seemed to 18 Vol. 1 290 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 415 drain almost the last reserves of her military population, to try if Syracuse could not yet be won, and the honor of the Athenian arms be preserved from the stigma of a retreat. At Athens the head of this second expedition she wisely other Heet placcd hcr bcst general, Demosthenes, one of the most distinguished officers that the long Peloponnesian war had produced. His arrival was critically timed; for Gylip- pus had encouraged the Syracusans to attack the Athenians under Nicias by sea as well as by land, and by one able stratagem of Ariston, one of the admirals of the Corinthian auxiliary squadron, the Syracusans and their confed- erates had inflicted on the fleet of Nicias the first defeat that the Athenian navy had ever sustained from a numerically inferior enemy. Gylippus was preparing to follow up his ad- vantage by fresh attacks on the Athenians on both elements, when the arrival of Demos- thenes completely changed the aspect of affairs, and restored the superiority to the invaders. He rowed round the great harbor with loud cheers and martial music, as if in defiance of the Syracusans and their confed- erates. His arrival had indeed changed their newly born hopes into the deepest consterna- tion. With the intuitive decision of a great com- mander, Demosthenes at once saw that the possession of Epipolae was the key to the pos- session of Syracuse, and he resolved to make a Gloom in Syracuse. ,.c.4is SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 291 prompt and vigorous attempt to recover that position, while his force was unimpaired, and the consternation which its arrival had pro- duced among the besieged remained unabated. The Syracusans and their allies had run out an outwork along Epipolae from the city walls, intersecting the fortified lines of circumvalla- tion which Nicias had commenced, but from which he had been driven by Gylippus. Could Demosthenes succeed in storming this outwork, and in re-establishing the Athenian troops on the high ground, he might fairly hope to be able to resume the circumvallation of the city, and become the conqueror of Syra- cuse; for when once the besiegers' lines were completed, the number of the troops with which Gylippus had garrisoned the place would only tend to exhaust the stores of pro- visions and accelerate its downfall. An easily repelled attack was first made on the outwork in the day-time, probably moreTaak:sof with the view of blinding the besieged to the ^''''"^'• nature of the main operations than with any expectation of succeeding in an open assault, with every disadvantage of the ground to con- tend against. But, when the darkness had set in, Demosthenes formed his men in columns, each soldier taking with him five days' pro- visions, and the engineers and workmen of the camp following the troops with their tools, and all portable implements of fortification, so as at once to secure any advantage of ground that THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS The Beo- tlan infan- vry stand firin. the army might gain. Thus equipped and prepared, he led his men along by the foot of the southern flank of Epipolae, in the direction toward the interior of the island, till he came immediately below the narrow ridge that forms the extremity of the high ground look- ing westward. He then wheeled his vanguard to the right, sent them rapidly up the paths that wind along the face of the cliff, and suc- ceeded in completely surprising the Syra- cusan outposts, and in placing his troops fairly on the extreme summit of the all-important Epipolae. Thence the Athenians marched eagerly down the slope toward the town, rout- ing some Syracusan detachments that were quartered in their way, and vigorously assail- ing the unprotected side of the outwork. All at first favored them. The outwork was aban- doned by its garrison, and the Athenian en- gineers began to dismantle it. In vain Gylip- pus brought up fresh troops to check the as- sault; the Athenians broke and drove them back, and continued to press hotly forward, in the full confidence of victory. But, amid the general consternation of the Syracusans and their confederates, one body of infantry stood firm. This was a brigade of their Beo- tian allies, which was posted low down the slope of Epipolae, outside the city walls. Cool- ly and steadily the Beotian infantry formed their line, and undismayed by the current of flight around them, advanced against the ad- ..C.4IS SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 293 vancing Athenians. This was the crisis of the battle. But the Athenian van was disorganized by its own previous successes; and, yielding to the unexpected charge thus made on it by troops in perfect order, and of the most obsti- nate courage, it was driven back in confusion upon the other divisions of the army, that still continued to press forward. When once the tide was thus turned, the Syracusans passed rapidly from the extreme of panic to the ex- treme of vengeful daring, and with all their forces they now fiercely assailed the embar- rassed and receding Athenians. In vain did the officers of the latter strive to re-form their line. Amid the din and the shouting of the fight, and the confusion inseparable upon a night ^j^^^^j^^ engagement, especially one where many thou- SlSa! sand combatants were pent and whirled to- gether in a narrow and uneven area, the nec- essary manoeuvres were impracticable; and though many companies still fought on des- perately, wherever the moonlight showed them the semblance of a foe, they fought with- out concert or subordination; and not unfre- quently, amid the deadly chaos, Athenian troops assailed each other. Keeping their ranks close, the Syracusans and their allies pressed on against the disorganized masses of the besiegers, and at length drove them, with heavy slaughter, over the cliffs, which an hour 294 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c.^.j or two before they had scaled full of hope, and apparently certain of success. Vengeance This dcfcat was decislvc of the event of the irictors. siege. The Athenians afterward struggled only to protect themselves from the vengeance which the Syracusans sought to wreak in the complete destruction of their invaders. Nev- er, however, was vengeance more complete and terrible. A series of sea-fights followed, in which the Athenian galleys were utterly destroyed or captured. The marines and sol- diers who escaped death in disastrous engage- ments, and 2 vain attempt to force a retreat into the interior of the island, became prison- ers of war; Nicias and Demosthenes were put to death in cold blood, and their men either perished miserably in Syracusan dungeons, or were sold into slavery to the very persons whom, in their pride of power, they had crossed the seas to enslave. All danger from Athens to the independent Athenian nations of the West was now forever at an end. She, indeed, continued to struggle against her combined enemies and revolted allies with un- paralleled gallantry, and many more years of varying warfare passed away before she sur- rendered to their arms. But no success in subsequent conquests could ever have restored her to the pre-eminence in enterprise, re- sources and maritime skill which she had ac- quired before her fatal reverses in Sicily. Nor among the rival Greek republics, whom her power. B.C. 4IS SIEGE OF SYRACUSE 295 own rashness aided to crush her, was there any capable of reorganizing her empire, or re-to°take suming her schemes of conquest. The do-pi^^e. minion of Western Europe was left for Rome and Carthage to dispute two centuries later in conflicts still more terrible, and with even higher displays of military daring and genius than Athens had witnessed either in her rise, her meridian, or her fall. EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND (B.C. 400) I Persian throne, LEOPOLD VON RANKE T was an undertaking of the widest import when Cyrus the Younger resolved to place himself by the aid of Grecian arms on the throne of Persia. A pretext was found Cyrus de- in a Doint left unsettled by the constitutional termines to •' pirliln^ law of that country. It was matter of dispute whether the right of succession belonged to the eldest son, or to the son born first after his father's accession to the throne. The accession of Xerxes had been decided by the fact that he was born during the reign of Darius. On similar grounds, when Darius Nothus died, Cyrus the Younger, the only son born during his father's reign, claimed the preference over his brother Artaxerxes. On this occasion, as before, the queen was for the younger brother, but could not bring her consort over to his side. Artaxerxes, surnamed IVInemon, be- came king; Cyrus was appointed satrap of Lydia and the regions that bordered on the sea. It was no ordinary satrapy which thus fell to the lot of the king's son: he was de- (296) B.C. 400 EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 297 scribed in his father's edict as Karanos, that is, Lord or Sovereign, a special title such as was not infrequently conferred upon satraps related to the royal house. But Cyrus was not contented with this honor. He considered himself, in virtue of his personal qualities, more capable of filling the post of king. Ar- of'cyruf taxerxes, we are told, was of a gentle nature, a lover of peace, of genial and placable dis- position, a character well suited to the rep- resentative of Ormuzd. Cyrus, on the other hand, was ambitious, adventurous, and war- like, a soldier after the manner of those Greek mercenaries whom he attracted in consider- able numbers to his flag. Cyrus not only considered himself worthy of the throne and justified in taking posses- sion of it, but he was resolved to attempt its conquest. With this object in view, he sum- moned the Lacedemonians to his aid, expressly reminding them of the service he had done them in the late war. The Ephors, while re- fusing to declare themselves openly to him, were satisfied of the justice of his request. They sent a fleet to Cilicia to prevent the sa- trap of that country, who, like other provin- cial governors, was naturally inclined to sup- port the king, from opposing the march of Cyrus. They willingly granted permission to the Peloponnesian soldiery to take service with the pretender, and Clearchus, one of the best of their captains, was expressly empowered to 298 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ..c. 400 serve under him. Thereupon a very consid- thoiTand erable body of troops, thirteen thousand in Greeks join , ,, , , , Cyrus. number, was collected, and the army, meeting with little resistance in Asia Minor, set out on its march, in order to win the Persian crown for the ally of Lacedemon. In short, it was through the support of Cyrus that the Lacedemonians had overpowered Greece; it was through the aid of Lacedemon that Cyrus was now to become lord and master of Persia. It was indeed a matter of doubt, whether the alliance of Greek mercenaries with the pre- tender to the Persian throne was likely to exercise a decisive and general influence on afifairs. Even had the attempt proved suc- cessful, had Artaxerxes been overthrown and Cyrus set up in his place, the Greeks would probably have played a subordinate part, like that which they performed at the side of the Hellenizing Pharaohs of Egypt. But it is nevertheless undeniable that, even under these circumstances, the aspect of the world would have undergone a change. Cyrus would have met with opposition and would have re- mained dependent on Grecian support. The Greeks would have retained a certain share in the dominion founded by their aid, and would have extended their influence to the furthest parts of Asia. It was a question of life and death for the Persian Empire whether it would be able to resist this attack or not. B.C.400 EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 299 When the armies met in the plain of Cu- naxa on the banks of the Lower Euphrates, between '■ Cyrus and it at first appeared probable that the expedi- Anaxerxes. tion of Cyrus would be crowned with success. His Greek allies, familiar as they were with the practice of war, and led by an experienced commander, advanced in steady array, and made a sudden and vigorous attack upon the enemy. The attack was successful. The Per- sian squadrons opposed to them, hastily col- lected, ill equipped, and devoid of military experience, were routed at first. The battle seemed to be won, and Cyrus was saluted as king; but the body of picked and disciplined troops, in whose midst was Artaxerxes him- self, still held together in unshaken order, cunaxa. Cyrus had to engage in a personal combat with his brother. The historians are full of this duel, which not only supplied food for Oriental fancy, but reminded the Greeks of the stories of a mythical age, and especially of the combat between Eteocles and Poly- neikes. The story, however, rests upon no solid foundation. All that we can be certain of is that Cyrus made a strong impression on the enemy's centre; that Tissaphernes restored order among his troops, and that in the hand- Death of to-hand struggle which ensued Cyrus was killed. The object of the expedition was a purely personal one: on the death of the pretender, it came to an end at once. The Grecian leaders 300 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ■.c.400 fell victims to the treachery of the Persian iheG?ee°ks alHes of Cvrus, whose only thought was now under -' ' . - » xcnophon. (q make peace with the Great King; but the Greek troops, led by the Athenian Xenophon, though much reduced in numbers, made good their retreat. Their march has won imper- ishable renown in the annals of military his- tory, as the Retreat of the Ten Thousand. It is a proof of the military skill which every individual Greek had made his own, that they were able to adapt their tactics to their needs, and to repel the attacks of light-armed troops. In the face of the greatest dangers and difficulties, and through the midst of savage tribes still living in ancestral freedom, they pressed forward on their homeward way. At length, as we read in the impressive nar- rative of Xenophon, they beheld the sea, and saluted it with joyful shouts of "Thalatta! Thalatta!" The sea was their own, and safety was before them at last. This march must not be regarded as a mere adventure. Rightly considered, it will be seen to have had results of far-reaching im- portance. The Persian satraps could not avoid calling the Lacedemonians to account for the attack on the Great King, in which they had taken part. Tissaphernes, who now came again to the front after the fall of Cy- rus the Younger, renewed the war in Asia Minor. It may be open to dispute whether the renewal of hostilities between Persia and B.C. 400 EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND 301 Lacedemon was one of the circumstances which enabled the Athenians to reorganize their republic in the way described above, but it is certain that it introduced a new phase in the relations of Greece and Persia. The expedition of the Ten Thousand had at least one remarkable result. The old ideajhe'exp^i- of an invasion of Asia awoke to new life in"°"' the breasts of the Lacedemonians. Derkyl- lidas, at the head of an army composed of Lacedemonians and their allies, took posses- sion of the Troad. Hereupon the two satraps, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, came to an understanding and made proposals of peace, but, these proposals appearing dangerous to the Lacedemonians, the ill-feeling ripened into the determination to renew the ancient war. Agesilaus, the youthful King of Lace- demon, was sent over to Asia. In this expedi-' tion Homeric ideas were revived, and Agesi- laus, before his departure, offered a sacrifice at Aulis, though not without experiencing op- position from the Thebans, his former allies. [In 399, the philosopher Socrates, the teacher of Xenophon and Plato, was put to death for his teachings, which were held to be hurtful to the State.] DEATH OF SOCRATES (B.C. 399) PLATO I WILL begin at the beginning, and en- deavor to repeat the entire conversation. You must understand that we had been previously in the habit of assembling early in the morning at the court in which the trial was held, and which is not far from the prison. There we remained talking with one another until the opening of the prison doors (for they were not opened very early), and we went in and generally passed the day with Socrates. On the last morning the meeting was earlier ScrateV^ than usual ; this was owing to our having heard on the previous evening that the sacred ship had arrived from Delos, and therefore we agreed to meet very early at the accustomed place. On our going to the prison, the jailer who answered the door, instead of admitting us, came out and bade us wait and he would call us. "For the Eleven," he said, "are now with Socrates; they are taking off his chains, and giving orders that he is to die to-day." He soon returned and said that we might come in. On entering we found Socrates just released (302) B.C. 399 DEATH OF SOCRATES 303 from chains, and Xanthippe, whom you know, sitting by him, and holding his child in her arms. When she saw us she uttered a cry and said, as women will: "O Socrates, this is the views on last time that either you will converse withanfpa^n. your friends, or they with you." Socrates turned to Crito and said: "Crito, let some one take her home." Some of Crito's people ac- cordingly led her away, crying out and beat- ing herself. And when she was gone, Soc- rates, sitting up on the couch, began to bend and rub his leg, saying, as he rubbed: How singular is the thing called pleasure, and how curiously related to pain, which might be thought to be the opposite of it; for they never come to a man together, and yet he who pur- sues either of them is generally compelled to take the other. They are two, and yet they grow together out of one head or stem; and I can not help thinking that if Esop had no- ticed them, he would have made a fable about God trying to reconcile their strife, and when he could not, he fastened their heads together; and this is the reason why when one comes the other follows, as I find in my own case pleas- ure comes following after the pain in my leg, which was caused by the chain. . . . I do not mean to affirm that the description which I have given of the soul and her man- taHt™"°'" sions is exactly true — a man of sense ought hardly to say that. But I do say that, inas- much as the soul is shown to be immortal, he 3U-4 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ,.c. 399 may venture to think, not improperly or un- worthily, that something of the kind is true. The venture is a glorious one, and he ought onthcsoui. to comfort himself with words like these, which is the reason why I lengthen out the tale. Wherefore, I say, let a man be of good cheer about his soul, who has c^st away the pleasures and ornaments of the body as alien to him, and rather hurtful in their effects, and has followed after the pleasures of knowledge in this life; who has adorned the soul in her own proper jewels, which are temperance, and justice, and courage, and nobility, and truth — in these arrayed she is ready to go on her journey to the world below, when her time comes. You, Simmias and Cebes, and all other men, will depart at some time or other. Me already, as the tragic poet would say, the His counsel voice of fatc calls. Soon I must drink the poison; and I think that I had better repair to the bath first, in order that the women may not have the trouble of washing my body after I am dead. When he had done speaking, Crito said: And have you any commands for us, Socrates — anything to say about your children, or any other matter in which we can serve you? Nothing particular, he said; only, as I have told you, I would have you to look to your- selves; that is a service which you may al- ways be doing to me and mine as well as to yourselves. And you need not make profes- ,.c.399 DEATH OF SOCRATES 305 sions; for if you take no thought for your- selves, and walk not according to the precepts which I have given you, not now for the first time, the warmth of your professions will be of no avail. We will do our best, said Crito. But in what way would you have us bury you? In any way that you like ; only you must get hold of me, and take care that I do not walkLastcom- away from you. Then he turned to us, and soTra?e°sf added with a smile : I can not make Crito be- lieve that I am the same Socrates who have been talking and conducting the argument; he fancies that I am the other Socrates whom he will soon see, a dead body — and he asks, How shall he bury me? And though I have spoken many words in the endeavor to show that when I have drunk the poison I shall leave you and go to the joys of the blessed — these words of mine with which I comforted you and myself, have had, as I perceive, no eflfect upon Crito. And therefore I want you to be surety for me now, as he was surety for me at the trial: but let the promise be of another sort; for he was my surety to the judges that I would remain, but you must be my surety to him that I shall not remain, but go away and depart; and then he will suffer less at my death, and not be grieved when he sees my body being burned or buried. I would not have him sorrow at my hard lot, or say at the burial. Thus we lay out Socrates^ 306 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. 3f9 or, Thus we follow him to the grave or bury him ; for false words are not only evil in them- selves, but they infect the soul with evil. Be of good cheer, then, my dear Crito, and say that you are burying my body only, and do with that as is usual, and as you think best. When he had spoken these words, he arose and went into the bath chamber and left us thinking of the subject of discourse, and also of the greatness of our sorrow; he was like a father of whom we were being bereaved, and we were about to pass the rest of our lives as He takes orphans. When he had taken the bath his famn>°^^'^ children were brought to him (he had two young sons and an elder one) ; and the women of his family also came, and he talked to them and gave them a few directions in the pres- ence of Crito; and he then dismissed them and returned to us. Now the hour of sunset was near, for a good deal of time had passed while he was within. When he came out, he sat down with us again after his bath, but not much was said. Soon the jailer, who was the servant of the Eleven, entered and stood by him, saying: To you, Socrates, whom I know to be the noblest and gentlest and best of all who ever came to this place, I will not impute the angry feelings of other men, who rage and swear at me when, in obedience to the authorities, I bid them drink the poison — indeed, I am sure that you will not be angry with me; for others, as you B.C. 399 DEATH OF SOCRATES 30i are aware, and not I, are the guilty cause. And so fare you well, and try to bear lightly what must needs be; and know my errand. Then bursting into tears he turned away and went out. Socrates looked at him and said: I return your good wishes, and will do as you bid. Then, turning to us, he said, How charming the man is: since I have been in prison he has always been coming to see me, and at times he would talk to me, and was as good as could be to me, and now see how generously he sor- rows for me. But we must do as he says, Crito; let the cup be brought, if the poison is prepared; if not, let the attendant prepare some. Yet, said Crito, the sun is still upon the hill- tops, and many a one has taken the draught late, and after the announcement has been made to him, he has eaten and drunk, and indulged in sensual delights; do not hasten, then, there is still time. Socrates said: Yes, Crito, and they of He does not seek whom you speak are right in doing thus, for delay. they think that they will gain by the delay; but I am right in not doing thus, for I do not think that I should gain anything by drink- ing the poison a little later; I should be spar- ing and saving a life which is already gone; I could only laugh at myself for this. Please, then, do as I say, and not refuse me. Crito, when he heard this, made a sign to 308 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 399 conduct. the servant; and the servant went in, and re- mained for some time, and then returned with the jailer carrying the cup of poison. Soc- rates said: You, my good friend, who are experienced in these matters, shall give me directions how I am to proceed. The man answered : You have only to walk about until your legs are heavy, and then to lie down, and the poison will act. At the same time he gave the cup to Socrates, who, in the easiest and Hiscaim gentlcst manner, without the least fear or change of color or feature, looking at the man with all his eyes, Echecrates, as his manner was, took the cup and said: What do you say about making a libation out of this cup to any god? May I, or not? The man answered: We only prepare, Socrates, just so much as we deem enough. I understand, he said: yet I may and must pray to the gods to pros- per my journey from this to that other world — may this, then, which is my prayer, be granted to me. Then holding the cup to his lips, quite readily and cheerfully he drank ofif the poison. And hitherto most of us had been able to control our sorrow ; but now when we saw him drinking, and saw too that he had finished the draught, we could no longer forbear, and in spite of myself my own tears were flowing fast; so that I covered my face and wept over myself, for certainly I was not weeping over him, but at the thought of my own calamity in having lost such a compan- B.C. 399 DEATH OF SOCRATES 309 ion. Nor was I the first, for Crito, when he found himself unable to restrain his tears, had got up and moved away, and I followed ; and at that moment, Apollodorus, who had been weeping all the time, broke out into a loud cry which made cowards of us all. Soc- rates alone retained his calmness: What is this strange outcry? he said. I sent away the women mainly in order that they might not ofifend in this way, for I have heard that a man should die in peace. Be quiet, then, and have patience. When we heard that, we were ashamed. Action of and refrained our tears; and he walked about ^^^'^' until, as he said, his legs began to fail, and then he lay on his back, according to the di- rectings, and the man who gave him the poison now and then looked at his feet and legs; and after a while he pressed his foot hard and asked him if he could feel; and he said, no; and then his leg, and so upward and upward, and showed us that he was cold and stiff. And he felt them himself, and said: When the poison reaches the heart, that will be the end. He was beginning to grow cold about the groin, when he uncovered his face, for he had covered himself up, and said (they were^^.^i^^^ his last words) : Crito, I owe a cock to As-'^°'''^'- clepius; will you remember to pay the debt? The debt shall be paid, said Crito; is there anything else? There was no answer to this question; but in a minute or two a movement SIO THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ».c. 399 was heard, and the attendants uncovered him; his eyes were set, and Crito closed his eyes and mouth. Such was the end, Echecrates, of our friend, whom I may truly call the wisest, and justest, and best of all the men whom I have ever known. [In 399, the attempt of the Persians to punish the Greek cities of Asia Minor for their having aided Cyrus brought the Spar- tans to their relief. Persian subsidies induced the Corinthians to attack Sparta (395). Peace was not concluded till 387. Rome suf- Rome^ fered great disasters in 390 by the first in- by Gauls, yasion of the Gauls, the burning of the city and the battle of the AUia.] THE GAULS' FIRST ATTACK ON ROME (B.C. 390) LIVY A T this time ambassadors arrived from The cauis Clusium asking aid against the Gauls. Emir?a. According to some, that nation was lured across the Alps to seize the country of the Etrurians by the deliciousness of its pro- ductions, especially the wine, a new luxury to them. Aruns of Clusium had introduced it into Gaul for the purpose of enticing that people so as by their help to gratify his re- sentment against Lucano, who had debauched his wife and was too powerful to punish with- out foreign aid. He acted as their guide across the Alps and advised them to besiege Clusium. The Clusians were terrified at the approach of this strange enemy, and determined to send ambassadors to Rome to solicit aid from the Senate, which request was not granted. The three Fabii were sent to mediate with the Gauls in the name of the Senate and Commons The Etrus of Rome. The Romans asking by what right RomlTor they demanded land from the owners and threatened war in case of refusal, and what C311) 812 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 390 business the Gauls had in Etruria, the latter fiercely replied that "They carried their right on the points of their swords and that all The Gauls' thittgs wcre the property of the brave." Thus, grievances. ^jj.j^ minds inflamed on both sides, they hastily separated to prepare for battle, which began without delay. Here, Fate now pressing the city of Rome, the ambassadors, contrary to the law of nations, took part in the action. Dropping therefore their resentment against the Clusians, the Gauls sounded a retreat, threatening vengeance on the Romans. Some advised an immediate march on Rome; but the opinion of the elders prevailed that am- bassadors should first be sent to demand that the Fabii be delivered up to them as a satis- faction for this violation of the Law of Na- tions. When the Gallic ambassadors had ex- plained matters, so powerful was the influence of interest and wealth that the very persons whose punishment was the subject of deliber- ation were appointed military tribunes for the ensuing year. At this the justly enraged Gauls, openly threatening war, returned to their countrymen. When Fortune is determined on the ruin of a people, she can so blind them as to render them insensible to dangers of the greatest magnitude; accordingly the Roman state sought no assistance. Tribunes whose temer- ity had brought on the troubles were in- trusted with the reins of government, and they B.C. 390 THE GAULS' FIRST ATTACK ON ROME 313 used no greater diligence in raising forces than was usual in the case of a rupture with march on any of their neighbors. Meanwhile, the Gauls, inflamed with rage, instantly snatched up their ensigns and began the march with the utmost speed. But rumor outstripped them and caused the utmost consternation in Rome, whose army, partly a rabble, with all the haste possible scarcely reached the elev- enth stone before they met the enemy at the junction of the Allia and Tiber. Already their whole front and flanks were covered by numerous bodies of Gauls, and as that nation has a natural turn for increasing 4:error by confusion, they filled the air with a horrid din by their harsh music and discordant yells. There the military tribunes, without form- ing a camp, without taking the precaution of raising a rampart that might secure a retreat, regardless of duty to the gods, to say nothing of that to man, without taking auspices or offering a sacrifice, drew up their line. Bren- nus, the chieftain of the Gauls, turned his force against the reserve: thus not only For- tune but judgment also was on the side of the barbarians. In the other army, neither com- manders nor soldiers appeared like Romans. Romanl.'*'*^ Terror and dismay had seized them, so that far greater numbers fled to Veii, though the Tiber was in the way, than to Rome to their wives and children. Thus no lives were lost U VoL 1 314 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS "c 390 in battle; but their rear was cut to pieces in the contused retreat. There was great slaugh- ter in the left wing on the banks of the Tiber, and many, overweighted by their armor, were drowned. The right wing took the way to Rome and got into the citadel without even shutting the city gates. On the other hand, the attainment of such mlnTof' ^ speedy, such an almost miraculous victory, the Gauls, j^stonishcd the Gauls. At first they stood mo- tionless through apprehension for their own safety, scarcely knowing what had happened; then they dreaded some stratagem; at length, they collected the spoils of the slain, and piled the arms in heaps, according to their practice. And now, seeing no signs of an enemy any- where, they at last began to march forward, and a little before sunset arrived near the city of Rome, where, receiving intelligence by some horsemen who had advanced before, that the gates were open without any troops posted to defend them, nor any soldiers on the walls, this second incident, not less unaccountable than the former, induced them to halt; and apprehending danger from the darkness of the night, and their ignorance of the situation „ . . of the city, thev took post between Rome and Panic in j 7 . r Rome. j-j^g Anio, Sending scouts about the walls and the several gates, to discover what plans the enemy w^ould pursue in this desperate state of their afifairs. The Roman soldiers who were living, their friends lamented as lost; the ■.c. 390 THE GAULS' FIRST ATTACK ON ROME 315 greater part of them having gone from the field of battle to Veii, and no one supposing that any survived, except those who had come home to Rome. In fine, the city v^^as almost entirely filled with sorrowings. But on the arrival of intelligence that the enemy were at hand, the apprehensions excited by the public danger stifled all private sorrow: soon after, the barbarians patrolling about the walls in troops, they heard their yells and the dissonant clamor of their martial instruments. During the whole interval between this and the next morning they were held in the most anxious suspense, every moment expecting an assault to be made on the city. During that night, however, and also the following day, the state preserved a character very different from that which such a dastardly flight at the Allia had indicated; for there being: no room to hope^e^ures ' o r for defence. that the city could possibly be defended by the small number of troops remaining, a reso- lution was taken that the young men who were fit to bear arms, and the abler part of the sen- ate, with their wives and children, should go up into the citadel and the capitol ; and having collected stores of arms and corn, should, in that strong post, maintain the defence of the deities, of the inhabitants, and of the honor of Rome. That the Flamen Quirinalis, and the vestal priestesses, should carry away, far from slaughter and conflagration, all that apper- tained to the gods of the state; and that their 816 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 390 worship should not be intermitted until there should be no one left to perform it. Their exhortations were then turned to the band of young men, whom they escorted to the capitol and citadel, commending to their valor and youthful vigor the remaining for- tune of their city, which, through the course of three hundred and sixty years, had ever been victorious in all its wars. When those who carried with them every hope and every resource parted with the others, who had de- Harrowing: tcTmincd not to survive the capture and de- scenes. ^ struction of the city, the view which it ex- hibited was sufficient to call forth the liveliest feelings, the women at the same time running up and down in distraction, now following one party, then the other, asking their hus- bands and their sons to what fate they would consign them. All together formed such a picture of human woe as could admit of no aggravation. A great part, however, of the women followed their relations into the cita- del, no one either hindering or inviting them; because, though the measure of lessening the number of useless persons in a siege might doubtless be advisable in one point of view, yet it was a measure of extreme inhumanity. The rest of the multitude, consisting chiefly of plebeians, for whom there was neither room on so small a hill, nor a possibility of support in so great a scarcity of corn, pouring out of the city in one continued train, repaired BX.390 THE GAULS' FIRST ATTACK ON ROME 317 to the Janiculum. From thence some dis- persed through the country, and others made their way to the neighboring cities, without any leader, or any concert, each pursuing his own hopes and his own plans, those of the public being deplored as desperate. In the meantime, the Flamen Quirinalis and the 1 . ■ , . -Ill r The vestalg vestal virgms, laymg aside all concern for preserve , . ° ' . ^ , , . , the sacred their own affairs, and consulting together treasures, which of the sacred deposits they should take with them, and which they should leave be- hind, for they had not strength sufficient to carry all, and what place they could best de- pend on preserving them in safe custody, judged it the most eligible method to inclose them in casks, and bury them under ground, in the chapel next to the dwelling-house of the Flamen Quirinalis, where at present it is reckoned profane even to spit. The rest they carried, distributing the burdens among them- selves, along the road which leads over the Sublician bridge to Janiculum. Meanwhile at Rome, when every disposi- tion for the defence of the citadel had been completed, as far as was possible in such a conjuncture, the aged crowd withdrew to their , , , • \ n /• • 1 Noble con- houses, and there, with a nrmness of mind not duct of the ' ' curules. to be shaken by the approach of death, waited the coming of the enemy: such of them as had held curule offices, choosing to die in that garb which displayed the emblems of their former fortune, of their honors, or of their merit, put 318 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 390 The Gauls enter Rome, on the most splendid robes worn, when they draw the chariots of the gods in procession, or ride in triumph. Thus habited, they seated themselves in their ivory chairs at the fronts of their houses. Some say that they de- voted themselves for the safety of their coun- try and their fellow-citizens; and that they sung a hymn on the occasion. They [the Gauls] marched next day, without any anger or any heat of passion, into the city, through the CoUine gate, which stood open, and ad- vanced to the Forum, casting around their eyes on the temples of the gods, and on the citadel, the only place which had the appear- ance of making resistance. From thence, leaving a small guard to prevent any attack from the citadel or capitol, they ran about in quest of plunder. Not meeting a human being in the streets, part of them rushed in a body to the houses that stood nearest; part sought the most distant, as expecting to find them un- touched and abounding with spoil. After- ward, being frightened from thence by the very solitude, and fearing lest some secret de- sign of the enemy might be put in execution against them while they were thus dispersed, they formed themselves into bodies, and re- turned again to the Forum, and places ad- joining it. Finding the houses of the plebe- ians shut up, and the palaces of the nobles standing open, they showed rather great back- wardness to attack those that were open B.C. 390 THE GAULS' FIRST ATTACK ON ROME 319 than such as were shut: with such a degree of veneration did they behold men sitting insia°,^htlr began. the porches of those palaces, who, beside their ornaments and apparel, more splendid than became mortals, bore the nearest resemblance to gods in the majesty displayed in their looks and the gravity of their countenances. It is said that while they stood gazing on them as statues, one of them, Marcus Papirius, pro- voked the anger of a Gaul by striking him on the head with his ivory sceptre, while he was stroking his beard, which at that time was uni- versally worn long; that the slaughter began with him and that the rest were slain in their seats. After the nobles were put to death, no living creature was spared. The houses were^f^^^"^'''^ plundered and, as soon as they were emptied, set on fire. The Romans, beholding, from the citadel, the city filled with the enemy, who ran up and down through every street, some new scene of horror arising to their view in every different quarter, were neither able to preserve their presence of mind, or even to retain the com- mand of their eyes and ears. On the other side, the Gauls, having for several days only waged an inefifectual war against the buildings, when they perceived that among the fires and ruins of the city noth- ing now remained but a band of armed ene- mies, who were neither terrified in the least by so many disasters, nor likely to condescend 820 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 390 to treat of a capitulation, unless force were applied, resolved to have recourse to extremi- ties and make an assault on the citadel. On a signal given, at the first light, their whole multitude was marshalled in the Forum, from whence, after raising the shout and forming a testudo, they advanced to the attack. The Romans, in their defence, did nothing rashly, The citadel ^^^ ^" ^ hurry; but having strengthened the is attacked, g^ards at every approach, and opposing the main strength of their men on the quarter where they saw the battalions advancing, they suffered the enemy to mount the hill, judging that the higher they should ascend, the more easily they might be driven back down the steep. About the middle of the ascent they met them; and their making their charge down the declivity, which of itself bore them against the enemy, routed the Gauls with such slaughter and such destruction, occasioned by their falling down the precipice, that they never afterward, either in parties or with their whole force, made another trial of that kind of fight. Meanwhile, those at Veii found not only their courage but their strength also increas- ing daily. And as not only such of the Ro- mans repaired thither who in consequence either of the defeat in the field or of the disas- ter of the city being taken, had been dispersed in various parts, but volunteers also flowed in from Latium, with a view to share in the spoil, it now seemed high time to attempt the recov- B.C. 390 THE GAULS' FIRST ATTACK ON ROME 321 ery of their native city and rescue it out of the hands of the enemy. But this strong body wanted a head : the spot where they stood re- conditions minded them of Camillus, a great number of ^'^^" the soldiers having fought with success under his banners and auspices. Besides, Cedicius declared that he would not take any part which might afford occasion to any, either god or man, to take away his command from him; but rather, mindful of his own rank, would himself insist on the appointment of a general. With unanimous consent it was re- solved that Camillus should be invited from Ardea; but that first the Senate, at Rome, should be consulted. Thus they were employed at Veii, while, in the meantime, the citadel and Capitol at Rome were in the utmost danger. For the Gauls, having either perceived the track of a human foot, where the messenger from Veii had passed; or, from their own observation, re- marked the easy ascent at the rock of Car- mentis on a moonlight night, having first sent forward a person unarmed to make trial of the way, handing their arms to those before them; when anydifficulty occurred supporting and supported in turns, and drawing each other up according as the ground required, they climbed to the summit in such silence, that they not only escaped the notice of the guards, but did not even alarm the dogs, ani- mals particularly watchful with regard to any 322 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 390 noise at night. They were not unperceived, The sacred < . 1 • 1 u • j geese save howcver, bv some geese, which, being sacred the citadel. ' "' ^ ' • f to Juno, the people spared even in the pres- ent great scarcity of food. For, by the cack- ling of these creatures and the clapping of their wings, Marcus Manlius was roused from sleep, a man of distinguished character in war, who had been consul the third year before, and, snatching up his arms, and at the same time calling the rest to arms, he hastened to the spot. Where, while the rest ran about in confusion, he, by a stroke with the boss of his sword, tumbled down a Gaul who had already got footing on the summit; and this man's weight, as he fell, throwing down those who were next, he slew several others who, in their consternation, threw away their arms and caught hold with their hands of the rocks, to which they clung. By this time others had Gauls are asscmblcd at the place, who, by throwing jav- elins and stones, beat down the enemy so that the whole band, unable to keep their footing, were hurled down the precipice in ruin. [The repeated inroads of the Gauls resulted in four more wars, until they were finally de- feated by Camillus in 349. Between 362 and 351, Rome was also engaged in wars with the Hernici and revolted Latin cities as well as with Etruscan cities, which ended in the estab- lishment of Roman supremacy throughout southern Etruria. The Romans also broke repulsed. B.C. 390 THE GAULS' FIRST ATTACK ON ROME 323 the power of the Volscii and the Aurunci (350- 345). The growing power of Rome resulted in wars with the Samnites and cities of Magna Greca. The first Samnite War (343-341), the great Latin War (340-338), the second and third Samnite Wars (326-304 and 298- 290), the war with Tarentum (282-272), ended in the subjugation of all Italy up to the Rubicon and Marca. The assistance given by Pyrrhus to the Samnites, though at first suc- cessful, was ended by the great battle of Bene- ventum (275). In 379, war broke out be- tween Thebes and Sparta. At the battle of Leuctra (371) the strife ended in the triumph of the Thebans, who therefore were supreme in Greece for the next nine years. They in- vaded the Peloponnesus four times, and finally defeated the Spartans and their allies at the battle of Mantinea in 362. From 359 to 336, Macedonia gradually assumed power and im- portance under Philip. Athens had regained some of her old power since 378, but the Social War broke out in 357 and she speedily lost it. The Holy War against the Phocians, who had incurred the hostility of the Amphictyonic Council by their sacrilegious acts, lasted from 355 to 346. Philip was elected head of the Council. The national party at Athens, where Demosthenes was in power, formed a league of the Greek States against Philip. The third Holy War (339-338) ended with the defeat of the Thebans and Athenians at Cheronea.] END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR BATTLE OF CHERONEA (B.C. 338) P LEOPOLD VON RANKE HILIP and Athens were now engaged for the second time in open conflict. Philip's first step was an attack upon the fortified town of Perinthus. This town, built in terraces along the coast, contained an industrious and courageous population. Philip had already succeeded in carrying the outer walls, and the fall of the inner town was expected, when some Athenian mercenaries made their appearance. It was Persian gold Athens^"'^ which paid these troops, for the Persians were as anxious as the Athenians not to let the Mac- edonian monarchygain control over the straits, whose possession was of such world-wide im- portance. In those regions, where different na- tionalities have, in all periods of the world's history, come into collision, since no state will allow another to possess them, a very unex- pected, but at the same time natural, union of Greek and Persian interests took place. The result was that Philip had to raise the siege of Perinthus (B.C. 340-339). (324) B.C. 338 BATTLE OF CHERONEA 325 The scene of action now shifted to Byzan- tium. Here the Athenians were able to bring faiiVat 1-11 1 • II- Byzantium. their whole power to bear against the king. Chares drove the Macedonian fleet out of the Golden Horn. Phocion, who owed his ref- uge in Byzantium to the fame of his virtue, defended the fortifications on the land side. Here, too, Philip had to retreat. But his com- binations had never been on a wider or more magnificent scale. By an expedition against the Scythians he hoped to get possession of the mouths of the Danube. He would then have become master of the Black Sea, after which the Greek colonies in that quarter would have been unable long to maintain their independence. But in these lands there still existed free people, whose movements were not to be foreseen or calculated, and the expe- dition against the Scythians failed to attain its aim. It was not altogether unsuccessful, for the king returned richly laden with booty, but on his way back he was attacked by the Triballi, who inflicted on him such serious loss that he had to relinquish the idea of making further conquests in the Thracian Chersonese. The Athenians, who were hardly aware that they had allies in the Triballi, maintained, in conjunction with the Persians, their maritime supremacy. Once more the Athenian navy proved itself a match for the Macedonian king, and the general position of affairs would have allowed this balance of power to exist 326 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 338 for a time if the old feud about the shrine of Delphi had not been revived. The cause of this was, politically speaking, Kwwn insignificant. It was a quarrel on a point of andAthens. honor, such as when Pericles and Sparta were rivals' for the Promanteia. This time the ri- valry was between Thebes and Athens. The Athenians had restored a votive offering in Delphi, the inscription on which commemo- rated the victories they had won alike over the Persians and the Thebans. The Thebans felt this insult the more keenly because their re- lations had, since that time, undergone a com- plete transformation. At the next meeting of the Amphictyonic Council, at which en- voys from Athens again took part, the Hi- eromnemon of Amphissa, the chief town of the Ozolian Locrians, brought the matter for- ward. It will be remembered that the Lo- crians were especial enemies of the Phocians, and the most zealous supporters of the Del- phian god. In the course of his speech the The Athe- t t • niansare Hicromnemon gave utterance to sentmients offensive to the Athenians, whom he could not forgive for their alliance with the Phocians. He went so far as to say that their presence could not be tolerated in the holy place. One of the envoys of Athens was the orator Eschines, who was not himself Hieromne- mon, but acted as his deputy. Far from seek- ing to excuse the Athenians, he turned the tables on the people of Amphissa by charging B.C.338 BATTLE OF CHERONEA 327 them with seizing the property of the Del- phian god, namely, the harbor of Cirrha, which was visible from the place of meeting. After the victories of Philip, public opinion had turned strongly in favor of protecting the pos- sessions of the temple. Eschines succeeded in persuading the Amphictyons to undertake the expulsion of the Locrians from their new possession. They were naturally resisted, and the resistance they met with was stigmatized as sacrilege. It was resolved to hold a special sitting of the Amphictyonic Council, in order to deal with the question. Demosthenes was alarmed when he heard of this challenge. To wage war on behalf of oemos- o o thenes. the Amphictyons and the shrine of Delphi was totally at variance with the established policy of Athens, which had hitherto counte- nanced encroachments on the shrine. Was Athens now to take part in a war in favor of the Amphictyony — that is, in favor of King Philip, who was at the head of the league? Such was the counsel of Eschines, in whose eye the piety and justice of the war over- balanced other considerations. He hoped to make use of this opportunity in order, with the consent of Philip, to wrest Oropus, long subject of dispute, from the Thebans. De- mosthenes set himself against this plan with all the force of his political convictions. Here we may remark the radical distinction between the two orators. The one was attracted by a 328 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS 8.0.338 momentary advantage, the other kept the gen- eral state of affairs consistently in view. At the same time we are struck by the incapacity of a democratic assembly for the conduct of affairs when great political interests are con- cerned. Such an assembly is a slave to the impulse of the moment, and to the impres- sions of the tribune. Further than this, the personal rivalry of the two orators made itself felt in decisions of the greatest moment. At first Eschines succeeded in passing a resolu- tion to declare war against Amphissa. There- upon Demosthenes passed another resolution directly at variance with the first, against taking sides with the Amphictyons, or even sending envoys to the contemplated meeting. Here was a change of front indeed! In the first vote were involved peace and friendship with Philip; the second vote meant nothing short of hostilities against him. The people of Amphissa, at first rejected, were immedi- ately afterward taken into favor. Thus en- couraged they showed a bolder front to the Amphictyons. Here we are compelled to ask whether the Huappar- great master of eloquence did not lay himself frstency"" opeu to the charge of inconsistency. How was it that he counselled resistance to the Amphictyons and therefore at the same time to King Philip, a proceeding which he had always denounced as in the highest degree dangerous? He defended this policy on the B.C. 338 BATTLE OF CHERONEA 329 ground that Athens was already at open war with Philip, and that she could not possibly be allied, in a question of internal politics, with a prince against whom she was fighting elsewhere. For Philip, however, no step could have been mo-re advantageous. Too weak at sea to resist Athens on that element, he was now provided with occasion and pre- text for bringing his overpowering land force into the field against her. At the invitation of the Thessalians, he led his army into Thes- saly. The Amphictyons appointed him Stra- tegus, with independent and irresponsible au- thority — for that is the meaning of the word "autocr^tor," which was added to the title of Strategus. Thus provided with legal authority he ap- Thebes peared in the winter of 339-338 in Hellas. PMip. Neither the Locrians, though aided by an Athenian contingent, nor the people of Am- phissa, were able to resist him. It was prob- ably owing to a false report, spread by him- self, that he was allowed a free passage through Thermopylae. He then occupied Elateia, which secured- his retreat to Mace- donia. These advances produced yet another revolution in panhellenic affairs. Thebes, after having promoted the Amphictyonic wax against Phicis, and after assisting Philip in his other movements, now deserted his side. No Theban envoys appeared at an extraor- dinary assembly of the Amphictyons, which 330 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 338 met at Pylae. We may infer that the The- bans were anxious lest Philip, after overpow- ering Athens, should turn his arms against themselves; and undoubtedly their anxiety was well founded. Thebes had, on a previ- ous occasion, actively contributed to the over- throw of the Lacedemonian power and the rule of the Thirty Tyrants in Attica. This had revived the power of Athens, which in return aided Thebes in the recovery of its independence. It was not likely that the Thebans would stand by and see Athens crushed by Philip. The ofifence which they had taken at the votive shield was soon for- gotten, but, unfortunately, there was another very intelligible ground of jealousy between oropusa thc two citics. This was the seaport of Oro- feTiousy"' pus, then in the hands of the Thebans, a port much coveted by Athens on account of its convenience for the trade with Eubea. Eschines had hoped that Athens, by the aid of Philip, would be able to take permanent possession of this town. Here he was op- posed by Demosthenes. If King Philip was ever again to be successfully resisted, it could only be done by the restoration of a good understanding between Athens and Thebes. Thus, and thus only, could a power be formed capable of taking up the cudgels with Philip. The idea of this alliance was in the mind of Demosthenes day and night. That the alliance came about is to be re- B.C. 338 BATTLE OF CHERONEA ^ 331 garded as the greatest service which Demos- thenes rendered at this crisis. He succeeded in persuading the Athenians — and it could have been no easy matter to persuade them — to give up the claim upon Oropus, which, they had hitherto strenuously maintained. The victory which Demosthenes won in Athens was a victory of national interests over a separatist policy. Immediately afterward he went in person to Thebes. By recognizing the head- ship of Thebes in Beotia, in spite of all Philip's commands and threats, he succeeded in consummating the alliance of the two cities, on the success of which the very existence of ■' The the Greek community depended. All Greece *"'*"<=^- was thereupon traversed by embassies from either party. Philip persuaded the Messe- nians, the Arcadians, and the people of Elis to take no part in the war. From the Spartans he had nothing to fear, for at this moment they were occupied with an expedition to Italy, in order to support Tarentum against the Lucanians. But there were a few states who clung fast to the idea of a panhellenic bond. Athens and Thebes found allies in the Eubeans and the Acheans, in the inhabitants of Corinth and Megara, as well as in the dis- tant Leucadians and Corcyreans. In Athens, as well as in Beotia, there were many who would have preferred peace, but the orator had united the two capitals with too strong a chain. When the Athenians ap- 382 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 338 peared before Thebes they were received, con- trary to the habit of previous centuries, with a hearty welcome. The combined armies took the field together. The first skirmishes that took place turned out well for the allied cities, and a golden crown was voted in Athens to Demosthenes. But secular enthusiasm was premature in thinking that success was at- tained. In the very first movements of the Philip's su- ■' p^^j°^ip^^"- war the superior generalship of Philip was displayed. He drove the Thebans from their position of vantage by attacking Beotia in their rear. The Thebans, impelled by their terri- torial sympathies, despatched a portion of their forces in that direction, and Philip was thus enabled to occupy the plain of Cheronea, a position very favorable for deploying his cavalry. It was on this field that the two hosts met for the decisive conflict. Philip commanded an army fully equipped and accustomed to combined action, and he commanded it with unequalled skill. He had turned to his own use the experiences of Theban and Athenian commanders during several decades. Neither Thebes nor Athens had any commander of note to set against him. Phocion, the only man in Athens who understood the art of war, kept himself purposely out of the way. The organization of the allied forces was that which had become traditional. The different contingents were arranged according to the B.C. 338 BATTLE OF CHERONEA 338 localities which supplied them, just as had been the case in the Persian wars. The army was what it always had been, a citizen militia from the different towns and states. Their individual discipline was excellent, but col- lectively they had no organization. The Athe- nians had granted a certain pre-eminence to the Theban Theagenes, but they had not con- ferred upon him the powers of a general. OnThe^^iiies this decisive day the Greek community had no er-Tn'^cwef. commander-in-chief. ^ The Thebans, whose forces were most nu- merous, had to withstand the severest attack. They were, at this moment, the most hated and most dangerous enemies of Philip; most hated because they had deserted his league; most dangerous because in their contingent were concentrated the remains of the old Theban army, founded by Epaminondas, and therefore the most famous military force of Greece. Against them Philip sent the bulk of B^ttieof his forces, under the command of his son Alex- cheronea. ander. He himself, with a body of his choicest and most experienced troops, faced the Athe- nians. While restricting himself to holding the Athenians in check, he allowed the main battle to take place between the bulk of the forces and the Thebans. The latter defended themselves with the greatest bravery. Their leader, Theagenes, was not unworthy of his predecessors. The nucleus of the Theban re-xhesacred sistance was the Sacred Band, whose members 3a4 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS BC- 338 were bound by mutual oaths never to desert each other. This force, without doubt the best that was in the field, was now overpow- ered by the superiority of Macedonian gen- eralship. The victory has been ascribed to the youthful Alexander, but it must really have been due to the experienced captains by whom he was assisted in the command. The Theban line was eventually broken — Alexander is said to have ridden it down with his cavalry — and Philip now advanced Defeat against the Athenians with the force which he of the '^ Athenians, j^^^j hithcrto hcld in reserve. At the first onset they are said to have fancied that they were about to chase the king from the field. But Philip remarked: "The Athenians know not how to win a victory" — a remark which must have meant that otherwise they would not have pursued him so far on his pretended re- treat. Now that the battle had gone against the Thebans, and the troops which had been victorious in that quarter pressed forward against the allies, who were drawn up with the Athenians and were under Athenian com- mand, Philip turned his forces against the Athenians themselves. The latter, seeing that all was over, made no further resistance, and sufifered a complete defeat. Of native Athe- nians more than one thousand were slain; two Flight of thousand were taken prisoners, and the rest Demos- n ^ • 1 -a 11 ihenes. fled m complctc panic. Among the latter was Demosthenes. His place was not on the field D.C. 338 BATTLE OF CHERONEA 335 of battle, but in the tribune. Philip is said to have ironically repeated the beginning of a vote against himself, which happened to run in the iambic metre, and in which "Demos- thenes the son of Demosthenes of the Peonian deme," is mentioned as the proposer. The orator was defeated by the Strategus, and democratic enthusiasm by military experi- ence. The speaker who roused that enthu- siasm gave way to the king who knew the use of military science. The power of the tribune was thrust into the background by a political force which recognized no authority but that of arms. The Athenians were afraid that Philip would now press forward against their city. But this could hardly have been his intention, especially after the failure of the sieges which he had lately attempted. It was on pitched battles that his superiority depended. More- over, he was satisfied with the commanding position which his victory had obtained for him. One of its first results, and the most important of all, was that the party favorable the defeat. to him in Athens now again took the lead. He was wise enough to conciliate resentment by proofs of favor, and the terms of peace which he offered were such as Athens could have felt no inducement to reject. As to the details we are ill informed. The king gave Oropus back to Athens, but there can be no doubt that she had to cede the Thracian Chersonese with 886 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 338 some of her subject islands, as well as the com- mand of the sea. In Greece itself no one ventured to make further resistance to the king. In Eubea, in the first place, his friends took the lead in every city. Chalcis was chastised for its alli- ance with Athens. Thebes was secured by a Macedonian garrison in the Cadmeia. The autonomy of the Beotian cities was restored, not, however, in the Athenian interest, but in that of the king. His first care was hencefor- ward not only to maintain this condition of things, but to anticipate every new movement which might disturb it. Death of [Philip was murdered in 336 and succeeded Philip. i^y j^jg gQj^ Alexander, who immediately set about carrying out his father's plans for the invasion of Persia. He quelled a revolt of Athens and Thebes, destroying the latter and selling the Thebans into slavery. In 331, an uprising by the Spartans was also quelled on the sanguinary field of Megalopolis. In 334, Alexander crossed the Hellespont and de- feated the generals of Darius in the battle of the Granicus. The next year he repeated his success at the battle of Issus in Cilicia. After conquering Syria, Phenicia, Palestine and Egypt, where he founded Alexandria, he ad- vanced through Mesopotamia in 331, and won • the battle of Arbela near Nineveh.] THE BATTLE OF ARBELA (B.C. 331) E. S. CREASY THE enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to be estimated not by the duration of his own life and empire, or even by the duration of the kingdoms which his generals after his death formed out of the fragments of that mighty dominion. In every region of the world that he traversed, Alexander planted Greek settlements and founded cities, in the populations of which the Greek element at once asserted its pre- dominance. Among his successors, the Se- lucidae and Ptolemies imitated their great cap- ^i^f^^^ tain in blending schemes of civilization, of commercial intercourse, and of literary and scientific research with all their enterprises of military aggrandizement and with all their systems of civil administration. Such was the ascendency of the Greek genius, so won- derfully comprehensive and assimilating was the cultivation which it introduced, that, with- in thirty years after Alexander crossed the Hellespont, the Greek language was spoken in every country from the shores of the ^^gean THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 331 to the Indus, and also throughout Egypt — not, leauaun- Indccd, whoUv to the extirpation of the native fluenceof 1 • 1 1 , r gtkcc dialects, but it became the language or every court, of all literature, of every judicial and political function, and formed a medium of communication among the many myriads of mankind inhabiting these large portions of the Old World. Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, the Hellenic character that was thus imparted remained in full vigor down to the time of the Mohammedan conquests. The infinite value of this to humanity in the high- est and holiest point of view has often been pointed out, and the workings of the finger of Providence have been gratefully recognized by those who have observed how the early growth and progress of Christianity were aided by that diffusion of the Greek language and civilization throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, which had been caused by the Macedonian conquest of the East. In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and material influence of Greek as- cendency was more short-lived. Yet, during the existence of the Hellenic kingdoms in these regions, especially of the Greek kingdom of Bactria, the modern Bokhara, very important effects were produced on the intellectual ten- dencies and tastes of the inhabitants of those countries, and of the adjacent ones, by the ani- mating contact of the Grecian spirit. Much of Hindu science and philosophy, much of B.C. 331 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 339 the literature of the later Persian kingdom of the Arsacidae, either originated from, or was largely modified by, Grecian influences. So, also, the learning and science of the Arabians were in a far less degree the result of original invention and genius than the reproduction, in an altered form, of the Greek philosophy and the Greek lore, acquired by the Saracenic conquerors, together with their acquisition of the provinces which Alexander had subju- gated nearly a thousand years before the armed disciples of Mohammed commenced their career in the East. It is well known that Western Europe in the Middle Ages drew its philosophy, its arts, and its science principally from Arabian teachers. And thus we see how the intellectual influence of ancient Greece poured on the Eastern world by Alexander's victories, and then brought back to bear on Medieval Europe by the spread of the Sara- cenic powers, has exerted its action on the ele- ments of modern civilization by this powerful though indirect channel, as well as by the more obvious effects of the remnants of classic civilization which survived in Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain, after the irruption of the Germanic nations. Alexander's victory at Arbela not only over- Effect of threw an Oriental dynasty, but established Eu- viao^y!*"* ropean rulers in its stead. It broke the mo- notony of the Eastern world by the impression of Western energy and superior civilization. 340 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. 331 Arbela, the city which has furnished its ground. ^ name to the decisive battle which gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than twenty miles from the actual scene of conflict. The little village, then named Gaugamela, is close to the spot where the armies met, but has ceded the honor of naming the battle to its more euphonious neighbor. Gaugamela is situate in one of the wide plains that lie between the Tigris and the mountains of Kurdistan. A few undulating hillocks diversify the surface of this sandy track; but the ground is generally level and admirably qualified for the evolu- tions of cavalry, and also calculated to give the larger of two armies the full advantage of numerical superiority. The Persian king (who, before he came to the throne, had proved his personal valor as a soldier and his skill as a general) had wisely selected this region for the third and decisive encounter between his forces and the invader. The pre- vious defeats of his troops, however severe they had been, were not looked on as irrepara- ble. The Granicus had been fought by his generals rashly and without mutual concert; and, though Darius himself had commanded and been beaten at Issus, that defeat might be attributed to the disadvantageous nature of the ground, where, cooped up between the mountains, the river, and the sea, the numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike the general's skill and the soldier's prowess, B.C. 331 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 341 and their very strength had been made their weakness. Here, on the broad plains of Kur- distan, there was scope for Asia's largest host to array its lines, to wheel, to skirmish, to con- dense or expand its squadrons, to manoeuvre, and to charge at will. Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to plunge into that living sea of war, their destruction seemed inevitable. Darius felt, however, the critical nature to ^j^^ ^^.^.^, himself as well as to his adversary of the com- t"he"co^ntest. ing encounter. He could not hope to retrieve the consequences of a third overthrow. The great cities of Mesopotamia and Upper Asia, the central provinces of the Persian empire, were certain to be at the mercy of the victor. Darius knew also the Asiatic character well enough to be aware how it yields to the pres- tige of success and the apparent career of des- tiny. He felt that the diadem was now to be either firmly replaced on his own brow, or to be irrevocably transferred to the head of his European conqueror. He, therefore, during the long interval left him after the battle of Issus, while Alexander was subjugating Syria and Egypt, assiduously busied himself in se- The army lecting the best troops which his vast empire ° supplied, and in training his varied forces to act together with some uniformity of disci- pline and system. Besides these picked troops, contingents also came in from the numerous other provinces that yet obeyed the Great King. Altogether, 342 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS bx. 331 the horse are said to have been forty thousand, the scythe-bearing chariots two hundred, and the armed elephants fifteen in number. The amount of the infantry is uncertain; but the knowledge which both ancient and modern times supply of the usual character of Ori- ental armies, and of their populations of camp-followers, may warrant us in believing that many myriads were prepared to fight, or to encumber those who fought, for the last Darius. His great antagonist came on across the Eu- phrates against him, at the head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of Macedonian officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse. The army which Alexander now led was Ai'e'^nder ^^holly composcd of veteran troops in the highest possible state of equipment and dis- cipline, enthusiastically devoted to their lead- er, and full of confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny. The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of his infantry. This force had been raised and organized by his father Philip, who, on his accession to the Macedo- nian throne, needed a numerous and quickly- formed army, and who, by lengthening the spear of the ordinary Greek phalanx, and increasing the depths of the files, brought the tactic of armed masses to the highest extent B.C. 331 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 3i3 of which it was capable with such materials as he possessed. He formed his men sixteen deep, and placed in their grasp the sarissa, r1 f !=> f -'Weapons of as the Macedonian pike was called, which ^^^^^^JllT' four-and-twenty feet in length, and when couched for action, reached eighteen feet in front of the soldier; so that, as a space of about two feet was allowed between the ranks, the spears of the five files behind him projected in front of each front-rank man. The pha- langite soldier was fully equipped in the de- fensive armor of the regular Greek infantry. And thus the phalanx presented a ponderous and bristling mass, which, as long as its order was kept compact, was sure to bear down all opposition. Besides the phalanx, Alexander had a con- siderable force of infantry who were called shield-bearers : they were not so heavily armed as the phalangites, or as was the case with the Greek regular infantry in general, but they were equipped for close fight as well as for skirmishing, and were far superior to the ordinary irregular troops of Greek warfare. They were about six thousand strong. Be- sides these, he had several bodies of Greek regular infantry; and he had archers, slingers, and javelin-men, who fought also with broad- sword and target, and who were principally supplied by the highlanders of Illyria and Thracia. The main strength of his cavalry consisted in two chosen regiments of cuiras- 344 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 331 Alexander crosses the Euphrates. siers, one Macedonian and one Thessalian, each of which was about fifteen hundred strong. A little before the end of August, Alexan- der crossed the Euphrates at Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry under Mazeus retiring before him. Alexander was too pru- dent to march down through the Mesopota- mian deserts, and continued to advance east- ward with the intention of passing the Tigris, and then, if he were unable to find Darius and bring him to action, of marching southward on the left side of that river along the skirts of a mountainous district where his men would sufifer less from heat and thirst, and where pro- visions would be more abundant. Darius, finding that his adversary was not to be enticed into the march through Mesopo- tamia against his capital, determined to re- main on the battle-ground, which he had chosen on the left of the Tigris; where, if his enemy met a defeat or a check, the destruc- tion of the invaders would be certain with two such rivers as the Euphrates and the Tigris in their rear. The Persian king availed himself to the utmost of every advantage in his power. He caused a large space of ground to be care- fully levelled for the operation of his scythe- armed chariots; and he deposited his military stores in the strong town of Arbela, about twenty miles in his rear. On learning that Darius was with a large B.C.33I THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 345 army on the left of the Tigris, Alexander hur- ried forward and crossed that river without a4"isW. self of opposition. He was at first unable to procure ^l^^^^^; any certain intelligence of the precise position of the enemy, and after giving his army a short interval of rest, he marched for four days down the left bank of the river. On the fourth day of Alexander's south- ward march, his advanced guard reported that a body of the enemy's cavalry was in sight. He instantly formed his army in order for battle, and directing them to advance steadily, he rode forward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry, and charged the Persian horse whom he found before him. This was a mere reconnoitring party, and they broke and fled immediately; but the Macedonians made some prisoners, and from them Alexander found that Darius was posted only a few miles ofif, and learned the strength of the army that he had with him. On receiving this news Alex- ^l^^;^^ ander halted, and gave his men repose for four '=^"^'°"^- days, so that they should go into action fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his camp and deposited in it all his military stores, and all his sick and disabled soldiers, intending to ad- vance upon the enemy with the serviceable part of his army perfectly unincumbered. After this halt, he moved forward, while it was yet dark, with the intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking them at break of day. About half-way between the camps 846 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c 331 there were some undulations of the ground, which concealed the two armies from each other's view; but, on Alexander arriving at their summit, he saw, by the early light, the Persian host arrayed before him, and he prob- ably also observed traces of some engineering operation having been carried on along part of the ground in front of them. Not knowing that these marks had been caused by the Per- sians having levelled the ground for the free use of their war-chariots, Alexander suspected that hidden pitfalls had been prepared with a view of disordering the approach of his cav- alry. He summoned a council of war forth- with. Some of the officers were for attacking instantly, at all hazards; but the more prudent opinion of Parmenio prevailed, and it was de- termined not to advance further till the battle- ground had been carefully surveyed. Alexander halted his army on the heights, Herecon- and taking with him some light-armed infan- try and some cavalry, he passed part of the day in reconnoitring the enemy, and observ- ing the nature of the ground which he had to fight on. Darius wisely refrained from mov- ing his position to attack the Macedonians on the eminences which they occupied, and the two armies remained until night without mo- lesting each other. On Alexander's return to headquarters, having briefly instructed his generals, he ordered that the army should sup, and take their rest for the night. noitres. B.C. 33' THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 347 The Persians expected and were prepared to meet a night attack. Such was the appre- hension that Darius entertained of it, that he formed his troops at evening in order of bat- tle, and kept them under arms all night. The effect of this was, that the morning found them jaded and dispirited, while it brought their adversaries all fresh and vigorous against them. The written order of battle v/hich Darius himself caused to be drawn up, falling into the hands of the Macedonians after the engage- ment, Aristobulus copied it into his journal. On the extreme left were the Bactrian, Daan, and Arachosian cavalry. Next to these Da- rius placed the troops from Persia proper, both horse and foot. Then came the Susians, Disposition of the Per- and next to these the Cadusians. These forces sianamy. made up the left wing. Darius's own station was in the centre. This was composed of the Indians, the Carians, the Mardian archers, and the division of Persians who were distin- guished by the golden apples that formed the knobs of their spears. Here also were sta- tioned the bodyguard of the Persian nobility. Besides these, there were, in the centre, formed in deep order, the Uxian and Babylonian troops, and the soldiers from the Red Sea. The brigade of Greek mercenaries, whom Da- rius had in his service, and who alone were considered fit to stand the charge of the Mace- donian phalanx, was drawn up on either side 348 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS 8.0331 of the royal chariot. The right wing was composed of the Celosyrians and Mesopota- mians, the Medes, the Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians, Hycanians, Albanians, and Sacesinae. In advance of the line on the left wing were placed the Scythian cavalry, with a thousand of the Bactrian horse, and a hun- dred scythe-armed chariots. The elephants and fifty scythe-armed chariots were ranged in front of the centre, and fifty more chariots, with the Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in advance of the right wing. Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the night, that to many thousands of them was the last of their existence. There was deep need of skill, as well as of Aiexan- valor, on Alexander's side; and few battle- erlilh^p"' fields have witnessed more consummate gen- eralship than was displayed by the Macedo- nian king. There were no natural barriers by which he could protect his flanks; and not only was he certain to be overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but there was imminent risk of their circling round him, and charging him in the rear, while he advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore, a second or reserve line, which was to wheel round, if required, or to detach troops to either flank, as the enemy's movements might necessitate; and thus, with their whole army ready at any moment to be thrown into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians ad- B.C. 331 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 349 vanced in two lines against the enemy, Alex- ander himself leading on the right wing, and the renowned phalanx forming the centre, while Parmenio commanded on the left. Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armor, and by the chosen band of officers who were round his person, Alexander took his own sta- tion, as his custom was, in the right wing, at the head of his cavalry; and when all the ar- rangements for the battle were complete, and his generals were fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, he began to lead his men toward the enemy. Great reliance had been placed by the Per- sian king on the effect of the scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to launch these against the Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry, which, it was hoped, would find the ranks of the spear- men disordered by the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part of Alexander's force. In front, therefore, of the Persian centre, where Darius took his station, and which it was supposed the phalanx would attack, the ground had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as to allow the chariots to charge over it with their full sweep and speed. As the Macedonian army approached the Persian, Alexander found that the front of his whole line barely equalled the front line of the Persian centre, so that he was out- flanked on the right by the entire left wing of The Persian chariots. 350 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.c.331 the enemy, and by their entire right wing on the left. His tactics were to assail some one point of the hostile army, and gain a decisive advantage, while he refused, as far as possible, the encounter along the rest of the line. He therefore inclined his order of march to the right, so as to enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with the enemy on as favorable terms as possible, although the manoeuvre might in some respect compro- mise his left. The efifect of this oblique movement was to bring the phalanx and his own wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground which the Persians had prepared for the operations of the chariots; and Darius, fearing to lose the benefit of this arm against the most important parts of the Macedonian force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were S'combal' drawn up in advance on his extreme left, to charge round upon Alexander's right wing, and check its further lateral progress. Against these assailants Alexander sent from his sec- ond line Menidas's cavalry. As these proved too few to make head against the enemy, he ordered Arfston also from the second line with his light horse, and Cleander with his foot, in support of Menidas. The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way, but Darius reinforced them by the mass of Bac- trian cavalry from his main line, and an ob- stinate cavalry fight now took place. The B.C.33I THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 351 Bactrians and Scythians were numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen under Menidas and Ariston ; and the loss at first was heaviest on the Macedonian side. But still the European cavalry stood the charge of the Asiatics, and at last, by their superior disci- pline, the Macedonians broke their adver- saries, and drove them off the field. Darius now directed the scythe-armed Charge chariots to be driven against Alexander's chlriots. horse-guards and the phalanx, and these for- midable vehicles were accordingly sent rat- tling across the plain, against the Macedonian line. But the Asiatic chariots were rendered inefifective at Arbela by the light-armed troops, whom Alexander had specially ap- pointed for the service, and who, wounding the horses and drivers with their missile weapons, and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the reins, marred the intended charge; and the few chariots that reached the phalanx passed harmlessly through the intervals which the spearmen opened for them, and were easily captured in the rear. A mass of Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, collected against Alexander's ry agaiii ' ' o ^ engage. extreme right, and moved round it, with the view of gaining the flank of his army. At the critical moment, when their own flanks were exposed by this evolution, Aretes dashed on the Persian squadrons with his horsemen from 352 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 331 Alexander's second line. While Alexander thus met and baffled all the flanking attacks of the enemy with troops brought up from his second line, he kept his own horse-guards and the rest of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready to take advantage of the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow. This soon came. A large body of horse, who were posted on the Persian left wing nearest to the centre, quitted their station, and rode ofT to help their comrades in the cavalry fight, that still was going on at the extreme right of Alexander's wing against the detachments from his second line. This made a huge gap ^laJ^M^*^ in the Persian array, and into this space Alex- gilLrd.'^ ander instantly charged with his guard and all the cavalry of his wing; and then pressing to- ward his left, he soon began to make havoc in the left flank of the Persian centre. The shield-bearing infantry now charged also among the reeling masses of the Asiatics; and five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the irresistible might of their sarissas, bore down the Greek mercenaries of Darius, and dug their way through the Persian centre. In the early part of the battle Darius had shown skill and energy; and he now, for some time, encouraged his men, by voice and example, to keep firm. But the lances of Alexander's cav- airy and the pikes of the phalanx now pressed nearer and nearer to him. His charioteer was struck down by a javelin at his side; and at B.C. 331 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 353 last Darius's nerve failed him, and, descend- ing from his chariot, he mounted on a fleet Danus ° ' flees. horse and galloped from the plain, regardless of the state of the battle in other parts of the field, where matters were going on much more favorably for his cause, and where his presence might have done much toward gaining a victory. Alexander's operations with his right and centre had exposed his left to an immensely preponderating force of the enemy. Parme- nio kept out of action as long as possible; but Mazeus, who commanded the Persian right wing, advanced against him, completely out- flanked him, and pressed away severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers. See- Parmeniov ing the distress of Parmenio's wing, Simmias, ^"^^'^^• who commanded the sixth brigade of the phalanx, which was next to the left wing, did not advance with the other brigades in the great charge upon the Persian centre, but kept back to cover Parmenio's troops on their right flank, as otherwise they would have been com- pletely surrounded and cut off from the rest of the Macedonian army. By so doing, Sim- mias had unavoidably opened a gap in the Macedonian left centre, and a large column of Indian and Persian horse from the Persian right centre had galloped forward through this interval, and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line. Instead of them wheeling around upon Parmenio, or upon the 351 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 331 rear of Alexander's conquering wing, the In- dian or Persian cavalry rode straight on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the Thra- cians who were left in charge of it, and began to plunder. This was stopped by the phalan- gite troops of the second line, who, after the enemy's horsemen had rushed by them, faced about, countermarched upon the camp, killed many of the Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, and forced the rest to ride of? again. Just at this crisis Alexander had been recalled from his pursuit of Darius by tidings of the distress of Parmenio, and of his in- ability to bear up any longer against the hot Alexander ^ttacks of Mazcus. Taking his horse-guards hastens to ^j^j^ j^jj^^ Alcxandcr rode toward the part of the field where his left wing was fighting; but on his way thither he encountered the Per- sian and Indian cavalry, on their return from his camp. These men saw that their only chance of safety was to cut their way through, and in one huge column they charged desperately upon the Macedonian regiments. There was here a close hand-to-hand fight, which lasted some time, and sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three generals who fought close to Alex- ander's side were wounded. At length the Macedonian discipline and valor again pre- vailed, and a large number of the Persian and Indian horsemen were cut down, some few only succeeding in breaking through and rid- B.C. 331 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 355 ing away. Relieved of these obstinate ene- mies, Alexander again formed his regiments of horse-guards, and led them toward Par- menio; but by this time that general also was victorious. Probably the news of Darius's flight had reached Mazeus, and had damped the ardor of the Persian right wing, while the tidings of their comrades' success must have proportionately encouraged the Mace- donian forces under Parmenio. His Thessa- lian cavalry particularly distinguished them- selves by their gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by the time that Alex- ander had ridden up to Parmenio, the whole Persian army was m full flight from^rmyflees. the field. It was of the deepest importance to Alex- ander to secure the person of Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The river Lycus was between the field of battle and the city of Arbela, whither the fugitives directed their course, and the passage of this river was even more destructive to the Persians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had been in the engagement. The narrow bridge was soon choked up by the flying thousands who rushed toward it, and vast numbers of the Persians threw themselves, or were hur- ried by others, into the rapid stream, and per- ished in its waters. Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through Arbela without halt- ing. Alexander reached that city on the next 356 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 331 day, and made himself master of all Darius's treasure and stores; but the Persian king, un- fortunately for himself, had fled too fast for Death of his conqueroT, but had only escaped to per- ish by the treachery of his Bactrian satrap, Bessus. A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, "the oldest seat of earthly empire" then in existence, as its acknowledged lord and master. There were yet some cam- paigns of his brief and bright career to be ac- complished. Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his phalanx. But the crisis of his career was reached; the great object of his mission was accomplished; and the ancient Persian empire, which once menaced all the nations of the earth with subjection, was ir- reparably crushed when Alexander had won his crow^ning victory at Arbela. [On the death of Alexander, in 323, his em- Aiexander. pire was dividcd among his generals, between whom war immediately broke out. These wars of the Diadochi lasted from 323 to 276, the Persian-Macedonian empire being finally divided up into five monarchies — Egypt, Syria, Pergamon, Bithynia and Macedonia. The Greek states, led by Athens, tried to throw of¥ the Macedonian yoke in the Lamian war (323-322). During the wars of the Di- adochi, Athens made several other attempts to regain its ancient power, but was finally B.C. 331 THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 357 subdued by the Macedonians in 263, after a three years' war. In 280, the Etolian League was founded and the Achean League was re- newed. The Etolian League, in alliance with Sparta, defeated the Achean League. In 206, Philopemen, "the last of the Greeks," de- feated the Spartans in the battle of Mantinea. Rome was now actively interested in Greek politics. In 264, the First Punic War began pj^g^ and was waged between the Romans and ^ar-^"""'^'"'" thaginians. The Carthaginians at first had greatly the advantage at sea, but the Romans gradually learned, and won a naval victory, which made their enemies sue for peace. The war ended in 241. This was the beginning of the Roman provinces. Carthage ceded to Rome her possessions in Sicily. Before long Rome also gained the Carthaginian posses- sions in Sardinia and Corsica (238). The Carthaginian dominion was, however, extend- ing in Spain. lUyria was subjugated by Rome in 229-228; and Cisalpine Gaul in 225-222. An army of seven thousand Gauls was annihilated in the battle of Telamon in 225. The Carthaginian acquisitions in Spain gave rise to the Second Punic War (218-201 ). second Hannibal invaded Italy and gained victories ^""'''^^^'" on the Ticinus and Trebia in 218, and was joined by sixty thousand insurgents in Cisal- pine Gaul. The great defeat of Lake Trasi- mene (217) excited terror in Rome, but the 368 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 331 Romans suffered a still greater disaster the following year at Cannae. In 215, however, Mt2^^ Marcellus defeated Hannibal at Nola and forced him to assume the defensive in Apulia, awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from Spain.] THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS (B.C. 207) E. S. CREASY CIPIO at Zama trampled in the dust the power of Carthage, but that power had this bauie. been already irreparably shattered in another field, where neither Scipio nor Han- nibal commanded. When the Metaurus wit- nessed the defeat and death of Hasdrubal, it witnessed the ruin of the scheme by which alone Carthage could hope to organize de- cisive success — the scheme of enveloping Rome at once from the north and the south of Italy by two chosen armies, led by two sons of Hamilcar. That battle was the de- termining crisis of the contest, not merely between Rome and Carthage, but between the two great families of the world, which then made Italy the arena of their oft-renewed con- test for pre-eminence. Carthage was originally neither the most ancient nor the most powerful of the numer- ous colonies which the Phenicians planted on the coast of Northern Africa. But her advan- tageous position, the excellence of her consti- (359) 360 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS Impor- tance of Carthage. tution (of which, though ill informed as to its details, we know that it commanded the ad- miration of Aristotle), and the commercial and political energy of her citizens, gave her the ascendency over Hippo, Utica, Leptis, and her other sister Phenician cities in those regions; and she finally reduced them to a condition of dependency, similar to that which the subject allies of Athens occupied rela- tively to that once imperial city. When Tyre and Sidon, and the other cities of Phenicia itself, sank from independent republics into mere vassal states of the great Asiatic mon- archies, and obeyed by turns a Babylonian, a Persian, and a Macedonian master, their power and their traffic rapidly declined, and Carthage succeeded to the important mari- time and commercial character which they had previously maintained. The Carthagin- ians did not seek to compete with the Greeks, on the northeastern shores of the Mediter- ranean, or in the three inland seas which are connected with it; but they maintained an active intercourse with the Phenicians, and through them with Lower and Central Asia; and they, and they alone, after the decline and fall of Tyre, navigated the waters of the Carthage. Atlantic. They had the monopoly of all the commerce of the world that was carried on beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. In their Atlantic voyages along the African shores, the Carthaginians followed the double Trade of B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 361 colonies. object of traffic and colonization. The nu- merous settlements that were planted by them along the coast from Morocco to Senegal pro- vided for the needy members of the constantly He increasing population of a great commercial capital, and also strengthened the influence which Carthage exercised among the tribes of the African coast. Besides her fleets, her caravans gave her a large and lucrative trade ^^jj^j^^j.^^ with the native Africans; nor must we limit our belief of the extent of the Carthaginian trade with the tribes of Central and Western Africa by the narrowness of the commercial intercourse which civilized nations of modern times have been able to create in those regions. Although essentially a mercantile and sea- faring people, the Carthaginians by no means neglected agriculture. On the contrary, the^^^.^.^,^ whole of their territory was cultivated like a'"""^* garden. The fertility of the soil repaid the skill and toil bestowed on it; and every in- vader, from Agathocles to Scipio Emilianus, was struck with admiration at the rich pasture lands carefully irrigated, the abundant har- vests, the luxuriant vineyards, the plantations of fig and olive trees, the thriving villages, the populous towns, and the splendid villas of the wealthy Carthaginians, through which his march lay, as long as he was on Carthaginian ground. Although the Carthaginians abandoned the Egean and the Pontus to the Greek, they were 18 VoJ. 1 5i>2 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.c. ao; by no means disposed to relinquish to those rivals the commerce and the dominion of the coasts of the Mediterranean westward of Italy. ,, _, For centuries the Carthaginians strove to Islands ^ Qmi^aVe° make themselves masters of the islands that lie between Italy and Spain. They acquired the Balearic Islands, where the principal harbor, Port Mahon, still bears the name of a Carthaginian admiral. They succeeded in reducing the greater part of Sardinia; but Sicily could never be brought into their power. They repeatedly invaded that island, and nearly overran it: but the resistance which was opposed to them by the Syracusans un- der Gelon, Dionysius, Timoleon, and Agath- ocles, preserved the island from becoming Punic, though many of its cities remained under the Carthaginian rule until Rome finally settled the question to whom Sicily was to belong by conquering it for herself. With respect to the composition of their armies, it is observable that, though thirsting for extended empire, and though some of her leading men became generals of the highest The Car- ordcr, the Carthaginians, as a people, were notwaruke. anything but personally warlike. As long as they could hire mercenaries to fight for them, they had little appetite for the irksome train- ing and the loss of valuable time which mili- tary service would have entailed on them- selves. As Michelet remarks, "The life of an in- ..C.207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 363 dustrlous merchant, of a Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as long as it was possible to substitute advantageously for it that of a barbarian from Spain or Gaul. Car-wara thage knew, and could tell to a drachma, what "^"'^' the life of a man of each nation came to. A Greek was worth more than a Campanian, a Campanian worth more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. When once this tariff of blood was correctly made out, Carthage began a war as a mercantile speculation. She tried to make conquests in the hope of getting new mines to work, or to open fresh markets for her exports. In one venture she could afford to spend fifty thousand mercenaries, in an- other rather more. If the returns were good, there was no regret felt for the capital that had been sunk in the investment; more money got more men, and all went on well." And this shows, also, the transcendency of Genius of ' ' ^ Hannibal, the genius of Hannibal, which could form such discordant materials into a compact or- ganized force, and inspire them with the spirit of patient discipline and loyalty to their chief, so that they were true to him in his adverse as well as his prosperous fortunes; and throughout the checkered series of his cam- paigns, no panic rout ever disgraced a di- vision under his command, no mutiny, or even attempt at mutiny, was ever known in his camp; and finally, after fifteen years of Italian warfare, his men followed their old leader to 364 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 207 Zama, "with no fear and little hope," and there, on that disastrous field, stood firm around him, his Old Guard, till Scipio's Nu- midian allies came up on their flank, when at last, surrounded and overpowered, the veteran battalions sealed their devotion to their gen- eral by their blood! It was in the spring of B.C. 207 that Has- balsex- drubal, after skilfully disentangling himself from the Roman forces m Spam, and after a march concluded with great judgment and lit- tle loss through the interior of Gaul and the passes of the Alps, appeared in the country that now is the north of Lombardy at the head of troops which he had partly brought out of Spain and partly levied among the Gauls and Ligurians on his way. At this time Hannibal, with his unconquered and seemingly unconquerable army, had been eight years in Italy executing with strenuous ferocity the vow of hatred to Rome which had been sworn by him while yet a child at the bidding of his father, Hamilcar; who, as he boasted, had trained up his three sons, Hanni- bal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, like three lion's whelps, to prey upon the Romans. But Han- nibal's latter campaigns had not been signal- ized by any such great victories as marked the first years of his invasion of Italy. The stern spirit of Roman resolution, ever highest in dis- aster and danger, had neither bent nor de- spaired beneath the merciless blowswhich "the B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 365 dire African" dealt her in rapid succession at Trebia, at Thrasymene, and at Cannae. Her population was thinned by repeated slaughter in the field, poverty and actual scarcity ground down the survivors, through the fearful rav- ages which Hannibal's cavalry spread through their cornfields, their pasture-lands, and their vineyards; many of her allies went over to the invader's side; and new clouds of foreign war threatened her from Macedonia and Gaul. But Rome receded not. Rich and poor among her citizens vied with each other in devotion ?°'°f".. fortitude. to their country. The wealthy placed their stores, and all placed their lives, at the state's disposal. And though Hannibal could not be driven out of Italy, though every year brought its sufferings and sacrifices, Rome felt that her constancy had not been exerted in vain. If she was weakened by the continual strife, so was Hannibal also; and it was clear that the unaided resources of his army were unequal to the task of her destruction. Hasdrubal had commanded the Carthagin- ian armies in Spain for some time with vary- ing but generally unfavorable fortune. He had not the full authority over the Punic forces in that country which his brother and his father had previously exercised. The fac- tion at Carthage which was at feud with his family, succeeded in fettering and interfering with his power, and other generals were from time to time sent into Spain, whose errors and Hasdru- bal's tioubles. 866 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. J07 misconduct caused the reverses that Hasdru- bal met with. It is clear that, in the year B.C. 208, at least, Hasdrubal outmanoeuvred Publius Scipio, who held the command of the Roman forces in Spain, and whose object was to prevent him from passing the Pyrenees and marching upon Italy. Scipio expected that Hasdrubal would attempt the nearest route along the coast of the Mediterranean, and he therefore carefully fortified and guarded the passes of the eastern Pyrenees. But Hasdrubal passed these moun- tains near their western extremity; and then, with a considerable force of Spanish infan- try, with a small number of African troops, with some elephants and much treasure, he marched, not directly toward the coast of the Mediterranean, but in a northeastern line to- ward the centre of Gaul. He halted for the winter in the territory of the Arverni, the mod- ern Auvergne, and conciliated or purchased the good will of the Gauls in that region so far that he not only found friendly winter quarters among them, but great numbers of them enlisted under him; and on the approach of spring, marched with him to invade Italy. By thus entering Gaul at the southwest, and avoiding its southern maritime districts, Has- drubal kept the Romans in complete igno- rance of his precise operations and movements in that country; all that they knew was that Hasdrubal had bafiled Scipio's attempt to de- Hasdrubal crosses the Pyrenees. iaiC. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 367 tain him in Spain; that he had crossed the Pyrenees with soldiers, elephants and money, and that he was raising fresh forces among the Gauls. The spring was sure to bring him into Italy, and then would come the real tempest of the war, when from the north and from the south the two Carthaginian armies, each un- der a son of the Thunderbolt, were to gather together around the seven hills of Rome. In this emergency the Romans looked among themselves earnestly and anxiously for leaders fit to meet the perils of the coming campaign. The Senate recommended the people to The elect, as one of their consuls, Caius Claudius Ro'nfns ' ' select a Nero, a patrician of one of the families of the*^"*^*"- great Claudian house. Nero had served dur- ing the preceding years of the war both against Hannibal in Italy and against Hasdrubal in Spain; but it is remarkable that the histories which we possess record no successes as hav- ing been achieved by him either before or after his great campaign of the Metaurus. It proves much for the sagacity of the leading men of the Senate that they recognized in Nero the energy and spirit which were re- quired at this crisis, and it is equally creditable to the patriotism of the people that they fol- lowed the advice of the Senate by electing a general who had no showy exploits to recom- mend him to their choice. As soon as the winter snows were thawed, •68 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ,.c. .07 Hasdrubal commenced his march from Au- vergne to the Alps. He experienced none of the difficulties which his brother had met with from the mountain tribes. Hannibal's army had been the first body of regular troops that had ever traversed their region; and, as wild animals assail a traveller, the natives rose against it instinctively, in imagined defence of their own habitations which they supposed to be the objects of Carthaginian ambition. But the fame of the war, with which Italy had now been convulsed for twelve years, had pen- etrated into the Alpine passes, and the moun- taineers now understood that a mighty city southward of the Alps was to be attacked by the troops whom they saw marching among them. They now not only opposed no resis- tance to the passage of Hasdrubal, but many of them, out of the love of enterprise and plunder, or allured by the high pay that he offered, took service with him; and thus he advanced upon Italy with an army that gath- ered strength at every league. It is said, also, that some of the most important engineering works which Hannibal had constructed were found by Hasdrubal still in existence, and ma- terially favored the speed of his advance. He thus emerged into Italy from the Alpine val- leys much sooner than had been anticipated. Many warriors of the Ligurian tribes joined him; and, crossing the river Po, he marched down its southern bank to the city of Pla- Hasdrubal enters luly. B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 369 centia, which he wished to secure as a base for his future operations. Placentia resisted him as bravely as it had resisted Hannibal twelve years before, and for some time Hasdrubal was occupied with a fruitless siege before its walls. Six armies were levied for the defence of Italy when the long dreaded approach of Hasdrubal was announced. Seventy thou- sand Romans served in the fifteen legions, of which, with an equal number of Italian allies, those armies and garrisons were composed. Upward of thirty thousand more Romans were serving in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. The whole number of Roman citizens of an age fitEemof o Rome. for military duty scarcely exceeded a hundred and thirty thousand. The census taken before the commencement of the war had shown a total of two hundred and seventy thousand, which had been diminished by more than half during tvVelve years. These numbers are fear- - fully emphatic of the extremity to which Rome was reduced, and of her gigantic efforts in that great agony of her fate. Not merely men, but money and military stores, were drained to the utmost; and if the armies of that year should be swept off by a repetition of the slaughters of Thrasymene and Cannae, all felt that Rome would cease to exist. Even if the campaign were to be marked by no de- cisive success on either side, her ruin seemed certain. In South Italy, Hannibal had either 870 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 207 detached Rome's allies from her, or had im- poverished them by the ravages of his army. If Hasdrubal could have done the same in Upper Italy; if Etruria, Umbria, and North- ern Latium had either revolted or been laid waste, Rome must have sunk beneath sheer starvation, for the hostile or desolated terri- tory would have yielded no supplies of corn for her population, and money to purchase it from abroad there was none. Instant victory was a matter of life or death. Three of her Disposition six armies were ordered to the north, but the of the ' forces. f^pgf Qj these was required to overawe the dis- affected Etruscans. The second army of the north was pushed forward, under Porcius, the pretor, to meet and keep in check the ad- vanced troops of Hasdrubal; while the third, the grand army of the north, which was to be under the immediate command of the consul Livius, who had the chief command in all - North Italy, advanced more slowly in its sup- port. There were similarly three armies in the south, under the orders of the other consul, Claudius Nero. Hannibal at this period occupied with his veteran but much reduced forces the extreme south of Italy. It had not been expected either by friend or foe that Hasdrubal would effect his passage of the Alps so early in the year as actually occurred. And even when Hannibal learned that his brother was in Italy, and had advanced as far as Placentia, he was B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 371 obliged to pause for further intelligence be- fore he himself commenced active operations, as he could not tell whether his brother might not be invited into Etruria, to aid the party there that was disaffected to Rome, or whether he would march down by the Adriatic Sea. Hannibal led his troops out of their winter quarters in Bruttium and marched northward as far as Canusium. In the hope, probably, Hasdru- of inducing Nero to follow him, and of gain- me'n'ts!"°'^' ing an opportunity of outmanoeuvring the Ro- man consul and attacking him on his march, Hannibal moved into Lucania, and then back into Apulia; he again marched down into Bruttium, and strengthened his army by a levy of recruits in that district. Nero followed him, but gave him no chance of assaulting him at a disadvantage. Some partial encounters seem to have taken place; but the consul could not prevent Hannibal's junction with his Brut- tian levies, nor could Hannibal gain an oppor- tunity of surprising and crushing the consul. Hannibal returned to his former headquarters at Canusium, and halted there in expectation of further tidings of his brother's movements. Nero also resumed his former position in ob- servation of the Carthaginian army. Meanwhile, Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, and was advancing toward Ari- minum on the Adriatic, and driving before him the Roman army under Porcius. Nor when the consul Livius had come up, and 872 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 207 united the second and third armies of the north, could he make head against the in- vaders. The Romans still fell back before Hasdrubal, beyond Ariminum, beyond the Metaurus, and as far as the little town of Sena, to the southeast of that river. Hasdrubal was not unmindful of the necessity of acting in concert with his brother. He sent messengers to Hannibal to announce his own line of march, and to propose that they should unite their armies in South Umbria, and then wheel round against Rome. Those messengers trav- ersed the greater part of Italy in safety, but, when close to the object of their mission, were mans learn capturcd bv 3 Roman detachment, and Has- of Hasdru- ^ j j bais plans. (Jrubal's IcttcT, detailing his whole plan of the campaign, was laid, not in his brother's hands, but in those of the commander of the Roman armies of the south. Nero saw at once the full importance of the crisis. The two sons of Hamilcar were now within two hundred miles of each other, and if Rome were to be saved, the brothers must never meet alive. Nero instantly ordered seven thousand picked men, a thousand being cavalry, to hold them- selves in readiness for a secret expedition against one of Hannibal's garrisons, and as soon as night had set in, he hurried forward on his bold enterprise; but he quickly left the southern road toward Lucania, and, wheeling round, pressing northward with the utmost rapidity toward Picenum. He had, during B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 378 the preceding afternoon, sent messengers to Rome, who were to lay Hasdrubal's letter before the Senate. There was a law forbid- ding a consul to make war or march his army beyond the limits of the province assigned to him; but in such an emergency Nero did not j^^^^.^ ^^j^ wait for the permission of the Senate to exe-^"'°"' cute his project, but informed them that he was already on his march to join Livius against Hasdrubal. He advised them to send the two legions which formed the home garrison on to Narnia, so as to defend that pass of the Fla- minian road against Hasdrubal, in case he should march upon Rome before the consular armies could attack him. They were to sup- ply the place of these two legions at Rome by a levy en masse in the city and by ordering up the reserve legion from Capua. These were his communications to the Senate. He also sent horsemen forward along his line of march, careof the with orders to the local authorities to bring '° stores of provisions and refreshments of every kind to the roadside, and to have relays of car- riages ready for the conveyance of the wearied soldiers. Fortunately for Rome, while she was a prey to terror and anxiety, her consul's nerves were stout and strong, and he resolutely urged on his march toward Sena, where his colleague Livius and the pretor Porcius were encamped, Hasdrubal's army being in position about half a mile to their north. Nero had sent couriers 374 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS I.e. 207 colleague. forward to apprise his colleague of his project and of his approach; and by the advice of Livius, Nero so timed his final march as to jli^shis reach the camp at Sena by night. According to a previous arrangement, Nero's men were received silently into the tents of their com- rades, each according to his rank. By these means there was no enlargement of the camp that could betray to Hasdrubal the accession of force which the Romans had received. This was considerable, as Nero's numbers had been increased on the march by the volun- teers, who offered themselves in crowds, and from whom he selected the most promising men, and especially the veterans of former campaigns. A council of war was held on the morning after his arrival, in which some ad- vised that time should be given for Nero's men to refresh themselves after the fatigue of such a march. But he vehemently op- posed all delay. Nero's advice prevailed. It was resolved to fight directly, and before the consul and pretor left the tent of Livius, the red ensign, which was the signal to prepare for immediate action, was hoisted, and the Romans forthwith drew up in battle array outside the camp. Hasdrubal had been anxious to bring Livius and Porcius to battle, though he had not judged it expedient to attack them in their lines. And now, on hearing that the Romans offered battle, he also drew up his men and B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 375 advanced toward them. No spy or deserter had informed him of Nero's arrival, nor had he received any direct information that he had more than his old enemies to deal with. But as he rode forward to reconnoitre the Roman line, he thought that their numbers seemed to^^sdru- ' o bars sus- have increased, and that the armor of some ^rous"ed. of them was unusually dull and stained. He noticed, also, that the horses of some of the cavalry appeared to be rough and out of con- dition, as if they had just come from a suc- cession of forced marches. So also, though, owing to the precaution of Livius, the Roman camp showed no change of size, it had not es- caped the quick ear of the Carthaginian gen- eral that the trumpet which gave the signal to the Roman legions sounded that morning once oftener than usual, as if directing the troops of some additional superior officer. Hasdrubal, from his Spanish campaigns, was well acquainted with all the sounds and sig- nals of Roman war, and from all that he heard and saw he felt convinced that both the Ro- man consuls were before him. In doubt and difficulty as to what might have taken place between the armies of the south, and prob- ably hoping that Hannibal was also approach- ing, Hasdrubal determined to avoid an en- counter with the combined Roman forces, and to endeavor to retreat upon Insubrian Gaul, where he would be in a friendly country, and could endeavor to reopen his communication 37*3 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. ioy Hasdrub.il retreats. Is betrayed. with his brother. He therefore led his troops back into their camp; and as the Romans did not venture on an assault upon his intrench- ments, and Hasdrubal did not choose to com- mence his retreat in their sight, the day passed away in inaction. At the first watch of the night, Hasdrubal led his men silently out of their camp, and moved northward toward the Metaurus, in the hope of placing that river between himself and the Romans before his retreat was discovered. His guides betrayed him; and having purposely led him away from the part of the river that was fordable, they made their escape in the dark, and left Hasdrubal and his army wandering in confu- sion along the steep bank, and seeking in vain for a spot where the stream could be safely crossed. At last they halted; and when day dawned upon them, Hasdrubal found that great numbers of his men, in their fatigue and impatience, had lost all discipline and subor- dination, and that many of his Gallic auxili- aries had got drunk, and were lying helpless in their quarters. The Roman cavalry were soon seen coming up in pursuit, followed at no great distance by the legions, which marched in readiness for an instant engagement. It was hopeless for Hasdrubal to think of continuing Prepares his retrcat before them. The prospect of im- for ttie.^, mediate battle might recall the disordered part of his troops to a sense of duty, and revive the instinct of discipline. He therefore or- i,.c.207 " THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 877 dered his men to prepare for action instantly, and made the best arrangement of them that the nature of the ground would permit. His veteran Spanish infantry, armed with Hasdrubai helmets and shields, and short cut- and-th rust for taufe. swords, were the best part of his army. These, and his few Africans, he drew up on his right wing, under his own personal command. In the centre he placed his Ligurian infantry, and on the left wing he placed or retained the Gauls, who were armed with long javelins and with huge broadswords and targets. The rugged nature of the ground in front and on the flank of this part of his line made him hope that the Roman right wing would be unable to come to close quarters with these un- serviceable barbarians before he could make some impression with his Spanish veterans on the Roman left. This was the only chance that he had of victory or safety, and he seems to have done everything that good general- ship could do to secure it. He placed his ele- phants in advance of his centre and right wing. He had caused the driver of each of them to be provided with a sharp iron spike and a mallet, and had given orders that every beast that became unmanageable, and ran back upon his own ranks, should be instantly killed, by driving the spike into the vertebra at the junction of the head and the spine. Hasdrubal's elephants were ten in number. We have no trustworthy information as to the of ihe 378 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 107 amount of his infantry, but it is quite clear that he was greatly outnumbered by the com- bined Roman forces. Nero commanded the right wing, Livius Importance thc Icft, and thc oretor Porcius had the command of the centre. "Both Romans and Carthaginians well understood how much de- pended upon the fortune of this day, and how little hope of safety there was for the van- quished. Only the Romans herein seemed to have had the better in conceit and opinion that they were to fight with men desirous to have fled from them; and according to this presumption came Livius the consul, with a proud bravery, to give charge on the Span- iards and Africans, by whom he was so sharply entertained that the victory seemed very doubtful. The Africans and Spaniards were stout soldiers, and well acquainted with the manner of the Roman fight. The Ligu- rians, also, were a hardy nation, and not ac- customed to give ground, which they needed the less, or were able now to do, being placed in the midst. Livius, therefore, and Porcius found great opposition; and with great slaughter on both sides prevailed little or nothing. Besides other difficulties, they were exceedingly troubled by the elephants, that brake their first ranks, and put them in such disorder as the Roman ensigns were driven to fall back; all this while Claudius Nero, laboring in vain against a steep hill. The battle. B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 379 was unable to come to blows with the Gauls that stood opposite him, but out of danger. This made Hasdrubal the more confident, who, seeing his own left wing safe, did the more, boldly and fiercely make impression on the other side upon the left side of the Ro- mans." * But at last Nero, who found that Hasdrubal refused his left wing, and who could not over- come the difficulties of the ground in the quarter assigned to him, decided the battle by another stroke of that military genius which had inspired his march. Wheeling a brigade of his best men round the rear of the rest of the Roman army, Nero fiercely charged thej^^ides flank of the Spaniards and Africans. The ""^ *'*''■ charge was as successful as it was sudden. Rolled back in disorder upon each other, and overwhelmed by numbers, the Spaniards and Ligurians died, fighting gallantly to the last. The Gauls, who had taken little or no part in the strife of the day, were then surrounded, and butchered almost without resistance. Hasdrubal, after having, by the confession of his enemies, done all that a general could do, when he saw that the victory was irrepa- rably lost, scorning to survive the gallant hostj^^^^^^. which he had led, and to gratify, as a captive, del'h.''"''''' Roman cruelty and pride, spurred his horse into the midst of a Roman cohort, and, sword * Sir Walter Raleigh, Hist arte of the World. 380 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 207 in hand, met the death that was worthy of the son of Hamilcar and the brother of Hannibal. Success the most complete had crowned Nero's enterprise. Returning as rapidly as he had advanced, he was again facing the in- active enemies in the south before they even Hannibal kncw of his march. But he brought with him b?o'ihe?'s''^ a ghastly trophy of what he had done. In ^ ' the true spirit of that savage brutality which deformed the Roman national character, Nero ordered Hasdrubal's head to be flung into his brother's camp. Ten years had passed since Hannibal had gazed on those features. The sons of Hamilcar had then planned their system of warfare against Rome, which they had so nearly brought to successful accom- plishment. Year after year had Hannibal been struggling in Italy, in the hope of one day hailing the arrival of him whom he had left in Spain, and of seeing his brother's eye flash with affection and pride at the junction of their irresistible hosts. He now saw that eye glazed in death, and in the agony of his heart the great Carthaginian groaned aloud that he recognized his country's destiny. Meanwhile, at the tidings of the great bat- Rome^^_, tie, Rome at once rose from the thrill of anxiety and terror to the full confidence of triumph. Hannibal might retain his hold on Southern Italy for a few years longer, but the imperial city and her allies were no longer in danger from his arms; and, after triumphant B.C. 207 THE BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 381 Hannibal's downfall, the great military re- public of the ancient world met in her career of conquest no other worthy competitor. By- ron has termed Nero's march "unequalled," and, in the magnitude of its consequences, it is so. [In 206, Scipio captured Cadiz (Gades) and expelled the Carthaginians from Spain. The First Macedonian War was concluded inSaJ^w"! the same year, the Romans having formed a league of Greek States against the King of Macedon, who had promised to help Hanni- bal with troops. In 204, Scipio landed in Africa. In 203, he defeated the Carthaginians and Hannibal was recalled from Italy. The latter was decisively defeated at Zama in 202 ; and, in 201, peace was concluded on terms ^^- ^eco^d ceedingly humiliating to Carthage. The Sec- S^wtr. ond Macedonian War began in 200, and lasted three years. The Romans were joined in 199 by the Etolians, and later by the Acheans. Epirus was conquered and Philip V. was de- feated at Cynoscephalae, the Roman Senate decreed freedom and independence for the Greek States. Antiochus III., of Syria, had interfered in Greek affairs and the Romans took advantage of the pretext to make war. The King of Syria landed in Thessaly, but was totally de- feated by the Romans, who afterward crossed the Hellespont and won the battle of Mag- 382 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c 207 nesia in 190. Rome divided the conquered country among her allies. Constant quarrels continued among the Greek States, among whom the Roman Senate was called upon to arbitrate. In 183, Ha-nnibal died from poison. The Macedonian monarchy was finally de- stroyed by Rome in the Third Macedonian War (171-168). In 166, war broke out be- tween Syria and Egypt, and Rome again acted as arbitrator. The Third Punic War began in 149, the Romans having decided finally to destroy Carthage. Scipio captured and de- stroyed the city in 146, and the coast-line became a Roman* province.] Third Macedo- nian war. THE FALL OF CARTHAGE (B.C. 150-146) HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL BEFORE Corinth fell, Carthage also had ceased to exist. We saw Hannibal re- form the corrupt administration of his native city, and put her in the way of recover- ing even from the heavy blow which she had suffered after the defeat of Zama. We saw him compelled to leave Africa at the instance of the Roman Senate. But his acts lived after him. The trade of Carthage revived rapidly, Flourishing and the disturbed condition of the East threw ^^"''*^*'- a large commerce into the hands of her mer- chants. The Senate could not look with equanimity on this state of affairs; and Masinissa was given to understand. that he would not be pre- vented from enriching himself at the expense of his neighbors. The unscrupulous Numid- ian did not require a second hint. He over- ran and plundered the most fertile provinces dependent upon Carthage; and the Cartha- ginians, finding the Senate deaf to all com- plaints, at last prayed to be allowed to plead (383) 384 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. is<^.46 their cause before some fair tribunal, or, if not, to use arms in self-defence. "The Car- thaginians," they said, "would rather be the slaves of Rome than subject to the depreda- tions of Masinissa. Better die at once than live at the mercy of that Numidian robber!" Nevertheless, they were again put off with promises and delays, catode- ^^ appears that at this time parties ran high di«?ruc\ion at Carthage. The old oligarchical party, of Carthage ^j^.^j^ had expcllcd Hannibal, was disposed to maintain peace at any price. But about the year B.C. 151, the popular party got the upper hand, and the new Government resolved openly to oppose the encroachments of Masi- nissa. It was at this time that Cato, now eighty-four years of age, was seized by a sort of fanatic desire for the destruction of Car- thage. So long as the hateful rival flour- ished, he contended there could be no safety for Rome. Scipio Nasica, who for his pru- dence and sagacity had received the name of Corculum, opposed this opinion with all his eloquence, and so far prevailed that before declaring war a Commission was sent to Africa, headed by Cato himself, with full powers to settle all disputes between Carthage and Masinissa. The Commissioners began by requiring that both parties should enter into a bond to submit absolutely to their de- cisions. Masinissa of course consented; but the Carthaginians naturally demurred to throw B.C. I50-I46 THE FALL OF CARTHAGE 385 themselves on the mercy of Cato, and the Com- missioners returned to Rome. Once more Cato rose in the Senate, and gave a glowing description of the power and wealth of Car- thage. Unfolding his gown, he produced some giant figs, which he held up, and said, "These figs grow but three days' sail from Rome. Every speech," he added, "which I make in this house shall finish with the words — 'my opinion is, that Carthage must be destroyed — delenda est Carthago! " From that day the doom of C'arthage was fixed. An opportunity soon offered for interfer- Rome's op= ence (B.C. 150). The banished oligarchy portunity. sought the aid of Masinissa, and the old Chief promptly led a large army into the" territory of Carthage. The new Government had lev- ied a considerable force, which they put un- der the command of an officer named Has- drubal. It was not long before a battle was fought, in which the Numidians wDn the day. It happened that young Scipio had just then been sent by Lucullus from Spain to obtain a supply of elephants from Masinissa; and he was a spectator of the battle from a neighbor- ing eminence — "a sight," as he told Polybius, "that no one had enjoyed since the time when Jupiter looked down from Ida upon the battle of the Greeks and Trojans." It must have been a remarkable sight to behold old Masinissa, then past ninety years of age, charge like a JUT Vol. 1 386 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. .50-146 boy of nineteen at the head of his wild Nu- midian horse. Masinissa soon reduced the army of the enemy to such straits that the Government of Carthage was compelled to yield. The popu- lar party was once more deprived of power; and the wealthy merchants, who now recov- ered the government, prepared to make sub- carthage mission to the Senate. They proclaimed Has- submjt*. -' ^ drubal and the leaders of the war party guilty of high treason, and sent envoys to Rome with humble apologies ; but they were too late. The Consuls-elect for the year B.C. 149, L. Censo- rinus and M. Manilius, began to hold their levies before the Carthaginian envoys arrived. The latter knew not well how to act, but at length resolved to place Carthage and all her possessions at the absolute disposal of the Sen- ate. It was answered that they had done well. The Fathers pledged their word that Carthage should be left free, if 300 of the noblest youths were sent as hostages to meet the Consuls at Lilybeum; from them the Government should learn the further commands of the Senate. The Carthaginian Government complied with the demand, not without secret alarm as to what these ''further commands" might be. A heart-rendine: scene ensued when the '?oo Hostages '^ ^ are given, hostagcs wcrc tom from their parents' arms. At Lilybeum the Consuls received those pledges of submission, coldly signifying that they should land their army in Africa within 9X.ISO-H0 THE FALL OF CARTHAGE 387 a few days, and would then declare the will of the Senate. Accordingly the poor boys were sent to Rome, and the fleet anchored in the harbor of Utica, while the legions took up their quarters in the old camp of Scipio at the mouth of the Bagradas. Here another deputation from the trembling Government of Carthage appeared before the Consuls, who received them sitting on their chairs of state, with their officers around them, and the army drawn out in order. The deputies recapitu- lated the acts of submission which Carthage had made, and humbly asked what more could be required. Censorinus replied that, "as Car- thage was now under the protection of Rome, they would no longer have occasion to engage in war: they must therefore give up all their arms and engines without reserve." This hard canhage " disarms. condition also was accepted. The force of the city may be in some measure estimated from the fact that 200,000 stand of arms and 2,000 catapults were delivered up to Scipio Nasica, who conveyed them to the Roman camp, followed by the chiefs of the Govern- ment, who imagined that they had drained the cup of humiliation to the dregs. They were grievously mistaken. The Consuls thought that the city was now wholly disabled, and they let drop the mask. Censorinus calmly informed the unhappy men, that "so long as they possessed a fortified city near the sea, Rome could not feel sure of their submission: 388 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ..c. 150-146 therefore it was the will of the Senate that they must remove to some point ten miles dis- tant from the coast: Carthage must be de- stroyed." On hearing their final doom, the wretched Carthaginians fell stupefied to the ground ; and when they found utterance, broke into passionate exclamations against the per- jured Senate. Despair gave unnatural courage. The tem- Desperate r o o ^ ^\SIt pl^s and public buildings were converted into resistance, ^yorkshops ; men and women worked day and night manufacturing arms; every day lOO shields w^ere turned out, 300 swords, 500 pikes and javelins, 1,000 catapult-bolts. The women cut off their long hair to be twisted into strings for the new catapults. Corn was assiduously collected from every quarter. The Consuls, who were men of the Forum rather than the Camp, were not a little dis- appointed at this turn of affairs. They dal- lied for a time, hoping that on reflection the Carthaginians would give up all thoughts of an armed defence. The conduct of Masinissa contributed to their irresolution. The wily old chief had no mind that, after Carthage had been weakened by his arms, Rome should come in and take the lion's share. At first the Con- suls had not thought it necessary to ask for his co-operation: it is plain that they expected to take the city without stroke of sword. But now the case was altered, and when they ap- plied to Masinissa, he hung back. B.C. iso-i+6 THE FALL OF CARTHAGE 389 When it became clear that Carthage must be formally besieged, the Consuls still no doubt expected an easy triumph; but the de- fence that followed was one of the most heroic that the world has seen. The Consuls divided their army; Manilius assaulting the triple wall abutting on the isth- mus, Censorinus directing his attack at the end of the pier, where the city wall seemed least strong. But all their assaults were gallantly The repelled. The season was passing, and the make"ifttie hot weather caused the army to suffer greatly. Censorinus returned home to hold the Co- mitia; and the army, commanded by Manilius, was only saved from Hasdrubal's assaults by Scipio, who was serving under the Consul. The Senate began to repent of having neg- lected Masinissa, and sent ambassadors to beg for his assistance. But the old chief was dead before they arrived. Of his numerous offspring only three were legitimate. On his death-bed he sent for Scipio, to whom he was attached as the heir of the great Af ricanus, and left the settlement of the succession to his judgment. Scipio gave the sceptre to Micipsa, the eldest son; Golossa, the second, was to be general; the administra- tion of justice was committed to the youngest, Masinissas Mastanarbal. Golossa joined the Romans atloinsX"" the head of a body of troops; and thus freed the Consul from the fear of seeing the Nu- midians take part with Carthage. 390 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ..t. .50.46 Before the winter set in, Hamilcar Phameas, commander of the cavalry, the terror of the Pham^s Roman foraging parties, finding that the Nu- 10 Rome, niidians had joined Rome, determined to make a merit of timely submission to Rome; and Manilius was overjoyed to see this redoubted foe ride into camp in company with Scipio, followed by a squadron of African horse. Tid- ings now came that L. Calpurnis Piso, Consul for the next year, was on his way to supersede him; and Manilius sent ofif Scipio, with Pha- meas as a trophy of success, to Rome. The army escorted their favorite officer to the coast, and prayed him to come back as Con- sul; for all were persuaded that none but Scipio was destined to take Carthage. The Senate received Scipio with high distinction, and rewarded the traitor Phameas with splen- did presents. His desertion was the only piece of success which two Consuls and a great army had won in a whole campaign. l^he next year (B.C. 148) passed still less prosperously. Piso did not attempt to assault the city, but employed his fleet and army in buccaneering expeditions along the coast. Dis- content and disorder spread among the sol- diery; and the Consul went early into winter quarters at Utica. Meantime the spirits of the Carthaginians rose. Their bitter enemy, Bithyas old Cato, had just died, at the age of eighty- tanha-^ five. Bithyas, a Numidian chief, deserted ginians. -^ ' from Golossa with a large body of cavalry. B.C. i5c^i46 THE FALL OF CARTHAGE 391 The Numidian Hasdrubal, who commanded the garrison, being suspected of intriguing with his cousin, Golossa, was put to death, and the other Hasdrubal toolc command in the city. News also arrived of the Macedonian war; and it was hoped that the Romans might be altogether baffled. Meanwhile discontent arose high at Rome. Both Senate and people had expected to reap a rich booty at Carthage with little trouble, and the faineans, who had disappointed them, could hardly appear in public. It was well known that Scipio was the darling of the army. Old Cato had said of him, in a line of Homer, that "Only he has living force, the rest are fleeting shades." The people clamored for his election as Con- sul, though by the Lex Annalis he was not eligible, for he was but thirty-eight years of age, and was now a candidate for the Edile- deaed ship. He was, however, elected Consul at the Comitia; and the Senate yielded. Early in the next year (B.C. 147) Scipio set sail for Utica with new levies, attended by Polybius. C. Lelius, son of that Lelius who had enjoyed the confidence of Africanus, had command of the fleet. The Consul fixed his headquarters in a camp commanding the Isth- mus of Carthage; and here his first business was to restore discipline in the disorganized army. He ordered the crowd of idlers and 392 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 150-146 Scipio hucksters, who were following the camp for plunder or petty traffic, to leave it immedi- ately; and enforced strict discipline. He then directed an attack against the auacks suburb of INIegara. Planks were laid from a Megara. 111 detached tower to the wall; and thus a party of soldiers descended into the place, and threw the gate open to their comrades. Tib. Grac- chus the Younger, destined to become famous in Roman history, was the first who mounted the wall. The loss of this suburb of gardens must have been of great moment to the Car- thaginians; for it deprived them of a great source of provisions. Hasdrubal showed his vexation by putting his prisoners to death in sight of the Romans. In vain the Council en- deavored to restrain him: the savage soldier was now lord of Carthage, and determined to commit himself and his men to a desperate defence. He waf a greedy tyrant, who fed his gross corpulence by luxurious living, while others were starving; and affected the pomp- ous demeanor of an Oriental despot rather than the simplicity of a patriot soldier. His men alone shared the provisions, which now began to come scantily into the city. The un- happy townsmen began to feel the miseries of want. For not only had Scipio taken Megara; fie had drawn strong lines across the isthmus so as to cut off the city from all land supplies; and the fleet blockaded the harbor, so as to Hasdrubal massacres his prison- ers. scipio blocks the harbor with i>.c.i5<^i46 THE FALL OF CARTHAGE 393 make it difficult to send in provisions by sea. Still, light vessels contrived to press into the harbor under full sail, when the wind blew strongly landward and prevented the Roman ships from keeping the sea. Scipio deter- mined to cut ofif even these precarious supplies by throwing an embankment across the mouth *™°'* of the harbor. The work was one of infinite labor, and made but slow progress. The Car- thaginians, however, saw that it must ulti- mately succeed, and began to cut a canal from the inside, so as to open a new entrance from the sea into their harbor. Before the end of the year this work was completed, and, more- over, a fleet of fifty ships had been secretly built in the inner port. By the time Scipio's embankment was finished, the Romans had the mortification to see this new fleet sail out by the new entrance; so that it seemed as if all their labor had been thrown away. For two days they allowed the Carthaginian fleet to insult them with impunity, but on the third they attacked it with all their ships. The battle lasted till evening with some advantage to the Carthaginians. But as the latter fell back to the new entrance, they found the passage im- peded by small craft; and in the confusion which ensued the Romans succeeded in de- stroying the greater part of the new fleet. At the beginning of spring (B.C. 146) , Scipio resumed the offensive. While he made a feigned attack upon the walls of Cothon, 394 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ..c. .5(^146 Lelius succeeded in forcing an entrance on the other side of the city, and at evening the Ro- man legions bivouacked in the marketplace of Carthage. "But a long and terrible strug- gle was still before them. From the market- place three streets converged toward the Cit- adel. These streets were all strongly barri- caded; and the houses on each side, rising to the height of six stories, were occupied by the Desperate '^ ' r ./ fighting Carthaginians. A series of street-fights en- sued, which lasted several days. The Romans were obliged to carry the first houses on each street by assault, and then to force their way by breaking through from house to house, and driving the enemy along the flat roofs. The cross streets or lanes were passed by bridges of planks. Thus they slowly advanced to the wall of Bosra. When they had reached this point the city was set on fire behind them. Six days and nights the flames continued to rage; and as they slackened, the Roman le- gionaries were employed as pioneers to clear thoroughfares for the free passage of men and horses. During the great labor of the last days Scipio alone sought no rest. At length, worn out by anxiety and fatigue, he lay down to re- pose on an eminence commanding a view of the Temple of Esculapius, which, with its gilded roof, crowned the heights of Bosra. He had not long been here, when the Cartha- ginian garrison, seeing no longer any hope, B.C. 150-146 THE FALL OF CARTHAGE 395 ojfifered to surrender the Citadel, on condition The dta- of their lives being spared. Scipio consented rendered. for all, except Roman deserters; and 50,000 men defiled out of the gates of Bosra as prison- ers of war. Then Hasdrubal and his family, with 900 deserters and other desperadoes, re- tired into the Temple of Esculapius, as if to make a brave defence. But the Commandant's heart failed him; and, slipping out alone, he threw himself at the feet of Scipio, and craved "afs^™;. for pardon. His wife, standing on the base*^^"'*^" of the temple, was near enough to witness the sight, and reproaching her husband with cow- ardice, cast herself with her children into the flames, which were now wrapping the Cita- del round on all sides. Hasdrubal's life was spared to grace the triumph of the conqueror; most of the deserters perished in the flames; those who escaped, or were taken elsewhere, were trampled to death by elephants. It was during these scenes of horror, that Scipio, with Polybius at his side, gazed upon the burning city, and involuntarily vented his high-wrought feeling in two well-known verses of Homer; "The day shall come when sacred Troy shall be levelled with the plain. And Priam and the people of that good warrior slain." "Assyria," he said, "had fallen, and Persia and Macedon. Carthage was burning. Rome's day might come nextl" 386 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS >.c. ,50-146 For five days the soldiery were allowed to range the ruined city, glutting their wild pas- sackof sions. Yet enough of statues and valuables Carthage. ° 1 /• 1 t> of all sorts fell into the hands of the Procon- sul, to adorn a triumph little less magnificent than that in which he had followed his father, PauUus, one-and-twenty years before. Before he left Africa, he celebrated magnificent games, in which all the spoil was displayed to the army, as had been done by Paullus in Macedonia. Scipio had written laconically to the Sen- ate, that "Carthage was taken, and the army waited for further orders." Amid the exulta- tion of all classes, a Decree was passed that the walls should be destroyed, and every house within them levelled to the ground. A sol- Thecurse cmu cursc was pronounced by Scipio on any one who should rebuild a town on the same site. Not many years after, C. Gracchus was sent to found a colony on the site of Carthage — a design which failed; and its failure was attributed to the curse of Scipio. But the same design was renewed by the great Julius, and accomplished by Augustus. This Colony, which rose to be a noble city, and in the sec- ond century of the Christian era might be re- garded as the metropolis of Western Christen- dom, stood (as stated above) at the southern end of the Peninsula, where the Moorish for- tress of Goletta now commands the entrance of the Bay of Tunis. B.C.ISO-I46 THE FALL OF CARTHAGE 397 Utica, for her timely submission, was re- Warded with a portion of the dominions of Carthage. The remaining territory was formed into a province under the name of Libya, and placed under the government* of a Roman Magistrate, being the fourth Prov- • ince added to the empire in this one year. Such was the end of Carthage, after an ex- istence of more than seven centuries. FThe Fourth Macedonian War broke out Fourth "- Macedo- in 148 and was concluded in 146, when Mac-"'*"^**^- edonia became a Roman province. In the same year, Rome waged war with the Achean League, gained the battle of Leucopetra and captured and sacked Corinth. Greece then became a Roman province under the name of Achaia.] THE FALL OF GREECE (B.C. 151-146) I HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL N the same year in which Lucullus and Galba took command in Spain, the Sen- ate was induced to perform an act of Release of tardy justicc in the release of the Achean kptives^*" captives. The abduction of the best men in every state of Greece gave free scope to the oppressions of the tyrants favored by Rome. In the Achean Assembly alone there was still spirit enough to check Callicrates, who never ventured to assail the persons and property of his fellow-citizens. Meantime years rolled on; the captives still languished in Etruscan prisons; hope deferred and sick- ness were fast thinning their numbers: the Assembly asked that only Polybius and Stra- tius might return, but the request was met by a peremptory negative. At last, when Scipio returned from Spain, he induced Cato to intercede for these unhappy men. The manner of the old Censor's intercession is characteristic. The debate had lasted long and the issue was doubtful, when Cato rose, (398) ..c. isi-146 THE FALL OF GREECE 399 and, without a word about justice or human- ity, simply said: "Have we really nothing to do but to sit here all day, debating whether a parcel of old Greeks are to have their coffins made here or at home?" The question was decided by this unfeeling argument, and the prisoners, who in sixteen years had dwindled onhe^*'°" from i,ooo to 300, were set free. But when captives. Polybius prayed that his comrades might be restored to their former rank and honors, the old Senator smiled, and told him "he was act- ing like Ulysses, when he ventured back into the cave of the Cyclops to recover his cap and belt." The men released in this ungracious way had passed the best part of their' lives in cap- tivity. The elder and more experienced among them were dead. The survivors returned with feelings imbittered against Rome; they were rash and ignorant, and, what was worse, they had lost all sense of honor and all principle, and were ready to expose their country to any danger in order to gratify their own passions. The chief name that has reached us is that of Dieus. Polybius did not return at first, and when he reached Greece he found his country- men acting with such reckless violence that he gladly accepted Scipio's invitation to accom- pany him to the siege of Carthage. Calli- crates, by a strange reverse, was now the leader of the moderate party. Dieus advocated every violent and unprincipled measure. On an em- 400 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. .51-146 bassy to Rome the former died, and Dieus returned as chief of the Achean League. Not long after (in B.C. 148) a pretender to the throne of Macedon appeared. He was a young man named Andriscus, a native of Ad- thepTe^"^ ramyttium, who gave himself out as Philip, a younger son of that luckless monarch. The state of Macedonia, divided into four re- publics, each in a state of compulsory excom- munication, was so distracted, that, in the year 151, the people sent an embassy to Rome, pray- ing that Scipio might be sent to settle their affairs, and he had only been prevented from undertaking the task by the self-imposed duty of accompanying the army of Lucullus into Spain. The Pretender, however, met with so little success in his first attempt that he fled to the court of Demetrius at Antioch, and this prince sent him to Rome. The war with Car- thage was then at its height. The Senate treated the matter lightly, and the adventurer was allowed to escape. Some Thracian chiefs received him, and with troops furnished by them he penetrated into Thessaly. The Ro- man pretor, Juventius Thalna, was defeated and slain by the Pretender. The temporary success of Pseudo-Philippus (as the Romans called him) encouraged Dieus The to drive the Acheans into a rupture with br'^^k^with Rome. The haughty republic, he said, was at war with Carthage and with Macedon ; now was the time to break their bonds. Q. Metel- B.C.ISI-I46 THE FALL OF GREECE 401 lus, who had just landed in Greece with a con- siderable army, gave the Acheans a friendly warning, but in vain. Metellus soon finished the Macedonianwar. At his approach the Pretender hastily retired from Thessaly and was given up to the Ro- man pretor by a Thracian chief whose pro- tection he had sought. Meanwhile, a commission had already arrived at .Corinth, headed by M. Aurelius Orestes, who summoned the chiefs of the League to hear the sentence of the Senate upon their recent conduct. He informed them that they must relinquish all claims of sovereignty over Corinth, Argos, and Lacedemon — a doom which reduced the Achean League nearly to the condition from which Aratus first raised It. The chiefs reported what they had heard to the Assembly. A furious burst of passion rose, which Dieus did not attempt to restrain. Orestes and the Romans hardly escaped per- sonal violence. Orestes instantly returned to Rome; and the Senate, preferring diplomacy to force, sent a second commission, headed by Sext. Julius Caesar, with instructions to use gentle Ian- Romede- guage, and merely to demand the surrender of those who had instigated the violent scenes lately enacted at Corinth. A contemptuous answer was returned, upon which Caesar re- turned to Rome, and the Senate declared war against the Acheans. Clares war. 402 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. .51-146 Metellus hoped to win the glory of pacify- ing Greece, as well as of conquering Mace- donia. He sent some of his chief officers to endeavor to bring the Acheans to their senses. But their leaders were too far committed; and at the beginning of B.C. 146 Critolaus, a friend of Dieus, who was general for the year, ad- vanced into Thessaly, and was joined by the Thebans Thcbans, always the inveterate enemies of Acheans. Romc. MctcUus had already heard that the Achean war was to be conducted by L. Mum- mius, one of the new Consuls; and, anxious to bring it to a close before he was superseded, he advanced rapidly with his army. On this the braggart chiefs of the Acheans retreated in all haste, not endeavoring to make a stand even at Thermopylae. Their army dispersed almost without a blow. Metellus pushed straight on toward the isthmus. Thebes he found desertec^by her inhabitants: misery and desolation appeared everywhere. Dieus prepared to defend Corinth. But popular terror had succeeded to popular pas- sion; few citizens would enlist under his ban- ner: though he emancipated a number of slaves, he could not muster more than 15,000 men. When Metellus was almost within sight of Corinth, Mummius landed on the isthmus with his legions, and assumed the command. The Romans treated the enemy with so much contempt that one of their outposts w^as sur- B.C. 151-146 THE FALL OF GREECE 403 prised; and Dieus, flushed with this small success, drew out his forces before the city. Mummius eagerly accepted the challenge, and the battle began. The Achean cavalry fled at the first onset; the infantry was soon broken, and Dieus fled into one gate of Co- rinth and out of another without attempting further resistance. The Romans might have entered the city that same day; but seeing ^^^^^^ the strength of the Acropolis, and suspecting ^°""^''- treachery, Mummius held back, and twenty- four hours elapsed before he took possession of his unresisting prey. But the city was treated as if it had been taken by assault; the men were put to the sword, the women and children reserved to be sold by auction. All treasures, all pictures, all the works of the famous artists who had molded Corinthian brass into effigies of living force and symme- try, were seized by the Consul on behalf of the State; then, at a given signal, fire was applied, and Corinth was reduced to a heap of ashes. Mummius, a New Man, was distinguished by the rudeness rather than by the simplicity of an Italian boor. He was not greedy, for he reserved little for himself; and when he died, his daughter found not enough left for her dowry; but his abstinence seems to have pro- ceeded from indifference rather than self-de- nial. He cared not for the works of Grecian' art. He suffered his soldiers to use one of the choicest works of the painter Aristides as a 404 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ■.c. 151-146 draught-board; but when Attalus offered him Mummius . f .t • ^^ 1 • • 1 •, sends works a laFffc sutTi TOT thc painting:, he imaeined it Rome. must be a talisman, and ordered it to be sent to Rome. Every one knows his speech to the seamen who contracted to carry the statues and pictures of Corinth to Rome. "If they lost or damaged them," he said, "they must replace them with others of equal value." In the autumn ten commissioners arrived, as usual, with drafts of decrees for settling the future condition of Macedon and Greece. Polybius, who had returned from witnessing the conflagration of Carthage just in time to behold that of Corinth, had the melancholy satisfaction of being called to their counsels, — a favor which he owed to the influence of Scipio. A wretched sycophant proposed to the commissioners to destroy the statues of Aratus and Philopemen; but Polybius pre- vented this dishonor by sho.wing that these eminent men had always endeavored to keep peace with Rome. At the same time he de- clined to accept any part of the confiscated property of Dieus. Politically he was able to render important services. All Greece south of Macedonia and Epirus was formed into a Roman Province under the name of Achaia. The old republican governments of the various communities were abolished, and the constitution of each assimilated to that of the municipal cities of Italy. Polybius was left in Greece to settle these new constitu- Greece formed into the Roman province of Achaia. B.C. 151-146 THE FALL OF GREECE 405 tions, and to adjust them to the circumstances and wants of each place. His grateful coun- trymen raised a statue to his honor by the side of their old heroes, and placed an inscription on the pedestal, which declared that, if Greece had followed his advice, she would not have fallen. Such was the issue of the last stru^ffle forpateof °° Greece. Grecian liberty. It was conducted by un- worthy men, and was unworthy of the name it bore. Polybius had always opposed attempts at useless and destructive insurrection. He considered it happy for Greece that one battle and the ruin of one city consummated her fall. Indeed, it was a proverb of the day that "Greece was saved by her speedy fall." The ten commissioners passed northward into Macedonia, and formed that country, in conjunction with Epirus, into another prov- ince, with institutions for municipal govern- ment much the same as those which had been established in Greece. It is probable that Illyria also was constituted as a province at the same time. Metellus and Mummius both returned to Rome before the close of B.C. 146, and were Jf'teeuls honored with triumphs not long after Scipio^ius. ""*' had carried the spoils of Carthage in pro- cession to the Capitol. In memory of their respective services, Metellus was afterward known by the name of Macedonicus, while Mummius, who appears to have had no third 406 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS «.c. 151-146 name of his own, was not ashamed to assume the title of Achaicus. [In Sicily, in 134, the first slave insurrection broke out: order was restored in 132. Atta- lus III. bequeathed his realm of Pergamus to Rome on his death in 133. It was formed into the province of Asia in 129. The next B.C. 134-88. province acquired by Rome was the southern part of Transalpine Gaul in 118. In Africa, Marius gained further triumph for Rome by overthrowing Jugurtha in 104. In 105, the invading Cimbri annihilated a Roman army of 80,000 on the Rhone and passed on into Spain. In 102, Marius exterminated them, and the following year an allied invading northern tribe, the Teutones, suffered a like fate near Milan. In 88, Sulla was elected Consul and civil war broke out between him and Marius, which lasted six years.] SOCIAL AND MITHRIDATIC WARS (B.C. 90—64) EDWARD AUGUSTUS FREEMAN IN the space of about two hundred years, from the beginning of the Samnite Wars to the conquest of Numantia and the in- heritance of the province of Asia, Rome had come to be the mistress of all the lands round the Mediterranean Sea. The whole was not as yet fully annexed and made into provinces, but no power was left which had the least chance of holding out against Rome. The Rome and only great power with which Rome had had no war was the kingdom of Egypt. There the descendants of the first Ptolemy, all of whom bore his name, still reigned, and Egypt was the richest and most flourishing of the Macedonian kingdoms, and its capital Alex- andria was the greatest seat of Greek learning and science. But when the Romans began to be powerful in Asia, even the Ptolemies, who often had wars with the Seleukids, began to look to Rome as a protector. It was this vast dominion, while it made Rome so great in the face of other nations, which led to the cor- (407) 408 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 90-64 ruption of her constitution within, and at last to the utter loss of her freedom. The form of government which had done so well for a single city with a small territory did not do at E%-iisof ^^^ ^°^ ^^^ government of so large a portion former*" 0^ the world. Throughout the Roman do- mcnt"" minions the Roman People was sovereign; the Assembly of the People made laws and chose magistrates from Rome itself, and sent out generals and governors to conquer and rule in the subject lands. The provincials, and even the allies, had no voice in settling the afifairs of the vast dominion of which they had become a part, and they were often greatly oppressed by the Roman officers. Meanwhile in Rome itself the great offices had been gradu- ally thrown open to the Plebeians as well as the Patricians, and hardly any legal distinc- tion was left between the two orders. The constitution was therefore really democratic; for the sovereign power lay in the Assembly of the whole People, which made the laws and chose the magistrates. And in choosing the magistrates they also indirectly chose the Senate, as it was mainly made up of men who had held the different magistracies. Still the constitution had a great tendency to become practically aristocratic. For the men who had held great offices, whether Patricians or Plebeians, began to form a class by themselves, and their descendants, who were now called nobles, began to think that they only had a B.C.90-64 SOCIAL AND MITHRIDATIC WARS 409 right to hold the offices which their forefathers had held. Then again the old citizens of Rome were largely cut ofif in the endless wars, and many freedmen — that is, men who had been slaves — and strangers got the citizenship, so that the character of the Roman people was greatly lowered. And, as every citizen who wished to vote had to come to Rome in his own person, the Roman Assembly had be- come far too large, and gradually turned into a mere mob. Then again many citizens were sodai strife wretchedly poor, while rich men had made ndTanS themselves great estates out of the land which rightly belonged to the commonwealth. Thus, instead of the old political strife between Pa- tricians and Plebeians, there had come, what was a great deal worse, a social strife between the rich and the poor. While Rome had still powerful enemies to strive against, these evils did not make themselves so much felt; but, when Rome had nothing more to fear, they be- gan to be very glaring, and men had to seek for remedies for them. And, along with all this, the Italian states, which had not been raised to Roman citizenship but which had borne a great part in the wars of Rome, now demanded to be made Romans. The cause of the poor against the rich was taken up by Tiberius ^^^ Sempronius Gracchus, in the year 133; and ^'^*^''^*' the cause both of the poor and of the allies was taken up by his brother Caius in 123. But both of them were murdered by the oligarchs, 18 Vol. 1 410 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 90-64 who wished to keep all power and wealth in their own hands. After the death of the Gracchi the ill will between the nobles and the people, and the further ill will between the Romans and the The social Italians, still went on. The next great leader war. ' ° of the popular party was Caius Marius, of whom we have already heard as the conqueror of the Teutones. He was not of any high family, but was born at Arpinum, an old town of the Volscians, whose people did not obtain the full Roman citizenship till i88. His sympathies, therefore, lay with the people against the oligarchs, and still more with the Italians against either the nobles or the mob of Rome. He was an excellent soldier, and first began to distinguish himself in the war with Jugurtha, who had usurped the kingdom of Numidia, whose King Massinissa had been „ . so useful to Rome in the Punic War. This Manus ju^'rthl. "^var began in iii, and in io6 Marius brought the war to an end and led Jugurtha in tri- umph. Very soon after came the invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones and Marius's great success against them. He was now the chief man in Rome and the leader of the popular party. But the complaints of the Italians still went on, and in the year 90 most of them rose in arms. This was called the Social War, that is the war with the Socii or Allies of Rome. It was ended in the course of the next year by all the allies, except the Samnites and B.C.90-64 SOCIAL AND MITHRIDATIC WARS 411 Lucaruans in the south of Italy, submitting and being made Roman citizens. The Samnites, whom it had cost Rome so much trouble to conquer two hundred years before, still held out. Marius held a command in this war, and so did Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who had been his lieutenant in the war with Jugurtha; but Marius did little or nothing, and went far to lose his old credit, while Sulla showed him- self the rising man of Rome. Presently a Civil War, the first in Roman history, broke Thefirst out between Marius and Sulla, in which the^"' ''^"^ Social War, which had never quite come to an end, merged itself. At one stage of this war Sertorius, a Roman general on the Marian side, held Spain almost as a separate power, having a Senate of his own, which he said was the real Roman Senate. In 83, Sulla came back from his wars in the East, of which we shall speak directly, and the Samnites, who had never laid down their arms, joined with the Marian party, and began openly to declare that Rome must be destroyed. Rome had never been in such danger since quite the old times, and there can be no doubt that Sulla, who now saved Rome and crushed the Samnites and the Marian party, fixed the fu- ture history of the world far more than Caesar or any one else who came after him. Sulla now took to himself the supreme power at Rome, with the title of Perpetual Dictator. But, when he had quite rooted out the Marian il2 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 90-64 party, and had passed a series of laws to con- firm the dominion of the aristocracy, he gave up his power, and lived as a private man till he died soon after. Rome had now passed through her last trial within her own penin- sula. The Samnites, who had withstood to the last, had been utterly cut off, and the other Italians had become Romans. TheMithri- Whilc Romc went through this great trial daticwar. ^^ home, shc had to undergo another almost as great abroad. She had to wage a war greater than any that she had waged since the conquest of Carthage and Macedonia. One of those states in Asia Minor which had arisen, as was before mentioned, out of the ruins of the old Persian empire, was Pontos, the Kingdom of the Euxine Sea — Pontos in Greek meaning the sea, and specially the Euxine Sea. Its kings were of native blood, but, like all their neighbors, they made a cer- tain pretence to Greek culture, and the acqui- sition of the province of Asia by the Romans made them neighbors of Rome. Pontos was now ruled by Mithridates the Sixth or the Great. A war w^ith him broke out while the Social War was going on in Italy, and Mith- ridates succeeded in winning all Asia. He Massacre of then ordcrcd all the Romans and Italians who the Romans 1 1 • » • 1 1 • were settled m Asia to be massacred m one day, which the people everywhere did very willingly — they had made themselves so hate- ful. Then his generals, like Antiochos, crossed B.C.90-64 SOCIAL AND MITHRIDATIC WARS 413 over into Greece, where many of the Greeks took his side. Sulla then, in 87, came into Greece, stormed Athens, won two great bat-^^^^"^^^ ties at Chaironeia and Orchomenos in Beo^ia, and then, being called home by the news of the successes of Marius, patched up a peace by which Mithridates gave up all his conquests. Such a peace was not likely to last, and, as soon as he had a good opportunity, Mithridates be- gan the war again. This was in 74, and the second war between him and the Romans, first under Lucius Licinius Lucullus and then un- der Cneus Pompeius, called Magnus or the Great, lasted ten years. It ended in the over- throw of the Pontic kingdom, which was split up in the usual way, and in the complete re- establishment of the Roman power in Asia. [In 64, Pompey transformed Syria into a Roman province; and, in 63, he conquered Phenicia, Celesyria and Palestine, storming Jerusalem. In 63, Catiline's conspiracy was hatched. Internal dissensions led to the es- The First tablishment of the First Triumvirate of Cras-™"""^'- sus, Pompey and Caesar, in 60. Caesar con- quered Gaul and southern Britain (58-50). Civil war broke out between Caesar and Pom- pey in 49, when Caesar crossed the Rubicon. He went to fight Pompey in Spain and from there to northern Epirus, where Pompey had the best of the war. Caesar retreated to Thes- saly, and there Pompey was defeated in the 414 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS b.c. 90-64 Pompey decisivc battle of Pharsalus (48). Pompey fled to Egypt and was murdered on landing. The Alexandrine War (48-47) was concluded by Caesar, who left a Roman garrison in Alexandria. In Asia Minor, in 47, Caesar defeated Pharnaces in a five days' campaign. In 45, Caesar defeated Pompey's sons at Munda M^sfnafld ^^ southern Spain. In 44, Caesar was assas- sinated and civil war again broke out, between Antony and the assassins. The Second Tri- umvirate, Antony, Octavius and Lepidus, was formed in 43. The next year Antony de- feated Cassius at the battle of Philippi in Thrace, and soon afterward defeated Brutus, Death of who killed himself. Antony ravaged Asia and Syria and then followed Cleopatra to Egypt. In 40, after a civil war, the empire was divided between Octavius, Antony and Lepidus. In 31, war again broke out between Octavius and Antony.] BATTLE OF ACTIUM (B.C. 31) PLUTARCH THERE happened at this time a quarrel between Phraates and the king of the Medes, occasioned, as it is said, by the division of the Roman spoils, and the latter was apprehensive of losing his kingdom. He therefore sent to Antony an o-ffer of his assis- tance against the Parthians. Antony, whopianTwar concluded that he had failed of conquering Medes. the Parthians only through want of cavalry and bowmen, and would here seem rather to confer than to receive a favor, determined once more to return to Armenia, and, after joining the king of the Medes at the river Araxares, to renew the war. Octavia, who was still at Rome, now ex- pressed a desire of visiting Antony, and Caesar gave her his permission, not according to the general opinion, merely to oblige her, but that the ill treatment and neglect which he con- cluded she would meet might give him a pre- tence for renewing the war. When she ar- rived at Athens, she received letters from Antony, commanding her to continue there, (415) 416 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 31 Octavia visits Antony. and acquainting her with his new expedi- tion. Antony was all this while preparing for his Median expedition, and Cleopatra's creatures and dependants did not fail to reproach his unfeeling heart, which could sufifer the woman whose life was wrapped up in his to die for his sake. Octavia's marriage, they said, was a mere political convenience, and it was enough for her that she had the honor of be- ing called his wife. Poor Cleopatra, though queen of a mighty nation, was called nothing more than his mistress: yet even with this, for the sake of his society, she could be content: reproaches, but of that socicty, whenever she should be deprived, it would deprive her of life. These insinuations so totally unmanned him, that, through fear of Cleopatra's putting an end to her life, he returned to Egypt, and put off the Mede till summer, though at that time the Parthian afifairs were said to be in a seditious and disorderly situation. At length, however, he went into Armenia, and after entering into an alliance with the Mede, and betrothing one of Cleopatra's sons to a daughter of his who was very young, returned, that he might attend to the civil war. When Octavia returned from Athens, Caesar looked upon the treatment she had met with as a mark of the greatest contempt, and he therefore ordered her to retire and live alone. However, she refused to quit her husband's B.C.3I BATTLE OF ACTIUM 417 house, and moreover entreated Caesar by no means to have recourse to arms merely on her account. It would be infamous, she said, for the two chiefs of the Roman empire to involve the people in a civil war, one for the love of a woman, and the other out of jealousy. Yet even by this conduct she was hurting Antony, i" Amonys contrary to her inclination. His injurious of^cTavu. treatment of such a woman excited a general indignation; and the distribution he had made to his children in Alexandria carried with it something so imperious and so disparaging to the Romans, that it increased that indignation not a little. The manner of doing it was ex- tremely obnoxious. He summoned the peo- ple to the place of public exercise, and order- ing two golden chairs to be placed on a tribu- nal of silver, one for himself, and the other for Cleopatra, besides lower seats for the children, he announced her queen of Egypt, Cyprus, Africa, and Celesyria, and nominated Cesario, her son by Caesar the dictator, her colleague. The sons she had by him he entitled kings of kings, and to Alexander he gave Armenia and Media, together with Parthia, when it should be conquered. To Ptolemy he gave Phenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. At the same time the chil- dren made their appearance, Alexander in a^nj^^y Median dress, with the turban and tiara; and S.^sil'among Ptolemy in the long cloak and slippers, with chfid?en'^^ a bonnet encircled by a diadem. The latter was dressed like the successors of Alexander; 418 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 31 the former like the Median and Armenian kings. When the children saluted their par- ents, one was attended by Armenian, the other by Macedonian guards. Cleopatra on this, and on other public occasions, wore the sacred robe of Isis,"*^ and affected to give audience to the people in the character and name of the New Isis. Caesar expatiated on these things in the Sen- ate, and by frequent accusations incensed the people against Antony. Antony did not fail to recriminate by his deputies. In the first place, he charged Caesar with wresting Sicily out of the hands of Pompey, and not dividing it with him. His next charge was, that Caesar had never returned the ships he had borrowed of him; a third, that after reducing his col- league, Lepidus, to the condition of a private man, he had taken to himself his army, his province, and his tributes; lastly, that he had cssar's distributed almost all the lands in Italy among against his own soldiers, and had left nothins: for his. Antony. ' '^ To these Caesar made answer, that Lepidus was reduced from an incapacity of sustaining his government; that what he had acquired by war, he was ready to divide with Antony, and at the same time he expected to share Armenia with him; that his soldiers had no right to lands in Italy, because Media and Armenia, * This robe was of all colors, to signify the universality of the goddess's influence. The robe of Osiris was of one color only. B.C. 31 BATTLE OF ACTIUM 419 which by their bravery they had added to the Roman empire, had been allotted to them. Antony being informed of these things in Armenia, immediately sent Canidius to the seacoast with sixteen legions. In the mean- time, he went to Ephesus, attended by Cleo- patra. There he assembled his fleet, which consisted of eight hundred ships of burden, whereof Cleopatra furnished two hundred, be- sides twenty thousand talents, and provisions for the whole army. Antony, by the advice of Domitius and some other friends, ordered Cleopatra to return to Egypt, and there to wait the event of the war. When Caesar was informed of the celerity and magnificence of Antony's preparations, Amony-s o J X I I prepara- he was afraid of being forced into the war*^°''*- that summer. This would have been very in- convenient for him, as he was in want of al- most everything, and the levies of money occa- sioned a general dissatisfaction. The whole body of the people were taxed one-fourth of their income, and the freed slaves one-eighth. This occasioned the greatest clamor and con- fusion in Italy, and Antony certainly com- mitted a very great oversight in neglecting the advantage. By his unaccountable delays he gave Caesar an opportunity both to com- plete his preparations, and appease the minds of the people. When the money was de- manded, they murmured and mutinied; but i20 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. 31 after it was once paid, they thought of it no longer. When Caesar had made his preparations, it was decreed that war should be declared against Cleopatra; for that Antony could not be said to possess that power which he had already given up to a w^oman. Caesar ob- served that he was like a man under enchant- ment, who has no longer any power over him- self. It was not he, with whom they were going to war, but Mardion, the eunuch, and Pothinus; Iris, Cleopatra's woman, and Char- mion; for these had the principal direction of affairs. Several prodigies are said to have Various . _^, prodigies, happened previous to this war. Fisaurum, a colony of Antony's on the Adriatic, was swallowed up by an earthquake. Antony's statue in Alba was covered with sweat for many days, which returned, though it was fre- quently wiped off. While he was at Patrae, the temple of Hercules was set on fire by light- ning, and at Athens, the statue of Bacchus was carried by a whirlwind from the Giganto- machia into the theatre. These things con- cerned Antony the more nearly, as he affected to be a descendant of Hercules, and an imita- tor of Bacchus, insomuch that he was called the Young Bacchus. The same wind threw down the colossal statues of Eumenes and At- talus, called the Antonii, while the rest were unmoved. And in Cleopatra's royal galley, which was called Antonias, a terrible phe- 8.C3I BATTLE OF ACTIUM 421 nomenon appeared. Some swallows had built their nests in the stern, and others drove them away, and destroyed their young. Upon the commencement of the waY, An-Themai tony had no fewer than five hundred armed ^"""^ vessels, magnificently adorned, and furnished with eight or ten banks of oars. He had, more- over, a hundred thousand foot, and twelve thousand horse. The auxiliary kings, who fought under his banners, were Bacchus, of Africa, Tarcondemus, of the upper Cilicia, Archelaus, of Cappadocia, Philadelphus, of Paphlagonia, Mithridates, of Commagene, and Adallas, of Thrace. Those who did not attend in person, but sent supplies, were Po- lemo of Pontus, Malchus, of Arabia, Herod, of Judea, and Amyntas, king of Lycaonia and Galatia. Besides these he had supplies also from the king of the Medes. Caesar had two hundred and fifty men-of-war, eighty thou- sand foot, and an equal number of horse with the enemy. Antony's dominions lay from the Euphrates and Armenia to the Ionian sea and lUyria: Caesar's extended from Illyria to the western ocean, and from that again to the Tus- can-and Sicilian sea. He had likewise all that part of Africa which lies opposite to Italy, Gaul and Spain, as far as the pillars of Her- cules. The rest of that country, from Cyrene to Ethiopia, was in the possession of Antony. But such a slave was he to the will of a woman, that, though much superior at land, 422 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS B.C. 31 to gratify her, he put his whole confidence in the navy: notwithstanding that the ships had not half their complement of men, and the officers were obliged to press and pick up in Greece, vagrants, ass-drivers, reapers and boys. Nor could they make up their numbers even with these, but many of the ships were still al- most empty. Caesar's ships, which were not high-built or splendidly set ofif for show, but tight good sailers, well manned and equipped, continued in the harbors of Tarentum and Brundusium. From thence he sent to An- tony, desiring he would meet him with his forces, that no time might be lost: offering at the same time to leave the ports and harbors free for his landing, and to withdraw his army a day's journey on horseback, that he might make good his encampment. To this Antony returned a haughty answer, and though he was d^uenges thc oldcT man, challenged Caesar to single aS "" combat; or if he should decline this, he might meet him at Pharsalia, and decide it where Caesar and Pompey had done before. Caesar prevented this: for, while Antony made for Actium, which is now called Nicopolis, he crossed the Ionian, and seized on Toryne, a place in Epirus. Antony was distressed on finding this, because he was without his in- fantry; but Cleopatra made a jest of it, and asked him if it was so very dreadful a thing that Caesar was got into the Ladle?* * In Greek Toryne. B.C. 31 BATTLE OF ACTIUM 423 Antony, as soon as it was daylight, perceived the enemy making up to him ; and fearing that ru"se°"^ ^ his ill-manned vessels would be unable to stand the attack,- he armed the rowers, and placed them on the decks to make a show: with the oars suspended on each side of the vessels, he proceeded in this mock form of battle toward Actium. Caesar was deceived by the stratagem, and retired. The water about Caesar's camp was both scarce and bad, and Antony had the address to cut off the little that they had. There was a neck of land that lay between Antony's camp and his fleet, along which he used to go frequently from one to the other. Caesar was informed, by a domestic, how easy it might be to seize Antony in this passage, and he sent a party to lie in wait for that purpose. They were so near carrying their point, that they seized the person who went before An- tony, and had they not been too hasty, he must have fallen into their hands, for it was with the greatest difficulty that he made his escape by flight. After it was determined to decide the affair by sea, they set fire to all the Egyptian vessels Prepara- ' . -^ °-' ^ tionsfora except sixty. The best and largest ships, from navaibauie three ranks of oars to ten, were selected, and these had their proper complement of men, for they were supplied with twenty thousand foot and two thousand archers. Upon this, a veteran warrior, an experienced officer in the 424 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 31 infantry, who had often fought under Antony, and whose body was covered with scars, cried, pointing to those scars, "Why will ypu, gen- eral, distrust these honest wounds, and rest your hopes on those villanous wooden bot- toms? Let the Egyptians and the Phenicians skirmish at sea, but give us at least the land; for there it is we have learned to conquer or to die." Antony made no answer, but seemed to encourage him by the motions of his hand and head; though, at the same time, he had no great confidence himself; for when the pilots would have left the sails behind, he ordered them to take them all on board, pre- tending, indeed, that it should be done to pursue the enemy's flight, not to facilitate his own. On that and the three following days, the sea ran too high for an engagement; but on the fifth, the w^eather was fine and the sea Battle of calm. Antony and Poplicola led the right wing, Celius the left, and Marcus Octavius and Marcus Justeius commanded the centre. Caesar had given his left wing to Agrippa, and led the right himself. Antony's land forces were commanded by Canidius, and Caesar's remained quiet on the shore, under the command of Taurus. As to the generals themselves, Antony was rowed about in a light vessel, ordering his men, on account of the weight of their vessels, to keep their ground and fight as steadily as if they were at land. Actium. B.C. 31 BATTLE OF ACTIUM 425 Disposi- He ordered his pilots to stand as firm as if they were at anchor, in that position to receive the attacks of the enemy, and, by all means, to avoid the disadvantage of the straits. Caesar, when he left his tent before day to review his fleet, met a man who was driving an ass. Upon asking his name, the man answered, my name is Eutychus, and the name of my ass is Nicon* The place where he met him was afterward adorned with trophies of the beaks of ships, ^'^f£i^^ and there he placed the statue of the ass and his driver in brass. After having reviewed the whole fleet, and taken his post in the right wing, he attended to the fleet of the enemy, which he was surprised to find steady and mo- tionless as if it lay at anchor. For some time he was of opinion that it was so, and for that reason he kept back his fleet at the distance of eight furlongs. About noon, there was a brisk gale from the sea, and Antony's forces being impatient for the combat, and trusting to the height and bulk of their vessels, which they thought would render them invincible, put the left wing in motion. Caesar rejoiced at the sight of this, and kept back his right wing, that he might the more efifectually draw them out to the open sea, where his light galleys could easily surround the heavy half-manned vessels of the enemy. The attack was not made with any violence or impetuosity: for Antony's ships were too * Good Fortune and Victory. 426 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS B.C. 31 heavy for that kind of rapid impression, which, however, is very necessary for the breach of the enemy's vessel. On the other Nature of hand, CsBsar's ships durst neither encounter t ccom t. j^g^j jQ j^g^fj with Antony's on account of the strength and roughness of their beaks, nor yet attack them on their sides, since, by means of their weight, they would easily have broken their beaks, which w^ere made of large square pieces of timber, fastened to each other with iron cramps. The engagement, therefore, was like a battle at hand rather than a sea-fight, or, more properly, like the storming of a town : for there were generally three or more ships of Caesar's about one of Antony's, assaulting it with pikes, javelins, and fire-brands, while Antony's men, out of their wooden towers,* threw weapons of various kinds from engines. Agrippa opened his left w^ing with a design to surround the enemy, and Poplicola, in his endeavor to prevent him, was separated from the main body, which threw it into disorder, while at the same time it was attacked with great vigor byArruntius.f When thingswere in this situation, and nothing decisive was yet effected, Cleopatra's sixty ships on a sudden Cleopatra's hoistcd thcir sails, and fairly took to flight through the midst of the combatants; for they were placed in the rear of the large vessels, * His ships are so called on account of their tallness. t Arruntius must have commanded Caesar's centre, though that circumstance is not mentioned. B.C. 31 BATTLE OF ACTIUM 427 and, by breaking their way through them, they occasioned no small confusion. The enemy saw them with astonishment making their way with a fair wind for the Peloponnesus. An- tony, on this occasion, forgot both the general and the man; and as some author has pleas- antly observed, that a lover's soul lives in the body of his mistress, so, as if he had J)een abso- lutely incorporated with her, he suffered her to carry him soul and body away. No sooner did he see her vessel hoisting sail than, for- getting every other object, forgetting those brave friends that were shedding their blood in his cause^ he took a five-oared galley, and, accompanied only by Alexander the Syrian, and Scellius, followed her who was the first cause, and now the accomplisher of his ruin. Her own destruction was certain, and he vol- untarily involved himself in her fate. When she saw him coming, she put up a signal in her vessel, on which he soon wentjo^ns"^ ^ ' Cleopatra. aboard : neither of them could look the other in the face, and Antony sat down at the head of the ship, where he remained in sombre si- lence, holding his head between his hands. In the meantime Caesar's light ships that were in pursuit of Antony came in sight. Upon this he ordered his pilot to tack about and meet them; but they all declined the engage- ment and made off, except Eurycles the Lace- demonian, who shook his lance at him in a menacing manner on the deck. Antony, stand- 428 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ■•c. 31 His shame. ing at the head of his galley, cried, "Who art thou that thus pursuest Antony?" He answered, "I am Eurycles, the son of Lachares, and follow the fortunes of Caesar to revenge my father's death." This Lachares Antony had beheaded for a robbery. Eurycles, however, did not attack Antony's vessel, but fell upon the other, admiral galley (for there were two of that rank), and by the shock turned her round. He took that vessel and another which contained Antony's most valuable plate and furniture. When Eurycles was gone, An- tony returned to the same pensive posture; and continuing thus for three days, during which, either through shame or resentment, he refused to see Cleopatra, he arrived at Te- narus. There the women who attended them, first brought them to speak to each other, then to dine together, and not long after, as it may be supposed, to sleep together. At last, sev- eral of his transports, and some of his friends who had escaped from the defeat, came up with him, and informed him that his fleet was totally destroyed, but that his land forces were yet unhurt. Hereupon he sent orders to Ca- nidius immediately to march his army through Macedonia in Asia. As for himself, he deter- mined to sail from Tenarus into Africa, and, dividing one shipload of treasure among his friends, he desired them to provide for their own safety. They refused the treasure, and expressed their sorrow in tears; while An- B.C. 31 BATTLE OF ACTIUM 429 tony, with the kindest and most humane con- solations, entreated them to accept it, and dis- missed them with letters of recommendation to his agent at Corinth, whom he ordered to give them refuge till they could be reconciled to Caesar. In this posture were the affairs of Antony. After his fleet at Actium had long struggled the siain. with Caesar's, a hard gale, which blew right ahead of the ships, obliged them to give out about four in the afternoon. About five thou- sand men were slain in the action, and Caesar, according to his own account, took three hun- dred ships. Antony's flight was observed by few, and to those who had not seen it, it was at first incredible. They could not possibly believe that a general, who had nineteen le- gions and twelve thousand horse, a general to whom vicissitude of fortune was nothing new, would so basely desert them. His soldiers had an inexpressible desire to see him, and still expecting that he would appear in some part or other, gave the strongest testimony of their courage and fidelity. Nay, when they were even convinced that he was irrecover- ably fled, they continued embodied for seven days, and would not listen to the ambassadors of Caesar. At last, however, when Canidius, who commanded them, fled from the camp by night, and when they were abandoned by their principal officers, they surrendered to Caesar. 43<"> THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS b.c. 31 [Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide; Egypt is made a Roman province, Octavius becomes sole ruler of the Roman world, and Temple ciolcd"' the Temple of Janus is closed for the third time in Roman history in 29. In 12, Drusus leads Roman armies to the Weser and Elbe, and his successor and brother, Tiberius, sub- jugates Pannonia (Southwestern Hungary). B.C. 3(?) Christ is born.] THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST o FREDERIC W. FARRAR NE mile from Bethlehem is a little plain, in which, under a grove of olives, stands the bare and neglected The chap. chapel known by the name of "the Angel toAn°geito^ r J & theShep- the Shepherds. It is built over the tradi- ''^■"'^^ tional site of the fields where, in the beautiful language of St. Luke — more exquisite than any idyl to Christian ears — "there were shep- herds keeping watch over their flock by night, when, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them," and to their happy ears were uttered the good tidings of great joy, that unto them was born that day in the city of David a Saviour, which was Christ the Lord. The associations of our Lord's nativity were all of the humblest character, and the very "">"*>'« ' J surround- scenery of his birthplace was connected with'"^' memories of poverty and toil. On that night, indeed, it seemed as though the heavens must burst to disclose their radiant minstrelsies; and the stars, and the feeding sheep, and the "light and sound in the darkness and still- (431) 432 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ness," and the rapture of faithful hearts, com- bine to furnish us with a picture painted in the colors of heaven. But in the brief and The thrilling verses of the Evangelist we are not shephwis. told that those angel songs were heard by any except the wakeful shepherds of an obscure village; — and those shepherds, amid the chill dews of a winter night, were guarding their flocks from the wolf and the robber, in fields where Ruth, their Saviour's ancestress, had gleaned, sick at heart, amid the alien corn, and David, the despised and youngest son of a numerous family, had followed the ewes great with young. "And suddenly," adds the sole Evangelist who has narrated the circumstances of that memorable night in which Jesus was born, amid the indifiference of a world unconscious of its Deliverer, "there was with the angel a Mgeof"" multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good will." It might have been expected that Christian piety would have marked the spot by splendid memorials, and enshrined the rude grotto of the shepherds in the marbles and mosaics of some stately church. But, instead of this, the Chapel of the Herald Angel is a mere rude crypt; and as the traveller descends down the broken steps which lead from the olive-grove into its dim recess, he can hardly persuade himself that he is in a consecrated place. Yet THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST 433 a half-unconscious sense of fitness has, per- haps, contributed to this apparent neglect. The poverty of the chapel harmonizes well with the humble toil of those whose radiant vision it is intended to commemorate. ''Come now! let us go unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord made known to us," said the shep- herds, when those angel songs had ceased to break the starry silence. Their way would lead them up the terraced hill, and through the moonlit gardens of Bethlehem, until they The yii- o ' -' lage mn. reached the summit of the gray ridge on which the little town is built. On that sum- mit stood the village inn. The khan of a Syr- ian village, at that day, was probably identi- cal, in its appearance and accommodation, with those which still exist in modern Pales- tine. A khan is a low structure, built of rough stones, and generally only a single story in height. It consists for the most part of a square inclosure, in which the cattle can be tied up in safety for the night, and an arched recess for the accommodation of trav- ellers. The leewan, or paved floor of the re- cess, is raised a foot or two above the level of the courtyard. A large khan — such, for in- stance, as that of which the ruins may still be seen at Khan Minyeh, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee — might contain a series of sucH recesses, which are, in fact, low small rooms with no front wall to them. They are, of 1» Vol. 1 434 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS course, perfectly public; everything that takes place in them is visible to every person in the khan. They are also totally devoid of even the most ordinary furniture. The traveller may bring his own carpet if he likes, may sit cross-legged upon it for his meals, and may lie upon it at night. As a rule, too, he must bring his own food, attend to his own cattle, and draw his own water from the neighboring spring. He would neither expect nor require attendance, and would pay only the merest Theyii- trifle for the advantage of shelter, safety, and lage mn. o i j i a floor on which to lie. But if he chanced to arrive late, and the leeivans were all occupied by earlier guests, he would have no choice but to be content with such accommodation as he could find in the courtyard below, and secure for himself and his family such small amount of cleanliness and decency as are compatible with an unoccupied corner on the filthy area, which must be shared with horses, mules, and camels. The litter, the closeness, the unpleas- ant smell of the crowded animals, the unwel- come intrusion of the pariah dogs, the neces- sary society of the very lowest hangers-on of the caravanserai, are adjuncts to such a posi- tion which can only be realized by any trav- eller in the East who happens to have been placed in similar circumstances. In Palestine it not unfrequently happens that the entire khan, or at any rate the portion of it in which the animals are housed, is one fROM PAINTING BY CORREGGIO Vol. I. pp. 43i-44t THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST 435 of those innumerable caves which abound in the limestone rocks of its central hills. Such seems to have been the case at the little town of Bethlehem-Ephratah, in the land of Judah. Justin Martyr, the Apologist, who, from his birth at Shechem, was familiar with Pales- tine, and who lived less than a century after the time of our Lord, places the scene of the ' ^ A cave the nativity in a cave. This is, indeed, the ancient 'jj^^^jj^^'^fj and constant tradition both of the Eastern and Western Churches, and it is one of the few to which, though unrecorded in the Gospel his- tory, we may attach a reasonable probability. Over this cave has risen the Church and Con- vent of the Nativity, and it was in a cave close beside it that one of the most learned, elo- quent, and holy of the Fathers of the Church — that great St. Jerome to whom we owe the received Latin translation of the Bible — spent thirty of his declining years in study, and fast, and prayer. From their northern home at Nazareth, in the mountains of Zabulon, Joseph, the village carpenter, had made his way along the wintry roads with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. Fallen as were their for- tunes, they were both of the house and lineage of David, and they were traversing a journey of eighty miles to the village which had been the home of their great ancestor while he was still a ruddy shepherd lad, tending his flocks upon the lonely hills. The object of that toil- 436 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS some journey, which could not but be dis- the^journey agreeable to the settled habits of Oriental life, was to enroll their names as members of the house of David in a census which had been ordered by the Emperor Augustus. In def- erence to Jewish prejudices, any infringement of which was the certain signal for violent tumults and insurrection, it was not carried out in the ordinary Roman manner, at each person's place of residence, but according to Jewish custom, at the town to which their family originally belonged. The Jews still clung to their genealogies and to the memory of long-extinct tribal relations; and though the journey was a weary and distasteful one, the mind of Joseph may well have been con- soled by the remembrance of that heroic de- scent which would now be authoritatively Royal de- reco^nizcd, and by the glow of those Messi- Messianic anic hopcs to which the marvellous circum- stances of which he was almost the sole depository would give a tenfold intensity. Travelling in the East is a very slow and leisurely affair, and was likely to be still more so if, as is probable, the country was at that time agitated by political animosities. Bee- roth, which is fifteen miles distant from Beth- lehem, or possibly even Jerusalem, which is only six miles of¥, may have been the resting- place of Mary and Joseph before this last stage of their journey. But the heavy languor, or even the commencing pangs of travail, must THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST 437 necessarily have retarded the progress of the maiden-mother. Others who were travelling on the same errand would easily have passed them on the road, and when, after toiling up the steep hillside, by David's well, they ar- rived at the khan — probably the very one which had been known for centuries as the House of Chimham, and if so, covering per- haps the very ground on which, one thousand years before, had stood the hereditary house of Boaz, of Jesse, and of David — every leewan was occupied. The enrolment had drawn so many strangers to the little town that "there was no room for them in the inn." In the rude limestone grotto attached to it as a stable, among the hay and straw spread for the food and rest of the cattle, weary with their day's journey, far from home, in the midst of stran- gers, in the chilly winter night — in circum- stances so devoid of all earthlv comfort or , J , ... M 1 "^ • • Birth of splendor that it is impossible to imagine aJesusChrist humbler nativity — Christ was born. Distant but a few miles, on the plateau of the abrupt and singular hill now called Jebel Fureidis, or "Little Paradise Mountain," tow- ered the palace fortress of the Great Herod. The magnificent houses of his friends and courtiers crowded around its base. Humble wayfarers, as they passed near it, might have heard the hired and voluptuous minstrelsy with which its feasts were celebrated, or the shouting of the rough mercenaries whose 438 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS arms enforced obedience to its despotic lord. Guided by the lamp which usually swings Adoration ffom thc centFc of a rope hung across the shepherds, cntraucc of the khan, the shepherds made their way to the inn of Bethlehem, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the Babe lying in the manger. The fancy of poet and painter has revelled in the imaginary glories of the scene. They have sung of the "bright harnessed angels" who hovered there, and of the stars lingering be- yond their time to shed their sweet influences upon that smiling infancy. They have painted the radiation of light from his manger-cradle, illuminating all the place till the bystanders are forced to shade their eyes from that heavenly splendor. But all this is wide of the reality. Such glories as the simple shepherds saw were seen only by the eyes of faith; and all which met their eyes was a peasant of Galilee, already beyond the prime of life, and a young mother, of whom they could not know that she was wedded maid and virgin wife, with an Infant Child, whom, since there were none to help her, her own hands had wrapped in swaddling-clothes. The light that shined in the darkness was no physical, but a spiritual beam; the Dayspring from on high, which had now visited mankind, dawned only in a few faithful and humble hearts. To the unilluminated fancy it would have seemed incredible that the most stupendous THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST 439 event in the world's history should have taken place without convulsions and catastrophes. In the Gospel of St. James there is a really striking chapter, describing how, at the awful moment of the nativity, the pole of the heaven stood motionless, and the birds were still, and there were workmen lying on the earth with their hands in a vessel, ^'and those who han- dled did not handle it, and those who took it did not lift, and those who presented it to their mouth did not present it, but the faces of all were looking up; and I saw the sheep scat- P^o'^jf^f tered and the sheep stood, and the shepherd ''''^^'°"^" lifted up his hand to strike, and his hand re- mained up ; and I looked at the stream of the river, and the mouths of the kids were down and were not drinking; and everything which was being propelled forward was intercepted in its course." But of this sudden hush and pause of awe-struck Nature, of the parhelions and mysterious splendors which blazed in many places of the world, of the painless childbirth, of the perpetual virginity, of the ox and the ass kneeling to worship him in the manger, of the voice with which immediately after his birth he told his mother that he was the Son of God, and of many another wonder which rooted itself in the earliest traditions, there is no trace whatever in the New Testa- ment. How long the Virgin Mother and her holy Child stayed in this cave, or cattle-inclosurc, 440 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS we can not tell, but probably it was not for long. The word rendered "manger" in Luke ii. 7, is of very uncertain meaning, nor can we Mea^e de- discover more about it than that it means a G^Vels.''^ place where animals were fed. It is prob- able that the crowd in the khan would not be permanent, and common humanity would have dictated an early removal of the mother and her child to some more appropriate resting- place. The Magi, as we see from St. Mat- thew, visited Mary in "the house." But on all these minor incidents the Gospels do not dwell. The fullest of them is St. Luke, and the singular sweetness of his narrative, its al- most idyllic grace, its sweet calm tone of noble reticence, seem clearly to indicate that he de- rived it, though but in fragmentary notices, from the lips of Mary herself. It is, indeed, difficult to imagine from whom else it could have come, for mothers are the natural his- torians of infant years; but it is interesting to find, in the actual style, that "coloring of a woman's memory and a woman's view," which we should naturally have expected in confir- mation of a conjecture so obvious and so inter- esting. To one who was giving the reins to his imagination, the minutest incidents would have claimed a description; to Mary they would have seemed trivial and irrelevant. Others might wonder, but in her all wonder was lost in the one overwhelming revelation — the one absorbing consciousness. Of such THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST 'iil things she could not lightly speak; "she kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." The very depth and sacredness of that reticence is the natural and probable ex- planation of the fact, that some of the details of the Saviour's infancy are fully recorded by St. Luke alone. VICTORY OF ARMINIUS (A.D. 9) E. S. CREASY A MONG the Germans of high rank who had most readily submitted to the in- vaders, and become zealous partisans of Roman authority, was a chieftain named Segestes. His daughter, Thusnelda, was pre- eminent among the noble maidens of Ger- many. Arminius had sought her hand in marriage; but Segestes, who probably dis- cerned the young chief's disaffection to Rome, forbade his suit, and strove to preclude all communication between him and his daugh- SS^ ter. Thusnelda, however, sympathized far more with the heroic spirit of her lover than with the time-serving policy of her father. An elopement baffled the precautions of Se- gestes, who, disappointed in his hope of pre- venting the marriage, accused Arminius before the Roman governor of having carried off his daughter, and of planning treason against Rome. Thus assailed, and dreading to see his bride torn from him by the officials of the for- eign oppressor, Arminius delayed no longer, but bent all his energies to organize and exe- (442) A.D. 9 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS 443 cute a general insurrection of the great mass of his countrymen, who hitherto had submitted in sullen hatred to the Roman dominion. A change of governors had recently taken place, which, while it materially favored the ultimate success of the insurgents, served, by the immediate aggravation of the Roman op- pressions which it produced, to make the na- tive population more universally eager to take arms. Tiberius, who was afterward emperor, had recently been recalled from the command in Germany. In the room of Tiberius, Au- gustus sent into Germany Quintilius Varus, who had lately returned from the procon- sulate of Syria. Varus was a true representa- tive of the higher classes of the Romans. Accustomed to govern the depraved and de- character or Qf Q.Varus. based natives of Syria, Varus thought that he might gratify his licentious and rapacious pas- sions with equal impunity among the high- minded sons and pure-spirited daughters of Germany. When the general of an army sets the example of outrages of this description, he is soon faithfully imitated by his officers, and surpassed by his still more brutal soldiery. The Romans now habitually indulged in those vio- lations of the sanctity of the domestic shrine, and those insults upon honor and modesty, by which far less gallant spirits than those of our Teutonic ancestors have often been maddened into insurrection. Arminius found among the other German 444 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS A.0.9 chiefs many who sympathized with him in his indignation at their country's abasement, and many whom private wrongs had stung yet more deeply. There was little difficulty in collecting bold leaders for an attack on the oppressors, and little fear of the population not rising readily at those leaders' call. But to declare open war against Rome, and to en- counter Varus's armyin a pitched battle, would have been merely rushing upon certain de- struction. Varus had three legions under him, a force which, after allowing for detachments, can not be estimated at less than fourteen thou- sand Roman infantry. He had also eight or nine hundred Roman cavalry, and at least an equal number of horse and foot sent from the allied states, or raised among other provincials who had not received the Roman franchise. Stratagem was, therefore, indispensable; and fe'biis."^ '''^ it was necessaryto blind Varus to their schemes until a favorable opportunity should arrive for striking a decisive blow. For this purpose, the German confederates frequented the headquarters of Varus, which seemed to have been near the centre of the modern country of Westphalia, where the Ro- man general conducted himself with all the arrogant security of the governor of a per- fectly submissive province. Meanwhile, a succession of heavy rains rendered the coun- try more difficult for the operations of regular troops, and Arminius, seeing that the infatua- A.D.9 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS 445 tion of Varus was complete, secretly directed the tribes near the Weser and the Ems to take up arms in open revolt against the Romans. This was represented to Varus as an occasion which required his prompt attendance at the spot; but he was kept in studied ignorance of its being part of a concerted national rising ; Su"ed^ and he still looked on Arminius as his submis- the fiefd. sive vassal, whose aid he might rely on in facilitating the march of his troops against the rebels, and in extinguishing the local disturb- ance. Varus therefore set his army in motion, and marched eastward in a line parallel to the course of the Lippe. For some distance his route lay along a level plain; but arriving at the tract between the curve of the upper part of that stream and the sources of the Ems, the country assumes a very different character; and here, in the territory of the modern little , . /• T • • I A • • The battle- prmcipality or Lippe, it was that Armmius ground. had fixed the scene of his enterprise. A woody and hilly region intervenes between the heads of the two rivers, and forms the water-shed of their streams. Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman discipline, Varus had suffered his army to be accompanied and impeded by an immense train of baggage-wagons and by a rabble of camp followers, as if his troops had been merely changing their quarters in a friendly country. When the long array quitted 446 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 9 the firm, level ground, and began to wind its way among the woods, the marshes, and the Difficulties ravines, the difficulties of the march, even of the ' ' inarch. without the intervention of an armed foe, be- came fearfully apparent. In many places, the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for cavalry, and even for infantry, until trees had been felled, and a rude causeway formed through the morass. The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who served in the Roman armies. But the crowd and confusion of the columns embar- rassed the working parties of the soldiery, and in the midst of their toil and disorder the word was suddenly passed through their ranks that the rearguard was attacked by the barbarians. Varus resolved on pressing forward; but a heavy discharge of missiles from the woods on either flank taught him how serious was the peril, and he saw his best men falling round him without the opportunity of retaliation; for his light-armed auxiliaries, whp were prin- cipally of Germanic race, now rapidly de- serted, and it was impossible to deploy the le- gionaries on such broken ground for a charge against the enemy. Choosing one of the most open and firm spots which they could force their way to, the Romans halted for the night; and, faithful to their national discipline and tactics, formed their camp amid the harassing attack of the rapidly thronging foes, with the elaborate toil and systematic skill, the traces A.D. 9 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS 447 of which are impressed permanently on the soil of so many European countries. On the morrow the Romans renewed their march, the veteran officers who served under Varus now probably directing the operations, and hoping to find the Germans drawn up to meet them, in which case they relied on their own superior discipline and tactics for such a victory as should reassure the supremacy of Rome. But Arminius was far too sage a com- mander to lead on his followers, with their unwieldy broadswords and inefficient defen- sive armor, against the Roman legionaries. ^ . . , ' o o Arminius s Arminius suffered the Romans to march outt^aakl!"" from their camp, to form first in line for action, and then in column for marching, without the show of opposition. For some distance Varus was allowed to move on, only harassed by light skirmishes, but struggling with difficulty through the broken ground, the toil and distress of his men being aggravated by heavy torrents of rain, which burst upon the devoted legions, as if the angry gods of Germany were pouring out the vials of their wrath upon the invaders. After some little time their van approached a ridge of high woody ground, which is one of the off-shoots of the great Hercynian forest, and is situate between the modern villages of Driburg and Bielefeld. Arminius had caused barricades of hewn trees to be formed here, so as to add to the natural difficulties of the passage. Fa- 448 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS A.D. 9 tigue and discouragement now began to be- tray themselves in the Roman ranks. Their line became less steady; baggage wagons were abandoned from the impossibility of forcing them along; and, as this happened, many sol- diers left their ranks and crowded round the wagons to secure the most valuable portions of their property: each was busy about his own afifairs,and purposely slow in hearing the word of command from his officers. Arminius now gave the signal for a general attack. The Thegenerai fiercc shouts of thc Gcrmans pealed through attack. ^ =• the gloom of the forests, and in thronging multitudes they assailed the flanks of the in- vaders, pouring in clouds of darts on the incumbered legionaries, as they struggled up the glens or floundered in the morasses, and watching every opportunity of charging through the intervals of the disjointed col- umn, and so cutting ofif the communication between its several brigades. Arminius, with a chosen band of personal retainers round him, cheered on his countrymen by voice and exam- ple. He and his men aimed their weapons particularly at the horses of the Roman cav- alry. The wounded animals, slipping about in the mire and their own blood, threw their riders and plunged among the ranks of the legions, disordering all round them. Varus now ordered the troops to be countermarched, in the hope of reaching the nearest Roman garrison on the Lippe. But to retreat was A.D. 9 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS 449 now as impracticable as to advance; and the falling back of the Romans only augmented the courage of their assailants, causing fiercer and more frequent charges on the flanks of the disheartened army. The Roman officer who commanded the cavalry, Numonius Vala, rode off with his squadrons in the vain hope of es- caping by thus abandoning his comrades. Un- able to keep together, or force their way across ^j. ^^^^ the woods and swamps, the horsemen were^aviir™*" overpowered in detail, and slaughtered to the last man. The Roman infantry still held to- gether and resisted, but more through the instinct of discipline and bravery than from any hope of success or escape. Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge of the Germans against his part of the column, com- mitted suicide to avoid falling into the hands of those whom he had exasperated by his op- pressions. One of the lieutenant-generals ofNoquaner the army fell fighting; the other surrendered to the enemy. But mercy to a fallen foe had never been a Roman virtue, and those among her legions who now laid down their arms in hope of quarter, drank deep of the cup of suffering, which Rome had held to the lips of many a brave but unfortunate enemy. The infuriated Germans slaughtered their oppres- sors with deliberate ferocity, and those prison- ers who were not hewn to pieces on the spot were only preserved to perish by a more cruel death in cold blood. 450 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 9 The bulk of the Roman army fought stead- ily and stubbornly, frequently repelling the masses of assailants, but gradually losing the compactness of their array, and becoming weaker and weaker beneath the incessant shower of darts and the reiterated assaults of the vigorous and unincumbered Germans. At last, in a series of desperate attacks, the column was pierced through and through, two of the eagles captured, and the Roman host, which on the yester-morning had marched forth in such pride and might, now broken up into confused fragments, either fell fighting be- neath the overpowering numbers of the ene- my, or perished in the swamps and woods in unavailing efforts at flight. Few, very few, The last ever saw again the left bank of the Rhine. One body of brave veterans, arraying them- selves in a ring on a little mound, beat off every charge of the Germans, and prolonged their honorable resistance to the close of that dreadful day. The traces of a feeble attempt at forming a ditch and mound attested in after years the spot where the last of the Romans passed their night of suffering and despair. But on the morrow this remnant also, worn out with hunger, wounds, and toil, was charged by the victorious Germans, and either massacred on the spot, or offered up in fear- ful rites at the altars of the deities of the old. mythology of the North. Never was a victory more decisive, never stand. A.D. 9 VICTORY OF ARMINIUS 451 was the liberation of an oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. Throughout Germany the Roman garrisons were assailed and cut off; and, within a few weeks after Varus had fallen, the German soil was freed from the foot of an invader. At Rome the tidings of the battle were re- ceived with an agony of terror, the reports of which we should deem exaggerated, did they not come from Roman historians themselves. They not only tell emphatically how great was the awe which the Romans felt of the prowess Terror in '^ Rome. of the Germans, if their various tribes could be brought to unite for a common purpose, but also they reveal how weakened and debased the population of Italy had become. Dion Cassius says, "Then Augustus, when he heard the calamity of Varus, rent his garment, and was in great affliction for the troops he had lost, and for terror respecting the Germans and the Gauls. And his chief alarm was, that he expected them to push on against Italy and Rome; and there remained no Roman youth fit for military duty that were worth speaking of, and the allied populations, that were at all serviceable, had been wasted away. Yet he prepared for the emergency as well as his means allowed ; and when none of the citizens of military age were willing to enlist, he made them cast lots, and punished by confiscation of goods and disfranchisement every fifth man among those under thirty-five, and everv tenth Omens. 452 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d., man of those above that age. At last, when he found that not even thus could he make many come forward, he put some of them to death. So he made a conscription of dis- charged veterans and of emancipated slaves, and, collecting as large a force as he could, sent it, under Tiberius, with all speed into Germany." Dion mentions, also, a number of terrific portents that were believed to have occurred at the time, and the narration of which is not immaterial, as it shows the state of the public mind, when such things were so believed in and so interpreted. The summits of the Alps were said to have fallen, and three columns of fire to have blazed up from them. In the Campus Martius, the temple of the war-god, from whom the founder of Rome had sprung, was struck by a thunderbolt. The nightly heavens glowed several times, as if on fire. Many comets blazed forth together; and fiery meteors, shaped like spears, had shot from the northern quarter of the sky down into the Ro- man camps. It was said, too, that a statue of Victory, which had stood at a place on the frontier, pointing the way toward Germany, had, of its own accord, turned round, and now pointed to Italy. These and other prodigies were believed by the multitude to accompany the slaughter of Varus's legions, and to mani- fest the anger of the gods against Rome. Au- gustus himself was not free from superstition; A.D.g VICTORY OF ARMINIUS 453 but on this occasion no supernatural terrors were needed to increase the alarm and grief that he felt, and which made him, even months after the news of the battle had arrived, often Despair of beat his head against the wall, and exclaim, ''Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions." The Germans did not pursue their victory beyond their own territory; but that victory secured at once and forever the independence of the Teutonic race. Rome sent, indeed, her legions again into Germany, to parade a tem- porary superiority, but all hopes of permanent conquests were abandoned by Augustus at;d his successors. [Successes of Germanicus against the Ger- mans arouse the envy of Tiberius. He is sent to the East and dies of poison in Syria in A.D. 19. His wife, Agrippina, is also banished in 29. In 41, Caligula, their son, is murdered and his uncle Claudius is proclaimed emperor by the Pretorian Guard. Christ is crucified in 33-] THE CRUCIFIXION (AD. 33) G FREDERIC W. FARRAR O, soldier, get ready the cross. In some such formula of terrible import Pilate must have given his final order. It was now probably about nine o'clock, and the execution followed immediately upon the judgment. The time required for the neces- sary preparation would not be very long, and during this brief pause the soldiers, whose duty it was to see that the sentence was carried out, stripped Jesus of the scarlet war-cloak, now dyed with the yet deeper stains of blood, uS^'the ^^^ clad him again in his own garments. Crucifixion. ^,j^^j^ thc cross had been prepared they laid it — or possibly only one of the beams of it — upon his shoulders, and led him to the place of punishment. The nearness of the great feast, the myriads who were present in Jeru- salem, made it desirable to seize the op- portunity for striking terror into all Jewish malefactors. Two were therefore selected for execution at the same time with Jesus — two brigands and rebels of the lowest stamp. (454) A.D. 33 THE CRUCIFIXION 455 Their crosses were laid upon them, a maniple of soldiers in full armor were marshalled under the command of their centurion, and amid thousands of spectators, coldly inquisi- tive or furiously hostile, the procession started on its way. The cross was not, and could not have been, the massive and lofty structure with which such myriads of pictures have made us famil- iar. Crucifixion was among the Romans a very common punishment, and it is clear that they would not waste any trouble in construct- ing the instrument of shame and torture. It would undoubtedly be made of the very com- monest wood that came to hand, perhaps olive or sycamore, and knocked together in the very rudest fashion. Still, to support the body of a man, a cross would require to be of a certain size and weight; and to one enfeebled by the horrible severity of the previous scourging, the carrying of such a burden would be an additional misery. But Jesus was enfeebled The not only by this cruelty, but by previous days of violent struggle and agitation, by an even- ing of deep and overwhelming emotion, by a night of sleepless anxiety and suffering, by the mental agony of the garden, by three trials and three sentences of death before the Jews, by the long and exhausting scenes in the Pretorium, by the examination before Herod, and by the brutal and painful de- risions which be had undergone, first at the 456 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS A.D. 33 carry it. hands of the Sanhedrim and their servants, then from Herod's body-guard, and lastly from the Roman cohort. All these, super- added to the sickening lacerations of the scourging, had utterly broken down his phys- ical strength. His tottering footsteps, if not abieVo""" his actual falls under that fearful load, made it evident that he lacked the physical strength to carry it from the Pretorium to Golgotha. Even if they did not pity his feebleness, the Roman soldiers would naturally object to the consequent hindrance and delay. But they found an easy method to solve the difficulty. They had not proceeded further than the city gate, when they met a man coming from the country, who was known to the early Chris- tians as "Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alex- ander and Rufus" ; and, perhaps on some hint from the accompanying Jews that Simon sym- pathized with the teaching of the Sufferer, they impressed him without the least scruple into their odious service. The miserable procession resumed its course, and though the apocryphal tradi- tions of the Romish Church narrate many in- Thevia cidents of the Via Dolorosa, only one such incident is recorded in the Gospel history. St. Luke tells us that among the vast multi- tude of people who followed Jesus were many women. From the men in that moving crowd he does not appear to have received one word of pity or sympathy. Some there must surely Dolorosa. A.D.33 THE CRUCIFIXION 457 have been who had seen his miracles, who had heard his words; some of those who had been almost, if not utterly, convinced of his Messiahship as they hung upon his lips while be had uttered his great discourses in the Temple; some of the eager crowd who had accompanied him from Bethlehem five days before, with shouted hosannas and waving palms. Yet if so, a faithless timidity or a deep misgiving — perhaps even a boundless sorrow — kept them dumb. But these women more quick to pity, less susceptible to control- ling influences, could not and would not con- ceal the grief and amazement with which this spectacle filled them. They beat upon their breasts and rent the air with their lamenta- ^^^^nta- tions, till Jesus himself hushed their shrill i°men/^^ cries with words of solemn warning. Turn- ing to them — which he could not have done had he still been staggering under the burden of his cross — he said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me ; but for your- selves weep, and for your children. For lo! days are coming in which they shall say. Blessed are the barren, and the wombs which bare not, and the breasts which gave not suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us; for if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" Theirs was but an emotional outburst of womanly tenderness, which they could not repress as they saw the iv '^ -' Vol. i 458 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS A.D. 33 great Prophet of mankind in his hour of shame and weakness, with the herald pro- claiming before him the crimes with which he was charged, and the Roman soldiers car- rying the title of derision, and Simon bend- ing under the weight of the wood to which he was to be nailed. But he warned them that, if this were all which they saw in the passing spectacle, far bitterer causes of woe awaited them, and their children, and their race. Many of them, and the majority of their chil- dren, would live to see such rivers of blood- shed, such complications of agony, as the world had never known before — days which would seem to overpass the capacities of human suffering, and would make men seek to hide themselves, if it might be, under the very roots of the hill on which their city stood. The place And SO with this sole sad episode, they came gotha. °'" to the fatal place, called Golgotha, or, in its Latin form, Calvary — that is "a skull." Why it was so called is not known. It may con- ceivably have been a well-known place of execution ; or possibly the name may imply a bare, rounded, scalp-like elevation. It is con- stantly called the "A/// of Golgotha," or of Calvary; but the Gospels merely call it "a place," and not a hill (Matt, xxvii. 33; Mark XV. 22) . Respecting its site volumes have been written, but nothing is known. The data for anything approaching to certainty are wholly wanting; and, in all probability, the actual FROM PAINTING BY HILTON ^ol. I, pp. 454473 THE CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST A.D.33 THE CRUCIFIXION 459 spot lies buried and obliterated under the mountainous rubbish-heaps of the ten-times- taken city. Utterly brutal and revolting as was the two punishment of crucifixion, which has now forcusToml fifteen hundred years been abolished by the common pity and abhorrence of mankind, there was one custom in Judea, and one occa- sionally practiced by the Romans, which re- veals some touch of passing humanity. The latter consisted in giving the sufferer a blow under the arm-pit, which, without causing death, yet hastened its approach. Of this I need not speak, because, for whatever reason, it was not practiced on this occasion. The former, which seems to have been due to the milder nature of Judaism, and which was de- rived from a happy piece of Rabbinic exegesis on Prov. xxxi. 6, consisted in giving to the condemned, immediately before his execu- tion, a draught of wine medicated with some powerful opiate. It had been the custom of wealthy ladies in Jerusalem to provide this stupefying potion at their own expense, and they did so quite irrespectively of their sym- pathy for any individual criminal. It was probably taken freely by the two malefactors, but when they offered it to Jesus he would not take it. The refusal was an act of sublimest heroism. The efifect of the draught was to dull the nerves, to cloud the intellect, to pro- vide an anesthetic against some part, at least, 460 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS A.D. 33 The fright- of the lingenne: agonies of that dreadful hil torture. , , 6 6 6 death. The three crosses were laid on the ground — that of Jesus, which was doubtless taller than the other two, being placed in bitter scorn in the midst. Perhaps the cross-beam was now nailed to the upright, and certainly the title, which had either been borne by Jesus fastened round his neck, or carried by one of the soldiers in front of him, was now nailed to the summit of his cross. Then he was stripped naked of all his clothes, and then followed the most awful moment of all. He was laid down upon the implement of torture. His mheci-oss^ arms were stretched along the cross-beams, and at the centre of the open palms the point of a huge iron nail was placed, which, by the blow of a mallet, was driven home into the wood. Then through either foot separately, or possibly through both together as they were placed one over the other, another huge nail tore its way through the quivering flesh. Whether the sufferer was also bound to the cross we do not know ; but to prevent the hands and feet being torn away by the weight of the body, which could not "rest upon nothing but four great wounds," there was, about the centre of the cross, a wooden projection strong enough to support, at least in part, a human body which soon became a weight of agony. It was probably at this moment of incon- ceivable horror that the voice of the Son of A.D. 33 THE CRUCIFIXION 461 Man was heard uplifted, not in a scream of natural agony at that fearful torture, but calmly praying in Divine compassion for his brutal and pitiless murderers — ay, and for all who in their sinful ignorance crucify him ° ^ "Father, afresh forever — "FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FORf°^|;xf THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO." And then the accursed tree — with its living human burden hanging upon it in helpless agony, and suffering fresh tortures as every movement irritated the fresh rents in hands and feet — was slowly heaved up by strong arms, and the end of it fixed firmly in a hole dug deep in the ground for that purpose. The feet were but a little raised above the earth. The victim was in full reach of every hand that might choose to strike, in close proximity to every gesture of insult and hatred. He might hang for hours to be abused, outraged, even tortured by the ever-moving multitude who, with that desire to see what is hor- rible which always characterizes the coarsest hearts, had thronged to gaze upon a sight which should rather have made them weep tears of blood. When the cross was uplifted, the leading Jews, for the first time, prominently noticed jni^'iinp^^ the deadly insult in which Pilate had vented his indignation. Before, in their blind rage, they had imagined that the manner of his crucifixion was an insult aimed at Jesus; but now that they saw him hanging between the 462 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 33 two robbers, on a cross yet loftier, it suddenly flashed upon them that it was a public scorn inflicted upon them. For on the white wooden tablet smeared with gypsum, which was to be seen so conspicuously over the head of Jesus on the cross, ran, in black letters, an inscrip- tion in the three civilized languages of the ancient world — the three languages of which one at least was certain to be known by every single man in that assembled multitude — in the oflicial Latin, in the current Greek, in the vernacular Aramaic — informing all that this man who was thus enduring a shameful, ser- vile death — this man thus crucified between two thieves in the sight of the world, was "The King of the Jews." The Jews felt the intensity of the scorn with which Pilate had treated them. It so com- pletely poisoned their hour of triumph that wan/t^^ they sent their chief priests in deputation, begging the governor to alter the obnoxious title. "Write not," they said, " 'The King of the Jews,' but that 'He said, I am the King of the Jews.' " But Pilate's courage, which had oozed away so rapidly at the name of Caesar, had now revived. He was glad in any and every way to browbeat and thwart the men w^hose seditious clamor had forced him in the morning to act against his will. Few men had the power of giving expression to a sov- ereign contempt more effectually than the Ro- mans. Without deigning any |ustification A.D. 33 THE CRUCIFIXION 463 of what he had done, Pilate summarily dis- missed these solemn hierarchs with the curt and contemptuous reply, "What I have writ- ten, I have written." In order to prevent the possibility of any rescue, even at the last moment — since in- stances had been known of men taken from the cross and restored to life — a quaternion of sol- diers with their centurion were left on the ground to guard the cross. The clothes of the victims always fell as perquisites to the men who had to perform so weary and disagreeable an office. Little dreaming how exactly they were fulfilling the mystic inti- mation of olden Jewish prophecy, they pro- ceeded, therefore, to divide between them the garments of Jesus. The tallith they tore into r L LI • • • 1 1 Sharing the four parts, probably rippmg it down the '^^'"'^nt. seams (Deut. xxii. 12) ; but the cetoneth, or under garment, was formed of one continuous woven texture, and to tear would have been to spoil it; they therefore contented themselves with letting it become the property of one of the four to whom it should fall by lot. When this had been decided, they sat down and watched him till the end, beguiling the weary lingering hours by eating and drinking, and gibing, and playing dice. It was a scene of tumult. The great body of the people seem to have stood silently ^^Qandxxct gaze; but some few of them as they passed bymuuftude. the cross — perhaps some of the many false 464 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 33 witnesses and other conspirators of the pre- vious night — mocked at Jesus with insulting noises and furious taunts, especially bidding him come down from the cross and save him- self, since he could destroy the Temple and build it in three days. And the chief priests, and scribes, and elders, less awe-struck, less compassionate than the mass of the people, were not ashamed to disgrace their gray- haired dignity and lofty reputation by adding their heartless reproaches to those of the evil few. Unrestrained by the noble patience of the suf]ferer, unsated by the accomplishment of their wicked vengeance, unmoved by the sight of helpless anguish and the look of eyes that began to glaze in death, they congratu- cruei lated one another under his cross with scorn- ful insolence — "He saved others, himself he can not save," "Let this Christ, this King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." No wonder then that the ignorant soldiers took their share of mock- ery with these shameless and unvenerable hierarchs: no wonder that, at their midday meal, they pledged in mock hilarity the dying man, cruelly holding up toward his burning lips their cups of sour wine, and echoing the Jewish taunts against the weakness of the king whose throne was a cross, whose crown was thorns. Nay, even the poor wretches who were crucified with him caught the hideous infection; comrades, perhaps, of the respited mockery. A.D. 33 THE CRUCIFIXION 465 Bar-Abbas — heirs of the rebellious fury of a Judas the Gaulonite — trained to recognize no Messiah but a Messiah of the sword, they reproachfully bade him, if his claims were true, to save himself and them. So all the voices about him rang with blasphemy and spite, and in that long slow agony his dying ear caught no accent of gratitude, of pity, or of love. Baseness, falsehood, savagery, stu- pidity — such were the characteristics of the world which thrust itself into hideous promi- nence before the Saviour's last consciousness — such the muddy and miserable stream that rolled under the cross before his dying eyes. But amid this chorus of infamy Jesus spoke not. So far as the malice of the passers-by, and"^^^"^^''*""'' of priests and Sanhedrists, and soldiers, and of these poor robbers, who suffered with him, was concerned — as before during the trial so now upon the cross — he maintained unbroken his kingly silence. But that silence, joined to his patient maj- esty and the divine holiness and innocence which radiated from him like a halo, was more eloquent than any words. It told earliest on one of the crucified robbers. At first this "bonus latro" of the Apocryphal Gospel seems to have faintly joined in the reproaches ut- tered by his fellow-sinner; but when those re- proaches merged into deeper blasphemy, heTherepent. spoke out his inmost thought. The dying rob- ber had joined at first in the half-taunting, 466 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 33 half-despairing appeal to a defeat and weak- ness which contradicted all that he had hoped; but now this defeat seemed to be greater than victory, and this weakness more irresistible than strength. As he looked, the faith in his heart dawned more and more into the perfect day. He had long ceased to utter any re- proachful words; he now rebuked his com- rade's blasphemies. Ought not the sufifering innocence of him who hung between them to shame into silence their just punishment and flagrant guilt? And so, turning his head to Jesus, he uttered the intense appeal, "O Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy king- dom." Then he, who had been mute amid in- vectives, spake at once in surpassing answer to that humble prayer, "Verily, I say to thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Though none spoke to comfort Jesus — though deep grief, and terror, and amaze- ment kept them dumb — yet there were hearts amid the crowd that beat in sympathy with the awful sufferer. At a distance stood a num- ber of women looking on, and perhaps, even at that dread hour, expecting his immediate de- The women livcrauce. Many of these were women who had ministered to him in Galilee, and had come from thence in the great band of Gali- lean pilgrims. Conspicuous among this heart- stricken group were his mother Mary, Mary of Magdala, Mary the wife of Clopas, mother of James and Joses, and Salome the wife of j.t the cross. A.D. 33 THE CRUCIFIXION 467 Zebedee. Some of them, as the hours ad- vanced, stole nearer and nearer to the cross, and at length the filming eye of the Saviour ^j^^^^^j^^^ fell on his own mother Mary, as, with theb?k>ved sword piercing through and through her*^""^'^ heart, she stood with the disciple whom he loved. Tenderly and sadly he thought of the future that awaited her during the remain- ing years of her life on earth, troubled as they must be by the tumults and persecutions of a struggling and nascent faith. After his resur- rection her lot was wholly cast among his apostles, and the apostle whom he loved the most, the apostle who was nearest to him in heart and life, seemed the fittest to take care of her. To him, therefore — to John, whom he had loved more than his brethren — to John, whose head had leaned upon his breast at the Last Supper, he consigned her as a sacred charge. "Woman," he said to her, in fewest words, but in words which breathed the utter- most spirit of tenderness, "behold thy son";jesus and then to St. John, "Behold thy mother." motlVin ■J > ^ •/ charge of He could make no gesture with those pierced J°^- hands, but he could bend his head. They lis- tened in speechless emotion, but from that hour — perhaps from that very moment — lead- ing her away from a spectacle which did but torture her soul with unavailing agony, that disciple took her to his own home. It was now noon, and at the holy city the sunshine should have been burning over that Darkness at noon. 468 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS ^.d, 33 scene of horror with a power such as it has in the full depth of an English summer-time. But instead of this, the face of the heavens was black, and the noonday sun was "turned into darkness," on "this great and terrible day of the Lord." It could have been no darkness of any natural eclipse, for the Paschal moon was at the full; but it was one of those "signs from heaven" for which, during the ministry of Jesus, the Pharisees had so often clamored in vain. The early fathers appealed to pagan authorities — the historian Phallus, the chronicler Phlegon — for such a darkness; but we have no means of testing the accuracy of these references, and it is quite possible that the darkness was a local gloom which hung densely over the guilty city and its immediate neighborhood. But whatever it was, it clearly filled the minds of all who beheld it with yet deeper misgiving. The taunts and jeers of the Jewish priests and the heathen soldiers were evidently confined to the earlier hours of the crucifixion. Its later stages seem to have thrilled alike the guilty and the innocent with emotions of dread and horror. Of the inci- dents of those last three hours we are told nothing, and that awful obscuration of the noonday sun may well have overawed every heart into an inaction respecting which there ofTsus. was nothing to relate. But toward the close of that time his anguish culminated, and emptied ■ — to the very uttermost of that glory which he A.D.33 THE CRUCIFIXION 469 had since the world began — drinking to the very deepest dregs the cup of humiliation and bitterness — enduring, not only to have taken upon him the form of a servant, but also to suffer the last infamy which human hatred could impose on servile helplessness — he ut- tered that mysterious cry, of which the full significance will never be fathomed by man — "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" ("My God, my terfous c"ry, God, why hast thou forsaken me?") In those words, quoting the Psalm in which the early fathers rightly saw a far-off proph- ecy of the whole passion of Christ, he bor- rowed from David's utter agony the expres- sion of his own. But now the end was very rapidly approach- ing, and Jesus, who had been hanging for nearly six hours upon the cross, was suffering from that torment of thirst which is most diffi- cult of all for the human frame to bear — per- haps the most unmitigated of the many separate sources of anguish which were combined in this worst form of death. No doubt this burning thirst was aggravated by seeing the Roman soldiers drinking so near the cross; and happily for mankind, Jesus had never sanctioned the unnatural affectation of stoic impassibility. And so he uttered the one sole word of physical suffering which had been wrung from him by all the hours in which he had endured the extreme of all that man can "i thirst.- inflict. He cried aloud, "I thirst." Prob- 470 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS A.D. 33 ably a few hours before the cry would only have provoked a roar of frantic mockery; but now the lookers-on were reduced by awe to a readier humanity. Near the cross there lay on the ground the large earthen vessel con- taining the posca, which was the ordinary drink of the Roman soldiers. The mouth of it was filled with a piece of sponge, which served as a cork. Instantly some one — we know not whether he was friend or enemy, or merely one who was there out of idle curi- osity — took out the sponge and dipped it in the posca to give it to Jesus. But low as was the elevation of the cross, the head of the sufferer, mingled as it rcstcd on the horizontal beam of the ac- with hyssop." cursed tree, was just beyond the man's reach; and therefore he put the sponge at the end of a stock of hyssop — about a foot long — and held it up to the parched and dying lips. Even this simple act of pity, which Jesus did not refuse, seemed to jar upon the condition of nervous excitement with which some of the multitude were looking on. "Let be," they said to the man, "let us see whether Elias is coming to save him." The man did not de- sist from this act of mercy, but when it was done, he, too, seems to have echoed those un- easy words. But Elias came not, nor human comforter, nor angel deliverer. It was the will of God, it \Y^s the will of the Son of God, that he should be "perfected through suffering"; — that — for the eternal example of all his ^i,.33 THE CRUCIFIXION 471 children as long as the world should last — he should "endure unto the end." And now the end was come. Once more, in the words of the sweet Psalmist of Israel (Psa. xxxi. 5), but adding to them that title of trustful love which, through him, is per- mitted to the use of all mankind, "Father," he said, "into thy hands I commend my spirit." Then with one more effort he uttered the lastwordsf^ cry — "It is finished." It may be that that great cry ruptured some of the vessels of his heart; for no sooner had it been uttered than he bowed his head upon his breast, and yielded his life, "a ransom for many" — a willing sacri- fice to his heavenly father. "Finished was his holy life; with his life his struggle, with his struggle his work', with his work the redemp- tion, with the redemption the foundation of the new world." At that moment the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from top to the bottom. An earthquake shook the earth and split the rocks, and as it rolled away from their SonJ^nd places the great stones which closed and covered the cavern sepulchres of the Jews, so it seemed to the imaginations of many to have disimpris- oned the spirits of the dead, and to have filled the air with ghostly visitants, who, after Christ had risen, appeared to linger in the holy city. These circumstances of amazement, joined to all they had observed in the bearing of the crucified, cowed even the cruel and gay indif- ference of the Roman soldiers. On the cen- 472 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 33 turion who was in command of them, the whole scene had exercised a yet deeper influ- ence. As he stood opposite to the cross and saw the Saviour die, he glorified God and ex- claimed, "This man was in truth righteous" — nay, more, "This man was a Son of God." Even the multitude, utterly sobered from their furious excitement and frantic rage, began to be weighed down with a guilty consciousness that the scene which they had witnessed had in it something more awful than they could have conceived, and as they returned to Jeru- salem they wailed, and beat upon their breasts. And in truth that scene was more awful than they, or even we, can know. The secular historian, be he ever so sceptical, can not fail Central to scc in it the central point of the world's fhTworid's history. Whether he be a believer in Christ history. •' , • 1 1 • or not, he can not refuse to admit that this new religion grew from the smallest of all seeds to be a mighty tree, so that the birds of the air took refuge in its branches; that it was the little stone cut without hands which dashed into pieces the colossal image of heathen great- ness, and grew till it became a great mountain and filled the earth. Alike to the infidel and to the believer, the Crucifixion is the boundary instant between ancient and modern days. [The conquest of Britain was seriously un- dertaken in 43, the southern part becoming a Roman province. Judea also became a prov- A.D.33 THE CRUCIFIXION 473 ince in 44. In 54, Agrippina poisons Claudius to make way for her son Nero. In 64, a fire, becomes i'> emperor. lasting six days and followed by a second one lasting three more, destroys most of Rome. Nero is credited with having ordered it to clear the ground for a more beautiful city. He accuses the Jews and Christians of being incendiaries. The first persecution of the Christians begins thereupon.] PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS (A.D. 64—303) WILLIAM FRANCIS COLLIER ELEVEN persecutions of the Christians — some fiercer, others fainter — marked the dying struggles of the many-headed monster, Paganism. More than three cen- turies were filled with the sound and sorrows of the great conflict. I. In the tenth year of the brutal Nero's reign the first great persecution of Christians took place. A fire, such as never had burned before, consumed nearly the whole city of Rome; and men said that the emperor's own 2!?Rome, hand had kindled the flames out of mere '"'°'^^' wicked sport, and that, while the blazing city was filled with shrieks of pain and terror, he sat calmly looking on and singing verses on the burning of Troy to the music of his lyre. This story finding ready acceptance among the homeless and beggared people, the tyrant strove by inflicting tortures on the Christians to turn the suspicion from himself upon them. On the pretence that they were guilty of the atrocious crime, he crucified many; some, (474) A.D.64-303 PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS ^75 covered with the skins of wild beasts, were worried to death by dogs in the theatres; ten- der girls and gray-haired men were torn by tigers, or hacked with the swords of gladia- tors. But the worst sight was seen in the gar- dens of Nero, where chariot races were held by night, in which the emperor himself, dressed as a common driver, whipped his horses round the goal. There stood poor men and women of the Christian faith, their clothes smeared with pitch, or other combus- tible, all blazing as torches to throw light on the sport of the imperial demon. In the wider persecutions that followed, for this one was chiefly confined to Rome, there was per- haps no scene of equal horror. 2. By Domitian, sixth in succession f rom Persecmioa t under Nero, proceedmgs of great severity, but of domitian. a character less brutal, were taken against the Christians. It was a harvest-time for the spies, who crept everywhere, and grew rich with the spoils of the dead and the exiles. The cousin and the niece of the emperor, accused only of "Atheism, and Jewish manners," were among the sufiferers. Many were banished; among them St. John the Evangelist. Driven, about 95, to the isle of Patmos, he saw there those visions of glory and mystery recorded in the book of Revelation. The two grand- sons of St. Jude, who was the brother of our Saviour, were brought before a Roman tri- bunal, charged with aiming at royal power, 47H THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS a. d. 64-309 for they traced descent from David. But when they showed their hands hardened with honest toil on their little farm, they were sent home unhurt. 3. Under the gentle Nerva the Christians lived in peace, and spying ceased to be a well- Sr^Nerva. paid busincss ; but when Trajan, a stern Span- ish soldier, wore the purple, evil days re- turned, as yet, however, only in a single prov- ince. Pliny the Younger, appointed proconsul of Bithynia and Pontus, found himself at a loss how to deal with the Christians, w^ho were very numerous under his rule. He wrote to the emperor, saying that the superstition — so he called it — had spread every^vhere among rich and poor; that the temples were empty, and the sacrifices were hardly ever offered. But the worst he could say of the Christians, although he seems to have taken great pains to know all about them, was that they used to meet on a certain day (Sunday) to sing a hymn in honor of Christ; that they bound one an- other by a vow- not to steal, or commit adul- tery, or break their words, or defraud any one ; and that on the same evening they met at a simple and innocent meal. The fact that a skilful lawyer, as Pliny was, did not know how to deal with the Christians, show^s that there were no special laws as yet framed Jd?ct*"^ against them. The answer of Trajan must be looked on as the first edict of persecution. It declared that the Christians were not to be A.D. no. A.D.64-303 PERSECUTIONS OF THE .CHRISTIANS 477 sought for by the police, like common crim- inals; but that, when openly accused and con- victed, they were to be punished. However, before receiving the imperial rescript, Pliny had let loose the terrors of the law. He de- manded that the Christians, cursing Christ, should burn incense and pour wine before the statues of the emperor and the gods. Those who refused died; some, of weaker faith, yielded to the terror of the hour. 4. Early in the reign of Adrian, who came to the throne in 117, the rage of the pagan Pe^s/;="''°" mobs burst out upon the Christians with a^'^"^" force which had been gathering for years. Those attacks, which were encouraged by the common belief that Christianity was now con- demned by law, took place especially in Asia Minor. Two learned Christians approached the throne with Apologies or defences of their faith, when the emperor came into their neigh- borhood on one of the constant and rapid jour- neys for which he was remarkable. Influ- enced perhaps by these addresses, but rather by his love of justice and order, he published an edict forbidding Christians to be arrested a favorable on mere rumor, and ordering all false in-^*"' formers to be heavily punished. However, in Palestine, Bar-cochba, an impostor, who claimed to be the Messiah, put many Chris- tians to a cruel death, because they refused to follow his flag of rebellion. The reign of the elder Antonine was a time 478 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 64-305 of comparative peace to the Christians; but lortured"^ when Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic philosopher, became emperor in i6i, there was a change. Active search was made for Christians. Tor- ture began to be inflicted on them. It seemed, indeed, as if both the rulers and the people of pagan Rome were beginning to realize, though as yet vaguely and dimly, the growth of that stone, cut out without hands, which was des- tined soon to shiver the idols in all their tem- ples, and smite their iron empire into dust. 5. At Smyrna the Christian Church suf- fered heavily. Yielding to the rage of the heathens and the Jews, the proconsul flung the followers of Jesus to wild beasts, or burned them alive. The noblest of the noble victims Martyr- t-» • 1 t-i 1 1 1 • PoT-^r ^'^^ Bishop rolycarp, a man bendmg under A.D. X67. fj-jg weight of nearly ninety years. When seized he asked for an hour to pray. They gave him two, then hurried him on an ass to- ward the city. The chief of police, meeting him on the way, took him up into his chariot, and vainly strove to turn him from the faith. On his refusal, he was flung so violently to the ground that a bone of his leg was injured. Befo-re the tribunal, amid a crowd howling for his blood, he was urged to curse Christ. "Eighty-six years," said he, "have I served him, and he has done me nothing but good; and how could I curse him, my Lord and Saviour?" Before the flames rose round him, he cried aloud, thanking God for judg- A.D. 64-303 PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS 479 ing him worthy to drink of the cup of Christ. The legend of the "thundering Legion," which belongs to this period, probably rests on some historical foundation, though handed down to us manifestly in a somewhat mythical form. While Marcus Aurelius, so the story runs, was warring with some German tribes, his soldiers, marching one day under a burn- ing sun, were parched with deadly thirst. The foe, hovering near, threatened an- attack. A terrible death seemed to stare them in the face, J^^lfy^f^^ when a band of Christian soldiers, falling on'"' '^^ their knees, prayed for help. A peal of thunder, accompanied with heavy rain, was the immediate, and, as it seemed, miraculous response from the skies; and the soldiers, catching the precious drops in their helmets, drank and were saved. 6. This event is said to have softened the emperor's feeling toward the Christians; but the change, if any, was very slight, for three years later a fierce persecution arose in the heart of Gaul, at Lyons and Vienne. Pothinus, the bishop, a feeble old man of ninety, died Persecution in a dungeon. Those Christians who were a.d. 177. ' Roman citizens enjoyed the privilege of death by the sword; the rest were torn by wild beasts. The friends of the dead were denied even the poor consolation of burying their loved ones; for the mutilated bodies were burned to ashes, and scattered upon the waters 480 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a. d. 64-303 of the Rhone. One Symphorian, a young man of Autun, a town not far from Lyons, was be- headed for refusing to fall on his knees before the car of the idol Cybele. As he went to execution, his soul was strengthened by his mother's voice, crying: "My son, my son, be steadfast; look up to him who dwells in heaven. To-day thy life is not taken from thee, but raised to a better!" 7. The reign of Septimius Severus was marked by a terrible persecution in Africa. By the same emperor a law was passed, for- bidding any one to become either a Jew^ or a Christian. From many touching stories of those bitter days take one. A young mother, named Per- petua, aged only twenty-two, was arrested at p^pet°Ja. Carthage for being a Christian. Her father was a pagan; but from her mother's lips she had learned to love Christ. When she was dragged before the magistrate, her gray-haired father prayed her earnestly to recant; but, pointing to a vessel that lay on the ground, she said, "Can I call this vessel what it is not?" "No." "Neither, then, can I call myself any- thing but a Christian." Her little baby was taken from her, and she was cast into a dark, crowded dungeon. There was no light in her desolate heart for some days, until her child was given to her again; and then, in her own tender words, "the dungeon became a palace." Before the trial came on, her father A.D.64-303 PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS 4S1 pleaded again with tears, and kisses, and words of agony, seeking to turn her from what he considered her obstinate folly. But all in vain. Neither her father's tears nor her baby's cries could wean her soul from Christ; and she died, with many others, torn to pieces in the circus by savage beasts, amid the yells of still more savage men. 8. Maximin,the Thracian giant, who gained the purple by murder in 235, persecuted those Christian bishops who had been friends of his predecessor. In many provinces, too — Pon- f^^^^^";^" tus and Cappadocia, for instance — the people, padocL^" roused to fury by severe earthquakes, fell upon the Christians, crying out that their blas- phemies had brought these judgments on the land. 9. Conquering Philip the Arabian, Decius Trajan ascended the throne; and then the long calm which the Christians of Rome had en- joyed was rudely broken. One great use of these persecutions was the sifting of the Church — the driving out of those who, inxheDecian peaceful days, had become Christians f rom a'd';™;9. convenience merely or vanity. The gold was tested and refined in a fiery furnace. Decius seems to have resolved utterly to destroy Chris- tianity. His hatred of the bishops was intense. Fabianus, the Roman bishop, was martyred. Both in Rome and the provinces imprison- ment and torture awaited every faithful wit- ness; and among the refinements of torture, 482 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a. d. 64-303 hunger and thirst came into common use. But a rebellion in Macedonia and a Gothic war turned the attention of the emperor from the Christians, and by his death they soon gained a short breathing time. 10. In the fourth year of Valerian an edict Valerian's ^^g issucd in unmistakablc words — "Let bish- '"■''• '^^- ops, presbyters, and deacons at once be put to the sword." The aim of this edict seems to have been to check Christianity by cutting off the heads of the Church. Sixtus, the Roman bishop, and four deacons were the first to sufifer. But a more distinguished victim was Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, who, after hav- ing escaped the Decian storm, was now be- headed for refusing to sacrifice to the pagan idols. Valerian having been defeated by Sapor, the Persian king, whose triumphal car he was forced to drag in chains, died in the far East. His son, Gallienus, restored to the Christians their burial-grounds and other property taken from them in the late reign. This was a great step, for it was a public ac- knowledgment that the Christian Church was a legal society; and it no doubt did much to save Christians from the wrath of the low- born fire-worshipper Aurelian, who became emperor in 270. A bigot by nature, and bent upon persecution, he yet allowed five years to slip away without striking a blow at the Cross. Forty His murder in 275 left forty years of peace ofp^ce. to the Church, which, like a sturdy young oak A.D.64-303 PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS 483 tree, amid all these great and frequent tem- pests, had been only striking its roots deeper, and taking a firmer grasp of the soil. II. Fiercest, widest, and last, was the perse- cution that broke out under Diocletian and Maximian. On the day of the feast Termina- lia, at early dawn, the splendid church of Nic- Ji'rlicu- omedia, a city of Bithynia, where Diocletian 23° A.D.V3. had fixed his court, was broken open; all copies of the Bible found there were burned; and the walls were levelled to the ground by the imperial soldiers. This was done at the instigation of Galerius, the emperor's son-in- law. Next day a terrible edict appeared, commanding all Christian churches to be pulled down, all Bibles to be flung into the fire, and all Christians to be degraded from rank and honor. Scarcely was the proclama- tion posted up, when a Christian of noble rank tore it to pieces. For this he was roasted to death. A fire, which broke out in the palace twice within a fortnight, was made a pretence for very violent dealings with the Christians. Those who refused to burn incense to idols were tortured or slain. Over all the empire the persecution raged, except in Gaul, Britain, and Spain, where Constantius Chlorus ruled. Yet there, too, it was slightly felt. Even after the Abdication abdication of the emperors in 305, Galerius °i!,°a'?d*' kept the fires blazing; and so far did this'^'^""' pagan go in his miserable zeal, that he caused all the food in the markets to be sprinkled Edict of Galerius. 484 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a. d. 64-303 with wine or water used in sacrifice, that thus the Christians might be driven into some con- tact with idol-worship. With little rest for eight years, the whip and the rack, the tigers, the hooks of steel, and the red-hot beds, con- tinued to do their deadly work. And then in 311, when life was fading from his dying eye, and the blood of martyrs lay dark upon his trembling soul, Galerius published an edict, permitting Christians to worship God in their own way. This was the turning-point in the great strife; and henceforward Roman heath- enism rapidly decayed, until it was finally abolished by Theodosius in 394. In 68, Galba is proclaimed emperor by in- of"N«a surgents and Nero kills himself. The next year Galba in turn falls victim to the revolt of Otho, who in turn is defeated by Vitellius the Glutton. In 69, also, Vespasian is proclaimed emperor by his legions in Palestine, where he is trying to reconquer revolted Judea. He leaves the command to his son Titus, goes to Rome and finds that Vitellius has already been put to death.] THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM (A.D. 70) HEINRICH GRAETZ TITUS, the new heir to the imperial throne, at last made his appearance ^.^^^ before Jerusalem (in the spring of^Xf/^ 70), fully expecting that he would be able to ^^'■"'^^^"' force the city into submission; for it was al- most a reproach to the Romans that this rebel- lious capital should have maintained her in- dependence for four years. The prestige of the new imperial house seemed, in some meas- ure, to depend upon the fall of Jerusalem; a protracted siege would necessarily imply weakness in the military power of Vespasian and his son. Although Titus was eagerly looking for- ward to the subjection of Judea, he could not think of commencing the siege of Jerusalem before the spring. But he collected an army of not less than eighty thousand men, who came, bringing with them the largest batter- ing machines that had ever been used in the warfare of that time. Three traitors among Jewish*^" the Judeans were most useful to him in his ' ' laborious undertakings — King Agrippa, who (485) 486 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 70 not only brought a contingent of men, but who also tried to influence the inhabitants of Jerusalem in favor of the Romans; Tiberius Alexander, who signalized his secession from Judaism by going into battle against his own nation; and Josephus, the constant companion of Titus, who, from being a prisoner, had be- come a guide in the country which he knew so well. Titus, inexperienced enough in the art of war, bade the Judean apostate stand by his side, and gave him the command of his own bodyguard (Prefectus pretorio). But the hostile factions had drawn together when this new danger threatened them. Shortly be- Thede- fore the Passover festival, numbers of devoted fenders. ' men streamed into Jerusalem to defend their holy city. The elders and chiefs had sent messengers to the people living in the out- lying provinces, praying for help, and their request was not made in vain. The walls of Jerusalem were fortified more strongly than ever. At last Titus assembled his huge army from all sides and encamped at Scopus- Zophim, north of Jerusalem. He instantly bigms. summoned the inhabitants to surrender; he only demanded submission, acknowledgment of the Roman rule, and payment of the taxes. Eager as he was to return to Rome, where all the enjoyments belonging to his great position were awaiting him, he was ready to deal gently with the Judeans. Besides which, his devo- tion to a Judean princess, who, in spite of her A.D. 70 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM 487 errors, still clung faithfully to the holy city, made him anxious to spare that city from de- struction. But the Judeans refused all nego- tiation. They had sworn to defend their city with their lives, and would not hear of sur- render. Then the siege began in earnest. All Beginning the gardens and groves to the north of Jeru- salem, the first points of the attack, were reck- lessly destroyed. Titus, anxious to reconnoitre the ground, advanced with a few followers to the north wall, where he narrowly escaped being taken prisoner. The first feat of arms on the part of the Judeans was crowned with success, and seemed a good omen for the future. For they surprised and totally discomfited the Tenth Legion, who were pitching their tents on the Mount of Olives. But, unfortunately, this skirmish proved fruitless, for the Judeans , were obliged to retreat to their fortresses, not, however, without having convinced the Ro- mans that they would have a desperate foe to encounter. The besiegers succeeded in pitch- ing their camps on three sides of the city, and in raising their engines against the outer wall. Titus commenced operations during the Pass- over festival (March or April, 70), when he believed that the Judeans would not be will- ing to fight. But as soon as the engines were jj^^p^^^jg in working order they rushed like demons '^^^^""' from their retreat, destroying the battering- rams, scattering the workmen, and bringing Heroism of men and women. 488 THE WORLDS GREAT EVENTS ad. 70 alarm and confusion upon the enemy. Not only the Zealots, but all who could carry arms, took part in the defence, the women setting splendid examples of heroism to the men, throwing masses of stone upon their assailants, pouring boiling oil upon their heads, seizing the ponderous missiles that were hurled into the city, and turning them into tools of de- struction against the Romans. But the latter succeeded in repairing their broken battering- rams, and in forcing the Judeans back from the outer wall. This wall, the scene of a des- perate struggle, was at last taken by the Ro- mans, who, while making themselves masters of it, seized the suburban town of Bezetha. The skirmishes were now carried on daily, and with increasing bitterness. After seven- teen days of unremitting labor the Romans succeeded in raising their banks opposite the Antonine tower. But John of Gischala and some heroic followers of Bar-Giora, creeping through a subterranean passage, destroyed these works by setting fire to them. With the ever-increasing danger grew the heroism of the besieged. All Josephus' persuasive words, prompted by Titus, were useless. There were but two courses left open to them — victory or death. At the very outset of the siege they had learned what they would have to expect Titus from the Romans. Titus, surnamed "Delight crucifies 500 ' 1 i <• 1 • prisoners, of all Mankind," crucified five hundred of his prisoners in one day, and sent others back into A.D.70 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM 489 the city after cutting off their hands. He was, however, forced to acknowledge to him- self that the siege would be one of long dura- tion. But the horrors of famine were soon aid^wm. to come to his assistance. All egress from and ingress into the besieged city being rigorously prevented, the provisions began to fail among the thickly-crowded populace. Houses and streets were filled with unburied corpses, and the pangs of starvation seemed to destroy all feelings of pity, in the unfortunate survivors. The prospect — a terrible one indeed — of a lingering death sent numbers of deserters to the Romans, where they met with a pitiful fate. As the number of these unfortunate fu- gitives increased, the Zealots treated those s^ 'he <=' ' Zealots. whom they suspected with still greater sever- ity. A conspiracy being discovered among Bar-Giora's followers, that leader relentlessly punished the guilty with death. They were all beheaded in full view of the Roman camp, among them being Mathias Boethus, of priestly family. But in spite of the watchfulness of the Zealots, they were unable to circumvent the traitors in all their designs. Those who were secretly friendly to Rome shot off on their arrow-heads written accounts concerning the state of the city, which fell into the enemy's camp. The Zealots struggled manfully to prevent the Romans from completing their earthworks, but at the end of twenty-one days 490 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 70 the battering-rams were again pointing at the Antonine tower. The wall surrounding the fortress fell with a terrible crash, but what ?hc§Lom^^s was the surprise and horror of the Romans, when they discovered that a second and in- ner wall had been erected behind the one they had succeeded in destroying. They tried hopelessly to storm it, the Judeans repulsing a nocturnal attack, the battle lasting until the following morning. It was about this time that the daily sacrifices ceased, on account of the scarcity of the animals. Titus seized this opportunity again to summon the besieged to surrender, but the mere sight of the interpret- er, who bore the message, aroused the indig- nation of the besieged. John of Gischala re- plied that the holy city could not be destroyed, ^^ , ^ and that God held her fate in his hands. The The Jude- fhlTempie° J^^^^"S thcn withdrcw to their last point of defence, the Temple. The battering-rams were raised against the sacred walls. The un- fortunate people remorselessly destroyed the colonnades leading to the Antonine tower, thus cutting off all connection with that for- tress. They spared no craft to tire out the Romans, even setting fire to some of the pillars attached to the Temple, and then pretending to take flight. This stratagem brought the Romans climbing over the walls, where the Judeans lay in ambush to receive them, put- ting them to the sword or casting them into the flames. But the fire could not be extin- A.D.70 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM 491 guished, and the beautiful colonnade of the western side was entirely destroyed. Meanwhile the inhabitants of the city were suffering cruelly from famine, which was sap- ping their life, obliterating all distinctions be- tween rich and poor, and giving free scope to the lowest passions. Money had lost its value, for it could not purchase bread. Men fought desperately in the streets over the most loath- ^^^^^^^^^ some and disgusting food, a handful of straw, ^*"''"*- a piece of leather, or ofifal thrown to the dogs. The wealthy Martha, wife of the High Priest Joshua ben Gamala, whose wont it had been to step on carpets from her house to the Tem- ple, was found searching the town like the very poorest for a morsel of food, even of the most revolting description. But as if no one line of the old prophecy concerning the doom of Judea should remain unfulfilled, a terrible scene was to be enacted which struck even the enemy with horror. A woman of the name of Miriam, who had fledkinsand ' eats "f" from Perea to the capital, actually killed and°"'" devoured her own child. The rapidly increasing number of unburied corpses made the sultry summer air pestilen- tial, and the populace fell a prey to sickness, famine, and the sword. But the army of the besieged fought on with unbroken courage, they rushed to the battlefield, although faint- ing with hunger, and surrounded by grim pic- tures of death, as bravely as had been their eats her child. 492 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS A.D. 70 The Ro- mans are dispirited wont in the early days of the siege. The Romans were amazed at the unflinching hero- ism of the Zealots, at their devotion to the Sanctuary and to the cause of their people. In fact, they grew to look upon them as invin- cible, and stimulated by this belief some few of their number were actually known to desert their colors and their faith and to accept Ju- daism, convincing themselves, in their turn, that the holy city could never fall into the hands of the enemy. Proud as the Judeans well might be of these voluntary proselytes, at this the supreme moment of their history, they volunteered to guard them as best they could from the horrors of starvation. Meanwhile, the Romans had begun to bat- ter the outer walls of the courts of the Temple. For six days they had been working in vain, and had then tried to fix their scaling ladders and storm the walls. But as they were re- pulsed with great loss of life, Titus relin- quished his hopes of sparing the sacred edifice, and ordered his men to set fire to the gates. For a whole night and the next day the fire raged fiercely; then Titus commanded that it should be extinguished, and that a road should be levelled for the advance of his legions. A council of war was hastily summoned to de- cide upon the fate of the Sanctuary. This council consisted of six of the chief generals slnctuary. ^^ ^^^ ^^my, three of whom advised the de- struction of the Temple, which, if spared, The fate A.D. 70 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM 493 would inevitably remain as a focus for rebel- lion. Titus was opposed to this decision, partly on account of the Princess Berenice's feelings, and three of the council agreeing with their leader, it was decided to take the Temple, but not to destroy it. On the 9th Ab, the Judeans made another des- perate sally, but were driven back by an over- powering force of the besiegers. But the hour of the city's doom was about to strike, and in striking leave an echo that would ring through centuries yet to come. The besieged attempted ^J^'?^'°"5 one more furious onslaught upon their ene- mies. They were again defeated, and again driven back to their sheltering walls. But this time they were closely followed by the Romans, one of whom seizing a burning fire- brand, mounted upon a comrade's shoulders, and flung his terrible missile through the so- i^S"^'*" called golden window of the Temple. The fire blazed up ; it caught the wooden beams of the sanctuary, and rose in flames heavenward. At this sight the bravest of the Judeans re- coiled terror-stricken. Titus hurried to the tuus en- spot with his troops, and shouted to the sol-re'^tral^his . . soldiers. diers to extmguish the flames. But no one heeded him. The maddened soldiery plunged into the courts of the Temple, murdering all who came within their reach, and hurling their fire-brands into the blazing building. Titus, Penetrates unable to control his legions, and urged bytuar/hiin- curiosity, penetrated into the Holy of Holies. 494 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 70 Meanwhile the Judeans, desperate in their death agonies, closed wildly with their assail- ants. The shouts of victory, the shrieks of despair, the fierce hissing of the flames, mak- ing the very earth tremble and the air vibrate, rose in one hideous din, which echoed from S.TS the tottering walls of the Sanctuary to the mountain heights of Judea. There were con- gregated clusters of trembling people from all the country round, who beheld in the ascend- ing flames the sign that the glory of their na- tion had departed forever. Many of the inhab- itants of Jerusalem, unwilling to outlive their beloved Temple, cast themselves headlong into the burning mass. But thousands of men, women, and children, in spite of the fierce onslaught of the legions and the rapidly in- creasing flames, clung fondly to the inner court. For had they not been promised by the persuasive lips of the false prophets, that God would save them by a miracle at the very moment of destruction? Alas! they fell but an easier prey to the Romans, who slew some six thousand on the spot. The Temple was burned to the ground, and only a few smoul- dering ruins were left, rising. like gigantic ghosts from the ashes. A few of the priests had escaped to the tops of the walls, where they remained without food for some days, until they were compelled to surrender. Titus Titus J , I . . . • itr% ' executes ordercQ their mstant execution, saying: r nests the priests. ' -' '^ must fall with their Temple." The conquer- A.D. 70 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM 495 ing legions raised their standards in the midst of the ruins, sacrificed to their gods in the Holy Place, and saluted Titus as emperor. By a strange coincidence the second Temple had fallen upon the anniversary of the destruction of the first Temple ( loth Ab, 70) . Titus, who could no longer feel bound to respect the feel- ings of the Princess Berenice, gave orders that the Acra and Ophla, different parts of the city, should be instantly set on fire. But the struggle was not yet over. The leaders of the rebellion had retreated to the upper city with some of their followers. There they conferred with Titus. John and Simon, having sworn that they would never lay down their arms, offered to surrender upon the con- dition that they would be permitted to pass armed through the Roman camp. But Titus sternly bade them throw themselves upon his mercy; and so the fierce strife blazed out anew. On the 20th of Ab, the Romans began to raise their embankments, and, after eighteen days of labor, the siege of the upper city commenced, siege of the ' <-> r r J upper city. Even then the Zealots would not think of sur- render. Discovering that the Idumeans were secretly making terms with Titus, they threw some of the ringleaders into prison, and exe- cuted others. But the Judean warriors were exhausted by their superhuman resistance and by their long famine, and the Romans were at last able to scale the walls and to seize the fortresses, a prelude to their spreading through 496 THE WORLD'S GREAT EVENTS a.d. 70 the city, plundering and murdering the last of the wretched inhabitants. On the 8th of Elul, they set fire to all that remained of Jerusalem, ,. . , the upper city, known by the name of Zion. Zion IS de- ^ ' -' " -' S^'^''"''The walls were entirely levelled, Titus leav- ing only the three fortresses of Hippicus, Mariame, and Phasael to stand as lasting wit- nesses of his victory. Under the ruins of Jeru- salem and her Temple lay buried the last rem- nant of Judea's independence. More than a million of lives had been lost during the siege. Counting those who had fallen in Galilee, Perea, and the provinces, it may be assumed that the Judeans who inhabited their native ' land were almost destroyed. Once more did Zion sit weeping among the ruins, weeping over her sons fallen in battle, over her daughters sold in slavery or aban- doned to the savage soldiery of Rome; but she was more desolate now than in the days of her first captivity, for hushed was the voice of the prophet, who once foretold the end of her widowhood and her mourning. [In 70, the Arch of Titus and the Colosseum are begun. In 78, Agricola begins the com- plete subjugation of Britain. In 79, Titus suc- ceeds to the empire.] END OP VOLUME ONE * LIBRARY r^ rjATTTrr. ^^^ LIBRARY LOS ANGELES ^ 3 1 00105 5671 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. *^f:' ■rmi