iff if ANCIENT HI MYERS UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. SAN DIEGO 3 1822 00777 5455 »l!!;!'' 'Tn^ illill iiiiiliiilir ' '^JyVd/yiAA^ ^ tZ-iy-C^^AU THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY CF CAL!rO"N!A, SAN DIEGO LA JOLLA. CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. SAN DIEGO 3 1822 00777 5455 h ANCIENT HISTORY BY PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS Author of "A History of Gkeece," "Rome: Its Rise and Fall, AND "A General History" REriSED EDITION GINN & COMPANY BOSTON • NEW YORK ■ CHICAGO • LONDON Entered at Stationers' Hall Copyright, 1904, by PHILIP VAN NESS MYERS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 510.8 ftht icltbtnitum 3[iTtee CINN & CUMI'ANY • I'KU- PRIETORS . BOSTON • U.S.A. PREFACE I cannot perhaps better introduce what I have to say here than by quoting the following paragraph from the preface to the 1888 edition of this work. " The following pages are a revision and expansion of . , . my Outlines of Ancient History, which was pubhshed as a library book in 1882 by Messrs. Harper & Brothers. It is through the generous action of these publishers that I have had the advantage of making this earlier work the basis of the present text-book." After the lapse of sixteen more years I now give out the present revised edition. The Oriental portion of the work has been almost wholly rewritten ; the Greek part is based on my History of Greece (1895); the Roman portion on my Rome: Its Rise and Fall ( 1 90 1 ) . Besides this brief statement of fact there are various other things relating to the scope and aim of the work that might properly enough be said in this place ; but the book must speak for itself. I write these prefatory words solely to express my gratitude to those who have helped me, and in doing this to dis- claim title to that which does not belong to me. It would not be right should I withhold the fact that during the years I have labored on the volume I have from time to time been assisted by several eminent historical scholars, and that, while the faults of the book are all my own, to these scholars should be ascribed in part whatever merits it may possess. To Professor Nathaniel Schmidt of Cornell University I am deeply indebted for aiding me in the revision of the proof sheets of the chapters of the Oriental part of the volume; to Dr. Rufus B. Richardson, for many years head of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, I owe special thanks for reading the proofs of the Greek portion ; to Dr. Eduard Meyer of the University of Halle and iv PREFACE Professor Henry F. Pelham of the University of Oxford I am indebted for reading all the chapters, but in their more extended form as they appear in my Rome : Its Rise and Fall, of the Roman part; while to Professor George L. Burr of Cornell Uni- versity I am under like deep obligation fur giving me his schol- arly aid in the revision of the sheets of those chapters of my Middle Ages on which the continuation of the present work from the extinction of the Roman Empire in the West to its restora- tion by Charlemagne is based. I wish further to make grateful acknowledgment of the assist- ance given me by Mrs. Mabel E. Hodder, graduate student of Radcliffe College, Cambridge, in the revision and extension of the bibliographies of the Greek and Roman chapters ; and of the aid I have received from my former pupil, Miss Lucy M. Blanchard, who has kindly given me the benefit of long class-room use of the earlier work by making various suggestions which I have found very helpful. I would also tender my thanks to the ofificers of the Architec- tural Library of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of the Fogg Museum of Harvard University, of the Public Library of Boston, and of the Public Library of Cincinnati, for the use and loan of books, photographs, and other illustrative material. To the courtesy of the editors of the magazine Records of the Past I am indebted for a photograph of the original picture entitled " The Three Towers of Babylon." In this connection it is fitting that mention should be made of the fact that the many fine pen drawings which embellish the l)ook are by the artist Mr. Homer W. Colby of Boston. Lastly, to my publishers I feel prompted to express my appre- ciation of the generosity they have shown, exceeding even what I have dared to suggest, in enriching the volume with maps, cuts, and plates ; and to make acknowledgment of the courtesies and eflficient aid I have received from the heads and members of the various departments of their house. P. V. N. M. C'oLi.KCK Hii.i., Ohio, May 12, 1904. CONTENTS PAGB List of Illustrations ix List of Plates xiv Lists of Maps xv CHAPTER I. General Introduction : Prehistoric Times I II. Races and Groups of Peoples at the Dawn of History . . 14 PART I — THE EASTERN NATIONS III. Ancient Egypt (from about 5000 to 30 B.C.) . ' 20 I. The Land and the People 20 II. Political History 23 III. Religion, Arts, and General Culture 32 IV. The Early City-States of Babylonia and the Old Babylonian Empire (from about 5000 to iioo h.c.) .... 46 I. Political History 46 II. Arts and General Culture 51 V. The Assyrian Empire (from an unknown date to 606 B.C.) . 62 I. Political History 62 II. The Civilization 66 VI. The Chaldean Empire (625-538 B.C.) 72 VII. The Hebrews 75 VIII. The Phoenicians 83 IX. The Persian Empire (55S-330 B.C.) 88 I. Political History 88 II. Government, Religion, and Arts 94 X. India and China 98 I. India 98 II. China 102 vi CONTENTS PART II — GREECE CHAPTER PAGE XI. The Land and the People 107 XII. Prehistoric Times according to Greek Accounts .... 115 XIII. The Inheritance of the Historic Greeks 127 I. Political Institutions 127 II. Religious Ideas and Institutions 129 III. Language, Mythology, Literature, and Art . . 138 XIV. The Growth of Sparta 141 XV. The Age of Greek Colonization (about 750-600 B.C.) . . 152 XVI. The Age of the Tyrants (about 650-500 B.C.) 162 XVII. The History of Athens up to the Persian Wars .... 168 XVIII. Hellas Overshadowed by the Rise of Persia: Prelude to the Persian Wars 178 XIX. The Persian Wars (500-479 B.C.) 183 XX. The Making of the Athenian Empire (479-445 B.C.) . . 200 XXI. The Age of Pericles (445-431 B.C.) 210 XXII. The Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) 220 I. The War to the Peace of Nicias (431-421 B.C.) . 220 II. From the Peace of Nicias to the Defeat of the Sicilian E.xpedition (421-413 B.C.) 229 III. From the Sicilian Disaster to the Fall of Athens : the Decelean War (413-404 B.C.) 237 XXIII. The Spartan and the Theban Supremacy (404-362 B.C.) . 244 I. The Spartan Supremacy (404-371 B.C.) .... 244 n. The Ascendancy of Thebes (371-362 B.C.) . . . 254 XXIV. The Greeks of Western Hellas (413-336 B.c ) .... 259 XXV. The Rise of Macedonia: Reign of Philip II (359-336 B.C.) 266 XXVI. .Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.) 273 XXVII. The Grxco-Oriental World from the Death of Ale.xander to the Conquest of Greece by the Romans (323-146 B.C.) 286 XXVIII. Greek Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting 294 I. Architecture 295 II. Sculpture 300 III. Painting 308 CONTENTS vii CHAPTER PAGE XXIX. Greek Literature 312 I. Introductory 312 II. The Period before 475 b.c 313 III. Tiie Attic or Golden Age (475-300 B.C.) . . . 315 IV. The Alexandrian Age (300-146 B.C.) .... 324 XXX. Greek Philosophy and Science 327 XXXI. Social Life of the Greeks 340 PART III — ROME First Period — Rome as a Kingdom (753?-509 B.C.) XXXII. Italy and its Early Inhabitants 350 XXXIII. The Society and Government of Early Rome .... 355 XXXIV. The Roman Religion 362 XXXV. Rome under the Kings 367 Second Period — Rome as a Republic (509-31 B.C.) XXXVI. The Early Republic ; Plebeians acquire the Full Rights of Citizens (509-367 B.C.) 377 XXXVII. The Conquest of Italy (367-264 B.C.) 394 XXXVIII. The First Punic War (264-241 B.C.) 405 XXXIX. Rome and Carthage between the First and the Second Punic War (241-218 B.C.) 414 I. Rome 414 II. Carthage 416 XL. The Second Punic War (218-201 B.C.) 419 XLI. Events between the Second and the Third Punic War : Conquest of the East by Rome (201-146 B.C.) 429 XLII. The Third Punic and Numantine Wars 436 I. The Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.) .... 436 II. The Numantine War (143-133 B.C.) .... 439 XLIII. The Last Century of the Republic; First Period (133- 78 B.C.) 441 XLIV. The Last Century of the Republic ; Second Period (78- 31 B.C.) 460 viii CONTENTS Third Period — Rome as an Empire (31 r,.c.-A.D. 476) CHATTER PAGE XLV. The Establishment of the Empire and the Reign of Augustus Caesar (31 b.c.-a.d. 14) .... 4S4 XLVI. From Tiberius to Marcus AureUus (a.d. 14-180) . . . 494 XLVII. The Empire under Commodus and "The Barrack Em- perors" (a.d. 1S0-2S4) 514 XLVIII. The Reigns of Diocletian and Constantine the Great . 520 I. The Reign of Diocletian (a.d. 284-305) . . . 520 II. Reign of Constantine the Great (a.d. 306-337) 524 XLIX. The Last Century of the Empire in the West (a.d. 376-476) 532 L. Architecture, Literature, Law, and Social Life among the Romans 549 I. Architecture 549 II. Literature and Law 555 III. Social Life 562 PART IV — THE ROMANO-GERMAN OR TRANSITION AGE (a.d. 476-800) LI. The Barbarian Kingdoms 571 LII. The Church and its Institutions 576 I. The Conversion of the Barbarians .... 576 II. The Rise of Monasticism 579 HI. The Rise of the Papacy 582 LIII. The Fusion of Latin and Teuton 587 LIV. The Roman Empire in the East 592 LV. The Rise of Islam 595 LVL Charlemagne and the Restoration of the Empire in the West 603 Index and I^ronguncing Vocahulary 609 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS After photographs, and from cuts taken from Baumeister's Denkmaeler des klassiscJien Alter turns, Oscar Jaeger's iVeltgeschkhte, Schreiber's y}//aj ^ Classical Antiquities, and other reliable sources. FIG. PAGE 1. The Earliest Implements of Paleolithic Type 3 2. Engraving of a Reindeer 4 3. Engraving of a Mammoth on the Fragment of a Tusk .... 4 4. A Prehistoric flgyptian Tomb 5 5. Primitive Methods of making Fire 7 6. Indian Picture Writing 10 7. Negro Captives 15 8. Egyptian Scene 20 9. Plow'ing and Sowing in Ancient Egypt 21 10. Reaping the Grain in Ancient Egypt 21 11. Ivory Statuette of a King of the First Dynasty 23 12. A Detail of the Great Pyramid 24 13. Khufu, Builder of the Great Pyr-amid 25 14. The " Sheikh-el-Beled " 26 15. Tell el Amarna Letter 28 16. Phalanx of the Khita 29 17. Rameses II charging the Foe 30 18. Brick-Making in Ancient Egypt 31 19. Forms of Egyptian Writing 33 20. The Rosetta Stone 34 21. Two Royal Names in Hieroglyphics 35 22. Mummy of a Sacred Bull 36 23. Profile of Rameses II 38 24. Mummy Case with Mummy 39 25. " Servant for the Underworld " 40 26. The Judgment of the Dead 41 27. An Egyptian Obelisk 42 28. Tubular Drill Hole 42 29. A Scarab Amulet 4-? 30. Philae, the " Pearl of Egypt " 45 31. The Babil Mound at Babylon as it appeared in 181 1 .... 46 32. Ancient Babylonian Canals 47 X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE 2^. Door Socket of Sargon I 49 34. Impression of a Seal of Sargon I 50 35. Excavation at the Temple of Bel at Nippur 52 36. Arch discovered at Nippur 53 37. Cuneiform Writing 53 38. Table showing the Development of the Cuneiform Writing . . 54 39. Contract Tablet 55 40. Writing Exercise Tablets of a Child 58 41. Hammurabi receiving the Code from the Sun-god 59 42. An Assyrian Winged Bull 62 43. Restoration of Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad 64 44. An Assyrian King (? Sennacherib) 65 45. Restoration of a Court in Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad ... 67 46. Emblem of Assyrian Deity 68 47. Transport of a Winged Bull 68 48. Assyrians flaying Prisoners alive 69 49. Lion Hunt 70 50. A Wounded Lioness 71 51. The Jewish Place of Wailing 77 52. Species of the Murex 83 53. Phoenician Galley 84 54. Phoenician Alphabet and Cuneiform Characters 86 55. Croesus on the Pyre 90 56. The Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargada; 90 57. Insurgent Captives brought before Darius 91 58. The Behistun Rock 92 59. Royal Persian Tombs near Persepolis 93 60. The King in Combat with a Monster 95 61. The Ruins of Persepolis 96 62. Chinese Characters 103 63. The Lions' Gate at Mycena; 108 64. The Plain of Olympia 109 65. Combat between Achilles and Hector 115 66. Battle between Greeks and Amazons 117 67. Battle at the Ships between the Greeks and Trojans .... 119 68. Hissarlik, the Probable Site of Ancient Troy 120 69. Grave Circle at Mycena: 121 70. Inlaid Sword Blades found at Mycena; 121 71. Gallery in the South Wall at Tiryns 125 72. Fifty Oared Greek Boat 126 73. Group of Greek Gods and Goddesses 131 74. The Carrying off of Persephone by Hades to the Underworld . 131 75. Apollo 133 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi FIG. PAGF- 76. Greek Runners 136 ']']. Sparta, with the Ranges of the Taygetus in the Background . 142 78. Ruined Temples at Paestum icg 79. Coin of Cyrene icg 80. Coin of Corinth 160 81. Athens 168 82. The Athenian Tyrannicides, Harmodius and Aristogiton . . . 174 83. Greek Warriors preparing for Battle 183 84. Hoplite, or Heavy- Armed Greek Warrior ig8 85. Pericles 210 86. The Bema, or Orator's Stand, on the Pnyx Hill, Athens . . . 211 87. The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum 215 88. The so-called Theseum at Athens 216 89. Alcibiades 231 90. Coin of Syracuse 264 91. Demosthenes 268 92. Alexander the Great 274 93. The so-called " Sarcophagus of Alexander " 284 94. The Dying Gaul 288 95. Coin of Athens 293 96. Orders of Greek Architecture 295 97. The Parthenon 298 98. The Theater of Dionysus at Athens 299 99. The Wrestlers 301 100. Stele of Aristion -702 loi. The Discobolus 102. Athenian Youth in Procession 302 303 103. Athena Parthenos 304 104. Head of the Olympian Zeus by Phidias 305 105. Nike or Victory of Paeonius 305 106. Hermes with the Infant Dionysus 306 107. The Nike of Samothrace 307 108. The Laocoon 308 109. Aphrodite of Melos 308 no. Portrait in Wax Paint III. Homer 309 112. Bacchic Procession 316 113. Sophocles 318 114. Euripides 319 115. Herodotus 321 116. Thucydides 322 117. Socrates 331 118. Plato ZZ'^ xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE FIG. 119. Aristotle 3^^ 120. A Greek School 34° 121. A Banquet Scene (Greek) 345 122. Wall Painting of an Etruscan Banquet 353 123. Head of Janus 3"3 124. Divining by Means of a Sacrificial Victim 364 125. The Bronze Wolf of the Capitol 3^7 126. The Site of Tibur, the Modem Tivoli 368 127. An Ancient Roman Coin bearing the Prow of a Ship . . . 370 128. The Cloaca Maxima 372 129. "View of the Capitoline, with the Cloaca Maxima 373 130. Roman Soldier 374 131. Lictors with Fasces 378 132. The Appian Way 397 133. Grotto of Posilipo 403 134. Prow of a Roman War Ship 408 135. The Column of Duillius 4^9 136. Augur's Birds 4'^ 137. Hannibal 4^9 138. Publius Cornelius Scipio 426 139. Roman Battle Ship 428 140. Coin of the Italian Confederacy 450 141. Mithradates the Great 452 142. Marius 455 143. Roman Trading Vessel 463 144. Pompey the Great 466 145. Julius Cajsar 475 146. Mark Antony 476 147. The Recently Found Base of Caesar's Column 477 148. Octavius as a Youth 478 149. Cicero 479 150. Augustus 485 151. Maecenas 489 152. Vespasian 499 153. Judaea Capta 500 154. Triumphal Procession from the Arch of Titus 500 155. A Street in Pompeii 501 156. House of the Vetti at Pompeii 502 157. Trajan 504 158. Bridge over the Danube, built by Trajan 505 159. Trajan's Column 506 160. The Hadrian Wall 507 161. Hadrian 508 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii FIG. PAGE 162. Besieging a Dacian City 509 163. Roman Aqueduct near Nimes, France 511 164. Commodus 514 165. Caracalla 517 166. Triumph of Sapor over Valerian 518 167. Diocletian 520 168. Christ as the Good Shepherd 523 169. The Labarum 524 170. Arch of Constantine at Rome, as it appears To-day .... 525 171. The Pantheon 549 172. The Roman Forum in 1885 550 173. The Circus Maximus 551 174. Ruins of Theater at Aspendos 551 175. Colosseum 55- 176. The Claudian Aqueduct 553 177. Mausoleum of Hadrian 554 178. Seneca 559 179. Gladiators 566 180. Semicircular Dining Couch 567 181. Roman Lamentation for the Dead 570 182. Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna 572 183. The Caaba at Mecca 595 184. Charlemagne 605 LIST OF PLATES FACING PLATE PAGE I. Babylon and its Three Towers. (A restoration) Frontispiece II. The Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Gizeh. (From a photograph) 24 III. Fa9ade of Rock Temple at Ipsambul. (From a photograph) 28 IV. The Great Hall of Columns at Kamak. (From a photograph) 42 V. The Vaphio Cups and their Scrolls. (From photographs and drawings) 122 VI. The Acropolis of Athens. (From a photograph) 16S VII. The Pira;us and the Long Walls of Athens. (A restoration) 208 VIll. The Acropolis of Athens. (A restoration) 216 L\. I'he Mourning Athena. (From a photograph) 224 X. General View of Olympia. (A restoration) 298 XI. The New-Found Etruscan Chariot. (From a photograph) . 352 XII. The Roman Forum. (A restoration) 490 LISTS OF MAPS COLORED MAPS After Kiepert,Schiader, Droysen, Spruner-Sieglia, and Freeman. The Freeman charts have been so modified by omissions and additions that most of them as they here appear are practically new maps. P.\GE 1. The Ancient World, showing Areas occupied by Hamites, Sem- ites, and Aryans 14 2. Ancient Egypt 20 3. Egyptian Empire, about 1450 B.c 30 4. Assyrian Empire, about 660 B.c 64 5. Median and Babylonian Empires, about 600 B.c 72 6. The Division of Solomon's Kingdom, about 953 b.c 78 7. The Persian Empire at its Greatest Extent, about 500 b.c. . . 92 8. General Reference Map of Ancient Greece 108 9. Greece and the Greek Colonies 154 ID. The Greek World at the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War, 431 B.c 220 11. Empire of Alexander the Great, about 323 B.c 274 12. Italy before the Growth of the Roman Power 350 13. The Mediterranean Lands at the beginning of the Second Punic War, 218 B.c 420 14. The Roman Dominions at the End of the Mithradatic War, 64 B.C. 466 15. The Roman Empire at the Death of Augustus, A.D. 14 ... . 488 16. The Roman Empire at its Greatest Extent (under Trajan, A.D. 9S-117) 506 17. The Roman Empire divided into Prefectures 528 18. Map showing Barbarian Inroads on the Fall of the Roman Em- pire (movements shown down to a.d. 477) 534 19. Europe in the Reign of Theodoric, about a.d. 500 572 20. Greatest Extent of the Saracen Dominions, about a.d. 750 . . 598 21. Europe in the time of Charles the Great, a.d. 814 606 LISTS OF MAPS SKETCH MAPS PAGE 1. The Tigris-Euphrates Valley 48 2. The World according to Homer i :>o 3. Magna Graecia and Sicily icy 4. Plan of the Battle of Marathon 1S7 5. Map illustrating Invasion of Greece by Xerxes 104 6. Athens and Salamis 107 7. Athens and her Long Walls 207 8. Pylos 227 9. March of the Ten Thousand Greeks 245 Plan of the Battle of Leuctra, 371 b.c 253 The Mountain System of Italy -71-2 12. The Roman Domain and the Latin Confederacy, about 450 B.c. . 383 13. The Route of Hannibal -21 14. Plan of the Battle of Cannas 422 10. II. ANCIENT HISTORY CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION: PREHISTORIC TIMES 1. The Antiquity of Man. — We do not know when man first appeared upon the earth. We only know that in ages long past, when both the climate and the outline of the continents were very different from what they are at present, primitive man roamed over them with animals now extinct; and that, about 5000 b.c, when the historic curtain first rises, in some favored regions, as in the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates, there were nations and civiUzations already venerable with age, and possessing arts, governments, and institutions that bear evidence of slow growth through very long periods of time. 2. The Prehistoric and the Historic Age. — The uncounted mil- lenniums which lie back of the time when man began to keep written records of what he thought and did and of what befell him, are called the Prehistoric Age. The comparatively few centuries of human life which are made known to us through written records comprise the Historic Age. In the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates there have been dis- covered written records which were made at least four or five thousand years before Christ ; so we say that the historic period began in those lands six or seven thousand years ago. On the island of Crete numerous inscriptions have recently been found that apparently were written as early as the fourth millennium B.C. These, however, have not yet been deciphered. Some written records used by Chinese historians seem to go back to the third I 2 PREHISTORIC TIMES millennium before our era. In other regions the historic period still begins for us at a much later date. Thus the truly historic age did not open in Greece and Italy until about 800 or 700 b.c, and for the countries of Northern Europe, speaking broadly, not until about the beginning of our era. 3. How we learn about Prehistoric Man A knowledge of what prehistoric man was and what he did is indispensable to the his- torical student ; for the dim prehistoric ages of human life form the childhood of the race, — and the man cannot be understood without at least some knowledge of the child. But how, in the absence of written records, are we to find out anything about prehistoric man ? In many ways we are able to learn much about him. Thus, for instance, since we now know evo- lution to be the law of Hfe on the earth, we may regard existing savage and semi-savage races as representing the prehistoric state of the advanced races. As it has been put, what they now are we once were. So by acquainting ourselves with ihe Hfe and customs of these laggard races we acquaint ourselves with our own prehistoric past and that of all other civilized peoples. Again, the men who lived before the dawn of history left behind them many things which witness as to what manner of men they were. In ancient gravel beds along the streams where they fished or hunted, in the caves which afforded them shelter, in the refuse heaps (kitchen middens) on the sites of their villages or camping places, or in the graves where they laid away their dead, we find great quantities of tools and weapons and other articles shaped by their hands. From these things we learn what skill these early men had acquired as tool makers and to what degree of culture they had attained.^ 4. Divisions of Prehistoric Times. — The long period of prehis- toric times is divided into different ages which are named from the material which man used in the manufacture of his weapons and tools. The earliest epoch is known as the Paleolithic or Old 1 Besides these material things which can be seen and handled, there are many imnuterial things, as, for instance, language, which light up for us the dim ages before history (see sec. 11). THE PALEOLITHIC OR OLD STONE AGE Stone Age ; the following one as the Neolithic or New Stone Age ; and the later period as the Age of Metals. The division lines between these ages are not sharply drawn. In most countries the epochs run into and overlap one another, just as in modern times the Age of Steam runs into and overlaps the Age of Electricity. 5. The Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. — In the Old Stone Age man's implements were usually made of stone, and particularly of easily chipped flints, though sometimes bones, horns, tusks, and other material were used in their manufacture. These rude tools and weapons of Paleolithic man, found in gravel beds and in caves, are the very oldest things in existence shaped by human hands. The man of the Old Stone Age saw the retreating gla- ciers of the last great ice age, of which geology tells us. Among the animals which lived with him on the continent of Europe — we know most of Paleolithic man there — were the mammoth, the cave bear, the elk, the rhinoceros, the wild horse, and the reindeer; species which are no longer found in the regions where primitive man hunted them. As the climate gradually grew warmer they either became extinct or retreated up the mountains or migrated towards the north. What we know of Paleolithic man may be summed up as follows : he was a hunter and fisher ; his habitation was a cave or a rock shelter; his implements were in the main roughly 2 These objects come from France. The central flint in the upper row is espe- cially interesting as being " undoubtedly tlie ancestor or forerunner of all arrow or spear heads" (Wilson). Of equal interest is the scraper (the upper right-hand flint) as " marking the first step taken by man in the art of tanning, and as being the oldest speciaUzed tool or utensil known to him" {Ibid.). Fig. I. — The Earliest Implements of Paleolithic Type.2 (After IVUson) PREHISTORIC TIMES Fig. 2. — Engraving of a Reindeer-' (Old Stone Age) shaped flints ; he had no domestic animals save possibly the dog and the reindeer ; he was practically ignorant of the art of making pottery ; he had no belief in a future life, at least we have no evidence that he buried his dead after the manner of those folk who have come to hold such a belief (sec. 6). The length of the Old Stone Age no one knows ; we do not attempt to reckon its duration by centuries or millenniums even, but only by geologic epochs. But we do know — and this is something of vastly greater moment than a knowledge of the duration of the age — that the long slow epochs did not pass away without some progress having been made by primeval man, which assures us that though so lowly a creature he was a creature endowed with capacity for growth and improvement. Before the end of the age man had learned the use of fire, as we know from the traces of fire found in the caves which were his abode, and had invented the bow and arrow, as is evidenced by arrowheads of flint and of bone which have been discovered. This important invention gave man what was to be one of his chief weapons in the chase and in war down to and even after the in- vention of firearms late in the historic age. But most prophetic of the great future before Fig. 3. — Engraving of a Mammoth on this savage or semi- the Fragment of a Tusk ^ savage cave man is the ^"^'^ ^^^°"^ ^S^) sense of form and beauty which he possessed ; for, strange as it may seem, the man of this epoch was in his way an artist. ' These interesting art objects are from France. They represent the earliest artistic efforts of man of which we have knowledge. In comparison with them, the pictures on the oldest Egj'ptian monuments are modern. THE NEOLITHIC OR NEW STONE AGE 5 Hundreds of specimens of drawings or carvings, chiefly of animals, on bone or on ivory have been discovered. The accompanying cuts (Figs. 2 and 3) are reproductions of celebrated engravings made by Paleolithic artists. 6. The Neolithic or New Stone Age. — The Old Stone Age was followed by the New. Chipped or hammered stone implements still continued to be used, but what characterizes this period was the use of ground or polished implements. The North American Indians were in this stage of culture at the time of the discovery of the New World. The old Egyptians and Babylonians seem to have been just emerging from it when they first appear in the dawn of the c^^c^^f historic day. Neolithic man in Europe was in many ^^j respects much advanced over Paleolithic (^ man. He had learned to cultivate the soil ; he had learned to make pottery, to spin, and to weave ; he had domesti- cated various wild animals ; he built houses and constructed great earthen forts ; and he buried his dead in such a manner — with " accompanying gifts " ^'^- 4- — ^^ Prehistoric -„. . , , , , , Egyptian Tomb (I'lg. 4) — as to show that he had come ,r^ „ s \ ° ^/ (From Sergi) to believe in a future life. 7. The Age of Metals. — Finally the long ages of stone passed into the Age of Metals. This age falls into three subdivisions, — the Age of Copper, the Age of Bronze, and the Age of Iron. Some peoples, like the African negroes, passed directly from the use of stone to the use of iron ; but in most of the countries of the Orient and of Europe the three metals came into use one after the ather and in the order named. Speaking broadly, we may say that the Age of Metals embraces the five millenniums preceding the opening of our era. This means that for some peoples, as for instance the Egyptians and the Babylonians, these epochs or stages of culture fall within their historic period, while for others, as for instance the Greeks and 6 PREHISTORIC TIMES the Romans, they begin in their prehistoric and overlap their historic age.* 'I'he history of metals has been declared to be the history of civilization. Indeed, it would be almost impossible to overesti- mate their importance to man. Man could do very little with stone implements compared with what he could do with metal implements. It was a great labor for primitive man, even with the aid of fire, to fell a tree with a stone axe and to hollow out the trunk for a boat. He was hampered in all his tasks by the rudeness of his tools. It was only as the bearer of metal imple- ments and weapons that he began really to subdue the earth and to get dominion over nature. All the higher cultures of the ancient world with which history begins were based on the knowledge and use of metals. 8. The Origin of the Use of Fire In this and following para- graphs we shall dwell briefly upon some of the special discoveries and achievements, several of which have already been mentioned, marking important steps in man's progress during the prehistoric ages. Prominent among these was the discovery of fire. The origin of the use of fire is hidden in the obscurity of pre- historic times. Tliat fire was known to Paleolithic man we learn, as already noted, from the traces of it discovered in the caves and rock shelters which were his abode. No people has ever been fcMHid so low in the scale of culture as to be without it. As to the way in which early man came into possession of fire we have no knowledge. Possibly he kindled his first fire from a glowing lava stream or from some burning tree trunk set aflame ■* The use of copper seems to have begun among the peoples of the Orient before 5000 B.C. It is a soft metal, and tools and weapons made of it were not so greatly superior to the stone ones then in use as to put them out of service. But either by accident or through experiment it was discovered that by mixing about nine parts of copper with one part of tin a new metal, called bronze, much harder tlian either tin or copper, could Ix; made. So greatly superior were bronze to stone implements that their introduction caused the use of stone for tools and weapons to be discontinued, and consequently the Age of Bronze constitutes a well-defined and important epoch in the liistory of culture. Bronze seems to have been used by the first kings of Eg>pt, alx>ut 4500 B.C. From the East the metal was carried into Europe. Iron was already in use among the Oriental peoples about 1500 B.C., and was gradually introduced among the European trilxis. THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 7 by the lightning. However this may be, he had in the earhest times learned to produce the vital spark by means of friction. The fire borer, according to Tylor, is among the oldest of human inventions. Only gradually^did primeval man learn the various properties of fire and discover the different uses to which it might be put, just as historic man has learned only gradually the possible uses of electricity. By some happy accident or discovery he learned that it would harden clay, and he became a potter ; that it would smelt ores, and he became a worker in metals ; and that it would aid him in a hundred other ways. " Fire," says Joly, " presided at the birth of nearly every art, or quickened its progress." The Fig. 5. — Primitive Methods of making Fire (After Ranke- Tylor') place it holds in the development of the family, of religion, and of the industrial arts is revealed by these three significant words — " the hearth, the altar, the forge." No other agent has contrib- uted more to the progress of civilization. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive how without fire primitive man could ever have emerged from the Age of Stone. 9. The Domestication of Animals. — " When we visit a farm at the present day and observe the friendly nature of the life which goes on there, — the horse proudly and obediently bending his neck to his yoke ; the cow offering her streaming udder to the milk- maid ; the woolly flock going forth to the field, accompanied by their trusty protector, the dog, who comes fawning to his master, — this familiar intercourse between man and beast seems so natural that it is scarcely conceivable that things may once have been different. 8 PREHISTORIC TIMES And yet in the picture we see only the final result of thousands and thousands of years of the work of civilization, the enormous importance of which simply escapes our notice because it is by everyday wonders that our amazement is least excited.'"' The most of this work of inducing the animals of the fields and the woods to become as it were members or dependents of the human family, to enter into a league of friendship with man and to become his helpers, was done by prehistoric man. When man appears in history, he appears surrounded by almost all the domestic animals known to us to-day. The horse was already his willing servant ; the dog was his faithful companion ; the sheep, the cow, and the goat shared his shelter with him. The domestication of animals had such a profound effect upon human life and occupation that it marks the opening of a new epoch in history. The hunter became a shepherd, and the hunting stage in culture gave place to the pastoral.® 10. The Domestication of Plants. — Long before the dawn of history those peoples of the Old World who were to play great parts in early historic times had advanced from the pastoral to the agricultural stage of culture. Just as the step from the hunt- ing to the pastoral stage had been taken with the aid of a few of the most social species of animals, so had this second upward step from the pastoral to the agricultural stage been taken by means of the domestication of a few of the innumerable species of the seed grasses and plants growing wild in field and wood. Wheat and barley, two of the most important of the cereals, were probably first domesticated on the j^lains of Babylonia and from there carried over Asia and Europe. These grains, together with oats and rice, have been, in the words of Tylor, "the main- stay of human life and the great moving power of civilization." They constituted the basis of the earliest great states and civili- zations of Asia and Europe. ^ScHRADER, Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryan Peoples (London, 1890), p. 259. • It is of interest to know that most of the wild stocks whence have come our ^cstic animals are of Old-World origin. It is thouglit by some that one reason Jhe tribes of the New World at the time of its discovery were so far behind the , of the Old was that there were fewer tamable animals here. THE FORMATION OF LANGUAGE 9 The domestication of plants and the art of tilHng the soil effected a great revolution in prehistoric society. The wandering life of the hunter and the herder now gave way to a settled mode of existence. -Cities were built, and within them began to be amassed those treasures, material and immaterial, which constitute the precious heirloom of humanity. This attachment to the soil of the hitherto roving clans and tribes meant also the beginning of political life. The cities were united into states and great kingdoms were formed, and the political history of man began, as in the valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates. Early man seems to have realized how much he owed to the art of husbandry, for in the mythologies of many peoples some god or goddess is represented as having taught men how to till the soil and to plant the seed. It seemed to man that for so great a boon he must be beholden to the beneficence of the gods.'' II. The Formation of Language. — Another great task and achievement of primitive man was the making of language. The earliest speech used by historic man, as Tylor observes, " teaches the interesting lesson that the main work of language-making was done in the ages before history." The vastness of this work is indicated by the rich and intricate nature of the languages with which history begins, for language- making, particularly in its earhest stages, is a very slow process. Periods of time like geologic epochs must have been required for the formation out of the scanty speech of the first men, by the slow process of word-making, of the rich and copious languages already upon the lips of the great peoples of antiquity, the Hamitic ^ So thorough was prehistoric man's search for whatever in the plant world could be cultivated for food that historic man has not been able during the last 2000 years from the tens of thousands of wild plants to discover any species comparable in value to iny one of the staple food-plants selected and domesticated by primeval man (De Candolle, Origin of Ciiltiva/cd Plants, p. 451). It is interesting further to note that while early man exploited the organic kingdoms, that is to say the animal and vegetable realms, he made few and slight requisitions upon the forces of the inorganic world. It was reserved for the men of the later historic age to domesticate, so to speak, the powerfid agents steam and electricity and by their utilization to effect revolutions in modern society like those effected in prehistoric times by the domes- tication of animals and plants. 10 PREHISTORIC TIMES Egyjitians, the Semitic Babylonians, the Aryans of India and Persia, and their kinsmen, the Greeks and Romans, when they first ai)pear in the morning light of history, We need not dwell upon the inestimable value to man of the acquisition of language. Without it all his other acquisitions and discoveries would have remained comparatively fruitless, all his efforts to lift himself to higher levels of culture have been unavail- ing. Without it, so far as we can see, he must have remained forever in an unprogressive and savage or semi-savage state. 12. The Invention of "Writing. ^ — Still another achievement of prehistoric man, and after the making of language perhaps his greatest, certainly the most fruitful, was the invention of writing. The first form of writing used by primitive man was picture writing, such as was and is still used by some of the Indian tribes Fig. 6. — Indian Picture Writing.'' {KiiQx Mallcry-Dcmkci') of the New World. In this system of writing the characters are rude pictures of material objects, as for instance a picture of an eye <2>- to indicate the organ of sight ; or they are symbols of ideas, as for illustration a picture consisting of wavy lines beneath an arc representing the sky u^^ to indicate rain. This way of representing ideas, which >>>>>> seems natural lo man, is known as ideographic writing, and the signs are. called ideograms. A great step in advance is taken when the picture writer uses his pictures or symbols to represent not actual objects or ideas, but sounds of the human voice, that is, words. This step was taken in prehistoric times by different peoples independently. It seems to have been taken by means of the rebus, a mode of writing whi( h children love to em])loy. What makes rebus writ- ing possible is the existence in every language of words having 8 Record of an Alaskan hunt. It reads tluis: I go, by boat (indicated by pad- dle) ; sleep one night diand to side of head denotes sleep), on island with two huts ; I go to another isLind ; two sleeps there ; hunt with harpoon, sea lion ; also with bow ; return by boat with companion (indicated by two oars), to my lodge. THE INVENTION OF WRITING n the same sound but different meanings. Thus in Enghsh the pro- noun / is sounded like the word eye, and the word reign, to rule, like the word rain. Now the picture writer, wishing to express the idea J reign, could do so by the use of the two pictures or ideograms given above, in this way, -<2:5- u^^. When so used, the ideogram becomes a phonogram, and >>>>>> the writing is pho- netic or sound writing. In this manner the great chasm between picture writing and sound writing is bridged, and one of the most difficult steps taken in the development of a practical system of representing thought. In the first stage of sound writing, each picture or symbol stands for a whole word. In such a system as this there must of course be as many characters or signs as there are words in the language represented. In working out their system of writing the Chinese stuck fast at this point (sec. 112). Two additional steps beyond this stage are required in order to perfect the system. The first of these is taken when the char- acters are used to represent syllables instead of words. This reduces at once the number of signs needed from many thou- sands to a few hundreds, since the words of any given language are formed by the combination of a comparatively small number of syllables. With between four and five hundred symbols the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians, who used this form of writing, were able to represent all the words of their respective languages (sec. 53). Characters or symbols used to represent syllables are called syllabic phonograms, and a collection of such signs is called a syllabary. While a collection of syllabic signs is a great improvement over a collection of word signs, still it is a clumsy instrument for expressing ideas, and the system requires still further simplifica- tion. This is done and the final step in developing a convenient system of writing is taken when the symbols are used to represent not syllables but elementary sounds of the human voice. Then the symbols become true letters, a complete collection of which is called an alphabet, and the mode of writing alphabetic. When and where the final step was taken we do not know. 12 PREHISTORIC TIMES But as early as the ninth century B.C. we find several Semitic peoples in possession of an al])habet.® Through the agency of Phoenician and other traders this so-called Semitic alphabet was spread east and west, and became the parent of most of the existing alphabets of the world (sec. 93). With the invention of phonetic writing and the practice of keeping records, with names of actors and dates of events, the truly historic age for man begins. 13. The Great Bequest. — ^^'e of this twentieth century esteem ourselves fortunate in being the heirs of a noble heritage, — the inheritors of the precious accumulations of all the past centuries of history. We are not used to thinking of the men of the first generation of historic times as also the heirs of a great legacy. But even the scanty review we have made of what was discov- ered, invented, and thought out by man during the unmeasured epochs before history began cannot fail to have imi)ressed us with the fact that a vast estate was transmitted by prehistoric to historic man. If our hasty glance at those far-away times has done nothing more than this, then we shall never again regard history quite as may have been our wont. We shall see everything in a new light. We shall see the story of man to be more wonderful than we once thought, the path which he has followed to be longer and more toilsome than we ever imagined. But our interest in the traveler will have been deepened through our knowing more of his origin, of his early hard and narrow life, and of his first painful steps in the jtath of civilization. We shall follow with deeper interest and sympathy this wonderful being, child of earth and child of heaven, this heir of all the ages, as he journeys on and upward with his face toward the light. 2 Our earliest inscriptions in the North Semitic alphabet date from the ninth cen- tury ii.c; but they show unmistakably that this script had tlien been in use for a considerable time. We probably possess South Arabian inscriptions written already in the fourteenth century ii.c. While some scholars regard the Southern alphabet as a modification of the Northern, others consider both as independent adaptations of an earlier alphalx-tic script and are inclined to look to some of the /Egeo-Cretan systems of writing for a clew to the origin of the alphabet. REFERENCES 13 References. — Keary,^'' The Dazvn of History. Starr, Some First Steps in Human Progress. Tylor, Anthropology, chaps, iv and vi, " Lan- guage" and "Writing"; and Primitive Culture, 2 vols. LUBBOCK, Pre- historic Ti flies. Mason, Woman'' s Share in Primitive Culture. De Luce, Work and Workers Long Ago : An Introduction to the Study of History (announced for the fall of 1904). A special aim of this work is to illus- trate and unfold in a way which will appeal to young readers the several subjects touched upon in this chapter. Joly, Man before Metals. Dawt- KINS, Early Man in Britain. HoERNES, Primitive Mati. Shaler, Domesticated Animals. Hoffmann, The Beginnings of Writing. Clodd, The Story of the Alphabet. Taylor, The Alphabet, 2 vols. Parts of this work are antiquated ; the theory of the Egyptian origin of the alphabet is now discredited. Topics for Special Study. — i. The relation of domesticated animals to man's progress in civilization. See especially Shaler. 2. The Age of Bronze. 3. Pottery as an element and index of civilization. 4. The origin of writing. See particularly Hoffmann, Clodd, and Mallery — -the last in "Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1SSS-18S9" (Smith- sonian Reports). 1" For full names of authors and for further information concerning works cited, see list at end of book. CHAPTER II RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES AT THE DAWN OF HISTORY 14. Subdivisions of the Historic Age. — We begin now our study of the historic age, — a record of about seven thousand years. The story of these millenniums is usually divided into three parts, — Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern History. Ancient History begins, as already indicated, with the earliest nations of which we can gain any certain knowledge through written records, and extends to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, a.d. 476. Mediaeval History embraces the period, about one thousand years in length, lying between the fall of Rome and the discovery of the New World by Columbus, a.d. 1492. Modern History commences with the close of the mediaeval period and extends to the present time.^ It is Ancient History alone with which we shall be concerned in the present volume. 15. The Races of Mankind in the Historic Period. — Distinc- tions in bodily characteristics, such as form, color, and features, divide the human species into three chief types or races, known as the Black or Ethiopian Race, the Yellow or Mongolian Race, and the White or Caucasian Race.^ But we must not suppose each of these three types to be sharply marked off from the others ; they shade into one another by insensible gradations. 1 It is thought preferable by some scholars to let the beginning of the great Teutonic migration (a.d. 376) or the restoration of the Empire by Charlemagne (A.D. 800) mark the end of tlie period of ancient history. Some also prefer to date the beginning of the modern period from the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (a.d. 1453) ; while still others speak of it in a general way as commencing about the close of the fifteenth century, at which time there were many inventions and dis- coveries, and a great stir in the intellectual world. 2 Some ethnologists reckon a greater number of types or race's. The classification given is simply a convenient and practical one (see Table, p. 19). J4 THE YELLOW OR MONGOLIAN RACE 15 We assume the original unity of the human race. It is probable that the physical and mental differences of existing races arose through their progenitors having been subjected to different cli- matic influences and to different conditions of life through long periods of prehistoric time. There has been no perceptible change in the great types during the historic age. The i^aintings upon the oldest Egyptian monu- ments show us that at the dawn of history the principal races were as dis- tinctly marked as now, each bearing its racial badge of color and physiognomy. 16. The Black Race. — Africa south of the Sahara is the home of the peo- ples of the Black Race, but we find them on all the other continents and on many of the islands of the seas, whither they have migrated or been carried as slaves by the stronger races ; for since time immemorial they have been " hewers of wood and drawers of water " for their more favored brethren. 17. The Yellow or Mongolian Race. — Eastern and Northern Asia is the central seat of the Mongolian Race. Many of the Mongolian tribes are pastoral nomads, who roam over the vast Asian plains north of the great ranges of the Himalayas ; their leading part in history has been to harass peoples of settled habits. But the most important peoples of this type are the Japanese and the Chinese. The latter constitute probably a fifth or more of the entire population of the earth. Already in times very remote this people had developed a civilization quite advanced on various lines, but having reached a certain stage in culture they did not continue to make so marked a progress. Not until recent times did either the Chinese or the Japanese become a factor of significance in world history. 18. The White Race and its Three Groups. — The so-called White Race embraces the historic nations. The chief peoples of Fig. 7. — Negro Captives (From the monuments of Thebes) Illustrating the permanence of race characteristics l6 RACES AND GROUPS OF PEOPLES this division of mankind fall into three groups, — the Hamitic, the Semitic, and the Aryan ^ or Indo-European. The members form- ing any one of these groups must not be looked upon as kindred in blood ; the only certain bond uniting the peoples of each group is the bond of language.^ The ancient Egyptians were the chief people of the Hamitic branch. In the gray dawn of history we discover them already settled in the valley of the Nile, and there erecting great monu- ments so faultless in construction as to render it certain that those who planned them had had long previous training in the art of building. The Semitic family includes among its chief peoples the an- cient Babylonians and Assyrians, the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, the Aramaeans, the Arabians, and the Ethiopians. Most scholars regard Arabia as the original home of this family, and this penin- sula certainly seems to have been the great distributing center.^ It is interesting to note that three great monotheistic religions — the Hebrew, the Christian, and the Mohammedan — arose among peoples belonging to the Semitic family. The Aryan-speaking peoples form the most widely dispersed group of the White Race. They include the ancient Greeks and 8 Ethnologists have ceased to use this name, as well as its equivalents, Indo- European and Indo-Germanic, as an ethnic term; but there is no reason why it should be given up by the historian. It should be carefully noted, however, that where the term Aryan is applied to a people it simply means that the people thus designated use an Aryan speech, and that it does not mean that they are related by blood to any other Aryan-speaking people. Physical or racial relationships can- not be determined by the test of language. Think of the millions of English-speaking African negroes in the United States! For a masterly discussion of the question of the etlinic types or races making up the population of Europe, see Ripley's The Races of Europe (New York, 1899). 4 In the case of the Semites and the Hamites, it is probable that the most of the peoples forming each group are in the main actually of the same ethnic stock; in the case of the Aryans, however, we certainly have to do with peoples belonging to several distinct ethnic subvarieties or types. 6 It is held by some, however, that the Semites at a very early time immigrated to Arabia from Africa, where they had lived in close relations to the Hamites. In successive waves they seem to have settled in the lands adjoining the Syro-Arabian desert, first the Babylonians and Assyrians, then apparently the Canaanitic and subsequently the Hebrew peoples, the Arabians and the Chalcli'ans, while Abyssinia clearly received its Semitic population from southwestern Arabia. THE ARYAN EXPANSION 17 Romans, all the peoples of modern Europe (save the Basques, the Finns and the Lapps, the Magyars or Hungarians, and the Ottoman Turks), together with the Persians and the Hindus and some other Asian peoples.® 19. The Aryan Expansion. — Long before the dawn of history in Europe and while they were yet in the Neolithic stage of cul- ture (sec. 6), the clans and tribes of the hitherto undivided Aryan family began to break up and to scatter.' Some of these tribes in the course of their wanderings found their way into the great river plains of Lidia and out upon the table-lands of Iran. They subjugated the aborigines of these lands and communicated to them their language. These Aryan invaders and the natives, thus Aryanized in speech and prob- ably somewhat changed in blood, became the progenitors of the Iranians and the Hindus of history.^ Other clans and tribes pushed into the peninsulas of Greece and Italy, and, mingling with the peoples already settled there, founded the Greek and Italian city-states, and from the germs of culture which they carried with them, or which they found among the natiAe populations or afterwards received from the Oriental lands, developed what is known as the Classical Civilization. Yet other tribes of the family, either through peaceful expan- sion, through social relations, or through conquest, had, long before our era, made Aryan in speech almost all the remaining regions of Europe.^ 6 The kinship in speech of all these peoples is most plainly shown by the similar form and meaning of certain words in their different languages, as, for example, the word father, which occurs with but little change in several of the Aryan tongues (Sanscrit,///?-/; Persian, /ai-^^^S^^^S^ "■^^'^-C) "''^i^^^^Ss fe-'^-r^ ^^^^»hS L '*■'' i ^-^"i^^ ^MfHMBHH S^^««HH«^kv^ V '^ ~ \ ( -( c ~^^HBtl t^^^sSSB^^^*^ -> i L --«' -IBB— M f^^^^^^^'^ ' N , s\^-? wBBBsi s^^^^BmSiiLt' ~- V "'^'^-MmSHmB Ife^'^'^^^Wr'^l'' ^^^^^ ■BB^^ Fig. II. — Ivory Statuette of a King of the First Dynasty ^ (From Petrie's Abydos, Part II) 24 ANCIENT EGYPT Tradition represents him as the builder of the great city of Memphis, near the head of the delta, and the constructor of vast engineering and irrigation works in that region. What is believed to be his tomb has been recently discovered (in 1897). Since 1894 there have also been found monuments of other Pharaohs of the First Dynasty, besides various interesting memo- rials of the rulers of the two following dynasties. ^- Thus slowly is the material for the history of these remote tunes being accumulated. ° 25. The Fourth Dynasty : the Pyramid Kings (about 3700-3550 B.C.). — The kings of the Fourth Dynasty, who reigned at Memphis, are called the pyramid builders. Khufu, the Cheops of the Greeks, was the greatest of these rulers. He built the Great Pyramid, at Gizeh, ■ — " the greatest mass of masonry that has ever been put together by mor- tal man."^ A recent fortunate dis- covery ^ enables us now to look upon the face of this Cheops (Fig. 13), one of the earliest and most renowned Fig. 12. — A Detail of the Great Pyramid (From a photograph) C Recently the monuments of a number of kings who reigned in Egypt before Menes have been dis- covered. Some of these kings are known to have ruled over the lower as well as the upper coimtry. Menes was formerly believed to have been the first king of all Egypt. The story of these earlier kings, as it may hereafter be learned from the monuments, must be called predynastic history. " This pyramid rises from a base covering thirteen acres to a height of four hundred and fifty feet. According to Herodotus, Cheops employed one hundred thousand men for twenty years in its erection. 8 Made by Flinders Petrie at Abydos. Read his article entitled " The Ten Temples of Abydos," in Harpers Alagaziiic for November, 1903. THE FOURTH DYNASTY 25 personages of the ancient world. " The first thing that strikes us," writes Professor FHnders Petrie, " is the enormous driving- power of the man, the ruhng nature which it seems impossible to resist, the determination which is above all constraint and all opposition. As far as force of will goes, the strongest characters in history would look pliable in this pres- ence. . . . There is no face quite parallel to this in all the por- traits that we know, — Egyptian, Greek, Roman, or modern." To some king of this same family of pyramid builders is also ascribed, by some authorities, the sculpture of the gigantic human- headed Sphinx at the foot of the Great Pyramid. These sepulchral monuments, for the pyramids were the tombs of the Pharaohs who constructed them (sec. 40), and the great Sphinx are the most venerable memorials of the early world that have been preserved to us. Although standing so far back in the gray dawn of the historic morning, they mark not the beginning but in some respects the perfection of Egyptian art. They speak of long periods of human life, of ages of growth and experience, lying behind the era they repre- sent. It is this vast and mysterious background that impresses us even more than these giant forms cast up against it. Fig. 13. — Khufu, Builder of the Great Pyramid (From Petrie's Abydos, Part II) 26 ANCIENT EGYPT 26. The Twelfth Dynasty (^about 2500-2300 B.C.). — After the Sixth D}Tiasty Eg}'p!: lor several centuries is almost lost from view. When finally the valley emerges from the obscurity of this period, the old capital Memphis has receded into the background and the cit}- of Thebes has taken its place as the seat of the royal power. The period of the Twelfth D\-nast\-, a line of Theban kings, is one of the brightest in Egyptian histon-. It has been called Eg}-pt's Golden Age. One of the most notable achievements of the period was the improvement made by one of the kings in the irrigation of the Fa}-um from Lake Mceris (see map, p. 20). This was an immense reser- voir — one of the most important irrigation works of the Pharaohs — for storing the surplus waters of the Nile at the time of the annual inun- dation. The lake was formed by the Nile flowing into a depression in the desert west of Memphis. 27. The Hyksos or Shepherd Fig. 14- — The -Sheikh-el- Ki^gg (about 1985 — 1575 B.C.).— Beled."' (Gizeh Museum) r. /^ ^i. v • u ^ • j r ^u ^ ' boon atter the bnght period of the Supposed portrait statue of one of r^- i <- l t-k t- r STov^^rsof theworkonthe twelfth D^ast), Eg)-pt agam suf- Great Pyramid. This is one of the fered a great cclipse. Nomadic masterpieces of Egj-ptian sculp- ^^^^ f^^^ _^gj^ pressed acrOSS the ture ^ eastern frontier of Eg}-pt and gradu- ally took possession of the in-viting pasture lands of the delta, and established there the empire of the Shepherd Kings. These Asiatic intruders were -snolent and barbarous, and destroyed or mutilated the monuments of the country. But gradually they were transformed by the ci-s-ilization with which they were in con- tact, and in time they adopted the manners and culture of the Egyptians. It is thought by some scholars that it was during the supremacy of the Hyksos that the families of Israel foimd a refuge in Lower Egypt. THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY 27 At last these intruders, after they had ruled in the valley more than four centuries, were expelled by the Theban kings and driven back into Asia, Various elements of the cixTlization which had long been de- veloping independently in the Asian lands were introduced into Eg}-pt by the Hyksos. Among these elements we may quite safely include the horse and the war chariot, since these now appear for the first time upon the monuments of the countn.'. From this period forward the war chariot holds a place of first importance in the armaments of the Pharaohs. 28. The Eighteenth Dynasty ('about 1575-1359 b.c.;; Thoth- mes in. — The long straggle known as the War of Independence waged by the native Eg\-ptian kings against the Hyksos intruders was brought to an end by a brave young Theban prince named Aahmes. He was the first sovereign of what is kno^vn as the Eighteenth Dynasty. The most eventfiil period of Egyptian histor}-, covered by what is called the New Empire, now opens. Architecture and learning seem to have recovered at a bound from their long depression imder the domination of the Shepherd Kings. To firee his empire from the danger of another invasion from Asia, Aahmes determined to subdue the S^Tian and Mesopota- mian tribes. This foreign policy, followed out by his successors, shaped many of the events of their reigns. It brought Egypt into her first conflict with a ci%'ilized power, for already in the valley of the Euphrates there had arisen a ci\-ilization rivaling that of the Pharaohs, and the great kings of Babylon had extended their influence and their authority* westward to the Mediterranean (sec. 48), and thus were injured by the intrusion of the Eg}T>tians into the SjTian lands.® Thothmes HI (about 1500— 1450 B.C.), one of the greatest kings of this Eighteenth D}-nast}', has been called " the Alexander of Eg)-ptian histor}'." During his reign the frontiers of the empire s •' Her [Elgypfs] sudden appearance in the heart of Syria gave a new turn to human history. The isolation of the ancient world was at an end : the conflict oi the nations was about to begin." — Maspero, The Struggle if iJu Sations. p. loS. 28 ANCIENT EGYPT reached their greatest expansion. His authority extended from the oases of the Libyan desert to beyond the Euphrates. Thothmes was also a magnificent builder. His architectural works in the valley of the Nile were almost numberless. He built a great part of the Temple of Karnak, at Thebes, the remains of which form the most majestic ruin in the world. His obelisks stand to-day in Constantinople, in Rome, in London, and in New York. It was a Pharaoh of this Eighteenth Dynasty that set up the celebrated colossi at Thebes, one of which, under the name of the "Vocal Memnon," ^*^ acquired a wide rei)utation among the later Greeks and Romans. ^^ 29. The Nineteenth Dynasty (about 135 9-1 253 B.C.). — The Pharaohs of the Nineteenth Dynasty rival those of the Eighteenth in their fame as conquerors and builders. It is their deeds and works, in connection with those of the preceding dynasty, that have given Egypt such a name and j^lace in history. The two greatest names of this period are those of Seti I (about 1356-1347 B.C.) and Rameses II (about 1347-1280 B.C.). Seti was a great warrior. One of the most im- •;^^ portant of his campaigns was that against 1 the Hittites {Khita in the inscriptions) and FSTCl? 1" When the rays of the morning sun fell upon the colossus it emitted low musical tones, which the Egyp- tians believed to be the greeting of the statue to the rising day. 11 The name of one of the sovereigns of this Eighteenth Dynasty (the " heretic king," Amenhotep IV, or Akhen- aten, 1403-1385 B.C.) is connected with one of the most interesting and important discoveries ever made on Oriental ground. This was the discovery in 18S7, at Tell el Amarna, on the Nile, of several hundred letters, written in the Babylonian language and script and com- prising the correspondence, not only between the reigning Pharaoh and the kings of Assyria and Babylonia, but also between the Egyptian court and the Egyptian gov- ernors and vassal kings of various Syrian towns. The significance of this discovery consists in the revelation it makes of the deep hold that the civilization of Babylon had upon the Syrian lands cen- turies before the Hebrew invasion of Palestine. This means that the Hebrew develop- ment took place in an environment cliarged with elements of Babylonian culture. Fig. 15. — Tell el Amarna Letter (After Hilprecht) THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY 29 their allies. The Hittites were a powerful non-Semitic people, whose capital was Carchemish on the Euphrates, and whose strength and influence were now so great as to be a threat to Egyptian dominion in Syria.-^^ Marching against these formidable enemies, Seti overcame their army with great slaughter, and returned to Egypt with his chariot, after the custom of those times, adorned with the heads of several of their chiefs. But Seti's deeds as a warrior are eclipsed by his achievements as a builder. He constructed the main part of what is perhaps the most im- pressive edifice ever raised by man — the world-renowned Hall of Col- umns in the Temple of Karnak, at Thebes. Rameses H, surnamed the Great, was the Sesostris of the Greeks. Ancient writers accorded him the first place among all the Eg^'ptian sovereigns, and told most exaggerated ^'^ ^^^ background, town protected by walls and moats stones of his conquests and achieve- ments. His long reign, embracing sixty-seven years, was indeed well occupied with military expeditions and the superintendence of great architectural works. The chief of his wars were those against the Hittites, of whom we have just spoken. Time and again is Rameses found with his host of war chariots in the country of this people, but he evidently failed to break their power ; for we find him at last concluding with them a celebrated treaty. In this treaty the chief of the Hittites is called "The Great King of the Khita," and is for- mally recognized as in every respect the equal of the king of Egypt. Fig. 16. — Phalanx of THE Khita 12 We know very little about this people, save that for several centuries they divided with Egypt and Assyria the dominion of Western Asia. They had a system of hiero- glyphic writing and left some inscriptions, but these have not yet been deciphered. 30 ANCIENT EGYPT The alliance was cemented by the marriage of a daughter of the Hittite king to Rameses. All this means that the Pharaohs had met their peers in the princes of the Hittites, and that they could no longer hope to become masters of Western Asia. Indeed, the empire of the Pha- raohs had already passed its culmination, and all Rameses' efforts were directed to upholding the fortunes of a declining state. It is the opinion of some scholars that this Rameses II was the oppressor of the children of Israel, the Pharaoh who " made their Lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick, and in all Fig. 17. — Rameses II charging the Foe manner of service in the field " (Kx. i. 14), and that what is known as the Exodus took place in the reign of his son, Meneph- tha^^ (about 1275 li.c). 30. The Twenty-Sixth Dynasty ; Psammetichus I (about 663- 610 B.C.) and Necho II (610-594 b.c). — We pass without com- ment a long period of several centuries, marked, indeed, by great vicissitudes in the fortunes of the l'>gyptian monarchs, yet 13 In a recently discovered inscription Meneplitlia mentions among otlier Palestin- ian peoples Israel as having been made desolate and left without grain. (This is the only reference to Israel on any Egyptian monument.) The inference which some scholars draw from this is tliat this people had already settled down to agricultural life in Syria at the time of Menephth ; while others reconcile the inscription with the Hebrew records by supposing that when the great immigration into Lower Egypt took place a part of tlie tribe or tribes of Israel remained behind in Syria. The Sixth Cataract of the Nile THE TWENTY-SIXTH DYNASTY 31 characterized throughout by a sure and rapid decline in the power and splendor of their empire. During the latter part of this period Egypt was tributary to Ethiopia or to Assyria ; but a native prince, Psammetichus by name, with the aid of Greek mercenaries, drove out the foreign garrisons. Psammetichus thus became the founder of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (about 663 B.C.). The reign of this monarch marks a new era in Egyptian history. Hitherto Egypt had secluded herself from the world behind bar- riers of race jealousy and pride. But Psammetichus being him- self, it seems, of non-Egyptian origin, and owing his throne chiefly to the swords of Greek soldiers, was led to reverse the policy of the past, and to throw the valley open to the commerce and Fig. 18. — Brick-Making in Ancient Egypt. (From Thebes) influences of the world. His capital, Sais, in the delta region, was filled with Greek citizens, and Greek mercenaries were em- ployed in his armies. This change of policy, occurring at just the period when the Greeks were coming prominently forward to play their great part in history, was a most significant event. Egypt became the instructor of this younger race. From this time on Greek phi- losophers are represented as becoming pupils of the Egyptian priests ; and without question the learning and philosophy of the old Egyptians exercised a profound influence upon the open, receptive mind of the Greek race, that was, in its turn, to become the teacher of the world. The son of Psammetichus, Necho II (610-594 B.C.), followed the liberal policy marked out by his father. In order to be able to bring together at any time his war ships either in the Red Sea or 32 ANCIENT EGYPT in the Mediterranean, he attempted to reopen an old canal uniting the Nile and the Red Sea, which had been dug by earlier Pharaohs, but had now become unnavigable. Failing in this undertaking, he fitted out an exploring expedition for the circumnavigation of Africa, in hopes of finding a natural water way connecting the two seas. The expedition, we have reason to believe, actually accom- plished the feat of sailing around the continent ; for the historian Herodotus, in his account of the enterprise, says that the voyagers upon their return reported that, when they were rounding the cape, the sun was on their right hand (to the north). This feature of the report, which led Herodotus to disbelieve it, is to us the very strongest evidence possible that the voyage was really performed. 31. The Last of the Pharaohs. — Before the end of Necho's reign Egypt became tributary to Babylon, and a little later bowed beneath the Persian yoke (sec. 97). Regaining her independ- ence, she soon lost it again. From about the middle of the fourth century B.C. to the present day no native prince has sat upon the throne of the Pharaohs. Upon the extension of the power of the Macedonians and the Greeks over the East through the conquests of Alexander the Great (Chapter XXVI), Egypt willingly accepted them as masters ; and for three centuries the valley was the seat of the renowned Grgeco- Egyptian empire of the Ptolemies. The Romans finally annexed the region to their all-absorbing empire (30 B.C.). " The mission of Egypt among the nations was fulfilled ; it had lit the torch of civilization in ages inconceivably remote, and had passed it on to other peoples of the West." III. Religion, Arts, and General Culture 32. Classes of Society.— Egyptian society was divided into three chief classes,^'* — priests, soldiers, and common people ; the last embracing shepherds, husbandmen, shopkeepers, and artisans. 14 These divisions are more properly designated as classes than castes ; for the characteristic features of the latter, as existing among the Hindus (sec. 105), are that the members " must abstain from certain forbidden occupations, contract no THE EGYPTIAN SYSTEM OF WRITING 33 The sacerdotal order consisted of high priests, prophets, scribes, keepers of the sacred robes and animals, sacred sculptors, masons, and embalmers. They enjoyed freedom from taxation, and met the expenses of the temple service mainly from the income of the sacred lands, which are said to have embraced one third of the soil of the country. The priests were extremely scrupulous in the care of their per- sons. They bathed twice by day and twice by night, and shaved the entire body every third day. Their inner clothing was linen, woolen garments being thought unclean ; their diet was plain and even abstemious, in order that, as an old Greek writer explains, " their bodies might sit light as possible about their souls." Next to the priesthood in rank and honor stood the military order. Like the priests, the soldiers formed a landed class. To each soldier was given a tract of about eight acres, exempt from all taxes. When not in actual service he worked on his little plot of land. 33. The Egyptian System of Writing. — Perhaps the greatest achievement of the ancient Egyptians was the working out of a system of writing. By the opening of the fifth millennium B.C. lUL 5)0'^ ^= jsz^^^^n^-^j Fig. 19. — Forms of Egyptian Writing. {Alter //i>?/i me/) The top line is hieroglyphic script ; the bottom line is the same text in hieratic this system had passed through all the stages which we have already indicated as marking the usual development of a written language (sec. 12). But the curious thing about the system was this : when an improved method of writing had been worked out alliance beyond the limits of the caste, and must continue to practice the profession of their fathers " ; whereas among the Egyptians there were no such restrictions laid upon the two principal classes. The priest might become a soldier, and the soldier a priest, or tlie same person might be both at once. 34 ANCIENT EGYPT the old method was not discarded. Hence the Egyptian writing was partly picture writing and partly alphabetic writing, and exhibited besides all the intermediate forms. The Egyptians, as has been said, had developed an alphabet without knowing it. Just as we have two forms of letters, one for printing and another for writing, so the Egyptians employed three forms of script : the hieroglyphic, in which the pictures and symbols were carefully drawn, — a form generally employed in monumental inscriptions ; the hieratic, a simplified form of the hieroglyphic, adapted to writing, and forming the greater part of the papyrus manuscripts ; and the demotic or encho- rial, a still further simplification of the hieratic form. 34. The Rosetta Stone and the Key to Egyptian Writing. — The key to the Egyptian writing was discovered by means of the Rosetta Stone, which was found by the French when they in- FiG. 20. — The Rosetta j j t- .. 1 t^t i • o vaded Egypt under Napoleon ni 1798. This precious relic, a heavy block of black basalt, is now in the British Museum. It holds an inscrip- tion in the Egyptian and the Greek language, which is written in three different forms of script, — in the Egyptian hieroglyphic and demotic and in Greek characters. The chief credit of deciphering the Egyptian script and of opening up the long-sealed libraries of Egyptian learning is commonly allotted to the French scholar Champollion.''^ 35. Egyptian Literature. — The literature opened up to us by the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphics is varied and instructive, revealing as it does the life and thought and scientific 15 The value of a number of demotic signs was discovered by Akerblad (1802). In the hieroglyphic text the English scholar Young recognized the name of Ptolemy (Ptolemaios, Ptolmis) and succeeded in deciphering this peculiar script (1818). Champollion verified the values assigned to some symbols by a comparison of the Rosetta inscription with another hieroglyphic and Greek inscription found on the island of Philae (1822). But his greatest merit consists in having determined the character of the Egyptian language as the mother of the Coptic, with which he was thoroughly familiar. THE EGYPTIAN GODS 35 (M3E C32 ^j\ attainments of old Egypt at a time when the Greek world was yet young. There is the ancient Book of the Dead,^^ intended for the use and instruction of the soul in its perilous journey to the realms of the blessed in the nether world ; there are novels or romances, and fairy tales, among which are " Cinderella and the Glass Slipper," and a story written expressly for the amuse- ment of the little son of Rameses II ; autobiographies, public and private letters, fables, and epics ; treatises on medicinf, astronomy, and various other scien- tific subjects ; and books on history — in prose and in verse — which fully justify the declaration of Egyptian priests to the Greek philosopher Solon : "You Greeks are mere children, talkative and vain ; you know nothing at all of the jDast." 36. The Egyptian Gods. — It has been said of man that he is " incurably religious." This could certainly be said of the ancient Egyptians. Their thoughts seem to have dwelt much on the gods and on the future life. The ideas of God held by the learned among the Egyptians were, according to the Egyptologist Budge, almost the same as 16 The chief writing material used by the ancient Egyptians was the noted papyrus paper, manufactured from a reed which grew in the marshes and along the water channels of the Nile. From the names of this Egyptian plant, byblos and papyrus, come our words " Bible" and " paper." ^"^ The twelve hieroglyphics used in writing these names have the following values : Fig. 21. — Two Royal Names in Hieroglyphics It was the first of these names which gave the clew to the interpretation of the hieroglyphic script. Through a comparison of the two the values of several symbols were definitely determined 1' ^K, -SasL, R, ;M, □ P, A, or ciX I(AI), With these the reader wdll easily decipher the names. It should be noted that the last two signs in the longer word are used merely to indicate that the word is a feminine proper name, and that for the sake of symmetry one symbol is sometimes placed beneath another. The upper sign should be taken first. 36 ANCIENT EGYPT those of the Hebrew teachers of a later time. The inscriptions read : " God is a spirit and no man hath known his form ; He is the one Uving and true God ; He has existed from the beginning, and He is life ; He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, and all that therein is." But while entertaining such lofty views of the Supreme God, the Egyptian thinkers never came, as did the later Hebrews, to hold the idea that there is only one God beside whom there is no other. From first to last the Egyptians were polytheists, that is, worshipers of many gods. These divinities were often grouped in triads. First in impor- tance among these groups was that formed by Osiris, Isis (his wife and sister), and Horus, their son. The members of this triad were worshiped throughout Egypt. The god Set, called Typhon by the Greek writers, was the Satan of Egyptian mythology. While the beneficent Osiris was symbolized by the life-giving Nile, the malignant Typhon was emblemized by the terrors and barrenness of the desert. 37. Animal Worship. ^ — The Egyptians regarded certain ani- mals as emblems of the gods, and hence worshiped them. To kill one of these sacred animals was adjudged the greatest impiety. Persons so unfortunate as to harm one through accident were sometimes murdered by the infuriated people. The scarab or beetle was especially sacred, being considered an emblem of life. Not only were various animals held sacred, as being the emblems of certain deities, but some were thought to be real gods. Thus the soul of Osiris, it was imagined, animated the body of some bull, which might be known from certain spots and markings. Fig. 22. — Mummy of a Sacred Bull (From a photograph) EGYPTIAN DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE LIFE 37 Upon the death of the sacred bull or Apis, as he was called, a great search, accompanied with loud lamentation, was made throughout the land for his successor ; for the moment the soul of Osiris departed from the dying bull it entered a calf that moment born. The body of the deceased Apis was carefully embalmed, and, amid funeral ceremonies of great expense and magnificence, deposited in the tomb of his predecessors.^* Many explanations have been given to account for the existence of such a debased form of worship among so cultured a people as the ancient Egyptians. There can be little doubt that the religious system of Egypt arose from a mingling of the religions of the two races which seemed to have united to form the Egyp- tians of history (sec. 22), and that the low elements in it were nothing more nor less than the ideas, beliefs, and practices of the older prehistoric race of the Nile valley. 38. The Egyptian Doctrine of a Future Life. — The most fruitful of the religious ideas of the ancient Egyptians, the one of greatest import for their own history and for that of the world, was their doctrine of a future life. Among no other people of antiquity did the life beyond the tomb seem so real and hold so large a place in the thoughts of the living as among the people of old Egypt. It is difficult to give an account of this belief for the reason that there were different forms of it held at different times and in different places. But the essential part of the belief was that man has a double or soul which survives the death of the body. This belief in a future life, taken in connection with certain ideas respecting the nature of the soul's existence in the other world and of its needs, reacted in a remarkable way upon the earthly life of the people of ancient Egypt. It was the cause and motive of many of the things they did. 39. The Embalmment of the Body. — The first need of the soul was the possession of the old body, upon the preservation of ^^ In 185 1 Mariette discovered this sepulchral chamber of the sacred bulls (the Serapeum). It is a narrow gallery two thousand feet in length cut in the limestone cliffs just opfKDsite the site of ancient Memphis. A large number of immense granite coffins and several mummified bulls were found. 38 ANCIENT EGYPT which the existence of the soul depended. If the body should waste away, the double, it was believed, would waste away with it.-*^ Hence the anxious care with which the Egyptians sought to preserve the body against decay by embalming it. In the various processes of embalming, use was made of oils, resins, bitumen, and various aromatic gums. The bodies of the wealthy were preserved by being filled with costly aromatic and resinous substances, and swathed in bandages of linen. To a body thus treated is applied the term mummy. As this method of embalming was very costly, the bodies of the poorer classes were simply " salted and dried," and wrapped in coarse mats, preparatory to burial. It is estimated that from the time of Menes to the opening of the Christian era 200,000,000 mummies were laid in the earth in Upper Egypt alone. To this practice of the Egyptians of embalming their dead we owe it that we can look upon the actual faces of many of the ancient Pha- raohs. Towards the close of the last century (in 1881) the mummies of Thothmes III, Seti I, Rameses II, and those of about forty other kings, queens, princes, and priests, em- bracing nearly all the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Dynasties, were found in a secret rock chamber near Thebes. The faces of Seti and Rameses, both strong faces, are so remarkably preserved that, in the words of Maspero, " were their subjects to return to the earth to-day they could not fail to recognize their old sovereigns." ■s*-:?^ Fig. 23. — I'RoFiLE OF Ram ESES II. (From a photo graph of tlie mummy) i9 This is Maspero's view. Wiedemann's is somewhat different. -' The destruc- tion of the mummy," he says, "did not involve the destruction of the soul, but it narrowed tlie soul's circle of activity and limited its means of transmigration" (The Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of the hiimortality of the Soul, p. 68). THE PYRAMIDS AS SEPULCHERS 39 40. The Pyramids as Sepulchers ; the Rock-Hewn Tombs. — The same belief which led to the embalmment of the body led also to the construction of secure and magnificent tombs. Upon the temporary homes of the living the Egyptians bestowed little care, but upon the " eternal abodes " of the dead they lavished unstinted labor and cost. The tombs of the official class and of the rich were sometimes structures of brick or stone, but more generally they were cham- bers cut in the limestone cliffs that rim the Nile valley. The bodies of the earlier Pharaohs were hidden away in the heart of great mountains of stone — the pyramids. Many of the later Pharaohs constructed for themselves magnificent rock-cut tombs, some of which are perfect labyrinths of corridors, halls, and cham- bers. In the hills back of Thebes, in the so-called Valley of the Tombs of the Kings, there are so many of these royal sepulchers that the place has been called the "Westminster Abbey of Egypt." 41 . The ' ' Accompanying Gifts ' ' or the ' ' Dowery of the Dead. ' ' — We have seen that the first need of the soul was the preservation of the old body. Along with the mummy there were often placed in the tomb a number of wood, clay, or gold portrait statuettes of the deceased. The lid of the coffin was also carved in the form of a mummy. The idea here was that, if through any accident the body were destroyed, the soul might avail itself of these sub- stitutes. It was the effort put forth by the artist to make these portrait images and carvings lifelike that contributed to bring early Egyptian sculpture to such a high degree of excellence. But not all the wants of the soul were met by the mummy and the substitute portrait images. It had need also of food and drink, and of everything else that the deceased had needed while on earth. Hence all these things were put into the tomb. But Fig. 24. — Mummy Case with Mummy 40 ANCIENT EGYPT as it was only the spirit or double of the things thus set out which the soul could make use of,"^" it came to be believed that a picture or an inexpensive model in wood or clay of these objects would serve just as well as the actual objects themselves. Thus the pictures of different kinds of food and drink supplied the soul with " an unsubstantial yet satisfying repast"; the rep- resentation of a vineyard provided it with a vineyard in the Osirian land ; the picture of a hunting scene afforded it the diver- sion of the chase ; and the picture of a boat made possible a pleasure sail on the celestial Nile. It was this belief which covered the walls of the Egyptian tombs with those bas-reliefs and paintings which have con- verted for us these chambers of the dead into picture galleries where the Egypt of the Pharaohs rises again into life before our eyes. 42. The Judgment of the Dead and the Negative Confession. — Death was a great equalizer among the Egyptians ; king and peasant alike must appear before the dread tribunal of Osiris and render an account of the deeds done in the body. Here the soul sought justification in such declarations as these, which form what is called the Negative Confession : " I have not blasphemed" ; " I have not stolen" ; "I have not slain any one treacherously" ; " I have not slandered any one or made false accusation " ; "I have not reviled the face of my father" ; " I have not eaten my heart through with envy." ^^ 20 Compare the thought of the savage who breaks the bow or other weapon placed in the grave with the body of its former owner, in order that its spirit may be released. 21 A statuette of a workman placed in the tomb along with the mummy. It was thought that the recital of certain magical formulas imparted life to the image. A number of these figures put in the tomb supplied the deceased with servants in the other world. 2^ It will be noted that these are in substance the equivalent of six of the Ten Commandments of the Hebrews. Fig. 25. — "Servant FOR THE Under- world." 21 (After Wiedemann) THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD 41 In other declarations of the soul we find a singularly close approach to Christian morality, as for instance in this : " I have given bread to the hungry and drink to him who was athirst ; I have clothed the naked with garments." The truth of what the soul thus asserted in its own behalf was tested by the balances of the gods. In one" of the scales was placed the heart of the deceased ; in the other, a symbol of truth or righteousness. The soul stood by watching the weighing. If the heart were found not light, the soul was welcomed to the Fig. 26. — The Judgment of the Dead. (From a papyrus) Showing the weighing of the heart of the deceased in the scales of truth. companionship of the good Osiris. The fate of the unjustified seems to have been annihilation. This judgment scene in the nether world forms the most in- structive memorial of old Egypt that has been preserved to us. We here learn what sort of a conscience the Egyptian had devel- oped by the dawn of history ; for the confession and the doctrine of a judgment day date from the earliest period of Egyptian civil- ization. The moral teachers of Egypt here anticipated the moral teachers of Israel. " In the judgment hall of Osiris," writes Sayce, " we find the first expression of the doctrine which was echoed so many ages later by the Hebrew prophets, that what the gods require is mercy and righteousness rather than orthodoxy of belief." 43. Architecture, Sculpture, and Minor Arts. — At a compara- tively early period Egyptian civilization ceased to be progressive. 42 ANCIENT EGYPT The past was taken as a model, just as it is in China to-day. So what is here said of the arts is, speaking broadly, as true of them in the third millennium before Christ, or even earlier, as at any later period of Egyptian history. In the building art the ancient Egyptians, in some respects, have never been surpassed. The Memphian pyramids built by the earlier, and the Theban temples raised by the later Pharaohs have excited the as- tonishment and the admiration alike of all the successive gen- erations that have looked upon them. "Thebes," says Lenor- mant, " in spite of all the rav- ages of time and of the barba- rian still presents the grandest, the most prodigious assemblage of buildings ever erected by the hand of man." In the cutting and shaping of enormous blocks of the hardest stone, the Egyptians achieved results which modern stonecutters can scarcely equal. " It is doubtful," says Rawlinson, "whether the steam-sawing of the present day could be trusted to produce in ten years from the quarries of Aberdeen a single obelisk such as those which the Pharaohs set up by dozens." ^^ Fig. 27. — An Egyptian Obelisk Fig. 28. — Tubular Drill Hole 23 History of Ancient Egypt, vol. i, p. 498. The Egyp- tian stonecutters did much of their work with bronze tools, to which they were able by some process to give a very hard edge. In the very earliest times they had invented the tubular drill, which they set with hard cutting points. With this instrument they did work which engineers of to-day say could not be surpassed with the modem diamond drill. See Flinders Petrie, Ten Years' Digging in Egypt, pp. 26, 27. Plate IV. — The Great Hall ok Columns at Karnak (From a photograph) THE SCIENCES 43 Egyptian sculpture seems to have grown out of pictorial writ- ing. The figure or charac^ter, at first a mere outline drawing, was after a time cut into the rock surface, and next the rock was chiseled away so as to leave the figure in low relief. The Egyp- tians barely reached the point so early attained by the Greeks, who cut the figure clear around, %nd forced it to stand out boldly, away from all support. As we have seen (sec. 25), sculpture was at its best in the earliest period ; that it became so imitative, unpro- gressive, and rigid was due to the influence of religion. The artist, in the portrayal of the figures of the gods, was not allowed to change a single line of the sacred form. Wilkinson says that Menes would have recog- nized the statue of Osiris in the temples of the last of the Pharaohs. In many of the minor arts the Egyptians at- tained a surprisingly high degree of excellence. They were able in color- ing glass to secure tints as brilliant and beautiful as any which modern art has been able to produce. In gem cutting they showed wonderful skill. The sacred scarabseus (beetle) was reproduced with linings so delicate that it is almost certain that magnifying glasses were used in the work. 44. The Sciences: Astronomy, Geometry, and Medicine. — ^The cloudless and brilliant skies of Egypt invited the inhabitants of the Nile valley to the study of the heavenly bodies.^* And another circumstance closelv related to their very existence, the inundation of the Nile, following the changing cycles of the stars, could not but have incited them to the watching and predicting of astro- nomical movements. Their observations led them to discover the length, very nearly, of the sidereal year, which they made to consist of 365 days, every fourth year adding one day, making the number Scarab Amulet 24 Astrological speculations were mingled with all the more solid astronomical attainments of the Egyptians. 44 ANCIENT EGYPT for that year 366. This was the calendar that Juhus Csesar intro- duced into the Roman Empire, and which, slightly reformed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, has been the system employed by almost all the civilized world up to the present day (sec. 496). The Greeks accounted for the early rise of the science of geometry among the Egyptians by the necessity they were under of reestablishing each year the boundaries of their fields — the inundation obliterating old landmarks and divisions. The science thus forced upon their attention was cultivated with zeal and success. A single papyrus has been discovered that holds twelve geometrical theorems. The Egyptian physicians relied largely on magic, for every ail- ment was supposed to be caused by a demon that must be expelled by means of magical rites and incantations. But they also used drugs of various kinds ; the ciphers or characters employed by modern apothecaries to designate grains and drams are of Egyp- tian invention. 45. Egypt's Contribution to Civilization. — Egypt made valu- able gifts to civilization. From the Nile came the germs of much found in the later culture of the peoples of Western Asia, of the Greeks and Romans, and of the nations of modern Europe. " We are the heirs of the civilized past," says Sayce, " and a goodly portion of that civilized past was the creation of ancient P>gypt." And as we should naturally suppose, it was in the sphere of religion that Egypt's bequest to us was largest. Thus, for instance, the doctrine of immortality, which entered the Western world with Christianity, stands in close relation to the Egyptian doctrine of a future life. " In Egypt,," says Wiedemann, " the Osirian faith and dogma were the precursors of Christianity, the foundations upon which it was able to build ; and altogether apart from their intrinsic worth and far-reaching influence, it is this which consti- tutes their significance in the history of the world." ^^ Selections from the Sources. — Records of the Past (New Series, edited by Sayce), vol. iii, "The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep." Petrie's Egyptian Tales (Second Series), '■'■Anpie and Bata." "The description of Bata is one of 25 The Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of Imtnorlaltty, p. x. REFERENCES 45 the most beautiful character drawings of the past" (Petrie). Herodotus, ii. 1-14. The student should bear in mind that the parts of Herodotus' work devoted to the Orient have a very different historical value from that possessed by those portions of the history which deal primarily with Greek affairs. "The net result of Oriental research," says Professor Sayce, "in its bearing upon Herodotus is to show that the greater part of what he professes to tell us of the history of Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia is really a collection of 'marchen,' or popular stories, current among the Greek loungers and half-caste dragomen on the skirts of the Persian empire. . . . After all, ... it may be questioned whether they are not of higher value for the history of the human mind than the most accurate descriptions of kings and generals, of wars and treaties and revolutions." References (Modern). — Maspero, The Dazun of Civilization, chaps, i-vi ; The Struggle of the A'^ations, chaps, i-v ; and Manual of Egyptian ArchcEology. Petrie, Ten Year's' Digging in Egypt and A History of Egypt, vols. i-iv. Rav^^LINSON, History of Ancient Egypt, 2 vols., and Story of Ancient Egypt. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptia^ts and The Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. Wil- kinson, Manjiers and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians ; should be used with care — portions are antiquated. Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt. Budge, Egyptian Religioti, Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life, and The Mummy. Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt ajid Babylonia. Perrot and Chipiez, Histoty of Art in Ancient Egypt. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Book of the Dead. There is a translation by Budge and another by Davis. 2. Some results of recent excavations. See Petrie. 3. The ancient water system. 4. The nature of the government. 5. The myth of Osiris and the Osirian doctrine. 6. His- tory of the statuettes of servants placed in the tomb. See Maspero and Wiedemann. Fig. 30. — Phil^, "the Pearl of Egypt" -^->te4^; Fig. 31. — The Babil Mound at Babylon as it appeared in 1811 CHAPTER IV THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA AND THE OLD BABYLONIAN EMPIRE (From about 5000 to 11 00 B.C.) I. Political History 46. The Tigris and Euphrates Valley ; the Upper and the Lower Country. — We must now trace the iipspringing of civilization in Babylonia, "The Asian Egypt." As in the case of Egypt, so in that of the Tigris and Euphrates valley/ the physical features of the country exerted a great influ- ence upon the history of its ancient peoples. Differences in geological structure divide this region into an upper and a lower district ; and this twofold division in natural features is reflected, as we shall see, throughout its political history. The northern ])art of the valley, the portion that comprised ancient Assyria, consists of undulating plains, broken in places by mountain ridges. This region nourished a hardy and warlike race, and became the seat of a great military empire. 1 The ancient fireeksgave to the land embraced by the Tigris and the Euphrates the name of Mesopotamia, wliich means the " land between the rivers." 46 THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES VALLEY 47 The southern part of the valley, the part known as Babylonia, is, like the delta region of Egypt, an alluvial deposit. The making of new land by the rivers has gone on steadily during historic times. The ruins of one of the ancient seaports of the country (Eridu) lie over a hundred miles inland from the pres- ent head of the Persian Gulf. In ancient times the land was protected against the inundations of the rivers, and watered in seasons of drought, by a stupendous system of dikes and canals. ' ^ m^^ — i^ i\ Fig. 32. — Ancient Babylonian Canals which at the present day, in a ruined and sand-choked condition, cover like a network the face of the country. The productions of Babylonia are very like those of the Nile valley. The luxuriant growth of grain upon these alluvial flats excited the wonder of the Greek travelers who visited the East. Herodotus will not tell the whole truth for fear his veracity may be doubted. It is not strange that tradition should have located here Paradise, that primeval garden " out of the ground of which God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." This favored plain in a remote period of antiquity became the seat of an agricultural, industrial, and 48 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA commercial population among which the arts of civilized life found probably their very earliest development. 47. The Babylonians a Mixed People. — The original inhabi- tants of Babylonia are thought by the majority of Assyrian scholars to have belonged to a non-Semitic race, and are generally known as Sumerians, from Sumer, the name of one of the ancient divisions of the country. They seem to have migrated into the valley from Map of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley the mountain district on the northeast. These people are believed to have laid the basis of civilization in the Euphrates valley. At a very early time there seem to have come into the country from Arabia immigrants of Semitic race. These foreigners were nomadic in habits, and altogether much less cultured than the Sumerians. Gradually, however, they adopted the arts of the people among whom they had settled, retaining, however, their own language, which in the course of time superseded the speech of the original inhabitants. The union of the two races formed the Babylonians of history. 48. The Age of City-States (about 5000-2250 b.c.) ; Sargon I (about 3800 B.C.). — When the light of history first flills upon the MesoiDotamian lands, that is about 50Q0 b.c, it reveals the lower THE AGE OF CITY-STATES 49 river plain filled with city-states ^ like those which we find later in (ireece and in Italy. Each city had its patron god and was ruled by a king. From the old Babylonian libraries (sec. 54) patient scholars are gradually reading the wonderful story of these ancient cities, probably the oldest built ^ by man. The political side of their history may, for our present ])urpose, be sum- marized by saying that for a period of almost three millenniums — a period longer than that which has passed since Athens and Rome appeared in history — these records, as far as they have become known to us, are annals of wars waged . for supremacy by one city and its gods against other cities and their gods. Of all the kings whose names have already been recovered from the monuments we shall here speak only of Sargon I, a Semitic king of Agade, whose reign forms some such landmark in early Babylonian history as that of the great Charlemagne forms in what we may regard as the corresponding period in the history of Western Europe.^ An inscription recently deciphered makes this king to have reigned as early as 3800 B.C.* Sargon built up a, powerful state in Babylonia and extended his rule to the Mediterranean, thus bringing the civilization of the Euphrates into significant contact with that rising in the West. 2 Prominent among these early cities were Erldu, Ur, Larsam, Uruk, Shirpurla, Nippur, Sippar, and Agade. 3 " He may fairly be called the Charlemagne of Babylonian history." — Peters, Nippur, vol. ii, p. 251. * The fnscription from which the date is derived is upon a cylinder of the last Babylonian king, Nabonidus, who reigned 555-55S B.C. He says that in restoring a temple at Sippar he found a cylinder which had been deposited 3200 years before his day by Naram-Sin, the son of Sargon. Fig. 33. — Door Socket of Sargon I (From Records of the Past) 50 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA !J' Yet not as a warrior but as a patron of letters is Sargon destined to a sure place in history. He caused to be collected and edited the literature of the early period, and deposited the books in great libraries, which he established or enlarged, — the oldest and most valuable libraries of the ancient world. 49. The Rise of Babylon : Hammurabi founds the Old Babylonian Empire (about 2250 B.C.). — From the remotest times the city- states of Babylonia had for enemies the kings of Elam, a country bordering Babylonia on the east, and of which Susa was the capital. For cen- turies at a time the Elamite kings held the cities of the plain in a state of more or less complete vassal- age. Their dominion was finally broken by a king of Babylon, a city which had been gradually rising into prominence, and which was to give to the whole country the name by which it is best known — Babylonia. The name of this king was Hammurabi (about 2250 B.C.). He united under his rule all the cities of Babylonia, and became the true founder of what is known as the Old Babylonian Empire. Hammurabi has been called the Babylonian Moses, for the rea- son that he promulgated a code of laws which in some respects is remarkably like the Mosaic code of the Hebrews. Concerning this oldest system of laws in the world we shall say something a little farther on (sec. 61). 50. The Old Babylonian Empire eclipsed by the Rising Assyrian Empire. — For more than fifteen hundred years after Hammu- rabi, Babylon continued to be the political and commercial center of an empire of varying fortunes, of changing dynasties, and of shifting frontiers. This long history, still only very imper- fectly known to us, we pass without notice. Fig. 34. — Impression of a Seal of Sar- gon I. (Date about 3800 B.C.) " Must be ranked among the masterpieces of Oriental engraving" (Maspero) THE REMAINS OF THE BABYLONIAN CITIES 51 Meanwhile a Semitic power had been slowly developing in the North. This was the Assyrian Empire, the later heart and center of which was the great city of Nineveh. For a long time Assyria was practically a province of the lower kingdom ; but in 728 B.C. Babylonia was conquered by an Assyrian king (Tiglath- Pileser III), and from that time on to 625 B.C. the country was for the most part under Assyrian control. II. Arts and Generai, Culture 51. The Remains of the Babylonian Cities and Public Buildings. — The Babylonian plains are dotted with enormous mounds, generally inclosed by vast crumbled ramparts of earth. These " heaps " are the remains of the great walled cities, the palaces, temples, and shrines of the ancient Babylonians. The peculiar nature of these ruins arises from the character of the ancient Babylonian edifices and the kind of building material used in their construction. In the first place, in order to secure for their temples and palaces a firm foundation on the water-soaked land, as well as to lend to them a certain dignity or to render them more easily defended, the Babylonian kings raised their public buildings on enormous platforms of earth or adobe. These structures were often many acres in extent and were raised generally to a height of forty or more feet above the level of the plain. Upon these immense platforms were built the temples of the gods and the palaces of the king. The country affording neither timber nor stone, recourse was had to sun-dried bricks as the chief building material, burnt brick being used, in the main, only for the outer casing of the walls. The buildings were one-storied, with thick and heavy walls, and with roofs of huge cedar beams Often the lower portion of the walls of the chief courts and chambers were paneled with glazed bricks. In their decay these edifices have sunk down into great heaps of earth, which the storms of centuries have furrowed with deep ravines, giving many of them the appearance of natural 52 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA ruin-crowned hills, for which in truth some of the earlier visitors to Babylonia mistook them. 52. Excavations and Discoveries. — About the middle of the nineteenth century some mounds of the upper country, near and on the site of ancient Nineveh, were excavated, and the world was astonished to see rising as from the tomb the palaces of the Fig. 35. — Excavation showing Pavements in a Court of the Temple of Bel at Nippur. (After Hilprecht) The lower pavement, marked " i," was put down by Sargon I and Naram-Sin (about 3800 B.C.), and the upper one, marked " 5," by the Assyrian king Asshur-bani- pal (668-626 .f' B.C.). The pavements are thus separated by a period of over 3000 years. great Assyrian kings (sec. 69). This was the beginning of exca- vations and discoveries in the Mesopotamian lands which during the past half century have restored the history of long-forgotten empires, reconstructed the history of the Orient, and given us a new beginning for universal history. Some of the most important finds in Babylonia were made during the closing years of the nineteenth century by the French at Tello,^ 5 Or Telloh, the site of ancient Lagash. Here magnificent statues showing a remarkably high development of sculpture, ruins of large temples, and an extensive temple library particularly rich in Sumerian writings, were found. CUNEIFORM WRITING 53 <^ "^ — - and by the Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, on the site of the ancient Nippur. The excavation here of the ruins of the great temple of Bel ^ ^ brought to light memorials which prove that this city was one of the religious centers of the old Baby- lonian world for more than four thousand years, — a period more than twice as long as that during which Rome has been the reli- gious center of Catholic Christendom. One of the most valuable things unearthed at Nippur was the temple library. ■-■"-" But to appreciate the Fig. 36. — Arch discovered at Nip- import of this a word is ^"'^^ {Xher HUprecht) here necessary concerning "^^"^ ^^ ''"' °''^"^* '™" ''"'^' '^""^ the Babylonian system of writing and its decipherment. 53. Cuneiform Writing. — From the earliest period known to us, the Babylonians were in possession of a system of phonetic writing. To this system the term cufieiforfjz (from aineus, a Fig. 37. — Cuneiform Writing Translation : " Five thousand mighty cedars I spread for its roof" wedge) has been given on account of its wedge-shaped char- acters. The signs assumed this peculiar form from being impressed upon soft clay tablets with a triangular writing instru- ment (stylus). 54 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA This system of writing had been developed out of an earlier system of picture writing, as is plainly shown by a comparison of the earlier with the later forms of the characters (Fig. 38). The MEANING OUTLINE CHARACTER, B.C. 4500 ARCHAIC CUNEIFORM, B. C. 2500 ASSYRIAN, B. C. 700 UTE BABYLONIAN, B.C. 500 I. The sun r^ ^T ^ 2. God, heaven ^ ^ »h- y H-f— 3- Mountain ^< ^< V i< 4- Man xvnx I^ife^ ► »>» m- ^ 5- Ox =I> ^ ^i ^i 6. Fish ^ 4 fK W Fig. 38. — Table showing the DevelopmExXT uk the Cuneiform Writing. (After A"/n_if) Babylonians never developed the system beyond the syllabic stage (sec. 12). They employed a syllabary of between four and five hundred signs. ^ This mode of writing was in use among the peoples of Western Asia from about 5000 b.c. down to the first century preceding our era. For the first four thousand years and more of this period it was just such an important factor in the civilization of the Semitic world as the Phoenician alphabet (sec. 93) during the last three thousand years has been in the civilization of the Aryan world. It was the chief corner stone of Semitic culture. 54. Books and Libraries. — The writing material of the Baby- lonians was usually clay tablets, averaging perhaps six inches 8 The Persians at a much later time borrowed the system and developed it into a purely alphabetic one. Their alphabet consisted of thirty-six characters. THE CONTENTS OF THE LIBRARIES 55 in length, two in width, and one in thickness. Those holding records of special importance, after having been once written upon and baked, were covered with a thin coating of clay, and then the matter was written in duplicate and the tablets again baked. If the outer writing were defaced by accident or altered by design, the re- moval of the outer coating would at once show the true text. The tablets were carefully preserved in Fig. 39. — Contract great public libraries. There was one or Tablet more of these collections in each of the The outer case has been ..... f-i-.li • T^ 1 broken to show the inner chief Cities of Babylonia, hrech was espe- version cially renowned for its great library, and was known as " the City of Books." Often the temple of the chief deity was made the depositary of the collection of books. The temple library found at Nippur contained over 30,000 tablets. 55. The Decipherment of the Cuneiform Writing; the Contents of the Libraries. — Just as the key to the Egyptian writing was found by means of bilingual inscriptions, so was the key to the cuneiform script discovered by means of trilingual inscriptions^ among which was a very celebrated one cut by a Persian king on the so-called Behistun Rock (sec. 98). Credit for the de- cipherment of the difficult writing is divided among several scholars.'' The tablets have been found to cover the greatest variety of subjects. There are mythological tablets, which hold the stories of the Babylonians respecting their gods ; religious tablets, filled " Copies of trilingual inscriptions — written in Persian, Susian, and Babylonian — were brought from Persepolis to Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. The clew to the decipherment of the Persian text was found by Grotefend in 1802. He identified the names of Darius, Hystaspes, and Xerxes, the word for "king" and nine of the thirty-nine signs. In 1835 Rawlinson copied a longer inscription in these same languages made by Darius on the rock at Behistun. Independently he arrived at the same conclusions as Grotefend. The column of the Achsemenian inscriptions written in the language of Susiana was deciphered chiefly by Westergaard and Norris. It is the merit of Lowenstern to have taken the first successful steps to the decipherment of the Babylonian text in 1845 > t)"*^ °^^ knowledge of the character of script and language is chiefly due to Hincks. 56 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA with prayers and hymns ; legal tablets, containing laws, law cases, contracts, wills, loans, and various other matters of a com- mercial nature ; legendary and epic tablets ; and astronomical, geographical, historical, and mathematical tablets, — all revealing a very highly developed civilization. We will say just a word of what the tablets reveal respecting the religion and mythology of the Babylonians, and of the state of the sciences among them. 56. The Religion. — The tablets hold a large religious litera- ture, which forms one of the earliest and most instructive chapters in the religious history of the race. At the earliest period made known to us by the native records, we find the pantheon to em- brace many powerful local deities — the patron gods of the different cities — and nature gods ; but at no period do we find a Supreme God, such as had a place in the Egyptian religious system. Besides the great gods there was a vast multitude of lesser gods. The most prominent feature from first to last of the popular religion was the belief in spirits, particularly in wicked spirits, and the practice of magic rites and incantations to avert the malign influence of these demons. A second most important feature of the religion was what is known as astrology, or the foretelling of events by the aspects of the stars. This side of the religious system was most elaborately and ingeniously developed until the fame of the Chaldean astrol- ogers was spread throughout the ancient world. Alongside these low beliefs and superstitious practices there existed, however, higher and purer elements. This is best illus- trated by the so-called penitential psalms, dating, some of them, from the second millennium B.C., which breathe a spirit like that which pervades the penitential psalms of the Old Testament.^ S Here are a few lines of such a psalm: O my god who art angry with me, accept my prayer. May my sins be forgiven, my transgressions be wiped out. May the ban be loosened, the chain brolien, May the seven winds carry off my sighs. [May] flowing waters of the stream wash me clean. Let me be pure like the sheen of gold. Jastrow, T/ie Religion 0/ Babylonia and Assyria, p. 315. IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE 57 The most instructive fact for us to note respecting this old Babylonian religion is the influence which it had upon the culture of later ages. For the most part this influence was of a baneful character, for it was chiefly the lower elements of the system, magic, sorcery, and astrology, which were absorbed by the bor- rowing nations of the West. Thus astrology among the later Romans and the popular beliefs of the Middle Ages in regard to evil spirits, exorcisms, charms, witches, and the devil, were in large part an inheritance from old Babylonia. This wretched heri- tage was transmitted from the East to the Western world at the same time that Christianity came in from Judea. 57. Ideas of the Future Life. — The beliefs of the Babylonians respecting the other world were in strange contrast to those of the Egyptians. In truth they gave but little thought to the after life ; and it is no wonder that they did not like to keep the subject in mind, for they imagined the life after death to be most sad and doleful. The abode of the dead (Arallu), the "dark land," the "land of no return," was a dusky region beneath the earth. Bats flitted about in the dim light ; dust was upon the lintels of the barred doors ; the souls drowsed in their places ; their food was dust and mud. There was no judgment of the dead as among the Egyptians. There was no distinction, in the case of the great multitude,^ between the good and the bad ; the same lot awaited all who went down to death. What makes this Babylonian conception of the nether world of great historical interest and importance is that it was adopted by the ancient Hebrews and exercised a most potent influence upon their religious life and thought (sec. 88). 58. The Place of the Temple in the Life of the People. — Religion among the Babylonians, as among afl the peoples of antiquity, was largely an affair of the state. A chief care and duty of the king was the erection and repair of the temples and shrines of the gods.'" 9 There was a sort of Elysium, like that of the Greeks, for men of great deeds and great piety. 1" A peculiar architectural feature of the temple was an immense ziggurat or tower, which consisted of a number of stages or platforms raised one upon another in the form of a great step pyramid. 58 THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA The temples were much more than abodes of the gods and places of worship. A common adjunct of the sacred building was a library and school, which were in charge of the priests and scribes. The temples were also banks, and their courts places for the transaction of all manner of business. All kinds of con- tracts were drawn up by the temple scribes and copies of the same deposited for safe-keeping in the temple archives. An immense number of these contract tablets have been found, so that we now have probably a better knowledge of the commercial affairs of the old Babylonians than of any other people of antiquity. Many of the temples, like the churches and monasteries of mediaeval Europe, were richly en- dowed with lands and Indeed, the gods were the largest landowners in Fig. 40. — Writing Exercise Tablets of A Child (Found at Nippur; dii&x Hilprecht) other property. the state. The god Bel at Nippur seems to have owned a great part of the city and its lands. 59. The Epic of Creation or the Babylonian Genesis. — In what is called the Creation Ejjic, which has been recovered in a frag- mentary state from the cuneiform tablets, we have the Babylonian version of the creation of the heavens and the earth by the great god Marduk. This account of the creation has been an important factor in religious world history. In its earlier form it constituted a part of the inheritance from Babylonia of the ancestors of the Hebrews. In the hands of the Hebrew thinkers and teachers the tradition was remolded in such a way as to render it a means of moral and religious instruction, and thus was made the starting point of Hebrew religious literature, a literature which was destined to become an important part of the religious heritage of the younger Aryan nations of the West. LEGISLATION: THE CODE OF HAMMURABI 59 60. The Epic of Gilgamesh. — Besides their legends concern- ing the beginning of things, the Babylonians had a large number of so-called heroic and nature myths. The most noted of these form what is known as the Epic of Gilgamesh/^ the Babylonian Heracles. This is doubtless the oldest epic of the race. It held some such place in Babylonian literature and art as the cycle of myths and legends making up the epic of the Trojan \\'ar held in the literature and art of the Greeks. Echoes of it reached the ^^gean lands and helped to mold the Greek story of Her- acles (sec. 128). 61. Legislation: the Code of Hammurabi. — In 1901-2 the French excavators at Susa, in the ancient Elam, discovered a block of stone upon which was inscribed the code of laws set up by Hammurabi, king of Baby- lon, in the third millennium B.C. (sec. 49). The supreme inter- est which attaches to this code springs not alone from the Fig. 41. — Hammurabi receiving . .T. ^ -^ • ^1 11.. THE Code from the Sun God circumstance that it is the oldest (After //ar/>er) system of laws known to us, but from the further circumstance that without doubt it exercised a deep influence upon the later Hebrew code. The code casts a strong side light upon the Babylonian life of the period when it was compiled, and thus constitutes one of the most valuable monuments spared to us from the old Semitic world. It defines the rights and duties of husband and wife, master and slave, of merchants, gardeners, tenants, shepherds, — 11 The epic is made up of a great variety of material. Some of its incidents may very likely have been dim recollections of the heroic deeds of some great historical personage. One of the stories of greatest interest is that of the Deluge, from which the Bible story of the Flood was derived. 6o THE EARLY CITY-STATES OF BABYLONIA of all the classes which made up the population of the Baby- lonian Empire. As in the case of the later Hebrew code, the principle of retaliation determined the penalty for injury done another ; it was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a limb for a limb. The owner of a vicious ox which had pushed or gored a man was required to pay a heavy fine, provided he knew the disposition of the creature and had not blunted its horns (see Ex. xxi. 28-32). The law fixes prices and wages, the hire for boats and wagons and of oxen for threshing, the fee of the surgeon, the wages of the brickmaker, of the tailor, of the carpenter, and of other artisans. There are also provisions forbidding under severe penalties the harboring of runaway slaves, provisions which read strangely like our own fugitive slave laws of a half century ago. For more than two thousand years after its compilation this code of laws was in force in the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, and even after this lapse of time it was used as a text-book in the schools of the Mesopotamian lands. Probably no other code save the Mosaic or the Justinian (sec. 577) has exerted a greater in- fluence upon human society. " As the oldest body of laws in existence," says an eminent Assyrian scholar, " it marks a great epoch in the world's history, and must henceforth form the start- ing point for the systematic study of historic jurisprudence." 62 . Sciences : Astronomy, the Calendar, and Mathematics. — In astronomy the Babylonians made substantial progress. Their knowledge of the heavens came about both from their interest as astrologers in the stars, and from their needs as navigators of the Persian Gulf. They early divided the zodiac into twelve signs and named the zodiacal constellations, a memorial of their astro- nomical attainments which will remain forever inscribed upon the great circle of the heavens ; they foretold eclipses of the sun and moon ; they invented the sundial to tell off the hours of sun- light and the water clock to measure the hours of darkness ; they divided the year into twelve months, the day and night into hours, and the hours into minutes, and devised the week of seven days, ending with a day of rest called Sabattu. Through Israel REFERENCES 6l this institution of the week with its sacred rest day became the heritage of the later world of culture. -^^ In the mathematical sciences, also, the Babylonians made con- siderable advance. A tablet has been found which contains the squares and cubes of the numbers from one to sixty. The duo- decimal system in numbers was the invention of the Babylonians, and it is from them that the system has come to us. The Babylonians invented measures of length, weight, and capacity. It was from them that all the peoples of antiquity derived their systems of weight and measure. Aside from letters, these are perhaps the most indispensable agents in the life of a people after they have risen above the lowest levels of barbarism. Selections from the Sources. — Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Lit- erature (selected translations), pp. 408-413, " Ishtar's Descent to Hades." This is one of the choicest pieces of Babylonian literature. Sayce's Early Israel and the Surrounditig Nations, pp. 313-319, " The Babylonian Account of the Deluge." This can be found also in Smith's The Chaldeatt Account of Genesis, chap. xvi. The Code of Hammurabi, in either the Johns or the Haiper translation. "The Code of Hammurabi is one of the most impor- tant monuments of the human race" (Johns). References (Modern). — Maspero, The Dawn of Civilization, chaps, vii-ix, and The Struggle of the Nations, chap. i. Rawlixson, Five Great ATonarchies, vol. i (first part). Rogers, History of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. i. Ragozin, The Story of Chaldea. HoMMEL, The Civilizatioft of the East. GooDSPEED, A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians (to pt. iii). HiLPRECHT, Explorations in Bible Lands during the Nineteenth Century. Peters, Nippur, 2 vols. Jastrow, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria. King, Babylo7iian Religion and Mythology. Delitzsch, Babel and Bible. Sayce, Social Life among the Assyrians and Babylonians. Perrot and Chipiez, a History of Art in Chaldcea and Assyria, 2 vols. ScHMIDT, Out- lines of a History of Babylonia and Assyria, with its carefully selected lists of authoritative works, will be of special service to the advanced student. Topics for Special Study. — i. Excavations and discoveries in Baby- lonia. 2. The cuneiform writing and its decipherment. 3. The Babylo- nian libraries. 4. Babylonian magic. 5. The penitential psalms. 6. The ancient canal system. 7. Trade and commerce. 12 The borrowing by the early Christian Church of the pagan festival celebrating the return of the sun from the winter solstice and the transforming of it into a festival (Christmas) commemorating the birth of Christ, furnishes an exact parallel to the borrowing and spiritualizing of the Babylonian Sabbath by the ancient Hebrews. " Israel," in the words of Cornill, " resembles in spiritual things the fabulous King Midas who turned everything he touched into gold." Fig. 42. — An Assyrian Winged Bull CHAPTER V THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE (From an unknown date to 606 B.C.) I. Political History 63. Introduction. — In the preceding chapter we traced the beginnings of civilization among the early settlers of the low- lands of the Euphrates. Meanwhile, as has already been noticed, farther to the north, upon the banks of the Tigris, were grow- ing into strength and prominence a rival Semitic people, — the Assyrians. Of the place in world history of the empire repre- sented by this people we must now try to form some sort of idea. The story of Assyria is in the main a story of the Assyrian kings. To relate this story in detail would involve endless repe- tition of the royal records of military raids and campaigns in all the countries of Western Asia. We shall therefore speak of only two or three of those kings whose ability as conquerors or as organizers, or whose munificence as builders and patrons of arts and letters has caused their names to live among the renowned personages of the ancient world. 62 TIGLATH-PILESER III — SARGON II 63 64. Tiglath-Pileser III ^ (745-727 B.C.). — One of the greatest of the later kings was Tiglath-Pileser III. He was a man of great energy and of undoubted military talent. The empire which had been built up by earlier kings having fallen into disorder, he restored the Assyrian power and extended the limits of the empire even beyond its former boundaries. But what renders the reign of this king a landmark not only in Assyrian, but, we may almost say, in universal history, is the fact that he was not a mere conqueror like his predecessors, but a political organizer of great capacity. Hitherto the empires that had arisen in Western Asia consisted simply of tributary or vassal cities and states, each of which, having its own king, was ready at the first favorable moment to revolt against its suzerain, who, like a mediaeval feudal king, was simply a great overlord, "a. king of kings." Now Tiglath-Pileser, though not the first to introduce, was the first to put into practice in a large way, the plan of reducing con- quered states to provinces, — that is, instead of allowing the ptinces that he conquered to rule as his vassals, he put in their places Assyrian magistrates, or viceroys, upon whose loyalty he could depend. This system gave a more compact and permanent character to his conquests. It is true he was not able to carry out his system perfectly ; but in realizing the plan to the extent that he did, he laid the basis of the power and glory of the great kings who followed him upon the Assyrian throne, and made the later Assyrian Empire, to a certain degree, the prototype of the suc- ceeding world empires of Darius, Alexander, and Caesar. 65. Sargon II (722-705 B.C.). — Sargon II was a great con- queror and builder. In 722 B.C. he captured Samaria, the siege of which had been commenced by his predecessor, and carried away the most influential classes of the "Ten Tribes" of Israel into captivity (sec. 84). The greater portion of the captives were scattered among the towns of Media, and probably became, for the most part, merged with the population of that region. 1 Formerly Tiglath-Pileser II. 64 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE This transplanting of a conquered people was a regular govern- mental device of the Assyrian kings. It was done not only in order that conspiracy and revolt should be rendered practically impossible, but also in order that, with the old ties of country and home thus severed, the rising generation might the more easily forget past wrongs and old traditions and customs, and become blended with the peoples about them. Sargon was a famous builder. Near the foot of the Persian hills he founded a large city, which he named for himself ; and there he erected a royal residence, described in the inscriptions as "a palace of incom- parable magnifi- cence," the site of which is now pre- served by the vast mounds of Khorsa- bad (sec. 69). 66. Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.). -V-,^""- - ._-- _. To Sennacherib, Fig. 43. — Restoration of Sargon's Palace at the son of Sargon, Khorsabad. (From Place, Ninive ct PAssyric) we must accord the first place of re- nown among all the great names of the Assyrian Empire. His name, connected as it is with the history of Jerusalem and with many of the most wonderful discoveries among the ruined palaces of Nineveh, has become as familiar as that of Nebuchadnezzar in the story of Babylon. The fullness of the royal inscriptions of this reign enables us to permit Sennacherib to tell us in his own words of his great works and military expeditions. Respecting the decoration of Nineveh, he writes : " I raised again all the edifices of Nineveh, my royal city ; I reconstructed all its old streets, and widened those that were too narrow. I made the whole town a city shining like the sun." Concerning an expedition against Hezekiah, king of Judah, he says: "I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities; and of the ASSHUR-BANI-PAL 65 smaller towns which were scattered about I took and plundered a countless number. And from these places I captured and carried off as spoil 200,150 people, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mares, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless multitude. And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jeru- salem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape." While Sennacherib was besieging Jerusalem, the king of Egypt appeared in the field in the south with aid for Hezekiah. This caused Sennacherib to draw off his forces from the siege to meet the new enemy ; but near the frontiers of Egypt the Assyrian host, according to the Hebrew account, was smitten by " the angel of the Lord," ^ and the king returned with a shattered army and without glory to his capital Nineveh. Sennacherib laid a heavy hand upon Babylon, which at this time was the lead- ing city of the lower country. That city having revolted, Sennacherib captured the place, and, as his inscription declares, destroyed it " root and branch," casting the rubbish into the " River of Babylon." ^ The closing years of his reign Sennacherib employed in the dig- ging of canals and in the erection of a splendid palace at Nineveh. 67. Asshur-bani-pal (668-626? b.c). — This king, the Sarda- napalus of the Greeks, is distinguished for his magnificent patron- age of art and literature. During his reign Assyria enjoyed her Golden Age. He caused a great library to be collected at Nine- veh, in which was gathered whatever was of greatest value in the literature of the southern land. 2 This expression is a Hebraism, meaning often any physical cause of destruction, as a plague or storm. In the present case the destroying agency was probably a pestilence. 3 The city was rebuilt by Sennacherib's son and successor Esarhaddon I (6S0-668 B.C.). This king enlarged the empire by the conquest of Northern Arabia and of Egypt. Fig. 44. — An Assyrian King {? Sennacherib) 66 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE But Asshur-bani-pal was also possessed of a warlike spirit. He broke to pieces, with terrible energy, in swift campaigns, the enemies of his empire. Elam especially was made an awful example of his vengeance ; its cities were leveled, and the whole country was laid waste. All the scenes of his sieges and battles he caused to be sculptured on the walls of his palace at Nineveh. These pictured panels are now in the British Museum. They are a perfect Iliad in stone. 68. The Fall of Nineveh (606 b.c). — Saracus, who came to the throne towards the end of the seventh century B.C., was the last of the long line of Assyrian kings. For nearly or quite six centuries the Ninevite kings had now lorded it over the East. There was scarcely a state in all Western Asia that during this time had not, in the language of the royal inscriptions, " borne the heavy yoke of their lordship" ; scarcely a people that had not suffered their cruel punishments, or tasted the bitterness of enforced exile. But now swift misfortunes were bearing down upon the oppressor from every quarter. Egypt revolted and tore Syria away from the empire ; from the mountain defiles on the east issued the armies of the recent-grown empire of the Aryan Medes, led by the renowned Cyaxares ; from the southern lowlands, anxious to aid in the over- throw of the hated oppressor, the Babylonians joined the Medes as allies, and together they laid close siege to Nineveh. The city was finally taken and sacked, and dominion passed away forever from the proud capital (606 B.C.). Two hundred years later, when Xenophon with his Ten Thousand Greeks, in his memorable retreat (sec. 259), passed the spot, the once great city was a crumbling mass of ruins, of which he could not even learn the name. II. The Civilization 69. Assyrian Excavations and Discoveries. — In Assyria there are many mounds like those in Babylonia. These mark the sites of the old Assyrian cities ; for though stone in this upper country is abundant, the Assyrians, being colonists from the lower country, ASSYRIAN PALACES AND TEMPLES 67 continued to use in the main sun-dried bricks in the construction of their buildings.* Hence in their decay the Assyrian edifices have left just such earth-mounds as those which form the tombs of the old Babylonian cities and temples. In 1 843-1 844 M. Botta, the French consul at Mosul on the Tigris, excavated the mound 'at Khorsabad, and astonished the world with most .wonderful specimens of Assyrian art from the palace of Sargon II. The sculptured and lettered slabs were Fig. 45. — Restoration of a Court in Sargon's Palace at Khorsabad. (After Fergusson) removed to the Museum of the Louvre, in Paris. In 1845-185 1 Layard disentombed the palace of Sennacherib and those of other kings at Nineveh and Calah, and enriched the British Museum with the treasures of his search. 70. Assyrian Palaces and Temples. — The Assyrian kings paid more attention to the royal residence than to the temples of the gods, though they were by no means neglectful of the latter. In imitation of the Babylonian sovereigns they built their palaces ^ Stone when employed was used mainly for decorative purposes and for the foundation of walls. 68 THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE and temples upon artificial terraces or platforms. The great palace mound at Nineveh covers an area of about one hundred acres, and is sixty or seventy feet in height. Upon this mound stood ^^,;;^ several of the most splendid palaces ^M of the Nmevite kings. ^ The* group of buildings constitut- ing the royal residence was often of enormous extent ; the various courts, halls, and chambers of the palace of Sennacherib, which surmounted the great platform at Nineveh, covered an area of twenty acres, while that of Sargon at Khorsabad was spread over about twenty-five acres. The palaces were one-storied. The rooms and galleries were plastered with stucco, paneled with precious woods, or lined with enameled bricks. The main halls, however, and the great open courts were faced with slabs of alabaster, covered with sculptures Fig. 46. — Emblem of Assyrian Deity mr •' "r , it,'' "■ ZJ^fM I'KijL I , f Fig. 47. — Transport of a Winged Bull. (From Layard's A/o tiumen/s of A^ in eve h") and inscriptions, the illustrated narrative of the wars and the labors of the monarch. There were two miles of such sculptured paneling at Kouyunjik. At the portals, to guard the approach, were stationed the colossal human-headed bulls. 71. The Royal Library at Nineveh. — Within the palace of Asshur-bani-pal at Nineveh was discovered what is known as the Royal Library, from which over twenty thousand tablets were CRUELTY OF THE ASSYRIANS 69 taken. We learn from the inscriptions that a hbrarian had charge of the collection. Catalogues of the books have been found, made out on clay tablets. The library was open to the public, for an inscription says, " I [Asshur-bani-pal] wrote upon the tab- lets ; I placed them in my palace for the instruction of my people." The greater part of the tablets were copies of older Babylonian works ; for the literature of the Assyrians, as well as their arts and sciences, was borrowed almost in a body from the Babylo- nians.^ All the old libraries of the lower country were ransacked by the agents of Asshur-bani-pal, and copies of " the old masters " made for the new collection at Nineveh. In this way was pre- served in duplicate a considerable portion of the early Babylonian literature. The literary treasures secured from the Ninevite library are of greater interest and value to us than those yielded by any other Assyrian-Babylonian collection thus far unearthed. 72. Cruelty of the Assyrians. — The Assyrians have been called the " Romans of Asia." They were a proud, warlike, and Fig. 48. — Assyrians flaying Prisoners Alive. (F>om a bas-relief) cruel race. Although possessing genuine religious feeling, still the Assyrian monarchs often displayed in their treatment of prisoners the disposition of savages. The sculptured marbles taken from the palaces exhibit the cruel tortures inflicted upon prisoners ; kings are being led before their conqueror with hooks thrust through their lips ; other prisoners are being flayed alive ; the eyes of 5 The relations of Assyria to Babylonian civilization may be illustrated by the relations of Rome (also a military empire} to Greek culture. ^o THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE some are being bored out with the point of a spear ; and still others are having their tongues torn out. One royal inscription, which is a fair specimen of many others, runs as follows : " Their men, young and old, I took prisoners. Of some I cut off the feet and hands ; of others I cut off the noses, ears, and lips ; of the young men's ears I made a heap ; of the old men's heads I built a tower. I exposed their heads as a trophy in front of their city. The male children and the female children I burned in the flames." 73. Royal Sports. — The Assyrian king gloried in being, like the great Nimrod, " a mighty hunter before the Lord." In his inscrip- tions the wild beasts he has slain are as carefully enumerated as ;/:^>, #/ "V /" T Fig. 49. — Lion Hunt. (From Nineveh) the cities he has captured. The monuments are covered with sculptures that represent the king engaged in the favorite royal sport. We see him slaying lions, bulls, and boars, as well as less dangerous animals of the chase, with which the uncultivated tracts of the country appear to have abounded. 74. Services rendered Civilization by Assyria. — Assyria did a work like that done by Rome at a later time. Just as Rome welded all the peoples of the Mediterranean world into a great empire, and then throughout her vast domains scattered the seeds of the civilization which she had borrowed from vanquished Greece, so did Assyria weld into a great empire the innumerable petty warring states and tribes of Western Asia, and then throughout her extended dominions spread the civilization which she had borrowed in a body from the conquered Babylonians. REFERENCES 71 In thus spreading abroad the best civilization of the Semitic world, Assyria caused it to come into contact with the as yet undeveloped culture of the Aryan-Greek world of the West. " It was from the East," declares Rawlinson, " that Greece derived her architecture, her sculpture, her science, her philosophy, her mathematical knowledge, — in a word, her intellectual life." There is doubtless exaggeration in this statement, yet it is cer- tainly true that the civilization of Greece and through her the civilization of all the Western world were greatly enriched by gifts, received through the agency of Assyria, from the early culture of the Mesopotamian lands. Selections from the Sources. —Records of the Past (New Series), vol. v, pp. 120-128, "The Nimrud Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III," on military and building operations ; and vol. iv, pp. 38-52, " Inscription on the Obe- lisk of Shalmaneser II," shows the harshness and cruelty of Assyrian war- fare. This inscription, along with many other selected translations, can also be found in Harper's Assyrian and Babylotiian Literature . References (Modern). — Maspero, The Struggle 0/ the Nations, chap, vi, and The Passing of the Empires, chaps, i-v. Rawlinson, Five Great Mon- archies, vol. i (last part). Goodspeed, A History of the Babylonians and Assyria7is, pt. iii. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains. Perrot and Chip- lEZ, A History of Art in Chaldaa and Assyria, 2 vols. Rogers, A History of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. ii, pp. 1-295. Ragozin, The Story of Assyria. Topics for Special Study. — i. Layard's excavations and discoveries. 2. Sargon's palace at Khorsabad. 3. The relation of Assyrian civiliza- tion to the Babylonian. 4. Assyrian animal sculpture. 5. The Assyrian government. Fig. 50. — A Wounded Lioness (From an Assyrian sculpture) CHAPTER VI THE CHALDEAN EMPIRE {625-538 B.C.) 75. Babylon becomes again a "World Power. — Nabopolassar (625-605 B.C.) was the founder of what is known as the Chaldean Empire.-^ At first a vassal king, when troubles and misfortunes began to thicken about the Assyrian court, he revolted and became independent. Later he entered into an alliance with the Median king against his former suzerain (sec. 68). Through the overthrow of Nineveh and the break-up of the Assyrian Empire, the Baby- lonian kingdom received large accessions of territory. For a short time thereafter Babylon filled a great place in history. 76. Nebuchadnezzar II (605-561 b.c). — Nabopolassar was fol- lowed by his renowned son Nebuchadnezzar, whose gigantic archi- tectural works rendered Babylon the wonder of the ancient world. Jerusalem, having repeatedly revolted, was finally taken and sacked (sec. 85). The temple was stripped of its sacred vessels of sih'er and gold, which w-ere carried away to Babylon, and the temple itself was given to the flames ; a part of the people were also carried away into the "Great Captivity" (586 B.C.). With Jerusalem subdued, Nebuchadnezzar pushed with all his forces the siege of the Phoenician city of Tyre, whose investment had been commenced several years before. In striking language the prophet Ezekiel (xxix. 18) describes the length and hard- ness of the siege : " Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled." After thirteen years Nebuchadnezzar was appar- ently forced to raise the siege. 1 Called also the New Babylonian Empire. Nabopolassar represented the Chal- deans (Kaldu), a people whose home was on the Persian Gulf, and who had carried on a long intermittent struggle with the rulers of Babylon for the possession of Babylonia. THE FALL OF BABYLON 73 Nebuchadnezzar sought to rival even the Pharaohs in the exe- cution of immense works requiring a vast expenditure of human labor. Among his works were the Great Palace in the royal quarter of the city, the celebrated Hanging Gardens,^ the quays along the Euphrates, and the walls of the city. The gardens and the walls were reckoned by the ancients among the wonders of the world. Especially zealous was Nebuchadnezzar in the erection and restoration of the shrines of the gods. " Like dear life," runs one of his inscriptions, " love I the building of their lodging- places." He dwells with fondness on all the details of the work, and tells how — beginning each day his labors with prayer — he ornamented the panelings of the shrines with precious stones, roofed them with huge beams of cedar overlaid with gold and silver, and decorated the gates with plates of bronze, making the sacred abodes as " bright as the stars of heaven." ^ 77. The Fall of Babylon (538 B.C.). — The glory of the New Babylonian Empire passed away with Nebuchadnezzar. To the east of the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates there had been growing up an Aryan kingdom, the Medo-Persian, which at the time now reached by us had become a great imperial power. At the head of this new empire was Cyrus, a strong, ener- getic, and ambitious sovereign (sec. 96). Coming into collision with the Babylonian king Nabonidus he defeated his army in the open field, and the gates of the strongly fortified capital 2 The Hanging Gardens were constructed by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife Amytis, who, tired of the monotony of the Babylonian plain=;, longed for the moun- tain scenery of her native Media. The gardens were probably built somewhat in the form of the tower temples, the successive stages being covered with earth and beau- tified with rare plants and trees, so as to simulate the appearance of a mountain rising in cultivated terraces towards the sky. 3 See the Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, Records of the Past (New Series), vol. iii. The spirit of the builder is revealed in the following lines: "To the rebuilding of Esagila my heart incited me ; I held it constantly in mind. I selected the best of my cedar trees, which I had brought from Mount Lebanon, the snow-capped forests, for the roofing of E-kua, the shrine of his lordship, and I decorated with brilliant gold the inner sides of the mighty cedar trunks, used in the roofing of E-kua. I adorned the under side of the roof of cedar with gold and precious stones. Concerning the rebuild- ing of Esagila, I prayed every morning to the king of the gods, the lord of lords." 74 THE CHALDEAN EMPIRE Babylon were without further resistance thrown open to the Persians'* (538 B.C.). With the fall of Babylon the scepter of dominion, borne for so many millenniums by Semitic princes, was given into the hands of the Aryan peoples, who were destined from this time forward to shape the main course of events ^ and control the affairs of civilization. Selections from the Sources. — Harper's Assyrian and Babyloniati Literature, pp. 134-143, "The East India House Inscription of Nebu- chadnezzar II," a record of the king's great building operations ; and pp. 1 71-174, " The Cylinder of Cyrus," an account of the taking of Babylon. References (Modern). — Maspero, The Fasshig of the Empires, chap, v, and Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria, chaps, xi-xx. Rogers, A His- tory of Babylonia and Assyria, vol. ii, pp. 297-381. Goodspeed, A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, pt. iv. Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, pt. ii. Topic for Special Study. — i. Nebuchadnezzar as a builder. 2. The walls of Babylon. 3. Cylinder seals. * The device of turning the Euphrates, which Herodotus makes an incident of the siege, was not resorted to by C)'rus; but it seems that a little later (in 521-519 B.C.), the city, having revolted, was actually taken in this way by the Persian king Darius. Herodotus confused the two events. 5 For the temporary revival of Semitic power throughout the Orient by the Arabs, see Chapter LV. A Cylinder Seal*"' " Every man carries a seal" (Herodotus) 6 For the impression of this seal, see p. 50. CHAPTER VII THE HEBREWS 78. The Patriarchal Age. — The history of the Hebrews, as narrated in their sacred books, begins with the departure of the patriarch Abraham out of " Ur of the Chaldees." ^ The stories of Abraham and his nephew Lot, of Isaac and his sons Jacob and Esau, of the sojourn and the oppression of the descendants of Jacob in Egypt, of the Exodus under the leadership of the great legislator Moses, of the conquest of Canaan by his successor Joshua, and the apportionment of the land among the twelve tribes of Israel, — all these wonderful stories are told in the Old Hebrew Scriptures with a charm and simplicity that have made them the familiar possession of childhood. 79. The Age of the Judges (ending about 1050 B.C.). — A long period of anarchy and dissension followed the conquest and settlement of Canaan by the Hebrews. " There was no king in Israel : every man did that which was right in his own eyes." During this time there arose a line of national heroes', such as Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, whose deeds of valor and daring, and the timely deliverance they wrought for the tribes of Israel from their foes, caused their names to be handed down with grateful remembrance to following ages. These popular leaders were called Judges because they usually exercised judicial functions, acting as arbiters between the differ- ent tribes, as well as between man and man. The last of the Judges was Samuel. 80. Founding of the Hebrew Monarchy (about 1050 B.C.). — During the period of the Judges the tribes of Israel were united by no central government. But the common dangers to which 1 Ur was near Nippur. 75 y^ THE HEBREWS they were exposed from the attacks of the half-subdued Canaan- itish tribes, and the example of the nations about them, led the people finally to begin to think of the advantages of union and of kingly rule. The situation of things throughout the world at just this time favored the rise of a Hebrew kingdom. All the great states of the Orient, — Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, and the Hittite Empire, — exhausted by their struggles with one another for supremacy or undermined by other causes, were suffering a temporary decline, and the way was clear for the advance into the arena of world politics of another competitor for imperial dominion. The hitherto loose confederation was clianged into a kingdom, and Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was made king of the new monarchy (about 1050 B.C.). 81. The Reign of David (about 1025-993 B.C.). — Upon the death of Saul, David, son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, assumed the scepter. After reducing to obedience all the tribes, David set about enlarging his dominions. He built up a real empire and waged wars of extermination against the troublesome tribes of Moab, Ammon, and Edom. David was a poet as well as a warrior. His lament over Saul and Jonathan^ is regarded as one of the noblest specimens of ele- giac poetry that has come down from Hebrew antiquity. Such was his fame that the authorship of a large number of hymns written in a later age was ascribed to him. 82. The Reign of Solomon (about 993-953 B.C.). David was followed by his son Solomon. The son did not possess the father's talent for military affairs, but was a liberal patron of art, commerce, and learning. He erected with the utmost magnifi- cence of adornment the temple at Jerusalem, planned by his father David. King Hiram of Tyre, who was a close friend of the Hebrew monarch, aided him in this undertaking by supply- ing him with the celebrated cedar of Lebanon, and with Tyrian architects, the most skilled workmen at that time in the world. The dedication ceremonies upon the completion of the building 2 2 Sam. i. 17-27. THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM 77 were most impressive. Thenceforth this temple was the center of the Jewish worship and of the national life. For the purpose of extending his commerce Solomon built fleets upon the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The most remote regions of Asia and Africa were visited by his ships, and their rich and wonderful products made to contribute to the wealth and glory of his kingdom. He maintained a magnificent court, and has lived in tradition as the wisest king of the East. Fig. 51. — The Place of Wailing Showing some of the foundation stones of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem 83. The Division of the Kingdom (about 953 b.c). — The reign of Solomon was brilliant, yet disastrous in the end to the Hebrew monarchy. In order to carry on his vast undertakings he had laid oppressive taxes upon his people. When Rehoboam, his son, succeeded to his father's place, the people entreated him to lighten the taxes that were making their very lives a burden. He replied to the petition with haste and insolence : " My father," said he, " chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." Immediately all the tribes, save Judah and Benjamin, rose in revolt, and succeeded in setting up to the north of Jerusalem a rival kingdom, with Jeroboam as its first king. This northern 78 THE HEBREWS state, of which Samaria afterwards became the capital, was known as the Kingdom of Israel ; the southern, of which Jerusalem remained the capital, was called the Kingdom of Judah. Thus was torn in twain the empire of David and Solomon. United, the tribes might have maintained an empire capable of offering successful resistance to the encroachments of the power- ful and ambitious monarchs about them. But now the land became an easy prey to the spoiler. It was henceforth the path- way of the conquering armies of the Nile and the Euphrates. Between the powerful monarchies of these regions, as between an upper and nether millstone, the little kingdoms were destined, one after the other, to be ground to pieces. 84. The Kingdom of Israel (953?-722 B.C.). — The kingdom of the Ten Tribes maintained its existence for about two hundred years. Many passages of its history are recitals of the strug- gles between the worship of the national god Yahweh (Jehovah) and the idolatrous service of the gods of the surrounding nations. .The cause of Yahweh was boldly espoused by a line of remarkable prophets, among whom Elijah and Elisha in the ninth century, and Amos and Hosea in the eighth, stand preeminent. The little kingdom was at last overwhelmed by the Assyrian power. This happened 722 B.C., when Samaria, as we have already narrated in the history of Assyria (sec. 65), was captured by Sargon, king of Nineveh, and the flower of the people were carried away into captivity beyond the Mesopotamian rivers. The gaps made in the population of Samaria by this deporta- tion of its best inhabitants were filled with other subjects or captives of the Assyrian king. The descendants of these, mingled with the Israelites that were still left in the country, formed the Samaritans of the time of Christ. 85. The Kingdom of Judah (953?-586 b.c). — This Httle kingdom, torn by internal religious dissensions, and often on the very verge of ruin from Egyptian or Assyrian armies, maintained an independent existence for over three centuries. But upon the extension of the power of Babylon to the west, Jerusalem was forced to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Babylonian kings. HEBREW LITERATURE 79 The kingdom at last shared the fate of its northern rival. Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful king of Babylon, in revenge for an uprising of the Jews, besieged and captured Jerusalem and carried away a large part of the people into captivity at Babylon (sec. 76). This event virtually ended the separate political life of the Hebrew race (586 B.C.). Henceforth Judea constituted simply a province of the empires — Babylonian, Persian, Mace- donian, and Roman — which successively held sway over the regions of Western Asia, with, however, just one flicker of national life under the Maccabees, during a part of the two centuries just preceding the birth of Christ. It only remains to mention those succeeding events which belong rather to the story of the Jews as a people than as a nation. Upon the capture of Babylon by the Persian king Cyrus (sec. 77), that monarch permitted the exiles to return to Jeru- salem and restore their temple. Jerusalem thus became again the center of the old Hebrew worship, and, although shorn of national glory, continued to be the sacred center of the ancient faith till the second generation after Christ. Then, in chastise- ment for repeated revolts, the city was laid in ruins by the Romans ; while vast numbers of the inhabitants were slain, or perished by famine, and the remnant were driven into exile to different lands (sec. 515). Thus by a series of unparalleled calamities were the descendants of Abraham " sifted among all nations "; but to this day they chng with a marked devotion and loyalty to the faith of their fathers. 86. Hebrew Literature. — The literature of the Hebrews is a reli- gious one ; for literature with them was in the main merely a means of inculcating religious truth or awakening devotional feeling. .This unique literature is contained in sacred books known as the Old or Heb^rtv Testament. In these ancient writings, patri- archal traditions, histories, dramas, poems, prophecies, and per- sonal narratives blend in a wonderful mosaic, which pictures with vivid and grand effect the migrations, the deliverances, the calami- ties, — all the events and religious experiences making up the checkered life of the people of Israel. 8o THE HEBREWS Out of the Old arose the Nc7o Testament, which we should think of as a part of Hebrew hterature ; for although written in the Greek language and long after the close of the political life of the Jewish nation, still it is essentially Hebrew in thought and doctrine, and the supplement and crown of the Hebrew Scriptures, Besides the Sacred Scriptures, called collectively, byway of pre- eminence, the Bible (the Book), it remains to mention especially the Apocrypha, embracing a number of books that were composed after the decline of the prophetic spirit, and which show traces, as indeed do several of the later books of the Bible, of the influence of Persian and of Greek thought. These books are generally regarded by the Jews and Protestants as uncanonical, but in the main are considered by the Catholics as possessing equal authority with the other books of the Bible. Neither must we fail to mention the Ta/mi/d, a collection of Hebrew customs and traditions, with the comments thereupon of the rabbis, a work held by most Jews next in sacredness to the Holy Book; the writings of Philo, an illustrious Alexandrian philosopher (born about 25 B.C.); and the Antiquities of the Jetvs and the Jewish War by the historian Josej^hus, who lived and wrote at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, that is, during the latter part of the first century after Christ. 87. Hebrew Religion and Morality. — The ancient Hebrews made little or no contribution to science. They produced no new order of architecture ; the temple at Jerusalem was " little more than a rei)roduction of a Babylonian sanctuary." In sculpture they did nothing; their religion forbade their making "graven images." Their mission was to work out the idea of one sole and just God, and to teach men that what God recjuires of them is that they shall do justice and practice righteousness. It was only gradually that the idea of the unity of God dawned upon the teachers of Israel. In the beginning the Hebrew Yahweh was a tribal god, and in all essential respects like the gods of the other nations. But in one thing the Hebrews from their first appearance in history differed from their neighbors. They were monolatrists, IDEAS OF THE FUTURE LIFE 8l that is, worshipers of one god although behevers in many gods. They regarded the gods of the other nations as real gods, but Yahweh was a jealous god and his people must not pay homage or offer sacrifice to any other. In holding this belief the Hebrews were from the first a peculiar people. The idea was the germ of a vast religious development. Gradually this early form of the Hebrew religion verged towards monotheism, that is, the doctrine that there is one sole God beside whom there is no other. At the same time there came into the loftier souls of the nation the true and worthier conception of God as holy and just and compassionate and loving, — as the Universal Father whose care is over not one people alone but over all peoples and all races. This history-making idea of God and his character, the most important of all the products of the life and thought of antiquity, was the most fruitful element in the bequest which the ancient Hebrews made to the younger Aryan world of Europe, and is largely what entitles them to the preeminent place they hold in the history of humanity. 88. Ideas of the Future Life. — Speaking of the Hebrew con- ception of the after life. Sir George Rawlinson says : " How it happened that in Egyptian thought the future life occupied so large a space, and was felt to be so real and so substantial, while among the Hebrews and the other Semites it remained, even afte;: contact with Egypt, so vague and shadowy, is a mystery which it is impossible to penetrate." The Hebrew conception of the future life was borrowed from the Babylonians. Sheol was the Babylonian " land of no return " (sec. 57), a vague and shadowy region beneath the earth, a sad and dismal place. " The small and the great were there." There was no distinction even between the good and the bad ; the same lot awaited all who went down into the " pit." The good man was thought to receive his reward in long life and prosperity here on earth. As time passed the Hebrews exchanged this gloomy Babylonian conception of the other life for one more like that of old Egypt, 82 THE HEBREWS SO that it was finally by them that the doctrine of immortality and of a coming judgment was spread abroad in the Western world. Selection from the Sources. — The Old Testament, i Kings, v-viii, the building and tlie dedication by Solomon of the Temple at Jerusalem. References (Modern). — Sayce, Early Israel and the Surrounding iVations. Kent, A History of the Hebrew People, 2 vols. Renan, His- tory of the People of Israel, 4 vols. CoRNiLL, History of the People of Israel. Boughton, History of Ancient Peoples, pp. 345-427. HiLPRECHT, Recent Research in Bible La^ids and Explorations iit Bible Lands in the Ni>ieteenth Century. Consult Tables of Contents. Montefiore, Lectures on the Origin and Grojvth of Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancie7tt Hebrews. Ball, Light from the East. DuFF, The Theology and Ethics of the Hebrezvs. The special student will of course consult McCuRDY, History, Prophecy, and the ATonuments. Topics for Special Study. — i. Influence of early Babylonian culture on Israel. 2. The Exile in Babylon and its influence upon the develop- ment of the Hebrew religion. 3. Earlier Hebrew ideas of the future life. 4. Temple and priest. 5. Prophecy and prophet. 6. Hebrew laws respecting usury, the land, and the bondsman. CHAPTER VHI THE PH(ENICIANS 89. The Land and the People. — Ancient Phcenicia embraced a little strip of broken seacoast lying between the Mediterranean Sea and tlie ranges of Mount Lebanon.^ One of the most noted productions of the country was the fine fir timber cut from the forests that crowned the lofty ranges of the Lebanon Mountains. The "cedars of Lebanon" hold a prominent place both in the history and in the poetry of the East. Another celebrated product of the country was the Tyrian purple, which was obtained from several varieties of the murex, a species of shellfish, secured at first along the Phoenician coast, but later sought in distant waters, especially in the Grecian seas. The Phoenicians were of Semitic race. Their ancestors lived in the neighbor- hood of the Persian Gulf. From their seats in that region they migrated west- ward, like the ancestors of the Hebrews, -c- c- ' Fig. 52. — Species of the and reached the Mediterranean before Murex. {Kit^x Maspero) the light of history had fallen upon its The mollusks which secrete the shores. famous purple dye of the _ , «., ^, ancient Tyrians 90. Tyre and Sidon. — The various Phoenician cities never coalesced to form a true nation. They constituted merely a sort of league or confederacy, the petty states of which generally acknowledged the leadership of Tyre or of Sidon, the two chief cities. The place of supremacy in the confederation was at first held by Sidon, but later by Tyre. ^ In the study of this chapter, the maps which will be found at pp. 7S and 154 should be used. 83 84 THE PHCENICIANS From the nth to the 4th century B.C. Tyre controlled, almost without dispute on the part of Sidon, the affairs of Phoenicia. During this time the maritime enterprise and energy of her mer- chants spread the fame of the little island capital throughout the world. She was queen and mistress of the Mediterranean. During all the last centuries of their existence the Phoenician cities were, most of the time, tributary to one or another of the great monarchies about them. They acknowledged in turn the suzerainty of the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, the Per- sian, and the Macedonian kings. Alexander the Great after a memorable siege captured the city of Tyre and reduced it to ruins (332 B.C.). She recovered in a measure from this blow, but never regained the place she had previously held in the world. The larger part of the site of the once great city is now " bare as the top of a rock," — a place where the fishermen that still frequent the spot spread their nets to dry. 91. Phoenician Commerce. — When we catch our first glimpse of the Eastern Mediterranean, about 1500 B.C., it is dotted with the sails of Phoenician navigators. It was natural that the people of the Phoenician coast should have been led to a seafar- N , 5 X ^ ^"S lifs. The lofty V ^J^ZTTTTrr^ \ ^ mountains that back the little strip of shore seemed to shut them out from a career of conquest and to prohibit an FIG. 53. -PHOENICIAN Galley. (From e^tg^sion of their an Assyrian sculpture) , , , . » ^ land domains. At the same time, the Mediterranean in front invited them to mari- time enterprfse, while the forests of Lebanon in the rear offered timber in abundance for their ships. The Phoenicians, indeed, seem to have been the first navigators of the Great Sea who pushed out boldly from the shore and made PHCENICIAN COLONIES 85 voyages out of sight of land. It is believed that they were the first to steer their ships at night by the Polar Star, since the Greeks called this the Phoenician Star. One of the earliest centers of activity of the Phoenician traders was the ^gean Sea. Here they exchanged wares with the natives, searched the seas for the purple-yielding mollusks, and mined the hills for gold. Herodotus avers that a whole mountain on one of the islands was turned upside down by them in their search for ores. Towards the close of the tenth or the ninth century B.C. the jealousy of the Greek city-states, now growing into maritime power, closed the /Egean against the Phoenician adventurers. They then pushed out into the Western Mediterranean. One chief object of their quest here was tin, which was in great demand on account of its use in the manufacture of bronze. The precious metal was first supplied by the mines opened in the Iberian (Spanish) peninsula. Later the bold Phoenician sailors passed the Pillars of Hercules, braved the dangers of the Atlantic, and brought back from those stormy seas the tin gathered in the mines of Britain.^ 92. Phoenician Colonies. — Along the different routes pursued by their ships, and upon, the coasts visited by them, the Phoenicians established naval stations and trading posts. The sites chosen were generally islands or promontories easily defended, and visible from afar to approaching ships. Settlements were planted in Cyprus, in Rhodes, and on other islands of the .^gean Sea, and probably even in Greece itself. 2 From the mother city Tyre and from all her important colonies and trading posts radiated long routes of land travel by which articles were conveyed from the interior of the continents to the Mediterranean seaboard. Thus amber was brought from the Baltic, through the forests of Germany, to the mouth of the river Padus (Po), in Italy ; while the tin of the British Isles was, at first, brought across Gaul to the outlets of the Rhone, and there loaded upon the Phoenician ships. The trade with India was carried on by way of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, great cara- vans bearing the burdens from the ports at the heads of these seas across the Arabian and Syrian deserts to the warehouses of Tyre. Other routes led from Phanicia across the Mesopotamian plains to Armenia, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and thence on into the heart of Central Asia. 86 THE PHCENICIANS BABYLONIAN PHCENICIAN, BABYLONIAN SEMITIC ARCHAIC OLD ARAM^AN NAMES AND SOUNDS NAMES J ^ ¥ ial {al, a!), to flow ; running water al-p ^ 3 e $ iaW, bi{t), slit bl-t ) ~^^'\ gam, bend, bow gim-l ^ A A ^ ku{ii), gush, bright, ge, ear dat-t V i <\A<^ da, make, dal, shine, Dallu The shores of the islands of Sicily and Sardinia were fringed with Phoenician colonies ; while the coast of North Africa was dotted with such great cities as Utica, Hippo, and Carthage. Colonies were even planted beyond the Pillars of Hercules, upon the Atlantic sea- board. The Phoe- nician settlement of Gades, upon the western coast of Spain, is still pre- served in the modern Cadiz, 93. Arts dis- seminated by the Phoenicians ; the Alphabet. — Com- merce has been called the path- breaker of civil- ization. Certainly it was such in an- tiquity when the Phoenician traders carried in their ships to every Mediterranean land the wares of PHCENICIAN ANCIENT GREEK LATER GREEK ENGLISH ^>ir ^ /lAA A A A ^ ^ ^ B B A ,1 A.^Ac r C AA ^A^P A D ^ ^^/^^^ E e E -1 ^ /^ F z s z ^ z Z Fig. 54. — Table showing (i) possible deriva- tion OF THE PHCENICIAN ALPHABET FROM Cuneiform Characters (after Ball) ; and (2) Development of English Letters from the ^j^g workshops of PHCENICIAN rx^ ] c- 1 1 yre and Sidon, and along with these material products carried also the seeds of culture from the ancient lands of Egypt and Babylonia. In truth we can scarcely overrate the influence of Phoenician maritime enterprise upon the distribution of the arts and the spread of cul- ture among the early peoples of the Mediterranean area. " Egypt ARTS DISSEMINATED BY THE PHCENICIANS 87 and Assyria," says Lenormant, "were the birthplace of material civilization ; the Phoenicians were its missionaries." Most fruitful of all the arts which the Phoenicians introduced among the peoples with whom they traded was the art of alpha- betic writing. As early at least as 900 b.c. they were in posses- sion of an alphabet. Now wherever the Phoenician traders went they carried this alphabet as " one of their exports." It was through them that the Greeks received it ; the Greeks passed it on to the Romans, and the Romans gave it to the German peoples. In this way our alphabet came to us from the ancient East. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this gift of the alpha- bet to the Aryan-speaking peoples of Europe. Without it their civilization could never have become so rich and progressive as it did. Among the other elements of culture which the Phoenicians carried to the peoples of the Mediterranean lands, the most important, after alphabetical writing, were systems of weights and measures. These are indispensable agents of civilization, and hold some such relation to the development of trade and com- merce as letters hold to the development of the intellectual life. Phoenician commercial enterprise was also one of the agencies through which the peoples of Europe learned the use of bronze, which marks an epoch in their growing culture. Bronze articles of Phoenician workmanship are found in the earliest tombs of the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Romans. Selections from the Sources. — The Bible, Ezek. xxvii. A striking por- trayal by the prophet of the commerce, the trade relations, and the wealth of Tyre. The Voyage of Hanno, a record of a Phoenician exploring expedi- tion down the western coast of Africa. A translation of this celebrated record will be found in Rawlinson's History of Phanicia, pp. 389-392. References (Modern). — • Rawlinson, History of Pha-nicia, and The Story of Phanicia. Kenrick, Phcenicia. Old (1855), but still valuable. Lenormant and Chevallier, Ancient History of the East, vol. ii. Con- sult Table of Contents. Sayce, The Ancient Empires of the East, chap. iii. DuNCKER, History of Antiquity, vol. ii, bk. iii, chaps, xi and xii. Topics for Special Study. — i. The trade routes of the Phoenicians. 2. The Phoenicians and the alphabet. 3. The Tyrian pui-ple dye. CHAPTER IX THE PERSIAN EMPIRE (558-330 B.C.) I. Political History 94. Kinship of the Medes and Persians. — It was in very remote times tliat some Aryan tribes, separating themselves from the other members of the Aryan family, sought new abodes on the plateau of Iran. The tribes that settled in the south became known as the Persians ; while those that took possession of the mountain regions of the northwest were called Medes. The names of the two peoples were always very closely associated, as in the familiar legend, "The law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not." 95. The Medes at first the Leading Race. — Although the Persians were destined to become the dominant tribe of all the Iranian Aryans, still the Medes were at first the leading people. Cyaxares (625-585 b.c.) was their first prominent leader and king. We have already seen how, aided by the Babylonians, he overthrew the last king of Nineveh, and burned that capital (sec. 68). The destruction of the Assyrian power resulted in the speedy extension of the frontiers of the new Median Empire to the river Halys in Asia Minor. 96. Cyrus the Great (558-529 b.c.) founds a Great World Empire. — The leadership of the Median chieftains was of short duration. A certain Cyrus, king of Anshan, in Elam, overthrew their power, and assumed the headship of both Medes and Persians. Through his energy and soldierly genius Cyrus soon built uj) an empire more extended than any over which the scepter had yet been swayed by Oriental monarch, or indeed, so far as we know, by any ruler before his time. 88 CYRUS THE GREAT 89 After the conquest of Media and the acquisition of the prov- inces formerly ruled by the Median princes, Cyrus rounded out his empire by the conquest of Lydia and Babylonia. Lydia was a country in the western part of Asia Minor. It was a land highly favored by nature. It embraced two rich river val- leys, — the plains of the Hermus and the Cayster, — which, from the mountains inland, slope gently to the island-dotted ^gean. The Pactolus, and other tributaries of the streams we have named, rolled down " golden sands," while the mountains were rich in the precious metals. The coast region did not at first belong to Lydia ; it was held by the Greeks, who had fringed it with cities. The capital of the country was Sardis, whose citadel w^as set on a lofty and precipitous rock. The Lydian throne was at this time held by Croesus (560- 546 B.C.), the last and most renowned of his race. Under him the Lydian dominions attained their greatest extension, embracing all the states of Asia Minor west of the Halys, save Lycia. The tribute Croesus collected from the Greek cities, which he had subjugated, and the revenues he derived from his gold mines, rendered him the richest monarch of his times, so that his name has passed into the proverb " rich as Croesus." Now the fall of Media, which had been a friendly and allied power, and the extension thereby of the domains of the conqueror Cyrus to the eastern frontiers of Lydia, naturally filled Croesus with alarm. He at once formed an alliance with Nabonidus, king of Babylon, and with Amasis, king of Egypt, both of whom, like Croesus, were filled with apprehensions respecting the safety of their own kingdoms. Furthermore, Croesus formed an alli- ance with the Greek city of Sparta, which was now rising into prominence. Without waiting for his allies to join him, Croesus immediately crossed the river Halys and threw down the gage of battle to Cyrus. But he had miscalculated the strength and activity of his enemy. Cyrus defeated the Lydians in the open field, and after a short siege captured Sardis. Lydia now became a part of the Persian Empire (546 B.C.). 90 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE This war between Croesus and Cyrus derives a special impor- tance from tlie fact that it brought the Persian Empire into contact with the Greek cities of Asia, and thus led on directly to that memorable struggle be- tween Greece and Persia known as the Graeco-Persian War, the inci- dents of which we shall nar- rate in a later chapter. The fall of Lydia was quickly followed by that of Babylonia (in 538 B.C.), as has been already related as part of the story of the Chaldean Empire (sec. 77). Cyrus had now Fig. 55. — Crcesus on the Pyrei rounded out his dominions. Tradition says that Cyrus lost his life while leading an expe- dition against some Scythian tribes in the North. He was buried at Pasargad^e, the old Persian capital, and there his tomb stands to-day, sur- rounded by the ruins of the mag- nificent buildings with which he adorned that city. The following cu- neiform inscription may still be read upon a pillar near the sepulcher : " I am Cyrus, the king, the Akhaemenian." Notwithstanding his seeming love for war and conquest, Cyrus possessed a kindly and generous disposition. Almost universal Fig. 56. — The Tomb of Cyrus at Pasargad^c 1 Legend tells liow Cyrus caused a pyre to be built on which to burn Croesus, and how Apollo, tecause the king had made rich gifts to his shrine, put out the kindling fire by a sudden downpour of rain. REIGN OF CAMBYSES 91 testimony has ascribed to him the purest and most beneficent character of any Eastern monarch. 97. Reign of Cambyses (529-522 b.c). — Cyrus the Great left two sons, Cambyses and Smerdis ; the former, as the elder, inherited the scepter and the title of king. He began a despotic and unfortunate reign by causing his brother, whose influence he feared, to be secretly put to death. With far less ability than his father for their execution, Cambyses conceived even vaster projects of conquest and dominion. He determined to add the country of Africa to his vast inheritance. Upon some slight pre- ^ ;^ ; - ' ' text he invaded Egypt, captured Memphis, and ascended the Nile to Thebes. From here he sent an army of fifty thousand men to take possession of the oasis of Amnion,^ in the Lib- yan desert. Of the vast host not a man returned from the expedition. It is thought that the army was overwhelmed and buried by one of those Fig. 57. — Insurgent Captives brought BEFORE Darius (From the Behistun Rock) Beneath the foot of the king is Gomates, the false Smerdis fatal storms, called simoons, that so frequently sweep over those dreary wastes of sand. After a short, unsatisfactory stay in Egypt, Cambyses set out on his return to Persia. While on his way home, news was brought to him that his brother Smerdis had usurped the throne (an impostor, Gomates by name, who resembled the murdered Smerdis, had personated him, and actually seized the scepter). Entirely disheartened by this startling intelligence, Cambyses in despair took his own life. This oasis was to serve as a basis of operations against Carthage, which Cambyses was planning to attack by way of the desert. 92 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 98. Reign of Darius I (521-484 B.C.). — The Persian nobles soon rescued the scepter from the grasp of the false Smerdis, and their leader, Darius, took the throne. The first act of Darius was to punish those who had taken part in the usurpation of Smerdis. With quiet and submission secured throughout the empire, Darius gave himself, for a time, to the arts of peace. He built a palace at Susa, and erected magnificent structures at Persepolis ; reformed the adminstration of the government, making such wise and lasting changes that he has been called " the second founder of the Persian Empire " ; established post roads, instituted a coin- age for the realm, and upon the great Behistun Rock, a lofty, smooth-faced clifif on the western frontier of ix^ Persia, caused to be inscribed a record of • _ all his achievements. :■ And now the Great .:-;■/ fc^-*^ -- King, lord of Western -^ _" l_-_~ Asia and of Egypt, con- ceived and entered upon Fig. t;8. — The Behistun Rock ^, ^- r ^ ■^ the execution of vast (After Rawlifison-Hilprechi) , . . , designs of conquest, the far-reaching effects of which were destined to live long after he had passed away. He determined to extend the frontiers of his empire into India and Europe alike. At one blow Darius brought the region of Northwestern India known as the Punjab under his authority, and thus by a single effort pushed out the eastern boundary of his empire so that it included one of the richest countries of Asia. Two campaigns in Europe followed. The second brought Darius into contact with the Greeks, of whom we shall soon hear much. How the armaments of the Great King fared at the hands of this freedom-loving people, who now appear for the first time as prominent participators in large world affairs, will be told when we come to narrate the history of the Greek city-states. REIGN OF XERXES I 93 We need now simply note the result, — the decisive defeat of the Persians at Marathon (490 B.C.). In the midst of preparations for another attempt upon Greece, and with the Egyptians in revolt, Darius suddenly died, in the year 484 B.C. 99. Reign of Xerxes I (484-464 B.C.). — The successor of Darius, his son Xerxes, resolved to carry into execution his father's pur- pose of revenge. After crushing the Egyptian revolt and sup- pressing another uprising in Babylonia, the Great King was free to devote his attention to the distant Greeks, At the head of an immense army he crossed the Hellespont and invaded Greece. But in the naval battle of Salamis (sec. 212) his fleet was cut to Fig. 59. — ■Royal Persian Tombs near Persepolis. (After Dieulafoy^ pieces by the Grecian ships, and the king, making a precipitate retreat into Asia, hastened to his capital Susa. Here, in the pleas- ures of the harem, he sought solace for his wounded pride and broken hopes. He at last fell a victim to palace intrigue, being slain in his own chamber (464 B.C.). 100. The Decline and Fall of the Persian Empire. — The power and supremacy of the Persian monarchy passed away with the reign of Xerxes. The last one hundred and forty years of the existence of the empire was a time of weakness and anarchy, which presents nothing that need claim our attention in this place. In the year 334 B.C. Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, led a small army of Greeks and Macedonians across the Hellespont 94 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE intent upon the conquest of Asia. His succeeding movements and the establishment of the short-lived Macedonian monarchy upon the ruins of the Persian Empire are matters that properly belong to Grecian history, and will be related at a later stage of our story. IT. Government, Religion, and Arts 1 01 . The Government. — Before the reign of Darius I the govern- ment of the Persian Empire was like that of all the great empires that had preceded it, save the Assyrian in a measure and for a short space of time ; that is to say, it consisted of a great num- ber of subject states, which were allowed to retain their own kings and manage their own afifairs, only paying tribute and homage and furnishing contingents, when called upon in time of war, to the Great King. We have seen how weak was this rude and primitive type of government. Darius I, who possessed rare ability as an organizer, remodeled the system of his predecessors, and actually realized for the Persian monarchy what Tiglath-Pileser III had long before attempted, but only with partial and temporary success, to accom- plish for the Assyrian (sec. 64). The system of government which Darius thus first made a real fact in the world is known as the satrapal, a form represented to-day by the Turkish Empire. The entire kingdom was divided into twenty or more provinces, over each of which was placed a governor, called a satrap, appointed by the king. These officials held their position at the pleasure of the sovereign, and were thus rendered his subservient creatures. Each province contributed to the income of the king a stated revenue. There were provisions in the system by which the king might be apprised of the disloyalty of his satraps. Thus the whole dominion was firmly cemented together, and the facility with which almost sovereign states — which was the real character of the different parts of the empire under the old system — could plan and execute revolt, was removed. LITERATURE AND RELIGION 95 102. Literature and Religion : Zoroastrianism. — The literature of the ancient Persians was mostly religious. Their sacred book is called the Zend Avesta. The religious system of the Persians, as taught in the Zciid Avesta, is known as Zoroastrianism, from Zoroaster, its supposed founder. This great reformer and teacher is believed to have lived and taught about six centuries before our era. Zoroastrianism was a system of belief known as dualism. Opposed to the "good spirit," Ormazd (Ahura Mazda), there was a "dark spirit," Ahriman (Angro-Mainyus), who was con- stantly striving to destroy the good creations of Ormazd by creating all evil things — storm, drought, pestilence, noxious animals, weeds and thorns in the world without, and evil in the heart of man within. From all eternity these two powers had been contending for the mastery ; in the present neither had the decided advan- tage ; but in the near future Ormazd would triumph over Ahri- man, and evil be forever destroyed. The duty of man was to aid Ormazd by working with him against the evil-loving x'\hriman. He must labor to eradicate every evil and vice in his own bosom ; to reclaim the earth from barrenness ; and to kill all noxious ani- mals — frogs, toads, snakes, lizards — which Ahriman had created. Herodotus saw with amazement the priests armed with weapons and engaged in slaying these animals as a " pious pastime." Agriculture was a sacred calling, for the husbandman was reclaim- ing the ground from the curse of the dark spirit.^ 3 The belief of the Zoroastrians in the sacredness of the elements — earth, water, fire, and air — created a difficulty in regard to the disposal of dead bodies. They Fig. 6o. — The King in Combat WITH A Monster (From Persepolis) 96 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 103. Architecture. — The simple religious faith of the Persians discouraged the erection of temples ; their sacred architecture included scarcely more than altar and pedestal. The palace of the monarch was the structure that absorbed the best efforts of the Persian architect. In imitation of the inhabitants of the valley of the Euphrates, the Persian kings raised their palaces upon lofty terraces or plat- forms. But upon the table-lands they used stone instead of brick, and at Persepolis built for the substruction of their palaces an Fig. 61. — The Ruins of Persepolis immense platform of massive masonry, which, with its sculptured stairways, is one of the most wonderful monuments of the world's ancient builders. This terrace, which is uninjured by the 2300 years that have passed since its erection, has been pronounced by competent judges the finest work of the kind that the ancient or even the modern world can boast. Surmounting this platform are the ruins of the residences of several of the Persian monarchs. The ruins consist mainly of could neither be burned, buried, thrown into the water, nor left to decay in a sepul- chral chamber or in the open air without polluting one or another of the sacred elements. So they were usually given to the birds and wild beasts. ARCHITECTURE 97 lofty columns and great monolithic door and window frames. Colossal winged bulls, copied from the Assyrians, stand as war- dens at the gateway of the ruined palaces. Numerous sculptures decorate the faces of the walls, and these throw much light upon the manners and customs of the ancient Persian kings. The successive palaces increase, not only in size, but in sumptuousness of adornment, thus registering those changes which may be traced in the national history. The residence of Cyrus was small and modest, while that of Artaxerxes III (359- 338 B.C.) equaled in size the great palace of the Assyrian Sargon. Again, the sculptures that adorn the residences of the earlier kings, Cyrus and Darius, represent the monarch engaged in bold and manly combat with lions and other monsters ; while already in the halls and chambers of the palace of Xerxes these give place to representations of servants bearing articles of luxury intended for royal use. "A tone of mere sensual enjoyment is thus given to the later edifice which is far from characterizing the earlier ; and the decline at the court, which history indicates as rapid about this period, is seen to have stamped itself, as such changes usually do, upon the national architecture" (Rawlinson). Selections from the Sources. — Herodotus, i. 46-55 and 71-91, on Cyrus and Croesus. Harper's Assyrian and Babylonian Literaiii}-e, pp. 174-187, " The Large Inscription of Darius from Behistun." (We make no refer- ence either here or in the following chapter to the Sacred Books of the East, for the reason that these translations are in general not suited to young readers.) References (Modern). — Maspero, The Passing of i/ie Empires, chap.vi. Rawlinson, Eive Great Monarchies, vol. iii, pp. 84-539. Sayce, The An- cient Etnpires of the East, chaps, iv and v. Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chap. xii. Jackson, Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran. Topics for Special Study. — i. The sacredness of the elements, — fire, earth, water, and air. 2. Dualism in the Persian religion. 3. The Zend Avesta. 4. The royal road from Susa to Sardis. 5. The satrapal system of government. 6. The ruins of Persepolis. CHAPTER X INDIA AND CHINA I. India 104. The Aryan Invasion. — At the time of the great Aryan dis- persion (sec. 19), some Aryan bands, journeying from the north- west, settled first the plains of the Indus and then occupied the valley of the Ganges. They reached the banks of the latter river as early probably as 1500 B.C. These fair-skinned invaders found the land occupied by a dark- skinned, non-Aryan race, whom they either subjugated and reduced to serfdom, or drove out of the great river valleys into the moun- tains and the half-desert plains of the peninsula. In the course of time the conquered peoples, who doubtless formed the great majority of the population, adopted the language and the religion of the invaders. "They became Aryans in all things save in descent." ^ 105. The Development of the System of Castes. — The conflict and mingling of races in Northern India caused the population to become divided into four "social grades" or hereditary classes, based on color. These were (i) the nobles or warriors; (2) the Brahmans or priests ; ^ (3) the peasants and traders; and (4) the Sudras. The last were of non-Aryan descent. Below these several grades were the Pariahs or outcasts, the lowest and most despised of the native races. The marked characteristics of this graded society were that intermarriage between the classes was forbidden, and that the members of different classes must not eat together or come into personal contact. 1 The unsubdued tribes of Southern India, known as Dravidians, retained their native speech. Over 54,000,000 of the present population of India are non-Aryan in language. 2 At a later period the Brahmans arrogated to themselves the highest rank. THE VEDAS AND THE VEDIC RELIGION 99 The development of this system, which is known as the system of castes, is one of the most important facts in the history of India. The system, however, has undergone great modification in the lapse of ages, and is now less rigid than in earlier times. At the present day it rests largely on an industrial basis, the mem- bers of every trade and occupation forming a distinct caste. The number of castes is now about 2000. 106. The Vedas and the Vedic Religion. — The most important of the sacred books of the Hindus are called the Vedas. They are written in the Sanscrit language, which is the oldest form of Aryan speech preserved to us. The Rig Veda, the most ancient of the books, is made up of hymns which were composed chiefly during the long period, perhaps a thousand years or more, while the Aryans were slowly working their way from the mountains on the northwest of India across the peninsula to the Ganges. These hymns are filled with memories of the long conflict of the fair-faced Aryans with the dark-faced aborigines. The Hima- layas, through whose gloomy passes the early emigrants jour- neyed, must have deeply impressed the wanderers, for the poets often refer to the great dark mountains. The early religion of the Indian Aryans was a worship of the powers of nature. As this system characterized the period when the oldest Vedic hymns were composed, it is known as the Vedic religion. 107. Brahmanism and the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls. — As time passed this nature worship of the Vedic period developed into a form of religion known as Brahmanism. It is so named from Brahma, which is the Hindu name for the Supreme Being. Below Brahma there are many gods. A chief doctrine of Brahmanism is that all life, apart from Brahma, is evil, is travail and sorrow. We can make this idea plain to ourselves by recalling what are our own ideas of this earthly life. We call it a feverish dream, a journey through a vale of sorrow. Now the Hindu regards all existence, whether in this world or in another, in the same light. The only way to redemp- tion from evil lies in communion with and final reabsorption lOO INDIA AND CHINA into Brahma. But this return to Brahma is dependent upon the soul's purification, for no impure soul can be reabsorbed into Brahma. The purity of soul required for reunion with Brahma can best be attained by contemplation, self-control, and renun- ciation ; hence the asceticism of the Hindu devotee. As only a few in each generation reach the goal, it follows that the great majority of men must be born again, and yet again, until all evil has been purged away from the soul and eternal repose found in Brahma. He who lives a virtuous life is at death born into some higher caste, and thus he advances towards the longed- for end. The evil man, however, is born into a lower caste, or perhaps his soul enters some unclean animal. This doctrine of rebirth is known as the transmigration of souls. In the early period only the first three classes were admitted to the benefits of religion. The Sudras and the outcasts were for- bidden to read the sacred books, and for any one of the upper classes to teach a serf how to expiate sin was a crime. 1 08. Buddhism. — In the fifth century before our era a great teacher and reformer named Gautama (about 557—477 B.C.), but better known as Buddha, that is the Enlightened, arose in India. He was more Christlike than any other teacher whose life and words are known to us. He was born a prince, but legend repre- sents him as being so touched by the universal misery of man- kind thot he voluntarily abandoned the luxury of his home and spent his life in seeking out and making known to men a new and better way of salvation. His creed was very simple. What he taught the people was that they should seek salvation — that is, deliverance from existence, which like the Brahman he felt to be an evil — not through sacrifices and rites and self-torture, but through honesty and purity of heart, through charity and tender- ness and compassion toward all creatures that have life.^ Buddha admitted all classes to the benefits of religion, the poor outcast as well as the high-born Brahman, and thus Buddhism 3 The aim, in Buddha's system, of moral striving is to suppress desire, and by suppressing desire to gain the sought-for deliverance in Nirvana ("extinction"). Buddha did not recognize the existence of any god, and enjoined upon his disciples not to offer any prayers. His teachings have been greatly modified by his followers. ALEXANDER'S INVASION OF INDIA loi was a revolt against the earlier exclusive system of Brahmanism. It holds somewhat the same relation to Brahmanism that Chris- tianity bears to Judaism. Buddhism gradually gained ascendancy over Brahmanism ; but after some centuries the Brahmans regained their power, and by the eighth century after Christ the faith of Buddha had died out or had been crowded out of almost every part of India. But Buddhism has a profound missionary spirit, like that of Christianity, Buddha having commanded his disciples to make known to all men the way to salvation ; and consequently during the very period when India was being lost, the missionaries of the reformed creed were spreading the teachings of their master among the peoples of all the countries of Eastern Asia, so that to-day Buddhism is the religion of almost one third of the human race. Buddha has probably nearly as many followers as both Christ and Mohammed together. During its long contact with Buddhism, Brahmanism was greatly modified, and caught much of the gentler spirit of the new faith, so that modern Brahmanism is a very different religion from that of the ancient system ; hence it is usually given a new name, being known as Hinduism.* 109. Alexander's Invasion of India (327 B.C.). — Although we find obscure notices of India in the records of the early historic peoples of Western Asia, yet it is not until the invasion of the peninsula by Alexander the Great in 327 b.c. that the history of the Indian Aryans comes in significant contact with that of the progressive nations of the West. From that day to our own its systems of philosophy, its wealth, and its commerce have been more or less important factors in universal history. Columbus was seeking a short all-sea route to this country when he found the New World. And in the upbuilding of the imperial greatness of the England of to-day, the wealth and trade of India have played no inconsiderable part. ^ Among the customs introduced or revived by the Brahmans during this period was the rite of suttee, or the voluntary burning of the widow on the funeral pyre of her husband. 102 INIJIA AND CHINA II. China no. General Remarks : the Beginning. — China was the cradle of a very old civilization, older perhaps than that of any other lands save Egypt and Babylonia; yet Chinese affairs have not until recently exercised any direct influence upon the general current of history. All through the later ancient and mediaeval times the country lay, vague and mysterious, in the haze of the world's horizon. During the Middle Ages the land was known to Europe under the name of Cathay. The beginning of the Chinese nation was a band of Turanian wanderers who came from the West into the Yellow River valley, probably prior to 3000 B.C. These immigrants pushed out or absorbed the aborigines whom they found in the land, and laid the basis of institutions that have endured to the present day. III. Dynastic History. — The government of China from a remote period has been a parental monarchy. The emperor is the father of his people. But though an absolute prince, he dare not rule tyrannically ; he must rule justly and in accordance with the ancient customs and laws. The Chinese have books that purport to give the history of the different dynasties that have ruled in the land from a vast antiq- uity ; but these records are largely mythical. While it is possible to glean some assured historic facts from the third and second millenniums B.C., it is not until we reach the eighth century B.C. that we tread on firm historical ground ; and even then we meet with little of interest in the dynastic history of the country until we come to the reign of Che Hwang-te (246-210 b.c). This energetic ruler consolidated the imperial power, and executed great works of internal improvement, such as roads and canals. As a barrier against the incursions of the Huns, he began the erection of the celebrated Chinese Wall, a great rampart extending for about 1500 miles along the northern frontier of the country.^ 8 The Great Wall is one of the most remarkable works of man. " It is," says Dr. Williams, " the only artificial structure which would arrest attention in a hasty survey of the globe." CHINESE WRITING IO3 From the strong reign of Che Hwang-te to the end of the period covered by ancient history, Chinese dynastic records present no matters of universal interest that need here occupy our attention. 112. Chinese Writing. — It is nearly certain that the art of pho- netic writing was known among the Chinese as early as 2000 B.C. The system employed is curiously cumbrous. In the absence of an alphabet, each word of the language is represented upon the written page by means of a symbol, or combination of symbols ; this, of course, requires that there be as many symbols or charac- ters as there are words in the language. The number sanctioned by good use is about 25,000; but counting obsolete signs, the number amounts to over 50,000. A knowledge of 5000 or 6000 characters, how- ever, enables one Q ^3?' ^^ ^ >t '^^W A to read and write ' without difficulty. The nature of the signs shows con- clusively that the Fig. 62. — Showing the Derivation of Mod Chinese system of writing, like that of all others with which we are acquainted, was at first pure picture writing (sec. 12). Time and use have worn the pictorial symbols to their present form. This Chinese system of representing thought, cumbrous and inconvenient as it is, is employed at the present time by one third of the human race. Printing from blocks was practiced in China as early as the sixth century of our era, and printing from movable types as early as the tenth or eleventh century, — that is to say, about four hun- dred years before the same art was invented in Europe. 113. The Teachers Confucius and Mencius. — The great teacher of the Chinese was Confucius (551-478 B.C.). He was not a 6 The upper line shows the earlier forms: i, morning; 2, noon; 3, mountain; 4, tree ; 5, dog ; 6, horse ; 7, man. t! lU 1^ :)^ ^» A 6 ERN Chinese Ch.\racters from Earlier Pictorial Writing.^ (From Deniker) I04 INDIA AND CHINA prophet or revealer; he laid no claims to a supernatural knowl- edge of God or of the hereafter ; he said nothing of an Infinite Spirit, and but little of a future life. His cardinal precepts were obedience to parents and superiors, and reverence for the ancients and imitation of their virtues. He himself walked in the old paths, and thus added the force of example to that of precept. He gave the Chinese the Golden Rule, stated negatively : " What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." The influence of Confucius has been greater than that of any other teacher excepting Christ and perhaps Buddha. Another great teacher of the Chinesewas Mencius(372-2 88 b.c). He was a disciple of Confucius and a scarcely less revered phi- losopher and moral teacher. 114. Chinese Literature; the Burning of the Books; Influence of this Literature. — The most highly prized portion of Chinese literature is embraced in what is known as the Five Classics and the Four Books, called collectively the Nine Classics. A consider- able part of the material of the Five Classics was collected and edited by Confucius. The Four Books, though not written by Confucius, yet bear the impress of his mind and thought, just as the Gospels teach the mind of Christ. The cardinal virtue incul- cated by all the sacred writings is filial piety. During the reign of Che Hwang- te (sec. in), Chinese litera- ture suffered a great disaster. That despot, for the reason that the teachers in their opposition to him were constantly quoting the ancient writings against his innovations, ordered the chief histor- ical books to be destroyed. Those who refused to give up their books he sent to work upon the Great Wall. But the people con- cealed the books in the walls of their houses, or better still hid them away in their memories ; and in this way the priceless inher- itance of antiquity was preserved until the storm had passed. It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence which the Nine Classics have had upon the Chinese nation. For more than 2000 years these writings have been the Chinese Bible. But their influence has not been wholly good. The Chinese in strictly obeying the injunction to walk in the old ways, to conform to the EDUCATION AND RELIGION 105 customs of the ancients, have failed to mark out any new foot- paths for themselves. Hence their lack of originality, their habit of imitation ; hence one cause of the unchanging, unprogressive character of Chinese civilization. 115. Education and Civil Service Competitive Examinations. — China has a very ancient educational system. The land was filled with schools, academies, and colleges more than a thousand years before our era, and education is to-day more general among the Chinese than among any other pagan people. A knowledge of the sacred books is the sole passport to civil ofiice and public employment. All candidates for places in the government must pass a series of competitive examinations in the Nine Classics. There are at the present day between two and three million per- sons studying for these literary tests. This system is practically the same in principle as that which we, with great difficulty, are trying to establish in connection with our own civil service. 116. The Three Religions, — Confucianism, Taoism, and Bud- dhism. — There are three leading religions in China, — Confu- cianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The great sage Confucius is reverenced and worshiped throughout the empire. He holds somewhat the same relation to the system that bears his name that Christ holds to that of Christianity. Taoism takes its name from Tao, the beginning of all things. It is a very curious system of mystical ideas and superstitious practices. Buddhism was intro- duced into China about the opening of the Christian era, and soon became widely spread. There is one element common to all these religions, and that is the worship of ancestors. Every Chinese, whether he be a Confucianist, a Taoist, or a Buddhist, reverences his ancestors, and prays and makes offerings to their spirits. 117. Policy of Non-Intercourse. — The Chinese have always been a very self-satisfied and exclusive people. They have jeal- ously excluded foreigners and outside influence from their coun- try. The Great Wall with which they have hedged in their country on the north is the symbol of their policy of isolation. Doubtless this characteristic of the Chinese has been fostered by Io6 INDIA AND CHINA their geographical isolation ; for great mountain barriers and wide deserts cut the country off from communication with the rest of the Asiatic continent. And then their reverence for antiquity has rendered them intolerant of innovation and change. Hence, in part, the unwillingness of the Chinese to admit into their country railroads, telegraphs, and other modern improvements. For them to adopt these new-fangled inventions would be like our adopting a new religion. Such a departure from the ways and customs of the past has in it, to their way of thinking, something akin to disrespect and irreverence for ancestors. References (Modern). — For India : Ragozin, The Story of Vedic India. Hunter, A Brief History of the Indian Peoples, chaps, i-vi. Dutt, The Civilization of India (Primer). Rhys Davids, Buddhist Iitdia, and Bud- dhism, its History and literature. Warren, Buddhism in Translation. Hopkins, The Religions of India. Arnold, The Light of Asia. This is Buddhism idealized. For China : Williams, A History of China, being the historical chapters of the author's The Middle Kingdom. Legge, The Religions of Chitia. Douglas, China. Giles, A History of Chinese Literatztre. Martin, The Lore of Cathay. Doolittle, Social Life of the Chinese. Topics for Special Study. — For India: i. The Vedas. 2. Early Indian architecture. 3. The suttee. 4. The caste system. 5. The doctrine of transmigration. 6. The rise of Buddhism. For China: i. Confucius. 2. The Great Wall. 3. The competitive ex- aminations. 4. The cardinal virtues. 5. Chinese writing. 6. The govern- ment. 7. Manners and customs. Part II — Greece CHAPTER XI THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE 1 1 8. Hellas. — The ancient people whom we call Greeks called themselves Hellenes and their land Hellas. But this term " Hellas " as used by the ancient Greeks embraced much more than modern Greece. " Wherever were Hellenes there was Hellas." Thus the name included not only Greece proper and the islands of the adjoining seas, but also the Hellenic cities in Asia Minor, in Southern Italy, and in Sicily, besides many other Greek settlements scattered up and down the Mediterranean and along the shores of the Hellespont and the Euxine. Yet Greece proper was the real home land of the Hellenes and the actual center of Greek life and culture. Therefore it will be necessary for us to gain at least some slight knowledge of the divisions and physical features of this country before passing to the history of the people themselves. 119. Divisions of Greece. — • Long arms of the sea divide the Greek peninsula into three parts, called Northern, Central, and Southern Greece. The southern portion, joined to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth, and now generally known as the Morea, was called by the ancients the Peloponnesus ; that is, the Island of Pelops, from its fabled colonizer. Northern Greece included the ancient districts of Thessaly and Epirus. Thessaly consists mainly of a large and beautiful valley, walled in on all sides by rugged mountains. On its northern edge, between Olympus and Ossa, is a beautiful glen, named by the ancients the Vale of Tempe, the only practicable pass by 107 io8 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE r which the plain of Thessaly can be entered from the side of the sea. The district of Epirus stretched along the Ionian Sea on the west. In the deep recesses of its forests of oak was situated the renowned Dodonean oracle of Zeus. Central Greece was divided into eleven districts, among which were Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica. In Phocis was the city of Delphi, famous for its oracle and temple ; in Boeotia, the city of Thebes ; and in Attica was the brilliant Athens. The Attic land, as we shall learn, was the central point of Greek history. The chief districts of Southern Greece were Corinthia, Arcadia, Achaea, Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, and Elis. The main part of Corinthia formed the isthmus uniting the Peloponnesus to Central Greece. Its chief city was Corinth, the gateway of the peninsula. Arcadia, sometimes called " the Switzerland of the Pelopon- nesus," formed the heart of the peninsula. This region consists of broken uplands shut in from the surrounding coast plains by irregular mountain walls. The in- habitants of this district, because thus isolated, were, in the general intel- lectual movement of the Greek race, left far behind the dwellers in the more open and favored portions of (rreece. It is the rustic, simple life of the Arca- tlians that has given the term "Arcadian" its meaning of pastoral sim- plicity. AchcTca was a strip of land lying upon the Corinthian Gulf. Its cities did not take any active part in the affairs of Greece until the most brilliant period of her history was past (sec. 304). Fig. 63.- ■The Lions' Gate at Mycenae GENERAL REFERENCE MAP OF ANCIENT GREECE Cythera\ 'tl 10 20 30 40 60 I DIVISIONS OF GREECE 109 Argolis formed a tongue of land jutting out into the ^gean. This region is noted as the home of an early prehistoric culture, and holds to-day the remains of cities — Mycenae and Tiryns — the kings of which built great palaces, possessed vast treasures in gold and silver, and held wide sway centuries before Athens had made for herself a name and place in history. The chief city of the region during the historic period was Argos. Laconia, or Lacedaemon, embraced a considerable part of the southern portion of the Peloponnesus. A prominent feature of Fig. 64. — The Plain of Olympia. (From Boetticher's Olympia) The valley of the Alpheus in Elis, where were held the celebrated Olympian games the physical geography of this region is a deep river valley, — the valley of the Eurotas, — from whence arose the descriptive name, " Hollow Lacedaemon." This district was ruled by the city of Sparta, the great rival of Athens. Messenia was a rich and fruitful region lying to the west of Laconia. It nourished a vigorous race, who in early times carried on a stubborn struggle with the Spartans, by whom they were finally overpowered. Elis, a district on the western side of the Peloponnesus, is chiefly noted as the consecrated land which held Olympia, the no THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE great assembling place of the Greeks on the occasion of the cele- bration of the most famous of their national festivals, — the so-called Olympian games. 120. Mountains. — The Cambunian Mountains form a lofty wall along a considerable reach of the northern frontier of Greece, shutting out at once the cold winds and hostile races from the north. Branching off at right angles to these mountains is the Pindus range, which runs south into Central Greece. On the northern border of Thessaly is Mount Olympus, the most celebrated mountain of the peninsula. The ancient Greeks thought it the highest mountain in the world (it is about 9700 feet in height), and believed that its cloudy summit was the abode of the gods. South of Olympus, close by the sea, are Ossa and Pelion, cele- brated in fable as the mountains which the giants, in their war against the gods, piled one upon another in order to scale Olympus. Parnassus and Helicon, in Central Greece, — beautiful moun- tains clad with trees and vines and filled with fountains, — were believed to be the favorite haunts of the Muses. Near Athens are Hymettus, praised for its honey, and Pentelicus, renowned for its marbles. The Peloponnesus is rugged with mountains that radiate in all directions from the central country of Arcadia. 121. The Rivers and Lakes of the Land. — Greece has no rivers large enough to be of service to commerce. Most of the streams are scarcely more than winter torrents. Among the most impor- tant streams are the Peneus, which drains the Thessalian plain ; the Alpheus in Elis, on the banks of which the Olympian games were celebrated ; and the Eurotas, which threads the central val- ley of Laconia. The Ilissus and Cephissus are little streams of Attica which owe their renown chiefly to the poets. The lakes of Greece are in the main scarcely more than stag- nant pools, the back water of spring freshets. In this respect, Greece, though a mountainous country, presents a striking con- trast to Switzerland, whose numerous and deep lakes form one of the most attractive features of Swiss scenery. ISLANDS ABOUT GREECE III 122. Islands about Greece. — Very much of the history of Greece is intertwined with the islands that He about the main- land. On the east, in the yEgean Sea, are the Cyclades, so called because they form an irregular circle round the sacred island of Delos, where was a very celebrated shrine of Apollo. Between the Cyclades and Asia Minor lie the Sporades, which islands, as the name implies, are sown irregularly over that portion of the ^gean. They are simply the peaks of submerged mountain ranges, which may be regarded as a continuation beneath the sea of the mountains of Central Greece. Just off the coast of Attica is a large island called by the ancients Eubcea, and known to-day as Euvia. Close to the Asian shores are the large islands of Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, and Rhodes. In the Mediterranean, midway between Greece and Egypt, is the large island of Crete, noted in legend for its Labyrinth and its legislator Minos. To the west of Greece lie the Ionian Islands, the largest of w'hich was called Corcyra, now Corfu. The rugged island of Ithaca was the birthplace of Odysseus (Ulysses), the hero of the Odyssey. From the waters of the Saronic GuK, within sight of the Attic shore, rises the island of /Egina, the inhabitants of which were long the rivals of the Athenians. In the same gulf, hugging the Attic coast, is Salamis, whose name commemorates a great sea fight between the Greeks and the Persians (sec. 212). 123. Climate and Productions. — There is a great variety in the climate of Greece. In the north and upon the uplands the climate is temperate, in the south semitropical. The slopes of the mountains in Northern Greece and in Arcadia support forests of beech, oak, and pine ; while the southern districts of the Peloponnesus nourish the date palm, the citron, and the orange. Attica, midway between the north and the south, is the home of the olive and the fig. The vine grows luxuriantly in almost every part of the land. Wheat, barley, grapes,'^ and oil are to-day, as 1 At the present time the seedless grape (" currant") is the most profitable of all exports. 112 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE they were in ancient times, the chief products of the country ; but flax, honey, and the products of herds of cattle and sheep have ahvays formed a considerable part of the economic wealth of the land. The hills of Greece supplied many of the useful metals. The ranges of the Taygetus, in Laconia, yielded iron, in which the Lacedaemonians became skillful vv^orkers. Eubcea furnished copper, which created a great industry. The hills of Southern Attica con- tained silver mines, which helped the Athenians to build their earliest navy (sec. 206, n. 4.), Mountains near Athens and the hills of the island of Paros afforded beautiful marbles, which made possible the creation of such splendid temples as the Parthenon. 124. Influence of the Land upon the People. — The physical geography of a country has much to do with molding the char- acter and shaping the history of its people. Mountains, isolating neighboring communities and shutting out conquering races, foster the spirit of local patriotism and preserve freedom ; the sea, inviting abroad and rendering intercourse with distant countries easy, awakens the spirit of adventure and develops commercial enterprise. Now Greece is at once a mountainous and a maritime country. Mountain walls fence it off into a great number of isolated dis- tricts, and this is one reason probably why the Greeks formed so many small independent states, and never could be brought to feel or to act as a single nation.^ The Grecian peninsula is, moreover, by deep arms and bays of the sea, converted into what is in effect an archipelago. Few spots in Greece are over forty miles from the sea. Hence its people were early tempted to a seafaring life — tempted to follow what Homer calls the "wet paths" of Ocean, to see whither they might lead. Intercourse with the old civilizations of the Orient 2 The history of the cantons of Switzerland affords a somewhat similar illustration of the influence of the physical features of a country upon the political fortunes of its inhabitants. But we must be careful not to exaggerate the influence of geography upon CIreek history. For the root of feelings and sentiments which were far more potent than geographical conditions in keeping the Greek cities apart, see sees. 136 and 137. i THE HELLENES II3 — which Greece faces ^ — stirred the naturally quick and versatile Greek intellect to early and vigorous thought. The islands strewn with seeming carelessness through the ^gean Sea were " stepping- stones," which invited intercourse between the settlers of Greece and the inhabitants of the delightful coast countries of Asia Minor, and thus blended the life and history of the opposite shores. How much the sea did in developing enterprise and intelli- gence in the cities of the maritime districts of Greece is shown by the contrast which the advancing culture of these regions presented to the lagging civilization of the peoples of the interior districts ; as, for instance, those of Arcadia. Again, the beauty of Grecian scenery inspired many of the most striking passages of the Greek poets ; and it is thought that the exhilarating atmosphere and brilliant skies of Attica were not un- related to the lofty achievements of the Athenian intellect. Indeed, we may almost assert that the wonderful culture of Greece was the product of a land of incomparable and varied beauties acting upon a people singularly sensitive to the influences of nature. 125. The Hellenes. — The historic inhabitants of the land we have described were called by the Romans Greeks ; but, as we have already learned, they called themselves Hellenes, from their fabled ancestor Hellen. They were divided into four famiUes or tribes, — the Achaeans, the lonians, the Dorians, and the Cohans. The Achaeans are represented by the Greek legends as being the dominant race in the Peloponnesus in prehistoric times. They then overshadowed to such a degree all the other tribes as to cause their name to be frequently used for the Greeks in general. The lonians were a many-sided, enterprising people, who, speaking broadly, were given to trade and commerce, and lived much upon the sea. They attained unsurpassed excellence in art, literature, and philosophy. The most noted Ionian city was Athens, whose story is a large part of the history of Hellas. The Dorians, in their typical communities, present themselves to us as a conservative, practical, and unimaginative race. Their 8 That is to say, the most and best of her harbors are on her eastern shore. Greece thus turns her back, as it were, to Italy. Compare sec. 371. 114 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE speech and their art were both alike without ornament. Their education was ahiiost wholly gymnastic and military. The most important city founded by them was Sparta, the rival of Athens, In the diiferent aptitudes and contrasted tendencies of these two great Hellenic families lay, in the words of the historian Ranke, " the fate of Greece." They divided Hellas into two rival parties, which, through their jealousies and contentions, finally brought to utter ruin all the bright political hopes and promises of the Hellenic race. The ^^oHans formed a rather ill-defined division. In historic times the name is often made to include all Hellenes not enu- merated as lonians or Dorians. These several tribes, united by bonds of language and religion, always regarded themselves as members of a single family. They were proud of their ancestry, and as exclusive almost as the Hebrews. All non-Hellenic people they called Barbarians} When the mists of antiquity first rise from Greece, about the beginning of the eighth century B.C., we discover the several families of the Hellenic race in jDossession of Greece proper, of the islands of the ^.gean, and of the western coasts of Asia Minor, Respecting their prehistoric migrations and settlements we have little or no certain knowledge. References. — Curtius,^ vol. i, pp. 9-46. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 141-163. Abbott, vol. i, chaps, i and ii. Holm, vol. i, chaps, ii and xiv. DuNCKER, vol. 1, pp. 1-33. TozER, Classical Geography (Primer). Richardson, Vacation Days in Greece. Dr. Richardson was for many years Director of the American School of Archaeology at Athens. His delightful sketches of excursions to interesting historical sites -will give a much better idea of the physical features of Greece than all the formal descriptions of the geographers. Butcher, Some Aspects of the Greek Genius ; for the mature student. Topics for Special Study. — i. Greece as Europe in miniature. 2. Geog- raphy and race as factors in history. 3. Characteristics of the Greeks. See Butcher. * At first this term meant scarcely more than " unintelligible folk " ; but later it came to express aversion and contempt. 5 We shall throughout cite the standard extended histories of Greece and of Rome by giving merely the author's name with volume and page. Fig. 65. — Combat between Achilles and Hector. (From a vase) CHAPTER XII PREHISTORIC TIMES ACCORDING TO GREEK ACCOUNTS 1 126. Character of the Legends. — The real history of the Greeks does not begin before the eighth centur\^ b.c. All that lies back of that date is an inseparable mixture of myth, legend, and fact. Yet this shadowy period forms the background of Greek history, and we cannot understand the Greeks of historic times without some knowledge, at least, of what they believed their ancestors had done and had experienced, for these beliefs profoundly in- fluenced their owii conduct. What has been said of the war against Troy, namely, " If not itself a fact, the Trojan War became the cause of innumerable facts," is true of the whole body of Greek legends. These tales were recited by the historian, dramatized by the tragic poet, cut in marble by the sculptor, and depicted by the painter on the walls of portico and temple. They thus constituted a very vital part of the education of every Greek, and afforded the inspiration of many a great and worthy deed. Therefore, as a sort of prelude to the story we have to tell, we shall repeat some of the legends of the Greeks touching the beginnings of civilization in Hellas, and respecting the labors and achievements of some of their greatest national heroes. But it 1 The prehistoric period in Greece is now commonly designated as the Mycenccan Age, for the reason that Mycenae in Argolis was formerly believed to have been the center of the brilliant Bronze Age culture which characterized the second millen- nium B.C. in the ^gean lands. Recent discoveries in Crete, however, suggest the possibility of that island having been the radiating point of this civilization. '15 Il6 PREHISTORIC GREECE must be carefully borne in mind that these legends are not history. Where, however, there seems to be sufificient ground to justify an opinion, we shall suggest what may be the grain of truth in any particular legend, or what part of it may be a dim though con- fused remembrance of actual events. 127. Oriental Immigrants. — The legends of the Greeks repre- sent the early growth of civilization among them as having been promoted by the settlement in Greece of Oriental immigrants, who brought with them the arts and culture of the different countries of the East. Thus from Egypt, legend affirms, came Cecrops, bringing with him the arts, learning, and priestly wisdom of the Nile valley. He is represented as the builder of Cecropia, which became afterwards the citadel of the illustrious city of Athens. From Phcenicia Cadmus brought the letters of the alphabet, and founded the city of Thebes. The Phrygian Pelops, the pro- genitor of the renowned heroes Agamemnon and Menelaus, settled in the southern peninsula, which was called after him Peloponnesus (the Island of Pelops). The nucleus of fact in all these legends is probably this, — that the European Greeks received certain of the elements of their culture from the East. Without doubt they got from thence letters,^ a gift of incomparable value, and hints in art, besides suggestions and facts in philosophy and science. 128. The Heroes : Heracles, Theseus, and Minos. — The Greeks believed that their ancestors were a race of heroes of divine or semi-divine lineage. Every tribe, district, city, and village even, preserved traditions of its heroes, whose wonderful exploits were commemorated in song and story. Many of these personages acquired national renown and became the revered heroes of the whole Greek race. The heroes were doubtless, in some cases, historical persons, but so much of myth and fable has gathered about their names that it is impossible to separate that which is really historical from what is purely fabulous. 2 See sec. 93. LEGENDS OF THE HEROES 117 Among the most noted of the heroes are Heracles (commonly called Hercules), Theseus, and Minos. Heracles was the greatest of the national heroes of the Greeks. He is represented as performing, besides various other exploits, twelve superhuman labors, — among which were the slaying of the Nemean lion, the destruction of the Lernaean hydra, the cleansing of the stables of Augeas, — and as being at last trans- lated from a blazing pyre to a place among the immortal gods. The myth of Heracles is made up in part of the very same tales that were told of the Chaldean hero Gilgamesh (sec. 60). Through the Phoenicians and the peoples of Asia Minor these stories found their way to the Greeks, who ascribed to their own Heracles the deeds of the Babylonian hero. Theseus, a descendant of Cecrops, was the favorite hero of the Athenians, being one of their legendary kings. Among his great works were the slaying of the Minotaur, — a monster which Fig. 66. — Battle between Greeks and Amazons (From a sarcophagus) Minos, king of Crete, kept in a labyrinth and fed upon youths and maidens sent from Athens as a forced tribute, — the defeat of the Amazons, and the consolidation of the twelve boroughs or hamlets of Attica into a single state. The legend of Theseus doubtless contains a substantial kernel of history. The consolidation of Attica and the founding of Athens were certainly historical events, while the slaying of the Il8 PREHISTORIC GREECE Minotaur may be taken to symbolize the freeing of the Athenians from a tribute paid to the kings of Crete. Minos, who has just been mentioned as the king of Crete, was made by tradition a legislator of divine wisdom, the suppressor of piracy in the Grecian seas, and the founder of the first great maritime state of Hellas. This tradition of Minos preserves the memory of a Cretan kingdom which recent discoveries have proved was great and powerful as early as the seventeenth century before our era.^ 129. The Argonautic Expedition. — Besides the labors and ex- ploits of single heroes, such as we have been naming, the legends of the Greeks tell of various memorable enterprises which were conducted by bands of heroes. Among these were the Argonautic Expedition and the Siege of Troy. The tale of the Argonauts is told with many variations in the legends of the Greeks. Jason, a prince of Thessaly, with fifty companion heroes, among whom were Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus, — the latter a musician of superhuman skill, the music of whose lyre moved trees and stones, — set sail in " a fifty-oared galley," called the Afgo (hence the name Argonauts, given to the heroes), in search of a "golden fleece " which was fabled to be nailed to a tree and watched by a dragon in a grove on the eastern shores of the Euxine, — -an inhospitable region of unknown terrors. The expedition was successful, and after many wonderful adventures the heroes returned in triumph with the sacred relic. Different meanings have been given to this tale. In its later forms we may believe it to commemorate the maritime activity of the Greeks of prehistoric times in the North ^gean and the Black Sea. 130. The Trojan War (legendary date 1194-1184 B.C.). — The Trojan War was an event about which gathered a great circle of tales and poems, all full of an undying interest and fascination. Ilios, or Troy, was a strong-walled city which had grown up in Asia Minor just south of the Hellespont. The traditions tell 8 The center of this early Cretan culture was Cnossus. Here have been unearthed, by Mr. A. J. Evans, the remains of a wonderful, many-chambered palace, which he believes to represent the Labyrinth of the tradition. THE TROJAN WAR 119 how Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, visited the Spartan king Menelaus, and ungenerously requited his hospitality by secretly bearing away to Troy his wife Helen, famous for her rare beauty. All the heroes of Greece flew to arms to avenge the wrong. A host of a hundred thousand warriors was speedily gathered. Agamemnon, king of Mycenee and brother of Menelaus, was cho- sen leader of the expedition. Under him were the " lion-hearted Achilles" of Thessaly, the "crafty Odysseus," king of Ithaca, the aged Nestor, and many more, — the most valiant heroes of all Hellas. Twelve hundred galleys bore the gathered clans from Aulis across the ^gean to the Trojan shores. For ten years the Greeks and their allies hold in close siege the city of Priam. On the plains beneath the walls of the capi- tal the warriors of the two armies iight in general battle or con- tend in single en- counter. At first Achilles is fore- most in every nght ; but a fair- faced maiden, who had fallen to him as a prize, having been taken from him by his chief, Agamemnon, he is filled with wrath and sulks in his tent. Though the Greeks are often sorely pressed, still the angered hero refuses them his aid. At last, however, his friend Patroclus is killed by Hector, eldest son of Priam, and then Achilles goes forth to avenge his death. In a fierce combat he slays Hector, fastens his body to a chariot, and drags it thrice round the walls of Troy. These later events, beginning with the wrath of Achilles and ending with the funeral rites of Patroclus and Hector, form the subject of the Iliad of Homer. The city is at last taken through a device of the artful Odys- seus, and is sacked and burned to the ground, ^neas, with his aged father Anchises and a few devoted followers, escapes, and Fig. 67. — Battle at the Ships between the Greeks and Trojans. (After a vase painting) I20 PREHISTORIC GREECE after long wanderings reaches the Itahan land and there becomes the founder of the Roman race. There is probably a nucleus of fact in this the most elaborate and interesting of the Grecian legends. We may believe it to be the dim recollection of a prehistoric conflict between the Greeks and the natives of Asia Minor, arising from the attempt of the former to secure a foothold upon the coast. That there really was in prehistoric times in the Troad a city which was the stronghold of a powerful and rich royal race has been placed beyond doubt by the excavations and discoveries of Dr. Schliemann and others.* //-- '-" Fig. 68. — Hissarlik, the'Probable Site of Ancient Troy* (From a photograph) 131. Return of the Grecian Chieftains. — After the fall of Troy the Grecian chieftains and princes returned home. The legends represent the gods as withdrawing their protection from the hitherto favored heroes, because they had not spared the altars of the Trojans. Consequently many of them were driven in endless wanderings over sea and land. Homer's Odyssey portrays the sufferings of the " much-enduring Odysseus," impelled by divine wrath to long journeyings through strange seas. •* Dr. Schliemann was an enthusiastic student of Homer, who believed in the poet as a narrator of actual events. In the year 1870 he began to make excavations in the Troad (at Hissarlik), on a spot pointed out by tradition as the site of ancient Troy. His faith was largely rewarded. He found the upper part of the hill where he carried on his operations to consist of the remains of a succession of nine towns or settlements. In the second stratum from the bottom he found remains of such a character that he was led to believe that they were the actual memorials of the Troy of the Iliad. Besides uncovering massive walls and gateways belonging to the defen- sive architecture of the place, and the foundations of a palace, he exhumed numerous articles of archaic workmanship in bronze, silver, and gold, including the so-called " Treasure of Priam." Later excavations on the spot, carried on by Dr. Dorpfeld, have shown that not the " second city " but the " sixth city " was probably the one whose siege and destruction is commemorated in the Iliad. RETURN OF THE GRECIAN CHIEFTAINS I2I In some cases, according to the tradition, advantage had been taken of the absence of the princes, and their thrones had been usurped. Thus in Argohs, ^gisthus had won the unholy love of r ^ Z- J2CL Fig. 69. — Grave Circle at Mycen/E.^ (After Tsouutas-Manatl) Clytemnestra, wife and queen of Agamemnon, who on his return was murdered by the guilty couple.^ In pleasing contrast with 5 Accepting as historically true those legends of the Greeks which represent Argolis as having in the earliest times nourisiicd a race of powerful rulers, and Mycena; as having been the burial place of Agamemnon and his murdered com- panions, Dr. Schliemann, made confident by his wonderful discoveries at Hissarlik, began excavations at Mycena: in the year 1876. He soon unearthed remains of an even more remarkable character than those on the supposed site of Troy. The most interesting of all the discoveries made on the spot were several tombs (Fig. 69) holding the remains of nineteen bodies, which were surrounded by an im mense number of arti- cles of gold, silver, and bronze, — golden masks and breast- plates, drinking cups of solid gold, bronze swords inlaid with gold and silver, and personal ornaments of every kind. There was one hundred pounds in weight of gold articles alone. This discovery is declared by Professor Manatt to be" the crowning historical revelation of our time." Dr. Schliemann believed that he had actually Fig. 70. — Inlaid Sword Blades FOUND AT MYCEN.-E 122 PREHISTORIC GREECE this we have exhibited to us the constancy of Penelope, although sought by many suitors, during the absence of her husband Odysseus. 132. The Dorian Invasion, or the Return of the Heraclidae (legendary date 1104 B.C.). — We set the tradition of the return of the Heraclidae apart from the legends just detailed, for the reason that, as we shall see in a moment, it undoubtedly contains a large historical element. The legend tells how Heracles, an Achaean, in the times before the Trojan War ruled over the Peloponnesian Achgeans. Just before that event his children were driven from the land. Eighty years after the war, the hundred years of exile appointed by the fates having expired, the descendants of the hero returned at the head of the Dorians from Northern Greece, effected the conquest of the greater part of the Peloponnesus, and established themselves as masters in the land that had formerly been ruled by their semi- divine ancestor. This legend seems to be a dim remembrance of a prehistoric invasion of the Peloponnesus by the Dorians from the north of Greece, and the expulsion or subjugation of the earlier Achjean population of the peninsula.^ 133. Migrations to Asia Minor. — The Greek legends represent that the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus resulted in three found the body of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks at Troy. This conclusion of enthusiasm has not been accepted by archaeologists ; but all are agreed that the ancient legends, in so far as they represent Mycenae as having been in early pre- Dorian times the seat of an influential and wealthy royal race, rest on a basis of actual fact. In the years 1884-1885 Dr. Schliemann made extensive excavations at Tiryns, where he laid bare the foundations of tlie walls of the ancient citadel and the ruins of an extensive palace like tliat at Mycenae. Still more recent diggings by other archa!ologists have made us more perfectly acquainted with the remarkable character of the buildings on both of these prehistoric sites. 6 The evidence furnished by recent archasological discoveries certainly tends to justify the conclusion that that prehistoric civilization of which Dr. Schliemann and others have brought to light so many wonderful remains, was, in Greece proper, violently overwhelmed, as though by a wave of semi-barbarism. Both Mycenai and Tiryns certainly perished in a great conflagration. What took place here in the Greek peninsula a thousand years before our era has been likened to what took place in the Italian peninsula in the fifth century after Christ, when the invading German tribes overwhelmed the civiUzation of Rome. Plate V. — The Vaphio Cups and their Scrolls. (Cups from photographs ; the scrolls drawn from facsimiles of the cups) Found in a tomb at Vaphio, near Sparta, in 1889. " The finest product of the goldsmith's art left to our wondering eyes by the Achaean civiUzation of Greece " (Richardson) SOCIETY IN THE HEROIC AGE 123 distinct migrations from the mother land to the shores of Asia Minor and the adjoining islands. The northwestern shore of Asia Minor was settled mainly by ^olian emigrants from Boeotia. The neighboring island of Lesbos became the home and center of yEolian culture in poetry and music. The coast to the south of the yEolians was occupied by Ionian emigrants, who, uniting with their Ionian kinsmen already set- tled upon that shore, built up twelve splendid cities (Ephesus, Miletus, etc.), which finally united to form the celebrated Ionian confederacy. South of the lonians, all along the southwestern shore of Asia Minor, the Dorians established their colonies. They also settled the important islands of Cos and Rhodes, and conquered and colonized Crete. These traditions doubtless preserve the memory of a great shift- ing of the population of Greece caused by the incoming of the conquering Dorian race. The legends of the various settlements represent them as having been effected in a very short period ; but it is probable that the movement embraced several centuries, — possibly a longer time than has been occupied by the English race in colonizing the different lands of the Western World. With these migrations to the Asiatic shores the legendary age of Greece comes to an end. From this time forward we tread upon fairly firm historical ground. 134. Society in the Heroic Age as pictured in the Homeric Poems. — The poems of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey^ which were composed before historic times in Hellas,'' were believed by the Greeks not only to give a truthful account of events connected with the Trojan enterprise, but also to reflect a faithful picture of society in the heroic age. Hence it remains for us to add a few words upon this subject, in order to complete our sketch of pre- historic Hellas as it presented itself to the imagination of a Greek of the historic period. ^ The Homeric poems, we may believe, were composed by bards in Ionia, where the descendants of the fugitives from the Greek peninsula at the time of the Dorian invasion (sec. 132) preserved traditions of the glories of the Mycenaean culture which that invasion had overwhelmed in European Greece. 124 PREHISTORIC GREECE The Homeric poems represent the Greeks in the heroic age as ruled by hereditary kings of semi-divine or superhuman Uneage. The ///assays, "The rule of many is not a good thing : let there be one leader only, one king, him to whom Zeus has given the scepter and guardian authority, that he may rule." ^ The king was at once the priest, the judge, and the military leader of his people. He was expected to prove his divine right to rule by his courage, strength, wisdom, and eloquence. When he ceased to display these qualities, " the scepter departed from him." The king was surrounded by a council of chiefs or nobles. This council, however, was simply an advisory body. The king listened to what the nobles had to say upon any measure he might propose, and then acted according to his own will or judgment, restrained only by the time-honored customs of the community. Next to the council of the chiefs there was a general assembly, called the Agora, made up of all the common freemen. The mem- bers of this body could not take part in any debate, nor could they vote upon any question. They were called together to hear matters discussed by the king and his chiefs, that they might know what was resolved upon, and perhaps learn the arguments for and against the resolution. This body, so devoid seemingly of all authority in the Homeric age, was destined to become the all-powerful popular assembly in the democratic cities of historic Greece. Of the condition of the common freemen we know but little : the legendary tales were concerned chiefly with the kings and the nobles. We are certain, however, that the well-to-do class owned their farms and cultivated them with their own hands, and that the poorer class labored for hire on the estates of the nobles. Slavery existed, but the slaves did not constitute as numerous a class as they became in historic times, nor do they seem in general to have been treated harshly. In the family the wife held a much more dignified and honored position than that accorded her in later times. The charming story of the constant Penelope, which we find in the Odyssey, assures us that the Homeric age cherished a chivalric feeling for woman. 8 ii. 203, 206. SOCIETY IN THE HEROIC AGE 125 -^lA In all ranks of society life was marked by a sort of patriarchal simplicity. Manual labor was not yet thought to be degrading. Odysseus constructs his own house and raft, and boasts of his skill in swinging the scythe and guiding the plow. Spinning and weav- ing were the chief occupations of the women of all classes. One pleasing and prominent virtue of the age was hospitality. There being no public inns, a sort of gentle necessity forced to the entertainment of wayfarers. The reception accorded the stranger was the same simple and open-hearted hospitality that the Arab sheik of to-day extends to the traveler whom chance brings to his tent. But while hospi- table, the nobles of the heroic age were often cruel, violent, and treacherous. Homer represents his heroes as perpetrat- ing without a blush all sorts of frauds and villainies. Piracy was considered an honor- able occupation. "It was customary in wel- coming a stranger to ask him whether his object in traveling was to enrich himself by piracy, just as we might to-day ask a person whether his object be to enrich himself by mercantile speculation." Architecture is represented as having made considerable advance. The cities are walled, and the palaces of the kings possess a certain barbaric splendor. Coined money is apparently unknown, wealth being reckoned chiefly in flocks and herds and in uncoined metals. The poems make no certain mention of the art of writing, but give glowing descriptions of sculptures of marvelous workmanship. They represent the Greeks as already skilled in shipbuilding, yet as possessing no deflnite knowledge of the Mediterranean beyond Greece proper and the neighboring islands and shores. Fig. 71. — Gallery in the South Wall AT TiRYNS " Tiryns the strong-walled." — Iliad, ii. 559 126 PREHISTORIC GREECE References. — It is difficult to give references on the subject of this chapter, for the reason that Greek mythology is generally dealt with as a whole, no effort being made to separate from the mass of stories of the gods and heroes those which we may term historical legends, — that is, those which profess to deal with the experiences and deeds of the ancestors of the historic Greeks. However, the following works, after the Iliad and Odyssey (Bryant's translation), will be found useful in the present connec- tion. CuRTius, vol. i, pp. 47-78. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. i, pp. 309- 469. Abbott, vol. i, chap, v ; on the Homeric poems and the Homeric society. Holm, vol. i, chaps, iii-x. Seemann, The Mythology of Greece and Roine. Church, Stories frofn Homer and Greek Story and Song ; and ZiMMERN, Old Tales from Greece, are for youthful readers. Gayley, Classic Myths in English Literature ; chaps, xvii-xxvii give the tales of the older and the younger Greek heroes, including the legends of the Argonauts, the Seven against Thebes, and the Trojan War. The following works deal with the archaeological matters covered by the footnotes of this chapter: Schliemann, Troy and its Remains (1875) ! Mycena: {i^-]^); Ilios (1881) ; Troja (1884); and Tiryns (1885). For an admirable summary of all these works of Dr. Schliemann's and a scholarly estimate of the historical import of his discoveries, see Schuchhardt, Schliemaitn's Excavations. DiEHL, Excursions in Greece ; an account of the results of excavations at Mycenae, Tiiyns, and on other sites in Greece. Gardner, A'ctu Chapters in Greek History, chaps, i-v ; compares the Greek legends with recent archaeological discoveries and discusses the question whether or not these discoveries may be regarded as a verification in any degree of the legends. Tsountas and Maxatt, The Mycencean Age. Hall, The Oldest Civilization of Greece. RiDGEWAY, The Early Age of Greece, 2 vols. Topics for Special Study. — i. Schliemann's E.xcavations at Mycenae. 2. The centers and the character of the culture of the Mycen^an Age. 3. Theories respecting the race represented by the so-called Mycenaean civilization. 4. The shield of Achilles. 5. The exploits of Perseus. 6. Comparison of archaeological researches and discoveries in Egypt and Babylonia and in the ^Egean lands. Fig. 72. — Fifty-Oared Greek Boat. (After a vase painting) CHAPTER XIII THE INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS 135. Introductory. — We have seen in the preceding chapter what the Greeks of the historic age beUeved respecting the life and doings of their forefathers in prehistoric times. It is certain that the prehistoric Greeks did not hve in such a romantic world as their children imagined, and that they did not perform all the wonderful exploits which were attributed to them ; yet it is certain that the Greek race before its appearance in history had had a long and wonderful experience. How do we know this? Just as we know that a man mature in character and rich in culture has seen much of the world. The Greeks when they appear in history appear with their heads and hands full of those things which are alone the gift of life. They possessed age-marked political and religious institutions, a wonderfully copious language, a rich and varied mythology, an unrivaled epic literature, and an art which though undeveloped was yet full of promise. Therefore to complete our introduction to the study of the Greeks of historic times, we shall now give a short account of their actual possessions when they first appeared in the light of history. I. Political Institutions 136. The City-State ; its Elements, — the Clan, the Phratry, and the Tribe. — The light that falls upon Greece in the eighth and seventh centuries b.c. shows the land filled with cities. Respecting the nature of these cities we must say a word, for it is with them — with cities — that Greek history has to do. In the first place, each of these cities was an independent, self- governing community, like a modern nation. It was a city-state. 127 128 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS It made war and peace and held diplomatic relations with its neighbors. Its citizens were aliens in every other city. In the second place, these city-states were, as we think of inde- pendent states, very small.^ In most cases each consisted of nothing more than a single walled town with a little circumjacent farming or pasture land. Sometimes, however, the city-state embraced, besides the central town, a large number of smaller places. Thus the city-state of Athens, in historic times, included all Attica with its hundred or more villages and settlements, some of which were walled towns. In all other cases, however, the outlying villages, if any, were so close to the walled town that all their inhabitants, in the event of a sudden raid by enemies, could get to the city gates in one or two hours at most. In the third place, each of these early cities was made up of a graded series of smaller bodies. At the bottom were clans (^ge/itcs). These were united to form phratries or brotherhoods; the phratries were united to form tribes ; and the tribes were united to form the city.^ Of these several bodies the smallest, that is the clan, was the most important.^ The members of the clan were bound together not only by the ties of kinship, but also, as in the case of the members of the phratry and of the tribe, by the ties of religion. All were the actual or reputed descendants of a common ancestor whom they worshiped as a sort of guardian divinity. It was only members of these clans who at first enjoyed the rights of citizenship.* 1 There is a limit, Aristotle argued, to the size of a city as there is to a plant, an animal, or a ship. It should be large enough, he maintained, to be " self-sufficing," and yet not too large to be well governed. That the government might be good he thought that the city should be small enough to enable each citizen to know all his fellow-citizens. 2 Compare sec. 376. 8 The clan was simply the expanded family ; for in primitive society the family as it expands holds together, being united by the worship of ancestors, whereas in advanced society as it expands it disintegrates, the several households no longer living together, but each usually going its own way. This forms a fundamental difference between primitive and modern society. * It was only after a long lapse of time that the ties which bound together these primitive family groups became relaxed, largely through a change in the religious beliefs of men, and that the way was thus paved for the entrance of strangers into THE INFLUENCE OF THE CITY 129 137. The Influence of the City upon Greek History. — We cannot understand Greek history unless we get at the outset a clear idea of the feelings of a Greek towards the city of which he was a member. It was the body in which he lived, moved, and had his being. It was his country, his fatherland, for which he lived and for which he died. Exile from his native city was to him a fate scarcely less dreaded than death. This devotion of the Greek to his city was the sentiment which corresponds to patriotism amongst us, only, being a narrower as well as a religious feeling, it was much more intense. It was this strong city feeling among the Greeks which prevented them from ever uniting to form a single nation. The history of Greece from first to last is, in general, the history of a vast num- ber of independent cities wearing one another out with their never- ending disputes and wars arising from a thousand and one petty causes of rivalry, jealousy, and hatred. But it was this very thing that made life in the Greek cities so intense and strenuous, and that developed so wonderfully the fac- ulties of the Greek citizen. There arose in the Hellenic cities a rich and many-sided culture, which became the precious legacy of Greece to the world at large. In a word, the wonderful thing which we call Greek civilization was the flower and fruitage of the city-state. II. Religious Ideas and Institutions 138. Ideas of the Greeks respecting the System of the Universe. — Forming another important element of the inheritance of the historic Greeks were their religious ideas and institutions. In speaking of these we shall begin with a word respecting their cosmography, or their ideas in regard to the system of the universe. the city. This g^eat revolution, the greatest that ever took place in the society of antiquity, was already in progress, Ijoth in Italy and in Greece, at the opening of the historical period, and resulted finally in making property and residence instead of birth and worship the basis of civil and political rights and privileges. See sees. 188, 227. I30 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS The Greeks supposed the earth to be, as it appears, a plane, circular in form like a shield. Around it flowed the " mighty strength of the ocean river," a stream broad and deep, beyond which on all sides lay realms of Cimmerian darkness and terror. The heavens were a solid vault, or dome, whose edge shut down close upon the earth. Beneath the earth, reached by subter- ranean passages, was Hades, a vast region, the realm of departed The World according to Homer souls. Still beneath this was the prison Tartarus, a pit deep and dark, made fast by strong gates of brass and iron. The sun was an archer god, borne in a fiery chariot up and down the steep pathway of the skies. Naturally it was imagined that the regions in the extreme east and west, which were bathed in the near splendors of the sunrise and the sunset, were lands of deHght and plenty. The eastern was the favored country of the Ethiopians," a land which even Zeus himself so loved to visit that 6 There was also a western division of these people. THE OLYMPIAN COUNCIL 131 Fig. 73. — Group of Gods and Goddesses (From the frieze of the Parthenon) " The chief gods, in striking contrast with the monstrous divinities of the Oriental mythologies, had been moulded by the fine Hellenic imagination into human forms of surpassing beauty and grace " often he was found absent from Olympus when sought by suppliants. In the western region, adjoining the ocean stream, were the Isles of the Blest (Elysium), the abodes of the shades of heroes and poets.' 139. The Olym- pian Council. — At the head of the Greek pantheon there was a council of twelve members, comprising six gods and as many god- desses. The male deities were Zeus, the father of gods and men; Posei- don, ruler of the sea ; Apollo, or Phoebus, the god of light, of music, and of prophecy ; Ares, the god of war ; Hephaestus, the deformed god of fire, and the forger of the thunderbolts of Zeus ; Hermes, the wing-footed herald of the celestials, the god of invention and of commerce. The female di- 'i-r I vinities were Hera, the proud and jealous queen of Zeus ; Athena, or Pallas, — who sprang full-grown from the forehead of Zeus, — thegod- FiG. 74. — The Carrying OFF OF Persephone by , ... -- ^^ T dess of wisdom Hades to the Underworld; her Leave- Taking of her Mother Demeter ^^^ the patroness , , ^, . . of the domestic A myth of the seasons connected with the Eleusmian Mysteries arts ; Artemis, the 6 These conceptions, it will be understood, belong to the early period of Greek mythol- ogy. As the geographical knowledge of the Greeks became more extended, they modi- fied considerably the topography not only of the upper but also of the nether world. 132 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS goddess of the chase ; Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, born of the white sea foam ; Hestia, the goddess of the hearth ; Demeter/ the earth mother, the goddess of grains and harvests.^ These great deities were simply magnified human beings. They give way to fits of anger and jealousy. All the celestial council, at the sight of Hephaestus limping across the palace floor, burst into " inextinguishable laughter " ; and Aphrodite, weeping, moves all to tears. They surpass mortals rather in power than in size of body. They can render themselves visible or invisible to human eyes. Their food is ambrosia and nectar ; their movements are swift as light. They may suffer pain ; but death can never come to them, for they are immortal. Their abode is Mount Olympus and the airy regions above the earth. 140. The Delphian Oracle and its Influence on Greek Life and History. — The most precious part perhaps of the religious herit- age of the historic Greeks from the misty Hellenic foretime was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The Greeks believed that in the early ages the gods were wont to visit the earth and mingle with men. But even in Homer's time this familiar intercourse was a thing of the past, — a tradition of a golden age that had passed away. In historic times, though the gods often revealed their will and intentions through signs and portents, still they granted a more special communication of ■? The cult or worship of Demeter and Persephone was connected with the Eleu- sinian mysteries celebrated at Eleusis in Attica. These secrets were so carefully guarded that to this day it is not known what they really were. It seems, however, that the hopeful doctrine of a future life more real and satisfying than that repre- sented by the popular religion was taught, or at least suggested, by the symbolism of the mysteries, and that the initiated were helped thereby to live better and happier lives. 8 Besides the great gods and goddesses that constituted the Olympian Council, there was an almost infinite number of other deities, celestial personages, and mon- sters neither human nor divine. Hades ruled over the lower realms ; Dionysus was the god of wine ; Eros, of love ; Iris was the goddess of the rainbow, and the special messenger of Zeus ; Hebe (goddess) was the cupbearer of the celestials ; the goddess Nemesis was the punisher of crime, and particularly the queller of the proud and arrogant ; yEolus was the ruler of the winds, which he confined in a cave secured by mighty gates. There were nine Muses, inspirers of art and song. The Nymphs were beautiful maidens, who peopled the woods, the fields, the rivers, the lakes, and the ocean. Three Fates allotted life and death, and three Furies (Eumenides, or Erinnyes) avenged crime, especially murder and sacrilegious crimes. Besides these there were the Centaurs, the Cyclopes, the Harpies, the Gorgons, and a thousand others. THE DELPHIAN ORACLE 133 counsel through what were known as oracles. These communi- cations, it was beheved, were made sometimes by Zeus,® but more commonly by Apollo. Not everywhere, but only in chosen places, did these gods manifest their presence and communicate the divine will. These favored spots were called oracles, as were also the responses there received. The most renowned of the Greek oracles, as we have intimated, was that at Delphi, in Phocis. Here, from a deep fissure in the rocks, arose stupefying vapors, which were thought to be the inspiring breath of Apollo. Over ^_ this spot was erected a temple in honor of the Revealer. The com- munication was generally received by the Pythia, or priestess, seated upon a tripod placed above the ori- fice. As she became overpowered by the vapors, she uttered the mes- sage of the god. These mutterings of the Pythia were taken down by attendant priests, interpreted, and written in hexameter verse. Some- times the divine will was communi- cated to the pious seeker by dreams and visions granted him while sleep- ing in the temple of the oracle. Some of the responses of the oracle contained plain and whole- some advice ; but very many of them, particularly those that implied a knowledge of the future, were made obscure and ingen- iously ambiguous, so that they might correspond with the event however affairs should turn.^" The oracle of Delphi gained a celebrity wide as the world ; it was often consulted by the monarchs of Asia and the people of 9 The oracle of Zeus of widest repute was that at Dodona, in Epirus, where the priests listened for the voice of the god in the rustling leaves of the sacred oak. 10 Thus Croesus at the time he made war on Cyrus (sec. 96) was told in response to his inquiry that if he undertook the war he would destroy a great empire. He did, indeed — but the empire was his own. Fig. 75. — Apollo 134 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS Rome in times of extreme danger and perplexity. Among the Greeks scarcely any undertaking was entered upon without the will and sanction of the oracle being first sought. Especially true was this in the founding of colonies. Apollo was beUeved " to take delight in the founding of new cities." No colony, it was believed, could prosper that had not been estab- lished with the sanction or under the superintendence of the Delphian god.^^ The Delphian oracle, furthermore, exerted a profound influence upon Hellenic unity. Delphi was, in some respects, such a reli- gious center of Hellas as papal Rome was of mediaeval Europe. It was the common altar of the Greek race. By thus providing a worship open to all, Delphi drew together by bonds of religious sentiment and fraternity the numberless communities of Greece, and created, if not a political, at least a religious union that em- braced the entire Hellenic world. ^^ 141. The Olympian Games. — Another of the most characteristic of the religious institutions of the Greeks which they inherited from prehistoric times was the sacred games celebrated at Olym- pia in Elis, in honor of the Olympian Zeus. The origin of this festival is lost in the obscurity of tradition; but by the opening of the eighth century B.C. it had assumed national importance. In 776 B.C. a contestant named Coroebus was victor in the foot race at Olympia, and as from that time the names of the victors were carefully registered, that year came to be used by the Greeks as the starting point in their chronology. The games were held every fourth year, and the interval between two successive festivals was known as an Olympiad. ^^ 11 The managers of the oracle, doubtless through the visitors to the shrine, kept themselves informed respecting the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, and thus were able to give good advice to those contemplating the founding of a new settlement. 12 For an illustration of the influence of the oracle upon Greek morality, read the story of Glaucus (Herodotus, vi. 86). 13 The date of an occurrence was given by saying that it happened in the first, second, third, or fourth year of such an Olympiad, — the first, second, or third, etc. This mode of designating dates, however, did not come into general use in Greece before the third century B.C. THE GRECIAN GAMES 135 The contests consisted of foot races, boxing, wrestling, and other athletic games. Later, chariot racing was introduced, and became the most popular of all the contests. The competitors must be of Hellenic race ; must have undergone special training in the gymnasium ; and must, moreover, be unblemished by any crime against the state or sin against the gods. Spectators from all parts of the world crowded to the festival. The victor was crowned with a garland of sacred olive ; heralds proclaipied his name abroad ; his native city received him as a conqueror, sometimes through a breach made in the city walls ; his statues, executed by eminent artists, were erected at Olympia and in his own city ; sometimes even divine honor and worship were accorded to him ; and poets and orators vied with the artist in perpetuating his name and triumphs as the name and triumphs of one who had reflected immortal honor upon his native state. 142. The P3rthian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian Games Besides the Olympian games there were transmitted from pre- historic times the germs at least of three other national festivals. These were the Pythian, held in honor of Apollo, near his shrine and oracle at Delphi ; the Nemean, celebrated in honor of Zeus, at Nemea, in Argolis ; and the Isthmian, observed in honor of Poseidon, on the Isthmus of Corinthl Just when these festivals had their beginnings it is impossible to say, but by the time the historic period had fairly opened, that is to say, by the sixth cen- tury B.C., they had lost their local and assumed a national charac- ter, and were henceforth to be prominent features of the common life of the Greek cities. 143. Influence of the Grecian Games. — -For more than a thou- sand years these national festivals, particularly those celebrated at Olympia, exerted an immense influence upon the social, reli- gious, and literary life of Hellas. They enkindled among the widely scattered Hellenic states and colonies a common liter- ary taste and enthusiasm ; for into all the four great festivals, save the Olympian, were introduced, sooner or later, contests in poetry, oratory, and history. During the festivals, poets and 136 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS historians read their choicest productions, and artists exhibited their masterpieces. The extraordinary honors accorded to the victors stimulated the contestants to the utmost, and strung to the highest tension every power of body and mind. Particularly were the games promotive of sculpture, since they afforded the sculptor living models for his art (sec. 318). "Without the Olympic games," says Holm, "we should never have had Greek sculpture." Moreover, they promoted intercourse and trade ; for the festi- vals naturally became great centers of traffic and exchange during the progress of the games. They softened, too, the manners of the people, turning their thoughts from martial ex- ploits and giving the states respite Fig. 76. - Greek Runners f ^.^^^^ ^.^^ . ^^ ^^^^_ ing the season in which the religious games were held it was sacrilegious to engage in military expeditions. They also promoted intercourse between the different Grecian cities and kept alive common Hellenic feelings and sentiments. In all these ways, though they never drew the states into a com- mon political union, still they did impress a common character upon their social, intellectual, and religious life.-^^ 144. The Amphictyonic Council Closely connected with the religious festivals were the so-called Amphictyonies, or " leagues of neighbors," which formed another important part of the bequest from the legendary age to historic Greece. These were asso- ciations of a number of cities or tribes for the celebration of religious rites at some shrine, or for the protection of some par- ticular temple. 11 The Olympian games, after having been suspended since the fourth century of our era, were revived, with an international character, in 1896, at Athens. DOCTRINE OF DIVINE JEALOUSY 137 Preeminent among all such unions was that known as the Delphic Amphictyony, or simply The Amphictyony, which was fabled to have been instituted by the hero Amphictyon, a pre- historic king of Attica. This was a league of twelve of the sub- tribes of Hellas, whose main object was the protection of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Another of its purposes was, by humane regulations, to miti- gate the cruelties of war. The following oath was taken by the members of the league : " We will not destroy any Amphictyonic town, nor cut it off from running water, in war or in peace ; if any one shall do so, we will march against him and destroy his city." This was one of the first steps taken in the practice of international law. The Amphictyons waged in behalf of the Delphic god Apollo a number of crusades or sacred wars. The first of these occurred at the opening of the sixth century B.C. (probably about 595— 586), and was carried on against the Phocian towns of Crissa and Cirrha, whose inhabitants had been guilty of annoying the pilgrims on their way to the shrine. The cities were finally taken and leveled to the ground. Their territory was also con- secrated to the gods, which meant that it was never thereafter to be plowed or planted, or in any way devoted to secular use. 145. Doctrine of Divine Jealousy. — Several religious or semi- religious ideas, which were a bequest to the historic Greeks from primitive times, colored so deeply all their conceptions of life, and supplied them so often with motives of action, that we must not fail to take notice of them here. Two of these ideas related to the envious disposition of the gods and the nature of the life after death. The Greeks were impressed, as all peoples and generations have been, with the mutations of fortune and the vicissitudes of human life. Their observation and experience had taught them that long-continued good fortune and unusual prosperity often issue at last in sudden and overwhelming calamity. They attrib- uted this to the jealousy of the gods, who, they imagined, were envious of mortals that through such prosperity seemed to have 138 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS become too much like one of themselves. Thus the Greeks believed the downfall of Crcesus, after his extraordinary course of uninterrupted prosperity, to have been brought about by the envy of the celestials, and they colored the story to bear out this version of the matter. Later, as the moral feelings of the Greeks became truer, they put a different interpretation upon the facts. They said that the downfall of the great was not due to the em/y of the gods, but to their righteous indignatiofi, aroused by the insolence and pre- sumptuous pride engendered by over-great prosperity. 146. Ideas of the Future. — To the Greeks life here on earth was so bright and joyous a thing that they looked upon death as a great calamity. Moreover, they pictured life after death, except in the case of a favored few, as being hopeless and aimless.^^ The Elysian Fields, away in the land of sunset, were, indeed, filled with every delight ; but these were the abode only of the great heroes and benefactors of the race. The great mass of mankind were doomed to Hades, where the spirit existed as " a feeble, joyless phantom." ^^ So long as the body remained unburied, the shade wandered without rest ; hence the sacredness of the rites of sepulture. III. Language, Mythology, Literature, and Art 147. The Greek Language. — One of the most wonderful things which the (i reeks brought out of their dim foretime was their language. At the beginning of the historic period their language was already one of the richest and most perfectly elaborated languages ever spoken by human lips. Through what number of centuries this language was taking form upon the lips of the 15 Homer makes the shade of the great Achilles in Hades to say: " I would be A laborer on earth and serve for hire Some man of mean estate, who makes scant cheer, Rather than reiRn o'er all who have gone down To death." — Od. xi. 489-490 (Bryant's trans.). 18 Compare sees. 57 and 88. THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS 139 forefathers of the historic Greeks, we can only vaguely imagine. It certainly bears testimony to a long period of Hellenic Ufe lying behind the historic age in Hellas. 148. The M3rthology of the Greeks. — Another wonderful pos- session of the Greeks when they first appeared in history was their mythology. All races in the earlier stages of their develop- ment are "myth-makers," but no race has ever created such a rich and beautiful mythology as did the ancient Greeks, and this for the reason that no other race was ever endowed with so fertile and lively an imagination. This mythology exercised a great influence upon the life and thought of the ancient Greeks. Their religion, their poetry, their art, and their history were one and all deeply impressed by this wonderful collection of legends and myths. Some of these stories inspired religious feeling ; some afforded themes to the epic and tragic poets ; others suggested subjects to the sculptor — the whole mythology was cut in marble ; and still others inspired the actors in Greek history to many an heroic deed or adventurous undertaking. 149. Early Greek Literature ; the Homeric Poems. — The rich and flexible language of the Greeks had already in prehistoric times been wrought into epic poems whose beauty and perfec- tion are unequaled by the similar productions of any other people or race. These epics transmitted from the Greek foretime are known as the " Homeric poems," consisting of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Neither the exact date nor the authorship of the Homeric poems is known (sec. 330). That they were the prized possession of the Greeks at the beginning of the historical period is all that it is important for us to note here. They were a sort of Bible to the Greeks, and exercised an incalculable influence not only upon the religious but also upon the literary life of the entire Hellenic world. 150. Early Greek Art. — In the field of art the heritage of his- toric Greece from the legendary age consisted rather in a certain inherited instinct or feehng for the beautiful than in acquired I40 INHERITANCE OF THE HISTORIC GREEKS skill. " The Homeric poetry was, indeed," says Professor Jebb, " instinct with the promises of Hellenic art. Such qualities of poetical thought, such forms of language, announced a race from which great artists might be expected to spring." " This prophecy we shall see passing into fulfillment in the ideal perfection of the art of Phidias and Praxiteles. References. — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. i-i 1 1. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 164-194; vol. ill, pp. 276-297. Holm, vol. i, chaps, i, xi, and xix. CouLANGES, The Ancient City, bks. i-iii. Fowler, The City-State of the Greeks and Romans, chaps, i-iii. RiCHARDSON, Vacation Days in Greece, " Delphi, the Sanctuary of Greece," and " Dodona." Gardner, N'ew Chap- ters in Greek History, chap, ix, " Olympia and the Fe.stivals," and chap, xiii, " Eleusis and the Mysteries." Diehl, Excursions in Greece, chap, vii ; on the Grecian games. Topics for Special Study. — i. Religion as the organizer of the ancient city-state. See Coiilanges and Fo2vler. 2. The Doctrine of Divine Envy in Herodotus. Consult Index \xxi6.&x Crces2ts, Polycrates,^xi^ Artabanus. 3. The influence of the Delphian oracle compared with that of the mediaeval Papacy. 4. The stoiy of Demeter and Persephone. 5. The Eleusinian mysteries. 6. The Olympian games. 17 " When the Hellenes created the Epos, they were already Greeks ; i.e. the chosen psople of poetry and art." — Perrot and Chipiez, History of Art in Primitive Greece, vol. i, p. 7. CHAPTER XIV THE GROWTH OF SPARTA 151. The Early Ascendancy of Argos ; King Pheidon. — We have seen how the Dorians, long before the historic period, in- vaded the Peloponnesus,^ and subjected or drove out the greater part of the Achaean population then possessing the land (sec. 132). One result of the invasion was the establishment of a number of Dorian city-states, of which Sparta, in the south of the peninsula, came in time to be chief and leader. But before Sparta acquired supremacy in the Peloponnesus, another Dorian city in the north had secured, and for a consid- erable time maintained, a position of preeminence. This was Argos, which arose in Argolis, near the ruins of the old Mycenaean strongholds.^ For a long time we see the rising city-state only through the mist of uncertain tradition. Shadowy forms of Argive kings move before us, but it is not until the eighth century before our era that we are able to make out clearly the figure of a single per- sonage. Then King Pheidon stands out in a light strong enough to enable us to pronounce him a man of real flesh and blood.^ The most noteworthy matter associated by tradition with the name of Pheidon is connected with the economic life of the times. He is said to have been the first to coin copper and silver in 1 Previous to their migration the Dorians dwelt in Thessaly, on the eastern slopes of the Pindus. Driven from their seats by an invasion, they migrated south- ward, and after dwelling for a time in Central Greece, moved on into the Pelopon- nesus. A part of the race, however, remaining behind, formed the Doris of historic times. 2 At Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon, the Dorian conquerors walked for centu- ries over the graves of the ancient royal race of that city without the least concep- tion of what treasures of gold and silver were buried beneath their feet (sec. 131, n. 5). 3 The date of Pheidon is not known with certainty, but probably it falls about 770-13° B-C- 141 142 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA Greece, and to have introduced a new or improved scale of weights and measures. This Pheidonian system of coinage, weights, and measures was of Babylonian origin (sec. 62). Its introduction into Greece shows how deep an influence the civiUzation of the East was at this early period exercising upon the rising cities of Hellas, After Pheidon, Argos sank into comparative obscurity. In the sixth century she was overshadowed by the rising Dorian cities of Corinth and Sicyon, and especially by the growing power of Sparta. 152. The Location of Sparta. — Sparta, the most renowned after Athens of the cities of Hellas, was the chief of the Dorian cities Fig. 77. — Sparta, with the Ranges of the Taygetus in THE Background. (From a photograph) of the Peloponnesus which owed their origin or importance to the circumstances, of the Dorian invasion. It was situated in the deep valley of the Eurotas, in Laconia, about thirty miles from the sea. The settlement took its name, Sparta,* from the circumstance that the group of villages was built upon tillable ground, whereas the core of most Greek cities consisted of a lofty rock or acrop- olis. But Sparta needed no citadel. Her situation, surrounded as she was by almost impassable mountain barriers, and far removed * "LirapT-f), sown land. CLASSES IN THE SPARTAN STATE 143 from the sea, was her sufificient defense. Indeed, the Spartans seem to have thought it unnecessary even to erect a wall round their city, which stood open on every side until late and degen- erate times. And events justified this feeling of security. So difficult of access to an enemy is the valley, that during more than four hundred years of Spartan history the waters of the Eurotas never once reflected the camp fires of an invading army. 153. Classes in the Spartan State. Before proceeding to speak of the social and political institutions of the Spartans, we must first notice the three classes — Spartans, Perioeci, and Helots — into which the population of Laconia was divided. The Spartans proper were the descendants of the conquerors of the country, and were Dorian in race and language. They com- posed but a small fraction of the entire population, at no period numbering more than ten thousand men capable of bearing arms. The Perioeci (dwellers around), who constituted the second class, were the subjugated natives. They are said to have out- numbered the Spartans three to one. They were allowed to retain possession of their lands, but were forced to pay tribute- rent, and in times of war to fight for the glory and interest of their Spartan masters. The third and lowest class was composed of slaves, or serfs, called Helots. The larger number of these were laborers upon the estates of the Spartans. They were the property of the state, and not of the individual Spartan lords, among whom they were distributed by lot. These Helots had no rights, practically, which their Spartan masters felt bound to respect. It is affirmed that when they grew too numerous for the safety of the state, their numbers were thinned by a deliberate massacre of the surplus population.^ 5 "Once, when they [the Spartans] were afraid of the number and vigour of the Helot youth, this was what they did: They proclaimed that a selection would be made of those Helots who claimed to have rendered the best service to the Lacedemonians in war, and promised them liberty. The announcement was intended to test them; it was thought that those among them who were foremost in asserting their freedom would be most high-spirited, and most likely to rise against their masters. So they selected about two thousand, who were crowned with 144 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA 154. The Legend of Lycurgus. — Of the history of Sparta before the First Olympiad we have no certain knowledge. According to tradition, peace, prosperity, and rapid growth were secured through the adoption of a most remarkable political constitution framed by a great lawgiver named Lycurgus.^ Legend represents Lycurgus as having fitted himself for his great work through an acquaintance, by converse with priests and sages, with the laws and institutions of different lands. He is said to have studied with zeal the laws of Minos, the legendary law- giver of Crete, and to have become learned, like the legislator Moses, in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Upon the return of Lycurgus to Sparta, — we still follow the tradition, — his learning and wisdom soon made him the leader of a strong party. After much opposition a system of laws and regulations drawn up by him w-as adopted by the Spartan people. Then, binding his countrymen by a solemn oath that they would carefully observe his laws during his absence, he went into an unknown exile. It is probable that Lycurgus was a real person, and that he had something to do w-ith shaping the Spartan constitution. But it is almost certain that he simply reformed a constitution already in existence ; for it is a proverb that constitutions grow and are not made. Circumstances, doubtless, were in the main the real creator of the peculiar political institutions of Sparta, — the cir- cumstances that surrounded a small band of conquerors in the midst of a large and subject population. 155. The Spartan Constitution : the Kings ; the Senate ; the General Assembly ; and the Ephors. — The so-called constitution of Lycurgus provided for two joint kings, a Senate of Elders, a General Assembly, and a sort of executive board composed of five persons called Ephors. garlands and went in procession round the temples ; they were supposed to have received their liberty ; but not long afterwards the Spartans put them all out of the way, and no man knew how any one of them came by his end." — Thucvdides, iv. 80 (Jowett's trans.). 6 The date of Lycurgus falls somewhere in the ninth century B.C., probably near its close. J THE SPARTAN CONSTITUTION 145 The two kings corresponded in some respects to the two consuls in the later Roman republic/ One served as a check upon the other. This double sovereignty worked admirably ; for five centuries there was no successful attempt on the part of a Spartan king to subvert the constitution. The power of the joint kings, it should be added, came to be rather nominal than real, save in time of war. The Senate consisted of twenty-eight elders. The two coordi- nate kings were also members, thus raising the number to thirty. The duties of the body seem to have been both of a judicial and a legislative character. No one could become a senator until he had reached the age of sixty. The General Assembly was composed of all the citizens of Sparta over thirty years of age. By this body laws were made and questions of peace and war decided ; but nothing could be brought before it save such matters as the Senate had previously decided might be entertained by it. In striking contrast to the custom at Athens, all matters were decided without general debate, only the magistrates and persons specially invited being allowed to address the assemblage. The Spartans were fighters, not talkers ; they hated windy discussion. The board of Ephors was composed, as we have noticed, of five persons, elected in some way not known to us. This body gradually drew to itself many of the powers and functions of the Senate, as well as much of the authority of the associate kings. 156. Regulations as to Land, Trade, and Money. — Plutarch says that Lycurgus, seeing that the lands had fallen largely into the hands of the rich, made a general redistribution of them, allotting an equal portion to each of the nine thousand Spartan citizens, and a smaller and less desirable portion to each of the '^ Various explanations are given of the origin of this dual monarchy. One theory supposes one king to represent the Achaean race and the other the Dorian ; a second assumes that the double monarchy arose from the union of two Dorian settlements ; while still a third regards the two kings as representing two leading families at Sparta, whose rival claims to the throne were accommodated by raising a memk)er of each to the royal dignity. See Abbott, History of Greece, vol. i, pp. 206, 207. 146 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA thirty thousand Perioeci. It is not probable that there ever was such an exact division of landed property. The Spartan theory, it is true, seems to have been that every free man should possess a farm large enough to support him without work, so that he might give himself wholly to his duties as a citizen ; but as a matter of fact there existed, at certain periods at least, great inequality in landed possessions among the Spartans. In the fourth century, according to Plutarch, not more than one hun- dred of the citizens held any land at all. The Spartans were forbidden to engage in commerce or to pursue any trade ; all their time must be passed in the chase, or in gymnastic and martial exercises. Iron was made the sole money of the state. This money, as described by Plutarch, was so heavy in proportion to its value that the amount needed to make a trifling purchase required a yoke of oxen to draw it. The object of Lycurgus in instituting such a currency was, we are told, to prevent its being used for the purchase of worthless foreign stuff. ^ 157, The Public Tables, — The most peculiar, perhaps, of the Spartan institutions were the public meals. In order to correct the extravagance with which the tables of the rich were often spread, Lycurgus is said to have ordered that all the citizens should eat at public and common tables. This was their custom, but Lycurgus could have had nothing to do with instituting it. It was part of their military life. Every citizen was required to contribute to these common meals a certain amount of flour, fruit, game, or pieces from the sacrifices ; if any one failed to pay his contribution, he was degraded and disfranchised. Excepting the Ephors, none, not even the kings, was excused from sitting at the common mess. 8 The real truth about this iron money is simply this : the conservative, non- trading Spartans retained longer than the other Grecian states the use of a primi- tive medium of excliange. Gold and silver money was not introduced into Sparta until about the close of the fifth century B.C., when the great e.xpansion of her interests rendered a change in her money system absolutely necessary. In referring the establishment of the early currency to Lycurgus the Spartans simply did in this case just what they did in regard to their other usages. EDUCATION OF THE YOUTH 147 One of the kings, returning from an expedition, presumed to dine privately with his wife, but received therefor a severe reproof. A luxury-loving Athenian once visited Sparta and seeing the coarse fare of the citizens, which seems to have consisted in the main of a black broth, is reported to have declared that now he understood the Spartan disregard of life in battle: "Any one," said he, "must naturally prefer death to life on such fare as this." 158. Education of the Youth. — Children at Sparta were regarded as belonging to the state. Every male infant was brought before the Council of Elders, and if it did not seem hkely to become a robust and useful citizen, was exposed in a mountain glen. At seven the education and training of the youth were committed to the charge of public officers, called boy trainers. The aim of the entire course was to make a nation of soldiers who should contemn toil and danger and prefer death to mihtary dishonor. The mind was cultivated only as far as might contribute to the main object of the system. Reading and writing were not taught, and the art of rhetoric w^as despised. Only martial poems were recited. The Spartans had a profound contempt for the subtle- ties and literary acquirements of the Athenians. Spartan brevity was a proverb, whence our word laconic (from Laconia), meaning a concise and pithy mode of expression. Boys were taught to respond in the fewest words possible. At the public tables they were not permitted to speak until questioned ; they sat " silent as statues." As Plutarch puts it, " Lycurgus was for having the money bulky, heavy, and of little value ; and the language, on the contrary, very pithy and short, and a great deal of sense compressed in a few words." But while the mind was neglected, the body was carefully trained. In running, leaping, wrestling, and hurling the spear the Spartans acquired the most surprising nimbleness and dex- terity. At the Olympian games Spartan champions more fre- quently than any others bore off the prizes of victory. But before all things else was the Spartan youth taught to bear pain unflinchingly. He was inured to the cold of winter by being forced to pass through that season with only the light dress 148 THE GROWTH OF SPARTA of summer. His bed was a bundle of river reeds. Sometimes he was placed before the altar of Artemis and scourged just for the purpose of accustoming his body to pain. Frequently, it is said, boys died under the lash without revealing their suffering by look or moan. Another custom tended to the same end as the foregoing usage. The boys were at times compelled to forage for their food. If detected, they were severely punished for having been so unskillful as not to get safely away with their booty. This custom, as well as the fortitude of the Spartan youth, is familiar to all through the story of the boy who, having stolen a young fox and concealed it beneath his tunic, allowed the animal to tear out his vitals with- out betraying himself by the movement of a muscle. That the laws and regulations of the Spartan constitution were admirably adapted to the end in view, — the rearing of a nation of skillful and resolute warriors, — the long military supremacy of Sparta among the states of Greece abundantly attests. 159. The Spartan Conquest of Messenia : the First and Second Messenian Wars (about 743-723 and 645-631 B.C.). — The most important event in Spartan history between the age of Lycurgus and the commencement of the Persian Wars was the long contest with Messenia, known as the First and Second Messenian Wars. Messenia was one of those districts of the Peloponnesus which, like Laconia, had been taken possession of by Dorian bands at the time of the great invasion. It was the most pleasant and fertile of all the Peloponnesian districts which fell into the hands of the Dorians. Here the intruding Dorians, contrary to what was the case in Laconia, had mingled with the native population to form a new mixed race. The real cause of the war which now broke out between the Spartans and the Messenians was probably Spartan lust of con- quest. The occasion is said to have been some border trouble about some cattle or other petty matter. The struggle falls into two periods, the so-called First and Second Messenian Wars (about 743-723 and 645-631 b.c). Of these early wars of Sparta the accounts are confused and contradictory. It is only THE SPARTAN CONQUEST OF MESSENIA 149 the general course of events that we can make out with any degree of certainty. In the first war the Messenians, under the lead of their patriot king Aristodemus, offered an obstinate resistance to the Spartan invaders. A strongly fortified city on the cliffs of Mount Ithome was the last rallying place of the hard-pressed Messenians. But after a prolonged siege this citadel fell into the hands of the Spartans, and the first war came to an end. The conquered Messenians were reduced to vassalage, their rela- tion to the Spartans becoming somewhat like that of the Perioeci of Laconia. Many of the better class, choosing exile to servitude, fled beyond the sea to Ionia or to Italy in search of new homes. An interval of two , generations separated the First from the Second Messenian War. Then the sons of the sons of those Messenians who had made the first brave fight against the Spartan invaders of their land, taking advantage of Sparta's misfortunes in war, flew to arms with the desperate determination to drive out the enslavers of their country. The Messenians were aided in their struggle by Argos and some of the Arcadian states that were jealous of the rising power of Sparta. But the freedom which the fathers could not preserve the sons could not regain. The uprising was finally crushed,^ and as a punishment for their revolt the Spartans laid upon the necks of the reconquered people a still heavier yoke of servitude. From the state of Perioeci they were reduced to the degrading and bitter condition of the Helots of Laconia. As at the end of the first war, so now many of the nobles fled the country and found hospitality as exiles in other lands. Some of the fugitives conquered for themselves a place in Sicily and gave name and importance to the still existing city of Messana (Messina), on the Sicilian straits. Thus Sparta secured possession of Messenia. From the end of the Second Messenian War on to the decline of the Spartan power 8 According to tradition the Spartans owed in part their final victory to a poet named Tyrtaeus, who, at a critical period of the war, reanimated their drooping spirits by his inspiring war songs. 150 THE GROWTH Of^ SPARTA in the fourth century B.C., the Messenians were the serfs of the Spartans. All the southern part of the Peloponnesus was now Spartan territory. 160. Spartan Supremacy established in Central and Northern Peloponnesus. — After Sparta had secured possession of Messenia, her influence and power advanced steadily until her leadership was acknowledged by all the other states of the Peloponnesus save Argos. This city naturally made a stout fight for the maintenance of her ancient supremacy (sec. 151). But an awful disaster left her shorn of power, though not of independence. Defeated in battle, the Argives on one occasion fled for refuge to a sacred grove near at hand. Here they were hemmed in by the Spartans, and then the wood set afire. The six thousand Argives within the grove perished to a man, those that endeavored to escape the flames falling by the Spartan swords. Thus. in a single day two thirds of the fighting population of Argos were destroyed. ■''' This terrible crime left Spartan influence supreme in Argolis. Argos remained, it is true, a free city, but her authority extended only a little distance beyond her walls. Even before the complete destruction of the Argive power by Sparta she had formed close alliances with the important Dorian cities of Corinth and Sicyon. At the same time, gaining influence at Olympia, in EHs, she secured the virtual management of the Olympian games. Through these national festivals her name and fame were spread throughout all Hellas. Sjjarta now began to be looked to even by the Greek cities beyond the Peloponnesus as the natural leader and champion of the ( 'rreeks. Her renown was also, it seems, spreading even among barbarian nations ; for about the middle of the sixth century B.C. we hear of an attem])t made by Crcesus, king of Lydia, to secure her for an ally in his unfortunate war with Persia, which was at that time the rising power in Asia (sec. 96). Having now traced in brief outline the rise of Sparta to supremacy in the Peloponnesus, we must turn aside to take a 1" The date of this massacre is unknown. It probably occurred about 505 B.C. REFERENCES 151 wider look over Hellas, in order to note an expansion movement of the Hellenic race which resulted in the establishment of Hel- lenes upon almost every shore of the then known world. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus. Thu- CYDIDES, i. 10, beginning; ibid. 18, beginning; ibid. 20, beginning; iv. 17, beginning. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. i, pp. 175-315. Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. ii, pp. 259-377. Abbott, vol. i, chaps, v-viii. Holm, vol. i, chaps, xv-xvii. DuNCKER, vol. i, pp. 336-435; vol. ii, pp. 53-73. Allcroft and Masom, Early Grecian History, chaps, viii and xi. Oman, History of Greece, chaps, vii and viii. Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, chap, v, sees. 1-3. GILBERT, The Constitutional Antiquities of Sparta and Athens ; first part. A book for the special student. Topics for Special Study. — i. The origin of the double sovereignty at Sparta. 2. The women of Sparta. 3. Legends of the Messenian wars. 4. The Helots of Laconia. 5. The Spartan constitution. CHAPTER XV THE AGE OF GREEK COLONIZATION (About 750-600 B.C.) 161 . Causes of Greek Colonization. — The latter half of the eighth and the seventh century B.C. constituted a period in Greek his- tory marked by great activity in the establishment of colonies. This expansion movement of the Greek race forms an important chapter not only in Hellenic but also, as we shall learn, in general history. The inciting causes of Greek colonization at the period named ^ were various. One was the growth in wealth of the cities of the home land ^ and the consequent expansion of their trade and commerce. This development had created an eager desire for wealth, and had given birth to a spirit of mercantile enterprise. Thousands were ready to take part in any undertaking which seemed to offer a chance for adventure or to open a way to the quick acquisition of riches. Another motive of emigration was supplied by the political unrest which at this time filled almost all the cities of Greece. The growth within their walls of a wealthy trading class, who naturally desired to have a part in the government, brought this order in conflict with the oligarchs, who in most of the cities at this time held in their hands all political authority. The resulting contentions, issuing in the triumph now of this party and then of that, or perhaps in the rise of a tyrant whose rule often bore heavily on all orders alike, created a large discontented class, who were ready to undergo the privations attending the founding 1 We are not concerned in the present chapter with the earlier emigration from continental Greece to Asia Minor caused by the Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus (sec. 133). 2 By the " home land," as we here use the term, we mean the western shore of Asia Minor, the islands of the iEgean, and Greece proper. 152 CHARACTER OF A GREEK COLONY 153 of new homes in remote lands, if only thereby they might secure freer conditions of life. Other motives blended with those already mentioned. There was the restless Greek spirit, the Greek love of adventure, which doubtless impelled many of the young and ardent to embark in the undertakings. To this class especially did Sicily and the other little-known lands of the West present a pecuhar attraction. To all these inciting causes of the great emigration must be added the aggressions of Sparta upon her neighbors in the Pelopon- nesus. We have already seen that many of the Messenians, at the end of their first and again at the close of their second unsuccess- ful struggle with Sparta, joined the emigrants who just then were setting out for the colonies in the western seas (sec. 159). 162. Relation of a Greek Colony to its Mother City. — The his- tory of the Greek colonies would be unintelligible without an understanding of the relation in which a Greek colony stood to the city sending out the emigrants. There was a fundamental difference between Greek colonization and Roman. The Roman colony was subject to the authority of the mother city. The emigrants remained citizens or semi-citi- zens of Rome.^ The Greek colony, on the other hand, was, in almost all cases, wholly independent of its parent city. The Greek mind could not entertain the idea of one city as rightly ruling over another, even though that other were her own daughter colony.* But while there were no political bonds uniting the mother city and her daughter colonies, still the colonies were attached to their parent country by ties of kinship, of culture, and of filial piety. The sacred fire on the altar of the new home was kindled from 3 In this respect the colonies of Rome resembled those of modern European states. ■* Besides these independent colonies, however, which were united to the mother city by the ties of friendship and reverence alone, there was another class of colo- nies known as cleruchies. The settlers in these did not lose their rights of citi- zenship in the mother city, which retained full control of their affairs. Such settlements, however, were more properly garrisons than colonies, and were few in number compared with the independent communities. Athens had a number of such colonies. 154 THE AGE OF GREEK COLONIZATION embers piously borne by the emigrants from the public hearth of the mother city, and testified constantly that the citizens of the two cities were members of the same though a divided family. Thus by the ties of rehgion were the mother and the daughter city naturally drawn into close sympathy. The feeling that the colonists entertained for their mother coun- try is shown by the names which they often gave to the prominent objects in and about their new home. Just as the affectionate memory of the homes from which they had gone out prompted the New England colonists to reproduce in the new land the names of places and objects dear to them in the old, so did the cherished remembrance of the land they had left lead the Greek emigrants to give to the streets and temples and fountains and hills of their new city the familiar and endeared names of the old home. 163. The Condition of the Mediterranean "World favorable to the Colonizing Movement. — The Mediterranean lands were at this time, say during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., in a most favorable state for this colonizing movement of the Greeks. The cities of Phoenicia, the great rivals of the Greeks in maritime enterprise, had been crippled by successive blows from the Assyr- ian kings, who just now were pushing out their empire to the Mediterranean. This laming of the mercantile activity of Tyre and Sidon left their trade and that of their colonies a prey to the Greeks. It should be noriced, however, that after the decline of the cities of Phoenicia, the Phoenician colony of Carthage on the African shore gradually grew into a new center of Semitic trade and colonizing activit)', and practically shut the Greeks out of the greater part of the Mediterranean l>nng west of Sicily. Another circumstance was favorable to Greek colonization. The shores of the Mediterranean were at this time, speaking broadly, unoccupied. The great kingdoms of later times, Lydia, Persia, Macedonia, and Rome, had not yet arisen, or were still inland powers, and indifferent respecting the coast lands ; while the barbarian tribes whose territories bordered upon the sea of course attached no special value to the harbors and commercial 'G ^ ■^sathe -- it'uiUa. There were 110,000 men, of which number 38,000 were hoplites. The Spartan Pausanias was in chief command. 10 The Spartan king Leotychides was in chief command of the alHed Greek fleet. MEMORIALS AND TROPHIES OF THE WAR 199 freedom the Hellespont and the islands." For straightway Samos, Chios, Lesbos, and other islands of the yEgean that had been in vassalage to Persia were now liberated, and received as members into the confederacy of the patriot states of the mother land.^^ 215. Memorials and Trophies of the War. — The glorious issue of the war caused a general burst of joy and exultation through- out Greece. Poets, artists, and orators all vied with one another in commemorating the deeds of the heroes whose valor had warded off the impending danger. Nor did the pious Greeks think that the marvelous deliverance had been effected without the intervention of the gods in their behalf. To the temple at Delphi was gratefully consecrated a tenth of the immense spoils in gold and silver from the field of Platsea ; and upon the Acropolis at Athens was erected a colossal statue of Athena, made from the brazen arms gathered from the field at Marathon, while within the sanctuary of the goddess were placed the broken cables of the Hellespontine bridges, at once a proud trophy of victory and a signal illustration of the divine punishment that had befallen the audacious and impious attempt to lay a yoke upon the sacred waters of the Hellespont. Selections from the Sources. — ^schylus, The Persians ; an his- torical drama which celebrates the victory of Salamis. Herodotus, v. 49-54 ; Aristagoras pleads before Cleomenes. Plutarch, Life of Themis- tocles and Life of Arisiides. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 209-238 and 271-331. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 492-521 ; vol. iv, pp. 102-201 and 242-294. Abbott, vol. ii, pp. 74-139 and 175-205. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, i-iv. Cox, The Greeks and tlie Persians. Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, i, " The Battle of Marathon." Church, Pictures from Greek Life and Story, chaps, iii-viii ; for youthful readers. Teachers will find valuable topographical material in Grundy, The Great Persian War. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Delphian oracle in the Persian Wars. 2. Themistocles. 3. ^schylus' The Persians. 4. Incidents of the battle of Salamis. 5. The story of Platasa. 11 On the very day of the battle of Salamis, according to tradition, Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, gained a great victory over tlie Carthaginians under Hamilcar at the battle of Himera, in the north of Sicily. So it was a memorable day for Hellas in the West as well as in the East. CHAPTER XX THE MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE {479-445 B.C.) 216. The Rebuilding of Athens; the New Walls. — After the battle of Plataea and the expulsion of the barbarians from Greece, the Athenians who had found an asylum at Salamis, ^gina, and other places returned to Athens. They found only a heap of ruins where their city had once stood. Under the lead of Themistocles, the people with admirable spirit set themselves to the task of rebuilding their homes and erecting new walls. The exalted hopes for the future of their city which had been raised in the Athenians by their almost incredible achievements during the past few months, together with their resolve to create an asylum large enough to receive the whole population of Attica in case of another invasion, so that they should never again be forced to become exiles without a city, led them to trace a vast circuit of seven miles around the Acropolis as the line of the new ramparts. The rival states of the Peloponnesian League watched the pro- ceedings of the Athenians with the most jealous interest. The Spartans sent an embassy to dissuade them from rebuilding their walls, hypocritically assigning as the ground of their interest in the matter their fear lest, in case of another Persian invasion, the city, if captured, should become a stronghold for the enemy. But the Athenians persisted in their purpose, and in a marvel- lously short time had raised the wall to such a height that they could defy interference. 217. The Fortifications of the Piraeus (478-477 B.C.). — At the same time that the work of restoration was going on at Athens, the fortifications of the harbor of Pirneus, begun, as we have seen, at an earlier date (sec. 206), were being enlarged and strengthened. THE TREACHERY OF PAUSANIAS 201 Themistocles was here merely carrying out the maritime policy which he had formulated for the Athenians before the invasion of Xerxes, and to which the circumstances of the past few months had given a most emphatic indorsement. That Athens' supremacy depended upon control of the sea had become plain to all. Consequently the haven town was now surrounded with walls even surpassing in strength and fully equaling in compass the new walls of the upper city. The Piraeus soon grew into a bustling commercial city, one of the chief centers of trade in the Hellenic world. In close connection with Themistocles' policy respecting the Piraeus itself stands his policy in regard to the Athenian navy. The advice which he had given the Athenians respecting the creation of a fleet had proved so wise and prescient that they were quite ready now to listen to his further counsel, so that he easily led them to the resolve to add each year twenty well- equipped triremes to the fleet with which they had fought at Salamis.^ 218. The Treachery of Pausanias. — While the building opera- tions we have described were going on at Athens and the Piraeus, the confederate fleet, under the command of the Spartan Pau- sanias, was engaged in setting free those Greek cities which were still held enslaved by the Persians. The elevation to which he had been lifted seems to have pro- duced in Pausanias a sort of dizziness. His insensate ambition suggested to him the scheme of making himself tyrant of all Greece. He believed that, by securing the cooperation of Xerxes through offering to rule in Greece as his viceroy, he could consummate this amazing piece of treachery. In pur- suance of his plans, he sent to Susa the Persian prisoners he 1 A few years after this Themistocles fell into disfavor and was ostracized (471 B.C.). He finally bent his steps to Susa, the Persian capital. King Artaxerxes appointed him governor of T>Iagnesia in Asia Minor and made provision for his wants by assigning to three cities the duty of providing for his table: one was to furnish bread, a second wine, and a third meat. Plutarch relates that one day as the exile sat down to his richly loaded board he exclaimed, " How much we should have lost, my children, if we had not been ruined ! " He died probably about 460 B.C. 202 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE had taken, together with a letter in which he actually offered to become the son-in-law of the Great King. Xerxes was naturally greatly pleased with the prospect thus afforded him of yet annexing Greece as a satrapy to his empire, and sent Pausanias assurances of every assistance in men and money. The head of Pausanias seemed now to be completely turned. He dressed like a Persian, surrounded himself with Persian guards, and deported himself generally as though already a satrap of the Great King and tyrant of Hellas. Matters soon reached a crisis. Some Ionian sailors, indignant beyond self-restraint at the conduct of Pausanias, while cruising one day, purposely ran their ship into his galley ; and when he, beside himself with rage, upbraided them for their conduct, they told him to betake himself home, adding that nothing but the memory of Plata^a restrained them from visiting upon him then and there the punishment he so richly deserved. Shortly after this a summons came to Pausanias from the Ephors at Sparta, whither information of the state of affairs in the fleet had been carried, commanding him to return home and give an explanation of his behavior.^ Having repudiated the authority of Pausanias, the Ionian fleet straightway turned to the Athenian general Aristides as leader and commander. Thus was transferred from Sparta to Athens that command of the allied fleet of the Greek cities which the Athenians had patriotically yielded to the Spartans when the inva- sion by Xerxes was impending (sec. 208), but to which. even at that time they had a just claim, as having the largest navy in Hellas. 219. The Formation of the Confederacy of Delos (477 B.C.). — Under the inspiration of Aristides, the Ionian states, in order that they might be able to carry on more effectively the work to which they had set their hands of liberating the Greek cities yet in the power of the Persians, now formed a league known as the 2 Pausanias obeyed the summons of the Ephors. He escaped punishment at this time, but a little later he was caught in treasonable correspondence with the Persians. To avoid arrest he fled for refuge to the sanctuary of Athena at Sparta. The Ephors, not daring to seize him there, caused the roof of the temple to be removed, and walling up the entrance, left the traitor to die of starvation (about 470 B.C.). THE CONFEDERACY OF DELOS 203 Confederacy of Delos, in which Sparta and her Peloponnesian allies were to have no part. All the Asian cities of Ionia and ^^iolis, almost all the island towns of the ^gean, the cities of Chalcidice, together with those just set free along the Hellespont and the Bosporus, became members of the aUiance. The league was a free association of independent and equal states. Athens was indeed to be the head of the confederacy, but she was not on that account to possess or to exercise any irresponsible .authority over the other members of the union. Aristides was chosen as the iirst president. Matters of common concern were to be in the hands of a congress convened yearly in the sacred island of Delos and composed of delegates from all the cities. At Delos, also, in the temple of Apollo was to be kept the com- mon treasure chest, to which each state was to make contribution according to its ability. What proportion of the ships and money should be contributed by the several states for carrying out the purposes of the union was left at first entirely to the decision of Aristides, such was the confidence all possessed in his fairness and incorruptible integrity ; and so long as he retained control of the matter, none of the allies ever had cause for complaint. The formation of this Delian league constitutes a prominent landmark in Grecian history. It meant not simply the transfer from Sparta to Athens of leadership in the maritime affairs of Hellas. It meant that all the promises of Panhellenic union in the great alliance formed at Corinth in 481 B.C. had come to naught. It meant, since the Peloponnesian Confederacy still continued to exist, that henceforth Hellas was to be a house divided against itself. 220. The Athenians convert the Delian League into an Empire. — The Confederacy of Delos laid the basis of the imperial power of Athens.. The Athenians misused their authority as leaders of the league, and gradually, during the interval between the forma- tion of the union and the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, reduced their allies, or confederates, to the condition of tributaries and subjects. Athens transformed the league into an empire in the following manner. The contributions assessed by Aristides upon the different 204 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE members of the confederation consisted of ships for the larger states and of money payments for the smaller ones. From the first, Athens attended to this assessment matter, and saw to it that each member of the league made its proper contribution. After a while, some of the cities preferring to make a money pay- ment in lieu of ships, Athens accepted the commutation, and then, building the ships herself, added them to her own navy. Thus the confederates disarmed themselves and armed their master. Very soon the restraints which Athens imposed upon her allies became irksome, and they began to refuse, one after another, to pay the assessment in any form. Naxos, one of the Cyclades, was the first island to secede from the league (466 B.C.). But Athens had no idea of admitting any such doctrine of state rights, and with her powerful navy forced the Naxians to remain within the union and to pay an increased tribute. What happened in the case of Naxos happened in the case of other members of the confederation. By the year 449 B.C. only three of the island members of the league — Lesbos, Chios, and Samos — still retained their independence. They alone of all the former allies did not pay tribute. Even before the date last named (probably about 457 B.C.) the Athenians had transferred the common treasury from Delos to Athens, and, diverting the tribute from its original purpose, were beginning to sj^end it, not in the prosecution of war against the barbarians, but in the carrying on of home enterprises, as though the treasure were their own revenue. About this time also the congress probably ceased to exist. Thus what had been simply a voluntary confederation of sovereign and independent cities was converted into what was practically an absolute monarchy, with the Attic democracy as the imperial master. Thus did Athens become a " tyrant city." From being the liberator of the Greek cities she had become their enslaver. What made this servitude of the former allies of Athens all the more galling was the fact that they themselves had been com- pelled to forge the very chains which fettered them ; for it was THE LEADERSHIP OF CIMON 205 their money that had built and was maintaining the fleet by which they were kept in subjection and forced to do whatever might be the will of the Athenians.^ 221. The Leadership of Cimon. — One of the ablest and most distinguished of the generals who commanded the forces of the Athenians during this same period when they were enslaving their confederates was Cimon, the son of Miltiades. After the expul- sion of the Persians from Greece, he became one of the most successful of the Grecian admirals to whom was intrusted the com- mand of the armaments designed to wrest from them the islands of the ^gean and the Hellenic cities of the Asiatic coast.* But Cimon was something more than a mere soldier and admiral. He was a statesman whose policies, though possibly sometimes unwise, were at least patriotic and indicative of an outlook that embraced not Athens alone but all Hellas. His disposition was kind and generous, and he dispensed his riches with a free hand in benefactions to the poor, in the erection of magnificent public monuments at Athens, and in the beautifying of the parks and walks in and about the city. 222. Revolt of the Spartan Helots; Cimon 's Loss of Favor The popularity of Cimon at last declined, and he suffered ostra- cism, as had Aristides and Themistocles before him. Cimon's loss of public favor came about in this manner. In the year 464 b.c. Sparta was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake. Twenty thousand of the inhabitants are said to have perished. No sooner had the news of the situation at Sparta spread among the Helots, than they seized arms and hastened thither with the purpose of making an end once for all of their oppressors. But the Spartans who had survived the catastrophe were on the alert, and the attack was repulsed. The Messenians, however, were now in arms. Intrenching themselves in the old 3 Sentiment in most of the subject cities, it should be noted, was divided. While the aristocratic class was generally the bitter enemy of Athens, the lower classes were as a rule friends of the Athenian democracy. But the frequent revolts from Athens show how strong in most cases was the sentiment of home rule. 4 Of his many victories over the Persians the most important was that at the mouth of the Eurymedon, in Pamphylia, in 466 B.C. • ■ 206 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE stronghold of Mount Ithome, they maintained against their former masters a long and bitter struggle known as the Third Messenian War (464-456 B.C.). The Spartans, finding themselves unable to reduce their revolted serfs to submission, were forced to ask aid of the other Grecian states. Pericles, one of the leading statesmen in Athens at this time, implored his countrymen not to lend themselves to the build- ing up of the power of their rival. But the aristocratic Cimon, who had always entertained the most friendly feelings for the Spartans, exhorted the Athenians to put aside all sentiments of enmity and jealousy, and to extend succor to their kinsmen in this desperate posture of their affairs. " Let not Greece," said he, " be lamed, and thus Athens herself be deprived of her yoke fellow." The great services Cimon had rendered the state entitled him to be heard. The assembly voted as he advised, and so the Athenians fought for some time side by side with the Lacedcemonians. But the Spartans were distrustful of the sincerity of their allies, and this feeling gradually grew into positive fear lest the Athenians should take advantage of their position in the country and pass over to the side of the enemy. Acting under this apprehension, which was probably entirely groundless, they, with characteristic Spartan bluntness, dismissed the Athenian forces.^ The discourtesy of this action aroused the most bitter resentment at Athens. The party of Pericles, who had opposed the policy of lending aid to their rivals as unwise and weakly sentimental, took advantage of the angry feelings of the people to secure the ostracism of Cimon as the leader of the aristocratic party and the friend of Sparta® (461 B.C.). At the same time Pericles and his friend and supporter Ephialtes, as the leaders of the liberal party, effected some important changes in the Athenian constitution' which made it almost purely democratic in character. 5 After a prolonged struggle the Spartans succeeded in subduing the rebellion and in reestablishing throughout Messenia the old order of things. •' Cimon was recalled from exile in 454 B.C. and again led the fleets of Athens against the Persians. lie died in the year 449 B.C. 7 These changes concerned the ancient council of the Areopagus. The great and patriotic services rendered by this council during the Persian Wars had given it a PERICLES COMES TO THE HEAD OF AFFAIRS 20/ 223. Pericles comes to the Head of Affairs (about 460 b.c.) ; his Policy. — Pericles was now the most prominent leader in Athens,^ and from this time on until his death shortly after the opening of the Peloponnesian War, he was the very soul of the Athenian democracy. His poHcy was just the opposite of that of Cimon, which was the maintenance in Greece of a dual hegemony, Sparta being allowed leadership on land and Athens leadership on the sea. Athens and her Long Walls' place of great influence and power during the years immediately following the battles of Salamis and Plataea. But public sentiment had now changed. The council was regarded by the democratic party with some such feelings of distrust and hatred as are entertained by the English Liberals towards the House of Lords. It seemed to them, as indeed it was, the stronghold of aristocratic prejudice and conservatism. The court was now stripped of important powers, which were conferred upon the various courts and boards of a popular character. This reform amounted to a revo- lution. It swept away the last bulwark in tlie constitution against the inroads of the democratic spirit. It removed the last check upon the will of the people. Henceforth the Athenians were to be their own censors and judges as well as their own legislators. 8 The very year that Cimon was ostracized, Ephialtes, the able liberal statesman who had led the attack upon the Areopagus, had been struck down by the hand of an assassin. 9 It is the opinion of Ernest Arthur Gardner, in opposition to the view which has been generally held, that there were only two walls, the one shown on the map as the Southern being the so-called Phaleric Wall. See his Ancient Athens, pp. 56-59. 208 MAKING OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE Pericles believed that such a double leadership was impracticable, and the whole aim of his policy was to make the authority of Athens supreme not only on the sea but also on the land. 224. Pericles fosters the Naval Power of Athens ; the Construc- tion of the Long Walls; the Conquest of ^gina (456 B.C.). — As a part of his maritime policy, Pericles persuaded the Athenians to push to completion what were known as the Long Walls ^° (about 457-455 B.C.), which united Athens to the port of Piraeus. By means of these great ramparts Athens and her principal port, . with the intervening land, were converted into a vast fortified district, capable in time of war of holding the entire population of Attica. With her communication with the sea thus secured, and with a powerful navy at her command, Athens could bid defiance to her foes on sea and land. One of the most important conquests, in its bearing upon their maritime supremacy, made by the Athenians during Pericles' lead- ership, was the subjugation of the island of vEgina, which lies in front of the harbor of Piraeus. This small but powerful state, which for a long time had been a formidable rival of Athens by sea, was now compelled to surrender its war galleys and to pay tribute (456 B.C.). 225. Pericles tries in vain to create a Land Empire; the Thirty Years' Truce (445 B.C.). — At the same time that Pericles was making Athens' supremacy by sea more secure, he was endeavor- ing to build up for her a land empire in Central Greece. As Athe- nian influence in this quarter increased, Sparta became more and more jealous, and strove to counteract it by enhancing the power of Thebes, and by lending support to the aristocratic party in the various cities of Boeotia. The contest between the two rivals was long and bitter. At first the Athenians were worsted, but at length the tide turned in their favor. All the cities of Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris fell 1" It is probable that Cimon began the work on these defenses. The ramparts were each between four and five miles in length, and sixty feet high. They were defended by numerous towers, which, when Athens became crowded, were used as shops and private dwellings. THE THIRTY YEARS' TRUCE 209 under the power of Athens, and it seemed as though Pericles' dream of a land empire as well as of a naval dominion was about to be realized. But fortune once more inclined to the side of the aristocratic party. The Athenian army experienced an overwhelming defeat (at Coronea, 447 b.c), and Pericles was fain to seek peace with Sparta. The negotiations ended in the well-known Peace of Peri- cles, or the Thirty Years' Truce (445 B.C.). By its terms each of the rival cities was left at the head of the confederation it had formed, but neither was to interfere with the subjects or allies of the other, while those cities of Hellas which were not yet members of either league were to be left free to join either according to choice. The real meaning of the truce was that Athens gave up her ambition to establish a land empire and was henceforth to be content with supremacy on the seas. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Aristides and Life of Cimoii. Thucydides, i. 90-93; tells how Themistocles outwitted Sparta. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 353-459- Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. iv, pp. 330-437. Abbott, vol. ii, pp. 243-415. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, vii-xiv. Allcroft, The Making of Athens, chaps, viii and X. Oman, History of Greece, chaps, xxii-xxiv. Bury, History of Greece, chap. viii. Cox, The Athenian Empire (earlier chapters) ; and Lives of Athenian Statesmen, " Aristeides," " Themistokles," " Pausanias," " Kimon." Greenidge, Handbook of Greek Constitutional History, chap, vi, sec. 5. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Confederacy of Delos. 2. Cimon. 3. Aristides. 4. Athens' relations to the cities of her empire. 5. The ancient temple as a sanctuary or place of refuge. CHAPTER XXI THE AGE OF PERICLES (445-431 I'-C-) 226. General Character of the Period. — The fourteen years immediately following the Thirty Years' Truce are usually desig- nated as the Years of Peace. During all this period Athens was involved in only one short war of note. And not only was there peace throughout the empire of Athens, but also throughout the Mediterranean world. There was peace between the Eastern Greeks and the Persians, as well as between the Western Greeks and the Carthaginians. The rising city of Rome, too, was at peace with her neighbors. Thus there was peace throughout the world, as happened again four centuries later in the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus (sec. 507). And as that later period of peace marked the Golden Age of Rome, so did this earlier era mark the Golden Age of Athens.^ The epoch, as we here limit it, embraced less than half the lifetime of a single genera- tion, yet its influence upon the civilization of the world can hardly be overrated. During this short period Athens gave birth to more great men — poets, artists, statesmen, and philosophers- — than all the world besides has produced in any period of equal length. Among all the great men of this age Pericles stood preemi- nent. Such was the impression he left upon the period in which he lived that it is called after him the Periclean Age.^ Yet 1 Lloyd, The At^c of Pericles, vol. ii, p. iii. - This designation is a very elastic one : by it is often meant the whole period marked by the influence of Pericles, say from the assassination of Ephialtes in 210 Fig. 85. — Pericles GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE PERIOD 21 1 Pericles' authority was simply that which talent and character justly confer. He ruled, as Plutarch says, by the art of persua- sion. His throne was the bema.^ The people were at this period the -source and fountain of all power. The reforms and revolutions of a century and more had finally removed all restraints upon their will, and that \vill was now supreme. Every matter which concerned Athens and her empire was dis- cussed and decided by the popular assembly. Never before in the his- tory of the world had any people enjoyed such un- restricted political hberty as did the citizens of Athens f£i 5;^1 -' 'j Fig. 86.- — -The Bema, or Oratuk's Stand, on THE Pnyx Hill, Athens (see sec. 1S2, n. 3). (From a photograph) at this time, and never before were any people, through so inti- mate a knowledge of public affairs, so well fitted to take part in the administration of government. As a rule, every citizen was 461 B.C. to the death of Pericles in 429 n.c. ; and again it is employed to designate the entire period of Athenian ascendancy from the battle of Plat:ea to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War. 3 It is natural, of course, that one who occupies such a position as that held by Pericles should awaken many jealousies and stir numerous resentments. And Pericles did have many enemies, and was frequently subjected to annoyance and persecution. Usually the attacks upon him were made indirectly through his friends. Thus charges of corruption and sacrilege were brought against his friend Phidias (sec. 320, n. 11), which without doubt were primarily intended to annoy Pericles. Also Aspasia, a brilliant Milesian woman who was associated with Peri- cles in a way condemned by modern morality, was charged among other things with impiety. Pericles was able to secure her acquittal only by making before the court a most abject plea in her defense. Again, Anaxagoras, a philosopher to the lofti- ness of whose teachings Plutarch attributes in large measure the elevation and liberality of the views of Pericles, who was his friend and disciple, was prosecuted on the charge of irreligion (sec. 351). 212 THE AGE OF PERICLES qualified to hold public ofifice. At all events the Athenians acted upon this assumption, as is shown by their extremely democratic practice of filling almost all the public offices by the use of the lot. Only a very few positions, and these in the army and navy, which called for special qualifications, were filled by ballot or open voting. 227. The Limitation of Citizenship to Persons of Pure Attic Descent. — A few years before the time where we have now arrived, Pericles had secured the enactment of a law which had a very important bearing upon the history of the period with which we are dealing. This was a law limiting Athenian citi- zenship to persons born of an Athenian father and an Athenian mother.* The passing of this law marks a most significant change in the policy of the Athenian state. Up to this time Athens had been the most liberal of all the cities of Greece in the admission of aliens or semi-aliens to the franchise of the city, and it was this hberal pohcy that had contributed largely to make Athens strong and to give her the imperial position she held among the states of Hellas. Aside from the formation of a federal union like the later Achsean League (sec. 304), it was the sole policy through which Athens could hope to unite into a real nation the various cities she had brought under her rule. It was the policy which Rome was just now adopting, and by the steady adhesion to which she was to make of the multitude of Italian cities and tribes a great nation, and gain the dominion of the world.^ Probably it was impossible for Athens to play in history the part of Rome. The feeling of the Greek for his own city was too strong. Biit we cannot help asking ourselves when we see Athens thus abandoning the liberal principle which had carried her so far, what might have been her future had she only steadily adhered to her earlier policy and kept her gates, as Rome did 4 The ground for this piece of legislation probably was that since the rights and privileges of Athenian citizenship were becoming valuable those possessing these rights were anxious to keep them as exclusively as possible to themselves. 5 Compare sees. 391, 395, 415, 470, 471, 512, and 527. SYSTEM OF PAYMENT FOR PUBLIC SERVICES 213 hers, wide open to strangers, and thereby kept full and strong the ranks of her citizens. We are told that as an immediate result of the law in question almost five thousand persons were disfranchised. 228. Pericles takes the Citizens into the Pay of the State. — It was a fixed idea of Pericles that in a democracy there should be not only an equal distribution of political rights among all classes, but also an equalization of the means and opportunities of exercising these rights, together with an equal participation by all in social and intellectual enjoyments. By such an equaliza- tion of the privileges and pleasures of political and social life; he would destroy the undue influence of the rich over the poor, and banish class envy and discord. In promoting his views Pericles carried to great length the system of payment for the most common public services. Thus he introduced, or at least organized, the system of payment for miUtary services ; hitherto the Athenian, save probably as respects service in the fleet, had served his country in time of war with- out compensation. He also secured the payment of the citizen for serving as a juryman, — a very important innovation. Through his influence also, or that of his party, salaries were, during this period, attached to the various civil offices, all of which were originally unpaid positions. This reform enabled the poorer citi- zens to offer themselves as candidates for the different magis- tracies, which under, the earlier system, notwithstanding the provisions of the constitution, had been practically open only to men of means and leisure. It was the same motives that prompted the above innovations which led Pericles to introduce or to extend the practice of sup- plying all the citizens with free tickets to the theater and other places of amusement, and of banqueting the people on festival days at the public expense. Respecting the effect of these par- ticular measures upon the character of the Athenian democracy, we shall say a word in a following paragraph. The outcome of the general policy of Pericles was that before the beginning of the Peloponnesian War almost every citizen of 214 THE AGE OF PERICLES Athens was in the pay of the state. Aristotle says that more than twenty thousand were receiving payment for one kind of service or another.^ 229. The Dicasteries. — Among the services just enumerated for which the citizen received a payment from the state was that rendered by the Athenian juryman in the great popular courts. These tribunals formed such a characteristic feature of the Athens of Pericles that we must pause here long enough to cast a glance upon them. Each year there were chosen by lot from those Athenian citizens of thirty years of age and upwards who had volunteered for jury service six thousand persons.''' One thousand of this number was held in reserve ; the remaining five thousand were divided into ten sections of five hundred each. These divisions were called dicasteries, and the members dicasts or jurymen. Although the full number of jurors in a dicastery was five hundred, still the usual number sitting on any given case was between two hundred and four hundred. Sometimes, however, when an important case was to be heard, the jury would number two thousand or even more. There was an immense amount of law business brought before these courts ; for they tried not only all cases arising between the citizens of Athens, but attended also to a large part of the law business of the numerous cities of Athens' great empire. All cases arising between subject cities, all cases in which an Athenian citizen was interested, and finally, indeed, all important cases arising in the dependent states, were brought to Athens and heard in these courts. It is easy to see that the volume of business transacted in them must have been immense. The pay of the juror was at first one obol per day ; but later this was increased to three obols, a sum equal to about eight 6 The various classes and magistrates supported by the public funds are given as follows: 6000 dicasts, 1600 bowmen, 1200 horsemen, 500 senators, 500 harbor guards, 50 city guards, 700 domestic magistrates, 700 foreign magistrates, 2500 liop lites, 4000 sailors, the crews of 20 watch ships, 2000 sailors forming crews of ships employed in collecting tribute, together witli jailers and other officers {Athenian Cotistitufioti, ch. 2^). " Collectively known as the Hclicea. THE DICASTERIES 215 cents in our money. This, it seems, was sufficient to maintain an Athenian citizen of the poorer class. When a case was to be tried, it was assigned by lot to one of the dicasteries, this method of allotment being observed in order to guard against bribery. The average Athenian enjoyed sitting on a jury. As Lloyd says, " the occupation fell in wonderfully with his humor." The influence of the courts upon the Athenian character was far from wholesome. They fostered certain traits of the Athenians which needed the bridle rather than the goad. The decision of the jurors was final. There was no body or coun- cil in the state to review their deci- sion. The judg- ment of a dicas- tery was never reversed or an- nulled. The deci- sions of the dicasts were not always consonant with justice ; but probably the verdicts were, on the whole, as just and reasonable as are those of the modern jury. 230. Pericles adorns Athens with Public Buildings. — Athens having achieved such a position as she now held, it was the idea of Pericles that the Athenians should so adorn their city that it should be a fitting symbol of the power and glory of their empire. Nor was it difficult for him to persuade his art-loving countrymen to embellish their city with those masterpieces of architecture that Fig. 87. — The Caryatid Porch of the Erechtheum.8 (From a photograph) 8 The Erechtheum was built, some time after the death of Pericles, on the site of an older temple which perished with the other buildings on the Acropolis at the time of the Persian invasion. 2l6 THE AGE OF PERICLES in their ruins still excite the admiration of the world. Among the various edifices constructed at this time was the Odeon or " Music Hall," erected just beneath the Acropohs. This building was intended for the musical contests that were held in connection with the Panathenaic festivals (sec. i86). But the most noteworthy of the Periclean structures were grouped upon the Acropolis. Here, as the gateway to the sacred inclosure of the citadel, were erected the magnificent Propylaea, which have served as a model for similar structures since the time of Pericles. Here also was raised the beautiful Parthenon, sacred to the virgin goddess Athena. The architects of this build- ing were Ictinus and Callicrates; the celebrated sculptures of the frieze were de- signed by Phidias. Within was the celebrated ivory and gold statue of the goddess. Near the temple stood the colossal bronze statue of Athena, — made, it is said, from the spoils of Marathon, — whose glittering spear point was a beacon to the mariner sailing in from Sunium.^ The Athenians obtained a considerable portion of the money needed for the prosecution of their great architectural and art undertakings from the treasury of the Delian Confederacy. The allies naturally declaimed bitterly against this proceeding, com- plaining that Athens with their money was " adorning herself as a vain woman decks her body with gay ornaments." But Pericles' answer to these charges was that the money was contributed 9 For additional details concerning the art matters here dealt with, see sees. 313 and 320. Fig. 88. — The So-Called Theseum at Athens (From a photograph) This is one of the best preserved of Greek temples THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 21/ to the end that the cities of the league should be protected against the Persians, and that so long as the Athenians kept the enemy at a distance they had a right to use the money as they pleased. 231. Strength and Weakness of the Athenian Empire. — Under Pericles Athens had become the most powerful naval state in the world. In one of his last speeches (sec. 235), made soon after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, in which he recounts the resources of the Athenian Empire, Pericles says to his fellow- citizens : " There is not now a king, there is not any nation in the universal world, able to withstand that navy which at this juncture you can launch out to sea." And this was no empty boast. The earlier empires of the Orient that once had held wide dominion had long since fallen, and the later Medo- Persian power which had arisen upon their ruins, and which at the opening of the fifth century B.C. was threatening to extend its authority over the world, had been checked in its insolent advance by Hellenic valor and discipline, so that at this time there was no power in the East that the Athenians need fear. In the West, Rome had not yet risen into prominence, and Carthage was barely able to contend upon equal terms with the Greek cities of Sicily. Beyond question the Hellenes were at this moment the leading race in the world ; and Athens, notwithstanding the limitations placed upon her ambition by the terms of the Thirty Years' Truce (sec. 225), was the real head of Hellas. The yEgean had become an Athenian lake. Its islands and coast lands, together with the Hellespontine region, formed practically an Athenian Empire. The revenue ships of Athens collected tribute from two hundred Greek cities. It seemed almost as though the union of the cities of Hellas was to be effected on an imperial basis through the energy and achievements of the Athenians. But the most significant feature of this new imperial power was the remarkable combination of material and intellectual resources which it exhibited. Never before had there been such a union of the material and the intellectual elements of civilization at the 2l8 . THE AGE OF PERICLES seat of empire.^** Literature and art had been carried to the utmost perfection possible to human genius. Art was represented by the inimitable creations of Phidias and Polygnotus, while the drama was illustrated by the incomparable tragedies of yEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. ^^ » But there were elements of weakness in the splendid imperial structure. The Athenian Empire was destined to be short-lived because the principles upon which it rested were in opposition to the deepest instinct of the Greek race, — to that sentiment of local patriotism which invested each individual city with polit- ical sovereignty (sec. 137). Athens had disregarded this feeling. Pericles himself acknowledged that in the hands of the Athenians sovereignty had run into a sort of tyranny. The so-called con- federates were the subjects of Athens. To her they paid tribute. To her courts they were dragged for trial.^'^ Naturally the subject cities of her empire — that is, the patriotic or home rule party in these dependent states — regarded Athens as the destroyer of Hellenic liberties, and watched impatiently for the first favorable moment to revolt and throw off the yoke that she had imposed upon them. Hence the Athenian Empire rested upon a foun- dation of sand. Had Athens, instead of enslaving her confederates of the Delian League, only been able to find some way of retaining them as allies in an equal union, — a great and perhaps impossible task under the then existing conditions of the Hellenic world, — as 10 " The average ability of the Athenian race [was], on the lowest possible esti- mate, very nearly two grades higher than our own ; that is, about as much as our race is above that of the African negro. This estimate, which may seem prodigious to some, is confirmed by the quick intelligence and high culture of the Athenian commonalty, before whom literary works were recited, and works of art exhibited of a far more severe character than could possibly be appreciated by the average of our race, the calibre of whose intellect is easily gauged by a glance at the contents of a railway bookstall." — Galton, Hereditary Genius, p. 342 (2d Am. ed., 1S87) ; quoted by Kidd, Social Evolution, ch. ix. 11 For short notices of the lives and works of these artists and poets, see sees. 320, 325, and 337. 12 The subject cities were allowed to maintain only their lower courts of justice ; all cases of importance, as we have seen (sec. 229), were carried to Athens, and there decided in the Attic tribunals. THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 219 head of the federated Greek race she might have secured for Hellas the sovereignty of the Mediterranean, and the history of Rome might have ended with the first century of the republic. Furthermore, there were elements of weakness within the Athe- nian democracy itself. Greatly as Pericles had exalted Athens, and vastly as he had extended her reputation, still by some of his measures he had sown the seeds of future evils. In his system of wholesale public doles and gratuities he had introduced or encouraged practices that had the same demoralizing effects upon the Athenians that the free distribution of corn at Rome at a later time had upon the Roman populace (sec. 584). These per- nicious practices cast discredit upon labor, destroyed frugality, and fostered idleness, thus sapping the virtues and strength of the Athenian democracy. Illustrations of these weaknesses, as well as of the strength of the Athenian Empire, will be afforded by the great struggle between Athens and Sparta known as the Peloponnesian War, the causes and chief incidents of which we shall next rehearse. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Pericles. Thucyd- IDES, ii. 65 ; on the character of Pericles. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. ii, pp. 460-641. Grote (ten- volume ed.), vol. iv, pp. 43S-533. Abbott, vol. iii, chaps, i and ii. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, xv-xx. Bury, History of Greece, chap. ix. Cox, The Athenian Empire; and Z/Vrj of Greek Statesmen, " Ephialtes " and " Perikles." Lloyd, The Age of Pericles, vol. ii, chaps, xli and xlii. Butler, The Story of Athens, chap. vii. Abbott, Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens, chaps, x-xviii. Grant, Greece in the Age of Pericles, chaps, vii, viii, and xii. Mahaffy, Survey of Greek Civilization, chap. v. Topics for Special Study. — i. The buildings of Athens. 2. The drama in the Periclean Age. 3. " A Day in Athens." 4. The popular courts. 5. The imperialism of Pericles. CHAPTER XXII THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (431-404 B.C.) I. The War to the Peace of Nicias (431-421 b.c.) 232. The Immediate Causes of the War. — Before the end of the Hfe of Pericles the growing jealousy between Ionian Athens and Dorian Sparta and her allies broke out in the long and calamitous struggle known as the Peloponnesian War. Pericles had foreseen the coming storm : " I descry war," he said, " lower- ing from the Peloponnesus." One immediate cause of the war was the interference of Athens, on the side of the Corcyrseans, in a quarrel between them and their mother city Corinth. The real root of this trouble between Corinth and Corcyra was mercantile rivalry. Both were enter- prising commercial cities, and both wished to control the trade of the islands and the coast towns of Western Greece. The motive of the Athenians for interesting themselves in this quarrel between mother and daughter was to prevent any accession to the naval power of Corinth by her possible acquisition of the fleet of the Corcyraeans, and to make sure of Corcyra as an important station and watch post on the route to Italy. The second immediate cause of the war was the blockade by the Athenians of Potidrea, in Chalcidice. This was a Corinthian colony, but it was a member of the Delian League, and was now being chastised by Athens for attempted secession. Corinth, as the ever-jealous naval rival of Athens, had endeavored to lend aid to her daughter, but had been worsted in an engagement with the Athenians. With affairs in this shape, Corinth, seconded by other states that had causes of complaint against Athens, appealed to Sparta, THE GREEK WORLD at the beginning of the PELOPONNESIAI>J "WAR 431 B. C. Scale of Miles. rs Lougtiude ^\q e a n Metbymn Les1 SEA Mj-^aieif ••^i Thocwa^^" I- , '>)>'' SlphnoeS). -^^^,yA^-'- „Vrt^l •ffliera"!) 'Itbome"- 1 o I ' tUlESSEN Pylos " '^ facteiial. I rn Giieece and Asia 'MTtil- Athens andjiei Allies I 1 Sparta and her Allies 1 I Car^iathus I onttes>- W.Sie^iL, AtJag Antiqjms ' O.Bimiido, Ailante Storico Greenwich 22 THE AFFAIR AT PLAT^A 221 as the head of the Dorian alHance, for aid and justice. The Spartans, after Hstening to the deputies of both sides, decided that the Athenians had been guilty of injustice, and declared for war. The resolution of the Spartans was indorsed by the Pelo- ponnesian confederation, and apparently approved by the Delphian oracle, which, in response to an inquiry of the Spartans as to what would be the issue of the proposed undertaking, assured them that " they would gain the victory, if they fought with all their might." 233. The Beginning : Attack upon Plateea by the Thebans. — The first act in the long and terrible drama was enacted at night, within the walls of Plata^a. This city, though in Boeotia, was under the protection of Athens, and would have nothing to do with the Bceotian League. Anxious to get possession of this place before the actual outbreak of the war which they saw to be inevitable, the Thebans planned its surprise and capture. Three hundred Thebans gained access to the unguarded city in the dead of night, and, marching to the public square, summoned the Plataeans to exchange the Athenian for a Bceotian alliance. The Platoeans were upon the point of acceding to all the de- mands made upon them, when, discovering the small number of the enemy, they attacked and overpowered them in the darkness, and took one hundred and eighty of them prisoners. These cap- tives they afterwards put to death, in violation, as the Thebans maintained, of a sacred promise that their lives should be spared. This wretched affair at Plateea precipitated the war (431 B.C.). The preparations on either side were now pushed forward with increased zeal and energy. There was great enthusiasm, Thu- cydides tells us, on both sides of the Isthmus, particularly among the young men, who, having never seen war, were eager for its new experiences and excitements. 234. The Peloponnesians invade and ravage Attica (431 B.C.). — As soon as the news of the affair at Plata^a had reached Sparta, all her allies were at once summoned to send their contingents in haste to the Isthmus, prepared for a campaign in Attica. A great army was soon collected there under the command of the Spartan king Archidamus. 222 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR Meanwhile Pericles, carrying out the general plan of campaign that had been resolved upon by the Athenians under his advice, had gathered all the inhabitants of the villages, towns, and scat- tered farmhouses of Attica within the walls of the capital. The people brought with them their household goods, even " the woodwork of their homes." Their cattle they transported to Eubosa and other places of safety. Everything that could not be carried away was abandoned to the enemy. Into the plain thus deserted, as it had been a generation before at the time of the Persian invasion, the Peloponnesians marched, just at the season when the grain was ripening, and as they advanced towards Athens ravaged the country far and near. Even the barbarians had not wasted it more ruthlessly. From the walls of the city the Athenians could see the flames of their burning houses, which recalled to the old men the sight they had witnessed from the island of Salamis just forty-nine years before. This destruction of their property before their very eyes naturally frenzied the people, and they began to upbraid Pericles, and demanded that he should give up his cowardly policy of crouching behind walls, and lead the army out to meet the enemy in open battle. Perceiving that the people were beside themselves with anger, Pericles turned a deaf ear to all their abuse, and refused to com- ply with their demands, but sent out bodies of cavalry to protect the property near the city walls. The failure of provisions finally compelled the Peloponnesians to withdraw from the country. They retreated through Bo^otia, and from the Isthmus the contingents of the different cities scattered to their homes. 235. Funeral Oration of Pericles. — It was the custom of the Athenians to bury with public and imposing ceremonies the bodies of those who fell in battle. In the funeral procession the bones of the dead of each tribe were borne in a single chest on a litter, while an empty litter covered with a pall was carried for those whose bodies had not been recovered. The remains were laid in the public cemetery, outside the city gates. The only i k FUNERAL ORATION OF PERICLES 223 time that the Athenians departed from this custom was after the battle of Marathon, when the dead were buried on the field where they had fallen, as a special tribute to their valor and self-devotion (sec. 202). After the burial of the remains, some person chosen by his fellow-citizens on account of his special fitness for the ser- vice delivered an oration over the dead, extolling their deeds and exhorting the living to an imitation of their virtues. It was during the winter following the campaign we have described that the Athenians celebrated the funeral ceremonies of those who had fallen thus far in the war. Pericles was chosen to give the oration on this occasion. This funeral speech, as reported by Thucydides/ is one of the most valuable memorials preserved to us from antiquity. All the circumstances under which the oration was pronounced lent to it a peculiar and pathetic interest. The speaker took advantage of the occasion to describe the institutions to which Athens owed her greatness, and to picture the glories of the imperial city for which the heroes they lamented had died. He first spoke of the fathers from whom they had inherited their institutions of freedom, and their great empire, and then passed on to speak of the character and spirit of those institutions through which Athens had risen to power and great- ness. The Athenian government, he said, was a democracy; for all the citizens, rich and poor alike, participated in its adminis- tration. There was freedom of intercourse and of action among the citizens, each doing as he liked ; and yet there was a spirit of reverence and respect for law. Numerous festivals and games furnished amusement and relaxation from toil for all citizens. Life in the great city was more enjoyable than elsewhere, being enriched by fruits and goods from all the world. 1 Respecting the speeches which Thuc^'dides introduces so frequently in his narrative, he himself says : "As to the speeches which were made either before or during the war, it was hard for me, and for others who reported them to me, to recollect the exact words. I have therefore put into the mouth of each speaker the sentiments proper to the occasion, expressed as I thought he would be likely to express them, while at the same time I endeavored, as nearly as I could, to give the general purport of what was actually said " (Jowett's Thucydides, i. 15). 224 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR The speaker praised, too, Athens' military system, in which the citizen was not sacrificed to the soldier, as at Sparta; and yet Athens was alone a match for Sparta and all her allies. He extolled the intellectual, moral, and social virtues of the Athe- nians, which were fostered by their free institutions, and declared their city to be " the school of Hellas " and the model for all other cities. Continuing, the speaker declared that Athens alone of all existing cities was greater than the report of her in the world ; and that she would never need a Homer to perpetuate her mem- ory, because she herself had set up everywhere eternal monuments of her greatness. "Such is the city," he exclaimed impressively, "for whose sake these men nobly fought and died; they could not bear the thought that she might be taken from them ; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf," Then followed words of tribute to the valor and self-devotion of the dead, whose sepulchers and inscriptions were not the graves and the memorial stones of the cemetery — " for the whole earth is the sepulcher of famous men," and the memorials of them are "graven not on stone but in the hearts of mankind." Finally, with words of comfort for the relatives of the dead, the orator dismissed the assembly to their homes. ^ "Thus did Pericles represent to the Athenian citizens the nature of their state, and picture to them what Athens should be. Their better selves he held before them, in order to strengthen them and to lift them above themselves, and to inspire in them self-devotion and constancy and bravery. With new courage 2 Thucydides, ii. 35-46, for the whole oration. S A bas-relief recently excavated on the Acropolis of Athens. Dr. Charles Waldstein thinks that this sculpture may " have headed an inscription containing the names of those who had fallen in battle, which record was placed in some public spot in Athens or on the Acropolis. Our Athene-Nike would then be stand- ing in the attitude of mourning, with reversed spear, gazing down upon the tomb- stone which surmounts the grave of her brave sons." As to the possible connection of this relief with the funeral oration of Pericles, Dr. Waldstein says: "Though I do not mean to say that the inscription which it surmounted referred immediately to those who had fallen in the campaign of 431 B.C., I still feel that the most perfect counterpart in literature is the famous funeral oration of Pericles as recorded by Thucydides." Plate IX. — The Mourning Athena.^ (From a photograph) THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS 225 turned they from the graves of the fallen to their homes, and went forward to meet whatever destiny the gods might have ordained" (Curtius). That funeral day was, indeed, one of the great days in ancient Athens. 236. The Plague at Athens (430 B.C.) ; the Death of Pericles (429 B.C.). — Very soon had the Athenians need to exercise all those virtues which the orator had admonished them to cherish ; for upon the return of the next campaigning season the Pelopon- nesians, having mustered again two thirds of all their fighting forces, broke once more into Attica and ravaged the land anew, giving to the flames such villages and farmhouses as had escaped destruction the previous year. The Athenians, adhering to their policy of avoiding a battle in the open field, remained behind their walls, enduring as best they might the sight of the smoke of their burning homes drifting over the plain. The walls of Athens were unassailable by the hostile army ; but unfortunately they were no defense against a more terrible foe. A pestilence broke out in the crowded city and added its horrors to the already unbearable calamities of war. The mortality was frightful. One fourth of the population of the city was swept away. In the third year of the war the plague reappeared at Athens. Pericles, who had been the very soul and life of Athens during all these dark days, fell a victim to the disease. The plague had previously robbed him of his sister and his two sons. The death of his younger son had bowed him in grief, and as he laid the usual funeral wreath upon the head of the dead boy, for the first time in his life, it is said, he gave way to his feelings in a passionate outburst of tears. In dying, the great statesman is reported to have said that he regarded his best title to honored remembrance to be that " he had never caused an Athenian to put on mourning." After the death of Pericles the leadership of affairs at Athens fell to a great degree into the hands of demagogues. The mob element got control of the Ecclesia, so that hereafter we shall find many of its measures marked neither by virtue nor by wisdom. 226 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 237. The Cruel Character of the War : the Athenians wreak Vengeance upon the Mytileneans, and the Spartans upon the Platffians. — On both sides the war was waged with the utmost vindictiveness and cruelty. As a rule, all the men captured by either side were killed. In the year 428 B.C. the city of Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos, revolted from the Athenians. With the rebellion sup- pressed, the fate of the Mytileneans was in the hands of the Athenian assembly. Cleon, a rash and violent leader of the democratic party, proposed that all the men of the place, six thousand in number, should be slain, and the women and chil- dren sold as slaves. This infamous decree was passed, and a galley dispatched bearing the sentence for execution to the Athenian general at Mytilene. By the next morning, however, the Athenians had repented of their hasty resolution. A second meeting of the assembly was hurriedly called, the barbarous vote was repealed, and a swift tri- reme, bearing the reprieve, set out in anxious haste to overtake the former galley, which had twenty-four hours the start. The trireme reached the island just in time to prevent the execution of the cruel edict. The second resolution of the Athenians, though more discrimi- nating than the first decree, was quite severe enough. Over one thousand of the nobles of Mytilene were killed, the walls of the city were thrown down, and the larger part of the lands of the island was given to citizens of Athens.'* Still more unrelenting and cruel were the Spartans. In the summer of the same year that the Athenians wreaked such vengeance upon the Mytileneans, the Spartans and their allies captured the city of Platrea, put to death all the men, sold the women as slaves, and turned the site of the city into pasture land. 238. The Athenians seize Pylos (425 b.c); the Surrender of a Spartan Force ; the Significance of this. — Soon after the affair ^ These settlers were cleruchs (sec. 162, n. 4). They did not cultivate with their own hands the lands received ; these were tilled by the native Lesbians, who paid the new proprietors a fixed rent. THE ATHENIANS SEIZE PYLOS 227 at Mytilene and the destruction of Plataea, an enterprising general of the Athenians, named Demosthenes, seized and fortified a point of land (Pylos) on the coast of Messenia. The Spartans made every effort to dislodge the enemy. In the course of the siege some Lacedaemonians, having landed upon an adjacent little island (Sphacteria), were so unfortunate as to be cut off from the mainland by the sudden arrival of an Athenian fleet. After hav- ing made a splendid fight, they were completely surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered. They must now either surrender or die. They decided to surrender. Among those giving themselves up were over a hun- dred Spartans, some of whom were members of the best families at Sparta. All the prisoners were carried to Athens. The surrender of Spartan soldiers had hitherto been deemed an incred- ible thing. "Nothing which happened during the war," declares Thucydides, "caused greater amazement in Hellas ; for it was universally imagined that the Lacedaemonians would never give up their arms, either under the pressure of famine or in any other extremity, but would fight to the last and die sword in hand." The real significance of the affair was the revelation it made of the relaxing at Sparta of that tense military discipline and spirit which had given the Spartans such a place and reputation in the Hellenic world. It was the beginning of the end. In passing from Thermopylae to Pylos we cross a great divide in Spartan history. The prisoners were held at Athens as hostages for the security of Attica in the future, the Spartans being informed that if they made another invasion of the country all the captives would be put to death. Pylos was garrisoned with Athenian and Messe- nian troops, and as a harboring place for runaway Helots became a thorn in Sparta's side. 228 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 239. The Spartan Brasidas suggests a New Plan of Campaign against Athens. — Seven years of the war had now passed since the first blow was struck, and so far from Sparta's promise to emancipate the cities enslaved by Athens having been fulfilled, Laconia itself was being held in close siege, with more than a hundred Spartans in captivity at Athens. From this humiliating condition Sparta was rescued by the ability and energy of her general Brasidas. Brasidas saw clearly that Athens could be reached only through her allies and colo- nies. He proposed to the Spartans that they should stir to revolt some group of the tributary cities of Athens, and then, working from this center of defection, spread the revolt as widely as possible. For the initiation of his policy, Brasidas suggested the Thracian shore, one of the most important of the possessions of Athens ; for from the prosperous tribute-paying cities here Athens drew large revenues, while the forests that covered the mountains sup- plied in great abundance timber for the building of her ships. The plan was adopted, and with a little army of Helots and mercenaries picked up in different parts of the Peloponnesus, Brasidas set out on his adventurous undertaking, which was not altogether unlike Hannibal's in the great fight between Carthage and Rome (Chapter XL). He traversed Boeotia, marched on through Thessaly, and soon was among the cities of Chalcidice, tributary to Athens, and offering himself to them as a liberator. Several of the towns opened their gates to him, — and that was the beginning of the end of the sea empire of Athens. The Athenians were thoroughly alarmed. They sent to the Thracian shore several armaments, one of which was led by the notorious Cleon, to hold what they still possessed there and to win back what they had lost. In what is known as the battle of Amphipolis (422 B.C.) the Athenians and their allies suffered a severe defeat. Cleon was killed and Brasidas was mortally wounded. 240. The Peace of Nicias (421 B.C.). — Both sides were now weary of the war. Negotiations for peace were opened, which, ARGOS STRIVES FOR SUPREMACY 229 after many embassies back and forth, resulted in what is known as the Peace of Nicias, because of the prominent part that Athe- nian general had in bringing it about. The treaty provided for a truce of fifty years. The essential condition was that each party should give up to the other all prisoners and captured places. II. From the Peace of Nicias to the Defeat of THE Sicilian Expedition (421-413 b.c.) 241. Argos endeavors to regain her Lost Supremacy. — The key to the history of the first three or four years of the period between the Peace of Nicias and the setting out of the great Athenian expedition to Sicily is found in the dissatisfaction of the allies of Sparta with the provisions of that treaty, and the taking advantage of this situation by Argos to regain her ancient ascendancy in the Peloponnesus (sec. 151). Chief among the dissatisfied Spartan confederates were the Corinthians. They were angry because certain places had not been given back to them, and accused Sparta of having sacrificed her allies to the advancement of her own interests. It was they who had stirred up the hostilities at the beginning, and it was they who now fanned the embers of the war into a raging flame again. They went to Argos and persuaded the Argives that it was an opportune time for them, by placing themselves at the head of a league of all the Hellenic cities opposed either to Sparta or to Athens, to regain their old place of leadership. Circumstances did indeed seem to favor such an undertaking. Sparta's military reputation had received a severe blow by the affair at Pylos as well as by her entire conduct of the war. Moreover, Argos had taken no part in the wasting war of the last ten years, but had all this while been steadily developing her resources. Therefore the Argives were quite ready to embark in the ambitious project proposed by the Corinthians. The commissioners whom the Argives sent among the cities ill-disposed to Sparta to propose to them an alliance with Argos met with a friendly reception. Mantinea, in Arcadia, and other 230 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR cities seceded from the old Peloponnesian Confederacy and joined the new league. Athens also became a member of it. 242. The Battle of Mantinea (418 B.C.) reestablishes Sparta's Leadership in the Peloponnesus. — It now began to look as though leadership in the Peloponnesus was about to be trans- ferred from Sparta to Argos, from the city of Menelaus to the land of Agamemnon. But a single battle put an entirely differ- ent look upon affairs. The Spartans met the Argives and their allies near Mantinea and inflicted upon them a decisive defeat. The battle of Mantinea was one of the most important which had thus far marked the war. It ruined forever the hopes of Argos of regaining her ancient leadership in the Peloponnesus. It restored to Sparta that ascendancy which recent circumstances had so nearly destroyed. It wiped out the disgrace of Sphac- teria, and did much to reestablish the greatly impaired mihtary reputation of the Spartans. 243. The Fall of Melos (416 b.c). — The next matter of note in the period whose history we are outlining was an act of piracy — to use plain words — on the part of the Athenians. The pleasant island of Melos, which is one of the westerly lying of the Cyclades, was the only island in the ALgean, with the exception of Thera, that was not at this time included in the Athenian Empire. The Melians were Dorians and regarded Sparta as their mother city. The Athenians determined to take possession of this island, being moved thereto by several motives. They wished to round out their dominions and secure a " scientific frontier " for their sea possessions in that part of the ^gean. Furthermore, the independence of the Melians made the other islanders subject to Athens discontented and restless; they could not see why they should pay tribute to Athens while the Melians went free. Hence for this reason also the Athenians resolved to reduce the island to the same condition as the others. Added to these motives was a desire for more lands, like the Lesbian fields (sec. 237, n. 4), for distribution among Athenian citizens, and, perhaps what weighed more than all else, a thirst to ALCIBIADES 231 revenge upon some Dorian people the wiping out by the Spartans of the Platsean state. So the Athenians in the summer of 416 B.C. sent an expedition to the island and commanded the Melians to at once acknowl- edge the suzerainty of Athens, The demand, if we may here trust Thucydides' account, was based on no other ground than Athens' imperial interests and the right of the strong to rule the weak. The Melians, relying on the righteousness of their cause and the help of their Lacedaemonian kinsmen, refused, at the bidding of Athens, to surrender their independence, which according to . their traditions they had enjoyed for seven centuries. So the city of Melos was blockaded by sea and beset by land, and in a few months, neither the gods nor the Lacedaemonians bringing help, the whole island was in the hands of the Athenians. All the men were at once put to death, and the women and children sold into slavery. The island was then repopulated by settlers sent out from Athens. The Athenians had now rounded out their dominions in the ^gean, and Plataea was avenged. But the Hellenic world never forgave the Athenians for the crime, which was one of the worst, because so unprovoked and so deliberately planned, committed by either party during the Pelo- ponnesian War. 244. Alcibiades. — It becomes necessary for us here to introduce a new leader of the Athenian demos, Alcibiades, who played a itibst conspicuous part, not only in Athenian but also in Hellenic affairs, from this time on to near the close of the Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades was a young man of noble lineage and of aris- tocratic associations. He was versatile, brilliant, and resource- ful, but unscrupulous, reckless, and profligate. He was a pupil — Alcibiades 232 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR of Socrates, but he failed to follow the counsels of his teacher. His astonishing escapades kept all Athens talking, yet seemed only to attach the people more closely to him, for he possessed all those personal traits which make men popular idols. His influence over the democracy was unlimited. By the unscrupu- lous employment of the various arts known to the successful demagogue he was able to carry through the Ecclesia almost any measure that it pleased him to advocate. The more prudent of the Athenians were filled with apprehen- sion for the future of the state under such guidance. The noted misanthrope Timon gave expression to this feeling when, after Alcibiades had secured the assent of the popular assembly to one of his impolitic measures, he said to him : " Go on, my brave boy, and prosper ; for your prosperity will bring on the ruin of all this crowd." And it did, as we shall see. 245. Debate in the Athenian Assembly in regard to sending an Expedition to Sicily. — Very soon after their seizure of Melos the Athenians embarked in an undertaking that was freighted with the most momentous consequences not only to themselves but to the whole Hellenic world. This was an expedition to Sicily. The immediate occasion of their sending out this expedition was an appeal for help from the city of Egesta against the Dorian city of Selinus. These places were situated on the western coast of Sicily, and were engaged in a quarrel over some border land and some other trivial matters. Syracuse was giving aid to the people of Selinus, and the Egestseans, being hard pressed, had sent envoys to Athens to plead for assistance. The Athenians voted to send to Sicily a fleet of sixty vessels, under the command of the generals Alcibiades, Nicias, and Lamachus. The resolution to engage in the tremendous enter- prise seems to have been taken lightly by the Athenians, which was quite in keeping with their usual way of doing things ; but a few days after their first vote, a second meeting of the Ecclesia having been called for the purpose of making arrangements for the equipment of the armament, Nicias, who was opposed to the undertaking, tried to persuade the people to reconsider A DEBATE IN THE ATHENIAN ASSEMBLY 233 their original vote and give up the project. This opened the flood gates of a regular Athenian debate. Nicias stated the reasons why he thought the proposed expedi- tion should be abandoned. His first point was that the situation at home — with the cities of the Thracian shore in open and unpunished revolt, and with other subject cities watching for a favorable moment to rebel — was such as to render it very unwise for them to send so far away a large part of their fighting force. The Athenians should secure well their present empire before attempting to conquer a new one in the Western world. Nicias also reminded the Athenians that there were still great unfilled gaps in their ranks made by the plague and by a war that had known scarcely any real intermission during sixteen years. The finances of the state, too, needed to be husbanded. The speaker then proceeded to pay his attention to Alcibiades, who was the real instigator of the whole movement. He appealed to the citizens of experience and mature judgment not to allow grave public affairs to be thus toyed with by this harebrained youth, and those like him, with whom he had filled the benches of the assembly. He appealed to them, by a fearless holding up of their hands, to avert from Athens the greatest danger that had ever threatened the city.^ This speech of Nicias summarizes the arguments that should have weighed with the Athenians in deterring them from em- barking in the hazardous undertaking that they had in mind. But from the speeches that followed, and their reception by the assembly, it was evident that the veteran general had not carried his audience with him. He was supported by a few speakers, but the most opposed his conservative policy. The leader of the war party, as has already appeared, was Alcibiades. He made himself the mouthpiece of his party, and replied to Nicias in a violent and demagogic speech, which he closed by telling the Athenians that if they wished to rule, instead of being ruled, they must maintain that enterprising and aggressive policy that had won for them their empire. To 5 Thucydides, vi. 9-14, for the entire speech. 234 T^E PELOPONNESIAN WAR adopt Nicias' policy of inaction and indolent repose was simply to give up their imperial position. Let old and young unite, he said, in lifting Athens to a yet greater height of power and glory. With Sicily conquered, the Athenians would probably become lords of the whole Hellenic world. Alcibiades evidently had the ear of the meeting. Nicias perceived this, and realizing that to address arguments to the understand- ing of the people in their present martial mood would be useless, changed his tactics, and in a second speech strove to frighten them from the undertaking by dwelling upon the size and expense of the armament they must place at the disposal of their generals. This speech produced just the opposite effect upon the meet- ing from that which Nicias had hoped. The vastness of the enterprise, the magnificent proportions of the armament needed, as pictured by Nicias, seemed to captivate the imagination of the Athenians, and they were more eager than ever to embark in the undertaking. The expedition further presented itself to the ardent imagination of the youth as a sort of pleasure and sight-seeing excursion among the wonders of the land of the " Far West." Those who had no mind of their own in the mat- ter or who were opposed to the undertaking were carried away or were silenced by the enthusiasm of the others ; and so it came about that, almost without a dissenting voice, the assembly voted for the expedition. 246. The Departure of the Expedition from the Piraeus (415 B.C.).. — The day of the departure of the Athenian fleet from the Piraeus was one of the great days in ancient Athens. It was yet early morning when the soldiers and sailors poured down from the upper city into the harbor town and began to man the ships. "The entire population of Athens," says Thu- cydides, who must have been an eyewitness of the stirring scene which he describes, " accompanied them, citizens and strangers alike, to witness an enterprise of which the greatness exceeded beUef." Prayers having been offered and libations made to the gods, the paean was raised and the ships put out to sea.^ 6 Thucydides, vi. 32. THE RECALL OF ALCIBIADES 235 Anxiously did those remaining behind watch the departing ships until they were lost to sight. Could the anxious watchers have foreseen the fate of the splendid armament, their anxiety would have passed into despair : "Athens itself was sailing out of the Pirjeus, never to return." 247. The Recall of Alcibiades ; he flees to Sparta and " plays the traitor." — Scarcely had the expedition arrived at Sicily, before Alcibiades, who was one of the generals in command of the armament, was summoned back to Athens to answer a charge of impiety.'' Fearing to trust himself in the hands of his enemies at Athens, he fled to Sparta, and there, by traitorous counsel, did all in his power to ruin the very expedition he had planned. The surest way, Alcibiades told the Spartans, in which to wreck the plans of the Athenians was to send to Sicily at once a force of heavy-armed men, and above all a good Spartan gen- eral, who alone would be worth a whole army ; for the Sicilians, disunited and jealous of each other, needed to have some one among them to whom all would defer. Alcibiades also suggested to the Spartans that they should seize and garrison Decelea, a strong and commanding position in Attica, only fourteen miles from Athens. He informed the Spartans that the Athenians were in constant fear lest their ene- mies should do just this thing. The occupation of this place by a Peloponnesian force would be much more annoying and dis- astrous to the Athenians than the occupation of Pylos by the Athenians had been to the Lacedaemonians. The Spartans acted upon the advice given them by Alcibiades. They made preparations for fortifying Decelea, as he had advised, and sent to Sicily their ablest general GyHppus, with instructions to push the war there with the utmost vigor. 248. Sad Plight of the Athenians before Syracuse ; the Fatal Eclipse; the Retreat; the End of the Tragedy (413 b.c). — The ■^ Just upon the eve of the departure of the expedition, the numerous statues of Hermes scattered throughout the city were grossly mutilated. Alcibiades was accused of having had a hand in the affair, and furthermore of having mimicked the sacred rites of the Eleusinian mysteries. 236 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR afifairs of the Athenians in Sicily at just this time were prosper- ing greatly. But the arrival of Gylippus changed everything at once. After some severe fighting in which the Athenians lost heavily, they resolved to withdraw their forces from the island while retreat by the sea was still open to them. Just as the ships were about to weigh anchor, there occurred an eclipse of the moon. This portent caused the greatest con- sternation among the Athenian troops. Nicias unfortunately was a superstitious man, having full faith in omens and divination. He sought now the advice, not of his colleagues, but of his sooth- sayers. They pronounced the portent to be an unfavorable one, and advised that the retreat be delayed thirty-seven days. Never did a reliance upon omens more completely undo a people. The salvation of the Athenians depended absolutely upon their immediate retreat. The delay prescribed by the diviners was fatal. It seems the irony of fate that the Athenians, who of all the peoples of antiquity had most completely freed themselves from superstition, who more than any other men had learned to depend in the management of their affairs upon their own intelli- gence and judgment, should perish through a superstitious regard for omens and divination. Further disaster and a failure of provisions finally convinced the Athenians that they must without longer delay fight their way out by sea or by land. They resolved to make an attempt first to break through the blockade at the mouth of the harbor, and thus open a way of escape by the sea. Failing in this, they proposed to burn their ships, cut their way through the sur- rounding enemy, and march to some friendly city. The attempt to fight their way out of the harbor failed dismally. There was now no course open save retreat by land. Making such preparations as they could for their march, they set out. " They were," says Thucydides, whose words alone can picture the dis- tress of the scene, " in a dreadful condition : indeed they seemed not like an army, but like the fugitive population of a city cap- tured after a siege ; and of a great city, too ; for the multitude who were marching numbered not less than forty thousand." END OF THE SICILIAN EXPEDITION 237 Pursued and harassed by the Syracusans, the fleeing multitude was practically annihilated. Only a few escaped. The prisoners, about 7000 in number, were crowded in deep, open stone quar- ries around Syracuse, in which prison pens hundreds soon died of exposure and starvation. Most of the wretched survivors were finally sold into slavery. The generals Nicias and Demosthenes^ were both executed. The tragedy of the Sicilian expedition was now ended. Two centuries were to pass before Sicily was again to become the arena of transactions equally significant for universal history. Then another imperial city was to seek in Sicily, with Heaven more propitious, the path to universal dominion (sec. 427). III. From the Sicilian Disaster to the Fall of Athens; the Decelean War (413-404 B.C.) 249. How the Intelligence of the Disaster in Sicily was received at Athens. — There was never any official report made to the Athenians at home respecting the fate of their fleet and army in Sicily ; for there was no one left who could make such a report. Several weeks passed before the news of the disaster reached Athens ; and when finally chance survivors of the catastrophe came in with the terrible intelligence, the Athenians treated as ridiculous fabrications their reports of what had happened in the island. It was no wonder that the Athenians refused to believe the stories of the fugitives ; the tidings were simply incredible. Finally, however, the Athenians were forced to recognize the truth of the reports. Their first increduHty now gave way to mingled feelings of anger, grief, and fear. Their first emotions, when at last they really comprehended the magnitude and com- pleteness of the disaster that had befallen their city, seem to have been feelings of furious wrath against the orators, soothsayers, oracle mongers, and all who had advised or encouraged the 8 In response to urgent appeals from Nicias, the Athenians in the spring of 413 B.C. had sent out to Italy large reinforcements under the general Demosthenes. 238 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR undertaking, forgetting that it was they themselves who, in spite of the advice of Nicias and ethers, had voted the expedition.^ But even anger had to make place for grief. It was the young men especially who had eagerly pushed forward for a place in the departing ships. There was scarcely a family in Athens that did not mourn a son or near relative, while all mourned neighbors and friends and fellow-citizens. And the cause of grief was not simply that relatives and friends had not returned ; all the circumstances attending their fate made the grief of those remaining the deeper and more inconsolable. Uncertainty shrouded the fate of friends ; the dead lay without the indispensable rites of burial ; the living, reserved for a worse fate,' were suffering the horrors of imprison- ment in the quarries of Syracuse, or were already toiling in slavery. A panic of fear, too, had seized upon the people. They saw their city stripped of its men and ships, and thus defenseless in the midst of a world of enemies. In imagination they saw all their old deadly enemies, the Boeotians, the Corinthians, the Spartans, and all the others — they realized now in their help- lessness how many enemies they had made — already at their city gates. 250. Effect of the Occupation of Decelea by the Spartans. — What contributed greatly to this feeling of helpless fear was the fact that the city was already virtually in a state of siege by land through the occupation of Decelea by the Peloponnesians (sec. 247). The fortification of Decelea was the master stroke of the Spartans during the war. Thucydides says that the occupation of this place by the enemy was "a chief cause " of the final fall of Athens. Attica was not sim])ly l(«t to Athens, but was practi- cally transformed into a Laconian land. The garrison so com- pletely devastated the surrounding country that all the sheep and cattle of the Athenians perished, while a great multitude of their slaves escaped. The overland route from the Euboean straits, by which a large part of the food supplies of Athens was ordinarily brought to the city, was blocked, and everything had 9 Thucydides, vii. i. NEW ATHENIAN ARMY AND NAVY 239 now to be brought in by ship. The citizens, moreover, were in constant fear of a surprise, for Decelea was within sight of Athens, and were worn out with watching their walls night and day. Indeed, such a determining effect did the occupation by the Spartans of this strategic point exercise upon the remainder of the war that this latter period of it, as already noted, is known as the Decelean \\'ar. 251. Measures adopted by the Athenians for maintaining the War. — After a time the vehemence of their first feelings gave place in the Athenians to a calmer temper, and gradually, since the expected enemy did not appear, to a more hopeful mood ; and with most admirable courage they set to work to retrieve their seemingly irretrievable fortune. Measures were concerted for the raising of a new army, for the awful disaster had swept away more than one third of the effective fighting force of the city. -Counting their allies, the Athenians had lost in Sicily sixty thousand men. To fill, in so far as pos- sible, the great gaps in their ranks, they now passed a decree recalling from banishment all save such as had actually joined the enemy. The garrisons on the Peloponnesian shore, save the one at Pylos, were called home to help man the walls of the city. And as with the army, so was it with the fleet. It had been practically swept out of existence. Nearly two hundred ships had been lost on the Sicilian shores. The harbor of the Piraeus was almost empty. But the Athenians now set energetically to work to repair their loss. Ship timber was brought from Mace- donia and Thrace, and the docks of the Piraeus soon presented a scene of bustling activity. The spring following the disaster saw a considerable fleet of new ships ready to challenge again the enemy on the seas. 252. Alcibiades is recalled and tries to undo the Mischief he has done (411-407 b.c). — Had the Athenians been united among themselves, perhaps their efforts might not have been in vain. But the aristocratic party, for the sake of ruining the democracy, were willing to ruin the empire. Taking advantage of the absence of the army from Athens, they overturned the 240 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR government, and established a sort of aristocratic rule (411 B.C.), under which affairs were in the hands of a council of Four Hundred. The Athenian troops, however, who were at Samos, would not recognize the new government. They voted themselves to be the true Athens, took an oath to uphold the democracy, and forgetting and forgiving the past, recalled Alcibiades — who had been intriguing for his return — and gave him command of the army, thereby well illustrating what the poet Aristophanes said respecting the disposition of the Athenians towards the spoiled favorite, — "They love, they hate, but cannot live without him." Alcibiades detached the Persians from the side of the Spartans, — he himself had traitorously persuaded them again to inter- meddle in the affairs of the Greeks, — and gained some splendid victories for Athens. But he could not undo the evil he had done. He had ruined Athens beyond redemption by any human power. Consequently the struggle grew more and more hopeless. Alcibi- ades was defeated, and, fearing to face the Athenians, who had deposed him from his command, sought safety in flight.-^" 253. The Battle of Arginusae (406 B.C.); the Condemnation of the Athenian Generals. — The most important engagement of the following year was the great sea fight between the Peloponnesian fleet of one hundred and twenty ships and the Athenian fleet of one hundred and fifty ill-equipped vessels, at the islets of Arginusae, which lie between Lesbos and the Asian shore. The Athenians were victorious, but twenty-five of their ships were wrecked in the terrible encounter. The splendid victory was marred by a great misfortune and a great crime. After the battle forty-seven of the Athenian ships had been detailed to rescue the crews of the wrecked galleys, while the remainder pursued the fleeing enemy. A severe storm arising, the rescuing party was unable to reach the wrecks, and the crews perished. Although no one seems to have been to blame, at least criminally to blame, for the misfortune, still the l*^ Some years later he was killed in Asia Minor, one account says by political, but another by personal, enemies (404 B.C.). CAPTURE OF THE ATHENIAN FLEET 241 assembly at Athens, by a hurried and illegal vote, notwithstanding the protest of the philosopher Socrates, who happened at the time to be one of the presiding ofificers of the Ecclesia, con- demned eight of the generals in command of the fleet to death, and carried the decree into effect as to the six who were present in the city. This action of the Athenians was another of the crimes of the democracy, and one of which the people afterwards bitterly repented. 254. Capture of the Athenian Fleet by Lysander at ^gospot- ami (405 B.C.). — The year following the condemnation of the Athenian generals the war was virtually ended by the surprise and capture of the Athenian fleet at ^gospotami (goat's rivers), on the Hellespont, by the Spartan general Lysander. All of the prisoners save the native Athenians were released ; these were led out and, to the number of four thousand it is said, put to death, the usual rites of burial being denied their bodies. The excuse offered for this massacre was that the Athenians had thrown some prisoners from a precipice, and also that they had determined to cut off the right hand of all the prisoners they might make. Probably there was no truth in these accusations, but they served as a pretext for the barbarous act. It is worthy of note here that the Greeks had advanced beyond that state of barbarism in war where the life of the prisoner is taken merely for the sake of taking it, and had begun to recog- nize the right of the vanquished at least to life, unless this right had been forfeited by some special act of treachery or disregard of the generally recognized laws of war. 255. The Fall of Athens (404 b.c). — Among the few Athe- nian vessels that escaped capture at the hands of Lysander was the state ship Faralus, which hastened to Athens with the tidings of the terrible misfortune. It arrived in the nighttime, and from the Piraeus the awful news, published by a despairing wail, spread up the Long Walls into the upper city. "That night," says Xenophon, "no one slept."" All knew that the fate of Athens was sealed. 11 Hellenica, ii. 2, 3-4. 242 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR The towns on the Thracian and Macedonian coasts and the islands of the yEgean belonging to the Athenian Empire now fell into the hands of the Peloponnesians. Athens was besieged by sea and land, and soon forced to surrender. Some of the allies insisted upon a total destruction of the city and the conversion of its site into pasture land. The Spartans, however, with appar- ent magnanimity, declared that they would never consent thus " to put out one of the eyes of Greece." The real motive of the Spartans in sparing the city was their fear lest, with Athens blotted out, Thebes or Corinth should become too powerful, and the leadership of Sparta be thereby endangered. The final resolve of the conference was that the lives of the Athenians should be spared, but that they should be required to demolish their Long Walls and those of the Piraeus, to give up all their ships save twelve, to allow their exiles to return, and to bind themselves to do Sparta's bidding both by sea and by land. The Athenians were forced to surrender on these hard and humiliating conditions. Straightway the victors dismantled the harbor at Pir^us, burning the unfinished ships on the docks, and then began the demohtion of the Long Walls and the fortifica- tions, the work going on to the accompaniment of festive music and dancing ; for the Peloponnesians, says Xenophon, looked upon that day as the beginning of liberty for the Hellenes. The long war was now over. The dominion of the imperial city of Athens was at an end, and the great days of Greece were past. 256. The Results of the War. — "Never," says Thucydides, commenting upon the lamentable results of the Peloponnesian War, " never were so many cities captured and depopulated. . . . Never were exile and slaughter more frequent, whether in the war or brought about by civil strife." Greece never recovered from the blow which had destroyed so large a part of her population. Athens was merely the wreck of her former self. The harbor of the Piraeus, once crowded with the ships of the imperial city, was now empty. The population of the capital had been terribly thinned. Things were just the reverse now of what they were RESULTS OF THE WAR 243 at the time of the Persian invasion, when, with Athens in ruins, Themistocles at Salamis, taunted with being a man without a city, could truthfully declare that Athens was there on the sea in her ships. Now the real Athens was gone ; only the empty shell remained. And with her was gone every good hope of the Greek cities ever being gathered into a nation, and an end thereby placed to their never-ceasing contentions and wars. Not Athens alone, but all Hellas, bore the marks of the cruel war. Sites once covered with pleasant villages or flourishing towns were now plow and pasture land. But more lamentable than all else was the effect of the war upon the intellectual and moral life of the Greek race. The Grecian world had sunk many degrees in morality ; while the vigor and productiveness of the intellectual and artistic life of Hellas, the center and home of which had been Athens, were impaired beyond recovery. The achievements of the Greek intellect, especially in the fields of philosophic thought, in the century following the war were, it is true, wonderful ; but these triumphs merely show, we may believe, what the Hellenic mind would have done for art and general culture had it been permitted, unchecked, and under the favoring and inspiring conditions of liberty and self-govern- ment, to disclose all that was latent in it. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of AlciHades. Thucyd- IDES, ii. 35-46 ; the funeral oration of Pericles. Xenophon, Hellenica, i. 4 ; the return of Alcibiades to Athens. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. iii, pp. 321-413. Grote (ten- volume ed.), vols, iv-vi. Abbott, vol. iii, chaps, iii-xii. Holm, vol. ii, chaps, xxi-xxviii. Cox, History of Greece, vol. ii, pp. 104-594; and Lives of Greek Statesmen, " Kleon," " Brasidas," " Demosthenes," and " Nikias." For a connected history of the Sicilian Greek cities, see Freeman, The Story of Sicily. Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, ii, '■ Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, B.C. 413." Topics for Special Study. — i. The debate in the Athenian assembly on the proposed Sicilian expedition. See Thiicydides, vi. 8-23. 2. The siege of Plata;a. 3. Alcibiades. 4. Nicias. CHAPTER XXIII THE SPARTAN AND THE THEBAN SUPREMACY (404-362 B.C.) I. The Spartan Supremacy (404-371 b.c.) 257. The Character of the Period. — Throughout the Pelopon- nesian War, Sparta had maintained that her only purpose in war- ring against Athens was to regain for the Grecian cities the liberty of which Athens had deprived them. But no sooner was the power of Athens broken than Sparta herself began to play the tyrant, and set up in Greece a despotism far more unendurable than any that Athens had ever maintained. The cities freed from the rule of Athens, instead of being left free to manage their own affairs, were at once made the sub- jects of Sparta. Their democratic governments were overthrown and authority was placed in the hands of oligarchic councils or bands, generally composed of ten persons, and hence known as decarchies, whose tyranny was supported by Lacedaemonian garrisons. Further, Spartan governors, called hartnosts, officers who exercised the arbitrary authority of Persian satraps, were sent to the different cities. The experience of Athens under the rule of the board of oligarchs into whose hands Lysander delivered the city may be taken as typical of the experiences of the other cities whose affairs the Spartans regulated in like manner. 258. The Thirty Tyrants at Athens (404-403 B.C.), — One of the conditions exacted by Lysander of the Athenians upon their surrender was that they should allow the return of the exiled oligarchs. This measure was intended by Lysander to pave the way for the abolition of the democratic government, and it worked just as he had planned. 244 EXPEDITION OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS 245 Upon the return of the oligarchs the democracy was over- thrown, and in its place was set up an oligarchic government, administered by a board of thirty persons, at the head of which was Critias. These men instituted such an infamous tyranny that they were known as the Thirty Tyrants. Their rule was a perfect reign of terror, and was supported by a Lacedaemonian garrison established on the Acropolis. The tyranny was too atrocious to endure long. It was brought to an end by a band of exiles, and the old democratic consti- tution, somewhat changed, was reestablished (403 B.C.). The memory of the Thirty Tyrants was assigned to eternal execration. M E D I T March of the Ten Thousand Greeks 259. The Expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks (40 1-400 B.C.). — Shortly after these transactions at Athens there took place an affair of momentous consequences in Asia. This was the famous expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks through the heart of the dominions of the Great King. The circumstances of this remark- able exploit were these. Cyrus, brother of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, and satrap in Asia Minor, feeling that he had been unjustly excluded from the 246 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY throne by his brother, secretly planned to dethrone Mm. From various quarters he gathered an army of over 100,000 barbarians and about 13,000 Cireek mercenaries under the lead of a Spartan named Clearchus, and set out on the undertaking. The march of the expedition through Asia Minor and across the Mesopotamian plains was, strangely enough, unimpeded by the Persians, and Cyrus had penetrated to the very heart of the Persian Empire before, at Cunaxa in Babylonia, his farther advance was disputed by Artaxerxes with an army numbering, it is said, 800,000 men. In the battle which here followed the splendid conduct of the Greeks won the day for their leader. Cyrus, how- ever, was slain ; and Clearchus and the other Grecian generals were treacherously seized and put to death. The Greeks, in a hurried night meeting, chose new generals to lead them back to their homes. The chief of these was Xeno- phon, the popular historian of the expedition. Under his direc- tion the Greeks made one of the most memorable retreats in all history. They traversed the plains of the Tigris, and then, in the midst of the winter season, crossed the snowy passes of the mountains of Armenia. Finally, after almost incredible hardships, the head of the retreating column reached the top of a moun- tain ridge whence the waters of the Euxine appeared to view. A great shout, '■'■Thalassa ! Thalassaf" (The sea ! the sea !), arose and spread back through the column, creating a tumult of joy among the soldiers, weary with their seemingly endless marching and fighting. The Greeks had struck the sea at the spot where stood the Greek colony of Trapezus (now Trebizond), whence they finally made their way home. The march of the Ten Thousand is regarded as one of the most remarkable military exploits of antiquity. Its historical significance is derived from the fact that it paved the way for the later expedition of Alexander the Great. This it did by revealing to the Greeks the decayed state of the Persian Empire, and showing how feeble was the resistance which it could offer to the march of an army of disciplined soldiers. CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES 247 260. The Condemnation and Death of Socrates (399 b.c). — While Xenophon was yet away on his expedition, there hap- pened in his native city one of the saddest tragedies in history. This was the trial and condemnation to death by the Athenians of their fellow-citizen Socrates, the greatest moral teacher of pagan antiquity. The double charge upon which he was condemned was worded as follows : " Socrates is guilty of crime, — first, for not worship- ing the gods whom the city worships, but in introducing new divinities of his own ; next, for corrupting the youth. The pen- alty is death." We are surprised that such a man as Socrates should have been the object of such a prosecution in tolerant, free-thinking, and freedom-loving Athens. But his prosecutors were moved by other motives besides zeal for the national worship. Socrates during his long life, — he was now an old man of seventy years, — spent as an uncompromising teacher of truth and righteous- ness, had made many personal enemies. He had exposed by his searching questions the ignorance of many a vain pretender to wisdom, and stirred up thereby many lasting resentments. He had disturbed many pious people by the unconventional way in which he talked about the popular gods. The fact that Alci- biades and Critias had both been disciples of his was used to show the dangerous tendency of his teachings. Socrates again had offended many through his opposition to the Athenian democracy; for he did not always approve of the way the Athenians had of doing things, and told them so plainly. He favored, for instance, the limitation of the franchise, and ridiculed the Athenian method of selecting magistrates by the use of the lot (sec. 226), as though the lot could pick out the men best fitted to govern. But the people, especially since the events of the year 404 B.C., were very sensitive to all criticism of this kind which tended to discredit their cherished democratic institutions. The trial was before a dicastery or citizen court (sec. 229) composed of over five hundred jurors. Socrates made no serious 248 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY attempt to secure a favorable verdict from the court, steadily refusing to make any unbecoming appeal to his judges for clem- ency. Instead of doing this, he embraced the opportunity to tell the jurors some wholesome truths ; and after he had been pronounced guilty, when called upon, according to custom, to name the penalty which he would have the court inflict,-^ he said that he thought he deserved to be supported for the rest of his life at the public expense. He finally, however, yielding to the entreaties of his friends, proposed a penalty of thirty minae.^ The dicasts, irritated by the words and manner of Socrates, pronounced against him by a majority vote the extreme sentence of death. It so happened that the sentence was pronounced just after the sacred ship that yearly bore the offerings to Delos in com- memoration of the deliverance of the Athenian youth from the Cretan Minotaur (sec. 128) had set sail on its holy commission, and since by a law of the city no one could be put to death while it was away, Socrates was led to prison, and there remained for about thirty days before the execution of the sentence. This period Socrates spent in serene converse with his friends upon those lofty themes that had occupied his thoughts during all his life. When at last the hour for his departure had arrived, he bade his friends farewell, and then calmly drank the cup of poison hemlock. 261. The Spartan King Agesilaus and the War in Asia Minor against the Persians (399-394 B.C.). — We must now turn from Athenian matters to view the affairs of the Greeks in Asia Minor. Momentous consequences issued from the unsuccessful attempt of Cyrus to dethrone his brother, Artaxerxes set about to chas- tise the Greek cities of the coast which, through moral support or active cooperation, had aided Cyrus. These cities appealed to Sparta to defend them from Persian vengeance. 1 The way of fixing the penalty in an Athenian court was this: the accuser named a penalty (in this case the prosecutor liad named death) and then the condemned was at liberty to name another. The jury then chose between the two. They must impose one or the other penalty ; they were not at liberty to choose a third. 2 A mina was equivalent to about ^i8 or ^20. THE CORINTHIAN WAR 249 The Spartans sent the assistance soHcited. After the war had been maintained for some time with no very decisive results for either party, new vigor was infused into it on the Spartan side by the appearance upon the scene of the Spartan king Agesilaus. This man was consumed by an ambition to emulate the exploits of Agamemnon. He believed, relying on what the Ten Thou- sand Greeks had achieved, that he should be able to march to Susa and overthrow completely the Persian power. Agesilaus was an able commander, and by his successes threat- ened to make an end of the Persian authority in Asia Minor. Just at this moment the Ephors were constrained to recall him to the defense of Spartan interests in Greece proper. 262. The Corinthian War (395-387 B.C.). — Unable to cope with the Spartans in the open field in Asia, the Great King, in order to secure their withdrawal, had resorted to the device of stirring up trouble for them at home. This it was easy to do, for the tyrannical course of Sparta had won for her universal fear and hatred. The emissaries of Artaxerxes, by means of persuasions and bribes, succeeded in forming a coalition of the chief states of European Greece against her. There now began a long and tedious struggle known as the Corinthian War (395-387 B.C.), in which the Spartans, with the few aUies that remained true to them, contended against the united forces of Corinth, Athens, Thebes, Argos, and other Greek states, together with the troops and ships of Persia. As a part of their policy to strengthen the enemies of Sparta, the Persians aided the Athenians in rebuilding the Long Walls and the fortifications of the Piraeus. The restoration of their walls seemed to the exultant and hopeful Athenians the pledge of the restoration of their fallen empire. But this restoration of the defenses of Athens naturally stirred the jealousy of her new allies, so that their zeal in the prosecu- tion of the war against Sparta slackened, while at the same time it awakened the fears of the Spartans, who, after maintaining the struggle for some years longer, resolved to save their authority in Greece proper by making peace with the Persians. 250 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY 263. The Peace of Antalcidas (387 B.C.). — In pursuance of this resolution tliey sent to Susa an ambassador named Antalcidas, through whose efforts were arranged the articles of a treaty, which is called after him the Peace of Antalcidas. By the terms of this treaty, famous because so infamous, all the Greek cities of Asia Minor, as well as the island of Cyprus and the island city of Clazomenae, were handed over to the Persians. Three islands — Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros — were given to Athens. All the other islands and the states of the Grecian mainland were left each in a condition of absolute independence. No city was to rule over others or to exact tribute from them. The edict of King Artaxerxes closed as follows : " Whosoever refuses to accept this peace, him I shall fight, assisted by those who are of the same mind [which meant the Spartans], by land as well as by sea, with ships and with money." Thus were the Asian Greeks betrayed by Sparta into the hands of the barbarians. Thus were the hated Persians, through her shameful betrayal of Hellenic interests, made the arbiters in Greek affairs. 264. Sparta forces the Terms of the Peace upon the Other Gre- cian Cities, but disregards them herself. — Sparta regarded herself as the executor of the Peace. One of its articles said that every city should be independent, — that no city should rule over an- other ; and Sparta now set about enforcing this provision of the treaty, not with a view to giving liberty to cities that were being held in unwilling subjection by more powerful neighbors, but solely for the purpose of breaking up all unions and confedera- tions that might place a check upon her ambition and tyranny. Under the operation of the treaty, the Boeotian League fell to pieces. The Spartans saw to it that the dissolution was com- plete, and that there should be no chance for Thebes to revive her presidency of the Boeotian towns. The government in the different places was put in the hands of oligarchs friendly to Sparta. Platcxa was restored, and a Spartan garrison placed in the town. Thus all Boeotia was broken up into petty states wholly dependent upon Sparta. SPARTA BREAKS UP THE OLYNTHIAN LEAGUE 25 1 From the dissolution of the Boeotian League the Spartans pro- ceeded to the dissolution of the Arcadian city of Mantinea. The articles of the Peace did not of course have any application to individual cities, but the Spartans, nevertheless, stretched its terms so as to make them apply to the case in hand, since they ima- gined the Mantineans to be unfriendly in their feelings towards them. They ordered them to tear down their walls. The Man- tineans refusing to comply with this mandate, the Spartans laid siege to the town, and soon forced it to surrender. The city was now broken up into five unwalled villages, four fifths of the inhab- itants being forced to tear down their houses in the old town and put them up again out in the country. The Olynthian Confederacy was next dissolved. This was a most important union of Macedonian and Grecian towns in the Chalcidian region. It was a free and equal federation of cities, somewhat like the original Confederacy of Delos (sec. 219). The towns had adopted common laws, sanctioned intermarriage be- tween their citizens, and adopted liberal regulations respecting residence and commerce. It was one of the most promising attempts that had yet been made to create an Hellenic nation out of the isolated cities of Hellas. The Spartans had committed many sins against Hellenic liber- ties, but none that drew after it a more lamentable train of con- sequences than this. The Olynthian League, had it been allowed to consolidate itself, might have proved a bulwark to Greece against the encroachments of the kings of Macedonia. The military movements of the Spartans against the Olynthian Confederacy connect themselves with a shameful act of perfidy committed by them against the Thebans. As a Spartan general was marching through Boeotia on his way to Chalcidice, he, con- sumed by a desire to do some great thing, made a secret descent upon Thebes while the inhabitants were engaged in the celebra- tion of a festival, and seized and garrisoned the citadel (382 B.C.). All Greece stood aghast at the perfidious, high-handed pro- ceeding, and looked to see the Spartans at home repudiate the act of their general. They did so in this way : they fined the 252 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY general for his conduct and deposed him from his command, — but retained possession of the stolen citadel. 265. The Liberation of Thebes by Pelopidas (379 B.C.) and the Revival of the Boeotian League (374 b.c). — Even Xenophon, the admirer and steady friend of the Lacedaemonians, was con- strained to see in the misfortunes that now began to befall Sparta the divine retribution upon her for her violation of her solemn pledge to leave the Grecian cities free, and above all for her crime in seizing the citadel of the Thebans. As if to meet the requirements of ideal justice, the avengers of the wrongs of Thebes were raised up from among those very persons whom that treacherous act had made exiles from their native city. Among those exiles who had found an asylum at Athens was Pelopidas, a Theban of distinguished family. Taking with him six other exiles, Pelopidas entered Thebes by stealth, and by means of a stratagem slew the leaders of the oligarchic party. The people were then called to arms, the Lacedaemonian garrison was compelled to withdraw from the citadel, and the government was taken into the hands of the popular party. The old Bceotian League was now revived, with Thebes as the presiding city.* 266. The Battle of Leuctra (371 b.c). — But the Spartans would not have it so. They sent an army into Boeotia to com- pel Thebes to restore independence to the various Bceotian towns. The Thebans, led now by Epaminondas, a devoted friend of Pelopidas and the greatest statesman and commander Thebes ever produced, marched out and met the invaders at Leuctra, not far from Thespire. The Spartans had no other thought than that they should gain an easy victory over the Thebans ; and it was generally expected that Thebes would now be broken up into villages as Mantinea had been, or perhaps destroyed utterly. 3 This revolution in Boeotia marks the beginning of a new chapter in Grecian history. Encouraged by the event, Athens formed a new confederacy like the old Delian League. The union numbered at last over seventy members. Even Thebes joined it. The confederacy was to rest on principles of absolute equality and jus- tice. Its affairs were to be directed by an assembly composed of representatives of all the allied cities. The members were to make contributions to a common fund; but there was to be no more tribute collecting by Athens. i THE BATTLE OF LEUCTRA 253 But the military genius of Epaminondas had prepared for Hellas a startling surprise. He had introduced in the arrange- ment and movement of his battle line one of the greatest inno- vations that mark the advance in the art of war. Hitherto the Greeks had fought drawn up in extended and comparatively thin opposing lines, not more than twelve ranks deep. The Spartans at Leuctra formed their line in the usual way. Epaminondas, on the other hand, massed his best troops in a solid column, that is in a phalanx, fifty deep, on the left of his battle fine, the rest being drawn up in the ordinary extended line. With all ready for the at- tack, the phalanx was set in motion first, the center of the line next, and the right wing last, so that the solid column should strike the enemy's line before the center or right should come into action. The result was that the phalanx plowed through the thin line of the enemy "as the beak Plan of the Battle of Leuctra 371 B.C. of a ship plows through a wave," — and the day was won. Of the seven hundred Spartans in the fight four hundred were killed. The manner in which the news of the overwhelming calamity was received at Sparta affords a striking illustration of Spartan dis- cipline and self-control. It so happened that when the messenger arrived the Spartans were celebrating a festival. The Ephors would permit no interruption of the entertainment. They merely sent Usts of the fallen to their families, and ordered that the women should make no lamentation nor show any signs of grief. " The following day," says Xenophon, " those who had lost relatives in the battle appeared on the streets with cheerful faces, while those whose relatives had escaped, if they appeared in public at all, went about with sad and dejected looks." 254 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY Historians have very naturally been led to contrast this scene at Sparta with that at Athens upon the night of the receipt of the news of the disaster of yEgospotami (sec. 255). The contrast impresses us with the wide interval which separated the Athenian from the Spartan. The moral effect of the battle was greater perhaps than that of any other battle ever fought in Greece, except possibly that of Marathon. It was the first time that a Spartan army with its king had been fairly beaten in a great battle by an enemy inferior in numbers. The Spartan forces at Thermopylae headed by their king had, it is true, been annihilated, — but annihilation is not defeat. Consequently the impression which the event produced throughout Greece was profound. The prestige of Sparta was destroyed. Her leadership was brought to an end. II. The Ascendancy of Thebes (371-362 b.c.) 267. Epaminondas ravages Laconia (370 B.C.). — The victory of the Thebans at Leuctra lifted Thebes at once to a commanding position in Greece. Almost all the states of Central Greece now entered into an alliance with her. So many were her allies, and so eager were all to inflict punishment upon Sparta for all her past acts of usurpation and despotism, that Epaminondas w-as able to raise an immense army, numbering, it is said, sixty or seventy thousand, for the invasion of the Peloponnesus. The primary object of the expedition was to aid the Arcadians in forming a confederacy for defense against Sparta.* Once in Arcadia with his army, Epaminondas, yielding to the wishes of his allies, pushed on into Laconia, ravaged it from the northern mountains to the sea on the south, and even threatened Sparta * Up to this time the Arcadians had lived for the most part in isolated and inde- pendent villages. In all the country there were only a few walled towns. Largely because of this state of things, Sparta had been able to hold the different towns and villages in subjection, and compel them to do her bidding. Just now, stirred by an impulse towards union, they were building a federal capital which they had named Megalopolis ("Great City"). Sparta was interfering and trying to prevent the for- mation of the federal state. THE FOUNDING OF MESSENE 255 itself. The Spartan women had never before seen the camp fire of an enemy ; and the sight of the hostile army is said to have excited them to frantic demonstrations of distress. 268. The Founding of Messene and the Liberation of the Mes- senians (370 B.C.). — From Laconia, Epaminondas marched into Messenia. The emancipation of the Messenians from their Spar- tan masters was proclaimed, and Messenia, which for three hun- dred years had been a part of Laconia, was separated from Sparta and made an independent state. In thus restoring independence to the Messenians, Epaminondas was merely enforcing against Sparta the terms of the Peace of Antalcidas, the articles of which she had herself dictated, and which said that all the Greek cities should be left free and independent. The Helots and Perioeci, converted by the proclamation of emancipation into freemen, engaged in the work of building a new city, Messene, which was to represent their restored nation- ality. The walls went up amidst music and rejoicing. Messenian exiles, the victims of Spartan tyranny, flocked from all parts of the Hellenic world to rebuild their homes in the home land. This emancipation and restoration of the Messenians forms one of the most interesting transactions in Greek history. Two years after their liberation a Messenian boy was crowned as a victor in the foot race at Olympia. For three hundred years the Messe- nians had had neither lot nor part in these national games, for only free Hellenes could become contestants. How the news of the victory was received in Messenia is not recorded, but we probably should not be wrong were we to imagine the rejoicings there to have been unlike anything the Greek world had ever seen before. The liberation of Messenia was a terrible blow to Spartan pride and an unmeasured loss and damage to her power. It was intol- erable to her in the Peloponnesian War to have a hostile garrison intrenched at a single point on the Messenian coast (sec. 238). Now all Messenia had become an asylum for runaway Helots from Laconia, and the residence and stronghold of her former subjects, imbittered by centuries of hard bondage. 256 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY Thus had Epaminondas in a few short months effected one of the greatest revokitions in Grecian history. In his own words, he " had hberated all the Greek cities, restored independence to Messenia, and surrounded Sjiarta with a perpetual blockade." 269. The Thebans extend their Influence in the North — and "go to Susa." — About the time that Epaminondas was effect- ing such changes in the Peloponnesus, his friend Pelopidas was extending the influence of Thebes in the North. At this time Alexander, tyrant of Pher?e in Thessaly, was hold- ing the other Thessalian cities in unwilling subjection. Some of them rose against him and called upon Thebes to help deliver them from his tyranny. Pelopidas led a Theban force into the country, and forced Alexander to grant freedom to the revolted towns (368 B.C.). Pelopidas then marched against the regent of Macedonia, who had been interfering in Thessalian affairs, and forced him to enter into an alliance with Thebes and to give hostages. Among these hostages was a young Macedonian prince named Philip, of whom we shall hear much later on as king of Macedon. Thus the expe- dition of Pelopidas resulted in both Thessaly and Macedonia being brought into dependent relations to Thebes. The year following these achievements Pelopidas was sent as an envoy to Susa to secure from the Great King the recognition of Thebes instead of Sparta as the head of the Greek cities and as the practical executor of the articles of the Peace of Antalcidas. Thebes secured all she desired. This appeal to the Persian king, whereby he was recognized as the rightful arbiter in Greek affairs, was the most censurable act of the Thebans during their period of supremacy. But in going to Susa the Thebans were merely walking in a j)ath worn by the Spartans and other Greeks. 270. The Battle of Mantinea and the Death of Epaminondas (362 H.C.). — In the year 362 13. c. Epaminondas made his fourth^ and what proved to be his last expedition into the Peloponnesus. '' During tho years 369 and 367 n.c. Epaminondas made his second and third expeditions beyond the Isthmus, but accomplislied nothing of importance. SITUATION IN GREECE AFTER MANTINEA 257 In Arcadia, near Mantinea, he joined battle with the Spartans and their alHes. Epaminondas employed the same tactics on this field as had given him the victory at Leuctra (sec. 266), and with the same result. But the victory was dearly purchased with the life of Epaminondas, who just as the day was won fell mortally wounded with a spear thrust in the breast. In accordance with the dying counsel of Epaminondas, the victorious Thebans and their allies negotiated a peace with the enemy. Its basis was that everything should remain just as it then was. Particularly was Messene to be recognized as a free and independent city. The peace was agreed to by all the states on both sides, save by the Spartans, who angrily and obstinately refused to recognize the independence of Messene. 271. The Situation in Greece after the Death of Epaminondas. — The supremacy of Thebes ended on the day that Epaminondas was borne to the tomb. There was none among her citizens capable of maintaining for her the leadership in Greece which her great commander and statesman had won. All the chief cities of Greece now lay in a state of exhaustion or of helpless isolation. Sparta had destroyed the empire of Athens;" Thebes had broken the dominion of Sparta, but had exhausted herself in the effort. There was now no city energetic, resourceful, unbroken in spirit and strength, such as was Athens at the time of the Persian Wars, to act as leader and champion of the Greek states. Yet never was there greater need of such leadership in Hellas than at just this moment; for the Mace- donian monarchy was now rising in the north and threatening the independence of all Greece. In a succeeding chapter we shall trace the rise of this semi- barbarian power, and tell how the cities of Greece, mutually exhausted by their incessant quarrels, were reduced to a state of dependence upon its sovereign. But first we shall turn aside 6 Athens had indeed made herself the center of a new confederacy (sec. 265, n. 3) and had recovered some of her old possessions, but she was, after all, only the shadow of her former self. 258 SPARTAN AND THEBAN SUPREMACY for a moment from the affairs of the cities of Greece proper, in order to cast a glance upon the Greeks of Magna Graecia and Sicily. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas. Xeno- PHON, Anabasis, iii. 2 ; a speech of Xenophon to his soldiers. Plato, Apology, xxxi.-xxxiii. ; the bearing of Socrates before his judges. References (Modern). — Curtius, vol. iv. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. vi, pp. 451-533; vol. vii, pp. 81-172 (on Socrates); pp. 173-348 (on the expedition of Cyrus); pp. 349-550; vol. viii, pp. 1-365. Holm, vol. ii, chap. XXX ; vol. iii, chaps, i-x. Bury, History of Greece, chap. xiv. Oman, History of Greece, pp. 407-469. San key. The Spartan and Thehan Supremacies. Topics for Special Study. — i. The trial and condemnation of Socrates. 2. The expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks. 3. Athens' new con- federacy. 4. Pelopidas. 5. The Sacred Band of Thebes. CHAPTER XXIV THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS (413-336 B.C.) 272. The Carthaginians lay waste Hellenic Sicily. — It will be remembered that it was the inhabitants of Egesta who invited the Athenians into Sicily to aid them against the neighboring city of Selinus ^ (sec. 245). Shortly after the destruction of the Athenian armament before Syracuse, these same people appealed to the Carthaginians to come to their aid against the same old enemy. The Carthaginians came with a great army of 100,000 men under the lead of Hannibal, a grandson of the Hamilcar who seventy years before this had been defeated and slain by Gelo, tyrant of Syracuse, on the memorable field of Himera (sec. 214, n. 11). Selinus was besieged by them, and after a brave resistance was finally taken by storm. The inhabitants were either mas- sacred or carried away into slavery, and the walls and temples of the city destroyed (409 B.C.). Hannibal next led his army against Himera, which he soon captured. In revenge for the death of his ancestor, Hannibal offered up to his gods an awful holocaust of three thousand of his prisoners, and razed the city to the ground (409 B.C.). The dismay created throughout the Hellenic world by this wiping out by the Western barbarians of this ancient and powerful Greek city was like that created by the destruction of Miletus by the Eastern barbarians at the beginning of the Persian Wars (sec. 199). A few years later the Carthaginians laid siege to Agrigentum, which was at this time one of the most populous and prosperous cities of the Hellenic world. A long and stubborn resistance was ended by threatened famine. The inhabitants escaped massacre 1 For places referred to in this chapter see map on p. 157. 259 26o THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS by a hurried flight under cover of the darkness of night. Two hundred thousand fugitives, men, women, and children, made up the pitiable procession. The homeless multitude found asylum among the various Greek communities in the island. All who had not been able to join the night march were massacred by the enemy. Thus in the course of three years did the Carthaginians, finding their opportunity in the dissensions of the Greek cities, succeed in blotting out several of the largest and most prosperous of the Hellenic communities of Sicily. Throughout a considerable part of the island Hellenic civilization, planted centuries before, was practically uprooted. As we shall see, the land afterwards recovered in a measure from the terrible blow, and enjoyed a short bloom of prosperity ; nevertheless the resources and ener- gies of this part of the Hellenic world, like those of continental Greece through the unhappy causes we have recounted in other chapters, were permanently and irremediably impaired. 273. Dionysius I, Tyrant of Syracuse (405-367 B.C.). — The alarm, distress, and anarchy occasioned by the invasions of the Carthaginians afforded the opportunity at Syracuse for a man of low birth, named Dionysius, to usurp the government. His career as despot of the city was long and remarkable, embracing a period of thirty-eight years. Dionysius occupied a large part of his prolonged reign in ever- renewed attempts to drive the Carthaginians out of Sicily. The issue of the protracted struggle was that at the end of his rule the frontier between the Carthaginian and the Greek territory was practically the same as at the beginning of his tyranny. At the same time that Dionysius was carrying on his campaigns against the foreigners, he was reducing the free Greek Sicilian cities to a state of dependence upon Syracuse. But Dionysius did not confine his operations to Sicily. With his power fairly consolidated in the island, he turned his atten- tion to Magna Graecia. He conquered all the cities here, from Rhegium to Croton. Many of the cities he destroyed as ruth- lessly as though he were a barbarian without Hellenic sympathies DIONYSIUS I, TYRANT OF SYRACUSE 261 and instincts. Some of the inhabitants he sold into slavery, others he transported to Sicily to swell the population of Syra- cuse. Even the temples he robbed of their treasures. The conquered Italian lands were incorporated in the empire of the tyrant, which now embraced practically all of Western Hellas. Thus upon the ruins of a vast number of once free and prosperous Greek cities Syracuse was raised to a position of power and influence corresponding to that which Athens had so recently held in Eastern Hellas. But the miUtary operations of Dionysius exhibit only one phase of his many-sided activity. The tyrant possessed a Pericles' love of art, and during his rule he adorned Syracuse with many splen- did public buildings, meeting the expense of their erection by crushing taxes levied on his subjects and the confiscation of the riches of the wealthy. Since Athens was now dismantled, Syra- cuse was at this time probably the most splendid and powerful city in the whole Hellenic world. Dionysius was also a patron of literature and philosophy. Plato (sec. 354) was for a time a guest at his court ; but the views of the philosopher, or his way of presenting them, seem to have been displeasing to the tyrant, who caused him to be sold as a slave, from which condition he was ransomed by a friend. Dionysius was himself a poet of no mean abihty, and composed a tragedy to which the Athenians awarded the first prize at the Dionysiac festival. The tyrant particularly aspired to be the recipient of the honors and prizes awarded at the great festivals at Olympia. He wrote poems to be recited to the crowds that gathered there, and sent chariots to run in the races. In the year 384 B.C. he sent an unusually magnificent embassy to represent him at the games. His ambassadors at this time were insulted, and were even threatened with personal violence by the people. Various circumstances contributed to the vehemence of the feelings of the Olympian visitors against Dionysius. There was the general abhorrence of tyrants ingrained in the Greek mind ; and there was the special enormity of the crimes of the Syracusan ^62 THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS despot against Greek freedom, witnessed to by the crowds of exiles, the victims of his unbearable tyranny, who filled the cities of Eastern Hellas. - Besides all this, the critical condition of the Greek world at large at just this moment created a special susceptibility to Panhellenic sentiment in all generous and large-minded Greeks. It was only three years before this Olympic festival that the dis- graceful Peace of Antalcidas had abandoned the Greeks of Asia to the Persian king (sec. 263). And now the freedom of the Western Greeks had been extinguished by the tyrant of Syra- cuse. The seriousness of the situation was vividly pictured by the great orator Lysias, who, in denouncing the tyrant to the crowds at Olympia, exclaimed, " The Hellenic world is on fire at both ends." The object of universal detestation, Dionysius carried his life in his hands. The state of constant apprehension in which he lived is illustrated by the story of the sword of Damocles.^ The Damoclean sword did not fall during the lifetime of Dionysius. He ended his life by a natural death, and transmitted his power to his son, who ascended the throne as Dionysius the Younger. 274. Dionysius the Younger (367-343 B.C.). — The young Dionysius lacked the ability of his father to play the tyrant, and left the government at first very largely in the hands of his father- in-law, Dion, a man of philosophic tastes, and in some respects a dreamer. Through Dion's influence Plato was once more brought to Syracuse and introduced to Dionysius. The philoso- pher urged the despot to change his tyranny into a regulated monarchy, and to give freedom to the cities of his empire. For a time the tyrant seemed to yield to the influence of his teacher, but very soon the breath of calumny poisoned his mind against both Dion and Plato, the former of whom he was made to believe 2 A courtier named Damocles having expressed to Dionysius the opinion that he must be supremely happy, the tyrant invited him to a sumptuous banquet, assign- ing to him his own place at the board. When the courtier was in the midst of the enjoyments of the table, Dionysius bade him look up. Turning his eyes towards the ceiling, Damocles was horrified at the sight of a sword, suspended by a single hair, dangling above his head. " Such," observed Dionysius, "is the life of a tyrant." TIMOLEON THE LIBERATOR 263 was plotting to undermine his power. Dion was exiled ; Plato was permitted to return to Greece. Freed from the restraints of philosophy, Dionysius plunged into reckless dissipation and began to exhibit the more ignoble traits of his character. His reign was a troubled one and was filled with all sorts of vicissitudes. Most of the Sicilian cities broke away from the empire. The Carthaginians began again to harass the island. Everything was in confusion, and distress among the people was universal. 275. Timoleon the Liberator (344-336 B.C.) : the Golden Era of the Sicilian Greek Cities. — Under the stress of these circum- stances the Syracusans sent an embassy to Corinth, their mother city, for help to free themselves from the tyrant Dionysius. The Corinthians listened favorably to the appeal, and sent to the suc- cor of the Syracusans a small force under the lead of Timoleon, a man who at home had shown his love for liberty by consenting to the death of his own brother when he attempted to make himself tyrant of Corinth. Arriving at Syracuse, Timoleon quickly drove out the tyrant and restored the government to the people. He also expelled the despots who were holding in slavery other Greek cities in the island, and restored freedom to these places. At the same time he engaged in battle with the Carthaginians, who were still trou- bling the Greeks, and inflicted upon them a memorable defeat. Syracuse and the other Sicilian Greek cities now entered upon the golden era of their history. The desolation that reigned throughout Sicily when Timoleon first entered the island can with difficulty be pictured. Plutarch tells us that cattle and horses were pastured in the streets and market places of the once populous cities, while deer and other wild animals were hunted in the deserted suburbs. A few years before Timoleon embarked on his expedition, Plato had expressed a fear that the Hellenic race would become extinct in Sicily. Under the reign of liberty and order instituted by Timoleon, the empty cities began to fill with inhabitants. Exiles flocked back from all quarters. Corinth, mindful that Syracuse was her 264 THE GREEKS OF WESTERN HELLAS own daughter colony, gathered from all parts of Eastern Hellas colonists for the repeopling of the city. At one time ten thousand emigrants sailed together for Sicily. This great influx of population, and the new and unwonted courage and energy infused into the people by the beneficent measures of Timoleon, brought to Hel- lenic Sicily a period of remarkable expansion and prosperity. With his great work of freeing and repeopling Sicily accom- plished, Timoleon resigned his authority and retired to private life. He died in the year 336 B.C., loved and revered by all the Sicilian Greeks as their liberator and benefactor. 276. The Later Fortunes of the Greek Cities of Sicily and Magna Graecia. — The golden age of the (ireek cities of the West came to an end shortly after the death of Timoleon. In Fig. 90. — Coin of Syracuse the year 316 b.c. the noted Agathocles made himself tyrant of Syracuse. He reigned for twenty-eight years. After his death a period of discord followed, and then the government fell into the hands of another celebrated tyrant, Hiero H (about 270- 216 B.C.), who became the firm ally of Rome in her struggle with Carthage. Soon after the death of Hiero, as a punishment for its having forsaken the Roman for a Carthaginian alliance, the Romans extinguished the independence of the city and made it a part of their dominions (sec. 445). The Italian cities, which had regained their independence at the time that Timoleon destroyed the power of the Dionysian dynasty, were many of them soon afterwards conquered by the REFERENCES 265 native Italian tribes, and finally all were overwhelmed by the rising power of Rome. Having made this hasty review of the course of events in Western Hellas, we must now return to Greece proper in order to trace further the fortunes of the cities of the home land. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Timoleon and Life of Dio/i. References (Modern). — Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iii, pp. 366-495; vol. ix, pp. 1-194. Holm, vol. iii, chap. xi. Oman, Llistofy of Greece, pp. 441-449. Allcroft and Masom, History of Sicily, chaps, vii-xi. Freeman, History of Sicily, vol. iv, chaps, x and xi ; and The Story of Sicily, chaps, x and xi. An interesting brief treatment of the rule of Dionysius the Elder will be found in Bury, History of Greece, pp. 639-666. Topics for Special Study. — i. Dionysius the Elder. 2. The Cartha- ginians in Sicily. 3. Monuments of Greek civilization in Sicily. See Richardson's Vacation Days in Greece. 4. " The tyrannies and democracies of Greek cities were in their nature not adapted to create and maintain large empires." Bury makes this statement with reference to the work of Dionysius the Elder. Discuss this. CHAPTER XXV THE RISE OF MACEDONIA: REIGN OF PHILIP II (359-336 B.C.) 277 . The Macedonians and their Rulers. — We have reached now the threshold of a new era in Greek history. A state, hitherto but Httle observed, at this time rose suddenly into prominence and began to play a leading part in the affairs of the Greek cities. This state was Macedonia, a country lying north of the Cambunian. Mountains and back of Chalcidice (see map, p. 274). The peoples of Macedonia were for the most part mountaineers who had not yet passed beyond the tribal state. ^ They were a hardy, warlike race, possessing the habits and the virtues of coun- try people. They were Aryans in speech, but since they did not speak pure Greek and were backward in culture, they were looked upon as barbarians by their more refined city kinsmen of the South. The ruling race in the country, however, were of Hellenic stock. They claimed to be descended from the royal house of Argos, and this claim had been allowed by the Greeks, who had permitted them to appear as contestants in the Olympian games, — a privilege, it will be recalled, accorded only to those who could prove pure Hellenic ancestry. Their efforts to spread Greek culture among their subjects, combined with intercourse with the Greek cities of Chalcidice, had resulted in the native barbarism of the Macedonian tribes being overlaid with a veneer of Hellenic civilization. 278. The Youth of Philip of Macedon. — • Macedonia first rose to importance during the reign of Philip H (359-336 B.C.), 1 There were, however, a few towns in Macedonia, of wliich yEgns and Pella. each of which was in turn the seat of the royal court, were of chief note. 266 PHILIP EXTENDS HIS DOMINIONS 267 generally known as Philip of Macedon. He was a man of pre- eminent ability, of wonderful address in diplomacy, and of rare genius as an organizer and military chieftain. Several years of Philip's boyhood were passed as a hostage at Thebes (sec. 269). This episode in the life of the prince had a marked influence upon his later career ; for just at this time Epaminondas was the leading spirit among the Thebans, and it was in the companionship of this consummate military tactician and commander that Philip learned valuable lessons in the art of war. The "Macedonian phalanx," ^ which Philip is said to have originated, and which holds some such place in the military his- tory of Macedonia as the " legion " holds in that of Rome, was simply a modification of the Theban phalanx that won the day at Leuctra and again at Mantinea. Nor was this all. Besides the knowledge of military affairs which he acquired, the quick and observant boy gained during his enforced residence at Thebes an insight into Greek character and Greek politics which served him well in his later diplomatic dealings with the Greek cities. The death of his brother Perdiccas brought Phihp to the Mace- donian throne in the year 359 B.C. With affairs settled at home and his kingdom consolidated, the ambition of the youthful king led him to endeavor to subject the Greek cities to his authority. 279. Philip extends his Dominions in Chalcidice and Thrace. — Philip's first encroachments upon Greek territory were made in the Chalcidian region. He coveted particularly the possession of Amphipolis, which was the gateway from Macedonia into Thrace. He easily made prize of the city (358 B.C.). Philip next captured the important city of Pydna, on the Ther- maic Gulf. Afterwards he wrested Potidaea from Athens, and just to create enmity between the Athenians and the Olynthians, possi- ble allies against him, gave the city to the latter. 2 The phalanx was formed of soldiers drawn up sixteen files deep and armed with pikes so long that those of the first five ranks projected beyond the front of the column, thus opposing a perfect thicket of spears to the enemy. On level ground it was irresistible. !68 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA The western portions of Thrace were next conquered by Philip and added to his growing dominions. In this quarter he founded the well-known city of Philippi.^ His Thracian conquests gave him control of the rich gold mines of this region, and furnished him with the means which he later so freely used to corrupt and bribe the leaders of the Greek cities. 2 80. Demosthenes and his Olynthiac Orations ; Philip destroys Olynthus and Other Chalcidian Cities (348 B.C.). — The Athenian orator Demosthenes (sec. 343) was one of the few who seemed to understand the real designs of Philip. His penetration, like that of Pericles, descried a cloud lowering over Greece — this time from the North. With all the l)ersuasion of his wonderful eloquence he strove to stir up the Athenians to resist the encroachments of the king of Mace- don. He hurled against him his famous Philippics, speeches so filled with fierce denunciation that they have given name to all writings characterized by bitter criticism or violent invective. Demosthenes was opposed in his war policy by a considerable peace party at Athens, among the leaders of which were Phocion and ^schines. Phocion was an upright and incorruptible man and an able and trusted general. He ojiposed Demosthenes for the reason that he thought the inter- ests of Athens would be best served through the maintenance of friendly relations with Macedonia, -(^schines was a gifted orator, who, there is reason to believe, corrupted by Macedo- nian gold, traitorously used his influence at Athens to promote the plans of Philip. « I'hilippi was the first European city in which the Gospel w-as preached. The pr&icht-r WIS the Apostle I'aul, who went over from Asia in oljedience to the vision in which a man of Macedonia seemed to stand and pray, "Come over into Mace- donia, and help tu." Fig. 91. — Demosthenes (Vatican Museum) PHILIP AND THE SECOND SACRED WAR 269 The field of Philip's aggressions at just this time was the Chal- cidian peninsula. He was intent upon the destruction of Olynthus and her confederacy. Demosthenes, as we have intimated, appears to have been almost the only man at Athens who recognized the significance of the struggle on the Thracian shore. He saw clearly that the fall of the Greek cities there meant the fall, sooner or later, of the cities of Greece proper. In three speeches, known as the Olynthiac orations, he strove to arouse his countrymen to a sense of the imminence of the danger which was threatening. The burden of the three orations was, It is better for us to fight Philip in Chalcidice than in Attica. If PhiHp takes Olynthus, he will soon be here. The speeches are filled with complaining comparisons between the alert and patriotic spirit evinced by the Athenians in earlier times when the Persians were at the gates of Greece, and the languid, pusillanimous temper of the citizens now when the Macedonians were threatening the northern passes of the land. In the second speech the orator endeavors to encour- age the Athenians to action by showing that Philip's power was rather apparent than real. "It is impossible," he says, " to build up an empire by injustice, perjury, and falsehood." The eloquence of Demosthenes was all in vain. The Athenians could not be stirred to timely action. Olynthus fell into the hands of Philip (348 B.C.), and with it all the other cities of the Chal- cidian Confederacy, thirty-two in all. Many of the towns were destroyed and a great part of their inhabitants sold into slavery. 281. Philip and the Second Sacred "War (355-346 B.C.). — Up to this time Philip had not come directly in contact with the states of Greece proper. But shortly after he had added the Chalcidian lands to his empire he acquired in the following way a voice and vote in the affairs of the cities of the peninsula. The Phocians were accused of having put to secular use some of the lands which, at the end of the First Sacred War (sec. 144), had been consecrated to the Delphian Apollo. Taken to task and heavily fined for this act by the other members of the Delphian Amphictyony, the Phocians seized the temple and used the treas- ure in the maintenance of a large force of mercenary soldiers. 2/0 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA The Amphictyons, not being able to punish the Phocians for their " impiety," * were forced to ask help of Philip, who gladly rendered the assistance sought. The Phocians were finally constrained to yield to superior force. A heavy punishment was inflicted upon them by the Amphictyonic council. All their cities save one were broken up into villages, and the inhabitants were forced to undertake to pay back in yearly installments the treasure they had taken from the Delphian shrine. The place which the Phocians had held in the Delphian Amphictyony was given to Philip, upon whom was also bestowed the privilege of presiding at the Pythian games. The position which he had now secured was exactly such as he had coveted.'' He now awaited a further opportunity to extend and strengthen his authority in Greece. 282. The Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.). — The opportunity soon came. The Phocians having been again adjudged guilty of sacrilege in using some lands belonging to the Delphian Apollo, Philip was a second time asked to help punish them. He gladly undertook the commission, and straightway led an army into Central Greece. But instead of proceeding to mete out punish- ment to the trespassers upon the holy ground, he seized and began to fortify a little town in Phocis. This procedure ])lainly revealed his purpose to make himself master of the country. Moved by the realization of a common peril and by the ])ersua- sion of Demosthenes, the Athenians and the Thebans, in spite of their immemorial enmity one towards the other, now united their forces and met Philip at Chaeronea, in Btjeotia. The battle was stubbornly fought, but finally went against the allies, who were driven from the field with heavy loss. It is of interest to note that the Macedonian phalanx was led by the youthful Alexander, the son of Phili]), who on this memorable field began his great career as a commander. The result of the battle was the subjuga- tion of all Greece to the authority of the Macedonian foreigner. •* The Phocians claimed that they t(X)k the treasure merely as a loan (compare sec. 31 1, n. 2). 6 As further outcomes of the war, Philip had made himself master of Thessalyand had got possession of the Pass of Thermopylae. THE CONGRESS AT CORINTH 2/1 283. The Congress at Corinth; Plan to invade Asia (338 B.C.). — Soon after the battle of Chteronea, Philip convened at Corinth a council of the Grecian states. At this meeting was adopted a constitution, drafted by Philip, which united the various Greek cities and Macedonia in a sort of federation, with Macedonia as the leading state. Differences arising between members of the federation were to be referred for settlement to the Amphic- tyonic assembly. But Philip's main object in calling the congress was not so much to promulgate a federal constitution for the Greek cities as to secure their aid in an expedition which he had evidently long been meditating for the conquest of the Persian Empire. The exploit of the Ten Thousand Greeks (sec. 259) had shown the feasi- bility of such an undertaking. The plan was indorsed by the congress. Every Greek city was to furnish a contingent for the army of invasion. Philip was chosen leader of the expedition, and commander-in-chief of the war forces of Greece. All Greece was now astir with preparations for the great enter- prise. By the spring of the year 336 B.C. the expedition was ready to move, and the advance forces had already crossed over into Asia, when Philip, during the festivities attending, the mar- riage of his daughter, was assassinated by a young noble, who sought thus to avenge a personal affront. His son Alexander succeeded to his place and power. 284. Results of Philip's Reign. — Philip by his achievements made possible the greater achievements of his son. He paved the way for Alexander's remarkable conquests by consolidat- ing the Macedonian monarchy and organizing an army which was the most effective instrument of warfare the world had yet seen. But the most important outcome of Philip's activity and policy was the union of the Macedonian monarchical and military system with Hellenic culture. This was the historical mission of Philip. Had not Hellenic civilization been thus incorporated with the Macedonian system, then the wide conquests of Alexander would have resulted in no more good for humanity than those of a 272 THE RISE OF MACEDONIA Tamerlane or an Attila." And, on the other hand, Greek cul- ture, had not this union been effected by Philip, would have remained comparatively isolated, would never have become so widely spread as it did among the peoples and races of antiquity. In the words of the historian Ranke, "The Greeks, had they remained alone, would never have succeeded in winning for the intellectual life which they had created a sure footing in the world at large." Greece conquered the world by being conquered. It was Hellenic institutions, customs, and manners, the Hellenic language and civilization, which the extended conquests of Alex- ander spread throughout the Eastern world. It is this which makes the short-lived Macedonian Empire so important a factor in universal history. Selections from the Sources. ■ — Plutarch, Life of Deniosthenes. Demosthenes, Oration on the Crouin, zgy-^oO. This masterpiece of Demosthenes has been called " The funeral oration of extinct Athenian and Grecian freedom." In these passages the orator points out the cause of his country's downfall. References (Modern). — Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ix, pp. 195-504. CuRTius, vol. V. Holm, vol. iii, chaps, xiv-xix. Wheeler, Alexander the Great, chaps, i and iv. Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon (first part). BuRY, History of Greece, pp. 681-737. Oman, History of Greece, pp. 490-520. Allcroft and Masom, Decline of Hellas, pp. 32-104. Timaye.ms, vol. ii, pp. 38-91. Mahaffy, Problems in Greek History, chap, vii, " Practical Politics in the Fourth Century." Topics for Special Study. — i. Philip II and Peter the Great of Russia compared. 2. Imperialism vs. Home Rule; or. Was Demosthenes' policy of opposition to Philip wise ? See Mahaffy's Problems. 3. Phocion. 4. The Macedonian army. See Citrteis. 5. The Philippics of Demosthenes. 6 Mongol or Turanian conquerors. CHAPTER XXVI ALEXANDER THE GREAT 285. The Youth of Alexander ; Formative Influences. — Alex- ander was only twenty years of age when he came to his father's throne. Those traits of temper and mind which marked his man- hood and which fitted him to play so great a part in history were foreshown in early youth — if we may believe the tales that are told of his sayings and doings as a boy. The familiar story of the vicious steed Bucephalus, which none dared either to mount or to approach, but which was subdued in a moment by the skillful handling of the little prince, reveals that subtle magnetism of his nature by which he acquired such wonderful influence and com- mand over men in after years. The spirit of the man is again shown in the complaint of the boy when news of his father's victories came to him : "Boys," said he to his playmates, "my father will get ahead of us in everything, and will leave nothing great for you or me to do." Certain influences under which the boy came in his earliest years left a permanent impress upon his mind and character. By his mother he was taught to trace his descent from the great Achilles, and was incited to emulate his exploits and to make him his model in all things. The I/iad, which recounts the deeds of that mythical hero, became the prince's inseparable companion. After his mother's influence, perhaps that of the philosopher Aristotle, whom Philip persuaded to become the tutor of the youthful Alexander, was the most potent and formative. This great teacher implanted in the mind of the young prince a love of literature and philosophy, and through his inspiring companion- ship and lofty conversation exercised over the eager, impulsive 273 274 ALEXANDER THE GREAT boy an influence for good which Alexander himself gratefully acknowledged in later years. 286. Troubles attending the Accession of Alexander. — For about two years after his accession to the Macedonian throne, Alexander was kept busy in thwarting conspiracies and suppressing open revolts against his authority. While the young king was campaigning against some barbarian tribes on his northern frontier a report was spread in Greece that he was dead. The Thebans rose in revolt and called upon the Athenians to join them. Demosthenes favored the appeal, and began to stir up the Athenians and others to unite with the Thebans in freeing the Grecian land from the foreigners. But Alexander was not dead. Before the Greek cities had settled upon any plan of concerted action, Alexander with his army was in front of Thebes. In a sharp battle outside the gates the Thebans were defeated and their city was captured. As a warning to the other Greek towns, Alex- ander razed the city to the ground, spar- ing only the temples and the house of the poet Pindar, and sold 30,000 of the inhab- itants into slavery. Thus was one of the largest and most renowned of the cities of Greece wiped out of existence. The destruction of Thebes produced the greatest consternation throughout Greece, for many of the cities were implicated in the attempted revolution which had brought that city to ruin. But having meted out vengeance to Thebes, Alexander dealt leniently with the other towns that had by public decrees or otherwise exj)ressed hostility to him, and simply insisted upon the surrender or punishment of a few of the most active enemies of Macedonia. 287. Alexander crosses the Hellespont ; the Battle of the Granicus (334 B.C.). — Alexander was now free to carry out his father's scheme in regard to the Asiatic expedition. In the spring Fin. 92. — Alexander THE Great (Capitoline Museum) TMriKi: OK ALKXANDEK THE G I About 3^3 B. C. ' Murcb i»f Ali-\niiilfr- — — 50 100 200 300 400 Scale of Miles. I # j 45 Longltudi ' can f'^^^^^Jpersepolil ■r^ V ^^^^i^l^ s ■i' ^ V m % J "°^ "tPvira ^ .1 R 7r.\^ ^?\Q»- H. Kiepert, Atlas Antiquum W. Siegliii, Atlas Antiquus t 50 from Greenwich 55 THE BATTLE OF ISSUS 275 of 334 B.C., with all his plans matured, he set out at the head of an army numbering about 35,000 men for the conquest of the Persian Empire. Crossing the Hellespont, Alexander first proceeded to the plain of ancient Troy, in order to place a garland upon the supposed tomb at that place of his mythical ancestor Achilles. Proceeding on his march, Alexander met a Persian army on the banks of the Granicus, over which he gained a decisive victory. Three hundred suits of armor, selected from the spoils of the field, were sent as a votive offering to the temple of Athena at Athens. The victory at the Granicus laid all Asia Minor open to the invader, and soon practically all of its cities and tribes were brought to acknowledge the authority of the Macedonian.^ 288. The Battle of Issus (333 B.C.). — At the northeast corner of the Mediterranean lies the plain of Issus. Here Alexander met a Persian army, numbering, it is said, 600,000 men, and inflicted upon it an overwhelming defeat. The family of Darius,^ including his mother, wife, and children, fell into the hands of Alexander ; but the king himself escaped from the field, and hastened to his capital Susa to raise another army to oppose the march of the conqueror. 289. The Siege of Tyre (332 B.C.). — Before penetrating to the heart of the empire, Alexander turned to the south, in order to effect the subjugation of Phoenicia, that he might command the Phoenician fleets and prevent their being used either to sever his communication with Greece or to aid revolts in the cities there against his authority. The island-city of Tyre, after a memorable siege, was taken by means of a mole, or causeway, built with 1 At Gordium, in Phrygia, Alexander performed an exploit which has given the world one of its favorite apothegms. In the temple at this place was a chariot to the pole of which a yoke was fastened by a curiously intricate knot. An oracle had been spread abroad to the effect that whoever should untie the knot would become master of Asia. Alexander attempted the feat. Unable to loosen the knot, he drew his sword and cut it. Hence the phrase " cutting the Gordian knot,'' — meaning a short way out of a difficulty- 2 Darius III, Codomannus (336-330 B.C.). 2/6 ALEXANDER THE pREAT incredible labor through the sea to the city. This mole was con- structed out of the ruins of old Tyre and the forests of Lebanon. It still remains, uniting the rock with the mainland. When at last, with the aid of the Sidonian fleet, the city was taken after a siege of seven months, 8000 of the inhabitants were slain and 30,000 sold into slavery, — a terrible warning to those cities that should dare to close their gates against the Macedonian. The reduction of Tyre has been pronounced the greatest military achievement of Alexander. After the fall of Tyre the cities of Palestine and Philistia, with the sole exception of Gaza, surrendered at once to the conqueror. Gaza resisted stubbornly, but after a siege of three months was taken and its inhabitants were sold as slaves. Batis, the brave defender of the place, was fastened by Alexander to a chariot and dragged until dead round the walls of the city. This was in imitation of the treatment said to have been accorded by Achilles to the body of Hector (sec. 130). 290. Alexander in Eg3rpt. — With the cities of Phoenicia and the fleets of the Mediterranean subject to his control, Alexander easily effected the reduction of Egypt. The Egyptians, indeed, made no resistance to the Macedonians, but willingly exchanged masters. While in the country, Alexander founded at one of the mouths of the Nile a city named after himself Alexandria. Ranke declares this to have been the " first city in the world, after the Piraeus at Athens, erected expressly for purposes of commerce." The city became the meeting place of the East and West; and its importance through many centuries attests the farsighted wisdom of its founder. A less worthy enterprise of the conqueror was his expedition to the oasis of Siwah, located in the Libyan desert, where were a celebrated tem]jle and oracle of Zeus Ammon. To gratify his own vanity, as well as to impress his new Oriental subjects, Alexander evidently desired to be declared of celestial descent. The priests of the temple, in accordance with the wish of the king, gave out that the oracle pronounced Alexander to be the THE BATTLE OF ARBELA 2TJ son of Zeus and the destined ruler of the world. It would seem that Alexander was quite fully persuaded that, like the early Greek heroes, he was allied to the race of the gods. 291, The Battle of Arbela (331 b.c). — From Egypt Alexander recommenced his march towards the Persian capital. While yet in Phoenicia, he had received from Darius proposals of peace and alliance. The Great King had offered a large ransom for his family, and a surrender of all the provinces of his empire lying west of the Euphrates, but Alexander had refused to make peace even on such terms. "There cannot be two suns in the heavens," is said to have been his reply to the proposal. Marching through Syria, Alexander directed his course eastward and crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris without opposition ; but on the plains of Arbela, not far from the ancient Nineveh, he found his farther advance disputed by Darius with an immense army, numbering, if we may rely upon our authorities, over a million men. It was a motley host, made up of various Asiatic barba- rians, together with a large number of Greek mercenaries. Ele- phants and scythe-armed chariots impressed an Oriental stamp upon the vast array. The army of Alexander amounted to only about 47,000 foot and horse. But discipline counted for more than numbers. In the battle which was soon joined, the charge of the Macedonian cavalry and phalanx proved irresistible, and the vast Persian host was overthrown with enormous slaughter and scattered in flight. Darius fled from the field, as he had done at Issus, and sought safety behind the walls of the Median capital Ecbatana. The battle of Arbela was one of the decisive combats of history. It marked the end of the long struggle between the East and the West, between Persia and Greece, and prepared the way for the spread of Hellenic civilization over all Western Asia. 292. Alexander at Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis. — From the field of Arbela Alexander marched south to Babylon, which opened its gates to him without opposition. To win the favor of the Babylonians, he restored the temples which Xerxes had destroyed, and offered sacrifices in the temple of Bel. 2/8 ALEXANDER THE GREAT Susa was next entered by the conqueror. Here he seized incredible quantities of gold and silver ($57,000,000 it is said), the treasure of the Great King. He also found here and sent back to Athens the bronze statues of Harmodius and Aristogiton ^ (sec. 187), which had been carried off by Xerxes at the time of the invasion of Greece. From Susa Alexander's march was next directed to Persepolis, where he secured a treasure more than twice as great ($138,000,- 000 according to some) as that found at Susa. Upon Persepolis Alexander wreaked vengeance for all Greece had suffered at the hands of the Persians. Many of the inhabitants were massacred and others sold into slavery, while the palaces of the Persian kings were given to the flames.* Alexander having thus overthrown the power of Darius now began to regard himself not only as his conqueror but as his suc- cessor, and was thus looked upon by the Persians. He assumed the pomp and state of an Oriental monarch, and required the most obsequious homage from all who approached him. His Greek and Macedonian companions, unused to paying such serv- ile adulation to their king, were much displeased at Alexander's conduct, and from this time on to his death intrigues and con- spiracies were being constantly formed among them against his power and life. 293. The Pursuit and Death of Darius. — From Persepolis Alexander set out in pursuit of Darius, who, as we have seen, had escaped from the field at Arbela to the city of Ecbatana. As the Macedonians approached the king fled, thinking to find a safe retreat in the remote northeastern provinces of his empire. But as Alexander pressed closely after the fugitive, one of the attendants of Darius, a general named Bessus, treacherously stabbed his master, and left him in a dying state by the wayside. By the time Alexander reached the spot the king was dead. According to Plutarch, Alexander caused the body to be sent to 8 So Arrian, iii. i6. Other autlioiities, however, make it to have been some successor of Alexander who returned the statues. ■* Read Dryden's Alexander's Feast. CONQUEST OF BACTRIA AND SOGDIANA 279 the aged mother of Darius, in imitation of the surrender by Achilles of the body of Hector to his father Priam. 294. Conquest of Bactria and Sogdiana (329-328 B.C.) After the death of Darius, Alexander led his army towards the east, and, after subduing many tribes that dwelt about the southern shore of the Caspian Sea and among the mountainous regions of what is now known as Afghanistan, boldly conducted his soldiers over the snowy and dangerous passes of the Hindu Kush, and descended into the province of Bactria. After the reduction of this country, Alexander subdued the tribes of Sogdiana, a coun- try lying still farther to the north. Throughout these remote regions Alexander founded numerous cities, several of which bore his own name. One of them is said to have been built, wall and houses, in twenty days. These new cities were peopled with captives, and by those veterans who, because of fatigue or wounds, were no longer able to follow the conqueror in his swift campaigns. Alexander's stay in Sogdiana was saddened by his murder of his dearest friend Clitus, who had saved his life at the Granicus. Both were heated with wine when the quarrel arose ; after the deed Alexander was overwhelmed with remorse.^ 295. Conquests in India. — With the countries north of the Hindu Kush subdued and settled, Alexander recrossed the moun- tains and led his army down into the rich and crowded plains of India (327 B.C.). Here again he showed himself invincible, and received the submission of many of the native princes of the country. Alexander's desire was to extend his conquests to the Ganges, but his soldiers began to murmur because of the length and hard- ness of their campaigns, and he reluctantly gave up the under- taking. To secure the conquests already made, he founded, at different points in the valley of the Indus, Greek towns and ^ The Macedonian kingdom which grew out of the conquests of Alexander in Central Asia lasted for about two centuries after his death. Traditions of the con- queror still linger in the land, and coins and plate with subjects from classic mythology are frequently turned up at the present day. 28o ALEXANDER THE GREAT colonies. One of these he named Alexandria, after himself; another Bucephala, in memory of his favorite steed ; and still another Nicaea, for his victories. The modern museum at Lahore contains many relics of Greek art dug up on the site of these Macedonian cities and camps. 296. Rediscovery of the Sea Route from the Indus to the Euphrates. — It was Alexander's next care to bind these distant conquests in the East to those in the West. To do this, it was of the first importance to establish water communication between India and Babylonia. Now, strange as it may seem, the Greeks had no positive knowledge of what sea the Indus emptied into, and only a vague idea that there was a water way from the Indus to the FAiphrates." This important maritime route, once known to the civilized world, had been lost, and needed to be rediscovered. So the conqueror Alexander now turned explorer. He sailed down the Indus to the head of the delta, where he founded a city which he called Alexandria. This was to be to the trade of India what Alexandria upon the Nile was to that of Egypt. With this new commercial city established, Alexander sailed on down to the mouth of the river, and was rejoiced to find himself looking out upon the southern ocean. He now dispatched his trusty admiral Nearchus with a con- siderable fleet to explore this sea and to determine whether it communicated with the Euphrates. He himself, with the larger part of the army, marched westward along the coast. His march thus lay through the ancient Gedrosia, now Beluchistan, a region frightful with burning deserts, amidst which his soldiers endured almost incredible privations and sufferings. After a trying and calamitous march of over two months Alexander, with the survivors of his army, reached Carmania. Here, to his unbounded joy, he was joined by Nearchus, who had « Accordinfj to Arrinn, when Alexander reached the Indus he at first thought that he had struck the uppi r course of the Nile. The presence in the river of crocodiles like tliosc in Kgypt was one tiling that led liini to this conclusion {Analiasis of Alexander, vi. i). THE PLANS OF ALEXANDER 281 made the voyage from the Indus successfully, and thus " rediscov- ered one of the most important maritime routes of the world," the knowledge of which among the Western nations was never again to be lost. To appropriately celebrate his conquests and discoveries, Alex- ander instituted a series of religious festivals, amidst which his soldiers forgot the dangers of their numberless battles and the hardships of their unparalleled marches, which had put to the test every power of human endurance. And well might these veterans glory in their achievements. In a few years they had conquered half the world and changed the whole course of history. 297. The Plans of Alexander ; the Hellenizing of the World. — As the capital of his vast empire, which now stretched from the Ionian Sea to the Indus, Alexander chose the ancient Babylon, upon the Euphrates. He proposed to make this old Semitic city the center of his domains for the reason that such a loca- tion of the seat of government would help to promote his plans, which aimed at nothing less than the union and Hellenizing of the world. Not only were the peoples of Asia and Europe to be blended by means of colonies, but even the floras of the two continents were to be intermingled by the transplanting of plants and trees from one continent to the other. Common laws and customs and a common language were to unite the nations into one great family. Intermarriages were to blend the races. Alex- ander himself married a daughter of Darius III, and also another of Artaxerxes Ochus ; to ten thousand of his soldiers, whom he encouraged to take Asiatic wives, he gave magnificent gifts. 298. The Mutiny at Opis (324 B.C.). — Not all the old soldiers of Alexander approved of his plans and measures, particularly since in these magnificent projects they seemed to be relegated to a second place. His Macedonian veterans were especially greatly displeased that he should enlist in his service effeminate Asiatics, and dress and equip them in the Macedonian fashion. They also disapproved of Alexander's action in wearing the Persian costume and surrounding himself with Persian attend- ants. So when Alexander proposed to send back to Macedonia 282 ALEXANDER THE GREAT the aged and the maimed among his veterans, the soldiers broke out in open mutiny. Alexander caused the instigators of the sedition to be executed, and then made to the mutinous soldiers a speech such as they had never listened to before. He recalled to their minds how his father Philip had found them vagabond shepherds tending a few sheep on the mountain-sides in Macedonia, and had made them conquerors and rulers of all Thrace and Greece ; and how he himself had made them conquerors of the empire of the Great King, the possessors of the riches of the world and the en\ied of all mankind/ By these words the mutinous spirit of the soldiers was com- pletely subdued, and with every expression of contrition for their fault and of devotion to their old commander they begged for forgiveness and reinstatement in his favor, Alexander was moved by their entreaties, and gave them assurances that they were once more his companions and kinsmen. The reconciliation was celebrated by a magnificent banquet in which more than nine thousand participated.^ 299. The Death of Alexander (323 b.c). — In the midst of his vast projects Alexander was seized by a fever, brought on doubt- less by his insane excesses, and died at Babylon, 323 b.c, in the thirty-second year of his age. His soldiers could not let him die without seeing him. The watchers of the palace were obliged to open the doors to them, and the veterans of a hundred battle- fields filed sorrowfully past the couch of their dying commander. His body was carried first to Memphis, but afterwards to Alex- andria, in Egypt, and there inclosed in a golden coffin, over which was raised a splendid mausoleum. His ambition for celes- tial honors was gratified in his death ; for in Egypt and elsewhere * Arrian, vii. q, io. 8 It was soon after this mooting that Alexander's dearest friend, Hephaestion, died at Ecbatana. Alexander indulged in most extravagant expressions of grief. He caused a funeral pyre to be erected at a cost, it is said, of 10,000 talents (5 1 2,000,000), and instituted in memory of his friend magnificent funeral games. He even ordered the tops of the towers of the surrounding cities to te cut off, and the horses and mules to be put in mourning by having their manes docked. ALEXANDER'S CHARACTER 283 temples were dedicated to him, and divine worship was paid to his statues. 300. His Character. — We must not pass this point without a few words, at least, respecting the character of this remarkable man, who, in a brief career of twelve years, changed entirely the currents of history, forcing them into channels which they would not have followed but for the influence of his life and achievements. We cannot deny to Alexander, in addition to a remarkable genius for military affairs, an alert and comprehensive intellect. The wisdom shown by him in the selection of Alexandria in Egypt as the great depot of the exchanges of the East and the West has been amply demonstrated by the rare fortunes of that city. His plan for the union of Europe and Asia and the fusion of their dif- ferent races might indeed seem visionary were it not that the de- gree in which this was actually realized in some parts of his empire during subsequent centuries attests the sanity of the attempt. Alexander had fine tastes, and liberally encouraged art, science, and literature. Praxiteles, Lysippus, and Apelles^ had in him a munificent patron ; and to his preceptor Aristotle he sent large collections of natural-history objects gathered in his extended expeditions. He had an impulsive, kind, and generous nature : he avenged the murder of his enemy Darius ; and he repented in bitter tears over the body of his faithful CHtus. He exposed him- self like the commonest soldier, sharing with his men the hard- ships of the march and the dangers of the battlefield. But Alexander was, even judged by the moral requirements of his owTi time, a man of many faults. He indulged in shameful excesses, and gave way to outbreaks of passion that transformed a usually mild and generous disposition into the fury of a madman. The vindictive cruelty that he sometimes manifested in his treat- ment of prisoners can be only partially extenuated by a reference to the usages and the standard of humanity of the age. The con- tradictions of his life cannot, perhaps, be better expressed than in the words once applied to the gifted Themistocles : "He was greater in genius than in character." s For something concerning these artists, see sees. 322 and 327. 284 ALEXANDER THE GREAT 301. Results of Alexander's Conquests. — The remarkable con- quests of Alexander had far-reaching consequences. First, they ended the long struggle between Persia and Greece, and spread Hellenic civilization over Egypt and Western Asia.^'' Second, the distinction between Greek and barbarian was oblit- erated, and the sympathies of men, hitherto so narrow and local, were widened, and thus an important preparation was made for the rece])tion of the cosmopolitan creed of Christianity. Fig. 93. — The So-Called "Sarcophagus of Alexander" The finest of sixteen sarcophagi found at Sidon in 1SS7 Third, the world was given a universal language of culture, which was a further jjreparation for the spread of Christian teachings. Fourth, the sea route from India to Europe was rediscovered. This the historian Ranke, regarding its influence upon trade and commerce, views as one of the most important results of Alex- ander's expedition. 1" It was rather the outer forms than the real inner life and spirit of the old Greek civilization which were adopted ijy the non-Hellenic peoples of Egypt and Western Asia. Hence the resulting culture is given a special name. "This civilization, Greek in its general character, but pervading people not exclusively Greek by race, is properly called Hellenism, which means — not 'being Hellenes,' or Greeks, but — 'doing tike Hellenes'; and as the adjective answering to Hellas is Hellenic, so the adjective answering to Hellenism is Hellenistic P — ]\L\s,Xi, Greek Literature, p. 138. REFERENCES 285 But the evil effects of these conquests were also positive and far- reaching. The sudden acquisition by the Greeks of the enormous wealth of the Persian Empire, and contact with the vices and the effeminate luxury of the Oriental nations, had a most demoral- izing effect upon Hellenic life. Greece became corrupt, and she in turn corrupted Rome. Thus the civilization of classical antiquity was undermined. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Alexander. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, vii. 9, Alexander's speech to his soldiers reminding them of the debt they owe to his father ; and vii. 28-30, for an estimate of Alexander's character. References (Modern). — Wheeler, Alexander the Great ; affords a most interesting and scholarly treatment of our subject. Dodge, Alexander. Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon (last part). Budge, T/ie Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great. Mahaffy, Survey of Greek Civili- zation, chap, viii ; The Story of Alexander''s Empire and Greek Life and Thought, chap. ii. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. ix, pp. 505-549 ; vol. x, pp. 1-112. Holm, vol. iii, chaps, xx-xxvii. Timayenis, vol. ii, pp. 91- 148. Allcroft and Masom, Decline of ILellas, pp. 105-161. Bury, His- tory of Greece, pp. 738-836. Curteis, Rise of the Macedonian Empire. Freeman, Historical Essays (Second Series), "Alexander." Topics for Special Study. — i. Different civilizations in the Persian Empire. 2. Alexander as a god. Bring this into harmony with the ideas of the time, both in Greece and in Egypt. This is a subject for mature students. 3. Influence of Alexander's conquests upon civilization. 4. "On the Persian system of government by territorial division was ingrafted the Greek system of government by city-communities " (Wheeler). Discuss this. 5. Alexander's letter to Darius. See Bury. 6. Alexander as a general. CHAPTER XXVII THE GRiECO-ORIENTAL WORLD FROM THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER TO THE CONQUEST OF GREECE BY THE ROMANS (323-146 B.C.) 302. Partition of Alexander's Empire. — There was no one who could wield the sword that fell from the hand of Alexander. It is said that, when dying, being asked to whom the kingdom should belong, he replied, " To the strongest," and handed his signet ring to his general Perdiccas. But Perdiccas was not strong enough to master the difficulties of the situation.^ Indeed, who is strong enough to rule the world? Consequently the vast empire created by Alexander's unpar- alleled conquests was distracted by the wranglings and wars of his successors, and before the close of the fourth century B.C. had become broken into many fragment.s." Besides minor states,' 1 Perdiccas, in conjunction with his brother generals, ruled at first as regent for Philip Arrhidajus, an illegitimate brother of Alexander, who was proclaimed titular king. Later tlie government was administered in the name of Arrhidx'us and Alexander the Younger, a posthumous son of Ale.xander. This son was murdered some years later by Cassander, the ruler of Macedonia. 2 The most important of the battles of this period was the battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia, 301 B.C. 8 Of these lesser states the following should be noted: a. Rhodes. — The city of Rhodes, on the island of the same name, became the head of a federation of adjacent island and coast cities, and thus laid the basis of a remarkable commercial prosperity and naval power. It was one of the chief centers of Hellenistic culture, and acquired a wide fame through its schools of art and rhetoric. Julius Caesar and Cicero both studied here under Rhodian teachers of oratory. b. Pontus. — Pontus (Greek for sea), a state of Asia Minor, was so called from its position upon the Euxine. It was never tlioroughly conquered by the Macedo- nians. It has a place in history mainly because of the luster shed upon it by the transcendent ability of one of its kings, Mithradates the Great (120-63 n.r.), who spread the fame of the little kingdom throughout the world by his able, and for a long time successful, resistance to the Roman arms (sees. 472, 484). 286 MACEDONIA 287 four monarchies rose out of the ruins. Their rulers were Cassan- der, Lysimachus, Seleucus Nicator, and Ptolemy, who had each assumed the title of king. The great horn was broken, and instead of it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.* Cassander governed Macedonia, and claimed authority over Greece ; Lysimachus held Thrace and the western part of Asia Minor ; Seleucus Nicator ruled Syria and the countries eastward to the Indus ; and Ptolemy held sway over Egypt. The kingdom of Lysimachus soon disappeared. The other monarchies were longer lived, but all were finally overwhelmed by the now rapidly rising power of Rome. In the following para- graphs we will trace in brief outline the fortunes of each, so long as they remained independent states. 303. Macedonia (333-146 B.C.). — The story of Macedonia from the death of Alexander on to the conquest of the country by the Romans is made up largely of the quarrels and crimes of rival aspirants for the crown that Philip and Alexander had worn. During a great part of the period the successive Mace- donian kings were exercising or attempting to exercise authority over the cities of Greece. Respecting the extent of their power or influence in the peninsula we shall find it more convenient to speak in the following section. Macedonia was one of the first countries east of the Adriatic to come in hostile contact with the great military republic of the West. After much intrigue and a series of wars, the country was finally brought into subjection to the Italian power and made into a Roman province^ (146 B.C.). 304. Greece : the Celtic Invasion ; the Achaean and iEtolian Leagues. — From the subjection of Greece by Philip of Macedon to the absorption of Macedonia into the growing dominions of Rome, the Greek cities of the peninsula were, as we have said, much of the time at least under the real or nominal suzerainty of the Macedonian kings. But the Greeks were never made for royal subjects, and consequently they were in a state of chronic revolt against this foreign authority. 1 Daniel, viii. 8. 6 See sees. 45 1, 453. 288 THE GRytCO-ORIENTAL WORLD Thus, no sooner had they heard of the death of Alexander than several of the Grecian states rose against the Macedonian general Antipater, and carried on with him what is known as the Lamian War (323-321 B.C.). The struggle ended disastrously for the Greeks, and Demosthenes, who had been the soul of the movement, to escape falling into the hands of Antipater, put an end to his own life by means of poison. The next matter of moment in the history of Greece was an invasion of the Gauls (278 B.C.), kinsmen of the Celtic tribes that about a century before this time had sacked the city of Rome (sec. 413). These terrible marauders, pouring down from Fig. 94. — The Dying Gaul. (Capitoline Museum) A memorial of the Gallic invasion of Greece in the third century B.C. the north, ravaged Greece as far south as Delphi and the Pass of Thermopylae. If we may believe the Greek accounts, they met with heroic resistance and were driven back with great loss. A little later some of the tribes settled in Asia Minor and there gave name to the province of Galatia.^ The celebrated Greek sculpture, the Dying Gaul, is a most interesting memorial of this ei>iso(le in Greek history (Fig. 94). In the third century b.c. there arose in Greece two important confederacies, known as the Achaean and yl'>tolian leagues, whose history embraces almost every matter of interest and instruction « It w-ns to these people that St. Paul addressed one of his epistles. See his Epistl.- to the Galatians. THE ACH^AN AND ^ETOLIAN LEACxUES 289 in the later political life of the Greek cities." These late attempts at federation among the Grecian cities were one expression of that tendency towards nationalism that marks this period of Greek history. They were fostered by the intense desire of all patriotic Hellenes to free themselves from the hated arbitership of Macedonia. The Greeks had learned at last — but unhap- pily too late — that the liberty they prized so highly could be maintained only through union. The Achjean League (281-146 b.c.) was in its beginnings simply a revival of a very ancient religious union of the cities of Ach?ea, but it came finally to embrace all the states of the Peloponnesus as well as some cities beyond its limits. It was one of the most successful efforts ever made to unite the Greek cities into a real federal state in which all the members should enjoy perfect equality of rights and privileges.^ The ^■Etolian League, established about 280 b.c, was composed not of cities but of tribes, — chiefly the half-civilized tribes of the mountainous regions of Central Greece. Its chieftains dis- played little of the statesmanship evinced by the leaders of the Achcean League, and it never became prominent in Greek affairs save from a military point of view. Both of the leagues were broken up by Rome. In the year 146 B.C. Corinth, the most splendid city at this time of all Greece, and the most important member of the Achaean League, was taken by the Romans, the men were killed, the women and chil- dren sold into slavery, the rich art treasures of the city sent as trophies to Rome, and its temples and other buildings given to the flames (sec. 454). This was the last act in the long and varied drama of the political life of ancient Greece. Henceforth it constituted simply a portion of the Roman Empire, and bore the name of Achsea. ^ For a study of these confederations, the first of which was very much like our own federal union, consult Freeman's work entitled History of Federal Constitidions. 8 The chief promoters of the movement were Aratus (271-213 b.c.) and Philo- pcEmen (about 252-1S3 B.C.), both of whom were trusted generals of the league and men of eminent ability and enlightened patriotism. Pausanias calls Philopcemen " the last of the Greeks." 290 THE GR^CO-ORIENTAL WORLD 305. Syria, or the Kingdom of the Seleucidae (312-65 B.C.). — This kingdom, during the two centuries and more of its existence, played an important part in the civil history of the world. Under its first king it comprised nominally almost all the countries of Asia conquered by Alexander, thus stretching from the Hellespont to the Indus ; but in reality the monarchy embraced only Asia Minor, Syria, and the old Assyria and Babylonia. Its rulers were called Seleucidre, from the founder of the kingdom, Seleucus Nicator. Seleucus Nicator (312-281 B.C.), besides being a ruler of unu- sual ability, was a most liberal patron of learning and art. He is declared to have been " the greatest founder of cities that ever lived." Throughout his dominions he founded a vast number, some of which endured for many centuries, and were known far and wide as homes and centers of Hellenistic civilization. Antioch on the Orontes, in Northern Syria, became after Seleu- cia on the Tigris the capital of the kingdom, and obtained an in- fluence and renown as a center of population and trade which have given its name a sure place in history. This colonization of Western Asia by Greeks was, as has already been remarked, one of the most noteworthy results of the Graeco- Macedonian conquests. The founding of all these cities, however, as the historian Ranke observes, "must not be reckoned solely to the credit of Seleucus and Alexander. Their origin was closely connected with the main tendencies of Greek coloniza- tion. The Greeks had struggled long and often to penetrate into Asia, but so long as the Persian Empire remained supreme they were energetically repulsed, and it was only as mercenaries that they found admittance. This bar was now removed. Released from all restrictions and attracted by the revolution in politics, the Greeks now streamed into Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt." The successors of Seleucus Nicator led the kingdom through checkered fortunes. On different sides provinces fell away and became independent states.® Antiochus III (223-187 B.C.), called 8 The most important of these were the following : a. Pergamum. — This was a state in Western Asia Minor which became inde- pendent upon the death of Seleucus Nicator (281 B.C.). Under the patronage of KINGDOM OF THE PTOLEMIES IN EGYPT 291 " the Great," raised the kingdom for a short time into great prom- inence ; but through attempting to make conquests in Europe, and further through giving asylum to the Carthaginian general Hannibal, he incurred the fatal hostility of Rome. Quickly driven by the Roman legions across the Hellespont, he was hopelessly defeated at the battle of Magnesia (igo B.C.). After this battle the Syrian kingdom was of very little importance in the world's affairs. At last, brought again into collision with Rome, the coun- try was overrun by Pompey the Great and became a part of the Roman Republic^** (63 b.c). 306. Kingdom of the Ptolemies in Egypt (323-30 b.c). — The Graeco-Egyptian empire of the Ptolemies was by far the most important, in its influence upon the civilization of the world, of all the kingdoms that owed their origin to the conquests of Alexander. The founder of the house and dynasty was Ptolemy I, surnamed Soter (323-283 B.C.). Ptolemy was a general under Alexander, and seemed to possess much of his great commander's abihty and restless energy, with a happy freedom from his worst faults. Upon the partition of the empire of Alexander, Ptolemy had received Egypt, with parts of Arabia and Libya. To these he added by conquest Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Gyrene, and Cyprus. Following the usage of the time, he transported a hun- dred thousand Jews from Jerusalem to Alexandria, attached them to his person and policies by wise and conciliatory measures, and thus effected, in such measure as was possible, at this great capital of the Nile, that fusion of the races of the East and the West which was the dream of Alexander. the Romans it gradually grew into a powerful kingdom. Its capital, also called Pergamum, became a most noted center of Greek learning and civilization, and through its great library and university gained the renown of being, next to Alexan- dria in Egypt, the greatest city of the Hellenistic world. Parchment (it is worth noting that this word is derived from Pergamum) was here first extensively used for books in place of the Egyptian papyrus, the exportation of which the rulers of Egypt at this time forbade. b. Parthia. — Parthia was a powerful non-Aryan state that grew up east of the Euphrates in the lands that formed the heart and center of the old Persian Empire (from about 255 B.C. to 226 A.D.). Its kings were at first formidable enemies of the rulers of Syria, and later of the Romans. 1" Compare sees. 452, 484. 292 THE GR^XO-ORIENTAL WORLD Under Ptolemy, Alexandria became the great depot of exchange for the productions of the world. At the entrance of the harbor stood the Pharos, or lighthouse, — the first structure of its kind, — which Ptolemy built to guide the fleets of the world to his capital. This edifice was reckoned one of the Seven Wonders. But it was not alone the exchange of material products that was comprehended in Ptolemy's scheme. His aim was to make his capital the intellectual center of the world, — the place where the arts, sciences, literatures, and even the religions of the world should meet and mingle. He founded the famous Museum,^^ a sort of college, which became the " University of the East," and established the renowned Alexandrian Library. He encouraged poets, artists, philosophers, and teachers in all departments of learning to settle in Alexandria by conferring upon them immu- nities and privileges, and by gifts and a munificent patronage. His court embraced the learning and genius of the age. Ptolemy Philadelphus (283-247 b.c.) followed closely in the footsteps of his father, carrying out as far as possible the plans and policies of the preceding reign. He added largely to the royal library, and extended to scholars the same liberal patronage that his father had before him. It was under his direction that the important translation into Greek of the old Hebrew Testament was made (sec. 345). Altogether the Ptolemies reigned in Egypt almost exactly three centuries (323-30 B.C.). The rulers who held the throne for the last two hundred years were, with few exceptions, a succession of monsters, such as even Rome in her worst days could scarcely equal. The story of the beautiful but dissolute Cleopatra, the last of the house of the Ptolemies, belongs properly to the history of Rome, which city was now interfering in the affairs of the Orient. In the year 30 B.C., the year which marks the death of Cleopatra, Egypt was made a Roman province. ^^ 307. Conclusion. — We have now traced the political fortunes of the C;reek race through about six centuries of authentic history. " " The Museumwasthefirstexampleofapermanentinstitutionforthe cultivation of pure science founded by a government; that was something great" (Holm). 1' Compare sees. 501-503. REFERENCES 293 In succeeding chapters, in order to render more complete the picture we have endeavored to draw of ancient Hellas, we shall add some details respecting Hellenic art, literature, philosophy, and society, — details which could not well have been introduced in the foregoing chapters without interrupting the movement of the narrative. Even a short study of these matters will help us to form a more adequate conception of that wonderful, many-sided genius of the Hellenic race which enabled Hellas, " captured, to lead captive her captor." Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of rhilopa-mcn and Lift: of A rat lis. References (Modern). — Holm, vol. iv; the best history in English of the period. Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. x, pp. 213-326. Gardner, A'eiu Chapters in Greek History, chap, xv, " The Successors of Alexander and Greek Civilization in the East." IMahaffy, The Story of Alexander'' s Empire ; Greek Life and Thought from the Age of Alexander to the Roman Conquest ; and A Survey of Greek Civilizatio7i, chaps, viii and ix. Green- IDGE, Handbook of Greek Co?tstitntional History, chap. vii. Freeman, History of Federal Government, chaps, v-ix, gives with great fullness the history of the Achaean League; and Periods of European History (first lecture). Sayce, The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia, lect. x, " The Place of the Egyptian Religion in the History of Theology." David- son, The Education of the Greek People, chap, viii, " Greek Education in Contact with the Great Eastern World." Draper, Intellectual Develop- ment of Europe ; has an account of the Alexandrian Museum. Topics for Special Study.— i. The Museum and Library at Alexandria. 2. The Achsan League. See Freeman and Greenidge. 3. " Hellenism and the fate of the Greek Constitution." See Greettidge, chap. viii. 4. Daphne at Antioch. 5. Rhodes as a center of Hellenistic culture. See Holm. Fig. 95. — Coin of Athens. (Third century b.c.) CHAPTER XXVIII GREEK ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, AND PAINTING 308. Introductory: the Greek Sense of Beauty The Greeks were artists by nature. Everything they made, from the shrines for their gods to the meanest utensils of domestic use, was beau- tiful. " Ugliness gave them pain like a blow." Beauty they placed next to holiness ; indeed, they almost or quite made beauty and goodness the same thing. It is said that it was noted by the Greeks as something strange and exceptional that Socrates was good, notwithstanding he was ugly in feature. The first maxim in Greek art was the same as that which formed the first principle in Greek morality — "Nothing in excess." The Greek eye was offended at any exaggeration of parts, at any lack of symmetry or proportion in an object. The proportions of the Greek temple are perfect. Any deviations from the canons of the Greek artists are found to be departures from the ideal. Clearness of outline was another requirement of Greek taste. The aesthetic Greek had a positive dislike of all vagueness or indis- tinctness of form. Contrast the clear-cut lines of a Greek temple with the vague, vanishing lines of a mediaeval Gothic cathedral. It is possible that Nature herself taught the Greeks these first j)rinciijles of their art. Nature in Greece never goes to extremes. The mountains and islands are never overlarge. The climate is rarely excessively cold or oppressively hot. And Nature here seems to abhor vagueness. The singular transparency of the atmosphere, esjjecially that of Attica, lends a remarkable clear- ness of outline to every object. The Parthenon in its clear-cut features seems modeled after the hills that lie with such absolute clearness of form against the Attic sky. 294 ORDERS OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE 295 I. Architecture 309. Orders of Greek Architecture. — By the close of the sixth century Greek architecture had made considerable advance and presented three distinct styles or orders. These are known as the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian (Fig. 96). They are distinguished from one another chiefly by differences in the pro- portions and ornamentation of the column. The Doric column is without a base and has a perfectly plain capital. At first the Doric temples of the Greeks were almost as pS^ffiEMHKMffi Doric Ionic Corintluan Fig. 96. — Orders of Greek Architecture massive as those of the Egyptian builders, but gradually they grew less heavy as they became permeated with the freer Greek spirit. The Ionic column is characterized by the spiral volutes of the capital. This form was principally employed by the Greeks of Ionia, whence its name. The Corinthian order is distinguished by its rich capital, formed of acanthus leaves. The addition of the acanthus leaves is said to have been suggested to the artist Callimachus by the pretty effect of a basket surrounded by the leaves of an acanthus plant, upon which it had accidentally fallen. This order was not much employed in Greece before the time of Alexander the Great. 296 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE The entire structure was made to harmonize with its supporting columns. The general characteristics of the orders are happily suggested by the terms we use when we speak of the " severe " Doric, the "graceful" Ionic, and the "ornate" Corinthian. Speaking of the place which these styles held in Greek archi- tecture and have held in that of the world since Greek times, an eminent authority says, " We may admit that the invention and perfecting of these orders of Greek architecture has been (with one exception — the introduction of the arch) the most important event in the architectural history of the world." 310. Greek Architecture chiefly Sacred ; Early Greek Temples. — Religion was the very breath of Greek architecture. It was religious feeling which created the noblest monuments of the architectural genius of Hellas.-^ Hence in the few words which we shall have to say respecting Greek architecture our attention will be confined almost exclusively to the temples of Greece. In the earliest times the Greeks had no temples save the forests. The statues of the gods were first placed beneath the shelter of a tree or within its hollow trunk. After a time a build- ing rudely constructed of the trunks of trees and shaped like the hal)itations of men marked the first step in advance. Then stone took the place of the wooden frame. With the introduc- tion of a durable material the artist was encouraged to expend more labor and care ujjon his work. At the same time he received helpful hints from the old builders of the East. Thus architec- ture began to make rapid strides, and by the century following the age of Solon at Athens there were many beautiful temples in different parts of the Hellenic world. 311. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. — One of the oldest as well as most beautiful of Greek edifices of the Ionic order was the temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus. It was counted as one of the wonders of the ancient world. The value of the gifts and votive offerings to the temple was beyond all calculation ; 1 The architecture nf the Myccnxan Age, which was represented by tlie palace, — there were no temples in that age, — seems to have exercised but little influence upon the sacred architecture of the classical age. THE DELPHIAN TEMPLE 297 kings and cities vied with one another in the cost and splendor of their donations. Painters and sculptors were eager to have their masterpieces assigned a place within its walls, so that it became a great national gallery of paintings and statuary.^ Just after the middle of the third century of our era the bar- barian Goths robbed the shrine and left it a ruin. Builders of a later date used the ruins as a stone quarry.* Some of the cele- brated jasper columns of the temple may be seen to-day in the great mosque (once the church of St. Sophia) at Constantinople. 312. The Delphian Temple. — The first temple erected at Del- phi over the spot whence issued the mysterious vaiDors (sec. 140) was a rude wooden structure. In the year 548 B.C. the temple then standing was destroyed by fire. All the cities and states of Hellas contributed to its rebuilding. The later structure was impressive both from its colossal size and the massive simplicity that characterizes the Doric style of architecture. It was crowded with the spoils of many battlefields, with the rich gifts of kings, and with rare works of art. After remaining long secure, through the awe and reverence which its oracle inspired, it finally, like the temple at Ephesus, suffered fre- quent spoliation. The Phocians despoiled the temple of a treasure equivalent, it is estimated, to more than ^10,000,000 (sec. 281), and later the Romans seem to have stripped it bare of its art treasures.* 313. The Athenian Parthenon. — We have already glanced at the Parthenon, the sanctuary of the virgin goddess Athena, upon 2 Besides being in a sense museums, the temples of the Greeks were also banks of deposit. The priests often loaned out on interest the money deposited with them, the revenue from this source being added to that from the leased lands of the temple and from the tithes of war booty to meet the expenses of the services of the shrine (compare sec. 58). Usually the temple property in Greece was managed solely by the priests, but the treasure of the Parthenon at Athens formed an exception to this rule. The treasure here belonged to the state, and was controlled and disposed of by the vote of the people. Even the personal property of the goddess, the gold drapery of the statue, which was worth about ^600,000, could be used in case of great need ; but it must be replaced in due time, with a fair interest. 3 The site of the temple was for many centuries lost; but in 1871 Mr. Wood, an excavator, uncovered portions of its ancient pavement, and brought to light fragments of sculpture, which may now be seen in the British Museum. * At all events the spade has turned up comparatively little of value on the site of the temple, which was thoroughly excavated towards the close of the last century. 298 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE the Acropolis at Athens (sec. 230). This temple, which is built in the Doric order, of marble from the neighboring Pentelicus, is regarded as the finest specimen of Greek architecture. The art exhibited in its construction is an art of ideal perfection. After standing for more than two thousand years, and having Fig. 97. — The Parthenon. (From a photograph) " A summary of all that is best and most characteristic in Greek architecture and sculpture " (Ernest Arthur Gardner) served successively as a pagan temple, a Christian church, and a Mohammedan mosque, it finally was made to serve «.s a Turkish powder magazine in a war with the Venetians in 1687. During the progress of this contest a bomb ignited the magazine, and more than half of the wonderful masterpiece was shivered into fragments. Even in its ruined state the structure constitutes the most highly prized memorial that we possess of the builders of the ancient world.* 314. Olympia and the Temple of Zeus Olympius. — The sacred plain of the Alpheus in Elis was, as we have learned, the spot where were held the celebrated Olympian games. Here was raised a magnificent Doric temple consecrated to Zeus Olympius, and around it were grouped a vast number of shrines, treasure- houses, porticoes, and various other structures. For many centuries these buildings adorned the consecrated spot and witnessed the recurring festivals. But in the fifth 6 For sliort notices of otlicr buildings at Athens, see sec. 230. THE MAUSOLEUM AT HALICARNASSUS 299 century of our era the Christian emperor Theodosius II ordered their destruction, as monuments of paganism, and the splendid structures were given to the flames. Earthquakes, landsHps, and the floods of the Alpheus completed in time the work of destruc- tion and buried the ruins beneath a thick layer of earth. For centuries the desolate spot remained unvisited; but late in the last century the Germans thoroughly excavated the temple site and the sites of about forty other neighboring structures. The remains unearthed were of such an extensive nature as to make possible a restoration of the noble assemblage of buildings (Pl.X) which we may believe re-creates with fidelity the scene looked upon by the visitor to Olympia in the days of its architectural glory. 315. Theater of Dionysus at Athens. — The Greek theater was semicircular in form, and open to the sky, as shown in the accom- panying cut. The structure comprised three divisions : first, the Fig. 98. — The Theater of Dionysus at Athens (From a photograph) semicircle of seats for the spectators ; second, the orchestra, or dancing place for the chorus, which embraced the space between the lower range of seats and the stage ; and third, the stage, a narrow platform for the actors. 300 r.REEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE The most noted of dreek. theaters was the Theater of Dio- nysus at Athens, which was the model of all the others. It was cut partly in the native rock on the southeastern slope of the Acropolis, the Greeks in the construction of their theaters gener- ally taking advantage of a hillside. There were about one hundred rows of seats, the lowest, bordering the orchestra, consisting, in later times, of sixty-seven marble armchairs. The structure, it is said, would hold thirty thousand spectators. 316. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. — -This structure was a monumental tomb designed to preserve the memory of Mauso- lus, king of Caria, who died 352 B.C. The chief remains of the mausoleum are numerous sculptures dug up on the site and now preserved in the British Museum. It is the tradition of this beau- tiful structure that has given the world a name for all monuments of unusual magnificence raised in memory of the dead. II. Sculpture 317. Traces of Oriental Influence in Early Greek Art. — The earliest art in Greece to which we can without hesitation apply the term " Hellenic " exhibits distinct marks of Oriental influ- ence.*^ From both Egypt and Assyria the early Greek artist received models in gold, silver, ivory, and other material, deco- rative designs, and a knowledge of technical processes. But this was all. The Greek was never a servile imitator. His true artistic feeling caused him to reject everything unnatural and grotesque in the designs and models of the Eastern artists, while his kindling genius breathed into the rigid figures of the Oriental sculptor the breath of life, and endowed them with the beauty and grace of the living form. From the beginning of the sixth century n.c. forward to the fifth we can trace clearly the growing excellence of Greek sculpture until it blooms in the supreme beauty of the art of the Periclean Age. " The relation of the sculpture of the Mycenaean Age to that of historic times in Greece is really unknown. It is probable, however, that in the primitive art of the Myccna!an period we may recognize an early stage of the art of the age of Phidias. THE GYMNASIUM AND GREEK SCULPTURE ?OI 318. Influence of the Olympian Games and the Gymnasium upon Greek Sculpture. — Towards the latter part of the sixth century B.C. it became the custom to set up images of the victors in the Olympian games. The ground at Olympia became crowded with "a band of chosen youth in imperishable forms." Now, in repre- senting the figures of the gods it was thought, if not impious, at least presumptuous, to change materially the conventional forms ; and thus a certain Egyptian rigidity was imparted to all the pro- ductions of the artist. But in the representation of the forms of mere men the sculptor was bound by no conventionalism, being per- fectly free to exercise his skill and genius in handling his subject. Progress and improvement now became possible. In still another way did the Olym- pian contests and the exercises of the gymnasia exert a most helpful influence upon Greek sculpture. They afforded the artist unrivaled opportunities for the study of the human form. " The whole race," as Symonds says, " lived out its sculp- ture and its painting, rehearsed, as it were, the great works of Phidias and Polygnotus, in physical exer- cises, before it learned to express itself in marble or in color." As the sacred buildings increased in number and costliness the services of the artist were called into requisition for their adorn- ment. Every available space was filled with statues and groups of figures executed by the most renowned artists and representing the national deities, the legendary heroes, victors at the public games, or incidents in the life of the state in which piety saw the special interposition of the god in whose honor the shrine had been raised. 319. The Archaic Period, down to the Persian Wars. — The oldest remains of Greek sculpture are specimens of carvings in Fig. 99. — The Wrestlers " Particularly were the games pro- motive of sculpture, since they af- forded the sculptor living models for his art" (sec. 143) 302 GREEK ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE relief. A good example of this archaic phase of Greek sculpture is seen in the tombstone of Aristion (Fig. loo), discovered in Attica in 1838. The date of this work is placed at about 550 B.C. A sort of Assyrian ' j rigidity still binds the limbs of the figure and a It 1. certain archaism of manner characterizes the ' . ,1' whole ; still there are suggestions of the grace and freedom of a truer and higher art.'^ 320. The Period of Perfection of Greek Sculp- ture : the Age of Phidias. — Greek sculpture was at its best during the last half of the fifth century B.C. Our space will permit us merely ^ ,. ') nf fe^ n ^^ mention r-'' '7 ; ' , three or four c^- ' ' ^ ' of the great f' sculptors who contribu to the glory of the age, and nam what the wor regards as their masterpieces. Myron, whose best work w Example of archaic Attic sculpture Fig. 100. — Stele executed probably OF Aristion ^^^^^^ ^(^^ j,^ ^ was a contempo- rary of Phidias. His works were chiefly in bronze. They were strikingly lifelike. One of his most celebrated pieces was the Diacoholus, or "Discus-thrower," whi GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE in politics and devote himself to philosophy. Upon the condem- nation and death of his master he went into voluntary exile. In foreign lands he gathered knowledge and met with varied experi- ences (sees. 273 and 274). He finally returned to Athens and established a school of philosophy in the Academy. Here, amid the disciples that thronged to his lectures, he passed the greater part of his long life — he died 347 is.c, at the age of eighty-one years — laboring incessantly upon the great works that bear his name. Plato imitated in his writings Socrates' method in conversation. Ihe discourse is carried on by ques- tions and answers, hence the term Dialogues that attaches to his works. He attributes to his master, Socra- tes, much of the philosophy that he teaches ; yet his writings are all deeply tinged with his own genius and thought. In the Republic Plato por- trays his conception of an ideal state. The Fhado is a record of the last conversation of Socrates with his dis- ciples, — an immortal argument for the immortality of the soul. Plato believed not only in a future life (postexistence), but also in preexistence; teaching that the ideas of reason, or our intuitions, are reminiscences of a past experience.^ Plato's doc- trines have exerted a profound influence upon all schools of thought and philosophies since his day. In some of his precepts he made a close approach to the teachings of Christianity. " We ought Fio. 118. — Platu (National Museum, Naples) " In th(! friUowing lines from Wordsworth we catch a glimpse of Plato's doctrine of preexistence : " Our birlh is but a sleep and a forgetting ; The soul tliat rises with us, our life's star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And comclh from afar: Not in entire forRetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, Cut trailing clouds of gli)ry, do we come From God, who is our home." — Ode on Im»iortality. ARISTOTLE 333 to become like God," he said, " as far as this is possible ; and to become like Him is to become holy and just and wise." 355. Aristotle. — As Socrates was surpassed by his pupil Plato, so in turn was Plato excelled by his disciple Aristotle (384- 322 B.C.), "the master of those who know." In him the philo- sophical genius of the Hellenic intellect reached its culmination. It may be doubted whether all the ages since his time have pro- duced so profound and powerful an intellect as his. He was born in the Macedonian city of Stagira, and hence is frequently called the " Stagirite." After studying for twenty years in the school of Plato, Aristotle accepted the invitation of Phihp II of Macedon to become the precep- tor of his son, the young prince Alexander (sec. 285). In after years Alexander became the liberal patron of his tutor, and, besides giving him large sums of money, aided him in his scientific studies by sending him collections of plants and animals gathered on his distant expeditions. At Athens the great philosopher delivered his lectures while walking about beneath the trees and por- ticoes of the Lyceum ; hence the term "peripatetic" (from the Grtek peripatein, "to walk about") applied to his philosophy. Among the productions of his fertile intellect are works on rhetoric, logic, poetry, morals and politics, physics and meta- physics. For centuries his works were studied and copied and commented upon by both European and Asiatic scholars, in the schools of Athens and Rome, of Alexandria and Constantinople. Until the time of Bacon in England, for nearly two thousand years, Aristotle ruled over the realm of mind with a despotic Fig. 119.- — Aristotle (Spada Palace, Rome) 3^,4 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE sway. All teachers and philosophers acknowledged him as their guide and master. 356. Zeno and the Stoics. — AVe are now approaching the j)criod when the political life of Hellas was failing, and was being fast overshadowed by the greatness of Rome. But the intellectual life of the Greek race was by no means eclipsed by the calamity that ended its political existence. For centuries after that event the poets, scholars, and philosophers of this intellectual people led a brilliant career in the schools and uni- versities of the Roman world. From among all the philosophers of this long period we can select for brief mention only a few. And first we shall speak of Zeno and Epicurus, who are noted as founders of schools of I)hilosoi)hy that exerted a vast influence upon both the thought and the conduct of many centuries. Zeno, founder of the celebrated school of the Stoics, lived in the third century before our era (about 340-265 B.C.). He taught at Athens in a public porch (in Greek, stod), from which circum- stance comes the name applied to his disciples. The Stoical philosophy was the outgrowth, in part at least, of that of the Cynics, a sect of most rigid and austere morals. The tyjMcal representative of this sect is found in Diogenes, who lived, so the story goes, in a wine cask (ttlOos), and went about Athens by daylight with a lantern, in search, as he said, of a man. The Cynics were simply a race of pagan hermits. Zeno adopted all that was good in the code of the Cynics, and, adding to this everything that he found of value in the systems of other philosophers, formed therefrom his new philosophy. It became a favorite system of thought with certain classes of the Romans, and under its teachings and doctrines were nourished some of the ])urest and loftiest characters j)roduced by the pagan world (sec. 575). In many of its teachings it anticipated Christian doctrines, and was, in the philosophical world, a very im])ortant preparation for Christianity. The Stoics inculcated virtue for the sake of itself. They be- lieved — and it would be very difficult to frame a better creed EPICURUS AND THE EPICUREANS 335 — that " man's chief business here is to do his duty." Bodily pain, they taught, was a matter of no moment ; and they schooled themsehes to bear with composure any lot that destiny might appoint. Any sign of emotion on account of calamity was con- sidered unmanly and unphilosophical. Thus a certain Stoic, when told of the sudden death of his son, is said merely to have remarked, " Well, I never imagined that I had given life to an immortal." 357. Epicurus and the Epicureans. — Epicurus (341-270 B.C.), who was a contemporary of Zeno, taught, in opposition to the Stoics, that pleasure is the highest good. He recommended virtue, indeed, but only as a means for the attainment of pleas- ure ; whereas the Stoics made virtue an end in itself. In other words, Epicurus said, " Be virtuous, because virtue will bring you the greatest amount of happiness"; Zeno said, "Be virtuous, because you ought to be." Epicurus had many followers in Greece, and his doctrines were eagerly embraced by many among the Romans during the corrupt and licentious period of the Roman Empire. Many of these disciples carried the doctrines of their master to an excess that he himself would have been the first to condemn. Allow- ing full indulgence to every appetite and passion, their whole philosophy was expressed in the proverb, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 358. The Skeptics: Pyrrho. — About the beginning of the third century B.C. skepticism became widespread in Greece. It seemed as though men were losing faith in everything. Many circumstances had worked together to bring about this state of universal unbelief. A wider knowledge of the world had caused many to lose their faith in the stories and legends of the old mythologies. The existence of so many systems of philosophy caused men to doubt the truth of any of them. The conquests of Alexander, by bringing the Greek mind in contact with the strange Asiatic systems of belief, tended powerfully to deepen and confirm this feeling of bewilderment and uncertainty. Many thoughtful minds were hopelessly asking, " What is truth? " ^^6 GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE Pyrrho (about 365-275 B.C.) was the "doubting Thomas" of the Greeks. He doubted everything, and declared that the great problems of the universe could not be solved. It was the duty of man and the part of wisdom to entertain no posi- tive judgment on any matter, and thus to insure serenity and peace of mind. The disciples of Pyrrho went to absurd lengths in their skep- ticism, some of them even saying that they asserted nothing, not even that they asserted nothing. They doubted whether they doubted. 359. The Neoplatonists. — Neojjlatonism was a blending of (Ireek j^hilosophy and Oriental religious feeling. Its representa- tives were at one and the same time Greek thinkers and Hebrew seers. The center of this last movement in Greek philosophical thought was Alexandria in Egypt, the meeting place, in the clos- ing centuries of the ancient world, of the East and the West. While the Neoplatonists were laboring to restore, in modified form, the ancient Greek philosophy and worship, the teachers of Christianity were fast winning the world over to a new faith. The two systems came into deadly conflict. Christianity triumphed. With the triumph of the Christian Fathers the work of the Greek philosophers, as living personal teachers, was ended ; but their systems of thought will never cease to attract and influence the best minds of the race. Science aviojig the Greeks The contributions of the Greek observers to the physical sci- ences have laid us under no small obligation to them. Some of those whom we have classed as jjhilosophers were careful stu- dents of nature, and might be called scientists. The great philosopher Aristotle wrote some valuable works on anatomy and natural history. From his time onward the sciences were pursued with much zeal and success. Especially did the later Greeks do much good and lasting work in the mathematical sci- ences, basing their labors \\\)ox\ what had already been achieved by the Egyptians and the Chaldeans. GREEK SCIENCE 337 360. Mathematics: Euclid and Archimedes. — Alexandria, in Egypt, became the seat of the most celebrated school of math- ematics of antiquity. Here, under Ptolemy Soter, flourished Euclid, the great geometer, whose work forms the basis of the science of geometry as taught in our schools to-day. Ptolemy himself was his pupil. The royal student, however, seems to have disliked the severe application required to master the problems of Euclid, and asked his teacher if there was not some easier way. Euclid replied, "There is no royal road to geometry." In the third century B.C., Syracuse, in Sicily, was the home of Archimedes, the greatest mathematician that the Grecian world produced. His knowledge of the laws of the lever is indicated by the oft-quoted boast that he made to Hiero : " Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world." 361. Astronomy and Geography. — Among ancient Greek astronomers and geographers the names of Aristarchus, Eratos- thenes, Hipparchus, Strabo, Pausanias, and Claudius Ptolemy are distinguished, Aristarchus of Samos, who lived in the third century B.C., held that the earth revolves about the sun as a fixed center, and rotates on its own axis. He was the Greek Copernicus. But his theory was rejected by his contemporaries and successors. Eratosthenes (b. about 276 B.C.) might be called an astronomi- cal geographer. His greatest achievement was the fairly accurate determination of the circumference of the earth by means of the different lengths of the shadow cast by the midday sun in Upper and in Lower Egypt at the time of the summer solstice. Hipparchus, who flourished about the middle of the second century B.C., was, through his careful observations, the real founder of scientific astronomy. He calculated eclipses, observed the pre- cession of the equinoxes, catalogued the stars, and wrote several astronomical works of a really scientific character. Strabo was born about half a century before our era. He traveled over a large part of the world, and describes, as an eye- witness, the scenery, the productions, and the peoples of all the countries known to the ancients. T,^S GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE About two centuries after Strabo's time, Pausanias wrote his Toi/r of Greece, a sort of guidebook, which is crowded with invaluable little items of interest respecting all the places best worth visiting in Greece. Claudius Ptolemy lived in Egypt about the middle of the second century after Christ. His great reputation is due not so much to his superior genius as to the fortunate circumstance that a vast work * compiled by him preserved and transmitted to later times almost all the knowledge of the ancient world on astronomical and geographical subjects. In this way it has hap- pened that his name has become attached to various doctrines and views respecting the universe, though these probably were not originated by him. The phrase " Ptolemaic System," how- ever, links his name inseparably, whether the honor be fairly his or not, with that conception of the solar system set forth in his works, which continued to be the received theory from his time until Copernicus, fourteen centuries later. Ptolemy combated the theory of Aristarchus in regard to the rotation and revolution of the earth ; yet he believed the earth to be a globe, and supported this view by exactly the same argu- ments that we to-day use to prove the doctrine. 362 . Medicine and Anatomy. — Hippocrates (b. about 460 n.c.) did so much to emancipate the art of healing from superstition and ignorance, and to make it a scientific study, that he is called the " Father of Medicine." His central doctrine was that there are laws of disease as well as laws of healthy life. " The works ascribed to him form the basis of modern medical science.^ The advance of the science of anatomy among the ancient Creeks was hindered by their feelings respecting the body, which caused them to look with horror upon its deliberate mutilation. Surprising as the statement may appear, it is nevertheless true that Aristotle, " the greatest of all thinkers in antiquity, the son f Known to medi.Tval Europe by its Arabian MxWn Almagest, moaning " the greatest." » The most noted fJreek physician after Hippocrates was Galenus Claudius, or simply Oalen (alwut a.d. 130-193). He wrote a multitude of books, which gathered up all the medical and anatomical knowledge of Iiis time, and which were greatly prized and carefully studied by the medical students of the Middle .\ges. REFERENCES 339 of a physician, especially educated in physical science, and well acquainted for the time with the dissection of animals, regarded the brain as a lump of cold substance, quite unfit to be the seat and organ of the sensus cominunis}^ This important ofifice he ascribed rather to the heart. The brain he considered to be chiefly useful as the source of fluids for lubricating the eyes, etc." ^^ At Alexandria, however, in the later period, under the influence doubtless of Egyptian practices in embalming, the Greek physi- cians greatly promoted the knowledge of anatomy not only by the dissection of dead bodies but even by the vivisection of crim- inals condemned to death. ^^ Selections from the Sources. — Plato, Rep7tHic, ii. 379 and 380, on God as the author of good ; and Phado, on immortaUty. References (Modern). — Grote (ten-volume ed.), vol. iv, pp. 65-94; Ionic Philosophers and Pythagoras; vol. vii, pp. 32-172; the Sophists and Socrates. Osborn, Fro7n the Greeks to Darwin, pp. 29-68 ; traces the development of the idea of evolution among the Greek philosophers. Burt, A Brief History of Greek Philosophy. Marshall, A Short His- tory of Greek Philosophy. Ferrier, Lectures on Greek Philosophy. Mayor, Sketch of Ancient Philosophy. Turner, History of Philosophy, chaps, i-xx. Lewes, Biographical History of Philosophy (first part). Davidson, The Education of the Greek People, chap, v; on the teaching of Socrates. Toy, Judaism and ^ Christianity. Pater, Plato and Platonistn ; and Zeller, The Stoics, Epicureans, and Sceptics, may be taken up by the teacher. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Sophists. 2. Plato's Republic. 3. The Stoics. 4. The trial and condemnation of Socrates. 5. Neopla- tonism in Alexandria. 1" The thinking faculty, the mind. 11 Ladd's Elements of Physiological Psychnlogy (1887), p. 240. 12 Some practices among the Greek physicians strike us as peculiar. The follow- ing is too characteristically Greek to be omitted. Plato, in the Gorgias, tells us that sometimes the doctor took a Sophist along with him to persuade the patient to take his prescription. Professor Mahaffy comments thus upon this practice : " This was done because it was the fashion to discuss everything in Greece, and people were not satisfied to submit silently to anybody's prescription, either in law, politics, religion, or medicine." CHAPTER XXXI SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS 363. Education. — Education at Sj)arta, where it was chiefly gymnastic, as we have seen, was a state affair (sec. 158); but at Athens and throughout Greece generally, the youth were trained in private schools. These schools were of all grades, ranging from those kept by the most obscure teachers, who gathered their pupils in some recess of the street, to those established in the Athenian Acad- emy and Lyceum by such philosophers as Plato and Aris- totle. It was only the boys who received education. These Grecian boys, Pro- fessor Mahaffy im- agines, were " the most attractive the world has ever seen." At all events, we may believe that they were trained more carefully and delicately than the youth among any other people before or since the days of Hellenic culture. In the nursery the boy was taught the beautiful myths and stories of the national mythology and religion.^ At about seven 1 y\t the birth of a child, many customs of a significant character were care- fully observed. Thus at Sparta the new-born infant was first cradled on a shield, which symbolized the martial life of the Spartan citizen; while at Athens the child was laid upon a mantle in which was wrought the a;gis of Athena, by wliich act was eml)lemized and invoked the protection of that patron goddess. Infanticide was almost universally practiced throughout Greece. (At Thebes, however, the exposure of children was proiiibited by severe laws.) Such philosophers as Plato and Aristotle 340 Fig. 120. — A Greek School (From a vase painting) EDUCATION 341 he entered school, being led to and from the place of training by an old slave, who bore the name of " pedagogue," which in Greek means a guide or leader of boys — not a teacher. His studies were grammar, music, and gymnastics, the aim of the course being to secure a symmetrical development of mind and body alike. Grammar included reading, writing, and arithmetic ; music, which embraced a wide range of mental accomplishments, trained the boy to appreciate the masterpieces of the great poets, to contribute his part to the musical diversions of private entertain- ments, and to join in the sacred choruses and in the paean of the battlefield. The exercises of the palestrae and the gymnasia trained him for the Olympic contests, or for those sterner hand- to-hand battle struggles in which so much depended upon per- sonal strength and dexterity. Upon reaching maturity the youth was enrolled in the list of citizens. But his graduation from school was his "commence- ment" in a much more real sense than with the average modern graduate. Never was there a people besides the Greeks whose daily life was so emphatically a discipline in liberal culture. The schools of the philosophers, the debates of the popular assem- bly, the practice of the law courts, the masterpieces of a divine art, the religious processions, the representations of an unrivaled stage, the Panhellenic games, — all these were splendid and effi- cient educational agencies, which produced and maintained a standard of average intelligence and culture among the citizens of the Greek cities that probably has never been attained among any other people on the earth. Freeman, quoted approvingly by Mahaffy, says that " the average intelligence of the assembled saw nothing in the custom to condemn. Among the Spartans, as we have already learned (sec. 158), the state determined what infants might be preserved, condemning the weakly or ill-formed to be cast out to die. At Athens and in other states the right to expose his child was given to the father. The infant was abandoned in some desert place, or left in some frequented spot in the hope that it might be picked up and cared for. Greek literature, like that of every other people of antiquity, is filled with stories and dramas, all turning upon points afforded by this common practice. The career of Sargon of Agade, of Cyrus the Great of Persia, of the Hebrew Moses, of CEdipus of Thebes, of Romulus and Remus of Roman legend, and a hundred others, are all prefaced by the same story of exposure and fortunate rescue. 04" SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CxREEKS Athenian citizens was higher than that of our [the Enghsh] House of Commons." 364. Social Position of Woman. — AUhough there are in Greek literature some exquisitely beautiful portraitures of ideal woman- hood, still the general tone of the Uterature betrays a deep con- tempt for woman, which Symonds regards as " the greatest social blot upon the brilliant but imperfect civiHzation of the Greeks." Thucydides quotes with seeming approval the Greek proverb, " That woman is best who is least spoken of among men, whether for good or for evil." This unworthy conception of woman of course consigned her to a narrow and inferior place in the Greek home. Her position may be defined as being about halfway between Oriental seclusion and modern or Western freedom. Her main duties were to cook and spin, and to oversee the domestic slaves, of whom she herself was practically one. In the fashionable society of Ionian cities she was seldom allowed to appear in public, or to meet, even in her own house, the male friends of her husband. In Sparta, how- ever, and in Dorian states generally, she was accorded unusual freedom, and was a really important factor in society. The low position generally assigned the wife in the home had a most disastrous effect upon Greek morals. She could exert no such elevating or refining influence as she exercises in the modern home. The men were led to seek social and intellectual sym- pathy and companionship outside the family circle, among a class of talented and often highly cultured women known as Heta^rK. As the most noted and brilliant representative of this class stands Aspasia, the friend of Pericles. Her conversation possessed at- trattion for the most prominent and accomplished men of Athens, such persons as Socrates and Anaxagoras often assembling at her house. Yet the influence of this class was most harmful to social morality, so that to the degradation of woman in the home may be traced the source of the most serious stain that rests upon Greek civilization. 365. Friendship among the Greeks. — From speaking of the inferior rank assigned woman in the Greek home, we are led by THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENT 343 a natural transition to speak of Greek friendship between men. While it seems quite certain that that romantic sentiment to which we give distinctively the name of love was not the same universal and absorbing passion among the Greeks that it is among mod- ern civilized peoples, it is equally certain that the ancient Greeks possessed a capacity for friendship between man and man such as is rarely or never seen among the men of modern times. It would scarcely be incorrect to say that the Greek men "fell in love" with each other. An ardent and romantic attachment sprang up between companions, which possessed all the higher elements of that chivalrous sentiment which the modern man seems capable of entertaining only for one of the opposite sex. Greek literature and history afford innumerable instances of this wonderful and happy capacity of the Greeks for friendship. The memory easily recalls the Homeric picture of the friend- ship between Achilles and Patroclus ; the attachment, stronger than death, between Damon and Pythias ; the friendship of the patriot heroes Pelopidas and Epaminondas, and of Alexander and Hephaestion. 366. Theatrical Entertainments. — Among the ancient Greeks the theater was a state establishment, " a part of the constitution." This arose from the religious origin and character of the drama (sec. 334), all matters pertaining to the popular worship being the care and concern of the state. Theatrical performances, being religious acts, were presented only during religious festivals, — certain festivals observed in honor of Dionysus, — and were attended by all classes, rich and poor, men, women, and children. The women, however, except the Hetaerse, were, it would seem, permitted to witness tragedies only; the comic stage was too gross to allow of their presence. The upper ranges of seats in the theater were reserved for the women ; the chairs bordering the orchestra were for the officers of the state and other persons of distinction ; while the interven- ing tiers of seats were occupied by the general audience. The spectators sat under the open sky ; and the pieces followed one after the other in close succession from early morning till nightfall. 344 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS While the better class of actors were highly honored, ordinary players were held in very low esteem, in which matter the Greek stage presents a parallel to that of England in the sixteenth cen- tury. And as in the Elizabethan age the writers of plays were frequently also the performers, so in Greece, particularly during the early period of the drama, the author often became an actor, and assisted in the presentation of his own pieces. Still another parallel is found in the fact that the female parts in the Greek dramas, as in the early English theater, were taken by men. The stage machinery of the Greek theater and the costumes of the actors were ingenious and elaborate. There were mov- able scenes ; trapdoors and various machines for introducing the infernal and celestial divinities and swinging them through the air ; contrivances for imitating all the familiar sounds of the country, the roar and crash of storm and thunder, and all the noises that are counterfeited on the modern stage. The tragic actor increased his height and size by wearing thick-soled bus- kins, an enormous mask, and padded garments. The actor in comedy wore thin-soled slippers, or socks. The sock being thus a characteristic part of the make-up of the ancient comic actor, and the buskin that of the tragic actor, these foot coverings have come to be used as the symbols respectively of comedy and tragedy, an in the familiar lines of Dryden : Great Fletcher never treads in buskins here, Nor greater Jonson dares in socks appear. The theater exerted a great influence upon Greek life. It per- formed for ancient Greek society somewhat the same service as that rendered to modern society by the puljiit and the press. During the best days of Hellas the frequent rehearsal upon the stage of the chief incidents in the lives of the gods and the heroes served to deepen and strengthen the religious faith of the people ; and later, when with the Macedonian the days of decline came, the stage was one of the chief agents in the diffusion of Greek literary r ultwre over the world. Theaters arose everywhere, and it was chiefly through the popular representations of the stage that BANQUETS AND SYMPOSIA 345 a knowledge of the best productions of Greek literature was im- parted to the mixed population of the Hellenic cities of Egypt and Western Asia, and to the inhabitants of the cities of Italy as well. 367. Banquets and Symposia. — Bampiets and drinking parties among the Greeks possessed some features which set them apart from similar entertainments among other people. The banquet proper was partaken, in later times, by the guests in a reclining position, upon couches or divans arranged about the table in the Oriental manner. After the usual courses a liba- tion was poured out and a hymn sung in honor of the gods, and then followed that characteristic part of the entertain- ment known as the " symposium." The symposium was " the intellec- ^'^^ '^'"-^^ Banquet Scene tual side of the feast." It consisted of general conversation, riddles, and convivial songs rendered to the accompaniment of the lyre passed from hand to hand. Generally professional singers and musicians, dancing girls, jugglers, and jesters were called in to contribute to the merrymaking. All the while the wine bowl circulated freely, the rule being that a man might drink "as much as he could carry home without a guide, — unless he were far gone in years." Here also the Greeks applied their maxim, " Never too much." Besotted drunkenness, though by no means unknown in Greece, was always regarded as a most disgraceful thing. The banqueters usually consumed the night in merrymaking, sometimes being broken in upon from the street by other bands of revelers, who made themselves self-invited guests. The symposium must at times, when the conversation was sus- tained by such persons as Socrates and Aristophanes, have been '• a feast of reason and a flow of soul " indeed. Xenophon in his 346 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS Banquet and Plato in his Syjn/osium have each left us a striking report of such an entertainment. 368. Occupations. -^ The enormous body of slaves in ancient Greece relieved the free population from most of those forms of labor classed as drudgery. The aesthetic Greek regarded as de- grading any kind of manual labor that marred the symmetry or beauty of the body. At Sparta, and in other states where oligarchical constitutions I)revailed, the citizens formed a sort of military caste, strikingly similar to the military aristocracy of feudal Europe. Their chief occupation, as has already appeared, was martial and gymnastic exercises and the administration of public affairs. The Spartans, it will be recalled, were forbidden by law to engage in trade. In other aristocratic states, as at Thebes, a man by engaging in trade disqualified himself for full citizenship. In the democratic states, however, speaking generally, labor and trade were regarded with less contempt. A considerable portion of the citizens were traders, artisans, and farmers. Life at Athens presented some peculiar features. All Attica being included in what we should term the corporate limits of the city, the roll of Athenian citizens included a large body of well-to- do farmers, whose residence was outside the city walls. The Attic plains and the slopes of the encircling hills were dotted with beautiful villas and inviting farmhouses. And then Athens being the head of a great emj)irc of sub- ject cities, a large number of Athenian citizens were necessarily employed as salaried officials in the minor positions of the public service, and thus politics became a profession. In any event, the meetings of the ]jopular assembly and the discussion of mat- ters of state engrossed more or less of the time and attention of every citizen. Again, the great Athenian jury courts (sec. 229),. which were busied with cases from all parts of the empire, gave constant emj^loyment to nearly one fourth of the citizens, the fee that the juryman received enabling him to live, if he Hved narrowly, with- out (jther business. It is said that, in the early morning, when SLAVERY 347 the jurymen were passing through the streets to the different courts, Athens appeared hke a city wholly given up to the single business of law. Furthermore, the great public works, such as temples and commemorative monuments, which were in constant process of erection, afforded employment for a vast number of artists and skilled workmen of every class. In the Agora, again, at any time of the day, a numerous class might have been found, whose sole occupation, as in the case of Socrates, was to talk. The writer of the Acts of the Apostles was so impressed with this feature of life at Athens that he sum- marized the habits of the people by saying, " All the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." 369. Slavery. — There is a dark side to Greek life. Hellenic art, culture, refinement — "these good things were planted, like exquisite exotic flowers, upon the black, rank soil of slavery." ' Slaves were very numerous in Greece. No exact estimate can be made of their number, but it is believed that they greatly out- numbered the free population. Almost every freeman was a slave owner. It was accounted a real hardship to have to get along with less than half a dozen slaves. This large class of slaves was formed in various ways. In the prehistoric period the fortunes of war had brought the entire population of whole provinces into a servile condition, as in cer- tain parts of the Peloponnesus. During later times, the ordinary captives of war still further augmented the ranks of these unfor- tunates. Their number was also largely added to by the slave traffic carried on with the barbarian peoples of Asia. Crimi- nals and debtors, too, were often condemned to servitude ; while foundlings were usually brought up as slaves. The relation of master and slave was regarded by the Greek as being not only a legal but a natural one. A free commu- nity, in his view, could not exist without slavery. It formed the natural basis of both the family and the state, the relation of master and slave being regarded as "strictly analogous to the relation of soul and body." Even Aristode and other Greek 348 SOCIAL LIFE OF THE GREEKS philosophers approved the maxim that " slaves were simply do- mestic animals possessed of intelligence." - They were consid- ered just as necessary in the economy of the family as cooking utensils. In general, Greek slaves were not treated harshly, judging their treatment by the standard of humanity that prevailed in antiquity. Some held places of honor in the family, and enjoyed the confidence and even the friendship of their master. Yet at Sparta, where slavery assumed the form of serfdom, the lot of the slave was peculiarly hard and unendurable. If ever slavery was justified by its fruits, it was in Greece. The brilliant civilization of the Greeks was its product, and could never have existed without it. As one truthfiilly says, " Without the slaves the Attic democracy would have been an impossibility, for they alone enabled the poor, as well as the rich, to take a part in public affairs." Relieving the citizen of all drudgery, the system created a class characterized by elegant leisure, refinement, and culture. We find an almost exact historical jjarallel to all this in the feudal aristocracy of medieval Europe. Such a society has been well likened to a great pyramid whose top may be gilded with light while its base lies in dark shadows. The civilization of ancient Hellas was splendid and attractive, but it rested with a crushing weight upon all the lower orders of Greek society. 2 This harsh, selfish theory, it should be noted, was somewhat modified and relaxed when the slave class, through the numerous captives of tlie unfortunate civil wars, came to be made up in considerable part of cultured Greeks, instead of being, as was the case in earlier times, composed almost exclusively of barbarians, or of inferior branches of the Hellenic race, between whom and their cultured masters there was the same difference in menfcil qualities as existed between the negro slaves and their masters in our own country. The sentiment that a slave was an unfortunate jjerson, rather than an inferior being, came to prevail, — a senti- ment which aided powerfully in preparing the way for the Christian doctrine of the universal brotherhood of man. REFERENCES 349 Selections from the Sources. — Aristotle, Politics, viii ; on edui ation. Xenophon, Symposium, i and iv. References (Modern). — Blumner, The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks. Davidson, The Education of the Greek People and Ancient Edu- cational Ideals. MaHAFFY, Social Life in Greece ; Old Greek Education ; Greek Life atid Thought (selected chapters) ; and Old Greek Life. V?.\.- TON, Greece, Ancient and Modern, vol. i, pp. 271-511; pictures various aspects of the life of Greece. Guhl and Koner, Life of the Greeks and the Romans (first part). GULICK, Life of the Ancient Greeks. Topics for Special Study. — i. Home life of the Greeks. 2. Greek education. See Monroe's Source Book in the IListory of Education for the Greek and Roman Period. 3. Daily life in Athens. 4. Greek slavery. 5. Marriage and funeral customs. Part 1 1 1 — Ro ME FIRST PERIOD — ROME AS A KINGDOM (753? — 509 i^-c.) " CHAPTER XXXII ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS 370. Divisions of the Italian Peninsula. — The Italian peninsula is generally conceived as consisting of three sections, — Northern, Central, and Southern Italy. The first comprises the great basin of the river Po (^Fadus), lying between the Alps and the Apennines. In ancient times this part of Italy included three districts, namely, Liguria, Gallia CisaljMna, and Venetia. Liguria embraced the southwestern and Venetia the northeastern part of Northern Italy. Gallia Cisalpina lay between these two districts, occupying the finest portion of the valley of the Po. It received its name, which means "Gaul on this (the Italian) side of the Alps," from the Gallic tribes that about the fifth century before our era found their way over the mountains and settled upon these rich lands. The countries of Central Italy were Etruria, Latium, and Cam- pania, facing the Western or Tyrrhenian Sea; Umbria and Pice- num, looking out over the Eastern or Adriatic Sea ; and Samnium and the country of the Sabines, occu])ying the rough mountain districts of the Ai:)ennines. Southern Italy comprised the ancient districts of Apulia, Lu- cania, Calabria, and Bruttium. Calabria formed the " heel," ^ and 1 During the Middle Ages tliis name was transferred to tlie.tou of the peninsula, and this forms the Calabria of today. 52^^ oo «o ^ — 1 » , 1—1 c c ~ -S 1 a o 1 1/ Z""?^ V---~v 1 1 m^ o^-^ ^ ^ <^S-^S/v^fV^ 00 u 2 Jr $ -. . ^8)1^/3W 1 7 1 t s ». s^ *u ? " ^\ s rc^^"^ .2 2 o a :§ 5 ^ ' a°is i ^ /} i ^ S 0. > |_tn W X / /^ fl yd- -^ ii ■a = ■« Kl a ¥^ ' « / V » S ^ s T_ o 2 Kl -^ *^ a w a: K) Cl. 3 ^ Q 1- <^ *^ C5 OQ a e? .^^^x ^^V^ N s\_ y V- \. L bs 8^J ^ N r- r^^ ^ -o -^ o < >^^ ) so ^ ^ V^ ^/ n ■ 2a s: ^ \ } H M < K -^f > \\ >^ 1 )\ ^ ^ ;?: L ^ ., #f< 00 X' "T ^ @ H Ji I T '^ w — Li^ s g g ^ ^1 \ MOUNTAINS, RIVERS, AND HARBORS 351 Bruttium the " toe," of the boothke peninsula. The coast region of Southern Italy, as we have already learned, was called Magna Grcccia, or " Great Greece," on account of the number and im- portance of the Greek cities that during the period of Hellenic supremacy were established on these shores. The large island of Sicily, lying just off the mainland on the south, may be regarded simply as a detached fragment of Italy, so inti- mately has its history been connected with that of the peninsula. This island had some such influence upon Roman history as the islands of the yEgean Sea exerted upon the history of Greece. As the islands which stud that sea were, in effect, stepping-stones that drew the inhabitants of continental Greece to the shores of Asia Minor and thus made those lands a part of the Greek world, so was Sicily a stepping-stone that, as we shall learn (sec. 427), enticed the Romans to the African shore, and thus started them on a career of foreign conquest which did not end until their armies had made not only North Africa but all the other Medi- terranean lands a part of the empire of Rome. The great islands of Corsica and Sardinia, lying to the west of Italy, were early taken possession of by the Romans, but they exerted no special influence, as Sicily did, upon the course of their fortunes. 371. Mountains, Rivers, and Harbors. — Italy, like the other two peninsulas of Southern Europe, Greece and Spain, has a high mountain barrier, the Alps, along its northern frontier. Corre- sponding to the Pindus range in Greece, the Apennines run as a great central ridge through the peninsula. Eastward of the ancient Latium they spread out into broad uplands, which in early times nourished a race of hardy mountaineers, who incessantly harried the territories of the more civilized lowlanders of Latium and Campania. Thus the physical conformation of this part of the peninsula shaped large sections of Roman history, just as in the case of Scotland the physical contrast between the north and the south was reflected for centuries in the antagonisms of highlanders and lowlanders. 352 ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS Italy has only one really great river, the Po, which drains the large northern plain, already mentioned, lying between the Alps and the Apennines. The streams running down the eastern slope of the Ajjennines are short and of little volume. Among them the Aufidus, the Metaurus, and the Rubicon are connected with great matters of history.^ Among the rivers draining the western slopes of the Apennines, the one possessing the greatest historic interest is the Tiber, on the banks of which Rome arose. North Y THE MOUNTAIN SYSTEM OF ITALY SCALE or MILES I'l ■ ■ ■ iu loo 150 -o \ ■^J ' '■v V ■>. Longitude 1 j East from of this stream is the Arno (Ar/ius), which watered a part of the old Etruria, and south of it, the Liris, one of the chief rivers of Camjjania. The finest Italian harbors, of which that of Naples is the most celebrated, are on the western coast. The eastern coast is pre- cii)itous, with few good havens. Italy thus faces the west. What makes it important for us to notice this circumstance is the fact that (ireece faces the east (sec. 124), and that thus these two pen- insulas, as the historian Mommsen expresses it, turn their backs 2 See sees. 443, 446, and 491. Plate XI. — The New-Found Etruscan Chariot (From a photograph) This interesting memorial of Etruscan art has recently been acquired by the Metropohtan Museum of New York at a cost of ^48,000. It was found in an ancient Etruscan cemetery (1901). Almost every part of the chariot, includin- he wheels was sheathed in figured bronze. The relic probably dates from the seventh century B.C. EARLY INHABITANTS OF ITALY 353 to each other. This brought it about that Rome and the cities of Greece had almost no deahngs with one another for many centuries. 372. Early Inhabitants of Italy : the Italians, the Etruscans, and the Greeks. — There were in early times three chief races in Italy, — the Italians, the Etruscans, and the Greeks.^ The ItaHans, a branch of the Aryan family, embraced two principal stocks, — Fig. 12: -Wall Paintixg of an Etruscan Ban<)UET From an Etruscan tomb of the fifth century B.C. This cut illustrates, among other things, the state of art among the Etruscans at that early date. Banqueting scenes are favorite representations on Etruscan tombs, sarcophagi, and funeral urns. The participators "were represented in the height of social enjoyment to symljolize the bliss on which their spirits had entered " (Dennis, Cities and Cemeteries of Etritria) the Latin and the Umbro-Sabellian (Umbrians, Sabines, Samnites, Lucanians, etc.), — the various tribes or nations of which occupied nearly all Central, and a considerable part of Southern, Italy.* Most important of all the Italian peoples were the Latins, who dwelt in Latium, between the Tiber and the Liris. These people, like all the Italians, were near kindred of the Greeks, and brought with them into Italy those customs, manners, beliefs, and insti- tutions that formed the common possession of the various Aryan 3 Besides these principal races there were the lapygians in Calabria, and the Venetians and the Ligurians in the north of the peninsula. The Ligurians were probably of non-Aryan race, but the others were of Aryan relationship. ^ Notice carefully the large area covered by the Italian color on the accompany- ing map (p. 350). The Italian race formed the best part of the material out of which the real Roman nation was formed. 354 ITALY AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS peoples. Their life was for the most part that of shepherds and farmers. The leading representatives of this branch of the Italians were the Romans, of whose social and religious life and political arrangements we shall come to speak in subsequent chapters. The Etruscans, a wealthy, cultured, and seafaring people of uncertain race and origin, tlwelt in Etruria, now called Tuscany after them.^ Before the rise of the Roman people they were the leading race in the peninsula. Certain elements in their culture lead us to believe that they had learned much from the cities of Magna Gra;cia. The Etruscans in their turn became the teachers of the early Romans and imparted to them at least some minor elements of civilization, including hints in the art of building and various religious ideas and rites. With the Greek cities in Southern Italy and in Sicily we have already formed an acquaintance. Through the medium of these cultured communities the Romans were taught the use of letters and given valuable suggestions in matters of law and constitu- tional government. Selections from the Sources. — Cicero, (7« the Covunomocalih, ii. 3-6. DiONYSlus, Roman Ajitiqtiiiies, i. 36 and 37. For additional selections for this and following chapters on the Republic and the early Empire, see Munro's Source Book of Roman History. The teacher will find this admi- rable collection of extracts from the sources an invaluable aid in imparting a sense of life and reality to the story of ancient Rome. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. i, chaps, i and ii. Freeman, The Historical Geoi^raphy of Europe, vol. i (text), pp. 7-9 and 43-49. TozER, Classical Geofrraphy, chaps, ix and x. Merivai.E, vol. iv, pp. 414-416; for some interesting observations on the evidence afforded by ancient geo- graphical names of the wooded character of the districts about Rome in early times. How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps, i and ii. Shuck- uiiRcn, History of Rome, chaps, ii and iii. Allcroft and Masom, Tutorial History of Rome, xt"^. 1-18. Dennis, The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, vol. i, Introduction. The author probably exaggerates the debt which the early civilization of Rome owed to the preceding culture of Etruria. Lki.anI), Etrttscnn-Romati Remains. Topics for Special Study. — l. Geographical conditions tending to make the history of Italy different from that of Greece. 2. Etruscan civilization. 3. The debt of Rome to Etruria. 4. Relation to Rome of the fireek colonies in Italy. '> In early times they had settlements in Northern Italy and in Campania. CHAPTER XXXIII THE SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT OF EARLY ROME 373. The Roman Family; the Worship of Ancestors. — At the bottom of Roman society and forming its smallest unit was the family. This was a very different group from that which among us bears the same name. The typical Roman family consisted of the father ( paterfamilias^ and mother, the sons together with their wives and sons, and the unmarried daughters. \\'hen a daughter married she became a member of the family to which her husband belonged. The most important feature or element of this family group was the authority of the father. His power over each and all of its members was legally absolute. He was the proprietor of the family in almost the same sense that he was the proprietor of its goods and lands. He could sell his wife or his son just as he could sell one of his slaves. He was the sole judge of the mem- bers of the family, and could put to death without appeal even a son grown to man's estate. The father was the high priest of the family, for the family had a common worship. This was the cult of its (iead ancestors (the Lares and Penates). The spirits of these were believed to linger near the old hearth. If provided with frequent offerings of meat and drink, they would, it was thought, watch over the living mem- bers of the family and aid and prosper them in their daily work and in all their undertakings. If they were neglected, however, these spirits became restless and suffered pain, and in their anger would bring trouble in some form upon their undutiful kinsmen. It was this worship of ancestors that made the Roman family a religious body, and which caused it to be so exclusive and to close its doors against all strangers; for the spirits of its dead members could be served only by their own kith and kin. But by 355 356 SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT OF EARLY ROME a certain religious ceremony a stranger could be adopted into a family, and thus could acquire the same rights as its members by birth or by marriage to participate in its worship and festivals. When the father died the sons became free, and each in his own household now came to exercise the full authority that the father had held. 374. Dependents of the Family ; Clients and Slaves. — Besides those members constituting the family proper there were attached to it usually a number of dependents. These were the clients and slaves. The client was a person standing to the head of the family, who was called his patron, in a relation which, in some respects, was like that of the mediaeval serf to his lord. He held a position between the slave and the son. The class of clients was probably made up of homeless refugees or strangers from other cities, or of freed slaves dwelling in their former master's house.^ They were free to engage in business at Rome and to accumulate property, though whatever they gathered was legally the property of the patron. The duty of the patron was in general to look after the interests of his client, especially to represent him before the legal tribunals. The duty of the client, on the other hand, was faithfulness to his patron, and the making of contributions of money to aid him in meeting unusual expenses. The slaves constituted merely a part of the family property. There were only a few slaves in the early Roman family, and these were held for service chiefly within the home and not in the fields. They relieved the mother and daughters of the coarser work of the household. It was not until later times, when luxury crept into Rome, that the number of domestic slaves became excessively great (sec. 585). 375. The Place of the Family in Roman History. — Such in briefest outline was the early Roman family. It would be dififi- cult to overestimate the influence of this group upon the history and destiny of Rome. It was the cradle of at least some of those splendid virtues of the early Romans that contributed so much to 1 The clients of the later republican and imperial periods were as a rule freedmen. THE CLAN, CURIA, TRIBE, AND CITY 357 the strength and greatness of Rome, and that helped to give her the dominion of the world. It was in the atmosphere of the family that were nourished in the Roman youth the virtues of obedience and of deference to authority. When the youth became a citizen, obedience to magis- trates and respect for law were with him an instinct and indeed almost a religion. And, on the other hand, the exercise of the parental authority in the family taught the Roman how to com- mand as well as how to obey, — how to exercise authority with wisdom, moderation, and justice. 376. The Clan, the Curia, the Tribe, and the City. — Having gained some idea of the Roman family, we may pass with briefer notice the other larger units or groups in the Roman community, for the reason that each of these larger associations seems to have been modeled upon the family, and consequently repeated many of its characteristic features. First above the family stood the clan or gens. This was prob- ably in the earliest times simply the expanded family, the members of which had outgrown the remembrance of their exact relation- ship. Yet they all believed themselves to have had a common ancestor and called themselves by his name, as, for instance, in the case of the Fabii, the Claudii, the Julii, and so on. The gens, like the family, had a common altar. Like the family, again, it had clients, who in some cases formed a numerous body. The next largest group or division of the community was the curia, which has been compared to the ward of the modern city. This was the most important political division of the people, as the family was the most important social group. So important was it that according to some authorities it gave a special name to the Romans — Quirites, that is, "men of the curiae." We do not know positively whether the members of a curia looked upon themselves as kinsmen, as did the members of the family and of the gens.^ They had, in any event, a common 2 " The members of a curia were very probably neighbors and kinsmen, but the curia seems to represent a stage in political development midway between that in which clanship is the sole bond of union, and that in which such claims as those of 35S SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT OF EARLY ROME worship and held common festivals. What made the curia so important a division of the community was the fact that the levies for the army were made by curiae, and that the voting in the primitive assembly of the people, as we shall exjjlain pres- ently, was done by these same bodies. There were thirty curiae in primitive Rome. Above the curi^ was the tribe, the largest subdivision of the community. It had, so flir as our knowledge goes, neither magis- trates nor assemblies of its own. In early Rome there were three tribes, each composed of ten curirc. These several groups, — the families, the gentes, the curine, the tribes, — forming successive strata, as we have indicated, of the social and political structure, made up the community of early Rome. This city, like the city of ancient (ireece (sec. 136), was a " city-state," that is, an independent sovereign body like a modern nation. As such it possessed a constitution and govern- ment, concerning which we will next give a short account. 377. The King. — At the head of the early Roman state stood a king, the father of his ])eople, holding essentially the same rela- tions to them that the father of a family held to his household. He was at once ruler of the nation, commander of the army, and judge and high priest of his peo])le. In theory his power was al)sf)lute. He was preceded by servants called lictors, each bear- ing a bundle of rods (the fasces) with an ax bound therein, the symbol of his i)Ower to punish by flogging and by ])utting to death. 378. The Senate. — Next to the king stood the senate, or "council of the old men," composed of the "fathers" or heads of the ancient clans of the community. It is said to have con- sisted of three hundred members, a number corresponding to the traditional number of gentes composing the early city. The sena- tf)rs were a])pointed by the king and held their position for life. Two important functions of the senate were to give counsel to the king and to cast the decisive vote on all measures passed by the assembly of citizens. territorial continuity and ownership of land have obtained recognition " (Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, p. 23). Compare sees. 136, n. 4, and 395. THE RIGHTS OF THE ROMAN CITIZEN 359 379. The Popular Assembly. — -The ])opular asseml)ly {comitia curiatd) comprised all the freemen of Rome. This was not prop- erly a legislative body, but an assembly called together to hear announcements as to festivals, to ratify the nomination of a new king, to witness wills, and to authorize or give approval to certain proposals and acts concerning the state or the families and clans. ^ The manner of taking a vote in this assembly should be noticed, for the usage here was followed in all the later popular assemblies of the republican period. The voting was not by individuals but by curiae ; that is, each curia had one vote, and the measure before the body was carried or lost according as a majority of the curiae voted for or against it. It should be further noticed that this assembly was not a rep- resentative body, like a modern legislature, but a primary assembly, that is, a meeting like a New England town meeting. It was com- posed of all the citizens of Rome, each being present in his own person as a member of the community and not as a delegate rep- resenting some division or some class of the state. All of the later assemblies at Rome were hke this primitive assembly. The Romans never learned, or at least never employed, the principle of representation, without which device government by the people in the great states of the present day would be impossible. How important the bearing of this was upon the political fortunes of Rome we shall learn later. 380. The Patricians and the Rights of the Roman Citizen. — The heads of the ancient gentes at Rome, who constituted the senate, were called /^i-Z/w, or " fathers," whence it probably came that all the members of these groups were c'd}\t.(\. patricians. These patri- cians formed the hereditary nobility of the earlier Roman state. They alone possessed the full rights and privileges of citizenship. And here we must acquaint ourselves with what the rights and privileges of Roman citizenship included. The rights of the Ro- man citizen were divided, first, into private rights and public rights. The chief private rights were two, namely, the right of trade (^jiis commercii) and the right of marriage {Jus connubii). The 360 SOCIETY AND GOVERNMENT OF EARLY ROME right of trade or commerce was the right to acquire, to hold, and to bequeath property (both personal and landed) according to the forms of the Roman law. This in the ancient city, where business and property both tended towards a monopoly in the hands of the citizens, was an important right and privilege.^ The right of marriage was the " right of contracting a full and religious marriage." Such a marriage could take place in early Rome only between patricians. The three chief public or political rights of the Roman citizen were the right of voting in the public assemblies (^Jus suffragii), the right to hold ofifice {Jus /lonorum), and the right of appeal from the decision of a magistrate to the people {jils provocationis). These rights taken together constituted the most highly valued rights and prerogatives of the Roman citizen. What we should particularly notice is that the Romans adopted the practice of bestowing these rights in installments, so to speak. For instance, the inhabitants of one vanquished city would be given a part of the private rights of citizenship, those of another perhaps all of this class of rights, while upon the inhabitants of a third place would be bestowed all the rights, both private and public. This usage created many different classes of citizens in the Roman state ; and this, as will appear later, was one of the most impor- tant matters connected with the internal history of Rome. Now in primitive Rome the patricians alone possessed all these rights of citizenship. Some of the private rights they shared with an inferior class in the state, as will appear in the following para- graph, but the political rights they jealously guarded as the sacred patrimony of their own order. 381. The Plebeians. — When Rome first appears in history, we notice a large class in the community, known as plebeians (from plcbs, the multitude), who enjoy only a part of the rights of citizen- ship as these have been enumerated in the preceding paragraph.* ' In some modern states aliens are not allowed to acquire landed property ; in Roman terms there is withheld from them a part of the/?/-f comntercii. < We cannot be quite certain as to the origin of this class of the population of early Home, but the generally held view has been that it embraced (i) refugees from various quarters ; (2) the inhabitants of subjugated Latin towns and other places; THE PLEBEIANS 361 The greater number of the plebeians were petty landowners, hold- ing and tilling with their own hands farms of a few acres in extent in the near neighborhood of Rome. From what has already been said of them, it will be seen that these plebeians possessed at least one of the most important rights of Roman citizenship, namely, the private right of engag- ing in trade. But from most of the other rights and privileges of the full citizen they were wholly shut out. They could not contract a legal marriage with one of the patrician order. They could not hold office nor appeal from the decision of a magistrate. A large part of the early history of Rome as a republic is made up of the struggles of these plebeians to better their economic condi- tion and to secure for themselves social and political equality with the patricians. Selections from the Sources. — Dionysius, ii. 7-10 and 12; on the institutions of Romulus. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. i, chap, v, "The Original Con- stitution of Rome." Duruy, vol. i, pp. 189-198. Tighe, The Develop- ment of the Roman Co7tstitniion, chaps, ii and iii. COULANGES, The Ancient City, bk. ii, chap, i, " Religion was the Constituent Principle of the Ancient Family"; and chap, x, "The Gens at Rome and in Greece." Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. i, chap. ii. Ihne, Early Rome, chaps, vii-i.x. Fowler, The City-State, chaps, ii and iii ; deals suggestively with the genesis and nature of the city-state in Greece as well as in Italy. MoREY, Outlines of Roynajt Laiv, chap, i, " The Organization of Early Roman Society." Abbott, Roman Political Institutions, chaps, i and ii. Teachers may consult Taylor, A Constitutional and Political History of Rome, pp. 1-25, and Greenidge, Roman Public Life, chaps, i-vi. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Roman family. 2. Clientage in early Rome. 3. The position of the plebeians at Rome compared with that of the commons at Athens. (3) immigrant traders from other cities, who had taken up their permanent residence at Rome and entered into business there; and (4) freedmen and other clients. The theory of Eduard Meyer that they were tribesmen, that is, the humbler members of the original clans and tribes of Rome, has not found general acceptance among scholars. CHAPTER XXXIV THE ROMAN RELIGION 382 . The Place of Religion in Roman History. — In Rome, as in the ancient cities of Greece, religion, aside from the family ancestor worship and the local cults, was an affair of the state. The magistrates of the city possessed a sort of sacerdotal or priestly character ; and since almost every official act was con- nected in some way with the rites of the temple or the sacrifices of the altar, it happens that the political or secular history of the Romans is closely interwoven with their religion. Therefore, in order to understand the transactions of the period upon which we are about to enter, we mvist first acquaint ourselves with at least the prominent features of their public religious institutions. 383. The Practical and Legal Character of the Religion. — The Roman thought of the gods as watchful of the conduct of their worshipers, and as interested in their affairs. Hence the Roman was in his way very religious, and exceedingly scrupulous in ren- dering to the divinities the worship due them. He did not, how- ever, serve his gods for naught ; he expected from them a full equivalent for the sacrificial victims that he offered them, for the incense that he burned upon their altars, for the gifts he hung up in their temples, and for the costly games and spectacles he pro- vided for their entertainment in the circus and the amphitheater. And the gods, on their part, were ready to meet this expecta- tion. They gave counsel and help to their faithful followers, and secured them good harvests and a successful issue of their under- takings. On the other hand, neglect angered the gods and caused them to bring u])on their unfaithful worshipers all kinds of troubles and ( alamities, — dissensions within the state, defeat of their armies in the field, drought, fire and flood, pestilence and famine, jjut their anger could be turned aside or ajipeased by expiatory 362 THE CHIEF ROMAN DEITIES 363 sacrifices and ofiferings. " When the gods of the community were angry and nobody could be laid hold of as definitely guilty, they might be appeased by one who voluntarily gave himself up ; nox- ious chasms in the ground were closed/ and battles half lost were converted into victories when a brave burgess threw himself as an expiatory offering into the abyss or upon the foe " (Mommsen). Another noteworthy feature of the Roman religion was its legal character ; for the Roman religion was a sort of contract between the gods and their worshipers. If the worshipers performed their part of this contract, then the gods were bound to fulfill theirs. But the Roman was ever ready to take advantage of a flaw in a contract and to overreach in a bargain, and making his gods like unto himself, he imagined that they would act in a like manner. Hence the anxious care with which he performed all the prescribed religious rites, in order to insure that there should be no flaw in the proceedings which might be taken advantage of by the gods. 384. The Chief Roman Deities. — At the head of the Roman pantheon stood Jupiter, identical in all essential attributes with the Hellenic Zeus. He was the special protector of the Roman people. To him, together with Juno and Minerva, was consecrated a magnificent temple upon the summit of the Capitoline hill, over- looking the forum and the city. Mars, the god of war, was the favorite deity and the fabled father of the Roman race, who were fond of calling themselves the "Chil- dren of Mars." They proved themselves worthy offspring of the war-god. Martial games and festi- pj^ 123. — Head of Janus vals were celebrated in his honor (p^rom a Roman coin) 1 The reference is to tlie legend of Marcus Ciirtius. In the year 359 B.C., a great chasm having opened in the forum, this heroic youtli, mounting his horse, plunged into the gulf, and through such self-sacrifice appeased tlie gods and closed the crevice. See Livy, vii. 6. 364 THE ROMAN RELIGION during the first month of the Roman year, which bore, and still bears, in his honor, the name of March. Janus was a double-faced deity to whom the month of January was sacred, as were also all gates and doors. The gates of his temple were always kept open in time of war and shut in time of peace. The fire upon the household hearth was regarded as the symbol of the goddess Vesta. Her worship was a favorite one with the Romans. The nation, too, as a single great family, had a common national hearth in the temple of Vesta, where the sacred fires were kept burning from generation to generation by six virgins, daughters of the Roman state. 385. Oracles and Divination. — The Romans, like the Greeks, thought that the will of the gods was communicated to men by means of oracles, and by strange sights, unusual events, or singular coincidences. There were no true oracles at Rome. The Romans, therefore, often had recourse to those among the Greeks. Particularly in great emergencies did they seek advice from the celebrated oracle of Apollo at Delphi. From E t r u r i a was intro- duced the art of the h a r u s p i c e s, or soothsayers, which consisted in discov- ering the will of the gods by the appearance of the entrails of victims slain for the sacrifices. 386. The Sacred Colleges The four chief sacred colleges or societies were the Keepers of the Sibylline Books, the College of Augurs, the College of Pontiffs, and the College of the Heralds. The Sibylline Books were volumes written in Greek, the origin of which was lost in fable. They were kept in a stone chest in a Fig. 124. — Divining by Means of the Appear- ance oE the Entrails of a Sacrificial Victim This was with the Romans a usual way of foretelling future events SACRED COLLEGES AND FESTIVALS 365 vault beneath the Capitoline temple, and special custodians were appointed to take charge of them and interpret them. The books were consulted only in times of extreme danger (sec. 436). The duty of the members of the College of Augurs was to inter- pret the omens, or auspices, — which were casual sights or ap- pearances, particularly the flight of birds, — by which means it was beUeved that Jupiter made known his will. Great skill was required in the " taking of the auspices," as it was called. No business of importance, public or private, was entered upon with- out the auspices being first consulted to ascertain whether they were favorable. The College of Pontiffs was so called probably because one of the duties of its members was to keep in repair a certain bridge (pons) over the Tiber. This guild was the most important of all the religious institutions of the Romans ; for to the pontiffs belonged the superintendence of all religious matters. The head of the college was called Fo7itifex Maximus, or " Chief Bridge Builder," which title was assumed by the Roman emperors, and after them by the Christian bishops of Rome ; and thus the name has come down to our times. The College of Heralds {Fetiales) had the care of all public matters pertaining to foreign nations. Thus, if the Roman people had suffered any wrong from another state, and war was deter- mined upon, then it was the duty of a herald to proceed to the frontier of the enemy's country and hurl over the boundary a spear dipped in blood. This was a declaration of war. The Romans were very careful in the observance of this ceremony. 387. Sacred Games and Festivals. — The Romans had many religious games and festivals. Prominent among these were the so-called Circensian Games, or Games of the Circus, which were very similar to the sacred games of the Greeks. They consisted, in the main, of chariot racing, wrestling, foot racing, and various other athletic contests. These festivals, as in the case of those of the Greeks, had their origin in the beUef that the gods delighted in the exhibition of feats of skill, strength, or endurance ; that their anger might be 366 THE ROMAN RELIGION appeased by such spectacles ; or that they might be persuaded by the promise of games to lend aid to mortals in great emergencies.^ Towards the close of the republic these games lost much of their religious character, and at last became degraded into mere brutal shows given by ambitious leaders for the purpose of win- ning popularity (sec. 582). The Saturnalia were a festival held in December in honor of Saturn, the god of sowing. It was an occasion on which all classes, including the slaves, who were allowed their freedom dur- ing the celebration, gave themselves up to riotous amusements ; hence the significance we attach to the word saiurnalian. The well-known Roman carnival of to-day is a survival of the ancient Saturnalia. Selections from the Sources. — Livy, i. 20, Numa institutes Religion; and vii. 6, Legend of Marcus Curtius. Cicero, De Xatiira Dcortcm, ii. 2. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. i, bk. i, chap. xii. Ihne, Eai-ly Ro7ne, chap, vi, " Religious Institutions in the Time of the Kings." Inge, Society in Rome 7inder the Cccsars, chap. i. Coulanges, The Ancient City, bk. i, chaps, i-iv, " Ancient Beliefs." Duruy, vol. i, chap. iii. IIuw and Leigh, History 0/ Rome, pp. 2S8-293. Topics for Special Study. — i. Character of the Roman religion. 2. The worship of Vesta. 3. The Sibylline Books. 4. Tlie College of Augurs. 5. Contrast between the Greek and the Roman gods. 6. The worship of ancestors. 2 " The games were an entertainment offered to the guests [the gods, who were "the guests of honor"], which were as certainly believed to hi gratifying to tlieir sight as a review of troops or a deer luint to a modern European sovereign." — W'HEiiLUK, Dionysus and Immortality, p. 1 1. Fig. 125. — Thk Bronze Wolf of the Capitoi. CHAPTER XXXV ROME UNDER THE KINGS 388. Latium before Rome ; the Latin League. — In very early times Latium, the " flat country," as the name probably sig- nifies, lying south of the lower course of the Tiber, was dotted with settlements of the Latin people. These settlements were merely groups of clans, or village communities, to which has been given the name of cantons. The villages constituting any given canton were generally, it would seem, scattered over the little cantonal territory, in order that the villagers, who were petty farmers and shepherds, might be near the land they culti- vated or the common pastures out upon which they drove their sheep and cattle ; but sometimes the villages appear to have been huddled together on some eligible spot, such as a low hill might afford. Each canton had a central stronghold, which served as a refuge for the villagers in times of danger, and as a common meeting place for their markets and religious festivals. The site chosen for this canton center was, whenever practicable, some easily defended rock or hill, of which the situation of Tibur, built on a spur of the Apennines, and that of Alba Tonga, on the isolated Alban Mount, are good illustrations. 3(>7 368 ROME UNDER THE KINGS According to tradition there were in all Latium in prehistoric times thirty of these clan clusters, or petty city-states. Before the dawn of history these cantons had formed an alliance among themselves known as the Latin League. The leadership in this confederacy was held at first by Alba Longa. 389. The Beginnings of Rome. — It was in the midst of such an environment as that which we have described in the pre- ceding paragraph that Rome arose and grew into greatness. Fig. 126. — The Site of Tiulk, the Mudern Tivoli (After an old engraving) To the left, the ruins of an ancient temple of Vesta Among the cantons of early Latium was one formed by the Ramnes, — whence possibly the name Romans, — a community of the Latin stock. This canton embraced three clans or villages, the dwellings of which were upon the slopes or at the foot of the Palatine Mount, one of a cluster of low hills on the left bank of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from the sea. On the summit of the hill was the citadel or stronghold of the settlement. Modern excavations have revealed portions of the foundations of the ancient walls, together -with, remains of two of the gates. HOW GREATER ROME WAS FORMED 369 This little fortress town we may regard as the nucleus around which grew up the Rome of history. It was intended doubtless to serve as an outpost to protect the northern frontier of Latium against the Etruscans, — the most powerful and aggressive neigh- bors of the Latin people, — and thus its inhabitants early became inured to military discipline and learned those military virtues which made them preeminent among their neighbors in the art of war even in a warlike age. 390. How Greater Rome was formed. — In the neighborhood of the little Palatine settlement were two other canton communi- ties, one of which seems to have been of Sabine origin. In times before history there took place between these three cantons something which, so far as our knowledge goes, never occurred in the case of any others of the clan clusters of Latium. After much hard fighting between the rival communities, — for in this way we may summarize the legend of these prehistoric times, — they accommodated their differences, united on equal terms to form a single nation, and learned to call themselves by the same name. The Capitoline hill was chosen for the location of the stronghold of the new and enlarged city.^ Each of the old cantons constituted a tribe (fribus) or divi- sion of the new state. Each tribe was composed of ten curiae. There were thus in the new city three tribes, known as the Eamties, the Titles, and the Ziiccrcs, thirty curiae, and, if we are to follow the numbers given by tradition, three hundred gentes or clans. 391. Importance of this Prehistoric Union. — This confedera- tion of the three Httle communities by the Tiber, by whatsoever means effected, was one of the most important matters not only in the history of Rome but in the history of civilization. It laid the basis of the greatness of Rome and foreshadowed her mar- velous political fortunes. The ancient city, as we have learned, was a very exclusive association. On religious and other grounds it closed its gates against strangers. The rights and privileges of the citizens were not shared with aliens. The vanquished were made subjects or 1 This is like what took place at Athens in prehistoric times (sec. 179). !70 KOME UNDER THE KINGS tributaries. But here we see Rome at the very outset of her career adopting a more liberal policy than that adopted by any other ancient city-state, save possibly early Athens, whose history is known to us. And for seven hundred years and more the Romans followed, more or less steadily and consistently, this good precedent set them in prehistoric times, and bestowed the free- dom of their city, — that is, the rights and privileges of Roman citi- zenship, — upon the peoples they successively conquered, until at last the roll of Roman citizens had increased from a few thousand to several million names." The way in which they did this, the reluctance at times with which they granted the boon to the van- quished, — this makes up a very large part of the internal history of Rome, and constitutes also a chief element of its interest and instructiveness.^ 392 . Influence of Commerce upon the Growth of Early Rome. — Be- sides the early happy union of the three communities, various second- ary causes contributed without doubt to the early and rapid growth Fig. 127. — An Ancient Roman of Rome. Among these a promi- COIN BEARING THE ProW OF ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ -^.^^^ ^^ ^^^ A Ship . r i 1 advantages m the way of trade and I'rom the use of this symbol on the city's money we may assume that commerce afforded by its fortu- commerce held an important place nate situation upon the Tiber. ItS in the life of early Rome ,. r 1 1 • distance from the sea protected it against the depredations of the pirates who in early times swarmed in the Mediterranean and swept away the cattle and the crops from the fields of the coast settlements, while its location on the chief stream of Central Italy naturally made it the center of the lucrative trade of a wide reach of inland territory bordering upon the Tiber and its tributaries. The early founding by the city of the seaport 2 See the table of the census lists on page 492. 8 Consult particularly sees. 418, 470, 471, 512, and 527. THE LEGENDARY KINGS 371 of Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber, and the adoption for its early coinage of the device of a ship's prow (Fig. 127), are cited as evidences of the important place that commerce held in the early life of the Romans. 393. The Legendary Kings. — • For nearly two and a half cen- turies after the legendary founding of Rome (from 753 to 509 b.c.) the government was a monarchy. To span this period the legends of the Romans tell of the reigns of seven kings, — Romulus, the founder of Rome ; Numa, the lawgiver ; Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Martius, both conquerors ; Tarquinius Priscus, the 'great builder ; Servius TuUius, the reorganizer of the government and second founder of the state ; and Tarquinius Superbus, the haughty tyrant whose oppressions led to the abolition by the people of the office of king. The traditions of the doings of these monarchs and of what happened to them blend hopelessly fact and fable. We cannot be quite sure even as to their names. Respecting Roman affairs, however, under the last three rulers (the Tarquins), who were of Etruscan origin, some important things are related, the substantial truth of which we may rely upon with a fair degree of certainty ; and these matters we shall notice in the following paragraphs, 394. Growth of Rome under the Tarquins. — The Tarquins ex- tended their authority over the whole of Latium. The position of supremacy thus given Rome was attended by the rapid growth of the city in population and importance. The original walls soon became too strait for the increasing multitudes ; new ramparts were built — tradition says under the direction of the king Servius Tullius — which, with a great circuit of seven miles, swept around the entire cluster of seven hills on the south bank of the Tiber, whence the name that Rome acquired of "the City of the Seven Hills." A large tract of marshy ground between the Palatine and Cap- itoline hills was drained by means of the Cloaca Maxima, an arched canal, which was so admirably constructed that it has been preserved to the present day. It still discharges its waters through a great arch into the Tiber.* The land thus reclaimed became 4 " It is a work to be classed among the great triumphs of engineering." — Lanciani. 372 ROME UNDER THE KINGS the Forum, the public market place of the early city. At one end of this public square, as we should call it, was the Comitiinn, an inclosure where assemblies for voting purposes were held. Standing on the dividing line between the comitium and the forum proper was the stand, later named the Rostra^ from which the public speakers delivered ^-;pi|;'j"i5^V-^.?'^l^!>^ their addresses. ^^ ,^, Tvl^^'5^ \ This assembling place, which '. ■-'■"•-'=-tr-. ■aW' Y^'/ after the creation of other ""■ ,. -■^''~^^^^'k^%^d' forums came to be known as _;.,,;"' in later times was enlarged and ■■':le. He was declared guilty and was put to death. 405. Border Wars and Border Tales ; Coriolanus and Cincinnatus. — The chief enemies of early Rome and her Latin allies were the Volscians, the y^quians, the Sabines, and the Etruscans. For more than a hundred years after the founding of the republic, Rome, either alone or in connection with her confederates, was almost constantly fighting one or another or all of these peoples. Kiit these operations cannot be regarded as real wars. They were, on the side of both parties, for the most ])art mere plundering forays or cattle-raiding expeditions into the enemy's territories. * This is what Livy (ii. 41) gives us as the substance of the proposals. BORDER WARS AND BORDER TALES 383 We shall probably not get a wrong idea of their real character if we liken them to the early so-called border wars between England and Scotland. Like the Scottish wars, they were embellished by the Roman story-tellers with the most extravagant and pictur- esque tales. Two of the best known of these are those of Corio- lanus and Cincinnatus. According to the tradition, during the prevalence of a severe famine at Rome, Gelo, king of Syracuse, sent a large quantity of The Tto-man Domam. ^^^ The Latin Confederacy. \ ,' I The original domain of the city of Ri The Roman Domain and the Latin Confederacy in the Time of the Early Republic, about 450 b.c. grain to the capital for distribution among the suffering poor. A certain patrician, Coriolanus by name, made a proposal that none of the grain should be given to the plebeians save on con- dition that they gave up their tribunes. These officials straight- way summoned him before the plebeian assembly on the charge of having broken the solemn covenant of the Sacred Mount, and so bitter was the feeling against him that he was obliged to flee from Rome. 384 THE EARLY REPUBLIC He now allied himself with the Volscians, enemies of Rome, and even led their armies against his native city. Embassies from the senate were sent to him to sue for peace. But the spirit of Coriolanus was bitter and resentful, and he would listen to none of their proposals. Then came to him at last his mother and his wife with her two sons and a band of Roman matrons. The mother's entreaties and the tears and prayers of the wife and children finally prevailed. Embracing his mother, Coriolanus exclaimed, " Mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son." He then withdrew his army from Roman soil. The second and best-known tale, that of Cincinnatus, tells how, while one of the consuls was away fighting the Sabines, the ^qui- ans defeated the forces of the other and shut them up in a narrow valley whence escape seemed impossible. There was great terror in Rome when news of the situation of the army was brought to the city. The senate immediately appointed Cincinnatus, a grand old patrician, dictator. The commissioners who carried to him the message from the senate found him upon his little farm across the Tiber, at work plowing. Cincinnatus at once accepted the oflfice, gathered the Roman army, surrounded and captured the enemy, and sent them all beneath the yoke.^ He then led his army back to Pome in triumph, laid down his office, having held it only sixteen days, and sought again the retirement of his farm. 406. The Decemvirs and the Twelve Tables of Lav^s (451-450 ij.c-.). — While these petty border wars were furnishing the mate- rial for these tales of adventure and heroism, the contest between the patricians and plebeians was going on unceasingly in the very heart of the community itself. One phase of this struggle con- stitutes a great landmark in the history of the Roman people. This was the revision and reduction to writing of the customs and laws of the state. Written laws are always a great safeguard against oppression. Until what shall constitute a crime and what shall be its penalty * This was formed of two spears thrust firmly into the ground and crossed a few feet from the eartli by a tliird spear. Prisoners of war were forced to pass beneath tliis yoke as a symbol of submission. THE TWELVE TABLES OF LAWS 385 are clearly written down and well known and understood by all, judges may render unfair decisions or inflict unjust punishment, and yet run little risk — unless they go altogether too far — of being called to an account ; for no one but themselves knows what either the law or the penalty really is. Hence, in all struggles of the people against the tyranny of a ruling class, the demand for written laws is one of the first measures taken by them for the protection of their persons and property. Thus the commons at Athens, early in their struggle with the nobles, demanded and obtained a code of written laws (sec. 183). The same thing now took place at Rome. The plebeians demanded that the laws be written down and published. The patricians offered a stubborn resistance to their wishes, but finally were forced to yield to the popular clamor. A commission, so tradition says, was sent to the Greek cities of Southern Italy and to Athens to study their laws and customs. Upon the return of this embassy, a commission of ten magistrates, who were known as decemvirs, was appointed to frame a code of laws (451 B.C.). These officers, while engaged in this work, were also to administer the entire government, and so were invested with the supreme power of the state. The patricians gave up their consuls, and the plebeians their tribunes. At the end of the first year the task of the board was quite far from being finished, so a new decemvirate was elected to complete the work. Appius Claudius was the only member of the old board that was returned to the new. The code was soon finished, and the laws were writ- ten on twelve tablets of bronze, which were fastened to the rostra, or orator's platform in the forum, where they might be seen and read by all. Only a few fragments of these celebrated laws have been pre- served, but the substance of a considerable part of the code is known to us through the indirect quotations from it or allusions to it occurring in the works of later writers and jurists. The fol- lowing quotations will convey some idea of the general character of this primitive legislation. The provisions regarding the treatment of debtors are note- worthy. The law provided that, after the lapse of a certain 386 THE EARLY REPUBLIC number of clays of grace, the creditor of a delinquent debtor might either put him in the stocks or in chains, sell him to any stranger resident beyond the Tiber, or put him to death. In case of there being several creditors the law provided as follows : " After the third market day his [the debtor's] body may be divided. Any one taking more than his just share shall be held guiltless." ° We are informed by later Roman writers that this savage provision of the law was, as a matter of fact, never carried into effect. A special provision touching the power of the father over his sons provided that "during their whole life he shall have the right to imprison, scourge, keep to rustic labor in chains, to sell or to slay, even though they may be in the enjoyment of high state offices." ^ The prevalence of popular superstitions is revealed by one of the laws which provides for the punishment of any one who by enchantments should blight the crops of another. These " Laws of the Twelve Tables " were to Roman jurispru- dence what the good laws of Solon were to the Athenian consti- tution. They formed the basis of all new legislation for many centuries, and constituted a part of the education of the Roman youth, — every schoolboy being required to learn them by heart. 407. Misrule and Overthrow of the Decemvirs; Second Seces- sion of the Plebeians (450 li.c). — The first decemvirs used the great jjower lodged in their hands with justice and prudence ; but the second Ijoard, under the leadershij) of Appius Claudius, insti- tuted a most infamous and tyrannical rule. No man's life was safe, be he patrician or i)lebeian. An ex-tribune, daring to de- nounce the course of the decemvirs, was caused by them to he assassinatccl. Another act, even more outrageous than this, filled to the brim the cup of their inicjuities. Virginia was the beautiful daughter of a i)]ebeian. A|jpius Claudius, desiring to gain possession of her, made use of his authority as a judge to pronounce her a « Here the actual text has been preserved to us, and reads as follows : Ter/iis nundinis partis sccanto: si plus miiiusve secucrini, nc fraude esto (Ortolan's His- tory of the Roman Law, trans, by Prichard and Nasmith, p. io6). " See sec. 373. THE VALERIO-IIORATIAN LAWS 387 slave. The father of the maiden, preferring the death of his daughter to her dishonor, killed her with his own hand. Then, drawing the weapon from her breast, he hastened to the army, which was away from Rome resisting a united invasion of the Sabines and yEquians, and, exhibiting the bloody knife, told the story of the outrage.^ Tbe soldiers rose as a single man and hurried to the city. The excitement resulted in a great body of the Romans, probably chiefly plebeians, seceding from the state and marching away to the Sacred Hill. This procedure, which once before had proved so effectual in securing justice to the oppressed, had a similar issue now. The situation was so critical that the decemvirs were forced to resign. The consulate and the tribunate were restored. 408. The Valerio-Horatian Laws ; " the Roman Magna Charta " (449 B.C.). — The consuls chosen were Lucius Valerius and Mar- cus Horatius, who secured the passage of certain laws, known as the Valerio-Horatian Laws, which are of such constitutional impor- tance that they have been called '' the Magna Charta of Rome," Like the great English charter, their purpose was not so much the creation of new safeguards of liberty as the reaffirming and strengthening of the old securities of the rights and privileges of the humbler citizens of Rome. Among the provisions of the laws the following were the most important. 1. That the resolutions {pichiscitd) passed by the plebeian assembly of tribes should in the future ha\-e the force of laws and should bind the whole people the same as the resolutions of the comitia centiiriata. Hitherto these resolutions had possessed no force save as expressions of opinion, like the resolutions of a mass meeting among ourselves. 2. That the tribunes be permitted to sit as Hsteners before the door of the senate house. This was an important concession, on account of what it led to ; for very soon the tribunes secured the right, first to sit within the senate hall itself, and then to put a stop to any proceeding of the senate by the use of the veto. 8 Livy, iii. 44-50. This tale is possibly mythical, but it at least gives a vivid, and doubtless truthful, picture of the times. 388 THE EARLY REPUBLIC We may summarize the effect of these laws by saying that they made the tribunes and the other plebeian magistrates, as well as the plebeian assembly, a recognized part of the constitutional arrangements of the Roman commonwealth. They mark a long step taken towards the equalization of the two orders within the state. 409. Marriages between Patricians and Plebeians made Legal (445 B.C.). — Up to this time the plebeians had not been allowed to contract legal marriages with the patricians. But only three or four years after the passing of the Valerio-Horatian Laws, the tribune Gaius Canuleius carried in the comitia trilnda a resolu- tion known as the Canuleian Law, whereby marriages between the plebeians and the patricians were legalized. This law established social equality between the two orders. The plebeians were now in a more advantageous position for con- tinuing their struggle for additional civil rights and for perfect political eiiuality with the patricians. 410. Military Tribunes with Consular Power (444 b.c). — This same tribune Canuleius also brought forward another pro- posal, which provided that plebeians might be chosen as consuls. This suggestion led to a violent contention between the two orders. The issue of the matter was a compromise. It was agreed that, in place of the two patrician consuls, the people might elect from either order magistrates that should be known as " military tribunes with consular powers." These offi- cers, whose number varied, differed from consuls more in name than in functions or in authority. In fact, the plebeians had gained the consular office but not the consular name. The patricians were especially unwilling that any plebeian should bear the title of consul, for the reason that an ex-consul enjoyed certain dignities and honors, such as the right to wear a particular kind of dress and to set up in his house images of his ancestors {jus imagifium). These honorary distinctions the higher order wished to retain exclusively for themselves. Owing to the great influence of the patricians in the elections, it was not until about 400 u.c. that a plebeian was chosen to the new office. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VEII 389 411. The Censors (443 B.C.). — No sooner had the plebeians secured the right of admission to the miUtary tribunate with con- sular powers, than the jealous and exclusive patricians began scheming to rob them of the fruit of the victory they had gained. They effected this by taking from the consulate some of its most distinctive duties and powers, and conferring them upon two new patrician officers called censors. The functions of these magistrates, which were gradually extended as time passed, were many and important. They took the census of the citizens and their property, and thus assigned to every man his position in the different classes. They could, for immorality or any improper conduct, degrade a knight from his rank, expel a member from the senate, or deprive any citizen of his vote by striking his name from the roll of the tribes. It was their duty to rebuke ostentation and extravagance in living, and in particular to watch over the morals of the young. From the name of these Roman officers comes our word cetisorioiis, meaning fault-finding. 412. Siege and Capture of Veil (405-396 B.C.) ; the Romaniza- tion of Southern Etruria. — • We must now turn our attention once more to the fortunes of Rome in war. Almost from the founding of the city we find its warlike citizens carrying on a fierce contest with their powerful Etruscan neighbors on the north. The war finally gathered around Veil, the largest and richest of the cities of Etruria. According to the tradition, the Romans, hke the Greeks at Troy, laid siege to this city for ten years. The place was at length taken. It was the most opulent city that the Romans had captured up to this time, and the spoils, which were divided among the soldiers, were immense. The siege of Veil forms a sort of landmark in the military history of Rome, for the reason that the circumstances of the investment led to some important innovations in the military system of the Romans. Thus the length of the siege and the necessity of main- taining a force permanently in the field, winter and summer alike, led to the introduction of pay into the army ; for hitherto the common soldier had not only equipped himself but had served 390 THE EARLY REPUBLIC without pay. From this time forward the professional soldier came more and more to take the place of the citizen soldier. The capture of Veil was followed by that of many other Etrus- can towns, and all the southern portion of Etruria, divided into four tribes, was added to the Roman domain. By this act of incorporation all the Etruscan freemen living in these regions and possessing the legal property qualification were made citizens of Rome, and were invested with that measure of the rights and privileges of Roman citizenship that up to this time had been secured by the plebeians. Into this rich and inviting region thus opened up to Roman enter- prise, Roman immigrants now crowded in great numbers, and soon all this part of Etruria became Roman in manners, in customs, and in speech. The Romanization of Italy was now fairly begun. At this moment there broke upon the city a storm from the north which all but cut short the story we are narrating. 413. Sack of Roms by the Gauls (390 B.C.). — We have noticed how, in early times, Celtic tribes from Gaul crossed the Alps and established themselves in Northern Italy. While the Romans were concjuering the towns of Etruria these barbarian hordes were moving southward and overrunning and devastating the countries of Central Italy. They soon appeared in the neighborhood of Rome. A Roman army met them on the banks of the Allia, eleven miles from the capital. But an imaccountable panic seized the Romans and they abandoned the field in disgraceful flight. The greater part of the fugitives hastened across the Tiber and sought safety behind the walls of Veii, which were still standing. Consternation filled the capital when news of the terrible dis- aster reached the city. The vestal virgins, hastily burying such of the sacred things as they could not carry away, (led with the remainder into Etruria, and found a kind recei)tion at the hands of the people of Caere. A large part of the population of Rome foUowed them across the river and threw themselves into such places of safety as they could find. No attempt was made to defend any portion of the city save the citadel. SOCIAL REFORM AGAIN 391 The little garrison within the Capitol, under the command of the hero Marcus Manlius, for seven months resisted all efforts of the Gauls to dislodge them. A tradition tells how, when the barbarians, under cover of the darkness of night, had climbed the steep rock and had almost effected an entrance to the citadel, the defenders were awakened by the cackhng of some geese, which the piety of the famishing soldiers had spared because these birds were sacred to Juno. News was now brought the Gauls that the Venetians were over- running their possessions in Northern Italy. This led them to open negotiations with the Romans. For one thousand pounds of gold the Gauls agreed to retire from the city. As the story runs, while the gold was being weighed out in the forum the Romans complained that the weights were false, when Brennus, the Gallic leader, threw his sword also into the scales, exclaiming, "F(2 victis f' "Woe to the vanquished ! " Just at this moment, so the tale continues, Camillus, a brave patrician general who had been appointed dictator, appeared upon the scene with a Roman army that had been gathered from the fugitives. As he scattered the barbarians with heavy blows he exclaimed, " Rome is ransomed with steel, and not with gold." According to one account Brennus himself was taken prisoner ; but another tradi- tion says that he escaped, carrying with him the ransom money. The city was quickly rebuilt. There were some things, how- ever, which could not be restored. These were the ancient records and documents, through whose irreparable loss the early history of Rome is involved in great obscurity and uncertainty. 414. Social Reform again ; Condemnation of Marcus Manlius (384 B.C.). — The ravages of the Gauls had left the poor ple- beians in a most pitiable condition. In order to rebuild their dwellings and restock their farms, they had been obliged to borrow money of the rich patricians, and consequently had soon come again to experience the insult and oppression that were ever incident to the condition of the debtor class at Rome. The patrician Marcus ManUus, the hero of the brave defense of the Capitol, now came forward as the champion of the plebeians. 392 THE EARLY REPUBLIC It was believed that in thus undertaking the cause of the com- mons he had personal aims and ambitions. The patricians deter- mined to crush him. He was finally brought to trial, sentenced to death, and thrown from the Tarpeian Rock.^ This event occurred 384 h.c. We may regard Marcus Manlius as the second of the martvrs at Rome in the cause of social reform (sec. 404). 415. The Licinian Laws (367 B.C.); the Final "Equalization of the Orders." — A great amelioration in the social condition of the plebeians and a great advance towards their political equality with the patricians were effected through the passage of the Licinian Laws, so called from one of their proposers, the tribune Gains Licinius. Among other provisions these laws contained the following: (i) that the plebeians should enjoy with the patri- cians the right to occupy the public lands, but that no person should hold more than five hundred jugera j ^° (2) that the ofifice of military tribune with consular power (sec. 410) should be abol- ished, that two consuls should be chosen yearly as at first, and that one of these should be a plebeian ; (3) that in place of the two keepers of the Sibylline Books (sec. 386) there should in the future be ten, and that five of these should be plebeians. The importance of these proposals is obvious without com- ment. For ten years the patricians resisted the demands of the commons. But the plebeians each year reelected the same tribunes and under their leadership carried on the struggle. Finally, when the i)atri(ians saw that it would be impossible longer to resist the popular demand they had recourse to the old device. They lessened the powers of the consulship by taking away from the consuls their judicial functions and devolving them n\)(m a new patrician magistrate bearing the name oi prci;tor. The pretext for this was that the plebeians had no knowledge of the sacred formulas of the law. The senate then ai:)proved the rogations" and they became laws (367 h.c). The T:irp(-ian Rock was the name given to the cliff which the Capitoline hill formed on one of its sides. It received its name from Tarpeia, a daughter of one of the legendary keepers of the citadel. State criminals were frequently executed by being thrown from this rock. l'> A jugerum was about half an acre. n Proposed laws, ix-fore being passed, were so called from ro^arc, "to ask." i THE LICINIAN LAWS 393 The equalization of the two orders was now practically efifected. The son of a peasant might rise to the highest office in the state. The plebeians gained with comparative ease admission to the remaining offices from which the jealousy of the patricians still excluded them.^^ The incorporation of the plebeians with the body of Roman citizens with full rights was, like the earlier union of the primitive clans of the little hill cantons (sec. 390), a matter of immense import for the future of Rome. The strength of the state was thereby practically doubled, and the city was advanced a long way towards the goal of its destiny, — the making of all the world Roman. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of ropUcola and Life of Gains Marcius Coriolaniis. LiVY, ii. ^Iti 34> 39) ^^d 40, for the story of Coriolanus ; ii. 48 and 49, for the legend of the Fabii ; and iii. 26-28, for that of Cincinnatus (from other writers we get some details omitted by Livy) ; v. 35-49; on the taking of Rome by the Gauls ; v. 50-54, on the debate among the Romans in regard to removing to Veii. The last refer- ence is particularly valuable, since the passage here conveys an idea of the feelings of the ancients respecting the sacredness of the city and the rela- tion of its patron gods to it. References (Modern).- — Mommsen, vol. i, bk. ii, chaps, i-iii. Duruy, vol. i, chaps, vi-xiii. Pelham, Otitli/tes of Roman LListory, bk. ii, chap. i. How and Leigh, LListory of Rome, chaps, v-xiii. Shuckburgh, LListory of R 0711 e, chaps, viii and ix. TiGHE, The Development of the Roman Con- stitution, pp. 63-76. Abbott, Roman Political Institutions, pp. 24-56. Ihne, Early Rome. The later chapters of this volume are practically a criticism of the account which the Roman annalists give of the affairs of the early republic. Wilson, The State, pp. 94-104. A suggestive sum- mary. Stephenson, Public Lands and Agrarian Lan's of the Roman Republic; for questions relating to the ager publicus and the reform pro- posals of Spurius Cassius and others. Topics for Special Study. — i. Legend of the Fabii. 2. Virtues prized by the early Romans as shown by the stories of their heroes. 3. Tales concerning the siege of Veii. 4. Legends connected with the sack of Rome by the Gauls. 5. Roman magistrates. 6. Varying views as to the causes of the First Secession of the plebeians. See Mommsen and Lhne. 12 They secured admission to the dictatorship in 356 B.C. ; to the censorship in 351 B.C. ; to tlie praetorship in T^y] B.C. CHAPTER XXXVII THE CONQUEST OF ITALY (367-264 B.C.) 416. The Fall of the Etruscan Power. — We have seen how, after the taking of Veii, the Romans incorporated with the terri- tory of their state a great part of Southern Etruria (sec. 412). The Romanization of these lands and the threatening advance of the Roman power in these regions caused an uprising of the Etruscan cities that still retained their independence. The move- ment was quickly suppressed and graded punishment meted out to the cities that had taken part in it. This struggle marks a turning point in the fortunes of the Etrus- can race. In the words of the historian Mommsen, "Their season of power and aspiration had passed away." We shall find them in arms against Rome again and again after this, but their attacks were no longer formidable. \\'hat elements of vitality and strength there were remaining in the race were gradually absorbed by Rome, and the Etruscan people and the Etruscan civilization as distinct factors in history disappeared from the world. 417. The First Samnite "War (343-341 n.c). — The power of the I'Aruscans having been broken, the most formidable remain- ing competitors of the Romans for supremacy in Italy were the Samnites, rough and warlike mountaineers who held the Apen- nines to the southeast of Latium. They were worthy rivals of the " Children of Mars." The successive struggles between these martial races are known as the First, Second, and Third Samnite wars. They extended over a period of half a century, and in their course involved almost all the states of Italy. Of the first of this series of Samnite wars we know very little, although Livy wrote a long, but unfortunately unreliable, account of it. 394 THE REVOLT OF THE LATIN CITIES 395 418. The Revolt of the Latin Cities (340-338 B.C.). — In the midst of the Samnite struggle, Rome was confronted by a danger- ous revolt of her Latin allies.^ Leaving the war unfinished, she turned her forces against the insurgents. The strife between the Romans and their Latin allies was sim- ply, in principle, the old contest within the walls of the capital between the patricians and the plebeians transferred to a larger arena. As the patricians, before the equalization of the orders, had claimed for themselves alone the right to manage the affairs of the state, so now did the united orders claim for Rome alone the right to manage the affairs of all Latium. But the Latins had become dissatisfied with their position in the unequal alliance, and had resolved that Rome should give up the sovereignty she was practically exercising. Accordingly they sent an embassy to Rome, demanding that the association should be made one of per- fect equality. To this end the ambassadors proposed that in the future one of the consuls should be a Latin, and that one half of the senate should be chosen from the Latin nation. Rome was to be the common fatherland, and all were to bear the Roman name. These demands of the ambassadors were listened to by the Roman senators with amazement and indignation. "O Jupiter ! " exclaimed one of the consuls, Titus ManHus by name, addressing the statue of the god ; " canst thou endure to behold in thy own sacred temple strangers as consuls and as senators? " The demands of the Latin allies were refused, and war followed, a war in which the Romans were fighting their former comrades of the camp and the field. The following legend of the war given us by Livy is of value as exhibiUng the quality of sternness in the Roman character. 1 In the year 493 B.C. Rome, through her consul Spurius Cassius, had formed a most important league with the Latin towns (a renewal probably of an earlier alli- ance). At the outset this league was somewhat such a federation as the Delian League, which Athens just a few years before this had formed with her Ionian allies (sec. 2ig). There is an instructive parallel between the way in which Athens used her position in the Delian Confederacy to establish an empire and the way in which Rome used her position in the at first equal alliance between her and the towns of Latium to build up a like sovereignty. 396 THE CONQUEST OF ITALY In one of the early campaigns of the war the consul Titus Man- lius had given strict orders that no one should engage in single combat with any of the enemy. The consul's own son Titus, impelled by the ardor of youth, disobeyed his father's command and accepted a challenge from one of the foe. He slew his antag- onist and brought the spoils stripped from the body to his father's tent. The father turned from his son in anger, and ordered the lictors to lay hold of him, to bind him to the stake, and to strike his head from his body. This was done, the consul standing by and looking on. Through such sacrifice of parental feeling did Titus Manlius maintain military discipline and cause his orders, as Livy says, " to be transmitted as a model of austerity to all after times." After about three years' hard fighting, the rebellion was sub- dued. The Latin League as a political body was now dissolved, the organization being retained merely for religious purposes. Several of the towns were allowed to retain their independence ; others with their territories were made a part of the Roman domain, and became inunicipia ^ of different grades. The inhabitants of 2 The Roman writers used this term with little precision, and modern historians have given it widely different applications. In order to avoid confusion we shall apply the term exclusively to cities or communities actually incorporated with the Roman state yet enjoying at least some measure of local self-government. The teacher will test convey to young pupils an understanding of the Roman municipal system by having them note the system as it exists among ourselves to-day, since our so-called municipal system, in its underlying principle, is an inheritance from Rome. A municipality or municipal town in our system of government is a city which, acting under a charter granted by the state in whose territory it is situated and of which it forms a part, elects its own magistrates, and manages, with more or less supervision on the part of the state, its own local affairs. The essential principle involved in the arrangement is local self-government carried on under tlie paramount authority of the state. The city, without its local political life having been stifled, has been made a constituent part of a larger political organism. In working out this municipal system Rome laid not only the foundation of her own greatness but, transmitting the system as a principle of government to later times, contributed an all-important element to the structure of the modern free state. We must not think that the problem here solved by Rome was one easy of solution. The difficulties met and overcome by her in working out this system were very much like those met and overcome by our statesmen of a century and more ago, when they devised the federal system and determined what should be the relations of the States of our Union to tlie general government at Washington. Indeed, this whole federal system is notliing more than the application to states of the principles of government that Rome applied to cities. THE SECOND SAMNITE WAR 397 some of these municipalities were admitted at once to full Roman citizenship, while those of others were given only a part of the rights and privileges of citizens. To prevent any further combination among the cities, inter- marriage and trade between them were forbidden. Each city was forced to conclude a separate treaty with Rome. One noted trophy of the war set up at Rome was the beaks (^rosfra) of the ships of the Volscian city of Antium, which were attached to the orator's platform in the great forum ; hence the name Rostra, by which this stand was ever afterwards known (sec. 394). 419. The Second Samnite War (326-304 b.c.) ; the Humiliation of the Romans at the Caudine Forks. — In a few years after the close of the Latin contest, the Romans were at war again with their old rivals, the Samnites. The most memorable event of this struggle was the cap- ture and humiliation of the Roman army at the celebrated Caudine Forks. ^ Q The circumstances ' l px were these. It was --^-.^ ^ the year 321 B.C. „ '' W """ j:--^", The consuls having ;;;^^ _ ^ " '^^' ' ; carelessly led their ^-jS^^"*^*^^ ,, " /^ troops mto a pent-up 2^u?=^^p5:^s:^^:i^ m m valley, discovered '^ 1 . 1 i 4^u 4. Fig. n2. — The Appian Way when too late that -^ (From a photograph) they were m a trap and were forced to surrender. They were deprived of their arms, and then sent beneath the yoke, which was the deepest humilia- tion that could be inflicted upon a vanquished enemy. The capture by the Romans of Bovianum, the chief city of the Samnites, brought the war to an end. The Samnites gave up all the conquests they had made and the old treaty relations with Rome were reestablished. 398 THE CONQUEST OF ITALY The war had lasted twenty-two years. During its course Rome had added extensive territories to her domain, and had made her hold of these secure by means of colonies, fortresses, and military roads; for it was at this time that Rome began the construction of those remarkable highways that formed one of the most impres- sive features of her later empire. The first of these roads was begun in the year 312 R.c. under the direction of the censor Appius Claudius, and called after him the Via Appia. It ran from Rome to Capua, and thus brought all Campania close to the capital. 420. Alexander the Great and the Roman Generals compared.- — It was in the midst of this Second Samnite War that Alexander the Great, after having conquered a great part of Asia, died at Babylon (323 B.C.). The mutual isolation, at this comparatively late period in the history of antiquity, of the nations of the East and of the West is revealed by the doubt expressed by Livy as to a rumor of the fame of Alexander having ever reached the ears of the Romans of this time. But the contemporaneousness of the events of the Samnite War and the conquests of Alexander leads Livy to reflect whether, had Alexander lived longer and attempted to carry out the design which he is said to have formed of adding Europe to his vast empire, he would have been likely to succeed in the undertaking. The historian arrives at the patriotic conclusion that Alexander would have found his equal in any one of the great Roman com- manders of this time, and that had he delayed the enterprise until he was an old man it would have been the same. He would have found out that a Roman consul was not a Darius. Alexander owed his fame, so Livy concludes, to having died young, before fickle fortune had had time to ruin his prosperous afifairs, — as they wouUl have been ruined in Italy." 421. The Third Samnite War (298-290 u.c). — It was only four years after the close of their second contest with Rome, before the Samnites were again in arms and engaged in their third struggle with her for supremacy in Italy. This time they suc- ceeded in forming against their old enemy a powerful coalition 8 Livy, ix. 17-19. WAR WITH TARENTUM AND PYRRHUS 399 which embraced the Etruscans, the Umbrians, the Gauls, and other nations. It was easy for them to accompHsh this, for the rapid advance of the power of Rome had caused all the different peoples of the peninsula to realize hat unless her encroachments were speedily checked their independence would be lost forever. The league was soon shattered by the Roman warriors.* One after another the states and tribes that had joined the alliance were chastised, and the Samnites were forced to give up the struggle. Rome left them their independence, but stripped them of all their conquests. The brave Samnite general, Gavius Pon- tius, who sent the Roman army beneath the yoke at the Caudine Forks, after having been led in the triumphal procession of the consul Fabius Maximus Gurges, was ungenerously cast into the dungeon beneath the Capitoline hill and there beheaded. 422. The War with Tarentum and Pyrrhus (282-272 B.C.). — The period of eight years which followed the end of Rome's struggle with the Samnites and the beginning of her memorable war with Tarentum and Pyrrhus was filled by petty wars with the Etruscans, the Gauls, the Lucanians, and various Greek cities of Magna Grcecia, and by the founding of colonies, the building of for- tresses, and the extension of her military roads. Before the end of this period almost all the Greek cities of Southern Italy, save Tarentum, had fallen under the growing power of the imperial city. Tarentum, a seaport of Calabria, was one of the most opulent of the cities of Magna Graecia. Its inhabitants were luxurious in their habits, idle and frivolous, entering into and breaking engage- ments with careless levity. They spent the most of their time in feasting and drinking, in lounging in the baths, in attending the theater, and in idle talk on the streets. The Tarentines having mishandled some Roman prisoners, the Roman senate promptly sent an embassy to Tarentum to demand amends. In the theater, in the presence of a great assembly, one of the ambassadors was grossly insulted, his toga being befouled by a clownish fellow amidst the approving plaudits of a giddy crowd. The ambassador, raising the soiled garment, * The decisive battle of the war was fought at Sentinum in Umbria, 295 B.C. 400 THE CONQUEST OF ITALY said sternly, "Laugh now; but you will weep when this toga is cleansed with blood." Rome at once declared war. The Tarentines turned to Greece for aid. Pyrrhus, king of Epirus and a cousin of Alexander the Great, who had an ambi- tion to build up such an empire in the West as his famous kins- man had established in the East, responded to their entreaties, and crossed over into Italy with a small army of Greek mercenaries and twenty war elephants. He organized and drilled the effemi- nate Tarentines, and soon felt prepared to face the Romans. The hostile armies met at Heraclea (280 i;.c.). It is said that when Pyrrhus, who had underestimated his foe, observed the skill which the Romans evinced in forming their lines of battle, he exclaimed in admiration, " In war, at least, these men are not barbarians." The battle was won for Pyrrhus by his war ele- phants, the sight of which, being new to the Romans, caused them to flee from the field in dismay. But Pyrrhus had lost thousands of his bravest troops. As he looked over the battle- field he is said to have turned to his companions and remarked, "Another such victory and I shall be ruined " ; hence the phrase, "A Pyrrhian victory." The prudence of the victorious Pyrrhus led him to send to the Romans proposals of peace. The embassy was headed by his chief minister, Cineas, of whom Pyrrhus himself often said, "The eloquence of Cineas wins me more victories than my sword." When the senate hesitated, its resolution was fixed by the eloquence of the now old and blind Appius Claudius ; " Rome," he exclaimed, "shall never treat with a victorious foe." The ambassadors were sent back to Pyrrhus with the reply that if he wanted peace he must first quit the soil of Italy. It was at this time that Cineas, in answer to some incjuiries of his master respecting the Romans, drew the celebrated parallels that likened their senate to an assembly of kings, and war against such a people to an attack upon the Lernean hydra. Pyrrhus, according to the Roman story-tellers, who most lav- ishly embellished this chapter of their history, was not more suc- cessful in attempts at bribery than in the arts of negotiation. UNITED ITALY 4OI Attempting by rich presents to win the celebrated statesman Fabricius, who had been intrusted by the senate with an impor- tant embassy, the sterhng old Roman replied : " If I am dishonest, I am not worth a bribe ; if honest, you must know I will not take one." After a second victory (the battle of Asculum, 279 B.C.), as disastrous as his first, Pyrrhus crossed over into Sicily to aid the Greeks there, who at this time were being hard pressed by the Carthaginians. At first he was everywhere successful, but finally fortune turned against him, and he was glad to escape from the island. Recrossing the straits into Italy, he once more engaged the Romans ; but at the battle of Beneventum he suffered a dis- astrous and final defeat at the hands of the consul Curius Den- tatus (275 B.C.). Leaving a sufficient force to garrison Tarentum, Pyrrhus now set sail for Epirus. He had scarcely embarked before Tarentum surrendered to the Romans (272 B.C.). The surrender of Tarentum ended the struggle for the mastery of Italy. Rome was now mistress of all the peninsula south of the Arnus and the Rubicon. 423. United Italy. — We cannot make out with perfect clear- ness just what rights and powers Rome exercised over the various cities, tribes, and nations which she had brought under her rule.^ This much, however, is clear. Rome took away from all these hitherto independent states the right of making war, and thus put a stop to the bloody contentions which from time immemorial had raged between -the tribes and cities of the peninsula. She thus gave Italy what, after she had laid her restraining authority upon all the peoples of the Mediterranean lands, came to be called the Pax Romana, " the Roman Peace." She did for Italy what in these later times England has done for India and Russia for Central Asia. But this political union of Italy would possess no historical significance were it not for the fact that it paved the way for the 5 We refer here, not to those territories and communities which Rome had actu- ally incorporated with the Roman domain, but to those communities to which was given the name of Italian allies, socii, or civitaies fcederatce. 402 THE CONQUEST OF ITALY social and racial unification of the peninsula. The greatest mar- vel of all history is how Rome, embracing at first merely a hand- ful of peasants, could have made so much of the ancient world like unto herself in blood, in speech, in custom, and in manners. That she did so, that she did thus Romanize a large part of the peoples of antiquity, is one of the most important matters in the history of the human race. Rome accomplished this great feat in large measure by means of her system of colonization, which was, in some respects, unlike that of any other people in ancient or in modern times. We must make ourselves familiar with some of the main features of this unique colonial system. 424. Roman Colonies and Latin Colonies. — The colonies that Rome established in conquered territories fall into two classes, known as Roman colonies and Latin colonies. Roman colonies were made up of emigrants, generally three hundred in number, who retained in the new settlement all the rights and privileges, both private and public, of Roman citizens, though of course some of these rights, as for instance that of voting in the public assemblies at Rome, could be exercised by the colonist only through his return to the capital. Such colonies were in effect permanent military camps intended to guard or to hold in sub- jection conquered territories. Usually it was some conquered city that was occupied by the Roman colonists, the old inhabit- ants either being expelled in whole or in part or reduced to a subject condition like that of the plebeians at Rome before the revolt and secession of the year 494 b.c. (sec. 401). The colonists in their new homes organized a government which was almost an exact imitation of that of Rome, and through their own assemblies and their own magistrates managed all their local affairs. These colonies were, in a word, simply suburbs of the mother city. They were in effect just so many miniature Romes, — centers from which radiated Roman culture into all the regions round about them. The Latin colonies were so called, not because they were founded by Latin settlers, but because their inhabitants possessed ROMAN COLONIES AND LATIN COLONIES 403 substantially the same rights as the old Latin towns enjoyed that had retained their independence at the end of the great Latin War (sec. 418). The Latin colonist possessed some of the most valu- able of the private rights of Roman citizens, together with the capacity to acquire the suffrage by migrating to the capital and taking up a permanent residence there, provided he left behind in the town whence he came sons to take his place. There is an analogy between the status of a settler in an ancient Latin colony and of a settler in a territory of our Union. When a citizen of any State migrates to a territory he loses his right of voting ^'%5'iX'^-'"'''' in a federal election, just as a Roman ''., .,-^ .r. "'^"'^'^^^pCf'' citizen in becoming a Latin colonist i' ' \' - , \ ) \ lost his right of voting in the assem- -^ ■ - \ blies at Rome. Then again the resi- dent of a territory has the privilege of changing his residence and settling > \ 1 in a State, thereby acquiring the fed- / eral suffrage, just as the inhabitant of a Latin colony could migrate to Rome, and thus acquire the right to vote in ' the public assemblies there. The Latin colonies numbered about twenty at the time of the Second Punic ' War. They were scattered everywhere 3 throughout Italy, and formed, in the Fig. 133. — Grotto of Posi- words of the historian Mommsen, ^^^"- (Near Naples) " the real buttress of the Roman rule." An old Roman tunnel, about half r^. . a mile in length, still in use on They were, even to a much greater ^^^^ ^ppj^^ ^^^y degree than the Roman colonies, active and powerful agents in the dissemination of the Roman language, law, and culture. They were Rome's chief auxiliary in her great task of making all Italy Roman. All these colonies were kept in close touch with the capital by means of splendid military roads, the construction of which, as we have seen, was begun during the Second Samnite War (sec. 419). 404 THE CONQUEST OF ITALY Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus. Livy, ix. 2-6, the Roman defeat at Caudine Forks; and x. 28 and 29, the self-sacrifice of Decius Mus. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. i, bk. ii, chaps, iv-ix. Ihne, vol. i, bk. iii, chap, xviii, " Condition of the Roman People before the Beginning of the Wars with Carthage." Duruy, vol. i, chaps, xiv-xvii. TiGHE, The Develop7nent of the Roman Constitution, chap. v. Freeman, The Story of Sicily, chap, xiii, " Pyrrhus in Italy." Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. ii, chap. ii. Shuckburgh, History of Rome, chaps, x-xv. How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps, xiii-xvii. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Roman municipal system. 2. The tales of Pyrrhus. 3. The Roman colonial system. CHAPTER XXXVIII THE FIRST PUNIC WAR (264-241 B.C.) 425. Carthage and her Empire. — Foremost among the cities founded by the Phoenicians (sec. 92) upon the different shores of the Mediterranean was Carthage, upon the northern coast of Africa. The favorable location of the colony upon one of the best harbors of the African coast gave the city a vast and lucra- tive commerce. At the period which we have now reached it had grown into an imperial city, covering, with its gardens and suburbs, a district twenty-three miles in circuit. It is said to have contained seven hundred thousand inhabitants. By the time Rome had extended her authority over Italy, Carthage held sway, through peaceful colonization or by force of arms, over the northern coast of Africa from the Greater Syrtis to the Pillars of Hercules, and possessed the larger part of Sicily as well as Sardinia. She also collected tribute from the natives of Corsica and of Southern Spain. With all its shores dotted with her colonies and fortresses and swept in every direc- tion by her war galleys, the Western Mediterranean had become a " Phoenician lake," in which, as the Carthaginians boasted, no one dared wash his hands without their permission. The government of Carthage was democratic in theory but oligarchic in fact. Corresponding to the Roman consuls, two magistrates, called " suffetes," stood at the head of the state. The senate was composed of the heads of the leading families ; its duties and powers were very like those of the Roman senate. The religion of the Carthaginians was the old Canaanitish worship of Baal. To this cruel fire-god they offered human sacrihces. 405 406 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR 426. Rome and Carthage compared. — These two great repub- lics, which for more than five centuries had been slowly extending their limits and maturing their powers upon the opposite shores of the Mediterranean, were now about to begin one of the most memorable struggles of all antiquity, — a duel that was to last, with every vicissitude of fortune, for over one hundred years. In material power and resources the two rival cities seemed well matched as antagonists ; yet Rome had elements of strength, hidden in the character of her citizens and embodied in the principles of her government, which Carthage did not possess. First, the Carthaginian territories, though of great extent, were widely scattered, while the Roman domains were compact and confined to a single and easily defended peninsula. Again, the subject peoples of Carthage's empire were in race, language, and religion mostly alien to their Phcenician conquerors, and so were ready, upon the first disaster to the ruling city, to fall away from their allegiance. On the other hand, the Latin allies and the Italian confederates of Rome were close kin to her, and so through natural impulse they for the most part — although not all were satisfied with their position in the state — remained loyal to her during even the darkest periods of her struggle with her rival. But the greatest contrast between the two states appeared in the principles ui)on which they were respectively based. Car- thage was a despotic oligarchy. The many different races of the Carthaginian Empire were held in an artificial union by force alone, for the Carthaginians had none of the genius of the Romans for political organization and state building. The Roman state, on the other hand, as we have learned, was the most wonderful political organism that the world had ever seen. It was not yet a nation, but it was rapidly growing into one. Every free man within its limits was either a citizen of Rome, or was on the way to becoming a citizen. Rome was already the common fatherland of more than a quarter of a million of men. The Roman armies were, in large part, armies of citizen soldiers, like those Athenian warriors that fought at Marathon and at THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR 407 Salamis ; the armies of Carthage were armies of mercenaries like those that Xerxes led against the Greek cities. And then the Romans, in their long contests with the different races of Italy for the mastery of the peninsula, had secured such a train- ing in war as perhaps no other people before them ever had. As to the naval resources of the two states there existed at the beginning of the struggle no basis for a comparison. The Romans were almost destitute of anything that could be called a war navy,-^ and were practically without experience in naval warfare ; while the Carthaginians possessed the largest, the best manned, and the most splendidly equipped fleet that had ever patrolled the waters of the Mediterranean. And in another respect Carthage had an immense advantage over Rome. She had Hannibal. Rome had some great com- manders, but she had none like him. 427. The Beginning of the War. — laying between Italy and the coast of Africa is the large island of Sicily. At the commencement of the First Punic ^ War, the Carthaginians held possession of all the island save a strip of the eastern coast, which was under the sway of the Greek city of Syracuse. The Greeks and the Cartha- ginians had carried on an almost uninterrupted struggle through two centuries for the control of the island (see Chapter XXIV). But the Romans had not yet set foot upon it. It was destined, how- ever, to become the scene of the most terrible encounters between the armaments of Rome and Carthage. Pyrrhus had foreseen it all. As he withdrew from the island, he remarked, " What a fine battlefield we are leaving for the Romans and Carthaginians." In the year 264 B.C., on a flimsy pretext of giving protection to some friends, the Romans crossed over to the island. That act committed them to a career of foreign conquest destined to continue till their armies had made the circuit of the Mediter- ranean lands. 1 Polybius, i. 20, says that they did not have a single galley when they first crossed over to Sicily. He says they ferried their army across in boats borrowed from the Greek cities of Southern Italy. 2 From Pxni, Latin for Phoenicians, and hence applied by the Romans to the Carthaginians, as they were Phoenician colonists. 408 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR The Syracusans and Carthaginians, old enemies and rivals though they had been, joined their forces against the new- comers. The allies were defeated in the first battle, and the Roman army obtained a sure foothold in the island. In the following year both consuls were placed at the head of formidable armies for the conquest of Sicily. A large portion of the island was quickly overrun, and many of the cities threw off their allegiance to Syracuse and to Carthage and became Fig. 134. — Prow of a Roman War Ship. (From an ancient relief) The representation shows the arrangement of the tiers of oars in a two-banked ship. In just what way the lines of rowers in triremes and quinqueremes were arranged is unknown allies of Rome. Hiero, king of Syracuse, seeing that he was upon the losing side, forsook the Carthaginians, formed an alli- ance with the Romans, and ever after remained their firm friend. 428. The Romans gain their First Naval Victory (260 n.c). — Their experience during the past campaigns had shown the Romans that if they were to cope successfully with the Cartha- ginians, they must be able to meet them upon the sea as well as upon the land. So they determined to build a fleet. A ROMANS CARRY THE WAR INTO AFRICA 409 Carthaginian galley, tradition says, that had been wrecked upon the shores of Italy served as a pattern.'* It is affirmed that within the short space of sixty days a growing forest was converted into a fleet of one hundred and twenty war galleys. The consul G. Duillius was intrusted with the command of the fleet. He met the Carthaiginian squadron near the city and prom- ontory of Mylse, on the northern coast of Sicily. Now, distrust- ing their ability to match the skill of their enemy in naval tactics, the Romans had provided each of their vessels with a drawbridge. As soon as a Carthaginian ship came near enough to a Roman vessel, this gangway was allowed to fall upon the approaching galley ; and the Roman soldiers, rushing along the bridge, were soon engaged in a hand-to- hand conflict with their enemies, in which species of encounter the former were un- equaled. The result was a complete victory for the Romans. The joy at Rome was unbounded. It inspired in the more sanguine splendid visions of maritime command and glory. The Mediterranean should speedily be- come a Roman lake in which no vessel might float without the consent of Rome. 429. The Romans carry the War into Africa. — The results of the naval engage- ment at Mylae encouraged the Romans to push the war with redoubled energy. They resolved to carry it into Africa. An immense Carthaginian fleet that disputed the passage of the Roman squadron was almost annihilated, and the Romans disembarked near Carthage (256 B.C.). At first the Romans were Fir.. 135. — Thk Column OF Duillius. (A res- toration) The column was decorated with the prows of captured ships 3 The Greek and Etruscan ships were merely triremes, that is, galleys with three banks of oars ; while the Carthaginian ships were quinqueremes, or vessels with five rows of oars. The former were unable to cope with the latter, such an advantage did these have in their greater weight and height. 4IO THE FIRST PUNIC WAR successful in all their operations. Regulus, one of the consuls who led the army of invasion, sent word to Rome that he had sealed up the gates of Carthage with terror. Finally, however, Regulus suffered a crushing defeat and was made prisoner. A fleet which was sent to bear away the remnants of the shattered army was wrecked in a terrific storm off the coast of Sicily, and the shores of the island were strewn with the wreckage of between two and three hundred ships and with the bodies of a hundred thousand men. Undismayed at the terrible disaster that had overtaken the transport fleet, the Romans set to work to build another, and made a second descent upon the African coast. The expedition, however, accomplished nothing of importance, and the fleet on its return voyage was almost destroyed, just off the coast of Italy, by a tremendous storm. ' . 430. Regulus and the Carthaginian Embassy. — - For a few years the Romans refrained from tempting again the hostile powers of the sea, and Sicily became once more the battle ground of the contending rivals. At last, having lost a great battle (battle of Panormus, 251 B.C.), the Carthaginians became dispirited, and sent an embassy to Rome to negotiate for peace. Among the commissioners was Regulus, who, since his capture five years before, had been held a prisoner in Africa. Before setting out from Carthage he had promised to return if the embassy were unsuccessful. For the sake of his own release, the Carthaginians supposed he would counsel peace, or at least urge an exchange of prisoners. But it is related that, upon arrival at Rome, he counseled war instead of peace, at the same time revealing to the senate the enfeebled condition of Carthage. As to the exchange of prisoners, he said, " Let those who have surrendered when they ought to have died, die in the land which has witnessed their disgrace." The Roman senate, following his counsel, rejected all the pro- posals of the embassy ; and Regulus, in spite of the tears and entreaties of his wife and friends, turned away from Rome, and set out for Carthage, to meet whatever fate the Carthaginians, in I LOSS OF TWO MORE ROMAN FLEETS 411 their disappointment and anger, might plan for him. The tradi- tion goes on to tell how, upon the arrival of Regulus at Carthage, he was confined in a cask driven full of spikes, and then left to die of starvation and pain. This part of the tale has been dis- credited, and the finest touches of the other portions are supposed to have been added by the story-tellers. 431. Loss of Two More Roman Fleets. — After the failure of the Carthaginian embassy the war went on for several years by land and by sea with many vicissitudes. At last, on the coast of Sicily, one of the consuls, Claudius, met with an overwhelming defeat.* Almost a hundred vessels of his fleet were lost. The disaster caused the greatest alarm at Rome. Superstition increased the fears of the people. It was reported that just before the battle, when the aus- pices were being taken and the sacred chickens would not eat, Claudius had given orders to have them thrown into the sea, irreverently re- marking, " At any rate, they shall drink." Imagination was free to depict what further evils the offended gods might inflict upon the Roman state. The gloomiest forebodings might have found justification in subsequent events. The other consul just now met with a great disaster. He was proceeding along the southern coast of Sicily with a squadron of eight hundred merchantmen and over one hundred war galleys, the former loaded with grain for the Roman army on the island. A severe storm arising, the squadron was beaten to pieces upon the rqcks. Not a single ship escaped. * In a sea fight at Drepana, 249 B.C. Fig. 136. — Augur's Birds. (After a drawing based on an ancient relief) The knowledge sought was gained by observ- ing the birds' manner of taking their food. Their refusal to eat was an unlucky omen 412 THE FIRST PUNIC WAR The coast for miles was strewn with corpses and wreckage and ridged with vast windrows of grain cast up by the waves. 432. Close of the First Punic "War (241 b.c). ■ — The war had now lasted for fifteen years. Four Roman fleets had been destroyed, three of which had been sunk or broken to pieces by storms. Of the fourteen hundred vessels which had been lost, seven hundred were war galleys, — all large and costly quinque- remes. Only one hundred of these had fallen into the hands of the enemy; the remainder were a sacrifice to the malign and hostile power of the waves. Such successive blows from an invisible hand were enough to blanch the faces of even the sturdy Romans. Neptune manifestly denied to the " Children of Mars" the dominion of the sea. It was impossible during the six years following the last disaster to infuse any spirit into the struggle. In 247 v,.c. Hamilcar Barca, the father of the great Hannibal, assumed the command of the Carthaginian forces, and for several years conducted the war with great ability on the island of Sicily, even making Rome tremble for the safety of her Italian possessions. Once more the Romans determined to commit their fortune to the element that had been so unfriendly to them. A fleet of two hundred vessels was built and equipped, but entirely by private subscription ; for the senate feared that public sentiment would not sustain them in levying a tax for fitting up another costly armament as an offering to the insatiable Neptune. This people's squadron, as we may call it, was intrusted to the command of the consul Catulus. He met the Carthaginian fleet under the com- mand of the admiral Hanno, near the yEgatian Islands, and inflicted upon it a crushing defeat (241 B.C.). The Carthaginians now sued for peace. A treaty was at length arranged, the terms of which required that Carthage should give up all claims to the island of Sicily, surrender all her prisoners, and pay an indemnity of 3200 talents (about ^4,000,000), one third of whif:h was to be paid down, and the balance in ten yearly payments. Thus ended (241 B.C.), after a continuance of twenty- four years, the first great struggle between Carthage and Rome. 1 J REFERENCES 413 One important result of the war was the crippling of the sea power of the Phoenician race, which from time immemorial had been a most prominent factor in the history of the Mediterranean lands, and the giving practically of the control of the sea into the hands of the Romans. Selections from the Sources. — Polybius, i. 10-63. Polybius, partly because he adheres rigidly to the chronological order of events, is in general somewhat confusing to young readers; but since what he says about the First Punic War is in the nature of an introduction to his main work, which begins with the 140th Olympiad (220-217 B.C.), it assumes the form of a continuous narrative and possesses on that account a very special interest. In about sixty pages the historian gives us the very best account of the war that we possess. In his sixth book (chaps. Ixi-lxvi) Polybius draws a comparison between Rome and Carthage, which should be read in the present connection. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. ii, bk. iii, chaps, i and ii. Ihne, vol. ii, bk. iv, chaps, i-iii. Duruy, vol. i, pp. 525-580. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. iii, chap, i (first part). How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps, xvii-xix. Shuckburgh, History of Rome, chaps, xvii-xx. Smith, Carthage and the Carthaginians and Rome and Carthage. Church, The Story of Carthage. Freeman, The Story of Sicily, chap. xiv. Topics for Special Study. — i. The Phoenicians as traders and colo- nizers in the West. 2. Struggle between the Greeks and the Cartha- ginians in Sicily. 3. The battle of Panormus. 4. Hamilcar Barca in Sicily. 5. Naval tactics of the Romans. 6. Social life at Carthage. CHAPTER XXXIX ROME AND CARTHAGE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND THE SECOND PUNIC WAR (241-218 B.C.) I. Rome 433. The First Roman Province and the Beginning of the Provincial System (241 B.C.). — For the twenty-three years fol- lowing the close of the first struggle between Rome and Carthage the two rivals strained every power and taxed every resource in preparation for a renewal of the contest. The Romans settled the affairs of Sicily, organizing all of it, save the lands in the eastern part belonging to Syracuse, as a province of the republic. This was the first territory beyond the limits of Italy that Rome had conquered, and the Sicilian the first of Roman provinces. But as the imperial city extended her con- quests, her provincial possessions increased in number and size until they formed at last a perfect cordon about the Mediterranean, r^ach province was governed by a magistrate sent out from the capital. This officer exercised both civil and military authority. Each province also paid an annual tribute, or tax, to Rome, some- thing that had never been exacted of the Italian allies. This Roman provincial system presented a sharp contrast to that liberal system of federation and incorporation that formed the very corner stone of the Roman power in Italy. There Rome had made all, or substantially all, of the conquered peoples either citizens or close confederates. Against the provincials she not only closed the gates of the city but denied to the most of them all but the mere name oi allies. She made them practically her subjects, and administered their affairs not in their interest 414 i ROME ACQUIRES SARDINIA AND CORSICA 415 but in her own. This illiberal policy contributed largely, as we shall learn, to the undoing of the Roman republic. 434. Rome acquires Sardinia and Corsica; the Second Province (227 B.C.). — The first acquisition by the Romans of lands beyond the peninsula seems to have created in them an insatiable ambition for foreign conquests. They soon found a pretext for seizing the island of Sardinia, the most ancient, and, after Sicily, the most prized of the possessions of the Carthaginians. This island in con- nection with Corsica, which was also seized, was formed into a Roman province (227 B.C.). With her hands upon these islands, the authority of Rome in the Western or Tyrrhenian Sea was supreme. 435. The lUyrian Corsairs are punished. — In a more legiti- mate way the Romans extended their influence over the seas that wash the eastern shores of Italy. For a long time the Adriatic and Ionian waters had been infested with Illyrian pirates. These buccaneers troubled not only the towns along the shores of Greece but were even so bold as to make descents upon the Italian coasts. The Roman fleet chased these corsairs from the Adriatic, and captured several of their strongholds. Rome now assumed a sort of protectorate over the Greek cities of the Adri- atic coast. This was her first step in the path that was to lead her to absolute supremacy in Greece and throughout all the East. 436. War with the Gauls ; Roman Authority extended to the Alps. — In the north, during this same period, Roman authority was extended from the Apennines and the Rubicon to the foot of the Alps. Alarmed at the advance of the Romans, who were pushing northward their great military road, called the Flaminian Way, GaUic tribes both sides the Alps gathered for an assault upon Rome. Intelligence of this movement among the northern tribes threw all Italy into a fever of excitement. At Rome the terror was great ; for not yet had died out of memory what the city had once suffered at the hands of the ancestors of these same barbarians that were now again gathering their hordes for sack and pillage (sec. 413). An ancient prediction, found in the SibyUine Books, declared that a portion of Roman territory must needs be occu- pied by Gauls. Hoping sufficiently to fulfill the prophecy and 4i6 ROME AND CARTHAGE satisfy fate, the Roman senate caused two Gauls to be buried alive in one of the public squares of the capital. Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced into Etruria, ravaging the country as they moved southward. At Telamon they were sur- rounded by the Roman armies and almost annihilated (225 B.C.). Forty thousand are said to have been killed and sixty thousand taken prisoners. The Romans, taking advantage of this victory, pushed on into the plains of the Po, captured the city which is now known as Milan, and extended their authority to the foot- hills of the Alps. To guard the new territory two military colo- nies, Placentia and Cremona, were established upon the opposite banks of the Po, while the Via Flaminia was carried across the Apennines and extended to Ariminum, on the Adriatic. The Gauls, thus reduced to subjection, were of course restless and resentful, and, as we shall see, were very ready to embrace the cause of Hannibal when a few years after this he descended from the Alps and appeared among them as a deliverer. II. Carthage 437. The Truceless War (241-237 B.C.). — Scarcely had peace been concluded with Rome at the end of the First Punic War, before Carthage was plunged into a still deadlier struggle, which for a time threatened her very existence. Her mercenary troops, upon their return from Sicily, revolted on account of not receiv- ing their pay. Their appeal to the native tribes of Africa was answered by a general uprising throughout the dependencies of Carthage. The extent of the revolt shows how hateful and hated was the rule of the great capital over her subject states. The war was unspeakably bitter and cruel. It is known in history as "The Truceless War." At one time Carthage was the only city remaining in the hands of the government. But the genius of the great Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca at last triumphed, and the authority of Carthage was everywhere restored. 438. The Carthaginians in Spain. — After the disastrous ter- mination of the First Punic War, the Carthaginians determined THE CARTHAGINIANS IN SPAIN 417 to repair their losses by new conquests in Spain. Hamilcar Barca was sent over into that country, and for nine years he devoted his commanding genius to organizing the different Iberian tribes into a compact state, and to developing the rich gold and silver mines of the southern part of the peninsula. He fell in battle 228 B.C. Hamilcar Barca was the greatest general that up to this time the Carthaginian race had produced. As a rule, genius is not transmitted ; but in the Barcine family the rule was broken, and the rare genius of Hamilcar reappeared in his sons, whom he himself, it is said, was fond of calling the " lion's brood." Han- nibal, the eldest, was only nineteen at the time of his father's death, and being thus too young to assume command, Hasdrubal, the son-in-law of Hamilcar, was chosen to succeed him. He car- ried out the unfinished plans of Hamilcar, extended and consoli- dated the Carthaginian power in Spain, and upon the eastern coast founded New Carthage as the center and capital of the newly acquired territory. 439. Hannibal's Vow; he attacks Saguntum. — Upon the death of Hasdrubal, which occurred 221 B.C., Hannibal, now twenty- six years of age, was by the unanimous voice of the army called to be its leader. When a child of nine years he had been led by his father to the altar, and there, with his hands upon the sacrifice, the little boy had sworn eternal hatred to the Roman race. He was driven on to his gigantic undertakings and to his hard fate not only by the restless fires of his warlike genius but, as he himself declared, by the sacred obligations of a vow that could not be broken. In two years Hannibal extended the Carthaginian power to the Ebro. Saguntum, a native city upon the east coast of Spain, alone remained unsubdued. The Romans, who were jealously watching affairs in the peninsula, had entered into an alliance with this city, and taken it, with some Greek cities at the foot of the Pyrenees, under their protection. Hannibal, although he well knew that an attack upon this place would precipitate hostilities with Rome, laid siege to it in the spring of 219 B.C. He was 4l8 ROME AND CARTHAGE eager for the renewal of the old contest. The Roman senate sent messengers to him forbidding him to make war upon a city that was an ally of the Roman people ; but Hannibal, disregard- ing their remonstrances, continued the siege, and after an invest- ment of eight months gained possession of the town. The Romans now sent commissioners to Carthage to demand of the senate that they give up Hannil^al to them, and by so doing repudiate the act of their general. The Carthaginians hesitated. Then Quintus Fabius, chief of the embassy, gathering up his toga, said : " I carry here peace and war ; choose, men of Carthage, which ye will have." " Give us whichever ye will," was the reply. "War, then," said Fabius, dropping his toga. The " die was now cast ; and the arena was cleared for the fore- most, perhaps the mightiest, military genius of any race and of any time." ^ Selections from the Sources. • — Polybius, i. 65-6S ; causes of " The Truceless War." Appian, Foreign Wars, bk. x, chaps, i and ii ; the origin of the Illyrians and the first Illyrian war. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. ii, bk. iii, chaps, ii and iii. Ihne, vol. ii, bk. iv, chaps, iv-vii. Duruy, vol. i, chaps, xxi and xxii. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, pp. 122-126. Shuckburgh, History of Rofue, chaps, xx and xxi. Arnold, The Ro?nan System of Provincial Adtninisiratio7i, chap, i ; " What a province was. How acquired. Use of 'client princes.' How secured and organized. Moral aspect of the Roman rule." Topics for Special Study. — i. Origin and development of the Roman provincial system. 2. Hamilcar in Spain. 3. Changes in Rome between the First and Second Punic Wars. 1 Smith's Carthage and Rnmc, p. 1 14. i CHAPTER XL 'i^-rj^ r.^:s:^ m^ THE SECOND PUNIC WAR (218-201 I!.C.) 440. Hannibal's Passage of the Alps. — The Carthaginian Empire was now all astir with preparations for the impending struggle. Hannibal was the life and soul of every movement. He planned and executed. The Carthaginian senate tardily con- firmed his acts. His bold plan was to cross the Pyrenees and the Alps and descend upon Rome from the north. Ambassadors were sent among the Gallic tribes on both sides of the Alps to invite them to be ready to join the army that would soon set out from Spain. With preparations completed, Han- nibal left New Carthage early in the spring of 218 B.C., with an army num- bering about a hundred thousand men, and including thirty-seven war ele- phants. Traversing Northern Spain and crossing the Pyrenees and the Rhone, he reached the foothills of the Alps, probably under the pass known to-day as the Little St. Bernard. The season was already far advanced, — it was October, — and snow was falling upon the higher portions of the trail. Day after day the army toiled painfully up the dangerous path. In places the narrow way had to be cut wider for the monstrous bodies of the elephants. Often avalanches of stone were hurled upon the trains by the hostile bands that held possession of the heights above, .^t last the summit was gained, and the shivering army looked down 419 Fig. 137. — Hannibal 420 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR into the warm haze of the Italian plains. The sight, together with encouraging words from Hannibal, somewhat revived the droop- ing spirits of the soldiers. Their descent of the mountains was accomplished only after severe toil and losses. At length the thinned columns issued from the defiles of the foothills upon the plains of the Po. Of the fifty thousand men and more with which Hannibal had begun the passage, barely twenty thousand had survived the hardships and perils of the march, and these " looked more like phantoms than men." Yet this was the pitiable force with which Hannibal proposed to attack the Roman state, — a state that at this time had on its levy lists over seven hundred thousand foot soldiers and seventy thousand horse. 441. Battle of the Ticinus, of the Trebia, and of Lake Trasi- menus. — The Romans had not the remotest idea of Hannibal's plans. With war determined upon, the senate had sent one of the consuls, Tiberius Sempronius, with an army into Africa by the way of Sicily ; while the other, Publius CorneUus Scipio, they had directed to lead another army into Spain. While the senate were watching the movements of these expeditions, they were startled by the intelligence that Hannibal, instead of being in Spain, had crossed the Pyrenees and was among the Gauls upon the Rhone. Sempronius was hastily recalled from his attempt upon Africa to the defense of Italy. Scipio, on his way to Spain, had touched at Massilia, and there learned of the movements of Hannibal. He sent his army on to Spain under the command of his brother, to prevent Hannibal's receiving any reenforccments from that quarter. He himself turned back, hurried into Northern Italy, and took command of the le\aes there. The cavalry of the two armies met upon the banks of the Ticinus. The Romans were driven from the field by the fierce onset of the Numidian horsemen. Scipio now awaited the arrival of the other consular army, which was hurrying up through ilalv by forced marches. In the battle of the Trcina (218 B.C.) the united armies of the two consuls were drawn into an ambuscade and almost annihilated. ■^ ^ TV. ( ■^ 1'1'tar, ■ <> ( Massii •*, ^ S \'-^' I Placentia .-B/-A i»^ W^ CUe'^° RACE' lati"' <' cN, JCV^ ^_ ''He sele ,tW<= FABIUS "THE DELAYER" 421 The Gauls, who had been waiting to see to which side fortune would incline, now flocked to the standard of Hannibal, and hailed him as their deliverer. The spring following the victory at the Trebia, Hannibal led his army, now recruited by many Gauls, across the Apennines, and moved southward. At Lake Trasimenus he entrapped the Romans under the consul Gains Flaminius between the hills and the lake, where, bewildered by a fog, the greater part of the army was slaughtered, and the consul himself was slain (217 B.C.). The Route op' Hannibal 442. Fabius "the Delayer." — The way to Rome was now open. Believing that Hannibal would march directly upon the capital, the senate caused the bridges that spanned the Tiber to be destroyed, and appointed Fabius Maximus dictator. But Hannibal did not deem it wise to throw his troops against the walls of Rome. Crossing the Apennines, he pressed eastward to the Adriatic, and then marched southward into Apulia. The fate of Rome was in the hands of Fabius. Should he risk a battle and lose it, everything would be lost. He determined to adopt a more prudent poHcy, — to follow and annoy with his small force the Carthaginian army, but to refuse all proffers of battle. 422 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR Thus time would be gained for raising a new army and perfecting measures for the pubHc defense. In every possible way Hannibal endeavored to draw his enemy into an engagement. He ravaged the fields far and wide and fired the homesteads of the Italians, in order to force Fabius to fight in their defense. The soldiers of the dictator began to murmur. They called him Citnctator or " the Delayer." They even accused him of treachery to the cause of Rome. But nothing moved him from the steady pursuit of the policy which he clearly saw was the only prudent one to follow. 443. The Battle of Cannae (216 b.c). — The time gained by Fabius had enabled the Romans to raise and discipline an army PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF CAXN^ AJTEll STEACHEN-DAVIDSON. GREATER ROMAN CAMP c^^^v QOQQ^l'^^^^^wy ^NNIBAL'S^ CARTha 9j_/v/HAj "RWEq- ~ ~ ALLIES "•^ALRy- ""%m\--u> '^Ffi/CAN that might hope to engage successfully the Carthaginian forces. Early in the summer of the year 216 B.C. these new levies, num- bering eighty thousand men, under the command of the recently chosen consuls Paulus and Varro, confronted the army of Han- nibal, amounting to not more than half that number, at Canns, on the banks of the Aufidus, in Apulia. It was the largest army the Romans had ever gathered on any battlefield. Through the skillful maneuvers of Hannibal, the Romans were completely surrounded and huddled together in a helpless mass; then they EVENTS AFTER THE BATTLE OF CANN^^ 423 were cut down by the Numidian cavalry. From forty to seventy thousand are said to have been slain ; ^ a few thousand were taken prisoners ; only the merest handful escaped, including the consul Varro. The slaughter was so great that, according to Livy, when Mago, a brother of Hannibal, carried the news of the victory to Carthage, he, in confirmation of the intelligence, poured out on the floor of the senate house nearly a peck of gold rings taken from the fingers of the Roman knights. 444. Events after the Battle of Cannae. — The awful news flew to Rome. Consternation and despair seized the people. The city would have been emptied of its population had not the senate ordered the gates to be closed. Never did the senators display greater calmness, wisdom, prudence, and resolution. They pub- licly thanked the consul Varro, although he was the bitter enemy of their body, because he had not despaired of the republic. Little by little the panic was allayed. Measures were concerted for the defense of the capital, as it was expected that Hannibal would immediately march upon the city. Swift horsemen were sent out along the Appian Way to gather information of the con- queror's movements, and to learn, as Livy expresses it, " if the immortal gods, out of pity to the empire, had left any remnant of the Roman name." The leader of the Numidian cavalry, Maharbal, urged Hannibal to follow up his victory closely. " Let me advance with the horse," he said, "and in five days you shall banquet in Rome." But Hannibal refused to adopt the counsel of his impetuous general. Maharbal turned away, and with mingled reproach and impatience exclaimed, "Alas ! you know how to gain a victory, but not how to use one." The great commander, while he knew he was invincible in the open field, did not think it prudent to fight the Romans behind their walls. Hannibal now sent an embassy to Rome to offer terms of peace. The senate, true to the Appian policy never to treat with a vic- torious enemy (sec. 422), would not even permit the ambassadors 1 Polybius, iii. 117, places the killed at 70,000 and the prisoners at 10,000 ; Livy, xxii. 49, puts the number of the slain at 42,700. 424 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR to enter the gates. Hardly less disappointed was Hannibal in the temper of the K.oman confederates. All the allies of the Latin name adhered to the cause of Rome through all these trying times with unshaken loyalty. Some tribes in the south of Italy, however, among which were the Lucanians, the Apulians, and the Bruttians, now went over to the Carthaginians. Capua also seceded from Rome and entered into an alliance with Hannibal, who quartered his army for the winter following the battle of Cannae in the luxurious city. A little later Syracuse was lost to Rome; for it so happened that, shortly after the battle of Cannse, Hiero, the king of the Syracu- sans, who loved to call himself the friend and ally of the Roman jjeople, had died, and the government had fallen into the hands of a party unfriendly to the republic. This party now entered into an alliance with Carthage, and thus Syracuse, with a large part of Sicily, was carried over to the side of the enemies of Rome. 445. The Fall of Syracuse (212 b.c.) and of Capua (2 1 1 b.c). — While Hannibal was resting in Capua and awaiting reenforcements, Rome was putting forth every effort and straining every resource in raising and equipping new levies to take the place of the legions lost at Cannae, The first task to be undertaken was the chastisement of Syra- cuse for its desertion of the Roman alliance. The distinguished Roman general, Marcus Claudius Marcellus, called " the Sword of Rome," was intrusted with this commission. In the year 214 B.C. he laid siege to the city. For three years it held out against the Roman forces. It is said that Archimedes, the great mathematician, rendered valuable aid to the besieged with curious and powerful engines contrived by his genius. But the city fell at last, and was given over to sack and pillage (212 B.C.). Rome was adorned with the masterjjieces of Grecian art that for cen- turies had been accumulating in the city, one of the oldest and most renowned of the colonies of ancient Hellas. Syracuse never recovered from the blow inflicted upon it at this time by the relentless Romans. BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 425 Capua must next be i)unished for opening its gates and extend- ing its hospitalities to the enemies of Rome. A hne of circum- vallation was drawn about the city, and two Roman armies held it in close siege. Hannibal endeavored to create a diversion in favor of his allies by making a dash on Rome, — legend says that he rang a defiant lance against one of the city gates, — but he failed to draw the legions from before Capua, and was forced to abandon the Capuans to their fate. The city soon fell, and paid the penalty that Rome never failed to inflict upon an unfaithful ally. The chief men of the place were put to death and a large part of the inhabitants sold as slaves (211 b.c). 446. Hasdrubal attempts to carry Aid to his Brother ; Battle of the Metaurus (207 b.c). — -During all the years Hannibal was waging war in Italy, his brother Hasdrubal was carrying on a desperate struggle with the Roman armies in Spain. At length he determined to leave the conduct of the war in that country to others and go to the relief of his brother, who was sadly in need of aid. Like Pyrrhus, Hannibal had been brought to reahze that even constant victories won at the cost of soldiers that could not be replaced meant final defeat. Hasdrubal followed the same route that had been taken by his brother Hannibal, and in the year 207 B.c. descended from the Alps upon the plains of Northern Italy. Thence he advanced southward, while Hannibal moved northward from Bruttium to meet him. Rome made a last great eiTort to prevent the junction of the armies of the two brothers. At the river Metaurus, Has- drubal's march was withstood by a large Roman army. Here his forces were cut to pieces, and he himself was slain (207 B.C.). His head was severed from his body and sent to Hannibal. Upon recognizing the features of his brother, Hannibal, it is said, exclaimed sadly, " Carthage, I see thy fate." 447. The Romans carry the War into Africa ; Battle of Zama (202 B.C.). — The defeat and death of Hasdrubal gave a differ- ent aspect to the war. Hannibal now drew back into the rocky peninsula of Bruttium, There he faced the Romans like a lion at bay. No one dared attack him. It was resolved to carry the 426 THE SECOND PUNIC WAR war into Africa, in hopes that the Carthaginians would be forced to call their great commander out of Italy to the defense of Carthage. Publius Cornelius Scipio," who after the departure of Hasdrubal from Spain had quickly driven the Carthaginians out of the peninsula, led the army of invasion. He had not been long in Africa before the Carthaginian senate sent for Hannibal to conduct the war. At Zama, not far from Carthage, the hostile ^^^g;,,^ armies met. Hannibal :^ here suffered his first * and final defeat. His _ . army, in which were "l ■;/ many of the veterans \ that had served ~^ through all his Italian "-^ campaigns, was almost ,^, J annihilated (202 B.C.). , "^ 448. The Close of ' Y" ^^\ the War (201 B.C.). ^ ^1 V — Carthage was now ■. ^^^ \ ii(' completely exhausted, j~%l|(/ and sued for peace. The terms of the treaty were much Fig. 1 38. — Publius Cornelius Scipio ^, ,, severer than those im- (Africanus) posed upon the city at the end of the First Punic War (sec. 432). She was required to give up all claims to Spain and the islands of the Mediterranean ; to surrender her war elephants, and all her ships of war save ten galleys ; to pay an indemnity of four thousand talents ^ at once, and two hundred talents annually for fifty years ; and not, under any circumstances, to make war upon an ally of Rome. Five hundred of the costly Phoenician war galleys were towed out of the harbor of Carthage and burned in full sight of the citizens. 2 Son of the consul mentionc-d on prige 420. ^ About ^5,000,000. Our authorities differ as to the exact amount of this indemnity. EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON ITALY 427 Such was the end of the HannibaHc War, as called by the Romans, the most desperate struggle ever waged by rival powers for empire. Scipio was accorded a grand triumph at Rome, and in honor of his achievements given the surname Africanus.^ 449. Effects of the War on Italy. — Italy never entirely recovered from the calamitous effects of the Hannibalic War. During its long continuance the Roman state was almost drained of its young men of military age. Three hundred thousand Roman citizens are said to have been slain in battle, and four hundred towns and hamlets actually swept out of existence. Agriculture in some districts was almost ruined. The peasantry had been torn from the soil and driven within the walled towns. The slave class had increased, and the estates of the great land- owners had constantly grown in size, and absorbed the little holdings of the ruined peasants. In thus destroying the Italian peasantry, Hannibal's invasion and long occupancy of the penin- sula did very much to aggravate all those economic evils which even before this time were at work undermining the earlier sound industrial life of the Romans, and filling Italy with a numerous and dangerous class of homeless and discontented men. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Fabms Maxiimcs and Life of Alarcellus. LivY, xxi. 40 and 41 ; Scipio's address to his soldiers before Ticinus. Appian, Foreign Wars, bk. vii, chap, viii, sec. 52 ; the battle of the Metaurus. Polybius, iii. 50-57 ; the crossing of the Alps by Hannibal. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. ii, bk. iii, chaps, iv-vi. Ihne, vol. ii, bk. iv, chaps, viii-ix. DuRUY, vol. i, chap, xxiii ; and vol. ii, chaps, xxiv-xxvi. Pelham, Outlities of Roman History, \r^. 126-134. Arnold, 4 Some time after the close of the Second Punic War, the Romans, persuading themselves that Hannibal was preparing Carthage for another war, demanded his surrender of the Carthaginians. He fled to Syria, and thence to Asia Minor, where, to avoid falling into the hands of his implacable foes, he committed suicide by means of poison (183 B.C.). Almost equally bitter was the cup which the ungrate- ful Romans pressed to the lips of the conqueror of Hannibal. After the battle of Zama, Scipio Africanus turned to politics, but soon raised about himself a perfect storm of unmerited abuse and persecution. Leaving Rome, he went into a sort of voluntary exile at his country seat near Liternum, in Campania. He died about the same time that witnessed the death of Hannibal. Upon his tomb was placed this inscription, which he himself had dictated: "Ungrateful country, thou shalt not possess even my ashes.'" 428 REFERENCES History of Rome, chaps, xliii-xlvii. These chapters are generally regarded as the best account ever written of the Second Punic War. The death of the author broke off the narrative just three years before the battle of Zama. Morris, Hannibal. Dodge, Hannibal, chap, xliii, "The Man and the Soldier"; and chap, xliv, "Hannibal and Alexander." Smith, Ca?-- thage and the Carthaginians and Rome and Carthage. Mahan, The Influ- ence of Sea Power upon History, pp. 14-21. Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, iv, " The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 B.C." Topics for Special Study. — i. Pas.sage of the Alps by Hannibal. 2. Fabius " the Delayer." 3. Hannibal before Rome. 4. The fall of Syra- cuse. 5. Publius Cornelius Scipiu. 6. Hannibal's great battles as a study of his generalship. Fig. 139. — Roman Uattle Shu'. (From Pumpeian wall painting) J CHAPTER XLI EVENTS BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THE THIRD PUNIC WAR: CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME {201-146 B.C.) 450. Introductory. — The terms imposed upon Carthage at the end of the Second Punic War left Rome mistress of the Western Mediterranean. During the eventful half century that elapsed between the close of that struggle and the breaking out of the Third Punic War, her authority became supreme also in the Eastern seas. In an earlier chapter in which we narrated the fortunes of the most important states into which the great empire of Alexander was broken at his death, we followed their several histories until one after another they fell beneath the arms of Rome, and were successively absorbed into her growing domin- ions.^ We shall therefore in this place speak of these states only in the briefest manner, simply indicating the connection of their affairs with the series of events which mark the advance of Rome to universal empire. 451. The Second Macedonian War (200-197 B.C.); the Battle of Cynoscephalae (197 B.C.). — Rome came first into hostile rela- tions with Macedonia. During the Second Punic War Philip V of that kingdom had entered into an alliance with Hannibal. He was now troubling the Greek cities which were under the protection of Rome. It was this which was the immediate cause of what is known as the Second Macedonian War.^ An army under Flamininus was sent into Greece, and on the plains of Cynoscephalae, in Thessaly, the Roman legion demon- strated its superiority over the unwieldy Macedonian phalanx by 1 See Chapter XXVII. 2 The First Macedonian War (215-206 B.C.) took place during the Second Punic War and was an episode of that struggle. 429 430 CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME subjecting Philip to a most disastrous defeat (197 B.C.). The king was forced to give up all his conquests, and the Greek cities that had been brought into subjection to Macedonia were declared free. Flamininus read the edict of emancipation to the Greeks assembled at Corinth for the celebration of the Isthmian games (sec. 142). The decree was received with the greatest enthu- siasm and rejoicing, and Flamininus was called by the grateful Greeks "the Restorer of Greek liberties." Unfortunately the Greeks had lost all capacity for freedom and self-government, and the anarchy into which their affairs soon fell afforded the Romans an excuse for extending their rule over all Greece. 452. War against Antiochus III of Syria (192-189 B.C.) ; the Battle of Magnesia (190 B.C.). — Antiochus the Great, of Syria (sec. 305), had at this time no*t only made important conquests in Asia Minor but had even carried his arms into Europe. As soon as intelligence of his movements was carried to Italy, the legions of the republic were set in motion. Some reverses caused Antiochus to retreat across the Hellespont into Asia, whither he was followed by the Romans, led by Scipio, a brother of Africanus. At Magnesia, Antiochus was overthrown, and a large part of Asia Minor fell into the hands of the Romans (190 B.C.). Not yet prepared to maintain provinces so remote from the Tiber, the senate conferred the greater part of the new territory upon their friend and ally, Eumenes, king of Pergamum (sec. 305, n. 9). This " Kingdom of Asia," as it was called, was really nothing more than a dependency of Rome, and its nominal ruler only a puppet king in the hands of the Roman senate. Scipio enjoyed a magnificent triumph at Rome, and, in accord- ance with a custom that had now become popular with success- ful generals, erected a memorial of his deeds in his name by assuming the title of Asiaticiis. 453. The Third ^ Macedonian War ( 1 7 i-i 68 B.C.) ; the Battle of Pydna (168 B.C.). — And now Macedonia, under the leadership of Perseus, son of Philip V, was again in arms and offering defiance to Rome; but in the year 168 n.c. the Roman consul ^milius 8 For the Second Macedonian War, see sec. 451. I THE ACH^AN WAR 43 1 Paulus crushed the Macedonian power forever upon the memor- able field of Pydna. Twenty- two years later (146 B.C.) the country was organized as a Roman province. The great part which Mace- donia as an independent state had played in history was ended. But the battle of Pydna constitutes a great landmark not merely in the history of Macedonia : it forms a landmark in universal history as well. It was one of the decisive battles fought by the Romans in their struggle for the dominion of the world. The last great power in the East was here broken.* The Roman senate was henceforth recognized by the whole civilized world as the source and fountain of supreme political wisdom and authority. We have yet to record many campaigns of the Roman legions ; but these, if we except the campaigns against the Pontic king Mithradates the Great, were efforts to suppress revolt among dependent or semi-vassal states, or were expeditions aimed at bar- barian tribes that skirted the Roman dominions. 454. The Achaean War and the Destruction of Corinth (146 B.C.). — During the third war between Rome and Macedonia the cities of the Achaean League had shown themselves lukewarm in their friendship for Rome. Consequently, after the battle of Pydna, the Romans collected a thousand of the chief citizens of these federated cities and transjDorted them to Italy, where they were held for seventeen years as hostages for the good conduct of their countrymen at home. Among these exiles was the cele- brated historian Polybius, who wrote an account of all these events which we are now narrating and which mark the advance of Rome to the sovereignty of the world. At the end of the period named, the Roman senate, in an indulgent mood, gave the survivors permission to return home. They went back inflamed by hatred towards Rome, and became active in the cities of the league in stirring up feeling against her. In Corinth particularly the people displayed the most unreasonable and vehement hostility towards the Romans. There could be but one issue of this foolish conduct, and that was war with Rome. * Mithradates the Great had not yet appeared to dispute with Rome the sover- eignty of the Orient (sec. 472). 432 CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME This came in the year 147 B.C. The management of the cam- paign soon fell to the consul Lucius Mummius. He inflicted upon the Achaean army a decisive defeat just outside the walls of Corinth, and that city fell into his hands without further resist- ance. The men were killed, and the women and children sold into slavery. Much of the booty was sold on the spot at public auction. Numerous works of art, invaluable statues and paint- ings, with which the city was crowded, were laid aside to be transported to Rome, But a large part of the rich art treasures of the city must have been destroyed by the rude and unappre- ciative soldiers. Polybius, who was an eyewitness of the sack of the city, himself saw groups of soldiers using priceless paintings as boards on which to play their games of dice. The despoiled city, in obedience to the command of the Roman senate, was given up to the flames, its walls were leveled, and the very ground on which the city had stood was accursed. Thus fell the brilliant city of Corinth, "the eye of Hellas," as Cicero called it, the " last precious ornament of the Grecian land once so rich in cities."^ The consul Mummius enjoyed a splendid triumph. " Never before nor after," says the historian Long, "was such a display of Grecian art carried in triumphal procession through the streets of Rome." 455. The General Effect upon Rome of her Conquest of the East. — In entering Greece the Romans had entered the home- land of Greek culture, with which they had first come in close contact in Magna Graecia a century earlier. This culture was in many respects vastly superior to their own, and for this rea- son it exerted a profound influence upon life and thought at Rome. Many among the Romans seemed to have conceived a sudden contempt for everything Roman, as something provin- cial and old-fashioned, and as suddenly to have become infat- uated with everything Greek. Greek manners and customs, Greek modes of education, and Greek literature and philosophy G At a later pi-iiod, Greece, under the name of Achcea, was reduced to the status of a province and joined to Macedonia. CATO THE CENSOR 433 became the fashion at Rome, so that Roman society seemed in a fair way of becoming Hellenized. And to a certain degree this did take place : Greece captive led enthralled her captor. So many and so important were the elements of Greek culture which in the process of time were taken up and absorbed by the Romans that there ceased to be such a thing in the world as a pure Latin civilization. We recognize this intimate blending of the cultures of the two great peoples of classical antiquity when we speak of the civilization of the later Roman Empire as being Grseco-Roman. But along with the many helpful elements of culture which the Romans received from the East, they received also many germs of great social and moral evils. Life in Greece and the Orient had become degenerate and corrupt. Close communication with this society, in union with other influences which we shall notice later, corrupted life at Rome. The simplicity and frugality of the earlier times were replaced by Oriental extravagance, luxury, and dissoluteness. Evidences of this decline in the moral life of the Romans, the presage of the downfall of the republic, will multiply as we advance in the history of the years following the destruction of Corinth. 456. Cato the Censor One of the most noted of the Romans of this time was Marcus Porcius Cato (232-147 B.C.), surnamed the Censor. His active life covered the whole of the long period the important events of which we have just been narrating, and which makes up the interval between the Second and the Third Punic War. Indeed, Cato as a young man fought in the Hanni- balic War, and as an old counselor did more than any other person to bring on the third war, which resulted in the destruction of Carthage. His life is a sort of mirror in which is reflected the life of three generations at Rome. Cato was born the son of a peasant at Tusculum, in Latium. From his father he received as an inheritance a scanty farm in the Sabine country. Near by were the cottage and farm of the celebrated Roman commander Manius Curius Dentatus, one of the popular heroes of the Samnite Wars, of whom tradition related 434 CONQUEST OF THE EAST BY ROME that, when the Samnites on one occasion sought to bribe him, they found him cooking turnips, and wanting nothing that they could give him. This worthy old Roman Cato took as his model. As we have seen, at just this time Greek ideas and customs were being introduced at Rome. Cato set his face like a flint against all these innovations. He did everything in his power to cast discredit and contempt upon everything Greek. He visited Athens and made a speech to the people ; but instead of address- ing the Athenians in their own language, which he could speak well enough, he talked to them in Latin, simply in order, Plutarch says, to rebuke those of his countrymen who affected to regard the Greek language as better than the Roman. He told the Romans that Greek education and Greek literature and philos- ophy would bring their country to ruin. He refused to allow his little son to be taught by a Greek slave, as was coming to be the custom in the leading Roman families, but he himself attended carefully to the education of the boy. One of the most unattractive, and, indeed, to us, repellent, sides of Cato's character is revealed in his treatment of his slaves. He looked upon them precisely as so much live stock, raising them and disposing of them just as though they were cattle. When a slave became old or worn out he sold him, and recom- mended such a course to others on the ground of its economy. But notwithstanding all of Cato's faults and shortcomings his character was, according to Roman ideals, noble and admirable, and his life and services, especially those which he rendered the state as censor, were approved and appreciated by his fellow- citizens, who set up in his honor a statue with this inscription : " This statue was erected to Cato because when censor, finding the state of Rome corrupt and degenerate, he, by introducing wise regulations and virtuous discipline, restored it." Selections from the Sources. — Appian, Foreign Wars, bk. ix, excerpta ix, sees, i-iv ; Flamininus forces Philip to give up his conquests and proclaims emancipation to the Greeks ; and bk. xi, chap, vii, sees. 37-40 ; Antiochus the Great and Scipio. Plutarch, Life of Titus Fiamininiis and Life of Marcus Cato. PoLYBius, xxxviii. 3-1 1 ; the cause of the fall of Greece. REFERENCES 435 References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. ii, chap, viii; on the condition of the Hellenistic East at the beginning of the Second Macedonian War. Ihne, vol. iii, bk. v, chaps, i-iv. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. iii, chaps, ii and iii. Allcroft and Masom, Rome wider the Oligarchs, chap. xi. How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps. xxv-\xx. Mahaffy, The Greek World under Roman Stvay, chap, ii, " The Immediate Effects of the Roman Conquest upon Hellenism " ; and Greek Life and Thought frofn the Age of Alexander to the Roman Conquest, chap, xxii, " Polybius and his Age." Gardner, A^etv Chapters in Greek History, chap, xv, " The Successors of Alexander and Greek Civilization in the East"; for a study of the life and culture of the Hellenistic world that is soon to become a part of the Roman Empire. Freeman, History of Federal Government, chaps, v-ix; for the history of the Achaean and the iEtolian League. Also the same author's Three Chief Periods of European History, lect. i, "Europe before the Roman Power." Topics for Special Study. — i. The political situation in Greece and in the Orient about the beginning of the second century B.C. 2. Rhodes as a trade emporium. 3. Flamininus as " the Restorer of Greek liberties." 4. The last days of Hannibal. 5. The destruction of Corinth. 6. Rome and Greek culture. 7, Cato the Censor. CHAPTER XLII THE THIRD PUNIC AND NUMANTINE WARS I. The Third Punic War (149-146 b.c.) 457. "Carthage should be destroyed." — The same year that Rome destroyed Corinth (sec. 454), she also blotted her great rival Carthage from the face of the earth. It will be recalled that one of th^ conditions imposed upon the last-named city at the close of the Second Punic War was that she should under no circumstances engage in war with an ally of Rome (sec. 448). Taking advantage of the helpless condition of Carthage, Masi- nissa, king of Numidia and an ally of Rome, began to make depredations upon her territories. Carthage appealed to Rome for protection. The envoys sent to Africa by the senate to settle the dispute, unfairly adjudged every point in favor of the robber Masinissa. In this way Carthage was deprived of her lands and towns. Chief of one of the embassies sent out was Marcus Cato the Censor. When he saw the prosperity of Carthage, — her immense trade, which crowded her harbor with ships, and the country for miles back of the city a beautiful landscape of gardens and villas, — he was amazed at the growing power and wealth of the city, and returned home convinced that the safety of Rome demanded the destruction of her rival. At the conclusion of his report to the senate, he is said, as an object lesson to the senators, to have emptied out on the floor of the chamber a quantity of large and beautiful figs, with these words, "The country where this fruit grows is only three days' sail from Rome." All of his addresses after this — no matter on what subject — he is said invariably to have closed with the declaration, "Moreover, Carthage should be destroyed." 436 ROMAN PERFIDY 437 458. Roman Perfidy. — A pretext for the accomplishment of the hateful work was not long wantmg. In 150 b.c. the Cartha- ginians, when Masinissa made another attack upon their territory, instead of caUing upon Rome, from which source their experience in the past had convinced them they could hope for neither aid nor justice, gathered an army with the resolution of defending themselves. Their forces, however, were defeated by the Numid- ians and sent beneath the yoke. In entering upon this war Carthage had broken the conditions of the last treaty. The Carthaginian senate, in great anxiety, now sent an embassy to Italy to offer any reparation the Romans might demand. They were told that if they would give three hundred hostages, children of the noblest Carthaginian families, the independence of their city should be respected. They eagerly complied with this demand. But no sooner were these persons in the hands of the Romans than the consular armies, numbering eighty thousand men and secured against attack by the hostages so perfidiously drawn from the Carthaginians, crossed from Sicily into Africa, and disembarked at Utica, only ten miles from Carthage. The Carthaginians were now commanded to give up all their arms. Still hoping to win their enemy to clemency, they com- plied with this demand also. Then the consuls made known the final decree of the Roman senate, — "That Carthage must be destroyed, but that the inhabitants might build a new city, pro- vided it were located ten miles from the coast." When this resolution of the senate was announced to the Cartha- ginians and they realized the baseness and perfidy of their enemy, a cry of indignation and despair burst from the betrayed city. 459, The Carthaginians prepare to defend their City. — It was resolved to resist to the bitter end the execution of the cruel decree. The gates of the city were closed. Men, women, and children set to work and labored day and night manufacturing arms. The entire city was converted into one great workshop. The utensils of the home and the sacred vessels of the temples, statues, and vases were melted down for weapons. Material was 438 THIRD PUNIC AND NUMANTINE WARS torn from the buildings of the city for the construction of military engines. The women cut ofi their hair and braided it into strings for the catapults. By such labor and through such sacrifices the city was soon put in a state to withstand a siege. When the Romans advanced to take possession of the place, they were astonished to find the people they had just so treacher- ously disarmed, with weapons in their hands, manning the walls of their capital and ready to bid them defiance. 460. The Destruction of Carthage (146 B.C.). — It is impossible for us here to give the circumstances of the siege of Carthage. For four years the city held out against the Roman army. At length the consul Scipio x'Emilianus ^ succeeded in taking it by storm. When resistance ceased only fifty thousand men, women, and children, out of a population of seven hundred thousand, remained to be made prisoners. The city was set on fire, and for seventeen days the space within the walls was a sea of flames. Every trace of building which fire could not destroy was leveled, a plow was driven over the site, and a dreadful curse invoked upon any one who should dare attempt to rebuild the city. Such was the hard fate of Carthage. Polybius, who was an eyewitness of the destruction of the city, records that Scipio, as he gazed upon the smoldering ruins, seemed to read in them the fate of Rome, and, bursting into tears, sadly repeated the lines of Homer : The day shall be when holy Troy shall fall And Priam, lord of spears, and Priam's folk. 2 The Carthaginian territory in Africa was made into a Roman province, with Utica as the leading city ; and by means of traders and settlers Roman civilization was spread rapidly throughout the regions that lie between the ranges of the Atlas and the sea. 461. The Significance of Rome's Triumph over Carthage. — The triumph of Rome over Carthage may perhaps be rightly given as prominent a place in history as the triumph, more than three 1 Publius Cornelius Scipio -T-milianiis, grandson by adoption of Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. After his conquest of Carthage he was known as Africamis Minor. 2 /Had, vi. 44S. CAPTURE AND DESTRUCTION OF NUMANTIA 439 centuries before, of Greece over Persia. In each case Europe was saved from the threatened danger of becoming a mere dependency or extension of Asia. The Semitic Carthaginians had not the political aptitude and moral energy that characterized the Italians and the other Aryan peoples of Europe. Their civilization was as lacking as the Per- sian in elements of growth and expansion. Had this civilization been spread by conquest throughout Europe, the germs of politi- cal, literary, artistic, and religious life among the Aryans of the continent might have been smothered, and their history have been rendered as barren in political and intellectual interests as the later history of the races of the Orient. It is these considerations which justify the giving of the battle of the Metaurus, which marks the real turning point in the long struggle between Rome and Carthage, a place along with the battle of Marathon in the short list of the really decisive battles of the world, — battles which have seemingly decided the fate of races, of continents, and of civilizations. II. The Numantine War (143-133 b.c.) 462. The Capture and Destruction of Numantia (133 b.c). — It is fitting that the same chapter which narrates the blotting out of Carthage in Africa should tell also the story of the destruction, at the hands of the Romans, of Numantia in Spain. This was the sequel of the so-called Numantine War. The expulsion of the Carthaginians from the Spanish 2:)eninsula (sec. 447) really gave Rome the control of only a small part of that country. The warlike native tribes — the Celtiberians and Lusitanians — of the North and the West were ready to dispute stubbornly with the newcomers the possession of the soil. The war gathered about Numantia, the siege of which was brought to a close by Scipio ^-Emilianus, the conqueror of Car- thage. Before the surrender of the place, almost all the in- habitants had met death either in defense of the walls or by deliberate suicide. The miserable remnant which the ravages 440 THIRD PUNIC AND NUMANTINE WARS of battle, famine, pestilence, and despair had left alive were sold into slavery, and the city was leveled to the ground (133 B.C.). The capture of Numantia was considered (juite as great an achievement as the taking of Carthage. Scipio celebrated another triumph at Rome, and to his surname Africanus added that of Numantinus. 463. Spain becomes Romanized. — Though ever since the Second Punic ^^'ar Spain had been regarded as forming a part of the Roman dominions, still now for the first time it really became a Roman possession. Roman merchants and traders crowded into the country, and many colonies were established in different parts of the peninsula. As a result of this great influx of Italians, the laws, the manners, the customs, and the language of the conquerors were introduced everywhere, so that the peninsula became in time thoroughly Romanized. Thus was laid the basis of two of the Romance nations of modern times, — the Spanish and the Portuguese. Selections from the Sources. — Appian, Foreign JFars, bk. viii, chaps. x-xiii, sees. 67-94; the growth of Carthage, Cato's visit to that city, and other matters relating to the beginning of the Third Punic War. I'olybius, xxx'ix. 3-5 ; the fall of Carthage. It should be rememljered that Polybius here writes as an eyewitness of the scenes that he describes. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. iii, pp. 39-57. Ihne, vol. iii, bk. v, chap. V, for the third war with Carthage; and chap, vi, for the Numantine War. Smith, Carthage and the Carthaginians and Rome and Carthage. How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps, xxiv and xxviii-xxxi. Church, Story of Carthage; interesting for younger classes. Boissier, Romaii Africa, chap, ii, sec. 4. Topics for Special Study. — i. The last days of Carthage. 2. Viri- athus. 3. The fall of Numantia. 4. " Punic faith." 5. The effect of conquest on the Roman republic. See Pelliam, bk. iii, chap, iii; and IIozu and Leigh, as cited above. CHAPTER XLIII THE LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC: FIRST PERIOD (133-7S B.C.) 464. Introductory. — We have now traced in broad outlines the development of the government and institutions of repub- lican Rome, and have told briefly the story of that wonderful career of conquest which made the little Palatine city first the mistress of Latium, then of Italy, and finally of the greater part of the Mediterranean world. It is now our less pleasant task to follow the declining fortunes of the republic through the last century of its existence. This was a period of transition and revolution. During this time many agencies were at work undermining the institutions of the republic and paving the way for the empire. What these agencies were will best be made apparent by a simple narration of the events and transactions that crowd this memorable period of Roman history. 465. The First Servile War in Sicily (134-132 B.C.). — With the opening of this period we find a terrible struggle going on in Sicily between masters and slaves, — what is known as the First Servile War. The condition of affairs in that island was the legiti- mate result of the Roman system of slavery, which was itself a chief cause of the economic and social decline of republican Rome. The captives that the Romans took in war they usually sold into servitude. The great number of prisoners furnished by their numerous conquests and particularly by their subjugation of the East, had caused slaves to become a drug in the slave markets of the Mediterranean world. They were so cheap that masters found it more profitable to wear their slaves out by a few years of unmercifully hard labor and then to buy others, than to preserve their lives for a longer period by more humane treatment. In 441 442 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC case of sickness they were often left to die without attention, as the expense of nursing exceeded the cost of new purchases. Some estates were worked by as many as twenty thousand slaves. That each owner might know his own, the poor creatures were branded like cattle. What makes all this the more revolting is the fact that many of these slaves were in every way the peers of their owners, and often were their superiors. The fortunes of war alone had made the one servant and the other master. The wretched condition of the slaves in Sicily, where the slave system exhibited some of its worst features, and the cruelty of their masters at last drove them to revolt. The insurrection spread throughout the island until two hundred thousand slaves were in arms, — if axes, reaping hooks, staves, and roasting spits may be called arms. Well knowing that they could expect no mercy at the hands of their masters, the slaves held out in their mountain strongholds to the bitter end. Maddened by hunger, they killed their women and children for food. At the last extremity many committed suicide. Those who survived to be made prisoners were tortured, flung over precipices, or crucified, — crucifixion being a favorite form of punishment meted out by the Romans to rebellious slaves. Twenty thousand of these unhai)py people are said to have been lifted up on crosses. Sicily was thus pacified, and remained quiet for nearly a generation.^ 466. The Public Lands. — In Italy itself affairs were in a scarcely less wretched condition than in Sicily. At the bottom of a large part of the social and economic troubles here was the pul)lic land system, to which we have had occasion already to refer as the cause of unrest and bitter complaint on the part of the poorer classes at the beginning of the first century of the republic (sec. 403). Since that time matters, instead of mending, had constantly grown worse. The wide conquests of the Romans and the accom- panying confiscation of large tracts of the lands of the subjugated 1 In the year 102 r,.c. anotlier insurrection of the slaves broke out in the island, which it required three years to quell. This last revolt is known as the Second Servile War. THE REFORMS OF THE GRACCHI 443 peoples had increased enormously the public domain of the Roman state. But these fresh acquisitions of land benefited, for the most part, only the rich class at Rome. They alone had the capital necessary to stock with cattle and slaves the new lands, and hence they were the sole " occupiers " of them. The small farmers everywhere, too, were being ruined by the unfair com- petition of slave labor, and their little holdings were passing by purchase, and often by fraud or barefaced robbery, into the hands of the great proprietors. The Licinian Laws (sec. 415), it is true, made it illegal for any person to occupy more than a prescribed amount of the public lands ; but this law had long since become a dead letter. The greater part of the lands of Italy, about the beginning of the first century B.C., are said to have been held by not more than two thousand persons. These great landowners found stock raising more profitable than working the soil. Hence Italy had been made into a great sheep pasture. The dispossessed peasants, left without home or employment, crowded into the great cities, congregating especially at Rome, where they lived in vicious indolence. Thus, largely through the workings of the public land system, the Roman people had become divided into two great classes, which are variously designated as the Rich and the Poor, the Possessors and the Non-Possessors, — the Optimates, the " Best," and the Populares, the " People." We hear nothing more of patricians and plebeians. The clan aristocracy of the earlier state (sec. 380) had given place to a wealth aristocracy, or rather had been absorbed by it. This later aristocracy was, in some respects, particularly in the elements that composed it, like the English aristocracy of the present day. 467. The Reforms of the Gracchi. ^ — The most noted champions of the cause of the poorer classes against the rich and powerful were Tiberius and Gains Gracchus. These reformers are reck- oned among the most popular orators that Rome ever produced. They eloquently voiced the wrongs of the people. Said Tiberius, " You are called ' lords of the earth ' without possessing a single 444 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC clod to call your own." The people made him tribune (134- 133 B.C.) ; and in that position he secured the passage of a law for the redistribution of the pubUc lands, which gave some relief. It took away from Possessors without sons all the land they held over five hundred jugera ; Possessors with one son might hold seven hundred and fifty jugera, and those with two sons one thousand. As the end of his term of office drew near, Tiberius stood again for the tribunate.^ The nobles combined to defeat him. Fore- seeing that he would not be reelected, Tiberius, it would seem, had resolved to use force upon the day of voting. His partisans were overpowered, and he and three hundred of his followers were killed in the forum and their bodies thrown into the Tiber (133 B.C.). This was the first time that the Roman forum had witnessed such a scene of violence and crime. Gains Gracchus now came forward to assume the position made vacant by the death of his brother Tiberius. How he brooded over his brother's fate is shown by the story that tells how he had a dream in which the spirit of Tiberius seemed to address him thus : " Gains, why do you delay? There is no escape ; the same life for both of us, and the same death in defense of the people, is our destiny." In the year 124 B.C. Gains was elected tribune. Once in the tribuneship, he entered with energy upon the work of reform. He won the affection of the poor of the city by carrying a law which provided that every Roman citizen, on personal application, should be given corn from the public granaries at half or less than half the market price. Gains could not have foreseen all the evils to which this law, which was in effect what we know as a poor law, was destined to lead. It led eventually to the free distribution of corn to all citizens who made application for it. Very soon a large proportion of the population of Rome was living in vicious indolence and feeding at the public crib (sec. 584), As a further measure of relief for the poor, Gains established new colonies in Italy, and sent six thousand settlers, comprising 2 This was unconstitutional, for at this time a trilnine could not hold his office for two consecutive years. THE WAR WITH JUGURTHA 445 Italians as well as Roman citizens, to the site of Carthage, and founded there a colony called Junonia. This was the first citizen colony estabhshed by the Romans outside of Italy. Another measure now proposed by (iaius alienated a large sec- tion of his followers and paved the way for his downfall. This proposal seemingly was that all the Latins should be made full Roman citizens, and that the Italian allies should be given the rights and privileges then enjoyed by the Latins (sec. 470). Gains was in this matter out of touch with his times. The Romans were unwilling to confer the rights of the city upon those still without them for the reason that citizenship now, since the whole world was paying tribute in one form or another to the ruling class in the Roman state, was something valuable. The proposal was defeated, and the popularity of Gaius visibly declined. The aristocratic or senatorial party, who bitterly hated Gaius, now schemed for his downfall. The struggle between the factions soon issued in riot and fighting. Cxaius sought death by a friendly sword, and three thousand of his adherents were massacred (121 B.C.). The consul Lucius Opimius had offered for the head of Gaius its weight in gold. " This is the first instance in Roman history of head money being offered and paid, but it was not the last" (Long). The common people ever regarded the Gracchi as martyrs to their cause, and their memory was preserved in later times by statues in the public square. To Cornelia, their mother, a monu- ment was erected, bearing the simple inscription, " The Mother of the Gracchi." 468. The War with Jugurtha (r 1 1-106 B.C.). — After the death of the Gracchi there seemed no one left to resist the heartless oppressions and to denounce the scandalous extravagances of the aristocratic party. The laws of the Gracchi respecting the public lands were annulled or were made of no effect. Italy fell again into the hands of a few overrich landowners. The provinces were plundered by the Roman governors, who squandered their ill-gotten wealth at the capital. The votes of senators and the decisions of judges, the offices at Rome and the places in the 446 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC provinces, — everything pertaining to the government had its price, and was bought and sold like merchandise. Affairs in Africa at this time illustrate how Roman virtue and integrity had declined since Fabricius indignantly refused the gold of Pyrrhus (sec. 422). Jugurtha, king of Numidia, had seized all that country, having put to death the rightful rulers of different provinces, who had been confirmed in their possessions by the Romans at the close of the Punic wars. Commissioners sent from Rome to look into the matter were bribed by Jugurtha. Finally, the Numidian robber, in carrying out some of his high-handed measures, put to death some Italian merchants. War was immediately declared by the Roman senate, and the consul Bestia was sent into Africa with an army to punish the insolent usurper. Bestia sold himself to Jugur- tha, and instead of chastising him confirmed him in his stolen possessions. We should naturally suppose that the senate would have meted out proper punishment to the mercenary consul upon his return. But the prudent general had taken along with him the president of that body and had divided with him the spoils. The indignation of the people, who had good reason to suspect the real state of affairs, was great. They demanded that Jugurtha, with the promise of immunity to himself, should be invited to Rome and encouraged to disclose the whole transaction, in order that those who had betrayed the state for money might be pun- ished. Jugurtha came; but the consul and president bribed one of the tribunes to prohibit the king from giving his testimony. Now it so happened that there was in Rome at this time a rival claimant of the Numidian throne, who at this very moment was urging his claims before the senate. Jugurtha caused this rival to be assassinated. As he himself was under a safe-conduct, the senate could do nothing to punish the audacious deed and to resent the insult to the state save by ordering the king to leave Rome at once. As he passed the gates, it is said that he looked scornfully back upon the capital, and exclaimed, "O venal city ! thou wouldst sell thyself if thou couldst find a purchaser ! " Upon the renewal of the war another Roman army was sent into Africa, but was defeated and sent beneath the yoke. Finally, INVASION OF THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONES 447 in the year 106 B.C., the war was brought to a close by Gaius Marius, a man who had risen to the consulship from the lowest ranks of the people. Under him fought a young nobleman named Sulla, of whom we shall hear much hereafter. Marius celebrated a grand triumph at Rome. Jugurtha, after having graced the triumphal procession, in which he walked with his hands bound with chains, was thrown into the Mamertine dungeon beneath the Capitoline hill, where he died of starvation. 469. Invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones (113-101 B.C.). — The war was not yet ended in Africa before terrible tidings came to Rome from the north. Two mighty nations of " horrible bar- barians," three hundred thousand strong in lighting men, coming whence no one could tell, had invaded and were now desolating the Roman province of Gaul, and might any moment cross the Alps and sweep down into Italy. The mysterious invaders proved to be two Germanic tribes, the Teutones and Cimbri, the vanguard of that great German migra- tion which was destined to change the face and history of Europe. These intruders were seeking new homes, and were driven on, it would almost seem, by a blind and instinctive impulse. They carried with them in rude wagons all their property, their wives, and their children. The Celtic tribes of Gaul were no match for the newcomers, and fled before them as they advanced. Several Roman armies beyond the Alps were cut to pieces. The terror at Rome was only equaled by that occasioned by the invasion of the Gauls three centuries before. The Gauls were terrible enough ; but now the conquerors of the Gauls were coming. Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, was looked to by all as the only man who could save the state in this crisis. He was reelected to the consulship, and intrusted with the command of the armies. Accompanied by Sulla as one of his most skillful lieutenants, Marius hastened into Northern Italy. The barbarians had divided into two bands. The Cimbri were to cross the Eastern Alps and join in the valley of the Po the Teutones, who were to force the defiles of the Western or Maritime Alps. Marius determined to pre- vent the union of the barbarians and to crush each band separately. 448 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC Anticipating the march of the Teutones, Marius hurried into Southern Gaul and sat down in a fortified camp to watch the mo\ements of the barbarians. Unable to storm the Roman posi- tion, the Teutones resolved to leave the enemy in their rear and push on into Italy. For six days and nights the endless train of men and wagons rolled past the camp of Marius. The barbarians jeered at the Roman soldiers, and asked them if they had any messages they wished to send to their wives ; if so, they would bear them, as they would be in Rome shortly. Marius allowed them to pass by, and then, breaking camp, followed closely after. Falling upon them at a favorable moment, he almost annihilated the entire host.^ Two hundred thousand barbarians are said to have been slain. Marius heaped together and burned the spoils of the battlefield. While engaged in this work, the news was brought to him of his reelection as consul for the fifth time. This was illegal ; but the people felt that he must be kept in the field. Marius now recrossed the Alps, and, after visiting Rome, hastened to meet the Cimbri, who were entering the northeastern corner of Italy. He was not a day too soon. Already the bar- barians had defeated the Roman army under the patrician Catulus, and were ravaging the rich plains of the Po. The Cimbri, unin- formed as to the fate of the Teutones, now sent an embassy to Marius to demand that they and their kinsmen be given lands in Italy. Marius sent back in reply, "The Teutones have got all the land they need on the other side of the Alps." The devoted Cimbri were soon to have all they needed on this side. A terrible battle almost immediately followed at Vercellse (loi li.c). The barbarians were drawn up in an enormous hollow square, the men forming the outer ranks being fastened together with ropes, to prevent their lines from being broken. This proved their ruin. More than one hundred thousand were killed, and sixty thousand taken prisoners to be sold as slaves in the Roman slave markets. Marius was hailed as the "Savior of his Country." The fate of these two nations that were wandering over the face of the earth in search of homes forms one of the most 8 In the battle of Aqua; Sextia;, fought 102 B.c THE SOCIAL OR MARSIC WAR 449 pathetic tales in all history. The almost innumerable host of wanderers, men, women, and children, now " rested beneath the sod, or toiled under the yoke of slavery : the forlorn hope of the German migration had performed its duty ; the homeless people of the Cimbri and their comrades were no more " (Mommsen). Their kinsmen yet behind the Danube and the Rhine were destined to exact a terrible revenge for their slaughter. 470. The Social or MarsicWar (91-89 B.C.). — Scarcely was the danger of the barbarian invasion past before Rome was threat- ened by another and greater evil arising within her own borders. At this time all the free inhabitants of Italy were embraced in three classes, — Roman citizens, Latins, and Italian allies. The Roman citizens included the inhabitants of the capital, of certain towns called municipia, and of the Roman colonies (sec. 424), besides the dwellers on isolated farms and the inhabitants of villages scattered everywhere throughout Italy. The Latins comprised the inhabitants of the Latin colonies (sec. 424). The name had by this time lost all racial meaning and denoted merely the political status of those bearing it. What installment of the rights of the city this class enjoyed we have already learned. We need here simply recall to mind that they possessed some of the most valuable of the private rights of the city, and had a special capacity, through meeting certain con- ditions, of acquiring full Roman citizenship. They were called allies, — "allies of the Latin name." The third class, the Italian allies, was made up of those con- quered peoples that Rome had excluded wholly from the rights of the city. If we should say that these so-called " allies " were the subjects of the Roman burgess body, we should describe in a word very nearly their actual status. The Social or Marsic War (as it is often called on account of the prominent part taken in the insurrection by the warlike Mar- sians) was a struggle that arose from the demands of the Italian allies for the privileges of Roman citizenship. Their demands were stubbornly resisted by both the aristocratic and the popular party at Rome. Some, however, recognized the justice of these 450 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC claims of the Italians.* The tribune Livius Drusus championed their cause, but he was killed by an assassin. The Italians now flew to arms. They determined upon the establishment of a rival state. A town called Corfinium, among the Apennines, was chosen as the capital of the new republic, and its name changed to ItaUca. The government of the new state was modeled after that at Rome. Thus in a single day a large part of Italy south of the Rubicon was lost to Rome. The Etrurians and the Umbrians, however, continued loyal. The Latin col- onies or towns, some forty in number, together with the most of the Greek cities of Southern Italy, also remained faithful. The greatness of the danger aroused all p, oTZTcoiN OF ^^^® °^^ Roman courage and patriotism. THE Italian Con- Aristocrats and democrats hushed their FEDERACY quarrcls and fought bravely side by side The Sabellian bull goring for the endangered life of the republic. The war lasted three years and was waged in almost every part of Italy, since the towns and communities that had rebelled were scattered throughout the peninsula. The war was finally brought to an end rather by prudent con- cessions on the part of Rome than by fighting. In the year 90 B.C., alarmed by signs of disaffection in certain of the com- munities that up to this time had remained faithful, Rome granted the franchise of the city to all Italian communities that had not declared war against her or had already laid down their arms. The following year the full rights of the city were offered to all Italians who should within two months appear before a Roman magistrate and express a wish for the franchise. This tardy concession to the just demands of the Italians virtually ended the war.'^ •* It should be carefully noted that the opposition to the admission of strangers to the rights of the city was no longer based on religious grounds, as was the case in the earliest days of patrician Rome (sec. 418). The opposition now arose simply from the selfish determination of a privileged class in the Roman state to retain its monopoly rights and immunities. 5 After the close of the war and as an immediate consequence of it, the rights that had up to this time been enjoyed by the Latin towns were conferred upon all the cities between the Po and the Alps. POLITICAL RESULTS OF THE SOCIAL WAR 451 471. Comments on the Political Results of the Social War. — Thus as an outcome of the war practically all the freemen of Italy south of the Po were made equal in civil and political rights. This was a matter of great significance. "The enrollment of the Italians among her own citizens deserves to be regarded," de- clares the historian Merivale, " as the greatest stroke of policy in the whole history of the republic." This wholesale enfranchise- ment of Latin and Italian allies more than doubled the number of Roman burgesses. The census for the year 70 B.C. gives the number of citizens as 900,000, as against 394,336 about a gen- eration before the war." This equalization of the different classes of the Italian penin- sula was simply a later phase of that movement in early Rome which resulted in the equalization of the two orders of the patri- cians and plebeians (Chapter XXXVI). But the purely political results of the earlier and those of the later revolution were very different. At the earlier time those who demanded and received the franchise were persons living either in Rome or in its imme- diate vicinity, and consequently able to exercise the acquired right to vote and to hold office. But now it was very different. These new-made citizens were living in towns and villages or on farms scattered all over Italy, and of course very few of them could ever go to Rome, either to participate in the elections there, to vote on proposed legis- lation, or to become candidates for the Roman magistracies. Hence the rights they had acquired were, after all, poUtically barren. But no one was to blame for this state of things. Rome had simply outgrown her city constitution and her system of primary assemblies (sec. 379). She needed for her widening empire a representative system like ours; but representation was a political device far away from the thoughts of the men of those times. As a result of the impossibility of the Roman citizens outside of Rome taking part, as a general thing, in the meetings of the popular assemblies at the capital, the offices of the state fell into 6 Consult table on page 492. 45^ LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC the hands of those actually living in Rome or settled in its imme- diate neighborhood. Since the free, or practically free, distribu- tion of corn and the public shows were drawing to the capital from all quarters crowds of the poor, the idle, and the vicious, these assemblies were rapidly becoming simply mobs controlled by noisy demagogues and unscrupulous military leaders aiming at the supreme power in the state. This situation brought about a serious division in the body of Roman citizens. Those of the capital came to regard themselves as the real rulers of the empire, as they actually were, and looked with disdain upon those living in the other cities and the remoter districts of the peninsula. They alone reaped the fruits of the conquered world. At the same time the mass of outside passive citizens, as we may call them, came to look with jealousy upon this body of pampered aristocrats, rich speculators, and ragged, dissolute clients and hangers-on at Rome. They became quite reconciled to the thought of power passing out of the hands of such a crowd and into the hands of a single man. The feelings of men everywhere were being prepared for the revolution that was to overthrow the republic and bring in the empire. 472. Mithradates the Great establishes an Empire in the Orient. — While the Social War was still in progress in Italy a formidable enemy of Rome appeared in the East. Mithradates VI, surnamed the Great, came to the throne of the little king- dom of Pontus'^ in the year 120 n.c. His extraordinary career impressed deeply the imagination of his time, and his deeds and fame have come down to us disguised and distorted by legend. His bodily frame and strength were im- mense and his activity untiring. He could carry on conversation, it is said, in twenty-two of the flifferent languages of his subjects. But Mithradates, notwithstanding the fact that his mother was a ^ See sec. 302, n. 3. Fig. 141. MiTHKADATES THE Gkf.at MITHRADATES THE GREAT 453 Syrian Greek and he himself was familiar with dreek culture, was, in his instincts and impulses, a typical Oriental barbarian. In the course of a few years Mithradates had pushed out the boundaries of his little hereditary kingdom until it almost encir- cled the Euxine, which became practically a Pontic sea. He now audaciously encroached upon the Roman possessions in Asia Minor. The natives of the Roman province of Asia,* oppressed by Roman speculators, tax farmers, usurers, and cor- rupt magistrates, hailed him as their deliverer. In order to make secure his power in Asia, Mithradates now gave orders that on a certain day every Italian, without distinc- tion of age or sex, should be put to death. This savage order was almost everywhere carried out to the letter. Men, women, and children, all of the Italian name, were massacred. The number of victims of the wholesale slaughter is variously esti- mated at from eighty thousand to a hundred and fifty thousand. Mithradates now turned his attention to Europe and sent his army into Greece. Athens, hoping for the revival of her old empire, and the most of the other Greek cities, renounced the authority of Rome and hailed Mithradates as the protector of Hellenism against the barbarian Romans. Thus in the space of a few months was the power of the Romans destroyed throughout all the East, and the boundaries of their empire pushed back virtually to the Adriatic. 473. Marius and Sulla contend for the Command in the War against Mithradates. — The Roman senate at last bestirred itself. Its preoccupation with affairs in Italy had kept it from giving that attention to the proceedings of Mithradates that the gravity of the situation he was creating demanded. Every exertion was now made to raise and equip an army for the recovery of the East. But the Marsic struggle had drained the treasury and impoverished all Italy. The money needed for equipping the expedition could be raised only by the extraordinary measure of 8 In the year 133 B.C. King Attalus III of Pergamum (sec. 305, n. 9) had willed his kingdom to the Roman people. The Romans had accepted the bequest and made the territory into a province under the name of Asia. 454 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC selling at public auction some land belonging to the state within the city limits. A contest straightway arose between Marius and Sulla for the command of the forces. The senate conferred this upon Sulla, who at that time was consul, Marius was furious. By violent means he succeeded in carrying a measure in an assembly of the people whereby the command was taken away from Sulla and given to himself. Two tribunes were sent to demand of Sulla, who was still in Italy, the transfer of the command of the legions to Marius ; but the messengers were killed by the soldiers, who were devotedly attached to their commander. Sulla now saw that the sword must settle the dispute. He marched at the head of his legions upon Rome, entered the gates, and " for the first time in the annals of the city a Roman army encamped within the walls." The party of Marius was defeated, and he and ten of his com- panions were proscribed. Sulla, after making some changes in the constitution in the interest of the oligarchy, among which was a provision which pre- vented the popular assemblies considering any measure unless it had been first approved by the senate, embarked with the legions to meet Mithradates in the East (88 B.C.). 474. Marius massacres the Aristocrats (87 B.C.). — Leaving Sulla to carry on the Mithradatic war,^ we must first follow the for- tunes of the proscribed Marius. Returning from Africa, whither he had fled, Marius joined the consul Cinna in an attempt to crush by force the senatorial party. Rome was cut off from her food supplies and starved into submission. Marius now took a terrible revenge upon his enemies. The consul Gnaeus Gctavius, who represented the aristocrats, was assassinated, and his head set up in front of the rostra. Never before had such a thing been seen at Rome, — a consul's head exposed to the public gaze. For five days and nights a merciless slaughter was kept up. The life of every man in the capital was in the hands of the revengeful Marius. If he refused to return 8 This was what is known as the First Mithradatic War (88-84 B.C.), THE PROSCRIPTIONS OF SULLA 455 the greeting of any citizen, that sealed his fate ; he was instantly dispatched by the soldiers who awaited their master's nod. The bodies of the victims lay unburied in the streets. Sulla's house was torn down, and he himself declared a public enemy. As a fitting sequel to all this violence, Marius and Cinna were, in an entirely illegal way, declared consuls. Marius was now consul for the seventh time. He enjoyed his seventh consulship only ^-'^' -"■•'-- ^ thirteen days, being carried away by death in the seventy-first year of his age (86 B.C.). " He had lived too long for his fame." 475. The Proscriptions of Sulla (82 B.C.). — With the Mithradatic war ended, Sulla wrote to the senate, saying that he was now coming to take vengeance upon the Marian party, — his own and the republic's foes. The terror and consternation produced at Rome by this letter were increased by the accidental burning of the Capitol. The Sibyl- line Books, which held the secrets of the fate of Rome, were consumed. This accident awakened the most gloomy apprehen- sions. Such an event, it was believed, could only foreshadow the most direful calamities to the state. The returning army from the East landed in Italy (83 B.C.). After much hard fighting Sulla entered Rome with all the powers of a dictator. The leaders of the Marian party were proscribed, rewards were offered for their heads, and their property was con- fiscated. Sulla was implored to make out a list of those he designed to put to death, that those he intended to spare might be reUeved of the terrible suspense in which all were now held. He made out a list of eighty, which was attached to the rostra. The people murmured at the length of the roll. In a few days it was extended to over three hundred, and then grew rapidly Fig. 142. — Marius (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) 456 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC until it included the names of thousands of the best citizens of Italy. Hundreds were murdered simply because some favorites of Sulla coveted their estates. A wealthy noble, coming into the forum and reading his own name in the list of the proscribed, exclaimed, " Alas ! my villa has proved my ruin." The infamous Catiline (sec. 486), by having the name of a brother placed upon the fatal roll, secured his property. Julius Coesar, at this time a mere boy of eighteen, w-as proscribed on account of his relation- ship to Marius, but, upon the intercession of friends, Sulla spared him ; as he did so, however, he said warningly, and, as the event proved, prophetically, " There is in that boy many a Marius." The number of victims of these proscriptions has been handed down as forty-seven hundred. Almost all of these must have been men of wealth or of special distinction on account of their activity in public affairs. Even the dead did not escape. The tomb of iMarius was broken open and the ashes thrown into the Anio. The property of the proscribed was confiscated and sold at jniblic auction, or virtually given away by Sulla to his favorites. Estates were purchased in some instances for a mere fraction of their real value. The bases of some of the most colossal fortunes that we hear of a little after this were laid during these times of l^roscription and robbery. This reign of terror beciueathed to later times a terrible " legacy of hatred and fear." Its awful scenes haunted the Romans for generations, and at every crisis in the affairs of the commonwealth the jiublic mind was thrown into a state of painful apprehension lest there should be a repetition of these frightful days of Sulla. Nor did Italy ever recover from the economic blight that this civil war and the mutual proscriptions of the contending parties brought upon large regions of the peninsula. In the wasted dis- tricts the great slave farms grew in size, and everywhere brigandage increased. 476. Sulla made Dictator, with Power to remodel the Constitu- tion (H2 V..C.). — The senate now passed a decree which apjjroved and confirmed all that Sulla had done, and made him dictator during his own good pleasure. This was the first time a dictator THE SULLAN CONSTITUTION 457 had been appointed since the war with Hannibal, and the first time the dictatorial authority had ever been conferred for a longer period than six months. The decree further gave Sulla the power of life and death without the right of appeal over every person in the state, and further invested him with authority to make laws and to remodel the constitution in any way that might seem to him necessary and best. The power here given Sulla was like that with which the decemvirs had been clothed nearly four centuries before this time (sec. 406). 477. The SuUan Constitution. — The chief political aim of the Gracchan reforms had been the diminishing of the power of the senate and the placing of all authority, legislative and administra- tive, in the assemblies of the people, led and controlled by the college of tribunes. The reforms which Sulla, invested with the full power of the state, now effected had for their chief aim the restoration of the authority of the senate,^'' which recent revolutions and circum- stances had reduced almost to a nullity, and the lessening of the power of the tribunate, which of^ce during the centuries since its establishment had gradually absorbed one function after another until it was now the most important of all the magis- tracies of the state. The changes and reforms effected by Sulla were, almost all of them, wise and reasonable, and mark him as a man of great ability and of statesmanlike views and aims. It is difficult for us 1" Among the changes wrought in the constitution by Sulla were the following : (i) the number of senators was about dovibled, and the senate from this time on appears to have embraced between five and six hundred members; (2) the number of criminal courts was increased, and the administration of criminal justice was placed in the hands of the senatorial party; (3) no measure was to be presented by a tribune to any popular assembly without the approval of the senate having been secured beforehand ; (4) the power of the college of tribunes was still further dimin- ished by the imposition of a heavy fine for the abuse by a tribune of the right of intercession ; (5) it was decreed that no person should hold the consulship for two successive years (which was designed to prevent such a protracted consulship as Marius'), and further that no one should have the right to stand for the consulship who had not previously held the offices of qux-stor and praetor. (The ages of eligi- bility to these several offices were, for the quaistorship, thirty ; for the pra^torship, forty; and for the consulship, forty-three.) 458 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC to believe the Sulla of the days of proscription and the Sulla of these days of constitution making to be one and the same man. Yet Sulla's constitution, wisely as it had been conceived, broke down utterly in almost every part within ten years. But the fault was not with the constitution, but with the men intrusted with the working of it. Mr. James Bryce, in his commentary on our institutions, has said of the American people that they would make any sort of a constitution work well. Just the opposite was true of the senatorial party at Rome who were intrusted with the working of the Sullan constitution. They were intellectually unable and morally unfit to work any kind of a constitution. We need not then be surprised at the quick breakdown of the constitution which Sulla jjlaced in their hands. 478. The Abdication and Death of Sulla; Result of his Rule. — After having exercised the unlimited power of his office for three years, Sulla, to the surprise of everybody, suddenly resigned the dictatorship and went into retirement. He died the year fol- lowing his abdication (78 B.C.). The monument erected to his memory bore this inscription, which he himself had composed : " None of my friends ever did me a kindness, and none of my enemies ever did me a wrong, without being fully requited." One important result of the reign of Sulla as an absolute dictator was the accustoming of the people to the idea of the rule of a single man. His short dictatorship was the prelude to the reign of the permanent imperator. The parts of the old actors in the drama were now all played to the end. But the plot deepens, and new men appear upon the stage to carry on the new, which are really the old, parts. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Tiberius Gracchus and Life of Gaius Manns. Appian, The Civil Wars, bk. i, chap, xi, sec. 100, Sulla remodels the constitution; and chap, vii, sees. 55-63, the civil war between Marius and Sulla. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. iv, bk. v, chaps, i-iii ; and vol. V, bk. V, chaps, viii-xi. Ihne, vols, iv and v (chaps, xvii-xxiii) ; the greater part of the fourth volume is devoted to an account of " the con- stitution, laws, rehgion, and magistrates of the Roman people." Merivale, The Fall of the Roman Republic, chaps, i-v. Freeman, The Story of REFERENCES 459 Sicily, chap, xvi, " Sicily a Roman Province " ; first part of the chapter, on the Servile War; and Historical Essays (Second Series), " Lucius Cor- nelius Sulla." Beesly, The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla. Pelham, Otd- liiies of Roman History, pp. 201-240. How and Leigh, Histoiy of Rome, chaps, xxxiii-xliv. Oilman, Story of Rome, chaps, xii and xiii. Abbott, RoMian Political Institutions, chap, vi, sees. 85-97. Rams.W and Lan- CIANI, Manual of Roman Antiquities, chap, vii ; for a summary of the Agrarian Laws. Long, The Decline of the Roman Republic ; for consulta- tion and reference. Fowler, The City-State of the Greeks and Romans, chap. ix. Topics for Special Study. — i. Roman slavery. 2. Gains Gracchus. 3. The Cimbri and Teutones. 4. Tales illustrating the wrongs of the Italian allies. 5. Mithradates the Great. 6. The Sullan constitution. CHAPTER XLIV THE LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC ; SECOND PERIOD (78-31 B.C.) 479. Sertorius in Spain; the War against him (So-72 B.C.). — - Spain had become a sort of refuge for the exiled Marians. The situation there now was this. The Lusitanians, the martial people of the province of Farther Spain, had asserted their independence and were in arms against Rome. They had invited the Marian exile, Quintus Sertorius, to come to their help. The invitation had been accepted, and Sertorius was at this moment their leader. Sertorius was a man of positive genius, one of the few men of great parts that the savage proscriptions of the contending parties at Rome had left alive. His camp was a sort of Adul- lam's cave,-"^ where was collected a great crowd of the outlawed adherents of the Marian party and men dissatisfied with the new order of things at Rome. In the year 76 B.C. Gngeus Pompey, a rising young general of the aristocrats, upon whom the title of "Great" had already been conferred as a reward for crushing the Marian party in Sicily and Africa, was sent out to Spain to perform a similar service there. For several years the war was carried on with varying fortunes. At times the power of Rome in the peninsula seemed on the verge of utter extinction. Finally the brave Sertorius, a i)rice having been placed on his head, was treacherously killed, and then the whole of Spain was quickly regained. Pompey settled the affairs of the country, ])utting in power those who would be not only friends and allies of the Roman state but also his own j^ersonal adherents. How he used these men as instruments of his ambition we shall learn a little later. 1 See I Sam. xxii. 1, 2. 460 SPARTACUS; WAR OF THE GLADIATORS 461 480. Spartacus ; War of the Gladiators (73-71 B.C.). — While Pompey was subduing the Marian faction in Spain, a new danger broke out in the midst of Italy. Gladiatorial combats had become at this time the favorite sport of the amphitheater. At Capua was a sort of training school from which skilled fighters were hired out for public or private entertainments.^ In this seminary was a Thracian slave, known by the name of Spartacus, who incited his companions to revolt. The insurgents fled to the crater of Vesu- vius and made that their stronghold. There they w-ere joined by gladiators from other schools, and by slaves and discontented per- sons from every quarter. Their number at length increased to a hundred and fifty thousand men. For three years they defied the power of Rome, and even gained control of the larger part of Southern Italy. Four Roman armies sent against them were cut to pieces. The general Marcus L. Crassus finally inflicted upon the insur- gents a decisive defeat in a battle at the Silarus, in Lucania. Spartacus himself was slain ; but five thousand of his followers escaped and fled towards the Alps. This fleeing band was met and annihilated by Pompey, who was just returning from Spain. The slaves that had taken part in the revolt were hunted through the mountains and forests and exterminated like dan- gerous beasts. The Appian Way was lined with six thousand crosses bearing aloft as many bodies, — a terrible warning of the fate awaiting slaves who should dare to strike for freedom. 481. The Consulship of Pompey and the Overthrow of the Sul- lan Constitution (70 B.C.). — In recognition of his services in the Spanish and the Gladiatorial war, Pompey was made consul for the year 70 B.C. Crassus, the conqueror of Spartacus, was chosen as his colleague. Pompey did not owe the consulate to the senatorial party, to which he nominally belonged, for they were jealous of his grow- ing popularity and threw every obstacle they could in the way of his advance. He owed his election to the popular party, with the leaders of which he had entered into a political bargain, the 2 See sec. 582. 462 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC terms of which were that in return for the consulate, a triumph, and lands for his veterans, he should aid the people in repealing the Sullan laws and restoring the Gracchan constitution. No sooner was Pompey installed in office than he proceeded to make good his promises to the democrats. The Sullan con- stitution was in all its main parts abolished and the Gracchan virtually reestablished. It would be idle to follow further any changes in the Roman constitution under the republic. From this on to the establish- ment of the empire there was in reality no constitutional law at Rome, but only the will or caprice of the successful leader of the legions. Consuls and tribunes alike were henceforth hardly more than work-tools in the hands of ambitious and unscrupulous com- manders who were aiming at the supreme power in the state. In the midst of the bargainings and intrigues of the demagogues and the military chieftains, no one paid any attention to the rules of the constitution, save to use them to further personal ambition or to gain some party end. 482. The Abuses and the Prosecution of Verres (70 B.C.) It was in connection with the administration of the affairs of the provinces that the most flagrant abuses arose. At first the rule of the Roman governors in the provinces, though severe, was honest and pnident. But during the period of profligacy and corruption upon which we have now entered, the administration of these foreign possessions had become shamefully dishonest and incredibly cruel and rapacious. The prosecution of Verres, the propraetor of Sicily, exposed the scandalous rule of the oligarchy, into whose hands the government had fallen. For three years Verres plundered and ravaged that island with impunity. He sold all the offices and all his decisions as judge. He demanded of the farmers the greater part of their crops, which he sold to swell his already enormous fortune. Agriculture was thus ruined and the farms were abandoned. Verres had a taste for art, and when on his tours through the iskmd confiscated gems, vases, statues, paintings, and other things which struck his fancy, whether in temples or in private dwellings. PIRACY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 463 Verres could not be called to account while in ofifice (sec. 400) ; and it was doubtful whether, after the end of his term, he could be convicted, so corrupt and venal had become the members of the senate before whom all such offenders must be tried. Indeed, Verres himself openly boasted that he intended two thirds of his gains for his judges and lawyers • the remaining one third w-ould satisfy himself. At length, after Sicily had come to look as though it had, been ravaged by barbarian conquerors, the infamous robber was impeached. The prosecutor was Marcus TuUius Cicero, the bril- liant orator, who was at this time just rising into prominence at Rome. The storm of indignation raised by the developments of the trial caused Verres to flee into exile to Mas- silia, whither he took with him much of his ill-gotten wealth. 483. Growth of Pi- racy in the Mediterra- nean ; War with the Pirates (7 8-66 b.c). — Another most shameful commentary on. the utter incapacity of the government of the aris- tocrats was the growth of piracy in the Mediterranean w^aters during their rule. It is true that this was an evil which had been growing for a long time. The Romans through their conquest of the coun- tries fringing the Mediterranean had destroyed not only the gov- ernments that had maintained order on the land but at the same time had destroyed the fleets, as in the case of Carthage, which, since the days when the rising Greek cities suppressed piracy in the ^gean Sea, had policed the Mediterranean and kept its ship routes clear of corsairs. In the more vigorous days of the republic Fig. 143. — Roman Trading Vessel 464 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC the sea had been well watched by Roman fleets, but after the close of the wars with Carthage the Romans had allowed their war navy to fall into decay. The Mediterranean, thus left practically without patrol, was swarming with pirates ; for the Roman conquests in Africa, Spain, and especially in Greece and Asia Minor, had caused thousands of adventurous spirits in those maritime countries to take to their shi})s and seek a livelihood by preying upon the commerce of the seas. The cruelty and extortion of the Roman governors in the various provinces, the civil war, the proscriptions and confisca- tions of the days of terror at Rome, the impoverishment and dis- possession of the peasant farmers everywhere through the growth of great slave estates, — all these things, filling as they did the Mediterranean lands with homeless and desperate men, had also driven large numbers of hitherto honest and industrious persons to the same course of life. These " ruined men of all nations," now turned pirates, had banded themselves together in a sort of government and state. They had as places of refuge numerous strong fortresses — four hundred it is said — among the inaccessible mountains of the coast lands they frequented. They had a fleet' of a thousand sails, with dockyards and naval arsenals. They made treaties with the Greek maritime cities and formed leagues of friendship with the kings and princes of the East. The history of this pirate state is as interesting as a pirate's tale. Its swift ships, sailing in fleets and sc^uadrons, scoured the waters of the IMcditerranean, so that no merchantman could sjiread her sails in safety. Nor were these buccaneers content with what spoils the sea might yield them ; like the Vikings of the Northern seas in later times they made descents upon every coast, plundered villas and towns, and sweeping off the inhabi- tants sold them openly as slaves in the slave markets of the East. They robbed the venerated temple of Delos and carried off all the inhabitants of the sacred island into slavery. They exacted from many cities an annual tribute as the price of immunity from their visits. In some regions tlie inhabitants, as in early times, POMPEY IN THE EAST 465 were compelled to remove for safety from the coast and rebuild their homes farther inland. The pirates even ravaged the shores of Italy itself. They de- stroyed a Roman fleet lying in the harbor of Ostia. They car- ried off merchants and travelers from the Appian Way and held them for ransom. At last they began to intercept the grain ships of Sicily and Africa and thereby threatened Rome with starvation. Corn rose to famine prices. The Romans now bestirred themselves. In the year 67 b.c. Pompey was invested with dictatorial power for three years over the Mediterranean and all its coasts for fifty miles inland. He was given an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and an armament of over two hundred ships. Pompey acted with unwonted energy. Within forty days he had swept the pirates from the Western Mediterranean and in forty-nine more hunted them from all the waters east of Italy, captured their strongholds in Cilicia, and settled the twenty thou- sand prisoners that fell into his hands in various colonies in Asia Minor and Greece. Pompey's vigorous and successful conduct of this campaign against the pirates gained him great honor and reputation. 484. Pompey in the East ; the Death of Mithradates (63 b.c). — Pompey had not yet ended the war with the pirates before he was given, by a vote of the people, charge of the war against Mithradates,^ v/ho now for several years had been in arms against Rome. In a great battle in Lesser Armenia Pompey almost annihilated the army of Mithradates. The Icing fled from the field, and soon afterwards, to avoid falling into the hands of the Romans, took his own life ^ (63 B.C.). His death removed one of the most formidable enemies that Rome had ever encountered. Hamilcar, Hannibal, and Mithradates were the three great names that the Romans always pronounced with respef t and dread. 3 The so-called Third Mithradatic War (74-64 B.C.)- What is known as the Second Mithradatic War (83-82 B.C.) was a short conflict that arose just after the close of the First (sec. 474, n. 9). The chief conduct of the present war had been in the hands of I.ucius L. Lucullus. 4 Some authorities, however, say that he was murdered by his son. 466 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC Pompey now turned south and conquered Syria, Phoenicia, and Coele-Syria, which countries he erected into a Roman prov- ince under the name of Syria (64 B.C.). Still pushing south- ward, the conqueror entered Palestine, and after a short siege of Jerusalem, by taking advantage of the scruples of the Jews in regard to fighting on the Sabbath day, captured the city (63 B.C.). The Romans here for the first time came in direct contact with a people whose ideas of God and of life they were wholly inca- ♦pable of understanding, but who nevertheless were destined to exert a vast influence upon the empire these conquerors were constructing. 485. Pompey's Triumph. — After regulating the affairs of the different states and provinces in the East, Pompey set out on his return to Rome, where he enjoyed such a triumph as never before had been seen since Rome became a city. The spoils of all the East were j'^iw/--^ — Ija borne in the procession; three hundred V( «o>^ ^^1 *j and twenty-two princes walked as captives before the triumphal chariot of the con- queror; legends upon the banners pro- claimed that he had conquered twenty-one kings, captured one thousand strongholds, nine hundred towns, and eight hundred ships, and subjugated more than twelve millions of people; and that he had put into the treasury more than $25,000,000, besides doubling the regular revenues of the state. He boasted that three times he had triumphed, and each time for the conquest of a continent, — first for Africa, then for Europe, and now for Asia, which completed the conquest of the world. 486. The Con^iracy of Catiline (64-62 B.C.). — While the legions were absent from Italy with Pompey in the East a most daring conspiracy against the government was formed at Rome. Lucius Sergius Catilina, a ruined spendthrift, had gathered a large company of profligate young nobles, weighed down with Fig. 144. — Pompey THE Great (Spada Palace, Rome) 15 10 5 5 10 15 6o 1 / / V2. 1-^ — f =f4J^^\P is ?/> . .^ / '\^^^^^)Tp^'^ iHf. I ^-^sCl / r ^''■"^^ / / ^7^ / C*^ 5^ V T io G i^'tica ^:s^cILY / \Thapsus <& / /^ ■ — f^ So THE KOMAX DOMINIONS AT Tin; i;m» of the MITHU VDATIC WAR 25 30 36 10 i5 50 A BVooV® ^\} s ■S. ^\T:a.«VB C^SAR, CRASSUS, AND POMPEY 467 debts and desperate like himself, and had deliberately planned to murder the consuls and the chief men of the state and to plunder and burn the capital. The offices of the new govern- ment were to be divided among the conspirators. The proscrip- tions of Sulla were to be renewed and all debts were to be canceled. Fortunately, all the plans of the conspirators were revealed to the consul Cicero, the great orator. The senate immediately ^thed the consuls with dictatorial power with the usual formula that they " should take care that the republic received no harm." The city walls were manned ; and at every point the capital and state were armed against the "invisible foe." Then in the senate chamber, with Catiline himself present, Cicero exposed the whole conspiracy in a famous philippic, known as TJie First Oration against Catiline. The senators shrank from the con- spirator and left the seats about him empty. After a feeble effort to reply to Cicero, overwhelmed by a sense of his guilt, and the cries of " traitor " and " parricide " from the senators, Catiline fled from the chamber and hurried out of the city to the camp of his followers in Etruria. In a desperate battle fought near Pistoria he was slain with many of his followers (62 B.C.). His head was borne as a trophy to Rome. Cicero was hailed as the " Savior of his Country." 487. Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey: the so-called First Trium- virate (60 B.C.). — Although the conspiracy of Catiline had failed, still it was very easy to foresee that the downfall of the Roman republic was near at hand. Indeed, from this time on, only the name remained. The days of liberty at Rome were over. From this time forward the government was practically in the hands of ambitious and popular leaders, or of corrupt combinations and " rings." Events gather about a few great names, and the annals of the repubhc become biographical rather than historical. There were now in the state three men — Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey — who were destined to shape affairs. Gains Julius Caesar was born in the year 100 b.c. Although descended from an old patrician family, still he had identified himself with the 468 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC Marian or democratic party. In every way he courted public favor. He lavished enormous sums upon public games and tables. His debts are said to have amounted to 25,000,000 sesterces (about $1,250,000). His popularity was unbounded. A success- ful campaign in Spain had already made known to himself, as well as to others, his genius as a commander. Marcus Licinius Crassus belonged to the senatorial or aristo- cratic party. He owed his influence to his enormous wealth, being one of the richest men in the Roman world. His property was estimated at 7100 talents (about $8,875,000). With Gnaeus Pompey and his achievements we are already familiar. His influence throughout the Roman world was great ; for in settling and reorganizing the many countries he subdued he had always taken care to reconstruct them in his own interest, as well as in that of the republic. The offices, as we have seen, were filled with his friends and adherents. This patronage had secured for him incalculable authority in the provinces. His veteran legionaries, too, were naturally devoted to the general who had led them so often to victory. What is commonly known as the First Triumvirate rested on the genius of Caesar, the wealth of Crassus, and the achieve- ments of Pompey. It was a coalition or private arrangement entered into by these three men for the purpose of securing to themselves the control o£ public affairs. Each pledged himself to work for the interests of the others. Cnssar was the manager of the " ring." Through the aid of his colleagues he secured the consulship. 488. Caesar's Conquest of Gaul (58-51 B.C.). — At the end of his consulship Ca.'sar had assigned him, as proconsul, the admin- istration of the provinces of Cisalpine and Transaljiine Gaul, together with lllyricum. Already doubtless he was revolving in his mind jjlans for seizing supreme power. Beyond the Alps the Gallic and Germanic tribes were in restless movement. He saw there a grand field for military e.\j)loits, which should gain for him such glory and prestige as in other fields had been won and were now enjoyed by Pompey. With this achieved, and with a CESAR'S CONQUEST OF GAUL 469 veteran army devoted to his interests, he might hope easily to attain that position at the head of affairs towards which his ambi- tion was urging him. In the spring of 58 B.C. alarming intelligence from beyond the Alps caused Caesar to hasten from Rome into Transalpine Gaul. Now began a series of eight brilliant campaigns directed against the various tribes of Gaul, Germany, and Britain. In his admi- rable Commentaries Caesar himself has left us a faithful and graphic account of all the memorable marches, battles, and sieges that filled the years between 58 and 51 b.c. The year 55 B.C. marked two notable achievements. Early in the spring of this year Caesar constructed a bridge across the Rhine and led his legions against the Germans in their native woods and swamps. In the autumn of the same year he crossed, by means of hastily constructed ships, the channel that sepa- rates the mainland from Britain, and after maintaining a foothold upon that island for two weeks withdrew his legions into Gaul for the winter. The following season he made another invasion of Britain, but, after some encounters with the fierce barbarians, recrossed to the mainland without having established any perma- nent garrisons in the island. Almost one hundred years passed away before the natives of Britain were again molested by the Romans (sec. 512). In the year 52 B.C., while Ccesar was absent in Italy, a general revolt occurred among the Gallic tribes. It was a last desperate struggle for the recovery of their lost independence. Vercinget- orix, chief of the Arverni, was the leader of the insurrection. For a time it seemed as though the Romans would be driven out of the country; but Caesar's dispatch and genius saved the province to the republic. Vercingetorix and eighty thousand of his warriors were shut up in Alesia, and were finally stan^ed into submission. All Gaul was now quickly reconquered and pacified. Great enthusiasm was aroused at Rome by Csesar's victories over the Gauls. "Let the Alps sink," exclaimed Cicero; "the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians ; they are now no longer needed." 470 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 489. Results of the Gallic Wars. — One good result of Caesar's conquest of Gaul was the establishment throughout this region of the Roman Peace. Before the Romans entered the country it was divided among a great number of tribes that were constantly at war with one another. In throwing her authority over them all, Rome caused their intertribal contentions to cease, and thus established a condition of things that first made possible the rapid and steady development among the people of the arts of peace. A second result of the Gallic wars of Cassar was the Romanizing of (laul. The country was opened to Roman traders and settlers, who carried with them the language, customs, and arts of Italy. Honors were conferred upon many of the Gallic chieftains, privi- leges were bestowed upon the different communities, and the Roman franchise granted to prominent and influential natives. This Romanization of Gaul meant much both for Roman his- tory and for the general history of Europe. The Roman stock in Italy was failing. It was this new Romanized people that in the times of the empire gave to the Roman state many of its best commanders, statesmen, emperors, orators, poets, and his- torians. In this way Gaul rendered the Roman state some such sen'ice as Ireland has rendered the British Empire. The Romanization of Gaul meant, further, the adding of another to the number of Latin nations that were to arise from the break- up of the Roman Empire. There can be little doubt that if Caesar had not conquered Gaul it would have been overrun by the Germans, and would ultimately have become simply an exten- sion of Germany. There would then have been no great Latin nation north of the Alps and the Pyrenees. It is difficult to imag- ine what European history would be like if the French nation, with its semi-Italian temperament, instincts, and traditions, had never come into existence. A final result of Caesar's campaigns in Gaul and against the intruding German tribes was the check given to the migratory movements of these peoples. Had this check not been given, it is possible that what we call the Cireat Migration of the German peoples (Chap. XLIX^ might have taken place in the first century i THE DEATH OF CRASSUS 471 before, instead of in the fifth century after, the coming of Christ, and Rome's great work of enriching civilization and establishing it everywhere throughout the Mediterranean world might have been interrupted while yet only fairly begun. 490. The Death of Crassus ; Rivalry between Caesar and Pom- pey. — While Caesar was engaged in his Transalpine wars, Crassus was leading an army against the Parthians, hoping to rival there the brilliant conquests of Cassar in Gaul. But his army was almost annihilated by the enemy, and he himself was slain (54 B.C.). The world now belonged to Caesar and Pompey. That the insatiable ambition of these two rivals should sooner or later bring them into collision was inevitable. Their alliance in the trium- virate was simply one of selfish convenience, not of friendship. While Caesar was carrying on his campaigns in Gaul, Pompey was at Rome watching jealously the growing reputation of his great rival. He strove by a princely liberality to win the affec- tions of the common people. On the Field of Mars he erected an immense stone theater with seats for forty thousand spectators. He gave magnificent games and set public tables, and when the interest of the people in the sports of the Circus flagged he enter- tained them with gladiatorial combats. In a similar manner Caesar strengthened himself with the people for the struggle which he plainly foresaw. He sought in every way to ingratiate himself with the Gauls ; he increased the pay of his soldiers, conferred the privileges of Roman citizenship upon the inhabitants of different cities, and sent to Rome enormous sums of gold to be expended in the erection of temples, theaters, and other public structures, and in the celebration of games and shows that should rival in magnificence those given by Pompey. Pompey, whom the senate had appointed sole consul for one year, which was about the same thing as making him dictator, now openly broke with Caesar and attached himself again to the old aristocratic party, which he had deserted for the alliance and promises of the triumvirate. The death, at this time, of his wife Julia, the daughter of Caesar, severed the bonds of relationship at the same moment that those of ostensible friendship were broken. 472 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 491. Caesar crosses the Rubicon (49 b.c). — Caesar now de- manded the consulship. He knew that his life would not be safe in Rome from the jealousy and hatred of his enemies without the security from imijeachment and trial which that office would give. The senate, acting under the instigation of these same enemies, issued a decree that he should resign his office and disband his Gallic legions by a stated day. The crisis had now come. Caesar ordered his legions to hasten from Gaul into Italy. Without wait- ing for their arrival, at the head of a small body of veterans that he had with him at Ravenna, he crossed the Rubicon, a little stream that marked the boundary of his province. This was a declaration of war. As he plunged into the river, he exclaimed, " The die is cast ! " 492, Caesar becomes Master of the West (49-48 B.C.). — The bold movement of Caesar produced great consternation at Rome. Realizing the danger of delay, Caesar, without waiting for the Gallic legions to join him, marched southward. One city after another threw ojjen its gates to him ; legion after legion went over to his standard. Pompey and a great part of the senators hastened from Rome to Brundisium, and thence, with about twenty-five thousand soldiers, fled across the Adriatic into Greece. The exiled senators reconvened at Thessalonica in Macedonia, and made that city the seat of the government. Within sixty days Caesar had made him- self undisputed master of all Italy. His moderation and prudence won all classes to his side. Many had looked to see the terrible scenes of the days of Marius and Sulla reenacted. Caesar, however, soon gave assurance that life and property should be held sacred. With order restored in Italy, Caesar's next movement was to gain control of the wheat fields of Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. A sin- gle legion brought over Sardinia without resistance to the side of Caesar. Cato, the lieutenant of Pompey, fled from before Caesar's lieutenant out of Sicily. In Africa, however, the Pompeians held their ground until the close of the war. Caesar, meanwhile, had subjugated Spain. The entire peninsula was brought under his authority in fcjrty days. He was now free to turn his forces against Pompey in the East. C^SAR DEFEATS PHARNACES 473 493. The Battle of Pharsalus (48 i?.c.) ; the Death of Pompey. — From Brundisium Csesar embarked his legions for Epirus. The armies of the rivals met upon the plains of Pharsalus in Thessaly. Pompey's forces were cut to pieces. He himself fled from the field and escaped to Egypt. Just as he was landing he was assas- sinated by order of the reigning Ptolemy, who thereby hoped to make Caesar his friend. The head of the great general was severed from his body ; and when Csesar, who was pressing after Pompey in hot pursuit, landed in Egypt, the bloody trophy was brought to him. But it was no longer the head of his rival, but of his old associate and son-in- law. Turning from the sight with generous tears, he ordered that the assassins be executed and that fitting obsequies be performed over the mutilated body. 494. Caesar defeats Pharnaces (47 B.C.); the Battle of Thapsus (46 B.C.) ; End of the Civil War. — Cssar was detained at Alex- andria nine months in settling a dispute respecting the throne of Egypt. After a severe contest he overthrew the reigning Ptolemy and secured the kingdom to the celebrated Cleopatra and a younger brother. Intelligence was now brought from Asia Minor that Phar- naces, son of Mithradates the Great, was inciting a revolt among the peoples of that region. Caesar met the Pontic king at Zela, defeated him, and in five days put an end to the war (47 B.C.). His laconic message to the senate announcing his victory is famous. It ran thus : " Voii, vidi, vici,'" — "I came, I saw, I conquered." Caesar now hurried back to Italy, and thence proceeded to Africa, which the friends of the old republic had made their last chief rallying place. At the great battle of Thapsus (46 B.C.) they were crushed. Fifty thousand lay dead upon the field. Cato,* who had been the very life and soul of the army, refusing to out- live the republic, took his own life. 495. Caesar as an Uncrowned King ; his Triumph. — Caesar was now virtually lord of the Roman world. "^ He refrained from taking 5 This was a grandson of Gate the Censor (sec. 456). 6 The sons of Pompey — Gnaeus and Sextus — had headed a revolt in Spain. Caesar crushed the movement a little later in the decisive battle of Munda, 45 B.C. 474 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC the title of king, but he assumed the purple robe, the insignia of royalty, ^nd caused his effigy to be stamped, after the manner of sovereigns, on the public coins. His statue was significantly given a place along with those of the seven kings of early Rome. He was invested with all the offices and dignities of the state. The senate made him perpetual dictator (44 B.C.), and conferred upon him the powers of censor, consul, and tribune, with the titles of Pontifex Maximus and Imperator. Thus, though not a king in name, Caesar's actual position at the head of the state was that of an absolute ruler. Caesar's triumph celebrating his many victories far eclipsed in magnificence anything that Rome had before witnessed. In the procession were led captive princes from all parts of the world. Beneath his standards marched soldiers gathered out of almost every country under the heavens. Seventy-five million dollars of treasure were displayed. Splendid games and tables attested the liberality of the conqueror. Sixty thousand couches were set for the multitudes. The shows of the theater and the combats of the arena followed one another in an endless round. 496. Caesar as a Statesman. — Caesar was great as a general, yet greater, if possible, as a statesman. He had great plans which embraced the whole world that Rome had conquered. A chief aim of his was to establish between the different classes of the empire equality of rights, to place Italy and the provinces on the same footing, to blend the various races and peoples into a real nation, — in a word, to carry to completion that great work of making all the world Roman which had been begun in the earliest times. To this end he established numerous colonies in the provinces and settled in them a hundred thousand of the poorer citizens of the capital. With a liberality that astonished and offended many, he admitted to the senate sons of freedmen, and particularly representative men from among the Gauls, and conferred upon individual provincials, and upon entire classes and communities in the provinces, the partial or full rights of the city. His action here marks an epoch in the history of Rome. The immunities and privileges of the city had never hitherto been 1 CAl^AR AS A STATESMAxN 475 / 1^' conferred, save in exceptional cases, upon any peoples other than those of the Italian race. Caesar threw the gates of the city wide open to the non-Italian peoples of the provinces. I'hus was fore- shadowed the day when all freemen throughout the whole empire should be Roman in . ^^ name and privilege '^ (sec. 527;. As Pontifex Maxi- mus Caesar reformed the calendar so as to bring the festivals once more in their proper seasons, and provided against further confu- sion by making the year consist of 365 days, with an added day for every fourth or leap year. This is what is called the Jul- ian Calendar.^ Besides these achievements, Caesar projected many vast undertakings which the abrupt termination of his life prevented his carrying into execution, domains of the state ; Fig. 145. — Julius C^sar (Vatican Museum) He ordered a survey of the enormous he proposed to make a code or digest " One of the most important of all Caesar's laws was that known as the Lex Julia Mimicipalis (45 B.C.), whose aim was to bring order and uniformity into the municipal system and to develop a more vigorous civic life in the municipal towns of Italy. All the municipal governments organized after this, whether in towns in Italy or in the prov- inces, conformed to the principles embodied in this important constitutional measure. 8 This calendar was in general use in Europe until the year 1582, when it was reformed by Pope Gregory XIII, and became what is known as the Gregorian Cal- endar. This in time came in vogue in all Christian countries save Russia, where the Julian Calendar is still followed. 476 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC of the Roman laws ; he also planned many public works and improvements at Rome, among which were schemes for draining the Pontine marshes and for changing the course of the Tiber. He further proposed to cut a canal across the Isthmus of Corinth, and to form a library to take the place of the great Alexandrian collection, which had been partly destroyed during his campaign in Egypt. But all his plans were brought to a sudden end by the daggers of assassins. 497. The Death of Caesar (44 b.c). — Caesar had his bitter per- sonal enemies, who never ceased to plot his downfall. There were, too, sincere lovers of the old republic to whom he was the destroyer of republican liberties. The impression began to prevail that he was aiming to make himself king. A crown was several times offered him in public by the consul Mark Antony ; but seeing the mani- fest displeasure of the people, he each time pushed it aside. Yet there is no doubt that secretly he desired it. It was reported that he proposed to rebuild the walls of Troy, the fabled cradle of the Roman race (sec. 130), and make that ancient capital the Fig. 146. — Mark Antony ^ r ^u -n re- seat of the new Roman hmpire. (Vatican Museum) Others professed to believe that the arts and charms of the Egyptian Cleojiatra, who had borne him a son at Rome, would entice him to make Alexandria the center of the proposed kingdom. So many, out of love for Rome and the old republic, were led to enter into a conspiracy against the life of Caisar with those who sought to rid themselves of the dictator for other and personal reasons. The Ides (the 15 th day) of March, 44 B.C., upon which day the senate convened, witnessed the assassination. Seventy or eighty conspirators, headed by Gains Cassius and Marcus Brutus, were concerned in the plot. The soothsayers must have had some knowledge of the plans of the conspirators, for they had warned FUNERAL ORATION BY MARK ANTONY 477 Caesar to " beware of the Ides of March." As he entered the hall where the senate was to assemble that day, he observed the astrol- oger Spurinna, and remarked carelessly to him, referring to his prediction, "The Ides of March have come." "Yes," replied Spurinna, "but not gone." No sooner had Caesar taken his seat than the conspirators crowded about him as if to present a petition. Upon a signal from one of their number their daggers were drawn. For a moment Caesar defended himself ; but seeing Brutus, upon whom he had lavished gifts and favors, among the conspir- ators, he is said to have exclaimed reproachfully, ''Et til, Brute ! "— "Thou, too, Brutus ! " then to have drawn his mantle over his face and to have received unresistingly their further thrusts. Pierced with -- u twenty-three wounds, he Fig. 147. — The recently found Base sank dead at the foot of of C.bsar's Column Pomnev's statue "^'^"^ so-called Julian Pillar marked the spot in the forum where Caesar's body was burned The Romans had killed many of their best men and cut short their work ; but never had they killed such a man as Caesar. He was the greatest man their race had yet produced or was destined ever to produce. Caesar's work was left all incomplete. What lends to it such great historical importance is the fact that in his reforms and policies Caesar drew the broad lines which his successors followed, and indicated the principles on which the government of the future must be based. 498. Funeral Oration by Mark Antony. — The conspirators, or " liberators," as they called themselves, had thought that the senate would confirm, and the people applaud, their act. But both people and senators, struck with consternation, were silent. Men's faces grew pale as they recalled the proscriptions of Sulla and saw in the 478 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC assassination of Caesar the first act in a similar reign of terror. Upon the day set for the funeral ceremonies, Mark Antony, the trusted friend and secretary of Caesar, mounted the rostra in the forum to deliver the usual funeral oration. He recounted the great deeds of Caesar, the glory he had conferred upon the Roman name, dwelt upon his liber- ality and his munifi- cent bequests to the people — even to some who were now his murderers ; and when he had wrought the feelings of the multitude to the high- est tension, he held up the robe of Caesar, and showed the rents made by the daggers of the assassins. Caesar had always \ ^^ been beloved by the people and idolized by his soldiers. They were now driven al- most to frenzy with grief and indignation. Seizing weapons and torches they rushed through the streets vowing vengeance upon the conspirators. The liberators, however, escaped from the fury of the mob and fled from Rome, Brutus and Cassius seeking refuge in (ireece. 499. The Second Triumvirate (43 h.c). — Antony had gained possession of the will and ]ja])ers of Caesar, and now, under color of carrying out the testament of the dictator, aciording to a decree of the senate, entered upon a course of high-handed usurpation Fig. 148. — OcTAVius as a Youth (Vatican Museum) J THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 479 He was aided in his designs by Marcus yEmilius Lepidus, one of Cresar's old lieutenants. Very soon he was exercising all the powers of a real dictator. ''The tyrant is dead," said Cicero, " but the tyranny still lives." To what lengths Antony would have gone in his career of usurpation it is difficult to say, had he not been opposed at this point by Gaius Octavius, the young grand-nephew of Julius Caesar, and the one whom he had named in his will as his heir and adopted as his son. Upon the senate de- claring in favor of Octavius, civil war immediately broke out be- tween him and Antony and Lepi- dus. After several indecisive battles between the forces of the rival competitors, Octavius pro- posed to Antony and Lepidus a reconciliation. The outcome of a conference was a league known as the Second Triumvirate (43 B.C.). The plans of the triumvirs were infamous. They first divided the world among themseh es : Octa- nus was to have the government of the West ; Antony, that of the East ; while to Lepidus fell the control of Africa. A general pro- scription, such as had marked the coming to power of Sulla, was then resolved upon. It was agreed that each should give up to the assassin such friends of his as had incurred the ill-will of either of the other triumvirs. Under this arrangement Octavius gave up his friend Cicero, — who had incurred the hatred of Antony by opposing his schemes, — and allowed his name to be put at the head of the list of the proscribed. The friends of the orator urged him to flee the country. " Let me die," said he, " in my fatherland, which I have so often saved ! " Fig. i4q. — Cicero. (Madrid) 480 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC His attendants were hurrying him, half unwilling, towards the coast, when his pursuers came up and dispatched him in the litter in which he was being carried. His head was taken to Rome and set up in front of the rostra, " from which he had so often addressed the people with his eloquent appeals for liberty." It is told that Fulvia, the wife of Antony, ran her gold bodkin through the tongue in revenge for the bitter philippics it had uttered against her husband. The right hand of the victim — the hand that had penned the eloquent orations — was nailed to the rostra. Cicero was but one victim among many hundreds. All the dreadful scenes of the days of Sulla were reenacted. Three hun- dred senators and two thousand knights were murdered. The estates of the wealthy were confiscated and conferred by the triumvirs upon their friends and favorites. 500. Last Struggle of the Republic at Philippi (42 B.C.); the Roman "World in the hands of Antony and Octavius. — The friends of the old republic and the enemies of the triumvirs were mean- while rallying in the East, Brutus and Cassius were the animat- ing spirits. Octavius and Antony, as soon as they had disposed of their enemies in Italy, crossed the Adriatic into Greece to disperse the forces of the republicans there. The liberators, advancing to meet them, passed over the Hellespont into Thrace. At Philippi, in Thrace, the hostile armies met (42 B.C.). In two successive engagements the new levies of the liberators were cut to pieces, and both Brutus and Cassius, believing the cause of the republic forever lost, committed suicide. It was, indeed, the last effort of the republic. The history of the events that lie between the action at Philippi and the establishment of the empire is simply a record of the struggles among the triumvirs for the possession of the prize of supreme power. After various redis- tributions of provinces, Lepidus was at length expelled from the triumvirate, and then again the Roman world, as in the times of Caesar and Pompey, was in the hands of two masters, — Antony in the East and Octavius in the West. 501. Antony and Cleopatra. — After the battle of Philippi Antony went into Asia fur the purpose of settling the affairs of THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM 481 the provinces and vassal states there. He summoned Cleopatra, the fair queen of Egypt, to meet him at Tarsus, in Cilicia, there to give account to him for the aid she had rendered the liberators. She obeyed the summons, relying upon the power of her charms to appease the anger of the triumvir. She ascended the Cydnus in a gilded barge, with oars of silver and sails of purple silk. Beneath awnings wrought of the richest manufactures of the East, the beautiful queen, attired to personate Venus, reclined amidst lovely attendants dressed to represent cupids and nereids. Antony was completely fascinated, as had been the great Cgesar before him, by the dazzling beauty of the " Serpent of the Nile." Enslaved by her enchantments and charmed by her brilliant wit, in the pleasure of her company he forgot all else, — ambition and honor and country. Once, indeed, Antony did rouse himself and break away from his enslavement to lead the Roman legions across the Tigris against the Parthians. But the storms of approaching winter and the incessant attacks of the Parthian cavalry at length forced him to make a hurried and disastrous retreat. Antony hastened back to Egj'pt and sought to forget his shame and disappointment amidst the revels of the Egyptian court. 502. The Battle of Actium (31 b.c). — Affairs could not long continue in their present course. Antony had put away his faith- ful wife Octavia for the beautiful Cleopatra. It was whispered at Rome, and not without truth, that he proposed to make Alex- andria the capital of the Roman world, and announce Caesarion, son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, as the heir of the empire. All Rome was stirred. It was evident that a struggle was at hand in which the question for decision would be whether the West should rule the East, or the East rule the West. All eyes were instinctively turned to Octavius as the defender of Italy and the supporter of the sovereignty of the Eternal City. Both parties made the most gigantic preparations for the inevitable conflict. Octavius met the combined fleets of Antony and Cleopatra just off the promontory of Actium, on the western coast of Greece. While the issue of the battle that there took 482 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC place was yet undecided, Cleopatra turned her galley in flight. The Egyptian ships, to the number of fifty, followed her example. Antony, as soon as he perceived the withdrawal of Cleopatra, for- got all else and followed in her track with a swift galley. Over- taking the fleeing queen, the infatuated man was received aboard her vessel and became her partner in the disgraceful flight. The abandoned fleet and army surrendered to Octavius. The conqueror was now sole master of the civilized world. From this decisive battle (31 B.C.) are usually dated the end of the repub- lic and the beginning of the empire. Some, however, make the establishment of the empire date from the year 2 7 B.C., as it was not until then that Octavius was formally invested with imperial powers. 503. Death of Antony and of Cleopatra ; Egypt becomes a Roman Province. — Octavius pursued Antony to Egypt, where the latter, deserted by his army and informed by a messenger from the false (^ueen that she was dead, committed suicide. Cleopatra then sought to enslave Octavius with her charms ; but failing in this, and becoming convinced that he proposed to take her to Rome that she might there grace his triumph, she took her own life, being in the thirty-eighth year of her age. Tradition says that she effected her purpose by ai)plying a poisonous asp to her breast. AVith the death of Cleopatra the noted dynasty of the Ptolemies came to an end. I'^gypt was henceforth a province of the Roman state. Selections from the Sources. — Plutarch, Life of Pompcius and Life of Julius Casar. Appian, The Cii'il Wars, bk. ii, chap, xviii ; the panic in Rome after Caesar's death. References (Modern). — Mommsen, vol. iv ; read particularly chap, xi, entitled, " The Old Republic and the New Monarchy." Merivale, The Fall of Ihe Roman Republic, c\i2.^s,. \'\-\\\\\ and The Roman Triumvirate. Oman, Seven Rotnatt Statesmen of the Republic, chaps, vi-ix. Pelham, Outlines of Roman LListory, pp. 240-258 and 333-398. How and Leigh, History of Rome, chaps, xlv-lii. ABBOTT, Roman Political Lnstitutions, chap, vi, sees. 9S-1 17. Freeman, The Three Chief Periods of European History, lect. ii, " Rome at the Head of Europe." Strachan-Davidson, Cicero and the Luill of the Roman Republic. BoissiER, Cicero and his REFERENCES 483 Friends. Trollope, The Life of Cicero. FoRSYTH, Cicero. Froude, Ccesar. Yo'W'LY.v., Julius CcEsar. CHURCH, Roman Life in the Days of Cicero ; for young readers ; also same author's Two Thousand Years Ago. Dodge, Ccesar. Seeley, Roman Imperialism, lect. i, " The Great Roman Revolution." Montesquieu, Causes of the Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans, chap. ix. Mahaffy, The Greek World under Roman Szaay, chap, iv, " The Hellenism of Cicero and his Friends." Long, The Decline of the Roman Republic ; for general reference. Topics for Special Study. — i. Sertorius. 2. Spartacus and the gladi- ators. 3. Verres in Sicily. 4. Lucius Licinius Lucullus. 5. Cicero's First Oration against Catiline. 6. Antony and Cleopatra. 7. Mommsen's estimate of Caesar. THIRD PERIOD — ROME AS AN EMPIRE (31 B.C.-A.D. 476) CHAPTER XLV THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE AND THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS C^SAR (31 B.C.-A.D. 14) 504. The Character of the Imperial Government; the Dyarchy. — The hundred years of strife which ended with the battle of Actium left the Roman republic, exhausted and helpless, in the hands of one wise enough and strong enough to remold its crum- bling fragments in such a manner that the state, which seemed ready to fall to pieces, might prolong its existence for another five hundred years. It was a great work thus to create anew, as it were, out of anarchy and chaos, a })olitical fabric that should exhibit such elements of perpetuity and strength. " The estab- lishment of the Roman Empire," says Merivale, " was, after all, the greatest political work that any human being ever wrought. The achievements of Alexander, of C?esar, of Charlemagne, of Napoleon are not to be compared with it for a moment." The government which Octavius established was a monarchy in fact but a republic in form. Mindful of the fate of Julius Caesar, Octavius carefully veiled his really absolute ])ower under the forms of the old re])ublican state. He did not take the title of king. He knew how hateful to the people that name had been since the expulsion of the Tartpiins, and was mindful how many of the best men of Rome, including the great Julius, had jjcrished because they gave the people reason to think that they were aiming at the regal power. Nor did he take the title of 484 I CHARACTER OF THE IMPERIAL GOVERNMENT 485 dictator, a name that since the time of Sulla had been almost as intolerable to the people as that of king. But he adopted the title of Imperator, — whence the name Emperor, — a title which, although it carried with it the abso- lute author- ity of the com- mander of the legions, still had clinging to it no odious memories, received from the senate the honorary surname of Augustus, a title that hitherto had been sacred to the gods, and hence was free from all sinister associa- tions. A monument of this act was erected in the calendar. It was decreed by the senate that the sixth month of the Roman year should be called Augustus (whence our August) in com- memoration of the imperator, an act in imitation of that by which the preceding month had been given the name Julius (whence our July) in honor of Julius Caesar. Common usage also bestowed upon Octavius the further title of Princeps, which was only a designation of courtesy and dignity and simply pointed out him who bore it as the "first citizen" of a free repubhc. And as Octavius was careful not to wound the sensibilities of the lovers of the old republic by assuming any title that in any Fig. 150. — Augustus (Vatican Museum) 486 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE way suggested regal authority and prerogative, so was he careful not to arouse their opposition by abolishing any of the repub- lican offices or assemblies. He allowed all the old magistracies to exist as heretofore ; but he himself absorbed and exercised the most important part of their powers and functions. All the republican magistrates were elected as usual ; ^ but they were simply the nominees and creatures of the emperor. They were the effigies and figureheads which deluded the people into believ- ing that the republic still existed. Never did a people seem more content with the shadow after the loss of the substance. Likewise all the popular assemblies remained and were con- vened as usual to hold elections and to vote on measures laid before them. But Octavius, having been invested with both the consular and the tribunician power, had the right to summon them, to ])lace in nomination persons for the various offices, and to initiate legislation. The titular consuls and tribunes also, it is true, had this right, but after the new order of things had become firmly established they dared not exercise it without the concurrence of the new master of the state. The senate still existed,^ but it was shorn of all real independ- ence, since Augustus had been armed with the censorial power for the purpose of revising its lists. This power Octavius exer- cised by reducing the number of senators, which had been raised by Antony to one thousand, to six hundred, and by striking from the rolls the names of unworthy members and of obstinate repub- licans. He wounded, too, its old aristocratic pride by intro- ducing new men into the body, and thereby laying the basis of a new senatorial aristocracy. We may summarize all these changes by saying that the mon- archy abolished five hundred years before this was now rising 1 The consuls were generally nominated by Augustus, and in order that a large number of his friends and favorites might be amused with the dignity, the term of office was reduced to a shorter period. At a later time the length of the consulate was shortened to two or three months. 2 Since in tlie early empire the senate under the constitutional arrangements of Augustus shared the government with the emperor, the government of this period is by some called a diarchy, whicli means a government by two persons. As a matter of fact, however, under emperors disposed to rule despotically, the riglits of the senate were reduced to a nullity. GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES 487 again amidst the old forms of the republic. This is what was actually taking place ; for the chief powers and prerogatives of the ancient king, which during the republican period had been gradually broken up and lodged in the hands of a great number of magistrates, colleges, and assemblies, were now being once more gathered up in the hands of a single man. 505. The Government of the Provinces. — The revolution that brought in the empire effected a great improvement in the con- dition of the provincials. The government of all those prov- inces that were in an unsettled state and that needed the presence of a large military force Augustus ^ withdrew from the senate and took the management of their affairs in his own hands. These were known as the provinces of Ccesar. Instead of these countries being ruled by practically irresponsible pro- consuls and propraetors, they were henceforth ruled by legates of the emperor, who were removable at his will and answerable to him for the faithful and honest discharge of the duties of their offices. Salaries were attached to their positions, and thus the scandalous abuses which had grown up in connection with the earlier system of self-payment through fees, requisitions, and like devices were swept away. These provinces were given, as we should say, a pure and able civil service. The more tranquil provinces were still left under the control of the senate, and were known as public provinces. These also profited by the change, since the emperor extended his care and watch to them, and, as the judge of last appeal, righted wrongs and punished flagrant offenders against right and justice. 506. The Defeat of Varus by the Germans under Arminius (a.d. 9) One of the most important measures of Augustus was the creation of a strong line of defense for the empire against the German tribes by the establishment of a series of well- organized provinces, — Rnetia, Noricum, Pannonia, and Moesia, — which, in connection with the province of Belgica, stretched across Europe from the North Sea to the Lower Danube. Backed by the broad streams of the Rhine and the Danube, these provinces constituted a "scientific frontier" for the empire on this side. 8 From this on we shall refer to Octavius by this his honorary surname. 488 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE The adoption of the Rhine as a permanent frontier was forced upon Augustus by one of the most terrible disasters that ever befell the Roman legions. It was at first the purpose of Augustus to make the Elbe, and not the Rhine, the division line between civilization and barbarism. The security of Italy as well as that of Gaul seemed to require the subjugation of the warlike tribes between these streams. Consequently, during a large part of the reign of Augustus his stepsons Drusus and Tiberius were cam- paigning in this region. The Roman eagles were carried to the Elbe, and for a time it looked as though that stream would become a frontier river. But suddenly the whole aspect of affairs in this region was changed. The Roman general Quintilius Varus, who had made the mistake of supposing that he could rule the freedom-loving Germans just as he had governed the servile Asiatics of the Eastern provinces, and had thereby stirred them to determined revolt against the Roman authority, while leading an army of three legions, numbering altogether about twenty thousand men, through the almost pathless depths of the Teutoburg Wood, was surprised by the barbarians led by their brave chieftain Her- mann, — called Arminius by the Romans, — and his army destroyed (a.d. 9). Only a few escaped. Thousands of the legionaries lay dead and unburied where they fell in the impas- sable woods and morasses. "The captives, especially the officers and the advocates, were fastened to the cross, or buried alive, or bled under the sacrificial knife of the German priests. The heads cut off were nailed as a token of victory to the trees of the sacred grove" (Mommsen). The disaster caused great consternation at Rome. Augustus, wearied and worn already with the cares of empire and domestic affliction, was inconsolable. He paced his palace in agony, and kept exclaiming, " O Varus ! Varus ! give me back my legions ! give me back my legions ! " The victory of Arminius over the Romans was an event of the greatest significance in the history of I":uropean civilization. Ger- many was almost overrun by the Roman army. The Teutonic w:^ -^r »ta Trei4;roruo, .^^ ' K? ( B CE T/I c 4 rf^txa^,.- *tedio; •'AquilAia lanimj ^^Taco Corsica/ / I/, noivft tp O \e»' xF^ ^Scisj^ ^, 4 U Fl li^ >■ Cartha^ iSyracnsff> THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS A. D. 14 ^rf^ : ■^ THRACE sSiooP* ^^\v^^ o^"^) U'S eriod eighteen hundred years ago. THE FIVE GOOD EMPERORS 503 one succession of murders and confiscations. This cruel severity was the outgrowth of the contest between the emperor and the senate, which in this reign was renewed with extreme bitterness. During the reign, however, transactions of interest and impor- tance were taking place on the northern frontier lines. In Britain the able commander Agricola, the father-in-law of the historian Tacitus, subjected or crowded baclc the warlike tribes until he had extended the frontiers of the empire far into what is now Scotland. Then, as a protection against the incursions of the Caledonians, the ancestors of the Scottish highlanders, he constructed a line of fortresses from the Frith of Forth to the Frith of Clyde. Behind this shelter Roman civilization developed securely and rapidly in the new-formed province. Under this emperor took place what is known in Church history as " the second persecution of the Christians." This class, as well as the Jews, were the special objects of Domitian's hatred, because they refused to burn incense before the statues of himself which he had set up. The name of his niece Domitilla has been pre- served as one of the victims of this persecution. This is significant, since it shows that the new faith was thus early finding adherents among the higher classes, even in the royal household itself. Domitian perished in his own palace and by the hands of mem- bers of his own household. The senate ordered his infamous name to be erased from the public monuments and to be blotted from the records of the Roman state. 518. The Five Good Emperors; Reign of Nerva (a.d. 96-98). — The five emperors — Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Anto- nines — who succeeded Domitian were elected by the senate, which during this period assumed something of its former weight and influence in the affairs of the empire. The wise and beneficent administration of the government by these rulers secured for them the enviable distinction of being called "the five good emperors." Nerva, who was an aged senator and an ex-consul, ruled pater- nally. He died after a short reign of sixteen months, and the scepter passed into the stronger hands of the able commander Trajan, whom Nerva had previously made his associate in the government. 504 FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS 519. Reign of Trajan (a.d. 98-117). — Trajan was a native of Spain and a soldier by profession and talent. He was the first provincial to sit in the seat of the Ctesars. From this time for- ward provincials were to play a part of ever-increasing importance in the affairs of the empire. Trajan's ambition to achieve military renown led him to undertake distant and important conquests. It was the policy of Augus- tus — a policy adopted by most of his successors — to make the Danube in Europe and the Euphrates in Asia the limits of the Roman Empire in those respective quarters. But Trajan determined to push the frontiers of his domin- ions beyond both these rivers. In the early part of his reign Trajan was busied in wars against the Dacians, tribes that had often dis- turbed the peace of the Mcjcsian province. In his second campaign he facili- tated his operations by constructing across the Danube a bridge, some of . This expedition resulted Fig. 157. — Trajan (From a statue in the Museum at Naples) the piers of which may still be seen in the complete subjugation of the troublesome enemy. Dacia was now made into a province. Roman emigrants poured in crowds into the region, great cities sprang up, and the arts and culture of Rome took deep and permanent root. The modern REIGN OF TRAJAN 505 name Rumania is a monument of this Roman conquest and colonization beyond the Danube. l"he Rumanians to-day speak a language that in its main elements is largely of Latin origin." As a memorial of his achievements the emperor erected, in what came to be known as Trajan's Forum, a splendid marble shaft called Trajan's Column. The great pillar is almost as per- fect to-day as when reared eighteen centuries ago. It is one hundred and forty-seven feet high, and is wound from base to summit with a spiral band of sculptures containing more than Fig. 15S. — Bridge over the Danube, built by Trajan (From relief on Trajan's Column) twenty-five thousand human figures. Its pictured sides are the best and almost the only record we now possess of the Dacian wars of the emperor. In the latter years of his reign (a.d. 114-116) Trajan led his legions to the East, crossed the Euphrates, reduced Armenia, and wrested from the Parthians most of the lands which once formed the heart of the Assyrian monarchy. Out of the terri- tories he had conquered Trajan made three new provinces, which bore the ancient names of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, 6 The Romanic-speaking peoples of Rumania and the neighboring regions num- ber about ten millions. It seems probable tlrnt during media;val times there \N'as a large immigration into the present Rumania of Latin-speaking people from the districts south of the Danube. 506 FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS To Trajan belongs the distinction of having extended the boundaries of the empire to the most distant points to which Roman ambition and prowess were ever able to push them. Respecting the rapid spread of Christianity at this time, the char- acter of the early professors of the new faith, and the light in which they were viewed by the rulers of the Roman world, we have very important evidence in a certain letter written by Pliny the Younger (sec. 575) to the emperor in regard to the Christians of Pontus, in Asia Minor, of which remote province Pliny was governor. Pliny speaks of the new creed as a " contagious superstition that had seized not cities only but the lesser towns also, and the open country." Yet he could find no fault in the converts to the new doctrines. Notwith- standing this, however, because the Christians steadily refused to sacri- fice to the Roman gods, he ordered many to be put to death for their " inflexible obstinacy." Trajan died a.d. 117, after a reign of nineteen years, one of the most prosperous and fortunate that had yet befallen the lot of the Roman peojjlc. 520. Reign of Hadrian (a. n. 117- 138)- — Hadrian, a kinsman of Trajan, succeeded him in the imperial office. He possessed great ability and displayed admi- rable moderation and good judgment in the administration of the government. He prudently abandoned the territory that had been Fig. i3>^. — Irajan's Column (From a photograph) THE K03rAX E3IPIKE AT ITS GRllVTEST EXTEIVT (Under Trajan, A. D. 98-117) 9 IpO ^00 300 -100 '■">.<> 600 ""j O Seal.' of JIlK-s. REIGN OF HADRIAN 507 acquired by Trajan beyond the Euphrates, and made that stream once more the eastern boundary of the empire. More than fifteen years of his reign were spent by Hadrian in making tours of inspection through all the different provinces of the empire. He visited Britain, and secured the Roman posses- sions there against the Picts and Scots by erecting a continuous wall across the island from the Tyne to the Solway Firth. This rampart was constructed some distance to the south of the line of fortified stations that had been established by Agricola (sec. 517). ..^-^.. Fig. 160. — The Hadrian Wall. (From a photograph by the author) The Hadrian Wall, in places well preserved and broken at inter- vals by the ruins of old watchtowers and stations, can still be traced over the low hills of the English moorlands almost from sea to sea." There exists nowhere in the lands that once formed the provinces of the empire of Rome any more impressive memorial of her world-wide dominion than these ramparts, along which for three hundred years and more her sentinels kept watch and ward for civilization against the barbarian marauders of Caledonia. ' The best work on the rampart is J. C. Brace's The Roman Wall (London, 1851). Handbook to the Romafi Wall, by the same author, is an abridgment of his larger work. One of the best preserved sections of the wall can be easily reached from the Haltwhistle station on the railroad between Xewcastle-upon-Tyne and Carlisle. The student traveler in those parts siiould not fail to examine these interesting memorials of the Roman occupation of Britain. 5o8 FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS After his visit to Britain Hadrian returned to Gaul, and then inspected in different tours all the remaining provinces of the empire. Many of the cities which he visited he adorned with temples, theaters, and other buildings. Upon Athens, particularly, he lavished large sums in L \ art embellishments, reviv- ing in a measure the fading glories of the Periclean Age. In the year 132 the Jews in Palestine, who had in a measure recovered from the blow Titus had given their nation (sec. 515), broke out in desperate revolt, be- cause of the planting of a Roman colony upon the almost desolate site of Jeru- salem, and the i)lacing of the statue of Jupiter in the holy temple. More than half a million of Jews are said to have perished in the hopeless struggle, and the most of the survivors were driven into exile, — the last dispersion of the race (a.d. 135). The latter years of his reign Hadrian passed at Rome. It was here that this princely builder erected his most splendid structures. Among these were a magnificent temple consecrated to the goddesses \'enus and Roma, and a vast mausoleum erected on the banks of the Tiber and designed as a tomb for himself. 521. The Antonines (a.d. 138-180). — Aurelius Antoninus, sur- named Pius, the adojjted son of Hadrian, and his successor, gave the Roman lunpire an administration singularly pure and parental. Through(jut his hjng reign of twenty-three years the empire was in a state of jirofound ]jeace. The attention of the historian is attracted by no striking e\ents, which fact, as many have not Fig. 161. — Hadrian (Capitoline Museum, Rome) THE ANTONINES 509 failed to observe, illustrates admirably the oft-repeated epigram, '* Happy is that people whose annals are brief." Antoninus, early in his reign, had united with himself in the government his adopted son Marcus Aurelius, and upon the death of the former (a.d. 161) the latter succeeded quietly to his place and work. Aurelius' studious habits won for him the title of Philosopher. He belonged to the school of the Stoics, and was a most thoughtful writer. His Meditations breathe the tenderest sentiments of devotion and benevolence, and make the nearest approach to the spirit of Christianity of all the writings of Fig. 162. — Besieging a Dacian City. (From Trajan's Column) pagan antiquity. He established an institution or home for orphan girls, and, finding the poorer classes throughout Italy burdened by their taxes and greatly in arrears in paying them, he caused all the tax claims to be heaped in the forum and burned. The tastes and sympathies of Aurelius would have led him to choose a life passed in retirement and study at the capital ; but hostile movements of the Parthians, and especially invasions of the barbarians along the Rhenish and Danubian frontiers, called him from his books and forced him to spend most of the latter years of his reign in the camp. The Parthians, who had violated their treaty with Rome, were chastised by the lieutenants of the emperor, and a part of Mesopotamia again fell under Roman authority (a.d. 165). 5IO FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS This war drew after it a series of terrible calamities. ' The returning soldiers brought with them the Asiatic plague, which swept off vast numbers, especially in Italy, where entire cities and districts were depopulated. The empire never wholly recovered from the effects of this pestilence. In the general distress and panic the superstitious people were led to believe that it was the new sect of Christians that had called down upon the nation the anger of the gods. Aurelius permitted a fearful persecution to be instituted against them, during which the celebrated Christian fathers, Justin Martyr at Rome and the aged Polycarp at Smyrna, suffered death. It should be noted that the persecution of the Christians under the pagan emperors sprang from political an'd social rather than from religious motives, and that is why we find the names of the best emperors, as well as those of the worst, in the list of persecu- tors. It was believed that the welfare of the state was bound up with the careful performance of the rites of the national worship ; and hence, while the Roman rulers were usually very tolerant, allowing all forms of worship among their subjects, still they required that men of every faith should at least recognize the Roman gods and burn incense before their statues. This the Christians steadily refused to do. Their neglect of the services of the temple, it was believed, angered the gods and endangered the safety of the state, bringing upon it drought, pestilence, and every disaster. This was a main reason of their persecution by the pagan emperors. But pestilence and persecution were both forgotten amidst the imperative calls for immediate help that now came from the North. The barbarians were pushing in the Roman outposts and pouring over the frontiers. A tribe known as the Marcomani even crossed the Alps and laid siege to Aquileia. Not since the invasion of the Cimbri and Teutones (sec. 469) had the inhabitants of any city of Italy seen the barbarians before their gates. To the panic of the plague was added this new terror. Aurelius placed himself at the head of his legions and hurried beyond the Alps. He checked the inroads of the barbarians, but could not subdue THE STATE OF THE PROVINCES 5" them, so weakened was the empire by the ravages of the pesti- lence and so exhausted was the treasury from the heavy and constant drains upon it. At last his weak body gave way beneath the hardships of his numerous campaigns, and he died in his camp at Vindobona (now Vienna) in the nineteenth year of his reign (a.d. i8o). The united voice of the senate and people pronounced him a god, and divine worship was accorded to his statue. Never was Monarchy so justified of her children as in the lives and works of Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. As Merivale, in dwelling upon their virtues, very justly remarks, " The blameless career of these illustrious princes has furnished the best excuse for Caesarism in all after ages." 522. The State of the Provinces. — The close of the auspicious era of the Antonines invites us to cast a glance over the empire, in order that we may note the condition of the population at large. As we have already observed, the great revolution which brought in the empire was a revolution which redounded to the interests of the provincials.^ Even under the worst emperors the administra- tion of affairs in the provinces was as a rule jDrudent, humane, and just. It is probably true that, embracing in a single view all the countries included in the Roman Empire, the second century of the Christian era marks the happiest period in their history. Without question there is no basis for a comparison, but only for a contrast, between the condition of the countries of the East and of North Africa under the earlier Roman emperors and the con- dition of the same lands to-day under their arbitrary and rapacious Mohammedan rulers. Many cities which in the earlier period numbered their citizens by tens and even hundreds of thousands are at the present time represented by miserable villages of a few hundred inhabitants. The cities and towns of the Eastern countries, as well as hun- dreds of similar communities in Spain, in Gaul, in Britain, and in other lands of the West, were enjoying, under the admirable municipal system developed by the Romans, a measure of local 8 Consult sees. 496 and 505. 5^ FROM TIBERIUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS self-government probably equal to that enjoyed at the present time by the municipalities of the most advanced of the countries of modern Europe. This wise system had preserved or developed the sentiment of local patriotism and civic pride. The cities vied with one another in the erection of theaters, amphitheaters, baths, temples, and triumphal arches, and in the construction of aqueducts, bridges, and other works of a utilitarian nature. In these undertakings they were aided not only by liberal contribu- tions made by the emperors from the imperial treasury, but by the generous gifts and bequests of individual citizens. Private Fig. 163 — Roman Aqueduct near Nimes, France (Present condition) This aqueduct was built by the emperor Antoninus Pius munificence of this character was as remarkable a feature of this age as is the liberality of individuals at the present day in the endowment of educational and charitable institutions. As the representative of this form of ancient liberality, we have Herodes Atticus (about a.d. 104-180), a native of Athens. He was the Andrew Carnegie of his time. With a truly royal miuiificence he built at his own exjjense at Athens a s])lendid marble stadium large enough to hold the entire population of the city. To the REFERENCES .513 city of Troas in Asia Minor he made a gift equivalent to over a half million dollars to aid the inhabitants in the construction of an aqueduct. Scores of majestic ruins scattered throughout the lands once forming the provinces of the ancient empire of Rome bear impres- sive testimony not only as to the populousness, culture, and enter- prise of the urban communities of the Roman dominions, but also as to the generally wise, fostering, and beneficent character of the earlier imperial rule. Selections from the Sources. — Tacitus, Annals, i. 74, the " Informer " at Rome ; and his Life of Agricola. The Ear/y Chris/tan Pei-sectitiojis (Translations and Reprints, Univ. of Penn., vol. iv, No. i). Read Pliny's letter to Trajan and Trajan's reply. References (Modern). — Gibeon, chap, ii, "Of the Union and Internal Prosperity of the Roman Empire in the Age of the Antonines " ; and chap, iii, " Of the Constitution of the Empire in the Age of the Anto- nines." Pelham, Outlines of Ro7nan History, pp. 470-541. Bury, The Roman Empire, chaps, xxv-xxx. DiLL, Roman Society fro7ii Nero to AFarcus Anrelius. Merivale, History of the Romans under the Empire ; for general reference. Milman, The History of Christianity, vol. ii, bk. ii, chaps, iv-vii. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire before A. D. lyo, chap. X, " Pliny's Report and Trajan's Rescript " ; chap, xi, " The Action of Nero towards the Christians"; and chap, xv, "Causes and Extent of Persecutions." Freeman, Historical Essays (Second Series), " The Flavian Emperors." BoissiER, Rome and Pompeii, chap, vi, " Pompeii." Dyer, Pompeii, its History, Building aiid Antiquity. Mau, Pompeii: its Life and Art. Watson, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, chap, vii, " The Attitude of Aurelius towards Christianity." Capes, The Age of the Antonines and The Early Empire. In this latter work, read chap, xii, " The Position of the Emperor"; chap, xviii, "The Moral Standard of the Age"; and chap, xix, "The Revival of Religious Sentiment." The .surveyinthe.se chapters embraces the first centuiy only of the empire. Hardy, Chris- tianity and the Roman Government ; a valuable study of the relations of the Christians to the imperial government during the first two centuries of the empire. Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, chap, vii, "Christian Cemeteries"; for the story of the Catacombs. Topics for Special Study. — i. The conquest of Britain by Claudius. 2. Persecution of the Christians under Nero. 3. The siege of Jerusalem by Titus. 4. Pompeii and what we have learned of Roman life from its remains. 5. The Hadrian Wall in Britain. See Bruce. C. Marcus Aurelius ; his Meditations. CHAPTER XLVII THE EMPIRE UNDER COMMODUS AND "THE BARRACK EMPERORS " (a.d. 1S0-2S4) • 523. Reign of Commodus (a.d. 180-192). — Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius and the last of the Antonines, was a most unworthy successor of his ilhistrrous father. For three years, how- ever, surrounded by the able generals and wise counselors that the prudent administration of the preceding emperors had drawn to the head of affairs, Commodus ruled with fairness and lenity, when an unsuccessful conspiracy against his life seemed sud- denly to kindle all the slum- bering passions of a Nero. He secured the favor of the rabble with the shows of the amphitheater and purchased the support of the praetorians with bribes and flatteries. Thus he was enabled for ten years to retain the throne, while perpetrating all man- ner of cruelties and staining the imperial purple with the most detestable debaucheries and crimes. Commodus had a jjassion for gladiatorial combats. He even descended into the arena himself. Attired in a lion's skin and 514 Fig. 164. — Commodus (as Hercules) (From bust found in the Horli Lamiani, Rome) J THE PUBLIC SALE OF THE EMPIRE 515 armed with the ckib of Hercules, he vaHantly set upon and slew antagonists arrayed to represent mythological monsters and armed with great sponges for rocks. The servile senate conferred upon 'him the title of the Roman Hercules and voted him the additional surnames of Pius and Felix. The empire was finally relieved of the insane tyrant by some members of the royal household, who anticipated his designs against themselves and put him to death. 524. "The Barrack Emperors." — For nearly a century after the death of Commodus (from a.d. 192 to 284) the emperors were elected by the army, and hence the rulers for this period have been called " the Barrack Emperors." The character of the period is revealed by the fact that of the twenty-five emperors who mounted the throne during this time all except four came to death by violence. To internal disorders were added the terror of barbarian invasions. On every side savage hordes were break- ing into the empire to rob, to murder, and to burn. 525. The Public Sale of the Empire (a.d. 193). — The beginning of these troublous times was marked by a shameful proceeding on the part of the praetorians. Upon the death of Commodus, Per- tinax, a distinguished senator, was placed on the throne ; but his efforts to enforce discipline among the pr^torians aroused their anger, and he was slain by them after a short reign of only three months. These soldiers then gave out notice that they would sell the empire to the highest bidder. It was accordingly set up for sale at the praetorian camp and struck off to Didius Julianus, a wealthy senator, who promised twenty-five thousand sesterces to each of the twelve thousand soldiers at this time composing the guard. So the price of the empire was three hundred million sesterces (about $12,000,000). But these turbulent and insolent soldiers at the capital of the empire were not to have things entirely their own way. As soon as the news of the disgraceful transaction reached the legions on the frontiers, they rose in indignant revolt. Each of the three armies that held the Euphrates, the Rhine, and the Danube pro- claimed its favorite commander emperor. The leader of the Danubian troops was Septimius Severus, a man of great energy 5l6 AGE OF "THE BARRACK EMPERORS" and force of character. He knew that there were other com- petitors for the throne, and that the prize would be his who first seized it. Instantly he set his veterans in motion and was soon at Rome. The prsetorians were no match for the trained legion- aries of the frontiers, and did not even attempt to defend their emperor, who was taken prisoner and put to death after a reign of sixty- five days. 526. Reign of Septimius Severus (a.d. 193-21 i). — One of the first acts of Se^'erus was to organize a new bodyguard of fifty thousand legionaries to take the place of the unworthy prsetorians, whom, as a punishment for the insult they had offered to the Roman state, he disbanded and banished from the capital. He next crushed his two rival competitors and was then undisputed master of the empire. He put to death forty senators for hav- ing favored his late rivals and completely destroyed the power of that body. Committing to the prefect of the new pr?etorian guard the management of affairs at the capital, Severus passed the greater part of his long and prosperous reign upon the frontiers. At one time he was chastising the Parthians beyond the Euphrates, and at another pushing back the Caledonian tribes from the Hadrian Wall in the opposite corner of his dominions. At length, in Britain, in his camp at York, death overtook him. 527. Reign of Caracalla (a.d. 21 1-2 17). — Severus conferred the empire upon his two sons, Caracalla and Cieta. Caracalla murdered his brother and then ordered Papinian, the celebrated jurist, to make a public argument in vindication of the fratricide. When that great lawyer refused, saying that " it was easier to commit such a crime than to justify it," he put him to death. Thousands fell victims to the tyrant's senseless rage. Driven by remorse and fear, he fled from the capital and wandered about the most distant provinces. At Alexandria, on account of some uncomplimentary remarks made by the citizens upon his personal a])pearance, he ordered a general massacre of the inhabitants. Finally, after a reign of six years, the monster was slain in a remote corner of Syria. THE WORLD BECOMES ROMAN 517 I Caracalla's sole political act of real importance was the bestowal of citizenship upon all the free inhabitants of the empire ; and this he did, not to give them a just privilege, but that he might collect from them certain special taxes which only Roman citizens had to pay. Before the reign of Caracalla it was only particular classes of the provincials, or the inhabitants of some particular city or province, that, as a mark of special favor, had from time to time been admitted to the rights of citizen- ship. But by this wholesale act of Caracalla the entire free population of the empire out- side of Italy that did not already possess the rights of the city was made Roman, at least in name and nominal privilege. That vast work of making the whole world Roman, the beginnings of which we saw in the dawn of Roman history (sec. 391), was now completed.^ 528. The Age of the Thirty Tyrants (a.d. 251-268). — For about a generation after Caracalla the imperial scepter passed rapidly from the hands of one emperor to those of another. Then came the so-called Age of the Thirty Tyrants. The throne being held by weak emperors, there sprang up in every part of the empire competitors for it — several rivals frequently appearing in the field at the same time. The barbarians pressed upon all the Fig. 165. — Caracalla. (Museum at Najjles) 1 It must not be supposed, however, that the edict of Caracalla did much more than register an already accomplished fact. It seems probable that by this time the greater part of the freemen of the empire were already enjoying the Roman franchise. c •i i:< (J J. w --' 518 AGE OF "THE BARRACK EMPERORS" frontiers and thrust themselves into all the provinces. The empire seemed on the point of falling to pieces.^ But a fortunate suc- cession of five good emperors — Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, Pro- bus, and Carus (a.d. 268-284) — restored for a time the ancient boundaries and again forced together into some sort of union the fragments of the shattered state. 529. The Fall of Palmyra (a.d. 273). — The most noted of the usurp- ers of authority in the provinces dur- ing the period of anarchy of which Fig. i66.-Tru'mph of Sapor over Valerian we have spoken was Zenobia, the ruler of the celebrated city of Palmyra in the Syrian desert. This famous princess claimed descent from Cleopatra, and it is certain that in the charms of personal beauty she was the rival of the Eg)'ptian queen. Boldly assuming the title of "Queen of the East," she bade defiance to Rome. Aurelian marched against her, and defeating her armies in the open field, drove them within the walls of Palmyra. After a long siege the city was taken, and, in punishment for a second u])rising, given to the flames.^ The ruins of Palmyra are among the most interesting remains of Greek and Roman civilization in the East. For a long time even the site of the city was lost to the civilized world. The Bedouins, however, knew the spot, and told strange stories of a ruined city w^ith splendid temples and long colonnades far away 2 It was during this pariod that the Emperor \'nlerian (a.d. 253-260), in a battle with the Persians before Edessa, in Mesopotamia, was defeated and taken prisoner by Sapor, the Persian king (sec. 541, n. 9). A large rock tablet (Fig. 166), still to be seen near the Persian town of Shiraz, is believed to conmieniorate the triumph of Sapor over the unfortunate emperor. 3 Zenobia was carried a captive to Rome. After having been led in golden chains in the triumphal procession of Aurelian, the queen was given a beautiful villa in the vicinity of Tibur, where, surrounded by licr children, she passed the remainder of licr checkered life. REFERENCES 519 in the Syrian desert. Their accounts awakened an interest in the wonderful city, and towards the close of the seventeenth century some explorers reached the spot. The sketches they brought back of the ruins of the long-lost city produced almost as much astonishment as did the discoveries at a later time of Botta and Layard at Nineveh. The principal features of the ruins are the remains of the great Temple of the Sun, and of the colonnade, which was almost a mile in length. Many of the marble columns that flanked this magnificent avenue are still erect, stretching in a long line over the desert. References. — Mommsen, The P7-ovinccs of the Roman Empii-e from Ca-sar io Diocletian. FREEMAN, Historical Essays (Third Series), " The Ulyrian Emperors and their Lands." Gibbon, chaps, iv-xii. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, bk. vi, chap. ii. Wright, An Account of Palmyra and Zenobia. Topics for Special Study. — i. The New Persian Empire. 2. Zenobia, Queen, of the East. 3. The ruins of Palmyra. CHAPTER XLVIII THE REIGNS OF DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE THE GREAT I. The Reic.n of Diocletian (a.d. 284-305) 530. General Statement. — The accession of Diocletian marks an imi)ortant era in the history of the Roman Empire. The two matters of chief importance connected with his reign are the changes he effected in the government and his persecution of the Christians. Diocletian's governmental reforms, though radical, were salu- tary, and infused such fresh vitality into the frame of the dying state as to give it a new lease of life for another term of nearly two hundred years. 531. The Empire becomes an Undis- guised Oriental Monarchy. — Up to the time we have now reached the really monarchical character of the government was more or less carefully concealed un- der the forms and names of the old republic. Realizing that republican gov- ernment among the Romans had passed Fir,. 167. — DiocT.KTiAN away forever, and that its forms were (Capitoline Museum, Rome) j^^,^^, absolutely meaningless, Diocletian cast aside all the masks with which y\ugustus had concealed his practically unlimited power and which fear or policy had led his successors, with greater or less consistency, to retain, and let the government stand forth naked in its true character as an absolute Asiatic monarchy. In contrasting the policy of Augustus with that of Diocletian, (libbon truly says : " It was the aim of the one to disguise, and the object of the other to display, the unljounded powers which the emperors possessed over the Roman world." 520 CHANGES IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM 521 The change was marked by Diocletian's assumption of the titles of Asiatic royalty and his adoption of the court ceremonials and etiquette of the East. He clothed himself in magnificent robes of silk and gold. All who approached him, whether of low or of high rank, were required to prostrate themselves to the ground, a form of Oriental and servile adoration which the free races of the West had hitherto, with manly disdain, refused to render to their magistrates and rulers. The imperial household also now assumed a distinctively Ori- ental character. Ostentation and extravagance marked all the appointments of the palace. Its apartments were crowded with retinues of servants and officers of every rank, and the person of the emperor was hedged around with all the " pomp and majesty of Oriental monarchy." The incoming of the absolute monarchy meant, of course, the last blow to local municipal freedom. The little liberty that still survived in the cities or municipalities of the empire was virtually swept away. There was no place under the new government for any degree of genuine local independence and self-direction. Italy was now also reduced to a level in servitude with the prov- inces and was taxed and ruled like the other parts of the empire. 532. Changes in the Administrative System. — The century of anarchy which preceded the accession of Diocletian, and the death by assassination during this period of ten of the twenty-five wearers of the imperial purple,^ had made manifest the need of a system which would discourage assassination and provide a regu- lar mode of succession to the throne. Diocletian devised a sys- tem the aim of which was to compass both these ends. First, he chose as a colleague a companion ruler, Maximian, who, like himself, bore the title of Augustus. Then each of the co-emperors associated with himself an assistant, who took the title of Caesar and was considered the son and heir of the emperor. There were thus two Augusti and two C^sars.^ Milan, in Italy, became the 1 This enumeration does not include the so-called Thirty Tyrants, of whom many met death by violence. 2 From the number of rulers, this government has received the name of tetrarchy. 522 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE capital and residence of Maximian ; while Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, became the seat of the court of Diocletian. The Augusti took charge of the countries near their respective capitals, while the younger and more active Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, were assigned the government of the more distant and turbulent provinces. The vigorous administration of the government in every quarter of the empire was thus secured. A most serious drawback to this system was the heavy expense involved in the maintenance of four courts with their endless reti- nues of officers and dependents. It was complained that the num- ber of those who received the revenues of the state was greater than that of those who contributed to them. The burden of taxation grew unendurable. Husbandry in some regions ceased, and great numbers were reduced to beggary or driven into brigandage. The magistrates of the cities and towns were made responsible for the payment of the taxes due the government from their respective communities, and hence office holding became not an honor to be coveted but a burden to be evaded. It was this vicious sys- tem of taxation which more than any other one cause, after slav- ery, contributed to the depopulation, impoverishment, and final downfall of the empire. 533. Persecution of the Christians. — Towards the end of his reign Diocletian inaugurated against the Christians a persecution which continued long after his abdication, and which was the severest, as it was the last, waged against the Church by the pagan emperors. The Christians at this time were not numerous, but because of their close association, and because of the spirit which animated them, they formed by far the most influential party in the Roman state. The imperial decrees ordered that their churches should be torn down ; that the property of the new societies should be confiscated ; that the sacred writings of the sect should be burned ; and that the Christians themselves, unless they should join in the sacrificed to the gods of the state, should be pursued to death as outlaws. For ten years, which, however, were broken by short periods of respite, the Christians were subjected to the fierce flames of I THE ABDICATION OF DIOCLETIAN 523 persecution. They were cast into dungeons, thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheater, burned over a slow fire, and put to death by every other mode of torture that ingenious cruelty could devise. But nothing could shake their constancy. They courted the death that secured them, as they firmly believed, immediate entrance upon an existence of unending happiness. The exhibi- tion of devotion and steadfastness shown by the martyrs won multitudes to the persecuted faith. It was during this and the various other persecutions that vexed the Church in the second and third centuries that the Christians sometimes sought refuge in the Catacombs, those \"ast subterra- nean galleries and chambers under the city of Rome. Here they buried their dead, and on the walls of the chambers sketched rude symbols of their hope and faith. It was in the darkness of these subter- ranean abodes that Christian art had its beginnings. 534. The Abdication of Diocletian (a.d. 304). — After a prosperous reign of twenty years, becoming weary of the cares of state, Diocletian abdicated the throne and forced or induced his col- league Maximian also to lay down his authority on the same day. Galerius and Constantius were, by this act, advanced to the purple and made Augusti ; and two new associates were appointed as Csesars. Diocletian, having thus enjoyed the extreme satisfaction of see- ing the imperial authority quietly and successfully transmitted by his system, without the dictation of the insolent prnetorians or the interference of the turbulent legionaries, now retired to his country seat at Salona, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic, and there devoted himself to rural pursuits. It is related that, when Max- imian wrote him urging him to endeavor with him to regain the power they had laid aside, he replied, " Were you but to come to Salona and see the cabbages which I raise in my garden with my own hands, you would no longer talk to me of empire." Fig. 168. — Christ as the Good Shepherd (From the Catacombs) 524 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE II. Reign of Constantine the Great (a.d. 306-337) 535. The Battle of the Milvian Bridge (a.d. 312) ; "In this Sign conquer." — (ialeiius and Constantius, who became August! on the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, had reigned together only one year when the latter died at York, in Britain. His soldiers, disregarding the rule of succession as determined by the system of Diocletian, proclaimed his son Constantine emi)eror. Six competitors for the throne arose in different cjuarters. For eighteen years Constantine fought to gain the supremacy. One of the most important of the battles that took place between the contending rivals for the '-Kj imperial purple was the battle of the Milvian Bridge, about two miles from Rome, in which Maxentius, who was holding Italy and Africa, was defeated by Constantine. Constantine's standard on this celebrated battlefield was the Christian cross. He had been led to adopt this emblem through the appearance, as once he prayed to ■ ' '^'~ the sun-god, of a cross above the setting sun, with this inscription upon it : " In this sign con- quer." ^ Obedient unto the celestial vision, Constantine had at once made the cross his banner,* and it was beneath this new emblem that his soldiers marched to victory at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. Whatever may have been the circumstances or the motives which led Constantine to make the cross his standanl, this act of his constitutes a turning point in the history of the Roman I'lmpire, and esjjecially in that of the Christian Church. Christianity had come into the world as a religion of i)eace and good will. The Master had commanded his disciples to jnit up the sword, and had forbidden its use by them either in the spread or in the defense of 3 /« /loc sigito vhtces ; in Greek, iv tovtu v'lKa. * The new standard was called the Labarum (from the Celtic lavar, meaning command). It consisted of a banner inscrilxid witli the CJreek letters XP, the first being a symbol of the cross, and both forming a monogram of the word Christ. The letters are the initials of the Greek Cliristos. i CHRISTIANITY THE RELIGION OF THE COURT 525 the new faith. For three centuries now his followers had obeyed literally this injunction of the Founder of the Church, so that a Quaker, non-military spirit had up to this time characterized the new sect. By many of the early Christians the profession of arms had been declared to be incompatible with the Christian life. Now in a moment all this was changed. The most sacred emblem of the new faith was made a battle standard, and into the new religion was infused the military spirit of the imperial r 'Vv V l> Fig. 170. — Arch of Constantine at Rome, as it appears To-Day Erected by the Roman senate in commemoration of Constantine's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge government that had made that emblem the ensign of the state. From the day of the battle at the Milvian Bridge a martial spirit has animated the religion of the Prince of Peace. Since then, Christian warriors have often made the cross their battle stand- ard. This infusion into the Church of the military spirit of Rome was one of the most important consequences of the espousal of the Christian cause by the Emperor Constantine. 536. Constantine makes Christianity the Religion of the Court. — By a decree issued at Milan a.d. 313, the year after the battle at the Milvian Bridge, Constantine placed Christianity on an 526 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE equal footing with the other religions of the empire. The lan- guage of this famous edict of toleration, the Magna Charta, as it has been called, of the Church, was as follows: "We grant to Christians and to all others full liberty of following that religion which each may choose." But by subsequent edicts Constantine made Christianity in effect the state religion and extended to it a patronage which he withheld from the old pagan worship. By the year a.d. 321 he had granted the Christian societies the right to receive gifts and legacies, and he himself enriched the Church with donations of money and grants of land. This marks the beginning of the great possessions of the Church, and with these the entrance into it of a worldly spirit. From this moment can be traced the decay of its primitive simplicity and a decline from its early high moral standard. It is these deplorable results of the imperial patronage that Dante laments in his well-known lines : Ah, Constantine ! of how much ill was mother, Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower Which the first wealthy Father took from thee 1^ Another of Constantine's acts touching the new religion is of special historical interest and importance. He recognized the Christian Sunday, " the day of the sun," as a day of rest, forbid- ding ordinary work on that day, and ordering that Christian soldiers be then permitted to attend the services of their Church. This recognition by the civil authority of the Christian Sabbath meant much for the slave. Now, for the first time in the history of the Aryan peoples, the slave had one day of rest in each week. It was a good augury of the happier time coming when all the days should be his own. 537. The Church Council of Nicaea (a.d. 325). — With the view of harmonizing the different sects that had sprung up among the Christians, and to settle the controversy between the Arians and the Athanasians" respecting the nature of Christ, — the former '> Inferno, xix, 115-117. 6 The Arians were the followers of Arius, a presbyter of Alexandria in Egypt; the Athanasians, of Athanasius, archdeacon and later bishop of the same city, and the champion of the orthodox or Catholic view of the Trinity. CONSTANTINE FOUNDS CONSTANTINOPLE 527 denied his equality with God the Father, — Constantine called the first CEcumenical or General Council of the Church at Nicaea, a town of Asia Minor, a.d. 325. Arianism was denounced, and a formula of Christian faith adopted, which is known as the Nicene Creed. 538. Constantine founds Constantinople, the New Rome, on the Bosporus (a.d. 330). — After the recognition of Christianity, the most important act of Constantine was the selection of Byzantium, on the Bosporus, as the new capital of the empire. There were many and weighty reasons urging Constantine to establish a new •capital in the East. First, there were urgent military reasons for making the change. The most dangerous enemies of the empire now were the barba- rians behind the Danube and the kings of the recently restored Persian monarchy. This condition of things rendered almost necessary the establishment in the East of a new and permanent basis for military operations, and pointed to Byzantium, with its admirable strategic position, as the site, above all others, adapted to the needs of the imperiled empire. Second, there were also commercial reasons for the transfer of the capital. Rome had long before this ceased to be in any sense the commercial center of the state, as it was in early times. Through the Roman conquest of Greece and Asia, the center of the population, wealth, and commerce of the empire had shifted eastward. Now, of all the cities in the East, Byzantium was the one most favorably situated to become the commercial metroi)olis of the enlarged state. Third, there were religious motives. The ])riests of the pagan shrines particularly resented the action of Constantine in espous- ing the new and hated religion, and regarded him as an apostate. It was the existence of these sentiments and feelings among the inhabitants of Rome, which, for one thing, led Constantine to seek elsewhere a new center and seat for his court and government. But far outweighing all other reasons for the removal of the capital were the political motives. Constantine, like Diocletian, wished to establish a system of government modeled upon the 528 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE despotic monarchy of the East. Now, the traditions, the feelings, the temper of the population of Rome constituted the very worst basis conceivable for such a political system. The Romans could not forget — never did forget — that they had once been masters and rulers of the world. Even after they had become wholly unfit to rule themselves, let alone the ruling of others, they still retained the temper and used the language of masters. Con- stantine wisely determined to seek in the submissive and servile populations of the East, always accustomed to the rendering of obsequious homage to their rulers, a firm basis for the structure of that absolute monarchy the foundations of which had been laid by his predecessor Diocletian. The site for the new capital having been determined upon, the artistic and material resources of the whole Gr^co-Roman world were called into requisition to create upon the spot a city worthy its predestined fortunes. The imperial invitation and the attrac- tions of the court induced multitudes to crowd into the new capital, so that almost in a day the old Byzantium grew into a great city. In honor of the emperor the name was changed to Constantinople, the " City of Constantine." The old Rome on the Tiber, emptied of its leading inhabitants, soon sank to the obscure j^osition of a jjrovincial town. 539. The Reorganization of the Government Another of Constantine's important acts was the reorganization of the gov- ernment. In this great reform he seems to have followed, in the main, the broad lines drawn by Diocletian, so that his work may be regarded as a continuation of that of his predecessor. To aid in the administration of the government, Constantine laid out the empire into four great divisions called prefectures,' whi( h were subdivided into thirteen dioceses, and these again into one hundred and sixteen provinces. The purjiose that Constantine had in view in laying the empire out in so many and such small ])rovinces was to diminish the power of the provincial governors, and thus make it imjwssible ' See accompanying map. These prefectural divisions were essentially a per- petuation of the fourfold division of the empire that had been made by Diocletian. • '0->7 Sarons "luto I R M W N Y O F r JMihA .^i J^arbo Pplle A^^ Mfesdiia CORSICA l/V ? .-^t.* B^^' K*' CaithajJ yenna'\^ "|l\ ~^Flo^. *i V^). ) < \ (* V ' \ I * V XLnoiwc^ Ost^^^J^I *V^ ^ »M, r ■% 4>-*'^:^Ji . V. sicar /^i )6 ^-T Syii a ^- A N THE ROMAN EMPIRE UI VIDEO INTO PREFECTURES THE IMPERIAL COURT 529 for them to raise successfully the standard of revolt. The records of the empire show that during the one hundred and fifty years immediately preceding the accession of Constantine, almost one hundred governors of provinces had ventured to rebel against the imperial authority. To give still further security to the throne, Constantine divided the civil and military powers, appointing two different sets of persons in each of the larger and smaller divisions of the state, the one set to represent the civil and the other the military authority.** But this dual administrative system had its drawbacks. The great number of officials needed to man and work the compli- cated system increased greatly the expenses of the government, and made necessary the laying of still heavier burdens of taxation upon the already overburdened people. 540. The Imperial Court. — Perhaps we cannot better intlicate the new relation to the empire into which the head of the Roman state was brought by the innovations of Diocletian and Constan- tine than by saying that the empire now became the private estate of the sovereign and was managed just as any great Roman proprietor managed his domain. The imperial household and the entire civil service of the government were simjily such a proprietor's domestic establishment drawn on a large scale and given an Oriental cast through the influence of the courts of Asia. This imperial court or establishment was, next after the body of the Roman law and the municipal system, the most important historical product that the old Roman world transmitted to the later nations of Europe. It became the model of the court of Charlemagne and the later emperors of the so-called Holy Roman Empire ; and in the form that it reappeared here was copied by all the sovereigns of modern Europe. 541. The Pagan Restoration under Julian the Apostate (a.d. 361-363). — Constantine transmitted his authority to his three sons, Constans, Constantius, and Constantine. This parceling out of the empire led to strife and wars, which at the end of six- teen years left Constantius master of the whole. He reigned as 8 Some authorities attribute this reform to Diocletian. 530 DIOCLETIAN AND CONSTANTINE sole emperor for about eight years, engaged in ceaseless warfare with German tribes in the West and with the Persians ^ in the East. Constantius was followed by his cousin Julian, called the Apos- tate because he abandoned Christianity and labored to restore the pagan faith. In his earlier years Julian had been carefully nurtured in the doctrines of the new religion ; but later, in the schools of Athens and of other cities where he pursued his studies, he came under the influence of pagan teachers and his faith in Christian doctrines was undermined, while at the same time he conceived a great enthusiasm for the teachings of the Neoplato- nists, and an unbounded admiration for the culture of ancient Hellas. Julian, in his efforts to restore paganism, did not resort to direct persecution. Several things stood in the way of his doing this. First, his own philosophic and humane disposition forbade him in such a controversy to employ force as a means of persuasion. Second, the number of the Christians was now so great that measures of coercion could not be employed without creating dangerous disorder and disaffection. Third, resort could not be had to the old means of persuasion, — "the sword, the fire, the lions," — for the reason that, under the softening influences of the very faith Julian sought to extirpate, the Roman world had already become imbued with a gentleness and humanity that rendered morally impossible the renewal of the Neronian and Diocletian persecutions. Julian's chief weapon was the pen, for he was a writer and satirist of no mean talent. It was in vain that the apostate emi)eror labored to uproot the new faith ; for the purity of its teachings, the universal and eter- nal character of its moral precepts, had given it a name to live. Equally in vain were his efforts to restore the worship of the old Greek and Roman divinities. Polytheism was a form of religious belief which the world had now outgrown : Great Pan was dead. 9 The great Parthian Empire, which had been such a formidable antagonist of Rome, was, after an existence of five centuries, overthrown (a.d. 226) by a revolt of the Persians, and the New Persian or Sassanian monarchy establislied. This empire lasted till the country was overrun by the Saracens in the seventh century a.d. REFERENCES 53r The disabilities under whicli Julian had placed the Christians were removed by his successor Jovian (a.d. 363-364). In the army the old pagan standards were replaced by the Labarum, and Christianity was again made the religion of the imperial court. Selections from the Sources. — Translations and Reprints (Univ. of Penn.), vol. iv, No. i. Read " Edicts of Diocletian " and " Edict of Tolera- tion by Galerius." References (Modern). — Mason, The Persecution of Diocletian, chap, iii, " Motives of the Persecution." MiLMAN, The History of Christianity, vol. ii, bk. ii, chap, ix, " The Persecution under Diocletian " ; and bk. iii, chaps, i-iv. Gibbon, chap, xv, " The Progress of the Christian Religion and the Sentiments, Numbers, and Condition of the Primitive Christians"; and chap, xvii, on the founding of Constantinople and the form of the govern- ment. Bury, Later Roman Empire, bk. i, chap. iv. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, pp. 551-557- Uhlhorn, Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism, bk. iii, chap. i. BoiSSlER, Rome and Pompeii, chap, iii, " The Catacombs." Stanley, Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, lects. ii-v, for the history of the Council of Nicaea, 325 B.C. ; and lect. vi, for events concerning the Church during the reign of the Emperor Con- stantine. Seeley, Roman Imperialism, lect. iii, " The Later Empire." Oman, The Story of the Byzantine Empire, pp. 13-30; on the founding of Constantinople. Carr, The Church and Roman Empire, chap, iv, " Con- stantine"; and chap, v, "The Council of Nicasa — Athanasius." Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, chap. i. Newman, 77^1? Arians of the Fourth Century, chap, iii, " The Ecumenical Council of Nicasa." Topics for Special Study. — i. The two types of government, — the free popular government of the classical peoples and the Asiatic absolute monarchy. 2. The Diocletian persecution of the Christians. 3. The Chris- tian Sabbath. 4. The Council of Nica;a. 5. The founding of Constanti- nople. 6. Julian and the pagan restoration. CHAPTER XLIX THE LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST (A.D. 376-476) 542. Introductory: the Germans and Christianity. — Thus far in the history of the empire we have, for the most i)art, made the reigns of the emperors the framework of our narrative. We shall no longer follow this i)lan, for during the last century of the impe- rial period very few of the occupants of the throne were men of sufficient force or character to exert any influence upon the move- ment of events. To subdivide the period according to the length of their reigns would be an arbitrary and meaningless procedure. It will be more instructi\e for us to turn our eyes away from the imperial throne and to notice what were the actual forces that were giving the events of the period their shape and course. These were the German barbarians and Christianity, — the two most vital elements in the Grceco-Roman world of the fifth century. They had, centuries before this, as we have seen, come into certain relations to the Roman government and to Roman life ; but during the ])eriod lying immediately before us they assumed an altogether new historical interest and importance. The two main matters, then, which will claim our attention during the century yet remaining for our study, will be ( i ) the struggle between the dying em])ire and the young German races of the North ; and (2) the final triumph of Christianity, through the aid of the temporal power, over ex])iring paganism. 543. The Goths cross the Danube (a.u. 376). — The year 376 of the Christian era marks an event of the greatest importance in the ICast. The Visigoths (Western (ioths) dwelling north of the J>ower Danube, who had often in hostile bands crossed that river to war against the Roman emjjerors, now appeared as suppliants 532 THE GOTHS CROSS THE DANUBE 533 in vast multitudes upon its banks. They saitl that a terrible race, whom they were powerless to withstand, had invaded their terri- tories and spared neither their homes nor their lives. They begged permission of the Romans to cross the river and settle in Thrace, and promised, should this recjuest be granted, ever to remain the grateful and firm allies of the Roman state. The Eastern emperor, Valens,^ consented to grant their petition on condition that they should surrender their arms and give up their children as hostages. Their terror and despair led them to assent to these conditions. So the entire nation, numbering about one million souls, — counting men, women, and children, — were allowed to cross the river. Several days and nights were con- sumed in the transport of the vast multitudes. The writers of the times liken the passage to that of the Hellespont by the hosts of Xerxes. The enemy that had so terrified the Goths were the Huns, a monstrous race of fierce nomadic horsemen from the vast steppes of Asia. They were of a different race (the "Turanian") from that to which the Greeks and Romans and Germans belonged. Their features were hideous, their noses being flattened, and their cheeks gashed, to render their appearance more frightful as well as to prevent the growth of a beard. Even the Goths called them " barbarians." Scarcely had the fugitive A'isigoths been received within the limits of the empire before a large company of their kinsmen, the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths), also driven from their homes hy the same terrible Huns, crowded to the banks of the Danube and jjleaded that they might be allowed, as their countrymen had been, to place the river between themselves and their dreaded enemies. But Yalens, becoming alarmed at the presence of so many barbarians within his dominions, refused their request; whereupon they, dreading the fierce and imj^lacable foe behind more than the wrath of the Roman emperor in front, crossed the river with arms in their hands. 1 Valens (a.d. 364-378). Valentinian (a.d. 364-375). emperor of the West, had just died, and been succeeded by Gratian (a.d. 375-3^3)- 534 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE Once within the empire they, joined by their Visigothic kins- men, soon began to overrun and ravage the Danubian provinces. Valens dispatched swift messengers to Gratian, emperor in the West, asking for assistance against the foe he had so unfortunately admitted within the limits of the empire. Meanwhile, he rallied all his forces, and, without awaiting the arrival of the Western legions, imprudently risked a battle with the barbarians near Adrianople. The Roman army was almost annihilated and Valens himself was killed (a.d. 378). The Goths now rapidly overran Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, ravaging the country up to the walls of Constantinople. Gratian was hurrying to the help of his colleague Valens when news of his defeat and death at the hands of the barbarians was brought to him. He at once appointed as his associate Theodosius (a.d. 379-395), known afterwards as the Great, and intrusted him with the government of the Eastern provinces. Theodosius, by wise and vigorous measures, quickly reduced the Goths to sub- mission. Great multitudes of the Visigoths were settled upon the waste lands of Thrace, while the Ostrogoths were scattered in various colonies in different regions of Asia Minor. The Goths became allies of the emperor of the East, and more than forty thousand of these warlike barbarians, who were destined to be the subverters of the empire, were enlisted in the imperial legions. 544. The Disestablishment of the Sacred Colleges; the Prohibi- tion of the Pagan Cults. — Both Ciratian and Theodosius were zealous chamjjions of the orthodox Church, and a large portion of the edicts issued during their joint reign had for aim the uprooting of heresy or the suppression of the pagan worship. Gratian at his accession had taken away from the sacred colleges at Rome (sec. 386) their endowments and had caused to cease the payment of salaries to the members of these bodies. As places in these associations were held by the senators, the confis- cation of the ])ro]jerty of the colleges dealt paganism a heavy blow by bringing it about that the pagan party in the senate should no longer have a personal and material interest in main- taining the an<;ient religion. ^IZ ji CRETE ^!a=;:::^^j:ijf ^^ A JS- REFERENCE. - First inroad of Huns Second " " Vandals — - Visigoths Ostrogoths — ^— J,- Franks — • — ■ ■ J utes and Saxons Jer«s=' =[J * from THEODOSIUS THE GREAT 535 The final blow to the old religion was given through the posi- tive prohibition of the pagan cults. Speaking generally, from the accession of Constantine down to the time which we have now reached, the pagans had been allowed full toleration of worship. There was, during this period, what we call religious liberty, but not perfect religious equality ; for some of the Christian emperors favored their own faith in their legislation and in their appoint- ments to office. But now paganism from being a tolerated became a proscribed religion. It was Theodosius the Great who, by his effective measures against heathenism, earned the title of " the Destroyer of Pagan- ism." At first he simply placed the pagans under many dis- abilities, but finally he made it a crime for any one to practice any pagan cult, or even to enter a temple. In the year a.d. 392 even the private worship of the Lares and Penates was prohibited. The struggle between Christianity and heathenism was now virtu- ally ended — and the "Galilean" had conquered. Pagan rites, however, were practiced secretly long after this. Especially did the old home cults of the Lares and Penates linger on in the country districts, from which circumstance the term " pagan " (from pagattus, the dweller in a pagiis or "village") came to indicate a follower of the ancient idolatry. 545. Theodosius the Great and Bishop Ambrose of Milan. — A memorable incident, illustrative of the influence of the new religion that was now fast taking the place of paganism, marks the reign of Theodosius the Great. In a sedition caused by the arrest and imprisonment of a favorite charioteer, the people of Thessalonica, in Macedonia, had murdered the general and several ofificers of the imperial garrison in that place (a.d. 390). When intelligence of the event reached Theodosius, who was at Milan, his hasty temper broke through all restraint, and, moved by a spirit of savage vengeance, he ordered an indiscriminate slaughter of the inhabitants of Thessalonica. The command was obeyed and at least seven thousand persons perished. Shortly after the massacre, the emperor, as he was entering the door of the cathedral at Milan where he was wont to worship, 536 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE was met at the threshold by the pious Bishop Ambrose, who, in the name of the God of justice and mercy, forbade him to enter the sacred place until he had done public penance for his awful crime. The commander of all the Roman legions was constrained to obey the unarmed pastor. In penitential garb and attitude Theodosius made public confession of his sin and humbly under- went the penance imposed by the Church. This passage of history is notewortliy as marking a stadium in the moral progress of humanity. It made manifest how with Christianity a new moral force had entered the world, how a sort of new and universal tribunician authority ^ had arisen in society to interpose, in the name of justice and humanity, between the weak and the defenseless and their self-willed and arbitrary rulers. 546. Final Division of the Empire (a.d. 395). — The Roman world was united practically for the last time under Theodosius the Great. From a.d. 392 to 395 he ruled as sole emperor. Just before his death he divided the empire between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, assigning the former, who was only eighteen years of age, the government of the East, and giving the latter, a mere child of eleven, the sovereignty of the West. This division was not to affect the unity of the empire. There was to be but one empire, although there were to be two emperors. But as a matter of fact so different was the course of events in the two halves of the old empire that from this on we shall find it convenient to trace the history of each division separately. 547. The Empire in the East. — The story of the fortunes of the Empire in the East need not detain us long at this point of our history. The line of Eastern emperors lasted over a thousand years — until the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, a.d. 1453. It will thus be seen that the greater part of its history belongs to the mediaeval period. Up to the time of the overthrow of the Emjnre in the West the emperors of the East were engaged almost incessantly in suppressing uprisings of their Gothic allies or mercenaries, or in repelling invasions of different barbarian tribes. Frequently during this period, in order to save their own 2 Compare sec. 402. FIRST INVASION. OF ITALY BY ALARIC 537 territories, they, by dishonorable inducements, persuaded the bar- barians to direct their ravaging expeditions against the provinces of the West. 548. First Invasion of Italy by Alaric (a.d. 402-403). — Only a few years had elapsed after the death of the great Theodosius before the barbarians were trooping in vast hordes through all parts of the empire. First, from Thrace and Mcjesia came the Visigoths, led by the great Alaric. They poured through the Pass of Thermopylae and devastated almost the entire peninsula of Greece; but being driven from that country by Stilicho, the renowned Vandal general of Honorius, they crossed the Julian Alps and spread terror throughout all Italy. Stilicho followed the barbarians cautiously, and, attacking them at a favorable moment, inflicted a terrible and double defeat upon them at Pollentia and Verona (a.d. 402-403). The captured camp was found filled with the spoils of Thebes, Corinth, and Sparta. Gathering the remnants of his shattered army, Alaric forced his way with difficulty through the defiles of the Alps and escaped. 549. Last Triumph at Rome (a.d. 404). — A terrible danger had been averted. All Italy burst forth in expressions of grati- tude and joy. The days of the Cimbri and Teutones were recalled, and the name of Stilicho was pronounced along with that of Marius (sec. 469). A magnificent triumph at Rome celebrated the victory and the deliverance. It was the last triumph that Rome ever saw. Three hundred times — such is asserted to be the number — the Imperial City had witnessed the triumphal procession of her victorious generals, celebradng conquests in all quarters of the world. 550. Last Gladiatorial Combat of the Amphitheater. — The same year that marks the last military triumph at Rome signalizes also the last gladiatorial combat in the Roman amphitheater. It is to Christianity that the credit of the suppression of these inhuman exhibitions is entirely, or almost entirely, due. The pagan philos- ophers usually regarded them with indifference, often with favor. Thus Pliny commends a friend for giving a gladiatorial entertain- ment at the funeral of his wife. And when the pagan moralists 538 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE did condemn the spectacles, it was rather for other reasons than that they regarded them as inhuman and absolutely contrary to the rules of ethics. They were defended on the ground that they fostered a martial spirit among the people and inured the soldiers to the sights of the battlefield. Hence gladiatorial games were sometimes actually exhibited to the legions before they set out on their campaigns. But the Christian Fathers denounced the combats as absolutely immoral, and labored in every possible way to create a public opinion against them. The members of their own body who attended the spectacles were excommunicated. At length, in A.D. 325, the first imperial edict against them was issued by Con- stantine. This decree appears to have been very little regarded ; nevertheless, from this time forward the exhibitions were under something of a ban, until their final abolition was brought about by an incident of the games that closed the triumph of Honorius. In the midst of the exhibition a Christian monk, named Telem- achus, descending into the arena, rushed between the combat- ants, but was instantly killed by a shower of missiles thrown by the people, who were angered by his interruption of their sports. The people, however, soon repented of their act ; and Honorius himself, who was present, was moved by the scene. Christianity had awakened the conscience and touched the heart of Rome. The martyrdom of the monk led to an imperial edict " which abolished forever the human sacrifices of the amphitheater." 551. Invasion of Italy by Various German Tribes under Rada- gaisus (a.d. 405—406). — While Italy was celebrating her triumph over the Goths, another and more formidable invasion was pre- paring in the North. The tribes beyond the Rhine, — the Van- dals, the Suevi, the Burgundians, and other peoples, — driven onward by some unknown cause, poured in impetuous streams from the forests and morasses of Germany, and, breaking through the barriers of the Alps, overspread the plains of Italy. The alarm caused by them among the Italians was even greater than that ins])ired by the Gothic invasion ; for Alaric was a Christian, while Radagaisus, the leader of the new hordes, was a superstitious THE RANSOM OF ROME 539 savage, who paid worship to gods that required the bloody sacrifice of captive enemies. By such efforts as Rome put forth in the younger and more vigorous days of the repubUc when Hannibal was at her gates, an army was now equipped and placed under the command of Stilicho. Meanwhile the barbarians had advanced as far as Florence, and were now besieging that place. Stilicho here surrounded the vast host — variously estimated from two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand men — and starved them into a surrender. Their chief, Radagaisus, was put to death, and great numbers of the barbarians that the sword and famine had spared were sold as slaves (a.d. 406). 552. The Ransom of Rome (a.d. 409). — Shortly after the victory of Stilicho over the German barbarians, he came under the suspicion of the weak and jealous Honorius, and was executed. Thus fell the great general whose sword and counsel had twice saved Rome from the barbarians, and who might again have averted similar dangers that were now at hand. Listening to the rash counsel of his unworthy advisers, Honorius provoked to revolt the thirty thousand Gothic mercenaries in the Roman legions by a massacre of their wives and children, who were held as hostages in the different cities of Italy. The Goths beyond the Alps joined with their kinsmen to avenge the perfidious act. Alaric again crossed the mountains, and, pillaging the cities in his way, led his hosts to the very gates of Rome. Not since the time of the dread Hannibal (sec. 445) — more than six hundred years before this — had Rome been insulted by the presence of a foreign foe beneath her walls. The barbarians by their vast numbers were enabled to com- pletely surround the city, and thus cut it off from its supplies of food. Famine soon forced the Romans to sue for terms of sur- render. The ambassadors of the senate, when they came before Alaric, began, in lofty language, to warn him not to render the Romans desperate by hard or dishonorable terms : their fury when driven to despair, they represented, was terrible, and their number enormous. "The thicker the grass, the easier to mow it," was 540 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE Alaric's derisive reply. The barbarian chieftain at length named the ransom that he would accept and spare the city. Small as it comparatively was, the Romans were able to raise it only by the most extraordinary measures. The images of the gods were first stripped of their ornaments of gold and precious stones, and finally the statues themselves were melted down. 553. Sack of Rome by Alaric (a.d. 410). — Upon retiring from Rome, Alaric established his camp in Etruria. Here he was joined by great numbers of fugitive slaves and by fresh accessions of barbarians from beyond the Alps. The chieftain now demanded for his followers lands of Honorius, who, with his court, was safe behind the marshes of Ravenna ; but the emperor treated all the proposals of the barbarian with foolish insolence. Rome paid the penalty. Alaric turned upon the city, resolved upon its sack and plunder. The barbarians broke into the capital by night, " and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet." Precisely eight hundred years had passed since its sack by the Gauls (sec. 413). During that time the Imperial City had carried its victorious standards over three continents, and had gathered within the temples of its gods and the palaces of its nobles the plunder of the world. Now it was given over for a sjjoil to the fierce tribes from beyond the Danube. Alaric commanded his soldiers to respect the lives of the people, and to leave untouched the treasures of the Christian churches ; but the wealth of the citizens he permitted them to make their own. For six days and nights the rough barbarians trooped through the streets of the city on their mission of pillage. Their wagons were heaped with the costly furniture, the rich plate, and the silken garments stripped from the palace of the Caesars and the residences of the wealthy patricians. Amidst the license of the sack, the barbarian instincts of the robbers broke loose from all restraint, and the streets of the city were wet with blood, while the nights were lighted by burning buildings. 554. Effects of the Disaster upon Paganism. — The overwhelm- ing disaster that had befallen the Imjjerial City ])roduced a profound impression upon both pagans and Christians throughout the Roman THE DEATH OF ALARIC 541 world. The pagans asserted that these unutterable calamities had overtaken the Roman people because of their abandonment of the worship of the gods of their forefathers, under whose protection and favor Rome had become the mistress of the world. The Christians, on the other hand, saw in the fall of the city the fulfillment of the prophecies of their Scriptures against the Babylon of the Apocalypse. It was this interpretation of the appalling 'calamity that gained credit amidst the panic and despair of the times. " Henceforth," says the historian Merivale, " the power of paganism was entirely broken, and the indications which occasionally meet us of its continued existence are rare and trifling. Christianity stepped into its deserted inheritance." 555. The Death of Alaric (a.d. 410). — After withdrawing his warriors from Rome, Alaric led them southward. As they moved slowly on, they piled still higher the wagons of their long trains with the rich spoils of the cities and villas of Campania and other districts of Southern Italy. In the villas of the Roman nobles the barbarians spread rare banquets from the stores of their well-filled cellars, and drank from jeweled cups the famed Falernian wine. Alaric led his soldiers to the extreme southern point of Italy, intending to cross the straits of Messina into Sicily, and, after sub- duing that island, to carry his conquests into the provinces of Africa. His designs were frustrated by his death, which occurred A.D. 410. With religious care his followers secured the body of their hero against molestation by his enemies. The little river Busentinus, in Northern Bruttium, was turned from its course with great labor, and in the bed of the stream was constructed a tomb, in which was placed the body of the king, with his jewels and tro- phies. The river was then restored to its old channel, and, that the exact spot might never be known, the prisoners who had been forced to do the work were all put to death. 556. The Disintegration of the Empire and the Beginnings of the Barbarian Kingdoms (a.d. 410-451).=' — We must now turn 3 We choose these dates for the reason that they set off the interval between two great events, namely, the sack of Rome by Alaric (sec. 553) and the battle of Chalons (sec. 557). 542 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE our eyes from Rome and Italy in order to watch the movement of events in the western provinces of the empire. During the forty years following the sack of Rome by Alaric, the German tribes seized the greater part of these provinces and established in them what are known as the " Barbarian Kingdoms." The Goths who had pillaged Rome and Italy, after the death of their great chieftain Alaric, under the lead of his successors, recrossed the Alps, and establishing their camps in the south of Gaul and the north of Spain, set up finally in those regions what is known as the Kingdom of the Visigoths or West Goths. While the Goths were making these migrations and settlements, a kindred but less civilized tribe, the Vandals, moving from their seat in Pannonia, traversed Gaul, crossed the Pyrenees into Spain, and there occupied for a time a large tract of country, which in its present name of Andalusia preserves the memory of its bar- barian settlers. Then they crossed the straits of Gibraltar, over- threw the Roman authority in all Northern Africa, and made Carthage the seat of a short-lived but dreaded corsair empire (a.d. 439). About this same time the Burgundians, who, like the Vandals, were close kin of the Goths, partly by negotiations with the Romans and partly by force of arms, established themselves in Southeastern Gaul and laid there the basis of what is called the Kingdom of the Burgundians. A portion of the region occupied by these Ger- man settlers still retains from them the name of Burgundy. Meanwhile the Franks, who about a century before the sack of Rome by Alaric had made their first settlement in Roman terri- tory west of the Rhine, were increasing in numbers and in author- ity, and were laying l\\z basis of what after the fall of Rome was to become known as the Kingdom of the Franks, — the beginning of the French nation of to-day. But the most important of all the setdements of the barbarians was being made in the remote province of Britain. In his efforts to defend Italy against her barbarian invaders, Stilicho had with- drawn the last legion from Britain, and had thus left unguarded the Hadrian Wall in the North (sec. 520) and the long coast line INVASION OF THE HUNS 543 facing the continent. The Picts of Caledonia, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the guardians of the province, swarmed over the unsentineled rampart and pillaged the fields and towns of the South. The half- Romanized and effeminate provincials — no match for their hardy kinsmen who had never bowed their necks to the yoke of Rome — were driven to despair by the ravages of their relentless enemies, and, in their helplessness, invited to their aid the Angles and Saxons from the shores of the North Sea. These people came in their rude boats, drove back the invaders, and, being pleased with the soil and climate of the island, took pos- session of the country for themselves and became the ancestors of the English people. 557. Invasion of the Huns; Battle of Chalons (a.d. 451). — The barbarians that were thus overrunning and parceling out the inheritance of the dying empire were now in turn pressed upon and terrified by a foe more hideous and dreadful in their eyes than were they in the sight of the peoples among whom they had thrust themselves. These were the non-Aryan Huns, of whom we have already caught a glimpse as they drove the panic-stricken Goths across the Danube (sec. 543). At this time their leader was Attila, whom the affrighted inhabitants of Europe called the ''Scourge of God." It was Attila's boast that the grass never grew again where once the hoof of his horse had trod. Attila defeated the armies of the Eastern emperor and exacted tribute from the court of Constantinople. Finally he turned west- ward, and, at the head of a host numbering, it is asserted, seven hundred thousand warriors, crossed the Rhine into Gaul, purposing first to ravage that province and then to traverse Italy with fire and sword, in order to destroy the last vestige of the Roman power. The Romans and their German conquerors united to make common cause against the common enemy. The Visigoths were rallied by their king, Theodoric ; the Italians, the Franks, the Bur- gundians flocked to the standard of the able Roman general Aetius.^ Attila drew up his mighty hosts upon the plain of 4 Aetius has been called " the last of the Romans." For twenty years previous to this time he had been the upholder of the imperial authority in GauL 544 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE Chalons, in the north of Gaul, and there awaited the onset of the Romans and their allies. The conflict was long and terrible. Theodoric was slain ; but at last fortune turned against the barba- rians. The loss of the Huns is variously estimated at from one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand warriors. Attila suc- ceeded in escaping from the field and retreated with his shattered hosts across the Rhine (a.d. 451). This great victory is placed among the significant events of his- tory ; for it decided that the Christian German folk, and not the pagan Scythic Huns, should inherit the dominions of the expiring Roman Empire and control the destinies of Europe. 558. Attila threatens Rome; his death (a.d. 453?). — The year after his defeat at Chalons, Attila crossed the Alps and burned or plundered all the important cities of Northern Italy. The Veneti fled for safety to the morasses at the head of the Adriatic (a.d. 452). Upon the islets where they built their rude dwellings there grew up in time the city of Venice, " the eldest daughter of the Roman Empire," the " Carthage of the Middle Ages." The barbarians threatened Rome ; but Leo the Great, bishop of the capital, went with an embassy to the camp of Attila and pleaded for the city. He recalled to the mind of Attila how death had overtaken the impious Alaric soon after he had given the Imperial City as a spoil to his warriors, and warned him not to call down upon himself the like judgment of Heaven. To these admonitions of the Christian bishop was added the per- suasion of a bribe from the emperor, Valentinian ; and Attila was induced to spare Southern Italy and to lead his warriors back beyond the Alps. Shortly after he had crossed the Danube he died sud- denly in his camp, and like Alaric was buried secretly. His fol- lowers gradually withdrew from Eurojje into the wilds of their native Scythia, or were absorbed by the peoples they had conquered. 559. Sack of Rome by the Vandals (a.d. 455) Rome had been saved a visitation from the spoiler of the North, but a new destruction was about to burst upon it by way of the sea from the South. Africa sent out another enemy whose greed for plun- der proved more fatal to Rome than the eternal hate of Hannibal. SACK OF ROME BY THE VANDALS 545 The kings of the Vandal empire in Northern Africa had acquired as perfect a supremacy in the Western Mediterranean as Carthage ever enjoyed in the days of her commercial pride. Vandal cor- sairs swept the seas and harassed the coasts of Sicily and Italy, and even plundered the maritime towns of the provinces of the Roman Empire in the East. In the year 455 a Vandal fleet led by the dread Geiseric (Genseric) sailed up the Tiber. Panic seized the people, for the name Vandal was pronounced with terror throughout the world. Again the great Leo, who had once before saved his flock from the fury of Attila, went forth to intercede in the name of Christ for the Imperial City. Gei- seric granted to the pious bishop the lives of the citizens, but said that the movable property of the capital belonged to his warriors. For fourteen days and nights the city was given over to the ruthless barbarians. The ships of the Vandals, which almost hid with their number the waters of the Tiber, were piled, as had been the wagons of the Goths before them (sec. 553), with the rich and weighty spoils of the capital. Palaces were stripped of their ornaments and furniture, and the walls of the temples denuded of the trophies of a hundred Roman victories.^ From the Capitoline sanctuary were borne off the golden candle- stick and other sacred articles that Titus had stolen from the temple at Jerusalem (sec. 515). The greed of the barbarians was sated at last, and they were ready to withdraw. The Vandal fleet sailed for Carthage,® bear- ing, besides the plunder of the city, more than thirty thou- sand of the inhabitants as slaves. Carthage, through her own barbarian conquerors, was at last avenged upon her hated rival. The mournful presentiment of Scipio had fallen true (sec. 460). The cruel fate of Carthage might have been read again in the pillaged city that the Vandals left behind them. 5 It would seem that, in some instances at least, after the closing of the temples to the pagan worship, many of the sacred things, such as war trophies, were left undisturbed in the edifices where they had been placed during pagan times. 6 " The golden candlestick reached the African capital, was recovered a century later, and lodged in Constantinople by Justinian, and by him replaced, from super- stitious motives, in Jerusalem. From that time its history is lost."— Merivale. 546 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE 560. End of the Roman Empire in the West (a.d. 476). — Only the shadow of the Empire in the West now remained. All the provinces — Illyricum, Gaul, Britain, Spain, and Africa — were in the hands of the Goths, the Vandals, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Angles and Saxons, and various other intruding tribes. Italy, as well as Rome herself, had become again and again the spoil of the barbarians. The story of the twenty years following the sack of the capital by Geiseric affords only a repe- tition of the events we have been narrating. During the years from a.d. 456 to 472 the real ruler in Italy was a Sueve, named Count Ricimer. He set up four emperors. Upon his death a Pannonian by the name of Orestes deposed the emperor then on the throne and placed the impeiial crown upon the head of his own son, a child of only six years. By what has been called a freak of fortune this boy-sovereign bore the name of Romulus Augustus, thus uniting in the name of the last Roman emperor of the West the names of the founder of Rome and the establisher of the empire. He became known as Augustulus — " the little Augustus." He reigned only one year, when Odoacer, the leader of the Heruli, a small but formidable German tribe, having demanded one third of the lands of Italy to divide among his followers for services rendered the empire and having been refused, put Orestes to death and dethroned the child-emperor. The Roman senate now sent to Constantinople an embassy with the royal vestments and the insignia of the imperial office to represent to the Eastern emperor Zeno that the West was will- ing to give up its claims to an emperor of its own, and to request that the Cierman chief, with the title of " patrician," might rule Italy as his viceroy. This was granted ; and Italy now became in effect a province of the Empire in the East (a.d. 476). 561. The Import of the Break-up of the Roman Empire in the "West. — The destruction of the Roman Empire in the West by the German barbarians is one of the most momentous events in history. It marks a turning point in the fortunes of mankind. The revolution brought it about that for a long time the lamp of culture burned with lessened light. It brought in the so-called IMPORT OF THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 547 " Dark Ages." During this period the new race was slowly lifting itself to the level of culture that the Greeks and Romans had attained. But the revolution meant much besides disaster and loss. It meant the enrichment of civilization through the incoming of a new and splendidly endowed race. Within the empire during several centuries three of the most vital elements of civilization, the Greek, the Roman, and the Christian, had been gradually blend- ing. Now was added a fourth factor, the Germanic. It is this element which has had very much to do in making modern civ- ilization richer and more progressive than any preceding one. The downfall of the Roman imperial government in the West was, further, an event of immense significance in the political world for the reason that it rendered possible the growth in Western Europe of several nations or states in place of the single empire. Another consequence of the fall of the Roman power in the West was the development of the Papacy. In the absence of an emperor in the ^^'est the popes rapidly gained influence and power, and soon built up an ecclesiastical empire that in some respects took the place of the old empire and carried on its civilizing work. Selections from the Sources. — Tacitus, Germania ; the most valuable original account that we possess of the life and manners of our German ancestors about the first century of our era. References (Modern). — Hodgkin, Italy and her Livaders, vols, i and ii ; on the Visigothic, the Hunnish, and the Vandal invasion. Pelham, Outlines of Roman History, pp. 557-572. Mtt.man, The History of Chris- tianity, vol. iii. Dill, Roman Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire. A book of unsui-passed value. Curteis, History of the Roman Empire (from A.D. 395 to 800), chaps, vi-ix. GiBBON, chap, ix, "The State of Germany till the Invasion of the Barbarians in the time of the Emperor Decius." Church, The Beginnings of the Middle Ages; read the Introduction and chap. i. Cutts, Saint Atignstine. Carr, The Church and the Roman Empire, chap, xiii, " The Fall of Paganism"; and chap xviii, « Alaric and the Goths." Freeman, The Three Chief Periods of European History, lect. iii, "Rome and the New Nations." KiNGSLEY, The Roman and The Teuton, lects. i-iii. Creasy, Decisive Battles of the World, chap, vi, " The Battle of Chalons, A.D. 451." Emerton, An Intro- duction to the Study of the Middle Ages, chaps, ii and iii. These chapters 548 LAST CENTURY OF THE EMPIRE cover admirably the following subjects *" The Two Races," "The Break- ing of the Frontier by the Visigoths," and " The Invasion of the Huns." For the causes of the failure of the Empire in the West, see the following: HoDGKiN, Italy and her Invaders, vol. ii, pp. 532-613, " Causes of the Fall of the Western Empire." Seeley, Roman Itnperialism, lect. ii, pp. 37-64, " The Proximate Causes of the Fall of the Roman Empire " ; and Bury, A History of the Later Roman Etnpire, vol. i, chap, iii, " Elements of Dis- integration in the Roman Empire." Bury makes slavery, oppressive taxa- tion, the importation of barbarians, and Christianity the four chief causes of the weakness and failure of the empire. Topics for Special Study: — i. Manners and customs of the Germans. z. Theodosius the Great and Bishop Ambrose. 3. Alaric the Goth. 4. Attila the Hun. 5. Causes of the downfall of the Empire in the West. CHAPTER L ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW, AND SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE ROMANS I. Architecture 562. Greek Origin of Roman Architecture: the Arch. — The architecture of the Romans was, in the main, an imitation of Greek models. But the Romans were not mere servile imitators. They not only modified the architectural forms they borrowed, but they gave their struc- tures a distinct character by the prominent use of the arch, which the Greek and Oriental builders seldom em- ployed, though they were acquainted with its principle. By means of it the Roman builders vaulted the roofs of the largest buildings, carried stupendous aqueducts across the deepest val- leys, and spanned the broadest streams with bridges that have re- FiG. 171. — The Pantheon (Present condition) sisted all the assaults of time and flood to the present day. 563. Sacred Edifices. — The temples of the Romans were in general so like those of the Greeks that we need not here take space to enter into a particular description of them. Mention, however, should be made of their circular vaulted temples, as this 549 550 CIRCUSES, THEATERS, AMPHITHEATERS 551 was a style of building almost exclusively Italian. The best representative of this style of sacred edifices is the Pantheon at Rome, which has come down to our own times in a state of won- derful preservation.^ This structure is about one hundred and Fig. 173. — The Circus Maximus. (A restoration) forty feet in diameter. The immense concrete dome which vaults the building is one of the boldest pieces of masonry executed by the master builders of the world. 564. Circuses, Theaters, and Amphitheaters. — The circuses of the Romans were what we should call race courses. There were several at Rome, the most celebrated being the Circus Maximus, which was first laid out in -, the time of the Tarquins _^^^ and afterwards enlarged as ' ' , ; i the population of the capi- ^^' tal increased until it was capable of holding two or three hundred thousand spectators. The Romans borrowed the plan of their theaters from the Greeks; their amphitheaters, however, were original with them. The Flavian amphitheater, known as the Colosseum, has already come under our notice (sec. 515). The edifice was five hundred and seventy- four 1 The original building was erected about 25 B.C. by M. Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus. Having been damaged by fire, it was rebuilt by Hadrian. Fig, 174. — Ruins of Theater at aspendos 552 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE feet in its greatest diameter, and was capable of seating over forty thousand spectators. The ruins of this immense structure stand to-day as " the embodiment of the power and splendor of the Roman Empire." 565. Aqueducts. — ^The aqueducts of ancient Rome were among the most important of the utilitarian works of the Romans. The water system of the capital was commenced by Appius Claudius (about 313 B.C.), who secured the building of an aqueduct which led water into the city from the Sabine hills. During the republic Fig. 175. — The Colosseum. (From a photograph) four aqueducts in all were completed ; under the emperors the number was increased to fourteen.^ The longest of these was about fifty-five miles in length. The aqueducts usually ran be- neath the surface, but when a depression was to be crossed they were lifted on arches, which sometimes were over one hundred feet high.'^ These lofty arches running in long, broken lines over the plains beyond the walls of Rome are the most striking feature of the Campagna at the present time. 2 Several of these are still in use. 3 The Romans carried their aqueducts across depressions and valleys on high arches of masonry, not because they were ignorant of the principle that water seeks a level, but for the reason that they could not make large pipes strong enough to resist the very great pressure to which they would be subjected. THERMS OR BATHS 553 566. Thermae or Baths. — The greatest demand upon the streams of water poured into Rome by the aqueducts was made by the thermae or baths. Among the ancient Romans bathing became in time a hixurious art. Under the republic bathing houses were erected in considerable numbers. But it was during the imperial period that those magnificent structures to which the name Thermae properly attaches, were erected. These edifices were among the most elaborate and expensive of the imperial works. They contained chambers for cold, hot, tepid, sudatory, Fig. 176. — The Claudian Aqueduct. (From a photograph) and swimming baths ; dressing rooms and gymnasia ; museums and libraries ; covered colonnades for lounging and conversation ; ex- tensive grounds filled with statues and traversed by pleasant walks ; and every other adjunct that could add to the sense of luxury and relaxation.* Being intended to exhibit the liberality of their build- ers, they were thrown open to the public free of charge. 567. Villas. — The residences of the wealthy Romans when located in the country were usually designated as villas. Every wealthy Roman possessed his villa, and many kept up several in different parts of Italy. These country residences, while retaining 4 Lanciani calls these imperial thermae " gigantic clubhouses, whither the volup- tuary and the elegant youth repaired for pastime and enjoyment." 554 ROMAN ARCHITECTURE all the conveniences of the city home, such as baths, museums, and libraries, added to these such adjuncts as were denied a place by the restricted room of the capital, — extensive gardens, fish ponds, vineyards, olive orchards, and parks. Perhaps the most noted of Roman villas was that of Hadrian at Tibur, now Tivoli. 568. Sepulchral Monuments. — The Romans in the earliest times seem usually to have disposed of their dead by burial ; but towards the close of the republican period cremation or burning Fig. 177. — Mausoleum of Hadrian, built by Himself AT Rome. (From a photograph) Now the Castle of St. Angelo became common. The incoming of Christianity with its doctrine of the resurrection of the body caused burying to become again the prevalent mode. The favorite burying place among the Romans was along the highways ; " for the dead were thought of as ever turning towards this life." The Appian Way, .for a distance of several miles from THE POETS OF THE REPUBLIC 555 the gates of the capital, was lined with sepulchral monuments. Many of these in a ruined state still line the ancient highway.*^ II. Literature and Law 569. Relation of Roman to Greek Literature. — Latin literature was almost wholly imitative or borrowed, being a reproduction of Greek models; still it performed a most important service for civilization, being the medium for the dissemination throughout the world of the rich literary treasures of Greece. The relation of Rome to Greece was exactly the same as that of Phoenicia to Egypt, as expressed by Lenormant : Greece was the mother of modern civilization ; Rome was its missionary. 570. The Poets of the Republic. — It was the dramatic produc- tions of the Greeks which were first copied and studied by the Romans. For nearly two centuries, from 240 to 78 B.C., dramatic literature was almost the only form of composition cultivated at Rome. During this epoch appeared all the great dramatists ever produced by the Latin-speaking race. Of these may be named Livius Andronicus, Naevius, Ennius, Plautus, and Terence. All of these writers were close imitators of Greek authors, and most of their works were simply adaptations or translations of the master- pieces of the Cxreek dramatists. Lucilius (b. 148 B.C.) was one of the greatest of Roman satirists. The later satirists of the corrupt imperial era were his imitators. Besides Lucilius there appeared during the later republican era only two other poets of distinguished merit, Lucretius and Catul- lus. Lucretius .(95-5 i B.C.) was an evolutionist, and in his great poem On the Nature of Things we find anticipated many of the conclusions of modern scientists. Catullus (b. about 87 B.C.) was a lyric poet. He has been called the Roman Burns, as well on account of the waywardness of his life as from the sweetness of his song. 571. Poets of the Augustan Age : Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. — Three poets have cast an unfading luster over the period covered 5 For examples of Roman triumphal columns and memorial arches, see Figs. 159, 170. 556 LITERATURE AND LAW by the reign of Augustus, — Vergil (70-1 9 B.C.), Horace (65-8 B.C.), and Ovid (43 B.C.-18 a.d.). So distinguished have these writers rendered the age in which they lived, that any period in a people's literature signalized by exceptional literary taste and refinement is called, in allusion to this Roman era, an Augustan Age. The three great works of Vergil are the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the ^neid. The Eclogues are a series of pastorals, which are very close imitations of the poems of the Sicilian Theocritus. In the Georgics Vergil extols and dignifies the husbandman and his labor. The work was written at the suggestion of Maecenas, who hoped by means of the poet's verse to allure his countrymen back to that love for the art of husbandry which animated the fathers of the early Roman state. Throughout the work Vergil follows very closely the Works and Days of the Greek poet Hesiod (sec. 331). The ^neid holds a place among the world's great epics. Through ^neas, the hero of the poem, Vergil doubtless intends to represent and compliment his patron Augustus. In this, his greatest work, Vergil was a close student of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and to them he is indebted for very many of his finest metaphors, similes, and descriptive passages. Horace's Odes, Satires, and Epistles have all helped win for him his widespread fame ; but the first best exhibit his genius and his subtle grace of expression. Ovid's most celebrated work is his Metamorphoses, in which he describes between two and three hundred metamorphoses, or transformations, suffered by various persons, gods, heroes, and goddesses, as related in the innumerable fables of the Greek and Roman mythologies. 572. Satire and Satirists. — Satire thrives best in the reeking soil and tainted atmosphere of an age of selfishness, immorality, and ^•ice. Such an age was that which followed the Augustan at Rome. Hence arose a succession of writers whose mastery of sharp and stinging satire has caused their productions to become the models of all subsequent attempts in the same species of literature. ORATORY AMONG THE ROMANS 557 Two names stand out in special prominence, — Persius (a.d. 34- 62) and Juvenal*' (about a.d. 40-120). The works of these writers possess a special historical value and interest since they cast a strong side light upon life at Rome during the early portion of the imperial period. The indignant protest of Persius and Juvenal against the vices and follies of their time is almost the last utterance of the Latin Muse. After the death of Juvenal the Roman world produced not a single poet of preeminent merit. 573. Oratory among the Romans. — "Public oratory," as has been truly said, " is the child of political freedom, and cannot exist without it." We have seen this illustrated in the history of republican Athens (sec. 342). Equally well is the same truth exemplified by the records of the Roman state. All the great orators of Rome arose under the republic. Among these Horten- sius and Cicero stand preeminent. Hortensius (114-50 B.C.) was a famous lawyer whose name adorns the legal profession at the capital both as the learned jurist and the eloquent advocate. His forensic talent won for. him a lucrative law practice, through which he gathered an immense fortune. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), the contemporary and friend of Hortensius, is easily the first of Roman orators, — " the most eloquent of all the sons of Romulus." Even more highly prized than his orations are his letters, for Cicero was a most delightful letter writer. His letters to his friend Atticus are among the most charming specimens of that species of composition. 574. Latin Historians Ancient Rome produced four writers of history whose works have won for them a permanent fame, — Caesar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus. Suetonius may also be men- tioned in this place, although his writings were rather biograph- ical than historical. Cesar's productions are his Commentaries on the Gallic War and his Memoirs of the Civil War. His Commentaries will 6 Martial, an epigrammatic poet (b. about a.d. 40), was also a satirist of this period, but he rebuked only some of the minor vices of society. 558 LITERATURE AND LAW always be cited along with the Anabasis of Xenophon as a model of the narrative style of writing. Sallust (86-34 B.C.) was the contemporary and friend of Caesar. As praetor of one of the African provinces, he amassed by harsh if not unjust exactions an immense fortune and erected at Rome a palatial residence with beautiful gardens, which became one of the favorite resorts of the literary characters of the capital. The two works upon which his fame rests are the Conspiracy of Catiline and the Jiigurthine War. Both of these productions are reckoned among the best examples of historical composition in the range of Latin literature. Livy (59 B.C. -A.D. 17) was one of the brightest ornaments of the Augustan Age. Herodotus among the ancient, and Macaulay among the modern, writers of historical narrative are the names with which his is oftenest compared. His greatest work is his Annals, a history of Rome from the earliest times to the year 9 B.C. Unfortunately, only thirty-five of the one hundred and forty-two books'^ of this admirable production have been pre- served. Many have been the laments over " the lost books of Livy." Livy loved a story equally well with Herodotus. Like the Greek historian, he was overcredulous, and relates with charming ingenuousness, usually without the least questioning of their credibility, all the legends and myths that were extant in his day respecting the early affairs of Rome. Modern criticism has shown that all the first portion of his history is entirely unre- liable as a chronicle of actual events. However, it is a most entertaining account of what the Romans themselves thought and believed respecting the origin of their race, the founding of their city, and the deeds and virtues of their forefathers. The works of Tacitus are his Gcrmania, a treatise on the man- ners and customs of the Germans, the Life of Agricola, his History, and his A?inals. All of these are most admirable productions. " It should be borne in mind that a book in the ancient sense was simply a roll of manuscript or parchment, and contained nothing like the amount of matter held by an ordinary modern volume. Thus Ca;sar's Gallic Wars, which makes a single volume of moderate size with us, made eight Roman books. J SCIENCE, ETHICS, AND PHILOSOPHY 559 polished and graceful narratives, full of entertainment and instruc- tion. In the Germania Tacitus sets in strong contrast the virtues of the untutored Germans and the vices of the cultured Romans. 575. Science, Ethics, and Philosophy. — Under this head may be grouped the names of Seneca, Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Quintilian. Seneca (about a.d. 1—65), moralist and philosopher, has already come to our notice as the tutor of Nero (sec. 513). He was a disbeliever in the popular religion of his countrymen, and enter- tained conceptions of God and his moral government not very different from those of Socrates. Pliny the Elder (a.d. 23-79) i^ almost the only Roman who won renown as a naturalist. The only work of his that has been spared to us is his Natural His- tory, a sort of " Roman Encyclopedia." In connection with the name of Pliny the Elder must be mentioned that of his nephew, Pliny the Younger. His epistles, like the letters of Cicero, are among the most valuable of Roman prose produc- tions that have come down to us. Marcus Aurelius the emperor and Epictetus the slave hold the first place among the ethical teachers of Rome. The former wrote his Meditations (sec. 521); but the latter, like Socrates, committed nothing to writing, so that we know of the character of his teachings only through one of his pupils, Arrian by name. Epictetus was for many years a slave at the capital, but, securing in some way his freedom, he became a teacher of philosophy. His name is inseparably linked with that of Marcus Aurelius as a teacher of the purest system of morals found outside of Christian- ity. Epictetus and Aurelius were the last eminent representatives and expositors of the philosophy of Zeno (sec. 356). Christian- ity, giving a larger place to the affections than did Stoicism, was already fast winning the hearts of men. Fig. 1 78. — Seneca (From the double bust of Seneca and Socrates in the BerUn Museum) 560 LITERATURE AND LAW Quintilian (about a.d. 40-118) was the one great grammarian and rhetorician that the Roman race jiroduced. For about a quarter of a century he was the most noted lecturer at Rome on educational and literary subjects. One of the booksellers of the capital, after much persuasion, finally prevailed upon the teacher to jmblish his lectures. They were received with great favor, and Quintilian's Institutes have never ceased to be studied and copied by all succeeding writers on education and rhetoric.^ 576. Writers of the Early Latin Church. — The Christian authors of the first three centuries, like the writers of the New Testament, employed the Greek, that being the language of learn- ing and culture. As the Latin tongue, however, gradually came into more general use throughout the West, the Christian authors naturally began to use it in the composition of their works. Hence almost all the writings of the fathers of the Church produced in the western half of the emi)ire during the later imperial period were composed in Latin. From among the many names that adorn the Church literature of this period we shall select only two for special mention, — St. Jerome and St. Augustine. Jerome (a.d. 342?-42o) was a native of Pannonia. For many years he led a monastic life at Bethlehem. He is especially held in memory through his translation of the Scri]>tures into Latin. This version is known as the ]'iilgatc^ and is the one which, with slight changes, is still used in the Roman Catholic Church. " It was for Europe of the Middle Ages," asserts Mackail, " more than Homer was to Greece." Aurelius Augustine (a.d. 354-430) was born near Carthage, in Africa. He was the most eminent writer of the Christian Church during the later Roman period. His City of God, a truly won- derful work, ])ossesses a special interest for the historian. The 8 The allusions which we have made to the publishing trade suggest a word respecting ancient publishers and books. There were in Rome several publishing houses, which in their day enjoyed a wide reputation and conducted a very extended business. " Indeed, the antique book trade," says Guhl, "was carried on on a scale hardly surpassed by modern times. . . . The place of the press in our literature was taken by the slaves." 'Jhrough practice they gained surprising facility as copyists, and books were multiplied with great rapidity. ROMAN LAW AND LAW LITERATURE 56 1 book was written just when Rome was becoming the spoil of the barbarians. It was designed to answer the charge of the pagans that Christianity, turning the people away from the worship of the ancient gods, was the cause of the calamities that were befalling the Roman state. 577. Roman Law and Law Literature. — Although the Latin writers in all the departments of literary effort which we haA-e so far reviewed did much valuable work, yet the Roman intellect in all these directions was under Greek guidance. Its work was largely imitative. But in another department it was different. We mean, of course, the field of legal and political science. Here the Romans ceased to be pupils and became teachers. Nations, like men, have their mission. Rome's mission was to give laws to the world. Our knowledge of the law system of the Romans begins with the legislation of the Twelve Tables, about 450 b.c. (sec. 406). Throughout all the republican period the laws were growing less harsh and cruel, and were becoming more liberal and scientific. From 100 B.C. to a.d. 250 lived and wrote the most famous of the Roman jurists and law writers, who created the most remark- able law literature ever produced by any peoj)le. The great unvarying principles that underlie and regulate all social and political relations were by them examined, illustrated, and ex- pounded. Gaius, Ulpian, Paulus, Papinian, and Pomponius are among the most renowned of the writers who, during the period just indicated, enriched by their writings and opinions this branch of Latin literature. In the year a.d. 527 Justinian became emperor of the Roman Empire in the East. He almost immediately appointed a commis- sion, headed by the great lawyer Tribonian, to collect and arrange in a systematic manner the immense mass of Roman laws and the writings of the jurists. The undertaking was like that of the decemvirs in connection with the Twelve Tables, only far greater. The result of the work of the commission was what is known as the Corpus Juris Civiiis, or " Body of the Civil Law." This consisted of three parts, — the Code, the Pandects, and the 562 SOCIAL LIFE Institutes? The Code was a revised and compressed collection of all the laws, instructions to judicial officers, and opinions on legal subjects promulgated by the different emperors since the time of Hadrian ; the Pandects (all-containing) were a digest or abridg- ment of the writings, opinions, and decisions of the most eminent of the old Roman jurists and lawyers. The Institutes were a con- densed edition of the Pandects, and were intended to form an ele- mentary text-book for the use of students in the great law schools of the empire. The body of the Roman law thus preserved and transmitted was the great contribution of the Latin intellect to civilization.'" It has exerted a profound influence upon the law systems of almost all the European peoples. Thus does the once little Palatine city of the Tiber still rule the world. The religion of Judea, the arts of Greece, and the laws of Rome are three very real and potent elements in modern civilization. III. Social Life 578. Education. — Under the republic there were no public schools in Rome ; education was a private affair. Under the early empire a mixed system prevailed, there being both public and private schools. Later, education came more completely under the supervision of the state. The salaries of the teachers 9 A later work called the Novels comprised the laws of Justinian subsequent to the completion of the Code. 10 Notwithstanding that the Romans had much political experience and developed a wonderfully complex unwritten constitution, still, aside from their municipal and administrative systems, they made no permanent contribution to the art of govern- ment or to the science of constitutional law. It was left for the English people, practically unaided by Roman precedents, to work out the constitution of the modern free state. The primary assemblies of the Romans could afford no instructive prece- dents in the department of legislation. The practical working of the device of the dual executive of the republic was not calculated to commend it to later statesmen. The single admirable feature in the composition of the later republican senate of Rome, namely, the giving of seats in that body to ex-magistrates, has not been imi- tated by modern constitution makers, thougli James Bryce, in his commentary on the American Commonwealth, suggests that they might have done so to advantage in the making up of the upper chambers of their legislatures. i SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMAN 563 and lecturers were usually paid by the municipalities, but some- times from the imperial chest. Never was the profession of the teacher held in such esteem as among the later Romans. Teachers were made exempt from many public burdens and duties and were even invested with inviolability, like heralds and tribunes. The education of the Roman boy differed from that of the Greek youth in being more practical.^^ The laws of the Twelve Tables were committed to memory ; and rhetoric and oratory were given special attention, as a mastery of the art of public speaking was an almost indispensable acquirement for the Roman citizen who aspired to take a prominent part in the affairs of state. After their conquest of Magna Graecia and of Greece the Romans were brought into closer relations with Greek culture than had hitherto existed. The Roman youth were taught the language of Athens, often to the neglect, it appears, of their native tongue ; for we hear Cato the Censor complaining that the boys of his time spoke Greek before they could use their own language. Young men belonging to families of means not unusually went to Greece, just as the graduates of our schools go to Europe, to finish their education. Many of the most prominent statesmen of Rome, as, for instance, Cicero and Julius Caesar, received the advantages of this higher training in the schools of Greece. Somewhere between the ages of fourteen and eighteen the boy exchanged his purple-hemmed toga, or gown, for one of white wool, which was in all places and at all times the significant badge of Roman citizenship and Roman equality. 579. Social Position of Woman. — Until after her marriage the daughter of the family was kept in almost Oriental seclusion. Marriage gave her a certain freedom. She might now be present at the races of the circus and the shows of the theater and amphi- theater, — a privilege rarely accorded to her before marriage. In the early virtuous period of the Roman state the wife and mother held a dignified and assured position in the household, and divorces were unusual, there being no instance of one, it is 11 Compare sec. 363. 564 SOCIAL LIFE said, until the year 231 b.c. ; but in later times her position became less honored and divorce grew to be very common. The husband had the right to divorce his wife for the slightest cause or for no cause at all. In this disregard of the sanctity of the family relation may doubtless be found one cause of the degeneracy and failure of the Roman stock. 580. Public Amusements; the Theater and the Circus. — The entertainments of the theater, the games of the circus, and the combats of the amphitheater were the three principal public amusements of the Romans. These entertainments, in general, increased in popularity as liberty declined, the great festive gath- erings at the various places of amusement taking the place of the political assemblies of the republic. The public exhibitions under the empire were, in a certain sense, the compensation which the emperors offered the people for their surrender of the right of participation in public affairs ; and the people were content to accept the exchange. Tragedy was never held in high esteem at Rome ; the people saw too much real tragedy in the exhibitions of the amphitheater to care much for the make-believe tragedies of the stage. The entertainments of the theaters usually took the form of comedies, farces, and pantomimes. The last were particularly popular, both because the vast size of the theaters made it quite impossible for the actor to make his voice heard throughout the structure and for the reason that the language of signs was the only language that could be readily understood by an audience made up of so many different nationalities as composed a Roman assemblage. Almost from the beginning the Roman stage was gross and immoral. It was one of the main agencies to which must be attributed the undermining of the originally sound moral life of Roman society. More important and more popular than the entertainments of the theater were the various games of the circus, especially the chariot races. 581. Animal Baitings. — But far sury)assing in their terrible fascination all other {niblic amusements were the animal baitings and the gladiatorial combats of the amphitheater. THE GLADIATORIAL COMBATS 565 The beasts required for the baitings were secured in different parts of the world and transported to Rome and the other cities of the empire at enormous expense. The wildernesses of Northern Europe furnished bears and wolves; Scotland sent fierce dogs; Africa contributed lions, crocodiles, and leopards ; Asia, ele])hants and tigers. These creatures were pitted against one another in every conceivable way. Often a promiscuous multitude would be turned loose in the arena at once. But even the terrific scene that then ensued became at last too tame to stir the blood of the Roman populace. Hence a new species of entertainments was introduced and grew rapidly into favor with the spectators of the amphitheater. This was the gladiatorial combat. 582. The Gladiatorial Combats.- — Gladiatorial shows seem to have had their origin in Etruria, whence they were brought to Rome. It was a custom among the early Etruscans to slay pris- oners upon the warrior's grave, it being thought that the manes of the dead delighted in the blood of such victims. In later times the prisoners were allowed to fight and kill one another, this being deemed more humane than their cold-blooded slaughter. The first gladiatorial spectacle at Rome was presented by two sons at the funeral of their father in the year 264 B.C. This exhi- bition was arranged in one of the forums, as there were at that time no' amphitheaters in existence. From this time the public taste for this species of entertainment grew rapidly, and by the begin- ning of the imperial period had become a perfect infatuation. It was now no longer the manes of the dead, but the spirits of the living that the spectacles were intended to appease. At first the combatants were slaves, captives, or condemned criminals ; but at last knights, senators, and even women descended voluntarily into the arena. Training schools were established at Rome, Capua, Ravenna, and other cities. Free citizens often sold themselves to the keepers of these seminaries ; and to them flocked desperate men of all classes and ruined spendthrifts of the noblest patrician houses. Slaves and criminals were encouraged to become pro- ficient in the art by the promise of freedom if they survived the combats beyond a certain number of years. 566 SOCIAL LIFE Sometimes the gladiators fought in pairs ; again, great compa- nies engaged at once in the deadly fray. They fought in chariots, on horseback, on foot — in all the ways that soldiers were accus- tomed to fight in actual battle. The contestants were armed with lances, swords, daggers, tridents, and every manner of weapon. Some were provided with nets and lassos with which they entan- gled their adversaries and then slew them. The life of a wounded gladiator was, in ordi- nary cases, in the hands of the audience. If in response to his appeal for mercy, which was made by outstretching the forefinger, the spectators wa\'ed their handkerchiefs or reached out their hands with thumbs extended, that indicated that his prayer had been heard ; but if they extended their hands with thumbs turned in, that was the signal for the victor to give him the death stroke. Sometimes the dying were aroused and forced to resume the fight by being burned with a hot iron. The dead bodies were dragged from the arena with hooks, like the carcasses of animals, and the pools of blood soaked up with dry sand. These shows increased to such an extent that they entirely overshadowed the entertainments of the circus and the theater. Aml)itious officials and commanders arranged such spectacles in order to curry favor with the masses; magistrates were exjjected to give them in connection with the public festivals ; the heads of asjjiring families exhibited them " in order to acquire social j)osition " ; wealthy citizens j)repared them as an indispensable feature of a fashionable banquet ; the children caught the spirit of their elders and imitated them in their plays. Fig. 179. — Gladiaturs. (From an ancient mosaic) LUXURY 567 The rivalries between ambitious leaders during the later years of the republic tended greatly to increase the number of gladia- torial shows, as liberality in arranging these spectacles was a sure passport to popular favor. It was reserved for the emperors, how- ever, to exhibit them on a truly imperial scale. Titus, upon the dedication of the Flavian amphitheater, provided games, mostly gladiatorial combats, that lasted one hundred days. Trajan cele- brated his victories with shows that continued still longer, in the progress of which ten thousand gladiators fought upon the arena, and more than ten thousand wild beasts were slain. ^^ 583. Luxury. — By luxury, as we shall use the word, we mean extravagant and self-indulgent living. This vice seems to have Fig. iSo. — Semicircular Dining Couch (From a Pompeian wall painting) been almost unknown in early Rome. The primitive Romans were men of frugal habits, who, like Manius Curius Dentatus (sec. 456), found contentment in poverty and disdained riches. A great change, however, as we have seen, passed over Roman society after the conquest of the East and the development of the corrupt provincial system of the later repubhc. The colossal for- tunes quickly and dishonestly amassed by the ruling class marked the incoming at Rome of such a reign of luxury as perhaps no other capital of the world ever witnessed. This luxury was at its height in the last century of the republic and the first of the empire. 12 For the suppression of the gladiatorial games, see sec. 550. 568 SOCIAL LIFE Never perhaps has great wealth been more grossly misused than during this period at Rome. 584. State Distribution of Corn. — The free distribution of corn at Rome has been characterized as the " leading fact of Roman life." It will be recalled that this pernicious practice had its beginnings in the legislation of Gains Gracchus (sec. 467). Just before the establishment of the empire over three hundred thou- sand Roman citizens were recipients of this state bounty. In the time of the Antonines the number is asserted to have been even larger. The corn for this enormous distribution was derived, in large part, from a grain tribute exacted of the African and other corn-producing provinces. In the third century, to the largesses of corn were added doles of oil, wine, and pork. The evils that resulted from this misdirected state charity can hardly be overstated. Idleness and all its accompanying vices were fostered to such a degree that we probably shall not be wrong in enumerating the practice as one of the chief causes of the demoralization of society at Rome under the emperors. 585. Slavery. — The number of slaves in the Roman state under the later republic and the earlier empire was very great, some estimates making it equal to the number of freemen. Some large proprietors owned as many as twenty thousand. The love of ostentation led to the multiplication of offices in the house- holds of the wealthy and the employment of a special slave for every different kind of work. Thus there was the slave called the sandalio^ whose sole duty it was to care for his master's sandals ; and another called the noiiicnclator^ whose exclusive business it was to accompany his master when he went upon the street and give him the names of such persons as he ought to recognize. The price of slaves varied from a few dollars to ten or twenty thousand dollars, — these last figures being of course exceptional. Greek slaves were the most valuable, as their lively intelligence rendered them serviceable in positions calling for special talent. The slave class was chiefly recruited, as in Greece, by war and by the practice of kidnapping. Some of the outlying provinces SLAVERY 569 in Asia and Africa were almost depopulated by the slave hunters. Delinquent taxpayers were often sold as slaves, and frequently poor persons sold themselves into servitude. The feeling entertained towards this unfortunate class in the later republican period is illustrated by Varro's classification of slaves as " vocal agricultural implements," and again by Cato the Censor's recommendation to masters to sell their old and decrepit slaves in order to save the expense of caring for them (sec. 456). Sick and hopelessly infirm slaves were taken to an island in the Tiber and left there to die of starvation and exposure. In many cases, as a measure of precaution, the slaves were forced to work in chains and to sleep in subterranean prisons. Their bitter hatred towards their masters, engendered by harsh treatment, is wit- nessed by the well-known proverb, " As many enemies as slaves," and by the servile revolts of the republican period. Slaves were treated better under the empire than under the later republic, — a change to be attributed doubtless to the influ- ence of Stoicism and of Christianity. From the first century of the empire forward there is observable a growing sentiment of humanity towards the bondsman. Imperial edicts take away from the master the right to kill his slave or to sell him to the trader in gladiators, or even to treat him with undue severity. This marks the beginning of a slow reform which in the course of ten or twelve centuries resulted in the complete, or almost com- plete, abolition of slavery in Christian Europe. Selections from the Sources. — Cato, On Agriculture, chap, ii ; the duties of a Roman proprietor. Tacitus, Dialogue Concerning Oratory, chaps, x.xviii and xxix ; the old and the new education. References (Modern). — Lanciani, A7icient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries, The Ruins and Excavations of Ancient Rome, The Destruction of Ancient Rome, earlier chapters, and New Discoveries in the Forum. Cruttwell, History of Roman Literature. Sellar, The Roman Poets of the Republic and The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age. Mackail, Latin Literature. Hxv^-^Y-XA., Latin Poetry. I^kwk-E^CV., Latin Literature. Had- LEY, Lntroduction to Roman Law, lect. iii, " The Roman Law before Justin- ian." GiBHON, chap, xliv, for Roman jurisprudence. This chapter is one of the most noted of Gibbon's great work. Inge, Social Life in Rome under 570 SOCIAL LIFE the CcBsars. GuHL and Koner, The Life of the Greeks and Romans ; con- sult Index. Lecky, History of European Morals from Augustus to Charle- magne ; a -work of first importance. The student is recommended to read vol. i, chap. ii. Dill, Roman Society in the Last Cetitury of the Western Empire ; read bk. v, pp. 321-376, on " Characteristics of Roman Education and Culture in the Fifth Century." Preston and Dodge, The Private Life of the Roma7ts. GlLMAN, The Story of Rome, chap, xviii, "Some Manners and Customs of the Roman People." Topics for Special Study. — i. Roman architecture. 2. Roman villas. 3. Results of recent excavations in the Roman Forum. 4. The Roman roads. 5. The Roman drama. 6. Tacitus as an historian. 7. Seneca. 8. Pliny the Elder. 9. The Justinian Code. 10. Education of the Roman boy. II. Society at Rome under the later empire. See Dill. 12. The gladiatorial combats. 13. Free distribution of corn at Rome. 14. Mar- riage ceremonies. 15. Funeral customs. 16. The Roman triumph. 11, -// ^m^, Fig. 181. — Roman Lamentation for the Dead (From an ancient marble relief) Part IV — The Romano— German OR Transition Age (a.d. 476-800) CHAPTER LI THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS 586. Introductory. — In connection with the history of the break-up of the Roman Empire in the West we have already given some account of the migrations and settlements of the German tribes. In the present chapter we shall indicate briefly the political fortunes, for the two centuries and more following the fall of Rome, of the principal kingdoms set up by the German chieftains in the different parts of the old empire. 587. Kingdom of the Ostrogoths (a.d. 493-554). — Odoacer will be recalled as the barbarian chief who dethroned the last of the Western Roman emperors (sec. 560). His feeble govern- ment in Italy lasted only seventeen years, when it was brought to an end by the invasion of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths) under Theodoric, the greatest of their chiefs, who set up in Italy a new dominion known as the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths. The reign of Theodoric covered thirty-three years (a.d. 493- 527), — years of such quiet and prosperity as Italy had not known since the happy era of the Antonines. The king made good his promise that his reign should be such that " the only regret of the people should be that the Goths had not come at an earlier period." The kingdom established by the rare abilities of Theodoric lasted only twenty-seven years after his death. Justinian, emperor 571 572 THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS of the East (sec. 623), taking advantage of that event, sent his generals, first Belisarius and afterwards Narses, to deliver Italy from the rule of the barbarians. The last of the Ostrogothic kings fell in battle, and Italy, with her fields ravaged and her cities in ruins, was reunited to the empire (a.d. 554). 588. Kingdom of the Visigoths (a.d. 415-711). — The Visi- goths (Western Goths) were already in possession of Southern Gaul and the greater part of Spain when the Roman Empire in the West was brought to an end by the act of Odoacer and his . companions. ijp-l^^li^ ''\^ -H S Being driven south of the Pyrenees by the kings of the Franks, the Visi- goths held their possessions in Spain until the beginning of the eighth century, when their rule was ended by the Saracens (sec. 635). The Visigothic kingdom when thus overturned had lasted nearly three hundred years. During this time the conquerors had mingled with the old Romanized inhabitants of Spain, so that in the veins of the Spaniard of to-day is blended the blood of Iberian, Celt, Roman, and Teuton, together with that of the last intruder, the African Moor. 589. Kingdom of the Burgundians (a.d. 443-534). — The Bur- gnndians we have already noticed as the founders of a principality in Southeastern (}aul (sec. 556). They were hardly well estab- lished in these parts before they came in collision with the Franks on the north, and were reduced by them to a state of dependence. 590. Kingdom of the Vandals (a.d. 429-533). — We have also previously spoken of the estal)lishment in North Africa of the Kingdom of the Vandals, and told how, under the lead of their Fig. 182. — Tomb of Theodoric at Ravenna 25 20 15 10 6^0 5 10 15 Carthag E U K O P E LN THE REIGN OF THEODORIC AboutA. D. 500 I I Roman Empire | " [ Celts \ | Teutonic Settlements J5 40 45 60 65 60 06 f d S TUl MACltDONIA ^ O N. ri^ <*;'.' THE FRANKS UNDER THE MEROVINGIANS 573 king, Geiseric, they bore in triumph down the Tiber the heavy spoils of Rome (sec. 559). Being Arian Christians, the Vandals persecuted with furious zeal the orthodox party, the followers of Athanasius. Moved by the entreaties of the African Catholics, Justinian, the Eastern emperor, sent his general Belisarius to drive the barbarians from Africa. The expedition was successful, and Carthage and the fruitful fields of Africa were restored to the empire after having suffered the insolence of the barbarian conquerors for the space of above a hundred years. The Vandals remaining in the country were gradually absorbed by the old Roman population, and after a few generations no certain trace of the barbarian invaders could be detected in the physical appearance, the language, or the cus- toms of the inhabitants of the African coast. The Vandal nation had disappeared ; the name alone remained. 591. The Franks under the Merovingians (a.d. 486-752). — Even long before the fall of Rome the Franks, as we have seen (sec. 556), were on the soil of Gaul, laying there the founda- tions of the French nation and monarchy. Among their sev- eral chieftains at this time was Chlodwig or Clovis. Upon the break-up of the Roman Empire in the West, Clovis conceived the ambition of erecting a kingdom upon the ruins of the Roman power. He attacked Syagrius, the Roman governor of Gaul, and at Soissons gained a decisive victory over his forces (a.d. 486). Thus was destroyed forever in Gaul that Roman authority estab- lished among its barbarian tribes more than five centuries before by the conquests of Julius Caesar. Clovis in a short time extended his authority over the greater part of Gaul, reducing to the condition of tributaries the various Teutonic tribes that had taken possession of different portions of the country. Upon his death (a.d. 5 i i) his extensive dominions, in accordance with the ancient Teutonic law of inheritance, were divided among his four sons. About a century and a half of dis- cord followed, by the end of which time the Merovingians^ had become so feeble and inefficient that they were contemptuously 1 So called from Merowig, an early chieftain of the race. 574 THE BARBARIAN KINGDOMS called rois faineants, or " do-nothing kings," and an ambitious officer of the crown known as Mayor of the Palace {Major Domus), in a way that will be explained a little later, pushed aside the weak Merovingian king and gave to the Frankish mon- archy a new royal line, — the Carolingian. 592. Kingdom of the Lombards (a.u. 568-774). — Barely a decade had passed after the recovery of Italy from the Ostrogoths by the Eastern emperor Justinian (sec. 587), before a large part of the peninsula was again lost to the empire through its con- quest by another barbarian tribe known as the Lombards. When they entered Italy the Lombards were Christians of the Arian sect ; but in time they became converts to the orthodox faith, and Pope Gregory I bestowed upon their king a diadem which came to be known as the " Iron Crown," for the reason that there was wrought into it what was believed to be one of the nails of the cross upon which Christ had suffered. The Kingdom of the Lombards was destroyed by Charles the Great, the most noted of the Frankish rulers, in the year 774; but the blood of the invaders had by this time become inter- mingled with that of the former subjects of the empire, so that throughout all that part of the peninsula which is still called Lom- bardy after them, one will to-day occasionally see the fair hair and light complexion which reveal the strain of German blood in the veins of the present inhabitants. One important result of the Lombard conquest of Italy was the destruction of the political unity established by the Romans and the breaking up of the country into a multitude of petty states. This resulted from the imperfect nature of the conquest and from the loose feudal constitution of the Lombard monarchy, which was rather a group of practically independent duchies than a real kingdom. 593. The Anglo-Saxons in Britain. — We have already seen how in the time of Rome's distress the Angles and Saxons secured a footing in Britain (sec. 556). By the close of the sixth century the invading bands had set up in the island eight or nine or per- haps more kingdoms, — frequently designated, though somewhat TEUTONIC TRIBES OUTSIDE THE EMPIRE 575 inaccurately, as the Heptarchy. For the space of two hundred years there was an almost perpetual strife for supremacy among the leading states. Finally, Egbert, king of Wessex (a.d. 802-839), brought all the other kingdoms to a subject or tributary condition, and became in reality, though he seems never, save on one occa- sion, to have actually assumed the title, the first king of England. 594. Teutonic Tribes outside the Empire. — We have now spoken of the most important of the Teutonic tribes which forced them- selves within the limits of the Roman Empire in the West, and that there, upon the ruins of the civilization they had overthrown, laid or helped to lay the foundations of the modern nations of Italy, Spain, France, and England. Beyond the boundaries of the old empire were still other tribes and clans of this same mighty family of nations, — tribes and clans that were destined to play great parts in European history. On the east, beyond the Rhine, were the ancestors of the modern Germans. Notwithstanding the immense hosts that the forests and morasses of Germany had poured into the Roman provinces, the fatherland, in the sixth century of our era, seemed still as crowded as before the great migration began. These tribes were yet barbarians in manners, and, for the most part, pagans in religion. In the northwest of Europe were the Scandinavians, the ancestors of the modern Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians. They were as yet untouched either by the civilization or the religion of Rome. Selections from the Sources. — The Letters of Cassiodorus (trans, by Thomas Hodgkin). Read bk. i, letters 24 and 35; bk. ii, letters 32 and 34 ; bk. iii, letters 17, 19, 29, 31, and 43 ; bk. xi, letters 12 and 13 ; bk. xii, letter 20. These letters are invaluable in showing what was the general condition of things in the transition period between ancient and medieval times. References (Modern). — Hodgkin, Italy and Iter Invaders and The- odoric the Goth; Hodgkin is recognized as the best authority on the period of the migration. Gummere, Germanic Origins; an authoritative and interesting work on the early culture of the Germans. Gibbon, chaps. xxxviii and xxxix. Chu RCH, The Begitining of the Middle Ages, chaps, i-v. Emerton (E.), An Introduction to the Study of the Middle Ages, chaps, vi and vii. CHAPTER LII THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS I. The Conversion of the Barbarians 595. Introductory. — The most important event in the history of the tribes that took possession of the Roman Empire in the West was their conversion to Christianity. Many of the barba- rians were converted before or soon after their entrance into the empire ; to this circumstance the Roman provinces owed their immunity from the excessive cruelties which pagan barba- rians seldom fail to inflict upon a subjected enemy. Alaric left untouched the treasures of the churches of the Roman Christians because his own faith was also Christian (sec. 553). For like reason the Vandal king Geiseric yielded to the prayers of Pope Leo the Great and promised to leave to the inhabitants of the Imperial City their lives (sec. 559). The more tolerable fate of Italy, Spain, and Gaul, as compared with the hard fate of Britain, is owing, in part at least, to the fact that the tribes which over- ran those countries had become, in the main, converts to Chris- tianity before they crossed the boundaries of the empire, while the Saxons, when they entered Britain, were still untamed pagans. 596. Conversion of the Goths, Vandals, and Other Tribes. — The first converts to Christianity among the barbarians beyond the limits of the empire were won from among the Goths. Foremost of the apostles that arose among them was Ulfilas, who translated the Scriptures into the Gothic language, omitting from his version, however, the Books of the Kings, as he feared that the stirring recital of wars and battles in that portion of the Word might kindle into too fierce a flame the martial ardor of his new converts. What happened in the ca.se of the Goths happened also in the case of most of the barbarian tribes that participated in the 576 CONVERSION OF THE FRANKS 577 overthrow of the Roman Empire in the West. By the time of the fall of Rome the Goths, the Vandals, the Suevi, and the Bur- gundians had become proselytes to Christianity. They, however, professed the Arian creed, which had been condemned by the great council of the Church held at Nicsea during the reign of Constantine the Great (sec. 537). Hence they were regarded as heretics by the Catholic Church, and all had to be reconverted to the orthodox creed. This good work was gradually and almost perfectly accomplished. The remaining Teutonic tribes of whose conversion we shall speak — the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, and the chief tribes of Germany — embraced at the outset the Catholic faith. 597. Conversion of the Franks. — The Franks, when they entered the empire, like the Angles and Saxons when they landed in Britain, were still pagans. Christianity gained way very slowly among them until a supposed interposition by the Christian God in their behalf led the king and nation to adopt the new religion in place of their old faith. The circumstances, as reported by tradition, were these. In a terrible battle between the Alemanni and the Franks under their king Clovis, the situation of the Franks at length became desperate. Then Clovis, falling upon his knees, called upon the God of the Christians, and vowed that if he would give victory to his arms he would become his follower. The battle turned in favor of the Franks, and Clovis, faithful to his vow, was baptized, and with him three thousand of his warriors. This story of the conversion of Clovis and his Franks illus- trates how the very superstitions of the barbarians, their belief in omens and divine interpositions, and particularly their feeling that if their gods did not do for them all they wanted done they had a right to set them aside and choose others in their stead, con- tributed to their conversion, and how the reception of the new faith was often a tribal or national affair rather than a matter of personal conviction. 598. Importance of the Conversion of the Franks. — "The con- version of the Franks," says the historian Milman, *' was the most 578 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS important event in its remote as well as its immediate conse- quences in European history." It was of such moment for the reason that the Franks embraced the orthodox Catholic faith, while almost all the other German invaders of the empire had embraced the heretical Arian creed. This secured them the loyalty of their Roman subjects and also gained for them the official favor of the Church of Rome. Thus was laid the basis of the ascendancy in the West of the Prankish kings, 599. Augustine's Mission to England In the year a.d. 596 Pope Gregory I sent the monk Augustine with a biyid of forty com- panions to teach the Christian faith in Britain, in whose people he had become interested through seeing in the slave market at Rome some fair-faced captives from that remote region. The monks were favorably received by the English, who listened attentively to the story the strangers had come to tell them, and being persuaded that the tidings were true, they burned the temples of Woden and Thor, and were in large numbers baptized in the Christian faith. One of the most important consequences of the conversion of Britain was the reestablishment of that connection of the island with Roman civilization which had been severed by the calamities of the fifth century. 600. The Conversion of Ireland. — The spiritual conquest of Ireland was effected largely by a zealous priest named Patricius (d. about A.D. 469), better known as St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. With such success were his labors attended that by the time of his death a great part of the island had embraced the Christian faith. Never did any race receive the Gospel with more ardent enthusiasm. The Irish or Celtic Church sent out its devoted missionaries into the Pictish highlands, into the forests of Ger- many, and among the wilds of Alps and Apennines. Among the numerous religious houses founded by the Celtic missionaries was the famous monastery established a.d. 563 by the Irish monk St. Columba, on the little isle of lona, just off the Pictish coast. lona became a most renowned center of Christian THE CONVERSION OF GERMANY 579 learning and missionary zeal, and for almost two centuries was the point from which radiated light through the darkness of the surrounding heathenism. 60 1. The Conversion of Germany. — The conversion of the tribes of Germany was effected by Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Frankish missionaries, and the sword of Charles the Great (sec. 642). The great apostle of Germany was the Saxon Winfrid, better known as St. Boniface, who was born about a.d. 688. During a long and intensely active life he founded schools and monasteries, organ- ized churches, preached and baptized, and at last died a martyr's death (a.d. 753). Through him, as says Milman, the Saxon invasion of England flowed back upon the continent.^ 602. Reaction of Paganism on Christianity. — Thus were the conquerors of the empire met and conquered by Christianity. The victory, it must be confessed, was in a great degree a victory rather in name than in fact. The Church could not all at once leaven the great mass of heathenism which had so suddenly been brought within its pale. For a long time after they were called Christians, the barbarians, coarse and cruel and self-willed and superstitious as they were, understood very little of the doctrines and exhibited still less of the true spirit of the religion they professed. To this depressing reaction of Teutonic barbarism upon the Church is without doubt to be attributed in large measure the deplorable moral state of Europe during so large a part of the mediaeval ages. II. The Rise of Monasttcism 603. Monasticism defined; St. Antony, '«the Father of the Hermits." — It was during the period between the third and the sixth century that there grew up in the Church the institution known as Monasticism. This was so remarkable a system, and 1 The story of the conversion of the Scandinavian peoples, of the Eastern Slavs, and of the Hungarians belongs to a later period than that embraced by our present survey. 58o THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS one that exerted so profound an influence upon mediaeval and even later history, that we must here acquaint ourselves with at least its spirit and aims. The term " monasticism," in its widest application, denotes a life of austere self-denial and of seclusion from the world, with the object of promoting the interests of the soul. As thus defined, the system embraced two prominent classes of ascetics: (i) her- mits or anchorites, — persons who, retiring from the world, lived solitary lives in desolate places ; (2) cenobites or monks, who formed communities and lived usually under a common roof. St. Antony, an Egyptian ascetic (b. about a.d. 251), who by his example and influence gave a tremendous impulse to the strange enthusiasm, is called the " father of the hermits." The romance of his life, written by the celebrated Athanasius, stirred the whole Christian world and led thousands to renounce society and in imitation of the saint to flee to the desert. It is estimated that before the close of the fourth century the population of the desert in many districts in Egypt was equal to that of the cities. 604. Monasticism in the West. — During the fourth century the anchorite type of asceticism, which was favored by the mild climate of the Eastern lands and especially by that of Egypt, assumed in some degree the monastic form ; that is to say, the fame of this or that anchorite or hermit drew about him a number of disciples, whose rude huts or cells formed what was known as a laura, the nucleus of a monastery. Soon after the cenobite system had been established in the East it was introduced into Europe, and in an astonishingly short space of time spread throughout all the Western countries where Christianity had gained a foothold. Here it prevailed to the almost total exclusion of the hermit mode of life. Monasteries arose on every side. The number that fled to these retreats was vastly augmented by the disorder and terror attending tlie invasion of the barbarians and the overthrow of the Empire in the West. 605. The Rule of St. Benedict. — With the view to introducing some sort of regularity into the practices and austerities of the monks, rules were early prescribed for their observance. The SERVICES RENDERED BY THE MONKS 581 three essential requirements or \o\vs of the monk were poverty, chastity, and obedience. The greatest legislator of the monks was St. Benedict of Nursia (a.d. 480-543), the founder of the celebrated monastery of Monte Cassino, situated midway between Rome and Naples in Italy. His code was to the religious world what the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian (sec. 577) was to the lay society of Europe. Many of his rules were most wise and practical, as, for instance, one that made manual work a pious duty, and another that required the monk to spend an allotted time each day in sacred reading. The monks who subjected themselves to the rule of St. Bene- dict were known as Benedictines. The order became immensely popular. At one time it embraced about forty thousand abbeys. 606. Services rendered by the Monks to Civilization. — The early establishment of the monastic system in the Church resulted in great advantages to the new world that was shaping itself out of the ruins of the old. The monks, especially the Benedictines, became agriculturists, and by patient labor converted the wild and marshy lands which they received as gifts from princes and others into fruitful fields, thus redeeming from barrenness some of the most desolate districts of Europe. The monks, in a word, formed the vanguard of civilization towards the wilderness. The monks also became missionaries, and it was largely to their zeal and devotion that the Church owed her speedy and signal victory over the barbarians. The quiet air of the monasteries nourished learning as well as piety. The monks became teachers, and under the shelter of the monasteries established schools which were the nurseries of learn- ing during the earlier Middle Ages and the centers for centuries of the best intellectual life of Europe. The monks also became copyists, and with great painstaking and industry gathered and multiplied ancient manuscripts, and thus preserved and transmitted to the modern world much clas- sical learning and literature that would otherwise have been lost. Almost all the remains of the Greek and Latin classics that we possess have come to us through the agency of the monks. 582 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS The monks became further the almoners of the pious and the wealthy, and distributed alms to the poor and needy. Everywhere the monasteries opened their hospitable doors to the weary, the sick, and the discouraged. In a word, these retreats were the inns, the asylums, and the hospitals of the mediaeval ages. III. The Rise of the Papacy 607. The Empire within the Empire. — Long before the fall of Rome there had begun to grow up within the Roman Empire an ecclesiastical state, which in its constitution and its adminis- trative system was shaping itself upon the imperial model. This spiritual empire, like the secular empire, possessed a hierarchy of ofificers, of which deacons, priests or presbyters, and bishops were the most important The bishops collectively formed what is known as the episcopate. There were four grades Of bishops, namely, country bishops, city bishops, metropolitans or arch- bishops, and patriarchs. At the end of the fourth century there were five patriarchates, that is, regions ruled by patriarchs. These centered in the great cities of Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. Among the patriarchs, the patriarchs of Rome were accorded almost universally a precedence in honor and dignity. They claimed further a precedence in authority and jurisdiction, and this was already very widely recognized. Before the close of the eighth century there was firmly established over a great part of Christendom what we may call an ecclesiastical monarchy. Besides the influence of great men, such as Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, and Nicholas I, who held the seat of St. Peter, there were various historical circumstances that contributed to the realization by the Roman bishops of their claim to supremacy and aided them vastly in establishing the almost universal authority of the see of Rome, hi the following paragrai)hs we shall enu- merate several of these favoring circumstances. These matters constitute the great landmarks in the rise and early growth of the Papacy. THE RISE OF THE PAPACY 583 608. The Belief in the Primacy of St. Peter and in the Founding by him of the Church at Rome. — It came to be believed that the apostle Peter had been given by the Master a sort of primacy among his fellow apostles. It also came to be believed that Peter himself had founded the church at Rome. It is probable that he did so. Without doubt he preached at Rome and suffered martyrdom there under the emperor Nero. These beliefs and interpretations of history, which make the Roman bishops the successors of the first of the apostles and the holders of his seat, contributed greatly, of course, to enhance their reputation and to justify their claim to a primacy of authority over all the dignitaries of the Church. 609. Advantages of their Position at the Political Center of the World. — The claims of the Roman bishops were in the early cen- turies greatly favored by the spell in which the world was held by the name and prestige of imperial Rome. Thence it had been accustomed to receive commands in all temporal matters ; how very natural, then, that thither it should turn for command and guidance in spiritual affairs. The Roman bishops in thus occu- pying the geographical and political center of the world enjoyed a great advantage over all other bishops and jxitriarchs. The halo that during many centuries of wonderful history had gathered about the Eternal City came naturally to invest with a kind of aureole the head of the Christian bishop. 610. Effect of the Removal of the Imperial Government to Con- stantinople. — Nor was this advantage that was given the Roman bishops by their position at Rome lost v/hcn ihe old capital ceased to be an imperial city. The removal, by the acts of Diocletian and Constantine, of the chief seat of the government to the East, instead of diminishing the power and dignity of the Roman bishops, tended greatly to promote their claims and authority. It left the pontiff the foremost personage in Rome. 611. The Pastor as Protector of Rome. — Again, when the bar- barians came, there came another occasion for the Roman bishops to widen their influence and enhance their authority. Rome's extremity was their opportunity. Thus it will be recalled how 584 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS mainly through the intercession of the pious Pope Leo the Great the fierce Attila was persuaded to turn back and spare the Impe- rial City (sec. 558); and how the same bishop, in the year a.d. 455, also appeased in a measure the wrath of the Vandal Geiseric and shielded the inhabitants from the worst passions of a barbarian soldiery (sec. 559). Thus when the emperors, the natural defenders of the capital, were unable to protect it, the unarmed Pastor was able, through the awe and reverence inspired by his holy ofifice, to render serv- ices that could not but result in bringing increased honor and dignity to the Roman see. 612. Effects upon the Papacy of the Extinction of the Roman Empire in the West. — But if the misfortunes of the Empire in the West tended to the enhancement of the reputation and influ- ence of the Roman bishops, much more did its final downfall tend to the same end. Upon the surrender of the sovereignty of the West into the hands of the emperor of the East, the bishojjs of Rome became the most important personages in Western Europe, and being so far removed from the court at Constantinople gradu- ally assumed almost imperial powers. They became the arbiters between the barbarian chiefs and the Italians, and to them were referred for decision the disputes arising between cities, states, and kings. Especially did the bishops and archbishops through- out the West in their contests with the Arian barbarian rulers look to Rome for advice and help. It is easy to see how greatly these things tended to strengthen the authority and increase the influ- ence of the Roman bishops. 613. The Missions of Rome. — Again, the early missionary zeal of the church of Rome made her the mother of many churches, all of whom looked up to her with affectionate and grateful loy- alty. Thus the Angles and Saxons, won to. the faith by the mis- sionaries of Rome, conceived a deep veneration for the holy see and became its most devoted children. To Rome it was that the Christian Britons made their most frcfjuent jjilgrimages, and thither they sent their offering of St. Peter's ])en(e. And when the Saxons became missionaries to their pagan kinsmen of the THE POPES BECOME TEMPORAL SOVEREIGNS 585 continent, they transplanted into the heart of (Germany these same feehngs of filial attachment and luve. 614. Result of the Fall of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria before the Saracens. — In the seventh century all the great cities of the East fell into the hands of the Mohammedans. 'I'his was a matter of tremendous consequence for the church of Rome, since in every one of these great capitals there was, or might have been, a rival of the R^man bishop. The virtual erasure of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria from the map of Christendom left only one city, Constantinople, that could possibly nourish a rival of the Roman church. Thus did the very misfortunes of Christendom give an added security to the ever-increasing author- ity of the Roman prelate. 615. The Popes become Temporal Sovereigns. — A dispute about the use of images in worship, known in church history as the "War of the Iconoclasts," ^ which broke out in the eighth century be- tween the Greek churches of the East and the Latin churches of the West, drew after it far-reaching consequences as respects the growing power of the Roman pontiffs. Leo the Isaurian, who came to the throne of Constantinople A.D. 716, was a most zealous iconoclast. The Greek churches of the East having been cleared of images, the emperor resolved to clear also the Latin churches of the West of these " symbols of idolatry." To this end he issued a decree that they should not be used. The bishop of Rome, Pope Gregory II, not only op- posed the execution of the edict, but by the ban of excommuni- cation cut off the emperor and all the iconoclastic churches of the East from communion with the true Catholic Church. In this quarrel with the Eastern emjjerors the Roman bishops formed an alliance with the Frankish princes of the Carolingian house (sec. 641). We shall a little later tell briefly the story of this alliance. Never did allies render themselves more serv- iceable to each other. The popes consecrated the Frankish chieftains as kings and emperors; the grateful Frankish kings defended the popes against all their enemies, imperial and 2 Iconoclast means " image breaker." 586 THE CHURCH AND ITS INSTITUTIONS barbarian, and dowering them with cities and provinces, laid the basis of their temporal power. Such in broad outline was the way in which grew up the Papacy, an institution which, far beyond all others, was destined to mold the fortunes and direct the activities of Western Chris- tendom throughout the mediaeval time. Selections from the Sources. — Bede, Ecclesiastical History. Read bk. i, chaps, xxiii-xxv ; bk. ii, chaps, i and xiii ; bk. iii, chaps, iii and xxv. Trans- latiotis and Reprints (Univ. of Penn.), vol. ii, No. 7, " Life of Saint Colum- ban " ; an instructive biography of an Irish monk. The subject of this biography is sometimes named " Columba the Younger," to distinguish him from Saint Columba of lona. Henderson's Select Documents of the Middle Ages, pp. 274-314, "Tlie Rule of Saint Benedict." European History Studies (Univ. of Nebraska), vol. ii, No. 6, " Monasticism." Nicene and Post-A'icene Fathers (Second Series), vol. iv, for " Life of Saint Antony," by Athanasius. His biography can also be found in literal translation in Kingsley's The Hermits. References (Modern). — Zimmer, The Irish Element in Medicrval Culture; an authoritative and interesting account of the services rendered medi- aeval civilization by the Irish monks. Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. iv, chap, ii, pp. 17-142, " The Conversion of the Northern and Western Barbarians." KiNGSLEY, The Hei-mits. Montalembert (Count DE), The Monks of the West from Saint Benedict to Saint Bernard, 7 vols. ; an ardent eulogy of monasticism. Lecky, History of European Morals, vol. ii, chap, iv ; gives the light and the shade of the picture. WiSHART, A Short History of Monks aitd Moftasteries; the best short account in English of the origin, ideals, and effects of the monastic system. Putnam, Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages, vol. i; for the labors of the monks as copyists and illuminators. Jessopp, The Coming of the Friars, chap, iii, " Daily Life in a Mediaeval Monastery." Hatch, The Organization of the Early Christian Church ; the best work on the subject from the Protestant side. Fisher, Histoiy of the Christian Church, the earlier chapters; concise, fair, and scholarly. Emerton, Introduc- tion to the Study of the Middle Ages, chap, ix, "The Rise of the Christian Church." Adams, Civilization during the Middle Ages, chap, vi, " The For- mation of the Papacy." Cardinal Gibkons, The Faith of Our Fathers, chap, ix, "The Primacy of Peter," and chap, x, "The Supremacy of the Popes " ; an authoritative statement of the Catholic view of these matters. Topics for Special Study. — i. Conversion of the Angles and Saxons. 2. The life of St. Antony. 3. St. Columba and lona. 4. Whitby. 5. St. Benedict and Monte Cassino. 6. The scriptorium of the monastery. CHAPTER Llir THE FUSION OF LATIN AND TEUTON 6i6. Introductory. — The conversion of the barbarians and the development ii\ Western Christendom of the central authority of the Papacy prepared the way for the introduction among the Northern races of the arts and the culture of Rome, and contrib- uted greatly to hasten in Italy, Spain, and Gaul the fusion into a single people of the Latins and the Teutons, of which im|)ortant matter we shall treat in the present chapter. We shall tell how these two races, upon the soil of the old Empire in the West, inter- mingled their blood, their languages, their laws, their usages and customs, to form new peoples, new tongues, and new institutions. 617. The Romance Nations. — In some districts the barbarian invaders and the Roman provincials were kept apart for a long time by the bitter antagonism of race, and by a sense of injury on the one hand and a feeling of disdainful superiority on the other. But for the most part the Teutonic intruders and the Latin- speaking inhabitants of Italy, Spain, and France very soon began freely to mingle their blood by family alliances. It is quite impossible to say what proportion the Teutons bore to the Romans. Of course the proportion varied in the different countries. In none of the countries named, however, was it large enough to absorb the Latinized population ; on the contrary, the barbarians were themselves absorbed, yet not without changing very essentially the body into which they were incorporated. Thus, about the end of the fourth century everything in Italy, Spain, and Prance — dwellings, cities, dress, customs, language, laws, soldiers — reminds us of Rome. A little later and a great change has taken place. The barbarians have come in. For a time we see everywhere, jostling each other in the streets and markets, crowding each other in the theaters and courts, kneeling 587 588 THE FUSION OF LATIN AND TEUTON together in the churches, the former Romanized subjects of the empire and their uncouth Teutonic conquerors. But by the close of the ninth century, to speak in very general terms, the two ele- ments have become quite intimately blended, and a century or two later Roman and Teuton have alike disappeared, and we are introduced to Italians, Spaniards, and Frenchmen. These we call Romance nations, because at base they are Roman. 6i8. The Formation of the Romance Languages. — During the five centuries of their subjection to Rome, the natives of Spain and Gaul forgot their barbarous dialects and came to speak a cor- rupt Latin. Now in exactly the same way that the dialects of the Celtic tribes of Gaul and of the Celtiberians of Spain had given way to the more refined speech of the Romans, did the rude languages of the Teutons yield to the more cultured speech of the Roman provincials. In the course of two or three centuries after their entrance into the empire, Goths, Lombards, Bur- gundians, and Franks had, in a large measure, dropped their own tongue and were speaking that of the people they had subjected. But of course this provincial Latin underwent a great change upon the lips of the mixed descendants of the Romans and Teu- tons. Owing to the absence of a common popular literature, the changes that took place in one country did not exactly corre- spond to those going on in another. Hence, in the course of time, we find different dialects s])ringing up, and by about the ninth century the I^atin has virtually disappeared as a spoken language, and its place been usurped l)y what will be known as the Italian, Spanish, and French languages, all more or less resembling the ancient Latin, and all called Romance tongues, because children of the old Roman speech. 619. The Barbarian Codes 'i"he Teutonic tribes, before they entered the Roman ICmpire, had no written laws. As soon as they settled in the provinces, however, they began, in imitation of the Romans, to frame their rules and customs into codes. In some countries, jjarticularly in S])ain and Italy, this work was under the supervision of the clergy, and hence the codes of the Teu- tonic peoples in these countries were a sort of fusion of Roman CHARACTER OF THE TEUTONIC LAWS 589 principles and barbarian ])ractices. But in general these early compilations of laws — they were made, for the most ])art, between the sixth and ninth centuries — were not so es>ientially modified by Latin influence but that they serve as valuable and instructive memorials of the customs, ideals, and social arrangements of the Teutonic peoples. 620. The Personal Character of the Teutonic Laws. — The laws of the barbarians were generally personal instead of territorial, as with us ; that is, instead of all the inhabitants of a given country being subject to the same laws, there were different ones for the different classes of society. The Latins, for instance, were subject in private law only to the old Roman code, while the Teutons lived under the tribal rules and regulations which they had brought with them from beyond the Rhine and the Danube. The curious state of things resulting from this personality of law, as it is called, is vividly pictured by the following observation of a chronicler : " For it would often happen," he says, " that five men would be sitting or walking together, not one of whom would have the same law with any other." Even among themselves the Teutons knew nothing of the modern legal maxim that all should stand equal before the law. The pen- alty inflicted upon the evil doer depended not upon the nature of his crime but upon his rank or that of the party injured. Thus slaves and serfs were beaten and put to death for minor offenses, while a freeman might atone for any crime, even for murder, by the payment of a fine, the amount of the penalty being determined by the rank of the victim. 621. Ordeals. — -The agencies relied upon by the Germans to ascertain the guilt or innocence of accused persons show in how rude a state the administration of justice among them was. One very common method of proof was by what were called ordeals, in which the question was submitted to the judgment of God. Of these the chief were the ordeal by fire, the ordeal by water, and the wager of battle. The ordeal by fire consisted in taking in the hand a piece of red-hot iron, or in walking blindfolded with bare feet over a row 590 THE FUSION OF LATIN AND TEUTON of hot plowshares laid lengthwise at irregular distances. If the person escaped unharmed, he was held to be innocent. Another way of performing the fire ordeal was by running through the flame of two fires built close together, or by walking over live brands. The ordeal by wafer was of two kinds, by hot water and by cold. In the hot- water ordeal the accused person thrust his arm into boiling water, and if no hurt was visible upon the arm three days after the operation, the party was considered guiltless. In the cold-water trial the suspected person was thrown into a stream or pond; if he floated, he was held to be guilty ; if he sank, innocent. The water, it was believed, would reject the guilty but receive the innocent into its bosom. The trial by combat, or wager of battle, was a solemn judicial duel. It was resorted to in the belief that God would give victory to the right. Naturally it was a favorite mode of trial among a people who found their chief delight in fighting. Even religious disputes were sometimes settled in this way. The ordeal was frequently performed by deputy, that is, one person for hire or for the sake of friendship would undertake it for another ; hence the expression " to go through fire and water to serve one." Especially was such substitution common in the judicial duel, as women and ecclesiastics were generally forbidden to appear personally in the lists. 622. The Revival of the Roman Law. — Now the barbarian law system, if such it can be called, the character of which we have merely suggested by the preceding illustrations, gradually displaced the Roman law in all those countries where the two systems at first existed alongside each other, save in Italy and Southern France, where the provincials greatly outnumbered the invaders. But the admirable jurisprudence of Rome was bound to assert its superi- ority. About the close of the eleventh century there was a great revival in the study of the Roman law as embodied in the Justin- ian code, and in the course of a century or two this became either the groundwork or a strong modifying element in the law systems of almost all the peoples of Europe. THE REVIVAL OF THE ROMAN LAW 591 What took place may be illustrated by reference to the fate of the Teutonic languages in Gaul, Italy, and Spain. As the barba- rian tongues, after maintaining a place in those countries for two or three centuries, at length gave place to the superior Latin, which became the basis of the new Romance languages, so now in the domain of law the barbarian maxims and customs, though holding their place longer, likewise finally give way, almost every- where and in a greater or less degree, to the more excellent law system of the empire. Rome must fulfill her destiny and give laws to the nations. Selections from the Sources. — Henderson's Select Historical Docu- ments, pp. 176-189, "The Salic Law," and pp. 314-319, '■'■ Formulce Litur- gicer in use at Ordeals." Lee's Source-Book of English History, chap, v, "Anglo-Sa.xon Laws." Translations and Reprints (Univ. of Penn.), vol. iv. No. 4, "Ordeals," etc. References (Modern). — Emerton, Introduction to the Middle Ages, chap, viii, "Germanic Ideas of Law." Lea, Stiperstitioti and Force: Essays on the Wager of Law, the Wager of Battle, the Ordeal and Tortt4re. GuiZOT, History of Civilization in France, vol. i. lects. viii-.xi. This work forms vols, ii-iv of the Appleton edition of the author's " History of Civ- ilization in Europe" (i vol.) and "History of Civilization in France" (3 vols.). Hadley, Introduction to Roman Law, lect. ii, "The Roman Law since Justinian." Topics for Special Study. — i. The formation of the Romance lan- guages. 2. Weregild. 3. Ordeals. 4. The influence of the Roman law upon the law systems of Europe. CHAPTER LIV THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE EAST 623. The Era of Justinian (a.d. 527-565). — During the half century immediately following the fall of Rome, the Eastern emperors struggled hard and sometimes doubtfully to withstand the waves of the barbarian inundation which constantly threat- ened to overwhelm Constantinople with the same awful calamities that had befallen the Imperial City of the West. Had the New Rome — the destined refuge for a thousand years of Graeco- Roman learning and culture — also gone down at this time before the storm, the loss to the cause of civilization would have been incalculable. Fortunately, in the year a.d. 527, there ascended the Eastern throne a prince of unusual ability, to whom fortune gave a general of such rare genius that his name has been allotted a place in the short list of the great commanders of the world. Justinian was the name of the prince, and Belisarius that of the soldier. The sovereign has given name to the period, which is called after him the " Era of Justinian." 624. Justinian as the Restorer of the Empire and "The Lawgiver of Civilization." — One of the most important matters in the reign of Justinian is what is termed the " Imperial Restoration," by which is meant the recovery from the barbarians of several of the provinces of the West upon which they had seized. Africa, as we have seen (sec 590), was first wrested from the Vandals. Italy was next recovered from the (ioths and again made a part of the Roman I'^mpire (a.d. 553). It was governed from Ravenna by an imperial officer who bore the title of Exarch. Besides recov- ering from the barbarians Africa and Italy, Justinian also recon- quered from the Visigoths the southeastern part of Spain. 592 THE REIGN OF HERACLIUS 593 But that which gives Justinian's reign a greater distinction than any conferred upon it by the achievenaents of his great generals was the collection and publication by him of the Corpus Juris Civilis, the " Body of the Roman Law." This work, as we have already learned (sec. 577), embodied all the law knowledge of the ancient Romans, and was the most precious legacy of Rome to the world. In causing its publication, Justinian earned the title of " The Lawgiver of Civilization." 625. The Reign of Heraclius (a.d. 610-641). — For half a century after the death of Justinian the annals of the Eastern Roman Empire are unimportant. Then we reach the reign of Heraclius, a prince about whose worthy name gather matters of significance in world history. About this time Chosroes II, king of Persia, wrested from the hands of the Eastern emperors the fortified cities that guarded the Euphratean frontier and overran all Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor. For many years Heraclius battled heroically for the integrity of the empire. The struggle between the two rivals was at last decided by a terrible combat known as the battle of Nineveh (a.d. 627). The Persian army was almost annihilated. Grief or violence ended the life of Chosroes. With his successor Heraclius negotiated a treaty which restored the earlier boundaries of the Roman dominions. A few years after this the Arabs, of whom we shall tell in the following chapter, entered upon their surprising career of conquest, which in a short time completely changed the face of the entire East. Heraclius himself lived to see —so cruel are the vicissi- tudes of fortune — the very provinces which he had recovered from the fire-worshipers in the possession of the followers of the Arabian Prophet. The conquests of the Arabs cut ofif from the empire those prov- inces that had the smallest Greek element, and thus rendered the population subject to the emperor more homogeneous, more thoroughly Greek. The Roman element disappeared, and though the government still retained the imperial character impressed upon it by the conquerors of the world, the court of Constantinople 594 THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE EAST became Greek in tone, spirit, and manners. Hence, instead of longer applying to the empire the designation Roman, many historians from this on call it the Greek or Byzantine Empire. 626. Services rendered European Civilization by the Roman Em- pire in the East.^ — The later Roman Empire rendered such emi- nent services to the European world that it justly deserves an important place in universal history. First, as a military outpost it held the Eastern frontier of European civilization for a thousand years against Asiatic barbarism. Second, it was the keeper for centuries of the treasures of ancient civilization and the instructress of the new Western nations in law, in government and administration, in literature, in painting, in architecture, and in the industrial arts. Third, it kept alive the imperial idea and principle, and gave this fruitful idea and this molding principle back to the West in the time of Charlemagne. Without the later Roman Empire of the East there would never have been a Romano-German Empire of the West (sec. 643). Fourth, it was the teacher of religion and civilization to the Slavic races of Eastern Europe. Russia forms part of the civilized world to-day largely by virtue of what she received from New Rome. References. — Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Ro?nan Empire, chaps, xl-xliv ; on the reign of Justinian. Chap, xliv deals with Roman jurisprudence. Oman, The Story of the Byzantine Empire, chz^s. iv-x\ ; and The Dark Ages, chaps, iii, v, vi, ix, and xii. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, vol. iv, "The Imperial Restoration." Rawlinson, The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, chap. xxiv. Encyc. Brit, Art. on Justinian by James Bryce. Bury, History of the Later Roma7i Empire, 2 vols.; a work of superior scholarship. Harrison, Byzafttine History in the Early Middle Ages ; a brilliant lecture, which summarizes the results of tlie latest studies in the field indicated. Topics for Special Study. — i. The recovery of Italy. 2. Belisarius. 3. Introduction into Europe of the silk industry. 4. Justinian as a builder. 5. The Code of Justinian. 6. The closing by Justinian of the schools of Athens. 1 Bury's History of the Later Roman Empire, vol. ii, chap. xiv. CHAPTER LV THE RISE OF ISLAM 627. The Attack from the South upon Ancient Civilization. — We have seen the German barbarians of the North descend upon and wrest from the Roman Empire all its provinces in the West. We are now to watch a similar attack made upon the empire by the Arabs of the South, and to see wrested from the emperors of the East a large part of the lands still remaining under their rule.^ Fig. 1S3. — The Kaaba at Mecca 628. The Religious Condition of Arabia before Mohammed. — Religion, which had had nothing to do with the fateful move- ment among the German barbarians, was the inciting cause of the great Arabian revolution. Before the reforms of Mohammed the Arabs were idolaters. Their holy city was Mecca. Here was the ancient and most 1 The student should make a careful comparative study of the maps after PP- 534- 572, and 598. 595 596 THE RISE OF ISLAM revered shrine of the Kaaba,^ where was preserved a sacred black stone that was believed to have been given by an angel to Abraham. To this Meccan shrine pilgrimages were made from the most remote parts of Arabia. But though polytheism was the prevailing religion of Arabia, still there were in the land many followers of other faiths. The Jews especially were to be found in some parts of the peninsula in great numbers, having been driven from Palestine by the Roman persecutions. From them the Arab teachers had been made acquainted with the doctrine of one sole God. From the numerous Christian converts dwelling among them they had learned something of the doctrines of Christianity. 629. Mohammed. — Mohammed, the great Prophet of the Arabs, was born in the holy city of Mecca, probably in the year A.D. 570. He sprang from the distinguished tribe of the Koreish, the custodians of the sacred shrine of the Kaaba. In his early years he was a shepherd and a watcher of flocks by night, as the great religious teachers Moses and David had been before him. Later he became a merchant and a camel driver. Mohammed possessed a soul that was early and deeply stirred by the contemplation of those themes that ever attract the religious mind. He declared that he had visions in which the angel Gabriel appeared to him and made to him revelations which he was commanded to make known to his fellow-men. The essence of the new faith which he was to teach was this : There is but one God, and Mohammed is his Prophet. For a long time Mohammed endeavored to gain adherents merely by persuasion; but such was the incredulity which he everywhere met, that at the end of three years his disciples numbered only forty persons. 630. The Hegira (a.d. 622). — The teachings of Mohammed at last aroused the anger of a powerful party among the Koreish, who feared that they, as the guardians of the national idols of the Kaaba, would be compromised in the eyes of the other tribes by allowing such heresy to be openly taught by one of their 2 So named from its having the shape of a cube. THE FAITH EXTENDED BY THE SWORD 597 number, and accordingly they began to persecute Mohammed and his followers. To escape these persecutions Mohammed fled to the neighbor- ing city of Medina. This Hegira, or " flight," as the word sig- nifies, occurred a.d. 622, and was considered by the Moslems as such an important event in the history of their religion that they adopted it as the beginning of a new era, and from it still con- tinue to reckon historical dates. 631. The Faith extended by the Sword. — His cause being warmly espoused by the inhabitants of Medina, Mohammed now assumed along with the character of a lawgiver and moral teacher that of a warrior. He declared it to be the will of God that the new faith should be spread by the sword. The year following the Hegira he began to attack and plunder caravans. The flame of a sacred war was soon kindled. War- riors from all quarters flocked to the standard of the Prophet. Their reckless enthusiasm was intensified by the assurance that death met in fighting those who resisted the true faith insured the martyr immediate entrance upon the joys of paradise. Within ten years from the time of the assumption of the sword by Mohammed, Mecca had been conquered (a.d. 630) and the new creed established among all the independent tribes of Arabia. Mohammed's life was just sufificiently prolonged — he died in the year a.d. 632 — to enable him to set the Arabian tribes on their marvelous career of foreign conquest. Upon the ground of an insult to one of his ambassadors he declared war against Hera- chus and wrested from the empire several cities lying between the Dead Sea and the Euphrates. These were the only conquests made beyond the limits of the peninsula during the lifetime of Mohammed. 632. The Koran and its Teachings. — The doctrines of Moham- medanism or Islam, which means " submission to God," are con- tained in the Koran, which is believed by the orthodox to have been written from all eternity on tablets in heaven. From time to time Mohammed recited to his disciples portions of the "heavenly book" as its contents were revealed to him in his 598 THE RISE OF ISLAM dreams and visions. These communications were held in the " breasts of men," or were written down upon pieces of pottery, the broad shoulder bones of sheep, and the ribs of palm leaves. Soon after the death of the Prophet these scraps of writing were religiously collected, supplemented by tradition, and then arranged chiefly according to length. Such was the origin of the book that has been received as sacred by so large a portion of the human race. The Koran inculcates the practice of four cardinal virtues or duties. The first is prayer ; five times every day must the believer turn his face towards Mecca and engage in devotion. The sec- ond requirement is almsgiving. The third is keeping the fast of Ramadan, which lasts a whole month. The fourth duty is mak- ing a pilgrimage to Mecca. Every person who can possibly do so is required to make this journey. 633. The Conquest of Persia, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa. — For exactly one century after the death of Mohammed the caliphs or successors of the Prophet^ were engaged in an almost unbroken series of conquests. Persia was subjugated and the authority of the Koran was established throughout the land of the ancient fire- worshipers. Syria was wrested from the Eastern Roman Empire and Asia Minor was overrun. Egypt and North Africa, the latter just recently delivered from the Vandals (sec. 624), were also snatched from the hands of the Byzantine emperors. By the conquest of Syria the birthplace of Christianity was lost permanently to the Christian world. By the conquest of North Africa lands whose history for a thousand years had been inter- twined with that of the opposite shores of Europe, and which at one time seemed destined to share in the career of freedom and progress opening to the peoples of that continent, were drawn back into the fatalism and the stagnation of the East. From being an extension of Europe they became once more an exten- sion of Asia. 8 Abu Bekr (A.n. 632-634), Moliammed's father-in-law, was the first caliph. He •was followed by Omar (a.d. 634-644), Othman (a.d. 644-655), and Ali (a.d. 655- 661), all of whom fell by the hands of assassins, for from the very first dissensions were rife among the followers of the Prophet. Ali was the last of the four so-called orthodox caliphs. A/Sl?sv>^ o o """^^{J/Ko. !?4e B. ":aaa '^;4 R &c^ Tripoli Vl' \ RHC •4 GREATEST EXTENT »F THE SAKACEN DOMINIONS C. A. I>. 750 20 Longilude 25 K: b+trapei"'^, 'V J ^^ OTrebUsii,.J ^—^ 1^ \ ^ i ThebarJoea^ rv jt^ JeA Hj \ov!»^ ,K H O „ , ^^."fp Tiberias /TX^^Cul^"^ (Acre)jQj>ffa / ""--l-^ - ,, , AscalonlbkJerusalem' Cadesia^ ^>..Jl,„^~4nu»»T _ , . . \ r^fij lusium i^^^'^a,' 1 / Isfata'' .o V *. iTle J H a w ^' \0 Miw*' a '• * s y s s 1 ^P from 35 Greenwich 40 ATTACKS UPON CONSTANTINOPLE 599 634. Attacks upon Constantinople. —Thus in only a little more than fifty years from the death of Mohammed his standard had been carried by the lieutenants of his successors through Asia to the Hellespont on the one side and across Africa to the Straits of (iibraltar on the other. We may expect to see the Saracens at one or both of these points attempt the invasion of Europe. The first attempt was made in the East (a.d. 673-677), where the Arabs endeavored to gain control of the Bosporus by wresting Constantinople from the hands of the Eastern emper "s. After repeated unsuccessful assaults they abandoned the undertaking. Forty years later (a.d. 717-718) the city was again invested by a powerful Saracen fleet and army ; but ihe skill and personal hero- ism of the emperor, Eeo the lsaurian,and the use by the besieged of a recently invented combustible compound known as marine fire (" Greek fire ") saved the capital for several centuries longer to the Christian world. This check that the Saracens received before Constantinople was doubtless next in importance for European civilization to the check given their concpiering hordes a little later in France at the great battle of Tours. 635. The Conquest of Spain (a.o. 711).— While the Moslems were thus being repulse.l from l-urope at its eastern extremity, the gates of the continent were opened to them by treachery at the western, and they gained a foothold in Spain. At the great battle of Xeres (a.d. 711), Roderic, the last of the Visigothic kings (sec. 588), was hopelessly defeated, and all the peninsula save some mountainous regions in the northwest (luickly submitted to the invaders. By this concpiest some of the fairest provinces of Spain were lost to Christendom for a period of eight hundred years. No sooner had the subjugation of the country been effected than multitudes of colonists from Arabia, Syria, and North Africa crowded into the peninsula, until in a short time the provinces of Seville. Cordova, Toledo, and Cxranada became predominantly Arabic in dress, manners, language, and religion. 636. Invasion of France; Battle of Tours (a.d. 732). — Four or five years after the conciviest of Spain the Saracens crossed the 6oo THE RISE OF ISLAM Pyrenees and established themselves upon the plains of Gaul. This advance of the Moslem host beyond the northern wall of Spain was viewed with the greatest alarm by all Christendom. It looked as though the followers of Mohammed would soon possess all the continent. As Draper pictures it, the Crescent, lying in a vast semicircle upon the northern shore of Africa and the curving coast of Asia, with one horn touching the Bosporus and the other the Straits of Gibraltar, seemed about to round to the full and overspread all Europe, In the year a.d. 732, just one hundred years after the death of the Prophet, the Franks, under their leader Charles Martel, and their allies met the Moslems upon the plains of Tours in the center of Gaul and committed to the issue of a single battle the fate of Christendom and the future course of history. The Arabs suffered an overwhelming defeat and soon withdrew behind the Pyrenees. The young Christian civihzation of Western Europe was thus delivered from an appalling danger such as had not threatened it since the fearful days of Attila and the Huns. 637. The Dismemberment of the Caliphate. — "At the close of the first century of the Hegira," writes Gibbon, " the caliphs were the most potent and absolute monarchs of the globe." But in a short time the extended empire, through the quarrels of sectaries and the ambitions of rival aspirants for the honors of the caliphate, was broken in fragments, and from three capitals — from Bagdad upon the Tigris, from Cairo upon the Nile, and from Cordova upon the Guadalquivir — were issued the commands of three rival caliphs, each of whom was regarded by his adherents as the sole rightful spiritual and civil successor of Mohammed. All, however, held the great Prophet in the same reverence, all maintained with equal zeal the sacred character of the Koran, and all prayed with their faces turned toward the holy city of Mecca. 638. The Civilization of Arabian Islam. — The Saracens were coheirs of antiquity with the (iermans. They made especially their own the scientific ^ accumulations of the ancient civilizations * Gibbon affirms that no Greek poet, orator, or liistorian was ever translated into Arabic. See Decline and Fall, chap. lii. THE CIVILIZATION OF ARABIAN ISLAM 6oi and bequeathed them to Christian Europe. From the Cireeks and the Hindus they received the germs of astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, algebra, medicine, botany, and other sciences. The scientific writings of Aristotle, Euclid, and Galen, and Hindu trea- tises on astronomy and algebra were translated from the Greek and Sanskrit into Arabic, and formed the basis of the Arabian studies and investigations. Almost all of the sciences that thus came into their hands were improved and enriched by them, and then transmitted to European scholars.^ They devised what is known from them as the Arabic or decimal system of notation," and gave to Europe this indispensable instrument of all scientific investigations dependent upon mathematical calculations. All this literary and scientific activity naturally found expres- sion in the establishment of schools, universities, and libraries. In all the great cities of the Arabian Empire, as at Bagdad, Cairo, and Cordova, centuries before Europe could boast anything beyond cathedral or monastic schools, great universities were drawing together vast crowds of eager young Moslems and creating an atmosphere of learning and refinement. The famous university at Cairo, which has at the present day an attendance of several thousand students, is a survival from the great days of Arabian Islam. In the erection of mosques and other public edifices the Arab architects developed a new and striking style of architecture, — one of the most beautiful specimens of which is preserved to us in the palace of the Moorish kings at Granada, — a style which has given to modern builders some of their finest models. 5 What Europe received in science from Arabian sources is kept in remembrance by such words as alchemy, alcohol, alembic, algebra, alkali, almanac, azimuth, chem- istry, elixir, zenith, and nadir. To how great an extent the chief Arabian cities became the manufacturing centers of the medieval world is indicated by the names which these places have given to various textile fabrics and other articles. Thus muslin comes from Mosul, on the Tigris, damask from Damascus, and gauze from Gaza. Damascus and Toledo blades tell of the proficiency of the Arab workmen in metallurgy. ' 6 The figures or numerals, with the exception of the zero symbol, employed in their system, they seem to have borrowed from India. 602 REFERENCES Selections from the Sources. — The Koran, like the Bible for Chris- tianity, is our chief source for a knowledge of Islam as a religion. The translation by Palmer, in Sacred Books of the East, is the best. 77ie Speeches and Table-Talk of the Prophet Mohainmed (chosen and translated by .Stanley Lane-Poole). European History Studies (Univ. of Nebraska), vol. ii. No. 3, " Selections from the Koran." References (Modem). — Muir, The Coran: Its Composition and Teach- ings ; The Life of Mohammed ; Annals of the Early Caliphate ; and The Rise and Decline of Islam. All these works are based on the original sources ; they are, however, written in an unfriendly and unsympathetic spirit. Smith, Mohatnmcd and I^Iohamviedanism ; has a short bibliog- raphy. Deutsch, Literary Remains; contains the important essay entitled " Islam." This same essay also forms an appendi.x to the pre- ceding work by Smith. Sprenger, The Life of Mohammed. Irving, Mahomet arid his Successors. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chaps. 1-lii. Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-Worship, lect. ii, "The Hero as Prophet." Stanley, History of the Eastern Church. Read lecture entitled " Moham- medanism in its Relations to the Eastern Church." Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. iv, chap, iii, pp. 143-202, "Mohammedanism in its Relations to Christianity." Freeman, History and Conquests of the Saracens; a rapid sketch by a master. Oilman, The Saracens from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Bagdad ; contains a list of over two hundred books bearing on the subject, with short appreciations of the most impor- tant works. Syed Ameer Alt, The Spirit of Islam : or the Life and Teachings of Mohammed ; by a Mohammedan barrister at law. The writer maintains that Islam, as is insisted upon by Christians for Chris- tianity, should be judged by its spirit, and not by the practice of its pro- fessors. Also the same author's Short. History of the Saracens. Poole, Studies i?t a Mosque. Smith, The Bible in Islam, chap, x, "Church and State"; for Mohammed's position at Medina. The articles by Wellhausen, Noldeke, and Guyard, under the word Mohammedanism in tlie Encyc. Brit., have a very special value. Topics for Special Study. — 1. Mohammed at Medina, z. The con- quest of Egypt liy the Arabs. 3. The caliph Harun-al-Raschid. 4. The Arabian Nights. 5. The Moors in Spain. CHAPTER LVI CHARLEMAGNE AND THE RESTORATION OF THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST 639. Introductory. — We return now to the West. The Franks, who with the aid of their confederates withstood the advance of the vSaracens upon the field of Tours and saved Europe from sub- jection to the Koran, are the people that first attract our attention. Among them it is that a man appears who makes the first grand attempt to restore the laws, the order, the institutions of the ancient Romans. Charlemagne or Charles the Great, their king, is the imposing figure that moves amidst all the events of the times, — indeed, is the one who makes the events and renders the period an epoch in universal history. The story of this era affords the key to very much of the sub- sequent history of Western Europe. The mere enumeration of the events which are to claim our attention will illustrate the important and germinal character of the period. We shall tell how the mayors of the palace of the Merovingian princes became the actual kings of the Franks ; how, through the liberality of the Frankish kings, the popes laid the foundations of their tem- poral sovereignty ; and how Charlemagne restored the Roman Empire in the West, and throughout its extentled limits, in the fusion of things Roman and of things Germanic, laid the basis of modern civilization. 640. How Duke Pippin became King of the Franks (a.d. 751). — Charles Martel, who saved the Christian civilization of Western Europe on the fiield of Tours, although the real head of the Frankish nation, was nominally only an ofificer of the Merovin- gian court (sec. 591). He died without ever having borne the title of king, notwithstanding he had exercised all the authority of that ofifice. 603 604 THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST But Charles' son, Pippin III, aspired to the regal title and honors. He resolved to depose his titular master and to make himself king. Not deeming it wise, however, to do this without the sanction of the pope, he sent an embassy to represent to him the state of affairs and to solicit his advice. Mindful of recent favors that he had received at the hands of Pippin, the pope gave his approval to the proposed scheme by replying that it seemed altogether reasonable that the one who was king in reality should be king also in name. This was sufficient. Childeric — such was the name of the Merovingian king — was straightway deposed, and Pippin, whose own deeds together with those of his illustrious father had done so much for the Frankish nation and for Chris- tendom, was crowned king of the Franks (a.d. 751), and thus became the first of the Carolingian line, the name of his illus- trious son Charles (Charlemagne) giving name to the house. 641. Pippin helps to establish the Temporal Power of the Popes (a.d. 756). — In the year a.d. 754 Pope Stephen II, troubled by the king of the Lombards, besought Pippin's aid against the bar- barian. PijDpin, quick to return the favor which the head of the Church had rendered him in the securing of his crown, straight- way interposed in behalf of the pope. He descended into Italy with an army, expelled the Lombards from their recent con- quests, and made a donation to the pope of the regained lands ^ (a.d. 756). As a symbol of the gift he laid the keys of Ravenna, Rimini, and of many other cities on the tomb of St. Peter. This endowment may be regarded as having practically laid the basis of the temporal sovereignty of the popes ; for although Pope Stephen, as it seems, had already resolved to cast off alle- giance to the Eastern emperor and set uj) an independent Church state, still it is not probable that he could have carried out suc- cessfully such an enterprise had he not been aided in his project by the Frankish king. 642. Accession of Charlemagne; his Wars. — Pippin died in the year 768, and his kingdom ]jassed into the hands of his two 1 The sovereignty of all these lands belonged nominally to the emperor at Con- stantinople. His claims were ignored by I'ippiu. ACCESSION OP' CHARLEMAGNE 605 sons, Carloman and Charles, the latter being better known by the name he achieved of Charlemagne or "Charles the (ireat." Three years after the accession of the brothers, Carloman died, and Charles took possession of his dominions. Charlemagne's long reign of nearly half a century — he ruled forty-six years — was filled with military expeditions and con- quests by which he so extended the boundaries of his dominions that they came to embrace the larger part of Western Europe. He made fifty-two military campaigns, the chief of which were against the Lom- bards, the Saracens, the Saxons, and the Avars. Among the first undertakings of Char- lemagne was a campaign against the Lombards, whose king, Desiderius, was troubling the pope. Charlemagne wrested from Desiderius all his possessions, shut up the unfortunate king in a monastery, and placed on his own head the famous irgn crown of the Lombards (sec. 592). In the year 778 Charlemagne gath- ered his warriors for a crusade against the Mohammedan Moore in Spain. He crossed the Pyrenees and succeeded in winning from the Moslems all the northeastern corner of the peninsula. These lands thus regained for Christendom he made a part of his empire, under the title of the Spanish March. But by far the greater number of the campaigns of Charle- magne were directed against the still pagan Saxons. These people were finally reduced to permanent submission and led to accept Charlemagne as their sovereign and Christianity as their religion. To the east and the southeast, behind the German tribes that Charlemagne had reduced to obedience, were the Avars, a race ter- rible as the Huns of Attila, and an offshoot seemingly of the same stock. In a series of campaigns Charlemagne broke their power and reduced the race to a tributary condition. This subjugation of the Avars was one of the greatest services that Charlemagne Fig. 184. — Charlemagne (From a bronze statuette) 6o6 THE EMPIRE IN THE WEST rendered the young Christian civilization of Europe. For three centuries they had been the scourge of all their neighbors. 643. Restoration of the Empire in the West (a.d. 800). — An event of seemingly little real moment, yet in its influence upon succeeding affairs of the very greatest importance, now claims our attention. Pope Leo III having called upon Charlemagne for aid against a hostile faction at Rome, the king soon appeared in person at the capital and punished summarily the disturbers of the peace of the Church. The gratitude of Leo led him at this time to make a most signal return for the many services of the Prankish king. To understand his act a word of explanation is needed. For a considerable time a variety of circumstances had been fostering a growing feeling of enmity between the Italians and the emperors at Constantinople. Just at this time, by the crime of the Empress Irene, who had deposed her son, Constantine VI, and put out his eyes that she might have his place, the Byzantine throne was vacant, in the estimation of the Italians, who con- tended that the crown of the C?esars could not be worn by a woman. In view of these circumstances Pope Leo and these about him conceived the purpose of taking away from the hereti- cal and effeminate Greeks the imperial crown and bestowing it upon some strong and orthodox and worthy prince in the West. Now, among all the Teutonic chiefs of Western Christendom there was none who could dispute in claims to the honor with the king of the Franks, the representative of a most illustrious house and the strongest champion of the young Christianity of the West against her pagan foes. Accordingly, as Charles was participat- ing in the solemnities of Christmas Day in the basilica of St. Peter at Rome, the pope approached the kneeling king, and placing a crown of gold upon his head proclaimed him Emperor and Augustus (a.d. 800). The intention of Pope Leo was, by a sort of reversal of the act of Constantine the Great, to bring back from the East the seat of the imperial court; but what he really accomplished was a resto- ration of the line of emperors in the West, which three hundred !S 30 3S 40 46 60 GS 60 THE REVIVAL OF THE EMPIRE 607 and twenty-four years before had been ended by Odoacer, when he dethroned Romulus Augustuhis and sent the royal vestments to Constantinople (sec. 560). We say this was what he actually effected ; for the Greeks of the East, disregarding wholly what the Roman people and the i)ope had done, maintained their line of emperors just as though nothing had occurred in Italy. So now from this time on for centuries there were, most of the time, two emperors, one in the East and another in the West, each claiming to be the rightful successor of Caesar Augustus. This revival of the Empire in the West was one of the most important matters in European history. It gave to the following centuries " a great political ideal," which was the counterpart of the religious ideal of a universal Church embodied in the Papacy, and which was to determine the character of large sections of mediaeval history. Charlemagne reigned as emperor only fourteen years. He died A.D. 814, and his empire soon afterwards fell in pieces. It was renewed, however, by Otto the Great of Germany in the year 962 and came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire. 644. The Revival of the Empire as a Dividing Line in History. — As Pope Leo placed the imperial diadem upon the head of Charles in St. Peter's basilica he cried, " To Charles the Augus- tus, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, life and victory." The Roman populace within the church-repeated the cry, which was taken up by the Prankish warriors outside. " In that shout was pronounced the union, so long in preparation, so mighty in its consequences, of the Roman and the Teuton, of the memories and the civilization of the South with the fresh energy of the North, and from that moment modern history begins." - Selections from the Sources. — Eginhard (Einhard), Life of the Emperor Karl the Great (translation by William Glaister recommended). Einhard was Charles' confidential friend and secretary. "Almost all our real, vivifying knowledge of Charles the Great," says Hodgkin,"is derived 2 Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, p. 40. Bryce here uses the phrase " modern history " as comprehending both tlie mediceval and the modern period. For the moment he conceives history as presenting only two phases, the ancient and the modern. 6o8 REFERENCES from Einhard, and . . . the Vita Caroli is one of the most precious bequests of the early Middle Ages." Henderson's Select Historical Docujnents, pp. 189-201, " Capitulary of Charlemagne, issued in the year 802." Transla- tions and Reprints (Univ. of Penn.), vol. vi. No. 5, " Selections from the Laws of Charles the Great." References (Modern). — Hodgkin, Charles the Great, and Mombert, A History of Charles the Great ; the first is the best short biography in Eng- lish. Bryce, The Holy Roman Etnpire, chaps, iv, v, and xxi, gives a clear view of the import of the restoration of the empire. Emerton, Introduc- tion to the Middle Ages, chaps, xii-xiv. Oman, The Dark Ages, chaps. XX— xxii. GuiZOT, History of Civilization /'« France, vol. i, lect. xx (see remarks, page 591). Sergeant, The Franks, chaps, xvi-xxii; an admi- rable sketch, with a calm and moderate appraisement of Charles' work. West, Alcuin attd the Rise of the Christian Schools, and Mullinger, The Schools of Charles the Great ; for the influence upon the intellectual life of the Middle Ages of the schools founded by Charlemagne. Freeman, The Chief Periods of European History, lects. iii and iv. Adams, Civiliza- tion duririg the Middle Ages, chap. vii. Davis, Charlemagne. Topics for Special Study. — i. The last of the Merovingians. 2. Charle- magne and the Saxons. 3. Romances connected with Charlemagne's expe- dition against the Mohammedans in Spain. 4. Alcuin and the Palace School. 5. The restoration of the Empire in the West. 6. The tradition of the burial of Charlemagne. GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Containing the full titles of works referred to, arranged in groups alphabetically according to authors, with the names of publishers and dates of issue. Well- known text-books are not included in the list. FOR PREHISTORIC TIMES AND THE ORIENT Arnold, Sir E., The Light of Asia. N.Y., Truelove. 1901. Ball, C. J., Light from the East. London, Eyre & Spottiswoode. 1899. Boughton, ^ ., History of Ancient Peoples. N.Y., I'utnam. 1897. Brinton, D. G., Races and Peoples. N.Y., Hodges. 1890. Budge, E. A. W., Egyptian Ldeasofthe Future Life. Lond., K. Paul. 1899. The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great. London, Clay. 1896. The Alunimy. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 1893. Candolle, A. H. de, Origin of Cultivated Plants. N.Y., Appleton. 1885. Clodd, E., The Story of the Alphabet. N.Y., Appleton. 1900. Comill, C. H., History of the People of Lsrael. Chicago, Open Court Pub. Co. Dawkins, W. B., Early Man in Britain. London, Macmillan. 1880. 'DeYitzsc\\,¥., Babel and Bilile. Ed. by C. H. W. Johns. N.Y., Putnam. 1903. De Luce, M. L., IVorkand JVorkcrs Long Ago : An Lntroduction to the Study of History. Announced for the fall of 1904. Deniker, J., The Races of Man. New ed. N.Y., Scribner. 1901. DooY\n\e,]., Social Life of the Chinese. N.Y., Harper. 1865,1867. 2 v. Douglas, R. K., C///;m. N.Y., Putnam. 1899. (Story of the Nations.) Duff, A., The Theology and Ethics of the Hebrews. N.Y., Scribner. 1902. Duncker, M., The History of Antiquity. Trans, by Evelyn Abbott. London, Bentley. 1877-1882. 6 v. Dutt, R. C, The Civilization of Lndia. London, Dent. 1900. (Primer.) Urmzn, A., Life in Ancient Egypt. London, Macmillan. 1S94. Giles, H. A., A History of Chinese Literature. N.Y., Appleton. 1901. Goodspeed, G. S., A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians. N.Y., Scribner. 1902. Hilprecht, H. V., Explorations in Bible Lands during the igtk Century. Phila., Holman. 1903. Recent Research in Bible Lands. Phila., Wattles. 1S96. Hoernes, M., Primitive Man. N.Y., Macmillan. 1901. (Primer.) Yio'iixK2cnx\,y^.].,The Begitmings of Writing. N.Y., Appleton. 1895. \\ovcimQ\Y., The Civilization of the East. N.Y., Macmillan. 1900. (Primer.) Hopkins, E. W., The Religions of Lndia. Boston, Ginn. 1895. Hunter, W. W., A Brief History of the Lndian Peoples. 23d ed. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1897. Ihering, R. von, The Evolution of the Aryans. London, Sonnenschein. 1897. Jackson, A. V. W., Zoroaster. N.Y., Macmillan. 1S99. Jastrow, M., The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria. Boston, Ginn. 1S98. Joly, N., Man before Metals. N.Y., Appleton. 1S83. Keane, A. H., Ethnology. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 1896. Man, Past and Present. Cambridge [Eng.] University Press. 1899. Keary, C. F., The Dawn of History. N.Y., Scribner. 1883. Kenrick, J., Phoenicia. London, Fellowes. 1855. Kent, C. F., A History of the Hebrew People. N.Y., Scribner. 1896. King, L. W., Babylonian Religion and Mythology. Lond., K. Paul. 1899. Layard, Sir A. H., Nineveh and its Remains. London, Murray. 1S67. 609 6lO GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY Legge, J., The Religions of China. N.Y., Scribner. 1881. Lubbock, Sir J., Prehistoric Times. 5th ed. London, Williams. 1890. McCurdy, J. F., History, Prophecy, and the Monuments. N.Y., Macmillan. 1 894-1900. 3 V. Martin, W. A. P., The Lore of Cathay. N.Y., Revell. 1901. Mason, O. T., IVomaii's Share in Primitive Culture. N.Y., Appleton. 1894. Maspero, G., The Dawn of Civilization. Ed. by A. II. Sayce. Trans, by M. L. McClure. London, Soc. Prom. Chr. Knowl. 1894. Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria.. N.Y., Appleton. 1900. The Passing of the Empires. N.Y., Appleton. 1900. The Struggle of the Nations. N.Y., Appleton. 1894. Montefiore, C. G., Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Lllus- trated by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews. London, Williams. 1892. Perrot, G., and Chipiez, C, History of Art in Ancient Egypt. Translated by W. Armstrong. London, Chapman. 1SS3. 2 v. A History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria. Ditto. 18S4. 2 v. Peters, J. P., Nippur. N.Y., Putnam. 1897. 2 v. Petrie, W. M. Flinders, j£"^'v//'/a« Talcs (2d series). Lond., Methuen. 1895. A History of Egypt. London, Methuen. 1 894-1 901. 6 v. Ten Years'' Digging in Egypt. London, Relig. Tract Soc. 1892. Ragozin, Z. A., The Story of Assyria. N.Y., Putnam. 1896. The Story of Chaldea. 2d ed. N.Y., Putnam. 1898. 'Ra.\.ze\,Y., The History of Mankind. Lond., Macmillan. 1896-1898. 3 V. 'RA\'i\\\\sor\,G., Eive Great Monarchies. 2d ed. London, Murray. 1871. 3 V. History of Ancient Egypt. 2d ed. London, Murray. 1881. 2 v. History of Pha:nicia. London, Longmans. 1889. The Story of Phcenicia. N.Y., Putnam. 1896. 'Ren2in,'E.., History of the People of Israel. Boston, Roberts. 1888-1895. 5 V. Rhys-Davids, T. W., i?Wrf'/i^w. N.Y., Putnam. 1896. Buddhist India. N.Y., Putnam. 1896. Ripley, W. Z., The Races of Europe. N.Y., Appleton. 1S99. 2 v. Rogers, R. W., A History of Babylonia and Assyria. N.Y., Eaton. 1 901. 2 v. Sayce, A. H., The Ancient Empires of the East. N.Y., Scribner. 1896. Early Israel and the Surrounding N^ations. London, Service. 1899. Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Edinburgh, Clark. 1902. Social Life amojig the Assyrians and Babylonians. London, Relig. Tract Soc. 1893. Schmidt, N., Outlines of a History of Babylonia and Assyria. Ithaca, N.Y. Schrader, O., Prehistoric Antiquities of the Aryati Peoples. London, Griffin. Sergi, G., The Afediterranean Race. London, Scott. 1901. Sha.]er, N. S., Domesticated Animals. N.Y., Scribner. 1895. Smith, G., The Chaldean Account of Genesis. N.Y., Scribner. 1880. Starr, F., Some Eirst Steps in Human Progress. Meadville, Flood. 1895. Taylor, I., The Alphabet. London, Kegan Paul. 1883. 2 v. The Origin of the Aryans. London, Scott. 1890. Tylor, E. B., Anthropology. NY., Appleton. 1895. Primitive Culture. 3d ed. London, Murray. 1891. 2 v. ^2.\XQX\,\\.tqiiests of the Saracens. Oxford, Henry & Parker. 1877. 77^1? Story of Sicily. N.Y., Putnam. 1892. Froude, J. A., Cccsar. N.Y., Scribner. 1900. Gibbon, E., The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Etnpire. Ed. by J. B. Bury. London, Methuen. 1896-1900. 7 v. Gibbons, J. (Cardinal), The Faith of our Fathers. Bait., Murphy. 1888. Oilman, A., The Story of Rotne. N.Y., Putnam. 1896. The Story of the Saracens. N.Y., Putnam. 1896. Greenidge, A. H. J., Roman Public Life. London, Macmillan. 1901. Guizot, F. P. G., History of Civilization. N.Y., Appleton. 1846. 4 v. Gummere, F. B., Germanic Origins. N.Y., Scribner. 1892. Hadley, J., hitroduction to Roman Laiv. N.Y., Appleton. 1S73. Hardy, E. G., Christianity and the Roman Government. London, Long- mans. 1S94. Harrison, F., Byza^itine History i>i the Early Middle Ages. London, Mac- millan. 1900. Hatch, E., The Organizatio>i of the Early Christian Churches. London, Rivingtons. 18S1. (Bampton Lectures.) Hodgkin, T., Charles the Great. London, Macmillan. 1897. Italy and her Invaders. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1S80-1S99. 8 v. Ihne, W., Early Rome. 6th ed. London, Longmans. 1900. History of Rome. London, Longmans. 1871-1882. 5 V. Inge, W. R., Society in Rome under the Ccrsars. N.Y., Scribner. 1888. Iw'mg, '^., Mahomet and h/s Successors. N.Y., Putnam. 1868,1869. 2 v. Jessopp, A., The Coining of the Friars. London, Unwin. 1889. Kingsley, C, The Hermits. London, Macmillan. 1868. Lanciani, R., Aficient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. Boston, Houghton. 1892. The Destruction of Aficient Rome. N.Y., Macmillan. 1899. Pagan and Christian Rome. Boston, Houghton. 1899. Ruins ajtd Excavations of Ancient Rome. Boston, Houghton. 1897. Lawrence, E., A Primer of Latin Literature. N.Y., Harper. 1877. Lea, H. C, Superstition and Force. 4th ed. Phila., Lea. 1892. Lecky, W. E. H., A History of European Morals. N.Y., Appleton. 187c. Leland, C. G., Etruscan-Roman Remains in Popular Tradition. London, Unwin. 1892. Lewis, Sir G. C, An Inquiry into the Credibility of the Early Roman Histoiy. London, Parker. 1855. 2 v. \^or^g,V->-,The Decline of the Roman Republic. London, Bell. 1864-1874. 5 V. Macaulay, T. B., Lays of Ancient Rome. Boston, Houghton. 1895. Mackail, J. \V., Latin Literature. N.Y., Scribner. 1900. Mahan, A. T., The Influence of Sea Porver upon History. Boston, Little. Mason, A. J., The Persecution of Diocletian. Cambridge, Deighton. 1876. M&u, \., Pofn/>eii: its Life and Art. N.Y., Macmillan. 1902. Merivale, C, The Fall of the Roman Republic. London, Longmans. 1853. GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 615 Merivale, C, A History of the Romans itnder the Empire. N.Y., Appleton. 1862-1865. 7 V. Milman, H. H., History of Latin Christianity. N.Y., Sheldon. 8 v. Mombert, J. I., A History of Charles the Great. N.Y., Appleton. 1888. '^\om.'m.s>t.-s\,'Y:., History of Rome. N.Y., Scribner. 1901. 5 V. The Provinces of the Romati Empire frotn Cisiderations on the Causes of the Grandeur and Decadence of the Romans. N.Y., Appleton. 1882. Morey, Wm. C, Outlines of Romati Law. N.Y., Putnam. 1884. Morris, W. O., Hannibal. N.Y., Putnam. 1897. Muir, Sir \V., The Life of Mahomet. London, Smith, Elder & Co. 1894. Annals of the Early Caliphate. London, Smith, Elder & Co. 1888. The Cordn. London, Soc. Prom. Chr. Knowl. 1878. The Rise and Decline of Lslam. London, Relig. Tract Soc. 1883. Mullinger, J. B., The Schools of Charles the Great. Lond., Longmans. 1877. Newman, J. H., The Arians of tlie Fourth Centuty. Lond., Lumley. 1854. Oman,C., Sei'en Roman Statesmen of the Later Republic. Lond., Arnold. 1 902. The Byzantine Empire. N.Y., Putnam. 1898. Pelham, H. F., Outlines of Roman History. N.Y., Putnam. 1S93. Poole, S. L., Studies in a Mosque. London, Allen. 1883. Preston, H. W., and Dodge, L., The Private Life of the Romans. Boston, Leach. 1893. Putnam, G. H., Books and their Makers during the Middle Ages. N.Y., Putnam. 1896, 1897. 2 v. Ramsay, \V. M., The Church in the Rotnan Empire before A.D. lyo. Lon- don, Hodder. 1893. Manual of Roman Antiquities. London, Griffin. 1901. Renan, E., Lectures on the Influence of the Institutions, Thought, and Cul- ture of Rome on Christianity and the Developmetitofthe Catholic Church. London, Williams. 1880. (Hibbert Lectures.) Schaff, P., History of the Christian Church. N.Y., Scribner. 1859, 1873. Seeley, J. R., Roman Imperialism. Boston, Roberts. 1871. Sellar, W. Y., The Roman Poets of the Augustan Age. O.x., Clarendon Press. The Roman Poets of the Republic. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1889. Sergeant, L., The Franks. N.Y., Putnam. 1898. Shuckburgh, E. S., History of Rome. N.Y., Macmillan. 1894. ?>VM.\.\\,Yi. v.. The Bible and Islam. N.Y., Scribner. 1897. Smith, R. B., Mohammed and Mohammedanism. N.Y., Harper. 1875. Carthage and the Carthaginians. London, Longmans. 1S79. Rome and Carthage. .8th ed. London, Longmans. 1S93. S-prenger, A., The Life of Mohammed. Allahabad. 185 1. Stanley, A. P., Clu-istian Institutions. London, Murray. 18S1. Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church. N.Y., Scribner. 1S62. Stephenson, A., Public Lands and Agrarian Laias of the Roman Republic. Baltimore, 1891. (Johns Hopkins University Studies.) Strachan-Davidson, J. L., Cicero and the Fall of the Roman Republic. N.Y., Putnam. 1894. Taylor, T. M., A Constitutional and Political History of Rome. London, Methuen. 1899. Thierry, Amedee, Tableau de ! Empire Romain. Paris, Didier. 1862. Thomas, E., Roman Life under the Ccesars. London, Unwin. 1899. 6l6 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY T\^&, K., Development of the Roman Cottstitutioti. N.Y., Appleton. 1886. Trollope, A., T/ie Life of Cicero. N.Y., Harper. iSSi. 2 v. Tyrrell, R. Y., Latin Poetry. Boston, Houghton. 1895. Uhlhom, G., The Cojiflict of Christiatiity with Heathenism. N.Y., Scribner. Watson, P. B., Marcus Aureliiis Atttoninas. N.Y., Harper. 1884. West, A. F., Alciiin and the Rise of the Christian Schools. N.Y., Scribner. Wilson, Woodrow, The State. Rev. ed. Boston, Heath. 1900. Wishart, A.W., A Short History of Monks and Monasteries. Trenton, Brandt. Wright, W., A7t Account of Pahnyra afid Zenobia. N.Y., Nelson. 1895. Zimmer, H., The Irish Element in Mcdiaval Culture. N.Y., Putnam, 1891. SOURCES Most of the primary works to which we have made reference are to be found in the Bohn Library and Harper's Classical Library. We name here by way of special recommendation editions of a few of the most important translations, together with several valuable collections of translations and extracts. Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, Meditations. Trans, by Long. Boston, Lee & S. Appian, The Foreign IVars 3.nd The Civil Wars. Trans, by White. N.Y., Macmillan. 1899. 2 v. Aristotle, The Constitution of Athens. Trans, by Poste. London, Macmillan. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander. Trans, by Chinnock. London, Bell. 1893. Cassiodorus, Zf/'/'ifrj'. Trans, by Hodgkin. London, Frowde. 1886. Code of Hammurabi, The. Trans, by Harper. Chicago, University Press. 1904. The same, trans, by Johns. Edinb., Clark. 1903. Demosthenes, Or^/Zt^wj. Trans, by Kennedy. N.Y., Scribner. 18S9. 5 V. V)\\\'^xA.,V>.Y{.., Fifty Letters of Cicero. Boston, Ginn. 1901. JLgmhdixd, Life of the Emperor A'arl the Great. Trans, by Glaister. London, Bell. 1877. Egyptian Book of the Dead, The. Trans, by Davis. N.Y., Putnam. 1894. The same, trans, by Budge. London, Kegan Paul. 1898. 3 v. Extracts frofn the Sources. Department of History of Indiana University. Greenidge, A. H. J., Sources for Roman History. Oxford, University Press. Harper, R. F., Assyria7t and Babylonian Literature. N.Y., Appleton, 1901. Wqv\.A&x%ox\,Y..Y., Select Historical Doc2iments. London, Bell. 1892. Herodotus. Trans, by Rawlinson. N.Y., Scribner. 1875. 4 v. Koran {^Qur'dn'l. Trans, by Palmer. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1880. 2 v. Livy. Trans, by Spillan and others. London, Bell. 1900-1903. 4 v. Monroe, P. N., Source Book of the History of Education for the Greek and Rofnaft Period. N.Y., Macmillan. 1901. Munro, D.C., Source Book of Romatt History. Boston, Heath.. 1904. V2.\x%-3S^\zs,, Description of Greece. Trans, by Shilleto. Lond., Bell. 1886. 2 v. Plato, Dialogues. Trans, by Jowett. N.Y., Macmillan. 1892. 5 v. The Republic. Trans, by Jowett. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1881. Plutarch, ZzV«. Trans, by Stewart and Long. London, Bell. 1S80-1882. 4V. Vo\'^\)\\\?>, Histories. Trans, by Shuckburgh. London, Macmillan. 1889. 2 v. Records of the Past. Trans, of the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. Ed. by Birch. Lond., Bagster. 12 v. New Series. Ed. by Sayce. 6 v. Sacred Books of the East. Ed. by Max Miiller. Ox., Clarendon Pr. 1879-1904. Tacitus, Works. Oxford translation. London, Bell. 1886, 1887. 2 v. Thucydides. Trans, by Jowett. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1900. 2 v. Translations and Reprints. Department of History of the University of Pa. y>.(i\\o-^\\ow, Anabasis 2i\\di.Hellenica. Tr.by Daykins. Lond., Macmillan. 2 v. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Note. — In the case of words whose correct pronunciation has not seemed to be clearly indicated by their accentuation and syllabication, the sounds of the letters have been denoted thus : a, like a in gray ; a, like a, only less prolonged; a, like a in have ; a, like a in far ; a, like a in all ; e, like ee in meet ; e, like e, only less prolonged; e, like e in end ; e, like e in there ; e, like e in 'err ; T, like i in pme ; i, like i in pin ; 6, like o in note ; 6, like o, only less prolonged ; 6, like o in «^/ ; 6, like o in Srd ; oo, like £7^ in mob7t ; u, like u in ;7jt' ; ii, like the French « ; c and eh, like k ; 9, like s ; g, like ^ in^.?/; g, like 7, • s, like s ; ch, as in German ach ; G, small capital, as in German Hamburg ; ii, like ni in ininion ; h denotes the nasal sound in French, being similar to ng in sojig. Aahmes (a'mes), Theban prince, 27. Abraham, Hebrew patriarch, 75. Abu Bekr (a'boo bek'r), caliph, 598 n. 3. A-chas'a, description of, 108 ; Roman province, 432 n. 5. A-chse'an League, 288, 289; hostages in Italy, 431; war with Rome, 431. 43^- A-chffi'ans in the Heroic Age, 113. A-chiries, 1 1 9. Ac'ra-gas. See Agrigentnm. Acropolis, the, at Athens, 168; buildings on, 216. Ac'ti-um, battle of, 481. A-dri-an-6'ple, battle near (a.d. 37S), 534- ^diles (e'dils), plebeian, duties, 380. ^'gae, 266 n. i. ^-ga'tian Islands, naval battle near, 412. ^-ge'an Sea, islands in, iii. ^-gi'na, island, 190; fall of, 208; sculptures of temple at, 302 n. 7. ^-gis'thus, 121. yE-gos-pot'a-ml, capture of Athenian fleet at, 241. .iEmilianus. See Scip'io. ./E-ne'as, 1 19. .^-o'li-ans, the, 114; early settle- ments in Asia Minor, 123. ^'quians, early enemies of Rome, 382. ^s'ehi-nes, 268. .(ts'chylus, tragic poet, 317, 318. A-e'ti-us, Roman general, 543 n. 4. yE-to'li-an League, 289. Agade (ag-a-da'), 49 n. 2. Ag-a-mem'non, 116, 119. Agath'o-cles, tyrant of Syracuse, 264. A'ger publicjts. See Public lands and Agrarian laicis. A-ges'i-la'us, Spartan king, conducts campaign against Persians in Asia Minor, 248, 249. Ag'o-ra, the, in the Heroic Age, 124. Agrarian laws, of Spurius Cassius, 382; law of Tiberius Gracchus, 444. A-gric'o-la, in Britain, 503. Ag-ri-gen'tum, founded, 159; sacked by Carthaginians, 259, 260. A-grip'pa, M., 551 n. i. Ag-rip-pi'na, 497. Ah'ri-man, 95. A-hu'ra Maz'dii. See Ort)iazd. A'ker-blad, 34 n. 15. Akhenaten. See Amenhotcp IV. Alaric, his first invasion of Italy, 537 ; wrings ransom from Rome, 539, 540 ; sacks the city, 540 ; his death, 541. 617 6l8 INDEX AND TRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Alba Longa, 367. Al-cas'us, lyric poet, 314. Al-9i-bra-des, personal traits, 231, 232 ; speech in favor of the Sicil- ian Expedition, 233, 234; charged with mutilation of the Herma;, 235 n. 7 ; his recall to Athens, 235 ; his flight and counsel to the Spartans, 235; his recall, 239; gains victories for the Athenians, 240; is deposed from his com- mand, 240; his death, 240 n. 10. Ale-man'nl, 577. Alexander the Great, his youth and accession to the throne, 273, 274 ; destroys Thebes, 274 ; crosses the Hellespont, 274, 275 ; at the tomb of Achilles, 275; at the battle of Granicus, 275; cuts the Gordian knot, 275 n. I ; at the battle of Issus, 275; at the siege of Tyre, 275, 276; in Egypt, 276; at Arbela, 277 ; at Babylon and Per- sepolis, 277, 27S; in Bactria and Sogdiana, 279 ; in India, 279; his plans, 2S1 ; his speech to muti- nous soldiers at Opis, 28 1, 282 his death, 2S2 ; his character, 283 results of his conquests, 2S4, 285 partition of his empire, 286, 287 compared by Livy with Roman generals, 398. Alexander, tyrant of Phera:, 256. Alexandria, in Egypt, founded, 276; in India, founded, 280. Alexandrian Age, literature of, 324, 325- Alexandrian Library, 292. Ali (a'lee), caliph, 598 n. 3. Al'li-a, battle of the, 390. Alphabet, the Semitic, origin of, 12 n. 9; disseminated by the Phoeni- cians, 87. Al-phe'us, river, no. A-ma'sis, king of Egypt, 89. Ambrose, bishop, 535, 536. A-men-ho'tep IV, 28 n. 11. Ammon, oasis of, 91. Amos, Hebrew prophet, 78. Am-phic'ty-o-ny, the, 136, 137. See Sacred Wars. Am-phi])'o-lis, battle at, 228; cap- tured by Phili[) II, 267. Amphitheaters, spectacles of, ar- ranged by Augustus, 490 ; the Flavian, 501 ; shows of, 565-567. Am'y-tis, 73 n. 2. A-na'cre-on or A-nac're-on, lyric poet, at court of Polycrates, 165; his poetry, 314, 315. An-ax-ag'o-ras, prosecution of, 211 n. 3 ; his philosophy, 329. A-nax-i-man'der, 327 n. 2. An-ax-im'e-nes, 327 n. 2. Ancestor worship, among the Chinese, 105 ; among the Romans, 355- An-chl'ses, 1 19. An'cus Mar'ti-us, king of Rome, 371- Andalusia (an-da-lu'she-a), origin of the name, 542. An-dro-nT'cus, Livius, poet, 555. Angles. See Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxons, invade Britain as settlers, 543 ; the " Heptarchy," 575: their conversion, 578. Angro Mainyus (iin'gro min'yoos). See A /in man. A'ni-o River, 456. Anshan (an'shan), in Elam, 88. An-tal'^i-das, Peace of, 25'o; its execution by Sparta, 250, 251. An-tig'o-ne, 319. Antioch, 290. Anti'o-chus III, the Great, king of Syria, 290, 291, 430. An-tip'a-ter, 2S8. An'ti-um, 397. An-to-ni'nus Pi'us, Roman empe- ror, 508, 509. Antony, Mark, the triumvir, delivers funeral oration over Caesar's body, 478; plays the tyrant, 478, 479; opposed by Octavius, 479 ; enters the Second Triumvirate, 479; his revels with Cleopatra, 480, 4S1 ; his expedition against the Par- thians, 48 1 ; at the battle of Ac- tium, 481, 482; his death, 482. A-pel'les, Greek painter, 310. Ap'en-nlnes, the, 351. Aph'ro-di'te, goddess, 132; statue of, at Cnidus, 306. Apis, sacred Egyptian bull, 36, t,"/. Appian Way. See Via Appia. Appius Claudius. See Claicdius. A-poc'ry-pha, the, 80. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 619 A-pol'lo, his oracle at Delphi, 133, 134 ; the founder of colonies, 134. Apulia, 350. A'quae Sex'ti-ae, battle of, 448 n. 3. Aqueducts, Roman, 552. Aquileia (a-kwe-la'ya), 510. Arabs. See Alohammedaiiisni. A-ral'lu, Babylonian Hades, 57. A-ra'tus, general of the Achaean League, 289 n. 8. Ar-be'la, battle of, 277. Ar-ca'di-a, geography of, 108. Ar-ca'di-ans, rustic manners of, 108; form a confederacy, 254 n. 4. Ar-ca'di-us, Roman emperor of the .. East, 536. Ar-chi-da'mus, king of Sparta, 221. Ar-chirS-chus, 314 n. i. Ar-chi-me'des, the mathematician, 337. 424- Architecture, Babylonian, 31 ; Egyp- tian, 41, 42; Persian, 96, 97; Greek, 294-300; Roman, 549. Archons at Athens, 169. A-re-op'a-gus, council of the, 169, 170; stripped of its authority, _ 206 n. 7. A'res, 131. A r-gi-nu'sae, battle of, 240; condem- nation of Athenian generals after, 240, 241. Ar'go-lis, description of, log. Ar'go-nauts, the, iiS. Ar'gos, early ascendancy of, 141 ; lamed by the Spartans, 150; be- comes head of league in Pelo- ponnesian War, 229; hopes of leadership ruined at Mantinea, 230. Arianism, 526, 527, 577. A-rim'i-num, Latin colony, 416. Ar-is-tar'chus, the astronomer, 337. Ar-is-ti'des, his character, 190; op- poses the naval policy of Themis- tocles, 190 ; is ostracized, 190 ; is chosen commander of the Ionian fleet in place of Pausanias, 202 ; president of the Delian League, 203. A-ris'tT-on, stele of, 302. A-ris-to-de'mus, king of Messenia, 149. A-ris-to-gi'ton, the Athenian tyran- nicide, 174. Ar-is-toph'a-nes, comic poet, 320. Ar'is-tot-le, life and works, 333, 334. Ar'i-us, 526 n. 6. Armin'i-us defeats Varus at the Teutoburg Wood, 488. Army, Roman, the, before Servian reforms, 373 ; after Servian re- forms, 374, 375. Ar'no River, 352. Ar'nus. See A7H0. Ar-rhi-da;'us, 2S6 n. i. Ar-tapher'nes, Persian general, 185. Artaxerxes (ar-tax-erx'es) H, 245, .. 250; in, 97- Ar'te-mis, goddess, 131; temple of, at Ephesus, 296, 297. Ar-te-mis'i-um, naval battle of, 196 n. 6. Ar-ver'ni, 469. Ar'y-ans, use of the term, 16 n. 3 ; chief peoples, 16, 17; primitive culture of, 17 n. 6 ; Aryan expan- sion, 17, 18; invasion of India by, 98. As'cu-lum, battle of, 401. Asia Minor, migrations to, of Greeks, 122, 123. As-pa'si-a, 211 n. 3, 342. As-pen'dos, theater at, ^51. As-shur-ban'i-pal, 65, 66; as patron of literature, 69. Assyria, the country, 46; excava- tions and discoveries in, 66, 67. Assyrian Empire, rise of, 51 ; politi- cal history, 62-66; civilization, 66-7 1 ; services rendered to civili- zation, 70, 71. Astrology among the Babylonians, 56. 57- Astronomy, among the Egyptians, A,-\\ am.ong the Babylonians, 60 ; among the Greeks, 337. Ath-a-na'si-us. 526 n. 6. A-the'na, goddess, 131 ; statue of, by Phidias, 304. Athenian constitution, 169, 170; the Solonian reforms, 172; the Clisthenean refoiTns, 175, 176. Athenian Empire, outgrowth of the Delian League, 203-205 ; strength and weakness of, 217-219. Athenian.s, the, their part in the burn- ing of Sardis, 183 ; form a navy in y1':ginetan War, 190, 191 n. 2 ; Gal- ton's remarks on, 218 n. 10. 620 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Athens, relation of, to villages and towns of Attica, 12S; history of, up to the Persian Wars, 16S-17S; history of, under kings, 169 ; mon- archy transformed into an oli- garchy, 169; classes at, 170; abandoned by Athenians, 196 ; burned by the Persians, 197 ; re- building of, after the Persian Wars, 200 ; in the Periclean Age, 210-219; conspiracy of the Four Plundred at, 239, 240 ; her fall (404 B.C.), 241, 242; Thirty Ty- rants at, 244, 245 ; her new con- federacy, 252 n. 3. A'thos or Ath'os, Mount, destruc- tion of Persian fleet at, 185 ; canal at, cut by Xerxes, 192. At'ta-lus III, king of Pergamum, bequeaths his kingdom to the Roman people, 453 n. 8. Attica, central point of Greek his- tory, 108; ethnic elements of its population, 16S; consolidation of the villages of, 169 ; the four so- called "Attic tribes," 175 n. 10; ten new Attic tribes formed by Clisthenes, 175 n. 10. At'ti-la, leader of the lluns, his defeat at Chalons, 543,544; in- vades Italy, 544 ; death, 544. Au'fi-dus, river, 352. Augurs, College of, 365. Augustus Cassar. See Octavius. Aurelian, emperor, 518. Au-re'li-us, Marcus, Roman em- peror, reign, 509-511 ; his Medita- tions, 509, 559. Aus'pi-ces, taking of the, 365 ; taken by means of sacred fowls, 411. A-viirs', 605. Babylon, rise of, 50; destroyed by Sennacherib, 65 ; fall of, 73, 74. Babylonia, geology, 46, 47 ; produc- tions, 47 ; remains of its cities, 51 ; excavations and discoveries in, 52 ; becomes part of Persian Empire, 90. Babylonian Empire, political history, 48-51 ; civilization, 5i-6t. Babylonian Genesis, the, 58. Bactria, conquest of, by Alexander, 279. Barbarians, German, movements in the last century of the Roman Empire, 532-547 ; the so-called " Barbarian Kingdoms," 571-575 ; their conversion, 576-579 ; their fusion with Latins, 587-591 ; their codes, 588. Barca. See Hamilcar. Barrack emperors, the, 515. Batavians, 500. Baths. See Thermo:. Ba'tis, 276. Be-his-tun' Rock, 92. Bergi-ca, 4S7. Belisa'rius, commander, 572, 592. Beluchistan (bel-Uo-chis-tan'), 280. Be'ma, the Athenian, 170 n. 3. Ben-e-ven'tum, battle of, 401. Be-ro'sus, 324. Bes'sus, Persian general, 278. Bes'ti-a, Lu'ci-us Cal-pur'ni-us, con- sul, 446. Boe-o'ti-a, 108. Boeotian League, dissolved by Sparta, 250; its revival, 252. Book of the Dead, 35. Bos'po-rus, the, 155. Bot'ta, M., 67. Bo-vi-a'num taken by the Romans, 397- Briih'mJi, 99, 100. Brahmanism, 99, 100. Brahmans, the, 99. Bras'i-das, Spartan general, 228. Bren'nus, Gallic leader, 391. Britain, invaded by Caesar, 469 ; conquest of, in reign of Clau- dius, 497 ; Angles and Saxons settle in, 543, 574. Bronze, Age of, 6 n. 4 ; in the yEgean lands, 1 1 ;; n. 1. Brundisium (brun-dish'i-um), 472. Brut'ti-um, 350. Brutus, Lucius Junius, consul, 378. Brutus, Marcus, 476, 477, 480. Buddha (bobd'ha), 100. Buddhism, 100, loi ; in China, 105. Burgundians, establish kingdom in southeastern Gaul, 542 ; con- quered by the Franks, 572. Bur'rhus, 497. Bu-sen-ti'nus, river, 541. By-zan'li-um, founding of, 156. See CoHstaniinople. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 62 I Cad'mus, 116. Cas're, gives asylum to Roman ves- tals, 390. Caesar, Augustus. See Octavius. Caesar, Gaius. See Caligidci. Caesar, Gaius Julius, in the Sullan proscription, 456 ; consul, 468 ; assigned as proconsul to Gallic provinces, 468 ; campaigns in Gaul, 469 ; invades Britain, 469 ; results of his Gallic wars, 470 ; rivalry with Pompey, 471 ; crosses the Rubicon, 472 ; civil war between him and Pompey, 472, 473 ; de- feats Pharnaces, 473 ; as an uncrowned king, 473, 474; his triumph, 474 ; as a statesman, 474- 476; his assassination, 476, 477; his literary works, 557. Csesarion (se-za're-on), 481. Cairo, university at, 601. Ca-la'bri-a, 350. Calendar, the Egyptian, 43, 44 ; the Babylonian, 60 ; Julian, 475; Gre- gorian, 475 n. 8. Ca-lig'u-la, Roman emperor, 495, 496. Ca'liphs, 598 n. 3 ; dismemberment of the caliphate, 600. Cal-lic'ra-tes, architect, 216. Cal-lim'a-chus, 295. Cam-bu'ni-an Mountains, no. Cam-by 'ses, 91. Ca-mirius. See Furins. Campagna (kiim-pan'ya), 552. Cam'pus MJir'ti-us, 375. Can'nse, battle of, 422, 423; events after, 423, 424. Canuleian law, 388. Can-u-le'i-us, Gaius, tribune, 388. Cap'i-tol-ine hill, 363. Ca'pre-ae, island, 495. Cap'u-a, revolts from Rome, 424 ; Hannibal's winter quarters, 424 ; fall of, 425. Car-a-cal'la, Roman emperor, reign, 516, 517. Car'che-mish, 29. Carloman, king of the Franks, 605. Car-ma'ni-a, 2S0. Carthage, at the time of the Per- sian Wars, 181 ; empire of, 405; government and religion, 405 ; compared with Rome, 406 ; navy at beginning of Punic wars, 407 ; Truceless War, 416; prosperous condition just before Third Punic War, 436; destruction, 43S. Carthage, New, 417. Carthaginians, their empire in Spain, 417; unpromising character of their civilization, 439. Cas-san'der, 287. Cas'si-us, Gaius, conspirator, 476; death, 480. Cassius, Spu'ri-us, his agrarian pro- posals, 382 ; forms the Latin al- liance, 395 n. I. Caste, Hindu system of, 98, 99. Catacombs, 523. Cathay (kath-a'). See Chitia. Cat-i-li'na, Lu'ci-us Ser'gi-us, in the Sullan proscription, 456 ; con- spiracy of, 466, 467. Catiline. See Catilina. Cato, Marcus Porcius, the Censor, 433' 434' counsels the destruc- tion of Carthage, 436. Cato, Marcus Porcius, the Younger, his suicide, 473. Ca-tul'lus, poet, 555. Cat'u-lus, C. Lutatius, consul, 412. Cau'dine Forks, humiliation of Romans at, 397. Cau'di-um. See Catidine Forks. Cayster (ka-is'ter), river, 89. (^e-ero'pi-a, nucleus of Athens, 116. ^e'erops, 116. (^elt-i-be'ri-ans, 439. ^'elts, ancient and present repre- sentatives, 19. Censors, creation of office, 389 ; functions and duties, 3S9. Century, unit of Roman military organization, 374. Ce-phis'sus, stream, no. -Ghcer-o-ne'a, battle of, 270. -ehal-9id'i-ce, the name, 155; rela- tion to Macedonia of colonies in, 266. -Ghar9is, colonies of, on Macedo- nian shore, 155. -Chaldaean Empire, the, 72-74. Chaldaeans, early home, 72 n. i. Chalons (shii'lon"), battle of. 543. Champollion (sham-pori-on), 34 n. 15. ■Cha'res, Greek sculptor, 307. 622 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Charlemagne (shar'le-man), acces- sion, 604, 605 ; wars, 605 ; restores the Empire in the West, 606. Charles Martel, 600, 603. Che H\vang-te (she whong-te), Chi- nese ruler, 102. -Che'ops, 24, 25. China, early history, 102-106. Chinese, writing, 103; literature, 104; competitive examinations, 105. Chinese Wall, the, 102. -Ghi'os, island, in. Chlodwig. See Clovis. -Chos'ro-es, king of Persia, 593. Christ, birth, 492 ; crucifixion, 495. Christianity, first preached, 495 ; gains adherents from the higher classes, 503; under Trajan, 506; martial spirit enters the Church, 524, 525 ; made in effect state religion by Constantine, 526 ; effects upon, of imperial patron- age, 526; one of the most vital elements in the empire, 532 ; heresy and idolatry suppressed by Theodosius and Gratian, 534, 535 ; represents a new moral force, 536; influence in suppress- ing the gladiatorial combats, 537, 538; among the German races, 576-579; reaction upon, of Teu- tonic barbarism, 579. See Chris- tians. Christians, the persecution of, under Nero, 498 ; under Domitian, 503 ; under Marcus Aurelius, 510; motives of these persecutions, 510; persecutions under Diocle- tian, 522, 523 ; status under Julian, .53°- Cicero, Marcus Tullius, his prose- cution of Verres, 463 ; First Oration against Catiline, 467 ; proscribed, 479; death, 479, 480; as an orator, 557 ; his letters, 557. Cim'brl, the, 447-449. Cimon, son of Miltiades, pays his father's fine, 189; commander of the Athenian fleet, 205 ; at the Eurymedon, 205 n. 4 ; his recall, 206 n. 6; his ostracism, 206; rival of Pericles, 206. Cin-cin-na'tus, legend of, 384. Cin'e-as, minister of Pyrrhus, 400. Cinna. See Cornelius. Circus, games of the, 365. Cir'cus Afax'i-mtts, location, 372 ; description, 551. Cirr'ha, destroyed by Amphictyons, .'.37- Citizenship, Roman, privileges of, 359, 360; rights bestowed in in- stallments, 360 ; Rome's liberal policy in conferring upon aliens, 369, 370 ; Gaius Gracchus pro- poses that Latins be made citi- zens, 445 ; demanded by the Italians, 449; secured by them as result of the Social War, 450; Cassar's liberality in conferring upon provincials, 474, 475 ; con- ferred by Caracalla upon all free inhabitants of the empire, 517. City-state, the Greek, 127-129; Rome as a, 358. Clan. See Gens. Claudius, Roman emperor, reign, 496, 497 ; admits Gallic nobility to Roman senate, 496 ; conquest of Britain, 497. Claudius, Appius Cascus, 400. Claudius, Appius, decemvir, 385, 386. Claudius, Publius, consul, 411. Cle-ar'chus, a general of the Ten Thousand, 246. Cle'on, his advice in regard to the Mytileneans, 226; his death, 228. Cleopatra, Csesar secures for her the throne of Egypt, 473; meets Mark Antony, 48 1 ; at the battle of Actium, 4S1, 4S2 ; her death, 482. Cle'ru-chies, nature of, 153 n. 4; settlement formed by Athenians in Lesbos, 226 n. 4. Clients, dependents of the Roman family, 356 ; relation to the gens, 357- Clis'the-nes, constitution of, 175. Cll'tus, murdered by Alexander, 279. Clyt-em-nes'tra, wife of Agamem- non, 121. Clo-a'ca Ma.x'i-ma, 371. Clovis, king of the Franks, 573 ; his conversion, 577. Cnossus (nos'us), Cretan city, 118 n. 3. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 623 Code, the, of Justinian, 561, 562, 593. Co'drus, king of Athens, 169. Col-la-ti'nus, Tar-quin'i-us, consul, 378. Colonies, Greek : causes of Greek colonization, 152, 153; relation of, to the mother city, 153, 154; cleruchies, 153 n. 4; in Chalcid- ice, 155; on the Hellespont, the Propontis, and the Bosporus, 155, 156; in the Euxine region, 156; on the Ionian Islands, 157; in Southern Italy, 158; in Sicily and Southern Gaul, 159; in North Africa and Egypt, 160; place of, in Grecian history, 160. Colonies, Latin, why so called, 402, 403; rights of colonists, 403; status of settlers in, compared to that of settlers in a territory of the United States, 403; number at time of Second Punic War, 403; influence in spreading Ro- man culture, 403. Colonies, Roman, rights and privi- leges, 402. Co-los-se'um, 501, 502. Colossus of Rhodes, 307. Comi'ti-a cetituriata, outgrowth of Servian reforms, 375. Comitia curiaia, functions of the, 359; a non-representative body, 359- Coimtta trtbuia, patricio-plebeian as- sembly, 3S8. Co-mi' ti-ufn, the, 372. Conimerciiim. See /its commercii. Com'mo-dus, Roman emperor, reign, 514,515- Competitive examinations, Chinese, 105. Conctri-um trtbutum plebis, origin, 379 n. 2 ; its resolutions given the force of law, 387. Confucianism, 105. Confucius, Chinese sage, 103, 104. Connubiiim. See Jtis connnbii. Constantine the Great, reign, 524- 529; defeats Maxentius at the Mil- vian Bridge, 524; makes the cross his standard, 524; grants toleration to Christians, 526; recognizes the Sabbath as a rest day, 526; sum- mons council of Nicsea, 526, 527; founds Constantinople, 527, 528 ; reorganizes the government, 528, 529; his court, 529. Constantine VI, 606. Constantinople, founded, 527, 52S; besieged by the Saracens, 599. Consuls, first chosen, 377; original powers, 377; authority restricted by the Lex Valeria, 377 n. i ; im- munity from prosecution, 378; pro- visions respecting, in Sullan con- stitution, 457 n. 10; term of office shortened, 486 n. i. Cor-9y'ra, city, founded, 157; quarrel with Corinth, 220. Corcyra, island, in. Cor'do-vii, 599. Cor-fin'i-um, 450. Corinth, forms early alliance with Sparta, 150; Greek council at, in 4S1 B.C., 192, 193; quarrel with Corcyra, 220; congress convened at, by Philip of Macedon, 271; destroyed by the Romans, 432. Corinth, isthmus of, 107. Corinthia, description of, 108. Corinthian War, 249. Cori-ola'nus, Gains Marcius, legend of, 383, 384. Corn, free distribution of, at Rome, 444, 490> 568- Cor-ne'li-a, mother of the Gracchi, 445- Cornelius Cinna, Lucius, consul, 454> 455- Co-rce'bus, victor at Olympia, 134. Cor-o-ne'a, battle of {394 B.C.), 209. Cor'pus Juris Ci-vi'/is, 561. Corsica, 415. CrassuS; Marcus Licinius, defeats the gladiators, 461 ; his great wealth, 468 ; enters the First Triumvirate, 468 ; his Parthian campaign, 471 ; death, 471. Cre-mo'na, Roman colony, 416. Crete, in Greek legend, in. Cris'sa, destroyed by Amphictyons, '37- Crit'i-as, Athenian oligarch, 245. Crce'sus, king of Lydia, 89, 90 n. i. Cro'ton founded, 158. ■Cu'ma;, oracle at, 158, 159. ■Cu-nax'a, battle of, between Cyrus and Artaxerxes, 246. 624 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Cuneiform writing, 53, 54; its de- cipherment, 55 n. 7. Curia, 357 ; number of curiae in early Rome, 358. Curtius, Marcus, legend of, 363 n. i. ^y-ax'a-res, king of the Medes, 66, 88. ^yc'la-des, the, iii. Cyclopes (si-klo'pez), the, 132 n. 8. (j'y'lon, rebellion of, 170 n. 4. ^yn'ics, the, 334. (^yn-os-ceph'a-lae, battle of, 429. Qyr-e-na'i-ca, 160. (j^y-re'ne, founded, 160; brought under Persian rule, 180. Qy-ro-p(z-di'a, the, of Xenophon, 322. ^yrus the Younger, 245, 246. Cyrus the Great, 88-91. Dacia, reduced to a province by Trajan, 504. Dam'o-cles, story of, 262 n. 2. Darius I, reign, 92, 93 ; reorganizes the empire, 94 ; conquests in Europe, 181 ; first expedition against Greece, 185 ; second ex- pedition, 185-188; III, 275, 278. David, king, 76. Da'tis, Persian general, 185. Decarchies, established by Sparta, 244. De^-e-le'a, its occupation urged on the Spartans by Alcibiades, 235; effects upon Athens of its occu- pation by the Spartans, 238. Decelean War, the, 237, 242. De-cem'virs, first board, 385; sec- ond, 385 ; their misrule and over- throw, 386, 387. Dela'tors, 494. Delian League. See Delos, Cott- federacy of. De'los, Confederacy of, its forma- tion, 202, 203 ; transformed into an empire by the Athenians, 203- 205. De'los, island, 1 1 1. Delphian oracle, the, 132-134; in- fluence on Hellenic unity, 134 ; its services in Greek colonization, 134 n. 1 1 ; consulted by Crcesus, 133 n. 10; its attitude in the Persian Wars, 193 ; message to the Athenians at the time of the Persian Wars, 196; oracle given Spartans at beginning of Pelo- ponnesian War, 221. Deme (dem), the Attic, 175 n. 10. De-me'ter, cult of, 132 n. 7. De-moc'ri-tus, 329. De-mos'the-nes, Athenian admiral, seizes Pylos, 227 ; carries rein- forcements to Nicias, in Sicily, 237 n. 8; his execution, 237. Demosthenes, the orator, his Olyti- thiacs, 269 ; his Philippics, 268 ; his oration on the crown, 323. Den-ta'tus, Manius Curius, 401, 433. Des-i-de'ri-us, king of the Lom- bards, 605. Di-cas'te-ries, Athenian, description of, 214, 215; method of fixing penalty, 248 n. i. Dictator, his powers, 378 ; how nom- inated, 378; term first made in- definite in Sulla's case, 456. Dl-o-cle'tian, Roman emperor, reign, 520-523 ; persecution of the Chris- tians, 522. Di-5-do'rus Sic'u-lus, 325. Di-og'e-nes, the Cynic, 334. Di'on, counselor of Dionysius II, 262, 263. Di-o-nys'i-us I, tyrant of Syracuse, 260-262 ; II, the Younger, 260- 263. Di-6-ny'sus, 132 n. 8; theater of, at Athens, 300. Dis-cob'o-his, the, 302. Do-do'na, oracle at, 133 n. 9. Domestication of animals, 7, 8 n. 6; of plants, 8, 9 n. 7. Domitian, Roman emperor, reign, 502, 503. I)o-mi-til'la, 503. Dorian invasion, the, legend of, 122. Dorians, characteristics of, 1 13, 1 14 ; conquer the Peloponnesus, 122; early migrations, 141 n. 1. Do-ris'cus, plain of, 194. Dowery of the dead, 5 ; in ancient F'gypt. 39' 40. Draco, his code, 170, 171. Drama, the Attic, origin of, 316'; leading ideas of Greek tragedy, 3>7- Dravidians, the, 98 n. i. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 625 Drep'a-na, sea fight at, 411 n. 4. Drusus, Marcus Livius, tribune, 450-. Du-iriius, Gaius, consul, gains vic- tory at Myla.', 409. Ec-bat'a-na, 278. Ec-cle'si-a, at Athens, in earliest times, 170; Thetes admitted to, by Solon, 172; place of meeting, 170 n. 3. Education, Chinese, 105 ; Greek, 340-342 ; Roman, 562, 563 ; at Sparta, 147, 148. Egbert, king of Wessex, 575. E-ges'ta (or Tl'-gesta), asks aid of Athens, 232 ; of the Carthaginians, 259- Egypt, geology, 20; delta of the Nile, 20; climate and products, 21, 22; Prehistoric Age in, 22; political history, 23-32 ; the thirty- one dynasties, 23 ; Old, Middle, and New empires, 23; civiliza- tion, 32-44 ; her contribution to civilization, 44 ; under the Ptole- mies, 291, 292 ; under the Romans, 482 ; conquered by the Arabs, 598. Elam, 50. Elbe (elb), river, 488. El-eu-sin'i-an Mysteries, the, 132 n. 7. Elgin (el'gin). Lord, 304 n. 9. Elijah, the prophet, 78. E'lis, description of, 109. Elisha, the prophet, 78. Elysian (e-lTzh'an) Fields, the, 138. Em-ped'o-cles, 329. En'ni-us, poet, 555. Epam-i-non'das, at Leuctra, 252, 253; ravages Laconia, 254; in Arcadia, 254 ; his second and third expeditions into the Pelo- ponnesus, 256 n. 5; fourth expe- dition, 256; his death, 257. Eph'e-sus, early Ionian colony, 123. Eph-i-al'tes, Greek traitor, 195. Ephialtes, leader of attack upon the Areopagus, 206; his assassina- tion, 207 n. 8. Eph'ors, the, at Sparta, 144, 145. Ep-ic-te'tus, the Stoic, 559. Ep-i-cu'rus, 335. E-pi'rus, district of, 108. Er-a-tos'the-nej, geographer, 337. E'rech, city, 55. Er-ech-lhe'um, the, 215 n. 8. E-re'tri-a, aids the Ionian rebels, 183 n. I ; destroyed by the Per- sians, 186. Eridu (a'ri-dob), city, 49 n. 2. Erinnyes (e rin'i-ez), the, 132 n. 8. E'ros, 132 n. 8. E-sar-had'don I, 65 n. 3. Etru'ri-a, location, 350 ; southern _ part Romanized, 390. E-trus'cans, their early civilization, 354 ; decline of their power, 394. Eu-ba;'a, island, in. Eu'clid, the mathematician, 337. Eu'me-nC'S, king of Pergamum, 430. Eumenides (u-men'i-dez), the, 132 ^n. 8. Eu'pa-trids, the, at Athens, 170. Euphrates, valley of the, 46. Eurip'ides, tragic poet, 319, 320. Eu-ro'tas, valley of the, 109. Eu-ry-bi'a-des, Spartan king, at Salamis, 197 n. 7. Eu-rym'e-don, battle of the, 205 . n. 4. Euxine Sea (uk'sin), Greek colonies on, 156; trade of, 156. Fabius Maximus, " the Delayer," 421,422. Fabius Maximus Gur'ges, 399. Fabius, Quintus, ambassador to the Carthaginians, 418. Fa-bric'i-us, Roman statesman, 401. P'amily, the Roman, 355, 356; its place in Roman history, 356, 357. Fasces (fas'sez), the, 358. Fates, the, 132 n. 8. Fayum (fl-oom'), district of the, 26. festivals. See Sacred games. Fettales. See Heralds. Fire, origin of its use, 6, 7 ; meth- ods of fire-making, 7. Flaminian Way. See Via Flaminia. Flam-i-nl'nus, Roman general, 429, 430- Fla-min'ius, Gaius, Roman general, 421. Flavian Age, 499. Forum, the Roman, in time of the kings, 372. Four Hundred, the, conspiracy of, at Athens, 239, 24a 626 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Franks, the, form first settlement in Gaul, 542 ; under the Merovin- gians, 573, 574 ; their conversion, 577; importance of this event, 578. Friendship among the Greeks, 342, 343- Furius Camillus, Marcus, dictator, ransoms Rome with steel, 391. Future life, doctrine of, among the Egyptians, 37 ; among the Baby- lonians, 57 ; among the Hebrews, 81 ; among the Greeks, 138. Ga'des, 86. Gaius, jurist, 561. Gaius Caesar. See Caligula. Galba, Roman emperor, 499. Gal'li-a Cis-al-pi'na, geographical situation, 350 ; origin of name, 350- Gallon, quoted, 218 n. 10. Gaul, conquest of, by Caesar, 468, 469 ; results of the Gallic wars, 470; Romanization of, 470. See Gauls. Gauls, their invasion of Greece, 28S ; early settlement in North Italy, 350; sack Rome, 390, 391 ; victory over the Romans near the Allia, 390; Rome's war with, between First and Second Punic Wars, 415, 416; join Hannibal, 421. Gau'ta-ma. See Buddha. Gaza, reduced by Alexander, 276. Ge-dro'si-a, 280. Geiseric (gl'zer-ik). Vandal leader, . 545- Ge'lo, tyrant of Syracuse, 193. Gens (clan), the, among the Greeks, 128, notes 3 and 4", 175 n. 10; in early Rome, 357. Gen'ser-ic. See Geiseric. Geometry, science of, among the Egyptians, 44. Germans. See Barbarians. Gideon, Hebrew judge, 75. GH'ga-mesh, Epic of, 59. Gladiatorial combats, given by Augustus, 490; naval spectacle in reign of Claudius, 497 ; their suppression, 537, 538; attitude of Christians towards, 538 ; gen- eral description of the shows, 565-567. Gladiators, war of the, 461. Go-ma'tes. See Smerdis. Gordian knot, 275 n. i. Gor'di-um, 275 n. i. Gor'gi-as, 330 n. 4. Goths, Eastern. See Ostrogoths. Goths, Western. See Visigoths. Grac'chus, Gaius, reform measures, 444, 445 ; downfall and death, 445- Gracchus, Tiberius, his agrarian law, 443, 444; his violent death, 444. Gra-ni'cus, battle of, 275. Gratian, Roman emperor, 534. Great Wall, the Chinese, 102 n. 5. Grecian games, influence of, 135. Greece, home land of the Hellenes, 107 ; divisions of, 107-1 10 ; moun- tains of, no; rivers and lakes of, 1 10; islands round, ill; climate and productions of, in, 112; in- fluence of land upon the people, 112, 113 ; Oriental settlers in, 116. Greek fire, c;99- Greeks, their legends, 11 5-1 23; in- heritance of, 127-140; religious ideas and institutions, 129-138; their language, 13S; their mythol- ogy, 139; their early literature, 139; their early art, 139, 140. See Hellenes. Gregory II, pope, 585. Grotefend (gro'tefend), 55 n. 7. Guadalquivir (gwa-dal-ke-ver'), river, 600. (jy iip']3us, Spartan general, 235. Gymnastic art, influence upon sculp- ture, 301. Hades (ha'dez), 130. Hadrian, emperor, reign, 506-508. Hadrian Wall in Britain, 507. Hali-carnas'sus, mausoleum at, 300. Ha'lys, the, 88. Ha mil'car Barca, Carthaginian gen- eral, 412; in Spain,- 4 1 7. Hamites, 16, 19. Hammurabi (ham-moo-ra'be), Baby- lonian king, 50; his code, 59, 60. Hanging gardens of Babylon, 73 n. 2. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCAHULARV 627 Hannibal, as a youth, 417; attacks Saguntum, 417; marches from Spain, 419; passage of the Alps, 419, 420; in Italy, 420-426; be- fore Rome, 425; defeat at Zama, 426; his death, 427 n. 4. Hanno, Carthaginian general, 412. Ilar-mo'di-us, the Athenian tyranni- cide, 174; statue of, carried off by Xerxes, sent back by Alex- ander, 278. Harmosts, Spartan, 244. He'be, 132 n. 8. Ha-rus'pi-ces, art of the, 364. Has'di'u-bal, brother of Hannibal, in Spain, 425; at the Metaurus, 425- Hasdrubal, son-in-law of Hamilcar, 417. Hebrews, the, in Egypt, 26, 30 n. 13; the " Exodus," 30 ; Patriarchal Age, 75 ; Age of the Judges, 75 ; founding of the monarchy, 7^, 76 ; reign of David, 76 ; reign of Solomon, 76; division of the monarchy, 77, 78; kingdom of Israel, 78; kingdom of Judah, 78, 79; literature, 79, 80; religion and morality, 80, 81 ; ideas of the future life, 81. Hector, son of Priam, 119. Hegira (he-ji'ra), the, 597. Hel'en, wife of Menelaus, 119. He-li-£E'a, the, 214. Hel'i-con, Mount, no. Hel'las, term defined, 107. Hel-le'nes, or Hel'lenes, Greece proper their home land, 107; in- fluence of land upon, 112; divi- sions of, 113, 114. See Greeks. Hellenism, term defined, 284 n. lo. Hel'les-pont, the, bridged by Xerxes, 192. He'lots, the, at Sparta, 143; mas- sacre of, by Spartans, 143 n. 5; revolt of, 205, 206. He-phjes'ti-on, 282 n. 8. He-phaes'tus, 131. Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon, 575. He'ra, 131. Her-a-cle'a, battle of, 400. Her'a-cles, twelve labors of, 177. Her-a-clI'dae, return of the, 122. Her-a-cli'tus, 327 n. 2. Iler-a-clT'us, Eastern emjieror, 593. Heralds. College of, 365. Her-cu-la'ne-um, 502. Hermann. See Arminius. Her'mes, 131. Hermits, 580. Iler'mus, river, 89. lle-rod'o-tus, 321. Iler'u-li, the, 546. Ile'si-od, 314. Hes'ti-a, 132. He-tae'ras, the, 342. Hez-e-ki'ah, king of Judah, 64, 65. HTe-ro II, tyrant of Syracuse, 264, 408, 424. Hieroglyphics, Egyptian, y^, 34; decipherment of, 34 n. 15. Ilim'e-ra, battle of, 199 n. 11. Himera, Sicilian city, destroyed by Carthaginians, 259. Hinduism, 101. Hip-piir'chus, astronomer, 337. Hipparchus, Athenian tyrant, 174. Hip'pi-as, 174; driven from Athens, '75; goes to Susa, 177; guides the Persians to Marathon, 185. Hip'po, 86. Hip-poc'ra-tes, physician, 33S. Hiram, king of Tyre, 76. His-siir'lik, excavations at, 120 n. 4. Historic -Vge, divisions of, 14 n. i. Hittites, the, 28, 29, 30. Homer, 313. Homeric poems, date and author- ship of, 123 n. 7 ; their picture of society in prehistoric Greece, 123- 125. Ho-no'ri-us, Roman emperor, 530 ; suppresses gladiatorial games, 538- Horace, poet, 556. Horatius, Marcus, consul, 3S7. Hor-ten'si-us, jurist, 557. Ho'rus, Egyptian deity, 36. Hosea, Hebrew prophet, 78. Hos-lil'i-us, TuUus, king of Rome, 371- Huns, drive Goths across the Danube, 533; defeated at Cha- lons, 543. 544. Hyk'sos, the, 26, 27. Hy-met'tus, Mount, no. Hystas'pes, 55 n. 7. 628 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY I-a-pyg'i-ans, 353 n. 3. Iconoclasts, War of the, 585. Ic-tl'nus, architect, 216. Ideograms defined, 10. Iliad, subject of the, 119. See Homeric poetns. iri-os. See Troy. I-Hs'sus, stream, no. Illyrian corsairs punished by Rome, 415- Itnperator, the title, 4S5. India, early history, 98-101 ; con- quests in, by Darius, 92 ; by Alex- ander, 279. lona (e-o'na), monastery, 578. Ionia, cities of, subjected by Lydian kings, 89 ; reduced by Cyrus, 179 ; revolt against Persians, 183; sup- pression of the revolt, 184 ; at the end of the Ionian revolt, 185. Ionian Islands the, iii. lonians, characteristics of, 113; set- tlements of, in Asia Minor, 123. See Ionia. Ip'sus, battle of (301 B.C.), 286 n. 3. Iran (e-ran'), plateau of, 88. Irene (I-reen'), empress, 606. I'ris, 132 n. 8. Iron Age, 5, 6 n. 4. I-sae'us, Greek orator, 323 n. 6. Is'lam. See ]\lohammedanism. I-soc'ra-tes, Greek orator, 323 n. 6. Israel, captivity of, 63 ; kingdom of, 78. Is'sus, battle of, 275. Isthmian games, the, 135. Italian allies, status before the Social War, 449. See Social War. Italians, branches of, 353. I-tal'l-ca. See Corfiniurn. Italy, divisions, 350 ; mountain sys- tem, 351; rivers, 352; the front of the land, 352 ; its early inhab- itants, 353 ; united under Rome, 401, 402. Ith'a-ca, birthplace of Odysseus, in. I-thS'me, Mount, 149. Ja'nus, Roman deity, 364; doors of temple closed in reign of Augus- tus, 489. Japanese, the, racial relationship, 1 5. Jason, legendary prince of Thessaly, n8. Jealousy of the gods, doctrine of, 137. 138- Jeph'thah, Hebrew hero, 75. Jerusalem, taken by Nebuchadnez- zar, 72; destroyed by the Ro- mans, 79 ; taken by Pompey, 466 ; by Titus, 499, 500. Jews, revolt of, in reign of the emperor Hadrian, 508. See _/;•;'«- salem and Hebrews. Josephus, historian, 80. Jovian, Roman emperor, 531. Judah, kingdom of, 78, 79. Judgment of the Dead, the, in Egyp- tian theology, 40, 41. Ju'ge-rum, 392 n. 10. Ju-gur'tha, war with Rome, 445-447. Julian the Apostate, reign, 529, 530. Ju-li-a'nus, Did'i-us, 515. Jupiter, 363. Jus auxilii, of the plebeian tribune, 380; .conimercii, defined, 359; en- joyed by plebeians in early Rome, 360; ^t>«;/;//'//, defined, 359; hono- rn77i, defined, 360; iinagiman, defined, 3S8 ; provocaiionis, de- fined, 360; sujfragii, defined, 360. Justin Martyr, 510. Justinian, Eastern emperor, era of, 592 ; reign, 592, 593 ; his code, 593. Juvenal, satirist, 557. Kaaba (ka'bii), 596. Kar'nak, Temple of, 28; Hall of Columns at, 29. Khor-sii-bad', 67. Khufu. See Cheops. Kitchen middens, 2. Koran (ko'ran or ko-ran'), the, 597, 598. Koreish (ko-rish'), Arabian tribe, .596- _ _ . Kouyunjik (koo-yoon-jek'), native name of largest mound at Nine- veh, 6S ; excavated by Layard, 68. Ial>'a-r!if!i, the, 524 n. 4. La9'e-da:'mon, descriptive epithet " hollow," 109. Lacednsmonians. See Spartans. La-co'ni-a, geography of, 109; classes in, 143; ravaged by Epaminondas, 254. La'gash, city, 52 n. 5. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 629 Lam'a-chus, Athenian general, 232. La'mi-an War, 288. Lands, public, at Rome. See Ager piibliciis and Agrarian laws. Language, formation of, 9, 10. La-oc'o-on, the, 307, 308. La'res, cult, 355 ; secretly practiced, 535'^ Larsam, city, 49 n. 2. Latin colonies. See Colonies. Latin League, in earliest times, 368; alliance with Rome, 395 n. i ; dissolution, 396. See Latins. Latin peoples, use of the term, 17 n. 9. Latins, ethnic relationship, 353; throw off the Roman yoke, 379; revolt of Latin towns in 340 B.C., 395; how treated by Rome after the Latin War, 396, 397 ; politi- cal status of, 449. La'ti-um, 350; before the rise of Rome, 367. Lau'ri-um, silver mines at, 191 n. 4; revenue from, used by the Athe- nians for building a navy, 191 n. 4. Lebanon, Mount, 83. Legion, Roman, its normal strength and tactical formation in early times, 374. Lem'nos, island, iii. Lenormant (leh-nor-moh'), quoted, 87. Leo III, pope, 606. Leo the Great, pope, turns Attila back, 544; intercedes for Rome with Geiseric, 545. Leo the Isaurian, Eastern emperor, 585' 599- Le-on'i-das, king of Sparta, at Ther- mopylae, 195. Le-o-tych'i-des, Spartan king, 19S n. ID. Lepidus, Marcus ^milius, the tri- umvir, 479, 480. Les'bos, island, in; settled by /Eo- lians, 123. Leuc'tra, battle of, 252-254. Lex Julia municipalis, 475 n. 7. Licinian laws, 392, 393. Li-cin'i-us, Gaius, tribune, 392. Lictors, attendants of the Roman king, 358; consular, 378. Li-gu'ri-a, 350. Ligurians, 353 n. 3. Literature, Assyrian, 69; Babylonian, 55' 56, 58, 59 ; Chinese, 104 ; Egyp- tian, 34,35; Greek, 314-325; He- brew, 79, 80; Roman, 555-561. Li-ter'num, 427 n. 4. lavy, historian, 558. Lombards, enter Italy, 574 ; king receives " iron crown " from the pope, 574; kingdom destroyed by Charles the (jreat, 574,605; con- sequence of their conquest of Italy, 574. Long Walls, at Athens, 207 n. 9, 208 n. 10; their demolition by the Peloponnesians, 242 ; restora- tion of, 249. Lu-ca'ni-a, 350. Lu'ce-res, tribe in early Rome, 369. Lu-ciri-us, poet, 555. Lu-cre'ti-us, poet, 555. Lu-cul'lus, Lucius Licinius, 465 n. 3. Lusitanians, 439. Luxury, Roman, 567. Ly-ce'um, the, adorned by Pisistra- tus, 174. Ly-cur'gus, legend of, 144. Lydia, the land, 89 ; conquered by Cyrus the Great, 89 ; import of this for Greece, 179. Ly-san'der, Spartan general, cap- tures Athenian fleet at TEgos- potami, 241 ; sets up oligarchic rule at Athens, 244. Lys'i-as, Athenian orator, at Olym- pia, 262 ; mentioned, 323 n. 6. Ly-sim'a-chus, 287. Ly-sip'pus, sculptor, 307. Mac'ca-bees, the, 79. Macedonia, submits to Darius, 181 under Philip II, 266-272 ; its rulers, 266; its population, 266 after Alexander's death, 287. Macedonian War, First, 429 n. 2 Second, 429, 430; Third, 43a 431- Ma;-9e'nas, patron of literature, 4S9 Magna Gracia, the name, 158 ; colo nies of, 158, 159; cities of, con quered by Dionysius I of Syra case, 260. Mag-ne'sia, battle of, 291, 430. Ma'go, brother of Hannibal, 423. 630 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Ma-har^al, Carthaginian general, 423- Man'e-tlio, 23, 324. Manlius, Marcus, defends the Capi- tol, 391 ; champion of the plebe- ians, 391 ; condemnation, 392. Manlius, Titus, consul, opposes de- mands of the Latins, 395 ; inflicts death penalty upon his son, 396. Man-ti-ne'a, city, 251 ; battle of (418 B.C.), 230; battle of (362 B.C.), 256, 257. Mar'a-thon, battle of, 186-1S8; re- sults of, 188, 189. Mar-cel'lus, Marcus Claudius, Ro- man general, 424. Mar-co-man'i, the, 510. Mar-do'ni-us, Persian general, expe- dition against Eretria and Athens, 185; left behind by Xerxes in Greece, 198; attempts to bribe the Athenians, 198; his death, 198. Mar'duk, Babylonian deity, 58. Ma'ri-us, Gaius, in Jugurthine War, 447 ; destroys the Cimbri and Teutones, 447, 44S ; contends with Sulla for command against Mithradates, 454; is proscribed, 454 ; massacres the aristocrats, 454. 455- Mars, Roman god of war, 363. Marsic War. See Social War. Martial, poet, 557 n. 6. Mas-sa'li-a, founded, 1 59. Mausoleum, at Halicarnassus, 300. Mau-so'lus, king of Caria, 300. Max-im'i-an, Roman emperor, 521, 522, 523- Mecca, 595. Medes, the, 88. Medicine, science of, among the Egyptians, 44 ; among the Greeks, Zl"^^ 339- Medina (ma-de'na), 597. Meg-a-lop'o-lis, founding of, 254 n. 4. Me'los, taken possession of, by the Athenians, 230, 231. Memnon, the Vocal, 28 n. 10. Memphis, in Egypt, 24. Me-nan'der, 320 n. 4. Mencius (men'shi-us), Chinese sage, 104. Men-e-la'us, 116. Me-neph'tha, 30. Me'nes, 23, 24. Merovingians, Prankish kings, 573, 574- Mesopotamia, the name, 46 n. i. Mes-sa'na, Greek colony, 149. Messe'ne, founding of, by Epami- nondas, 255. Mes-se'ni-a, its physical character- istics, 109. Mes-se'ni-an wars. First and Second, 148-150; Third, 205, 206. Messenians, liberation of, by Epami- nondas, 255. Metals, Age of, 5, 6. Metaurus, river, 352 ; battle of the, 425 ; a turning point in history, 439- Mi-le'tus, early Ionian colony, 123; colonies of, in Euxine region, 156; fall of, 184. Mil-tl'a-des, in command at Mara- thon, 187 ; his disgrace and death, 189. Milvian Bridge, battle at, 524. Mi'nos, king of Crete, founder of maritime empire, 118. Min'o-taur, the, 1 17. Mith-ra-da'tes VI, the Great, king of Pontus, his characteristics, 452, 453 ; orders massacre of Italians in Asia, 453 ; invades Europe, 453 ; his death, 465. Mithradatic War, First, 454 n. 9; Second, 465 n. 3 ; Third, 465 n. 3. Mce'ris, Lake, 26. Moesia, province, 487. Mohammed, 596, 597. Mohammedanism, its teachings, 597' 598; conquests of Saracens, 598-600; dismemberment of cali- phate, 600 ; civilization of Arabian Islam, 600, 601. Monasticism, 579-581. Monte Cassino (mon'ti kji-se'no), 581. Moses, Hebrew lawgiver, 75. Mulvian Bridge. See Milvian. Mum'mi-us, Lucius, consul, de- stroys Corinth, 432. Mun'da, battle of, 473 n. 6. Municipal system, Roman, 396 n. 2 ; the Lex Julia niuntcipalis, 475 n. 7. See Municipia. INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 63 I Mu-ni-cip'i-a, meaning and use of the term, 396 n. 2 ; lose self-govern- ment under later emperors, 521. Myc'a-le, battle of, 198, 199. My-ce'nas, seat of prehistoric race, 109, 115 n. I, 121 n. 5, 122 n. 6; in Dorian times, 141 n. 2. Mycenaean Age, 1 1 5 n. i ; architec- ture of, 296 n. I ; relation of My- cenaean art to that of prehistoric times in Greece, 300 n. 6. My'lae, naval battle near, 409. My'ron, sculptor, 302. Myt-i-le'ne, revolt of, 226; fate of the Mytilenffian prisoners, 226. Nab-o-nl'dus, king of Babylon, 73. Nab-o-po-las'sar, 73. Nae'vi-us, poet, 555. Na-ram'-Sin, Babylonian king, 49 n. A-_ Nar'ses, commander, 572. Nau'cra-tis, founded, 160. Nax'os,' secedes from the Delian League, 204. Ne-ar'chus, Alexander's admiral, 280, 28 1. Neb-ii-chad-nez'zar II, 72, 73. Ne'cho II, 31, 32. Negative confession, the, in Egyp- tian theology, 40, 41. Ne'me-a, 135. Nemean games, the, 135. Nem'e-sis, 132 n. 8, 317. Nemesis, doctrine of, in Greek tragedy, 317. Neolithic Age, 5. Neoplatonism, its conflict with Christianity, 336. Nero, Roman emperor, reign, 497- 499. Nerva, Roman emperor, 503. Nes'tor, 1 1 9. Ni-9ae'a, church council at, 526, 527. Ni^'i-as, Athenian general, given command in the Sicilian expedi- tion, 232; speech against the ex- pedition, 233 ; reply to Alcibiades, 234; in Sicily, 236; his execution, 237- Niyias, Peace of, 228, 229. Nile, the, delta of, 20; First Cata- ract, 20 n. I ; deposits of, 20 n. 2 ; inundation, 21. Nin'e-veh, decoration of, by Sen- nacherib, 64 ; its fall, 66 ; palace mound at, 68 ; Royal Library found at, 68, 69. Nippur (nip-poor'), city, 49 n. 2; excavations at, 53; its temple library, 53. Nirvan'a, 100 n. 3. AVmen-cld-tor, 568. Nor'i-cum, province, 487. Nu-man'ti-a, destruction of, 439, 440. Numantine War, 439, 440. Obelisks, Egyptian, 42. Octavius, Gaius, opposes Antony, 479; enters the Second Trium- virate, 479 ; at the battle of Ac- tium, 481, 482 ; his reign, 484-492 ; character of his government, 484- 487 ; reforms the administration of the provinces, 487 ; literature and the arts during his reign, 489, 490 ; his death and apotheosis, 491. Octavius, Gnaeus, consul, 454. O-de'on, the, at Athens, 216. O-do-a'cer, 546, 571. O-dys'seus, 119, 120. Od'ys-sey, subject of the, 120. See Homeric poems. CEd'iptis Coloneus, 319. O-lym'pi-a, location of, 109, no; national Greek games at, 134. Olympia, temple of Zeus Olympius at, 298 ; excavation of the site, 299. O-lym'pi-ad, First, 134; mode of designating dates by, 134 n. 13. Olympian Council, the, 131. Olympian games, the, 134, 135; re- vival of, I36n. 14; influence upon Greek sculpture, 136. O-lym'pus, Mount, no. Olynthian Confederacy, dissolved by Sparta, 251 ; towns of, de- stroyed by Philip of Macedon, 269. Omar, caliph, 59S n. 3. O'pis, 28 1. Optimates, term defined, 443. Oracles among the Greeks, 364. See Delphian oracle. Oratory, Greek, 322, 323; Roman, 557- Ordeals, 589, 59a 632 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Orders of Greek architecture, 295, 296. O-res'tes, the Pannonian, 546. Or'mazd, 95. O-si'ris, Egyptian deity, 36. Os'sa, Mount, no. Ostia, founding of, 370, 371. Ostracism, 175, 176. Ostrogoths, cross the Danube, 533 ; reduced to obedience by Theo- dosius, 534; in Italy, 571, 572. Othman, caliph, 598 n. 3. O'tho, Roman emperor, 499. Otto I, the Great, 607. Ov'id, poet, 556. Pac-to'lus, river, 89. Pa'dus. See Po. P^e-o'ni-us, Nike of, 305. Pagaiius, how the term acquired religious significance, 535. Painting, Greek, 308-310; use of color by the Greeks in connection with sculpture and architecture, 309 n. 19. Pal'a-tine (tin) hill, 36S. Paleolithic Age, 3-5. Palmyra, fall of, 518. Pan-ath-e-nae'a, the Great, estab- lished by Pisistratus, 173; the Less, 173 n. 9. Panno'ni-a, 487. Pa-nor'mus, battle of, 410. Pantheon, the, 549, 550. Papacy, rise of, 582-586. Pa-pin'i-an, jurist, 561. Papyrus paper, 35 n. 16. Par'a-lits, Athenian state ship, 241. Par-nas'sus, Mount, no. Pa'ros, marbles of, 112. Parrhasius (parra'shi-us), Greek painter, 310. Parthenon, the, 216; treasure in, 297 n. 2 ; description of, 297, 298 ; sculptures of, 303 n. 9. Parthia, 290 n. 9. Pa-sar'ga-da.% 90. Pa-ter fa-mil' i-as, power of, 355. Patricians, term explained, 359; in early Rome, 360. Pa-tro'clus, 1 19. I'aulus, jurist, 561. Pau'lus Lu'cius .^-mil'i-us, consul, 422. Paulus, Lucius TEmilius, son of preceding, victor at Pydna, 431. Pau-sa'ni-as, at Platasa, 198 n.9 ; his treason and death, 201, 202 n. 2. Pausanias, traveler and writer, 338. Pax Roftiana. See Roman Peace. Pe'li-on, Mount, no. Pel'la, 266 n. i. Pe-lop'i-das, liberates Thebes, 252 ; in Thessaly, 256; goes to Susa as an envoy, 256. Pel-o-pon-ne'sian War, the, causes of, 220; events of, 221-242; re- sults of, 242, 243. See Table of Contents. Pel-o-pon-ne'sus, the name, 116; conquered by the Dorians, 122. Pe'lops, fabled colonizer of the Pelo- ponnesus, 1 16. Pe-na'tes, Roman household gods, 355 ; worship interdicted, secretly practiced, 535. Pe-nel'o-pe, 122, 124. Pe-ne'us, river, 1 10. Pen-tel'i-cus, Mount, no. Per-dic'cas, king of Macedonia, 267. Perdiccas, regent, 286 n. i. Per'ga-mum (or Pergamus), center of Hellenistic culture, 290 n. 9. Per-i-an'der, tyrant of Corinth, 164, 165. Per'i-cles, opposes Cimon, 206 ; comes to the head of affairs in Athens, 207 ; fosters the naval power of Athens, 208 ; negotiates the Thirty Years' Truce with Sparta, 209 ; his position at Athens, 210, 2n ; attacks upon, 2n n. 3; his law limiting citizen- ship, 212 ; takes citizens into pay of the state, 213; adorns Athens with public buildings, 215-217; effects of his system of public doles, 219; funeral oration of, 222-224; his death, 225. Pericles, the Age of, 210-219. Per-i-oe'9i, the, in Laconia, 143. Perseph'o-ne, cult of, 132 n. 7. Per-sep'o-lis, structures at, 96, 97 ; destroyed by Alexander, 278. Perseus, king of Macedonia, 430. Persian Empire, political history of, 88-94 ; nature of government, 94 ; cramps the Greek world, 178-181 ; INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 633 wars -with Greece, 183-199; con- quered by Alexander the Great, 274-2S0. Persian Empire, New, established, 530 n. 9. Persians, relation to the Medes, 88; literature and religion, 95. Per'si-us, poet, 557. Per'ti-nax, Roman emperor, 515. Phcrdo, 332. Phalanx, Macedonian, Theban origin of, 253, 267 n. 2. Phar'na-ces, defeated by Caesar, 473. Pha'ros, the, at Alexandria, 292. Phar'sa-lus, battle of, 473. Phei'don, king of Argos, 141, 142. Phid'i-as, his masterpieces, 303-305. Phi-dip'pi-des, Greek runner, 186. Philae, island, 20 n. i. Philip II, king of Macedon, his youth, 256, 267 ; his accession to the throne, 267 ; his conquests in Chalcidice and Thrace, 267, 268; in the Second Sacred War, 269, 270; his victory at Chseronea, 270 ; his plan to invade Asia, 27 1 ; his death, 271; results of his reign, 271, 272. Philip'pl, founded, 268. Phi'lo, 80. Phil-o-poe'men, 289 n. 8. Phocians, in Second Sacred War, 269, 270. Pho'ci-on, Athenian statesman, 268. Pho'cis, district of Greece, 108. Phoe'bus. See Apollo. PhcE-nic'i-a, the land, S3 ; products of, 83. Phoenicians, their early migrations, 83 ; their commerce, 84, 85 ; col- onies, 85, 86; routes of trade, 85 n. 2 ; arts disseminated by, 86, 87. Phonograms, defined, 11. Phra'try, the, 128, 175 n. 10. Pi-ce'num, 350. Picts ravage province of Britain, 543. Pindar, 274, 315. Pippin III, becomes king of the Franks, 604 ; makes donation of lands to the pope, 604. Piracy in the Heroic Age, 125. Pi-ra^'us, the, fortified by Themis- tocles, 200, 201 ; dismantled by the Peloponnesians, 242. Pirates, in the Mediterranean, 463, 464 ; punished by Pompey, 465. Pi-sis'tra-tus, makes himself tyrant of Athens, 172, 173; character of his rule, 173. Placentia, Roman colony, 416. Platae'a, attack upon by Thebans (431 B.C.), 221 ; its destruction, 226; battle of, 198. Plataeans, the, at Marathon, 186. Plato, at court of Dionysius I of Syracuse, 261 ; visits Dionysius the Younger, 262 ; life and works, 331-333- Plautus, dramatist, 555. Plebeian assembly. See Concilium tribuiuvi plebis. Plebeians (ple-be'yans), origin of the order, 360 n. 4 ; their status in early Rome, 360, 361 ; signifi- cance to them of the Servian reforms, 375 ; first secession, 379 ; second secession, 387 ; marriage with patricians made legal, 388 ; secure admission to the consul- ship, 392, 393 ; to the dictator- ship and other offices, 393 n. 12. Pleb-is-ft'ta, 387. Pliny the Elder, 559. PHny the Younger, letter to Trajan, 506; literary notice, 559. Plu'tarch, 325. Pnyx (niks), the, at Athens, 1700.3. Po, river, 350. Poe'ni, 407 n 2. Pol-len'ti-a, battle at, 537. Po-lyb'i-us, historian, 325. Pol'y-carp, Church Father, 510. Pol-y-cli'tus, sculptor, 305. Po-lyc'ra-tes, tyrant of Samos, 165; fall of, 180. Pol-yg-no'tus, painter, 309. Po-lyx'e-na, daughter of Priam, 309 n. 20. Pompeii (pom-pe'yT or pom-pa'yee) destroyed, 502 n. 5. Pompey, Gnas'us, the Great, sent into Spain against Sertorius, 460 ; settles the affairs of Spain, 460 ; elected consul, 461; restores the Gracchan con.stitution, 462; given command against the pirates, 465 ; given charge of war against Mith- radates, 465 ; conquers Syria, 466; 634 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY takes Jerusalem, 466 ; his tri- umph, 466 ; enters the First Tri- umvirate, 468 ; rivalry between him and Caesar, 471; civil war, 472, 473; his death, 473. Pompey, Gnseus, son of the pre- ceding, 473 n. 6. Pompey, Sextus, 473 n. 6. Pom-po'ni-us, 561. Pontifex Maximits, 365. Pontiffs, College of, 365. Pon'tlne (or pon'tin) marshes, 476. Pontius Gavius, Samnite general, 399- Pontus, state in Asia Minor, 286 n. 3. Popes. See Papacy. Po-sei'don, 13 1. Posi-do'ni-a, 158. Posilipo (p5-se-le'p5), grotto, 403. Pot-i-dae'a, Corinthian colony, 155 n. 5 ; revolt of, against Athens, 220; captured by Philip II, 267. Praetorian guard, corps created by Augustus, 494 n. I ; disbanded by S. Severus, 516. Prse'tors, original title of the con- suls, 377 ; creation of the office, 392- Praxit'e-les, 306. Pre'fect, praetorian, 516. Pre'fec-tures, the subdivisions of the later Roman Empire, 528. Prehistoric Age, defined, i ; in what way knowledge of, secured, 2 ; divisions of, 2 ; in Egypt, 22 ; in Greece, 1 15-125. Pruueps, the title, 485. Printing, art of, among the Chinese, 103. Prod'i-cus, 330 n. 4. Pro-me'theus, the Titan, 318 n. 2. Propy-lae'a, the, 216. Pro-tag'o-ras, 330 n. 4. Provinces, first Roman, 414; gov- ernment of, reformed by Augus- tus, 4S7 ; condition of, under the Antonines, 511-513. Psam-met'i-chus I, 30, 31. Ptol'emy, Claudius, astronomer, 338. Ptolemy I, Soter, 291, 292 ; II, Philadelphus, 292. Public lands, Roman, how acquired and how administered, 380-382 ; plebeians given right to occupy, by Licinian Laws, 392 ; at the time of the Gracchi, 442, 443. Publilian Law, 379 n. 2. Punic War, First, 405-413; Second, 419-427^ Third, 436-438. Punjab (poon-jab'), the, 92. Pyd'na, battle of, 431. Py'los, seized and fortified by the Athenians, 226, 227. Pyramids, the, 24 ; as tombs, 39. Pyramid Kings, 24, 25. Pyr'rho, the skeptic, 336. Pyr'rhus, takes command of the Tarentines, 400 ; campaigns in Italy, 400, 401 ; in Sicily, 401 ; defeated at Beneventum, 401. Py-thag'o-ras, 328. Pyth'i-a, the, 133. Pythian games, 135. Quaestors (kwes'tors), 38 r. Quinqueremes (kwin'kwe-rems), 409 n. 3 ; first fleet of, built by the Romans, 409; number lost by Romans in First Punic War, 412. Quin-til'i-an, 560. Qiiijites (kwi-ri'tez), 357. Races of mankind, 14-17 and notes ; table of, 19. Radagaisus (rad-a-ga'sus), 538, 539. Ra?'ti-a, 4S7. Ra-me'ses II, 28-30; mummy of, 38. Ram'nes, the, 368. Reg'u-lus, A-til'i-us, Roman general, made prisoner by Carthaginians, 410; as an ambassador, 410; legend of his death, 411. Re-hobo'am, 77. Rhe'gi-um, founded, 158. Rhodes, island, 11 1 ; settled by Do- rians, 123; center of Hellenistic culture, 286 n. 3 ; school of sculp- ture at, 307. Ri9'i-mer, Count, 546. Rimini (re'mene), 604. Roderic, Visigothic king, 599. Roman colonies. See Colonies. Roman Empire, definitely estab- lished by Augustus, 484-487 ; greatest extent under Trajan, 506; public sale of, 515 ; its final division, 536; the Eastern, 536; INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 635 fall of the, in the West, 546; import of its downfall, 546, 547 ; the Empire in the East, 592-594 ; its services to civilization, 594 ; restored in the West by Charles the Great, 606, 607. Roman law, 561, 562; revival of, 590, 591. Roman Peace {Pax Romano), 401 ; established in Gaul, 470. Roman roads, construction begun, 398 ; their extension, 403. Romance languages, 5S8. Romance nations, origin, 587, 5S8. Rome, early society and govern- ment, 355-361 ; unde/ the kings, 367-376 ; its beginnings, 368, 369 ; first enlargement, 369; three tribes in early city, 369; early commerce, 370; growth of, under the Tar- quins, 371, 372; sacked by the Gauls, 390, 391 ; its rebuilding, 391 ; compared with Carthage, 406 ; effect upon, of conquest of the East, 432, 433 ; destroyed by the great fire, 498 ; rebuilt by Nero, 49S ; last triumph at, 537; ransom of, by Alaric, 539 ; sacked by Alaric, 540 ; by the Vandals, 544, 545- Rom'u-lus, king of Rome, 371. Romulus Augustulus, last emperor of the West, 546. Rosetta Stone, the, 34. Ros'tra, 372 ; origin of name, 397. Rubicon, river, 352 ; crossed by Ciesar, 472. Ru-ma'ni-a, 505 n. 6. Sabbath, Babylonian rest day, 60, 61 n. 12; adopted as day of rest by Constantine, 526. Sacred games among the Romans, 365, 366. Sacred War, First, 137; Second, 269 ; Third, 270. Sa-gun'tum, taken by Hannibal, 417, 418. St. Antony, 580. St. Augustine, mission to Britain, 578. ,. ^ St. Augustine, Aurelms, 560. St. Benedict, his Rule, 581. St. Ber'nard, Little, pass, 419. St. Boniface (bon'e-fass), 579. St. Columba, 578. St. Jerome, 560. St. Patrick, 578. St. Peter, martyr at Rome, 498 ; his primacy, 583. Sa'is, 31. Sal'a-mis, battle of, 197. Salamis, island, 1 1 1. Sallust, historian, 558. Samaria, captured by Sargon H, 63. Samnite War, First, 394; Second, 397, 398; Third, 398, 399. Sa'mos, island, in. Samson, Hebrew hero, 75. Sappho (saf'fo), 3:4. Saracens. See Mohammednitism. Sar'a-cus, last king of Nineveh, 66. Sardinia, with Corsica, made a Ro- man province, 415 Sar'dis, capital of Lydia, 89; cap- tured by Cyrus, 89 ; sacked by the Greeks, 183. Sar'gon, L 49, 50; IL reign, 63, 64. Sa-ron'ic Gulf, in. Sat-iir-na'li-a, 366. Saul, king of the Hebrews, 76. Saxons, on the continent, subdued by Charles the Great, 605. See A nglo-Saxons. Scar-a-ba^'i, Egyptian, 36, 43. Scipio, Lucius Cornelius (Asiati- cus), 430. Scipio, Publius Cornelius, engages Hannibal, 420. Scipio, Publius Cornelius (Africa- nus Major), defeats Hannibal at Zama, 426, his death, 427 n. 4. Scipio, Publius Cornelius iF.milia- nus (Africanus Minor), at siege of Carthage, 438; at siege of Numantia, 439. Sco'pas, 306. Se-ja'nus, 494, 495. Se-leu'9i-das, kingdom of the, 290, 291. Se-leu'cus Ni-ca'tor, 290. Se-li'nus, quarrel with Egesta, 232 ; destroyed by Carthaginians, 259. Sem-pro'ni-us, Tiberius, consul, 420. Senate, Roman, under the kings, 358; power restored by Sulla, 457; number reduced to si.x hun- dred by Augustus, 4S6; Tiberius 636 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY confers upon, right to elect mag- istrates, 494; admission to, of Gauls, 496. Sen'e-ca, moralist, Nero's tutor, 497; his teachings, 559. Sen-nach'e -rib, reign, 64, 65. 8en-ti'num, battle of, 399 n. 3. Sep'tu-a-gint, the, 324. Ser-a-pe'um, the, 37 n. 18. Ser-to'ri-us, Quintus, 460. Servile War, First, 441, 442 ; Second, 442 n. I. Servius Tullius, builds walls of Rome, 371 ; his reforms, 372-375. Sesostris. See Kameses II. Set, Egyptian god, 36. Se'ti I, 28, 29. Seven Hills, the, 371. Seven Sages, the, 327. Se-ve'rus, Septimius, Roman empe- ror, reign, 516. Seville (sev'il), 599. She'ol, the Hebrew underworld, 81. Shepherd Kings. See Hyksos. Shirpurla (shir-poor'la), city, 49 n. 2. Sib'yl-line Books, 364, 365; number of keepers raised to ten, 392 ; prophecy in, 415; burned, 455. Sicilian Expedition, the, 232-237 ; debate at Athens respecting, 232- 234; departure of, from the Pi- raeus, 234 ; the end, 235-237 ; how news of disaster was received at Athens, 237, 238. Sicily, Greek colonies in, 159; golden era of the Sicilian Greek cities, 263, 264 ; affairs of, be- tween 436 and 413 B.C., 259-264. Sicily, relation to Roman history, 351 ; at the beginning of the First Punic War, 407 ; conquest of, by the Romans, 408 ; becomes a Roman province, 414; First Servile War in, 441, 442 ; Sec- ond, 442 n. 1. Sidon, 83. Sil'a-rus, defeat of gladiators at, 461. Sl-mon'i-des of Ceos, lyric poet, 315. Sip'par, city, 49 n. 2. Siwah (see'wa), oasis of, 276. Slavery, among the Greeks, 124, 347, 348 ; in early Rome, 356 ; condition of slaves in Sicily, 441, 442 ; general statements respect- ing, 568, 569. Smer'dis, the false, 91, 92. Social War, 449, 450 ; comments upon results, 451, 452. Socrates, his trial and death, 247, 248; his teachings, 330,331. Sog-di-a'na, conquest of, by Alexan- der, 279. Soissons (swas-soh'), battle of, 573. Solomon, king, 76, 77. So'lon, his economic reforms, 171 ; constitutional reforms, 172; spe- cial laws enacted by, 172. Sophists, the, 330. Sophocles, fragic poet, 319. Spain becomes Romanized, 440 ; conquered by the Saracens, 599. Sparta, location of, 142; the name, 142 ; classes in, 143 ; Spartan in- stitutions, 144-148; early history of, 148-150; two kings at, 145 n. 7; public tables, 146; educa- tion of Spartan youth, 147, 148; conquers Messenia, 148-150; be- comes supreme in Central and Northern Peloponnesus, 150. Spar'ta-cus, leader of gladiators, 461. Spartan constitution, the, 144, 145. Spartan supremacy (404-371 B.C.), 244-254. Spartans, number of, 143; detach- ment of, shut u]) in Sphacteria, 227; their surrender, 227 ; import of this event, 227. Spar-ti-a'tE, the. See Spartans. Sphac-te'ri-a, island, 227. Sphinx, the, 25. Spor'a-des, the, 11 1. Stephen II, pope, 604. Stiri-cho, Vandal general, 537, 539. Stoics, the, 334, 335. Stra'bo, the geographer, 337. Sue-to'ni-us, biographer, 557. Sulla, Lucius Cornelius, in Jugur- thine War, 447 ; given command against Mithradates, 454 ; marches upon Rome, 454; war between him and the Marian party, 455 ; his proscriptions, 455, 456; made dictator, 456, 457 ; his constitution, 457 n. 10; its breakdown, 458 ; his abdication and death, 458. J INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 637 Su'mer, 48. Sumerians, the, 48. Su'ni-um, cape, 216. Susa, capital of Elam, 50; capital of Persian Empire, 92 ; taken by Alexander, 278. Suttee', loi n. 4. Sy-a'gri-us, Roman governor, 573. Syb'a-ris, founded, 158; destroyed by Croton, 158 n. 6. Syl'la-ba-ry, defined, 11. Symposium, the, features of, 345. Syracuse, founded, 159; operations of the Athenians at, in the Pelo- ponnesian War, 236 ; under the Dionysian tyrants, 260-263 ; its golden era, 263, 264 ; forms alli- ance with Carthage, 424 ; fall of, 424. Syria, made a Roman province, 466. Tacitus, historian, 558. Tal'mud, 80. Ta'o-ism, 105. Taras. See Tarentiim. Tarentum, Greek colony, 158; war with Rome, 399-401 ; character of inhabitants, 399. Tar-pe'ia(-ya), 392 n. 9. Tarpeian Rock, 392 n. 9. Tar-quin'i-us Priscus, king of Rome, 371- Tarquinius Superbus, kmg of Rome, 371 ; his expulsion, 375. Tar'ta-rus, in Greek myth, 130. Ta-yg'e-tus Mountains, 112. Tel'a-mon, battle at, 416. Te-lem'a-chus, monk, 53S. Tell el A-mar'na, cuneiform letters discovered at, 28 n. 11. Tello (or Telloh), 52. Tem'pe, Vale of, 107. Ten Thousand, expedition of the, 245, 246. Ter'ence, dramatist, 555. Tetrarchy (tet'rark-y), 521 n. 2. Teutoburg Wood (toi'to-borg), scene of defeat of Varus, 488. Teu'to-nes, 447-449. Teutons. See Barbarians. Tha'les, 327, 328. Thap'sus, battle of, 473. Theaters, Grecian, description of, 299 ; entertainments of, 340-345 ; Roman, construction of, 551 ; en- tertainments of, 564. Thebes, in Egypt, ruins at, 42. Thebes, in Greece, seized by the Spartans, 251 ; liberated by Pe- lopidas, 252 ; hegemony of, 254- 257; destroyed by Alexander the Great, 274. The-mis'to-cles, his character, 190; his naval policy, 190; his agency in convening the Council of Cor- inth, 192 ; interprets the oracle of the "wooden walls," 196, 197 ; his policy in regard to the Pirseus and the Athenian navy, 200, 201 ; his ostracism and death, 201 n. i. The-oc'ri-tus, poet, 325. The-od'o-ric, king of the Ostrogoths, 571- Theodosius I, the Great, emperor, reduces Goths to submission, 534 ; the " Destroyerof Paganism," 535 ; orders massacre at Thessalonica, 535 ; bows to Bishop Ambrose, 535' 536; sole emperor, 536; divides the empire, 536. Ther'mse, Roman, 553. Ther-mop'y-lae, battle of, 194-196. Thermopyls, Pass of, the name, 194. These'um, the, 216. Theseus (the'sus), king of Athens, 117. Thes'pis, tragic poet, 316. Thes-sa-lo-ni'ca, massacre at, 535. Thes'sa-ly, description of, 107. The'tes, 172. Thirty Tyrants, the, at Athens, 244, 245. Thirty Years' Truce, the, 208, 209. Thoth'rnes III, 27, 28. Thras-y-bu'lus, tyrant of Miletus, 164. Thucyd'i-de§, the historian, char- acter of the speeches in his history, 223 n. I ; banished from Athens, 322 ; his history, 322. Tiber, river, 352. Tiberius, Roman emperor, reign, 494-495. Tl'bur, situation, 367. Ti-ci'nus, battle of the, 420. Tig'lath Pi-le'ser III, 51 ; his reign, 63- Tigris, valley of the, 46. 638 INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY Ti-mo'le-on, the Liberator, frees Syracuse from the tyrant Diony- sius the Younger, 263 ; his death, 264. TT'mon, the misanthrope, 232. Ti'ryns, seat of prehistoric race, 109, 122 n. 6. Tities, tribe in early Rome, 369. Titus, Roman emperor, at siege of Jerusalem, 499; reign, 501, 502. Tiv'o-li. See Tibu7'. Toga, the^ 563. Tours (toor), battle of, 599, 600. Trajan, Roman emperor, reign, 504-506. Transmigration, Hindu doctrine of, 99, 100. Tra-pe'zus, 246. Tras-i-me'nus, Lake, battle at, 421. Tre'bi-a, battle of the, 420. Treb'i-zond. See Trapeziis. Tribes, among the Greeks, 128; as divisions of the Roman commu- nity, 358; the four Servian, 374; maximum number, 374 n. 7. Tribunes, military, with consular power, creation of office, 388; abolished, 392. Tribunes, plebeian, first, 379 ; num- ber, 379; duties, 379; their right of aid, 380 ; sacrosanct character, 380 ; importance of the creation of the tribunate, 380 ; acquire the right to sit within the senate hall, 387 ; penalty imposed for abuse of right of intercession, 457 n. 10; powers absorbed by Augustus, 486. Triumph, last, at Rome, 537. Triumvirate, First, 467, 468; Second, 478-480. Trojan War, the legend of, 1 18-120. Troy, 118. See Hissarlik. Truceless War, the, 416. Twelve Tables, the, 384-386. Tyne (tin), the, 507. Ty'phon. See Set. Tyrants, the Greek, Age of, 162- 166; character and origin of rule, 162, 163; Greek feeling towards, 163; Sparta's opposition to, 163; benefits conferred by, 165, 166; Pisistratida:, at Athens, 173, 174; expulsion from Athens, 174, 175. Tyre, besieged by Nebuchadnezzar, 72; history of, 83, 84; siege of, by Alexander, 275, 276. Tyr-rhe'ni-an Sea, 350. Tyr-tae'us, 149 n. 9. Ul'fi-las, apostle of the Goths, 576. UTpi-an, jurist, 561. Um'bri-a, 350. Ur, city of, 49 n. 2. Uruk (oo'rook) city, 49 n. 2. Valens, Roman emperor, 533, 534. Val-en-tin'i-an L Roman emperor, 533 n- I- Va-le'ri-an, Roman emperor, 518 n. 2. Valerio-Horatian laws, 387, 388. Va-le'ri-us, Lu'ci-us, consul, 387. Valerius, Publius, consul, 378. Vandals, in Spain, 542 ; in Africa, 542; sack Rome, 544, 545; per- secute African Catholics, 573; kingdom destroyed by Justinian, 573- Varro, Gaius Terentius, consul, 422, 423- Varus, Quintilius, defeated by Ar- minius, 488. Ve'das (or va'das), sacred books of the Hindus, 99. Veii (ve'yT), siege and capture, 389- Ven'e-ti, the, 544. Ve-ne'ti-a, 350. Venice, its beginnings, 544. Ver-^el'lse, battle at, 448. Ver-^in-get'o-rix, 469. Vergil, 556. Ver'res, propraetor, his scandalous misgovernment of Sicily, 462 ; his prosecution by Cicero, 463. Vespasian (ves-pa'zhi-an), Flavius, Roman emperor, leign, 499-501. Vesta, worship of, at Rome, 364. Vi'a, Ap'pi-a, construction begun, 398 ; Fla-inin'i-a, construction of, 415, 416; Sacra, 372. Villas, Roman, 553. Vin-do-bo'na, 511. Visigoths, cross the Danube, 532, 533 ; reduced to submission by Theodosius, 534 ; invade Italy, 537; second invasion, 539, 540; after sack of Rome, 541 ; establish INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 639 kingdom in Spain, 542 ; kingdom destroyed by the Saracens, 572, 599- Vi-tel'li-us, Roman emperor, 499. Volscians, border wars with Rome, 382, 384. Winfrid. See Sf. Boniface. Woman, social position of, in Greece, 342; at Rome, 563. Writing, invention of, ic-12; Egyp- tian system, 33, 34; Chinese, 103. Xan-thip'pe, 331 n. 6. Xen'o-phon, with the Ten Thousand Greeks, 246; his works, 322. Xeres (ha-reth'), battle of, 599. Xerxes (zerks'ez) I, reign, 93, 94; prepares to invade Greece, 191, 192; crosses the Hellespont, 193; reviews army at Doriscus, 194; after the battle of Salamis, 198. Yah-weh (yah-wa'), 78. Yoke, symbol of submission, 384 n. 5. Za'ma, battle at, 426. Ze'la, battle at, 473. Zend A-ves'ta, 95. Ze'no, the Stoic, 334. Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, 518 n. 3. Zeus (zus), 131; oracles of, i 33 n. 9. Zeus Ammon, oracle of, 276. Zeuxis (zuks'iss), Greek painter, 3 10. Zo-ro-as'ter, 95. Zoroastrianism, 95. UC SOUTHFRN HI (.lONAl I IDIWHY I Al.ll H V AA 000 923 480 » ;.>avteifaiijattoj