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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 2
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 2
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Rossiter Johnson
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2003 [eBook #10114]
+[Most recently updated: March 25, 2023]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, David King, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, VOL. 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY. EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES
+IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+  NON-SECTARIAN        NON-PARTISAN         NON-SECTIONAL
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST
+DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF
+INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED
+NARRATIVES, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH INDICES,
+BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BINDING
+
+Vol. II
+
+The binding of this volume is a facsimile of the original on exhibition
+in the Bibliothèque Nationale.
+
+It was executed by the Royal Binder, Clovis Eve, for Marie de' Médicis,
+Queen Consort of Henry IV of France. She was a great lover of fine arts,
+and especially of rich bindings. The one here shown was her special
+pride. It shows her arms--the arms of France and Tuscany--surrounded
+with the cordelière, the sign of her widowhood, accompanied by the
+monogram M.M. (Marie Médicis). She was exiled by Cardinal Richelieu in
+1631.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+An Outline Narrative of the Great Events,
+    CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in Rome (B.C. 450),
+    HENRY G. LIDDELL
+
+Pericles Rules in Athens (B.C. 444),
+    PLUTARCH
+
+Great Plague at Athens (B.C. 430),
+    GEORGE GROTE
+
+Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse (B.C. 413),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks (B.C. 401-399),
+    XENOPHON
+
+Condemnation and Death of Socrates (B.C. 399),
+    PLATO
+
+Brennus Burns Rome (B.C. 388),
+    BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR
+
+Tartar Invasion of China by Meha (B.C. 341),
+    DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER
+
+Alexander Reduces Tyre, Later Founds Alexandria (B.C. 332),
+    OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+The Battle of Arbela (B.C. 331),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+First Battle Between Greeks and Romans (B.C. 280-279),
+    PLUTARCH
+
+The Punic Wars (B.C. 264-219-149),
+    FLORUS
+
+Battle of the Metaurus (B.C. 2O7),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama and Subjugates Carthage (B.C.
+202),
+    LIVY
+
+Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea (B.C. 165-141),
+    JOSEPHUS
+
+The Gracchi and Their Reforms (B.C. 133),
+    THEODOR MOMMSEN
+
+Caesar Conquers Gaul (B.C. 58-50),
+    NAPOLEON III
+
+Roman Invasion and Conquest of Britain (B.C. 55-A.D. 79),
+    OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and Antony (B.C. 51-30),
+    JOHN P. MAHAFFY
+
+Assassination of Caesar (B.C. 44),
+    NIEBUHR
+    PLUTARCH
+
+Rome Becomes a Monarchy
+Death of Antony and Cleopatra (B.C. 44-30),
+    HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL
+
+Germans under Arminius Revolt Against Rome (A.D. 9),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Universal Chronology (B.C. 450-A.D. 12),
+    JOHN RUDD
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+Blind Appius Claudius led into the Roman Senate Chamber to vote on the
+proposition of peace or war with Pyrrhus (page 174),
+
+Painting by Prof, A. Maccari.
+
+
+Oracle of Delphi,
+
+Painting by Claudius Harper.
+
+
+Death of Alexander the Great after a prolonged debauch,
+
+Painting by Carl von Piloty.
+
+
+
+
+AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE
+
+
+TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+(FROM THE RISE OF GREECE TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.
+
+
+Earth's upward struggle has been baffled by so many stumbles that
+critics have not been lacking to suggest that we do not advance at all,
+but only swing in circles, like a squirrel in its cage. Certain it is
+that each ancient civilization seemed to bear in itself the seeds of its
+own destruction. Yet it may be held with equal truth that each new
+power, rising above the ruins of the last, held something nobler, was
+borne upward by some truth its rival could not reach.
+
+At no period is this more evident than in the five centuries immediately
+preceding the Christian era. Persia, Greece, Carthage, Rome, each in
+turn was with some justice proclaimed lord of the world; each in turn
+felt the impulse of her glory and advanced rapidly in culture and
+knowledge of the arts; and each in turn succumbed to the temptations
+that beset unlimited success. They degenerated not only in physical
+strength, but in moral honesty.
+
+Let us recognize, however, that the term "world-ruler" as applied to
+even the greatest of these nations has but a restricted sense. When the
+Persian monarch called himself lord of the sun and moon, he only meant
+in a figurative way that he was acquainted with no other king so
+powerful as himself; that beyond his own dominions he heard only of
+feeble colonies, and beyond those the wilderness. Alexander, when he
+sighed for more worlds to conquer, had in reality made himself lord of
+less than a quarter of Asia and of about one-sixtieth part of Europe.
+
+No man and no nation has ever yet been intrusted with the government of
+the entire globe. None has proved sufficiently fitted for the giant
+task. Each empire has been, as it were, but an experiment; and beyond
+the border line of seas and deserts which ringed each boastful
+conqueror, there were always other races developing along slower, and it
+may be surer, lines.
+
+In those old days our world was in truth too big for conquest. Armies
+marched on foot. Provisions could not be carried in any quantity, unless
+a general clung to the sea-shore and depended on his ships. What
+Alexander might with more truth have sighed for, was some modern means
+of swift transportation, possessed of which he might still have enjoyed
+many interesting, bloody battles in more distant lands.
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREEKS
+
+Taking the idea "world power" in the restricted sense suggested, Persia
+lost it to Greece at Salamis. As the Asiatic hordes fled behind their
+panic-stricken king, the Greeks, looking round their limited horizon,
+could see no power that might vie with them. The idea of pressing home
+their success and overthrowing the entire unwieldy Persian empire was at
+once conceived.
+
+But the Greeks were of all races least like to weld earth into one
+dominion. They could not even unite among themselves. In short it cannot
+be too emphatically pointed out that the work of Greece was not to
+consolidate, but to separate, to teach the value of each individual man.
+Asia had made monarchies in plenty. King after king had passed in
+splendid, glittering pomp across her plains, circled by a crowd of
+obsequious courtiers, trampling on a nameless multitude of slaves.
+Europe was to make democracies, or at least to try her hand at them.
+
+It has been well said that a democracy is the strongest government for
+defence, the weakest for attack. Every little Greek city clung jealously
+to its own freedom, and to its equally obvious right to dominate its
+neighbors. The supreme danger of the Persian invasion united them for a
+moment; but as soon as safety was assured, they recommenced their
+bickering. Sparta with her record of ancient leadership, Athens with her
+new-won glory against the common foe, each tried to draw the other
+cities in her train. There was no one man who could dominate them all
+and concentrate their strength against the enemy. So for a time Persia
+continued to exist; she even by degrees regained something of her former
+influence over the divided cities.
+
+Among these Athens held the foremost rank. She was, as we have
+previously seen, far more truly representative of the Greek spirit than
+her rival. Sparta was aristocratic and conservative; Athens democratic
+and progressive. The genius of her leaders gathered the lesser towns
+into a great naval league, in which she grew ever more powerful. Her
+allies sank to be dependent and unwilling vassals, forced to contribute
+large sums to the treasury of their overlord.
+
+This was the age of Pericles.[1] As Athens became wealthy, her citizens
+became cultured. Statues, temples, theatres made the city beautiful.
+Dramatists, orators, and poets made her intellectually renowned. A
+marvellous outburst, this of Athens! Displaying for the first time in
+history the full capacity of the human mind! Had there been similar
+flowerings of genius amid forgotten Asiatic times? One doubts it; doubts
+if such brilliancy could ever anywhere have passed, and left no clearer
+record of its triumphs.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Pericles Rules in Athens_, page 12.]
+
+Amid such splendor it seems captious to point out the flaw. Yet Athenian
+and all Greek civilization did ultimately decline. It represented
+intellectual, but not moral culture. The Greeks delighted intensely in
+the purely physical life about them; they had small conception of
+anything beyond. To enjoy, to be successful, that was all their goal;
+the means scarce counted. The Athenians called Aristides the Just; but
+so little did they honor his high rectitude that they banished him for a
+decade. His title, or it may have been his insistence on the subject,
+bored them.
+
+His rival, Themistocles, was more suited to their taste, a clever scamp,
+who must always be dealing with both sides in every quarrel, and
+outwitting both. Athens was driven to banish him also at last, at his
+too flagrant treachery. But he was not dismissed with the scathing scorn
+our modern age would heap upon a traitor. He was sent regretfully, as
+one turns from a charming but too persistently lawless friend. The
+banishment was only for ten years, and he had his nest already prepared
+with the Persian King. If you would understand the Greek spirit in its
+fullest perfection, study Themistocles. Rampant individualism, seeking
+personal pleasure, clamorous for the admiration of its fellows, but not
+restrained from secret falsity by any strong moral sense--that was what
+the Greeks developed in the end.
+
+Neither must Athens be regarded as a democracy in the modern sense. She
+was only so by contrast with Persia or with Sparta. Not every man in the
+beautiful city voted, or enjoyed the riches that flowed into her
+coffers, and could thus afford, free from pecuniary care, to devote
+himself to art. Athens probably had never more than thirty thousand
+"citizens." The rest of the adult male population, vastly outnumbering
+these, were slaves, or foreigners attracted by the city's splendor.
+
+But those thirty thousand were certainly men. "There were giants in
+those days." One sometimes stands in wonder at their boldness. What all
+Greece could not do, what Persia had completely failed in, they
+undertook. Athens alone should conquer the world. By force of arms they
+would found an empire of intellect. They fought Persia and Sparta, both
+at once. Plague swept their city, yet they would not yield.[2] Their own
+subject allies turned against them; and they fought those too. They sent
+fleets and armies against Syracuse, the mightiest power of the West. It
+was Athens against all mankind!
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Great Plague at Athens_, page 34.]
+
+She was unequal to the task, superbly unequal to it. The destruction of
+her army at Syracuse[3] was only the foremost of a series of inevitable
+disasters, which left her helpless. After that, Sparta, and then Thebes,
+became the leading city of Greece. Athens slowly regained her fighting
+strength; her intellectual supremacy she had not lost. Socrates,[4]
+greatest of her sons, endeavored to teach a morality higher than earth
+had yet received, higher than his contemporaries could grasp. Plato gave
+to thought a scientific basis.
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse_, page 48.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Condemnation and Death of Socrates_, page 87.]
+
+Then Macedonia, a border kingdom of ancient kinship to the Greeks, but
+not recognized as belonging among them, began to obtrude herself in
+their affairs, and at length won that leadership for which they had all
+contended. A hundred and fifty years had elapsed since the Greeks had
+stood united against Persia. During all that time their strength had
+been turned against themselves. Now at last the internecine wars were
+checked, and all the power of the sturdy race was directed by one man,
+Alexander, King of Macedon. Democracy had made the Greeks intellectually
+glorious, but politically weak. Monarchy rose from the ruin they had
+wrought.
+
+As though that ancient invasion of Xerxes had been a crime of yesterday,
+Alexander proclaimed his intention of avenging it; and the Greeks
+applauded. They understood Persia now far better than in the elder days;
+they saw what a feeble mass the huge heterogeneous empire had become.
+Its people were slaves, its soldiers mercenaries. The Greeks themselves
+had been hired to suppress more than one Persian rebellion,[5] and to
+foment these also. They had learned the enormous advantage their
+stronger personality gave them against the masses of sheeplike Asiatics.
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks_, page 68.]
+
+So it was in holiday mood that they followed Alexander, and in schoolboy
+roughness that they trampled on the civilization of the East. In fact,
+it is worth noting that the most vigorous resistance they encountered
+was not from the Persians, but from a remnant of the Semites, the
+merchants of the Phoenician city of Tyre.[6] In less than eight years,
+B.C. 331-323, Alexander overran the whole known world of the East,[7]
+only stopping when, on the border of India, his soldiers broke into open
+revolt, not against fighting, but against further wandering.
+
+[Footnote 6: See _Alexander Reduces Tyre_, page 133.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See _The Battle of Arbela_, page 141.]
+
+If this invasion had been the mere outcome of one man's ambition, it
+might scarce be worth recording. But Alexander was only the topmost wave
+in the surging of a long imminent, inevitable racial movement. Its
+effect upon civilization, upon the world, was incalculably vast.
+Alexander and his successors were city-builders, administrators. As such
+they spread Greek culture, the Greek idea of individualism, over all
+their world.
+
+How deep was the change, made upon the imbruted Asiatics, we may perhaps
+question. Our own age has seen how much of education may be lavished on
+an inferior race without materially altering the brute instincts within.
+The building-up of the soul in man is not a matter of individuals, but
+of centuries. Yet in at least a superficial way Greek thought became the
+thought of all mankind. We may dismiss Alexander's savage conquests with
+a sigh of pity; but we cannot deny him recognition as a most potent
+teacher of the world.
+
+His empire did not last. It was in too obvious opposition to all that we
+have recognized as the Grecian spirit. At his death the same impulse
+seems to have stirred each one of his subordinates, to snatch for
+himself a kingdom from the confusion. Instead of one there were soon
+three, four, and then a dozen semi-Grecian states in Asia. The Greek
+element in each grew very faint.
+
+From this time onward Asia takes a less prominent place in world
+affairs. Her ancient leadership in the march of civilization had long
+been yielded to the Greeks. Now her semblance of military power
+disappeared as well. Only two further happenings in all Asia seem worth
+noting, down to the birth of Christ. One of these was the Tartar
+conquest of China, an event which coalesced the Tartars, helped make
+them a nation.[8] It was thus fraught with most disastrous consequences
+for the Europe of the future. The other was the revolt of the Hebrews
+under Judas Maccabaeus, against their Grecian rulers. This was a
+religious revolt, a religious war. Here for the first time we find a
+people who will believe, who can believe, in no god but their own, who
+will die sooner than give worship to another. We approach the borders of
+an age where the spirit is more valued than the body, where the mental
+is stronger than the physical, where facts are dominated by ideas.[9]
+
+[Footnote 8: See _Tartar Invasion of China_, page 126.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See _Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea_, page 245.]
+
+Had Alexander even at the moment of his greatest strength directed his
+forces westward instead of east, he would have found a different world
+and encountered a sturdier resistance. He himself recognized this, and
+during his last years was gathering all the resources of his unwieldy
+empire, to hurl them against Carthage and against Italy. What the issue
+might have been no man can say. Alexander's death ended forever the
+impossible attempt to unite his race. Once more and until the end,
+Grecian strength was wasted against itself.
+
+This gave opportunity to the growing powers of the West. Alexander is
+scarce gone ere we hear Carthage boasting that the Mediterranean is but
+a private lake in her possession. She rules all Western Africa and
+Spain, Sardinia and Corsica. She masters the Greeks of Sicily, against
+whom Athens failed. Rome is compelled to sign treaties with her as an
+inferior.
+
+THE GROWTH OF ROME
+
+Rome was only husbanding her strength; the little republic of B.C. 510
+had grown much during the two centuries of Grecian splendor. Her people
+had become far better fitted for conquest than their eastern kinsmen. It
+is presumable that here too it was the difference of surroundings which
+had differentiated the race. The ancient Etrurian (non-Aryan)
+civilization on which the Latins intruded, was apparently more advanced
+than their own. For centuries their utmost prowess scarce sufficed to
+maintain their independence. Thus it was not possible for them to become
+too self-satisfied, to stand afar off and look down on their neighbors
+with Grecian scorn. The _ego_ was less prominently developed; the
+necessity of mutual dependence and united action was more deeply taught.
+Their records display less of brilliancy, but more of patient
+persistency, than those of Greece, less of spectacular individualism,
+more of truly patriotic self-suppression. In Rome, even more than in
+Sparta, the "State" was everything. During the early days men found
+their highest glory in making their city glorious; their proudest boast
+was to be "citizens of Rome."
+
+To trace the slow steps by which the tiny republic grew to be mistress
+of all Italy would take too long. She settled her internal difficulties
+as all such difficulties must be settled, if the race is to progress;
+that is, she became more democratic.[10] As the lower classes advanced
+in knowledge and intelligence they insisted on a share of the
+government. They fought their way to it. They united Rome, mastered the
+other Latin cities, and admitted them to partnership in her power. She
+conquered the Etruscans and the Samnites. For a moment we find her
+almost overwhelmed by an inroad of the wild Celtic tribes from the
+forests of Central Europe;[11] but, fortunately for her, the other
+Italian states were equally crushed. It was weakness against weakness,
+and the Romans retained their foremost place.
+
+[Footnote 10: See _Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in Rome_,
+page 1.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See _Brennus Burns Rome_, page 110.]
+
+Not till more than a century later were they brought into serious
+conflict with the Greeks. In the year B.C. 280, Pyrrhus, King of Epirus,
+who had won a temporary leadership over a portion of the Grecian land,
+undertook the conquest of the West.[12] Fifty years before, Alexander
+with far greater power might have been victorious over a feebler Rome.
+Pyrrhus failed completely. If the Romans had less dash and a less wide
+experience of varied warfare than his followers, they had far more of
+true, heroic endurance. The Greeks had reached that stage of individual
+culture where they were much too selfishly intelligent to be willing to
+die in battle. Pyrrhus withdrew from Italy. Grecian brilliancy was
+helpless against Roman strength of union.
+
+[Footnote 12: See _First Battle between Greeks and Romans_, page 166.]
+
+Then came the far more serious contest between Rome and Carthage.[13]
+Carthage was a Phoenician, a Semite state; and hers was the last, the
+most gigantic struggle made by Semitism to recover its waning
+superiority, to dominate the ancient world. Three times in three
+tremendous wars did she and Rome put forth their utmost strength against
+each other. Hannibal, perhaps the greatest military genius who ever
+lived, fought upon the side of Carthage. At one time Rome seemed
+crushed, helpless before him.[14] Yet in the end Rome won.[15] It was
+not by the brilliancy of her commanders, not by the superiority of her
+resources. It was the grim, cool courage of the Aryan mind, showing
+strongest and calmest when face to face with ruin.
+
+[Footnote 13: See _The Punic Wars_, page 179.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See _Battle of the Metaurus_, page 195.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See _Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama and
+Subjugates Carthage_, page 224.]
+
+Our modern philosophers, being Aryan, assure us that the victory of
+Carthage would have been an irretrievable disaster to mankind; that her
+falsity, her narrow selfishness, her bloody inhumanity, would have
+stifled all progress; that her dominion would have been the tyranny of a
+few heartless masters over a world of tortured slaves. On the other
+hand, Rome up to this point had certainly been a generous mistress to
+her subjects. She had left them peace and prosperity among themselves;
+she had given them as much political freedom as was consistent with her
+sovereignty; she had wellnigh succeeded in welding all Italy into a
+Roman nation. It is noteworthy that the large majority of the Italian
+cities clung to her, even in the darkest straits to which she was
+reduced by Hannibal.
+
+Yet when the fall of her last great rival left Rome irresistible abroad,
+her methods changed. It is hard to see how even Carthaginians could have
+been more cruel, more grasping, more corrupt than the Roman rulers of
+the provinces. Having conquered the governments of the world, Rome had
+to face outbreak after outbreak from the unarmed, unsheltered masses of
+the people. Her barbarity drove them to mad despair. "Servile" wars,
+slave outbreaks are dotted over all the last century of the Roman
+Republic.
+
+The good, if there was any good, that Roman dominion brought the world
+at that period was the spreading of Greek culture across the western
+half of the world. As Rome mastered the Greek states one by one, their
+genius won a subtler triumph over the conqueror. Her generals recognized
+and admired a culture superior to their own. They carried off the
+statues of Greece for the adornment of their villas, and with equal
+eagerness they appropriated her manners and her thought, her literature
+and her gods.
+
+But this superficial culture could not save the Roman Republic from the
+dry-rot that sapped her vitals from within. As a mere matter of numbers,
+the actual citizens of Rome or even of the semi-Roman districts close
+around her were too few to continue fighting over all the vast empire
+they controlled. The sturdy peasant population of Italy slowly
+disappeared. The actual inhabitants of the capital came to consist of a
+few thousand vastly wealthy families, who held all the power, a few
+thousand more of poorer citizens dependent on the rich, and then a vast
+swarm of slaves and foreigners, feeders on the crumbs of the Roman
+table.
+
+In the battles against Carthage, the mass of Rome's armies had consisted
+of her own citizens or of allies closely united to them in blood and
+fortune. Her later victories were won by hired troops, men gathered from
+every clime and every race. Roman generals still might lead them, Roman
+laws environ them, Roman gold employ them. Yet the fact remained, that
+in these armies lay the strength of the Republic, no longer within her
+own walls, no longer in the stout hearts of her citizens.
+
+Perhaps the world itself was slow in seeing this degeneration. The
+Gracchi brothers tried to stem the tide, and they were slain, sacrificed
+by the nation they sought to save.[16] Cornelius Sulla was the man who
+completed, and at the same time made plain to all, the change that had
+been growing up. Having bitter grievances against his enemies in the
+capital, he appealed for redress, not to the Roman senate, not to the
+votes of the populace, but to the swords of the legions he commanded.
+Twice he marched his soldiers against Rome. He brushed aside the feeble
+resistance that was offered, and entered the city like a conqueror. The
+blood of those who had opposed his wishes flowed in streams. Three
+thousand senators and knights, the flower of the Roman aristocracy, were
+slain at his nod. Of the common folk and of the Italians throughout the
+peninsula, the slaughter was immeasurable. And when his bloody vengeance
+was at last glutted, Sulla ruled as an extravagant, conscienceless,
+licentious dictator. Rome had found a fitting master.
+
+[Footnote 16: See _The Gracchi and Their Reforms_, page 259.]
+
+THE STRUGGLE OF INDIVIDUALS FOR SUPREMACY
+
+The Roman people, the mighty race who had defied a Hannibal at their
+gates, were clearly come to an end. Sulla had proved the power of the
+Republic to be an empty shell. After his death, men used the empty forms
+awhile; but the surviving aristocrats had learned their awful lesson.
+They put no further faith in the strength of the city; they watched the
+armies and the generals; they intrigued for the various commands. It was
+an exciting game. Life and fortune were the stakes they risked; the
+prize--the mastery of a helpless world, waiting to be plundered.
+
+Pompey and Caesar proved the ablest players. Pompey overthrew what was
+left of the Greek Asiatic kingdoms and returned to Rome the idol of his
+troops, wellnigh as powerful as had been Sulla. Caesar, looking in his
+turn for a place to build up an army devoted to himself, selected Gaul
+and spent eight years in subduing and civilizing what was in a way the
+most important of all Rome's conquests. In Gaul he came in contact with
+another, fresher Aryan race.[17] Rome received new soldiers for her
+legions, new brains fitted to understand and carry on the work of
+civilizing the world.
+
+[Footnote 17: See _Caesar Conquers Gaul_, page 267.]
+
+When Caesar, turning away from Britain,[18] marched these new-formed
+legions back against Rome, even as Sulla had done, it was almost like
+another Gallic invasion of the South. Pompey fled. He gathered his
+legions from Asia; and the world resounded once more to the clash of
+arms.
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Roman Invasion and Conquest of Britain_, page 285.]
+
+This, then, was the third and final stage of the huge struggle for
+empire. War was still the business of the world. Rome had first defeated
+foreign nations; then she had to defeat the uprisings of the subject
+peoples; now her chiefs, finding her exhausted, fought among themselves
+for the supreme power. Armies of Asiatics, armies of Gauls, each
+claiming to represent Rome, battled over her helpless body.
+
+Caesar was victorious. But when the conquering power which had once
+belonged to the united nation became embodied in a single man, there was
+a new way by which it might be checked. The government of Rome, like
+that of the Greek and Asiatic tyrannies, became a "despotism tempered by
+assassination"; and Caesar was its foremost victim.[19]
+
+[Footnote 19: See _Assassination of Caesar_, page 313.]
+
+His death did not stop the fascinating gamble for empire. It only added
+one more move to the possible complexities of the game. The lesser
+players had their chance. They intrigued and they fought. Egypt, the
+last remaining civilized state outside of Rome, was drawn into the
+whirlpool also.[20] Cleopatra and Antony acted their reckless parts, and
+at length out of the world-wide tumult emerged "young Octavius," to
+assume his _rôle_ as "Augustus Caesar," acknowledged emperor of the
+world.[21]
+
+[Footnote 20: See _Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and Antony_, page
+295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See _Rome Becomes a Monarchy_, page 333.]
+
+Note, however, that the term "world" is still one of boast, not truth.
+Emperor over many men, Augustus was; but the powers of nature still shut
+many races safe beyond his mastery. The ocean bounded his dominion on
+the west; the deserts to the south and east; the German forests to the
+north. These last he did essay to conquer, but they proved beyond him.
+The wild German tribes having no cities, which they must defend at any
+cost, could afford to flee or hide. Choosing their own time and place
+they rose suddenly, smote the legions of Augustus, and melted into the
+wilderness again.[22]
+
+[Footnote 22: See _Germans Under Arminius Revolt against Rome_, page
+362.]
+
+Rome was checked at last. No civilized nation had been able to stand
+against her; but the wild tribes of the Germans and the Parthians did.
+Barbarism had still by far the larger portion of the world wherein to
+live and develop, and gather brain and brawn. Rome could not conquer the
+wilderness.
+
+(For the next section of this general survey see Volume III.)
+
+
+
+
+INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME
+
+B.C. 450
+
+HENRY G. LIDDELL
+
+
+(When wars and pestilence had laid a heavy burden upon the Roman people,
+there appears to have been a period in which internal commotions and
+civil strife were stilled, and the quarrels of patricians and plebeians
+gave way to temporary truce. On the inevitable renewal of the old
+struggle the college of tribunes adopted a measure favorable to the
+plebeians in so far as it provided means for checking the abuse of power
+on the part of consuls in punishing members of that class in connection
+with the prosecution of suits against them.
+
+The passage of this measure had the effect of reopening former
+conflicts, the patrician elements becoming greatly alarmed at what they
+regarded as a fresh encroachment upon their hereditary rights. The
+contest was long and bitter, each side either bringing forward or
+rejecting again and again the same measures or the same representatives.
+
+Finally, compromises were made, and in the year B.C. 452 a commission of
+ten men, called _decemvirs_, constituting the _Decemvirate_, was chosen,
+consisting wholly of patricians, who entered with great efficiency upon
+the discharge of legislative duties which resulted in the production of
+a new code. This was approved by the senate and by the popular
+representatives, and was published in the form of ten copper plates or
+tables, which were affixed to the speaker's pulpit in the Forum. Among
+the new decemvirs appointed in the year B.C. 450 were several plebeians,
+the first official representatives of the entire people who were chosen
+from that class.)
+
+
+The patrician burgesses endeavored to wrest independence from the
+"plebs" after the battle of Lake Regillus; and the latter, ruined by
+constant wars with the neighboring nations, being compelled to make good
+their losses by borrowing money from patrician creditors, and liable to
+become bondsmen in default of payment, at length deserted the city, and
+only returned on condition of being protected by tribunes of their own;
+they then, by the firmness of Publilius Volero and Lætorius, obtained
+the right of electing these tribunes at their own assembly, the "Comitia
+of the Tribes." Finally the great consul Spurius Cassius endeavored to
+relieve the commonalty by an agrarian law, so as to better their
+condition permanently.
+
+The execution of the Agrarian law was constantly evaded. But on the
+conquest of Antium from the Volscians, in the year B.C. 468, a colony
+was sent thither, and this was one of the first examples of a
+distribution of public land to poorer citizens; which answered two
+purposes--the improvement of their condition, and the defence of the
+place against the enemy.
+
+Nor did the tribunes, now made altogether independent of the patricians,
+fail to assert their power. One of the first persons who felt the force
+of their arm was the second Appius Claudius. This Sabine noble,
+following his father's example, had, after the departure of the Fabii,
+led the opposition to the Publilian law. When he took the field against
+the Volscians, his soldiers would not fight, and the stern commander put
+to death every tenth man in his legions. For the acts of his consulship
+he was brought to trial by the tribunes M. Duillius and C. Sicinius.
+Seeing that conviction was certain, the proud patrician avoided
+humiliation by suicide.
+
+Nevertheless the border wars still continued, and the plebeians suffered
+much. To the evils of debt and want were added about this time the
+horrors of pestilential disease, which visited the Roman territory
+several times at that period. In one year (B.C. 464) the two consuls,
+two of the four augurs, and the curio Maximus, who was the head of all
+the patricians, were swept off--a fact which implies the death of a vast
+number of less distinguished persons. The government was administered by
+the plebeian aediles, under the control of senatorial interreges. The
+Volscians and Aequians ravaged the country up to the walls of Rome; and
+the safety of the city must be attributed to the Latins and Hernici, not
+to the men of Rome.
+
+Meantime the tribunes had in vain demanded a full execution of the
+Agrarian law. But in the year B.C. 462, one of the Sacred College, by
+name C. Terentilius Harsa, came forward with a bill, the object of which
+was to give the plebeians a surer footing in the state. This man
+perceived that as long as the consuls retained their almost despotic
+power, and were elected by the influence of the patricians, this order
+had it in its power to thwart all measures, even after they were passed,
+which tended to advance the interests of the plebeians. He therefore no
+longer demanded the execution of the Agrarian law, but proposed that a
+commission of ten men (_decemviri_) should be appointed to draw up
+constitutional laws for regulating the future relations of the
+patricians and plebeians.
+
+The Reform Bill of Terentilius was, as might be supposed, vehemently
+resisted by the patrician burgesses. But the plebeians supported their
+champion no less warmly. For five consecutive years the same tribunes
+were reelected and in vain endeavored to carry the bill. This was the
+time which least fulfils the character which we have claimed for the
+Roman people--patience and temperance, combined with firmness in their
+demands. To prevent the tribunes from carrying their law, the younger
+patricians thronged to the assemblies and interfered with all
+proceedings; Terentilius, they said, was endeavoring to confound all
+distinction between the orders. Some scenes occurred which seem to show
+that both sides were prepared for civil war.
+
+In the year B.C. 460 the city was alarmed by hearing that the Capitol
+had been seized by a band of Sabines and exiled Romans, under the
+command of one Herdonius. Who these exiles were is uncertain. But we
+know, by the legend of Cincinnatus, that Cæso Quinctius, the son of that
+old hero, was an exile. It has been inferred, therefore, that he was
+among them, that the tribunes had succeeded in banishing from the city
+the most violent of their opponents, and that these persons had not
+scrupled to associate themselves with Sabines to recover their homes.
+The consul Valerius, aided by the Latins of Tusculum, levied an army to
+attack the insurgents, on condition that after success the law should be
+fully considered. The exiles were driven out and Herdonius was killed.
+But the consul fell in the assault, and the patricians, led by old
+Cincinnatus, refused to fulfil his promises.
+
+Then followed the danger of the Æquian invasion, to which the legend of
+Cincinnatus, as given above, refers. The stern old man used his
+dictatorial power quite as much to crush the tribunes at home as to
+conquer the enemies abroad.
+
+One of the historians tells us that in this period of seditious violence
+many of the leading plebeians were assassinated (as the tribune Genucius
+had been), and to this time only can be attributed the horrible story,
+mentioned by more than one writer, that nine tribunes were burned alive
+at the instance of their colleague Mucius. Society was utterly
+disorganized. The two orders were on the brink of civil war. It seemed
+as if Rome was to become the city of discord, not of law. Happily, there
+were moderate men in both orders. Now, as at the time of the secession,
+their voices prevailed, and a compromise was arranged.
+
+In the eighth year after the first promulgation of the Terentilian law,
+this compromise was made (B.C. 454). The law itself was no longer
+pressed by the tribunes. The patricians, on the other hand, so far gave
+way as to allow three men (_triumviri_) to be appointed, who were to
+travel into Greece, and bring back a copy of the laws of Solon, as well
+as the laws and institutes of any other Greek states which they might
+deem good and useful. These were to be the groundwork of a new code of
+laws, such as should give fair and equal rights to both orders and
+restrain the arbitrary power of the patrician magistrates.
+
+Another concession made by the patrician lords was a small installment of
+the Agrarian law. L. Icilius, tribune of the plebs, proposed that all
+the Aventine hill, being public land, should be made over to the plebs,
+to be their quarter forever, as the other hills were occupied by the
+patricians and their clients. This hill, it will be remembered, was
+consecrated to the goddess Diana (Jana), and though included in the
+walls of Servius, was yet not within the sacred limits (_pomoerium_) of
+the patrician city. After some opposition the patricians suffered this
+Icilian law to pass, in hopes of soothing the anger of the plebeians.
+The land was parcelled out into building-sites. But as there was not
+enough to give a separate plot to every plebeian householder that wished
+to live in the city, one allotment was assigned to several persons, who
+built a joint house _flats_ or stories, each of which was inhabited--as
+in Edinburgh and in most foreign towns--by a separate family.
+
+The three men who had been sent into Greece returned in the third year
+(B.C. 452). They found the city free from domestic strife, partly from
+the concessions already made, partly from expectation of what was now to
+follow, and partly from the effect of a pestilence which had broken out
+anew.
+
+So far did moderate counsels now prevail among the patricians, that
+after some little delay they agreed to suspend the ordinary government
+by the consuls and other officers, and in their stead to appoint a
+council of ten, who were, during their existence, to be intrusted with
+all the functions of government. But they were to have a double duty:
+they were not only an administrative, but also a legislative council. On
+the one hand, they were to conduct the government, administer justice,
+and command the armies. On the other, they were to draw up a code of
+laws by which equal justice was to be dealt out to the whole Roman
+people, to patricians and plebeians alike, and by which especially the
+authority to be exercised by the consuls, or chief magistrates, was to
+be clearly determined and settled.
+
+This supreme council of ten, or decemvirs, was first appointed in the
+year B.C. 450. They were all patricians. At their head stood Appius
+Claudius and T. Genucius, who had already been chosen consuls for this
+memorable year. This Appius Claudius (the third of his name) was son and
+grandson of those two patrician chiefs who had opposed the leaders of
+the plebeians so vehemently in the matter of the tribunate. But he
+affected a different conduct from his sires. He was the most popular man
+of the whole council, and became in fact the sovereign of Rome. At first
+he used his great power well, and the first year's government of the
+decemvirs was famed for justice and moderation.
+
+They also applied themselves diligently to their great work of
+law-making, and before the end of the year had drawn up a code of ten
+tables, which were posted in the Forum, that all citizens might examine
+them and suggest amendments to the decemvirs. After due time thus spent,
+the ten tables were confirmed and made law at the Comitia of the
+Centuries. By this code equal justice was to be administered to both
+orders without distinction of persons.
+
+At the close of the year the first decemvirs laid down their office,
+just as the consuls and other officers of state had been accustomed to
+do before. They were succeeded by a second set of ten, who, for the next
+year at least, were to conduct the government like their predecessors.
+The only one of the old decemvirs reelected was Appius Claudius. The
+patricians, indeed, endeavored to prevent even this, and to this end he
+was himself appointed to preside at the new elections; for it was held
+impossible for a chief magistrate to return his own name, when he was
+himself presiding. But Appius scorned precedents. He returned himself as
+elected, together with nine others, men of no name, while two of the
+great Quinctian gens, who offered themselves, were rejected.
+
+Of the new decemvirs, it is certain that three--and it is probable that
+five--were plebeians. Appius, with the plebeian Oppius, held the
+judicial office, and remained in the city; and these two seem to have
+been regarded as the chiefs. The other six commanded the armies and
+discharged the duties previously assigned to the quæstors and ædiles.
+
+The first decemvirs had earned the respect and esteem of their
+fellow-citizens. The new Council of Ten deserved the hatred which has
+ever since cloven to their name. Appius now threw off the mask which he
+had so long worn, and assumed his natural character--the same as had
+distinguished his sire and grandsire, of unhappy memory. He became an
+absolute despot. His brethren in the council offered no hinderance to
+his will; even the plebeian decemvirs, bribed by power, fell into his
+way of action and supported his tyranny. They each had twelve lictors,
+who carried fasces with the axes in them the symbol of absolute power,
+as in the times of the kings; so that it was said, "Rome had now twelve
+Tarquins instead of one, and one hundred and twenty armed lictors
+instead of twelve!" All freedom of speech ceased. The senate was seldom
+called together. The leading men, patricians and plebeians, left the
+city. The outward aspect of things was that of perfect calm and peace,
+but an opportunity only was wanting for the discontent which was
+smouldering in all men's hearts to break out and show itself.
+
+By the end of the year the decemvirs had added two more tables to the
+code, so that there were now twelve tables. But these two last were of a
+most oppressive and arbitrary kind, devoted chiefly to restore the
+ancient privileges of the patrician caste. Of these tables, it should be
+observed that they were made laws not by the vote of the people, but by
+the simple edict of the decemvirs.
+
+It was, no doubt, expected that the second decemvirs also would have
+held _comitia_ for the election of successors. But Appius and his
+colleagues showed no such intention, and when the year came to a close
+they continued to hold office as if they had been reelected. So firmly
+did their power seem to be established that we hear of no endeavor being
+made to induce them to resign.
+
+In the course of this next year (B.C. 449), the border wars were
+renewed. On the north the Sabines, and the Æquians on the northeast,
+invaded the Roman country at the same time. The latter penetrated as far
+as Mount Algidus, as in B.C. 458, when they were routed by old
+Cincinnatus. The decemvirs probably, like the patrician burgesses in
+former times, regarded these inroads not without satisfaction; for they
+turned away the mind of the people from their sufferings at home. Yet
+from these very wars sprung the events which overturned their power and
+destroyed themselves.
+
+Two armies were levied, one to check the Sabines, the other to oppose
+the Æquians, and these were commanded by the six military decemvirs.
+Appius and Oppius remained to administer affairs at home. But there was
+no spirit in the armies. Both were defeated; and that which was opposed
+to the Æquians was compelled to take refuge within the walls of
+Tusculum.
+
+Then followed two events which were preserved in well-known legends, and
+which give the popular narrative of the manner in which the power of the
+decemvirs was at last overthrown.
+
+LEGEND OF SICCIUS DENTATUS
+
+In the army sent against the Sabines, Siccius Dentatus was known as the
+bravest man. He was then serving as a centurion; he had fought in one
+hundred and twenty battles; he had slain eight champions in single
+combat; had saved the lives of fourteen citizens; had received forty
+wounds, all in front; had followed in nine triumphal processions, and
+had won crowns and decorations without number. This gallant veteran had
+taken an active part in the civil contests between the two orders, and
+was now suspected, by the decemvirs commanding the Sabine army, of
+plotting against them. Accordingly they determined to get rid of him;
+and for this end they sent him out as if to reconnoitre, with a party of
+soldiers, who were secretly instructed to murder him. Having discovered
+their design, he set his back against a rock and resolved to sell his
+life dearly. More than one of his assailants fell and the rest stood at
+bay around him, not venturing to come within sword's length, when one
+wretch climbed up the rock behind and crushed the brave old man with a
+massive stone. But the manner of his death could not be hidden from the
+army, and the generals only prevented an outbreak by honoring him with a
+magnificent funeral.
+
+Such was the state of things in the Sabine army.
+
+LEGEND OF VIRGINIA[23]
+
+[Footnote 23: Dionysius is the authority for this legend.]
+
+The other army had a still grosser outrage to complain of. In this there
+was a notable centurion, Virginius by name. His daughter Virginia, just
+ripening into womanhood, beautiful as the day, was betrothed to L.
+Icilius, the tribune who had carried the law for allotting the Aventine
+hill to the plebeians. Appius Claudius, the decemvir, saw her and lusted
+to make her his own. And with this intent he ordered one of his clients,
+M. Claudius by name, to lay hands upon her as she was going to her
+school in the Forum, and to claim her as his slave. The man did so; and
+when the cries of her nurse brought a crowd round them, M. Claudius
+insisted on taking her before the decemvir, in order, as he said, to
+have the case fairly tried. Her friends consented; and no sooner had
+Appius heard the matter than he gave judgment that the maiden should be
+delivered up to the claimant, who should be bound to produce her in case
+her alleged father appeared to gainsay the claim. Now this judgment was
+directly against one of the laws of the twelve tables, which Appius
+himself had framed; for therein it was provided that any person being at
+freedom should continue free till it was proved that such person was a
+slave. Icilius, therefore, with Numitorius, the uncle of the maiden,
+boldly argued against the legality of the judgment, and at length
+Appius, fearing a tumult, agreed to leave the girl in their hands on
+condition of their giving bail to bring her before him next morning; and
+then, if Virginius did not appear, he would at once, he said, give her
+up to her pretended master. To this Icilius consented, but he delayed
+giving bail, pretending that he could not procure it readily; and in the
+mean time he sent off a secret message to the camp on Algidus, to inform
+Virginius of what had happened. As soon as the bail was given, Appius
+also sent a message to the decemvirs in command of that army, ordering
+them to refuse leave of absence to Virginius. But when this last message
+arrived, Virginius was already halfway on his road to Rome; for the
+distance was not more than twenty miles, and he had started at
+nightfall.
+
+Next morning, early, Virginius entered the Forum, leading his daughter
+by the hand, both clad in mean attire. A great number of friends and
+matrons attended him, and he went about among the people entreating them
+to support him against the tyranny of Appius. So when Appius came to
+take his place on the judgment seat he found the Forum full of people,
+all friendly to Virginius and his cause. But he inherited the boldness
+as well as the vices of his sires, and though he saw Virginius standing
+there ready to prove that he was the maiden's father, he at once gave
+judgment, against his own law, that Virginia should be given up to M.
+Claudius till it should be proved that she was free. The wretch came up
+to seize her, and the lictors kept the people from him. Virginius, now
+despairing of deliverance, begged Appius to allow him to ask the maiden
+whether she were indeed his daughter or not. "If," said he, "I find I am
+not her father, I shall bear her loss the lighter." Under this pretence
+he drew her aside to a spot upon the northern side of the Forum,
+afterward called the "_Nova Tabernce_" and here, snatching up a knife
+from a butcher's stall, he cried: "In this way only can I keep thee
+free!"--and so saying, stabbed her to the heart. Then he turned to the
+tribunal and said, "On thee, Appius, and on thy head be this blood!"
+Appius cried out to seize "the murderer," but the crowd made way for
+Virginius, and he passed through them holding up the bloody knife, and
+went out at the gate and made straight for the army. There, when the
+soldiers had heard his tale, they at once abandoned their decemviral
+generals and marched to Rome. They were soon followed by the other army
+from the Sabine frontier; for to them Icilius had gone, and Numitorius;
+and they found willing ears among men who were already enraged by the
+murder of old Siccius Dentatus. So the two armies joined their banners,
+elected new generals, and encamped upon the Aventine hill, the quarter
+of the plebeians.
+
+Meantime the people at home had risen against Appius, and after driving
+him from the Forum they joined their armed fellow-citizens upon the
+Aventine. There the whole body of the commons, armed and unarmed, hung
+like a dark cloud ready to burst upon the city.
+
+Whatever may be the truth of the legends of Siccius and Virginia, there
+can be no doubt that the conduct of the decemvirs had brought matters to
+the verge of civil war. At this juncture the senate met, and the
+moderate party so far prevailed as to send their own leaders, M.
+Horatius Barbatus and L. Valerius Potitus, to negotiate with the
+insurgents. The plebeians were ready to listen to the voices of these
+men; for they remembered that the consuls of the first year of the
+Republic, when the patrician burgesses were friends to the plebeians,
+were named Valerius and Horatius; and so they appointed M. Duillius, a
+former tribune, to be their spokesman. But no good came of it; and
+Duillius persuaded the plebeians to leave the city, and once more to
+occupy the Sacred Mount.
+
+Then remembrances of the great secession came back upon the minds of the
+patricians, and the senate, observing the calm and resolute bearing of
+the plebeian leaders, compelled the decemvirs to resign, and sent back
+Valerius and Horatius to negotiate anew.
+
+The leaders of the plebeians demanded: First, that the tribuneship
+should be restored, and the _Comitia Tributa_ recognized; secondly, that
+a right of appeal to the people against the power of the supreme
+magistrate should be secured; thirdly, that full indemnity should be
+granted to the movers and promoters of the late secession; fourthly,
+that the decemvirs should be burnt alive.
+
+Of these demands the deputies of the senate agreed to the three first;
+but the fourth, they said, was unworthy of a free people; it was a piece
+of tyranny, as bad as any of the worst acts of the late government; and
+it was needless, because anyone who had reason of complaint against the
+late decemvirs might proceed against them according to law. The
+plebeians listened to these words of wisdom, and withdrew their savage
+demand. The other three were confirmed by the fathers, and the plebeians
+returned to their quarters on the Aventine. Here they held an assembly
+according to their tribes, in which the pontifex Maximus presided; and
+they now, for the first time, elected ten tribunes--first Virginius,
+Numitorius, and Icilius, then Duillius and six others: so full were
+their minds of the wrong done to the daughter of Virginius; so entirely
+was it the blood of young Virginia that overthrew the decemvirs, even as
+that of Lucretia had driven out the Tarquins.
+
+The plebeians had now returned to the city, headed by their ten
+tribunes, a number which was never again altered so long as the
+tribunate continued in existence. It remained for the patricians to
+redeem the pledges given by their agents Valerius and Horatius on the
+other demands of the plebeian leaders.
+
+The first thing to settle was the election of the supreme magistrates.
+The decemvirs had fallen, and the state was without any executive
+government.
+
+It has been supposed, as we have said above, that the government of the
+decemvirs was intended to be perpetual. The patricians gave up their
+consuls, and the plebeians their tribunes, on condition that each order
+was to be admitted to an equal share in the new decemviral college. But
+the tribunes were now restored in augmented number, and it was but
+natural that the patricians should insist on again occupying all places
+in the supreme magistracy. By common consent, as it would seem, the
+Comitia of the Centuries met and elected to the consulate the two
+patricians who had shown themselves the friends of both orders: L.
+Valerius Potitus and M. Horatius Barbatus. Thus ended the government of
+the decemvirate.
+
+
+
+
+PERICLES RULES IN ATHENS
+
+B.C. 444
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+
+(Under the sway of Pericles many changes occurred in the civil affairs
+of Athens affecting the constitution of the state and the character and
+administration of its laws. Events of magnitude marked the struggles of
+the Athenians with other powers. The development of art and learning was
+carried to an unprecedented height, and the Age of Pericles is the most
+illustrious in ancient history.
+
+Pericles began his career by opposing the aristocratic party of Athens,
+led by Cimon. In this policy he was aided by complications arising with
+Sparta and Argos. Directing his attack particularly against the
+Areopagus, he succeeded in greatly modifying the composition of that
+body and diminishing its powers. The exile of Cimon, the strengthening
+of Athens by new alliances, and the vigorous prosecution of wars against
+Persia and Corinth combined to establish his supremacy, which was still
+further confirmed by the building of the long walls connecting Athens
+with the sea, and by the acquisition of neighboring territory.
+
+A favorable convention was concluded with Persia, Athens resumed a state
+of general peace, and Pericles found himself at the head of a powerful
+empire formed out of a confederacy previously existing. The strength of
+this empire was indeed soon impaired by ill-judged military movements,
+against the advice of Pericles himself, but during six years of peace
+which followed he succeeded in perfecting a state whose preeminence in
+intellectual, political, and artistic development has had no rival.
+
+In the later wars of Athens the renown of Pericles was still further
+enhanced; but his chief glory arose from the architectural adornment of
+the city, and especially from the building of the Parthenon and the
+splendid decoration of the Acropolis; while his work of judicial reform
+remains an added monument to his fame, and among the masters of
+eloquence his orations preserve for him a foremost place.)
+
+
+Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, and of the township of Cholargos,
+and was descended from the noblest families in Athens, on both his
+father's and mother's side. His father, Xanthippus, defeated the Persian
+generals at Mycale, while his mother, Agariste, was a descendant of
+Clisthenes, who drove the sons of Pisistratus out of Athens, put an end
+to their despotic rule, and established a new constitution admirably
+calculated to reconcile all parties and save the country. She dreamed
+that she had brought forth a lion, and a few days afterward was
+delivered of Pericles. His body was symmetrical, but his head was long,
+out of all proportion; for which reason, in nearly all his statues he is
+represented wearing a helmet, as the sculptors did not wish, I suppose,
+to reproach him with this blemish. The Attic poets called him
+squill-head, and the comic poet Cratinus, in his play _Chirones_, says;
+
+  "From Chronos old and faction
+    Is sprung a tyrant dread,
+  And all Olympus calls him
+    The man-compelling head."
+
+And again in the play of _Nemesis_:
+
+  "Come, hospitable Zeus, with lofty head."
+
+Teleclides, too, speaks of him as sitting
+
+                         "Bowed down
+           With a dreadful frown,
+  Because matters of state have gone wrong,
+           Until at last,
+           From his head so vast,
+  His ideas burst forth in a throng."
+
+And Eupolis, in his play of _Demoi_, asking questions about each of the
+great orators as they come up from the other world one after the other,
+when at last Pericles ascends, says:
+
+  "The great headpiece of those below."
+
+Most writers tell us that his tutor in music was Damon, whose name they
+say should be pronounced with the first syllable short. Aristotle,
+however, says that he studied under Pythoclides. This Damon, it seems,
+was a sophist of the highest order, who used the name of music to
+conceal this accomplishment from the world, but who really trained
+Pericles for his political contests just as a trainer prepares an
+athlete for the games. However, Damon's use of music as a pretext did
+not impose upon the Athenians, who banished him by ostracism, as a
+busybody and lover of despotism.
+
+Pericles greatly admired Anaxagoras, and became deeply interested in
+grand speculations, which gave him a haughty spirit and a lofty style of
+oratory far removed from vulgarity and low buffoonery, and also an
+imperturbable gravity of countenance and a calmness of demeanor and
+appearance which no incident could disturb as he was speaking, while the
+tone of his voice never showed that he heeded any interruption. These
+advantages greatly impressed the people. The poet Ion, however, says
+that Pericles was overbearing and insolent in conversation, and that his
+pride had in it a great deal of contempt for others, while he praises
+Cimon's civil, sensible, and polished address. But we may disregard Ion
+as a mere dramatic poet who always sees in great men something upon
+which to exercise his satiric vein; whereas Zeno used to invite those
+who called the haughtiness of Pericles a mere courting of popularity and
+affectation of grandeur, to court popularity themselves in the same
+fashion, since the acting of such a part might insensibly mould their
+dispositions until they resembled that of their model.
+
+Pericles when young greatly feared the people. He had a certain personal
+likeness to the despot Pisistratus; and as his own voice was sweet, and
+he was ready and fluent in speech, old men who had known Pisistratus
+were struck by his resemblance to him. He was also rich, of noble birth,
+and had powerful friends, so that he feared he might be banished by
+ostracism, and consequently held aloof from politics, but proved himself
+a brave and daring soldier in the wars. But when Aristides was dead,
+Themistocles banished, and Cimon generally absent on distant campaigns,
+Pericles engaged in public affairs, taking the popular side, that of the
+poor and many, against that of the rich and few; quite contrary to his
+own feelings, which were entirely aristocratic. He feared, it seems,
+that he might be suspected of a design to make himself despot, and
+seeing that Cimon took the side of the nobility, and was much beloved by
+them, he betook himself to the people, as a means of obtaining safety
+for himself, and a strong party to combat that of Cimon. He immediately
+altered his mode of life; was never seen in any street except that which
+led to the market-place and the national assembly, and declined all
+invitations to dinner and such like social gatherings. But Pericles
+feared to make himself too common even with the people, and only
+addressed them after long intervals; not speaking upon every subject,
+and not constantly addressing them, but, as Critolaus says, keeping
+himself like the Salaminian trireme for great crises, and allowing his
+friends and the other orators to manage matters of less moment.
+
+Wishing to adopt a style of speaking consonant with his haughty manner
+and lofty spirit, Pericles made free use of the instrument which
+Anaxagoras, as it were, put into his hand, and often tinged his oratory
+with natural philosophy. He far surpassed all others by using this
+"lofty intelligence and power of universal consummation," as the divine
+Plato calls it; in addition to his natural advantages, adorning his
+oratory with apt illustrations drawn from physical science. For this
+reason some think that he was nicknamed the Olympian; though some refer
+this to his improvement of the city by new and beautiful buildings, and
+others from his power both as a politician and a general. It is not by
+any means unlikely that these causes all combined to produce the name.
+
+Pericles was very cautious about his words, and, whenever he ascended
+the tribune to speak, used first to pray to the gods that nothing
+unfitted for the present occasion might fall from his lips. He left no
+writings, except the measures which he brought forward, and very few of
+his sayings are recorded.
+
+Thucydides represents the constitution under Pericles as a democracy in
+name, but really an aristocracy, because the government was all in the
+hands of one leading citizen. But as many other writers tell us that,
+during his administration, the people received grants of land abroad,
+and were indulged with dramatic entertainments, and payments for their
+services, in consequence of which they fell into bad habits, and became
+extravagant and licentious, instead of sober hard-working people as they
+had been before, let us consider the history of this change, viewing it
+by the light of the facts themselves. First of all, Pericles had to
+measure himself with Cimon, and to transfer the affections of the people
+from Cimon to himself. As he was not so rich a man as Cimon, who used
+from his own ample means to give a dinner daily to any poor Athenian who
+required it, clothe aged persons, and take away the fences round his
+property, so that anyone might gather the fruit, Pericles, unable to vie
+with him in this, turned his attention to a distribution of the public
+funds among the people, at the suggestion, we are told by Aristotle, of
+Damonides of Oia. By the money paid for public spectacles, for citizens
+acting as jurymen, and other paid offices, and largesses, he soon won
+over the people to his side, so that he was able to use them in his
+attack upon the senate of the Areopagus, of which he himself was not a
+member, never having been chosen _archon_, or _thesmothete_, or _king
+archon_, or _polemarch_. These offices had from ancient times been
+obtained by lot, and it was only through them that those who had
+approved themselves in the discharge of them were advanced to the
+Areopagus. For this reason it was that Pericles, when he gained strength
+with the populace, destroyed this senate, making Ephialtes bring forward
+a bill which restricted its judicial powers, while he himself succeeded
+in getting Cimon banished by ostracism, as a friend of Sparta and a
+hater of the people, although he was second to no Athenian in birth or
+fortune, and won most brilliant victories over the Persians, and had
+filled Athens with plunder and spoils of war. So great was the power of
+Pericles with the common people.
+
+One of the provisions of ostracism was that the person banished should
+remain in exile for ten years. But during this period the Lacedæmonians
+with a great force invaded the territory of Tanagra, and, as the
+Athenians at once marched out to attack them, Cimon came back from
+exile, took his place in full armor among the ranks of his own tribe,
+and hoped by distinguishing himself in the battle among his
+fellow-citizens to prove the falsehood of the Laconian sympathies with
+which he had been charged. However, the friends of Pericles drove him
+away, as an exile. On the other hand, Pericles fought more bravely in
+that battle than he had ever fought before, and surpassed everyone in
+reckless daring. The friends of Cimon also, whom Pericles had accused of
+Laconian leanings, fell, all together, in their ranks; and the Athenians
+felt great sorrow for their treatment of Cimon, and a great longing for
+his restoration, now that they had lost a great battle on the frontier,
+and expected to be hard pressed during the summer by the Lacedaemonians.
+Pericles, perceiving this, lost no time in gratifying the popular wish,
+but himself proposed the decree for his recall; and Cimon on his return
+reconciled the two states, for he was on familiar terms with the
+Spartans, who were hated by Pericles and the other leaders of the common
+people. Some say that, before Cimon's recall by Pericles, a secret
+compact was made with him by Elpinice, Cimon's sister, that Cimon was to
+proceed on foreign service against the Persians with a fleet of two
+hundred ships, while Pericles was to retain his power in the city. It is
+also said that, when Cimon was being tried for his life, Elpinice
+softened the resentment of Pericles, who was one of those appointed to
+impeach him. When Elpinice came to beg her brother's life of him, he
+answered with a smile, "Elpinice, you are too old to meddle in affairs
+of this sort." But, for all that, he spoke only once, for form's sake,
+and pressed Cimon less than any of his other prosecutors. How, then, can
+one put any faith in Idomeneus, when he accuses Pericles of procuring
+the assassination of his friend and colleague Ephialtes, because he was
+jealous of his reputation? This seems an ignoble calumny which Idomeneus
+has drawn from some obscure source to fling at a man who, no doubt, was
+not faultless, but of a generous spirit and noble mind, incapable of
+entertaining so savage and brutal a design. Ephialtes was disliked and
+feared by the nobles, and was inexorable in punishing those who wronged
+the people; wherefore his enemies had him assassinated by means of
+Aristodicus of Tanagra. This we are told by Aristotle. Cimon died in
+Cyprus while in command of the Athenian forces.
+
+The nobles now perceived that Pericles was the most important man in the
+state, and far more powerful than any other citizen; wherefore, as they
+still hoped to check his authority, and not allow him to be omnipotent,
+they set up Thucydides, of the township of Alopecae, as his rival, a man
+of good sense and a relative of Cimon, but less of a warrior and more of
+a politician, who, by watching his opportunities, and opposing Pericles
+in debate, soon brought about a balance of power. He did not allow the
+nobles to mix themselves up with the people in the public assembly as
+they had been wont to do, so that their dignity was lost among the
+masses; but he collected them into a separate body, and by thus
+concentrating their strength was able to use it to counterbalance that
+of the other party. From the beginning these two factions had been but
+imperfectly welded together, because their tendencies were different;
+but now the struggle for power between Pericles and Thucydides drew a
+sharp line of demarcation between them, and one was called the party of
+the Many, the other that of the Few. Pericles now courted the people in
+every way, constantly arranging public spectacles, festivals, and
+processions in the city, by which he educated the Athenians to take
+pleasure in refined amusements; and also he sent out sixty triremes to
+cruise every year, in which many of the people served for hire for eight
+months, learning and practising seamanship. Besides this he sent a
+thousand settlers to the Chersonese, five hundred to Naxos, half as many
+to Andros, a thousand to dwell among the Thracian tribe of the Bisaltae,
+and others to the new colony in Italy founded by the city of Sybaris,
+which was named Thurii. By this means he relieved the state of numerous
+idle agitators, assisted the necessitous, and overawed the allies of
+Athens by placing his colonists near them to watch their behavior.
+
+The building of the temples, by which Athens was adorned, the people
+delighted, and the rest of the world astonished, and which now alone
+prove that the tales of the ancient power and glory of Greece are no
+fables, was what particularly excited the spleen of the opposite
+faction, who inveighed against him in the public assembly, declaring
+that the Athenians had disgraced themselves by transferring the common
+treasury of the Greeks from the island of Delos to their own custody.
+"Pericles himself," they urged, "has taken away the only possible excuse
+for such an act--the fear that it might be exposed to the attacks of the
+Persians when at Delos, whereas it would be safe at Athens. Greece has
+been outraged, and feels itself openly tyrannized over, when it sees us
+using the funds--which we extorted from it for the war against the
+Persians--for gilding and beautifying our city as if it were a vain
+woman, and adorning it with precious marbles and statues and temples
+worth a thousand talents." To this Pericles replied that the allies had
+no right to consider how their money was spent, so long as Athens
+defended them from the Persians; while they supplied neither horses,
+ships, nor men, but merely money, which the Athenians had a right to
+spend as they pleased, provided they afforded them that security which
+it purchased. It was right, he argued, that after the city had provided
+all that was necessary for war, it should devote its surplus money to
+the erection of buildings which would be a glory to it for all ages,
+while these works would create plenty by leaving no man unemployed, and
+encouraging all sorts of handicraft, so that nearly the whole city would
+earn wages, and thus derive both its beauty and its profit from itself.
+For those who were in the flower of their age, military service offered
+a means of earning money from the common stock; while, as he did not
+wish the mechanics and lower classes to be without their share, nor yet
+to see them receive it without doing work for it, he had laid the
+foundations of great edifices which would require industries of every
+kind to complete them; and he had done this in the interests of the
+lower classes, who thus, although they remained at home, would have just
+as good a claim to their share of the public funds as those who were
+serving at sea, in garrison, or in the field. The different materials
+used, such as stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, cypress-wood, and so
+forth, would require special artisans for each, such as carpenters,
+modelers, smiths, stone-masons, dyers, melters and moulders of gold,
+and ivory painters, embroiderers, workers in relief; and also men to
+bring them to the city, such as sailors and captains of ships and pilots
+for such as came by sea; and, for those who came by land, carriage
+builders, horse breeders, drivers, ropemakers, linen manufacturers,
+shoemakers, road menders, and miners. Each trade, moreover, employed a
+number of unskilled laborers, so that, in a word, there would be work
+for persons of every age and every class, and general prosperity would
+be the result.
+
+These buildings were of immense size, and unequalled in beauty and
+grace, as the workmen endeavored to make the execution surpass the
+design in beauty; but what was most remarkable was the speed with which
+they were built. All these edifices, each of which one would have
+thought it would have taken many generations to complete, were all
+finished during the most brilliant period of one man's administration.
+In beauty each of them at once appeared venerable as soon as it was
+built; but even at the present day the work looks as fresh as ever, for
+they bloom with an eternal freshness which defies time, and seems to
+make the work instinct with an unfading spirit of youth.
+
+The overseer and manager of the whole was Phidias, although there were
+other excellent architects and workmen, such as Callicrates and Ictinus,
+who built the Parthenon on the site of the old Hecatompedon, which had
+been destroyed by the Persians, and Coroebus, who began to build the
+Temple of Initiation at Eleusis, but who only lived to see the columns
+erected and the architraves placed upon them. On his death, Metagenes,
+of Xypete, added the frieze and the upper row of columns, and Xenocles,
+of Cholargos, crowned it with the domed roof over the shrine. As to the
+long wall, about which Socrates says that he heard Pericles bring
+forward a motion, Callicrates undertook to build it. The Odeum, which
+internally consisted of many rows of seats and many columns, and
+externally of a roof sloping on all sides from a central point, was said
+to have been built in imitation of the king of Persia's tent, and was
+built under Pericles' direction.
+
+The Propylaea, before the Acropolis, were finished in five years by
+Mnesicles the architect; and a miraculous incident during the work
+seemed to show that the goddess did not disapprove, but rather
+encouraged and assisted the building. The most energetic and active of
+the workmen fell from a great height, and lay in a dangerous condition,
+given over by his doctors. Pericles grieved much for him; but the
+goddess appeared to him in a dream, and suggested a course of treatment
+by which Pericles quickly healed the workman. In consequence of this, he
+set up the brazen statue of Athene the Healer, near the old altar in the
+Acropolis. The golden statue of the goddess was made by Phidias, and his
+name appears upon the basement in the inscription. Almost everything was
+in his hands, and he gave his orders to all the workmen--as has been
+said before--because of his friendship with Pericles.
+
+When the speakers of Thucydides' party complained that Pericles had
+wasted the public money, and destroyed the revenue, he asked the people
+in the assembly whether they thought he had spent much. When they
+answered, "Very much indeed," he said in reply; "Do not, then, put it
+down to the public account, but to mine; and I will inscribe my name
+upon all the public buildings." When Pericles said this, the people,
+either in admiration of his magnificence of manner, or being eager to
+bear their share in the glory of the new buildings, shouted to him with
+one accord to take what money he pleased from the treasury, and spend it
+as he pleased, without stint. And finally, he underwent the trial of
+ostracism with Thucydides, and not only succeeded in driving him into
+exile, but broke up his party.
+
+As now there was no opposition to encounter in the city, and all parties
+had been blended into one, Pericles undertook the sole administration of
+the home and foreign affairs of Athens, dealing with the public revenue,
+the army, the navy, the islands and maritime affairs, and the great
+sources of strength which Athens derived from her alliances, as well
+with Greek as with foreign princes and states. Henceforth he became
+quite a different man: he no longer gave way to the people, and ceased
+to watch the breath of popular favor; but he changed the loose and
+licentious democracy which had hitherto existed, into a stricter
+aristocratic, or rather monarchical, form of government. This he used
+honorably and unswervingly for the public benefit, finding the people,
+as a rule, willing to second the measures which he explained to them to
+be necessary and to which he asked their consent, but occasionally
+having to use violence, and to force them, much against their will, to
+do what was expedient; like a physician dealing with some complicated
+disorder, who at one time allows his patient innocent recreation, and at
+another inflicts upon him sharp pains and bitter though salutary
+draughts. Every possible kind of disorder was to be found among a people
+possessing so great an empire as the Athenians, and he alone was able to
+bring them into harmony by playing alternately upon their hopes and
+fears, checking them when overconfident, and raising their spirits when
+they were cast down and disheartened. Thus, as Plato says, he was able
+to prove that oratory is the art of influencing men's minds, and to use
+it in its highest application, when it deals with men's passions and
+characters, which, like certain strings of a musical instrument, require
+a skilful and delicate touch. The secret of his power is to be found,
+however, as Thucydides says, not so much in his mere oratory as in his
+pure and blameless life, because he was so well known to be
+incorruptible, and indifferent to money; for though he made the city,
+which was a great one, into the greatest and richest city of Greece, and
+though he himself became more powerful than many independent sovereigns,
+who were able to leave their kingdoms to their sons, yet Pericles did
+not increase by one single drachma the estate which he received from his
+father. For forty years he held the first place among such men as
+Ephialtes, Leocrates, Myronides, Cimon, Tolmides, and Thucydides; and,
+after the fall and banishment of Thucydides by ostracism, he united in
+himself for five-and-twenty years all the various offices of state,
+which were supposed to last only for one year; and yet during the whole
+of that period proved himself incorruptible by bribes.
+
+As the Lacedaemonians began to be jealous of the prosperity of the
+Athenians, Pericles, wishing to raise the spirit of the people and to
+make them feel capable of immense operations, passed a decree, inviting
+all the Greeks, whether inhabiting Europe or Asia, whether living in
+large cities or small ones, to send representatives to a meeting at
+Athens to deliberate about the restoration of the Greek temples which
+had been burned by the barbarians, about the sacrifices which were due
+in consequence of the vows which they had made to the gods on behalf of
+Greece before joining battle, and about the sea, that all men might be
+able to sail upon it in peace and without fear. To carry out this decree
+twenty men, selected from the citizens over fifty years of age, were
+sent out, five of whom invited the Ionian and Dorian Greeks in Asia and
+the islands as far as Lesbos and Rhodes, five went to the inhabitants of
+the Hellespont and Thrace as far as Byzantium, and five more proceeded
+to Boeotia, Phocis, and Peloponnesus, passing from thence through Locris
+to the neighboring continent as far as Acarnania and Ambracia; while the
+remainder journeyed through Euboea to the Oetaeans and the Malian Gulf,
+and to the Achaeans of Phthia and the Thessalians, urging them to join
+the assembly and take part in the deliberations concerning the peace and
+well-being of Greece. However, nothing was effected, and the cities
+never assembled, in consequence it is said of the covert hostility of
+the Lacedaemonians, and because the attempt was first made in
+Peloponnesus and failed there: yet I have inserted an account of it in
+order to show the lofty spirit and the magnificent designs of Pericles.
+
+In his campaigns he was chiefly remarkable for caution, for he would
+not, if he could help it, begin a battle of which the issue was
+doubtful; nor did he wish to emulate those generals who have won
+themselves a great reputation by running risks and trusting to good
+luck. But he ever used to say to his countrymen, that none of them
+should come by their deaths through any act of his. Observing that
+Tolmides, the son of Tolmaeus, elated by previous successes and by the
+credit which he had gained as a general, was about to invade Boeotia in
+a reckless manner, and had persuaded a thousand young men to follow him
+without any support whatever, he endeavored to stop him, and made that
+memorable saying in the public assembly, that if Tolmides would not take
+the advice of Pericles, he would at any rate do well to consult that
+best of advisers, Time. This speech had but little success at the time;
+but when, a few days afterward, the news came that Tolmides had fallen
+in action at Coronea, and many noble citizens with him, Pericles was
+greatly respected and admired as a wise and patriotic man.
+
+His most successful campaign was that in the Chersonesus, which proved
+the salvation of the Greeks residing there: for he not only settled a
+thousand colonists there, and thus increased the available force of the
+cities, but built a continuous line of fortifications reaching across
+the isthmus from one sea to the other, by which he shut off the
+Thracians, who had previously ravaged the peninsula, and put an end to a
+constant and harassing border warfare to which the settlers were
+exposed, as they had for neighbors tribes of wild plundering barbarians.
+
+But that by which he obtained most glory and renown was when he started
+from Pegae, in the Megarian territory, and sailed round the Peloponnesus
+with a fleet of a hundred triremes; for he not only laid waste much of
+the country near the coast, as Tolmides had previously done, but he
+proceeded far inland, away from his ships, leading the troops who were
+on board, and terrified the inhabitants so much that they shut
+themselves up in their strongholds. The men of Sicyon alone ventured to
+meet him at Nemea, and them he overthrew in a pitched battle, and
+erected a trophy. Next he took on board troops from the friendly
+district of Achaia, and, crossing over to the opposite side of the
+Corinthian Gulf, coasted along past the mouth of the river Achelous,
+overran Acarnania, drove the people of Oeneadae to the shelter of their
+city walls, and after ravaging the country returned home, having made
+himself a terror to his enemies, and done good service to Athens; for
+not the least casualty, even by accident, befell the troops under his
+command.
+
+When he sailed into the Black Sea with a great and splendidly equipped
+fleet, he assisted the Greek cities there, and treated them with
+consideration, and showed the neighboring savage tribes and their chiefs
+the greatness of his force, and his confidence in his power, by sailing
+where he pleased, and taking complete control over that sea. He left at
+Sinope thirteen ships, and a land force under the command of Lamachus,
+to act against Timesileon, who had made himself despot of that city.
+When he and his party were driven out, Pericles passed a decree that six
+hundred Athenian volunteers should sail to Sinope, and become citizens
+there, receiving the houses and lands which had formerly been in the
+possession of the despot and his party. But in other cases he would not
+agree to the impulsive proposals of the Athenians, and he opposed them
+when, elated by their power and good fortune, they talked of recovering
+Egypt and attacking the seaboard of the Persian empire. Many, too, were
+inflamed with that ill-starred notion of an attempt on Sicily, which was
+afterward blown into a flame by Alcibiades and other orators. Some even
+dreamed of the conquest of Etruria and Carthage, in consequence of the
+greatness which the Athenian empire had already reached, and the full
+tide of success which seemed to attend it.
+
+Pericles, however, restrained these outbursts, and would not allow the
+people to meddle with foreign states, but used the power of Athens
+chiefly to preserve and guard her already existing empire, thinking it
+to be of paramount importance to oppose the Lacedaemonians, a task to
+which he bent all his energies, as is proved by many of his acts,
+especially in connection with the Sacred War. In this war the
+Lacedaemonians sent a force to Delphi, and made the Phocians, who held
+it, give it up to the people of Delphi: but as soon as they were gone
+Pericles made an expedition into the country, and restored the temple to
+the Phocians; and as the Lacedaemonians had scratched the oracle which
+the Delphians had given them, on the forehead of the brazen wolf there,
+Pericles got a response from the oracle for the Athenians, and carved it
+on the right side of the same wolf.
+
+Events proved that Pericles was right in confining the Athenian empire
+to Greece. First of all Euboea revolted, and he was obliged to lead an
+army to subdue that island. Shortly after this, news came that the
+Megarians had become hostile, and that an army, under the command of
+Plistoanax, king of the Lacedaemonians, was menacing the frontier of
+Attica. Pericles now in all haste withdrew his troops from Euboea, to
+meet the invader. He did not venture on an engagement with the numerous
+and warlike forces of the enemy, although repeatedly invited by them to
+fight: but, observing that Plistoanax was a very young man, and entirely
+under the influence of Cleandrides, whom the _ephors_ had sent to act as
+his tutor and counsellor because of his tender years, he opened secret
+negotiations with the latter, who at once, for a bribe, agreed to
+withdraw the Peloponnesians from Attica. When their army returned and
+dispersed, the Lacedaemonians were so incensed that they imposed a fine
+on their king, and condemned Cleandrides, who fled the country, to be
+put to death. This Cleandrides was the father of Gylippus, who caused
+the ruin of the Athenian expedition in Sicily. Avarice seems to have
+been hereditary in the family, for Gylippus himself, after brilliant
+exploits in war, was convicted of taking bribes, and banished from
+Sparta in disgrace.
+
+When Pericles submitted the accounts of the campaign to the people,
+there was an item of ten talents, "for a necessary purpose," which the
+people passed without any questioning, or any curiosity to learn the
+secret. Some historians, among whom is Theophrastus the philosopher, say
+that Pericles sent ten talents annually to Sparta, by means of which he
+bribed the chief magistrates to defer the war, thus not buying peace,
+but time to make preparations for a better defence. He immediately
+turned his attention to the insurgents in Euboea, and proceeding thither
+with a fleet of fifty sail, and five thousand heavy armed troops, he
+reduced their cities to submission. He banished from Chalcis the
+"equestrian order," as it was called, consisting of men of wealth and
+station; and he drove all the inhabitants of Hestiaea out of their
+country, replacing them by Athenian settlers. He treated these people
+with this pitiless severity, because they had captured an Athenian ship,
+and put its crew to the sword. After this, as the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians made a truce for thirty years, Pericles decreed the
+expedition against Samos, on the pretext that they had disregarded the
+commands of the Athenians to cease from their war with the Milesians.
+
+Pericles is accused of going to war with Samos to save the Milesians.
+These states were at war about the possession of the city of Priene, and
+the Samians, who were victorious, would not lay down their arms and
+allow the Athenians to settle the matter by arbitration, as they ordered
+them to do. For this reason Pericles proceeded to Samos, put an end to
+the oligarchical form of government there, and sent fifty hostages and
+as many children to Lemnos, to insure the good behavior of the leading
+men. It is said that each of these hostages offered him a talent for his
+own freedom, and that much more was offered by that party which was
+loath to see a democracy established in the city. Besides all this,
+Pissuthnes the Persian, who had a liking for the Samians, sent and
+offered him ten thousand pieces of gold if he would spare the city.
+Pericles, however, took none of these bribes, but dealt with Samos as he
+had previously determined, and returned to Athens. The Samians now at
+once revolted, as Pissuthnes managed to get them back their hostages,
+and furnished them with the means of carrying on the war. Pericles now
+made a second expedition against them, and found them in no mind to
+submit quietly, but determined to dispute the empire of the seas with
+the Athenians. Pericles gained a signal victory over them in a sea-fight
+off the Goats' Island, beating a fleet of seventy ships with only
+forty-four, twenty of which were transports.
+
+Simultaneously with his victory and the flight of the enemy he obtained
+command of the harbor of Samos, and besieged the Samians in their city.
+They, in spite of their defeat, still possessed courage enough to sally
+out and fight a battle under the walls; but soon a larger force arrived
+from Athens, and the Samians were completely blockaded.
+
+Pericles now with sixty ships sailed out of the Archipelago into the
+Mediterranean, according to the most current report intending to meet
+the Phoenician fleet which was coming to help the Samians, but,
+according to Stesimbrotus, with the intention of attacking Cyprus, which
+seems improbable. Whatever his intention may have been, his expedition
+was a failure, for Melissus, the son of Ithagenes, a man of culture, who
+was then in command of the Samian forces, conceiving a contempt for the
+small force of the Athenians and the want of experience of their leaders
+after Pericles' departure, persuaded his countrymen to attack them. In
+the battle the Samians proved victorious, taking many Athenians
+prisoners, and destroying many of their ships. By this victory they
+obtained command of the sea, and were able to supply themselves with
+more warlike stores than they had possessed before. Aristotle even says
+that Pericles himself was before this beaten by Melissus in a sea-fight.
+The Samians branded the figure of an owl on the foreheads of their
+Athenian prisoners, to revenge themselves for the branding of their own
+prisoners by the Athenians with the figure of a _samaina_. This is a
+ship having a beak turned up like a swine's snout, but with a roomy
+hull, so as both to carry a large cargo and sail fast. This class of
+vessel is called _samaina_ because it was first built at Samos by
+Polycrates, the despot of that island.
+
+When Pericles heard of the disaster which had befallen his army, he
+returned in all haste to assist them. He beat Melissus, who came out to
+meet him, and, after putting the enemy to rout, at once built a wall
+round their city, preferring to reduce it by blockade to risking the
+lives of his countrymen in an assault. In the ninth month of the siege
+the Samians surrendered. Pericles demolished their walls, confiscated
+their fleet, and imposed a heavy fine upon them, some part of which was
+paid at once by the Samians, who gave hostages for the payment of the
+remainder at fixed periods.
+
+Pericles, after the reduction of Samos, returned to Athens, where he
+buried those who had fallen in the war in a magnificent manner, and was
+much admired for the funeral oration which, as is customary, was spoken
+by him over the graves of his countrymen. Ion says that his victory over
+the Samians wonderfully flattered his vanity. Agamemnon, he was wont to
+say, took ten years to take a barbarian city, but he in nine months had
+made himself master of the first and most powerful city in Ionia. And
+the comparison was not an unjust one, for truly the war was a very great
+undertaking, and its issue quite uncertain, since, as Thucydides tells
+us, the Samians came very near to wresting the empire of the sea from
+the Athenians.
+
+After these events, as the clouds were gathering for the Peloponnesian
+war, Pericles persuaded the Athenians to send assistance to the people
+of Corcyra, who were at war with the Corinthians, and thus to attach to
+their own side an island with a powerful naval force, at a moment when
+the Peloponnesians had all but declared war against them.
+
+When the people passed this decree, Pericles sent only ten ships under
+the command of Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, as if he designed a
+deliberate insult; for the house of Cimon was on peculiarly friendly
+terms with the Lacedaemonians. His design in sending Lacedaemonius out,
+against his will, and with so few ships, was that if he performed
+nothing brilliant he might be accused, even more than he was already, of
+leaning to the side of the Spartans. Indeed, by all means in his power,
+he always threw obstacles in the way of the advancement of Cimon's
+family, representing that by their very names they were aliens, one son
+being named Lacedaemonius, another Thessalus, another Elius. Moreover,
+the mother of all three was an Arcadian.
+
+Now Pericles was much reproached for sending these ten ships, which were
+of little value to the Corcyreans, and gave a great handle to his
+enemies to use against him, and in consequence sent a larger force after
+them to Corcyra, which arrived there after the battle. The Corinthians,
+enraged at this, complained in the congress of Sparta of the conduct of
+the Athenians, as did also the Megarians, who said that they were
+excluded from every market and every harbor which was in Athenian hands,
+contrary to the ancient rights and common privileges of the Hellenic
+race. The people of Aegina also considered themselves to be oppressed
+and ill-treated, and secretly bemoaned their grievances in the ears of
+the Spartans, for they dared not openly bring any charges against the
+Athenians. At this time, too, Potidaea, a city subject to Athens, but a
+colony of Corinth, revolted, and its siege materially hastened the
+outbreak of the war. Archidamus, indeed, the king of the Lacedaemonians,
+sent ambassadors to Athens, was willing to submit all disputed points to
+arbitration, and endeavored to moderate the excitement of his allies, so
+that war probably would not have broken out if the Athenians could have
+been persuaded to rescind their decree of exclusion against the
+Megarians, and to come to terms with them. And, for this reason,
+Pericles, who was particularly opposed to this, and urged the people not
+to give way to the Megarians, alone bore the blame of having begun the
+war.
+
+Pericles passed a decree for a herald to be sent to the Megarians, and
+then to go on to the Lacedaemonians to complain of their conduct. This
+decree of Pericles is worded in a candid and reasonable manner; but the
+herald, Anthemocritus, was thought to have met his death at the hands of
+the Megarians, and Charinus passed a decree to the effect that Athens
+should wage war against them to the death, without truce or armistice;
+that any Megarian found in Attica should be punished with death, and
+that the generals, when taking the usual oath for each year, should
+swear in addition that they would invade the Megarian territory twice
+every year; and that Anthemocritus should be buried near the city gate
+leading into the Thriasian plain, which is now called the Double Gate.
+How the dispute originated it is hard to say, but all writers agree in
+throwing on Pericles the blame of refusing to reverse the decree.
+
+Now, as the Lacedaemonians knew that if he could be removed from power
+they would find the Athenians much more easy to deal with, they bade
+them "drive forth the accursed thing," alluding to Pericles' descent
+from the Alcmaeonidae by his mother's side, as we are told by Thucydides
+the historian. But this attempt had just the contrary effect to that
+which they intended; for, instead of suspicion and dislike, Pericles met
+with much greater honor and respect from his countrymen than before,
+because they saw that he was an object of especial dislike to the enemy.
+For this reason, before the Peloponnesians, under Archidamus, invaded
+Attica, he warned the Athenians that if Archidamus, when he laid waste
+everything else, spared his own private estate because of the friendly
+private relations existing between them, or in order to give his
+personal enemies a ground for impeaching him, he should give both the
+land and the farm buildings upon it to the state.
+
+The Lacedaemonians invaded Attica with a great host of their own troops
+and those of their allies, led by Archidamus, their king. They
+proceeded, ravaging the country as they went, as far as Acharnae (close
+to Athens), where they encamped, imagining that the Athenians would
+never endure to see them there, but would be driven by pride and shame
+to come out and fight them. However, Pericles thought that it would be a
+very serious matter to fight for the very existence of Athens against
+sixty thousand Peloponnesian and Boeotian heavy-armed troops, and so he
+pacified those who were dissatisfied at his inactivity by pointing out
+that trees when cut down quickly grow again, but that when the men of a
+state are lost, it is hard to raise up others to take their place. He
+would not call an assembly of the people, because he feared that they
+would force him to act against his better judgment, but, just as the
+captain of a ship, when a storm comes on at sea, places everything in
+the best trim to meet it, and trusting to his own skill and seamanship,
+disregarding the tears and entreaties of the seasick and terrified
+passengers, so did Pericles shut the gates of Athens, place sufficient
+forces to insure the safety of the city at all points, and calmly carry
+out his own policy, taking little heed of the noisy grumblings of the
+discontented. Many of his friends besought him to attack, many of his
+enemies threatened him and abused him, and many songs and offensive
+jests were written about him, speaking of him as a coward, and one who
+was betraying the city to its enemies. Cleon too attacked him, using the
+anger which the citizens felt against him to advance his own personal
+popularity.
+
+Pericles was unmoved by any of these attacks, but quietly endured all
+this storm of obloquy. He sent a fleet of a hundred ships to attack
+Peloponnesus, but did not sail with it himself, remaining at home to
+keep a tight hand over Athens until the Peloponnesians drew off their
+forces. He regained his popularity with the common people, who suffered
+much from the war, by giving them allowances of money from the public
+revenue, and grants of land; for he drove out the entire population of
+the island of Aegina, and divided the land by lot among the Athenians. A
+certain amount of relief also was experienced by reflecting upon the
+injuries which they were inflicting on the enemy; for the fleet as it
+sailed round Peloponnesus destroyed many small villages and cities, and
+ravaged a great extent of country, while Pericles himself led an
+expedition into the territory of Megara and laid it all waste. By this
+it is clear that the allies, although they did much damage to the
+Athenians, yet suffered equally themselves, and never could have
+protracted the war for such a length of time as it really lasted, but,
+as Pericles foretold, must soon have desisted had not Providence
+interfered and confounded human counsels. For now the pestilence fell
+among the Athenians, and cut off the flower of their youth. Suffering
+both in body and mind they raved against Pericles, just as people when
+delirious with disease attack their fathers or their physicians. They
+endeavored to ruin him, urged on by his personal enemies, who assured
+them that he was the author of the plague, because he had brought all
+the country people into the city, where they were compelled to live
+during the heat of summer, crowded together in small rooms and stifling
+tents, living an idle life too, and breathing foul air instead of the
+pure country breeze to which they were accustomed. The cause of this,
+they said, was the man who, when the war began, admitted the masses of
+the country people into the city, and then made no use of them, but
+allowed them to be penned up together like cattle, and transmit the
+contagion from one to another, without devising any remedy or
+alleviation of their sufferings.
+
+Hoping to relieve them somewhat, and also to annoy the enemy, Pericles
+manned a hundred and fifty ships, placed on board, besides the sailors,
+many brave infantry and cavalry soldiers, and was about to put to sea.
+The Athenians conceived great hopes, and the enemy no less terror from
+so large an armament. When all was ready, and Pericles himself had just
+embarked in his own trireme, an eclipse of the sun took place, producing
+total darkness, and all men were terrified at so great a portent.
+Pericles sailed with the fleet, but did nothing worthy of so great a
+force. He besieged the sacred city of Epidaurus, but, although he had
+great hopes of taking it, he failed on account of the plague, which
+destroyed not only his own men, but every one who came in contact with
+them. After this he again endeavored to encourage the Athenians, to whom
+he had become an object of dislike. However, he did not succeed in
+pacifying them, but they condemned him by a public vote to be general no
+more, and to pay a fine which is stated at the lowest estimate to have
+been fifteen talents, and at the highest fifty. This was carried,
+according to Idomeneus, by Cleon, but, according to Theophrastus, by
+Simmias; while Heraclides of Pontus says that it was effected by
+Lacratides.
+
+He soon regained his public position, for the people's outburst of anger
+was quenched by the blow they had dealt him, just as a bee leaves its
+sting in the wound; but his private affairs were in great distress and
+disorder, as he had lost many of his relatives during the plague, while
+others were estranged from him on political grounds. Yet he would not
+yield, nor abate his firmness and constancy of spirit because of these
+afflictions, but was not observed to weep or mourn, or attend the
+funeral of any of his relations, until he lost Paralus, the last of his
+legitimate offspring. Crushed by this blow, he tried in vain to keep up
+his grand air of indifference, and when carrying a garland to lay upon
+the corpse he was overpowered by his feelings, so as to burst into a
+passion of tears and sobs, which he had never done before in his whole
+life.
+
+Athens made trial of her other generals and public men to conduct her
+affairs, but none appeared to be of sufficient weight or reputation to
+have such a charge intrusted to him. The city longed for Pericles, and
+invited him again to lead its counsels and direct its armies; and he,
+although dejected in spirits and living in seclusion in his own house,
+was yet persuaded by Alcibiades and his other friends to resume the
+direction of affairs.
+
+After this it appears that Pericles was attacked by the plague, not
+acutely or continuously, as in most cases, but in a slow wasting
+fashion, exhibiting many varieties of symptoms, and gradually
+undermining his strength. As he was now on his death-bed, the most
+distinguished of the citizens and his surviving friends collected round
+him and spoke admiringly of his nobleness and immense power, enumerating
+also the number of his exploits, and the trophies which he had set up
+for victories gained; for while in chief command he had won no less than
+nine victories for Athens.
+
+Events soon made the loss of Pericles felt and regretted by the
+Athenians. Those who during his lifetime had complained that his power
+completely threw them into the shade, when after his death they had made
+trial of other orators and statesmen, were obliged to confess that with
+all his arrogance no man ever was really more moderate, and that his
+real mildness in dealing with men was as remarkable as his apparent
+pride and assumption. His power, which had been so grudged and envied,
+and called monarchy and despotism, now was proved to have been the
+saving of the State; such an amount of corrupt dealing and wickedness
+suddenly broke out in public affairs, which he before had crushed and
+forced to hide itself, and so prevented its becoming incurable through
+impunity and license.
+
+
+
+
+GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS
+
+B.C. 430
+
+GEORGE GROTE
+
+
+(Almost at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, when the prosperity
+of Athens had placed her at the height of her power and given her
+unquestioned supremacy among the Grecian states, her strength was
+greatly impaired by a visitation against which there was nothing in
+military prowess or patriotic pride and devotion that could prevail.
+
+It is one of the tragic contrasts of history--the picture of Athens, in
+her full triumph and glory, smitten, at a moment when she needed to put
+forth her full strength, by a deadly foe against whose might mortal arms
+were vain. Her citizens were rejoicing in her social no less than her
+military preëminence, and they had already been trained in the hardships
+necessary to be endured in defence of an invaded country. Again they
+were prepared to undergo whatever service might be laid upon them in her
+behalf. They could foresee the arduous tasks and inevitable sufferings
+of a great war, but had no warning of an impending calamity far worse
+than those which even war, though always attended with horrors, usually
+entails. Pericles had lately delivered his great funeral oration at the
+public interment of soldiers who had fallen for Athens. "The bright
+colors and tone of cheerful confidence," says Grote, whose account of
+the plague follows, "which pervaded the discourse of Pericles, appear
+the more striking from being in immediate antecedence to the awful
+description of this distemper."
+
+The death of Pericles himself, who directly or indirectly fell a victim
+to the prevailing pestilence, marked a grievous crisis for Athens in
+what was already become a measureless public woe. During the autumn of
+the year B.C. 427 the epidemic again broke out, after a considerable
+intermission, and for one year continued, "to the sad ruin both of the
+strength and the comfort of the city.")
+
+
+At the close of one year after the attempted surprise of Plataea by the
+Thebans, the belligerent parties in Greece remained in an unaltered
+position as to relative strength. Nothing decisive had been accomplished
+on either side, either by the invasion of Attica or by the flying
+descents round the coast of Peloponnesus. In spite of mutual damage
+inflicted--doubtless in the greatest measure upon Attica--no progress
+was yet made toward the fulfilment of those objects which had induced
+the Peloponnesians to go to war. Especially the most pressing among all
+their wishes--the relief of Potidaea--was in no way advanced; for the
+Athenians had not found it necessary to relax the blockade of that city,
+The result of the first year's operations had thus been to disappoint
+the hopes of the Corinthians and the other ardent instigators of war,
+while it justified the anticipations both of Pericles and of Archidamus.
+
+A second devastation of Attica was resolved upon for the commencement of
+spring; and measures were taken for carrying it all over that territory,
+since the settled policy of Athens, not to hazard a battle with the
+invaders, was now ascertained. About the end of March or beginning of
+April the entire Peloponnesian force--two-thirds from each confederate
+city as before--was assembled under the command of Archidamus and
+marched into Attica. This time they carried the work of systematic
+destruction not merely over the Thriasian plain and the plain
+immediately near to Athens, as before; but also to the more southerly
+portions of Attica, down even as far as the mines of Laurium. They
+traversed and ravaged both the eastern and the western coast, remaining
+not less than forty days in the country. They found the territory
+deserted as before, all the population having retired within the walls.
+
+In regard to this second invasion, Pericles recommended the same
+defensive policy as he had applied to the first; and apparently the
+citizens had now come to acquiesce in it, if not willingly, at least
+with a full conviction of its necessity. But a new visitation had now
+occurred, diverting their attention from the invader, though enormously
+aggravating their sufferings. A few days after Archidamus entered
+Attica, a pestilence or epidemic sickness broke out unexpectedly at
+Athens.
+
+It appears that this terrific disorder had been raging for some time
+throughout the regions round the Mediterranean; having begun, as was
+believed, in Ethiopia--thence passing into Egypt and Libya, and
+overrunning a considerable portion of Asia under the Persian government.
+About sixteen years before, there had been a similar calamity in Rome
+and in various parts of Italy. Recently it had been felt in Lemnos and
+some other islands of the Aegean, yet seemingly not with such intensity
+as to excite much notice generally in the Grecian world: at length it
+passed to Athens, and first showed itself in the Piraeus. The progress
+of the disease was as rapid and destructive as its appearance had been
+sudden; while the extraordinary accumulation of people within the city
+and long walls, in consequence of the presence of the invaders in the
+country, was but too favorable to every form of contagion. Families
+crowded together in close cabins and places of temporary
+shelter--throughout a city constructed, like most of those in Greece,
+with little regard to the conditions of salubrity and in a state of
+mental chagrin from the forced abandonment and sacrifice of their
+properties in the country, transmitted the disorder with fatal facility
+from one to the other. Beginning as it did about the middle of April,
+the increasing heat of summer further aided the disorder, the symptoms
+of which, alike violent and sudden, made themselves the more remarked
+because the year was particularly exempt from maladies of every other
+description.
+
+Of this plague--or, more properly, eruptive typhoid fever, distinct
+from, yet analogous to, the smallpox--a description no less clear than
+impressive has been left by the historian Thucydides, himself not only a
+spectator but a sufferer. It is not one of the least of his merits, that
+his notice of the symptoms, given at so early a stage of medical science
+and observation, is such as to instruct the medical reader of the
+present age, and to enable the malady to be understood and identified.
+The observations with which that notice is ushered in deserve particular
+attention. "In respect to this distemper (he says), let every man,
+physician or not, say what he thinks respecting the source from whence
+it may probably have arisen, and respecting the causes which he deems
+sufficiently powerful to have produced so great a revolution. But I,
+having myself had the distemper, and having seen others suffering under
+it, will state _what it actually was_, and will indicate in addition
+such other matters as will furnish any man, who lays them to heart, with
+knowledge and the means of calculation beforehand, in case the same
+misfortune should ever occur again."
+
+To record past facts, as a basis for rational prevision in regard to the
+future--the same sentiment which Thucydides mentions in his preface, as
+having animated him to the composition of his history--was at that time
+a duty so little understood that we have reason to admire not less the
+manner in which he performs it in practice than the distinctness with
+which he conceives it in theory. We infer from his language that
+speculation in his day was active respecting the causes of this plague,
+according to the vague and fanciful physics, and scanty stock of
+ascertained facts, which was all that could then be consulted. By
+resisting the itch of theorizing from one of those loose hypotheses
+which then appeared plausibly to explain everything, he probably
+renounced the point of view from which most credit and interest would be
+derivable at the time. But his simple and precise summary of observed
+facts carries with it an imperishable value, and even affords grounds
+for imagining that he was no stranger to the habits and training of his
+contemporary Hippocrates, and the other Asclepiads of Cos.
+
+It is hardly within the province of a historian of Greece to repeat
+after Thucydides the painful enumeration of symptoms, violent in the
+extreme and pervading every portion of the bodily system, which marked
+this fearful disorder. Beginning in Piraeus, it quickly passed into the
+city, and both the one and the other was speedily filled with sickness
+and suffering, the like of which had never before been known. The
+seizures were sudden, and a large proportion of the sufferers perished
+after deplorable agonies on the seventh or on the ninth day. Others,
+whose strength of constitution carried them over this period, found
+themselves the victims of exhausting and incurable diarrhoea afterward;
+with others again, after traversing both these stages, the distemper
+fixed itself in some particular member, the eyes, the genitals, the
+hands, or the feet, which were rendered permanently useless, or in some
+cases amputated, even where the patient himself recovered.
+
+There were also some whose recovery was attended with a total loss of
+memory, so that they no more knew themselves or recognized their
+friends. No treatment or remedy appearing, except in accidental cases,
+to produce any beneficial effect, the physicians or surgeons whose aid
+was invoked became completely at fault. While trying their accustomed
+means without avail, they soon ended by catching the malady themselves
+and perishing. The charms and incantations, to which the unhappy patient
+resorted, were not likely to be more efficacious. While some asserted
+that the Peloponnesians had poisoned the cisterns of water, others
+referred the visitation to the wrath of the gods, and especially to
+Apollo, known by hearers of the _Iliad_ as author of pestilence in the
+Greek host before Troy. It was remembered that this Delphian god had
+promised the Lacedaemonians, in reply to their application immediately
+before the war, that he would assist them whether invoked or uninvoked;
+and the disorder now raging was ascribed to the intervention of their
+irresistible ally; while the elderly men further called to mind an
+oracular verse sung in the time of their youth: "The Dorian war will
+come, and pestilence along with it." Under the distress which suggested,
+and was reciprocally aggravated by these gloomy ideas, prophets were
+consulted, and supplications with solemn procession were held at the
+temples, to appease the divine wrath.
+
+When it was found that neither the priest nor the physician could retard
+the spread or mitigate the intensity of the disorder, the Athenians
+abandoned themselves to despair, and the space within the walls became a
+scene of desolating misery. Every man attacked with the malady at once
+lost his courage--a state of depression itself among the worst features
+of the case, which made him lie down and die, without any attempt to
+seek for preservatives. And although at first friends and relatives lent
+their aid to tend the sick with the usual family sympathies, yet so
+terrible was the number of these attendants who perished, "like sheep,"
+from such contact, that at length no man would thus expose himself;
+while the most generous spirits, who persisted longest in the discharge
+of their duty, were carried off in the greatest numbers. The patient was
+thus left to die alone and unheeded. Sometimes all the inmates of a
+house were swept away one after the other, no man being willing to go
+near it: desertion on the one hand, attendance on the other, both tended
+to aggravate the calamity. There remained only those who, having had the
+disorder and recovered, were willing to tend the sufferers.
+
+These men formed the single exception to the all-pervading misery of the
+time--for the disorder seldom attacked anyone twice, and when it did the
+second attack was never fatal. Elate with their own escape, they deemed
+themselves out of the reach of all disease, and were full of
+compassionate kindness for others whose sufferings were just beginning.
+It was from them too that the principal attention to the bodies of
+deceased victims proceeded: for such was the state of dismay and sorrow
+that even the nearest relatives neglected the sepulchral duties, sacred
+beyond all others in the eyes of a Greek. Nor is there any circumstance
+which conveys to us so vivid an idea of the prevalent agony and despair
+as when we read, in the words of an eyewitness, that the deaths took
+place among this close-packed crowd without the smallest decencies of
+attention--that the dead and the dying lay piled one upon another not
+merely in the public roads, but even in the temples, in spite of the
+understood defilement of the sacred building--that half-dead sufferers
+were seen lying round all the springs, from insupportable thirst--that
+the numerous corpses thus unburied and exposed were in such a condition
+that the dogs which meddled with them died in consequence, while no
+vultures or other birds of the like habits ever came near.
+
+Those bodies which escaped entire neglect were burnt or buried without
+the customary mourning, and with unseemly carelessness. In some cases
+the bearers of a body, passing by a funeral pile on which another body
+was burning, would put their own there to be burnt also; or perhaps, if
+the pile was prepared ready for a body not yet arrived, would deposit
+their own upon it, set fire to the pile, and then depart. Such indecent
+confusion would have been intolerable to the feelings of the Athenians
+in any ordinary times.
+
+To all these scenes of physical suffering, death, and reckless despair
+was superadded another evil, which affected those who were fortunate
+enough to escape the rest. The bonds both of law and morality became
+relaxed, amid such total uncertainty of every man both for his own life
+and that of others. Men cared not to abstain from wrong, under
+circumstances in which punishment was not likely to overtake them, nor
+to put a check upon their passions, and endure privations, in obedience
+even to their strongest conviction, when the chance was so small of
+their living to reap reward or enjoy any future esteem. An interval,
+short and sweet, before their doom was realized--before they became
+plunged in the widespread misery which they witnessed around, and which
+affected indiscriminately the virtuous and the profligate--was all that
+they looked to enjoy; embracing with avidity the immediate pleasures of
+sense, as well as such positive gains, however ill-gotten, as could be
+made the means of procuring them, and throwing aside all thought both of
+honor and of long-sighted advantage. Life and property being alike
+ephemeral, there was no hope left but to snatch a moment of enjoyment,
+before the outstretched hand of destiny should fall upon its victims.
+
+The picture of society under the pressure of a murderous epidemic, with
+its train of physical torments, wretchedness, and demoralization, has
+been drawn by more than one eminent author, but by none with more
+impressive fidelity and conciseness than by Thucydides, who had no
+predecessor, nor anything but the reality, to copy from. We may remark
+that amid all the melancholy accompaniments of the time there are no
+human sacrifices, such as those offered up at Carthage during pestilence
+to appease the anger of the gods--there are no cruel persecutions
+against imaginary authors of the disease, such as those against the
+Untori (anointers of doors) in the plague of Milan in 1630.
+
+Three years altogether did this calamity desolate Athens: continuously,
+during the entire second and third years of the war--after which
+followed a period of marked abatement for a year and a half; but it then
+revived again, and lasted for another year, with the same fury as at
+first. The public loss, over and above the private misery, which this
+unexpected enemy inflicted upon Athens, was incalculable. Out of twelve
+hundred horsemen, all among the rich men of the state, three hundred
+died of the epidemic; besides forty-four hundred _hoplites_ out of the
+roll formally kept, and a number of the poorer population so great as to
+defy computation. No efforts of the Peloponnesians could have done so
+much to ruin Athens, or to bring the war to a termination such as they
+desired: and the distemper told the more in their favor, as it never
+spread at all into Peloponnesus, though it passed from Athens to some of
+the more populous islands. The Lacedaemonian army was withdrawn from
+Attica somewhat earlier than it would otherwise have been, for fear of
+taking the contagion.
+
+But it was while the Lacedaemonians were yet in Attica, and during the
+first freshness of the terrible malady, that Pericles equipped and
+conducted from Piraeus an armament of one hundred triremes and four
+thousand hoplites to attack the coasts of Peloponnesus; three hundred
+horsemen were also carried in some horse-transports, prepared for the
+occasion out of old triremes. To diminish the crowd accumulated in the
+city was doubtless of beneficial tendency, and perhaps those who went
+aboard might consider it as a chance of escape to quit an infected home.
+But unhappily they carried the infection along with them, which
+desolated the fleet not less than the city, and crippled all its
+efforts. Reenforced by fifty ships of war from Chios and Lesbos, the
+Athenians first landed near Epidaurus in Peloponnesus, ravaging the
+territory and making an unavailing attempt upon the city; next they made
+like incursions on the most southerly portions of the Argolic
+peninsula--Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione--and lastly attacked and
+captured Prasiae, on the eastern coast of Laconia. On returning to
+Athens, the same armament was immediately conducted under Agnon and
+Cleopompus, to press the siege of Potidaea, the blockade of which still
+continued without any visible progress. On arriving there an attack was
+made on the walls by battering engines and by the other aggressive
+methods then practised; but nothing whatever was achieved. In fact, the
+armament became incompetent for all serious effort, from the aggravated
+character which the distemper here assumed, communicated by the soldiers
+fresh from Athens even to those who had before been free from it at
+Potidaea. So frightful was the mortality that out of the four thousand
+hoplites under Agnon no fewer than one thousand and fifty died in the
+short space of forty days. The armament was brought back in this
+distressed condition to Athens, while the reduction of Potidaea was left
+as before, to the slow course of blockade.
+
+On returning from the expedition against Peloponnesus, Pericles found
+his countrymen almost distracted with their manifold sufferings. Over
+and above the raging epidemic they had just gone over Attica and
+ascertained the devastations committed by the invaders throughout all
+the territory--except the Marathonian Tetrapolis and Deceleia, districts
+spared, as we are told, through indulgence founded on an ancient
+legendary sympathy--during their long stay of forty days. The rich had
+found their comfortable mansions and farms, the poor their modest
+cottages, in the various _demes_, torn down and ruined. Death, sickness,
+loss of property, and despair of the future now rendered the Athenians
+angry and intractable to the last degree. They vented their feelings
+against Pericles as the cause not merely of the war, but also of all
+that they were now enduring. Either with or without his consent, they
+sent envoys to Sparta to open negotiations for peace, but the Spartans
+turned a deaf ear to the proposition. This new disappointment rendered
+them still more furious against Pericles, whose long-standing political
+enemies now doubtless found strong sympathy in their denunciations of
+his character and policy. That unshaken and majestic firmness, which
+ranked first among his many eminent qualities, was never more
+imperiously required and never more effectively manifested.
+
+In his capacity of _strategus_, or general, Pericles convoked a formal
+assembly of the people, for the purpose of vindicating himself publicly
+against the prevailing sentiment, and recommending perseverance in his
+line of policy. The speeches made by his opponents, assuredly very
+bitter, are not given by Thucydides; but that of Pericles himself is set
+down at considerable length, and a memorable discourse it is. It
+strikingly brings into relief both the character of the man and the
+impress of actual circumstances--an impregnable mind conscious not only
+of right purposes, but of just and reasonable anticipations, and bearing
+up with manliness, or even defiance, against the natural difficulty of
+the case, heightened by an extreme of incalculable misfortune. He had
+foreseen, while advising the war originally, the probable impatience of
+his countrymen under its first hardships, but he could not foresee the
+epidemic by which that impatience had been exasperated into madness: and
+he now addressed them not merely with unabated adherence to his own
+deliberate convictions, but also in a tone of reproachful remonstrance
+against their unmerited change of sentiment toward him--seeking at the
+same time to combat that uncontrolled despair which for the moment
+overlaid both their pride and their patriotism. Far from humbling
+himself before the present sentiment, it is at this time that he sets
+forth his titles to their esteem in the most direct and unqualified
+manner, and claims the continuance of that which they had so long
+accorded, as something belonging to him by acquired right.
+
+His main object, through this discourse, is to fill the minds of his
+audience with patriotic sympathy for the weal of the entire city, so as
+to counterbalance the absorbing sense of private woe. If the collective
+city flourishes, he argues, private misfortunes may at least be borne;
+but no amount of private prosperity will avail if the collective city
+falls--a proposition literally true in ancient times and under the
+circumstances of ancient warfare, though less true at present.
+"Distracted by domestic calamity, ye are now angry both with me who
+advised you to go to war, and with yourselves who followed the advice.
+Ye listened to me, considering me superior to others in judgment, in
+speech, in patriotism, and in incorruptible probity--nor ought I now to
+be treated as culpable for giving such advice, when in point of fact the
+war was unavoidable and there would have been still greater danger in
+shrinking from it. I am the same man, still unchanged--but ye in your
+misfortunes cannot stand to the convictions which ye adopted when yet
+unhurt. Extreme and unforeseen, indeed, are the sorrows which have
+fallen upon you: yet inhabiting as ye do a great city, and brought up in
+dispositions suitable to it, ye must also resolve to bear up against the
+utmost pressure of adversity, and never to surrender your dignity. I
+have often explained to you that ye have no reason to doubt of eventual
+success in the war, but I will now remind you, more emphatically than
+before, and even with a degree of ostentation suitable as a stimulus to
+your present unnatural depression, that your naval force makes you
+masters not only of your allies, but of the entire sea--one-half of the
+visible field for action and employment. Compared with so vast a power
+as this, the temporary use of your houses and territory is a mere
+trifle, an ornamental accessory not worth considering: and this too, if
+ye preserve your freedom, ye will quickly recover. It was your fathers
+who first gained this empire, without any of the advantages which ye now
+enjoy; ye must not disgrace yourselves by losing what they acquired.
+
+"Delighting as ye all do in the honor and empire enjoyed by the city, ye
+must not shrink from the toils whereby alone that honor is sustained:
+moreover, ye now fight, not merely for freedom instead of slavery, but
+for empire against loss of empire, with all the perils arising out of
+imperial unpopularity. It is not safe for you now to abdicate, even if
+ye chose to do so; for ye hold your empire like a despotism--unjust
+perhaps in the original acquisition, but ruinous to part with when once
+acquired. Be not angry with me, whose advice ye followed in going to
+war, because the enemy have done such damage as might be expected from
+them: still less on account of this unforeseen distemper: I know that
+this makes me an object of your special present hatred, though very
+unjustly, unless ye will consent to give me credit also for any
+unexpected good-luck which may occur. Our city derives its particular
+glory from unshaken bearing up against misfortune: her power, her name,
+her empire of Greeks over Greeks, are such as have never before been
+seen; and if we choose to be great, we must take the consequence of that
+temporary envy and hatred which is the necessary price of permanent
+renown. Behave ye now in a manner worthy of that glory: display that
+courage which is essential to protect you against disgrace at present,
+as well as to guarantee your honor for the future. Send no further
+embassy to Sparta, and bear your misfortunes without showing symptoms of
+distress."
+
+The irresistible reason, as well as the proud and resolute bearing of
+this discourse, set forth with an eloquence which it was not possible
+for Thucydides to reproduce--together with the age and character of
+Pericles--carried the assent of the assembled people, who when in the
+Pnyx, and engaged according to habit on public matters, would for a
+moment forget their private sufferings in considerations of the safety
+and grandeur of Athens. Possibly, indeed, those sufferings, though still
+continuing, might become somewhat alleviated when the invaders quitted
+Attica, and when it was no longer indispensable for all the population
+to confine itself within the walls. Accordingly, the assembly resolved
+that no further propositions should be made for peace, and that the war
+should be prosecuted with vigor.
+
+But though the public resolution thus adopted showed the ancient habit
+of deference to the authority of Pericles, the sentiments of individuals
+taken separately were still those of anger against him as the author of
+that system which had brought them into so much distress. His political
+opponents--Cleon, Simmias, or Lacratidas, perhaps all three in
+conjunction--took care to provide an opportunity for this prevalent
+irritation to manifest itself in act, by bringing an accusation against
+him before the _dicastery_. The accusation is said to have been
+preferred on the ground of pecuniary malversation, and ended by his
+being sentenced to pay a considerable fine, the amount of which is
+differently reported--fifteen, fifty, or eighty talents, by different
+authors. The accusing party thus appeared to have carried their point,
+and to have disgraced, as well as excluded from reelection, the veteran
+statesman. The event, however, disappointed their expectations. The
+imposition of the fine not only satiated all the irritation of the
+people against him, but even occasioned a serious reaction in his favor,
+and brought back as strongly as ever the ancient sentiment of esteem and
+admiration. It was quickly found that those who had succeeded Pericles
+as generals neither possessed nor deserved in an equal degree the public
+confidence. He was accordingly soon reelected, with as much power and
+influence as he had ever in his life enjoyed.
+
+But that life, long, honorable, and useful, had already been prolonged
+considerably beyond the sixtieth year, and there were but too many
+circumstances, besides the recent fine, which tended to hasten as well
+as to embitter its close. At the very moment when Pericles was preaching
+to his countrymen, in a tone almost reproachful, the necessity of manful
+and unabated devotion to the common country in the midst of private
+suffering, he was himself among the greatest of sufferers, and most
+hardly pressed to set the example of observing his own precepts. The
+epidemic carried off not merely his two sons--the only two legitimate,
+Xanthippus and Paralus--but also his sister, several other relatives,
+and his best and most useful political friends. Amid this train of
+domestic calamities, and in the funeral obsequies of so many of his
+dearest friends, he remained master of his grief, and maintained his
+habitual self-command, until the last misfortune--the death of his
+favorite son Paralus, which left his house without any legitimate
+representative to maintain the family and the hereditary sacred rites.
+On this final blow, though he strove to command himself as before, yet
+at the obsequies of the young man, when it became his duty to place a
+wreath on the dead body, his grief became uncontrollable, and he burst
+out, for the first time in his life, into profuse tears and sobbing.
+
+In the midst of these several personal trials he received the
+intimation, through Alcibiades and some other friends, of the restored
+confidence of the people toward him, and of his reelection to the office
+of strategus. But it was not without difficulty that he was persuaded to
+present himself again at the public assembly and resume the direction of
+affairs. The regret of the people was formally expressed to him for the
+recent sentence--perhaps, indeed, the fine may have been repaid to him,
+or some evasion of it permitted, saving the forms of law--in the present
+temper of the city; which was further displayed toward him by the grant
+of a remarkable exemption from a law of his own original proposition.
+
+He had himself, some years before, been the author of that law whereby
+the citizenship of Athens was restricted to persons born both of
+Athenian fathers and Athenian mothers, under which restriction several
+thousand persons, illegitimate on the mother's side, are said to have
+been deprived of the citizenship, on occasion of a public distribution
+of corn. Invidious as it appeared to grant, to Pericles singly, an
+exemption from a law which had been strictly enforced against so many
+others, the people were now moved not less by compassion than by anxiety
+to redress their own previous severity. Without a legitimate heir, the
+house of Pericles, one branch of the great Alcmaeonid gens by his
+mother's side, would be left deserted, and the continuity of the family
+sacred rites would be broken--a misfortune painfully felt by every
+Athenian family, as calculated to wrong all the deceased members, and
+provoke their posthumous displeasure toward the city. Accordingly,
+permission was granted to Pericles to legitimize, and to inscribe in his
+own gens and phratry, his natural son by Aspasia, who bore his own name.
+
+It was thus that Pericles was reinstated in his post of strategus as
+well as in his ascendency over the public counsels--seemingly about
+August or September, B.C. 430. He lived about one year longer, and seems
+to have maintained his influence as long as his health permitted. Yet we
+hear nothing of him after this moment, and he fell a victim, not to the
+violent symptoms of the epidemic, but to a slow and wearing fever, which
+undermined his strength as well as his capacity. To a friend who came to
+ask after him when in this disease, Pericles replied by showing a charm
+or amulet which his female relations had hung about his neck--a proof
+how low he was reduced, and how completely he had become a passive
+subject in the hands of others.
+
+And according to another anecdote which we read--yet more interesting
+and equally illustrative of his character--it was during his last
+moments, when he was lying apparently unconscious and insensible, that
+the friends around his bed were passing in review the acts of his life,
+and the nine trophies which he had erected at different times for so
+many victories. He heard what they said, though they fancied that he was
+past hearing, and interrupted them by remarking: "What you praise in my
+life belongs partly to good fortune--and is, at best, common to me with
+many other generals. But the peculiarity of which I am most proud, you
+have not noticed--no Athenian has ever put on mourning through any
+action of mine."
+
+
+
+
+DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE
+
+B.C. 413
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(That great writer of the history of the Romans, Thomas Arnold, says of
+the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Syracuse: "The Romans knew not, and
+could not know, how deeply the greatness of their own posterity, and the
+fate of the whole western world, were involved in the destruction of the
+fleet of Athens in the harbor of Syracuse. Had that great expedition
+proved victorious, the energies of Greece during the next eventful
+century would have found their field in the West no less than in the
+East; Greece, and not Rome; might have conquered Carthage; Greek instead
+of Latin might have been at this day the principal element of the
+language of Spain, of France, and of Italy; and the laws of Athens,
+rather than of Rome, might be the foundation of the law of the civilized
+world."
+
+The foregoing, the author's own selection, really sums up all that need
+be said as to the importance of the great event so finely treated by
+Creasy.)
+
+
+Few cities have undergone more memorable sieges during ancient and
+mediaeval times than has the city of Syracuse. Athenian, Carthaginian,
+Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Saracen, and Norman have in turns beleaguered
+her walls; and the resistance which she successfully opposed to some of
+her early assailants was of the deepest importance, not only to the
+fortunes of the generations then in being, but to all the subsequent
+current of human events. To adopt the eloquent expressions of Arnold
+respecting the check which she gave to the Carthaginian arms, "Syracuse
+was a breakwater which God's providence raised up to protect the yet
+immature strength of Rome." And her triumphant repulse of the great
+Athenian expedition against her was of even more widespread and enduring
+importance. It forms a decisive epoch in the strife for universal
+empire, in which all the great states of antiquity successively engaged
+and failed.
+
+The present city of Syracuse is a place of little or no military
+strength, as the fire of artillery from the neighboring heights would
+almost completely command it. But in ancient warfare its position, and
+the care bestowed on its walls, rendered it formidably strong against
+the means of offence which were then employed by besieging armies.
+
+The ancient city, in its most prosperous times, was chiefly built on the
+knob of land which projects into the sea on the eastern coast of Sicily,
+between two bays; one of which, to the north, was called the Bay of
+Thapsus, while the southern one formed the great harbor of the city of
+Syracuse itself. A small island, or peninsula (for such it soon was
+rendered), lies at the southeastern extremity of this knob of land,
+stretching almost entirely across the mouth of the great harbor, and
+rendering it nearly land-locked. This island comprised the original
+settlement of the first Greek colonists from Corinth, who founded
+Syracuse two thousand five hundred years ago; and the modern city has
+shrunk again into these primary limits. But, in the fifth century before
+our era, the growing wealth and population of the Syracusans had led
+them to occupy and include within their city walls portion after portion
+of the mainland lying next to the little isle, so that at the time of
+the Athenian expedition the seaward part of the land between the two
+bays already spoken of was built over, and fortified from bay to bay,
+and constituted the larger part of Syracuse.
+
+The landward wall, therefore, of this district of the city traversed
+this knob of land, which continues to slope upward from the sea, and
+which, to the west of the old fortifications, that is, toward the
+interior of Sicily, rises rapidly for a mile or two, but diminishes in
+width, and finally terminates in a long narrow ridge, between which and
+Mount Hybla a succession of chasms and uneven low ground extends. On
+each flank of this ridge the descent is steep and precipitous from its
+summits to the strips of level land that lie immediately below it, both
+to the southwest and northwest.
+
+The usual mode of assailing fortified towns in the time of the
+Peloponnesian war was to build a double wall round them sufficiently
+strong to check any sally of the garrison from within or any attack of a
+relieving force from without. The interval within the two walls of the
+circumvallation was roofed over, and formed barracks, in which the
+besiegers posted themselves, and awaited the effects of want or
+treachery among the besieged in producing a surrender; and in every
+Greek city of those days, as in every Italian republic of the Middle
+Ages, the rage of domestic sedition between aristocrats and democrats
+ran high. Rancorous refugees swarmed in the camp of every invading
+enemy; and every blockaded city was sure to contain within its walls a
+body of intriguing malcontents, who were eager to purchase a party
+triumph at the expense of a national disaster. Famine and faction were
+the allies on whom besiegers relied. The generals of that time trusted
+to the operation of these sure confederates as soon as they could
+establish a complete blockade. They rarely ventured on the attempt to
+storm any fortified post, for the military engines of antiquity were
+feeble in breaching masonry before the improvements which the first
+Dionysius effected in the mechanics of destruction; and the lives of
+spearmen the boldest and most high-trained would, of course, have been
+idly spent in charges against unshattered walls.
+
+A city built close to the sea, like Syracuse, was impregnable save by
+the combined operations of a superior hostile fleet and a superior
+hostile army; and Syracuse, from her size, her population, and her
+military and naval resources, not unnaturally thought herself secure
+from finding in another Greek city a foe capable of sending a sufficient
+armament to menace her with capture and subjection. But in the spring of
+B.C. 414 the Athenian navy was mistress of her harbor and the adjacent
+seas; an Athenian army had defeated her troops, and cooped them within
+the town; and from bay to bay a blockading wall was being rapidly
+carried across the strips of level ground and the high ridge outside the
+city (then termed Epipolae), which, if completed, would have cut the
+Syracusans off from all succor from the interior of Sicily, and have
+left them at the mercy of the Athenian generals. The besiegers' works
+were, indeed, unfinished; but every day the unfortified interval in
+their lines grew narrower, and with it diminished all apparent hope of
+safety for the beleaguered town.
+
+Athens was now staking the flower of her forces, and the accumulated
+fruits of seventy years of glory, on one bold throw for the dominion of
+the western world. As Napoleon from Mount Coeur de Lion pointed to St.
+Jean d'Acre, and told his staff that the capture of that town would
+decide his destiny and would change the face of the world, so the
+Athenian officers, from the heights of Epipolae, must have looked on
+Syracuse, and felt that with its fall all the known powers of the earth
+would fall beneath them. They must have felt also that Athens, if
+repulsed there, must pause forever from her career of conquest, and sink
+from an imperial republic into a ruined and subservient community.
+
+At Marathon, the first in date of the great battles of the world, we
+beheld Athens struggling for self-preservation against the invading
+armies of the East. At Syracuse she appears as the ambitious and
+oppressive invader of others. In her, as in other republics of old and
+of modern times, the same energy that had inspired the most heroic
+efforts in defence of the national independence soon learned to employ
+itself in daring and unscrupulous schemes of self-aggrandizement at the
+expense of neighboring nations. In the interval between the Persian and
+the Peloponnesian wars she had rapidly grown into a conquering and
+dominant state, the chief of a thousand tributary cities, and the
+mistress of the largest and best-manned navy that the Mediterranean had
+yet beheld. The occupations of her territory by Xerxes and Mardonius, in
+the second Persian war, had forced her whole population to become
+marines; and the glorious results of that struggle confirmed them in
+their zeal for their country's service at sea.
+
+The voluntary suffrage of the Greek cities of the coasts and islands of
+the Aegean first placed Athens at the head of the confederation formed
+for the further prosecution of the war against Persia. But this titular
+ascendency was soon converted by her into practical and arbitrary
+dominion. She protected them from piracy and the Persian power, which
+soon fell into decrepitude and decay, but she exacted in return implicit
+obedience to herself. She claimed and enforced a prerogative of taxing
+them at her discretion, and proudly refused to be accountable for her
+mode of expending their supplies. Remonstrance against her assessments
+was treated as factious disloyalty, and refusal to pay was promptly
+punished as revolt. Permitting and encouraging her subject allies to
+furnish all their contingents in money, instead of part consisting of
+ships and men, the sovereign republic gained the double object of
+training her own citizens by constant and well-paid service in her
+fleets, and of seeing her confederates lose their skill and discipline
+by inaction, and become more and more passive and powerless under her
+yoke. Their towns were generally dismantled, while the imperial city
+herself was fortified with the greatest care and sumptuousness; the
+accumulated revenues from her tributaries serving to strengthen and
+adorn to the utmost her havens, her docks, her arsenals, her theatres,
+and her shrines, and to array her in that plenitude of architectural
+magnificence the ruins of which still attest the intellectual grandeur
+of the age and people which produced a Pericles to plan and a Phidias to
+execute.
+
+All republics that acquire supremacy over other nations rule them
+selfishly and oppressively. There is no exception to this in either
+ancient or modern times. Carthage, Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Pisa,
+Holland, and republican France, all tyrannized over every province and
+subject state where they gained authority. But none of them openly
+avowed their system of doing so upon principle with the candor which the
+Athenian republicans displayed when any remonstrance was made against
+the severe exactions which they imposed upon their vassal allies. They
+avowed that their empire was a tyranny, and frankly stated that they
+solely trusted to force and terror to uphold it. They appealed to what
+they called "the eternal law of nature, that the weak should be coerced
+by the strong." Sometimes they stated, and not without some truth, that
+the unjust hatred of Sparta against themselves forced them to be unjust
+to others in self-defence. To be safe, they must be powerful; and to be
+powerful, they must plunder and coerce their neighbors. They never
+dreamed of communicating any franchise, or share in office, to their
+dependants, but jealously monopolized every post of command and all
+political and judicial power; exposing themselves to every risk with
+unflinching gallantry; embarking readily in every ambitious scheme; and
+never suffering difficulty or disaster to shake their tenacity of
+purpose: in the hope of acquiring unbounded empire for their country,
+and the means of maintaining each of the thirty thousand citizens who
+made up the sovereign republic, in exclusive devotion to military
+occupations, and to those brilliant sciences and arts in which Athens
+already had reached the meridian of intellectual splendor.
+
+Her great political dramatist speaks of the Athenian empire as
+comprehending a thousand states. The language of the stage must not be
+taken too literally; but the number of the dependencies of Athens, at
+the time when the Peloponnesian confederacy attacked her, was
+undoubtedly very great. With a few trifling exceptions, all the islands
+of the Aegean, and all the Greek cities which in that age fringed the
+coasts of Asia Minor, the Hellespont, and Thrace, paid tribute to
+Athens, and implicitly obeyed her orders. The Aegean Sea was an Attic
+lake. Westward of Greece, her influence, though strong, was not equally
+predominant. She had colonies and allies among the wealthy and populous
+Greek settlements in Sicily and South Italy, but she had no organized
+system of confederates in those regions; and her galleys brought her no
+tribute from the Western seas. The extension of her empire over Sicily
+was the favorite project of her ambitious orators and generals. While
+her great statesman, Pericles, lived, his commanding genius kept his
+countrymen under control, and forbade them to risk the fortunes of
+Athens in distant enterprises, while they had unsubdued and powerful
+enemies at their own doors. He taught Athens this maxim; but he also
+taught her to know and to use her own strength; and when Pericles had
+departed, the bold spirit which he had fostered overleaped the salutary
+limits which he had prescribed.
+
+When her bitter enemies, the Corinthians, succeeded, B.C. 431, in
+inducing Sparta to attack her, and a confederacy was formed of
+five-sixths of the continental Greeks, all animated by anxious jealousy
+and bitter hatred of Athens; when armies far superior in numbers and
+equipment to those which had marched against the Persians were poured
+into the Athenian territory, and laid it waste to the city walls, the
+general opinion was that Athens would be reduced, in two or three years
+at the furthest, to submit to the requisitions of her invaders. But her
+strong fortifications, by which she was girt and linked to her principal
+haven, gave her, in those ages, almost all the advantages of an insular
+position. Pericles had made her trust to her empire of the seas. Every
+Athenian in those days was a practised seaman. A state, indeed, whose
+members, of an age fit for service, at no time exceeded thirty thousand,
+could only have acquired such a naval dominion as Athens once held by
+devoting and zealously training all its sons to service in its fleets.
+In order to man the numerous galleys which she sent out, she necessarily
+employed large numbers of hired mariners and slaves at the oar; but the
+staple of her crews was Athenian, and all posts of command were held by
+native citizens. It was by reminding them of this, of their long
+practice in seamanship, and the certain superiority which their
+discipline gave them over the enemy's marine, that their great minister
+mainly encouraged them to resist the combined power of Lacedaemon and
+her allies. He taught them that Athens might thus reap the fruit of her
+zealous devotion to maritime affairs ever since the invasion of the
+Medes; "she had not, indeed, perfected herself; but the reward of her
+superior training was the rule of the sea--a mighty dominion, for it
+gave her the rule of much fair land beyond its waves, safe from the idle
+ravages with which the Lacedaemonians might harass Attica, but never
+could subdue Athens."
+
+Athens accepted the war with which her enemies threatened her rather
+than descend from her pride of place; and though the awful visitation of
+the plague came upon her, and swept away more of her citizens than the
+Dorian spear laid low, she held her own gallantly against her enemies.
+If the Peloponnesian armies in irresistible strength wasted every spring
+her corn-lands, her vineyards, and her olive groves with fire and sword,
+she retaliated on their coasts with her fleets; which, if resisted, were
+only resisted to display the preëminent skill and bravery of her seamen.
+Some of her subject allies revolted, but the revolts were in general
+sternly and promptly quelled. The genius of one enemy had indeed
+inflicted blows on her power in Thrace which she was unable to remedy;
+but he fell in battle in the tenth year of the war, and with the loss of
+Brasidas the Lacedaemonians seemed to have lost all energy and judgment.
+Both sides at length grew weary of the war, and in 421 a truce for fifty
+years was concluded, which, though ill kept, and though many of the
+confederates of Sparta refused to recognize it, and hostilities still
+continued in many parts of Greece, protected the Athenian territory from
+the ravages of enemies, and enabled Athens to accumulate large sums out
+of the proceeds of her annual revenues. So also, as a few years passed
+by, the havoc which the pestilence and the sword had made in her
+population was repaired; and in 415 Athens was full of bold and restless
+spirits, who longed for some field of distant enterprise wherein they
+might signalize themselves and aggrandize the state, and who looked on
+the alarm of Spartan hostility as a mere old-woman's tale. When Sparta
+had wasted their territory she had done her worst; and the fact of its
+always being in her power to do so seemed a strong reason for seeking to
+increase the transmarine dominion of Athens.
+
+The West was now the quarter toward which the thoughts of every aspiring
+Athenian were directed. From the very beginning of the war Athens had
+kept up an interest in Sicily, and her squadron had, from time to time,
+appeared on its coasts and taken part in the dissensions in which the
+Sicilian Greeks were universally engaged one against the other. There
+were plausible grounds for a direct quarrel, and an open attack by the
+Athenians upon Syracuse.
+
+With the capture of Syracuse, all Sicily, it was hoped, would be
+secured. Carthage and Italy were next to be attacked. With large levies
+of Iberian mercenaries she then meant to overwhelm her Peloponnesian
+enemies. The Persian monarchy lay in hopeless imbecility, inviting Greek
+invasion; nor did the known world contain the power that seemed capable
+of checking the growing might of Athens, if Syracuse once should be
+hers.
+
+The national historian of Rome has left us an episode of his great work,
+a disquisition on the probable effects that would have followed if
+Alexander the Great had invaded Italy. Posterity has generally regarded
+that disquisition as proving Livy's patriotism more strongly than his
+impartiality or acuteness. Yet, right or wrong, the speculations of the
+Roman writer were directed to the consideration of a very remote
+possibility. To whatever age Alexander's life might have been prolonged,
+the East would have furnished full occupation for his martial ambition,
+as well as for those schemes of commercial grandeur and imperial
+amalgamation of nations in which the truly great qualities of his mind
+loved to display themselves. With his death the dismemberment of his
+empire among his generals was certain, even as the dismemberment of
+Napoleon's empire among his marshals would certainly have ensued if he
+had been cut off in the zenith of his power. Rome, also, was far weaker
+when the Athenians were in Sicily than she was a century afterward in
+Alexander's time. There can be little doubt but that Rome would have
+been blotted out from the independent powers of the West, had she been
+attacked at the end of the fifth century B.C. by an Athenian army,
+largely aided by Spanish mercenaries, and flushed with triumphs over
+Sicily and Africa, instead of the collision between her and Greece
+having been deferred until the latter had sunk into decrepitude, and the
+Roman Mars had grown into full vigor.
+
+The armament which the Athenians equipped against Syracuse was in every
+way worthy of the state which formed such projects of universal empire,
+and it has been truly termed "the noblest that ever yet had been sent
+forth by a free and civilized commonwealth." The fleet consisted of one
+hundred and thirty-four war-galleys, with a multitude of storeships. A
+powerful force of the best heavy-armed infantry that Athens and her
+allies could furnish was sent on board it, together with a smaller
+number of slingers and bowmen. The quality of the forces was even more
+remarkable than the number. The zeal of individuals vied with that of
+the republic in giving every galley the best possible crew and every
+troop the most perfect accoutrements. And with private as well as public
+wealth eagerly lavished on all that could give splendor as well as
+efficiency to the expedition, the fated fleet began its voyage for the
+Sicilian shores in the summer of 415.
+
+The Syracusans themselves, at the time of the Peloponnesian war, were a
+bold and turbulent democracy, tyrannizing over the weaker Greek cities
+in Sicily, and trying to gain in that island the same arbitrary
+supremacy which Athens maintained along the eastern coast of the
+Mediterranean. In numbers and in spirit they were fully equal to the
+Athenians, but far inferior to them in military and naval discipline.
+When the probability of an Athenian invasion was first publicly
+discussed at Syracuse, and efforts were made by some of the wiser
+citizens to improve the state of the national defences and prepare for
+the impending danger, the rumors of coming war and the proposal for
+preparation were received by the mass of the Syracusans with scornful
+incredulity. The speech of one of their popular orators is preserved to
+us in Thucydides.
+
+The Syracusan orator told his countrymen to dismiss with scorn the
+visionary terrors which a set of designing men among themselves strove
+to excite, in order to get power and influence thrown into their own
+hands. He told them that Athens knew her own interest too well to think
+of wantonly provoking their hostility: "Even if the enemies were to
+come," said he, "so distant from their resources, and opposed to such a
+power as ours, their destruction would be easy and inevitable. Their
+ships will have enough to do to get to our island at all, and to carry
+such stores of all sorts as will be needed. They cannot therefore carry,
+besides, an army large enough to cope with such a population as ours.
+They will have no fortified place from which to commence their
+operations, but must rest them on no better base than a set of wretched
+tents, and such means as the necessities of the moment will allow them.
+But, in truth, I do not believe that they would even be able to effect a
+disembarkation. Let us, therefore, set at naught these reports as
+altogether of home manufacture; and be sure that if any enemy does come,
+the state will know how to defend itself in a manner worthy of the
+national honor."
+
+Such assertions pleased the Syracusan assembly; but the invaders of
+Syracuse came, made good their landing in Sicily; and if they had
+promptly attacked the city itself, instead of wasting nearly a year in
+desultory operations in other parts of Sicily, the Syracusans must have
+paid the penalty of their self-sufficient carelessness in submission to
+the Athenian yoke. But, of the three generals who led the Athenian
+expedition, two only were men of ability, and one was most weak and
+incompetent. Fortunately for Syracuse, Alcibiades, the most skilful of
+the three, was soon deposed from his command by a factious and fanatic
+vote of his fellow-countrymen, and the other competent one, Lamachus,
+fell early in a skirmish; while, more fortunately still for her, the
+feeble and vacillating Nicias remained unrecalled and unhurt, to assume
+the undivided leadership of the Athenian army and fleet, and to mar, by
+alternate over-caution and over-carelessness, every chance of success
+which the early part of the operations offered. Still, even under him,
+the Athenians nearly won the town. They defeated the raw levies of the
+Syracusans, cooped them within the walls, and, as before mentioned,
+almost effected a continuous fortification from bay to bay over
+Epipolae, the completion of which would certainly have been followed by
+a capitulation.
+
+Alcibiades--the most complete example of genius without principle that
+history produces; the Bolingbroke of antiquity, but with high military
+talents superadded to diplomatic and oratorical powers--on being
+summoned home from his command in Sicily to take his trial before the
+Athenian tribunal, had escaped to Sparta, and had exerted himself there
+with all the selfish rancor of a renegade to renew the war with Athens
+and to send instant assistance to Syracuse.
+
+When we read his words in the pages of Thucydides--who was himself an
+exile from Athens at this period, and may probably have been at Sparta,
+and heard Alcibiades speak--we are at a loss whether most to admire or
+abhor his subtle counsels. After an artful exordium, in which he tried
+to disarm the suspicions which he felt must be entertained of him, and
+to point out to the Spartans how completely his interests and theirs
+were identified, through hatred of the Athenian democracy, he thus
+proceeded:
+
+"Hear me, at any rate, on the matters which require your grave
+attention, and which I, from the personal knowledge that I have of them,
+can and ought to bring before you. We Athenians sailed to Sicily with
+the design of subduing, first the Greek cities there, and next those in
+Italy. Then we intended to make an attempt on the dominions of Carthage,
+and on Carthage itself.[24] If all these projects succeeded--nor did we
+limit ourselves to them in these quarters--we intended to increase our
+fleet with the inexhaustible supplies of ship timber which Italy
+affords, to put in requisition the whole military force of the conquered
+Greek states, and also to hire large armies of the barbarians, of the
+Iberians,[25] and others in those regions, who are allowed to make the
+best possible soldiers. _Then_, when we had done all this, we intended
+to assail Peloponnesus with our collected force. Our fleets would
+blockade you by sea and desolate your coasts, our armies would be landed
+at different points and assail your cities. Some of these we expected to
+storm,[26] and others we meant to take by surrounding them with
+fortified lines. We thought that it would thus be an easy matter
+thoroughly to war you down; and then we should become the masters of the
+whole Greek race. As for expense, we reckoned that each conquered state
+would give us supplies of money and provisions sufficient to pay for its
+own conquest, and furnish the means for the conquest of its neighbors."
+
+[Footnote 24: Arnold, in his notes on this passage, well reminds the
+reader that Agathocles, with a Greek force far inferior to that of the
+Athenians at this period, did, some years afterward, very nearly conquer
+Carthage.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It will be remembered that Spanish infantry were the
+staple of the Carthaginian armies. Doubtless Alcibiades and other
+leading Athenians had made themselves acquainted with the Carthaginian
+system of carrying on war, and meant to adopt it. With the marvellous
+powers which Alcibiades possessed of ingratiating himself with men of
+every class and every nation, and his high military genius, he would
+have been as formidable a chief of an army of _condottieri_ as Hannibal
+afterward was.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Alcibiades here alluded to Sparta itself, which was
+unfortified. His Spartan hearers must have glanced round them at these
+words with mixed alarm and indignation.]
+
+"Such are the designs of the present Athenian expedition to Sicily, and
+you have heard them from the lips of the man who, of all men living, is
+most accurately acquainted with them. The other Athenian generals, who
+remain with the expedition, will endeavor to carry out these plans. And
+be sure that without your speedy interference they will all be
+accomplished. The Sicilian Greeks are deficient in military training;
+but still, if they could at once be brought to combine in an organized
+resistance to Athens, they might even now be saved. But as for the
+Syracusans resisting Athens by themselves, they have already, with the
+whole strength of their population, fought a battle and been beaten;
+they cannot face the Athenians at sea; and it is quite impossible for
+them to hold out against the force of their invaders. And if this city
+falls into the hands of the Athenians, all Sicily is theirs, and
+presently Italy also; and the danger, which I warned you of from that
+quarter, will soon fall upon yourselves. You must, therefore, in Sicily,
+fight for the safety of Peloponnesus. Send some galleys thither
+instantly. Put men on board who can work their own way over, and who, as
+soon as they land, can do duty as regular troops. But, above all, let
+one of yourselves, let a man of Sparta, go over to take the chief
+command, to bring into order and effective discipline the forces that
+are in Syracuse, and urge those who at present hang back to come forward
+and aid the Syracusans. The presence of a Spartan general at this crisis
+will do more to save the city than a whole army."
+
+The renegade then proceeded to urge on them the necessity of encouraging
+their friends in Sicily, by showing that they themselves were in earnest
+in hostility to Athens. He exhorted them not only to march their armies
+into Attica again, but to take up a permanent fortified position in the
+country; and he gave them in detail information of all that the
+Athenians most dreaded, and how his country might receive the most
+distressing and enduring injury at their hands.
+
+The Spartans resolved to act on his advice, and appointed Gylippus to
+the Sicilian command. Gylippus was a man who, to the national bravery
+and military skill of a Spartan united political sagacity that was
+worthy of his great fellow-countryman Brasidas; but his merits were
+debased by mean and sordid vices; and his is one of the cases in which
+history has been austerely just, and where little or no fame has been
+accorded to the successful but venal soldier. But for the purpose for
+which he was required in Sicily, an abler man could not have been found
+in Lacedaemon. His country gave him neither men nor money, but she gave
+him her authority; and the influence of her name and of his own talents
+was speedily seen in the zeal with which the Corinthians and other
+Peloponnesian Greeks began to equip a squadron to act under him for the
+rescue of Sicily. As soon as four galleys were ready, he hurried over
+with them to the southern coast of Italy, and there, though he received
+such evil tidings of the state of Syracuse that he abandoned all hope of
+saving that city, he determined to remain on the coast, and do what he
+could in preserving the Italian cities from the Athenians.
+
+So nearly, indeed, had Nicias completed his beleaguering lines, and so
+utterly desperate had the state of Syracuse seemingly become, that an
+assembly of the Syracusans was actually convened, and they were
+discussing the terms on which they should offer to capitulate, when a
+galley was seen dashing into the great harbor, and making her way toward
+the town with all the speed which her rowers could supply. From her
+shunning the part of the harbor where the Athenian fleet lay, and making
+straight for the Syracusan side, it was clear that she was a friend; the
+enemy's cruisers, careless through confidence of success, made no
+attempt to cut her off; she touched the beach, and a Corinthian captain,
+springing on shore from her, was eagerly conducted to the assembly of
+the Syracusan people just in time to prevent the fatal vote being put
+for a surrender.
+
+Providentially for Syracuse, Gongylus, the commander of the galley, had
+been prevented by an Athenian squadron from following Gylippus to South
+Italy, and he had been obliged to push direct for Syracuse from Greece.
+
+The sight of actual succor, and the promise of more, revived the
+drooping spirits of the Syracusans. They felt that they were not left
+desolate to perish, and the tidings that a Spartan was coming to command
+them confirmed their resolution to continue their resistance. Gylippus
+was already near the city. He had learned at Locri that the first report
+which had reached him of the state of Syracuse was exaggerated, and that
+there was unfinished space in the besiegers' lines through which it was
+barely possible to introduce reënforcements into the town. Crossing the
+Straits of Messina, which the culpable negligence of Nicias had left
+unguarded, Gylippus landed on the northern coast of Sicily, and there
+began to collect from the Greek cities an army, of which the regular
+troops that he brought from Peloponnesus formed the nucleus. Such was
+the influence of the name of Sparta, and such were his own abilities and
+activity, that he succeeded in raising a force of about two thousand
+fully armed infantry, with a larger number of irregular troops. Nicias,
+as if infatuated, made no attempt to counteract his operation, nor, when
+Gylippus marched his little army toward Syracuse, did the Athenian
+commander endeavor to check him. The Syracusans marched out to meet him;
+and while the Athenians were solely intent on completing their
+fortifications on the southern side toward the harbor, Gylippus turned
+their position by occupying the high ground in the extreme rear of
+Epipolae. He then marched through the unfortified interval of Nicias'
+lines into the besieged town, and joining his troops with the Syracusan
+forces, after some engagements with varying success, gained the mastery
+over Nicias, drove the Athenians from Epipolae, and hemmed them into a
+disadvantageous position in the low grounds near the great harbor.
+
+The attention of all Greece was now fixed on Syracuse, and every enemy
+of Athens felt the importance of the opportunity now offered of checking
+her ambition, and, perhaps, of striking a deadly blow at her power.
+Larger reinforcements from Corinth, Thebes, and other cities now reached
+the Syracusans, while the baffled and dispirited Athenian general
+earnestly besought his countrymen to recall him, and represented the
+further prosecution of the siege as hopeless.
+
+But Athens had made it a maxim never to let difficulty or disaster drive
+her back from any enterprise once undertaken, so long as she possessed
+the means of making any effort, however desperate, for its
+accomplishment. With indomitable pertinacity, she now decreed, instead
+of recalling her first armament from before Syracuse, to send out a
+second, though her enemies near home had now renewed open warfare
+against her, and by occupying a permanent fortification in her territory
+had severely distressed her population, and were pressing her with
+almost all the hardships of an actual siege. She still was mistress of
+the sea, and she sent forth another fleet of seventy galleys, and
+another army, which seemed to drain almost the last reserves of her
+military population, to try if Syracuse could not yet be won, and the
+honor of the Athenian arms be preserved from the stigma of a retreat.
+Hers was, indeed, a spirit that might be broken, but never would bend.
+At the head of this second expedition she wisely placed her best
+general, Demosthenes, one of the most distinguished officers that the
+long Peloponnesian war had produced, and who, if he had originally held
+the Sicilian command, would soon have brought Syracuse to submission.
+
+The fame of Demosthenes the general has been dimmed by the superior
+lustre of his great countryman, Demosthenes the orator. When the name of
+Demosthenes is mentioned, it is the latter alone that is thought of. The
+soldier has found no biographer. Yet out of the long list of great men
+whom the Athenian republic produced, there are few that deserve to stand
+higher than this brave, though finally unsuccessful leader of her fleets
+and armies in the first half of the Peloponnesian war. In his first
+campaign in Aetolia he had shown some of the rashness of youth, and had
+received a lesson of caution by which he profited throughout the rest of
+his career, but without losing any of his natural energy in enterprise
+or in execution. He had performed the distinguished service of rescuing
+Naupactus from a powerful hostile armament in the seventh year of the
+war; he had then, at the request of the Acarnanian republics, taken on
+himself the office of commander-in-chief of all their forces, and at
+their head he had gained some important advantages over the enemies of
+Athens in Western Greece. His most celebrated exploits had been the
+occupation of Pylos on the Messenian coast, the successful defence of
+that place against the fleet and armies of Lacedaemon, and the
+subsequent capture of the Spartan forces on the isle of Sphacteria,
+which was the severest blow dealt to Sparta throughout the war, and
+which had mainly caused her to humble herself to make the truce with
+Athens.
+
+Demosthenes was as honorably unknown in the war of party politics at
+Athens as he was eminent in the war against the foreign enemy. We read
+of no intrigues of his on either the aristocratic or democratic side. He
+was neither in the interest of Nicias nor of Cleon. His private
+character was free from any of the stains which polluted that of
+Alcibiades. On all these points the silence of the comic dramatist is
+decisive evidence in his favor. He had also the moral courage, not
+always combined with physical, of seeking to do his duty to his country,
+irrespective of any odium that he himself might incur, and unhampered by
+any petty jealousy of those who were associated with him in command.
+There are few men named in ancient history of whom posterity would
+gladly know more or whom we sympathize with more deeply in the
+calamities that befell them than Demosthenes, the son of Alcisthenes,
+who, in the spring of the year 413, left Piraeus at the head of the
+second Athenian expedition against Sicily.
+
+His arrival was critically timed; for Gylippus had encouraged the
+Syracusans to attack the Athenians under Nicias by sea as well as by
+land, and by one able stratagem of Ariston, one of the admirals of the
+Corinthian auxiliary squadron, the Syracusans and their confederates had
+inflicted on the fleet of Nicias the first defeat that the Athenian navy
+had ever sustained from a numerically inferior enemy. Gylippus was
+preparing to follow up his advantage by fresh attacks on the Athenians
+on both elements, when the arrival of Demosthenes completely changed the
+aspect of affairs and restored the superiority to the invaders. With
+seventy-three war-galleys in the highest state of efficiency, and
+brilliantly equipped, with a force of five thousand picked men of the
+regular infantry of Athens and her allies, and a still larger number of
+bowmen, javelin-men, and slingers on board, Demosthenes rowed round the
+great harbor with loud cheers and martial music, as if in defiance of
+the Syracusans and their confederates. His arrival had indeed changed
+their newly born hopes into the deepest consternation.
+
+The resources of Athens seemed inexhaustible, and resistance to her
+hopeless. They had been told that she was reduced to the last
+extremities, and that her territory was occupied by an enemy; and yet
+here they saw her sending forth, as if in prodigality of power, a second
+armament, to make foreign conquests, not inferior to that with which
+Nicias had first landed on the Sicilian shores.
+
+With the intuitive decision of a great commander, Demosthenes at once
+saw that the possession of Epipolae was the key to the possession of
+Syracuse, and he resolved to make a prompt and vigorous attempt to
+recover that position while his force was unimpaired and the
+consternation which its arrival had produced among the besieged remained
+unabated. The Syracusans and their allies had run out an outwork along
+Epipolae from the city walls, intersecting the fortified lines of
+circumvallation which Nicias had commenced, but from which he had been
+driven by Gylippus. Could Demosthenes succeed in storming this outwork,
+and in reëstablishing the Athenian troops on the high ground, he might
+fairly hope to be able to resume the circumvallation of the city and
+become the conqueror of Syracuse; for when once the besiegers' lines
+were completed, the number of the troops with which Gylippus had
+garrisoned the place would only tend to exhaust the stores of provisions
+and accelerate its downfall.
+
+An easily repelled attack was first made on the outwork in the daytime,
+probably more with the view of blinding the besieged to the nature of
+the main operations than with any expectation of succeeding in an open
+assault, with every disadvantage of the ground to contend against. But,
+when the darkness had set in, Demosthenes formed his men in columns,
+each soldier taking with him five days' provisions, and the engineers
+and workmen of the camp following the troops with their tools and all
+portable implements of fortification, so as at once to secure any
+advantage of ground that the army might gain. Thus equipped and
+prepared, he led his men along by the foot of the southern flank of
+Epipolae, in a direction toward the interior of the island, till he came
+immediately below the narrow ridge that forms the extremity of the high
+ground looking westward. He then wheeled his vanguard to the right, sent
+them rapidly up the paths that wind along the face of the cliff, and
+succeeded in completely surprising the Syracusan outposts, and in
+placing his troops fairly on the extreme summit of the all-important
+Epipolae. Thence the Athenians marched eagerly down the slope toward the
+town, routing some Syracusan detachments that were quartered in their
+way, and vigorously assailing the unprotected side of the outwork.
+
+All at first favored them. The outwork was abandoned by its garrison,
+and the Athenian engineers began to dismantle it. In vain Gylippus
+brought up fresh troops to check the assault; the Athenians broke and
+drove them back, and continued to press hotly forward, in the full
+confidence of victory. But, amid the general consternation of the
+Syracusans and their confederates, one body of infantry stood firm. This
+was a brigade of their Boeotian allies, which was posted low down the
+slope of Epipolae, outside the city walls. Coolly and steadily the
+Boeotian infantry formed their line, and, undismayed by the current of
+flight around them, advanced against the advancing Athenians. This was
+the crisis of the battle. But the Athenian van was disorganized by its
+own previous successes; and, yielding to the unexpected charge thus made
+on it by troops in perfect order, and of the most obstinate courage, it
+was driven back in confusion upon the other divisions of the army that
+still continued to press forward. When once the tide was thus turned,
+the Syracusans passed rapidly from the extreme of panic to the extreme
+of vengeful daring, and with all their forces they now fiercely assailed
+the embarrassed and receding Athenians. In vain did the officers of the
+latter strive to reform their line. Amid the din and the shouting of the
+fight, and the confusion inseparable upon a night engagement, especially
+one where many thousand combatants were pent and whirled together in a
+narrow and uneven area, the necessary manoeuvres were impracticable; and
+though many companies still fought on desperately, wherever the
+moonlight showed them the semblance of a foe, they fought without
+concert or subordination; and not infrequently, amid the deadly chaos,
+Athenian troops assailed each other. Keeping their ranks close, the
+Syracusans and their allies pressed on against the disorganized masses
+of the besiegers, and at length drove them, with heavy slaughter, over
+the cliffs, which an hour or two before they had scaled full of hope and
+apparently certain of success.
+
+This defeat was decisive of the event of the siege. The Athenians
+afterward struggled only to protect themselves from the vengeance which
+the Syracusans sought to wreak in the complete destruction of their
+invaders. Never, however, was vengeance more complete and terrible. A
+series of sea-fights followed, in which the Athenian galleys were
+utterly destroyed or captured. The mariners and soldiers who escaped
+death in disastrous engagements, and a vain attempt to force a retreat
+into the interior of the island, became prisoners of war. Nicias and
+Demosthenes were put to death in cold blood, and their men either
+perished miserably in the Syracusan dungeons or were sold into slavery
+to the very persons whom, in their pride of power, they had crossed the
+seas to enslave.
+
+All danger from Athens to the independent nations of the West was now
+forever at an end. She, indeed, continued to struggle against her
+combined enemies and revolted allies with unparalleled gallantry, and
+many more years of varying warfare passed away before she surrendered to
+their arms. But no success in subsequent contests could ever have
+restored her to the preëminence in enterprise, resources, and maritime
+skill which she had acquired before her fatal reverses in Sicily. Nor
+among the rival Greek republics, whom her own rashness aided to crush
+her, was there any capable of reorganizing her empire, or resuming her
+schemes of conquest. The dominion of Western Europe was left for Rome
+and Carthage to dispute two centuries later, in conflicts still more
+terrible, and with even higher displays of military daring and genius
+than Athens had witnessed either in her rise, her meridian, or her fall.
+
+
+
+
+RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS
+
+B.C. 401-399
+
+XENOPHON
+
+
+(The expedition of the Greeks, generally known as the "Retreat of the
+Ten Thousand," was conducted by Xenophon, a Greek historian, essayist,
+and military commander. Xenophon was a pupil of Socrates, of whom he
+left a famous memoir. In B.C. 401 he accepted the invitation of his
+friend Proxenus of Boeotia, a general of Greek mercenaries, to take
+service under Cyrus the Younger, brother of Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of
+Persia.
+
+Cyrus had considered himself as deeply wronged by his elder brother, who
+had thrown him into prison on the death of their father, Darius.
+Escaping from prison, he formed a design to wrest the throne from
+Artaxerxes. For this purpose he engaged the forces of Proxenus, and to
+this army Xenophon attached himself. The rendezvous was Sardis, from
+which the army marched east under the pretext of chastising the
+revolting mountaineers of Pisidia. Instead of attacking the Pisidians,
+the followers of Cyrus proceeded east through Asia and Babylonia till
+they met the forces of Artaxerxes at Cunaxa. A furious battle took
+place, and the rout of the king's army had begun when Cyrus, elated with
+the victory that seemed just within his grasp, challenged his brother to
+single combat. In the duel that ensued Cyrus was slain. Proxenus had
+already fallen, and the virtual command of the Greek army soon devolved
+upon Xenophon, who thereupon began the famous retreat.
+
+A vivid account of battles, and of hardships endured from the cold, in
+the struggle through mountain snows, through almost impassable forests,
+and across bridgeless rivers, is given in Xenophon's _Anabasis_, the
+celebrated work, in seven books, which forms the classical narrative of
+the campaign and the retreat. Soon after the death of Cyrus, in
+September, B.C. 401, the seizure and murder of the leading Greek
+generals by the treacherous Persian satrap, Tissaphernes, placed the
+Greek army in great peril. Xenophon, who now took practical command,
+counselled and exhorted the surviving leaders, and on the next day the
+Greeks formed in a hollow square, the baggage in the centre, and began
+their retreat, which led them along the Tigris to the territory of the
+Carduchi [Kurds], through Armenia, and across Georgia, the enemy often
+harassing them.
+
+At the point where the climax of the story, which is presented here, may
+be said to begin, the Greeks have entered Armenia, passed the sources of
+the Tigris, and reached the Teleboas. Having made a treaty with
+Tiribazus, governor of the province, and discovered his insincerity, and
+that he was ready to attack them in their passage over the mountains,
+they resolved upon a quick resumption of their march.
+
+When, in the fifth month of the retreat the Greeks at last from a
+hilltop beheld the Euxine, they sent up a cry, "The sea! the sea!" which
+has echoed through succeeding ages as one of the great historic
+jubilations of humanity. At the end of the retreat their numbers were
+reduced to about six thousand, and from the starting-point at Cunaxa to
+the middle of the southern coast of the Black Sea they had travelled as
+much as two thousand miles. From Ephesus to Cunaxa and thence to the
+Black Sea region they had marched in fifteen months [February, B.C. 401,
+to June, 400], and nine months more passed before they joined the
+Spartan army in Asia Minor, and their task was fully accomplished. Their
+great performance is regarded as having prepared the way for Alexander's
+triumphant advances in the East. The young conqueror, on the eve of the
+battle of Issus, declared that he owed inspiration to the feat of the
+Ten Thousand.)
+
+
+It was thought necessary to march away as fast as possible, before the
+enemy's force should be reassembled, and get possession of the pass.
+
+Collecting their baggage at once, therefore, they set forward through a
+deep snow, taking with them several guides, and, having the same day
+passed the height on which Tiribazus had intended to attack them, they
+encamped. Hence they proceeded three days' journey through a desert
+tract of country, a distance of fifteen _parasangs_, to the river
+Euphrates, and passed it without being wet higher than the middle. The
+sources of the river were said not to be far off. From hence they
+advanced three days' march, through much snow and a level plain, a
+distance of fifteen parasangs; the third day's march was extremely
+troublesome, as the north wind blew full in their faces, completely
+parching up everything and benumbing the men. One of the augurs, in
+consequence, advised that they should sacrifice to the wind, and a
+sacrifice was accordingly offered, when the vehemence of the wind
+appeared to everyone manifestly to abate. The depth of the snow was a
+fathom, so that many of the baggage cattle and slaves perished, with
+about thirty of the soldiers.
+
+They continued to burn fires through the whole night, for there was
+plenty of wood at the place of encampment. But those who came up late
+could get no wood; those, therefore, who had arrived before and had
+kindled fires would not admit the late comers to the fire unless they
+gave them a share of the corn or other provisions that they had brought.
+Thus they shared with each other what they respectively had. In the
+places where the fires were made, as the snow melted, there were formed
+large pits that reached down to the ground, and here there was
+accordingly opportunity to measure the depth of the snow.
+
+From hence they marched through snow the whole of the following day, and
+many of the men contracted the _bulimia_.[28] Xenophon, who commanded in
+the rear, finding in his way such of the men as had fallen down with it,
+knew not what disease it was. But as one of these acquainted with it
+told him that they were evidently affected with bulimia, and that they
+would get up if they had something to eat, he went round among the
+baggage and wherever he saw anything eatable he gave it out, and sent
+such as were able to run to distribute it among those diseased, who, as
+soon as they had eaten, rose up and continued their march. As they
+proceeded, Chirisophus came, just as it grew dark, to a village, and
+found, at a spring in front of the rampart, some women and girls
+belonging to the place fetching water. The women asked them who they
+were, and the interpreter answered, in the Persian language, that they
+were people going from the king to the satrap. They replied that he was
+not there, but about a parasang off.
+
+[Footnote 28: Spelman quotes a description of the bulimia from Galen, in
+which it is said to be "a disease in which the patient frequently craves
+for food, loses the use of his limbs, falls down, turns pale, feels his
+extremities become cold, his stomach oppressed, and his pulse feeble."
+Here, however, it seems to mean little more than a faintness from long
+fasting.]
+
+However, as it was late, they went with the water-carriers within the
+rampart, to the head man of the village, and here Chirisophus and as
+many of the troops as could come up encamped; but of the rest, such as
+were unable to get to the end of the journey spent the night on the way
+without food or fire, and some of the soldiers lost their lives on that
+occasion. Some of the enemy too, who had collected themselves into a
+body, pursued our rear, and seized any of the baggage-cattle that were
+unable to proceed, fighting with one another for the possession of them.
+Such of the soldiers also as had lost their sight from the effects of
+the snow, or had their toes mortified by the cold, were left behind. It
+was found to be a relief to the eyes against the snow, if the soldiers
+kept something black before them on the march, and to the feet, if they
+kept constantly in motion, and allowed themselves no rest, and if they
+took off their shoes in the night. But as to such as slept with their
+shoes on, the straps worked into their feet, and the soles were frozen
+about them, for when their old shoes had failed them, shoes of raw hides
+had been made by the men themselves from the newly skinned oxen.
+
+From such unavoidable sufferings some of the soldiers were left behind,
+who, seeing a piece of ground of a black appearance, from the snow
+having disappeared there, conjectured that it must have melted, and it
+had in fact melted in the spot from the effect of a fountain, which was
+sending up vapor in a wooded hollow close at hand. Turning aside
+thither, they sat down and refused to proceed farther. Xenophon, who was
+with the rear-guard, as soon as he heard this tried to prevail on them
+by every art and means not to be left behind, telling them, at the same
+time, that the enemy were collected and pursuing them in great numbers.
+At last he grew angry, and they told him to kill them, as they were
+quite unable to go forward. He then thought it the best course to strike
+a terror, if possible, into the enemy that were behind, lest they should
+fall upon the exhausted soldiers. It was now dark, and the enemy were
+advancing with a great noise, quarrelling about the booty that they had
+taken, when such of the rear-guard as were not disabled started up and
+rushed toward them, while the tired men, shouting as loud as they could,
+clashed their spears against their shields. The enemy, struck with
+alarm, threw themselves among the snow into the hollow, and no one of
+them afterward made himself heard from any quarter.
+
+Xenophon and those with him, telling the sick men that a party should
+come to their relief next day, proceeded on their march, but before they
+had gone four _stadia_ they found other soldiers resting by the way in
+the snow, and covered up with it, no guard being stationed over them.
+They roused them up, but they said that the head of the army was not
+moving forward. Xenophon, going past them and sending on some of the
+ablest of the _peltasts_, ordered them to ascertain what it was that
+hindered their progress. They brought word that the whole army was in
+that manner taking rest. Xenophon and his men, therefore, stationing
+such a guard as they could, took up their quarters there without fire or
+supper. When it was near day, he sent the youngest of his men to the
+sick, telling them to rouse them and oblige them to proceed. At this
+juncture Chirisophus sent some of his people from the village to see how
+the rear were faring. The young men were rejoiced to see them, and gave
+them the sick to conduct to the camp, while they themselves went
+forward, and, before they had gone twenty stadia, found themselves at
+the village in which Chirisophus was quartered. When they came together,
+it was thought safe enough to lodge the troops up and down in the
+village. Chirisophus accordingly remained where he was, and the other
+officers, appropriating by lot the several villages that they had in
+sight, went to their respective quarters with their men.
+
+Here Polycrates, an Athenian captain, requested leave of absence, and
+taking with him the most active of his men, and hastening to the village
+to which Xenophon had been allotted, surprised all the villagers and
+their head man in their houses, together with seventeen colts that were
+bred as a tribute for the king, and the head man's daughter, who had
+been but nine days married; her husband was gone out to hunt hares, and
+was not found in any of the villages. Their houses were underground, the
+entrance like the mouth of a well, but spacious below; there were
+passages dug into them for the cattle, but the people descended by
+ladders. In the houses were goats, sheep, cows, and fowls, with their
+young; all the cattle were kept on fodder within the walls.[29] There
+were also wheat, barley, leguminous vegetables, and barley wine[30] in
+large bowls; the grains of barley floated in it even with the brim of
+the vessels, and reeds also lay in it, some larger and some smaller,
+without joints; and these, when any one was thirsty, he was to take in
+his mouth and suck.[31] The liquor was very strong, unless one mixed
+water with it, and a very pleasant drink to those accustomed to it.
+
+[Footnote 29: This description of a village on the Armenian uplands
+applies itself to many that I visited in the present day. The descent by
+wells is now rare, but is still to be met with; but in exposed and
+elevated situations the houses are uniformly semi-subterraneous and
+entered by as small an aperture as possible, to prevent the cold getting
+in. Whatever the kind of cottage used, cows, sheep, goats, and fowls
+participate with the family in the warmth and protection thereof.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Something like our ale.]
+
+[Footnote 31: The reeds were used, says Krueger, that none of the grains
+of barley might be taken into the mouth.]
+
+Xenophon made the chief man of his village sup with him, and told him to
+be of good courage, assuring him that he should not be deprived of his
+children, and that they would not go away without filling his house with
+provisions in return for what they took, if he would but prove himself
+the author of some service to the army till they should reach another
+tribe. This he promised, and, to show his good-will, pointed out where
+some wine[32] was buried. This night, therefore, the soldiers rested in
+their several quarters in the midst of great abundance, setting a guard
+over the chief, and keeping his children at the same time under their
+eye. The following day Xenophon took the head man and went with him to
+Chirisophus, and wherever he passed by a village he turned aside to
+visit those who were quartered in it, and found them in all parts
+feasting and enjoying themselves; nor would they anywhere let them go
+till they had set refreshments before them; and they placed everywhere
+upon the same table lamb, kid, pork, veal, and fowl, with plenty of
+bread, both of wheat and barley. Whenever any person, to pay a
+compliment, wished to drink to another, he took him to the large bowl,
+where he had to stoop down and drink, sucking like an ox. The chief they
+allowed to take whatever he pleased, but he accepted nothing from them;
+where he found any of his relatives, however, he took them with him.
+
+[Footnote 32: Xenophon seems to mean _grape_ wine, rather than to refer
+to the barley wine just before mentioned, of which the taste does not
+appear to have been much liked by the Greeks. Wine from grapes was not
+made, it is probable, in these parts, on account of the cold, but Strabo
+speaks of the fruit wine of Armenia Minor as not inferior to any of the
+Greek wines.--_Schneider_.]
+
+When they came to Chirisophus, they found his men also feasting in their
+quarters, crowned with wreaths made of hay, and Armenian boys, in their
+barbarian dress, waiting upon them, to whom they made signs what they
+were to do as if they had been deaf and dumb. When Chirisophus and
+Xenophon had saluted one another, they both asked the chief man, through
+the interpreter who spoke the Persian language, what country it was. He
+replied that it was Armenia. They then asked him for whom the horses
+were bred, and he said that they were a tribute for the king, and added
+that the neighboring country was that of Chalybes, and told them in what
+direction the road lay. Xenophon then went away, conducting the chief
+back to his family, giving him the horse that he had taken, which was
+rather old, to fatten and offer in sacrifice (for he had heard that it
+had been consecrated to the sun), being afraid, indeed, that it might
+die, as it had been injured by the journey. He then took some of the
+young horses, and gave one of them to each of the other generals and
+captains. The horses in this country were smaller than those of Persia,
+but far more spirited. The chief instructed the men to tie little bags
+round the feet of the horses and other cattle when they drove them
+through the snow, for without such bags they sunk up to their bellies.
+
+When the eighth day was come, Xenophon committed the guide to
+Chirisophus. He left the chief[33] all the members of his family, except
+his son, a youth just coming to mature age; him he gave in charge to
+Episthenes of Amphipolis, in order that if the father should conduct
+them properly he might return home with him. At the same time they
+carried to his house as many provisions as they could, and then broke up
+their camp and resumed their march. The chief conducted them through the
+snow, walking at liberty. When he came to the end of the third day's
+march, Chirisophus was angry at him for not guiding them to some
+villages. He said that there was none in that part of the country.
+Chirisophus then struck him, but did not confine him, and in consequence
+he ran off in the night, leaving his son behind him. This affair, the
+ill-treatment and neglect of the guide, was the only cause of dissension
+between Chirisophus and Xenophon during the march. Episthenes conceived
+an affection for the youth, and, taking him home, found him extremely
+attached to him.
+
+[Footnote 33: This is rather oddly expressed, for the guide and the
+chief were the same person.]
+
+After this occurrence they proceeded seven days' journey, five parasangs
+each day, till they came to the river Phasis, the breadth of which is a
+_plethrum_. Hence they advanced two days' journey, ten parasangs, when,
+on the pass that led over the mountains into the plain, the Chalybes,
+Taochi, and Phasians were drawn up to oppose their progress.
+Chirisophus, seeing these enemies in possession of the height, came to a
+halt, at the distance of about thirty stadia, that he might not approach
+them while leading the army in a column. He accordingly ordered the
+other officers to bring up their companies, that the whole force might
+be formed in line.
+
+When the rear-guard was come up, he called together the generals and
+captains and spoke to them as follows: "The enemy, as you see, is in
+possession of the pass over the mountains, and it is proper for us to
+consider how we may encounter them to the best advantage. It is my
+opinion, therefore, that we should direct the troops to get their dinner
+and that we ourselves should hold a council, in the mean time, whether
+it is advisable to cross the mountain to-day or to-morrow."
+
+"It seems best to me," exclaimed Cleanor, "to march at once, as soon as
+we have dined and resumed our arms, against the enemy; for if we waste
+the present day in inaction the enemy, who are now looking down upon us,
+will grow bolder, and it is likely that, as their confidence is
+increased, others will join them in greater numbers."
+
+After him Xenophon said: "I am of opinion that if it be necessary to
+fight, we ought to make our arrangements so as to fight with the
+greatest advantage; but that if we propose to pass the mountains as
+easily as possible, we ought to consider how we may incur the fewest
+wounds and lose the fewest men. The range of hills, as far as we see,
+extends more than sixty stadia in length; but the people nowhere seem to
+be watching us except along the line of road; and it is, therefore,
+better, I think, to endeavor to try to seize unobserved some part of the
+unguarded range, and to get possession of it, if we can, beforehand,
+than to attack a strong post and men prepared to resist us, for it is
+far less difficult to march up a steep ascent without fighting than
+along a level road with enemies on each side; and in the night, if men
+are not obliged to fight, they can see better what is before them than
+by day if engaged with enemies; while a rough road is easier to the feet
+to those who are marching without molestation than a smooth one to those
+who are pelted on the head with missiles. Nor do I think it at all
+impracticable for us to steal a way for ourselves, as we can march by
+night, so as not to be seen, and can keep at such a distance from the
+enemy as to allow no possibility of being heard. We seem likely, too, in
+my opinion, if we make a pretended attack on this point, to find the
+rest of the range still less guarded, for the enemy will so much the
+more probably stay where they are. But why should I speak doubtfully
+about stealing? For I hear that you Lacedaemonians, O Chirisophus, such
+of you at least as are of the better class, practise stealing from your
+boyhood, and it is not a disgrace, but an honor, to steal whatever the
+law does not forbid; while, in order that you may steal with the utmost
+dexterity, and strive to escape discovery, it is appointed by law that,
+if you are caught stealing, you are scourged. It is now high time for
+you, therefore, to give proof of your education, and to take care that
+we may not receive many stripes."
+
+"But I hear that you Athenians also," rejoined Chirisophus, "are very
+clever at stealing the public money, though great danger threatens him
+that steals it; and that your best men steal it most, if indeed your
+best men are thought worthy to be your magistrates; so that it is time
+for you likewise to give proof of your education."
+
+"I am then ready," exclaimed Xenophon, "to march with the rear-guard, as
+soon as we have supped, to take possession of the hills. I have guides
+too, for our light-armed men captured some of the marauders following
+us, by lying in ambush, and from them I learn that the mountains are not
+impassable, but are grazed over by goats and oxen, so that if we once
+gain possession of any part of the range, there will be tracks also for
+our baggage cattle. I expect also that the enemy will no longer keep
+their ground, when they see us upon a level with them on the heights,
+for they will not now come down to be upon a level with us." Chirisophus
+then said: "But why should you go, and leave the charge of the rear?
+Rather send others, unless some volunteers present themselves." Upon
+this Aristonymus of Methydria came forward with his heavy-armed men, and
+Aristeas of Chios and Nichomachus of Oeta with their light-armed; and
+they made an arrangement that as soon as they should reach the top they
+should light a number of fires. Having settled these points, they went
+to dinner; and after dinner Chirisophus led forward the whole army ten
+stadia toward the enemy, that he might appear to be fully resolved to
+march against them on that quarter.
+
+When they had taken their supper, and night came on, those appointed for
+the service went forward and got possession of the hills; the other
+troops rested where they were. The enemy, when they saw the heights
+occupied, kept watch and burned a number of fires all night. As soon as
+it was day, Chirisophus, after having offered sacrifice, marched forward
+along the road; while those who had gained the heights advanced by the
+ridge. Most of the enemy, meanwhile, stayed at the pass, but a part went
+to meet the troops coming along the heights. But before the main bodies
+came together, those on the ridge closed with one another, and the
+Greeks had the advantage, and put the enemy to flight. At the same time
+the Grecian peltasts ran up from the plain to attack the enemy drawn up
+to receive them, and Chirisophus followed at a quick pace with the
+heavy-armed men. The enemy at the pass, however, when they saw those
+above defeated, took to flight. Not many of them were killed, but a
+great number of shields were taken, which the Greeks, by hacking them
+with their swords, rendered useless. As soon as they had gained the
+ascent, and had sacrificed and erected a trophy, they went down into the
+plain before them, and arrived at a number of villages stored with
+abundance of excellent provisions.
+
+From hence they marched five days' journey, thirty parasangs, to the
+country of the Taochi, where provisions began to fail them; for the
+Taochi inhabited strong fastnesses, in which they had laid up all their
+supplies. Having at length, however, arrived at one place which had no
+city or houses attached to it, but in which men and women and a great
+number of cattle were assembled, Chirisophus, as soon as he came before
+it, made it the object of an attack; and when the first division that
+assailed it began to be tired, another succeeded, and then another, for
+it was not possible for them to surround it in a body, as there was a
+river about it. When Xenophon came up with his rear-guard, peltasts, and
+heavy-armed men, Chirisophus exclaimed: "You come seasonably, for we
+must take this place, as there are no provisions for the army unless we
+take it."
+
+They then deliberated together, and Xenophon asking what hindered them
+from taking the place, Chirisophus replied: "The only approach to it is
+the one which you see; but when any of our men attempt to pass along it,
+the enemy roll down stones over yonder impending rock, and whoever is
+struck is treated as you behold;" and he pointed, at the same moment, to
+some of the men who had had their legs and ribs broken. "But if they
+expend all their stones," rejoined Xenophon, "is there anything else to
+prevent us from advancing? For we see, in front of us, only a few men,
+and but two or three of them armed. The space, too, through which we
+have to pass under exposure to the stones is, as you see, only about a
+hundred and fifty feet in length; and of this about a hundred feet is
+covered with large pine trees in groups, against which, if the men place
+themselves, what would they suffer either from the flying stones or the
+rolling ones? The remaining part of the space is not above fifty feet,
+over which, when the stones cease, we must pass at a running pace."
+
+"But," said Chirisophus, "the instant we offer to go to the part covered
+with trees, the stones fly in great numbers."
+
+"That," cried Xenophon, "would be the very thing we want, for thus they
+will exhaust their stones the sooner. Let us then advance, if we can, to
+the point whence we shall have but a short way to run, and from which we
+may, if we please, easily retreat."
+
+Chirisophus and Xenophon, with Callimachus of Parrhasia, one of the
+captains, who had that day the lead of all the other captains of the
+rear-guard, then went forward, all the rest of the captains remaining
+out of danger. Next, about seventy of the men advanced under the trees,
+not in a body, but one by one, each sheltering himself as he could.
+Agasias of Stymphalus, and Aristonymus of Methydria, who were also
+captains of the rear-guard, with some others were at the same time
+standing behind, without the trees, for it was not safe for more than
+one company to stand under them. Callimachus then adopted the following
+stratagem: he ran forward two or three paces from the tree under which
+he was sheltered, and when the stones began to be hurled, hastily drew
+back; and at each of his sallies more than ten cartloads of stones were
+spent.
+
+Agasias, observing what Callimachus was doing, and that the eyes of the
+whole army were upon him, and fearing that he himself might not be the
+first to enter the place, began to advance alone--neither calling to
+Aristonymus who was next him, nor to Eurylochus of Lusia, both of whom
+were his intimate friends, nor to any other person--and passed by all
+the rest. Callimachus, seeing him rushing by, caught hold of the rim of
+his shield, and at that moment Aristonymus of Methydria ran past them
+both, and after him Eurylochus of Lusia, for all these sought
+distinction for valor, and were rivals to one another; and thus, in
+mutual emulation, they got possession of the place, for when they had
+once rushed in, not a stone was hurled from above. But a dreadful
+spectacle was then to be seen; for the women, flinging their children
+over the precipice, threw themselves after them; and the men followed
+their example. Æneas of Stymphalus, a captain, seeing one of them, who
+had on a rich garment, running to throw himself over, caught hold of it
+with intent to stop him. But the man dragged him forward, and they both
+went rolling down the rocks together, and were killed. Thus very few
+prisoners were taken, but a great number of oxen, asses, and sheep.
+
+Hence they advanced, seven days' journey, a distance of fifty parasangs,
+through the country of the Chalybes. These were the most warlike people
+of all that they passed through, and came to close combat with them.
+They had linen cuirasses, reaching down to the groin, and, instead of
+skirts, thick cords twisted. They had also greaves and helmets, and at
+their girdles a short falchion, as large as a Spartan crooked dagger,
+with which they cut the throats of all whom they could master, and then,
+cutting off their heads, carried them away with them. They sang and
+danced when the enemy were likely to see them. They carried also a spear
+of about fifteen cubits in length, having one spike.[34] They stayed in
+their villages till the Greeks had passed by, when they pursued and
+perpetually harassed them. They had their dwellings in strong places, in
+which they had also laid up their provisions, so that the Greeks could
+get nothing from that country, but lived upon the cattle which they had
+taken from the Taochi.
+
+[Footnote 34: Having one iron point at the upper end, and no point at
+the lower for fixing the spear in the ground.]
+
+The Greeks next arrived at the river Harpasus, the breadth of which was
+four _plethra_. Hence they proceeded through the territory of the
+Scythini, four days' journey, making twenty parasangs, over a level
+tract, until they came to some villages, in which they halted three days
+and collected provisions. From this place they advanced four days'
+journey, twenty parasangs, to a large, rich and populous city, called
+Gymnias, from which the governor of the country sent the Greeks a guide
+to conduct them through a region at war with his own people. The guide,
+when he came, said that he would take them in five days to a place
+whence they should see the sea; if not, he would consent to be put to
+death. When, as he proceeded, he entered the country of their enemies,
+he exhorted them to burn and lay waste the lands; whence it was evident
+that he had come for this very purpose, and not from any good-will to
+the Greeks.
+
+On the fifth day they came to the mountain; and the name of it was
+Theches. When the men who were in the front had mounted the height, and
+looked down upon the sea, a great shout proceeded from them; and
+Xenophon and the rearguard, on hearing it, thought that some new enemies
+were assailing the front, for in the rear, too, the people from the
+country that they had burned were following them, and the rear-guard, by
+placing an ambuscade, had killed some, and taken others prisoners, and
+had captured about twenty shields made of raw ox-hides with the hair on.
+But as the noise still increased, and drew nearer, and as those who came
+up from time to time kept running at full speed to join those who were
+continually shouting, the cries becoming louder as the men became more
+numerous, it appeared to Xenophon that it must be something of very
+great moment. Mounting his horse, therefore, and taking with him Lycius
+and the cavalry, he hastened forward to give aid, when presently they
+heard the soldiers shouting, "The sea, the sea!" and cheering on one
+another. They then all began to run, the rear-guard as well as the rest,
+and the baggage-cattle and horses were put to their speed; and when they
+had all arrived at the top, the men embraced one another and their
+generals and captains, with tears in their eyes. Suddenly, whoever it
+was that suggested it, the soldiers brought stones, and raised a large
+mound, on which they laid a number of raw ox-hides, staves, and shields
+taken from the enemy. The shields the guide himself hacked in pieces,
+and exhorted the rest to do the same. Soon after, the Greeks sent away
+the guide, giving him presents from the common stock: a horse, a silver
+cup, a Persian robe, and ten _darics_; but he showed most desire for the
+rings on their fingers, and obtained many of them from the soldiers.
+Having then pointed out to them a village where they might take up their
+quarters, and the road by which they were to proceed to the Macrones,
+when the evening came on he departed, pursuing his way during the night.
+
+Hence the Greeks advanced three days' journey, a distance of ten
+parasangs, through the country of the Macrones. On the first day they
+came to a river which divides the territories of the Macrones from those
+of the Scythini. On their right they had an eminence extremely difficult
+of access, and on their left another river, into which the boundary
+river, which they had to cross, empties itself. This stream was thickly
+edged with trees, not indeed large, but growing closely together. These
+the Greeks, as soon as they came to the spot, cut down,[35] being in
+haste to get out of the country as soon as possible. The Macrones,
+however, equipped with wicker shields, and spears, and hair tunics, were
+drawn up on the opposite side of the crossing-place; they were animating
+one another and throwing stones into the river.[36] They did not hit our
+men or cause them any inconvenience.
+
+[Footnote 35: The Greeks cut down the trees in order to throw them into
+the stream, and form a kind of bridge on which they might cross.]
+
+[Footnote 36: They threw stones into the river that they might stand on
+them and approach nearer to the Greeks, so as to use their weapons with
+more effect.]
+
+At this juncture one of the peltasts came up to Xenophon, saying that he
+had been a slave at Athens, and adding that he knew the language of
+these men. "I think, indeed," said he, "that this is my country, and, if
+there is nothing to prevent, I should wish to speak to the people."
+
+"There is nothing to prevent," replied Xenophon; "so speak to them, and
+first ascertain what people they are." When he asked them, they said
+that they were the Macrones. "Inquire, then," said Xenophon, "why they
+are drawn up to oppose us and wish to be our enemies." They replied,
+"Because you come against our country." The generals then told him to
+acquaint them that we were not come with any wish to do them injury, but
+that we were returning to Greece after having been engaged in war with
+the king, and that we were desirous to reach the sea. They asked if the
+Greeks would give pledges to this effect; and the Greeks replied that
+they were willing both to give and receive them. The Macrones
+accordingly presented the Greeks with a barbarian lance, and the Greeks
+gave them a Grecian one; for they said that such were their usual
+pledges. Both parties called the gods to witness.
+
+After these mutual assurances, the Macrones immediately assisted them in
+cutting away the trees and made a passage for them as if to bring them
+over, mingling freely among the Greeks; they also gave such facilities
+as they could for buying provisions, and conducted them through their
+country for three days, until they brought them to the confines of the
+Colchians. Here was a range of hills, high, but accessible, and upon
+them the Colchians were drawn up in array. The Greeks, at first, drew up
+against them in a line, with the intention of marching up the hill in
+this disposition; but afterward the generals thought proper to assemble
+and deliberate how they might engage with the best effect.
+
+Xenophon then said it appeared to him that they ought to relinquish the
+arrangement in line, and to dispose the troops in columns; "for a line,"
+pursued he, "will be broken at once, as we shall find the hills in some
+parts impassable, though in others easy of access; and this disruption
+will immediately produce despondency in the men, when, after being
+ranged in a regular line, they find it dispersed. Again, if we advance
+drawn up very many deep, the enemy will stretch beyond us on both sides,
+and will employ the parts that outreach us in any way they may think
+proper; and if we advance only a few deep, it would not be at all
+surprising if our line be broken through by showers of missiles and men
+falling upon us in large bodies. If this happen in any part, it will be
+ill for the whole extent of the line. I think, then, that having formed
+our companies in columns, we should keep them so far apart from each
+other as that the last companies on each side may be beyond the enemy's
+wings. Thus our extreme companies will both outflank the line of the
+enemy, and, as we march in file, the bravest of our men will close with
+the enemy first, and wherever the ascent is easiest, there each division
+will direct its course. Nor will it be easy for the enemy to penetrate
+into the intervening spaces when there are companies on each side, nor
+will it be easy to break through a column as it advances; while, if any
+one of the companies be hard pressed, the neighboring one will support
+it; and if but one of the companies can by any path attain the summit,
+the enemy will no longer stand their ground."
+
+This plan was approved, and they threw the companies into columns.
+Xenophon, riding along from the right wing to the left, said: "Soldiers,
+the enemy whom you see before you is now the only obstacle to hinder us
+from being where we have long been eager to be. These, if we can, we
+must eat up alive."
+
+When the men were all in their places, and they had formed the companies
+into columns, there were about eighty companies of heavy-armed men, and
+each company consisted of about eighty men. The peltasts and archers
+they divided into three bodies, each about six hundred men, one of which
+they placed beyond the left wing, another beyond the right, and the
+third in the centre. The generals then desired the soldiers to make
+their vows to the gods; and having made them, and sung the paean, they
+moved forward. Chirisophus and Xenophon, and the peltasts that they had
+with them, who were beyond the enemy's flanks, pushed on; and the enemy,
+observing their motions, and hurrying forward to receive them, was drawn
+off, some to the right and others to the left, and left a great void in
+the centre of the line; when the peltasts in the Arcadian division, whom
+Aeschines the Acarnanian commanded, seeing the Colchians separate, ran
+forward in all haste, thinking that they were taking to flight; and
+these were the first that reached the summit. The Arcadian heavy-armed
+troop, of which Clearnor the Orchomenian was captain, followed them. But
+the enemy, when once the Greeks began to run, no longer stood its
+ground, but went off in flight, some one way and some another.
+
+Having passed the summit, the Greeks encamped in a number of villages
+containing abundance of provisions. As to other things here, there was
+nothing at which they were surprised; but the number of bee-hives was
+extraordinary, and all the soldiers that ate of the combs lost their
+senses, vomited, and were affected with purging, and not any of them was
+able to stand upright; such as had eaten a little were like men greatly
+intoxicated, and such as had eaten much were like madmen, and some like
+persons at the point of death. They lay upon the ground, in consequence,
+in great numbers, as if there had been a defeat; and there was general
+dejection. The next day no one of them was found dead; and they
+recovered their senses about the same hour that they had lost them on
+the preceding day; and on the third and fourth days they got up as if
+after having taken physic.[37]
+
+[Footnote 37: That there was honey in these parts, with intoxicating
+qualities, was well known to antiquity. Pliny mentions two sorts of it,
+one produced at Heraclea in Pontus, and the other among the Sanni or
+Macrones. The peculiarities of the honey arose from the herbs to which
+the bees resorted; the first came from the flower of a plant called
+_oegolethron_, or goatsbane; the other from a species of rhododendron.
+Tournefort, when he was in that country, saw honey of this description.
+Ainsworth found that the intoxicating honey had a bitter taste. This
+honey is also mentioned by Dioscorides.]
+
+From hence they proceeded two days' march, seven parasangs, and arrived
+at Trebizond, a Greek city, of large population, on the Euxine Sea; a
+colony of Sinope, but lying in the territory of the Colchians. Here they
+stayed about thirty days, encamping in the villages of the Colchians,
+whence they made excursions and plundered the country of Colchis. The
+people of Trebizond provided a market for the Greeks in the camp, and
+entertained them in the city; and made them presents of oxen,
+barley-meal, and wine. They negotiated with them also on behalf of the
+neighboring Colchians, those especially who dwelt in the plain, and from
+them too were brought presents of oxen.
+
+Soon after, they prepared to perform the sacrifice which they had vowed.
+Oxen enough had been brought them to offer to Jupiter the Preserver, and
+to Hercules, for their safe conduct, and whatever they had vowed to the
+other gods. They also celebrated gymnastic games upon the hill where
+they were encamped, and chose Dracontius, a Spartan--who had become an
+exile from his country when quite a boy, for having involuntarily killed
+a child by striking him with a dagger--to prepare the course and preside
+at the contests. When the sacrifice was ended, they gave the hides[38]
+to Dracontius, and desired him to conduct them to the place where he had
+made the course. Dracontius, pointing to the place where they were
+standing, said, "This hill is an excellent place for running, in
+whatever direction the men may wish."
+
+[Footnote 38: Lion and Kuehner have a notion that these skins were to be
+given as prizes to the victors, referring to Herodotus, who says that
+the Egyptians, in certain games which they celebrate in honor of
+Perseus, offer as prizes cattle, cloaks, and hides. Krueger doubts
+whether they were intended for prizes, or were given as a present to
+Dracontius.]
+
+"But how will they be able," said they, "to wrestle on ground so rough
+and bushy?"
+
+"He that falls," said he, "will suffer the more." Boys, most of them
+from among the prisoners, contended in the short course, and in the long
+course above sixty Cretans ran; while others were matched in wrestling,
+boxing, and the _pancratium_. It was a fine sight; for many entered the
+lists, and as their friends were spectators, there was great emulation.
+Horses also ran; and they had to gallop down the steep, and, turning
+round in the sea, to come up again to the altar. In the descent, many
+rolled down; but in the ascent, against the exceedingly steep ground,
+the horses could scarcely get up at a walking pace. There was
+consequently great shouting and laughter and cheering from the people.
+
+
+
+
+CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES
+
+B.C. 399
+
+PLATO
+
+
+(The death of Socrates was brought about under the restored democracy by
+three of his enemies--Lycon, Meletus, and Anytus, the last a man of high
+rank and reputation in the state. Socrates was accused by them of
+despising the ancient gods of the state, introducing new divinities and
+corrupting the youth of Athens. He was charged with having taught his
+followers, young men of the first Athenian families, to despise the
+established government, to be turbulent and seditious, and his accusors
+pointed to Alcibiades and Critias, notorious for their lawlessness, as
+examples of the fruits of his teaching.
+
+It is quite certain that Socrates disliked the Athenian government and
+considered democracy as tyrannical as despotism. But there was no law at
+Athens by which he could be put to death for his words and actions, and
+the vague charge could never have been made unless the whole trial of
+the philosopher had been a party movement, headed by men like Lycon and
+Anytus, whose support of the unjust measure made the condemnation of
+Socrates a foregone conclusion. Xenophon, the pupil and admirer of the
+philosopher, expresses in his _Memorabilia of Socrates_ his surprise
+that the Athenians should have condemned to death a man of such exalted
+character and transparent innocence. But the influence of the teacher
+with his pupils, most of them sons of the wealthiest citizens, might
+well have been dreaded by those in office and engaged in the conduct of
+public business. By them, the common politicians of the day, Socrates,
+with his keen and witty criticism of political corruption and
+demagogism, must have been considered a formidable adversary.
+
+Accordingly, by the decision of the Athenian court, the philosopher was
+sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock. Although it was usual
+for criminals to be executed the day following their condemnation, he
+enjoyed a respite of thirty days, during which time his friends had
+access to his prison cell. It was the time when the ceremonial galley
+was crowned and sent on her pilgrimage to the holy Isle of Delos, and no
+criminal could be executed until her return. Socrates exhibited heroic
+constancy and cheerfulness during this interval, and repudiated the
+offers of his friends to aid in his escape, though they had chartered a
+ship to carry him to Thessaly. With calm composure he reasoned on the
+immortality of the soul, and cheered his visitors with words of hope.
+
+The literary portraits of Socrates furnished by himself, and the
+writings of Plato, are among the most precious monuments of antiquity,
+and the life and death of such a man form a memorable era in the moral
+and intellectual history of mankind.
+
+Plato, in his _Phædo, or the Immortality of the Soul_, gives the
+following dialogue between Echecrates and Phædo--two friends and
+disciples of the late philosopher--evidently with no other purpose in
+view than to lend to the account of the great teacher's last hours, and
+the last words his followers were to hear from his lips, the additional
+force and dramatic value of a personal narrative in the mouth of a
+loving pupil and an actual eyewitness of his death.)
+
+
+Echecrates. Were you personally present, Phaedo, with Socrates on that
+day when he drank the poison in prison? or did you hear an account of it
+from someone else?
+
+_Phæd._ I was there myself, Echecrates.
+
+_Ech._ What then did he say before his death? and how did he die? for I
+should be glad to hear; for scarcely any citizen of Phlius[39] ever
+visits Athens now, nor has any stranger for a long time come from
+thence, who was able to give us a clear account of the particulars,
+except that he died from drinking poison; but he was unable to tell us
+anything more.
+
+[Footnote 39: Phlius, to which Echecrates belonged, was a town of
+Sicyonia in Peloponnesus.]
+
+_Phæd._ And did you not hear about the trial how it went off?
+
+_Ech._ Yes; some one told me this; and I wondered, that as it took place
+so long ago, he appears to have died long afterward. What was the reason
+of this, Phaedo?
+
+_Phæd._ An accidental circumstance happened in his favor, Echecrates:
+for the poop of the ship which the Athenians send to Delos, chanced to
+be crowned on the day before the trial.
+
+_Ech._ But what is this ship?
+
+_Phæd._ It is the ship, as the Athenians say, in which Theseus formerly
+conveyed the fourteen boys and girls to Crete and saved both them and
+himself. They, therefore, made a vow to Apollo on that occasion, as it
+is said, that if they were saved they would every year despatch a solemn
+embassy to Delos; which, from that time to the present, they send yearly
+to the god. When they begin the preparations for this solemn embassy,
+they have a law that the city shall be purified during this period, and
+that no public execution shall take place until the ship has reached
+Delos, and returned to Athens: and this occasionally takes a long time,
+when the winds happen to impede their passage. The commencement of the
+embassy is when the priest of Apollo has crowned the poop of the ship.
+And this was done, as I said, on the day before the trial: on this
+account Socrates had a long interval in prison between the trial and his
+death.
+
+_Ech._ And what, Phædo, were the circumstances of his death? what was
+said and done? and who of his friends were with him? or would not the
+magistrates allow them to be present, but did he die destitute of
+friends?
+
+_Phæd._ By no means; but some, indeed several, were present.
+
+_Ech._ Take the trouble, then, to relate to me all the particulars as
+clearly as you can, unless you have any pressing business.
+
+_Phæd._ I am at leisure, and will endeavor to give you a full account:
+for to call Socrates to mind, whether speaking myself or listening to
+some one else, is always most delightful to me.
+
+_Ech._ And indeed, Phaedo, you have others to listen to you who are of
+the same mind. However, endeavor to relate everything as accurately as
+you can.
+
+_Phæd._ I was indeed wonderfully affected by being present, for I was
+not impressed with a feeling of pity, like one present at the death of a
+friend; for the man appeared to me to be happy, Echecrates, both from
+his manner and discourse, so fearlessly and nobly did he meet his death:
+so much so that it occurred to me that in going to Hades he was not
+going without a divine destiny, but that when he arrived there he would
+be happy, if anyone ever was. For this reason I was entirely
+uninfluenced by any feeling of pity, as would seem likely to be the case
+with one present on so mournful an occasion; nor was I affected by
+pleasure from being engaged in philosophical discussions, as was our
+custom; for our conversation was of that kind. But an altogether
+unaccountable feeling possessed me, a kind of unusual mixture compounded
+of pleasure and pain together, when I considered that he was immediately
+about to die. And all of us who were present were affected in much the
+same manner, at one time laughing, at another weeping one of us
+especially, Apollodorus, for you know the man and his manner.
+
+_Ech._ How should I not?
+
+_Phæd._ He, then, was entirely overcome by these emotions; and I too was
+troubled, as well as the others.
+
+_Ech._ But who were present, Phaedo?
+
+_Phæd._ Of his fellow-countrymen, this Apollodorus was present, and
+Critobulus, and his father Crito, moreover Hermogenes, Epigenes,
+Æschines, and Antisthenes; Ctesippus the Pæanian, Menexenus, and some
+other of his countrymen were also there: Plato I think was sick.
+
+_Ech._ Were any strangers present?
+
+_Phæd._ Yes: Simmias the Theban, Cebes, and Phaedondes: and from Megara,
+Euclides and Terpsion.
+
+_Ech._ But what! were not Aristippus and Cleombrotus present?
+
+_Phæd._ No: for they were said to be at Ægina.
+
+_Ech._ Was anyone else there?
+
+_Phæd._ I think that these were nearly all who were present.
+
+_Ech._ Well, now, what do you say was the subject of conversation?
+
+_Phæd._ I will endeavor to relate the whole to you from the beginning.
+On the preceding days I and the others were constantly in the habit of
+visiting Socrates, meeting early in the morning at the court-house where
+the trial took place, for it was near the prison. Here then we waited
+every day till the prison was opened, conversing with each other; for it
+was not opened very early, but, as soon as it was opened we went in to
+Socrates, and usually spent the day with him. On that occasion, however,
+we met earlier than usual; for on the preceding day, when we left the
+prison in the evening, we heard that the ship had arrived from Delos. We
+therefore urged each other to come as early as possible to the
+accustomed place; accordingly we came, and the porter, who used to admit
+us, coming out, told us to wait, and not enter until he called us.
+"For," he said, "the Eleven are now freeing Socrates from his bonds, and
+announcing to him that he must die to-day." But in no long time he
+returned, and bade us enter.
+
+When we entered, we found Socrates just freed from his bonds, and
+Xantippe (you know her), holding his little boy and sitting by him. As
+soon as Xantippe saw us, she wept aloud and said such things as women
+usually do on such occasions, as, "Socrates, your friends will now
+converse with you for the last time, and you with them." But Socrates,
+looking toward Crito, said, "Crito, let some one take her home." Upon
+which some of Crito's attendants led her away, wailing and beating
+herself.
+
+But Socrates, sitting up in bed, drew up his leg and rubbed it with his
+hand, and as he rubbed it said: "What an unaccountable thing, my
+friends, that seems to be which men call pleasure; and how wonderfully
+is it related toward that which appears to be its contrary, pain; in
+that they will not both be present to a man at the same time, yet, if
+anyone pursues and attains the one, he is almost always compelled to
+receive the other, as if they were both united together from one head.
+
+"And it seems to me," he said, "that if Æsop had observed this he would
+have made a fable from it, how the Deity, wishing to reconcile these
+warring principles, when he could not do so, united their heads
+together, and from hence whomsoever the one visits the other attends
+immediately after; as appears to be the case with me, since I suffered
+pain in my leg before from the chain, but now pleasure seems to have
+succeeded."
+
+Hereupon Cebes, interrupting him, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates, you have
+done well in reminding me. With respect to the poems which you made, by
+putting into metre those Fables of Æsop and the hymn to Apollo, several
+other persons asked me, and especially Evenus recently, with what design
+you made them after you came here, whereas before, you had never made
+any. If, therefore, you care at all that I should be able to answer
+Evenus when he asks me again--for I am sure he will do so--tell me what
+I must say to him."
+
+"Tell him the truth then, Cebes," he replied, "that I did not make them
+from a wish to compete with him, or his poems, for I knew that this
+would be no easy matter; but that I might discover the meaning of
+certain dreams, and discharge my conscience, if this should happen to be
+the music which they have often ordered me to apply myself to. For they
+were to the following purport: often in my past life the same dream
+visited me, appearing at different times in different forms, yet always
+saying the same thing. 'Socrates,' it said, 'apply yourself to and
+practise music.' And I formerly supposed that it exhorted and encouraged
+me to continue the pursuit I was engaged in, as those who cheer on
+racers, so that the dream encouraged me to continue the pursuit I was
+engaged in, namely, to apply myself to music, since philosophy is the
+highest music, and I was devoted to it. But now since my trial took
+place, and the festival of the god retarded my death, it appeared to me
+that, if by chance the dream so frequently enjoined me to apply myself
+to popular music, I ought not to disobey it but do so, for that it would
+be safer for me not to depart hence before I had discharged my
+conscience by making some poems in obedience to the dream. Thus, then, I
+first of all composed a hymn to the god whose festival was present, and
+after the god, considering that a poet, if he means to be a poet, ought
+to make fables and not discourses, and knowing that I was not skilled in
+making fables, I therefore put into verse those fables of Æsop, which
+were at hand, and were known to me, and which first occurred to me.
+
+"Tell this then to Evenus, Cebes, and bid him farewell, and, if he is
+wise, to follow me as soon as he can. But I depart, as it seems, to-day;
+for so the Athenians order."
+
+To this Simmias said: "What is this, Socrates, which you exhort Evenus
+to do? for I often meet with him; and from what I know of him, I am
+pretty certain that he will not at all be willing to comply with your
+advice."
+
+"What then," said he, "is not Evenus a philosopher?"
+
+"To me he seems to be so," said Simmias.
+
+"Then he will be willing," rejoined Socrates, "and so will everyone who
+worthily engages in this study; perhaps indeed he will not commit
+violence on himself, for that they say is not allowable." And as he said
+this he let down his leg from the bed on the ground, and in this posture
+continued during the remainder of the discussion.
+
+Cebes then asked him: "What do you mean, Socrates, by saying that it is
+not lawful to commit violence on one's self, but that a philosopher
+should be willing to follow one who is dying?"
+
+"What, Cebes, have not you and Simmias, who have conversed familiarly
+with Philolaus[40] on this subject, heard?"
+
+[Footnote 40: A Pythagorean of Crotona.]
+
+"Nothing very clearly, Socrates."
+
+"I however speak only from hearsay; what then I have heard I have no
+scruple in telling. And perhaps it is most becoming for one who is about
+to travel there, to inquire and speculate about the journey thither,
+what kind we think it is. What else can one do in the interval before
+sunset?"
+
+"Why, then, Socrates, do they say that it is not allowable to kill one's
+self? for I, as you asked just now, have heard both Philolaus, when he
+lived with us, and several others say that it was not right to do this;
+but I never heard anything clear upon the subject from anyone."
+
+"Then you should consider it attentively," said Socrates, "for perhaps
+you may hear: probably, however, it will appear wonderful to you, if
+this alone of all other things is an universal truth,[41] and it never
+happens to a man, as is the case in all other things, that at some times
+and to some persons only it is better to die than to live; yet that
+these men for whom it is better to die--this probably will appear
+wonderful to you--may not, without impiety, do this good to themselves,
+but must await another benefactor."
+
+[Footnote 41: Namely, "that it is better to die than live."]
+
+Then Cebes, gently smiling, said, speaking in his own dialect, "Jove be
+witness."
+
+"And indeed," said Socrates, "it would appear to be unreasonable, yet
+still perhaps it has some reason on its side. The maxim indeed given on
+this subject in the mystical doctrines,[42] that we men are in a kind of
+prison, and that we ought not to free ourselves from it and escape,
+appears to me difficult to be understood, and not easy to penetrate.
+This however appears to me, Cebes, to be well said, that the gods take
+care of us, and that we men are one of their possessions. Does it not
+seem so to you?"
+
+[Footnote 42: Of Pythagoras.]
+
+"It does," replied Cebes.
+
+"Therefore," said he, "if one of your slaves were to kill himself,
+without your having intimated that you wished him to die, should you not
+be angry with him, and should you not punish him if you could?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied.
+
+"Perhaps then, in this point of view, it is not unreasonable to assert,
+that a man ought not to kill himself before the deity lays him under a
+necessity of doing so, such as that now laid on me."
+
+"This, indeed," said Cebes, "appears to be probable. But what you said
+just now, Socrates, that philosophers should be very willing to die,
+appears to be an absurdity, if what we said just now is agreeable to
+reason, that it is God who takes care of us, and that we are his
+property. For that the wisest men should not be grieved at leaving that
+service in which they govern them who are the best of all masters,
+namely, the gods, is not consistent with reason. For surely he cannot
+think that he will take better care of himself when he has become free:
+but a foolish man might perhaps think thus, that he should fly from his
+master, and would not reflect that he ought not to fly from a good one,
+but should cling to him as much as possible, therefore he would fly
+against all reason; but a man of sense would desire to be constantly
+with one better than himself. Thus, Socrates, the contrary of what you
+just now said is likely to be the case; for it becomes the wise to be
+grieved at dying, but the foolish to rejoice."
+
+Socrates, on hearing this, appeared to me to be pleased with the
+pertinacity of Cebes, and looking toward us said: "Cebes, you see,
+always searches out arguments, and is not at all willing to admit at
+once anything one has said."
+
+Whereupon Simmias replied: "But indeed, Socrates, Cebes appears to me,
+now, to say something to the purpose; for with what design should men
+really wise fly from masters who are better than themselves, and so
+readily leave them? And Cebes appears to me to direct his argument
+against you, because you so easily endure to abandon both us and those
+good rulers--as you yourself confess--the gods."
+
+"You speak justly," said Socrates, "for I think you mean that I ought to
+make my defence to this charge, as if I were in a court of justice."
+
+"Certainly," replied Simmias.
+
+"Come then," said he, "I will endeavor to defend myself more
+successfully before you than before the judges. For," he proceeded,
+"Simmias and Cebes, if I did not think that I should go first of all
+among other deities who are both wise and good, and next among men who
+have departed this life better than any here, I should be wrong in not
+grieving at death: but now be assured, I hope to go among good men,
+though I would not positively assert it; that, however, I shall go among
+gods who are perfectly good masters, be assured I can positively assert
+this, if I can anything of the kind. So that, on this account, I am not
+so much troubled, but I entertain a good hope that something awaits
+those who die, and that, as was said long since, it will be far better
+for the good than the evil."
+
+"What then, Socrates," said Simmias, "would you go away keeping this
+persuasion to yourself, or would you impart it to us? For this good
+appears to me to be also common to us; and at the same time it will be
+an apology for you, if you can persuade us to believe what you say."
+
+"I will endeavor to do so," he said. "But first let us attend to Crito
+here, and see what it is he seems to have for some time wished to say."
+
+"What else, Socrates," said Crito, "but what he who is to give you the
+poison told me some time ago, that I should tell you to speak as little
+as possible? For he says that men become too much heated by speaking,
+and that nothing of this kind ought to interfere with the poison, and
+that, otherwise, those who did so were sometimes compelled to drink two
+or three times."
+
+To which Socrates replied: "Let him alone, and let him attend to his own
+business, and prepare to give it me twice, or, if occasion requires,
+even thrice."
+
+"I was almost certain what you would say," answered Crito, "but he has
+been some time pestering me."
+
+"Never mind him," he rejoined.
+
+"But now I wish to render an account to you, my judges, of the reason
+why a man who has really devoted his life to philosophy, when he is
+about to die appears to me, on good grounds, to have confidence, and to
+entertain a firm hope that the greatest good will befall him in the
+other world, when he has departed this life. How then this comes to
+pass, Simmias and Cebes, I will endeavor to explain.
+
+"For as many as rightly apply themselves to philosophy seem to have left
+all others in ignorance, that they aim at nothing else than to die and
+be dead. If this then is true, it would surely be absurd to be anxious
+about nothing else than this during their whole life, but when it
+arrives, to be grieved at what they have been long anxious about and
+aimed at."
+
+Upon this, Simmias, smiling, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates, though I am
+not now at all inclined to smile, you have made me do so; for I think
+that the multitude, if they heard this, would think it was very well
+said in reference to philosophers, and that our countrymen particularly
+would agree with you, that true philosophers do desire death, and that
+they are by no means ignorant that they deserve to suffer it."
+
+"And indeed, Simmias, they would speak the truth, except in asserting
+that they are not ignorant; for they are ignorant of the sense in which
+true philosophers desire to die, and in what sense they deserve death,
+and what kind of death. But," he said, "let us take leave of them, and
+speak to one another. Do we think that death is anything?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Simmias.
+
+"Is it anything else than the separation of the soul from the body? and
+is not this to die, for the body to be apart by itself separated from
+the soul, and for the soul to subsist apart by itself separated from the
+body? Is death anything else than this?"
+
+"No, but this," he replied.
+
+"Consider then, my good friend, whether you are of the same opinion as
+me; for thus I think we shall understand better the subject we are
+considering. Does it appear to you to be becoming in a philosopher to be
+anxious about pleasures, as they are called, such as meats and drinks?"
+
+"By no means, Socrates," said Simmias.
+
+"But what? about the pleasures of love?"
+
+"Not at all"
+
+"What then? does such a man appear to you to think other bodily
+indulgences of value? for instance, does he seem to you to value or
+despise the possession of magnificent garments and sandals, and other
+ornaments of the body, except so far as necessity compels him to use
+them?"
+
+"The true philosopher," he answered, "appears to me to despise them."
+
+"Does not, then," he continued, "the whole employment of such a man
+appear to you to be, not about the body, but to separate himself from it
+as much as possible, and be occupied about his soul?"
+
+"It does."
+
+"First of all, then, in such matters, does not the philosopher, above
+all other men, evidently free his soul as much as he can from communion
+with the body?"
+
+"It appears so."
+
+"And it appears, Simmias, to the generality of men, that he who takes no
+pleasure in such things, and who does not use them, does not deserve to
+live; but that he nearly approaches to death who cares nothing for the
+pleasures that subsist through the body."
+
+"You speak very truly."
+
+"But what with respect to the acquisition of wisdom, is the body an
+impediment or not, if anyone takes it with him as a partner in the
+search? What I mean is this: Do sight and hearing convey any truth to
+men, or are they such as the poets constantly sing, who say that we
+neither hear nor see anything with accuracy? If, however, these bodily
+senses are neither accurate nor clear, much less can the others be so:
+for they are all far inferior to these. Do they not seem so to you?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied.
+
+"When, then," said he, "does the soul light on the truth? for, when it
+attempts to consider anything in conjunction with the body, it is plain
+that it is then led astray by it."
+
+"You say truly."
+
+"Must it not then be by reasoning, if at all, that any of the things
+that really are become known to it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And surely the soul then reasons best when none of these things
+disturbs it, neither hearing, nor sight, nor pain, nor pleasure of any
+kind, but it retires as much as possible within itself, taking leave of
+the body, and, as far as it can, not communicating or being in contact
+with it, it aims at the discovery of that which is."
+
+"Such is the case."
+
+"Does not then the soul of the philosopher, in these cases, despise the
+body, and flee from it, and seek to retire within itself?"
+
+"It appears so."
+
+"But what as to such things as these, Simmias? Do we say that justice
+itself is something or nothing?"
+
+"We say it is something, by Jupiter."
+
+"And that beauty and goodness are something?"
+
+"How not?"
+
+"Now, then, have you ever seen anything of this kind with your eyes?"
+
+"By no means," he replied.
+
+"Did you ever lay hold of them by any other bodily sense? but I speak
+generally, as of magnitude, health, strength, and, in a word, of the
+essence of everything, that is to say, what each is. Is then the exact
+truth of these perceived by means of the body, or is it thus, whoever
+among us habituates himself to reflect most deeply and accurately on
+each several thing about which he is considering, he will make the
+nearest approach to the knowledge of it?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Would not he, then, do this with the utmost purity, who should in the
+highest degree approach each subject by means of the mere mental
+faculties, neither employing the sight in conjunction with the
+reflective faculty, nor introducing any other sense together with
+reasoning; but who, using pure reflection by itself, should attempt to
+search out each essence purely by itself, freed as much as possible from
+the eyes and ears, and, in a word, from the whole body, as disturbing
+the soul, and not suffering it to acquire truth and wisdom, when it is
+in communion with it. Is not he the person, Simmias, if any one can, who
+will arrive at the knowledge of that which is?"
+
+"You speak with wonderful truth, Socrates," replied Simmias.
+
+"Wherefore," he said, "it necessarily follows from all this, that some
+such opinion as this should be entertained by genuine philosophers, so
+that they should speak among themselves as follows: 'A by-path, as it
+were, seems to lead us on in our researches undertaken by reason,'
+because as long as we are encumbered with the body, and our soul is
+contaminated with such an evil, we can never fully attain to what we
+desire; and this, we say, is truth. For the body subjects us to
+innumerable hinderances on account of its necessary support, and
+moreover if any diseases befall us, they impede us in our search after
+that which is; and it fills us with longings, desires, fears, all kinds
+of fancies, and a multitude of absurdities, so that, as it is said in
+real truth, by reason of the body it is never possible for us to make
+any advances in wisdom.
+
+"For nothing else but the body and its desires occasions wars,
+seditions, and contests; for all wars among us arise on account of our
+desire to acquire wealth; and we are compelled to acquire wealth on
+account of the body, being enslaved to its service; and consequently on
+all these accounts we are hindered in the pursuit of philosophy. But the
+worst of all is, that if it leaves us any leisure, and we apply
+ourselves to the consideration of any subject, it constantly obtrudes
+itself in the midst of our researches, and occasions trouble and
+disturbance, and confounds us so that we are not able by reason of it to
+discern the truth. It has then in reality been demonstrated to us, that
+if we are ever to know anything purely, we must be separated from the
+body, and contemplate the things themselves by the mere soul. And then,
+as it seems, we shall obtain that which we desire, and which we profess
+ourselves to be lovers of, wisdom, when we are dead, as reason shows,
+but not while we are alive. For if it is not possible to know anything
+purely in conjunction with the body, one of these two things must
+follow, either that we can never acquire knowledge, or only after we are
+dead; for then the soul will subsist apart by itself, separate from the
+body, but not before. And while we live, we shall thus, as it seems,
+approach nearest to knowledge, if we hold no intercourse or communion at
+all with the body, except what absolute necessity requires, nor suffer
+ourselves to be polluted by its nature, but purify ourselves from it,
+until God himself shall release us. And thus being pure, and freed from
+the folly of body, we shall in all likelihood be with others like
+ourselves, and shall of ourselves know the whole real essence, and that
+probably is truth; for it is not allowable for the impure to attain to
+the pure. Such things, I think, Simmias, all true lovers of wisdom must
+both think and say to one another. Does it not seem so to you?"
+
+"Most assuredly, Socrates."
+
+"If this, then," said Socrates, "is true, my friend, there is great hope
+for one who arrives where I am going, there, if anywhere, to acquire
+that perfection for the sake of which we have taken so much pains during
+our past life; so that the journey now appointed me is set out upon with
+good hope, and will be so by any other man who thinks that his mind has
+been as it were purified.
+
+"This earth and the whole region here are decayed and corroded, as
+things in the sea by the saltness; for nothing of any value grows in the
+sea, nor, in a word, does it contain anything perfect, but there are
+caverns, and sand, and mud in abundance, and filth in whatever parts of
+the sea there is earth, nor are they at all worthy to be compared with
+the beautiful things with us. But, on the other hand, those things in
+the upper regions of the earth would appear far more to excel the things
+with us. For, if we may tell a beautiful fable, it is well worth
+hearing, Simmias, what kind the things are on the earth beneath the
+heavens."
+
+"Indeed, Socrates," said Simmias, "we should be very glad to hear that
+fable."
+
+"First of all, then, my friend," he continued, "this earth, if anyone
+should survey it from above, is said to have the appearance of balls
+covered with twelve different pieces of leather, variegated and
+distinguished with colors, of which the colors found here, and which
+painters use, are as it were copies. But there the whole earth is
+composed of such, and far more brilliant and pure than these; for one
+part of it is purple, and of wonderful beauty, part of a golden color,
+and part of white, more white than chalk or snow, and in like manner
+composed of other colors, and those more in number and more beautiful
+than any we have ever beheld. And those very hollow parts of the earth,
+though filled with water and air, exhibit a certain species of color,
+shining among the variety of other colors, so that one continually
+variegated aspect presents itself to the view. In this earth, being
+such, all things that grow grow in a manner proportioned to its
+nature--trees, flowers, and fruits; and again, in like manner, its
+mountains and stones possess, in the same proportion, smoothness and
+transparency and more beautiful colors; of which the well-known stones
+here that are so highly prized are but fragments, such as sardin-stones,
+jaspers, and emeralds, and all of that kind. But there, there is nothing
+subsists that is not of this character, and even more beautiful than
+these.
+
+"But the reason of this is, because the stones there are pure, and not
+eaten up and decayed, like those here, by rottenness and saltness, which
+flow down hither together, and which produce deformity and disease in
+the stones and the earth, and in other things, even animals and plants.
+But that earth is adorned with all these, and moreover with gold and
+silver, and other things of the kind: for they are naturally
+conspicuous, being numerous and large, and in all parts of the earth; so
+that to behold it is a sight for the blessed. There are also many other
+animals and men upon it, some dwelling in mid-earth, others about the
+air, as we do about the sea, and others in islands which the air flows
+round, and which are near the continent: and in one word, what water and
+the sea are to us for our necessities, the air is to them; and what air
+is to us, that ether is to them.
+
+"But their seasons are of such a temperament that they are free from
+disease, and live for a much longer time than those here, and surpass us
+in sight, hearing, and smelling, and everything of this kind, as much as
+air excels water, and ether air, in purity. Moreover, they have abodes
+and temples of the gods, in which gods really dwell, and voices and
+oracles, and sensible visions of the gods, and such-like intercourse
+with them; the sun, too, and moon, and stars, are seen by them such as
+they really are, and their felicity in other respects is correspondent
+with these things.
+
+"And such, indeed, is the nature of the whole earth and the parts about
+the earth; but there are many places all round it throughout its
+cavities, some deeper and more open than that in which we dwell: but
+others that are deeper have less chasm than in our region, and other are
+shallower in depth than they are here, and broader.
+
+"But all these are in many places perforated one into another under the
+earth, some with narrower and some with wider channels, and have
+passages through, by which a great quantity of water flows from one into
+another, as into basins, and there are immense bulks of ever-flowing
+rivers under the earth, both of hot and cold water, and a great quantity
+of fire, and mighty rivers of fire, and many of liquid mire, some purer
+and some more miry, as in Sicily there are rivers of mud that flow
+before the lava, and the lava itself, and from these the several places
+are filled, according as the overflow from time to time happens to come
+to each of them. But all these move up and down as it were by a certain
+oscillation existing in the earth. And this oscillation proceeds from
+such natural cause as this: one of the chasms of the earth is
+exceedingly large, and perforated through the entire earth, and is that
+which Homer[43] speaks of, 'very far off, where is the most profound
+abyss beneath the earth,' which elsewhere both he and many other poets
+have called Tartarus. For into this chasm all rivers flow together, and
+from it flow out again, but they severally derive their character from
+the earth through which they flow."
+
+[Footnote 43: _Iliad_, lib. viii., v. 14.]
+
+"And the reason why all streams flow out from thence and flow into it is
+because this liquid has neither bottom nor base. Therefore it oscillates
+and fluctuates up and down, and the air and the wind around it do the
+same; for they accompany it, both when it rushes to those parts of the
+earth, and when to these. And as in respiration the flowing breath is
+continually breathed out and drawn in, so there the wind, oscillating
+with the liquid, causes certain vehement and irresistible winds both as
+it enters and goes out. When, therefore, the water rushing in descends
+to the place which we call the lower region, it flows through the earth
+into the streams there and fills them, just as men pump up water. But
+when again it leaves those regions and rushes hither, it again fills the
+rivers here, and these, when filled, flow through channels and through
+the earth, and having severally reached the several places to which they
+are journeying, they make seas, lakes, rivers, and fountains.
+
+"Then sinking again from thence beneath the earth, some of them having
+gone round longer and more numerous places, and others round fewer and
+shorter, they again discharge themselves into Tartarus, some much lower
+than they were drawn up, others only a little so, but all of them flow
+in again beneath the point at which they flowed out. And some issue out
+directly opposite the place by which they flow in, others on the same
+side: there are also some which having gone round altogether in a
+circle, folding themselves once or several times round the earth, like
+serpents, when they had descended as low as possible, discharge
+themselves again; and it is possible for them to descend on either side
+as far as the middle, but not beyond; for in each direction there is an
+acclivity to the streams both ways.
+
+"Now there are many other large and various streams, and among this
+great number there are four certain streams, of which the largest, and
+that which flows most outwardly round the earth, is called Ocean, but
+directly opposite this, and flowing in a contrary direction, is Acheron,
+which flows through other desert places, and moreover passing under the
+earth, reaches the Acherusian lake, where the souls of most who die
+arrive, and having remained there for certain destined periods, some
+longer and some shorter, are again sent forth into the generations of
+animals. A third river issues midway between these, and near its source
+falls into a vast region, burning with abundance of fire, and forms a
+lake larger than our sea, boiling with water and mud; from hence it
+proceeds in a circle, turbulent and muddy, and folding itself round it
+reaches both other places and the extremity of the Acherusian lake, but
+does not mingle with its water; but folding itself oftentimes beneath
+the earth, it discharges itself into the lower parts of Tartarus. And
+this is the river which they call Pyriphlegethon, whose burning streams
+emit dissevered fragments in whatever part of the earth they happen to
+be. Opposite to this again the fourth river first falls into a place
+dreadful and savage, as it is said, having its whole color like
+_cyanus_: this they call Stygian, and the lake which the river forms by
+its discharge, Styx. This river having fallen in here, and received
+awful power in the water, sinking beneath the earth, proceeds, folding
+itself round, in an opposite course to Pyriphlegethon, and meets it in
+the Acherusian lake from a contrary direction. Neither does the water of
+this river mingle with any other, but it, too, having gone round in a
+circle, discharges itself into Tartarus opposite to Pyriphlegethon. Its
+name, as the poets say, is Cocytus.
+
+"These things being thus constituted, when the dead arrive at the place
+to which their demon leads them severally, first of all they are judged,
+as well those who have lived well and piously as those who have not. And
+those who appear to have passed a middle kind of life, proceeding to
+Acheron, and embarking in the vessels they have, on these arrive at the
+lake, and there dwell, and when they are purified, and have suffered
+punishment for the iniquities they may have committed, they are set
+free, and each receives the reward of his good deeds, according to his
+deserts: but those who appear to be incurable, through the magnitude of
+their offences, either from having committed many and great sacrileges,
+or many unjust and lawless murders, or other similar crimes, these a
+suitable destiny hurls into Tartarus, whence they never come forth.
+
+"But those who appear to have been guilty of curable yet great offences,
+such as those who through anger have committed any violence against
+father or mother, and have lived the remainder of their life in a state
+of penitence, or they who have become homicides in a similar manner,
+these must of necessity fall into Tartarus, but after they have fallen,
+and have been there for a year, the wave casts them forth, the homicides
+into Cocytus, but the parricides and matricides into Pyriphlegethon: but
+when, being borne along, they arrive at the Acherusian lake, there they
+cry out to and invoke, some those whom they slew, others those whom they
+injured, and invoking them they entreat and implore them to suffer them
+to go out into the lake, and to receive them, and if they persuade them
+they go out and are freed from their sufferings; but if not, they are
+borne back to Tartarus, and thence again to the rivers, and they do not
+cease from suffering this until they have persuaded those whom they have
+injured, for this sentence was imposed on them by the judges.
+
+"But those who are found to have lived an eminently holy life, these are
+they who, being freed and set at large from these regions in the earth,
+as from a prison, arrive at the pure abode above, and dwell on the upper
+parts of the earth. And among these, they who have sufficiently purified
+themselves by philosophy shall live without bodies, throughout all
+future time, and shall arrive at habitations yet more beautiful than
+these, which it is neither easy to describe nor at present is there
+sufficient time for the purpose.
+
+"But for the sake of these things which we have described, we should use
+every endeavor, Simmias, so as to acquire virtue and wisdom in this
+life; for the reward is noble, and the hope great.
+
+"To affirm positively, indeed, that these things are exactly as I have
+described them does not become a man of sense; that however either this
+or something of the kind takes place with respect to our souls and their
+habitations--since our soul is certainly immortal--this appears to me
+most fitting to be believed, and worthy the hazard for one who trusts in
+its reality; for the hazard is noble, and it is right to allure
+ourselves with such things, as with enchantments; for which reason I
+have prolonged my story to such a length.
+
+"On account of these things, then, a man ought to be confident about his
+soul who during this life has disregarded all the pleasures and
+ornaments of the body as foreign from his nature, and who, having
+thought that they do more harm than good, has zealously applied himself
+to the acquirement of knowledge, and who having adorned his soul not
+with a foreign but its own proper ornament--temperance, justice,
+fortitude, freedom, and truth--thus waits for his passage to Hades, as
+one who is ready to depart whenever destiny shall summon him. You,
+then," he continued, "Simmias and Cebes, and the rest, will each of you
+depart at some future time; but now 'destiny summons me,' as a tragic
+writer would say, and it is nearly time for me to betake myself to the
+bath; for it appears to me to be better to drink the poison after I have
+bathed myself, and not to trouble the women with washing my dead body."
+
+When he had thus spoken, Crito said: "So be it, Socrates, but what
+commands have you to give to these or to me, either respecting your
+children or any other matter, in attending to which we can most oblige
+you?"
+
+"What I always say, Crito," he replied, "nothing new; that by taking
+care of yourselves you will oblige both me and mine and yourselves,
+whatever you do, though you should not now promise it; but if you
+neglect yourselves, and will not live as it were in the footsteps of
+what has been now and formerly said, even though you should promise much
+at present, and that earnestly, you will do no good at all."
+
+"We will endeavor then so to do," he said; "but how shall we bury you?"
+
+"Just as you please," he said, "if only you can catch me, and I do not
+escape from you." And at the same time smiling gently, and looking round
+on us, he said: "I cannot persuade Crito, my friends, that I am that
+Socrates who is now conversing with you, and who methodizes each part of
+the discourse; but he thinks that I am he whom he will shortly behold
+dead, and asks how he should bury me. But that which I some time since
+argued at length, that when I have drunk the poison I shall no longer
+remain with you, but shall depart to some happy state of the blessed,
+this I seem to have urged to him in vain, though I meant at the same
+time to console both you and myself. Be ye then my sureties to Crito,"
+he said, "in an obligation contrary to that which he made to the judges;
+for he undertook that I should remain; but do you be sureties that, when
+I die, I shall not remain, but shall depart, that Crito may more easily
+bear it, and when he sees my body either burnt or buried, may not be
+afflicted for me, as if I suffered some dreadful thing, nor say at my
+interment that Socrates is laid out, or is carried out, or is buried.
+
+"For be well assured," he said, "most excellent Crito, that to speak
+improperly is not only culpable as to the thing itself, but likewise
+occasions some injury to our souls. You must have a good courage, then,
+and say that you bury my body, and bury it in such a manner as is
+pleasing to you, and as you think is most agreeable to our laws."
+
+When he had said thus he rose and went into a chamber to bathe, and
+Crito followed him, but he directed us to wait for him. We waited,
+therefore, conversing among ourselves about what had been said, and
+considering it again, and sometimes speaking about our calamity, how
+severe it would be to us, sincerely thinking that, like those who are
+deprived of a father, we should pass the rest of our life as orphans.
+When he had bathed, and his children were brought to him, for he had two
+little sons, and one grown up; and the women belonging to his family
+were come, having conversed with them in the presence of Crito and given
+them such injunctions as he wished, he directed the women and children
+to go away, and then returned to us. And it was now near sunset; for he
+spent a considerable time within.
+
+But when he came from bathing he sat down, and did not speak much
+afterward; then the officer of the Eleven came in, and standing near
+him, said: "Socrates, I shall not have to find that fault with you that
+I do with others, that they are angry with me and curse me, when, by
+order of the archons, I bid them drink the poison. But you, on all other
+occasions during the time you have been here, I have found to be the
+most noble, meek, and excellent man of all that ever came into this
+place; and therefore I am now well convinced that you will not be angry
+with me (for you know who are to blame) but with them. Now, then, for
+you know what I came to announce to you, farewell; and endeavor to bear
+what is inevitable as easily as possible." And at the same time,
+bursting into tears, he turned away and withdrew.
+
+And Socrates, looking after him, said: "And thou too, farewell; we will
+do as you direct." At the same time turning to us, he said: "How
+courteous the man is; during the whole time I have been here he has
+visited me, and conversed with me sometimes, and proved the worthiest of
+men; and now how generously he weeps for me. But come, Crito, let us
+obey him, and let some one bring the poison, if it is ready pounded, but
+if not, let the man pound it."
+
+Then Crito said: "But I think, Socrates, that the sun is still on the
+mountains and has not yet set. Besides, I know that others have drunk
+the poison very late, after it had been announced to them, and have
+supped and drunk freely, and some even have enjoyed the objects of their
+love. Do not hasten, then, for there is yet time."
+
+Upon this Socrates replied: "These men whom you mention, Crito, do these
+things with good reason, for they think they shall gain by so doing, and
+I too with good reason shall not do so; for I think I shall gain nothing
+by drinking a little later, except to become ridiculous to myself, in
+being so fond of life, and sparing of it when none any longer remains.
+Go, then," he said, "obey, and do not resist."
+
+Crito having heard this, nodded to the boy that stood near. And the boy
+having gone out, and stayed for some time, came, bringing with him the
+man that was to administer the poison, who brought it ready pounded in a
+cup. And Socrates, on seeing the man, said: "Well, my good friend, as
+you are skilled in these matters, what must I do?"
+
+"Nothing else," he replied, "than when you have drunk it walk about
+until there is a heaviness in your legs, then lie down; thus it will do
+its purpose." And at the same time he held out the cup to Socrates. And
+he having received it very cheerfully, Echecrates, neither trembling nor
+changing at all in color or countenance, but, as he was wont, looking
+steadfastly at the man, said: "What say you of this potion, with respect
+to making a libation to anyone, is it lawful or not?"
+
+"We only pound so much, Socrates," he said, "as we think sufficient to
+drink."
+
+"I understand you," he said; "but it is certainly both lawful and right
+to pray to the gods, that my departure hence thither may be happy; which
+therefore I pray, and so may it be." And as he said this he drank it off
+readily and calmly. Thus far, most of us were with difficulty able to
+restrain ourselves from weeping, but when we saw him drinking, and
+having finished the draught, we could do so no longer; but in spite of
+myself the tears came in full torrent, so that, covering my face, I wept
+for myself, for I did not weep for him, but for my own fortune, in being
+deprived of such a friend. But Crito, even before me when he could not
+restrain his tears, had risen up.
+
+But Apollodorus, even before this, had not ceased weeping, and then
+bursting into an agony of grief, weeping and lamenting, he pierced the
+heart of everyone present except Socrates himself. But he said: "What
+are you doing, my admirable friends? I indeed, for this reason chiefly,
+sent away the women that they might not commit any folly of this kind.
+For I have heard that it is right to die with good omens. Be quiet,
+therefore, and bear up."
+
+When we heard this we were ashamed and restrained our tears. But he,
+having walked about, when he said that his legs were growing heavy, laid
+down on his back; for the man so directed him. And at the same time he
+who gave him the poison, taking hold of him, after a short interval
+examined his feet and legs; and then having pressed his foot hard, he
+asked if he felt it.
+
+He said that he did not.
+
+And after this he pressed his thighs; and thus going higher, he showed
+us that he was growing cold and stiff.
+
+Then Socrates touched himself, and said that when the poison reached his
+heart he should then depart.
+
+But now the parts around the lower belly were almost cold; when,
+uncovering himself (for he had been covered over), he said, and they
+were his last words: "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; pay it,
+therefore, and do not neglect it!"
+
+"It shall be done," said Crito; "but consider whether you have anything
+else to say?"
+
+To this question he gave no reply; but shortly after he gave a
+convulsive movement, and the man covered him, and his eyes were fixed;
+and Crito, perceiving it, closed his mouth and eyes.
+
+This, Echecrates, was the end of our friend, a man, as we may say, the
+best of all of his time that we have known, and, moreover, the most wise
+and just.
+
+
+
+
+BRENNUS BURNS ROME
+
+B.C. 388
+
+BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR
+
+
+(Julius Caesar is the first writer who gives us an authentic and
+enlightening account of the Gauls, whom he divided into three groups.
+The Gauls were the chief branch of the great original stock of Celts.
+They were a nomadic people, and from their home in Western Europe they
+spread to Britain, invaded Spain, and swarmed over the Alps into Italy,
+and it is from the latter event that this tall, fair, and fighting
+nation first came into the region of history.
+
+Before the Gauls had come within the borders of Italy, Camillus, the
+Dictator, had dealt the death-blow to the Etruscan League through his
+capture and destruction of its stronghold, Veii. But at the very summit
+of his triumph he lost the grace of his countrymen by demanding a tenth
+of their spoil taken at Veii, and which he claimed to have vowed to
+Apollo. It was popularly considered a ruse to increase his private
+fortune. Furthermore, a counter-claim was brought against him for
+appropriating bronze gates, which in Rome at that time were nothing less
+than actual money--bronze being the medium of currency. Camillus went
+into exile in consequence of the accusation. His parting prayer was that
+his country might feel his need and call him back. His desire was
+fulfilled, for soon after "the Gaul was at the gates" under the
+leadership of the haughty Brennus, who had come upon the Romans at a
+most opportune moment. This event of the overthrow of the Romans on the
+Alia has been the occasion for the well-known tale of the cackling of
+the geese in the temple of Juno, which alarmed the garrison. The episode
+also gave rise to the saying of the conqueror, Brennus, who, when
+reproached by his antagonists with using false weights, cast his sword
+into the scale, crying, "Woe to the conquered!")
+
+
+At that time no Roman foresaw the calamity which was threatening the
+empire. Rome had become great, because the country which she had
+conquered was weak through its oligarchical institutions; the subjects
+of the other states gladly joined the Romans, because under them their
+lot was more favorable, and probably because they were kindred nations.
+But matters went with the Romans as they did with Basilius, who subdued
+the Armenians when they were threatened by the Turks, and who soon after
+attacked the whole Greek empire and took away far more than had been
+gained before.
+
+The expedition of the Gauls into Italy must be regarded as a migration,
+and not as an invasion for the purpose of conquest: as for the
+historical account of it, we must adhere to Polybius and Diodorus, who
+place it shortly before the taking of Rome by the Gauls. We can attach
+no importance to the statement of Livy that they had come into Italy as
+early as the time of Tarquinius Priscus, having been driven from their
+country by a famine. It undoubtedly arose from the fact that some Greek
+writer, perhaps Timaeus, connected this migration with the settlement of
+the Phocians at Massilia. It is possible that Livy even here made use of
+Dionysius; and that the latter followed Timaeus; for as Livy made use of
+Dionysius in the eighth book, why not also in the fifth? He himself knew
+very little of Greek history;[44] but Justin's account is here evidently
+opposed to Livy.
+
+[Footnote 44: Comp. _Hist. of Rome_, vol. iii. n. 485.]
+
+Trogus Pompeius was born in the neighborhood of Massilia, and in writing
+his forty-third book he obviously made use of native chronicles, for
+from no other source could he derive the account of the _decreta
+honorifica_ of the Romans to the Massilians for the friendship which the
+latter had shown to the Romans during the Gallic war; and from the same
+source must he have obtained his information about the maritime wars of
+Massilia against Carthage. Trogus knows nothing of the story that the
+Gauls assisted the Phocians on their arrival; but according to him, they
+met with a kind reception among the Ligurians, who continued to inhabit
+those parts for a long time after. Even the story of the _lucumo_ who is
+said to have invited the Gauls is opposed to him, and if it were
+referred to Clusium alone it would be absurd. Polybius places the
+passage of the Gauls across the Alps about ten or twenty years before
+the taking of Rome; and Diodorus describes them as advancing toward Rome
+by an uninterrupted march. It is further stated that Melpum in the
+country of the Insubrians was destroyed on the same day as Veii: without
+admitting this coincidence, we have no reason to doubt that the
+statement is substantially true; and it is made by Cornelius Nepos, who,
+as a native of Gallia Transpadana, might possess accurate information,
+and whose chronological accounts were highly esteemed by the Romans.
+
+There was no other passage for the Gauls except either across the Little
+St. Bernard or across the Simplon; it is not probable that they took the
+former road, because their country extended only as far as the Ticinus,
+and if they had come across the Little St. Bernard, they would naturally
+have occupied also all the country between that mountain and the
+Ticinus. The Salassi may indeed have been a Gallic people, but it is by
+no means certain; moreover, between them and the Gauls who had come
+across the Alps the Laevi also lived; and there can be no doubt that at
+that time Ligurians still continued to dwell on the Ticinus.
+
+Melpum must have been situated in the district of Milan. The latter
+place has an uncommonly happy situation: often as it has been destroyed,
+it has always been restored, so that it is not impossible that Melpum
+may have been situated on the very spot afterward occupied by Milan. The
+Gallic migration undoubtedly passed by like a torrent with irresistible
+rapidity: how then is it possible to suppose that Melpum resisted them
+for two centuries, or that they conquered it and yet did not disturb the
+Etruscans for two hundred years? It would be absurd to believe it,
+merely to save an uncritical expression of Livy. According to the common
+chronology, the Triballi, who in the time of Herodotus inhabited the
+plains, and were afterward expelled by the Gauls, appeared in Thrace
+twelve years after the taking of Rome--according to a more correct
+chronology it was only nine years after that event. It was the same
+movement assuredly which led the Gauls to the countries through which
+the middle course of the Danube extends, and to the Po; and could the
+people who came in a few days from Clusium to Rome, and afterward
+appeared in Apulia, have been sitting quiet in a corner of Italy for two
+hundred years? If they had remained there because they had not the power
+to advance, they would have been cut to pieces by the Etruscans. We must
+therefore look upon it as an established fact, that the migration took
+place at the late period mentioned by Polybius and Diodorus.
+
+These Gauls were partly Celts, and partly (indeed principally) Belgae or
+Cymri, as may be perceived from the circumstance that their king, as
+well as the one who appeared before Delphi, is called Brennus. _Brenin_,
+according to Adelung, in his _Mithridates_, signifies in the language of
+Wales and Lower Brittany a _king_. But what caused this whole
+emigration? The statement of Livy, that the Gauls were compelled by
+famine to leave their country, is quite in keeping with the nature of
+all traditions about migrations, such as we find them in Saxo
+Grammaticus, in Paul Warnefried from the sagas of the Swedes, in the
+Tyrrhenian traditions of Lydia, and others. However, in the case of a
+people like the Celts, every specific statement of this kind, in which
+even the names of their leaders are mentioned, is of no more value than
+the traditions of other barbarous nations which were unacquainted with
+the art of writing. It is indeed, well known that the Celts in writing
+used the Greek alphabet, but they probably employed it only in the
+transactions of daily life; for we know that they were not allowed to
+commit their ancient songs to writing.
+
+During the Gallic migration we are again made aware how little we know
+of the history of Italy generally: our knowledge is limited to Rome, so
+that we are in the same predicament there, as if of all the historical
+authorities of the whole German empire we had nothing but the annals of
+a single imperial city. According to Livy's account, it would seem as if
+the only object of the Gauls had been to march to Rome; and yet this
+immigration changed the whole aspect of Italy. After the Gauls had once
+crossed the Apennines, there was no further obstacle to prevent their
+marching to the south of Italy by any road they pleased; and it is in
+fact mentioned that they did proceed farther south. The Umbrians still
+inhabited the country on the lower Po, in the modern Romagna and Urbino,
+parts of which were occupied by Liburnians. Polybius says that many
+people there became tributary to the Gauls, and that this was the case
+with the Umbrians is quite certain.
+
+The first historical appearance of the Gauls is at Clusium, whither a
+noble Clusine is said to have invited them for the purpose of taking
+vengeance on his native city. Whether this account is true, however,
+must remain undecided, and if there is any truth in it, it is more
+probable that the offended Clusine went across the Apennines and fetched
+his avengers. Clusium has not been mentioned since the time of Porsena;
+the fact of the Clusines soliciting the aid of Rome is a proof how
+little that northern city of Etruria was concerned about the fate of the
+southern towns, and makes us even suspect that it was allied with Rome;
+however, the danger was so great that all jealousy must have been
+suppressed. The natural road for the Gauls would have been along the
+Adriatic, then through the country of Umbrians who were tributary to
+them and already quite broken down, and thence through the Romagna
+across the Apennines.
+
+But the Apennines which separate Tuscany from the Romagna are very
+difficult to cross, especially for sumpter-horses; as therefore the
+Gauls could not enter Etruria on that side--which the Etruscans had
+intentionally allowed to grow wild--and as they had been convinced of
+this in an unsuccessful attempt, they crossed the Apennines in the
+neighborhood of Clusium, and appeared before that city. Clusium was the
+great bulwark of the valley of the Tiber; and if it were taken, the
+roads along the Tiber and the Arno would be open, and the Gauls might
+reach Arezzo from the rear: the Romans therefore looked upon the fate of
+Clusium as decisive of their own. The Clusines sued for a treaty with
+the mighty city of Rome, and the Romans were wise enough readily to
+accept the offer: they sent ambassadors to the Gauls, ordering them to
+withdraw. According to a very probable account, the Gauls had demanded
+of the Clusines a division of their territory as the condition of peace,
+and not, as was customary with the Romans, as a tax upon a people
+already subdued: if this is correct, the Romans sent the embassy
+confiding in their own strength. But the Gauls scorned the ambassadors,
+and the latter, allowing themselves to be carried away by their warlike
+disposition, joined the Etruscans in a fight against the Gauls. This was
+probably only an insignificant and isolated engagement. Such is the
+account of Livy, who goes on to say that the Gauls, as soon as they
+perceived this violation in the law of nations, gave the signal for a
+retreat, and, having called upon the gods to avenge the wrong, marched
+against Rome.
+
+This is evidently a mere fiction, for a barbarous nation like the Gauls
+cannot possibly have had such ideas, nor was there in reality any
+violation of the law of nations, as the Romans stood in no kind of
+connection with the Gauls. But it was a natural feeling with the Romans
+to look upon the fall of their city as the consequence of a _nefas_
+which no human power could resist. Roman vanity also is at work here,
+inasmuch as the Roman ambassadors are said to have so distinguished
+themselves that they were recognized by the barbarians among the hosts
+of Etruscans. Now, according to another tradition directly opposed to
+these statements, the Gauls sent to Rome to demand the surrender of
+those ambassadors: as the senate was hesitating and left the decision to
+the people, the latter not only rejected the demand, but appointed the
+same ambassadors to the office of military tribunes, whereupon the Gauls
+with all their forces at once marched toward Rome.
+
+Livy here again speaks of the _populus_ as the people to whom the senate
+left the decision: this must have been the patricians only, for they
+alone had the right to decide upon the fate of the members of their own
+order. It is not fair to accuse the Romans on that occasion of
+dishonesty; but this account assuredly originated with later writers,
+who transferred to barbarians the right belonging to a nation standing
+in a legal relation to another. The statement that the three
+ambassadors, all of whom were Fabii, were appointed military tribunes,
+is not even the usual one, for there is another in Diodorus, who must
+here have used Roman authorities written in Greek, that is, Fabius;
+since he calls the Cærites [Greek: Kairioi] and not [Greek: Agullaioi].
+He speaks of a single ambassador, who being a son of a military tribune
+fought against the Gauls. This is at least a sign how uncertain history
+yet is. The battle on the Alia was fought on the 16th of July; the
+military tribunes entered upon their office on the first of that month;
+and the distance between Clusium and Rome is only three good days'
+marches. It is impossible to restore the true history, but we can
+discern what is fabulous from what is really historical.
+
+An innumerable host of Gauls now marched from Clusium toward Rome. For a
+long time the Gauls were most formidable to the Romans, as well as to
+all other nations with whom they came in contact, even as far east as
+the Ukraine; as to Rome, we see this as late as the Cisalpine war of the
+year A.U. 527. Polybius and Diodorus are our best guides in seeking for
+information about the manners of the Gauls, for in the time of Caesar
+they had already become changed. In the description of their persons we
+partly recognize the modern Gael, or the inhabitants of the Highlands of
+Scotland: huge bodies, blue eyes, bristly hair; even their dress and
+armor are those of the Highlanders, for they wore the checked and
+variegated tartans; their arms consisted of the broad, unpointed
+battle-sword, the same weapon as the claymore among the Highlanders.
+They had a vast number of horns, which were used in the Highlands for
+many centuries after, and threw themselves upon the enemy in immense
+irregular masses with terrible fury, those standing behind impelling
+those stationed in front, whereby they became irresistible by the
+tactics of those times.
+
+The Romans ought to have used against them their phalanx and doubled it,
+until they were accustomed to this enemy and were enabled by their
+greater skill to repel them. If the Romans had been able to withstand
+their first shock, the Gauls would have easily been thrown into
+disorder, and put to flight. The Gauls who were subsequently conquered
+by the Romans were the descendants of such as were born in Italy, and
+had lost much of their courage and strength. The Goths under Vitiges,
+not fifty years after the immigration of Theodoric into Italy, were
+cowards, and unable to resist the twenty thousand men of Belisarius:
+showing how easily barbarians degenerate in such climates.
+
+The Gauls, moreover, were terrible on account of their inhuman cruelty,
+for, wherever they settled, the original towns and their inhabitants
+completely disappeared from the face of the earth. In their own country
+they had the feudal system and a priestly government: the Druids were
+their only rulers, who avenged the oppressed people on the lords, but in
+their turn became tyrants: all the people were in the condition of
+serfs, a proof that the Gauls, in their own country too, were the
+conquerors who had subdued an earlier population. We always find mention
+of the wealth of the Gauls in gold, and yet France has no rivers that
+carry gold-sand, and the Pyrenees were then no longer in their
+possession: the gold must therefore have been obtained by barter. Much
+may be exaggeration; and the fact of some noble individuals wearing gold
+chains was probably transferred by ancient poets to the whole nation,
+since popular poetry takes great liberty, especially in such
+embellishments.
+
+Pliny states that previous to the Gallic calamity the census amounted to
+one hundred and fifty thousand persons, which probably refers only to
+men entitled to vote in the assemblies, and does not comprise women,
+children, slaves, and strangers. If this be correct, the number of
+citizens was enormous; but it must not be supposed to include the
+inhabitants of the city only, the population of which was doubtless much
+smaller. The statement of Diodorus that all men were called to arms to
+resist the Gauls, and that the number amounted to forty thousand, is by
+no means improbable: according to the testimony of Polybius, Latins and
+Hernicans also were enlisted. Another account makes the Romans take the
+field against the Gauls with twenty-four thousand men, that is, with
+four field legions and four civic legions: the field legions were formed
+only of plebeians, and served, according to the order of the classes,
+probably in _maniples_; the civic legions contained all those who
+belonged neither to the patricians nor to the plebeians, that is, all
+the _aerarii, proletarii_, freedmen, and artisans who had never before
+faced an enemy. They were certainly not armed with the _pilum_, nor
+drawn up in _maniples_; but used pikes and were employed in phalanxes.
+
+Now as for the field legions, each consisted half of Latins and half of
+Romans, there being in each _maniple_ one century of Roman and one of
+Latins. There were at that time four legions, and as a legion, including
+the reserve troops, contained three thousand men, the total is twelve
+thousand; now the account which mentions twenty-four thousand men must
+have presumed that there were four field legions and four irregular
+civic ones. There would accordingly have been no more than six thousand
+plebeians, and, even if the legions were all made up of Romans, only
+twelve thousand; if in addition to these we take twelve thousand
+irregular troops and sixteen thousand allies, the number of forty
+thousand would be completed. In this case, the population of Rome would
+not have been as large as that of Athens in the Peloponnesian war, and
+this is indeed very probable. The cavalry is not included in this
+calculation: but forty thousand must be taken as the maximum of the
+whole army. There seems to be no exaggeration in this statement, and the
+battle on the Alia, speaking generally, is an historical event.
+
+It is surprising that the Romans did not appoint a dictator to command
+in the battle; it cannot be said indeed that they regarded this war as
+an ordinary one, for in that case they would not have raised so great a
+force, but they cannot have comprehended the danger in all its
+greatness. New swarms continued to come across the Alps; the Senones
+also now appeared to seek habitations for themselves; they, like the
+Germans in after-times, demanded land, as they found the Insubrians,
+Boians, and others already settled; the latter had taken up their abode
+in Umbria, but only until they should find a more extensive and suitable
+territory.
+
+The Romans committed the great mistake of fighting with their hurriedly
+collected troops a battle against an enemy who had hitherto been
+invincible. The hills along which the right wing is said to have been
+drawn up are no longer discernible, and they were probably nothing but
+little mounds of earth: at any rate it was senseless to draw up a long
+line against the immense mass of enemies. The Gauls, on the other hand,
+were enabled without any difficulty to turn off to the left. They
+proceeded to a higher part of the river, where it was more easily
+fordable, and with great prudence threw themselves with all their force
+upon the right wing, consisting of the civic legions. The latter at
+first resisted, but not long; and when they fled, the whole remaining
+line, which until then seems to have been useless and inactive, was
+seized with a panic.
+
+Terror preceded the Gauls as they laid waste everything on their way,
+and this paralyzed the courage of the Romans, instead of rousing them to
+a desperate resistance. The Romans therefore were defeated on the Alia
+in the most inglorious manner. The Gauls had taken them in their rear,
+and cut off their return to Rome. A portion fled toward the Tiber, where
+some effected a retreat across the river, and others were drowned;
+another part escaped into a forest. The loss of life must have been
+prodigious, and it is inconceivable how Livy could have attached so much
+importance to the mere disgrace. If the Roman army had not been almost
+annihilated, it would not have been necessary to give up the defence of
+the city, as was done, for the city was left undefended and deserted by
+all. Many fled to Veii instead of returning to Rome: only a few, who had
+escaped along the high road, entered the city by the Colline gate.
+
+Rome was exhausted, her power shattered, her legions defenceless, and
+her warlike allies had partly been beaten in the same battle, and were
+partly awaiting the fearful enemy in their own countries. At Rome it was
+believed that the whole army was destroyed, for nothing was known of
+those who had reached Veii. In the city itself there were only old men,
+women, and children, so that there was no possibility of defending it.
+It is, however, inconceivable that the gates should have been left open,
+and that the Gauls, from fear of a stratagem, should have encamped for
+several days outside the gates. A more probable account is that the
+gates were shut and barricaded. We may form a vivid conception of the
+condition of Rome after this battle, by comparing it with that of Moscow
+before the conflagration: the people were convinced that a long defence
+was impossible, since there was probably a want of provisions.
+
+Livy gives a false notion of the evacuation of the city, as if the
+defenceless citizens had remained immovable in their consternation, and
+only a few had been received into the Capitol. The determination, in
+fact, was to defend the Capitol, and the tribune Sulpicius had taken
+refuge there, with about one thousand men. There was on the Capitol an
+ancient well which still exists, and without which the garrison would
+soon have perished. This well remained unknown to all antiquaries, till
+I discovered it by means of information gathered from the people who
+live there. Its depth in the rock descends to the level of the Tiber,
+but the water is now not fit to drink. The Capitol was a rock which had
+been hewn steep, and thereby made inaccessible, but a _clivus_, closed
+by gates both below and above, led up from the Forum and the Sacred Way.
+The rock, indeed, was not so steep as in later times, as is clear from
+the account of the attempt to storm it; but the Capitol was nevertheless
+very strong. Whether some few remained in the city, as at Moscow, who in
+their stupefaction did not consider what kind of enemy they had before
+them, cannot be decided. The narrative is very beautiful, and reminds us
+of the taking of the Acropolis of Athens by the Persians, where,
+likewise, the old men allowed themselves to be cut down by the Persians.
+
+Notwithstanding the improbability of the matter, I am inclined to
+believe that a number of aged patricians--their number may not be
+exactly historical--sat down in the Forum, in their official robes, on
+their curule chairs, and that the chief pontiff devoted them to death.
+Such devotions are a well-known Roman custom. It is certainly not
+improbable that the Gauls were amazed when they found the city deserted,
+and only these old men sitting immovable, that they took them for
+statues or supernatural visions, and did nothing to them, until one of
+them struck a Gaul who touched him, whereupon all were slaughtered. To
+commit suicide was repugnant to the customs of the Romans, who were
+guided in many things by feelings more correct and more resembling our
+own, than many other ancient nations. The old men, indeed, had given up
+the hope of their country being saved; but the Capitol might be
+maintained, and the survivors preferred dying in the attempt of
+self-defence to taking refuge at Veii, where after all they could not
+have maintained themselves in the end.
+
+The sacred treasures were removed to Caere, and the hope of the Romans
+now was that the barbarians would be tired of the long siege. Provisions
+for a time had been conveyed to the Capitol, where a couple of thousand
+men may have been assembled, and where all buildings, temples, as well
+as public and private houses, were used as habitations. The Gauls made
+fearful havoc at Rome, even more fearful than the Spaniards and Germans
+did in the year 1527. Soldiers plunder, and when they find no human
+beings they engage in the work of destruction; and fires break out, as
+at Moscow, without the existence of any intention to cause a
+conflagration. The whole city was changed into a heap of ashes, with the
+exception of a few houses on the Palatine, which were occupied by the
+leaders of the Gauls. It is astonishing to find, nevertheless, that a
+few monuments of the preceding period, such as statues, situated at some
+distance from the Capitol, are mentioned as having been preserved; but
+we must remember that _travertino_ is tolerably fireproof. That Rome was
+burned down is certain; and when it was rebuilt, not even the ancient
+streets were restored.
+
+The Gauls were now encamped in the city. At first they attempted to
+storm the _clivus_, but were repelled with great loss, which is
+surprising, since we know that at an earlier time the Romans succeeded
+in storming it against Appius Herdonius. Afterward they discovered the
+footsteps of a messenger who had been sent from Veii, in order that the
+State might be taken care of in due form; for the Romans in the Capitol
+were patricians, and represented the _curies_ and the Government,
+whereas those assembled at Veii represented the tribes, but had no
+leaders. The latter had resolved to recall Camillus, and raise him to
+the dictatorship. For this reason Pontius Cominius had been sent to Rome
+to obtain the sanction of the senate and the curies. This was quite in
+the spirit of the ancient times. If the curies had interdicted him _aqua
+et igni_, they alone could recall him, if they previously obtained a
+resolution of the senate authorizing them to do so; but if he had gone
+into voluntary exile, and had given up his Roman franchise by becoming a
+citizen of Ardea before a sentence had been passed upon him by the
+centuries, it was again in the power of the curies alone, he being a
+patrician, to recall him as a citizen; and otherwise he could not have
+become dictator, nor could he have regarded himself as such.
+
+It was the time of the dog-days when the Gauls came to Rome, and as the
+summer at Rome is always pestilential, especially during the two months
+and a half before the first of September, the unavoidable consequence
+must have been, as Livy relates, that the barbarians, bivouacking on the
+ruins of the city in the open air, were attacked by disease and carried
+off, like the army of Frederick Barbarossa when encamped before the
+castle of St. Angelo. The whole army of the Gauls, however, was not in
+the city, but only as many as were necessary to blockade the garrison of
+the Capitol; the rest were scattered far and wide over the face of the
+country, and were ravaging all the unprotected places and isolated farms
+in Latium; many an ancient town, which is no longer mentioned after this
+time, may have been destroyed by the Gauls. None but fortified places
+like Ostia, which could obtain supplies by sea, made a successful
+resistance, for the Gauls were unacquainted with the art of besieging.
+
+The Ardeatans, whose territory was likewise invaded by the Gauls,
+opposed them, under the command of Camillus; the Etruscans would seem to
+have endeavored to avail themselves of the opportunity of recovering
+Veii, for we are told that the Romans at Veii, commanded by Caedicius,
+gained a battle against them, and that, encouraged by this success, they
+began to entertain a hope of regaining Rome, since by this victory they
+got possession of arms.
+
+A Roman of the name of Fabius Dorso is said to have offered up, in broad
+daylight, a _gentilician_ sacrifice on the Quirinal; and the astonished
+Gauls are said to have done him no harm--a tradition which is not
+improbable.
+
+The provisions in the Capitol were exhausted, but the Gauls themselves
+being seized with epidemic diseases became tired of their conquests, and
+were not inclined to settle in a country so far away from their own
+home. They once more attempted to take the Capitol by storm, having
+observed that the messenger from Veii had ascended the rock, and come
+down again near the Porta Carmentalis, below Araceli. The ancient rock
+is now covered with rubbish, and no longer discernible. The besieged did
+not think of a storm on that side; it may be that formerly there had in
+that part been a wall, which had become decayed; and in southern
+countries an abundant vegetation always springs up between the stones,
+and if this had actually been neglected it cannot have been very
+difficult to climb up. The Gauls had already gained a firm footing, as
+there was no wall at the top--the rock which they stormed was not the
+Tarpeian, but the Arx--when Manlius, who lived there, was roused by the
+screaming of the geese: he came to the spot and thrust down those who
+were climbing up.
+
+This rendered the Gauls still more inclined to commence negotiations;
+they were, moreover, called back by an inroad of some Alpine tribes into
+Lombardy, where they had left their wives and children: they offered to
+depart if the Romans would pay them a ransom of a thousand pounds of
+gold, to be taken no doubt from the Capitoline treasury. Considering the
+value of money at that time, the sum was enormous: in the time of
+Theodosius, indeed, there were people at Rome who possessed several
+hundredweight of gold, nay, one is said to have had an annual revenue of
+two hundredweight. There can be no doubt that the Gauls received the sum
+they demanded, and quitted Rome; that in weighing it they scornfully
+imposed upon the Romans is very possible, and the _vae victis_ too may
+be true: we ourselves have seen similar things before the year 1813.
+
+But there can be no truth in the story told by Livy, that while they
+were disputing Camillus appeared with an army and stopped the
+proceedings, because the military tribunes had had no right to conclude
+the treaty. He is there said to have driven the Gauls from the city, and
+afterward in a twofold battle to have so completely defeated them that
+not even a messenger escaped. Beaufort, inspired by Gallic patriotism,
+has most excellently shown what a complete fable this story is. To
+attempt to disguise the misfortunes of our forefathers by substituting
+fables in their place is mere childishness. This charge does not affect
+Livy, indeed, for he copied only what others had written before him; but
+he did not allow his own conviction to appear as he generally does, for
+he treats the whole of the early history with a sort of irony, half
+believing, half disbelieving it.
+
+According to another account in Diodorus, the Gauls besieged a town
+allied with Rome--its name seems to be mis-written, but is probably
+intended for Vulsinii--and the Romans relieved it and took back from the
+Gauls the gold which they had paid them; but this siege of Vulsinii is
+quite unknown to Livy. A third account in Strabo and also mentioned by
+Diodorus does not allow this honor to the Romans, but states that the
+Caerites pursued the Gauls, attacked them in the country of the Sabines,
+and completely annihilated them. In like manner the Greeks endeavored to
+disguise the fact that the Gauls took the money from the Delphic
+treasury, and that in a quite historical period (Olymp. 120). The true
+explanation is undoubtedly the one found in Polybius, that the Gauls
+were induced to quit Rome by an insurrection of the Alpine tribes, after
+it had experienced the extremity of humiliation.
+
+Whatever the enemy had taken as booty was consumed; they had not made
+any conquests, but only indulged in plunder and devastation; they had
+been staying at Rome for seven or eight months, and could have gained
+nothing further than the Capitol and the very money which they received
+without taking that fortress. The account of Polybius throws light upon
+many discrepant statements, and all of them, not even excepting Livy's
+fairy-tale-like embellishment, may be explained by means of it. The
+Romans attempted to prove that the Gauls had actually been defeated, by
+relating that the gold afterward taken from the Gauls and buried in the
+Capitol was double the sum paid to them as a ransom; but it is much more
+probable that the Romans paid their ransom out of the treasury of the
+temple of the Capitoline Jupiter and of other temples, and that
+afterward double this sum was made up by a tax; which agrees with a
+statement in the history of Manlius, that a tax was imposed for the
+purpose of raising the Gallic ransom: surely this could not have been
+done at the time of the siege, when the Romans were scattered in all
+parts of the country, but must have taken place afterward for the
+purpose of restoring the money that had been taken. Now if at a later
+time there actually existed in the Capitol such a quantity of gold, it
+is clear that it was believed to be a proof that the Gauls had not kept
+the gold which was paid to them.
+
+Even as late as the time of Cicero and Caesar, the spot was shown at
+Rome in the Carinae, where the Gauls had heaped up and burned their
+dead; it was called _busta Gallica_, which was corrupted in the Middle
+Ages into Protogallo, whence the church which was built there was in
+reality called _S. Andreas in bustis Gallicis_, or, according to the
+later Latinity, _in busta Gallica--busta Gallica_ not being declined.
+
+The Gauls departed with their gold, which the Romans had been compelled
+to pay on account of the famine that prevailed in the Capitol, which was
+so great that they pulled the leather from their shields and cooked it,
+just as was done during the siege of Jerusalem. The Gauls were certainly
+not destroyed. Justin has preserved the remarkable statement that the
+same Gauls who sacked Rome went to Apulia, and there offered for money
+their assistance to the elder Dionysius of Syracuse. From this important
+statement it is at any rate clear that they traversed all Italy, and
+then probably returned along the shore of the Adriatic: their
+devastations extended over many parts of Italy, and there is no doubt
+that the Æquians received their death-blow at that time, for henceforth
+we hear no more of the hostilities of the Æquians against Rome.
+Praeneste, on the other hand, which must formerly have been subject to
+the Æquians, now appears as an independent town. The Æquians, who
+inhabited small and easily destructible towns, must have been
+annihilated during the progress of the Gauls.
+
+There is nothing so strange in the history of Livy as his view of the
+consequences of the Gallic calamity; he must have conceived it as a
+transitory storm by which Rome was humbled but not broken. The army,
+according to him, was only scattered, and the Romans appear afterward
+just as they had been before, as if the preceding period had only been
+an evil dream, and as if there had been nothing to do but to rebuild the
+city. But assuredly the devastation must have been tremendous throughout
+the Roman territory: for eight months the barbarians had been ravaging
+the country, every trace of cultivation, every farmer's house, all the
+temples and public buildings were destroyed; the walls of the city had
+been purposely pulled down, a large number of its inhabitants were led
+into slavery, the rest were living in great misery at Veii; and what
+they had saved scarcely sufficed to buy their bread. In this condition
+they returned to Rome. Camillus as dictator is called a second Romulus,
+and to him is due the glory of not having despaired in those distressing
+circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY MEHA
+
+B.C. 341
+
+DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER
+
+
+(The first Chinese are supposed to have been a nomad tribe in the
+provinces of Shensi, which lies in the northwest of China, and among
+them at last appeared a ruler, Fohi, whose name at least has been
+preserved. His deeds and his person are mythical, but he is credited
+with having given his country its first regular institutions.
+
+The annalists of the Chinese chronicles placed the date of the Creation
+at a point of time two millions of years before Confucius; this interval
+they filled up with lines of dynasties. Preceding the Chow dynasty the
+chronicles give ten epochs--prior to the eighth of these there is no
+authentic history. Yew-chow She [the "Nest-having"] taught the people to
+build huts of the boughs of trees. Fire was discovered by Say-jin She
+[the "Fire producer"]. Fuh-he [B.C. 2862] was the discoverer of iron.
+With Yaou [B.C. 2356] is the period whence Confucius begins his story.
+He says of that epoch: "The house door could safely be left open." Yaou
+greatly extended and strengthened the empire and established fairs and
+marts over the land.
+
+One of China's most notable rulers was Tsin Chi Hwangti, who was
+studious in providing for the security of his empire, and with this
+object began the construction of a fortified wall across the northern
+frontier to serve as a defence against the troublesome Hiongnou tribes,
+who are identified with the Huns of Attila. This wall, which he began in
+the first years of his reign--about the close of the third century
+B.C.--was finished before his death. It still exists, known as the Great
+Wall of China, and has long been considered one of the wonders of the
+world. Every third man of the whole empire was employed on this work. It
+is said that five hundred thousand of them died of starvation. The
+contents of the Great Wall would be enough to build two walls six feet
+high and two feet thick around the equator. It is the largest artificial
+structure in the world; carried for fourteen hundred miles over height
+and hollow, reaching in one place the level of five thousand
+feet--nearly one mile--above the sea. Earth, gravel, brick, and stone
+were used in its construction.
+
+The weak successors of Hwangti finally gave way to the usurper, Kaotsou,
+who had been originally the ruler of a small town, and had borne the
+name of Lieou Pang.
+
+The reign of Kaotsou was distinguished by the consolidation of the
+empire; the connection of Western with Eastern China by high walls and
+bridges, some of which are still in perfect condition, and the
+institution of an elaborate code of court etiquette. His attention to
+these things was, however, rudely interrupted by an irruption of the
+Hiongnou Tartars.)
+
+
+The death of Tsin Chi Hwangti proved the signal for the outbreak of
+disturbances throughout the realm. Within a few months five princes had
+founded as many kingdoms, each hoping, if not to become supreme, at
+least to remain independent. Moungtien, beloved by the army, and at the
+head, as he tells us in his own words, of three hundred thousand
+soldiers, might have been the arbiter of the empire; but a weak feeling
+of respect for the imperial authority induced him to obey an order, sent
+by Eulchi, Hwangti's son and successor, commanding him "to drink the
+waters of eternal life." Eulchi's brief reign of three years was a
+succession of misfortunes. The reins of office were held by the eunuch
+Chow-kow, who first murdered the minister Lissep and then Eulchi
+himself.
+
+Ing Wang, a grandson of Hwangti, was the next and last of the Tsin
+emperors. On coming to power, he at once caused Chow-kow, whose crimes
+had been discovered, to be arrested and executed. This vigorous
+commencement proved very transitory, for when he had enjoyed nominal
+authority during six weeks, Ing Wang's troops, after a reverse in the
+field, went over in a body to Lieou Pang, the leader of a rebel force.
+Ing Wang put an end to his existence, thus terminating, in a manner not
+less ignominious than any of its predecessors, the dynasty of the Tsins,
+which Hwangti had hoped to place permanently on the throne of China, and
+to which his genius gave a lustre far surpassing that of many other
+families who had enjoyed the same privilege during a much longer period.
+
+The crisis in the history of the country had afforded one of those great
+men who rise periodically from the ranks of the people to give law to
+nations the opportunity for advancing his personal interests at the same
+time that he made them appear to be identical with the public weal. Of
+such geniuses, if the test applied be the work accomplished, there have
+been few with higher claims to respectful and admiring consideration
+than Lieou Pang, who after the fall of the Tsins became the founder of
+the Han dynasty under the style of Kaotsou. Originally the governor of a
+small town, he had, soon after the death of Hwangti, gathered round him
+the nucleus of a formidable army, and while nominally serving under one
+of the greater princes, he scarcely affected to conceal that he was
+fighting for his own interest. On the other hand, he was no mere soldier
+of fortune, and the moderation which he showed after victory enhanced
+his reputation as a general. The path to the throne being thus cleared,
+the successful general became emperor.
+
+His first act was to proclaim an amnesty to all those who had borne arms
+against him. In a public proclamation he expressed his regret at the
+suffering of the people "from the evils which follow in the train of
+war." During the earlier years of his reign he chose the city of Loyang
+as his capital--now the flourishing and populous town of Honan--but at a
+later period he removed it to Singanfoo, in the western province of
+Shensi. His dynasty became known by the name of the small state where he
+was born, and which had fallen early in his career into his hands.
+
+Kaotsou sanctioned or personally undertook various important public
+works, which in many places still exist to testify to the greatness of
+his character. Prominent among those must be placed the bridges
+constructed along the great roads of Western China. Some of them are
+still believed to be in perfect condition. No act of Kaotsou's reign
+places him higher in the scale of sovereigns than the improvement of the
+roads and the construction of those remarkable bridges. Kaotsou loved
+splendor and sought to make his receptions and banquets imposing by
+their brilliance. He drew up a special ceremonial which must have proved
+a trying ordeal for his courtiers, and dire was the offence if it were
+infringed in the smallest particular. He kept up festivities at
+Singanfoo for several weeks, and on one of these occasions he exclaimed:
+"To-day I feel I am emperor and perceive all the difference between a
+subject and his master."
+
+Kaotsou's attention was rudely summoned away from these trivialities by
+the outbreak of revolts against his authority and by inroads on the part
+of the Tartars. The latter were the more serious. The disturbances that
+followed Hwangti's death were a fresh inducement to these clans to again
+gather round a common head and prey upon the weakness of China, for
+Kaotsou's authority was not yet recognized in many of the tributary
+states which had been fain to admit the supremacy of the great Tsin
+emperor. About this time the Hiongnou[45] Tartars were governed by two
+chiefs in particular, one named Tonghou, the other Meha or Mehe. Of
+these the former appears to have been instigated by a reckless ambition
+or an overweening arrogance, and at first it seemed that the forbearance
+of Meha would allow his pretensions[46] to pass unchallenged.
+
+[Footnote 45: Probably the same race as the Huns.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Meha had become chief of his clan by murdering his father,
+Teou-man, who was on the point of ordering his son's assassination when
+thus forestalled in his intention. Tonghou sent to demand from him a
+favorite horse, which Meha sent him. His kinsmen advised him to refuse
+compliance; but he replied: "What! Would you quarrel with your neighbors
+for a horse?" Shortly afterward Tonghou sent to ask for one of the wives
+of the former chief. This also Meha granted, saying: "Why should we
+undertake a war for the sake of a woman?" It was only when Tonghou
+menaced his possessions that Meha took up arms.]
+
+Meha's successes followed rapidly upon each other. Issuing from the
+desert, and marching in the direction of China, he wrested many fertile
+districts from the feeble hands of those who held them; and while
+establishing his personal authority on the banks of the Hoangho, his
+lieutenants returned laden with plunder from expeditions into the rich
+provinces of Shensi and Szchuen. He won back all the territory lost by
+his ancestors to Hwangti and Moungtien, and he paved the way to greater
+success by the siege and capture of the city of Maye, thus obtaining
+possession of the key of the road to Tsinyang. Several of the border
+chiefs and of the Emperor's lieutenants, dreading the punishment
+allotted in China to want of success, went over to the Tartars, and took
+service under Meha.
+
+The Emperor, fully aroused to the gravity of the danger, assembled his
+army, and placing himself at its head marched against the Tartars.
+Encouraged by the result of several preliminary encounters, the Emperor
+was eager to engage Meha's main army, and after some weeks' searching
+and manoeuvring, the two forces halted in front of each other. Kaotsou,
+imagining that victory was within his grasp, and believing the stories
+brought to him by spies of the weakness of the Tartar army, resolved on
+an immediate attack. He turned a deaf ear to the cautious advice of one
+of his generals, who warned him that "in war we should never despise an
+enemy," and marched in person at the head of his advance guard to find
+the Tartars. Meha, who had been at all these pains to throw dust in the
+Emperor's eyes and to conceal his true strength, no sooner saw how well
+his stratagem had succeeded, and that Kaotsou was rushing into the trap
+so elaborately laid for him, than by a skilful movement he cut off his
+communications with the main body of his army, and, surrounding him with
+an overwhelming force, compelled him to take refuge in the city of
+Pingching in Shensi.
+
+With a very short supply of provisions, and hopelessly outnumbered, it
+looked as if the Chinese Emperor could not possibly escape the grasp of
+the desert chief. In this strait one of his officers suggested as a last
+chance that the most beautiful virgin in the town should be discovered,
+and sent as a present to mollify the conqueror. Kaotsou seized at this
+suggestion, as the drowning man will catch at a straw, and the story is
+preserved, though her name has passed into oblivion, of how the young
+Chinese girl entered into the plan and devoted all her wits to charming
+the Tartar conqueror. She succeeded as much as their fondest hopes could
+have led them to believe; and Meha permitted Kaotsou, after signing an
+ignominious treaty, to leave his place of confinement and rejoin his
+army, glad to welcome the return of the Emperor, yet without him
+helpless to stir a hand to effect his release. Meha retired to his own
+territory, well satisfied with the material results of the war and the
+rich booty which had been obtained in the sack of Chinese cities, while
+Kaotsou, like the ordinary type of an oriental ruler, vented his
+discomfiture on his subordinates.
+
+The closing acts of the war were the lavishing of rewards on the head of
+the general to whose warnings he had paid no heed, and the execution of
+the scouts who had been misled by the wiles of Meha.
+
+The success which had attended this incursion and the spoil of war were
+potent inducements to the Tartars to repeat the invasion. While Kaotsou
+was meditating over the possibility of revenge, and considering schemes
+for the better protection of his frontier, the Tartars, disregarding the
+truce that had been concluded, retraced their steps, and pillaged the
+border districts with impunity. In this year (B.C. 199) they were
+carrying everything before them, and the Emperor, either unnerved by
+recent disaster or appalled at the apparently irresistible energy of the
+followers of Meha, remained apathetic in his palace. The representations
+of his ministers and generals failed to rouse him from his stupor, and
+the weapon to which he resorted was the abuse of his opponent, and not
+his prompt chastisement. Meha was "a wicked and faithless man, who had
+risen to power by the murder of his father, and one with whom oaths and
+treaties carried no weight." In the mean while the Tartars were
+continuing their victorious career. The capital itself could not be
+pronounced safe from their assaults, or from the insult of their
+presence.
+
+In this crisis counsels of craft and dissimulation alone found favor in
+the Emperor's cabinet. No voice was raised in support of the bold and
+only true course of going forth to meet the national enemy. The
+capitulation of Pingching had for the time destroyed the manhood of the
+race, and Kaotsou held in esteem the advice of men widely different to
+those who had placed him on the throne. Kaotsou opened fresh
+negotiations with Meha, who concluded a treaty on condition of the
+Emperor's daughter being given to him in marriage, and on the assumption
+that he was an independent ruler. With these terms Kaotsou felt obliged
+to comply, and thus for the first time this never-ceasing collision
+between the tribes of the desert and the agriculturists of the plains of
+China closed with the admitted triumph of the former. The contest was
+soon to be renewed with different results, but the triumph of Meha was
+beyond question.[47]
+
+[Footnote 47: One historian had the courage to declare that "Never was
+so great a shame inflicted on the Middle Kingdom, which then lost its
+dignity and honor."]
+
+The weakness thus shown against a foreign foe brought its own punishment
+in domestic troubles. The palace became the scene of broils, plots, and
+counterplots, and so badly did Kaotsou manage his affairs at this epoch
+that one of his favorite generals raised the standard of revolt against
+him through apparently a mere misunderstanding. In this instance Kaotsou
+easily put down the rising, but others followed which, if not pregnant
+with danger, were at the least extremely troublesome. The murder of
+Hansin, to whose aid Kaotsou owed his elevation to the throne as much as
+to any other, by order of the empress, during a reception at the palace,
+shook confidence still more in the ruler, and many of his followers were
+forced into open rebellion through dread of personal danger. What wonder
+that, as he has said, "the very name of revolt inspired Kaotsou with
+apprehension."
+
+In B.C. 195 we find Kaotsou going out of his way to visit the tomb of
+Confucius. Shortly after this event it became evident that he was
+approaching his end. His eldest son Hiaohoei was proclaimed heir
+apparent. Kaotsou died in the fifty-third year of his age, having
+reigned as emperor during eight years. The close of his reign did not
+bear out all the promise of its commencement; and the extent of his
+authority was greatly curtailed by the disastrous effects of the war
+with the Tartars and the subsequent revolts among his generals.
+
+Despite these reverses there remains much in favor of his character. He
+had performed his part in the consolidation of the Hans; it remained for
+those who came after him to complete what he left half finished.
+
+Under Hoeiti, the Tartar King Meha sent an envoy to the capital, but
+either the form or the substance of his message enraged the
+empress-mother, who ordered his execution. The two peoples were thus
+again brought to the brink of war, but eventually the difference was
+sunk for the time, and the Chinese chroniclers have represented that the
+satisfactory turn in the question was due to Meha seeing the error of
+his ways.[48] Not long afterward the Tartar King died, and was succeeded
+by his son Lao Chang.
+
+[Footnote 48: Meha's letter of excuse is thus given: "In the barbarous
+country which I govern both virtue and the decencies of life are
+unknown. I have been unable to free myself from them, and, therefore, I
+blush. China has her wise men; that is a happiness which I envy. They
+would have prevented my being wanting in the respect due to your rank."]
+
+
+
+
+ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA
+
+B.C. 332
+
+OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+
+(The master spirit who could sigh for more worlds to conquer was at this
+time high in his dazzling flight. Alexander has always been considered
+one of the most striking and picturesque characters of history. His
+personality was pleasing, his endurance remarkable, and courage
+dauntless. Educated by Aristotle, his keen mind was well trained. He was
+skilled in horsemanship, and his control over the fiery Bucephalus,
+untamable by others, has become a household tale in all lands. There
+never was a more kingly prince.
+
+A king at twenty, his career has been an object of wonder to succeeding
+generations. He shot like a meteor across the sky of ancient
+civilization. His military achievements were remarkable for quickness of
+conception and rapidity of execution; his life was a progress from
+conquest to conquest. Alexander's army, with its solid phalanx, its
+darting cavalry, and light troops, had become irresistible. He possessed
+Napoleon's ability to select good generals and to make the most of his
+talents. In battle Alexander was entirely devoid of fear. After a
+victory his chief thoughts were for the wounded. Like Napoleon, he also
+possessed that personal equation of absolute popularity with his
+soldiers. Their devotion to him was simply complete.
+
+After Thebes came the invasion of Asia. The invincible Macedonian had
+fought and won the battle of the Granicus. In this battle nearly all of
+the Persian leaders were slain, and its result spread terror throughout
+Persia. Halicarnassus was next reduced. The march of Alexander was ever
+onward. In the citadel of Gordium he cut the "Gordian knot," and
+prophecy marked him for the lord of Asia.
+
+And now Darius marched to meet him, making a fatally bad choice of
+battle-ground. Darius was totally defeated at the celebrated battle of
+Issus, although he had anticipated a victory. After the Persian rout and
+the flight of Darius, whose numbers counted for nothing before the
+Macedonian's skill, Lindon welcomed the invaders, and Alexander
+determined to take Tyre. This was accomplished after a siege, which was
+attended with much cruelty.
+
+The siege of Gaza followed, in which nearly all of the citizens
+perished. In B.C. 332 Alexander began his expedition to Egypt. He
+conciliated the natives by paying honors to their gods. In his progress
+he was struck by the advantages of a certain site for a city, and
+founded there the town which is now called Alexandria.)
+
+
+All Phoenicia was subdued except Tyre, the capital city. This city was
+justly entitled the "Queen of the Sea," that element bringing to it the
+tribute of all nations. She boasted of having first invented navigation
+and taught mankind the art of braving the winds and waves by the
+assistance of a frail bark. The happy situation of Tyre, at the upper
+end of the Mediterranean; the conveniency of its ports, which were both
+safe and capacious; and the character of its inhabitants, who were
+industrious, laborious, patient, and extremely courteous to strangers,
+invited thither merchants from all parts of the globe; so that it might
+be considered, not so much a city belonging to any particular nation, as
+the common city of all nations and the centre of their commerce.
+
+Alexander thought it necessary, both for his glory and his interest, to
+take this city. The spring was now coming on. Tyre was at that time
+seated on an island of the sea, about a quarter of a league from the
+continent. It was surrounded by a strong wall, a hundred and fifty feet
+high, which the waves of the sea washed; and the Carthaginians, a colony
+from Tyre, a mighty people, and sovereigns of the ocean, promised to
+come to the assistance of their parent State. Encouraged, therefore, by
+these favorable circumstances, the Tyrians determined not to surrender,
+but to hold out the place to the last extremity. This resolution,
+however imprudent, was certainly magnanimous, but it was soon after
+followed by an act which was as blamable as the other was praiseworthy.
+
+Alexander was desirous of gaining the place rather by treaty than by
+force of arms, and with this in view sent heralds into the town with
+offers of peace; but the inhabitants were so far from listening to his
+proposals, or endeavoring to avert his resentment by any kind of
+concession, that they actually killed his ambassadors and threw their
+bodies from the top of the walls into the sea. It is easy to imagine
+what effect so shocking an outrage must produce in a mind like
+Alexander's. He instantly resolved to besiege the place, and not to
+desist until he had made himself master of it and razed it to the
+ground.
+
+As Tyre was divided from the continent by an arm of the sea, there was
+necessity for filling up the intermediate space with a bank or pier,
+before the place could be closely invested. This work, accordingly, was
+immediately undertaken and in a great measure completed; when all the
+wood, of which it was principally composed, was unexpectedly burned by
+means of a fire-ship sent in by the enemy. The damage, however, was very
+soon repaired, and the mole rendered more perfect than formerly, and
+carried nearer to the town, when all of a sudden a furious tempest
+arose, which, undermining the stonework that supported the wood, laid
+the whole at once in the bottom of the sea.
+
+Two such disasters, following so closely on the heels of each other,
+would have cooled the ardor of any man except Alexander, but nothing
+could daunt his invincible spirit, or make him relinquish an enterprise
+he had once undertaken. He, therefore, resolved to prosecute the siege;
+and in order to encourage his men to second his views, he took care to
+inspire them with the belief that heaven was on their side and would
+soon crown their labors with the wished-for success. At one time he gave
+out that Apollo was about to abandon the Tyrians to their doom, and
+that, to prevent his flight, they had bound him to his pedestal with a
+golden chain; at another, he pretended that Hercules, the tutelar deity
+of Macedon, had appeared to him, and, having opened prospects of the
+most glorious kind, had invited him to proceed to take possession of
+Tyre.
+
+These favorable circumstances were announced by the augurs as
+intimations from above; and every heart was in consequence cheered. The
+soldiers, as if that moment arrived before the city, forgetting all the
+toils they had undergone and the disappointments they had suffered,
+began to raise a new mole, at which they worked incessantly.
+
+To protect them from being annoyed by the ships of the enemy, Alexander
+fitted out a fleet, with which he not only secured his own men, but
+offered the Tyrians battle, which, however, they thought proper to
+decline, and withdrew all their galleys into the harbor.
+
+The besiegers, now allowed to proceed unmolested, went on with the work
+with the utmost vigor, and in a little time completed it and brought it
+close to the walls. A general attack was therefore resolved on, both by
+sea and land, and with this in view the King, having manned his galleys
+and joined them together with strong cables, ordered them to approach
+the walls about midnight and attack the city with resolution. But just
+as the assault was going to begin, a dreadful storm arose, which not
+only shook the ships asunder, but even shattered them in a terrible
+manner, so that they were all obliged to be towed toward the shore,
+without having made the least impression on the city.
+
+The Tyrians were elated with this gleam of good fortune; but that joy
+was of short duration, for in a little time they received intelligence
+from Carthage that they must expect no assistance from that quarter, as
+the Carthaginians themselves were then overawed by a powerful army of
+Syracusans, who had invaded their country. Reduced, therefore, to the
+hard necessity of depending entirely upon their own strength and their
+own resources, the Tyrians sent all their women and children to
+Carthage, and prepared to encounter the very last extremities. For now
+the enemy was attacking the place with greater spirit and activity than
+ever. And, to do the Tyrians justice, it must be acknowledged that they
+employed a number of methods of defence which, considering the rude
+state of the art of war at that early period, were really astonishing.
+They warded off the darts discharged from the ballisters against them,
+by the assistance of turning wheels, which either broke them to pieces
+or carried them another way. They deadened the violence of the stones
+that were hurled at them, by setting up sails and curtains made of a
+soft substance which easily gave way.
+
+To annoy the ships which advanced against their walls, they fixed
+grappling irons and scythes to joists or beams; then, straining their
+catapultas--an enormous kind of crossbow--they laid those great pieces
+of timber upon them instead of arrows, and shot them off on a sudden at
+the enemy. These crushed some of their ships by their great weight, and,
+by means of the hooks or hanging scythes, tore others to pieces. They
+also had brazen shields, which they drew red-hot out of the fire; and
+filling these with burning sand, hurled them in an instant from the top
+of the wall upon the enemy.
+
+There was nothing the Macedonians dreaded so much as this fatal
+instrument; for the moment the burning sand got to the flesh through the
+crevices of the armor, it penetrated to the very bone, and stuck so
+close that there was no pulling it off; so that the soldiers, throwing
+down their arms, and tearing their clothes to pieces, were in this
+manner exposed, naked and defenceless, to the shot of the enemy.
+
+Alexander, finding the resources and even the courage of the Tyrians
+increased in proportion as the siege continued, resolved to make a last
+effort, and attack them at once both by sea and land, in order, if
+possible, to overwhelm them with the multiplicity of dangers to which
+they would be thus exposed. With this view, having manned his galleys
+with some of the bravest of his troops, he commanded them to advance
+against the enemy's fleet, while he himself took his post at the head of
+his men on the mole.
+
+And now the attack began on all sides with irresistible and unremitting
+fury. Wherever the battering-rams had beat down any part of the wall,
+and the bridges were thrown out, instantly the argyraspides mounted the
+breach with the utmost valor, being led on by Admetus, one of the
+bravest officers in the army, who was killed by the thrust of a spear as
+he was encouraging his soldiers.
+
+The presence of the King, and the example he set, fired his troops with
+unusual bravery. He himself ascended one of the towers on the mole,
+which was of a prodigious height, and there was exposed to the greatest
+dangers he had ever yet encountered; for being immediately known by his
+insignia and the richness of his armor, he served as a mark for all the
+arrows of the enemy. On this occasion he performed wonders, killing with
+javelins several of those who defended the wall; then, advancing nearer
+to them, he forced some with his sword, and others with his shield,
+either into the city or the sea, the tower on which he fought almost
+touching the wall.
+
+He soon ascended the wall, followed by his principal officers, and
+possessed himself of two towers and the space between them. The
+battering-rams had already made several breaches; the fleet had forced
+its way into the harbor; and some of the Macedonians had possessed
+themselves of the towers which were abandoned. The Tyrians, seeing the
+enemy masters of their rampart, retired toward an open place, called
+Agenor, and there stood their ground; but Alexander, marching up with
+his regiment of bodyguards, killed part of them and obliged the rest to
+fly.
+
+At the same time, Tyre being taken on that side which lay toward the
+harbor, a general carnage of the citizens ensued, and none was spared,
+except the few that fell into the hands of the Siclonians in Alexander's
+army, who--considering the Tyrians as countrymen--granted them
+protection and carried them privately on board their ships.
+
+The number that was slaughtered on this occasion is almost incredible;
+even after conquest, the victor's resentment did not subside. He ordered
+no less than five thousand men, who were taken in the storming, to be
+nailed to crosses along the shore. The number of prisoners amounted to
+thirty thousand and were all sold as slaves in different parts of the
+world. Thus fell Tyre, that had been for many ages the most flourishing
+city in the world, and had spread the arts and commerce into the
+remotest regions.
+
+While Alexander was employed in the siege of Tyre he received a second
+letter from Darius, in which that monarch treated him with greater
+respect than before. He now gave him the title of king; he offered him
+ten thousand talents as a ransom for his captive mother and queen; and
+he promised him his daughter Statira in marriage, with all the country
+he had conquered, as far as the river Euphrates, provided he would agree
+to a peace. These terms were so advantageous that, when the King debated
+upon them in council, Parmenio, one of his generals, could not help
+observing that he would certainly accept of them were he Alexander. "And
+so would I," replied the King, "were I Parmenio!" But deeming it
+inconsistent with his dignity to listen to any proposals from a man whom
+he had so lately overcome, he haughtily rejected them, and scorned to
+accept of that as a favor which he already considered his own by
+conquest.
+
+From Tyre, Alexander marched to Jerusalem, fully determined to punish
+that city for having refused to supply his army with provisions during
+the siege; but his resentment was mollified by a deputation of the
+citizens coming out to meet him, with their high priest, Taddua, before
+them, dressed in white, and having a mitre on his head, on the front of
+which the name of God was written. The moment the King perceived the
+high priest, he advanced toward him with an air of the most profound
+respect, bowed his body, adored the august name upon his front, and
+saluted him who wore it with religious veneration.
+
+And when some of his courtiers expressed their surprise that he, who was
+adored by everyone, should adore the high priest of the Jews: "I do
+not," said he, "adore the high priest, but the God whose minister he is;
+for while I was at Dium in Macedonia, my mind wholly fixed on the great
+design of the Persian war, as I was revolving the methods how to conquer
+Asia, this very man, dressed in the same robes, appeared to me in a
+dream, exhorted me to banish my fear, bade me cross the Hellespont
+boldly, and assured me that God would march at the head of my army and
+give me the victory over the Persians." This speech, delivered with an
+air of sincerity, no doubt had its effect in encouraging the army and
+establishing an opinion that his mission was from heaven.
+
+From Jerusalem he went to Gaza, where, having met with a more obstinate
+resistance than he expected, he cut to pieces the whole garrison,
+consisting of ten thousand men. Not satisfied with this act of cruelty,
+he caused holes to be bored through the heels of Boetis, the governor,
+and tying him with cords to the back of his chariot dragged him in this
+manner around the walls of the city. This he did in imitation of
+Achilles, whom Homer describes as having dragged Hector around the walls
+of Troy in the same manner. It was reading the past to very little, or
+rather, indeed, to very bad purpose, to imitate this hero in the most
+unworthy part of his character.
+
+Alexander, having left a garrison in Gaza, turned his arms toward Egypt;
+of which he made himself master without opposition. Here he formed the
+design of visiting the temple of Jupiter, which was situated in the
+sandy deserts of Lybia at the distance of twelve days' journey from
+Memphis, the capital of Egypt. His chief object in going thither was to
+get himself acknowledged the son of Jupiter, an honor he had long
+aspired to. In this journey he founded the city of Alexandria, which
+soon became one of the greatest towns in the world for commerce.
+
+Nothing could be more dreary than the desert through which he passed,
+nor anything more charming--according to the fabulous accounts of the
+poets--than the particular spot where the temple was situated.
+
+It was a perfect paradise in the midst of an immeasurable wilderness. At
+last, having reached the place, and appeared before the altar of the
+deity, the priest, who was no stranger to Alexander's wishes, declared
+him to be the son of Jupiter.
+
+The conqueror, elated with this high compliment, asked whether he should
+have success in his expedition. The priest answered that he should be
+monarch of the world. The conqueror inquired if his father's murderers
+were punished. The priest replied that his father Jupiter was immortal,
+but that the murderers of Philip had all been extirpated.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF ARBELA
+
+B.C. 331
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(When Alexander, having returned from his campaign against the
+barbarians of the North, had suppressed a revolt which meanwhile had
+broken out in Greece, he found himself free for undertaking those great
+foreign conquests which he had planned. When he left Greece to conquer
+the world, he said farewell to his own country forever. Crossing the
+Hellespont into Asia Minor with a small but well equipped and
+disciplined army, he advanced unopposed until he reached the river
+Granicus, where he found himself confronted with a Persian host. Upon
+this army he inflicted a defeat so signal as to bring at once to
+submission nearly the whole of Asia Minor. He next advanced into Syria
+and met the Persian king, Darius III, who in person commanded an immense
+body of soldiers, against which the young conqueror fought at Issus,
+winning a decisive victory. He not only captured the Persian camp, but
+also secured the King's treasures and took his family prisoners. From
+this time Alexander held complete mastery of the western dominions of
+Darius, whom the conqueror afterward dethroned.
+
+After he had next invaded and subjugated Egypt and there founded the
+city of Alexandria, he pursued King Darius, who had taken flight, into
+the very heart of his empire, where the Persian monarch, on the plains
+of Gaugamela, near the village of Arbela, made his last stand against
+his invincible foe. Of the battle to which Arbela gave its name, and
+which proved the death-blow of the Persian empire, Creasy's narrative
+furnishes a realistic description.)
+
+
+A long and not uninstructive list might be made out of illustrious men
+whose characters have been vindicated during recent times from
+aspersions which for centuries had been thrown on them. The spirit of
+modern inquiry, and the tendency of modern scholarship, both of which
+are often said to be solely negative and destructive, have, in truth,
+restored to splendor, and almost created anew, far more than they have
+assailed with censure or dismissed from consideration as unreal.
+
+The truth of many a brilliant narrative of brilliant exploits has of
+late years been triumphantly demonstrated, and the shallowness of the
+sceptical scoffs with which little minds have carped at the great minds
+of antiquity has been in many instances decisively exposed. The laws,
+the politics, and the lines of action adopted or recommended by eminent
+men and powerful nations have been examined with keener investigation
+and considered with more comprehensive judgment than formerly were
+brought to bear on these subjects. The result has been at least as often
+favorable as unfavorable to the persons and the states so scrutinized,
+and many an oft-repeated slander against both measures and men has thus
+been silenced, we may hope forever.
+
+The veracity of Herodotus, the pure patriotism of Pericles, of
+Demosthenes, and of the Gracchi, the wisdom of Clisthenes and of
+Licinius as constitutional reformers, may be mentioned as facts which
+recent writers have cleared from unjust suspicion and censure. And it
+might be easily shown that the defensive tendency which distinguishes
+the present and recent great writers of Germany, France, and England has
+been equally manifested in the spirit in which they have treated the
+heroes of thought and heroes of action who lived during what we term the
+Middle Ages, and whom it was so long the fashion to sneer at or neglect.
+
+The name of the victor of Arbela has led to these reflections; for,
+although the rapidity and extent of Alexander's conquests have through
+all ages challenged admiration and amazement, the grandeur of genius
+which he displayed in his schemes of commerce, civilization, and of
+comprehensive union and unity among nations, has, until lately, been
+comparatively unhonored. This long-continued depreciation was of early
+date. The ancient rhetoricians--a class of babblers, a school for lies
+and scandal, as Niebuhr justly termed them--chose, among the stock
+themes for their commonplaces, the character and exploits of Alexander.
+
+They had their followers in every age; and, until a very recent period,
+all who wished to "point a moral or adorn a tale," about unreasoning
+ambition, extravagant pride, and the formidable frenzies of free will
+when leagued with free power, have never failed to blazon forth the
+so-called madman of Macedonia as one of the most glaring examples.
+Without doubt, many of these writers adopted with implicit credence
+traditional ideas, and supposed, with uninquiring philanthropy, that in
+blackening Alexander they were doing humanity good service. But also,
+without doubt, many of his assailants, like those of other great men,
+have been mainly instigated by "that strongest of all antipathies, the
+antipathy of a second-rate mind to a first-rate one," and by the envy
+which talent too often bears to genius.
+
+Arrian, who wrote his history of Alexander when Hadrian was emperor of
+the Roman world, and when the spirit of declamation and dogmatism was at
+its full height, but who was himself, unlike the dreaming pedants of the
+schools, a statesman and a soldier of practical and proved ability, well
+rebuked the malevolent aspersions which he heard continually thrown upon
+the memory of the great conqueror of the East.
+
+He truly says: "Let the man who speaks evil of Alexander not merely
+bring forward those passages of Alexander's life which were really evil,
+but let him collect and review _all_ the actions of Alexander, and then
+let him thoroughly consider first who and what manner of man he himself
+is, and what has been his own career; and then let him consider who and
+what manner of man Alexander was, and to what an eminence of human
+grandeur _he_ arrived. Let him consider that Alexander was a king, and
+the undisputed lord of the two continents, and that his name is renowned
+throughout the whole earth.
+
+"Let the evil-speaker against Alexander bear all this in mind, and then
+let him reflect on his own insignificance, the pettiness of his own
+circumstances and affairs, and the blunders that he makes about these,
+paltry and trifling as they are. Let him then ask himself whether he is
+a fit person to censure and revile such a man as Alexander. I believe
+that there was in his time no nation of men, no city, nay, no single
+individual with whom Alexander's name had not become a familiar word. I
+therefore hold that such a man, who was like no ordinary mortal, was not
+born into the world without some special providence."
+
+And one of the most distinguished soldiers and writers, Sir Walter
+Raleigh, though he failed to estimate justly the full merits of
+Alexander, has expressed his sense of the grandeur of the part played in
+the world by "the great Emathian conqueror" in language that well
+deserves quotation:
+
+"So much hath the spirit of some one man excelled as it hath undertaken
+and effected the alteration of the greatest states and commonweals, the
+erection of monarchies, the conquest of kingdoms and empires, guided
+handfuls of men against multitudes of equal bodily strength, contrived
+victories beyond all hope and discourse of reason, converted the fearful
+passions of his own followers into magnanimity, and the valor of his
+enemies into cowardice; such spirits have been stirred up in sundry ages
+of the world, and in divers parts thereof, to erect and cast down again,
+to establish and to destroy, and to bring all things, persons, and
+states to the same certain ends which the infinite spirit of the
+_Universal_, piercing, moving, and governing all things, hath ordained.
+Certainly, the things that this King did were marvellous and would
+hardly have been undertaken by anyone else; and though his father had
+determined to have invaded the Lesser Asia, it is like enough that he
+would have contented himself with some part thereof, and not have
+discovered the river of Indus, as this man did."
+
+A higher authority than either Arrian or Raleigh may now be referred to
+by those who wish to know the real merit of Alexander as a general, and
+how far the commonplace assertions are true that his successes were the
+mere results of fortunate rashness and unreasoning pugnacity. Napoleon
+selected Alexander as one of the seven greatest generals whose noble
+deeds history has handed down to us, and from the study of whose
+campaigns the principles of war are to be learned. The critique of the
+greatest conqueror of modern times on the military career of the great
+conqueror of the Old World is no less graphic than true:
+
+"Alexander crossed the Dardanelles B.C. 334, with an army of about forty
+thousand men, of which one-eighth was cavalry; he forced the passage of
+the Granicus in opposition to an army under Memnon, the Greek, who
+commanded for Darius on the coast of Asia, and he spent the whole of the
+year 333 in establishing his power in Asia Minor. He was seconded by the
+Greek colonies, who dwelt on the borders of the Black Sea and on the
+Mediterranean, and in Sardis, Ephesus, Tarsus, Miletus, etc. The kings
+of Persia left their provinces and towns to be governed according to
+their own particular laws. Their empire was a union of confederated
+states, and did not form one nation; this facilitated its conquest. As
+Alexander only wished for the throne of the monarch, he easily effected
+the change by respecting the customs, manners, and laws of the people,
+who experienced no change in their condition.
+
+"In the year 332 he met with Darius at the head of sixty thousand men,
+who had taken up a position near Tarsus, on the banks of the Issus, in
+the province of Cilicia. He defeated him, entered Syria, took Damascus,
+which contained all the riches of the Great King, and laid siege to
+Tyre. This superb metropolis of the commerce of the world detained him
+nine months.
+
+"He took Gaza after a siege of two months; crossed the desert in seven
+days; entered Pelusium and Memphis, and founded Alexandria. In less than
+two years, after two battles and four or five sieges, the coasts of the
+Black Sea, from Phasis to Byzantium, those of the Mediterranean as far
+as Alexandria, all Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, had submitted to his
+arms.
+
+"In 331 he repassed the desert, encamped in Tyre, re-crossed Syria,
+entered Damascus, passed the Euphrates and Tigris, and defeated Darius
+on the field of Arbela when he was at the head of a still stronger army
+than that which he commanded on the Issus, and Babylon opened her gates
+to him. In 330 he overran Susa and took that city, Persepolis, and
+Pasargada, which contained the tomb of Cyrus. In 329 he directed his
+course northward, entered Ecbatana, and extended his conquests to the
+coasts of the Caspian, punished Bessus, the cowardly assassin of Darius,
+penetrated into Scythia, and subdued the Scythians.
+
+"In 328 he forced the passage of the Oxus, received sixteen thousand
+recruits from Macedonia, and reduced the neighboring people to
+subjection. In 327 he crossed the Indus, vanquished Porus in a pitched
+battle, took him prisoner, and treated him as a king. He contemplated
+passing the Ganges, but his army refused. He sailed down the Indus, in
+the year 326, with eight hundred vessels; having arrived at the ocean,
+he sent Nearchus with a fleet to run along the coasts of the Indian
+Ocean and the Persian Gulf as far as the mouth of the Euphrates. In 325
+he took sixty days in crossing from Gedrosia, entered Keramania,
+returned to Pasargada, Persepolis, and Susa, and married Statira, the
+daughter of Darius. In 324 he marched once more to the north, passed
+Echatana, and terminated his career at Babylon."
+
+The enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to be estimated, not
+by the duration of his own life and empire, or even by the duration of
+the kingdoms which his generals after his death formed out of the
+fragments of that mighty dominion. In every region of the world that he
+traversed, Alexander planted Greek settlements and founded cities, in
+the populations of which the Greek element at once asserted its
+predominance. Among his successors, the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies
+imitated their great captain in blending schemes of civilization, of
+commercial intercourse, and of literary and scientific research with all
+their enterprises of military aggrandizement and with all their systems
+of civil administration.
+
+Such was the ascendency of the Greek genius, so wonderfully
+comprehensive and assimilating was the cultivation which it introduced,
+that, within thirty years after Alexander crossed the Hellespont, the
+Greek language was spoken in every country from the shores of the Ægean
+to the Indus, and also throughout Egypt--not, indeed, wholly to the
+extirpation of the native dialects, but it became the language of every
+court, of all literature, of every judicial and political function, and
+formed a medium of communication among the many myriads of mankind
+inhabiting these large portions of the Old World.
+
+Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt the Hellenic character that was
+thus imparted remained in full vigor down to the time of the Mahometan
+conquests. The infinite value of this to humanity in the highest and
+holiest point of view has often been pointed out, and the workings of
+the finger of Providence have been gratefully recognized by those who
+have observed how the early growth and progress of Christianity were
+aided by that diffusion of the Greek language and civilization
+throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt which had been caused by the
+Macedonian conquest of the East.
+
+In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and material influence
+of Greek ascendency was more short-lived. Yet, during the existence of
+the Hellenic kingdoms in these regions, especially of the Greek kingdom
+of Bactria, the modern Bokhara, very important effects were produced on
+the intellectual tendencies and tastes of the inhabitants of those
+countries, and of the adjacent ones, by the animating contact of the
+Grecian spirit. Much of Hindu science and philosophy, much of the
+literature of the later Persian kingdom of the Arsacidæ, either
+originated from or was largely modified by Grecian influences. So, also,
+the learning and science of the Arabians were in a far less degree the
+result of original invention and genius than the reproduction, in an
+altered form, of the Greek philosophy and the Greek lore acquired by the
+Saracenic conquerors, together with their acquisition of the provinces
+which Alexander had subjugated, nearly a thousand years before the armed
+disciples of Mahomet commenced their career in the East.
+
+It is well known that Western Europe in the Middle Ages drew its
+philosophy, its arts, and its science principally from Arabian teachers.
+And thus we see how the intellectual influence of ancient Greece, poured
+on the Eastern world by Alexander's victories, and then brought back to
+bear on mediæval Europe by the spread of the Saracenic powers, has
+exerted its action on the elements of modern civilization by this
+powerful though indirect channel, as well as by the more obvious effects
+of the remnants of classic civilization which survived in Italy, Gaul,
+Britain, and Spain, after the irruption of the Germanic nations.
+
+These considerations invest the Macedonian triumphs in the East with
+never-dying interest, such as the most showy and sanguinary successes of
+mere "low ambition and the pride of kings," however they may dazzle for
+a moment, can never retain with posterity. Whether the old Persian
+empire which Cyrus founded could have survived much longer than it did,
+even if Darius had been victorious at Arbela, may safely be disputed.
+That ancient dominion, like the Turkish at the present time, labored
+under every cause of decay and dissolution. The satraps, like the modern
+pachas, continually rebelled against the central power, and Egypt in
+particular was almost always in a state of insurrection against its
+nominal sovereign. There was no longer any effective central control, or
+any internal principle of unity fused through the huge mass of the
+empire, and binding it together.
+
+Persia was evidently about to fall; but, had it not been for Alexander's
+invasion of Asia, she would most probably have fallen beneath some other
+oriental power, as Media and Babylon had formerly fallen before herself,
+and as, in after-times, the Parthian supremacy gave way to the revived
+ascendency of Persia in the East, under the sceptres of the Arsacidæ. A
+revolution that merely substituted one Eastern power for another would
+have been utterly barren and unprofitable to mankind.
+
+Alexander's victory at Arbela not only overthrew an oriental dynasty,
+but established European rulers in its stead. It broke the monotony of
+the eastern world by the impression of western energy and superior
+civilization, even as England's present mission is to break up the
+mental and moral stagnation of India and Cathay by pouring upon and
+through them the impulsive current of Anglo-Saxon commerce and conquest.
+
+Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the decisive battle
+which gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than twenty miles from the
+actual scene of conflict. The little village, then named Gaugamela, is
+close to the spot where the armies met, but has ceded the honor of
+naming the battle to its more euphonious neighbor. Gaugamela is situated
+in one of the wide plains that lie between the Tigris and the mountains
+of Kurdistan. A few undulating hillocks diversify the surface of this
+sandy tract; but the ground is generally level and admirably qualified
+for the evolutions of cavalry, and also calculated to give the larger of
+two armies the full advantage of numerical superiority.
+
+The Persian King--who, before he came to the throne, had proved his
+personal valor as a soldier and his skill as a general--had wisely
+selected this region for the third and decisive encounter between his
+forces and the invader. The previous defeats of his troops, however
+severe they had been, were not looked on as irreparable. The Granicus
+had been fought by his generals rashly and without mutual concert; and,
+though Darius himself had commanded and been beaten at Issus, that
+defeat might be attributed to the disadvantageous nature of the ground,
+where, cooped up between the mountains, the river, and the sea, the
+numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike the general's skill
+and the soldiers' prowess, and their very strength had been made their
+weakness. Here, on the broad plains of Kurdistan, there was scope for
+Asia's largest host to array its lines, to wheel, to skirmish, to
+condense or expand its squadrons, to manoeuvre, and to charge at will.
+Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to plunge into that living sea
+of war, their destruction seemed inevitable.
+
+Darius felt, however, the critical nature to himself as well as to his
+adversary of the coming encounter. He could not hope to retrieve the
+consequences of a third overthrow. The great cities of Mesopotamia and
+Upper Asia, the central provinces of the Persian empire, were certain to
+be at the mercy of the victor. Darius knew also the Asiatic character
+well enough to be aware how it yields to _prestige_ of success and the
+apparent career of destiny. He felt that the diadem was now either to be
+firmly replaced on his own brow or to be irrevocably transferred to the
+head of his European conqueror. He, therefore, during the long interval
+left him after the battle of Issus, while Alexander was subjugating
+Syria and Egypt, assiduously busied himself in selecting the best troops
+which his vast empire supplied, and in training his varied forces to act
+together with some uniformity of discipline and system.
+
+The hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, Bokhara, Khiva, and Tibet were
+then, as at present, far different from the generality of Asiatics in
+warlike spirit and endurance. From these districts Darius collected
+large bodies of admirable infantry; and the countries of the modern
+Kurds and Turkomans supplied, as they do now, squadrons of horsemen,
+hardy, skilful, bold, and trained to a life of constant activity and
+warfare. It is not uninteresting to notice that the ancestors of our own
+late enemies, the Sikhs, served as allies of Darius against the
+Macedonians. They are spoken of in Arrian as Indians who dwelt near
+Bactria. They were attached to the troops of that satrapy, and their
+cavalry was one of the most formidable forces in the whole Persian army.
+
+Besides these picked troops, contingents also came in from the numerous
+other provinces that yet obeyed the Great King. Altogether, the horse
+are said to have been forty thousand, the scythe-bearing chariots two
+hundred, and the armed elephants fifteen in number. The amount of the
+infantry is uncertain; but the knowledge which both ancient and modern
+times supply of the usual character of oriental armies, and of their
+populations of camp-followers, may warrant us in believing that many
+myriads were prepared to fight or to encumber those who fought for the
+last Darius.
+
+The position of the Persian King near Mesopotamia was chosen with great
+military skill. It was certain that Alexander, on his return from Egypt,
+must march northward along the Syrian coast before he attacked the
+central provinces of the Persian empire. A direct eastward march from
+the lower part of Palestine across the great Syrian Desert was then, as
+ever, utterly impracticable. Marching eastward from Syria, Alexander
+would, on crossing the Euphrates, arrive at the vast Mesopotamian
+plains. The wealthy capitals of the empire, Babylon, Susa, and
+Persepolis, would then lie to the south; and if he marched down through
+Mesopotamia to attack them, Darius might reasonably hope to follow the
+Macedonians with his immense force of cavalry, and, without even risking
+a pitched battle, to harass and finally overwhelm them.
+
+We may remember that three centuries afterward a Roman army under
+Crassus was thus actually destroyed by the oriental archers and horsemen
+in these very plains, and that the ancestors of the Parthians who thus
+vanquished the Roman legions served by thousands under King Darius. If,
+on the contrary, Alexander should defer his march against Babylon, and
+first seek an encounter with the Persian army, the country on each side
+of the Tigris in this latitude was highly advantageous for such an army
+as Darius commanded, and he had close in his rear the mountainous
+districts of Northern Media, where he himself had in early life been
+satrap, where he had acquired reputation as a soldier and a general, and
+where he justly expected to find loyalty to his person, and a safe
+refuge in case of defeat.[49]
+
+[Footnote 49: Mitford's remarks on the strategy of Darius in his last
+campaign are very just. After having been unduly admired as a historian,
+Mitford is now unduly neglected. His partiality and his deficiency in
+scholarship have been exposed sufficiently to make him no longer a
+dangerous guide as to Greek politics, while the clearness and brilliance
+of his narrative, and the strong common sense of his remarks (where his
+party prejudices do not interfere), must always make his volumes
+valuable as well as entertaining.]
+
+His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against him, at the
+head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of Macedonian
+officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand foot and seven
+thousand horse. In studying the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the
+peculiar advantage of deriving our information from two of Alexander's
+generals of division, who bore an important part in all his enterprises.
+Aristobulus and Ptolemy--who afterward became king of Egypt--kept
+regular journals of the military events which they witnessed, and these
+journals were in the possession of Arrian when he drew up his history of
+Alexander's expedition.
+
+The high character of Arrian for integrity makes us confident that he
+used them fairly, and his comments on the occasional discrepancies
+between the two Macedonian narratives prove that he used them sensibly.
+He frequently quotes the very words of his authorities; and his history
+thus acquires a charm such as very few ancient or modern military
+narratives possess. The anecdotes and expressions which he records we
+fairly believe to be genuine, and not to be the coinage of a
+rhetorician, like those in Curtius. In fact, in reading Arrian, we read
+General Aristobulus and General Ptolemy on the campaigns of the
+Macedonians, and it is like reading General Jomini or General Foy on the
+campaigns of the French.
+
+The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of Alexander's army
+seems reasonable enough, when we take into account both the losses which
+he had sustained and the reënforcements which he had received since he
+left Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen, who know with what mere handfuls of
+men our own generals have, at Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and other
+Indian battles, routed large hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers
+that we read of in the victories won by the Macedonians over the
+Persians presents nothing incredible. The army which Alexander now led
+was wholly composed of veteran troops in the highest possible state of
+equipment and discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader, and
+full of confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny.
+
+The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of his
+infantry. This force had been raised and organized by his father,
+Philip, who, on his accession to the Macedonian throne, needed a
+numerous and quickly formed army, and who, by lengthening the spear of
+the ordinary Greek phalanx, and increasing the depth of the files,
+brought the tactics of armed masses to the highest extent of which it
+was capable with such materials as he possessed. He formed his men
+sixteen deep, and placed in their grasp the _sarissa_, as the Macedonian
+pike was called, which was four-and-twenty feet in length, and, when
+couched for action, reached eighteen feet in front of the soldier; so
+that, as a space of about two feet was allowed between the ranks, the
+spears of the five files behind him projected in front of each
+front-rank man.
+
+The phalangite soldier was fully equipped in the defensive armor of the
+regular Greek infantry. And thus the phalanx presented a ponderous and
+bristling mass, which, as long as its order was kept compact, was sure
+to bear down all opposition. The defects of such an organization are
+obvious, and were proved in after-years, when the Macedonians were
+opposed to the Roman legions. But it is clear that under Alexander the
+phalanx was not the cumbrous, unwieldy body which it was at Cynoscephate
+and Pydna. His men were veterans; and he could obtain from them an
+accuracy of movement and steadiness of evolution such as probably the
+recruits of his father would only have floundered in attempting, and
+such as certainly were impracticable in the phalanx when handled by his
+successors, especially as under them it ceased to be a standing force,
+and became only a militia.
+
+Under Alexander the phalanx consisted of an aggregate of eighteen
+thousand men, who were divided into six brigades of three thousand each.
+These were again subdivided into regiments and companies; and the men
+were carefully trained to wheel, to face about, to take more ground, or
+to close up, as the emergencies of the battle required. Alexander also
+arrayed troops armed in a different manner in the intervals of the
+regiments of his phalangites, who could prevent their line from being
+pierced and their companies taken in flank, when the nature of the
+ground prevented a close formation, and who could be withdrawn when a
+favorable opportunity arrived for closing up the phalanx or any of its
+brigades for a charge, or when it was necessary to prepare to receive
+cavalry.
+
+Besides the phalanx, Alexander had a considerable force of infantry who
+were called shield-bearers: they were not so heavily armed as the
+phalangites, or as was the case with the Greek regular infantry in
+general, but they were equipped for close fight as well as for
+skirmishing, and were far superior to the ordinary irregular troops of
+Greek warfare. They were about six thousand strong. Besides these, he
+had several bodies of Greek regular infantry; and he had archers,
+slingers, and javelin-men, who fought also with broadsword and target,
+and who were principally supplied him by the highlanders of Illyria and
+Thracia.
+
+The main strength of his cavalry consisted in two chosen regiments of
+cuirassiers, one Macedonian and one Thessalian, each of which was about
+fifteen hundred strong. They were provided with long lances and heavy
+swords, and horse as well as man was fully equipped with defensive
+armor. Other regiments of regular cavalry were less heavily armed, and
+there were several bodies of light-horsemen, whom Alexander's conquests
+in Egypt and Syria had enabled him to mount superbly.
+
+A little before the end of August, Alexander crossed the Euphrates at
+Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry under Mazaeus retiring
+before him. Alexander was too prudent to march down through the
+Mesopotamian deserts, and continued to advance eastward with the
+intention of passing the Tigris, and then, if he was unable to find
+Darius and bring him to action, of marching southward on the left side
+of that river along the skirts of a mountainous district where his men
+would suffer less from heat and thirst, and where provisions would be
+more abundant.
+
+Darius, finding that his adversary was not to be enticed into the march
+through Mesopotamia against his capital, determined to remain on the
+battle-ground, which he had chosen on the left of the Tigris; where, if
+his enemy met a defeat or a check, the destruction of the invaders would
+be certain with two such rivers as the Euphrates and the Tigris in their
+rear.
+
+The Persian King availed himself to the utmost of every advantage in his
+power. He caused a large space of ground to be carefully levelled for
+the operation of his scythe-armed chariots; and he deposited his
+military stores in the strong town of Arbela, about twenty miles in his
+rear. The rhetoricians of after-ages have loved to describe Darius
+Codomanus as a second Xerxes in ostentation and imbecility; but a fair
+examination of his generalship in this his last campaign shows that he
+was worthy of bearing the same name as his great predecessor, the royal
+son of Hystaspes.
+
+On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left of the Tigris,
+Alexander hurried forward and crossed that river without opposition. He
+was at first unable to procure any certain intelligence of the precise
+position of the enemy, and after giving his army a short interval of
+rest he marched for four days down the left bank of the river.
+
+A moralist may pause upon the fact that Alexander must in this march
+have passed within a few miles of the ruins of Nineveh, the great city
+of the primæval conquerors of the human race. Neither the Macedonian
+King nor any of his followers knew what those vast mounds had once been.
+They had already sunk into utter destruction; and it is only within the
+last few years that the intellectual energy of one of our own countrymen
+has rescued Nineveh from its long centuries of oblivion.
+
+On the fourth day of Alexander's southward march, his advance guard
+reported that a body of the enemy's cavalry was in sight. He instantly
+formed his army in order for battle, and directing them to advance
+steadily he rode forward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry and
+charged the Persian horse, whom he found before him. This was a mere
+reconnoitring party, and they broke and fled immediately; but the
+Macedonians made some prisoners, and from them Alexander found that
+Darius was posted only a few miles off, and learned the strength of the
+army that he had with him. On receiving this news Alexander halted, and
+gave his men repose for four days, so that they should go into action
+fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his camp and deposited in it all
+his military stores and all his sick and disabled soldiers, intending to
+advance upon the enemy with the serviceable part of his army perfectly
+unencumbered.
+
+After this halt, he moved forward, while it was yet dark, with the
+intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking them at break of day.
+About half way between the camps there were some undulations of the
+ground, which concealed the two armies from each other's view; but, on
+Alexander arriving at their summit, he saw, by the early light, the
+Persian host arrayed before him, and he probably also observed traces of
+some engineering operation having been carried on along part of the
+ground in front of them.
+
+Not knowing that these marks had been caused by the Persians having
+levelled the ground for the free use of their war chariots, Alexander
+suspected that hidden pitfalls had been prepared with a view of
+disordering the approach of his cavalry. He summoned a council of war
+forthwith. Some of the officers were for attacking instantly, at all
+hazards; but the more prudent opinion of Parmenio prevailed, and it was
+determined not to advance farther till the battle-ground had been
+carefully surveyed.
+
+Alexander halted his army on the heights, and, taking with him some
+light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed part of the day in
+reconnoitring the enemy and observing the nature of the ground which he
+had to fight on. Darius wisely refrained from moving from his position
+to attack the Macedonians on the eminences which they occupied, and the
+two armies remained until night without molesting each other.
+
+On Alexander's return to his headquarters, he summoned his generals and
+superior officers together, and telling them that he knew well that
+_their_ zeal wanted no exhortation, he besought them to do their utmost
+in encouraging and instructing those whom each commanded, to do their
+best in the next day's battle. They were to remind them that they were
+now not going to fight for a province as they had hitherto fought, but
+they were about to decide by their swords the dominion of all Asia. Each
+officer ought to impress this upon his subalterns, and they should urge
+it on their men. Their natural courage required no long words to excite
+its ardor; but they should be reminded of the paramount importance of
+steadiness in action. The silence in the ranks must be unbroken as long
+as silence was proper; but when the time came for the charge, the shout
+and the cheer must be full of terror for the foe. The officers were to
+be alert in receiving and communicating orders; and everyone was to act
+as if he felt that the whole result of the battle depended on his own
+single good conduct.
+
+Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander ordered that the
+army should sup and take their rest for the night.
+
+Darkness had closed over the tents of the Macedonians when Alexander's
+veteran general, Parmenio, came to him and proposed that they should
+make a night attack on the Persians. The King is said to have answered
+that he scorned to filch a victory, and that Alexander must conquer
+openly and fairly. Arrian justly remarks that Alexander's resolution was
+as wise as it was spirited. Besides the confusion and uncertainty which
+are inseparable from night engagements, the value of Alexander's victory
+would have been impaired if gained under circumstances which might
+supply the enemy with any excuse for his defeat, and encourage him to
+renew the contest. It was necessary for Alexander not only to beat
+Darius, but to gain such a victory as should leave his rival without
+apology and without hope of recovery.
+
+The Persians, in fact, expected and were prepared to meet a night
+attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius entertained of it that he
+formed his troops at evening in order of battle, and kept them under
+arms all night. The effect of this was that the morning found them jaded
+and dispirited, while it brought their adversaries all fresh and
+vigorous against them.
+
+The written order of battle which Darius himself caused to be drawn up
+fell into the hands of the Macedonians after the engagement, and
+Aristobulus copied it into his journal. We thus possess, through Arrian,
+unusually authentic information as to the composition and arrangement of
+the Persian army. On the extreme left were the Bactrian, Daan, and
+Arachosian cavalry. Next to these Darius placed the troops from Persia
+proper, both horse and foot. Then came the Susians, and next to these
+the Cadusians. These forces made up the left wing.
+
+Darius' own station was in the centre. This was composed of the Indians,
+the Carians, the Mardian archers, and the division of Persians who were
+distinguished by the golden apples that formed the knobs of their
+spears. Here also were stationed the bodyguard of the Persian nobility.
+Besides these, there were, in the centre, formed in deep order, the
+Uxian and Babylonian troops and the soldiers from the Red Sea. The
+brigade of Greek mercenaries whom Darius had in his service, and who
+alone were considered fit to stand the charge of the Macedonian phalanx,
+was drawn up on either side of the royal chariot.
+
+The right wing was composed of the Coelosyrians and Mesopotamians, the
+Medes, the Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians, Hyrcanians, Albanians,
+and Sacesinae. In advance of the line on the left wing were placed the
+Scythian cavalry, with a thousand of the Bactrian horse and a hundred
+scythe-armed chariots. The elephants and fifty scythe-armed chariots
+were ranged in front of the centre; and fifty more chariots, with the
+Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in advance of the right
+wing.
+
+Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the night that to
+many thousands of them was the last of their existence. The morning of
+the first of October[50] dawned slowly to their wearied watching, and
+they could hear the note of the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and
+could see King Alexander's forces descend from their tents on the
+heights and form in order of battle on the plain.
+
+[Footnote 50: The battle was fought eleven days after an eclipse of the
+moon, which gives the means of fixing the precise date.]
+
+There was deep need of skill, as well as of valor, on Alexander's side;
+and few battle-fields have witnessed more consummate generalship than
+was now displayed by the Macedonian King. There were no natural barriers
+by which he could protect his flanks; and not only was he certain to be
+overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but
+there was imminent risk of their circling round him, and charging him in
+the rear, while he advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore,
+a second, or reserve line, which was to wheel round, if required, or to
+detach troops to either flank, as the enemy's movements might
+necessitate; and thus, with their whole army ready at any moment to be
+thrown into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two
+lines against the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right wing,
+and the renowned phalanx forming the centre, while Parmenio commanded on
+the left.
+
+Such was the general nature of the disposition which Alexander made of
+his army. But we have in Arrian the details of the position of each
+brigade and regiment; and as we know that these details were taken from
+the journals of Macedonian generals, it is interesting to examine them,
+and to read the names and stations of King Alexander's generals and
+colonels in this the greatest of his battles.
+
+The eight regiments of the royal horse-guards formed the right of
+Alexander's line. Their colonels were Clitus--whose regiment was on the
+extreme right, the post of peculiar danger--Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis,
+Heraclides, Demetrias, Meleager, and Hegelochus. Philotas was general of
+the whole division. Then came the shield-bearing infantry: Nicanor was
+their general. Then came the phalanx in six brigades. Coenus' brigade
+was on the right, and nearest to the shield-bearers; next to this stood
+the brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager's, then Polysperchon's; and then
+the brigade of Amynias, but which was now commanded by Simmias, as
+Amynias had been sent to Macedonia to levy recruits. Then came the
+infantry of the left wing, under the command of Craterus.
+
+Next to Craterus' infantry were placed the cavalry regiments of the
+allies, with Eriguius for their general. The Thessalian cavalry,
+commanded by Philippus, were next, and held the extreme left of the
+whole army. The whole left wing was intrusted to the command of
+Parmenio, who had round his person the Pharsalian regiment of cavalry,
+which was the strongest and best of all the Thessalian horse regiments.
+
+The centre of the second line was occupied by a body of phalangite
+infantry, formed of companies which were drafted for this purpose from
+each of the brigades of their phalanx. The officers in command of this
+corps were ordered to be ready to face about if the enemy should succeed
+in gaining the rear of the army. On the right of this reserve of
+infantry, in the second line, and behind the royal horse-guards,
+Alexander placed half the Agrian light-armed infantry under Attalus, and
+with them Brison's body of Macedonian archers and Cleander's regiment of
+foot. He also placed in this part of his army Menidas' squadron of
+cavalry and Aretes' and Ariston's light horse. Menidas was ordered to
+watch if the enemy's cavalry tried to turn their flank, and, if they did
+so, to charge them before they wheeled completely round, and so take
+them in flank themselves.
+
+A similar force was arranged on the left of the second line for the same
+purpose. The Thracian infantry of Sitalces were placed there, and
+Coeranus' regiment of the cavalry of the Greek allies, and Agathon's
+troops of the Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme left of the second
+line in this quarter was held by Andromachus' cavalry. A division of
+Thracian infantry was left in guard of the camp. In advance of the right
+wing and centre was scattered a number of light-armed troops, of
+javelin-men and bowmen, with the intention of warding off the charge of
+the armed chariots.[51]
+
+[Footnote 51: Kleber's arrangement of his troops at the battle of
+Heliopolis, where, with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter
+eighty thousand Asiatics in an open plain, is worth comparing with
+Alexander's tactics at Arbela. See Thiers' _Histoire du Consulat_.]
+
+Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armor, and by the chosen band of
+officers who were round his person, Alexander took his own station, as
+his custom was, in the right wing, at the head of his cavalry; and when
+all the arrangements for the battle were complete, and his generals were
+fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, he began to lead
+his men toward the enemy.
+
+It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, and to
+emulate the personal prowess of his great ancestor, Achilles. Perhaps,
+in the bold enterprise of conquering Persia, it was politic for
+Alexander to raise his army's daring to the utmost by the example of his
+own heroic valor; and, in his subsequent campaigns, the love of the
+excitement, of "the raptures of the strife," may have made him, like
+Murat, continue from choice a custom which he commenced from duty. But
+he never suffered the ardor of the soldier to make him lose the coolness
+of the general.
+
+Great reliance had been placed by the Persian King on the effects of the
+scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to launch these against the
+Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry,
+which, it was hoped, would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by
+the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part
+of Alexander's force. In front, therefore, of the Persian centre, where
+Darius took his station, and which it was supposed that the phalanx
+would attack, the ground had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as
+to allow the chariots to charge over it with their full sweep and speed.
+
+As the Macedonian army approached the Persian, Alexander found that the
+front of his whole line barely equalled the front of the Persian centre,
+so that he was outflanked on his right by the entire left wing of the
+enemy, and by their entire right wing on his left. His tactics were to
+assail some one point of the hostile army, and gain a decisive
+advantage, while he refused, as far as possible, the encounter along the
+rest of the line. He therefore inclined his order of march to the right,
+so as to enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with
+the enemy on as favorable terms as possible, although the manoeuvre
+might in some respect compromise his left.
+
+The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the phalanx and his own
+wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground which the Persians had
+prepared for the operations of the chariots; and Darius, fearing to lose
+the benefit of this arm against the most important parts of the
+Macedonian force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were
+drawn up in advance on his extreme left, to charge round upon
+Alexander's right wing, and check its farther lateral progress. Against
+these assailants Alexander sent from his second line Menidas' cavalry.
+As these proved too few to make head against the enemy, he ordered
+Ariston also from the second line with his right horse, and Cleander
+with his foot, in support of Menidas.
+
+The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way; but Darius reenforced
+them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry from his main line, and an
+obstinate cavalry fight now took place. The Bactrians and Scythians were
+numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen under Menidas and
+Ariston; and the loss at first was heaviest on the Macedonian side. But
+still the European cavalry stood the charge of the Asiatics, and at
+last, by their superior discipline, and by acting in squadrons that
+supported each other,[52] instead of fighting in a confused mass like
+the barbarians, the Macedonians broke their adversaries and drove them
+off the field.
+
+[Footnote 52: The best explanation of this may be found in Napoleon's
+account of the cavalry fights between the French and the mamelukes: "Two
+mamelukes were able to make head against three Frenchmen, because they
+were better armed, better mounted, and better trained; they had two pair
+of pistols, a blunderbuss, a carbine, a helmet with a visor, and a coat
+of mail; they had several horses, and several attendants on foot. One
+hundred cuirassiers, however, were not afraid of one hundred mamelukes;
+three hundred could beat an equal number, and one thousand could easily
+put to the rout fifteen hundred, so great is the influence of tactics,
+order, and evolutions! Leclerc and Lasalle presented their men to the
+mamelukes in several lines. When the Arabs were on the point of
+overwhelming the first, the second came to its assistance on the right
+and left; the mamelukes then halted and wheeled, in order to turn the
+wings of this new line; this moment was always seized upon to charge
+them, and they were uniformly broken."]
+
+Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven against
+Alexander's horse-guards and the phalanx, and these formidable vehicles
+were accordingly sent rattling across the plain, against the Macedonian
+line. When we remember the alarm which the war chariots of the Britons
+created among Cæsar's legions, we shall not be prone to deride this arm
+of ancient warfare as always useless. The object of the chariots was to
+create unsteadiness in the ranks against which they were driven, and
+squadrons of cavalry followed close upon them to profit by such
+disorder. But the Asiatic chariots were rendered ineffective at Arbela
+by the light-armed troops, whom Alexander had specially appointed for
+the service, and who, wounding the horses and drivers with their missile
+weapons, and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the
+reins, marred the intended charge; and the few chariots that reached the
+phalanx passed harmlessly through the internals which the spearmen
+opened for them, and were easily captured in the rear.
+
+A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, collected
+against Alexander's extreme right, and moved round it, with the view of
+gaining the flank of his army. At the critical moment, when their own
+flanks were exposed by this evolution, Aretes dashed on the Persian
+squadrons with his horsemen from Alexander's second line. While
+Alexander thus met and baffled all the flanking attacks of the enemy
+with troops brought up from his second line, he kept his own
+horse-guards and the rest of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready
+to take advantage of the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow.
+
+This soon came. A large body of horse, who were posted on the Persian
+left wing nearest to the centre, quitted their station, and rode off to
+help their comrades in the cavalry fight that still was going on at the
+extreme right of Alexander's wing against the detachments from his
+second line. This made a huge gap in the Persian array, and into this
+space Alexander instantly charged with his guard and all the cavalry of
+his wing; and then, pressing toward his left, he soon began to make
+havoc in the left flank of the Persian centre. The shield-bearing
+infantry now charged also among the reeling masses of the Asiatics; and
+five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the irresistible might of
+their sarissas, bore down the Greek mercenaries of Darius, and dug their
+way through the Persian centre.
+
+In the early part of the battle Darius had showed skill and energy; and
+he now, for some time, encouraged his men, by voice and example, to keep
+firm. But the lances of Alexander's cavalry and the pikes of the phalanx
+now pressed nearer and nearer to him. His charioteer was struck down by
+a javelin at his side; and at last Darius' nerve failed him, and,
+descending from his chariot, he mounted on a fleet horse and galloped
+from the plain, regardless of the state of the battle in other parts of
+the field, where matters were going on much more favorably for his
+cause, and where his presence might have done much toward gaining a
+victory.
+
+Alexander's operations with his right and centre had exposed his left to
+an immensely preponderating force of the enemy. Parmenio kept out of
+action as long as possible; but Mazaeus, who commanded the Persian right
+wing, advanced against him, completely outflanked him, and pressed him
+severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers.
+
+Seeing the distress of Parmenio's wing, Simmias, who commanded the sixth
+brigade of the phalanx, which was next to the left wing, did not advance
+with the other brigades in the great charge upon the Persian centre, but
+kept back to cover Parmenio's troops on their right flank, as otherwise
+they would have been completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of
+the Macedonian army. By so doing, Simmias had unavoidably opened a gap
+in the Macedonian left centre; and a large column of Indian and Persian
+horse, from the Persian right centre, had galloped forward through this
+interval, and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line.
+Instead of then wheeling round upon Parmenio, or upon the rear of
+Alexander's conquering wing, the Indian and Persian cavalry rode
+straight on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the Thracians who were
+left in charge of it, and began to plunder. This was stopped by the
+phalangite troops of the second line, who, after the enemy's horsemen
+had rushed by them, faced about, countermarched upon the camp, killed
+many of the Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, and forced
+the rest to ride off again.
+
+Just at this crisis, Alexander had been recalled from his pursuit of
+Darius by tidings of the distress of Parmenio and of his inability to
+bear up any longer against the hot attacks of Mazaeus. Taking his
+horse-guards with him, Alexander rode toward the part of the field where
+his left wing was fighting; but on his way thither he encountered the
+Persian and Indian cavalry on their return from his camp.
+
+These men now saw that their only chance of safety was to cut their way
+through, and in one huge column they charged desperately upon the
+Macedonian regiments. There was here a close hand-to-hand fight, which
+lasted some time, and sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three
+generals, who fought close to Alexander's side, were wounded. At length
+the Macedonian discipline and valor again prevailed, and a large number
+of the Persian and Indian horsemen were cut down, some few only
+succeeding in breaking through and riding away.
+
+Relieved of these obstinate enemies, Alexander again formed his
+regiments of horse-guards, and led them toward Parmenio; but by this
+time that general also was victorious. Probably the news of Darius'
+flight had reached Mazæus, and had damped the ardor of the Persian right
+wing, while the tidings of their comrades' success must have
+proportionally encouraged the Macedonian forces under Parmenio. His
+Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished themselves by their
+gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by the time that Alexander
+had ridden up to Parmenio, the whole Persian army was in full flight
+from the field.
+
+It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure the person of
+Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The river Lycus was between the
+field of battle and the city of Arbela, whither the fugitives directed
+their course, and the passage of this river was even more destructive to
+the Persians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had been in
+the engagement.[53]
+
+[Footnote 53: I purposely omit any statement of the loss in the battle.
+There is a palpable error of the transcribers in the numbers which we
+find in our present manuscripts of Arrian, and Curtius is of no
+authority.]
+
+The narrow bridge was soon choked up by the flying thousands who rushed
+toward it, and vast numbers of the Persians threw themselves, or were
+hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and perished in its waters.
+Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through Arbela without halting.
+Alexander reached the city on the next day, and made himself master of
+all Darius' treasure and stores; but the Persian King, unfortunately for
+himself, had fled too fast for his conqueror, but had only escaped to
+perish by the treachery of his Bactrian satrap, Bessus.
+
+A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, "the oldest seat
+of earthly empire" then in existence, as its acknowledged lord and
+master. There were yet some campaigns of his brief and bright career to
+be accomplished. Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his
+phalanx. He was yet to effect that conquest of Afghanistan in which
+England since has failed. His generalship, as well as his valor, was yet
+to be signalized on the banks of the Hydaspes and the field of
+Chillianwallah; and he was yet to precede the queen of England in
+annexing the Punjab to the dominions of a European sovereign. But the
+crisis of his career was reached; the great object of his mission was
+accomplished; and the ancient Persian empire, which once menaced all the
+nations of the earth with subjection, was irreparably crushed when
+Alexander had won his crowning victory at Arbela.
+
+
+
+
+FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS
+
+B.C. 280-279
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+
+(The Romans, in B.C. 290, had conquered the Samnites and this extended
+the Roman power to the very gates of the Grecian cities on the Gulf of
+Tarentine. Tarentum, the chief city among them, was almost totally
+controlled by a party which advised a peaceful submission to the Roman
+conquerors. The opposing party of patriots, against such cowardly
+measures, looked abroad for aid and found a ready ally in Pyrrhus, the
+Molossian king of Epirus. He was warlike and adventurous, and a member
+of the royal family of Macedonia, through Olympias, who was the mother
+of Alexander the Great.
+
+Pyrrhus had established a reputation for fighting. Not alone had he
+fought at the memorable battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia, but he had proven a
+formidable opponent to Demetinus, king of Macedonia, having forced the
+latter powerful monarch to conclude a truce with him, though afterward
+he had been conquered and driven back to his little kingdom of Epirus.
+At the time the Tarentines sent to him to help them against Rome he was
+eager for a field in which he might do something to prove his mettle.
+This was the greatest opportunity of his life, and he seized upon it.
+The campaign is memorable for having brought the Romans and Greeks into
+conflict on the battle-field for the first time.)
+
+
+Pyrrhus, now that he had lost Macedonia, might have spent his days
+peacefully ruling his own subjects in Epirus; but he could not endure
+repose, thinking that not to trouble others and be troubled by them was
+a life of unbearable ennui, and, like Achilles in the _Iliad_,
+
+    "he could not rest in indolence at home,
+  He longed for battle, and the joys of war."
+
+As he desired some new adventures he embraced the following opportunity.
+The Romans were at war with the Tarentines; and as that people were not
+sufficiently powerful to carry on the war, and yet were not allowed by
+the audacious folly of their mob orators to make peace, they proposed to
+make Pyrrhus their leader and to invite him to be their ally in the war,
+because he was more at leisure than any of the other kings, and also was
+the best general of them all. Of the older and more sensible citizens
+some endeavored to oppose this fatal decision, but were overwhelmed by
+the clamor of the war party, while the rest, observing this, ceased to
+attend the public assembly.
+
+There was one citizen of good repute, named Meton, who, on the day when
+the final decision was to be made, when the people were all assembled,
+took a withered garland and a torch, and like a drunkard, reeled into
+the assembly with a girl playing the flute before him. At this, as one
+may expect in a disorderly popular meeting, some applauded and some
+laughed, but no one stopped him. They next bade the girl play, and Meton
+come forward and dance to the music; and he made as though he would do
+so. When he had obtained silence he said: "Men of Tarentum, you do well
+in encouraging those who wish to be merry and amuse themselves while
+they may. If you are wise you will all enjoy your freedom now, for when
+Pyrrhus is come to our city you will have very different things to think
+of and will live very differently." By these words he made an impression
+on the mass of the Tarentine people, and a murmur ran through the crowd
+that he had spoken well. But those politicians who feared that if peace
+were made they should be delivered up to the Romans, reproached the
+people for allowing anyone to insult them by such a disgraceful
+exhibition, and prevailed on them to turn Meton out of the assembly.
+
+Thus the vote for war was passed, and ambassadors were sent to Epirus,
+not from Tarentum alone, but from the other Greek cities in Italy,
+carrying with them presents for Pyrrhus, with instructions to tell him
+that they required a leader of skill and renown, and that they possessed
+a force of Lucanians, Messapians, Samnites, and Tarentines, which
+amounted to twenty thousand cavalry and three hundred and fifty thousand
+infantry. This not only excited Pyrrhus, but also made all the Epirotes
+eager to take part in the campaign.
+
+There was one Cineas, a Thessalian, who was thought to be a man of good
+sense, and who, having heard Demosthenes the orator speak, was better
+able than any of the speakers of his age to delight his hearers with an
+imitation of the eloquence of that great master of rhetoric. He was now
+in the service of Pyrrhus, and being sent about to various cities,
+proved the truth of the Euripidean saw, that
+
+    "All can be done by words
+  Which foemen wish to do with conquering swords."
+
+Pyrrhus at any rate used to say that more cities were won for him by
+Cineas with words than he himself won by force of arms. This man,
+observing that Pyrrhus was eagerly preparing for his Italian expedition,
+once when he was at leisure conversed with him in the following manner.
+"Pyrrhus," said he, "the Romans are said to be good soldiers, and to
+rule over many warlike nations. Now, if heaven grants us the victory
+over them, what use shall we make of it?"
+
+"You ask what is self-evident," answered Pyrrhus. "If we can conquer the
+Romans, there is no city, Greek or barbarian, that can resist us, and we
+shall gain possession of the whole of Italy, a country whose size,
+richness, and power no one knows better than yourself." Cineas then,
+after waiting for a short time, said: "O King, when we have taken Italy,
+what shall we do then?"
+
+Pyrrhus, not yet seeing his drift, answered: "Close to it Sicily invites
+us, a noble and populous island, and one which is very easy to conquer;
+for, my Cineas, now that Agathocles is dead, there is nothing there but
+revolution and faction and the violence of party spirit."
+
+"What you say," answered Cineas, "is very probably true. But is this
+conquest of Sicily to be the extreme limit of our campaign?"
+
+"Heaven," answered Pyrrhus, "alone can give us victory and success; but
+these conquests would merely prove to us the stepping-stones to greater
+things. Who could refrain from making an attempt upon Carthage and Libya
+when he was so close to them, countries which were all but conquered by
+Agathocles when he ran away from Syracuse with only a few ships? and if
+we were masters of these countries, none of the enemies who now give
+themselves such airs at our expense will dare to resist us."
+
+"Certainly not," answered Cineas; "with such a force at our disposal we
+clearly could recover Macedonia, and have the whole of Greece at our
+feet. And after we have made all these conquests, what shall we do
+then?"
+
+Pyrrhus laughing answered: "We will take our ease and carouse every day,
+and enjoy pleasant conversation with one another."
+
+Having brought Pyrrhus to say this, Cineas asked in reply: "But what
+prevents our carousing and taking our ease now, since we have already at
+hand all those things which we propose to obtain with much bloodshed,
+and great toils and perils, and after suffering much ourselves and
+causing much suffering to others?"
+
+By talking in this manner Cineas vexed Pyrrhus, because he made him
+reflect on the pleasant home which he was leaving, but his reasoning had
+no effect in turning him from his purpose.
+
+He first despatched Cineas to Tarentum with three thousand men; next he
+collected from Tarentum many horse-transports, decked vessels, and boats
+of all sorts, and embarked upon them twenty elephants, twenty-three
+thousand cavalry, twenty-two thousand infantry, and five hundred
+slingers. When all was ready he put to sea; and when half way across a
+storm burst upon him from the north, which was unusual at that season of
+the year. He himself, though his ship was carried away by the tempest,
+yet, by the great pains and skill of the sailors and pilots, resisted it
+and reached the land, with great toil to the rowers, and beyond
+everyone's expectation; for the rest of the fleet was overpowered by the
+gale and scattered. Some ships were driven off the Italian coast
+altogether, and forced into the Libyan and Sicilian seas, and some which
+could not weather the Iapygian Cape were overtaken by night, and being
+dashed by a violent and boisterous sea against that harborless coast
+were utterly lost, except only the King's ship. She was so large and
+strongly built as to resist the waves as long as they broke upon her
+from the seaward; but when the wind changed and blew directly off the
+shore, the ship, which now met the waves directly with her head, was in
+great danger of going to pieces, while to let her drive out to sea again
+now that it was so rough, and the wind changed so frequently, seemed
+more terrible than to remain where they were.
+
+Pyrrhus rose and leaped into the water, and at once was eagerly followed
+by his friends and his bodyguard. The darkness of night and the violent
+recoil of the roaring waves made it hard for them to help him, and it
+was not until daybreak, when the wind abated, that he reached the land,
+faint and helpless in body, but with his spirit invincible in
+misfortune. The Messapians, upon whose coast he had been thrown, now
+assembled from the neighboring villages and offered their help, while
+some of the ships which had outlived the storm appeared, bringing a few
+horsemen, about two thousand foot, and two elephants.
+
+With these Pyrrhus marched to Tarentum; Cineas, as soon as he heard of
+his arrival, bringing out the Tarentine army to meet him. When he
+reached the city he did nothing to displease the Tarentines until his
+fleet returned to the coast and he had assembled the greater part of his
+army. But then, as he saw that the populace, unless ruled by a strong
+hand, could neither help him nor help themselves, but intended to stay
+idling about their baths and entertainments at home, while he fought
+their battles in the field, he closed the gymnasia and public walks, in
+which the people were wont to waste their time in empty talk about the
+war. He forbade all drinking, feasting, and unseasonable revels, and
+forced the people to take up arms, proving himself inexorable to
+everyone who was on the muster-roll of able-bodied citizens. This
+conduct made him much disliked, and many of the Tarentines left the city
+in disgust; for they were so unused to discipline that they considered
+that not to be able to pass their lives as they chose was no better than
+slavery.
+
+When news came that Laevinus, the Roman consul, was marching to attack
+him with a large force, and was plundering the country of Lucania as he
+advanced, while Pyrrhus' allies had not yet arrived, he thought it a
+shameful thing to allow the enemy to proceed any farther, and marched
+out with his army. He sent before him a herald to the Roman general,
+informing him that he was willing to act as arbitrator in the dispute
+between the Romans and the Greek cities of Italy, if they chose to
+terminate it peacefully. On receiving for an answer that the Romans
+neither wished for Pyrrhus as an arbitrator, nor feared him as an enemy,
+he marched forward, and encamped in the plain between the city of
+Pandosia and Heraclea.
+
+Learning that the Romans were close by, and were encamping on the
+farther side of the river Siris (the river Aciris, now called Agri), he
+rode up to the river to view them; and when he observed their even
+ranks, their orderly movements, and their well-arranged camp, he was
+surprised, and said to the nearest of his friends: "These barbarians,
+Megacles, have nothing barbarous in their military discipline; but we
+shall soon learn what they can do." He began indeed already to feel some
+uncertainty as to the issue of the campaign, and determined to wait
+until his allies came up, and till then to observe the movements of the
+Romans, and prevent their crossing the river. They, however, perceiving
+his object, at once crossed the river, the infantry at a ford, the
+cavalry at many points at once, so that the Greeks feared they might be
+surrounded, and drew back. Pyrrhus, perceiving this, ordered his
+officers instantly to form the troops in order of battle and wait under
+arms while he himself charged with the cavalry, three thousand strong,
+hoping to catch the Romans in the act of crossing the river and
+consequently in disorder.
+
+When he saw many shields of the Roman infantry appearing over the river
+bank, and their horsemen all ranged in order, he closed up his own ranks
+and charged them first himself, a conspicuous figure in his beautiful
+glittering armor, and proving by his exploits that he deserved his high
+reputation; especially as although he fought personally, and engaged in
+combat with the enemy, yet he continually watched the whole battle, and
+handled his troops with as much facility as though he were not in the
+thick of the fight, appearing always wherever his presence was required,
+and reenforcing those who seemed likely to give way. In this battle
+Leonnatus the Macedonian, observing one of the Italians watching Pyrrhus
+and constantly following him about the field, said to him: "My King, do
+you see that barbarian on the black horse with white feet? He seems to
+be meditating some desperate deed. He is a man of spirit and courage,
+and he never takes his eyes off you, and takes no notice of anyone else.
+Beware of that man."
+
+Pyrrhus answered: "Leonnatus, no man can avoid his fate; but neither
+that Italian nor anyone else who attacks me will do so with impunity."
+While they were yet talking the Italian levelled his lance and urged his
+horse in full career against Pyrrhus. He struck the King's horse with
+his spear, and at the same instant his own horse was struck a sidelong
+blow by Leonnatus. Both horses fell; Pyrrhus was saved by his friends,
+and the Italian perished fighting. He was of the nation of the Frentani,
+Hoplacus by name, and was the captain of a troop of horse.
+
+This incident taught Pyrrhus to be more cautious. He observed that his
+cavalry were inclined to give way, and therefore sent for his phalanx,
+and arrayed it against the enemy. Then he gave his cloak and armor to
+one of his companions, Megacles, and after partially disguising himself
+in those of his friend, led his main body to attack the Roman army. The
+Romans stoutly resisted him, and an obstinate battle took place, for it
+is said that the combatants alternately yielded and again pressed
+forward no less than seven distinct times. The King's exchange of armor,
+too, though it saved his life, yet very nearly lost him the victory: for
+many attacked Megacles, and the man who first struck him down, who was
+named Decius, snatched up his cloak and helmet, and rode with them to
+Lævinus, displaying them and shouting aloud that he had slain Pyrrhus.
+
+The Romans, when they saw these spoils carried in triumph along their
+ranks, raised a joyful cry, while the Greeks were correspondingly
+disheartened, until Pyrrhus, learning what had taken place, rode along
+the line with his head bare, stretching out his hands to his soldiers
+and telling them that he was safe. At length he was victorious, chiefly
+by means of a sudden charge of his Thessalian horse on the Romans after
+they had been thrown into disorder by the advance of the elephants. The
+Roman horses were terrified at these animals, and, long before they came
+near, ran away with their riders in panic. The slaughter was very great:
+Dionysius says that of the Romans there fell but little short of fifteen
+thousand, but Hieronymus reduces this to seven thousand, while on
+Pyrrhus' side there fell, according to Dionysius, thirteen thousand, but
+according to Hieronymus less than four thousand.
+
+These, however, were the very flower of Pyrrhus' army; for he lost all
+his most trusty officers and his most intimate personal friends. Still,
+he captured the Roman camp, which was abandoned by the enemy, induced
+several of their allied cities to join him, plundered a vast extent of
+country, and advanced within three hundred stades--less than forty
+English miles--of Rome itself. After the battle many of the Lucanians
+and Samnites came up; these allies he reproached for their dilatory
+movements, but was evidently well pleased at having conquered the great
+Roman army with no other forces but his own Epirotes and the Tarentines.
+
+The Romans did not remove Laevinus from his office of consul, although
+Caius Fabricius is reported to have said that it was not the Epirotes
+who had conquered the Romans, but Pyrrhus who had conquered Laevinus;
+meaning that he thought that the defeat was owing not to the greater
+force but the superior generalship of the enemy. They astonished Pyrrhus
+by quickly filling up their ranks with fresh levies, and talking about
+the war in a spirit of fearless confidence. He decided to try whether
+they were disposed to make terms with him, as he perceived that to
+capture Rome and utterly subdue the Roman people would be a work of no
+small difficulty, and that it would be vain to attempt it with the force
+at his disposal, while after his victory he could make peace on terms
+which would reflect great lustre on himself. Cineas was sent as
+ambassador to conduct this negotiation.
+
+He conversed with the leading men of Rome, and offered their wives and
+children presents from the King. No one, however, would accept them, but
+they all, men and women alike, replied that if peace were publicly
+concluded with the King, they would then have no objection to regard him
+as a friend. And when Cineas spoke before the senate in a winning and
+persuasive manner he could not make any impression upon his audience,
+although he announced to them that Pyrrhus would restore the prisoners
+he had taken without any ransom, and would assist them in subduing all
+Italy, while all that he asked in return was that he should be regarded
+as a friend, and that the people of Tarentum should not be molested. The
+common people, however, were evidently eager for peace, in consequence
+of their having been defeated in one great battle, and expecting that
+they would have to fight another against a larger force, because the
+Italian states would join Pyrrhus.
+
+At this crisis Appius Claudius, an illustrious man, but who had long
+since been prevented by old age and blindness from taking any active
+part in politics, when he heard of the proposals of Pyrrhus, and that
+the question of peace or war was about to be voted upon by the senate,
+could no longer endure to remain at home, but caused his slaves to carry
+him through the Forum to the senate house in a litter. When he reached
+the doors of the senate house his sons and sons-in-law supported him and
+guided him into the house, while all the assembly observed a respectful
+silence.
+
+Speaking from where he stood, he addressed them as follows: "My
+countrymen, I used to grieve at the loss of my sight, but now I am sorry
+not to be deaf also, when I hear the disgraceful propositions with which
+you are tarnishing the glory of Rome. What has become of that boast
+which we were so fond of making before all mankind, that if Alexander
+the Great had invaded Italy, and had met us when we were young, and our
+fathers when they were in the prime of life, he would not have been
+reputed invincible, but would either have fled or perhaps even have
+fallen, and added to the glory of Rome?
+
+"You now prove that this was mere empty vaporing, by your terror of
+these Chaonians and Molossians, nations who have always been a prey and
+a spoil to the Macedonians, and by your fear of this Pyrrhus, who used
+formerly to dance attendance on one of Alexander's bodyguards,[54] and
+who has now wandered hither not so much in order to assist the Greeks in
+Italy as to escape from his enemies at home, and promises to be our
+friend and protector, forsooth, when the army he commands did not
+suffice to keep for him the least portion of that Macedonia which he
+once acquired. Do not imagine that you will get rid of this man by
+making a treaty with him. Rather you will encourage other Greek princes
+to invade you, for they will despise you and think you an easy prey to
+all men if you let Pyrrhus go home again without paying the penalty of
+his outrages upon you, nay, with the power to boast that he has made
+Rome a laughing-stock for Tarentines and Samnites."
+
+[Footnote 54: Demetrius.]
+
+By these words Appius roused a warlike spirit in the Romans, and they
+dismissed Cineas with the answer that if Pyrrhus would leave Italy they
+would, if he wished, discuss the question of an alliance with him, but
+that while he remained in arms in their country the Romans would fight
+him to the death, however many Laevinuses he might defeat. It is related
+that Cineas, during his mission to Rome, took great interest in
+observing the national life of the Romans, and fully appreciated the
+excellence of their political constitution, which he learned by
+conversing with many of the leading men of the State. On his return he
+told Pyrrhus that the senate seemed to him like an assembly of kings,
+and that as to the populace he feared that the Greeks might find in them
+a new Lernæan hydra; for twice as many troops had been enrolled in the
+consul's army as he had before, and yet there remained many more Romans
+capable of bearing arms.
+
+After this Caius Fabricius came to arrange terms for the exchange of
+prisoners; a man whom Cineas said the Romans especially valued for his
+virtue and bravery, but who was excessively poor. Pyrrhus, in
+consequence of this, entertained Fabricius privately, and made him an
+offer of money, not as a bribe for any act of baseness, but speaking of
+it as a pledge of friendship and sincerity. As Fabricius refused this,
+Pyrrhus waited till the next day, when, desirous of making an impression
+on him, as he had never seen an elephant, he had his largest elephant
+placed behind Fabricius during their conference, concealed by a curtain.
+At a given signal, the curtain was withdrawn, and the creature reached
+out his trunk over the head of Fabricius with a harsh and terrible cry.
+Fabricius, however, quietly turned round, and then said to Pyrrhus with
+a smile, "You could not move me by your gold yesterday, nor can you with
+your beast to-day."
+
+At table that day they conversed upon all subjects, but chiefly about
+Greece and Greek philosophy. Cineas repeated the opinion of Epicurus and
+his school, about the gods, and the practice of political life, and the
+objects at which we should aim, how they considered pleasure to be the
+highest good, and held aloof from taking any active part in politics,
+because it spoiled and destroyed perfect happiness; and about how they
+thought that the gods lived far removed from hopes and fears, and
+interest in human affairs, in a placid state of eternal fruition.[55]
+While he was speaking in this strain Fabricius burst out: "Hercules!"
+cried he, "may Pyrrhus and the Samnites continue to waste their time on
+these speculations as long as they remain at war with us!" Pyrrhus, at
+this, was struck by the spirit and noble disposition of Fabricius, and
+longed more than ever to make Rome his friend instead of his enemy. He
+begged him to arrange terms of peace, and after they were concluded to
+come and live with him as the first of his friends and officers.
+
+[Footnote 55: I have translated the above passages almost literally from
+the Greek. Yet I am inclined to think that Arnold has penetrated the
+true meaning, and shows us the reason for Fabricius' exclamation when he
+states the Epicurean philosophy, as expounded by Cineas, to be "that war
+and state affairs were but toil and trouble, and that the wise man
+should imitate the blissful rest of the gods, who, dwelling in their own
+divinity, regarded not the vain turmoil of this lower world."]
+
+Fabricius is said to have quietly answered: "That, O King, will not be
+to your advantage; for those who now obey you, and look up to you, if
+they had any experience of me, would prefer me to you for their king."
+Pyrrhus was not angry at this speech, but spoke to all his friends about
+the magnanimous conduct of Fabricius, and intrusted the prisoners to him
+alone, on the condition that, if the senate refused to make peace, they
+should be allowed to embrace their friends, and spend the festival of
+the Saturnalia with them, and then be sent back to him. And they were
+sent back after the Saturnalia, for the senate decreed that any of them
+who remained behind should be put to death.
+
+After this, when C. Fabricius was consul, a man came into his camp
+bringing a letter from King Pyrrhus' physician, in which he offered to
+poison the King if he could be assured of a suitable reward for his
+services in thus bringing the war to an end without a blow. Fabricius,
+disgusted at the man's treachery, brought his colleague to share his
+views, and in haste sent off a letter to Pyrrhus, bidding him be on his
+guard. The letter ran as follows: "Caius Fabricius and Quintus Æmilius,
+the Roman consuls, greet King Pyrrhus. You appear to be a bad judge both
+of your friends and of your enemies. You will perceive, by reading the
+enclosed letter which has been sent to us, that you are fighting against
+good and virtuous men, and trusting to wicked and treacherous ones. We
+do not give you this information out of any love we bear you, but for
+fear that we might be charged with having assassinated you and be
+thought to have brought the war to a close by treachery because we could
+not do so by manhood."
+
+Pyrrhus on receiving this letter, and discovering the plot against his
+life, punished his physician, and, in return for the kindness of
+Fabricius and the Romans, delivered up their prisoners without ransom,
+and sent Cineas a second time to arrange terms of peace. However, the
+Romans refused to receive their prisoners back without ransom, being
+unwilling either to receive a favor from their enemy or to be rewarded
+for having abstained from treachery toward him, but set free an equal
+number of Tarentines and Samnites, and sent them to him. As to terms of
+peace, they refused to entertain the question unless Pyrrhus first
+placed his entire armament on board the ships in which it came, and
+sailed back to Epirus with it.
+
+As it was now necessary that Pyrrhus should fight another battle, he
+advanced with his army to the city of Asculum, and attacked the Romans.
+Here he was forced to fight on rough ground, near the swampy banks of a
+river, where his elephants and cavalry were of no service, and he was
+forced to attack with his phalanx. After a drawn battle, in which many
+fell, night parted the combatants. Next day Pyrrhus manoeuvred so as to
+bring the Romans fairly into the plain, where his elephants could act
+upon the enemy's line. He occupied the rough ground on either side,
+placed many archers and slingers among his elephants, and advanced with
+his phalanx in close order and irresistible strength.
+
+The Romans, who were unable on the level ground to practise the
+bush-fighting and skirmishing of the previous day, were compelled to
+attack the phalanx in front. They endeavored to force their way through
+that hedge of spears before the elephants could come up, and showed
+marvellous courage in hacking at the spears with their swords, exposing
+themselves recklessly, careless of wounds or death. After a long
+struggle, it is said that they first gave way at the point where Pyrrhus
+was urging on his soldiers in person, though the defeat was chiefly due
+to the weight and crushing charge of the elephants. The Romans could not
+find any opportunity in this sort of battle for the display of their
+courage, but thought it their duty to stand aside and save themselves
+from a useless death, just as they would have done in the case of a wave
+of the sea or an earthquake coming upon them. In the flight to their
+camp, which was not far off, Hieronymus says that six thousand Romans
+perished, and that in Pyrrhus' commentaries his loss is stated at three
+thousand five hundred and five.
+
+Dionysius, on the other hand, does not admit that there were two battles
+at Asculum, or that the Romans suffered a defeat, but tells us that they
+fought the whole of one day until sunset, and then separated, Pyrrhus
+being wounded in the arm by a javelin, and the Samnites having plundered
+his baggage. He also states the total loss on both sides to be above
+fifteen thousand.
+
+The armies separated after the battle, and it is said that Pyrrhus, when
+congratulated on his victory by his friends, said in reply: "If we win
+one more such victory over the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." For
+a large part of the force which he had brought with him had perished,
+and very nearly all his friends and officers, and there were no more to
+send for at home.
+
+
+
+
+THE PUNIC WARS
+
+B.C. 264-219-149
+
+FLORUS
+
+
+(The three Punic wars stand out in history as a mighty "duel _à
+l'outrance_" [a fight to the death], as Victor Hugo says, in the final
+scene of which Rome, having herself been brought near to defeat, "rises
+again, uses the limits of her strength in a last blow, throws herself on
+Carthage, and effaces her from the world."
+
+Jealousy and antagonism had long existed between Rome and Carthage, but
+it was the preeminence of the African city which held Roman ambition in
+check and for generations deferred the final struggle. But when at last
+Rome had acquired the strength she needed in order to assert her
+rivalry, it was only a question of actual preparation, and the first
+cause of quarrel was sure to be seized upon by either party, especially
+by the growing and haughty Italian Power.
+
+The immediate object of contention was the island of Sicily, lying
+between the territory of Rome and that of Carthage. In Sicily the First
+Punic War, lasting about twenty-three years, was mainly carried on by
+the Romans with success, while on the sea Carthage for a long time
+maintained superiority.
+
+During the intervals between the Punic wars two things appear with
+striking force in the history of these events--the passive strength and
+recuperative power of Carthage, which enabled her to return again and
+again to the struggle from almost crushing defeat, and the marvellous
+development of resources and aggressive vigor on the part of Rome, in
+whose case the rise of powerful individual leaders more than offset the
+weight of long-accumulated energies, supplemented as these were by the
+genius and achievement of great Carthaginian warriors.
+
+The wars progressed in a spirit of deadly hatred, constantly intensified
+on both sides, and the Roman determination, of which Cato was the
+mouthpiece, that Carthage must be destroyed, met its stubborn answer in
+the endeavors of the Carthaginians to turn this vengeance against Rome
+herself.
+
+Carthage had been mistress of the world, the richest and most powerful
+of cities. Her naval supremacy alone had sufficed to secure her safety
+and superiority over all rivals or possible combinations of force. But
+the strength of her government lay not so much in her people, or even in
+her statesmen and soldiers, as in her men of wealth. A political
+establishment founded upon such supports was peculiarly liable to all
+the dangers of corruption and of public ignorance and apathy in the
+conduct of affairs. These causes appear conspicuously in the history of
+the Punic wars, as contributing largely to the overthrow and final
+extinguishment of Carthage, which left to her successful rival the open
+way to universal dominion.
+
+The account of Florus presents in a style at once comprehensive and
+succinct a splendid narrative of these wars, with their decisive and
+world-changing events.)
+
+
+THE FIRST PUNIC WAR
+
+The victor-people of Italy, having now spread over the land as far as
+the sea, checked its course for a little, like a fire, which, having
+consumed the woods lying in its track, is stopped by some intervening
+river. But soon after, seeing at no great distance a rich prey, which
+seemed in a manner detached and torn away from their own Italy, they
+were so inflamed with a desire to possess it that, since it could
+neither be joined to their country by a mole or bridge, they resolved
+that it should be secured by arms and war, and reunited, as it were, to
+their continent. And behold! as if the Fates themselves opened a way for
+them, an opportunity was not wanting, for Messana, a city of Sicily in
+alliance with them, happened then to make a complaint concerning the
+tyranny of the Carthaginians.
+
+As the Romans coveted Sicily, so likewise did the people of Carthage;
+and both at the same time, with equal desires and equal forces,
+contemplated the attainment of the empire of the world. Under the
+pretext, therefore, of assisting their allies, but in reality being
+allured by the prey, that rude people, that people sprung from
+shepherds, and merely accustomed to the land, made it appear, though the
+strangeness of the attempt startled them (yet such confidence is there
+in true courage), that to the brave it is indifferent whether a battle
+be fought on horseback or in ships, by land or by sea.
+
+It was in the consulship of Appius Claudius that they first ventured
+upon that strait which has so ill a name from the strange things related
+of it, and so impetuous a current. But they were so far from being
+affrighted, that they regarded the violence of the rushing tide as
+something in their favor, and, sailing forward immediately and without
+delay, they defeated Hiero, king of Syracuse, with so much rapidity that
+he owned he was conquered before he saw the enemy. In the consulship of
+Duilius and Cornelius, they likewise had courage to engage at sea, and
+then the expedition used in equipping the fleet was a presage of
+victory; for within sixty days after the timber was felled, a navy of a
+hundred and sixty ships lay at anchor; so that the vessels did not seem
+to have been made by art, but the trees themselves appeared to have been
+turned into ships by the aid of the gods. The aspect of the battle, too,
+was wonderful; as the heavy and slow ships of the Romans closed with the
+swift and nimble barks of the enemy. Little availed their naval arts,
+such as breaking off the oars of a ship, and eluding the beaks of the
+enemy by turning aside; for the grappling-irons and other instruments,
+which, before the engagement, had been greatly derided by the enemy,
+were fastened upon their ships, and they were compelled to fight as on
+solid ground. Being victorious, therefore, at Liparæ, by sinking and
+scattering the enemy's fleet, they celebrated their first naval triumph.
+And how great was the exultation at it! Duilius, the commander, not
+content with one day's triumph, ordered, during all the rest of his
+life, when he returned from supper, lighted torches to be carried, and
+flutes to play, before him, as if he would triumph every day. The loss
+in this battle was trifling, in comparison with the greatness of the
+victory; though the other consul, Cornelius Asina, was cut off, being
+invited by the enemy to a pretended conference, and put to death; an
+instance of Carthaginian perfidy.
+
+Under the dictatorship of Calatinus, the Romans expelled almost all the
+garrisons of the Carthaginians from Agrigentum, Drepanum, Panormus,
+Eryx, and Lilybæum. Some alarm was experienced at the forest of
+Camarina, but we were rescued by the extraordinary valor of Calpurnius
+Flamma, a tribune of the soldiers, who, with a choice troop of three
+hundred men, seized upon an eminence occupied by the enemy, to our
+annoyance, and so kept them in play till the whole army escaped; thus,
+by eminent success, equalling the fame of Thermopylæ and Leonidas,
+though our hero was indeed more illustrious, inasmuch as he escaped and
+outlived so great an effort, notwithstanding he wrote nothing with his
+blood.
+
+In the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, when Sicily was become as
+a suburban province of the Roman people, and the war was spreading
+farther, they crossed over into Sardinia, and into Corsica, which lies
+near it. In the latter they terrified the natives by the destruction of
+the city of Olbia, in the former by that of Aleria; and so effectually
+humbled the Carthaginians, both by land and sea, that nothing remained
+to be conquered but Africa itself. Accordingly, under the leadership of
+Marcus Atilius Regulus, the war passed over into Africa. Nor were there
+wanting some on the occasion who mutinied at the mere name and dread of
+the Punic sea, a tribune named Mannius increasing their alarm; but the
+general, threatening him with the axe if he did not obey, produced
+courage for the voyage by the terror of death. They then hastened their
+course by the aid of winds and oars, and such was the terror of the
+Africans at the approach of the enemy that Carthage was almost surprised
+with its gates opened.
+
+The first prize taken in the war was the city of Clypea, which juts out
+from the Carthaginian shore as a fortress or watch-tower. Both this and
+more than three hundred fortresses besides were destroyed. Nor had the
+Romans to contend only with men, but with monsters also; for a serpent
+of vast size, born, as it were, to avenge Africa, harassed their camp on
+the Bagrada. But Regulus, who overcame all obstacles, having spread the
+terror of his name far and wide, having killed or taken prisoners a
+great number of the enemy's force, and their captains themselves, and
+having despatched his fleet, laden with much spoil and stored with
+materials for a triumph, to Rome, proceeded to besiege Carthage itself,
+the origin of the war, and took his position close to the gates of it.
+Here fortune was a little changed; but it was only that more proofs of
+Roman fortitude might be given, the greatness of which was generally
+best shown in calamities. For the enemy applying for foreign assistance,
+and Lacedaemon having sent them Xanthippus as a general, we were
+defeated by a captain so eminently skilled in military affairs. It was
+then that by an ignominious defeat, such as the Romans had never before
+experienced, their most valiant commander fell alive into the enemy's
+hands. But he was a man able to endure so great a calamity; as he was
+neither humbled by his imprisonment at Carthage nor by the deputation
+which he headed to Rome; for he advised what was contrary to the
+injunctions of the enemy, and recommended that no peace should be made,
+and no exchange of prisoners admitted. Even by his voluntary return to
+his enemies, and by his last sufferings, whether in prison or on the
+cross, the dignity of the man was not at all obscured. But being
+rendered, by all these occurrences, even more worthy of admiration, what
+can be said of him but that, when conquered, he was superior to his
+conquerors, and that, though Carthage had not submitted, he triumphed
+over Fortune herself?
+
+The Roman people were now much keener and more ardent to revenge the
+fate of Regulus than to obtain victory. Under the consul Metellus,
+therefore, when the Carthaginians were growing insolent, and when the
+war had returned into Sicily, they gave the enemy such a defeat at
+Panormus that they thought no more of that island. A proof of the
+greatness of this victory was the capture of about a hundred elephants,
+a vast prey, even if they had taken that number, not in war, but in
+hunting.[56] Under the consulship of Appius Claudius, they were
+overcome, not by the enemy, but by the gods themselves, whose auspices
+they had despised, their fleet being sunk in that very place where the
+consul had ordered the chickens to be thrown overboard, because he was
+warned by them not to fight. Under the consulship of Marcus Fabius
+Buteo, they overthrew, near Ægimurus, in the African sea, a fleet of the
+enemy which was just sailing for Italy. But, oh! how great materials for
+a triumph were then lost by a storm, when the Roman fleet, richly laden
+with spoil, and driven by contrary winds, covered with its wreck the
+coasts of Africa and the Syrtes, and of all the islands lying amid those
+seas! A great calamity! But not without some honor to this eminent
+people, from the circumstance that their victory was intercepted only by
+a storm, and that the matter for their triumph was lost only by a
+shipwreck. Yet, though the Punic spoils were scattered abroad, and
+thrown up by the waves on every promontory and island, the Romans still
+celebrated a triumph. In the consulship of Lutatius Catulus, an end was
+at last put to the war near the islands named Ægates. Nor was there any
+greater fight during this war; for the fleet of the enemy was laden with
+provisions, troops, towers, and arms; indeed, all Carthage, as it were,
+was in it; a state of things which proved its destruction, as the Roman
+fleet, on the contrary, being active, light, free from encumbrance, and
+in some degree resembling a land-camp, was wheeled about by its oars
+like cavalry in a battle by their reins; and the beaks of the vessels,
+directed now against one part of the enemy and now against another,
+presented the appearance of living creatures. In a very short time,
+accordingly, the ships of the enemy were shattered to pieces, and filled
+the whole sea between Sicily and Sardinia with their wrecks. So great,
+indeed, was the victory that there was no thought of demolishing the
+enemy's city; since it seemed superfluous to pour their fury on towers
+and walls, when Carthage had already been destroyed at sea.
+
+[Footnote 56: "A vast prey--not in war, but in hunting." The sense is,
+it would have been a considerable capture if he had taken these hundred
+elephants, not in battle, but in hunting, in which more are often
+taken.]
+
+
+THE SECOND PUNIC WAR
+
+After the first Carthaginian war there was scarcely a rest of four
+years, when there was another war, inferior, indeed, in length of time,
+for it occupied but eighteen years, but so much more terrible, from the
+direfulness of its havoc, that if anyone compares the losses on both
+sides, the people that conquered was more like one defeated. What
+provoked this noble people was that the command of the sea was forced
+from them, that their islands were taken, and that they were obliged to
+pay tribute which they had before been accustomed to impose. Hannibal,
+when but a boy, swore to his father, before an altar, to take revenge on
+the Romans; nor was he backward to execute his oath. Saguntum,
+accordingly, was made the occasion of a war; an old and wealthy city of
+Spain, and a great but sad example of fidelity to the Romans. This city,
+though granted, by the common treaty, the special privilege of enjoying
+its liberty, Hannibal, seeking pretences for new disturbances, destroyed
+with his own hands and those of its inhabitants, in order that, by an
+infraction of the compact, he might open a passage for himself into
+Italy.
+
+Among the Romans there is the highest regard to treaties, and
+consequently, on hearing of the siege of an allied city, and
+remembering, too, the compact made with the Carthaginians, they did not
+at once have recourse to arms, but chose rather to expostulate on legal
+grounds. In the mean time the Saguntines, exhausted with famine, the
+assaults of machines, and the sword, and their fidelity being at last
+carried to desperation, raised a vast pile in the market-place, on which
+they destroyed, with fire and sword, themselves, their wives and
+children, and all that they possessed. Hannibal, the cause of this great
+destruction, was required to be given up. The Carthaginians hesitating
+to comply, Fabius, who was at the head of the embassy, exclaimed: "What
+is the meaning of this delay? In the fold of this garment I carry war
+and peace; which of the two do you choose?" As they cried out "War,"
+"Take war, then," he rejoined, and, shaking out the fore-part of his
+toga in the middle of the senate house, as if he really carried war in
+its folds, he spread it abroad, not without awe on the part of the
+spectators.
+
+The sequel of the war was in conformity with its commencement; for, as
+if the last imprecations of the Saguntines, at their public
+self-immolation and burning of the city, had required such obsequies to
+be performed to them, atonement was made to their _manes_ by the
+devastation of Italy, the reduction of Africa, and the destruction of
+the leaders and kings who engaged in that contest. When once, therefore,
+that sad and dismal force and storm of the Punic War had arisen in
+Spain, and had forged, in the fire of Saguntum, the thunderbolt long
+before intended for the Romans, it immediately burst, as if hurried
+along by resistless violence, through the middle of the Alps, and
+descended, from those snows of incredible altitude, on the plains of
+Italy, as if it had been hurled from the skies. The violence of its
+first assault burst, with a mighty sound, between the Po and the
+Ticinus. There the army under Scipio was routed; and the general
+himself, being wounded, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy,
+had not his son, then quite a boy, covered his father with his shield,
+and rescued him from death. This was the Scipio who grew up for the
+conquest of Africa, and who was to receive a name from its ill-fortune.
+
+To Ticinus succeeded Trebia, where, in the consulship of Sempronius, the
+second outburst of the Punic War was spent. On that occasion, the crafty
+enemy, having chosen a cold and snowy day, and having first warmed
+themselves at their fires, and anointed their bodies with oil, conquered
+us, though they were men that came from the south and a warm sun, by the
+aid (strange to say!) of our own winter.
+
+The third thunderbolt of Hannibal fell at the Trasimene lake, when
+Flaminius was commander. There also was employed a new stratagem of
+Carthaginian subtlety; for a body of cavalry, being concealed by a mist
+rising from the lake, and by the osiers growing in the fens, fell upon
+the rear of the Romans as they were fighting. Nor can we complain of the
+gods; for swarms of bees settling upon the standards, the reluctance of
+the eagles to move forward, and a great earthquake that happened at the
+commencement of the battle--unless, indeed, it was the tramping of horse
+and foot, and the violent concussion of arms, that produced this
+trembling of the ground--had forewarned the rash leader of approaching
+defeat.
+
+The fourth and almost mortal wound of the Roman Empire was at Cannæ, an
+obscure village of Apulia; which, however, became famous by the
+greatness of the defeat, its celebrity being acquired by the slaughter
+of forty thousand men. Here the general, the ground, the face of heaven,
+the day, indeed, all nature conspired together for the destruction of
+the unfortunate army. For Hannibal, the most artful of generals, not
+content with sending pretended deserters among the Romans, who fell upon
+their rear as they were fighting, but having also noted the nature of
+the ground in those open plains, where the heat of the sun is extremely
+violent, the dust very great, and the wind blows constantly, and as it
+were statedly, from the east, drew up his army in such a position that,
+while the Romans were exposed to all these inconveniences, he himself,
+having heaven, as it were, on his side, fought with wind, dust, and sun
+in his favor. Two vast armies, in consequence, were slaughtered till the
+enemy were satiated, and till Hannibal said to his soldiers, "Put up
+your swords." Of the two commanders, one escaped, the other was slain;
+which of them showed the greater spirit is doubtful. Paulus was ashamed
+to survive; Varrodid not despair. Of the greatness of the slaughter the
+following proofs may be noticed: that the Aufidus was for some time red
+with blood; that a bridge was made of dead bodies, by order of Hannibal,
+over the torrent of Vergellus, and that two _modii_ of rings were sent
+to Carthage, and the equestrian dignity estimated by measure.
+
+It was afterward not doubted but that Rome might have seen its last day,
+and that Hannibal, within five days, might have feasted in the Capitol,
+if--as they say that Adherbal, the Carthaginian, the son of Bomilcar,
+observed--"he had known as well how to use his victory as how to gain
+it." But at that crisis, as is generally said, either the fate of the
+city that was to be empress of the world, or his own want of judgment,
+and the influence of deities unfavorable to Carthage, carried him in a
+different direction. When he might have taken advantage of his victory,
+he chose rather to seek enjoyment from it, and, leaving Rome, to march
+into Campania and to Tarentum, where both he and his army soon lost
+their vigor, so that it was justly remarked that "Capua proved a Cannæ
+to Hannibal"; since the sunshine of Campania and the warm springs of
+Baiæ subdued--who could have believed it?--him who had been unconquered
+by the Alps and unshaken in the field. In the mean time the Romans began
+to recover and to rise, as it were, from the dead. They had no arms, but
+they took them down from the temples; men were wanting, but slaves were
+freed to take the oath of service; the treasury was exhausted, but the
+senate willingly offered their wealth for the public service, leaving
+themselves no gold but what was contained in their children's
+_bullæ_[57] and in their own belts and rings. The knights followed their
+example, and the common people that of the knights; so that when the
+wealth of private persons was brought to the public treasury--in the
+consulship of Lævinus and Marcellus--the registers scarcely sufficed to
+contain the account of it, or the hands of the clerks to record it.
+
+[Footnote 57: A sort of ornament suspended from the necks of children,
+which, among the wealthy, was made of gold. It was in the shape of a
+bubble on water, or, as Pliny says, of a heart.]
+
+But how can I sufficiently praise the wisdom of the centuries in the
+choice of magistrates, when the younger sought advice from the elder as
+to what consuls should be created? They saw that against an enemy so
+often victorious, and so full of subtlety, it was necessary to contend,
+not only with courage, but with his own wiles. The first hope of the
+empire now recovering, and, if I may use the expression, coming to life
+again, was Fabius, who found a new mode of conquering Hannibal, which
+was, _not to fight_. Hence he received that new name, so salutary to the
+commonwealth, of _Cunctator_, or Delayer. Hence too it happened that he
+was called by the people _the shield of the empire_. Through the whole
+of Samnium, and through the Falerian and Gauran forests, he so harassed
+Hannibal that he who could not be reduced by valor was weakened by
+delay. The Romans then ventured, under the command of Claudius
+Marcellus, to engage him; they came to close quarters with him, drove
+him out of his dear Campania, and forced him to raise the siege of Nola.
+They ventured likewise, under the leadership of Sempronius Gracchus, to
+pursue him through Lucania, and to press hard upon his rear as he
+retired; though they then fought him (sad dishonor!) with a body of
+slaves, for to this extremity had so many disasters reduced them, but
+they were rewarded with liberty, and from slaves they made them Romans.
+
+O amazing confidence in the midst of so much adversity! O extraordinary
+courage and spirit of the Roman people in such oppressive and
+distressing circumstances! At a time when they were uncertain of
+preserving their own Italy, they yet ventured to look to other
+countries; and when the enemy were at their throat, flying through
+Campania and Apulia, and making an Africa in the middle of Italy, they
+at the same time both withstood that enemy and dispersed their arms over
+the earth into Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain.
+
+Sicily was assigned to Marcellus, and did not long resist his efforts;
+for the whole island was conquered in the conquest of one city.
+Syracuse, its great and, till that period, unconquered capital, though
+defended by the genius of Archimedes, was at last obliged to yield. Its
+triple wall and three citadels, its marble harbor and the celebrated
+fountain of Arethusa, were no defence to it, except so far as to procure
+consideration for its beauty when it was conquered.
+
+Sardinia Gracchus reduced; the savageness of the inhabitants, and the
+vastness of its Mad Mountains--for so they are called--availed it
+nothing. Great severity was exercised upon its cities, and upon Caralis,
+the city of its cities, that a nation, obstinate and regardless of
+death, might at least be humbled by concern for the soil of its country.
+
+Into Spain were sent the two Scipios, Cnaeus, and Publius, who wrested
+almost the whole of it from the Carthaginians; but, being surprised by
+the artifices of Punic subtlety, they again lost it, even after they had
+slaughtered the enemy's forces in great battles. The wiles of the
+Carthaginians cut off one of them by the sword as he was pitching his
+camp, and the other by surrounding him with lighted fagots after he had
+made his escape into a tower. But the other Scipio, to whom the Fates
+had decreed so great a name from Africa, being sent with an army to
+revenge the death of his father and uncle, recovered all that warlike
+country of Spain, so famous for its men and arms, that seminary of the
+enemy's force, that instructress of Hannibal, from the Pyrenean
+mountains--the account is scarcely credible--to the Pillars of Hercules
+and the ocean, whether with greater speed or good fortune is difficult
+to decide; how great was his speed, four years bear witness; how
+remarkable his good fortune, even one city proves, for it was taken on
+the same day in which siege was laid to it, and it was an omen of the
+conquest of Africa that Carthage in Spain was so easily reduced. It is
+certain, however, that what most contributed to make the province submit
+was the eminent virtue of the general, who restored to the barbarians
+certain captive youths and maidens of extraordinary beauty, not allowing
+them even to be brought into his sight, that he might not seem, even by
+a single glance, to have detracted from their virgin purity.
+
+These actions the Romans performed in different parts of the world, yet
+were they unable, notwithstanding, to remove Hannibal, who was lodged in
+the heart of Italy. Most of the towns had revolted to the enemy, whose
+vigorous commander used even the strength of Italy against the Romans.
+However, we had now forced him out of many towns and districts. Tarentum
+had returned to our side; and Capua, the seat, home, and second country
+of Hannibal, was again in our hands; the loss of which caused the Punic
+leader so much affliction that he then directed all his force against
+Rome.
+
+O people worthy of the empire of the world, worthy of the favor and
+admiration of all, not only men, but gods! Though they were brought into
+the greatest alarm, they desisted not from their original design; though
+they were concerned for their own city, they did not abandon their
+attempts on Capua; but, part of their army being left there with the
+consul Appius, and part having followed Flaccus to Rome, they fought
+both at home and abroad at the same time. Why then should we wonder that
+the gods themselves, the gods, I say--nor shall I be ashamed[58] to
+admit it--again opposed Hannibal as he was preparing to march forward
+when at three miles' distance from Rome. For, at every movement of his
+force, so copious a flood of rain descended, and such a violent storm of
+wind arose, that it was evident the enemy was repulsed by divine
+influence, and the tempest proceeded, not from heaven, but from the
+walls of the city and the Capitol. He therefore fled and departed, and
+withdrew to the farthest corner of Italy, leaving the city in a manner
+adored. It is but a small matter to mention, yet sufficiently indicative
+of the magnanimity of the Roman people, that during those very days in
+which the city was besieged, the ground which Hannibal occupied with his
+camp was offered for sale at Rome, and, being put up to auction,
+actually found a purchaser. Hannibal, on the other side, wished to
+imitate such confidence, and put up for sale the bankers' houses in the
+city; but no buyer was found; so that it was evident that the Fates had
+their presages.
+
+[Footnote 58: Why should he be ashamed to admit that Rome was saved by
+the aid of the gods? To receive assistance from the gods was a proof of
+merit. The gods help those who help themselves, says the proverb. When
+he says that the gods "_again_ opposed Hannibal," he seems to refer to
+what he said above in speaking of the battle of Cannae, that the
+deities, averse to Carthage, prevented Hannibal from marching at that
+time to Rome.]
+
+But as yet nothing had been effectually accomplished by so much valor,
+or even through such eminent favor from the gods; for Hasdrubal, the
+brother of Hannibal, was approaching with a new army, new strength, and
+every fresh requisite for war. There had doubtless been an end of Rome,
+if that general had united himself with his brother; but Claudius Nero,
+in conjunction with Livius Salinator, overthrew him as he was pitching
+his camp. Nero was at that time keeping Hannibal at bay in the farthest
+corner of Italy; while Livius had marched to the very opposite quarter,
+that is, to the very entrance and confines of Italy; and of the ability
+and expedition with which the consuls joined their forces--though so
+vast a space, that is, the whole of Italy where it is longest, lay
+between them--and defeated the enemy with their combined strength, when
+they expected no attack, and without the knowledge of Hannibal, it is
+difficult to give a notion. When Hannibal, however, had knowledge of the
+matter, and saw his brother's head thrown down before his camp, he
+exclaimed, "I perceive the evil destiny of Carthage." This was his first
+confession of that kind, not without a sure presage of his approaching
+fate; and it was now certain, even from his own acknowledgment, that
+Hannibal might be conquered. But the Roman people, full of confidence
+from so many successes, thought it would be a noble enterprise to subdue
+such a desperate enemy in his own Africa. Directing their whole force,
+therefore, under the leadership of Scipio, upon Africa itself, they
+began to imitate Hannibal, and to avenge upon Africa the sufferings of
+their own Italy. What forces of Hasdrubal (good gods!), what armies of
+Syphax, did that commander put to flight! How great were the camps of
+both that he destroyed in one night by casting firebrands into them! At
+last, not at three miles distance, but by a close siege, he shook the
+very gates of Carthage itself. And thus he succeeded in drawing off
+Hannibal when he was still clinging to and brooding over Italy. There
+was no more remarkable day, during the whole course of the Roman Empire,
+than that on which those two generals, the greatest of all that ever
+lived, whether before or after them, the one the conqueror of Italy, and
+the other of Spain, drew up their forces for a close engagement. But
+previously a conference was held between them concerning conditions of
+peace. They stood motionless awhile in admiration of each other. When
+they could not agree on a peace, they gave the signal for battle. It is
+certain, from the confession of both, that no troops could have been
+better drawn up, and no fight more obstinately maintained. This Hannibal
+acknowledged concerning the army of Scipio, and Scipio concerning that
+of Hannibal. But Hannibal was forced to yield, and Africa became the
+prize of the victory; and the whole earth soon followed the fate of
+Africa.
+
+
+THE THIRD PUNIC WAR
+
+The third war with Africa was both short in its duration--for it was
+finished in four years--and, compared with those that preceded it, of
+much less difficulty; as we had to fight not so much against troops in
+the field as against the city itself; but it was far the greatest of the
+three in its consequences, for in it Carthage was at last destroyed. And
+if anyone contemplates the events of the three periods, he will
+understand that the war was begun in the first, greatly advanced in the
+second, and entirely finished in the third.
+
+The cause of this war was that Carthage, in violation of an article in
+the treaty, had once fitted out a fleet and army against the Numidians,
+and had frequently threatened the frontiers of Masinissa. But the Romans
+were partial to this good king, who was also their ally.
+
+When the war had been determined upon, they had to consider about the
+end of it. Cato, even when his opinion was asked on any other subject,
+pronounced, with implacable enmity, that Carthage should be destroyed.
+Scipio Nasica gave his voice for its preservation, lest, if the fear of
+the rival city were removed, the exultation of Rome should grow
+extravagant. The senate decided on a middle course, resolving that the
+city should only be removed from its place; for nothing appeared to them
+more glorious than that there should be a Carthage which should not be
+feared. In the consulship of Manlius and Censorinus, therefore, the
+Roman people having attacked Carthage, but giving them some hopes of
+peace, burned their fleet, which they voluntarily delivered up, in sight
+of the city. Having next summoned the chief men, they commanded them to
+quit the place if they wished to preserve their lives. This requisition,
+from its cruelty, so incensed them that they chose rather to submit to
+the utmost extremities. They accordingly bewailed their necessities
+publicly, and shouted with one voice _to arms_; and a resolution was
+made to resist the enemy by every means in their power; not because any
+hope of success was left, but because they had rather their birthplace
+should be destroyed by the hands of the enemy than by their own. With
+what spirit they resumed the war may be understood from the facts that
+they pulled down their roofs and houses for the equipment of a new
+fleet; that gold and silver, instead of brass and iron, were melted in
+their forges for the construction of arms; and that the women parted
+with their hair to make cordage for the engines of war.
+
+Under the command of the consul Mancinus, the siege was warmly conducted
+both by land and sea. The harbor was dismantled of its works, and a
+first, second, and even third wall taken, while nevertheless the Byrsa,
+which was the name of the citadel, held out like another city. But
+though the destruction of the place was thus very far advanced, it was
+the name of the Scipios only that seemed fatal to Africa. The
+Government, accordingly, applying to another Scipio, desired from him a
+termination of the war. This Scipio, the son of Paulus Macedonicus, the
+son of the great Africanus had adopted as an honor to his family, and,
+as it appeared, with this destiny, that the grandson should overthrow
+the city which the grandfather had shaken. But as the bites of dying
+beasts are wont to be most fatal, so there was more trouble with
+Carthage half-ruined than when it was in its full strength. The Romans
+having shut the enemy up in their single fortress, had also blockaded
+the harbor; but upon this they dug another harbor on the other side of
+the city, not with a design to escape, but because no one supposed that
+they could even force an outlet there. Here a new fleet, as if just
+born, started forth; and, in the mean while, sometimes by day and
+sometimes by night, some new mole, some new machine, some new band of
+desperate men perpetually started up, like a sudden flame from a fire
+sunk in ashes. At last, their affairs becoming desperate, forty thousand
+men, and (what is hardly credible) with Hasdrubal at their head,
+surrendered themselves. How much more nobly did a woman behave, the wife
+of the general, who, taking hold of her two children, threw herself from
+the top of her house into the midst of the flames, imitating the queen
+that built Carthage. How great a city was then destroyed is shown, to
+say nothing of other things, by the duration of the fire, for the flames
+could scarcely be extinguished at the end of seventeen days; flames
+which the enemy themselves had raised in their houses and temples, that,
+since the city could not be rescued from the Romans, all matter for
+triumph might at least be burned.
+
+
+
+
+BATTLE OF THE METAURUS
+
+B.C. 207
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(During the closing years of the Second Punic War the resources of the
+Romans were drained to such an extent as to bring great disheartenment
+to their rulers and generals. Under the stress of financial
+difficulties, the cost of living greatly increased, and the State was
+compelled to resort to loans of various kinds, and to levy upon citizens
+of means for the pay of seamen. This scheme for raising Roman "ship
+money" was one of the most significant indications of the extreme weight
+resting upon the republic in the prosecution of this arduous war. A war
+with Sicily was fortunately terminated, releasing some additional force
+for employment against the Carthaginians; but for some time little
+headway was made by the Roman commanders, and when, in B.C. 207, the
+people were called upon to elect consuls, their affairs were still in a
+condition which caused serious anxiety. The consuls chosen in that year
+were Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius Nero, and without delay they went
+to take command in southern Italy, which the Carthaginians under
+Hannibal, though not in much strength, had invaded.
+
+But when, later in the season, Hasdrubal crossed the Alps from the north
+to join his brother, Hannibal, the aspect of the war became still more
+grave in the eyes of the Romans. Hasdrubal solicited the support of the
+Gauls, but to little purpose. Meanwhile Hannibal made skilful use of his
+small forces in eluding the consul Nero; but the capture by the Romans
+of despatches from Hasdrubal disclosed his plans, and Nero at once
+formed his own for intercepting him. The result was that Nero and Livius
+joined their forces in Hasdrubal's front, and to the Carthaginian they
+offered immediate battle. Hasdrubal attempted a retreat, but was
+compelled to give battle on the banks of the Metaurus. Of this, one of
+the "decisive battles of the world," Creasy has left an authoritative
+and graphic account, which here follows. The part of the consul Nero in
+the campaign is thus remarked upon by Lord Byron:
+
+"The consul Nero, who made the unequalled march which deceived Hannibal
+and deceived Hasdrubal, thereby accomplished an achievement almost
+unrivalled in military annals. The first intelligence of his return, to
+Hannibal, was the sight of Hasdrubal's head thrown into his camp. When
+Hannibal saw this, he exclaimed, with a sigh, that 'Rome would now be
+the mistress of the world.' To this victory of Nero's it might be owing
+that his imperial namesake reigned at all. But the infamy of the one has
+eclipsed the glory of the other. When the name of Nero is heard, who
+thinks of the consul? But such are human things.")
+
+
+About midway between Rimini and Ancona a little river falls into the
+Adriatic, after traversing one of those districts of Italy in which a
+vain attempt has lately been made to revive, after long centuries of
+servitude and shame, the spirit of Italian nationality and the energy of
+free institutions. That stream is still called the Metauro, and wakens
+by its name the recollections of the resolute daring of ancient Rome,
+and of the slaughter that stained its current two thousand and
+sixty-three years ago, when the combined consular armies of Livius and
+Nero encountered and crushed near its banks the varied hosts which
+Hannibal's brother was leading from the Pyrenees, the Rhone, the Alps,
+and the Po, to aid the great Carthaginian in his stern struggle to
+annihilate the growing might of the Roman republic, and make the Punic
+power supreme over all the nations of the world.
+
+The Roman historian,[59] who termed that struggle the most memorable of
+all wars that ever were carried on, wrote in no spirit of exaggeration;
+for it is not in ancient, but in modern history that parallels for its
+incidents and its heroes are to be found. The similitude between the
+contest which Rome maintained against Hannibal, and that which England
+was for many years engaged in against Napoleon, has not passed
+unobserved by recent historians. "Twice," says Arnold, "has there been
+witnessed the struggle of the highest individual genius against the
+resources and institutions of a great nation, and in both cases the
+nation has been victorious. For seventeen years Hannibal strove against
+Rome; for sixteen years Napoleon Bonaparte strove against England: the
+efforts of the first ended in Zama; those of the second in Waterloo."
+
+[Footnote 59: Livy.]
+
+One point, however, of the similitude between the two wars has scarcely
+been adequately dwelt on; that is, the remarkable parallel between the
+Roman general who finally defeated the great Carthaginian, and the
+English general who gave the last deadly overthrow to the French
+Emperor. Scipio and Wellington both held for many years commands of high
+importance, but distant from the main theatres of warfare. The same
+country was the scene of the principal military career of each. It was
+in Spain that Scipio, like Wellington, successively encountered and
+overthrew nearly all the subordinate generals of the enemy before being
+opposed to the chief champion and conqueror himself. Both Scipio and
+Wellington restored their countrymen's confidence in arms when shaken by
+a series of reverses, and each of them closed a long and perilous war by
+a complete and overwhelming defeat of the chosen leader and the chosen
+veterans of the foe.
+
+Nor is the parallel between them limited to their military characters
+and exploits. Scipio, like Wellington, became an important leader of the
+aristocratic party among his countrymen, and was exposed to the
+unmeasured invectives of the violent section of his political
+antagonists. When, early in the last reign, an infuriated mob assaulted
+the Duke of Wellington in the streets of the English capital on the
+anniversary of Waterloo, England was even more disgraced by that outrage
+than Rome was by the factious accusations which demagogues brought
+against Scipio, but which he proudly repelled on the day of trial by
+reminding the assembled people that it was the anniversary of the battle
+of Zama. Happily, a wiser and a better spirit has now for years pervaded
+all classes of our community, and we shall be spared the ignominy of
+having worked out to the end the parallel of national ingratitude.
+Scipio died a voluntary exile from the malevolent turbulence of Rome.
+Englishmen of all ranks and politics have now long united in
+affectionate admiration of our modern Scipio; and even those who have
+most widely differed from the duke on legislative or administrative
+questions, forget what they deem the political errors of that
+time-honored head, while they gratefully call to mind the laurels that
+have wreathed it.
+
+Scipio at Zama trampled in the dust the power of Carthage, but that
+power had been already irreparably shattered in another field, where
+neither Scipio nor Hannibal commanded. When the Metaurus witnessed the
+defeat and death of Hasdrubal, it witnessed the ruin of the scheme by
+which alone Carthage could hope to organize decisive success--the scheme
+of enveloping Rome at once from the north and the south of Italy by two
+chosen armies, led by two sons of Hamilcar. That battle was the
+determining crisis of the contest, not merely between Rome and Carthage,
+but between the two great families of the world, which then made Italy
+the arena of their oft-renewed contest for preëminence.
+
+The French historian, Michelet, whose _Histoire Romaine_ would have been
+invaluable if the general industry and accuracy of the writer had in any
+degree equalled his originality and brilliancy, eloquently remarks: "It
+is not without reason that so universal and vivid a remembrance of the
+Punic wars has dwelt in the memories of men. They formed no mere
+struggle to determine the lot of two cities or two empires; but it was a
+strife on the event of which depended the fate of two races of mankind,
+whether the dominion of the world should belong to the Indo-Germanic or
+to the Semitic family of nations. Bear in mind that the first of these
+comprises, besides the Indians and the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans,
+and the Germans. In the other are ranked the Jews and the Arabs, the
+Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. On the one side is the genius of
+heroism, of art, and legislation; on the other is the spirit of
+industry, of commerce, of navigation.
+
+"The two opposite races have everywhere come into contact, everywhere
+into hostility. In the primitive history of Persia and Chaldaea, the
+heroes are perpetually engaged in combat with their industrious and
+perfidious neighbors. The struggle is renewed between the Phoenicians
+and the Greeks on every coast of the Mediterranean. The Greek supplants
+the Phoenician in all his factories, all his colonies in the East: soon
+will the Roman come, and do likewise in the West. Alexander did far more
+against Tyre than Shalmaneser or Nebuchadnezzar had done. Not content
+with crushing her, he took care that she never should revive; for he
+founded Alexandria as her substitute, and changed forever the track of
+the commerce of the world. There remained Carthage--the great Carthage,
+and her mighty empire--mighty in a far different degree than Phoenicia's
+had been. Rome annihilated it. Then occurred that which has no parallel
+in history--an entire civilization perished at one blow--banished, like
+a falling star. The _Periplus_ of Hanno, a few coins, a score of lines
+in Plautus, and, lo, all that remains of the Carthaginian world!
+
+"Many generations must needs pass away before the struggle between the
+two races could be renewed; and the Arabs, that formidable rear-guard of
+the Semitic world, dashed forth from their deserts. The conflict between
+the two races then became the conflict of two religions. Fortunate was
+it that those daring Saracenic cavaliers encountered in the East the
+impregnable walls of Constantinople, in the West the chivalrous valor of
+Charles Martel and the sword of the Cid. The crusades were the natural
+reprisals for the Arab invasions, and form the last epoch of that great
+struggle between the two principal families of the human race."
+
+It is difficult, amid the glimmering light supplied by the allusions of
+the classical writers, to gain a full idea of the character and
+institutions of Rome's great rival. But we can perceive how inferior
+Carthage was to her competitor in military resources, and how far less
+fitted than Rome she was to become the founder of centralized and
+centralizing dominion that should endure for centuries, and fuse into
+imperial unity the narrow nationalities of the ancient races that dwelt
+around and near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea?
+
+Carthage was originally neither the most ancient nor the most powerful
+of the numerous colonies which the Phoenicians planted on the coast of
+Northern Africa. But her advantageous position, the excellence of her
+constitution--of which, though ill-informed as to its details, we know
+that it commanded the admiration of Aristotle--and the commercial and
+political energy of her citizens gave her the ascendency over Hippo,
+Utica, Leptis, and her other sister Phoenician cities in those regions;
+and she finally reduced them to a condition of dependency similar to
+that which the subject allies of Athens occupied relatively to that once
+imperial city. When Tyre and Sidon and the other cities of Phoenicia
+itself sank from independent republics into mere vassal states of the
+great Asiatic monarchies, and obeyed by turns a Babylonian, a Persian,
+and a Macedonian master, their power and their traffic rapidly declined,
+and Carthage succeeded to the important maritime and commercial
+character which they had previously maintained.
+
+The Carthaginians did not seek to compete with the Greeks on the
+northeastern shores of the Mediterranean, or in the three inland seas
+which are connected with it; but they maintained an active intercourse
+with the Phoenicians, and through them with Lower and Central Asia; and
+they, and they alone, after the decline and fall of Tyre, navigated the
+waters of the Atlantic. They had the monopoly of all the commerce of the
+world that was carried on beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. We have yet
+extant (in a Greek translation) the narrative of the voyage of Hanno,
+one of their admirals, along the western coast of Africa as far as
+Sierra Leone; and in the Latin poem of Festus Avienus frequent
+references are made to the records of the voyages of another celebrated
+Carthaginian admiral, Himilco, who had explored the northwestern coast
+of Europe. Our own islands are mentioned by Himilco as the lands of the
+Hiberni and Albioni. It is indeed certain that the Carthaginians
+frequented the Cornish coast--as the Phoenicians had done before
+them--for the purpose of procuring tin; and there is every reason to
+believe that they sailed as far as the coasts of the Baltic for amber.
+When it is remembered that the mariner's compass was unknown in those
+ages, the boldness and skill of the seamen of Carthage, and the
+enterprise of her merchants, may be paralleled with any achievements
+that the history of modern navigation and commerce can produce.
+
+In their Atlantic voyages along the African shores the Carthaginians
+followed the double object of traffic and colonization. The numerous
+settlements that were planted by them along the coast from Morocco to
+Senegal provided for the needy members of the constantly increasing
+population of a great commercial capital, and also strengthened the
+influence which Carthage exercised among the tribes of the African
+coast. Besides her fleets, her caravans gave her a large and lucrative
+trade with the native Africans; nor must we limit our belief of the
+extent of the Carthaginian trade with the tribes of Central and Western
+Africa by the narrowness of the commercial intercourse which civilized
+nations of modern times have been able to create in those regions.
+
+Although essentially a mercantile and seafaring people, the
+Carthaginians by no means neglected agriculture. On the contrary, the
+whole of their territory was cultivated like a garden. The fertility of
+the soil repaid the skill and toil bestowed on it; and every invader,
+from Agathocles to Scipio Æmilianus, was struck with admiration at the
+rich pasture lands carefully irrigated, the abundant harvests, the
+luxuriant vineyards, the plantations of fig and olive trees, the
+thriving villages, the populous towns, and the splendid villas of the
+wealthy Carthaginians, through which his march lay, as long as he was on
+Carthaginian ground.
+
+Although the Carthaginians abandoned the Ægean and the Pontus to the
+Greek, they were by no means disposed to relinquish to those rivals the
+commerce and the dominion of the coasts of the Mediterranean westward of
+Italy. For centuries the Carthaginians strove to make themselves masters
+of the islands that lie between Italy and Spain. They acquired the
+Balearic Islands, where the principal harbor, Port Mahon, still bears
+the name of a Carthaginian admiral. They succeeded in reducing the
+greater part of Sardinia; but Sicily could never be brought into their
+power. They repeatedly invaded that island, and nearly overran it; but
+the resistance which was opposed to them by the Syracusans under Gelon,
+Dionysius, Timoleon, and Agathocles preserved the island from becoming
+Punic, though many of its cities remained under the Carthaginian rule
+until Rome finally settled the question to whom Sicily was to belong by
+conquering it for herself.
+
+With so many elements of success, with almost unbounded wealth, with
+commercial and maritime activity, with a fertile territory, with a
+capital city of almost impregnable strength, with a constitution that
+insured for centuries the blessing of social order, with an aristocracy
+singularly fertile in men of the highest genius, Carthage yet failed
+signally and calamitously in her contest for power with Rome. One of the
+immediate causes of this may seem to have been the want of firmness
+among her citizens, which made them terminate the First Punic War by
+begging peace, sooner than endure any longer the hardships and burdens
+caused by a state of warfare, although their antagonists had suffered
+far more severely than themselves. Another cause was the spirit of
+faction among their leading men, which prevented Hannibal in the second
+war from being properly reënforced and supported. But there were also
+more general causes why Carthage proved inferior to Rome. These were her
+position relatively to the mass of the inhabitants of the country which
+she ruled, and her habit of trusting to mercenary armies in her wars.
+
+Our clearest information as to the different races of men in and about
+Carthage is derived from Diodorus Siculus. That historian enumerates
+four different races: first, he mentions the Phoenicians who dwelt in
+Carthage; next, he speaks of the Liby-Phoenicians: these, he tells us,
+dwelt in many of the maritime cities, and were connected by
+intermarriage with the Phoenicians, which was the cause of their
+compound name; thirdly, he mentions the Libyans, the bulk and the most
+ancient part of the population, hating the Carthaginians intensely on
+account of the oppressiveness of their domination; lastly, he names the
+Numidians, the nomad tribes of the frontier.
+
+It is evident, from this description, that the native Libyans were a
+subject class, without franchise or political rights; and, accordingly,
+we find no instance specified in history of a Libyan holding political
+office or military command. The half-castes, the Liby-Phoenicians, seem
+to have been sometimes sent out as colonists; but it may be inferred,
+from what Diodorus says of their residence, that they had not the right
+of the citizenship of Carthage; and only a single solitary case occurs
+of one of this race being intrusted with authority, and that, too, not
+emanating from the home government. This is the instance of the officer
+sent by Hannibal to Sicily after the fall of Syracuse, whom Polybius
+calls Myttinus the Libyan, but whom, from the fuller account in Livy, we
+find to have been a Liby-Phoenician; and it is expressly mentioned what
+indignation was felt by the Carthaginian commanders in the island that
+this half-caste should control their operations.
+
+With respect to the composition of their armies, it is observable that,
+though thirsting for extended empire, and though some of her leading men
+became generals of the highest order, the Carthaginians, as a people,
+were anything but personally warlike. As long as they could hire
+mercenaries to fight for them, they had little appetite for the irksome
+training and the loss of valuable time which military service would have
+entailed on themselves.
+
+As Michelet remarks: "The life of an industrious merchant, of a
+Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as long as it was possible
+to substitute advantageously for it that of a barbarian from Spain or
+Gaul. Carthage knew, and could tell to a drachma, what the life of a man
+of each nation came to. A Greek was worth more than a Campanian, a
+Campanian worth more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. When once this tariff of
+blood was correctly made out, Carthage began a war as a mercantile
+speculation. She tried to make conquests in the hope of getting new
+mines to work or to open fresh markets for her exports. In one venture
+she could afford to spend fifty thousand mercenaries, in another rather
+more. If the returns were good, there was no regret felt for the capital
+that had been sunk in the investment; more money got more men, and all
+went on well."
+
+Armies composed of foreign mercenaries have in all ages been as
+formidable to their employers as to the enemy against whom they were
+directed. We know of one occasion--between the First and Second Punic
+wars--when Carthage was brought to the very brink of destruction by a
+revolt of her foreign troops. Other mutinies of the same kind must from
+time to time have occurred. Probably one of these was the cause of the
+comparative weakness of Carthage at the time of the Athenian expedition
+against Syracuse, so different from the energy with which she attacked
+Gelon half a century earlier and Dionysius half a century later. And
+even when we consider her armies with reference only to their efficiency
+in warfare, we perceive at once the inferiority of such bands of
+_condottieri_, brought together without any common bond of origin,
+tactics, or cause, to the legions of Rome, which, at the time of the
+Punic wars, were raised from the very flower of a hardy agricultural
+population, trained in the strictest discipline, habituated to victory,
+and animated by the most resolute patriotism.
+
+And this shows, also, the transcendency of the genius of Hannibal, which
+could form such discordant materials into a compact organized force, and
+inspire them with the spirit of patient discipline and loyalty to their
+chief, so that they were true to him in his adverse as well as in his
+prosperous fortunes; and throughout the checkered series of his
+campaigns no panic rout ever disgraced a division under his command, no
+mutiny, or even attempt at mutiny, was ever known in his camp; and
+finally, after fifteen years of Italian warfare, his men followed their
+old leader to Zama, "with no fear and little hope,"[60] and there, on
+that disastrous field, stood firm around him, his Old Guard, till
+Scipio's Numidian allies came up on their flank, when at last,
+surrounded and overpowered, the veteran battalions sealed their devotion
+to their general by their blood!
+
+[Footnote 60: "We advanced to Waterloo as the Greeks did to Thermopylae:
+all of us without fear, and most of us without hope."--_Speech of
+General Foy._]
+
+"But if Hannibal's genius may be likened to the Homeric god, who, in his
+hatred to the Trojans, rises from the deep to rally the fainting Greeks
+and to lead them against the enemy, so the calm courage with which
+Hector met his more than human adversary in his country's cause is no
+unworthy image of the unyielding magnanimity displayed by the
+aristocracy of Rome. As Hannibal utterly eclipses Carthage, so, on the
+contrary, Fabius, Marcellus, Claudius Nero, even Scipio himself, are as
+nothing when compared to the spirit and wisdom and power of Rome. The
+senate, which voted its thanks to its political enemy, Varro, after his
+disastrous defeat, 'because he had not despaired of the commonwealth,'
+and which disdained either to solicit or to reprove or to threaten or in
+any way to notice the twelve colonies which had refused their accustomed
+supplies of men for the army, is far more to be honored than the
+conqueror of Zama. This we should the more carefully bear in mind
+because our tendency is to admire individual greatness far more than
+national; and, as no single Roman will bear comparison to Hannibal, we
+are apt to murmur at the event of the contest, and to think that the
+victory was awarded to the least worthy of the combatants. On the
+contrary, never was the wisdom of God's providence more manifest than in
+the issue of the struggle between Rome and Carthage.
+
+"It was clearly for the good of mankind that Hannibal should be
+conquered; his triumph would have stopped the progress of the world; for
+great men can only act permanently by forming great nations; and no one
+man, even though it were Hannibal himself, can in one generation effect
+such a work. But where the nation has been merely enkindled for a while
+by a great man's spirit, the light passes away with him who communicated
+it; and the nation, when he is gone, is like a dead body to which magic
+power had for a moment given unnatural life: when the charm has ceased,
+the body is cold and stiff as before. He who grieves over the battle of
+Zama should carry on his thoughts to a period thirty years later, when
+Hannibal must in the course of nature have been dead, and consider how
+the isolated Phoenician city of Carthage was fitted to receive and to
+consolidate the civilization of Greece, or by its laws and institutions
+to bind together barbarians of every race and language into an organized
+empire, and prepare them for becoming, when that empire was dissolved,
+the free members of the commonwealth of Christian Europe."[61]
+
+[Footnote 61: Arnold.]
+
+It was in the spring of 207 B.C. that Hasdrubal, after skilfully
+disentangling himself from the Roman forces in Spain, and after a march
+conducted with great judgment and little loss through the interior of
+Gaul and the passes of the Alps, appeared in the country that now is the
+north of Lombardy, at the head of troops which he had partly brought out
+of Spain and partly levied among the Gauls and Ligurians on his way. At
+this time Hannibal, with his unconquered and seemingly unconquerable
+army, had been eight years in Italy, executing with strenuous ferocity
+the vow of hatred to Rome which had been sworn by him while yet a child
+at the bidding of his father, Hamilcar, who, as he boasted, had trained
+up his three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, like three lion's
+whelps, to prey upon the Romans. But Hannibal's latter campaigns had not
+been signalized by any such great victories as marked the first years of
+his invasion of Italy. The stern spirit of Roman resolution, ever
+highest in disaster and danger, had neither bent nor despaired beneath
+the merciless blows which "the dire African" dealt her in rapid
+succession at Trebia, at Thrasymene, and at Cannae. Her population was
+thinned by repeated slaughter in the field; poverty and actual scarcity
+ground down the survivors, through the fearful ravages which Hannibal's
+cavalry spread through their cornfields, their pasture lands, and their
+vineyards; many of her allies went over to the invader's side, and new
+clouds of foreign war threatened her from Macedonia and Gaul. But Rome
+receded not. Rich and poor among her citizens vied with each other in
+devotion to their country. The wealthy placed their stores, and all
+placed their lives, at the State's disposal. And though Hannibal could
+not be driven out of Italy, though every year brought its sufferings and
+sacrifices, Rome felt that her constancy had not been exerted in vain.
+If she was weakened by the continued strife, so was Hannibal also; and
+it was clear that the unaided resources of his army were unequal to the
+task of her destruction. The single deerhound could not pull down the
+quarry which he had so furiously assailed. Rome not only stood fiercely
+at bay, but had pressed back and gored her antagonist, that still,
+however, watched her in act to spring. She was weary, and bleeding at
+every pore; and there seemed to be little hope of her escape if the
+other hound of old Hamilcar's race should come up in time to aid his
+brother in the death grapple.
+
+Hasdrubal had commanded the Carthaginian armies in Spain for some time
+with varying but generally unfavorable fortune. He had not the full
+authority over the Punic forces in that country which his brother and
+his father had previously exercised. The faction at Carthage, which was
+at feud with his family, succeeded in fettering and interfering with his
+power; and other generals were from time to time sent into Spain, whose
+errors and misconduct caused the reverses that Hasdrubal met with. This
+is expressly attested by the Greek historian Polybius, who was the
+intimate friend of the younger Africanus, and drew his information
+respecting the Second Punic War from the best possible authorities. Livy
+gives a long narrative of campaigns between the Roman commanders in
+Spain and Hasdrubal, which is so palpably deformed by fictions and
+exaggerations as to be hardly deserving of attention. It is clear that
+in the year B.C. 208, at least, Hasdrubal outmanoeuvred Publius Scipio,
+who held the command of the Roman forces in Spain, and whose object was
+to prevent him from passing the Pyrenees and marching upon Italy. Scipio
+expected that Hasdrubal would attempt the nearest route along the coast
+of the Mediterranean, and he therefore carefully fortified and guarded
+the passes of the eastern Pyrenees. But Hasdrubal passed these mountains
+near their western extremity; and then, with a considerable force of
+Spanish infantry, with a small number of African troops, with some
+elephants and much treasure, he marched, not directly toward the coast
+of the Mediterranean, but in a northeastern line toward the centre of
+Gaul. He halted for the winter in the territory of the Arverni, the
+modern Auvergne, and conciliated or purchased the goodwill of the Gauls
+in that region so far that he not only found friendly winter quarters
+among them, but great numbers of them enlisted under him, and, on the
+approach of spring, marched with him to invade Italy.
+
+By thus entering Gaul at the southwest, and avoiding its southern
+maritime districts, Hasdrubal kept the Romans in complete ignorance of
+his precise operations and movements in that country; all that they knew
+was that Hasdrubal had baffled Scipio's attempts to detain him in Spain;
+that he had crossed the Pyrenees with soldiers, elephants, and money,
+and that he was raising fresh forces among the Gauls. The spring was
+sure to bring him into Italy, and then would come the real tempest of
+the war, when from the north and from the south the two Carthaginian
+armies, each under a son of the Thunderbolt[62], were to gather together
+around the seven hills of Rome.
+
+[Footnote 62: Hamilcar was surnamed Barca, which means the Thunderbolt.
+Sultan Bajazet had the similar surname of Yilderim.]
+
+In this emergency the Romans looked among themselves earnestly and
+anxiously for leaders fit to meet the perils of the coming campaign.
+
+The senate recommended the people to elect, as one of their consuls,
+Caius Claudius Nero, a patrician of one of the families of the great
+Claudian house. Nero had served during the preceding years of the war
+both against Hannibal in Italy and against Hasdrubal in Spain; but it is
+remarkable that the histories which we possess record no successes as
+having been achieved by him either before or after his great campaign of
+the Metaurus. It proves much for the sagacity of the leading men of the
+senate that they recognized in Nero the energy and spirit which were
+required at this crisis, and it is equally creditable to the patriotism
+of the people that they followed the advice of the senate by electing a
+general who had no showy exploits to recommend him to their choice.
+
+It was a matter of greater difficulty to find a second consul; the laws
+required that one consul should be a plebeian; and the plebeian nobility
+had been fearfully thinned by the events of the war. While the senators
+anxiously deliberated among themselves what fit colleague for Nero could
+be nominated at the coming comitia, and sorrowfully recalled the names
+of Marcellus, Gracchus, and other plebeian generals who were no more,
+one taciturn and moody old man sat in sullen apathy among the conscript
+fathers. This was Marcus Livius, who had been consul in the year before
+the beginning of this war, and had then gained a victory over the
+Illyrians. After his consulship he had been impeached before the people
+on a charge of peculation and unfair division of the spoils among his
+soldiers; the verdict was unjustly given against him, and the sense of
+this wrong, and of the indignity thus put upon him, had rankled
+unceasingly in the bosom of Livius, so that for eight years after his
+trial he had lived in seclusion in his country seat, taking no part in
+any affairs of State. Latterly the censors had compelled him to come to
+Rome and resume his place in the senate, where he used to sit gloomily
+apart, giving only a silent vote. At last an unjust accusation against
+one of his near kinsmen made him break silence, and he harangued the
+house in words of weight and sense, which drew attention to him and
+taught the senators that a strong spirit dwelt beneath that unimposing
+exterior.
+
+Now, while they were debating on what noble of a plebeian house was fit
+to assume the perilous honors of the consulate, some of the elder of
+them looked on Marcus Livius, and remembered that in the very last
+triumph which had been celebrated in the streets of Rome, this grim old
+man had sat in the car of victory, and that he had offered the last
+thanksgiving sacrifice for the success of the Roman arms which had bled
+before Capitoline Jove. There had been no triumphs since Hannibal came
+into Italy. The Illyrian campaign of Livius was the last that had been
+so honored; perhaps it might be destined for him now to renew the
+long-interrupted series. The senators resolved that Livius should be put
+in nomination as consul with Nero; the people were willing to elect him:
+the only opposition came from himself. He taunted them with their
+inconsistency in honoring the man whom they had convicted of a base
+crime. "If I am innocent," said he, "why did you place such a stain on
+me? If I am guilty, why am I more fit for a second consulship than I was
+for my first one?" The other senators remonstrated with him, urging the
+example of the great Camillus, who, after an unjust condemnation on a
+similar charge, both served and saved his country. At last Livius ceased
+to object; and Caius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius were chosen consuls
+of Rome.
+
+A quarrel had long existed between the two consuls, and the senators
+strove to effect a reconciliation between them before the campaign. Here
+again Livius for a long time obstinately resisted the wish of his
+fellow-senators. He said it was best for the State that he and Nero
+should continue to hate one another. Each would do his duty better when
+he knew that he was watched by an enemy in the person of his own
+colleague. At last the entreaties of the senate prevailed, and Livius
+consented to forego the feud, and to cooperate with Nero in preparing
+for the coming struggle.
+
+As soon as the winter snows were thawed, Hasdrubal commenced his march
+from Auvergne to the Alps. He experienced none of the difficulties which
+his brother had met with from the mountain tribes. Hannibal's army had
+been the first body of regular troops that had ever traversed their
+regions; and, as wild animals assail a traveller, the natives rose
+against it instinctively, in imagined defence of their own habitations,
+which they supposed to be the objects of Carthaginian ambition. But the
+fame of the war, with which Italy had now been convulsed for twelve
+years, had penetrated into the Alpine passes, and the mountaineers now
+understood that a mighty city southward of the Alps was to be attacked
+by the troops whom they saw marching among them. They now not only
+opposed no resistance to the passage of Hasdrubal, but many of them, out
+of love of enterprise and plunder, or allured by the high pay that he
+offered, took service with him; and thus he advanced upon Italy with an
+army that gathered strength at every league. It is said, also, that some
+of the most important engineering works which Hannibal had constructed
+were found by Hasdrubal still in existence, and materially favored the
+speed of his advance. He thus emerged into Italy from the Alpine valleys
+much sooner than had been anticipated. Many warriors of the Ligurian
+tribes joined him; and, crossing the River Po, he marched down its
+southern bank to the city of Placentia, which he wished to secure as a
+base for his future operations. Placentia resisted him as bravely as it
+had resisted Hannibal twelve years before, and for some time Hasdrubal
+was occupied with a fruitless siege before its walls.
+
+Six armies were levied for the defence of Italy when the long-dreaded
+approach of Hasdrubal was announced. Seventy thousand Romans served in
+the fifteen legions of which, with an equal number of Italian allies,
+those armies and the garrisons were composed. Upward of thirty thousand
+more Romans were serving in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. The whole
+number of Roman citizens of an age fit for military duty scarcely
+exceeded a hundred and thirty thousand. The census taken before the
+commencement of the war had shown a total of two hundred and seventy
+thousand, which had been diminished by more than half during twelve
+years. These numbers are fearfully emphatic of the extremity to which
+Rome was reduced, and of her gigantic efforts in that great agony of her
+fate. Not merely men, but money and military stores, were drained to the
+utmost, and if the armies of that year should be swept off by a
+repetition of the slaughters of Thrasymene and Cannae all felt that Rome
+would cease to exist.
+
+Even if the campaign were to be marked by no decisive success on either
+side her ruin seemed certain. In South Italy, Hannibal had either
+detached Rome's allies from her or had impoverished them by the ravages
+of his army. If Hasdrubal could have done the same in Upper Italy; if
+Etruria, Umbria, and Northern Latium had either revolted or been laid
+waste, Rome must have sunk beneath sheer starvation, for the hostile or
+desolated territory would have yielded no supplies of corn for her
+population, and money to purchase it from abroad there was none. Instant
+victory was a matter of life or death. Three of her six armies were
+ordered to the North, but the first of these was required to overawe the
+disaffected Etruscan. The second army of the North was pushed forward,
+under Porcius, the praetor, to meet and keep in check the advanced
+troops of Hasdrubal; while the third, the grand army of the North, which
+was to be under the immediate command of the consul Livius, who had the
+chief command in all North Italy, advanced more slowly in its support.
+There were similarly three armies in the South, under the orders of the
+other consul, Claudius Nero.
+
+The lot had decided that Livius was to be opposed to Hasdrubal, and that
+Nero should face Hannibal. And "when all was ordered as themselves
+thought best, the two consuls went forth from the city, each his several
+way. The people of Rome were now quite otherwise affected than they had
+been when L. Æmilius Paulus and C. Terentius Varro were sent against
+Hannibal. They did no longer take upon them to direct their generals, or
+bid them despatch and win the victory betimes, but rather they stood in
+fear lest all diligence, wisdom, and valor should prove too little; for
+since few years had passed wherein some one of their generals had not
+been slain, and since it was manifest that, if either of these present
+consuls were defeated or put to the worst, the two Carthaginians would
+forthwith join, and make short work with the other, it seemed a greater
+happiness than could be expected that each of them should return home
+victor, and come off with honor from such mighty opposition as he was
+like to find. With extreme difficulty had Rome held up her head ever
+since the battle of Cannae; though it were so, that Hannibal alone, with
+little help from Carthage, had continued the war in Italy. But there was
+now arrived another son of Hamilcar, and one that in his present
+expedition had seemed a man of more sufficiency than Hannibal himself;
+for whereas, in that long and dangerous march through barbarous nations,
+over great rivers and mountains that were thought unpassable, Hannibal
+had lost a great part of his army, this Hasdrubal, in the same places,
+had multiplied his numbers, and gathering the people that he found in
+the way, descended from the Alps like a rolling snowball, far greater
+than he came over the Pyrenees at his first setting out of Spain. These
+considerations and the like, of which fear presented many unto them,
+caused the people of Rome to wait upon their consuls out of the town,
+like a pensive train of mourners, thinking upon Marcellus and Crispinus,
+upon whom, in the like sort, they had given attendance the last year,
+but saw neither of them return alive from a less dangerous war.
+Particularly old Q. Fabius gave his accustomed advice to M. Livius, that
+he should abstain from giving or taking battle until he well understood
+the enemy's condition. But the consul made him a froward answer, and
+said that he would fight the very first day, for that he thought it long
+till he should either recover his honor by victory, or, by seeing the
+overthrow of his own unjust citizens, satisfy himself with the joy of a
+great though not an honest revenge. But his meaning was better than his
+words."
+
+Hannibal at this period occupied with his veteran but much-reduced
+forces the extreme south of Italy. It had not been expected either by
+friend or foe that Hasdrubal would effect his passage of the Alps so
+early in the year as actually occurred. And even when Hannibal learned
+that his brother was in Italy, and had advanced as far as Placentia, he
+was obliged to pause for further intelligence before he himself
+commenced active operations, as he could not tell whether his brother
+might not be invited into Etruria, to aid the party there that was
+disaffected to Rome, or whether he would march down by the Adriatic Sea.
+Hannibal led his troops out of their winter quarters in Bruttium, and
+marched northward as far as Canusium. Nero had his head-quarters near
+Venusia, with an army which he had increased to forty thousand foot and
+two thousand five hundred horse, by incorporating under his own command
+some of the legions which had been intended to act under other generals
+in the South. There was another Roman army, twenty thousand strong,
+south of Hannibal at Tarentum. The strength of that city secured this
+Roman force from any attack by Hannibal, and it was a serious matter to
+march northward and leave it in his rear, free to act against all his
+depots and allies in the friendly part of Italy, which for the two or
+three last campaigns had served him for a base of his operations.
+Moreover, Nero's army was so strong that Hannibal could not concentrate
+troops enough to assume the offensive against it without weakening his
+garrisons and relinquishing, at least for a time, his grasp upon the
+southern provinces. To do this before he was certainly informed of his
+brother's operations would have been a useless sacrifice, as Nero could
+retreat before him upon the other Roman armies near the capital, and
+Hannibal knew by experience that a mere advance of his army upon the
+walls of Rome would have no effect on the fortunes of the war. In the
+hope, probably, of inducing Nero to follow him and of gaining an
+opportunity of outmanoeuvring the Roman consul and attacking him on his
+march, Hannibal moved into Lucania, and then back into Apulia; he again
+marched down into Bruttium, and strengthened his army by a levy of
+recruits in that district. Nero followed him, but gave him no chance of
+assailing him at a disadvantage. Some partial encounters seem to have
+taken place; but the consul could not prevent Hannibal's junction with
+his Bruttian levies, nor could Hannibal gain an opportunity of
+surprising and crushing the consul.[63] Hannibal returned to his former
+headquarters at Canusium, and halted there in expectation of further
+tidings of his brother's movements. Nero also resumed his former
+position in observation of the Carthaginian army.
+
+[Footnote 63: The annalists whom Livy copied spoke of Nero's gaining
+repeated victories over Hannibal, and killing and taking his men by tens
+of thousands. The falsehood of all this is self-evident. If Nero could
+thus always beat Hannibal, the Romans would not have been in such an
+agony of dread about Hasdrubal as all writers describe. Indeed, we have
+the express testimony of Polybius that the statements which we read in
+Livy of Marcellus, Nero, and others gaining victories over Hannibal in
+Italy must be all fabrications of Roman vanity. Polybius states that
+Hannibal was never defeated before the battle of Zama; and in another
+passage he mentions that after the defeats which Hannibal inflicted on
+the Romans in the early years of the war, they no longer dared face his
+army in a pitched battle on a fair field, and yet they resolutely
+maintained the war. He rightly explains this by referring to the
+superiority of Hannibal's cavalry, the arm which gained him all his
+victories. By keeping within fortified lines, or close to the sides of
+the mountains when Hannibal approached them, the Romans rendered his
+cavalry ineffective; and a glance at the geography of Italy will show
+how an army can traverse the greater part of that country without
+venturing far from the high grounds.]
+
+Meanwhile, Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, and was
+advancing toward Ariminum on the Adriatic, and driving before him the
+Roman army under Porcius. Nor when the consul Livius had come up, and
+united the second and third armies of the North, could he make head
+against the invaders. The Romans still fell back before Hasdrubal beyond
+Ariminum, beyond the Metaurus, and as far as the little town of Sena, to
+the southeast of that river. Hasdrubal was not unmindful of the
+necessity of acting in concert with his brother. He sent messengers to
+Hannibal to announce his own line of march, and to propose that they
+should unite their armies in South Umbria and then wheel round against
+Rome. Those messengers traversed the greater part of Italy in safety,
+but, when close to the object of their mission, were captured by a Roman
+detachment; and Hasdrubal's letter, detailing his whole plan of the
+campaign, was laid, not in his brother's hands, but in those of the
+commander of the Roman armies of the South. Nero saw at once the full
+importance of the crisis. The two sons of Hamilcar were now within two
+hundred miles of each other, and if Rome were to be saved the brothers
+must never meet alive. Nero instantly ordered seven thousand picked men,
+a thousand being cavalry, to hold themselves in readiness for a secret
+expedition against one of Hannibal's garrisons, and as soon as night had
+set in he hurried forward on his bold enterprise; but he quickly left
+the southern road toward Lucania, and, wheeling round, pressed northward
+with the utmost rapidity toward Picenum. He had, during the preceding
+afternoon, sent messengers to Rome, who were to lay Hasdrubal's letters
+before the senate. There was a law forbidding a consul to make war or
+march his army beyond the limits of the province assigned to him; but in
+such an emergency, Nero did not wait for the permission of the senate to
+execute his project, but informed them that he was already on his march
+to join Livius against Hasdrubal. He advised them to send the two
+legions which formed the home garrison on to Narnia, so as to defend
+that pass of the Flaminian road against Hasdrubal, in case he should
+march upon Rome before the consular armies could attack him. They were
+to supply the place of these two legions at Rome by a levy _en masse_ in
+the city, and by ordering up the reserve legion from Capua. These were
+his communications to the senate. He also sent horsemen forward along
+his line of march, with orders to the local authorities to bring stores
+of provisions and refreshment of every kind to the roadside, and to have
+relays of carriages ready for the conveyance of the wearied soldiers.
+Such were the precautions which he took for accelerating his march; and
+when he had advanced some little distance from his camp, he briefly
+informed his soldiers of the real object of their expedition. He told
+them that never was there a design more seemingly audacious and more
+really safe. He said he was leading them to a certain victory, for his
+colleague had an army large enough to balance the enemy already, so that
+_their_ swords would decisively turn the scale. The very rumor that a
+fresh consul and a fresh army had come up, when heard on the
+battle-field--and he would take care that they should not be heard of
+before they were seen and felt--would settle the business. They would
+have all the credit of the victory and of having dealt the final
+decisive blow. He appealed to the enthusiastic reception which they
+already met with on their line of march as a proof and an omen of their
+good fortune. And, indeed, their whole path was amid the vows and
+prayers and praises of their countrymen. The entire population of the
+districts through which they passed flocked to the roadside to see and
+bless the deliverers of their country. Food, drink, and refreshments of
+every kind were eagerly pressed on their acceptance. Each peasant
+thought a favor was conferred on him if one of Nero's chosen band would
+accept aught at his hands. The soldiers caught the full spirit of their
+leader. Night and day they marched forward, taking their hurried meals
+in the ranks, and resting by relay in the wagons which the zeal of the
+country people provided, and which followed in the rear of the column.
+
+Meanwhile, at Rome, the news of Nero's expedition had caused the
+greatest excitement and alarm. All men felt the full audacity of the
+enterprise, but hesitated what epithet to apply to it. It was evident
+that Nero's conduct would be judged of by the event, that most unfair
+criterion, as the Roman historian truly terms it. People reasoned on the
+perilous state in which Nero had left the rest of his army, without a
+general, and deprived of the core of its strength, in the vicinity of
+the terrible Hannibal. They speculated on how long it would take
+Hannibal to pursue and overtake Nero himself, and his expeditionary
+force. They talked over the former disasters of the war, and the fall of
+both the consuls of the last year. All these calamities had come on them
+while they had only one Carthaginian general and army to deal with in
+Italy. Now they had two Punic wars at a time. They had two Carthaginian
+armies, they had almost two Hannibals, in Italy. Hasdrubal was sprung
+from the same father; trained up in the same hostility to Rome; equally
+practised in battle against their legions; and, if the comparative speed
+and success with which he had crossed the Alps were a fair test, he was
+even a better general than his brother. With fear for their interpreter
+of every rumor, they exaggerated the strength of their enemy's forces in
+every quarter, and criticised and distrusted their own.
+
+Fortunately for Rome, while she was thus a prey to terror and anxiety,
+her consul's nerves were stout and strong, and he resolutely urged on
+his march toward Sena, where his colleague Livius and the praetor
+Porcius were encamped, Hasdrubal's army being in position about half a
+mile to their north. Nero had sent couriers forward to apprise his
+colleague of his project and of his approach; and by the advice of
+Livius, Nero so timed his final march as to reach the camp at Sena by
+night. According to a previous arrangement, Nero's men were received
+silently into the tents of their comrades, each according to his rank.
+By these means there was no enlargement of the camp that could betray to
+Hasdrubal the accession of force which the Romans had received. This was
+considerable, as Nero's numbers had been increased on the march by the
+volunteers, who offered themselves in crowds, and from whom he selected
+the most promising men, and especially the veterans of former campaigns.
+A council of war was held on the morning after his arrival, in which
+some advised that time should be given for Nero's men to refresh
+themselves after the fatigue of such a march. But Nero vehemently
+opposed all delay. "The officer," said he, "who is for giving time to my
+men here to rest themselves is for giving time to Hannibal to attack my
+men, whom I have left in the camp in Apulia. He is for giving time to
+Hannibal and Hasdrubal to discover my march, and to manoeuvre for a
+junction with each other in Cisalpine Gaul at their leisure. We must
+fight instantly, while both the foe here and the foe in the South are
+ignorant of our movements. We must destroy this Hasdrubal, and I must be
+back in Apulia before Hannibal awakes from his torpor." Nero's advice
+prevailed. It was resolved to fight directly; and before the consuls and
+praetor left the tent of Livius, the red ensign, which was the signal to
+prepare for immediate action, was hoisted, and the Romans forthwith drew
+up in battle array outside the camp.
+
+Hasdrubal had been anxious to bring Livius and Porcius to battle, though
+he had not judged it expedient to attack them in their lines. And now,
+on hearing that the Romans offered battle, he also drew up his men and
+advanced toward them. No spy or deserter had informed him of Nero's
+arrival, nor had he received any direct information that he had more
+than his old enemies to deal with. But as he rode forward to reconnoitre
+the Roman line, he thought that their numbers seemed to have increased,
+and that the armor of some of them was unusually dull and stained. He
+noticed, also, that the horses of some of the cavalry appeared to be
+rough and out of condition, as if they had just come from a succession
+of forced marches. So also, though, owing to the precaution of Livius,
+the Roman camp showed no change of size, it had not escaped the quick
+ear of the Carthaginian general that the trumpet which gave the signal
+to the Roman legions sounded that morning once oftener than usual, as if
+directing the troops of some additional superior officer. Hasdrubal,
+from his Spanish campaigns, was well acquainted with all the sounds and
+signals of Roman war, and from all that he heard and saw he felt
+convinced that both the Roman consuls were before him. In doubt and
+difficulty as to what might have taken place between the armies of the
+South, and probably hoping that Hannibal also was approaching, Hasdrubal
+determined to avoid an encounter with the combined Roman forces, and to
+endeavor to retreat upon Insubrian Gaul, where he would be in a friendly
+country, and could endeavor to reopen his communication with his
+brother. He therefore led his troops back into their camp; and as the
+Romans did not venture on an assault upon his intrenchments, and
+Hasdrubal did not choose to commence his retreat in their sight, the day
+passed away in inaction. At the first watch of the night Hasdrubal led
+his men silently out of their camp, and moved northward toward the
+Metaurus, in the hope of placing that river between himself and the
+Romans before his retreat was discovered. His guides betrayed him; and
+having purposely led him away from the part of the river that was
+fordable, they made their escape in the dark, and left Hasdrubal and his
+army wandering in confusion along the steep bank, and seeking in vain
+for a spot where the stream could be safely crossed. At last they
+halted; and when day dawned on them, Hasdrubal found that great numbers
+of his men, in their fatigue and impatience, had lost all discipline and
+subordination, and that many of his Gallic auxiliaries had got drunk,
+and were lying helpless in their quarters. The Roman cavalry was soon
+seen coming up in pursuit, followed at no great distance by the legions,
+which marched in readiness for an instant engagement. It was hopeless
+for Hasdrubal to think of continuing his retreat before them. The
+prospect of immediate battle might recall the disordered part of his
+troops to a sense of duty, and revive the instinct of discipline. He
+therefore ordered his men to prepare for action instantly, and made the
+best arrangement of them that the nature of the ground would permit.
+
+Heeren has well described the general appearance of a Carthaginian army.
+He says: "It was an assemblage of the most opposite races of the human
+species from the farthest parts of the globe. Hordes of half-naked Gauls
+were ranged next to companies of white-clothed Iberians, and savage
+Ligurians next to the far-travelled Nasamones and Lotophagi.
+Carthaginians and Phoenici-Africans formed the centre, while innumerable
+troops of Numidian horsemen, taken from all the tribes of the Desert,
+swarmed about on unsaddled horses, and formed the wings; the van was
+composed of Balearic slingers; and a line of colossal elephants, with
+their Ethiopian guides, formed, as it were, a chain of moving fortresses
+before the whole army."
+
+Such were the usual materials and arrangements of the hosts that fought
+for Carthage; but the troops under Hasdrubal were not in all respects
+thus constituted or thus stationed. He seems to have been especially
+deficient in cavalry, and he had few African troops, though some
+Carthaginians of high rank were with him. His veteran Spanish infantry,
+armed with helmets and shields, and short cut-and-thrust swords, were
+the best part of his army. These and his few Africans he drew up on his
+right wing, under his own personal command. In the centre he placed his
+Ligurian infantry, and on the left wing he placed or retained the Gauls,
+who were armed with long javelins and with huge broadswords and targets.
+The rugged nature of the ground in front and on the flank of this part
+of his line made him hope that the Roman right wing would be unable to
+come to close quarters with these unserviceable barbarians before he
+could make some impression with his Spanish veterans on the Roman left.
+This was the only chance that he had of victory or safety, and he seems
+to have done everything that good generalship could do to secure it. He
+placed his elephants in advance of his centre and right wing. He had
+caused the driver of each of them to be provided with a sharp iron spike
+and a mallet, and had given orders that every beast that became
+unmanageable, and ran back upon his own ranks, should be instantly
+killed by driving the spike into the vertebra at the junction of the
+head and the spine. Hasdrubal's elephants were ten in number. We have no
+trustworthy information as to the amount of his infantry, but it is
+quite clear that he was greatly outnumbered by the combined Roman
+forces.
+
+The tactics of the Roman legions had not yet acquired that perfection
+which they received from the military genius of Marius,[64] and which we
+read of in the first chapter of Gibbon. We possess, in that great work,
+an account of the Roman legions at the end of the commonwealth, and
+during the early ages of the empire, which those alone can adequately
+admire who have attempted a similar description. We have also, in the
+sixth and seventeenth books of Polybius, an elaborate discussion on the
+military system of the Romans in his time, which was not far distant
+from the time of the battle of the Metaurus. But the subject is beset
+with difficulties; and instead of entering into minute but inconclusive
+details, I would refer to Gibbon's first chapter as serving for a
+general description of the Roman army in its period of perfection, and
+remark that the training and armor which the whole legion received in
+the time of Augustus were, two centuries earlier, only partially
+introduced. Two divisions of troops, called _hastati_ and _principes_,
+formed the bulk of each Roman legion in the Second Punic War. Each of
+these divisions was twelve hundred strong. The hastatus and the princeps
+legionary bore a breastplate or coat of mail, brazen greaves, and a
+brazen helmet with a lofty upright crest of scarlet or black feathers.
+He had a large oblong shield; and, as weapons of offence, two javelins,
+one of which was light and slender, but the other was a strong and
+massive weapon, with a shaft about four feet long and an iron head of
+equal length. The sword was carried on the right thigh, and was a short
+cut-and-thrust weapon, like that which was used by the Spaniards. Thus
+armed, the hastati formed the front division of the legion, and the
+principes the second. Each division was drawn up about ten deep, a space
+of three feet being allowed between the files as well as the ranks, so
+as to give each legionary ample room for the use of his javelins and of
+his sword and shield. The men in the second rank did not stand
+immediately behind those in the first rank, but the files were
+alternate, like the position of the men on a draught-board. This was
+termed the _quincunx_ order.
+
+[Footnote 64: Most probably during the period of his prolonged
+consulship, from B.C. 104 to B.C. 101, while he was training his army
+against the Cimbri and the Teutons.]
+
+Niebuhr considers that this arrangement enabled the legion to keep up a
+shower of javelins on the enemy for some considerable time. He says:
+"When the first line had hurled its _pila_, it probably stepped back
+between those who stood behind it, and two steps forward restored the
+front nearly to its first position; a movement which, on account of the
+arrangement of the quincunx, could be executed without losing a moment.
+Thus one line succeeded the other in the front till it was time to draw
+the swords; nay, when it was found expedient, the lines which had
+already been in the front might repeat this change, since the stores of
+pila were surely not confined to the two which each soldier took with
+him into battle.
+
+"The same charge must have taken place in fighting with the sword,
+which, when the same tactics were adopted on both sides, was anything
+but a confused _mêlée_; on the contrary, it was a series of single
+combats." He adds that a military man of experience had been consulted
+by him on the subject and had given it as his opinion "that the change
+of the lines as described above was by no means impracticable; but, in
+the absence of the deafening noise of gunpowder, it cannot have had even
+any difficulty with well-trained troops."
+
+The third division of the legion was six hundred strong and acted as a
+reserve. It was always composed of veteran soldiers, who were called the
+_triarii_. Their arms were the same as these of the principes and
+hastati, except that each _triarian_ carried a spear instead of
+javelins. The rest of the legion consisted of light-armed troops, who
+acted as skirmishers. The cavalry of each legion was at this period
+about three hundred strong. The Italian allies who were attached to the
+legion seem to have been similarly armed and equipped, but their
+numerical proportion of cavalry was much larger.
+
+Such was the nature of the forces that advanced on the Roman side to the
+battle of the Metaurus. Nero commanded the right wing, Livius the left,
+and the praetor Porcius had the command of the centre. "Both Romans and
+Carthaginians well understood how much depended upon the fortune of this
+day, and how little hope of safety there was for the vanquished. Only
+the Romans herein seemed to have had the better in conceit and opinion
+that they were to fight with men desirous to have fled from them; and
+according to this presumption came Livius the consul, with a proud
+bravery, to give charge on the Spaniards and Africans, by whom he was so
+sharply entertained that the victory seemed very doubtful. The Africans
+and Spaniards were stout soldiers, and well acquainted with the manner
+of the Roman fight. The Ligurians also were a hardy nation, and not
+accustomed to give ground, which they needed the less, or were able now
+to do, being placed in the midst. Livius, therefore, and Porcius found
+great opposition; and with great slaughter on both sides prevailed
+little or nothing. Besides other difficulties, they were exceedingly
+troubled by the elephants, that brake their first ranks and put them in
+such disorder as the Roman ensigns were driven to fall back; all this
+while Claudius Nero, laboring in vain against a steep hill, was unable
+to come to blows with the Gauls that stood opposite him, but out of
+danger. This made Hasdrubal the more confident, who, seeing his own left
+wing safe, did the more boldly and fiercely make impression on the other
+side upon the left wing of the Romans."[65]
+
+[Footnote 65: Sir Walter Raleigh: _Historie of the World_.]
+
+But at last Nero, who found that Hasdrubal refused his left wing, and
+who could not overcome the difficulties of the ground in the quarter
+assigned to him, decided the battle by another stroke of that military
+genius which had inspired his march. Wheeling a brigade of his best men
+round the rear of the rest of the Roman army, Nero fiercely charged the
+flank of the Spaniards and Africans. The charge was as successful as it
+was sudden. Rolled back in disorder upon each other, and overwhelmed by
+numbers, the Spaniards and Ligurians died, fighting gallantly to the
+last. The Gauls, who had taken little or no part in the strife of the
+day, were then surrounded, and butchered almost without resistance.
+Hasdrubal, after having, by the confession of his enemies, done all that
+a general could do, when he saw that the victory was irreparably lost,
+scorning to survive the gallant host which he had led, and to gratify,
+as a captive, Roman cruelty and pride, spurred his horse into the midst
+of a Roman cohort, and sword in hand, met the death that was worthy of
+the son of Hamilcar and the brother of Hannibal.
+
+Success the most complete had crowned Nero's enterprise. Returning as
+rapidly as he had advanced, he was again facing the inactive enemies in
+the South before they even knew of his march. But he brought with him a
+ghastly trophy of what he had done. In the true spirit of that savage
+brutality which deformed the Roman national character, Nero ordered
+Hasdrubal's head to be flung into his brother's camp. Ten years had
+passed since Hannibal had last gazed on those features. The sons of
+Hamilcar had then planned their system of warfare against Rome which
+they had so nearly brought to successful accomplishment. Year after year
+had Hannibal been struggling in Italy, in the hope of one day hailing
+the arrival of him whom he had left in Spain, and of seeing his
+brother's eye flash with affection and pride at the junction of their
+irresistible hosts. He now saw that eye glazed in death, and in the
+agony of his heart the great Carthaginian groaned aloud that he
+recognized his country's destiny.
+
+Meanwhile, at the tidings of the great battle, Rome at once rose from
+the thrill of anxiety and terror to the full confidence of triumph.
+Hannibal might retain his hold on Southern Italy for a few years longer,
+but the imperial city and her allies were no longer in danger from his
+arms; and, after Hannibal's downfall, the great military republic of the
+ancient world met in her career of conquest no other worthy competitor.
+Byron has termed Nero's march "unequalled," and, in the magnitude of its
+consequences, it is so. Viewed only as a military exploit, it remains
+unparalleled save by Marlborough's bold march from Flanders to the
+Danube in the campaign of Blenheim, and perhaps also by the Archduke
+Charles' lateral march in 1796, by which he overwhelmed the French under
+Jourdan, and then, driving Moreau through the Black Forest and across
+the Rhine, for a while freed Germany from her invaders.
+
+
+
+
+SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES CARTHAGE
+
+B.C. 202
+
+LIVY
+
+
+(Sprung from a colony of Tyre, Carthage, founded about B.C. 800, rapidly
+developed, through a wonderful system of colonization, into a dominating
+power, her rule extending through Northwestern Africa and Western
+Europe. In B.C. 509 Carthage made her first treaty with Rome. But the
+rivalry which grew up between the two Powers developed into a stubborn
+contest for the empire of the world, culminating in the three Punic
+wars. The first of these lasted from B.C. 264 to 241; the second, from
+B.C. 218 to 201. In the interval between these two wars Rome acquired
+the northern part of Italy, whence she sent victorious armies against
+the barbarians in Gaul. Meanwhile, under Hamilcar Barcar, the
+Carthaginians had effected the conquest of Southern Spain, which they
+reduced to the condition of a dependency.
+
+Hamilcar's greater son, Hannibal, was compelled by his father to swear
+eternal enmity to Rome. Having established the Carthaginian empire in
+Spain, at the age of twenty-six he took the Spanish city of Saguntum, an
+ally of Rome, and this was the immediate cause of the Second Punic War,
+which the Romans declared. The passage of the Alps by Hannibal is
+regarded as one of the greatest military performances in history. He was
+welcomed by the Gauls as a deliverer, and was soon operating in Northern
+Italy, his appearance there being a complete surprise to the Romans. He
+won victories over them at the rivers Ticinus and Trebia, B.C. 218;
+another in 217 at Lake Trasimenus; a great triumph at Cannae in 216;
+took Capua in the same year, and wintered there; in 212 captured
+Tarentum; marched against Rome in 211; and in 203 was recalled to
+Africa.
+
+In the mean time the Romans had decided to carry the war into Africa,
+although in 215 they had beaten Hannibal, and in 211 had retaken Capua.
+Publius Cornelius Scipio [Scipio Africanus Major] in B.C. 210-206 drove
+the Carthaginians out of Spain. In 205 he was made consul, and the next
+year invaded Africa. Landing on the coast, he was met by the forces of
+the Numidian King, who became his allies against Carthage. In 203 he
+defeated Syphax and Hasdrubal. Hannibal now having returned to Carthage,
+he took command of the forces which she opposed to the Roman invaders,
+but in B.C. 202 suffered final overthrow at Zama, in the battle that
+ended the Second Punic War. Livy's account of the closing scenes of that
+war, which here follows, gives the reader a clear understanding of the
+sequence and conclusion of the events related.)
+
+
+Marcus Servilius and Tiberius Claudius, having assembled the senate,
+consulted them respecting the provinces. As both were desirous of having
+Africa, they wished Italy and Africa to be disposed of by lots; but,
+principally in consequence of the exertions of Quintus Metellus, Africa
+was neither assigned to anyone nor withheld. The consuls were ordered to
+make application to the tribunes of the people, to the effect that, if
+they thought proper, they should put it to the people to decide whom
+they wished to conduct the war in Africa. All the tribes nominated
+Publius Scipio. Nevertheless, the consuls put the province of Africa to
+the lot, for so the senate had decreed. Africa fell to the lot of
+Tiberius Claudius, who was to cross over into Africa with a fleet of
+fifty ships, all quinqueremes, and have an equal command with Scipio.
+Marcus Servilius obtained Etruria. Caius Servilius was continued in
+command in the same province, in case the senate resolved that the
+consul should remain at the city. Of the praetors, Marcus Sextus
+obtained Gaul, which province, together with two legions, Publius
+Quinctilius Varus was to deliver to him; Caius Livius obtained Bruttium,
+with the two legions which Publius Sempronius, the proconsul, had
+commanded the former year; Cneius Tremellius had Sicily, and was to
+receive the province and two legions from Publius Villius Tappulus, a
+praetor of the former year; Villius, as propraetor, was to protect the
+coast of Sicily with twenty men-of-war and a thousand soldiers; and
+Marcus Pomponius was to convey thence to Rome one thousand five hundred
+soldiers, with the remaining twenty ships. The city jurisdiction fell to
+Caius Aurelius Cotta; and the rest of the praetors were continued in
+command of the respective provinces and armies which they then had. Not
+more than sixteen legions were employed this year in the defence of the
+empire. And, that they might have the gods favorably disposed toward
+them in all their undertakings and proceedings, it was ordered that the
+consuls, before they set out to the war, should celebrate those games
+and sacrifice those victims of the larger sort which, in the consulate
+of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Titus Quinctius, Titus Manlius the
+dictator had vowed, provided the commonwealth should continue in the
+same state for the next five years. The games were exhibited in the
+circus during four days, and the victims sacrificed to those deities to
+whom they had been vowed.
+
+Meanwhile, hope and anxiety daily and simultaneously increased; nor
+could the minds of men be brought to any fixed conclusion, whether it
+was a fit subject for rejoicing that Hannibal had now at length, after
+the sixteenth year, departed from Italy and left the Romans in the
+unmolested possession of it or whether they had not greater cause to
+fear from his having transported his army in safety into Africa. They
+said that the scene of action certainly was changed, but not the danger.
+That Quintus Fabius, lately deceased, who had foretold how arduous the
+contest would be, was used to predict, not without good reason, that
+Hannibal would prove a more formidable enemy in his own country than he
+had been in a foreign one; and that Scipio would have to encounter, not
+Syphax, a king of undisciplined barbarians whose armies Statorius, a man
+little better than a soldier's drudge, was used to lead, nor his
+father-in-law Hasdrubal, that most fugacious general, nor tumultuary
+armies hastily collected out of a crowd of half-armed rustics, but
+Hannibal, born in a manner in the pavilion of his father, that bravest
+of generals, nurtured and educated in the midst of arms, who served as a
+soldier formerly, when a boy, and became a general when he had scarcely
+attained the age of manhood; who, having grown old in victory, had
+filled Spain, Gaul, and Italy, from the Alps to the strait, with
+monuments of his vast achievements; who commanded troops who had served
+as long as he had himself; troops hardened by the endurance of every
+species of suffering, such as it is scarcely credible that men could
+have supported; stained a thousand times with Roman blood, and bearing
+with them the spoils not only of soldiers, but of generals. That many
+would meet the eyes of Scipio in battle who had with their own hands
+slain Roman praetors, generals, and consuls; many decorated with crowns
+in reward for having scaled walls and crossed ramparts; many who had
+traversed the captured camps and cities of the Romans. That the
+magistrates of the Roman people had not then so many fasces as Hannibal
+could have carried before him, having taken them from generals whom he
+had slain. While their minds were harassed by these apprehensions, their
+anxiety and fears were further increased from the circumstance that,
+whereas they had been accustomed to carry on war for several years in
+different parts of Italy, and within their view, with languid hopes and
+without the prospect of bringing it to a speedy termination, Scipio and
+Hannibal had stimulated the minds of all, as generals prepared for a
+final contest. Even those persons whose confidence in Scipio and hopes
+of victory were great, were affected with anxiety, increasing in
+proportion as they saw their completion approaching. The state of
+feeling among the Carthaginians was much the same; for when they turned
+their eyes on Hannibal, and the greatness of his achievements, they
+repented having solicited peace; but when again they reflected that they
+had been twice defeated in a pitched battle, that Syphax had been made
+prisoner, that they had been driven out of Spain and Italy, and that all
+this had been effected by the valor and conduct of Scipio alone, they
+regarded him with horror, as a general marked out by destiny, and born
+for their destruction.
+
+Hannibal had by this time arrived at Adrumetum, from which place, after
+employing a few days there in refreshing his soldiers, who had suffered
+from the motion by sea, he proceeded by forced marches to Zama, roused
+by the alarming statements of messengers who brought word that all the
+country around Carthage was filled with armed troops. Zama is distant
+from Carthage a five days' journey. Some spies whom he sent out from
+this place, being intercepted by the Roman guard and brought before
+Scipio, he directed that they should be handed over to the military
+tribunes, and after having been desired fearlessly to survey everything,
+to be conducted through the camp wherever they chose; then, asking them
+whether they had examined everything to their satisfaction, he assigned
+them an escort and sent them back to Hannibal.
+
+Hannibal received none of the circumstances which were reported to him
+with feelings of joy, for they brought word that, as it happened,
+Masinissa had joined the enemy that very day with six thousand infantry
+and four thousand horse; but he was principally dispirited by the
+confidence of his enemy, which, doubtless, was not conceived without
+some ground. Accordingly, though he himself was the originator of the
+war, and by his coming had upset the truce which had been entered into,
+and cut off all hopes of a treaty, yet concluding that more favorable
+terms might be obtained if he solicited peace while his strength was
+unimpaired than when vanquished, he sent a message to Scipio requesting
+permission to confer with him.
+
+Scipio took up his position not far from the city of Naragara, in a
+situation convenient not only for other purposes, but also because there
+was a watering-place within a dart's throw. Hannibal took possession of
+an eminence four miles thence, safe and convenient in every respect,
+except that he had a long way to go for water. Here in the intermediate
+space a place was chosen open to view from all sides, that there might
+be no opportunity for treachery.
+
+Their armed attendants having retired to an equal distance, they met,
+each attended by one interpreter, being the greatest generals not only
+of their own times, but of any to be found in the records of the times
+preceding them, and equal to any of the kings or generals of any nation
+whatever. When they came within sight of each other they remained silent
+for a short time, thunderstruck, as it were, with mutual admiration. At
+length Hannibal thus began: "Since fate hath so ordained it that I, who
+was the first to wage war upon the Romans, and who have so often had
+victory almost within my reach, should voluntarily come to sue for
+peace, I rejoice that it is you, above all others, from whom it is my
+lot to solicit it. To you, also, amid the many distinguished events of
+your life, it will not be esteemed one of the least glorious that
+Hannibal, to whom the gods had so often granted victory over the Roman
+generals, should have yielded to you; and that you should have put an
+end to this war, which has been rendered remarkable by your calamities
+before it was by ours.
+
+"Peace is proposed at a time when you have the advantage. We who
+negotiate it are the persons whom it most concerns to obtain it, and we
+are persons whose arrangements, be they what they will, our states will
+ratify. You have recovered Spain, which had been lost, after driving
+thence four Carthaginian armies. When elected consul, though all others
+wanted courage to defend Italy, you crossed over into Africa, where
+having cut to pieces two armies, having at once captured and burnt two
+camps in the same hour, having made prisoner Syphax, a most powerful
+king, and seized so many towns of his dominions and so many of ours, you
+have dragged me from Italy, the possession of which I had firmly held
+for now sixteen years. While your affairs are in a favorable and ours in
+a dubious state, you would derive honor and splendor from granting
+peace; while to us, who solicit it, it would be considered as necessary
+rather than honorable.
+
+"It is indeed the right of him who grants, and not of him who solicits
+it, to dictate the terms of peace, but perhaps we may not be unworthy to
+impose upon ourselves the fine. We do not refuse that all those
+possessions on account of which the war was begun should be yours;
+Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, with all the islands lying in any part of the
+sea, between Africa and Italy. Let us Carthaginians, confined within the
+shores of Africa, behold you, since such is the pleasure of the gods,
+extending your empire over foreign nations both by sea and land. I
+cannot deny that you have reason to suspect the Carthaginian faith, in
+consequence of their insincerity lately in soliciting a peace and while
+awaiting the decision. The sincerity with which a peace will be observed
+depends much, Scipio, on the person by whom it is sought. Your senate,
+as I hear, refused to grant a peace in some measure because the deputies
+were deficient in respectability. It is I, Hannibal, who now solicit
+peace; who would neither ask for it unless I believed it expedient, nor
+will I fail to observe it for the same reason of expedience on account
+of which I have solicited it. And in the same manner as I, because the
+war was commenced by me, brought it to pass that no one regretted it
+till the gods began to regard me with displeasure; so will I also exert
+myself that no one may regret the peace procured by my means."
+
+In answer to these things the Roman general spoke nearly to the
+following effect: "I was aware that it was in consequence of the
+expectation of your arrival that the Carthaginians violated the existing
+faith of the truce and broke off all hope of a peace. Nor, indeed, do
+you conceal the fact, inasmuch as you artfully withdraw from the former
+conditions of peace every concession except what relates to those things
+which have for a long time been in our own power. But as it is your
+object that your countrymen should be sensible how great a burden they
+are relieved from by your means, so it is incumbent upon me to endeavor
+that they may not receive, as the reward of their perfidy, the
+concessions which they formerly stipulated, by expunging them now from
+the conditions of the peace. Though you do not deserve to be allowed the
+same conditions as before, you now request even to be benefited by your
+treachery.
+
+"Neither did our fathers first make war respecting Sicily, nor did we
+respecting Spain. In the former case the danger which threatened our
+allies the Mamertines, and in the present the destruction of Saguntum,
+girded us with just and pious arms. That you were the aggressors, both
+you yourselves confess and the gods are witnesses, who determined the
+issue of the former war, and who are now determining and will determine
+the issue of the present according to right and justice. As to myself, I
+am not forgetful of the instability of human affairs, but consider the
+influence of fortune, and am well aware that all our measures are liable
+to a thousand casualties. But as I should acknowledge that my conduct
+would savor of insolence and oppression if I rejected you on your coming
+in person to solicit peace before I crossed over into Africa, you
+voluntarily retiring from Italy, and after you had embarked your troops,
+so now, when I have dragged you into Africa almost by manual force,
+notwithstanding your resistance and evasions, I am not bound to treat
+you with any respect. Wherefore, if in addition to those stipulations on
+which it was considered that a peace would at that time have been agreed
+upon, and what they are you are informed, a compensation is proposed for
+having seized our ships together with their stores during a truce, and
+for the violence offered to our ambassadors, I shall then have matter to
+lay before my council. But if these things also appear oppressive,
+prepare for war, since you could not brook the conditions of peace."
+
+Thus, without effecting an accommodation, when they had returned from
+the conference to their armies, they informed them that words had been
+bandied to no purpose, that the question must be decided by arms, and
+that they must accept that fortune which the gods assigned them.
+
+When they had arrived at their camps, they both issued orders that their
+soldiers should get their arms in readiness and prepare their minds for
+the final contest; in which, if fortune should favor them, they would
+continue victorious, not for a single day, but forever. "Before
+to-morrow night," they said, "they would know whether Rome or Carthage
+should give laws to the world, and that neither Africa nor Italy, but
+the whole world, would be the prize of victory. That the dangers which
+threatened those who had the misfortune to be defeated were proportioned
+to the rewards of the victors." For the Romans had not any place of
+refuge in an unknown and foreign land, and immediate destruction seemed
+to await Carthage if the troops which formed her last reliance were
+defeated. To this important contest, the day following, two generals, by
+far the most renowned of any, and belonging to two of the most powerful
+nations in the world, advanced either to crown or overthrow on that day
+the many honors they had previously acquired.
+
+Scipio drew up his troops, posting the hastati in front, the principes
+behind them, and closing his rear line with the triarii. He did not draw
+up his cohorts in close order, but each before their respective
+standards; placing the companies at some distance from each other, so as
+to leave a space through which the elephants of the enemy passing might
+not at all break their ranks. Laelius, whom he had employed before as
+lieutenant-general, but this year as quaestor, by special appointment,
+according to a decree of the senate, he posted with the Italian cavalry
+in the left wing, Masinissa and the Numidians in the right. The open
+spaces between the companies of those in the van he filled with velites,
+which then formed the Roman light-armed troops, with an injunction that
+on the charge of the elephants they should either retire behind the
+files, which extended in a right line, or, running to the right and left
+and placing themselves by the side of those in the van, afford a passage
+by which the elephants might rush in between weapons on both sides.
+
+Hannibal, in order to terrify the enemy, drew up his elephants in front,
+and he had eighty of them, being more than he had ever had in any
+battle; behind these his Ligurian and Gallic auxiliaries, with
+Balearians and Moors intermixed. In the second line he placed the
+Carthaginians, Africans, and a legion of Macedonians; then, leaving a
+moderate interval, he formed a reserve of Italian troops, consisting
+principally of Bruttians, more of whom had followed him on his departure
+from Italy by compulsion and necessity than by choice. His cavalry also
+he placed in the wings, the Carthaginian occupying the right, the
+Numidian the left. Various were the means of exhortation employed in an
+army consisting of a mixture of so many different kinds of men; men
+differing in language, customs, laws, arms, dress, and appearance, and
+in the motives for serving. To the auxiliaries, the prospect both of
+their present pay and many times more from the spoils was held out. The
+Gauls were stimulated by their peculiar and inherent animosity against
+the Romans. To the Ligurians the hope was held out of enjoying the
+fertile plains of Italy, and quitting their rugged mountains, if
+victorious. The Moors and Numidians were terrified with subjection to
+the government of Masinissa, which he would exercise with despotic
+severity.
+
+Different grounds of hope and fear were represented to different
+persons. The view of the Carthaginians was directed to the walls of
+their city, their household gods, the sepulchres of their ancestors,
+their children and parents, and their trembling wives; they were told
+that either the destruction of their city and slavery or the empire of
+the world awaited them; that there was nothing intermediate which they
+could hope for or fear.
+
+While the general was thus busily employed among the Carthaginians, and
+the captains of the respective nations among their countrymen, most of
+them employing interpreters among troops intermixed with those of
+different nations, the trumpets and cornets of the Romans sounded; and
+such a clamor arose that the elephants, especially those in the left
+wing, turned round upon their own party, the Moors and Numidians.
+Masinissa had no difficulty in increasing the alarm of the terrified
+enemy, and deprived them of the aid of their cavalry in that wing. A
+few, however, of the beasts which were driven against the enemy, and
+were not turned back through fear, made great havoc among the ranks of
+the velites, though not without receiving many wounds themselves; for
+when the velites, retiring to the companies, had made way for the
+elephants, that they might not be trampled down, they discharged their
+darts at them; exposed as they were to wounds on both sides, those in
+the van also keeping up a continual discharge of javelins, until driven
+out of the Roman line by the weapons which fell upon them from all
+quarters, these elephants also put to flight even the cavalry of the
+Carthaginians posted in their right wing. Laelius, when he saw the enemy
+in disorder, struck additional terror into them in their confusion.
+
+The Carthaginian line was deprived of the cavalry on both sides, when
+the infantry, who were now not a match for the Romans in confidence or
+strength, engaged. In addition to this there was one circumstance,
+trifling in itself, but at the same time producing important
+consequences in the action. On the part of the Romans the shout was
+uniform, and on that account louder and more terrific, while the voices
+of the enemy, consisting as they did of many nations of different
+languages, were dissonant. The Romans used the stationary kind of fight,
+pressing upon the enemy with their own weight and that of their arms;
+but on the other side there was more of skirmishing and rapid movement
+than force. Accordingly, on the first charge, the Romans immediately
+drove back the line of their opponents; then pushing them with their
+elbows and the bosses of their shields, and pressing forward into the
+places from which they had pushed them, they advanced a considerable
+space, as though there had been no one to resist them, those who formed
+the rear urging forward those in front when they perceived the line of
+the enemy giving way, which circumstance itself gave great additional
+force in repelling them.
+
+On the side of the enemy, the second line, consisting of the Africans
+and Carthaginians, were so far from supporting the first line when
+giving ground, that on the contrary they even retired, lest their enemy,
+by slaying those who made a firm resistance, should penetrate to
+themselves also. Accordingly the auxiliaries suddenly turned their
+backs, and facing about upon their own party, fled, some of them into
+the second line, while others slew those who did not receive them into
+their ranks, since before they did not support them, and now refused to
+receive them. And now there were, in a manner, two contests going on
+together, the Carthaginians being compelled to fight at once with the
+enemy and with their own party. Not even then, however, did they receive
+into their line the terrified and exasperated troops, but, closing their
+ranks, drove them out of the scene of action to the wings and the
+surrounding plain, lest they should mingle these soldiers, terrified
+with defeat and wounds, with that part of their line which was firm and
+fresh.
+
+But such a heap of men and arms had filled the space in which the
+auxiliaries a little while ago had stood that it was almost more
+difficult to pass through it than through a close line of troops. The
+spearmen, therefore, who formed the front line, pursuing the enemy as
+each could find a way through the heap of arms and men and streams of
+blood, threw into complete disorder the battalions and companies. The
+standards also of the principes had begun to waver when they saw the
+line before them driven from their ground. Scipio, perceiving this,
+promptly ordered the signal to be given for the spearmen to retreat, and
+having taken his wounded into the rear, brought the principes and
+triarii to the wings in order that the line of spearmen in the centre
+might be more strong and secure. Thus a fresh and renewed battle
+commenced, inasmuch as they had penetrated to their real antagonists,
+men equal to them in the nature of their arms, in their experience in
+war, in the fame of their achievements, and the greatness of their hopes
+and fears. But the Romans were superior both in numbers and courage, for
+they had now routed both the cavalry and the elephants, and, having
+already defeated the front line, were fighting against the second.
+
+Lælius and Masinissa, who had pursued the routed cavalry through a
+considerable space, returning very opportunely, charged the rear of the
+enemy's line. This attack of the cavalry at length routed them. Many of
+them, being surrounded, were slain in the field; and many, dispersed in
+flight through the open plain around, were slain on all hands, as the
+cavalry were in possession of every part. Of the Carthaginians and their
+allies, above twenty thousand were slain on that day; about an equal
+number were captured, with a hundred and thirty-three military standards
+and eleven elephants. Of the victors as many as two thousand fell.
+
+Hannibal, slipping off during the confusion, with a few horsemen, came
+to Adrumetum, not quitting the field till he had tried every expedient
+both in the battle and before the engagement; having, according to the
+admission of Scipio and everyone skilled in military science, acquired
+the fame of having marshalled his troops on that day with singular
+judgment. He placed his elephants in the front, in order that their
+desultory attack and insupportable violence might prevent the Romans
+from following their standards and preserving their ranks, on which they
+placed their principal dependence. Then he posted his auxiliaries before
+the line of Carthaginians, in order that men who were made up of the
+refuse of all nations, and who were not bound by honor but by gain,
+might not have any retreat open to them in case they fled; at the same
+time that the first ardor and impetuosity might be exhausted upon them,
+and, if they could render no other service, that the weapons of the
+enemy might be blunted in wounding them. Next he placed the Carthaginian
+and African soldiers, on whom he placed all his hopes, in order that,
+being equal to the enemy in every other respect, they might have the
+advantage of them inasmuch as, being fresh and unimpaired in strength
+themselves, they would fight with those who were fatigued and wounded.
+The Italians he removed into the rear, separating them also by an
+intervening space, as he knew not with certainty whether they were
+friends or enemies. Hannibal, after performing this as it were his last
+work of valor, fled to Adrumetum, whence, having been summoned to
+Carthage, he returned thither in the sixth and thirtieth year after he
+had left it when a boy, and confessed in the senate house that he was
+defeated, not only in the battle, but in the war, and that there was no
+hope of safety in anything but in obtaining peace.
+
+Immediately after the battle, Scipio, having taken and plundered the
+enemy's camp, returned to the sea and his ships with an immense booty,
+news having reached him that Publius Lentulus had arrived at Utica with
+fifty men-of-war, and a hundred transports laden with every kind of
+stores. Concluding that he ought to bring before Carthage everything
+which could increase the consternation already existing there, after
+sending Laelius to Rome to report his victory, he ordered Cneius
+Octavius to conduct the legions thither by land, and setting out himself
+from Utica with the fresh fleet of Lentulus added to his former one,
+made for the harbor of Carthage. When he had arrived within a short
+distance he was met by a Carthaginian ship decked with fillets and
+branches of olive. There were ten deputies, the leading men in the
+State, sent at the instance of Hannibal to solicit peace, to whom, when
+they had come up to the stern of the general's ship, holding out the
+badges of suppliants, entreating and imploring the protection and
+compassion of Scipio, the only answer given was that they must come to
+Tunis, to which place he would move his camp. After taking a view of the
+site of Carthage, not so much for the sake of acquainting himself with
+it for any present object as to dispirit the enemy, he returned to
+Utica, having recalled Octavius to the same place.
+
+As they were proceeding thence to Tunis, they received intelligence that
+Vermina, the son of Syphax, with a greater number of horse than foot,
+was coming to the assistance of the Carthaginians. A part of his
+infantry with all the cavalry having attacked them on their march on the
+first day of the Saturnalia, routed the Numidians with little
+opposition, and as every way by which they could escape in flight was
+blocked up, for the cavalry surrounded them on all sides, fifteen
+thousand men were slain, twelve hundred were taken alive, with fifteen
+hundred Numidian horses and seventy-two military standards. The prince
+himself fled from the field with a few attendants during the confusion.
+The camp was then pitched near Tunis in the same place as before, and
+thirty ambassadors came to Scipio from Carthage. These behaved in a
+manner even more calculated to excite compassion than the former, in
+proportion as their situation was more pressing; but from the
+recollection of their recent perfidy, they were heard with considerably
+less pity. In the council, though all were impelled by just resentment
+to demolish Carthage, yet, when they reflected upon the magnitude of the
+undertaking and the length of time which would be consumed in the siege
+of so well fortified and strong a city, while Scipio himself was uneasy
+in consequence of the expectation of a successor, who would come in for
+the glory of having terminated the war, though it was accomplished
+already by the exertions and danger of another, the minds of all were
+inclined to peace.
+
+The next day the ambassadors being called in again, and with many
+rebukes of their perfidy, warned that instructed by so many disasters
+they would at length believe in the existence of the gods and the
+obligation of an oath, these conditions of the peace were stated to
+them: "That they should enjoy their liberty and live under their own
+laws; that they should possess such cities and territories as they had
+enjoyed before the war, and with the same boundaries, and that the
+Romans should on that day desist from devastation. That they should
+restore to the Romans all deserters and fugitives, giving up all their
+ships-of-war except ten triremes, with such tamed elephants as they had,
+and that they should not tame any more. That they should not carry on
+war in or out of Africa without the permission of the Roman people. That
+they should make restitution to Masinissa, and form a league with him.
+That they should furnish corn, and pay for the auxiliaries until the
+ambassadors had returned from Rome. That they should pay ten thousand
+talents of silver in equal annual installments distributed over fifty
+years. That they should give a hundred hostages, according to the
+pleasure of Scipio, not younger than fourteen nor older than thirty.
+That he would grant them a truce on condition that the transports,
+together with their cargoes, which had been seized during the former
+truce, were restored. Otherwise they would have no truce, nor any hope
+of a peace." When the ambassadors who were ordered to bear these
+conditions home reported them in an assembly, and Gisgo had stood forth
+to dissuade them from the terms, and was being listened to by the
+multitude, who were at once indisposed for peace and unfit for war,
+Hannibal, indignant that such language should be held and listened to at
+such a juncture, laid hold of Gisgo with his own hand and dragged him
+from his elevated position.
+
+This unusual sight in a free State having raised a murmur among the
+people, the soldier, disconcerted at the liberties which the citizens
+took, thus addressed them: "Having left you when nine years old, I have
+returned after a lapse of thirty-six years. I flatter myself I am well
+acquainted with the qualifications of a soldier, having been instructed
+in them from my childhood, sometimes by my own situation and sometimes
+by that of my country. The privileges, the laws, and customs of the city
+and the forum you ought to teach me." Having thus apologized for his
+indiscretion, he discoursed largely concerning the peace, showing how
+inoppressive the terms were, and how necessary it was. The greatest
+difficulty was that of the ships which had been seized during the truce
+nothing was to be found except the ships themselves, nor was it easy to
+collect the property, because those who were charged with having it were
+opposed to the peace. It was resolved that the ships should be restored
+and that the men at least should be looked up; and as to whatever else
+was missing, that it should be left to Scipio to put a value upon it,
+and that the Carthaginians should make compensation accordingly in
+money. There are those who say that Hannibal went from the field of
+battle to the sea-coast; whence he immediately sailed in a ship, which
+he had ready for the purpose, to king Antiochus; and that when Scipio
+demanded above everything that Hannibal should be given up to him,
+answer was made that Hannibal was not in Africa.
+
+After the ambassadors returned to Scipio, the quaestors were ordered to
+give in an account, made out from the public registers, of the public
+property which had been in the ships; and the owners to make a return of
+the private property. For the amount of the value twenty-five thousand
+pounds of silver were required to be paid down; and a truce for three
+months was granted to the Carthaginians. It was added that during the
+time of the truce they should not send ambassadors anywhere else than to
+Rome; and that whatever ambassadors came to Carthage, they should not
+dismiss them before informing the Roman general who they were and what
+they sought. With the Carthaginian ambassadors, Lucius Veturius Philo,
+Marcus Marcius Ralla, and Lucius Scipio, brother of the general, were
+sent to Rome.
+
+The Roman, together with the Carthaginian, ambassadors having arrived at
+Rome from Africa, the senate was assembled at the temple of Bellona;
+when Lucius Veturius Philo stated, to the great joy of the senate, that
+a battle had been fought with Hannibal which was decisive of the fate of
+the Carthaginians, and that a period was at length put to that
+calamitous war. He added what formed a small accession to their
+successes, that Vermina, the son of Syphax, had been vanquished. He was
+then ordered to go forth to the public assembly and impart the joyful
+tidings to the people. Then, a thanksgiving having been appointed, all
+the temples in the city were thrown open and supplications for three
+days were decreed. Publius Scipio was continued in command in the
+province of Africa with the armies which he then had. The Carthaginian
+ambassadors were called before the senate. On observing their ages and
+dignified appearance, for they were by far the first men of the State,
+all promptly declared their conviction that now they were sincere in
+their desire to effect a peace. Hasdrubal, however, surnamed by his
+countrymen Haedus, who had invariably recommended peace and was opposed
+to the Barcine faction, was regarded with greater interest than the
+rest.
+
+On these accounts the greater weight was attached to him when
+transferring the blame of the war from the State at large to the
+cupidity of a few. After a speech of varied character, in which he
+sometimes refuted the charges which had been brought, at other times
+admitted some, lest by imprudently denying what was manifestly true
+their forgiveness might be the more difficult; and then, even
+admonishing the conscript fathers to be guided by the rules of decorum
+and moderation in their prosperity, he said that if the Carthaginians
+had listened to himself and Hanno, and had been disposed to make a
+proper use of circumstances, they would themselves have dictated terms
+of peace, instead of begging it as they now did. That it rarely happened
+that good fortune and a sound judgment were bestowed upon men at the
+same time. That the Roman people were therefore invincible, because when
+successful they forgot not the maxims of wisdom and prudence; and indeed
+it would have been matter of astonishment did they act otherwise. That
+those persons to whom success was a new and uncommon thing proceeded to
+a pitch of madness in their ungoverned transports in consequence of
+their not being accustomed to it. That to the Roman people the joy
+arising from victory was a matter of common occurrence, and was now
+almost become old-fashioned. That they had extended their empire more by
+sparing the vanquished than by conquering.
+
+The language employed by the others was of a nature more calculated to
+excite compassion; they represented from what a height of power the
+Carthaginian affairs had fallen. That nothing besides the walls of
+Carthage remained to those who a little time ago held almost the whole
+world in subjection by their arms; that shut up within these, they could
+see nothing anywhere on sea or land which owned their authority. That
+they would retain possession of their city itself and their household
+gods only in case the Roman people should refrain from venting their
+indignation upon these, which is all that remains for them to do. When
+it was manifest that the fathers were moved by compassion, it is said
+that one of the senators, violently incensed at the perfidy of the
+Carthaginians, immediately asked with a loud voice by what gods they
+would swear in striking the league, since they had broken their faith
+with those by whom they swore in striking the former one? By those same,
+replied Hasdrubal, who have shown such determined hostility to the
+violators of treaties.
+
+The minds of all being disposed to peace, Cneius Lentulus, whose
+province the fleet was, protested against the decree of the senate. Upon
+this, Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the people, put
+the question to the people whether they willed and ordered that the
+senate should decree that peace should be made with the Carthaginians?
+whom they ordered to grant that peace, and whom to conduct the army out
+of Africa? All the tribes ordered respecting the peace according as the
+question had been put. That Publius Scipio should grant the peace, and
+that he also should conduct the army home. Agreeably to this order, the
+senate decreed that Publius Scipio, acting according to the opinion of
+the ten deputies, should make peace with the Carthaginian people on what
+terms he pleased. The Carthaginians then returned thanks to the senate,
+and requested that they might be allowed to enter the city and converse
+with their countrymen who had been made prisoners and were in custody of
+the State; observing that some of them were their relations and friends,
+and men of rank, and some, persons to whom they were charged with
+messages from their relations.
+
+Having obtained these requests, they again asked permission to ransom
+such of them as they pleased; when they were desired to give in their
+names. Having given in a list of about two hundred, a decree of the
+senate was passed to the effect that the Carthaginian ambassadors should
+be allowed to take away into Africa to Publius Cornelius Scipio two
+hundred of the Carthaginian prisoners, selecting whom they pleased; and
+that they should convey to him a message that if the peace were
+concluded he should restore them to the Carthaginians without ransom.
+The heralds being ordered to go into Africa to strike the league, at
+their own desire the senate passed a decree that they should take with
+them flint stones of their own and vervain of their own; that the Roman
+praetor should command them to strike the league, and that they should
+demand of him herbs. The description of herb usually given to the
+heralds is taken from the Capitol. Thus the Carthaginians being allowed
+to depart from Rome, when they had gone into Africa to Scipio concluded
+the peace on the terms before mentioned. They delivered up their
+men-of-war, their elephants, deserters, fugitives, and four thousand
+prisoners, among whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo, a senator. The ships
+he ordered to be taken out into the main and burned. Some say there were
+five hundred of every description of those which are worked with oars,
+and that the sudden sight of these when burning occasioned as deep a
+sensation of grief to the Carthaginians as if Carthage had been in
+flames. The measures adopted respecting the deserters were more severe
+than those respecting the fugitives. Those who were of the Latin
+confederacy were decapitated; the Romans were crucified.
+
+The last peace with the Carthaginians was made forty years before this
+in the consulate of Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius. The war
+commenced twenty-three years afterward in the consulate of Publius
+Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It was concluded in the seventeenth
+year, in the consulate of Cneius Cornelius and Publius Aelius Paetus. It
+is related that Scipio frequently said afterward, that first the
+ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterward of Cneius Cornelius, were
+the causes which prevented his terminating the war by the destruction of
+Carthage.
+
+The Carthaginians finding difficulty in raising the first sum of money
+to be paid, as their finances were exhausted by a protracted war, and in
+consequence great lamentation and grief arising in the senate house, it
+is said that Hannibal was observed laughing, and when Hasdrubal Haedus
+rebuked him for laughing amid the public grief, when he himself was the
+occasion of the tears which were shed, he said: "If, as the expression
+of the countenance is discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of
+the mind could be distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that
+that laughter which you censure came from a heart not elated with joy,
+but frantic with misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those
+absurd and inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept when
+our arms were taken from us, our ships burned, and we were forbidden to
+engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by which we fell. Nor is
+it just that you should suppose that the measures which the Romans have
+adopted toward you have been dictated by animosity. No great state can
+remain at rest long together. If it has no enemy abroad it finds one at
+home in the same manner as over-robust bodies seem secure from external
+causes, but are encumbered with their own strength. So far, forsooth, we
+are affected with the public calamities as they reach our private
+affairs; nor is there any circumstance attending them which is felt more
+acutely than the loss of money. Accordingly, when the spoils were torn
+down from vanquished Carthage, when you beheld her left unarmed and
+defenceless amid so many armed nations of Africa, none heaved a sigh.
+Now, because a tribute is to be levied from private property you lament
+with one accord, as though at the funeral of the State. How much do I
+dread lest you should soon be made sensible that you have shed tears
+this day for the lightest of your misfortunes!"
+
+Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered to the Carthaginians.
+Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented Masinissa, in addition to
+his paternal dominions, with the town of Cirta, and the other cities and
+territories which had passed from the kingdom of Syphax into the
+possession of the Romans. He ordered Cneius Octavius to conduct the
+fleet to Sicily and deliver it to Cneius Cornelius the consul, and
+directed the Carthaginian ambassadors to go to Rome, that the
+arrangements he had made with the advice of the ten deputies might be
+ratified by the sanction of the fathers and the order of the people.
+
+Peace having been established by sea and land, he embarked his troops
+and crossed over to Lilybæum in Sicily, whence, having sent a great part
+of his soldiers by ships, he himself proceeded through Italy, which was
+rejoicing not less on account of the peace than the victory; while not
+only the inhabitants of the cities poured out to show him honor, but
+crowds of rustics thronged the roads. He arrived at Rome and entered the
+city in a triumph of unparalleled splendor. He brought into the treasury
+one hundred and twenty-three thousand pounds of silver. He distributed
+to each of his soldiers four hundred asses out of the spoils. By the
+death of Syphax, which took place but a short time before at Tibur,
+whither he had been removed from Alba, a diminution was occasioned in
+the interest of the pageant rather than in the glory of him who
+triumphed. His death, however, was attended with circumstances which
+produced a strong sensation, for he was buried at the public expense.
+Polybius, an author by no means to be despised, asserts that this King
+was led in the triumph. Quintus Terentius Culleo followed Scipio in his
+triumph with a cap of liberty on his head, and during the remainder of
+his life treated him with the respect due to him as the author of his
+freedom. I have not been able to ascertain whether the partiality of the
+soldiers or the favor of the people fixed upon him the surname of
+Africanus, or whether in the same manner as Felix was applied to Sulla,
+and Magnus to Pompey, in the memory of our fathers, it originated in the
+flattery of his friends. He was doubtless the first general who was
+distinguished by a name derived from the nation which he had conquered.
+Afterward, in imitation of his example, some, by no means his equals in
+his victories, affixed splendid inscriptions on their statues and gave
+honorable surnames to their families.
+
+
+
+
+JUDAS MACCAÆBUS LIBERATES JUDEA
+
+B.C. 165
+
+JOSEPHUS
+
+
+(The noble-minded Judas Maccabaeus was the hero of Jewish independence--
+the deliverer of Judea and Judaism during the bloody persecutions of the
+Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, in the second century B.C. This King
+was attempting to destroy in Palestine the national religion. For this
+purpose pagan altars were set up among the Jews and pagan sacrifices
+enjoined upon the worshippers of Jehovah. Many Jews fled from their own
+towns and villages into the uninhabited wilderness, in order that they
+might have liberty to worship the God of their fathers; but a few
+conformed to the ordinances of Antiochus. Soon, however, open resistance
+to the decrees of the pagan ruler began to manifest itself among the
+faithful.
+
+The first protest in the shape of active opposition was made by
+Mattathias, a priest living at Modin. When the servants of Antiochus
+came to that retired village and commanded Mattathias to do sacrifice to
+the heathen gods, he refused; he went so far as to strike down at the
+altar a Jew who was preparing to offer such a sacrifice. Then he escaped
+to the mountains with his five sons and a band of followers. These
+followers grew in numbers and activity, overthrowing pagan altars,
+circumcising heathen children, and putting to the sword both apostates
+and unbelievers. When Mattathias died, in B.C. 166, he was succeeded as
+leader by his son Judas, called Maccabaeus, "the Hammer"; as Charles,
+who defeated the Saracens at Tours, is called Martel or hammer.
+
+The successes of Judas were uninterrupted, and culminated B.C. 165 in
+the repulse of Lysias, the general of Antiochus, at Bethzur, where a
+large Syrian force gathered in the expectation of crushing the patriotic
+army of Judas. After this victory Judas led his followers into Jerusalem
+and proceeded to restore the Temple and the worship of the national
+religion, and to cleanse the Temple from all traces of pagan worship.
+The great altar was rebuilt; new sacred vessels provided; and an
+eight-days' dedication festival begun on the very day when, three years
+before, the altar of Jehovah had been desecrated by a heathen sacrifice.
+This Feast of the Dedication was ever afterward observed in the Temple
+at Jerusalem and is mentioned in the gospels [John x. 22]. Judas
+established a dynasty of priest-kings, which lasted until supplanted by
+Herod, with the aid of the Romans, in B.C. 40; and gave by his genuinely
+heroic bearing his name to this whole glorious epoch of Jewish history.)
+
+
+Now at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who dwelt at
+Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamoneus, a
+priest of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five
+sons: John, who was called Gaddis, and Simon, who was called Matthes,
+and Judas, who was called Maccabæus,[66] and Eleazar, who was called
+Auran, and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. Now this Mattathias lamented
+to his children the sad state of their affairs, and the ravage made in
+the city, and the plundering of the Temple, and the calamities the
+multitude were under; and he told them that it was better for them to
+die for the laws of their country than to live so ingloriously as they
+then did.
+
+[Footnote 66: That this appellation of Maccabee was not first of all
+given to Judas Maccabæaus, nor was derived from any initial letters of
+the Hebrew words on his banner, _Mi Kamoka Be Elim, Jehovah_? ("Who is
+like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?"), Exod. xv. II, as the modern
+rabbins vainly pretend, see _Authent. Rec._, part i., pp. 205, 206. Only
+we may note, by the way, that the original name of these Maccabees and
+their posterity was Asamoneans, which was derived from Asamoneus, the
+great-grandfather of Mattathias, as Josephus here informs us.]
+
+But when those that were appointed by the King were come to Modin that
+they might compel the Jews to do what they were commanded, and to enjoin
+those that were there to offer sacrifice, as the King had commanded,
+they desired that Mattathias, a person of the greatest character among
+them, both on other accounts and particularly on account of such a
+numerous and so deserving a family of children, would begin the
+sacrifice, because his fellow-citizens would follow his example, and
+because such a procedure would make him honored by the King. But
+Mattathias said that he would not do it, and that if all the other
+nations would obey the commands of Antiochus, either out of fear or to
+please him, yet would not he nor his sons leave the religious worship of
+their country; but as soon as he had ended his speech there came one of
+the Jews into the midst of them and sacrificed as Antiochus had
+commanded. At which Mattathias had great indignation, and ran upon him
+violently with his sons, who had swords with them, and slew both the man
+himself that sacrificed and Apelles, the King's general who compelled
+him to sacrifice, with a few of his soldiers.
+
+He also overthrew the idol altar and cried out, "If," said he, "anyone
+be zealous for the laws of his country and for the worship of God, let
+him follow me"; and when he had said this he made haste into the desert
+with his sons, and left all his substance in the village. Many others
+did the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the
+desert and dwelt in caves; but when the King's generals heard this, they
+took all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and
+pursued the Jews into the desert; and when they had overtaken them, they
+in the first place endeavored to persuade them to repent, and to choose
+what was most for their advantage and not put them to the necessity of
+using them according to the law of war; but when they would not comply
+with their persuasions, but continued to be of a different mind, they
+fought against them on the Sabbath day, and they burned them as they
+were in the caves, without resistance, and without so much as stopping
+up the entrances of the caves. And they avoided to defend themselves on
+that day because they were not willing to break in upon the honor they
+owed the Sabbath, even in such distresses; for our law requires that we
+rest upon that day.
+
+There were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were
+smothered and died in these caves; but many of those that escaped joined
+themselves to Mattathias and appointed him to be their ruler, who taught
+them to fight even on the Sabbath day, and told them that unless they
+would do so they would become their own enemies by observing the law [so
+rigorously] while their adversaries would still assault them on this
+day, and they would not then defend themselves; and that nothing could
+then hinder but they must all perish without fighting. This speech
+persuaded them, and this rule continues among us to this day, that if
+there be a necessity we may fight on Sabbath days. So Mattathias got a
+great army about him and overthrew their idol altars and slew those that
+broke the laws, even all that he could get under his power; for many of
+them were dispersed among the nations round about them for fear of him.
+He also commanded that those boys who were not yet circumcised should be
+circumcised now; and he drove those away that were appointed to hinder
+such their circumcision.
+
+But when he had ruled one year and was fallen into a distemper, he
+called for his sons and set them round about him, and said: "O my sons,
+I am going the way of all the earth; and I recommend to you my
+resolution and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping it, but to be
+mindful of the desires of him who begat you and brought you up, and to
+preserve the customs of your country, and to recover your ancient form
+of government which is in danger of being overturned, and not to be
+carried away with those that either by their own inclination or out of
+necessity betray it, but to become such sons as are worthy of me; to be
+above all force and necessity, and so to dispose your souls as to be
+ready when it shall be necessary to die for your laws, as sensible of
+this, by just reasoning, that if God see that you are so disposed he
+will not overlook you, but will have a great value for your virtue, and
+will restore to you again what you have lost and will return to you that
+freedom in which you shall live quietly and enjoy your own customs.
+
+"Your bodies are mortal and subject to fate; but they receive a sort of
+immortality by the remembrance of what actions they have done; and I
+would have you so in love with this immortality that you may pursue
+after glory, and that when you have undergone the greatest difficulties
+you may not scruple for such things to lose your lives. I exhort you
+especially to agree one with another, and in what excellency any one of
+you exceeds another, to yield to him so far, and by that means to reap
+the advantage of everyone's own virtues. Do you then esteem Simon as
+your father because he is a man of extraordinary prudence, and be
+governed by him in what counsels he gives you. Take Maccabaeus for the
+general of your army, because of his courage and strength, for he will
+avenge your nation and will bring vengeance on your enemies. Admit among
+you the righteous and religious, and augment their power."
+
+When Mattathias had thus discoursed to his sons and had prayed to God to
+be their assistant and to recover to the people their former
+constitution, he died a little afterward, and was buried at Modin, all
+the people making great lamentation for him. Whereupon his son Judas
+took upon him the administration of public affairs, in the hundred and
+forty-sixth year; and thus, by the ready assistance of his brethren and
+of others, Judas cast their enemies out of the country and put those of
+their own country to death who had transgressed its laws, and purified
+the land of all the pollutions that were in it.
+
+When Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this he took
+his army and made haste to go against Judas, who met him and joined
+battle with him, and beat him and slew many of his men, and among them
+Apollonius himself, their general, whose sword, being that which he
+happened then to wear, he seized upon and kept for himself; but he
+wounded more than he slew, and took a great deal of prey from the
+enemy's camp, and went his way; but when Seron, who was general of the
+army of Celesyria, heard that many had joined themselves to Judas, and
+that he had about him an army sufficient for fighting and for making
+war, he determined to make an expedition against him, as thinking it
+became him to endeavor to punish those that transgressed the King's
+injunctions. He then got together an army as large as he was able, and
+joined to it the renegade and wicked Jews, and came against Judas.
+
+He then came as far as Bethoron, a village of Judea, and there pitched
+his camp; upon which Judas met him, and when he intended to give him
+battle he saw that his soldiers were backward to fight because their
+number was small and because they wanted food, for they were fasting. He
+encouraged them and said to them that victory and conquest of enemies
+are not derived from the multitude in armies, but in the exercise of
+piety toward God; and that they had the plainest instances in their
+forefathers, who, by their righteousness and exerting themselves on
+behalf of their own laws and their own children, had frequently
+conquered many ten thousands, for innocence is the strongest army. By
+this speech he induced his men to contemn the multitude of the enemy,
+and to fall upon Seron; and upon joining battle with him he beat the
+Syrians; and when their general fell among the rest they all ran away
+with speed, as thinking that to be their best way of escaping. So he
+pursued them unto the plain and slew about eight hundred of the enemy,
+but the rest escaped to the region which lay near to the sea.
+
+When king Antiochus heard of these things he was very angry at what had
+happened; so he got together all his own army, with many mercenaries
+whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with him, and prepared
+to break into Judea about the beginning of the spring; but when, upon
+his mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were
+deficient, and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were
+not paid, by reason of the seditions there had been among the nations,
+he having been so magnanimous and so liberal that what he had was not
+sufficient for him, he therefore resolved first to go into Persia and
+collect the taxes of that country. Hereupon he left one whose name was
+Lysias, who was in great repute with him, governor of the kingdom, as
+far as the bounds of Egypt and of the Lower Asia and reaching from the
+river Euphrates, and committed to him a certain part of his forces and
+of his elephants and charged him to bring up his son Antiochus with all
+possible care until he came back; and that he should conquer Judea and
+take its inhabitants for slaves and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and
+abolish the whole nation; and when king Antiochus had given these things
+in charge to Lysias, he went into Persia, and in the hundred and
+forty-seventh year he passed over Euphrates and went to the superior
+provinces.
+
+Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and
+Gorgias, very potent men among the King's friends, and delivered to them
+forty thousand foot-soldiers and seven thousand horsemen, and sent them
+against Judea, who came as far as the city Emmaus and pitched their camp
+in the plain country. There came also to them auxiliaries out of Syria
+and the country round about, as also many of the renegade Jews; and
+besides these came some merchants to buy those that should be carried
+captives--having bonds with them to bind those that should be made
+prisoners--with that silver and gold which they were to pay for their
+price; and when Judas saw their camp and how numerous their enemies
+were, he persuaded his own soldiers to be of good courage, and exhorted
+them to place their hopes of victory in God and to make supplication to
+him, according to the custom of their country, clothed in sackcloth, and
+to show what was their usual habit of supplication in the greatest
+dangers, and thereby to prevail with God to grant them the victory over
+their enemies. So he set them in their ancient order of battle used by
+their forefathers, under their captains of thousands, and other
+officers, and dismissed such as were newly married, as well as those
+that had newly gained possessions, that they might not fight in a
+cowardly manner out of an inordinate love of life, in order to enjoy
+those blessings.
+
+When he had thus disposed his soldiers he encouraged them to fight by
+the following speech, which he made to them: "O my fellow-soldiers, no
+other time remains more opportune than the present for courage and
+contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully you may recover your
+liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it
+proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty
+of worshipping God. Since, therefore, you are in such circumstances at
+present, you must either recover that liberty and so regain a happy and
+blessed way of living, which is that according to our laws and the
+customs of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings;
+nor will any seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this battle.
+Fight therefore manfully, and suppose that you must die though you do
+not fight; but believe that besides such glorious rewards as those of
+the liberty of your country, of your laws, of your religion, you shall
+then obtain everlasting glory. Prepare yourselves, therefore, and put
+yourselves into such an agreeable posture that you may be ready to fight
+with the enemy as soon as it is day to-morrow morning."
+
+And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But when the
+enemy sent Gorgias with five thousand foot and one thousand horse, that
+he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for that purpose certain of
+the renegade Jews as guides, the son of Mattathias perceived it and
+resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their
+forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time and had
+left many fires in their camp he marched all night to those enemies that
+were at Emmaus; so that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but
+suspected that they were retired and had hidden themselves among the
+mountains, he resolved to go and seek them wheresoever they were.
+
+But about break of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were at
+Emmaus, with only three thousand men, and those ill-armed by reason of
+their poverty; and when he saw the enemy very well and skilfully
+fortified in their camp he encouraged the Jews and told them that they
+ought to fight, though it were with their naked bodies, for that God had
+sometimes of old given such men strength, and that against such as were
+more in number, and were armed also, out of regard to their great
+courage. So he commanded the trumpeters to sound for the battle, and by
+thus falling upon the enemy when they did not expect it, and thereby
+astonishing and disturbing their minds, he slew many of those that
+resisted him and went on pursuing the rest as far as Gadara and the
+plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia; and of these there fell about
+three thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not to be too desirous
+of the spoils, for that still they must have a contest and battle with
+Gorgias and the forces that were with him, but that when they had once
+overcome them then they might securely plunder the camp because they
+were the only enemies remaining, and they expected no others.
+
+And just as he was speaking to his soldiers, Gorigas' men looked down
+into that army which they left in their camp and saw that it was
+overthrown and the camp burned; for the smoke that arose from it showed
+them, even when they were a great way off, what had happened. When,
+therefore, those that were with Gorgias understood that things were in
+this posture, and perceived that those that were with Judas were ready
+to fight them, they also were affrighted and put to flight; but then
+Judas, as though he had already beaten Gorgias' soldiers without
+fighting, returned and seized on the spoils. He took a great quantity of
+gold and silver and purple and blue, and then returned home with joy,
+and singing hymns to God for their good success; for this victory
+greatly contributed to the recovery of their liberty.
+
+Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the defeat of the army which he had
+sent, and the next year he got together sixty thousand chosen men. He
+also took five thousand horsemen and fell upon Judea, and he went up to
+the hill country of Bethsur, a village of Judea, and pitched his camp
+there, where Judas met him with ten thousand men; and when he saw the
+great number of his enemies, he prayed to God that he would assist him,
+and joined battle with the first of the enemy that appeared and beat
+them and slew about five thousand of them, and thereby became terrible
+to the rest of them. Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of
+the Jews, how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty,
+and being afraid of their desperate way of fighting, as if it were real
+strength, he took the rest of the army back with him and returned to
+Antioch.
+
+When, therefore, the generals of Antiochus' armies had been beaten so
+often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them that after
+these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to
+Jerusalem and purify the Temple and offer the appointed sacrifices. But
+as soon as he with the whole multitude was come to Jerusalem and found
+the Temple deserted and its gates burned down and plants growing in the
+Temple of their own accord on account of its desertion, he and those
+that were with him began to lament and were quite confounded at the
+sight of the Temple; so he chose out some of his soldiers and gave them
+orders to fight against those guards that were in the citadel until he
+should have purified the Temple. When therefore he had carefully purged
+it and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of
+shewbread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, he hung
+up the veils at the gates and added doors to them.
+
+He also took down the altar [of burnt-offering], and built a new one of
+stones that he gathered together and not of such as were hewn with iron
+tools. So on the five-and-twentieth day of the month of Casleu, which
+the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the lamps that were on the
+candlestick and offered incense upon the altar [of incense], and laid
+the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings
+upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out that these
+things were done on the very same day on which their divine worship had
+fallen off and was reduced to a profane and common use after three
+years' time; for so it was, that the Temple was made desolate by
+Antiochus, and so continued for three years. This desolation happened to
+the Temple in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day
+of the month Apelleus, and on the hundred and fifty-third Olympiad; but
+it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the month
+Apelleus, in the hundred and forty-eighth year, and on the hundred and
+fifty-fourth Olympiad. And this desolation came to pass according to the
+prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and eight years before,
+for he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for
+some time].
+
+Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices
+of the Temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon;
+but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices, and he
+honored God and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so
+very glad at the revival of their customs, when after a long time of
+intermission they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their
+worship, that they made it a law for their posterity that they should
+keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their Temple worship,
+for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival
+and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was, because this liberty
+beyond our hopes appeared to us, and that thence was the name given to
+that festival. Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the city, and
+reared towers of great height against the incursions of enemies, and set
+guards therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura that it might serve
+as a citadel against any distresses that might come from our enemies.
+
+When these things were over, the nations round about the Jews were very
+uneasy at the revival of their power and rose up together and destroyed
+many of them, as gaining advantage over them by laying snares for them
+and making secret conspiracies against them. Judas made perpetual
+expeditions against these men, and endeavored to restrain them from
+those incursions and to prevent the mischiefs they did to the Jews. So
+he fell upon the Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, at Acra-battene, and
+slew a great many of them and took their spoils. He also shut up the
+sons of Bean, that laid wait for the Jews; and he sat down about them,
+and besieged them, and burned their towers and destroyed the men [that
+were in them]. After this he went thence in haste against the Ammonites
+who had a great and a numerous army, of which Timotheus was the
+commander. And when he had subdued them he seized on the city of Jazer,
+and took their wives and their children captives and burned the city and
+then returned into Judea. But when the neighboring nations understood
+that he was returned they got together in great numbers in the land of
+Gilead and came against those Jews that were at their borders, who then
+fled to the garrison of Dathema, and sent to Judas to inform him that
+Timotheus was endeavoring to take the place whither they were fled. And
+as these epistles were reading, there came other messengers out of
+Galilee who informed him that the inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre
+and Sidon, and strangers of Galilee, were gotten together.
+
+Accordingly Judas, upon considering what was fit to be done with
+relation to the necessity both these cases required, gave order that
+Simon his brother should take three thousand chosen men and go to the
+assistance of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of his brothers,
+Jonathan, made haste into the land of Gilead with eight thousand
+soldiers. And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, to be
+over the rest of the forces, and charged them to keep Judea very
+carefully and to fight no battles with any persons whomsoever until his
+return. Accordingly Simon went into Galilee and fought the enemy and put
+them to flight, and pursued them to the very gates of Ptolemais, and
+slew about three thousand of them, and took the spoils of those that
+were slain and those Jews whom they had made captives, with their
+baggage, and then returned home.
+
+Now as for Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan, they passed over
+the river Jordan, and when they had gone three days' journey they
+lighted upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them peaceably and who told
+them how the affairs of those in the land of Galilee stood and how many
+of them were in distress and driven into garrisons and into the cities
+of Galilee, and exhorted him to make haste to go against the foreigners,
+and to endeavor to save his own countrymen out of their hands. To this
+exhortation Judas hearkened and returned into the wilderness, and in the
+first place fell upon the inhabitants of Bosor, and took the city, and
+beat the inhabitants, and destroyed all the males, and all that were
+able to fight, and burned the city. Nor did he stop even when night came
+on, but he journeyed in it to the garrison where the Jews happened to be
+then shut up, and where Timotheus lay round the place with his army; and
+Judas came upon the city in the morning, and when he found that the
+enemy were making an assault upon the walls, and that some of them
+brought ladders on which they might get upon those walls, and that
+others brought engines [to batter them], he bid the trumpeter to sound
+his trumpet, and he encouraged his soldiers cheerfully to undergo
+dangers for the sake of their brethren and kindred; he also parted his
+army into three bodies and fell upon the backs of their enemies. But
+when Timotheus' men perceived that it was Maccabaeus that was upon them,
+of both whose courage and good success in war they had formerly had
+sufficient experience, they were put to flight; but Judas followed them
+with his army and slew about eight thousand of them. He then turned
+aside to a city of the foreigners called Malle, and took it, and slew
+all the males and burned the city itself. He then removed from thence,
+and overthrew Casphom and Bosor, and many other cities of the land of
+Gilead.
+
+But not long after this Timotheus prepared a great army, and took many
+others as auxiliaries, and induced some of the Arabians by the promise
+of rewards to go with him in this expedition, and came with his army
+beyond the brook over against the city Raphon; and he encouraged his
+soldiers, if it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight courageously,
+and to hinder their passing over the brook; for he said to them
+beforehand that "if they come over it we shall be beaten." And when
+Judas heard that Timotheus prepared himself to fight he took all his own
+army and went in haste against Timotheus, his enemy; and when he had
+passed over the brook he fell upon his enemies, and some of them met
+him, whom he slew, and others of them he so terrified that he compelled
+them to throw down their arms and fly, and some of them escaped; but
+some of them fled to what was called the temple of Carnaim, and hoped
+thereby to preserve themselves, but Judas took the city and slew them
+and burned the temple, and so used several ways of destroying his
+enemies.
+
+When he had done this he gathered the Jews together with their children
+and wives and the substance that belonged to them, and was going to
+bring them back into Judea. But as soon as he was come to a certain city
+the name of which was Ephron, that lay upon the road--and as it was not
+possible for him to go any other way, so he was not willing to go back
+again--he then sent to the inhabitants, and desired that they would open
+their gates and permit them to go on their way through the city; for
+they had stopped up the gates with stones and cut off their passage
+through it. And when the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree to this
+proposal, he encouraged those that were with him, and encompassed the
+city round and besieged it, and lying round it by day and night took the
+city and slew every male in it and burned it all down, and so obtained a
+way through it; and the multitude of those that were slain was so great
+that they went over the dead bodies. So they came over Jordan and
+arrived at the great plain over against which is situate the city
+Bethshan, which is called by the Greeks Scythopolis.[67] And going away
+hastily from thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms and hymns as
+they went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual in triumphs
+upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings both for their good
+success and for the preservation of their army, for not one of the Jews
+was slain in these battles.
+
+[Footnote 67: The reason why Bethshan was called Scythopolis is well
+known from Herodotus, b. i., p. 105, and Syncellus, p. 214, that the
+Scythians, where they overran Asia, in the days of Josiah, seized on
+this city, and kept it as long as they continued in Asia; from which
+time it retained the name of Scythopolis, or the City of the Scythians.]
+
+But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, whom Judas left
+generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same time when Simon was in
+Galilee fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and Judas himself and
+his brother Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, did these men also
+affect the glory of being courageous generals in war, in order whereto
+they took the army that was under their command and came to Jamnia.
+There Gorgias, the general of the forces of Jamnia, met them, and upon
+joining battle with him they lost two thousand of their army and fled
+away, and were pursued to the very borders of Judea. And this misfortune
+befell them by their disobedience to what injunctions Judas had given
+them not to fight with anyone before his return. For besides the rest of
+Judas' sagacious counsels, one may well wonder at this concerning the
+misfortune that befell the forces commanded by Joseph and Azarias, which
+he understood would happen if they broke any of the injunctions he had
+given them. But Judas and his brethren did not leave off fighting with
+the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides, and took from them the
+city of Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications and set all its
+towers on fire, and burned the country of the foreigners and the city
+Marissa. They came also to Ashdod, and took it, and laid it waste, and
+took away a great deal of the spoils and prey that were in it and
+returned to Judea.
+
+
+
+
+THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS
+
+B.C. 133
+
+THEODOR MOMMSEN
+
+
+(Cornelia, whose father was Scipio Africanus, preferred to be called
+"Mother of the Gracchi" rather than daughter of the conqueror of
+Numantia. Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, her sons, were born at a time
+when the social condition of Rome was rank with corruption. The small
+farmer class were deprived of holdings, the soil was being worked by
+slaves, and its products wasted on pleasure and debauchery by the rich;
+the law courts were controlled by the wealthy and powerful, while
+oppression, bribery, and fraud were generally rampant in the city.
+
+On December 10, B.C. 133, Tiberius Gracchus entered upon the office of
+tribune, to which he had been elected, and pledged himself to the
+abolition of crying abuses. His first movement was in the direction of
+agrarian legislation. He proposed to vest all public lands in the hands
+of three commissioners [triumviri], who were to distribute the public
+lands, at that time largely monopolized by the wealthy, to all citizens
+in needy circumstances. The bill met with bitter opposition from the
+rich landholders, but was eventually passed, and Gracchus rose to the
+summit of popular power. He also brought forward a measure limiting the
+necessary period of military service; a second bill was drawn up by him
+for the reformation of the law courts, and a third established a right
+of appeal from the law courts to the popular assembly. These measures
+were afterward carried by his brother Caius. Tiberius Gracchus was
+killed in a tumult which was raised in the Forum by the nobles and their
+partisans, and three hundred of his followers lost their lives in the
+fray.
+
+Caius Gracchus, his brother, returned to Rome B.C. 124 from Sardinia,
+where he had been engaged in subduing the mountaineers. For ten years he
+had kept aloof from public life, but was at once elected tribune, in the
+discharge of which office he showed distinguished powers as an orator.
+He brought forth the important measures known as the Sempronian Laws,
+the provisions of which were quite revolutionary in character. The first
+of these laws renewed and extended the agrarian laws of his brother and
+instituted new colonies in Italy and the provinces. By the second
+Sempronian law the State undertook to furnish corn at a low price to all
+Roman citizens.
+
+Other measures aimed at diminishing the great administrative power of
+the senate, which had so far monopolized all judicial offices. By the
+law of Gracchus the administration of justice was entirely transferred
+to a body of three hundred persons who possessed the equestrian rate of
+property. The Sempronian law for the assignment of consular provinces,
+which hitherto had been left to the senate, made the allotment of two
+designated provinces to be decided by the newly elected consuls
+themselves. The power of the senate was also crippled by the law of
+Gracchus in which he transferred to the tribunes the burden of improving
+the roads of Italy, contracts for which had hitherto been awarded by the
+censor under the approval of the senate. These movements were all in the
+direction of increasing popular and democratic power, and the work of
+the Gracchi tended to the extension of political freedom. In the history
+of politics these social struggles are among the most important events
+illustrative of the gradual dawn of civil liberty among a people which
+had been dominated and oppressed by a selfish aristocracy.)
+
+
+The power of Gracchus rested on the mercantile class and the
+proletariat; primarily on the latter, which in this conflict--wherein
+neither side had any military reserve--acted, as it were, the part of an
+army. It was clear that the senate was not powerful enough to wrest
+either from the merchants or from the proletariat their new privileges;
+any attempt to assail the corn laws or the new jury arrangement would
+have led under a somewhat grosser or somewhat more civilized form to a
+street riot, in presence of which the senate was utterly defenceless.
+But it was no less clear that Gracchus himself and these merchants and
+proletarians were only kept together by mutual advantage, and that the
+men of material interests were ready to accept their posts, and the
+populace, strictly so called, its bread, quite as well from any other as
+from Caius Gracchus.
+
+The institutions of Gracchus stood, for the moment at least, immovably
+firm, with the exception of a single one--his own supremacy. The
+weakness of the latter lay in the fact that in the constitution of
+Gracchus there was no relation of allegiance subsisting at all between
+the chief and the army; and, while the new constitution possessed all
+other elements of vitality, it lacked one--the moral tie between ruler
+and ruled, without which every state rests on a pedestal of clay. In the
+rejection of the proposal to admit the Latins to the franchise it had
+been demonstrated with decisive clearness that the multitude in fact
+never voted for Gracchus, but always simply for itself. The aristocracy
+conceived the plan of offering battle to the author of the corn
+largesses and land assignations on his own ground.
+
+As a matter of course the senate offered to the proletariat not merely
+the same advantages as Gracchus had already assured to it in corn and
+otherwise, but advantages still greater. Commissioned by the senate, the
+tribune of the people, Marcus Livius Drusus, proposed to relieve those
+who received land under the laws of Gracchus from the rent imposed on
+them, and to declare their allotments to be free and alienable property;
+and, further, to provide for the proletariat not in transmarine, but in
+twelve Italian, colonies, each of three thousand colonists, for the
+planting of which the people might nominate suitable men; only Drusus
+himself declined--in contrast with the family complexion of the Gracchan
+commission--to take part in this honorable duty. Presumably the Latins
+were named as those who would have to bear the costs of the plan, for
+there does not appear to have existed then in Italy other occupied
+domain land of any extent save that which was enjoyed by them.
+
+We find isolated enactments of Drusus--such as the regulation that the
+punishment of scourging might only be inflicted on the Latin soldier by
+the Latin officer set over him, and not by the Roman officer--which were
+to all appearance intended to indemnify the Latins for other losses. The
+plan was not the most refined. The attempt at rivalry was too clear; the
+endeavor to draw the fair bond between the nobles and the proletariat
+still closer by their exercising jointly a tyranny over the Latins was
+too transparent; the inquiry suggested itself too readily.
+
+In what part of the peninsula, now that the Italian domains had been
+mainly given away already--even granting that the whole domains assigned
+to the Latins were confiscated--was the occupied domain land requisite
+for the formation of twelve new, numerous, and compact burgess
+communities to be discovered? Lastly, the declaration of Drusus that he
+would have nothing to do with the execution of his law was so dreadfully
+prudent as to border on sheer folly. But the clumsy snare was quite
+suited to the stupid game which they wished to catch. There was the
+additional and perhaps decisive consideration that Gracchus, on whose
+personal influence everything depended, was just then establishing the
+Carthaginian colony in Africa, and that his lieutenant in the capital,
+Marcus Flaccus, played into the hands of his opponents by his vehement
+and maladroit acts. The "people" accordingly ratified the Livian laws as
+readily as it had before ratified the Sempronian. It then as usual
+repaid its latest by inflicting a gentle blow on its earlier benefactor,
+declining to reëlect him when he stood for the third time as a candidate
+for the tribunate for the year B.C. 120. On this occasion, however,
+there are alleged to have been unjust proceedings on the part of the
+tribune presiding at the election, who had been offended by Gracchus.
+
+Thus the foundation of his despotism gave way beneath him. A second blow
+was inflicted on him by the consular elections, which not only proved,
+in a general sense, adverse to the democracy, but which placed at the
+head of the State Lucius Opimius, one of the least scrupulous chiefs of
+the strict aristocratic party and a man firmly resolved to get rid of
+their dangerous antagonist at the earliest opportunity. Such an
+opportunity soon occurred. On the 10th of December, B.C. 121, Gracchus
+ceased to be tribune of the people. On the 1st of January, B.C. 120,
+Opimius entered upon his office.
+
+The first attack, as was fair, was directed against the most useful and
+the most unpopular measure of Gracchus, the reëstablishment of Carthage,
+while the transmarine colonies had hitherto been only indirectly
+assailed through the greater allurements of the Italian. African hyenas,
+it was now alleged, dug up the newly placed boundary stones of Carthage,
+and the Roman priests when requested certified that such signs and
+portents ought to form an express warning against rebuilding on a site
+accursed by the gods. The senate thereby found itself in its conscience
+compelled to have a law proposed which prohibited the planting of the
+colony of Sunonia. Gracchus, who with the other men nominated to
+establish it was just then selecting the colonists, appeared on the day
+of voting at the Capitol, whither the burgesses were convoked, with a
+view to procure by means of his adherents the rejection of the law.
+
+He wished to shun acts of violence that he might not himself supply his
+opponents with the pretext which they sought, but he had not been able
+to prevent a great portion of his faithful partisans--who remembered the
+catastrophe of Tiberius, and were well acquainted with the designs of
+the aristocracy--from appearing in arms, fearing that, amid the immense
+excitement on both sides, quarrels could hardly be avoided. The consul
+Lucius Opimius offered the usual sacrifice in the porch of the
+Capitoline temple, one of the attendants assisting at the ceremony.
+Quintus Antullius, with the holy entrails in his hands, haughtily
+ordered the "bad citizens" to quit the porch, and seemed as though he
+would lay hands on Caius himself; whereupon a zealous Gracchan drew his
+sword and cut the man down. A fearful tumult arose. Gracchus vainly
+sought to address the people and to disclaim the responsibility for the
+sacreligious murder; he only furnished his antagonists with a further
+formal ground of accusation, as, without being aware of it in the
+confusion, he interrupted a tribune in the act of speaking to the
+people--an offence for which an obsolete statute, originating at the
+time of the old dissensions between the orders (I. 353), had prescribed
+the severest penalty. The consul Lucius Opimius took his measures to put
+down by force of arms the insurrection for the overthrow of the
+republican constitution, as they were fond of designating the events of
+this day. He himself passed the night in the temple of Castor in the
+Forum. At early dawn the Capitol was filled with Cretan archers, the
+senate house and Forum with the men of the government party (the
+senators and that section of the _equites_ adhering to them), who by
+order of the consul had all appeared in arms, each attended by two armed
+slaves. None of the aristocracy was absent; even the aged and venerable
+Quintus Metellus, well disposed to reform, had appeared with shield and
+sword. An officer of ability and experience acquired in the Spanish
+wars, Decimus Brutus, was intrusted with the command of the armed force;
+the senate assembled in the senate house. The bier with the corpse of
+Antullius was deposited in front of it, the senate as if surprised
+appeared _en masse_ at the door in order to view the dead body, and then
+retired to determine what should be done.
+
+The leaders of the democracy had gone from the Capitol to their houses;
+Marcus Flaccus had spent the night in preparing for the war in the
+streets, while Gracchus apparently disdained to strive with destiny.
+Next morning when they learned of the preparations made by their
+opponents at the Capitol and the Forum, both proceeded to the Aventine,
+the old stronghold of the popular party in the struggles between the
+patricians and the plebeians. Gracchus went thither silent and unarmed.
+Flaccus called the slaves to arms and intrenched himself in the temple
+of Diana, while he at the same time sent his younger son Quintus to the
+enemy's camp in order if possible to arrange a compromise. The latter
+returned with the announcement that the aristocracy demanded
+unconditional surrender. At the same time he brought a summons from the
+senate to Gracchus and Flaccus to appear before it and to answer for
+their violation of the majesty of the tribunes.
+
+Gracchus wished to comply with the summons, but Flaccus prevented him
+from doing so, and repeated the equally weak and mistaken attempt to
+move such antagonists to a compromise. When instead of the two cited
+leaders the young Quintus Flaccus once more presented himself alone, the
+consul treated their refusal to appear as the beginning of open
+insurrection against the Government. He ordered the messenger to be
+arrested and gave the signal for attack on the Aventine, while at the
+same time he caused proclamations to be made in the streets that the
+Government would give to whomsoever should bring the head of Gracchus or
+of Flaccus its literal weight in gold; and that they would guarantee
+complete indemnity to everyone who should leave the Aventine before the
+beginning of the conflict. The ranks on the Aventine speedily thinned;
+the valiant nobility in conjunction with the Cretans and the slaves
+stormed the almost undefended mount, and killed all whom they
+found--about two hundred and fifty persons, mostly of humble rank.
+Marcus Flaccus fled with his eldest son to a place of concealment, where
+they were soon afterward hunted out and put to death. Gracchus had at
+the beginning of the conflict retired into the temple of Minerva and was
+there about to pierce himself with his sword when his friend Publius
+Laetorius seized his arm and besought him to preserve himself, if
+possible, for better times.
+
+Gracchus was induced to make an attempt to escape to the other bank of
+the Tiber, but when hastening down the hill he fell and sprained his
+foot. To gain time for him to escape, his two attendants turned, and
+facing his pursuers allowed themselves to be cut down. As Marcus
+Pomponius at the Porta Trigemina under the Aventine; Publius Laetorius
+at the bridge over the Tiber--where Horatius Cocles was said to have
+once withstood, singly, the Etruscan army--so Gracchus, attended only by
+his slave Euporus, reached the suburb on the right bank of the Tiber.
+
+There, in the grove of Furrina, afterward were found the two dead
+bodies. It seemed as if the slave had put to death first his master, and
+then himself. The heads of the two fallen leaders were handed over to
+the Government as required. The stipulated price, and more, was paid to
+Lucius Septumuleius, a man of quality, the bearer of the head of
+Gracchus; while the murderers of Flaccus, persons of humble rank, were
+sent away with empty hands. The bodies of the dead were thrown into the
+river, and the houses of the leaders were abandoned to the pillage of
+the multitude. The warfare of prosecution against the partisans of
+Gracchus began on the grandest scale; as many as three thousand of them
+are said to have been strangled in prison, among whom was Quintus
+Flaccus, eighteen years of age, who had taken no part in the conflict,
+and was universally lamented on account of his youth and his amiable
+disposition. On the open space beneath the Capitol, where the altar
+consecrated by Camillus after the restoration of internal peace (I.
+382), and other shrines--erected on similar occasions to Concord--were
+situated, the small chapels were pulled down, and out of the property of
+the killed or condemned traitors--which was confiscated, even to the
+portions of their wives--a new and splendid temple of Concord, with the
+basilica belonging to it, was erected in accordance with a decree of the
+senate by the consul Lucius Opimius.
+
+Certainly it was an act in accordance with the spirit of the age to
+remove the memorials of the old and to inaugurate a new Concord over the
+remains of the three grandsons of Zama, all of whom--first, Tiberius
+Gracchus, then Scipio Aemilianus, and lastly the youngest and the
+mightiest, Caius Gracchus--had now been engulfed by the revolution. The
+memory of the Gracchi remained officially proscribed; Cornelia was not
+allowed even to put on mourning for the death of her last son; but the
+passionate attachment which very many had felt toward the two noble
+brothers, and especially toward Caius, during their life, was touchingly
+displayed also after their death, in the almost religious veneration
+which the multitude, in spite of all precautions of the police,
+continued to pay to their memory and to the spots where they had fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CAESAR CONQUERS GAUL[68]
+
+
+B.C. 58-50
+
+NAPOLEON III
+
+
+[Footnote 68: From Louis Napoleon's Julius Caesar, by permission of
+Harper & Brothers.]
+
+(In Caesar's military performances the Gallic war plays the most
+important part, as shown in his _Commentaries_, his sole extant literary
+work and almost the only authority for this part of Roman history.
+
+
+Cisalpine Gaul--that portion lying on the southern or Italian side of
+the Alps--came partly under the dominion of Rome as early as B.C. 282,
+when a Roman colony was founded at Sena Gallica. This division of Gaul
+was wholly conquered by B.C. 191; and in B.C. 43, having been made a
+Roman province, it became a part of Italy.
+
+Transalpine Gaul--that part lying north and northwest of the Alps from
+Rome--comprised in Caesar's day three divisions: Aquitaine to the
+southwest, Celtic Gaul in the middle, and Belgic Gaul to the northwest.
+The region was inhabited by various tribes having neither unity of race
+nor of customs whereby nationality becomes distinguished. Toward the
+close of the second century B.C. the Romans made their first settlements
+in Transalpine Gaul, in the southeastern part. At the time when Caesar
+became proconsul in Gaul, B.C. 58, the province was in a state of
+tranquillity, but Fortune seemed determined that he should have great
+opportunities for the display of his military genius, and, when Asia had
+been subdued by Pompey, "conferred what remained to be done in Europe
+upon Caesar." The attempt of the Helvetii to leave their homes in the
+Alps for new dwelling-places in Gaul served him as an occasion for war.
+As they were crossing the Arar [now Saone] he attacked and routed them,
+later defeated them again, and at last drove them back to their own
+country.
+
+The story of the long war, with its various campaigns, has become
+familiar to the world's readers through the masterly account of Caesar
+himself, known to "every schoolboy" who advances to the dignity of
+classical studies. In the end the country between the Pyrenees and the
+Rhine was subjugated, and for several centuries it remained a Roman
+province.
+
+At the time when the history is taken up in the following narrative by
+Napoleon III, the great rebellion, B.C. 52, had sustained a heavy blow
+in the surrender of Alesia, and the capture of the heroic chief and
+leader of the insurrection, Vercingetorix, whom Caesar exhibited in his
+triumph at Rome, B.C. 46, and then caused to be put to death.
+
+The distinguished author of the article says he wrote "for the purpose
+of proving that when Providence raises up such men as Caesar,
+Charlemagne, and Napoleon it is to trace out to peoples the path they
+ought to follow, to stamp with the seal of their genius a new era, and
+to accomplish in a few years the work of many centuries." The work was
+prepared [_vide Manual of Historical Literature_: Adams] with the utmost
+care--a care which extended in some instances to special surveys, to
+insure perfect accuracy in the descriptions, etc.)
+
+
+The capture of Alesia and that of Vercingetorix, in spite of the united
+efforts of all Gaul, naturally gave Caesar hopes of a general
+submission; and he therefore believed that he could leave his army
+during the winter to rest quietly in its quarters from the hard labors
+which had lasted without interruption during the whole of the past
+summer. But the spirit of insurrection was not extinct among the Gauls;
+and convinced by experience that whatever might be their number they
+could not in a body cope with troops inured to war, they resolved, by
+partial insurrections raised on all points at once, to divide the
+attention and the forces of the Romans as their only chance of resisting
+them with advantage.
+
+Caesar was unwilling to leave them time to realize this new plan, but
+gave the command of his winter quarters to his quaestor, Mark Antony;
+quitted Bibracte on the day before the Calends of January (the 25th of
+December) with an escort of cavalry, joined the Thirteenth legion, which
+was in winter quarters among the Bituriges, not far from the frontier of
+the Aldui, and called to him the Eleventh legion, which was the nearest
+at hand. Having left two cohorts of each legion to guard the baggage, he
+proceeded toward the fertile country of the Bituriges, a vast territory,
+where the presence of a single legion was insufficient to put a stop to
+the preparations for insurrection.
+
+His sudden arrival in the midst of men without distrust, who were spread
+over the open country, produced the result which he expected. They were
+surprised before they could enter into their _oppidae_--for Caesar had
+strictly forbidden everything which might have raised their suspicion;
+especially the application of fire, which usually betrays the sudden
+presence of an enemy. Several thousands of captives were made. Those who
+succeeded in escaping sought in vain a refuge among the neighboring
+nations. Caesar, by forced marches, came up with them everywhere and
+obliged each tribe to think of its own safety before that of others.
+
+This activity held the populations in their fidelity, and through fear
+engaged the wavering to submit to the conditions of peace. Thus the
+Bituriges, seeing that Caesar offered them an easy way to recover his
+protection, and that the neighboring states had suffered no other
+chastisement than that of having to deliver hostages, did not hesitate
+in submitting.
+
+The soldiers of the Eleventh and Thirteenth legions had, during the
+winter, supported with rare constancy the fatigues of very difficult
+marches in intolerable cold. To reward them he promised to give by way
+of prize-money two hundred _sestertii_ to each soldier and two thousand
+to each centurion. He then sent them into their winter quarters and
+returned to Bibracte after an absence of forty days. While he was there,
+dispensing justice, the Bituriges came to implore his support against
+the attacks of the Carnutes. Although it was only eighteen days since he
+returned, he marched again at the head of two legions--the Sixth and the
+Fourteenth--which had been placed on the Saone to insure the supply of
+provisions.
+
+On his approach the Carnutes, taught by the fate of others, abandoned
+their miserable huts--which they had erected on the site of their burgs
+and oppida destroyed in the last campaign--and fled in every direction.
+
+Caesar, unwilling to expose his soldiers to the rigor of the season,
+established his camp at Genabum (Gien), and lodged them partly in the
+huts which had remained undestroyed, partly in tents under penthouses
+covered with straw. The cavalry and auxiliary infantry were sent in
+pursuit of the Carnutes, who, hunted down everywhere, and without
+shelter, took refuge in the neighboring counties.
+
+After having dispersed some rebellious meetings and stifled the germs of
+an insurrection, Caesar believed that the summer would pass without any
+serious war. He left therefore at Genabum the two legions he had with
+him, and gave the command of them to C. Trebonius.
+
+Nevertheless, he learned by several intimations from the Remi that the
+Bellovaci and neighboring peoples, with Correus and Commius at their
+head, were collecting troops to make an inroad on the territory of the
+Suessiones, who had been placed--since the campaign of 697--under the
+dependence of the Remi.
+
+He considered that he regarded his interest as well as his dignity in
+protecting allies who had deserved so well of the republic. He again
+drew the Eleventh legion from its winter quarters, sent written orders
+to C. Fabius, who was encamped in the country of the Remi, to bring into
+that of the Suessiones the two legions under his command, and demanded
+one of his legions from Labienus, who was at Besançon. Thus without
+taking any rest himself he shared the fatigues among the legions by
+turns, as far as the position of the winter quarters and the necessities
+of the war permitted.
+
+When this army was assembled he marched against the Bellovaci,
+established his camp on their territory, and sent cavalry in every
+direction in order to make some prisoners and learn from them the
+designs of the enemy. The cavalry reported that the emigration was
+general, and that the few inhabitants who were to be seen were not
+remaining behind in order to apply themselves to agriculture, but to act
+as spies upon the Romans.
+
+Caesar by interrogating the prisoners learned that all the Bellovaci
+able to fight had assembled on one spot, and that they had been joined
+by the Ambiani, the Aulerci, the Caletes, the Veliocasses, and the
+Atrebates. Their camp was in a forest on a height surrounded by
+marshes--Mont Saint Marc, in the forest of Compiègne; their baggage had
+been transported to more distant woods. The command was divided among
+several chiefs, but the greater part obeyed Correus on account of his
+well-known hatred of the Romans. Commius had a few days before gone to
+seek succor from the numerous Germans who lived in great numbers in the
+neighboring counties--probably those on the banks of the Meuse.
+
+The Bellovaci resolved with one accord to give Caesar battle, if, as
+report said, he was advancing with only three legions; for they would
+not run the risk of having afterward to encounter his entire army. If,
+on the contrary, the Romans were advancing with more considerable forces
+they proposed to keep their positions and confine themselves to
+intercepting, by means of ambuscades, the provisions and forage, which
+were very scarce at that season.
+
+This plan, confirmed by many reports, seemed to Caesar full of prudence
+and altogether contrary to the usual rashness of the barbarians. He took
+therefore every possible care to dissimulate as to the number of his
+troops. He had with him the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth legions, composed
+of old soldiers of tried valor, and the Eleventh, which, formed of
+picked young men who had gone through eight campaigns, deserved his
+confidence, although it could not be compared with the others with
+regard to bravery and experience in war. In order to deceive the enemy
+by showing them only three legions--the only number they were willing to
+fight--he placed the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth in one line; while the
+baggage, which was not very considerable, was placed behind under the
+protection of the Eleventh legion, which closed the march. In this
+order, which formed almost a square, he came unawares in sight of the
+Bellovaci. At the unexpected view of the legions, which advanced in
+order of battle and with a firm step, they lost their courage and,
+instead of attacking, as they had engaged to do, they confined
+themselves to drawing themselves up before their camp without leaving
+the height. A valley deeper than it was wide separated the two armies.
+
+On account of this obstacle and the numerical superiority of the
+barbarians, Caesar, though he had wished for battle, abandoned the idea
+of attacking them and placed his camp opposite that of the Gauls in a
+strong position. He caused it to be surrounded with a parapet twelve
+feet high, surmounted by accessory works proportioned to the importance
+of the retrenchment and preceded by a double fosse fifteen feet wide,
+with a square bottom. Towers of three stories were constructed from
+distance to distance and united together by covered bridges, the
+exterior parts of which were protected by hurdle-work. In this manner
+the camp was protected not only by a double fosse, but also by a double
+row of defenders, some of whom, placed on the bridges, could from this
+elevated and sheltered position throw their missiles farther and with a
+better aim; while the others, placed on the _vallum_, nearer to the
+enemy, were protected by the bridges from the missiles which showered
+down upon them. The entrances were defended by means of higher towers
+and were closed with gates.
+
+These formidable retrenchments had a double aim--to increase the
+confidence of the barbarians by making them believe that they were
+feared, and next to allow the number of the garrison to be reduced with
+safety when they had to go far for provisions. For some days there were
+no serious engagements, but slight skirmishes in the marshy plain which
+extended between the two camps. The capture, however, of a few foragers
+did not fail to swell the presumption of the barbarians, which was still
+more increased by the arrival of Commius, although he had brought only
+five hundred German cavalry.
+
+The enemy remained for several days shut up in its impregnable position.
+Caesar judged that an assault would cost too many lives; an investment
+alone seemed to him opportune, but it would require a greater number of
+troops.
+
+He wrote thereupon to Trebonius to send him as soon as possible the
+Thirteenth legion, which, under the command of T. Sextius, was in winter
+quarters among the Bituriges, to join it with the Sixth and the
+Fourteenth (which the first of these lieutenants commanded at Genabum),
+and to come himself with these three legions by forced marches.
+
+During this time he employed the numerous cavalry of the Remi, the
+Lingones and the other allies, to protect the foragers and to prevent
+surprises, but this daily service, as is often the case, ended by being
+negligently performed. And one day the Remi, pursuing the Bellovaci with
+too much ardor, fell into an ambuscade. In withdrawing they were
+surrounded by foot-soldiers in the midst of whom Vertiscus, their chief,
+met with his death. True to his Gaulish nature, he would not allow his
+age to exempt him from commanding and mounting on horseback, although he
+was hardly able to keep his seat. His death and this feeble advantage
+raised the self-confidence of the barbarians still more, but it rendered
+the Romans more circumspect.
+
+Nevertheless, in one of the skirmishes which were continually taking
+place within sight of the two camps about the fordable places of the
+marsh, the German infantry--which Caesar had sent for from beyond the
+Rhine in order to mix them with the cavalry--joined in a body, boldly
+crossed the marsh, and, meeting with little resistance, continued the
+pursuit with such impetuosity that fear seized not only the enemy who
+fought, but even those who were in reserve. Instead of availing
+themselves of the advantages of the ground, all fled in a cowardly
+manner. They did not stop until they were within their camp, and some
+even were not ashamed to fly beyond it. This defeat caused a general
+discouragement, for the Gauls were as easily daunted by the least
+reverse as they were made arrogant by the smallest success.
+
+Day after day was passing in this manner when Caesar was informed of the
+arrival of C. Trebonius and his troops, which raised the number of his
+legions to seven. The chiefs of the Bellovaci then feared an investment
+like that of Alesia, and resolved to quit their position. They sent away
+by night the old men, the infirm, the unarmed men, and the part of the
+baggage which they had kept with them. Scarcely was this confused
+multitude in motion--embarrassed by its own mass and its numerous
+chariots--when daylight surprised it, and the troops had to be drawn up
+in line before the camp to give the column time to move away. Caesar saw
+no advantage either in giving battle to those who were in position, nor,
+on account of the steepness of the hill, in pursuing those who were
+making their retreat; he resolved, nevertheless, to make two legions
+advance in order to disturb the enemy in its retreat. Having observed
+that the mountain on which the Gauls were established was connected with
+another height (Mont Collet), from which it was only separated by a
+narrow valley, he ordered bridges to be thrown across the marsh. The
+legions crossed over them and soon attained the summit of the height,
+which was defended on both sides by abrupt declivities.
+
+There he collected his troops and advanced in order of battle up to the
+extremity of the plateau, whence the engines placed in battery could
+reach the masses of the enemy with their missiles.
+
+The barbarians, rendered confident by the advantage of their position,
+were ready to accept battle if the Romans dared to attack the mountain;
+besides, they were afraid to withdraw their troops successively, as, if
+divided, they might have been thrown into disorder. This attitude led
+Cæsar to resolve upon leaving twenty cohorts under arms, and on tracing
+a camp on this spot and retrenching it. When the works were completed
+the legions were placed before the retrenchments and the cavalry
+distributed with their horses bridled at the outposts. The Bellovaci had
+recourse to a stratagem in order to effect their retreat. They passed
+from hand to hand the fascines and the straw on which, according to the
+Gaulish custom, they were in the habit of sitting, preserving at the
+same time their order of battle; placed them in front of the camp, and
+toward the close of the day, on a preconcerted signal, set fire to them.
+Immediately a vast flame concealed from the Romans the Gaulish troops,
+who fled in haste.
+
+Although the fire prevented Cæsar from seeing the retreat of the enemy
+he suspected it. He ordered his legions to advance, and sent the cavalry
+in pursuit, but he marched slowly in fear of some stratagem, suspecting
+the barbarians to have formed the design of drawing the Romans to
+disadvantageous ground. Besides, the cavalry did not dare to ride
+through the smoke and flames; and thus the Bellovaci were able to pass
+over a distance of ten miles and halt in a place strongly fortified by
+nature (Mont Ganelon), where they pitched their camp. In this position
+they confined themselves to placing cavalry and infantry in frequent
+ambuscades, thus inflicting great damage on the Romans when they went to
+forage. After several encounters of this kind Cæsar learned by a
+prisoner that Correus, chief of the Bellovaci, with six thousand picked
+infantry and one thousand horsemen, was preparing an ambuscade in places
+where the abundance of corn and forage was likely to attract the Romans.
+In consequence of this information he sent forward the cavalry, which
+was always employed to protect the foragers, and joined with them some
+light-armed auxiliaries, while he himself, with a greater number of
+legions, followed them as closely as possible.
+
+The enemy had posted themselves in a plain--that of Choisy-au-Bac--of
+about one thousand paces in length and the same in breadth, surrounded
+on one side by forests, on the other by a river which was difficult to
+pass (the Aisne). The cavalry becoming acquainted with the designs of
+the Gauls and feeling themselves supported, advanced resolutely in
+squadrons toward this plain, which was surrounded with ambushes on all
+sides.
+
+Correus, seeing them arrive in this manner, believed the opportunity
+favorable for the execution of his plan and began by attacking the first
+squadrons with a few men. The Romans sustained the shock without
+concentrating themselves in a mass on the same point, "which," says
+Hirtius, "usually happens in cavalry engagements, and leads always to a
+dangerous confusion." There, on the contrary, the squadrons, remaining
+separated, fought in detached bodies, and when one of them advanced, its
+flanks were protected by the others. Correus then ordered the rest of
+his cavalry to issue from the woods. An obstinate combat began on all
+sides without any decisive result until the enemy's infantry, debouching
+from the forest in close ranks, forced the Roman cavalry to fall back.
+The lightly armed soldiers who preceded the legions placed themselves
+between the squadrons and restored the fortune of the combat. After a
+certain time the troops, animated by the approach of the legions and the
+arrival of Caesar, and ambitious of obtaining alone the honor of the
+victory, redoubled their efforts and gained the advantage. The enemy, on
+the other hand, were discouraged and took to flight, but were stopped by
+the very obstacles which they intended to throw in the way of the
+Romans. A small number, nevertheless, escaped through the forest and
+crossed the river. Correus, who remained unshaken under this
+catastrophe, obstinately refused to surrender, and fell pierced with
+wounds. After this success Caesar hoped that if he continued his march
+the enemy in dismay would abandon his camp, which was only eight miles
+from the field of battle. He therefore crossed the Aisne, though not
+without great difficulties.
+
+The Bellovaci and their allies, informed by the fugitives of the death
+of Correus, of the loss of their cavalry and the flower of their
+infantry, and fearing every moment to see the Romans appear, convoked by
+sound of trumpet a general assembly and decided by acclamation to send
+deputies and hostages to the proconsul. The barbarians implored
+forgiveness, alleging that this last defeat had ruined their power, and
+that the death of Correus, the instigator of the war, delivered them
+from oppression, for, during his life, it was not the senate which
+governed, but an ignorant multitude. To their prayers Caesar replied
+that last year the Bellovaci had revolted in concert with the other
+Gaulish peoples, but that _they_ alone had persisted in the revolt. It
+was very convenient to throw their faults upon those who were dead, but
+how could it be believed that with nothing but the help of a weak
+populace a man should have had sufficient influence to raise and sustain
+a war contrary to the will of the chiefs, the decision of the senate,
+and the desire of honest people? However, the evil which they had drawn
+upon themselves was for him a sufficient reparation.
+
+The following night the Bellovaci and their allies submitted, with the
+exception of Commius, who fled to the country from which he had but
+recently drawn support. He had not dared to trust the Romans for the
+following reason: "The year before, in the absence of Caesar, T.
+Labienus, informed that Commius was conspiring and preparing an
+insurrection, thought that without accusing him of bad faith," says
+Hirtius, "he could repress his treason." ("Under pretext of an interview
+he sent C. Volusenus Quadratus, with some centurions, to kill him; but
+when they were in the presence of the Gaulish chief the centurion who
+was to strike him missed his blow and only wounded him; swords were
+drawn on both sides and Commius had time to escape.")
+
+The most warlike tribes had been vanquished and none of them dreamed of
+further revolt. Nevertheless, many inhabitants of the newly conquered
+countries abandoned the towns and the fields in order to withdraw
+themselves from the Roman dominion. Caesar, in order to put a stop to
+this emigration, distributed his army in different countries. He ordered
+the quaestor, Mark Antony, to come to him with the Twelfth legion, and
+sent the lieutenant Fabius with twenty-five cohorts into an opposite
+part of Gaul--to the country situated between the Creuse and the
+Vienne--where it was said that several tribes were in arms, and where
+the lieutenant, Caninius Rebilus, who commanded with two legions, did
+not appear to be sufficiently strong. Lastly, he ordered T. Labienus to
+join him in person and to send the Fifteenth legion, which he had under
+his command, into Cisalpine Gaul to protect the colonies of Roman
+citizens there against the sudden inroads of the barbarians, who the
+summer before had attacked the Tergestini (the inhabitants of Trieste).
+
+As for Cæsar, he proceeded with four legions to the territory of the
+Eburones to lay it waste. As he could not secure Ambiorix, who was still
+wandering at large, he thought it advisable to destroy everything by
+fire and sword, persuaded that this chief would never dare to return to
+a country upon which he had brought such a terrible calamity. The
+legions and the auxiliaries were charged with the execution of this
+plan. Then he sent Labienus, with two legions, to the country of the
+Treviri, who, always at war with the Germans, were only kept in
+obedience by the presence of a Roman army.
+
+During this time Caninius Rebilus, who had first been appointed to go
+into the country of the Ruteni, but who had been detained by petty
+insurrections in the region situated between the Creuse and the Vienne,
+learned that numerous hostile bands were assembling in the country of
+the Pictones. He was informed of this by letters from Duratius, their
+king, who, amid the defection of a part of his people, had remained
+invariably faithful to the Romans. He started immediately for Lemonum
+(Poitiers). On the road he learned from prisoners that Duratius was shut
+up there and besieged by several thousand men under the orders of
+Dumnacus, chief of the Andes.
+
+Rebilus, at the head of two weak legions, did not dare to measure his
+strength with the enemy; he contented himself with establishing his camp
+in a strong position. At the news of his approach, Dumnacus raised the
+siege, and marched to meet the legions, but after several days of
+fruitless attempts to force their camp he returned to attack Lemonum.
+
+Meanwhile, the lieutenant, Caius Fabius, occupied in pacifying several
+other tribes, learned from Caninius Rebilus what was going on in the
+country of the Pictones and marched without delay to the assistance of
+Duratius. The news of the march of Fabius deprived Dumnacus of all hope
+of opposing, at the same time, the troops shut up in Lemonum and the
+relieving army. He abandoned the siege again in great haste, not
+thinking himself safe until he had placed the Loire between himself and
+the Romans; but he could only pass that river where there was a bridge
+(at Saumur). Before he had joined Rebilus, before he had even obtained a
+sight of the enemy, Fabius, who came from the North, and had lost no
+time, doubted not, from what he heard from the people of the country,
+that Dumnacus, in his fear, had taken the road which led to that bridge.
+He therefore marched thither with his legions, preceded at a short
+distance by his cavalry. The latter surprised the column of Dumnacus on
+its march, dispersed it, and returned to the camp laden with booty.
+
+During the night of the following day Fabius again sent his cavalry
+forward with orders to delay the march of the enemy so as to give time
+for the arrival of the infantry. The two bodies of cavalry were soon
+engaged, but the enemy, thinking he had to contend with only the same
+troops as the day before, drew up his infantry in line so as to support
+the squadrons, when suddenly the Roman legions appeared in order of
+battle. At this sight the barbarians were struck with terror, the long
+train of baggage thrown into confusion, and the infantry dispersed. More
+than twelve thousand men were killed and all the baggage fell into the
+hands of the Romans.
+
+Only five thousand fugitives escaped from this rout; they were received
+by the Senonan, Drappes, the same who in the first revolt of the Gauls
+had collected a crowd of vagabonds, slaves, exiles, and robbers to
+intercept the convoys of the Romans.
+
+They took the direction of the Narbonnese with the Cadurcan Lucterius
+who had before attempted a similar invasion.
+
+Rebilus pursued them with two legions in order to avoid the shame of
+seeing the province suffering any injury from such a contemptible
+rabble. As for Fabius, he led the twenty-five cohorts against the
+Carnutes and the other tribes whose forces had already been reduced by
+the defeat they had suffered from Dumnacus. The Carnutes, though often
+beaten, had never been completely subdued. They gave hostages, and the
+Armoricans followed their example. Dumnacus, driven out of his own
+territory, went to seek a refuge in the remotest part of Gaul.
+
+Drappes and Lucterius, when they learned that they were pursued by
+Rebilus and his two legions, gave up the design of penetrating into the
+province; they halted in the country of the Cadurci and threw themselves
+into the _oppidum_ of Uxellodunum (Puy-d'Issolu, near Varac), an
+exceedingly strong place formerly under the dependence of Lucterius, who
+soon incited the inhabitants to revolt.
+
+Rebilus appeared immediately before the town, which, surrounded on all
+sides by steep rocks, was, even without being defended, difficult of
+access to armed men. Knowing that there was in the oppidum so great a
+quantity of baggage that the besieged could not send it away secretly
+without being detected and overtaken by the cavalry, and even by the
+infantry, he divided his cohorts into three bodies and established three
+camps on the highest points. Next he ordered a countervallation to be
+made. On seeing these preparations the besieged remembered the
+ill-fortune of Alesia, and feared a similar fate. Lucterius, who had
+witnessed the horrors of famine during the investment of that town, now
+took especial care of the provisions.
+
+During this time the garrison of the oppidum attacked the redoubts of
+Rebilus several times, which obliged him to interrupt the work of the
+countervallation, which, indeed, he had not sufficient forces to defend.
+
+Drappes and Lucterius established themselves at a distance of ten miles
+from the oppidum, with the intention of introducing the provisions
+gradually. They shared the duties between them. Drappes remained with
+part of the troops to protect the camp. Lucterius, during the
+night-time, endeavored to introduce beasts of burden into the town by a
+narrow and wooded path. The noise of their march gave warning to the
+sentries. Rebilus, informed of what was going on, ordered the cohorts to
+sally from the neighboring redoubts, and at daybreak fell upon the
+convoy, the escort of which was slaughtered. Lucterius, having escaped
+with a small number of his followers, was unable to rejoin Drappes.
+
+Rebilus soon learned from prisoners that the rest of the troops which
+had left the oppidum were with Drappes at a distance of twelve miles,
+and that by a fortunate chance not one fugitive had taken that direction
+to carry him news of the last combat. The Roman general sent in advance
+all the cavalry and the light German infantry; he followed them with one
+legion, without baggage, leaving the other as a guard to the three
+camps. When he came near the enemy he learned, by his scouts, that the
+barbarians--according to their custom of neglecting the heights--had
+placed their camp on the banks of a river (probably the Dordogne); that
+the Germans and the cavalry had surprised them, and that they were
+already fighting. Rebilus then advanced rapidly at the head of the
+legion drawn up in order of battle and took possession of the heights.
+
+As soon as the ensigns appeared, the cavalry redoubled its ardor; the
+cohorts rushed forward from all sides and the Gauls were taken or
+killed. The booty was immense and Drappes fell into the hands of the
+Romans.
+
+Rebilus, after this successful exploit, which cost him but a few
+wounded, returned under the walls of Uxellodunum. Fearing no longer any
+attack from without, he set resolutely to work to continue his
+circumvallation. The day after, C. Fabius arrived, followed by his
+troops, and shared with him the labors of the siege. While the south of
+Gaul was the scene of serious trouble, Cæsar left the quaestor, Mark
+Antony, with fifteen cohorts in the country of the Bellovaci. To deprive
+the Belgæ of all idea of revolt he had proceeded to the neighboring
+countries with two legions; had exacted hostages, and restored
+confidence by his conciliating speeches. When he arrived among the
+Carnutes--who the year before had been the first to revolt--he saw that
+the remembrance of their conduct kept them in great alarm, and he
+resolved to put an end to it by causing his vengeance to fall only upon
+Gutruatus, the instigator of the war.
+
+This man was brought in and delivered up. Although Cæsar was naturally
+inclined to be indulgent, he could not resist the tumultuous entreaties
+of his soldiers, who made that chief responsible for all the dangers
+they had run and for all the misery they had suffered. Gutruatus died
+under the stripes and was afterward beheaded.
+
+It was in the land of the Carnutes that Cæsar received news, by the
+letters of Rebilus, of the events which had taken place at Uxellodunum
+and of the resistance of the besieged. Although a handful of men shut up
+in a fortress was not very formidable, he judged it necessary to punish
+their obstinacy, for fear that the Gauls should entertain the conviction
+that it was not strength, but constancy, which had failed them in
+resisting the Romans; and lest this example might encourage the other
+states which possessed fortresses advantageously situated, to recover
+their independence.
+
+Moreover, it was known everywhere among the Gauls that Cæsar had only
+one more summer to hold his command, and that after that time they would
+have nothing more to fear. He left therefore the lieutenant Quintus
+Calenus at the head of his two legions, with orders to follow him by
+ordinary marches, and, with his cavalry, hastened by long marches toward
+Uxellodunum. Cæsar, arriving unexpectedly before the town, found it
+completely defended at all accessible points. He judged that it could
+not be taken by assault (_neque ab oppugnatione recedi vidaret ulla
+conditione posse_), and, as it was abundantly provided with provisions,
+conceived the project of depriving the inhabitants of water.
+
+The mountain was surrounded almost on every side by very low ground, but
+on one side there existed a valley through which a river (the Tourmente)
+ran. As it flowed at the foot of two precipitous mountains the
+disposition of the localities did not admit of turning it aside and
+conducting it into lower channels. It was difficult for the besieged to
+come down to it, and the Romans rendered the approaches to it still more
+dangerous. They placed posts of archers and slingers, and brought
+engines which commanded all the slopes which gave access to the river.
+The besieged had thenceforth no other means of procuring water but by
+carrying it from an abundant spring which arose at the foot of the wall
+three hundred feet from the channel of the Tourmente. Cæsar resolved to
+drain this spring, and for this purpose he did not hesitate to attempt a
+laborious undertaking. Opposite the point where it rose he ordered
+covered galleries to be pushed forward against the mountain, and under
+protection of these a terrace to be raised--labors which were carried on
+in the midst of continual fighting and weariness.
+
+Although the besieged from their elevated position fought without danger
+and wounded many Romans, yet the latter did not yield to discouragement,
+but continued the work. At the same time they made a subterranean
+gallery, which, running from the covered galleries, was intended to lead
+up to the spring. This work, carried on free from all danger, was
+executed without being perceived by the enemy. The terrace attained a
+height of sixty feet and was surmounted by a tower of ten stories,
+which, without equalling the elevation of the wall--a result it was
+impossible to obtain--still commanded the fountain. Its approaches,
+battered by engines from the top of this tower, became inaccessible. In
+consequence of this, many men and animals in the place died of thirst.
+The besieged, terrified at this mortality, filled barrels with pitch,
+grease, and shavings, and rolled them flaming upon the Roman works,
+making at the same time a sally to prevent them from extinguishing the
+fire. Soon it spread to the covered galleries and the terrace, which
+stopped the progress of the inflammable materials.
+
+Notwithstanding the difficult nature of the ground and the increasing
+danger, the Romans still persevered in their struggle. The battle took
+place on a height within sight of the army. Loud cries were raised on
+both sides. Each individual sought to rival his fellow in zeal, and the
+more he was exposed to view the more courageously he faced the missiles
+and the fire.
+
+Caesar, as he was sustaining great loss, determined to feign an assault.
+In order to create a diversion he ordered some cohorts to climb the hill
+on all sides, uttering loud cries. This movement terrified the besieged,
+who, fearing to be attacked at other points, called back to the defence
+of the wall those who were setting fire to the works. Then the Romans
+were enabled to extinguish the flames. The Gauls, although exhausted by
+thirst and reduced to a small number, ceased not to defend themselves
+vigorously. At length the subterranean gallery having reached the source
+of the spring, the supply was turned aside. The besieged, beholding the
+fountain suddenly become dry, believed in their despair that it was an
+intervention of the gods, and, submitting to necessity, surrendered.
+
+Caesar considered that the pacification of Gaul would never be completed
+if as strong a resistance was encountered in other towns. He thought it
+advisable to spread terror by a severe example--so much the more so as
+"the well-known mildness of his temper," says Hirtius, "would not allow
+this necessary rigor to be ascribed to cruelty." He ordered that all
+those who had borne arms should have their hands cut off, and sent them
+away living examples of the punishment reserved for rebels.
+
+Drappes, who had been taken prisoner, starved himself to death;
+Lucterius, who had been arrested by the Arvernan Epasnactus (a friend of
+the Romans), was delivered up to Caesar. While these events were taking
+place on the banks of the Dordogne, Labienus, in a cavalry engagement,
+had gained a decisive advantage over a part of the Treviri and Germans;
+had taken prisoner their chief, and thus subjected a people who were
+always ready to support any insurrection against the Romans. The Aeduan
+Surus fell also into his hands. He was a chief distinguished for his
+courage and birth, and the only one of that nation who had not yet laid
+down his arms.
+
+From that moment Caesar considered Gaul to be completely pacified. He
+resolved, however, to go himself to Aquitaine, which he had not yet
+visited and which Publius Crassus had partly conquered. Arriving there
+at the head of two legions, he obtained the complete submission of that
+country without difficulty. All the tribes sent him hostages. He
+proceeded next to Narbonne with a detachment of cavalry and charged his
+lieutenants to put the army into winter quarters. Four legions, under
+the orders of Mark Antony, Caius Trebonius, Publius Vatinius, and Q.
+Tullius, were quartered in Belgium, two among the Aedui and two among
+the Turones on the frontier of the Carnutes, to hold in check all the
+countries bordering on the ocean.
+
+These two last legions took up their winter quarters on the territory of
+the Lemovices, not far from the Arverni, so that no part of Gaul should
+be without troops. Caesar remained but a short time in the province,
+presiding hastily over the assemblies, determining cases of public
+dispute, and rewarding those who had served him well. He had had
+occasion more than anyone to know their sentiments individually, because
+during the general revolt of Gaul the fidelity and succor of the
+province had aided him in triumphing over it. When these affairs were
+settled he returned to his legions in Belgium and took up his winter
+quarters at Nemetocenna (Arras).
+
+There he was informed of the last attempts of Commius, who, continuing a
+partisan war at the head of a small number of cavalry, intercepted the
+Roman convoys. Mark Antony had charged C. Volusenus Quadratus, prefect
+of the cavalry, to pursue him. He had accepted the task eagerly in the
+hope of succeeding the second time better than the first, but Commius,
+taking advantage of the rash ardor with which his enemy had rushed upon
+him, had wounded him seriously and escaped. He was discouraged, however,
+and had promised Mark Antony to retire to any spot which should be
+appointed him on condition that he should never be compelled to appear
+before a Roman. This condition having been accepted, he had given
+hostages. Gaul was hereby subjugated. Death or slavery had carried off
+its principal citizens. Of all the chiefs who had fought for its
+independence only two survived--Commius and Ambiorix.
+
+Banished far from their country they died in obscurity.
+
+
+
+
+ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN
+
+B.C. 55 - A.D. 79
+
+OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+
+(When Julius Caesar received the province of Gaul as his government,
+B.C. 58, it was only a small portion of the territory inhabited by the
+Gauls or Celts, being almost conterminous with the mediaeval Provence.
+It was also at peace, and there seemed no excuse for making an extension
+of Roman territory among the three tribes or races between which
+Northern and Western Gaul were divided. But the Helvetii, who occupied
+that part of the Alps known to-day as Switzerland, meditated an
+emigration into the plains of Gaul, and, as their shortest route lay
+across the Roman provinces, they asked leave of Caesar to pass three
+hundred and sixty thousand souls in all, counting women and children,
+through the imperial territory.
+
+The Roman commander, after giving them an evasive answer, met them in
+the territory of the Sequani and Aedui and defeated them, driving them
+back to their mountains. He next went to the aid of the Aedui, ancient
+allies of Rome, against the Arverni and Sequani, who had invaded the
+Aeduan territory under a German chieftain, Ariovistus. The result was
+that Ariovistus was defeated and driven eastward across the Rhine. He
+then defeated the Belgae, who, in B.C. 57, took up arms against the
+garrisons which he had left in the country of the Sequani [dwellers on
+the Seine]. He continued his conquest of the Belgic territory, and
+subjected the three nations who occupied it, finally entering the
+country of the warlike Nervii, whom he only conquered after a stubborn
+and bloody battle. As soon as he had subjugated the whole of Gaul, he
+crossed the Rhine for the purpose of intimidating the Germans and
+teaching them to keep within their own boundaries.
+
+He pursued the same policy with regard to the Britons, who, according to
+information received by him, had sent aid to the Gauls in their struggle
+with Rome. His ships were brought round from the Loire to that part of
+the French coast now known as Boulogne, and he set out for Britain,
+where he landed, and eventually received the submission of the British
+chieftains.)
+
+
+The Britons in their rude and barbarous state seemed to stand in need of
+more polished instructors; and indeed whatever evils may attend the
+conquest of heroes, their success has generally produced one good effect
+in disseminating the arts of refinement and humanity. It ever happens
+when a barbarous nation is conquered by another more advanced in the
+arts of peace, that it gains in elegance a recompense for what it loses
+in liberty.
+
+The Britons had long remained in this rude but independent state, when
+Cæsar, having overrun Gaul with his victories, and willing still further
+to extend his fame, determined upon the conquest of a country that
+seemed to promise an easy triumph. He was allured neither by the riches
+nor by the renown of the inhabitants; but being ambitious rather of
+splendid than of useful conquests, he was willing to carry the Roman
+arms into a country the remote situation of which would add seeming
+difficulty to the enterprise and consequently produce an increase of
+reputation. His pretence was to punish these islanders for having sent
+succors to the Gauls while he waged war against that nation, as well as
+for granting an asylum to such of the enemy as had sought protection
+from his resentment.
+
+The natives, informed of his intention, were sensible of the unequal
+contest and endeavored to appease him by submission. He received their
+ambassadors with great complacency, and having exhorted them to continue
+steadfast in the same sentiments, in the mean time made preparations for
+the execution of his design. When the troops designed for the expedition
+were embarked he set sail for Britain about midnight, and the next
+morning arrived on the coast near Dover, where he saw the rocks and
+cliffs covered with armed men to oppose his landing.
+
+Finding it impracticable to gain the shore where he first intended, from
+the agitation of the sea and the impending mountains, he resolved to
+choose a landing-place of greater security. The place he chose was about
+eight miles farther on (some suppose at Deal), where an inclining shore
+and a level country invited his attempts. The poor, naked, ill-armed
+Britons we may well suppose were but an unequal match for the
+disciplined Romans who had before conquered Gaul and afterward became
+the conquerors of the world. However, they made a brave opposition
+against the veteran army; the conflicts between them were fierce, the
+losses mutual, and the success various.
+
+The Britons had chosen Cassibelaunus for their commander-in-chief; but
+the petty princes under his command, either desiring his station or
+suspecting his fidelity, threw off their allegiance. Some of them fled
+with their forces into the internal parts of the kingdom, others
+submitted to Caesar; till at length Cassibelaunus himself, weakened by
+so many desertions, resolved upon making what terms he was able while
+yet he had power to keep the field. The conditions offered by Caesar and
+accepted by him were that he should send to the Continent double the
+number of hostages at first demanded and that he should acknowledge
+subjection to the Romans.
+
+The Romans were pleased with the name of this new and remote conquest,
+and the senate decreed a supplication of twenty days in consequence of
+their general's success. Having therefore in this manner rather
+discovered than subdued the southern parts of the island, Caesar
+returned into Gaul with his forces and left the Britons to enjoy their
+customs, religion, and laws. But the inhabitants, thus relieved from the
+terror of his arms, neglected the performance of their stipulations, and
+only two of their states sent over hostages according to the treaty.
+Caesar, it is likely, was not much displeased at the omission, as it
+furnished him with a pretext for visiting the island once more and
+completing a conquest which he had only begun.
+
+Accordingly the ensuing spring he set sail for Britain with eight
+hundred ships,[69] and arriving at the place of his descent he landed
+without opposition. The islanders being apprised of his invasion had
+assembled an army and marched down to the sea-side to oppose him, but
+seeing the number of his forces, and the whole sea, as it were, covered
+with his shipping, they were struck with consternation and retired to
+their places of security. The Romans, however, pursued them to their
+retreats until at last common danger induced these poor barbarians to
+forget their former dissensions and to unite their whole strength for
+the mutual defence of their liberty and possessions.
+
+[Footnote 69: With regard to these Roman _ships_, let not our readers be
+misled by a familiar notion or a pompous name. They were but little more
+than rowboats, as may be easily imagined from the fact that Cicero
+instances for its uncommon magnitude a _ship_ of only fifty-six tons!
+These ancient vessels were occasionally sheathed with leather or lead,
+and had the prow decorated with paint and gilding, while the stern was
+sometimes carved in the figure of a shield, elaborately adorned. Upon a
+staff there erected hung ribbons distinctive of the ship and serving at
+the same time to show the direction of the wind. There, too, stood the
+_tutela_, or chosen patron of the ship, to whom prayers and sacrifices
+were daily offered. The selection of this deity was guided by either
+private or professional reasons, and as merchants committed themselves
+to the protection of Mercury, or lovers to the care of Cupid, warriors,
+it will at once be surmised, made Mars the object of their pious
+supplication.
+
+At a later period than the epoch to which our present note attaches,
+when Constantius removed from Heliopolis to Rome an enormous obelisk,
+weighing fifteen hundred tons, the vessel on board of which it was
+shipped also carried _eleven hundred and thirty-eight tons_ of pulse;
+but such vast and unmanageable masses were regarded as monsters, and
+owed their existence to the absolute urgency of a remarkable purpose,
+backed by the despotic institutions of the times.]
+
+Cassibelaunus was chosen to conduct the common cause, and for some time
+he harassed the Romans in their march and revived the desponding hopes
+of his countrymen. But no opposition that undisciplined strength could
+make was able to repress the vigor and intrepidity of Cæsar. He
+discomfited the Britons in every action; he advanced into the country,
+passed the Thames in the face of the enemy, took and burned the capital
+city of Cassibelaunus, established his ally Mandubratius as sovereign of
+the Trinobantes; and having obliged the inhabitants to make new
+submissions, he again returned with his army into Gaul, having made
+himself rather the nominal than the real possessor of the island.
+
+Whatever the stipulated tribute might have been, it is more than
+probable, as there was no authority left to exact it, that it was but
+indifferently paid. Upon the accession of Augustus, that Emperor had
+formed a design of visiting Britain, but was diverted from it by an
+unexpected revolt of the Pannonians. Some years after he resumed his
+design; but being met in his way by the British ambassadors, who
+promised the accustomed tribute and made the usual submissions, he
+desisted from his intention. The year following, finding them remiss in
+their supplies and untrue to their former professions, he once more
+prepared for the invasion of the country; but a well-timed embassy again
+averted his indignation, and the submissions he received seemed to
+satisfy his resentment; upon his death-bed he appeared sensible of the
+overgrown extent of the Roman Empire and recommended it to his
+successors never to enlarge their territories.
+
+Tiberius followed the maxims of Augustus and, wisely judging the empire
+already too extensive, made no attempt upon Britain. Some Roman soldiers
+having been wrecked on the British coast the inhabitants not only
+assisted them with the greatest humanity, but sent them in safety back
+to their general. In consequence of these friendly dispositions, a
+constant intercourse of good offices subsisted between the two nations;
+the principal British nobility resorted to Rome, and many received their
+education there.
+
+From that time the Britons began to improve in all the arts which
+contribute to the advancement of human nature. The first art which a
+savage people is generally taught by politer neighbors is that of war.
+The Britons thenceforward, though not wholly addicted to the Roman
+method of fighting, nevertheless adopted several of their improvements,
+as well in their arms as in their arrangement in the field. Their
+ferocity to strangers, for which they had been always remarkable, was
+mitigated and they began to permit an intercourse of commerce even in
+the internal parts of the country. They still, however, continued to
+live as herdsmen and hunters; a manifest proof that the country was yet
+but thinly inhabited. A nation of hunters can never be populous, as
+their subsistence is necessarily diffused over a large tract of country,
+while the husbandman converts every part of nature to human use, and
+flourishes most by the vicinity of those whom he is to support.
+
+The wild extravagances of Caligula by which he threatened Britain with
+an invasion served rather to expose him to ridicule than the island to
+danger. The Britons therefore for almost a century enjoyed their liberty
+unmolested, till at length the Romans in the reign of Claudius began to
+think seriously of reducing them under their dominion. The expedition
+for this purpose was conducted in the beginning by Plautius and other
+commanders, with that success which usually attended the Roman arms.
+
+Claudius himself, finding affairs sufficiently prepared for his
+reception, made a journey thither and received the submission of such
+states as living by commerce were willing to purchase tranquillity at
+the expense of freedom. It is true that many of the inland provinces
+preferred their native simplicity to imported elegance and, rather than
+bow their necks to the Roman yoke, offered their bosoms to the sword.
+But the southern coast with all the adjacent inland country was seized
+by the conquerors, who secured the possession by fortifying camps,
+building fortresses, and planting colonies. The other parts of the
+country, either thought themselves in no danger or continued patient
+spectators of the approaching devastation.
+
+Caractacus was the first who seemed willing, by a vigorous effort, to
+rescue his country and repel its insulting and rapacious conquerors.[70]
+The venality and corruption of the Roman prætors and officers, who were
+appointed to levy the contributions in Britain, served to excite the
+indignation of the natives and give spirit to his attempts. This rude
+soldier, though with inferior forces, continued for about the space of
+nine years to oppose and harass the Romans; so that at length Ostorius
+Scapula was sent over to command their armies. He was more successful
+than his predecessors. He advanced the Roman conquest over Britain,
+pierced the country of the Silures, a warlike nation along the banks of
+the Severn, and at length came up with Caractacus, who had taken
+possession of a very advantageous post upon an almost inaccessible
+mountain, washed by a deep and rapid stream.
+
+[Footnote 70: The character of this hero has been powerfully depicted by
+Beaumont and Fletcher, in one of their noblest dramas.]
+
+The unfortunate British general, when he saw the enemy approaching, drew
+up his army, composed of different tribes, and going from rank to rank
+exhorted them to strike the last blow for liberty, safety, and life. To
+these exhortations his soldiers replied with shouts of determined valor.
+But what could undisciplined bravery avail against the attack of an army
+skilled in all the arts of war and inspired by a long train of
+conquests? The Britons were, after an obstinate resistance, totally
+routed, and a few days after Caractacus himself was delivered up to the
+conquerors by Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, with whom he had
+taken refuge. The capture of this general was received with such joy at
+Rome that Claudius commanded that he should be brought from Britain in
+order to be exhibited as a spectacle to the Roman people. Accordingly,
+on the day appointed for that purpose, the Emperor, ascending his
+throne, ordered the captives and Caractacus among the number to be
+brought into his presence. The vassals of the British King, with the
+spoils taken in war, were first brought forward; these were followed by
+his family, who, with abject lamentations, were seen to implore for
+mercy.
+
+Last of all came Caractacus with an undaunted air and a dignified
+aspect. He appeared no way dejected at the amazing concourse of
+spectators that were gathered upon this occasion, but, casting his eyes
+on the splendors that surrounded him, "Alas!" cried he, "how is it
+possible that a people possessed of such magnificence at home could envy
+me an humble cottage in Britain?" When brought into the Emperor's
+presence he is said to have addressed him in the following manner: "Had
+my moderation been equal to my birth and fortune, I had arrived in this
+city not as a captive, but as a friend. But my present misfortunes
+redound as much to your honor as to my disgrace; and the obstinacy of my
+opposition serves to increase the splendor of your victory. Had I
+surrendered myself in the beginning of the contest, neither my disgrace
+nor your glory would have attracted the attention of the world, and my
+fate would have been buried in general oblivion. I am now at your mercy;
+but if my life be spared, I shall remain an eternal monument of your
+clemency and moderation." The Emperor was affected with the British
+hero's misfortunes and won by his address. He ordered him to be
+unchained upon the spot, with the rest of the captives, and the first
+use they made of their liberty was to go and prostrate themselves before
+the empress Agrippina, who as some suppose had been an intercessor for
+their freedom.
+
+Notwithstanding these misfortunes, the Britons were not subdued, and
+this island was regarded by the ambitious Romans as a field in which
+military honor might still be acquired. The Britons made one expiring
+effort to recover their liberty in the time of Nero, taking advantage of
+the absence of Paulinus, the Roman general, who was employed in subduing
+the isle of Anglesey. That small island, separated from Britain by a
+narrow channel, still continued the chief seat of the Druidical
+superstition, and constantly afforded a retreat to their defeated
+forces. It was thought necessary therefore to subdue that place, in
+order to extirpate a religion that disdained submission to foreign laws
+or leaders; and Paulinus, the greatest general of his age, undertook the
+task.
+
+The Britons endeavored to obstruct his landing on that last retreat of
+their superstitions and liberties, both by the force of their arms and
+the terrors of their religion. The priests and islanders were drawn up
+in order of battle upon the shore, to oppose his landing. The women,
+dressed like Furies, with dishevelled hair, and torches in their hands,
+poured forth the most terrible execrations. Such a sight at first
+confounded the Romans and fixed them motionless on the spot; so that
+they received the first assault without opposition. But Paulinus,
+exhorting his troops to despise the menaces of an absurd superstition,
+impelled them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field, burned the
+Druids in the same fires they had prepared for their captive enemies,
+and destroyed all their consecrated groves and altars.
+
+In the mean time the Britons, taking advantage of his absence, resolved,
+by a general insurrection, to free themselves from that state of abject
+servitude to which they were reduced by the Romans. They had many
+motives to aggravate their resentment--the greatness of their taxes,
+which were levied with unremitting severity; the cruel insolence of
+their conquerors, who reproached that very poverty which they had
+caused, but particularly the barbarous treatment of Boadicea, queen of
+the Iceni, drove them at last into open rebellion.
+
+Prasatagus, king of the Iceni, at his death had bequeathed one-half of
+his dominions to the Romans, and the other to his daughters; thus hoping
+by the sacrifice of a part to secure the rest in his family; but it had
+a different effect; for the Roman procurator immediately took possession
+of the whole, and when Boadicea, the widow of the deceased, attempted to
+remonstrate, he ordered her to be scourged like a slave, and violated
+the chastity of her daughters. These outrages were sufficient to produce
+a revolt through the whole island. The Iceni, being the most deeply
+interested in the quarrel, were the first to take arms; all the other
+states soon followed the example, and Boadicea, a woman of great beauty
+and masculine spirit, was appointed to head the common forces, which
+amounted to two hundred and thirty thousand fighting men.
+
+These, exasperated by their wrongs, attacked several of the Roman
+settlements and colonies with success, Paulinus hastened to relieve
+London, which was already a flourishing colony; but found on his arrival
+that it would be requisite, for the general safety, to abandon that
+place to the merciless fury of the enemy. London was therefore soon
+reduced to ashes; such of the inhabitants as remained in it were
+massacred; and the Romans with all other strangers to the number of
+seventy thousand were cruelly put to the sword. Flushed with these
+successes the Britons no longer sought to avoid the enemy, but boldly
+came to the place where Paulinus awaited their arrival, posted in a very
+advantageous manner with a body of ten thousand men. The battle was
+obstinate and bloody. Boadicea herself appeared in a chariot with her
+two daughters and harangued her army with masculine firmness; but the
+irregular and undisciplined bravery of her troops was unable to resist
+the cool intrepidity of the Romans. They were routed with great
+slaughter; eighty thousand perished in the field, and an infinite number
+were made prisoners, while Boadicea herself, fearing to fall into the
+hands of the enraged victor, put an end to her life by poison. Nero soon
+after recalled Paulinus from a government where, by suffering and
+inflicting so many severities, he was judged improper to compose the
+angry and alarmed minds of the natives.
+
+After an interval, Cerealis received the command from Vespasian, and by
+his bravery propagated the terror of the Roman arms. Julius Frontinus
+succeeded Cerealis both in authority and reputation. The general who
+finally established the dominion of the Romans in this island was Julius
+Agricola, who governed it during the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and
+Domitian, and distinguished himself as well by his courage as humanity.
+
+Agricola, who is considered as one of the greatest characters in
+history, formed a regular plan for subduing and civilizing the island,
+and thus rendering the acquisition useful to the conquerors. As the
+northern part of the country was least tractable, he carried his
+victorious arms thither, and defeated the undisciplined enemy in every
+encounter. He pierced into the formerly inaccessible forests and
+mountains of Caledonia; he drove onward all those fierce and intractable
+spirits who preferred famine to slavery, and who, rather than submit,
+chose to remain in perpetual hostility. Nor was it without opposition
+that he thus made his way into a country rude and impervious by nature.
+
+He was opposed by Galgacus at the head of a numerous army, whom he
+defeated in a decisive action, in which considerable numbers were slain.
+Being thus successful, he did not think proper to pursue the enemy into
+their retreats; but embarking a body of troops on board his fleet, he
+ordered the commander to surround the whole coast of Britain, which had
+not been discovered to be an island till the preceding year. This
+armament, pursuant to his orders, steered to the northward, and there
+subdued the Orkneys; then making the tour of the whole island, it
+arrived in the port of Sandwich, without having met with the least
+disaster.
+
+During these military enterprises, Agricola was ever attentive to the
+arts of peace. He attempted to humanize the fierceness of those who
+acknowledged his power, by introducing the Roman laws, habits, manners,
+and learning. He taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of
+life, instructed them in the arts of agriculture, and, in order to
+protect them in their peaceable possessions, he drew a rampart, and
+fixed a train of garrisons between them and their northern neighbors,
+thus cutting off the ruder and more barren parts of the island and
+securing the Roman province from the invasion of a fierce and
+necessitous enemy. In this manner the Britons, being almost totally
+subdued, now began to throw off all hopes of recovering their former
+liberty, and, having often experienced the superiority of the Romans,
+consented to submit, and were content with safety. From that time the
+Romans seemed more desirous of securing what they possessed than of
+making new conquests, and were employed rather in repressing than
+punishing their restless northern invaders.
+
+
+
+
+CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF CÆSAR AND
+ANTONY
+
+B.C. 51-30
+
+JOHN P. MAHAFFY
+
+
+(Several Egyptian princesses of the line of the Ptolemies bore the name
+of Cleopatra, but history, romance, and tragedy are all illumined with
+the story of one--Cleopatra the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. Born at
+Alexandria, B.C. 69, she ruled jointly with her brother Ptolemy from 51
+to 48. Being then expelled by her colleague, she entered upon the
+performance of her part in Roman history when her cause was espoused by
+Julius Cæsar, whom she had captivated by her charms. Her reinstatement
+by the help of Cæsar, as well as all that followed in her relations with
+Roman rulers, was due primarily to personal considerations, rather than
+political or military causes; and among women whose lives have vitally
+influenced the conduct of great historic leaders, and thereby affected
+the course of events, Cleopatra holds a place at once the most
+conspicuous and most unique.
+
+Like Cæsar, Mark Antony, at his first interview with Cleopatra,
+succumbed to the fascinations of the "Rare Egyptian," and he never after
+ceased to be her slave. Not long after Cæsar's death Antony had married
+Fulvia, whom he deserted for the "enchanting queen." From this point to
+its culmination in overwhelming disaster and the tragic death of this
+celebrated pair of lovers, the romantic drama of Cleopatra's conquests
+becomes even more important in literature than in history. This
+extraordinary voluptuary, whose beauty and witcheries have interested
+mankind for almost twenty centuries, has been the subject of some thirty
+tragedies in various languages; and in _Antony and Cleopatra_--one of
+his greatest plays--Shakespeare, closely following the narratives of
+Plutarch and other classical writers, has invested her with a potency of
+charm unparalleled among literary creations.
+
+She matches Antony in qualities of intellect, while she dazzles him with
+her coquettish arts. "A queen, a siren," says Thomas Campbell, "a
+Shakespeare's Cleopatra alone could have entangled Shakespeare's
+Antony." And Shakespeare alone, as declared by Mrs. Jameson, "has dared
+to exhibit the Egyptian Queen with all her greatness and all her
+littleness, all her paltry arts and dissolute passions, yet awakened our
+pity for fallen grandeur without once beguiling us into sympathy with
+guilt."
+
+Yet the plain history of this "Sorceress of the Nile," with her
+"infinite variety," as told by Plutarch and the other ancients, and
+retold, with whatever advantages gained from critical research, by the
+modern masters, makes the same impression of moral contrast and
+inscrutability as that imparted by the greatest poet who has dramatized
+the character of Cleopatra.)
+
+
+Now at last Egypt, coming into close connection with the world's
+masters, becomes the stage for some of the most striking scenes in
+ancient history. They seem to most readers something new and
+strange--the pageants and passions of the fratricide Cleopatra as
+something unparalleled--and yet she was one of a race in which almost
+every reigning princess for the last two hundred years had been swayed
+by like storms of passion, or had been guilty of like daring violations
+of common humanity. What Arsinoë, what Cleopatra, from the first to the
+last, had hesitated to murder a brother or a husband, to assume the
+throne, to raise and command armies, to discard or adopt a partner of
+her throne from caprice in policy, or policy in caprice? But hitherto
+this desperate gambling with life had been carried on in Egypt and
+Syria; the play had been with Hellenistic pawns--Egyptian or Syrian
+princes; the last Cleopatra came to play with Roman pieces, easier
+apparently to move than the others, but implying higher stakes, greater
+glory in the victory, greater disaster in the defeat. Therefore is it
+that this last Cleopatra, probably no more than an average specimen of
+the beauty, talent, daring, and cruelty of her ancestors, has taken an
+unique place among them in the imagination of the world, and holds her
+own even now and forever as a familiar name throughout the world.
+
+Ptolemy Auletes, when dying, had taken great care not to bequeath his
+mortgaged kingdom to his Roman creditors. In his will he had named as
+his heirs the elder of his two sons, and his daughter, who was the
+eldest of the family. Nobody thought of claiming Egypt for a heritage of
+the Roman Republic, when the whole world was the prize proposed in the
+civil conflict, for though the war of Cæsar and Pompey had not actually
+broken out, the political sky was lowering with blackness, and the
+coming tempest was muttering its thunder through the sultry air. So
+Cleopatra, now about sixteen or seventeen years of age, and her much
+younger brother (about ten) assumed the throne as was traditional,
+without any tumult or controversy,
+
+The opening discords came from within the royal family. The tutors and
+advisers of the young King, among whom Pothinos, a eunuch brought up
+with him as his playmate, according to the custom of the court, was the
+ablest and most influential, persuaded him to assume sole direction of
+affairs and to depose his elder sister. Cleopatra was not able to
+maintain herself in Alexandria, but went to Syria as an exile, where she
+promptly collected an army, as was the wont of these Egyptian
+princesses, who seem to have resources always under their control, and
+returned--within a few months, says Cæsar--by way of Pelusium, to
+reconquer her lawful share in the throne. This happened in the fourth
+year of their so-called joint reign, B.C. 48, at the very time that
+Pompey and Cæsar were engaged in their conflict for a far greater
+kingdom.
+
+Cæsar expressed his opinion that the quarrel of the sovereigns in Egypt
+concerned the Roman people, and himself as consul, the more so as it was
+in his previous consulate that the recognition of and alliance with
+their father had taken place. So he signified his decision that Ptolemy
+and Cleopatra should dismiss their armies, and should discuss their
+claims before him by argument and not by arms. All our authorities,
+except Dio Cassius, state that he sent for Cleopatra that she might
+personally urge her claims; but Dio tells us, with far more detail and I
+think greater probability, "that at first the quarrel with her brother
+was argued for her by friends, till she, learning the amorous character
+of Cæsar, sent him word that her case was being mismanaged by her
+advocates, and she desired to plead it herself, She was then in the
+flower of her age (about twenty) and celebrated for her beauty.
+Moreover, she had the sweetest of voices, and every charm of
+conversation, so that she was likely to ensnare even the most obdurate
+and elderly man. These gifts she regarded as her claims upon Cæsar. She
+prayed therefore for an interview, and adorned herself in a garb most
+becoming, but likely to arouse his pity, and so came secretly by night
+to visit him."
+
+If she indeed arrived secretly and was carried into the palace by one
+faithful follower as a bale of carpet, it was from fear of assassination
+by the party of Pothinos. She knew that as soon as she had reached
+Cæsar's sentries she was safe; as the event proved, she was more than
+safe, for in the brief interval of peace, and perhaps even of apparent
+jollity, while the royal dispute was under discussion, she gained an
+influence over Cæsar which she retained till his death. Cæsar
+adjudicated the throne according to the will of Auletes; he even
+restored Cyprus to Egypt, and proposed to send the younger brother and
+his sister Arsinoë to govern it; but he also insisted on a repayment, in
+part at least, of the enormous outstanding debt of Auletes to him and
+his party.
+
+A few months after Cæsar's departure from Egypt Cleopatra gave birth to
+a son, whom she alleged, without any immediate contradiction, to be the
+dictator's. The Alexandrians called him Cæsarion, and she never swerved
+from asserting for him royal privileges. We hear of no other lover,
+though it is impossible to imagine Cleopatra arriving at the age of
+twenty without providing herself with this luxury. She was, however,
+afraid to let Cæsar live far from her influence, and some time before
+his assassination--that is to say, some time between B.C. 48 and 44--she
+came with the young King her brother to Rome, where she was received in
+Cæsar's palace beyond the Tiber, causing by her residence there
+considerable scandal among the stricter Romans. Cicero confesses that he
+went to see her, but protests that his reasons for doing so were
+absolutely nonpolitical. Cicero found her haughty; he does not say she
+was beautiful and fascinating. We do not hear of any political activity
+on her part, though Cicero evidently suspects it; it is well-nigh
+impossible that she can have preferred her very doubtful position at
+Rome to her brilliant life in the East. She was suspected of urging
+Cæsar to move eastward the capital of his new empire, to desert Rome,
+and choose either Ilium, the imaginary cradle of his race, or
+Alexandria, as his residence. She is likely to have encouraged at all
+events his expedition against the Parthians, which would bring him to
+Syria, whence she hoped to gain new territory for her son. The whole
+situation is eloquently, perhaps too eloquently, described by Merivale,
+for he weaves in many conjectures of his own, as if they were
+ascertained facts.
+
+The colors of this imitation of a hateful original [the oriental despot]
+were heightened by the demeanor of Cleopatra, who followed her lover to
+Rome at his invitation. She came with the younger Ptolemæus, who now
+shared her throne, and her ostensible object was to negotiate a treaty
+between her kingdom and the Commonwealth. While the Egyptian nation was
+formally admitted to the friendship and alliance of Rome, its sovereign
+was lodged in Cæsar's villa on the other side of the Tiber, and the
+statue of the most fascinating of women was erected in the temple of the
+Goddess of Love and Beauty. The connection which subsisted between her
+and the dictator was unblushingly avowed. Public opinion demanded no
+concessions to its delicacy; the feelings of the injured Calpurnia had
+been blunted by repeated outrage, and Cleopatra was encouraged to
+proclaim openly that her child Cæsarion was the son of her Roman
+admirer. A tribune, named Helvius Cinna, ventured, it is said, to assert
+among his friends that he was prepared to propose a law, with the
+dictator's sanction, to enable him to marry more wives than one, for the
+sake of progeny, and to disregard in his choice the legitimate
+qualification of Roman descent. The Romans, however, were spared this
+last insult to their prejudices. The queen of Egypt felt bitterly the
+scorn with which she was popularly regarded as the representative of an
+effeminate and licentious people. It is not improbable that she employed
+her fatal influence to withdraw her lover from the Roman capital, and
+urged him to schemes of oriental conquest to bring him more completely
+within her toils. In the mean while the haughtiness of her demeanor
+corresponded with the splendid anticipations in which she indulged. She
+held a court in the suburbs of the city, at which the adherents of the
+dictator's policy were not the only attendants. Even his opponents and
+concealed enemies were glad to bask in the sunshine of her smiles.
+
+When Cæsar was assassinated, she was still at Rome, and had some wild
+hopes of having her son recognized by the Cæsareans. But failing in this
+she escaped secretly, and sailed to Egypt, not without causing
+satisfaction to cautious men like Cicero that she was gone. The passage
+in which he seems to allude to a rumor that she was about to have
+another child--another misfortune to the State--does not bear that
+interpretation. As he says not a word concerning the young king Ptolemy,
+we may assume that the youth was already dead, and that he died at Rome.
+The common belief was that Cleopatra poisoned him as soon as his
+increasing years made him troublesome to her. In her reign four years
+are assigned to a joint rule with her elder brother, four more to that
+with her younger, so that this latter must have died in the same year as
+Cæsar.
+
+Cleopatra, watching from Egypt the great civil war which ensued,
+summoned and commanded by the various leaders to send aid in ships and
+money, threatened with plunder and confiscation by those who were now
+exhausting Asia Minor and the islands with monstrous exactions, had
+ample occupation for her talents in steering safely among these constant
+dangers. Appian says she pleaded famine and pestilence in her country in
+declining the demands of Cassius for subsidies. The latter was on the
+point of invading Egypt, at the moment denuded of defending forces and
+_wasted with famine_, when he was summoned to Philippi by Brutus.
+
+It was not till B.C. 41, after the decisive battle of Philippi, that the
+victorious Antony, turning to subdue the East to the Cæsarean cause,
+held his _joyeuse entrée_ into Ephesus, and then proceeded to drain all
+Asia Minor of money for the satisfaction of his greedy legionaries and
+his own still more greedy vices. Reaching Cilicia, he sent an order to
+the queen of Egypt to come before him and explain her conduct during the
+late war, for she was reported to have sent aid to Cassius. The sequel
+may be told in Plutarch's famous narrative:
+
+"Dellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen her face, and
+remarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, than he felt convinced
+that Antony would not so much as think of giving any molestation to a
+woman like this. On the contrary, she would be the first in favor with
+him. So he set himself at once to pay his court to the Egyptian, and
+gave her his advice, 'to go,' in the Homeric style, to Cilicia, 'in her
+best attire,' and bade her fear nothing from Antony, the gentlest and
+kindest of soldiers. She had some faith in the words of Dellius, but
+more in her own attractions, which, having formerly recommended her to
+Cæsar and the young Cnaeus Pompey, she did not doubt might yet prove
+more successful with Antony. Their acquaintance was with her when a
+girl, young, and ignorant of the world, but she was to meet Antony in
+the time of life when women's beauty is most splendid and their
+intellects are in full maturity. She made great preparation for her
+journey, of money, gifts, and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a
+kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in her
+own magic arts and charms.
+
+"She received several letters, both from Antony and from his friends, to
+summon her, but she took no account of these orders; and at last, as if
+in mockery of them, she came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge
+with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver
+beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay
+all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a
+picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted cupids, stood on each
+side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like sea nymphs and graces, some
+steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes.[71] The perfumes
+diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with
+multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part
+running out of the city to see the sight. The market-place was quite
+emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal,
+while the word went through all the multitude that Venus was come to
+feast with Bacchus, for the common good of Asia.[72] On her arrival,
+Antony sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should
+come to her; so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he
+complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent
+beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of
+lights, for on a sudden there was let down altogether so great a number
+of branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares
+and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has
+seldom been equalled for beauty."
+
+[Footnote 71: There was no Egyptian feature in this show, which was
+purely Hellenistic.]
+
+[Footnote 72: How easily such a belief started up in the minds of a
+crowd in the Asia Minor of that day appears from Acts xiv. 11 _seq_.,
+where the crowd at Iconium, on seeing a cripple cured, at once exclaim
+that the gods are come down to them in the likeness of men, and call
+Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker,
+bringing sacrifices to offer to the apostles.]
+
+"The next day Antony invited her to supper, and was very desirous to
+outdo her as well in magnificence as contrivance; but he found he was
+altogether beaten in both, and was so well convinced of it that he was
+himself the first to jest and mock at his poverty of wit and his rustic
+awkwardness. She, perceiving that his raillery was broad and gross and
+savored more of the soldier than the courtier, rejoined in the same
+taste, and fell into it at once, without any sort of reluctance or
+reserve, for her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so
+remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could
+see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if
+you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person,
+joining with the charm of her conversation and the character that
+attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a
+pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an
+instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another;
+so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an
+interpreter. To most of them she spoke herself, as to the Ethiopians,
+troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many
+others, whose language she had learned;[73] which was all the more
+surprising, because most of the kings her predecessors scarcely gave
+themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of
+them quite abandoned the Macedonian."
+
+[Footnote 73: We have here the usual lies of courtiers.]
+
+"Antony was so captivated by her that, while Fulvia, his wife,
+maintained his quarrels in Rome against Cæsar by actual force of arms,
+and the Parthian troops, commanded by Labienus--the King's generals
+having made him commander-in-chief--were assembled in Mesopotamia, and
+ready to enter Syria, he could yet suffer himself to be carried away by
+her to Alexandria, there to keep holiday, like a boy, in play and
+diversion, squandering and fooling away in enjoyments that most costly,
+as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time. They had a sort of company, to
+which they gave a particular name, calling it that of the 'Inimitable
+Livers.' The members entertained one another daily in turn, with an
+extravagance of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a
+physician of Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in
+Alexandria, used to tell my grandfather Lamprias that, having some
+acquaintance with one of the royal cooks, he was invited by him, being a
+young man, to come and see the sumptuous preparations for dinner. So he
+was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety of
+all things, but, particularly seeing eight wild boars roasting whole,
+says he, 'Surely you have a great number of guests.' The cook laughed at
+his simplicity, and told him there were not above twelve to dine, but
+that every dish was to be served up just roasted to a turn, and if
+anything was but one minute ill-timed it was spoiled. 'And,' said he,
+'maybe Antony will dine just now, maybe not this hour, maybe he will
+call for wine, or begin to talk, and will put it off. So that,' he
+continued, 'it is not one, but many dinners, must be had in readiness,
+as it is impossible to guess at his hour.'"
+
+Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but Cleopatra had a thousand. Were
+Antony serious or disposed to mirth she had any moment some new delight
+or charm to meet his wishes. At every turn she was upon him, and let him
+escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him,
+drank with him, hunted with him, and when he exercised in arms she was
+there to see. At night she would go rambling with him to joke with
+people at their doors and windows, dressed like a servant woman, for
+Antony also went in servant's disguise, and from these expeditions he
+always came home very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten
+severely, though most people guessed who it was. However, the
+Alexandrians in general liked it all well enough, and joined
+good-humoredly and kindly in his frolic and play, saying they were much
+obliged to Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome and keeping his
+comedy for them. It would be trifling without end to be particular in
+relating his follies, but his fishing must not be forgotten. He went out
+one day to angle with Cleopatra, and being so unfortunate as to catch
+nothing in the presence of his mistress, he gave secret orders to the
+fishermen to dive under water and put fishes that had been already taken
+upon his hooks, and these he drew in so fast that the Egyptian perceived
+it. But feigning great admiration, she told everybody how dexterous
+Antony was, and invited them next day to come and see him again. So when
+a number of them had come on board the fishing boats, as soon as he had
+let down his hook, one of her servants was beforehand with his divers
+and fixed upon his hook a salted fish from Pontus. Antony, feeling his
+line taut, drew up the prey, and when, as may be imagined, great
+laughter ensued, "Leave," said Cleopatra, "the fishing rod, autocrat, to
+us poor sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your game is cities, kingdoms,
+and continents."
+
+Plutarch does not mention the most tragic and the most characteristic
+proof of Cleopatra's complete conquest of Antony. Among his other crimes
+of obedience he sent by her orders and put to death the Princess
+Arsinoë, who, knowing well her danger, had taken refuge as a suppliant
+in the temple of Artemis Leucophryne at Miletus.
+
+It is not our duty to follow the various complications of war and
+diplomacy, accompanied by the marriage with the serious and gentle
+Octavia, whereby the brilliant but dissolute Antony was weaned, as it
+were, from his follies, and persuaded to live a life of public activity.
+Whether the wily Octavian did not foresee the result, whether he did not
+even sacrifice his sister to accumulate odium against his dangerous
+rival, is not for us to determine. But when it was arranged (in B.C. 36)
+that Antony should lead an expedition against the Parthians, any man of
+ordinary sense must have known that he would come within the reach of
+the eastern siren, and was sure to be again attracted by her fatal
+voice. It is hard to account for her strange patience during these four
+years. She had borne twins to Antony, probably after the meeting in
+Cilicia. Though she still maintained the claims of her eldest son
+Cæsarion to be the divine Julius' only direct heir, we do not hear of
+her sending requests to Antony to support him, or that any agents were
+working in her interests at Rome. She was too subtle a woman to solicit
+his return to Alexandria. There are mistaken insinuations that she
+thought the chances of Sextus Pompey, with his naval supremacy, better
+than those of Antony, but these stories refer to his brother Cnaeus, who
+visited Egypt before Pharsalia.
+
+It is probably to this pause in her life, as we know it, that we may
+refer her activity in repairing and enlarging the national temples. The
+splendid edifice at Dendera, at present among the most perfect of
+Egyptian temples, bears no older names than those of Cleopatra and her
+son Cæsarion, and their portraits represent the latter as a growing lad,
+his mother as an essentially Egyptian figure, conventionally drawn
+according to the rules which had determined the figures of gods and
+kings for fifteen hundred years. Under these circumstances it is idle to
+speak of this well-known relief picture as a portrait of the Queen. It
+is no more so than the granite statues in the Vatican are portraits of
+Philadelphus and Arsinoë. The artist had probably never seen the Queen,
+and if he had, it would not have produced the slightest alteration in
+his drawing.
+
+Plutarch expressly says that it was not in peerless beauty that her
+fascination lay, but in the combination of more than average beauty with
+many other personal attractions. The Egyptian portrait is likely to
+confirm in the spectator's mind the impression derived from
+Shakespeare's play, that Cleopatra was a swarthy Egyptian, in strong
+contrast to the fair Roman ladies, and suggesting a wide difference of
+race. She was no more an Egyptian than she was an Indian, but a pure
+Macedonian, of a race akin to, and perhaps fairer than, the Greeks.
+
+No sooner had Antony reached Syria than the fell influence of the
+Egyptian Queen revived. In the words of Plutarch:
+
+"But the mischief that thus long had lain still, the passion for
+Cleopatra, which better thoughts had seemed to have lulled and charmed
+into oblivion, upon his approach to Syria, gathered strength again, and
+broke out into a flame. And in fine, like Plato's restive and rebellious
+horse of the human soul, flinging off all good and wholesome counsel and
+breaking fairly loose, he sent Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra into
+Syria; to whom at her arrival he made no small or trifling
+present--Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, great part of Cilicia, that
+side of Judea which produces balm, that part of Arabia where the
+Nabathaeans extend to the outer sea--profuse gifts which much displeased
+the Romans. For although he had invested several private persons with
+great governments and kingdoms, and bereaved many kings of theirs, as
+Antigonus of Judea, whose head he caused to be struck off--the first
+example of that punishment being inflicted on a king--yet nothing stung
+the Romans like the shame of these honors paid to Cleopatra. Their
+dissatisfaction was augmented also by his acknowledging as his own the
+twin children he had by her, giving them the names of Alexander and
+Cleopatra, and adding, as their surnames, the titles of Sun and Moon."
+
+After much dallying the triumvir really started for the wild East,
+whither it is not our business to follow him. Cleopatra he sent home to
+Egypt, to await his victorious return, and it was on this occasion that
+she came in state to Jerusalem to visit Herod the Great--probably the
+most brilliant scene of the kind which had taken place since the queen
+of Sheba came to learn the wisdom of Solomon. But it was a very
+different wisdom that Herod professed, and in which he was verily a high
+authority, nor was the subtle daughter of the Ptolemies a docile pupil,
+but a practised expert in the same arts of cruelty and cunning;
+wherewith both pursued their several courses of ambition and sought to
+wheedle from their Roman masters cities and provinces. The reunion of
+Antony and Cleopatra must have greatly alarmed Herod, whose plans were
+directly thwarted by the freaks of Antony, and he must have been
+preparing at the time to make his case with Octavian, and seek from his
+favor protection against the new caprices of the then lord of the East.
+
+"The scene at Herod's palace must have been inimitable. The display of
+counter-fascinations between these two tigers; their voluptuous natures
+mutually attracted; their hatred giving to each that deep interest in
+the other which so often turns to mutual passion while it incites to
+conquest; the grace and finish of their manners, concealing a ruthless
+ferocity; the splendor of their appointments--what more dramatic picture
+can we imagine in history?
+
+"We hear that she actually attempted to seduce Herod, but failed, owing
+to his deep devotion to his wife Mariamne. The prosaic Josephus adds
+that Herod consulted his council whether he should not put her to death
+for this attempt upon his virtue. He was dissuaded by them on the ground
+that Antony would listen to no arguments, not even from the most
+persuasive of the world's princes, and would take awful vengeance when
+he heard of her death. So she was escorted with great gifts and
+politenesses back to Egypt."
+
+Such, then, was the character of this notorious Queen. But her violation
+of temples, and even of ancient tombs, for the sake of treasure must
+have been a far more public and odious exhibition of that want of
+respect for the sentiment of others which is the essence of bad
+manners.[74]
+
+[Footnote 74: _The Greek World under Roman Sway._]
+
+As is well known, the first campaign of Antony against Armenians and
+Parthians was a signal failure, and it was only with great difficulty
+that he escaped the fate of Crassus. But Cleopatra was ready to meet him
+in Syria with provisions and clothes for his distressed and ragged
+battalions, and he returned with her to spend the winter (B.C. 36-35) at
+Alexandria. She thus snatched him again from his noble wife, Octavia,
+who had come from Rome to Athens with succors even greater than
+Cleopatra had brought. This at least is the word of the historians who
+write in the interest of the Romans, and regard the queen of Egypt with
+horror and with fear.
+
+The new campaign of Antony (B.C. 34) was apparently more prosperous, but
+it was only carried far enough to warrant his holding a Roman triumph at
+Alexandria--perhaps the only novelty in pomp which the triumvir could
+exhibit to the Alexandrian populace, while it gave the most poignant
+offence at Rome. It was apparently now that he made that formal
+distribution of provinces which Octavian used as his chief _casus
+belli_.
+
+"Nor was the division he made among his sons at Alexandria less
+unpopular. It seemed a theatrical piece of insolence and contempt of his
+country, for, assembling the people in the exercise ground, and causing
+two golden thrones to be placed on a platform of silver, the one for him
+and the other for Cleopatra, and at their feet lower thrones for their
+children, he proclaimed Cleopatra queen of Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and
+Coele-Syria, and with her conjointly Cæsarion, the reputed son of the
+former Cæsar. His own sons by Cleopatra were to have the style of 'King
+of Kings'; to Alexander he gave Armenia and Media, with Parthia so soon
+as it should be overcome; to Ptolemy Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia.
+Alexander was brought out before the people in Median costume, the tiara
+and upright peak, and Ptolemy in boots and mantle and Macedonian cap
+done about with the diadem; for this was the habit of the successors of
+Alexander, as the other was of the Medes and Armenians. And, as soon as
+they had saluted their parents, the one was received by a guard of
+Macedonians, the other by one of Armenians. Cleopatra was then, as at
+other times when she appeared in public, dressed in the habit of the
+goddess Isis, and gave audience to the people under the name of the New
+Isis.
+
+"This over, he gave Priene to his players for a habitation, and set sail
+for Athens, where fresh sports and play-acting employed him. Cleopatra,
+jealous of the honors Octavia had received at Athens--for Octavia was
+much beloved by the Athenians--courted the favor of the people with all
+sorts of attentions. The Athenians, in requital, having decreed her
+public honors, deputed several of the citizens to wait upon her at her
+house, among whom went Antony as one, he being an Athenian citizen, and
+he it was that made the speech.
+
+"The speed and extent of Antony's preparations alarmed Cæsar, who feared
+he might be forced to fight the decisive battle that summer, for he
+wanted many necessaries, and the people grudged very much to pay the
+taxes; freemen being called upon to pay a fourth part of their incomes,
+and freed slaves an eighth of their property, so that there were loud
+outcries against him, and disturbances throughout all Italy. And this is
+looked upon as one of the greatest of Antony's oversights that he did
+not then press the war, for he allowed time at once for Cæsar to make
+his preparations, and for the commotions to pass over, for while people
+were having their money called for they were mutinous and violent; but,
+having paid it, they held their peace.
+
+"Titius and Plancus, men of consular dignity and friends to Antony,
+having been ill-used by Cleopatra, whom they had most resisted in her
+design of being present in the war, came over to Cæsar, and gave
+information of the contents of Antony's will, with which they were
+acquainted. It was deposited in the hands of the vestal virgins, who
+refused to deliver it up, and sent Cæsar word, if he pleased, he should
+come and seize it himself, which he did. And, reading it over to
+himself, he noted those places that were most for his purpose, and,
+having summoned the senate, read them publicly. Many were scandalized at
+the proceeding, thinking it out of reason and equity to call a man to
+account for what was not to be until after his death. Cæsar specially
+pressed what Antony said in his will about his burial, for he had
+ordered that even if he died in the city of Rome, his body, after being
+carried in state through the Forum, should be sent to Cleopatra at
+Alexandria.
+
+"Calvisius, a dependent of Cæsar's, urged other charges in connection
+with Cleopatra against Antony: that he had given her the library of
+Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct volumes; that at a
+great banquet, in the presence of many guests, he had risen up and
+rubbed her feet, to fulfil some wager or promise; that he had suffered
+the Ephesians to salute her as their queen; that he had frequently at
+the public audience of kings and princes received amorous messages
+written in tablets made of onyx and crystal, and read them openly on the
+tribunal; that when Furnius, a man of great authority and eloquence
+among the Romans, was pleading, Cleopatra happening to pass by in her
+litter, Antony started up and left them in the middle of their cause, to
+follow at her side and attend her home."[75]
+
+[Footnote 75: Plutarch: _Antony_.]
+
+When war was declared, Antony sought to gain the support of the East in
+the conflict. He made alliance with a Median king who betrothed his
+daughter to Cleopatra's infant son Alexander; but he made the fatal
+mistake of allowing Cleopatra to accompany him to Samos, where he
+gathered his army, and even to Actium, where she led the way in flying
+from the fight, and so persuading the infatuated Antony to leave his
+army and join in her disgraceful escape.
+
+Historians have regarded this act of Cleopatra as the mere cowardice of
+a woman who feared to look upon an armed conflict and join in the din of
+battle. But she was surely made of sterner stuff. She had probably
+computed with the utmost care the chances of the rivals, and had made up
+her mind that, in spite of Antony's gallantry, his cause was lost.[76]
+If she fought out the battle with her strong contingent of ships, she
+would probably fall into Octavian's hands as a prisoner, and would have
+no choice between suicide or death in the Roman prison, after being
+exhibited to the mob in Octavian's triumph. There was no chance whatever
+that she would have been spared, as was her sister Arsinoë after Julius
+Cæsar's triumph, nor would such clemency be less hateful than death. But
+there was still a chance, if Antony were killed or taken prisoner, that
+she might negotiate with the victor as queen of Egypt, with her fleet,
+army, and treasures intact, and who could tell what effect her charms,
+though now full ripe, might have upon the conqueror? Two great Romans
+had yielded to her, why not the third, who seemed a smaller man?
+
+[Footnote 76: Dion says that Antony was of the same opinion, and went
+into the battle intending to fly; but this does not agree with his
+character or with the facts.]
+
+This view implies that she was already false to Antony, and it may well
+be asked how such a charge is compatible with the affecting scenes which
+followed at Alexandria, where her policy seemed defeated by her passion,
+and she felt her old love too strong even for her heartless ambition? I
+will say in answer that there is no more frequent anomaly in the
+psychology of female love than a strong passion coexisting with selfish
+ambition, so that each takes the lead in turn; nay, even the
+consciousness of treachery may so intensify the passion as to make a
+woman embrace with keener transports the lover whom she has betrayed
+than one whom she has no thought of surrendering. There are, moreover,
+in these tragedies unexpected accidents, which so affect even the
+hardest nature that calculations are cast aside, and the old loyalty
+resumes a temporary sway. Nor must we fail to insist again upon the
+traditions wherein this last Cleopatra was born and bred. She came from
+a stock whose women played with love and with life as if they were mere
+counters. To hesitate whether such a scion of such a house would have
+delayed to discard Antony and to assume another passion is to show small
+appreciation of the effects of heredity and of example. Dion tells us
+that she arrived in Alexandria before the news of her defeat, pretended
+a victory, and took the occasion of committing many murders, in order to
+get rid of secret opponents, and also to gather wealth by confiscation
+of their goods, for both she and Antony, who came along the coast of
+Libya, seem still to have thought of defending the inaccessible Egypt,
+and making terms for themselves and their children with the conqueror.
+But Antony's efforts completely failed; no one would rally to his
+standard. And meanwhile the false Queen had begun to send presents to
+Cæsar and encourage him to treat with her. But when he bluntly proposed
+to her to murder Antony as the price of her reconciliation with himself,
+and when he even declared by proxy that he was in love with her, he
+clearly made a rash move in this game of diplomacy, though Dion says he
+persuaded her of his love, and that accordingly she betrayed to him the
+fortress of Pelusium, the key of the country. Dion also differs from
+Plutarch in repeatedly ascribing to Octavian great anxiety to secure the
+treasures which Cleopatra had with her, and which she was likely to
+destroy by fire if driven to despair.
+
+The historian may well leave to the biographer, nay, to the poet, the
+affecting details of the closing scenes of Cleopatra's life. In the
+fourth and fifth acts of _Antony and Cleopatra_ Shakespeare has
+reproduced every detail of Plutarch's narrative, which was drawn from
+that of her physician Olympos. Her fascinations were not dead, for they
+swayed Dolabella to play false to his master so far as to warn her of
+his intentions, and leave her time for her dignified and royal end. But
+if these Hellenistic queens knew how to die, they knew not how to live.
+Even the penultimate scene of the tragedy, when she presents an
+inventory of her treasures to Octavian, and is charged by her steward
+with dishonesty, shows her in uncivilized violence striking the man in
+the face and bursting into indecent fury, such as an Athenian, still
+less a Roman, matron would have been ashamed to exhibit. Nor is there
+any reason to doubt the genuineness of this scene, though we must not be
+weary of cautioning ourselves against the hostile witnesses who have
+reported to us her life. They praise nothing in her but her bewitching
+presence and her majestic death.
+
+"After her repast Cleopatra sent to Cæsar a letter which she had written
+and sealed, and, putting everybody out of the monument but her two
+women, she shut the doors. Cæsar, opening her letter, and finding
+pathetic prayers and entreaties that she might be buried in the same
+tomb with Antony, soon guessed what was doing. At first he was going
+himself in all haste; but, changing his mind, he sent others to see. The
+thing had been quickly done. The messengers came at full speed, and
+found the guards apprehensive of nothing; but on opening the doors they
+saw her stone dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal
+ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her feet, and Charmion,
+just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was adjusting her
+mistress' diadem. And when one that came in said angrily, 'Was this well
+done of your lady, Charmion?' 'Perfectly well,' she answered, 'and as
+became the daughter of so many kings'; and as she said this she fell
+down dead by the bedside."
+
+Even the hostile accounts cannot conceal from us that both in physique
+and in intellect she was a very remarkable figure, exceptional in her
+own, exceptional had she been born in any other, age. She is a speaking
+instance of the falsehood of a prevailing belief, that the intermarriage
+of near relations invariably produces a decadence in the human race. The
+whole dynasty of the Ptolemies contradicts this current theory, and
+exhibits in the last of the series the most signal exception. Cleopatra
+VI was descended from many generations of breeding-in, of which four
+exhibit marriages of full brother and sister. And yet she was deficient
+in no quality, physical or intellectual, which goes to make up a
+well-bred and well-developed human being. Her morals were indeed those
+of her ancestors, and as bad as could be, but I am not aware that it is
+degeneration in this direction which is assumed by the theory in
+question, except as a consequence of physical decay. Physically,
+however, Cleopatra was perfect. She was not only beautiful, but
+prolific, and retained her vigor, and apparently her beauty, to the time
+of her death, when she was nearly forty years old.
+
+
+
+
+ASSASSINATION OF CÆSAR
+
+B.C. 44
+
+NIEBUHR and PLUTARCH
+
+
+(Cæsar's assassination forms the groundwork of one of Shakespeare's most
+notable tragedies. The "itching palm" of Cassius, Brutus' rectitude and
+honesty of purpose, and Mark Antony's oration will ever live while the
+English language endures. When the great Cæsar was struck down, the
+civil war was over and he was master of the world. The month of the year
+B.C. 100 in which he was born, Quinctilis, was afterward called in his
+honor, July.
+
+Caius Julius Cæsar was one of the greatest figures in history, and early
+took a prominent part in the affairs of Rome. He was a rival of Cicero
+in forensic eloquence and highly esteemed as a writer, his
+_Commentaries_ being universally admired. Ransomed from pirates who had
+captured him on his way to study philosophy at Rhodes, he attacked them
+in turn, took them to Pergamus, and crucified them.
+
+After various successful engagements Cæsar marched against Pharnaces,
+now established in the kingdom of the Bosphorus, gaining at Zela, in
+Pontus, the decisive victory which he announced in the famous despatch,
+_Veni, vidi, vici_ ["I came, I saw, I conquered"].
+
+His unbounded affability, his liveliness and cordiality, his unaffected
+kindness to his friends had made him popular with the high as well as
+the low. His ambition began to show itself. During the wrangles over the
+election of Afranius as consul, Cæsar returned from his brilliant
+successes in Spain. The troops saluted him as imperator and the senate
+voted a thanksgiving in his honor. He was now strong enough to take his
+place as the leader of the popular party. He was elected consul in spite
+of the hostility of the senate.
+
+A coalition was formed between Cæsar and Pompey. Cæsar's agrarian law
+added to his popularity with the people, and he gained the influence of
+the _equites_ by relief of one-third of the farmed taxes of Asia. He now
+became proconsul of Illyricum and Gaul for five years. This suited his
+ambition. At this time Pompey was the absolute master of Rome. And now
+arose his duel for power with Cæsar. For a time he opposed the latter's
+election as consul, but later yielded.
+
+Cæsar had achieved his brilliant success beyond the Alps. He had won
+victories in Gaul and Britain; but in the mean time his enemies had been
+active at Rome. Still believing that the senate would permit his quiet
+election to the consulship, he refused to strike any blow at their
+authority. But the senate had determined to humble Cæsar. Both Pompey
+and Cæsar were removed from leadership, but the Consul Marcellus refused
+to execute the decree. Cæsar was directed by the senate to disband his
+army by a fixed day, on pain of being considered a public enemy. Pompey
+sided with the senate. This meant civil war. Antony and Cassius fled to
+the camp of Cæsar, who was enthusiastically supported by his soldiers
+and "crossed the Rubicon."
+
+Having become master of all Italy in three months without a battle,
+Cæsar reëntered Rome. Pompey had fled, and at the battle of Pharsalia
+was utterly routed, and took refuge in Egypt, where he was murdered a
+few days before the arrival of Cæsar.
+
+Upon receipt of the news of Pompey's death Cæsar was named dictator for
+one year. The government was now placed without disguise in his hands.
+He was invested with the tribunician power for life. He was also again
+elected consul and named dictator.
+
+Cæsar had now become a demi-god, and was named dictator for ten years,
+being awarded a fourfold triumph, and a thanksgiving being decreed for
+forty days. He was also made censor. This was in B.C. 46. After
+defeating the remnant of the Pompeians, he returned to Rome in
+September, B.C. 45, and was named imperator, and appointed consul for
+ten years and dictator for life, being hailed as _Parens Patriæ_.
+
+All these triumphs had caused jealousies. It was thought that he aspired
+to become king, and this led to his fall.)
+
+
+NIEBUHR
+
+It is one of the inestimable advantages of a hereditary government
+commonly called the legitimate, whatever its form may be, that it may be
+formally inactive in regard to the state and the population--that it may
+reserve its interference until it is absolutely necessary, and
+apparently leave things to take their own course. If we look around us
+and observe the various constitutions, we shall scarcely perceive the
+interference of the government; the greater part of the time passes away
+without those who have the reins in their hands being obliged to pay any
+particular attention to what they are doing, and a very large amount of
+individual liberty may be enjoyed. But if the government is what we call
+a usurpation, the ruler has not only to take care to maintain his power,
+but in all that he undertakes he has to consider by what means and in
+what ways he can establish his right to govern, and his own personal
+qualifications for it. Men who are in such a position are urged on to
+act by a very sad necessity, from which they cannot escape, and such was
+the position of Cæsar at Rome.
+
+In our European States, men have wide and extensive spheres in which
+they can act and move. The much-decried system of centralization has
+indeed many disadvantages; but it has this advantage for the ruler, that
+he can exert an activity which shows its influence far and wide. But
+what could Cæsar do, in the centre of nearly the whole of the known
+world? He could not hope to effect any material improvements either in
+Italy or in the provinces. He had been accustomed from his youth, and
+more especially during the last fifteen years, to an enormous activity,
+and idleness was intolerable to him. At the close of the civil war he
+would have had little or nothing to do unless he had turned his
+attention to some foreign enterprise. He was obliged to venture upon
+something that would occupy his whole soul, for he could not rest. His
+thoughts were therefore again directed to war, and that in a quarter
+where the most brilliant triumphs awaited him, where the bones of the
+legions of Crassus lay unavenged--to a war against the Parthians. About
+this time the Getae also had spread in Thrace, and he intended to check
+their progress likewise. But his main problem was to destroy the
+Parthian empire and to extend the Roman dominion as far as India, a plan
+in which he would certainly have been successful; and he himself felt so
+sure of this that he was already thinking of what he should undertake
+afterward.
+
+It is by no means incredible that, as we are told, he intended on his
+return to march through the passes of the Caucasus, and through ancient
+Scythia into the country of the Getae, and thence through Germany and
+Gaul into Italy. Besides this expedition, he entertained other plans of
+no less gigantic dimensions. The port of Ostia was bad, and in reality
+little better than a mere roadstead, so that great ships could not come
+up the river. Accordingly it is said that Cæsar intended to dig a canal
+for sea-ships, from the Tiber, above or below Rome, through the Pomptine
+marshes as far as Terracina. He further contemplated to cut through the
+Isthmus of Corinth. It is not easy to see in what manner he would have
+accomplished this, considering the state of hydraulic architecture in
+those times. The Roman canals were mere _fossæ_, and canals with
+sluices, though not unknown to the Romans, were not constructed by
+them.[77]
+
+[Footnote 77: The first canals with sluices were executed by the Dutch
+in the fifteenth century.]
+
+The fact of Cæsar forming such enormous plans is not very surprising;
+but we can scarcely comprehend how it was possible for him to accomplish
+so much of what he undertook in the short time of five months preceding
+his death. Following the unfortunate system of Sulla, Cæsar founded
+throughout Italy a number of colonies of veterans. The old Sullanian
+colonists were treated with great severity, and many of them and their
+children were expelled from their lands, and were thus punished for the
+cruelty which they or their fathers had committed against the
+inhabitants of the municipia. In like manner colonies were established
+in Southern Gaul, Italy, Africa, and other parts; I may mention in
+particular the colonies founded at Carthage and Corinth. The latter,
+however, was a _colonia libertinorum_, and never rose to any importance.
+We do not know the details of its foundation, but one would imagine that
+Cæsar would have preferred restoring the place as a purely Greek town.
+This, however, he did not do. Its population was and remained a mixed
+one, and Corinth never rose to a state of real prosperity.
+
+Cæsar made various new arrangements in the State, and among others he
+restored the full franchise, or the _jus honorum_, to the sons of those
+who had been proscribed in the time of Sulla. He had obtained for
+himself the title of imperator and the dictatorship for life and the
+consulship for ten years. Half of the offices of the republic to which
+persons had before been elected by the centuries were in his gift, and
+for the other half he usually recommended candidates; so that the
+elections were merely nominal.
+
+The tribes seem to have retained their rights of election uncurtailed,
+and the last tribunes must have been elected by the people. But although
+Cæsar did not himself confer the consulship, yet the whole republic was
+reduced to a mere form and appearance. Cæsar made various new laws and
+regulations; for example, to lighten the burdens of debtors and the
+like; but the changes he introduced in the form of the constitution were
+of little importance. He increased the number of prætors, which Sulla
+had raised to eight, successively to ten, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen,
+and the number of quaestors was increased to forty. Hence the number of
+persons from whom the senate was to be filled up became greater than
+that of the vacancies, and Cæsar accordingly increased the number of
+senators, though it is uncertain what number he fixed upon, and raised a
+great many of his friends to the dignity of senators. In this, as in
+many other cases, he acted very arbitrarily; for he elected into the
+senate whomsoever he pleased, and conferred the franchise in a manner
+equally arbitrary. These things did not fail to create much discontent.
+It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding his mode of filling up the
+senate, not even the majority of senators were attached to his cause
+after his death.
+
+If we consider the changes and regulations which Cæsar introduced, it
+must strike us as a singular circumstance that among all his measures
+there is no trace of any indicating that he thought of modifying the
+constitution for the purpose of putting an end to the anarchy, for all
+his changes are in reality not essential or of great importance. Sulla
+felt the necessity of remodelling the constitution, but he did not
+attain his end; and the manner, too, in which he set about it was that
+of a short-sighted man; but he was at least intelligent enough to see
+that the constitution as it then was could not continue to exist. In the
+regulations of Cæsar we see no trace of such a conviction; and I think
+that he despaired of the possibility of effecting any real good by
+constitutional reforms. Hence, among all his laws there is not one that
+had any relation to the constitution. The fact of his increasing the
+number of patrician families had no reference to the constitution; so
+far in fact were the patricians from having any advantages over the
+plebeians that the office of the two _oediles Cereales_, which Cæsar
+instituted, was confined to the plebeians--a regulation which was
+opposed to the very nature of the patriciate.
+
+His raising persons to the rank of patricians was neither more nor less
+than the modern practice of raising a family to the rank of nobility; he
+picked out an individual and gave him the rank of patrician for himself
+and his descendants, but did not elevate a whole gens. The distinction
+itself was merely a nominal one and conferred no privilege upon a person
+except that of holding certain priestly offices, which could be filled
+by none but patricians, and for which their number was scarcely
+sufficient. If Cæsar had died quietly the republic would have been in
+the same, nay, in a much worse, state of dissolution than if he had not
+existed at all. I consider it a proof of the wisdom and good sense of
+Cæsar that he did not, like Sulla, think an improvement in the state of
+public affairs so near at hand or a matter of so little difficulty. The
+cure of the disease lay yet at a very great distance, and the first
+condition on which it could be undertaken was the sovereignty of Cæsar,
+a condition which would have been quite unbearable even to many of his
+followers, who as rebels did not scruple to go along with him. But Rome
+could no longer exist as a republic.
+
+It is curious to see in Cicero's work, _de Republica_, the consciousness
+running through it that Rome, as it then stood, required the strong hand
+of a king. Cicero had surely often owned this to himself; but he saw no
+one who would have entered into such an idea. The title of king had a
+great fascination for Cæsar, as it had for Cromwell--a surprising
+phenomenon in a practical mind like that of Cæsar. Everyone knows the
+fact that while Cæsar was sitting on the _suggestum_, during the
+celebration of the _Lupercalia_, Antony presented to him the diadem, to
+try how the people would take it. Cæsar saw the great alarm which the
+act created and declined the diadem for the sake of appearance; but had
+the people been silent, Cæsar would unquestionably have accepted it. His
+refusal was accompanied by loud shouts of acclamation, which for the
+present rendered all further attempts impossible. Antony then had a
+statue of Cæsar adorned with the diadem; but two tribunes of the people,
+L. Caesetius Flavus and Epidius Marullus, took it away: and here Cæsar
+showed the real state of his feelings, for he treated the conduct of the
+tribunes as a personal insult toward himself. He had lost his
+self-possession and his fate carried him irresistibly onward. He wished
+to have the tribunes imprisoned, but was prevailed upon to be satisfied
+with their being stripped of their office and sent into exile.
+
+This created a great sensation at Rome. Cæsar had also been guilty of an
+act of thoughtlessness, or perhaps merely of distraction, as might
+happen very easily to a man in his circumstances. When the senate had
+made its last decrees, conferring upon Cæsar unlimited powers, the
+senators, consuls, and prætors, or the whole senate, in festal attire,
+presented the decrees to him, and Cæsar at the moment forgot to show his
+respect for the senators; he did not rise from his _sella curulis_, but
+received the decrees in an unceremonious manner. This want of politeness
+was never forgiven by the persons who had not scrupled to make him their
+master; for it had been expected that he would at least behave politely
+and be grateful for such decrees.[78] Cæsar himself had no design in the
+act, which was merely the consequence of distraction or thoughtlessness;
+but it made the senate his irreconcilable enemies. The affair with the
+tribunes, moreover, had made a deep impression upon the people. We must,
+however, remember that the people under such circumstances are most
+sensible to anything affecting their honor, as we have seen at the
+beginning of the French Revolution.
+
+[Footnote 78: I have known an instance of a man of rank and influence
+who could never forgive another man, who was by far his superior in
+every respect, for having forgotten to take off his hat during a visit.]
+
+In the year of Cæsar's death, Brutus and Cassius were prætors. Both had
+been generals under Pompey. Brutus' mother, Servilia, was a half-sister
+of Cato, for after the death of her first husband Cato's mother had
+married Servilius Caepio. She was a remarkable woman, but very immoral,
+and unworthy of her son; not even the honor of her own daughter was
+sacred to her. The family of Brutus derived its origin from L. Junius
+Brutus, and from the time of its first appearance among the plebeians it
+had had few men of importance to boast of. During the period subsequent
+to the passing of the Licinian laws we meet with some Junii in the
+Fasti, but not one of them acquired any great reputation. The family had
+become reduced and almost contemptible. One M. Brutus in particular
+disgraced his family by sycophancy in the time of Sulla and was
+afterward killed in Gaul by Pompey. Although no Roman family belonged to
+a more illustrious gens, yet Brutus was not by any means one of those
+men who are raised by fortunate circumstances. The education, however,
+which he received had a great influence upon him. His uncle Cato, whose
+daughter Porcia he married--whether in Cato's lifetime or afterward is
+doubtful--had initiated him from his early youth in the Stoic
+philosophy, and had instilled into his mind a veneration for it, as
+though it had been a religion.
+
+Brutus had qualities which Cato did not possess. The latter had
+something of an ascetic nature, and was, if I may say so, a scrupulously
+pious character; but Brutus had no such scrupulous timidity; his mind
+was more flexible and lovable. Cato spoke well, but could not be
+reckoned among the eloquent men of his time. Brutus' great talents had
+been developed with the utmost care, and if he had lived longer and in
+peace he would have become a classical writer of the highest order. He
+had been known to Cicero from his early age, and Cicero felt a fatherly
+attachment to him; he saw in him a young man who he hoped would exert a
+beneficial influence upon the next generation.
+
+Cæsar too had known and loved him from his childhood; but the stories
+which are related to account for this attachment must be rejected as
+foolish inventions of idle persons; for nothing is more natural than
+that Cæsar should look with great fondness upon a young man of such
+extraordinary and amiable qualities. The absence of envy was one of the
+distinguishing features in the character of Cæsar, as it was in that of
+Cicero. In the battle of Pharsalus, Brutus served in the army of Pompey,
+and after the battle he wrote a letter to Cæsar, who had inquired after
+him; and when Cæsar heard of his safety he was delighted, and invited
+him to his camp. Cæsar afterward gave him the administration of
+Cisalpine Gaul, where Brutus distinguished himself in a very
+extraordinary manner by his love of justice.
+
+Cassius was related to Brutus, and had likewise belonged to the Pompeian
+party, but he was very unlike Brutus; he was much older, and a
+distinguished military officer. After the death of Crassus he had
+maintained himself as quaestor in Syria against the Parthians, and he
+enjoyed a very great reputation in the army, but he was after all no
+better than an ordinary officer of Cæsar. After the battle of Pharsalus,
+Cæsar did not at first know whither Pompey was gone. Cassius was at the
+time stationed with some galleys in the Hellespont, notwithstanding
+which Cæsar with his usual boldness took a boat to sail across that
+strait, and on meeting Cassius called upon him to embrace his party.
+Cassius readily complied, and Cæsar forgave him, as he forgave all his
+adversaries: even Marcellus, who had mortally offended him, was pardoned
+at the request of Cicero. Cæsar thus endeavored to efface all
+recollections of the civil war.
+
+Cæsar had appointed both Brutus and Cassius prætors for that year. With
+the exception of the office of _prætor urbanus_, which was honorable and
+lucrative, the prætorship was a burdensome office and conferred little
+distinction, since the other prætors were only the presidents of the
+courts. Formerly they had been elected by lot, but the office was now
+altogether in the gift of Cæsar. Both Brutus and Cassius had wished for
+the prætura urbana, and, when Cæsar gave that office to Brutus, Cassius
+was not only indignant at Cæsar, but began quarrelling with Brutus also.
+While Cassius was in this state of exasperation, a meeting of the senate
+was announced for the 15th of March, on which day, as the report went, a
+proposal was to be made to offer Cæsar the crown. This was a welcome
+opportunity for Cassius, who resolved to take vengeance, for he had even
+before entertained a personal hatred of Cæsar, and was now disappointed
+at not having obtained the city prætorship. He first sounded Brutus and,
+finding that he was safe, made direct overtures to him. During the night
+some one wrote on the tribunal and the house of Brutus the words,
+"Remember that thou art Brutus."
+
+Brutus became reconciled to Cassius, offered his assistance, and gained
+over several other persons to join the conspiracy. All party differences
+seemed to have vanished all at once; two of the conspirators were old
+generals of Cæsar, C. Trebonius and Decimus Brutus, both of whom had
+fought with him in Gaul, and against Massilia, and had been raised to
+high honors by their chief. There were among the conspirators persons of
+all parties. Men who had fought against one another at Pharsalus now
+went hand-in-hand and intrusted their lives to one another. No proposals
+were made to Cicero, the reasons usually assigned for which are of the
+most calumniatory kind. It is generally said that the conspirators had
+no confidence in Cicero, an opinion which is perfectly contemptible.
+Cicero would not have betrayed them for any consideration, but what they
+feared were his objections. Brutus had as noble a soul as anyone, but he
+was passionate; Cicero, on the other hand, who was at an advanced age,
+had many sad experiences, and his feelings were so exceedingly delicate
+that he could not have consented to take away the life of him to whom he
+himself owed his own, who had always behaved most nobly toward him, and
+had intentionally drawn him before the world as his friend.
+
+Cæsar's conduct toward those who had fought in the ranks of Pompey and
+afterward returned to him was extremely noble, and he regarded the
+reconciliation of those men as a personal favor conferred upon himself.
+All who knew Cicero must have been convinced that he would not have
+given his consent to the plan of the conspirators; and if they ever did
+give the matter a serious thought, they must have owned to themselves
+that every wise man would have dissuaded them from it; for it was in
+fact the most complete absurdity to fancy that the republic could be
+restored by Cæsar's death. Goethe says somewhere that the murder of
+Cæsar was the most senseless act that the Romans ever committed; and a
+truer word was never spoken. The result of it could not possibly be any
+other than that which did follow the deed.
+
+Cæsar was cautioned by Hirtius and Pansa, both wise men of noble
+character, especially the former, who saw that the republic must become
+consolidated and not thrown into fresh convulsions. They advised Cæsar
+to be careful, and to take a bodyguard; but he replied that he would
+rather not live at all than be in constant fear of losing his life.
+Cæsar once expressed to some of his friends his conviction that Brutus
+was capable of harboring a murderous design, but he added that as he,
+Cæsar, could not live much longer, Brutus would wait, and not be guilty
+of such a crime. Cæsar's health was at that time weak, and the general
+opinion was that he intended to surrender his power to Brutus as the
+most worthy. While the conspirators were making their preparations,
+Porcia, the wife of Brutus, inferred from the excitement and
+restlessness of her husband that some fearful secret was pressing on his
+mind; but as he did not show her any confidence, she seriously wounded
+herself with a knife and was seized with a violent wound-fever. No one
+knew the cause of her illness; and it was not till after many entreaties
+of her husband that at length she revealed it to him, saying that as she
+had been able to conceal the cause of her illness, so she could also
+keep any secret that might be intrusted to her. Her entreaties induced
+Brutus to communicate to her the plan of the conspirators. Cæsar was
+also cautioned by the haruspices, by a dream of his wife, and by his own
+forebodings, which we have no reason for doubting. But on the morning of
+the 15th of March, the day fixed upon for assassinating Cæsar, Decimus
+Brutus treacherously enticed him to go with him to the Curia, as it was
+impossible to delay the deed any longer.
+
+The conspirators were at first seized with fear lest their plan should
+be betrayed; but on Cæsar's entrance into the senate house, C. Tillius
+(not Tullius) Cimber made his way up to him, and insulted him with his
+importunities, and Casca gave the first stroke. Cæsar fell covered with
+twenty-three wounds. He was either in his fifty-sixth year or had
+completed it; I am not quite certain on this point, though, if we judge
+by the time of his first consulship, he must have been fifty-six years
+old. His birthday, which is not generally known, was the 11th of
+Quinctilis, which month was afterward called Julius, and his death took
+place on the 15th of March, between eleven and twelve o'clock.
+
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+At one time the senate having decreed Cæsar some extravagant honors, the
+consuls and prætors, attended by the whole body of patricians, went to
+inform him of what they had done. When they came, he did not rise to
+receive them, but kept his seat, as if they had been persons in a
+private station, and his answer to their address was, "that there was
+more need to retrench his honors than to enlarge them." This haughtiness
+gave pain not only to the senate, but the people, who thought the
+contempt of that body reflected dishonor upon the whole Commonwealth;
+for all who could decently withdraw went off greatly dejected.
+
+Perceiving the false step he had taken, he retired immediately to his
+own house, and, laying his neck bare, told his friends "he was ready for
+the first hand that would strike." He then bethought himself of alleging
+his distemper as an excuse; and asserted that those who are under its
+influence are apt to find their faculties fail them when they speak
+standing, a trembling and giddiness coming upon them, which bereave them
+of their senses. This, however, was not really the case; for it is said
+he was desirous to rise to the senate; but Cornelius Balbus, one of his
+friends, or rather flatterers, held him, and had servility enough to
+say, "Will you not remember that you are Cæsar, and suffer them to pay
+their court to you as their superior?"
+
+These discontents were greatly increased by the indignity with which he
+treated the tribunes of the people. In the Lupercalia, which, according
+to most writers, is an ancient pastoral feast, and which answers in many
+respects to the _Lycaea_ among the Arcadians, young men of noble
+families, and indeed many of the magistrates, run about the streets
+naked, and, by way of diversion, strike all they meet with leathern
+thongs with the hair upon them. Numbers of women of the first quality
+put themselves in their way, and present their hands for stripes--as
+scholars do to a master--being persuaded that the pregnant gain an easy
+delivery by it, and that the barren are enabled to conceive. Cæsar wore
+a triumphal robe that day, and seated himself in a golden chair upon the
+_rostra_, to see the ceremony.
+
+Antony ran among the rest, in compliance with the rules of the festival,
+for he was consul. When he came into the Forum, and the crowd had made
+way for him, he approached Cæsar, and offered him a diadem wreathed with
+laurel. Upon this some plaudits were heard, but very feeble, because
+they proceeded only from persons placed there on purpose. Cæsar refused
+it, and then the plaudits were loud and general. Antony presented it
+once more, and few applauded his officiousness; but when Cæsar rejected
+it again, the applause again was general. Cæsar, undeceived by his
+second trial, rose up and ordered the diadem to be consecrated in the
+Capitol.
+
+A few days after, his statues were seen adorned with royal diadems; and
+Flavius and Marullus, two of the tribunes, went and tore them off. They
+also found out the persons who first saluted Cæsar king, and committed
+them to prison. The people followed with cheerful acclamations, and
+called them Brutuses, because Brutus was the man who expelled the kings
+and put the government in the hands of the senate and people. Cæsar,
+highly incensed at their behavior, deposed the tribunes, and by way of
+reprimand to them, as well as insult to the people, called them several
+times _Brutes_ and _Cumceans_.
+
+Upon this, many applied to Marcus Brutus, who, by the father's side, was
+supposed to be a descendant of that ancient Brutus, and whose mother was
+of the illustrious house of the Servilli. He was also nephew and
+son-in-law to Cato. No man was more inclined than he to lift his hand
+against monarchy, but he was withheld by the honors and favors he had
+received from Cæsar, who had not only given him his life after the
+defeat of Pompey at Pharsalia, and pardoned many of his friends at his
+request, but continued to honor him with his confidence. That very year
+he had procured him the most honorable prætorship, and he had named him
+for the consulship four years after, in preference to Cassius, who was
+his competitor; on which occasion Cæsar is reported to have said,
+"Cassius assigns the strongest reasons, but I cannot refuse Brutus."
+
+Some impeached Brutus after the conspiracy was formed; but, instead of
+listening to them, he laid his hand on his body and said, "Brutus will
+wait for this skin"; intimating that though the virtue of Brutus
+rendered him worthy of empire, he would not be guilty of any ingratitude
+or baseness to obtain it. Those, however, who were desirous of a change
+kept their eyes upon him only, or principally at least; and as they
+durst not speak out plain, they put billets night after night in the
+tribunal and seat which he used as prætor, mostly in these terms: "Thou
+sleepest, Brutus," or, "Thou art not Brutus."
+
+Cassius, perceiving his friend's ambition a little stimulated by these
+papers, began to ply him closer than before, and spur him on to the
+great enterprise; for he had a particular enmity against Cæsar. Cæsar,
+too, had some suspicion of him, and he even said one day to his friends:
+"What think you of Cassius? I do not like his pale looks." Another time,
+when Antony and Dolabella were accused of some designs against his
+person and government, he said: "I have no apprehensions from those fat
+and sleek men; I rather fear the pale and lean ones," meaning Cassius
+and Brutus.
+
+It seems, from this instance, that fate is not so secret as it is
+inevitable; for we are told there were strong signs and presages of the
+death of Cæsar. As to the lights in the heavens, the strange noises
+heard in various quarters by night, and the appearance of solitary birds
+in the Forum, perhaps they deserve not our notice in so great an event
+as this. But some attention should be given to Strabo the philosopher.
+According to him there were seen in the air men of fire encountering
+each other; such a flame appeared to issue from the hand of a soldier's
+servant that all the spectators thought it must be burned, yet, when it
+was over, he found no harm; and one of the victims which Cæsar offered
+was found without a heart. The latter was certainly a most alarming
+prodigy; for, according to the rules of nature, no creature can exist
+without a heart. What is still more extraordinary, many report that a
+certain soothsayer forewarned him of a great danger which threatened him
+on the ides of March, and that when the day was come, as he was going to
+the senate house, he called to the soothsayer, and said, laughing, "The
+ides of March are come"; to which he answered softly, "Yes; but they are
+not gone."
+
+The evening before, he supped with Marcus Lepidus, and signed, according
+to custom, a number of letters, as he sat at table. While he was so
+employed, there arose a question, "What kind of death was the best?" and
+Cæsar, answering before them all, cried out, "A sudden one." The same
+night, as he was in bed with his wife, the doors and windows of the room
+flew open at once. Disturbed both with the noise and the light, he
+observed, by moonshine, Calpurnia in a deep sleep, uttering broken words
+and inarticulate groans. She dreamed that she was weeping over him, as
+she held him, murdered, in her arms. Others say she dreamed that the
+pinnacle was fallen, which, as Livy tells us, the senate had ordered to
+be erected upon Cæsar's house by way of ornament and distinction; and
+that it was the fall of it which she lamented and wept for. Be that as
+it may, the next morning she conjured Cæsar not to go out that day if he
+could possibly avoid it, but to adjourn the senate; and, if he had no
+regard to her dreams, to have recourse to some other species of
+divination, or to sacrifices, for information as to his fate. This gave
+him some suspicion and alarm; for he had never known before, in
+Calpurnia, anything of the weakness or superstition of her sex, though
+she was now so much affected.
+
+He therefore offered a number of sacrifices, and, as the diviners found
+no auspicious tokens in any of them, he sent Antony to dismiss the
+senate. In the mean time Decius Brutus, surnamed Albinus, came in. He
+was a person in whom Cæsar placed such confidence that he had appointed
+him his second heir, yet he was engaged in the conspiracy with the other
+Brutus and Cassius. This man, fearing that if Cæsar adjourned the senate
+to another day the affair might be discovered, laughed at the diviners,
+and told Cæsar he would be highly to blame if by such a slight he gave
+the senate an occasion of complaint against him. "For they were met," he
+said, "at his summons, and came prepared with one voice to honor him
+with the title of king in the provinces, and to grant that he should
+wear the diadem both by sea and land everywhere out of Italy. But if
+anyone go and tell them, now they have taken their places, they must go
+home again, and return when Calpurnia happens to have better dreams,
+what room will your enemies have to launch out against you? Or who will
+hear your friends when they attempt to show that this is not an open
+servitude on the one hand and tyranny on the other? If you are
+absolutely persuaded that this is an unlucky day, it is certainly better
+to go yourself and tell them you have strong reasons for putting off
+business till another time." So saying he took Cæsar by the hand and led
+him out.
+
+He was not gone far from the door when a slave, who belonged to some
+other person, attempted to get up to speak to him, but finding it
+impossible, by reason of the crowd that was about him, he made his way
+into the house, and putting himself into the hands of Calpurnia desired
+her to keep him safe till Cæsar's return, because he had matters of
+great importance to communicate.
+
+Artemidorus the Cnidian, who, by teaching the Greek eloquence, became
+acquainted with some of Brutus' friends, and had got intelligence of
+most of the transactions, approached Cæsar with a paper explaining what
+he had to discover. Observing that he gave the papers, as fast as he
+received them, to his officers, he got up as close as possible and said:
+"Cæsar, read this to yourself, and quickly, for it contains matters of
+great consequence and of the last concern to you." He took it and
+attempted several times to read it, but was always prevented by one
+application or other. He therefore kept that paper, and that only, in
+his hand, when he entered the house. Some say it was delivered to him by
+another man, Artemidorus being kept from approaching him all the way by
+the crowd.
+
+These things might, indeed, fall out by chance; but as in the place
+where the senate was that day assembled, and which proved the scene of
+that tragedy, there was a statue of Pompey, and it was an edifice which
+Pompey had consecrated for an ornament to his theatre, nothing can be
+clearer than that some deity conducted the whole business and directed
+the execution of it to that very spot. Even Cassius himself, though
+inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus, turned his eye to the statue of
+Pompey, and secretly invoked his aid, before the great attempt. The
+arduous occasion, it seems, overruled his former sentiments, and laid
+them open to all the influence of enthusiasm. Antony, who was a faithful
+friend to Cæsar, and a man of great strength, was held in discourse
+without, by Brutus Albinus, who had contrived a long story to detain
+him.
+
+When Cæsar entered the house, the senate rose to do him honor. Some of
+Brutus' accomplices came up behind his chair, and others before it,
+pretending to intercede, along with Metillius Cimber, for the recall of
+his brother from exile. They continued their instances till he came to
+his seat. When he was seated he gave them a positive denial; and as they
+continued their importunities with an air of compulsion, he grew angry.
+Cimber, then, with both hands, pulled his gown off his neck, which was
+the signal for the attack. Casca gave him the first blow. It was a
+stroke upon the neck with his sword, but the wound was not dangerous;
+for in the beginning of so tremendous an enterprise he was probably in
+some disorder. Cæsar therefore turned upon him and laid hold of his
+sword. At the same time they both cried out, the one in Latin, "Villain!
+Casca! what dost thou mean?" and the other in Greek, to his brother,
+"Brother, help!"
+
+After such a beginning, those who knew nothing of the conspiracy were
+seized with consternation and horror, insomuch that they durst neither
+fly nor assist, nor even utter a word. All the conspirators now drew
+their swords, and surrounded him in such a manner that, whatever way he
+turned, he saw nothing but steel gleaming in his face, and met nothing
+but wounds. Like some savage beast attacked by the hunters, he found
+every hand lifted against him, for they all agreed to have a share in
+the sacrifice and a taste of his blood. Therefore Brutus himself gave
+him a stroke in the groin. Some say he opposed the rest, and continued
+struggling and crying out till he perceived the sword of Brutus; then he
+drew his robe over his face and yielded to his fate. Either by accident
+or pushed thither by the conspirators, he expired on the pedestal of
+Pompey's statue, and dyed it with his blood; so that Pompey seemed to
+preside over the work of vengeance, to tread his enemy under his feet,
+and to enjoy his agonies. Those agonies were great, for he received no
+less than three-and-twenty wounds. And many of the conspirators wounded
+each other as they were aiming their blows at him.
+
+Cæsar thus despatched, Brutus advanced to speak to the senate and to
+assign his reasons for what he had done, but they could not bear to hear
+him; they fled out of the house and filled the people with inexpressible
+horror and dismay. Some shut up their houses; others left their shops
+and counters. All were in motion; one was running to see the spectacle;
+another running back. Antony and Lepidus, Cæsar's principal friends,
+withdrew, and hid themselves in other people's houses. Meantime Brutus
+and his confederates, yet warm from the slaughter, marched in a body
+with their bloody swords in their hands, from the senate house to the
+Capitol, not like men that fled, but with an air of gayety and
+confidence, calling the people to liberty, and stopping to talk with
+every man of consequence whom they met. There were some who even joined
+them and mingled with their train, desirous of appearing to have had a
+share in the action and hoping for one in the glory. Of this number were
+Caius Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who afterward paid dear for their
+vanity, being put to death by Antony and young Cæsar; so that they
+gained not even the honor for which they lost their lives, for nobody
+believed that they had any part in the enterprise; and they were
+punished, not for the deed, but for the will.
+
+Next day Brutus and the rest of the conspirators came down from the
+Capitol and addressed the people, who attended to their discourse
+without expressing either dislike or approbation of what was done. But
+by their silence it appeared that they pitied Cæsar, at the same time
+that they revered Brutus. The senate passed a general amnesty; and, to
+reconcile all parties, they decreed Cæsar divine honors and confirmed
+all the acts of his dictatorship; while on Brutus and his friends they
+bestowed governments and such honors as were suitable; so that it was
+generally imagined the Commonwealth was firmly established again, and
+all brought into the best order.
+
+But when, upon the opening of Cæsar's will, it was found that he had
+left every Roman citizen a considerable legacy, and they beheld the
+body, as it was carried through the Forum, all mangled with wounds, the
+multitude could no longer be kept within bounds. They stopped the
+procession, and, tearing up the benches, with the doors and tables,
+heaped them into a pile, and burned the corpse there. Then snatching
+flaming brands from the pile, some ran to burn the houses of the
+assassins, while others ranged the city to find the conspirators
+themselves and tear them in pieces; but they had taken such care to
+secure themselves that they could not meet with one of them.
+
+One Cinna, a friend of Cæsar's, had a strange dream the preceding night.
+He dreamed--as they tell us--that Cæsar invited him to supper, and, upon
+his refusal to go, caught him by the hand and drew him after him, in
+spite of all the resistance he could make. Hearing, however, that the
+body of Cæsar was to be burned in the Forum, he went to assist in doing
+him the last honors, though he had a fever upon him, the consequence of
+his uneasiness about his dream. On his coming up, one of the populace
+asked who that was? and having learned his name, told it to his next
+neighbor. A report immediately spread through the whole company that it
+was one of Cæsar's murderers; and, indeed, one of the conspirators was
+named Cinna. The multitude, taking this for the man, fell upon him, and
+tore him to pieces upon the spot. Brutus and Cassius were so terrified
+at this rage of the populace that a few days after they left the city.
+An account of their subsequent actions, sufferings, and death may be
+found in the life of Brutus.
+
+Cæsar died at the age of fifty-six, and did not survive Pompey above
+four years. His object was sovereign power and authority, which he
+pursued through innumerable dangers, and by prodigious efforts he gained
+it at last. But he reaped no other fruit from it than an empty and
+invidious title. It is true the divine Power, which conducted him
+through life, attended him after his death as his avenger, pursued and
+hunted out the assassins over sea and land, and rested not till there
+was not a man left, either of those who dipped their hands in his blood
+or of those who gave their sanction to the deed.
+
+The most remarkable of natural events relative to this affair was that
+Cassius, after he had lost the battle of Philippi, killed himself with
+the same dagger which he had made use of against Cæsar; and the most
+signal phenomenon in the heavens was that of a great comet, which shone
+very bright for seven nights after Cæsar's death, and then disappeared;
+to which we may add the fading of the sun's lustre; for his orb looked
+pale all that year; he rose not with a sparkling radiance, nor had the
+heat he afforded its usual strength. The air, of course, was dark and
+heavy, for want of that vigorous heat which clears and rarefies it; and
+the fruits were so crude and unconcocted that they pined away and
+decayed, through the chilliness of the atmosphere.
+
+We have a proof still more striking that the assassination of Cæsar was
+displeasing to the gods, in the phantom that appeared to Brutus. The
+story of it is this: Brutus was on the point of transporting his army
+from Abydos to the opposite continent; and the night before, he lay in
+his tent awake, according to custom, and in deep thought about what
+might be the event of the war; for it was natural for him to watch a
+great part of the night, and no general ever required so little sleep.
+With all his senses about him, he heard a noise at the door of his tent,
+and looking toward the light, which was now burned very low, he saw a
+terrible appearance in the human form, but of prodigious stature and the
+most hideous aspect. At first he was struck with astonishment; but when
+he saw it neither did nor spoke anything to him, but stood in silence by
+his bed, he asked it who it was? The spectre answered: "I am thy evil
+genius, Brutus; thou shalt see me at Philippi." Brutus answered boldly,
+"I'll meet thee there"; and the spectre immediately vanished.
+
+Some time after, he engaged Antony and Octavius Cæsar at Philippi, and
+the first day was victorious, carrying all before him, where he fought
+in person, and even pillaging Cæsar's camp. The night before he was to
+fight the second battle the same spectre appeared to him again, but
+spoke not a word. Brutus, however, understood that his last hour was
+near, and courted danger with all the violence of despair. Yet he did
+not fall in the action; but seeing all was lost, he retired to the top
+of a rock, where he presented his naked sword to his breast, and a
+friend, as they tell us, assisting the thrust, he died upon the spot.
+
+
+
+
+ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY
+
+DEATH OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
+
+B.C. 44-30
+
+HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL
+
+
+(After the death of Cæsar, Rome was in confusion; consternation seized
+the people, and the "liberators" failed to rally them to their own
+support. In possession of Cæsar's treasure, Antony, the surviving
+consul, bided his time. His oration at Cæsar's funeral stirred the
+populace against the "liberators," and made him for the moment master of
+Rome; but his self-seeking soon turned the people against him. The young
+Octavius, Cæsar's heir, had become popular with the army. He returned to
+Rome and claimed his inheritance, demanded from Antony Cæsar's moneys,
+but in vain, and assumed the title of Cæsar. The rivalry between the two
+leaders rapidly approached a crisis. The partisans of Antony and
+Octavius began to clash, and civil war followed. Defeated, Antony
+retreated across the Alps. Octavius was elected consul, and began
+negotiations with Antony and Lepidus, which resulted in the three new
+masters constituting themselves a triumvirate--the Second
+Triumvirate--to settle the affairs of the Commonwealth. They divided the
+powers of government, and a partition of territory was made between
+them. Their next business was to put out of the way, by proscription,
+the enemies of this new order of things. Three hundred senators,
+including Cicero, were massacred, as well as two thousand knights.
+
+When the terrified senate had legalized the self-assumed authority of
+the triumvirs, they turned their attention to Brutus and Cassius in the
+East, whither they had gone after the assassination of Cæsar and
+established and maintained themselves in power. At the battle of
+Philippi in Macedonia [B.C. 42] Antony and Octavius defeated Brutus and
+Cassius, both of whom died by their own hands. The Roman world was now
+in the hands of the triumvirs. Antony ruled in the East, Octavius in the
+West, and Lepidus in Africa, B.C. 42-36. In the latter year Lepidus was
+deposed by Octavius after a short conflict. And only a year after
+Philippi a war between Octavius and Antony was threatened because of a
+revolt in Italy, raised by Antony's brother Lucius and Fulvia, wife of
+Antony; but it was prevented by a treaty of peace, sealed by the
+marriage of Antony to Octavia, sister of Octavius. This peace lasted for
+ten years, during which time, however, there was constant friction
+between them.
+
+At Tarsus, in B.C. 41, Antony received a visit from Cleopatra, to whose
+charms he had yielded years before. This was the turning-point in his
+career; he went with her to Alexandria. By his oppression of the people
+of the East, and his dalliance with Cleopatra, he made himself the
+object of hatred and contempt. His army met with a series of defeats. In
+the mean time Octavius was constantly strengthening himself. The rivalry
+between them finally reached the point where both prepared for war. The
+great sea fight near Actium, September 2d, B.C. 31, resulted in the
+destruction of Antony's fleet after he had followed Cleopatra in her
+flight. A year later occurred the death of both. This important battle
+established Octavius as the sole ruler of the Roman possessions, and
+historians regard it as marking the end of the republic and the
+beginning of the empire.)
+
+
+While the conspirators were at their bloody work [of slaying Cæsar], the
+mass of the senators rushed in confused terror to the doors; and when
+Brutus turned to address his peers in defence of the deed, the hall was
+well-nigh empty. Cicero, who had been present, answered not, though he
+was called by name; Antony had hurried away to exchange his consular
+robes for the garb of a slave. Disappointed of obtaining the sanction of
+the senate, the conspirators sallied out into the Forum to win the ear
+of the people. But here, too, they were disappointed. Not knowing what
+massacre might be in store, every man had fled to his own house; and in
+vain the conspirators paraded the Forum, holding up their blood-stained
+weapons and proclaiming themselves the liberators of Rome.
+Disappointment was not their only feeling: they were not without fear.
+They knew that Lepidus, being on the eve of departure for his province
+of Narbonnese Gaul, had a legion encamped on the island of the Tiber:
+and if he were to unite with Antony against them, Cæsar would quickly be
+avenged. In all haste, therefore, they retired to the Capitol. Meanwhile
+three of Cæsar's slaves placed their master's body upon a stretcher and
+carried it to his house on the south side of the Forum, with one arm
+dangling from the unsupported corner. In this condition the widowed
+Calpurnia received the lifeless clay of him who had lately been
+sovereign of the world.
+
+Lepidus moved his troops to the Campus Martius. But Antony had no
+thoughts of using force; for in that case probably Lepidus would have
+become master of Rome. During the night he took possession of the
+treasure which Cæsar had collected to defray the expenses of his
+Parthian campaign, and persuaded Calpurnia to put into his hands all the
+dictator's papers. Possessed of these securities, he barricaded his
+house on the Carinae, and determined to watch the course of events.
+
+In the evening Cicero, with other senators, visited the self-styled
+liberators in the Capitol. They had not communicated their plot to the
+orator, through fear (they said) of his irresolute counsels; but now
+that the deed was done, he extolled it as a godlike act. Next morning,
+Dolabella, Cicero's son-in-law, whom Cæsar had promised should be his
+successor in the consulship, assumed the consular fasces and joined the
+liberators; while Cinna, son of the old Marian leader and therefore
+brother-in-law to Cæsar, threw aside his praetorian robes, declaring he
+would no longer wear the tyrant's livery. Dec. Brutus, a good soldier,
+had taken a band of gladiators into pay, to serve as a bodyguard of the
+liberators. Thus strengthened, they ventured again to descend into the
+Forum. Brutus mounted the tribune, and addressed the people in a
+dispassionate speech, which produced little effect. But when Cinna
+assailed the memory of the dictator, the crowd broke out into menacing
+cries, and the liberators again retired to the Capitol.
+
+That same night they entered into negotiations with Antony, and the
+result appeared next morning, the second after the murder. The senate,
+summoned to meet, obeyed the call in large numbers. Antony and Dolabella
+attended in their consular robes, and Cinna resumed his praetorian garb.
+It was soon apparent that a reconciliation had been effected: for Antony
+moved that a general amnesty should be granted, and Cicero seconded the
+motion in an animated speech. It was carried; and Antony next moved that
+all the acts of the dictator should be recognized as law. He had his own
+purposes here; but the liberators also saw in the motion an advantage to
+themselves; for they were actually in possession of some of the chief
+magistracies, and had received appointments to some of the richest
+provinces of the empire. This proposal, therefore, was favorably
+received; but it was adjourned to the next day, together with the
+important question of Cæsar's funeral.
+
+On the next day Cæsar's acts were formally confirmed, and among them his
+will was declared valid, though its provisions were yet unknown. After
+this, it was difficult to reject the proposal that the dictator should
+have a public burial. Old senators remembered the riots that attended
+the funeral of Clodius and shook their heads. Cassius opposed it. But
+Brutus, with imprudent magnanimity, decided in favor of allowing it. To
+seal the reconciliation, Lepidus entertained Brutus at dinner and
+Cassius was feasted by Mark Antony.
+
+The will was immediately made public. Cleopatra was still in Rome, and
+entertained hopes that the boy Cæsarion would be declared the dictator's
+heir; for though he had been married thrice, there was no one of his
+lineage surviving. But Cæsar was too much a Roman, and knew the Romans
+too well, to be guilty of this folly. Young C. Octavius, his sister's
+son, was declared his heir. Legacies were left to all his supposed
+friends, among whom were several of those who had assassinated him. His
+noble gardens beyond the Tiber were devised to the use of the public,
+and every Roman citizen was to receive a donation of three hundred
+sesterces--between ten and fifteen dollars. The effect of this recital
+was electric. Devotion to the memory of the dictator and hatred for his
+murderers at once filled every breast.
+
+Two or three days after this followed the funeral. The body was to be
+burned, and the ashes deposited in the Campus Martius, near the tomb of
+his daughter Julia. But it was first brought into the Forum upon a bier
+inlaid with ivory and covered with rich tapestries, which was carried by
+men high in rank and office. There Antony, as consul, rose to pronounce
+the funeral oration. He ran through the chief acts of Cæsar's life,
+recited his will, and then spoke of the death which had rewarded him. To
+make this more vividly present to the excitable Italians he displayed a
+waxen image marked with the three-and-twenty wounds, and produced the
+very robe which he had worn, all rent and blood-stained. Soul-stirring
+dirges added to the solemn horror of the scene. But to us the memorable
+speech which Shakespeare puts into Antony's mouth will give the
+liveliest notion of the art used and the impression produced. That
+impression was instantaneous. The senator friends of the liberators who
+had attended the ceremony looked on in moody silence. Soon the menacing
+gestures of the crowd made them look to their safety. They fled; and the
+multitude insisted on burning the body, as they had burned the body of
+Clodius, in the sacred precincts of the Forum. Some of the veterans who
+attended the funeral set fire to the bier; benches and firewood heaped
+round it soon made a sufficient pile.
+
+From the blazing pyre the crowd rushed, eager for vengeance, to the
+houses of the conspirators. But all had fled betimes. One poor wretch
+fell a victim to the fury of the mob--Helvius Cinna, a poet who had
+devoted his art to the service of the dictator. He was mistaken for L.
+Cornelius Cinna the prætor, and was torn to pieces before the mistake
+could be explained.[79]
+
+[Footnote 79: This story is, however, rendered somewhat doubtful by the
+manner in which Cinna is mentioned in Vergil's ninth _Eclogue_, which
+was certainly written in or after the year B.C. 40.]
+
+Antony was now the real master of Rome. The treasure which he had seized
+gave him the means of purchasing good will, and of securing the
+attachment of the veterans stationed in various parts of Italy. He did
+not, however, proceed in the course which, from the tone of his funeral
+harangue, might have been expected. He renewed friendly intercourse with
+Brutus and Cassius, who were encouraged to visit Rome once at least, if
+not oftener, after that day; and Dec. Brutus, with his gladiators, was
+suffered to remain in the city. Antony went still further. He gratified
+the senate by passing a law to abolish the dictatorship forever. He then
+left Rome to win the favor of the Italian communities and try the temper
+of the veterans.
+
+Meanwhile another actor appeared upon the scene. This was young
+Octavius. He had been but six months in the camp at Apollonia; but in
+that short time he had formed a close friendship with M. Vipsanius
+Agrippa, a young man of his own age, who possessed great abilities for
+active life, but could not boast of any distinguished ancestry. As soon
+as the news of his uncle's assassination reached the camp, his friend
+Agrippa recommended him to appeal to the troops and march upon Rome. But
+the youth, with a wariness above his years, resisted these bold
+counsels. Landing near Brundusium almost alone, he there first heard
+that Cæsar's will had been published and that he was declared Cæsar's
+heir. He at once accepted the dangerous honor. As he travelled slowly
+toward the city he stayed some days at Puteoli with his mother, Atia,
+who was now married to L. Philippus. Both mother and stepfather
+attempted to dissuade him from the perilous business of claiming his
+inheritance. At the same place he had an interview with Cicero, who had
+quitted Rome in despair after the funeral, and left the orator under the
+impression that he might be won to what was deemed the patriotic party.
+
+He arrived at Rome about the beginning of May, and demanded from Antony,
+who had now returned from his Italian tour, an account of the moneys of
+which the consul had taken possession, in order that he might discharge
+the obligations laid upon him by his uncle's will. But Antony had
+already spent great part of the money in bribing Dolabella and other
+influential persons; nor was he willing to give up any portion of his
+spoil. Octavius therefore sold what remained of his uncle's property,
+raised money on his own credit, and paid all legacies with great
+exactness. This act earned him much popularity. Antony began to fear
+this boy of eighteen, whom he had hitherto despised, and the senate
+learned to look on him as a person to be conciliated.
+
+Still Antony remained in possession of all actual power. Cicero, not
+remarkable for political firmness, in this crisis displayed a vigor
+worthy of his earlier days. He had at one moment made up his mind to
+retire from public life and end his days at Athens in learned leisure.
+In the course of this summer he continued to employ himself on some of
+his most elaborate treatises. His works on the _Nature of the Gods_ and
+on _Divination_, his _Offices_, his _Dialogue on Old Age_, and several
+other essays belong to this period and mark the restless activity of his
+mind. But though he twice set sail from Italy, he was driven back to
+port at Velia, where he found Brutus and Cassius. Here he received
+letters from Au. Hirtius and other friends of Cæsar, which gave him
+hopes that, in the name of Octavius, they might successfully oppose
+Antony and restore constitutional government. He determined to return,
+and announced his purpose to Brutus and Cassius, who commended him and
+took leave of him. They went their way to the east to raise armies
+against Antony; he repaired to Rome to fight the battles of his party in
+the senate house.
+
+Meanwhile Antony had been running riot. In possession of Cæsar's papers,
+with no one to check him, he produced ready warrant for every measure
+which he wished to carry, and pleaded the vote of the senate which
+confirmed all the acts of Cæsar. When he could not produce a genuine
+paper, he interpolated or forged what was needful.
+
+On the day after Cicero's return (September 1st) there was a meeting of
+the senate. But the orator did not attend, and Antony threatened to send
+men to drag him from his house. Next day Cicero was in his place, but
+now Antony was absent. The orator arose and addressed the senate in what
+is called his _First Philippic_. This was a measured attack upon the
+government and policy of Antony, but personalities were carefully
+eschewed: the tone of the whole speech, indeed, is such as might be
+delivered by a leader of opposition in parliament at the present day.
+But Antony, enraged at his boldness, summoned a meeting for the 19th of
+September, which Cicero did not think it prudent to attend. He then
+attacked the absent orator in the strongest language of personal abuse
+and menace. Cicero sat down and composed his famous _Second Philippic_,
+which is written as if it were delivered on the same day, in reply to
+Antony's invective. At present, however, he contented himself with
+sending a copy of it to Atticus, enjoining secrecy.
+
+Matters quickly drew to a head between Antony and Octavius. The latter
+had succeeded in securing a thousand men of his uncle's veterans who had
+settled in Campania; and by great exertions in the different towns of
+Italy had levied a considerable force. Meantime four of the Epirote
+legions had just landed at Brundusium, and Antony hastened to attach
+them to his cause. But the largess which he offered them was only a
+hundred _denaries_ a man, and the soldiers laughed in his face. Antony,
+enraged at their conduct, seized the ringleaders and decimated them. But
+this severity only served to change their open insolence into sullen
+anger, and emissaries from Octavius were ready to draw them over to the
+side of their young master. They had so far obeyed Antony as to march
+northward to Ariminum, while he repaired to Rome. But as he entered the
+senate house he heard that two of the four legions had deserted to his
+rival, and in great alarm he hastened to the camp just in time to keep
+the remainder of the troops under his standard by distributing to every
+man five hundred denaries.
+
+The persons to hold the consulship for the next year had been designated
+by Cæsar. They were both old officers of the Gallic army, C. Vibius
+Pansa and Au. Hirtius, the reputed author of the Eighth Book of the
+_History of the Gallic War_. Cicero was ready to believe that they had
+become patriots, because, disgusted with the arrogance of Antony, they
+had declared for Octavius and the senate. Antony began to fear that all
+parties might combine to crush him. He determined, therefore, no longer
+to remain inactive; and about the end of November, having now collected
+all his troops at Ariminum, he marched along the Æmilian road to drive
+Dec. Brutus out of Cisalpine Gaul. Decimus was obliged to throw himself
+into Mutina (Modena), and Antony blockaded the place. As soon as his
+back was turned, Cicero published the famous _Second Philippic_, in
+which he lashed the consul with the most unsparing hand, going through
+the history of his past life, exaggerating the debaucheries, which were
+common to Antony with great part of the Roman youth, and painting in the
+strongest colors the profligate use he had made of Cæsar's papers. Its
+effect was great, and Cicero followed up the blow by the following
+twelve _Philippics_, which were speeches delivered in the senate house
+and Forum, at intervals from December (44) to April in the next year.
+
+Cicero was anxious to break with Antony at once, by declaring him a
+public enemy. But the latter was still regarded by many senators as the
+head of the Cæsarean party, and it was resolved to treat with him. But
+the demands of Antony were so extravagant that negotiations were at once
+broken off, and nothing remained but to try the fortune of arms. The
+consuls proceeded to levy troops; but so exhausted was the treasury that
+now for the first time since the triumph of Æmilius Paullus it was found
+necessary to levy a property tax on the citizens of Rome.
+
+Octavius and the consuls assembled their forces at Alba. On the first
+day of the new year (43) Hirtius marched for Mutina, with Octavius under
+his command. The other consul, Pansa, remained at Rome to raise new
+levies; but by the end of March he also marched to form a junction with
+Hirtius. Both parties pretended to be acting in Cæsar's name.
+
+Antony left his brother Lucius in the trenches before Mutina, and took
+the field against Hirtius and Octavius. For three months the opponents
+lay watching each other. But when Antony learned that Pansa was coming
+up, he made a rapid movement southward with two of his veteran legions
+and attacked him. A sharp conflict followed, in which Pansa's troops
+were defeated, and the consul himself was carried, mortally wounded, off
+the field. But Hirtius was on the alert, and assaulted Antony's wearied
+troops on their way back to their camp, with some advantage. This was on
+the 15th of April, and on the 27th Hirtius drew Antony from his
+intrenchments before Mutina. A fierce battle followed, which ended in
+the troops of Antony being driven back into their lines. Hirtius
+followed close upon the flying enemy; the camp was carried by storm, and
+a complete victory would have been won had not Hirtius himself fallen.
+Upon this disaster Octavius drew off the troops. The news of the first
+battle had been reported at Rome as a victory, and gave rise to
+extravagant rejoicings. The second battle was really a victory, but all
+rejoicing was damped by the news that one consul was dead and the other
+dying. No such fatal mischance had happened since the Second Punic War,
+when Marcellus and Crispinus fell in one day.
+
+After his defeat Antony felt it impossible to maintain the siege of
+Mutina. With Dec. Brutus in the town behind him, and the victorious
+legions of Octavius before him, his position was critical. He therefore
+prepared to retreat, and effected this purpose like a good soldier. His
+destination was the province of Narbonnese Gaul, where Lepidus had
+assumed the government and had promised him support. But the senate also
+had hopes in the same quarter. L. Munatius Plancus commanded in Northern
+Gaul, and C. Asinius Pollio in Southern Spain. Sext. Pompeius had made
+good his ground in the latter country, and had almost expelled Pollio
+from Bætica. Plancus and Pollio, both friends and favorites of Cæsar,
+had as yet declared neither for Antony nor Octavius. If they would
+declare for the senate, Lepidus, a feeble and fickle man, might desert
+Antony; or if Octavius would join with Dec. Brutus, and pursue him,
+Antony might not be able to escape from Italy at all. But these
+political combinations failed. Plancus and Pollio stood aloof, waiting
+for the course of events. Dec. Brutus was not strong enough to pursue
+Antony by himself, and Octavius was unwilling, perhaps unable, to unite
+the veterans of Cæsar with troops commanded by one of Cæsar's murderers.
+And so it happened that Antony effected his retreat across the Alps, but
+not without extreme hardships, which he bore in common with the meanest
+soldier. It was at such times that his good qualities always showed
+themselves, and his gallant endurance of misery endeared him to every
+man under his command. On his arrival in Narbonnese Gaul he met Lepidus
+at Forum Julii (Frejus), and here the two commanders agreed on a plan of
+operations.
+
+The conduct of Octavius gave rise to grave suspicions. It was even said
+that the consuls had been killed by his agents. Cicero, who had hitherto
+maintained his cause, was silent. He had delivered his _Fourteenth_ and
+last _Philippic_ on the news of the first victory gained by Hirtius. But
+now he talked in private of "removing" the boy of whom he had hoped to
+make a tool. Octavius, however, had taken his part, and was not to be
+removed. Secretly he entered into negotiations with Antony. After some
+vain efforts on the part of the senate to thwart him, he appeared in the
+Campus Martius with his legions. Cicero and most of the senators
+disappeared, and the fickle populace greeted the young heir of Cæsar
+with applause. Though he was not yet twenty he demanded the consulship,
+having been previously relieved from the provisions of the _Lex Annalis_
+by a decree of the senate, and he was elected to the first office in the
+State, with his cousin, Q. Pedius.[80]
+
+[Footnote 80: Pedius was son of Cæsar's second sister, Julia minor, and
+therefore first cousin (once removed) to Octavius.]
+
+A curiate law passed, by which Octavius was adopted into the patrician
+gens of the Julii, and was put into legal possession of the name which
+he had already assumed--C. Julius Cæsar Octavianus. We shall henceforth
+call him Octavian.
+
+The change in his policy was soon indicated by a law in which he
+formally separated himself from the senate. Pedius brought it forward.
+By its provisions all Cæsar's murderers were summoned to take their
+trial. Of course none of them appeared and they were condemned by
+default. By the end of September Octavian was again in Cisalpine Gaul
+and in close negotiation with Antony and Lepidus. The fruits of his
+conduct soon appeared. Plancus and Pollio declared against Cæsar's
+murderers. Dec. Brutus, deserted by his soldiery, attempted to escape
+into Macedonia through Illyricum; but he was overtaken near Aquileia and
+slain by order of Antony.
+
+Italy and Gaul being now clear of the senatorial party, Lepidus, as
+mediator, arranged a meeting between Octavian and Antony, upon an island
+in a small river near Bononia (Bologna). Here the three potentates
+agreed that they should assume a joint and coordinate authority, under
+the name of "Triumvirs for settling the affairs of the Commonwealth."
+Antony was to have the two Gauls, except the Narbonnese district, which,
+with Spain, was assigned to Lepidus; Octavian received Sicily, Sardinia,
+and Africa. Italy was for the present to be left to the consuls of the
+year, and for the ensuing year Lepidus, with Plancus, received promise
+of this high office. In return, Lepidus gave up his military force,
+while Octavian and Antony, each at the head of ten legions, prepared to
+conquer the Eastern part of the empire, which could not yet be divided
+like the Western provinces, because it was in possession of Brutus and
+Cassius.
+
+But before they began war, the triumvirs agreed to follow the example
+set by Sylla--to extirpate their opponents by a proscription, and to
+raise money by confiscation. They framed a list of all men's names whose
+death could be regarded as advantageous to any of the three, and on this
+list each in turn pricked a name. Antony had made many personal enemies
+by his proceedings at Rome, and was at no loss for victims. Octavian had
+few direct enemies; but the boy-despot discerned with precocious
+sagacity those who were likely to impede his ambitious projects, and
+chose his victims with little hesitation. Lepidus would not be left
+behind in the bloody work. The author of the _Philippics_ was one of
+Antony's first victims; Octavian gave him up, and took as an equivalent
+for his late friend the life of L. Cæsar, uncle of Antony. Lepidus
+surrendered his brother Paullus for some similar favor. So the work went
+on. Not fewer than three hundred senators and two thousand knights were
+on the list. Q. Pedius, an honest and upright man, died in his
+consulship, overcome by vexation and shame at being implicated in these
+transactions.
+
+As soon as their secret business was ended, the triumvirs determined to
+enter Rome publicly. Hitherto they had not published more than seventeen
+names of the proscribed. They made their entrance severally on three
+successive days, each attended by a legion. A law was immediately
+brought in to invest them formally with the supreme authority, which
+they had assumed. This was followed by the promulgation of successive
+lists, each larger than its predecessor.
+
+Among the victims, far the most conspicuous was Cicero. With his brother
+Quintus, the old orator had retired to his Tusculan villa after the
+battle of Mutina; and now they endeavored to escape in the hope of
+joining Brutus in Macedonia; for the orator's only son was serving as a
+tribune in the liberator's army. After many changes of domicile they
+reached Astura, a little island near Antium, where they found themselves
+short of money, and Quintus ventured to Rome to procure the necessary
+supply. Here he was recognized and seized, together with his son. Each
+desired to die first, and the mournful claim to precedence was settled
+by the soldiers killing both at the same moment.
+
+Meantime Cicero had put to sea. But even in this extremity he could not
+make up his mind to leave Italy, and put to land at Circeii. After
+further hesitation he again embarked, and again sought the Italian shore
+near Formiae. For the night he stayed at his villa near that place, and
+next morning would not move, exclaiming: "Let me die in my own
+country--that country which I have so often saved." But his faithful
+slaves forced him into a litter and carried him again toward the coast.
+Scarcely were they gone when a band of Antony's bloodhounds reached his
+villa, and were put upon the track of their victim by a young man who
+owed everything to the Ciceros. The old orator from his litter saw the
+pursuers coming up. His own followers were strong enough to have made
+resistance, but he desired them to set the litter down. Then, raising
+himself on his elbow, he calmly waited for the ruffians and offered his
+neck to the sword. He was soon despatched. The chief of the band, by
+Antony's express orders, hewed off the head and hands and carried them
+to Rome. Fulvia, the widow of Clodius and now the wife of Antony, drove
+her hairpin through the tongue which had denounced the iniquities of
+both her husbands. The head which had given birth to the _Second
+Philippic_, and the hands which had written it, were nailed to the
+Rostra, the home of their eloquence. The sight and the associations
+raised feelings of horror and pity in every heart. Cicero died in his
+sixty-fourth year.
+
+Brutus and Cassius left Italy in the autumn of B.C. 44 and repaired to
+the provinces which had been allotted to them, though by Antony's
+influence the senate had transferred Macedonia from Brutus to his own
+brother Caius, and Syria from Cassius to Dolabella. C. Antonius was
+already in possession of parts of Macedonia; but Brutus succeeded in
+dislodging him. Meanwhile Cassius, already well known in Syria for his
+successful conduct of the Parthian War, had established himself in that
+province before he heard of the approach of Dolabella. This worthless
+man left Italy about the same time as Brutus and Cassius, and at the
+head of several legions marched without opposition through Macedonia
+into Asia Minor. Here C. Trebonius had already arrived. But he was
+unable to cope with Dolabella; and the latter surprised him and took him
+prisoner at Smyrna. He was put to death with unseemly contumely in
+Dolabella's presence. This was in February, 43; and thus two of Cæsar's
+murderers, in less than a year's time, felt the blow of retributive
+justice. When the news of this piece of butchery reached Rome, Cicero,
+believing that Octavian was a puppet in his hands, was ruling Rome by
+the eloquence of his _Philippics_. On his motion Dolabella was declared
+a public enemy.[81] Cassius lost no time in marching his legions into
+Asia, to execute the behest of the senate, though he had been
+dispossessed of his province by the senate itself. Dolabella threw
+himself into Laodicea, where he sought a voluntary death.
+
+[Footnote 81: He had divorced Tullia, the orator's daughter, before he
+left Italy.]
+
+By the end of B.C. 43, therefore, the whole of the East was in the hands
+of Brutus and Cassius. But instead of making preparations for war with
+Antony, the two commanders spent the early part of the year 42 in
+plundering the miserable cities of Asia Minor. Brutus demanded men and
+money of the Lycians; and, when they refused, he laid siege to Xanthus,
+their principal city. The Xanthians made the same brave resistance which
+they had offered five hundred years before to the Persian invaders. They
+burned their city and put themselves to death rather than submit. Brutus
+wept over their fate and abstained from further exactions. But Cassius
+showed less moderation; from the Rhodians alone, though they were allies
+of Rome, he demanded all their precious metals. After this campaign of
+plunder, the two chiefs met at Sardis and renewed the altercations which
+Cicero had deplored in Italy. It is probable that war might have broken
+out between them had not the preparations of the triumvirs waked them
+from their dream of security. It was as he was passing over into Europe
+that Brutus, who continued his studious habits amid all disquietudes,
+and limited his time of sleep to a period too small for the requirements
+of health, was dispirited by the vision which Shakespeare, after
+Plutarch, has made famous. It was no doubt the result of a diseased
+frame, though it was universally held to be a divine visitation. As he
+sat in his tent in the dead of night, he thought a huge and shadowy form
+stood by him; and when he calmly asked, "What and whence art thou?" it
+answered, or seemed to answer: "I am thine evil genius, Brutus: we shall
+meet again at Philippi."
+
+Meantime Antony's lieutenants had crossed the Ionian Sea and penetrated
+without opposition into Thrace. The republican leaders found them at
+Philippi. The army of Brutus and Cassius amounted to at least eighty
+thousand infantry, supported by twenty thousand horse; but they were
+ill-supplied with experienced officers. For M. Valerius Messalla, a
+young man of twenty-eight, held the chief command after Brutus and
+Cassius; and Horace, who was but three-and-twenty, the son of a
+freedman, and a youth of feeble constitution, was appointed a legionary
+tribune. The forces opposed to them would have been at once overpowered
+had not Antony himself opportunely arrived with the second corps of the
+triumviral army. Octavian was detained by illness at Dyrrhachium, but he
+ordered himself to be carried on a litter to join his legions. The army
+of the triumvirs was now superior to the enemy; but their cavalry,
+counting only thirteen thousand, was considerably weaker than the force
+opposed to it. The republicans were strongly posted upon two hills, with
+intrenchments between: the camp of Cassius upon the left next the sea,
+that of Brutus inland on the right. The triumviral army lay upon the
+open plain before them, in a position rendered unhealthy by marshes;
+Antony, on the right, was opposed to Cassius; Octavian, on the left,
+fronted Brutus. But they were ill-supplied with provisions and anxious
+for a decisive battle. The republicans, however, kept to their
+intrenchments, and the other party began to suffer severely from famine.
+
+Determined to bring on an action, Antony began works for the purpose of
+cutting off Cassius from the sea. Cassius had always opposed a general
+action, but Brutus insisted on putting an end to the suspense, and his
+colleague yielded. The day of the attack was probably in October. Brutus
+attacked Octavian's army, while Cassius assaulted the working parties of
+Antony. Cassius' assault was beaten back with loss, but he succeeded in
+regaining his camp in safety. Meanwhile, Messalla, who commanded the
+right wing of Brutus' army, had defeated the host of Octavian, who was
+still too ill to appear on the field, and the republican soldiers
+penetrated into the triumvirs' camp. Presently his litter was brought in
+stained with blood, and the corpse of a young man found near it was
+supposed to be Octavian's. But Brutus, not receiving any tidings of the
+movements of Cassius, became so anxious for his fate that he sent off a
+party of horse to make inquiries, and neglected to support the
+successful assaults of Messalla.
+
+Cassius, on his part, discouraged at his ill-success, was unable to
+ascertain the progress of Brutus. When he saw the party of horse he
+hastily concluded that they belonged to the enemy, and retired into his
+tent with his freedman Pindarus. What passed there we know not for
+certain. Cassius was found dead, with the head severed from the body.
+Pindarus was never seen again. It was generally believed that Pindarus
+slew his master in obedience to orders; but many thought that he had
+dealt a felon blow. The intelligence of Cassius' death was a heavy blow
+to Brutus. He forgot his own success, and pronounced the elegy of
+Cassius in the well-known words, "There lies the last of the Romans."
+The praise was ill-deserved. Except in his conduct of the war against
+the Parthians, Cassius had never played a worthy part.
+
+After the first battle of Philippi it would have still been politic in
+Brutus to abstain from battle. The triumviral armies were in great
+distress, and every day increased their losses. Reinforcements coming to
+their aid by sea were intercepted--a proof of the neglect of the
+republican leaders in not sooner bringing their fleet into action. Nor
+did Brutus ever hear of this success. He was ill-fitted for the life of
+the camp, and after the death of Cassius he only kept his men together
+by largesse and promises of plunder. Twenty days after the first battle
+he led them out again. Both armies faced one another. There was little
+manoeuvring. The second battle was decided by numbers and force, not by
+skill; and it was decided in favor of the triumvirs. Brutus retired with
+four legions to a strong position in the rear, while the rest of his
+broken army sought refuge in the camp. Octavian remained to watch them,
+while Antony pursued the republican chief. Next day Brutus endeavored to
+rouse his men to another effort; but they sullenly refused to fight; and
+Brutus withdrew with a few friends into a neighboring wood. Here he took
+them aside one by one, and prayed each to do him the last service that a
+Roman could render to his friend. All refused with horror; till at
+nightfall a trusty Greek freedman named Strato held the sword, and his
+master threw himself upon it. Most of his friends followed the sad
+example. The body of Brutus was sent by Antony to his mother. His wife
+Portia, the daughter of Cato, refused all comfort; and being too closely
+watched to be able to slay herself by ordinary means, she suffocated
+herself by thrusting burning charcoal into her mouth. Massalla, with a
+number of other fugitives, sought safety in the island of Thasos, and
+soon after made submission to Antony.
+
+The name of Brutus has, by Plutarch's beautiful narrative, sublimed by
+Shakespeare, become a byword for self-devoted patriotism. This exalted
+opinion is now generally confessed to be unjust. Brutus was not a
+patriot, unless devotion to the party of the senate be patriotism.
+Toward the provincials he was a true Roman, harsh and oppressive. He was
+free from the sensuality and profligacy of his age, but for public life
+he was unfit. His habits were those of a student. His application was
+great, his memory remarkable. But he possessed little power of turning
+his acquirements to account; and to the last he was rather a learned man
+than a man improved by learning. In comparison with Cassius, he was
+humane and generous; but in all respects his character is contrasted for
+the worse with that of the great man from whom he accepted favors and
+then became his murderer.
+
+The battle of Philippi was in reality the closing scene of the
+republican drama. But the rivalship of the triumvirs prolonged for
+several years the divided state of the Roman world; and it was not till
+after the crowning victory of Actium that the imperial government was
+established in its unity. We shall, therefore, here add a rapid
+narrative of the events which led to that consummation.
+
+The hopeless state of the republican or rather the senatorial party was
+such that almost all hastened to make submission to the conquerors:
+those whose sturdy spirit still disdained submission resorted to Sext.
+Pompeius in Sicily. Octavian, still suffering from ill-health, was
+anxious to return to Italy; but before he parted from Antony, they
+agreed to a second distribution of the provinces of the empire. Antony
+was to have the Eastern world; Octavian the Western provinces. To
+Lepidus, who was not consulted in this second division, Africa alone was
+left. Sext. Pompeius remained in possession of Sicily.
+
+Antony at once proceeded to make a tour through Western Asia, in order
+to exact money from its unfortunate people. About midsummer (B.C. 41) he
+arrived at Tarsus, and here he received a visit which determined the
+future course of his life and influenced Roman history for the next ten
+years.
+
+Antony had visited Alexandria fourteen years before, and had been
+smitten by the charms of Cleopatra, then a girl of fifteen. She became
+Cæsar's paramour, and from the time of the dictator's death Antony had
+never seen her. She now came to meet him in Cilicia. The galley which
+carried her up the Cydnus was of more than oriental gorgeousness: the
+sails of purple; oars of silver, moving to the sound of music; the
+raised poop burnished with gold. There she lay upon a splendid couch,
+shaded by a spangled canopy; her attire was that of Venus; around her
+flitted attendant cupids and graces. At the news of her approach to
+Tarsus, the triumvir found his tribunal deserted by the people. She
+invited him to her ship, and he complied. From that moment he was her
+slave. He accompanied her to Alexandria, exchanged the Roman garb for
+the Graeco-Egyptian costume of the court, and lent his power to the
+Queen to execute all her caprices.
+
+Meanwhile Octavian was not without his difficulties. He was so ill at
+Brundusium that his death was reported at Rome. The veterans, eager for
+their promised rewards, were on the eve of mutiny. In a short time
+Octavian was sufficiently recovered to show himself. But he could find
+no other means of satisfying the greedy soldiery than by a confiscation
+of lands more sweeping than that which followed the proscription of
+Sylla. The towns of Cisalpine Gaul were accused of favoring Dec. Brutus,
+and saw nearly all their lands handed over to new possessors. The young
+poet, Vergil, lost his little patrimony, but was reinstated at the
+instance of Pollio and Maecenas, and showed his gratitude in his _First
+Eclogue_. Other parts of Italy also suffered: Apulia, for example, as we
+learn from Horace's friend Ofellus, who became the tenant of the estate
+which had formerly been his own.
+
+But these violent measures deferred rather than obviated the difficulty.
+The expulsion of so many persons threw thousands loose upon society,
+ripe for any crime. Many of the veterans were ready to join any new
+leader who promised them booty. Such a leader was at hand.
+
+Fulvia, wife of Antony, was a woman of fierce passions and ambitious
+spirit. She had not been invited to follow her husband to the East. She
+saw that in his absence imperial power would fall into the hands of
+Octavian. Lucius, brother of Mark Antony, was consul for the year, and
+at her instigation he raised his standard at Præneste. But L. Antonius
+knew not how to use his strength; and young Agrippa, to whom Octavian
+intrusted the command, obliged Antonius and Fulvia to retire northward
+and shut themselves up in Perusia. Their store of provisions was so
+small that it sufficed only for the soldiery. Early in the next year
+Perusia surrendered, on condition that the lives of the leaders should
+be spared. The town was sacked; the conduct of L. Antonius alienated all
+Italy from his brother.
+
+While his wife, his brother, and his friends were quitting Italy in
+confusion, the arms of Antony suffered a still heavier blow in the
+Eastern provinces, which were under his special government. After the
+battle of Philippi, Q. Labienus, son of Cæsar's old lieutenant Titus,
+sought refuge at the court of Orodes, king of Parthia. Encouraged by the
+proffered aid of a Roman officer, Pacorus (the King's son) led a
+formidable army into Syria. Antony's lieutenant was entirely routed; and
+while Pacorus with one army poured into Palestine and Phoenicia, Q.
+Labienus with another broke into Cilicia. Here he found no opposition;
+and, overrunning all Asia Minor even to the Ionian Sea, he assumed the
+name of Parthicus, as if he had been a Roman conqueror of the people
+whom he served.
+
+These complicated disasters roused Antony from his lethargy. He sailed
+to Tyre, intending to take the field against the Parthians; but the
+season was too far advanced, and he therefore crossed the Ægean to
+Athens, where he found Fulvia and his brother, accompanied by Pollio,
+Plancus, and others, all discontented with Octavian's government.
+Octavian was absent in Gaul, and their representation of the state of
+Italy encouraged him to make another attempt. Late in the year (41)
+Antony formed a league with Sext. Pompeius; and while that chief
+blockaded Thurii and Consentia, Antony assailed Brundusium. Agrippa was
+preparing to meet this new combination; and a fresh civil war was
+imminent. But the soldiery was weary of war: both armies compelled their
+leaders to make pacific overtures, and the new year was ushered in by a
+general peace, which was rendered easier by the death of Fulvia. Antony
+and Octavian renewed their professions of amity, and entered Rome
+together in joint ovation to celebrate the restoration of peace. They
+now made a third division of the provinces, by which Scodra (Scutari) in
+Illyricum was fixed as the boundary of the West and East; Lepidus was
+still left in possession of Africa. It was further agreed that Octavian
+was to drive Sext. Pompeius, lately the ally of Antony, out of Sicily;
+while Antony renewed his pledges to recover the standards of Crassus
+from the Parthians. The new compact was sealed by the marriage of Antony
+with Octavia, his colleague's sister, a virtuous and beautiful lady,
+worthy of a better consort. These auspicious events were celebrated by
+the lofty verse of Vergil's _Fourth Eclogue_.
+
+Sext. Pompeius had reason to complain. By the peace of Brundusium he was
+abandoned by his late friend to Octavian. He was not a man to brook
+ungenerous treatment. Of late years his possession of Sicily had given
+him command of the Roman corn market. During the winter which followed
+the peace of Brundusium (B.C. 40-39), Sextus blockaded Italy so closely
+that Rome was threatened with a positive dearth. Riots arose; the
+triumvirs were pelted with stones in the Forum, and they deemed it
+prudent to temporize by inviting Pompey to enter their league. He met
+them at Misenum, and the two chiefs went on board his ship to settle the
+terms of alliance. It is said that one of his chief officers, a Greek
+named Menas or Menodorus, suggested to him the expediency of putting to
+sea with the great prize, and then making his own terms. Sextus rejected
+the advice with the characteristic words, "You should have done it
+without asking me." It was agreed that Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica
+should be given up to his absolute rule, and that Achaia should be added
+to his portion; so that the Roman world was now partitioned among four:
+Octavian, Antony, Lepidus, and Sext. Pompeius. On their return the
+triumvirs were received with vociferous applause.
+
+Before winter, Antony sailed for Athens in company with Octavia, who for
+the time seems to have banished Cleopatra from his thoughts. But he
+disgusted all true Romans by assuming the attributes of Grecian gods and
+indulging in Grecian orgies.
+
+He found the state of things in the East greatly changed since his
+departure. He had commissioned P. Ventidius Bassus, an officer who had
+followed Fulvia from Italy, to hold the Parthians in check till his
+return. Ventidius was son of a Picenian nobleman of Asculum, who had
+been brought to Rome as a captive in the Social War. In his youth he had
+been a contractor to supply mules for the use of the Roman commissariat.
+But in the civil wars which followed, men of military talent easily rose
+to command; and such was the lot of Ventidius. While Antony was absent
+in Italy, he drove Q. Labienus into the defiles of Taurus, and here that
+adventurer was defeated and slain. The conqueror then marched rapidly
+into Syria, and forced Pacorus also to withdraw to the eastern bank of
+the Euphrates.
+
+In the following year (38) he repelled a fresh invasion of the
+Parthians, and defeated them in three battles. In the last of these
+engagements Pacorus himself was slain on the fifteenth anniversary of
+the death of Crassus. Antony found Ventidius laying siege to Samosata,
+and displaced him, only to abandon the siege and return to Athens.
+Ventidius repaired to Rome, where he was honored with a well-deserved
+triumph. He had left it as a mule jobber; he returned with the laurel
+round his brows. He was the first, and almost the last, Roman general
+who could claim such a distinction for victory over the Parthians.
+
+The alliance with Sext. Pompeius was not intended to last, and it did
+not last. Antony refused to put him in possession of Achaia, and to
+avenge himself for this breach of faith Pompeius again began to
+intercept the Italian corn fleets. Fresh discontent appeared at Rome,
+and Octavian equipped a second fleet to sail against the naval chief;
+but after two battles of doubtful result, the fleet was destroyed by a
+storm, and Sextus was again left in undisputed mastery of the sea.
+Octavian, however, was never daunted by reverses, and he gave his
+favorite Agrippa full powers to conduct the war against Pompeius. This
+able commander set about his work with that resolution that marked a man
+determined not to fail. As a harbor for his fleet, he executed a plan of
+the great Cæsar; namely, to make a good and secure harbor on the coast
+of Latium, which then, as now, offered no shelter to ships. For this
+purpose he cut a passage through the narrow necks of land which
+separated Lake Lucrinus from the sea, and Lake Avernus from Lake
+Lucrinus, and faced the outer barrier with stone. This was the famous
+Julian Port. In the whole of the two years B.C. 38 and 37 Agrippa was
+occupied in this work and in preparing a sufficient force of ships.
+Every dockyard in Italy was called into requisition. A large body of
+slaves was set free that they might be trained to serve as rowers.
+
+On the 1st of July, B.C. 36, the fleet put to sea. Octavian himself,
+with one division, purposed to attack the northern coast of Sicily,
+while a second squadron was assembled at Tarentum for the purpose of
+assailing the eastern side. Lepidus, with a third fleet from Africa, was
+to assault Lilybaeum. But the winds were again adverse; and, though
+Lepidus effected a landing on the southern coast, Octavian's two fleets
+were driven back to Italy with great damage. But the injured ships were
+refitted, and Agrippa was sent westward toward Panormus, while Octavian
+himself kept guard near Messana. Off Mylae, a place famous for having
+witnessed the first naval victory of the Romans, Agrippa encountered the
+fleet of Sext. Pompeius; but Sextus, with the larger portion of his
+ships, gave Agrippa the slip, and sailing eastward fell suddenly upon
+Octavian's squadron off Tauromenium. A desperate conflict followed,
+which ended in the complete triumph of Sextus, and Octavian escaped to
+Italy with a few ships only. But Agrippa was soon upon the traces of the
+enemy. On the 3d of September Sextus was obliged once more to accept
+battle near the Straits of Messana, and suffered an irretrievable
+defeat. His troops on land were attacked and dispersed by an army which
+had been landed on the eastern coast by the indefatigable Octavian; and
+Sextus sailed off to Lesbos, where he had found refuge as a boy during
+the campaign of Pharsalia, to seek protection from the jealousy of
+Antony.
+
+Lepidus had assisted in the campaign; but after the departure of Sextus
+he openly declared himself independent of his brother triumvirs.
+Octavian, with prompt and prudent boldness, entered the camp of Lepidus
+in person with a few attendants. The soldiers deserted in crowds, and in
+a few hours Lepidus was fain to sue for pardon, where he had hoped to
+rule. He was treated with contemptuous indifference, Africa was taken
+from him; but he was allowed to live and die at Rome in quiet enjoyment
+of the chief pontificate.
+
+It was fortunate for Octavian that during this campaign Antony was on
+friendly terms with him. In B.C. 37 the ruler of the East again visited
+Italy, and a meeting between the two chiefs was arranged at Tarentum.
+The five years for which the triumvirs were originally appointed were
+now fast expiring; and it was settled that their authority should be
+renewed by the subservient senate and people for a second period of the
+same duration. They parted good friends; and Octavian undertook his
+campaign against Sext. Pompeius without fear from Antony. This was
+proved by the fate of the fugitive. From Lesbos Sextus passed over to
+Asia, where he was taken prisoner by Antony's lieutenants and put to
+death.
+
+Hitherto Octavia had retained her influence over Antony. But presently,
+after his last interview with her brother, the fickle triumvir abruptly
+quitted a wife who was too good for him, and returned to the fascinating
+presence of the Egyptian Queen, whom he had not seen for three years.
+From this time forth he made no attempt to break the silken chain of her
+enchantments. During the next summer, indeed, he attempted a new
+Parthian campaign. But his advance was made with reckless indifference
+to the safety of his troops. Provisions failed; disease broke out; and
+after great suffering he was forced to seek safety by a precipitate
+retreat into the Armenian mountains. In the next year he contented
+himself with a campaign in Armenia, to punish the King of that country
+for alleged treachery in the last campaign. The King fell into his
+hands; and with this trophy Antony returned to Alexandria, where the
+Romans were disgusted to see the streets of a Graeco-Egyptian town
+honored by a mimicry of a Roman triumph.
+
+For the next three years he surrendered himself absolutely to the will
+of the enchantress. To this period belong those tales of luxurious
+indulgence which are known to every reader. The brave soldier, who in
+the perils of war could shake off all luxurious habits and could rival
+the commonest man in the cheerfulness with which he underwent every
+hardship, was seen no more. He sunk into an indolent voluptuary, pleased
+by childish amusements. At one time he would lounge in a boat at a
+fishing party, and laugh when he drew up pieces of salt fish which by
+the Queen's order had been attached to his hook by divers. At another
+time she wagered that she would consume ten million sesterces at one
+meal, and won her wager by dissolving in vinegar a pearl of unknown
+value. While Cleopatra bore the character of the goddess Isis, her lover
+appeared as Osiris. Her head was placed conjointly with his own on the
+coins which he issued as a Roman magistrate. He disposed of the kingdoms
+and principalities of the East by his sole word. By his influence Herod,
+son of Antipater, the Idumæan minister of Hyrcanus, the late sovereign
+of Judea, was made king to the exclusion of the rightful heir. Polemo,
+his own son by Cleopatra, was invested with the sceptre of Armenia.
+Encouraged by the absolute submission of her lover, Cleopatra fixed her
+eye upon the Capitol, and dreamed of winning by means of Antony that
+imperial crown which she had vainly sought from Cæsar.
+
+While Antony was engaged in voluptuous dalliance, Octavian was
+resolutely pursuing the work of consolidating his power in the West. His
+patience, his industry, his attention to business, his affability, were
+winning golden opinions and rapidly obliterating all memory of the
+bloody work by which he had risen to power. He had won little glory in
+war; but so long as the corn fleets arrived daily from Sicily and
+Africa, the populace cared little whether the victory had been won by
+Octavian or by his generals. In Agrippa he possessed a consummate
+captain, in Maecenas a wise and temperate minister. It is much to his
+credit that he never showed any jealousy of the men to whom he owed so
+much. He flattered the people with the hope that he would, when Antony
+had fulfilled his mission of recovering the standards of Crassus, engage
+him to join in putting an end to their sovereign power and restoring
+constitutional liberty.
+
+In point of fidelity to his marriage vows Octavian was little better
+than Antony. He renounced his marriage with Clodia, the daughter of
+Fulvia, when her mother attempted to raise Italy against him. He
+divorced Scribonia, when it no longer suited him to court the favor of
+her kinsman. To replace this second wife, he forcibly took away Livia
+from her husband, T. Claudius Nero, though she was at that time pregnant
+of her second son. But in this and other less pardonable immoralities
+there was nothing to shock the feelings of Romans.
+
+But Octavian never suffered pleasure to divert him from business. If he
+could not be a successful general, he resolved at least to show that he
+could be a hardy soldier. While Antony in his Egyptian palace was
+neglecting the Parthian War, his rival led his legions in more than one
+dangerous campaign against the barbarous Dalmatians and Pannonians, who
+had been for some time infesting the province of Illyricum. In the year
+B.C. 33 he announced that the limits of the empire had been extended
+northward to the banks of the Save.
+
+Octavian now began to feel that any appearance of friendship with Antony
+was a source of weakness rather than of strength at Rome.
+Misunderstandings had already broken out. Antony complained that
+Octavian had given him no share in the provinces wrested from Sext.
+Pompeius and Lepidus. Octavian retorted by accusing his colleague of
+appropriating Egypt and Armenia, and of increasing Cleopatra's power at
+the expense of the Roman Empire. Popular indignation rose to its height
+when Plancus and Titius, who had been admitted to Antony's confidence,
+passed over to Octavian, and disclosed the contents of their master's
+will. In that document Antony ordered that his body should be buried at
+Alexandria, in the mausoleum of Cleopatra. Men began to fancy that
+Cleopatra had already planted her throne upon the Capitol. These
+suspicions were sedulously encouraged by Octavian.
+
+Before the close of B.C. 32, Octavian, by the authority of the senate,
+declared war nominally against Cleopatra. Antony, roused from his sleep
+by reports from Rome, passed over to Athens, issuing orders everywhere
+to levy men and collect ships for the impending struggle. At Athens he
+received news of the declaration of war, and replied by divorcing
+Octavia. His fleet was ordered to assemble at Corcyra; and his legions
+in the early spring prepared to pour into Epirus. He established his
+head-quarters at Patræ on the Corinthian Gulf.
+
+But Antony, though his fleet was superior to that of Octavian, allowed
+Agrippa to sweep the Ionian Sea, and to take possession of Methone, in
+Messenia, as a station for a flying squadron to intercept Antony's
+communications with the East, nay, even to occupy Corcyra, which had
+been destined for his own place of rendezvous. Antony's fleet now
+anchored in the waters of the Ambracian Gulf, while his legions encamped
+on a spot of land which forms the northern horn of that spacious inlet.
+But the place chosen for the camp was unhealthy; and in the heats of
+early summer his army suffered greatly from disease. Agrippa lay close
+at hand watching his opportunity. In the course of the spring Octavian
+joined him in person.
+
+Early in the season Antony had repaired from Patræ to his army, so as to
+be ready either to cross over into Italy or to meet the enemy if they
+attempted to land in Epirus. At first he showed something of his old
+military spirit, and the soldiers, who always loved his military
+frankness, warmed into enthusiasm; but his chief officers, won by
+Octavian or disgusted by the influence of Cleopatra, deserted him in
+such numbers that he knew not whom to trust, and gave up all thoughts of
+maintaining the contest with energy. Urged by Cleopatra, he resolved to
+carry off his fleet and abandon the army. All preparations were made in
+secret, and the great fleet put to sea on the 28th of August. For the
+four following days there was a strong gale from the south. Neither
+could Antony escape nor could Octavian put to sea against him from
+Corcyra. On the 2d of September, however, the wind fell, and Octavian's
+light vessels, by using their oars, easily came up with the unwieldy
+galleys of the eastern fleet. A battle was now inevitable.
+
+Antony's ships were like impregnable fortresses to the assault of the
+slight vessels of Octavian; and, though they lay nearly motionless in
+the calm sea, little impression was made upon them. But about noon a
+breeze sprung up from the west; and Cleopatra, followed by sixty
+Egyptian ships, made sail in a southerly direction. Antony immediately
+sprang from his ship-of-war into a light galley and followed. Deserted
+by their commander, the captains of Antony's ships continued to resist
+desperately; nor was it till the greater part of them were set on fire
+that the contest was decided. Before evening closed, the whole fleet was
+destroyed; most of the men and all the treasure on board perished. A few
+days after, when the shameful flight of Antony was made known to his
+army, all his legions went over to the conqueror.
+
+It was not for eleven months after the battle of Actium that Octavian
+entered the open gates of Alexandria. He had been employed in the
+interval in founding the city of Nicopolis to celebrate his victory on
+the northern horn of the Ambracian Gulf, in rewarding his soldiers, and
+settling the affairs of the provinces of the East. In the winter he
+returned to Italy, and it was midsummer, B.C. 30, before he arrived in
+Egypt.
+
+When Antony and Cleopatra arrived off Alexandria they put a bold face
+upon the matter. Some time passed before the real state of the case was
+known; but it soon became plain that Egypt was at the mercy of the
+conqueror. The Queen formed all kinds of wild designs. One was to
+transport the ships that she had saved across the Isthmus of Suez and
+seek refuge in some distant land where the name of Rome was yet unknown.
+Some ships were actually drawn across, but they were destroyed by the
+Arabs, and the plan was abandoned. She now flattered herself that her
+powers of fascination, proved so potent over Cæsar and Antony, might
+subdue Octavian. Secret messages passed between the conqueror and the
+Queen; nor were Octavian's answers such as to banish hope.
+
+Antony, full of repentance and despair, shut himself up in Pharos, and
+there remained in gloomy isolation.
+
+In July, B.C. 30, Octavian appeared before Pelusium. The place was
+surrendered without a blow. Yet, at the approach of the conqueror,
+Antony put himself at the head of a division of cavalry and gained some
+advantage. But on his return to Alexandria he found that Cleopatra had
+given up all her ships; and no more opposition was offered. On the 1st
+of August (Sextilis, as it was then called) Octavian entered the open
+gates of Alexandria. Both Antony and Cleopatra sought to win him.
+Antony's messengers the conqueror refused to see; but he still used fair
+words to Cleopatra. The Queen had shut herself up in a sort of mausoleum
+built to receive her body after death, which was not approachable by any
+door; and it was given out that she was really dead. All the tenderness
+of old times revived in Antony's heart. He stabbed himself, and in a
+dying state ordered himself to be laid by the side of Cleopatra. The
+Queen, touched by pity, ordered her expiring lover to be drawn up by
+cords into her retreat, and bathed his temples with her tears.
+
+After he had breathed his last, she consented to see Octavian. Her
+penetration soon told her that she had nothing to hope from him. She saw
+that his fair words were only intended to prevent her from desperate
+acts and reserve her for the degradation of his triumph. This impression
+was confirmed when all instruments by which death could be inflicted
+were found to have been removed from her apartments. But she was not to
+be so baffled. She pretended all submission; but when the ministers of
+Octavian came to carry her away, they found her lying dead upon her
+couch, attended by her faithful waiting-women, Iras and Charmion. The
+manner of her death was never ascertained; popular belief ascribed it to
+the bite of an asp which had been conveyed to her in a basket of fruit.
+
+Thus died Antony and Cleopatra. Antony was by nature a genial,
+open-hearted Roman, a good soldier, quick, resolute, and vigorous, but
+reckless and self-indulgent, devoid alike of prudence and of principle.
+The corruptions of the age, the seductions of power, and the evil
+influence of Cleopatra paralyzed a nature capable of better things. We
+know him chiefly through the exaggerated assaults of Cicero in his
+_Philippic_, and the narratives of writers devoted to Octavian. But
+after all deductions for partial representation, enough remains to show
+that Antony had all the faults of Cæsar, with little of his redeeming
+greatness.
+
+Cleopatra was an extraordinary person. At her death she was but
+thirty-eight years of age. Her power rested not so much on actual beauty
+as on her fascinating manners and her extreme readiness of wit. In her
+follies there was a certain magnificence which excites even a dull
+imagination. We may estimate the real power of her mental qualities by
+observing the impression her character made upon the Roman poets of the
+time. No meditated praises could have borne such testimony to her
+greatness as the lofty strain in which Horace celebrates her fall and
+congratulates the Roman world on its escape from the ruin which she was
+threatening to the Capitol.
+
+Octavian dated the years of his imperial monarchy from the day of the
+battle of Actium. But it was not till two years after (the summer of
+B.C. 29) that he established himself in Rome as ruler of the Roman
+world. Then he celebrated three magnificent triumphs, after the example
+of his uncle the great dictator, for his victories in Dalmatia, at
+Actium, and in Egypt. At the same time the temple of Janus was
+closed--notwithstanding that border wars still continued in Gaul and
+Spain--for the first time since the year B.C. 235. All men drew breath
+more freely, and all except the soldiery looked forward to a time of
+tranquillity. Liberty and independence were forgotten words. After the
+terrible disorders of the last century, the general cry was for quiet at
+any price. Octavian was a person admirably fitted to fulfil these
+aspirations. His uncle Julius was too fond of active exertion to play
+such a part well. Octavian never shone in war, while his vigilant and
+patient mind was well fitted for the discharge of business. He avoided
+shocking popular feeling by assuming any title savoring of royalty; but
+he enjoyed by universal consent an authority more than regal.
+
+
+
+
+GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME
+
+A.D. 9
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(The German race was beginning to make itself felt to a greater extent
+than hitherto in its efforts for freedom from the Roman rule. Research
+shows that from the earliest days there were two distinct peoples under
+this designation of _German_--the northern or Scandinavian, and the
+southern, being more truly the German. Both consisted of numerous
+tribes, the Romans giving separate names to each: from this arose the
+generic titles of _Franks, Bavarians, Alamanni_, and the rest.
+
+They were great fighters and, as a natural sequence, mighty hunters.
+When warfare did not occupy their attention, hunting, feasting, and
+drinking took its place. Tacitus writes: "To drink continuously, night
+and day, was no shame for them." Their chief beverage was barley beer,
+though, in the South, wine was used to some extent.
+
+Rome had garrisons throughout the whole land, and the fortunes of the
+Germans were at a low ebb. Freedom seemed stifled forever when Arminius
+led his forces against the Roman hosts in the forest of Teutoburgium.
+Rightly does Creasy rate this important battle so highly, for it meant
+the final uplifting of the Teuton, and with him the English-speaking
+races of a later time.)
+
+
+To a truly illustrious Frenchman, whose reverses as a minister can never
+obscure his achievements in the world of letters, we are indebted for
+the most profound and most eloquent estimate that we possess of the
+importance of the Germanic element in European civilization, and of the
+extent to which the human race is indebted to those brave warriors who
+long were the unconquered antagonists, and finally became the
+conquerors, of imperial Rome.
+
+Twenty-three eventful years have passed away since M. Guizot[82]
+delivered from the chair of modern history, at Paris, his course of
+lectures on the history of civilization in Europe. During those years
+the spirit of earnest inquiry into the germs and primary developments of
+existing institutions has become more and more active and universal, and
+the merited celebrity of M. Guizot's work has proportionally increased.
+Its admirable analysis of the complex political and social organizations
+of which the modern civilized world is made up must have led thousands
+to trace with keener interest the great crises of times past, by which
+the characteristics of the present were determined. The narrative of one
+of these great crises, of the epoch A.D. 9, when Germany took up arms
+for her independence against Roman invasion, has for us this special
+attraction--that it forms part of our own national history. Had Arminius
+been supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors would have been
+enslaved or exterminated in their original seats along the Eider and the
+Elbe. This island would never have borne the name of England, and "we,
+this great English nation, whose race and language are now overrunning
+the earth, from one end of it to the other," would have been utterly cut
+off from existence.
+
+[Footnote 82: Guizot was minister of foreign affairs, and later (1848)
+prime minister, under Louis Philippe.]
+
+Arnold may, indeed, go too far in holding that we are wholly unconnected
+in race with the Romans and Britons who inhabited this country before
+the coming over of the Saxons; that, "nationally speaking, the history
+of Cæsar's invasion has no more to do with us than the natural history
+of the animals which then inhabited our forests." There seems ample
+evidence to prove that the Romanized Celts whom our Teutonic forefathers
+found here influenced materially the character of our nation. But the
+main stream of our people was, and is, Germanic. Our language alone
+decisively proves this. Arminius is far more truly one of our national
+heroes than Caractacus; and it was our own primeval fatherland that the
+brave German rescued when he slaughtered the Roman legions, eighteen
+centuries ago, in the marshy glens between the Lippe and the Ems.
+
+Dark and disheartening, even to heroic spirits, must have seemed the
+prospects of Germany when Arminius planned the general rising of his
+countrymen against Rome. Half the land was occupied by Roman garrisons;
+and, what was worse, many of the Germans seemed patiently acquiescent in
+their state of bondage. The braver portion, whose patriotism could be
+relied on, was ill-armed and undisciplined, while the enemy's troops
+consisted of veterans in the highest state of equipment and training,
+familiarized with victory and commanded by officers of proved skill and
+valor. The resources of Rome seemed boundless; her tenacity of purpose
+was believed to be invincible. There was no hope of foreign sympathy or
+aid; for "the self-governing powers that had filled the Old World had
+bent one after another before the rising power of Rome, and had
+vanished. The earth seemed left void of independent nations."
+
+The German chieftain knew well the gigantic power of the oppressor.
+Arminius was no rude savage, fighting out of mere animal instinct or in
+ignorance of the might of his adversary. He was familiar with the Roman
+language and civilization; he had served in the Roman armies; he had
+been admitted to the Roman citizenship, and raised to the rank of the
+equestrian order. It was part of the subtle policy of Rome to confer
+rank and privileges on the youth of the leading families in the nations
+which she wished to enslave. Among other young German chieftains,
+Arminius and his brother, who were the heads of the noblest house in the
+tribe of the Cherusci, had been selected as fit objects for the exercise
+of this insidious system. Roman refinements and dignities succeeded in
+denationalizing the brother, who assumed the Roman name of Flavius, and
+adhered to Rome throughout all her wars against his country. Arminius
+remained unbought by honors or wealth, uncorrupted by refinement or
+luxury. He aspired to and obtained from Roman enmity a higher title than
+ever could have been given him by Roman favor. It is in the page of
+Rome's greatest historian that his name has come down to us with the
+proud addition of "_Liberator hand dubie Germaniae_."
+
+Often must the young chieftain, while meditating the exploit which has
+thus immortalized him, have anxiously revolved in his mind the fate of
+the many great men who had been crushed in the attempt which he was
+about to renew--the attempt to stay the chariot wheels of triumphant
+Rome. Could he hope to succeed where Hannibal and Mithradates had
+perished? What had been the doom of Viriathus? and what warning against
+vain valor was written on the desolate site where Numantia once had
+flourished? Nor was a caution wanting in scenes nearer home and more
+recent times. The Gauls had fruitlessly struggled for eight years
+against Cæsar; and the gallant Vercingetorix, who in the last year of
+the war had roused all his countrymen to insurrection, who had cut off
+Roman detachments, and brought Cæsar himself to the extreme of peril at
+Alesia--he, too, had finally succumbed, had been led captive in Cæsar's
+triumph, and had then been butchered in cold blood in a Roman dungeon.
+
+It was true that Rome was no longer the great military republic which
+for so many ages had shattered the kingdoms of the world. Her system of
+government was changed, and, after a century of revolution and civil
+war, she had placed herself under the despotism of a single ruler. But
+the discipline of her troops was yet unimpaired and her warlike spirit
+seemed unabated. The first year of the empire had been signalized by
+conquests as valuable as any gained by the republic in a corresponding
+period. It is a great fallacy--though apparently sanctioned by great
+authorities--to suppose that the foreign policy pursued by Augustus was
+pacific; he certainly recommended such a policy to his successors
+(_incertum metu an per invidiam_: Tac., _Ann_., i. 11), but he himself,
+until Arminius broke his spirit, had followed a very different course.
+Besides his Spanish wars, his generals, in a series of generally
+aggressive campaigns, had extended the Roman frontier from the Alps to
+the Danube, and had reduced into subjection the large and important
+countries that now form the territories of all Austria south of that
+river, and of East Switzerland, Lower Wuertemberg, Bavaria, the
+Valtelline, and the Tyrol.
+
+While the progress of the Roman arms thus pressed the Germans from the
+south, still more formidable inroads had been made by the imperial
+legions on the west. Roman armies, moving from the province of Gaul,
+established a chain of fortresses along the right as well as the left
+bank of the Rhine, and, in a series of victorious campaigns, advanced
+their eagles as far as the Elbe, which now seemed added to the list of
+vassal rivers, to the Nile, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the Tagus,
+the Seine, and many more, that acknowledged the supremacy of the Tiber.
+Roman fleets also, sailing from the harbors of Gaul along the German
+coasts and up the estuaries, coöperated with the land forces of the
+empire, and seemed to display, even more decisively than her armies, her
+overwhelming superiority over the rude Germanic tribes. Throughout the
+territory thus invaded the Romans had with their usual military skill
+established fortified posts; and a powerful army of occupation was kept
+on foot, ready to move instantly on any spot where a popular outbreak
+might be attempted.
+
+Vast, however, and admirably organized as the fabric of Roman power
+appeared on the frontiers and in the provinces, there was rottenness at
+the core. In Rome's unceasing hostilities with foreign foes, and still
+more in her long series of desolating civil wars, the free middle
+classes of Italy had almost wholly disappeared. Above the position which
+they had occupied, an oligarchy of wealth had reared itself; beneath
+that position a degraded mass of poverty and misery was fermenting.
+Slaves; the chance sweepings of every conquered country; shoals of
+Africans, Sardinians, Asiatics, Illyrians, and others made up the bulk
+of the population of the Italian peninsula.
+
+The foulest profligacy of manners was general in all ranks. In universal
+weariness of revolution and civil war, and in consciousness of being too
+debased for self-government, the nation had submitted itself to the
+absolute authority of Augustus. Adulation was now the chief function of
+the senate; and the gifts of genius and accomplishments of art were
+devoted to the elaboration of eloquently false panegyrics upon the
+prince and his favorite courtiers. With bitter indignation must the
+German chieftain have beheld all this and contrasted with it the rough
+worth of his own countrymen: their bravery, their fidelity to their
+word, their manly independence of spirit, their love of their national
+free institutions, and their loathing of every pollution and meanness.
+Above all, he must have thought of the domestic virtues that hallowed a
+German home; of the respect there shown to the female character, and of
+the pure affection by which that respect was repaid. His soul must have
+burned within him at the contemplation of such a race yielding to these
+debased Italians.
+
+Still, to persuade the Germans to combine, in spite of the frequent
+feuds among themselves, in one sudden outbreak against Rome; to keep the
+scheme concealed from the Romans until the hour for action arrived; and
+then, without possessing a single walled town, without military stores,
+without training, to teach his insurgent countrymen to defeat veteran
+armies and storm fortifications, seemed so perilous an enterprise that
+probably Arminius would have receded from it had not a stronger feeling
+even than patriotism urged him on. Among the Germans of high rank who
+had most readily submitted to the invaders and become zealous partisans
+of Roman authority was a chieftain named Segestes. His daughter,
+Thusnelda, was preeminent among the noble maidens of Germany. Arminius
+had sought her hand in marriage; but Segestes, who probably discerned
+the young chief's disaffection to Rome, forbade his suit, and strove to
+preclude all communication between him and his daughter. Thusnelda,
+however, sympathized far more with the heroic spirit of her lover than
+with the timeserving policy of her father. An elopement baffled the
+precautions of Segestes, who, disappointed in his hope of preventing the
+marriage, accused Arminius before the Roman governor of having carried
+off his daughter and of planning treason against Rome. Thus assailed,
+and dreading to see his bride torn from him by the officials of the
+foreign oppressor, Arminius delayed no longer, but bent all his energies
+to organize and execute a general insurrection of the great mass of his
+countrymen, who hitherto had submitted in sullen hatred to the Roman
+dominion.
+
+A change of governors had recently taken place, which, while it
+materially favored the ultimate success of the insurgents, served, by
+the immediate aggravation of the Roman oppressions which it produced, to
+make the native population more universally eager to take arms.
+Tiberius, who was afterward emperor, had recently been recalled from the
+command in Germany and sent into Pannonia to put down a dangerous revolt
+which had broken out against the Romans in that province. The German
+patriots were thus delivered from the stern supervision of one of the
+most suspicious of mankind, and were also relieved from having to
+contend against the high military talents of a veteran commander, who
+thoroughly understood their national character, and also the nature of
+the country, which he himself had principally subdued.
+
+In the room of Tiberius, Augustus sent into Germany Quintilius Varus,
+who had lately returned from the proconsulate of Syria. Varus was a true
+representative of the higher classes of the Romans, among whom a general
+taste for literature, a keen susceptibility to all intellectual
+gratifications, a minute acquaintance with the principles and practice
+of their own national jurisprudence, a careful training in the schools
+of the rhetoricians, and a fondness for either partaking in or watching
+the intellectual strife of forensic oratory had become generally
+diffused, without, however, having humanized the old Roman spirit of
+cruel indifference to human feelings and human sufferings, and without
+acting as the least checks on unprincipled avarice and ambition or on
+habitual and gross profligacy. Accustomed to govern the depraved and
+debased natives of Syria--a country where courage in man and virtue in
+woman had for centuries been unknown--Varus thought that he might
+gratify his licentious and rapacious passions with equal impunity among
+the high-minded sons and pure-spirited daughters of Germany. When the
+general of an army sets the example of outrages of this description, he
+is soon faithfully imitated by his officers, and surpassed by his still
+more brutal soldiery. The Romans now habitually indulged in those
+violations of the sanctity of the domestic shrine, and those insults
+upon honor and modesty, by which far less gallant spirits than those of
+our Teutonic ancestors have often been maddened into insurrection.
+
+Arminius found among the other German chiefs many who sympathized with
+him in his indignation at their country's abasement, and many whom
+private wrongs had stung yet more deeply. There was little difficulty in
+collecting bold leaders for an attack on the oppressors, and little fear
+of the population not rising readily at those leaders' call. But to
+declare open war against Rome and to encounter Varus' army in a pitched
+battle would have been merely rushing upon certain destruction. Varus
+had three legions under him, a force which, after allowing for
+detachments, cannot be estimated at less than fourteen thousand Roman
+infantry. He had also eight or nine hundred Roman cavalry, and at least
+an equal number of horse and foot sent from the allied states, or raised
+among those provincials who had not received the Roman franchise.
+
+It was not merely the number, but the quality of this force that made
+them formidable; and, however contemptible Varus might be as a general,
+Arminius well knew how admirably the Roman armies were organized and
+officered, and how perfectly the legionaries understood every manoeuvre
+and every duty which the varying emergencies of a stricken field might
+require. Stratagem was, therefore, indispensable; and it was necessary
+to blind Varus to their schemes until a favorable opportunity should
+arrive for striking a decisive blow.
+
+For this purpose, the German confederates frequented the head-quarters
+of Varus, which seem to have been near the centre of the modern country
+of Westphalia, where the Roman general conducted himself with all the
+arrogant security of the governor of a perfectly submissive province.
+There Varus gratified at once his vanity, his rhetorical tastes, and his
+avarice, by holding courts, to which he summoned the Germans for the
+settlement of all their disputes, while a bar of Roman advocates
+attended to argue the cases before the tribunal of Varus, who did not
+omit the opportunity of exacting court fees and accepting bribes. Varus
+trusted implicitly to the respect which the Germans pretended to pay to
+his abilities as a judge, and to the interest which they affected to
+take in the forensic eloquence of their conquerors.
+
+Meanwhile a succession of heavy rains rendered the country more
+difficult for the operations of regular troops, and Arminius, seeing
+that the infatuation of Varus was complete, secretly directed the tribes
+near the Weser and the Ems to take up arms in open revolt against the
+Romans. This was represented to Varus as an occasion which required his
+prompt attendance at the spot; but he was kept in studied ignorance of
+its being part of a concerted national rising; and he still looked on
+Arminius as his submissive vassal, whose aid he might rely on in
+facilitating the march of his troops against the rebels and in
+extinguishing the local disturbance. He therefore set his army in
+motion, and marched eastward in a line parallel to the course of the
+Lippe. For some distance his route lay along a level plain; but on
+arriving at the tract between the curve of the upper part of that stream
+and the sources of the Ems, the country assumes a very different
+character; and here, in the territory of the modern little principality
+of Lippe, it was that Arminius had fixed the scene of his enterprise.
+
+A wooded and hilly region intervenes between the heads of the two
+rivers, and forms the water-shed of their streams. This region still
+retains the name (Teutobergenwald = _Teutobergiensis saltus_) which it
+bore in the days of Arminius. The nature of the ground has probably also
+remained unaltered. The eastern part of it, round Detmold, the modern
+capital of the principality of Lippe, is described by a modern German
+scholar, Dr. Plate, as being a "table-land intersected by numerous deep
+and narrow valleys, which in some places form small plains, surrounded
+by steep mountains and rocks, and only accessible by narrow defiles. All
+the valleys are traversed by rapid streams, shallow in the dry season,
+but subject to sudden swellings in autumn and winter. The vast forests
+which cover the summits and slopes of the hills consist chiefly of oak;
+there is little underwood, and both men and horse would move with ease
+in the forests if the ground were not broken by gulleys or rendered
+impracticable by fallen trees." This is the district to which Varus is
+supposed to have marched; and Dr. Plate adds that "the names of several
+localities on and near that spot seem to indicate that a great battle
+had once been fought there. We find the names '_das Winnefeld_' (the
+field of victory), '_die Knochenbahn_' (the bone-lane), '_die
+Knochenleke_' (the bone-brook), '_der Mordkessel_' (the kettle of
+slaughter), and others."
+
+Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman discipline, Varus had
+suffered his army to be accompanied and impeded by an immense train of
+baggage wagons and by a rabble of camp followers, as if his troops had
+been merely changing their quarters in a friendly country. When the long
+array quitted the firm, level ground and began to wind its way among the
+woods, the marshes, and the ravines, the difficulties of the march, even
+without the intervention of an armed foe, became fearfully apparent. In
+many places the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for cavalry
+and even for infantry, until trees had been felled and a rude causeway
+formed through the morass.
+
+The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who served in the Roman
+armies. But the crowd and confusion of the columns embarrassed the
+working parties of the soldiery, and in the midst of their toil and
+disorder the word was suddenly passed through their ranks that the
+rear-guard was attacked by the barbarians. Varus resolved on pressing
+forward; but a heavy discharge of missiles from the woods on either
+flank taught him how serious was the peril, and he saw his best men
+falling round him without the opportunity of retaliation; for his
+light-armed auxiliaries, who were principally of Germanic race, now
+rapidly deserted, and it was impossible to deploy the legionaries on
+such broken ground for a charge against the enemy.
+
+Choosing one of the most open and firm spots which they could force
+their way to, the Romans halted for the night; and, faithful to their
+national discipline and tactics, formed their camp amid the harassing
+attacks of the rapidly thronging foes with the elaborate toil and
+systematic skill the traces of which are impressed permanently on the
+soil of so many European countries, attesting the presence in the olden
+time of the imperial eagles.
+
+On the morrow the Romans renewed their march, the veteran officers who
+served under Varus now probably directing the operations and hoping to
+find the Germans drawn up to meet them, in which case they relied on
+their own superior discipline and tactics for such a victory as should
+reassure the supremacy of Rome. But Arminius was far too sage a
+commander to lead on his followers, with their unwieldy broadswords and
+inefficient defensive armor, against the Roman legionaries, fully armed
+with helmet, cuirass, greaves, and shield, who were skilled to commence
+the conflict with a murderous volley of heavy javelins hurled upon the
+foe when a few yards distant, and then, with their short cut-and-thrust
+swords, to hew their way through all opposition, preserving the utmost
+steadiness and coolness, and obeying each word of command in the midst
+of strife and slaughter with the same precision and alertness as if upon
+parade. Arminius suffered the Romans to march out from their camp, to
+form first in line for action and then in column for marching, without
+the show of opposition.
+
+For some distance Varus was allowed to move on, only harassed by slight
+skirmishes, but struggling with difficulty through the broken ground,
+the toil and distress of his men being aggravated by heavy torrents of
+rain, which burst upon the devoted legions, as if the angry gods of
+Germany were pouring out the vials of their wrath upon the invaders.
+After some little time their van approached a ridge of high wooded
+ground, which is one of the offshoots of the great Hercynian forest, and
+is situated between the modern villages of Driburg and Bielefeld.
+Arminius had caused barricades of hewn trees to be formed here, so as to
+add to the natural difficulties of the passage. Fatigue and
+discouragement now began to betray themselves in the Roman ranks. Their
+line became less steady; baggage wagons were abandoned from the
+impossibility of forcing them along; and, as this happened, many
+soldiers left their ranks and crowded round the wagons to secure the
+most valuable portions of their property; each was busy about his own
+affairs, and purposely slow in hearing the word of command from his
+officers.
+
+Arminius now gave the signal for a general attack. The fierce shouts of
+the Germans pealed through the gloom of the forests, and in thronging
+multitudes they assailed the flanks of the invaders, pouring in clouds
+of darts on the encumbered legionaries as they struggled up the glens or
+floundered in the morasses, and watching every opportunity of charging
+through the intervals of the disjointed column, and so cutting off the
+communication between its several brigades. Arminius, with a chosen band
+of personal retainers round him, cheered on his countrymen by voice and
+example. He and his men aimed their weapons particularly at the horses
+of the Roman cavalry. The wounded animals, slipping about in the mire
+and their own blood, threw their riders and plunged among the ranks of
+the legions, disordering all round them. Varus now ordered the troops to
+be countermarched, in the hope of reaching the nearest Roman garrison on
+the Lippe.
+
+But retreat now was as impracticable as advance; and the falling back of
+the Romans only augmented the courage of their assailants and caused
+fiercer and more frequent charges on the flanks of the disheartened
+army. The Roman officer who commanded the cavalry, Numonius Vala, rode
+off with his squadrons in the vain hope of escaping by thus abandoning
+his comrades. Unable to keep together or force their way across the
+woods and swamps, the horsemen were overpowered in detail and
+slaughtered to the last man. The Roman infantry still held together and
+resisted, but more through the instinct of discipline and bravery than
+from any hope of success or escape.
+
+Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge of the Germans against
+his part of the column, committed suicide to avoid falling into the
+hands of those whom he had exasperated by his oppressions. One of the
+lieutenants-general of the army fell fighting; the other surrendered to
+the enemy. But mercy to a fallen foe had never been a Roman virtue, and
+those among her legions who now laid down their arms in hope of quarter,
+drank deep of the cup of suffering, which Rome had held to the lips of
+many a brave but unfortunate enemy. The infuriated Germans slaughtered
+their oppressors with deliberate ferocity, and those prisoners who were
+not hewn to pieces on the spot were only preserved to perish by a more
+cruel death in cold blood.
+
+The bulk of the Roman army fought steadily and stubbornly, frequently
+repelling the masses of assailants, but gradually losing the compactness
+of their array and becoming weaker and weaker beneath the incessant
+shower of darts and the reiterated assaults of the vigorous and
+unencumbered Germans. At last, in a series of desperate attacks, the
+column was pierced through and through, two of the eagles captured, and
+the Roman host, which on the morning before had marched forth in such
+pride and might--now broken up into confused fragments--either fell
+fighting beneath the overpowering numbers of the enemy or perished in
+the swamps and woods in unavailing efforts at flight. Few, very few,
+ever saw again the left bank of the Rhine. One body of brave veterans,
+arraying themselves in a ring on a little mound, beat off every charge
+of the Germans, and prolonged their honorable resistance to the close of
+that dreadful day. The traces of a feeble attempt at forming a ditch and
+mound attested in after-years the spot where the last of the Romans
+passed their night of suffering and despair. But on the morrow this
+remnant also, worn out with hunger, wounds, and toil, was charged by the
+victorious Germans, and either massacred on the spot or offered up in
+fearful rites on the altars of the deities of the old mythology of the
+North.
+
+A gorge in the mountain ridge, through which runs the modern road
+between Paderborn and Pyrmont, leads from the spot where the heat of the
+battle raged to the Extersteine--a cluster of bold and grotesque rocks
+of sandstone--near which is a small sheet of water, overshadowed by a
+grove of aged trees. According to local tradition, this was one of the
+sacred groves of the ancient Germans, and it was here that the Roman
+captives were slain in sacrifice by the victorious warriors of Arminius.
+
+Never was victory more decisive; never was the liberation of an
+oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. Throughout Germany the
+Roman garrisons were assailed and cut off; and within a few weeks after
+Varus had fallen, the German soil was freed from the foot of an invader.
+
+At Rome the tidings of the battle were received with an agony of terror,
+the reports of which we would deem exaggerated did they not come from
+Roman historians themselves. They not only tell emphatically how great
+was the awe which the Romans felt of the prowess of the Germans if their
+various tribes could be brought to unite for a common purpose,[83] but
+they also reveal how weakened and debased the population of Italy had
+become. Dion Cassius says: "Then Augustus, when he heard the calamity of
+Varus, rent his garment, and was in great affliction for the troops he
+had lost, and for terror respecting the Germans and the Gauls. And his
+chief alarm was that he expected them to push on against Italy and Rome;
+and there remained no Roman youth fit for military duty that were worth
+speaking of, and the allied populations, that were at all serviceable,
+had been wasted away. Yet he prepared for the emergency as well as his
+means allowed; and when none of the citizens of military age were
+willing to enlist, he made them cast lots, and punished, by confiscation
+of goods and disfranchisement, every fifth man among those under
+thirty-five and every tenth man of those above that age. At last, when
+he found that not even thus could he make many come forward, he put some
+of them to death. So he made a conscription of discharged veterans and
+of emancipated slaves, and, collecting as large a force as he could,
+sent it, under Tiberius, with all speed into Germany."
+
+[Footnote 83: It is clear that the Romans followed the policy of
+fomenting dissensions and wars of the Germans among themselves.]
+
+Dion mentions also a number of terrific portents that were believed to
+have occurred at the time, and the narration of which is not immaterial,
+as it shows the state of the public mind when such things were so
+believed in and so interpreted. The summits of the Alps were said to
+have fallen, and three columns of fire to have blazed up from them. In
+the Campus Martius, the temple of the war-god, from whom the founder of
+Rome had sprung, was struck by a thunderbolt. The nightly heavens glowed
+several times as if on fire. Many comets blazed forth together; and
+fiery meteors, shaped like spears, had shot from the northern quarter of
+the sky down into the Roman camps. It was said, too, that a statue of
+Victory, which had stood at a place on the frontier, pointing the way
+toward Germany, had of its own accord turned round, and now pointed to
+Italy. These and other prodigies were believed by the multitude to
+accompany the slaughter of Varus' legions and to manifest the anger of
+the gods against Rome.
+
+Augustus himself was not free from superstition; but on this occasion no
+supernatural terrors were needed to increase the alarm and grief that he
+felt, and which made him, even months after the news of the battle had
+arrived, often beat his head against the wall and exclaim, "Quintilius
+Varus, give me back my legions." We learn this from his biographer
+Suetonius; and, indeed, every ancient writer who alludes to the
+overthrow of Varus attests the importance of the blow against the Roman
+power, and the bitterness with which it was felt.
+
+The Germans did not pursue their victory beyond their own territory; but
+that victory secured at once and forever the independence of the
+Teutonic race. Rome sent, indeed, her legions again into Germany, to
+parade a temporary superiority, but all hopes of permanent conquests
+were abandoned by Augustus and his successors.
+
+The blow which Arminius had struck never was forgotten. Roman fear
+disguised itself under the specious title of moderation, and the Rhine
+became the acknowledged boundary of the two nations until the fifth
+century of our era, when the Germans became the assailants, and carved
+with their conquering swords the provinces of imperial Rome into the
+kingdoms of modern Europe.
+
+
+ARMINIUS
+
+I have said above that the great Cheruscan is more truly one of our
+national heroes than Caractacus is. It may be added that an Englishman
+is entitled to claim a closer degree of relationship with Arminius than
+can be claimed by any German of modern Germany. The proof of this
+depends on the proof of four facts: First, that the Cheruscans were Old
+Saxons, or Saxons of the interior of Germany; secondly, that the
+Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons of the coast of Germany, were more closely akin
+than other German tribes were to the Cheruscan Saxons; thirdly, that the
+Old Saxons were almost exterminated by Charlemagne; fourthly, that the
+Anglo-Saxons are our immediate ancestors. The last of these may be
+assumed as an axiom in English history. The proofs of the other three
+are partly philological and partly historical. It may be, however, here
+remarked that the present Saxons of Germany are of the _High_ Germanic
+division of the German race, whereas both the Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon
+were of the _Low_ Germanic.
+
+Being thus the nearest heirs of the glory of Arminius, we may fairly
+devote more attention to his career than, in such a work as the present,
+could be allowed to any individual leader; and it is interesting to
+trace how far his fame survived during the Middle Ages, both among the
+Germans of the Continent and among ourselves.
+
+It seems probable that the jealousy with which Maroboduus, the king of
+the Suevi and Marcomanni, regarded Arminius, and which ultimately broke
+out into open hostilities between those German tribes and the Cherusci,
+prevented Arminius from leading the confederate Germans to attack Italy
+after his first victory. Perhaps he may have had the rare moderation of
+being content with the liberation of his country, without seeking to
+retaliate on her former oppressors. When Tiberius marched into Germany
+in the year 10, Arminius was too cautious to attack him on ground
+favorable to the legions, and Tiberius was too skilful to entangle his
+troops in the difficult parts of the country. His march and countermarch
+were as unresisted as they were unproductive. A few years later, when a
+dangerous revolt of the Roman legions near the frontier caused their
+generals to find them active employment by leading them into the
+interior of Germany, we find Arminius again active in his country's
+defence. The old quarrel between him and his father-in-law, Segestes,
+had broken out afresh.
+
+Segestes now called in the aid of the Roman general, Germanicus, to whom
+he surrendered himself; and by his contrivance, his daughter, Thusnelda,
+the wife of Arminius, also came into the hands of the Romans, she being
+far advanced in pregnancy. She showed, as Tacitus relates, more of the
+spirit of her husband than of her father, a spirit that could not be
+subdued into tears or supplications. She was sent to Ravenna, and there
+gave birth to a son, whose life we know, from an allusion in Tacitus, to
+have been eventful and unhappy; but the part of the great historian's
+work which narrated his fate has perished, and we only know from another
+quarter that the son of Arminius was, at the age of four years, led
+captive in a triumphal pageant along the streets of Rome.
+
+The high spirit of Arminius was goaded almost into frenzy by these
+bereavements. The fate of his wife, thus torn from him, and of his babe
+doomed to bondage even before its birth, inflamed the eloquent
+invectives with which he roused his countrymen against the
+home-traitors, and against their invaders, who thus made war upon women
+and children. Germanicus had marched his army to the place where Varus
+had perished, and had there paid funeral honors to the ghastly relics of
+his predecessor's legions that he found heaped around him.[84] Arminius
+lured him to advance a little farther into the country, and then
+assailed him, and fought a battle, which, by the Roman accounts, was a
+drawn one.
+
+[Footnote 84: In the Museum of Rhenish Antiquities at Bonn there is a
+Roman sepulchral monument the inscription on which records that it was
+erected to the memory of M. Coelius, who fell "_Bella Variano_."]
+
+The effect of it was to make Germanicus resolve on retreating to the
+Rhine. He himself, with part of his troops, embarked in some vessels on
+the Ems, and returned by that river, and then by sea; but part of his
+forces were intrusted to a Roman general named Caecina, to lead them
+back by land to the Rhine. Arminius followed this division on its march,
+and fought several battles with it, in which he inflicted heavy loss on
+the Romans, captured the greater part of their baggage, and would have
+destroyed them completely had not his skilful system of operations been
+finally thwarted by the haste of Inguiomerus, a confederate German
+chief, who insisted on assaulting the Romans in their camp, instead of
+waiting till they were entangled in the difficulties of the country, and
+assailing their columns on the march.
+
+In the following year the Romans were inactive, but in the year
+afterward Germanicus led a fresh invasion. He placed his army on
+shipboard and sailed to the mouth of the Ems, where he disembarked and
+marched to the Weser, there encamping, probably in the neighborhood of
+Minden. Arminius had collected his army on the other side of the river;
+and a scene occurred, which is powerfully told by Tacitus, and which is
+the subject of a beautiful poem by Praed. It has been already mentioned
+that the brother of Arminius, like himself, had been trained up while
+young to serve in the Roman armies; but, unlike Arminius, he not only
+refused to quit the Roman service for that of his country, but fought
+against his country with the legions of Germanicus. He had assumed the
+Roman name of Flavius, and had gained considerable distinction in the
+Roman service, in which he had lost an eye from a wound in battle. When
+the Roman outposts approached the river Weser, Arminius called out to
+them from the opposite bank and expressed a wish to see his brother.
+Flavius stepped forward, and Arminius ordered his own followers to
+retire, and requested that the archers should be removed from the Roman
+bank of the river. This was done; and the brothers, who apparently had
+not seen each other for some years, began a conversation from the
+opposite sides of the stream, in which Arminius questioned his brother
+respecting the loss of his eye, and what battle it had been lost in, and
+what reward he had received for his wound. Flavius told him how the eye
+was lost, and mentioned the increased pay that he had on account of its
+loss, and showed the collar and other military decorations that had been
+given him. Arminius mocked at these as badges of slavery; and then each
+began to try to win the other over--Flavius boasting the power of Rome
+and her generosity to the submissive; Arminius appealing to him in the
+name of their country's gods, of the mother that had borne them, and by
+the holy names of fatherland and freedom, not to prefer being the
+betrayer to being the champion of his country. They soon proceeded to
+mutual taunts and menaces, and Flavius called aloud for his horse and
+his arms, that he might dash across the river and attack his brother;
+nor would he have been checked from doing so had not the Roman general
+Stertinius run up to him and forcibly detained him. Arminius stood on
+the other bank, threatening the renegade, and defying him to battle.
+
+I shall not be thought to need apology for quoting here the stanzas in
+which Praed has described this scene--a scene among the most affecting,
+as well as the most striking, that history supplies. It makes us reflect
+on the desolate position of Arminius, with his wife and child captives
+in the enemy's hands, and with his brother a renegade in arms against
+him. The great liberator of our German race was there, with every source
+of human happiness denied him except the consciousness of doing his duty
+to his country.
+
+  "Back, back! he fears not foaming flood
+    Who fears not steel-clad line:
+  No warrior thou of German blood,
+    No brother thou of mine.
+  Go, earn Rome's chain to load thy neck,
+    Her gems to deck thy hilt;
+  And blazon honor's hapless wreck
+    With all the gauds of guilt.
+
+  "But wouldst thou have _me_ share the prey?
+    By all that I have done,
+  The Varian bones that day by day
+    Lie whitening in the sun,
+  The legion's trampled panoply,
+    The eagle's shatter'd wing--
+  I would not be for earth or sky
+    So scorn'd and mean a thing.
+
+  "Ho, call me here the wizard, boy,
+    Of dark and subtle skill,
+  To agonize but not destroy,
+    To torture, not to kill.
+  When swords are out and shriek and shout
+    Leave little room for prayer,
+  No fetter on man's arm or heart
+    Hangs half so heavy there.
+
+  "I curse him by the gifts the land
+    Hath won from him and Rome,
+  The riving axe, the wasting brand,
+    Rent forest, blazing home.
+  I curse him by our country's gods,
+    The terrible, the dark,
+  The breakers of the Roman rods,
+    The smiters of the bark.
+
+  "Oh, misery that such a ban
+    On such a brow should be!
+  Why comes he not in battle's van
+    His country's chief to be?
+  To stand a comrade by my side,
+    The sharer of my fame,
+  And worthy of a brother's pride
+    And of a brother's name?
+
+  "But it is past! where heroes press
+    And cowards bend the knee,
+  Arminius is not brotherless,
+    His brethren are the free.
+  They come around: one hour, and light
+    Will fade from turf and tide,
+  Then onward, onward to the fight,
+    With darkness for our guide.
+
+  "To-night, to-night, when we shall meet
+    In combat face to face,
+  Then only would Arminius greet
+    The renegade's embrace.
+  The canker of Rome's guilt shall be
+    Upon his dying name;
+  And as he lived in slavery,
+    So shall he fall in shame."
+
+On the day after the Romans had reached the Weser, Germanicus led his
+army across that river, and a partial encounter took place, in which
+Arminius was successful. But on the succeeding day a general action was
+fought, in which Arminius was severely wounded and the German infantry
+routed with heavy loss. The horsemen of the two armies encountered
+without either party gaining the advantage. But the Roman army remained
+master of the ground and claimed a complete victory. Germanicus erected
+a trophy in the field, with a vaunting inscription that the nations
+between the Rhine and the Elbe had been thoroughly conquered by his
+army. But that army speedily made a final retreat to the left bank of
+the Rhine; nor was the effect of their campaign more durable than their
+trophy. The sarcasm with which Tacitus speaks of certain other triumphs
+of Roman generals over Germans may apply to the pageant which Germanicus
+celebrated on his return to Rome from his command of the Roman army of
+the Rhine. The Germans were "_triumphati potius quam victi_."
+
+After the Romans had abandoned their attempts on Germany, we find
+Arminius engaged in hostilities with Maroboduus, king of the Suevi and
+Marcomanni, who was endeavoring to bring the other German tribes into a
+state of dependency on him. Arminius was at the head of the Germans who
+took up arms against this home invader of their liberties. After some
+minor engagements a pitched battle was fought between the two
+confederacies (A.D. 19) in which the loss on each side was equal, but
+Maroboduus confessed the ascendency of his antagonist by avoiding a
+renewal of the engagement and by imploring the intervention of the
+Romans in his defence. The younger Drusus then commanded the Roman
+legions in the province of Illyricum, and by his mediation a peace was
+concluded between Arminius and Maroboduus, by the terms of which it is
+evident that the latter must have renounced his ambitious schemes
+against the freedom of the other German tribes.
+
+Arminius did not long survive this second war of independence, which he
+successfully waged for his country. He was assassinated in the
+thirty-seventh year of his age by some of his own kinsmen, who conspired
+against him. Tacitus says that this happened while he was engaged in a
+civil war, which had been caused by his attempts to make himself king
+over his countrymen. It is far more probable, as one of the best
+biographers[85] has observed, that Tacitus misunderstood an attempt of
+Arminius to extend his influence as elective war chieftain of the
+Cherusci and other tribes, for an attempt to obtain the royal dignity.
+
+[Footnote 85: Dr. Plate, in _Biographical Dictionary_.]
+
+When we remember that his father-in-law and his brother were renegades,
+we can well understand that a party among his kinsmen may have been
+bitterly hostile to him, and have opposed his authority with the tribe
+by open violence, and, when that seemed ineffectual, by secret
+assassination.
+
+Arminius left a name which the historians of the nation against which he
+combated so long and so gloriously have delighted to honor. It is from
+the most indisputable source, from the lips of enemies, that we know his
+exploits.[86] His countrymen made history, but did not write it. But his
+memory lived among them in the days of their bards, who recorded
+
+  "The deeds he did, the fields he won,
+  The freedom he restored."
+
+Tacitus, writing years after the death of Arminius, says of him,
+"_Canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes_." As time passed on, the gratitude
+of ancient Germany to her great deliverer grew into adoration, and
+divine honors were paid for centuries to Arminius by every tribe of the
+Low Germanic division of the Teutonic races. The _Irmin-sul_, or the
+column of Herman, near Eresburgh (the modern Stadtberg), was the chosen
+object of worship to the descendants of the Cherusci (the Old Saxons),
+and in defence of which they fought most desperately against Charlemagne
+and his Christianized Franks. "Irmin, in the cloudy Olympus of Teutonic
+belief, appears as a king and a warrior; and the pillar, the
+'Irmin-sul,' bearing the statue, and considered as the symbol of the
+deity, was the Palladium of the Saxon nation until the temple of
+Eresburgh was destroyed by Charlemagne, and the column itself
+transferred to the monastery of Corbey, where perhaps a portion of the
+rude rock idol yet remains, covered by the ornaments of the Gothic
+era."[87] Traces of the worship of Arminius are to be found among our
+Anglo-Saxon ancestors after their settlement in this island. One of the
+four great highways was held to be under the protection of the deity,
+and was called the "Irmin street." The name _Arminius_ is, of course,
+the mere Latinized form of _Herman_, the name by which the hero and the
+deity were known by every man of Low German blood on either side of the
+German Sea. It means, etymologically, the _War-man_, the _man of hosts_.
+No other explanation of the worship of the Irmin-sul, and of the name of
+the Irmin street, is so satisfactory as that which connects them with
+the deified Arminius. We know for certain of the existence of other
+columns of an analogous character. Thus there was the _Roland-seule_ in
+North Germany; there was a _Thor-seule_ in Sweden, and (what is more
+important) there was an _Athelstan-seule_ in Saxon England.[88]
+
+[Footnote 86: Tacitus: _Annales_.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Palgrave: _English Commonwealth_.]
+
+[Footnote 88: Lappenburg: _Anglo-Saxons_.]
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
+
+EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME B.C. 450-A.D. 12
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of
+famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page
+references showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+"Est" means date uncertain.
+
+B.C.
+
+450. The decemvirate instituted at Rome; the Twelve Tables of law
+framed. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Alcibiades born.[Est]
+
+448. First Sacred War between the Phocians and Delphians for the
+possession of the temple at Delphi.
+
+The decemvirate abolished at Rome. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE
+DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Athens is now the principal seat of Greek philosophy, literature, and
+art.
+
+447. The Boeotians defeat the Athenians at Coronea; the conflict was
+brought about by Athens breaking the truce arranged between the Greek
+states to endure for five years, in order to combine against Persia. The
+result was the loss to Athens of Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris.
+
+445.[Est] Nehemiah begins the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
+
+Peace of Callias between the Greeks and Persians.
+
+Birth of Xenophon, general and historian.
+
+444. Ascendency of Pericles at Athens.[Est] See "PERICLES RULES IN
+ATHENS," ii, 12.
+
+The military tribunes instituted at Rome. The consulship was in no sense
+abolished; until the passage of the Licinian Rogations (when it
+reappeared as a permanent annual magistracy) it alternated irregularly
+with the military tribunes. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE
+IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Thucydides exiled Athens.
+
+443. An Athenian colony planted at Thurium, near Sybarius; it is
+accompanied by Herodotus and Lysias.
+
+442. Pericles, guided by Phidias the sculptor, adorns Athens; the
+Parthenon, Propylæa, and Odeum built.
+
+440. Samos resists the Athenian sway; is besieged by Pericles and
+Sophocles; Melissus defends the city, but surrenders after a siege of
+nine months.
+
+Comedies prohibited performance at Athens.
+
+439. Great famine in Rome; Sp. Mælius distributes corn to the citizens,
+for which he is accused of wishing to be king, and is assassinated by
+Servilius Ahala.
+
+438. Spartacus becomes king of Bosporus.
+
+Ahala impeached and exiled Rome.
+
+437. The prohibition of comedy repealed at Athens.
+
+Syracuse, the predominant state in Sicily, reaches the height of its
+prosperity. See "DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
+
+436. Commencement of the dispute between Corinth and Corcyra regarding
+the city of Epidamnus, in which Athens supported the latter; this led to
+the Peloponnesian War.
+
+435. Naval victory over the Corinthians by the Corcyræans, near Actium.
+
+432. Ambassadors from Corcyra implore the aid of Athens, which series a
+fleet to defend the island against the Corinthian attack. Corinth
+incites Potidæa to revolt from Athens.
+
+431. Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta declares on the side of
+Corinth and makes war on Athens. The real cause of the war--which was to
+be so disastrous to Greece--was that Sparta and its allies were jealous
+of the great power Athens had attained. Sparta was an oligarchy and a
+friend of the nobles everywhere; Athens was a democracy and the friend
+of the common people; so that the war was to some extent a struggle
+between these classes all over Greece.
+
+430. "GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS." See ii, 34. The physician Hippocrates
+distinguishes himself by extraordinary cures of the sick.
+
+Second invasion of Attica by the Spartans.
+
+429. Death of Pericles, during the plague, at Athens.
+
+Potidæa reduced by the Athenians.
+
+Birth of Plato.
+
+428. Attica invaded the third time.
+
+Lesbos revolts from the Athenian confederacy; on this the Athenians
+besiege Mitylene.
+
+427. Mitylene reduced; Athens becomes master of Lesbos. Platæa, the ally
+of Athens, after being besieged, surrenders to the Peloponnesians and is
+destroyed.
+
+Attica again invaded.
+
+425. Agis begins the fifth invasion of Attica; he retires on learning
+that the Athenians under Cleon had taken Pylos and Sapachteria.
+
+Mount Æetna in eruption.
+
+On the death of Artaxerxes I, his son, Xerxes II, succeeds him as ruler
+of Persia; he reigns only forty-five days, being slain by his brother
+Sogdianus, who usurps the throne.
+
+424. The island of Cythera taken by the Athenians. Brasidas, the Spartan
+general, captures Amphipolis, defeating Thucydides.
+
+Ochus (Darius Nothus) rids himself of Sogdianus and succeeds him on the
+Persian throne.
+
+423. The Athenians banish Thucydides for having suffered Amphipolis to
+be taken.
+
+422. The Athenians send Cleon to recover Amphipolis; he is defeated by
+Brasidas; both fall in the battle.
+
+421. Peace of Nicias between Sparta and Athens. End of the first period
+of the Peloponnesian War.
+
+420. Alcibiades negotiates an alliance between Athens and Argos.
+Amphipolis retained by the Spartans.
+
+419. An Athenian expedition is led into the Peloponnesus by Alcibiades.
+
+418. Victory of the Spartans at Mantinea.
+
+The league between Athens and Argos dissolved.
+
+416. The island of Melos, which had remained neutral, is conquered by
+the Athenians; its inhabitants are treated with extreme cruelty.
+
+415. The Athenians send an expedition against Syracuse under Nicias,
+Lamachus, and Alcibiades; the latter is recalled to answer an accusation
+of having broken some statues of Mercury in Athens; he takes refuge in
+Sparta. Andocides, the orator, implicated in the same charge, is
+imprisoned and exiled.
+
+414. Syracuse is invested by the Athenians under Nicias; being hard
+pressed, Syracuse appeals to the other Greek states; Cylippus, the
+Spartan commander, comes with a fleet to the aid of the city. See
+"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
+
+The Romans capture Bolae, an Æquian town; the division of the booty
+causes a mutiny among the soldiers, who slay the quaestor and the
+military tribune, M. Postumius.
+
+413. On Alcibiades' advice the Spartans fortify a position at Decelea,
+in Attica.
+
+"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE." See ii, 48.
+
+412. Alcibiades visits the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, with whose aid
+he negotiates an alliance between Persia and Sparta.
+
+411. Owing to the machinations of Alcibiades a revolt is organized in
+Athens, by the aid of the clubs of the nobles and rich men; its object
+being to overthrow the democracy and establish an oligarchy. The rising
+is successful and the "Reign of the Four Hundred" ensues; it lasts four
+months; its framer, Antipho, is put to death. Alcibiades is recalled.
+
+410. The Spartans are defeated by Alcibiades in a naval encounter at
+Cyzicus. Sparta makes overtures for peace.
+
+409. The Carthaginians invade Sicily; they reduce Silenus and Himera.
+
+408. Alcibiades takes Selymbria and Byzantium.
+
+Psammeticus is king of Egypt.
+
+Roman plebs first admitted to the quaestorship.
+
+407. Lysander, the Spartan admiral, defeats the Athenian fleet at
+Notium; in consequence of this defeat, Alcibiades, who had been received
+with great honor, is banished, and ten generals are nominated to succeed
+him.
+
+406. The Athenians vanquish the Spartan fleet under Callicratidas, at
+Arginusae. The Athenian generals are executed at Athens for not saving
+the shattered vessels and the bodies of the slain.
+
+Dionysius the Elder becomes ruler of Syracuse.
+
+Anxur and other towns captured by the Romans, who now first give their
+soldiers a regular pay.
+
+405. The Spartan under Lysander, who had been restored to command,
+annihilate the Athenian navy at Aegospotami.
+
+Artaxerxes II succeeds Darius II on the Persian throne.
+
+Successful revolt of the Egyptians against the Persians; the
+independence of Egypt secured.
+
+404. Athens taken by Lysander and dismantled; thirty tyrants appointed
+by him. Lysias and other orators banished. End of the Peloponnesian War.
+
+403. Democracy is restored in Athens by Thrasybulus; he publishes an act
+of amnesty. The Ionian alphabet adopted at Athens.
+
+401. Cyrus rebels against his brother Artaxerxes, of Persia; he is
+defeated and slain at the battle of Cunaxa.
+
+400. The Ten Thousand Greek auxiliaries of Cyrus effect their retreat to
+the sea. See "RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS," ii, 68.
+
+399. Sparta and Persia engage in war.
+
+"CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES." See ii, 87.
+
+396. Agesilaus, the Spartan general, begins his victorious campaigns
+against the Persians.
+
+The Romans, headed by Camillus, capture Veii, after a ten years' siege.
+
+395. Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and Athens combine against Sparta; the
+Spartans are defeated at Haliartus; Lysander is slain.
+
+Tissaphernes' Persian army is defeated by Agesilaus, near Sardis.
+
+394. The Athenian admiral Conon, in charge of the Persian fleet,
+crushingly defeats that of the Spartans, under Pisander, off Cnidus.
+
+Agesilaus is recalled from Asia; commanding the Spartans, he gains a
+victory over the confederate Greeks at Coronea.
+
+393. Conon undertakes the rebuilding of the walls in Athens and restores
+the fortifications.
+
+392. Conon excites the jealousy of the Persians; he retires into Cyprus,
+where he dies.
+
+391. Camillus banished from Rome, charged with misappropriating the
+booty secured at Veii, but really on account of his patrician
+haughtiness; he dies at Ardea, whither he had withdrawn.
+
+389. Aeschines born; he was accounted in Athens second only to
+Demosthenes as an orator.
+
+388[89] (387). Brennus, commanding the Gauls, burns Rome. See "BRENNUS
+BURNS ROME," ii, 110.
+
+[Footnote 89: By the old chronological reckoning this event occurred
+B.C. 390.]
+
+387. Through the mediation of Persia, Sparta compels the Greek states to
+accept the peace of Antalcidas, which leaves the Ionian cities and
+Cyprus at his mercy; this enables Sparta to maintain her supremacy in
+Greece.
+
+385.[Est] Birth of Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator and general.
+
+384. Aristotle born.
+
+383. War of Syracuse with Carthage.
+
+Thebes is betrayed to Sparta, during her war against Olynthus.
+
+379. The Olynthians are forced to submission by the Spartans. Pelopidas
+and his associates drive the Spartans from Thebes.
+
+378. Athens declares in favor of Thebes against Sparta.
+
+376. Cleombrotus leads the Spartans into Boeotia; the Spartan fleet,
+under Pollis, is overwhelmed off Maxos, by Chabrias.
+
+371. Congress of Sparta, Thebes being excluded from the treaty of peace;
+Pelopidas and Epaminondas gain the great victory of Leuctra, in which
+Cleombrotus, King of Sparta, is slain. Thebes becomes the dominant power
+in Greece.
+
+The Arcadian union formed. One of the first effects of the battle of
+Leuctra was to emancipate the Arcadians, and a plan was formed to raise
+them in the political affairs of Greece.
+
+370. Epaminondas, the Theban general, heads his first expedition into
+the Peloponnesus; he threatens Sparta, which Agesilaus saves.
+
+369. The Thebans advance into Laconia; they restore the independence of
+the Messenians. Epaminondas and Pelopidas are condemned for having
+retained their command beyond the term allowed by the laws of Thebes;
+they are pardoned and reappointed.
+
+The Arcadians found Megalopolis, which they make the capital of the
+Arcadian confederacy.
+
+368. The Thebans again enter the Peloponnesus, but retreat before the
+arrival of succor sent by Dionysius to the Lacedaemonians. Pelopidas,
+treacherously made prisoner by Alexander of Pherae, is rescued by
+Epaminondas. A congress, under the mediation of Persia, is held at
+Delphi; it fails, because the Thebans will not abandon the Messenians.
+
+The Carthaginians at war with Dionysius; but, after losing Selinus and
+other towns, they make peace.
+
+Camillus, more than eighty years old, appointed dictator at Rome; he
+persuades the patricians to assent to the demands of the plebs, and
+builds the temple of Concord.
+
+A celestial globe brought into Greece from Egypt.
+
+367. The Licinian Rogations, Rome; three bills introduced by Licinius,
+decreeing: 1. That interest on loans be deducted from the principal; 2.
+Limiting the public land held by any individual to 500 jugera (320
+acres); 3. Ordering that one of the two consuls should be a plebeian.
+Institution of the praetorship.
+
+364. Pelopidas attacks Alexander of Pherae; during the battle of
+Cymoscephale his soldiers are alarmed at an eclipse of the sun, and he
+is slain.
+
+362. The Spartans and allies defeated at Mantinea by Epaminondas; he is
+slain.
+
+361 (359). Artaxerxes II of Persia succeeded by Artaxerxes III (Ochus).
+
+359. Philip ascends the throne of Macedon; he concludes peace with the
+Athenians.
+
+358.[Est] Athens involves herself in the Social War with Cos, Rhodes,
+Chios, and Byzantium.
+
+Amphipolis captured by Philip of Macedon; he loses his right eye by an
+arrow from Astor.
+
+357. Outbreak of the Ten Years' Sacred War, caused by the Crissians
+levying grievous taxes on those who went to consult the oracle of
+Delphi.
+
+356. Burning of the temple of Diana at Ephesus; this building was
+accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
+
+Birth of Alexander the Great.
+
+Dion frees Syracuse from Dionysius the Younger; he is expelled from
+Sicily.
+
+355. The Social War ends in Greece. Athens recognizes the independence
+of the confederated states.
+
+353. Final conquest of Egypt by the Persians.
+
+352. Philip of Macedon interferes in the Greek Sacred War; Demosthenes
+delivers his First Philippic encouraging the Greeks to resist the
+Macedonians; Philip's attempt to seize Thermopylae is defeated.
+
+Two thousand colonists are sent from Athens to Samos.
+
+347. Philip of Macedon captures and destroys Olynthus.
+
+346. Phocis occupied by Philip of Macedon; this ends the Sacred War.
+
+Dionysius the Younger again assumes power in Syracuse.
+
+343 (340). Timoleon effects the deliverance of Syracuse from Dionysius
+the Younger.
+
+Rome engages in the First Samnite War.
+
+341 (338). End of the First Samnite War.
+
+Invasion of China by Meha the Hun. See "TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY
+MEHA," ii, 126.[Est]
+
+340. Adoption of the Publilian laws in Rome, which further restricted
+the power of the patricians.
+
+The Romans make war upon the Latins; the latter are subjugated. Manlius,
+one of the Roman consuls, condemns his son to death for a breach of
+discipline.
+
+338. Athens and Thebes form an alliance to resist Philip of Macedon, who
+had passed Thermopylae and seized Elatea. The allied forces are
+overwhelmed at Chaeronea, and Philip establishes the Macedonian dominion
+in Greece.
+
+Artaxerxes III is succeeded by Arses in Persia.
+
+337. Philip of Macedon declares himself commander of the Greeks against
+the Persians; he repudiates his wife Olympias; their son Alexander
+attends his mother into Epirus.
+
+336. Assassination of Philip of Macedon, by Pausanias at Aegae, while
+preparing to invade Persia; he is succeeded by his son, Alexander the
+Great.
+
+Arses is succeeded by Darius III (Codomannus) in Persia.
+
+335. Thebes, revolting against the Macedonian authority, is subdued and
+destroyed by Alexander, who, however, spares the house of Pindar the
+poet.
+
+Rome concludes a peace with Gaul.
+
+334. Alexander enters upon the conquest of Persia; he is victorious over
+Darius at the Granicus.
+
+333. Lycia and Syria reduced by Alexander; Damascus captured by
+Parmenio, Alexander's general, and the siege of Tyre begun.
+
+Darius is defeated at Issus; his family are among Alexander's captives.
+
+332. "ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA." See ii, 133. He
+takes Gaza and occupies Egypt.
+
+The Lucanians and Bruttians defeat and slay Alexander of Epirus, his
+ambitious designs in Italy having been betrayed.
+
+331. "THE BATTLE OF ARBELA," in which Alexander the Great conquers
+Darius and overthrows the Persian empire. See ii, 141.
+
+330. The Spartans, under Agis III, revolt against the Macedonians;
+Antipater defeats the Spartans and their allies at Megalopolis; Agis is
+slain.
+
+Darius is seized and laden with chains by Bessus, a Bactrian satrap who
+soon after slays him.
+
+Alexander captures Bessus and delivers him to Oxathres, the brother of
+Darius, by whom he is executed.
+
+Alexander pursues his conquests in Parthia, Media, Bactria, and on the
+shores of the Caspian.
+
+329. The Oxus and Jaxartes are crossed by Alexander; he drives back the
+Scythians; he founds new cities in the countries adjacent, and winters
+in Bactria.
+
+The consuls at Rome are granted a triumph and the surname of
+"Privernas," for the conquest of Privernum.
+
+328. Sogdiana, Central Asia, occupies Alexander during this, his seventh
+campaign, and he winters there at Nautaca.
+
+327. Marriage of Alexander to Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian
+ruler.
+
+326. Alexander invades India and defeats Porus; his soldiers refuse to
+proceed farther.
+
+Rome begins the Second Samnite War.
+
+325-4. Alexander marches from the Indus to Persepolis; his fleet is
+sailed to the Euphrates by Nearchus.
+
+Harpalus flees from Babylon with immense treasures, which he conveys to
+Athens.
+
+323. Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon. His principal generals
+endeavored to obtain, each for himself, a portion of his empire. Ptolemy
+first secures Egypt and establishes his dynasty firmly there. Philip
+Aridaeus, half-brother of Alexander, succeeds him on the throne of
+Macedon, with Perdiccas as regent. Demosthenes returns to Athens and
+rouses the Greek states to recover their freedom; under Leosthenes they
+overpower Antipater, who takes refuge in Lamia, whence this is called
+the Lamian War.
+
+The Samnites sue for peace, but reject the terms on which it is offered
+by the Romans.
+
+322. The body of Alexander is entombed at Alexandria.
+
+The confederate Greeks are defeated by Antipater at Crannon; end of the
+Lamian War.
+
+Demosthenes, who was accused by the Macedonians of being privy to the
+looting of the treasury by Harpalus, after the battle of Crannon fled to
+Calauria; he was captured by the Macedonian troops and thereupon
+poisoned himself.
+
+321. Beginning of the wars between Alexander's successors; Perdiccas and
+Eumenes oppose themselves to Antipater, Craterus, Antigonus, and
+Ptolemy.
+
+Perdiccas assails Ptolemy in Egypt; Perdiccas is slain in a mutiny. In
+Asia Minor, Eumenes triumphs over Craterus, who is killed.
+
+Victory of the Samnites over the Romans at the Caudine Forks. These were
+two narrow gorges, united by a range of mountains on each side. The
+Romans went through the first pass, but found the second blocked up; on
+returning they found the first similarly obstructed. Being thus hemmed
+in they passed under the yoke.
+
+320. Eumenes, defeated by Antigonus, shuts himself up in the castle of
+Nora, where he sustains a year's siege.
+
+319. Polysperchon is appointed by Antipater to succeed him as regent for
+Philip Arrhidaeus and Alexander Aegus, half-brother and son of Alexander
+the Great, on his, Antipater's, death.
+
+Polysperchon's elevation to power is followed by a league against him,
+formed by Antipater's son Cassander, Antigonus, and Ptolemy. Eumenes
+lends his support to Polysperchon, after escaping from Nora.
+
+318. The Romans and Samnites make a truce.
+
+Polysperchon prevailed over by Cassander in the struggle for power in
+Greece and Macedonia. Athens he places under the rule of Phalereus.
+
+317. Phocion, an Athenian general who wisely advised in vain for peace
+with Antipater, became regarded as a traitor; he fled to Phocis, entered
+into the intrigues of Cassander, who delivered him up to the Athenians,
+who condemned him to drink hemlock. Olympias, mother of Alexander the
+Great, aided by Polysperchon and the Epirotes, seizes Macedonia.
+
+Olympias is put to death by Cassander. Eumenes, being betrayed to
+Antigonus, is put to death; Antigonus holds the supreme power in Asia.
+
+315. The rebuilding of Thebes undertaken by Cassander.
+
+314. Commencement of the struggle against Antigonus waged by Cassander,
+Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus.
+
+313. Tyre surrenders to Antigonus. Ptolemy engages with him and conquers
+Cyprus.
+
+The Romans take Fregellae and other towns from the Samnites.
+
+312. Seleucus Nicator establishes the realm of the Seleucidae, the army
+of Antigonus, under his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, being defeated by
+Ptolemy and Seleucus. Babylon is made the capital.
+
+Ptolemy conquers Judea; he transplants many Jews to Alexandria and
+Cyrene, where their industry is encouraged and their religion protected.
+
+At Rome Appius Claudius, the blind, constructs the Via Appia, the first
+aqueduct, and a canal through the Pontine marshes.
+
+Zeno institutes the sect of Stoics at Athens.
+
+311. A temporary peace among the competitors for power in Asia. Greece
+is declared to be free, and Ptolemy resigns Phoenicia to Antigonus.
+
+Roxana, the widow of Alexander the Great, and her young son Alexander
+Aegas, are put to death by Cassander.
+
+The Roman consul Bubulcus penetrates into Samnium, where he is
+surrounded, and cuts his way through with great courage.
+
+310. Agathocles, the Syracusan ruler, defeated by the Carthaginians at
+Himera, passes over to Africa and carries the war into their own
+country.
+
+The Etruscans take up arms in favor of the Samnites.
+
+Civil war in the little kingdom of Bosporus; Satyrus II, king for a few
+months, falls in battle.
+
+An eclipse of the sun, August 15th.
+
+309. Hercules, a natural son of Alexander, proclaimed king of Macedon;
+he is murdered by Cassander.
+
+The Romans are victorious over the Samnites and the Etruscans.
+
+308. The Romans, under Fabius, compel the Etruscans to make peace;
+Fabius then turns against the Samnites, whom he defeats.
+
+307. Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, arrives with a fleet at
+Athens, expels Demetrius Phalereus, and restores the democracy, the
+Athenians throw down Phalereus' statues and condemn him to death.
+
+306. Ptolemy's fleet is destroyed by Demetrius Poliorcetes at Salamis;
+but Antigonus fails in his attempt on Egypt. Antigonus assumes the title
+of king of Asia; Ptolemy Lagi, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, the rulers of
+Egypt, Thrace, and that part of Alexander's empire east of the
+Euphrates, likewise assume the royal title. Cassander of Macedon is
+hailed king by his subjects.
+
+305. War between Seleucus and India, under Sandrocottus, ends in a
+treaty of amity.
+
+Flavius reconciles all orders of the Roman state and erects a temple of
+Concord.
+
+Demetrius Poliorcetes besieges Rome.
+
+304. The Romans triumphantly end the Second Samnite War.
+
+302. The priesthood at Rome is opened to the plebs.
+
+300.[90] Battle of Ipsus. Seleucus and Lysimachus overwhelm the army of
+Antigonus and his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes; Antigonus is slain. His
+dominions are divided among the victors. Lysimachus takes a large
+portion of Asia Minor; Seleucus appropriates Upper Syria, Capuadocia,
+and other territory.
+
+[Footnote 90: The date is usually given as 301.]
+
+Seleucus Nicator builds Antioch, which he makes the capital of his
+kingdom of Syria.
+
+299. Rome engages in the Third Samnite War, which becomes one of
+extermination, but the Samnites bravely resist in their mountain holds.
+
+295. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, espouses Antigone of the house of Ptolemy;
+he returns to his dominions, out of which he had been driven by the
+Molossi.
+
+The Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls unite against Rome. Q.
+Fabius Rullianus and P. Decimo Mus defeat the Samnites and Gauls at
+Sentinum.
+
+Demetrius Poliorcetes retakes Athens; Lysimachus and Ptolemy deprive him
+of all he possesses.
+
+294. The Macedonian throne is seized by Demetrius Poliorcetes; by
+violence or treachery the sons of Cassander are slain.
+
+293. Many towns of the Samnites are so utterly destroyed by the Romans
+that their sites are unknown; a portion of the spoil is cast into a
+brazen colossus, and placed in front of the Roman Capitol.
+
+The Roman census is 272,308 citizens.
+
+The first sun-dial at Rome is placed on the temple of Quirinus.
+
+290. The end of the Third Samnite War, which results in the submission
+of the Samnites to Rome.
+
+287. Birth of Archimedes, celebrated mathematician.[Est]
+
+Lysimachus and Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wrest Macedonia from Demetrius
+Poliorcetes; immediately after, Lysimachus expels Pyrrhus.
+
+286. The Hortensian law, passed by Q. Hortensino, affirmed the
+legislative power granted the plebeians B.C. 446 and 336.
+
+285. Completion of the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Scriptures,
+called "the Alexandrian."
+
+The length of the solar year first accurately determined by Dionysius,
+in the astronomical canon.
+
+283. Death of Ptolemy Lagi (Ptolemy Soter); Ptolemy Philadelphus
+(jointly on the throne with his father since 295) succeeds him as King
+of Egypt. He further encourages the immigration of the Jews, who
+flourish exceedingly.
+
+282. The Tarentines attack a Roman fleet and insult the ambassadors, who
+demand satisfaction. Rome prepares for war; the Tarentines engage
+Pyrrhus to assist them.
+
+281. Lysimachus, at war with Seleucus Nicator, is defeated and slain in
+Phrygia.
+
+The Roman consul Aemilius invades the territory of Tarentum.
+
+280. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, invades Italy; he makes the cause of
+Tarentum his own and wars on Rome. Laevinus, the Roman consul, is
+defeated. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
+
+Revival of the Achaean League. The Achaei originally inhabited the
+neighborhood of Argos; when driven thence by the Heraclidae, they
+retired among the Ionians, expelled the natives, and seized their
+thirteen cities, forming the Achaean League.
+
+279. Pyrrhus, who had tried to mediate between Tarentum and Rome,
+meeting with non-success, advances on Rome. He fails to make any
+impression and returns to Tarentum; the Romans follow him, and he gains
+an unimportant victory over them at Asculum. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN
+GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
+
+Irruption of Gauls into Macedonia; King Ptolemy Ceraunus offers battle
+to them, in which he is killed.[91]
+
+[Footnote 91: The date usually given is B.C. 280.]
+
+278. The Gauls under Brennus invade Greece; they are cut to pieces near
+Delphi.
+
+Alliance formed between Rome and Carthage.
+
+Pyrrhus wars against Carthage in Sicily.
+
+277. A body of Gauls enter Northern Phrygia, of which they take
+possession.
+
+Pyrrhus expels the Carthaginians from most of their possessions in
+Sicily.
+
+276. Other Grecian cities join the Achaean League.
+
+275. Pyrrhus, on the arrival of Carthaginian reenforcements, returns to
+Italy; he is totally defeated by M. Curius Dentatus (at Beneventum), who
+exhibits in his triumphs the first elephants ever seen in Rome.
+
+273. Ptolemy Philadelphus, of Egypt, sends an embassy to congratulate
+the Romans on their victory and to ask an alliance with them.
+
+272. Pyrrhus attempts the siege of Sparta; he is repulsed. In an attack
+on Argos, Pyrrhus is slain.
+
+Tarentum surrenders to the Romans.
+
+Lucania and Brittium also submit to Rome.
+
+269. The first silver coinage at Rome.
+
+266. The Romans capture and destroy Volsinii; Rome controls all Italy.
+
+264. War between Rome and Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+Gladiators first introduced into Rome.
+
+263. Antigonus Gonatus, King of Macedon, captures Athens.
+
+The Romans compel Hiero, King of Syracuse, to withdraw from the support
+of Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+Philetaerus at his death appoints his nephew, Eumenes, King of Pergamus;
+the competition for books between him and Ptolemy Philadelphus causes
+the latter to prohibit the export of papyrus from Egypt; this leads to
+the invention of parchment at Pergamus, whence it takes its name.
+
+Hiero makes peace with the Romans; he becomes their most trusted ally.
+
+260. Ships-of-war first built by the Romans; the naval power of Rome
+inaugurated by the decisive victory of Duilius over the Carthaginians at
+Mylae. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+259. The Romans invade Corsica; they carry off much rich spoil from
+thence and Sardinia, but make no permanent conquests. The island of
+Melita (Malta) is captured by the Romans.
+
+258. Atilius, the Roman consul, surrounded by the Carthaginians in
+Sicily, escapes with difficulty.
+
+257. A drawn battle between the fleets of Rome and Carthage off Tyndaris
+causes the Romans to prepare larger ships, in order to strike a decisive
+blow.
+
+256. Total defeat of the Carthaginian fleet near Ecnomus; the victorious
+Roman consuls land in Africa. The Carthaginians hire troops from Greece
+and give the command to Xanthippus. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+255. Regelus and his Roman legions are vanquished by Xanthippus; Regelus
+is taken captive. The Romans fit out a large fleet, which gains another
+victory and brings off the remains of the army from Africa. Many of the
+ships are wrecked.
+
+254. Another fleet consisting of 220 ships is equipped in three months
+by the Romans; Panormus (Palermo) is captured. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+253. The Romans again land in Africa and ravage many Carthaginian coast
+cities; on their return most of their ships are wrecked; the Romans
+resolve to abstain from naval warfare.
+
+252. Birth of Philopoemen, called the "Last of the Greeks."
+
+251. Aratus restores the freedom of Sicyon; joins the Achaean League,
+which becomes a powerful body.
+
+250. Arsaceo founds the kingdom of Parthia.
+
+The Romans begin the siege of Lilybaeum; the Carthaginians successfully
+defend it till the close of the war. Metellus, the Roman proconsul,
+commanding in Sicily, gains a great victory over Hasdrubal near
+Panoramus; over one hundred elephants form part of his triumphal
+procession.
+
+249. Naval victory of the Carthaginians over the Romans at Drepanum.
+
+Regelus is sent to Rome to propose an exchange of prisoners; on his
+return the Carthaginians put him to death with the utmost cruelty.
+
+The war between Syria and Egypt, which had been ruinous to the former,
+is ended by a treaty between Antiochus II and Ptolemy Philadelphus. One
+of the conditions was that Antiochus repudiate Laodice and marry
+Berenice, Ptolemy's daughter.
+
+248. Parthia becomes an independent kingdom.
+
+247. Birth of Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian general.
+
+Ptolemy Euergetes succeeds his father Ptolemy Philadelphus on the throne
+of Egypt.
+
+243. Corinth, delivered by Aratus from the yoke of Macedon, joins the
+Achaean League; other states follow the example.
+
+241. Agis IV, of Sparta, assists the Achaeans in their war against the
+Aetolians.
+
+Rome, having again assembled a great fleet, under Lutatius Catalus,
+vanquishes the Carthaginians in a naval encounter off the Aegates. End
+of the First Punic War; Sicily is relinquished by Carthage to Rome.
+
+240. The Carthaginian mercenaries in Africa revolt; Hamilcar Barca
+crushes it out.
+
+237. Carthage is compelled to cede Sardinia to Rome.
+
+236-221. Celomenes III of Sparta institutes great political reforms and
+engages in a struggle with the Achaean League.
+
+236-220. Hamilcar Barca and Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, conquer a great
+part of Spain.
+
+235. Rome, at peace with all the world, closes the temple of Janus, for
+the first time since Numa, according to legend, the second king of Rome.
+
+234. Birth of Cato the Elder.
+
+Scipio Africanus born.
+
+230. Ambassadors sent by Rome to protest against the piracies of the
+Illyrians are murdered by the order of Queen Teuta.
+
+229. A successful war is waged by the Romans against the Greek kingdom
+of Illyria; the Roman power is extended across the Adriatic.
+
+On the death of Hamilcar, his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, takes his place in
+Spain; he founds Carthago Nova (Carthagena).
+
+227. Sparta makes war with the Achaean League.
+
+225-222. Cisalpine Gaul is conquered by the Romans.
+
+221. Cleomenes III is crushed by Antigonus Doson, ruler of Macedon, at
+Sellasia; the Spartan power is utterly destroyed.
+
+220. Social war; the war made by the Aetolian League on the Achaean
+League.
+
+219. Hannibal lays siege to Saguntum, which he destroys; this is the
+real commencement of the Second Punic War. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+Philip V, of Macedon, is victorious in his campaigns against the
+Aetolian League.
+
+218. Hannibal crosses the Alps into Italy; he defeats the Romans on the
+Ticinus and Trebia. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+217. Philip V continues his victorious way against the Aetolian League.
+
+Hannibal defeats the Romans at the Trasimene Lake.
+
+Antiochus the Great cedes Coele-Syria and Palestine to Egypt.
+
+216. Crushing defeat of the Romans by Hannibal at Cannae. See "THE PUNIC
+WARS," ii, 179.
+
+214. Rome has her first encounter with Macedon; Philip V allies himself
+with Hannibal and begins the war.
+
+Marcellus is sent into Sicily and besieges Syracuse, which had declared
+against Rome.
+
+213. Aratus, strategus of the Achaean League, is poisoned by Philip V of
+Macedon; this alienates from him many Greek states.
+
+Hwangti crushes out literature in China.
+
+212. After a two-years' siege the Romans under Marcellus take Syracuse.
+
+The two Scipios defeated and killed in Spain. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+211. Hannibal before the gates of Rome. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+The Aetolian League with its allies assists Rome against Macedon.
+
+210. Aegina taken by the Romans; the inhabitants reduced to slavery.
+
+Agrigentum, being conquered by Caevinus, places all Sicily again under
+Roman subjection.
+
+Scipio, victorious in Spain, takes Carthago Nova. See "THE PUNIC WARS,"
+ii, 179.
+
+208. Suspension of his operations against Scipio--the future Scipio
+Africanus--in Spain by Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar, who sets out to
+relieve his brother Hannibal in Italy.
+
+207. Hasdrubal is defeated and slain on the Metaurus. See "BATTLE OF THE
+METAURUS," ii, 195.
+
+A signal victory is achieved by Philopoemen, general of the Achaean
+League, with Macedon, over the Spartans at Matinea.
+
+206. Birth of Polybius, Greek historian.
+
+The Carthaginian power in Spain completely destroyed by Scipio.
+
+205. End of the first Romo-Macedonian war.
+
+204. Scipio carries the war into Africa; he defeats the Carthaginians
+and the Numidians.
+
+203. Hannibal, recalled from Italy, arrives at Carthage.
+
+202. The Carthaginian power is completely broken, ending the Second
+Punic War. See "SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES
+CARTHAGE," ii, 224.
+
+201. A war is begun by Rome for the resubjugation of the Boii and
+Insubres of Cisalpine Gaul, who had attained freedom owing to the
+Carthaginian invasion.
+
+The Jews become subject to the Seleucid monarchy.
+
+200. Declaration of war by Rome against Macedon; the second Macedonian
+war.
+
+198. Antiochus the Great, of Syria, conquers Palestine and Coele-Syria
+from Egypt, defeating Scopas and the Aetolian allies.
+
+197. Decisive Roman victory over the Macedonians at Cynoscephale; Philip
+V of Macedon makes a humiliating peace.
+
+196. The Roman general Flaminius proclaims the freedom of the Greeks.
+
+195.[Est] Birth of Terrence, Roman comic poet.
+
+Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, King of Egypt. See i, 1, "The Rosetta Stone."
+
+192. In concert with the Aetolians, Antiochus the Great takes up arms
+against Rome.
+
+191. Antiochus is defeated by the Romans under Acilius Glabrio, at
+Thermopylae, in Greece. The resubjugation of Cisalpine Gaul is completed
+by Rome.
+
+All the Peloponnesus is included in the Achaean League, which attains
+its apogee.
+
+190. Scipio Asiaticus takes command of the Romans in Greece, with his
+brother Africanus as lieutenant; Antiochus is vanquished at Magnesia and
+he is compelled to release his hold on the greater part of Asia Minor.
+Most of the conquered territory is annexed to Pergamus. Scipio Asiaticus
+takes his surname for the courage and ability he showed.
+
+189. Fall of the Aetolian League.
+
+185. Birth of Scipio Africanus the Younger.
+
+179. Death of Philip V of Macedon. His son Perseus negotiates secretly
+with other states against Rome. The Celtiberians and Lusitanians lay
+down their arms.
+
+177. Rome suppresses a revolt in Sardinia. A colony settled at Lucca.
+The Achaeans contract an alliance with Rome.
+
+Thessaly relapses under the Macedonian influence.
+
+176. The consul Scipio dies, and C. Valerius Laevinus takes his place
+for the rest of the year. His colleague Petilius is slain in battle
+against the Ligurians. The Orchian and other sumptuary laws fail to
+repress the luxury of the Romans.
+
+175. Disgraceful struggles for the high-priesthood of Jerusalem;
+Antiochus sells it to Jason, the brother of Onias, who is deposed.
+
+174. Masinissa, after many encroachments, seizes the Carthaginian
+provinces of Tyssa, with fifty cities; Roman ambassadors sent to settle
+the dispute. Others deputed to ascertain the intentions of Perseus.
+
+Mithridates VI of the Arsacidae begins his reign and prepares the
+elevation of Parthia to great power.
+
+173. The Roman ambassadors return, Perseus having refused to receive
+them.
+
+Death of Cleopatra, who, in the name of her young son, had been regent
+of Egypt.
+
+172. The Ligurians are subdued and Northern Italy filled with Roman
+colonies. Eumenes honorably received at Rome; on his way back he is
+attacked by assassins near Delphi.
+
+Menelaus, another brother, supplants Jason in the high-priesthood of
+Jerusalem.
+
+171. Commencement of the Third Macedonian War; King Perseus begins his
+struggle with Rome.
+
+Antiochus invades Egypt and takes Memphis.
+
+170. Hostilius, who takes the command in Macedon, makes no progress; the
+Roman fleet ravages the sea-coast.
+
+Perseus negotiates with Antiochus, Prusias, and many Greek states to
+form a coalition against Rome; even Eumenes begins to treat with him.
+
+Ptolemy Physcon is associated with his brother as joint King of Egypt.
+
+169. The manoeuvres of Marcius Philippus drive Perseus from his strong
+position in Tempe.
+
+Antiochus lays siege to Alexandria; the Egyptians apply to Rome for aid.
+
+168. Battle of Pydna; complete defeat of Perseus, King of Macedon, by
+the Romans, under L. Aenilius Paulas. Macedon becomes a Roman province.
+
+Antiochus, awed by the Roman ambassador Popillius and the fate of
+Perseus, evacuates Egypt. In his retreat he plunders Jerusalem and
+despoils the Temple, in which he sets up the statue of Jupiter Olympias.
+
+167. Deportation of a thousand Achaeans to Rome; among them is Polybius,
+the historian, who there finds patrons and friends. The first library
+opened in Rome, consisting of books plundered from Macedon.
+
+Arms are taken up by the Asmoneans against Antiochus, King of Syria.
+
+165. Judas Maccabaeus enters Jerusalem; he purifies the Temple. See
+"JUDAS MACCABEUS LIBERATES JUDEA," ii, 245.
+
+160. Defeat and death of Judas Maccabaeus in battle.
+
+158. Roman citizens are almost entirely relieved of direct taxation by
+the revenues from Macedon and other conquests.
+
+149. Commencement of the Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage. See
+"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+First Roman law against bribery at elections.
+
+147.[Est] Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader, has his first great victory
+over the Romans.
+
+146. Scipio Africanus the Younger completely destroys Carthage.
+
+Mummius, commanding in Greece, defeats the Archaeans at Leucopetra; he
+captures and destroys Corinth. The treasures of Grecian art conveyed to
+Rome. Greece becomes a Roman province.
+
+Demetrius Nicator slays Alexander Bala in battle and becomes king of
+Syria.
+
+141. Simon Maccabaeus captures the citadel of Jerusalem.
+
+Silanus, accused by the Macedonians of corrupt practices, is condemned
+by his father, Torquatus, and takes his own life.
+
+140. The Jews proclaim Simon Maccabaeus hereditary prince; with this
+dignity is united the office of high-priest.
+
+[Est]Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader against the Romans in Spain, is
+assassinated by order of the consul Caepio.
+
+135. Simon Maccabaeus is assassinated; John Hyrcanus, his son, succeeds
+him as ruler at Jerusalem.
+
+134-133. Antiochus Tidetes, King of Syria, besieges Jerusalem; he is
+repulsed.
+
+134-132. Servile War in Sicily, caused by the inhuman treatment of the
+slaves by their owners; two great battles were fought before the rising
+was suppressed.
+
+133. Tiberius Gracchus attempts his great political and agrarian reforms
+in Rome. See "THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
+
+Scipio Africanus the Younger reduces Numantia.
+
+Attalus III of Pergamus bequeaths his kingdom, which embraces a great
+part of Asia Minor, to the Romans.
+
+125-121. The southeastern portion of Transalpine Gaul conquered by the
+Romans.
+
+123-122. Caius Gracchus commences his agrarian reforms in Rome. See "THE
+GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
+
+118. Rome extends her dominion beyond the Rhone; the colony of Narbo
+Martius (Narbonne) founded.
+
+113. Hordes of the Cimbri and Teutons threaten the Rome dominion by an
+invasion of Illyrium.
+
+112. Jugurtha, King of Numidia, kills Adherbal, who has been restored to
+the throne of Numidia after being driven thence by Jugurtha.
+
+111. The consul Calpurnius proceeds with a Roman army into Numidia;
+bribed by Jugurtha, he makes a peace and withdraws his forces.
+
+109. Jugurtha is opposed in Numidia by the Roman army headed by
+Metellus.
+
+John Hyrcanus, the Jewish Prince and high-priest, defeats Ptolemy
+Lathyrus and captures Samaria.[Est]
+
+The Cimbri request an allotment of land from the Romans, whereon to
+settle; it is refused; they ravage the country, but are checked in
+Thrace by Nimicus Rufus.
+
+108. Metellus, as proconsul, continues the war in Numidia.
+
+The Cimbri defeat the consul Scaurus in Gaul.
+
+Mithridates of Pontus secretly prepares to regain by force the province
+of Phrygia, which the Romans took from him during his minority.
+
+107. Marius vigorously carries on the war against Jugurtha; Marius is
+consul, Sylla his quaestor.
+
+Cassius, Roman consul, is defeated and slain by the Cimbri in Gaul.
+
+106. Birth of Cicero. Birth of Pompey the Great.
+
+Jugurtha is betrayed by Bocchus, King of Mauretania, into the hands of
+the Romans, which ends the Jugurthine War.
+
+105. The Cimbri and Teutones defeat the consul Manilius and proconsul
+Caepio, near the Rhone, with great loss.
+
+Aristobulus, son of John Hyrcanus, succeeds his father and assumes the
+title of king of Judea.
+
+104. Alexander Jannaeus succeeds his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
+
+102. Marius overwhelmingly defeats the Teutones, while they were
+retreating from Spain, at Aquae Sextiae (Aix).
+
+Another revolt of the slaves in Sicily (Second Servile War).
+
+101. Marius utterly crushes the Cimbri on the Raudian Fields, after they
+had previously defeated the proconsul Lutatius Catulus.
+
+100. The Second Servile War continues.
+
+Birth of Julius Cæsar.
+
+99. M. Aquilius finally crushes out the slave uprising in Sicily.
+
+94. Mithridates makes his son king of Cappadocia.
+
+93. Cappadocians appeal to the Romans, who give them Ariobarzanes for
+their king. Mithridates seizes Galatia.
+
+92. Sulla is sent by the Romans into Cappadocia to observe Mithridates'
+proceedings; ambassadors from Parthia meet him there.
+
+91. M. Livius Drussus, people's tribune, advocates giving the rights of
+citizenship to the Roman allies; he is assassinated.
+
+90. Social or Marsic War, a conflict of the Italian states against Rome,
+begins, the cause being the refusal of the franchise by Rome. Cæsar, the
+consul, is unfortunate against the Samnites, and Rutilius is defeated
+and slain by the Marsi. Marius retrieves these disasters. Citizenship
+granted to the states which remain faithful to Rome.
+
+The Roman senate promises aid to Cappadocia against Mithridates.
+
+89. The consul Pompeius (father of Pompey the Great) gains decided
+victories over the Picentines; his colleague, Cato, defeats the Marsi,
+but is killed in the battle; Sulla takes the command, and is so
+successful that he is elected consul for the ensuing year. Cicero is a
+cadet in the army of Pompeius.
+
+Cleopatra is put to death by her son Alexander, who is expelled from
+Egypt, and Ptolemy Soter restored.
+
+88. End of the Social War. Most of the refractory states admitted to
+Roman citizenship.
+
+Mithridates, King of Pontus, occupies Phrygia; he asks all Asia Minor to
+join him; a general massacre of the Romans occurs.
+
+Quarrel between Sulla and Marius which causes war between them for the
+control of the Roman army. The first Roman civil war.
+
+87. Sulla proceeds to Greece to conduct the war against Mithridates;
+Sulla besieges Athens.
+
+The consul Cinna, deposed by the senate, calls Marius from Africa,
+raises an Italian army, and reinstates himself in office; bloody
+proscriptions by Marius and Cinna follow.
+
+86. Death of Marius, in the beginning of his seventh consulate; Flaccus,
+appointed in his place, is assassinated on his march to the east, by C.
+Fimbria, who assumes command of the Roman army.
+
+Sulla captures the revolted city of Athens and defeats the army of
+Mithridates under Archelaus.
+
+A sedition of the Jews is quelled with merciless severity by Alexander
+Jannaeus.
+
+85. The Romans are successful against Mithridates in Asia.
+
+84. End of the First Mithridatic War; Mithridates, finding himself
+between two victorious Roman armies, agrees to peace and relinquishes
+all his acquisitions.
+
+83. Sulla makes war against the Marian party in Italy.
+
+The Roman senate refuses to send Mithridates a formal ratification of
+the treaty. He retains a part of Cappadocia. The Second Mithridatic War
+begins.
+
+82. Sulla becomes dictator at Rome, after crushing the Marian party; he
+inflicts a bloody vengeance on his enemies.
+
+End of the Second Mithridatic War.
+
+81. Pompey, having been successful in Africa, is granted a triumph in
+Rome.
+
+80. Sertorius, the Marian leader, sets up an independent state in Spain.
+
+Cæsar serves as a cadet at the siege of Mitylene; he receives a civic
+crown for saving the life of a citizen.
+
+79. Sulla resigns the dictatorship, but remains master of Rome.
+
+Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea, is succeeded on his death by his
+widow Alexandra.
+
+78. Death of Sulla.
+
+76. Pompey is sent into Spain to oppose Sertorius.
+
+74. Mithridates renews hostilities; he enters into an abortive alliance
+with Sertorius. Third Mithridatic War. Lucullus commands the Roman
+forces.
+
+73. Lucullus routs the army of Mithridates.
+
+Rising of the gladiators; Spartacus collects, on Mount Vesuvius, a
+numerous army of slaves and gladiators; they overcome the forces sent
+against them and ravage Southern Italy. The Third Servile War.
+
+72. Sertorius is assassinated in Spain; the Spaniards submit to Pompey.
+
+King Mithridates is driven from his dominions by Lucullus; the King
+takes refuge in Armenia.
+
+71. Crassus defeats and slays Spartacus; the gladiators are crushed.
+
+70. Death of Alexandra, widow of Jannaeus; she nominates her son,
+Hyrcanus, as her successor; but his brother, Aristobulus, usurps the
+throne of Judea.
+
+Pompey and Crassus, previously at variance, are reconciled during their
+joint consulship.
+
+Cicero's six orations (the first only being actually delivered) against
+Verres, who, when governor of Sicily, had plundered the island of
+property, art treasures, etc.
+
+Birth of Vergil.
+
+69. Lucullus crosses the Euphrates, captures Tigranocerta, and defeats
+Tigranes, who had succored Mithridates in Armenia.
+
+68. Lucullus defeats Tigranes and takes Nisibis.
+
+67. A mutiny in the Roman army caused by the appointment of Glabrio to
+succeed Lucullus.
+
+Pompey crushes the pirates of Cilicia and makes it a Roman province.
+
+Julius Cæsar is quaestor in Spain.
+
+Metellus completes the conquest of Crete for the Romans.
+
+Mithridates makes a successful advance.
+
+66. Pompey, after a conference with Lucullus, completely crushes
+Mithridates and drives him over the Cimmerian Bosporus.
+
+65. End of the Third Mithridatic War.
+
+Antiochus XIII is deposed by Pompey; this puts an end to the kingdom of
+the Seleucidas (Syria).
+
+Hyrcanus takes up arms against his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
+
+64. Pompey takes possession of Syria; he is recalled thence to oppose
+Mithridates, who, returned to his states, prepares for further
+resistance.
+
+63. Having intervened between the brothers John Hyrcanus II and
+Aristobulus II, and decided in favor of Hyrcanus, Pompey lays siege to
+Jerusalem, where Aristobulus reigns, captures it, and makes Judea a
+Roman province.
+
+Mithridates, betrayed by his son, poisons himself.
+
+Cicero frustrates the conspiracy of Catiline, having for its object the
+cancellation of debts, the proscription of the wealthy, and the
+distribution among the conspirators of all the offices of honor and
+emolument.
+
+62. Catiline is defeated and slain, after having collected an army in
+Etruria.
+
+Discord arises between Cæsar, now prætor, and Cato, tribune of the
+people.
+
+60. First Triumvirate in Rome, formed of Pompey, Crassus, and Cæsar,
+equally dividing the power.
+
+59. Consulship of Cæsar at Rome; he carries his agrarian law and
+ingratiates himself with the people; he is given the command in Gaul and
+Illyrium for five years.
+
+58. Cæsar begins his campaigns in Gaul. See "CÆSAR CONQUERS GAUL," ii,
+267.
+
+Cicero exiled from Rome; he had saved the Republic at the time of the
+Catiline conspiracy, but had broken the constitution, which forbade
+capital punishment without the sentence of the assembly of the people.
+
+57. The Belgae conquered by Cæsar.
+
+Cicero recalled to Rome.
+
+56. Roman conquest of Aquitaine.
+
+55. Cato is imprisoned for opposing the vote giving the triumvirs five
+more years in their respective provinces: Pompey in Spain; Cæsar in
+Gaul; Crassus in Syria. The triumvirs meet at Lucca.
+
+Caesar's first expedition into Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST
+OF BRITAIN," ii, 285.
+
+54. First campaign of Crassus; he plunders the Temple of Jerusalem and
+proceeds against the Parthians.
+
+Mithridates of Parthia is murdered by his brother Orodes.
+
+Cæsar's second invasion of Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF
+BRITAIN," ii, 285.
+
+53. Crassus defeated and slain in the war against the Parthians at
+Carrhae.
+
+52. Vercingetorix, at the head of various Gallic tribes, makes a
+formidable effort to drive Cæsar out of Gaul; he is unsuccessful, and
+Cæsar, besieging him in his stronghold Alesia, forces him to surrender.
+
+51. Peace between Rome and Parthia. Cæsar completes his conquest of
+Gaul.
+
+Cleopatra, on the death of her father, Ptolemy Auletes, becomes queen of
+Egypt. See "CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF CÆSAR AND ANTONY," ii, 295.
+
+50. Cæsar returns to Italy; jealousy between him and Pompey arouses the
+people of Rome.
+
+49. War breaks out between Cæsar and Pompey; the second civil war in
+Rome.
+
+48. Pompey is defeated by Cæsar at Pharsalia; Pompey flees to Egypt,
+where he is assassinated.
+
+47. The Roman senate appoints Cæsar dictator, M. Antony as his master of
+the horse. Cæsar subdues Egypt.
+
+46. Cæsar overwhelms the Pompeians in Africa at the battle of Thapsus;
+Juba, King of Numidia, on the defeat, takes his own life.[92]
+
+[Footnote 92: Other authorities say he fell in battle.]
+
+Death of Cato.
+
+The calendar is reformed by Cæsar.
+
+45. Cæsar conquers the sons of Pompey at Munda, Spain. He is appointed
+dictator for life.
+
+44. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators murder Cæsar in Rome. See
+"ASSASSINATION OF CÆSAR," ii, 313.
+
+Conflict for power between Antony and Octavius; Cicero's oration secures
+Octavius' success in Rome.
+
+Antony resorts to arms to regain his lost ascendency. See "ROME BECOMES
+A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+43. Second Triumvirate at Rome, formed by Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus.
+
+Murder of Cicero. Birth of Ovid.
+
+42. Brutus and Cassius are defeated at the two battles of Philippi. See
+"ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+41. Octavius and Antony's party war in Italy.
+
+Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and the consul Lucius, his brother, oppose
+Octavius, who drives them from Rome. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii,
+333.
+
+40. Herod I, in his absence at Rome, is proclaimed by Antony and
+Octavius king of Judea.
+
+Antony accompanies Cleopatra to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY,"
+ii, 333.
+
+39. Herod lands in Syria to take the throne of Judea.
+
+38. Pompey is defeated in a naval engagement and loses all his fleet.
+
+37. Herod conquers Jerusalem; the Asmonean house ends.
+
+36. Lepidus, aspiring to greater power, is deserted by his soldiers and
+ejected from the triumvirate.
+
+31. War of Antony and Octavius; Octavius is victorious at Actium: he
+becomes master of the Roman dominions. Flight of Antony with Cleopatra
+to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+30. Death of Antony and Cleopatra. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii,
+333.
+
+Egypt becomes a Roman province.
+
+27. Octavius has a triumph at Rome and receives the title of Augustus.
+
+The temple of Janus is closed.
+
+24. Aelius Gallus, governor of Egypt, fails in an expedition into
+Arabia.
+
+19. Final subjugation of the Cantabri by Agrippa; the whole Spanish
+peninsula subject to Rome.
+
+15. The Rhaetians and Vindelicians subdued by Drassus and Tiberius, at
+the head of the Roman troops.
+
+12. Victorious advance of Drusus in Germany.
+
+9. Pannonia completely subdued by Tiberius.
+
+Last German campaign and death of Drusus.
+
+4. Death of Herod the Great, King of Judea.
+
+Probable date of the birth of Jesus.
+
+A.D.
+
+1. Beginning of the Christian era.
+
+4. Emperor Tiberius' campaign in Germany.
+
+6. Archelaus, the Herodian ethnarch, is deposed; Judea becomes a
+district of the Roman prefecture of Syria.
+
+9. Arminius annihilates the army of Varus in Teutoburg Forest. See
+"GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME," ii, 362.
+
+12. Tiberius leaves Germanicus to prosecute the war, and returns to
+Rome.
+
+
+END OF VOLUME II
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, VOL. 2 ***
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 2</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
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+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 2</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Rossiter Johnson</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November 17, 2003 [eBook #10114]<br />
+[Most recently updated: March 25, 2023]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Juliet Sutherland, David King, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, VOL. 2 ***</div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<h1>THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS</h1>
+
+<p class="center">VOLUME II</p>
+
+<p class="center">A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S
+HISTORY. EMPHASIZING THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING
+THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST
+EMINENT HISTORIANS</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+NON-SECTARIAN&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NON-PARTISAN&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NON-SECTIONAL</p>
+
+<p class="center">ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED
+FROM THE MOST DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE,
+INCLUDING BRIEF INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN
+THE CELEBRATED NARRATIVES, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH
+INDICES, BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF
+READING</p>
+
+<p class="center">EDITOR-IN-CHIEF</p>
+<p class="center">ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.</p>
+
+<p class="center">ASSOCIATE EDITORS</p>
+<p class="center">CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.</p>
+<p class="center">JOHN RUDD, LL.D.</p>
+
+<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1905</p>
+<p>The binding of this volume is a facsimile of the original on
+exhibition in the Bibliothèque Nationale.</p>
+<p>It was executed by the Royal Binder, Clovis Eve, for Marie de'
+Médicis, Queen Consort of Henry IV of France. She was a
+great lover of fine arts, and especially of rich bindings. The one
+here shown was her special pride. It shows her arms—the arms
+of France and Tuscany—surrounded with the cordelière,
+the sign of her widowhood, accompanied by the monogram M.M. (Marie
+Médicis). She was exiled by Cardinal Richelieu in 1631.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_1">An Outline Narrative of the Great
+Events</a></i>, CHARLES F. HORNE</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_2">Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in
+Rome (B.C. 450)</a></i>, HENRY G. LIDDELL</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_3">Pericles Rules in Athens (B.C.
+444)</a></i>, PLUTARCH</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_4">Great Plague at Athens (B.C. 430)</a></i>,
+GEORGE GROTE</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_5">Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse (B.C.
+413)</a></i>, SIR EDWARD S. CREASY</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_6">Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks (B.C.
+401-399)</a></i>, XENOPHON</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_7">Condemnation and Death of Socrates (B.C.
+399)</a></i>, PLATO</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_8">Brennus Burns Rome (B.C. 388)</a></i>,
+BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_9">Tartar Invasion of China by Meha (B.C.
+341)</a></i>, DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_10">Alexander Reduces Tyre, Later Founds
+Alexandria (B.C. 332)</a></i>, OLIVER GOLDSMITH</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_11">The Battle of Arbela (B.C. 331)</a></i>,
+SIR EDWARD S. CREASY</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_12">First Battle Between Greeks and Romans
+(B.C. 280-279)</a></i>, PLUTARCH</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_13">The Punic Wars (B.C.
+264-219-149)</a></i>, FLORUS</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_14">Battle of the Metaurus (B.C.
+2O7)</a></i>, SIR EDWARD S. CREASY</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_15">Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama
+and Subjugates Carthage (B.C. 202)</a></i>, LIVY</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_16">Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea (B.C.
+165-141)</a></i>, JOSEPHUS</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_17">The Gracchi and Their Reforms (B.C.
+133)</a></i>, THEODOR MOMMSEN</p>
+<p><i><a href="#GAUL">Caesar Conquers Gaul (B.C. 58-50)</a></i>,
+NAPOLEON III</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_18">Roman Invasion and Conquest of Britain
+(B.C. 55-A.D. 79)</a></i>, OLIVER GOLDSMITH</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_19">Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and Antony
+(B.C. 51-30)</a></i>, JOHN P. MAHAFFY</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_20">Assassination of Caesar (B.C.
+44)</a></i>, NIEBUHR PLUTARCH</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_21">Rome Becomes a Monarchy, Death of Antony
+and Cleopatra (B.C. 44-30)</a></i>, HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_22">Germans under Arminius Revolt Against
+Rome (A.D. 9)</a></i>, SIR EDWARD S. CREASY</p>
+<p><i><a href="#RULE4_23">Universal Chronology (B.C. 450-A.D.
+12)</a></i>, JOHN RUDD</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<p>
+VOLUME II
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Blind Appius Claudius led into the Roman Senate Chamber to vote on the
+proposition of peace or war with Pyrrhus (page 174</i>),
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Painting by Prof, A. Maccari.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Oracle of Delphi</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Painting by Claudius Harper.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Death of Alexander the Great after a prolonged debauch</i>,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Painting by Carl von Piloty.
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_1"></a>AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE</h2>
+<p class="center">TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES
+OF</p>
+<p class="center">THE GREAT EVENTS</p>
+<p class="center">(FROM THE RISE OF GREECE TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA)</p>
+<p class="center">CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.</p>
+<p>Earth's upward struggle has been baffled by so many stumbles
+that critics have not been lacking to suggest that we do not
+advance at all, but only swing in circles, like a squirrel in its
+cage. Certain it is that each ancient civilization seemed to bear
+in itself the seeds of its own destruction. Yet it may be held with
+equal truth that each new power, rising above the ruins of the
+last, held something nobler, was borne upward by some truth its
+rival could not reach.</p>
+<p>At no period is this more evident than in the five centuries
+immediately preceding the Christian era. Persia, Greece, Carthage,
+Rome, each in turn was with some justice proclaimed lord of the
+world; each in turn felt the impulse of her glory and advanced
+rapidly in culture and knowledge of the arts; and each in turn
+succumbed to the temptations that beset unlimited success. They
+degenerated not only in physical strength, but in moral
+honesty.</p>
+<p>Let us recognize, however, that the term "world-ruler" as
+applied to even the greatest of these nations has but a restricted
+sense. When the Persian monarch called himself lord of the sun and
+moon, he only meant in a figurative way that he was acquainted with
+no other king so powerful as himself; that beyond his own dominions
+he heard only of feeble colonies, and beyond those the wilderness.
+Alexander, when he sighed for more worlds to conquer, had in
+reality made himself lord of less than a quarter of Asia and of
+about one-sixtieth part of Europe.</p>
+<p>No man and no nation has ever yet been intrusted with the
+government of the entire globe. None has proved sufficiently fitted
+for the giant task. Each empire has been, as it were, but an
+experiment; and beyond the border line of seas and deserts which
+ringed each boastful conqueror, there were always other races
+developing along slower, and it may be surer, lines.</p>
+<p>In those old days our world was in truth too big for conquest.
+Armies marched on foot. Provisions could not be carried in any
+quantity, unless a general clung to the sea-shore and depended on
+his ships. What Alexander might with more truth have sighed for,
+was some modern means of swift transportation, possessed of which
+he might still have enjoyed many interesting, bloody battles in
+more distant lands.</p>
+<p class="center">THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREEKS</p>
+<p>Taking the idea "world power" in the restricted sense suggested,
+Persia lost it to Greece at Salamis. As the Asiatic hordes fled
+behind their panic-stricken king, the Greeks, looking round their
+limited horizon, could see no power that might vie with them. The
+idea of pressing home their success and overthrowing the entire
+unwieldy Persian empire was at once conceived.</p>
+<p>But the Greeks were of all races least like to weld earth into
+one dominion. They could not even unite among themselves. In short
+it cannot be too emphatically pointed out that the work of Greece
+was not to consolidate, but to separate, to teach the value of each
+individual man. Asia had made monarchies in plenty. King after king
+had passed in splendid, glittering pomp across her plains, circled
+by a crowd of obsequious courtiers, trampling on a nameless
+multitude of slaves. Europe was to make democracies, or at least to
+try her hand at them.</p>
+<p>It has been well said that a democracy is the strongest
+government for defence, the weakest for attack. Every little Greek
+city clung jealously to its own freedom, and to its equally obvious
+right to dominate its neighbors. The supreme danger of the Persian
+invasion united them for a moment; but as soon as safety was
+assured, they recommenced their bickering. Sparta with her record
+of ancient leadership, Athens with her new-won glory against the
+common foe, each tried to draw the other cities in her train. There
+was no one man who could dominate them all and concentrate their
+strength against the enemy. So for a time Persia continued to
+exist; she even by degrees regained something of her former
+influence over the divided cities.</p>
+<p>Among these Athens held the foremost rank. She was, as we have
+previously seen, far more truly representative of the Greek spirit
+than her rival. Sparta was aristocratic and conservative; Athens
+democratic and progressive. The genius of her leaders gathered the
+lesser towns into a great naval league, in which she grew ever more
+powerful. Her allies sank to be dependent and unwilling vassals,
+forced to contribute large sums to the treasury of their
+overlord.</p>
+<p>This was the age of Pericles.[<a href="#note-1">1</a>] As Athens
+became wealthy, her citizens became cultured. Statues, temples,
+theatres made the city beautiful. Dramatists, orators, and poets
+made her intellectually renowned. A marvellous outburst, this of
+Athens! Displaying for the first time in history the full capacity
+of the human mind! Had there been similar flowerings of genius amid
+forgotten Asiatic times? One doubts it; doubts if such brilliancy
+could ever anywhere have passed, and left no clearer record of its
+triumphs.</p>
+<p><a name="note-1"><!-- Note Anchor 1 --></a>[Footnote 1: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_3">Pericles Rules in Athens</a></i>, page
+12.]</p>
+<p>Amid such splendor it seems captious to point out the flaw. Yet
+Athenian and all Greek civilization did ultimately decline. It
+represented intellectual, but not moral culture. The Greeks
+delighted intensely in the purely physical life about them; they
+had small conception of anything beyond. To enjoy, to be
+successful, that was all their goal; the means scarce counted. The
+Athenians called Aristides the Just; but so little did they honor
+his high rectitude that they banished him for a decade. His title,
+or it may have been his insistence on the subject, bored them.</p>
+<p>His rival, Themistocles, was more suited to their taste, a
+clever scamp, who must always be dealing with both sides in every
+quarrel, and outwitting both. Athens was driven to banish him also
+at last, at his too flagrant treachery. But he was not dismissed
+with the scathing scorn our modern age would heap upon a traitor.
+He was sent regretfully, as one turns from a charming but too
+persistently lawless friend. The banishment was only for ten years,
+and he had his nest already prepared with the Persian King. If you
+would understand the Greek spirit in its fullest perfection, study
+Themistocles. Rampant individualism, seeking personal pleasure,
+clamorous for the admiration of its fellows, but not restrained
+from secret falsity by any strong moral sense—that was what
+the Greeks developed in the end.</p>
+<p>Neither must Athens be regarded as a democracy in the modern
+sense. She was only so by contrast with Persia or with Sparta. Not
+every man in the beautiful city voted, or enjoyed the riches that
+flowed into her coffers, and could thus afford, free from pecuniary
+care, to devote himself to art. Athens probably had never more than
+thirty thousand "citizens." The rest of the adult male population,
+vastly outnumbering these, were slaves, or foreigners attracted by
+the city's splendor.</p>
+<p>But those thirty thousand were certainly men. "There were giants
+in those days." One sometimes stands in wonder at their boldness.
+What all Greece could not do, what Persia had completely failed in,
+they undertook. Athens alone should conquer the world. By force of
+arms they would found an empire of intellect. They fought Persia
+and Sparta, both at once. Plague swept their city, yet they would
+not yield.[<a href="#note-2">2</a>] Their own subject allies turned
+against them; and they fought those too. They sent fleets and
+armies against Syracuse, the mightiest power of the West. It was
+Athens against all mankind!</p>
+<p><a name="note-2"><!-- Note Anchor 2 --></a>[Footnote 2: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_4">Great Plague at Athens</a></i>, page 34.]</p>
+<p>She was unequal to the task, superbly unequal to it. The
+destruction of her army at Syracuse[<a href="#note-3">3</a>] was
+only the foremost of a series of inevitable disasters, which left
+her helpless. After that, Sparta, and then Thebes, became the
+leading city of Greece. Athens slowly regained her fighting
+strength; her intellectual supremacy she had not lost.
+Socrates,[<a href="#note-4">4</a>] greatest of her sons, endeavored
+to teach a morality higher than earth had yet received, higher than
+his contemporaries could grasp. Plato gave to thought a scientific
+basis.</p>
+<p><a name="note-3"><!-- Note Anchor 3 --></a>[Footnote 3: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_5">Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse</a></i>,
+page 48.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-4"><!-- Note Anchor 4 --></a>[Footnote 4: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_7">Condemnation and Death of Socrates</a></i>,
+page 87.]</p>
+<p>Then Macedonia, a border kingdom of ancient kinship to the
+Greeks, but not recognized as belonging among them, began to
+obtrude herself in their affairs, and at length won that leadership
+for which they had all contended. A hundred and fifty years had
+elapsed since the Greeks had stood united against Persia. During
+all that time their strength had been turned against themselves.
+Now at last the internecine wars were checked, and all the power of
+the sturdy race was directed by one man, Alexander, King of
+Macedon. Democracy had made the Greeks intellectually glorious, but
+politically weak. Monarchy rose from the ruin they had wrought.</p>
+<p>As though that ancient invasion of Xerxes had been a crime of
+yesterday, Alexander proclaimed his intention of avenging it; and
+the Greeks applauded. They understood Persia now far better than in
+the elder days; they saw what a feeble mass the huge heterogeneous
+empire had become. Its people were slaves, its soldiers
+mercenaries. The Greeks themselves had been hired to suppress more
+than one Persian rebellion,[<a href="#note-5">5</a>] and to foment
+these also. They had learned the enormous advantage their stronger
+personality gave them against the masses of sheeplike Asiatics.</p>
+<p><a name="note-5"><!-- Note Anchor 5 --></a>[Footnote 5: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_6">Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks</a></i>,
+page 68.]</p>
+<p>So it was in holiday mood that they followed Alexander, and in
+schoolboy roughness that they trampled on the civilization of the
+East. In fact, it is worth noting that the most vigorous resistance
+they encountered was not from the Persians, but from a remnant of
+the Semites, the merchants of the Phoenician city of Tyre.[<a href="#note-6">6</a>] In less than eight years, B.C. 331-323, Alexander
+overran the whole known world of the East,[<a href="#note-7">7</a>]
+only stopping when, on the border of India, his soldiers broke into
+open revolt, not against fighting, but against further
+wandering.</p>
+<p><a name="note-6"><!-- Note Anchor 6 --></a>[Footnote 6: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_10">Alexander Reduces Tyre</a></i>, page
+133.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-7"><!-- Note Anchor 7 --></a>[Footnote 7: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_11">The Battle of Arbela</a></i>, page 141.]</p>
+<p>If this invasion had been the mere outcome of one man's
+ambition, it might scarce be worth recording. But Alexander was
+only the topmost wave in the surging of a long imminent, inevitable
+racial movement. Its effect upon civilization, upon the world, was
+incalculably vast. Alexander and his successors were city-builders,
+administrators. As such they spread Greek culture, the Greek idea
+of individualism, over all their world.</p>
+<p>How deep was the change, made upon the imbruted Asiatics, we may
+perhaps question. Our own age has seen how much of education may be
+lavished on an inferior race without materially altering the brute
+instincts within. The building-up of the soul in man is not a
+matter of individuals, but of centuries. Yet in at least a
+superficial way Greek thought became the thought of all mankind. We
+may dismiss Alexander's savage conquests with a sigh of pity; but
+we cannot deny him recognition as a most potent teacher of the
+world.</p>
+<p>His empire did not last. It was in too obvious opposition to all
+that we have recognized as the Grecian spirit. At his death the
+same impulse seems to have stirred each one of his subordinates, to
+snatch for himself a kingdom from the confusion. Instead of one
+there were soon three, four, and then a dozen semi-Grecian states
+in Asia. The Greek element in each grew very faint.</p>
+<p>From this time onward Asia takes a less prominent place in world
+affairs. Her ancient leadership in the march of civilization had
+long been yielded to the Greeks. Now her semblance of military
+power disappeared as well. Only two further happenings in all Asia
+seem worth noting, down to the birth of Christ. One of these was
+the Tartar conquest of China, an event which coalesced the Tartars,
+helped make them a nation.[<a href="#note-8">8</a>] It was thus
+fraught with most disastrous consequences for the Europe of the
+future. The other was the revolt of the Hebrews under Judas
+Maccabaeus, against their Grecian rulers. This was a religious
+revolt, a religious war. Here for the first time we find a people
+who will believe, who can believe, in no god but their own, who
+will die sooner than give worship to another. We approach the
+borders of an age where the spirit is more valued than the body,
+where the mental is stronger than the physical, where facts are
+dominated by ideas.[<a href="#note-9">9</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-8"><!-- Note Anchor 8 --></a>[Footnote 8: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_9">Tartar Invasion of China</a></i>, page
+126.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-9"><!-- Note Anchor 9 --></a>[Footnote 9: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_16">Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea</a></i>,
+page 245.]</p>
+<p>Had Alexander even at the moment of his greatest strength
+directed his forces westward instead of east, he would have found a
+different world and encountered a sturdier resistance. He himself
+recognized this, and during his last years was gathering all the
+resources of his unwieldy empire, to hurl them against Carthage and
+against Italy. What the issue might have been no man can say.
+Alexander's death ended forever the impossible attempt to unite his
+race. Once more and until the end, Grecian strength was wasted
+against itself.</p>
+<p>This gave opportunity to the growing powers of the West.
+Alexander is scarce gone ere we hear Carthage boasting that the
+Mediterranean is but a private lake in her possession. She rules
+all Western Africa and Spain, Sardinia and Corsica. She masters the
+Greeks of Sicily, against whom Athens failed. Rome is compelled to
+sign treaties with her as an inferior.</p>
+<p class="center">THE GROWTH OF ROME</p>
+<p>Rome was only husbanding her strength; the little republic of
+B.C. 510 had grown much during the two centuries of Grecian
+splendor. Her people had become far better fitted for conquest than
+their eastern kinsmen. It is presumable that here too it was the
+difference of surroundings which had differentiated the race. The
+ancient Etrurian (non-Aryan) civilization on which the Latins
+intruded, was apparently more advanced than their own. For
+centuries their utmost prowess scarce sufficed to maintain their
+independence. Thus it was not possible for them to become too
+self-satisfied, to stand afar off and look down on their neighbors
+with Grecian scorn. The <i>ego</i> was less prominently developed;
+the necessity of mutual dependence and united action was more
+deeply taught. Their records display less of brilliancy, but more
+of patient persistency, than those of Greece, less of spectacular
+individualism, more of truly patriotic self-suppression. In Rome,
+even more than in Sparta, the "State" was everything. During the
+early days men found their highest glory in making their city
+glorious; their proudest boast was to be "citizens of Rome."</p>
+<p>To trace the slow steps by which the tiny republic grew to be
+mistress of all Italy would take too long. She settled her internal
+difficulties as all such difficulties must be settled, if the race
+is to progress; that is, she became more democratic.[<a href="#note-10">10</a>] As the lower classes advanced in knowledge and
+intelligence they insisted on a share of the government. They
+fought their way to it. They united Rome, mastered the other Latin
+cities, and admitted them to partnership in her power. She
+conquered the Etruscans and the Samnites. For a moment we find her
+almost overwhelmed by an inroad of the wild Celtic tribes from the
+forests of Central Europe;[<a href="#note-11">11</a>] but,
+fortunately for her, the other Italian states were equally crushed.
+It was weakness against weakness, and the Romans retained their
+foremost place.</p>
+<p><a name="note-10"><!-- Note Anchor 10 --></a>[Footnote 10: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_2">Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in
+Rome</a></i>, page 1.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-11"><!-- Note Anchor 11 --></a>[Footnote 11: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_8">Brennus Burns Rome</a></i>, page 110.]</p>
+<p>Not till more than a century later were they brought into
+serious conflict with the Greeks. In the year B.C. 280, Pyrrhus,
+King of Epirus, who had won a temporary leadership over a portion
+of the Grecian land, undertook the conquest of the West.[<a href="#note-12">12</a>] Fifty years before, Alexander with far greater
+power might have been victorious over a feebler Rome. Pyrrhus
+failed completely. If the Romans had less dash and a less wide
+experience of varied warfare than his followers, they had far more
+of true, heroic endurance. The Greeks had reached that stage of
+individual culture where they were much too selfishly intelligent
+to be willing to die in battle. Pyrrhus withdrew from Italy.
+Grecian brilliancy was helpless against Roman strength of
+union.</p>
+<p><a name="note-12"><!-- Note Anchor 12 --></a>[Footnote 12: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_12">First Battle between Greeks and
+Romans</a></i>, page 166.]</p>
+<p>Then came the far more serious contest between Rome and
+Carthage.[<a href="#note-13">13</a>] Carthage was a Phoenician, a
+Semite state; and hers was the last, the most gigantic struggle
+made by Semitism to recover its waning superiority, to dominate the
+ancient world. Three times in three tremendous wars did she and
+Rome put forth their utmost strength against each other. Hannibal,
+perhaps the greatest military genius who ever lived, fought upon
+the side of Carthage. At one time Rome seemed crushed, helpless
+before him.[<a href="#note-14">14</a>] Yet in the end Rome
+won.[<a href="#note-15">15</a>] It was not by the brilliancy of her
+commanders, not by the superiority of her resources. It was the
+grim, cool courage of the Aryan mind, showing strongest and calmest
+when face to face with ruin.</p>
+<p><a name="note-13"><!-- Note Anchor 13 --></a>[Footnote 13: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_13">The Punic Wars</a></i>, page 179.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-14"><!-- Note Anchor 14 --></a>[Footnote 14: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_14">Battle of the Metaurus</a></i>, page
+195.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-15"><!-- Note Anchor 15 --></a>[Footnote 15: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_15">Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama
+and Subjugates Carthage</a></i>, page 224.]</p>
+<p>Our modern philosophers, being Aryan, assure us that the victory
+of Carthage would have been an irretrievable disaster to mankind;
+that her falsity, her narrow selfishness, her bloody inhumanity,
+would have stifled all progress; that her dominion would have been
+the tyranny of a few heartless masters over a world of tortured
+slaves. On the other hand, Rome up to this point had certainly been
+a generous mistress to her subjects. She had left them peace and
+prosperity among themselves; she had given them as much political
+freedom as was consistent with her sovereignty; she had wellnigh
+succeeded in welding all Italy into a Roman nation. It is
+noteworthy that the large majority of the Italian cities clung to
+her, even in the darkest straits to which she was reduced by
+Hannibal.</p>
+<p>Yet when the fall of her last great rival left Rome irresistible
+abroad, her methods changed. It is hard to see how even
+Carthaginians could have been more cruel, more grasping, more
+corrupt than the Roman rulers of the provinces. Having conquered
+the governments of the world, Rome had to face outbreak after
+outbreak from the unarmed, unsheltered masses of the people. Her
+barbarity drove them to mad despair. "Servile" wars, slave
+outbreaks are dotted over all the last century of the Roman
+Republic.</p>
+<p>The good, if there was any good, that Roman dominion brought the
+world at that period was the spreading of Greek culture across the
+western half of the world. As Rome mastered the Greek states one by
+one, their genius won a subtler triumph over the conqueror. Her
+generals recognized and admired a culture superior to their own.
+They carried off the statues of Greece for the adornment of their
+villas, and with equal eagerness they appropriated her manners and
+her thought, her literature and her gods.</p>
+<p>But this superficial culture could not save the Roman Republic
+from the dry-rot that sapped her vitals from within. As a mere
+matter of numbers, the actual citizens of Rome or even of the
+semi-Roman districts close around her were too few to continue
+fighting over all the vast empire they controlled. The sturdy
+peasant population of Italy slowly disappeared. The actual
+inhabitants of the capital came to consist of a few thousand vastly
+wealthy families, who held all the power, a few thousand more of
+poorer citizens dependent on the rich, and then a vast swarm of
+slaves and foreigners, feeders on the crumbs of the Roman
+table.</p>
+<p>In the battles against Carthage, the mass of Rome's armies had
+consisted of her own citizens or of allies closely united to them
+in blood and fortune. Her later victories were won by hired troops,
+men gathered from every clime and every race. Roman generals still
+might lead them, Roman laws environ them, Roman gold employ them.
+Yet the fact remained, that in these armies lay the strength of the
+Republic, no longer within her own walls, no longer in the stout
+hearts of her citizens.</p>
+<p>Perhaps the world itself was slow in seeing this degeneration.
+The Gracchi brothers tried to stem the tide, and they were slain,
+sacrificed by the nation they sought to save.[<a href="#note-16">16</a>] Cornelius Sulla was the man who completed, and
+at the same time made plain to all, the change that had been
+growing up. Having bitter grievances against his enemies in the
+capital, he appealed for redress, not to the Roman senate, not to
+the votes of the populace, but to the swords of the legions he
+commanded. Twice he marched his soldiers against Rome. He brushed
+aside the feeble resistance that was offered, and entered the city
+like a conqueror. The blood of those who had opposed his wishes
+flowed in streams. Three thousand senators and knights, the flower
+of the Roman aristocracy, were slain at his nod. Of the common folk
+and of the Italians throughout the peninsula, the slaughter was
+immeasurable. And when his bloody vengeance was at last glutted,
+Sulla ruled as an extravagant, conscienceless, licentious dictator.
+Rome had found a fitting master.</p>
+<p><a name="note-16"><!-- Note Anchor 16 --></a>[Footnote 16: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_17">The Gracchi and Their Reforms</a></i>, page
+259.]</p>
+<p class="center">THE STRUGGLE OF INDIVIDUALS FOR SUPREMACY</p>
+<p>The Roman people, the mighty race who had defied a Hannibal at
+their gates, were clearly come to an end. Sulla had proved the
+power of the Republic to be an empty shell. After his death, men
+used the empty forms awhile; but the surviving aristocrats had
+learned their awful lesson. They put no further faith in the
+strength of the city; they watched the armies and the generals;
+they intrigued for the various commands. It was an exciting game.
+Life and fortune were the stakes they risked; the prize—the
+mastery of a helpless world, waiting to be plundered.</p>
+<p>Pompey and Caesar proved the ablest players. Pompey overthrew
+what was left of the Greek Asiatic kingdoms and returned to Rome
+the idol of his troops, wellnigh as powerful as had been Sulla.
+Caesar, looking in his turn for a place to build up an army devoted
+to himself, selected Gaul and spent eight years in subduing and
+civilizing what was in a way the most important of all Rome's
+conquests. In Gaul he came in contact with another, fresher Aryan
+race.[<a href="#note-17">17</a>] Rome received new soldiers for her
+legions, new brains fitted to understand and carry on the work of
+civilizing the world.</p>
+<p><a name="note-17"><!-- Note Anchor 17 --></a>[Footnote 17: See
+<i><a href="#GAUL">Caesar Conquers Gaul</a></i>, page 267.]</p>
+<p>When Caesar, turning away from Britain,[<a href="#note-18">18</a>] marched these new-formed legions back against
+Rome, even as Sulla had done, it was almost like another Gallic
+invasion of the South. Pompey fled. He gathered his legions from
+Asia; and the world resounded once more to the clash of arms.</p>
+<p><a name="note-18"><!-- Note Anchor 18 --></a>[Footnote 18: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_18">Roman Invasion and Conquest of
+Britain</a></i>, page 285.]</p>
+<p>This, then, was the third and final stage of the huge struggle
+for empire. War was still the business of the world. Rome had first
+defeated foreign nations; then she had to defeat the uprisings of
+the subject peoples; now her chiefs, finding her exhausted, fought
+among themselves for the supreme power. Armies of Asiatics, armies
+of Gauls, each claiming to represent Rome, battled over her
+helpless body.</p>
+<p>Caesar was victorious. But when the conquering power which had
+once belonged to the united nation became embodied in a single man,
+there was a new way by which it might be checked. The government of
+Rome, like that of the Greek and Asiatic tyrannies, became a
+"despotism tempered by assassination"; and Caesar was its foremost
+victim.[<a href="#note-19">19</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-19"><!-- Note Anchor 19 --></a>[Footnote 19: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_20">Assassination of Caesar</a></i>, page
+313.]</p>
+<p>His death did not stop the fascinating gamble for empire. It
+only added one more move to the possible complexities of the game.
+The lesser players had their chance. They intrigued and they
+fought. Egypt, the last remaining civilized state outside of Rome,
+was drawn into the whirlpool also.[<a href="#note-20">20</a>]
+Cleopatra and Antony acted their reckless parts, and at length out
+of the world-wide tumult emerged "young Octavius," to assume his
+<i>r&ocirc;le</i> as "Augustus Caesar," acknowledged emperor of the
+world.[<a href="#note-21">21</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-20"><!-- Note Anchor 20 --></a>[Footnote 20: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_19">Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and
+Antony</a></i>, page 295.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-21"><!-- Note Anchor 21 --></a>[Footnote 21: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_21">Rome Becomes a Monarchy</a></i>, page
+333.]</p>
+<p>Note, however, that the term "world" is still one of boast, not
+truth. Emperor over many men, Augustus was; but the powers of
+nature still shut many races safe beyond his mastery. The ocean
+bounded his dominion on the west; the deserts to the south and
+east; the German forests to the north. These last he did essay to
+conquer, but they proved beyond him. The wild German tribes having
+no cities, which they must defend at any cost, could afford to flee
+or hide. Choosing their own time and place they rose suddenly,
+smote the legions of Augustus, and melted into the wilderness
+again.[<a href="#note-22">22</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-22"><!-- Note Anchor 22 --></a>[Footnote 22: See
+<i><a href="#RULE4_22">Germans Under Arminius Revolt against
+Rome</a></i>, page 362.]</p>
+<p>Rome was checked at last. No civilized nation had been able to
+stand against her; but the wild tribes of the Germans and the
+Parthians did. Barbarism had still by far the larger portion of the
+world wherein to live and develop, and gather brain and brawn. Rome
+could not conquer the wilderness.</p>
+<p>(For the next section of this general survey see Volume
+III.)</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_2"></a>INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 450</p>
+<p class="center">HENRY G. LIDDELL</p>
+<p class="intros">When wars and pestilence had laid a heavy burden
+upon the Roman people, there appears to have been a period in which
+internal commotions and civil strife were stilled, and the quarrels
+of patricians and plebeians gave way to temporary truce. On the
+inevitable renewal of the old struggle the college of tribunes
+adopted a measure favorable to the plebeians in so far as it
+provided means for checking the abuse of power on the part of
+consuls in punishing members of that class in connection with the
+prosecution of suits against them.</p>
+<p class="intros">The passage of this measure had the effect of
+reopening former conflicts, the patrician elements becoming greatly
+alarmed at what they regarded as a fresh encroachment upon their
+hereditary rights. The contest was long and bitter, each side
+either bringing forward or rejecting again and again the same
+measures or the same representatives.</p>
+<p class="intros">Finally, compromises were made, and in the year
+B.C. 452 a commission of ten men, called <i>decemvirs</i>,
+constituting the <i>Decemvirate</i>, was chosen, consisting wholly
+of patricians, who entered with great efficiency upon the discharge
+of legislative duties which resulted in the production of a new
+code. This was approved by the senate and by the popular
+representatives, and was published in the form of ten copper plates
+or tables, which were affixed to the speaker's pulpit in the Forum.
+Among the new decemvirs appointed in the year B.C. 450 were several
+plebeians, the first official representatives of the entire people
+who were chosen from that class.</p>
+<p>The patrician burgesses endeavored to wrest independence from
+the "plebs" after the battle of Lake Regillus; and the latter,
+ruined by constant wars with the neighboring nations, being
+compelled to make good their losses by borrowing money from
+patrician creditors, and liable to become bondsmen in default of
+payment, at length deserted the city, and only returned on
+condition of being protected by tribunes of their own; they then,
+by the firmness of Publilius Volero and Lætorius, obtained
+the right of electing these tribunes at their own assembly, the
+"Comitia of the Tribes." Finally the great consul Spurius Cassius
+endeavored to relieve the commonalty by an agrarian law, so as to
+better their condition permanently.</p>
+<p>The execution of the Agrarian law was constantly evaded. But on
+the conquest of Antium from the Volscians, in the year B.C. 468, a
+colony was sent thither, and this was one of the first examples of
+a distribution of public land to poorer citizens; which answered
+two purposes—the improvement of their condition, and the
+defence of the place against the enemy.</p>
+<p>Nor did the tribunes, now made altogether independent of the
+patricians, fail to assert their power. One of the first persons
+who felt the force of their arm was the second Appius Claudius.
+This Sabine noble, following his father's example, had, after the
+departure of the Fabii, led the opposition to the Publilian law.
+When he took the field against the Volscians, his soldiers would
+not fight, and the stern commander put to death every tenth man in
+his legions. For the acts of his consulship he was brought to trial
+by the tribunes M. Duillius and C. Sicinius. Seeing that conviction
+was certain, the proud patrician avoided humiliation by
+suicide.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless the border wars still continued, and the plebeians
+suffered much. To the evils of debt and want were added about this
+time the horrors of pestilential disease, which visited the Roman
+territory several times at that period. In one year (B.C. 464) the
+two consuls, two of the four augurs, and the curio Maximus, who was
+the head of all the patricians, were swept off—a fact which
+implies the death of a vast number of less distinguished persons.
+The government was administered by the plebeian aediles, under the
+control of senatorial interreges. The Volscians and Aequians
+ravaged the country up to the walls of Rome; and the safety of the
+city must be attributed to the Latins and Hernici, not to the men
+of Rome.</p>
+<p>Meantime the tribunes had in vain demanded a full execution of
+the Agrarian law. But in the year B.C. 462, one of the Sacred
+College, by name C. Terentilius Harsa, came forward with a bill,
+the object of which was to give the plebeians a surer footing in
+the state. This man perceived that as long as the consuls retained
+their almost despotic power, and were elected by the influence of
+the patricians, this order had it in its power to thwart all
+measures, even after they were passed, which tended to advance the
+interests of the plebeians. He therefore no longer demanded the
+execution of the Agrarian law, but proposed that a commission of
+ten men (<i>decemviri</i>) should be appointed to draw up
+constitutional laws for regulating the future relations of the
+patricians and plebeians.</p>
+<p>The Reform Bill of Terentilius was, as might be supposed,
+vehemently resisted by the patrician burgesses. But the plebeians
+supported their champion no less warmly. For five consecutive years
+the same tribunes were reelected and in vain endeavored to carry
+the bill. This was the time which least fulfils the character which
+we have claimed for the Roman people—patience and temperance,
+combined with firmness in their demands. To prevent the tribunes
+from carrying their law, the younger patricians thronged to the
+assemblies and interfered with all proceedings; Terentilius, they
+said, was endeavoring to confound all distinction between the
+orders. Some scenes occurred which seem to show that both sides
+were prepared for civil war.</p>
+<p>In the year B.C. 460 the city was alarmed by hearing that the
+Capitol had been seized by a band of Sabines and exiled Romans,
+under the command of one Herdonius. Who these exiles were is
+uncertain. But we know, by the legend of Cincinnatus, that
+Cæso Quinctius, the son of that old hero, was an exile. It
+has been inferred, therefore, that he was among them, that the
+tribunes had succeeded in banishing from the city the most violent
+of their opponents, and that these persons had not scrupled to
+associate themselves with Sabines to recover their homes. The
+consul Valerius, aided by the Latins of Tusculum, levied an army to
+attack the insurgents, on condition that after success the law
+should be fully considered. The exiles were driven out and
+Herdonius was killed. But the consul fell in the assault, and the
+patricians, led by old Cincinnatus, refused to fulfil his
+promises.</p>
+<p>Then followed the danger of the Æquian invasion, to which
+the legend of Cincinnatus, as given above, refers. The stern old
+man used his dictatorial power quite as much to crush the tribunes
+at home as to conquer the enemies abroad.</p>
+<p>One of the historians tells us that in this period of seditious
+violence many of the leading plebeians were assassinated (as the
+tribune Genucius had been), and to this time only can be attributed
+the horrible story, mentioned by more than one writer, that nine
+tribunes were burned alive at the instance of their colleague
+Mucius. Society was utterly disorganized. The two orders were on
+the brink of civil war. It seemed as if Rome was to become the city
+of discord, not of law. Happily, there were moderate men in both
+orders. Now, as at the time of the secession, their voices
+prevailed, and a compromise was arranged.</p>
+<p>In the eighth year after the first promulgation of the
+Terentilian law, this compromise was made (B.C. 454). The law
+itself was no longer pressed by the tribunes. The patricians, on
+the other hand, so far gave way as to allow three men
+(<i>triumviri</i>) to be appointed, who were to travel into Greece,
+and bring back a copy of the laws of Solon, as well as the laws and
+institutes of any other Greek states which they might deem good and
+useful. These were to be the groundwork of a new code of laws, such
+as should give fair and equal rights to both orders and restrain
+the arbitrary power of the patrician magistrates.</p>
+<p>Another concession made by the patrician lords was a small
+installment of the Agrarian law. L. Icilius, tribune of the plebs,
+proposed that all the Aventine hill, being public land, should be
+made over to the plebs, to be their quarter forever, as the other
+hills were occupied by the patricians and their clients. This hill,
+it will be remembered, was consecrated to the goddess Diana (Jana),
+and though included in the walls of Servius, was yet not within the
+sacred limits (<i>pomoerium</i>) of the patrician city. After some
+opposition the patricians suffered this Icilian law to pass, in
+hopes of soothing the anger of the plebeians. The land was
+parcelled out into building-sites. But as there was not enough to
+give a separate plot to every plebeian householder that wished to
+live in the city, one allotment was assigned to several persons,
+who built a joint house <i>flats</i> or stories, each of which was
+inhabited—as in Edinburgh and in most foreign towns—by
+a separate family.</p>
+<p>The three men who had been sent into Greece returned in the
+third year (B.C. 452). They found the city free from domestic
+strife, partly from the concessions already made, partly from
+expectation of what was now to follow, and partly from the effect
+of a pestilence which had broken out anew.</p>
+<p>So far did moderate counsels now prevail among the patricians,
+that after some little delay they agreed to suspend the ordinary
+government by the consuls and other officers, and in their stead to
+appoint a council of ten, who were, during their existence, to be
+intrusted with all the functions of government. But they were to
+have a double duty: they were not only an administrative, but also
+a legislative council. On the one hand, they were to conduct the
+government, administer justice, and command the armies. On the
+other, they were to draw up a code of laws by which equal justice
+was to be dealt out to the whole Roman people, to patricians and
+plebeians alike, and by which especially the authority to be
+exercised by the consuls, or chief magistrates, was to be clearly
+determined and settled.</p>
+<p>This supreme council of ten, or decemvirs, was first appointed
+in the year B.C. 450. They were all patricians. At their head stood
+Appius Claudius and T. Genucius, who had already been chosen
+consuls for this memorable year. This Appius Claudius (the third of
+his name) was son and grandson of those two patrician chiefs who
+had opposed the leaders of the plebeians so vehemently in the
+matter of the tribunate. But he affected a different conduct from
+his sires. He was the most popular man of the whole council, and
+became in fact the sovereign of Rome. At first he used his great
+power well, and the first year's government of the decemvirs was
+famed for justice and moderation.</p>
+<p>They also applied themselves diligently to their great work of
+law-making, and before the end of the year had drawn up a code of
+ten tables, which were posted in the Forum, that all citizens might
+examine them and suggest amendments to the decemvirs. After due
+time thus spent, the ten tables were confirmed and made law at the
+Comitia of the Centuries. By this code equal justice was to be
+administered to both orders without distinction of persons.</p>
+<p>At the close of the year the first decemvirs laid down their
+office, just as the consuls and other officers of state had been
+accustomed to do before. They were succeeded by a second set of
+ten, who, for the next year at least, were to conduct the
+government like their predecessors. The only one of the old
+decemvirs reelected was Appius Claudius. The patricians, indeed,
+endeavored to prevent even this, and to this end he was himself
+appointed to preside at the new elections; for it was held
+impossible for a chief magistrate to return his own name, when he
+was himself presiding. But Appius scorned precedents. He returned
+himself as elected, together with nine others, men of no name,
+while two of the great Quinctian gens, who offered themselves, were
+rejected.</p>
+<p>Of the new decemvirs, it is certain that three—and it is
+probable that five—were plebeians. Appius, with the plebeian
+Oppius, held the judicial office, and remained in the city; and
+these two seem to have been regarded as the chiefs. The other six
+commanded the armies and discharged the duties previously assigned
+to the quæstors and ædiles.</p>
+<p>The first decemvirs had earned the respect and esteem of their
+fellow-citizens. The new Council of Ten deserved the hatred which
+has ever since cloven to their name. Appius now threw off the mask
+which he had so long worn, and assumed his natural
+character—the same as had distinguished his sire and
+grandsire, of unhappy memory. He became an absolute despot. His
+brethren in the council offered no hinderance to his will; even the
+plebeian decemvirs, bribed by power, fell into his way of action
+and supported his tyranny. They each had twelve lictors, who
+carried fasces with the axes in them the symbol of absolute power,
+as in the times of the kings; so that it was said, "Rome had now
+twelve Tarquins instead of one, and one hundred and twenty armed
+lictors instead of twelve!" All freedom of speech ceased. The
+senate was seldom called together. The leading men, patricians and
+plebeians, left the city. The outward aspect of things was that of
+perfect calm and peace, but an opportunity only was wanting for the
+discontent which was smouldering in all men's hearts to break out
+and show itself.</p>
+<p>By the end of the year the decemvirs had added two more tables
+to the code, so that there were now twelve tables. But these two
+last were of a most oppressive and arbitrary kind, devoted chiefly
+to restore the ancient privileges of the patrician caste. Of these
+tables, it should be observed that they were made laws not by the
+vote of the people, but by the simple edict of the decemvirs.</p>
+<p>It was, no doubt, expected that the second decemvirs also would
+have held <i>comitia</i> for the election of successors. But Appius
+and his colleagues showed no such intention, and when the year came
+to a close they continued to hold office as if they had been
+reelected. So firmly did their power seem to be established that we
+hear of no endeavor being made to induce them to resign.</p>
+<p>In the course of this next year (B.C. 449), the border wars were
+renewed. On the north the Sabines, and the Æquians on the
+northeast, invaded the Roman country at the same time. The latter
+penetrated as far as Mount Algidus, as in B.C. 458, when they were
+routed by old Cincinnatus. The decemvirs probably, like the
+patrician burgesses in former times, regarded these inroads not
+without satisfaction; for they turned away the mind of the people
+from their sufferings at home. Yet from these very wars sprung the
+events which overturned their power and destroyed themselves.</p>
+<p>Two armies were levied, one to check the Sabines, the other to
+oppose the Æquians, and these were commanded by the six
+military decemvirs. Appius and Oppius remained to administer
+affairs at home. But there was no spirit in the armies. Both were
+defeated; and that which was opposed to the Æquians was
+compelled to take refuge within the walls of Tusculum.</p>
+<p>Then followed two events which were preserved in well-known
+legends, and which give the popular narrative of the manner in
+which the power of the decemvirs was at last overthrown.</p>
+<p>LEGEND OF SICCIUS DENTATUS</p>
+<p>In the army sent against the Sabines, Siccius Dentatus was known
+as the bravest man. He was then serving as a centurion; he had
+fought in one hundred and twenty battles; he had slain eight
+champions in single combat; had saved the lives of fourteen
+citizens; had received forty wounds, all in front; had followed in
+nine triumphal processions, and had won crowns and decorations
+without number. This gallant veteran had taken an active part in
+the civil contests between the two orders, and was now suspected,
+by the decemvirs commanding the Sabine army, of plotting against
+them. Accordingly they determined to get rid of him; and for this
+end they sent him out as if to reconnoitre, with a party of
+soldiers, who were secretly instructed to murder him. Having
+discovered their design, he set his back against a rock and
+resolved to sell his life dearly. More than one of his assailants
+fell and the rest stood at bay around him, not venturing to come
+within sword's length, when one wretch climbed up the rock behind
+and crushed the brave old man with a massive stone. But the manner
+of his death could not be hidden from the army, and the generals
+only prevented an outbreak by honoring him with a magnificent
+funeral.</p>
+<p>Such was the state of things in the Sabine army.</p>
+<p>LEGEND OF VIRGINIA[<a href="#note-23">23</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-23"><!-- Note Anchor 23 --></a>[Footnote 23:
+Dionysius is the authority for this legend.]</p>
+<p>The other army had a still grosser outrage to complain of. In
+this there was a notable centurion, Virginius by name. His daughter
+Virginia, just ripening into womanhood, beautiful as the day, was
+betrothed to L. Icilius, the tribune who had carried the law for
+allotting the Aventine hill to the plebeians. Appius Claudius, the
+decemvir, saw her and lusted to make her his own. And with this
+intent he ordered one of his clients, M. Claudius by name, to lay
+hands upon her as she was going to her school in the Forum, and to
+claim her as his slave. The man did so; and when the cries of her
+nurse brought a crowd round them, M. Claudius insisted on taking
+her before the decemvir, in order, as he said, to have the case
+fairly tried. Her friends consented; and no sooner had Appius heard
+the matter than he gave judgment that the maiden should be
+delivered up to the claimant, who should be bound to produce her in
+case her alleged father appeared to gainsay the claim. Now this
+judgment was directly against one of the laws of the twelve tables,
+which Appius himself had framed; for therein it was provided that
+any person being at freedom should continue free till it was proved
+that such person was a slave. Icilius, therefore, with Numitorius,
+the uncle of the maiden, boldly argued against the legality of the
+judgment, and at length Appius, fearing a tumult, agreed to leave
+the girl in their hands on condition of their giving bail to bring
+her before him next morning; and then, if Virginius did not appear,
+he would at once, he said, give her up to her pretended master. To
+this Icilius consented, but he delayed giving bail, pretending that
+he could not procure it readily; and in the mean time he sent off a
+secret message to the camp on Algidus, to inform Virginius of what
+had happened. As soon as the bail was given, Appius also sent a
+message to the decemvirs in command of that army, ordering them to
+refuse leave of absence to Virginius. But when this last message
+arrived, Virginius was already halfway on his road to Rome; for the
+distance was not more than twenty miles, and he had started at
+nightfall.</p>
+<p>Next morning, early, Virginius entered the Forum, leading his
+daughter by the hand, both clad in mean attire. A great number of
+friends and matrons attended him, and he went about among the
+people entreating them to support him against the tyranny of
+Appius. So when Appius came to take his place on the judgment seat
+he found the Forum full of people, all friendly to Virginius and
+his cause. But he inherited the boldness as well as the vices of
+his sires, and though he saw Virginius standing there ready to
+prove that he was the maiden's father, he at once gave judgment,
+against his own law, that Virginia should be given up to M.
+Claudius till it should be proved that she was free. The wretch
+came up to seize her, and the lictors kept the people from him.
+Virginius, now despairing of deliverance, begged Appius to allow
+him to ask the maiden whether she were indeed his daughter or not.
+"If," said he, "I find I am not her father, I shall bear her loss
+the lighter." Under this pretence he drew her aside to a spot upon
+the northern side of the Forum, afterward called the "<i>Nova
+Tabernce</i>" and here, snatching up a knife from a butcher's
+stall, he cried: "In this way only can I keep thee free!"—and
+so saying, stabbed her to the heart. Then he turned to the tribunal
+and said, "On thee, Appius, and on thy head be this blood!" Appius
+cried out to seize "the murderer," but the crowd made way for
+Virginius, and he passed through them holding up the bloody knife,
+and went out at the gate and made straight for the army. There,
+when the soldiers had heard his tale, they at once abandoned their
+decemviral generals and marched to Rome. They were soon followed by
+the other army from the Sabine frontier; for to them Icilius had
+gone, and Numitorius; and they found willing ears among men who
+were already enraged by the murder of old Siccius Dentatus. So the
+two armies joined their banners, elected new generals, and encamped
+upon the Aventine hill, the quarter of the plebeians.</p>
+<p>Meantime the people at home had risen against Appius, and after
+driving him from the Forum they joined their armed fellow-citizens
+upon the Aventine. There the whole body of the commons, armed and
+unarmed, hung like a dark cloud ready to burst upon the city.</p>
+<p>Whatever may be the truth of the legends of Siccius and
+Virginia, there can be no doubt that the conduct of the decemvirs
+had brought matters to the verge of civil war. At this juncture the
+senate met, and the moderate party so far prevailed as to send
+their own leaders, M. Horatius Barbatus and L. Valerius Potitus, to
+negotiate with the insurgents. The plebeians were ready to listen
+to the voices of these men; for they remembered that the consuls of
+the first year of the Republic, when the patrician burgesses were
+friends to the plebeians, were named Valerius and Horatius; and so
+they appointed M. Duillius, a former tribune, to be their
+spokesman. But no good came of it; and Duillius persuaded the
+plebeians to leave the city, and once more to occupy the Sacred
+Mount.</p>
+<p>Then remembrances of the great secession came back upon the
+minds of the patricians, and the senate, observing the calm and
+resolute bearing of the plebeian leaders, compelled the decemvirs
+to resign, and sent back Valerius and Horatius to negotiate
+anew.</p>
+<p>The leaders of the plebeians demanded: First, that the
+tribuneship should be restored, and the <i>Comitia Tributa</i>
+recognized; secondly, that a right of appeal to the people against
+the power of the supreme magistrate should be secured; thirdly,
+that full indemnity should be granted to the movers and promoters
+of the late secession; fourthly, that the decemvirs should be burnt
+alive.</p>
+<p>Of these demands the deputies of the senate agreed to the three
+first; but the fourth, they said, was unworthy of a free people; it
+was a piece of tyranny, as bad as any of the worst acts of the late
+government; and it was needless, because anyone who had reason of
+complaint against the late decemvirs might proceed against them
+according to law. The plebeians listened to these words of wisdom,
+and withdrew their savage demand. The other three were confirmed by
+the fathers, and the plebeians returned to their quarters on the
+Aventine. Here they held an assembly according to their tribes, in
+which the pontifex Maximus presided; and they now, for the first
+time, elected ten tribunes—first Virginius, Numitorius, and
+Icilius, then Duillius and six others: so full were their minds of
+the wrong done to the daughter of Virginius; so entirely was it the
+blood of young Virginia that overthrew the decemvirs, even as that
+of Lucretia had driven out the Tarquins.</p>
+<p>The plebeians had now returned to the city, headed by their ten
+tribunes, a number which was never again altered so long as the
+tribunate continued in existence. It remained for the patricians to
+redeem the pledges given by their agents Valerius and Horatius on
+the other demands of the plebeian leaders.</p>
+<p>The first thing to settle was the election of the supreme
+magistrates. The decemvirs had fallen, and the state was without
+any executive government.</p>
+<p>It has been supposed, as we have said above, that the government
+of the decemvirs was intended to be perpetual. The patricians gave
+up their consuls, and the plebeians their tribunes, on condition
+that each order was to be admitted to an equal share in the new
+decemviral college. But the tribunes were now restored in augmented
+number, and it was but natural that the patricians should insist on
+again occupying all places in the supreme magistracy. By common
+consent, as it would seem, the Comitia of the Centuries met and
+elected to the consulate the two patricians who had shown
+themselves the friends of both orders: L. Valerius Potitus and M.
+Horatius Barbatus. Thus ended the government of the
+decemvirate.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_3"></a>PERICLES RULES IN ATHENS</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 444</p>
+<p class="center">PLUTARCH</p>
+<p class="intros">Under the sway of Pericles many changes occurred
+in the civil affairs of Athens affecting the constitution of the
+state and the character and administration of its laws. Events of
+magnitude marked the struggles of the Athenians with other powers.
+The development of art and learning was carried to an unprecedented
+height, and the Age of Pericles is the most illustrious in ancient
+history.</p>
+<p class="intros">Pericles began his career by opposing the
+aristocratic party of Athens, led by Cimon. In this policy he was
+aided by complications arising with Sparta and Argos. Directing his
+attack particularly against the Areopagus, he succeeded in greatly
+modifying the composition of that body and diminishing its powers.
+The exile of Cimon, the strengthening of Athens by new alliances,
+and the vigorous prosecution of wars against Persia and Corinth
+combined to establish his supremacy, which was still further
+confirmed by the building of the long walls connecting Athens with
+the sea, and by the acquisition of neighboring territory.</p>
+<p class="intros">A favorable convention was concluded with Persia,
+Athens resumed a state of general peace, and Pericles found himself
+at the head of a powerful empire formed out of a confederacy
+previously existing. The strength of this empire was indeed soon
+impaired by ill-judged military movements, against the advice of
+Pericles himself, but during six years of peace which followed he
+succeeded in perfecting a state whose preeminence in intellectual,
+political, and artistic development has had no rival.</p>
+<p class="intros">In the later wars of Athens the renown of
+Pericles was still further enhanced; but his chief glory arose from
+the architectural adornment of the city, and especially from the
+building of the Parthenon and the splendid decoration of the
+Acropolis; while his work of judicial reform remains an added
+monument to his fame, and among the masters of eloquence his
+orations preserve for him a foremost place.</p>
+<p>Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, and of the township of
+Cholargos, and was descended from the noblest families in Athens,
+on both his father's and mother's side. His father, Xanthippus,
+defeated the Persian generals at Mycale, while his mother,
+Agariste, was a descendant of Clisthenes, who drove the sons of
+Pisistratus out of Athens, put an end to their despotic rule, and
+established a new constitution admirably calculated to reconcile
+all parties and save the country. She dreamed that she had brought
+forth a lion, and a few days afterward was delivered of Pericles.
+His body was symmetrical, but his head was long, out of all
+proportion; for which reason, in nearly all his statues he is
+represented wearing a helmet, as the sculptors did not wish, I
+suppose, to reproach him with this blemish. The Attic poets called
+him squill-head, and the comic poet Cratinus, in his play
+<i>Chirones</i>, says;</p>
+<p class="poetry">"From Chronos old and faction<br/>
+  Is sprung a tyrant dread,<br/>
+And all Olympus calls him<br/>
+  The man-compelling head."</p>
+<p>And again in the play of <i>Nemesis</i>:</p>
+<p class="poetry">"Come, hospitable Zeus, with lofty head."</p>
+<p>Teleclides, too, speaks of him as sitting</p>
+<p class="poetry">"Bowed down<br/>
+  With a dreadful frown,<br/>
+Because matters of state have gone wrong,<br/>
+  Until at last,<br/>
+  From his head so vast,<br/>
+His ideas burst forth in a throng."</p>
+<p>And Eupolis, in his play of <i>Demoi</i>, asking questions about
+each of the great orators as they come up from the other world one
+after the other, when at last Pericles ascends, says:</p>
+<p class="poetry">"The great headpiece of those below."</p>
+<p>Most writers tell us that his tutor in music was Damon, whose
+name they say should be pronounced with the first syllable short.
+Aristotle, however, says that he studied under Pythoclides. This
+Damon, it seems, was a sophist of the highest order, who used the
+name of music to conceal this accomplishment from the world, but
+who really trained Pericles for his political contests just as a
+trainer prepares an athlete for the games. However, Damon's use of
+music as a pretext did not impose upon the Athenians, who banished
+him by ostracism, as a busybody and lover of despotism.</p>
+<p>Pericles greatly admired Anaxagoras, and became deeply
+interested in grand speculations, which gave him a haughty spirit
+and a lofty style of oratory far removed from vulgarity and low
+buffoonery, and also an imperturbable gravity of countenance and a
+calmness of demeanor and appearance which no incident could disturb
+as he was speaking, while the tone of his voice never showed that
+he heeded any interruption. These advantages greatly impressed the
+people. The poet Ion, however, says that Pericles was overbearing
+and insolent in conversation, and that his pride had in it a great
+deal of contempt for others, while he praises Cimon's civil,
+sensible, and polished address. But we may disregard Ion as a mere
+dramatic poet who always sees in great men something upon which to
+exercise his satiric vein; whereas Zeno used to invite those who
+called the haughtiness of Pericles a mere courting of popularity
+and affectation of grandeur, to court popularity themselves in the
+same fashion, since the acting of such a part might insensibly
+mould their dispositions until they resembled that of their
+model.</p>
+<p>Pericles when young greatly feared the people. He had a certain
+personal likeness to the despot Pisistratus; and as his own voice
+was sweet, and he was ready and fluent in speech, old men who had
+known Pisistratus were struck by his resemblance to him. He was
+also rich, of noble birth, and had powerful friends, so that he
+feared he might be banished by ostracism, and consequently held
+aloof from politics, but proved himself a brave and daring soldier
+in the wars. But when Aristides was dead, Themistocles banished,
+and Cimon generally absent on distant campaigns, Pericles engaged
+in public affairs, taking the popular side, that of the poor and
+many, against that of the rich and few; quite contrary to his own
+feelings, which were entirely aristocratic. He feared, it seems,
+that he might be suspected of a design to make himself despot, and
+seeing that Cimon took the side of the nobility, and was much
+beloved by them, he betook himself to the people, as a means of
+obtaining safety for himself, and a strong party to combat that of
+Cimon. He immediately altered his mode of life; was never seen in
+any street except that which led to the market-place and the
+national assembly, and declined all invitations to dinner and such
+like social gatherings. But Pericles feared to make himself too
+common even with the people, and only addressed them after long
+intervals; not speaking upon every subject, and not constantly
+addressing them, but, as Critolaus says, keeping himself like the
+Salaminian trireme for great crises, and allowing his friends and
+the other orators to manage matters of less moment.</p>
+<p>Wishing to adopt a style of speaking consonant with his haughty
+manner and lofty spirit, Pericles made free use of the instrument
+which Anaxagoras, as it were, put into his hand, and often tinged
+his oratory with natural philosophy. He far surpassed all others by
+using this "lofty intelligence and power of universal
+consummation," as the divine Plato calls it; in addition to his
+natural advantages, adorning his oratory with apt illustrations
+drawn from physical science. For this reason some think that he was
+nicknamed the Olympian; though some refer this to his improvement
+of the city by new and beautiful buildings, and others from his
+power both as a politician and a general. It is not by any means
+unlikely that these causes all combined to produce the name.</p>
+<p>Pericles was very cautious about his words, and, whenever he
+ascended the tribune to speak, used first to pray to the gods that
+nothing unfitted for the present occasion might fall from his lips.
+He left no writings, except the measures which he brought forward,
+and very few of his sayings are recorded.</p>
+<p>Thucydides represents the constitution under Pericles as a
+democracy in name, but really an aristocracy, because the
+government was all in the hands of one leading citizen. But as many
+other writers tell us that, during his administration, the people
+received grants of land abroad, and were indulged with dramatic
+entertainments, and payments for their services, in consequence of
+which they fell into bad habits, and became extravagant and
+licentious, instead of sober hard-working people as they had been
+before, let us consider the history of this change, viewing it by
+the light of the facts themselves. First of all, Pericles had to
+measure himself with Cimon, and to transfer the affections of the
+people from Cimon to himself. As he was not so rich a man as Cimon,
+who used from his own ample means to give a dinner daily to any
+poor Athenian who required it, clothe aged persons, and take away
+the fences round his property, so that anyone might gather the
+fruit, Pericles, unable to vie with him in this, turned his
+attention to a distribution of the public funds among the people,
+at the suggestion, we are told by Aristotle, of Damonides of Oia.
+By the money paid for public spectacles, for citizens acting as
+jurymen, and other paid offices, and largesses, he soon won over
+the people to his side, so that he was able to use them in his
+attack upon the senate of the Areopagus, of which he himself was
+not a member, never having been chosen <i>archon</i>, or
+<i>thesmothete</i>, or <i>king archon</i>, or <i>polemarch</i>.
+These offices had from ancient times been obtained by lot, and it
+was only through them that those who had approved themselves in the
+discharge of them were advanced to the Areopagus. For this reason
+it was that Pericles, when he gained strength with the populace,
+destroyed this senate, making Ephialtes bring forward a bill which
+restricted its judicial powers, while he himself succeeded in
+getting Cimon banished by ostracism, as a friend of Sparta and a
+hater of the people, although he was second to no Athenian in birth
+or fortune, and won most brilliant victories over the Persians, and
+had filled Athens with plunder and spoils of war. So great was the
+power of Pericles with the common people.</p>
+<p>One of the provisions of ostracism was that the person banished
+should remain in exile for ten years. But during this period the
+Lacedæmonians with a great force invaded the territory of
+Tanagra, and, as the Athenians at once marched out to attack them,
+Cimon came back from exile, took his place in full armor among the
+ranks of his own tribe, and hoped by distinguishing himself in the
+battle among his fellow-citizens to prove the falsehood of the
+Laconian sympathies with which he had been charged. However, the
+friends of Pericles drove him away, as an exile. On the other hand,
+Pericles fought more bravely in that battle than he had ever fought
+before, and surpassed everyone in reckless daring. The friends of
+Cimon also, whom Pericles had accused of Laconian leanings, fell,
+all together, in their ranks; and the Athenians felt great sorrow
+for their treatment of Cimon, and a great longing for his
+restoration, now that they had lost a great battle on the frontier,
+and expected to be hard pressed during the summer by the
+Lacedaemonians. Pericles, perceiving this, lost no time in
+gratifying the popular wish, but himself proposed the decree for
+his recall; and Cimon on his return reconciled the two states, for
+he was on familiar terms with the Spartans, who were hated by
+Pericles and the other leaders of the common people. Some say that,
+before Cimon's recall by Pericles, a secret compact was made with
+him by Elpinice, Cimon's sister, that Cimon was to proceed on
+foreign service against the Persians with a fleet of two hundred
+ships, while Pericles was to retain his power in the city. It is
+also said that, when Cimon was being tried for his life, Elpinice
+softened the resentment of Pericles, who was one of those appointed
+to impeach him. When Elpinice came to beg her brother's life of
+him, he answered with a smile, "Elpinice, you are too old to meddle
+in affairs of this sort." But, for all that, he spoke only once,
+for form's sake, and pressed Cimon less than any of his other
+prosecutors. How, then, can one put any faith in Idomeneus, when he
+accuses Pericles of procuring the assassination of his friend and
+colleague Ephialtes, because he was jealous of his reputation? This
+seems an ignoble calumny which Idomeneus has drawn from some
+obscure source to fling at a man who, no doubt, was not faultless,
+but of a generous spirit and noble mind, incapable of entertaining
+so savage and brutal a design. Ephialtes was disliked and feared by
+the nobles, and was inexorable in punishing those who wronged the
+people; wherefore his enemies had him assassinated by means of
+Aristodicus of Tanagra. This we are told by Aristotle. Cimon died
+in Cyprus while in command of the Athenian forces.</p>
+<p>The nobles now perceived that Pericles was the most important
+man in the state, and far more powerful than any other citizen;
+wherefore, as they still hoped to check his authority, and not
+allow him to be omnipotent, they set up Thucydides, of the township
+of Alopecae, as his rival, a man of good sense and a relative of
+Cimon, but less of a warrior and more of a politician, who, by
+watching his opportunities, and opposing Pericles in debate, soon
+brought about a balance of power. He did not allow the nobles to
+mix themselves up with the people in the public assembly as they
+had been wont to do, so that their dignity was lost among the
+masses; but he collected them into a separate body, and by thus
+concentrating their strength was able to use it to counterbalance
+that of the other party. From the beginning these two factions had
+been but imperfectly welded together, because their tendencies were
+different; but now the struggle for power between Pericles and
+Thucydides drew a sharp line of demarcation between them, and one
+was called the party of the Many, the other that of the Few.
+Pericles now courted the people in every way, constantly arranging
+public spectacles, festivals, and processions in the city, by which
+he educated the Athenians to take pleasure in refined amusements;
+and also he sent out sixty triremes to cruise every year, in which
+many of the people served for hire for eight months, learning and
+practising seamanship. Besides this he sent a thousand settlers to
+the Chersonese, five hundred to Naxos, half as many to Andros, a
+thousand to dwell among the Thracian tribe of the Bisaltae, and
+others to the new colony in Italy founded by the city of Sybaris,
+which was named Thurii. By this means he relieved the state of
+numerous idle agitators, assisted the necessitous, and overawed the
+allies of Athens by placing his colonists near them to watch their
+behavior.</p>
+<p>The building of the temples, by which Athens was adorned, the
+people delighted, and the rest of the world astonished, and which
+now alone prove that the tales of the ancient power and glory of
+Greece are no fables, was what particularly excited the spleen of
+the opposite faction, who inveighed against him in the public
+assembly, declaring that the Athenians had disgraced themselves by
+transferring the common treasury of the Greeks from the island of
+Delos to their own custody. "Pericles himself," they urged, "has
+taken away the only possible excuse for such an act—the fear
+that it might be exposed to the attacks of the Persians when at
+Delos, whereas it would be safe at Athens. Greece has been
+outraged, and feels itself openly tyrannized over, when it sees us
+using the funds—which we extorted from it for the war against
+the Persians—for gilding and beautifying our city as if it
+were a vain woman, and adorning it with precious marbles and
+statues and temples worth a thousand talents." To this Pericles
+replied that the allies had no right to consider how their money
+was spent, so long as Athens defended them from the Persians; while
+they supplied neither horses, ships, nor men, but merely money,
+which the Athenians had a right to spend as they pleased, provided
+they afforded them that security which it purchased. It was right,
+he argued, that after the city had provided all that was necessary
+for war, it should devote its surplus money to the erection of
+buildings which would be a glory to it for all ages, while these
+works would create plenty by leaving no man unemployed, and
+encouraging all sorts of handicraft, so that nearly the whole city
+would earn wages, and thus derive both its beauty and its profit
+from itself. For those who were in the flower of their age,
+military service offered a means of earning money from the common
+stock; while, as he did not wish the mechanics and lower classes to
+be without their share, nor yet to see them receive it without
+doing work for it, he had laid the foundations of great edifices
+which would require industries of every kind to complete them; and
+he had done this in the interests of the lower classes, who thus,
+although they remained at home, would have just as good a claim to
+their share of the public funds as those who were serving at sea,
+in garrison, or in the field. The different materials used, such as
+stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, cypress-wood, and so forth, would
+require special artisans for each, such as carpenters, modelers,
+smiths, stone-masons, dyers, melters and moulders of gold, and
+ivory painters, embroiderers, workers in relief; and also men to
+bring them to the city, such as sailors and captains of ships and
+pilots for such as came by sea; and, for those who came by land,
+carriage builders, horse breeders, drivers, ropemakers, linen
+manufacturers, shoemakers, road menders, and miners. Each trade,
+moreover, employed a number of unskilled laborers, so that, in a
+word, there would be work for persons of every age and every class,
+and general prosperity would be the result.</p>
+<p>These buildings were of immense size, and unequalled in beauty
+and grace, as the workmen endeavored to make the execution surpass
+the design in beauty; but what was most remarkable was the speed
+with which they were built. All these edifices, each of which one
+would have thought it would have taken many generations to
+complete, were all finished during the most brilliant period of one
+man's administration. In beauty each of them at once appeared
+venerable as soon as it was built; but even at the present day the
+work looks as fresh as ever, for they bloom with an eternal
+freshness which defies time, and seems to make the work instinct
+with an unfading spirit of youth.</p>
+<p>The overseer and manager of the whole was Phidias, although
+there were other excellent architects and workmen, such as
+Callicrates and Ictinus, who built the Parthenon on the site of the
+old Hecatompedon, which had been destroyed by the Persians, and
+Coroebus, who began to build the Temple of Initiation at Eleusis,
+but who only lived to see the columns erected and the architraves
+placed upon them. On his death, Metagenes, of Xypete, added the
+frieze and the upper row of columns, and Xenocles, of Cholargos,
+crowned it with the domed roof over the shrine. As to the long
+wall, about which Socrates says that he heard Pericles bring
+forward a motion, Callicrates undertook to build it. The Odeum,
+which internally consisted of many rows of seats and many columns,
+and externally of a roof sloping on all sides from a central point,
+was said to have been built in imitation of the king of Persia's
+tent, and was built under Pericles' direction.</p>
+<p>The Propylaea, before the Acropolis, were finished in five years
+by Mnesicles the architect; and a miraculous incident during the
+work seemed to show that the goddess did not disapprove, but rather
+encouraged and assisted the building. The most energetic and active
+of the workmen fell from a great height, and lay in a dangerous
+condition, given over by his doctors. Pericles grieved much for
+him; but the goddess appeared to him in a dream, and suggested a
+course of treatment by which Pericles quickly healed the workman.
+In consequence of this, he set up the brazen statue of Athene the
+Healer, near the old altar in the Acropolis. The golden statue of
+the goddess was made by Phidias, and his name appears upon the
+basement in the inscription. Almost everything was in his hands,
+and he gave his orders to all the workmen—as has been said
+before—because of his friendship with Pericles.</p>
+<p>When the speakers of Thucydides' party complained that Pericles
+had wasted the public money, and destroyed the revenue, he asked
+the people in the assembly whether they thought he had spent much.
+When they answered, "Very much indeed," he said in reply; "Do not,
+then, put it down to the public account, but to mine; and I will
+inscribe my name upon all the public buildings." When Pericles said
+this, the people, either in admiration of his magnificence of
+manner, or being eager to bear their share in the glory of the new
+buildings, shouted to him with one accord to take what money he
+pleased from the treasury, and spend it as he pleased, without
+stint. And finally, he underwent the trial of ostracism with
+Thucydides, and not only succeeded in driving him into exile, but
+broke up his party.</p>
+<p>As now there was no opposition to encounter in the city, and all
+parties had been blended into one, Pericles undertook the sole
+administration of the home and foreign affairs of Athens, dealing
+with the public revenue, the army, the navy, the islands and
+maritime affairs, and the great sources of strength which Athens
+derived from her alliances, as well with Greek as with foreign
+princes and states. Henceforth he became quite a different man: he
+no longer gave way to the people, and ceased to watch the breath of
+popular favor; but he changed the loose and licentious democracy
+which had hitherto existed, into a stricter aristocratic, or rather
+monarchical, form of government. This he used honorably and
+unswervingly for the public benefit, finding the people, as a rule,
+willing to second the measures which he explained to them to be
+necessary and to which he asked their consent, but occasionally
+having to use violence, and to force them, much against their will,
+to do what was expedient; like a physician dealing with some
+complicated disorder, who at one time allows his patient innocent
+recreation, and at another inflicts upon him sharp pains and bitter
+though salutary draughts. Every possible kind of disorder was to be
+found among a people possessing so great an empire as the
+Athenians, and he alone was able to bring them into harmony by
+playing alternately upon their hopes and fears, checking them when
+overconfident, and raising their spirits when they were cast down
+and disheartened. Thus, as Plato says, he was able to prove that
+oratory is the art of influencing men's minds, and to use it in its
+highest application, when it deals with men's passions and
+characters, which, like certain strings of a musical instrument,
+require a skilful and delicate touch. The secret of his power is to
+be found, however, as Thucydides says, not so much in his mere
+oratory as in his pure and blameless life, because he was so well
+known to be incorruptible, and indifferent to money; for though he
+made the city, which was a great one, into the greatest and richest
+city of Greece, and though he himself became more powerful than
+many independent sovereigns, who were able to leave their kingdoms
+to their sons, yet Pericles did not increase by one single drachma
+the estate which he received from his father. For forty years he
+held the first place among such men as Ephialtes, Leocrates,
+Myronides, Cimon, Tolmides, and Thucydides; and, after the fall and
+banishment of Thucydides by ostracism, he united in himself for
+five-and-twenty years all the various offices of state, which were
+supposed to last only for one year; and yet during the whole of
+that period proved himself incorruptible by bribes.</p>
+<p>As the Lacedaemonians began to be jealous of the prosperity of
+the Athenians, Pericles, wishing to raise the spirit of the people
+and to make them feel capable of immense operations, passed a
+decree, inviting all the Greeks, whether inhabiting Europe or Asia,
+whether living in large cities or small ones, to send
+representatives to a meeting at Athens to deliberate about the
+restoration of the Greek temples which had been burned by the
+barbarians, about the sacrifices which were due in consequence of
+the vows which they had made to the gods on behalf of Greece before
+joining battle, and about the sea, that all men might be able to
+sail upon it in peace and without fear. To carry out this decree
+twenty men, selected from the citizens over fifty years of age,
+were sent out, five of whom invited the Ionian and Dorian Greeks in
+Asia and the islands as far as Lesbos and Rhodes, five went to the
+inhabitants of the Hellespont and Thrace as far as Byzantium, and
+five more proceeded to Boeotia, Phocis, and Peloponnesus, passing
+from thence through Locris to the neighboring continent as far as
+Acarnania and Ambracia; while the remainder journeyed through
+Euboea to the Oetaeans and the Malian Gulf, and to the Achaeans of
+Phthia and the Thessalians, urging them to join the assembly and
+take part in the deliberations concerning the peace and well-being
+of Greece. However, nothing was effected, and the cities never
+assembled, in consequence it is said of the covert hostility of the
+Lacedaemonians, and because the attempt was first made in
+Peloponnesus and failed there: yet I have inserted an account of it
+in order to show the lofty spirit and the magnificent designs of
+Pericles.</p>
+<p>In his campaigns he was chiefly remarkable for caution, for he
+would not, if he could help it, begin a battle of which the issue
+was doubtful; nor did he wish to emulate those generals who have
+won themselves a great reputation by running risks and trusting to
+good luck. But he ever used to say to his countrymen, that none of
+them should come by their deaths through any act of his. Observing
+that Tolmides, the son of Tolmaeus, elated by previous successes
+and by the credit which he had gained as a general, was about to
+invade Boeotia in a reckless manner, and had persuaded a thousand
+young men to follow him without any support whatever, he endeavored
+to stop him, and made that memorable saying in the public assembly,
+that if Tolmides would not take the advice of Pericles, he would at
+any rate do well to consult that best of advisers, Time. This
+speech had but little success at the time; but when, a few days
+afterward, the news came that Tolmides had fallen in action at
+Coronea, and many noble citizens with him, Pericles was greatly
+respected and admired as a wise and patriotic man.</p>
+<p>His most successful campaign was that in the Chersonesus, which
+proved the salvation of the Greeks residing there: for he not only
+settled a thousand colonists there, and thus increased the
+available force of the cities, but built a continuous line of
+fortifications reaching across the isthmus from one sea to the
+other, by which he shut off the Thracians, who had previously
+ravaged the peninsula, and put an end to a constant and harassing
+border warfare to which the settlers were exposed, as they had for
+neighbors tribes of wild plundering barbarians.</p>
+<p>But that by which he obtained most glory and renown was when he
+started from Pegae, in the Megarian territory, and sailed round the
+Peloponnesus with a fleet of a hundred triremes; for he not only
+laid waste much of the country near the coast, as Tolmides had
+previously done, but he proceeded far inland, away from his ships,
+leading the troops who were on board, and terrified the inhabitants
+so much that they shut themselves up in their strongholds. The men
+of Sicyon alone ventured to meet him at Nemea, and them he
+overthrew in a pitched battle, and erected a trophy. Next he took
+on board troops from the friendly district of Achaia, and, crossing
+over to the opposite side of the Corinthian Gulf, coasted along
+past the mouth of the river Achelous, overran Acarnania, drove the
+people of Oeneadae to the shelter of their city walls, and after
+ravaging the country returned home, having made himself a terror to
+his enemies, and done good service to Athens; for not the least
+casualty, even by accident, befell the troops under his
+command.</p>
+<p>When he sailed into the Black Sea with a great and splendidly
+equipped fleet, he assisted the Greek cities there, and treated
+them with consideration, and showed the neighboring savage tribes
+and their chiefs the greatness of his force, and his confidence in
+his power, by sailing where he pleased, and taking complete control
+over that sea. He left at Sinope thirteen ships, and a land force
+under the command of Lamachus, to act against Timesileon, who had
+made himself despot of that city. When he and his party were driven
+out, Pericles passed a decree that six hundred Athenian volunteers
+should sail to Sinope, and become citizens there, receiving the
+houses and lands which had formerly been in the possession of the
+despot and his party. But in other cases he would not agree to the
+impulsive proposals of the Athenians, and he opposed them when,
+elated by their power and good fortune, they talked of recovering
+Egypt and attacking the seaboard of the Persian empire. Many, too,
+were inflamed with that ill-starred notion of an attempt on Sicily,
+which was afterward blown into a flame by Alcibiades and other
+orators. Some even dreamed of the conquest of Etruria and Carthage,
+in consequence of the greatness which the Athenian empire had
+already reached, and the full tide of success which seemed to
+attend it.</p>
+<p>Pericles, however, restrained these outbursts, and would not
+allow the people to meddle with foreign states, but used the power
+of Athens chiefly to preserve and guard her already existing
+empire, thinking it to be of paramount importance to oppose the
+Lacedaemonians, a task to which he bent all his energies, as is
+proved by many of his acts, especially in connection with the
+Sacred War. In this war the Lacedaemonians sent a force to Delphi,
+and made the Phocians, who held it, give it up to the people of
+Delphi: but as soon as they were gone Pericles made an expedition
+into the country, and restored the temple to the Phocians; and as
+the Lacedaemonians had scratched the oracle which the Delphians had
+given them, on the forehead of the brazen wolf there, Pericles got
+a response from the oracle for the Athenians, and carved it on the
+right side of the same wolf.</p>
+<p>Events proved that Pericles was right in confining the Athenian
+empire to Greece. First of all Euboea revolted, and he was obliged
+to lead an army to subdue that island. Shortly after this, news
+came that the Megarians had become hostile, and that an army, under
+the command of Plistoanax, king of the Lacedaemonians, was menacing
+the frontier of Attica. Pericles now in all haste withdrew his
+troops from Euboea, to meet the invader. He did not venture on an
+engagement with the numerous and warlike forces of the enemy,
+although repeatedly invited by them to fight: but, observing that
+Plistoanax was a very young man, and entirely under the influence
+of Cleandrides, whom the <i>ephors</i> had sent to act as his tutor
+and counsellor because of his tender years, he opened secret
+negotiations with the latter, who at once, for a bribe, agreed to
+withdraw the Peloponnesians from Attica. When their army returned
+and dispersed, the Lacedaemonians were so incensed that they
+imposed a fine on their king, and condemned Cleandrides, who fled
+the country, to be put to death. This Cleandrides was the father of
+Gylippus, who caused the ruin of the Athenian expedition in Sicily.
+Avarice seems to have been hereditary in the family, for Gylippus
+himself, after brilliant exploits in war, was convicted of taking
+bribes, and banished from Sparta in disgrace.</p>
+<p>When Pericles submitted the accounts of the campaign to the
+people, there was an item of ten talents, "for a necessary
+purpose," which the people passed without any questioning, or any
+curiosity to learn the secret. Some historians, among whom is
+Theophrastus the philosopher, say that Pericles sent ten talents
+annually to Sparta, by means of which he bribed the chief
+magistrates to defer the war, thus not buying peace, but time to
+make preparations for a better defence. He immediately turned his
+attention to the insurgents in Euboea, and proceeding thither with
+a fleet of fifty sail, and five thousand heavy armed troops, he
+reduced their cities to submission. He banished from Chalcis the
+"equestrian order," as it was called, consisting of men of wealth
+and station; and he drove all the inhabitants of Hestiaea out of
+their country, replacing them by Athenian settlers. He treated
+these people with this pitiless severity, because they had captured
+an Athenian ship, and put its crew to the sword. After this, as the
+Athenians and Lacedaemonians made a truce for thirty years,
+Pericles decreed the expedition against Samos, on the pretext that
+they had disregarded the commands of the Athenians to cease from
+their war with the Milesians.</p>
+<p>Pericles is accused of going to war with Samos to save the
+Milesians. These states were at war about the possession of the
+city of Priene, and the Samians, who were victorious, would not lay
+down their arms and allow the Athenians to settle the matter by
+arbitration, as they ordered them to do. For this reason Pericles
+proceeded to Samos, put an end to the oligarchical form of
+government there, and sent fifty hostages and as many children to
+Lemnos, to insure the good behavior of the leading men. It is said
+that each of these hostages offered him a talent for his own
+freedom, and that much more was offered by that party which was
+loath to see a democracy established in the city. Besides all this,
+Pissuthnes the Persian, who had a liking for the Samians, sent and
+offered him ten thousand pieces of gold if he would spare the city.
+Pericles, however, took none of these bribes, but dealt with Samos
+as he had previously determined, and returned to Athens. The
+Samians now at once revolted, as Pissuthnes managed to get them
+back their hostages, and furnished them with the means of carrying
+on the war. Pericles now made a second expedition against them, and
+found them in no mind to submit quietly, but determined to dispute
+the empire of the seas with the Athenians. Pericles gained a signal
+victory over them in a sea-fight off the Goats' Island, beating a
+fleet of seventy ships with only forty-four, twenty of which were
+transports.</p>
+<p>Simultaneously with his victory and the flight of the enemy he
+obtained command of the harbor of Samos, and besieged the Samians
+in their city. They, in spite of their defeat, still possessed
+courage enough to sally out and fight a battle under the walls; but
+soon a larger force arrived from Athens, and the Samians were
+completely blockaded.</p>
+<p>Pericles now with sixty ships sailed out of the Archipelago into
+the Mediterranean, according to the most current report intending
+to meet the Phoenician fleet which was coming to help the Samians,
+but, according to Stesimbrotus, with the intention of attacking
+Cyprus, which seems improbable. Whatever his intention may have
+been, his expedition was a failure, for Melissus, the son of
+Ithagenes, a man of culture, who was then in command of the Samian
+forces, conceiving a contempt for the small force of the Athenians
+and the want of experience of their leaders after Pericles'
+departure, persuaded his countrymen to attack them. In the battle
+the Samians proved victorious, taking many Athenians prisoners, and
+destroying many of their ships. By this victory they obtained
+command of the sea, and were able to supply themselves with more
+warlike stores than they had possessed before. Aristotle even says
+that Pericles himself was before this beaten by Melissus in a
+sea-fight. The Samians branded the figure of an owl on the
+foreheads of their Athenian prisoners, to revenge themselves for
+the branding of their own prisoners by the Athenians with the
+figure of a <i>samaina</i>. This is a ship having a beak turned up
+like a swine's snout, but with a roomy hull, so as both to carry a
+large cargo and sail fast. This class of vessel is called
+<i>samaina</i> because it was first built at Samos by Polycrates,
+the despot of that island.</p>
+<p>When Pericles heard of the disaster which had befallen his army,
+he returned in all haste to assist them. He beat Melissus, who came
+out to meet him, and, after putting the enemy to rout, at once
+built a wall round their city, preferring to reduce it by blockade
+to risking the lives of his countrymen in an assault. In the ninth
+month of the siege the Samians surrendered. Pericles demolished
+their walls, confiscated their fleet, and imposed a heavy fine upon
+them, some part of which was paid at once by the Samians, who gave
+hostages for the payment of the remainder at fixed periods.</p>
+<p>Pericles, after the reduction of Samos, returned to Athens,
+where he buried those who had fallen in the war in a magnificent
+manner, and was much admired for the funeral oration which, as is
+customary, was spoken by him over the graves of his countrymen. Ion
+says that his victory over the Samians wonderfully flattered his
+vanity. Agamemnon, he was wont to say, took ten years to take a
+barbarian city, but he in nine months had made himself master of
+the first and most powerful city in Ionia. And the comparison was
+not an unjust one, for truly the war was a very great undertaking,
+and its issue quite uncertain, since, as Thucydides tells us, the
+Samians came very near to wresting the empire of the sea from the
+Athenians.</p>
+<p>After these events, as the clouds were gathering for the
+Peloponnesian war, Pericles persuaded the Athenians to send
+assistance to the people of Corcyra, who were at war with the
+Corinthians, and thus to attach to their own side an island with a
+powerful naval force, at a moment when the Peloponnesians had all
+but declared war against them.</p>
+<p>When the people passed this decree, Pericles sent only ten ships
+under the command of Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, as if he
+designed a deliberate insult; for the house of Cimon was on
+peculiarly friendly terms with the Lacedaemonians. His design in
+sending Lacedaemonius out, against his will, and with so few ships,
+was that if he performed nothing brilliant he might be accused,
+even more than he was already, of leaning to the side of the
+Spartans. Indeed, by all means in his power, he always threw
+obstacles in the way of the advancement of Cimon's family,
+representing that by their very names they were aliens, one son
+being named Lacedaemonius, another Thessalus, another Elius.
+Moreover, the mother of all three was an Arcadian.</p>
+<p>Now Pericles was much reproached for sending these ten ships,
+which were of little value to the Corcyreans, and gave a great
+handle to his enemies to use against him, and in consequence sent a
+larger force after them to Corcyra, which arrived there after the
+battle. The Corinthians, enraged at this, complained in the
+congress of Sparta of the conduct of the Athenians, as did also the
+Megarians, who said that they were excluded from every market and
+every harbor which was in Athenian hands, contrary to the ancient
+rights and common privileges of the Hellenic race. The people of
+Aegina also considered themselves to be oppressed and ill-treated,
+and secretly bemoaned their grievances in the ears of the Spartans,
+for they dared not openly bring any charges against the Athenians.
+At this time, too, Potidaea, a city subject to Athens, but a colony
+of Corinth, revolted, and its siege materially hastened the
+outbreak of the war. Archidamus, indeed, the king of the
+Lacedaemonians, sent ambassadors to Athens, was willing to submit
+all disputed points to arbitration, and endeavored to moderate the
+excitement of his allies, so that war probably would not have
+broken out if the Athenians could have been persuaded to rescind
+their decree of exclusion against the Megarians, and to come to
+terms with them. And, for this reason, Pericles, who was
+particularly opposed to this, and urged the people not to give way
+to the Megarians, alone bore the blame of having begun the war.</p>
+<p>Pericles passed a decree for a herald to be sent to the
+Megarians, and then to go on to the Lacedaemonians to complain of
+their conduct. This decree of Pericles is worded in a candid and
+reasonable manner; but the herald, Anthemocritus, was thought to
+have met his death at the hands of the Megarians, and Charinus
+passed a decree to the effect that Athens should wage war against
+them to the death, without truce or armistice; that any Megarian
+found in Attica should be punished with death, and that the
+generals, when taking the usual oath for each year, should swear in
+addition that they would invade the Megarian territory twice every
+year; and that Anthemocritus should be buried near the city gate
+leading into the Thriasian plain, which is now called the Double
+Gate. How the dispute originated it is hard to say, but all writers
+agree in throwing on Pericles the blame of refusing to reverse the
+decree.</p>
+<p>Now, as the Lacedaemonians knew that if he could be removed from
+power they would find the Athenians much more easy to deal with,
+they bade them "drive forth the accursed thing," alluding to
+Pericles' descent from the Alcmaeonidae by his mother's side, as we
+are told by Thucydides the historian. But this attempt had just the
+contrary effect to that which they intended; for, instead of
+suspicion and dislike, Pericles met with much greater honor and
+respect from his countrymen than before, because they saw that he
+was an object of especial dislike to the enemy. For this reason,
+before the Peloponnesians, under Archidamus, invaded Attica, he
+warned the Athenians that if Archidamus, when he laid waste
+everything else, spared his own private estate because of the
+friendly private relations existing between them, or in order to
+give his personal enemies a ground for impeaching him, he should
+give both the land and the farm buildings upon it to the state.</p>
+<p>The Lacedaemonians invaded Attica with a great host of their own
+troops and those of their allies, led by Archidamus, their king.
+They proceeded, ravaging the country as they went, as far as
+Acharnae (close to Athens), where they encamped, imagining that the
+Athenians would never endure to see them there, but would be driven
+by pride and shame to come out and fight them. However, Pericles
+thought that it would be a very serious matter to fight for the
+very existence of Athens against sixty thousand Peloponnesian and
+Boeotian heavy-armed troops, and so he pacified those who were
+dissatisfied at his inactivity by pointing out that trees when cut
+down quickly grow again, but that when the men of a state are lost,
+it is hard to raise up others to take their place. He would not
+call an assembly of the people, because he feared that they would
+force him to act against his better judgment, but, just as the
+captain of a ship, when a storm comes on at sea, places everything
+in the best trim to meet it, and trusting to his own skill and
+seamanship, disregarding the tears and entreaties of the seasick
+and terrified passengers, so did Pericles shut the gates of Athens,
+place sufficient forces to insure the safety of the city at all
+points, and calmly carry out his own policy, taking little heed of
+the noisy grumblings of the discontented. Many of his friends
+besought him to attack, many of his enemies threatened him and
+abused him, and many songs and offensive jests were written about
+him, speaking of him as a coward, and one who was betraying the
+city to its enemies. Cleon too attacked him, using the anger which
+the citizens felt against him to advance his own personal
+popularity.</p>
+<p>Pericles was unmoved by any of these attacks, but quietly
+endured all this storm of obloquy. He sent a fleet of a hundred
+ships to attack Peloponnesus, but did not sail with it himself,
+remaining at home to keep a tight hand over Athens until the
+Peloponnesians drew off their forces. He regained his popularity
+with the common people, who suffered much from the war, by giving
+them allowances of money from the public revenue, and grants of
+land; for he drove out the entire population of the island of
+Aegina, and divided the land by lot among the Athenians. A certain
+amount of relief also was experienced by reflecting upon the
+injuries which they were inflicting on the enemy; for the fleet as
+it sailed round Peloponnesus destroyed many small villages and
+cities, and ravaged a great extent of country, while Pericles
+himself led an expedition into the territory of Megara and laid it
+all waste. By this it is clear that the allies, although they did
+much damage to the Athenians, yet suffered equally themselves, and
+never could have protracted the war for such a length of time as it
+really lasted, but, as Pericles foretold, must soon have desisted
+had not Providence interfered and confounded human counsels. For
+now the pestilence fell among the Athenians, and cut off the flower
+of their youth. Suffering both in body and mind they raved against
+Pericles, just as people when delirious with disease attack their
+fathers or their physicians. They endeavored to ruin him, urged on
+by his personal enemies, who assured them that he was the author of
+the plague, because he had brought all the country people into the
+city, where they were compelled to live during the heat of summer,
+crowded together in small rooms and stifling tents, living an idle
+life too, and breathing foul air instead of the pure country breeze
+to which they were accustomed. The cause of this, they said, was
+the man who, when the war began, admitted the masses of the country
+people into the city, and then made no use of them, but allowed
+them to be penned up together like cattle, and transmit the
+contagion from one to another, without devising any remedy or
+alleviation of their sufferings.</p>
+<p>Hoping to relieve them somewhat, and also to annoy the enemy,
+Pericles manned a hundred and fifty ships, placed on board, besides
+the sailors, many brave infantry and cavalry soldiers, and was
+about to put to sea. The Athenians conceived great hopes, and the
+enemy no less terror from so large an armament. When all was ready,
+and Pericles himself had just embarked in his own trireme, an
+eclipse of the sun took place, producing total darkness, and all
+men were terrified at so great a portent. Pericles sailed with the
+fleet, but did nothing worthy of so great a force. He besieged the
+sacred city of Epidaurus, but, although he had great hopes of
+taking it, he failed on account of the plague, which destroyed not
+only his own men, but every one who came in contact with them.
+After this he again endeavored to encourage the Athenians, to whom
+he had become an object of dislike. However, he did not succeed in
+pacifying them, but they condemned him by a public vote to be
+general no more, and to pay a fine which is stated at the lowest
+estimate to have been fifteen talents, and at the highest fifty.
+This was carried, according to Idomeneus, by Cleon, but, according
+to Theophrastus, by Simmias; while Heraclides of Pontus says that
+it was effected by Lacratides.</p>
+<p>He soon regained his public position, for the people's outburst
+of anger was quenched by the blow they had dealt him, just as a bee
+leaves its sting in the wound; but his private affairs were in
+great distress and disorder, as he had lost many of his relatives
+during the plague, while others were estranged from him on
+political grounds. Yet he would not yield, nor abate his firmness
+and constancy of spirit because of these afflictions, but was not
+observed to weep or mourn, or attend the funeral of any of his
+relations, until he lost Paralus, the last of his legitimate
+offspring. Crushed by this blow, he tried in vain to keep up his
+grand air of indifference, and when carrying a garland to lay upon
+the corpse he was overpowered by his feelings, so as to burst into
+a passion of tears and sobs, which he had never done before in his
+whole life.</p>
+<p>Athens made trial of her other generals and public men to
+conduct her affairs, but none appeared to be of sufficient weight
+or reputation to have such a charge intrusted to him. The city
+longed for Pericles, and invited him again to lead its counsels and
+direct its armies; and he, although dejected in spirits and living
+in seclusion in his own house, was yet persuaded by Alcibiades and
+his other friends to resume the direction of affairs.</p>
+<p>After this it appears that Pericles was attacked by the plague,
+not acutely or continuously, as in most cases, but in a slow
+wasting fashion, exhibiting many varieties of symptoms, and
+gradually undermining his strength. As he was now on his death-bed,
+the most distinguished of the citizens and his surviving friends
+collected round him and spoke admiringly of his nobleness and
+immense power, enumerating also the number of his exploits, and the
+trophies which he had set up for victories gained; for while in
+chief command he had won no less than nine victories for
+Athens.</p>
+<p>Events soon made the loss of Pericles felt and regretted by the
+Athenians. Those who during his lifetime had complained that his
+power completely threw them into the shade, when after his death
+they had made trial of other orators and statesmen, were obliged to
+confess that with all his arrogance no man ever was really more
+moderate, and that his real mildness in dealing with men was as
+remarkable as his apparent pride and assumption. His power, which
+had been so grudged and envied, and called monarchy and despotism,
+now was proved to have been the saving of the State; such an amount
+of corrupt dealing and wickedness suddenly broke out in public
+affairs, which he before had crushed and forced to hide itself, and
+so prevented its becoming incurable through impunity and
+license.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_4"></a>GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 430</p>
+<p class="center">GEORGE GROTE</p>
+<p class="intros">Almost at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war,
+when the prosperity of Athens had placed her at the height of her
+power and given her unquestioned supremacy among the Grecian
+states, her strength was greatly impaired by a visitation against
+which there was nothing in military prowess or patriotic pride and
+devotion that could prevail.</p>
+<p class="intros">It is one of the tragic contrasts of
+history—the picture of Athens, in her full triumph and glory,
+smitten, at a moment when she needed to put forth her full
+strength, by a deadly foe against whose might mortal arms were
+vain. Her citizens were rejoicing in her social no less than her
+military pre&euml;minence, and they had already been trained in the
+hardships necessary to be endured in defence of an invaded country.
+Again they were prepared to undergo whatever service might be laid
+upon them in her behalf. They could foresee the arduous tasks and
+inevitable sufferings of a great war, but had no warning of an
+impending calamity far worse than those which even war, though
+always attended with horrors, usually entails. Pericles had lately
+delivered his great funeral oration at the public interment of
+soldiers who had fallen for Athens. "The bright colors and tone of
+cheerful confidence," says Grote, whose account of the plague
+follows, "which pervaded the discourse of Pericles, appear the more
+striking from being in immediate antecedence to the awful
+description of this distemper."</p>
+<p class="intros">The death of Pericles himself, who directly or
+indirectly fell a victim to the prevailing pestilence, marked a
+grievous crisis for Athens in what was already become a measureless
+public woe. During the autumn of the year B.C. 427 the epidemic
+again broke out, after a considerable intermission, and for one
+year continued, "to the sad ruin both of the strength and the
+comfort of the city."</p>
+<p>At the close of one year after the attempted surprise of Plataea
+by the Thebans, the belligerent parties in Greece remained in an
+unaltered position as to relative strength. Nothing decisive had
+been accomplished on either side, either by the invasion of Attica
+or by the flying descents round the coast of Peloponnesus. In spite
+of mutual damage inflicted—doubtless in the greatest measure
+upon Attica—no progress was yet made toward the fulfilment of
+those objects which had induced the Peloponnesians to go to war.
+Especially the most pressing among all their wishes—the
+relief of Potidaea—was in no way advanced; for the Athenians
+had not found it necessary to relax the blockade of that city, The
+result of the first year's operations had thus been to disappoint
+the hopes of the Corinthians and the other ardent instigators of
+war, while it justified the anticipations both of Pericles and of
+Archidamus.</p>
+<p>A second devastation of Attica was resolved upon for the
+commencement of spring; and measures were taken for carrying it all
+over that territory, since the settled policy of Athens, not to
+hazard a battle with the invaders, was now ascertained. About the
+end of March or beginning of April the entire Peloponnesian
+force—two-thirds from each confederate city as
+before—was assembled under the command of Archidamus and
+marched into Attica. This time they carried the work of systematic
+destruction not merely over the Thriasian plain and the plain
+immediately near to Athens, as before; but also to the more
+southerly portions of Attica, down even as far as the mines of
+Laurium. They traversed and ravaged both the eastern and the
+western coast, remaining not less than forty days in the country.
+They found the territory deserted as before, all the population
+having retired within the walls.</p>
+<p>In regard to this second invasion, Pericles recommended the same
+defensive policy as he had applied to the first; and apparently the
+citizens had now come to acquiesce in it, if not willingly, at
+least with a full conviction of its necessity. But a new visitation
+had now occurred, diverting their attention from the invader,
+though enormously aggravating their sufferings. A few days after
+Archidamus entered Attica, a pestilence or epidemic sickness broke
+out unexpectedly at Athens.</p>
+<p>It appears that this terrific disorder had been raging for some
+time throughout the regions round the Mediterranean; having begun,
+as was believed, in Ethiopia—thence passing into Egypt and
+Libya, and overrunning a considerable portion of Asia under the
+Persian government. About sixteen years before, there had been a
+similar calamity in Rome and in various parts of Italy. Recently it
+had been felt in Lemnos and some other islands of the Aegean, yet
+seemingly not with such intensity as to excite much notice
+generally in the Grecian world: at length it passed to Athens, and
+first showed itself in the Piraeus. The progress of the disease was
+as rapid and destructive as its appearance had been sudden; while
+the extraordinary accumulation of people within the city and long
+walls, in consequence of the presence of the invaders in the
+country, was but too favorable to every form of contagion. Families
+crowded together in close cabins and places of temporary
+shelter—throughout a city constructed, like most of those in
+Greece, with little regard to the conditions of salubrity and in a
+state of mental chagrin from the forced abandonment and sacrifice
+of their properties in the country, transmitted the disorder with
+fatal facility from one to the other. Beginning as it did about the
+middle of April, the increasing heat of summer further aided the
+disorder, the symptoms of which, alike violent and sudden, made
+themselves the more remarked because the year was particularly
+exempt from maladies of every other description.</p>
+<p>Of this plague—or, more properly, eruptive typhoid fever,
+distinct from, yet analogous to, the smallpox—a description
+no less clear than impressive has been left by the historian
+Thucydides, himself not only a spectator but a sufferer. It is not
+one of the least of his merits, that his notice of the symptoms,
+given at so early a stage of medical science and observation, is
+such as to instruct the medical reader of the present age, and to
+enable the malady to be understood and identified. The observations
+with which that notice is ushered in deserve particular attention.
+"In respect to this distemper (he says), let every man, physician
+or not, say what he thinks respecting the source from whence it may
+probably have arisen, and respecting the causes which he deems
+sufficiently powerful to have produced so great a revolution. But
+I, having myself had the distemper, and having seen others
+suffering under it, will state <i>what it actually was</i>, and
+will indicate in addition such other matters as will furnish any
+man, who lays them to heart, with knowledge and the means of
+calculation beforehand, in case the same misfortune should ever
+occur again."</p>
+<p>To record past facts, as a basis for rational prevision in
+regard to the future—the same sentiment which Thucydides
+mentions in his preface, as having animated him to the composition
+of his history—was at that time a duty so little understood
+that we have reason to admire not less the manner in which he
+performs it in practice than the distinctness with which he
+conceives it in theory. We infer from his language that speculation
+in his day was active respecting the causes of this plague,
+according to the vague and fanciful physics, and scanty stock of
+ascertained facts, which was all that could then be consulted. By
+resisting the itch of theorizing from one of those loose hypotheses
+which then appeared plausibly to explain everything, he probably
+renounced the point of view from which most credit and interest
+would be derivable at the time. But his simple and precise summary
+of observed facts carries with it an imperishable value, and even
+affords grounds for imagining that he was no stranger to the habits
+and training of his contemporary Hippocrates, and the other
+Asclepiads of Cos.</p>
+<p>It is hardly within the province of a historian of Greece to
+repeat after Thucydides the painful enumeration of symptoms,
+violent in the extreme and pervading every portion of the bodily
+system, which marked this fearful disorder. Beginning in Piraeus,
+it quickly passed into the city, and both the one and the other was
+speedily filled with sickness and suffering, the like of which had
+never before been known. The seizures were sudden, and a large
+proportion of the sufferers perished after deplorable agonies on
+the seventh or on the ninth day. Others, whose strength of
+constitution carried them over this period, found themselves the
+victims of exhausting and incurable diarrhoea afterward; with
+others again, after traversing both these stages, the distemper
+fixed itself in some particular member, the eyes, the genitals, the
+hands, or the feet, which were rendered permanently useless, or in
+some cases amputated, even where the patient himself recovered.</p>
+<p>There were also some whose recovery was attended with a total
+loss of memory, so that they no more knew themselves or recognized
+their friends. No treatment or remedy appearing, except in
+accidental cases, to produce any beneficial effect, the physicians
+or surgeons whose aid was invoked became completely at fault. While
+trying their accustomed means without avail, they soon ended by
+catching the malady themselves and perishing. The charms and
+incantations, to which the unhappy patient resorted, were not
+likely to be more efficacious. While some asserted that the
+Peloponnesians had poisoned the cisterns of water, others referred
+the visitation to the wrath of the gods, and especially to Apollo,
+known by hearers of the <i>Iliad</i> as author of pestilence in the
+Greek host before Troy. It was remembered that this Delphian god
+had promised the Lacedaemonians, in reply to their application
+immediately before the war, that he would assist them whether
+invoked or uninvoked; and the disorder now raging was ascribed to
+the intervention of their irresistible ally; while the elderly men
+further called to mind an oracular verse sung in the time of their
+youth: "The Dorian war will come, and pestilence along with it."
+Under the distress which suggested, and was reciprocally aggravated
+by these gloomy ideas, prophets were consulted, and supplications
+with solemn procession were held at the temples, to appease the
+divine wrath.</p>
+<p>When it was found that neither the priest nor the physician
+could retard the spread or mitigate the intensity of the disorder,
+the Athenians abandoned themselves to despair, and the space within
+the walls became a scene of desolating misery. Every man attacked
+with the malady at once lost his courage—a state of
+depression itself among the worst features of the case, which made
+him lie down and die, without any attempt to seek for
+preservatives. And although at first friends and relatives lent
+their aid to tend the sick with the usual family sympathies, yet so
+terrible was the number of these attendants who perished, "like
+sheep," from such contact, that at length no man would thus expose
+himself; while the most generous spirits, who persisted longest in
+the discharge of their duty, were carried off in the greatest
+numbers. The patient was thus left to die alone and unheeded.
+Sometimes all the inmates of a house were swept away one after the
+other, no man being willing to go near it: desertion on the one
+hand, attendance on the other, both tended to aggravate the
+calamity. There remained only those who, having had the disorder
+and recovered, were willing to tend the sufferers.</p>
+<p>These men formed the single exception to the all-pervading
+misery of the time—for the disorder seldom attacked anyone
+twice, and when it did the second attack was never fatal. Elate
+with their own escape, they deemed themselves out of the reach of
+all disease, and were full of compassionate kindness for others
+whose sufferings were just beginning. It was from them too that the
+principal attention to the bodies of deceased victims proceeded:
+for such was the state of dismay and sorrow that even the nearest
+relatives neglected the sepulchral duties, sacred beyond all others
+in the eyes of a Greek. Nor is there any circumstance which conveys
+to us so vivid an idea of the prevalent agony and despair as when
+we read, in the words of an eyewitness, that the deaths took place
+among this close-packed crowd without the smallest decencies of
+attention—that the dead and the dying lay piled one upon
+another not merely in the public roads, but even in the temples, in
+spite of the understood defilement of the sacred
+building—that half-dead sufferers were seen lying round all
+the springs, from insupportable thirst—that the numerous
+corpses thus unburied and exposed were in such a condition that the
+dogs which meddled with them died in consequence, while no vultures
+or other birds of the like habits ever came near.</p>
+<p>Those bodies which escaped entire neglect were burnt or buried
+without the customary mourning, and with unseemly carelessness. In
+some cases the bearers of a body, passing by a funeral pile on
+which another body was burning, would put their own there to be
+burnt also; or perhaps, if the pile was prepared ready for a body
+not yet arrived, would deposit their own upon it, set fire to the
+pile, and then depart. Such indecent confusion would have been
+intolerable to the feelings of the Athenians in any ordinary
+times.</p>
+<p>To all these scenes of physical suffering, death, and reckless
+despair was superadded another evil, which affected those who were
+fortunate enough to escape the rest. The bonds both of law and
+morality became relaxed, amid such total uncertainty of every man
+both for his own life and that of others. Men cared not to abstain
+from wrong, under circumstances in which punishment was not likely
+to overtake them, nor to put a check upon their passions, and
+endure privations, in obedience even to their strongest conviction,
+when the chance was so small of their living to reap reward or
+enjoy any future esteem. An interval, short and sweet, before their
+doom was realized—before they became plunged in the
+widespread misery which they witnessed around, and which affected
+indiscriminately the virtuous and the profligate—was all that
+they looked to enjoy; embracing with avidity the immediate
+pleasures of sense, as well as such positive gains, however
+ill-gotten, as could be made the means of procuring them, and
+throwing aside all thought both of honor and of long-sighted
+advantage. Life and property being alike ephemeral, there was no
+hope left but to snatch a moment of enjoyment, before the
+outstretched hand of destiny should fall upon its victims.</p>
+<p>The picture of society under the pressure of a murderous
+epidemic, with its train of physical torments, wretchedness, and
+demoralization, has been drawn by more than one eminent author, but
+by none with more impressive fidelity and conciseness than by
+Thucydides, who had no predecessor, nor anything but the reality,
+to copy from. We may remark that amid all the melancholy
+accompaniments of the time there are no human sacrifices, such as
+those offered up at Carthage during pestilence to appease the anger
+of the gods—there are no cruel persecutions against imaginary
+authors of the disease, such as those against the Untori (anointers
+of doors) in the plague of Milan in 1630.</p>
+<p>Three years altogether did this calamity desolate Athens:
+continuously, during the entire second and third years of the
+war—after which followed a period of marked abatement for a
+year and a half; but it then revived again, and lasted for another
+year, with the same fury as at first. The public loss, over and
+above the private misery, which this unexpected enemy inflicted
+upon Athens, was incalculable. Out of twelve hundred horsemen, all
+among the rich men of the state, three hundred died of the
+epidemic; besides forty-four hundred <i>hoplites</i> out of the
+roll formally kept, and a number of the poorer population so great
+as to defy computation. No efforts of the Peloponnesians could have
+done so much to ruin Athens, or to bring the war to a termination
+such as they desired: and the distemper told the more in their
+favor, as it never spread at all into Peloponnesus, though it
+passed from Athens to some of the more populous islands. The
+Lacedaemonian army was withdrawn from Attica somewhat earlier than
+it would otherwise have been, for fear of taking the contagion.</p>
+<p>But it was while the Lacedaemonians were yet in Attica, and
+during the first freshness of the terrible malady, that Pericles
+equipped and conducted from Piraeus an armament of one hundred
+triremes and four thousand hoplites to attack the coasts of
+Peloponnesus; three hundred horsemen were also carried in some
+horse-transports, prepared for the occasion out of old triremes. To
+diminish the crowd accumulated in the city was doubtless of
+beneficial tendency, and perhaps those who went aboard might
+consider it as a chance of escape to quit an infected home. But
+unhappily they carried the infection along with them, which
+desolated the fleet not less than the city, and crippled all its
+efforts. Reenforced by fifty ships of war from Chios and Lesbos,
+the Athenians first landed near Epidaurus in Peloponnesus, ravaging
+the territory and making an unavailing attempt upon the city; next
+they made like incursions on the most southerly portions of the
+Argolic peninsula—Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione—and
+lastly attacked and captured Prasiae, on the eastern coast of
+Laconia. On returning to Athens, the same armament was immediately
+conducted under Agnon and Cleopompus, to press the siege of
+Potidaea, the blockade of which still continued without any visible
+progress. On arriving there an attack was made on the walls by
+battering engines and by the other aggressive methods then
+practised; but nothing whatever was achieved. In fact, the armament
+became incompetent for all serious effort, from the aggravated
+character which the distemper here assumed, communicated by the
+soldiers fresh from Athens even to those who had before been free
+from it at Potidaea. So frightful was the mortality that out of the
+four thousand hoplites under Agnon no fewer than one thousand and
+fifty died in the short space of forty days. The armament was
+brought back in this distressed condition to Athens, while the
+reduction of Potidaea was left as before, to the slow course of
+blockade.</p>
+<p>On returning from the expedition against Peloponnesus, Pericles
+found his countrymen almost distracted with their manifold
+sufferings. Over and above the raging epidemic they had just gone
+over Attica and ascertained the devastations committed by the
+invaders throughout all the territory—except the Marathonian
+Tetrapolis and Deceleia, districts spared, as we are told, through
+indulgence founded on an ancient legendary sympathy—during
+their long stay of forty days. The rich had found their comfortable
+mansions and farms, the poor their modest cottages, in the various
+<i>demes</i>, torn down and ruined. Death, sickness, loss of
+property, and despair of the future now rendered the Athenians
+angry and intractable to the last degree. They vented their
+feelings against Pericles as the cause not merely of the war, but
+also of all that they were now enduring. Either with or without his
+consent, they sent envoys to Sparta to open negotiations for peace,
+but the Spartans turned a deaf ear to the proposition. This new
+disappointment rendered them still more furious against Pericles,
+whose long-standing political enemies now doubtless found strong
+sympathy in their denunciations of his character and policy. That
+unshaken and majestic firmness, which ranked first among his many
+eminent qualities, was never more imperiously required and never
+more effectively manifested.</p>
+<p>In his capacity of <i>strategus</i>, or general, Pericles
+convoked a formal assembly of the people, for the purpose of
+vindicating himself publicly against the prevailing sentiment, and
+recommending perseverance in his line of policy. The speeches made
+by his opponents, assuredly very bitter, are not given by
+Thucydides; but that of Pericles himself is set down at
+considerable length, and a memorable discourse it is. It strikingly
+brings into relief both the character of the man and the impress of
+actual circumstances—an impregnable mind conscious not only
+of right purposes, but of just and reasonable anticipations, and
+bearing up with manliness, or even defiance, against the natural
+difficulty of the case, heightened by an extreme of incalculable
+misfortune. He had foreseen, while advising the war originally, the
+probable impatience of his countrymen under its first hardships,
+but he could not foresee the epidemic by which that impatience had
+been exasperated into madness: and he now addressed them not merely
+with unabated adherence to his own deliberate convictions, but also
+in a tone of reproachful remonstrance against their unmerited
+change of sentiment toward him—seeking at the same time to
+combat that uncontrolled despair which for the moment overlaid both
+their pride and their patriotism. Far from humbling himself before
+the present sentiment, it is at this time that he sets forth his
+titles to their esteem in the most direct and unqualified manner,
+and claims the continuance of that which they had so long accorded,
+as something belonging to him by acquired right.</p>
+<p>His main object, through this discourse, is to fill the minds of
+his audience with patriotic sympathy for the weal of the entire
+city, so as to counterbalance the absorbing sense of private woe.
+If the collective city flourishes, he argues, private misfortunes
+may at least be borne; but no amount of private prosperity will
+avail if the collective city falls—a proposition literally
+true in ancient times and under the circumstances of ancient
+warfare, though less true at present. "Distracted by domestic
+calamity, ye are now angry both with me who advised you to go to
+war, and with yourselves who followed the advice. Ye listened to
+me, considering me superior to others in judgment, in speech, in
+patriotism, and in incorruptible probity—nor ought I now to
+be treated as culpable for giving such advice, when in point of
+fact the war was unavoidable and there would have been still
+greater danger in shrinking from it. I am the same man, still
+unchanged—but ye in your misfortunes cannot stand to the
+convictions which ye adopted when yet unhurt. Extreme and
+unforeseen, indeed, are the sorrows which have fallen upon you: yet
+inhabiting as ye do a great city, and brought up in dispositions
+suitable to it, ye must also resolve to bear up against the utmost
+pressure of adversity, and never to surrender your dignity. I have
+often explained to you that ye have no reason to doubt of eventual
+success in the war, but I will now remind you, more emphatically
+than before, and even with a degree of ostentation suitable as a
+stimulus to your present unnatural depression, that your naval
+force makes you masters not only of your allies, but of the entire
+sea—one-half of the visible field for action and employment.
+Compared with so vast a power as this, the temporary use of your
+houses and territory is a mere trifle, an ornamental accessory not
+worth considering: and this too, if ye preserve your freedom, ye
+will quickly recover. It was your fathers who first gained this
+empire, without any of the advantages which ye now enjoy; ye must
+not disgrace yourselves by losing what they acquired.</p>
+<p>"Delighting as ye all do in the honor and empire enjoyed by the
+city, ye must not shrink from the toils whereby alone that honor is
+sustained: moreover, ye now fight, not merely for freedom instead
+of slavery, but for empire against loss of empire, with all the
+perils arising out of imperial unpopularity. It is not safe for you
+now to abdicate, even if ye chose to do so; for ye hold your empire
+like a despotism—unjust perhaps in the original acquisition,
+but ruinous to part with when once acquired. Be not angry with me,
+whose advice ye followed in going to war, because the enemy have
+done such damage as might be expected from them: still less on
+account of this unforeseen distemper: I know that this makes me an
+object of your special present hatred, though very unjustly, unless
+ye will consent to give me credit also for any unexpected good-luck
+which may occur. Our city derives its particular glory from
+unshaken bearing up against misfortune: her power, her name, her
+empire of Greeks over Greeks, are such as have never before been
+seen; and if we choose to be great, we must take the consequence of
+that temporary envy and hatred which is the necessary price of
+permanent renown. Behave ye now in a manner worthy of that glory:
+display that courage which is essential to protect you against
+disgrace at present, as well as to guarantee your honor for the
+future. Send no further embassy to Sparta, and bear your
+misfortunes without showing symptoms of distress."</p>
+<p>The irresistible reason, as well as the proud and resolute
+bearing of this discourse, set forth with an eloquence which it was
+not possible for Thucydides to reproduce—together with the
+age and character of Pericles—carried the assent of the
+assembled people, who when in the Pnyx, and engaged according to
+habit on public matters, would for a moment forget their private
+sufferings in considerations of the safety and grandeur of Athens.
+Possibly, indeed, those sufferings, though still continuing, might
+become somewhat alleviated when the invaders quitted Attica, and
+when it was no longer indispensable for all the population to
+confine itself within the walls. Accordingly, the assembly resolved
+that no further propositions should be made for peace, and that the
+war should be prosecuted with vigor.</p>
+<p>But though the public resolution thus adopted showed the ancient
+habit of deference to the authority of Pericles, the sentiments of
+individuals taken separately were still those of anger against him
+as the author of that system which had brought them into so much
+distress. His political opponents—Cleon, Simmias, or
+Lacratidas, perhaps all three in conjunction—took care to
+provide an opportunity for this prevalent irritation to manifest
+itself in act, by bringing an accusation against him before the
+<i>dicastery</i>. The accusation is said to have been preferred on
+the ground of pecuniary malversation, and ended by his being
+sentenced to pay a considerable fine, the amount of which is
+differently reported—fifteen, fifty, or eighty talents, by
+different authors. The accusing party thus appeared to have carried
+their point, and to have disgraced, as well as excluded from
+reelection, the veteran statesman. The event, however, disappointed
+their expectations. The imposition of the fine not only satiated
+all the irritation of the people against him, but even occasioned a
+serious reaction in his favor, and brought back as strongly as ever
+the ancient sentiment of esteem and admiration. It was quickly
+found that those who had succeeded Pericles as generals neither
+possessed nor deserved in an equal degree the public confidence. He
+was accordingly soon reelected, with as much power and influence as
+he had ever in his life enjoyed.</p>
+<p>But that life, long, honorable, and useful, had already been
+prolonged considerably beyond the sixtieth year, and there were but
+too many circumstances, besides the recent fine, which tended to
+hasten as well as to embitter its close. At the very moment when
+Pericles was preaching to his countrymen, in a tone almost
+reproachful, the necessity of manful and unabated devotion to the
+common country in the midst of private suffering, he was himself
+among the greatest of sufferers, and most hardly pressed to set the
+example of observing his own precepts. The epidemic carried off not
+merely his two sons—the only two legitimate, Xanthippus and
+Paralus—but also his sister, several other relatives, and his
+best and most useful political friends. Amid this train of domestic
+calamities, and in the funeral obsequies of so many of his dearest
+friends, he remained master of his grief, and maintained his
+habitual self-command, until the last misfortune—the death of
+his favorite son Paralus, which left his house without any
+legitimate representative to maintain the family and the hereditary
+sacred rites. On this final blow, though he strove to command
+himself as before, yet at the obsequies of the young man, when it
+became his duty to place a wreath on the dead body, his grief
+became uncontrollable, and he burst out, for the first time in his
+life, into profuse tears and sobbing.</p>
+<p>In the midst of these several personal trials he received the
+intimation, through Alcibiades and some other friends, of the
+restored confidence of the people toward him, and of his reelection
+to the office of strategus. But it was not without difficulty that
+he was persuaded to present himself again at the public assembly
+and resume the direction of affairs. The regret of the people was
+formally expressed to him for the recent sentence—perhaps,
+indeed, the fine may have been repaid to him, or some evasion of it
+permitted, saving the forms of law—in the present temper of
+the city; which was further displayed toward him by the grant of a
+remarkable exemption from a law of his own original
+proposition.</p>
+<p>He had himself, some years before, been the author of that law
+whereby the citizenship of Athens was restricted to persons born
+both of Athenian fathers and Athenian mothers, under which
+restriction several thousand persons, illegitimate on the mother's
+side, are said to have been deprived of the citizenship, on
+occasion of a public distribution of corn. Invidious as it appeared
+to grant, to Pericles singly, an exemption from a law which had
+been strictly enforced against so many others, the people were now
+moved not less by compassion than by anxiety to redress their own
+previous severity. Without a legitimate heir, the house of
+Pericles, one branch of the great Alcmaeonid gens by his mother's
+side, would be left deserted, and the continuity of the family
+sacred rites would be broken—a misfortune painfully felt by
+every Athenian family, as calculated to wrong all the deceased
+members, and provoke their posthumous displeasure toward the city.
+Accordingly, permission was granted to Pericles to legitimize, and
+to inscribe in his own gens and phratry, his natural son by
+Aspasia, who bore his own name.</p>
+<p>It was thus that Pericles was reinstated in his post of
+strategus as well as in his ascendency over the public
+counsels—seemingly about August or September, B.C. 430. He
+lived about one year longer, and seems to have maintained his
+influence as long as his health permitted. Yet we hear nothing of
+him after this moment, and he fell a victim, not to the violent
+symptoms of the epidemic, but to a slow and wearing fever, which
+undermined his strength as well as his capacity. To a friend who
+came to ask after him when in this disease, Pericles replied by
+showing a charm or amulet which his female relations had hung about
+his neck—a proof how low he was reduced, and how completely
+he had become a passive subject in the hands of others.</p>
+<p>And according to another anecdote which we read—yet more
+interesting and equally illustrative of his character—it was
+during his last moments, when he was lying apparently unconscious
+and insensible, that the friends around his bed were passing in
+review the acts of his life, and the nine trophies which he had
+erected at different times for so many victories. He heard what
+they said, though they fancied that he was past hearing, and
+interrupted them by remarking: "What you praise in my life belongs
+partly to good fortune—and is, at best, common to me with
+many other generals. But the peculiarity of which I am most proud,
+you have not noticed—no Athenian has ever put on mourning
+through any action of mine."</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_5"></a>DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 413</p>
+<p class="center">SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY</p>
+<p class="intros">That great writer of the history of the Romans,
+Thomas Arnold, says of the defeat of the Athenian fleet at
+Syracuse: "The Romans knew not, and could not know, how deeply the
+greatness of their own posterity, and the fate of the whole western
+world, were involved in the destruction of the fleet of Athens in
+the harbor of Syracuse. Had that great expedition proved
+victorious, the energies of Greece during the next eventful century
+would have found their field in the West no less than in the East;
+Greece, and not Rome; might have conquered Carthage; Greek instead
+of Latin might have been at this day the principal element of the
+language of Spain, of France, and of Italy; and the laws of Athens,
+rather than of Rome, might be the foundation of the law of the
+civilized world."</p>
+<p class="intros">The foregoing, the author's own selection, really
+sums up all that need be said as to the importance of the great
+event so finely treated by Creasy.</p>
+<p>Few cities have undergone more memorable sieges during ancient
+and mediaeval times than has the city of Syracuse. Athenian,
+Carthaginian, Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Saracen, and Norman have in
+turns beleaguered her walls; and the resistance which she
+successfully opposed to some of her early assailants was of the
+deepest importance, not only to the fortunes of the generations
+then in being, but to all the subsequent current of human events.
+To adopt the eloquent expressions of Arnold respecting the check
+which she gave to the Carthaginian arms, "Syracuse was a breakwater
+which God's providence raised up to protect the yet immature
+strength of Rome." And her triumphant repulse of the great Athenian
+expedition against her was of even more widespread and enduring
+importance. It forms a decisive epoch in the strife for universal
+empire, in which all the great states of antiquity successively
+engaged and failed.</p>
+<p>The present city of Syracuse is a place of little or no military
+strength, as the fire of artillery from the neighboring heights
+would almost completely command it. But in ancient warfare its
+position, and the care bestowed on its walls, rendered it
+formidably strong against the means of offence which were then
+employed by besieging armies.</p>
+<p>The ancient city, in its most prosperous times, was chiefly
+built on the knob of land which projects into the sea on the
+eastern coast of Sicily, between two bays; one of which, to the
+north, was called the Bay of Thapsus, while the southern one formed
+the great harbor of the city of Syracuse itself. A small island, or
+peninsula (for such it soon was rendered), lies at the southeastern
+extremity of this knob of land, stretching almost entirely across
+the mouth of the great harbor, and rendering it nearly land-locked.
+This island comprised the original settlement of the first Greek
+colonists from Corinth, who founded Syracuse two thousand five
+hundred years ago; and the modern city has shrunk again into these
+primary limits. But, in the fifth century before our era, the
+growing wealth and population of the Syracusans had led them to
+occupy and include within their city walls portion after portion of
+the mainland lying next to the little isle, so that at the time of
+the Athenian expedition the seaward part of the land between the
+two bays already spoken of was built over, and fortified from bay
+to bay, and constituted the larger part of Syracuse.</p>
+<p>The landward wall, therefore, of this district of the city
+traversed this knob of land, which continues to slope upward from
+the sea, and which, to the west of the old fortifications, that is,
+toward the interior of Sicily, rises rapidly for a mile or two, but
+diminishes in width, and finally terminates in a long narrow ridge,
+between which and Mount Hybla a succession of chasms and uneven low
+ground extends. On each flank of this ridge the descent is steep
+and precipitous from its summits to the strips of level land that
+lie immediately below it, both to the southwest and northwest.</p>
+<p>The usual mode of assailing fortified towns in the time of the
+Peloponnesian war was to build a double wall round them
+sufficiently strong to check any sally of the garrison from within
+or any attack of a relieving force from without. The interval
+within the two walls of the circumvallation was roofed over, and
+formed barracks, in which the besiegers posted themselves, and
+awaited the effects of want or treachery among the besieged in
+producing a surrender; and in every Greek city of those days, as in
+every Italian republic of the Middle Ages, the rage of domestic
+sedition between aristocrats and democrats ran high. Rancorous
+refugees swarmed in the camp of every invading enemy; and every
+blockaded city was sure to contain within its walls a body of
+intriguing malcontents, who were eager to purchase a party triumph
+at the expense of a national disaster. Famine and faction were the
+allies on whom besiegers relied. The generals of that time trusted
+to the operation of these sure confederates as soon as they could
+establish a complete blockade. They rarely ventured on the attempt
+to storm any fortified post, for the military engines of antiquity
+were feeble in breaching masonry before the improvements which the
+first Dionysius effected in the mechanics of destruction; and the
+lives of spearmen the boldest and most high-trained would, of
+course, have been idly spent in charges against unshattered
+walls.</p>
+<p>A city built close to the sea, like Syracuse, was impregnable
+save by the combined operations of a superior hostile fleet and a
+superior hostile army; and Syracuse, from her size, her population,
+and her military and naval resources, not unnaturally thought
+herself secure from finding in another Greek city a foe capable of
+sending a sufficient armament to menace her with capture and
+subjection. But in the spring of B.C. 414 the Athenian navy was
+mistress of her harbor and the adjacent seas; an Athenian army had
+defeated her troops, and cooped them within the town; and from bay
+to bay a blockading wall was being rapidly carried across the
+strips of level ground and the high ridge outside the city (then
+termed Epipolae), which, if completed, would have cut the
+Syracusans off from all succor from the interior of Sicily, and
+have left them at the mercy of the Athenian generals. The
+besiegers' works were, indeed, unfinished; but every day the
+unfortified interval in their lines grew narrower, and with it
+diminished all apparent hope of safety for the beleaguered
+town.</p>
+<p>Athens was now staking the flower of her forces, and the
+accumulated fruits of seventy years of glory, on one bold throw for
+the dominion of the western world. As Napoleon from Mount Coeur de
+Lion pointed to St. Jean d'Acre, and told his staff that the
+capture of that town would decide his destiny and would change the
+face of the world, so the Athenian officers, from the heights of
+Epipolae, must have looked on Syracuse, and felt that with its fall
+all the known powers of the earth would fall beneath them. They
+must have felt also that Athens, if repulsed there, must pause
+forever from her career of conquest, and sink from an imperial
+republic into a ruined and subservient community.</p>
+<p>At Marathon, the first in date of the great battles of the
+world, we beheld Athens struggling for self-preservation against
+the invading armies of the East. At Syracuse she appears as the
+ambitious and oppressive invader of others. In her, as in other
+republics of old and of modern times, the same energy that had
+inspired the most heroic efforts in defence of the national
+independence soon learned to employ itself in daring and
+unscrupulous schemes of self-aggrandizement at the expense of
+neighboring nations. In the interval between the Persian and the
+Peloponnesian wars she had rapidly grown into a conquering and
+dominant state, the chief of a thousand tributary cities, and the
+mistress of the largest and best-manned navy that the Mediterranean
+had yet beheld. The occupations of her territory by Xerxes and
+Mardonius, in the second Persian war, had forced her whole
+population to become marines; and the glorious results of that
+struggle confirmed them in their zeal for their country's service
+at sea.</p>
+<p>The voluntary suffrage of the Greek cities of the coasts and
+islands of the Aegean first placed Athens at the head of the
+confederation formed for the further prosecution of the war against
+Persia. But this titular ascendency was soon converted by her into
+practical and arbitrary dominion. She protected them from piracy
+and the Persian power, which soon fell into decrepitude and decay,
+but she exacted in return implicit obedience to herself. She
+claimed and enforced a prerogative of taxing them at her
+discretion, and proudly refused to be accountable for her mode of
+expending their supplies. Remonstrance against her assessments was
+treated as factious disloyalty, and refusal to pay was promptly
+punished as revolt. Permitting and encouraging her subject allies
+to furnish all their contingents in money, instead of part
+consisting of ships and men, the sovereign republic gained the
+double object of training her own citizens by constant and
+well-paid service in her fleets, and of seeing her confederates
+lose their skill and discipline by inaction, and become more and
+more passive and powerless under her yoke. Their towns were
+generally dismantled, while the imperial city herself was fortified
+with the greatest care and sumptuousness; the accumulated revenues
+from her tributaries serving to strengthen and adorn to the utmost
+her havens, her docks, her arsenals, her theatres, and her shrines,
+and to array her in that plenitude of architectural magnificence
+the ruins of which still attest the intellectual grandeur of the
+age and people which produced a Pericles to plan and a Phidias to
+execute.</p>
+<p>All republics that acquire supremacy over other nations rule
+them selfishly and oppressively. There is no exception to this in
+either ancient or modern times. Carthage, Rome, Venice, Genoa,
+Florence, Pisa, Holland, and republican France, all tyrannized over
+every province and subject state where they gained authority. But
+none of them openly avowed their system of doing so upon principle
+with the candor which the Athenian republicans displayed when any
+remonstrance was made against the severe exactions which they
+imposed upon their vassal allies. They avowed that their empire was
+a tyranny, and frankly stated that they solely trusted to force and
+terror to uphold it. They appealed to what they called "the eternal
+law of nature, that the weak should be coerced by the strong."
+Sometimes they stated, and not without some truth, that the unjust
+hatred of Sparta against themselves forced them to be unjust to
+others in self-defence. To be safe, they must be powerful; and to
+be powerful, they must plunder and coerce their neighbors. They
+never dreamed of communicating any franchise, or share in office,
+to their dependants, but jealously monopolized every post of
+command and all political and judicial power; exposing themselves
+to every risk with unflinching gallantry; embarking readily in
+every ambitious scheme; and never suffering difficulty or disaster
+to shake their tenacity of purpose: in the hope of acquiring
+unbounded empire for their country, and the means of maintaining
+each of the thirty thousand citizens who made up the sovereign
+republic, in exclusive devotion to military occupations, and to
+those brilliant sciences and arts in which Athens already had
+reached the meridian of intellectual splendor.</p>
+<p>Her great political dramatist speaks of the Athenian empire as
+comprehending a thousand states. The language of the stage must not
+be taken too literally; but the number of the dependencies of
+Athens, at the time when the Peloponnesian confederacy attacked
+her, was undoubtedly very great. With a few trifling exceptions,
+all the islands of the Aegean, and all the Greek cities which in
+that age fringed the coasts of Asia Minor, the Hellespont, and
+Thrace, paid tribute to Athens, and implicitly obeyed her orders.
+The Aegean Sea was an Attic lake. Westward of Greece, her
+influence, though strong, was not equally predominant. She had
+colonies and allies among the wealthy and populous Greek
+settlements in Sicily and South Italy, but she had no organized
+system of confederates in those regions; and her galleys brought
+her no tribute from the Western seas. The extension of her empire
+over Sicily was the favorite project of her ambitious orators and
+generals. While her great statesman, Pericles, lived, his
+commanding genius kept his countrymen under control, and forbade
+them to risk the fortunes of Athens in distant enterprises, while
+they had unsubdued and powerful enemies at their own doors. He
+taught Athens this maxim; but he also taught her to know and to use
+her own strength; and when Pericles had departed, the bold spirit
+which he had fostered overleaped the salutary limits which he had
+prescribed.</p>
+<p>When her bitter enemies, the Corinthians, succeeded, B.C. 431,
+in inducing Sparta to attack her, and a confederacy was formed of
+five-sixths of the continental Greeks, all animated by anxious
+jealousy and bitter hatred of Athens; when armies far superior in
+numbers and equipment to those which had marched against the
+Persians were poured into the Athenian territory, and laid it waste
+to the city walls, the general opinion was that Athens would be
+reduced, in two or three years at the furthest, to submit to the
+requisitions of her invaders. But her strong fortifications, by
+which she was girt and linked to her principal haven, gave her, in
+those ages, almost all the advantages of an insular position.
+Pericles had made her trust to her empire of the seas. Every
+Athenian in those days was a practised seaman. A state, indeed,
+whose members, of an age fit for service, at no time exceeded
+thirty thousand, could only have acquired such a naval dominion as
+Athens once held by devoting and zealously training all its sons to
+service in its fleets. In order to man the numerous galleys which
+she sent out, she necessarily employed large numbers of hired
+mariners and slaves at the oar; but the staple of her crews was
+Athenian, and all posts of command were held by native citizens. It
+was by reminding them of this, of their long practice in
+seamanship, and the certain superiority which their discipline gave
+them over the enemy's marine, that their great minister mainly
+encouraged them to resist the combined power of Lacedaemon and her
+allies. He taught them that Athens might thus reap the fruit of her
+zealous devotion to maritime affairs ever since the invasion of the
+Medes; "she had not, indeed, perfected herself; but the reward of
+her superior training was the rule of the sea—a mighty
+dominion, for it gave her the rule of much fair land beyond its
+waves, safe from the idle ravages with which the Lacedaemonians
+might harass Attica, but never could subdue Athens."</p>
+<p>Athens accepted the war with which her enemies threatened her
+rather than descend from her pride of place; and though the awful
+visitation of the plague came upon her, and swept away more of her
+citizens than the Dorian spear laid low, she held her own gallantly
+against her enemies. If the Peloponnesian armies in irresistible
+strength wasted every spring her corn-lands, her vineyards, and her
+olive groves with fire and sword, she retaliated on their coasts
+with her fleets; which, if resisted, were only resisted to display
+the pre&euml;minent skill and bravery of her seamen. Some of her
+subject allies revolted, but the revolts were in general sternly
+and promptly quelled. The genius of one enemy had indeed inflicted
+blows on her power in Thrace which she was unable to remedy; but he
+fell in battle in the tenth year of the war, and with the loss of
+Brasidas the Lacedaemonians seemed to have lost all energy and
+judgment. Both sides at length grew weary of the war, and in 421 a
+truce for fifty years was concluded, which, though ill kept, and
+though many of the confederates of Sparta refused to recognize it,
+and hostilities still continued in many parts of Greece, protected
+the Athenian territory from the ravages of enemies, and enabled
+Athens to accumulate large sums out of the proceeds of her annual
+revenues. So also, as a few years passed by, the havoc which the
+pestilence and the sword had made in her population was repaired;
+and in 415 Athens was full of bold and restless spirits, who longed
+for some field of distant enterprise wherein they might signalize
+themselves and aggrandize the state, and who looked on the alarm of
+Spartan hostility as a mere old-woman's tale. When Sparta had
+wasted their territory she had done her worst; and the fact of its
+always being in her power to do so seemed a strong reason for
+seeking to increase the transmarine dominion of Athens.</p>
+<p>The West was now the quarter toward which the thoughts of every
+aspiring Athenian were directed. From the very beginning of the war
+Athens had kept up an interest in Sicily, and her squadron had,
+from time to time, appeared on its coasts and taken part in the
+dissensions in which the Sicilian Greeks were universally engaged
+one against the other. There were plausible grounds for a direct
+quarrel, and an open attack by the Athenians upon Syracuse.</p>
+<p>With the capture of Syracuse, all Sicily, it was hoped, would be
+secured. Carthage and Italy were next to be attacked. With large
+levies of Iberian mercenaries she then meant to overwhelm her
+Peloponnesian enemies. The Persian monarchy lay in hopeless
+imbecility, inviting Greek invasion; nor did the known world
+contain the power that seemed capable of checking the growing might
+of Athens, if Syracuse once should be hers.</p>
+<p>The national historian of Rome has left us an episode of his
+great work, a disquisition on the probable effects that would have
+followed if Alexander the Great had invaded Italy. Posterity has
+generally regarded that disquisition as proving Livy's patriotism
+more strongly than his impartiality or acuteness. Yet, right or
+wrong, the speculations of the Roman writer were directed to the
+consideration of a very remote possibility. To whatever age
+Alexander's life might have been prolonged, the East would have
+furnished full occupation for his martial ambition, as well as for
+those schemes of commercial grandeur and imperial amalgamation of
+nations in which the truly great qualities of his mind loved to
+display themselves. With his death the dismemberment of his empire
+among his generals was certain, even as the dismemberment of
+Napoleon's empire among his marshals would certainly have ensued if
+he had been cut off in the zenith of his power. Rome, also, was far
+weaker when the Athenians were in Sicily than she was a century
+afterward in Alexander's time. There can be little doubt but that
+Rome would have been blotted out from the independent powers of the
+West, had she been attacked at the end of the fifth century B.C. by
+an Athenian army, largely aided by Spanish mercenaries, and flushed
+with triumphs over Sicily and Africa, instead of the collision
+between her and Greece having been deferred until the latter had
+sunk into decrepitude, and the Roman Mars had grown into full
+vigor.</p>
+<p>The armament which the Athenians equipped against Syracuse was
+in every way worthy of the state which formed such projects of
+universal empire, and it has been truly termed "the noblest that
+ever yet had been sent forth by a free and civilized commonwealth."
+The fleet consisted of one hundred and thirty-four war-galleys,
+with a multitude of storeships. A powerful force of the best
+heavy-armed infantry that Athens and her allies could furnish was
+sent on board it, together with a smaller number of slingers and
+bowmen. The quality of the forces was even more remarkable than the
+number. The zeal of individuals vied with that of the republic in
+giving every galley the best possible crew and every troop the most
+perfect accoutrements. And with private as well as public wealth
+eagerly lavished on all that could give splendor as well as
+efficiency to the expedition, the fated fleet began its voyage for
+the Sicilian shores in the summer of 415.</p>
+<p>The Syracusans themselves, at the time of the Peloponnesian war,
+were a bold and turbulent democracy, tyrannizing over the weaker
+Greek cities in Sicily, and trying to gain in that island the same
+arbitrary supremacy which Athens maintained along the eastern coast
+of the Mediterranean. In numbers and in spirit they were fully
+equal to the Athenians, but far inferior to them in military and
+naval discipline. When the probability of an Athenian invasion was
+first publicly discussed at Syracuse, and efforts were made by some
+of the wiser citizens to improve the state of the national defences
+and prepare for the impending danger, the rumors of coming war and
+the proposal for preparation were received by the mass of the
+Syracusans with scornful incredulity. The speech of one of their
+popular orators is preserved to us in Thucydides.</p>
+<p>The Syracusan orator told his countrymen to dismiss with scorn
+the visionary terrors which a set of designing men among themselves
+strove to excite, in order to get power and influence thrown into
+their own hands. He told them that Athens knew her own interest too
+well to think of wantonly provoking their hostility: "Even if the
+enemies were to come," said he, "so distant from their resources,
+and opposed to such a power as ours, their destruction would be
+easy and inevitable. Their ships will have enough to do to get to
+our island at all, and to carry such stores of all sorts as will be
+needed. They cannot therefore carry, besides, an army large enough
+to cope with such a population as ours. They will have no fortified
+place from which to commence their operations, but must rest them
+on no better base than a set of wretched tents, and such means as
+the necessities of the moment will allow them. But, in truth, I do
+not believe that they would even be able to effect a
+disembarkation. Let us, therefore, set at naught these reports as
+altogether of home manufacture; and be sure that if any enemy does
+come, the state will know how to defend itself in a manner worthy
+of the national honor."</p>
+<p>Such assertions pleased the Syracusan assembly; but the invaders
+of Syracuse came, made good their landing in Sicily; and if they
+had promptly attacked the city itself, instead of wasting nearly a
+year in desultory operations in other parts of Sicily, the
+Syracusans must have paid the penalty of their self-sufficient
+carelessness in submission to the Athenian yoke. But, of the three
+generals who led the Athenian expedition, two only were men of
+ability, and one was most weak and incompetent. Fortunately for
+Syracuse, Alcibiades, the most skilful of the three, was soon
+deposed from his command by a factious and fanatic vote of his
+fellow-countrymen, and the other competent one, Lamachus, fell
+early in a skirmish; while, more fortunately still for her, the
+feeble and vacillating Nicias remained unrecalled and unhurt, to
+assume the undivided leadership of the Athenian army and fleet, and
+to mar, by alternate over-caution and over-carelessness, every
+chance of success which the early part of the operations offered.
+Still, even under him, the Athenians nearly won the town. They
+defeated the raw levies of the Syracusans, cooped them within the
+walls, and, as before mentioned, almost effected a continuous
+fortification from bay to bay over Epipolae, the completion of
+which would certainly have been followed by a capitulation.</p>
+<p>Alcibiades—the most complete example of genius without
+principle that history produces; the Bolingbroke of antiquity, but
+with high military talents superadded to diplomatic and oratorical
+powers—on being summoned home from his command in Sicily to
+take his trial before the Athenian tribunal, had escaped to Sparta,
+and had exerted himself there with all the selfish rancor of a
+renegade to renew the war with Athens and to send instant
+assistance to Syracuse.</p>
+<p>When we read his words in the pages of Thucydides—who was
+himself an exile from Athens at this period, and may probably have
+been at Sparta, and heard Alcibiades speak—we are at a loss
+whether most to admire or abhor his subtle counsels. After an
+artful exordium, in which he tried to disarm the suspicions which
+he felt must be entertained of him, and to point out to the
+Spartans how completely his interests and theirs were identified,
+through hatred of the Athenian democracy, he thus proceeded:</p>
+<p>"Hear me, at any rate, on the matters which require your grave
+attention, and which I, from the personal knowledge that I have of
+them, can and ought to bring before you. We Athenians sailed to
+Sicily with the design of subduing, first the Greek cities there,
+and next those in Italy. Then we intended to make an attempt on the
+dominions of Carthage, and on Carthage itself.[<a href="#note-24">24</a>] If all these projects succeeded—nor did we
+limit ourselves to them in these quarters—we intended to
+increase our fleet with the inexhaustible supplies of ship timber
+which Italy affords, to put in requisition the whole military force
+of the conquered Greek states, and also to hire large armies of the
+barbarians, of the Iberians,[<a href="#note-25">25</a>] and others
+in those regions, who are allowed to make the best possible
+soldiers. <i>Then</i>, when we had done all this, we intended to
+assail Peloponnesus with our collected force. Our fleets would
+blockade you by sea and desolate your coasts, our armies would be
+landed at different points and assail your cities. Some of these we
+expected to storm,[<a href="#note-26">26</a>] and others we meant
+to take by surrounding them with fortified lines. We thought that
+it would thus be an easy matter thoroughly to war you down; and
+then we should become the masters of the whole Greek race. As for
+expense, we reckoned that each conquered state would give us
+supplies of money and provisions sufficient to pay for its own
+conquest, and furnish the means for the conquest of its
+neighbors."</p>
+<p><a name="note-24"><!-- Note Anchor 24 --></a>[Footnote 24:
+Arnold, in his notes on this passage, well reminds the reader that
+Agathocles, with a Greek force far inferior to that of the
+Athenians at this period, did, some years afterward, very nearly
+conquer Carthage.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-25"><!-- Note Anchor 25 --></a>[Footnote 25: It
+will be remembered that Spanish infantry were the staple of the
+Carthaginian armies. Doubtless Alcibiades and other leading
+Athenians had made themselves acquainted with the Carthaginian
+system of carrying on war, and meant to adopt it. With the
+marvellous powers which Alcibiades possessed of ingratiating
+himself with men of every class and every nation, and his high
+military genius, he would have been as formidable a chief of an
+army of <i>condottieri</i> as Hannibal afterward was.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-26"><!-- Note Anchor 26 --></a>[Footnote 26:
+Alcibiades here alluded to Sparta itself, which was unfortified.
+His Spartan hearers must have glanced round them at these words
+with mixed alarm and indignation.]</p>
+<p>"Such are the designs of the present Athenian expedition to
+Sicily, and you have heard them from the lips of the man who, of
+all men living, is most accurately acquainted with them. The other
+Athenian generals, who remain with the expedition, will endeavor to
+carry out these plans. And be sure that without your speedy
+interference they will all be accomplished. The Sicilian Greeks are
+deficient in military training; but still, if they could at once be
+brought to combine in an organized resistance to Athens, they might
+even now be saved. But as for the Syracusans resisting Athens by
+themselves, they have already, with the whole strength of their
+population, fought a battle and been beaten; they cannot face the
+Athenians at sea; and it is quite impossible for them to hold out
+against the force of their invaders. And if this city falls into
+the hands of the Athenians, all Sicily is theirs, and presently
+Italy also; and the danger, which I warned you of from that
+quarter, will soon fall upon yourselves. You must, therefore, in
+Sicily, fight for the safety of Peloponnesus. Send some galleys
+thither instantly. Put men on board who can work their own way
+over, and who, as soon as they land, can do duty as regular troops.
+But, above all, let one of yourselves, let a man of Sparta, go over
+to take the chief command, to bring into order and effective
+discipline the forces that are in Syracuse, and urge those who at
+present hang back to come forward and aid the Syracusans. The
+presence of a Spartan general at this crisis will do more to save
+the city than a whole army."</p>
+<p>The renegade then proceeded to urge on them the necessity of
+encouraging their friends in Sicily, by showing that they
+themselves were in earnest in hostility to Athens. He exhorted them
+not only to march their armies into Attica again, but to take up a
+permanent fortified position in the country; and he gave them in
+detail information of all that the Athenians most dreaded, and how
+his country might receive the most distressing and enduring injury
+at their hands.</p>
+<p>The Spartans resolved to act on his advice, and appointed
+Gylippus to the Sicilian command. Gylippus was a man who, to the
+national bravery and military skill of a Spartan united political
+sagacity that was worthy of his great fellow-countryman Brasidas;
+but his merits were debased by mean and sordid vices; and his is
+one of the cases in which history has been austerely just, and
+where little or no fame has been accorded to the successful but
+venal soldier. But for the purpose for which he was required in
+Sicily, an abler man could not have been found in Lacedaemon. His
+country gave him neither men nor money, but she gave him her
+authority; and the influence of her name and of his own talents was
+speedily seen in the zeal with which the Corinthians and other
+Peloponnesian Greeks began to equip a squadron to act under him for
+the rescue of Sicily. As soon as four galleys were ready, he
+hurried over with them to the southern coast of Italy, and there,
+though he received such evil tidings of the state of Syracuse that
+he abandoned all hope of saving that city, he determined to remain
+on the coast, and do what he could in preserving the Italian cities
+from the Athenians.</p>
+<p>So nearly, indeed, had Nicias completed his beleaguering lines,
+and so utterly desperate had the state of Syracuse seemingly
+become, that an assembly of the Syracusans was actually convened,
+and they were discussing the terms on which they should offer to
+capitulate, when a galley was seen dashing into the great harbor,
+and making her way toward the town with all the speed which her
+rowers could supply. From her shunning the part of the harbor where
+the Athenian fleet lay, and making straight for the Syracusan side,
+it was clear that she was a friend; the enemy's cruisers, careless
+through confidence of success, made no attempt to cut her off; she
+touched the beach, and a Corinthian captain, springing on shore
+from her, was eagerly conducted to the assembly of the Syracusan
+people just in time to prevent the fatal vote being put for a
+surrender.</p>
+<p>Providentially for Syracuse, Gongylus, the commander of the
+galley, had been prevented by an Athenian squadron from following
+Gylippus to South Italy, and he had been obliged to push direct for
+Syracuse from Greece.</p>
+<p>The sight of actual succor, and the promise of more, revived the
+drooping spirits of the Syracusans. They felt that they were not
+left desolate to perish, and the tidings that a Spartan was coming
+to command them confirmed their resolution to continue their
+resistance. Gylippus was already near the city. He had learned at
+Locri that the first report which had reached him of the state of
+Syracuse was exaggerated, and that there was unfinished space in
+the besiegers' lines through which it was barely possible to
+introduce re&euml;nforcements into the town. Crossing the Straits
+of Messina, which the culpable negligence of Nicias had left
+unguarded, Gylippus landed on the northern coast of Sicily, and
+there began to collect from the Greek cities an army, of which the
+regular troops that he brought from Peloponnesus formed the
+nucleus. Such was the influence of the name of Sparta, and such
+were his own abilities and activity, that he succeeded in raising a
+force of about two thousand fully armed infantry, with a larger
+number of irregular troops. Nicias, as if infatuated, made no
+attempt to counteract his operation, nor, when Gylippus marched his
+little army toward Syracuse, did the Athenian commander endeavor to
+check him. The Syracusans marched out to meet him; and while the
+Athenians were solely intent on completing their fortifications on
+the southern side toward the harbor, Gylippus turned their position
+by occupying the high ground in the extreme rear of Epipolae. He
+then marched through the unfortified interval of Nicias' lines into
+the besieged town, and joining his troops with the Syracusan
+forces, after some engagements with varying success, gained the
+mastery over Nicias, drove the Athenians from Epipolae, and hemmed
+them into a disadvantageous position in the low grounds near the
+great harbor.</p>
+<p>The attention of all Greece was now fixed on Syracuse, and every
+enemy of Athens felt the importance of the opportunity now offered
+of checking her ambition, and, perhaps, of striking a deadly blow
+at her power. Larger reinforcements from Corinth, Thebes, and other
+cities now reached the Syracusans, while the baffled and dispirited
+Athenian general earnestly besought his countrymen to recall him,
+and represented the further prosecution of the siege as
+hopeless.</p>
+<p>But Athens had made it a maxim never to let difficulty or
+disaster drive her back from any enterprise once undertaken, so
+long as she possessed the means of making any effort, however
+desperate, for its accomplishment. With indomitable pertinacity,
+she now decreed, instead of recalling her first armament from
+before Syracuse, to send out a second, though her enemies near home
+had now renewed open warfare against her, and by occupying a
+permanent fortification in her territory had severely distressed
+her population, and were pressing her with almost all the hardships
+of an actual siege. She still was mistress of the sea, and she sent
+forth another fleet of seventy galleys, and another army, which
+seemed to drain almost the last reserves of her military
+population, to try if Syracuse could not yet be won, and the honor
+of the Athenian arms be preserved from the stigma of a retreat.
+Hers was, indeed, a spirit that might be broken, but never would
+bend. At the head of this second expedition she wisely placed her
+best general, Demosthenes, one of the most distinguished officers
+that the long Peloponnesian war had produced, and who, if he had
+originally held the Sicilian command, would soon have brought
+Syracuse to submission.</p>
+<p>The fame of Demosthenes the general has been dimmed by the
+superior lustre of his great countryman, Demosthenes the orator.
+When the name of Demosthenes is mentioned, it is the latter alone
+that is thought of. The soldier has found no biographer. Yet out of
+the long list of great men whom the Athenian republic produced,
+there are few that deserve to stand higher than this brave, though
+finally unsuccessful leader of her fleets and armies in the first
+half of the Peloponnesian war. In his first campaign in Aetolia he
+had shown some of the rashness of youth, and had received a lesson
+of caution by which he profited throughout the rest of his career,
+but without losing any of his natural energy in enterprise or in
+execution. He had performed the distinguished service of rescuing
+Naupactus from a powerful hostile armament in the seventh year of
+the war; he had then, at the request of the Acarnanian republics,
+taken on himself the office of commander-in-chief of all their
+forces, and at their head he had gained some important advantages
+over the enemies of Athens in Western Greece. His most celebrated
+exploits had been the occupation of Pylos on the Messenian coast,
+the successful defence of that place against the fleet and armies
+of Lacedaemon, and the subsequent capture of the Spartan forces on
+the isle of Sphacteria, which was the severest blow dealt to Sparta
+throughout the war, and which had mainly caused her to humble
+herself to make the truce with Athens.</p>
+<p>Demosthenes was as honorably unknown in the war of party
+politics at Athens as he was eminent in the war against the foreign
+enemy. We read of no intrigues of his on either the aristocratic or
+democratic side. He was neither in the interest of Nicias nor of
+Cleon. His private character was free from any of the stains which
+polluted that of Alcibiades. On all these points the silence of the
+comic dramatist is decisive evidence in his favor. He had also the
+moral courage, not always combined with physical, of seeking to do
+his duty to his country, irrespective of any odium that he himself
+might incur, and unhampered by any petty jealousy of those who were
+associated with him in command. There are few men named in ancient
+history of whom posterity would gladly know more or whom we
+sympathize with more deeply in the calamities that befell them than
+Demosthenes, the son of Alcisthenes, who, in the spring of the year
+413, left Piraeus at the head of the second Athenian expedition
+against Sicily.</p>
+<p>His arrival was critically timed; for Gylippus had encouraged
+the Syracusans to attack the Athenians under Nicias by sea as well
+as by land, and by one able stratagem of Ariston, one of the
+admirals of the Corinthian auxiliary squadron, the Syracusans and
+their confederates had inflicted on the fleet of Nicias the first
+defeat that the Athenian navy had ever sustained from a numerically
+inferior enemy. Gylippus was preparing to follow up his advantage
+by fresh attacks on the Athenians on both elements, when the
+arrival of Demosthenes completely changed the aspect of affairs and
+restored the superiority to the invaders. With seventy-three
+war-galleys in the highest state of efficiency, and brilliantly
+equipped, with a force of five thousand picked men of the regular
+infantry of Athens and her allies, and a still larger number of
+bowmen, javelin-men, and slingers on board, Demosthenes rowed round
+the great harbor with loud cheers and martial music, as if in
+defiance of the Syracusans and their confederates. His arrival had
+indeed changed their newly born hopes into the deepest
+consternation.</p>
+<p>The resources of Athens seemed inexhaustible, and resistance to
+her hopeless. They had been told that she was reduced to the last
+extremities, and that her territory was occupied by an enemy; and
+yet here they saw her sending forth, as if in prodigality of power,
+a second armament, to make foreign conquests, not inferior to that
+with which Nicias had first landed on the Sicilian shores.</p>
+<p>With the intuitive decision of a great commander, Demosthenes at
+once saw that the possession of Epipolae was the key to the
+possession of Syracuse, and he resolved to make a prompt and
+vigorous attempt to recover that position while his force was
+unimpaired and the consternation which its arrival had produced
+among the besieged remained unabated. The Syracusans and their
+allies had run out an outwork along Epipolae from the city walls,
+intersecting the fortified lines of circumvallation which Nicias
+had commenced, but from which he had been driven by Gylippus. Could
+Demosthenes succeed in storming this outwork, and in
+re&euml;stablishing the Athenian troops on the high ground, he
+might fairly hope to be able to resume the circumvallation of the
+city and become the conqueror of Syracuse; for when once the
+besiegers' lines were completed, the number of the troops with
+which Gylippus had garrisoned the place would only tend to exhaust
+the stores of provisions and accelerate its downfall.</p>
+<p>An easily repelled attack was first made on the outwork in the
+daytime, probably more with the view of blinding the besieged to
+the nature of the main operations than with any expectation of
+succeeding in an open assault, with every disadvantage of the
+ground to contend against. But, when the darkness had set in,
+Demosthenes formed his men in columns, each soldier taking with him
+five days' provisions, and the engineers and workmen of the camp
+following the troops with their tools and all portable implements
+of fortification, so as at once to secure any advantage of ground
+that the army might gain. Thus equipped and prepared, he led his
+men along by the foot of the southern flank of Epipolae, in a
+direction toward the interior of the island, till he came
+immediately below the narrow ridge that forms the extremity of the
+high ground looking westward. He then wheeled his vanguard to the
+right, sent them rapidly up the paths that wind along the face of
+the cliff, and succeeded in completely surprising the Syracusan
+outposts, and in placing his troops fairly on the extreme summit of
+the all-important Epipolae. Thence the Athenians marched eagerly
+down the slope toward the town, routing some Syracusan detachments
+that were quartered in their way, and vigorously assailing the
+unprotected side of the outwork.</p>
+<p>All at first favored them. The outwork was abandoned by its
+garrison, and the Athenian engineers began to dismantle it. In vain
+Gylippus brought up fresh troops to check the assault; the
+Athenians broke and drove them back, and continued to press hotly
+forward, in the full confidence of victory. But, amid the general
+consternation of the Syracusans and their confederates, one body of
+infantry stood firm. This was a brigade of their Boeotian allies,
+which was posted low down the slope of Epipolae, outside the city
+walls. Coolly and steadily the Boeotian infantry formed their line,
+and, undismayed by the current of flight around them, advanced
+against the advancing Athenians. This was the crisis of the battle.
+But the Athenian van was disorganized by its own previous
+successes; and, yielding to the unexpected charge thus made on it
+by troops in perfect order, and of the most obstinate courage, it
+was driven back in confusion upon the other divisions of the army
+that still continued to press forward. When once the tide was thus
+turned, the Syracusans passed rapidly from the extreme of panic to
+the extreme of vengeful daring, and with all their forces they now
+fiercely assailed the embarrassed and receding Athenians. In vain
+did the officers of the latter strive to reform their line. Amid
+the din and the shouting of the fight, and the confusion
+inseparable upon a night engagement, especially one where many
+thousand combatants were pent and whirled together in a narrow and
+uneven area, the necessary manoeuvres were impracticable; and
+though many companies still fought on desperately, wherever the
+moonlight showed them the semblance of a foe, they fought without
+concert or subordination; and not infrequently, amid the deadly
+chaos, Athenian troops assailed each other. Keeping their ranks
+close, the Syracusans and their allies pressed on against the
+disorganized masses of the besiegers, and at length drove them,
+with heavy slaughter, over the cliffs, which an hour or two before
+they had scaled full of hope and apparently certain of success.</p>
+<p>This defeat was decisive of the event of the siege. The
+Athenians afterward struggled only to protect themselves from the
+vengeance which the Syracusans sought to wreak in the complete
+destruction of their invaders. Never, however, was vengeance more
+complete and terrible. A series of sea-fights followed, in which
+the Athenian galleys were utterly destroyed or captured. The
+mariners and soldiers who escaped death in disastrous engagements,
+and a vain attempt to force a retreat into the interior of the
+island, became prisoners of war. Nicias and Demosthenes were put to
+death in cold blood, and their men either perished miserably in the
+Syracusan dungeons or were sold into slavery to the very persons
+whom, in their pride of power, they had crossed the seas to
+enslave.</p>
+<p>All danger from Athens to the independent nations of the West
+was now forever at an end. She, indeed, continued to struggle
+against her combined enemies and revolted allies with unparalleled
+gallantry, and many more years of varying warfare passed away
+before she surrendered to their arms. But no success in subsequent
+contests could ever have restored her to the pre&euml;minence in
+enterprise, resources, and maritime skill which she had acquired
+before her fatal reverses in Sicily. Nor among the rival Greek
+republics, whom her own rashness aided to crush her, was there any
+capable of reorganizing her empire, or resuming her schemes of
+conquest. The dominion of Western Europe was left for Rome and
+Carthage to dispute two centuries later, in conflicts still more
+terrible, and with even higher displays of military daring and
+genius than Athens had witnessed either in her rise, her meridian,
+or her fall.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_6"></a>RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 401-399</p>
+<p class="center">XENOPHON</p>
+<p class="intros">The expedition of the Greeks, generally known as
+the "Retreat of the Ten Thousand," was conducted by Xenophon, a
+Greek historian, essayist, and military commander. Xenophon was a
+pupil of Socrates, of whom he left a famous memoir. In B.C. 401 he
+accepted the invitation of his friend Proxenus of Boeotia, a
+general of Greek mercenaries, to take service under Cyrus the
+Younger, brother of Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of Persia.</p>
+<p class="intros">Cyrus had considered himself as deeply wronged by
+his elder brother, who had thrown him into prison on the death of
+their father, Darius. Escaping from prison, he formed a design to
+wrest the throne from Artaxerxes. For this purpose he engaged the
+forces of Proxenus, and to this army Xenophon attached himself. The
+rendezvous was Sardis, from which the army marched east under the
+pretext of chastising the revolting mountaineers of Pisidia.
+Instead of attacking the Pisidians, the followers of Cyrus
+proceeded east through Asia and Babylonia till they met the forces
+of Artaxerxes at Cunaxa. A furious battle took place, and the rout
+of the king's army had begun when Cyrus, elated with the victory
+that seemed just within his grasp, challenged his brother to single
+combat. In the duel that ensued Cyrus was slain. Proxenus had
+already fallen, and the virtual command of the Greek army soon
+devolved upon Xenophon, who thereupon began the famous retreat.</p>
+<p class="intros">A vivid account of battles, and of hardships
+endured from the cold, in the struggle through mountain snows,
+through almost impassable forests, and across bridgeless rivers, is
+given in Xenophon's <i>Anabasis</i>, the celebrated work, in seven
+books, which forms the classical narrative of the campaign and the
+retreat. Soon after the death of Cyrus, in September, B.C. 401, the
+seizure and murder of the leading Greek generals by the treacherous
+Persian satrap, Tissaphernes, placed the Greek army in great peril.
+Xenophon, who now took practical command, counselled and exhorted
+the surviving leaders, and on the next day the Greeks formed in a
+hollow square, the baggage in the centre, and began their retreat,
+which led them along the Tigris to the territory of the Carduchi
+(Kurds), through Armenia, and across Georgia, the enemy often
+harassing them.</p>
+<p class="intros">At the point where the climax of the story, which
+is presented here, may be said to begin, the Greeks have entered
+Armenia, passed the sources of the Tigris, and reached the
+Teleboas. Having made a treaty with Tiribazus, governor of the
+province, and discovered his insincerity, and that he was ready to
+attack them in their passage over the mountains, they resolved upon
+a quick resumption of their march.</p>
+<p class="intros">When, in the fifth month of the retreat the
+Greeks at last from a hilltop beheld the Euxine, they sent up a
+cry, "The sea! the sea!" which has echoed through succeeding ages
+as one of the great historic jubilations of humanity. At the end of
+the retreat their numbers were reduced to about six thousand, and
+from the starting-point at Cunaxa to the middle of the southern
+coast of the Black Sea they had travelled as much as two thousand
+miles. From Ephesus to Cunaxa and thence to the Black Sea region
+they had marched in fifteen months (February, B.C. 401, to June,
+400), and nine months more passed before they joined the Spartan
+army in Asia Minor, and their task was fully accomplished. Their
+great performance is regarded as having prepared the way for
+Alexander's triumphant advances in the East. The young conqueror,
+on the eve of the battle of Issus, declared that he owed
+inspiration to the feat of the Ten Thousand.</p>
+<p>It was thought necessary to march away as fast as possible,
+before the enemy's force should be reassembled, and get possession
+of the pass.</p>
+<p>Collecting their baggage at once, therefore, they set forward
+through a deep snow, taking with them several guides, and, having
+the same day passed the height on which Tiribazus had intended to
+attack them, they encamped. Hence they proceeded three days'
+journey through a desert tract of country, a distance of fifteen
+<i>parasangs</i>, to the river Euphrates, and passed it without
+being wet higher than the middle. The sources of the river were
+said not to be far off. From hence they advanced three days' march,
+through much snow and a level plain, a distance of fifteen
+parasangs; the third day's march was extremely troublesome, as the
+north wind blew full in their faces, completely parching up
+everything and benumbing the men. One of the augurs, in
+consequence, advised that they should sacrifice to the wind, and a
+sacrifice was accordingly offered, when the vehemence of the wind
+appeared to everyone manifestly to abate. The depth of the snow was
+a fathom, so that many of the baggage cattle and slaves perished,
+with about thirty of the soldiers.</p>
+<p>They continued to burn fires through the whole night, for there
+was plenty of wood at the place of encampment. But those who came
+up late could get no wood; those, therefore, who had arrived before
+and had kindled fires would not admit the late comers to the fire
+unless they gave them a share of the corn or other provisions that
+they had brought. Thus they shared with each other what they
+respectively had. In the places where the fires were made, as the
+snow melted, there were formed large pits that reached down to the
+ground, and here there was accordingly opportunity to measure the
+depth of the snow.</p>
+<p>From hence they marched through snow the whole of the following
+day, and many of the men contracted the <i>bulimia</i>.[<a href="#note-28">28</a>] Xenophon, who commanded in the rear, finding in
+his way such of the men as had fallen down with it, knew not what
+disease it was. But as one of these acquainted with it told him
+that they were evidently affected with bulimia, and that they would
+get up if they had something to eat, he went round among the
+baggage and wherever he saw anything eatable he gave it out, and
+sent such as were able to run to distribute it among those
+diseased, who, as soon as they had eaten, rose up and continued
+their march. As they proceeded, Chirisophus came, just as it grew
+dark, to a village, and found, at a spring in front of the rampart,
+some women and girls belonging to the place fetching water. The
+women asked them who they were, and the interpreter answered, in
+the Persian language, that they were people going from the king to
+the satrap. They replied that he was not there, but about a
+parasang off.</p>
+<p><a name="note-28"><!-- Note Anchor 28 --></a>[Footnote 28:
+Spelman quotes a description of the bulimia from Galen, in which it
+is said to be "a disease in which the patient frequently craves for
+food, loses the use of his limbs, falls down, turns pale, feels his
+extremities become cold, his stomach oppressed, and his pulse
+feeble." Here, however, it seems to mean little more than a
+faintness from long fasting.]</p>
+<p>However, as it was late, they went with the water-carriers
+within the rampart, to the head man of the village, and here
+Chirisophus and as many of the troops as could come up encamped;
+but of the rest, such as were unable to get to the end of the
+journey spent the night on the way without food or fire, and some
+of the soldiers lost their lives on that occasion. Some of the
+enemy too, who had collected themselves into a body, pursued our
+rear, and seized any of the baggage-cattle that were unable to
+proceed, fighting with one another for the possession of them. Such
+of the soldiers also as had lost their sight from the effects of
+the snow, or had their toes mortified by the cold, were left
+behind. It was found to be a relief to the eyes against the snow,
+if the soldiers kept something black before them on the march, and
+to the feet, if they kept constantly in motion, and allowed
+themselves no rest, and if they took off their shoes in the night.
+But as to such as slept with their shoes on, the straps worked into
+their feet, and the soles were frozen about them, for when their
+old shoes had failed them, shoes of raw hides had been made by the
+men themselves from the newly skinned oxen.</p>
+<p>From such unavoidable sufferings some of the soldiers were left
+behind, who, seeing a piece of ground of a black appearance, from
+the snow having disappeared there, conjectured that it must have
+melted, and it had in fact melted in the spot from the effect of a
+fountain, which was sending up vapor in a wooded hollow close at
+hand. Turning aside thither, they sat down and refused to proceed
+farther. Xenophon, who was with the rear-guard, as soon as he heard
+this tried to prevail on them by every art and means not to be left
+behind, telling them, at the same time, that the enemy were
+collected and pursuing them in great numbers. At last he grew
+angry, and they told him to kill them, as they were quite unable to
+go forward. He then thought it the best course to strike a terror,
+if possible, into the enemy that were behind, lest they should fall
+upon the exhausted soldiers. It was now dark, and the enemy were
+advancing with a great noise, quarrelling about the booty that they
+had taken, when such of the rear-guard as were not disabled started
+up and rushed toward them, while the tired men, shouting as loud as
+they could, clashed their spears against their shields. The enemy,
+struck with alarm, threw themselves among the snow into the hollow,
+and no one of them afterward made himself heard from any
+quarter.</p>
+<p>Xenophon and those with him, telling the sick men that a party
+should come to their relief next day, proceeded on their march, but
+before they had gone four <i>stadia</i> they found other soldiers
+resting by the way in the snow, and covered up with it, no guard
+being stationed over them. They roused them up, but they said that
+the head of the army was not moving forward. Xenophon, going past
+them and sending on some of the ablest of the <i>peltasts</i>,
+ordered them to ascertain what it was that hindered their progress.
+They brought word that the whole army was in that manner taking
+rest. Xenophon and his men, therefore, stationing such a guard as
+they could, took up their quarters there without fire or supper.
+When it was near day, he sent the youngest of his men to the sick,
+telling them to rouse them and oblige them to proceed. At this
+juncture Chirisophus sent some of his people from the village to
+see how the rear were faring. The young men were rejoiced to see
+them, and gave them the sick to conduct to the camp, while they
+themselves went forward, and, before they had gone twenty stadia,
+found themselves at the village in which Chirisophus was quartered.
+When they came together, it was thought safe enough to lodge the
+troops up and down in the village. Chirisophus accordingly remained
+where he was, and the other officers, appropriating by lot the
+several villages that they had in sight, went to their respective
+quarters with their men.</p>
+<p>Here Polycrates, an Athenian captain, requested leave of
+absence, and taking with him the most active of his men, and
+hastening to the village to which Xenophon had been allotted,
+surprised all the villagers and their head man in their houses,
+together with seventeen colts that were bred as a tribute for the
+king, and the head man's daughter, who had been but nine days
+married; her husband was gone out to hunt hares, and was not found
+in any of the villages. Their houses were underground, the entrance
+like the mouth of a well, but spacious below; there were passages
+dug into them for the cattle, but the people descended by ladders.
+In the houses were goats, sheep, cows, and fowls, with their young;
+all the cattle were kept on fodder within the walls.[<a href="#note-29">29</a>] There were also wheat, barley, leguminous
+vegetables, and barley wine[<a href="#note-30">30</a>] in large
+bowls; the grains of barley floated in it even with the brim of the
+vessels, and reeds also lay in it, some larger and some smaller,
+without joints; and these, when any one was thirsty, he was to take
+in his mouth and suck.[<a href="#note-31">31</a>] The liquor was
+very strong, unless one mixed water with it, and a very pleasant
+drink to those accustomed to it.</p>
+<p><a name="note-29"><!-- Note Anchor 29 --></a>[Footnote 29: This
+description of a village on the Armenian uplands applies itself to
+many that I visited in the present day. The descent by wells is now
+rare, but is still to be met with; but in exposed and elevated
+situations the houses are uniformly semi-subterraneous and entered
+by as small an aperture as possible, to prevent the cold getting
+in. Whatever the kind of cottage used, cows, sheep, goats, and
+fowls participate with the family in the warmth and protection
+thereof.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-30"><!-- Note Anchor 30 --></a>[Footnote 30:
+Something like our ale.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-31"><!-- Note Anchor 31 --></a>[Footnote 31: The
+reeds were used, says Krueger, that none of the grains of barley
+might be taken into the mouth.]</p>
+<p>Xenophon made the chief man of his village sup with him, and
+told him to be of good courage, assuring him that he should not be
+deprived of his children, and that they would not go away without
+filling his house with provisions in return for what they took, if
+he would but prove himself the author of some service to the army
+till they should reach another tribe. This he promised, and, to
+show his good-will, pointed out where some wine[<a href="#note-32">32</a>] was buried. This night, therefore, the soldiers
+rested in their several quarters in the midst of great abundance,
+setting a guard over the chief, and keeping his children at the
+same time under their eye. The following day Xenophon took the head
+man and went with him to Chirisophus, and wherever he passed by a
+village he turned aside to visit those who were quartered in it,
+and found them in all parts feasting and enjoying themselves; nor
+would they anywhere let them go till they had set refreshments
+before them; and they placed everywhere upon the same table lamb,
+kid, pork, veal, and fowl, with plenty of bread, both of wheat and
+barley. Whenever any person, to pay a compliment, wished to drink
+to another, he took him to the large bowl, where he had to stoop
+down and drink, sucking like an ox. The chief they allowed to take
+whatever he pleased, but he accepted nothing from them; where he
+found any of his relatives, however, he took them with him.</p>
+<p><a name="note-32"><!-- Note Anchor 32 --></a>[Footnote 32:
+Xenophon seems to mean <i>grape</i> wine, rather than to refer to
+the barley wine just before mentioned, of which the taste does not
+appear to have been much liked by the Greeks. Wine from grapes was
+not made, it is probable, in these parts, on account of the cold,
+but Strabo speaks of the fruit wine of Armenia Minor as not
+inferior to any of the Greek wines.—<i>Schneider</i>.]</p>
+<p>When they came to Chirisophus, they found his men also feasting
+in their quarters, crowned with wreaths made of hay, and Armenian
+boys, in their barbarian dress, waiting upon them, to whom they
+made signs what they were to do as if they had been deaf and dumb.
+When Chirisophus and Xenophon had saluted one another, they both
+asked the chief man, through the interpreter who spoke the Persian
+language, what country it was. He replied that it was Armenia. They
+then asked him for whom the horses were bred, and he said that they
+were a tribute for the king, and added that the neighboring country
+was that of Chalybes, and told them in what direction the road lay.
+Xenophon then went away, conducting the chief back to his family,
+giving him the horse that he had taken, which was rather old, to
+fatten and offer in sacrifice (for he had heard that it had been
+consecrated to the sun), being afraid, indeed, that it might die,
+as it had been injured by the journey. He then took some of the
+young horses, and gave one of them to each of the other generals
+and captains. The horses in this country were smaller than those of
+Persia, but far more spirited. The chief instructed the men to tie
+little bags round the feet of the horses and other cattle when they
+drove them through the snow, for without such bags they sunk up to
+their bellies.</p>
+<p>When the eighth day was come, Xenophon committed the guide to
+Chirisophus. He left the chief[<a href="#note-33">33</a>] all the
+members of his family, except his son, a youth just coming to
+mature age; him he gave in charge to Episthenes of Amphipolis, in
+order that if the father should conduct them properly he might
+return home with him. At the same time they carried to his house as
+many provisions as they could, and then broke up their camp and
+resumed their march. The chief conducted them through the snow,
+walking at liberty. When he came to the end of the third day's
+march, Chirisophus was angry at him for not guiding them to some
+villages. He said that there was none in that part of the country.
+Chirisophus then struck him, but did not confine him, and in
+consequence he ran off in the night, leaving his son behind him.
+This affair, the ill-treatment and neglect of the guide, was the
+only cause of dissension between Chirisophus and Xenophon during
+the march. Episthenes conceived an affection for the youth, and,
+taking him home, found him extremely attached to him.</p>
+<p><a name="note-33"><!-- Note Anchor 33 --></a>[Footnote 33: This
+is rather oddly expressed, for the guide and the chief were the
+same person.]</p>
+<p>After this occurrence they proceeded seven days' journey, five
+parasangs each day, till they came to the river Phasis, the breadth
+of which is a <i>plethrum</i>. Hence they advanced two days'
+journey, ten parasangs, when, on the pass that led over the
+mountains into the plain, the Chalybes, Taochi, and Phasians were
+drawn up to oppose their progress. Chirisophus, seeing these
+enemies in possession of the height, came to a halt, at the
+distance of about thirty stadia, that he might not approach them
+while leading the army in a column. He accordingly ordered the
+other officers to bring up their companies, that the whole force
+might be formed in line.</p>
+<p>When the rear-guard was come up, he called together the generals
+and captains and spoke to them as follows: "The enemy, as you see,
+is in possession of the pass over the mountains, and it is proper
+for us to consider how we may encounter them to the best advantage.
+It is my opinion, therefore, that we should direct the troops to
+get their dinner and that we ourselves should hold a council, in
+the mean time, whether it is advisable to cross the mountain to-day
+or to-morrow."</p>
+<p>"It seems best to me," exclaimed Cleanor, "to march at once, as
+soon as we have dined and resumed our arms, against the enemy; for
+if we waste the present day in inaction the enemy, who are now
+looking down upon us, will grow bolder, and it is likely that, as
+their confidence is increased, others will join them in greater
+numbers."</p>
+<p>After him Xenophon said: "I am of opinion that if it be
+necessary to fight, we ought to make our arrangements so as to
+fight with the greatest advantage; but that if we propose to pass
+the mountains as easily as possible, we ought to consider how we
+may incur the fewest wounds and lose the fewest men. The range of
+hills, as far as we see, extends more than sixty stadia in length;
+but the people nowhere seem to be watching us except along the line
+of road; and it is, therefore, better, I think, to endeavor to try
+to seize unobserved some part of the unguarded range, and to get
+possession of it, if we can, beforehand, than to attack a strong
+post and men prepared to resist us, for it is far less difficult to
+march up a steep ascent without fighting than along a level road
+with enemies on each side; and in the night, if men are not obliged
+to fight, they can see better what is before them than by day if
+engaged with enemies; while a rough road is easier to the feet to
+those who are marching without molestation than a smooth one to
+those who are pelted on the head with missiles. Nor do I think it
+at all impracticable for us to steal a way for ourselves, as we can
+march by night, so as not to be seen, and can keep at such a
+distance from the enemy as to allow no possibility of being heard.
+We seem likely, too, in my opinion, if we make a pretended attack
+on this point, to find the rest of the range still less guarded,
+for the enemy will so much the more probably stay where they are.
+But why should I speak doubtfully about stealing? For I hear that
+you Lacedaemonians, O Chirisophus, such of you at least as are of
+the better class, practise stealing from your boyhood, and it is
+not a disgrace, but an honor, to steal whatever the law does not
+forbid; while, in order that you may steal with the utmost
+dexterity, and strive to escape discovery, it is appointed by law
+that, if you are caught stealing, you are scourged. It is now high
+time for you, therefore, to give proof of your education, and to
+take care that we may not receive many stripes."</p>
+<p>"But I hear that you Athenians also," rejoined Chirisophus, "are
+very clever at stealing the public money, though great danger
+threatens him that steals it; and that your best men steal it most,
+if indeed your best men are thought worthy to be your magistrates;
+so that it is time for you likewise to give proof of your
+education."</p>
+<p>"I am then ready," exclaimed Xenophon, "to march with the
+rear-guard, as soon as we have supped, to take possession of the
+hills. I have guides too, for our light-armed men captured some of
+the marauders following us, by lying in ambush, and from them I
+learn that the mountains are not impassable, but are grazed over by
+goats and oxen, so that if we once gain possession of any part of
+the range, there will be tracks also for our baggage cattle. I
+expect also that the enemy will no longer keep their ground, when
+they see us upon a level with them on the heights, for they will
+not now come down to be upon a level with us." Chirisophus then
+said: "But why should you go, and leave the charge of the rear?
+Rather send others, unless some volunteers present themselves."
+Upon this Aristonymus of Methydria came forward with his
+heavy-armed men, and Aristeas of Chios and Nichomachus of Oeta with
+their light-armed; and they made an arrangement that as soon as
+they should reach the top they should light a number of fires.
+Having settled these points, they went to dinner; and after dinner
+Chirisophus led forward the whole army ten stadia toward the enemy,
+that he might appear to be fully resolved to march against them on
+that quarter.</p>
+<p>When they had taken their supper, and night came on, those
+appointed for the service went forward and got possession of the
+hills; the other troops rested where they were. The enemy, when
+they saw the heights occupied, kept watch and burned a number of
+fires all night. As soon as it was day, Chirisophus, after having
+offered sacrifice, marched forward along the road; while those who
+had gained the heights advanced by the ridge. Most of the enemy,
+meanwhile, stayed at the pass, but a part went to meet the troops
+coming along the heights. But before the main bodies came together,
+those on the ridge closed with one another, and the Greeks had the
+advantage, and put the enemy to flight. At the same time the
+Grecian peltasts ran up from the plain to attack the enemy drawn up
+to receive them, and Chirisophus followed at a quick pace with the
+heavy-armed men. The enemy at the pass, however, when they saw
+those above defeated, took to flight. Not many of them were killed,
+but a great number of shields were taken, which the Greeks, by
+hacking them with their swords, rendered useless. As soon as they
+had gained the ascent, and had sacrificed and erected a trophy,
+they went down into the plain before them, and arrived at a number
+of villages stored with abundance of excellent provisions.</p>
+<p>From hence they marched five days' journey, thirty parasangs, to
+the country of the Taochi, where provisions began to fail them; for
+the Taochi inhabited strong fastnesses, in which they had laid up
+all their supplies. Having at length, however, arrived at one place
+which had no city or houses attached to it, but in which men and
+women and a great number of cattle were assembled, Chirisophus, as
+soon as he came before it, made it the object of an attack; and
+when the first division that assailed it began to be tired, another
+succeeded, and then another, for it was not possible for them to
+surround it in a body, as there was a river about it. When Xenophon
+came up with his rear-guard, peltasts, and heavy-armed men,
+Chirisophus exclaimed: "You come seasonably, for we must take this
+place, as there are no provisions for the army unless we take
+it."</p>
+<p>They then deliberated together, and Xenophon asking what
+hindered them from taking the place, Chirisophus replied: "The only
+approach to it is the one which you see; but when any of our men
+attempt to pass along it, the enemy roll down stones over yonder
+impending rock, and whoever is struck is treated as you behold;"
+and he pointed, at the same moment, to some of the men who had had
+their legs and ribs broken. "But if they expend all their stones,"
+rejoined Xenophon, "is there anything else to prevent us from
+advancing? For we see, in front of us, only a few men, and but two
+or three of them armed. The space, too, through which we have to
+pass under exposure to the stones is, as you see, only about a
+hundred and fifty feet in length; and of this about a hundred feet
+is covered with large pine trees in groups, against which, if the
+men place themselves, what would they suffer either from the flying
+stones or the rolling ones? The remaining part of the space is not
+above fifty feet, over which, when the stones cease, we must pass
+at a running pace."</p>
+<p>"But," said Chirisophus, "the instant we offer to go to the part
+covered with trees, the stones fly in great numbers."</p>
+<p>"That," cried Xenophon, "would be the very thing we want, for
+thus they will exhaust their stones the sooner. Let us then
+advance, if we can, to the point whence we shall have but a short
+way to run, and from which we may, if we please, easily
+retreat."</p>
+<p>Chirisophus and Xenophon, with Callimachus of Parrhasia, one of
+the captains, who had that day the lead of all the other captains
+of the rear-guard, then went forward, all the rest of the captains
+remaining out of danger. Next, about seventy of the men advanced
+under the trees, not in a body, but one by one, each sheltering
+himself as he could. Agasias of Stymphalus, and Aristonymus of
+Methydria, who were also captains of the rear-guard, with some
+others were at the same time standing behind, without the trees,
+for it was not safe for more than one company to stand under them.
+Callimachus then adopted the following stratagem: he ran forward
+two or three paces from the tree under which he was sheltered, and
+when the stones began to be hurled, hastily drew back; and at each
+of his sallies more than ten cartloads of stones were spent.</p>
+<p>Agasias, observing what Callimachus was doing, and that the eyes
+of the whole army were upon him, and fearing that he himself might
+not be the first to enter the place, began to advance
+alone—neither calling to Aristonymus who was next him, nor to
+Eurylochus of Lusia, both of whom were his intimate friends, nor to
+any other person—and passed by all the rest. Callimachus,
+seeing him rushing by, caught hold of the rim of his shield, and at
+that moment Aristonymus of Methydria ran past them both, and after
+him Eurylochus of Lusia, for all these sought distinction for
+valor, and were rivals to one another; and thus, in mutual
+emulation, they got possession of the place, for when they had once
+rushed in, not a stone was hurled from above. But a dreadful
+spectacle was then to be seen; for the women, flinging their
+children over the precipice, threw themselves after them; and the
+men followed their example. Æneas of Stymphalus, a captain,
+seeing one of them, who had on a rich garment, running to throw
+himself over, caught hold of it with intent to stop him. But the
+man dragged him forward, and they both went rolling down the rocks
+together, and were killed. Thus very few prisoners were taken, but
+a great number of oxen, asses, and sheep.</p>
+<p>Hence they advanced, seven days' journey, a distance of fifty
+parasangs, through the country of the Chalybes. These were the most
+warlike people of all that they passed through, and came to close
+combat with them. They had linen cuirasses, reaching down to the
+groin, and, instead of skirts, thick cords twisted. They had also
+greaves and helmets, and at their girdles a short falchion, as
+large as a Spartan crooked dagger, with which they cut the throats
+of all whom they could master, and then, cutting off their heads,
+carried them away with them. They sang and danced when the enemy
+were likely to see them. They carried also a spear of about fifteen
+cubits in length, having one spike.[<a href="#note-34">34</a>] They
+stayed in their villages till the Greeks had passed by, when they
+pursued and perpetually harassed them. They had their dwellings in
+strong places, in which they had also laid up their provisions, so
+that the Greeks could get nothing from that country, but lived upon
+the cattle which they had taken from the Taochi.</p>
+<p><a name="note-34"><!-- Note Anchor 34 --></a>[Footnote 34:
+Having one iron point at the upper end, and no point at the lower
+for fixing the spear in the ground.]</p>
+<p>The Greeks next arrived at the river Harpasus, the breadth of
+which was four <i>plethra</i>. Hence they proceeded through the
+territory of the Scythini, four days' journey, making twenty
+parasangs, over a level tract, until they came to some villages, in
+which they halted three days and collected provisions. From this
+place they advanced four days' journey, twenty parasangs, to a
+large, rich and populous city, called Gymnias, from which the
+governor of the country sent the Greeks a guide to conduct them
+through a region at war with his own people. The guide, when he
+came, said that he would take them in five days to a place whence
+they should see the sea; if not, he would consent to be put to
+death. When, as he proceeded, he entered the country of their
+enemies, he exhorted them to burn and lay waste the lands; whence
+it was evident that he had come for this very purpose, and not from
+any good-will to the Greeks.</p>
+<p>On the fifth day they came to the mountain; and the name of it
+was Theches. When the men who were in the front had mounted the
+height, and looked down upon the sea, a great shout proceeded from
+them; and Xenophon and the rearguard, on hearing it, thought that
+some new enemies were assailing the front, for in the rear, too,
+the people from the country that they had burned were following
+them, and the rear-guard, by placing an ambuscade, had killed some,
+and taken others prisoners, and had captured about twenty shields
+made of raw ox-hides with the hair on. But as the noise still
+increased, and drew nearer, and as those who came up from time to
+time kept running at full speed to join those who were continually
+shouting, the cries becoming louder as the men became more
+numerous, it appeared to Xenophon that it must be something of very
+great moment. Mounting his horse, therefore, and taking with him
+Lycius and the cavalry, he hastened forward to give aid, when
+presently they heard the soldiers shouting, "The sea, the sea!" and
+cheering on one another. They then all began to run, the rear-guard
+as well as the rest, and the baggage-cattle and horses were put to
+their speed; and when they had all arrived at the top, the men
+embraced one another and their generals and captains, with tears in
+their eyes. Suddenly, whoever it was that suggested it, the
+soldiers brought stones, and raised a large mound, on which they
+laid a number of raw ox-hides, staves, and shields taken from the
+enemy. The shields the guide himself hacked in pieces, and exhorted
+the rest to do the same. Soon after, the Greeks sent away the
+guide, giving him presents from the common stock: a horse, a silver
+cup, a Persian robe, and ten <i>darics</i>; but he showed most
+desire for the rings on their fingers, and obtained many of them
+from the soldiers. Having then pointed out to them a village where
+they might take up their quarters, and the road by which they were
+to proceed to the Macrones, when the evening came on he departed,
+pursuing his way during the night.</p>
+<p>Hence the Greeks advanced three days' journey, a distance of ten
+parasangs, through the country of the Macrones. On the first day
+they came to a river which divides the territories of the Macrones
+from those of the Scythini. On their right they had an eminence
+extremely difficult of access, and on their left another river,
+into which the boundary river, which they had to cross, empties
+itself. This stream was thickly edged with trees, not indeed large,
+but growing closely together. These the Greeks, as soon as they
+came to the spot, cut down,[<a href="#note-35">35</a>] being in
+haste to get out of the country as soon as possible. The Macrones,
+however, equipped with wicker shields, and spears, and hair tunics,
+were drawn up on the opposite side of the crossing-place; they were
+animating one another and throwing stones into the river.[<a href="#note-36">36</a>] They did not hit our men or cause them any
+inconvenience.</p>
+<p><a name="note-35"><!-- Note Anchor 35 --></a>[Footnote 35: The
+Greeks cut down the trees in order to throw them into the stream,
+and form a kind of bridge on which they might cross.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-36"><!-- Note Anchor 36 --></a>[Footnote 36: They
+threw stones into the river that they might stand on them and
+approach nearer to the Greeks, so as to use their weapons with more
+effect.]</p>
+<p>At this juncture one of the peltasts came up to Xenophon, saying
+that he had been a slave at Athens, and adding that he knew the
+language of these men. "I think, indeed," said he, "that this is my
+country, and, if there is nothing to prevent, I should wish to
+speak to the people."</p>
+<p>"There is nothing to prevent," replied Xenophon; "so speak to
+them, and first ascertain what people they are." When he asked
+them, they said that they were the Macrones. "Inquire, then," said
+Xenophon, "why they are drawn up to oppose us and wish to be our
+enemies." They replied, "Because you come against our country." The
+generals then told him to acquaint them that we were not come with
+any wish to do them injury, but that we were returning to Greece
+after having been engaged in war with the king, and that we were
+desirous to reach the sea. They asked if the Greeks would give
+pledges to this effect; and the Greeks replied that they were
+willing both to give and receive them. The Macrones accordingly
+presented the Greeks with a barbarian lance, and the Greeks gave
+them a Grecian one; for they said that such were their usual
+pledges. Both parties called the gods to witness.</p>
+<p>After these mutual assurances, the Macrones immediately assisted
+them in cutting away the trees and made a passage for them as if to
+bring them over, mingling freely among the Greeks; they also gave
+such facilities as they could for buying provisions, and conducted
+them through their country for three days, until they brought them
+to the confines of the Colchians. Here was a range of hills, high,
+but accessible, and upon them the Colchians were drawn up in array.
+The Greeks, at first, drew up against them in a line, with the
+intention of marching up the hill in this disposition; but
+afterward the generals thought proper to assemble and deliberate
+how they might engage with the best effect.</p>
+<p>Xenophon then said it appeared to him that they ought to
+relinquish the arrangement in line, and to dispose the troops in
+columns; "for a line," pursued he, "will be broken at once, as we
+shall find the hills in some parts impassable, though in others
+easy of access; and this disruption will immediately produce
+despondency in the men, when, after being ranged in a regular line,
+they find it dispersed. Again, if we advance drawn up very many
+deep, the enemy will stretch beyond us on both sides, and will
+employ the parts that outreach us in any way they may think proper;
+and if we advance only a few deep, it would not be at all
+surprising if our line be broken through by showers of missiles and
+men falling upon us in large bodies. If this happen in any part, it
+will be ill for the whole extent of the line. I think, then, that
+having formed our companies in columns, we should keep them so far
+apart from each other as that the last companies on each side may
+be beyond the enemy's wings. Thus our extreme companies will both
+outflank the line of the enemy, and, as we march in file, the
+bravest of our men will close with the enemy first, and wherever
+the ascent is easiest, there each division will direct its course.
+Nor will it be easy for the enemy to penetrate into the intervening
+spaces when there are companies on each side, nor will it be easy
+to break through a column as it advances; while, if any one of the
+companies be hard pressed, the neighboring one will support it; and
+if but one of the companies can by any path attain the summit, the
+enemy will no longer stand their ground."</p>
+<p>This plan was approved, and they threw the companies into
+columns. Xenophon, riding along from the right wing to the left,
+said: "Soldiers, the enemy whom you see before you is now the only
+obstacle to hinder us from being where we have long been eager to
+be. These, if we can, we must eat up alive."</p>
+<p>When the men were all in their places, and they had formed the
+companies into columns, there were about eighty companies of
+heavy-armed men, and each company consisted of about eighty men.
+The peltasts and archers they divided into three bodies, each about
+six hundred men, one of which they placed beyond the left wing,
+another beyond the right, and the third in the centre. The generals
+then desired the soldiers to make their vows to the gods; and
+having made them, and sung the paean, they moved forward.
+Chirisophus and Xenophon, and the peltasts that they had with them,
+who were beyond the enemy's flanks, pushed on; and the enemy,
+observing their motions, and hurrying forward to receive them, was
+drawn off, some to the right and others to the left, and left a
+great void in the centre of the line; when the peltasts in the
+Arcadian division, whom Aeschines the Acarnanian commanded, seeing
+the Colchians separate, ran forward in all haste, thinking that
+they were taking to flight; and these were the first that reached
+the summit. The Arcadian heavy-armed troop, of which Clearnor the
+Orchomenian was captain, followed them. But the enemy, when once
+the Greeks began to run, no longer stood its ground, but went off
+in flight, some one way and some another.</p>
+<p>Having passed the summit, the Greeks encamped in a number of
+villages containing abundance of provisions. As to other things
+here, there was nothing at which they were surprised; but the
+number of bee-hives was extraordinary, and all the soldiers that
+ate of the combs lost their senses, vomited, and were affected with
+purging, and not any of them was able to stand upright; such as had
+eaten a little were like men greatly intoxicated, and such as had
+eaten much were like madmen, and some like persons at the point of
+death. They lay upon the ground, in consequence, in great numbers,
+as if there had been a defeat; and there was general dejection. The
+next day no one of them was found dead; and they recovered their
+senses about the same hour that they had lost them on the preceding
+day; and on the third and fourth days they got up as if after
+having taken physic.[<a href="#note-37">37</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-37"><!-- Note Anchor 37 --></a>[Footnote 37: That
+there was honey in these parts, with intoxicating qualities, was
+well known to antiquity. Pliny mentions two sorts of it, one
+produced at Heraclea in Pontus, and the other among the Sanni or
+Macrones. The peculiarities of the honey arose from the herbs to
+which the bees resorted; the first came from the flower of a plant
+called <i>oegolethron</i>, or goatsbane; the other from a species
+of rhododendron. Tournefort, when he was in that country, saw honey
+of this description. Ainsworth found that the intoxicating honey
+had a bitter taste. This honey is also mentioned by
+Dioscorides.]</p>
+<p>From hence they proceeded two days' march, seven parasangs, and
+arrived at Trebizond, a Greek city, of large population, on the
+Euxine Sea; a colony of Sinope, but lying in the territory of the
+Colchians. Here they stayed about thirty days, encamping in the
+villages of the Colchians, whence they made excursions and
+plundered the country of Colchis. The people of Trebizond provided
+a market for the Greeks in the camp, and entertained them in the
+city; and made them presents of oxen, barley-meal, and wine. They
+negotiated with them also on behalf of the neighboring Colchians,
+those especially who dwelt in the plain, and from them too were
+brought presents of oxen.</p>
+<p>Soon after, they prepared to perform the sacrifice which they
+had vowed. Oxen enough had been brought them to offer to Jupiter
+the Preserver, and to Hercules, for their safe conduct, and
+whatever they had vowed to the other gods. They also celebrated
+gymnastic games upon the hill where they were encamped, and chose
+Dracontius, a Spartan—who had become an exile from his
+country when quite a boy, for having involuntarily killed a child
+by striking him with a dagger—to prepare the course and
+preside at the contests. When the sacrifice was ended, they gave
+the hides[<a href="#note-38">38</a>] to Dracontius, and desired him
+to conduct them to the place where he had made the course.
+Dracontius, pointing to the place where they were standing, said,
+"This hill is an excellent place for running, in whatever direction
+the men may wish."</p>
+<p><a name="note-38"><!-- Note Anchor 38 --></a>[Footnote 38: Lion
+and Kuehner have a notion that these skins were to be given as
+prizes to the victors, referring to Herodotus, who says that the
+Egyptians, in certain games which they celebrate in honor of
+Perseus, offer as prizes cattle, cloaks, and hides. Krueger doubts
+whether they were intended for prizes, or were given as a present
+to Dracontius.]</p>
+<p>"But how will they be able," said they, "to wrestle on ground so
+rough and bushy?"</p>
+<p>"He that falls," said he, "will suffer the more." Boys, most of
+them from among the prisoners, contended in the short course, and
+in the long course above sixty Cretans ran; while others were
+matched in wrestling, boxing, and the <i>pancratium</i>. It was a
+fine sight; for many entered the lists, and as their friends were
+spectators, there was great emulation. Horses also ran; and they
+had to gallop down the steep, and, turning round in the sea, to
+come up again to the altar. In the descent, many rolled down; but
+in the ascent, against the exceedingly steep ground, the horses
+could scarcely get up at a walking pace. There was consequently
+great shouting and laughter and cheering from the people.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_7"></a>CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 399</p>
+<p class="center">PLATO</p>
+<p class="intros">The death of Socrates was brought about under the
+restored democracy by three of his enemies—Lycon, Meletus,
+and Anytus, the last a man of high rank and reputation in the
+state. Socrates was accused by them of despising the ancient gods
+of the state, introducing new divinities and corrupting the youth
+of Athens. He was charged with having taught his followers, young
+men of the first Athenian families, to despise the established
+government, to be turbulent and seditious, and his accusors pointed
+to Alcibiades and Critias, notorious for their lawlessness, as
+examples of the fruits of his teaching.</p>
+<p class="intros">It is quite certain that Socrates disliked the
+Athenian government and considered democracy as tyrannical as
+despotism. But there was no law at Athens by which he could be put
+to death for his words and actions, and the vague charge could
+never have been made unless the whole trial of the philosopher had
+been a party movement, headed by men like Lycon and Anytus, whose
+support of the unjust measure made the condemnation of Socrates a
+foregone conclusion. Xenophon, the pupil and admirer of the
+philosopher, expresses in his <i>Memorabilia of Socrates</i> his
+surprise that the Athenians should have condemned to death a man of
+such exalted character and transparent innocence. But the influence
+of the teacher with his pupils, most of them sons of the wealthiest
+citizens, might well have been dreaded by those in office and
+engaged in the conduct of public business. By them, the common
+politicians of the day, Socrates, with his keen and witty criticism
+of political corruption and demagogism, must have been considered a
+formidable adversary.</p>
+<p class="intros">Accordingly, by the decision of the Athenian
+court, the philosopher was sentenced to death by drinking a cup of
+hemlock. Although it was usual for criminals to be executed the day
+following their condemnation, he enjoyed a respite of thirty days,
+during which time his friends had access to his prison cell. It was
+the time when the ceremonial galley was crowned and sent on her
+pilgrimage to the holy Isle of Delos, and no criminal could be
+executed until her return. Socrates exhibited heroic constancy and
+cheerfulness during this interval, and repudiated the offers of his
+friends to aid in his escape, though they had chartered a ship to
+carry him to Thessaly. With calm composure he reasoned on the
+immortality of the soul, and cheered his visitors with words of
+hope.</p>
+<p class="intros">The literary portraits of Socrates furnished by
+himself, and the writings of Plato, are among the most precious
+monuments of antiquity, and the life and death of such a man form a
+memorable era in the moral and intellectual history of mankind.</p>
+<p class="intros">Plato, in his <i>Phædo, or the Immortality
+of the Soul</i>, gives the following dialogue between Echecrates
+and Phædo—two friends and disciples of the late
+philosopher—evidently with no other purpose in view than to
+lend to the account of the great teacher's last hours, and the last
+words his followers were to hear from his lips, the additional
+force and dramatic value of a personal narrative in the mouth of a
+loving pupil and an actual eyewitness of his death.</p>
+<p>Echecrates. Were you personally present, Phaedo, with Socrates
+on that day when he drank the poison in prison? or did you hear an
+account of it from someone else?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> I was there myself, Echecrates.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> What then did he say before his death? and how did
+he die? for I should be glad to hear; for scarcely any citizen of
+Phlius[<a href="#note-39">39</a>] ever visits Athens now, nor has
+any stranger for a long time come from thence, who was able to give
+us a clear account of the particulars, except that he died from
+drinking poison; but he was unable to tell us anything more.</p>
+<p><a name="note-39"><!-- Note Anchor 39 --></a>[Footnote 39:
+Phlius, to which Echecrates belonged, was a town of Sicyonia in
+Peloponnesus.]</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> And did you not hear about the trial how it
+went off?</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> Yes; some one told me this; and I wondered, that as
+it took place so long ago, he appears to have died long afterward.
+What was the reason of this, Phaedo?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> An accidental circumstance happened in his
+favor, Echecrates: for the poop of the ship which the Athenians
+send to Delos, chanced to be crowned on the day before the
+trial.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> But what is this ship?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> It is the ship, as the Athenians say, in
+which Theseus formerly conveyed the fourteen boys and girls to
+Crete and saved both them and himself. They, therefore, made a vow
+to Apollo on that occasion, as it is said, that if they were saved
+they would every year despatch a solemn embassy to Delos; which,
+from that time to the present, they send yearly to the god. When
+they begin the preparations for this solemn embassy, they have a
+law that the city shall be purified during this period, and that no
+public execution shall take place until the ship has reached Delos,
+and returned to Athens: and this occasionally takes a long time,
+when the winds happen to impede their passage. The commencement of
+the embassy is when the priest of Apollo has crowned the poop of
+the ship. And this was done, as I said, on the day before the
+trial: on this account Socrates had a long interval in prison
+between the trial and his death.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> And what, Phædo, were the circumstances of his
+death? what was said and done? and who of his friends were with
+him? or would not the magistrates allow them to be present, but did
+he die destitute of friends?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> By no means; but some, indeed several, were
+present.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> Take the trouble, then, to relate to me all the
+particulars as clearly as you can, unless you have any pressing
+business.</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> I am at leisure, and will endeavor to give
+you a full account: for to call Socrates to mind, whether speaking
+myself or listening to some one else, is always most delightful to
+me.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> And indeed, Phaedo, you have others to listen to you
+who are of the same mind. However, endeavor to relate everything as
+accurately as you can.</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> I was indeed wonderfully affected by being
+present, for I was not impressed with a feeling of pity, like one
+present at the death of a friend; for the man appeared to me to be
+happy, Echecrates, both from his manner and discourse, so
+fearlessly and nobly did he meet his death: so much so that it
+occurred to me that in going to Hades he was not going without a
+divine destiny, but that when he arrived there he would be happy,
+if anyone ever was. For this reason I was entirely uninfluenced by
+any feeling of pity, as would seem likely to be the case with one
+present on so mournful an occasion; nor was I affected by pleasure
+from being engaged in philosophical discussions, as was our custom;
+for our conversation was of that kind. But an altogether
+unaccountable feeling possessed me, a kind of unusual mixture
+compounded of pleasure and pain together, when I considered that he
+was immediately about to die. And all of us who were present were
+affected in much the same manner, at one time laughing, at another
+weeping one of us especially, Apollodorus, for you know the man and
+his manner.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> How should I not?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> He, then, was entirely overcome by these
+emotions; and I too was troubled, as well as the others.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> But who were present, Phaedo?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> Of his fellow-countrymen, this Apollodorus
+was present, and Critobulus, and his father Crito, moreover
+Hermogenes, Epigenes, Æschines, and Antisthenes; Ctesippus
+the Pæanian, Menexenus, and some other of his countrymen were
+also there: Plato I think was sick.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> Were any strangers present?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> Yes: Simmias the Theban, Cebes, and
+Phaedondes: and from Megara, Euclides and Terpsion.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> But what! were not Aristippus and Cleombrotus
+present?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> No: for they were said to be at
+Ægina.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> Was anyone else there?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> I think that these were nearly all who were
+present.</p>
+<p><i>Ech.</i> Well, now, what do you say was the subject of
+conversation?</p>
+<p><i>Phæd.</i> I will endeavor to relate the whole to you
+from the beginning. On the preceding days I and the others were
+constantly in the habit of visiting Socrates, meeting early in the
+morning at the court-house where the trial took place, for it was
+near the prison. Here then we waited every day till the prison was
+opened, conversing with each other; for it was not opened very
+early, but, as soon as it was opened we went in to Socrates, and
+usually spent the day with him. On that occasion, however, we met
+earlier than usual; for on the preceding day, when we left the
+prison in the evening, we heard that the ship had arrived from
+Delos. We therefore urged each other to come as early as possible
+to the accustomed place; accordingly we came, and the porter, who
+used to admit us, coming out, told us to wait, and not enter until
+he called us. "For," he said, "the Eleven are now freeing Socrates
+from his bonds, and announcing to him that he must die to-day." But
+in no long time he returned, and bade us enter.</p>
+<p>When we entered, we found Socrates just freed from his bonds,
+and Xantippe (you know her), holding his little boy and sitting by
+him. As soon as Xantippe saw us, she wept aloud and said such
+things as women usually do on such occasions, as, "Socrates, your
+friends will now converse with you for the last time, and you with
+them." But Socrates, looking toward Crito, said, "Crito, let some
+one take her home." Upon which some of Crito's attendants led her
+away, wailing and beating herself.</p>
+<p>But Socrates, sitting up in bed, drew up his leg and rubbed it
+with his hand, and as he rubbed it said: "What an unaccountable
+thing, my friends, that seems to be which men call pleasure; and
+how wonderfully is it related toward that which appears to be its
+contrary, pain; in that they will not both be present to a man at
+the same time, yet, if anyone pursues and attains the one, he is
+almost always compelled to receive the other, as if they were both
+united together from one head.</p>
+<p>"And it seems to me," he said, "that if Æsop had observed
+this he would have made a fable from it, how the Deity, wishing to
+reconcile these warring principles, when he could not do so, united
+their heads together, and from hence whomsoever the one visits the
+other attends immediately after; as appears to be the case with me,
+since I suffered pain in my leg before from the chain, but now
+pleasure seems to have succeeded."</p>
+<p>Hereupon Cebes, interrupting him, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates,
+you have done well in reminding me. With respect to the poems which
+you made, by putting into metre those Fables of Æsop and the
+hymn to Apollo, several other persons asked me, and especially
+Evenus recently, with what design you made them after you came
+here, whereas before, you had never made any. If, therefore, you
+care at all that I should be able to answer Evenus when he asks me
+again—for I am sure he will do so—tell me what I must
+say to him."</p>
+<p>"Tell him the truth then, Cebes," he replied, "that I did not
+make them from a wish to compete with him, or his poems, for I knew
+that this would be no easy matter; but that I might discover the
+meaning of certain dreams, and discharge my conscience, if this
+should happen to be the music which they have often ordered me to
+apply myself to. For they were to the following purport: often in
+my past life the same dream visited me, appearing at different
+times in different forms, yet always saying the same thing.
+'Socrates,' it said, 'apply yourself to and practise music.' And I
+formerly supposed that it exhorted and encouraged me to continue
+the pursuit I was engaged in, as those who cheer on racers, so that
+the dream encouraged me to continue the pursuit I was engaged in,
+namely, to apply myself to music, since philosophy is the highest
+music, and I was devoted to it. But now since my trial took place,
+and the festival of the god retarded my death, it appeared to me
+that, if by chance the dream so frequently enjoined me to apply
+myself to popular music, I ought not to disobey it but do so, for
+that it would be safer for me not to depart hence before I had
+discharged my conscience by making some poems in obedience to the
+dream. Thus, then, I first of all composed a hymn to the god whose
+festival was present, and after the god, considering that a poet,
+if he means to be a poet, ought to make fables and not discourses,
+and knowing that I was not skilled in making fables, I therefore
+put into verse those fables of Æsop, which were at hand, and
+were known to me, and which first occurred to me.</p>
+<p>"Tell this then to Evenus, Cebes, and bid him farewell, and, if
+he is wise, to follow me as soon as he can. But I depart, as it
+seems, to-day; for so the Athenians order."</p>
+<p>To this Simmias said: "What is this, Socrates, which you exhort
+Evenus to do? for I often meet with him; and from what I know of
+him, I am pretty certain that he will not at all be willing to
+comply with your advice."</p>
+<p>"What then," said he, "is not Evenus a philosopher?"</p>
+<p>"To me he seems to be so," said Simmias.</p>
+<p>"Then he will be willing," rejoined Socrates, "and so will
+everyone who worthily engages in this study; perhaps indeed he will
+not commit violence on himself, for that they say is not
+allowable." And as he said this he let down his leg from the bed on
+the ground, and in this posture continued during the remainder of
+the discussion.</p>
+<p>Cebes then asked him: "What do you mean, Socrates, by saying
+that it is not lawful to commit violence on one's self, but that a
+philosopher should be willing to follow one who is dying?"</p>
+<p>"What, Cebes, have not you and Simmias, who have conversed
+familiarly with Philolaus[<a href="#note-40">40</a>] on this
+subject, heard?"</p>
+<p><a name="note-40"><!-- Note Anchor 40 --></a>[Footnote 40: A
+Pythagorean of Crotona.]</p>
+<p>"Nothing very clearly, Socrates."</p>
+<p>"I however speak only from hearsay; what then I have heard I
+have no scruple in telling. And perhaps it is most becoming for one
+who is about to travel there, to inquire and speculate about the
+journey thither, what kind we think it is. What else can one do in
+the interval before sunset?"</p>
+<p>"Why, then, Socrates, do they say that it is not allowable to
+kill one's self? for I, as you asked just now, have heard both
+Philolaus, when he lived with us, and several others say that it
+was not right to do this; but I never heard anything clear upon the
+subject from anyone."</p>
+<p>"Then you should consider it attentively," said Socrates, "for
+perhaps you may hear: probably, however, it will appear wonderful
+to you, if this alone of all other things is an universal
+truth,[<a href="#note-41">41</a>] and it never happens to a man, as
+is the case in all other things, that at some times and to some
+persons only it is better to die than to live; yet that these men
+for whom it is better to die—this probably will appear
+wonderful to you—may not, without impiety, do this good to
+themselves, but must await another benefactor."</p>
+<p><a name="note-41"><!-- Note Anchor 41 --></a>[Footnote 41:
+Namely, "that it is better to die than live."]</p>
+<p>Then Cebes, gently smiling, said, speaking in his own dialect,
+"Jove be witness."</p>
+<p>"And indeed," said Socrates, "it would appear to be
+unreasonable, yet still perhaps it has some reason on its side. The
+maxim indeed given on this subject in the mystical
+doctrines,[<a href="#note-42">42</a>] that we men are in a kind of
+prison, and that we ought not to free ourselves from it and escape,
+appears to me difficult to be understood, and not easy to
+penetrate. This however appears to me, Cebes, to be well said, that
+the gods take care of us, and that we men are one of their
+possessions. Does it not seem so to you?"</p>
+<p><a name="note-42"><!-- Note Anchor 42 --></a>[Footnote 42: Of
+Pythagoras.]</p>
+<p>"It does," replied Cebes.</p>
+<p>"Therefore," said he, "if one of your slaves were to kill
+himself, without your having intimated that you wished him to die,
+should you not be angry with him, and should you not punish him if
+you could?"</p>
+<p>"Certainly," he replied.</p>
+<p>"Perhaps then, in this point of view, it is not unreasonable to
+assert, that a man ought not to kill himself before the deity lays
+him under a necessity of doing so, such as that now laid on
+me."</p>
+<p>"This, indeed," said Cebes, "appears to be probable. But what
+you said just now, Socrates, that philosophers should be very
+willing to die, appears to be an absurdity, if what we said just
+now is agreeable to reason, that it is God who takes care of us,
+and that we are his property. For that the wisest men should not be
+grieved at leaving that service in which they govern them who are
+the best of all masters, namely, the gods, is not consistent with
+reason. For surely he cannot think that he will take better care of
+himself when he has become free: but a foolish man might perhaps
+think thus, that he should fly from his master, and would not
+reflect that he ought not to fly from a good one, but should cling
+to him as much as possible, therefore he would fly against all
+reason; but a man of sense would desire to be constantly with one
+better than himself. Thus, Socrates, the contrary of what you just
+now said is likely to be the case; for it becomes the wise to be
+grieved at dying, but the foolish to rejoice."</p>
+<p>Socrates, on hearing this, appeared to me to be pleased with the
+pertinacity of Cebes, and looking toward us said: "Cebes, you see,
+always searches out arguments, and is not at all willing to admit
+at once anything one has said."</p>
+<p>Whereupon Simmias replied: "But indeed, Socrates, Cebes appears
+to me, now, to say something to the purpose; for with what design
+should men really wise fly from masters who are better than
+themselves, and so readily leave them? And Cebes appears to me to
+direct his argument against you, because you so easily endure to
+abandon both us and those good rulers—as you yourself
+confess—the gods."</p>
+<p>"You speak justly," said Socrates, "for I think you mean that I
+ought to make my defence to this charge, as if I were in a court of
+justice."</p>
+<p>"Certainly," replied Simmias.</p>
+<p>"Come then," said he, "I will endeavor to defend myself more
+successfully before you than before the judges. For," he proceeded,
+"Simmias and Cebes, if I did not think that I should go first of
+all among other deities who are both wise and good, and next among
+men who have departed this life better than any here, I should be
+wrong in not grieving at death: but now be assured, I hope to go
+among good men, though I would not positively assert it; that,
+however, I shall go among gods who are perfectly good masters, be
+assured I can positively assert this, if I can anything of the
+kind. So that, on this account, I am not so much troubled, but I
+entertain a good hope that something awaits those who die, and
+that, as was said long since, it will be far better for the good
+than the evil."</p>
+<p>"What then, Socrates," said Simmias, "would you go away keeping
+this persuasion to yourself, or would you impart it to us? For this
+good appears to me to be also common to us; and at the same time it
+will be an apology for you, if you can persuade us to believe what
+you say."</p>
+<p>"I will endeavor to do so," he said. "But first let us attend to
+Crito here, and see what it is he seems to have for some time
+wished to say."</p>
+<p>"What else, Socrates," said Crito, "but what he who is to give
+you the poison told me some time ago, that I should tell you to
+speak as little as possible? For he says that men become too much
+heated by speaking, and that nothing of this kind ought to
+interfere with the poison, and that, otherwise, those who did so
+were sometimes compelled to drink two or three times."</p>
+<p>To which Socrates replied: "Let him alone, and let him attend to
+his own business, and prepare to give it me twice, or, if occasion
+requires, even thrice."</p>
+<p>"I was almost certain what you would say," answered Crito, "but
+he has been some time pestering me."</p>
+<p>"Never mind him," he rejoined.</p>
+<p>"But now I wish to render an account to you, my judges, of the
+reason why a man who has really devoted his life to philosophy,
+when he is about to die appears to me, on good grounds, to have
+confidence, and to entertain a firm hope that the greatest good
+will befall him in the other world, when he has departed this life.
+How then this comes to pass, Simmias and Cebes, I will endeavor to
+explain.</p>
+<p>"For as many as rightly apply themselves to philosophy seem to
+have left all others in ignorance, that they aim at nothing else
+than to die and be dead. If this then is true, it would surely be
+absurd to be anxious about nothing else than this during their
+whole life, but when it arrives, to be grieved at what they have
+been long anxious about and aimed at."</p>
+<p>Upon this, Simmias, smiling, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates, though
+I am not now at all inclined to smile, you have made me do so; for
+I think that the multitude, if they heard this, would think it was
+very well said in reference to philosophers, and that our
+countrymen particularly would agree with you, that true
+philosophers do desire death, and that they are by no means
+ignorant that they deserve to suffer it."</p>
+<p>"And indeed, Simmias, they would speak the truth, except in
+asserting that they are not ignorant; for they are ignorant of the
+sense in which true philosophers desire to die, and in what sense
+they deserve death, and what kind of death. But," he said, "let us
+take leave of them, and speak to one another. Do we think that
+death is anything?"</p>
+<p>"Certainly," replied Simmias.</p>
+<p>"Is it anything else than the separation of the soul from the
+body? and is not this to die, for the body to be apart by itself
+separated from the soul, and for the soul to subsist apart by
+itself separated from the body? Is death anything else than
+this?"</p>
+<p>"No, but this," he replied.</p>
+<p>"Consider then, my good friend, whether you are of the same
+opinion as me; for thus I think we shall understand better the
+subject we are considering. Does it appear to you to be becoming in
+a philosopher to be anxious about pleasures, as they are called,
+such as meats and drinks?"</p>
+<p>"By no means, Socrates," said Simmias.</p>
+<p>"But what? about the pleasures of love?"</p>
+<p>"Not at all"</p>
+<p>"What then? does such a man appear to you to think other bodily
+indulgences of value? for instance, does he seem to you to value or
+despise the possession of magnificent garments and sandals, and
+other ornaments of the body, except so far as necessity compels him
+to use them?"</p>
+<p>"The true philosopher," he answered, "appears to me to despise
+them."</p>
+<p>"Does not, then," he continued, "the whole employment of such a
+man appear to you to be, not about the body, but to separate
+himself from it as much as possible, and be occupied about his
+soul?"</p>
+<p>"It does."</p>
+<p>"First of all, then, in such matters, does not the philosopher,
+above all other men, evidently free his soul as much as he can from
+communion with the body?"</p>
+<p>"It appears so."</p>
+<p>"And it appears, Simmias, to the generality of men, that he who
+takes no pleasure in such things, and who does not use them, does
+not deserve to live; but that he nearly approaches to death who
+cares nothing for the pleasures that subsist through the body."</p>
+<p>"You speak very truly."</p>
+<p>"But what with respect to the acquisition of wisdom, is the body
+an impediment or not, if anyone takes it with him as a partner in
+the search? What I mean is this: Do sight and hearing convey any
+truth to men, or are they such as the poets constantly sing, who
+say that we neither hear nor see anything with accuracy? If,
+however, these bodily senses are neither accurate nor clear, much
+less can the others be so: for they are all far inferior to these.
+Do they not seem so to you?"</p>
+<p>"Certainly," he replied.</p>
+<p>"When, then," said he, "does the soul light on the truth? for,
+when it attempts to consider anything in conjunction with the body,
+it is plain that it is then led astray by it."</p>
+<p>"You say truly."</p>
+<p>"Must it not then be by reasoning, if at all, that any of the
+things that really are become known to it?"</p>
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+<p>"And surely the soul then reasons best when none of these things
+disturbs it, neither hearing, nor sight, nor pain, nor pleasure of
+any kind, but it retires as much as possible within itself, taking
+leave of the body, and, as far as it can, not communicating or
+being in contact with it, it aims at the discovery of that which
+is."</p>
+<p>"Such is the case."</p>
+<p>"Does not then the soul of the philosopher, in these cases,
+despise the body, and flee from it, and seek to retire within
+itself?"</p>
+<p>"It appears so."</p>
+<p>"But what as to such things as these, Simmias? Do we say that
+justice itself is something or nothing?"</p>
+<p>"We say it is something, by Jupiter."</p>
+<p>"And that beauty and goodness are something?"</p>
+<p>"How not?"</p>
+<p>"Now, then, have you ever seen anything of this kind with your
+eyes?"</p>
+<p>"By no means," he replied.</p>
+<p>"Did you ever lay hold of them by any other bodily sense? but I
+speak generally, as of magnitude, health, strength, and, in a word,
+of the essence of everything, that is to say, what each is. Is then
+the exact truth of these perceived by means of the body, or is it
+thus, whoever among us habituates himself to reflect most deeply
+and accurately on each several thing about which he is considering,
+he will make the nearest approach to the knowledge of it?"</p>
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+<p>"Would not he, then, do this with the utmost purity, who should
+in the highest degree approach each subject by means of the mere
+mental faculties, neither employing the sight in conjunction with
+the reflective faculty, nor introducing any other sense together
+with reasoning; but who, using pure reflection by itself, should
+attempt to search out each essence purely by itself, freed as much
+as possible from the eyes and ears, and, in a word, from the whole
+body, as disturbing the soul, and not suffering it to acquire truth
+and wisdom, when it is in communion with it. Is not he the person,
+Simmias, if any one can, who will arrive at the knowledge of that
+which is?"</p>
+<p>"You speak with wonderful truth, Socrates," replied Simmias.</p>
+<p>"Wherefore," he said, "it necessarily follows from all this,
+that some such opinion as this should be entertained by genuine
+philosophers, so that they should speak among themselves as
+follows: 'A by-path, as it were, seems to lead us on in our
+researches undertaken by reason,' because as long as we are
+encumbered with the body, and our soul is contaminated with such an
+evil, we can never fully attain to what we desire; and this, we
+say, is truth. For the body subjects us to innumerable hinderances
+on account of its necessary support, and moreover if any diseases
+befall us, they impede us in our search after that which is; and it
+fills us with longings, desires, fears, all kinds of fancies, and a
+multitude of absurdities, so that, as it is said in real truth, by
+reason of the body it is never possible for us to make any advances
+in wisdom.</p>
+<p>"For nothing else but the body and its desires occasions wars,
+seditions, and contests; for all wars among us arise on account of
+our desire to acquire wealth; and we are compelled to acquire
+wealth on account of the body, being enslaved to its service; and
+consequently on all these accounts we are hindered in the pursuit
+of philosophy. But the worst of all is, that if it leaves us any
+leisure, and we apply ourselves to the consideration of any
+subject, it constantly obtrudes itself in the midst of our
+researches, and occasions trouble and disturbance, and confounds us
+so that we are not able by reason of it to discern the truth. It
+has then in reality been demonstrated to us, that if we are ever to
+know anything purely, we must be separated from the body, and
+contemplate the things themselves by the mere soul. And then, as it
+seems, we shall obtain that which we desire, and which we profess
+ourselves to be lovers of, wisdom, when we are dead, as reason
+shows, but not while we are alive. For if it is not possible to
+know anything purely in conjunction with the body, one of these two
+things must follow, either that we can never acquire knowledge, or
+only after we are dead; for then the soul will subsist apart by
+itself, separate from the body, but not before. And while we live,
+we shall thus, as it seems, approach nearest to knowledge, if we
+hold no intercourse or communion at all with the body, except what
+absolute necessity requires, nor suffer ourselves to be polluted by
+its nature, but purify ourselves from it, until God himself shall
+release us. And thus being pure, and freed from the folly of body,
+we shall in all likelihood be with others like ourselves, and shall
+of ourselves know the whole real essence, and that probably is
+truth; for it is not allowable for the impure to attain to the
+pure. Such things, I think, Simmias, all true lovers of wisdom must
+both think and say to one another. Does it not seem so to you?"</p>
+<p>"Most assuredly, Socrates."</p>
+<p>"If this, then," said Socrates, "is true, my friend, there is
+great hope for one who arrives where I am going, there, if
+anywhere, to acquire that perfection for the sake of which we have
+taken so much pains during our past life; so that the journey now
+appointed me is set out upon with good hope, and will be so by any
+other man who thinks that his mind has been as it were
+purified.</p>
+<p>"This earth and the whole region here are decayed and corroded,
+as things in the sea by the saltness; for nothing of any value
+grows in the sea, nor, in a word, does it contain anything perfect,
+but there are caverns, and sand, and mud in abundance, and filth in
+whatever parts of the sea there is earth, nor are they at all
+worthy to be compared with the beautiful things with us. But, on
+the other hand, those things in the upper regions of the earth
+would appear far more to excel the things with us. For, if we may
+tell a beautiful fable, it is well worth hearing, Simmias, what
+kind the things are on the earth beneath the heavens."</p>
+<p>"Indeed, Socrates," said Simmias, "we should be very glad to
+hear that fable."</p>
+<p>"First of all, then, my friend," he continued, "this earth, if
+anyone should survey it from above, is said to have the appearance
+of balls covered with twelve different pieces of leather,
+variegated and distinguished with colors, of which the colors found
+here, and which painters use, are as it were copies. But there the
+whole earth is composed of such, and far more brilliant and pure
+than these; for one part of it is purple, and of wonderful beauty,
+part of a golden color, and part of white, more white than chalk or
+snow, and in like manner composed of other colors, and those more
+in number and more beautiful than any we have ever beheld. And
+those very hollow parts of the earth, though filled with water and
+air, exhibit a certain species of color, shining among the variety
+of other colors, so that one continually variegated aspect presents
+itself to the view. In this earth, being such, all things that grow
+grow in a manner proportioned to its nature—trees, flowers,
+and fruits; and again, in like manner, its mountains and stones
+possess, in the same proportion, smoothness and transparency and
+more beautiful colors; of which the well-known stones here that are
+so highly prized are but fragments, such as sardin-stones, jaspers,
+and emeralds, and all of that kind. But there, there is nothing
+subsists that is not of this character, and even more beautiful
+than these.</p>
+<p>"But the reason of this is, because the stones there are pure,
+and not eaten up and decayed, like those here, by rottenness and
+saltness, which flow down hither together, and which produce
+deformity and disease in the stones and the earth, and in other
+things, even animals and plants. But that earth is adorned with all
+these, and moreover with gold and silver, and other things of the
+kind: for they are naturally conspicuous, being numerous and large,
+and in all parts of the earth; so that to behold it is a sight for
+the blessed. There are also many other animals and men upon it,
+some dwelling in mid-earth, others about the air, as we do about
+the sea, and others in islands which the air flows round, and which
+are near the continent: and in one word, what water and the sea are
+to us for our necessities, the air is to them; and what air is to
+us, that ether is to them.</p>
+<p>"But their seasons are of such a temperament that they are free
+from disease, and live for a much longer time than those here, and
+surpass us in sight, hearing, and smelling, and everything of this
+kind, as much as air excels water, and ether air, in purity.
+Moreover, they have abodes and temples of the gods, in which gods
+really dwell, and voices and oracles, and sensible visions of the
+gods, and such-like intercourse with them; the sun, too, and moon,
+and stars, are seen by them such as they really are, and their
+felicity in other respects is correspondent with these things.</p>
+<p>"And such, indeed, is the nature of the whole earth and the
+parts about the earth; but there are many places all round it
+throughout its cavities, some deeper and more open than that in
+which we dwell: but others that are deeper have less chasm than in
+our region, and other are shallower in depth than they are here,
+and broader.</p>
+<p>"But all these are in many places perforated one into another
+under the earth, some with narrower and some with wider channels,
+and have passages through, by which a great quantity of water flows
+from one into another, as into basins, and there are immense bulks
+of ever-flowing rivers under the earth, both of hot and cold water,
+and a great quantity of fire, and mighty rivers of fire, and many
+of liquid mire, some purer and some more miry, as in Sicily there
+are rivers of mud that flow before the lava, and the lava itself,
+and from these the several places are filled, according as the
+overflow from time to time happens to come to each of them. But all
+these move up and down as it were by a certain oscillation existing
+in the earth. And this oscillation proceeds from such natural cause
+as this: one of the chasms of the earth is exceedingly large, and
+perforated through the entire earth, and is that which
+Homer[<a href="#note-43">43</a>] speaks of, 'very far off, where is
+the most profound abyss beneath the earth,' which elsewhere both he
+and many other poets have called Tartarus. For into this chasm all
+rivers flow together, and from it flow out again, but they
+severally derive their character from the earth through which they
+flow."</p>
+<p><a name="note-43"><!-- Note Anchor 43 --></a>[Footnote 43:
+<i>Iliad</i>, lib. viii., v. 14.]</p>
+<p>"And the reason why all streams flow out from thence and flow
+into it is because this liquid has neither bottom nor base.
+Therefore it oscillates and fluctuates up and down, and the air and
+the wind around it do the same; for they accompany it, both when it
+rushes to those parts of the earth, and when to these. And as in
+respiration the flowing breath is continually breathed out and
+drawn in, so there the wind, oscillating with the liquid, causes
+certain vehement and irresistible winds both as it enters and goes
+out. When, therefore, the water rushing in descends to the place
+which we call the lower region, it flows through the earth into the
+streams there and fills them, just as men pump up water. But when
+again it leaves those regions and rushes hither, it again fills the
+rivers here, and these, when filled, flow through channels and
+through the earth, and having severally reached the several places
+to which they are journeying, they make seas, lakes, rivers, and
+fountains.</p>
+<p>"Then sinking again from thence beneath the earth, some of them
+having gone round longer and more numerous places, and others round
+fewer and shorter, they again discharge themselves into Tartarus,
+some much lower than they were drawn up, others only a little so,
+but all of them flow in again beneath the point at which they
+flowed out. And some issue out directly opposite the place by which
+they flow in, others on the same side: there are also some which
+having gone round altogether in a circle, folding themselves once
+or several times round the earth, like serpents, when they had
+descended as low as possible, discharge themselves again; and it is
+possible for them to descend on either side as far as the middle,
+but not beyond; for in each direction there is an acclivity to the
+streams both ways.</p>
+<p>"Now there are many other large and various streams, and among
+this great number there are four certain streams, of which the
+largest, and that which flows most outwardly round the earth, is
+called Ocean, but directly opposite this, and flowing in a contrary
+direction, is Acheron, which flows through other desert places, and
+moreover passing under the earth, reaches the Acherusian lake,
+where the souls of most who die arrive, and having remained there
+for certain destined periods, some longer and some shorter, are
+again sent forth into the generations of animals. A third river
+issues midway between these, and near its source falls into a vast
+region, burning with abundance of fire, and forms a lake larger
+than our sea, boiling with water and mud; from hence it proceeds in
+a circle, turbulent and muddy, and folding itself round it reaches
+both other places and the extremity of the Acherusian lake, but
+does not mingle with its water; but folding itself oftentimes
+beneath the earth, it discharges itself into the lower parts of
+Tartarus. And this is the river which they call Pyriphlegethon,
+whose burning streams emit dissevered fragments in whatever part of
+the earth they happen to be. Opposite to this again the fourth
+river first falls into a place dreadful and savage, as it is said,
+having its whole color like <i>cyanus</i>: this they call Stygian,
+and the lake which the river forms by its discharge, Styx. This
+river having fallen in here, and received awful power in the water,
+sinking beneath the earth, proceeds, folding itself round, in an
+opposite course to Pyriphlegethon, and meets it in the Acherusian
+lake from a contrary direction. Neither does the water of this
+river mingle with any other, but it, too, having gone round in a
+circle, discharges itself into Tartarus opposite to Pyriphlegethon.
+Its name, as the poets say, is Cocytus.</p>
+<p>"These things being thus constituted, when the dead arrive at
+the place to which their demon leads them severally, first of all
+they are judged, as well those who have lived well and piously as
+those who have not. And those who appear to have passed a middle
+kind of life, proceeding to Acheron, and embarking in the vessels
+they have, on these arrive at the lake, and there dwell, and when
+they are purified, and have suffered punishment for the iniquities
+they may have committed, they are set free, and each receives the
+reward of his good deeds, according to his deserts: but those who
+appear to be incurable, through the magnitude of their offences,
+either from having committed many and great sacrileges, or many
+unjust and lawless murders, or other similar crimes, these a
+suitable destiny hurls into Tartarus, whence they never come
+forth.</p>
+<p>"But those who appear to have been guilty of curable yet great
+offences, such as those who through anger have committed any
+violence against father or mother, and have lived the remainder of
+their life in a state of penitence, or they who have become
+homicides in a similar manner, these must of necessity fall into
+Tartarus, but after they have fallen, and have been there for a
+year, the wave casts them forth, the homicides into Cocytus, but
+the parricides and matricides into Pyriphlegethon: but when, being
+borne along, they arrive at the Acherusian lake, there they cry out
+to and invoke, some those whom they slew, others those whom they
+injured, and invoking them they entreat and implore them to suffer
+them to go out into the lake, and to receive them, and if they
+persuade them they go out and are freed from their sufferings; but
+if not, they are borne back to Tartarus, and thence again to the
+rivers, and they do not cease from suffering this until they have
+persuaded those whom they have injured, for this sentence was
+imposed on them by the judges.</p>
+<p>"But those who are found to have lived an eminently holy life,
+these are they who, being freed and set at large from these regions
+in the earth, as from a prison, arrive at the pure abode above, and
+dwell on the upper parts of the earth. And among these, they who
+have sufficiently purified themselves by philosophy shall live
+without bodies, throughout all future time, and shall arrive at
+habitations yet more beautiful than these, which it is neither easy
+to describe nor at present is there sufficient time for the
+purpose.</p>
+<p>"But for the sake of these things which we have described, we
+should use every endeavor, Simmias, so as to acquire virtue and
+wisdom in this life; for the reward is noble, and the hope
+great.</p>
+<p>"To affirm positively, indeed, that these things are exactly as
+I have described them does not become a man of sense; that however
+either this or something of the kind takes place with respect to
+our souls and their habitations—since our soul is certainly
+immortal—this appears to me most fitting to be believed, and
+worthy the hazard for one who trusts in its reality; for the hazard
+is noble, and it is right to allure ourselves with such things, as
+with enchantments; for which reason I have prolonged my story to
+such a length.</p>
+<p>"On account of these things, then, a man ought to be confident
+about his soul who during this life has disregarded all the
+pleasures and ornaments of the body as foreign from his nature, and
+who, having thought that they do more harm than good, has zealously
+applied himself to the acquirement of knowledge, and who having
+adorned his soul not with a foreign but its own proper
+ornament—temperance, justice, fortitude, freedom, and
+truth—thus waits for his passage to Hades, as one who is
+ready to depart whenever destiny shall summon him. You, then," he
+continued, "Simmias and Cebes, and the rest, will each of you
+depart at some future time; but now 'destiny summons me,' as a
+tragic writer would say, and it is nearly time for me to betake
+myself to the bath; for it appears to me to be better to drink the
+poison after I have bathed myself, and not to trouble the women
+with washing my dead body."</p>
+<p>When he had thus spoken, Crito said: "So be it, Socrates, but
+what commands have you to give to these or to me, either respecting
+your children or any other matter, in attending to which we can
+most oblige you?"</p>
+<p>"What I always say, Crito," he replied, "nothing new; that by
+taking care of yourselves you will oblige both me and mine and
+yourselves, whatever you do, though you should not now promise it;
+but if you neglect yourselves, and will not live as it were in the
+footsteps of what has been now and formerly said, even though you
+should promise much at present, and that earnestly, you will do no
+good at all."</p>
+<p>"We will endeavor then so to do," he said; "but how shall we
+bury you?"</p>
+<p>"Just as you please," he said, "if only you can catch me, and I
+do not escape from you." And at the same time smiling gently, and
+looking round on us, he said: "I cannot persuade Crito, my friends,
+that I am that Socrates who is now conversing with you, and who
+methodizes each part of the discourse; but he thinks that I am he
+whom he will shortly behold dead, and asks how he should bury me.
+But that which I some time since argued at length, that when I have
+drunk the poison I shall no longer remain with you, but shall
+depart to some happy state of the blessed, this I seem to have
+urged to him in vain, though I meant at the same time to console
+both you and myself. Be ye then my sureties to Crito," he said, "in
+an obligation contrary to that which he made to the judges; for he
+undertook that I should remain; but do you be sureties that, when I
+die, I shall not remain, but shall depart, that Crito may more
+easily bear it, and when he sees my body either burnt or buried,
+may not be afflicted for me, as if I suffered some dreadful thing,
+nor say at my interment that Socrates is laid out, or is carried
+out, or is buried.</p>
+<p>"For be well assured," he said, "most excellent Crito, that to
+speak improperly is not only culpable as to the thing itself, but
+likewise occasions some injury to our souls. You must have a good
+courage, then, and say that you bury my body, and bury it in such a
+manner as is pleasing to you, and as you think is most agreeable to
+our laws."</p>
+<p>When he had said thus he rose and went into a chamber to bathe,
+and Crito followed him, but he directed us to wait for him. We
+waited, therefore, conversing among ourselves about what had been
+said, and considering it again, and sometimes speaking about our
+calamity, how severe it would be to us, sincerely thinking that,
+like those who are deprived of a father, we should pass the rest of
+our life as orphans. When he had bathed, and his children were
+brought to him, for he had two little sons, and one grown up; and
+the women belonging to his family were come, having conversed with
+them in the presence of Crito and given them such injunctions as he
+wished, he directed the women and children to go away, and then
+returned to us. And it was now near sunset; for he spent a
+considerable time within.</p>
+<p>But when he came from bathing he sat down, and did not speak
+much afterward; then the officer of the Eleven came in, and
+standing near him, said: "Socrates, I shall not have to find that
+fault with you that I do with others, that they are angry with me
+and curse me, when, by order of the archons, I bid them drink the
+poison. But you, on all other occasions during the time you have
+been here, I have found to be the most noble, meek, and excellent
+man of all that ever came into this place; and therefore I am now
+well convinced that you will not be angry with me (for you know who
+are to blame) but with them. Now, then, for you know what I came to
+announce to you, farewell; and endeavor to bear what is inevitable
+as easily as possible." And at the same time, bursting into tears,
+he turned away and withdrew.</p>
+<p>And Socrates, looking after him, said: "And thou too, farewell;
+we will do as you direct." At the same time turning to us, he said:
+"How courteous the man is; during the whole time I have been here
+he has visited me, and conversed with me sometimes, and proved the
+worthiest of men; and now how generously he weeps for me. But come,
+Crito, let us obey him, and let some one bring the poison, if it is
+ready pounded, but if not, let the man pound it."</p>
+<p>Then Crito said: "But I think, Socrates, that the sun is still
+on the mountains and has not yet set. Besides, I know that others
+have drunk the poison very late, after it had been announced to
+them, and have supped and drunk freely, and some even have enjoyed
+the objects of their love. Do not hasten, then, for there is yet
+time."</p>
+<p>Upon this Socrates replied: "These men whom you mention, Crito,
+do these things with good reason, for they think they shall gain by
+so doing, and I too with good reason shall not do so; for I think I
+shall gain nothing by drinking a little later, except to become
+ridiculous to myself, in being so fond of life, and sparing of it
+when none any longer remains. Go, then," he said, "obey, and do not
+resist."</p>
+<p>Crito having heard this, nodded to the boy that stood near. And
+the boy having gone out, and stayed for some time, came, bringing
+with him the man that was to administer the poison, who brought it
+ready pounded in a cup. And Socrates, on seeing the man, said:
+"Well, my good friend, as you are skilled in these matters, what
+must I do?"</p>
+<p>"Nothing else," he replied, "than when you have drunk it walk
+about until there is a heaviness in your legs, then lie down; thus
+it will do its purpose." And at the same time he held out the cup
+to Socrates. And he having received it very cheerfully, Echecrates,
+neither trembling nor changing at all in color or countenance, but,
+as he was wont, looking steadfastly at the man, said: "What say you
+of this potion, with respect to making a libation to anyone, is it
+lawful or not?"</p>
+<p>"We only pound so much, Socrates," he said, "as we think
+sufficient to drink."</p>
+<p>"I understand you," he said; "but it is certainly both lawful
+and right to pray to the gods, that my departure hence thither may
+be happy; which therefore I pray, and so may it be." And as he said
+this he drank it off readily and calmly. Thus far, most of us were
+with difficulty able to restrain ourselves from weeping, but when
+we saw him drinking, and having finished the draught, we could do
+so no longer; but in spite of myself the tears came in full
+torrent, so that, covering my face, I wept for myself, for I did
+not weep for him, but for my own fortune, in being deprived of such
+a friend. But Crito, even before me when he could not restrain his
+tears, had risen up.</p>
+<p>But Apollodorus, even before this, had not ceased weeping, and
+then bursting into an agony of grief, weeping and lamenting, he
+pierced the heart of everyone present except Socrates himself. But
+he said: "What are you doing, my admirable friends? I indeed, for
+this reason chiefly, sent away the women that they might not commit
+any folly of this kind. For I have heard that it is right to die
+with good omens. Be quiet, therefore, and bear up."</p>
+<p>When we heard this we were ashamed and restrained our tears. But
+he, having walked about, when he said that his legs were growing
+heavy, laid down on his back; for the man so directed him. And at
+the same time he who gave him the poison, taking hold of him, after
+a short interval examined his feet and legs; and then having
+pressed his foot hard, he asked if he felt it.</p>
+<p>He said that he did not.</p>
+<p>And after this he pressed his thighs; and thus going higher, he
+showed us that he was growing cold and stiff.</p>
+<p>Then Socrates touched himself, and said that when the poison
+reached his heart he should then depart.</p>
+<p>But now the parts around the lower belly were almost cold; when,
+uncovering himself (for he had been covered over), he said, and
+they were his last words: "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; pay
+it, therefore, and do not neglect it!"</p>
+<p>"It shall be done," said Crito; "but consider whether you have
+anything else to say?"</p>
+<p>To this question he gave no reply; but shortly after he gave a
+convulsive movement, and the man covered him, and his eyes were
+fixed; and Crito, perceiving it, closed his mouth and eyes.</p>
+<p>This, Echecrates, was the end of our friend, a man, as we may
+say, the best of all of his time that we have known, and, moreover,
+the most wise and just.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_8"></a>BRENNUS BURNS ROME</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 388</p>
+<p class="center">BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR</p>
+<p class="intros">Julius Caesar is the first writer who gives us an
+authentic and enlightening account of the Gauls, whom he divided
+into three groups. The Gauls were the chief branch of the great
+original stock of Celts. They were a nomadic people, and from their
+home in Western Europe they spread to Britain, invaded Spain, and
+swarmed over the Alps into Italy, and it is from the latter event
+that this tall, fair, and fighting nation first came into the
+region of history.</p>
+<p class="intros">Before the Gauls had come within the borders of
+Italy, Camillus, the Dictator, had dealt the death-blow to the
+Etruscan League through his capture and destruction of its
+stronghold, Veii. But at the very summit of his triumph he lost the
+grace of his countrymen by demanding a tenth of their spoil taken
+at Veii, and which he claimed to have vowed to Apollo. It was
+popularly considered a ruse to increase his private fortune.
+Furthermore, a counter-claim was brought against him for
+appropriating bronze gates, which in Rome at that time were nothing
+less than actual money—bronze being the medium of currency.
+Camillus went into exile in consequence of the accusation. His
+parting prayer was that his country might feel his need and call
+him back. His desire was fulfilled, for soon after "the Gaul was at
+the gates" under the leadership of the haughty Brennus, who had
+come upon the Romans at a most opportune moment. This event of the
+overthrow of the Romans on the Alia has been the occasion for the
+well-known tale of the cackling of the geese in the temple of Juno,
+which alarmed the garrison. The episode also gave rise to the
+saying of the conqueror, Brennus, who, when reproached by his
+antagonists with using false weights, cast his sword into the
+scale, crying, "Woe to the conquered!"</p>
+<p>At that time no Roman foresaw the calamity which was threatening
+the empire. Rome had become great, because the country which she
+had conquered was weak through its oligarchical institutions; the
+subjects of the other states gladly joined the Romans, because
+under them their lot was more favorable, and probably because they
+were kindred nations. But matters went with the Romans as they did
+with Basilius, who subdued the Armenians when they were threatened
+by the Turks, and who soon after attacked the whole Greek empire
+and took away far more than had been gained before.</p>
+<p>The expedition of the Gauls into Italy must be regarded as a
+migration, and not as an invasion for the purpose of conquest: as
+for the historical account of it, we must adhere to Polybius and
+Diodorus, who place it shortly before the taking of Rome by the
+Gauls. We can attach no importance to the statement of Livy that
+they had come into Italy as early as the time of Tarquinius
+Priscus, having been driven from their country by a famine. It
+undoubtedly arose from the fact that some Greek writer, perhaps
+Timaeus, connected this migration with the settlement of the
+Phocians at Massilia. It is possible that Livy even here made use
+of Dionysius; and that the latter followed Timaeus; for as Livy
+made use of Dionysius in the eighth book, why not also in the
+fifth? He himself knew very little of Greek history;[<a href="#note-44">44</a>] but Justin's account is here evidently opposed
+to Livy.</p>
+<p><a name="note-44"><!-- Note Anchor 44 --></a>[Footnote 44: Comp.
+<i>Hist. of Rome</i>, vol. iii. n. 485.]</p>
+<p>Trogus Pompeius was born in the neighborhood of Massilia, and in
+writing his forty-third book he obviously made use of native
+chronicles, for from no other source could he derive the account of
+the <i>decreta honorifica</i> of the Romans to the Massilians for
+the friendship which the latter had shown to the Romans during the
+Gallic war; and from the same source must he have obtained his
+information about the maritime wars of Massilia against Carthage.
+Trogus knows nothing of the story that the Gauls assisted the
+Phocians on their arrival; but according to him, they met with a
+kind reception among the Ligurians, who continued to inhabit those
+parts for a long time after. Even the story of the <i>lucumo</i>
+who is said to have invited the Gauls is opposed to him, and if it
+were referred to Clusium alone it would be absurd. Polybius places
+the passage of the Gauls across the Alps about ten or twenty years
+before the taking of Rome; and Diodorus describes them as advancing
+toward Rome by an uninterrupted march. It is further stated that
+Melpum in the country of the Insubrians was destroyed on the same
+day as Veii: without admitting this coincidence, we have no reason
+to doubt that the statement is substantially true; and it is made
+by Cornelius Nepos, who, as a native of Gallia Transpadana, might
+possess accurate information, and whose chronological accounts were
+highly esteemed by the Romans.</p>
+<p>There was no other passage for the Gauls except either across
+the Little St. Bernard or across the Simplon; it is not probable
+that they took the former road, because their country extended only
+as far as the Ticinus, and if they had come across the Little St.
+Bernard, they would naturally have occupied also all the country
+between that mountain and the Ticinus. The Salassi may indeed have
+been a Gallic people, but it is by no means certain; moreover,
+between them and the Gauls who had come across the Alps the Laevi
+also lived; and there can be no doubt that at that time Ligurians
+still continued to dwell on the Ticinus.</p>
+<p>Melpum must have been situated in the district of Milan. The
+latter place has an uncommonly happy situation: often as it has
+been destroyed, it has always been restored, so that it is not
+impossible that Melpum may have been situated on the very spot
+afterward occupied by Milan. The Gallic migration undoubtedly
+passed by like a torrent with irresistible rapidity: how then is it
+possible to suppose that Melpum resisted them for two centuries, or
+that they conquered it and yet did not disturb the Etruscans for
+two hundred years? It would be absurd to believe it, merely to save
+an uncritical expression of Livy. According to the common
+chronology, the Triballi, who in the time of Herodotus inhabited
+the plains, and were afterward expelled by the Gauls, appeared in
+Thrace twelve years after the taking of Rome—according to a
+more correct chronology it was only nine years after that event. It
+was the same movement assuredly which led the Gauls to the
+countries through which the middle course of the Danube extends,
+and to the Po; and could the people who came in a few days from
+Clusium to Rome, and afterward appeared in Apulia, have been
+sitting quiet in a corner of Italy for two hundred years? If they
+had remained there because they had not the power to advance, they
+would have been cut to pieces by the Etruscans. We must therefore
+look upon it as an established fact, that the migration took place
+at the late period mentioned by Polybius and Diodorus.</p>
+<p>These Gauls were partly Celts, and partly (indeed principally)
+Belgae or Cymri, as may be perceived from the circumstance that
+their king, as well as the one who appeared before Delphi, is
+called Brennus. <i>Brenin</i>, according to Adelung, in his
+<i>Mithridates</i>, signifies in the language of Wales and Lower
+Brittany a <i>king</i>. But what caused this whole emigration? The
+statement of Livy, that the Gauls were compelled by famine to leave
+their country, is quite in keeping with the nature of all
+traditions about migrations, such as we find them in Saxo
+Grammaticus, in Paul Warnefried from the sagas of the Swedes, in
+the Tyrrhenian traditions of Lydia, and others. However, in the
+case of a people like the Celts, every specific statement of this
+kind, in which even the names of their leaders are mentioned, is of
+no more value than the traditions of other barbarous nations which
+were unacquainted with the art of writing. It is indeed, well known
+that the Celts in writing used the Greek alphabet, but they
+probably employed it only in the transactions of daily life; for we
+know that they were not allowed to commit their ancient songs to
+writing.</p>
+<p>During the Gallic migration we are again made aware how little
+we know of the history of Italy generally: our knowledge is limited
+to Rome, so that we are in the same predicament there, as if of all
+the historical authorities of the whole German empire we had
+nothing but the annals of a single imperial city. According to
+Livy's account, it would seem as if the only object of the Gauls
+had been to march to Rome; and yet this immigration changed the
+whole aspect of Italy. After the Gauls had once crossed the
+Apennines, there was no further obstacle to prevent their marching
+to the south of Italy by any road they pleased; and it is in fact
+mentioned that they did proceed farther south. The Umbrians still
+inhabited the country on the lower Po, in the modern Romagna and
+Urbino, parts of which were occupied by Liburnians. Polybius says
+that many people there became tributary to the Gauls, and that this
+was the case with the Umbrians is quite certain.</p>
+<p>The first historical appearance of the Gauls is at Clusium,
+whither a noble Clusine is said to have invited them for the
+purpose of taking vengeance on his native city. Whether this
+account is true, however, must remain undecided, and if there is
+any truth in it, it is more probable that the offended Clusine went
+across the Apennines and fetched his avengers. Clusium has not been
+mentioned since the time of Porsena; the fact of the Clusines
+soliciting the aid of Rome is a proof how little that northern city
+of Etruria was concerned about the fate of the southern towns, and
+makes us even suspect that it was allied with Rome; however, the
+danger was so great that all jealousy must have been suppressed.
+The natural road for the Gauls would have been along the Adriatic,
+then through the country of Umbrians who were tributary to them and
+already quite broken down, and thence through the Romagna across
+the Apennines.</p>
+<p>But the Apennines which separate Tuscany from the Romagna are
+very difficult to cross, especially for sumpter-horses; as
+therefore the Gauls could not enter Etruria on that
+side—which the Etruscans had intentionally allowed to grow
+wild—and as they had been convinced of this in an
+unsuccessful attempt, they crossed the Apennines in the
+neighborhood of Clusium, and appeared before that city. Clusium was
+the great bulwark of the valley of the Tiber; and if it were taken,
+the roads along the Tiber and the Arno would be open, and the Gauls
+might reach Arezzo from the rear: the Romans therefore looked upon
+the fate of Clusium as decisive of their own. The Clusines sued for
+a treaty with the mighty city of Rome, and the Romans were wise
+enough readily to accept the offer: they sent ambassadors to the
+Gauls, ordering them to withdraw. According to a very probable
+account, the Gauls had demanded of the Clusines a division of their
+territory as the condition of peace, and not, as was customary with
+the Romans, as a tax upon a people already subdued: if this is
+correct, the Romans sent the embassy confiding in their own
+strength. But the Gauls scorned the ambassadors, and the latter,
+allowing themselves to be carried away by their warlike
+disposition, joined the Etruscans in a fight against the Gauls.
+This was probably only an insignificant and isolated engagement.
+Such is the account of Livy, who goes on to say that the Gauls, as
+soon as they perceived this violation in the law of nations, gave
+the signal for a retreat, and, having called upon the gods to
+avenge the wrong, marched against Rome.</p>
+<p>This is evidently a mere fiction, for a barbarous nation like
+the Gauls cannot possibly have had such ideas, nor was there in
+reality any violation of the law of nations, as the Romans stood in
+no kind of connection with the Gauls. But it was a natural feeling
+with the Romans to look upon the fall of their city as the
+consequence of a <i>nefas</i> which no human power could resist.
+Roman vanity also is at work here, inasmuch as the Roman
+ambassadors are said to have so distinguished themselves that they
+were recognized by the barbarians among the hosts of Etruscans.
+Now, according to another tradition directly opposed to these
+statements, the Gauls sent to Rome to demand the surrender of those
+ambassadors: as the senate was hesitating and left the decision to
+the people, the latter not only rejected the demand, but appointed
+the same ambassadors to the office of military tribunes, whereupon
+the Gauls with all their forces at once marched toward Rome.</p>
+<p>Livy here again speaks of the <i>populus</i> as the people to
+whom the senate left the decision: this must have been the
+patricians only, for they alone had the right to decide upon the
+fate of the members of their own order. It is not fair to accuse
+the Romans on that occasion of dishonesty; but this account
+assuredly originated with later writers, who transferred to
+barbarians the right belonging to a nation standing in a legal
+relation to another. The statement that the three ambassadors, all
+of whom were Fabii, were appointed military tribunes, is not even
+the usual one, for there is another in Diodorus, who must here have
+used Roman authorities written in Greek, that is, Fabius; since he
+calls the Cærites [Greek: Kairioi] and not [Greek:
+Agullaioi]. He speaks of a single ambassador, who being a son of a
+military tribune fought against the Gauls. This is at least a sign
+how uncertain history yet is. The battle on the Alia was fought on
+the 16th of July; the military tribunes entered upon their office
+on the first of that month; and the distance between Clusium and
+Rome is only three good days' marches. It is impossible to restore
+the true history, but we can discern what is fabulous from what is
+really historical.</p>
+<p>An innumerable host of Gauls now marched from Clusium toward
+Rome. For a long time the Gauls were most formidable to the Romans,
+as well as to all other nations with whom they came in contact,
+even as far east as the Ukraine; as to Rome, we see this as late as
+the Cisalpine war of the year A.U. 527. Polybius and Diodorus are
+our best guides in seeking for information about the manners of the
+Gauls, for in the time of Caesar they had already become changed.
+In the description of their persons we partly recognize the modern
+Gael, or the inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland: huge bodies,
+blue eyes, bristly hair; even their dress and armor are those of
+the Highlanders, for they wore the checked and variegated tartans;
+their arms consisted of the broad, unpointed battle-sword, the same
+weapon as the claymore among the Highlanders. They had a vast
+number of horns, which were used in the Highlands for many
+centuries after, and threw themselves upon the enemy in immense
+irregular masses with terrible fury, those standing behind
+impelling those stationed in front, whereby they became
+irresistible by the tactics of those times.</p>
+<p>The Romans ought to have used against them their phalanx and
+doubled it, until they were accustomed to this enemy and were
+enabled by their greater skill to repel them. If the Romans had
+been able to withstand their first shock, the Gauls would have
+easily been thrown into disorder, and put to flight. The Gauls who
+were subsequently conquered by the Romans were the descendants of
+such as were born in Italy, and had lost much of their courage and
+strength. The Goths under Vitiges, not fifty years after the
+immigration of Theodoric into Italy, were cowards, and unable to
+resist the twenty thousand men of Belisarius: showing how easily
+barbarians degenerate in such climates.</p>
+<p>The Gauls, moreover, were terrible on account of their inhuman
+cruelty, for, wherever they settled, the original towns and their
+inhabitants completely disappeared from the face of the earth. In
+their own country they had the feudal system and a priestly
+government: the Druids were their only rulers, who avenged the
+oppressed people on the lords, but in their turn became tyrants:
+all the people were in the condition of serfs, a proof that the
+Gauls, in their own country too, were the conquerors who had
+subdued an earlier population. We always find mention of the wealth
+of the Gauls in gold, and yet France has no rivers that carry
+gold-sand, and the Pyrenees were then no longer in their
+possession: the gold must therefore have been obtained by barter.
+Much may be exaggeration; and the fact of some noble individuals
+wearing gold chains was probably transferred by ancient poets to
+the whole nation, since popular poetry takes great liberty,
+especially in such embellishments.</p>
+<p>Pliny states that previous to the Gallic calamity the census
+amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand persons, which probably
+refers only to men entitled to vote in the assemblies, and does not
+comprise women, children, slaves, and strangers. If this be
+correct, the number of citizens was enormous; but it must not be
+supposed to include the inhabitants of the city only, the
+population of which was doubtless much smaller. The statement of
+Diodorus that all men were called to arms to resist the Gauls, and
+that the number amounted to forty thousand, is by no means
+improbable: according to the testimony of Polybius, Latins and
+Hernicans also were enlisted. Another account makes the Romans take
+the field against the Gauls with twenty-four thousand men, that is,
+with four field legions and four civic legions: the field legions
+were formed only of plebeians, and served, according to the order
+of the classes, probably in <i>maniples</i>; the civic legions
+contained all those who belonged neither to the patricians nor to
+the plebeians, that is, all the <i>aerarii, proletarii</i>,
+freedmen, and artisans who had never before faced an enemy. They
+were certainly not armed with the <i>pilum</i>, nor drawn up in
+<i>maniples</i>; but used pikes and were employed in phalanxes.</p>
+<p>Now as for the field legions, each consisted half of Latins and
+half of Romans, there being in each <i>maniple</i> one century of
+Roman and one of Latins. There were at that time four legions, and
+as a legion, including the reserve troops, contained three thousand
+men, the total is twelve thousand; now the account which mentions
+twenty-four thousand men must have presumed that there were four
+field legions and four irregular civic ones. There would
+accordingly have been no more than six thousand plebeians, and,
+even if the legions were all made up of Romans, only twelve
+thousand; if in addition to these we take twelve thousand irregular
+troops and sixteen thousand allies, the number of forty thousand
+would be completed. In this case, the population of Rome would not
+have been as large as that of Athens in the Peloponnesian war, and
+this is indeed very probable. The cavalry is not included in this
+calculation: but forty thousand must be taken as the maximum of the
+whole army. There seems to be no exaggeration in this statement,
+and the battle on the Alia, speaking generally, is an historical
+event.</p>
+<p>It is surprising that the Romans did not appoint a dictator to
+command in the battle; it cannot be said indeed that they regarded
+this war as an ordinary one, for in that case they would not have
+raised so great a force, but they cannot have comprehended the
+danger in all its greatness. New swarms continued to come across
+the Alps; the Senones also now appeared to seek habitations for
+themselves; they, like the Germans in after-times, demanded land,
+as they found the Insubrians, Boians, and others already settled;
+the latter had taken up their abode in Umbria, but only until they
+should find a more extensive and suitable territory.</p>
+<p>The Romans committed the great mistake of fighting with their
+hurriedly collected troops a battle against an enemy who had
+hitherto been invincible. The hills along which the right wing is
+said to have been drawn up are no longer discernible, and they were
+probably nothing but little mounds of earth: at any rate it was
+senseless to draw up a long line against the immense mass of
+enemies. The Gauls, on the other hand, were enabled without any
+difficulty to turn off to the left. They proceeded to a higher part
+of the river, where it was more easily fordable, and with great
+prudence threw themselves with all their force upon the right wing,
+consisting of the civic legions. The latter at first resisted, but
+not long; and when they fled, the whole remaining line, which until
+then seems to have been useless and inactive, was seized with a
+panic.</p>
+<p>Terror preceded the Gauls as they laid waste everything on their
+way, and this paralyzed the courage of the Romans, instead of
+rousing them to a desperate resistance. The Romans therefore were
+defeated on the Alia in the most inglorious manner. The Gauls had
+taken them in their rear, and cut off their return to Rome. A
+portion fled toward the Tiber, where some effected a retreat across
+the river, and others were drowned; another part escaped into a
+forest. The loss of life must have been prodigious, and it is
+inconceivable how Livy could have attached so much importance to
+the mere disgrace. If the Roman army had not been almost
+annihilated, it would not have been necessary to give up the
+defence of the city, as was done, for the city was left undefended
+and deserted by all. Many fled to Veii instead of returning to
+Rome: only a few, who had escaped along the high road, entered the
+city by the Colline gate.</p>
+<p>Rome was exhausted, her power shattered, her legions
+defenceless, and her warlike allies had partly been beaten in the
+same battle, and were partly awaiting the fearful enemy in their
+own countries. At Rome it was believed that the whole army was
+destroyed, for nothing was known of those who had reached Veii. In
+the city itself there were only old men, women, and children, so
+that there was no possibility of defending it. It is, however,
+inconceivable that the gates should have been left open, and that
+the Gauls, from fear of a stratagem, should have encamped for
+several days outside the gates. A more probable account is that the
+gates were shut and barricaded. We may form a vivid conception of
+the condition of Rome after this battle, by comparing it with that
+of Moscow before the conflagration: the people were convinced that
+a long defence was impossible, since there was probably a want of
+provisions.</p>
+<p>Livy gives a false notion of the evacuation of the city, as if
+the defenceless citizens had remained immovable in their
+consternation, and only a few had been received into the Capitol.
+The determination, in fact, was to defend the Capitol, and the
+tribune Sulpicius had taken refuge there, with about one thousand
+men. There was on the Capitol an ancient well which still exists,
+and without which the garrison would soon have perished. This well
+remained unknown to all antiquaries, till I discovered it by means
+of information gathered from the people who live there. Its depth
+in the rock descends to the level of the Tiber, but the water is
+now not fit to drink. The Capitol was a rock which had been hewn
+steep, and thereby made inaccessible, but a <i>clivus</i>, closed
+by gates both below and above, led up from the Forum and the Sacred
+Way. The rock, indeed, was not so steep as in later times, as is
+clear from the account of the attempt to storm it; but the Capitol
+was nevertheless very strong. Whether some few remained in the
+city, as at Moscow, who in their stupefaction did not consider what
+kind of enemy they had before them, cannot be decided. The
+narrative is very beautiful, and reminds us of the taking of the
+Acropolis of Athens by the Persians, where, likewise, the old men
+allowed themselves to be cut down by the Persians.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding the improbability of the matter, I am inclined
+to believe that a number of aged patricians—their number may
+not be exactly historical—sat down in the Forum, in their
+official robes, on their curule chairs, and that the chief pontiff
+devoted them to death. Such devotions are a well-known Roman
+custom. It is certainly not improbable that the Gauls were amazed
+when they found the city deserted, and only these old men sitting
+immovable, that they took them for statues or supernatural visions,
+and did nothing to them, until one of them struck a Gaul who
+touched him, whereupon all were slaughtered. To commit suicide was
+repugnant to the customs of the Romans, who were guided in many
+things by feelings more correct and more resembling our own, than
+many other ancient nations. The old men, indeed, had given up the
+hope of their country being saved; but the Capitol might be
+maintained, and the survivors preferred dying in the attempt of
+self-defence to taking refuge at Veii, where after all they could
+not have maintained themselves in the end.</p>
+<p>The sacred treasures were removed to Caere, and the hope of the
+Romans now was that the barbarians would be tired of the long
+siege. Provisions for a time had been conveyed to the Capitol,
+where a couple of thousand men may have been assembled, and where
+all buildings, temples, as well as public and private houses, were
+used as habitations. The Gauls made fearful havoc at Rome, even
+more fearful than the Spaniards and Germans did in the year 1527.
+Soldiers plunder, and when they find no human beings they engage in
+the work of destruction; and fires break out, as at Moscow, without
+the existence of any intention to cause a conflagration. The whole
+city was changed into a heap of ashes, with the exception of a few
+houses on the Palatine, which were occupied by the leaders of the
+Gauls. It is astonishing to find, nevertheless, that a few
+monuments of the preceding period, such as statues, situated at
+some distance from the Capitol, are mentioned as having been
+preserved; but we must remember that <i>travertino</i> is tolerably
+fireproof. That Rome was burned down is certain; and when it was
+rebuilt, not even the ancient streets were restored.</p>
+<p>The Gauls were now encamped in the city. At first they attempted
+to storm the <i>clivus</i>, but were repelled with great loss,
+which is surprising, since we know that at an earlier time the
+Romans succeeded in storming it against Appius Herdonius. Afterward
+they discovered the footsteps of a messenger who had been sent from
+Veii, in order that the State might be taken care of in due form;
+for the Romans in the Capitol were patricians, and represented the
+<i>curies</i> and the Government, whereas those assembled at Veii
+represented the tribes, but had no leaders. The latter had resolved
+to recall Camillus, and raise him to the dictatorship. For this
+reason Pontius Cominius had been sent to Rome to obtain the
+sanction of the senate and the curies. This was quite in the spirit
+of the ancient times. If the curies had interdicted him <i>aqua et
+igni</i>, they alone could recall him, if they previously obtained
+a resolution of the senate authorizing them to do so; but if he had
+gone into voluntary exile, and had given up his Roman franchise by
+becoming a citizen of Ardea before a sentence had been passed upon
+him by the centuries, it was again in the power of the curies
+alone, he being a patrician, to recall him as a citizen; and
+otherwise he could not have become dictator, nor could he have
+regarded himself as such.</p>
+<p>It was the time of the dog-days when the Gauls came to Rome, and
+as the summer at Rome is always pestilential, especially during the
+two months and a half before the first of September, the
+unavoidable consequence must have been, as Livy relates, that the
+barbarians, bivouacking on the ruins of the city in the open air,
+were attacked by disease and carried off, like the army of
+Frederick Barbarossa when encamped before the castle of St. Angelo.
+The whole army of the Gauls, however, was not in the city, but only
+as many as were necessary to blockade the garrison of the Capitol;
+the rest were scattered far and wide over the face of the country,
+and were ravaging all the unprotected places and isolated farms in
+Latium; many an ancient town, which is no longer mentioned after
+this time, may have been destroyed by the Gauls. None but fortified
+places like Ostia, which could obtain supplies by sea, made a
+successful resistance, for the Gauls were unacquainted with the art
+of besieging.</p>
+<p>The Ardeatans, whose territory was likewise invaded by the
+Gauls, opposed them, under the command of Camillus; the Etruscans
+would seem to have endeavored to avail themselves of the
+opportunity of recovering Veii, for we are told that the Romans at
+Veii, commanded by Caedicius, gained a battle against them, and
+that, encouraged by this success, they began to entertain a hope of
+regaining Rome, since by this victory they got possession of
+arms.</p>
+<p>A Roman of the name of Fabius Dorso is said to have offered up,
+in broad daylight, a <i>gentilician</i> sacrifice on the Quirinal;
+and the astonished Gauls are said to have done him no harm—a
+tradition which is not improbable.</p>
+<p>The provisions in the Capitol were exhausted, but the Gauls
+themselves being seized with epidemic diseases became tired of
+their conquests, and were not inclined to settle in a country so
+far away from their own home. They once more attempted to take the
+Capitol by storm, having observed that the messenger from Veii had
+ascended the rock, and come down again near the Porta Carmentalis,
+below Araceli. The ancient rock is now covered with rubbish, and no
+longer discernible. The besieged did not think of a storm on that
+side; it may be that formerly there had in that part been a wall,
+which had become decayed; and in southern countries an abundant
+vegetation always springs up between the stones, and if this had
+actually been neglected it cannot have been very difficult to climb
+up. The Gauls had already gained a firm footing, as there was no
+wall at the top—the rock which they stormed was not the
+Tarpeian, but the Arx—when Manlius, who lived there, was
+roused by the screaming of the geese: he came to the spot and
+thrust down those who were climbing up.</p>
+<p>This rendered the Gauls still more inclined to commence
+negotiations; they were, moreover, called back by an inroad of some
+Alpine tribes into Lombardy, where they had left their wives and
+children: they offered to depart if the Romans would pay them a
+ransom of a thousand pounds of gold, to be taken no doubt from the
+Capitoline treasury. Considering the value of money at that time,
+the sum was enormous: in the time of Theodosius, indeed, there were
+people at Rome who possessed several hundredweight of gold, nay,
+one is said to have had an annual revenue of two hundredweight.
+There can be no doubt that the Gauls received the sum they
+demanded, and quitted Rome; that in weighing it they scornfully
+imposed upon the Romans is very possible, and the <i>vae victis</i>
+too may be true: we ourselves have seen similar things before the
+year 1813.</p>
+<p>But there can be no truth in the story told by Livy, that while
+they were disputing Camillus appeared with an army and stopped the
+proceedings, because the military tribunes had had no right to
+conclude the treaty. He is there said to have driven the Gauls from
+the city, and afterward in a twofold battle to have so completely
+defeated them that not even a messenger escaped. Beaufort, inspired
+by Gallic patriotism, has most excellently shown what a complete
+fable this story is. To attempt to disguise the misfortunes of our
+forefathers by substituting fables in their place is mere
+childishness. This charge does not affect Livy, indeed, for he
+copied only what others had written before him; but he did not
+allow his own conviction to appear as he generally does, for he
+treats the whole of the early history with a sort of irony, half
+believing, half disbelieving it.</p>
+<p>According to another account in Diodorus, the Gauls besieged a
+town allied with Rome—its name seems to be mis-written, but
+is probably intended for Vulsinii—and the Romans relieved it
+and took back from the Gauls the gold which they had paid them; but
+this siege of Vulsinii is quite unknown to Livy. A third account in
+Strabo and also mentioned by Diodorus does not allow this honor to
+the Romans, but states that the Caerites pursued the Gauls,
+attacked them in the country of the Sabines, and completely
+annihilated them. In like manner the Greeks endeavored to disguise
+the fact that the Gauls took the money from the Delphic treasury,
+and that in a quite historical period (Olymp. 120). The true
+explanation is undoubtedly the one found in Polybius, that the
+Gauls were induced to quit Rome by an insurrection of the Alpine
+tribes, after it had experienced the extremity of humiliation.</p>
+<p>Whatever the enemy had taken as booty was consumed; they had not
+made any conquests, but only indulged in plunder and devastation;
+they had been staying at Rome for seven or eight months, and could
+have gained nothing further than the Capitol and the very money
+which they received without taking that fortress. The account of
+Polybius throws light upon many discrepant statements, and all of
+them, not even excepting Livy's fairy-tale-like embellishment, may
+be explained by means of it. The Romans attempted to prove that the
+Gauls had actually been defeated, by relating that the gold
+afterward taken from the Gauls and buried in the Capitol was double
+the sum paid to them as a ransom; but it is much more probable that
+the Romans paid their ransom out of the treasury of the temple of
+the Capitoline Jupiter and of other temples, and that afterward
+double this sum was made up by a tax; which agrees with a statement
+in the history of Manlius, that a tax was imposed for the purpose
+of raising the Gallic ransom: surely this could not have been done
+at the time of the siege, when the Romans were scattered in all
+parts of the country, but must have taken place afterward for the
+purpose of restoring the money that had been taken. Now if at a
+later time there actually existed in the Capitol such a quantity of
+gold, it is clear that it was believed to be a proof that the Gauls
+had not kept the gold which was paid to them.</p>
+<p>Even as late as the time of Cicero and Caesar, the spot was
+shown at Rome in the Carinae, where the Gauls had heaped up and
+burned their dead; it was called <i>busta Gallica</i>, which was
+corrupted in the Middle Ages into Protogallo, whence the church
+which was built there was in reality called <i>S. Andreas in bustis
+Gallicis</i>, or, according to the later Latinity, <i>in busta
+Gallica—busta Gallica</i> not being declined.</p>
+<p>The Gauls departed with their gold, which the Romans had been
+compelled to pay on account of the famine that prevailed in the
+Capitol, which was so great that they pulled the leather from their
+shields and cooked it, just as was done during the siege of
+Jerusalem. The Gauls were certainly not destroyed. Justin has
+preserved the remarkable statement that the same Gauls who sacked
+Rome went to Apulia, and there offered for money their assistance
+to the elder Dionysius of Syracuse. From this important statement
+it is at any rate clear that they traversed all Italy, and then
+probably returned along the shore of the Adriatic: their
+devastations extended over many parts of Italy, and there is no
+doubt that the Æquians received their death-blow at that
+time, for henceforth we hear no more of the hostilities of the
+Æquians against Rome. Praeneste, on the other hand, which
+must formerly have been subject to the Æquians, now appears
+as an independent town. The Æquians, who inhabited small and
+easily destructible towns, must have been annihilated during the
+progress of the Gauls.</p>
+<p>There is nothing so strange in the history of Livy as his view
+of the consequences of the Gallic calamity; he must have conceived
+it as a transitory storm by which Rome was humbled but not broken.
+The army, according to him, was only scattered, and the Romans
+appear afterward just as they had been before, as if the preceding
+period had only been an evil dream, and as if there had been
+nothing to do but to rebuild the city. But assuredly the
+devastation must have been tremendous throughout the Roman
+territory: for eight months the barbarians had been ravaging the
+country, every trace of cultivation, every farmer's house, all the
+temples and public buildings were destroyed; the walls of the city
+had been purposely pulled down, a large number of its inhabitants
+were led into slavery, the rest were living in great misery at
+Veii; and what they had saved scarcely sufficed to buy their bread.
+In this condition they returned to Rome. Camillus as dictator is
+called a second Romulus, and to him is due the glory of not having
+despaired in those distressing circumstances.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_9"></a>TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY MEHA</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 341</p>
+<p class="center">DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER</p>
+<p class="intros">The first Chinese are supposed to have been a
+nomad tribe in the provinces of Shensi, which lies in the northwest
+of China, and among them at last appeared a ruler, Fohi, whose name
+at least has been preserved. His deeds and his person are mythical,
+but he is credited with having given his country its first regular
+institutions.</p>
+<p class="intros">The annalists of the Chinese chronicles placed
+the date of the Creation at a point of time two millions of years
+before Confucius; this interval they filled up with lines of
+dynasties. Preceding the Chow dynasty the chronicles give ten
+epochs—prior to the eighth of these there is no authentic
+history. Yew-chow She (the "Nest-having") taught the people to
+build huts of the boughs of trees. Fire was discovered by Say-jin
+She (the "Fire producer"). Fuh-he (B.C. 2862) was the discoverer of
+iron. With Yaou (B.C. 2356) is the period whence Confucius begins
+his story. He says of that epoch: "The house door could safely be
+left open." Yaou greatly extended and strengthened the empire and
+established fairs and marts over the land.</p>
+<p class="intros">One of China's most notable rulers was Tsin Chi
+Hwangti, who was studious in providing for the security of his
+empire, and with this object began the construction of a fortified
+wall across the northern frontier to serve as a defence against the
+troublesome Hiongnou tribes, who are identified with the Huns of
+Attila. This wall, which he began in the first years of his
+reign—about the close of the third century B.C.—was
+finished before his death. It still exists, known as the Great Wall
+of China, and has long been considered one of the wonders of the
+world. Every third man of the whole empire was employed on this
+work. It is said that five hundred thousand of them died of
+starvation. The contents of the Great Wall would be enough to build
+two walls six feet high and two feet thick around the equator. It
+is the largest artificial structure in the world; carried for
+fourteen hundred miles over height and hollow, reaching in one
+place the level of five thousand feet—nearly one
+mile—above the sea. Earth, gravel, brick, and stone were used
+in its construction.</p>
+<p class="intros">The weak successors of Hwangti finally gave way
+to the usurper, Kaotsou, who had been originally the ruler of a
+small town, and had borne the name of Lieou Pang.</p>
+<p class="intros">The reign of Kaotsou was distinguished by the
+consolidation of the empire; the connection of Western with Eastern
+China by high walls and bridges, some of which are still in perfect
+condition, and the institution of an elaborate code of court
+etiquette. His attention to these things was, however, rudely
+interrupted by an irruption of the Hiongnou Tartars.</p>
+<p>The death of Tsin Chi Hwangti proved the signal for the outbreak
+of disturbances throughout the realm. Within a few months five
+princes had founded as many kingdoms, each hoping, if not to become
+supreme, at least to remain independent. Moungtien, beloved by the
+army, and at the head, as he tells us in his own words, of three
+hundred thousand soldiers, might have been the arbiter of the
+empire; but a weak feeling of respect for the imperial authority
+induced him to obey an order, sent by Eulchi, Hwangti's son and
+successor, commanding him "to drink the waters of eternal life."
+Eulchi's brief reign of three years was a succession of
+misfortunes. The reins of office were held by the eunuch Chow-kow,
+who first murdered the minister Lissep and then Eulchi himself.</p>
+<p>Ing Wang, a grandson of Hwangti, was the next and last of the
+Tsin emperors. On coming to power, he at once caused Chow-kow,
+whose crimes had been discovered, to be arrested and executed. This
+vigorous commencement proved very transitory, for when he had
+enjoyed nominal authority during six weeks, Ing Wang's troops,
+after a reverse in the field, went over in a body to Lieou Pang,
+the leader of a rebel force. Ing Wang put an end to his existence,
+thus terminating, in a manner not less ignominious than any of its
+predecessors, the dynasty of the Tsins, which Hwangti had hoped to
+place permanently on the throne of China, and to which his genius
+gave a lustre far surpassing that of many other families who had
+enjoyed the same privilege during a much longer period.</p>
+<p>The crisis in the history of the country had afforded one of
+those great men who rise periodically from the ranks of the people
+to give law to nations the opportunity for advancing his personal
+interests at the same time that he made them appear to be identical
+with the public weal. Of such geniuses, if the test applied be the
+work accomplished, there have been few with higher claims to
+respectful and admiring consideration than Lieou Pang, who after
+the fall of the Tsins became the founder of the Han dynasty under
+the style of Kaotsou. Originally the governor of a small town, he
+had, soon after the death of Hwangti, gathered round him the
+nucleus of a formidable army, and while nominally serving under one
+of the greater princes, he scarcely affected to conceal that he was
+fighting for his own interest. On the other hand, he was no mere
+soldier of fortune, and the moderation which he showed after
+victory enhanced his reputation as a general. The path to the
+throne being thus cleared, the successful general became
+emperor.</p>
+<p>His first act was to proclaim an amnesty to all those who had
+borne arms against him. In a public proclamation he expressed his
+regret at the suffering of the people "from the evils which follow
+in the train of war." During the earlier years of his reign he
+chose the city of Loyang as his capital—now the flourishing
+and populous town of Honan—but at a later period he removed
+it to Singanfoo, in the western province of Shensi. His dynasty
+became known by the name of the small state where he was born, and
+which had fallen early in his career into his hands.</p>
+<p>Kaotsou sanctioned or personally undertook various important
+public works, which in many places still exist to testify to the
+greatness of his character. Prominent among those must be placed
+the bridges constructed along the great roads of Western China.
+Some of them are still believed to be in perfect condition. No act
+of Kaotsou's reign places him higher in the scale of sovereigns
+than the improvement of the roads and the construction of those
+remarkable bridges. Kaotsou loved splendor and sought to make his
+receptions and banquets imposing by their brilliance. He drew up a
+special ceremonial which must have proved a trying ordeal for his
+courtiers, and dire was the offence if it were infringed in the
+smallest particular. He kept up festivities at Singanfoo for
+several weeks, and on one of these occasions he exclaimed: "To-day
+I feel I am emperor and perceive all the difference between a
+subject and his master."</p>
+<p>Kaotsou's attention was rudely summoned away from these
+trivialities by the outbreak of revolts against his authority and
+by inroads on the part of the Tartars. The latter were the more
+serious. The disturbances that followed Hwangti's death were a
+fresh inducement to these clans to again gather round a common head
+and prey upon the weakness of China, for Kaotsou's authority was
+not yet recognized in many of the tributary states which had been
+fain to admit the supremacy of the great Tsin emperor. About this
+time the Hiongnou[<a href="#note-45">45</a>] Tartars were governed
+by two chiefs in particular, one named Tonghou, the other Meha or
+Mehe. Of these the former appears to have been instigated by a
+reckless ambition or an overweening arrogance, and at first it
+seemed that the forbearance of Meha would allow his
+pretensions[<a href="#note-46">46</a>] to pass unchallenged.</p>
+<p><a name="note-45"><!-- Note Anchor 45 --></a>[Footnote 45:
+Probably the same race as the Huns.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-46"><!-- Note Anchor 46 --></a>[Footnote 46: Meha
+had become chief of his clan by murdering his father, Teou-man, who
+was on the point of ordering his son's assassination when thus
+forestalled in his intention. Tonghou sent to demand from him a
+favorite horse, which Meha sent him. His kinsmen advised him to
+refuse compliance; but he replied: "What! Would you quarrel with
+your neighbors for a horse?" Shortly afterward Tonghou sent to ask
+for one of the wives of the former chief. This also Meha granted,
+saying: "Why should we undertake a war for the sake of a woman?" It
+was only when Tonghou menaced his possessions that Meha took up
+arms.]</p>
+<p>Meha's successes followed rapidly upon each other. Issuing from
+the desert, and marching in the direction of China, he wrested many
+fertile districts from the feeble hands of those who held them; and
+while establishing his personal authority on the banks of the
+Hoangho, his lieutenants returned laden with plunder from
+expeditions into the rich provinces of Shensi and Szchuen. He won
+back all the territory lost by his ancestors to Hwangti and
+Moungtien, and he paved the way to greater success by the siege and
+capture of the city of Maye, thus obtaining possession of the key
+of the road to Tsinyang. Several of the border chiefs and of the
+Emperor's lieutenants, dreading the punishment allotted in China to
+want of success, went over to the Tartars, and took service under
+Meha.</p>
+<p>The Emperor, fully aroused to the gravity of the danger,
+assembled his army, and placing himself at its head marched against
+the Tartars. Encouraged by the result of several preliminary
+encounters, the Emperor was eager to engage Meha's main army, and
+after some weeks' searching and manoeuvring, the two forces halted
+in front of each other. Kaotsou, imagining that victory was within
+his grasp, and believing the stories brought to him by spies of the
+weakness of the Tartar army, resolved on an immediate attack. He
+turned a deaf ear to the cautious advice of one of his generals,
+who warned him that "in war we should never despise an enemy," and
+marched in person at the head of his advance guard to find the
+Tartars. Meha, who had been at all these pains to throw dust in the
+Emperor's eyes and to conceal his true strength, no sooner saw how
+well his stratagem had succeeded, and that Kaotsou was rushing into
+the trap so elaborately laid for him, than by a skilful movement he
+cut off his communications with the main body of his army, and,
+surrounding him with an overwhelming force, compelled him to take
+refuge in the city of Pingching in Shensi.</p>
+<p>With a very short supply of provisions, and hopelessly
+outnumbered, it looked as if the Chinese Emperor could not possibly
+escape the grasp of the desert chief. In this strait one of his
+officers suggested as a last chance that the most beautiful virgin
+in the town should be discovered, and sent as a present to mollify
+the conqueror. Kaotsou seized at this suggestion, as the drowning
+man will catch at a straw, and the story is preserved, though her
+name has passed into oblivion, of how the young Chinese girl
+entered into the plan and devoted all her wits to charming the
+Tartar conqueror. She succeeded as much as their fondest hopes
+could have led them to believe; and Meha permitted Kaotsou, after
+signing an ignominious treaty, to leave his place of confinement
+and rejoin his army, glad to welcome the return of the Emperor, yet
+without him helpless to stir a hand to effect his release. Meha
+retired to his own territory, well satisfied with the material
+results of the war and the rich booty which had been obtained in
+the sack of Chinese cities, while Kaotsou, like the ordinary type
+of an oriental ruler, vented his discomfiture on his
+subordinates.</p>
+<p>The closing acts of the war were the lavishing of rewards on the
+head of the general to whose warnings he had paid no heed, and the
+execution of the scouts who had been misled by the wiles of
+Meha.</p>
+<p>The success which had attended this incursion and the spoil of
+war were potent inducements to the Tartars to repeat the invasion.
+While Kaotsou was meditating over the possibility of revenge, and
+considering schemes for the better protection of his frontier, the
+Tartars, disregarding the truce that had been concluded, retraced
+their steps, and pillaged the border districts with impunity. In
+this year (B.C. 199) they were carrying everything before them, and
+the Emperor, either unnerved by recent disaster or appalled at the
+apparently irresistible energy of the followers of Meha, remained
+apathetic in his palace. The representations of his ministers and
+generals failed to rouse him from his stupor, and the weapon to
+which he resorted was the abuse of his opponent, and not his prompt
+chastisement. Meha was "a wicked and faithless man, who had risen
+to power by the murder of his father, and one with whom oaths and
+treaties carried no weight." In the mean while the Tartars were
+continuing their victorious career. The capital itself could not be
+pronounced safe from their assaults, or from the insult of their
+presence.</p>
+<p>In this crisis counsels of craft and dissimulation alone found
+favor in the Emperor's cabinet. No voice was raised in support of
+the bold and only true course of going forth to meet the national
+enemy. The capitulation of Pingching had for the time destroyed the
+manhood of the race, and Kaotsou held in esteem the advice of men
+widely different to those who had placed him on the throne. Kaotsou
+opened fresh negotiations with Meha, who concluded a treaty on
+condition of the Emperor's daughter being given to him in marriage,
+and on the assumption that he was an independent ruler. With these
+terms Kaotsou felt obliged to comply, and thus for the first time
+this never-ceasing collision between the tribes of the desert and
+the agriculturists of the plains of China closed with the admitted
+triumph of the former. The contest was soon to be renewed with
+different results, but the triumph of Meha was beyond
+question.[<a href="#note-47">47</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-47"><!-- Note Anchor 47 --></a>[Footnote 47: One
+historian had the courage to declare that "Never was so great a
+shame inflicted on the Middle Kingdom, which then lost its dignity
+and honor."]</p>
+<p>The weakness thus shown against a foreign foe brought its own
+punishment in domestic troubles. The palace became the scene of
+broils, plots, and counterplots, and so badly did Kaotsou manage
+his affairs at this epoch that one of his favorite generals raised
+the standard of revolt against him through apparently a mere
+misunderstanding. In this instance Kaotsou easily put down the
+rising, but others followed which, if not pregnant with danger,
+were at the least extremely troublesome. The murder of Hansin, to
+whose aid Kaotsou owed his elevation to the throne as much as to
+any other, by order of the empress, during a reception at the
+palace, shook confidence still more in the ruler, and many of his
+followers were forced into open rebellion through dread of personal
+danger. What wonder that, as he has said, "the very name of revolt
+inspired Kaotsou with apprehension."</p>
+<p>In B.C. 195 we find Kaotsou going out of his way to visit the
+tomb of Confucius. Shortly after this event it became evident that
+he was approaching his end. His eldest son Hiaohoei was proclaimed
+heir apparent. Kaotsou died in the fifty-third year of his age,
+having reigned as emperor during eight years. The close of his
+reign did not bear out all the promise of its commencement; and the
+extent of his authority was greatly curtailed by the disastrous
+effects of the war with the Tartars and the subsequent revolts
+among his generals.</p>
+<p>Despite these reverses there remains much in favor of his
+character. He had performed his part in the consolidation of the
+Hans; it remained for those who came after him to complete what he
+left half finished.</p>
+<p>Under Hoeiti, the Tartar King Meha sent an envoy to the capital,
+but either the form or the substance of his message enraged the
+empress-mother, who ordered his execution. The two peoples were
+thus again brought to the brink of war, but eventually the
+difference was sunk for the time, and the Chinese chroniclers have
+represented that the satisfactory turn in the question was due to
+Meha seeing the error of his ways.[<a href="#note-48">48</a>] Not
+long afterward the Tartar King died, and was succeeded by his son
+Lao Chang.</p>
+<p><a name="note-48"><!-- Note Anchor 48 --></a>[Footnote 48:
+Meha's letter of excuse is thus given: "In the barbarous country
+which I govern both virtue and the decencies of life are unknown. I
+have been unable to free myself from them, and, therefore, I blush.
+China has her wise men; that is a happiness which I envy. They
+would have prevented my being wanting in the respect due to your
+rank."]</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_10"></a>ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 332</p>
+<p class="center">OLIVER GOLDSMITH</p>
+<p class="intros">The master spirit who could sigh for more worlds
+to conquer was at this time high in his dazzling flight. Alexander
+has always been considered one of the most striking and picturesque
+characters of history. His personality was pleasing, his endurance
+remarkable, and courage dauntless. Educated by Aristotle, his keen
+mind was well trained. He was skilled in horsemanship, and his
+control over the fiery Bucephalus, untamable by others, has become
+a household tale in all lands. There never was a more kingly
+prince.</p>
+<p class="intros">A king at twenty, his career has been an object
+of wonder to succeeding generations. He shot like a meteor across
+the sky of ancient civilization. His military achievements were
+remarkable for quickness of conception and rapidity of execution;
+his life was a progress from conquest to conquest. Alexander's
+army, with its solid phalanx, its darting cavalry, and light
+troops, had become irresistible. He possessed Napoleon's ability to
+select good generals and to make the most of his talents. In battle
+Alexander was entirely devoid of fear. After a victory his chief
+thoughts were for the wounded. Like Napoleon, he also possessed
+that personal equation of absolute popularity with his soldiers.
+Their devotion to him was simply complete.</p>
+<p class="intros">After Thebes came the invasion of Asia. The
+invincible Macedonian had fought and won the battle of the
+Granicus. In this battle nearly all of the Persian leaders were
+slain, and its result spread terror throughout Persia.
+Halicarnassus was next reduced. The march of Alexander was ever
+onward. In the citadel of Gordium he cut the "Gordian knot," and
+prophecy marked him for the lord of Asia.</p>
+<p class="intros">And now Darius marched to meet him, making a
+fatally bad choice of battle-ground. Darius was totally defeated at
+the celebrated battle of Issus, although he had anticipated a
+victory. After the Persian rout and the flight of Darius, whose
+numbers counted for nothing before the Macedonian's skill, Lindon
+welcomed the invaders, and Alexander determined to take Tyre. This
+was accomplished after a siege, which was attended with much
+cruelty.</p>
+<p class="intros">The siege of Gaza followed, in which nearly all
+of the citizens perished. In B.C. 332 Alexander began his
+expedition to Egypt. He conciliated the natives by paying honors to
+their gods. In his progress he was struck by the advantages of a
+certain site for a city, and founded there the town which is now
+called Alexandria.</p>
+<p>All Phoenicia was subdued except Tyre, the capital city. This
+city was justly entitled the "Queen of the Sea," that element
+bringing to it the tribute of all nations. She boasted of having
+first invented navigation and taught mankind the art of braving the
+winds and waves by the assistance of a frail bark. The happy
+situation of Tyre, at the upper end of the Mediterranean; the
+conveniency of its ports, which were both safe and capacious; and
+the character of its inhabitants, who were industrious, laborious,
+patient, and extremely courteous to strangers, invited thither
+merchants from all parts of the globe; so that it might be
+considered, not so much a city belonging to any particular nation,
+as the common city of all nations and the centre of their
+commerce.</p>
+<p>Alexander thought it necessary, both for his glory and his
+interest, to take this city. The spring was now coming on. Tyre was
+at that time seated on an island of the sea, about a quarter of a
+league from the continent. It was surrounded by a strong wall, a
+hundred and fifty feet high, which the waves of the sea washed; and
+the Carthaginians, a colony from Tyre, a mighty people, and
+sovereigns of the ocean, promised to come to the assistance of
+their parent State. Encouraged, therefore, by these favorable
+circumstances, the Tyrians determined not to surrender, but to hold
+out the place to the last extremity. This resolution, however
+imprudent, was certainly magnanimous, but it was soon after
+followed by an act which was as blamable as the other was
+praiseworthy.</p>
+<p>Alexander was desirous of gaining the place rather by treaty
+than by force of arms, and with this in view sent heralds into the
+town with offers of peace; but the inhabitants were so far from
+listening to his proposals, or endeavoring to avert his resentment
+by any kind of concession, that they actually killed his
+ambassadors and threw their bodies from the top of the walls into
+the sea. It is easy to imagine what effect so shocking an outrage
+must produce in a mind like Alexander's. He instantly resolved to
+besiege the place, and not to desist until he had made himself
+master of it and razed it to the ground.</p>
+<p>As Tyre was divided from the continent by an arm of the sea,
+there was necessity for filling up the intermediate space with a
+bank or pier, before the place could be closely invested. This
+work, accordingly, was immediately undertaken and in a great
+measure completed; when all the wood, of which it was principally
+composed, was unexpectedly burned by means of a fire-ship sent in
+by the enemy. The damage, however, was very soon repaired, and the
+mole rendered more perfect than formerly, and carried nearer to the
+town, when all of a sudden a furious tempest arose, which,
+undermining the stonework that supported the wood, laid the whole
+at once in the bottom of the sea.</p>
+<p>Two such disasters, following so closely on the heels of each
+other, would have cooled the ardor of any man except Alexander, but
+nothing could daunt his invincible spirit, or make him relinquish
+an enterprise he had once undertaken. He, therefore, resolved to
+prosecute the siege; and in order to encourage his men to second
+his views, he took care to inspire them with the belief that heaven
+was on their side and would soon crown their labors with the
+wished-for success. At one time he gave out that Apollo was about
+to abandon the Tyrians to their doom, and that, to prevent his
+flight, they had bound him to his pedestal with a golden chain; at
+another, he pretended that Hercules, the tutelar deity of Macedon,
+had appeared to him, and, having opened prospects of the most
+glorious kind, had invited him to proceed to take possession of
+Tyre.</p>
+<p>These favorable circumstances were announced by the augurs as
+intimations from above; and every heart was in consequence cheered.
+The soldiers, as if that moment arrived before the city, forgetting
+all the toils they had undergone and the disappointments they had
+suffered, began to raise a new mole, at which they worked
+incessantly.</p>
+<p>To protect them from being annoyed by the ships of the enemy,
+Alexander fitted out a fleet, with which he not only secured his
+own men, but offered the Tyrians battle, which, however, they
+thought proper to decline, and withdrew all their galleys into the
+harbor.</p>
+<p>The besiegers, now allowed to proceed unmolested, went on with
+the work with the utmost vigor, and in a little time completed it
+and brought it close to the walls. A general attack was therefore
+resolved on, both by sea and land, and with this in view the King,
+having manned his galleys and joined them together with strong
+cables, ordered them to approach the walls about midnight and
+attack the city with resolution. But just as the assault was going
+to begin, a dreadful storm arose, which not only shook the ships
+asunder, but even shattered them in a terrible manner, so that they
+were all obliged to be towed toward the shore, without having made
+the least impression on the city.</p>
+<p>The Tyrians were elated with this gleam of good fortune; but
+that joy was of short duration, for in a little time they received
+intelligence from Carthage that they must expect no assistance from
+that quarter, as the Carthaginians themselves were then overawed by
+a powerful army of Syracusans, who had invaded their country.
+Reduced, therefore, to the hard necessity of depending entirely
+upon their own strength and their own resources, the Tyrians sent
+all their women and children to Carthage, and prepared to encounter
+the very last extremities. For now the enemy was attacking the
+place with greater spirit and activity than ever. And, to do the
+Tyrians justice, it must be acknowledged that they employed a
+number of methods of defence which, considering the rude state of
+the art of war at that early period, were really astonishing. They
+warded off the darts discharged from the ballisters against them,
+by the assistance of turning wheels, which either broke them to
+pieces or carried them another way. They deadened the violence of
+the stones that were hurled at them, by setting up sails and
+curtains made of a soft substance which easily gave way.</p>
+<p>To annoy the ships which advanced against their walls, they
+fixed grappling irons and scythes to joists or beams; then,
+straining their catapultas—an enormous kind of
+crossbow—they laid those great pieces of timber upon them
+instead of arrows, and shot them off on a sudden at the enemy.
+These crushed some of their ships by their great weight, and, by
+means of the hooks or hanging scythes, tore others to pieces. They
+also had brazen shields, which they drew red-hot out of the fire;
+and filling these with burning sand, hurled them in an instant from
+the top of the wall upon the enemy.</p>
+<p>There was nothing the Macedonians dreaded so much as this fatal
+instrument; for the moment the burning sand got to the flesh
+through the crevices of the armor, it penetrated to the very bone,
+and stuck so close that there was no pulling it off; so that the
+soldiers, throwing down their arms, and tearing their clothes to
+pieces, were in this manner exposed, naked and defenceless, to the
+shot of the enemy.</p>
+<p>Alexander, finding the resources and even the courage of the
+Tyrians increased in proportion as the siege continued, resolved to
+make a last effort, and attack them at once both by sea and land,
+in order, if possible, to overwhelm them with the multiplicity of
+dangers to which they would be thus exposed. With this view, having
+manned his galleys with some of the bravest of his troops, he
+commanded them to advance against the enemy's fleet, while he
+himself took his post at the head of his men on the mole.</p>
+<p>And now the attack began on all sides with irresistible and
+unremitting fury. Wherever the battering-rams had beat down any
+part of the wall, and the bridges were thrown out, instantly the
+argyraspides mounted the breach with the utmost valor, being led on
+by Admetus, one of the bravest officers in the army, who was killed
+by the thrust of a spear as he was encouraging his soldiers.</p>
+<p>The presence of the King, and the example he set, fired his
+troops with unusual bravery. He himself ascended one of the towers
+on the mole, which was of a prodigious height, and there was
+exposed to the greatest dangers he had ever yet encountered; for
+being immediately known by his insignia and the richness of his
+armor, he served as a mark for all the arrows of the enemy. On this
+occasion he performed wonders, killing with javelins several of
+those who defended the wall; then, advancing nearer to them, he
+forced some with his sword, and others with his shield, either into
+the city or the sea, the tower on which he fought almost touching
+the wall.</p>
+<p>He soon ascended the wall, followed by his principal officers,
+and possessed himself of two towers and the space between them. The
+battering-rams had already made several breaches; the fleet had
+forced its way into the harbor; and some of the Macedonians had
+possessed themselves of the towers which were abandoned. The
+Tyrians, seeing the enemy masters of their rampart, retired toward
+an open place, called Agenor, and there stood their ground; but
+Alexander, marching up with his regiment of bodyguards, killed part
+of them and obliged the rest to fly.</p>
+<p>At the same time, Tyre being taken on that side which lay toward
+the harbor, a general carnage of the citizens ensued, and none was
+spared, except the few that fell into the hands of the Siclonians
+in Alexander's army, who—considering the Tyrians as
+countrymen—granted them protection and carried them privately
+on board their ships.</p>
+<p>The number that was slaughtered on this occasion is almost
+incredible; even after conquest, the victor's resentment did not
+subside. He ordered no less than five thousand men, who were taken
+in the storming, to be nailed to crosses along the shore. The
+number of prisoners amounted to thirty thousand and were all sold
+as slaves in different parts of the world. Thus fell Tyre, that had
+been for many ages the most flourishing city in the world, and had
+spread the arts and commerce into the remotest regions.</p>
+<p>While Alexander was employed in the siege of Tyre he received a
+second letter from Darius, in which that monarch treated him with
+greater respect than before. He now gave him the title of king; he
+offered him ten thousand talents as a ransom for his captive mother
+and queen; and he promised him his daughter Statira in marriage,
+with all the country he had conquered, as far as the river
+Euphrates, provided he would agree to a peace. These terms were so
+advantageous that, when the King debated upon them in council,
+Parmenio, one of his generals, could not help observing that he
+would certainly accept of them were he Alexander. "And so would I,"
+replied the King, "were I Parmenio!" But deeming it inconsistent
+with his dignity to listen to any proposals from a man whom he had
+so lately overcome, he haughtily rejected them, and scorned to
+accept of that as a favor which he already considered his own by
+conquest.</p>
+<p>From Tyre, Alexander marched to Jerusalem, fully determined to
+punish that city for having refused to supply his army with
+provisions during the siege; but his resentment was mollified by a
+deputation of the citizens coming out to meet him, with their high
+priest, Taddua, before them, dressed in white, and having a mitre
+on his head, on the front of which the name of God was written. The
+moment the King perceived the high priest, he advanced toward him
+with an air of the most profound respect, bowed his body, adored
+the august name upon his front, and saluted him who wore it with
+religious veneration.</p>
+<p>And when some of his courtiers expressed their surprise that he,
+who was adored by everyone, should adore the high priest of the
+Jews: "I do not," said he, "adore the high priest, but the God
+whose minister he is; for while I was at Dium in Macedonia, my mind
+wholly fixed on the great design of the Persian war, as I was
+revolving the methods how to conquer Asia, this very man, dressed
+in the same robes, appeared to me in a dream, exhorted me to banish
+my fear, bade me cross the Hellespont boldly, and assured me that
+God would march at the head of my army and give me the victory over
+the Persians." This speech, delivered with an air of sincerity, no
+doubt had its effect in encouraging the army and establishing an
+opinion that his mission was from heaven.</p>
+<p>From Jerusalem he went to Gaza, where, having met with a more
+obstinate resistance than he expected, he cut to pieces the whole
+garrison, consisting of ten thousand men. Not satisfied with this
+act of cruelty, he caused holes to be bored through the heels of
+Boetis, the governor, and tying him with cords to the back of his
+chariot dragged him in this manner around the walls of the city.
+This he did in imitation of Achilles, whom Homer describes as
+having dragged Hector around the walls of Troy in the same manner.
+It was reading the past to very little, or rather, indeed, to very
+bad purpose, to imitate this hero in the most unworthy part of his
+character.</p>
+<p>Alexander, having left a garrison in Gaza, turned his arms
+toward Egypt; of which he made himself master without opposition.
+Here he formed the design of visiting the temple of Jupiter, which
+was situated in the sandy deserts of Lybia at the distance of
+twelve days' journey from Memphis, the capital of Egypt. His chief
+object in going thither was to get himself acknowledged the son of
+Jupiter, an honor he had long aspired to. In this journey he
+founded the city of Alexandria, which soon became one of the
+greatest towns in the world for commerce.</p>
+<p>Nothing could be more dreary than the desert through which he
+passed, nor anything more charming—according to the fabulous
+accounts of the poets—than the particular spot where the
+temple was situated.</p>
+<p>It was a perfect paradise in the midst of an immeasurable
+wilderness. At last, having reached the place, and appeared before
+the altar of the deity, the priest, who was no stranger to
+Alexander's wishes, declared him to be the son of Jupiter.</p>
+<p>The conqueror, elated with this high compliment, asked whether
+he should have success in his expedition. The priest answered that
+he should be monarch of the world. The conqueror inquired if his
+father's murderers were punished. The priest replied that his
+father Jupiter was immortal, but that the murderers of Philip had
+all been extirpated.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_11"></a>THE BATTLE OF ARBELA</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 331</p>
+<p class="center">SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY</p>
+<p class="intros">When Alexander, having returned from his campaign
+against the barbarians of the North, had suppressed a revolt which
+meanwhile had broken out in Greece, he found himself free for
+undertaking those great foreign conquests which he had planned.
+When he left Greece to conquer the world, he said farewell to his
+own country forever. Crossing the Hellespont into Asia Minor with a
+small but well equipped and disciplined army, he advanced unopposed
+until he reached the river Granicus, where he found himself
+confronted with a Persian host. Upon this army he inflicted a
+defeat so signal as to bring at once to submission nearly the whole
+of Asia Minor. He next advanced into Syria and met the Persian
+king, Darius III, who in person commanded an immense body of
+soldiers, against which the young conqueror fought at Issus,
+winning a decisive victory. He not only captured the Persian camp,
+but also secured the King's treasures and took his family
+prisoners. From this time Alexander held complete mastery of the
+western dominions of Darius, whom the conqueror afterward
+dethroned.</p>
+<p class="intros">After he had next invaded and subjugated Egypt
+and there founded the city of Alexandria, he pursued King Darius,
+who had taken flight, into the very heart of his empire, where the
+Persian monarch, on the plains of Gaugamela, near the village of
+Arbela, made his last stand against his invincible foe. Of the
+battle to which Arbela gave its name, and which proved the
+death-blow of the Persian empire, Creasy's narrative furnishes a
+realistic description.</p>
+<p>A long and not uninstructive list might be made out of
+illustrious men whose characters have been vindicated during recent
+times from aspersions which for centuries had been thrown on them.
+The spirit of modern inquiry, and the tendency of modern
+scholarship, both of which are often said to be solely negative and
+destructive, have, in truth, restored to splendor, and almost
+created anew, far more than they have assailed with censure or
+dismissed from consideration as unreal.</p>
+<p>The truth of many a brilliant narrative of brilliant exploits
+has of late years been triumphantly demonstrated, and the
+shallowness of the sceptical scoffs with which little minds have
+carped at the great minds of antiquity has been in many instances
+decisively exposed. The laws, the politics, and the lines of action
+adopted or recommended by eminent men and powerful nations have
+been examined with keener investigation and considered with more
+comprehensive judgment than formerly were brought to bear on these
+subjects. The result has been at least as often favorable as
+unfavorable to the persons and the states so scrutinized, and many
+an oft-repeated slander against both measures and men has thus been
+silenced, we may hope forever.</p>
+<p>The veracity of Herodotus, the pure patriotism of Pericles, of
+Demosthenes, and of the Gracchi, the wisdom of Clisthenes and of
+Licinius as constitutional reformers, may be mentioned as facts
+which recent writers have cleared from unjust suspicion and
+censure. And it might be easily shown that the defensive tendency
+which distinguishes the present and recent great writers of
+Germany, France, and England has been equally manifested in the
+spirit in which they have treated the heroes of thought and heroes
+of action who lived during what we term the Middle Ages, and whom
+it was so long the fashion to sneer at or neglect.</p>
+<p>The name of the victor of Arbela has led to these reflections;
+for, although the rapidity and extent of Alexander's conquests have
+through all ages challenged admiration and amazement, the grandeur
+of genius which he displayed in his schemes of commerce,
+civilization, and of comprehensive union and unity among nations,
+has, until lately, been comparatively unhonored. This
+long-continued depreciation was of early date. The ancient
+rhetoricians—a class of babblers, a school for lies and
+scandal, as Niebuhr justly termed them—chose, among the stock
+themes for their commonplaces, the character and exploits of
+Alexander.</p>
+<p>They had their followers in every age; and, until a very recent
+period, all who wished to "point a moral or adorn a tale," about
+unreasoning ambition, extravagant pride, and the formidable
+frenzies of free will when leagued with free power, have never
+failed to blazon forth the so-called madman of Macedonia as one of
+the most glaring examples. Without doubt, many of these writers
+adopted with implicit credence traditional ideas, and supposed,
+with uninquiring philanthropy, that in blackening Alexander they
+were doing humanity good service. But also, without doubt, many of
+his assailants, like those of other great men, have been mainly
+instigated by "that strongest of all antipathies, the antipathy of
+a second-rate mind to a first-rate one," and by the envy which
+talent too often bears to genius.</p>
+<p>Arrian, who wrote his history of Alexander when Hadrian was
+emperor of the Roman world, and when the spirit of declamation and
+dogmatism was at its full height, but who was himself, unlike the
+dreaming pedants of the schools, a statesman and a soldier of
+practical and proved ability, well rebuked the malevolent
+aspersions which he heard continually thrown upon the memory of the
+great conqueror of the East.</p>
+<p>He truly says: "Let the man who speaks evil of Alexander not
+merely bring forward those passages of Alexander's life which were
+really evil, but let him collect and review <i>all</i> the actions
+of Alexander, and then let him thoroughly consider first who and
+what manner of man he himself is, and what has been his own career;
+and then let him consider who and what manner of man Alexander was,
+and to what an eminence of human grandeur <i>he</i> arrived. Let
+him consider that Alexander was a king, and the undisputed lord of
+the two continents, and that his name is renowned throughout the
+whole earth.</p>
+<p>"Let the evil-speaker against Alexander bear all this in mind,
+and then let him reflect on his own insignificance, the pettiness
+of his own circumstances and affairs, and the blunders that he
+makes about these, paltry and trifling as they are. Let him then
+ask himself whether he is a fit person to censure and revile such a
+man as Alexander. I believe that there was in his time no nation of
+men, no city, nay, no single individual with whom Alexander's name
+had not become a familiar word. I therefore hold that such a man,
+who was like no ordinary mortal, was not born into the world
+without some special providence."</p>
+<p>And one of the most distinguished soldiers and writers, Sir
+Walter Raleigh, though he failed to estimate justly the full merits
+of Alexander, has expressed his sense of the grandeur of the part
+played in the world by "the great Emathian conqueror" in language
+that well deserves quotation:</p>
+<p>"So much hath the spirit of some one man excelled as it hath
+undertaken and effected the alteration of the greatest states and
+commonweals, the erection of monarchies, the conquest of kingdoms
+and empires, guided handfuls of men against multitudes of equal
+bodily strength, contrived victories beyond all hope and discourse
+of reason, converted the fearful passions of his own followers into
+magnanimity, and the valor of his enemies into cowardice; such
+spirits have been stirred up in sundry ages of the world, and in
+divers parts thereof, to erect and cast down again, to establish
+and to destroy, and to bring all things, persons, and states to the
+same certain ends which the infinite spirit of the
+<i>Universal</i>, piercing, moving, and governing all things, hath
+ordained. Certainly, the things that this King did were marvellous
+and would hardly have been undertaken by anyone else; and though
+his father had determined to have invaded the Lesser Asia, it is
+like enough that he would have contented himself with some part
+thereof, and not have discovered the river of Indus, as this man
+did."</p>
+<p>A higher authority than either Arrian or Raleigh may now be
+referred to by those who wish to know the real merit of Alexander
+as a general, and how far the commonplace assertions are true that
+his successes were the mere results of fortunate rashness and
+unreasoning pugnacity. Napoleon selected Alexander as one of the
+seven greatest generals whose noble deeds history has handed down
+to us, and from the study of whose campaigns the principles of war
+are to be learned. The critique of the greatest conqueror of modern
+times on the military career of the great conqueror of the Old
+World is no less graphic than true:</p>
+<p>"Alexander crossed the Dardanelles B.C. 334, with an army of
+about forty thousand men, of which one-eighth was cavalry; he
+forced the passage of the Granicus in opposition to an army under
+Memnon, the Greek, who commanded for Darius on the coast of Asia,
+and he spent the whole of the year 333 in establishing his power in
+Asia Minor. He was seconded by the Greek colonies, who dwelt on the
+borders of the Black Sea and on the Mediterranean, and in Sardis,
+Ephesus, Tarsus, Miletus, etc. The kings of Persia left their
+provinces and towns to be governed according to their own
+particular laws. Their empire was a union of confederated states,
+and did not form one nation; this facilitated its conquest. As
+Alexander only wished for the throne of the monarch, he easily
+effected the change by respecting the customs, manners, and laws of
+the people, who experienced no change in their condition.</p>
+<p>"In the year 332 he met with Darius at the head of sixty
+thousand men, who had taken up a position near Tarsus, on the banks
+of the Issus, in the province of Cilicia. He defeated him, entered
+Syria, took Damascus, which contained all the riches of the Great
+King, and laid siege to Tyre. This superb metropolis of the
+commerce of the world detained him nine months.</p>
+<p>"He took Gaza after a siege of two months; crossed the desert in
+seven days; entered Pelusium and Memphis, and founded Alexandria.
+In less than two years, after two battles and four or five sieges,
+the coasts of the Black Sea, from Phasis to Byzantium, those of the
+Mediterranean as far as Alexandria, all Asia Minor, Syria, and
+Egypt, had submitted to his arms.</p>
+<p>"In 331 he repassed the desert, encamped in Tyre, re-crossed
+Syria, entered Damascus, passed the Euphrates and Tigris, and
+defeated Darius on the field of Arbela when he was at the head of a
+still stronger army than that which he commanded on the Issus, and
+Babylon opened her gates to him. In 330 he overran Susa and took
+that city, Persepolis, and Pasargada, which contained the tomb of
+Cyrus. In 329 he directed his course northward, entered Ecbatana,
+and extended his conquests to the coasts of the Caspian, punished
+Bessus, the cowardly assassin of Darius, penetrated into Scythia,
+and subdued the Scythians.</p>
+<p>"In 328 he forced the passage of the Oxus, received sixteen
+thousand recruits from Macedonia, and reduced the neighboring
+people to subjection. In 327 he crossed the Indus, vanquished Porus
+in a pitched battle, took him prisoner, and treated him as a king.
+He contemplated passing the Ganges, but his army refused. He sailed
+down the Indus, in the year 326, with eight hundred vessels; having
+arrived at the ocean, he sent Nearchus with a fleet to run along
+the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf as far as the
+mouth of the Euphrates. In 325 he took sixty days in crossing from
+Gedrosia, entered Keramania, returned to Pasargada, Persepolis, and
+Susa, and married Statira, the daughter of Darius. In 324 he
+marched once more to the north, passed Echatana, and terminated his
+career at Babylon."</p>
+<p>The enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to be
+estimated, not by the duration of his own life and empire, or even
+by the duration of the kingdoms which his generals after his death
+formed out of the fragments of that mighty dominion. In every
+region of the world that he traversed, Alexander planted Greek
+settlements and founded cities, in the populations of which the
+Greek element at once asserted its predominance. Among his
+successors, the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies imitated their great
+captain in blending schemes of civilization, of commercial
+intercourse, and of literary and scientific research with all their
+enterprises of military aggrandizement and with all their systems
+of civil administration.</p>
+<p>Such was the ascendency of the Greek genius, so wonderfully
+comprehensive and assimilating was the cultivation which it
+introduced, that, within thirty years after Alexander crossed the
+Hellespont, the Greek language was spoken in every country from the
+shores of the Ægean to the Indus, and also throughout
+Egypt—not, indeed, wholly to the extirpation of the native
+dialects, but it became the language of every court, of all
+literature, of every judicial and political function, and formed a
+medium of communication among the many myriads of mankind
+inhabiting these large portions of the Old World.</p>
+<p>Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt the Hellenic character
+that was thus imparted remained in full vigor down to the time of
+the Mahometan conquests. The infinite value of this to humanity in
+the highest and holiest point of view has often been pointed out,
+and the workings of the finger of Providence have been gratefully
+recognized by those who have observed how the early growth and
+progress of Christianity were aided by that diffusion of the Greek
+language and civilization throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt
+which had been caused by the Macedonian conquest of the East.</p>
+<p>In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and material
+influence of Greek ascendency was more short-lived. Yet, during the
+existence of the Hellenic kingdoms in these regions, especially of
+the Greek kingdom of Bactria, the modern Bokhara, very important
+effects were produced on the intellectual tendencies and tastes of
+the inhabitants of those countries, and of the adjacent ones, by
+the animating contact of the Grecian spirit. Much of Hindu science
+and philosophy, much of the literature of the later Persian kingdom
+of the Arsacidæ, either originated from or was largely
+modified by Grecian influences. So, also, the learning and science
+of the Arabians were in a far less degree the result of original
+invention and genius than the reproduction, in an altered form, of
+the Greek philosophy and the Greek lore acquired by the Saracenic
+conquerors, together with their acquisition of the provinces which
+Alexander had subjugated, nearly a thousand years before the armed
+disciples of Mahomet commenced their career in the East.</p>
+<p>It is well known that Western Europe in the Middle Ages drew its
+philosophy, its arts, and its science principally from Arabian
+teachers. And thus we see how the intellectual influence of ancient
+Greece, poured on the Eastern world by Alexander's victories, and
+then brought back to bear on mediæval Europe by the spread of
+the Saracenic powers, has exerted its action on the elements of
+modern civilization by this powerful though indirect channel, as
+well as by the more obvious effects of the remnants of classic
+civilization which survived in Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain,
+after the irruption of the Germanic nations.</p>
+<p>These considerations invest the Macedonian triumphs in the East
+with never-dying interest, such as the most showy and sanguinary
+successes of mere "low ambition and the pride of kings," however
+they may dazzle for a moment, can never retain with posterity.
+Whether the old Persian empire which Cyrus founded could have
+survived much longer than it did, even if Darius had been
+victorious at Arbela, may safely be disputed. That ancient
+dominion, like the Turkish at the present time, labored under every
+cause of decay and dissolution. The satraps, like the modern
+pachas, continually rebelled against the central power, and Egypt
+in particular was almost always in a state of insurrection against
+its nominal sovereign. There was no longer any effective central
+control, or any internal principle of unity fused through the huge
+mass of the empire, and binding it together.</p>
+<p>Persia was evidently about to fall; but, had it not been for
+Alexander's invasion of Asia, she would most probably have fallen
+beneath some other oriental power, as Media and Babylon had
+formerly fallen before herself, and as, in after-times, the
+Parthian supremacy gave way to the revived ascendency of Persia in
+the East, under the sceptres of the Arsacidæ. A revolution
+that merely substituted one Eastern power for another would have
+been utterly barren and unprofitable to mankind.</p>
+<p>Alexander's victory at Arbela not only overthrew an oriental
+dynasty, but established European rulers in its stead. It broke the
+monotony of the eastern world by the impression of western energy
+and superior civilization, even as England's present mission is to
+break up the mental and moral stagnation of India and Cathay by
+pouring upon and through them the impulsive current of Anglo-Saxon
+commerce and conquest.</p>
+<p>Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the decisive
+battle which gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than twenty miles
+from the actual scene of conflict. The little village, then named
+Gaugamela, is close to the spot where the armies met, but has ceded
+the honor of naming the battle to its more euphonious neighbor.
+Gaugamela is situated in one of the wide plains that lie between
+the Tigris and the mountains of Kurdistan. A few undulating
+hillocks diversify the surface of this sandy tract; but the ground
+is generally level and admirably qualified for the evolutions of
+cavalry, and also calculated to give the larger of two armies the
+full advantage of numerical superiority.</p>
+<p>The Persian King—who, before he came to the throne, had
+proved his personal valor as a soldier and his skill as a
+general—had wisely selected this region for the third and
+decisive encounter between his forces and the invader. The previous
+defeats of his troops, however severe they had been, were not
+looked on as irreparable. The Granicus had been fought by his
+generals rashly and without mutual concert; and, though Darius
+himself had commanded and been beaten at Issus, that defeat might
+be attributed to the disadvantageous nature of the ground, where,
+cooped up between the mountains, the river, and the sea, the
+numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike the general's
+skill and the soldiers' prowess, and their very strength had been
+made their weakness. Here, on the broad plains of Kurdistan, there
+was scope for Asia's largest host to array its lines, to wheel, to
+skirmish, to condense or expand its squadrons, to manoeuvre, and to
+charge at will. Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to plunge
+into that living sea of war, their destruction seemed
+inevitable.</p>
+<p>Darius felt, however, the critical nature to himself as well as
+to his adversary of the coming encounter. He could not hope to
+retrieve the consequences of a third overthrow. The great cities of
+Mesopotamia and Upper Asia, the central provinces of the Persian
+empire, were certain to be at the mercy of the victor. Darius knew
+also the Asiatic character well enough to be aware how it yields to
+<i>prestige</i> of success and the apparent career of destiny. He
+felt that the diadem was now either to be firmly replaced on his
+own brow or to be irrevocably transferred to the head of his
+European conqueror. He, therefore, during the long interval left
+him after the battle of Issus, while Alexander was subjugating
+Syria and Egypt, assiduously busied himself in selecting the best
+troops which his vast empire supplied, and in training his varied
+forces to act together with some uniformity of discipline and
+system.</p>
+<p>The hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, Bokhara, Khiva, and Tibet
+were then, as at present, far different from the generality of
+Asiatics in warlike spirit and endurance. From these districts
+Darius collected large bodies of admirable infantry; and the
+countries of the modern Kurds and Turkomans supplied, as they do
+now, squadrons of horsemen, hardy, skilful, bold, and trained to a
+life of constant activity and warfare. It is not uninteresting to
+notice that the ancestors of our own late enemies, the Sikhs,
+served as allies of Darius against the Macedonians. They are spoken
+of in Arrian as Indians who dwelt near Bactria. They were attached
+to the troops of that satrapy, and their cavalry was one of the
+most formidable forces in the whole Persian army.</p>
+<p>Besides these picked troops, contingents also came in from the
+numerous other provinces that yet obeyed the Great King.
+Altogether, the horse are said to have been forty thousand, the
+scythe-bearing chariots two hundred, and the armed elephants
+fifteen in number. The amount of the infantry is uncertain; but the
+knowledge which both ancient and modern times supply of the usual
+character of oriental armies, and of their populations of
+camp-followers, may warrant us in believing that many myriads were
+prepared to fight or to encumber those who fought for the last
+Darius.</p>
+<p>The position of the Persian King near Mesopotamia was chosen
+with great military skill. It was certain that Alexander, on his
+return from Egypt, must march northward along the Syrian coast
+before he attacked the central provinces of the Persian empire. A
+direct eastward march from the lower part of Palestine across the
+great Syrian Desert was then, as ever, utterly impracticable.
+Marching eastward from Syria, Alexander would, on crossing the
+Euphrates, arrive at the vast Mesopotamian plains. The wealthy
+capitals of the empire, Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, would then
+lie to the south; and if he marched down through Mesopotamia to
+attack them, Darius might reasonably hope to follow the Macedonians
+with his immense force of cavalry, and, without even risking a
+pitched battle, to harass and finally overwhelm them.</p>
+<p>We may remember that three centuries afterward a Roman army
+under Crassus was thus actually destroyed by the oriental archers
+and horsemen in these very plains, and that the ancestors of the
+Parthians who thus vanquished the Roman legions served by thousands
+under King Darius. If, on the contrary, Alexander should defer his
+march against Babylon, and first seek an encounter with the Persian
+army, the country on each side of the Tigris in this latitude was
+highly advantageous for such an army as Darius commanded, and he
+had close in his rear the mountainous districts of Northern Media,
+where he himself had in early life been satrap, where he had
+acquired reputation as a soldier and a general, and where he justly
+expected to find loyalty to his person, and a safe refuge in case
+of defeat.[<a href="#note-49">49</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-49"><!-- Note Anchor 49 --></a>[Footnote 49:
+Mitford's remarks on the strategy of Darius in his last campaign
+are very just. After having been unduly admired as a historian,
+Mitford is now unduly neglected. His partiality and his deficiency
+in scholarship have been exposed sufficiently to make him no longer
+a dangerous guide as to Greek politics, while the clearness and
+brilliance of his narrative, and the strong common sense of his
+remarks (where his party prejudices do not interfere), must always
+make his volumes valuable as well as entertaining.]</p>
+<p>His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against him,
+at the head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of
+Macedonian officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand
+foot and seven thousand horse. In studying the campaigns of
+Alexander, we possess the peculiar advantage of deriving our
+information from two of Alexander's generals of division, who bore
+an important part in all his enterprises. Aristobulus and
+Ptolemy—who afterward became king of Egypt—kept regular
+journals of the military events which they witnessed, and these
+journals were in the possession of Arrian when he drew up his
+history of Alexander's expedition.</p>
+<p>The high character of Arrian for integrity makes us confident
+that he used them fairly, and his comments on the occasional
+discrepancies between the two Macedonian narratives prove that he
+used them sensibly. He frequently quotes the very words of his
+authorities; and his history thus acquires a charm such as very few
+ancient or modern military narratives possess. The anecdotes and
+expressions which he records we fairly believe to be genuine, and
+not to be the coinage of a rhetorician, like those in Curtius. In
+fact, in reading Arrian, we read General Aristobulus and General
+Ptolemy on the campaigns of the Macedonians, and it is like reading
+General Jomini or General Foy on the campaigns of the French.</p>
+<p>The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of
+Alexander's army seems reasonable enough, when we take into account
+both the losses which he had sustained and the re&euml;nforcements
+which he had received since he left Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen,
+who know with what mere handfuls of men our own generals have, at
+Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and other Indian battles, routed
+large hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers that we read of
+in the victories won by the Macedonians over the Persians presents
+nothing incredible. The army which Alexander now led was wholly
+composed of veteran troops in the highest possible state of
+equipment and discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader,
+and full of confidence in his military genius and his victorious
+destiny.</p>
+<p>The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of
+his infantry. This force had been raised and organized by his
+father, Philip, who, on his accession to the Macedonian throne,
+needed a numerous and quickly formed army, and who, by lengthening
+the spear of the ordinary Greek phalanx, and increasing the depth
+of the files, brought the tactics of armed masses to the highest
+extent of which it was capable with such materials as he possessed.
+He formed his men sixteen deep, and placed in their grasp the
+<i>sarissa</i>, as the Macedonian pike was called, which was
+four-and-twenty feet in length, and, when couched for action,
+reached eighteen feet in front of the soldier; so that, as a space
+of about two feet was allowed between the ranks, the spears of the
+five files behind him projected in front of each front-rank
+man.</p>
+<p>The phalangite soldier was fully equipped in the defensive armor
+of the regular Greek infantry. And thus the phalanx presented a
+ponderous and bristling mass, which, as long as its order was kept
+compact, was sure to bear down all opposition. The defects of such
+an organization are obvious, and were proved in after-years, when
+the Macedonians were opposed to the Roman legions. But it is clear
+that under Alexander the phalanx was not the cumbrous, unwieldy
+body which it was at Cynoscephate and Pydna. His men were veterans;
+and he could obtain from them an accuracy of movement and
+steadiness of evolution such as probably the recruits of his father
+would only have floundered in attempting, and such as certainly
+were impracticable in the phalanx when handled by his successors,
+especially as under them it ceased to be a standing force, and
+became only a militia.</p>
+<p>Under Alexander the phalanx consisted of an aggregate of
+eighteen thousand men, who were divided into six brigades of three
+thousand each. These were again subdivided into regiments and
+companies; and the men were carefully trained to wheel, to face
+about, to take more ground, or to close up, as the emergencies of
+the battle required. Alexander also arrayed troops armed in a
+different manner in the intervals of the regiments of his
+phalangites, who could prevent their line from being pierced and
+their companies taken in flank, when the nature of the ground
+prevented a close formation, and who could be withdrawn when a
+favorable opportunity arrived for closing up the phalanx or any of
+its brigades for a charge, or when it was necessary to prepare to
+receive cavalry.</p>
+<p>Besides the phalanx, Alexander had a considerable force of
+infantry who were called shield-bearers: they were not so heavily
+armed as the phalangites, or as was the case with the Greek regular
+infantry in general, but they were equipped for close fight as well
+as for skirmishing, and were far superior to the ordinary irregular
+troops of Greek warfare. They were about six thousand strong.
+Besides these, he had several bodies of Greek regular infantry; and
+he had archers, slingers, and javelin-men, who fought also with
+broadsword and target, and who were principally supplied him by the
+highlanders of Illyria and Thracia.</p>
+<p>The main strength of his cavalry consisted in two chosen
+regiments of cuirassiers, one Macedonian and one Thessalian, each
+of which was about fifteen hundred strong. They were provided with
+long lances and heavy swords, and horse as well as man was fully
+equipped with defensive armor. Other regiments of regular cavalry
+were less heavily armed, and there were several bodies of
+light-horsemen, whom Alexander's conquests in Egypt and Syria had
+enabled him to mount superbly.</p>
+<p>A little before the end of August, Alexander crossed the
+Euphrates at Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry under
+Mazaeus retiring before him. Alexander was too prudent to march
+down through the Mesopotamian deserts, and continued to advance
+eastward with the intention of passing the Tigris, and then, if he
+was unable to find Darius and bring him to action, of marching
+southward on the left side of that river along the skirts of a
+mountainous district where his men would suffer less from heat and
+thirst, and where provisions would be more abundant.</p>
+<p>Darius, finding that his adversary was not to be enticed into
+the march through Mesopotamia against his capital, determined to
+remain on the battle-ground, which he had chosen on the left of the
+Tigris; where, if his enemy met a defeat or a check, the
+destruction of the invaders would be certain with two such rivers
+as the Euphrates and the Tigris in their rear.</p>
+<p>The Persian King availed himself to the utmost of every
+advantage in his power. He caused a large space of ground to be
+carefully levelled for the operation of his scythe-armed chariots;
+and he deposited his military stores in the strong town of Arbela,
+about twenty miles in his rear. The rhetoricians of after-ages have
+loved to describe Darius Codomanus as a second Xerxes in
+ostentation and imbecility; but a fair examination of his
+generalship in this his last campaign shows that he was worthy of
+bearing the same name as his great predecessor, the royal son of
+Hystaspes.</p>
+<p>On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left of the
+Tigris, Alexander hurried forward and crossed that river without
+opposition. He was at first unable to procure any certain
+intelligence of the precise position of the enemy, and after giving
+his army a short interval of rest he marched for four days down the
+left bank of the river.</p>
+<p>A moralist may pause upon the fact that Alexander must in this
+march have passed within a few miles of the ruins of Nineveh, the
+great city of the primæval conquerors of the human race.
+Neither the Macedonian King nor any of his followers knew what
+those vast mounds had once been. They had already sunk into utter
+destruction; and it is only within the last few years that the
+intellectual energy of one of our own countrymen has rescued
+Nineveh from its long centuries of oblivion.</p>
+<p>On the fourth day of Alexander's southward march, his advance
+guard reported that a body of the enemy's cavalry was in sight. He
+instantly formed his army in order for battle, and directing them
+to advance steadily he rode forward at the head of some squadrons
+of cavalry and charged the Persian horse, whom he found before him.
+This was a mere reconnoitring party, and they broke and fled
+immediately; but the Macedonians made some prisoners, and from them
+Alexander found that Darius was posted only a few miles off, and
+learned the strength of the army that he had with him. On receiving
+this news Alexander halted, and gave his men repose for four days,
+so that they should go into action fresh and vigorous. He also
+fortified his camp and deposited in it all his military stores and
+all his sick and disabled soldiers, intending to advance upon the
+enemy with the serviceable part of his army perfectly
+unencumbered.</p>
+<p>After this halt, he moved forward, while it was yet dark, with
+the intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking them at break of
+day. About half way between the camps there were some undulations
+of the ground, which concealed the two armies from each other's
+view; but, on Alexander arriving at their summit, he saw, by the
+early light, the Persian host arrayed before him, and he probably
+also observed traces of some engineering operation having been
+carried on along part of the ground in front of them.</p>
+<p>Not knowing that these marks had been caused by the Persians
+having levelled the ground for the free use of their war chariots,
+Alexander suspected that hidden pitfalls had been prepared with a
+view of disordering the approach of his cavalry. He summoned a
+council of war forthwith. Some of the officers were for attacking
+instantly, at all hazards; but the more prudent opinion of Parmenio
+prevailed, and it was determined not to advance farther till the
+battle-ground had been carefully surveyed.</p>
+<p>Alexander halted his army on the heights, and, taking with him
+some light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed part of the
+day in reconnoitring the enemy and observing the nature of the
+ground which he had to fight on. Darius wisely refrained from
+moving from his position to attack the Macedonians on the eminences
+which they occupied, and the two armies remained until night
+without molesting each other.</p>
+<p>On Alexander's return to his headquarters, he summoned his
+generals and superior officers together, and telling them that he
+knew well that <i>their</i> zeal wanted no exhortation, he besought
+them to do their utmost in encouraging and instructing those whom
+each commanded, to do their best in the next day's battle. They
+were to remind them that they were now not going to fight for a
+province as they had hitherto fought, but they were about to decide
+by their swords the dominion of all Asia. Each officer ought to
+impress this upon his subalterns, and they should urge it on their
+men. Their natural courage required no long words to excite its
+ardor; but they should be reminded of the paramount importance of
+steadiness in action. The silence in the ranks must be unbroken as
+long as silence was proper; but when the time came for the charge,
+the shout and the cheer must be full of terror for the foe. The
+officers were to be alert in receiving and communicating orders;
+and everyone was to act as if he felt that the whole result of the
+battle depended on his own single good conduct.</p>
+<p>Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander ordered
+that the army should sup and take their rest for the night.</p>
+<p>Darkness had closed over the tents of the Macedonians when
+Alexander's veteran general, Parmenio, came to him and proposed
+that they should make a night attack on the Persians. The King is
+said to have answered that he scorned to filch a victory, and that
+Alexander must conquer openly and fairly. Arrian justly remarks
+that Alexander's resolution was as wise as it was spirited. Besides
+the confusion and uncertainty which are inseparable from night
+engagements, the value of Alexander's victory would have been
+impaired if gained under circumstances which might supply the enemy
+with any excuse for his defeat, and encourage him to renew the
+contest. It was necessary for Alexander not only to beat Darius,
+but to gain such a victory as should leave his rival without
+apology and without hope of recovery.</p>
+<p>The Persians, in fact, expected and were prepared to meet a
+night attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius entertained of
+it that he formed his troops at evening in order of battle, and
+kept them under arms all night. The effect of this was that the
+morning found them jaded and dispirited, while it brought their
+adversaries all fresh and vigorous against them.</p>
+<p>The written order of battle which Darius himself caused to be
+drawn up fell into the hands of the Macedonians after the
+engagement, and Aristobulus copied it into his journal. We thus
+possess, through Arrian, unusually authentic information as to the
+composition and arrangement of the Persian army. On the extreme
+left were the Bactrian, Daan, and Arachosian cavalry. Next to these
+Darius placed the troops from Persia proper, both horse and foot.
+Then came the Susians, and next to these the Cadusians. These
+forces made up the left wing.</p>
+<p>Darius' own station was in the centre. This was composed of the
+Indians, the Carians, the Mardian archers, and the division of
+Persians who were distinguished by the golden apples that formed
+the knobs of their spears. Here also were stationed the bodyguard
+of the Persian nobility. Besides these, there were, in the centre,
+formed in deep order, the Uxian and Babylonian troops and the
+soldiers from the Red Sea. The brigade of Greek mercenaries whom
+Darius had in his service, and who alone were considered fit to
+stand the charge of the Macedonian phalanx, was drawn up on either
+side of the royal chariot.</p>
+<p>The right wing was composed of the Coelosyrians and
+Mesopotamians, the Medes, the Parthians, the Sacians, the
+Tapurians, Hyrcanians, Albanians, and Sacesinae. In advance of the
+line on the left wing were placed the Scythian cavalry, with a
+thousand of the Bactrian horse and a hundred scythe-armed chariots.
+The elephants and fifty scythe-armed chariots were ranged in front
+of the centre; and fifty more chariots, with the Armenian and
+Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in advance of the right
+wing.</p>
+<p>Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the night
+that to many thousands of them was the last of their existence. The
+morning of the first of October[<a href="#note-50">50</a>] dawned
+slowly to their wearied watching, and they could hear the note of
+the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and could see King
+Alexander's forces descend from their tents on the heights and form
+in order of battle on the plain.</p>
+<p><a name="note-50"><!-- Note Anchor 50 --></a>[Footnote 50: The
+battle was fought eleven days after an eclipse of the moon, which
+gives the means of fixing the precise date.]</p>
+<p>There was deep need of skill, as well as of valor, on
+Alexander's side; and few battle-fields have witnessed more
+consummate generalship than was now displayed by the Macedonian
+King. There were no natural barriers by which he could protect his
+flanks; and not only was he certain to be overlapped on either wing
+by the vast lines of the Persian army, but there was imminent risk
+of their circling round him, and charging him in the rear, while he
+advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore, a second, or
+reserve line, which was to wheel round, if required, or to detach
+troops to either flank, as the enemy's movements might necessitate;
+and thus, with their whole army ready at any moment to be thrown
+into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two lines
+against the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right wing, and
+the renowned phalanx forming the centre, while Parmenio commanded
+on the left.</p>
+<p>Such was the general nature of the disposition which Alexander
+made of his army. But we have in Arrian the details of the position
+of each brigade and regiment; and as we know that these details
+were taken from the journals of Macedonian generals, it is
+interesting to examine them, and to read the names and stations of
+King Alexander's generals and colonels in this the greatest of his
+battles.</p>
+<p>The eight regiments of the royal horse-guards formed the right
+of Alexander's line. Their colonels were Clitus—whose
+regiment was on the extreme right, the post of peculiar
+danger—Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis, Heraclides, Demetrias,
+Meleager, and Hegelochus. Philotas was general of the whole
+division. Then came the shield-bearing infantry: Nicanor was their
+general. Then came the phalanx in six brigades. Coenus' brigade was
+on the right, and nearest to the shield-bearers; next to this stood
+the brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager's, then Polysperchon's; and
+then the brigade of Amynias, but which was now commanded by
+Simmias, as Amynias had been sent to Macedonia to levy recruits.
+Then came the infantry of the left wing, under the command of
+Craterus.</p>
+<p>Next to Craterus' infantry were placed the cavalry regiments of
+the allies, with Eriguius for their general. The Thessalian
+cavalry, commanded by Philippus, were next, and held the extreme
+left of the whole army. The whole left wing was intrusted to the
+command of Parmenio, who had round his person the Pharsalian
+regiment of cavalry, which was the strongest and best of all the
+Thessalian horse regiments.</p>
+<p>The centre of the second line was occupied by a body of
+phalangite infantry, formed of companies which were drafted for
+this purpose from each of the brigades of their phalanx. The
+officers in command of this corps were ordered to be ready to face
+about if the enemy should succeed in gaining the rear of the army.
+On the right of this reserve of infantry, in the second line, and
+behind the royal horse-guards, Alexander placed half the Agrian
+light-armed infantry under Attalus, and with them Brison's body of
+Macedonian archers and Cleander's regiment of foot. He also placed
+in this part of his army Menidas' squadron of cavalry and Aretes'
+and Ariston's light horse. Menidas was ordered to watch if the
+enemy's cavalry tried to turn their flank, and, if they did so, to
+charge them before they wheeled completely round, and so take them
+in flank themselves.</p>
+<p>A similar force was arranged on the left of the second line for
+the same purpose. The Thracian infantry of Sitalces were placed
+there, and Coeranus' regiment of the cavalry of the Greek allies,
+and Agathon's troops of the Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme
+left of the second line in this quarter was held by Andromachus'
+cavalry. A division of Thracian infantry was left in guard of the
+camp. In advance of the right wing and centre was scattered a
+number of light-armed troops, of javelin-men and bowmen, with the
+intention of warding off the charge of the armed chariots.[<a href="#note-51">51</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-51"><!-- Note Anchor 51 --></a>[Footnote 51:
+Kleber's arrangement of his troops at the battle of Heliopolis,
+where, with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter eighty
+thousand Asiatics in an open plain, is worth comparing with
+Alexander's tactics at Arbela. See Thiers' <i>Histoire du
+Consulat</i>.]</p>
+<p>Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armor, and by the chosen
+band of officers who were round his person, Alexander took his own
+station, as his custom was, in the right wing, at the head of his
+cavalry; and when all the arrangements for the battle were
+complete, and his generals were fully instructed how to act in each
+probable emergency, he began to lead his men toward the enemy.</p>
+<p>It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, and
+to emulate the personal prowess of his great ancestor, Achilles.
+Perhaps, in the bold enterprise of conquering Persia, it was
+politic for Alexander to raise his army's daring to the utmost by
+the example of his own heroic valor; and, in his subsequent
+campaigns, the love of the excitement, of "the raptures of the
+strife," may have made him, like Murat, continue from choice a
+custom which he commenced from duty. But he never suffered the
+ardor of the soldier to make him lose the coolness of the
+general.</p>
+<p>Great reliance had been placed by the Persian King on the
+effects of the scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to launch
+these against the Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a
+heavy charge of cavalry, which, it was hoped, would find the ranks
+of the spearmen disordered by the rush of the chariots, and easily
+destroy this most formidable part of Alexander's force. In front,
+therefore, of the Persian centre, where Darius took his station,
+and which it was supposed that the phalanx would attack, the ground
+had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as to allow the
+chariots to charge over it with their full sweep and speed.</p>
+<p>As the Macedonian army approached the Persian, Alexander found
+that the front of his whole line barely equalled the front of the
+Persian centre, so that he was outflanked on his right by the
+entire left wing of the enemy, and by their entire right wing on
+his left. His tactics were to assail some one point of the hostile
+army, and gain a decisive advantage, while he refused, as far as
+possible, the encounter along the rest of the line. He therefore
+inclined his order of march to the right, so as to enable his right
+wing and centre to come into collision with the enemy on as
+favorable terms as possible, although the manoeuvre might in some
+respect compromise his left.</p>
+<p>The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the phalanx and
+his own wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground which the
+Persians had prepared for the operations of the chariots; and
+Darius, fearing to lose the benefit of this arm against the most
+important parts of the Macedonian force, ordered the Scythian and
+Bactrian cavalry, who were drawn up in advance on his extreme left,
+to charge round upon Alexander's right wing, and check its farther
+lateral progress. Against these assailants Alexander sent from his
+second line Menidas' cavalry. As these proved too few to make head
+against the enemy, he ordered Ariston also from the second line
+with his right horse, and Cleander with his foot, in support of
+Menidas.</p>
+<p>The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way; but Darius
+reenforced them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry from his main line,
+and an obstinate cavalry fight now took place. The Bactrians and
+Scythians were numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen
+under Menidas and Ariston; and the loss at first was heaviest on
+the Macedonian side. But still the European cavalry stood the
+charge of the Asiatics, and at last, by their superior discipline,
+and by acting in squadrons that supported each other,[<a href="#note-52">52</a>] instead of fighting in a confused mass like the
+barbarians, the Macedonians broke their adversaries and drove them
+off the field.</p>
+<p><a name="note-52"><!-- Note Anchor 52 --></a>[Footnote 52: The
+best explanation of this may be found in Napoleon's account of the
+cavalry fights between the French and the mamelukes: "Two mamelukes
+were able to make head against three Frenchmen, because they were
+better armed, better mounted, and better trained; they had two pair
+of pistols, a blunderbuss, a carbine, a helmet with a visor, and a
+coat of mail; they had several horses, and several attendants on
+foot. One hundred cuirassiers, however, were not afraid of one
+hundred mamelukes; three hundred could beat an equal number, and
+one thousand could easily put to the rout fifteen hundred, so great
+is the influence of tactics, order, and evolutions! Leclerc and
+Lasalle presented their men to the mamelukes in several lines. When
+the Arabs were on the point of overwhelming the first, the second
+came to its assistance on the right and left; the mamelukes then
+halted and wheeled, in order to turn the wings of this new line;
+this moment was always seized upon to charge them, and they were
+uniformly broken."]</p>
+<p>Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven
+against Alexander's horse-guards and the phalanx, and these
+formidable vehicles were accordingly sent rattling across the
+plain, against the Macedonian line. When we remember the alarm
+which the war chariots of the Britons created among Cæsar's
+legions, we shall not be prone to deride this arm of ancient
+warfare as always useless. The object of the chariots was to create
+unsteadiness in the ranks against which they were driven, and
+squadrons of cavalry followed close upon them to profit by such
+disorder. But the Asiatic chariots were rendered ineffective at
+Arbela by the light-armed troops, whom Alexander had specially
+appointed for the service, and who, wounding the horses and drivers
+with their missile weapons, and running alongside so as to cut the
+traces or seize the reins, marred the intended charge; and the few
+chariots that reached the phalanx passed harmlessly through the
+internals which the spearmen opened for them, and were easily
+captured in the rear.</p>
+<p>A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time,
+collected against Alexander's extreme right, and moved round it,
+with the view of gaining the flank of his army. At the critical
+moment, when their own flanks were exposed by this evolution,
+Aretes dashed on the Persian squadrons with his horsemen from
+Alexander's second line. While Alexander thus met and baffled all
+the flanking attacks of the enemy with troops brought up from his
+second line, he kept his own horse-guards and the rest of the front
+line of his wing fresh, and ready to take advantage of the first
+opportunity for striking a decisive blow.</p>
+<p>This soon came. A large body of horse, who were posted on the
+Persian left wing nearest to the centre, quitted their station, and
+rode off to help their comrades in the cavalry fight that still was
+going on at the extreme right of Alexander's wing against the
+detachments from his second line. This made a huge gap in the
+Persian array, and into this space Alexander instantly charged with
+his guard and all the cavalry of his wing; and then, pressing
+toward his left, he soon began to make havoc in the left flank of
+the Persian centre. The shield-bearing infantry now charged also
+among the reeling masses of the Asiatics; and five of the brigades
+of the phalanx, with the irresistible might of their sarissas, bore
+down the Greek mercenaries of Darius, and dug their way through the
+Persian centre.</p>
+<p>In the early part of the battle Darius had showed skill and
+energy; and he now, for some time, encouraged his men, by voice and
+example, to keep firm. But the lances of Alexander's cavalry and
+the pikes of the phalanx now pressed nearer and nearer to him. His
+charioteer was struck down by a javelin at his side; and at last
+Darius' nerve failed him, and, descending from his chariot, he
+mounted on a fleet horse and galloped from the plain, regardless of
+the state of the battle in other parts of the field, where matters
+were going on much more favorably for his cause, and where his
+presence might have done much toward gaining a victory.</p>
+<p>Alexander's operations with his right and centre had exposed his
+left to an immensely preponderating force of the enemy. Parmenio
+kept out of action as long as possible; but Mazaeus, who commanded
+the Persian right wing, advanced against him, completely outflanked
+him, and pressed him severely with reiterated charges by superior
+numbers.</p>
+<p>Seeing the distress of Parmenio's wing, Simmias, who commanded
+the sixth brigade of the phalanx, which was next to the left wing,
+did not advance with the other brigades in the great charge upon
+the Persian centre, but kept back to cover Parmenio's troops on
+their right flank, as otherwise they would have been completely
+surrounded and cut off from the rest of the Macedonian army. By so
+doing, Simmias had unavoidably opened a gap in the Macedonian left
+centre; and a large column of Indian and Persian horse, from the
+Persian right centre, had galloped forward through this interval,
+and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line. Instead
+of then wheeling round upon Parmenio, or upon the rear of
+Alexander's conquering wing, the Indian and Persian cavalry rode
+straight on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the Thracians who
+were left in charge of it, and began to plunder. This was stopped
+by the phalangite troops of the second line, who, after the enemy's
+horsemen had rushed by them, faced about, countermarched upon the
+camp, killed many of the Indians and Persians in the act of
+plundering, and forced the rest to ride off again.</p>
+<p>Just at this crisis, Alexander had been recalled from his
+pursuit of Darius by tidings of the distress of Parmenio and of his
+inability to bear up any longer against the hot attacks of Mazaeus.
+Taking his horse-guards with him, Alexander rode toward the part of
+the field where his left wing was fighting; but on his way thither
+he encountered the Persian and Indian cavalry on their return from
+his camp.</p>
+<p>These men now saw that their only chance of safety was to cut
+their way through, and in one huge column they charged desperately
+upon the Macedonian regiments. There was here a close hand-to-hand
+fight, which lasted some time, and sixty of the royal horse-guards
+fell, and three generals, who fought close to Alexander's side,
+were wounded. At length the Macedonian discipline and valor again
+prevailed, and a large number of the Persian and Indian horsemen
+were cut down, some few only succeeding in breaking through and
+riding away.</p>
+<p>Relieved of these obstinate enemies, Alexander again formed his
+regiments of horse-guards, and led them toward Parmenio; but by
+this time that general also was victorious. Probably the news of
+Darius' flight had reached Mazæus, and had damped the ardor
+of the Persian right wing, while the tidings of their comrades'
+success must have proportionally encouraged the Macedonian forces
+under Parmenio. His Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished
+themselves by their gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by
+the time that Alexander had ridden up to Parmenio, the whole
+Persian army was in full flight from the field.</p>
+<p>It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure the
+person of Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The river Lycus
+was between the field of battle and the city of Arbela, whither the
+fugitives directed their course, and the passage of this river was
+even more destructive to the Persians than the swords and spears of
+the Macedonians had been in the engagement.[<a href="#note-53">53</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-53"><!-- Note Anchor 53 --></a>[Footnote 53: I
+purposely omit any statement of the loss in the battle. There is a
+palpable error of the transcribers in the numbers which we find in
+our present manuscripts of Arrian, and Curtius is of no
+authority.]</p>
+<p>The narrow bridge was soon choked up by the flying thousands who
+rushed toward it, and vast numbers of the Persians threw
+themselves, or were hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and
+perished in its waters. Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on
+through Arbela without halting. Alexander reached the city on the
+next day, and made himself master of all Darius' treasure and
+stores; but the Persian King, unfortunately for himself, had fled
+too fast for his conqueror, but had only escaped to perish by the
+treachery of his Bactrian satrap, Bessus.</p>
+<p>A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, "the
+oldest seat of earthly empire" then in existence, as its
+acknowledged lord and master. There were yet some campaigns of his
+brief and bright career to be accomplished. Central Asia was yet to
+witness the march of his phalanx. He was yet to effect that
+conquest of Afghanistan in which England since has failed. His
+generalship, as well as his valor, was yet to be signalized on the
+banks of the Hydaspes and the field of Chillianwallah; and he was
+yet to precede the queen of England in annexing the Punjab to the
+dominions of a European sovereign. But the crisis of his career was
+reached; the great object of his mission was accomplished; and the
+ancient Persian empire, which once menaced all the nations of the
+earth with subjection, was irreparably crushed when Alexander had
+won his crowning victory at Arbela.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_12"></a>FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 280-279</p>
+<p class="center">PLUTARCH</p>
+<p class="intros">The Romans, in B.C. 290, had conquered the
+Samnites and this extended the Roman power to the very gates of the
+Grecian cities on the Gulf of Tarentine. Tarentum, the chief city
+among them, was almost totally controlled by a party which advised
+a peaceful submission to the Roman conquerors. The opposing party
+of patriots, against such cowardly measures, looked abroad for aid
+and found a ready ally in Pyrrhus, the Molossian king of Epirus. He
+was warlike and adventurous, and a member of the royal family of
+Macedonia, through Olympias, who was the mother of Alexander the
+Great.</p>
+<p class="intros">Pyrrhus had established a reputation for
+fighting. Not alone had he fought at the memorable battle of Ipsus,
+in Phrygia, but he had proven a formidable opponent to Demetinus,
+king of Macedonia, having forced the latter powerful monarch to
+conclude a truce with him, though afterward he had been conquered
+and driven back to his little kingdom of Epirus. At the time the
+Tarentines sent to him to help them against Rome he was eager for a
+field in which he might do something to prove his mettle. This was
+the greatest opportunity of his life, and he seized upon it. The
+campaign is memorable for having brought the Romans and Greeks into
+conflict on the battle-field for the first time.</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus, now that he had lost Macedonia, might have spent his
+days peacefully ruling his own subjects in Epirus; but he could not
+endure repose, thinking that not to trouble others and be troubled
+by them was a life of unbearable ennui, and, like Achilles in the
+<i>Iliad</i>,</p>
+<p class="poetry">  "he could not rest in indolence at home,<br/>
+He longed for battle, and the joys of war."</p>
+<p>As he desired some new adventures he embraced the following
+opportunity. The Romans were at war with the Tarentines; and as
+that people were not sufficiently powerful to carry on the war, and
+yet were not allowed by the audacious folly of their mob orators to
+make peace, they proposed to make Pyrrhus their leader and to
+invite him to be their ally in the war, because he was more at
+leisure than any of the other kings, and also was the best general
+of them all. Of the older and more sensible citizens some
+endeavored to oppose this fatal decision, but were overwhelmed by
+the clamor of the war party, while the rest, observing this, ceased
+to attend the public assembly.</p>
+<p>There was one citizen of good repute, named Meton, who, on the
+day when the final decision was to be made, when the people were
+all assembled, took a withered garland and a torch, and like a
+drunkard, reeled into the assembly with a girl playing the flute
+before him. At this, as one may expect in a disorderly popular
+meeting, some applauded and some laughed, but no one stopped him.
+They next bade the girl play, and Meton come forward and dance to
+the music; and he made as though he would do so. When he had
+obtained silence he said: "Men of Tarentum, you do well in
+encouraging those who wish to be merry and amuse themselves while
+they may. If you are wise you will all enjoy your freedom now, for
+when Pyrrhus is come to our city you will have very different
+things to think of and will live very differently." By these words
+he made an impression on the mass of the Tarentine people, and a
+murmur ran through the crowd that he had spoken well. But those
+politicians who feared that if peace were made they should be
+delivered up to the Romans, reproached the people for allowing
+anyone to insult them by such a disgraceful exhibition, and
+prevailed on them to turn Meton out of the assembly.</p>
+<p>Thus the vote for war was passed, and ambassadors were sent to
+Epirus, not from Tarentum alone, but from the other Greek cities in
+Italy, carrying with them presents for Pyrrhus, with instructions
+to tell him that they required a leader of skill and renown, and
+that they possessed a force of Lucanians, Messapians, Samnites, and
+Tarentines, which amounted to twenty thousand cavalry and three
+hundred and fifty thousand infantry. This not only excited Pyrrhus,
+but also made all the Epirotes eager to take part in the
+campaign.</p>
+<p>There was one Cineas, a Thessalian, who was thought to be a man
+of good sense, and who, having heard Demosthenes the orator speak,
+was better able than any of the speakers of his age to delight his
+hearers with an imitation of the eloquence of that great master of
+rhetoric. He was now in the service of Pyrrhus, and being sent
+about to various cities, proved the truth of the Euripidean saw,
+that</p>
+<p class="poetry">  "All can be done by words<br/>
+Which foemen wish to do with conquering swords."</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus at any rate used to say that more cities were won for
+him by Cineas with words than he himself won by force of arms. This
+man, observing that Pyrrhus was eagerly preparing for his Italian
+expedition, once when he was at leisure conversed with him in the
+following manner. "Pyrrhus," said he, "the Romans are said to be
+good soldiers, and to rule over many warlike nations. Now, if
+heaven grants us the victory over them, what use shall we make of
+it?"</p>
+<p>"You ask what is self-evident," answered Pyrrhus. "If we can
+conquer the Romans, there is no city, Greek or barbarian, that can
+resist us, and we shall gain possession of the whole of Italy, a
+country whose size, richness, and power no one knows better than
+yourself." Cineas then, after waiting for a short time, said: "O
+King, when we have taken Italy, what shall we do then?"</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus, not yet seeing his drift, answered: "Close to it Sicily
+invites us, a noble and populous island, and one which is very easy
+to conquer; for, my Cineas, now that Agathocles is dead, there is
+nothing there but revolution and faction and the violence of party
+spirit."</p>
+<p>"What you say," answered Cineas, "is very probably true. But is
+this conquest of Sicily to be the extreme limit of our
+campaign?"</p>
+<p>"Heaven," answered Pyrrhus, "alone can give us victory and
+success; but these conquests would merely prove to us the
+stepping-stones to greater things. Who could refrain from making an
+attempt upon Carthage and Libya when he was so close to them,
+countries which were all but conquered by Agathocles when he ran
+away from Syracuse with only a few ships? and if we were masters of
+these countries, none of the enemies who now give themselves such
+airs at our expense will dare to resist us."</p>
+<p>"Certainly not," answered Cineas; "with such a force at our
+disposal we clearly could recover Macedonia, and have the whole of
+Greece at our feet. And after we have made all these conquests,
+what shall we do then?"</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus laughing answered: "We will take our ease and carouse
+every day, and enjoy pleasant conversation with one another."</p>
+<p>Having brought Pyrrhus to say this, Cineas asked in reply: "But
+what prevents our carousing and taking our ease now, since we have
+already at hand all those things which we propose to obtain with
+much bloodshed, and great toils and perils, and after suffering
+much ourselves and causing much suffering to others?"</p>
+<p>By talking in this manner Cineas vexed Pyrrhus, because he made
+him reflect on the pleasant home which he was leaving, but his
+reasoning had no effect in turning him from his purpose.</p>
+<p>He first despatched Cineas to Tarentum with three thousand men;
+next he collected from Tarentum many horse-transports, decked
+vessels, and boats of all sorts, and embarked upon them twenty
+elephants, twenty-three thousand cavalry, twenty-two thousand
+infantry, and five hundred slingers. When all was ready he put to
+sea; and when half way across a storm burst upon him from the
+north, which was unusual at that season of the year. He himself,
+though his ship was carried away by the tempest, yet, by the great
+pains and skill of the sailors and pilots, resisted it and reached
+the land, with great toil to the rowers, and beyond everyone's
+expectation; for the rest of the fleet was overpowered by the gale
+and scattered. Some ships were driven off the Italian coast
+altogether, and forced into the Libyan and Sicilian seas, and some
+which could not weather the Iapygian Cape were overtaken by night,
+and being dashed by a violent and boisterous sea against that
+harborless coast were utterly lost, except only the King's ship.
+She was so large and strongly built as to resist the waves as long
+as they broke upon her from the seaward; but when the wind changed
+and blew directly off the shore, the ship, which now met the waves
+directly with her head, was in great danger of going to pieces,
+while to let her drive out to sea again now that it was so rough,
+and the wind changed so frequently, seemed more terrible than to
+remain where they were.</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus rose and leaped into the water, and at once was eagerly
+followed by his friends and his bodyguard. The darkness of night
+and the violent recoil of the roaring waves made it hard for them
+to help him, and it was not until daybreak, when the wind abated,
+that he reached the land, faint and helpless in body, but with his
+spirit invincible in misfortune. The Messapians, upon whose coast
+he had been thrown, now assembled from the neighboring villages and
+offered their help, while some of the ships which had outlived the
+storm appeared, bringing a few horsemen, about two thousand foot,
+and two elephants.</p>
+<p>With these Pyrrhus marched to Tarentum; Cineas, as soon as he
+heard of his arrival, bringing out the Tarentine army to meet him.
+When he reached the city he did nothing to displease the Tarentines
+until his fleet returned to the coast and he had assembled the
+greater part of his army. But then, as he saw that the populace,
+unless ruled by a strong hand, could neither help him nor help
+themselves, but intended to stay idling about their baths and
+entertainments at home, while he fought their battles in the field,
+he closed the gymnasia and public walks, in which the people were
+wont to waste their time in empty talk about the war. He forbade
+all drinking, feasting, and unseasonable revels, and forced the
+people to take up arms, proving himself inexorable to everyone who
+was on the muster-roll of able-bodied citizens. This conduct made
+him much disliked, and many of the Tarentines left the city in
+disgust; for they were so unused to discipline that they considered
+that not to be able to pass their lives as they chose was no better
+than slavery.</p>
+<p>When news came that Laevinus, the Roman consul, was marching to
+attack him with a large force, and was plundering the country of
+Lucania as he advanced, while Pyrrhus' allies had not yet arrived,
+he thought it a shameful thing to allow the enemy to proceed any
+farther, and marched out with his army. He sent before him a herald
+to the Roman general, informing him that he was willing to act as
+arbitrator in the dispute between the Romans and the Greek cities
+of Italy, if they chose to terminate it peacefully. On receiving
+for an answer that the Romans neither wished for Pyrrhus as an
+arbitrator, nor feared him as an enemy, he marched forward, and
+encamped in the plain between the city of Pandosia and
+Heraclea.</p>
+<p>Learning that the Romans were close by, and were encamping on
+the farther side of the river Siris (the river Aciris, now called
+Agri), he rode up to the river to view them; and when he observed
+their even ranks, their orderly movements, and their well-arranged
+camp, he was surprised, and said to the nearest of his friends:
+"These barbarians, Megacles, have nothing barbarous in their
+military discipline; but we shall soon learn what they can do." He
+began indeed already to feel some uncertainty as to the issue of
+the campaign, and determined to wait until his allies came up, and
+till then to observe the movements of the Romans, and prevent their
+crossing the river. They, however, perceiving his object, at once
+crossed the river, the infantry at a ford, the cavalry at many
+points at once, so that the Greeks feared they might be surrounded,
+and drew back. Pyrrhus, perceiving this, ordered his officers
+instantly to form the troops in order of battle and wait under arms
+while he himself charged with the cavalry, three thousand strong,
+hoping to catch the Romans in the act of crossing the river and
+consequently in disorder.</p>
+<p>When he saw many shields of the Roman infantry appearing over
+the river bank, and their horsemen all ranged in order, he closed
+up his own ranks and charged them first himself, a conspicuous
+figure in his beautiful glittering armor, and proving by his
+exploits that he deserved his high reputation; especially as
+although he fought personally, and engaged in combat with the
+enemy, yet he continually watched the whole battle, and handled his
+troops with as much facility as though he were not in the thick of
+the fight, appearing always wherever his presence was required, and
+reenforcing those who seemed likely to give way. In this battle
+Leonnatus the Macedonian, observing one of the Italians watching
+Pyrrhus and constantly following him about the field, said to him:
+"My King, do you see that barbarian on the black horse with white
+feet? He seems to be meditating some desperate deed. He is a man of
+spirit and courage, and he never takes his eyes off you, and takes
+no notice of anyone else. Beware of that man."</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus answered: "Leonnatus, no man can avoid his fate; but
+neither that Italian nor anyone else who attacks me will do so with
+impunity." While they were yet talking the Italian levelled his
+lance and urged his horse in full career against Pyrrhus. He struck
+the King's horse with his spear, and at the same instant his own
+horse was struck a sidelong blow by Leonnatus. Both horses fell;
+Pyrrhus was saved by his friends, and the Italian perished
+fighting. He was of the nation of the Frentani, Hoplacus by name,
+and was the captain of a troop of horse.</p>
+<p>This incident taught Pyrrhus to be more cautious. He observed
+that his cavalry were inclined to give way, and therefore sent for
+his phalanx, and arrayed it against the enemy. Then he gave his
+cloak and armor to one of his companions, Megacles, and after
+partially disguising himself in those of his friend, led his main
+body to attack the Roman army. The Romans stoutly resisted him, and
+an obstinate battle took place, for it is said that the combatants
+alternately yielded and again pressed forward no less than seven
+distinct times. The King's exchange of armor, too, though it saved
+his life, yet very nearly lost him the victory: for many attacked
+Megacles, and the man who first struck him down, who was named
+Decius, snatched up his cloak and helmet, and rode with them to
+Lævinus, displaying them and shouting aloud that he had slain
+Pyrrhus.</p>
+<p>The Romans, when they saw these spoils carried in triumph along
+their ranks, raised a joyful cry, while the Greeks were
+correspondingly disheartened, until Pyrrhus, learning what had
+taken place, rode along the line with his head bare, stretching out
+his hands to his soldiers and telling them that he was safe. At
+length he was victorious, chiefly by means of a sudden charge of
+his Thessalian horse on the Romans after they had been thrown into
+disorder by the advance of the elephants. The Roman horses were
+terrified at these animals, and, long before they came near, ran
+away with their riders in panic. The slaughter was very great:
+Dionysius says that of the Romans there fell but little short of
+fifteen thousand, but Hieronymus reduces this to seven thousand,
+while on Pyrrhus' side there fell, according to Dionysius, thirteen
+thousand, but according to Hieronymus less than four thousand.</p>
+<p>These, however, were the very flower of Pyrrhus' army; for he
+lost all his most trusty officers and his most intimate personal
+friends. Still, he captured the Roman camp, which was abandoned by
+the enemy, induced several of their allied cities to join him,
+plundered a vast extent of country, and advanced within three
+hundred stades—less than forty English miles—of Rome
+itself. After the battle many of the Lucanians and Samnites came
+up; these allies he reproached for their dilatory movements, but
+was evidently well pleased at having conquered the great Roman army
+with no other forces but his own Epirotes and the Tarentines.</p>
+<p>The Romans did not remove Laevinus from his office of consul,
+although Caius Fabricius is reported to have said that it was not
+the Epirotes who had conquered the Romans, but Pyrrhus who had
+conquered Laevinus; meaning that he thought that the defeat was
+owing not to the greater force but the superior generalship of the
+enemy. They astonished Pyrrhus by quickly filling up their ranks
+with fresh levies, and talking about the war in a spirit of
+fearless confidence. He decided to try whether they were disposed
+to make terms with him, as he perceived that to capture Rome and
+utterly subdue the Roman people would be a work of no small
+difficulty, and that it would be vain to attempt it with the force
+at his disposal, while after his victory he could make peace on
+terms which would reflect great lustre on himself. Cineas was sent
+as ambassador to conduct this negotiation.</p>
+<p>He conversed with the leading men of Rome, and offered their
+wives and children presents from the King. No one, however, would
+accept them, but they all, men and women alike, replied that if
+peace were publicly concluded with the King, they would then have
+no objection to regard him as a friend. And when Cineas spoke
+before the senate in a winning and persuasive manner he could not
+make any impression upon his audience, although he announced to
+them that Pyrrhus would restore the prisoners he had taken without
+any ransom, and would assist them in subduing all Italy, while all
+that he asked in return was that he should be regarded as a friend,
+and that the people of Tarentum should not be molested. The common
+people, however, were evidently eager for peace, in consequence of
+their having been defeated in one great battle, and expecting that
+they would have to fight another against a larger force, because
+the Italian states would join Pyrrhus.</p>
+<p>At this crisis Appius Claudius, an illustrious man, but who had
+long since been prevented by old age and blindness from taking any
+active part in politics, when he heard of the proposals of Pyrrhus,
+and that the question of peace or war was about to be voted upon by
+the senate, could no longer endure to remain at home, but caused
+his slaves to carry him through the Forum to the senate house in a
+litter. When he reached the doors of the senate house his sons and
+sons-in-law supported him and guided him into the house, while all
+the assembly observed a respectful silence.</p>
+<p>Speaking from where he stood, he addressed them as follows: "My
+countrymen, I used to grieve at the loss of my sight, but now I am
+sorry not to be deaf also, when I hear the disgraceful propositions
+with which you are tarnishing the glory of Rome. What has become of
+that boast which we were so fond of making before all mankind, that
+if Alexander the Great had invaded Italy, and had met us when we
+were young, and our fathers when they were in the prime of life, he
+would not have been reputed invincible, but would either have fled
+or perhaps even have fallen, and added to the glory of Rome?</p>
+<p>"You now prove that this was mere empty vaporing, by your terror
+of these Chaonians and Molossians, nations who have always been a
+prey and a spoil to the Macedonians, and by your fear of this
+Pyrrhus, who used formerly to dance attendance on one of
+Alexander's bodyguards,[<a href="#note-54">54</a>] and who has now
+wandered hither not so much in order to assist the Greeks in Italy
+as to escape from his enemies at home, and promises to be our
+friend and protector, forsooth, when the army he commands did not
+suffice to keep for him the least portion of that Macedonia which
+he once acquired. Do not imagine that you will get rid of this man
+by making a treaty with him. Rather you will encourage other Greek
+princes to invade you, for they will despise you and think you an
+easy prey to all men if you let Pyrrhus go home again without
+paying the penalty of his outrages upon you, nay, with the power to
+boast that he has made Rome a laughing-stock for Tarentines and
+Samnites."</p>
+<p><a name="note-54"><!-- Note Anchor 54 --></a>[Footnote 54:
+Demetrius.]</p>
+<p>By these words Appius roused a warlike spirit in the Romans, and
+they dismissed Cineas with the answer that if Pyrrhus would leave
+Italy they would, if he wished, discuss the question of an alliance
+with him, but that while he remained in arms in their country the
+Romans would fight him to the death, however many Laevinuses he
+might defeat. It is related that Cineas, during his mission to
+Rome, took great interest in observing the national life of the
+Romans, and fully appreciated the excellence of their political
+constitution, which he learned by conversing with many of the
+leading men of the State. On his return he told Pyrrhus that the
+senate seemed to him like an assembly of kings, and that as to the
+populace he feared that the Greeks might find in them a new
+Lernæan hydra; for twice as many troops had been enrolled in
+the consul's army as he had before, and yet there remained many
+more Romans capable of bearing arms.</p>
+<p>After this Caius Fabricius came to arrange terms for the
+exchange of prisoners; a man whom Cineas said the Romans especially
+valued for his virtue and bravery, but who was excessively poor.
+Pyrrhus, in consequence of this, entertained Fabricius privately,
+and made him an offer of money, not as a bribe for any act of
+baseness, but speaking of it as a pledge of friendship and
+sincerity. As Fabricius refused this, Pyrrhus waited till the next
+day, when, desirous of making an impression on him, as he had never
+seen an elephant, he had his largest elephant placed behind
+Fabricius during their conference, concealed by a curtain. At a
+given signal, the curtain was withdrawn, and the creature reached
+out his trunk over the head of Fabricius with a harsh and terrible
+cry. Fabricius, however, quietly turned round, and then said to
+Pyrrhus with a smile, "You could not move me by your gold
+yesterday, nor can you with your beast to-day."</p>
+<p>At table that day they conversed upon all subjects, but chiefly
+about Greece and Greek philosophy. Cineas repeated the opinion of
+Epicurus and his school, about the gods, and the practice of
+political life, and the objects at which we should aim, how they
+considered pleasure to be the highest good, and held aloof from
+taking any active part in politics, because it spoiled and
+destroyed perfect happiness; and about how they thought that the
+gods lived far removed from hopes and fears, and interest in human
+affairs, in a placid state of eternal fruition.[<a href="#note-55">55</a>] While he was speaking in this strain Fabricius
+burst out: "Hercules!" cried he, "may Pyrrhus and the Samnites
+continue to waste their time on these speculations as long as they
+remain at war with us!" Pyrrhus, at this, was struck by the spirit
+and noble disposition of Fabricius, and longed more than ever to
+make Rome his friend instead of his enemy. He begged him to arrange
+terms of peace, and after they were concluded to come and live with
+him as the first of his friends and officers.</p>
+<p><a name="note-55"><!-- Note Anchor 55 --></a>[Footnote 55: I
+have translated the above passages almost literally from the Greek.
+Yet I am inclined to think that Arnold has penetrated the true
+meaning, and shows us the reason for Fabricius' exclamation when he
+states the Epicurean philosophy, as expounded by Cineas, to be
+"that war and state affairs were but toil and trouble, and that the
+wise man should imitate the blissful rest of the gods, who,
+dwelling in their own divinity, regarded not the vain turmoil of
+this lower world."]</p>
+<p>Fabricius is said to have quietly answered: "That, O King, will
+not be to your advantage; for those who now obey you, and look up
+to you, if they had any experience of me, would prefer me to you
+for their king." Pyrrhus was not angry at this speech, but spoke to
+all his friends about the magnanimous conduct of Fabricius, and
+intrusted the prisoners to him alone, on the condition that, if the
+senate refused to make peace, they should be allowed to embrace
+their friends, and spend the festival of the Saturnalia with them,
+and then be sent back to him. And they were sent back after the
+Saturnalia, for the senate decreed that any of them who remained
+behind should be put to death.</p>
+<p>After this, when C. Fabricius was consul, a man came into his
+camp bringing a letter from King Pyrrhus' physician, in which he
+offered to poison the King if he could be assured of a suitable
+reward for his services in thus bringing the war to an end without
+a blow. Fabricius, disgusted at the man's treachery, brought his
+colleague to share his views, and in haste sent off a letter to
+Pyrrhus, bidding him be on his guard. The letter ran as follows:
+"Caius Fabricius and Quintus Æmilius, the Roman consuls,
+greet King Pyrrhus. You appear to be a bad judge both of your
+friends and of your enemies. You will perceive, by reading the
+enclosed letter which has been sent to us, that you are fighting
+against good and virtuous men, and trusting to wicked and
+treacherous ones. We do not give you this information out of any
+love we bear you, but for fear that we might be charged with having
+assassinated you and be thought to have brought the war to a close
+by treachery because we could not do so by manhood."</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus on receiving this letter, and discovering the plot
+against his life, punished his physician, and, in return for the
+kindness of Fabricius and the Romans, delivered up their prisoners
+without ransom, and sent Cineas a second time to arrange terms of
+peace. However, the Romans refused to receive their prisoners back
+without ransom, being unwilling either to receive a favor from
+their enemy or to be rewarded for having abstained from treachery
+toward him, but set free an equal number of Tarentines and
+Samnites, and sent them to him. As to terms of peace, they refused
+to entertain the question unless Pyrrhus first placed his entire
+armament on board the ships in which it came, and sailed back to
+Epirus with it.</p>
+<p>As it was now necessary that Pyrrhus should fight another
+battle, he advanced with his army to the city of Asculum, and
+attacked the Romans. Here he was forced to fight on rough ground,
+near the swampy banks of a river, where his elephants and cavalry
+were of no service, and he was forced to attack with his phalanx.
+After a drawn battle, in which many fell, night parted the
+combatants. Next day Pyrrhus manoeuvred so as to bring the Romans
+fairly into the plain, where his elephants could act upon the
+enemy's line. He occupied the rough ground on either side, placed
+many archers and slingers among his elephants, and advanced with
+his phalanx in close order and irresistible strength.</p>
+<p>The Romans, who were unable on the level ground to practise the
+bush-fighting and skirmishing of the previous day, were compelled
+to attack the phalanx in front. They endeavored to force their way
+through that hedge of spears before the elephants could come up,
+and showed marvellous courage in hacking at the spears with their
+swords, exposing themselves recklessly, careless of wounds or
+death. After a long struggle, it is said that they first gave way
+at the point where Pyrrhus was urging on his soldiers in person,
+though the defeat was chiefly due to the weight and crushing charge
+of the elephants. The Romans could not find any opportunity in this
+sort of battle for the display of their courage, but thought it
+their duty to stand aside and save themselves from a useless death,
+just as they would have done in the case of a wave of the sea or an
+earthquake coming upon them. In the flight to their camp, which was
+not far off, Hieronymus says that six thousand Romans perished, and
+that in Pyrrhus' commentaries his loss is stated at three thousand
+five hundred and five.</p>
+<p>Dionysius, on the other hand, does not admit that there were two
+battles at Asculum, or that the Romans suffered a defeat, but tells
+us that they fought the whole of one day until sunset, and then
+separated, Pyrrhus being wounded in the arm by a javelin, and the
+Samnites having plundered his baggage. He also states the total
+loss on both sides to be above fifteen thousand.</p>
+<p>The armies separated after the battle, and it is said that
+Pyrrhus, when congratulated on his victory by his friends, said in
+reply: "If we win one more such victory over the Romans, we shall
+be utterly ruined." For a large part of the force which he had
+brought with him had perished, and very nearly all his friends and
+officers, and there were no more to send for at home.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_13"></a>THE PUNIC WARS</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 264-219-149</p>
+<p class="center">FLORUS</p>
+<p class="intros">The three Punic wars stand out in history as a
+mighty "duel <i>à l'outrance</i>" (a fight to the death), as
+Victor Hugo says, in the final scene of which Rome, having herself
+been brought near to defeat, "rises again, uses the limits of her
+strength in a last blow, throws herself on Carthage, and effaces
+her from the world."</p>
+<p class="intros">Jealousy and antagonism had long existed between
+Rome and Carthage, but it was the preeminence of the African city
+which held Roman ambition in check and for generations deferred the
+final struggle. But when at last Rome had acquired the strength she
+needed in order to assert her rivalry, it was only a question of
+actual preparation, and the first cause of quarrel was sure to be
+seized upon by either party, especially by the growing and haughty
+Italian Power.</p>
+<p class="intros">The immediate object of contention was the island
+of Sicily, lying between the territory of Rome and that of
+Carthage. In Sicily the First Punic War, lasting about twenty-three
+years, was mainly carried on by the Romans with success, while on
+the sea Carthage for a long time maintained superiority.</p>
+<p class="intros">During the intervals between the Punic wars two
+things appear with striking force in the history of these
+events—the passive strength and recuperative power of
+Carthage, which enabled her to return again and again to the
+struggle from almost crushing defeat, and the marvellous
+development of resources and aggressive vigor on the part of Rome,
+in whose case the rise of powerful individual leaders more than
+offset the weight of long-accumulated energies, supplemented as
+these were by the genius and achievement of great Carthaginian
+warriors.</p>
+<p class="intros">The wars progressed in a spirit of deadly hatred,
+constantly intensified on both sides, and the Roman determination,
+of which Cato was the mouthpiece, that Carthage must be destroyed,
+met its stubborn answer in the endeavors of the Carthaginians to
+turn this vengeance against Rome herself.</p>
+<p class="intros">Carthage had been mistress of the world, the
+richest and most powerful of cities. Her naval supremacy alone had
+sufficed to secure her safety and superiority over all rivals or
+possible combinations of force. But the strength of her government
+lay not so much in her people, or even in her statesmen and
+soldiers, as in her men of wealth. A political establishment
+founded upon such supports was peculiarly liable to all the dangers
+of corruption and of public ignorance and apathy in the conduct of
+affairs. These causes appear conspicuously in the history of the
+Punic wars, as contributing largely to the overthrow and final
+extinguishment of Carthage, which left to her successful rival the
+open way to universal dominion.</p>
+<p class="intros">The account of Florus presents in a style at once
+comprehensive and succinct a splendid narrative of these wars, with
+their decisive and world-changing events.</p>
+<p class="center">THE FIRST PUNIC WAR</p>
+<p>The victor-people of Italy, having now spread over the land as
+far as the sea, checked its course for a little, like a fire,
+which, having consumed the woods lying in its track, is stopped by
+some intervening river. But soon after, seeing at no great distance
+a rich prey, which seemed in a manner detached and torn away from
+their own Italy, they were so inflamed with a desire to possess it
+that, since it could neither be joined to their country by a mole
+or bridge, they resolved that it should be secured by arms and war,
+and reunited, as it were, to their continent. And behold! as if the
+Fates themselves opened a way for them, an opportunity was not
+wanting, for Messana, a city of Sicily in alliance with them,
+happened then to make a complaint concerning the tyranny of the
+Carthaginians.</p>
+<p>As the Romans coveted Sicily, so likewise did the people of
+Carthage; and both at the same time, with equal desires and equal
+forces, contemplated the attainment of the empire of the world.
+Under the pretext, therefore, of assisting their allies, but in
+reality being allured by the prey, that rude people, that people
+sprung from shepherds, and merely accustomed to the land, made it
+appear, though the strangeness of the attempt startled them (yet
+such confidence is there in true courage), that to the brave it is
+indifferent whether a battle be fought on horseback or in ships, by
+land or by sea.</p>
+<p>It was in the consulship of Appius Claudius that they first
+ventured upon that strait which has so ill a name from the strange
+things related of it, and so impetuous a current. But they were so
+far from being affrighted, that they regarded the violence of the
+rushing tide as something in their favor, and, sailing forward
+immediately and without delay, they defeated Hiero, king of
+Syracuse, with so much rapidity that he owned he was conquered
+before he saw the enemy. In the consulship of Duilius and
+Cornelius, they likewise had courage to engage at sea, and then the
+expedition used in equipping the fleet was a presage of victory;
+for within sixty days after the timber was felled, a navy of a
+hundred and sixty ships lay at anchor; so that the vessels did not
+seem to have been made by art, but the trees themselves appeared to
+have been turned into ships by the aid of the gods. The aspect of
+the battle, too, was wonderful; as the heavy and slow ships of the
+Romans closed with the swift and nimble barks of the enemy. Little
+availed their naval arts, such as breaking off the oars of a ship,
+and eluding the beaks of the enemy by turning aside; for the
+grappling-irons and other instruments, which, before the
+engagement, had been greatly derided by the enemy, were fastened
+upon their ships, and they were compelled to fight as on solid
+ground. Being victorious, therefore, at Liparæ, by sinking
+and scattering the enemy's fleet, they celebrated their first naval
+triumph. And how great was the exultation at it! Duilius, the
+commander, not content with one day's triumph, ordered, during all
+the rest of his life, when he returned from supper, lighted torches
+to be carried, and flutes to play, before him, as if he would
+triumph every day. The loss in this battle was trifling, in
+comparison with the greatness of the victory; though the other
+consul, Cornelius Asina, was cut off, being invited by the enemy to
+a pretended conference, and put to death; an instance of
+Carthaginian perfidy.</p>
+<p>Under the dictatorship of Calatinus, the Romans expelled almost
+all the garrisons of the Carthaginians from Agrigentum, Drepanum,
+Panormus, Eryx, and Lilybæum. Some alarm was experienced at
+the forest of Camarina, but we were rescued by the extraordinary
+valor of Calpurnius Flamma, a tribune of the soldiers, who, with a
+choice troop of three hundred men, seized upon an eminence occupied
+by the enemy, to our annoyance, and so kept them in play till the
+whole army escaped; thus, by eminent success, equalling the fame of
+Thermopylæ and Leonidas, though our hero was indeed more
+illustrious, inasmuch as he escaped and outlived so great an
+effort, notwithstanding he wrote nothing with his blood.</p>
+<p>In the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, when Sicily was
+become as a suburban province of the Roman people, and the war was
+spreading farther, they crossed over into Sardinia, and into
+Corsica, which lies near it. In the latter they terrified the
+natives by the destruction of the city of Olbia, in the former by
+that of Aleria; and so effectually humbled the Carthaginians, both
+by land and sea, that nothing remained to be conquered but Africa
+itself. Accordingly, under the leadership of Marcus Atilius
+Regulus, the war passed over into Africa. Nor were there wanting
+some on the occasion who mutinied at the mere name and dread of the
+Punic sea, a tribune named Mannius increasing their alarm; but the
+general, threatening him with the axe if he did not obey, produced
+courage for the voyage by the terror of death. They then hastened
+their course by the aid of winds and oars, and such was the terror
+of the Africans at the approach of the enemy that Carthage was
+almost surprised with its gates opened.</p>
+<p>The first prize taken in the war was the city of Clypea, which
+juts out from the Carthaginian shore as a fortress or watch-tower.
+Both this and more than three hundred fortresses besides were
+destroyed. Nor had the Romans to contend only with men, but with
+monsters also; for a serpent of vast size, born, as it were, to
+avenge Africa, harassed their camp on the Bagrada. But Regulus, who
+overcame all obstacles, having spread the terror of his name far
+and wide, having killed or taken prisoners a great number of the
+enemy's force, and their captains themselves, and having despatched
+his fleet, laden with much spoil and stored with materials for a
+triumph, to Rome, proceeded to besiege Carthage itself, the origin
+of the war, and took his position close to the gates of it. Here
+fortune was a little changed; but it was only that more proofs of
+Roman fortitude might be given, the greatness of which was
+generally best shown in calamities. For the enemy applying for
+foreign assistance, and Lacedaemon having sent them Xanthippus as a
+general, we were defeated by a captain so eminently skilled in
+military affairs. It was then that by an ignominious defeat, such
+as the Romans had never before experienced, their most valiant
+commander fell alive into the enemy's hands. But he was a man able
+to endure so great a calamity; as he was neither humbled by his
+imprisonment at Carthage nor by the deputation which he headed to
+Rome; for he advised what was contrary to the injunctions of the
+enemy, and recommended that no peace should be made, and no
+exchange of prisoners admitted. Even by his voluntary return to his
+enemies, and by his last sufferings, whether in prison or on the
+cross, the dignity of the man was not at all obscured. But being
+rendered, by all these occurrences, even more worthy of admiration,
+what can be said of him but that, when conquered, he was superior
+to his conquerors, and that, though Carthage had not submitted, he
+triumphed over Fortune herself?</p>
+<p>The Roman people were now much keener and more ardent to revenge
+the fate of Regulus than to obtain victory. Under the consul
+Metellus, therefore, when the Carthaginians were growing insolent,
+and when the war had returned into Sicily, they gave the enemy such
+a defeat at Panormus that they thought no more of that island. A
+proof of the greatness of this victory was the capture of about a
+hundred elephants, a vast prey, even if they had taken that number,
+not in war, but in hunting.[<a href="#note-56">56</a>] Under the
+consulship of Appius Claudius, they were overcome, not by the
+enemy, but by the gods themselves, whose auspices they had
+despised, their fleet being sunk in that very place where the
+consul had ordered the chickens to be thrown overboard, because he
+was warned by them not to fight. Under the consulship of Marcus
+Fabius Buteo, they overthrew, near Ægimurus, in the African
+sea, a fleet of the enemy which was just sailing for Italy. But,
+oh! how great materials for a triumph were then lost by a storm,
+when the Roman fleet, richly laden with spoil, and driven by
+contrary winds, covered with its wreck the coasts of Africa and the
+Syrtes, and of all the islands lying amid those seas! A great
+calamity! But not without some honor to this eminent people, from
+the circumstance that their victory was intercepted only by a
+storm, and that the matter for their triumph was lost only by a
+shipwreck. Yet, though the Punic spoils were scattered abroad, and
+thrown up by the waves on every promontory and island, the Romans
+still celebrated a triumph. In the consulship of Lutatius Catulus,
+an end was at last put to the war near the islands named
+Ægates. Nor was there any greater fight during this war; for
+the fleet of the enemy was laden with provisions, troops, towers,
+and arms; indeed, all Carthage, as it were, was in it; a state of
+things which proved its destruction, as the Roman fleet, on the
+contrary, being active, light, free from encumbrance, and in some
+degree resembling a land-camp, was wheeled about by its oars like
+cavalry in a battle by their reins; and the beaks of the vessels,
+directed now against one part of the enemy and now against another,
+presented the appearance of living creatures. In a very short time,
+accordingly, the ships of the enemy were shattered to pieces, and
+filled the whole sea between Sicily and Sardinia with their wrecks.
+So great, indeed, was the victory that there was no thought of
+demolishing the enemy's city; since it seemed superfluous to pour
+their fury on towers and walls, when Carthage had already been
+destroyed at sea.</p>
+<p><a name="note-56"><!-- Note Anchor 56 --></a>[Footnote 56: "A
+vast prey—not in war, but in hunting." The sense is, it would
+have been a considerable capture if he had taken these hundred
+elephants, not in battle, but in hunting, in which more are often
+taken.]</p>
+<p class="center">THE SECOND PUNIC WAR</p>
+<p>After the first Carthaginian war there was scarcely a rest of
+four years, when there was another war, inferior, indeed, in length
+of time, for it occupied but eighteen years, but so much more
+terrible, from the direfulness of its havoc, that if anyone
+compares the losses on both sides, the people that conquered was
+more like one defeated. What provoked this noble people was that
+the command of the sea was forced from them, that their islands
+were taken, and that they were obliged to pay tribute which they
+had before been accustomed to impose. Hannibal, when but a boy,
+swore to his father, before an altar, to take revenge on the
+Romans; nor was he backward to execute his oath. Saguntum,
+accordingly, was made the occasion of a war; an old and wealthy
+city of Spain, and a great but sad example of fidelity to the
+Romans. This city, though granted, by the common treaty, the
+special privilege of enjoying its liberty, Hannibal, seeking
+pretences for new disturbances, destroyed with his own hands and
+those of its inhabitants, in order that, by an infraction of the
+compact, he might open a passage for himself into Italy.</p>
+<p>Among the Romans there is the highest regard to treaties, and
+consequently, on hearing of the siege of an allied city, and
+remembering, too, the compact made with the Carthaginians, they did
+not at once have recourse to arms, but chose rather to expostulate
+on legal grounds. In the mean time the Saguntines, exhausted with
+famine, the assaults of machines, and the sword, and their fidelity
+being at last carried to desperation, raised a vast pile in the
+market-place, on which they destroyed, with fire and sword,
+themselves, their wives and children, and all that they possessed.
+Hannibal, the cause of this great destruction, was required to be
+given up. The Carthaginians hesitating to comply, Fabius, who was
+at the head of the embassy, exclaimed: "What is the meaning of this
+delay? In the fold of this garment I carry war and peace; which of
+the two do you choose?" As they cried out "War," "Take war, then,"
+he rejoined, and, shaking out the fore-part of his toga in the
+middle of the senate house, as if he really carried war in its
+folds, he spread it abroad, not without awe on the part of the
+spectators.</p>
+<p>The sequel of the war was in conformity with its commencement;
+for, as if the last imprecations of the Saguntines, at their public
+self-immolation and burning of the city, had required such
+obsequies to be performed to them, atonement was made to their
+<i>manes</i> by the devastation of Italy, the reduction of Africa,
+and the destruction of the leaders and kings who engaged in that
+contest. When once, therefore, that sad and dismal force and storm
+of the Punic War had arisen in Spain, and had forged, in the fire
+of Saguntum, the thunderbolt long before intended for the Romans,
+it immediately burst, as if hurried along by resistless violence,
+through the middle of the Alps, and descended, from those snows of
+incredible altitude, on the plains of Italy, as if it had been
+hurled from the skies. The violence of its first assault burst,
+with a mighty sound, between the Po and the Ticinus. There the army
+under Scipio was routed; and the general himself, being wounded,
+would have fallen into the hands of the enemy, had not his son,
+then quite a boy, covered his father with his shield, and rescued
+him from death. This was the Scipio who grew up for the conquest of
+Africa, and who was to receive a name from its ill-fortune.</p>
+<p>To Ticinus succeeded Trebia, where, in the consulship of
+Sempronius, the second outburst of the Punic War was spent. On that
+occasion, the crafty enemy, having chosen a cold and snowy day, and
+having first warmed themselves at their fires, and anointed their
+bodies with oil, conquered us, though they were men that came from
+the south and a warm sun, by the aid (strange to say!) of our own
+winter.</p>
+<p>The third thunderbolt of Hannibal fell at the Trasimene lake,
+when Flaminius was commander. There also was employed a new
+stratagem of Carthaginian subtlety; for a body of cavalry, being
+concealed by a mist rising from the lake, and by the osiers growing
+in the fens, fell upon the rear of the Romans as they were
+fighting. Nor can we complain of the gods; for swarms of bees
+settling upon the standards, the reluctance of the eagles to move
+forward, and a great earthquake that happened at the commencement
+of the battle—unless, indeed, it was the tramping of horse
+and foot, and the violent concussion of arms, that produced this
+trembling of the ground—had forewarned the rash leader of
+approaching defeat.</p>
+<p>The fourth and almost mortal wound of the Roman Empire was at
+Cannæ, an obscure village of Apulia; which, however, became
+famous by the greatness of the defeat, its celebrity being acquired
+by the slaughter of forty thousand men. Here the general, the
+ground, the face of heaven, the day, indeed, all nature conspired
+together for the destruction of the unfortunate army. For Hannibal,
+the most artful of generals, not content with sending pretended
+deserters among the Romans, who fell upon their rear as they were
+fighting, but having also noted the nature of the ground in those
+open plains, where the heat of the sun is extremely violent, the
+dust very great, and the wind blows constantly, and as it were
+statedly, from the east, drew up his army in such a position that,
+while the Romans were exposed to all these inconveniences, he
+himself, having heaven, as it were, on his side, fought with wind,
+dust, and sun in his favor. Two vast armies, in consequence, were
+slaughtered till the enemy were satiated, and till Hannibal said to
+his soldiers, "Put up your swords." Of the two commanders, one
+escaped, the other was slain; which of them showed the greater
+spirit is doubtful. Paulus was ashamed to survive; Varrodid not
+despair. Of the greatness of the slaughter the following proofs may
+be noticed: that the Aufidus was for some time red with blood; that
+a bridge was made of dead bodies, by order of Hannibal, over the
+torrent of Vergellus, and that two <i>modii</i> of rings were sent
+to Carthage, and the equestrian dignity estimated by measure.</p>
+<p>It was afterward not doubted but that Rome might have seen its
+last day, and that Hannibal, within five days, might have feasted
+in the Capitol, if—as they say that Adherbal, the
+Carthaginian, the son of Bomilcar, observed—"he had known as
+well how to use his victory as how to gain it." But at that crisis,
+as is generally said, either the fate of the city that was to be
+empress of the world, or his own want of judgment, and the
+influence of deities unfavorable to Carthage, carried him in a
+different direction. When he might have taken advantage of his
+victory, he chose rather to seek enjoyment from it, and, leaving
+Rome, to march into Campania and to Tarentum, where both he and his
+army soon lost their vigor, so that it was justly remarked that
+"Capua proved a Cannæ to Hannibal"; since the sunshine of
+Campania and the warm springs of Baiæ subdued—who could
+have believed it?—him who had been unconquered by the Alps
+and unshaken in the field. In the mean time the Romans began to
+recover and to rise, as it were, from the dead. They had no arms,
+but they took them down from the temples; men were wanting, but
+slaves were freed to take the oath of service; the treasury was
+exhausted, but the senate willingly offered their wealth for the
+public service, leaving themselves no gold but what was contained
+in their children's <i>bullæ</i>[<a href="#note-57">57</a>]
+and in their own belts and rings. The knights followed their
+example, and the common people that of the knights; so that when
+the wealth of private persons was brought to the public
+treasury—in the consulship of Lævinus and
+Marcellus—the registers scarcely sufficed to contain the
+account of it, or the hands of the clerks to record it.</p>
+<p><a name="note-57"><!-- Note Anchor 57 --></a>[Footnote 57: A
+sort of ornament suspended from the necks of children, which, among
+the wealthy, was made of gold. It was in the shape of a bubble on
+water, or, as Pliny says, of a heart.]</p>
+<p>But how can I sufficiently praise the wisdom of the centuries in
+the choice of magistrates, when the younger sought advice from the
+elder as to what consuls should be created? They saw that against
+an enemy so often victorious, and so full of subtlety, it was
+necessary to contend, not only with courage, but with his own
+wiles. The first hope of the empire now recovering, and, if I may
+use the expression, coming to life again, was Fabius, who found a
+new mode of conquering Hannibal, which was, <i>not to fight</i>.
+Hence he received that new name, so salutary to the commonwealth,
+of <i>Cunctator</i>, or Delayer. Hence too it happened that he was
+called by the people <i>the shield of the empire</i>. Through the
+whole of Samnium, and through the Falerian and Gauran forests, he
+so harassed Hannibal that he who could not be reduced by valor was
+weakened by delay. The Romans then ventured, under the command of
+Claudius Marcellus, to engage him; they came to close quarters with
+him, drove him out of his dear Campania, and forced him to raise
+the siege of Nola. They ventured likewise, under the leadership of
+Sempronius Gracchus, to pursue him through Lucania, and to press
+hard upon his rear as he retired; though they then fought him (sad
+dishonor!) with a body of slaves, for to this extremity had so many
+disasters reduced them, but they were rewarded with liberty, and
+from slaves they made them Romans.</p>
+<p>O amazing confidence in the midst of so much adversity! O
+extraordinary courage and spirit of the Roman people in such
+oppressive and distressing circumstances! At a time when they were
+uncertain of preserving their own Italy, they yet ventured to look
+to other countries; and when the enemy were at their throat, flying
+through Campania and Apulia, and making an Africa in the middle of
+Italy, they at the same time both withstood that enemy and
+dispersed their arms over the earth into Sicily, Sardinia, and
+Spain.</p>
+<p>Sicily was assigned to Marcellus, and did not long resist his
+efforts; for the whole island was conquered in the conquest of one
+city. Syracuse, its great and, till that period, unconquered
+capital, though defended by the genius of Archimedes, was at last
+obliged to yield. Its triple wall and three citadels, its marble
+harbor and the celebrated fountain of Arethusa, were no defence to
+it, except so far as to procure consideration for its beauty when
+it was conquered.</p>
+<p>Sardinia Gracchus reduced; the savageness of the inhabitants,
+and the vastness of its Mad Mountains—for so they are
+called—availed it nothing. Great severity was exercised upon
+its cities, and upon Caralis, the city of its cities, that a
+nation, obstinate and regardless of death, might at least be
+humbled by concern for the soil of its country.</p>
+<p>Into Spain were sent the two Scipios, Cnaeus, and Publius, who
+wrested almost the whole of it from the Carthaginians; but, being
+surprised by the artifices of Punic subtlety, they again lost it,
+even after they had slaughtered the enemy's forces in great
+battles. The wiles of the Carthaginians cut off one of them by the
+sword as he was pitching his camp, and the other by surrounding him
+with lighted fagots after he had made his escape into a tower. But
+the other Scipio, to whom the Fates had decreed so great a name
+from Africa, being sent with an army to revenge the death of his
+father and uncle, recovered all that warlike country of Spain, so
+famous for its men and arms, that seminary of the enemy's force,
+that instructress of Hannibal, from the Pyrenean
+mountains—the account is scarcely credible—to the
+Pillars of Hercules and the ocean, whether with greater speed or
+good fortune is difficult to decide; how great was his speed, four
+years bear witness; how remarkable his good fortune, even one city
+proves, for it was taken on the same day in which siege was laid to
+it, and it was an omen of the conquest of Africa that Carthage in
+Spain was so easily reduced. It is certain, however, that what most
+contributed to make the province submit was the eminent virtue of
+the general, who restored to the barbarians certain captive youths
+and maidens of extraordinary beauty, not allowing them even to be
+brought into his sight, that he might not seem, even by a single
+glance, to have detracted from their virgin purity.</p>
+<p>These actions the Romans performed in different parts of the
+world, yet were they unable, notwithstanding, to remove Hannibal,
+who was lodged in the heart of Italy. Most of the towns had
+revolted to the enemy, whose vigorous commander used even the
+strength of Italy against the Romans. However, we had now forced
+him out of many towns and districts. Tarentum had returned to our
+side; and Capua, the seat, home, and second country of Hannibal,
+was again in our hands; the loss of which caused the Punic leader
+so much affliction that he then directed all his force against
+Rome.</p>
+<p>O people worthy of the empire of the world, worthy of the favor
+and admiration of all, not only men, but gods! Though they were
+brought into the greatest alarm, they desisted not from their
+original design; though they were concerned for their own city,
+they did not abandon their attempts on Capua; but, part of their
+army being left there with the consul Appius, and part having
+followed Flaccus to Rome, they fought both at home and abroad at
+the same time. Why then should we wonder that the gods themselves,
+the gods, I say—nor shall I be ashamed[<a href="#note-58">58</a>] to admit it—again opposed Hannibal as he
+was preparing to march forward when at three miles' distance from
+Rome. For, at every movement of his force, so copious a flood of
+rain descended, and such a violent storm of wind arose, that it was
+evident the enemy was repulsed by divine influence, and the tempest
+proceeded, not from heaven, but from the walls of the city and the
+Capitol. He therefore fled and departed, and withdrew to the
+farthest corner of Italy, leaving the city in a manner adored. It
+is but a small matter to mention, yet sufficiently indicative of
+the magnanimity of the Roman people, that during those very days in
+which the city was besieged, the ground which Hannibal occupied
+with his camp was offered for sale at Rome, and, being put up to
+auction, actually found a purchaser. Hannibal, on the other side,
+wished to imitate such confidence, and put up for sale the bankers'
+houses in the city; but no buyer was found; so that it was evident
+that the Fates had their presages.</p>
+<p><a name="note-58"><!-- Note Anchor 58 --></a>[Footnote 58: Why
+should he be ashamed to admit that Rome was saved by the aid of the
+gods? To receive assistance from the gods was a proof of merit. The
+gods help those who help themselves, says the proverb. When he says
+that the gods "<i>again</i> opposed Hannibal," he seems to refer to
+what he said above in speaking of the battle of Cannae, that the
+deities, averse to Carthage, prevented Hannibal from marching at
+that time to Rome.]</p>
+<p>But as yet nothing had been effectually accomplished by so much
+valor, or even through such eminent favor from the gods; for
+Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, was approaching with a new
+army, new strength, and every fresh requisite for war. There had
+doubtless been an end of Rome, if that general had united himself
+with his brother; but Claudius Nero, in conjunction with Livius
+Salinator, overthrew him as he was pitching his camp. Nero was at
+that time keeping Hannibal at bay in the farthest corner of Italy;
+while Livius had marched to the very opposite quarter, that is, to
+the very entrance and confines of Italy; and of the ability and
+expedition with which the consuls joined their forces—though
+so vast a space, that is, the whole of Italy where it is longest,
+lay between them—and defeated the enemy with their combined
+strength, when they expected no attack, and without the knowledge
+of Hannibal, it is difficult to give a notion. When Hannibal,
+however, had knowledge of the matter, and saw his brother's head
+thrown down before his camp, he exclaimed, "I perceive the evil
+destiny of Carthage." This was his first confession of that kind,
+not without a sure presage of his approaching fate; and it was now
+certain, even from his own acknowledgment, that Hannibal might be
+conquered. But the Roman people, full of confidence from so many
+successes, thought it would be a noble enterprise to subdue such a
+desperate enemy in his own Africa. Directing their whole force,
+therefore, under the leadership of Scipio, upon Africa itself, they
+began to imitate Hannibal, and to avenge upon Africa the sufferings
+of their own Italy. What forces of Hasdrubal (good gods!), what
+armies of Syphax, did that commander put to flight! How great were
+the camps of both that he destroyed in one night by casting
+firebrands into them! At last, not at three miles distance, but by
+a close siege, he shook the very gates of Carthage itself. And thus
+he succeeded in drawing off Hannibal when he was still clinging to
+and brooding over Italy. There was no more remarkable day, during
+the whole course of the Roman Empire, than that on which those two
+generals, the greatest of all that ever lived, whether before or
+after them, the one the conqueror of Italy, and the other of Spain,
+drew up their forces for a close engagement. But previously a
+conference was held between them concerning conditions of peace.
+They stood motionless awhile in admiration of each other. When they
+could not agree on a peace, they gave the signal for battle. It is
+certain, from the confession of both, that no troops could have
+been better drawn up, and no fight more obstinately maintained.
+This Hannibal acknowledged concerning the army of Scipio, and
+Scipio concerning that of Hannibal. But Hannibal was forced to
+yield, and Africa became the prize of the victory; and the whole
+earth soon followed the fate of Africa.</p>
+<p class="center">THE THIRD PUNIC WAR</p>
+<p>The third war with Africa was both short in its
+duration—for it was finished in four years—and,
+compared with those that preceded it, of much less difficulty; as
+we had to fight not so much against troops in the field as against
+the city itself; but it was far the greatest of the three in its
+consequences, for in it Carthage was at last destroyed. And if
+anyone contemplates the events of the three periods, he will
+understand that the war was begun in the first, greatly advanced in
+the second, and entirely finished in the third.</p>
+<p>The cause of this war was that Carthage, in violation of an
+article in the treaty, had once fitted out a fleet and army against
+the Numidians, and had frequently threatened the frontiers of
+Masinissa. But the Romans were partial to this good king, who was
+also their ally.</p>
+<p>When the war had been determined upon, they had to consider
+about the end of it. Cato, even when his opinion was asked on any
+other subject, pronounced, with implacable enmity, that Carthage
+should be destroyed. Scipio Nasica gave his voice for its
+preservation, lest, if the fear of the rival city were removed, the
+exultation of Rome should grow extravagant. The senate decided on a
+middle course, resolving that the city should only be removed from
+its place; for nothing appeared to them more glorious than that
+there should be a Carthage which should not be feared. In the
+consulship of Manlius and Censorinus, therefore, the Roman people
+having attacked Carthage, but giving them some hopes of peace,
+burned their fleet, which they voluntarily delivered up, in sight
+of the city. Having next summoned the chief men, they commanded
+them to quit the place if they wished to preserve their lives. This
+requisition, from its cruelty, so incensed them that they chose
+rather to submit to the utmost extremities. They accordingly
+bewailed their necessities publicly, and shouted with one voice
+<i>to arms</i>; and a resolution was made to resist the enemy by
+every means in their power; not because any hope of success was
+left, but because they had rather their birthplace should be
+destroyed by the hands of the enemy than by their own. With what
+spirit they resumed the war may be understood from the facts that
+they pulled down their roofs and houses for the equipment of a new
+fleet; that gold and silver, instead of brass and iron, were melted
+in their forges for the construction of arms; and that the women
+parted with their hair to make cordage for the engines of war.</p>
+<p>Under the command of the consul Mancinus, the siege was warmly
+conducted both by land and sea. The harbor was dismantled of its
+works, and a first, second, and even third wall taken, while
+nevertheless the Byrsa, which was the name of the citadel, held out
+like another city. But though the destruction of the place was thus
+very far advanced, it was the name of the Scipios only that seemed
+fatal to Africa. The Government, accordingly, applying to another
+Scipio, desired from him a termination of the war. This Scipio, the
+son of Paulus Macedonicus, the son of the great Africanus had
+adopted as an honor to his family, and, as it appeared, with this
+destiny, that the grandson should overthrow the city which the
+grandfather had shaken. But as the bites of dying beasts are wont
+to be most fatal, so there was more trouble with Carthage
+half-ruined than when it was in its full strength. The Romans
+having shut the enemy up in their single fortress, had also
+blockaded the harbor; but upon this they dug another harbor on the
+other side of the city, not with a design to escape, but because no
+one supposed that they could even force an outlet there. Here a new
+fleet, as if just born, started forth; and, in the mean while,
+sometimes by day and sometimes by night, some new mole, some new
+machine, some new band of desperate men perpetually started up,
+like a sudden flame from a fire sunk in ashes. At last, their
+affairs becoming desperate, forty thousand men, and (what is hardly
+credible) with Hasdrubal at their head, surrendered themselves. How
+much more nobly did a woman behave, the wife of the general, who,
+taking hold of her two children, threw herself from the top of her
+house into the midst of the flames, imitating the queen that built
+Carthage. How great a city was then destroyed is shown, to say
+nothing of other things, by the duration of the fire, for the
+flames could scarcely be extinguished at the end of seventeen days;
+flames which the enemy themselves had raised in their houses and
+temples, that, since the city could not be rescued from the Romans,
+all matter for triumph might at least be burned.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_14"></a>BATTLE OF THE METAURUS</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 207</p>
+<p class="center">SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY</p>
+<p class="intros">During the closing years of the Second Punic War
+the resources of the Romans were drained to such an extent as to
+bring great disheartenment to their rulers and generals. Under the
+stress of financial difficulties, the cost of living greatly
+increased, and the State was compelled to resort to loans of
+various kinds, and to levy upon citizens of means for the pay of
+seamen. This scheme for raising Roman "ship money" was one of the
+most significant indications of the extreme weight resting upon the
+republic in the prosecution of this arduous war. A war with Sicily
+was fortunately terminated, releasing some additional force for
+employment against the Carthaginians; but for some time little
+headway was made by the Roman commanders, and when, in B.C. 207,
+the people were called upon to elect consuls, their affairs were
+still in a condition which caused serious anxiety. The consuls
+chosen in that year were Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius Nero, and
+without delay they went to take command in southern Italy, which
+the Carthaginians under Hannibal, though not in much strength, had
+invaded.</p>
+<p class="intros">But when, later in the season, Hasdrubal crossed
+the Alps from the north to join his brother, Hannibal, the aspect
+of the war became still more grave in the eyes of the Romans.
+Hasdrubal solicited the support of the Gauls, but to little
+purpose. Meanwhile Hannibal made skilful use of his small forces in
+eluding the consul Nero; but the capture by the Romans of
+despatches from Hasdrubal disclosed his plans, and Nero at once
+formed his own for intercepting him. The result was that Nero and
+Livius joined their forces in Hasdrubal's front, and to the
+Carthaginian they offered immediate battle. Hasdrubal attempted a
+retreat, but was compelled to give battle on the banks of the
+Metaurus. Of this, one of the "decisive battles of the world,"
+Creasy has left an authoritative and graphic account, which here
+follows. The part of the consul Nero in the campaign is thus
+remarked upon by Lord Byron:</p>
+<p class="intros">"The consul Nero, who made the unequalled march
+which deceived Hannibal and deceived Hasdrubal, thereby
+accomplished an achievement almost unrivalled in military annals.
+The first intelligence of his return, to Hannibal, was the sight of
+Hasdrubal's head thrown into his camp. When Hannibal saw this, he
+exclaimed, with a sigh, that 'Rome would now be the mistress of the
+world.' To this victory of Nero's it might be owing that his
+imperial namesake reigned at all. But the infamy of the one has
+eclipsed the glory of the other. When the name of Nero is heard,
+who thinks of the consul? But such are human things."</p>
+<p>About midway between Rimini and Ancona a little river falls into
+the Adriatic, after traversing one of those districts of Italy in
+which a vain attempt has lately been made to revive, after long
+centuries of servitude and shame, the spirit of Italian nationality
+and the energy of free institutions. That stream is still called
+the Metauro, and wakens by its name the recollections of the
+resolute daring of ancient Rome, and of the slaughter that stained
+its current two thousand and sixty-three years ago, when the
+combined consular armies of Livius and Nero encountered and crushed
+near its banks the varied hosts which Hannibal's brother was
+leading from the Pyrenees, the Rhone, the Alps, and the Po, to aid
+the great Carthaginian in his stern struggle to annihilate the
+growing might of the Roman republic, and make the Punic power
+supreme over all the nations of the world.</p>
+<p>The Roman historian,[<a href="#note-59">59</a>] who termed that
+struggle the most memorable of all wars that ever were carried on,
+wrote in no spirit of exaggeration; for it is not in ancient, but
+in modern history that parallels for its incidents and its heroes
+are to be found. The similitude between the contest which Rome
+maintained against Hannibal, and that which England was for many
+years engaged in against Napoleon, has not passed unobserved by
+recent historians. "Twice," says Arnold, "has there been witnessed
+the struggle of the highest individual genius against the resources
+and institutions of a great nation, and in both cases the nation
+has been victorious. For seventeen years Hannibal strove against
+Rome; for sixteen years Napoleon Bonaparte strove against England:
+the efforts of the first ended in Zama; those of the second in
+Waterloo."</p>
+<p><a name="note-59"><!-- Note Anchor 59 --></a>[Footnote 59:
+Livy.]</p>
+<p>One point, however, of the similitude between the two wars has
+scarcely been adequately dwelt on; that is, the remarkable parallel
+between the Roman general who finally defeated the great
+Carthaginian, and the English general who gave the last deadly
+overthrow to the French Emperor. Scipio and Wellington both held
+for many years commands of high importance, but distant from the
+main theatres of warfare. The same country was the scene of the
+principal military career of each. It was in Spain that Scipio,
+like Wellington, successively encountered and overthrew nearly all
+the subordinate generals of the enemy before being opposed to the
+chief champion and conqueror himself. Both Scipio and Wellington
+restored their countrymen's confidence in arms when shaken by a
+series of reverses, and each of them closed a long and perilous war
+by a complete and overwhelming defeat of the chosen leader and the
+chosen veterans of the foe.</p>
+<p>Nor is the parallel between them limited to their military
+characters and exploits. Scipio, like Wellington, became an
+important leader of the aristocratic party among his countrymen,
+and was exposed to the unmeasured invectives of the violent section
+of his political antagonists. When, early in the last reign, an
+infuriated mob assaulted the Duke of Wellington in the streets of
+the English capital on the anniversary of Waterloo, England was
+even more disgraced by that outrage than Rome was by the factious
+accusations which demagogues brought against Scipio, but which he
+proudly repelled on the day of trial by reminding the assembled
+people that it was the anniversary of the battle of Zama. Happily,
+a wiser and a better spirit has now for years pervaded all classes
+of our community, and we shall be spared the ignominy of having
+worked out to the end the parallel of national ingratitude. Scipio
+died a voluntary exile from the malevolent turbulence of Rome.
+Englishmen of all ranks and politics have now long united in
+affectionate admiration of our modern Scipio; and even those who
+have most widely differed from the duke on legislative or
+administrative questions, forget what they deem the political
+errors of that time-honored head, while they gratefully call to
+mind the laurels that have wreathed it.</p>
+<p>Scipio at Zama trampled in the dust the power of Carthage, but
+that power had been already irreparably shattered in another field,
+where neither Scipio nor Hannibal commanded. When the Metaurus
+witnessed the defeat and death of Hasdrubal, it witnessed the ruin
+of the scheme by which alone Carthage could hope to organize
+decisive success—the scheme of enveloping Rome at once from
+the north and the south of Italy by two chosen armies, led by two
+sons of Hamilcar. That battle was the determining crisis of the
+contest, not merely between Rome and Carthage, but between the two
+great families of the world, which then made Italy the arena of
+their oft-renewed contest for pre&euml;minence.</p>
+<p>The French historian, Michelet, whose <i>Histoire Romaine</i>
+would have been invaluable if the general industry and accuracy of
+the writer had in any degree equalled his originality and
+brilliancy, eloquently remarks: "It is not without reason that so
+universal and vivid a remembrance of the Punic wars has dwelt in
+the memories of men. They formed no mere struggle to determine the
+lot of two cities or two empires; but it was a strife on the event
+of which depended the fate of two races of mankind, whether the
+dominion of the world should belong to the Indo-Germanic or to the
+Semitic family of nations. Bear in mind that the first of these
+comprises, besides the Indians and the Persians, the Greeks, the
+Romans, and the Germans. In the other are ranked the Jews and the
+Arabs, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. On the one side is
+the genius of heroism, of art, and legislation; on the other is the
+spirit of industry, of commerce, of navigation.</p>
+<p>"The two opposite races have everywhere come into contact,
+everywhere into hostility. In the primitive history of Persia and
+Chaldaea, the heroes are perpetually engaged in combat with their
+industrious and perfidious neighbors. The struggle is renewed
+between the Phoenicians and the Greeks on every coast of the
+Mediterranean. The Greek supplants the Phoenician in all his
+factories, all his colonies in the East: soon will the Roman come,
+and do likewise in the West. Alexander did far more against Tyre
+than Shalmaneser or Nebuchadnezzar had done. Not content with
+crushing her, he took care that she never should revive; for he
+founded Alexandria as her substitute, and changed forever the track
+of the commerce of the world. There remained Carthage—the
+great Carthage, and her mighty empire—mighty in a far
+different degree than Phoenicia's had been. Rome annihilated it.
+Then occurred that which has no parallel in history—an entire
+civilization perished at one blow—banished, like a falling
+star. The <i>Periplus</i> of Hanno, a few coins, a score of lines
+in Plautus, and, lo, all that remains of the Carthaginian
+world!</p>
+<p>"Many generations must needs pass away before the struggle
+between the two races could be renewed; and the Arabs, that
+formidable rear-guard of the Semitic world, dashed forth from their
+deserts. The conflict between the two races then became the
+conflict of two religions. Fortunate was it that those daring
+Saracenic cavaliers encountered in the East the impregnable walls
+of Constantinople, in the West the chivalrous valor of Charles
+Martel and the sword of the Cid. The crusades were the natural
+reprisals for the Arab invasions, and form the last epoch of that
+great struggle between the two principal families of the human
+race."</p>
+<p>It is difficult, amid the glimmering light supplied by the
+allusions of the classical writers, to gain a full idea of the
+character and institutions of Rome's great rival. But we can
+perceive how inferior Carthage was to her competitor in military
+resources, and how far less fitted than Rome she was to become the
+founder of centralized and centralizing dominion that should endure
+for centuries, and fuse into imperial unity the narrow
+nationalities of the ancient races that dwelt around and near the
+shores of the Mediterranean Sea?</p>
+<p>Carthage was originally neither the most ancient nor the most
+powerful of the numerous colonies which the Phoenicians planted on
+the coast of Northern Africa. But her advantageous position, the
+excellence of her constitution—of which, though ill-informed
+as to its details, we know that it commanded the admiration of
+Aristotle—and the commercial and political energy of her
+citizens gave her the ascendency over Hippo, Utica, Leptis, and her
+other sister Phoenician cities in those regions; and she finally
+reduced them to a condition of dependency similar to that which the
+subject allies of Athens occupied relatively to that once imperial
+city. When Tyre and Sidon and the other cities of Phoenicia itself
+sank from independent republics into mere vassal states of the
+great Asiatic monarchies, and obeyed by turns a Babylonian, a
+Persian, and a Macedonian master, their power and their traffic
+rapidly declined, and Carthage succeeded to the important maritime
+and commercial character which they had previously maintained.</p>
+<p>The Carthaginians did not seek to compete with the Greeks on the
+northeastern shores of the Mediterranean, or in the three inland
+seas which are connected with it; but they maintained an active
+intercourse with the Phoenicians, and through them with Lower and
+Central Asia; and they, and they alone, after the decline and fall
+of Tyre, navigated the waters of the Atlantic. They had the
+monopoly of all the commerce of the world that was carried on
+beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. We have yet extant (in a Greek
+translation) the narrative of the voyage of Hanno, one of their
+admirals, along the western coast of Africa as far as Sierra Leone;
+and in the Latin poem of Festus Avienus frequent references are
+made to the records of the voyages of another celebrated
+Carthaginian admiral, Himilco, who had explored the northwestern
+coast of Europe. Our own islands are mentioned by Himilco as the
+lands of the Hiberni and Albioni. It is indeed certain that the
+Carthaginians frequented the Cornish coast—as the Phoenicians
+had done before them—for the purpose of procuring tin; and
+there is every reason to believe that they sailed as far as the
+coasts of the Baltic for amber. When it is remembered that the
+mariner's compass was unknown in those ages, the boldness and skill
+of the seamen of Carthage, and the enterprise of her merchants, may
+be paralleled with any achievements that the history of modern
+navigation and commerce can produce.</p>
+<p>In their Atlantic voyages along the African shores the
+Carthaginians followed the double object of traffic and
+colonization. The numerous settlements that were planted by them
+along the coast from Morocco to Senegal provided for the needy
+members of the constantly increasing population of a great
+commercial capital, and also strengthened the influence which
+Carthage exercised among the tribes of the African coast. Besides
+her fleets, her caravans gave her a large and lucrative trade with
+the native Africans; nor must we limit our belief of the extent of
+the Carthaginian trade with the tribes of Central and Western
+Africa by the narrowness of the commercial intercourse which
+civilized nations of modern times have been able to create in those
+regions.</p>
+<p>Although essentially a mercantile and seafaring people, the
+Carthaginians by no means neglected agriculture. On the contrary,
+the whole of their territory was cultivated like a garden. The
+fertility of the soil repaid the skill and toil bestowed on it; and
+every invader, from Agathocles to Scipio Æmilianus, was
+struck with admiration at the rich pasture lands carefully
+irrigated, the abundant harvests, the luxuriant vineyards, the
+plantations of fig and olive trees, the thriving villages, the
+populous towns, and the splendid villas of the wealthy
+Carthaginians, through which his march lay, as long as he was on
+Carthaginian ground.</p>
+<p>Although the Carthaginians abandoned the Ægean and the
+Pontus to the Greek, they were by no means disposed to relinquish
+to those rivals the commerce and the dominion of the coasts of the
+Mediterranean westward of Italy. For centuries the Carthaginians
+strove to make themselves masters of the islands that lie between
+Italy and Spain. They acquired the Balearic Islands, where the
+principal harbor, Port Mahon, still bears the name of a
+Carthaginian admiral. They succeeded in reducing the greater part
+of Sardinia; but Sicily could never be brought into their power.
+They repeatedly invaded that island, and nearly overran it; but the
+resistance which was opposed to them by the Syracusans under Gelon,
+Dionysius, Timoleon, and Agathocles preserved the island from
+becoming Punic, though many of its cities remained under the
+Carthaginian rule until Rome finally settled the question to whom
+Sicily was to belong by conquering it for herself.</p>
+<p>With so many elements of success, with almost unbounded wealth,
+with commercial and maritime activity, with a fertile territory,
+with a capital city of almost impregnable strength, with a
+constitution that insured for centuries the blessing of social
+order, with an aristocracy singularly fertile in men of the highest
+genius, Carthage yet failed signally and calamitously in her
+contest for power with Rome. One of the immediate causes of this
+may seem to have been the want of firmness among her citizens,
+which made them terminate the First Punic War by begging peace,
+sooner than endure any longer the hardships and burdens caused by a
+state of warfare, although their antagonists had suffered far more
+severely than themselves. Another cause was the spirit of faction
+among their leading men, which prevented Hannibal in the second war
+from being properly re&euml;nforced and supported. But there were
+also more general causes why Carthage proved inferior to Rome.
+These were her position relatively to the mass of the inhabitants
+of the country which she ruled, and her habit of trusting to
+mercenary armies in her wars.</p>
+<p>Our clearest information as to the different races of men in and
+about Carthage is derived from Diodorus Siculus. That historian
+enumerates four different races: first, he mentions the Phoenicians
+who dwelt in Carthage; next, he speaks of the Liby-Phoenicians:
+these, he tells us, dwelt in many of the maritime cities, and were
+connected by intermarriage with the Phoenicians, which was the
+cause of their compound name; thirdly, he mentions the Libyans, the
+bulk and the most ancient part of the population, hating the
+Carthaginians intensely on account of the oppressiveness of their
+domination; lastly, he names the Numidians, the nomad tribes of the
+frontier.</p>
+<p>It is evident, from this description, that the native Libyans
+were a subject class, without franchise or political rights; and,
+accordingly, we find no instance specified in history of a Libyan
+holding political office or military command. The half-castes, the
+Liby-Phoenicians, seem to have been sometimes sent out as
+colonists; but it may be inferred, from what Diodorus says of their
+residence, that they had not the right of the citizenship of
+Carthage; and only a single solitary case occurs of one of this
+race being intrusted with authority, and that, too, not emanating
+from the home government. This is the instance of the officer sent
+by Hannibal to Sicily after the fall of Syracuse, whom Polybius
+calls Myttinus the Libyan, but whom, from the fuller account in
+Livy, we find to have been a Liby-Phoenician; and it is expressly
+mentioned what indignation was felt by the Carthaginian commanders
+in the island that this half-caste should control their
+operations.</p>
+<p>With respect to the composition of their armies, it is
+observable that, though thirsting for extended empire, and though
+some of her leading men became generals of the highest order, the
+Carthaginians, as a people, were anything but personally warlike.
+As long as they could hire mercenaries to fight for them, they had
+little appetite for the irksome training and the loss of valuable
+time which military service would have entailed on themselves.</p>
+<p>As Michelet remarks: "The life of an industrious merchant, of a
+Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as long as it was
+possible to substitute advantageously for it that of a barbarian
+from Spain or Gaul. Carthage knew, and could tell to a drachma,
+what the life of a man of each nation came to. A Greek was worth
+more than a Campanian, a Campanian worth more than a Gaul or a
+Spaniard. When once this tariff of blood was correctly made out,
+Carthage began a war as a mercantile speculation. She tried to make
+conquests in the hope of getting new mines to work or to open fresh
+markets for her exports. In one venture she could afford to spend
+fifty thousand mercenaries, in another rather more. If the returns
+were good, there was no regret felt for the capital that had been
+sunk in the investment; more money got more men, and all went on
+well."</p>
+<p>Armies composed of foreign mercenaries have in all ages been as
+formidable to their employers as to the enemy against whom they
+were directed. We know of one occasion—between the First and
+Second Punic wars—when Carthage was brought to the very brink
+of destruction by a revolt of her foreign troops. Other mutinies of
+the same kind must from time to time have occurred. Probably one of
+these was the cause of the comparative weakness of Carthage at the
+time of the Athenian expedition against Syracuse, so different from
+the energy with which she attacked Gelon half a century earlier and
+Dionysius half a century later. And even when we consider her
+armies with reference only to their efficiency in warfare, we
+perceive at once the inferiority of such bands of
+<i>condottieri</i>, brought together without any common bond of
+origin, tactics, or cause, to the legions of Rome, which, at the
+time of the Punic wars, were raised from the very flower of a hardy
+agricultural population, trained in the strictest discipline,
+habituated to victory, and animated by the most resolute
+patriotism.</p>
+<p>And this shows, also, the transcendency of the genius of
+Hannibal, which could form such discordant materials into a compact
+organized force, and inspire them with the spirit of patient
+discipline and loyalty to their chief, so that they were true to
+him in his adverse as well as in his prosperous fortunes; and
+throughout the checkered series of his campaigns no panic rout ever
+disgraced a division under his command, no mutiny, or even attempt
+at mutiny, was ever known in his camp; and finally, after fifteen
+years of Italian warfare, his men followed their old leader to
+Zama, "with no fear and little hope,"[<a href="#note-60">60</a>]
+and there, on that disastrous field, stood firm around him, his Old
+Guard, till Scipio's Numidian allies came up on their flank, when
+at last, surrounded and overpowered, the veteran battalions sealed
+their devotion to their general by their blood!</p>
+<p><a name="note-60"><!-- Note Anchor 60 --></a>[Footnote 60: "We
+advanced to Waterloo as the Greeks did to Thermopylae: all of us
+without fear, and most of us without hope."—<i>Speech of
+General Foy.</i>]</p>
+<p>"But if Hannibal's genius may be likened to the Homeric god,
+who, in his hatred to the Trojans, rises from the deep to rally the
+fainting Greeks and to lead them against the enemy, so the calm
+courage with which Hector met his more than human adversary in his
+country's cause is no unworthy image of the unyielding magnanimity
+displayed by the aristocracy of Rome. As Hannibal utterly eclipses
+Carthage, so, on the contrary, Fabius, Marcellus, Claudius Nero,
+even Scipio himself, are as nothing when compared to the spirit and
+wisdom and power of Rome. The senate, which voted its thanks to its
+political enemy, Varro, after his disastrous defeat, 'because he
+had not despaired of the commonwealth,' and which disdained either
+to solicit or to reprove or to threaten or in any way to notice the
+twelve colonies which had refused their accustomed supplies of men
+for the army, is far more to be honored than the conqueror of Zama.
+This we should the more carefully bear in mind because our tendency
+is to admire individual greatness far more than national; and, as
+no single Roman will bear comparison to Hannibal, we are apt to
+murmur at the event of the contest, and to think that the victory
+was awarded to the least worthy of the combatants. On the contrary,
+never was the wisdom of God's providence more manifest than in the
+issue of the struggle between Rome and Carthage.</p>
+<p>"It was clearly for the good of mankind that Hannibal should be
+conquered; his triumph would have stopped the progress of the
+world; for great men can only act permanently by forming great
+nations; and no one man, even though it were Hannibal himself, can
+in one generation effect such a work. But where the nation has been
+merely enkindled for a while by a great man's spirit, the light
+passes away with him who communicated it; and the nation, when he
+is gone, is like a dead body to which magic power had for a moment
+given unnatural life: when the charm has ceased, the body is cold
+and stiff as before. He who grieves over the battle of Zama should
+carry on his thoughts to a period thirty years later, when Hannibal
+must in the course of nature have been dead, and consider how the
+isolated Phoenician city of Carthage was fitted to receive and to
+consolidate the civilization of Greece, or by its laws and
+institutions to bind together barbarians of every race and language
+into an organized empire, and prepare them for becoming, when that
+empire was dissolved, the free members of the commonwealth of
+Christian Europe."[<a href="#note-61">61</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-61"><!-- Note Anchor 61 --></a>[Footnote 61:
+Arnold.]</p>
+<p>It was in the spring of 207 B.C. that Hasdrubal, after skilfully
+disentangling himself from the Roman forces in Spain, and after a
+march conducted with great judgment and little loss through the
+interior of Gaul and the passes of the Alps, appeared in the
+country that now is the north of Lombardy, at the head of troops
+which he had partly brought out of Spain and partly levied among
+the Gauls and Ligurians on his way. At this time Hannibal, with his
+unconquered and seemingly unconquerable army, had been eight years
+in Italy, executing with strenuous ferocity the vow of hatred to
+Rome which had been sworn by him while yet a child at the bidding
+of his father, Hamilcar, who, as he boasted, had trained up his
+three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, like three lion's
+whelps, to prey upon the Romans. But Hannibal's latter campaigns
+had not been signalized by any such great victories as marked the
+first years of his invasion of Italy. The stern spirit of Roman
+resolution, ever highest in disaster and danger, had neither bent
+nor despaired beneath the merciless blows which "the dire African"
+dealt her in rapid succession at Trebia, at Thrasymene, and at
+Cannae. Her population was thinned by repeated slaughter in the
+field; poverty and actual scarcity ground down the survivors,
+through the fearful ravages which Hannibal's cavalry spread through
+their cornfields, their pasture lands, and their vineyards; many of
+her allies went over to the invader's side, and new clouds of
+foreign war threatened her from Macedonia and Gaul. But Rome
+receded not. Rich and poor among her citizens vied with each other
+in devotion to their country. The wealthy placed their stores, and
+all placed their lives, at the State's disposal. And though
+Hannibal could not be driven out of Italy, though every year
+brought its sufferings and sacrifices, Rome felt that her constancy
+had not been exerted in vain. If she was weakened by the continued
+strife, so was Hannibal also; and it was clear that the unaided
+resources of his army were unequal to the task of her destruction.
+The single deerhound could not pull down the quarry which he had so
+furiously assailed. Rome not only stood fiercely at bay, but had
+pressed back and gored her antagonist, that still, however, watched
+her in act to spring. She was weary, and bleeding at every pore;
+and there seemed to be little hope of her escape if the other hound
+of old Hamilcar's race should come up in time to aid his brother in
+the death grapple.</p>
+<p>Hasdrubal had commanded the Carthaginian armies in Spain for
+some time with varying but generally unfavorable fortune. He had
+not the full authority over the Punic forces in that country which
+his brother and his father had previously exercised. The faction at
+Carthage, which was at feud with his family, succeeded in fettering
+and interfering with his power; and other generals were from time
+to time sent into Spain, whose errors and misconduct caused the
+reverses that Hasdrubal met with. This is expressly attested by the
+Greek historian Polybius, who was the intimate friend of the
+younger Africanus, and drew his information respecting the Second
+Punic War from the best possible authorities. Livy gives a long
+narrative of campaigns between the Roman commanders in Spain and
+Hasdrubal, which is so palpably deformed by fictions and
+exaggerations as to be hardly deserving of attention. It is clear
+that in the year B.C. 208, at least, Hasdrubal outmanoeuvred
+Publius Scipio, who held the command of the Roman forces in Spain,
+and whose object was to prevent him from passing the Pyrenees and
+marching upon Italy. Scipio expected that Hasdrubal would attempt
+the nearest route along the coast of the Mediterranean, and he
+therefore carefully fortified and guarded the passes of the eastern
+Pyrenees. But Hasdrubal passed these mountains near their western
+extremity; and then, with a considerable force of Spanish infantry,
+with a small number of African troops, with some elephants and much
+treasure, he marched, not directly toward the coast of the
+Mediterranean, but in a northeastern line toward the centre of
+Gaul. He halted for the winter in the territory of the Arverni, the
+modern Auvergne, and conciliated or purchased the goodwill of the
+Gauls in that region so far that he not only found friendly winter
+quarters among them, but great numbers of them enlisted under him,
+and, on the approach of spring, marched with him to invade
+Italy.</p>
+<p>By thus entering Gaul at the southwest, and avoiding its
+southern maritime districts, Hasdrubal kept the Romans in complete
+ignorance of his precise operations and movements in that country;
+all that they knew was that Hasdrubal had baffled Scipio's attempts
+to detain him in Spain; that he had crossed the Pyrenees with
+soldiers, elephants, and money, and that he was raising fresh
+forces among the Gauls. The spring was sure to bring him into
+Italy, and then would come the real tempest of the war, when from
+the north and from the south the two Carthaginian armies, each
+under a son of the Thunderbolt[<a href="#note-62">62</a>], were to
+gather together around the seven hills of Rome.</p>
+<p><a name="note-62"><!-- Note Anchor 62 --></a>[Footnote 62:
+Hamilcar was surnamed Barca, which means the Thunderbolt. Sultan
+Bajazet had the similar surname of Yilderim.]</p>
+<p>In this emergency the Romans looked among themselves earnestly
+and anxiously for leaders fit to meet the perils of the coming
+campaign.</p>
+<p>The senate recommended the people to elect, as one of their
+consuls, Caius Claudius Nero, a patrician of one of the families of
+the great Claudian house. Nero had served during the preceding
+years of the war both against Hannibal in Italy and against
+Hasdrubal in Spain; but it is remarkable that the histories which
+we possess record no successes as having been achieved by him
+either before or after his great campaign of the Metaurus. It
+proves much for the sagacity of the leading men of the senate that
+they recognized in Nero the energy and spirit which were required
+at this crisis, and it is equally creditable to the patriotism of
+the people that they followed the advice of the senate by electing
+a general who had no showy exploits to recommend him to their
+choice.</p>
+<p>It was a matter of greater difficulty to find a second consul;
+the laws required that one consul should be a plebeian; and the
+plebeian nobility had been fearfully thinned by the events of the
+war. While the senators anxiously deliberated among themselves what
+fit colleague for Nero could be nominated at the coming comitia,
+and sorrowfully recalled the names of Marcellus, Gracchus, and
+other plebeian generals who were no more, one taciturn and moody
+old man sat in sullen apathy among the conscript fathers. This was
+Marcus Livius, who had been consul in the year before the beginning
+of this war, and had then gained a victory over the Illyrians.
+After his consulship he had been impeached before the people on a
+charge of peculation and unfair division of the spoils among his
+soldiers; the verdict was unjustly given against him, and the sense
+of this wrong, and of the indignity thus put upon him, had rankled
+unceasingly in the bosom of Livius, so that for eight years after
+his trial he had lived in seclusion in his country seat, taking no
+part in any affairs of State. Latterly the censors had compelled
+him to come to Rome and resume his place in the senate, where he
+used to sit gloomily apart, giving only a silent vote. At last an
+unjust accusation against one of his near kinsmen made him break
+silence, and he harangued the house in words of weight and sense,
+which drew attention to him and taught the senators that a strong
+spirit dwelt beneath that unimposing exterior.</p>
+<p>Now, while they were debating on what noble of a plebeian house
+was fit to assume the perilous honors of the consulate, some of the
+elder of them looked on Marcus Livius, and remembered that in the
+very last triumph which had been celebrated in the streets of Rome,
+this grim old man had sat in the car of victory, and that he had
+offered the last thanksgiving sacrifice for the success of the
+Roman arms which had bled before Capitoline Jove. There had been no
+triumphs since Hannibal came into Italy. The Illyrian campaign of
+Livius was the last that had been so honored; perhaps it might be
+destined for him now to renew the long-interrupted series. The
+senators resolved that Livius should be put in nomination as consul
+with Nero; the people were willing to elect him: the only
+opposition came from himself. He taunted them with their
+inconsistency in honoring the man whom they had convicted of a base
+crime. "If I am innocent," said he, "why did you place such a stain
+on me? If I am guilty, why am I more fit for a second consulship
+than I was for my first one?" The other senators remonstrated with
+him, urging the example of the great Camillus, who, after an unjust
+condemnation on a similar charge, both served and saved his
+country. At last Livius ceased to object; and Caius Claudius Nero
+and Marcus Livius were chosen consuls of Rome.</p>
+<p>A quarrel had long existed between the two consuls, and the
+senators strove to effect a reconciliation between them before the
+campaign. Here again Livius for a long time obstinately resisted
+the wish of his fellow-senators. He said it was best for the State
+that he and Nero should continue to hate one another. Each would do
+his duty better when he knew that he was watched by an enemy in the
+person of his own colleague. At last the entreaties of the senate
+prevailed, and Livius consented to forego the feud, and to
+cooperate with Nero in preparing for the coming struggle.</p>
+<p>As soon as the winter snows were thawed, Hasdrubal commenced his
+march from Auvergne to the Alps. He experienced none of the
+difficulties which his brother had met with from the mountain
+tribes. Hannibal's army had been the first body of regular troops
+that had ever traversed their regions; and, as wild animals assail
+a traveller, the natives rose against it instinctively, in imagined
+defence of their own habitations, which they supposed to be the
+objects of Carthaginian ambition. But the fame of the war, with
+which Italy had now been convulsed for twelve years, had penetrated
+into the Alpine passes, and the mountaineers now understood that a
+mighty city southward of the Alps was to be attacked by the troops
+whom they saw marching among them. They now not only opposed no
+resistance to the passage of Hasdrubal, but many of them, out of
+love of enterprise and plunder, or allured by the high pay that he
+offered, took service with him; and thus he advanced upon Italy
+with an army that gathered strength at every league. It is said,
+also, that some of the most important engineering works which
+Hannibal had constructed were found by Hasdrubal still in
+existence, and materially favored the speed of his advance. He thus
+emerged into Italy from the Alpine valleys much sooner than had
+been anticipated. Many warriors of the Ligurian tribes joined him;
+and, crossing the River Po, he marched down its southern bank to
+the city of Placentia, which he wished to secure as a base for his
+future operations. Placentia resisted him as bravely as it had
+resisted Hannibal twelve years before, and for some time Hasdrubal
+was occupied with a fruitless siege before its walls.</p>
+<p>Six armies were levied for the defence of Italy when the
+long-dreaded approach of Hasdrubal was announced. Seventy thousand
+Romans served in the fifteen legions of which, with an equal number
+of Italian allies, those armies and the garrisons were composed.
+Upward of thirty thousand more Romans were serving in Sicily,
+Sardinia, and Spain. The whole number of Roman citizens of an age
+fit for military duty scarcely exceeded a hundred and thirty
+thousand. The census taken before the commencement of the war had
+shown a total of two hundred and seventy thousand, which had been
+diminished by more than half during twelve years. These numbers are
+fearfully emphatic of the extremity to which Rome was reduced, and
+of her gigantic efforts in that great agony of her fate. Not merely
+men, but money and military stores, were drained to the utmost, and
+if the armies of that year should be swept off by a repetition of
+the slaughters of Thrasymene and Cannae all felt that Rome would
+cease to exist.</p>
+<p>Even if the campaign were to be marked by no decisive success on
+either side her ruin seemed certain. In South Italy, Hannibal had
+either detached Rome's allies from her or had impoverished them by
+the ravages of his army. If Hasdrubal could have done the same in
+Upper Italy; if Etruria, Umbria, and Northern Latium had either
+revolted or been laid waste, Rome must have sunk beneath sheer
+starvation, for the hostile or desolated territory would have
+yielded no supplies of corn for her population, and money to
+purchase it from abroad there was none. Instant victory was a
+matter of life or death. Three of her six armies were ordered to
+the North, but the first of these was required to overawe the
+disaffected Etruscan. The second army of the North was pushed
+forward, under Porcius, the praetor, to meet and keep in check the
+advanced troops of Hasdrubal; while the third, the grand army of
+the North, which was to be under the immediate command of the
+consul Livius, who had the chief command in all North Italy,
+advanced more slowly in its support. There were similarly three
+armies in the South, under the orders of the other consul, Claudius
+Nero.</p>
+<p>The lot had decided that Livius was to be opposed to Hasdrubal,
+and that Nero should face Hannibal. And "when all was ordered as
+themselves thought best, the two consuls went forth from the city,
+each his several way. The people of Rome were now quite otherwise
+affected than they had been when L. Æmilius Paulus and C.
+Terentius Varro were sent against Hannibal. They did no longer take
+upon them to direct their generals, or bid them despatch and win
+the victory betimes, but rather they stood in fear lest all
+diligence, wisdom, and valor should prove too little; for since few
+years had passed wherein some one of their generals had not been
+slain, and since it was manifest that, if either of these present
+consuls were defeated or put to the worst, the two Carthaginians
+would forthwith join, and make short work with the other, it seemed
+a greater happiness than could be expected that each of them should
+return home victor, and come off with honor from such mighty
+opposition as he was like to find. With extreme difficulty had Rome
+held up her head ever since the battle of Cannae; though it were
+so, that Hannibal alone, with little help from Carthage, had
+continued the war in Italy. But there was now arrived another son
+of Hamilcar, and one that in his present expedition had seemed a
+man of more sufficiency than Hannibal himself; for whereas, in that
+long and dangerous march through barbarous nations, over great
+rivers and mountains that were thought unpassable, Hannibal had
+lost a great part of his army, this Hasdrubal, in the same places,
+had multiplied his numbers, and gathering the people that he found
+in the way, descended from the Alps like a rolling snowball, far
+greater than he came over the Pyrenees at his first setting out of
+Spain. These considerations and the like, of which fear presented
+many unto them, caused the people of Rome to wait upon their
+consuls out of the town, like a pensive train of mourners, thinking
+upon Marcellus and Crispinus, upon whom, in the like sort, they had
+given attendance the last year, but saw neither of them return
+alive from a less dangerous war. Particularly old Q. Fabius gave
+his accustomed advice to M. Livius, that he should abstain from
+giving or taking battle until he well understood the enemy's
+condition. But the consul made him a froward answer, and said that
+he would fight the very first day, for that he thought it long till
+he should either recover his honor by victory, or, by seeing the
+overthrow of his own unjust citizens, satisfy himself with the joy
+of a great though not an honest revenge. But his meaning was better
+than his words."</p>
+<p>Hannibal at this period occupied with his veteran but
+much-reduced forces the extreme south of Italy. It had not been
+expected either by friend or foe that Hasdrubal would effect his
+passage of the Alps so early in the year as actually occurred. And
+even when Hannibal learned that his brother was in Italy, and had
+advanced as far as Placentia, he was obliged to pause for further
+intelligence before he himself commenced active operations, as he
+could not tell whether his brother might not be invited into
+Etruria, to aid the party there that was disaffected to Rome, or
+whether he would march down by the Adriatic Sea. Hannibal led his
+troops out of their winter quarters in Bruttium, and marched
+northward as far as Canusium. Nero had his head-quarters near
+Venusia, with an army which he had increased to forty thousand foot
+and two thousand five hundred horse, by incorporating under his own
+command some of the legions which had been intended to act under
+other generals in the South. There was another Roman army, twenty
+thousand strong, south of Hannibal at Tarentum. The strength of
+that city secured this Roman force from any attack by Hannibal, and
+it was a serious matter to march northward and leave it in his
+rear, free to act against all his depots and allies in the friendly
+part of Italy, which for the two or three last campaigns had served
+him for a base of his operations. Moreover, Nero's army was so
+strong that Hannibal could not concentrate troops enough to assume
+the offensive against it without weakening his garrisons and
+relinquishing, at least for a time, his grasp upon the southern
+provinces. To do this before he was certainly informed of his
+brother's operations would have been a useless sacrifice, as Nero
+could retreat before him upon the other Roman armies near the
+capital, and Hannibal knew by experience that a mere advance of his
+army upon the walls of Rome would have no effect on the fortunes of
+the war. In the hope, probably, of inducing Nero to follow him and
+of gaining an opportunity of outmanoeuvring the Roman consul and
+attacking him on his march, Hannibal moved into Lucania, and then
+back into Apulia; he again marched down into Bruttium, and
+strengthened his army by a levy of recruits in that district. Nero
+followed him, but gave him no chance of assailing him at a
+disadvantage. Some partial encounters seem to have taken place; but
+the consul could not prevent Hannibal's junction with his Bruttian
+levies, nor could Hannibal gain an opportunity of surprising and
+crushing the consul.[<a href="#note-63">63</a>] Hannibal returned
+to his former headquarters at Canusium, and halted there in
+expectation of further tidings of his brother's movements. Nero
+also resumed his former position in observation of the Carthaginian
+army.</p>
+<p><a name="note-63"><!-- Note Anchor 63 --></a>[Footnote 63: The
+annalists whom Livy copied spoke of Nero's gaining repeated
+victories over Hannibal, and killing and taking his men by tens of
+thousands. The falsehood of all this is self-evident. If Nero could
+thus always beat Hannibal, the Romans would not have been in such
+an agony of dread about Hasdrubal as all writers describe. Indeed,
+we have the express testimony of Polybius that the statements which
+we read in Livy of Marcellus, Nero, and others gaining victories
+over Hannibal in Italy must be all fabrications of Roman vanity.
+Polybius states that Hannibal was never defeated before the battle
+of Zama; and in another passage he mentions that after the defeats
+which Hannibal inflicted on the Romans in the early years of the
+war, they no longer dared face his army in a pitched battle on a
+fair field, and yet they resolutely maintained the war. He rightly
+explains this by referring to the superiority of Hannibal's
+cavalry, the arm which gained him all his victories. By keeping
+within fortified lines, or close to the sides of the mountains when
+Hannibal approached them, the Romans rendered his cavalry
+ineffective; and a glance at the geography of Italy will show how
+an army can traverse the greater part of that country without
+venturing far from the high grounds.]</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, and was
+advancing toward Ariminum on the Adriatic, and driving before him
+the Roman army under Porcius. Nor when the consul Livius had come
+up, and united the second and third armies of the North, could he
+make head against the invaders. The Romans still fell back before
+Hasdrubal beyond Ariminum, beyond the Metaurus, and as far as the
+little town of Sena, to the southeast of that river. Hasdrubal was
+not unmindful of the necessity of acting in concert with his
+brother. He sent messengers to Hannibal to announce his own line of
+march, and to propose that they should unite their armies in South
+Umbria and then wheel round against Rome. Those messengers
+traversed the greater part of Italy in safety, but, when close to
+the object of their mission, were captured by a Roman detachment;
+and Hasdrubal's letter, detailing his whole plan of the campaign,
+was laid, not in his brother's hands, but in those of the commander
+of the Roman armies of the South. Nero saw at once the full
+importance of the crisis. The two sons of Hamilcar were now within
+two hundred miles of each other, and if Rome were to be saved the
+brothers must never meet alive. Nero instantly ordered seven
+thousand picked men, a thousand being cavalry, to hold themselves
+in readiness for a secret expedition against one of Hannibal's
+garrisons, and as soon as night had set in he hurried forward on
+his bold enterprise; but he quickly left the southern road toward
+Lucania, and, wheeling round, pressed northward with the utmost
+rapidity toward Picenum. He had, during the preceding afternoon,
+sent messengers to Rome, who were to lay Hasdrubal's letters before
+the senate. There was a law forbidding a consul to make war or
+march his army beyond the limits of the province assigned to him;
+but in such an emergency, Nero did not wait for the permission of
+the senate to execute his project, but informed them that he was
+already on his march to join Livius against Hasdrubal. He advised
+them to send the two legions which formed the home garrison on to
+Narnia, so as to defend that pass of the Flaminian road against
+Hasdrubal, in case he should march upon Rome before the consular
+armies could attack him. They were to supply the place of these two
+legions at Rome by a levy <i>en masse</i> in the city, and by
+ordering up the reserve legion from Capua. These were his
+communications to the senate. He also sent horsemen forward along
+his line of march, with orders to the local authorities to bring
+stores of provisions and refreshment of every kind to the roadside,
+and to have relays of carriages ready for the conveyance of the
+wearied soldiers. Such were the precautions which he took for
+accelerating his march; and when he had advanced some little
+distance from his camp, he briefly informed his soldiers of the
+real object of their expedition. He told them that never was there
+a design more seemingly audacious and more really safe. He said he
+was leading them to a certain victory, for his colleague had an
+army large enough to balance the enemy already, so that
+<i>their</i> swords would decisively turn the scale. The very rumor
+that a fresh consul and a fresh army had come up, when heard on the
+battle-field—and he would take care that they should not be
+heard of before they were seen and felt—would settle the
+business. They would have all the credit of the victory and of
+having dealt the final decisive blow. He appealed to the
+enthusiastic reception which they already met with on their line of
+march as a proof and an omen of their good fortune. And, indeed,
+their whole path was amid the vows and prayers and praises of their
+countrymen. The entire population of the districts through which
+they passed flocked to the roadside to see and bless the deliverers
+of their country. Food, drink, and refreshments of every kind were
+eagerly pressed on their acceptance. Each peasant thought a favor
+was conferred on him if one of Nero's chosen band would accept
+aught at his hands. The soldiers caught the full spirit of their
+leader. Night and day they marched forward, taking their hurried
+meals in the ranks, and resting by relay in the wagons which the
+zeal of the country people provided, and which followed in the rear
+of the column.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, at Rome, the news of Nero's expedition had caused the
+greatest excitement and alarm. All men felt the full audacity of
+the enterprise, but hesitated what epithet to apply to it. It was
+evident that Nero's conduct would be judged of by the event, that
+most unfair criterion, as the Roman historian truly terms it.
+People reasoned on the perilous state in which Nero had left the
+rest of his army, without a general, and deprived of the core of
+its strength, in the vicinity of the terrible Hannibal. They
+speculated on how long it would take Hannibal to pursue and
+overtake Nero himself, and his expeditionary force. They talked
+over the former disasters of the war, and the fall of both the
+consuls of the last year. All these calamities had come on them
+while they had only one Carthaginian general and army to deal with
+in Italy. Now they had two Punic wars at a time. They had two
+Carthaginian armies, they had almost two Hannibals, in Italy.
+Hasdrubal was sprung from the same father; trained up in the same
+hostility to Rome; equally practised in battle against their
+legions; and, if the comparative speed and success with which he
+had crossed the Alps were a fair test, he was even a better general
+than his brother. With fear for their interpreter of every rumor,
+they exaggerated the strength of their enemy's forces in every
+quarter, and criticised and distrusted their own.</p>
+<p>Fortunately for Rome, while she was thus a prey to terror and
+anxiety, her consul's nerves were stout and strong, and he
+resolutely urged on his march toward Sena, where his colleague
+Livius and the praetor Porcius were encamped, Hasdrubal's army
+being in position about half a mile to their north. Nero had sent
+couriers forward to apprise his colleague of his project and of his
+approach; and by the advice of Livius, Nero so timed his final
+march as to reach the camp at Sena by night. According to a
+previous arrangement, Nero's men were received silently into the
+tents of their comrades, each according to his rank. By these means
+there was no enlargement of the camp that could betray to Hasdrubal
+the accession of force which the Romans had received. This was
+considerable, as Nero's numbers had been increased on the march by
+the volunteers, who offered themselves in crowds, and from whom he
+selected the most promising men, and especially the veterans of
+former campaigns. A council of war was held on the morning after
+his arrival, in which some advised that time should be given for
+Nero's men to refresh themselves after the fatigue of such a march.
+But Nero vehemently opposed all delay. "The officer," said he, "who
+is for giving time to my men here to rest themselves is for giving
+time to Hannibal to attack my men, whom I have left in the camp in
+Apulia. He is for giving time to Hannibal and Hasdrubal to discover
+my march, and to manoeuvre for a junction with each other in
+Cisalpine Gaul at their leisure. We must fight instantly, while
+both the foe here and the foe in the South are ignorant of our
+movements. We must destroy this Hasdrubal, and I must be back in
+Apulia before Hannibal awakes from his torpor." Nero's advice
+prevailed. It was resolved to fight directly; and before the
+consuls and praetor left the tent of Livius, the red ensign, which
+was the signal to prepare for immediate action, was hoisted, and
+the Romans forthwith drew up in battle array outside the camp.</p>
+<p>Hasdrubal had been anxious to bring Livius and Porcius to
+battle, though he had not judged it expedient to attack them in
+their lines. And now, on hearing that the Romans offered battle, he
+also drew up his men and advanced toward them. No spy or deserter
+had informed him of Nero's arrival, nor had he received any direct
+information that he had more than his old enemies to deal with. But
+as he rode forward to reconnoitre the Roman line, he thought that
+their numbers seemed to have increased, and that the armor of some
+of them was unusually dull and stained. He noticed, also, that the
+horses of some of the cavalry appeared to be rough and out of
+condition, as if they had just come from a succession of forced
+marches. So also, though, owing to the precaution of Livius, the
+Roman camp showed no change of size, it had not escaped the quick
+ear of the Carthaginian general that the trumpet which gave the
+signal to the Roman legions sounded that morning once oftener than
+usual, as if directing the troops of some additional superior
+officer. Hasdrubal, from his Spanish campaigns, was well acquainted
+with all the sounds and signals of Roman war, and from all that he
+heard and saw he felt convinced that both the Roman consuls were
+before him. In doubt and difficulty as to what might have taken
+place between the armies of the South, and probably hoping that
+Hannibal also was approaching, Hasdrubal determined to avoid an
+encounter with the combined Roman forces, and to endeavor to
+retreat upon Insubrian Gaul, where he would be in a friendly
+country, and could endeavor to reopen his communication with his
+brother. He therefore led his troops back into their camp; and as
+the Romans did not venture on an assault upon his intrenchments,
+and Hasdrubal did not choose to commence his retreat in their
+sight, the day passed away in inaction. At the first watch of the
+night Hasdrubal led his men silently out of their camp, and moved
+northward toward the Metaurus, in the hope of placing that river
+between himself and the Romans before his retreat was discovered.
+His guides betrayed him; and having purposely led him away from the
+part of the river that was fordable, they made their escape in the
+dark, and left Hasdrubal and his army wandering in confusion along
+the steep bank, and seeking in vain for a spot where the stream
+could be safely crossed. At last they halted; and when day dawned
+on them, Hasdrubal found that great numbers of his men, in their
+fatigue and impatience, had lost all discipline and subordination,
+and that many of his Gallic auxiliaries had got drunk, and were
+lying helpless in their quarters. The Roman cavalry was soon seen
+coming up in pursuit, followed at no great distance by the legions,
+which marched in readiness for an instant engagement. It was
+hopeless for Hasdrubal to think of continuing his retreat before
+them. The prospect of immediate battle might recall the disordered
+part of his troops to a sense of duty, and revive the instinct of
+discipline. He therefore ordered his men to prepare for action
+instantly, and made the best arrangement of them that the nature of
+the ground would permit.</p>
+<p>Heeren has well described the general appearance of a
+Carthaginian army. He says: "It was an assemblage of the most
+opposite races of the human species from the farthest parts of the
+globe. Hordes of half-naked Gauls were ranged next to companies of
+white-clothed Iberians, and savage Ligurians next to the
+far-travelled Nasamones and Lotophagi. Carthaginians and
+Phoenici-Africans formed the centre, while innumerable troops of
+Numidian horsemen, taken from all the tribes of the Desert, swarmed
+about on unsaddled horses, and formed the wings; the van was
+composed of Balearic slingers; and a line of colossal elephants,
+with their Ethiopian guides, formed, as it were, a chain of moving
+fortresses before the whole army."</p>
+<p>Such were the usual materials and arrangements of the hosts that
+fought for Carthage; but the troops under Hasdrubal were not in all
+respects thus constituted or thus stationed. He seems to have been
+especially deficient in cavalry, and he had few African troops,
+though some Carthaginians of high rank were with him. His veteran
+Spanish infantry, armed with helmets and shields, and short
+cut-and-thrust swords, were the best part of his army. These and
+his few Africans he drew up on his right wing, under his own
+personal command. In the centre he placed his Ligurian infantry,
+and on the left wing he placed or retained the Gauls, who were
+armed with long javelins and with huge broadswords and targets. The
+rugged nature of the ground in front and on the flank of this part
+of his line made him hope that the Roman right wing would be unable
+to come to close quarters with these unserviceable barbarians
+before he could make some impression with his Spanish veterans on
+the Roman left. This was the only chance that he had of victory or
+safety, and he seems to have done everything that good generalship
+could do to secure it. He placed his elephants in advance of his
+centre and right wing. He had caused the driver of each of them to
+be provided with a sharp iron spike and a mallet, and had given
+orders that every beast that became unmanageable, and ran back upon
+his own ranks, should be instantly killed by driving the spike into
+the vertebra at the junction of the head and the spine. Hasdrubal's
+elephants were ten in number. We have no trustworthy information as
+to the amount of his infantry, but it is quite clear that he was
+greatly outnumbered by the combined Roman forces.</p>
+<p>The tactics of the Roman legions had not yet acquired that
+perfection which they received from the military genius of
+Marius,[<a href="#note-64">64</a>] and which we read of in the
+first chapter of Gibbon. We possess, in that great work, an account
+of the Roman legions at the end of the commonwealth, and during the
+early ages of the empire, which those alone can adequately admire
+who have attempted a similar description. We have also, in the
+sixth and seventeenth books of Polybius, an elaborate discussion on
+the military system of the Romans in his time, which was not far
+distant from the time of the battle of the Metaurus. But the
+subject is beset with difficulties; and instead of entering into
+minute but inconclusive details, I would refer to Gibbon's first
+chapter as serving for a general description of the Roman army in
+its period of perfection, and remark that the training and armor
+which the whole legion received in the time of Augustus were, two
+centuries earlier, only partially introduced. Two divisions of
+troops, called <i>hastati</i> and <i>principes</i>, formed the bulk
+of each Roman legion in the Second Punic War. Each of these
+divisions was twelve hundred strong. The hastatus and the princeps
+legionary bore a breastplate or coat of mail, brazen greaves, and a
+brazen helmet with a lofty upright crest of scarlet or black
+feathers. He had a large oblong shield; and, as weapons of offence,
+two javelins, one of which was light and slender, but the other was
+a strong and massive weapon, with a shaft about four feet long and
+an iron head of equal length. The sword was carried on the right
+thigh, and was a short cut-and-thrust weapon, like that which was
+used by the Spaniards. Thus armed, the hastati formed the front
+division of the legion, and the principes the second. Each division
+was drawn up about ten deep, a space of three feet being allowed
+between the files as well as the ranks, so as to give each
+legionary ample room for the use of his javelins and of his sword
+and shield. The men in the second rank did not stand immediately
+behind those in the first rank, but the files were alternate, like
+the position of the men on a draught-board. This was termed the
+<i>quincunx</i> order.</p>
+<p><a name="note-64"><!-- Note Anchor 64 --></a>[Footnote 64: Most
+probably during the period of his prolonged consulship, from B.C.
+104 to B.C. 101, while he was training his army against the Cimbri
+and the Teutons.]</p>
+<p>Niebuhr considers that this arrangement enabled the legion to
+keep up a shower of javelins on the enemy for some considerable
+time. He says: "When the first line had hurled its <i>pila</i>, it
+probably stepped back between those who stood behind it, and two
+steps forward restored the front nearly to its first position; a
+movement which, on account of the arrangement of the quincunx,
+could be executed without losing a moment. Thus one line succeeded
+the other in the front till it was time to draw the swords; nay,
+when it was found expedient, the lines which had already been in
+the front might repeat this change, since the stores of pila were
+surely not confined to the two which each soldier took with him
+into battle.</p>
+<p>"The same charge must have taken place in fighting with the
+sword, which, when the same tactics were adopted on both sides, was
+anything but a confused <i>m&ecirc;lée</i>; on the contrary,
+it was a series of single combats." He adds that a military man of
+experience had been consulted by him on the subject and had given
+it as his opinion "that the change of the lines as described above
+was by no means impracticable; but, in the absence of the deafening
+noise of gunpowder, it cannot have had even any difficulty with
+well-trained troops."</p>
+<p>The third division of the legion was six hundred strong and
+acted as a reserve. It was always composed of veteran soldiers, who
+were called the <i>triarii</i>. Their arms were the same as these
+of the principes and hastati, except that each <i>triarian</i>
+carried a spear instead of javelins. The rest of the legion
+consisted of light-armed troops, who acted as skirmishers. The
+cavalry of each legion was at this period about three hundred
+strong. The Italian allies who were attached to the legion seem to
+have been similarly armed and equipped, but their numerical
+proportion of cavalry was much larger.</p>
+<p>Such was the nature of the forces that advanced on the Roman
+side to the battle of the Metaurus. Nero commanded the right wing,
+Livius the left, and the praetor Porcius had the command of the
+centre. "Both Romans and Carthaginians well understood how much
+depended upon the fortune of this day, and how little hope of
+safety there was for the vanquished. Only the Romans herein seemed
+to have had the better in conceit and opinion that they were to
+fight with men desirous to have fled from them; and according to
+this presumption came Livius the consul, with a proud bravery, to
+give charge on the Spaniards and Africans, by whom he was so
+sharply entertained that the victory seemed very doubtful. The
+Africans and Spaniards were stout soldiers, and well acquainted
+with the manner of the Roman fight. The Ligurians also were a hardy
+nation, and not accustomed to give ground, which they needed the
+less, or were able now to do, being placed in the midst. Livius,
+therefore, and Porcius found great opposition; and with great
+slaughter on both sides prevailed little or nothing. Besides other
+difficulties, they were exceedingly troubled by the elephants, that
+brake their first ranks and put them in such disorder as the Roman
+ensigns were driven to fall back; all this while Claudius Nero,
+laboring in vain against a steep hill, was unable to come to blows
+with the Gauls that stood opposite him, but out of danger. This
+made Hasdrubal the more confident, who, seeing his own left wing
+safe, did the more boldly and fiercely make impression on the other
+side upon the left wing of the Romans."[<a href="#note-65">65</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-65"><!-- Note Anchor 65 --></a>[Footnote 65: Sir
+Walter Raleigh: <i>Historie of the World</i>.]</p>
+<p>But at last Nero, who found that Hasdrubal refused his left
+wing, and who could not overcome the difficulties of the ground in
+the quarter assigned to him, decided the battle by another stroke
+of that military genius which had inspired his march. Wheeling a
+brigade of his best men round the rear of the rest of the Roman
+army, Nero fiercely charged the flank of the Spaniards and
+Africans. The charge was as successful as it was sudden. Rolled
+back in disorder upon each other, and overwhelmed by numbers, the
+Spaniards and Ligurians died, fighting gallantly to the last. The
+Gauls, who had taken little or no part in the strife of the day,
+were then surrounded, and butchered almost without resistance.
+Hasdrubal, after having, by the confession of his enemies, done all
+that a general could do, when he saw that the victory was
+irreparably lost, scorning to survive the gallant host which he had
+led, and to gratify, as a captive, Roman cruelty and pride, spurred
+his horse into the midst of a Roman cohort, and sword in hand, met
+the death that was worthy of the son of Hamilcar and the brother of
+Hannibal.</p>
+<p>Success the most complete had crowned Nero's enterprise.
+Returning as rapidly as he had advanced, he was again facing the
+inactive enemies in the South before they even knew of his march.
+But he brought with him a ghastly trophy of what he had done. In
+the true spirit of that savage brutality which deformed the Roman
+national character, Nero ordered Hasdrubal's head to be flung into
+his brother's camp. Ten years had passed since Hannibal had last
+gazed on those features. The sons of Hamilcar had then planned
+their system of warfare against Rome which they had so nearly
+brought to successful accomplishment. Year after year had Hannibal
+been struggling in Italy, in the hope of one day hailing the
+arrival of him whom he had left in Spain, and of seeing his
+brother's eye flash with affection and pride at the junction of
+their irresistible hosts. He now saw that eye glazed in death, and
+in the agony of his heart the great Carthaginian groaned aloud that
+he recognized his country's destiny.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, at the tidings of the great battle, Rome at once rose
+from the thrill of anxiety and terror to the full confidence of
+triumph. Hannibal might retain his hold on Southern Italy for a few
+years longer, but the imperial city and her allies were no longer
+in danger from his arms; and, after Hannibal's downfall, the great
+military republic of the ancient world met in her career of
+conquest no other worthy competitor. Byron has termed Nero's march
+"unequalled," and, in the magnitude of its consequences, it is so.
+Viewed only as a military exploit, it remains unparalleled save by
+Marlborough's bold march from Flanders to the Danube in the
+campaign of Blenheim, and perhaps also by the Archduke Charles'
+lateral march in 1796, by which he overwhelmed the French under
+Jourdan, and then, driving Moreau through the Black Forest and
+across the Rhine, for a while freed Germany from her invaders.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_15"></a>SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES
+CARTHAGE</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 202</p>
+<p class="center">LIVY</p>
+<p class="intros">Sprung from a colony of Tyre, Carthage, founded
+about B.C. 800, rapidly developed, through a wonderful system of
+colonization, into a dominating power, her rule extending through
+Northwestern Africa and Western Europe. In B.C. 509 Carthage made
+her first treaty with Rome. But the rivalry which grew up between
+the two Powers developed into a stubborn contest for the empire of
+the world, culminating in the three Punic wars. The first of these
+lasted from B.C. 264 to 241; the second, from B.C. 218 to 201. In
+the interval between these two wars Rome acquired the northern part
+of Italy, whence she sent victorious armies against the barbarians
+in Gaul. Meanwhile, under Hamilcar Barcar, the Carthaginians had
+effected the conquest of Southern Spain, which they reduced to the
+condition of a dependency.</p>
+<p class="intros">Hamilcar's greater son, Hannibal, was compelled
+by his father to swear eternal enmity to Rome. Having established
+the Carthaginian empire in Spain, at the age of twenty-six he took
+the Spanish city of Saguntum, an ally of Rome, and this was the
+immediate cause of the Second Punic War, which the Romans declared.
+The passage of the Alps by Hannibal is regarded as one of the
+greatest military performances in history. He was welcomed by the
+Gauls as a deliverer, and was soon operating in Northern Italy, his
+appearance there being a complete surprise to the Romans. He won
+victories over them at the rivers Ticinus and Trebia, B.C. 218;
+another in 217 at Lake Trasimenus; a great triumph at Cannae in
+216; took Capua in the same year, and wintered there; in 212
+captured Tarentum; marched against Rome in 211; and in 203 was
+recalled to Africa.</p>
+<p class="intros">In the mean time the Romans had decided to carry
+the war into Africa, although in 215 they had beaten Hannibal, and
+in 211 had retaken Capua. Publius Cornelius Scipio (Scipio
+Africanus Major) in B.C. 210-206 drove the Carthaginians out of
+Spain. In 205 he was made consul, and the next year invaded Africa.
+Landing on the coast, he was met by the forces of the Numidian
+King, who became his allies against Carthage. In 203 he defeated
+Syphax and Hasdrubal. Hannibal now having returned to Carthage, he
+took command of the forces which she opposed to the Roman invaders,
+but in B.C. 202 suffered final overthrow at Zama, in the battle
+that ended the Second Punic War. Livy's account of the closing
+scenes of that war, which here follows, gives the reader a clear
+understanding of the sequence and conclusion of the events
+related.</p>
+<p>Marcus Servilius and Tiberius Claudius, having assembled the
+senate, consulted them respecting the provinces. As both were
+desirous of having Africa, they wished Italy and Africa to be
+disposed of by lots; but, principally in consequence of the
+exertions of Quintus Metellus, Africa was neither assigned to
+anyone nor withheld. The consuls were ordered to make application
+to the tribunes of the people, to the effect that, if they thought
+proper, they should put it to the people to decide whom they wished
+to conduct the war in Africa. All the tribes nominated Publius
+Scipio. Nevertheless, the consuls put the province of Africa to the
+lot, for so the senate had decreed. Africa fell to the lot of
+Tiberius Claudius, who was to cross over into Africa with a fleet
+of fifty ships, all quinqueremes, and have an equal command with
+Scipio. Marcus Servilius obtained Etruria. Caius Servilius was
+continued in command in the same province, in case the senate
+resolved that the consul should remain at the city. Of the
+praetors, Marcus Sextus obtained Gaul, which province, together
+with two legions, Publius Quinctilius Varus was to deliver to him;
+Caius Livius obtained Bruttium, with the two legions which Publius
+Sempronius, the proconsul, had commanded the former year; Cneius
+Tremellius had Sicily, and was to receive the province and two
+legions from Publius Villius Tappulus, a praetor of the former
+year; Villius, as propraetor, was to protect the coast of Sicily
+with twenty men-of-war and a thousand soldiers; and Marcus
+Pomponius was to convey thence to Rome one thousand five hundred
+soldiers, with the remaining twenty ships. The city jurisdiction
+fell to Caius Aurelius Cotta; and the rest of the praetors were
+continued in command of the respective provinces and armies which
+they then had. Not more than sixteen legions were employed this
+year in the defence of the empire. And, that they might have the
+gods favorably disposed toward them in all their undertakings and
+proceedings, it was ordered that the consuls, before they set out
+to the war, should celebrate those games and sacrifice those
+victims of the larger sort which, in the consulate of Marcus
+Claudius Marcellus and Titus Quinctius, Titus Manlius the dictator
+had vowed, provided the commonwealth should continue in the same
+state for the next five years. The games were exhibited in the
+circus during four days, and the victims sacrificed to those
+deities to whom they had been vowed.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, hope and anxiety daily and simultaneously increased;
+nor could the minds of men be brought to any fixed conclusion,
+whether it was a fit subject for rejoicing that Hannibal had now at
+length, after the sixteenth year, departed from Italy and left the
+Romans in the unmolested possession of it or whether they had not
+greater cause to fear from his having transported his army in
+safety into Africa. They said that the scene of action certainly
+was changed, but not the danger. That Quintus Fabius, lately
+deceased, who had foretold how arduous the contest would be, was
+used to predict, not without good reason, that Hannibal would prove
+a more formidable enemy in his own country than he had been in a
+foreign one; and that Scipio would have to encounter, not Syphax, a
+king of undisciplined barbarians whose armies Statorius, a man
+little better than a soldier's drudge, was used to lead, nor his
+father-in-law Hasdrubal, that most fugacious general, nor
+tumultuary armies hastily collected out of a crowd of half-armed
+rustics, but Hannibal, born in a manner in the pavilion of his
+father, that bravest of generals, nurtured and educated in the
+midst of arms, who served as a soldier formerly, when a boy, and
+became a general when he had scarcely attained the age of manhood;
+who, having grown old in victory, had filled Spain, Gaul, and
+Italy, from the Alps to the strait, with monuments of his vast
+achievements; who commanded troops who had served as long as he had
+himself; troops hardened by the endurance of every species of
+suffering, such as it is scarcely credible that men could have
+supported; stained a thousand times with Roman blood, and bearing
+with them the spoils not only of soldiers, but of generals. That
+many would meet the eyes of Scipio in battle who had with their own
+hands slain Roman praetors, generals, and consuls; many decorated
+with crowns in reward for having scaled walls and crossed ramparts;
+many who had traversed the captured camps and cities of the Romans.
+That the magistrates of the Roman people had not then so many
+fasces as Hannibal could have carried before him, having taken them
+from generals whom he had slain. While their minds were harassed by
+these apprehensions, their anxiety and fears were further increased
+from the circumstance that, whereas they had been accustomed to
+carry on war for several years in different parts of Italy, and
+within their view, with languid hopes and without the prospect of
+bringing it to a speedy termination, Scipio and Hannibal had
+stimulated the minds of all, as generals prepared for a final
+contest. Even those persons whose confidence in Scipio and hopes of
+victory were great, were affected with anxiety, increasing in
+proportion as they saw their completion approaching. The state of
+feeling among the Carthaginians was much the same; for when they
+turned their eyes on Hannibal, and the greatness of his
+achievements, they repented having solicited peace; but when again
+they reflected that they had been twice defeated in a pitched
+battle, that Syphax had been made prisoner, that they had been
+driven out of Spain and Italy, and that all this had been effected
+by the valor and conduct of Scipio alone, they regarded him with
+horror, as a general marked out by destiny, and born for their
+destruction.</p>
+<p>Hannibal had by this time arrived at Adrumetum, from which
+place, after employing a few days there in refreshing his soldiers,
+who had suffered from the motion by sea, he proceeded by forced
+marches to Zama, roused by the alarming statements of messengers
+who brought word that all the country around Carthage was filled
+with armed troops. Zama is distant from Carthage a five days'
+journey. Some spies whom he sent out from this place, being
+intercepted by the Roman guard and brought before Scipio, he
+directed that they should be handed over to the military tribunes,
+and after having been desired fearlessly to survey everything, to
+be conducted through the camp wherever they chose; then, asking
+them whether they had examined everything to their satisfaction, he
+assigned them an escort and sent them back to Hannibal.</p>
+<p>Hannibal received none of the circumstances which were reported
+to him with feelings of joy, for they brought word that, as it
+happened, Masinissa had joined the enemy that very day with six
+thousand infantry and four thousand horse; but he was principally
+dispirited by the confidence of his enemy, which, doubtless, was
+not conceived without some ground. Accordingly, though he himself
+was the originator of the war, and by his coming had upset the
+truce which had been entered into, and cut off all hopes of a
+treaty, yet concluding that more favorable terms might be obtained
+if he solicited peace while his strength was unimpaired than when
+vanquished, he sent a message to Scipio requesting permission to
+confer with him.</p>
+<p>Scipio took up his position not far from the city of Naragara,
+in a situation convenient not only for other purposes, but also
+because there was a watering-place within a dart's throw. Hannibal
+took possession of an eminence four miles thence, safe and
+convenient in every respect, except that he had a long way to go
+for water. Here in the intermediate space a place was chosen open
+to view from all sides, that there might be no opportunity for
+treachery.</p>
+<p>Their armed attendants having retired to an equal distance, they
+met, each attended by one interpreter, being the greatest generals
+not only of their own times, but of any to be found in the records
+of the times preceding them, and equal to any of the kings or
+generals of any nation whatever. When they came within sight of
+each other they remained silent for a short time, thunderstruck, as
+it were, with mutual admiration. At length Hannibal thus began:
+"Since fate hath so ordained it that I, who was the first to wage
+war upon the Romans, and who have so often had victory almost
+within my reach, should voluntarily come to sue for peace, I
+rejoice that it is you, above all others, from whom it is my lot to
+solicit it. To you, also, amid the many distinguished events of
+your life, it will not be esteemed one of the least glorious that
+Hannibal, to whom the gods had so often granted victory over the
+Roman generals, should have yielded to you; and that you should
+have put an end to this war, which has been rendered remarkable by
+your calamities before it was by ours.</p>
+<p>"Peace is proposed at a time when you have the advantage. We who
+negotiate it are the persons whom it most concerns to obtain it,
+and we are persons whose arrangements, be they what they will, our
+states will ratify. You have recovered Spain, which had been lost,
+after driving thence four Carthaginian armies. When elected consul,
+though all others wanted courage to defend Italy, you crossed over
+into Africa, where having cut to pieces two armies, having at once
+captured and burnt two camps in the same hour, having made prisoner
+Syphax, a most powerful king, and seized so many towns of his
+dominions and so many of ours, you have dragged me from Italy, the
+possession of which I had firmly held for now sixteen years. While
+your affairs are in a favorable and ours in a dubious state, you
+would derive honor and splendor from granting peace; while to us,
+who solicit it, it would be considered as necessary rather than
+honorable.</p>
+<p>"It is indeed the right of him who grants, and not of him who
+solicits it, to dictate the terms of peace, but perhaps we may not
+be unworthy to impose upon ourselves the fine. We do not refuse
+that all those possessions on account of which the war was begun
+should be yours; Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, with all the islands
+lying in any part of the sea, between Africa and Italy. Let us
+Carthaginians, confined within the shores of Africa, behold you,
+since such is the pleasure of the gods, extending your empire over
+foreign nations both by sea and land. I cannot deny that you have
+reason to suspect the Carthaginian faith, in consequence of their
+insincerity lately in soliciting a peace and while awaiting the
+decision. The sincerity with which a peace will be observed depends
+much, Scipio, on the person by whom it is sought. Your senate, as I
+hear, refused to grant a peace in some measure because the deputies
+were deficient in respectability. It is I, Hannibal, who now
+solicit peace; who would neither ask for it unless I believed it
+expedient, nor will I fail to observe it for the same reason of
+expedience on account of which I have solicited it. And in the same
+manner as I, because the war was commenced by me, brought it to
+pass that no one regretted it till the gods began to regard me with
+displeasure; so will I also exert myself that no one may regret the
+peace procured by my means."</p>
+<p>In answer to these things the Roman general spoke nearly to the
+following effect: "I was aware that it was in consequence of the
+expectation of your arrival that the Carthaginians violated the
+existing faith of the truce and broke off all hope of a peace. Nor,
+indeed, do you conceal the fact, inasmuch as you artfully withdraw
+from the former conditions of peace every concession except what
+relates to those things which have for a long time been in our own
+power. But as it is your object that your countrymen should be
+sensible how great a burden they are relieved from by your means,
+so it is incumbent upon me to endeavor that they may not receive,
+as the reward of their perfidy, the concessions which they formerly
+stipulated, by expunging them now from the conditions of the peace.
+Though you do not deserve to be allowed the same conditions as
+before, you now request even to be benefited by your treachery.</p>
+<p>"Neither did our fathers first make war respecting Sicily, nor
+did we respecting Spain. In the former case the danger which
+threatened our allies the Mamertines, and in the present the
+destruction of Saguntum, girded us with just and pious arms. That
+you were the aggressors, both you yourselves confess and the gods
+are witnesses, who determined the issue of the former war, and who
+are now determining and will determine the issue of the present
+according to right and justice. As to myself, I am not forgetful of
+the instability of human affairs, but consider the influence of
+fortune, and am well aware that all our measures are liable to a
+thousand casualties. But as I should acknowledge that my conduct
+would savor of insolence and oppression if I rejected you on your
+coming in person to solicit peace before I crossed over into
+Africa, you voluntarily retiring from Italy, and after you had
+embarked your troops, so now, when I have dragged you into Africa
+almost by manual force, notwithstanding your resistance and
+evasions, I am not bound to treat you with any respect. Wherefore,
+if in addition to those stipulations on which it was considered
+that a peace would at that time have been agreed upon, and what
+they are you are informed, a compensation is proposed for having
+seized our ships together with their stores during a truce, and for
+the violence offered to our ambassadors, I shall then have matter
+to lay before my council. But if these things also appear
+oppressive, prepare for war, since you could not brook the
+conditions of peace."</p>
+<p>Thus, without effecting an accommodation, when they had returned
+from the conference to their armies, they informed them that words
+had been bandied to no purpose, that the question must be decided
+by arms, and that they must accept that fortune which the gods
+assigned them.</p>
+<p>When they had arrived at their camps, they both issued orders
+that their soldiers should get their arms in readiness and prepare
+their minds for the final contest; in which, if fortune should
+favor them, they would continue victorious, not for a single day,
+but forever. "Before to-morrow night," they said, "they would know
+whether Rome or Carthage should give laws to the world, and that
+neither Africa nor Italy, but the whole world, would be the prize
+of victory. That the dangers which threatened those who had the
+misfortune to be defeated were proportioned to the rewards of the
+victors." For the Romans had not any place of refuge in an unknown
+and foreign land, and immediate destruction seemed to await
+Carthage if the troops which formed her last reliance were
+defeated. To this important contest, the day following, two
+generals, by far the most renowned of any, and belonging to two of
+the most powerful nations in the world, advanced either to crown or
+overthrow on that day the many honors they had previously
+acquired.</p>
+<p>Scipio drew up his troops, posting the hastati in front, the
+principes behind them, and closing his rear line with the triarii.
+He did not draw up his cohorts in close order, but each before
+their respective standards; placing the companies at some distance
+from each other, so as to leave a space through which the elephants
+of the enemy passing might not at all break their ranks. Laelius,
+whom he had employed before as lieutenant-general, but this year as
+quaestor, by special appointment, according to a decree of the
+senate, he posted with the Italian cavalry in the left wing,
+Masinissa and the Numidians in the right. The open spaces between
+the companies of those in the van he filled with velites, which
+then formed the Roman light-armed troops, with an injunction that
+on the charge of the elephants they should either retire behind the
+files, which extended in a right line, or, running to the right and
+left and placing themselves by the side of those in the van, afford
+a passage by which the elephants might rush in between weapons on
+both sides.</p>
+<p>Hannibal, in order to terrify the enemy, drew up his elephants
+in front, and he had eighty of them, being more than he had ever
+had in any battle; behind these his Ligurian and Gallic
+auxiliaries, with Balearians and Moors intermixed. In the second
+line he placed the Carthaginians, Africans, and a legion of
+Macedonians; then, leaving a moderate interval, he formed a reserve
+of Italian troops, consisting principally of Bruttians, more of
+whom had followed him on his departure from Italy by compulsion and
+necessity than by choice. His cavalry also he placed in the wings,
+the Carthaginian occupying the right, the Numidian the left.
+Various were the means of exhortation employed in an army
+consisting of a mixture of so many different kinds of men; men
+differing in language, customs, laws, arms, dress, and appearance,
+and in the motives for serving. To the auxiliaries, the prospect
+both of their present pay and many times more from the spoils was
+held out. The Gauls were stimulated by their peculiar and inherent
+animosity against the Romans. To the Ligurians the hope was held
+out of enjoying the fertile plains of Italy, and quitting their
+rugged mountains, if victorious. The Moors and Numidians were
+terrified with subjection to the government of Masinissa, which he
+would exercise with despotic severity.</p>
+<p>Different grounds of hope and fear were represented to different
+persons. The view of the Carthaginians was directed to the walls of
+their city, their household gods, the sepulchres of their
+ancestors, their children and parents, and their trembling wives;
+they were told that either the destruction of their city and
+slavery or the empire of the world awaited them; that there was
+nothing intermediate which they could hope for or fear.</p>
+<p>While the general was thus busily employed among the
+Carthaginians, and the captains of the respective nations among
+their countrymen, most of them employing interpreters among troops
+intermixed with those of different nations, the trumpets and
+cornets of the Romans sounded; and such a clamor arose that the
+elephants, especially those in the left wing, turned round upon
+their own party, the Moors and Numidians. Masinissa had no
+difficulty in increasing the alarm of the terrified enemy, and
+deprived them of the aid of their cavalry in that wing. A few,
+however, of the beasts which were driven against the enemy, and
+were not turned back through fear, made great havoc among the ranks
+of the velites, though not without receiving many wounds
+themselves; for when the velites, retiring to the companies, had
+made way for the elephants, that they might not be trampled down,
+they discharged their darts at them; exposed as they were to wounds
+on both sides, those in the van also keeping up a continual
+discharge of javelins, until driven out of the Roman line by the
+weapons which fell upon them from all quarters, these elephants
+also put to flight even the cavalry of the Carthaginians posted in
+their right wing. Laelius, when he saw the enemy in disorder,
+struck additional terror into them in their confusion.</p>
+<p>The Carthaginian line was deprived of the cavalry on both sides,
+when the infantry, who were now not a match for the Romans in
+confidence or strength, engaged. In addition to this there was one
+circumstance, trifling in itself, but at the same time producing
+important consequences in the action. On the part of the Romans the
+shout was uniform, and on that account louder and more terrific,
+while the voices of the enemy, consisting as they did of many
+nations of different languages, were dissonant. The Romans used the
+stationary kind of fight, pressing upon the enemy with their own
+weight and that of their arms; but on the other side there was more
+of skirmishing and rapid movement than force. Accordingly, on the
+first charge, the Romans immediately drove back the line of their
+opponents; then pushing them with their elbows and the bosses of
+their shields, and pressing forward into the places from which they
+had pushed them, they advanced a considerable space, as though
+there had been no one to resist them, those who formed the rear
+urging forward those in front when they perceived the line of the
+enemy giving way, which circumstance itself gave great additional
+force in repelling them.</p>
+<p>On the side of the enemy, the second line, consisting of the
+Africans and Carthaginians, were so far from supporting the first
+line when giving ground, that on the contrary they even retired,
+lest their enemy, by slaying those who made a firm resistance,
+should penetrate to themselves also. Accordingly the auxiliaries
+suddenly turned their backs, and facing about upon their own party,
+fled, some of them into the second line, while others slew those
+who did not receive them into their ranks, since before they did
+not support them, and now refused to receive them. And now there
+were, in a manner, two contests going on together, the
+Carthaginians being compelled to fight at once with the enemy and
+with their own party. Not even then, however, did they receive into
+their line the terrified and exasperated troops, but, closing their
+ranks, drove them out of the scene of action to the wings and the
+surrounding plain, lest they should mingle these soldiers,
+terrified with defeat and wounds, with that part of their line
+which was firm and fresh.</p>
+<p>But such a heap of men and arms had filled the space in which
+the auxiliaries a little while ago had stood that it was almost
+more difficult to pass through it than through a close line of
+troops. The spearmen, therefore, who formed the front line,
+pursuing the enemy as each could find a way through the heap of
+arms and men and streams of blood, threw into complete disorder the
+battalions and companies. The standards also of the principes had
+begun to waver when they saw the line before them driven from their
+ground. Scipio, perceiving this, promptly ordered the signal to be
+given for the spearmen to retreat, and having taken his wounded
+into the rear, brought the principes and triarii to the wings in
+order that the line of spearmen in the centre might be more strong
+and secure. Thus a fresh and renewed battle commenced, inasmuch as
+they had penetrated to their real antagonists, men equal to them in
+the nature of their arms, in their experience in war, in the fame
+of their achievements, and the greatness of their hopes and fears.
+But the Romans were superior both in numbers and courage, for they
+had now routed both the cavalry and the elephants, and, having
+already defeated the front line, were fighting against the
+second.</p>
+<p>Lælius and Masinissa, who had pursued the routed cavalry
+through a considerable space, returning very opportunely, charged
+the rear of the enemy's line. This attack of the cavalry at length
+routed them. Many of them, being surrounded, were slain in the
+field; and many, dispersed in flight through the open plain around,
+were slain on all hands, as the cavalry were in possession of every
+part. Of the Carthaginians and their allies, above twenty thousand
+were slain on that day; about an equal number were captured, with a
+hundred and thirty-three military standards and eleven elephants.
+Of the victors as many as two thousand fell.</p>
+<p>Hannibal, slipping off during the confusion, with a few
+horsemen, came to Adrumetum, not quitting the field till he had
+tried every expedient both in the battle and before the engagement;
+having, according to the admission of Scipio and everyone skilled
+in military science, acquired the fame of having marshalled his
+troops on that day with singular judgment. He placed his elephants
+in the front, in order that their desultory attack and
+insupportable violence might prevent the Romans from following
+their standards and preserving their ranks, on which they placed
+their principal dependence. Then he posted his auxiliaries before
+the line of Carthaginians, in order that men who were made up of
+the refuse of all nations, and who were not bound by honor but by
+gain, might not have any retreat open to them in case they fled; at
+the same time that the first ardor and impetuosity might be
+exhausted upon them, and, if they could render no other service,
+that the weapons of the enemy might be blunted in wounding them.
+Next he placed the Carthaginian and African soldiers, on whom he
+placed all his hopes, in order that, being equal to the enemy in
+every other respect, they might have the advantage of them inasmuch
+as, being fresh and unimpaired in strength themselves, they would
+fight with those who were fatigued and wounded. The Italians he
+removed into the rear, separating them also by an intervening
+space, as he knew not with certainty whether they were friends or
+enemies. Hannibal, after performing this as it were his last work
+of valor, fled to Adrumetum, whence, having been summoned to
+Carthage, he returned thither in the sixth and thirtieth year after
+he had left it when a boy, and confessed in the senate house that
+he was defeated, not only in the battle, but in the war, and that
+there was no hope of safety in anything but in obtaining peace.</p>
+<p>Immediately after the battle, Scipio, having taken and plundered
+the enemy's camp, returned to the sea and his ships with an immense
+booty, news having reached him that Publius Lentulus had arrived at
+Utica with fifty men-of-war, and a hundred transports laden with
+every kind of stores. Concluding that he ought to bring before
+Carthage everything which could increase the consternation already
+existing there, after sending Laelius to Rome to report his
+victory, he ordered Cneius Octavius to conduct the legions thither
+by land, and setting out himself from Utica with the fresh fleet of
+Lentulus added to his former one, made for the harbor of Carthage.
+When he had arrived within a short distance he was met by a
+Carthaginian ship decked with fillets and branches of olive. There
+were ten deputies, the leading men in the State, sent at the
+instance of Hannibal to solicit peace, to whom, when they had come
+up to the stern of the general's ship, holding out the badges of
+suppliants, entreating and imploring the protection and compassion
+of Scipio, the only answer given was that they must come to Tunis,
+to which place he would move his camp. After taking a view of the
+site of Carthage, not so much for the sake of acquainting himself
+with it for any present object as to dispirit the enemy, he
+returned to Utica, having recalled Octavius to the same place.</p>
+<p>As they were proceeding thence to Tunis, they received
+intelligence that Vermina, the son of Syphax, with a greater number
+of horse than foot, was coming to the assistance of the
+Carthaginians. A part of his infantry with all the cavalry having
+attacked them on their march on the first day of the Saturnalia,
+routed the Numidians with little opposition, and as every way by
+which they could escape in flight was blocked up, for the cavalry
+surrounded them on all sides, fifteen thousand men were slain,
+twelve hundred were taken alive, with fifteen hundred Numidian
+horses and seventy-two military standards. The prince himself fled
+from the field with a few attendants during the confusion. The camp
+was then pitched near Tunis in the same place as before, and thirty
+ambassadors came to Scipio from Carthage. These behaved in a manner
+even more calculated to excite compassion than the former, in
+proportion as their situation was more pressing; but from the
+recollection of their recent perfidy, they were heard with
+considerably less pity. In the council, though all were impelled by
+just resentment to demolish Carthage, yet, when they reflected upon
+the magnitude of the undertaking and the length of time which would
+be consumed in the siege of so well fortified and strong a city,
+while Scipio himself was uneasy in consequence of the expectation
+of a successor, who would come in for the glory of having
+terminated the war, though it was accomplished already by the
+exertions and danger of another, the minds of all were inclined to
+peace.</p>
+<p>The next day the ambassadors being called in again, and with
+many rebukes of their perfidy, warned that instructed by so many
+disasters they would at length believe in the existence of the gods
+and the obligation of an oath, these conditions of the peace were
+stated to them: "That they should enjoy their liberty and live
+under their own laws; that they should possess such cities and
+territories as they had enjoyed before the war, and with the same
+boundaries, and that the Romans should on that day desist from
+devastation. That they should restore to the Romans all deserters
+and fugitives, giving up all their ships-of-war except ten
+triremes, with such tamed elephants as they had, and that they
+should not tame any more. That they should not carry on war in or
+out of Africa without the permission of the Roman people. That they
+should make restitution to Masinissa, and form a league with him.
+That they should furnish corn, and pay for the auxiliaries until
+the ambassadors had returned from Rome. That they should pay ten
+thousand talents of silver in equal annual installments distributed
+over fifty years. That they should give a hundred hostages,
+according to the pleasure of Scipio, not younger than fourteen nor
+older than thirty. That he would grant them a truce on condition
+that the transports, together with their cargoes, which had been
+seized during the former truce, were restored. Otherwise they would
+have no truce, nor any hope of a peace." When the ambassadors who
+were ordered to bear these conditions home reported them in an
+assembly, and Gisgo had stood forth to dissuade them from the
+terms, and was being listened to by the multitude, who were at once
+indisposed for peace and unfit for war, Hannibal, indignant that
+such language should be held and listened to at such a juncture,
+laid hold of Gisgo with his own hand and dragged him from his
+elevated position.</p>
+<p>This unusual sight in a free State having raised a murmur among
+the people, the soldier, disconcerted at the liberties which the
+citizens took, thus addressed them: "Having left you when nine
+years old, I have returned after a lapse of thirty-six years. I
+flatter myself I am well acquainted with the qualifications of a
+soldier, having been instructed in them from my childhood,
+sometimes by my own situation and sometimes by that of my country.
+The privileges, the laws, and customs of the city and the forum you
+ought to teach me." Having thus apologized for his indiscretion, he
+discoursed largely concerning the peace, showing how inoppressive
+the terms were, and how necessary it was. The greatest difficulty
+was that of the ships which had been seized during the truce
+nothing was to be found except the ships themselves, nor was it
+easy to collect the property, because those who were charged with
+having it were opposed to the peace. It was resolved that the ships
+should be restored and that the men at least should be looked up;
+and as to whatever else was missing, that it should be left to
+Scipio to put a value upon it, and that the Carthaginians should
+make compensation accordingly in money. There are those who say
+that Hannibal went from the field of battle to the sea-coast;
+whence he immediately sailed in a ship, which he had ready for the
+purpose, to king Antiochus; and that when Scipio demanded above
+everything that Hannibal should be given up to him, answer was made
+that Hannibal was not in Africa.</p>
+<p>After the ambassadors returned to Scipio, the quaestors were
+ordered to give in an account, made out from the public registers,
+of the public property which had been in the ships; and the owners
+to make a return of the private property. For the amount of the
+value twenty-five thousand pounds of silver were required to be
+paid down; and a truce for three months was granted to the
+Carthaginians. It was added that during the time of the truce they
+should not send ambassadors anywhere else than to Rome; and that
+whatever ambassadors came to Carthage, they should not dismiss them
+before informing the Roman general who they were and what they
+sought. With the Carthaginian ambassadors, Lucius Veturius Philo,
+Marcus Marcius Ralla, and Lucius Scipio, brother of the general,
+were sent to Rome.</p>
+<p>The Roman, together with the Carthaginian, ambassadors having
+arrived at Rome from Africa, the senate was assembled at the temple
+of Bellona; when Lucius Veturius Philo stated, to the great joy of
+the senate, that a battle had been fought with Hannibal which was
+decisive of the fate of the Carthaginians, and that a period was at
+length put to that calamitous war. He added what formed a small
+accession to their successes, that Vermina, the son of Syphax, had
+been vanquished. He was then ordered to go forth to the public
+assembly and impart the joyful tidings to the people. Then, a
+thanksgiving having been appointed, all the temples in the city
+were thrown open and supplications for three days were decreed.
+Publius Scipio was continued in command in the province of Africa
+with the armies which he then had. The Carthaginian ambassadors
+were called before the senate. On observing their ages and
+dignified appearance, for they were by far the first men of the
+State, all promptly declared their conviction that now they were
+sincere in their desire to effect a peace. Hasdrubal, however,
+surnamed by his countrymen Haedus, who had invariably recommended
+peace and was opposed to the Barcine faction, was regarded with
+greater interest than the rest.</p>
+<p>On these accounts the greater weight was attached to him when
+transferring the blame of the war from the State at large to the
+cupidity of a few. After a speech of varied character, in which he
+sometimes refuted the charges which had been brought, at other
+times admitted some, lest by imprudently denying what was
+manifestly true their forgiveness might be the more difficult; and
+then, even admonishing the conscript fathers to be guided by the
+rules of decorum and moderation in their prosperity, he said that
+if the Carthaginians had listened to himself and Hanno, and had
+been disposed to make a proper use of circumstances, they would
+themselves have dictated terms of peace, instead of begging it as
+they now did. That it rarely happened that good fortune and a sound
+judgment were bestowed upon men at the same time. That the Roman
+people were therefore invincible, because when successful they
+forgot not the maxims of wisdom and prudence; and indeed it would
+have been matter of astonishment did they act otherwise. That those
+persons to whom success was a new and uncommon thing proceeded to a
+pitch of madness in their ungoverned transports in consequence of
+their not being accustomed to it. That to the Roman people the joy
+arising from victory was a matter of common occurrence, and was now
+almost become old-fashioned. That they had extended their empire
+more by sparing the vanquished than by conquering.</p>
+<p>The language employed by the others was of a nature more
+calculated to excite compassion; they represented from what a
+height of power the Carthaginian affairs had fallen. That nothing
+besides the walls of Carthage remained to those who a little time
+ago held almost the whole world in subjection by their arms; that
+shut up within these, they could see nothing anywhere on sea or
+land which owned their authority. That they would retain possession
+of their city itself and their household gods only in case the
+Roman people should refrain from venting their indignation upon
+these, which is all that remains for them to do. When it was
+manifest that the fathers were moved by compassion, it is said that
+one of the senators, violently incensed at the perfidy of the
+Carthaginians, immediately asked with a loud voice by what gods
+they would swear in striking the league, since they had broken
+their faith with those by whom they swore in striking the former
+one? By those same, replied Hasdrubal, who have shown such
+determined hostility to the violators of treaties.</p>
+<p>The minds of all being disposed to peace, Cneius Lentulus, whose
+province the fleet was, protested against the decree of the senate.
+Upon this, Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the
+people, put the question to the people whether they willed and
+ordered that the senate should decree that peace should be made
+with the Carthaginians? whom they ordered to grant that peace, and
+whom to conduct the army out of Africa? All the tribes ordered
+respecting the peace according as the question had been put. That
+Publius Scipio should grant the peace, and that he also should
+conduct the army home. Agreeably to this order, the senate decreed
+that Publius Scipio, acting according to the opinion of the ten
+deputies, should make peace with the Carthaginian people on what
+terms he pleased. The Carthaginians then returned thanks to the
+senate, and requested that they might be allowed to enter the city
+and converse with their countrymen who had been made prisoners and
+were in custody of the State; observing that some of them were
+their relations and friends, and men of rank, and some, persons to
+whom they were charged with messages from their relations.</p>
+<p>Having obtained these requests, they again asked permission to
+ransom such of them as they pleased; when they were desired to give
+in their names. Having given in a list of about two hundred, a
+decree of the senate was passed to the effect that the Carthaginian
+ambassadors should be allowed to take away into Africa to Publius
+Cornelius Scipio two hundred of the Carthaginian prisoners,
+selecting whom they pleased; and that they should convey to him a
+message that if the peace were concluded he should restore them to
+the Carthaginians without ransom. The heralds being ordered to go
+into Africa to strike the league, at their own desire the senate
+passed a decree that they should take with them flint stones of
+their own and vervain of their own; that the Roman praetor should
+command them to strike the league, and that they should demand of
+him herbs. The description of herb usually given to the heralds is
+taken from the Capitol. Thus the Carthaginians being allowed to
+depart from Rome, when they had gone into Africa to Scipio
+concluded the peace on the terms before mentioned. They delivered
+up their men-of-war, their elephants, deserters, fugitives, and
+four thousand prisoners, among whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo, a
+senator. The ships he ordered to be taken out into the main and
+burned. Some say there were five hundred of every description of
+those which are worked with oars, and that the sudden sight of
+these when burning occasioned as deep a sensation of grief to the
+Carthaginians as if Carthage had been in flames. The measures
+adopted respecting the deserters were more severe than those
+respecting the fugitives. Those who were of the Latin confederacy
+were decapitated; the Romans were crucified.</p>
+<p>The last peace with the Carthaginians was made forty years
+before this in the consulate of Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius.
+The war commenced twenty-three years afterward in the consulate of
+Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It was concluded in the
+seventeenth year, in the consulate of Cneius Cornelius and Publius
+Aelius Paetus. It is related that Scipio frequently said afterward,
+that first the ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterward of
+Cneius Cornelius, were the causes which prevented his terminating
+the war by the destruction of Carthage.</p>
+<p>The Carthaginians finding difficulty in raising the first sum of
+money to be paid, as their finances were exhausted by a protracted
+war, and in consequence great lamentation and grief arising in the
+senate house, it is said that Hannibal was observed laughing, and
+when Hasdrubal Haedus rebuked him for laughing amid the public
+grief, when he himself was the occasion of the tears which were
+shed, he said: "If, as the expression of the countenance is
+discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of the mind could be
+distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that that laughter
+which you censure came from a heart not elated with joy, but
+frantic with misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those
+absurd and inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept
+when our arms were taken from us, our ships burned, and we were
+forbidden to engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by
+which we fell. Nor is it just that you should suppose that the
+measures which the Romans have adopted toward you have been
+dictated by animosity. No great state can remain at rest long
+together. If it has no enemy abroad it finds one at home in the
+same manner as over-robust bodies seem secure from external causes,
+but are encumbered with their own strength. So far, forsooth, we
+are affected with the public calamities as they reach our private
+affairs; nor is there any circumstance attending them which is felt
+more acutely than the loss of money. Accordingly, when the spoils
+were torn down from vanquished Carthage, when you beheld her left
+unarmed and defenceless amid so many armed nations of Africa, none
+heaved a sigh. Now, because a tribute is to be levied from private
+property you lament with one accord, as though at the funeral of
+the State. How much do I dread lest you should soon be made
+sensible that you have shed tears this day for the lightest of your
+misfortunes!"</p>
+<p>Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered to the
+Carthaginians. Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented
+Masinissa, in addition to his paternal dominions, with the town of
+Cirta, and the other cities and territories which had passed from
+the kingdom of Syphax into the possession of the Romans. He ordered
+Cneius Octavius to conduct the fleet to Sicily and deliver it to
+Cneius Cornelius the consul, and directed the Carthaginian
+ambassadors to go to Rome, that the arrangements he had made with
+the advice of the ten deputies might be ratified by the sanction of
+the fathers and the order of the people.</p>
+<p>Peace having been established by sea and land, he embarked his
+troops and crossed over to Lilybæum in Sicily, whence, having
+sent a great part of his soldiers by ships, he himself proceeded
+through Italy, which was rejoicing not less on account of the peace
+than the victory; while not only the inhabitants of the cities
+poured out to show him honor, but crowds of rustics thronged the
+roads. He arrived at Rome and entered the city in a triumph of
+unparalleled splendor. He brought into the treasury one hundred and
+twenty-three thousand pounds of silver. He distributed to each of
+his soldiers four hundred asses out of the spoils. By the death of
+Syphax, which took place but a short time before at Tibur, whither
+he had been removed from Alba, a diminution was occasioned in the
+interest of the pageant rather than in the glory of him who
+triumphed. His death, however, was attended with circumstances
+which produced a strong sensation, for he was buried at the public
+expense. Polybius, an author by no means to be despised, asserts
+that this King was led in the triumph. Quintus Terentius Culleo
+followed Scipio in his triumph with a cap of liberty on his head,
+and during the remainder of his life treated him with the respect
+due to him as the author of his freedom. I have not been able to
+ascertain whether the partiality of the soldiers or the favor of
+the people fixed upon him the surname of Africanus, or whether in
+the same manner as Felix was applied to Sulla, and Magnus to
+Pompey, in the memory of our fathers, it originated in the flattery
+of his friends. He was doubtless the first general who was
+distinguished by a name derived from the nation which he had
+conquered. Afterward, in imitation of his example, some, by no
+means his equals in his victories, affixed splendid inscriptions on
+their statues and gave honorable surnames to their families.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_16"></a>JUDAS MACCABÆUS LIBERATES JUDEA</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 165</p>
+<p class="center">JOSEPHUS</p>
+<p class="intros">The noble-minded Judas Maccabaeus was the hero of
+Jewish independence— the deliverer of Judea and Judaism
+during the bloody persecutions of the Syrian king Antiochus
+Epiphanes, in the second century B.C. This King was attempting to
+destroy in Palestine the national religion. For this purpose pagan
+altars were set up among the Jews and pagan sacrifices enjoined
+upon the worshippers of Jehovah. Many Jews fled from their own
+towns and villages into the uninhabited wilderness, in order that
+they might have liberty to worship the God of their fathers; but a
+few conformed to the ordinances of Antiochus. Soon, however, open
+resistance to the decrees of the pagan ruler began to manifest
+itself among the faithful.</p>
+<p class="intros">The first protest in the shape of active
+opposition was made by Mattathias, a priest living at Modin. When
+the servants of Antiochus came to that retired village and
+commanded Mattathias to do sacrifice to the heathen gods, he
+refused; he went so far as to strike down at the altar a Jew who
+was preparing to offer such a sacrifice. Then he escaped to the
+mountains with his five sons and a band of followers. These
+followers grew in numbers and activity, overthrowing pagan altars,
+circumcising heathen children, and putting to the sword both
+apostates and unbelievers. When Mattathias died, in B.C. 166, he
+was succeeded as leader by his son Judas, called Maccabaeus, "the
+Hammer"; as Charles, who defeated the Saracens at Tours, is called
+Martel or hammer.</p>
+<p class="intros">The successes of Judas were uninterrupted, and
+culminated B.C. 165 in the repulse of Lysias, the general of
+Antiochus, at Bethzur, where a large Syrian force gathered in the
+expectation of crushing the patriotic army of Judas. After this
+victory Judas led his followers into Jerusalem and proceeded to
+restore the Temple and the worship of the national religion, and to
+cleanse the Temple from all traces of pagan worship. The great
+altar was rebuilt; new sacred vessels provided; and an eight-days'
+dedication festival begun on the very day when, three years before,
+the altar of Jehovah had been desecrated by a heathen sacrifice.
+This Feast of the Dedication was ever afterward observed in the
+Temple at Jerusalem and is mentioned in the gospels (John x. 22).
+Judas established a dynasty of priest-kings, which lasted until
+supplanted by Herod, with the aid of the Romans, in B.C. 40; and
+gave by his genuinely heroic bearing his name to this whole
+glorious epoch of Jewish history.</p>
+<p>Now at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who
+dwelt at Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of
+Asamoneus, a priest of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of
+Jerusalem. He had five sons: John, who was called Gaddis, and
+Simon, who was called Matthes, and Judas, who was called
+Maccabæus,[<a href="#note-66">66</a>] and Eleazar, who was
+called Auran, and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. Now this
+Mattathias lamented to his children the sad state of their affairs,
+and the ravage made in the city, and the plundering of the Temple,
+and the calamities the multitude were under; and he told them that
+it was better for them to die for the laws of their country than to
+live so ingloriously as they then did.</p>
+<p><a name="note-66"><!-- Note Anchor 66 --></a>[Footnote 66: That
+this appellation of Maccabee was not first of all given to Judas
+Maccabæaus, nor was derived from any initial letters of the
+Hebrew words on his banner, <i>Mi Kamoka Be Elim, Jehovah</i>?
+("Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?"), Exod. xv. II,
+as the modern rabbins vainly pretend, see <i>Authent. Rec.</i>,
+part i., pp. 205, 206. Only we may note, by the way, that the
+original name of these Maccabees and their posterity was
+Asamoneans, which was derived from Asamoneus, the great-grandfather
+of Mattathias, as Josephus here informs us.]</p>
+<p>But when those that were appointed by the King were come to
+Modin that they might compel the Jews to do what they were
+commanded, and to enjoin those that were there to offer sacrifice,
+as the King had commanded, they desired that Mattathias, a person
+of the greatest character among them, both on other accounts and
+particularly on account of such a numerous and so deserving a
+family of children, would begin the sacrifice, because his
+fellow-citizens would follow his example, and because such a
+procedure would make him honored by the King. But Mattathias said
+that he would not do it, and that if all the other nations would
+obey the commands of Antiochus, either out of fear or to please
+him, yet would not he nor his sons leave the religious worship of
+their country; but as soon as he had ended his speech there came
+one of the Jews into the midst of them and sacrificed as Antiochus
+had commanded. At which Mattathias had great indignation, and ran
+upon him violently with his sons, who had swords with them, and
+slew both the man himself that sacrificed and Apelles, the King's
+general who compelled him to sacrifice, with a few of his
+soldiers.</p>
+<p>He also overthrew the idol altar and cried out, "If," said he,
+"anyone be zealous for the laws of his country and for the worship
+of God, let him follow me"; and when he had said this he made haste
+into the desert with his sons, and left all his substance in the
+village. Many others did the same also, and fled with their
+children and wives into the desert and dwelt in caves; but when the
+King's generals heard this, they took all the forces they then had
+in the citadel at Jerusalem, and pursued the Jews into the desert;
+and when they had overtaken them, they in the first place
+endeavored to persuade them to repent, and to choose what was most
+for their advantage and not put them to the necessity of using them
+according to the law of war; but when they would not comply with
+their persuasions, but continued to be of a different mind, they
+fought against them on the Sabbath day, and they burned them as
+they were in the caves, without resistance, and without so much as
+stopping up the entrances of the caves. And they avoided to defend
+themselves on that day because they were not willing to break in
+upon the honor they owed the Sabbath, even in such distresses; for
+our law requires that we rest upon that day.</p>
+<p>There were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who
+were smothered and died in these caves; but many of those that
+escaped joined themselves to Mattathias and appointed him to be
+their ruler, who taught them to fight even on the Sabbath day, and
+told them that unless they would do so they would become their own
+enemies by observing the law [so rigorously] while their
+adversaries would still assault them on this day, and they would
+not then defend themselves; and that nothing could then hinder but
+they must all perish without fighting. This speech persuaded them,
+and this rule continues among us to this day, that if there be a
+necessity we may fight on Sabbath days. So Mattathias got a great
+army about him and overthrew their idol altars and slew those that
+broke the laws, even all that he could get under his power; for
+many of them were dispersed among the nations round about them for
+fear of him. He also commanded that those boys who were not yet
+circumcised should be circumcised now; and he drove those away that
+were appointed to hinder such their circumcision.</p>
+<p>But when he had ruled one year and was fallen into a distemper,
+he called for his sons and set them round about him, and said: "O
+my sons, I am going the way of all the earth; and I recommend to
+you my resolution and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping
+it, but to be mindful of the desires of him who begat you and
+brought you up, and to preserve the customs of your country, and to
+recover your ancient form of government which is in danger of being
+overturned, and not to be carried away with those that either by
+their own inclination or out of necessity betray it, but to become
+such sons as are worthy of me; to be above all force and necessity,
+and so to dispose your souls as to be ready when it shall be
+necessary to die for your laws, as sensible of this, by just
+reasoning, that if God see that you are so disposed he will not
+overlook you, but will have a great value for your virtue, and will
+restore to you again what you have lost and will return to you that
+freedom in which you shall live quietly and enjoy your own
+customs.</p>
+<p>"Your bodies are mortal and subject to fate; but they receive a
+sort of immortality by the remembrance of what actions they have
+done; and I would have you so in love with this immortality that
+you may pursue after glory, and that when you have undergone the
+greatest difficulties you may not scruple for such things to lose
+your lives. I exhort you especially to agree one with another, and
+in what excellency any one of you exceeds another, to yield to him
+so far, and by that means to reap the advantage of everyone's own
+virtues. Do you then esteem Simon as your father because he is a
+man of extraordinary prudence, and be governed by him in what
+counsels he gives you. Take Maccabaeus for the general of your
+army, because of his courage and strength, for he will avenge your
+nation and will bring vengeance on your enemies. Admit among you
+the righteous and religious, and augment their power."</p>
+<p>When Mattathias had thus discoursed to his sons and had prayed
+to God to be their assistant and to recover to the people their
+former constitution, he died a little afterward, and was buried at
+Modin, all the people making great lamentation for him. Whereupon
+his son Judas took upon him the administration of public affairs,
+in the hundred and forty-sixth year; and thus, by the ready
+assistance of his brethren and of others, Judas cast their enemies
+out of the country and put those of their own country to death who
+had transgressed its laws, and purified the land of all the
+pollutions that were in it.</p>
+<p>When Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this
+he took his army and made haste to go against Judas, who met him
+and joined battle with him, and beat him and slew many of his men,
+and among them Apollonius himself, their general, whose sword,
+being that which he happened then to wear, he seized upon and kept
+for himself; but he wounded more than he slew, and took a great
+deal of prey from the enemy's camp, and went his way; but when
+Seron, who was general of the army of Celesyria, heard that many
+had joined themselves to Judas, and that he had about him an army
+sufficient for fighting and for making war, he determined to make
+an expedition against him, as thinking it became him to endeavor to
+punish those that transgressed the King's injunctions. He then got
+together an army as large as he was able, and joined to it the
+renegade and wicked Jews, and came against Judas.</p>
+<p>He then came as far as Bethoron, a village of Judea, and there
+pitched his camp; upon which Judas met him, and when he intended to
+give him battle he saw that his soldiers were backward to fight
+because their number was small and because they wanted food, for
+they were fasting. He encouraged them and said to them that victory
+and conquest of enemies are not derived from the multitude in
+armies, but in the exercise of piety toward God; and that they had
+the plainest instances in their forefathers, who, by their
+righteousness and exerting themselves on behalf of their own laws
+and their own children, had frequently conquered many ten
+thousands, for innocence is the strongest army. By this speech he
+induced his men to contemn the multitude of the enemy, and to fall
+upon Seron; and upon joining battle with him he beat the Syrians;
+and when their general fell among the rest they all ran away with
+speed, as thinking that to be their best way of escaping. So he
+pursued them unto the plain and slew about eight hundred of the
+enemy, but the rest escaped to the region which lay near to the
+sea.</p>
+<p>When king Antiochus heard of these things he was very angry at
+what had happened; so he got together all his own army, with many
+mercenaries whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with
+him, and prepared to break into Judea about the beginning of the
+spring; but when, upon his mustering his soldiers, he perceived
+that his treasures were deficient, and there was a want of money in
+them, for all the taxes were not paid, by reason of the seditions
+there had been among the nations, he having been so magnanimous and
+so liberal that what he had was not sufficient for him, he
+therefore resolved first to go into Persia and collect the taxes of
+that country. Hereupon he left one whose name was Lysias, who was
+in great repute with him, governor of the kingdom, as far as the
+bounds of Egypt and of the Lower Asia and reaching from the river
+Euphrates, and committed to him a certain part of his forces and of
+his elephants and charged him to bring up his son Antiochus with
+all possible care until he came back; and that he should conquer
+Judea and take its inhabitants for slaves and utterly destroy
+Jerusalem, and abolish the whole nation; and when king Antiochus
+had given these things in charge to Lysias, he went into Persia,
+and in the hundred and forty-seventh year he passed over Euphrates
+and went to the superior provinces.</p>
+<p>Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and
+Nicanor, and Gorgias, very potent men among the King's friends, and
+delivered to them forty thousand foot-soldiers and seven thousand
+horsemen, and sent them against Judea, who came as far as the city
+Emmaus and pitched their camp in the plain country. There came also
+to them auxiliaries out of Syria and the country round about, as
+also many of the renegade Jews; and besides these came some
+merchants to buy those that should be carried captives—having
+bonds with them to bind those that should be made
+prisoners—with that silver and gold which they were to pay
+for their price; and when Judas saw their camp and how numerous
+their enemies were, he persuaded his own soldiers to be of good
+courage, and exhorted them to place their hopes of victory in God
+and to make supplication to him, according to the custom of their
+country, clothed in sackcloth, and to show what was their usual
+habit of supplication in the greatest dangers, and thereby to
+prevail with God to grant them the victory over their enemies. So
+he set them in their ancient order of battle used by their
+forefathers, under their captains of thousands, and other officers,
+and dismissed such as were newly married, as well as those that had
+newly gained possessions, that they might not fight in a cowardly
+manner out of an inordinate love of life, in order to enjoy those
+blessings.</p>
+<p>When he had thus disposed his soldiers he encouraged them to
+fight by the following speech, which he made to them: "O my
+fellow-soldiers, no other time remains more opportune than the
+present for courage and contempt of dangers; for if you now fight
+manfully you may recover your liberty, which, as it is a thing of
+itself agreeable to all men, so it proves to be to us much more
+desirable, by its affording us the liberty of worshipping God.
+Since, therefore, you are in such circumstances at present, you
+must either recover that liberty and so regain a happy and blessed
+way of living, which is that according to our laws and the customs
+of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings;
+nor will any seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this
+battle. Fight therefore manfully, and suppose that you must die
+though you do not fight; but believe that besides such glorious
+rewards as those of the liberty of your country, of your laws, of
+your religion, you shall then obtain everlasting glory. Prepare
+yourselves, therefore, and put yourselves into such an agreeable
+posture that you may be ready to fight with the enemy as soon as it
+is day to-morrow morning."</p>
+<p>And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But
+when the enemy sent Gorgias with five thousand foot and one
+thousand horse, that he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for
+that purpose certain of the renegade Jews as guides, the son of
+Mattathias perceived it and resolved to fall upon those enemies
+that were in their camp, now their forces were divided. When they
+had therefore supped in good time and had left many fires in their
+camp he marched all night to those enemies that were at Emmaus; so
+that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but suspected that
+they were retired and had hidden themselves among the mountains, he
+resolved to go and seek them wheresoever they were.</p>
+<p>But about break of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were
+at Emmaus, with only three thousand men, and those ill-armed by
+reason of their poverty; and when he saw the enemy very well and
+skilfully fortified in their camp he encouraged the Jews and told
+them that they ought to fight, though it were with their naked
+bodies, for that God had sometimes of old given such men strength,
+and that against such as were more in number, and were armed also,
+out of regard to their great courage. So he commanded the
+trumpeters to sound for the battle, and by thus falling upon the
+enemy when they did not expect it, and thereby astonishing and
+disturbing their minds, he slew many of those that resisted him and
+went on pursuing the rest as far as Gadara and the plains of
+Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia; and of these there fell about three
+thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not to be too desirous
+of the spoils, for that still they must have a contest and battle
+with Gorgias and the forces that were with him, but that when they
+had once overcome them then they might securely plunder the camp
+because they were the only enemies remaining, and they expected no
+others.</p>
+<p>And just as he was speaking to his soldiers, Gorigas' men looked
+down into that army which they left in their camp and saw that it
+was overthrown and the camp burned; for the smoke that arose from
+it showed them, even when they were a great way off, what had
+happened. When, therefore, those that were with Gorgias understood
+that things were in this posture, and perceived that those that
+were with Judas were ready to fight them, they also were affrighted
+and put to flight; but then Judas, as though he had already beaten
+Gorgias' soldiers without fighting, returned and seized on the
+spoils. He took a great quantity of gold and silver and purple and
+blue, and then returned home with joy, and singing hymns to God for
+their good success; for this victory greatly contributed to the
+recovery of their liberty.</p>
+<p>Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the defeat of the army which
+he had sent, and the next year he got together sixty thousand
+chosen men. He also took five thousand horsemen and fell upon
+Judea, and he went up to the hill country of Bethsur, a village of
+Judea, and pitched his camp there, where Judas met him with ten
+thousand men; and when he saw the great number of his enemies, he
+prayed to God that he would assist him, and joined battle with the
+first of the enemy that appeared and beat them and slew about five
+thousand of them, and thereby became terrible to the rest of them.
+Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews, how
+they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty, and being
+afraid of their desperate way of fighting, as if it were real
+strength, he took the rest of the army back with him and returned
+to Antioch.</p>
+<p>When, therefore, the generals of Antiochus' armies had been
+beaten so often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them
+that after these many victories which God had given them, they
+ought to go up to Jerusalem and purify the Temple and offer the
+appointed sacrifices. But as soon as he with the whole multitude
+was come to Jerusalem and found the Temple deserted and its gates
+burned down and plants growing in the Temple of their own accord on
+account of its desertion, he and those that were with him began to
+lament and were quite confounded at the sight of the Temple; so he
+chose out some of his soldiers and gave them orders to fight
+against those guards that were in the citadel until he should have
+purified the Temple. When therefore he had carefully purged it and
+had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of
+shewbread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, he
+hung up the veils at the gates and added doors to them.</p>
+<p>He also took down the altar [of burnt-offering], and built a new
+one of stones that he gathered together and not of such as were
+hewn with iron tools. So on the five-and-twentieth day of the month
+of Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the
+lamps that were on the candlestick and offered incense upon the
+altar [of incense], and laid the loaves upon the table [of
+shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings upon the new altar [of
+burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out that these things were done on
+the very same day on which their divine worship had fallen off and
+was reduced to a profane and common use after three years' time;
+for so it was, that the Temple was made desolate by Antiochus, and
+so continued for three years. This desolation happened to the
+Temple in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day
+of the month Apelleus, and on the hundred and fifty-third Olympiad;
+but it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the
+month Apelleus, in the hundred and forty-eighth year, and on the
+hundred and fifty-fourth Olympiad. And this desolation came to pass
+according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred
+and eight years before, for he declared that the Macedonians would
+dissolve that worship [for some time].</p>
+<p>Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the
+sacrifices of the Temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of
+pleasures thereon; but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid
+sacrifices, and he honored God and delighted them by hymns and
+psalms. Nay, they were so very glad at the revival of their
+customs, when after a long time of intermission they unexpectedly
+had regained the freedom of their worship, that they made it a law
+for their posterity that they should keep a festival, on account of
+the restoration of their Temple worship, for eight days. And from
+that time to this we celebrate this festival and call it Lights. I
+suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes
+appeared to us, and that thence was the name given to that
+festival. Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the city, and
+reared towers of great height against the incursions of enemies,
+and set guards therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura that it
+might serve as a citadel against any distresses that might come
+from our enemies.</p>
+<p>When these things were over, the nations round about the Jews
+were very uneasy at the revival of their power and rose up together
+and destroyed many of them, as gaining advantage over them by
+laying snares for them and making secret conspiracies against them.
+Judas made perpetual expeditions against these men, and endeavored
+to restrain them from those incursions and to prevent the mischiefs
+they did to the Jews. So he fell upon the Idumeans, the posterity
+of Esau, at Acra-battene, and slew a great many of them and took
+their spoils. He also shut up the sons of Bean, that laid wait for
+the Jews; and he sat down about them, and besieged them, and burned
+their towers and destroyed the men [that were in them]. After this
+he went thence in haste against the Ammonites who had a great and a
+numerous army, of which Timotheus was the commander. And when he
+had subdued them he seized on the city of Jazer, and took their
+wives and their children captives and burned the city and then
+returned into Judea. But when the neighboring nations understood
+that he was returned they got together in great numbers in the land
+of Gilead and came against those Jews that were at their borders,
+who then fled to the garrison of Dathema, and sent to Judas to
+inform him that Timotheus was endeavoring to take the place whither
+they were fled. And as these epistles were reading, there came
+other messengers out of Galilee who informed him that the
+inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre and Sidon, and strangers of
+Galilee, were gotten together.</p>
+<p>Accordingly Judas, upon considering what was fit to be done with
+relation to the necessity both these cases required, gave order
+that Simon his brother should take three thousand chosen men and go
+to the assistance of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of
+his brothers, Jonathan, made haste into the land of Gilead with
+eight thousand soldiers. And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias,
+and Azarias, to be over the rest of the forces, and charged them to
+keep Judea very carefully and to fight no battles with any persons
+whomsoever until his return. Accordingly Simon went into Galilee
+and fought the enemy and put them to flight, and pursued them to
+the very gates of Ptolemais, and slew about three thousand of them,
+and took the spoils of those that were slain and those Jews whom
+they had made captives, with their baggage, and then returned
+home.</p>
+<p>Now as for Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan, they
+passed over the river Jordan, and when they had gone three days'
+journey they lighted upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them
+peaceably and who told them how the affairs of those in the land of
+Galilee stood and how many of them were in distress and driven into
+garrisons and into the cities of Galilee, and exhorted him to make
+haste to go against the foreigners, and to endeavor to save his own
+countrymen out of their hands. To this exhortation Judas hearkened
+and returned into the wilderness, and in the first place fell upon
+the inhabitants of Bosor, and took the city, and beat the
+inhabitants, and destroyed all the males, and all that were able to
+fight, and burned the city. Nor did he stop even when night came
+on, but he journeyed in it to the garrison where the Jews happened
+to be then shut up, and where Timotheus lay round the place with
+his army; and Judas came upon the city in the morning, and when he
+found that the enemy were making an assault upon the walls, and
+that some of them brought ladders on which they might get upon
+those walls, and that others brought engines [to batter them], he
+bid the trumpeter to sound his trumpet, and he encouraged his
+soldiers cheerfully to undergo dangers for the sake of their
+brethren and kindred; he also parted his army into three bodies and
+fell upon the backs of their enemies. But when Timotheus' men
+perceived that it was Maccabaeus that was upon them, of both whose
+courage and good success in war they had formerly had sufficient
+experience, they were put to flight; but Judas followed them with
+his army and slew about eight thousand of them. He then turned
+aside to a city of the foreigners called Malle, and took it, and
+slew all the males and burned the city itself. He then removed from
+thence, and overthrew Casphom and Bosor, and many other cities of
+the land of Gilead.</p>
+<p>But not long after this Timotheus prepared a great army, and
+took many others as auxiliaries, and induced some of the Arabians
+by the promise of rewards to go with him in this expedition, and
+came with his army beyond the brook over against the city Raphon;
+and he encouraged his soldiers, if it came to a battle with the
+Jews, to fight courageously, and to hinder their passing over the
+brook; for he said to them beforehand that "if they come over it we
+shall be beaten." And when Judas heard that Timotheus prepared
+himself to fight he took all his own army and went in haste against
+Timotheus, his enemy; and when he had passed over the brook he fell
+upon his enemies, and some of them met him, whom he slew, and
+others of them he so terrified that he compelled them to throw down
+their arms and fly, and some of them escaped; but some of them fled
+to what was called the temple of Carnaim, and hoped thereby to
+preserve themselves, but Judas took the city and slew them and
+burned the temple, and so used several ways of destroying his
+enemies.</p>
+<p>When he had done this he gathered the Jews together with their
+children and wives and the substance that belonged to them, and was
+going to bring them back into Judea. But as soon as he was come to
+a certain city the name of which was Ephron, that lay upon the
+road—and as it was not possible for him to go any other way,
+so he was not willing to go back again—he then sent to the
+inhabitants, and desired that they would open their gates and
+permit them to go on their way through the city; for they had
+stopped up the gates with stones and cut off their passage through
+it. And when the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree to this
+proposal, he encouraged those that were with him, and encompassed
+the city round and besieged it, and lying round it by day and night
+took the city and slew every male in it and burned it all down, and
+so obtained a way through it; and the multitude of those that were
+slain was so great that they went over the dead bodies. So they
+came over Jordan and arrived at the great plain over against which
+is situate the city Bethshan, which is called by the Greeks
+Scythopolis.[<a href="#note-67">67</a>] And going away hastily from
+thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms and hymns as they
+went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual in triumphs
+upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings both for their good
+success and for the preservation of their army, for not one of the
+Jews was slain in these battles.</p>
+<p><a name="note-67"><!-- Note Anchor 67 --></a>[Footnote 67: The
+reason why Bethshan was called Scythopolis is well known from
+Herodotus, b. i., p. 105, and Syncellus, p. 214, that the
+Scythians, where they overran Asia, in the days of Josiah, seized
+on this city, and kept it as long as they continued in Asia; from
+which time it retained the name of Scythopolis, or the City of the
+Scythians.]</p>
+<p>But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, whom Judas
+left generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same time when
+Simon was in Galilee fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and
+Judas himself and his brother Jonathan were in the land of Gilead,
+did these men also affect the glory of being courageous generals in
+war, in order whereto they took the army that was under their
+command and came to Jamnia. There Gorgias, the general of the
+forces of Jamnia, met them, and upon joining battle with him they
+lost two thousand of their army and fled away, and were pursued to
+the very borders of Judea. And this misfortune befell them by their
+disobedience to what injunctions Judas had given them not to fight
+with anyone before his return. For besides the rest of Judas'
+sagacious counsels, one may well wonder at this concerning the
+misfortune that befell the forces commanded by Joseph and Azarias,
+which he understood would happen if they broke any of the
+injunctions he had given them. But Judas and his brethren did not
+leave off fighting with the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all
+sides, and took from them the city of Hebron, and demolished all
+its fortifications and set all its towers on fire, and burned the
+country of the foreigners and the city Marissa. They came also to
+Ashdod, and took it, and laid it waste, and took away a great deal
+of the spoils and prey that were in it and returned to Judea.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_17"></a>THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 133</p>
+<p class="center">THEODOR MOMMSEN</p>
+<p class="intros">Cornelia, whose father was Scipio Africanus,
+preferred to be called "Mother of the Gracchi" rather than daughter
+of the conqueror of Numantia. Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, her
+sons, were born at a time when the social condition of Rome was
+rank with corruption. The small farmer class were deprived of
+holdings, the soil was being worked by slaves, and its products
+wasted on pleasure and debauchery by the rich; the law courts were
+controlled by the wealthy and powerful, while oppression, bribery,
+and fraud were generally rampant in the city.</p>
+<p class="intros">On December 10, B.C. 133, Tiberius Gracchus
+entered upon the office of tribune, to which he had been elected,
+and pledged himself to the abolition of crying abuses. His first
+movement was in the direction of agrarian legislation. He proposed
+to vest all public lands in the hands of three commissioners
+(triumviri), who were to distribute the public lands, at that time
+largely monopolized by the wealthy, to all citizens in needy
+circumstances. The bill met with bitter opposition from the rich
+landholders, but was eventually passed, and Gracchus rose to the
+summit of popular power. He also brought forward a measure limiting
+the necessary period of military service; a second bill was drawn
+up by him for the reformation of the law courts, and a third
+established a right of appeal from the law courts to the popular
+assembly. These measures were afterward carried by his brother
+Caius. Tiberius Gracchus was killed in a tumult which was raised in
+the Forum by the nobles and their partisans, and three hundred of
+his followers lost their lives in the fray.</p>
+<p class="intros">Caius Gracchus, his brother, returned to Rome
+B.C. 124 from Sardinia, where he had been engaged in subduing the
+mountaineers. For ten years he had kept aloof from public life, but
+was at once elected tribune, in the discharge of which office he
+showed distinguished powers as an orator. He brought forth the
+important measures known as the Sempronian Laws, the provisions of
+which were quite revolutionary in character. The first of these
+laws renewed and extended the agrarian laws of his brother and
+instituted new colonies in Italy and the provinces. By the second
+Sempronian law the State undertook to furnish corn at a low price
+to all Roman citizens.</p>
+<p class="intros">Other measures aimed at diminishing the great
+administrative power of the senate, which had so far monopolized
+all judicial offices. By the law of Gracchus the administration of
+justice was entirely transferred to a body of three hundred persons
+who possessed the equestrian rate of property. The Sempronian law
+for the assignment of consular provinces, which hitherto had been
+left to the senate, made the allotment of two designated provinces
+to be decided by the newly elected consuls themselves. The power of
+the senate was also crippled by the law of Gracchus in which he
+transferred to the tribunes the burden of improving the roads of
+Italy, contracts for which had hitherto been awarded by the censor
+under the approval of the senate. These movements were all in the
+direction of increasing popular and democratic power, and the work
+of the Gracchi tended to the extension of political freedom. In the
+history of politics these social struggles are among the most
+important events illustrative of the gradual dawn of civil liberty
+among a people which had been dominated and oppressed by a selfish
+aristocracy.</p>
+<p>The power of Gracchus rested on the mercantile class and the
+proletariat; primarily on the latter, which in this
+conflict—wherein neither side had any military
+reserve—acted, as it were, the part of an army. It was clear
+that the senate was not powerful enough to wrest either from the
+merchants or from the proletariat their new privileges; any attempt
+to assail the corn laws or the new jury arrangement would have led
+under a somewhat grosser or somewhat more civilized form to a
+street riot, in presence of which the senate was utterly
+defenceless. But it was no less clear that Gracchus himself and
+these merchants and proletarians were only kept together by mutual
+advantage, and that the men of material interests were ready to
+accept their posts, and the populace, strictly so called, its
+bread, quite as well from any other as from Caius Gracchus.</p>
+<p>The institutions of Gracchus stood, for the moment at least,
+immovably firm, with the exception of a single one—his own
+supremacy. The weakness of the latter lay in the fact that in the
+constitution of Gracchus there was no relation of allegiance
+subsisting at all between the chief and the army; and, while the
+new constitution possessed all other elements of vitality, it
+lacked one—the moral tie between ruler and ruled, without
+which every state rests on a pedestal of clay. In the rejection of
+the proposal to admit the Latins to the franchise it had been
+demonstrated with decisive clearness that the multitude in fact
+never voted for Gracchus, but always simply for itself. The
+aristocracy conceived the plan of offering battle to the author of
+the corn largesses and land assignations on his own ground.</p>
+<p>As a matter of course the senate offered to the proletariat not
+merely the same advantages as Gracchus had already assured to it in
+corn and otherwise, but advantages still greater. Commissioned by
+the senate, the tribune of the people, Marcus Livius Drusus,
+proposed to relieve those who received land under the laws of
+Gracchus from the rent imposed on them, and to declare their
+allotments to be free and alienable property; and, further, to
+provide for the proletariat not in transmarine, but in twelve
+Italian, colonies, each of three thousand colonists, for the
+planting of which the people might nominate suitable men; only
+Drusus himself declined—in contrast with the family
+complexion of the Gracchan commission—to take part in this
+honorable duty. Presumably the Latins were named as those who would
+have to bear the costs of the plan, for there does not appear to
+have existed then in Italy other occupied domain land of any extent
+save that which was enjoyed by them.</p>
+<p>We find isolated enactments of Drusus—such as the
+regulation that the punishment of scourging might only be inflicted
+on the Latin soldier by the Latin officer set over him, and not by
+the Roman officer—which were to all appearance intended to
+indemnify the Latins for other losses. The plan was not the most
+refined. The attempt at rivalry was too clear; the endeavor to draw
+the fair bond between the nobles and the proletariat still closer
+by their exercising jointly a tyranny over the Latins was too
+transparent; the inquiry suggested itself too readily.</p>
+<p>In what part of the peninsula, now that the Italian domains had
+been mainly given away already—even granting that the whole
+domains assigned to the Latins were confiscated—was the
+occupied domain land requisite for the formation of twelve new,
+numerous, and compact burgess communities to be discovered? Lastly,
+the declaration of Drusus that he would have nothing to do with the
+execution of his law was so dreadfully prudent as to border on
+sheer folly. But the clumsy snare was quite suited to the stupid
+game which they wished to catch. There was the additional and
+perhaps decisive consideration that Gracchus, on whose personal
+influence everything depended, was just then establishing the
+Carthaginian colony in Africa, and that his lieutenant in the
+capital, Marcus Flaccus, played into the hands of his opponents by
+his vehement and maladroit acts. The "people" accordingly ratified
+the Livian laws as readily as it had before ratified the
+Sempronian. It then as usual repaid its latest by inflicting a
+gentle blow on its earlier benefactor, declining to re&euml;lect
+him when he stood for the third time as a candidate for the
+tribunate for the year B.C. 120. On this occasion, however, there
+are alleged to have been unjust proceedings on the part of the
+tribune presiding at the election, who had been offended by
+Gracchus.</p>
+<p>Thus the foundation of his despotism gave way beneath him. A
+second blow was inflicted on him by the consular elections, which
+not only proved, in a general sense, adverse to the democracy, but
+which placed at the head of the State Lucius Opimius, one of the
+least scrupulous chiefs of the strict aristocratic party and a man
+firmly resolved to get rid of their dangerous antagonist at the
+earliest opportunity. Such an opportunity soon occurred. On the
+10th of December, B.C. 121, Gracchus ceased to be tribune of the
+people. On the 1st of January, B.C. 120, Opimius entered upon his
+office.</p>
+<p>The first attack, as was fair, was directed against the most
+useful and the most unpopular measure of Gracchus, the
+re&euml;stablishment of Carthage, while the transmarine colonies
+had hitherto been only indirectly assailed through the greater
+allurements of the Italian. African hyenas, it was now alleged, dug
+up the newly placed boundary stones of Carthage, and the Roman
+priests when requested certified that such signs and portents ought
+to form an express warning against rebuilding on a site accursed by
+the gods. The senate thereby found itself in its conscience
+compelled to have a law proposed which prohibited the planting of
+the colony of Sunonia. Gracchus, who with the other men nominated
+to establish it was just then selecting the colonists, appeared on
+the day of voting at the Capitol, whither the burgesses were
+convoked, with a view to procure by means of his adherents the
+rejection of the law.</p>
+<p>He wished to shun acts of violence that he might not himself
+supply his opponents with the pretext which they sought, but he had
+not been able to prevent a great portion of his faithful
+partisans—who remembered the catastrophe of Tiberius, and
+were well acquainted with the designs of the aristocracy—from
+appearing in arms, fearing that, amid the immense excitement on
+both sides, quarrels could hardly be avoided. The consul Lucius
+Opimius offered the usual sacrifice in the porch of the Capitoline
+temple, one of the attendants assisting at the ceremony. Quintus
+Antullius, with the holy entrails in his hands, haughtily ordered
+the "bad citizens" to quit the porch, and seemed as though he would
+lay hands on Caius himself; whereupon a zealous Gracchan drew his
+sword and cut the man down. A fearful tumult arose. Gracchus vainly
+sought to address the people and to disclaim the responsibility for
+the sacreligious murder; he only furnished his antagonists with a
+further formal ground of accusation, as, without being aware of it
+in the confusion, he interrupted a tribune in the act of speaking
+to the people—an offence for which an obsolete statute,
+originating at the time of the old dissensions between the orders
+(I. 353), had prescribed the severest penalty. The consul Lucius
+Opimius took his measures to put down by force of arms the
+insurrection for the overthrow of the republican constitution, as
+they were fond of designating the events of this day. He himself
+passed the night in the temple of Castor in the Forum. At early
+dawn the Capitol was filled with Cretan archers, the senate house
+and Forum with the men of the government party (the senators and
+that section of the <i>equites</i> adhering to them), who by order
+of the consul had all appeared in arms, each attended by two armed
+slaves. None of the aristocracy was absent; even the aged and
+venerable Quintus Metellus, well disposed to reform, had appeared
+with shield and sword. An officer of ability and experience
+acquired in the Spanish wars, Decimus Brutus, was intrusted with
+the command of the armed force; the senate assembled in the senate
+house. The bier with the corpse of Antullius was deposited in front
+of it, the senate as if surprised appeared <i>en masse</i> at the
+door in order to view the dead body, and then retired to determine
+what should be done.</p>
+<p>The leaders of the democracy had gone from the Capitol to their
+houses; Marcus Flaccus had spent the night in preparing for the war
+in the streets, while Gracchus apparently disdained to strive with
+destiny. Next morning when they learned of the preparations made by
+their opponents at the Capitol and the Forum, both proceeded to the
+Aventine, the old stronghold of the popular party in the struggles
+between the patricians and the plebeians. Gracchus went thither
+silent and unarmed. Flaccus called the slaves to arms and
+intrenched himself in the temple of Diana, while he at the same
+time sent his younger son Quintus to the enemy's camp in order if
+possible to arrange a compromise. The latter returned with the
+announcement that the aristocracy demanded unconditional surrender.
+At the same time he brought a summons from the senate to Gracchus
+and Flaccus to appear before it and to answer for their violation
+of the majesty of the tribunes.</p>
+<p>Gracchus wished to comply with the summons, but Flaccus
+prevented him from doing so, and repeated the equally weak and
+mistaken attempt to move such antagonists to a compromise. When
+instead of the two cited leaders the young Quintus Flaccus once
+more presented himself alone, the consul treated their refusal to
+appear as the beginning of open insurrection against the
+Government. He ordered the messenger to be arrested and gave the
+signal for attack on the Aventine, while at the same time he caused
+proclamations to be made in the streets that the Government would
+give to whomsoever should bring the head of Gracchus or of Flaccus
+its literal weight in gold; and that they would guarantee complete
+indemnity to everyone who should leave the Aventine before the
+beginning of the conflict. The ranks on the Aventine speedily
+thinned; the valiant nobility in conjunction with the Cretans and
+the slaves stormed the almost undefended mount, and killed all whom
+they found—about two hundred and fifty persons, mostly of
+humble rank. Marcus Flaccus fled with his eldest son to a place of
+concealment, where they were soon afterward hunted out and put to
+death. Gracchus had at the beginning of the conflict retired into
+the temple of Minerva and was there about to pierce himself with
+his sword when his friend Publius Laetorius seized his arm and
+besought him to preserve himself, if possible, for better
+times.</p>
+<p>Gracchus was induced to make an attempt to escape to the other
+bank of the Tiber, but when hastening down the hill he fell and
+sprained his foot. To gain time for him to escape, his two
+attendants turned, and facing his pursuers allowed themselves to be
+cut down. As Marcus Pomponius at the Porta Trigemina under the
+Aventine; Publius Laetorius at the bridge over the
+Tiber—where Horatius Cocles was said to have once withstood,
+singly, the Etruscan army—so Gracchus, attended only by his
+slave Euporus, reached the suburb on the right bank of the
+Tiber.</p>
+<p>There, in the grove of Furrina, afterward were found the two
+dead bodies. It seemed as if the slave had put to death first his
+master, and then himself. The heads of the two fallen leaders were
+handed over to the Government as required. The stipulated price,
+and more, was paid to Lucius Septumuleius, a man of quality, the
+bearer of the head of Gracchus; while the murderers of Flaccus,
+persons of humble rank, were sent away with empty hands. The bodies
+of the dead were thrown into the river, and the houses of the
+leaders were abandoned to the pillage of the multitude. The warfare
+of prosecution against the partisans of Gracchus began on the
+grandest scale; as many as three thousand of them are said to have
+been strangled in prison, among whom was Quintus Flaccus, eighteen
+years of age, who had taken no part in the conflict, and was
+universally lamented on account of his youth and his amiable
+disposition. On the open space beneath the Capitol, where the altar
+consecrated by Camillus after the restoration of internal peace (I.
+382), and other shrines—erected on similar occasions to
+Concord—were situated, the small chapels were pulled down,
+and out of the property of the killed or condemned
+traitors—which was confiscated, even to the portions of their
+wives—a new and splendid temple of Concord, with the basilica
+belonging to it, was erected in accordance with a decree of the
+senate by the consul Lucius Opimius.</p>
+<p>Certainly it was an act in accordance with the spirit of the age
+to remove the memorials of the old and to inaugurate a new Concord
+over the remains of the three grandsons of Zama, all of
+whom—first, Tiberius Gracchus, then Scipio Aemilianus, and
+lastly the youngest and the mightiest, Caius Gracchus—had now
+been engulfed by the revolution. The memory of the Gracchi remained
+officially proscribed; Cornelia was not allowed even to put on
+mourning for the death of her last son; but the passionate
+attachment which very many had felt toward the two noble brothers,
+and especially toward Caius, during their life, was touchingly
+displayed also after their death, in the almost religious
+veneration which the multitude, in spite of all precautions of the
+police, continued to pay to their memory and to the spots where
+they had fallen.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="GAUL"></a>CAESAR CONQUERS GAUL[<a href="#note-68">68</a>]</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 58-50</p>
+<p class="center">NAPOLEON III</p>
+<p class="center"><a name="note-68"><!-- Note Anchor 68 --></a>[Footnote 68:
+From Louis Napoleon's Julius Caesar, by permission of Harper &amp;
+Brothers.]</p>
+<p class="intros">In Caesar's military performances the Gallic war
+plays the most important part, as shown in his <i>Commentaries</i>,
+his sole extant literary work and almost the only authority for
+this part of Roman history.</p>
+<p class="intros">Cisalpine Gaul—that portion lying on the
+southern or Italian side of the Alps—came partly under the
+dominion of Rome as early as B.C. 282, when a Roman colony was
+founded at Sena Gallica. This division of Gaul was wholly conquered
+by B.C. 191; and in B.C. 43, having been made a Roman province, it
+became a part of Italy.</p>
+<p class="intros">Transalpine Gaul—that part lying north and
+northwest of the Alps from Rome—comprised in Caesar's day
+three divisions: Aquitaine to the southwest, Celtic Gaul in the
+middle, and Belgic Gaul to the northwest. The region was inhabited
+by various tribes having neither unity of race nor of customs
+whereby nationality becomes distinguished. Toward the close of the
+second century B.C. the Romans made their first settlements in
+Transalpine Gaul, in the southeastern part. At the time when Caesar
+became proconsul in Gaul, B.C. 58, the province was in a state of
+tranquillity, but Fortune seemed determined that he should have
+great opportunities for the display of his military genius, and,
+when Asia had been subdued by Pompey, "conferred what remained to
+be done in Europe upon Caesar." The attempt of the Helvetii to
+leave their homes in the Alps for new dwelling-places in Gaul
+served him as an occasion for war. As they were crossing the Arar
+(now Saone) he attacked and routed them, later defeated them again,
+and at last drove them back to their own country.</p>
+<p class="intros">The story of the long war, with its various
+campaigns, has become familiar to the world's readers through the
+masterly account of Caesar himself, known to "every schoolboy" who
+advances to the dignity of classical studies. In the end the
+country between the Pyrenees and the Rhine was subjugated, and for
+several centuries it remained a Roman province.</p>
+<p class="intros">At the time when the history is taken up in the
+following narrative by Napoleon III, the great rebellion, B.C. 52,
+had sustained a heavy blow in the surrender of Alesia, and the
+capture of the heroic chief and leader of the insurrection,
+Vercingetorix, whom Caesar exhibited in his triumph at Rome, B.C.
+46, and then caused to be put to death.</p>
+<p class="intros">The distinguished author of the article says he
+wrote "for the purpose of proving that when Providence raises up
+such men as Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon it is to trace out to
+peoples the path they ought to follow, to stamp with the seal of
+their genius a new era, and to accomplish in a few years the work
+of many centuries." The work was prepared [<i>vide Manual of
+Historical Literature</i>: Adams] with the utmost care—a care
+which extended in some instances to special surveys, to insure
+perfect accuracy in the descriptions, etc.</p>
+<p>The capture of Alesia and that of Vercingetorix, in spite of the
+united efforts of all Gaul, naturally gave Caesar hopes of a
+general submission; and he therefore believed that he could leave
+his army during the winter to rest quietly in its quarters from the
+hard labors which had lasted without interruption during the whole
+of the past summer. But the spirit of insurrection was not extinct
+among the Gauls; and convinced by experience that whatever might be
+their number they could not in a body cope with troops inured to
+war, they resolved, by partial insurrections raised on all points
+at once, to divide the attention and the forces of the Romans as
+their only chance of resisting them with advantage.</p>
+<p>Caesar was unwilling to leave them time to realize this new
+plan, but gave the command of his winter quarters to his quaestor,
+Mark Antony; quitted Bibracte on the day before the Calends of
+January (the 25th of December) with an escort of cavalry, joined
+the Thirteenth legion, which was in winter quarters among the
+Bituriges, not far from the frontier of the Aldui, and called to
+him the Eleventh legion, which was the nearest at hand. Having left
+two cohorts of each legion to guard the baggage, he proceeded
+toward the fertile country of the Bituriges, a vast territory,
+where the presence of a single legion was insufficient to put a
+stop to the preparations for insurrection.</p>
+<p>His sudden arrival in the midst of men without distrust, who
+were spread over the open country, produced the result which he
+expected. They were surprised before they could enter into their
+<i>oppidae</i>—for Caesar had strictly forbidden everything
+which might have raised their suspicion; especially the application
+of fire, which usually betrays the sudden presence of an enemy.
+Several thousands of captives were made. Those who succeeded in
+escaping sought in vain a refuge among the neighboring nations.
+Caesar, by forced marches, came up with them everywhere and obliged
+each tribe to think of its own safety before that of others.</p>
+<p>This activity held the populations in their fidelity, and
+through fear engaged the wavering to submit to the conditions of
+peace. Thus the Bituriges, seeing that Caesar offered them an easy
+way to recover his protection, and that the neighboring states had
+suffered no other chastisement than that of having to deliver
+hostages, did not hesitate in submitting.</p>
+<p>The soldiers of the Eleventh and Thirteenth legions had, during
+the winter, supported with rare constancy the fatigues of very
+difficult marches in intolerable cold. To reward them he promised
+to give by way of prize-money two hundred <i>sestertii</i> to each
+soldier and two thousand to each centurion. He then sent them into
+their winter quarters and returned to Bibracte after an absence of
+forty days. While he was there, dispensing justice, the Bituriges
+came to implore his support against the attacks of the Carnutes.
+Although it was only eighteen days since he returned, he marched
+again at the head of two legions—the Sixth and the
+Fourteenth—which had been placed on the Saone to insure the
+supply of provisions.</p>
+<p>On his approach the Carnutes, taught by the fate of others,
+abandoned their miserable huts—which they had erected on the
+site of their burgs and oppida destroyed in the last
+campaign—and fled in every direction.</p>
+<p>Caesar, unwilling to expose his soldiers to the rigor of the
+season, established his camp at Genabum (Gien), and lodged them
+partly in the huts which had remained undestroyed, partly in tents
+under penthouses covered with straw. The cavalry and auxiliary
+infantry were sent in pursuit of the Carnutes, who, hunted down
+everywhere, and without shelter, took refuge in the neighboring
+counties.</p>
+<p>After having dispersed some rebellious meetings and stifled the
+germs of an insurrection, Caesar believed that the summer would
+pass without any serious war. He left therefore at Genabum the two
+legions he had with him, and gave the command of them to C.
+Trebonius.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless, he learned by several intimations from the Remi
+that the Bellovaci and neighboring peoples, with Correus and
+Commius at their head, were collecting troops to make an inroad on
+the territory of the Suessiones, who had been placed—since
+the campaign of 697—under the dependence of the Remi.</p>
+<p>He considered that he regarded his interest as well as his
+dignity in protecting allies who had deserved so well of the
+republic. He again drew the Eleventh legion from its winter
+quarters, sent written orders to C. Fabius, who was encamped in the
+country of the Remi, to bring into that of the Suessiones the two
+legions under his command, and demanded one of his legions from
+Labienus, who was at Besan&ccedil;on. Thus without taking any rest
+himself he shared the fatigues among the legions by turns, as far
+as the position of the winter quarters and the necessities of the
+war permitted.</p>
+<p>When this army was assembled he marched against the Bellovaci,
+established his camp on their territory, and sent cavalry in every
+direction in order to make some prisoners and learn from them the
+designs of the enemy. The cavalry reported that the emigration was
+general, and that the few inhabitants who were to be seen were not
+remaining behind in order to apply themselves to agriculture, but
+to act as spies upon the Romans.</p>
+<p>Caesar by interrogating the prisoners learned that all the
+Bellovaci able to fight had assembled on one spot, and that they
+had been joined by the Ambiani, the Aulerci, the Caletes, the
+Veliocasses, and the Atrebates. Their camp was in a forest on a
+height surrounded by marshes—Mont Saint Marc, in the forest
+of Compiègne; their baggage had been transported to more
+distant woods. The command was divided among several chiefs, but
+the greater part obeyed Correus on account of his well-known hatred
+of the Romans. Commius had a few days before gone to seek succor
+from the numerous Germans who lived in great numbers in the
+neighboring counties—probably those on the banks of the
+Meuse.</p>
+<p>The Bellovaci resolved with one accord to give Caesar battle,
+if, as report said, he was advancing with only three legions; for
+they would not run the risk of having afterward to encounter his
+entire army. If, on the contrary, the Romans were advancing with
+more considerable forces they proposed to keep their positions and
+confine themselves to intercepting, by means of ambuscades, the
+provisions and forage, which were very scarce at that season.</p>
+<p>This plan, confirmed by many reports, seemed to Caesar full of
+prudence and altogether contrary to the usual rashness of the
+barbarians. He took therefore every possible care to dissimulate as
+to the number of his troops. He had with him the Seventh, Eighth,
+and Ninth legions, composed of old soldiers of tried valor, and the
+Eleventh, which, formed of picked young men who had gone through
+eight campaigns, deserved his confidence, although it could not be
+compared with the others with regard to bravery and experience in
+war. In order to deceive the enemy by showing them only three
+legions—the only number they were willing to fight—he
+placed the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth in one line; while the
+baggage, which was not very considerable, was placed behind under
+the protection of the Eleventh legion, which closed the march. In
+this order, which formed almost a square, he came unawares in sight
+of the Bellovaci. At the unexpected view of the legions, which
+advanced in order of battle and with a firm step, they lost their
+courage and, instead of attacking, as they had engaged to do, they
+confined themselves to drawing themselves up before their camp
+without leaving the height. A valley deeper than it was wide
+separated the two armies.</p>
+<p>On account of this obstacle and the numerical superiority of the
+barbarians, Caesar, though he had wished for battle, abandoned the
+idea of attacking them and placed his camp opposite that of the
+Gauls in a strong position. He caused it to be surrounded with a
+parapet twelve feet high, surmounted by accessory works
+proportioned to the importance of the retrenchment and preceded by
+a double fosse fifteen feet wide, with a square bottom. Towers of
+three stories were constructed from distance to distance and united
+together by covered bridges, the exterior parts of which were
+protected by hurdle-work. In this manner the camp was protected not
+only by a double fosse, but also by a double row of defenders, some
+of whom, placed on the bridges, could from this elevated and
+sheltered position throw their missiles farther and with a better
+aim; while the others, placed on the <i>vallum</i>, nearer to the
+enemy, were protected by the bridges from the missiles which
+showered down upon them. The entrances were defended by means of
+higher towers and were closed with gates.</p>
+<p>These formidable retrenchments had a double aim—to
+increase the confidence of the barbarians by making them believe
+that they were feared, and next to allow the number of the garrison
+to be reduced with safety when they had to go far for provisions.
+For some days there were no serious engagements, but slight
+skirmishes in the marshy plain which extended between the two
+camps. The capture, however, of a few foragers did not fail to
+swell the presumption of the barbarians, which was still more
+increased by the arrival of Commius, although he had brought only
+five hundred German cavalry.</p>
+<p>The enemy remained for several days shut up in its impregnable
+position. Caesar judged that an assault would cost too many lives;
+an investment alone seemed to him opportune, but it would require a
+greater number of troops.</p>
+<p>He wrote thereupon to Trebonius to send him as soon as possible
+the Thirteenth legion, which, under the command of T. Sextius, was
+in winter quarters among the Bituriges, to join it with the Sixth
+and the Fourteenth (which the first of these lieutenants commanded
+at Genabum), and to come himself with these three legions by forced
+marches.</p>
+<p>During this time he employed the numerous cavalry of the Remi,
+the Lingones and the other allies, to protect the foragers and to
+prevent surprises, but this daily service, as is often the case,
+ended by being negligently performed. And one day the Remi,
+pursuing the Bellovaci with too much ardor, fell into an ambuscade.
+In withdrawing they were surrounded by foot-soldiers in the midst
+of whom Vertiscus, their chief, met with his death. True to his
+Gaulish nature, he would not allow his age to exempt him from
+commanding and mounting on horseback, although he was hardly able
+to keep his seat. His death and this feeble advantage raised the
+self-confidence of the barbarians still more, but it rendered the
+Romans more circumspect.</p>
+<p>Nevertheless, in one of the skirmishes which were continually
+taking place within sight of the two camps about the fordable
+places of the marsh, the German infantry—which Caesar had
+sent for from beyond the Rhine in order to mix them with the
+cavalry—joined in a body, boldly crossed the marsh, and,
+meeting with little resistance, continued the pursuit with such
+impetuosity that fear seized not only the enemy who fought, but
+even those who were in reserve. Instead of availing themselves of
+the advantages of the ground, all fled in a cowardly manner. They
+did not stop until they were within their camp, and some even were
+not ashamed to fly beyond it. This defeat caused a general
+discouragement, for the Gauls were as easily daunted by the least
+reverse as they were made arrogant by the smallest success.</p>
+<p>Day after day was passing in this manner when Caesar was
+informed of the arrival of C. Trebonius and his troops, which
+raised the number of his legions to seven. The chiefs of the
+Bellovaci then feared an investment like that of Alesia, and
+resolved to quit their position. They sent away by night the old
+men, the infirm, the unarmed men, and the part of the baggage which
+they had kept with them. Scarcely was this confused multitude in
+motion—embarrassed by its own mass and its numerous
+chariots—when daylight surprised it, and the troops had to be
+drawn up in line before the camp to give the column time to move
+away. Caesar saw no advantage either in giving battle to those who
+were in position, nor, on account of the steepness of the hill, in
+pursuing those who were making their retreat; he resolved,
+nevertheless, to make two legions advance in order to disturb the
+enemy in its retreat. Having observed that the mountain on which
+the Gauls were established was connected with another height (Mont
+Collet), from which it was only separated by a narrow valley, he
+ordered bridges to be thrown across the marsh. The legions crossed
+over them and soon attained the summit of the height, which was
+defended on both sides by abrupt declivities.</p>
+<p>There he collected his troops and advanced in order of battle up
+to the extremity of the plateau, whence the engines placed in
+battery could reach the masses of the enemy with their
+missiles.</p>
+<p>The barbarians, rendered confident by the advantage of their
+position, were ready to accept battle if the Romans dared to attack
+the mountain; besides, they were afraid to withdraw their troops
+successively, as, if divided, they might have been thrown into
+disorder. This attitude led Cæsar to resolve upon leaving
+twenty cohorts under arms, and on tracing a camp on this spot and
+retrenching it. When the works were completed the legions were
+placed before the retrenchments and the cavalry distributed with
+their horses bridled at the outposts. The Bellovaci had recourse to
+a stratagem in order to effect their retreat. They passed from hand
+to hand the fascines and the straw on which, according to the
+Gaulish custom, they were in the habit of sitting, preserving at
+the same time their order of battle; placed them in front of the
+camp, and toward the close of the day, on a preconcerted signal,
+set fire to them. Immediately a vast flame concealed from the
+Romans the Gaulish troops, who fled in haste.</p>
+<p>Although the fire prevented Cæsar from seeing the retreat
+of the enemy he suspected it. He ordered his legions to advance,
+and sent the cavalry in pursuit, but he marched slowly in fear of
+some stratagem, suspecting the barbarians to have formed the design
+of drawing the Romans to disadvantageous ground. Besides, the
+cavalry did not dare to ride through the smoke and flames; and thus
+the Bellovaci were able to pass over a distance of ten miles and
+halt in a place strongly fortified by nature (Mont Ganelon), where
+they pitched their camp. In this position they confined themselves
+to placing cavalry and infantry in frequent ambuscades, thus
+inflicting great damage on the Romans when they went to forage.
+After several encounters of this kind Cæsar learned by a
+prisoner that Correus, chief of the Bellovaci, with six thousand
+picked infantry and one thousand horsemen, was preparing an
+ambuscade in places where the abundance of corn and forage was
+likely to attract the Romans. In consequence of this information he
+sent forward the cavalry, which was always employed to protect the
+foragers, and joined with them some light-armed auxiliaries, while
+he himself, with a greater number of legions, followed them as
+closely as possible.</p>
+<p>The enemy had posted themselves in a plain—that of
+Choisy-au-Bac—of about one thousand paces in length and the
+same in breadth, surrounded on one side by forests, on the other by
+a river which was difficult to pass (the Aisne). The cavalry
+becoming acquainted with the designs of the Gauls and feeling
+themselves supported, advanced resolutely in squadrons toward this
+plain, which was surrounded with ambushes on all sides.</p>
+<p>Correus, seeing them arrive in this manner, believed the
+opportunity favorable for the execution of his plan and began by
+attacking the first squadrons with a few men. The Romans sustained
+the shock without concentrating themselves in a mass on the same
+point, "which," says Hirtius, "usually happens in cavalry
+engagements, and leads always to a dangerous confusion." There, on
+the contrary, the squadrons, remaining separated, fought in
+detached bodies, and when one of them advanced, its flanks were
+protected by the others. Correus then ordered the rest of his
+cavalry to issue from the woods. An obstinate combat began on all
+sides without any decisive result until the enemy's infantry,
+debouching from the forest in close ranks, forced the Roman cavalry
+to fall back. The lightly armed soldiers who preceded the legions
+placed themselves between the squadrons and restored the fortune of
+the combat. After a certain time the troops, animated by the
+approach of the legions and the arrival of Caesar, and ambitious of
+obtaining alone the honor of the victory, redoubled their efforts
+and gained the advantage. The enemy, on the other hand, were
+discouraged and took to flight, but were stopped by the very
+obstacles which they intended to throw in the way of the Romans. A
+small number, nevertheless, escaped through the forest and crossed
+the river. Correus, who remained unshaken under this catastrophe,
+obstinately refused to surrender, and fell pierced with wounds.
+After this success Caesar hoped that if he continued his march the
+enemy in dismay would abandon his camp, which was only eight miles
+from the field of battle. He therefore crossed the Aisne, though
+not without great difficulties.</p>
+<p>The Bellovaci and their allies, informed by the fugitives of the
+death of Correus, of the loss of their cavalry and the flower of
+their infantry, and fearing every moment to see the Romans appear,
+convoked by sound of trumpet a general assembly and decided by
+acclamation to send deputies and hostages to the proconsul. The
+barbarians implored forgiveness, alleging that this last defeat had
+ruined their power, and that the death of Correus, the instigator
+of the war, delivered them from oppression, for, during his life,
+it was not the senate which governed, but an ignorant multitude. To
+their prayers Caesar replied that last year the Bellovaci had
+revolted in concert with the other Gaulish peoples, but that
+<i>they</i> alone had persisted in the revolt. It was very
+convenient to throw their faults upon those who were dead, but how
+could it be believed that with nothing but the help of a weak
+populace a man should have had sufficient influence to raise and
+sustain a war contrary to the will of the chiefs, the decision of
+the senate, and the desire of honest people? However, the evil
+which they had drawn upon themselves was for him a sufficient
+reparation.</p>
+<p>The following night the Bellovaci and their allies submitted,
+with the exception of Commius, who fled to the country from which
+he had but recently drawn support. He had not dared to trust the
+Romans for the following reason: "The year before, in the absence
+of Caesar, T. Labienus, informed that Commius was conspiring and
+preparing an insurrection, thought that without accusing him of bad
+faith," says Hirtius, "he could repress his treason." ("Under
+pretext of an interview he sent C. Volusenus Quadratus, with some
+centurions, to kill him; but when they were in the presence of the
+Gaulish chief the centurion who was to strike him missed his blow
+and only wounded him; swords were drawn on both sides and Commius
+had time to escape.")</p>
+<p>The most warlike tribes had been vanquished and none of them
+dreamed of further revolt. Nevertheless, many inhabitants of the
+newly conquered countries abandoned the towns and the fields in
+order to withdraw themselves from the Roman dominion. Caesar, in
+order to put a stop to this emigration, distributed his army in
+different countries. He ordered the quaestor, Mark Antony, to come
+to him with the Twelfth legion, and sent the lieutenant Fabius with
+twenty-five cohorts into an opposite part of Gaul—to the
+country situated between the Creuse and the Vienne—where it
+was said that several tribes were in arms, and where the
+lieutenant, Caninius Rebilus, who commanded with two legions, did
+not appear to be sufficiently strong. Lastly, he ordered T.
+Labienus to join him in person and to send the Fifteenth legion,
+which he had under his command, into Cisalpine Gaul to protect the
+colonies of Roman citizens there against the sudden inroads of the
+barbarians, who the summer before had attacked the Tergestini (the
+inhabitants of Trieste).</p>
+<p>As for Cæsar, he proceeded with four legions to the
+territory of the Eburones to lay it waste. As he could not secure
+Ambiorix, who was still wandering at large, he thought it advisable
+to destroy everything by fire and sword, persuaded that this chief
+would never dare to return to a country upon which he had brought
+such a terrible calamity. The legions and the auxiliaries were
+charged with the execution of this plan. Then he sent Labienus,
+with two legions, to the country of the Treviri, who, always at war
+with the Germans, were only kept in obedience by the presence of a
+Roman army.</p>
+<p>During this time Caninius Rebilus, who had first been appointed
+to go into the country of the Ruteni, but who had been detained by
+petty insurrections in the region situated between the Creuse and
+the Vienne, learned that numerous hostile bands were assembling in
+the country of the Pictones. He was informed of this by letters
+from Duratius, their king, who, amid the defection of a part of his
+people, had remained invariably faithful to the Romans. He started
+immediately for Lemonum (Poitiers). On the road he learned from
+prisoners that Duratius was shut up there and besieged by several
+thousand men under the orders of Dumnacus, chief of the Andes.</p>
+<p>Rebilus, at the head of two weak legions, did not dare to
+measure his strength with the enemy; he contented himself with
+establishing his camp in a strong position. At the news of his
+approach, Dumnacus raised the siege, and marched to meet the
+legions, but after several days of fruitless attempts to force
+their camp he returned to attack Lemonum.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile, the lieutenant, Caius Fabius, occupied in pacifying
+several other tribes, learned from Caninius Rebilus what was going
+on in the country of the Pictones and marched without delay to the
+assistance of Duratius. The news of the march of Fabius deprived
+Dumnacus of all hope of opposing, at the same time, the troops shut
+up in Lemonum and the relieving army. He abandoned the siege again
+in great haste, not thinking himself safe until he had placed the
+Loire between himself and the Romans; but he could only pass that
+river where there was a bridge (at Saumur). Before he had joined
+Rebilus, before he had even obtained a sight of the enemy, Fabius,
+who came from the North, and had lost no time, doubted not, from
+what he heard from the people of the country, that Dumnacus, in his
+fear, had taken the road which led to that bridge. He therefore
+marched thither with his legions, preceded at a short distance by
+his cavalry. The latter surprised the column of Dumnacus on its
+march, dispersed it, and returned to the camp laden with booty.</p>
+<p>During the night of the following day Fabius again sent his
+cavalry forward with orders to delay the march of the enemy so as
+to give time for the arrival of the infantry. The two bodies of
+cavalry were soon engaged, but the enemy, thinking he had to
+contend with only the same troops as the day before, drew up his
+infantry in line so as to support the squadrons, when suddenly the
+Roman legions appeared in order of battle. At this sight the
+barbarians were struck with terror, the long train of baggage
+thrown into confusion, and the infantry dispersed. More than twelve
+thousand men were killed and all the baggage fell into the hands of
+the Romans.</p>
+<p>Only five thousand fugitives escaped from this rout; they were
+received by the Senonan, Drappes, the same who in the first revolt
+of the Gauls had collected a crowd of vagabonds, slaves, exiles,
+and robbers to intercept the convoys of the Romans.</p>
+<p>They took the direction of the Narbonnese with the Cadurcan
+Lucterius who had before attempted a similar invasion.</p>
+<p>Rebilus pursued them with two legions in order to avoid the
+shame of seeing the province suffering any injury from such a
+contemptible rabble. As for Fabius, he led the twenty-five cohorts
+against the Carnutes and the other tribes whose forces had already
+been reduced by the defeat they had suffered from Dumnacus. The
+Carnutes, though often beaten, had never been completely subdued.
+They gave hostages, and the Armoricans followed their example.
+Dumnacus, driven out of his own territory, went to seek a refuge in
+the remotest part of Gaul.</p>
+<p>Drappes and Lucterius, when they learned that they were pursued
+by Rebilus and his two legions, gave up the design of penetrating
+into the province; they halted in the country of the Cadurci and
+threw themselves into the <i>oppidum</i> of Uxellodunum
+(Puy-d'Issolu, near Varac), an exceedingly strong place formerly
+under the dependence of Lucterius, who soon incited the inhabitants
+to revolt.</p>
+<p>Rebilus appeared immediately before the town, which, surrounded
+on all sides by steep rocks, was, even without being defended,
+difficult of access to armed men. Knowing that there was in the
+oppidum so great a quantity of baggage that the besieged could not
+send it away secretly without being detected and overtaken by the
+cavalry, and even by the infantry, he divided his cohorts into
+three bodies and established three camps on the highest points.
+Next he ordered a countervallation to be made. On seeing these
+preparations the besieged remembered the ill-fortune of Alesia, and
+feared a similar fate. Lucterius, who had witnessed the horrors of
+famine during the investment of that town, now took especial care
+of the provisions.</p>
+<p>During this time the garrison of the oppidum attacked the
+redoubts of Rebilus several times, which obliged him to interrupt
+the work of the countervallation, which, indeed, he had not
+sufficient forces to defend.</p>
+<p>Drappes and Lucterius established themselves at a distance of
+ten miles from the oppidum, with the intention of introducing the
+provisions gradually. They shared the duties between them. Drappes
+remained with part of the troops to protect the camp. Lucterius,
+during the night-time, endeavored to introduce beasts of burden
+into the town by a narrow and wooded path. The noise of their march
+gave warning to the sentries. Rebilus, informed of what was going
+on, ordered the cohorts to sally from the neighboring redoubts, and
+at daybreak fell upon the convoy, the escort of which was
+slaughtered. Lucterius, having escaped with a small number of his
+followers, was unable to rejoin Drappes.</p>
+<p>Rebilus soon learned from prisoners that the rest of the troops
+which had left the oppidum were with Drappes at a distance of
+twelve miles, and that by a fortunate chance not one fugitive had
+taken that direction to carry him news of the last combat. The
+Roman general sent in advance all the cavalry and the light German
+infantry; he followed them with one legion, without baggage,
+leaving the other as a guard to the three camps. When he came near
+the enemy he learned, by his scouts, that the
+barbarians—according to their custom of neglecting the
+heights—had placed their camp on the banks of a river
+(probably the Dordogne); that the Germans and the cavalry had
+surprised them, and that they were already fighting. Rebilus then
+advanced rapidly at the head of the legion drawn up in order of
+battle and took possession of the heights.</p>
+<p>As soon as the ensigns appeared, the cavalry redoubled its
+ardor; the cohorts rushed forward from all sides and the Gauls were
+taken or killed. The booty was immense and Drappes fell into the
+hands of the Romans.</p>
+<p>Rebilus, after this successful exploit, which cost him but a few
+wounded, returned under the walls of Uxellodunum. Fearing no longer
+any attack from without, he set resolutely to work to continue his
+circumvallation. The day after, C. Fabius arrived, followed by his
+troops, and shared with him the labors of the siege. While the
+south of Gaul was the scene of serious trouble, Cæsar left
+the quaestor, Mark Antony, with fifteen cohorts in the country of
+the Bellovaci. To deprive the Belgæ of all idea of revolt he
+had proceeded to the neighboring countries with two legions; had
+exacted hostages, and restored confidence by his conciliating
+speeches. When he arrived among the Carnutes—who the year
+before had been the first to revolt—he saw that the
+remembrance of their conduct kept them in great alarm, and he
+resolved to put an end to it by causing his vengeance to fall only
+upon Gutruatus, the instigator of the war.</p>
+<p>This man was brought in and delivered up. Although Cæsar
+was naturally inclined to be indulgent, he could not resist the
+tumultuous entreaties of his soldiers, who made that chief
+responsible for all the dangers they had run and for all the misery
+they had suffered. Gutruatus died under the stripes and was
+afterward beheaded.</p>
+<p>It was in the land of the Carnutes that Cæsar received
+news, by the letters of Rebilus, of the events which had taken
+place at Uxellodunum and of the resistance of the besieged.
+Although a handful of men shut up in a fortress was not very
+formidable, he judged it necessary to punish their obstinacy, for
+fear that the Gauls should entertain the conviction that it was not
+strength, but constancy, which had failed them in resisting the
+Romans; and lest this example might encourage the other states
+which possessed fortresses advantageously situated, to recover
+their independence.</p>
+<p>Moreover, it was known everywhere among the Gauls that
+Cæsar had only one more summer to hold his command, and that
+after that time they would have nothing more to fear. He left
+therefore the lieutenant Quintus Calenus at the head of his two
+legions, with orders to follow him by ordinary marches, and, with
+his cavalry, hastened by long marches toward Uxellodunum.
+Cæsar, arriving unexpectedly before the town, found it
+completely defended at all accessible points. He judged that it
+could not be taken by assault (<i>neque ab oppugnatione recedi
+vidaret ulla conditione posse</i>), and, as it was abundantly
+provided with provisions, conceived the project of depriving the
+inhabitants of water.</p>
+<p>The mountain was surrounded almost on every side by very low
+ground, but on one side there existed a valley through which a
+river (the Tourmente) ran. As it flowed at the foot of two
+precipitous mountains the disposition of the localities did not
+admit of turning it aside and conducting it into lower channels. It
+was difficult for the besieged to come down to it, and the Romans
+rendered the approaches to it still more dangerous. They placed
+posts of archers and slingers, and brought engines which commanded
+all the slopes which gave access to the river. The besieged had
+thenceforth no other means of procuring water but by carrying it
+from an abundant spring which arose at the foot of the wall three
+hundred feet from the channel of the Tourmente. Cæsar
+resolved to drain this spring, and for this purpose he did not
+hesitate to attempt a laborious undertaking. Opposite the point
+where it rose he ordered covered galleries to be pushed forward
+against the mountain, and under protection of these a terrace to be
+raised—labors which were carried on in the midst of continual
+fighting and weariness.</p>
+<p>Although the besieged from their elevated position fought
+without danger and wounded many Romans, yet the latter did not
+yield to discouragement, but continued the work. At the same time
+they made a subterranean gallery, which, running from the covered
+galleries, was intended to lead up to the spring. This work,
+carried on free from all danger, was executed without being
+perceived by the enemy. The terrace attained a height of sixty feet
+and was surmounted by a tower of ten stories, which, without
+equalling the elevation of the wall—a result it was
+impossible to obtain—still commanded the fountain. Its
+approaches, battered by engines from the top of this tower, became
+inaccessible. In consequence of this, many men and animals in the
+place died of thirst. The besieged, terrified at this mortality,
+filled barrels with pitch, grease, and shavings, and rolled them
+flaming upon the Roman works, making at the same time a sally to
+prevent them from extinguishing the fire. Soon it spread to the
+covered galleries and the terrace, which stopped the progress of
+the inflammable materials.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding the difficult nature of the ground and the
+increasing danger, the Romans still persevered in their struggle.
+The battle took place on a height within sight of the army. Loud
+cries were raised on both sides. Each individual sought to rival
+his fellow in zeal, and the more he was exposed to view the more
+courageously he faced the missiles and the fire.</p>
+<p>Caesar, as he was sustaining great loss, determined to feign an
+assault. In order to create a diversion he ordered some cohorts to
+climb the hill on all sides, uttering loud cries. This movement
+terrified the besieged, who, fearing to be attacked at other
+points, called back to the defence of the wall those who were
+setting fire to the works. Then the Romans were enabled to
+extinguish the flames. The Gauls, although exhausted by thirst and
+reduced to a small number, ceased not to defend themselves
+vigorously. At length the subterranean gallery having reached the
+source of the spring, the supply was turned aside. The besieged,
+beholding the fountain suddenly become dry, believed in their
+despair that it was an intervention of the gods, and, submitting to
+necessity, surrendered.</p>
+<p>Caesar considered that the pacification of Gaul would never be
+completed if as strong a resistance was encountered in other towns.
+He thought it advisable to spread terror by a severe
+example—so much the more so as "the well-known mildness of
+his temper," says Hirtius, "would not allow this necessary rigor to
+be ascribed to cruelty." He ordered that all those who had borne
+arms should have their hands cut off, and sent them away living
+examples of the punishment reserved for rebels.</p>
+<p>Drappes, who had been taken prisoner, starved himself to death;
+Lucterius, who had been arrested by the Arvernan Epasnactus (a
+friend of the Romans), was delivered up to Caesar. While these
+events were taking place on the banks of the Dordogne, Labienus, in
+a cavalry engagement, had gained a decisive advantage over a part
+of the Treviri and Germans; had taken prisoner their chief, and
+thus subjected a people who were always ready to support any
+insurrection against the Romans. The Aeduan Surus fell also into
+his hands. He was a chief distinguished for his courage and birth,
+and the only one of that nation who had not yet laid down his
+arms.</p>
+<p>From that moment Caesar considered Gaul to be completely
+pacified. He resolved, however, to go himself to Aquitaine, which
+he had not yet visited and which Publius Crassus had partly
+conquered. Arriving there at the head of two legions, he obtained
+the complete submission of that country without difficulty. All the
+tribes sent him hostages. He proceeded next to Narbonne with a
+detachment of cavalry and charged his lieutenants to put the army
+into winter quarters. Four legions, under the orders of Mark
+Antony, Caius Trebonius, Publius Vatinius, and Q. Tullius, were
+quartered in Belgium, two among the Aedui and two among the Turones
+on the frontier of the Carnutes, to hold in check all the countries
+bordering on the ocean.</p>
+<p>These two last legions took up their winter quarters on the
+territory of the Lemovices, not far from the Arverni, so that no
+part of Gaul should be without troops. Caesar remained but a short
+time in the province, presiding hastily over the assemblies,
+determining cases of public dispute, and rewarding those who had
+served him well. He had had occasion more than anyone to know their
+sentiments individually, because during the general revolt of Gaul
+the fidelity and succor of the province had aided him in triumphing
+over it. When these affairs were settled he returned to his legions
+in Belgium and took up his winter quarters at Nemetocenna
+(Arras).</p>
+<p>There he was informed of the last attempts of Commius, who,
+continuing a partisan war at the head of a small number of cavalry,
+intercepted the Roman convoys. Mark Antony had charged C. Volusenus
+Quadratus, prefect of the cavalry, to pursue him. He had accepted
+the task eagerly in the hope of succeeding the second time better
+than the first, but Commius, taking advantage of the rash ardor
+with which his enemy had rushed upon him, had wounded him seriously
+and escaped. He was discouraged, however, and had promised Mark
+Antony to retire to any spot which should be appointed him on
+condition that he should never be compelled to appear before a
+Roman. This condition having been accepted, he had given hostages.
+Gaul was hereby subjugated. Death or slavery had carried off its
+principal citizens. Of all the chiefs who had fought for its
+independence only two survived—Commius and Ambiorix.</p>
+<p>Banished far from their country they died in obscurity.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_18"></a>ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 55 - A.D. 79</p>
+<p class="center">OLIVER GOLDSMITH</p>
+<p class="intros">When Julius Caesar received the province of Gaul
+as his government, B.C. 58, it was only a small portion of the
+territory inhabited by the Gauls or Celts, being almost
+conterminous with the mediaeval Provence. It was also at peace, and
+there seemed no excuse for making an extension of Roman territory
+among the three tribes or races between which Northern and Western
+Gaul were divided. But the Helvetii, who occupied that part of the
+Alps known to-day as Switzerland, meditated an emigration into the
+plains of Gaul, and, as their shortest route lay across the Roman
+provinces, they asked leave of Caesar to pass three hundred and
+sixty thousand souls in all, counting women and children, through
+the imperial territory.</p>
+<p class="intros">The Roman commander, after giving them an evasive
+answer, met them in the territory of the Sequani and Aedui and
+defeated them, driving them back to their mountains. He next went
+to the aid of the Aedui, ancient allies of Rome, against the
+Arverni and Sequani, who had invaded the Aeduan territory under a
+German chieftain, Ariovistus. The result was that Ariovistus was
+defeated and driven eastward across the Rhine. He then defeated the
+Belgae, who, in B.C. 57, took up arms against the garrisons which
+he had left in the country of the Sequani (dwellers on the Seine).
+He continued his conquest of the Belgic territory, and subjected
+the three nations who occupied it, finally entering the country of
+the warlike Nervii, whom he only conquered after a stubborn and
+bloody battle. As soon as he had subjugated the whole of Gaul, he
+crossed the Rhine for the purpose of intimidating the Germans and
+teaching them to keep within their own boundaries.</p>
+<p class="intros">He pursued the same policy with regard to the
+Britons, who, according to information received by him, had sent
+aid to the Gauls in their struggle with Rome. His ships were
+brought round from the Loire to that part of the French coast now
+known as Boulogne, and he set out for Britain, where he landed, and
+eventually received the submission of the British chieftains.</p>
+<p>The Britons in their rude and barbarous state seemed to stand in
+need of more polished instructors; and indeed whatever evils may
+attend the conquest of heroes, their success has generally produced
+one good effect in disseminating the arts of refinement and
+humanity. It ever happens when a barbarous nation is conquered by
+another more advanced in the arts of peace, that it gains in
+elegance a recompense for what it loses in liberty.</p>
+<p>The Britons had long remained in this rude but independent
+state, when Cæsar, having overrun Gaul with his victories,
+and willing still further to extend his fame, determined upon the
+conquest of a country that seemed to promise an easy triumph. He
+was allured neither by the riches nor by the renown of the
+inhabitants; but being ambitious rather of splendid than of useful
+conquests, he was willing to carry the Roman arms into a country
+the remote situation of which would add seeming difficulty to the
+enterprise and consequently produce an increase of reputation. His
+pretence was to punish these islanders for having sent succors to
+the Gauls while he waged war against that nation, as well as for
+granting an asylum to such of the enemy as had sought protection
+from his resentment.</p>
+<p>The natives, informed of his intention, were sensible of the
+unequal contest and endeavored to appease him by submission. He
+received their ambassadors with great complacency, and having
+exhorted them to continue steadfast in the same sentiments, in the
+mean time made preparations for the execution of his design. When
+the troops designed for the expedition were embarked he set sail
+for Britain about midnight, and the next morning arrived on the
+coast near Dover, where he saw the rocks and cliffs covered with
+armed men to oppose his landing.</p>
+<p>Finding it impracticable to gain the shore where he first
+intended, from the agitation of the sea and the impending
+mountains, he resolved to choose a landing-place of greater
+security. The place he chose was about eight miles farther on (some
+suppose at Deal), where an inclining shore and a level country
+invited his attempts. The poor, naked, ill-armed Britons we may
+well suppose were but an unequal match for the disciplined Romans
+who had before conquered Gaul and afterward became the conquerors
+of the world. However, they made a brave opposition against the
+veteran army; the conflicts between them were fierce, the losses
+mutual, and the success various.</p>
+<p>The Britons had chosen Cassibelaunus for their
+commander-in-chief; but the petty princes under his command, either
+desiring his station or suspecting his fidelity, threw off their
+allegiance. Some of them fled with their forces into the internal
+parts of the kingdom, others submitted to Caesar; till at length
+Cassibelaunus himself, weakened by so many desertions, resolved
+upon making what terms he was able while yet he had power to keep
+the field. The conditions offered by Caesar and accepted by him
+were that he should send to the Continent double the number of
+hostages at first demanded and that he should acknowledge
+subjection to the Romans.</p>
+<p>The Romans were pleased with the name of this new and remote
+conquest, and the senate decreed a supplication of twenty days in
+consequence of their general's success. Having therefore in this
+manner rather discovered than subdued the southern parts of the
+island, Caesar returned into Gaul with his forces and left the
+Britons to enjoy their customs, religion, and laws. But the
+inhabitants, thus relieved from the terror of his arms, neglected
+the performance of their stipulations, and only two of their states
+sent over hostages according to the treaty. Caesar, it is likely,
+was not much displeased at the omission, as it furnished him with a
+pretext for visiting the island once more and completing a conquest
+which he had only begun.</p>
+<p>Accordingly the ensuing spring he set sail for Britain with
+eight hundred ships,[<a href="#note-69">69</a>] and arriving at the
+place of his descent he landed without opposition. The islanders
+being apprised of his invasion had assembled an army and marched
+down to the sea-side to oppose him, but seeing the number of his
+forces, and the whole sea, as it were, covered with his shipping,
+they were struck with consternation and retired to their places of
+security. The Romans, however, pursued them to their retreats until
+at last common danger induced these poor barbarians to forget their
+former dissensions and to unite their whole strength for the mutual
+defence of their liberty and possessions.</p>
+<p><a name="note-69"><!-- Note Anchor 69 --></a>[Footnote 69: With
+regard to these Roman <i>ships</i>, let not our readers be misled
+by a familiar notion or a pompous name. They were but little more
+than rowboats, as may be easily imagined from the fact that Cicero
+instances for its uncommon magnitude a <i>ship</i> of only
+fifty-six tons! These ancient vessels were occasionally sheathed
+with leather or lead, and had the prow decorated with paint and
+gilding, while the stern was sometimes carved in the figure of a
+shield, elaborately adorned. Upon a staff there erected hung
+ribbons distinctive of the ship and serving at the same time to
+show the direction of the wind. There, too, stood the
+<i>tutela</i>, or chosen patron of the ship, to whom prayers and
+sacrifices were daily offered. The selection of this deity was
+guided by either private or professional reasons, and as merchants
+committed themselves to the protection of Mercury, or lovers to the
+care of Cupid, warriors, it will at once be surmised, made Mars the
+object of their pious supplication.</p>
+<p>At a later period than the epoch to which our present note
+attaches, when Constantius removed from Heliopolis to Rome an
+enormous obelisk, weighing fifteen hundred tons, the vessel on
+board of which it was shipped also carried <i>eleven hundred and
+thirty-eight tons</i> of pulse; but such vast and unmanageable
+masses were regarded as monsters, and owed their existence to the
+absolute urgency of a remarkable purpose, backed by the despotic
+institutions of the times.]</p>
+<p>Cassibelaunus was chosen to conduct the common cause, and for
+some time he harassed the Romans in their march and revived the
+desponding hopes of his countrymen. But no opposition that
+undisciplined strength could make was able to repress the vigor and
+intrepidity of Cæsar. He discomfited the Britons in every
+action; he advanced into the country, passed the Thames in the face
+of the enemy, took and burned the capital city of Cassibelaunus,
+established his ally Mandubratius as sovereign of the Trinobantes;
+and having obliged the inhabitants to make new submissions, he
+again returned with his army into Gaul, having made himself rather
+the nominal than the real possessor of the island.</p>
+<p>Whatever the stipulated tribute might have been, it is more than
+probable, as there was no authority left to exact it, that it was
+but indifferently paid. Upon the accession of Augustus, that
+Emperor had formed a design of visiting Britain, but was diverted
+from it by an unexpected revolt of the Pannonians. Some years after
+he resumed his design; but being met in his way by the British
+ambassadors, who promised the accustomed tribute and made the usual
+submissions, he desisted from his intention. The year following,
+finding them remiss in their supplies and untrue to their former
+professions, he once more prepared for the invasion of the country;
+but a well-timed embassy again averted his indignation, and the
+submissions he received seemed to satisfy his resentment; upon his
+death-bed he appeared sensible of the overgrown extent of the Roman
+Empire and recommended it to his successors never to enlarge their
+territories.</p>
+<p>Tiberius followed the maxims of Augustus and, wisely judging the
+empire already too extensive, made no attempt upon Britain. Some
+Roman soldiers having been wrecked on the British coast the
+inhabitants not only assisted them with the greatest humanity, but
+sent them in safety back to their general. In consequence of these
+friendly dispositions, a constant intercourse of good offices
+subsisted between the two nations; the principal British nobility
+resorted to Rome, and many received their education there.</p>
+<p>From that time the Britons began to improve in all the arts
+which contribute to the advancement of human nature. The first art
+which a savage people is generally taught by politer neighbors is
+that of war. The Britons thenceforward, though not wholly addicted
+to the Roman method of fighting, nevertheless adopted several of
+their improvements, as well in their arms as in their arrangement
+in the field. Their ferocity to strangers, for which they had been
+always remarkable, was mitigated and they began to permit an
+intercourse of commerce even in the internal parts of the country.
+They still, however, continued to live as herdsmen and hunters; a
+manifest proof that the country was yet but thinly inhabited. A
+nation of hunters can never be populous, as their subsistence is
+necessarily diffused over a large tract of country, while the
+husbandman converts every part of nature to human use, and
+flourishes most by the vicinity of those whom he is to support.</p>
+<p>The wild extravagances of Caligula by which he threatened
+Britain with an invasion served rather to expose him to ridicule
+than the island to danger. The Britons therefore for almost a
+century enjoyed their liberty unmolested, till at length the Romans
+in the reign of Claudius began to think seriously of reducing them
+under their dominion. The expedition for this purpose was conducted
+in the beginning by Plautius and other commanders, with that
+success which usually attended the Roman arms.</p>
+<p>Claudius himself, finding affairs sufficiently prepared for his
+reception, made a journey thither and received the submission of
+such states as living by commerce were willing to purchase
+tranquillity at the expense of freedom. It is true that many of the
+inland provinces preferred their native simplicity to imported
+elegance and, rather than bow their necks to the Roman yoke,
+offered their bosoms to the sword. But the southern coast with all
+the adjacent inland country was seized by the conquerors, who
+secured the possession by fortifying camps, building fortresses,
+and planting colonies. The other parts of the country, either
+thought themselves in no danger or continued patient spectators of
+the approaching devastation.</p>
+<p>Caractacus was the first who seemed willing, by a vigorous
+effort, to rescue his country and repel its insulting and rapacious
+conquerors.[<a href="#note-70">70</a>] The venality and corruption
+of the Roman prætors and officers, who were appointed to levy
+the contributions in Britain, served to excite the indignation of
+the natives and give spirit to his attempts. This rude soldier,
+though with inferior forces, continued for about the space of nine
+years to oppose and harass the Romans; so that at length Ostorius
+Scapula was sent over to command their armies. He was more
+successful than his predecessors. He advanced the Roman conquest
+over Britain, pierced the country of the Silures, a warlike nation
+along the banks of the Severn, and at length came up with
+Caractacus, who had taken possession of a very advantageous post
+upon an almost inaccessible mountain, washed by a deep and rapid
+stream.</p>
+<p><a name="note-70"><!-- Note Anchor 70 --></a>[Footnote 70: The
+character of this hero has been powerfully depicted by Beaumont and
+Fletcher, in one of their noblest dramas.]</p>
+<p>The unfortunate British general, when he saw the enemy
+approaching, drew up his army, composed of different tribes, and
+going from rank to rank exhorted them to strike the last blow for
+liberty, safety, and life. To these exhortations his soldiers
+replied with shouts of determined valor. But what could
+undisciplined bravery avail against the attack of an army skilled
+in all the arts of war and inspired by a long train of conquests?
+The Britons were, after an obstinate resistance, totally routed,
+and a few days after Caractacus himself was delivered up to the
+conquerors by Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, with whom he
+had taken refuge. The capture of this general was received with
+such joy at Rome that Claudius commanded that he should be brought
+from Britain in order to be exhibited as a spectacle to the Roman
+people. Accordingly, on the day appointed for that purpose, the
+Emperor, ascending his throne, ordered the captives and Caractacus
+among the number to be brought into his presence. The vassals of
+the British King, with the spoils taken in war, were first brought
+forward; these were followed by his family, who, with abject
+lamentations, were seen to implore for mercy.</p>
+<p>Last of all came Caractacus with an undaunted air and a
+dignified aspect. He appeared no way dejected at the amazing
+concourse of spectators that were gathered upon this occasion, but,
+casting his eyes on the splendors that surrounded him, "Alas!"
+cried he, "how is it possible that a people possessed of such
+magnificence at home could envy me an humble cottage in Britain?"
+When brought into the Emperor's presence he is said to have
+addressed him in the following manner: "Had my moderation been
+equal to my birth and fortune, I had arrived in this city not as a
+captive, but as a friend. But my present misfortunes redound as
+much to your honor as to my disgrace; and the obstinacy of my
+opposition serves to increase the splendor of your victory. Had I
+surrendered myself in the beginning of the contest, neither my
+disgrace nor your glory would have attracted the attention of the
+world, and my fate would have been buried in general oblivion. I am
+now at your mercy; but if my life be spared, I shall remain an
+eternal monument of your clemency and moderation." The Emperor was
+affected with the British hero's misfortunes and won by his
+address. He ordered him to be unchained upon the spot, with the
+rest of the captives, and the first use they made of their liberty
+was to go and prostrate themselves before the empress Agrippina,
+who as some suppose had been an intercessor for their freedom.</p>
+<p>Notwithstanding these misfortunes, the Britons were not subdued,
+and this island was regarded by the ambitious Romans as a field in
+which military honor might still be acquired. The Britons made one
+expiring effort to recover their liberty in the time of Nero,
+taking advantage of the absence of Paulinus, the Roman general, who
+was employed in subduing the isle of Anglesey. That small island,
+separated from Britain by a narrow channel, still continued the
+chief seat of the Druidical superstition, and constantly afforded a
+retreat to their defeated forces. It was thought necessary
+therefore to subdue that place, in order to extirpate a religion
+that disdained submission to foreign laws or leaders; and Paulinus,
+the greatest general of his age, undertook the task.</p>
+<p>The Britons endeavored to obstruct his landing on that last
+retreat of their superstitions and liberties, both by the force of
+their arms and the terrors of their religion. The priests and
+islanders were drawn up in order of battle upon the shore, to
+oppose his landing. The women, dressed like Furies, with
+dishevelled hair, and torches in their hands, poured forth the most
+terrible execrations. Such a sight at first confounded the Romans
+and fixed them motionless on the spot; so that they received the
+first assault without opposition. But Paulinus, exhorting his
+troops to despise the menaces of an absurd superstition, impelled
+them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field, burned the
+Druids in the same fires they had prepared for their captive
+enemies, and destroyed all their consecrated groves and altars.</p>
+<p>In the mean time the Britons, taking advantage of his absence,
+resolved, by a general insurrection, to free themselves from that
+state of abject servitude to which they were reduced by the Romans.
+They had many motives to aggravate their resentment—the
+greatness of their taxes, which were levied with unremitting
+severity; the cruel insolence of their conquerors, who reproached
+that very poverty which they had caused, but particularly the
+barbarous treatment of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, drove them at
+last into open rebellion.</p>
+<p>Prasatagus, king of the Iceni, at his death had bequeathed
+one-half of his dominions to the Romans, and the other to his
+daughters; thus hoping by the sacrifice of a part to secure the
+rest in his family; but it had a different effect; for the Roman
+procurator immediately took possession of the whole, and when
+Boadicea, the widow of the deceased, attempted to remonstrate, he
+ordered her to be scourged like a slave, and violated the chastity
+of her daughters. These outrages were sufficient to produce a
+revolt through the whole island. The Iceni, being the most deeply
+interested in the quarrel, were the first to take arms; all the
+other states soon followed the example, and Boadicea, a woman of
+great beauty and masculine spirit, was appointed to head the common
+forces, which amounted to two hundred and thirty thousand fighting
+men.</p>
+<p>These, exasperated by their wrongs, attacked several of the
+Roman settlements and colonies with success, Paulinus hastened to
+relieve London, which was already a flourishing colony; but found
+on his arrival that it would be requisite, for the general safety,
+to abandon that place to the merciless fury of the enemy. London
+was therefore soon reduced to ashes; such of the inhabitants as
+remained in it were massacred; and the Romans with all other
+strangers to the number of seventy thousand were cruelly put to the
+sword. Flushed with these successes the Britons no longer sought to
+avoid the enemy, but boldly came to the place where Paulinus
+awaited their arrival, posted in a very advantageous manner with a
+body of ten thousand men. The battle was obstinate and bloody.
+Boadicea herself appeared in a chariot with her two daughters and
+harangued her army with masculine firmness; but the irregular and
+undisciplined bravery of her troops was unable to resist the cool
+intrepidity of the Romans. They were routed with great slaughter;
+eighty thousand perished in the field, and an infinite number were
+made prisoners, while Boadicea herself, fearing to fall into the
+hands of the enraged victor, put an end to her life by poison. Nero
+soon after recalled Paulinus from a government where, by suffering
+and inflicting so many severities, he was judged improper to
+compose the angry and alarmed minds of the natives.</p>
+<p>After an interval, Cerealis received the command from Vespasian,
+and by his bravery propagated the terror of the Roman arms. Julius
+Frontinus succeeded Cerealis both in authority and reputation. The
+general who finally established the dominion of the Romans in this
+island was Julius Agricola, who governed it during the reigns of
+Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, and distinguished himself as well
+by his courage as humanity.</p>
+<p>Agricola, who is considered as one of the greatest characters in
+history, formed a regular plan for subduing and civilizing the
+island, and thus rendering the acquisition useful to the
+conquerors. As the northern part of the country was least
+tractable, he carried his victorious arms thither, and defeated the
+undisciplined enemy in every encounter. He pierced into the
+formerly inaccessible forests and mountains of Caledonia; he drove
+onward all those fierce and intractable spirits who preferred
+famine to slavery, and who, rather than submit, chose to remain in
+perpetual hostility. Nor was it without opposition that he thus
+made his way into a country rude and impervious by nature.</p>
+<p>He was opposed by Galgacus at the head of a numerous army, whom
+he defeated in a decisive action, in which considerable numbers
+were slain. Being thus successful, he did not think proper to
+pursue the enemy into their retreats; but embarking a body of
+troops on board his fleet, he ordered the commander to surround the
+whole coast of Britain, which had not been discovered to be an
+island till the preceding year. This armament, pursuant to his
+orders, steered to the northward, and there subdued the Orkneys;
+then making the tour of the whole island, it arrived in the port of
+Sandwich, without having met with the least disaster.</p>
+<p>During these military enterprises, Agricola was ever attentive
+to the arts of peace. He attempted to humanize the fierceness of
+those who acknowledged his power, by introducing the Roman laws,
+habits, manners, and learning. He taught them to desire and raise
+all the conveniences of life, instructed them in the arts of
+agriculture, and, in order to protect them in their peaceable
+possessions, he drew a rampart, and fixed a train of garrisons
+between them and their northern neighbors, thus cutting off the
+ruder and more barren parts of the island and securing the Roman
+province from the invasion of a fierce and necessitous enemy. In
+this manner the Britons, being almost totally subdued, now began to
+throw off all hopes of recovering their former liberty, and, having
+often experienced the superiority of the Romans, consented to
+submit, and were content with safety. From that time the Romans
+seemed more desirous of securing what they possessed than of making
+new conquests, and were employed rather in repressing than
+punishing their restless northern invaders.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_19"></a>CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF CÆSAR AND ANTONY</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 51-30</p>
+<p class="center">JOHN P. MAHAFFY</p>
+<p class="intros">Several Egyptian princesses of the line of the
+Ptolemies bore the name of Cleopatra, but history, romance, and
+tragedy are all illumined with the story of one—Cleopatra the
+daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. Born at Alexandria, B.C. 69, she ruled
+jointly with her brother Ptolemy from 51 to 48. Being then expelled
+by her colleague, she entered upon the performance of her part in
+Roman history when her cause was espoused by Julius Cæsar,
+whom she had captivated by her charms. Her reinstatement by the
+help of Cæsar, as well as all that followed in her relations
+with Roman rulers, was due primarily to personal considerations,
+rather than political or military causes; and among women whose
+lives have vitally influenced the conduct of great historic
+leaders, and thereby affected the course of events, Cleopatra holds
+a place at once the most conspicuous and most unique.</p>
+<p class="intros">Like Cæsar, Mark Antony, at his first
+interview with Cleopatra, succumbed to the fascinations of the
+"Rare Egyptian," and he never after ceased to be her slave. Not
+long after Cæsar's death Antony had married Fulvia, whom he
+deserted for the "enchanting queen." From this point to its
+culmination in overwhelming disaster and the tragic death of this
+celebrated pair of lovers, the romantic drama of Cleopatra's
+conquests becomes even more important in literature than in
+history. This extraordinary voluptuary, whose beauty and witcheries
+have interested mankind for almost twenty centuries, has been the
+subject of some thirty tragedies in various languages; and in
+<i>Antony and Cleopatra</i>—one of his greatest
+plays—Shakespeare, closely following the narratives of
+Plutarch and other classical writers, has invested her with a
+potency of charm unparalleled among literary creations.</p>
+<p class="intros">She matches Antony in qualities of intellect,
+while she dazzles him with her coquettish arts. "A queen, a siren,"
+says Thomas Campbell, "a Shakespeare's Cleopatra alone could have
+entangled Shakespeare's Antony." And Shakespeare alone, as declared
+by Mrs. Jameson, "has dared to exhibit the Egyptian Queen with all
+her greatness and all her littleness, all her paltry arts and
+dissolute passions, yet awakened our pity for fallen grandeur
+without once beguiling us into sympathy with guilt."</p>
+<p class="intros">Yet the plain history of this "Sorceress of the
+Nile," with her "infinite variety," as told by Plutarch and the
+other ancients, and retold, with whatever advantages gained from
+critical research, by the modern masters, makes the same impression
+of moral contrast and inscrutability as that imparted by the
+greatest poet who has dramatized the character of Cleopatra.</p>
+<p>Now at last Egypt, coming into close connection with the world's
+masters, becomes the stage for some of the most striking scenes in
+ancient history. They seem to most readers something new and
+strange—the pageants and passions of the fratricide Cleopatra
+as something unparalleled—and yet she was one of a race in
+which almost every reigning princess for the last two hundred years
+had been swayed by like storms of passion, or had been guilty of
+like daring violations of common humanity. What Arsino&euml;, what
+Cleopatra, from the first to the last, had hesitated to murder a
+brother or a husband, to assume the throne, to raise and command
+armies, to discard or adopt a partner of her throne from caprice in
+policy, or policy in caprice? But hitherto this desperate gambling
+with life had been carried on in Egypt and Syria; the play had been
+with Hellenistic pawns—Egyptian or Syrian princes; the last
+Cleopatra came to play with Roman pieces, easier apparently to move
+than the others, but implying higher stakes, greater glory in the
+victory, greater disaster in the defeat. Therefore is it that this
+last Cleopatra, probably no more than an average specimen of the
+beauty, talent, daring, and cruelty of her ancestors, has taken an
+unique place among them in the imagination of the world, and holds
+her own even now and forever as a familiar name throughout the
+world.</p>
+<p>Ptolemy Auletes, when dying, had taken great care not to
+bequeath his mortgaged kingdom to his Roman creditors. In his will
+he had named as his heirs the elder of his two sons, and his
+daughter, who was the eldest of the family. Nobody thought of
+claiming Egypt for a heritage of the Roman Republic, when the whole
+world was the prize proposed in the civil conflict, for though the
+war of Cæsar and Pompey had not actually broken out, the
+political sky was lowering with blackness, and the coming tempest
+was muttering its thunder through the sultry air. So Cleopatra, now
+about sixteen or seventeen years of age, and her much younger
+brother (about ten) assumed the throne as was traditional, without
+any tumult or controversy,</p>
+<p>The opening discords came from within the royal family. The
+tutors and advisers of the young King, among whom Pothinos, a
+eunuch brought up with him as his playmate, according to the custom
+of the court, was the ablest and most influential, persuaded him to
+assume sole direction of affairs and to depose his elder sister.
+Cleopatra was not able to maintain herself in Alexandria, but went
+to Syria as an exile, where she promptly collected an army, as was
+the wont of these Egyptian princesses, who seem to have resources
+always under their control, and returned—within a few months,
+says Cæsar—by way of Pelusium, to reconquer her lawful
+share in the throne. This happened in the fourth year of their
+so-called joint reign, B.C. 48, at the very time that Pompey and
+Cæsar were engaged in their conflict for a far greater
+kingdom.</p>
+<p>Cæsar expressed his opinion that the quarrel of the
+sovereigns in Egypt concerned the Roman people, and himself as
+consul, the more so as it was in his previous consulate that the
+recognition of and alliance with their father had taken place. So
+he signified his decision that Ptolemy and Cleopatra should dismiss
+their armies, and should discuss their claims before him by
+argument and not by arms. All our authorities, except Dio Cassius,
+state that he sent for Cleopatra that she might personally urge her
+claims; but Dio tells us, with far more detail and I think greater
+probability, "that at first the quarrel with her brother was argued
+for her by friends, till she, learning the amorous character of
+Cæsar, sent him word that her case was being mismanaged by
+her advocates, and she desired to plead it herself, She was then in
+the flower of her age (about twenty) and celebrated for her beauty.
+Moreover, she had the sweetest of voices, and every charm of
+conversation, so that she was likely to ensnare even the most
+obdurate and elderly man. These gifts she regarded as her claims
+upon Cæsar. She prayed therefore for an interview, and
+adorned herself in a garb most becoming, but likely to arouse his
+pity, and so came secretly by night to visit him."</p>
+<p>If she indeed arrived secretly and was carried into the palace
+by one faithful follower as a bale of carpet, it was from fear of
+assassination by the party of Pothinos. She knew that as soon as
+she had reached Cæsar's sentries she was safe; as the event
+proved, she was more than safe, for in the brief interval of peace,
+and perhaps even of apparent jollity, while the royal dispute was
+under discussion, she gained an influence over Cæsar which
+she retained till his death. Cæsar adjudicated the throne
+according to the will of Auletes; he even restored Cyprus to Egypt,
+and proposed to send the younger brother and his sister
+Arsino&euml; to govern it; but he also insisted on a repayment, in
+part at least, of the enormous outstanding debt of Auletes to him
+and his party.</p>
+<p>A few months after Cæsar's departure from Egypt Cleopatra
+gave birth to a son, whom she alleged, without any immediate
+contradiction, to be the dictator's. The Alexandrians called him
+Cæsarion, and she never swerved from asserting for him royal
+privileges. We hear of no other lover, though it is impossible to
+imagine Cleopatra arriving at the age of twenty without providing
+herself with this luxury. She was, however, afraid to let
+Cæsar live far from her influence, and some time before his
+assassination—that is to say, some time between B.C. 48 and
+44—she came with the young King her brother to Rome, where
+she was received in Cæsar's palace beyond the Tiber, causing
+by her residence there considerable scandal among the stricter
+Romans. Cicero confesses that he went to see her, but protests that
+his reasons for doing so were absolutely nonpolitical. Cicero found
+her haughty; he does not say she was beautiful and fascinating. We
+do not hear of any political activity on her part, though Cicero
+evidently suspects it; it is well-nigh impossible that she can have
+preferred her very doubtful position at Rome to her brilliant life
+in the East. She was suspected of urging Cæsar to move
+eastward the capital of his new empire, to desert Rome, and choose
+either Ilium, the imaginary cradle of his race, or Alexandria, as
+his residence. She is likely to have encouraged at all events his
+expedition against the Parthians, which would bring him to Syria,
+whence she hoped to gain new territory for her son. The whole
+situation is eloquently, perhaps too eloquently, described by
+Merivale, for he weaves in many conjectures of his own, as if they
+were ascertained facts.</p>
+<p>The colors of this imitation of a hateful original [the oriental
+despot] were heightened by the demeanor of Cleopatra, who followed
+her lover to Rome at his invitation. She came with the younger
+Ptolemæus, who now shared her throne, and her ostensible
+object was to negotiate a treaty between her kingdom and the
+Commonwealth. While the Egyptian nation was formally admitted to
+the friendship and alliance of Rome, its sovereign was lodged in
+Cæsar's villa on the other side of the Tiber, and the statue
+of the most fascinating of women was erected in the temple of the
+Goddess of Love and Beauty. The connection which subsisted between
+her and the dictator was unblushingly avowed. Public opinion
+demanded no concessions to its delicacy; the feelings of the
+injured Calpurnia had been blunted by repeated outrage, and
+Cleopatra was encouraged to proclaim openly that her child
+Cæsarion was the son of her Roman admirer. A tribune, named
+Helvius Cinna, ventured, it is said, to assert among his friends
+that he was prepared to propose a law, with the dictator's
+sanction, to enable him to marry more wives than one, for the sake
+of progeny, and to disregard in his choice the legitimate
+qualification of Roman descent. The Romans, however, were spared
+this last insult to their prejudices. The queen of Egypt felt
+bitterly the scorn with which she was popularly regarded as the
+representative of an effeminate and licentious people. It is not
+improbable that she employed her fatal influence to withdraw her
+lover from the Roman capital, and urged him to schemes of oriental
+conquest to bring him more completely within her toils. In the mean
+while the haughtiness of her demeanor corresponded with the
+splendid anticipations in which she indulged. She held a court in
+the suburbs of the city, at which the adherents of the dictator's
+policy were not the only attendants. Even his opponents and
+concealed enemies were glad to bask in the sunshine of her
+smiles.</p>
+<p>When Cæsar was assassinated, she was still at Rome, and
+had some wild hopes of having her son recognized by the
+Cæsareans. But failing in this she escaped secretly, and
+sailed to Egypt, not without causing satisfaction to cautious men
+like Cicero that she was gone. The passage in which he seems to
+allude to a rumor that she was about to have another
+child—another misfortune to the State—does not bear
+that interpretation. As he says not a word concerning the young
+king Ptolemy, we may assume that the youth was already dead, and
+that he died at Rome. The common belief was that Cleopatra poisoned
+him as soon as his increasing years made him troublesome to her. In
+her reign four years are assigned to a joint rule with her elder
+brother, four more to that with her younger, so that this latter
+must have died in the same year as Cæsar.</p>
+<p>Cleopatra, watching from Egypt the great civil war which ensued,
+summoned and commanded by the various leaders to send aid in ships
+and money, threatened with plunder and confiscation by those who
+were now exhausting Asia Minor and the islands with monstrous
+exactions, had ample occupation for her talents in steering safely
+among these constant dangers. Appian says she pleaded famine and
+pestilence in her country in declining the demands of Cassius for
+subsidies. The latter was on the point of invading Egypt, at the
+moment denuded of defending forces and <i>wasted with famine</i>,
+when he was summoned to Philippi by Brutus.</p>
+<p>It was not till B.C. 41, after the decisive battle of Philippi,
+that the victorious Antony, turning to subdue the East to the
+Cæsarean cause, held his <i>joyeuse entrée</i> into
+Ephesus, and then proceeded to drain all Asia Minor of money for
+the satisfaction of his greedy legionaries and his own still more
+greedy vices. Reaching Cilicia, he sent an order to the queen of
+Egypt to come before him and explain her conduct during the late
+war, for she was reported to have sent aid to Cassius. The sequel
+may be told in Plutarch's famous narrative:</p>
+<p>"Dellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen her
+face, and remarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, than he
+felt convinced that Antony would not so much as think of giving any
+molestation to a woman like this. On the contrary, she would be the
+first in favor with him. So he set himself at once to pay his court
+to the Egyptian, and gave her his advice, 'to go,' in the Homeric
+style, to Cilicia, 'in her best attire,' and bade her fear nothing
+from Antony, the gentlest and kindest of soldiers. She had some
+faith in the words of Dellius, but more in her own attractions,
+which, having formerly recommended her to Cæsar and the young
+Cnaeus Pompey, she did not doubt might yet prove more successful
+with Antony. Their acquaintance was with her when a girl, young,
+and ignorant of the world, but she was to meet Antony in the time
+of life when women's beauty is most splendid and their intellects
+are in full maturity. She made great preparation for her journey,
+of money, gifts, and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a
+kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in
+her own magic arts and charms.</p>
+<p>"She received several letters, both from Antony and from his
+friends, to summon her, but she took no account of these orders;
+and at last, as if in mockery of them, she came sailing up the
+river Cydnus, in a barge with gilded stern and outspread sails of
+purple, while oars of silver beat time to the music of flutes and
+fifes and harps. She herself lay all along, under a canopy of cloth
+of gold, dressed as Venus in a picture, and beautiful young boys,
+like painted cupids, stood on each side to fan her. Her maids were
+dressed like sea nymphs and graces, some steering at the rudder,
+some working at the ropes.[<a href="#note-71">71</a>] The perfumes
+diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered
+with multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either
+bank, part running out of the city to see the sight. The
+market-place was quite emptied, and Antony at last was left alone
+sitting upon the tribunal, while the word went through all the
+multitude that Venus was come to feast with Bacchus, for the common
+good of Asia.[<a href="#note-72">72</a>] On her arrival, Antony
+sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should come
+to her; so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he
+complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him
+magnificent beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the
+great number of lights, for on a sudden there was let down
+altogether so great a number of branches with lights in them so
+ingeniously disposed, some in squares and some in circles, that the
+whole thing was a spectacle that has seldom been equalled for
+beauty."</p>
+<p><a name="note-71"><!-- Note Anchor 71 --></a>[Footnote 71: There
+was no Egyptian feature in this show, which was purely
+Hellenistic.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-72"><!-- Note Anchor 72 --></a>[Footnote 72: How
+easily such a belief started up in the minds of a crowd in the Asia
+Minor of that day appears from Acts xiv. 11 <i>seq</i>., where the
+crowd at Iconium, on seeing a cripple cured, at once exclaim that
+the gods are come down to them in the likeness of men, and call
+Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief
+speaker, bringing sacrifices to offer to the apostles.]</p>
+<p>"The next day Antony invited her to supper, and was very
+desirous to outdo her as well in magnificence as contrivance; but
+he found he was altogether beaten in both, and was so well
+convinced of it that he was himself the first to jest and mock at
+his poverty of wit and his rustic awkwardness. She, perceiving that
+his raillery was broad and gross and savored more of the soldier
+than the courtier, rejoined in the same taste, and fell into it at
+once, without any sort of reluctance or reserve, for her actual
+beauty, it is said, was not in itself so remarkable that none could
+be compared with her, or that no one could see her without being
+struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if you lived with
+her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with
+the charm of her conversation and the character that attended all
+she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a pleasure merely
+to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of
+many strings, she could pass from one language to another; so that
+there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an
+interpreter. To most of them she spoke herself, as to the
+Ethiopians, troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes,
+Parthians, and many others, whose language she had
+learned;[<a href="#note-73">73</a>] which was all the more
+surprising, because most of the kings her predecessors scarcely
+gave themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and
+several of them quite abandoned the Macedonian."</p>
+<p><a name="note-73"><!-- Note Anchor 73 --></a>[Footnote 73: We
+have here the usual lies of courtiers.]</p>
+<p>"Antony was so captivated by her that, while Fulvia, his wife,
+maintained his quarrels in Rome against Cæsar by actual force
+of arms, and the Parthian troops, commanded by Labienus—the
+King's generals having made him commander-in-chief—were
+assembled in Mesopotamia, and ready to enter Syria, he could yet
+suffer himself to be carried away by her to Alexandria, there to
+keep holiday, like a boy, in play and diversion, squandering and
+fooling away in enjoyments that most costly, as Antiphon says, of
+all valuables, time. They had a sort of company, to which they gave
+a particular name, calling it that of the 'Inimitable Livers.' The
+members entertained one another daily in turn, with an extravagance
+of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a physician of
+Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in Alexandria,
+used to tell my grandfather Lamprias that, having some acquaintance
+with one of the royal cooks, he was invited by him, being a young
+man, to come and see the sumptuous preparations for dinner. So he
+was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety
+of all things, but, particularly seeing eight wild boars roasting
+whole, says he, 'Surely you have a great number of guests.' The
+cook laughed at his simplicity, and told him there were not above
+twelve to dine, but that every dish was to be served up just
+roasted to a turn, and if anything was but one minute ill-timed it
+was spoiled. 'And,' said he, 'maybe Antony will dine just now,
+maybe not this hour, maybe he will call for wine, or begin to talk,
+and will put it off. So that,' he continued, 'it is not one, but
+many dinners, must be had in readiness, as it is impossible to
+guess at his hour.'"</p>
+<p>Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but Cleopatra had a
+thousand. Were Antony serious or disposed to mirth she had any
+moment some new delight or charm to meet his wishes. At every turn
+she was upon him, and let him escape her neither by day nor by
+night. She played at dice with him, drank with him, hunted with
+him, and when he exercised in arms she was there to see. At night
+she would go rambling with him to joke with people at their doors
+and windows, dressed like a servant woman, for Antony also went in
+servant's disguise, and from these expeditions he always came home
+very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten severely, though
+most people guessed who it was. However, the Alexandrians in
+general liked it all well enough, and joined good-humoredly and
+kindly in his frolic and play, saying they were much obliged to
+Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome and keeping his comedy
+for them. It would be trifling without end to be particular in
+relating his follies, but his fishing must not be forgotten. He
+went out one day to angle with Cleopatra, and being so unfortunate
+as to catch nothing in the presence of his mistress, he gave secret
+orders to the fishermen to dive under water and put fishes that had
+been already taken upon his hooks, and these he drew in so fast
+that the Egyptian perceived it. But feigning great admiration, she
+told everybody how dexterous Antony was, and invited them next day
+to come and see him again. So when a number of them had come on
+board the fishing boats, as soon as he had let down his hook, one
+of her servants was beforehand with his divers and fixed upon his
+hook a salted fish from Pontus. Antony, feeling his line taut, drew
+up the prey, and when, as may be imagined, great laughter ensued,
+"Leave," said Cleopatra, "the fishing rod, autocrat, to us poor
+sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your game is cities, kingdoms,
+and continents."</p>
+<p>Plutarch does not mention the most tragic and the most
+characteristic proof of Cleopatra's complete conquest of Antony.
+Among his other crimes of obedience he sent by her orders and put
+to death the Princess Arsino&euml;, who, knowing well her danger,
+had taken refuge as a suppliant in the temple of Artemis
+Leucophryne at Miletus.</p>
+<p>It is not our duty to follow the various complications of war
+and diplomacy, accompanied by the marriage with the serious and
+gentle Octavia, whereby the brilliant but dissolute Antony was
+weaned, as it were, from his follies, and persuaded to live a life
+of public activity. Whether the wily Octavian did not foresee the
+result, whether he did not even sacrifice his sister to accumulate
+odium against his dangerous rival, is not for us to determine. But
+when it was arranged (in B.C. 36) that Antony should lead an
+expedition against the Parthians, any man of ordinary sense must
+have known that he would come within the reach of the eastern
+siren, and was sure to be again attracted by her fatal voice. It is
+hard to account for her strange patience during these four years.
+She had borne twins to Antony, probably after the meeting in
+Cilicia. Though she still maintained the claims of her eldest son
+Cæsarion to be the divine Julius' only direct heir, we do not
+hear of her sending requests to Antony to support him, or that any
+agents were working in her interests at Rome. She was too subtle a
+woman to solicit his return to Alexandria. There are mistaken
+insinuations that she thought the chances of Sextus Pompey, with
+his naval supremacy, better than those of Antony, but these stories
+refer to his brother Cnaeus, who visited Egypt before
+Pharsalia.</p>
+<p>It is probably to this pause in her life, as we know it, that we
+may refer her activity in repairing and enlarging the national
+temples. The splendid edifice at Dendera, at present among the most
+perfect of Egyptian temples, bears no older names than those of
+Cleopatra and her son Cæsarion, and their portraits represent
+the latter as a growing lad, his mother as an essentially Egyptian
+figure, conventionally drawn according to the rules which had
+determined the figures of gods and kings for fifteen hundred years.
+Under these circumstances it is idle to speak of this well-known
+relief picture as a portrait of the Queen. It is no more so than
+the granite statues in the Vatican are portraits of Philadelphus
+and Arsino&euml;. The artist had probably never seen the Queen, and
+if he had, it would not have produced the slightest alteration in
+his drawing.</p>
+<p>Plutarch expressly says that it was not in peerless beauty that
+her fascination lay, but in the combination of more than average
+beauty with many other personal attractions. The Egyptian portrait
+is likely to confirm in the spectator's mind the impression derived
+from Shakespeare's play, that Cleopatra was a swarthy Egyptian, in
+strong contrast to the fair Roman ladies, and suggesting a wide
+difference of race. She was no more an Egyptian than she was an
+Indian, but a pure Macedonian, of a race akin to, and perhaps
+fairer than, the Greeks.</p>
+<p>No sooner had Antony reached Syria than the fell influence of
+the Egyptian Queen revived. In the words of Plutarch:</p>
+<p>"But the mischief that thus long had lain still, the passion for
+Cleopatra, which better thoughts had seemed to have lulled and
+charmed into oblivion, upon his approach to Syria, gathered
+strength again, and broke out into a flame. And in fine, like
+Plato's restive and rebellious horse of the human soul, flinging
+off all good and wholesome counsel and breaking fairly loose, he
+sent Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra into Syria; to whom at her
+arrival he made no small or trifling present—Phoenicia,
+Coele-Syria, Cyprus, great part of Cilicia, that side of Judea
+which produces balm, that part of Arabia where the Nabathaeans
+extend to the outer sea—profuse gifts which much displeased
+the Romans. For although he had invested several private persons
+with great governments and kingdoms, and bereaved many kings of
+theirs, as Antigonus of Judea, whose head he caused to be struck
+off—the first example of that punishment being inflicted on a
+king—yet nothing stung the Romans like the shame of these
+honors paid to Cleopatra. Their dissatisfaction was augmented also
+by his acknowledging as his own the twin children he had by her,
+giving them the names of Alexander and Cleopatra, and adding, as
+their surnames, the titles of Sun and Moon."</p>
+<p>After much dallying the triumvir really started for the wild
+East, whither it is not our business to follow him. Cleopatra he
+sent home to Egypt, to await his victorious return, and it was on
+this occasion that she came in state to Jerusalem to visit Herod
+the Great—probably the most brilliant scene of the kind which
+had taken place since the queen of Sheba came to learn the wisdom
+of Solomon. But it was a very different wisdom that Herod
+professed, and in which he was verily a high authority, nor was the
+subtle daughter of the Ptolemies a docile pupil, but a practised
+expert in the same arts of cruelty and cunning; wherewith both
+pursued their several courses of ambition and sought to wheedle
+from their Roman masters cities and provinces. The reunion of
+Antony and Cleopatra must have greatly alarmed Herod, whose plans
+were directly thwarted by the freaks of Antony, and he must have
+been preparing at the time to make his case with Octavian, and seek
+from his favor protection against the new caprices of the then lord
+of the East.</p>
+<p>"The scene at Herod's palace must have been inimitable. The
+display of counter-fascinations between these two tigers; their
+voluptuous natures mutually attracted; their hatred giving to each
+that deep interest in the other which so often turns to mutual
+passion while it incites to conquest; the grace and finish of their
+manners, concealing a ruthless ferocity; the splendor of their
+appointments—what more dramatic picture can we imagine in
+history?</p>
+<p>"We hear that she actually attempted to seduce Herod, but
+failed, owing to his deep devotion to his wife Mariamne. The
+prosaic Josephus adds that Herod consulted his council whether he
+should not put her to death for this attempt upon his virtue. He
+was dissuaded by them on the ground that Antony would listen to no
+arguments, not even from the most persuasive of the world's
+princes, and would take awful vengeance when he heard of her death.
+So she was escorted with great gifts and politenesses back to
+Egypt."</p>
+<p>Such, then, was the character of this notorious Queen. But her
+violation of temples, and even of ancient tombs, for the sake of
+treasure must have been a far more public and odious exhibition of
+that want of respect for the sentiment of others which is the
+essence of bad manners.[<a href="#note-74">74</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-74"><!-- Note Anchor 74 --></a>[Footnote 74:
+<i>The Greek World under Roman Sway.</i>]</p>
+<p>As is well known, the first campaign of Antony against Armenians
+and Parthians was a signal failure, and it was only with great
+difficulty that he escaped the fate of Crassus. But Cleopatra was
+ready to meet him in Syria with provisions and clothes for his
+distressed and ragged battalions, and he returned with her to spend
+the winter (B.C. 36-35) at Alexandria. She thus snatched him again
+from his noble wife, Octavia, who had come from Rome to Athens with
+succors even greater than Cleopatra had brought. This at least is
+the word of the historians who write in the interest of the Romans,
+and regard the queen of Egypt with horror and with fear.</p>
+<p>The new campaign of Antony (B.C. 34) was apparently more
+prosperous, but it was only carried far enough to warrant his
+holding a Roman triumph at Alexandria—perhaps the only
+novelty in pomp which the triumvir could exhibit to the Alexandrian
+populace, while it gave the most poignant offence at Rome. It was
+apparently now that he made that formal distribution of provinces
+which Octavian used as his chief <i>casus belli</i>.</p>
+<p>"Nor was the division he made among his sons at Alexandria less
+unpopular. It seemed a theatrical piece of insolence and contempt
+of his country, for, assembling the people in the exercise ground,
+and causing two golden thrones to be placed on a platform of
+silver, the one for him and the other for Cleopatra, and at their
+feet lower thrones for their children, he proclaimed Cleopatra
+queen of Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and Coele-Syria, and with her
+conjointly Cæsarion, the reputed son of the former
+Cæsar. His own sons by Cleopatra were to have the style of
+'King of Kings'; to Alexander he gave Armenia and Media, with
+Parthia so soon as it should be overcome; to Ptolemy Phoenicia,
+Syria, and Cilicia. Alexander was brought out before the people in
+Median costume, the tiara and upright peak, and Ptolemy in boots
+and mantle and Macedonian cap done about with the diadem; for this
+was the habit of the successors of Alexander, as the other was of
+the Medes and Armenians. And, as soon as they had saluted their
+parents, the one was received by a guard of Macedonians, the other
+by one of Armenians. Cleopatra was then, as at other times when she
+appeared in public, dressed in the habit of the goddess Isis, and
+gave audience to the people under the name of the New Isis.</p>
+<p>"This over, he gave Priene to his players for a habitation, and
+set sail for Athens, where fresh sports and play-acting employed
+him. Cleopatra, jealous of the honors Octavia had received at
+Athens—for Octavia was much beloved by the
+Athenians—courted the favor of the people with all sorts of
+attentions. The Athenians, in requital, having decreed her public
+honors, deputed several of the citizens to wait upon her at her
+house, among whom went Antony as one, he being an Athenian citizen,
+and he it was that made the speech.</p>
+<p>"The speed and extent of Antony's preparations alarmed
+Cæsar, who feared he might be forced to fight the decisive
+battle that summer, for he wanted many necessaries, and the people
+grudged very much to pay the taxes; freemen being called upon to
+pay a fourth part of their incomes, and freed slaves an eighth of
+their property, so that there were loud outcries against him, and
+disturbances throughout all Italy. And this is looked upon as one
+of the greatest of Antony's oversights that he did not then press
+the war, for he allowed time at once for Cæsar to make his
+preparations, and for the commotions to pass over, for while people
+were having their money called for they were mutinous and violent;
+but, having paid it, they held their peace.</p>
+<p>"Titius and Plancus, men of consular dignity and friends to
+Antony, having been ill-used by Cleopatra, whom they had most
+resisted in her design of being present in the war, came over to
+Cæsar, and gave information of the contents of Antony's will,
+with which they were acquainted. It was deposited in the hands of
+the vestal virgins, who refused to deliver it up, and sent
+Cæsar word, if he pleased, he should come and seize it
+himself, which he did. And, reading it over to himself, he noted
+those places that were most for his purpose, and, having summoned
+the senate, read them publicly. Many were scandalized at the
+proceeding, thinking it out of reason and equity to call a man to
+account for what was not to be until after his death. Cæsar
+specially pressed what Antony said in his will about his burial,
+for he had ordered that even if he died in the city of Rome, his
+body, after being carried in state through the Forum, should be
+sent to Cleopatra at Alexandria.</p>
+<p>"Calvisius, a dependent of Cæsar's, urged other charges in
+connection with Cleopatra against Antony: that he had given her the
+library of Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct
+volumes; that at a great banquet, in the presence of many guests,
+he had risen up and rubbed her feet, to fulfil some wager or
+promise; that he had suffered the Ephesians to salute her as their
+queen; that he had frequently at the public audience of kings and
+princes received amorous messages written in tablets made of onyx
+and crystal, and read them openly on the tribunal; that when
+Furnius, a man of great authority and eloquence among the Romans,
+was pleading, Cleopatra happening to pass by in her litter, Antony
+started up and left them in the middle of their cause, to follow at
+her side and attend her home."[<a href="#note-75">75</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-75"><!-- Note Anchor 75 --></a>[Footnote 75:
+Plutarch: <i>Antony</i>.]</p>
+<p>When war was declared, Antony sought to gain the support of the
+East in the conflict. He made alliance with a Median king who
+betrothed his daughter to Cleopatra's infant son Alexander; but he
+made the fatal mistake of allowing Cleopatra to accompany him to
+Samos, where he gathered his army, and even to Actium, where she
+led the way in flying from the fight, and so persuading the
+infatuated Antony to leave his army and join in her disgraceful
+escape.</p>
+<p>Historians have regarded this act of Cleopatra as the mere
+cowardice of a woman who feared to look upon an armed conflict and
+join in the din of battle. But she was surely made of sterner
+stuff. She had probably computed with the utmost care the chances
+of the rivals, and had made up her mind that, in spite of Antony's
+gallantry, his cause was lost.[<a href="#note-76">76</a>] If she
+fought out the battle with her strong contingent of ships, she
+would probably fall into Octavian's hands as a prisoner, and would
+have no choice between suicide or death in the Roman prison, after
+being exhibited to the mob in Octavian's triumph. There was no
+chance whatever that she would have been spared, as was her sister
+Arsino&euml; after Julius Cæsar's triumph, nor would such
+clemency be less hateful than death. But there was still a chance,
+if Antony were killed or taken prisoner, that she might negotiate
+with the victor as queen of Egypt, with her fleet, army, and
+treasures intact, and who could tell what effect her charms, though
+now full ripe, might have upon the conqueror? Two great Romans had
+yielded to her, why not the third, who seemed a smaller man?</p>
+<p><a name="note-76"><!-- Note Anchor 76 --></a>[Footnote 76: Dion
+says that Antony was of the same opinion, and went into the battle
+intending to fly; but this does not agree with his character or
+with the facts.]</p>
+<p>This view implies that she was already false to Antony, and it
+may well be asked how such a charge is compatible with the
+affecting scenes which followed at Alexandria, where her policy
+seemed defeated by her passion, and she felt her old love too
+strong even for her heartless ambition? I will say in answer that
+there is no more frequent anomaly in the psychology of female love
+than a strong passion coexisting with selfish ambition, so that
+each takes the lead in turn; nay, even the consciousness of
+treachery may so intensify the passion as to make a woman embrace
+with keener transports the lover whom she has betrayed than one
+whom she has no thought of surrendering. There are, moreover, in
+these tragedies unexpected accidents, which so affect even the
+hardest nature that calculations are cast aside, and the old
+loyalty resumes a temporary sway. Nor must we fail to insist again
+upon the traditions wherein this last Cleopatra was born and bred.
+She came from a stock whose women played with love and with life as
+if they were mere counters. To hesitate whether such a scion of
+such a house would have delayed to discard Antony and to assume
+another passion is to show small appreciation of the effects of
+heredity and of example. Dion tells us that she arrived in
+Alexandria before the news of her defeat, pretended a victory, and
+took the occasion of committing many murders, in order to get rid
+of secret opponents, and also to gather wealth by confiscation of
+their goods, for both she and Antony, who came along the coast of
+Libya, seem still to have thought of defending the inaccessible
+Egypt, and making terms for themselves and their children with the
+conqueror. But Antony's efforts completely failed; no one would
+rally to his standard. And meanwhile the false Queen had begun to
+send presents to Cæsar and encourage him to treat with her.
+But when he bluntly proposed to her to murder Antony as the price
+of her reconciliation with himself, and when he even declared by
+proxy that he was in love with her, he clearly made a rash move in
+this game of diplomacy, though Dion says he persuaded her of his
+love, and that accordingly she betrayed to him the fortress of
+Pelusium, the key of the country. Dion also differs from Plutarch
+in repeatedly ascribing to Octavian great anxiety to secure the
+treasures which Cleopatra had with her, and which she was likely to
+destroy by fire if driven to despair.</p>
+<p>The historian may well leave to the biographer, nay, to the
+poet, the affecting details of the closing scenes of Cleopatra's
+life. In the fourth and fifth acts of <i>Antony and Cleopatra</i>
+Shakespeare has reproduced every detail of Plutarch's narrative,
+which was drawn from that of her physician Olympos. Her
+fascinations were not dead, for they swayed Dolabella to play false
+to his master so far as to warn her of his intentions, and leave
+her time for her dignified and royal end. But if these Hellenistic
+queens knew how to die, they knew not how to live. Even the
+penultimate scene of the tragedy, when she presents an inventory of
+her treasures to Octavian, and is charged by her steward with
+dishonesty, shows her in uncivilized violence striking the man in
+the face and bursting into indecent fury, such as an Athenian,
+still less a Roman, matron would have been ashamed to exhibit. Nor
+is there any reason to doubt the genuineness of this scene, though
+we must not be weary of cautioning ourselves against the hostile
+witnesses who have reported to us her life. They praise nothing in
+her but her bewitching presence and her majestic death.</p>
+<p>"After her repast Cleopatra sent to Cæsar a letter which
+she had written and sealed, and, putting everybody out of the
+monument but her two women, she shut the doors. Cæsar,
+opening her letter, and finding pathetic prayers and entreaties
+that she might be buried in the same tomb with Antony, soon guessed
+what was doing. At first he was going himself in all haste; but,
+changing his mind, he sent others to see. The thing had been
+quickly done. The messengers came at full speed, and found the
+guards apprehensive of nothing; but on opening the doors they saw
+her stone dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal
+ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her feet, and
+Charmion, just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was
+adjusting her mistress' diadem. And when one that came in said
+angrily, 'Was this well done of your lady, Charmion?' 'Perfectly
+well,' she answered, 'and as became the daughter of so many kings';
+and as she said this she fell down dead by the bedside."</p>
+<p>Even the hostile accounts cannot conceal from us that both in
+physique and in intellect she was a very remarkable figure,
+exceptional in her own, exceptional had she been born in any other,
+age. She is a speaking instance of the falsehood of a prevailing
+belief, that the intermarriage of near relations invariably
+produces a decadence in the human race. The whole dynasty of the
+Ptolemies contradicts this current theory, and exhibits in the last
+of the series the most signal exception. Cleopatra VI was descended
+from many generations of breeding-in, of which four exhibit
+marriages of full brother and sister. And yet she was deficient in
+no quality, physical or intellectual, which goes to make up a
+well-bred and well-developed human being. Her morals were indeed
+those of her ancestors, and as bad as could be, but I am not aware
+that it is degeneration in this direction which is assumed by the
+theory in question, except as a consequence of physical decay.
+Physically, however, Cleopatra was perfect. She was not only
+beautiful, but prolific, and retained her vigor, and apparently her
+beauty, to the time of her death, when she was nearly forty years
+old.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_20"></a>ASSASSINATION OF CÆSAR</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 44</p>
+<p class="center">NIEBUHR and PLUTARCH</p>
+<p class="intros">Cæsar's assassination forms the groundwork
+of one of Shakespeare's most notable tragedies. The "itching palm"
+of Cassius, Brutus' rectitude and honesty of purpose, and Mark
+Antony's oration will ever live while the English language endures.
+When the great Cæsar was struck down, the civil war was over
+and he was master of the world. The month of the year B.C. 100 in
+which he was born, Quinctilis, was afterward called in his honor,
+July.</p>
+<p class="intros">Caius Julius Cæsar was one of the greatest
+figures in history, and early took a prominent part in the affairs
+of Rome. He was a rival of Cicero in forensic eloquence and highly
+esteemed as a writer, his <i>Commentaries</i> being universally
+admired. Ransomed from pirates who had captured him on his way to
+study philosophy at Rhodes, he attacked them in turn, took them to
+Pergamus, and crucified them.</p>
+<p class="intros">After various successful engagements Cæsar
+marched against Pharnaces, now established in the kingdom of the
+Bosphorus, gaining at Zela, in Pontus, the decisive victory which
+he announced in the famous despatch, <i>Veni, vidi, vici</i> ("I
+came, I saw, I conquered").</p>
+<p class="intros">His unbounded affability, his liveliness and
+cordiality, his unaffected kindness to his friends had made him
+popular with the high as well as the low. His ambition began to
+show itself. During the wrangles over the election of Afranius as
+consul, Cæsar returned from his brilliant successes in Spain.
+The troops saluted him as imperator and the senate voted a
+thanksgiving in his honor. He was now strong enough to take his
+place as the leader of the popular party. He was elected consul in
+spite of the hostility of the senate.</p>
+<p class="intros">A coalition was formed between Cæsar and
+Pompey. Cæsar's agrarian law added to his popularity with the
+people, and he gained the influence of the <i>equites</i> by relief
+of one-third of the farmed taxes of Asia. He now became proconsul
+of Illyricum and Gaul for five years. This suited his ambition. At
+this time Pompey was the absolute master of Rome. And now arose his
+duel for power with Cæsar. For a time he opposed the latter's
+election as consul, but later yielded.</p>
+<p class="intros">Cæsar had achieved his brilliant success
+beyond the Alps. He had won victories in Gaul and Britain; but in
+the mean time his enemies had been active at Rome. Still believing
+that the senate would permit his quiet election to the consulship,
+he refused to strike any blow at their authority. But the senate
+had determined to humble Cæsar. Both Pompey and Cæsar
+were removed from leadership, but the Consul Marcellus refused to
+execute the decree. Cæsar was directed by the senate to
+disband his army by a fixed day, on pain of being considered a
+public enemy. Pompey sided with the senate. This meant civil war.
+Antony and Cassius fled to the camp of Cæsar, who was
+enthusiastically supported by his soldiers and "crossed the
+Rubicon."</p>
+<p class="intros">Having become master of all Italy in three months
+without a battle, Cæsar re&euml;ntered Rome. Pompey had fled,
+and at the battle of Pharsalia was utterly routed, and took refuge
+in Egypt, where he was murdered a few days before the arrival of
+Cæsar.</p>
+<p class="intros">Upon receipt of the news of Pompey's death
+Cæsar was named dictator for one year. The government was now
+placed without disguise in his hands. He was invested with the
+tribunician power for life. He was also again elected consul and
+named dictator.</p>
+<p class="intros">Cæsar had now become a demi-god, and was
+named dictator for ten years, being awarded a fourfold triumph, and
+a thanksgiving being decreed for forty days. He was also made
+censor. This was in B.C. 46. After defeating the remnant of the
+Pompeians, he returned to Rome in September, B.C. 45, and was named
+imperator, and appointed consul for ten years and dictator for
+life, being hailed as <i>Parens Patriæ</i>.</p>
+<p class="intros">All these triumphs had caused jealousies. It was
+thought that he aspired to become king, and this led to his
+fall.</p>
+<p class="center">NIEBUHR</p>
+<p>It is one of the inestimable advantages of a hereditary
+government commonly called the legitimate, whatever its form may
+be, that it may be formally inactive in regard to the state and the
+population—that it may reserve its interference until it is
+absolutely necessary, and apparently leave things to take their own
+course. If we look around us and observe the various constitutions,
+we shall scarcely perceive the interference of the government; the
+greater part of the time passes away without those who have the
+reins in their hands being obliged to pay any particular attention
+to what they are doing, and a very large amount of individual
+liberty may be enjoyed. But if the government is what we call a
+usurpation, the ruler has not only to take care to maintain his
+power, but in all that he undertakes he has to consider by what
+means and in what ways he can establish his right to govern, and
+his own personal qualifications for it. Men who are in such a
+position are urged on to act by a very sad necessity, from which
+they cannot escape, and such was the position of Cæsar at
+Rome.</p>
+<p>In our European States, men have wide and extensive spheres in
+which they can act and move. The much-decried system of
+centralization has indeed many disadvantages; but it has this
+advantage for the ruler, that he can exert an activity which shows
+its influence far and wide. But what could Cæsar do, in the
+centre of nearly the whole of the known world? He could not hope to
+effect any material improvements either in Italy or in the
+provinces. He had been accustomed from his youth, and more
+especially during the last fifteen years, to an enormous activity,
+and idleness was intolerable to him. At the close of the civil war
+he would have had little or nothing to do unless he had turned his
+attention to some foreign enterprise. He was obliged to venture
+upon something that would occupy his whole soul, for he could not
+rest. His thoughts were therefore again directed to war, and that
+in a quarter where the most brilliant triumphs awaited him, where
+the bones of the legions of Crassus lay unavenged—to a war
+against the Parthians. About this time the Getae also had spread in
+Thrace, and he intended to check their progress likewise. But his
+main problem was to destroy the Parthian empire and to extend the
+Roman dominion as far as India, a plan in which he would certainly
+have been successful; and he himself felt so sure of this that he
+was already thinking of what he should undertake afterward.</p>
+<p>It is by no means incredible that, as we are told, he intended
+on his return to march through the passes of the Caucasus, and
+through ancient Scythia into the country of the Getae, and thence
+through Germany and Gaul into Italy. Besides this expedition, he
+entertained other plans of no less gigantic dimensions. The port of
+Ostia was bad, and in reality little better than a mere roadstead,
+so that great ships could not come up the river. Accordingly it is
+said that Cæsar intended to dig a canal for sea-ships, from
+the Tiber, above or below Rome, through the Pomptine marshes as far
+as Terracina. He further contemplated to cut through the Isthmus of
+Corinth. It is not easy to see in what manner he would have
+accomplished this, considering the state of hydraulic architecture
+in those times. The Roman canals were mere <i>fossæ</i>, and
+canals with sluices, though not unknown to the Romans, were not
+constructed by them.[<a href="#note-77">77</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-77"><!-- Note Anchor 77 --></a>[Footnote 77: The
+first canals with sluices were executed by the Dutch in the
+fifteenth century.]</p>
+<p>The fact of Cæsar forming such enormous plans is not very
+surprising; but we can scarcely comprehend how it was possible for
+him to accomplish so much of what he undertook in the short time of
+five months preceding his death. Following the unfortunate system
+of Sulla, Cæsar founded throughout Italy a number of colonies
+of veterans. The old Sullanian colonists were treated with great
+severity, and many of them and their children were expelled from
+their lands, and were thus punished for the cruelty which they or
+their fathers had committed against the inhabitants of the
+municipia. In like manner colonies were established in Southern
+Gaul, Italy, Africa, and other parts; I may mention in particular
+the colonies founded at Carthage and Corinth. The latter, however,
+was a <i>colonia libertinorum</i>, and never rose to any
+importance. We do not know the details of its foundation, but one
+would imagine that Cæsar would have preferred restoring the
+place as a purely Greek town. This, however, he did not do. Its
+population was and remained a mixed one, and Corinth never rose to
+a state of real prosperity.</p>
+<p>Cæsar made various new arrangements in the State, and
+among others he restored the full franchise, or the <i>jus
+honorum</i>, to the sons of those who had been proscribed in the
+time of Sulla. He had obtained for himself the title of imperator
+and the dictatorship for life and the consulship for ten years.
+Half of the offices of the republic to which persons had before
+been elected by the centuries were in his gift, and for the other
+half he usually recommended candidates; so that the elections were
+merely nominal.</p>
+<p>The tribes seem to have retained their rights of election
+uncurtailed, and the last tribunes must have been elected by the
+people. But although Cæsar did not himself confer the
+consulship, yet the whole republic was reduced to a mere form and
+appearance. Cæsar made various new laws and regulations; for
+example, to lighten the burdens of debtors and the like; but the
+changes he introduced in the form of the constitution were of
+little importance. He increased the number of prætors, which
+Sulla had raised to eight, successively to ten, twelve, fourteen,
+and sixteen, and the number of quaestors was increased to forty.
+Hence the number of persons from whom the senate was to be filled
+up became greater than that of the vacancies, and Cæsar
+accordingly increased the number of senators, though it is
+uncertain what number he fixed upon, and raised a great many of his
+friends to the dignity of senators. In this, as in many other
+cases, he acted very arbitrarily; for he elected into the senate
+whomsoever he pleased, and conferred the franchise in a manner
+equally arbitrary. These things did not fail to create much
+discontent. It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding his mode
+of filling up the senate, not even the majority of senators were
+attached to his cause after his death.</p>
+<p>If we consider the changes and regulations which Cæsar
+introduced, it must strike us as a singular circumstance that among
+all his measures there is no trace of any indicating that he
+thought of modifying the constitution for the purpose of putting an
+end to the anarchy, for all his changes are in reality not
+essential or of great importance. Sulla felt the necessity of
+remodelling the constitution, but he did not attain his end; and
+the manner, too, in which he set about it was that of a
+short-sighted man; but he was at least intelligent enough to see
+that the constitution as it then was could not continue to exist.
+In the regulations of Cæsar we see no trace of such a
+conviction; and I think that he despaired of the possibility of
+effecting any real good by constitutional reforms. Hence, among all
+his laws there is not one that had any relation to the
+constitution. The fact of his increasing the number of patrician
+families had no reference to the constitution; so far in fact were
+the patricians from having any advantages over the plebeians that
+the office of the two <i>oediles Cereales</i>, which Cæsar
+instituted, was confined to the plebeians—a regulation which
+was opposed to the very nature of the patriciate.</p>
+<p>His raising persons to the rank of patricians was neither more
+nor less than the modern practice of raising a family to the rank
+of nobility; he picked out an individual and gave him the rank of
+patrician for himself and his descendants, but did not elevate a
+whole gens. The distinction itself was merely a nominal one and
+conferred no privilege upon a person except that of holding certain
+priestly offices, which could be filled by none but patricians, and
+for which their number was scarcely sufficient. If Cæsar had
+died quietly the republic would have been in the same, nay, in a
+much worse, state of dissolution than if he had not existed at all.
+I consider it a proof of the wisdom and good sense of Cæsar
+that he did not, like Sulla, think an improvement in the state of
+public affairs so near at hand or a matter of so little difficulty.
+The cure of the disease lay yet at a very great distance, and the
+first condition on which it could be undertaken was the sovereignty
+of Cæsar, a condition which would have been quite unbearable
+even to many of his followers, who as rebels did not scruple to go
+along with him. But Rome could no longer exist as a republic.</p>
+<p>It is curious to see in Cicero's work, <i>de Republica</i>, the
+consciousness running through it that Rome, as it then stood,
+required the strong hand of a king. Cicero had surely often owned
+this to himself; but he saw no one who would have entered into such
+an idea. The title of king had a great fascination for Cæsar,
+as it had for Cromwell—a surprising phenomenon in a practical
+mind like that of Cæsar. Everyone knows the fact that while
+Cæsar was sitting on the <i>suggestum</i>, during the
+celebration of the <i>Lupercalia</i>, Antony presented to him the
+diadem, to try how the people would take it. Cæsar saw the
+great alarm which the act created and declined the diadem for the
+sake of appearance; but had the people been silent, Cæsar
+would unquestionably have accepted it. His refusal was accompanied
+by loud shouts of acclamation, which for the present rendered all
+further attempts impossible. Antony then had a statue of
+Cæsar adorned with the diadem; but two tribunes of the
+people, L. Caesetius Flavus and Epidius Marullus, took it away: and
+here Cæsar showed the real state of his feelings, for he
+treated the conduct of the tribunes as a personal insult toward
+himself. He had lost his self-possession and his fate carried him
+irresistibly onward. He wished to have the tribunes imprisoned, but
+was prevailed upon to be satisfied with their being stripped of
+their office and sent into exile.</p>
+<p>This created a great sensation at Rome. Cæsar had also
+been guilty of an act of thoughtlessness, or perhaps merely of
+distraction, as might happen very easily to a man in his
+circumstances. When the senate had made its last decrees,
+conferring upon Cæsar unlimited powers, the senators,
+consuls, and prætors, or the whole senate, in festal attire,
+presented the decrees to him, and Cæsar at the moment forgot
+to show his respect for the senators; he did not rise from his
+<i>sella curulis</i>, but received the decrees in an unceremonious
+manner. This want of politeness was never forgiven by the persons
+who had not scrupled to make him their master; for it had been
+expected that he would at least behave politely and be grateful for
+such decrees.[<a href="#note-78">78</a>] Cæsar himself had no
+design in the act, which was merely the consequence of distraction
+or thoughtlessness; but it made the senate his irreconcilable
+enemies. The affair with the tribunes, moreover, had made a deep
+impression upon the people. We must, however, remember that the
+people under such circumstances are most sensible to anything
+affecting their honor, as we have seen at the beginning of the
+French Revolution.</p>
+<p><a name="note-78"><!-- Note Anchor 78 --></a>[Footnote 78: I
+have known an instance of a man of rank and influence who could
+never forgive another man, who was by far his superior in every
+respect, for having forgotten to take off his hat during a
+visit.]</p>
+<p>In the year of Cæsar's death, Brutus and Cassius were
+prætors. Both had been generals under Pompey. Brutus' mother,
+Servilia, was a half-sister of Cato, for after the death of her
+first husband Cato's mother had married Servilius Caepio. She was a
+remarkable woman, but very immoral, and unworthy of her son; not
+even the honor of her own daughter was sacred to her. The family of
+Brutus derived its origin from L. Junius Brutus, and from the time
+of its first appearance among the plebeians it had had few men of
+importance to boast of. During the period subsequent to the passing
+of the Licinian laws we meet with some Junii in the Fasti, but not
+one of them acquired any great reputation. The family had become
+reduced and almost contemptible. One M. Brutus in particular
+disgraced his family by sycophancy in the time of Sulla and was
+afterward killed in Gaul by Pompey. Although no Roman family
+belonged to a more illustrious gens, yet Brutus was not by any
+means one of those men who are raised by fortunate circumstances.
+The education, however, which he received had a great influence
+upon him. His uncle Cato, whose daughter Porcia he
+married—whether in Cato's lifetime or afterward is
+doubtful—had initiated him from his early youth in the Stoic
+philosophy, and had instilled into his mind a veneration for it, as
+though it had been a religion.</p>
+<p>Brutus had qualities which Cato did not possess. The latter had
+something of an ascetic nature, and was, if I may say so, a
+scrupulously pious character; but Brutus had no such scrupulous
+timidity; his mind was more flexible and lovable. Cato spoke well,
+but could not be reckoned among the eloquent men of his time.
+Brutus' great talents had been developed with the utmost care, and
+if he had lived longer and in peace he would have become a
+classical writer of the highest order. He had been known to Cicero
+from his early age, and Cicero felt a fatherly attachment to him;
+he saw in him a young man who he hoped would exert a beneficial
+influence upon the next generation.</p>
+<p>Cæsar too had known and loved him from his childhood; but
+the stories which are related to account for this attachment must
+be rejected as foolish inventions of idle persons; for nothing is
+more natural than that Cæsar should look with great fondness
+upon a young man of such extraordinary and amiable qualities. The
+absence of envy was one of the distinguishing features in the
+character of Cæsar, as it was in that of Cicero. In the
+battle of Pharsalus, Brutus served in the army of Pompey, and after
+the battle he wrote a letter to Cæsar, who had inquired after
+him; and when Cæsar heard of his safety he was delighted, and
+invited him to his camp. Cæsar afterward gave him the
+administration of Cisalpine Gaul, where Brutus distinguished
+himself in a very extraordinary manner by his love of justice.</p>
+<p>Cassius was related to Brutus, and had likewise belonged to the
+Pompeian party, but he was very unlike Brutus; he was much older,
+and a distinguished military officer. After the death of Crassus he
+had maintained himself as quaestor in Syria against the Parthians,
+and he enjoyed a very great reputation in the army, but he was
+after all no better than an ordinary officer of Cæsar. After
+the battle of Pharsalus, Cæsar did not at first know whither
+Pompey was gone. Cassius was at the time stationed with some
+galleys in the Hellespont, notwithstanding which Cæsar with
+his usual boldness took a boat to sail across that strait, and on
+meeting Cassius called upon him to embrace his party. Cassius
+readily complied, and Cæsar forgave him, as he forgave all
+his adversaries: even Marcellus, who had mortally offended him, was
+pardoned at the request of Cicero. Cæsar thus endeavored to
+efface all recollections of the civil war.</p>
+<p>Cæsar had appointed both Brutus and Cassius prætors
+for that year. With the exception of the office of <i>prætor
+urbanus</i>, which was honorable and lucrative, the
+prætorship was a burdensome office and conferred little
+distinction, since the other prætors were only the presidents
+of the courts. Formerly they had been elected by lot, but the
+office was now altogether in the gift of Cæsar. Both Brutus
+and Cassius had wished for the prætura urbana, and, when
+Cæsar gave that office to Brutus, Cassius was not only
+indignant at Cæsar, but began quarrelling with Brutus also.
+While Cassius was in this state of exasperation, a meeting of the
+senate was announced for the 15th of March, on which day, as the
+report went, a proposal was to be made to offer Cæsar the
+crown. This was a welcome opportunity for Cassius, who resolved to
+take vengeance, for he had even before entertained a personal
+hatred of Cæsar, and was now disappointed at not having
+obtained the city prætorship. He first sounded Brutus and,
+finding that he was safe, made direct overtures to him. During the
+night some one wrote on the tribunal and the house of Brutus the
+words, "Remember that thou art Brutus."</p>
+<p>Brutus became reconciled to Cassius, offered his assistance, and
+gained over several other persons to join the conspiracy. All party
+differences seemed to have vanished all at once; two of the
+conspirators were old generals of Cæsar, C. Trebonius and
+Decimus Brutus, both of whom had fought with him in Gaul, and
+against Massilia, and had been raised to high honors by their
+chief. There were among the conspirators persons of all parties.
+Men who had fought against one another at Pharsalus now went
+hand-in-hand and intrusted their lives to one another. No proposals
+were made to Cicero, the reasons usually assigned for which are of
+the most calumniatory kind. It is generally said that the
+conspirators had no confidence in Cicero, an opinion which is
+perfectly contemptible. Cicero would not have betrayed them for any
+consideration, but what they feared were his objections. Brutus had
+as noble a soul as anyone, but he was passionate; Cicero, on the
+other hand, who was at an advanced age, had many sad experiences,
+and his feelings were so exceedingly delicate that he could not
+have consented to take away the life of him to whom he himself owed
+his own, who had always behaved most nobly toward him, and had
+intentionally drawn him before the world as his friend.</p>
+<p>Cæsar's conduct toward those who had fought in the ranks
+of Pompey and afterward returned to him was extremely noble, and he
+regarded the reconciliation of those men as a personal favor
+conferred upon himself. All who knew Cicero must have been
+convinced that he would not have given his consent to the plan of
+the conspirators; and if they ever did give the matter a serious
+thought, they must have owned to themselves that every wise man
+would have dissuaded them from it; for it was in fact the most
+complete absurdity to fancy that the republic could be restored by
+Cæsar's death. Goethe says somewhere that the murder of
+Cæsar was the most senseless act that the Romans ever
+committed; and a truer word was never spoken. The result of it
+could not possibly be any other than that which did follow the
+deed.</p>
+<p>Cæsar was cautioned by Hirtius and Pansa, both wise men of
+noble character, especially the former, who saw that the republic
+must become consolidated and not thrown into fresh convulsions.
+They advised Cæsar to be careful, and to take a bodyguard;
+but he replied that he would rather not live at all than be in
+constant fear of losing his life. Cæsar once expressed to
+some of his friends his conviction that Brutus was capable of
+harboring a murderous design, but he added that as he, Cæsar,
+could not live much longer, Brutus would wait, and not be guilty of
+such a crime. Cæsar's health was at that time weak, and the
+general opinion was that he intended to surrender his power to
+Brutus as the most worthy. While the conspirators were making their
+preparations, Porcia, the wife of Brutus, inferred from the
+excitement and restlessness of her husband that some fearful secret
+was pressing on his mind; but as he did not show her any
+confidence, she seriously wounded herself with a knife and was
+seized with a violent wound-fever. No one knew the cause of her
+illness; and it was not till after many entreaties of her husband
+that at length she revealed it to him, saying that as she had been
+able to conceal the cause of her illness, so she could also keep
+any secret that might be intrusted to her. Her entreaties induced
+Brutus to communicate to her the plan of the conspirators.
+Cæsar was also cautioned by the haruspices, by a dream of his
+wife, and by his own forebodings, which we have no reason for
+doubting. But on the morning of the 15th of March, the day fixed
+upon for assassinating Cæsar, Decimus Brutus treacherously
+enticed him to go with him to the Curia, as it was impossible to
+delay the deed any longer.</p>
+<p>The conspirators were at first seized with fear lest their plan
+should be betrayed; but on Cæsar's entrance into the senate
+house, C. Tillius (not Tullius) Cimber made his way up to him, and
+insulted him with his importunities, and Casca gave the first
+stroke. Cæsar fell covered with twenty-three wounds. He was
+either in his fifty-sixth year or had completed it; I am not quite
+certain on this point, though, if we judge by the time of his first
+consulship, he must have been fifty-six years old. His birthday,
+which is not generally known, was the 11th of Quinctilis, which
+month was afterward called Julius, and his death took place on the
+15th of March, between eleven and twelve o'clock.</p>
+<p class="center">PLUTARCH</p>
+<p>At one time the senate having decreed Cæsar some
+extravagant honors, the consuls and prætors, attended by the
+whole body of patricians, went to inform him of what they had done.
+When they came, he did not rise to receive them, but kept his seat,
+as if they had been persons in a private station, and his answer to
+their address was, "that there was more need to retrench his honors
+than to enlarge them." This haughtiness gave pain not only to the
+senate, but the people, who thought the contempt of that body
+reflected dishonor upon the whole Commonwealth; for all who could
+decently withdraw went off greatly dejected.</p>
+<p>Perceiving the false step he had taken, he retired immediately
+to his own house, and, laying his neck bare, told his friends "he
+was ready for the first hand that would strike." He then bethought
+himself of alleging his distemper as an excuse; and asserted that
+those who are under its influence are apt to find their faculties
+fail them when they speak standing, a trembling and giddiness
+coming upon them, which bereave them of their senses. This,
+however, was not really the case; for it is said he was desirous to
+rise to the senate; but Cornelius Balbus, one of his friends, or
+rather flatterers, held him, and had servility enough to say, "Will
+you not remember that you are Cæsar, and suffer them to pay
+their court to you as their superior?"</p>
+<p>These discontents were greatly increased by the indignity with
+which he treated the tribunes of the people. In the Lupercalia,
+which, according to most writers, is an ancient pastoral feast, and
+which answers in many respects to the <i>Lycaea</i> among the
+Arcadians, young men of noble families, and indeed many of the
+magistrates, run about the streets naked, and, by way of diversion,
+strike all they meet with leathern thongs with the hair upon them.
+Numbers of women of the first quality put themselves in their way,
+and present their hands for stripes—as scholars do to a
+master—being persuaded that the pregnant gain an easy
+delivery by it, and that the barren are enabled to conceive.
+Cæsar wore a triumphal robe that day, and seated himself in a
+golden chair upon the <i>rostra</i>, to see the ceremony.</p>
+<p>Antony ran among the rest, in compliance with the rules of the
+festival, for he was consul. When he came into the Forum, and the
+crowd had made way for him, he approached Cæsar, and offered
+him a diadem wreathed with laurel. Upon this some plaudits were
+heard, but very feeble, because they proceeded only from persons
+placed there on purpose. Cæsar refused it, and then the
+plaudits were loud and general. Antony presented it once more, and
+few applauded his officiousness; but when Cæsar rejected it
+again, the applause again was general. Cæsar, undeceived by
+his second trial, rose up and ordered the diadem to be consecrated
+in the Capitol.</p>
+<p>A few days after, his statues were seen adorned with royal
+diadems; and Flavius and Marullus, two of the tribunes, went and
+tore them off. They also found out the persons who first saluted
+Cæsar king, and committed them to prison. The people followed
+with cheerful acclamations, and called them Brutuses, because
+Brutus was the man who expelled the kings and put the government in
+the hands of the senate and people. Cæsar, highly incensed at
+their behavior, deposed the tribunes, and by way of reprimand to
+them, as well as insult to the people, called them several times
+<i>Brutes</i> and <i>Cumceans</i>.</p>
+<p>Upon this, many applied to Marcus Brutus, who, by the father's
+side, was supposed to be a descendant of that ancient Brutus, and
+whose mother was of the illustrious house of the Servilli. He was
+also nephew and son-in-law to Cato. No man was more inclined than
+he to lift his hand against monarchy, but he was withheld by the
+honors and favors he had received from Cæsar, who had not
+only given him his life after the defeat of Pompey at Pharsalia,
+and pardoned many of his friends at his request, but continued to
+honor him with his confidence. That very year he had procured him
+the most honorable prætorship, and he had named him for the
+consulship four years after, in preference to Cassius, who was his
+competitor; on which occasion Cæsar is reported to have said,
+"Cassius assigns the strongest reasons, but I cannot refuse
+Brutus."</p>
+<p>Some impeached Brutus after the conspiracy was formed; but,
+instead of listening to them, he laid his hand on his body and
+said, "Brutus will wait for this skin"; intimating that though the
+virtue of Brutus rendered him worthy of empire, he would not be
+guilty of any ingratitude or baseness to obtain it. Those, however,
+who were desirous of a change kept their eyes upon him only, or
+principally at least; and as they durst not speak out plain, they
+put billets night after night in the tribunal and seat which he
+used as prætor, mostly in these terms: "Thou sleepest,
+Brutus," or, "Thou art not Brutus."</p>
+<p>Cassius, perceiving his friend's ambition a little stimulated by
+these papers, began to ply him closer than before, and spur him on
+to the great enterprise; for he had a particular enmity against
+Cæsar. Cæsar, too, had some suspicion of him, and he
+even said one day to his friends: "What think you of Cassius? I do
+not like his pale looks." Another time, when Antony and Dolabella
+were accused of some designs against his person and government, he
+said: "I have no apprehensions from those fat and sleek men; I
+rather fear the pale and lean ones," meaning Cassius and
+Brutus.</p>
+<p>It seems, from this instance, that fate is not so secret as it
+is inevitable; for we are told there were strong signs and presages
+of the death of Cæsar. As to the lights in the heavens, the
+strange noises heard in various quarters by night, and the
+appearance of solitary birds in the Forum, perhaps they deserve not
+our notice in so great an event as this. But some attention should
+be given to Strabo the philosopher. According to him there were
+seen in the air men of fire encountering each other; such a flame
+appeared to issue from the hand of a soldier's servant that all the
+spectators thought it must be burned, yet, when it was over, he
+found no harm; and one of the victims which Cæsar offered was
+found without a heart. The latter was certainly a most alarming
+prodigy; for, according to the rules of nature, no creature can
+exist without a heart. What is still more extraordinary, many
+report that a certain soothsayer forewarned him of a great danger
+which threatened him on the ides of March, and that when the day
+was come, as he was going to the senate house, he called to the
+soothsayer, and said, laughing, "The ides of March are come"; to
+which he answered softly, "Yes; but they are not gone."</p>
+<p>The evening before, he supped with Marcus Lepidus, and signed,
+according to custom, a number of letters, as he sat at table. While
+he was so employed, there arose a question, "What kind of death was
+the best?" and Cæsar, answering before them all, cried out,
+"A sudden one." The same night, as he was in bed with his wife, the
+doors and windows of the room flew open at once. Disturbed both
+with the noise and the light, he observed, by moonshine, Calpurnia
+in a deep sleep, uttering broken words and inarticulate groans. She
+dreamed that she was weeping over him, as she held him, murdered,
+in her arms. Others say she dreamed that the pinnacle was fallen,
+which, as Livy tells us, the senate had ordered to be erected upon
+Cæsar's house by way of ornament and distinction; and that it
+was the fall of it which she lamented and wept for. Be that as it
+may, the next morning she conjured Cæsar not to go out that
+day if he could possibly avoid it, but to adjourn the senate; and,
+if he had no regard to her dreams, to have recourse to some other
+species of divination, or to sacrifices, for information as to his
+fate. This gave him some suspicion and alarm; for he had never
+known before, in Calpurnia, anything of the weakness or
+superstition of her sex, though she was now so much affected.</p>
+<p>He therefore offered a number of sacrifices, and, as the
+diviners found no auspicious tokens in any of them, he sent Antony
+to dismiss the senate. In the mean time Decius Brutus, surnamed
+Albinus, came in. He was a person in whom Cæsar placed such
+confidence that he had appointed him his second heir, yet he was
+engaged in the conspiracy with the other Brutus and Cassius. This
+man, fearing that if Cæsar adjourned the senate to another
+day the affair might be discovered, laughed at the diviners, and
+told Cæsar he would be highly to blame if by such a slight he
+gave the senate an occasion of complaint against him. "For they
+were met," he said, "at his summons, and came prepared with one
+voice to honor him with the title of king in the provinces, and to
+grant that he should wear the diadem both by sea and land
+everywhere out of Italy. But if anyone go and tell them, now they
+have taken their places, they must go home again, and return when
+Calpurnia happens to have better dreams, what room will your
+enemies have to launch out against you? Or who will hear your
+friends when they attempt to show that this is not an open
+servitude on the one hand and tyranny on the other? If you are
+absolutely persuaded that this is an unlucky day, it is certainly
+better to go yourself and tell them you have strong reasons for
+putting off business till another time." So saying he took
+Cæsar by the hand and led him out.</p>
+<p>He was not gone far from the door when a slave, who belonged to
+some other person, attempted to get up to speak to him, but finding
+it impossible, by reason of the crowd that was about him, he made
+his way into the house, and putting himself into the hands of
+Calpurnia desired her to keep him safe till Cæsar's return,
+because he had matters of great importance to communicate.</p>
+<p>Artemidorus the Cnidian, who, by teaching the Greek eloquence,
+became acquainted with some of Brutus' friends, and had got
+intelligence of most of the transactions, approached Cæsar
+with a paper explaining what he had to discover. Observing that he
+gave the papers, as fast as he received them, to his officers, he
+got up as close as possible and said: "Cæsar, read this to
+yourself, and quickly, for it contains matters of great consequence
+and of the last concern to you." He took it and attempted several
+times to read it, but was always prevented by one application or
+other. He therefore kept that paper, and that only, in his hand,
+when he entered the house. Some say it was delivered to him by
+another man, Artemidorus being kept from approaching him all the
+way by the crowd.</p>
+<p>These things might, indeed, fall out by chance; but as in the
+place where the senate was that day assembled, and which proved the
+scene of that tragedy, there was a statue of Pompey, and it was an
+edifice which Pompey had consecrated for an ornament to his
+theatre, nothing can be clearer than that some deity conducted the
+whole business and directed the execution of it to that very spot.
+Even Cassius himself, though inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus,
+turned his eye to the statue of Pompey, and secretly invoked his
+aid, before the great attempt. The arduous occasion, it seems,
+overruled his former sentiments, and laid them open to all the
+influence of enthusiasm. Antony, who was a faithful friend to
+Cæsar, and a man of great strength, was held in discourse
+without, by Brutus Albinus, who had contrived a long story to
+detain him.</p>
+<p>When Cæsar entered the house, the senate rose to do him
+honor. Some of Brutus' accomplices came up behind his chair, and
+others before it, pretending to intercede, along with Metillius
+Cimber, for the recall of his brother from exile. They continued
+their instances till he came to his seat. When he was seated he
+gave them a positive denial; and as they continued their
+importunities with an air of compulsion, he grew angry. Cimber,
+then, with both hands, pulled his gown off his neck, which was the
+signal for the attack. Casca gave him the first blow. It was a
+stroke upon the neck with his sword, but the wound was not
+dangerous; for in the beginning of so tremendous an enterprise he
+was probably in some disorder. Cæsar therefore turned upon
+him and laid hold of his sword. At the same time they both cried
+out, the one in Latin, "Villain! Casca! what dost thou mean?" and
+the other in Greek, to his brother, "Brother, help!"</p>
+<p>After such a beginning, those who knew nothing of the conspiracy
+were seized with consternation and horror, insomuch that they durst
+neither fly nor assist, nor even utter a word. All the conspirators
+now drew their swords, and surrounded him in such a manner that,
+whatever way he turned, he saw nothing but steel gleaming in his
+face, and met nothing but wounds. Like some savage beast attacked
+by the hunters, he found every hand lifted against him, for they
+all agreed to have a share in the sacrifice and a taste of his
+blood. Therefore Brutus himself gave him a stroke in the groin.
+Some say he opposed the rest, and continued struggling and crying
+out till he perceived the sword of Brutus; then he drew his robe
+over his face and yielded to his fate. Either by accident or pushed
+thither by the conspirators, he expired on the pedestal of Pompey's
+statue, and dyed it with his blood; so that Pompey seemed to
+preside over the work of vengeance, to tread his enemy under his
+feet, and to enjoy his agonies. Those agonies were great, for he
+received no less than three-and-twenty wounds. And many of the
+conspirators wounded each other as they were aiming their blows at
+him.</p>
+<p>Cæsar thus despatched, Brutus advanced to speak to the
+senate and to assign his reasons for what he had done, but they
+could not bear to hear him; they fled out of the house and filled
+the people with inexpressible horror and dismay. Some shut up their
+houses; others left their shops and counters. All were in motion;
+one was running to see the spectacle; another running back. Antony
+and Lepidus, Cæsar's principal friends, withdrew, and hid
+themselves in other people's houses. Meantime Brutus and his
+confederates, yet warm from the slaughter, marched in a body with
+their bloody swords in their hands, from the senate house to the
+Capitol, not like men that fled, but with an air of gayety and
+confidence, calling the people to liberty, and stopping to talk
+with every man of consequence whom they met. There were some who
+even joined them and mingled with their train, desirous of
+appearing to have had a share in the action and hoping for one in
+the glory. Of this number were Caius Octavius and Lentulus
+Spinther, who afterward paid dear for their vanity, being put to
+death by Antony and young Cæsar; so that they gained not even
+the honor for which they lost their lives, for nobody believed that
+they had any part in the enterprise; and they were punished, not
+for the deed, but for the will.</p>
+<p>Next day Brutus and the rest of the conspirators came down from
+the Capitol and addressed the people, who attended to their
+discourse without expressing either dislike or approbation of what
+was done. But by their silence it appeared that they pitied
+Cæsar, at the same time that they revered Brutus. The senate
+passed a general amnesty; and, to reconcile all parties, they
+decreed Cæsar divine honors and confirmed all the acts of his
+dictatorship; while on Brutus and his friends they bestowed
+governments and such honors as were suitable; so that it was
+generally imagined the Commonwealth was firmly established again,
+and all brought into the best order.</p>
+<p>But when, upon the opening of Cæsar's will, it was found
+that he had left every Roman citizen a considerable legacy, and
+they beheld the body, as it was carried through the Forum, all
+mangled with wounds, the multitude could no longer be kept within
+bounds. They stopped the procession, and, tearing up the benches,
+with the doors and tables, heaped them into a pile, and burned the
+corpse there. Then snatching flaming brands from the pile, some ran
+to burn the houses of the assassins, while others ranged the city
+to find the conspirators themselves and tear them in pieces; but
+they had taken such care to secure themselves that they could not
+meet with one of them.</p>
+<p>One Cinna, a friend of Cæsar's, had a strange dream the
+preceding night. He dreamed—as they tell us—that
+Cæsar invited him to supper, and, upon his refusal to go,
+caught him by the hand and drew him after him, in spite of all the
+resistance he could make. Hearing, however, that the body of
+Cæsar was to be burned in the Forum, he went to assist in
+doing him the last honors, though he had a fever upon him, the
+consequence of his uneasiness about his dream. On his coming up,
+one of the populace asked who that was? and having learned his
+name, told it to his next neighbor. A report immediately spread
+through the whole company that it was one of Cæsar's
+murderers; and, indeed, one of the conspirators was named Cinna.
+The multitude, taking this for the man, fell upon him, and tore him
+to pieces upon the spot. Brutus and Cassius were so terrified at
+this rage of the populace that a few days after they left the city.
+An account of their subsequent actions, sufferings, and death may
+be found in the life of Brutus.</p>
+<p>Cæsar died at the age of fifty-six, and did not survive
+Pompey above four years. His object was sovereign power and
+authority, which he pursued through innumerable dangers, and by
+prodigious efforts he gained it at last. But he reaped no other
+fruit from it than an empty and invidious title. It is true the
+divine Power, which conducted him through life, attended him after
+his death as his avenger, pursued and hunted out the assassins over
+sea and land, and rested not till there was not a man left, either
+of those who dipped their hands in his blood or of those who gave
+their sanction to the deed.</p>
+<p>The most remarkable of natural events relative to this affair
+was that Cassius, after he had lost the battle of Philippi, killed
+himself with the same dagger which he had made use of against
+Cæsar; and the most signal phenomenon in the heavens was that
+of a great comet, which shone very bright for seven nights after
+Cæsar's death, and then disappeared; to which we may add the
+fading of the sun's lustre; for his orb looked pale all that year;
+he rose not with a sparkling radiance, nor had the heat he afforded
+its usual strength. The air, of course, was dark and heavy, for
+want of that vigorous heat which clears and rarefies it; and the
+fruits were so crude and unconcocted that they pined away and
+decayed, through the chilliness of the atmosphere.</p>
+<p>We have a proof still more striking that the assassination of
+Cæsar was displeasing to the gods, in the phantom that
+appeared to Brutus. The story of it is this: Brutus was on the
+point of transporting his army from Abydos to the opposite
+continent; and the night before, he lay in his tent awake,
+according to custom, and in deep thought about what might be the
+event of the war; for it was natural for him to watch a great part
+of the night, and no general ever required so little sleep. With
+all his senses about him, he heard a noise at the door of his tent,
+and looking toward the light, which was now burned very low, he saw
+a terrible appearance in the human form, but of prodigious stature
+and the most hideous aspect. At first he was struck with
+astonishment; but when he saw it neither did nor spoke anything to
+him, but stood in silence by his bed, he asked it who it was? The
+spectre answered: "I am thy evil genius, Brutus; thou shalt see me
+at Philippi." Brutus answered boldly, "I'll meet thee there"; and
+the spectre immediately vanished.</p>
+<p>Some time after, he engaged Antony and Octavius Cæsar at
+Philippi, and the first day was victorious, carrying all before
+him, where he fought in person, and even pillaging Cæsar's
+camp. The night before he was to fight the second battle the same
+spectre appeared to him again, but spoke not a word. Brutus,
+however, understood that his last hour was near, and courted danger
+with all the violence of despair. Yet he did not fall in the
+action; but seeing all was lost, he retired to the top of a rock,
+where he presented his naked sword to his breast, and a friend, as
+they tell us, assisting the thrust, he died upon the spot.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_21"></a>ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY; DEATH OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA</h2>
+<p class="center">B.C. 44-30</p>
+<p class="center">HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL</p>
+<p class="intros">After the death of Cæsar, Rome was in
+confusion; consternation seized the people, and the "liberators"
+failed to rally them to their own support. In possession of
+Cæsar's treasure, Antony, the surviving consul, bided his
+time. His oration at Cæsar's funeral stirred the populace
+against the "liberators," and made him for the moment master of
+Rome; but his self-seeking soon turned the people against him. The
+young Octavius, Cæsar's heir, had become popular with the
+army. He returned to Rome and claimed his inheritance, demanded
+from Antony Cæsar's moneys, but in vain, and assumed the
+title of Cæsar. The rivalry between the two leaders rapidly
+approached a crisis. The partisans of Antony and Octavius began to
+clash, and civil war followed. Defeated, Antony retreated across
+the Alps. Octavius was elected consul, and began negotiations with
+Antony and Lepidus, which resulted in the three new masters
+constituting themselves a triumvirate—the Second
+Triumvirate—to settle the affairs of the Commonwealth. They
+divided the powers of government, and a partition of territory was
+made between them. Their next business was to put out of the way,
+by proscription, the enemies of this new order of things. Three
+hundred senators, including Cicero, were massacred, as well as two
+thousand knights.</p>
+<p class="intros">When the terrified senate had legalized the
+self-assumed authority of the triumvirs, they turned their
+attention to Brutus and Cassius in the East, whither they had gone
+after the assassination of Cæsar and established and
+maintained themselves in power. At the battle of Philippi in
+Macedonia (B.C. 42) Antony and Octavius defeated Brutus and
+Cassius, both of whom died by their own hands. The Roman world was
+now in the hands of the triumvirs. Antony ruled in the East,
+Octavius in the West, and Lepidus in Africa, B.C. 42-36. In the
+latter year Lepidus was deposed by Octavius after a short conflict.
+And only a year after Philippi a war between Octavius and Antony
+was threatened because of a revolt in Italy, raised by Antony's
+brother Lucius and Fulvia, wife of Antony; but it was prevented by
+a treaty of peace, sealed by the marriage of Antony to Octavia,
+sister of Octavius. This peace lasted for ten years, during which
+time, however, there was constant friction between them.</p>
+<p class="intros">At Tarsus, in B.C. 41, Antony received a visit
+from Cleopatra, to whose charms he had yielded years before. This
+was the turning-point in his career; he went with her to
+Alexandria. By his oppression of the people of the East, and his
+dalliance with Cleopatra, he made himself the object of hatred and
+contempt. His army met with a series of defeats. In the mean time
+Octavius was constantly strengthening himself. The rivalry between
+them finally reached the point where both prepared for war. The
+great sea fight near Actium, September 2d, B.C. 31, resulted in the
+destruction of Antony's fleet after he had followed Cleopatra in
+her flight. A year later occurred the death of both. This important
+battle established Octavius as the sole ruler of the Roman
+possessions, and historians regard it as marking the end of the
+republic and the beginning of the empire.</p>
+<p>While the conspirators were at their bloody work [of slaying
+Cæsar], the mass of the senators rushed in confused terror to
+the doors; and when Brutus turned to address his peers in defence
+of the deed, the hall was well-nigh empty. Cicero, who had been
+present, answered not, though he was called by name; Antony had
+hurried away to exchange his consular robes for the garb of a
+slave. Disappointed of obtaining the sanction of the senate, the
+conspirators sallied out into the Forum to win the ear of the
+people. But here, too, they were disappointed. Not knowing what
+massacre might be in store, every man had fled to his own house;
+and in vain the conspirators paraded the Forum, holding up their
+blood-stained weapons and proclaiming themselves the liberators of
+Rome. Disappointment was not their only feeling: they were not
+without fear. They knew that Lepidus, being on the eve of departure
+for his province of Narbonnese Gaul, had a legion encamped on the
+island of the Tiber: and if he were to unite with Antony against
+them, Cæsar would quickly be avenged. In all haste,
+therefore, they retired to the Capitol. Meanwhile three of
+Cæsar's slaves placed their master's body upon a stretcher
+and carried it to his house on the south side of the Forum, with
+one arm dangling from the unsupported corner. In this condition the
+widowed Calpurnia received the lifeless clay of him who had lately
+been sovereign of the world.</p>
+<p>Lepidus moved his troops to the Campus Martius. But Antony had
+no thoughts of using force; for in that case probably Lepidus would
+have become master of Rome. During the night he took possession of
+the treasure which Cæsar had collected to defray the expenses
+of his Parthian campaign, and persuaded Calpurnia to put into his
+hands all the dictator's papers. Possessed of these securities, he
+barricaded his house on the Carinae, and determined to watch the
+course of events.</p>
+<p>In the evening Cicero, with other senators, visited the
+self-styled liberators in the Capitol. They had not communicated
+their plot to the orator, through fear (they said) of his
+irresolute counsels; but now that the deed was done, he extolled it
+as a godlike act. Next morning, Dolabella, Cicero's son-in-law,
+whom Cæsar had promised should be his successor in the
+consulship, assumed the consular fasces and joined the liberators;
+while Cinna, son of the old Marian leader and therefore
+brother-in-law to Cæsar, threw aside his praetorian robes,
+declaring he would no longer wear the tyrant's livery. Dec. Brutus,
+a good soldier, had taken a band of gladiators into pay, to serve
+as a bodyguard of the liberators. Thus strengthened, they ventured
+again to descend into the Forum. Brutus mounted the tribune, and
+addressed the people in a dispassionate speech, which produced
+little effect. But when Cinna assailed the memory of the dictator,
+the crowd broke out into menacing cries, and the liberators again
+retired to the Capitol.</p>
+<p>That same night they entered into negotiations with Antony, and
+the result appeared next morning, the second after the murder. The
+senate, summoned to meet, obeyed the call in large numbers. Antony
+and Dolabella attended in their consular robes, and Cinna resumed
+his praetorian garb. It was soon apparent that a reconciliation had
+been effected: for Antony moved that a general amnesty should be
+granted, and Cicero seconded the motion in an animated speech. It
+was carried; and Antony next moved that all the acts of the
+dictator should be recognized as law. He had his own purposes here;
+but the liberators also saw in the motion an advantage to
+themselves; for they were actually in possession of some of the
+chief magistracies, and had received appointments to some of the
+richest provinces of the empire. This proposal, therefore, was
+favorably received; but it was adjourned to the next day, together
+with the important question of Cæsar's funeral.</p>
+<p>On the next day Cæsar's acts were formally confirmed, and
+among them his will was declared valid, though its provisions were
+yet unknown. After this, it was difficult to reject the proposal
+that the dictator should have a public burial. Old senators
+remembered the riots that attended the funeral of Clodius and shook
+their heads. Cassius opposed it. But Brutus, with imprudent
+magnanimity, decided in favor of allowing it. To seal the
+reconciliation, Lepidus entertained Brutus at dinner and Cassius
+was feasted by Mark Antony.</p>
+<p>The will was immediately made public. Cleopatra was still in
+Rome, and entertained hopes that the boy Cæsarion would be
+declared the dictator's heir; for though he had been married
+thrice, there was no one of his lineage surviving. But Cæsar
+was too much a Roman, and knew the Romans too well, to be guilty of
+this folly. Young C. Octavius, his sister's son, was declared his
+heir. Legacies were left to all his supposed friends, among whom
+were several of those who had assassinated him. His noble gardens
+beyond the Tiber were devised to the use of the public, and every
+Roman citizen was to receive a donation of three hundred
+sesterces—between ten and fifteen dollars. The effect of this
+recital was electric. Devotion to the memory of the dictator and
+hatred for his murderers at once filled every breast.</p>
+<p>Two or three days after this followed the funeral. The body was
+to be burned, and the ashes deposited in the Campus Martius, near
+the tomb of his daughter Julia. But it was first brought into the
+Forum upon a bier inlaid with ivory and covered with rich
+tapestries, which was carried by men high in rank and office. There
+Antony, as consul, rose to pronounce the funeral oration. He ran
+through the chief acts of Cæsar's life, recited his will, and
+then spoke of the death which had rewarded him. To make this more
+vividly present to the excitable Italians he displayed a waxen
+image marked with the three-and-twenty wounds, and produced the
+very robe which he had worn, all rent and blood-stained.
+Soul-stirring dirges added to the solemn horror of the scene. But
+to us the memorable speech which Shakespeare puts into Antony's
+mouth will give the liveliest notion of the art used and the
+impression produced. That impression was instantaneous. The senator
+friends of the liberators who had attended the ceremony looked on
+in moody silence. Soon the menacing gestures of the crowd made them
+look to their safety. They fled; and the multitude insisted on
+burning the body, as they had burned the body of Clodius, in the
+sacred precincts of the Forum. Some of the veterans who attended
+the funeral set fire to the bier; benches and firewood heaped round
+it soon made a sufficient pile.</p>
+<p>From the blazing pyre the crowd rushed, eager for vengeance, to
+the houses of the conspirators. But all had fled betimes. One poor
+wretch fell a victim to the fury of the mob—Helvius Cinna, a
+poet who had devoted his art to the service of the dictator. He was
+mistaken for L. Cornelius Cinna the prætor, and was torn to
+pieces before the mistake could be explained.[<a href="#note-79">79</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-79"><!-- Note Anchor 79 --></a>[Footnote 79: This
+story is, however, rendered somewhat doubtful by the manner in
+which Cinna is mentioned in Vergil's ninth <i>Eclogue</i>, which
+was certainly written in or after the year B.C. 40.]</p>
+<p>Antony was now the real master of Rome. The treasure which he
+had seized gave him the means of purchasing good will, and of
+securing the attachment of the veterans stationed in various parts
+of Italy. He did not, however, proceed in the course which, from
+the tone of his funeral harangue, might have been expected. He
+renewed friendly intercourse with Brutus and Cassius, who were
+encouraged to visit Rome once at least, if not oftener, after that
+day; and Dec. Brutus, with his gladiators, was suffered to remain
+in the city. Antony went still further. He gratified the senate by
+passing a law to abolish the dictatorship forever. He then left
+Rome to win the favor of the Italian communities and try the temper
+of the veterans.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile another actor appeared upon the scene. This was young
+Octavius. He had been but six months in the camp at Apollonia; but
+in that short time he had formed a close friendship with M.
+Vipsanius Agrippa, a young man of his own age, who possessed great
+abilities for active life, but could not boast of any distinguished
+ancestry. As soon as the news of his uncle's assassination reached
+the camp, his friend Agrippa recommended him to appeal to the
+troops and march upon Rome. But the youth, with a wariness above
+his years, resisted these bold counsels. Landing near Brundusium
+almost alone, he there first heard that Cæsar's will had been
+published and that he was declared Cæsar's heir. He at once
+accepted the dangerous honor. As he travelled slowly toward the
+city he stayed some days at Puteoli with his mother, Atia, who was
+now married to L. Philippus. Both mother and stepfather attempted
+to dissuade him from the perilous business of claiming his
+inheritance. At the same place he had an interview with Cicero, who
+had quitted Rome in despair after the funeral, and left the orator
+under the impression that he might be won to what was deemed the
+patriotic party.</p>
+<p>He arrived at Rome about the beginning of May, and demanded from
+Antony, who had now returned from his Italian tour, an account of
+the moneys of which the consul had taken possession, in order that
+he might discharge the obligations laid upon him by his uncle's
+will. But Antony had already spent great part of the money in
+bribing Dolabella and other influential persons; nor was he willing
+to give up any portion of his spoil. Octavius therefore sold what
+remained of his uncle's property, raised money on his own credit,
+and paid all legacies with great exactness. This act earned him
+much popularity. Antony began to fear this boy of eighteen, whom he
+had hitherto despised, and the senate learned to look on him as a
+person to be conciliated.</p>
+<p>Still Antony remained in possession of all actual power. Cicero,
+not remarkable for political firmness, in this crisis displayed a
+vigor worthy of his earlier days. He had at one moment made up his
+mind to retire from public life and end his days at Athens in
+learned leisure. In the course of this summer he continued to
+employ himself on some of his most elaborate treatises. His works
+on the <i>Nature of the Gods</i> and on <i>Divination</i>, his
+<i>Offices</i>, his <i>Dialogue on Old Age</i>, and several other
+essays belong to this period and mark the restless activity of his
+mind. But though he twice set sail from Italy, he was driven back
+to port at Velia, where he found Brutus and Cassius. Here he
+received letters from Au. Hirtius and other friends of Cæsar,
+which gave him hopes that, in the name of Octavius, they might
+successfully oppose Antony and restore constitutional government.
+He determined to return, and announced his purpose to Brutus and
+Cassius, who commended him and took leave of him. They went their
+way to the east to raise armies against Antony; he repaired to Rome
+to fight the battles of his party in the senate house.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Antony had been running riot. In possession of
+Cæsar's papers, with no one to check him, he produced ready
+warrant for every measure which he wished to carry, and pleaded the
+vote of the senate which confirmed all the acts of Cæsar.
+When he could not produce a genuine paper, he interpolated or
+forged what was needful.</p>
+<p>On the day after Cicero's return (September 1st) there was a
+meeting of the senate. But the orator did not attend, and Antony
+threatened to send men to drag him from his house. Next day Cicero
+was in his place, but now Antony was absent. The orator arose and
+addressed the senate in what is called his <i>First Philippic</i>.
+This was a measured attack upon the government and policy of
+Antony, but personalities were carefully eschewed: the tone of the
+whole speech, indeed, is such as might be delivered by a leader of
+opposition in parliament at the present day. But Antony, enraged at
+his boldness, summoned a meeting for the 19th of September, which
+Cicero did not think it prudent to attend. He then attacked the
+absent orator in the strongest language of personal abuse and
+menace. Cicero sat down and composed his famous <i>Second
+Philippic</i>, which is written as if it were delivered on the same
+day, in reply to Antony's invective. At present, however, he
+contented himself with sending a copy of it to Atticus, enjoining
+secrecy.</p>
+<p>Matters quickly drew to a head between Antony and Octavius. The
+latter had succeeded in securing a thousand men of his uncle's
+veterans who had settled in Campania; and by great exertions in the
+different towns of Italy had levied a considerable force. Meantime
+four of the Epirote legions had just landed at Brundusium, and
+Antony hastened to attach them to his cause. But the largess which
+he offered them was only a hundred <i>denaries</i> a man, and the
+soldiers laughed in his face. Antony, enraged at their conduct,
+seized the ringleaders and decimated them. But this severity only
+served to change their open insolence into sullen anger, and
+emissaries from Octavius were ready to draw them over to the side
+of their young master. They had so far obeyed Antony as to march
+northward to Ariminum, while he repaired to Rome. But as he entered
+the senate house he heard that two of the four legions had deserted
+to his rival, and in great alarm he hastened to the camp just in
+time to keep the remainder of the troops under his standard by
+distributing to every man five hundred denaries.</p>
+<p>The persons to hold the consulship for the next year had been
+designated by Cæsar. They were both old officers of the
+Gallic army, C. Vibius Pansa and Au. Hirtius, the reputed author of
+the Eighth Book of the <i>History of the Gallic War</i>. Cicero was
+ready to believe that they had become patriots, because, disgusted
+with the arrogance of Antony, they had declared for Octavius and
+the senate. Antony began to fear that all parties might combine to
+crush him. He determined, therefore, no longer to remain inactive;
+and about the end of November, having now collected all his troops
+at Ariminum, he marched along the Æmilian road to drive Dec.
+Brutus out of Cisalpine Gaul. Decimus was obliged to throw himself
+into Mutina (Modena), and Antony blockaded the place. As soon as
+his back was turned, Cicero published the famous <i>Second
+Philippic</i>, in which he lashed the consul with the most
+unsparing hand, going through the history of his past life,
+exaggerating the debaucheries, which were common to Antony with
+great part of the Roman youth, and painting in the strongest colors
+the profligate use he had made of Cæsar's papers. Its effect
+was great, and Cicero followed up the blow by the following twelve
+<i>Philippics</i>, which were speeches delivered in the senate
+house and Forum, at intervals from December (44) to April in the
+next year.</p>
+<p>Cicero was anxious to break with Antony at once, by declaring
+him a public enemy. But the latter was still regarded by many
+senators as the head of the Cæsarean party, and it was
+resolved to treat with him. But the demands of Antony were so
+extravagant that negotiations were at once broken off, and nothing
+remained but to try the fortune of arms. The consuls proceeded to
+levy troops; but so exhausted was the treasury that now for the
+first time since the triumph of Æmilius Paullus it was found
+necessary to levy a property tax on the citizens of Rome.</p>
+<p>Octavius and the consuls assembled their forces at Alba. On the
+first day of the new year (43) Hirtius marched for Mutina, with
+Octavius under his command. The other consul, Pansa, remained at
+Rome to raise new levies; but by the end of March he also marched
+to form a junction with Hirtius. Both parties pretended to be
+acting in Cæsar's name.</p>
+<p>Antony left his brother Lucius in the trenches before Mutina,
+and took the field against Hirtius and Octavius. For three months
+the opponents lay watching each other. But when Antony learned that
+Pansa was coming up, he made a rapid movement southward with two of
+his veteran legions and attacked him. A sharp conflict followed, in
+which Pansa's troops were defeated, and the consul himself was
+carried, mortally wounded, off the field. But Hirtius was on the
+alert, and assaulted Antony's wearied troops on their way back to
+their camp, with some advantage. This was on the 15th of April, and
+on the 27th Hirtius drew Antony from his intrenchments before
+Mutina. A fierce battle followed, which ended in the troops of
+Antony being driven back into their lines. Hirtius followed close
+upon the flying enemy; the camp was carried by storm, and a
+complete victory would have been won had not Hirtius himself
+fallen. Upon this disaster Octavius drew off the troops. The news
+of the first battle had been reported at Rome as a victory, and
+gave rise to extravagant rejoicings. The second battle was really a
+victory, but all rejoicing was damped by the news that one consul
+was dead and the other dying. No such fatal mischance had happened
+since the Second Punic War, when Marcellus and Crispinus fell in
+one day.</p>
+<p>After his defeat Antony felt it impossible to maintain the siege
+of Mutina. With Dec. Brutus in the town behind him, and the
+victorious legions of Octavius before him, his position was
+critical. He therefore prepared to retreat, and effected this
+purpose like a good soldier. His destination was the province of
+Narbonnese Gaul, where Lepidus had assumed the government and had
+promised him support. But the senate also had hopes in the same
+quarter. L. Munatius Plancus commanded in Northern Gaul, and C.
+Asinius Pollio in Southern Spain. Sext. Pompeius had made good his
+ground in the latter country, and had almost expelled Pollio from
+Bætica. Plancus and Pollio, both friends and favorites of
+Cæsar, had as yet declared neither for Antony nor Octavius.
+If they would declare for the senate, Lepidus, a feeble and fickle
+man, might desert Antony; or if Octavius would join with Dec.
+Brutus, and pursue him, Antony might not be able to escape from
+Italy at all. But these political combinations failed. Plancus and
+Pollio stood aloof, waiting for the course of events. Dec. Brutus
+was not strong enough to pursue Antony by himself, and Octavius was
+unwilling, perhaps unable, to unite the veterans of Cæsar
+with troops commanded by one of Cæsar's murderers. And so it
+happened that Antony effected his retreat across the Alps, but not
+without extreme hardships, which he bore in common with the meanest
+soldier. It was at such times that his good qualities always showed
+themselves, and his gallant endurance of misery endeared him to
+every man under his command. On his arrival in Narbonnese Gaul he
+met Lepidus at Forum Julii (Frejus), and here the two commanders
+agreed on a plan of operations.</p>
+<p>The conduct of Octavius gave rise to grave suspicions. It was
+even said that the consuls had been killed by his agents. Cicero,
+who had hitherto maintained his cause, was silent. He had delivered
+his <i>Fourteenth</i> and last <i>Philippic</i> on the news of the
+first victory gained by Hirtius. But now he talked in private of
+"removing" the boy of whom he had hoped to make a tool. Octavius,
+however, had taken his part, and was not to be removed. Secretly he
+entered into negotiations with Antony. After some vain efforts on
+the part of the senate to thwart him, he appeared in the Campus
+Martius with his legions. Cicero and most of the senators
+disappeared, and the fickle populace greeted the young heir of
+Cæsar with applause. Though he was not yet twenty he demanded
+the consulship, having been previously relieved from the provisions
+of the <i>Lex Annalis</i> by a decree of the senate, and he was
+elected to the first office in the State, with his cousin, Q.
+Pedius.[<a href="#note-80">80</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-80"><!-- Note Anchor 80 --></a>[Footnote 80:
+Pedius was son of Cæsar's second sister, Julia minor, and
+therefore first cousin (once removed) to Octavius.]</p>
+<p>A curiate law passed, by which Octavius was adopted into the
+patrician gens of the Julii, and was put into legal possession of
+the name which he had already assumed—C. Julius Cæsar
+Octavianus. We shall henceforth call him Octavian.</p>
+<p>The change in his policy was soon indicated by a law in which he
+formally separated himself from the senate. Pedius brought it
+forward. By its provisions all Cæsar's murderers were
+summoned to take their trial. Of course none of them appeared and
+they were condemned by default. By the end of September Octavian
+was again in Cisalpine Gaul and in close negotiation with Antony
+and Lepidus. The fruits of his conduct soon appeared. Plancus and
+Pollio declared against Cæsar's murderers. Dec. Brutus,
+deserted by his soldiery, attempted to escape into Macedonia
+through Illyricum; but he was overtaken near Aquileia and slain by
+order of Antony.</p>
+<p>Italy and Gaul being now clear of the senatorial party, Lepidus,
+as mediator, arranged a meeting between Octavian and Antony, upon
+an island in a small river near Bononia (Bologna). Here the three
+potentates agreed that they should assume a joint and coordinate
+authority, under the name of "Triumvirs for settling the affairs of
+the Commonwealth." Antony was to have the two Gauls, except the
+Narbonnese district, which, with Spain, was assigned to Lepidus;
+Octavian received Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. Italy was for the
+present to be left to the consuls of the year, and for the ensuing
+year Lepidus, with Plancus, received promise of this high office.
+In return, Lepidus gave up his military force, while Octavian and
+Antony, each at the head of ten legions, prepared to conquer the
+Eastern part of the empire, which could not yet be divided like the
+Western provinces, because it was in possession of Brutus and
+Cassius.</p>
+<p>But before they began war, the triumvirs agreed to follow the
+example set by Sylla—to extirpate their opponents by a
+proscription, and to raise money by confiscation. They framed a
+list of all men's names whose death could be regarded as
+advantageous to any of the three, and on this list each in turn
+pricked a name. Antony had made many personal enemies by his
+proceedings at Rome, and was at no loss for victims. Octavian had
+few direct enemies; but the boy-despot discerned with precocious
+sagacity those who were likely to impede his ambitious projects,
+and chose his victims with little hesitation. Lepidus would not be
+left behind in the bloody work. The author of the <i>Philippics</i>
+was one of Antony's first victims; Octavian gave him up, and took
+as an equivalent for his late friend the life of L. Cæsar,
+uncle of Antony. Lepidus surrendered his brother Paullus for some
+similar favor. So the work went on. Not fewer than three hundred
+senators and two thousand knights were on the list. Q. Pedius, an
+honest and upright man, died in his consulship, overcome by
+vexation and shame at being implicated in these transactions.</p>
+<p>As soon as their secret business was ended, the triumvirs
+determined to enter Rome publicly. Hitherto they had not published
+more than seventeen names of the proscribed. They made their
+entrance severally on three successive days, each attended by a
+legion. A law was immediately brought in to invest them formally
+with the supreme authority, which they had assumed. This was
+followed by the promulgation of successive lists, each larger than
+its predecessor.</p>
+<p>Among the victims, far the most conspicuous was Cicero. With his
+brother Quintus, the old orator had retired to his Tusculan villa
+after the battle of Mutina; and now they endeavored to escape in
+the hope of joining Brutus in Macedonia; for the orator's only son
+was serving as a tribune in the liberator's army. After many
+changes of domicile they reached Astura, a little island near
+Antium, where they found themselves short of money, and Quintus
+ventured to Rome to procure the necessary supply. Here he was
+recognized and seized, together with his son. Each desired to die
+first, and the mournful claim to precedence was settled by the
+soldiers killing both at the same moment.</p>
+<p>Meantime Cicero had put to sea. But even in this extremity he
+could not make up his mind to leave Italy, and put to land at
+Circeii. After further hesitation he again embarked, and again
+sought the Italian shore near Formiae. For the night he stayed at
+his villa near that place, and next morning would not move,
+exclaiming: "Let me die in my own country—that country which
+I have so often saved." But his faithful slaves forced him into a
+litter and carried him again toward the coast. Scarcely were they
+gone when a band of Antony's bloodhounds reached his villa, and
+were put upon the track of their victim by a young man who owed
+everything to the Ciceros. The old orator from his litter saw the
+pursuers coming up. His own followers were strong enough to have
+made resistance, but he desired them to set the litter down. Then,
+raising himself on his elbow, he calmly waited for the ruffians and
+offered his neck to the sword. He was soon despatched. The chief of
+the band, by Antony's express orders, hewed off the head and hands
+and carried them to Rome. Fulvia, the widow of Clodius and now the
+wife of Antony, drove her hairpin through the tongue which had
+denounced the iniquities of both her husbands. The head which had
+given birth to the <i>Second Philippic</i>, and the hands which had
+written it, were nailed to the Rostra, the home of their eloquence.
+The sight and the associations raised feelings of horror and pity
+in every heart. Cicero died in his sixty-fourth year.</p>
+<p>Brutus and Cassius left Italy in the autumn of B.C. 44 and
+repaired to the provinces which had been allotted to them, though
+by Antony's influence the senate had transferred Macedonia from
+Brutus to his own brother Caius, and Syria from Cassius to
+Dolabella. C. Antonius was already in possession of parts of
+Macedonia; but Brutus succeeded in dislodging him. Meanwhile
+Cassius, already well known in Syria for his successful conduct of
+the Parthian War, had established himself in that province before
+he heard of the approach of Dolabella. This worthless man left
+Italy about the same time as Brutus and Cassius, and at the head of
+several legions marched without opposition through Macedonia into
+Asia Minor. Here C. Trebonius had already arrived. But he was
+unable to cope with Dolabella; and the latter surprised him and
+took him prisoner at Smyrna. He was put to death with unseemly
+contumely in Dolabella's presence. This was in February, 43; and
+thus two of Cæsar's murderers, in less than a year's time,
+felt the blow of retributive justice. When the news of this piece
+of butchery reached Rome, Cicero, believing that Octavian was a
+puppet in his hands, was ruling Rome by the eloquence of his
+<i>Philippics</i>. On his motion Dolabella was declared a public
+enemy.[<a href="#note-81">81</a>] Cassius lost no time in marching
+his legions into Asia, to execute the behest of the senate, though
+he had been dispossessed of his province by the senate itself.
+Dolabella threw himself into Laodicea, where he sought a voluntary
+death.</p>
+<p><a name="note-81"><!-- Note Anchor 81 --></a>[Footnote 81: He
+had divorced Tullia, the orator's daughter, before he left
+Italy.]</p>
+<p>By the end of B.C. 43, therefore, the whole of the East was in
+the hands of Brutus and Cassius. But instead of making preparations
+for war with Antony, the two commanders spent the early part of the
+year 42 in plundering the miserable cities of Asia Minor. Brutus
+demanded men and money of the Lycians; and, when they refused, he
+laid siege to Xanthus, their principal city. The Xanthians made the
+same brave resistance which they had offered five hundred years
+before to the Persian invaders. They burned their city and put
+themselves to death rather than submit. Brutus wept over their fate
+and abstained from further exactions. But Cassius showed less
+moderation; from the Rhodians alone, though they were allies of
+Rome, he demanded all their precious metals. After this campaign of
+plunder, the two chiefs met at Sardis and renewed the altercations
+which Cicero had deplored in Italy. It is probable that war might
+have broken out between them had not the preparations of the
+triumvirs waked them from their dream of security. It was as he was
+passing over into Europe that Brutus, who continued his studious
+habits amid all disquietudes, and limited his time of sleep to a
+period too small for the requirements of health, was dispirited by
+the vision which Shakespeare, after Plutarch, has made famous. It
+was no doubt the result of a diseased frame, though it was
+universally held to be a divine visitation. As he sat in his tent
+in the dead of night, he thought a huge and shadowy form stood by
+him; and when he calmly asked, "What and whence art thou?" it
+answered, or seemed to answer: "I am thine evil genius, Brutus: we
+shall meet again at Philippi."</p>
+<p>Meantime Antony's lieutenants had crossed the Ionian Sea and
+penetrated without opposition into Thrace. The republican leaders
+found them at Philippi. The army of Brutus and Cassius amounted to
+at least eighty thousand infantry, supported by twenty thousand
+horse; but they were ill-supplied with experienced officers. For M.
+Valerius Messalla, a young man of twenty-eight, held the chief
+command after Brutus and Cassius; and Horace, who was but
+three-and-twenty, the son of a freedman, and a youth of feeble
+constitution, was appointed a legionary tribune. The forces opposed
+to them would have been at once overpowered had not Antony himself
+opportunely arrived with the second corps of the triumviral army.
+Octavian was detained by illness at Dyrrhachium, but he ordered
+himself to be carried on a litter to join his legions. The army of
+the triumvirs was now superior to the enemy; but their cavalry,
+counting only thirteen thousand, was considerably weaker than the
+force opposed to it. The republicans were strongly posted upon two
+hills, with intrenchments between: the camp of Cassius upon the
+left next the sea, that of Brutus inland on the right. The
+triumviral army lay upon the open plain before them, in a position
+rendered unhealthy by marshes; Antony, on the right, was opposed to
+Cassius; Octavian, on the left, fronted Brutus. But they were
+ill-supplied with provisions and anxious for a decisive battle. The
+republicans, however, kept to their intrenchments, and the other
+party began to suffer severely from famine.</p>
+<p>Determined to bring on an action, Antony began works for the
+purpose of cutting off Cassius from the sea. Cassius had always
+opposed a general action, but Brutus insisted on putting an end to
+the suspense, and his colleague yielded. The day of the attack was
+probably in October. Brutus attacked Octavian's army, while Cassius
+assaulted the working parties of Antony. Cassius' assault was
+beaten back with loss, but he succeeded in regaining his camp in
+safety. Meanwhile, Messalla, who commanded the right wing of
+Brutus' army, had defeated the host of Octavian, who was still too
+ill to appear on the field, and the republican soldiers penetrated
+into the triumvirs' camp. Presently his litter was brought in
+stained with blood, and the corpse of a young man found near it was
+supposed to be Octavian's. But Brutus, not receiving any tidings of
+the movements of Cassius, became so anxious for his fate that he
+sent off a party of horse to make inquiries, and neglected to
+support the successful assaults of Messalla.</p>
+<p>Cassius, on his part, discouraged at his ill-success, was unable
+to ascertain the progress of Brutus. When he saw the party of horse
+he hastily concluded that they belonged to the enemy, and retired
+into his tent with his freedman Pindarus. What passed there we know
+not for certain. Cassius was found dead, with the head severed from
+the body. Pindarus was never seen again. It was generally believed
+that Pindarus slew his master in obedience to orders; but many
+thought that he had dealt a felon blow. The intelligence of
+Cassius' death was a heavy blow to Brutus. He forgot his own
+success, and pronounced the elegy of Cassius in the well-known
+words, "There lies the last of the Romans." The praise was
+ill-deserved. Except in his conduct of the war against the
+Parthians, Cassius had never played a worthy part.</p>
+<p>After the first battle of Philippi it would have still been
+politic in Brutus to abstain from battle. The triumviral armies
+were in great distress, and every day increased their losses.
+Reinforcements coming to their aid by sea were intercepted—a
+proof of the neglect of the republican leaders in not sooner
+bringing their fleet into action. Nor did Brutus ever hear of this
+success. He was ill-fitted for the life of the camp, and after the
+death of Cassius he only kept his men together by largesse and
+promises of plunder. Twenty days after the first battle he led them
+out again. Both armies faced one another. There was little
+manoeuvring. The second battle was decided by numbers and force,
+not by skill; and it was decided in favor of the triumvirs. Brutus
+retired with four legions to a strong position in the rear, while
+the rest of his broken army sought refuge in the camp. Octavian
+remained to watch them, while Antony pursued the republican chief.
+Next day Brutus endeavored to rouse his men to another effort; but
+they sullenly refused to fight; and Brutus withdrew with a few
+friends into a neighboring wood. Here he took them aside one by
+one, and prayed each to do him the last service that a Roman could
+render to his friend. All refused with horror; till at nightfall a
+trusty Greek freedman named Strato held the sword, and his master
+threw himself upon it. Most of his friends followed the sad
+example. The body of Brutus was sent by Antony to his mother. His
+wife Portia, the daughter of Cato, refused all comfort; and being
+too closely watched to be able to slay herself by ordinary means,
+she suffocated herself by thrusting burning charcoal into her
+mouth. Massalla, with a number of other fugitives, sought safety in
+the island of Thasos, and soon after made submission to Antony.</p>
+<p>The name of Brutus has, by Plutarch's beautiful narrative,
+sublimed by Shakespeare, become a byword for self-devoted
+patriotism. This exalted opinion is now generally confessed to be
+unjust. Brutus was not a patriot, unless devotion to the party of
+the senate be patriotism. Toward the provincials he was a true
+Roman, harsh and oppressive. He was free from the sensuality and
+profligacy of his age, but for public life he was unfit. His habits
+were those of a student. His application was great, his memory
+remarkable. But he possessed little power of turning his
+acquirements to account; and to the last he was rather a learned
+man than a man improved by learning. In comparison with Cassius, he
+was humane and generous; but in all respects his character is
+contrasted for the worse with that of the great man from whom he
+accepted favors and then became his murderer.</p>
+<p>The battle of Philippi was in reality the closing scene of the
+republican drama. But the rivalship of the triumvirs prolonged for
+several years the divided state of the Roman world; and it was not
+till after the crowning victory of Actium that the imperial
+government was established in its unity. We shall, therefore, here
+add a rapid narrative of the events which led to that
+consummation.</p>
+<p>The hopeless state of the republican or rather the senatorial
+party was such that almost all hastened to make submission to the
+conquerors: those whose sturdy spirit still disdained submission
+resorted to Sext. Pompeius in Sicily. Octavian, still suffering
+from ill-health, was anxious to return to Italy; but before he
+parted from Antony, they agreed to a second distribution of the
+provinces of the empire. Antony was to have the Eastern world;
+Octavian the Western provinces. To Lepidus, who was not consulted
+in this second division, Africa alone was left. Sext. Pompeius
+remained in possession of Sicily.</p>
+<p>Antony at once proceeded to make a tour through Western Asia, in
+order to exact money from its unfortunate people. About midsummer
+(B.C. 41) he arrived at Tarsus, and here he received a visit which
+determined the future course of his life and influenced Roman
+history for the next ten years.</p>
+<p>Antony had visited Alexandria fourteen years before, and had
+been smitten by the charms of Cleopatra, then a girl of fifteen.
+She became Cæsar's paramour, and from the time of the
+dictator's death Antony had never seen her. She now came to meet
+him in Cilicia. The galley which carried her up the Cydnus was of
+more than oriental gorgeousness: the sails of purple; oars of
+silver, moving to the sound of music; the raised poop burnished
+with gold. There she lay upon a splendid couch, shaded by a
+spangled canopy; her attire was that of Venus; around her flitted
+attendant cupids and graces. At the news of her approach to Tarsus,
+the triumvir found his tribunal deserted by the people. She invited
+him to her ship, and he complied. From that moment he was her
+slave. He accompanied her to Alexandria, exchanged the Roman garb
+for the Graeco-Egyptian costume of the court, and lent his power to
+the Queen to execute all her caprices.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile Octavian was not without his difficulties. He was so
+ill at Brundusium that his death was reported at Rome. The
+veterans, eager for their promised rewards, were on the eve of
+mutiny. In a short time Octavian was sufficiently recovered to show
+himself. But he could find no other means of satisfying the greedy
+soldiery than by a confiscation of lands more sweeping than that
+which followed the proscription of Sylla. The towns of Cisalpine
+Gaul were accused of favoring Dec. Brutus, and saw nearly all their
+lands handed over to new possessors. The young poet, Vergil, lost
+his little patrimony, but was reinstated at the instance of Pollio
+and Maecenas, and showed his gratitude in his <i>First Eclogue</i>.
+Other parts of Italy also suffered: Apulia, for example, as we
+learn from Horace's friend Ofellus, who became the tenant of the
+estate which had formerly been his own.</p>
+<p>But these violent measures deferred rather than obviated the
+difficulty. The expulsion of so many persons threw thousands loose
+upon society, ripe for any crime. Many of the veterans were ready
+to join any new leader who promised them booty. Such a leader was
+at hand.</p>
+<p>Fulvia, wife of Antony, was a woman of fierce passions and
+ambitious spirit. She had not been invited to follow her husband to
+the East. She saw that in his absence imperial power would fall
+into the hands of Octavian. Lucius, brother of Mark Antony, was
+consul for the year, and at her instigation he raised his standard
+at Præneste. But L. Antonius knew not how to use his
+strength; and young Agrippa, to whom Octavian intrusted the
+command, obliged Antonius and Fulvia to retire northward and shut
+themselves up in Perusia. Their store of provisions was so small
+that it sufficed only for the soldiery. Early in the next year
+Perusia surrendered, on condition that the lives of the leaders
+should be spared. The town was sacked; the conduct of L. Antonius
+alienated all Italy from his brother.</p>
+<p>While his wife, his brother, and his friends were quitting Italy
+in confusion, the arms of Antony suffered a still heavier blow in
+the Eastern provinces, which were under his special government.
+After the battle of Philippi, Q. Labienus, son of Cæsar's old
+lieutenant Titus, sought refuge at the court of Orodes, king of
+Parthia. Encouraged by the proffered aid of a Roman officer,
+Pacorus (the King's son) led a formidable army into Syria. Antony's
+lieutenant was entirely routed; and while Pacorus with one army
+poured into Palestine and Phoenicia, Q. Labienus with another broke
+into Cilicia. Here he found no opposition; and, overrunning all
+Asia Minor even to the Ionian Sea, he assumed the name of
+Parthicus, as if he had been a Roman conqueror of the people whom
+he served.</p>
+<p>These complicated disasters roused Antony from his lethargy. He
+sailed to Tyre, intending to take the field against the Parthians;
+but the season was too far advanced, and he therefore crossed the
+Ægean to Athens, where he found Fulvia and his brother,
+accompanied by Pollio, Plancus, and others, all discontented with
+Octavian's government. Octavian was absent in Gaul, and their
+representation of the state of Italy encouraged him to make another
+attempt. Late in the year (41) Antony formed a league with Sext.
+Pompeius; and while that chief blockaded Thurii and Consentia,
+Antony assailed Brundusium. Agrippa was preparing to meet this new
+combination; and a fresh civil war was imminent. But the soldiery
+was weary of war: both armies compelled their leaders to make
+pacific overtures, and the new year was ushered in by a general
+peace, which was rendered easier by the death of Fulvia. Antony and
+Octavian renewed their professions of amity, and entered Rome
+together in joint ovation to celebrate the restoration of peace.
+They now made a third division of the provinces, by which Scodra
+(Scutari) in Illyricum was fixed as the boundary of the West and
+East; Lepidus was still left in possession of Africa. It was
+further agreed that Octavian was to drive Sext. Pompeius, lately
+the ally of Antony, out of Sicily; while Antony renewed his pledges
+to recover the standards of Crassus from the Parthians. The new
+compact was sealed by the marriage of Antony with Octavia, his
+colleague's sister, a virtuous and beautiful lady, worthy of a
+better consort. These auspicious events were celebrated by the
+lofty verse of Vergil's <i>Fourth Eclogue</i>.</p>
+<p>Sext. Pompeius had reason to complain. By the peace of
+Brundusium he was abandoned by his late friend to Octavian. He was
+not a man to brook ungenerous treatment. Of late years his
+possession of Sicily had given him command of the Roman corn
+market. During the winter which followed the peace of Brundusium
+(B.C. 40-39), Sextus blockaded Italy so closely that Rome was
+threatened with a positive dearth. Riots arose; the triumvirs were
+pelted with stones in the Forum, and they deemed it prudent to
+temporize by inviting Pompey to enter their league. He met them at
+Misenum, and the two chiefs went on board his ship to settle the
+terms of alliance. It is said that one of his chief officers, a
+Greek named Menas or Menodorus, suggested to him the expediency of
+putting to sea with the great prize, and then making his own terms.
+Sextus rejected the advice with the characteristic words, "You
+should have done it without asking me." It was agreed that Sicily,
+Sardinia, and Corsica should be given up to his absolute rule, and
+that Achaia should be added to his portion; so that the Roman world
+was now partitioned among four: Octavian, Antony, Lepidus, and
+Sext. Pompeius. On their return the triumvirs were received with
+vociferous applause.</p>
+<p>Before winter, Antony sailed for Athens in company with Octavia,
+who for the time seems to have banished Cleopatra from his
+thoughts. But he disgusted all true Romans by assuming the
+attributes of Grecian gods and indulging in Grecian orgies.</p>
+<p>He found the state of things in the East greatly changed since
+his departure. He had commissioned P. Ventidius Bassus, an officer
+who had followed Fulvia from Italy, to hold the Parthians in check
+till his return. Ventidius was son of a Picenian nobleman of
+Asculum, who had been brought to Rome as a captive in the Social
+War. In his youth he had been a contractor to supply mules for the
+use of the Roman commissariat. But in the civil wars which
+followed, men of military talent easily rose to command; and such
+was the lot of Ventidius. While Antony was absent in Italy, he
+drove Q. Labienus into the defiles of Taurus, and here that
+adventurer was defeated and slain. The conqueror then marched
+rapidly into Syria, and forced Pacorus also to withdraw to the
+eastern bank of the Euphrates.</p>
+<p>In the following year (38) he repelled a fresh invasion of the
+Parthians, and defeated them in three battles. In the last of these
+engagements Pacorus himself was slain on the fifteenth anniversary
+of the death of Crassus. Antony found Ventidius laying siege to
+Samosata, and displaced him, only to abandon the siege and return
+to Athens. Ventidius repaired to Rome, where he was honored with a
+well-deserved triumph. He had left it as a mule jobber; he returned
+with the laurel round his brows. He was the first, and almost the
+last, Roman general who could claim such a distinction for victory
+over the Parthians.</p>
+<p>The alliance with Sext. Pompeius was not intended to last, and
+it did not last. Antony refused to put him in possession of Achaia,
+and to avenge himself for this breach of faith Pompeius again began
+to intercept the Italian corn fleets. Fresh discontent appeared at
+Rome, and Octavian equipped a second fleet to sail against the
+naval chief; but after two battles of doubtful result, the fleet
+was destroyed by a storm, and Sextus was again left in undisputed
+mastery of the sea. Octavian, however, was never daunted by
+reverses, and he gave his favorite Agrippa full powers to conduct
+the war against Pompeius. This able commander set about his work
+with that resolution that marked a man determined not to fail. As a
+harbor for his fleet, he executed a plan of the great Cæsar;
+namely, to make a good and secure harbor on the coast of Latium,
+which then, as now, offered no shelter to ships. For this purpose
+he cut a passage through the narrow necks of land which separated
+Lake Lucrinus from the sea, and Lake Avernus from Lake Lucrinus,
+and faced the outer barrier with stone. This was the famous Julian
+Port. In the whole of the two years B.C. 38 and 37 Agrippa was
+occupied in this work and in preparing a sufficient force of ships.
+Every dockyard in Italy was called into requisition. A large body
+of slaves was set free that they might be trained to serve as
+rowers.</p>
+<p>On the 1st of July, B.C. 36, the fleet put to sea. Octavian
+himself, with one division, purposed to attack the northern coast
+of Sicily, while a second squadron was assembled at Tarentum for
+the purpose of assailing the eastern side. Lepidus, with a third
+fleet from Africa, was to assault Lilybaeum. But the winds were
+again adverse; and, though Lepidus effected a landing on the
+southern coast, Octavian's two fleets were driven back to Italy
+with great damage. But the injured ships were refitted, and Agrippa
+was sent westward toward Panormus, while Octavian himself kept
+guard near Messana. Off Mylae, a place famous for having witnessed
+the first naval victory of the Romans, Agrippa encountered the
+fleet of Sext. Pompeius; but Sextus, with the larger portion of his
+ships, gave Agrippa the slip, and sailing eastward fell suddenly
+upon Octavian's squadron off Tauromenium. A desperate conflict
+followed, which ended in the complete triumph of Sextus, and
+Octavian escaped to Italy with a few ships only. But Agrippa was
+soon upon the traces of the enemy. On the 3d of September Sextus
+was obliged once more to accept battle near the Straits of Messana,
+and suffered an irretrievable defeat. His troops on land were
+attacked and dispersed by an army which had been landed on the
+eastern coast by the indefatigable Octavian; and Sextus sailed off
+to Lesbos, where he had found refuge as a boy during the campaign
+of Pharsalia, to seek protection from the jealousy of Antony.</p>
+<p>Lepidus had assisted in the campaign; but after the departure of
+Sextus he openly declared himself independent of his brother
+triumvirs. Octavian, with prompt and prudent boldness, entered the
+camp of Lepidus in person with a few attendants. The soldiers
+deserted in crowds, and in a few hours Lepidus was fain to sue for
+pardon, where he had hoped to rule. He was treated with
+contemptuous indifference, Africa was taken from him; but he was
+allowed to live and die at Rome in quiet enjoyment of the chief
+pontificate.</p>
+<p>It was fortunate for Octavian that during this campaign Antony
+was on friendly terms with him. In B.C. 37 the ruler of the East
+again visited Italy, and a meeting between the two chiefs was
+arranged at Tarentum. The five years for which the triumvirs were
+originally appointed were now fast expiring; and it was settled
+that their authority should be renewed by the subservient senate
+and people for a second period of the same duration. They parted
+good friends; and Octavian undertook his campaign against Sext.
+Pompeius without fear from Antony. This was proved by the fate of
+the fugitive. From Lesbos Sextus passed over to Asia, where he was
+taken prisoner by Antony's lieutenants and put to death.</p>
+<p>Hitherto Octavia had retained her influence over Antony. But
+presently, after his last interview with her brother, the fickle
+triumvir abruptly quitted a wife who was too good for him, and
+returned to the fascinating presence of the Egyptian Queen, whom he
+had not seen for three years. From this time forth he made no
+attempt to break the silken chain of her enchantments. During the
+next summer, indeed, he attempted a new Parthian campaign. But his
+advance was made with reckless indifference to the safety of his
+troops. Provisions failed; disease broke out; and after great
+suffering he was forced to seek safety by a precipitate retreat
+into the Armenian mountains. In the next year he contented himself
+with a campaign in Armenia, to punish the King of that country for
+alleged treachery in the last campaign. The King fell into his
+hands; and with this trophy Antony returned to Alexandria, where
+the Romans were disgusted to see the streets of a Graeco-Egyptian
+town honored by a mimicry of a Roman triumph.</p>
+<p>For the next three years he surrendered himself absolutely to
+the will of the enchantress. To this period belong those tales of
+luxurious indulgence which are known to every reader. The brave
+soldier, who in the perils of war could shake off all luxurious
+habits and could rival the commonest man in the cheerfulness with
+which he underwent every hardship, was seen no more. He sunk into
+an indolent voluptuary, pleased by childish amusements. At one time
+he would lounge in a boat at a fishing party, and laugh when he
+drew up pieces of salt fish which by the Queen's order had been
+attached to his hook by divers. At another time she wagered that
+she would consume ten million sesterces at one meal, and won her
+wager by dissolving in vinegar a pearl of unknown value. While
+Cleopatra bore the character of the goddess Isis, her lover
+appeared as Osiris. Her head was placed conjointly with his own on
+the coins which he issued as a Roman magistrate. He disposed of the
+kingdoms and principalities of the East by his sole word. By his
+influence Herod, son of Antipater, the Idumæan minister of
+Hyrcanus, the late sovereign of Judea, was made king to the
+exclusion of the rightful heir. Polemo, his own son by Cleopatra,
+was invested with the sceptre of Armenia. Encouraged by the
+absolute submission of her lover, Cleopatra fixed her eye upon the
+Capitol, and dreamed of winning by means of Antony that imperial
+crown which she had vainly sought from Cæsar.</p>
+<p>While Antony was engaged in voluptuous dalliance, Octavian was
+resolutely pursuing the work of consolidating his power in the
+West. His patience, his industry, his attention to business, his
+affability, were winning golden opinions and rapidly obliterating
+all memory of the bloody work by which he had risen to power. He
+had won little glory in war; but so long as the corn fleets arrived
+daily from Sicily and Africa, the populace cared little whether the
+victory had been won by Octavian or by his generals. In Agrippa he
+possessed a consummate captain, in Maecenas a wise and temperate
+minister. It is much to his credit that he never showed any
+jealousy of the men to whom he owed so much. He flattered the
+people with the hope that he would, when Antony had fulfilled his
+mission of recovering the standards of Crassus, engage him to join
+in putting an end to their sovereign power and restoring
+constitutional liberty.</p>
+<p>In point of fidelity to his marriage vows Octavian was little
+better than Antony. He renounced his marriage with Clodia, the
+daughter of Fulvia, when her mother attempted to raise Italy
+against him. He divorced Scribonia, when it no longer suited him to
+court the favor of her kinsman. To replace this second wife, he
+forcibly took away Livia from her husband, T. Claudius Nero, though
+she was at that time pregnant of her second son. But in this and
+other less pardonable immoralities there was nothing to shock the
+feelings of Romans.</p>
+<p>But Octavian never suffered pleasure to divert him from
+business. If he could not be a successful general, he resolved at
+least to show that he could be a hardy soldier. While Antony in his
+Egyptian palace was neglecting the Parthian War, his rival led his
+legions in more than one dangerous campaign against the barbarous
+Dalmatians and Pannonians, who had been for some time infesting the
+province of Illyricum. In the year B.C. 33 he announced that the
+limits of the empire had been extended northward to the banks of
+the Save.</p>
+<p>Octavian now began to feel that any appearance of friendship
+with Antony was a source of weakness rather than of strength at
+Rome. Misunderstandings had already broken out. Antony complained
+that Octavian had given him no share in the provinces wrested from
+Sext. Pompeius and Lepidus. Octavian retorted by accusing his
+colleague of appropriating Egypt and Armenia, and of increasing
+Cleopatra's power at the expense of the Roman Empire. Popular
+indignation rose to its height when Plancus and Titius, who had
+been admitted to Antony's confidence, passed over to Octavian, and
+disclosed the contents of their master's will. In that document
+Antony ordered that his body should be buried at Alexandria, in the
+mausoleum of Cleopatra. Men began to fancy that Cleopatra had
+already planted her throne upon the Capitol. These suspicions were
+sedulously encouraged by Octavian.</p>
+<p>Before the close of B.C. 32, Octavian, by the authority of the
+senate, declared war nominally against Cleopatra. Antony, roused
+from his sleep by reports from Rome, passed over to Athens, issuing
+orders everywhere to levy men and collect ships for the impending
+struggle. At Athens he received news of the declaration of war, and
+replied by divorcing Octavia. His fleet was ordered to assemble at
+Corcyra; and his legions in the early spring prepared to pour into
+Epirus. He established his head-quarters at Patræ on the
+Corinthian Gulf.</p>
+<p>But Antony, though his fleet was superior to that of Octavian,
+allowed Agrippa to sweep the Ionian Sea, and to take possession of
+Methone, in Messenia, as a station for a flying squadron to
+intercept Antony's communications with the East, nay, even to
+occupy Corcyra, which had been destined for his own place of
+rendezvous. Antony's fleet now anchored in the waters of the
+Ambracian Gulf, while his legions encamped on a spot of land which
+forms the northern horn of that spacious inlet. But the place
+chosen for the camp was unhealthy; and in the heats of early summer
+his army suffered greatly from disease. Agrippa lay close at hand
+watching his opportunity. In the course of the spring Octavian
+joined him in person.</p>
+<p>Early in the season Antony had repaired from Patræ to his
+army, so as to be ready either to cross over into Italy or to meet
+the enemy if they attempted to land in Epirus. At first he showed
+something of his old military spirit, and the soldiers, who always
+loved his military frankness, warmed into enthusiasm; but his chief
+officers, won by Octavian or disgusted by the influence of
+Cleopatra, deserted him in such numbers that he knew not whom to
+trust, and gave up all thoughts of maintaining the contest with
+energy. Urged by Cleopatra, he resolved to carry off his fleet and
+abandon the army. All preparations were made in secret, and the
+great fleet put to sea on the 28th of August. For the four
+following days there was a strong gale from the south. Neither
+could Antony escape nor could Octavian put to sea against him from
+Corcyra. On the 2d of September, however, the wind fell, and
+Octavian's light vessels, by using their oars, easily came up with
+the unwieldy galleys of the eastern fleet. A battle was now
+inevitable.</p>
+<p>Antony's ships were like impregnable fortresses to the assault
+of the slight vessels of Octavian; and, though they lay nearly
+motionless in the calm sea, little impression was made upon them.
+But about noon a breeze sprung up from the west; and Cleopatra,
+followed by sixty Egyptian ships, made sail in a southerly
+direction. Antony immediately sprang from his ship-of-war into a
+light galley and followed. Deserted by their commander, the
+captains of Antony's ships continued to resist desperately; nor was
+it till the greater part of them were set on fire that the contest
+was decided. Before evening closed, the whole fleet was destroyed;
+most of the men and all the treasure on board perished. A few days
+after, when the shameful flight of Antony was made known to his
+army, all his legions went over to the conqueror.</p>
+<p>It was not for eleven months after the battle of Actium that
+Octavian entered the open gates of Alexandria. He had been employed
+in the interval in founding the city of Nicopolis to celebrate his
+victory on the northern horn of the Ambracian Gulf, in rewarding
+his soldiers, and settling the affairs of the provinces of the
+East. In the winter he returned to Italy, and it was midsummer,
+B.C. 30, before he arrived in Egypt.</p>
+<p>When Antony and Cleopatra arrived off Alexandria they put a bold
+face upon the matter. Some time passed before the real state of the
+case was known; but it soon became plain that Egypt was at the
+mercy of the conqueror. The Queen formed all kinds of wild designs.
+One was to transport the ships that she had saved across the
+Isthmus of Suez and seek refuge in some distant land where the name
+of Rome was yet unknown. Some ships were actually drawn across, but
+they were destroyed by the Arabs, and the plan was abandoned. She
+now flattered herself that her powers of fascination, proved so
+potent over Cæsar and Antony, might subdue Octavian. Secret
+messages passed between the conqueror and the Queen; nor were
+Octavian's answers such as to banish hope.</p>
+<p>Antony, full of repentance and despair, shut himself up in
+Pharos, and there remained in gloomy isolation.</p>
+<p>In July, B.C. 30, Octavian appeared before Pelusium. The place
+was surrendered without a blow. Yet, at the approach of the
+conqueror, Antony put himself at the head of a division of cavalry
+and gained some advantage. But on his return to Alexandria he found
+that Cleopatra had given up all her ships; and no more opposition
+was offered. On the 1st of August (Sextilis, as it was then called)
+Octavian entered the open gates of Alexandria. Both Antony and
+Cleopatra sought to win him. Antony's messengers the conqueror
+refused to see; but he still used fair words to Cleopatra. The
+Queen had shut herself up in a sort of mausoleum built to receive
+her body after death, which was not approachable by any door; and
+it was given out that she was really dead. All the tenderness of
+old times revived in Antony's heart. He stabbed himself, and in a
+dying state ordered himself to be laid by the side of Cleopatra.
+The Queen, touched by pity, ordered her expiring lover to be drawn
+up by cords into her retreat, and bathed his temples with her
+tears.</p>
+<p>After he had breathed his last, she consented to see Octavian.
+Her penetration soon told her that she had nothing to hope from
+him. She saw that his fair words were only intended to prevent her
+from desperate acts and reserve her for the degradation of his
+triumph. This impression was confirmed when all instruments by
+which death could be inflicted were found to have been removed from
+her apartments. But she was not to be so baffled. She pretended all
+submission; but when the ministers of Octavian came to carry her
+away, they found her lying dead upon her couch, attended by her
+faithful waiting-women, Iras and Charmion. The manner of her death
+was never ascertained; popular belief ascribed it to the bite of an
+asp which had been conveyed to her in a basket of fruit.</p>
+<p>Thus died Antony and Cleopatra. Antony was by nature a genial,
+open-hearted Roman, a good soldier, quick, resolute, and vigorous,
+but reckless and self-indulgent, devoid alike of prudence and of
+principle. The corruptions of the age, the seductions of power, and
+the evil influence of Cleopatra paralyzed a nature capable of
+better things. We know him chiefly through the exaggerated assaults
+of Cicero in his <i>Philippic</i>, and the narratives of writers
+devoted to Octavian. But after all deductions for partial
+representation, enough remains to show that Antony had all the
+faults of Cæsar, with little of his redeeming greatness.</p>
+<p>Cleopatra was an extraordinary person. At her death she was but
+thirty-eight years of age. Her power rested not so much on actual
+beauty as on her fascinating manners and her extreme readiness of
+wit. In her follies there was a certain magnificence which excites
+even a dull imagination. We may estimate the real power of her
+mental qualities by observing the impression her character made
+upon the Roman poets of the time. No meditated praises could have
+borne such testimony to her greatness as the lofty strain in which
+Horace celebrates her fall and congratulates the Roman world on its
+escape from the ruin which she was threatening to the Capitol.</p>
+<p>Octavian dated the years of his imperial monarchy from the day
+of the battle of Actium. But it was not till two years after (the
+summer of B.C. 29) that he established himself in Rome as ruler of
+the Roman world. Then he celebrated three magnificent triumphs,
+after the example of his uncle the great dictator, for his
+victories in Dalmatia, at Actium, and in Egypt. At the same time
+the temple of Janus was closed—notwithstanding that border
+wars still continued in Gaul and Spain—for the first time
+since the year B.C. 235. All men drew breath more freely, and all
+except the soldiery looked forward to a time of tranquillity.
+Liberty and independence were forgotten words. After the terrible
+disorders of the last century, the general cry was for quiet at any
+price. Octavian was a person admirably fitted to fulfil these
+aspirations. His uncle Julius was too fond of active exertion to
+play such a part well. Octavian never shone in war, while his
+vigilant and patient mind was well fitted for the discharge of
+business. He avoided shocking popular feeling by assuming any title
+savoring of royalty; but he enjoyed by universal consent an
+authority more than regal.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_22"></a>GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME</h2>
+<p class="center">A.D. 9</p>
+<p class="center">SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY</p>
+<p class="intros">The German race was beginning to make itself felt
+to a greater extent than hitherto in its efforts for freedom from
+the Roman rule. Research shows that from the earliest days there
+were two distinct peoples under this designation of
+<i>German</i>—the northern or Scandinavian, and the southern,
+being more truly the German. Both consisted of numerous tribes, the
+Romans giving separate names to each: from this arose the generic
+titles of <i>Franks, Bavarians, Alamanni</i>, and the rest.</p>
+<p class="intros">They were great fighters and, as a natural
+sequence, mighty hunters. When warfare did not occupy their
+attention, hunting, feasting, and drinking took its place. Tacitus
+writes: "To drink continuously, night and day, was no shame for
+them." Their chief beverage was barley beer, though, in the South,
+wine was used to some extent.</p>
+<p class="intros">Rome had garrisons throughout the whole land, and
+the fortunes of the Germans were at a low ebb. Freedom seemed
+stifled forever when Arminius led his forces against the Roman
+hosts in the forest of Teutoburgium. Rightly does Creasy rate this
+important battle so highly, for it meant the final uplifting of the
+Teuton, and with him the English-speaking races of a later
+time.</p>
+<p>To a truly illustrious Frenchman, whose reverses as a minister
+can never obscure his achievements in the world of letters, we are
+indebted for the most profound and most eloquent estimate that we
+possess of the importance of the Germanic element in European
+civilization, and of the extent to which the human race is indebted
+to those brave warriors who long were the unconquered antagonists,
+and finally became the conquerors, of imperial Rome.</p>
+<p>Twenty-three eventful years have passed away since M.
+Guizot[<a href="#note-82">82</a>] delivered from the chair of
+modern history, at Paris, his course of lectures on the history of
+civilization in Europe. During those years the spirit of earnest
+inquiry into the germs and primary developments of existing
+institutions has become more and more active and universal, and the
+merited celebrity of M. Guizot's work has proportionally increased.
+Its admirable analysis of the complex political and social
+organizations of which the modern civilized world is made up must
+have led thousands to trace with keener interest the great crises
+of times past, by which the characteristics of the present were
+determined. The narrative of one of these great crises, of the
+epoch A.D. 9, when Germany took up arms for her independence
+against Roman invasion, has for us this special
+attraction—that it forms part of our own national history.
+Had Arminius been supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors
+would have been enslaved or exterminated in their original seats
+along the Eider and the Elbe. This island would never have borne
+the name of England, and "we, this great English nation, whose race
+and language are now overrunning the earth, from one end of it to
+the other," would have been utterly cut off from existence.</p>
+<p><a name="note-82"><!-- Note Anchor 82 --></a>[Footnote 82:
+Guizot was minister of foreign affairs, and later (1848) prime
+minister, under Louis Philippe.]</p>
+<p>Arnold may, indeed, go too far in holding that we are wholly
+unconnected in race with the Romans and Britons who inhabited this
+country before the coming over of the Saxons; that, "nationally
+speaking, the history of Cæsar's invasion has no more to do
+with us than the natural history of the animals which then
+inhabited our forests." There seems ample evidence to prove that
+the Romanized Celts whom our Teutonic forefathers found here
+influenced materially the character of our nation. But the main
+stream of our people was, and is, Germanic. Our language alone
+decisively proves this. Arminius is far more truly one of our
+national heroes than Caractacus; and it was our own primeval
+fatherland that the brave German rescued when he slaughtered the
+Roman legions, eighteen centuries ago, in the marshy glens between
+the Lippe and the Ems.</p>
+<p>Dark and disheartening, even to heroic spirits, must have seemed
+the prospects of Germany when Arminius planned the general rising
+of his countrymen against Rome. Half the land was occupied by Roman
+garrisons; and, what was worse, many of the Germans seemed
+patiently acquiescent in their state of bondage. The braver
+portion, whose patriotism could be relied on, was ill-armed and
+undisciplined, while the enemy's troops consisted of veterans in
+the highest state of equipment and training, familiarized with
+victory and commanded by officers of proved skill and valor. The
+resources of Rome seemed boundless; her tenacity of purpose was
+believed to be invincible. There was no hope of foreign sympathy or
+aid; for "the self-governing powers that had filled the Old World
+had bent one after another before the rising power of Rome, and had
+vanished. The earth seemed left void of independent nations."</p>
+<p>The German chieftain knew well the gigantic power of the
+oppressor. Arminius was no rude savage, fighting out of mere animal
+instinct or in ignorance of the might of his adversary. He was
+familiar with the Roman language and civilization; he had served in
+the Roman armies; he had been admitted to the Roman citizenship,
+and raised to the rank of the equestrian order. It was part of the
+subtle policy of Rome to confer rank and privileges on the youth of
+the leading families in the nations which she wished to enslave.
+Among other young German chieftains, Arminius and his brother, who
+were the heads of the noblest house in the tribe of the Cherusci,
+had been selected as fit objects for the exercise of this insidious
+system. Roman refinements and dignities succeeded in
+denationalizing the brother, who assumed the Roman name of Flavius,
+and adhered to Rome throughout all her wars against his country.
+Arminius remained unbought by honors or wealth, uncorrupted by
+refinement or luxury. He aspired to and obtained from Roman enmity
+a higher title than ever could have been given him by Roman favor.
+It is in the page of Rome's greatest historian that his name has
+come down to us with the proud addition of "<i>Liberator hand dubie
+Germaniae</i>."</p>
+<p>Often must the young chieftain, while meditating the exploit
+which has thus immortalized him, have anxiously revolved in his
+mind the fate of the many great men who had been crushed in the
+attempt which he was about to renew—the attempt to stay the
+chariot wheels of triumphant Rome. Could he hope to succeed where
+Hannibal and Mithradates had perished? What had been the doom of
+Viriathus? and what warning against vain valor was written on the
+desolate site where Numantia once had flourished? Nor was a caution
+wanting in scenes nearer home and more recent times. The Gauls had
+fruitlessly struggled for eight years against Cæsar; and the
+gallant Vercingetorix, who in the last year of the war had roused
+all his countrymen to insurrection, who had cut off Roman
+detachments, and brought Cæsar himself to the extreme of
+peril at Alesia—he, too, had finally succumbed, had been led
+captive in Cæsar's triumph, and had then been butchered in
+cold blood in a Roman dungeon.</p>
+<p>It was true that Rome was no longer the great military republic
+which for so many ages had shattered the kingdoms of the world. Her
+system of government was changed, and, after a century of
+revolution and civil war, she had placed herself under the
+despotism of a single ruler. But the discipline of her troops was
+yet unimpaired and her warlike spirit seemed unabated. The first
+year of the empire had been signalized by conquests as valuable as
+any gained by the republic in a corresponding period. It is a great
+fallacy—though apparently sanctioned by great
+authorities—to suppose that the foreign policy pursued by
+Augustus was pacific; he certainly recommended such a policy to his
+successors (<i>incertum metu an per invidiam</i>: Tac.,
+<i>Ann</i>., i. 11), but he himself, until Arminius broke his
+spirit, had followed a very different course. Besides his Spanish
+wars, his generals, in a series of generally aggressive campaigns,
+had extended the Roman frontier from the Alps to the Danube, and
+had reduced into subjection the large and important countries that
+now form the territories of all Austria south of that river, and of
+East Switzerland, Lower Wuertemberg, Bavaria, the Valtelline, and
+the Tyrol.</p>
+<p>While the progress of the Roman arms thus pressed the Germans
+from the south, still more formidable inroads had been made by the
+imperial legions on the west. Roman armies, moving from the
+province of Gaul, established a chain of fortresses along the right
+as well as the left bank of the Rhine, and, in a series of
+victorious campaigns, advanced their eagles as far as the Elbe,
+which now seemed added to the list of vassal rivers, to the Nile,
+the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the Tagus, the Seine, and many
+more, that acknowledged the supremacy of the Tiber. Roman fleets
+also, sailing from the harbors of Gaul along the German coasts and
+up the estuaries, co&ouml;perated with the land forces of the
+empire, and seemed to display, even more decisively than her
+armies, her overwhelming superiority over the rude Germanic tribes.
+Throughout the territory thus invaded the Romans had with their
+usual military skill established fortified posts; and a powerful
+army of occupation was kept on foot, ready to move instantly on any
+spot where a popular outbreak might be attempted.</p>
+<p>Vast, however, and admirably organized as the fabric of Roman
+power appeared on the frontiers and in the provinces, there was
+rottenness at the core. In Rome's unceasing hostilities with
+foreign foes, and still more in her long series of desolating civil
+wars, the free middle classes of Italy had almost wholly
+disappeared. Above the position which they had occupied, an
+oligarchy of wealth had reared itself; beneath that position a
+degraded mass of poverty and misery was fermenting. Slaves; the
+chance sweepings of every conquered country; shoals of Africans,
+Sardinians, Asiatics, Illyrians, and others made up the bulk of the
+population of the Italian peninsula.</p>
+<p>The foulest profligacy of manners was general in all ranks. In
+universal weariness of revolution and civil war, and in
+consciousness of being too debased for self-government, the nation
+had submitted itself to the absolute authority of Augustus.
+Adulation was now the chief function of the senate; and the gifts
+of genius and accomplishments of art were devoted to the
+elaboration of eloquently false panegyrics upon the prince and his
+favorite courtiers. With bitter indignation must the German
+chieftain have beheld all this and contrasted with it the rough
+worth of his own countrymen: their bravery, their fidelity to their
+word, their manly independence of spirit, their love of their
+national free institutions, and their loathing of every pollution
+and meanness. Above all, he must have thought of the domestic
+virtues that hallowed a German home; of the respect there shown to
+the female character, and of the pure affection by which that
+respect was repaid. His soul must have burned within him at the
+contemplation of such a race yielding to these debased
+Italians.</p>
+<p>Still, to persuade the Germans to combine, in spite of the
+frequent feuds among themselves, in one sudden outbreak against
+Rome; to keep the scheme concealed from the Romans until the hour
+for action arrived; and then, without possessing a single walled
+town, without military stores, without training, to teach his
+insurgent countrymen to defeat veteran armies and storm
+fortifications, seemed so perilous an enterprise that probably
+Arminius would have receded from it had not a stronger feeling even
+than patriotism urged him on. Among the Germans of high rank who
+had most readily submitted to the invaders and become zealous
+partisans of Roman authority was a chieftain named Segestes. His
+daughter, Thusnelda, was preeminent among the noble maidens of
+Germany. Arminius had sought her hand in marriage; but Segestes,
+who probably discerned the young chief's disaffection to Rome,
+forbade his suit, and strove to preclude all communication between
+him and his daughter. Thusnelda, however, sympathized far more with
+the heroic spirit of her lover than with the timeserving policy of
+her father. An elopement baffled the precautions of Segestes, who,
+disappointed in his hope of preventing the marriage, accused
+Arminius before the Roman governor of having carried off his
+daughter and of planning treason against Rome. Thus assailed, and
+dreading to see his bride torn from him by the officials of the
+foreign oppressor, Arminius delayed no longer, but bent all his
+energies to organize and execute a general insurrection of the
+great mass of his countrymen, who hitherto had submitted in sullen
+hatred to the Roman dominion.</p>
+<p>A change of governors had recently taken place, which, while it
+materially favored the ultimate success of the insurgents, served,
+by the immediate aggravation of the Roman oppressions which it
+produced, to make the native population more universally eager to
+take arms. Tiberius, who was afterward emperor, had recently been
+recalled from the command in Germany and sent into Pannonia to put
+down a dangerous revolt which had broken out against the Romans in
+that province. The German patriots were thus delivered from the
+stern supervision of one of the most suspicious of mankind, and
+were also relieved from having to contend against the high military
+talents of a veteran commander, who thoroughly understood their
+national character, and also the nature of the country, which he
+himself had principally subdued.</p>
+<p>In the room of Tiberius, Augustus sent into Germany Quintilius
+Varus, who had lately returned from the proconsulate of Syria.
+Varus was a true representative of the higher classes of the
+Romans, among whom a general taste for literature, a keen
+susceptibility to all intellectual gratifications, a minute
+acquaintance with the principles and practice of their own national
+jurisprudence, a careful training in the schools of the
+rhetoricians, and a fondness for either partaking in or watching
+the intellectual strife of forensic oratory had become generally
+diffused, without, however, having humanized the old Roman spirit
+of cruel indifference to human feelings and human sufferings, and
+without acting as the least checks on unprincipled avarice and
+ambition or on habitual and gross profligacy. Accustomed to govern
+the depraved and debased natives of Syria—a country where
+courage in man and virtue in woman had for centuries been
+unknown—Varus thought that he might gratify his licentious
+and rapacious passions with equal impunity among the high-minded
+sons and pure-spirited daughters of Germany. When the general of an
+army sets the example of outrages of this description, he is soon
+faithfully imitated by his officers, and surpassed by his still
+more brutal soldiery. The Romans now habitually indulged in those
+violations of the sanctity of the domestic shrine, and those
+insults upon honor and modesty, by which far less gallant spirits
+than those of our Teutonic ancestors have often been maddened into
+insurrection.</p>
+<p>Arminius found among the other German chiefs many who
+sympathized with him in his indignation at their country's
+abasement, and many whom private wrongs had stung yet more deeply.
+There was little difficulty in collecting bold leaders for an
+attack on the oppressors, and little fear of the population not
+rising readily at those leaders' call. But to declare open war
+against Rome and to encounter Varus' army in a pitched battle would
+have been merely rushing upon certain destruction. Varus had three
+legions under him, a force which, after allowing for detachments,
+cannot be estimated at less than fourteen thousand Roman infantry.
+He had also eight or nine hundred Roman cavalry, and at least an
+equal number of horse and foot sent from the allied states, or
+raised among those provincials who had not received the Roman
+franchise.</p>
+<p>It was not merely the number, but the quality of this force that
+made them formidable; and, however contemptible Varus might be as a
+general, Arminius well knew how admirably the Roman armies were
+organized and officered, and how perfectly the legionaries
+understood every manoeuvre and every duty which the varying
+emergencies of a stricken field might require. Stratagem was,
+therefore, indispensable; and it was necessary to blind Varus to
+their schemes until a favorable opportunity should arrive for
+striking a decisive blow.</p>
+<p>For this purpose, the German confederates frequented the
+head-quarters of Varus, which seem to have been near the centre of
+the modern country of Westphalia, where the Roman general conducted
+himself with all the arrogant security of the governor of a
+perfectly submissive province. There Varus gratified at once his
+vanity, his rhetorical tastes, and his avarice, by holding courts,
+to which he summoned the Germans for the settlement of all their
+disputes, while a bar of Roman advocates attended to argue the
+cases before the tribunal of Varus, who did not omit the
+opportunity of exacting court fees and accepting bribes. Varus
+trusted implicitly to the respect which the Germans pretended to
+pay to his abilities as a judge, and to the interest which they
+affected to take in the forensic eloquence of their conquerors.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile a succession of heavy rains rendered the country more
+difficult for the operations of regular troops, and Arminius,
+seeing that the infatuation of Varus was complete, secretly
+directed the tribes near the Weser and the Ems to take up arms in
+open revolt against the Romans. This was represented to Varus as an
+occasion which required his prompt attendance at the spot; but he
+was kept in studied ignorance of its being part of a concerted
+national rising; and he still looked on Arminius as his submissive
+vassal, whose aid he might rely on in facilitating the march of his
+troops against the rebels and in extinguishing the local
+disturbance. He therefore set his army in motion, and marched
+eastward in a line parallel to the course of the Lippe. For some
+distance his route lay along a level plain; but on arriving at the
+tract between the curve of the upper part of that stream and the
+sources of the Ems, the country assumes a very different character;
+and here, in the territory of the modern little principality of
+Lippe, it was that Arminius had fixed the scene of his
+enterprise.</p>
+<p>A wooded and hilly region intervenes between the heads of the
+two rivers, and forms the water-shed of their streams. This region
+still retains the name (Teutobergenwald = <i>Teutobergiensis
+saltus</i>) which it bore in the days of Arminius. The nature of
+the ground has probably also remained unaltered. The eastern part
+of it, round Detmold, the modern capital of the principality of
+Lippe, is described by a modern German scholar, Dr. Plate, as being
+a "table-land intersected by numerous deep and narrow valleys,
+which in some places form small plains, surrounded by steep
+mountains and rocks, and only accessible by narrow defiles. All the
+valleys are traversed by rapid streams, shallow in the dry season,
+but subject to sudden swellings in autumn and winter. The vast
+forests which cover the summits and slopes of the hills consist
+chiefly of oak; there is little underwood, and both men and horse
+would move with ease in the forests if the ground were not broken
+by gulleys or rendered impracticable by fallen trees." This is the
+district to which Varus is supposed to have marched; and Dr. Plate
+adds that "the names of several localities on and near that spot
+seem to indicate that a great battle had once been fought there. We
+find the names '<i>das Winnefeld</i>' (the field of victory),
+'<i>die Knochenbahn</i>' (the bone-lane), '<i>die Knochenleke</i>'
+(the bone-brook), '<i>der Mordkessel</i>' (the kettle of
+slaughter), and others."</p>
+<p>Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman discipline,
+Varus had suffered his army to be accompanied and impeded by an
+immense train of baggage wagons and by a rabble of camp followers,
+as if his troops had been merely changing their quarters in a
+friendly country. When the long array quitted the firm, level
+ground and began to wind its way among the woods, the marshes, and
+the ravines, the difficulties of the march, even without the
+intervention of an armed foe, became fearfully apparent. In many
+places the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for cavalry
+and even for infantry, until trees had been felled and a rude
+causeway formed through the morass.</p>
+<p>The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who served in
+the Roman armies. But the crowd and confusion of the columns
+embarrassed the working parties of the soldiery, and in the midst
+of their toil and disorder the word was suddenly passed through
+their ranks that the rear-guard was attacked by the barbarians.
+Varus resolved on pressing forward; but a heavy discharge of
+missiles from the woods on either flank taught him how serious was
+the peril, and he saw his best men falling round him without the
+opportunity of retaliation; for his light-armed auxiliaries, who
+were principally of Germanic race, now rapidly deserted, and it was
+impossible to deploy the legionaries on such broken ground for a
+charge against the enemy.</p>
+<p>Choosing one of the most open and firm spots which they could
+force their way to, the Romans halted for the night; and, faithful
+to their national discipline and tactics, formed their camp amid
+the harassing attacks of the rapidly thronging foes with the
+elaborate toil and systematic skill the traces of which are
+impressed permanently on the soil of so many European countries,
+attesting the presence in the olden time of the imperial
+eagles.</p>
+<p>On the morrow the Romans renewed their march, the veteran
+officers who served under Varus now probably directing the
+operations and hoping to find the Germans drawn up to meet them, in
+which case they relied on their own superior discipline and tactics
+for such a victory as should reassure the supremacy of Rome. But
+Arminius was far too sage a commander to lead on his followers,
+with their unwieldy broadswords and inefficient defensive armor,
+against the Roman legionaries, fully armed with helmet, cuirass,
+greaves, and shield, who were skilled to commence the conflict with
+a murderous volley of heavy javelins hurled upon the foe when a few
+yards distant, and then, with their short cut-and-thrust swords, to
+hew their way through all opposition, preserving the utmost
+steadiness and coolness, and obeying each word of command in the
+midst of strife and slaughter with the same precision and alertness
+as if upon parade. Arminius suffered the Romans to march out from
+their camp, to form first in line for action and then in column for
+marching, without the show of opposition.</p>
+<p>For some distance Varus was allowed to move on, only harassed by
+slight skirmishes, but struggling with difficulty through the
+broken ground, the toil and distress of his men being aggravated by
+heavy torrents of rain, which burst upon the devoted legions, as if
+the angry gods of Germany were pouring out the vials of their wrath
+upon the invaders. After some little time their van approached a
+ridge of high wooded ground, which is one of the offshoots of the
+great Hercynian forest, and is situated between the modern villages
+of Driburg and Bielefeld. Arminius had caused barricades of hewn
+trees to be formed here, so as to add to the natural difficulties
+of the passage. Fatigue and discouragement now began to betray
+themselves in the Roman ranks. Their line became less steady;
+baggage wagons were abandoned from the impossibility of forcing
+them along; and, as this happened, many soldiers left their ranks
+and crowded round the wagons to secure the most valuable portions
+of their property; each was busy about his own affairs, and
+purposely slow in hearing the word of command from his
+officers.</p>
+<p>Arminius now gave the signal for a general attack. The fierce
+shouts of the Germans pealed through the gloom of the forests, and
+in thronging multitudes they assailed the flanks of the invaders,
+pouring in clouds of darts on the encumbered legionaries as they
+struggled up the glens or floundered in the morasses, and watching
+every opportunity of charging through the intervals of the
+disjointed column, and so cutting off the communication between its
+several brigades. Arminius, with a chosen band of personal
+retainers round him, cheered on his countrymen by voice and
+example. He and his men aimed their weapons particularly at the
+horses of the Roman cavalry. The wounded animals, slipping about in
+the mire and their own blood, threw their riders and plunged among
+the ranks of the legions, disordering all round them. Varus now
+ordered the troops to be countermarched, in the hope of reaching
+the nearest Roman garrison on the Lippe.</p>
+<p>But retreat now was as impracticable as advance; and the falling
+back of the Romans only augmented the courage of their assailants
+and caused fiercer and more frequent charges on the flanks of the
+disheartened army. The Roman officer who commanded the cavalry,
+Numonius Vala, rode off with his squadrons in the vain hope of
+escaping by thus abandoning his comrades. Unable to keep together
+or force their way across the woods and swamps, the horsemen were
+overpowered in detail and slaughtered to the last man. The Roman
+infantry still held together and resisted, but more through the
+instinct of discipline and bravery than from any hope of success or
+escape.</p>
+<p>Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge of the Germans
+against his part of the column, committed suicide to avoid falling
+into the hands of those whom he had exasperated by his oppressions.
+One of the lieutenants-general of the army fell fighting; the other
+surrendered to the enemy. But mercy to a fallen foe had never been
+a Roman virtue, and those among her legions who now laid down their
+arms in hope of quarter, drank deep of the cup of suffering, which
+Rome had held to the lips of many a brave but unfortunate enemy.
+The infuriated Germans slaughtered their oppressors with deliberate
+ferocity, and those prisoners who were not hewn to pieces on the
+spot were only preserved to perish by a more cruel death in cold
+blood.</p>
+<p>The bulk of the Roman army fought steadily and stubbornly,
+frequently repelling the masses of assailants, but gradually losing
+the compactness of their array and becoming weaker and weaker
+beneath the incessant shower of darts and the reiterated assaults
+of the vigorous and unencumbered Germans. At last, in a series of
+desperate attacks, the column was pierced through and through, two
+of the eagles captured, and the Roman host, which on the morning
+before had marched forth in such pride and might—now broken
+up into confused fragments—either fell fighting beneath the
+overpowering numbers of the enemy or perished in the swamps and
+woods in unavailing efforts at flight. Few, very few, ever saw
+again the left bank of the Rhine. One body of brave veterans,
+arraying themselves in a ring on a little mound, beat off every
+charge of the Germans, and prolonged their honorable resistance to
+the close of that dreadful day. The traces of a feeble attempt at
+forming a ditch and mound attested in after-years the spot where
+the last of the Romans passed their night of suffering and despair.
+But on the morrow this remnant also, worn out with hunger, wounds,
+and toil, was charged by the victorious Germans, and either
+massacred on the spot or offered up in fearful rites on the altars
+of the deities of the old mythology of the North.</p>
+<p>A gorge in the mountain ridge, through which runs the modern
+road between Paderborn and Pyrmont, leads from the spot where the
+heat of the battle raged to the Extersteine—a cluster of bold
+and grotesque rocks of sandstone—near which is a small sheet
+of water, overshadowed by a grove of aged trees. According to local
+tradition, this was one of the sacred groves of the ancient
+Germans, and it was here that the Roman captives were slain in
+sacrifice by the victorious warriors of Arminius.</p>
+<p>Never was victory more decisive; never was the liberation of an
+oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. Throughout
+Germany the Roman garrisons were assailed and cut off; and within a
+few weeks after Varus had fallen, the German soil was freed from
+the foot of an invader.</p>
+<p>At Rome the tidings of the battle were received with an agony of
+terror, the reports of which we would deem exaggerated did they not
+come from Roman historians themselves. They not only tell
+emphatically how great was the awe which the Romans felt of the
+prowess of the Germans if their various tribes could be brought to
+unite for a common purpose,[<a href="#note-83">83</a>] but they
+also reveal how weakened and debased the population of Italy had
+become. Dion Cassius says: "Then Augustus, when he heard the
+calamity of Varus, rent his garment, and was in great affliction
+for the troops he had lost, and for terror respecting the Germans
+and the Gauls. And his chief alarm was that he expected them to
+push on against Italy and Rome; and there remained no Roman youth
+fit for military duty that were worth speaking of, and the allied
+populations, that were at all serviceable, had been wasted away.
+Yet he prepared for the emergency as well as his means allowed; and
+when none of the citizens of military age were willing to enlist,
+he made them cast lots, and punished, by confiscation of goods and
+disfranchisement, every fifth man among those under thirty-five and
+every tenth man of those above that age. At last, when he found
+that not even thus could he make many come forward, he put some of
+them to death. So he made a conscription of discharged veterans and
+of emancipated slaves, and, collecting as large a force as he
+could, sent it, under Tiberius, with all speed into Germany."</p>
+<p><a name="note-83"><!-- Note Anchor 83 --></a>[Footnote 83: It is
+clear that the Romans followed the policy of fomenting dissensions
+and wars of the Germans among themselves.]</p>
+<p>Dion mentions also a number of terrific portents that were
+believed to have occurred at the time, and the narration of which
+is not immaterial, as it shows the state of the public mind when
+such things were so believed in and so interpreted. The summits of
+the Alps were said to have fallen, and three columns of fire to
+have blazed up from them. In the Campus Martius, the temple of the
+war-god, from whom the founder of Rome had sprung, was struck by a
+thunderbolt. The nightly heavens glowed several times as if on
+fire. Many comets blazed forth together; and fiery meteors, shaped
+like spears, had shot from the northern quarter of the sky down
+into the Roman camps. It was said, too, that a statue of Victory,
+which had stood at a place on the frontier, pointing the way toward
+Germany, had of its own accord turned round, and now pointed to
+Italy. These and other prodigies were believed by the multitude to
+accompany the slaughter of Varus' legions and to manifest the anger
+of the gods against Rome.</p>
+<p>Augustus himself was not free from superstition; but on this
+occasion no supernatural terrors were needed to increase the alarm
+and grief that he felt, and which made him, even months after the
+news of the battle had arrived, often beat his head against the
+wall and exclaim, "Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions." We
+learn this from his biographer Suetonius; and, indeed, every
+ancient writer who alludes to the overthrow of Varus attests the
+importance of the blow against the Roman power, and the bitterness
+with which it was felt.</p>
+<p>The Germans did not pursue their victory beyond their own
+territory; but that victory secured at once and forever the
+independence of the Teutonic race. Rome sent, indeed, her legions
+again into Germany, to parade a temporary superiority, but all
+hopes of permanent conquests were abandoned by Augustus and his
+successors.</p>
+<p>The blow which Arminius had struck never was forgotten. Roman
+fear disguised itself under the specious title of moderation, and
+the Rhine became the acknowledged boundary of the two nations until
+the fifth century of our era, when the Germans became the
+assailants, and carved with their conquering swords the provinces
+of imperial Rome into the kingdoms of modern Europe.</p>
+<p class="center">ARMINIUS</p>
+<p>I have said above that the great Cheruscan is more truly one of
+our national heroes than Caractacus is. It may be added that an
+Englishman is entitled to claim a closer degree of relationship
+with Arminius than can be claimed by any German of modern Germany.
+The proof of this depends on the proof of four facts: First, that
+the Cheruscans were Old Saxons, or Saxons of the interior of
+Germany; secondly, that the Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons of the coast of
+Germany, were more closely akin than other German tribes were to
+the Cheruscan Saxons; thirdly, that the Old Saxons were almost
+exterminated by Charlemagne; fourthly, that the Anglo-Saxons are
+our immediate ancestors. The last of these may be assumed as an
+axiom in English history. The proofs of the other three are partly
+philological and partly historical. It may be, however, here
+remarked that the present Saxons of Germany are of the <i>High</i>
+Germanic division of the German race, whereas both the Anglo-Saxon
+and Old Saxon were of the <i>Low</i> Germanic.</p>
+<p>Being thus the nearest heirs of the glory of Arminius, we may
+fairly devote more attention to his career than, in such a work as
+the present, could be allowed to any individual leader; and it is
+interesting to trace how far his fame survived during the Middle
+Ages, both among the Germans of the Continent and among
+ourselves.</p>
+<p>It seems probable that the jealousy with which Maroboduus, the
+king of the Suevi and Marcomanni, regarded Arminius, and which
+ultimately broke out into open hostilities between those German
+tribes and the Cherusci, prevented Arminius from leading the
+confederate Germans to attack Italy after his first victory.
+Perhaps he may have had the rare moderation of being content with
+the liberation of his country, without seeking to retaliate on her
+former oppressors. When Tiberius marched into Germany in the year
+10, Arminius was too cautious to attack him on ground favorable to
+the legions, and Tiberius was too skilful to entangle his troops in
+the difficult parts of the country. His march and countermarch were
+as unresisted as they were unproductive. A few years later, when a
+dangerous revolt of the Roman legions near the frontier caused
+their generals to find them active employment by leading them into
+the interior of Germany, we find Arminius again active in his
+country's defence. The old quarrel between him and his
+father-in-law, Segestes, had broken out afresh.</p>
+<p>Segestes now called in the aid of the Roman general, Germanicus,
+to whom he surrendered himself; and by his contrivance, his
+daughter, Thusnelda, the wife of Arminius, also came into the hands
+of the Romans, she being far advanced in pregnancy. She showed, as
+Tacitus relates, more of the spirit of her husband than of her
+father, a spirit that could not be subdued into tears or
+supplications. She was sent to Ravenna, and there gave birth to a
+son, whose life we know, from an allusion in Tacitus, to have been
+eventful and unhappy; but the part of the great historian's work
+which narrated his fate has perished, and we only know from another
+quarter that the son of Arminius was, at the age of four years, led
+captive in a triumphal pageant along the streets of Rome.</p>
+<p>The high spirit of Arminius was goaded almost into frenzy by
+these bereavements. The fate of his wife, thus torn from him, and
+of his babe doomed to bondage even before its birth, inflamed the
+eloquent invectives with which he roused his countrymen against the
+home-traitors, and against their invaders, who thus made war upon
+women and children. Germanicus had marched his army to the place
+where Varus had perished, and had there paid funeral honors to the
+ghastly relics of his predecessor's legions that he found heaped
+around him.[<a href="#note-84">84</a>] Arminius lured him to
+advance a little farther into the country, and then assailed him,
+and fought a battle, which, by the Roman accounts, was a drawn
+one.</p>
+<p><a name="note-84"><!-- Note Anchor 84 --></a>[Footnote 84: In
+the Museum of Rhenish Antiquities at Bonn there is a Roman
+sepulchral monument the inscription on which records that it was
+erected to the memory of M. Coelius, who fell "<i>Bella
+Variano</i>."]</p>
+<p>The effect of it was to make Germanicus resolve on retreating to
+the Rhine. He himself, with part of his troops, embarked in some
+vessels on the Ems, and returned by that river, and then by sea;
+but part of his forces were intrusted to a Roman general named
+Caecina, to lead them back by land to the Rhine. Arminius followed
+this division on its march, and fought several battles with it, in
+which he inflicted heavy loss on the Romans, captured the greater
+part of their baggage, and would have destroyed them completely had
+not his skilful system of operations been finally thwarted by the
+haste of Inguiomerus, a confederate German chief, who insisted on
+assaulting the Romans in their camp, instead of waiting till they
+were entangled in the difficulties of the country, and assailing
+their columns on the march.</p>
+<p>In the following year the Romans were inactive, but in the year
+afterward Germanicus led a fresh invasion. He placed his army on
+shipboard and sailed to the mouth of the Ems, where he disembarked
+and marched to the Weser, there encamping, probably in the
+neighborhood of Minden. Arminius had collected his army on the
+other side of the river; and a scene occurred, which is powerfully
+told by Tacitus, and which is the subject of a beautiful poem by
+Praed. It has been already mentioned that the brother of Arminius,
+like himself, had been trained up while young to serve in the Roman
+armies; but, unlike Arminius, he not only refused to quit the Roman
+service for that of his country, but fought against his country
+with the legions of Germanicus. He had assumed the Roman name of
+Flavius, and had gained considerable distinction in the Roman
+service, in which he had lost an eye from a wound in battle. When
+the Roman outposts approached the river Weser, Arminius called out
+to them from the opposite bank and expressed a wish to see his
+brother. Flavius stepped forward, and Arminius ordered his own
+followers to retire, and requested that the archers should be
+removed from the Roman bank of the river. This was done; and the
+brothers, who apparently had not seen each other for some years,
+began a conversation from the opposite sides of the stream, in
+which Arminius questioned his brother respecting the loss of his
+eye, and what battle it had been lost in, and what reward he had
+received for his wound. Flavius told him how the eye was lost, and
+mentioned the increased pay that he had on account of its loss, and
+showed the collar and other military decorations that had been
+given him. Arminius mocked at these as badges of slavery; and then
+each began to try to win the other over—Flavius boasting the
+power of Rome and her generosity to the submissive; Arminius
+appealing to him in the name of their country's gods, of the mother
+that had borne them, and by the holy names of fatherland and
+freedom, not to prefer being the betrayer to being the champion of
+his country. They soon proceeded to mutual taunts and menaces, and
+Flavius called aloud for his horse and his arms, that he might dash
+across the river and attack his brother; nor would he have been
+checked from doing so had not the Roman general Stertinius run up
+to him and forcibly detained him. Arminius stood on the other bank,
+threatening the renegade, and defying him to battle.</p>
+<p>I shall not be thought to need apology for quoting here the
+stanzas in which Praed has described this scene—a scene among
+the most affecting, as well as the most striking, that history
+supplies. It makes us reflect on the desolate position of Arminius,
+with his wife and child captives in the enemy's hands, and with his
+brother a renegade in arms against him. The great liberator of our
+German race was there, with every source of human happiness denied
+him except the consciousness of doing his duty to his country.</p>
+<p class="poetry">"Back, back! he fears not foaming flood<br/>
+  Who fears not steel-clad line:<br/>
+No warrior thou of German blood,<br/>
+  No brother thou of mine.<br/>
+Go, earn Rome's chain to load thy neck,<br/>
+  Her gems to deck thy hilt;<br/>
+And blazon honor's hapless wreck<br/>
+  With all the gauds of guilt.<br/>
+<br/>
+"But wouldst thou have <i>me</i> share the prey?<br/>
+  By all that I have done,<br/>
+The Varian bones that day by day<br/>
+  Lie whitening in the sun,<br/>
+The legion's trampled panoply,<br/>
+  The eagle's shatter'd wing—<br/>
+I would not be for earth or sky<br/>
+  So scorn'd and mean a thing.<br/>
+<br/>
+"Ho, call me here the wizard, boy,<br/>
+  Of dark and subtle skill,<br/>
+To agonize but not destroy,<br/>
+  To torture, not to kill.<br/>
+When swords are out and shriek and shout<br/>
+  Leave little room for prayer,<br/>
+No fetter on man's arm or heart<br/>
+  Hangs half so heavy there.<br/>
+<br/>
+"I curse him by the gifts the land<br/>
+  Hath won from him and Rome,<br/>
+The riving axe, the wasting brand,<br/>
+  Rent forest, blazing home.<br/>
+I curse him by our country's gods,<br/>
+  The terrible, the dark,<br/>
+The breakers of the Roman rods,<br/>
+  The smiters of the bark.<br/>
+<br/>
+"Oh, misery that such a ban<br/>
+  On such a brow should be!<br/>
+Why comes he not in battle's van<br/>
+  His country's chief to be?<br/>
+To stand a comrade by my side,<br/>
+  The sharer of my fame,<br/>
+And worthy of a brother's pride<br/>
+  And of a brother's name?<br/>
+<br/>
+"But it is past! where heroes press<br/>
+  And cowards bend the knee,<br/>
+Arminius is not brotherless,<br/>
+  His brethren are the free.<br/>
+They come around: one hour, and light<br/>
+  Will fade from turf and tide,<br/>
+Then onward, onward to the fight,<br/>
+  With darkness for our guide.<br/>
+<br/>
+"To-night, to-night, when we shall meet<br/>
+  In combat face to face,<br/>
+Then only would Arminius greet<br/>
+  The renegade's embrace.<br/>
+The canker of Rome's guilt shall be<br/>
+  Upon his dying name;<br/>
+And as he lived in slavery,<br/>
+  So shall he fall in shame."</p>
+<p>On the day after the Romans had reached the Weser, Germanicus
+led his army across that river, and a partial encounter took place,
+in which Arminius was successful. But on the succeeding day a
+general action was fought, in which Arminius was severely wounded
+and the German infantry routed with heavy loss. The horsemen of the
+two armies encountered without either party gaining the advantage.
+But the Roman army remained master of the ground and claimed a
+complete victory. Germanicus erected a trophy in the field, with a
+vaunting inscription that the nations between the Rhine and the
+Elbe had been thoroughly conquered by his army. But that army
+speedily made a final retreat to the left bank of the Rhine; nor
+was the effect of their campaign more durable than their trophy.
+The sarcasm with which Tacitus speaks of certain other triumphs of
+Roman generals over Germans may apply to the pageant which
+Germanicus celebrated on his return to Rome from his command of the
+Roman army of the Rhine. The Germans were "<i>triumphati potius
+quam victi</i>."</p>
+<p>After the Romans had abandoned their attempts on Germany, we
+find Arminius engaged in hostilities with Maroboduus, king of the
+Suevi and Marcomanni, who was endeavoring to bring the other German
+tribes into a state of dependency on him. Arminius was at the head
+of the Germans who took up arms against this home invader of their
+liberties. After some minor engagements a pitched battle was fought
+between the two confederacies (A.D. 19) in which the loss on each
+side was equal, but Maroboduus confessed the ascendency of his
+antagonist by avoiding a renewal of the engagement and by imploring
+the intervention of the Romans in his defence. The younger Drusus
+then commanded the Roman legions in the province of Illyricum, and
+by his mediation a peace was concluded between Arminius and
+Maroboduus, by the terms of which it is evident that the latter
+must have renounced his ambitious schemes against the freedom of
+the other German tribes.</p>
+<p>Arminius did not long survive this second war of independence,
+which he successfully waged for his country. He was assassinated in
+the thirty-seventh year of his age by some of his own kinsmen, who
+conspired against him. Tacitus says that this happened while he was
+engaged in a civil war, which had been caused by his attempts to
+make himself king over his countrymen. It is far more probable, as
+one of the best biographers[<a href="#note-85">85</a>] has
+observed, that Tacitus misunderstood an attempt of Arminius to
+extend his influence as elective war chieftain of the Cherusci and
+other tribes, for an attempt to obtain the royal dignity.</p>
+<p><a name="note-85"><!-- Note Anchor 85 --></a>[Footnote 85: Dr.
+Plate, in <i>Biographical Dictionary</i>.]</p>
+<p>When we remember that his father-in-law and his brother were
+renegades, we can well understand that a party among his kinsmen
+may have been bitterly hostile to him, and have opposed his
+authority with the tribe by open violence, and, when that seemed
+ineffectual, by secret assassination.</p>
+<p>Arminius left a name which the historians of the nation against
+which he combated so long and so gloriously have delighted to
+honor. It is from the most indisputable source, from the lips of
+enemies, that we know his exploits.[<a href="#note-86">86</a>] His
+countrymen made history, but did not write it. But his memory lived
+among them in the days of their bards, who recorded</p>
+<p class="poetry">"The deeds he did, the fields he won,<br/>
+The freedom he restored."</p>
+<p>Tacitus, writing years after the death of Arminius, says of him,
+"<i>Canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes</i>." As time passed on, the
+gratitude of ancient Germany to her great deliverer grew into
+adoration, and divine honors were paid for centuries to Arminius by
+every tribe of the Low Germanic division of the Teutonic races. The
+<i>Irmin-sul</i>, or the column of Herman, near Eresburgh (the
+modern Stadtberg), was the chosen object of worship to the
+descendants of the Cherusci (the Old Saxons), and in defence of
+which they fought most desperately against Charlemagne and his
+Christianized Franks. "Irmin, in the cloudy Olympus of Teutonic
+belief, appears as a king and a warrior; and the pillar, the
+'Irmin-sul,' bearing the statue, and considered as the symbol of
+the deity, was the Palladium of the Saxon nation until the temple
+of Eresburgh was destroyed by Charlemagne, and the column itself
+transferred to the monastery of Corbey, where perhaps a portion of
+the rude rock idol yet remains, covered by the ornaments of the
+Gothic era."[<a href="#note-87">87</a>] Traces of the worship of
+Arminius are to be found among our Anglo-Saxon ancestors after
+their settlement in this island. One of the four great highways was
+held to be under the protection of the deity, and was called the
+"Irmin street." The name <i>Arminius</i> is, of course, the mere
+Latinized form of <i>Herman</i>, the name by which the hero and the
+deity were known by every man of Low German blood on either side of
+the German Sea. It means, etymologically, the <i>War-man</i>, the
+<i>man of hosts</i>. No other explanation of the worship of the
+Irmin-sul, and of the name of the Irmin street, is so satisfactory
+as that which connects them with the deified Arminius. We know for
+certain of the existence of other columns of an analogous
+character. Thus there was the <i>Roland-seule</i> in North Germany;
+there was a <i>Thor-seule</i> in Sweden, and (what is more
+important) there was an <i>Athelstan-seule</i> in Saxon
+England.[<a href="#note-88">88</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-86"><!-- Note Anchor 86 --></a>[Footnote 86:
+Tacitus: <i>Annales</i>.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-87"><!-- Note Anchor 87 --></a>[Footnote 87:
+Palgrave: <i>English Commonwealth</i>.]</p>
+<p><a name="note-88"><!-- Note Anchor 88 --></a>[Footnote 88:
+Lappenburg: <i>Anglo-Saxons</i>.]</p>
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="RULE4_23"></a>CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY</h2>
+<p class="center">EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME B.C. 450-A.D.
+12</p>
+<p class="center">JOHN RUDD, LL.D.</p>
+<p>Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the
+numerals following give volume and page.</p>
+<p>Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers
+of famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume
+and page references showing where the several events are fully
+treated.</p>
+<p>"Est" means date uncertain.</p>
+<p class="center">B.C.</p>
+<p>450. The decemvirate instituted at Rome; the Twelve Tables of
+law framed. See <a href="#RULE4_2">"INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE
+DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1</a>.</p>
+<p>Alcibiades born.[Est]</p>
+<p>448. First Sacred War between the Phocians and Delphians for the
+possession of the temple at Delphi.</p>
+<p>The decemvirate abolished at Rome. See <a href="#RULE4_2">"INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii,
+1</a>.</p>
+<p>Athens is now the principal seat of Greek philosophy,
+literature, and art.</p>
+<p>447. The Boeotians defeat the Athenians at Coronea; the conflict
+was brought about by Athens breaking the truce arranged between the
+Greek states to endure for five years, in order to combine against
+Persia. The result was the loss to Athens of Boeotia, Phocis, and
+Locris.</p>
+<p>445.[Est] Nehemiah begins the rebuilding of the walls of
+Jerusalem.</p>
+<p>Peace of Callias between the Greeks and Persians.</p>
+<p>Birth of Xenophon, general and historian.</p>
+<p>444. Ascendency of Pericles at Athens.[Est] See <a href="#RULE4_3">"PERICLES RULES IN ATHENS," ii, 12</a>.</p>
+<p>The military tribunes instituted at Rome. The consulship was in
+no sense abolished; until the passage of the Licinian Rogations
+(when it reappeared as a permanent annual magistracy) it alternated
+irregularly with the military tribunes. See <a href="#RULE4_2">"INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii,
+1</a>.</p>
+<p>Thucydides exiled Athens.</p>
+<p>443. An Athenian colony planted at Thurium, near Sybarius; it is
+accompanied by Herodotus and Lysias.</p>
+<p>442. Pericles, guided by Phidias the sculptor, adorns Athens;
+the Parthenon, Propylæa, and Odeum built.</p>
+<p>440. Samos resists the Athenian sway; is besieged by Pericles
+and Sophocles; Melissus defends the city, but surrenders after a
+siege of nine months.</p>
+<p>Comedies prohibited performance at Athens.</p>
+<p>439. Great famine in Rome; Sp. Mælius distributes corn to
+the citizens, for which he is accused of wishing to be king, and is
+assassinated by Servilius Ahala.</p>
+<p>438. Spartacus becomes king of Bosporus.</p>
+<p>Ahala impeached and exiled Rome.</p>
+<p>437. The prohibition of comedy repealed at Athens.</p>
+<p>Syracuse, the predominant state in Sicily, reaches the height of
+its prosperity. See <a href="#RULE4_5">"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT
+SYRACUSE," ii, 48</a>.</p>
+<p>436. Commencement of the dispute between Corinth and Corcyra
+regarding the city of Epidamnus, in which Athens supported the
+latter; this led to the Peloponnesian War.</p>
+<p>435. Naval victory over the Corinthians by the Corcyræans,
+near Actium.</p>
+<p>432. Ambassadors from Corcyra implore the aid of Athens, which
+series a fleet to defend the island against the Corinthian attack.
+Corinth incites Potidæa to revolt from Athens.</p>
+<p>431. Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta declares on the
+side of Corinth and makes war on Athens. The real cause of the
+war—which was to be so disastrous to Greece—was that
+Sparta and its allies were jealous of the great power Athens had
+attained. Sparta was an oligarchy and a friend of the nobles
+everywhere; Athens was a democracy and the friend of the common
+people; so that the war was to some extent a struggle between these
+classes all over Greece.</p>
+<p>430. <a href="#RULE4_4">"GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS." See ii,
+34</a>. The physician Hippocrates distinguishes himself by
+extraordinary cures of the sick.</p>
+<p>Second invasion of Attica by the Spartans.</p>
+<p>429. Death of Pericles, during the plague, at Athens.</p>
+<p>Potidæa reduced by the Athenians.</p>
+<p>Birth of Plato.</p>
+<p>428. Attica invaded the third time.</p>
+<p>Lesbos revolts from the Athenian confederacy; on this the
+Athenians besiege Mitylene.</p>
+<p>427. Mitylene reduced; Athens becomes master of Lesbos.
+Platæa, the ally of Athens, after being besieged, surrenders
+to the Peloponnesians and is destroyed.</p>
+<p>Attica again invaded.</p>
+<p>425. Agis begins the fifth invasion of Attica; he retires on
+learning that the Athenians under Cleon had taken Pylos and
+Sapachteria.</p>
+<p>Mount Æetna in eruption.</p>
+<p>On the death of Artaxerxes I, his son, Xerxes II, succeeds him
+as ruler of Persia; he reigns only forty-five days, being slain by
+his brother Sogdianus, who usurps the throne.</p>
+<p>424. The island of Cythera taken by the Athenians. Brasidas, the
+Spartan general, captures Amphipolis, defeating Thucydides.</p>
+<p>Ochus (Darius Nothus) rids himself of Sogdianus and succeeds him
+on the Persian throne.</p>
+<p>423. The Athenians banish Thucydides for having suffered
+Amphipolis to be taken.</p>
+<p>422. The Athenians send Cleon to recover Amphipolis; he is
+defeated by Brasidas; both fall in the battle.</p>
+<p>421. Peace of Nicias between Sparta and Athens. End of the first
+period of the Peloponnesian War.</p>
+<p>420. Alcibiades negotiates an alliance between Athens and Argos.
+Amphipolis retained by the Spartans.</p>
+<p>419. An Athenian expedition is led into the Peloponnesus by
+Alcibiades.</p>
+<p>418. Victory of the Spartans at Mantinea.</p>
+<p>The league between Athens and Argos dissolved.</p>
+<p>416. The island of Melos, which had remained neutral, is
+conquered by the Athenians; its inhabitants are treated with
+extreme cruelty.</p>
+<p>415. The Athenians send an expedition against Syracuse under
+Nicias, Lamachus, and Alcibiades; the latter is recalled to answer
+an accusation of having broken some statues of Mercury in Athens;
+he takes refuge in Sparta. Andocides, the orator, implicated in the
+same charge, is imprisoned and exiled.</p>
+<p>414. Syracuse is invested by the Athenians under Nicias; being
+hard pressed, Syracuse appeals to the other Greek states; Cylippus,
+the Spartan commander, comes with a fleet to the aid of the city.
+See <a href="#RULE4_5">"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii,
+48</a>.</p>
+<p>The Romans capture Bolae, an Æquian town; the division of
+the booty causes a mutiny among the soldiers, who slay the quaestor
+and the military tribune, M. Postumius.</p>
+<p>413. On Alcibiades' advice the Spartans fortify a position at
+Decelea, in Attica.</p>
+<p><a href="#RULE4_5">"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE." See
+ii, 48</a>.</p>
+<p>412. Alcibiades visits the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, with
+whose aid he negotiates an alliance between Persia and Sparta.</p>
+<p>411. Owing to the machinations of Alcibiades a revolt is
+organized in Athens, by the aid of the clubs of the nobles and rich
+men; its object being to overthrow the democracy and establish an
+oligarchy. The rising is successful and the "Reign of the Four
+Hundred" ensues; it lasts four months; its framer, Antipho, is put
+to death. Alcibiades is recalled.</p>
+<p>410. The Spartans are defeated by Alcibiades in a naval
+encounter at Cyzicus. Sparta makes overtures for peace.</p>
+<p>409. The Carthaginians invade Sicily; they reduce Silenus and
+Himera.</p>
+<p>408. Alcibiades takes Selymbria and Byzantium.</p>
+<p>Psammeticus is king of Egypt.</p>
+<p>Roman plebs first admitted to the quaestorship.</p>
+<p>407. Lysander, the Spartan admiral, defeats the Athenian fleet
+at Notium; in consequence of this defeat, Alcibiades, who had been
+received with great honor, is banished, and ten generals are
+nominated to succeed him.</p>
+<p>406. The Athenians vanquish the Spartan fleet under
+Callicratidas, at Arginusae. The Athenian generals are executed at
+Athens for not saving the shattered vessels and the bodies of the
+slain.</p>
+<p>Dionysius the Elder becomes ruler of Syracuse.</p>
+<p>Anxur and other towns captured by the Romans, who now first give
+their soldiers a regular pay.</p>
+<p>405. The Spartan under Lysander, who had been restored to
+command, annihilate the Athenian navy at Aegospotami.</p>
+<p>Artaxerxes II succeeds Darius II on the Persian throne.</p>
+<p>Successful revolt of the Egyptians against the Persians; the
+independence of Egypt secured.</p>
+<p>404. Athens taken by Lysander and dismantled; thirty tyrants
+appointed by him. Lysias and other orators banished. End of the
+Peloponnesian War.</p>
+<p>403. Democracy is restored in Athens by Thrasybulus; he
+publishes an act of amnesty. The Ionian alphabet adopted at
+Athens.</p>
+<p>401. Cyrus rebels against his brother Artaxerxes, of Persia; he
+is defeated and slain at the battle of Cunaxa.</p>
+<p>400. The Ten Thousand Greek auxiliaries of Cyrus effect their
+retreat to the sea. See <a href="#RULE4_6">"RETREAT OF THE TEN
+THOUSAND GREEKS," ii, 68</a>.</p>
+<p>399. Sparta and Persia engage in war.</p>
+<p><a href="#RULE4_7">"CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES." See ii,
+87</a>.</p>
+<p>396. Agesilaus, the Spartan general, begins his victorious
+campaigns against the Persians.</p>
+<p>The Romans, headed by Camillus, capture Veii, after a ten years'
+siege.</p>
+<p>395. Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and Athens combine against Sparta;
+the Spartans are defeated at Haliartus; Lysander is slain.</p>
+<p>Tissaphernes' Persian army is defeated by Agesilaus, near
+Sardis.</p>
+<p>394. The Athenian admiral Conon, in charge of the Persian fleet,
+crushingly defeats that of the Spartans, under Pisander, off
+Cnidus.</p>
+<p>Agesilaus is recalled from Asia; commanding the Spartans, he
+gains a victory over the confederate Greeks at Coronea.</p>
+<p>393. Conon undertakes the rebuilding of the walls in Athens and
+restores the fortifications.</p>
+<p>392. Conon excites the jealousy of the Persians; he retires into
+Cyprus, where he dies.</p>
+<p>391. Camillus banished from Rome, charged with misappropriating
+the booty secured at Veii, but really on account of his patrician
+haughtiness; he dies at Ardea, whither he had withdrawn.</p>
+<p>389. Aeschines born; he was accounted in Athens second only to
+Demosthenes as an orator.</p>
+<p>388[<a href="#note-89">89</a>] (387). Brennus, commanding the
+Gauls, burns Rome. See <a href="#RULE4_8">"BRENNUS BURNS ROME," ii,
+110</a>.</p>
+<p><a name="note-89"><!-- Note Anchor 89 --></a>[Footnote 89: By
+the old chronological reckoning this event occurred B.C. 390.]</p>
+<p>387. Through the mediation of Persia, Sparta compels the Greek
+states to accept the peace of Antalcidas, which leaves the Ionian
+cities and Cyprus at his mercy; this enables Sparta to maintain her
+supremacy in Greece.</p>
+<p>385.[Est] Birth of Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator and
+general.</p>
+<p>384. Aristotle born.</p>
+<p>383. War of Syracuse with Carthage.</p>
+<p>Thebes is betrayed to Sparta, during her war against
+Olynthus.</p>
+<p>379. The Olynthians are forced to submission by the Spartans.
+Pelopidas and his associates drive the Spartans from Thebes.</p>
+<p>378. Athens declares in favor of Thebes against Sparta.</p>
+<p>376. Cleombrotus leads the Spartans into Boeotia; the Spartan
+fleet, under Pollis, is overwhelmed off Maxos, by Chabrias.</p>
+<p>371. Congress of Sparta, Thebes being excluded from the treaty
+of peace; Pelopidas and Epaminondas gain the great victory of
+Leuctra, in which Cleombrotus, King of Sparta, is slain. Thebes
+becomes the dominant power in Greece.</p>
+<p>The Arcadian union formed. One of the first effects of the
+battle of Leuctra was to emancipate the Arcadians, and a plan was
+formed to raise them in the political affairs of Greece.</p>
+<p>370. Epaminondas, the Theban general, heads his first expedition
+into the Peloponnesus; he threatens Sparta, which Agesilaus
+saves.</p>
+<p>369. The Thebans advance into Laconia; they restore the
+independence of the Messenians. Epaminondas and Pelopidas are
+condemned for having retained their command beyond the term allowed
+by the laws of Thebes; they are pardoned and reappointed.</p>
+<p>The Arcadians found Megalopolis, which they make the capital of
+the Arcadian confederacy.</p>
+<p>368. The Thebans again enter the Peloponnesus, but retreat
+before the arrival of succor sent by Dionysius to the
+Lacedaemonians. Pelopidas, treacherously made prisoner by Alexander
+of Pherae, is rescued by Epaminondas. A congress, under the
+mediation of Persia, is held at Delphi; it fails, because the
+Thebans will not abandon the Messenians.</p>
+<p>The Carthaginians at war with Dionysius; but, after losing
+Selinus and other towns, they make peace.</p>
+<p>Camillus, more than eighty years old, appointed dictator at
+Rome; he persuades the patricians to assent to the demands of the
+plebs, and builds the temple of Concord.</p>
+<p>A celestial globe brought into Greece from Egypt.</p>
+<p>367. The Licinian Rogations, Rome; three bills introduced by
+Licinius, decreeing: 1. That interest on loans be deducted from the
+principal; 2. Limiting the public land held by any individual to
+500 jugera (320 acres); 3. Ordering that one of the two consuls
+should be a plebeian. Institution of the praetorship.</p>
+<p>364. Pelopidas attacks Alexander of Pherae; during the battle of
+Cymoscephale his soldiers are alarmed at an eclipse of the sun, and
+he is slain.</p>
+<p>362. The Spartans and allies defeated at Mantinea by
+Epaminondas; he is slain.</p>
+<p>361 (359). Artaxerxes II of Persia succeeded by Artaxerxes III
+(Ochus).</p>
+<p>359. Philip ascends the throne of Macedon; he concludes peace
+with the Athenians.</p>
+<p>358.[Est] Athens involves herself in the Social War with Cos,
+Rhodes, Chios, and Byzantium.</p>
+<p>Amphipolis captured by Philip of Macedon; he loses his right eye
+by an arrow from Astor.</p>
+<p>357. Outbreak of the Ten Years' Sacred War, caused by the
+Crissians levying grievous taxes on those who went to consult the
+oracle of Delphi.</p>
+<p>356. Burning of the temple of Diana at Ephesus; this building
+was accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.</p>
+<p>Birth of Alexander the Great.</p>
+<p>Dion frees Syracuse from Dionysius the Younger; he is expelled
+from Sicily.</p>
+<p>355. The Social War ends in Greece. Athens recognizes the
+independence of the confederated states.</p>
+<p>353. Final conquest of Egypt by the Persians.</p>
+<p>352. Philip of Macedon interferes in the Greek Sacred War;
+Demosthenes delivers his First Philippic encouraging the Greeks to
+resist the Macedonians; Philip's attempt to seize Thermopylae is
+defeated.</p>
+<p>Two thousand colonists are sent from Athens to Samos.</p>
+<p>347. Philip of Macedon captures and destroys Olynthus.</p>
+<p>346. Phocis occupied by Philip of Macedon; this ends the Sacred
+War.</p>
+<p>Dionysius the Younger again assumes power in Syracuse.</p>
+<p>343 (340). Timoleon effects the deliverance of Syracuse from
+Dionysius the Younger.</p>
+<p>Rome engages in the First Samnite War.</p>
+<p>341 (338). End of the First Samnite War.</p>
+<p>Invasion of China by Meha the Hun. See <a href="#RULE4_9">"TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY MEHA," ii,
+126</a>.[Est]</p>
+<p>340. Adoption of the Publilian laws in Rome, which further
+restricted the power of the patricians.</p>
+<p>The Romans make war upon the Latins; the latter are subjugated.
+Manlius, one of the Roman consuls, condemns his son to death for a
+breach of discipline.</p>
+<p>338. Athens and Thebes form an alliance to resist Philip of
+Macedon, who had passed Thermopylae and seized Elatea. The allied
+forces are overwhelmed at Chaeronea, and Philip establishes the
+Macedonian dominion in Greece.</p>
+<p>Artaxerxes III is succeeded by Arses in Persia.</p>
+<p>337. Philip of Macedon declares himself commander of the Greeks
+against the Persians; he repudiates his wife Olympias; their son
+Alexander attends his mother into Epirus.</p>
+<p>336. Assassination of Philip of Macedon, by Pausanias at Aegae,
+while preparing to invade Persia; he is succeeded by his son,
+Alexander the Great.</p>
+<p>Arses is succeeded by Darius III (Codomannus) in Persia.</p>
+<p>335. Thebes, revolting against the Macedonian authority, is
+subdued and destroyed by Alexander, who, however, spares the house
+of Pindar the poet.</p>
+<p>Rome concludes a peace with Gaul.</p>
+<p>334. Alexander enters upon the conquest of Persia; he is
+victorious over Darius at the Granicus.</p>
+<p>333. Lycia and Syria reduced by Alexander; Damascus captured by
+Parmenio, Alexander's general, and the siege of Tyre begun.</p>
+<p>Darius is defeated at Issus; his family are among Alexander's
+captives.</p>
+<p>332. <a href="#RULE4_10">"ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS
+ALEXANDRIA." See ii, 133</a>. He takes Gaza and occupies Egypt.</p>
+<p>The Lucanians and Bruttians defeat and slay Alexander of Epirus,
+his ambitious designs in Italy having been betrayed.</p>
+<p>331. <a href="#RULE4_11">"THE BATTLE OF ARBELA,"</a> in which
+Alexander the Great conquers Darius and overthrows the Persian
+empire. See ii, 141.</p>
+<p>330. The Spartans, under Agis III, revolt against the
+Macedonians; Antipater defeats the Spartans and their allies at
+Megalopolis; Agis is slain.</p>
+<p>Darius is seized and laden with chains by Bessus, a Bactrian
+satrap who soon after slays him.</p>
+<p>Alexander captures Bessus and delivers him to Oxathres, the
+brother of Darius, by whom he is executed.</p>
+<p>Alexander pursues his conquests in Parthia, Media, Bactria, and
+on the shores of the Caspian.</p>
+<p>329. The Oxus and Jaxartes are crossed by Alexander; he drives
+back the Scythians; he founds new cities in the countries adjacent,
+and winters in Bactria.</p>
+<p>The consuls at Rome are granted a triumph and the surname of
+"Privernas," for the conquest of Privernum.</p>
+<p>328. Sogdiana, Central Asia, occupies Alexander during this, his
+seventh campaign, and he winters there at Nautaca.</p>
+<p>327. Marriage of Alexander to Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes, a
+Bactrian ruler.</p>
+<p>326. Alexander invades India and defeats Porus; his soldiers
+refuse to proceed farther.</p>
+<p>Rome begins the Second Samnite War.</p>
+<p>325-4. Alexander marches from the Indus to Persepolis; his fleet
+is sailed to the Euphrates by Nearchus.</p>
+<p>Harpalus flees from Babylon with immense treasures, which he
+conveys to Athens.</p>
+<p>323. Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon. His principal
+generals endeavored to obtain, each for himself, a portion of his
+empire. Ptolemy first secures Egypt and establishes his dynasty
+firmly there. Philip Aridaeus, half-brother of Alexander, succeeds
+him on the throne of Macedon, with Perdiccas as regent. Demosthenes
+returns to Athens and rouses the Greek states to recover their
+freedom; under Leosthenes they overpower Antipater, who takes
+refuge in Lamia, whence this is called the Lamian War.</p>
+<p>The Samnites sue for peace, but reject the terms on which it is
+offered by the Romans.</p>
+<p>322. The body of Alexander is entombed at Alexandria.</p>
+<p>The confederate Greeks are defeated by Antipater at Crannon; end
+of the Lamian War.</p>
+<p>Demosthenes, who was accused by the Macedonians of being privy
+to the looting of the treasury by Harpalus, after the battle of
+Crannon fled to Calauria; he was captured by the Macedonian troops
+and thereupon poisoned himself.</p>
+<p>321. Beginning of the wars between Alexander's successors;
+Perdiccas and Eumenes oppose themselves to Antipater, Craterus,
+Antigonus, and Ptolemy.</p>
+<p>Perdiccas assails Ptolemy in Egypt; Perdiccas is slain in a
+mutiny. In Asia Minor, Eumenes triumphs over Craterus, who is
+killed.</p>
+<p>Victory of the Samnites over the Romans at the Caudine Forks.
+These were two narrow gorges, united by a range of mountains on
+each side. The Romans went through the first pass, but found the
+second blocked up; on returning they found the first similarly
+obstructed. Being thus hemmed in they passed under the yoke.</p>
+<p>320. Eumenes, defeated by Antigonus, shuts himself up in the
+castle of Nora, where he sustains a year's siege.</p>
+<p>319. Polysperchon is appointed by Antipater to succeed him as
+regent for Philip Arrhidaeus and Alexander Aegus, half-brother and
+son of Alexander the Great, on his, Antipater's, death.</p>
+<p>Polysperchon's elevation to power is followed by a league
+against him, formed by Antipater's son Cassander, Antigonus, and
+Ptolemy. Eumenes lends his support to Polysperchon, after escaping
+from Nora.</p>
+<p>318. The Romans and Samnites make a truce.</p>
+<p>Polysperchon prevailed over by Cassander in the struggle for
+power in Greece and Macedonia. Athens he places under the rule of
+Phalereus.</p>
+<p>317. Phocion, an Athenian general who wisely advised in vain for
+peace with Antipater, became regarded as a traitor; he fled to
+Phocis, entered into the intrigues of Cassander, who delivered him
+up to the Athenians, who condemned him to drink hemlock. Olympias,
+mother of Alexander the Great, aided by Polysperchon and the
+Epirotes, seizes Macedonia.</p>
+<p>Olympias is put to death by Cassander. Eumenes, being betrayed
+to Antigonus, is put to death; Antigonus holds the supreme power in
+Asia.</p>
+<p>315. The rebuilding of Thebes undertaken by Cassander.</p>
+<p>314. Commencement of the struggle against Antigonus waged by
+Cassander, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus.</p>
+<p>313. Tyre surrenders to Antigonus. Ptolemy engages with him and
+conquers Cyprus.</p>
+<p>The Romans take Fregellae and other towns from the Samnites.</p>
+<p>312. Seleucus Nicator establishes the realm of the Seleucidae,
+the army of Antigonus, under his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, being
+defeated by Ptolemy and Seleucus. Babylon is made the capital.</p>
+<p>Ptolemy conquers Judea; he transplants many Jews to Alexandria
+and Cyrene, where their industry is encouraged and their religion
+protected.</p>
+<p>At Rome Appius Claudius, the blind, constructs the Via Appia,
+the first aqueduct, and a canal through the Pontine marshes.</p>
+<p>Zeno institutes the sect of Stoics at Athens.</p>
+<p>311. A temporary peace among the competitors for power in Asia.
+Greece is declared to be free, and Ptolemy resigns Phoenicia to
+Antigonus.</p>
+<p>Roxana, the widow of Alexander the Great, and her young son
+Alexander Aegas, are put to death by Cassander.</p>
+<p>The Roman consul Bubulcus penetrates into Samnium, where he is
+surrounded, and cuts his way through with great courage.</p>
+<p>310. Agathocles, the Syracusan ruler, defeated by the
+Carthaginians at Himera, passes over to Africa and carries the war
+into their own country.</p>
+<p>The Etruscans take up arms in favor of the Samnites.</p>
+<p>Civil war in the little kingdom of Bosporus; Satyrus II, king
+for a few months, falls in battle.</p>
+<p>An eclipse of the sun, August 15th.</p>
+<p>309. Hercules, a natural son of Alexander, proclaimed king of
+Macedon; he is murdered by Cassander.</p>
+<p>The Romans are victorious over the Samnites and the
+Etruscans.</p>
+<p>308. The Romans, under Fabius, compel the Etruscans to make
+peace; Fabius then turns against the Samnites, whom he defeats.</p>
+<p>307. Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, arrives with a
+fleet at Athens, expels Demetrius Phalereus, and restores the
+democracy, the Athenians throw down Phalereus' statues and condemn
+him to death.</p>
+<p>306. Ptolemy's fleet is destroyed by Demetrius Poliorcetes at
+Salamis; but Antigonus fails in his attempt on Egypt. Antigonus
+assumes the title of king of Asia; Ptolemy Lagi, Lysimachus, and
+Seleucus, the rulers of Egypt, Thrace, and that part of Alexander's
+empire east of the Euphrates, likewise assume the royal title.
+Cassander of Macedon is hailed king by his subjects.</p>
+<p>305. War between Seleucus and India, under Sandrocottus, ends in
+a treaty of amity.</p>
+<p>Flavius reconciles all orders of the Roman state and erects a
+temple of Concord.</p>
+<p>Demetrius Poliorcetes besieges Rome.</p>
+<p>304. The Romans triumphantly end the Second Samnite War.</p>
+<p>302. The priesthood at Rome is opened to the plebs.</p>
+<p>300.[<a href="#note-90">90</a>] Battle of Ipsus. Seleucus and
+Lysimachus overwhelm the army of Antigonus and his son, Demetrius
+Poliorcetes; Antigonus is slain. His dominions are divided among
+the victors. Lysimachus takes a large portion of Asia Minor;
+Seleucus appropriates Upper Syria, Capuadocia, and other
+territory.</p>
+<p><a name="note-90"><!-- Note Anchor 90 --></a>[Footnote 90: The
+date is usually given as 301.]</p>
+<p>Seleucus Nicator builds Antioch, which he makes the capital of
+his kingdom of Syria.</p>
+<p>299. Rome engages in the Third Samnite War, which becomes one of
+extermination, but the Samnites bravely resist in their mountain
+holds.</p>
+<p>295. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, espouses Antigone of the house of
+Ptolemy; he returns to his dominions, out of which he had been
+driven by the Molossi.</p>
+<p>The Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls unite against Rome.
+Q. Fabius Rullianus and P. Decimo Mus defeat the Samnites and Gauls
+at Sentinum.</p>
+<p>Demetrius Poliorcetes retakes Athens; Lysimachus and Ptolemy
+deprive him of all he possesses.</p>
+<p>294. The Macedonian throne is seized by Demetrius Poliorcetes;
+by violence or treachery the sons of Cassander are slain.</p>
+<p>293. Many towns of the Samnites are so utterly destroyed by the
+Romans that their sites are unknown; a portion of the spoil is cast
+into a brazen colossus, and placed in front of the Roman
+Capitol.</p>
+<p>The Roman census is 272,308 citizens.</p>
+<p>The first sun-dial at Rome is placed on the temple of
+Quirinus.</p>
+<p>290. The end of the Third Samnite War, which results in the
+submission of the Samnites to Rome.</p>
+<p>287. Birth of Archimedes, celebrated mathematician.[Est]</p>
+<p>Lysimachus and Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wrest Macedonia from
+Demetrius Poliorcetes; immediately after, Lysimachus expels
+Pyrrhus.</p>
+<p>286. The Hortensian law, passed by Q. Hortensino, affirmed the
+legislative power granted the plebeians B.C. 446 and 336.</p>
+<p>285. Completion of the Septuagint, a Greek version of the
+Scriptures, called "the Alexandrian."</p>
+<p>The length of the solar year first accurately determined by
+Dionysius, in the astronomical canon.</p>
+<p>283. Death of Ptolemy Lagi (Ptolemy Soter); Ptolemy Philadelphus
+(jointly on the throne with his father since 295) succeeds him as
+King of Egypt. He further encourages the immigration of the Jews,
+who flourish exceedingly.</p>
+<p>282. The Tarentines attack a Roman fleet and insult the
+ambassadors, who demand satisfaction. Rome prepares for war; the
+Tarentines engage Pyrrhus to assist them.</p>
+<p>281. Lysimachus, at war with Seleucus Nicator, is defeated and
+slain in Phrygia.</p>
+<p>The Roman consul Aemilius invades the territory of Tarentum.</p>
+<p>280. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, invades Italy; he makes the cause
+of Tarentum his own and wars on Rome. Laevinus, the Roman consul,
+is defeated. See <a href="#RULE4_12">"FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS
+AND ROMANS," ii, 166</a>.</p>
+<p>Revival of the Achaean League. The Achaei originally inhabited
+the neighborhood of Argos; when driven thence by the Heraclidae,
+they retired among the Ionians, expelled the natives, and seized
+their thirteen cities, forming the Achaean League.</p>
+<p>279. Pyrrhus, who had tried to mediate between Tarentum and
+Rome, meeting with non-success, advances on Rome. He fails to make
+any impression and returns to Tarentum; the Romans follow him, and
+he gains an unimportant victory over them at Asculum. See <a href="#RULE4_12">"FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii,
+166</a>.</p>
+<p>Irruption of Gauls into Macedonia; King Ptolemy Ceraunus offers
+battle to them, in which he is killed.[<a href="#note-91">91</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-91"><!-- Note Anchor 91 --></a>[Footnote 91: The
+date usually given is B.C. 280.]</p>
+<p>278. The Gauls under Brennus invade Greece; they are cut to
+pieces near Delphi.</p>
+<p>Alliance formed between Rome and Carthage.</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus wars against Carthage in Sicily.</p>
+<p>277. A body of Gauls enter Northern Phrygia, of which they take
+possession.</p>
+<p>Pyrrhus expels the Carthaginians from most of their possessions
+in Sicily.</p>
+<p>276. Other Grecian cities join the Achaean League.</p>
+<p>275. Pyrrhus, on the arrival of Carthaginian reenforcements,
+returns to Italy; he is totally defeated by M. Curius Dentatus (at
+Beneventum), who exhibits in his triumphs the first elephants ever
+seen in Rome.</p>
+<p>273. Ptolemy Philadelphus, of Egypt, sends an embassy to
+congratulate the Romans on their victory and to ask an alliance
+with them.</p>
+<p>272. Pyrrhus attempts the siege of Sparta; he is repulsed. In an
+attack on Argos, Pyrrhus is slain.</p>
+<p>Tarentum surrenders to the Romans.</p>
+<p>Lucania and Brittium also submit to Rome.</p>
+<p>269. The first silver coinage at Rome.</p>
+<p>266. The Romans capture and destroy Volsinii; Rome controls all
+Italy.</p>
+<p>264. War between Rome and Carthage. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE
+PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>Gladiators first introduced into Rome.</p>
+<p>263. Antigonus Gonatus, King of Macedon, captures Athens.</p>
+<p>The Romans compel Hiero, King of Syracuse, to withdraw from the
+support of Carthage. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179</a>.</p>
+<p>Philetaerus at his death appoints his nephew, Eumenes, King of
+Pergamus; the competition for books between him and Ptolemy
+Philadelphus causes the latter to prohibit the export of papyrus
+from Egypt; this leads to the invention of parchment at Pergamus,
+whence it takes its name.</p>
+<p>Hiero makes peace with the Romans; he becomes their most trusted
+ally.</p>
+<p>260. Ships-of-war first built by the Romans; the naval power of
+Rome inaugurated by the decisive victory of Duilius over the
+Carthaginians at Mylae. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS,"
+ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>259. The Romans invade Corsica; they carry off much rich spoil
+from thence and Sardinia, but make no permanent conquests. The
+island of Melita (Malta) is captured by the Romans.</p>
+<p>258. Atilius, the Roman consul, surrounded by the Carthaginians
+in Sicily, escapes with difficulty.</p>
+<p>257. A drawn battle between the fleets of Rome and Carthage off
+Tyndaris causes the Romans to prepare larger ships, in order to
+strike a decisive blow.</p>
+<p>256. Total defeat of the Carthaginian fleet near Ecnomus; the
+victorious Roman consuls land in Africa. The Carthaginians hire
+troops from Greece and give the command to Xanthippus. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>255. Regelus and his Roman legions are vanquished by Xanthippus;
+Regelus is taken captive. The Romans fit out a large fleet, which
+gains another victory and brings off the remains of the army from
+Africa. Many of the ships are wrecked.</p>
+<p>254. Another fleet consisting of 220 ships is equipped in three
+months by the Romans; Panormus (Palermo) is captured. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>253. The Romans again land in Africa and ravage many
+Carthaginian coast cities; on their return most of their ships are
+wrecked; the Romans resolve to abstain from naval warfare.</p>
+<p>252. Birth of Philopoemen, called the "Last of the Greeks."</p>
+<p>251. Aratus restores the freedom of Sicyon; joins the Achaean
+League, which becomes a powerful body.</p>
+<p>250. Arsaceo founds the kingdom of Parthia.</p>
+<p>The Romans begin the siege of Lilybaeum; the Carthaginians
+successfully defend it till the close of the war. Metellus, the
+Roman proconsul, commanding in Sicily, gains a great victory over
+Hasdrubal near Panoramus; over one hundred elephants form part of
+his triumphal procession.</p>
+<p>249. Naval victory of the Carthaginians over the Romans at
+Drepanum.</p>
+<p>Regelus is sent to Rome to propose an exchange of prisoners; on
+his return the Carthaginians put him to death with the utmost
+cruelty.</p>
+<p>The war between Syria and Egypt, which had been ruinous to the
+former, is ended by a treaty between Antiochus II and Ptolemy
+Philadelphus. One of the conditions was that Antiochus repudiate
+Laodice and marry Berenice, Ptolemy's daughter.</p>
+<p>248. Parthia becomes an independent kingdom.</p>
+<p>247. Birth of Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian general.</p>
+<p>Ptolemy Euergetes succeeds his father Ptolemy Philadelphus on
+the throne of Egypt.</p>
+<p>243. Corinth, delivered by Aratus from the yoke of Macedon,
+joins the Achaean League; other states follow the example.</p>
+<p>241. Agis IV, of Sparta, assists the Achaeans in their war
+against the Aetolians.</p>
+<p>Rome, having again assembled a great fleet, under Lutatius
+Catalus, vanquishes the Carthaginians in a naval encounter off the
+Aegates. End of the First Punic War; Sicily is relinquished by
+Carthage to Rome.</p>
+<p>240. The Carthaginian mercenaries in Africa revolt; Hamilcar
+Barca crushes it out.</p>
+<p>237. Carthage is compelled to cede Sardinia to Rome.</p>
+<p>236-221. Celomenes III of Sparta institutes great political
+reforms and engages in a struggle with the Achaean League.</p>
+<p>236-220. Hamilcar Barca and Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, conquer a
+great part of Spain.</p>
+<p>235. Rome, at peace with all the world, closes the temple of
+Janus, for the first time since Numa, according to legend, the
+second king of Rome.</p>
+<p>234. Birth of Cato the Elder.</p>
+<p>Scipio Africanus born.</p>
+<p>230. Ambassadors sent by Rome to protest against the piracies of
+the Illyrians are murdered by the order of Queen Teuta.</p>
+<p>229. A successful war is waged by the Romans against the Greek
+kingdom of Illyria; the Roman power is extended across the
+Adriatic.</p>
+<p>On the death of Hamilcar, his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, takes his
+place in Spain; he founds Carthago Nova (Carthagena).</p>
+<p>227. Sparta makes war with the Achaean League.</p>
+<p>225-222. Cisalpine Gaul is conquered by the Romans.</p>
+<p>221. Cleomenes III is crushed by Antigonus Doson, ruler of
+Macedon, at Sellasia; the Spartan power is utterly destroyed.</p>
+<p>220. Social war; the war made by the Aetolian League on the
+Achaean League.</p>
+<p>219. Hannibal lays siege to Saguntum, which he destroys; this is
+the real commencement of the Second Punic War. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>Philip V, of Macedon, is victorious in his campaigns against the
+Aetolian League.</p>
+<p>218. Hannibal crosses the Alps into Italy; he defeats the Romans
+on the Ticinus and Trebia. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC
+WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>217. Philip V continues his victorious way against the Aetolian
+League.</p>
+<p>Hannibal defeats the Romans at the Trasimene Lake.</p>
+<p>Antiochus the Great cedes Coele-Syria and Palestine to
+Egypt.</p>
+<p>216. Crushing defeat of the Romans by Hannibal at Cannae. See
+<a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>214. Rome has her first encounter with Macedon; Philip V allies
+himself with Hannibal and begins the war.</p>
+<p>Marcellus is sent into Sicily and besieges Syracuse, which had
+declared against Rome.</p>
+<p>213. Aratus, strategus of the Achaean League, is poisoned by
+Philip V of Macedon; this alienates from him many Greek states.</p>
+<p>Hwangti crushes out literature in China.</p>
+<p>212. After a two-years' siege the Romans under Marcellus take
+Syracuse.</p>
+<p>The two Scipios defeated and killed in Spain. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>211. Hannibal before the gates of Rome. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>The Aetolian League with its allies assists Rome against
+Macedon.</p>
+<p>210. Aegina taken by the Romans; the inhabitants reduced to
+slavery.</p>
+<p>Agrigentum, being conquered by Caevinus, places all Sicily again
+under Roman subjection.</p>
+<p>Scipio, victorious in Spain, takes Carthago Nova. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179</a>.</p>
+<p>208. Suspension of his operations against Scipio—the
+future Scipio Africanus—in Spain by Hasdrubal, son of
+Hamilcar, who sets out to relieve his brother Hannibal in
+Italy.</p>
+<p>207. Hasdrubal is defeated and slain on the Metaurus. See
+<a href="#RULE4_14">"BATTLE OF THE METAURUS," ii, 195</a>.</p>
+<p>A signal victory is achieved by Philopoemen, general of the
+Achaean League, with Macedon, over the Spartans at Matinea.</p>
+<p>206. Birth of Polybius, Greek historian.</p>
+<p>The Carthaginian power in Spain completely destroyed by
+Scipio.</p>
+<p>205. End of the first Romo-Macedonian war.</p>
+<p>204. Scipio carries the war into Africa; he defeats the
+Carthaginians and the Numidians.</p>
+<p>203. Hannibal, recalled from Italy, arrives at Carthage.</p>
+<p>202. The Carthaginian power is completely broken, ending the
+Second Punic War. See <a href="#RULE4_15">"SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES
+HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES CARTHAGE," ii, 224</a>.</p>
+<p>201. A war is begun by Rome for the resubjugation of the Boii
+and Insubres of Cisalpine Gaul, who had attained freedom owing to
+the Carthaginian invasion.</p>
+<p>The Jews become subject to the Seleucid monarchy.</p>
+<p>200. Declaration of war by Rome against Macedon; the second
+Macedonian war.</p>
+<p>198. Antiochus the Great, of Syria, conquers Palestine and
+Coele-Syria from Egypt, defeating Scopas and the Aetolian
+allies.</p>
+<p>197. Decisive Roman victory over the Macedonians at
+Cynoscephale; Philip V of Macedon makes a humiliating peace.</p>
+<p>196. The Roman general Flaminius proclaims the freedom of the
+Greeks.</p>
+<p>195.[Est] Birth of Terrence, Roman comic poet.</p>
+<p>Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, King of Egypt. See i, 1, "The Rosetta
+Stone."</p>
+<p>192. In concert with the Aetolians, Antiochus the Great takes up
+arms against Rome.</p>
+<p>191. Antiochus is defeated by the Romans under Acilius Glabrio,
+at Thermopylae, in Greece. The resubjugation of Cisalpine Gaul is
+completed by Rome.</p>
+<p>All the Peloponnesus is included in the Achaean League, which
+attains its apogee.</p>
+<p>190. Scipio Asiaticus takes command of the Romans in Greece,
+with his brother Africanus as lieutenant; Antiochus is vanquished
+at Magnesia and he is compelled to release his hold on the greater
+part of Asia Minor. Most of the conquered territory is annexed to
+Pergamus. Scipio Asiaticus takes his surname for the courage and
+ability he showed.</p>
+<p>189. Fall of the Aetolian League.</p>
+<p>185. Birth of Scipio Africanus the Younger.</p>
+<p>179. Death of Philip V of Macedon. His son Perseus negotiates
+secretly with other states against Rome. The Celtiberians and
+Lusitanians lay down their arms.</p>
+<p>177. Rome suppresses a revolt in Sardinia. A colony settled at
+Lucca. The Achaeans contract an alliance with Rome.</p>
+<p>Thessaly relapses under the Macedonian influence.</p>
+<p>176. The consul Scipio dies, and C. Valerius Laevinus takes his
+place for the rest of the year. His colleague Petilius is slain in
+battle against the Ligurians. The Orchian and other sumptuary laws
+fail to repress the luxury of the Romans.</p>
+<p>175. Disgraceful struggles for the high-priesthood of Jerusalem;
+Antiochus sells it to Jason, the brother of Onias, who is
+deposed.</p>
+<p>174. Masinissa, after many encroachments, seizes the
+Carthaginian provinces of Tyssa, with fifty cities; Roman
+ambassadors sent to settle the dispute. Others deputed to ascertain
+the intentions of Perseus.</p>
+<p>Mithridates VI of the Arsacidae begins his reign and prepares
+the elevation of Parthia to great power.</p>
+<p>173. The Roman ambassadors return, Perseus having refused to
+receive them.</p>
+<p>Death of Cleopatra, who, in the name of her young son, had been
+regent of Egypt.</p>
+<p>172. The Ligurians are subdued and Northern Italy filled with
+Roman colonies. Eumenes honorably received at Rome; on his way back
+he is attacked by assassins near Delphi.</p>
+<p>Menelaus, another brother, supplants Jason in the
+high-priesthood of Jerusalem.</p>
+<p>171. Commencement of the Third Macedonian War; King Perseus
+begins his struggle with Rome.</p>
+<p>Antiochus invades Egypt and takes Memphis.</p>
+<p>170. Hostilius, who takes the command in Macedon, makes no
+progress; the Roman fleet ravages the sea-coast.</p>
+<p>Perseus negotiates with Antiochus, Prusias, and many Greek
+states to form a coalition against Rome; even Eumenes begins to
+treat with him.</p>
+<p>Ptolemy Physcon is associated with his brother as joint King of
+Egypt.</p>
+<p>169. The manoeuvres of Marcius Philippus drive Perseus from his
+strong position in Tempe.</p>
+<p>Antiochus lays siege to Alexandria; the Egyptians apply to Rome
+for aid.</p>
+<p>168. Battle of Pydna; complete defeat of Perseus, King of
+Macedon, by the Romans, under L. Aenilius Paulas. Macedon becomes a
+Roman province.</p>
+<p>Antiochus, awed by the Roman ambassador Popillius and the fate
+of Perseus, evacuates Egypt. In his retreat he plunders Jerusalem
+and despoils the Temple, in which he sets up the statue of Jupiter
+Olympias.</p>
+<p>167. Deportation of a thousand Achaeans to Rome; among them is
+Polybius, the historian, who there finds patrons and friends. The
+first library opened in Rome, consisting of books plundered from
+Macedon.</p>
+<p>Arms are taken up by the Asmoneans against Antiochus, King of
+Syria.</p>
+<p>165. Judas Maccabaeus enters Jerusalem; he purifies the Temple.
+See <a href="#RULE4_16">"JUDAS MACCABEUS LIBERATES JUDEA," ii,
+245</a>.</p>
+<p>160. Defeat and death of Judas Maccabaeus in battle.</p>
+<p>158. Roman citizens are almost entirely relieved of direct
+taxation by the revenues from Macedon and other conquests.</p>
+<p>149. Commencement of the Third Punic War between Rome and
+Carthage. See <a href="#RULE4_13">"THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179</a>.</p>
+<p>First Roman law against bribery at elections.</p>
+<p>147.[Est] Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader, has his first great
+victory over the Romans.</p>
+<p>146. Scipio Africanus the Younger completely destroys
+Carthage.</p>
+<p>Mummius, commanding in Greece, defeats the Archaeans at
+Leucopetra; he captures and destroys Corinth. The treasures of
+Grecian art conveyed to Rome. Greece becomes a Roman province.</p>
+<p>Demetrius Nicator slays Alexander Bala in battle and becomes
+king of Syria.</p>
+<p>141. Simon Maccabaeus captures the citadel of Jerusalem.</p>
+<p>Silanus, accused by the Macedonians of corrupt practices, is
+condemned by his father, Torquatus, and takes his own life.</p>
+<p>140. The Jews proclaim Simon Maccabaeus hereditary prince; with
+this dignity is united the office of high-priest.</p>
+<p>[Est]Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader against the Romans in
+Spain, is assassinated by order of the consul Caepio.</p>
+<p>135. Simon Maccabaeus is assassinated; John Hyrcanus, his son,
+succeeds him as ruler at Jerusalem.</p>
+<p>134-133. Antiochus Tidetes, King of Syria, besieges Jerusalem;
+he is repulsed.</p>
+<p>134-132. Servile War in Sicily, caused by the inhuman treatment
+of the slaves by their owners; two great battles were fought before
+the rising was suppressed.</p>
+<p>133. Tiberius Gracchus attempts his great political and agrarian
+reforms in Rome. See <a href="#RULE4_17">"THE GRACCHI AND THEIR
+REFORMS," ii, 259</a>.</p>
+<p>Scipio Africanus the Younger reduces Numantia.</p>
+<p>Attalus III of Pergamus bequeaths his kingdom, which embraces a
+great part of Asia Minor, to the Romans.</p>
+<p>125-121. The southeastern portion of Transalpine Gaul conquered
+by the Romans.</p>
+<p>123-122. Caius Gracchus commences his agrarian reforms in Rome.
+See <a href="#RULE4_17">"THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii,
+259</a>.</p>
+<p>118. Rome extends her dominion beyond the Rhone; the colony of
+Narbo Martius (Narbonne) founded.</p>
+<p>113. Hordes of the Cimbri and Teutons threaten the Rome dominion
+by an invasion of Illyrium.</p>
+<p>112. Jugurtha, King of Numidia, kills Adherbal, who has been
+restored to the throne of Numidia after being driven thence by
+Jugurtha.</p>
+<p>111. The consul Calpurnius proceeds with a Roman army into
+Numidia; bribed by Jugurtha, he makes a peace and withdraws his
+forces.</p>
+<p>109. Jugurtha is opposed in Numidia by the Roman army headed by
+Metellus.</p>
+<p>John Hyrcanus, the Jewish Prince and high-priest, defeats
+Ptolemy Lathyrus and captures Samaria.[Est]</p>
+<p>The Cimbri request an allotment of land from the Romans, whereon
+to settle; it is refused; they ravage the country, but are checked
+in Thrace by Nimicus Rufus.</p>
+<p>108. Metellus, as proconsul, continues the war in Numidia.</p>
+<p>The Cimbri defeat the consul Scaurus in Gaul.</p>
+<p>Mithridates of Pontus secretly prepares to regain by force the
+province of Phrygia, which the Romans took from him during his
+minority.</p>
+<p>107. Marius vigorously carries on the war against Jugurtha;
+Marius is consul, Sylla his quaestor.</p>
+<p>Cassius, Roman consul, is defeated and slain by the Cimbri in
+Gaul.</p>
+<p>106. Birth of Cicero. Birth of Pompey the Great.</p>
+<p>Jugurtha is betrayed by Bocchus, King of Mauretania, into the
+hands of the Romans, which ends the Jugurthine War.</p>
+<p>105. The Cimbri and Teutones defeat the consul Manilius and
+proconsul Caepio, near the Rhone, with great loss.</p>
+<p>Aristobulus, son of John Hyrcanus, succeeds his father and
+assumes the title of king of Judea.</p>
+<p>104. Alexander Jannaeus succeeds his brother Aristobulus in
+Judea.</p>
+<p>102. Marius overwhelmingly defeats the Teutones, while they were
+retreating from Spain, at Aquae Sextiae (Aix).</p>
+<p>Another revolt of the slaves in Sicily (Second Servile War).</p>
+<p>101. Marius utterly crushes the Cimbri on the Raudian Fields,
+after they had previously defeated the proconsul Lutatius
+Catulus.</p>
+<p>100. The Second Servile War continues.</p>
+<p>Birth of Julius Cæsar.</p>
+<p>99. M. Aquilius finally crushes out the slave uprising in
+Sicily.</p>
+<p>94. Mithridates makes his son king of Cappadocia.</p>
+<p>93. Cappadocians appeal to the Romans, who give them
+Ariobarzanes for their king. Mithridates seizes Galatia.</p>
+<p>92. Sulla is sent by the Romans into Cappadocia to observe
+Mithridates' proceedings; ambassadors from Parthia meet him
+there.</p>
+<p>91. M. Livius Drussus, people's tribune, advocates giving the
+rights of citizenship to the Roman allies; he is assassinated.</p>
+<p>90. Social or Marsic War, a conflict of the Italian states
+against Rome, begins, the cause being the refusal of the franchise
+by Rome. Cæsar, the consul, is unfortunate against the
+Samnites, and Rutilius is defeated and slain by the Marsi. Marius
+retrieves these disasters. Citizenship granted to the states which
+remain faithful to Rome.</p>
+<p>The Roman senate promises aid to Cappadocia against
+Mithridates.</p>
+<p>89. The consul Pompeius (father of Pompey the Great) gains
+decided victories over the Picentines; his colleague, Cato, defeats
+the Marsi, but is killed in the battle; Sulla takes the command,
+and is so successful that he is elected consul for the ensuing
+year. Cicero is a cadet in the army of Pompeius.</p>
+<p>Cleopatra is put to death by her son Alexander, who is expelled
+from Egypt, and Ptolemy Soter restored.</p>
+<p>88. End of the Social War. Most of the refractory states
+admitted to Roman citizenship.</p>
+<p>Mithridates, King of Pontus, occupies Phrygia; he asks all Asia
+Minor to join him; a general massacre of the Romans occurs.</p>
+<p>Quarrel between Sulla and Marius which causes war between them
+for the control of the Roman army. The first Roman civil war.</p>
+<p>87. Sulla proceeds to Greece to conduct the war against
+Mithridates; Sulla besieges Athens.</p>
+<p>The consul Cinna, deposed by the senate, calls Marius from
+Africa, raises an Italian army, and reinstates himself in office;
+bloody proscriptions by Marius and Cinna follow.</p>
+<p>86. Death of Marius, in the beginning of his seventh consulate;
+Flaccus, appointed in his place, is assassinated on his march to
+the east, by C. Fimbria, who assumes command of the Roman army.</p>
+<p>Sulla captures the revolted city of Athens and defeats the army
+of Mithridates under Archelaus.</p>
+<p>A sedition of the Jews is quelled with merciless severity by
+Alexander Jannaeus.</p>
+<p>85. The Romans are successful against Mithridates in Asia.</p>
+<p>84. End of the First Mithridatic War; Mithridates, finding
+himself between two victorious Roman armies, agrees to peace and
+relinquishes all his acquisitions.</p>
+<p>83. Sulla makes war against the Marian party in Italy.</p>
+<p>The Roman senate refuses to send Mithridates a formal
+ratification of the treaty. He retains a part of Cappadocia. The
+Second Mithridatic War begins.</p>
+<p>82. Sulla becomes dictator at Rome, after crushing the Marian
+party; he inflicts a bloody vengeance on his enemies.</p>
+<p>End of the Second Mithridatic War.</p>
+<p>81. Pompey, having been successful in Africa, is granted a
+triumph in Rome.</p>
+<p>80. Sertorius, the Marian leader, sets up an independent state
+in Spain.</p>
+<p>Cæsar serves as a cadet at the siege of Mitylene; he
+receives a civic crown for saving the life of a citizen.</p>
+<p>79. Sulla resigns the dictatorship, but remains master of
+Rome.</p>
+<p>Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea, is succeeded on his death by
+his widow Alexandra.</p>
+<p>78. Death of Sulla.</p>
+<p>76. Pompey is sent into Spain to oppose Sertorius.</p>
+<p>74. Mithridates renews hostilities; he enters into an abortive
+alliance with Sertorius. Third Mithridatic War. Lucullus commands
+the Roman forces.</p>
+<p>73. Lucullus routs the army of Mithridates.</p>
+<p>Rising of the gladiators; Spartacus collects, on Mount Vesuvius,
+a numerous army of slaves and gladiators; they overcome the forces
+sent against them and ravage Southern Italy. The Third Servile
+War.</p>
+<p>72. Sertorius is assassinated in Spain; the Spaniards submit to
+Pompey.</p>
+<p>King Mithridates is driven from his dominions by Lucullus; the
+King takes refuge in Armenia.</p>
+<p>71. Crassus defeats and slays Spartacus; the gladiators are
+crushed.</p>
+<p>70. Death of Alexandra, widow of Jannaeus; she nominates her
+son, Hyrcanus, as her successor; but his brother, Aristobulus,
+usurps the throne of Judea.</p>
+<p>Pompey and Crassus, previously at variance, are reconciled
+during their joint consulship.</p>
+<p>Cicero's six orations (the first only being actually delivered)
+against Verres, who, when governor of Sicily, had plundered the
+island of property, art treasures, etc.</p>
+<p>Birth of Vergil.</p>
+<p>69. Lucullus crosses the Euphrates, captures Tigranocerta, and
+defeats Tigranes, who had succored Mithridates in Armenia.</p>
+<p>68. Lucullus defeats Tigranes and takes Nisibis.</p>
+<p>67. A mutiny in the Roman army caused by the appointment of
+Glabrio to succeed Lucullus.</p>
+<p>Pompey crushes the pirates of Cilicia and makes it a Roman
+province.</p>
+<p>Julius Cæsar is quaestor in Spain.</p>
+<p>Metellus completes the conquest of Crete for the Romans.</p>
+<p>Mithridates makes a successful advance.</p>
+<p>66. Pompey, after a conference with Lucullus, completely crushes
+Mithridates and drives him over the Cimmerian Bosporus.</p>
+<p>65. End of the Third Mithridatic War.</p>
+<p>Antiochus XIII is deposed by Pompey; this puts an end to the
+kingdom of the Seleucidas (Syria).</p>
+<p>Hyrcanus takes up arms against his brother Aristobulus in
+Judea.</p>
+<p>64. Pompey takes possession of Syria; he is recalled thence to
+oppose Mithridates, who, returned to his states, prepares for
+further resistance.</p>
+<p>63. Having intervened between the brothers John Hyrcanus II and
+Aristobulus II, and decided in favor of Hyrcanus, Pompey lays siege
+to Jerusalem, where Aristobulus reigns, captures it, and makes
+Judea a Roman province.</p>
+<p>Mithridates, betrayed by his son, poisons himself.</p>
+<p>Cicero frustrates the conspiracy of Catiline, having for its
+object the cancellation of debts, the proscription of the wealthy,
+and the distribution among the conspirators of all the offices of
+honor and emolument.</p>
+<p>62. Catiline is defeated and slain, after having collected an
+army in Etruria.</p>
+<p>Discord arises between Cæsar, now prætor, and Cato,
+tribune of the people.</p>
+<p>60. First Triumvirate in Rome, formed of Pompey, Crassus, and
+Cæsar, equally dividing the power.</p>
+<p>59. Consulship of Cæsar at Rome; he carries his agrarian
+law and ingratiates himself with the people; he is given the
+command in Gaul and Illyrium for five years.</p>
+<p>58. Cæsar begins his campaigns in Gaul. See <a href="#GAUL">"CÆSAR CONQUERS GAUL," ii, 267</a>.</p>
+<p>Cicero exiled from Rome; he had saved the Republic at the time
+of the Catiline conspiracy, but had broken the constitution, which
+forbade capital punishment without the sentence of the assembly of
+the people.</p>
+<p>57. The Belgae conquered by Cæsar.</p>
+<p>Cicero recalled to Rome.</p>
+<p>56. Roman conquest of Aquitaine.</p>
+<p>55. Cato is imprisoned for opposing the vote giving the
+triumvirs five more years in their respective provinces: Pompey in
+Spain; Cæsar in Gaul; Crassus in Syria. The triumvirs meet at
+Lucca.</p>
+<p>Caesar's first expedition into Britain. See <a href="#RULE4_18">"ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN," ii,
+285</a>.</p>
+<p>54. First campaign of Crassus; he plunders the Temple of
+Jerusalem and proceeds against the Parthians.</p>
+<p>Mithridates of Parthia is murdered by his brother Orodes.</p>
+<p>Cæsar's second invasion of Britain. See <a href="#RULE4_18">"ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN," ii,
+285</a>.</p>
+<p>53. Crassus defeated and slain in the war against the Parthians
+at Carrhae.</p>
+<p>52. Vercingetorix, at the head of various Gallic tribes, makes a
+formidable effort to drive Cæsar out of Gaul; he is
+unsuccessful, and Cæsar, besieging him in his stronghold
+Alesia, forces him to surrender.</p>
+<p>51. Peace between Rome and Parthia. Cæsar completes his
+conquest of Gaul.</p>
+<p>Cleopatra, on the death of her father, Ptolemy Auletes, becomes
+queen of Egypt. See <a href="#RULE4_19">"CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF
+CÆSAR AND ANTONY," ii, 295</a>.</p>
+<p>50. Cæsar returns to Italy; jealousy between him and
+Pompey arouses the people of Rome.</p>
+<p>49. War breaks out between Cæsar and Pompey; the second
+civil war in Rome.</p>
+<p>48. Pompey is defeated by Cæsar at Pharsalia; Pompey flees
+to Egypt, where he is assassinated.</p>
+<p>47. The Roman senate appoints Cæsar dictator, M. Antony as
+his master of the horse. Cæsar subdues Egypt.</p>
+<p>46. Cæsar overwhelms the Pompeians in Africa at the battle
+of Thapsus; Juba, King of Numidia, on the defeat, takes his own
+life.[<a href="#note-92">92</a>]</p>
+<p><a name="note-92"><!-- Note Anchor 92 --></a>[Footnote 92: Other
+authorities say he fell in battle.]</p>
+<p>Death of Cato.</p>
+<p>The calendar is reformed by Cæsar.</p>
+<p>45. Cæsar conquers the sons of Pompey at Munda, Spain. He
+is appointed dictator for life.</p>
+<p>44. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators murder Cæsar
+in Rome. See <a href="#RULE4_20">"ASSASSINATION OF CÆSAR,"
+ii, 313</a>.</p>
+<p>Conflict for power between Antony and Octavius; Cicero's oration
+secures Octavius' success in Rome.</p>
+<p>Antony resorts to arms to regain his lost ascendency. See
+<a href="#RULE4_21">"ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333</a>.</p>
+<p>43. Second Triumvirate at Rome, formed by Octavius, Antony, and
+Lepidus.</p>
+<p>Murder of Cicero. Birth of Ovid.</p>
+<p>42. Brutus and Cassius are defeated at the two battles of
+Philippi. See <a href="#RULE4_21">"ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii,
+333</a>.</p>
+<p>41. Octavius and Antony's party war in Italy.</p>
+<p>Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and the consul Lucius, his brother,
+oppose Octavius, who drives them from Rome. See <a href="#RULE4_21">"ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333</a>.</p>
+<p>40. Herod I, in his absence at Rome, is proclaimed by Antony and
+Octavius king of Judea.</p>
+<p>Antony accompanies Cleopatra to Egypt. See <a href="#RULE4_21">"ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333</a>.</p>
+<p>39. Herod lands in Syria to take the throne of Judea.</p>
+<p>38. Pompey is defeated in a naval engagement and loses all his
+fleet.</p>
+<p>37. Herod conquers Jerusalem; the Asmonean house ends.</p>
+<p>36. Lepidus, aspiring to greater power, is deserted by his
+soldiers and ejected from the triumvirate.</p>
+<p>31. War of Antony and Octavius; Octavius is victorious at
+Actium: he becomes master of the Roman dominions. Flight of Antony
+with Cleopatra to Egypt. See <a href="#RULE4_21">"ROME BECOMES A
+MONARCHY," ii, 333</a>.</p>
+<p>30. Death of Antony and Cleopatra. See <a href="#RULE4_21">"ROME
+BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333</a>.</p>
+<p>Egypt becomes a Roman province.</p>
+<p>27. Octavius has a triumph at Rome and receives the title of
+Augustus.</p>
+<p>The temple of Janus is closed.</p>
+<p>24. Aelius Gallus, governor of Egypt, fails in an expedition
+into Arabia.</p>
+<p>19. Final subjugation of the Cantabri by Agrippa; the whole
+Spanish peninsula subject to Rome.</p>
+<p>15. The Rhaetians and Vindelicians subdued by Drassus and
+Tiberius, at the head of the Roman troops.</p>
+<p>12. Victorious advance of Drusus in Germany.</p>
+<p>9. Pannonia completely subdued by Tiberius.</p>
+<p>Last German campaign and death of Drusus.</p>
+<p>4. Death of Herod the Great, King of Judea.</p>
+<p>Probable date of the birth of Jesus.</p>
+<p class="center">A.D.</p>
+<p>1. Beginning of the Christian era.</p>
+<p>4. Emperor Tiberius' campaign in Germany.</p>
+<p>6. Archelaus, the Herodian ethnarch, is deposed; Judea becomes a
+district of the Roman prefecture of Syria.</p>
+<p>9. Arminius annihilates the army of Varus in Teutoburg Forest.
+See <a href="#RULE4_22">"GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST
+ROME," ii, 362</a>.</p>
+<p>12. Tiberius leaves Germanicus to prosecute the war, and returns
+to Rome.</p>
+<p class="center">END OF VOLUME II</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS, VOL. 2 ***</div>
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diff --git a/old/old/10114-8.txt b/old/old/10114-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3a76d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/old/10114-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,16624 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol.
+2, by Various, Edited by Rossiter Johnson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 2
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2003  [eBook #10114]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS
+HISTORIANS, VOL. 2***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, David King, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY. EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES
+IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+  NON-SECTARIAN        NON-PARTISAN         NON-SECTIONAL
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST
+DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF
+INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED
+NARRATIVES, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH INDICES,
+BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BINDING
+
+Vol. II
+
+The binding of this volume is a facsimile of the original on exhibition
+in the Biblioth�que Nationale.
+
+It was executed by the Royal Binder, Clovis Eve, for Marie de' M�dicis,
+Queen Consort of Henry IV of France. She was a great lover of fine arts,
+and especially of rich bindings. The one here shown was her special
+pride. It shows her arms--the arms of France and Tuscany--surrounded
+with the cordeli�re, the sign of her widowhood, accompanied by the
+monogram M.M. (Marie M�dicis). She was exiled by Cardinal Richelieu in
+1631.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+An Outline Narrative of the Great Events,
+    CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in Rome (B.C. 450),
+    HENRY G. LIDDELL
+
+Pericles Rules in Athens (B.C. 444),
+    PLUTARCH
+
+Great Plague at Athens (B.C. 430),
+    GEORGE GROTE
+
+Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse (B.C. 413),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks (B.C. 401-399),
+    XENOPHON
+
+Condemnation and Death of Socrates (B.C. 399),
+    PLATO
+
+Brennus Burns Rome (B.C. 388),
+    BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR
+
+Tartar Invasion of China by Meha (B.C. 341),
+    DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER
+
+Alexander Reduces Tyre, Later Founds Alexandria (B.C. 332),
+    OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+The Battle of Arbela (B.C. 331),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+First Battle Between Greeks and Romans (B.C. 280-279),
+    PLUTARCH
+
+The Punic Wars (B.C. 264-219-149),
+    FLORUS
+
+Battle of the Metaurus (B.C. 2O7),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama and Subjugates Carthage (B.C.
+202),
+    LIVY
+
+Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea (B.C. 165-141),
+    JOSEPHUS
+
+The Gracchi and Their Reforms (B.C. 133),
+    THEODOR MOMMSEN
+
+Caesar Conquers Gaul (B.C. 58-50),
+    NAPOLEON III
+
+Roman Invasion and Conquest of Britain (B.C. 55-A.D. 79),
+    OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and Antony (B.C. 51-30),
+    JOHN P. MAHAFFY
+
+Assassination of Caesar (B.C. 44),
+    NIEBUHR
+    PLUTARCH
+
+Rome Becomes a Monarchy
+Death of Antony and Cleopatra (B.C. 44-30),
+    HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL
+
+Germans under Arminius Revolt Against Rome (A.D. 9),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Universal Chronology (B.C. 450-A.D. 12),
+    JOHN RUDD
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+Blind Appius Claudius led into the Roman Senate Chamber to vote on the
+proposition of peace or war with Pyrrhus (page 174),
+
+Painting by Prof, A. Maccari.
+
+
+Oracle of Delphi,
+
+Painting by Claudius Harper.
+
+
+Death of Alexander the Great after a prolonged debauch,
+
+Painting by Carl von Piloty.
+
+
+
+
+AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE
+
+
+TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+(FROM THE RISE OF GREECE TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.
+
+
+Earth's upward struggle has been baffled by so many stumbles that
+critics have not been lacking to suggest that we do not advance at all,
+but only swing in circles, like a squirrel in its cage. Certain it is
+that each ancient civilization seemed to bear in itself the seeds of its
+own destruction. Yet it may be held with equal truth that each new
+power, rising above the ruins of the last, held something nobler, was
+borne upward by some truth its rival could not reach.
+
+At no period is this more evident than in the five centuries immediately
+preceding the Christian era. Persia, Greece, Carthage, Rome, each in
+turn was with some justice proclaimed lord of the world; each in turn
+felt the impulse of her glory and advanced rapidly in culture and
+knowledge of the arts; and each in turn succumbed to the temptations
+that beset unlimited success. They degenerated not only in physical
+strength, but in moral honesty.
+
+Let us recognize, however, that the term "world-ruler" as applied to
+even the greatest of these nations has but a restricted sense. When the
+Persian monarch called himself lord of the sun and moon, he only meant
+in a figurative way that he was acquainted with no other king so
+powerful as himself; that beyond his own dominions he heard only of
+feeble colonies, and beyond those the wilderness. Alexander, when he
+sighed for more worlds to conquer, had in reality made himself lord of
+less than a quarter of Asia and of about one-sixtieth part of Europe.
+
+No man and no nation has ever yet been intrusted with the government of
+the entire globe. None has proved sufficiently fitted for the giant
+task. Each empire has been, as it were, but an experiment; and beyond
+the border line of seas and deserts which ringed each boastful
+conqueror, there were always other races developing along slower, and it
+may be surer, lines.
+
+In those old days our world was in truth too big for conquest. Armies
+marched on foot. Provisions could not be carried in any quantity, unless
+a general clung to the sea-shore and depended on his ships. What
+Alexander might with more truth have sighed for, was some modern means
+of swift transportation, possessed of which he might still have enjoyed
+many interesting, bloody battles in more distant lands.
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREEKS
+
+Taking the idea "world power" in the restricted sense suggested, Persia
+lost it to Greece at Salamis. As the Asiatic hordes fled behind their
+panic-stricken king, the Greeks, looking round their limited horizon,
+could see no power that might vie with them. The idea of pressing home
+their success and overthrowing the entire unwieldy Persian empire was at
+once conceived.
+
+But the Greeks were of all races least like to weld earth into one
+dominion. They could not even unite among themselves. In short it cannot
+be too emphatically pointed out that the work of Greece was not to
+consolidate, but to separate, to teach the value of each individual man.
+Asia had made monarchies in plenty. King after king had passed in
+splendid, glittering pomp across her plains, circled by a crowd of
+obsequious courtiers, trampling on a nameless multitude of slaves.
+Europe was to make democracies, or at least to try her hand at them.
+
+It has been well said that a democracy is the strongest government for
+defence, the weakest for attack. Every little Greek city clung jealously
+to its own freedom, and to its equally obvious right to dominate its
+neighbors. The supreme danger of the Persian invasion united them for a
+moment; but as soon as safety was assured, they recommenced their
+bickering. Sparta with her record of ancient leadership, Athens with her
+new-won glory against the common foe, each tried to draw the other
+cities in her train. There was no one man who could dominate them all
+and concentrate their strength against the enemy. So for a time Persia
+continued to exist; she even by degrees regained something of her former
+influence over the divided cities.
+
+Among these Athens held the foremost rank. She was, as we have
+previously seen, far more truly representative of the Greek spirit than
+her rival. Sparta was aristocratic and conservative; Athens democratic
+and progressive. The genius of her leaders gathered the lesser towns
+into a great naval league, in which she grew ever more powerful. Her
+allies sank to be dependent and unwilling vassals, forced to contribute
+large sums to the treasury of their overlord.
+
+This was the age of Pericles.[1] As Athens became wealthy, her citizens
+became cultured. Statues, temples, theatres made the city beautiful.
+Dramatists, orators, and poets made her intellectually renowned. A
+marvellous outburst, this of Athens! Displaying for the first time in
+history the full capacity of the human mind! Had there been similar
+flowerings of genius amid forgotten Asiatic times? One doubts it; doubts
+if such brilliancy could ever anywhere have passed, and left no clearer
+record of its triumphs.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Pericles Rules in Athens_, page 12.]
+
+Amid such splendor it seems captious to point out the flaw. Yet Athenian
+and all Greek civilization did ultimately decline. It represented
+intellectual, but not moral culture. The Greeks delighted intensely in
+the purely physical life about them; they had small conception of
+anything beyond. To enjoy, to be successful, that was all their goal;
+the means scarce counted. The Athenians called Aristides the Just; but
+so little did they honor his high rectitude that they banished him for a
+decade. His title, or it may have been his insistence on the subject,
+bored them.
+
+His rival, Themistocles, was more suited to their taste, a clever scamp,
+who must always be dealing with both sides in every quarrel, and
+outwitting both. Athens was driven to banish him also at last, at his
+too flagrant treachery. But he was not dismissed with the scathing scorn
+our modern age would heap upon a traitor. He was sent regretfully, as
+one turns from a charming but too persistently lawless friend. The
+banishment was only for ten years, and he had his nest already prepared
+with the Persian King. If you would understand the Greek spirit in its
+fullest perfection, study Themistocles. Rampant individualism, seeking
+personal pleasure, clamorous for the admiration of its fellows, but not
+restrained from secret falsity by any strong moral sense--that was what
+the Greeks developed in the end.
+
+Neither must Athens be regarded as a democracy in the modern sense. She
+was only so by contrast with Persia or with Sparta. Not every man in the
+beautiful city voted, or enjoyed the riches that flowed into her
+coffers, and could thus afford, free from pecuniary care, to devote
+himself to art. Athens probably had never more than thirty thousand
+"citizens." The rest of the adult male population, vastly outnumbering
+these, were slaves, or foreigners attracted by the city's splendor.
+
+But those thirty thousand were certainly men. "There were giants in
+those days." One sometimes stands in wonder at their boldness. What all
+Greece could not do, what Persia had completely failed in, they
+undertook. Athens alone should conquer the world. By force of arms they
+would found an empire of intellect. They fought Persia and Sparta, both
+at once. Plague swept their city, yet they would not yield.[2] Their own
+subject allies turned against them; and they fought those too. They sent
+fleets and armies against Syracuse, the mightiest power of the West. It
+was Athens against all mankind!
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Great Plague at Athens_, page 34.]
+
+She was unequal to the task, superbly unequal to it. The destruction of
+her army at Syracuse[3] was only the foremost of a series of inevitable
+disasters, which left her helpless. After that, Sparta, and then Thebes,
+became the leading city of Greece. Athens slowly regained her fighting
+strength; her intellectual supremacy she had not lost. Socrates,[4]
+greatest of her sons, endeavored to teach a morality higher than earth
+had yet received, higher than his contemporaries could grasp. Plato gave
+to thought a scientific basis.
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse_, page 48.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Condemnation and Death of Socrates_, page 87.]
+
+Then Macedonia, a border kingdom of ancient kinship to the Greeks, but
+not recognized as belonging among them, began to obtrude herself in
+their affairs, and at length won that leadership for which they had all
+contended. A hundred and fifty years had elapsed since the Greeks had
+stood united against Persia. During all that time their strength had
+been turned against themselves. Now at last the internecine wars were
+checked, and all the power of the sturdy race was directed by one man,
+Alexander, King of Macedon. Democracy had made the Greeks intellectually
+glorious, but politically weak. Monarchy rose from the ruin they had
+wrought.
+
+As though that ancient invasion of Xerxes had been a crime of yesterday,
+Alexander proclaimed his intention of avenging it; and the Greeks
+applauded. They understood Persia now far better than in the elder days;
+they saw what a feeble mass the huge heterogeneous empire had become.
+Its people were slaves, its soldiers mercenaries. The Greeks themselves
+had been hired to suppress more than one Persian rebellion,[5] and to
+foment these also. They had learned the enormous advantage their
+stronger personality gave them against the masses of sheeplike Asiatics.
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks_, page 68.]
+
+So it was in holiday mood that they followed Alexander, and in schoolboy
+roughness that they trampled on the civilization of the East. In fact,
+it is worth noting that the most vigorous resistance they encountered
+was not from the Persians, but from a remnant of the Semites, the
+merchants of the Phoenician city of Tyre.[6] In less than eight years,
+B.C. 331-323, Alexander overran the whole known world of the East,[7]
+only stopping when, on the border of India, his soldiers broke into open
+revolt, not against fighting, but against further wandering.
+
+[Footnote 6: See _Alexander Reduces Tyre_, page 133.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See _The Battle of Arbela_, page 141.]
+
+If this invasion had been the mere outcome of one man's ambition, it
+might scarce be worth recording. But Alexander was only the topmost wave
+in the surging of a long imminent, inevitable racial movement. Its
+effect upon civilization, upon the world, was incalculably vast.
+Alexander and his successors were city-builders, administrators. As such
+they spread Greek culture, the Greek idea of individualism, over all
+their world.
+
+How deep was the change, made upon the imbruted Asiatics, we may perhaps
+question. Our own age has seen how much of education may be lavished on
+an inferior race without materially altering the brute instincts within.
+The building-up of the soul in man is not a matter of individuals, but
+of centuries. Yet in at least a superficial way Greek thought became the
+thought of all mankind. We may dismiss Alexander's savage conquests with
+a sigh of pity; but we cannot deny him recognition as a most potent
+teacher of the world.
+
+His empire did not last. It was in too obvious opposition to all that we
+have recognized as the Grecian spirit. At his death the same impulse
+seems to have stirred each one of his subordinates, to snatch for
+himself a kingdom from the confusion. Instead of one there were soon
+three, four, and then a dozen semi-Grecian states in Asia. The Greek
+element in each grew very faint.
+
+From this time onward Asia takes a less prominent place in world
+affairs. Her ancient leadership in the march of civilization had long
+been yielded to the Greeks. Now her semblance of military power
+disappeared as well. Only two further happenings in all Asia seem worth
+noting, down to the birth of Christ. One of these was the Tartar
+conquest of China, an event which coalesced the Tartars, helped make
+them a nation.[8] It was thus fraught with most disastrous consequences
+for the Europe of the future. The other was the revolt of the Hebrews
+under Judas Maccabaeus, against their Grecian rulers. This was a
+religious revolt, a religious war. Here for the first time we find a
+people who will believe, who can believe, in no god but their own, who
+will die sooner than give worship to another. We approach the borders of
+an age where the spirit is more valued than the body, where the mental
+is stronger than the physical, where facts are dominated by ideas.[9]
+
+[Footnote 8: See _Tartar Invasion of China_, page 126.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See _Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea_, page 245.]
+
+Had Alexander even at the moment of his greatest strength directed his
+forces westward instead of east, he would have found a different world
+and encountered a sturdier resistance. He himself recognized this, and
+during his last years was gathering all the resources of his unwieldy
+empire, to hurl them against Carthage and against Italy. What the issue
+might have been no man can say. Alexander's death ended forever the
+impossible attempt to unite his race. Once more and until the end,
+Grecian strength was wasted against itself.
+
+This gave opportunity to the growing powers of the West. Alexander is
+scarce gone ere we hear Carthage boasting that the Mediterranean is but
+a private lake in her possession. She rules all Western Africa and
+Spain, Sardinia and Corsica. She masters the Greeks of Sicily, against
+whom Athens failed. Rome is compelled to sign treaties with her as an
+inferior.
+
+THE GROWTH OF ROME
+
+Rome was only husbanding her strength; the little republic of B.C. 510
+had grown much during the two centuries of Grecian splendor. Her people
+had become far better fitted for conquest than their eastern kinsmen. It
+is presumable that here too it was the difference of surroundings which
+had differentiated the race. The ancient Etrurian (non-Aryan)
+civilization on which the Latins intruded, was apparently more advanced
+than their own. For centuries their utmost prowess scarce sufficed to
+maintain their independence. Thus it was not possible for them to become
+too self-satisfied, to stand afar off and look down on their neighbors
+with Grecian scorn. The _ego_ was less prominently developed; the
+necessity of mutual dependence and united action was more deeply taught.
+Their records display less of brilliancy, but more of patient
+persistency, than those of Greece, less of spectacular individualism,
+more of truly patriotic self-suppression. In Rome, even more than in
+Sparta, the "State" was everything. During the early days men found
+their highest glory in making their city glorious; their proudest boast
+was to be "citizens of Rome."
+
+To trace the slow steps by which the tiny republic grew to be mistress
+of all Italy would take too long. She settled her internal difficulties
+as all such difficulties must be settled, if the race is to progress;
+that is, she became more democratic.[10] As the lower classes advanced
+in knowledge and intelligence they insisted on a share of the
+government. They fought their way to it. They united Rome, mastered the
+other Latin cities, and admitted them to partnership in her power. She
+conquered the Etruscans and the Samnites. For a moment we find her
+almost overwhelmed by an inroad of the wild Celtic tribes from the
+forests of Central Europe;[11] but, fortunately for her, the other
+Italian states were equally crushed. It was weakness against weakness,
+and the Romans retained their foremost place.
+
+[Footnote 10: See _Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in Rome_,
+page 1.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See _Brennus Burns Rome_, page 110.]
+
+Not till more than a century later were they brought into serious
+conflict with the Greeks. In the year B.C. 280, Pyrrhus, King of Epirus,
+who had won a temporary leadership over a portion of the Grecian land,
+undertook the conquest of the West.[12] Fifty years before, Alexander
+with far greater power might have been victorious over a feebler Rome.
+Pyrrhus failed completely. If the Romans had less dash and a less wide
+experience of varied warfare than his followers, they had far more of
+true, heroic endurance. The Greeks had reached that stage of individual
+culture where they were much too selfishly intelligent to be willing to
+die in battle. Pyrrhus withdrew from Italy. Grecian brilliancy was
+helpless against Roman strength of union.
+
+[Footnote 12: See _First Battle between Greeks and Romans_, page 166.]
+
+Then came the far more serious contest between Rome and Carthage.[13]
+Carthage was a Phoenician, a Semite state; and hers was the last, the
+most gigantic struggle made by Semitism to recover its waning
+superiority, to dominate the ancient world. Three times in three
+tremendous wars did she and Rome put forth their utmost strength against
+each other. Hannibal, perhaps the greatest military genius who ever
+lived, fought upon the side of Carthage. At one time Rome seemed
+crushed, helpless before him.[14] Yet in the end Rome won.[15] It was
+not by the brilliancy of her commanders, not by the superiority of her
+resources. It was the grim, cool courage of the Aryan mind, showing
+strongest and calmest when face to face with ruin.
+
+[Footnote 13: See _The Punic Wars_, page 179.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See _Battle of the Metaurus_, page 195.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See _Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama and
+Subjugates Carthage_, page 224.]
+
+Our modern philosophers, being Aryan, assure us that the victory of
+Carthage would have been an irretrievable disaster to mankind; that her
+falsity, her narrow selfishness, her bloody inhumanity, would have
+stifled all progress; that her dominion would have been the tyranny of a
+few heartless masters over a world of tortured slaves. On the other
+hand, Rome up to this point had certainly been a generous mistress to
+her subjects. She had left them peace and prosperity among themselves;
+she had given them as much political freedom as was consistent with her
+sovereignty; she had wellnigh succeeded in welding all Italy into a
+Roman nation. It is noteworthy that the large majority of the Italian
+cities clung to her, even in the darkest straits to which she was
+reduced by Hannibal.
+
+Yet when the fall of her last great rival left Rome irresistible abroad,
+her methods changed. It is hard to see how even Carthaginians could have
+been more cruel, more grasping, more corrupt than the Roman rulers of
+the provinces. Having conquered the governments of the world, Rome had
+to face outbreak after outbreak from the unarmed, unsheltered masses of
+the people. Her barbarity drove them to mad despair. "Servile" wars,
+slave outbreaks are dotted over all the last century of the Roman
+Republic.
+
+The good, if there was any good, that Roman dominion brought the world
+at that period was the spreading of Greek culture across the western
+half of the world. As Rome mastered the Greek states one by one, their
+genius won a subtler triumph over the conqueror. Her generals recognized
+and admired a culture superior to their own. They carried off the
+statues of Greece for the adornment of their villas, and with equal
+eagerness they appropriated her manners and her thought, her literature
+and her gods.
+
+But this superficial culture could not save the Roman Republic from the
+dry-rot that sapped her vitals from within. As a mere matter of numbers,
+the actual citizens of Rome or even of the semi-Roman districts close
+around her were too few to continue fighting over all the vast empire
+they controlled. The sturdy peasant population of Italy slowly
+disappeared. The actual inhabitants of the capital came to consist of a
+few thousand vastly wealthy families, who held all the power, a few
+thousand more of poorer citizens dependent on the rich, and then a vast
+swarm of slaves and foreigners, feeders on the crumbs of the Roman
+table.
+
+In the battles against Carthage, the mass of Rome's armies had consisted
+of her own citizens or of allies closely united to them in blood and
+fortune. Her later victories were won by hired troops, men gathered from
+every clime and every race. Roman generals still might lead them, Roman
+laws environ them, Roman gold employ them. Yet the fact remained, that
+in these armies lay the strength of the Republic, no longer within her
+own walls, no longer in the stout hearts of her citizens.
+
+Perhaps the world itself was slow in seeing this degeneration. The
+Gracchi brothers tried to stem the tide, and they were slain, sacrificed
+by the nation they sought to save.[16] Cornelius Sulla was the man who
+completed, and at the same time made plain to all, the change that had
+been growing up. Having bitter grievances against his enemies in the
+capital, he appealed for redress, not to the Roman senate, not to the
+votes of the populace, but to the swords of the legions he commanded.
+Twice he marched his soldiers against Rome. He brushed aside the feeble
+resistance that was offered, and entered the city like a conqueror. The
+blood of those who had opposed his wishes flowed in streams. Three
+thousand senators and knights, the flower of the Roman aristocracy, were
+slain at his nod. Of the common folk and of the Italians throughout the
+peninsula, the slaughter was immeasurable. And when his bloody vengeance
+was at last glutted, Sulla ruled as an extravagant, conscienceless,
+licentious dictator. Rome had found a fitting master.
+
+[Footnote 16: See _The Gracchi and Their Reforms_, page 259.]
+
+THE STRUGGLE OF INDIVIDUALS FOR SUPREMACY
+
+The Roman people, the mighty race who had defied a Hannibal at their
+gates, were clearly come to an end. Sulla had proved the power of the
+Republic to be an empty shell. After his death, men used the empty forms
+awhile; but the surviving aristocrats had learned their awful lesson.
+They put no further faith in the strength of the city; they watched the
+armies and the generals; they intrigued for the various commands. It was
+an exciting game. Life and fortune were the stakes they risked; the
+prize--the mastery of a helpless world, waiting to be plundered.
+
+Pompey and Caesar proved the ablest players. Pompey overthrew what was
+left of the Greek Asiatic kingdoms and returned to Rome the idol of his
+troops, wellnigh as powerful as had been Sulla. Caesar, looking in his
+turn for a place to build up an army devoted to himself, selected Gaul
+and spent eight years in subduing and civilizing what was in a way the
+most important of all Rome's conquests. In Gaul he came in contact with
+another, fresher Aryan race.[17] Rome received new soldiers for her
+legions, new brains fitted to understand and carry on the work of
+civilizing the world.
+
+[Footnote 17: See _Caesar Conquers Gaul_, page 267.]
+
+When Caesar, turning away from Britain,[18] marched these new-formed
+legions back against Rome, even as Sulla had done, it was almost like
+another Gallic invasion of the South. Pompey fled. He gathered his
+legions from Asia; and the world resounded once more to the clash of
+arms.
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Roman Invasion and Conquest of Britain_, page 285.]
+
+This, then, was the third and final stage of the huge struggle for
+empire. War was still the business of the world. Rome had first defeated
+foreign nations; then she had to defeat the uprisings of the subject
+peoples; now her chiefs, finding her exhausted, fought among themselves
+for the supreme power. Armies of Asiatics, armies of Gauls, each
+claiming to represent Rome, battled over her helpless body.
+
+Caesar was victorious. But when the conquering power which had once
+belonged to the united nation became embodied in a single man, there was
+a new way by which it might be checked. The government of Rome, like
+that of the Greek and Asiatic tyrannies, became a "despotism tempered by
+assassination"; and Caesar was its foremost victim.[19]
+
+[Footnote 19: See _Assassination of Caesar_, page 313.]
+
+His death did not stop the fascinating gamble for empire. It only added
+one more move to the possible complexities of the game. The lesser
+players had their chance. They intrigued and they fought. Egypt, the
+last remaining civilized state outside of Rome, was drawn into the
+whirlpool also.[20] Cleopatra and Antony acted their reckless parts, and
+at length out of the world-wide tumult emerged "young Octavius," to
+assume his _r�le_ as "Augustus Caesar," acknowledged emperor of the
+world.[21]
+
+[Footnote 20: See _Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and Antony_, page
+295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See _Rome Becomes a Monarchy_, page 333.]
+
+Note, however, that the term "world" is still one of boast, not truth.
+Emperor over many men, Augustus was; but the powers of nature still shut
+many races safe beyond his mastery. The ocean bounded his dominion on
+the west; the deserts to the south and east; the German forests to the
+north. These last he did essay to conquer, but they proved beyond him.
+The wild German tribes having no cities, which they must defend at any
+cost, could afford to flee or hide. Choosing their own time and place
+they rose suddenly, smote the legions of Augustus, and melted into the
+wilderness again.[22]
+
+[Footnote 22: See _Germans Under Arminius Revolt against Rome_, page
+362.]
+
+Rome was checked at last. No civilized nation had been able to stand
+against her; but the wild tribes of the Germans and the Parthians did.
+Barbarism had still by far the larger portion of the world wherein to
+live and develop, and gather brain and brawn. Rome could not conquer the
+wilderness.
+
+(For the next section of this general survey see Volume III.)
+
+
+
+
+INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME
+
+B.C. 450
+
+HENRY G. LIDDELL
+
+
+(When wars and pestilence had laid a heavy burden upon the Roman people,
+there appears to have been a period in which internal commotions and
+civil strife were stilled, and the quarrels of patricians and plebeians
+gave way to temporary truce. On the inevitable renewal of the old
+struggle the college of tribunes adopted a measure favorable to the
+plebeians in so far as it provided means for checking the abuse of power
+on the part of consuls in punishing members of that class in connection
+with the prosecution of suits against them.
+
+The passage of this measure had the effect of reopening former
+conflicts, the patrician elements becoming greatly alarmed at what they
+regarded as a fresh encroachment upon their hereditary rights. The
+contest was long and bitter, each side either bringing forward or
+rejecting again and again the same measures or the same representatives.
+
+Finally, compromises were made, and in the year B.C. 452 a commission of
+ten men, called _decemvirs_, constituting the _Decemvirate_, was chosen,
+consisting wholly of patricians, who entered with great efficiency upon
+the discharge of legislative duties which resulted in the production of
+a new code. This was approved by the senate and by the popular
+representatives, and was published in the form of ten copper plates or
+tables, which were affixed to the speaker's pulpit in the Forum. Among
+the new decemvirs appointed in the year B.C. 450 were several plebeians,
+the first official representatives of the entire people who were chosen
+from that class.)
+
+
+The patrician burgesses endeavored to wrest independence from the
+"plebs" after the battle of Lake Regillus; and the latter, ruined by
+constant wars with the neighboring nations, being compelled to make good
+their losses by borrowing money from patrician creditors, and liable to
+become bondsmen in default of payment, at length deserted the city, and
+only returned on condition of being protected by tribunes of their own;
+they then, by the firmness of Publilius Volero and L�torius, obtained
+the right of electing these tribunes at their own assembly, the "Comitia
+of the Tribes." Finally the great consul Spurius Cassius endeavored to
+relieve the commonalty by an agrarian law, so as to better their
+condition permanently.
+
+The execution of the Agrarian law was constantly evaded. But on the
+conquest of Antium from the Volscians, in the year B.C. 468, a colony
+was sent thither, and this was one of the first examples of a
+distribution of public land to poorer citizens; which answered two
+purposes--the improvement of their condition, and the defence of the
+place against the enemy.
+
+Nor did the tribunes, now made altogether independent of the patricians,
+fail to assert their power. One of the first persons who felt the force
+of their arm was the second Appius Claudius. This Sabine noble,
+following his father's example, had, after the departure of the Fabii,
+led the opposition to the Publilian law. When he took the field against
+the Volscians, his soldiers would not fight, and the stern commander put
+to death every tenth man in his legions. For the acts of his consulship
+he was brought to trial by the tribunes M. Duillius and C. Sicinius.
+Seeing that conviction was certain, the proud patrician avoided
+humiliation by suicide.
+
+Nevertheless the border wars still continued, and the plebeians suffered
+much. To the evils of debt and want were added about this time the
+horrors of pestilential disease, which visited the Roman territory
+several times at that period. In one year (B.C. 464) the two consuls,
+two of the four augurs, and the curio Maximus, who was the head of all
+the patricians, were swept off--a fact which implies the death of a vast
+number of less distinguished persons. The government was administered by
+the plebeian aediles, under the control of senatorial interreges. The
+Volscians and Aequians ravaged the country up to the walls of Rome; and
+the safety of the city must be attributed to the Latins and Hernici, not
+to the men of Rome.
+
+Meantime the tribunes had in vain demanded a full execution of the
+Agrarian law. But in the year B.C. 462, one of the Sacred College, by
+name C. Terentilius Harsa, came forward with a bill, the object of which
+was to give the plebeians a surer footing in the state. This man
+perceived that as long as the consuls retained their almost despotic
+power, and were elected by the influence of the patricians, this order
+had it in its power to thwart all measures, even after they were passed,
+which tended to advance the interests of the plebeians. He therefore no
+longer demanded the execution of the Agrarian law, but proposed that a
+commission of ten men (_decemviri_) should be appointed to draw up
+constitutional laws for regulating the future relations of the
+patricians and plebeians.
+
+The Reform Bill of Terentilius was, as might be supposed, vehemently
+resisted by the patrician burgesses. But the plebeians supported their
+champion no less warmly. For five consecutive years the same tribunes
+were reelected and in vain endeavored to carry the bill. This was the
+time which least fulfils the character which we have claimed for the
+Roman people--patience and temperance, combined with firmness in their
+demands. To prevent the tribunes from carrying their law, the younger
+patricians thronged to the assemblies and interfered with all
+proceedings; Terentilius, they said, was endeavoring to confound all
+distinction between the orders. Some scenes occurred which seem to show
+that both sides were prepared for civil war.
+
+In the year B.C. 460 the city was alarmed by hearing that the Capitol
+had been seized by a band of Sabines and exiled Romans, under the
+command of one Herdonius. Who these exiles were is uncertain. But we
+know, by the legend of Cincinnatus, that C�so Quinctius, the son of that
+old hero, was an exile. It has been inferred, therefore, that he was
+among them, that the tribunes had succeeded in banishing from the city
+the most violent of their opponents, and that these persons had not
+scrupled to associate themselves with Sabines to recover their homes.
+The consul Valerius, aided by the Latins of Tusculum, levied an army to
+attack the insurgents, on condition that after success the law should be
+fully considered. The exiles were driven out and Herdonius was killed.
+But the consul fell in the assault, and the patricians, led by old
+Cincinnatus, refused to fulfil his promises.
+
+Then followed the danger of the �quian invasion, to which the legend of
+Cincinnatus, as given above, refers. The stern old man used his
+dictatorial power quite as much to crush the tribunes at home as to
+conquer the enemies abroad.
+
+One of the historians tells us that in this period of seditious violence
+many of the leading plebeians were assassinated (as the tribune Genucius
+had been), and to this time only can be attributed the horrible story,
+mentioned by more than one writer, that nine tribunes were burned alive
+at the instance of their colleague Mucius. Society was utterly
+disorganized. The two orders were on the brink of civil war. It seemed
+as if Rome was to become the city of discord, not of law. Happily, there
+were moderate men in both orders. Now, as at the time of the secession,
+their voices prevailed, and a compromise was arranged.
+
+In the eighth year after the first promulgation of the Terentilian law,
+this compromise was made (B.C. 454). The law itself was no longer
+pressed by the tribunes. The patricians, on the other hand, so far gave
+way as to allow three men (_triumviri_) to be appointed, who were to
+travel into Greece, and bring back a copy of the laws of Solon, as well
+as the laws and institutes of any other Greek states which they might
+deem good and useful. These were to be the groundwork of a new code of
+laws, such as should give fair and equal rights to both orders and
+restrain the arbitrary power of the patrician magistrates.
+
+Another concession made by the patrician lords was a small installment of
+the Agrarian law. L. Icilius, tribune of the plebs, proposed that all
+the Aventine hill, being public land, should be made over to the plebs,
+to be their quarter forever, as the other hills were occupied by the
+patricians and their clients. This hill, it will be remembered, was
+consecrated to the goddess Diana (Jana), and though included in the
+walls of Servius, was yet not within the sacred limits (_pomoerium_) of
+the patrician city. After some opposition the patricians suffered this
+Icilian law to pass, in hopes of soothing the anger of the plebeians.
+The land was parcelled out into building-sites. But as there was not
+enough to give a separate plot to every plebeian householder that wished
+to live in the city, one allotment was assigned to several persons, who
+built a joint house _flats_ or stories, each of which was inhabited--as
+in Edinburgh and in most foreign towns--by a separate family.
+
+The three men who had been sent into Greece returned in the third year
+(B.C. 452). They found the city free from domestic strife, partly from
+the concessions already made, partly from expectation of what was now to
+follow, and partly from the effect of a pestilence which had broken out
+anew.
+
+So far did moderate counsels now prevail among the patricians, that
+after some little delay they agreed to suspend the ordinary government
+by the consuls and other officers, and in their stead to appoint a
+council of ten, who were, during their existence, to be intrusted with
+all the functions of government. But they were to have a double duty:
+they were not only an administrative, but also a legislative council. On
+the one hand, they were to conduct the government, administer justice,
+and command the armies. On the other, they were to draw up a code of
+laws by which equal justice was to be dealt out to the whole Roman
+people, to patricians and plebeians alike, and by which especially the
+authority to be exercised by the consuls, or chief magistrates, was to
+be clearly determined and settled.
+
+This supreme council of ten, or decemvirs, was first appointed in the
+year B.C. 450. They were all patricians. At their head stood Appius
+Claudius and T. Genucius, who had already been chosen consuls for this
+memorable year. This Appius Claudius (the third of his name) was son and
+grandson of those two patrician chiefs who had opposed the leaders of
+the plebeians so vehemently in the matter of the tribunate. But he
+affected a different conduct from his sires. He was the most popular man
+of the whole council, and became in fact the sovereign of Rome. At first
+he used his great power well, and the first year's government of the
+decemvirs was famed for justice and moderation.
+
+They also applied themselves diligently to their great work of
+law-making, and before the end of the year had drawn up a code of ten
+tables, which were posted in the Forum, that all citizens might examine
+them and suggest amendments to the decemvirs. After due time thus spent,
+the ten tables were confirmed and made law at the Comitia of the
+Centuries. By this code equal justice was to be administered to both
+orders without distinction of persons.
+
+At the close of the year the first decemvirs laid down their office,
+just as the consuls and other officers of state had been accustomed to
+do before. They were succeeded by a second set of ten, who, for the next
+year at least, were to conduct the government like their predecessors.
+The only one of the old decemvirs reelected was Appius Claudius. The
+patricians, indeed, endeavored to prevent even this, and to this end he
+was himself appointed to preside at the new elections; for it was held
+impossible for a chief magistrate to return his own name, when he was
+himself presiding. But Appius scorned precedents. He returned himself as
+elected, together with nine others, men of no name, while two of the
+great Quinctian gens, who offered themselves, were rejected.
+
+Of the new decemvirs, it is certain that three--and it is probable that
+five--were plebeians. Appius, with the plebeian Oppius, held the
+judicial office, and remained in the city; and these two seem to have
+been regarded as the chiefs. The other six commanded the armies and
+discharged the duties previously assigned to the qu�stors and �diles.
+
+The first decemvirs had earned the respect and esteem of their
+fellow-citizens. The new Council of Ten deserved the hatred which has
+ever since cloven to their name. Appius now threw off the mask which he
+had so long worn, and assumed his natural character--the same as had
+distinguished his sire and grandsire, of unhappy memory. He became an
+absolute despot. His brethren in the council offered no hinderance to
+his will; even the plebeian decemvirs, bribed by power, fell into his
+way of action and supported his tyranny. They each had twelve lictors,
+who carried fasces with the axes in them the symbol of absolute power,
+as in the times of the kings; so that it was said, "Rome had now twelve
+Tarquins instead of one, and one hundred and twenty armed lictors
+instead of twelve!" All freedom of speech ceased. The senate was seldom
+called together. The leading men, patricians and plebeians, left the
+city. The outward aspect of things was that of perfect calm and peace,
+but an opportunity only was wanting for the discontent which was
+smouldering in all men's hearts to break out and show itself.
+
+By the end of the year the decemvirs had added two more tables to the
+code, so that there were now twelve tables. But these two last were of a
+most oppressive and arbitrary kind, devoted chiefly to restore the
+ancient privileges of the patrician caste. Of these tables, it should be
+observed that they were made laws not by the vote of the people, but by
+the simple edict of the decemvirs.
+
+It was, no doubt, expected that the second decemvirs also would have
+held _comitia_ for the election of successors. But Appius and his
+colleagues showed no such intention, and when the year came to a close
+they continued to hold office as if they had been reelected. So firmly
+did their power seem to be established that we hear of no endeavor being
+made to induce them to resign.
+
+In the course of this next year (B.C. 449), the border wars were
+renewed. On the north the Sabines, and the �quians on the northeast,
+invaded the Roman country at the same time. The latter penetrated as far
+as Mount Algidus, as in B.C. 458, when they were routed by old
+Cincinnatus. The decemvirs probably, like the patrician burgesses in
+former times, regarded these inroads not without satisfaction; for they
+turned away the mind of the people from their sufferings at home. Yet
+from these very wars sprung the events which overturned their power and
+destroyed themselves.
+
+Two armies were levied, one to check the Sabines, the other to oppose
+the �quians, and these were commanded by the six military decemvirs.
+Appius and Oppius remained to administer affairs at home. But there was
+no spirit in the armies. Both were defeated; and that which was opposed
+to the �quians was compelled to take refuge within the walls of
+Tusculum.
+
+Then followed two events which were preserved in well-known legends, and
+which give the popular narrative of the manner in which the power of the
+decemvirs was at last overthrown.
+
+LEGEND OF SICCIUS DENTATUS
+
+In the army sent against the Sabines, Siccius Dentatus was known as the
+bravest man. He was then serving as a centurion; he had fought in one
+hundred and twenty battles; he had slain eight champions in single
+combat; had saved the lives of fourteen citizens; had received forty
+wounds, all in front; had followed in nine triumphal processions, and
+had won crowns and decorations without number. This gallant veteran had
+taken an active part in the civil contests between the two orders, and
+was now suspected, by the decemvirs commanding the Sabine army, of
+plotting against them. Accordingly they determined to get rid of him;
+and for this end they sent him out as if to reconnoitre, with a party of
+soldiers, who were secretly instructed to murder him. Having discovered
+their design, he set his back against a rock and resolved to sell his
+life dearly. More than one of his assailants fell and the rest stood at
+bay around him, not venturing to come within sword's length, when one
+wretch climbed up the rock behind and crushed the brave old man with a
+massive stone. But the manner of his death could not be hidden from the
+army, and the generals only prevented an outbreak by honoring him with a
+magnificent funeral.
+
+Such was the state of things in the Sabine army.
+
+LEGEND OF VIRGINIA[23]
+
+[Footnote 23: Dionysius is the authority for this legend.]
+
+The other army had a still grosser outrage to complain of. In this there
+was a notable centurion, Virginius by name. His daughter Virginia, just
+ripening into womanhood, beautiful as the day, was betrothed to L.
+Icilius, the tribune who had carried the law for allotting the Aventine
+hill to the plebeians. Appius Claudius, the decemvir, saw her and lusted
+to make her his own. And with this intent he ordered one of his clients,
+M. Claudius by name, to lay hands upon her as she was going to her
+school in the Forum, and to claim her as his slave. The man did so; and
+when the cries of her nurse brought a crowd round them, M. Claudius
+insisted on taking her before the decemvir, in order, as he said, to
+have the case fairly tried. Her friends consented; and no sooner had
+Appius heard the matter than he gave judgment that the maiden should be
+delivered up to the claimant, who should be bound to produce her in case
+her alleged father appeared to gainsay the claim. Now this judgment was
+directly against one of the laws of the twelve tables, which Appius
+himself had framed; for therein it was provided that any person being at
+freedom should continue free till it was proved that such person was a
+slave. Icilius, therefore, with Numitorius, the uncle of the maiden,
+boldly argued against the legality of the judgment, and at length
+Appius, fearing a tumult, agreed to leave the girl in their hands on
+condition of their giving bail to bring her before him next morning; and
+then, if Virginius did not appear, he would at once, he said, give her
+up to her pretended master. To this Icilius consented, but he delayed
+giving bail, pretending that he could not procure it readily; and in the
+mean time he sent off a secret message to the camp on Algidus, to inform
+Virginius of what had happened. As soon as the bail was given, Appius
+also sent a message to the decemvirs in command of that army, ordering
+them to refuse leave of absence to Virginius. But when this last message
+arrived, Virginius was already halfway on his road to Rome; for the
+distance was not more than twenty miles, and he had started at
+nightfall.
+
+Next morning, early, Virginius entered the Forum, leading his daughter
+by the hand, both clad in mean attire. A great number of friends and
+matrons attended him, and he went about among the people entreating them
+to support him against the tyranny of Appius. So when Appius came to
+take his place on the judgment seat he found the Forum full of people,
+all friendly to Virginius and his cause. But he inherited the boldness
+as well as the vices of his sires, and though he saw Virginius standing
+there ready to prove that he was the maiden's father, he at once gave
+judgment, against his own law, that Virginia should be given up to M.
+Claudius till it should be proved that she was free. The wretch came up
+to seize her, and the lictors kept the people from him. Virginius, now
+despairing of deliverance, begged Appius to allow him to ask the maiden
+whether she were indeed his daughter or not. "If," said he, "I find I am
+not her father, I shall bear her loss the lighter." Under this pretence
+he drew her aside to a spot upon the northern side of the Forum,
+afterward called the "_Nova Tabernce_" and here, snatching up a knife
+from a butcher's stall, he cried: "In this way only can I keep thee
+free!"--and so saying, stabbed her to the heart. Then he turned to the
+tribunal and said, "On thee, Appius, and on thy head be this blood!"
+Appius cried out to seize "the murderer," but the crowd made way for
+Virginius, and he passed through them holding up the bloody knife, and
+went out at the gate and made straight for the army. There, when the
+soldiers had heard his tale, they at once abandoned their decemviral
+generals and marched to Rome. They were soon followed by the other army
+from the Sabine frontier; for to them Icilius had gone, and Numitorius;
+and they found willing ears among men who were already enraged by the
+murder of old Siccius Dentatus. So the two armies joined their banners,
+elected new generals, and encamped upon the Aventine hill, the quarter
+of the plebeians.
+
+Meantime the people at home had risen against Appius, and after driving
+him from the Forum they joined their armed fellow-citizens upon the
+Aventine. There the whole body of the commons, armed and unarmed, hung
+like a dark cloud ready to burst upon the city.
+
+Whatever may be the truth of the legends of Siccius and Virginia, there
+can be no doubt that the conduct of the decemvirs had brought matters to
+the verge of civil war. At this juncture the senate met, and the
+moderate party so far prevailed as to send their own leaders, M.
+Horatius Barbatus and L. Valerius Potitus, to negotiate with the
+insurgents. The plebeians were ready to listen to the voices of these
+men; for they remembered that the consuls of the first year of the
+Republic, when the patrician burgesses were friends to the plebeians,
+were named Valerius and Horatius; and so they appointed M. Duillius, a
+former tribune, to be their spokesman. But no good came of it; and
+Duillius persuaded the plebeians to leave the city, and once more to
+occupy the Sacred Mount.
+
+Then remembrances of the great secession came back upon the minds of the
+patricians, and the senate, observing the calm and resolute bearing of
+the plebeian leaders, compelled the decemvirs to resign, and sent back
+Valerius and Horatius to negotiate anew.
+
+The leaders of the plebeians demanded: First, that the tribuneship
+should be restored, and the _Comitia Tributa_ recognized; secondly, that
+a right of appeal to the people against the power of the supreme
+magistrate should be secured; thirdly, that full indemnity should be
+granted to the movers and promoters of the late secession; fourthly,
+that the decemvirs should be burnt alive.
+
+Of these demands the deputies of the senate agreed to the three first;
+but the fourth, they said, was unworthy of a free people; it was a piece
+of tyranny, as bad as any of the worst acts of the late government; and
+it was needless, because anyone who had reason of complaint against the
+late decemvirs might proceed against them according to law. The
+plebeians listened to these words of wisdom, and withdrew their savage
+demand. The other three were confirmed by the fathers, and the plebeians
+returned to their quarters on the Aventine. Here they held an assembly
+according to their tribes, in which the pontifex Maximus presided; and
+they now, for the first time, elected ten tribunes--first Virginius,
+Numitorius, and Icilius, then Duillius and six others: so full were
+their minds of the wrong done to the daughter of Virginius; so entirely
+was it the blood of young Virginia that overthrew the decemvirs, even as
+that of Lucretia had driven out the Tarquins.
+
+The plebeians had now returned to the city, headed by their ten
+tribunes, a number which was never again altered so long as the
+tribunate continued in existence. It remained for the patricians to
+redeem the pledges given by their agents Valerius and Horatius on the
+other demands of the plebeian leaders.
+
+The first thing to settle was the election of the supreme magistrates.
+The decemvirs had fallen, and the state was without any executive
+government.
+
+It has been supposed, as we have said above, that the government of the
+decemvirs was intended to be perpetual. The patricians gave up their
+consuls, and the plebeians their tribunes, on condition that each order
+was to be admitted to an equal share in the new decemviral college. But
+the tribunes were now restored in augmented number, and it was but
+natural that the patricians should insist on again occupying all places
+in the supreme magistracy. By common consent, as it would seem, the
+Comitia of the Centuries met and elected to the consulate the two
+patricians who had shown themselves the friends of both orders: L.
+Valerius Potitus and M. Horatius Barbatus. Thus ended the government of
+the decemvirate.
+
+
+
+
+PERICLES RULES IN ATHENS
+
+B.C. 444
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+
+(Under the sway of Pericles many changes occurred in the civil affairs
+of Athens affecting the constitution of the state and the character and
+administration of its laws. Events of magnitude marked the struggles of
+the Athenians with other powers. The development of art and learning was
+carried to an unprecedented height, and the Age of Pericles is the most
+illustrious in ancient history.
+
+Pericles began his career by opposing the aristocratic party of Athens,
+led by Cimon. In this policy he was aided by complications arising with
+Sparta and Argos. Directing his attack particularly against the
+Areopagus, he succeeded in greatly modifying the composition of that
+body and diminishing its powers. The exile of Cimon, the strengthening
+of Athens by new alliances, and the vigorous prosecution of wars against
+Persia and Corinth combined to establish his supremacy, which was still
+further confirmed by the building of the long walls connecting Athens
+with the sea, and by the acquisition of neighboring territory.
+
+A favorable convention was concluded with Persia, Athens resumed a state
+of general peace, and Pericles found himself at the head of a powerful
+empire formed out of a confederacy previously existing. The strength of
+this empire was indeed soon impaired by ill-judged military movements,
+against the advice of Pericles himself, but during six years of peace
+which followed he succeeded in perfecting a state whose preeminence in
+intellectual, political, and artistic development has had no rival.
+
+In the later wars of Athens the renown of Pericles was still further
+enhanced; but his chief glory arose from the architectural adornment of
+the city, and especially from the building of the Parthenon and the
+splendid decoration of the Acropolis; while his work of judicial reform
+remains an added monument to his fame, and among the masters of
+eloquence his orations preserve for him a foremost place.)
+
+
+Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, and of the township of Cholargos,
+and was descended from the noblest families in Athens, on both his
+father's and mother's side. His father, Xanthippus, defeated the Persian
+generals at Mycale, while his mother, Agariste, was a descendant of
+Clisthenes, who drove the sons of Pisistratus out of Athens, put an end
+to their despotic rule, and established a new constitution admirably
+calculated to reconcile all parties and save the country. She dreamed
+that she had brought forth a lion, and a few days afterward was
+delivered of Pericles. His body was symmetrical, but his head was long,
+out of all proportion; for which reason, in nearly all his statues he is
+represented wearing a helmet, as the sculptors did not wish, I suppose,
+to reproach him with this blemish. The Attic poets called him
+squill-head, and the comic poet Cratinus, in his play _Chirones_, says;
+
+  "From Chronos old and faction
+    Is sprung a tyrant dread,
+  And all Olympus calls him
+    The man-compelling head."
+
+And again in the play of _Nemesis_:
+
+  "Come, hospitable Zeus, with lofty head."
+
+Teleclides, too, speaks of him as sitting
+
+                         "Bowed down
+           With a dreadful frown,
+  Because matters of state have gone wrong,
+           Until at last,
+           From his head so vast,
+  His ideas burst forth in a throng."
+
+And Eupolis, in his play of _Demoi_, asking questions about each of the
+great orators as they come up from the other world one after the other,
+when at last Pericles ascends, says:
+
+  "The great headpiece of those below."
+
+Most writers tell us that his tutor in music was Damon, whose name they
+say should be pronounced with the first syllable short. Aristotle,
+however, says that he studied under Pythoclides. This Damon, it seems,
+was a sophist of the highest order, who used the name of music to
+conceal this accomplishment from the world, but who really trained
+Pericles for his political contests just as a trainer prepares an
+athlete for the games. However, Damon's use of music as a pretext did
+not impose upon the Athenians, who banished him by ostracism, as a
+busybody and lover of despotism.
+
+Pericles greatly admired Anaxagoras, and became deeply interested in
+grand speculations, which gave him a haughty spirit and a lofty style of
+oratory far removed from vulgarity and low buffoonery, and also an
+imperturbable gravity of countenance and a calmness of demeanor and
+appearance which no incident could disturb as he was speaking, while the
+tone of his voice never showed that he heeded any interruption. These
+advantages greatly impressed the people. The poet Ion, however, says
+that Pericles was overbearing and insolent in conversation, and that his
+pride had in it a great deal of contempt for others, while he praises
+Cimon's civil, sensible, and polished address. But we may disregard Ion
+as a mere dramatic poet who always sees in great men something upon
+which to exercise his satiric vein; whereas Zeno used to invite those
+who called the haughtiness of Pericles a mere courting of popularity and
+affectation of grandeur, to court popularity themselves in the same
+fashion, since the acting of such a part might insensibly mould their
+dispositions until they resembled that of their model.
+
+Pericles when young greatly feared the people. He had a certain personal
+likeness to the despot Pisistratus; and as his own voice was sweet, and
+he was ready and fluent in speech, old men who had known Pisistratus
+were struck by his resemblance to him. He was also rich, of noble birth,
+and had powerful friends, so that he feared he might be banished by
+ostracism, and consequently held aloof from politics, but proved himself
+a brave and daring soldier in the wars. But when Aristides was dead,
+Themistocles banished, and Cimon generally absent on distant campaigns,
+Pericles engaged in public affairs, taking the popular side, that of the
+poor and many, against that of the rich and few; quite contrary to his
+own feelings, which were entirely aristocratic. He feared, it seems,
+that he might be suspected of a design to make himself despot, and
+seeing that Cimon took the side of the nobility, and was much beloved by
+them, he betook himself to the people, as a means of obtaining safety
+for himself, and a strong party to combat that of Cimon. He immediately
+altered his mode of life; was never seen in any street except that which
+led to the market-place and the national assembly, and declined all
+invitations to dinner and such like social gatherings. But Pericles
+feared to make himself too common even with the people, and only
+addressed them after long intervals; not speaking upon every subject,
+and not constantly addressing them, but, as Critolaus says, keeping
+himself like the Salaminian trireme for great crises, and allowing his
+friends and the other orators to manage matters of less moment.
+
+Wishing to adopt a style of speaking consonant with his haughty manner
+and lofty spirit, Pericles made free use of the instrument which
+Anaxagoras, as it were, put into his hand, and often tinged his oratory
+with natural philosophy. He far surpassed all others by using this
+"lofty intelligence and power of universal consummation," as the divine
+Plato calls it; in addition to his natural advantages, adorning his
+oratory with apt illustrations drawn from physical science. For this
+reason some think that he was nicknamed the Olympian; though some refer
+this to his improvement of the city by new and beautiful buildings, and
+others from his power both as a politician and a general. It is not by
+any means unlikely that these causes all combined to produce the name.
+
+Pericles was very cautious about his words, and, whenever he ascended
+the tribune to speak, used first to pray to the gods that nothing
+unfitted for the present occasion might fall from his lips. He left no
+writings, except the measures which he brought forward, and very few of
+his sayings are recorded.
+
+Thucydides represents the constitution under Pericles as a democracy in
+name, but really an aristocracy, because the government was all in the
+hands of one leading citizen. But as many other writers tell us that,
+during his administration, the people received grants of land abroad,
+and were indulged with dramatic entertainments, and payments for their
+services, in consequence of which they fell into bad habits, and became
+extravagant and licentious, instead of sober hard-working people as they
+had been before, let us consider the history of this change, viewing it
+by the light of the facts themselves. First of all, Pericles had to
+measure himself with Cimon, and to transfer the affections of the people
+from Cimon to himself. As he was not so rich a man as Cimon, who used
+from his own ample means to give a dinner daily to any poor Athenian who
+required it, clothe aged persons, and take away the fences round his
+property, so that anyone might gather the fruit, Pericles, unable to vie
+with him in this, turned his attention to a distribution of the public
+funds among the people, at the suggestion, we are told by Aristotle, of
+Damonides of Oia. By the money paid for public spectacles, for citizens
+acting as jurymen, and other paid offices, and largesses, he soon won
+over the people to his side, so that he was able to use them in his
+attack upon the senate of the Areopagus, of which he himself was not a
+member, never having been chosen _archon_, or _thesmothete_, or _king
+archon_, or _polemarch_. These offices had from ancient times been
+obtained by lot, and it was only through them that those who had
+approved themselves in the discharge of them were advanced to the
+Areopagus. For this reason it was that Pericles, when he gained strength
+with the populace, destroyed this senate, making Ephialtes bring forward
+a bill which restricted its judicial powers, while he himself succeeded
+in getting Cimon banished by ostracism, as a friend of Sparta and a
+hater of the people, although he was second to no Athenian in birth or
+fortune, and won most brilliant victories over the Persians, and had
+filled Athens with plunder and spoils of war. So great was the power of
+Pericles with the common people.
+
+One of the provisions of ostracism was that the person banished should
+remain in exile for ten years. But during this period the Laced�monians
+with a great force invaded the territory of Tanagra, and, as the
+Athenians at once marched out to attack them, Cimon came back from
+exile, took his place in full armor among the ranks of his own tribe,
+and hoped by distinguishing himself in the battle among his
+fellow-citizens to prove the falsehood of the Laconian sympathies with
+which he had been charged. However, the friends of Pericles drove him
+away, as an exile. On the other hand, Pericles fought more bravely in
+that battle than he had ever fought before, and surpassed everyone in
+reckless daring. The friends of Cimon also, whom Pericles had accused of
+Laconian leanings, fell, all together, in their ranks; and the Athenians
+felt great sorrow for their treatment of Cimon, and a great longing for
+his restoration, now that they had lost a great battle on the frontier,
+and expected to be hard pressed during the summer by the Lacedaemonians.
+Pericles, perceiving this, lost no time in gratifying the popular wish,
+but himself proposed the decree for his recall; and Cimon on his return
+reconciled the two states, for he was on familiar terms with the
+Spartans, who were hated by Pericles and the other leaders of the common
+people. Some say that, before Cimon's recall by Pericles, a secret
+compact was made with him by Elpinice, Cimon's sister, that Cimon was to
+proceed on foreign service against the Persians with a fleet of two
+hundred ships, while Pericles was to retain his power in the city. It is
+also said that, when Cimon was being tried for his life, Elpinice
+softened the resentment of Pericles, who was one of those appointed to
+impeach him. When Elpinice came to beg her brother's life of him, he
+answered with a smile, "Elpinice, you are too old to meddle in affairs
+of this sort." But, for all that, he spoke only once, for form's sake,
+and pressed Cimon less than any of his other prosecutors. How, then, can
+one put any faith in Idomeneus, when he accuses Pericles of procuring
+the assassination of his friend and colleague Ephialtes, because he was
+jealous of his reputation? This seems an ignoble calumny which Idomeneus
+has drawn from some obscure source to fling at a man who, no doubt, was
+not faultless, but of a generous spirit and noble mind, incapable of
+entertaining so savage and brutal a design. Ephialtes was disliked and
+feared by the nobles, and was inexorable in punishing those who wronged
+the people; wherefore his enemies had him assassinated by means of
+Aristodicus of Tanagra. This we are told by Aristotle. Cimon died in
+Cyprus while in command of the Athenian forces.
+
+The nobles now perceived that Pericles was the most important man in the
+state, and far more powerful than any other citizen; wherefore, as they
+still hoped to check his authority, and not allow him to be omnipotent,
+they set up Thucydides, of the township of Alopecae, as his rival, a man
+of good sense and a relative of Cimon, but less of a warrior and more of
+a politician, who, by watching his opportunities, and opposing Pericles
+in debate, soon brought about a balance of power. He did not allow the
+nobles to mix themselves up with the people in the public assembly as
+they had been wont to do, so that their dignity was lost among the
+masses; but he collected them into a separate body, and by thus
+concentrating their strength was able to use it to counterbalance that
+of the other party. From the beginning these two factions had been but
+imperfectly welded together, because their tendencies were different;
+but now the struggle for power between Pericles and Thucydides drew a
+sharp line of demarcation between them, and one was called the party of
+the Many, the other that of the Few. Pericles now courted the people in
+every way, constantly arranging public spectacles, festivals, and
+processions in the city, by which he educated the Athenians to take
+pleasure in refined amusements; and also he sent out sixty triremes to
+cruise every year, in which many of the people served for hire for eight
+months, learning and practising seamanship. Besides this he sent a
+thousand settlers to the Chersonese, five hundred to Naxos, half as many
+to Andros, a thousand to dwell among the Thracian tribe of the Bisaltae,
+and others to the new colony in Italy founded by the city of Sybaris,
+which was named Thurii. By this means he relieved the state of numerous
+idle agitators, assisted the necessitous, and overawed the allies of
+Athens by placing his colonists near them to watch their behavior.
+
+The building of the temples, by which Athens was adorned, the people
+delighted, and the rest of the world astonished, and which now alone
+prove that the tales of the ancient power and glory of Greece are no
+fables, was what particularly excited the spleen of the opposite
+faction, who inveighed against him in the public assembly, declaring
+that the Athenians had disgraced themselves by transferring the common
+treasury of the Greeks from the island of Delos to their own custody.
+"Pericles himself," they urged, "has taken away the only possible excuse
+for such an act--the fear that it might be exposed to the attacks of the
+Persians when at Delos, whereas it would be safe at Athens. Greece has
+been outraged, and feels itself openly tyrannized over, when it sees us
+using the funds--which we extorted from it for the war against the
+Persians--for gilding and beautifying our city as if it were a vain
+woman, and adorning it with precious marbles and statues and temples
+worth a thousand talents." To this Pericles replied that the allies had
+no right to consider how their money was spent, so long as Athens
+defended them from the Persians; while they supplied neither horses,
+ships, nor men, but merely money, which the Athenians had a right to
+spend as they pleased, provided they afforded them that security which
+it purchased. It was right, he argued, that after the city had provided
+all that was necessary for war, it should devote its surplus money to
+the erection of buildings which would be a glory to it for all ages,
+while these works would create plenty by leaving no man unemployed, and
+encouraging all sorts of handicraft, so that nearly the whole city would
+earn wages, and thus derive both its beauty and its profit from itself.
+For those who were in the flower of their age, military service offered
+a means of earning money from the common stock; while, as he did not
+wish the mechanics and lower classes to be without their share, nor yet
+to see them receive it without doing work for it, he had laid the
+foundations of great edifices which would require industries of every
+kind to complete them; and he had done this in the interests of the
+lower classes, who thus, although they remained at home, would have just
+as good a claim to their share of the public funds as those who were
+serving at sea, in garrison, or in the field. The different materials
+used, such as stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, cypress-wood, and so
+forth, would require special artisans for each, such as carpenters,
+modelers, smiths, stone-masons, dyers, melters and moulders of gold,
+and ivory painters, embroiderers, workers in relief; and also men to
+bring them to the city, such as sailors and captains of ships and pilots
+for such as came by sea; and, for those who came by land, carriage
+builders, horse breeders, drivers, ropemakers, linen manufacturers,
+shoemakers, road menders, and miners. Each trade, moreover, employed a
+number of unskilled laborers, so that, in a word, there would be work
+for persons of every age and every class, and general prosperity would
+be the result.
+
+These buildings were of immense size, and unequalled in beauty and
+grace, as the workmen endeavored to make the execution surpass the
+design in beauty; but what was most remarkable was the speed with which
+they were built. All these edifices, each of which one would have
+thought it would have taken many generations to complete, were all
+finished during the most brilliant period of one man's administration.
+In beauty each of them at once appeared venerable as soon as it was
+built; but even at the present day the work looks as fresh as ever, for
+they bloom with an eternal freshness which defies time, and seems to
+make the work instinct with an unfading spirit of youth.
+
+The overseer and manager of the whole was Phidias, although there were
+other excellent architects and workmen, such as Callicrates and Ictinus,
+who built the Parthenon on the site of the old Hecatompedon, which had
+been destroyed by the Persians, and Coroebus, who began to build the
+Temple of Initiation at Eleusis, but who only lived to see the columns
+erected and the architraves placed upon them. On his death, Metagenes,
+of Xypete, added the frieze and the upper row of columns, and Xenocles,
+of Cholargos, crowned it with the domed roof over the shrine. As to the
+long wall, about which Socrates says that he heard Pericles bring
+forward a motion, Callicrates undertook to build it. The Odeum, which
+internally consisted of many rows of seats and many columns, and
+externally of a roof sloping on all sides from a central point, was said
+to have been built in imitation of the king of Persia's tent, and was
+built under Pericles' direction.
+
+The Propylaea, before the Acropolis, were finished in five years by
+Mnesicles the architect; and a miraculous incident during the work
+seemed to show that the goddess did not disapprove, but rather
+encouraged and assisted the building. The most energetic and active of
+the workmen fell from a great height, and lay in a dangerous condition,
+given over by his doctors. Pericles grieved much for him; but the
+goddess appeared to him in a dream, and suggested a course of treatment
+by which Pericles quickly healed the workman. In consequence of this, he
+set up the brazen statue of Athene the Healer, near the old altar in the
+Acropolis. The golden statue of the goddess was made by Phidias, and his
+name appears upon the basement in the inscription. Almost everything was
+in his hands, and he gave his orders to all the workmen--as has been
+said before--because of his friendship with Pericles.
+
+When the speakers of Thucydides' party complained that Pericles had
+wasted the public money, and destroyed the revenue, he asked the people
+in the assembly whether they thought he had spent much. When they
+answered, "Very much indeed," he said in reply; "Do not, then, put it
+down to the public account, but to mine; and I will inscribe my name
+upon all the public buildings." When Pericles said this, the people,
+either in admiration of his magnificence of manner, or being eager to
+bear their share in the glory of the new buildings, shouted to him with
+one accord to take what money he pleased from the treasury, and spend it
+as he pleased, without stint. And finally, he underwent the trial of
+ostracism with Thucydides, and not only succeeded in driving him into
+exile, but broke up his party.
+
+As now there was no opposition to encounter in the city, and all parties
+had been blended into one, Pericles undertook the sole administration of
+the home and foreign affairs of Athens, dealing with the public revenue,
+the army, the navy, the islands and maritime affairs, and the great
+sources of strength which Athens derived from her alliances, as well
+with Greek as with foreign princes and states. Henceforth he became
+quite a different man: he no longer gave way to the people, and ceased
+to watch the breath of popular favor; but he changed the loose and
+licentious democracy which had hitherto existed, into a stricter
+aristocratic, or rather monarchical, form of government. This he used
+honorably and unswervingly for the public benefit, finding the people,
+as a rule, willing to second the measures which he explained to them to
+be necessary and to which he asked their consent, but occasionally
+having to use violence, and to force them, much against their will, to
+do what was expedient; like a physician dealing with some complicated
+disorder, who at one time allows his patient innocent recreation, and at
+another inflicts upon him sharp pains and bitter though salutary
+draughts. Every possible kind of disorder was to be found among a people
+possessing so great an empire as the Athenians, and he alone was able to
+bring them into harmony by playing alternately upon their hopes and
+fears, checking them when overconfident, and raising their spirits when
+they were cast down and disheartened. Thus, as Plato says, he was able
+to prove that oratory is the art of influencing men's minds, and to use
+it in its highest application, when it deals with men's passions and
+characters, which, like certain strings of a musical instrument, require
+a skilful and delicate touch. The secret of his power is to be found,
+however, as Thucydides says, not so much in his mere oratory as in his
+pure and blameless life, because he was so well known to be
+incorruptible, and indifferent to money; for though he made the city,
+which was a great one, into the greatest and richest city of Greece, and
+though he himself became more powerful than many independent sovereigns,
+who were able to leave their kingdoms to their sons, yet Pericles did
+not increase by one single drachma the estate which he received from his
+father. For forty years he held the first place among such men as
+Ephialtes, Leocrates, Myronides, Cimon, Tolmides, and Thucydides; and,
+after the fall and banishment of Thucydides by ostracism, he united in
+himself for five-and-twenty years all the various offices of state,
+which were supposed to last only for one year; and yet during the whole
+of that period proved himself incorruptible by bribes.
+
+As the Lacedaemonians began to be jealous of the prosperity of the
+Athenians, Pericles, wishing to raise the spirit of the people and to
+make them feel capable of immense operations, passed a decree, inviting
+all the Greeks, whether inhabiting Europe or Asia, whether living in
+large cities or small ones, to send representatives to a meeting at
+Athens to deliberate about the restoration of the Greek temples which
+had been burned by the barbarians, about the sacrifices which were due
+in consequence of the vows which they had made to the gods on behalf of
+Greece before joining battle, and about the sea, that all men might be
+able to sail upon it in peace and without fear. To carry out this decree
+twenty men, selected from the citizens over fifty years of age, were
+sent out, five of whom invited the Ionian and Dorian Greeks in Asia and
+the islands as far as Lesbos and Rhodes, five went to the inhabitants of
+the Hellespont and Thrace as far as Byzantium, and five more proceeded
+to Boeotia, Phocis, and Peloponnesus, passing from thence through Locris
+to the neighboring continent as far as Acarnania and Ambracia; while the
+remainder journeyed through Euboea to the Oetaeans and the Malian Gulf,
+and to the Achaeans of Phthia and the Thessalians, urging them to join
+the assembly and take part in the deliberations concerning the peace and
+well-being of Greece. However, nothing was effected, and the cities
+never assembled, in consequence it is said of the covert hostility of
+the Lacedaemonians, and because the attempt was first made in
+Peloponnesus and failed there: yet I have inserted an account of it in
+order to show the lofty spirit and the magnificent designs of Pericles.
+
+In his campaigns he was chiefly remarkable for caution, for he would
+not, if he could help it, begin a battle of which the issue was
+doubtful; nor did he wish to emulate those generals who have won
+themselves a great reputation by running risks and trusting to good
+luck. But he ever used to say to his countrymen, that none of them
+should come by their deaths through any act of his. Observing that
+Tolmides, the son of Tolmaeus, elated by previous successes and by the
+credit which he had gained as a general, was about to invade Boeotia in
+a reckless manner, and had persuaded a thousand young men to follow him
+without any support whatever, he endeavored to stop him, and made that
+memorable saying in the public assembly, that if Tolmides would not take
+the advice of Pericles, he would at any rate do well to consult that
+best of advisers, Time. This speech had but little success at the time;
+but when, a few days afterward, the news came that Tolmides had fallen
+in action at Coronea, and many noble citizens with him, Pericles was
+greatly respected and admired as a wise and patriotic man.
+
+His most successful campaign was that in the Chersonesus, which proved
+the salvation of the Greeks residing there: for he not only settled a
+thousand colonists there, and thus increased the available force of the
+cities, but built a continuous line of fortifications reaching across
+the isthmus from one sea to the other, by which he shut off the
+Thracians, who had previously ravaged the peninsula, and put an end to a
+constant and harassing border warfare to which the settlers were
+exposed, as they had for neighbors tribes of wild plundering barbarians.
+
+But that by which he obtained most glory and renown was when he started
+from Pegae, in the Megarian territory, and sailed round the Peloponnesus
+with a fleet of a hundred triremes; for he not only laid waste much of
+the country near the coast, as Tolmides had previously done, but he
+proceeded far inland, away from his ships, leading the troops who were
+on board, and terrified the inhabitants so much that they shut
+themselves up in their strongholds. The men of Sicyon alone ventured to
+meet him at Nemea, and them he overthrew in a pitched battle, and
+erected a trophy. Next he took on board troops from the friendly
+district of Achaia, and, crossing over to the opposite side of the
+Corinthian Gulf, coasted along past the mouth of the river Achelous,
+overran Acarnania, drove the people of Oeneadae to the shelter of their
+city walls, and after ravaging the country returned home, having made
+himself a terror to his enemies, and done good service to Athens; for
+not the least casualty, even by accident, befell the troops under his
+command.
+
+When he sailed into the Black Sea with a great and splendidly equipped
+fleet, he assisted the Greek cities there, and treated them with
+consideration, and showed the neighboring savage tribes and their chiefs
+the greatness of his force, and his confidence in his power, by sailing
+where he pleased, and taking complete control over that sea. He left at
+Sinope thirteen ships, and a land force under the command of Lamachus,
+to act against Timesileon, who had made himself despot of that city.
+When he and his party were driven out, Pericles passed a decree that six
+hundred Athenian volunteers should sail to Sinope, and become citizens
+there, receiving the houses and lands which had formerly been in the
+possession of the despot and his party. But in other cases he would not
+agree to the impulsive proposals of the Athenians, and he opposed them
+when, elated by their power and good fortune, they talked of recovering
+Egypt and attacking the seaboard of the Persian empire. Many, too, were
+inflamed with that ill-starred notion of an attempt on Sicily, which was
+afterward blown into a flame by Alcibiades and other orators. Some even
+dreamed of the conquest of Etruria and Carthage, in consequence of the
+greatness which the Athenian empire had already reached, and the full
+tide of success which seemed to attend it.
+
+Pericles, however, restrained these outbursts, and would not allow the
+people to meddle with foreign states, but used the power of Athens
+chiefly to preserve and guard her already existing empire, thinking it
+to be of paramount importance to oppose the Lacedaemonians, a task to
+which he bent all his energies, as is proved by many of his acts,
+especially in connection with the Sacred War. In this war the
+Lacedaemonians sent a force to Delphi, and made the Phocians, who held
+it, give it up to the people of Delphi: but as soon as they were gone
+Pericles made an expedition into the country, and restored the temple to
+the Phocians; and as the Lacedaemonians had scratched the oracle which
+the Delphians had given them, on the forehead of the brazen wolf there,
+Pericles got a response from the oracle for the Athenians, and carved it
+on the right side of the same wolf.
+
+Events proved that Pericles was right in confining the Athenian empire
+to Greece. First of all Euboea revolted, and he was obliged to lead an
+army to subdue that island. Shortly after this, news came that the
+Megarians had become hostile, and that an army, under the command of
+Plistoanax, king of the Lacedaemonians, was menacing the frontier of
+Attica. Pericles now in all haste withdrew his troops from Euboea, to
+meet the invader. He did not venture on an engagement with the numerous
+and warlike forces of the enemy, although repeatedly invited by them to
+fight: but, observing that Plistoanax was a very young man, and entirely
+under the influence of Cleandrides, whom the _ephors_ had sent to act as
+his tutor and counsellor because of his tender years, he opened secret
+negotiations with the latter, who at once, for a bribe, agreed to
+withdraw the Peloponnesians from Attica. When their army returned and
+dispersed, the Lacedaemonians were so incensed that they imposed a fine
+on their king, and condemned Cleandrides, who fled the country, to be
+put to death. This Cleandrides was the father of Gylippus, who caused
+the ruin of the Athenian expedition in Sicily. Avarice seems to have
+been hereditary in the family, for Gylippus himself, after brilliant
+exploits in war, was convicted of taking bribes, and banished from
+Sparta in disgrace.
+
+When Pericles submitted the accounts of the campaign to the people,
+there was an item of ten talents, "for a necessary purpose," which the
+people passed without any questioning, or any curiosity to learn the
+secret. Some historians, among whom is Theophrastus the philosopher, say
+that Pericles sent ten talents annually to Sparta, by means of which he
+bribed the chief magistrates to defer the war, thus not buying peace,
+but time to make preparations for a better defence. He immediately
+turned his attention to the insurgents in Euboea, and proceeding thither
+with a fleet of fifty sail, and five thousand heavy armed troops, he
+reduced their cities to submission. He banished from Chalcis the
+"equestrian order," as it was called, consisting of men of wealth and
+station; and he drove all the inhabitants of Hestiaea out of their
+country, replacing them by Athenian settlers. He treated these people
+with this pitiless severity, because they had captured an Athenian ship,
+and put its crew to the sword. After this, as the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians made a truce for thirty years, Pericles decreed the
+expedition against Samos, on the pretext that they had disregarded the
+commands of the Athenians to cease from their war with the Milesians.
+
+Pericles is accused of going to war with Samos to save the Milesians.
+These states were at war about the possession of the city of Priene, and
+the Samians, who were victorious, would not lay down their arms and
+allow the Athenians to settle the matter by arbitration, as they ordered
+them to do. For this reason Pericles proceeded to Samos, put an end to
+the oligarchical form of government there, and sent fifty hostages and
+as many children to Lemnos, to insure the good behavior of the leading
+men. It is said that each of these hostages offered him a talent for his
+own freedom, and that much more was offered by that party which was
+loath to see a democracy established in the city. Besides all this,
+Pissuthnes the Persian, who had a liking for the Samians, sent and
+offered him ten thousand pieces of gold if he would spare the city.
+Pericles, however, took none of these bribes, but dealt with Samos as he
+had previously determined, and returned to Athens. The Samians now at
+once revolted, as Pissuthnes managed to get them back their hostages,
+and furnished them with the means of carrying on the war. Pericles now
+made a second expedition against them, and found them in no mind to
+submit quietly, but determined to dispute the empire of the seas with
+the Athenians. Pericles gained a signal victory over them in a sea-fight
+off the Goats' Island, beating a fleet of seventy ships with only
+forty-four, twenty of which were transports.
+
+Simultaneously with his victory and the flight of the enemy he obtained
+command of the harbor of Samos, and besieged the Samians in their city.
+They, in spite of their defeat, still possessed courage enough to sally
+out and fight a battle under the walls; but soon a larger force arrived
+from Athens, and the Samians were completely blockaded.
+
+Pericles now with sixty ships sailed out of the Archipelago into the
+Mediterranean, according to the most current report intending to meet
+the Phoenician fleet which was coming to help the Samians, but,
+according to Stesimbrotus, with the intention of attacking Cyprus, which
+seems improbable. Whatever his intention may have been, his expedition
+was a failure, for Melissus, the son of Ithagenes, a man of culture, who
+was then in command of the Samian forces, conceiving a contempt for the
+small force of the Athenians and the want of experience of their leaders
+after Pericles' departure, persuaded his countrymen to attack them. In
+the battle the Samians proved victorious, taking many Athenians
+prisoners, and destroying many of their ships. By this victory they
+obtained command of the sea, and were able to supply themselves with
+more warlike stores than they had possessed before. Aristotle even says
+that Pericles himself was before this beaten by Melissus in a sea-fight.
+The Samians branded the figure of an owl on the foreheads of their
+Athenian prisoners, to revenge themselves for the branding of their own
+prisoners by the Athenians with the figure of a _samaina_. This is a
+ship having a beak turned up like a swine's snout, but with a roomy
+hull, so as both to carry a large cargo and sail fast. This class of
+vessel is called _samaina_ because it was first built at Samos by
+Polycrates, the despot of that island.
+
+When Pericles heard of the disaster which had befallen his army, he
+returned in all haste to assist them. He beat Melissus, who came out to
+meet him, and, after putting the enemy to rout, at once built a wall
+round their city, preferring to reduce it by blockade to risking the
+lives of his countrymen in an assault. In the ninth month of the siege
+the Samians surrendered. Pericles demolished their walls, confiscated
+their fleet, and imposed a heavy fine upon them, some part of which was
+paid at once by the Samians, who gave hostages for the payment of the
+remainder at fixed periods.
+
+Pericles, after the reduction of Samos, returned to Athens, where he
+buried those who had fallen in the war in a magnificent manner, and was
+much admired for the funeral oration which, as is customary, was spoken
+by him over the graves of his countrymen. Ion says that his victory over
+the Samians wonderfully flattered his vanity. Agamemnon, he was wont to
+say, took ten years to take a barbarian city, but he in nine months had
+made himself master of the first and most powerful city in Ionia. And
+the comparison was not an unjust one, for truly the war was a very great
+undertaking, and its issue quite uncertain, since, as Thucydides tells
+us, the Samians came very near to wresting the empire of the sea from
+the Athenians.
+
+After these events, as the clouds were gathering for the Peloponnesian
+war, Pericles persuaded the Athenians to send assistance to the people
+of Corcyra, who were at war with the Corinthians, and thus to attach to
+their own side an island with a powerful naval force, at a moment when
+the Peloponnesians had all but declared war against them.
+
+When the people passed this decree, Pericles sent only ten ships under
+the command of Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, as if he designed a
+deliberate insult; for the house of Cimon was on peculiarly friendly
+terms with the Lacedaemonians. His design in sending Lacedaemonius out,
+against his will, and with so few ships, was that if he performed
+nothing brilliant he might be accused, even more than he was already, of
+leaning to the side of the Spartans. Indeed, by all means in his power,
+he always threw obstacles in the way of the advancement of Cimon's
+family, representing that by their very names they were aliens, one son
+being named Lacedaemonius, another Thessalus, another Elius. Moreover,
+the mother of all three was an Arcadian.
+
+Now Pericles was much reproached for sending these ten ships, which were
+of little value to the Corcyreans, and gave a great handle to his
+enemies to use against him, and in consequence sent a larger force after
+them to Corcyra, which arrived there after the battle. The Corinthians,
+enraged at this, complained in the congress of Sparta of the conduct of
+the Athenians, as did also the Megarians, who said that they were
+excluded from every market and every harbor which was in Athenian hands,
+contrary to the ancient rights and common privileges of the Hellenic
+race. The people of Aegina also considered themselves to be oppressed
+and ill-treated, and secretly bemoaned their grievances in the ears of
+the Spartans, for they dared not openly bring any charges against the
+Athenians. At this time, too, Potidaea, a city subject to Athens, but a
+colony of Corinth, revolted, and its siege materially hastened the
+outbreak of the war. Archidamus, indeed, the king of the Lacedaemonians,
+sent ambassadors to Athens, was willing to submit all disputed points to
+arbitration, and endeavored to moderate the excitement of his allies, so
+that war probably would not have broken out if the Athenians could have
+been persuaded to rescind their decree of exclusion against the
+Megarians, and to come to terms with them. And, for this reason,
+Pericles, who was particularly opposed to this, and urged the people not
+to give way to the Megarians, alone bore the blame of having begun the
+war.
+
+Pericles passed a decree for a herald to be sent to the Megarians, and
+then to go on to the Lacedaemonians to complain of their conduct. This
+decree of Pericles is worded in a candid and reasonable manner; but the
+herald, Anthemocritus, was thought to have met his death at the hands of
+the Megarians, and Charinus passed a decree to the effect that Athens
+should wage war against them to the death, without truce or armistice;
+that any Megarian found in Attica should be punished with death, and
+that the generals, when taking the usual oath for each year, should
+swear in addition that they would invade the Megarian territory twice
+every year; and that Anthemocritus should be buried near the city gate
+leading into the Thriasian plain, which is now called the Double Gate.
+How the dispute originated it is hard to say, but all writers agree in
+throwing on Pericles the blame of refusing to reverse the decree.
+
+Now, as the Lacedaemonians knew that if he could be removed from power
+they would find the Athenians much more easy to deal with, they bade
+them "drive forth the accursed thing," alluding to Pericles' descent
+from the Alcmaeonidae by his mother's side, as we are told by Thucydides
+the historian. But this attempt had just the contrary effect to that
+which they intended; for, instead of suspicion and dislike, Pericles met
+with much greater honor and respect from his countrymen than before,
+because they saw that he was an object of especial dislike to the enemy.
+For this reason, before the Peloponnesians, under Archidamus, invaded
+Attica, he warned the Athenians that if Archidamus, when he laid waste
+everything else, spared his own private estate because of the friendly
+private relations existing between them, or in order to give his
+personal enemies a ground for impeaching him, he should give both the
+land and the farm buildings upon it to the state.
+
+The Lacedaemonians invaded Attica with a great host of their own troops
+and those of their allies, led by Archidamus, their king. They
+proceeded, ravaging the country as they went, as far as Acharnae (close
+to Athens), where they encamped, imagining that the Athenians would
+never endure to see them there, but would be driven by pride and shame
+to come out and fight them. However, Pericles thought that it would be a
+very serious matter to fight for the very existence of Athens against
+sixty thousand Peloponnesian and Boeotian heavy-armed troops, and so he
+pacified those who were dissatisfied at his inactivity by pointing out
+that trees when cut down quickly grow again, but that when the men of a
+state are lost, it is hard to raise up others to take their place. He
+would not call an assembly of the people, because he feared that they
+would force him to act against his better judgment, but, just as the
+captain of a ship, when a storm comes on at sea, places everything in
+the best trim to meet it, and trusting to his own skill and seamanship,
+disregarding the tears and entreaties of the seasick and terrified
+passengers, so did Pericles shut the gates of Athens, place sufficient
+forces to insure the safety of the city at all points, and calmly carry
+out his own policy, taking little heed of the noisy grumblings of the
+discontented. Many of his friends besought him to attack, many of his
+enemies threatened him and abused him, and many songs and offensive
+jests were written about him, speaking of him as a coward, and one who
+was betraying the city to its enemies. Cleon too attacked him, using the
+anger which the citizens felt against him to advance his own personal
+popularity.
+
+Pericles was unmoved by any of these attacks, but quietly endured all
+this storm of obloquy. He sent a fleet of a hundred ships to attack
+Peloponnesus, but did not sail with it himself, remaining at home to
+keep a tight hand over Athens until the Peloponnesians drew off their
+forces. He regained his popularity with the common people, who suffered
+much from the war, by giving them allowances of money from the public
+revenue, and grants of land; for he drove out the entire population of
+the island of Aegina, and divided the land by lot among the Athenians. A
+certain amount of relief also was experienced by reflecting upon the
+injuries which they were inflicting on the enemy; for the fleet as it
+sailed round Peloponnesus destroyed many small villages and cities, and
+ravaged a great extent of country, while Pericles himself led an
+expedition into the territory of Megara and laid it all waste. By this
+it is clear that the allies, although they did much damage to the
+Athenians, yet suffered equally themselves, and never could have
+protracted the war for such a length of time as it really lasted, but,
+as Pericles foretold, must soon have desisted had not Providence
+interfered and confounded human counsels. For now the pestilence fell
+among the Athenians, and cut off the flower of their youth. Suffering
+both in body and mind they raved against Pericles, just as people when
+delirious with disease attack their fathers or their physicians. They
+endeavored to ruin him, urged on by his personal enemies, who assured
+them that he was the author of the plague, because he had brought all
+the country people into the city, where they were compelled to live
+during the heat of summer, crowded together in small rooms and stifling
+tents, living an idle life too, and breathing foul air instead of the
+pure country breeze to which they were accustomed. The cause of this,
+they said, was the man who, when the war began, admitted the masses of
+the country people into the city, and then made no use of them, but
+allowed them to be penned up together like cattle, and transmit the
+contagion from one to another, without devising any remedy or
+alleviation of their sufferings.
+
+Hoping to relieve them somewhat, and also to annoy the enemy, Pericles
+manned a hundred and fifty ships, placed on board, besides the sailors,
+many brave infantry and cavalry soldiers, and was about to put to sea.
+The Athenians conceived great hopes, and the enemy no less terror from
+so large an armament. When all was ready, and Pericles himself had just
+embarked in his own trireme, an eclipse of the sun took place, producing
+total darkness, and all men were terrified at so great a portent.
+Pericles sailed with the fleet, but did nothing worthy of so great a
+force. He besieged the sacred city of Epidaurus, but, although he had
+great hopes of taking it, he failed on account of the plague, which
+destroyed not only his own men, but every one who came in contact with
+them. After this he again endeavored to encourage the Athenians, to whom
+he had become an object of dislike. However, he did not succeed in
+pacifying them, but they condemned him by a public vote to be general no
+more, and to pay a fine which is stated at the lowest estimate to have
+been fifteen talents, and at the highest fifty. This was carried,
+according to Idomeneus, by Cleon, but, according to Theophrastus, by
+Simmias; while Heraclides of Pontus says that it was effected by
+Lacratides.
+
+He soon regained his public position, for the people's outburst of anger
+was quenched by the blow they had dealt him, just as a bee leaves its
+sting in the wound; but his private affairs were in great distress and
+disorder, as he had lost many of his relatives during the plague, while
+others were estranged from him on political grounds. Yet he would not
+yield, nor abate his firmness and constancy of spirit because of these
+afflictions, but was not observed to weep or mourn, or attend the
+funeral of any of his relations, until he lost Paralus, the last of his
+legitimate offspring. Crushed by this blow, he tried in vain to keep up
+his grand air of indifference, and when carrying a garland to lay upon
+the corpse he was overpowered by his feelings, so as to burst into a
+passion of tears and sobs, which he had never done before in his whole
+life.
+
+Athens made trial of her other generals and public men to conduct her
+affairs, but none appeared to be of sufficient weight or reputation to
+have such a charge intrusted to him. The city longed for Pericles, and
+invited him again to lead its counsels and direct its armies; and he,
+although dejected in spirits and living in seclusion in his own house,
+was yet persuaded by Alcibiades and his other friends to resume the
+direction of affairs.
+
+After this it appears that Pericles was attacked by the plague, not
+acutely or continuously, as in most cases, but in a slow wasting
+fashion, exhibiting many varieties of symptoms, and gradually
+undermining his strength. As he was now on his death-bed, the most
+distinguished of the citizens and his surviving friends collected round
+him and spoke admiringly of his nobleness and immense power, enumerating
+also the number of his exploits, and the trophies which he had set up
+for victories gained; for while in chief command he had won no less than
+nine victories for Athens.
+
+Events soon made the loss of Pericles felt and regretted by the
+Athenians. Those who during his lifetime had complained that his power
+completely threw them into the shade, when after his death they had made
+trial of other orators and statesmen, were obliged to confess that with
+all his arrogance no man ever was really more moderate, and that his
+real mildness in dealing with men was as remarkable as his apparent
+pride and assumption. His power, which had been so grudged and envied,
+and called monarchy and despotism, now was proved to have been the
+saving of the State; such an amount of corrupt dealing and wickedness
+suddenly broke out in public affairs, which he before had crushed and
+forced to hide itself, and so prevented its becoming incurable through
+impunity and license.
+
+
+
+
+GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS
+
+B.C. 430
+
+GEORGE GROTE
+
+
+(Almost at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, when the prosperity
+of Athens had placed her at the height of her power and given her
+unquestioned supremacy among the Grecian states, her strength was
+greatly impaired by a visitation against which there was nothing in
+military prowess or patriotic pride and devotion that could prevail.
+
+It is one of the tragic contrasts of history--the picture of Athens, in
+her full triumph and glory, smitten, at a moment when she needed to put
+forth her full strength, by a deadly foe against whose might mortal arms
+were vain. Her citizens were rejoicing in her social no less than her
+military pre�minence, and they had already been trained in the hardships
+necessary to be endured in defence of an invaded country. Again they
+were prepared to undergo whatever service might be laid upon them in her
+behalf. They could foresee the arduous tasks and inevitable sufferings
+of a great war, but had no warning of an impending calamity far worse
+than those which even war, though always attended with horrors, usually
+entails. Pericles had lately delivered his great funeral oration at the
+public interment of soldiers who had fallen for Athens. "The bright
+colors and tone of cheerful confidence," says Grote, whose account of
+the plague follows, "which pervaded the discourse of Pericles, appear
+the more striking from being in immediate antecedence to the awful
+description of this distemper."
+
+The death of Pericles himself, who directly or indirectly fell a victim
+to the prevailing pestilence, marked a grievous crisis for Athens in
+what was already become a measureless public woe. During the autumn of
+the year B.C. 427 the epidemic again broke out, after a considerable
+intermission, and for one year continued, "to the sad ruin both of the
+strength and the comfort of the city.")
+
+
+At the close of one year after the attempted surprise of Plataea by the
+Thebans, the belligerent parties in Greece remained in an unaltered
+position as to relative strength. Nothing decisive had been accomplished
+on either side, either by the invasion of Attica or by the flying
+descents round the coast of Peloponnesus. In spite of mutual damage
+inflicted--doubtless in the greatest measure upon Attica--no progress
+was yet made toward the fulfilment of those objects which had induced
+the Peloponnesians to go to war. Especially the most pressing among all
+their wishes--the relief of Potidaea--was in no way advanced; for the
+Athenians had not found it necessary to relax the blockade of that city,
+The result of the first year's operations had thus been to disappoint
+the hopes of the Corinthians and the other ardent instigators of war,
+while it justified the anticipations both of Pericles and of Archidamus.
+
+A second devastation of Attica was resolved upon for the commencement of
+spring; and measures were taken for carrying it all over that territory,
+since the settled policy of Athens, not to hazard a battle with the
+invaders, was now ascertained. About the end of March or beginning of
+April the entire Peloponnesian force--two-thirds from each confederate
+city as before--was assembled under the command of Archidamus and
+marched into Attica. This time they carried the work of systematic
+destruction not merely over the Thriasian plain and the plain
+immediately near to Athens, as before; but also to the more southerly
+portions of Attica, down even as far as the mines of Laurium. They
+traversed and ravaged both the eastern and the western coast, remaining
+not less than forty days in the country. They found the territory
+deserted as before, all the population having retired within the walls.
+
+In regard to this second invasion, Pericles recommended the same
+defensive policy as he had applied to the first; and apparently the
+citizens had now come to acquiesce in it, if not willingly, at least
+with a full conviction of its necessity. But a new visitation had now
+occurred, diverting their attention from the invader, though enormously
+aggravating their sufferings. A few days after Archidamus entered
+Attica, a pestilence or epidemic sickness broke out unexpectedly at
+Athens.
+
+It appears that this terrific disorder had been raging for some time
+throughout the regions round the Mediterranean; having begun, as was
+believed, in Ethiopia--thence passing into Egypt and Libya, and
+overrunning a considerable portion of Asia under the Persian government.
+About sixteen years before, there had been a similar calamity in Rome
+and in various parts of Italy. Recently it had been felt in Lemnos and
+some other islands of the Aegean, yet seemingly not with such intensity
+as to excite much notice generally in the Grecian world: at length it
+passed to Athens, and first showed itself in the Piraeus. The progress
+of the disease was as rapid and destructive as its appearance had been
+sudden; while the extraordinary accumulation of people within the city
+and long walls, in consequence of the presence of the invaders in the
+country, was but too favorable to every form of contagion. Families
+crowded together in close cabins and places of temporary
+shelter--throughout a city constructed, like most of those in Greece,
+with little regard to the conditions of salubrity and in a state of
+mental chagrin from the forced abandonment and sacrifice of their
+properties in the country, transmitted the disorder with fatal facility
+from one to the other. Beginning as it did about the middle of April,
+the increasing heat of summer further aided the disorder, the symptoms
+of which, alike violent and sudden, made themselves the more remarked
+because the year was particularly exempt from maladies of every other
+description.
+
+Of this plague--or, more properly, eruptive typhoid fever, distinct
+from, yet analogous to, the smallpox--a description no less clear than
+impressive has been left by the historian Thucydides, himself not only a
+spectator but a sufferer. It is not one of the least of his merits, that
+his notice of the symptoms, given at so early a stage of medical science
+and observation, is such as to instruct the medical reader of the
+present age, and to enable the malady to be understood and identified.
+The observations with which that notice is ushered in deserve particular
+attention. "In respect to this distemper (he says), let every man,
+physician or not, say what he thinks respecting the source from whence
+it may probably have arisen, and respecting the causes which he deems
+sufficiently powerful to have produced so great a revolution. But I,
+having myself had the distemper, and having seen others suffering under
+it, will state _what it actually was_, and will indicate in addition
+such other matters as will furnish any man, who lays them to heart, with
+knowledge and the means of calculation beforehand, in case the same
+misfortune should ever occur again."
+
+To record past facts, as a basis for rational prevision in regard to the
+future--the same sentiment which Thucydides mentions in his preface, as
+having animated him to the composition of his history--was at that time
+a duty so little understood that we have reason to admire not less the
+manner in which he performs it in practice than the distinctness with
+which he conceives it in theory. We infer from his language that
+speculation in his day was active respecting the causes of this plague,
+according to the vague and fanciful physics, and scanty stock of
+ascertained facts, which was all that could then be consulted. By
+resisting the itch of theorizing from one of those loose hypotheses
+which then appeared plausibly to explain everything, he probably
+renounced the point of view from which most credit and interest would be
+derivable at the time. But his simple and precise summary of observed
+facts carries with it an imperishable value, and even affords grounds
+for imagining that he was no stranger to the habits and training of his
+contemporary Hippocrates, and the other Asclepiads of Cos.
+
+It is hardly within the province of a historian of Greece to repeat
+after Thucydides the painful enumeration of symptoms, violent in the
+extreme and pervading every portion of the bodily system, which marked
+this fearful disorder. Beginning in Piraeus, it quickly passed into the
+city, and both the one and the other was speedily filled with sickness
+and suffering, the like of which had never before been known. The
+seizures were sudden, and a large proportion of the sufferers perished
+after deplorable agonies on the seventh or on the ninth day. Others,
+whose strength of constitution carried them over this period, found
+themselves the victims of exhausting and incurable diarrhoea afterward;
+with others again, after traversing both these stages, the distemper
+fixed itself in some particular member, the eyes, the genitals, the
+hands, or the feet, which were rendered permanently useless, or in some
+cases amputated, even where the patient himself recovered.
+
+There were also some whose recovery was attended with a total loss of
+memory, so that they no more knew themselves or recognized their
+friends. No treatment or remedy appearing, except in accidental cases,
+to produce any beneficial effect, the physicians or surgeons whose aid
+was invoked became completely at fault. While trying their accustomed
+means without avail, they soon ended by catching the malady themselves
+and perishing. The charms and incantations, to which the unhappy patient
+resorted, were not likely to be more efficacious. While some asserted
+that the Peloponnesians had poisoned the cisterns of water, others
+referred the visitation to the wrath of the gods, and especially to
+Apollo, known by hearers of the _Iliad_ as author of pestilence in the
+Greek host before Troy. It was remembered that this Delphian god had
+promised the Lacedaemonians, in reply to their application immediately
+before the war, that he would assist them whether invoked or uninvoked;
+and the disorder now raging was ascribed to the intervention of their
+irresistible ally; while the elderly men further called to mind an
+oracular verse sung in the time of their youth: "The Dorian war will
+come, and pestilence along with it." Under the distress which suggested,
+and was reciprocally aggravated by these gloomy ideas, prophets were
+consulted, and supplications with solemn procession were held at the
+temples, to appease the divine wrath.
+
+When it was found that neither the priest nor the physician could retard
+the spread or mitigate the intensity of the disorder, the Athenians
+abandoned themselves to despair, and the space within the walls became a
+scene of desolating misery. Every man attacked with the malady at once
+lost his courage--a state of depression itself among the worst features
+of the case, which made him lie down and die, without any attempt to
+seek for preservatives. And although at first friends and relatives lent
+their aid to tend the sick with the usual family sympathies, yet so
+terrible was the number of these attendants who perished, "like sheep,"
+from such contact, that at length no man would thus expose himself;
+while the most generous spirits, who persisted longest in the discharge
+of their duty, were carried off in the greatest numbers. The patient was
+thus left to die alone and unheeded. Sometimes all the inmates of a
+house were swept away one after the other, no man being willing to go
+near it: desertion on the one hand, attendance on the other, both tended
+to aggravate the calamity. There remained only those who, having had the
+disorder and recovered, were willing to tend the sufferers.
+
+These men formed the single exception to the all-pervading misery of the
+time--for the disorder seldom attacked anyone twice, and when it did the
+second attack was never fatal. Elate with their own escape, they deemed
+themselves out of the reach of all disease, and were full of
+compassionate kindness for others whose sufferings were just beginning.
+It was from them too that the principal attention to the bodies of
+deceased victims proceeded: for such was the state of dismay and sorrow
+that even the nearest relatives neglected the sepulchral duties, sacred
+beyond all others in the eyes of a Greek. Nor is there any circumstance
+which conveys to us so vivid an idea of the prevalent agony and despair
+as when we read, in the words of an eyewitness, that the deaths took
+place among this close-packed crowd without the smallest decencies of
+attention--that the dead and the dying lay piled one upon another not
+merely in the public roads, but even in the temples, in spite of the
+understood defilement of the sacred building--that half-dead sufferers
+were seen lying round all the springs, from insupportable thirst--that
+the numerous corpses thus unburied and exposed were in such a condition
+that the dogs which meddled with them died in consequence, while no
+vultures or other birds of the like habits ever came near.
+
+Those bodies which escaped entire neglect were burnt or buried without
+the customary mourning, and with unseemly carelessness. In some cases
+the bearers of a body, passing by a funeral pile on which another body
+was burning, would put their own there to be burnt also; or perhaps, if
+the pile was prepared ready for a body not yet arrived, would deposit
+their own upon it, set fire to the pile, and then depart. Such indecent
+confusion would have been intolerable to the feelings of the Athenians
+in any ordinary times.
+
+To all these scenes of physical suffering, death, and reckless despair
+was superadded another evil, which affected those who were fortunate
+enough to escape the rest. The bonds both of law and morality became
+relaxed, amid such total uncertainty of every man both for his own life
+and that of others. Men cared not to abstain from wrong, under
+circumstances in which punishment was not likely to overtake them, nor
+to put a check upon their passions, and endure privations, in obedience
+even to their strongest conviction, when the chance was so small of
+their living to reap reward or enjoy any future esteem. An interval,
+short and sweet, before their doom was realized--before they became
+plunged in the widespread misery which they witnessed around, and which
+affected indiscriminately the virtuous and the profligate--was all that
+they looked to enjoy; embracing with avidity the immediate pleasures of
+sense, as well as such positive gains, however ill-gotten, as could be
+made the means of procuring them, and throwing aside all thought both of
+honor and of long-sighted advantage. Life and property being alike
+ephemeral, there was no hope left but to snatch a moment of enjoyment,
+before the outstretched hand of destiny should fall upon its victims.
+
+The picture of society under the pressure of a murderous epidemic, with
+its train of physical torments, wretchedness, and demoralization, has
+been drawn by more than one eminent author, but by none with more
+impressive fidelity and conciseness than by Thucydides, who had no
+predecessor, nor anything but the reality, to copy from. We may remark
+that amid all the melancholy accompaniments of the time there are no
+human sacrifices, such as those offered up at Carthage during pestilence
+to appease the anger of the gods--there are no cruel persecutions
+against imaginary authors of the disease, such as those against the
+Untori (anointers of doors) in the plague of Milan in 1630.
+
+Three years altogether did this calamity desolate Athens: continuously,
+during the entire second and third years of the war--after which
+followed a period of marked abatement for a year and a half; but it then
+revived again, and lasted for another year, with the same fury as at
+first. The public loss, over and above the private misery, which this
+unexpected enemy inflicted upon Athens, was incalculable. Out of twelve
+hundred horsemen, all among the rich men of the state, three hundred
+died of the epidemic; besides forty-four hundred _hoplites_ out of the
+roll formally kept, and a number of the poorer population so great as to
+defy computation. No efforts of the Peloponnesians could have done so
+much to ruin Athens, or to bring the war to a termination such as they
+desired: and the distemper told the more in their favor, as it never
+spread at all into Peloponnesus, though it passed from Athens to some of
+the more populous islands. The Lacedaemonian army was withdrawn from
+Attica somewhat earlier than it would otherwise have been, for fear of
+taking the contagion.
+
+But it was while the Lacedaemonians were yet in Attica, and during the
+first freshness of the terrible malady, that Pericles equipped and
+conducted from Piraeus an armament of one hundred triremes and four
+thousand hoplites to attack the coasts of Peloponnesus; three hundred
+horsemen were also carried in some horse-transports, prepared for the
+occasion out of old triremes. To diminish the crowd accumulated in the
+city was doubtless of beneficial tendency, and perhaps those who went
+aboard might consider it as a chance of escape to quit an infected home.
+But unhappily they carried the infection along with them, which
+desolated the fleet not less than the city, and crippled all its
+efforts. Reenforced by fifty ships of war from Chios and Lesbos, the
+Athenians first landed near Epidaurus in Peloponnesus, ravaging the
+territory and making an unavailing attempt upon the city; next they made
+like incursions on the most southerly portions of the Argolic
+peninsula--Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione--and lastly attacked and
+captured Prasiae, on the eastern coast of Laconia. On returning to
+Athens, the same armament was immediately conducted under Agnon and
+Cleopompus, to press the siege of Potidaea, the blockade of which still
+continued without any visible progress. On arriving there an attack was
+made on the walls by battering engines and by the other aggressive
+methods then practised; but nothing whatever was achieved. In fact, the
+armament became incompetent for all serious effort, from the aggravated
+character which the distemper here assumed, communicated by the soldiers
+fresh from Athens even to those who had before been free from it at
+Potidaea. So frightful was the mortality that out of the four thousand
+hoplites under Agnon no fewer than one thousand and fifty died in the
+short space of forty days. The armament was brought back in this
+distressed condition to Athens, while the reduction of Potidaea was left
+as before, to the slow course of blockade.
+
+On returning from the expedition against Peloponnesus, Pericles found
+his countrymen almost distracted with their manifold sufferings. Over
+and above the raging epidemic they had just gone over Attica and
+ascertained the devastations committed by the invaders throughout all
+the territory--except the Marathonian Tetrapolis and Deceleia, districts
+spared, as we are told, through indulgence founded on an ancient
+legendary sympathy--during their long stay of forty days. The rich had
+found their comfortable mansions and farms, the poor their modest
+cottages, in the various _demes_, torn down and ruined. Death, sickness,
+loss of property, and despair of the future now rendered the Athenians
+angry and intractable to the last degree. They vented their feelings
+against Pericles as the cause not merely of the war, but also of all
+that they were now enduring. Either with or without his consent, they
+sent envoys to Sparta to open negotiations for peace, but the Spartans
+turned a deaf ear to the proposition. This new disappointment rendered
+them still more furious against Pericles, whose long-standing political
+enemies now doubtless found strong sympathy in their denunciations of
+his character and policy. That unshaken and majestic firmness, which
+ranked first among his many eminent qualities, was never more
+imperiously required and never more effectively manifested.
+
+In his capacity of _strategus_, or general, Pericles convoked a formal
+assembly of the people, for the purpose of vindicating himself publicly
+against the prevailing sentiment, and recommending perseverance in his
+line of policy. The speeches made by his opponents, assuredly very
+bitter, are not given by Thucydides; but that of Pericles himself is set
+down at considerable length, and a memorable discourse it is. It
+strikingly brings into relief both the character of the man and the
+impress of actual circumstances--an impregnable mind conscious not only
+of right purposes, but of just and reasonable anticipations, and bearing
+up with manliness, or even defiance, against the natural difficulty of
+the case, heightened by an extreme of incalculable misfortune. He had
+foreseen, while advising the war originally, the probable impatience of
+his countrymen under its first hardships, but he could not foresee the
+epidemic by which that impatience had been exasperated into madness: and
+he now addressed them not merely with unabated adherence to his own
+deliberate convictions, but also in a tone of reproachful remonstrance
+against their unmerited change of sentiment toward him--seeking at the
+same time to combat that uncontrolled despair which for the moment
+overlaid both their pride and their patriotism. Far from humbling
+himself before the present sentiment, it is at this time that he sets
+forth his titles to their esteem in the most direct and unqualified
+manner, and claims the continuance of that which they had so long
+accorded, as something belonging to him by acquired right.
+
+His main object, through this discourse, is to fill the minds of his
+audience with patriotic sympathy for the weal of the entire city, so as
+to counterbalance the absorbing sense of private woe. If the collective
+city flourishes, he argues, private misfortunes may at least be borne;
+but no amount of private prosperity will avail if the collective city
+falls--a proposition literally true in ancient times and under the
+circumstances of ancient warfare, though less true at present.
+"Distracted by domestic calamity, ye are now angry both with me who
+advised you to go to war, and with yourselves who followed the advice.
+Ye listened to me, considering me superior to others in judgment, in
+speech, in patriotism, and in incorruptible probity--nor ought I now to
+be treated as culpable for giving such advice, when in point of fact the
+war was unavoidable and there would have been still greater danger in
+shrinking from it. I am the same man, still unchanged--but ye in your
+misfortunes cannot stand to the convictions which ye adopted when yet
+unhurt. Extreme and unforeseen, indeed, are the sorrows which have
+fallen upon you: yet inhabiting as ye do a great city, and brought up in
+dispositions suitable to it, ye must also resolve to bear up against the
+utmost pressure of adversity, and never to surrender your dignity. I
+have often explained to you that ye have no reason to doubt of eventual
+success in the war, but I will now remind you, more emphatically than
+before, and even with a degree of ostentation suitable as a stimulus to
+your present unnatural depression, that your naval force makes you
+masters not only of your allies, but of the entire sea--one-half of the
+visible field for action and employment. Compared with so vast a power
+as this, the temporary use of your houses and territory is a mere
+trifle, an ornamental accessory not worth considering: and this too, if
+ye preserve your freedom, ye will quickly recover. It was your fathers
+who first gained this empire, without any of the advantages which ye now
+enjoy; ye must not disgrace yourselves by losing what they acquired.
+
+"Delighting as ye all do in the honor and empire enjoyed by the city, ye
+must not shrink from the toils whereby alone that honor is sustained:
+moreover, ye now fight, not merely for freedom instead of slavery, but
+for empire against loss of empire, with all the perils arising out of
+imperial unpopularity. It is not safe for you now to abdicate, even if
+ye chose to do so; for ye hold your empire like a despotism--unjust
+perhaps in the original acquisition, but ruinous to part with when once
+acquired. Be not angry with me, whose advice ye followed in going to
+war, because the enemy have done such damage as might be expected from
+them: still less on account of this unforeseen distemper: I know that
+this makes me an object of your special present hatred, though very
+unjustly, unless ye will consent to give me credit also for any
+unexpected good-luck which may occur. Our city derives its particular
+glory from unshaken bearing up against misfortune: her power, her name,
+her empire of Greeks over Greeks, are such as have never before been
+seen; and if we choose to be great, we must take the consequence of that
+temporary envy and hatred which is the necessary price of permanent
+renown. Behave ye now in a manner worthy of that glory: display that
+courage which is essential to protect you against disgrace at present,
+as well as to guarantee your honor for the future. Send no further
+embassy to Sparta, and bear your misfortunes without showing symptoms of
+distress."
+
+The irresistible reason, as well as the proud and resolute bearing of
+this discourse, set forth with an eloquence which it was not possible
+for Thucydides to reproduce--together with the age and character of
+Pericles--carried the assent of the assembled people, who when in the
+Pnyx, and engaged according to habit on public matters, would for a
+moment forget their private sufferings in considerations of the safety
+and grandeur of Athens. Possibly, indeed, those sufferings, though still
+continuing, might become somewhat alleviated when the invaders quitted
+Attica, and when it was no longer indispensable for all the population
+to confine itself within the walls. Accordingly, the assembly resolved
+that no further propositions should be made for peace, and that the war
+should be prosecuted with vigor.
+
+But though the public resolution thus adopted showed the ancient habit
+of deference to the authority of Pericles, the sentiments of individuals
+taken separately were still those of anger against him as the author of
+that system which had brought them into so much distress. His political
+opponents--Cleon, Simmias, or Lacratidas, perhaps all three in
+conjunction--took care to provide an opportunity for this prevalent
+irritation to manifest itself in act, by bringing an accusation against
+him before the _dicastery_. The accusation is said to have been
+preferred on the ground of pecuniary malversation, and ended by his
+being sentenced to pay a considerable fine, the amount of which is
+differently reported--fifteen, fifty, or eighty talents, by different
+authors. The accusing party thus appeared to have carried their point,
+and to have disgraced, as well as excluded from reelection, the veteran
+statesman. The event, however, disappointed their expectations. The
+imposition of the fine not only satiated all the irritation of the
+people against him, but even occasioned a serious reaction in his favor,
+and brought back as strongly as ever the ancient sentiment of esteem and
+admiration. It was quickly found that those who had succeeded Pericles
+as generals neither possessed nor deserved in an equal degree the public
+confidence. He was accordingly soon reelected, with as much power and
+influence as he had ever in his life enjoyed.
+
+But that life, long, honorable, and useful, had already been prolonged
+considerably beyond the sixtieth year, and there were but too many
+circumstances, besides the recent fine, which tended to hasten as well
+as to embitter its close. At the very moment when Pericles was preaching
+to his countrymen, in a tone almost reproachful, the necessity of manful
+and unabated devotion to the common country in the midst of private
+suffering, he was himself among the greatest of sufferers, and most
+hardly pressed to set the example of observing his own precepts. The
+epidemic carried off not merely his two sons--the only two legitimate,
+Xanthippus and Paralus--but also his sister, several other relatives,
+and his best and most useful political friends. Amid this train of
+domestic calamities, and in the funeral obsequies of so many of his
+dearest friends, he remained master of his grief, and maintained his
+habitual self-command, until the last misfortune--the death of his
+favorite son Paralus, which left his house without any legitimate
+representative to maintain the family and the hereditary sacred rites.
+On this final blow, though he strove to command himself as before, yet
+at the obsequies of the young man, when it became his duty to place a
+wreath on the dead body, his grief became uncontrollable, and he burst
+out, for the first time in his life, into profuse tears and sobbing.
+
+In the midst of these several personal trials he received the
+intimation, through Alcibiades and some other friends, of the restored
+confidence of the people toward him, and of his reelection to the office
+of strategus. But it was not without difficulty that he was persuaded to
+present himself again at the public assembly and resume the direction of
+affairs. The regret of the people was formally expressed to him for the
+recent sentence--perhaps, indeed, the fine may have been repaid to him,
+or some evasion of it permitted, saving the forms of law--in the present
+temper of the city; which was further displayed toward him by the grant
+of a remarkable exemption from a law of his own original proposition.
+
+He had himself, some years before, been the author of that law whereby
+the citizenship of Athens was restricted to persons born both of
+Athenian fathers and Athenian mothers, under which restriction several
+thousand persons, illegitimate on the mother's side, are said to have
+been deprived of the citizenship, on occasion of a public distribution
+of corn. Invidious as it appeared to grant, to Pericles singly, an
+exemption from a law which had been strictly enforced against so many
+others, the people were now moved not less by compassion than by anxiety
+to redress their own previous severity. Without a legitimate heir, the
+house of Pericles, one branch of the great Alcmaeonid gens by his
+mother's side, would be left deserted, and the continuity of the family
+sacred rites would be broken--a misfortune painfully felt by every
+Athenian family, as calculated to wrong all the deceased members, and
+provoke their posthumous displeasure toward the city. Accordingly,
+permission was granted to Pericles to legitimize, and to inscribe in his
+own gens and phratry, his natural son by Aspasia, who bore his own name.
+
+It was thus that Pericles was reinstated in his post of strategus as
+well as in his ascendency over the public counsels--seemingly about
+August or September, B.C. 430. He lived about one year longer, and seems
+to have maintained his influence as long as his health permitted. Yet we
+hear nothing of him after this moment, and he fell a victim, not to the
+violent symptoms of the epidemic, but to a slow and wearing fever, which
+undermined his strength as well as his capacity. To a friend who came to
+ask after him when in this disease, Pericles replied by showing a charm
+or amulet which his female relations had hung about his neck--a proof
+how low he was reduced, and how completely he had become a passive
+subject in the hands of others.
+
+And according to another anecdote which we read--yet more interesting
+and equally illustrative of his character--it was during his last
+moments, when he was lying apparently unconscious and insensible, that
+the friends around his bed were passing in review the acts of his life,
+and the nine trophies which he had erected at different times for so
+many victories. He heard what they said, though they fancied that he was
+past hearing, and interrupted them by remarking: "What you praise in my
+life belongs partly to good fortune--and is, at best, common to me with
+many other generals. But the peculiarity of which I am most proud, you
+have not noticed--no Athenian has ever put on mourning through any
+action of mine."
+
+
+
+
+DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE
+
+B.C. 413
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(That great writer of the history of the Romans, Thomas Arnold, says of
+the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Syracuse: "The Romans knew not, and
+could not know, how deeply the greatness of their own posterity, and the
+fate of the whole western world, were involved in the destruction of the
+fleet of Athens in the harbor of Syracuse. Had that great expedition
+proved victorious, the energies of Greece during the next eventful
+century would have found their field in the West no less than in the
+East; Greece, and not Rome; might have conquered Carthage; Greek instead
+of Latin might have been at this day the principal element of the
+language of Spain, of France, and of Italy; and the laws of Athens,
+rather than of Rome, might be the foundation of the law of the civilized
+world."
+
+The foregoing, the author's own selection, really sums up all that need
+be said as to the importance of the great event so finely treated by
+Creasy.)
+
+
+Few cities have undergone more memorable sieges during ancient and
+mediaeval times than has the city of Syracuse. Athenian, Carthaginian,
+Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Saracen, and Norman have in turns beleaguered
+her walls; and the resistance which she successfully opposed to some of
+her early assailants was of the deepest importance, not only to the
+fortunes of the generations then in being, but to all the subsequent
+current of human events. To adopt the eloquent expressions of Arnold
+respecting the check which she gave to the Carthaginian arms, "Syracuse
+was a breakwater which God's providence raised up to protect the yet
+immature strength of Rome." And her triumphant repulse of the great
+Athenian expedition against her was of even more widespread and enduring
+importance. It forms a decisive epoch in the strife for universal
+empire, in which all the great states of antiquity successively engaged
+and failed.
+
+The present city of Syracuse is a place of little or no military
+strength, as the fire of artillery from the neighboring heights would
+almost completely command it. But in ancient warfare its position, and
+the care bestowed on its walls, rendered it formidably strong against
+the means of offence which were then employed by besieging armies.
+
+The ancient city, in its most prosperous times, was chiefly built on the
+knob of land which projects into the sea on the eastern coast of Sicily,
+between two bays; one of which, to the north, was called the Bay of
+Thapsus, while the southern one formed the great harbor of the city of
+Syracuse itself. A small island, or peninsula (for such it soon was
+rendered), lies at the southeastern extremity of this knob of land,
+stretching almost entirely across the mouth of the great harbor, and
+rendering it nearly land-locked. This island comprised the original
+settlement of the first Greek colonists from Corinth, who founded
+Syracuse two thousand five hundred years ago; and the modern city has
+shrunk again into these primary limits. But, in the fifth century before
+our era, the growing wealth and population of the Syracusans had led
+them to occupy and include within their city walls portion after portion
+of the mainland lying next to the little isle, so that at the time of
+the Athenian expedition the seaward part of the land between the two
+bays already spoken of was built over, and fortified from bay to bay,
+and constituted the larger part of Syracuse.
+
+The landward wall, therefore, of this district of the city traversed
+this knob of land, which continues to slope upward from the sea, and
+which, to the west of the old fortifications, that is, toward the
+interior of Sicily, rises rapidly for a mile or two, but diminishes in
+width, and finally terminates in a long narrow ridge, between which and
+Mount Hybla a succession of chasms and uneven low ground extends. On
+each flank of this ridge the descent is steep and precipitous from its
+summits to the strips of level land that lie immediately below it, both
+to the southwest and northwest.
+
+The usual mode of assailing fortified towns in the time of the
+Peloponnesian war was to build a double wall round them sufficiently
+strong to check any sally of the garrison from within or any attack of a
+relieving force from without. The interval within the two walls of the
+circumvallation was roofed over, and formed barracks, in which the
+besiegers posted themselves, and awaited the effects of want or
+treachery among the besieged in producing a surrender; and in every
+Greek city of those days, as in every Italian republic of the Middle
+Ages, the rage of domestic sedition between aristocrats and democrats
+ran high. Rancorous refugees swarmed in the camp of every invading
+enemy; and every blockaded city was sure to contain within its walls a
+body of intriguing malcontents, who were eager to purchase a party
+triumph at the expense of a national disaster. Famine and faction were
+the allies on whom besiegers relied. The generals of that time trusted
+to the operation of these sure confederates as soon as they could
+establish a complete blockade. They rarely ventured on the attempt to
+storm any fortified post, for the military engines of antiquity were
+feeble in breaching masonry before the improvements which the first
+Dionysius effected in the mechanics of destruction; and the lives of
+spearmen the boldest and most high-trained would, of course, have been
+idly spent in charges against unshattered walls.
+
+A city built close to the sea, like Syracuse, was impregnable save by
+the combined operations of a superior hostile fleet and a superior
+hostile army; and Syracuse, from her size, her population, and her
+military and naval resources, not unnaturally thought herself secure
+from finding in another Greek city a foe capable of sending a sufficient
+armament to menace her with capture and subjection. But in the spring of
+B.C. 414 the Athenian navy was mistress of her harbor and the adjacent
+seas; an Athenian army had defeated her troops, and cooped them within
+the town; and from bay to bay a blockading wall was being rapidly
+carried across the strips of level ground and the high ridge outside the
+city (then termed Epipolae), which, if completed, would have cut the
+Syracusans off from all succor from the interior of Sicily, and have
+left them at the mercy of the Athenian generals. The besiegers' works
+were, indeed, unfinished; but every day the unfortified interval in
+their lines grew narrower, and with it diminished all apparent hope of
+safety for the beleaguered town.
+
+Athens was now staking the flower of her forces, and the accumulated
+fruits of seventy years of glory, on one bold throw for the dominion of
+the western world. As Napoleon from Mount Coeur de Lion pointed to St.
+Jean d'Acre, and told his staff that the capture of that town would
+decide his destiny and would change the face of the world, so the
+Athenian officers, from the heights of Epipolae, must have looked on
+Syracuse, and felt that with its fall all the known powers of the earth
+would fall beneath them. They must have felt also that Athens, if
+repulsed there, must pause forever from her career of conquest, and sink
+from an imperial republic into a ruined and subservient community.
+
+At Marathon, the first in date of the great battles of the world, we
+beheld Athens struggling for self-preservation against the invading
+armies of the East. At Syracuse she appears as the ambitious and
+oppressive invader of others. In her, as in other republics of old and
+of modern times, the same energy that had inspired the most heroic
+efforts in defence of the national independence soon learned to employ
+itself in daring and unscrupulous schemes of self-aggrandizement at the
+expense of neighboring nations. In the interval between the Persian and
+the Peloponnesian wars she had rapidly grown into a conquering and
+dominant state, the chief of a thousand tributary cities, and the
+mistress of the largest and best-manned navy that the Mediterranean had
+yet beheld. The occupations of her territory by Xerxes and Mardonius, in
+the second Persian war, had forced her whole population to become
+marines; and the glorious results of that struggle confirmed them in
+their zeal for their country's service at sea.
+
+The voluntary suffrage of the Greek cities of the coasts and islands of
+the Aegean first placed Athens at the head of the confederation formed
+for the further prosecution of the war against Persia. But this titular
+ascendency was soon converted by her into practical and arbitrary
+dominion. She protected them from piracy and the Persian power, which
+soon fell into decrepitude and decay, but she exacted in return implicit
+obedience to herself. She claimed and enforced a prerogative of taxing
+them at her discretion, and proudly refused to be accountable for her
+mode of expending their supplies. Remonstrance against her assessments
+was treated as factious disloyalty, and refusal to pay was promptly
+punished as revolt. Permitting and encouraging her subject allies to
+furnish all their contingents in money, instead of part consisting of
+ships and men, the sovereign republic gained the double object of
+training her own citizens by constant and well-paid service in her
+fleets, and of seeing her confederates lose their skill and discipline
+by inaction, and become more and more passive and powerless under her
+yoke. Their towns were generally dismantled, while the imperial city
+herself was fortified with the greatest care and sumptuousness; the
+accumulated revenues from her tributaries serving to strengthen and
+adorn to the utmost her havens, her docks, her arsenals, her theatres,
+and her shrines, and to array her in that plenitude of architectural
+magnificence the ruins of which still attest the intellectual grandeur
+of the age and people which produced a Pericles to plan and a Phidias to
+execute.
+
+All republics that acquire supremacy over other nations rule them
+selfishly and oppressively. There is no exception to this in either
+ancient or modern times. Carthage, Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Pisa,
+Holland, and republican France, all tyrannized over every province and
+subject state where they gained authority. But none of them openly
+avowed their system of doing so upon principle with the candor which the
+Athenian republicans displayed when any remonstrance was made against
+the severe exactions which they imposed upon their vassal allies. They
+avowed that their empire was a tyranny, and frankly stated that they
+solely trusted to force and terror to uphold it. They appealed to what
+they called "the eternal law of nature, that the weak should be coerced
+by the strong." Sometimes they stated, and not without some truth, that
+the unjust hatred of Sparta against themselves forced them to be unjust
+to others in self-defence. To be safe, they must be powerful; and to be
+powerful, they must plunder and coerce their neighbors. They never
+dreamed of communicating any franchise, or share in office, to their
+dependants, but jealously monopolized every post of command and all
+political and judicial power; exposing themselves to every risk with
+unflinching gallantry; embarking readily in every ambitious scheme; and
+never suffering difficulty or disaster to shake their tenacity of
+purpose: in the hope of acquiring unbounded empire for their country,
+and the means of maintaining each of the thirty thousand citizens who
+made up the sovereign republic, in exclusive devotion to military
+occupations, and to those brilliant sciences and arts in which Athens
+already had reached the meridian of intellectual splendor.
+
+Her great political dramatist speaks of the Athenian empire as
+comprehending a thousand states. The language of the stage must not be
+taken too literally; but the number of the dependencies of Athens, at
+the time when the Peloponnesian confederacy attacked her, was
+undoubtedly very great. With a few trifling exceptions, all the islands
+of the Aegean, and all the Greek cities which in that age fringed the
+coasts of Asia Minor, the Hellespont, and Thrace, paid tribute to
+Athens, and implicitly obeyed her orders. The Aegean Sea was an Attic
+lake. Westward of Greece, her influence, though strong, was not equally
+predominant. She had colonies and allies among the wealthy and populous
+Greek settlements in Sicily and South Italy, but she had no organized
+system of confederates in those regions; and her galleys brought her no
+tribute from the Western seas. The extension of her empire over Sicily
+was the favorite project of her ambitious orators and generals. While
+her great statesman, Pericles, lived, his commanding genius kept his
+countrymen under control, and forbade them to risk the fortunes of
+Athens in distant enterprises, while they had unsubdued and powerful
+enemies at their own doors. He taught Athens this maxim; but he also
+taught her to know and to use her own strength; and when Pericles had
+departed, the bold spirit which he had fostered overleaped the salutary
+limits which he had prescribed.
+
+When her bitter enemies, the Corinthians, succeeded, B.C. 431, in
+inducing Sparta to attack her, and a confederacy was formed of
+five-sixths of the continental Greeks, all animated by anxious jealousy
+and bitter hatred of Athens; when armies far superior in numbers and
+equipment to those which had marched against the Persians were poured
+into the Athenian territory, and laid it waste to the city walls, the
+general opinion was that Athens would be reduced, in two or three years
+at the furthest, to submit to the requisitions of her invaders. But her
+strong fortifications, by which she was girt and linked to her principal
+haven, gave her, in those ages, almost all the advantages of an insular
+position. Pericles had made her trust to her empire of the seas. Every
+Athenian in those days was a practised seaman. A state, indeed, whose
+members, of an age fit for service, at no time exceeded thirty thousand,
+could only have acquired such a naval dominion as Athens once held by
+devoting and zealously training all its sons to service in its fleets.
+In order to man the numerous galleys which she sent out, she necessarily
+employed large numbers of hired mariners and slaves at the oar; but the
+staple of her crews was Athenian, and all posts of command were held by
+native citizens. It was by reminding them of this, of their long
+practice in seamanship, and the certain superiority which their
+discipline gave them over the enemy's marine, that their great minister
+mainly encouraged them to resist the combined power of Lacedaemon and
+her allies. He taught them that Athens might thus reap the fruit of her
+zealous devotion to maritime affairs ever since the invasion of the
+Medes; "she had not, indeed, perfected herself; but the reward of her
+superior training was the rule of the sea--a mighty dominion, for it
+gave her the rule of much fair land beyond its waves, safe from the idle
+ravages with which the Lacedaemonians might harass Attica, but never
+could subdue Athens."
+
+Athens accepted the war with which her enemies threatened her rather
+than descend from her pride of place; and though the awful visitation of
+the plague came upon her, and swept away more of her citizens than the
+Dorian spear laid low, she held her own gallantly against her enemies.
+If the Peloponnesian armies in irresistible strength wasted every spring
+her corn-lands, her vineyards, and her olive groves with fire and sword,
+she retaliated on their coasts with her fleets; which, if resisted, were
+only resisted to display the pre�minent skill and bravery of her seamen.
+Some of her subject allies revolted, but the revolts were in general
+sternly and promptly quelled. The genius of one enemy had indeed
+inflicted blows on her power in Thrace which she was unable to remedy;
+but he fell in battle in the tenth year of the war, and with the loss of
+Brasidas the Lacedaemonians seemed to have lost all energy and judgment.
+Both sides at length grew weary of the war, and in 421 a truce for fifty
+years was concluded, which, though ill kept, and though many of the
+confederates of Sparta refused to recognize it, and hostilities still
+continued in many parts of Greece, protected the Athenian territory from
+the ravages of enemies, and enabled Athens to accumulate large sums out
+of the proceeds of her annual revenues. So also, as a few years passed
+by, the havoc which the pestilence and the sword had made in her
+population was repaired; and in 415 Athens was full of bold and restless
+spirits, who longed for some field of distant enterprise wherein they
+might signalize themselves and aggrandize the state, and who looked on
+the alarm of Spartan hostility as a mere old-woman's tale. When Sparta
+had wasted their territory she had done her worst; and the fact of its
+always being in her power to do so seemed a strong reason for seeking to
+increase the transmarine dominion of Athens.
+
+The West was now the quarter toward which the thoughts of every aspiring
+Athenian were directed. From the very beginning of the war Athens had
+kept up an interest in Sicily, and her squadron had, from time to time,
+appeared on its coasts and taken part in the dissensions in which the
+Sicilian Greeks were universally engaged one against the other. There
+were plausible grounds for a direct quarrel, and an open attack by the
+Athenians upon Syracuse.
+
+With the capture of Syracuse, all Sicily, it was hoped, would be
+secured. Carthage and Italy were next to be attacked. With large levies
+of Iberian mercenaries she then meant to overwhelm her Peloponnesian
+enemies. The Persian monarchy lay in hopeless imbecility, inviting Greek
+invasion; nor did the known world contain the power that seemed capable
+of checking the growing might of Athens, if Syracuse once should be
+hers.
+
+The national historian of Rome has left us an episode of his great work,
+a disquisition on the probable effects that would have followed if
+Alexander the Great had invaded Italy. Posterity has generally regarded
+that disquisition as proving Livy's patriotism more strongly than his
+impartiality or acuteness. Yet, right or wrong, the speculations of the
+Roman writer were directed to the consideration of a very remote
+possibility. To whatever age Alexander's life might have been prolonged,
+the East would have furnished full occupation for his martial ambition,
+as well as for those schemes of commercial grandeur and imperial
+amalgamation of nations in which the truly great qualities of his mind
+loved to display themselves. With his death the dismemberment of his
+empire among his generals was certain, even as the dismemberment of
+Napoleon's empire among his marshals would certainly have ensued if he
+had been cut off in the zenith of his power. Rome, also, was far weaker
+when the Athenians were in Sicily than she was a century afterward in
+Alexander's time. There can be little doubt but that Rome would have
+been blotted out from the independent powers of the West, had she been
+attacked at the end of the fifth century B.C. by an Athenian army,
+largely aided by Spanish mercenaries, and flushed with triumphs over
+Sicily and Africa, instead of the collision between her and Greece
+having been deferred until the latter had sunk into decrepitude, and the
+Roman Mars had grown into full vigor.
+
+The armament which the Athenians equipped against Syracuse was in every
+way worthy of the state which formed such projects of universal empire,
+and it has been truly termed "the noblest that ever yet had been sent
+forth by a free and civilized commonwealth." The fleet consisted of one
+hundred and thirty-four war-galleys, with a multitude of storeships. A
+powerful force of the best heavy-armed infantry that Athens and her
+allies could furnish was sent on board it, together with a smaller
+number of slingers and bowmen. The quality of the forces was even more
+remarkable than the number. The zeal of individuals vied with that of
+the republic in giving every galley the best possible crew and every
+troop the most perfect accoutrements. And with private as well as public
+wealth eagerly lavished on all that could give splendor as well as
+efficiency to the expedition, the fated fleet began its voyage for the
+Sicilian shores in the summer of 415.
+
+The Syracusans themselves, at the time of the Peloponnesian war, were a
+bold and turbulent democracy, tyrannizing over the weaker Greek cities
+in Sicily, and trying to gain in that island the same arbitrary
+supremacy which Athens maintained along the eastern coast of the
+Mediterranean. In numbers and in spirit they were fully equal to the
+Athenians, but far inferior to them in military and naval discipline.
+When the probability of an Athenian invasion was first publicly
+discussed at Syracuse, and efforts were made by some of the wiser
+citizens to improve the state of the national defences and prepare for
+the impending danger, the rumors of coming war and the proposal for
+preparation were received by the mass of the Syracusans with scornful
+incredulity. The speech of one of their popular orators is preserved to
+us in Thucydides.
+
+The Syracusan orator told his countrymen to dismiss with scorn the
+visionary terrors which a set of designing men among themselves strove
+to excite, in order to get power and influence thrown into their own
+hands. He told them that Athens knew her own interest too well to think
+of wantonly provoking their hostility: "Even if the enemies were to
+come," said he, "so distant from their resources, and opposed to such a
+power as ours, their destruction would be easy and inevitable. Their
+ships will have enough to do to get to our island at all, and to carry
+such stores of all sorts as will be needed. They cannot therefore carry,
+besides, an army large enough to cope with such a population as ours.
+They will have no fortified place from which to commence their
+operations, but must rest them on no better base than a set of wretched
+tents, and such means as the necessities of the moment will allow them.
+But, in truth, I do not believe that they would even be able to effect a
+disembarkation. Let us, therefore, set at naught these reports as
+altogether of home manufacture; and be sure that if any enemy does come,
+the state will know how to defend itself in a manner worthy of the
+national honor."
+
+Such assertions pleased the Syracusan assembly; but the invaders of
+Syracuse came, made good their landing in Sicily; and if they had
+promptly attacked the city itself, instead of wasting nearly a year in
+desultory operations in other parts of Sicily, the Syracusans must have
+paid the penalty of their self-sufficient carelessness in submission to
+the Athenian yoke. But, of the three generals who led the Athenian
+expedition, two only were men of ability, and one was most weak and
+incompetent. Fortunately for Syracuse, Alcibiades, the most skilful of
+the three, was soon deposed from his command by a factious and fanatic
+vote of his fellow-countrymen, and the other competent one, Lamachus,
+fell early in a skirmish; while, more fortunately still for her, the
+feeble and vacillating Nicias remained unrecalled and unhurt, to assume
+the undivided leadership of the Athenian army and fleet, and to mar, by
+alternate over-caution and over-carelessness, every chance of success
+which the early part of the operations offered. Still, even under him,
+the Athenians nearly won the town. They defeated the raw levies of the
+Syracusans, cooped them within the walls, and, as before mentioned,
+almost effected a continuous fortification from bay to bay over
+Epipolae, the completion of which would certainly have been followed by
+a capitulation.
+
+Alcibiades--the most complete example of genius without principle that
+history produces; the Bolingbroke of antiquity, but with high military
+talents superadded to diplomatic and oratorical powers--on being
+summoned home from his command in Sicily to take his trial before the
+Athenian tribunal, had escaped to Sparta, and had exerted himself there
+with all the selfish rancor of a renegade to renew the war with Athens
+and to send instant assistance to Syracuse.
+
+When we read his words in the pages of Thucydides--who was himself an
+exile from Athens at this period, and may probably have been at Sparta,
+and heard Alcibiades speak--we are at a loss whether most to admire or
+abhor his subtle counsels. After an artful exordium, in which he tried
+to disarm the suspicions which he felt must be entertained of him, and
+to point out to the Spartans how completely his interests and theirs
+were identified, through hatred of the Athenian democracy, he thus
+proceeded:
+
+"Hear me, at any rate, on the matters which require your grave
+attention, and which I, from the personal knowledge that I have of them,
+can and ought to bring before you. We Athenians sailed to Sicily with
+the design of subduing, first the Greek cities there, and next those in
+Italy. Then we intended to make an attempt on the dominions of Carthage,
+and on Carthage itself.[24] If all these projects succeeded--nor did we
+limit ourselves to them in these quarters--we intended to increase our
+fleet with the inexhaustible supplies of ship timber which Italy
+affords, to put in requisition the whole military force of the conquered
+Greek states, and also to hire large armies of the barbarians, of the
+Iberians,[25] and others in those regions, who are allowed to make the
+best possible soldiers. _Then_, when we had done all this, we intended
+to assail Peloponnesus with our collected force. Our fleets would
+blockade you by sea and desolate your coasts, our armies would be landed
+at different points and assail your cities. Some of these we expected to
+storm,[26] and others we meant to take by surrounding them with
+fortified lines. We thought that it would thus be an easy matter
+thoroughly to war you down; and then we should become the masters of the
+whole Greek race. As for expense, we reckoned that each conquered state
+would give us supplies of money and provisions sufficient to pay for its
+own conquest, and furnish the means for the conquest of its neighbors."
+
+[Footnote 24: Arnold, in his notes on this passage, well reminds the
+reader that Agathocles, with a Greek force far inferior to that of the
+Athenians at this period, did, some years afterward, very nearly conquer
+Carthage.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It will be remembered that Spanish infantry were the
+staple of the Carthaginian armies. Doubtless Alcibiades and other
+leading Athenians had made themselves acquainted with the Carthaginian
+system of carrying on war, and meant to adopt it. With the marvellous
+powers which Alcibiades possessed of ingratiating himself with men of
+every class and every nation, and his high military genius, he would
+have been as formidable a chief of an army of _condottieri_ as Hannibal
+afterward was.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Alcibiades here alluded to Sparta itself, which was
+unfortified. His Spartan hearers must have glanced round them at these
+words with mixed alarm and indignation.]
+
+"Such are the designs of the present Athenian expedition to Sicily, and
+you have heard them from the lips of the man who, of all men living, is
+most accurately acquainted with them. The other Athenian generals, who
+remain with the expedition, will endeavor to carry out these plans. And
+be sure that without your speedy interference they will all be
+accomplished. The Sicilian Greeks are deficient in military training;
+but still, if they could at once be brought to combine in an organized
+resistance to Athens, they might even now be saved. But as for the
+Syracusans resisting Athens by themselves, they have already, with the
+whole strength of their population, fought a battle and been beaten;
+they cannot face the Athenians at sea; and it is quite impossible for
+them to hold out against the force of their invaders. And if this city
+falls into the hands of the Athenians, all Sicily is theirs, and
+presently Italy also; and the danger, which I warned you of from that
+quarter, will soon fall upon yourselves. You must, therefore, in Sicily,
+fight for the safety of Peloponnesus. Send some galleys thither
+instantly. Put men on board who can work their own way over, and who, as
+soon as they land, can do duty as regular troops. But, above all, let
+one of yourselves, let a man of Sparta, go over to take the chief
+command, to bring into order and effective discipline the forces that
+are in Syracuse, and urge those who at present hang back to come forward
+and aid the Syracusans. The presence of a Spartan general at this crisis
+will do more to save the city than a whole army."
+
+The renegade then proceeded to urge on them the necessity of encouraging
+their friends in Sicily, by showing that they themselves were in earnest
+in hostility to Athens. He exhorted them not only to march their armies
+into Attica again, but to take up a permanent fortified position in the
+country; and he gave them in detail information of all that the
+Athenians most dreaded, and how his country might receive the most
+distressing and enduring injury at their hands.
+
+The Spartans resolved to act on his advice, and appointed Gylippus to
+the Sicilian command. Gylippus was a man who, to the national bravery
+and military skill of a Spartan united political sagacity that was
+worthy of his great fellow-countryman Brasidas; but his merits were
+debased by mean and sordid vices; and his is one of the cases in which
+history has been austerely just, and where little or no fame has been
+accorded to the successful but venal soldier. But for the purpose for
+which he was required in Sicily, an abler man could not have been found
+in Lacedaemon. His country gave him neither men nor money, but she gave
+him her authority; and the influence of her name and of his own talents
+was speedily seen in the zeal with which the Corinthians and other
+Peloponnesian Greeks began to equip a squadron to act under him for the
+rescue of Sicily. As soon as four galleys were ready, he hurried over
+with them to the southern coast of Italy, and there, though he received
+such evil tidings of the state of Syracuse that he abandoned all hope of
+saving that city, he determined to remain on the coast, and do what he
+could in preserving the Italian cities from the Athenians.
+
+So nearly, indeed, had Nicias completed his beleaguering lines, and so
+utterly desperate had the state of Syracuse seemingly become, that an
+assembly of the Syracusans was actually convened, and they were
+discussing the terms on which they should offer to capitulate, when a
+galley was seen dashing into the great harbor, and making her way toward
+the town with all the speed which her rowers could supply. From her
+shunning the part of the harbor where the Athenian fleet lay, and making
+straight for the Syracusan side, it was clear that she was a friend; the
+enemy's cruisers, careless through confidence of success, made no
+attempt to cut her off; she touched the beach, and a Corinthian captain,
+springing on shore from her, was eagerly conducted to the assembly of
+the Syracusan people just in time to prevent the fatal vote being put
+for a surrender.
+
+Providentially for Syracuse, Gongylus, the commander of the galley, had
+been prevented by an Athenian squadron from following Gylippus to South
+Italy, and he had been obliged to push direct for Syracuse from Greece.
+
+The sight of actual succor, and the promise of more, revived the
+drooping spirits of the Syracusans. They felt that they were not left
+desolate to perish, and the tidings that a Spartan was coming to command
+them confirmed their resolution to continue their resistance. Gylippus
+was already near the city. He had learned at Locri that the first report
+which had reached him of the state of Syracuse was exaggerated, and that
+there was unfinished space in the besiegers' lines through which it was
+barely possible to introduce re�nforcements into the town. Crossing the
+Straits of Messina, which the culpable negligence of Nicias had left
+unguarded, Gylippus landed on the northern coast of Sicily, and there
+began to collect from the Greek cities an army, of which the regular
+troops that he brought from Peloponnesus formed the nucleus. Such was
+the influence of the name of Sparta, and such were his own abilities and
+activity, that he succeeded in raising a force of about two thousand
+fully armed infantry, with a larger number of irregular troops. Nicias,
+as if infatuated, made no attempt to counteract his operation, nor, when
+Gylippus marched his little army toward Syracuse, did the Athenian
+commander endeavor to check him. The Syracusans marched out to meet him;
+and while the Athenians were solely intent on completing their
+fortifications on the southern side toward the harbor, Gylippus turned
+their position by occupying the high ground in the extreme rear of
+Epipolae. He then marched through the unfortified interval of Nicias'
+lines into the besieged town, and joining his troops with the Syracusan
+forces, after some engagements with varying success, gained the mastery
+over Nicias, drove the Athenians from Epipolae, and hemmed them into a
+disadvantageous position in the low grounds near the great harbor.
+
+The attention of all Greece was now fixed on Syracuse, and every enemy
+of Athens felt the importance of the opportunity now offered of checking
+her ambition, and, perhaps, of striking a deadly blow at her power.
+Larger reinforcements from Corinth, Thebes, and other cities now reached
+the Syracusans, while the baffled and dispirited Athenian general
+earnestly besought his countrymen to recall him, and represented the
+further prosecution of the siege as hopeless.
+
+But Athens had made it a maxim never to let difficulty or disaster drive
+her back from any enterprise once undertaken, so long as she possessed
+the means of making any effort, however desperate, for its
+accomplishment. With indomitable pertinacity, she now decreed, instead
+of recalling her first armament from before Syracuse, to send out a
+second, though her enemies near home had now renewed open warfare
+against her, and by occupying a permanent fortification in her territory
+had severely distressed her population, and were pressing her with
+almost all the hardships of an actual siege. She still was mistress of
+the sea, and she sent forth another fleet of seventy galleys, and
+another army, which seemed to drain almost the last reserves of her
+military population, to try if Syracuse could not yet be won, and the
+honor of the Athenian arms be preserved from the stigma of a retreat.
+Hers was, indeed, a spirit that might be broken, but never would bend.
+At the head of this second expedition she wisely placed her best
+general, Demosthenes, one of the most distinguished officers that the
+long Peloponnesian war had produced, and who, if he had originally held
+the Sicilian command, would soon have brought Syracuse to submission.
+
+The fame of Demosthenes the general has been dimmed by the superior
+lustre of his great countryman, Demosthenes the orator. When the name of
+Demosthenes is mentioned, it is the latter alone that is thought of. The
+soldier has found no biographer. Yet out of the long list of great men
+whom the Athenian republic produced, there are few that deserve to stand
+higher than this brave, though finally unsuccessful leader of her fleets
+and armies in the first half of the Peloponnesian war. In his first
+campaign in Aetolia he had shown some of the rashness of youth, and had
+received a lesson of caution by which he profited throughout the rest of
+his career, but without losing any of his natural energy in enterprise
+or in execution. He had performed the distinguished service of rescuing
+Naupactus from a powerful hostile armament in the seventh year of the
+war; he had then, at the request of the Acarnanian republics, taken on
+himself the office of commander-in-chief of all their forces, and at
+their head he had gained some important advantages over the enemies of
+Athens in Western Greece. His most celebrated exploits had been the
+occupation of Pylos on the Messenian coast, the successful defence of
+that place against the fleet and armies of Lacedaemon, and the
+subsequent capture of the Spartan forces on the isle of Sphacteria,
+which was the severest blow dealt to Sparta throughout the war, and
+which had mainly caused her to humble herself to make the truce with
+Athens.
+
+Demosthenes was as honorably unknown in the war of party politics at
+Athens as he was eminent in the war against the foreign enemy. We read
+of no intrigues of his on either the aristocratic or democratic side. He
+was neither in the interest of Nicias nor of Cleon. His private
+character was free from any of the stains which polluted that of
+Alcibiades. On all these points the silence of the comic dramatist is
+decisive evidence in his favor. He had also the moral courage, not
+always combined with physical, of seeking to do his duty to his country,
+irrespective of any odium that he himself might incur, and unhampered by
+any petty jealousy of those who were associated with him in command.
+There are few men named in ancient history of whom posterity would
+gladly know more or whom we sympathize with more deeply in the
+calamities that befell them than Demosthenes, the son of Alcisthenes,
+who, in the spring of the year 413, left Piraeus at the head of the
+second Athenian expedition against Sicily.
+
+His arrival was critically timed; for Gylippus had encouraged the
+Syracusans to attack the Athenians under Nicias by sea as well as by
+land, and by one able stratagem of Ariston, one of the admirals of the
+Corinthian auxiliary squadron, the Syracusans and their confederates had
+inflicted on the fleet of Nicias the first defeat that the Athenian navy
+had ever sustained from a numerically inferior enemy. Gylippus was
+preparing to follow up his advantage by fresh attacks on the Athenians
+on both elements, when the arrival of Demosthenes completely changed the
+aspect of affairs and restored the superiority to the invaders. With
+seventy-three war-galleys in the highest state of efficiency, and
+brilliantly equipped, with a force of five thousand picked men of the
+regular infantry of Athens and her allies, and a still larger number of
+bowmen, javelin-men, and slingers on board, Demosthenes rowed round the
+great harbor with loud cheers and martial music, as if in defiance of
+the Syracusans and their confederates. His arrival had indeed changed
+their newly born hopes into the deepest consternation.
+
+The resources of Athens seemed inexhaustible, and resistance to her
+hopeless. They had been told that she was reduced to the last
+extremities, and that her territory was occupied by an enemy; and yet
+here they saw her sending forth, as if in prodigality of power, a second
+armament, to make foreign conquests, not inferior to that with which
+Nicias had first landed on the Sicilian shores.
+
+With the intuitive decision of a great commander, Demosthenes at once
+saw that the possession of Epipolae was the key to the possession of
+Syracuse, and he resolved to make a prompt and vigorous attempt to
+recover that position while his force was unimpaired and the
+consternation which its arrival had produced among the besieged remained
+unabated. The Syracusans and their allies had run out an outwork along
+Epipolae from the city walls, intersecting the fortified lines of
+circumvallation which Nicias had commenced, but from which he had been
+driven by Gylippus. Could Demosthenes succeed in storming this outwork,
+and in re�stablishing the Athenian troops on the high ground, he might
+fairly hope to be able to resume the circumvallation of the city and
+become the conqueror of Syracuse; for when once the besiegers' lines
+were completed, the number of the troops with which Gylippus had
+garrisoned the place would only tend to exhaust the stores of provisions
+and accelerate its downfall.
+
+An easily repelled attack was first made on the outwork in the daytime,
+probably more with the view of blinding the besieged to the nature of
+the main operations than with any expectation of succeeding in an open
+assault, with every disadvantage of the ground to contend against. But,
+when the darkness had set in, Demosthenes formed his men in columns,
+each soldier taking with him five days' provisions, and the engineers
+and workmen of the camp following the troops with their tools and all
+portable implements of fortification, so as at once to secure any
+advantage of ground that the army might gain. Thus equipped and
+prepared, he led his men along by the foot of the southern flank of
+Epipolae, in a direction toward the interior of the island, till he came
+immediately below the narrow ridge that forms the extremity of the high
+ground looking westward. He then wheeled his vanguard to the right, sent
+them rapidly up the paths that wind along the face of the cliff, and
+succeeded in completely surprising the Syracusan outposts, and in
+placing his troops fairly on the extreme summit of the all-important
+Epipolae. Thence the Athenians marched eagerly down the slope toward the
+town, routing some Syracusan detachments that were quartered in their
+way, and vigorously assailing the unprotected side of the outwork.
+
+All at first favored them. The outwork was abandoned by its garrison,
+and the Athenian engineers began to dismantle it. In vain Gylippus
+brought up fresh troops to check the assault; the Athenians broke and
+drove them back, and continued to press hotly forward, in the full
+confidence of victory. But, amid the general consternation of the
+Syracusans and their confederates, one body of infantry stood firm. This
+was a brigade of their Boeotian allies, which was posted low down the
+slope of Epipolae, outside the city walls. Coolly and steadily the
+Boeotian infantry formed their line, and, undismayed by the current of
+flight around them, advanced against the advancing Athenians. This was
+the crisis of the battle. But the Athenian van was disorganized by its
+own previous successes; and, yielding to the unexpected charge thus made
+on it by troops in perfect order, and of the most obstinate courage, it
+was driven back in confusion upon the other divisions of the army that
+still continued to press forward. When once the tide was thus turned,
+the Syracusans passed rapidly from the extreme of panic to the extreme
+of vengeful daring, and with all their forces they now fiercely assailed
+the embarrassed and receding Athenians. In vain did the officers of the
+latter strive to reform their line. Amid the din and the shouting of the
+fight, and the confusion inseparable upon a night engagement, especially
+one where many thousand combatants were pent and whirled together in a
+narrow and uneven area, the necessary manoeuvres were impracticable; and
+though many companies still fought on desperately, wherever the
+moonlight showed them the semblance of a foe, they fought without
+concert or subordination; and not infrequently, amid the deadly chaos,
+Athenian troops assailed each other. Keeping their ranks close, the
+Syracusans and their allies pressed on against the disorganized masses
+of the besiegers, and at length drove them, with heavy slaughter, over
+the cliffs, which an hour or two before they had scaled full of hope and
+apparently certain of success.
+
+This defeat was decisive of the event of the siege. The Athenians
+afterward struggled only to protect themselves from the vengeance which
+the Syracusans sought to wreak in the complete destruction of their
+invaders. Never, however, was vengeance more complete and terrible. A
+series of sea-fights followed, in which the Athenian galleys were
+utterly destroyed or captured. The mariners and soldiers who escaped
+death in disastrous engagements, and a vain attempt to force a retreat
+into the interior of the island, became prisoners of war. Nicias and
+Demosthenes were put to death in cold blood, and their men either
+perished miserably in the Syracusan dungeons or were sold into slavery
+to the very persons whom, in their pride of power, they had crossed the
+seas to enslave.
+
+All danger from Athens to the independent nations of the West was now
+forever at an end. She, indeed, continued to struggle against her
+combined enemies and revolted allies with unparalleled gallantry, and
+many more years of varying warfare passed away before she surrendered to
+their arms. But no success in subsequent contests could ever have
+restored her to the pre�minence in enterprise, resources, and maritime
+skill which she had acquired before her fatal reverses in Sicily. Nor
+among the rival Greek republics, whom her own rashness aided to crush
+her, was there any capable of reorganizing her empire, or resuming her
+schemes of conquest. The dominion of Western Europe was left for Rome
+and Carthage to dispute two centuries later, in conflicts still more
+terrible, and with even higher displays of military daring and genius
+than Athens had witnessed either in her rise, her meridian, or her fall.
+
+
+
+
+RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS
+
+B.C. 401-399
+
+XENOPHON
+
+
+(The expedition of the Greeks, generally known as the "Retreat of the
+Ten Thousand," was conducted by Xenophon, a Greek historian, essayist,
+and military commander. Xenophon was a pupil of Socrates, of whom he
+left a famous memoir. In B.C. 401 he accepted the invitation of his
+friend Proxenus of Boeotia, a general of Greek mercenaries, to take
+service under Cyrus the Younger, brother of Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of
+Persia.
+
+Cyrus had considered himself as deeply wronged by his elder brother, who
+had thrown him into prison on the death of their father, Darius.
+Escaping from prison, he formed a design to wrest the throne from
+Artaxerxes. For this purpose he engaged the forces of Proxenus, and to
+this army Xenophon attached himself. The rendezvous was Sardis, from
+which the army marched east under the pretext of chastising the
+revolting mountaineers of Pisidia. Instead of attacking the Pisidians,
+the followers of Cyrus proceeded east through Asia and Babylonia till
+they met the forces of Artaxerxes at Cunaxa. A furious battle took
+place, and the rout of the king's army had begun when Cyrus, elated with
+the victory that seemed just within his grasp, challenged his brother to
+single combat. In the duel that ensued Cyrus was slain. Proxenus had
+already fallen, and the virtual command of the Greek army soon devolved
+upon Xenophon, who thereupon began the famous retreat.
+
+A vivid account of battles, and of hardships endured from the cold, in
+the struggle through mountain snows, through almost impassable forests,
+and across bridgeless rivers, is given in Xenophon's _Anabasis_, the
+celebrated work, in seven books, which forms the classical narrative of
+the campaign and the retreat. Soon after the death of Cyrus, in
+September, B.C. 401, the seizure and murder of the leading Greek
+generals by the treacherous Persian satrap, Tissaphernes, placed the
+Greek army in great peril. Xenophon, who now took practical command,
+counselled and exhorted the surviving leaders, and on the next day the
+Greeks formed in a hollow square, the baggage in the centre, and began
+their retreat, which led them along the Tigris to the territory of the
+Carduchi [Kurds], through Armenia, and across Georgia, the enemy often
+harassing them.
+
+At the point where the climax of the story, which is presented here, may
+be said to begin, the Greeks have entered Armenia, passed the sources of
+the Tigris, and reached the Teleboas. Having made a treaty with
+Tiribazus, governor of the province, and discovered his insincerity, and
+that he was ready to attack them in their passage over the mountains,
+they resolved upon a quick resumption of their march.
+
+When, in the fifth month of the retreat the Greeks at last from a
+hilltop beheld the Euxine, they sent up a cry, "The sea! the sea!" which
+has echoed through succeeding ages as one of the great historic
+jubilations of humanity. At the end of the retreat their numbers were
+reduced to about six thousand, and from the starting-point at Cunaxa to
+the middle of the southern coast of the Black Sea they had travelled as
+much as two thousand miles. From Ephesus to Cunaxa and thence to the
+Black Sea region they had marched in fifteen months [February, B.C. 401,
+to June, 400], and nine months more passed before they joined the
+Spartan army in Asia Minor, and their task was fully accomplished. Their
+great performance is regarded as having prepared the way for Alexander's
+triumphant advances in the East. The young conqueror, on the eve of the
+battle of Issus, declared that he owed inspiration to the feat of the
+Ten Thousand.)
+
+
+It was thought necessary to march away as fast as possible, before the
+enemy's force should be reassembled, and get possession of the pass.
+
+Collecting their baggage at once, therefore, they set forward through a
+deep snow, taking with them several guides, and, having the same day
+passed the height on which Tiribazus had intended to attack them, they
+encamped. Hence they proceeded three days' journey through a desert
+tract of country, a distance of fifteen _parasangs_, to the river
+Euphrates, and passed it without being wet higher than the middle. The
+sources of the river were said not to be far off. From hence they
+advanced three days' march, through much snow and a level plain, a
+distance of fifteen parasangs; the third day's march was extremely
+troublesome, as the north wind blew full in their faces, completely
+parching up everything and benumbing the men. One of the augurs, in
+consequence, advised that they should sacrifice to the wind, and a
+sacrifice was accordingly offered, when the vehemence of the wind
+appeared to everyone manifestly to abate. The depth of the snow was a
+fathom, so that many of the baggage cattle and slaves perished, with
+about thirty of the soldiers.
+
+They continued to burn fires through the whole night, for there was
+plenty of wood at the place of encampment. But those who came up late
+could get no wood; those, therefore, who had arrived before and had
+kindled fires would not admit the late comers to the fire unless they
+gave them a share of the corn or other provisions that they had brought.
+Thus they shared with each other what they respectively had. In the
+places where the fires were made, as the snow melted, there were formed
+large pits that reached down to the ground, and here there was
+accordingly opportunity to measure the depth of the snow.
+
+From hence they marched through snow the whole of the following day, and
+many of the men contracted the _bulimia_.[28] Xenophon, who commanded in
+the rear, finding in his way such of the men as had fallen down with it,
+knew not what disease it was. But as one of these acquainted with it
+told him that they were evidently affected with bulimia, and that they
+would get up if they had something to eat, he went round among the
+baggage and wherever he saw anything eatable he gave it out, and sent
+such as were able to run to distribute it among those diseased, who, as
+soon as they had eaten, rose up and continued their march. As they
+proceeded, Chirisophus came, just as it grew dark, to a village, and
+found, at a spring in front of the rampart, some women and girls
+belonging to the place fetching water. The women asked them who they
+were, and the interpreter answered, in the Persian language, that they
+were people going from the king to the satrap. They replied that he was
+not there, but about a parasang off.
+
+[Footnote 28: Spelman quotes a description of the bulimia from Galen, in
+which it is said to be "a disease in which the patient frequently craves
+for food, loses the use of his limbs, falls down, turns pale, feels his
+extremities become cold, his stomach oppressed, and his pulse feeble."
+Here, however, it seems to mean little more than a faintness from long
+fasting.]
+
+However, as it was late, they went with the water-carriers within the
+rampart, to the head man of the village, and here Chirisophus and as
+many of the troops as could come up encamped; but of the rest, such as
+were unable to get to the end of the journey spent the night on the way
+without food or fire, and some of the soldiers lost their lives on that
+occasion. Some of the enemy too, who had collected themselves into a
+body, pursued our rear, and seized any of the baggage-cattle that were
+unable to proceed, fighting with one another for the possession of them.
+Such of the soldiers also as had lost their sight from the effects of
+the snow, or had their toes mortified by the cold, were left behind. It
+was found to be a relief to the eyes against the snow, if the soldiers
+kept something black before them on the march, and to the feet, if they
+kept constantly in motion, and allowed themselves no rest, and if they
+took off their shoes in the night. But as to such as slept with their
+shoes on, the straps worked into their feet, and the soles were frozen
+about them, for when their old shoes had failed them, shoes of raw hides
+had been made by the men themselves from the newly skinned oxen.
+
+From such unavoidable sufferings some of the soldiers were left behind,
+who, seeing a piece of ground of a black appearance, from the snow
+having disappeared there, conjectured that it must have melted, and it
+had in fact melted in the spot from the effect of a fountain, which was
+sending up vapor in a wooded hollow close at hand. Turning aside
+thither, they sat down and refused to proceed farther. Xenophon, who was
+with the rear-guard, as soon as he heard this tried to prevail on them
+by every art and means not to be left behind, telling them, at the same
+time, that the enemy were collected and pursuing them in great numbers.
+At last he grew angry, and they told him to kill them, as they were
+quite unable to go forward. He then thought it the best course to strike
+a terror, if possible, into the enemy that were behind, lest they should
+fall upon the exhausted soldiers. It was now dark, and the enemy were
+advancing with a great noise, quarrelling about the booty that they had
+taken, when such of the rear-guard as were not disabled started up and
+rushed toward them, while the tired men, shouting as loud as they could,
+clashed their spears against their shields. The enemy, struck with
+alarm, threw themselves among the snow into the hollow, and no one of
+them afterward made himself heard from any quarter.
+
+Xenophon and those with him, telling the sick men that a party should
+come to their relief next day, proceeded on their march, but before they
+had gone four _stadia_ they found other soldiers resting by the way in
+the snow, and covered up with it, no guard being stationed over them.
+They roused them up, but they said that the head of the army was not
+moving forward. Xenophon, going past them and sending on some of the
+ablest of the _peltasts_, ordered them to ascertain what it was that
+hindered their progress. They brought word that the whole army was in
+that manner taking rest. Xenophon and his men, therefore, stationing
+such a guard as they could, took up their quarters there without fire or
+supper. When it was near day, he sent the youngest of his men to the
+sick, telling them to rouse them and oblige them to proceed. At this
+juncture Chirisophus sent some of his people from the village to see how
+the rear were faring. The young men were rejoiced to see them, and gave
+them the sick to conduct to the camp, while they themselves went
+forward, and, before they had gone twenty stadia, found themselves at
+the village in which Chirisophus was quartered. When they came together,
+it was thought safe enough to lodge the troops up and down in the
+village. Chirisophus accordingly remained where he was, and the other
+officers, appropriating by lot the several villages that they had in
+sight, went to their respective quarters with their men.
+
+Here Polycrates, an Athenian captain, requested leave of absence, and
+taking with him the most active of his men, and hastening to the village
+to which Xenophon had been allotted, surprised all the villagers and
+their head man in their houses, together with seventeen colts that were
+bred as a tribute for the king, and the head man's daughter, who had
+been but nine days married; her husband was gone out to hunt hares, and
+was not found in any of the villages. Their houses were underground, the
+entrance like the mouth of a well, but spacious below; there were
+passages dug into them for the cattle, but the people descended by
+ladders. In the houses were goats, sheep, cows, and fowls, with their
+young; all the cattle were kept on fodder within the walls.[29] There
+were also wheat, barley, leguminous vegetables, and barley wine[30] in
+large bowls; the grains of barley floated in it even with the brim of
+the vessels, and reeds also lay in it, some larger and some smaller,
+without joints; and these, when any one was thirsty, he was to take in
+his mouth and suck.[31] The liquor was very strong, unless one mixed
+water with it, and a very pleasant drink to those accustomed to it.
+
+[Footnote 29: This description of a village on the Armenian uplands
+applies itself to many that I visited in the present day. The descent by
+wells is now rare, but is still to be met with; but in exposed and
+elevated situations the houses are uniformly semi-subterraneous and
+entered by as small an aperture as possible, to prevent the cold getting
+in. Whatever the kind of cottage used, cows, sheep, goats, and fowls
+participate with the family in the warmth and protection thereof.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Something like our ale.]
+
+[Footnote 31: The reeds were used, says Krueger, that none of the grains
+of barley might be taken into the mouth.]
+
+Xenophon made the chief man of his village sup with him, and told him to
+be of good courage, assuring him that he should not be deprived of his
+children, and that they would not go away without filling his house with
+provisions in return for what they took, if he would but prove himself
+the author of some service to the army till they should reach another
+tribe. This he promised, and, to show his good-will, pointed out where
+some wine[32] was buried. This night, therefore, the soldiers rested in
+their several quarters in the midst of great abundance, setting a guard
+over the chief, and keeping his children at the same time under their
+eye. The following day Xenophon took the head man and went with him to
+Chirisophus, and wherever he passed by a village he turned aside to
+visit those who were quartered in it, and found them in all parts
+feasting and enjoying themselves; nor would they anywhere let them go
+till they had set refreshments before them; and they placed everywhere
+upon the same table lamb, kid, pork, veal, and fowl, with plenty of
+bread, both of wheat and barley. Whenever any person, to pay a
+compliment, wished to drink to another, he took him to the large bowl,
+where he had to stoop down and drink, sucking like an ox. The chief they
+allowed to take whatever he pleased, but he accepted nothing from them;
+where he found any of his relatives, however, he took them with him.
+
+[Footnote 32: Xenophon seems to mean _grape_ wine, rather than to refer
+to the barley wine just before mentioned, of which the taste does not
+appear to have been much liked by the Greeks. Wine from grapes was not
+made, it is probable, in these parts, on account of the cold, but Strabo
+speaks of the fruit wine of Armenia Minor as not inferior to any of the
+Greek wines.--_Schneider_.]
+
+When they came to Chirisophus, they found his men also feasting in their
+quarters, crowned with wreaths made of hay, and Armenian boys, in their
+barbarian dress, waiting upon them, to whom they made signs what they
+were to do as if they had been deaf and dumb. When Chirisophus and
+Xenophon had saluted one another, they both asked the chief man, through
+the interpreter who spoke the Persian language, what country it was. He
+replied that it was Armenia. They then asked him for whom the horses
+were bred, and he said that they were a tribute for the king, and added
+that the neighboring country was that of Chalybes, and told them in what
+direction the road lay. Xenophon then went away, conducting the chief
+back to his family, giving him the horse that he had taken, which was
+rather old, to fatten and offer in sacrifice (for he had heard that it
+had been consecrated to the sun), being afraid, indeed, that it might
+die, as it had been injured by the journey. He then took some of the
+young horses, and gave one of them to each of the other generals and
+captains. The horses in this country were smaller than those of Persia,
+but far more spirited. The chief instructed the men to tie little bags
+round the feet of the horses and other cattle when they drove them
+through the snow, for without such bags they sunk up to their bellies.
+
+When the eighth day was come, Xenophon committed the guide to
+Chirisophus. He left the chief[33] all the members of his family, except
+his son, a youth just coming to mature age; him he gave in charge to
+Episthenes of Amphipolis, in order that if the father should conduct
+them properly he might return home with him. At the same time they
+carried to his house as many provisions as they could, and then broke up
+their camp and resumed their march. The chief conducted them through the
+snow, walking at liberty. When he came to the end of the third day's
+march, Chirisophus was angry at him for not guiding them to some
+villages. He said that there was none in that part of the country.
+Chirisophus then struck him, but did not confine him, and in consequence
+he ran off in the night, leaving his son behind him. This affair, the
+ill-treatment and neglect of the guide, was the only cause of dissension
+between Chirisophus and Xenophon during the march. Episthenes conceived
+an affection for the youth, and, taking him home, found him extremely
+attached to him.
+
+[Footnote 33: This is rather oddly expressed, for the guide and the
+chief were the same person.]
+
+After this occurrence they proceeded seven days' journey, five parasangs
+each day, till they came to the river Phasis, the breadth of which is a
+_plethrum_. Hence they advanced two days' journey, ten parasangs, when,
+on the pass that led over the mountains into the plain, the Chalybes,
+Taochi, and Phasians were drawn up to oppose their progress.
+Chirisophus, seeing these enemies in possession of the height, came to a
+halt, at the distance of about thirty stadia, that he might not approach
+them while leading the army in a column. He accordingly ordered the
+other officers to bring up their companies, that the whole force might
+be formed in line.
+
+When the rear-guard was come up, he called together the generals and
+captains and spoke to them as follows: "The enemy, as you see, is in
+possession of the pass over the mountains, and it is proper for us to
+consider how we may encounter them to the best advantage. It is my
+opinion, therefore, that we should direct the troops to get their dinner
+and that we ourselves should hold a council, in the mean time, whether
+it is advisable to cross the mountain to-day or to-morrow."
+
+"It seems best to me," exclaimed Cleanor, "to march at once, as soon as
+we have dined and resumed our arms, against the enemy; for if we waste
+the present day in inaction the enemy, who are now looking down upon us,
+will grow bolder, and it is likely that, as their confidence is
+increased, others will join them in greater numbers."
+
+After him Xenophon said: "I am of opinion that if it be necessary to
+fight, we ought to make our arrangements so as to fight with the
+greatest advantage; but that if we propose to pass the mountains as
+easily as possible, we ought to consider how we may incur the fewest
+wounds and lose the fewest men. The range of hills, as far as we see,
+extends more than sixty stadia in length; but the people nowhere seem to
+be watching us except along the line of road; and it is, therefore,
+better, I think, to endeavor to try to seize unobserved some part of the
+unguarded range, and to get possession of it, if we can, beforehand,
+than to attack a strong post and men prepared to resist us, for it is
+far less difficult to march up a steep ascent without fighting than
+along a level road with enemies on each side; and in the night, if men
+are not obliged to fight, they can see better what is before them than
+by day if engaged with enemies; while a rough road is easier to the feet
+to those who are marching without molestation than a smooth one to those
+who are pelted on the head with missiles. Nor do I think it at all
+impracticable for us to steal a way for ourselves, as we can march by
+night, so as not to be seen, and can keep at such a distance from the
+enemy as to allow no possibility of being heard. We seem likely, too, in
+my opinion, if we make a pretended attack on this point, to find the
+rest of the range still less guarded, for the enemy will so much the
+more probably stay where they are. But why should I speak doubtfully
+about stealing? For I hear that you Lacedaemonians, O Chirisophus, such
+of you at least as are of the better class, practise stealing from your
+boyhood, and it is not a disgrace, but an honor, to steal whatever the
+law does not forbid; while, in order that you may steal with the utmost
+dexterity, and strive to escape discovery, it is appointed by law that,
+if you are caught stealing, you are scourged. It is now high time for
+you, therefore, to give proof of your education, and to take care that
+we may not receive many stripes."
+
+"But I hear that you Athenians also," rejoined Chirisophus, "are very
+clever at stealing the public money, though great danger threatens him
+that steals it; and that your best men steal it most, if indeed your
+best men are thought worthy to be your magistrates; so that it is time
+for you likewise to give proof of your education."
+
+"I am then ready," exclaimed Xenophon, "to march with the rear-guard, as
+soon as we have supped, to take possession of the hills. I have guides
+too, for our light-armed men captured some of the marauders following
+us, by lying in ambush, and from them I learn that the mountains are not
+impassable, but are grazed over by goats and oxen, so that if we once
+gain possession of any part of the range, there will be tracks also for
+our baggage cattle. I expect also that the enemy will no longer keep
+their ground, when they see us upon a level with them on the heights,
+for they will not now come down to be upon a level with us." Chirisophus
+then said: "But why should you go, and leave the charge of the rear?
+Rather send others, unless some volunteers present themselves." Upon
+this Aristonymus of Methydria came forward with his heavy-armed men, and
+Aristeas of Chios and Nichomachus of Oeta with their light-armed; and
+they made an arrangement that as soon as they should reach the top they
+should light a number of fires. Having settled these points, they went
+to dinner; and after dinner Chirisophus led forward the whole army ten
+stadia toward the enemy, that he might appear to be fully resolved to
+march against them on that quarter.
+
+When they had taken their supper, and night came on, those appointed for
+the service went forward and got possession of the hills; the other
+troops rested where they were. The enemy, when they saw the heights
+occupied, kept watch and burned a number of fires all night. As soon as
+it was day, Chirisophus, after having offered sacrifice, marched forward
+along the road; while those who had gained the heights advanced by the
+ridge. Most of the enemy, meanwhile, stayed at the pass, but a part went
+to meet the troops coming along the heights. But before the main bodies
+came together, those on the ridge closed with one another, and the
+Greeks had the advantage, and put the enemy to flight. At the same time
+the Grecian peltasts ran up from the plain to attack the enemy drawn up
+to receive them, and Chirisophus followed at a quick pace with the
+heavy-armed men. The enemy at the pass, however, when they saw those
+above defeated, took to flight. Not many of them were killed, but a
+great number of shields were taken, which the Greeks, by hacking them
+with their swords, rendered useless. As soon as they had gained the
+ascent, and had sacrificed and erected a trophy, they went down into the
+plain before them, and arrived at a number of villages stored with
+abundance of excellent provisions.
+
+From hence they marched five days' journey, thirty parasangs, to the
+country of the Taochi, where provisions began to fail them; for the
+Taochi inhabited strong fastnesses, in which they had laid up all their
+supplies. Having at length, however, arrived at one place which had no
+city or houses attached to it, but in which men and women and a great
+number of cattle were assembled, Chirisophus, as soon as he came before
+it, made it the object of an attack; and when the first division that
+assailed it began to be tired, another succeeded, and then another, for
+it was not possible for them to surround it in a body, as there was a
+river about it. When Xenophon came up with his rear-guard, peltasts, and
+heavy-armed men, Chirisophus exclaimed: "You come seasonably, for we
+must take this place, as there are no provisions for the army unless we
+take it."
+
+They then deliberated together, and Xenophon asking what hindered them
+from taking the place, Chirisophus replied: "The only approach to it is
+the one which you see; but when any of our men attempt to pass along it,
+the enemy roll down stones over yonder impending rock, and whoever is
+struck is treated as you behold;" and he pointed, at the same moment, to
+some of the men who had had their legs and ribs broken. "But if they
+expend all their stones," rejoined Xenophon, "is there anything else to
+prevent us from advancing? For we see, in front of us, only a few men,
+and but two or three of them armed. The space, too, through which we
+have to pass under exposure to the stones is, as you see, only about a
+hundred and fifty feet in length; and of this about a hundred feet is
+covered with large pine trees in groups, against which, if the men place
+themselves, what would they suffer either from the flying stones or the
+rolling ones? The remaining part of the space is not above fifty feet,
+over which, when the stones cease, we must pass at a running pace."
+
+"But," said Chirisophus, "the instant we offer to go to the part covered
+with trees, the stones fly in great numbers."
+
+"That," cried Xenophon, "would be the very thing we want, for thus they
+will exhaust their stones the sooner. Let us then advance, if we can, to
+the point whence we shall have but a short way to run, and from which we
+may, if we please, easily retreat."
+
+Chirisophus and Xenophon, with Callimachus of Parrhasia, one of the
+captains, who had that day the lead of all the other captains of the
+rear-guard, then went forward, all the rest of the captains remaining
+out of danger. Next, about seventy of the men advanced under the trees,
+not in a body, but one by one, each sheltering himself as he could.
+Agasias of Stymphalus, and Aristonymus of Methydria, who were also
+captains of the rear-guard, with some others were at the same time
+standing behind, without the trees, for it was not safe for more than
+one company to stand under them. Callimachus then adopted the following
+stratagem: he ran forward two or three paces from the tree under which
+he was sheltered, and when the stones began to be hurled, hastily drew
+back; and at each of his sallies more than ten cartloads of stones were
+spent.
+
+Agasias, observing what Callimachus was doing, and that the eyes of the
+whole army were upon him, and fearing that he himself might not be the
+first to enter the place, began to advance alone--neither calling to
+Aristonymus who was next him, nor to Eurylochus of Lusia, both of whom
+were his intimate friends, nor to any other person--and passed by all
+the rest. Callimachus, seeing him rushing by, caught hold of the rim of
+his shield, and at that moment Aristonymus of Methydria ran past them
+both, and after him Eurylochus of Lusia, for all these sought
+distinction for valor, and were rivals to one another; and thus, in
+mutual emulation, they got possession of the place, for when they had
+once rushed in, not a stone was hurled from above. But a dreadful
+spectacle was then to be seen; for the women, flinging their children
+over the precipice, threw themselves after them; and the men followed
+their example. �neas of Stymphalus, a captain, seeing one of them, who
+had on a rich garment, running to throw himself over, caught hold of it
+with intent to stop him. But the man dragged him forward, and they both
+went rolling down the rocks together, and were killed. Thus very few
+prisoners were taken, but a great number of oxen, asses, and sheep.
+
+Hence they advanced, seven days' journey, a distance of fifty parasangs,
+through the country of the Chalybes. These were the most warlike people
+of all that they passed through, and came to close combat with them.
+They had linen cuirasses, reaching down to the groin, and, instead of
+skirts, thick cords twisted. They had also greaves and helmets, and at
+their girdles a short falchion, as large as a Spartan crooked dagger,
+with which they cut the throats of all whom they could master, and then,
+cutting off their heads, carried them away with them. They sang and
+danced when the enemy were likely to see them. They carried also a spear
+of about fifteen cubits in length, having one spike.[34] They stayed in
+their villages till the Greeks had passed by, when they pursued and
+perpetually harassed them. They had their dwellings in strong places, in
+which they had also laid up their provisions, so that the Greeks could
+get nothing from that country, but lived upon the cattle which they had
+taken from the Taochi.
+
+[Footnote 34: Having one iron point at the upper end, and no point at
+the lower for fixing the spear in the ground.]
+
+The Greeks next arrived at the river Harpasus, the breadth of which was
+four _plethra_. Hence they proceeded through the territory of the
+Scythini, four days' journey, making twenty parasangs, over a level
+tract, until they came to some villages, in which they halted three days
+and collected provisions. From this place they advanced four days'
+journey, twenty parasangs, to a large, rich and populous city, called
+Gymnias, from which the governor of the country sent the Greeks a guide
+to conduct them through a region at war with his own people. The guide,
+when he came, said that he would take them in five days to a place
+whence they should see the sea; if not, he would consent to be put to
+death. When, as he proceeded, he entered the country of their enemies,
+he exhorted them to burn and lay waste the lands; whence it was evident
+that he had come for this very purpose, and not from any good-will to
+the Greeks.
+
+On the fifth day they came to the mountain; and the name of it was
+Theches. When the men who were in the front had mounted the height, and
+looked down upon the sea, a great shout proceeded from them; and
+Xenophon and the rearguard, on hearing it, thought that some new enemies
+were assailing the front, for in the rear, too, the people from the
+country that they had burned were following them, and the rear-guard, by
+placing an ambuscade, had killed some, and taken others prisoners, and
+had captured about twenty shields made of raw ox-hides with the hair on.
+But as the noise still increased, and drew nearer, and as those who came
+up from time to time kept running at full speed to join those who were
+continually shouting, the cries becoming louder as the men became more
+numerous, it appeared to Xenophon that it must be something of very
+great moment. Mounting his horse, therefore, and taking with him Lycius
+and the cavalry, he hastened forward to give aid, when presently they
+heard the soldiers shouting, "The sea, the sea!" and cheering on one
+another. They then all began to run, the rear-guard as well as the rest,
+and the baggage-cattle and horses were put to their speed; and when they
+had all arrived at the top, the men embraced one another and their
+generals and captains, with tears in their eyes. Suddenly, whoever it
+was that suggested it, the soldiers brought stones, and raised a large
+mound, on which they laid a number of raw ox-hides, staves, and shields
+taken from the enemy. The shields the guide himself hacked in pieces,
+and exhorted the rest to do the same. Soon after, the Greeks sent away
+the guide, giving him presents from the common stock: a horse, a silver
+cup, a Persian robe, and ten _darics_; but he showed most desire for the
+rings on their fingers, and obtained many of them from the soldiers.
+Having then pointed out to them a village where they might take up their
+quarters, and the road by which they were to proceed to the Macrones,
+when the evening came on he departed, pursuing his way during the night.
+
+Hence the Greeks advanced three days' journey, a distance of ten
+parasangs, through the country of the Macrones. On the first day they
+came to a river which divides the territories of the Macrones from those
+of the Scythini. On their right they had an eminence extremely difficult
+of access, and on their left another river, into which the boundary
+river, which they had to cross, empties itself. This stream was thickly
+edged with trees, not indeed large, but growing closely together. These
+the Greeks, as soon as they came to the spot, cut down,[35] being in
+haste to get out of the country as soon as possible. The Macrones,
+however, equipped with wicker shields, and spears, and hair tunics, were
+drawn up on the opposite side of the crossing-place; they were animating
+one another and throwing stones into the river.[36] They did not hit our
+men or cause them any inconvenience.
+
+[Footnote 35: The Greeks cut down the trees in order to throw them into
+the stream, and form a kind of bridge on which they might cross.]
+
+[Footnote 36: They threw stones into the river that they might stand on
+them and approach nearer to the Greeks, so as to use their weapons with
+more effect.]
+
+At this juncture one of the peltasts came up to Xenophon, saying that he
+had been a slave at Athens, and adding that he knew the language of
+these men. "I think, indeed," said he, "that this is my country, and, if
+there is nothing to prevent, I should wish to speak to the people."
+
+"There is nothing to prevent," replied Xenophon; "so speak to them, and
+first ascertain what people they are." When he asked them, they said
+that they were the Macrones. "Inquire, then," said Xenophon, "why they
+are drawn up to oppose us and wish to be our enemies." They replied,
+"Because you come against our country." The generals then told him to
+acquaint them that we were not come with any wish to do them injury, but
+that we were returning to Greece after having been engaged in war with
+the king, and that we were desirous to reach the sea. They asked if the
+Greeks would give pledges to this effect; and the Greeks replied that
+they were willing both to give and receive them. The Macrones
+accordingly presented the Greeks with a barbarian lance, and the Greeks
+gave them a Grecian one; for they said that such were their usual
+pledges. Both parties called the gods to witness.
+
+After these mutual assurances, the Macrones immediately assisted them in
+cutting away the trees and made a passage for them as if to bring them
+over, mingling freely among the Greeks; they also gave such facilities
+as they could for buying provisions, and conducted them through their
+country for three days, until they brought them to the confines of the
+Colchians. Here was a range of hills, high, but accessible, and upon
+them the Colchians were drawn up in array. The Greeks, at first, drew up
+against them in a line, with the intention of marching up the hill in
+this disposition; but afterward the generals thought proper to assemble
+and deliberate how they might engage with the best effect.
+
+Xenophon then said it appeared to him that they ought to relinquish the
+arrangement in line, and to dispose the troops in columns; "for a line,"
+pursued he, "will be broken at once, as we shall find the hills in some
+parts impassable, though in others easy of access; and this disruption
+will immediately produce despondency in the men, when, after being
+ranged in a regular line, they find it dispersed. Again, if we advance
+drawn up very many deep, the enemy will stretch beyond us on both sides,
+and will employ the parts that outreach us in any way they may think
+proper; and if we advance only a few deep, it would not be at all
+surprising if our line be broken through by showers of missiles and men
+falling upon us in large bodies. If this happen in any part, it will be
+ill for the whole extent of the line. I think, then, that having formed
+our companies in columns, we should keep them so far apart from each
+other as that the last companies on each side may be beyond the enemy's
+wings. Thus our extreme companies will both outflank the line of the
+enemy, and, as we march in file, the bravest of our men will close with
+the enemy first, and wherever the ascent is easiest, there each division
+will direct its course. Nor will it be easy for the enemy to penetrate
+into the intervening spaces when there are companies on each side, nor
+will it be easy to break through a column as it advances; while, if any
+one of the companies be hard pressed, the neighboring one will support
+it; and if but one of the companies can by any path attain the summit,
+the enemy will no longer stand their ground."
+
+This plan was approved, and they threw the companies into columns.
+Xenophon, riding along from the right wing to the left, said: "Soldiers,
+the enemy whom you see before you is now the only obstacle to hinder us
+from being where we have long been eager to be. These, if we can, we
+must eat up alive."
+
+When the men were all in their places, and they had formed the companies
+into columns, there were about eighty companies of heavy-armed men, and
+each company consisted of about eighty men. The peltasts and archers
+they divided into three bodies, each about six hundred men, one of which
+they placed beyond the left wing, another beyond the right, and the
+third in the centre. The generals then desired the soldiers to make
+their vows to the gods; and having made them, and sung the paean, they
+moved forward. Chirisophus and Xenophon, and the peltasts that they had
+with them, who were beyond the enemy's flanks, pushed on; and the enemy,
+observing their motions, and hurrying forward to receive them, was drawn
+off, some to the right and others to the left, and left a great void in
+the centre of the line; when the peltasts in the Arcadian division, whom
+Aeschines the Acarnanian commanded, seeing the Colchians separate, ran
+forward in all haste, thinking that they were taking to flight; and
+these were the first that reached the summit. The Arcadian heavy-armed
+troop, of which Clearnor the Orchomenian was captain, followed them. But
+the enemy, when once the Greeks began to run, no longer stood its
+ground, but went off in flight, some one way and some another.
+
+Having passed the summit, the Greeks encamped in a number of villages
+containing abundance of provisions. As to other things here, there was
+nothing at which they were surprised; but the number of bee-hives was
+extraordinary, and all the soldiers that ate of the combs lost their
+senses, vomited, and were affected with purging, and not any of them was
+able to stand upright; such as had eaten a little were like men greatly
+intoxicated, and such as had eaten much were like madmen, and some like
+persons at the point of death. They lay upon the ground, in consequence,
+in great numbers, as if there had been a defeat; and there was general
+dejection. The next day no one of them was found dead; and they
+recovered their senses about the same hour that they had lost them on
+the preceding day; and on the third and fourth days they got up as if
+after having taken physic.[37]
+
+[Footnote 37: That there was honey in these parts, with intoxicating
+qualities, was well known to antiquity. Pliny mentions two sorts of it,
+one produced at Heraclea in Pontus, and the other among the Sanni or
+Macrones. The peculiarities of the honey arose from the herbs to which
+the bees resorted; the first came from the flower of a plant called
+_oegolethron_, or goatsbane; the other from a species of rhododendron.
+Tournefort, when he was in that country, saw honey of this description.
+Ainsworth found that the intoxicating honey had a bitter taste. This
+honey is also mentioned by Dioscorides.]
+
+From hence they proceeded two days' march, seven parasangs, and arrived
+at Trebizond, a Greek city, of large population, on the Euxine Sea; a
+colony of Sinope, but lying in the territory of the Colchians. Here they
+stayed about thirty days, encamping in the villages of the Colchians,
+whence they made excursions and plundered the country of Colchis. The
+people of Trebizond provided a market for the Greeks in the camp, and
+entertained them in the city; and made them presents of oxen,
+barley-meal, and wine. They negotiated with them also on behalf of the
+neighboring Colchians, those especially who dwelt in the plain, and from
+them too were brought presents of oxen.
+
+Soon after, they prepared to perform the sacrifice which they had vowed.
+Oxen enough had been brought them to offer to Jupiter the Preserver, and
+to Hercules, for their safe conduct, and whatever they had vowed to the
+other gods. They also celebrated gymnastic games upon the hill where
+they were encamped, and chose Dracontius, a Spartan--who had become an
+exile from his country when quite a boy, for having involuntarily killed
+a child by striking him with a dagger--to prepare the course and preside
+at the contests. When the sacrifice was ended, they gave the hides[38]
+to Dracontius, and desired him to conduct them to the place where he had
+made the course. Dracontius, pointing to the place where they were
+standing, said, "This hill is an excellent place for running, in
+whatever direction the men may wish."
+
+[Footnote 38: Lion and Kuehner have a notion that these skins were to be
+given as prizes to the victors, referring to Herodotus, who says that
+the Egyptians, in certain games which they celebrate in honor of
+Perseus, offer as prizes cattle, cloaks, and hides. Krueger doubts
+whether they were intended for prizes, or were given as a present to
+Dracontius.]
+
+"But how will they be able," said they, "to wrestle on ground so rough
+and bushy?"
+
+"He that falls," said he, "will suffer the more." Boys, most of them
+from among the prisoners, contended in the short course, and in the long
+course above sixty Cretans ran; while others were matched in wrestling,
+boxing, and the _pancratium_. It was a fine sight; for many entered the
+lists, and as their friends were spectators, there was great emulation.
+Horses also ran; and they had to gallop down the steep, and, turning
+round in the sea, to come up again to the altar. In the descent, many
+rolled down; but in the ascent, against the exceedingly steep ground,
+the horses could scarcely get up at a walking pace. There was
+consequently great shouting and laughter and cheering from the people.
+
+
+
+
+CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES
+
+B.C. 399
+
+PLATO
+
+
+(The death of Socrates was brought about under the restored democracy by
+three of his enemies--Lycon, Meletus, and Anytus, the last a man of high
+rank and reputation in the state. Socrates was accused by them of
+despising the ancient gods of the state, introducing new divinities and
+corrupting the youth of Athens. He was charged with having taught his
+followers, young men of the first Athenian families, to despise the
+established government, to be turbulent and seditious, and his accusors
+pointed to Alcibiades and Critias, notorious for their lawlessness, as
+examples of the fruits of his teaching.
+
+It is quite certain that Socrates disliked the Athenian government and
+considered democracy as tyrannical as despotism. But there was no law at
+Athens by which he could be put to death for his words and actions, and
+the vague charge could never have been made unless the whole trial of
+the philosopher had been a party movement, headed by men like Lycon and
+Anytus, whose support of the unjust measure made the condemnation of
+Socrates a foregone conclusion. Xenophon, the pupil and admirer of the
+philosopher, expresses in his _Memorabilia of Socrates_ his surprise
+that the Athenians should have condemned to death a man of such exalted
+character and transparent innocence. But the influence of the teacher
+with his pupils, most of them sons of the wealthiest citizens, might
+well have been dreaded by those in office and engaged in the conduct of
+public business. By them, the common politicians of the day, Socrates,
+with his keen and witty criticism of political corruption and
+demagogism, must have been considered a formidable adversary.
+
+Accordingly, by the decision of the Athenian court, the philosopher was
+sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock. Although it was usual
+for criminals to be executed the day following their condemnation, he
+enjoyed a respite of thirty days, during which time his friends had
+access to his prison cell. It was the time when the ceremonial galley
+was crowned and sent on her pilgrimage to the holy Isle of Delos, and no
+criminal could be executed until her return. Socrates exhibited heroic
+constancy and cheerfulness during this interval, and repudiated the
+offers of his friends to aid in his escape, though they had chartered a
+ship to carry him to Thessaly. With calm composure he reasoned on the
+immortality of the soul, and cheered his visitors with words of hope.
+
+The literary portraits of Socrates furnished by himself, and the
+writings of Plato, are among the most precious monuments of antiquity,
+and the life and death of such a man form a memorable era in the moral
+and intellectual history of mankind.
+
+Plato, in his _Ph�do, or the Immortality of the Soul_, gives the
+following dialogue between Echecrates and Ph�do--two friends and
+disciples of the late philosopher--evidently with no other purpose in
+view than to lend to the account of the great teacher's last hours, and
+the last words his followers were to hear from his lips, the additional
+force and dramatic value of a personal narrative in the mouth of a
+loving pupil and an actual eyewitness of his death.)
+
+
+Echecrates. Were you personally present, Phaedo, with Socrates on that
+day when he drank the poison in prison? or did you hear an account of it
+from someone else?
+
+_Ph�d._ I was there myself, Echecrates.
+
+_Ech._ What then did he say before his death? and how did he die? for I
+should be glad to hear; for scarcely any citizen of Phlius[39] ever
+visits Athens now, nor has any stranger for a long time come from
+thence, who was able to give us a clear account of the particulars,
+except that he died from drinking poison; but he was unable to tell us
+anything more.
+
+[Footnote 39: Phlius, to which Echecrates belonged, was a town of
+Sicyonia in Peloponnesus.]
+
+_Ph�d._ And did you not hear about the trial how it went off?
+
+_Ech._ Yes; some one told me this; and I wondered, that as it took place
+so long ago, he appears to have died long afterward. What was the reason
+of this, Phaedo?
+
+_Ph�d._ An accidental circumstance happened in his favor, Echecrates:
+for the poop of the ship which the Athenians send to Delos, chanced to
+be crowned on the day before the trial.
+
+_Ech._ But what is this ship?
+
+_Ph�d._ It is the ship, as the Athenians say, in which Theseus formerly
+conveyed the fourteen boys and girls to Crete and saved both them and
+himself. They, therefore, made a vow to Apollo on that occasion, as it
+is said, that if they were saved they would every year despatch a solemn
+embassy to Delos; which, from that time to the present, they send yearly
+to the god. When they begin the preparations for this solemn embassy,
+they have a law that the city shall be purified during this period, and
+that no public execution shall take place until the ship has reached
+Delos, and returned to Athens: and this occasionally takes a long time,
+when the winds happen to impede their passage. The commencement of the
+embassy is when the priest of Apollo has crowned the poop of the ship.
+And this was done, as I said, on the day before the trial: on this
+account Socrates had a long interval in prison between the trial and his
+death.
+
+_Ech._ And what, Ph�do, were the circumstances of his death? what was
+said and done? and who of his friends were with him? or would not the
+magistrates allow them to be present, but did he die destitute of
+friends?
+
+_Ph�d._ By no means; but some, indeed several, were present.
+
+_Ech._ Take the trouble, then, to relate to me all the particulars as
+clearly as you can, unless you have any pressing business.
+
+_Ph�d._ I am at leisure, and will endeavor to give you a full account:
+for to call Socrates to mind, whether speaking myself or listening to
+some one else, is always most delightful to me.
+
+_Ech._ And indeed, Phaedo, you have others to listen to you who are of
+the same mind. However, endeavor to relate everything as accurately as
+you can.
+
+_Ph�d._ I was indeed wonderfully affected by being present, for I was
+not impressed with a feeling of pity, like one present at the death of a
+friend; for the man appeared to me to be happy, Echecrates, both from
+his manner and discourse, so fearlessly and nobly did he meet his death:
+so much so that it occurred to me that in going to Hades he was not
+going without a divine destiny, but that when he arrived there he would
+be happy, if anyone ever was. For this reason I was entirely
+uninfluenced by any feeling of pity, as would seem likely to be the case
+with one present on so mournful an occasion; nor was I affected by
+pleasure from being engaged in philosophical discussions, as was our
+custom; for our conversation was of that kind. But an altogether
+unaccountable feeling possessed me, a kind of unusual mixture compounded
+of pleasure and pain together, when I considered that he was immediately
+about to die. And all of us who were present were affected in much the
+same manner, at one time laughing, at another weeping one of us
+especially, Apollodorus, for you know the man and his manner.
+
+_Ech._ How should I not?
+
+_Ph�d._ He, then, was entirely overcome by these emotions; and I too was
+troubled, as well as the others.
+
+_Ech._ But who were present, Phaedo?
+
+_Ph�d._ Of his fellow-countrymen, this Apollodorus was present, and
+Critobulus, and his father Crito, moreover Hermogenes, Epigenes,
+�schines, and Antisthenes; Ctesippus the P�anian, Menexenus, and some
+other of his countrymen were also there: Plato I think was sick.
+
+_Ech._ Were any strangers present?
+
+_Ph�d._ Yes: Simmias the Theban, Cebes, and Phaedondes: and from Megara,
+Euclides and Terpsion.
+
+_Ech._ But what! were not Aristippus and Cleombrotus present?
+
+_Ph�d._ No: for they were said to be at �gina.
+
+_Ech._ Was anyone else there?
+
+_Ph�d._ I think that these were nearly all who were present.
+
+_Ech._ Well, now, what do you say was the subject of conversation?
+
+_Ph�d._ I will endeavor to relate the whole to you from the beginning.
+On the preceding days I and the others were constantly in the habit of
+visiting Socrates, meeting early in the morning at the court-house where
+the trial took place, for it was near the prison. Here then we waited
+every day till the prison was opened, conversing with each other; for it
+was not opened very early, but, as soon as it was opened we went in to
+Socrates, and usually spent the day with him. On that occasion, however,
+we met earlier than usual; for on the preceding day, when we left the
+prison in the evening, we heard that the ship had arrived from Delos. We
+therefore urged each other to come as early as possible to the
+accustomed place; accordingly we came, and the porter, who used to admit
+us, coming out, told us to wait, and not enter until he called us.
+"For," he said, "the Eleven are now freeing Socrates from his bonds, and
+announcing to him that he must die to-day." But in no long time he
+returned, and bade us enter.
+
+When we entered, we found Socrates just freed from his bonds, and
+Xantippe (you know her), holding his little boy and sitting by him. As
+soon as Xantippe saw us, she wept aloud and said such things as women
+usually do on such occasions, as, "Socrates, your friends will now
+converse with you for the last time, and you with them." But Socrates,
+looking toward Crito, said, "Crito, let some one take her home." Upon
+which some of Crito's attendants led her away, wailing and beating
+herself.
+
+But Socrates, sitting up in bed, drew up his leg and rubbed it with his
+hand, and as he rubbed it said: "What an unaccountable thing, my
+friends, that seems to be which men call pleasure; and how wonderfully
+is it related toward that which appears to be its contrary, pain; in
+that they will not both be present to a man at the same time, yet, if
+anyone pursues and attains the one, he is almost always compelled to
+receive the other, as if they were both united together from one head.
+
+"And it seems to me," he said, "that if �sop had observed this he would
+have made a fable from it, how the Deity, wishing to reconcile these
+warring principles, when he could not do so, united their heads
+together, and from hence whomsoever the one visits the other attends
+immediately after; as appears to be the case with me, since I suffered
+pain in my leg before from the chain, but now pleasure seems to have
+succeeded."
+
+Hereupon Cebes, interrupting him, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates, you have
+done well in reminding me. With respect to the poems which you made, by
+putting into metre those Fables of �sop and the hymn to Apollo, several
+other persons asked me, and especially Evenus recently, with what design
+you made them after you came here, whereas before, you had never made
+any. If, therefore, you care at all that I should be able to answer
+Evenus when he asks me again--for I am sure he will do so--tell me what
+I must say to him."
+
+"Tell him the truth then, Cebes," he replied, "that I did not make them
+from a wish to compete with him, or his poems, for I knew that this
+would be no easy matter; but that I might discover the meaning of
+certain dreams, and discharge my conscience, if this should happen to be
+the music which they have often ordered me to apply myself to. For they
+were to the following purport: often in my past life the same dream
+visited me, appearing at different times in different forms, yet always
+saying the same thing. 'Socrates,' it said, 'apply yourself to and
+practise music.' And I formerly supposed that it exhorted and encouraged
+me to continue the pursuit I was engaged in, as those who cheer on
+racers, so that the dream encouraged me to continue the pursuit I was
+engaged in, namely, to apply myself to music, since philosophy is the
+highest music, and I was devoted to it. But now since my trial took
+place, and the festival of the god retarded my death, it appeared to me
+that, if by chance the dream so frequently enjoined me to apply myself
+to popular music, I ought not to disobey it but do so, for that it would
+be safer for me not to depart hence before I had discharged my
+conscience by making some poems in obedience to the dream. Thus, then, I
+first of all composed a hymn to the god whose festival was present, and
+after the god, considering that a poet, if he means to be a poet, ought
+to make fables and not discourses, and knowing that I was not skilled in
+making fables, I therefore put into verse those fables of �sop, which
+were at hand, and were known to me, and which first occurred to me.
+
+"Tell this then to Evenus, Cebes, and bid him farewell, and, if he is
+wise, to follow me as soon as he can. But I depart, as it seems, to-day;
+for so the Athenians order."
+
+To this Simmias said: "What is this, Socrates, which you exhort Evenus
+to do? for I often meet with him; and from what I know of him, I am
+pretty certain that he will not at all be willing to comply with your
+advice."
+
+"What then," said he, "is not Evenus a philosopher?"
+
+"To me he seems to be so," said Simmias.
+
+"Then he will be willing," rejoined Socrates, "and so will everyone who
+worthily engages in this study; perhaps indeed he will not commit
+violence on himself, for that they say is not allowable." And as he said
+this he let down his leg from the bed on the ground, and in this posture
+continued during the remainder of the discussion.
+
+Cebes then asked him: "What do you mean, Socrates, by saying that it is
+not lawful to commit violence on one's self, but that a philosopher
+should be willing to follow one who is dying?"
+
+"What, Cebes, have not you and Simmias, who have conversed familiarly
+with Philolaus[40] on this subject, heard?"
+
+[Footnote 40: A Pythagorean of Crotona.]
+
+"Nothing very clearly, Socrates."
+
+"I however speak only from hearsay; what then I have heard I have no
+scruple in telling. And perhaps it is most becoming for one who is about
+to travel there, to inquire and speculate about the journey thither,
+what kind we think it is. What else can one do in the interval before
+sunset?"
+
+"Why, then, Socrates, do they say that it is not allowable to kill one's
+self? for I, as you asked just now, have heard both Philolaus, when he
+lived with us, and several others say that it was not right to do this;
+but I never heard anything clear upon the subject from anyone."
+
+"Then you should consider it attentively," said Socrates, "for perhaps
+you may hear: probably, however, it will appear wonderful to you, if
+this alone of all other things is an universal truth,[41] and it never
+happens to a man, as is the case in all other things, that at some times
+and to some persons only it is better to die than to live; yet that
+these men for whom it is better to die--this probably will appear
+wonderful to you--may not, without impiety, do this good to themselves,
+but must await another benefactor."
+
+[Footnote 41: Namely, "that it is better to die than live."]
+
+Then Cebes, gently smiling, said, speaking in his own dialect, "Jove be
+witness."
+
+"And indeed," said Socrates, "it would appear to be unreasonable, yet
+still perhaps it has some reason on its side. The maxim indeed given on
+this subject in the mystical doctrines,[42] that we men are in a kind of
+prison, and that we ought not to free ourselves from it and escape,
+appears to me difficult to be understood, and not easy to penetrate.
+This however appears to me, Cebes, to be well said, that the gods take
+care of us, and that we men are one of their possessions. Does it not
+seem so to you?"
+
+[Footnote 42: Of Pythagoras.]
+
+"It does," replied Cebes.
+
+"Therefore," said he, "if one of your slaves were to kill himself,
+without your having intimated that you wished him to die, should you not
+be angry with him, and should you not punish him if you could?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied.
+
+"Perhaps then, in this point of view, it is not unreasonable to assert,
+that a man ought not to kill himself before the deity lays him under a
+necessity of doing so, such as that now laid on me."
+
+"This, indeed," said Cebes, "appears to be probable. But what you said
+just now, Socrates, that philosophers should be very willing to die,
+appears to be an absurdity, if what we said just now is agreeable to
+reason, that it is God who takes care of us, and that we are his
+property. For that the wisest men should not be grieved at leaving that
+service in which they govern them who are the best of all masters,
+namely, the gods, is not consistent with reason. For surely he cannot
+think that he will take better care of himself when he has become free:
+but a foolish man might perhaps think thus, that he should fly from his
+master, and would not reflect that he ought not to fly from a good one,
+but should cling to him as much as possible, therefore he would fly
+against all reason; but a man of sense would desire to be constantly
+with one better than himself. Thus, Socrates, the contrary of what you
+just now said is likely to be the case; for it becomes the wise to be
+grieved at dying, but the foolish to rejoice."
+
+Socrates, on hearing this, appeared to me to be pleased with the
+pertinacity of Cebes, and looking toward us said: "Cebes, you see,
+always searches out arguments, and is not at all willing to admit at
+once anything one has said."
+
+Whereupon Simmias replied: "But indeed, Socrates, Cebes appears to me,
+now, to say something to the purpose; for with what design should men
+really wise fly from masters who are better than themselves, and so
+readily leave them? And Cebes appears to me to direct his argument
+against you, because you so easily endure to abandon both us and those
+good rulers--as you yourself confess--the gods."
+
+"You speak justly," said Socrates, "for I think you mean that I ought to
+make my defence to this charge, as if I were in a court of justice."
+
+"Certainly," replied Simmias.
+
+"Come then," said he, "I will endeavor to defend myself more
+successfully before you than before the judges. For," he proceeded,
+"Simmias and Cebes, if I did not think that I should go first of all
+among other deities who are both wise and good, and next among men who
+have departed this life better than any here, I should be wrong in not
+grieving at death: but now be assured, I hope to go among good men,
+though I would not positively assert it; that, however, I shall go among
+gods who are perfectly good masters, be assured I can positively assert
+this, if I can anything of the kind. So that, on this account, I am not
+so much troubled, but I entertain a good hope that something awaits
+those who die, and that, as was said long since, it will be far better
+for the good than the evil."
+
+"What then, Socrates," said Simmias, "would you go away keeping this
+persuasion to yourself, or would you impart it to us? For this good
+appears to me to be also common to us; and at the same time it will be
+an apology for you, if you can persuade us to believe what you say."
+
+"I will endeavor to do so," he said. "But first let us attend to Crito
+here, and see what it is he seems to have for some time wished to say."
+
+"What else, Socrates," said Crito, "but what he who is to give you the
+poison told me some time ago, that I should tell you to speak as little
+as possible? For he says that men become too much heated by speaking,
+and that nothing of this kind ought to interfere with the poison, and
+that, otherwise, those who did so were sometimes compelled to drink two
+or three times."
+
+To which Socrates replied: "Let him alone, and let him attend to his own
+business, and prepare to give it me twice, or, if occasion requires,
+even thrice."
+
+"I was almost certain what you would say," answered Crito, "but he has
+been some time pestering me."
+
+"Never mind him," he rejoined.
+
+"But now I wish to render an account to you, my judges, of the reason
+why a man who has really devoted his life to philosophy, when he is
+about to die appears to me, on good grounds, to have confidence, and to
+entertain a firm hope that the greatest good will befall him in the
+other world, when he has departed this life. How then this comes to
+pass, Simmias and Cebes, I will endeavor to explain.
+
+"For as many as rightly apply themselves to philosophy seem to have left
+all others in ignorance, that they aim at nothing else than to die and
+be dead. If this then is true, it would surely be absurd to be anxious
+about nothing else than this during their whole life, but when it
+arrives, to be grieved at what they have been long anxious about and
+aimed at."
+
+Upon this, Simmias, smiling, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates, though I am
+not now at all inclined to smile, you have made me do so; for I think
+that the multitude, if they heard this, would think it was very well
+said in reference to philosophers, and that our countrymen particularly
+would agree with you, that true philosophers do desire death, and that
+they are by no means ignorant that they deserve to suffer it."
+
+"And indeed, Simmias, they would speak the truth, except in asserting
+that they are not ignorant; for they are ignorant of the sense in which
+true philosophers desire to die, and in what sense they deserve death,
+and what kind of death. But," he said, "let us take leave of them, and
+speak to one another. Do we think that death is anything?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Simmias.
+
+"Is it anything else than the separation of the soul from the body? and
+is not this to die, for the body to be apart by itself separated from
+the soul, and for the soul to subsist apart by itself separated from the
+body? Is death anything else than this?"
+
+"No, but this," he replied.
+
+"Consider then, my good friend, whether you are of the same opinion as
+me; for thus I think we shall understand better the subject we are
+considering. Does it appear to you to be becoming in a philosopher to be
+anxious about pleasures, as they are called, such as meats and drinks?"
+
+"By no means, Socrates," said Simmias.
+
+"But what? about the pleasures of love?"
+
+"Not at all"
+
+"What then? does such a man appear to you to think other bodily
+indulgences of value? for instance, does he seem to you to value or
+despise the possession of magnificent garments and sandals, and other
+ornaments of the body, except so far as necessity compels him to use
+them?"
+
+"The true philosopher," he answered, "appears to me to despise them."
+
+"Does not, then," he continued, "the whole employment of such a man
+appear to you to be, not about the body, but to separate himself from it
+as much as possible, and be occupied about his soul?"
+
+"It does."
+
+"First of all, then, in such matters, does not the philosopher, above
+all other men, evidently free his soul as much as he can from communion
+with the body?"
+
+"It appears so."
+
+"And it appears, Simmias, to the generality of men, that he who takes no
+pleasure in such things, and who does not use them, does not deserve to
+live; but that he nearly approaches to death who cares nothing for the
+pleasures that subsist through the body."
+
+"You speak very truly."
+
+"But what with respect to the acquisition of wisdom, is the body an
+impediment or not, if anyone takes it with him as a partner in the
+search? What I mean is this: Do sight and hearing convey any truth to
+men, or are they such as the poets constantly sing, who say that we
+neither hear nor see anything with accuracy? If, however, these bodily
+senses are neither accurate nor clear, much less can the others be so:
+for they are all far inferior to these. Do they not seem so to you?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied.
+
+"When, then," said he, "does the soul light on the truth? for, when it
+attempts to consider anything in conjunction with the body, it is plain
+that it is then led astray by it."
+
+"You say truly."
+
+"Must it not then be by reasoning, if at all, that any of the things
+that really are become known to it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And surely the soul then reasons best when none of these things
+disturbs it, neither hearing, nor sight, nor pain, nor pleasure of any
+kind, but it retires as much as possible within itself, taking leave of
+the body, and, as far as it can, not communicating or being in contact
+with it, it aims at the discovery of that which is."
+
+"Such is the case."
+
+"Does not then the soul of the philosopher, in these cases, despise the
+body, and flee from it, and seek to retire within itself?"
+
+"It appears so."
+
+"But what as to such things as these, Simmias? Do we say that justice
+itself is something or nothing?"
+
+"We say it is something, by Jupiter."
+
+"And that beauty and goodness are something?"
+
+"How not?"
+
+"Now, then, have you ever seen anything of this kind with your eyes?"
+
+"By no means," he replied.
+
+"Did you ever lay hold of them by any other bodily sense? but I speak
+generally, as of magnitude, health, strength, and, in a word, of the
+essence of everything, that is to say, what each is. Is then the exact
+truth of these perceived by means of the body, or is it thus, whoever
+among us habituates himself to reflect most deeply and accurately on
+each several thing about which he is considering, he will make the
+nearest approach to the knowledge of it?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Would not he, then, do this with the utmost purity, who should in the
+highest degree approach each subject by means of the mere mental
+faculties, neither employing the sight in conjunction with the
+reflective faculty, nor introducing any other sense together with
+reasoning; but who, using pure reflection by itself, should attempt to
+search out each essence purely by itself, freed as much as possible from
+the eyes and ears, and, in a word, from the whole body, as disturbing
+the soul, and not suffering it to acquire truth and wisdom, when it is
+in communion with it. Is not he the person, Simmias, if any one can, who
+will arrive at the knowledge of that which is?"
+
+"You speak with wonderful truth, Socrates," replied Simmias.
+
+"Wherefore," he said, "it necessarily follows from all this, that some
+such opinion as this should be entertained by genuine philosophers, so
+that they should speak among themselves as follows: 'A by-path, as it
+were, seems to lead us on in our researches undertaken by reason,'
+because as long as we are encumbered with the body, and our soul is
+contaminated with such an evil, we can never fully attain to what we
+desire; and this, we say, is truth. For the body subjects us to
+innumerable hinderances on account of its necessary support, and
+moreover if any diseases befall us, they impede us in our search after
+that which is; and it fills us with longings, desires, fears, all kinds
+of fancies, and a multitude of absurdities, so that, as it is said in
+real truth, by reason of the body it is never possible for us to make
+any advances in wisdom.
+
+"For nothing else but the body and its desires occasions wars,
+seditions, and contests; for all wars among us arise on account of our
+desire to acquire wealth; and we are compelled to acquire wealth on
+account of the body, being enslaved to its service; and consequently on
+all these accounts we are hindered in the pursuit of philosophy. But the
+worst of all is, that if it leaves us any leisure, and we apply
+ourselves to the consideration of any subject, it constantly obtrudes
+itself in the midst of our researches, and occasions trouble and
+disturbance, and confounds us so that we are not able by reason of it to
+discern the truth. It has then in reality been demonstrated to us, that
+if we are ever to know anything purely, we must be separated from the
+body, and contemplate the things themselves by the mere soul. And then,
+as it seems, we shall obtain that which we desire, and which we profess
+ourselves to be lovers of, wisdom, when we are dead, as reason shows,
+but not while we are alive. For if it is not possible to know anything
+purely in conjunction with the body, one of these two things must
+follow, either that we can never acquire knowledge, or only after we are
+dead; for then the soul will subsist apart by itself, separate from the
+body, but not before. And while we live, we shall thus, as it seems,
+approach nearest to knowledge, if we hold no intercourse or communion at
+all with the body, except what absolute necessity requires, nor suffer
+ourselves to be polluted by its nature, but purify ourselves from it,
+until God himself shall release us. And thus being pure, and freed from
+the folly of body, we shall in all likelihood be with others like
+ourselves, and shall of ourselves know the whole real essence, and that
+probably is truth; for it is not allowable for the impure to attain to
+the pure. Such things, I think, Simmias, all true lovers of wisdom must
+both think and say to one another. Does it not seem so to you?"
+
+"Most assuredly, Socrates."
+
+"If this, then," said Socrates, "is true, my friend, there is great hope
+for one who arrives where I am going, there, if anywhere, to acquire
+that perfection for the sake of which we have taken so much pains during
+our past life; so that the journey now appointed me is set out upon with
+good hope, and will be so by any other man who thinks that his mind has
+been as it were purified.
+
+"This earth and the whole region here are decayed and corroded, as
+things in the sea by the saltness; for nothing of any value grows in the
+sea, nor, in a word, does it contain anything perfect, but there are
+caverns, and sand, and mud in abundance, and filth in whatever parts of
+the sea there is earth, nor are they at all worthy to be compared with
+the beautiful things with us. But, on the other hand, those things in
+the upper regions of the earth would appear far more to excel the things
+with us. For, if we may tell a beautiful fable, it is well worth
+hearing, Simmias, what kind the things are on the earth beneath the
+heavens."
+
+"Indeed, Socrates," said Simmias, "we should be very glad to hear that
+fable."
+
+"First of all, then, my friend," he continued, "this earth, if anyone
+should survey it from above, is said to have the appearance of balls
+covered with twelve different pieces of leather, variegated and
+distinguished with colors, of which the colors found here, and which
+painters use, are as it were copies. But there the whole earth is
+composed of such, and far more brilliant and pure than these; for one
+part of it is purple, and of wonderful beauty, part of a golden color,
+and part of white, more white than chalk or snow, and in like manner
+composed of other colors, and those more in number and more beautiful
+than any we have ever beheld. And those very hollow parts of the earth,
+though filled with water and air, exhibit a certain species of color,
+shining among the variety of other colors, so that one continually
+variegated aspect presents itself to the view. In this earth, being
+such, all things that grow grow in a manner proportioned to its
+nature--trees, flowers, and fruits; and again, in like manner, its
+mountains and stones possess, in the same proportion, smoothness and
+transparency and more beautiful colors; of which the well-known stones
+here that are so highly prized are but fragments, such as sardin-stones,
+jaspers, and emeralds, and all of that kind. But there, there is nothing
+subsists that is not of this character, and even more beautiful than
+these.
+
+"But the reason of this is, because the stones there are pure, and not
+eaten up and decayed, like those here, by rottenness and saltness, which
+flow down hither together, and which produce deformity and disease in
+the stones and the earth, and in other things, even animals and plants.
+But that earth is adorned with all these, and moreover with gold and
+silver, and other things of the kind: for they are naturally
+conspicuous, being numerous and large, and in all parts of the earth; so
+that to behold it is a sight for the blessed. There are also many other
+animals and men upon it, some dwelling in mid-earth, others about the
+air, as we do about the sea, and others in islands which the air flows
+round, and which are near the continent: and in one word, what water and
+the sea are to us for our necessities, the air is to them; and what air
+is to us, that ether is to them.
+
+"But their seasons are of such a temperament that they are free from
+disease, and live for a much longer time than those here, and surpass us
+in sight, hearing, and smelling, and everything of this kind, as much as
+air excels water, and ether air, in purity. Moreover, they have abodes
+and temples of the gods, in which gods really dwell, and voices and
+oracles, and sensible visions of the gods, and such-like intercourse
+with them; the sun, too, and moon, and stars, are seen by them such as
+they really are, and their felicity in other respects is correspondent
+with these things.
+
+"And such, indeed, is the nature of the whole earth and the parts about
+the earth; but there are many places all round it throughout its
+cavities, some deeper and more open than that in which we dwell: but
+others that are deeper have less chasm than in our region, and other are
+shallower in depth than they are here, and broader.
+
+"But all these are in many places perforated one into another under the
+earth, some with narrower and some with wider channels, and have
+passages through, by which a great quantity of water flows from one into
+another, as into basins, and there are immense bulks of ever-flowing
+rivers under the earth, both of hot and cold water, and a great quantity
+of fire, and mighty rivers of fire, and many of liquid mire, some purer
+and some more miry, as in Sicily there are rivers of mud that flow
+before the lava, and the lava itself, and from these the several places
+are filled, according as the overflow from time to time happens to come
+to each of them. But all these move up and down as it were by a certain
+oscillation existing in the earth. And this oscillation proceeds from
+such natural cause as this: one of the chasms of the earth is
+exceedingly large, and perforated through the entire earth, and is that
+which Homer[43] speaks of, 'very far off, where is the most profound
+abyss beneath the earth,' which elsewhere both he and many other poets
+have called Tartarus. For into this chasm all rivers flow together, and
+from it flow out again, but they severally derive their character from
+the earth through which they flow."
+
+[Footnote 43: _Iliad_, lib. viii., v. 14.]
+
+"And the reason why all streams flow out from thence and flow into it is
+because this liquid has neither bottom nor base. Therefore it oscillates
+and fluctuates up and down, and the air and the wind around it do the
+same; for they accompany it, both when it rushes to those parts of the
+earth, and when to these. And as in respiration the flowing breath is
+continually breathed out and drawn in, so there the wind, oscillating
+with the liquid, causes certain vehement and irresistible winds both as
+it enters and goes out. When, therefore, the water rushing in descends
+to the place which we call the lower region, it flows through the earth
+into the streams there and fills them, just as men pump up water. But
+when again it leaves those regions and rushes hither, it again fills the
+rivers here, and these, when filled, flow through channels and through
+the earth, and having severally reached the several places to which they
+are journeying, they make seas, lakes, rivers, and fountains.
+
+"Then sinking again from thence beneath the earth, some of them having
+gone round longer and more numerous places, and others round fewer and
+shorter, they again discharge themselves into Tartarus, some much lower
+than they were drawn up, others only a little so, but all of them flow
+in again beneath the point at which they flowed out. And some issue out
+directly opposite the place by which they flow in, others on the same
+side: there are also some which having gone round altogether in a
+circle, folding themselves once or several times round the earth, like
+serpents, when they had descended as low as possible, discharge
+themselves again; and it is possible for them to descend on either side
+as far as the middle, but not beyond; for in each direction there is an
+acclivity to the streams both ways.
+
+"Now there are many other large and various streams, and among this
+great number there are four certain streams, of which the largest, and
+that which flows most outwardly round the earth, is called Ocean, but
+directly opposite this, and flowing in a contrary direction, is Acheron,
+which flows through other desert places, and moreover passing under the
+earth, reaches the Acherusian lake, where the souls of most who die
+arrive, and having remained there for certain destined periods, some
+longer and some shorter, are again sent forth into the generations of
+animals. A third river issues midway between these, and near its source
+falls into a vast region, burning with abundance of fire, and forms a
+lake larger than our sea, boiling with water and mud; from hence it
+proceeds in a circle, turbulent and muddy, and folding itself round it
+reaches both other places and the extremity of the Acherusian lake, but
+does not mingle with its water; but folding itself oftentimes beneath
+the earth, it discharges itself into the lower parts of Tartarus. And
+this is the river which they call Pyriphlegethon, whose burning streams
+emit dissevered fragments in whatever part of the earth they happen to
+be. Opposite to this again the fourth river first falls into a place
+dreadful and savage, as it is said, having its whole color like
+_cyanus_: this they call Stygian, and the lake which the river forms by
+its discharge, Styx. This river having fallen in here, and received
+awful power in the water, sinking beneath the earth, proceeds, folding
+itself round, in an opposite course to Pyriphlegethon, and meets it in
+the Acherusian lake from a contrary direction. Neither does the water of
+this river mingle with any other, but it, too, having gone round in a
+circle, discharges itself into Tartarus opposite to Pyriphlegethon. Its
+name, as the poets say, is Cocytus.
+
+"These things being thus constituted, when the dead arrive at the place
+to which their demon leads them severally, first of all they are judged,
+as well those who have lived well and piously as those who have not. And
+those who appear to have passed a middle kind of life, proceeding to
+Acheron, and embarking in the vessels they have, on these arrive at the
+lake, and there dwell, and when they are purified, and have suffered
+punishment for the iniquities they may have committed, they are set
+free, and each receives the reward of his good deeds, according to his
+deserts: but those who appear to be incurable, through the magnitude of
+their offences, either from having committed many and great sacrileges,
+or many unjust and lawless murders, or other similar crimes, these a
+suitable destiny hurls into Tartarus, whence they never come forth.
+
+"But those who appear to have been guilty of curable yet great offences,
+such as those who through anger have committed any violence against
+father or mother, and have lived the remainder of their life in a state
+of penitence, or they who have become homicides in a similar manner,
+these must of necessity fall into Tartarus, but after they have fallen,
+and have been there for a year, the wave casts them forth, the homicides
+into Cocytus, but the parricides and matricides into Pyriphlegethon: but
+when, being borne along, they arrive at the Acherusian lake, there they
+cry out to and invoke, some those whom they slew, others those whom they
+injured, and invoking them they entreat and implore them to suffer them
+to go out into the lake, and to receive them, and if they persuade them
+they go out and are freed from their sufferings; but if not, they are
+borne back to Tartarus, and thence again to the rivers, and they do not
+cease from suffering this until they have persuaded those whom they have
+injured, for this sentence was imposed on them by the judges.
+
+"But those who are found to have lived an eminently holy life, these are
+they who, being freed and set at large from these regions in the earth,
+as from a prison, arrive at the pure abode above, and dwell on the upper
+parts of the earth. And among these, they who have sufficiently purified
+themselves by philosophy shall live without bodies, throughout all
+future time, and shall arrive at habitations yet more beautiful than
+these, which it is neither easy to describe nor at present is there
+sufficient time for the purpose.
+
+"But for the sake of these things which we have described, we should use
+every endeavor, Simmias, so as to acquire virtue and wisdom in this
+life; for the reward is noble, and the hope great.
+
+"To affirm positively, indeed, that these things are exactly as I have
+described them does not become a man of sense; that however either this
+or something of the kind takes place with respect to our souls and their
+habitations--since our soul is certainly immortal--this appears to me
+most fitting to be believed, and worthy the hazard for one who trusts in
+its reality; for the hazard is noble, and it is right to allure
+ourselves with such things, as with enchantments; for which reason I
+have prolonged my story to such a length.
+
+"On account of these things, then, a man ought to be confident about his
+soul who during this life has disregarded all the pleasures and
+ornaments of the body as foreign from his nature, and who, having
+thought that they do more harm than good, has zealously applied himself
+to the acquirement of knowledge, and who having adorned his soul not
+with a foreign but its own proper ornament--temperance, justice,
+fortitude, freedom, and truth--thus waits for his passage to Hades, as
+one who is ready to depart whenever destiny shall summon him. You,
+then," he continued, "Simmias and Cebes, and the rest, will each of you
+depart at some future time; but now 'destiny summons me,' as a tragic
+writer would say, and it is nearly time for me to betake myself to the
+bath; for it appears to me to be better to drink the poison after I have
+bathed myself, and not to trouble the women with washing my dead body."
+
+When he had thus spoken, Crito said: "So be it, Socrates, but what
+commands have you to give to these or to me, either respecting your
+children or any other matter, in attending to which we can most oblige
+you?"
+
+"What I always say, Crito," he replied, "nothing new; that by taking
+care of yourselves you will oblige both me and mine and yourselves,
+whatever you do, though you should not now promise it; but if you
+neglect yourselves, and will not live as it were in the footsteps of
+what has been now and formerly said, even though you should promise much
+at present, and that earnestly, you will do no good at all."
+
+"We will endeavor then so to do," he said; "but how shall we bury you?"
+
+"Just as you please," he said, "if only you can catch me, and I do not
+escape from you." And at the same time smiling gently, and looking round
+on us, he said: "I cannot persuade Crito, my friends, that I am that
+Socrates who is now conversing with you, and who methodizes each part of
+the discourse; but he thinks that I am he whom he will shortly behold
+dead, and asks how he should bury me. But that which I some time since
+argued at length, that when I have drunk the poison I shall no longer
+remain with you, but shall depart to some happy state of the blessed,
+this I seem to have urged to him in vain, though I meant at the same
+time to console both you and myself. Be ye then my sureties to Crito,"
+he said, "in an obligation contrary to that which he made to the judges;
+for he undertook that I should remain; but do you be sureties that, when
+I die, I shall not remain, but shall depart, that Crito may more easily
+bear it, and when he sees my body either burnt or buried, may not be
+afflicted for me, as if I suffered some dreadful thing, nor say at my
+interment that Socrates is laid out, or is carried out, or is buried.
+
+"For be well assured," he said, "most excellent Crito, that to speak
+improperly is not only culpable as to the thing itself, but likewise
+occasions some injury to our souls. You must have a good courage, then,
+and say that you bury my body, and bury it in such a manner as is
+pleasing to you, and as you think is most agreeable to our laws."
+
+When he had said thus he rose and went into a chamber to bathe, and
+Crito followed him, but he directed us to wait for him. We waited,
+therefore, conversing among ourselves about what had been said, and
+considering it again, and sometimes speaking about our calamity, how
+severe it would be to us, sincerely thinking that, like those who are
+deprived of a father, we should pass the rest of our life as orphans.
+When he had bathed, and his children were brought to him, for he had two
+little sons, and one grown up; and the women belonging to his family
+were come, having conversed with them in the presence of Crito and given
+them such injunctions as he wished, he directed the women and children
+to go away, and then returned to us. And it was now near sunset; for he
+spent a considerable time within.
+
+But when he came from bathing he sat down, and did not speak much
+afterward; then the officer of the Eleven came in, and standing near
+him, said: "Socrates, I shall not have to find that fault with you that
+I do with others, that they are angry with me and curse me, when, by
+order of the archons, I bid them drink the poison. But you, on all other
+occasions during the time you have been here, I have found to be the
+most noble, meek, and excellent man of all that ever came into this
+place; and therefore I am now well convinced that you will not be angry
+with me (for you know who are to blame) but with them. Now, then, for
+you know what I came to announce to you, farewell; and endeavor to bear
+what is inevitable as easily as possible." And at the same time,
+bursting into tears, he turned away and withdrew.
+
+And Socrates, looking after him, said: "And thou too, farewell; we will
+do as you direct." At the same time turning to us, he said: "How
+courteous the man is; during the whole time I have been here he has
+visited me, and conversed with me sometimes, and proved the worthiest of
+men; and now how generously he weeps for me. But come, Crito, let us
+obey him, and let some one bring the poison, if it is ready pounded, but
+if not, let the man pound it."
+
+Then Crito said: "But I think, Socrates, that the sun is still on the
+mountains and has not yet set. Besides, I know that others have drunk
+the poison very late, after it had been announced to them, and have
+supped and drunk freely, and some even have enjoyed the objects of their
+love. Do not hasten, then, for there is yet time."
+
+Upon this Socrates replied: "These men whom you mention, Crito, do these
+things with good reason, for they think they shall gain by so doing, and
+I too with good reason shall not do so; for I think I shall gain nothing
+by drinking a little later, except to become ridiculous to myself, in
+being so fond of life, and sparing of it when none any longer remains.
+Go, then," he said, "obey, and do not resist."
+
+Crito having heard this, nodded to the boy that stood near. And the boy
+having gone out, and stayed for some time, came, bringing with him the
+man that was to administer the poison, who brought it ready pounded in a
+cup. And Socrates, on seeing the man, said: "Well, my good friend, as
+you are skilled in these matters, what must I do?"
+
+"Nothing else," he replied, "than when you have drunk it walk about
+until there is a heaviness in your legs, then lie down; thus it will do
+its purpose." And at the same time he held out the cup to Socrates. And
+he having received it very cheerfully, Echecrates, neither trembling nor
+changing at all in color or countenance, but, as he was wont, looking
+steadfastly at the man, said: "What say you of this potion, with respect
+to making a libation to anyone, is it lawful or not?"
+
+"We only pound so much, Socrates," he said, "as we think sufficient to
+drink."
+
+"I understand you," he said; "but it is certainly both lawful and right
+to pray to the gods, that my departure hence thither may be happy; which
+therefore I pray, and so may it be." And as he said this he drank it off
+readily and calmly. Thus far, most of us were with difficulty able to
+restrain ourselves from weeping, but when we saw him drinking, and
+having finished the draught, we could do so no longer; but in spite of
+myself the tears came in full torrent, so that, covering my face, I wept
+for myself, for I did not weep for him, but for my own fortune, in being
+deprived of such a friend. But Crito, even before me when he could not
+restrain his tears, had risen up.
+
+But Apollodorus, even before this, had not ceased weeping, and then
+bursting into an agony of grief, weeping and lamenting, he pierced the
+heart of everyone present except Socrates himself. But he said: "What
+are you doing, my admirable friends? I indeed, for this reason chiefly,
+sent away the women that they might not commit any folly of this kind.
+For I have heard that it is right to die with good omens. Be quiet,
+therefore, and bear up."
+
+When we heard this we were ashamed and restrained our tears. But he,
+having walked about, when he said that his legs were growing heavy, laid
+down on his back; for the man so directed him. And at the same time he
+who gave him the poison, taking hold of him, after a short interval
+examined his feet and legs; and then having pressed his foot hard, he
+asked if he felt it.
+
+He said that he did not.
+
+And after this he pressed his thighs; and thus going higher, he showed
+us that he was growing cold and stiff.
+
+Then Socrates touched himself, and said that when the poison reached his
+heart he should then depart.
+
+But now the parts around the lower belly were almost cold; when,
+uncovering himself (for he had been covered over), he said, and they
+were his last words: "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; pay it,
+therefore, and do not neglect it!"
+
+"It shall be done," said Crito; "but consider whether you have anything
+else to say?"
+
+To this question he gave no reply; but shortly after he gave a
+convulsive movement, and the man covered him, and his eyes were fixed;
+and Crito, perceiving it, closed his mouth and eyes.
+
+This, Echecrates, was the end of our friend, a man, as we may say, the
+best of all of his time that we have known, and, moreover, the most wise
+and just.
+
+
+
+
+BRENNUS BURNS ROME
+
+B.C. 388
+
+BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR
+
+
+(Julius Caesar is the first writer who gives us an authentic and
+enlightening account of the Gauls, whom he divided into three groups.
+The Gauls were the chief branch of the great original stock of Celts.
+They were a nomadic people, and from their home in Western Europe they
+spread to Britain, invaded Spain, and swarmed over the Alps into Italy,
+and it is from the latter event that this tall, fair, and fighting
+nation first came into the region of history.
+
+Before the Gauls had come within the borders of Italy, Camillus, the
+Dictator, had dealt the death-blow to the Etruscan League through his
+capture and destruction of its stronghold, Veii. But at the very summit
+of his triumph he lost the grace of his countrymen by demanding a tenth
+of their spoil taken at Veii, and which he claimed to have vowed to
+Apollo. It was popularly considered a ruse to increase his private
+fortune. Furthermore, a counter-claim was brought against him for
+appropriating bronze gates, which in Rome at that time were nothing less
+than actual money--bronze being the medium of currency. Camillus went
+into exile in consequence of the accusation. His parting prayer was that
+his country might feel his need and call him back. His desire was
+fulfilled, for soon after "the Gaul was at the gates" under the
+leadership of the haughty Brennus, who had come upon the Romans at a
+most opportune moment. This event of the overthrow of the Romans on the
+Alia has been the occasion for the well-known tale of the cackling of
+the geese in the temple of Juno, which alarmed the garrison. The episode
+also gave rise to the saying of the conqueror, Brennus, who, when
+reproached by his antagonists with using false weights, cast his sword
+into the scale, crying, "Woe to the conquered!")
+
+
+At that time no Roman foresaw the calamity which was threatening the
+empire. Rome had become great, because the country which she had
+conquered was weak through its oligarchical institutions; the subjects
+of the other states gladly joined the Romans, because under them their
+lot was more favorable, and probably because they were kindred nations.
+But matters went with the Romans as they did with Basilius, who subdued
+the Armenians when they were threatened by the Turks, and who soon after
+attacked the whole Greek empire and took away far more than had been
+gained before.
+
+The expedition of the Gauls into Italy must be regarded as a migration,
+and not as an invasion for the purpose of conquest: as for the
+historical account of it, we must adhere to Polybius and Diodorus, who
+place it shortly before the taking of Rome by the Gauls. We can attach
+no importance to the statement of Livy that they had come into Italy as
+early as the time of Tarquinius Priscus, having been driven from their
+country by a famine. It undoubtedly arose from the fact that some Greek
+writer, perhaps Timaeus, connected this migration with the settlement of
+the Phocians at Massilia. It is possible that Livy even here made use of
+Dionysius; and that the latter followed Timaeus; for as Livy made use of
+Dionysius in the eighth book, why not also in the fifth? He himself knew
+very little of Greek history;[44] but Justin's account is here evidently
+opposed to Livy.
+
+[Footnote 44: Comp. _Hist. of Rome_, vol. iii. n. 485.]
+
+Trogus Pompeius was born in the neighborhood of Massilia, and in writing
+his forty-third book he obviously made use of native chronicles, for
+from no other source could he derive the account of the _decreta
+honorifica_ of the Romans to the Massilians for the friendship which the
+latter had shown to the Romans during the Gallic war; and from the same
+source must he have obtained his information about the maritime wars of
+Massilia against Carthage. Trogus knows nothing of the story that the
+Gauls assisted the Phocians on their arrival; but according to him, they
+met with a kind reception among the Ligurians, who continued to inhabit
+those parts for a long time after. Even the story of the _lucumo_ who is
+said to have invited the Gauls is opposed to him, and if it were
+referred to Clusium alone it would be absurd. Polybius places the
+passage of the Gauls across the Alps about ten or twenty years before
+the taking of Rome; and Diodorus describes them as advancing toward Rome
+by an uninterrupted march. It is further stated that Melpum in the
+country of the Insubrians was destroyed on the same day as Veii: without
+admitting this coincidence, we have no reason to doubt that the
+statement is substantially true; and it is made by Cornelius Nepos, who,
+as a native of Gallia Transpadana, might possess accurate information,
+and whose chronological accounts were highly esteemed by the Romans.
+
+There was no other passage for the Gauls except either across the Little
+St. Bernard or across the Simplon; it is not probable that they took the
+former road, because their country extended only as far as the Ticinus,
+and if they had come across the Little St. Bernard, they would naturally
+have occupied also all the country between that mountain and the
+Ticinus. The Salassi may indeed have been a Gallic people, but it is by
+no means certain; moreover, between them and the Gauls who had come
+across the Alps the Laevi also lived; and there can be no doubt that at
+that time Ligurians still continued to dwell on the Ticinus.
+
+Melpum must have been situated in the district of Milan. The latter
+place has an uncommonly happy situation: often as it has been destroyed,
+it has always been restored, so that it is not impossible that Melpum
+may have been situated on the very spot afterward occupied by Milan. The
+Gallic migration undoubtedly passed by like a torrent with irresistible
+rapidity: how then is it possible to suppose that Melpum resisted them
+for two centuries, or that they conquered it and yet did not disturb the
+Etruscans for two hundred years? It would be absurd to believe it,
+merely to save an uncritical expression of Livy. According to the common
+chronology, the Triballi, who in the time of Herodotus inhabited the
+plains, and were afterward expelled by the Gauls, appeared in Thrace
+twelve years after the taking of Rome--according to a more correct
+chronology it was only nine years after that event. It was the same
+movement assuredly which led the Gauls to the countries through which
+the middle course of the Danube extends, and to the Po; and could the
+people who came in a few days from Clusium to Rome, and afterward
+appeared in Apulia, have been sitting quiet in a corner of Italy for two
+hundred years? If they had remained there because they had not the power
+to advance, they would have been cut to pieces by the Etruscans. We must
+therefore look upon it as an established fact, that the migration took
+place at the late period mentioned by Polybius and Diodorus.
+
+These Gauls were partly Celts, and partly (indeed principally) Belgae or
+Cymri, as may be perceived from the circumstance that their king, as
+well as the one who appeared before Delphi, is called Brennus. _Brenin_,
+according to Adelung, in his _Mithridates_, signifies in the language of
+Wales and Lower Brittany a _king_. But what caused this whole
+emigration? The statement of Livy, that the Gauls were compelled by
+famine to leave their country, is quite in keeping with the nature of
+all traditions about migrations, such as we find them in Saxo
+Grammaticus, in Paul Warnefried from the sagas of the Swedes, in the
+Tyrrhenian traditions of Lydia, and others. However, in the case of a
+people like the Celts, every specific statement of this kind, in which
+even the names of their leaders are mentioned, is of no more value than
+the traditions of other barbarous nations which were unacquainted with
+the art of writing. It is indeed, well known that the Celts in writing
+used the Greek alphabet, but they probably employed it only in the
+transactions of daily life; for we know that they were not allowed to
+commit their ancient songs to writing.
+
+During the Gallic migration we are again made aware how little we know
+of the history of Italy generally: our knowledge is limited to Rome, so
+that we are in the same predicament there, as if of all the historical
+authorities of the whole German empire we had nothing but the annals of
+a single imperial city. According to Livy's account, it would seem as if
+the only object of the Gauls had been to march to Rome; and yet this
+immigration changed the whole aspect of Italy. After the Gauls had once
+crossed the Apennines, there was no further obstacle to prevent their
+marching to the south of Italy by any road they pleased; and it is in
+fact mentioned that they did proceed farther south. The Umbrians still
+inhabited the country on the lower Po, in the modern Romagna and Urbino,
+parts of which were occupied by Liburnians. Polybius says that many
+people there became tributary to the Gauls, and that this was the case
+with the Umbrians is quite certain.
+
+The first historical appearance of the Gauls is at Clusium, whither a
+noble Clusine is said to have invited them for the purpose of taking
+vengeance on his native city. Whether this account is true, however,
+must remain undecided, and if there is any truth in it, it is more
+probable that the offended Clusine went across the Apennines and fetched
+his avengers. Clusium has not been mentioned since the time of Porsena;
+the fact of the Clusines soliciting the aid of Rome is a proof how
+little that northern city of Etruria was concerned about the fate of the
+southern towns, and makes us even suspect that it was allied with Rome;
+however, the danger was so great that all jealousy must have been
+suppressed. The natural road for the Gauls would have been along the
+Adriatic, then through the country of Umbrians who were tributary to
+them and already quite broken down, and thence through the Romagna
+across the Apennines.
+
+But the Apennines which separate Tuscany from the Romagna are very
+difficult to cross, especially for sumpter-horses; as therefore the
+Gauls could not enter Etruria on that side--which the Etruscans had
+intentionally allowed to grow wild--and as they had been convinced of
+this in an unsuccessful attempt, they crossed the Apennines in the
+neighborhood of Clusium, and appeared before that city. Clusium was the
+great bulwark of the valley of the Tiber; and if it were taken, the
+roads along the Tiber and the Arno would be open, and the Gauls might
+reach Arezzo from the rear: the Romans therefore looked upon the fate of
+Clusium as decisive of their own. The Clusines sued for a treaty with
+the mighty city of Rome, and the Romans were wise enough readily to
+accept the offer: they sent ambassadors to the Gauls, ordering them to
+withdraw. According to a very probable account, the Gauls had demanded
+of the Clusines a division of their territory as the condition of peace,
+and not, as was customary with the Romans, as a tax upon a people
+already subdued: if this is correct, the Romans sent the embassy
+confiding in their own strength. But the Gauls scorned the ambassadors,
+and the latter, allowing themselves to be carried away by their warlike
+disposition, joined the Etruscans in a fight against the Gauls. This was
+probably only an insignificant and isolated engagement. Such is the
+account of Livy, who goes on to say that the Gauls, as soon as they
+perceived this violation in the law of nations, gave the signal for a
+retreat, and, having called upon the gods to avenge the wrong, marched
+against Rome.
+
+This is evidently a mere fiction, for a barbarous nation like the Gauls
+cannot possibly have had such ideas, nor was there in reality any
+violation of the law of nations, as the Romans stood in no kind of
+connection with the Gauls. But it was a natural feeling with the Romans
+to look upon the fall of their city as the consequence of a _nefas_
+which no human power could resist. Roman vanity also is at work here,
+inasmuch as the Roman ambassadors are said to have so distinguished
+themselves that they were recognized by the barbarians among the hosts
+of Etruscans. Now, according to another tradition directly opposed to
+these statements, the Gauls sent to Rome to demand the surrender of
+those ambassadors: as the senate was hesitating and left the decision to
+the people, the latter not only rejected the demand, but appointed the
+same ambassadors to the office of military tribunes, whereupon the Gauls
+with all their forces at once marched toward Rome.
+
+Livy here again speaks of the _populus_ as the people to whom the senate
+left the decision: this must have been the patricians only, for they
+alone had the right to decide upon the fate of the members of their own
+order. It is not fair to accuse the Romans on that occasion of
+dishonesty; but this account assuredly originated with later writers,
+who transferred to barbarians the right belonging to a nation standing
+in a legal relation to another. The statement that the three
+ambassadors, all of whom were Fabii, were appointed military tribunes,
+is not even the usual one, for there is another in Diodorus, who must
+here have used Roman authorities written in Greek, that is, Fabius;
+since he calls the C�rites [Greek: Kairioi] and not [Greek: Agullaioi].
+He speaks of a single ambassador, who being a son of a military tribune
+fought against the Gauls. This is at least a sign how uncertain history
+yet is. The battle on the Alia was fought on the 16th of July; the
+military tribunes entered upon their office on the first of that month;
+and the distance between Clusium and Rome is only three good days'
+marches. It is impossible to restore the true history, but we can
+discern what is fabulous from what is really historical.
+
+An innumerable host of Gauls now marched from Clusium toward Rome. For a
+long time the Gauls were most formidable to the Romans, as well as to
+all other nations with whom they came in contact, even as far east as
+the Ukraine; as to Rome, we see this as late as the Cisalpine war of the
+year A.U. 527. Polybius and Diodorus are our best guides in seeking for
+information about the manners of the Gauls, for in the time of Caesar
+they had already become changed. In the description of their persons we
+partly recognize the modern Gael, or the inhabitants of the Highlands of
+Scotland: huge bodies, blue eyes, bristly hair; even their dress and
+armor are those of the Highlanders, for they wore the checked and
+variegated tartans; their arms consisted of the broad, unpointed
+battle-sword, the same weapon as the claymore among the Highlanders.
+They had a vast number of horns, which were used in the Highlands for
+many centuries after, and threw themselves upon the enemy in immense
+irregular masses with terrible fury, those standing behind impelling
+those stationed in front, whereby they became irresistible by the
+tactics of those times.
+
+The Romans ought to have used against them their phalanx and doubled it,
+until they were accustomed to this enemy and were enabled by their
+greater skill to repel them. If the Romans had been able to withstand
+their first shock, the Gauls would have easily been thrown into
+disorder, and put to flight. The Gauls who were subsequently conquered
+by the Romans were the descendants of such as were born in Italy, and
+had lost much of their courage and strength. The Goths under Vitiges,
+not fifty years after the immigration of Theodoric into Italy, were
+cowards, and unable to resist the twenty thousand men of Belisarius:
+showing how easily barbarians degenerate in such climates.
+
+The Gauls, moreover, were terrible on account of their inhuman cruelty,
+for, wherever they settled, the original towns and their inhabitants
+completely disappeared from the face of the earth. In their own country
+they had the feudal system and a priestly government: the Druids were
+their only rulers, who avenged the oppressed people on the lords, but in
+their turn became tyrants: all the people were in the condition of
+serfs, a proof that the Gauls, in their own country too, were the
+conquerors who had subdued an earlier population. We always find mention
+of the wealth of the Gauls in gold, and yet France has no rivers that
+carry gold-sand, and the Pyrenees were then no longer in their
+possession: the gold must therefore have been obtained by barter. Much
+may be exaggeration; and the fact of some noble individuals wearing gold
+chains was probably transferred by ancient poets to the whole nation,
+since popular poetry takes great liberty, especially in such
+embellishments.
+
+Pliny states that previous to the Gallic calamity the census amounted to
+one hundred and fifty thousand persons, which probably refers only to
+men entitled to vote in the assemblies, and does not comprise women,
+children, slaves, and strangers. If this be correct, the number of
+citizens was enormous; but it must not be supposed to include the
+inhabitants of the city only, the population of which was doubtless much
+smaller. The statement of Diodorus that all men were called to arms to
+resist the Gauls, and that the number amounted to forty thousand, is by
+no means improbable: according to the testimony of Polybius, Latins and
+Hernicans also were enlisted. Another account makes the Romans take the
+field against the Gauls with twenty-four thousand men, that is, with
+four field legions and four civic legions: the field legions were formed
+only of plebeians, and served, according to the order of the classes,
+probably in _maniples_; the civic legions contained all those who
+belonged neither to the patricians nor to the plebeians, that is, all
+the _aerarii, proletarii_, freedmen, and artisans who had never before
+faced an enemy. They were certainly not armed with the _pilum_, nor
+drawn up in _maniples_; but used pikes and were employed in phalanxes.
+
+Now as for the field legions, each consisted half of Latins and half of
+Romans, there being in each _maniple_ one century of Roman and one of
+Latins. There were at that time four legions, and as a legion, including
+the reserve troops, contained three thousand men, the total is twelve
+thousand; now the account which mentions twenty-four thousand men must
+have presumed that there were four field legions and four irregular
+civic ones. There would accordingly have been no more than six thousand
+plebeians, and, even if the legions were all made up of Romans, only
+twelve thousand; if in addition to these we take twelve thousand
+irregular troops and sixteen thousand allies, the number of forty
+thousand would be completed. In this case, the population of Rome would
+not have been as large as that of Athens in the Peloponnesian war, and
+this is indeed very probable. The cavalry is not included in this
+calculation: but forty thousand must be taken as the maximum of the
+whole army. There seems to be no exaggeration in this statement, and the
+battle on the Alia, speaking generally, is an historical event.
+
+It is surprising that the Romans did not appoint a dictator to command
+in the battle; it cannot be said indeed that they regarded this war as
+an ordinary one, for in that case they would not have raised so great a
+force, but they cannot have comprehended the danger in all its
+greatness. New swarms continued to come across the Alps; the Senones
+also now appeared to seek habitations for themselves; they, like the
+Germans in after-times, demanded land, as they found the Insubrians,
+Boians, and others already settled; the latter had taken up their abode
+in Umbria, but only until they should find a more extensive and suitable
+territory.
+
+The Romans committed the great mistake of fighting with their hurriedly
+collected troops a battle against an enemy who had hitherto been
+invincible. The hills along which the right wing is said to have been
+drawn up are no longer discernible, and they were probably nothing but
+little mounds of earth: at any rate it was senseless to draw up a long
+line against the immense mass of enemies. The Gauls, on the other hand,
+were enabled without any difficulty to turn off to the left. They
+proceeded to a higher part of the river, where it was more easily
+fordable, and with great prudence threw themselves with all their force
+upon the right wing, consisting of the civic legions. The latter at
+first resisted, but not long; and when they fled, the whole remaining
+line, which until then seems to have been useless and inactive, was
+seized with a panic.
+
+Terror preceded the Gauls as they laid waste everything on their way,
+and this paralyzed the courage of the Romans, instead of rousing them to
+a desperate resistance. The Romans therefore were defeated on the Alia
+in the most inglorious manner. The Gauls had taken them in their rear,
+and cut off their return to Rome. A portion fled toward the Tiber, where
+some effected a retreat across the river, and others were drowned;
+another part escaped into a forest. The loss of life must have been
+prodigious, and it is inconceivable how Livy could have attached so much
+importance to the mere disgrace. If the Roman army had not been almost
+annihilated, it would not have been necessary to give up the defence of
+the city, as was done, for the city was left undefended and deserted by
+all. Many fled to Veii instead of returning to Rome: only a few, who had
+escaped along the high road, entered the city by the Colline gate.
+
+Rome was exhausted, her power shattered, her legions defenceless, and
+her warlike allies had partly been beaten in the same battle, and were
+partly awaiting the fearful enemy in their own countries. At Rome it was
+believed that the whole army was destroyed, for nothing was known of
+those who had reached Veii. In the city itself there were only old men,
+women, and children, so that there was no possibility of defending it.
+It is, however, inconceivable that the gates should have been left open,
+and that the Gauls, from fear of a stratagem, should have encamped for
+several days outside the gates. A more probable account is that the
+gates were shut and barricaded. We may form a vivid conception of the
+condition of Rome after this battle, by comparing it with that of Moscow
+before the conflagration: the people were convinced that a long defence
+was impossible, since there was probably a want of provisions.
+
+Livy gives a false notion of the evacuation of the city, as if the
+defenceless citizens had remained immovable in their consternation, and
+only a few had been received into the Capitol. The determination, in
+fact, was to defend the Capitol, and the tribune Sulpicius had taken
+refuge there, with about one thousand men. There was on the Capitol an
+ancient well which still exists, and without which the garrison would
+soon have perished. This well remained unknown to all antiquaries, till
+I discovered it by means of information gathered from the people who
+live there. Its depth in the rock descends to the level of the Tiber,
+but the water is now not fit to drink. The Capitol was a rock which had
+been hewn steep, and thereby made inaccessible, but a _clivus_, closed
+by gates both below and above, led up from the Forum and the Sacred Way.
+The rock, indeed, was not so steep as in later times, as is clear from
+the account of the attempt to storm it; but the Capitol was nevertheless
+very strong. Whether some few remained in the city, as at Moscow, who in
+their stupefaction did not consider what kind of enemy they had before
+them, cannot be decided. The narrative is very beautiful, and reminds us
+of the taking of the Acropolis of Athens by the Persians, where,
+likewise, the old men allowed themselves to be cut down by the Persians.
+
+Notwithstanding the improbability of the matter, I am inclined to
+believe that a number of aged patricians--their number may not be
+exactly historical--sat down in the Forum, in their official robes, on
+their curule chairs, and that the chief pontiff devoted them to death.
+Such devotions are a well-known Roman custom. It is certainly not
+improbable that the Gauls were amazed when they found the city deserted,
+and only these old men sitting immovable, that they took them for
+statues or supernatural visions, and did nothing to them, until one of
+them struck a Gaul who touched him, whereupon all were slaughtered. To
+commit suicide was repugnant to the customs of the Romans, who were
+guided in many things by feelings more correct and more resembling our
+own, than many other ancient nations. The old men, indeed, had given up
+the hope of their country being saved; but the Capitol might be
+maintained, and the survivors preferred dying in the attempt of
+self-defence to taking refuge at Veii, where after all they could not
+have maintained themselves in the end.
+
+The sacred treasures were removed to Caere, and the hope of the Romans
+now was that the barbarians would be tired of the long siege. Provisions
+for a time had been conveyed to the Capitol, where a couple of thousand
+men may have been assembled, and where all buildings, temples, as well
+as public and private houses, were used as habitations. The Gauls made
+fearful havoc at Rome, even more fearful than the Spaniards and Germans
+did in the year 1527. Soldiers plunder, and when they find no human
+beings they engage in the work of destruction; and fires break out, as
+at Moscow, without the existence of any intention to cause a
+conflagration. The whole city was changed into a heap of ashes, with the
+exception of a few houses on the Palatine, which were occupied by the
+leaders of the Gauls. It is astonishing to find, nevertheless, that a
+few monuments of the preceding period, such as statues, situated at some
+distance from the Capitol, are mentioned as having been preserved; but
+we must remember that _travertino_ is tolerably fireproof. That Rome was
+burned down is certain; and when it was rebuilt, not even the ancient
+streets were restored.
+
+The Gauls were now encamped in the city. At first they attempted to
+storm the _clivus_, but were repelled with great loss, which is
+surprising, since we know that at an earlier time the Romans succeeded
+in storming it against Appius Herdonius. Afterward they discovered the
+footsteps of a messenger who had been sent from Veii, in order that the
+State might be taken care of in due form; for the Romans in the Capitol
+were patricians, and represented the _curies_ and the Government,
+whereas those assembled at Veii represented the tribes, but had no
+leaders. The latter had resolved to recall Camillus, and raise him to
+the dictatorship. For this reason Pontius Cominius had been sent to Rome
+to obtain the sanction of the senate and the curies. This was quite in
+the spirit of the ancient times. If the curies had interdicted him _aqua
+et igni_, they alone could recall him, if they previously obtained a
+resolution of the senate authorizing them to do so; but if he had gone
+into voluntary exile, and had given up his Roman franchise by becoming a
+citizen of Ardea before a sentence had been passed upon him by the
+centuries, it was again in the power of the curies alone, he being a
+patrician, to recall him as a citizen; and otherwise he could not have
+become dictator, nor could he have regarded himself as such.
+
+It was the time of the dog-days when the Gauls came to Rome, and as the
+summer at Rome is always pestilential, especially during the two months
+and a half before the first of September, the unavoidable consequence
+must have been, as Livy relates, that the barbarians, bivouacking on the
+ruins of the city in the open air, were attacked by disease and carried
+off, like the army of Frederick Barbarossa when encamped before the
+castle of St. Angelo. The whole army of the Gauls, however, was not in
+the city, but only as many as were necessary to blockade the garrison of
+the Capitol; the rest were scattered far and wide over the face of the
+country, and were ravaging all the unprotected places and isolated farms
+in Latium; many an ancient town, which is no longer mentioned after this
+time, may have been destroyed by the Gauls. None but fortified places
+like Ostia, which could obtain supplies by sea, made a successful
+resistance, for the Gauls were unacquainted with the art of besieging.
+
+The Ardeatans, whose territory was likewise invaded by the Gauls,
+opposed them, under the command of Camillus; the Etruscans would seem to
+have endeavored to avail themselves of the opportunity of recovering
+Veii, for we are told that the Romans at Veii, commanded by Caedicius,
+gained a battle against them, and that, encouraged by this success, they
+began to entertain a hope of regaining Rome, since by this victory they
+got possession of arms.
+
+A Roman of the name of Fabius Dorso is said to have offered up, in broad
+daylight, a _gentilician_ sacrifice on the Quirinal; and the astonished
+Gauls are said to have done him no harm--a tradition which is not
+improbable.
+
+The provisions in the Capitol were exhausted, but the Gauls themselves
+being seized with epidemic diseases became tired of their conquests, and
+were not inclined to settle in a country so far away from their own
+home. They once more attempted to take the Capitol by storm, having
+observed that the messenger from Veii had ascended the rock, and come
+down again near the Porta Carmentalis, below Araceli. The ancient rock
+is now covered with rubbish, and no longer discernible. The besieged did
+not think of a storm on that side; it may be that formerly there had in
+that part been a wall, which had become decayed; and in southern
+countries an abundant vegetation always springs up between the stones,
+and if this had actually been neglected it cannot have been very
+difficult to climb up. The Gauls had already gained a firm footing, as
+there was no wall at the top--the rock which they stormed was not the
+Tarpeian, but the Arx--when Manlius, who lived there, was roused by the
+screaming of the geese: he came to the spot and thrust down those who
+were climbing up.
+
+This rendered the Gauls still more inclined to commence negotiations;
+they were, moreover, called back by an inroad of some Alpine tribes into
+Lombardy, where they had left their wives and children: they offered to
+depart if the Romans would pay them a ransom of a thousand pounds of
+gold, to be taken no doubt from the Capitoline treasury. Considering the
+value of money at that time, the sum was enormous: in the time of
+Theodosius, indeed, there were people at Rome who possessed several
+hundredweight of gold, nay, one is said to have had an annual revenue of
+two hundredweight. There can be no doubt that the Gauls received the sum
+they demanded, and quitted Rome; that in weighing it they scornfully
+imposed upon the Romans is very possible, and the _vae victis_ too may
+be true: we ourselves have seen similar things before the year 1813.
+
+But there can be no truth in the story told by Livy, that while they
+were disputing Camillus appeared with an army and stopped the
+proceedings, because the military tribunes had had no right to conclude
+the treaty. He is there said to have driven the Gauls from the city, and
+afterward in a twofold battle to have so completely defeated them that
+not even a messenger escaped. Beaufort, inspired by Gallic patriotism,
+has most excellently shown what a complete fable this story is. To
+attempt to disguise the misfortunes of our forefathers by substituting
+fables in their place is mere childishness. This charge does not affect
+Livy, indeed, for he copied only what others had written before him; but
+he did not allow his own conviction to appear as he generally does, for
+he treats the whole of the early history with a sort of irony, half
+believing, half disbelieving it.
+
+According to another account in Diodorus, the Gauls besieged a town
+allied with Rome--its name seems to be mis-written, but is probably
+intended for Vulsinii--and the Romans relieved it and took back from the
+Gauls the gold which they had paid them; but this siege of Vulsinii is
+quite unknown to Livy. A third account in Strabo and also mentioned by
+Diodorus does not allow this honor to the Romans, but states that the
+Caerites pursued the Gauls, attacked them in the country of the Sabines,
+and completely annihilated them. In like manner the Greeks endeavored to
+disguise the fact that the Gauls took the money from the Delphic
+treasury, and that in a quite historical period (Olymp. 120). The true
+explanation is undoubtedly the one found in Polybius, that the Gauls
+were induced to quit Rome by an insurrection of the Alpine tribes, after
+it had experienced the extremity of humiliation.
+
+Whatever the enemy had taken as booty was consumed; they had not made
+any conquests, but only indulged in plunder and devastation; they had
+been staying at Rome for seven or eight months, and could have gained
+nothing further than the Capitol and the very money which they received
+without taking that fortress. The account of Polybius throws light upon
+many discrepant statements, and all of them, not even excepting Livy's
+fairy-tale-like embellishment, may be explained by means of it. The
+Romans attempted to prove that the Gauls had actually been defeated, by
+relating that the gold afterward taken from the Gauls and buried in the
+Capitol was double the sum paid to them as a ransom; but it is much more
+probable that the Romans paid their ransom out of the treasury of the
+temple of the Capitoline Jupiter and of other temples, and that
+afterward double this sum was made up by a tax; which agrees with a
+statement in the history of Manlius, that a tax was imposed for the
+purpose of raising the Gallic ransom: surely this could not have been
+done at the time of the siege, when the Romans were scattered in all
+parts of the country, but must have taken place afterward for the
+purpose of restoring the money that had been taken. Now if at a later
+time there actually existed in the Capitol such a quantity of gold, it
+is clear that it was believed to be a proof that the Gauls had not kept
+the gold which was paid to them.
+
+Even as late as the time of Cicero and Caesar, the spot was shown at
+Rome in the Carinae, where the Gauls had heaped up and burned their
+dead; it was called _busta Gallica_, which was corrupted in the Middle
+Ages into Protogallo, whence the church which was built there was in
+reality called _S. Andreas in bustis Gallicis_, or, according to the
+later Latinity, _in busta Gallica--busta Gallica_ not being declined.
+
+The Gauls departed with their gold, which the Romans had been compelled
+to pay on account of the famine that prevailed in the Capitol, which was
+so great that they pulled the leather from their shields and cooked it,
+just as was done during the siege of Jerusalem. The Gauls were certainly
+not destroyed. Justin has preserved the remarkable statement that the
+same Gauls who sacked Rome went to Apulia, and there offered for money
+their assistance to the elder Dionysius of Syracuse. From this important
+statement it is at any rate clear that they traversed all Italy, and
+then probably returned along the shore of the Adriatic: their
+devastations extended over many parts of Italy, and there is no doubt
+that the �quians received their death-blow at that time, for henceforth
+we hear no more of the hostilities of the �quians against Rome.
+Praeneste, on the other hand, which must formerly have been subject to
+the �quians, now appears as an independent town. The �quians, who
+inhabited small and easily destructible towns, must have been
+annihilated during the progress of the Gauls.
+
+There is nothing so strange in the history of Livy as his view of the
+consequences of the Gallic calamity; he must have conceived it as a
+transitory storm by which Rome was humbled but not broken. The army,
+according to him, was only scattered, and the Romans appear afterward
+just as they had been before, as if the preceding period had only been
+an evil dream, and as if there had been nothing to do but to rebuild the
+city. But assuredly the devastation must have been tremendous throughout
+the Roman territory: for eight months the barbarians had been ravaging
+the country, every trace of cultivation, every farmer's house, all the
+temples and public buildings were destroyed; the walls of the city had
+been purposely pulled down, a large number of its inhabitants were led
+into slavery, the rest were living in great misery at Veii; and what
+they had saved scarcely sufficed to buy their bread. In this condition
+they returned to Rome. Camillus as dictator is called a second Romulus,
+and to him is due the glory of not having despaired in those distressing
+circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY MEHA
+
+B.C. 341
+
+DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER
+
+
+(The first Chinese are supposed to have been a nomad tribe in the
+provinces of Shensi, which lies in the northwest of China, and among
+them at last appeared a ruler, Fohi, whose name at least has been
+preserved. His deeds and his person are mythical, but he is credited
+with having given his country its first regular institutions.
+
+The annalists of the Chinese chronicles placed the date of the Creation
+at a point of time two millions of years before Confucius; this interval
+they filled up with lines of dynasties. Preceding the Chow dynasty the
+chronicles give ten epochs--prior to the eighth of these there is no
+authentic history. Yew-chow She [the "Nest-having"] taught the people to
+build huts of the boughs of trees. Fire was discovered by Say-jin She
+[the "Fire producer"]. Fuh-he [B.C. 2862] was the discoverer of iron.
+With Yaou [B.C. 2356] is the period whence Confucius begins his story.
+He says of that epoch: "The house door could safely be left open." Yaou
+greatly extended and strengthened the empire and established fairs and
+marts over the land.
+
+One of China's most notable rulers was Tsin Chi Hwangti, who was
+studious in providing for the security of his empire, and with this
+object began the construction of a fortified wall across the northern
+frontier to serve as a defence against the troublesome Hiongnou tribes,
+who are identified with the Huns of Attila. This wall, which he began in
+the first years of his reign--about the close of the third century
+B.C.--was finished before his death. It still exists, known as the Great
+Wall of China, and has long been considered one of the wonders of the
+world. Every third man of the whole empire was employed on this work. It
+is said that five hundred thousand of them died of starvation. The
+contents of the Great Wall would be enough to build two walls six feet
+high and two feet thick around the equator. It is the largest artificial
+structure in the world; carried for fourteen hundred miles over height
+and hollow, reaching in one place the level of five thousand
+feet--nearly one mile--above the sea. Earth, gravel, brick, and stone
+were used in its construction.
+
+The weak successors of Hwangti finally gave way to the usurper, Kaotsou,
+who had been originally the ruler of a small town, and had borne the
+name of Lieou Pang.
+
+The reign of Kaotsou was distinguished by the consolidation of the
+empire; the connection of Western with Eastern China by high walls and
+bridges, some of which are still in perfect condition, and the
+institution of an elaborate code of court etiquette. His attention to
+these things was, however, rudely interrupted by an irruption of the
+Hiongnou Tartars.)
+
+
+The death of Tsin Chi Hwangti proved the signal for the outbreak of
+disturbances throughout the realm. Within a few months five princes had
+founded as many kingdoms, each hoping, if not to become supreme, at
+least to remain independent. Moungtien, beloved by the army, and at the
+head, as he tells us in his own words, of three hundred thousand
+soldiers, might have been the arbiter of the empire; but a weak feeling
+of respect for the imperial authority induced him to obey an order, sent
+by Eulchi, Hwangti's son and successor, commanding him "to drink the
+waters of eternal life." Eulchi's brief reign of three years was a
+succession of misfortunes. The reins of office were held by the eunuch
+Chow-kow, who first murdered the minister Lissep and then Eulchi
+himself.
+
+Ing Wang, a grandson of Hwangti, was the next and last of the Tsin
+emperors. On coming to power, he at once caused Chow-kow, whose crimes
+had been discovered, to be arrested and executed. This vigorous
+commencement proved very transitory, for when he had enjoyed nominal
+authority during six weeks, Ing Wang's troops, after a reverse in the
+field, went over in a body to Lieou Pang, the leader of a rebel force.
+Ing Wang put an end to his existence, thus terminating, in a manner not
+less ignominious than any of its predecessors, the dynasty of the Tsins,
+which Hwangti had hoped to place permanently on the throne of China, and
+to which his genius gave a lustre far surpassing that of many other
+families who had enjoyed the same privilege during a much longer period.
+
+The crisis in the history of the country had afforded one of those great
+men who rise periodically from the ranks of the people to give law to
+nations the opportunity for advancing his personal interests at the same
+time that he made them appear to be identical with the public weal. Of
+such geniuses, if the test applied be the work accomplished, there have
+been few with higher claims to respectful and admiring consideration
+than Lieou Pang, who after the fall of the Tsins became the founder of
+the Han dynasty under the style of Kaotsou. Originally the governor of a
+small town, he had, soon after the death of Hwangti, gathered round him
+the nucleus of a formidable army, and while nominally serving under one
+of the greater princes, he scarcely affected to conceal that he was
+fighting for his own interest. On the other hand, he was no mere soldier
+of fortune, and the moderation which he showed after victory enhanced
+his reputation as a general. The path to the throne being thus cleared,
+the successful general became emperor.
+
+His first act was to proclaim an amnesty to all those who had borne arms
+against him. In a public proclamation he expressed his regret at the
+suffering of the people "from the evils which follow in the train of
+war." During the earlier years of his reign he chose the city of Loyang
+as his capital--now the flourishing and populous town of Honan--but at a
+later period he removed it to Singanfoo, in the western province of
+Shensi. His dynasty became known by the name of the small state where he
+was born, and which had fallen early in his career into his hands.
+
+Kaotsou sanctioned or personally undertook various important public
+works, which in many places still exist to testify to the greatness of
+his character. Prominent among those must be placed the bridges
+constructed along the great roads of Western China. Some of them are
+still believed to be in perfect condition. No act of Kaotsou's reign
+places him higher in the scale of sovereigns than the improvement of the
+roads and the construction of those remarkable bridges. Kaotsou loved
+splendor and sought to make his receptions and banquets imposing by
+their brilliance. He drew up a special ceremonial which must have proved
+a trying ordeal for his courtiers, and dire was the offence if it were
+infringed in the smallest particular. He kept up festivities at
+Singanfoo for several weeks, and on one of these occasions he exclaimed:
+"To-day I feel I am emperor and perceive all the difference between a
+subject and his master."
+
+Kaotsou's attention was rudely summoned away from these trivialities by
+the outbreak of revolts against his authority and by inroads on the part
+of the Tartars. The latter were the more serious. The disturbances that
+followed Hwangti's death were a fresh inducement to these clans to again
+gather round a common head and prey upon the weakness of China, for
+Kaotsou's authority was not yet recognized in many of the tributary
+states which had been fain to admit the supremacy of the great Tsin
+emperor. About this time the Hiongnou[45] Tartars were governed by two
+chiefs in particular, one named Tonghou, the other Meha or Mehe. Of
+these the former appears to have been instigated by a reckless ambition
+or an overweening arrogance, and at first it seemed that the forbearance
+of Meha would allow his pretensions[46] to pass unchallenged.
+
+[Footnote 45: Probably the same race as the Huns.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Meha had become chief of his clan by murdering his father,
+Teou-man, who was on the point of ordering his son's assassination when
+thus forestalled in his intention. Tonghou sent to demand from him a
+favorite horse, which Meha sent him. His kinsmen advised him to refuse
+compliance; but he replied: "What! Would you quarrel with your neighbors
+for a horse?" Shortly afterward Tonghou sent to ask for one of the wives
+of the former chief. This also Meha granted, saying: "Why should we
+undertake a war for the sake of a woman?" It was only when Tonghou
+menaced his possessions that Meha took up arms.]
+
+Meha's successes followed rapidly upon each other. Issuing from the
+desert, and marching in the direction of China, he wrested many fertile
+districts from the feeble hands of those who held them; and while
+establishing his personal authority on the banks of the Hoangho, his
+lieutenants returned laden with plunder from expeditions into the rich
+provinces of Shensi and Szchuen. He won back all the territory lost by
+his ancestors to Hwangti and Moungtien, and he paved the way to greater
+success by the siege and capture of the city of Maye, thus obtaining
+possession of the key of the road to Tsinyang. Several of the border
+chiefs and of the Emperor's lieutenants, dreading the punishment
+allotted in China to want of success, went over to the Tartars, and took
+service under Meha.
+
+The Emperor, fully aroused to the gravity of the danger, assembled his
+army, and placing himself at its head marched against the Tartars.
+Encouraged by the result of several preliminary encounters, the Emperor
+was eager to engage Meha's main army, and after some weeks' searching
+and manoeuvring, the two forces halted in front of each other. Kaotsou,
+imagining that victory was within his grasp, and believing the stories
+brought to him by spies of the weakness of the Tartar army, resolved on
+an immediate attack. He turned a deaf ear to the cautious advice of one
+of his generals, who warned him that "in war we should never despise an
+enemy," and marched in person at the head of his advance guard to find
+the Tartars. Meha, who had been at all these pains to throw dust in the
+Emperor's eyes and to conceal his true strength, no sooner saw how well
+his stratagem had succeeded, and that Kaotsou was rushing into the trap
+so elaborately laid for him, than by a skilful movement he cut off his
+communications with the main body of his army, and, surrounding him with
+an overwhelming force, compelled him to take refuge in the city of
+Pingching in Shensi.
+
+With a very short supply of provisions, and hopelessly outnumbered, it
+looked as if the Chinese Emperor could not possibly escape the grasp of
+the desert chief. In this strait one of his officers suggested as a last
+chance that the most beautiful virgin in the town should be discovered,
+and sent as a present to mollify the conqueror. Kaotsou seized at this
+suggestion, as the drowning man will catch at a straw, and the story is
+preserved, though her name has passed into oblivion, of how the young
+Chinese girl entered into the plan and devoted all her wits to charming
+the Tartar conqueror. She succeeded as much as their fondest hopes could
+have led them to believe; and Meha permitted Kaotsou, after signing an
+ignominious treaty, to leave his place of confinement and rejoin his
+army, glad to welcome the return of the Emperor, yet without him
+helpless to stir a hand to effect his release. Meha retired to his own
+territory, well satisfied with the material results of the war and the
+rich booty which had been obtained in the sack of Chinese cities, while
+Kaotsou, like the ordinary type of an oriental ruler, vented his
+discomfiture on his subordinates.
+
+The closing acts of the war were the lavishing of rewards on the head of
+the general to whose warnings he had paid no heed, and the execution of
+the scouts who had been misled by the wiles of Meha.
+
+The success which had attended this incursion and the spoil of war were
+potent inducements to the Tartars to repeat the invasion. While Kaotsou
+was meditating over the possibility of revenge, and considering schemes
+for the better protection of his frontier, the Tartars, disregarding the
+truce that had been concluded, retraced their steps, and pillaged the
+border districts with impunity. In this year (B.C. 199) they were
+carrying everything before them, and the Emperor, either unnerved by
+recent disaster or appalled at the apparently irresistible energy of the
+followers of Meha, remained apathetic in his palace. The representations
+of his ministers and generals failed to rouse him from his stupor, and
+the weapon to which he resorted was the abuse of his opponent, and not
+his prompt chastisement. Meha was "a wicked and faithless man, who had
+risen to power by the murder of his father, and one with whom oaths and
+treaties carried no weight." In the mean while the Tartars were
+continuing their victorious career. The capital itself could not be
+pronounced safe from their assaults, or from the insult of their
+presence.
+
+In this crisis counsels of craft and dissimulation alone found favor in
+the Emperor's cabinet. No voice was raised in support of the bold and
+only true course of going forth to meet the national enemy. The
+capitulation of Pingching had for the time destroyed the manhood of the
+race, and Kaotsou held in esteem the advice of men widely different to
+those who had placed him on the throne. Kaotsou opened fresh
+negotiations with Meha, who concluded a treaty on condition of the
+Emperor's daughter being given to him in marriage, and on the assumption
+that he was an independent ruler. With these terms Kaotsou felt obliged
+to comply, and thus for the first time this never-ceasing collision
+between the tribes of the desert and the agriculturists of the plains of
+China closed with the admitted triumph of the former. The contest was
+soon to be renewed with different results, but the triumph of Meha was
+beyond question.[47]
+
+[Footnote 47: One historian had the courage to declare that "Never was
+so great a shame inflicted on the Middle Kingdom, which then lost its
+dignity and honor."]
+
+The weakness thus shown against a foreign foe brought its own punishment
+in domestic troubles. The palace became the scene of broils, plots, and
+counterplots, and so badly did Kaotsou manage his affairs at this epoch
+that one of his favorite generals raised the standard of revolt against
+him through apparently a mere misunderstanding. In this instance Kaotsou
+easily put down the rising, but others followed which, if not pregnant
+with danger, were at the least extremely troublesome. The murder of
+Hansin, to whose aid Kaotsou owed his elevation to the throne as much as
+to any other, by order of the empress, during a reception at the palace,
+shook confidence still more in the ruler, and many of his followers were
+forced into open rebellion through dread of personal danger. What wonder
+that, as he has said, "the very name of revolt inspired Kaotsou with
+apprehension."
+
+In B.C. 195 we find Kaotsou going out of his way to visit the tomb of
+Confucius. Shortly after this event it became evident that he was
+approaching his end. His eldest son Hiaohoei was proclaimed heir
+apparent. Kaotsou died in the fifty-third year of his age, having
+reigned as emperor during eight years. The close of his reign did not
+bear out all the promise of its commencement; and the extent of his
+authority was greatly curtailed by the disastrous effects of the war
+with the Tartars and the subsequent revolts among his generals.
+
+Despite these reverses there remains much in favor of his character. He
+had performed his part in the consolidation of the Hans; it remained for
+those who came after him to complete what he left half finished.
+
+Under Hoeiti, the Tartar King Meha sent an envoy to the capital, but
+either the form or the substance of his message enraged the
+empress-mother, who ordered his execution. The two peoples were thus
+again brought to the brink of war, but eventually the difference was
+sunk for the time, and the Chinese chroniclers have represented that the
+satisfactory turn in the question was due to Meha seeing the error of
+his ways.[48] Not long afterward the Tartar King died, and was succeeded
+by his son Lao Chang.
+
+[Footnote 48: Meha's letter of excuse is thus given: "In the barbarous
+country which I govern both virtue and the decencies of life are
+unknown. I have been unable to free myself from them, and, therefore, I
+blush. China has her wise men; that is a happiness which I envy. They
+would have prevented my being wanting in the respect due to your rank."]
+
+
+
+
+ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA
+
+B.C. 332
+
+OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+
+(The master spirit who could sigh for more worlds to conquer was at this
+time high in his dazzling flight. Alexander has always been considered
+one of the most striking and picturesque characters of history. His
+personality was pleasing, his endurance remarkable, and courage
+dauntless. Educated by Aristotle, his keen mind was well trained. He was
+skilled in horsemanship, and his control over the fiery Bucephalus,
+untamable by others, has become a household tale in all lands. There
+never was a more kingly prince.
+
+A king at twenty, his career has been an object of wonder to succeeding
+generations. He shot like a meteor across the sky of ancient
+civilization. His military achievements were remarkable for quickness of
+conception and rapidity of execution; his life was a progress from
+conquest to conquest. Alexander's army, with its solid phalanx, its
+darting cavalry, and light troops, had become irresistible. He possessed
+Napoleon's ability to select good generals and to make the most of his
+talents. In battle Alexander was entirely devoid of fear. After a
+victory his chief thoughts were for the wounded. Like Napoleon, he also
+possessed that personal equation of absolute popularity with his
+soldiers. Their devotion to him was simply complete.
+
+After Thebes came the invasion of Asia. The invincible Macedonian had
+fought and won the battle of the Granicus. In this battle nearly all of
+the Persian leaders were slain, and its result spread terror throughout
+Persia. Halicarnassus was next reduced. The march of Alexander was ever
+onward. In the citadel of Gordium he cut the "Gordian knot," and
+prophecy marked him for the lord of Asia.
+
+And now Darius marched to meet him, making a fatally bad choice of
+battle-ground. Darius was totally defeated at the celebrated battle of
+Issus, although he had anticipated a victory. After the Persian rout and
+the flight of Darius, whose numbers counted for nothing before the
+Macedonian's skill, Lindon welcomed the invaders, and Alexander
+determined to take Tyre. This was accomplished after a siege, which was
+attended with much cruelty.
+
+The siege of Gaza followed, in which nearly all of the citizens
+perished. In B.C. 332 Alexander began his expedition to Egypt. He
+conciliated the natives by paying honors to their gods. In his progress
+he was struck by the advantages of a certain site for a city, and
+founded there the town which is now called Alexandria.)
+
+
+All Phoenicia was subdued except Tyre, the capital city. This city was
+justly entitled the "Queen of the Sea," that element bringing to it the
+tribute of all nations. She boasted of having first invented navigation
+and taught mankind the art of braving the winds and waves by the
+assistance of a frail bark. The happy situation of Tyre, at the upper
+end of the Mediterranean; the conveniency of its ports, which were both
+safe and capacious; and the character of its inhabitants, who were
+industrious, laborious, patient, and extremely courteous to strangers,
+invited thither merchants from all parts of the globe; so that it might
+be considered, not so much a city belonging to any particular nation, as
+the common city of all nations and the centre of their commerce.
+
+Alexander thought it necessary, both for his glory and his interest, to
+take this city. The spring was now coming on. Tyre was at that time
+seated on an island of the sea, about a quarter of a league from the
+continent. It was surrounded by a strong wall, a hundred and fifty feet
+high, which the waves of the sea washed; and the Carthaginians, a colony
+from Tyre, a mighty people, and sovereigns of the ocean, promised to
+come to the assistance of their parent State. Encouraged, therefore, by
+these favorable circumstances, the Tyrians determined not to surrender,
+but to hold out the place to the last extremity. This resolution,
+however imprudent, was certainly magnanimous, but it was soon after
+followed by an act which was as blamable as the other was praiseworthy.
+
+Alexander was desirous of gaining the place rather by treaty than by
+force of arms, and with this in view sent heralds into the town with
+offers of peace; but the inhabitants were so far from listening to his
+proposals, or endeavoring to avert his resentment by any kind of
+concession, that they actually killed his ambassadors and threw their
+bodies from the top of the walls into the sea. It is easy to imagine
+what effect so shocking an outrage must produce in a mind like
+Alexander's. He instantly resolved to besiege the place, and not to
+desist until he had made himself master of it and razed it to the
+ground.
+
+As Tyre was divided from the continent by an arm of the sea, there was
+necessity for filling up the intermediate space with a bank or pier,
+before the place could be closely invested. This work, accordingly, was
+immediately undertaken and in a great measure completed; when all the
+wood, of which it was principally composed, was unexpectedly burned by
+means of a fire-ship sent in by the enemy. The damage, however, was very
+soon repaired, and the mole rendered more perfect than formerly, and
+carried nearer to the town, when all of a sudden a furious tempest
+arose, which, undermining the stonework that supported the wood, laid
+the whole at once in the bottom of the sea.
+
+Two such disasters, following so closely on the heels of each other,
+would have cooled the ardor of any man except Alexander, but nothing
+could daunt his invincible spirit, or make him relinquish an enterprise
+he had once undertaken. He, therefore, resolved to prosecute the siege;
+and in order to encourage his men to second his views, he took care to
+inspire them with the belief that heaven was on their side and would
+soon crown their labors with the wished-for success. At one time he gave
+out that Apollo was about to abandon the Tyrians to their doom, and
+that, to prevent his flight, they had bound him to his pedestal with a
+golden chain; at another, he pretended that Hercules, the tutelar deity
+of Macedon, had appeared to him, and, having opened prospects of the
+most glorious kind, had invited him to proceed to take possession of
+Tyre.
+
+These favorable circumstances were announced by the augurs as
+intimations from above; and every heart was in consequence cheered. The
+soldiers, as if that moment arrived before the city, forgetting all the
+toils they had undergone and the disappointments they had suffered,
+began to raise a new mole, at which they worked incessantly.
+
+To protect them from being annoyed by the ships of the enemy, Alexander
+fitted out a fleet, with which he not only secured his own men, but
+offered the Tyrians battle, which, however, they thought proper to
+decline, and withdrew all their galleys into the harbor.
+
+The besiegers, now allowed to proceed unmolested, went on with the work
+with the utmost vigor, and in a little time completed it and brought it
+close to the walls. A general attack was therefore resolved on, both by
+sea and land, and with this in view the King, having manned his galleys
+and joined them together with strong cables, ordered them to approach
+the walls about midnight and attack the city with resolution. But just
+as the assault was going to begin, a dreadful storm arose, which not
+only shook the ships asunder, but even shattered them in a terrible
+manner, so that they were all obliged to be towed toward the shore,
+without having made the least impression on the city.
+
+The Tyrians were elated with this gleam of good fortune; but that joy
+was of short duration, for in a little time they received intelligence
+from Carthage that they must expect no assistance from that quarter, as
+the Carthaginians themselves were then overawed by a powerful army of
+Syracusans, who had invaded their country. Reduced, therefore, to the
+hard necessity of depending entirely upon their own strength and their
+own resources, the Tyrians sent all their women and children to
+Carthage, and prepared to encounter the very last extremities. For now
+the enemy was attacking the place with greater spirit and activity than
+ever. And, to do the Tyrians justice, it must be acknowledged that they
+employed a number of methods of defence which, considering the rude
+state of the art of war at that early period, were really astonishing.
+They warded off the darts discharged from the ballisters against them,
+by the assistance of turning wheels, which either broke them to pieces
+or carried them another way. They deadened the violence of the stones
+that were hurled at them, by setting up sails and curtains made of a
+soft substance which easily gave way.
+
+To annoy the ships which advanced against their walls, they fixed
+grappling irons and scythes to joists or beams; then, straining their
+catapultas--an enormous kind of crossbow--they laid those great pieces
+of timber upon them instead of arrows, and shot them off on a sudden at
+the enemy. These crushed some of their ships by their great weight, and,
+by means of the hooks or hanging scythes, tore others to pieces. They
+also had brazen shields, which they drew red-hot out of the fire; and
+filling these with burning sand, hurled them in an instant from the top
+of the wall upon the enemy.
+
+There was nothing the Macedonians dreaded so much as this fatal
+instrument; for the moment the burning sand got to the flesh through the
+crevices of the armor, it penetrated to the very bone, and stuck so
+close that there was no pulling it off; so that the soldiers, throwing
+down their arms, and tearing their clothes to pieces, were in this
+manner exposed, naked and defenceless, to the shot of the enemy.
+
+Alexander, finding the resources and even the courage of the Tyrians
+increased in proportion as the siege continued, resolved to make a last
+effort, and attack them at once both by sea and land, in order, if
+possible, to overwhelm them with the multiplicity of dangers to which
+they would be thus exposed. With this view, having manned his galleys
+with some of the bravest of his troops, he commanded them to advance
+against the enemy's fleet, while he himself took his post at the head of
+his men on the mole.
+
+And now the attack began on all sides with irresistible and unremitting
+fury. Wherever the battering-rams had beat down any part of the wall,
+and the bridges were thrown out, instantly the argyraspides mounted the
+breach with the utmost valor, being led on by Admetus, one of the
+bravest officers in the army, who was killed by the thrust of a spear as
+he was encouraging his soldiers.
+
+The presence of the King, and the example he set, fired his troops with
+unusual bravery. He himself ascended one of the towers on the mole,
+which was of a prodigious height, and there was exposed to the greatest
+dangers he had ever yet encountered; for being immediately known by his
+insignia and the richness of his armor, he served as a mark for all the
+arrows of the enemy. On this occasion he performed wonders, killing with
+javelins several of those who defended the wall; then, advancing nearer
+to them, he forced some with his sword, and others with his shield,
+either into the city or the sea, the tower on which he fought almost
+touching the wall.
+
+He soon ascended the wall, followed by his principal officers, and
+possessed himself of two towers and the space between them. The
+battering-rams had already made several breaches; the fleet had forced
+its way into the harbor; and some of the Macedonians had possessed
+themselves of the towers which were abandoned. The Tyrians, seeing the
+enemy masters of their rampart, retired toward an open place, called
+Agenor, and there stood their ground; but Alexander, marching up with
+his regiment of bodyguards, killed part of them and obliged the rest to
+fly.
+
+At the same time, Tyre being taken on that side which lay toward the
+harbor, a general carnage of the citizens ensued, and none was spared,
+except the few that fell into the hands of the Siclonians in Alexander's
+army, who--considering the Tyrians as countrymen--granted them
+protection and carried them privately on board their ships.
+
+The number that was slaughtered on this occasion is almost incredible;
+even after conquest, the victor's resentment did not subside. He ordered
+no less than five thousand men, who were taken in the storming, to be
+nailed to crosses along the shore. The number of prisoners amounted to
+thirty thousand and were all sold as slaves in different parts of the
+world. Thus fell Tyre, that had been for many ages the most flourishing
+city in the world, and had spread the arts and commerce into the
+remotest regions.
+
+While Alexander was employed in the siege of Tyre he received a second
+letter from Darius, in which that monarch treated him with greater
+respect than before. He now gave him the title of king; he offered him
+ten thousand talents as a ransom for his captive mother and queen; and
+he promised him his daughter Statira in marriage, with all the country
+he had conquered, as far as the river Euphrates, provided he would agree
+to a peace. These terms were so advantageous that, when the King debated
+upon them in council, Parmenio, one of his generals, could not help
+observing that he would certainly accept of them were he Alexander. "And
+so would I," replied the King, "were I Parmenio!" But deeming it
+inconsistent with his dignity to listen to any proposals from a man whom
+he had so lately overcome, he haughtily rejected them, and scorned to
+accept of that as a favor which he already considered his own by
+conquest.
+
+From Tyre, Alexander marched to Jerusalem, fully determined to punish
+that city for having refused to supply his army with provisions during
+the siege; but his resentment was mollified by a deputation of the
+citizens coming out to meet him, with their high priest, Taddua, before
+them, dressed in white, and having a mitre on his head, on the front of
+which the name of God was written. The moment the King perceived the
+high priest, he advanced toward him with an air of the most profound
+respect, bowed his body, adored the august name upon his front, and
+saluted him who wore it with religious veneration.
+
+And when some of his courtiers expressed their surprise that he, who was
+adored by everyone, should adore the high priest of the Jews: "I do
+not," said he, "adore the high priest, but the God whose minister he is;
+for while I was at Dium in Macedonia, my mind wholly fixed on the great
+design of the Persian war, as I was revolving the methods how to conquer
+Asia, this very man, dressed in the same robes, appeared to me in a
+dream, exhorted me to banish my fear, bade me cross the Hellespont
+boldly, and assured me that God would march at the head of my army and
+give me the victory over the Persians." This speech, delivered with an
+air of sincerity, no doubt had its effect in encouraging the army and
+establishing an opinion that his mission was from heaven.
+
+From Jerusalem he went to Gaza, where, having met with a more obstinate
+resistance than he expected, he cut to pieces the whole garrison,
+consisting of ten thousand men. Not satisfied with this act of cruelty,
+he caused holes to be bored through the heels of Boetis, the governor,
+and tying him with cords to the back of his chariot dragged him in this
+manner around the walls of the city. This he did in imitation of
+Achilles, whom Homer describes as having dragged Hector around the walls
+of Troy in the same manner. It was reading the past to very little, or
+rather, indeed, to very bad purpose, to imitate this hero in the most
+unworthy part of his character.
+
+Alexander, having left a garrison in Gaza, turned his arms toward Egypt;
+of which he made himself master without opposition. Here he formed the
+design of visiting the temple of Jupiter, which was situated in the
+sandy deserts of Lybia at the distance of twelve days' journey from
+Memphis, the capital of Egypt. His chief object in going thither was to
+get himself acknowledged the son of Jupiter, an honor he had long
+aspired to. In this journey he founded the city of Alexandria, which
+soon became one of the greatest towns in the world for commerce.
+
+Nothing could be more dreary than the desert through which he passed,
+nor anything more charming--according to the fabulous accounts of the
+poets--than the particular spot where the temple was situated.
+
+It was a perfect paradise in the midst of an immeasurable wilderness. At
+last, having reached the place, and appeared before the altar of the
+deity, the priest, who was no stranger to Alexander's wishes, declared
+him to be the son of Jupiter.
+
+The conqueror, elated with this high compliment, asked whether he should
+have success in his expedition. The priest answered that he should be
+monarch of the world. The conqueror inquired if his father's murderers
+were punished. The priest replied that his father Jupiter was immortal,
+but that the murderers of Philip had all been extirpated.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF ARBELA
+
+B.C. 331
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(When Alexander, having returned from his campaign against the
+barbarians of the North, had suppressed a revolt which meanwhile had
+broken out in Greece, he found himself free for undertaking those great
+foreign conquests which he had planned. When he left Greece to conquer
+the world, he said farewell to his own country forever. Crossing the
+Hellespont into Asia Minor with a small but well equipped and
+disciplined army, he advanced unopposed until he reached the river
+Granicus, where he found himself confronted with a Persian host. Upon
+this army he inflicted a defeat so signal as to bring at once to
+submission nearly the whole of Asia Minor. He next advanced into Syria
+and met the Persian king, Darius III, who in person commanded an immense
+body of soldiers, against which the young conqueror fought at Issus,
+winning a decisive victory. He not only captured the Persian camp, but
+also secured the King's treasures and took his family prisoners. From
+this time Alexander held complete mastery of the western dominions of
+Darius, whom the conqueror afterward dethroned.
+
+After he had next invaded and subjugated Egypt and there founded the
+city of Alexandria, he pursued King Darius, who had taken flight, into
+the very heart of his empire, where the Persian monarch, on the plains
+of Gaugamela, near the village of Arbela, made his last stand against
+his invincible foe. Of the battle to which Arbela gave its name, and
+which proved the death-blow of the Persian empire, Creasy's narrative
+furnishes a realistic description.)
+
+
+A long and not uninstructive list might be made out of illustrious men
+whose characters have been vindicated during recent times from
+aspersions which for centuries had been thrown on them. The spirit of
+modern inquiry, and the tendency of modern scholarship, both of which
+are often said to be solely negative and destructive, have, in truth,
+restored to splendor, and almost created anew, far more than they have
+assailed with censure or dismissed from consideration as unreal.
+
+The truth of many a brilliant narrative of brilliant exploits has of
+late years been triumphantly demonstrated, and the shallowness of the
+sceptical scoffs with which little minds have carped at the great minds
+of antiquity has been in many instances decisively exposed. The laws,
+the politics, and the lines of action adopted or recommended by eminent
+men and powerful nations have been examined with keener investigation
+and considered with more comprehensive judgment than formerly were
+brought to bear on these subjects. The result has been at least as often
+favorable as unfavorable to the persons and the states so scrutinized,
+and many an oft-repeated slander against both measures and men has thus
+been silenced, we may hope forever.
+
+The veracity of Herodotus, the pure patriotism of Pericles, of
+Demosthenes, and of the Gracchi, the wisdom of Clisthenes and of
+Licinius as constitutional reformers, may be mentioned as facts which
+recent writers have cleared from unjust suspicion and censure. And it
+might be easily shown that the defensive tendency which distinguishes
+the present and recent great writers of Germany, France, and England has
+been equally manifested in the spirit in which they have treated the
+heroes of thought and heroes of action who lived during what we term the
+Middle Ages, and whom it was so long the fashion to sneer at or neglect.
+
+The name of the victor of Arbela has led to these reflections; for,
+although the rapidity and extent of Alexander's conquests have through
+all ages challenged admiration and amazement, the grandeur of genius
+which he displayed in his schemes of commerce, civilization, and of
+comprehensive union and unity among nations, has, until lately, been
+comparatively unhonored. This long-continued depreciation was of early
+date. The ancient rhetoricians--a class of babblers, a school for lies
+and scandal, as Niebuhr justly termed them--chose, among the stock
+themes for their commonplaces, the character and exploits of Alexander.
+
+They had their followers in every age; and, until a very recent period,
+all who wished to "point a moral or adorn a tale," about unreasoning
+ambition, extravagant pride, and the formidable frenzies of free will
+when leagued with free power, have never failed to blazon forth the
+so-called madman of Macedonia as one of the most glaring examples.
+Without doubt, many of these writers adopted with implicit credence
+traditional ideas, and supposed, with uninquiring philanthropy, that in
+blackening Alexander they were doing humanity good service. But also,
+without doubt, many of his assailants, like those of other great men,
+have been mainly instigated by "that strongest of all antipathies, the
+antipathy of a second-rate mind to a first-rate one," and by the envy
+which talent too often bears to genius.
+
+Arrian, who wrote his history of Alexander when Hadrian was emperor of
+the Roman world, and when the spirit of declamation and dogmatism was at
+its full height, but who was himself, unlike the dreaming pedants of the
+schools, a statesman and a soldier of practical and proved ability, well
+rebuked the malevolent aspersions which he heard continually thrown upon
+the memory of the great conqueror of the East.
+
+He truly says: "Let the man who speaks evil of Alexander not merely
+bring forward those passages of Alexander's life which were really evil,
+but let him collect and review _all_ the actions of Alexander, and then
+let him thoroughly consider first who and what manner of man he himself
+is, and what has been his own career; and then let him consider who and
+what manner of man Alexander was, and to what an eminence of human
+grandeur _he_ arrived. Let him consider that Alexander was a king, and
+the undisputed lord of the two continents, and that his name is renowned
+throughout the whole earth.
+
+"Let the evil-speaker against Alexander bear all this in mind, and then
+let him reflect on his own insignificance, the pettiness of his own
+circumstances and affairs, and the blunders that he makes about these,
+paltry and trifling as they are. Let him then ask himself whether he is
+a fit person to censure and revile such a man as Alexander. I believe
+that there was in his time no nation of men, no city, nay, no single
+individual with whom Alexander's name had not become a familiar word. I
+therefore hold that such a man, who was like no ordinary mortal, was not
+born into the world without some special providence."
+
+And one of the most distinguished soldiers and writers, Sir Walter
+Raleigh, though he failed to estimate justly the full merits of
+Alexander, has expressed his sense of the grandeur of the part played in
+the world by "the great Emathian conqueror" in language that well
+deserves quotation:
+
+"So much hath the spirit of some one man excelled as it hath undertaken
+and effected the alteration of the greatest states and commonweals, the
+erection of monarchies, the conquest of kingdoms and empires, guided
+handfuls of men against multitudes of equal bodily strength, contrived
+victories beyond all hope and discourse of reason, converted the fearful
+passions of his own followers into magnanimity, and the valor of his
+enemies into cowardice; such spirits have been stirred up in sundry ages
+of the world, and in divers parts thereof, to erect and cast down again,
+to establish and to destroy, and to bring all things, persons, and
+states to the same certain ends which the infinite spirit of the
+_Universal_, piercing, moving, and governing all things, hath ordained.
+Certainly, the things that this King did were marvellous and would
+hardly have been undertaken by anyone else; and though his father had
+determined to have invaded the Lesser Asia, it is like enough that he
+would have contented himself with some part thereof, and not have
+discovered the river of Indus, as this man did."
+
+A higher authority than either Arrian or Raleigh may now be referred to
+by those who wish to know the real merit of Alexander as a general, and
+how far the commonplace assertions are true that his successes were the
+mere results of fortunate rashness and unreasoning pugnacity. Napoleon
+selected Alexander as one of the seven greatest generals whose noble
+deeds history has handed down to us, and from the study of whose
+campaigns the principles of war are to be learned. The critique of the
+greatest conqueror of modern times on the military career of the great
+conqueror of the Old World is no less graphic than true:
+
+"Alexander crossed the Dardanelles B.C. 334, with an army of about forty
+thousand men, of which one-eighth was cavalry; he forced the passage of
+the Granicus in opposition to an army under Memnon, the Greek, who
+commanded for Darius on the coast of Asia, and he spent the whole of the
+year 333 in establishing his power in Asia Minor. He was seconded by the
+Greek colonies, who dwelt on the borders of the Black Sea and on the
+Mediterranean, and in Sardis, Ephesus, Tarsus, Miletus, etc. The kings
+of Persia left their provinces and towns to be governed according to
+their own particular laws. Their empire was a union of confederated
+states, and did not form one nation; this facilitated its conquest. As
+Alexander only wished for the throne of the monarch, he easily effected
+the change by respecting the customs, manners, and laws of the people,
+who experienced no change in their condition.
+
+"In the year 332 he met with Darius at the head of sixty thousand men,
+who had taken up a position near Tarsus, on the banks of the Issus, in
+the province of Cilicia. He defeated him, entered Syria, took Damascus,
+which contained all the riches of the Great King, and laid siege to
+Tyre. This superb metropolis of the commerce of the world detained him
+nine months.
+
+"He took Gaza after a siege of two months; crossed the desert in seven
+days; entered Pelusium and Memphis, and founded Alexandria. In less than
+two years, after two battles and four or five sieges, the coasts of the
+Black Sea, from Phasis to Byzantium, those of the Mediterranean as far
+as Alexandria, all Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, had submitted to his
+arms.
+
+"In 331 he repassed the desert, encamped in Tyre, re-crossed Syria,
+entered Damascus, passed the Euphrates and Tigris, and defeated Darius
+on the field of Arbela when he was at the head of a still stronger army
+than that which he commanded on the Issus, and Babylon opened her gates
+to him. In 330 he overran Susa and took that city, Persepolis, and
+Pasargada, which contained the tomb of Cyrus. In 329 he directed his
+course northward, entered Ecbatana, and extended his conquests to the
+coasts of the Caspian, punished Bessus, the cowardly assassin of Darius,
+penetrated into Scythia, and subdued the Scythians.
+
+"In 328 he forced the passage of the Oxus, received sixteen thousand
+recruits from Macedonia, and reduced the neighboring people to
+subjection. In 327 he crossed the Indus, vanquished Porus in a pitched
+battle, took him prisoner, and treated him as a king. He contemplated
+passing the Ganges, but his army refused. He sailed down the Indus, in
+the year 326, with eight hundred vessels; having arrived at the ocean,
+he sent Nearchus with a fleet to run along the coasts of the Indian
+Ocean and the Persian Gulf as far as the mouth of the Euphrates. In 325
+he took sixty days in crossing from Gedrosia, entered Keramania,
+returned to Pasargada, Persepolis, and Susa, and married Statira, the
+daughter of Darius. In 324 he marched once more to the north, passed
+Echatana, and terminated his career at Babylon."
+
+The enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to be estimated, not
+by the duration of his own life and empire, or even by the duration of
+the kingdoms which his generals after his death formed out of the
+fragments of that mighty dominion. In every region of the world that he
+traversed, Alexander planted Greek settlements and founded cities, in
+the populations of which the Greek element at once asserted its
+predominance. Among his successors, the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies
+imitated their great captain in blending schemes of civilization, of
+commercial intercourse, and of literary and scientific research with all
+their enterprises of military aggrandizement and with all their systems
+of civil administration.
+
+Such was the ascendency of the Greek genius, so wonderfully
+comprehensive and assimilating was the cultivation which it introduced,
+that, within thirty years after Alexander crossed the Hellespont, the
+Greek language was spoken in every country from the shores of the �gean
+to the Indus, and also throughout Egypt--not, indeed, wholly to the
+extirpation of the native dialects, but it became the language of every
+court, of all literature, of every judicial and political function, and
+formed a medium of communication among the many myriads of mankind
+inhabiting these large portions of the Old World.
+
+Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt the Hellenic character that was
+thus imparted remained in full vigor down to the time of the Mahometan
+conquests. The infinite value of this to humanity in the highest and
+holiest point of view has often been pointed out, and the workings of
+the finger of Providence have been gratefully recognized by those who
+have observed how the early growth and progress of Christianity were
+aided by that diffusion of the Greek language and civilization
+throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt which had been caused by the
+Macedonian conquest of the East.
+
+In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and material influence
+of Greek ascendency was more short-lived. Yet, during the existence of
+the Hellenic kingdoms in these regions, especially of the Greek kingdom
+of Bactria, the modern Bokhara, very important effects were produced on
+the intellectual tendencies and tastes of the inhabitants of those
+countries, and of the adjacent ones, by the animating contact of the
+Grecian spirit. Much of Hindu science and philosophy, much of the
+literature of the later Persian kingdom of the Arsacid�, either
+originated from or was largely modified by Grecian influences. So, also,
+the learning and science of the Arabians were in a far less degree the
+result of original invention and genius than the reproduction, in an
+altered form, of the Greek philosophy and the Greek lore acquired by the
+Saracenic conquerors, together with their acquisition of the provinces
+which Alexander had subjugated, nearly a thousand years before the armed
+disciples of Mahomet commenced their career in the East.
+
+It is well known that Western Europe in the Middle Ages drew its
+philosophy, its arts, and its science principally from Arabian teachers.
+And thus we see how the intellectual influence of ancient Greece, poured
+on the Eastern world by Alexander's victories, and then brought back to
+bear on medi�val Europe by the spread of the Saracenic powers, has
+exerted its action on the elements of modern civilization by this
+powerful though indirect channel, as well as by the more obvious effects
+of the remnants of classic civilization which survived in Italy, Gaul,
+Britain, and Spain, after the irruption of the Germanic nations.
+
+These considerations invest the Macedonian triumphs in the East with
+never-dying interest, such as the most showy and sanguinary successes of
+mere "low ambition and the pride of kings," however they may dazzle for
+a moment, can never retain with posterity. Whether the old Persian
+empire which Cyrus founded could have survived much longer than it did,
+even if Darius had been victorious at Arbela, may safely be disputed.
+That ancient dominion, like the Turkish at the present time, labored
+under every cause of decay and dissolution. The satraps, like the modern
+pachas, continually rebelled against the central power, and Egypt in
+particular was almost always in a state of insurrection against its
+nominal sovereign. There was no longer any effective central control, or
+any internal principle of unity fused through the huge mass of the
+empire, and binding it together.
+
+Persia was evidently about to fall; but, had it not been for Alexander's
+invasion of Asia, she would most probably have fallen beneath some other
+oriental power, as Media and Babylon had formerly fallen before herself,
+and as, in after-times, the Parthian supremacy gave way to the revived
+ascendency of Persia in the East, under the sceptres of the Arsacid�. A
+revolution that merely substituted one Eastern power for another would
+have been utterly barren and unprofitable to mankind.
+
+Alexander's victory at Arbela not only overthrew an oriental dynasty,
+but established European rulers in its stead. It broke the monotony of
+the eastern world by the impression of western energy and superior
+civilization, even as England's present mission is to break up the
+mental and moral stagnation of India and Cathay by pouring upon and
+through them the impulsive current of Anglo-Saxon commerce and conquest.
+
+Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the decisive battle
+which gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than twenty miles from the
+actual scene of conflict. The little village, then named Gaugamela, is
+close to the spot where the armies met, but has ceded the honor of
+naming the battle to its more euphonious neighbor. Gaugamela is situated
+in one of the wide plains that lie between the Tigris and the mountains
+of Kurdistan. A few undulating hillocks diversify the surface of this
+sandy tract; but the ground is generally level and admirably qualified
+for the evolutions of cavalry, and also calculated to give the larger of
+two armies the full advantage of numerical superiority.
+
+The Persian King--who, before he came to the throne, had proved his
+personal valor as a soldier and his skill as a general--had wisely
+selected this region for the third and decisive encounter between his
+forces and the invader. The previous defeats of his troops, however
+severe they had been, were not looked on as irreparable. The Granicus
+had been fought by his generals rashly and without mutual concert; and,
+though Darius himself had commanded and been beaten at Issus, that
+defeat might be attributed to the disadvantageous nature of the ground,
+where, cooped up between the mountains, the river, and the sea, the
+numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike the general's skill
+and the soldiers' prowess, and their very strength had been made their
+weakness. Here, on the broad plains of Kurdistan, there was scope for
+Asia's largest host to array its lines, to wheel, to skirmish, to
+condense or expand its squadrons, to manoeuvre, and to charge at will.
+Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to plunge into that living sea
+of war, their destruction seemed inevitable.
+
+Darius felt, however, the critical nature to himself as well as to his
+adversary of the coming encounter. He could not hope to retrieve the
+consequences of a third overthrow. The great cities of Mesopotamia and
+Upper Asia, the central provinces of the Persian empire, were certain to
+be at the mercy of the victor. Darius knew also the Asiatic character
+well enough to be aware how it yields to _prestige_ of success and the
+apparent career of destiny. He felt that the diadem was now either to be
+firmly replaced on his own brow or to be irrevocably transferred to the
+head of his European conqueror. He, therefore, during the long interval
+left him after the battle of Issus, while Alexander was subjugating
+Syria and Egypt, assiduously busied himself in selecting the best troops
+which his vast empire supplied, and in training his varied forces to act
+together with some uniformity of discipline and system.
+
+The hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, Bokhara, Khiva, and Tibet were
+then, as at present, far different from the generality of Asiatics in
+warlike spirit and endurance. From these districts Darius collected
+large bodies of admirable infantry; and the countries of the modern
+Kurds and Turkomans supplied, as they do now, squadrons of horsemen,
+hardy, skilful, bold, and trained to a life of constant activity and
+warfare. It is not uninteresting to notice that the ancestors of our own
+late enemies, the Sikhs, served as allies of Darius against the
+Macedonians. They are spoken of in Arrian as Indians who dwelt near
+Bactria. They were attached to the troops of that satrapy, and their
+cavalry was one of the most formidable forces in the whole Persian army.
+
+Besides these picked troops, contingents also came in from the numerous
+other provinces that yet obeyed the Great King. Altogether, the horse
+are said to have been forty thousand, the scythe-bearing chariots two
+hundred, and the armed elephants fifteen in number. The amount of the
+infantry is uncertain; but the knowledge which both ancient and modern
+times supply of the usual character of oriental armies, and of their
+populations of camp-followers, may warrant us in believing that many
+myriads were prepared to fight or to encumber those who fought for the
+last Darius.
+
+The position of the Persian King near Mesopotamia was chosen with great
+military skill. It was certain that Alexander, on his return from Egypt,
+must march northward along the Syrian coast before he attacked the
+central provinces of the Persian empire. A direct eastward march from
+the lower part of Palestine across the great Syrian Desert was then, as
+ever, utterly impracticable. Marching eastward from Syria, Alexander
+would, on crossing the Euphrates, arrive at the vast Mesopotamian
+plains. The wealthy capitals of the empire, Babylon, Susa, and
+Persepolis, would then lie to the south; and if he marched down through
+Mesopotamia to attack them, Darius might reasonably hope to follow the
+Macedonians with his immense force of cavalry, and, without even risking
+a pitched battle, to harass and finally overwhelm them.
+
+We may remember that three centuries afterward a Roman army under
+Crassus was thus actually destroyed by the oriental archers and horsemen
+in these very plains, and that the ancestors of the Parthians who thus
+vanquished the Roman legions served by thousands under King Darius. If,
+on the contrary, Alexander should defer his march against Babylon, and
+first seek an encounter with the Persian army, the country on each side
+of the Tigris in this latitude was highly advantageous for such an army
+as Darius commanded, and he had close in his rear the mountainous
+districts of Northern Media, where he himself had in early life been
+satrap, where he had acquired reputation as a soldier and a general, and
+where he justly expected to find loyalty to his person, and a safe
+refuge in case of defeat.[49]
+
+[Footnote 49: Mitford's remarks on the strategy of Darius in his last
+campaign are very just. After having been unduly admired as a historian,
+Mitford is now unduly neglected. His partiality and his deficiency in
+scholarship have been exposed sufficiently to make him no longer a
+dangerous guide as to Greek politics, while the clearness and brilliance
+of his narrative, and the strong common sense of his remarks (where his
+party prejudices do not interfere), must always make his volumes
+valuable as well as entertaining.]
+
+His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against him, at the
+head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of Macedonian
+officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand foot and seven
+thousand horse. In studying the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the
+peculiar advantage of deriving our information from two of Alexander's
+generals of division, who bore an important part in all his enterprises.
+Aristobulus and Ptolemy--who afterward became king of Egypt--kept
+regular journals of the military events which they witnessed, and these
+journals were in the possession of Arrian when he drew up his history of
+Alexander's expedition.
+
+The high character of Arrian for integrity makes us confident that he
+used them fairly, and his comments on the occasional discrepancies
+between the two Macedonian narratives prove that he used them sensibly.
+He frequently quotes the very words of his authorities; and his history
+thus acquires a charm such as very few ancient or modern military
+narratives possess. The anecdotes and expressions which he records we
+fairly believe to be genuine, and not to be the coinage of a
+rhetorician, like those in Curtius. In fact, in reading Arrian, we read
+General Aristobulus and General Ptolemy on the campaigns of the
+Macedonians, and it is like reading General Jomini or General Foy on the
+campaigns of the French.
+
+The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of Alexander's army
+seems reasonable enough, when we take into account both the losses which
+he had sustained and the re�nforcements which he had received since he
+left Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen, who know with what mere handfuls of
+men our own generals have, at Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and other
+Indian battles, routed large hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers
+that we read of in the victories won by the Macedonians over the
+Persians presents nothing incredible. The army which Alexander now led
+was wholly composed of veteran troops in the highest possible state of
+equipment and discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader, and
+full of confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny.
+
+The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of his
+infantry. This force had been raised and organized by his father,
+Philip, who, on his accession to the Macedonian throne, needed a
+numerous and quickly formed army, and who, by lengthening the spear of
+the ordinary Greek phalanx, and increasing the depth of the files,
+brought the tactics of armed masses to the highest extent of which it
+was capable with such materials as he possessed. He formed his men
+sixteen deep, and placed in their grasp the _sarissa_, as the Macedonian
+pike was called, which was four-and-twenty feet in length, and, when
+couched for action, reached eighteen feet in front of the soldier; so
+that, as a space of about two feet was allowed between the ranks, the
+spears of the five files behind him projected in front of each
+front-rank man.
+
+The phalangite soldier was fully equipped in the defensive armor of the
+regular Greek infantry. And thus the phalanx presented a ponderous and
+bristling mass, which, as long as its order was kept compact, was sure
+to bear down all opposition. The defects of such an organization are
+obvious, and were proved in after-years, when the Macedonians were
+opposed to the Roman legions. But it is clear that under Alexander the
+phalanx was not the cumbrous, unwieldy body which it was at Cynoscephate
+and Pydna. His men were veterans; and he could obtain from them an
+accuracy of movement and steadiness of evolution such as probably the
+recruits of his father would only have floundered in attempting, and
+such as certainly were impracticable in the phalanx when handled by his
+successors, especially as under them it ceased to be a standing force,
+and became only a militia.
+
+Under Alexander the phalanx consisted of an aggregate of eighteen
+thousand men, who were divided into six brigades of three thousand each.
+These were again subdivided into regiments and companies; and the men
+were carefully trained to wheel, to face about, to take more ground, or
+to close up, as the emergencies of the battle required. Alexander also
+arrayed troops armed in a different manner in the intervals of the
+regiments of his phalangites, who could prevent their line from being
+pierced and their companies taken in flank, when the nature of the
+ground prevented a close formation, and who could be withdrawn when a
+favorable opportunity arrived for closing up the phalanx or any of its
+brigades for a charge, or when it was necessary to prepare to receive
+cavalry.
+
+Besides the phalanx, Alexander had a considerable force of infantry who
+were called shield-bearers: they were not so heavily armed as the
+phalangites, or as was the case with the Greek regular infantry in
+general, but they were equipped for close fight as well as for
+skirmishing, and were far superior to the ordinary irregular troops of
+Greek warfare. They were about six thousand strong. Besides these, he
+had several bodies of Greek regular infantry; and he had archers,
+slingers, and javelin-men, who fought also with broadsword and target,
+and who were principally supplied him by the highlanders of Illyria and
+Thracia.
+
+The main strength of his cavalry consisted in two chosen regiments of
+cuirassiers, one Macedonian and one Thessalian, each of which was about
+fifteen hundred strong. They were provided with long lances and heavy
+swords, and horse as well as man was fully equipped with defensive
+armor. Other regiments of regular cavalry were less heavily armed, and
+there were several bodies of light-horsemen, whom Alexander's conquests
+in Egypt and Syria had enabled him to mount superbly.
+
+A little before the end of August, Alexander crossed the Euphrates at
+Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry under Mazaeus retiring
+before him. Alexander was too prudent to march down through the
+Mesopotamian deserts, and continued to advance eastward with the
+intention of passing the Tigris, and then, if he was unable to find
+Darius and bring him to action, of marching southward on the left side
+of that river along the skirts of a mountainous district where his men
+would suffer less from heat and thirst, and where provisions would be
+more abundant.
+
+Darius, finding that his adversary was not to be enticed into the march
+through Mesopotamia against his capital, determined to remain on the
+battle-ground, which he had chosen on the left of the Tigris; where, if
+his enemy met a defeat or a check, the destruction of the invaders would
+be certain with two such rivers as the Euphrates and the Tigris in their
+rear.
+
+The Persian King availed himself to the utmost of every advantage in his
+power. He caused a large space of ground to be carefully levelled for
+the operation of his scythe-armed chariots; and he deposited his
+military stores in the strong town of Arbela, about twenty miles in his
+rear. The rhetoricians of after-ages have loved to describe Darius
+Codomanus as a second Xerxes in ostentation and imbecility; but a fair
+examination of his generalship in this his last campaign shows that he
+was worthy of bearing the same name as his great predecessor, the royal
+son of Hystaspes.
+
+On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left of the Tigris,
+Alexander hurried forward and crossed that river without opposition. He
+was at first unable to procure any certain intelligence of the precise
+position of the enemy, and after giving his army a short interval of
+rest he marched for four days down the left bank of the river.
+
+A moralist may pause upon the fact that Alexander must in this march
+have passed within a few miles of the ruins of Nineveh, the great city
+of the prim�val conquerors of the human race. Neither the Macedonian
+King nor any of his followers knew what those vast mounds had once been.
+They had already sunk into utter destruction; and it is only within the
+last few years that the intellectual energy of one of our own countrymen
+has rescued Nineveh from its long centuries of oblivion.
+
+On the fourth day of Alexander's southward march, his advance guard
+reported that a body of the enemy's cavalry was in sight. He instantly
+formed his army in order for battle, and directing them to advance
+steadily he rode forward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry and
+charged the Persian horse, whom he found before him. This was a mere
+reconnoitring party, and they broke and fled immediately; but the
+Macedonians made some prisoners, and from them Alexander found that
+Darius was posted only a few miles off, and learned the strength of the
+army that he had with him. On receiving this news Alexander halted, and
+gave his men repose for four days, so that they should go into action
+fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his camp and deposited in it all
+his military stores and all his sick and disabled soldiers, intending to
+advance upon the enemy with the serviceable part of his army perfectly
+unencumbered.
+
+After this halt, he moved forward, while it was yet dark, with the
+intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking them at break of day.
+About half way between the camps there were some undulations of the
+ground, which concealed the two armies from each other's view; but, on
+Alexander arriving at their summit, he saw, by the early light, the
+Persian host arrayed before him, and he probably also observed traces of
+some engineering operation having been carried on along part of the
+ground in front of them.
+
+Not knowing that these marks had been caused by the Persians having
+levelled the ground for the free use of their war chariots, Alexander
+suspected that hidden pitfalls had been prepared with a view of
+disordering the approach of his cavalry. He summoned a council of war
+forthwith. Some of the officers were for attacking instantly, at all
+hazards; but the more prudent opinion of Parmenio prevailed, and it was
+determined not to advance farther till the battle-ground had been
+carefully surveyed.
+
+Alexander halted his army on the heights, and, taking with him some
+light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed part of the day in
+reconnoitring the enemy and observing the nature of the ground which he
+had to fight on. Darius wisely refrained from moving from his position
+to attack the Macedonians on the eminences which they occupied, and the
+two armies remained until night without molesting each other.
+
+On Alexander's return to his headquarters, he summoned his generals and
+superior officers together, and telling them that he knew well that
+_their_ zeal wanted no exhortation, he besought them to do their utmost
+in encouraging and instructing those whom each commanded, to do their
+best in the next day's battle. They were to remind them that they were
+now not going to fight for a province as they had hitherto fought, but
+they were about to decide by their swords the dominion of all Asia. Each
+officer ought to impress this upon his subalterns, and they should urge
+it on their men. Their natural courage required no long words to excite
+its ardor; but they should be reminded of the paramount importance of
+steadiness in action. The silence in the ranks must be unbroken as long
+as silence was proper; but when the time came for the charge, the shout
+and the cheer must be full of terror for the foe. The officers were to
+be alert in receiving and communicating orders; and everyone was to act
+as if he felt that the whole result of the battle depended on his own
+single good conduct.
+
+Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander ordered that the
+army should sup and take their rest for the night.
+
+Darkness had closed over the tents of the Macedonians when Alexander's
+veteran general, Parmenio, came to him and proposed that they should
+make a night attack on the Persians. The King is said to have answered
+that he scorned to filch a victory, and that Alexander must conquer
+openly and fairly. Arrian justly remarks that Alexander's resolution was
+as wise as it was spirited. Besides the confusion and uncertainty which
+are inseparable from night engagements, the value of Alexander's victory
+would have been impaired if gained under circumstances which might
+supply the enemy with any excuse for his defeat, and encourage him to
+renew the contest. It was necessary for Alexander not only to beat
+Darius, but to gain such a victory as should leave his rival without
+apology and without hope of recovery.
+
+The Persians, in fact, expected and were prepared to meet a night
+attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius entertained of it that he
+formed his troops at evening in order of battle, and kept them under
+arms all night. The effect of this was that the morning found them jaded
+and dispirited, while it brought their adversaries all fresh and
+vigorous against them.
+
+The written order of battle which Darius himself caused to be drawn up
+fell into the hands of the Macedonians after the engagement, and
+Aristobulus copied it into his journal. We thus possess, through Arrian,
+unusually authentic information as to the composition and arrangement of
+the Persian army. On the extreme left were the Bactrian, Daan, and
+Arachosian cavalry. Next to these Darius placed the troops from Persia
+proper, both horse and foot. Then came the Susians, and next to these
+the Cadusians. These forces made up the left wing.
+
+Darius' own station was in the centre. This was composed of the Indians,
+the Carians, the Mardian archers, and the division of Persians who were
+distinguished by the golden apples that formed the knobs of their
+spears. Here also were stationed the bodyguard of the Persian nobility.
+Besides these, there were, in the centre, formed in deep order, the
+Uxian and Babylonian troops and the soldiers from the Red Sea. The
+brigade of Greek mercenaries whom Darius had in his service, and who
+alone were considered fit to stand the charge of the Macedonian phalanx,
+was drawn up on either side of the royal chariot.
+
+The right wing was composed of the Coelosyrians and Mesopotamians, the
+Medes, the Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians, Hyrcanians, Albanians,
+and Sacesinae. In advance of the line on the left wing were placed the
+Scythian cavalry, with a thousand of the Bactrian horse and a hundred
+scythe-armed chariots. The elephants and fifty scythe-armed chariots
+were ranged in front of the centre; and fifty more chariots, with the
+Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in advance of the right
+wing.
+
+Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the night that to
+many thousands of them was the last of their existence. The morning of
+the first of October[50] dawned slowly to their wearied watching, and
+they could hear the note of the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and
+could see King Alexander's forces descend from their tents on the
+heights and form in order of battle on the plain.
+
+[Footnote 50: The battle was fought eleven days after an eclipse of the
+moon, which gives the means of fixing the precise date.]
+
+There was deep need of skill, as well as of valor, on Alexander's side;
+and few battle-fields have witnessed more consummate generalship than
+was now displayed by the Macedonian King. There were no natural barriers
+by which he could protect his flanks; and not only was he certain to be
+overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but
+there was imminent risk of their circling round him, and charging him in
+the rear, while he advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore,
+a second, or reserve line, which was to wheel round, if required, or to
+detach troops to either flank, as the enemy's movements might
+necessitate; and thus, with their whole army ready at any moment to be
+thrown into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two
+lines against the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right wing,
+and the renowned phalanx forming the centre, while Parmenio commanded on
+the left.
+
+Such was the general nature of the disposition which Alexander made of
+his army. But we have in Arrian the details of the position of each
+brigade and regiment; and as we know that these details were taken from
+the journals of Macedonian generals, it is interesting to examine them,
+and to read the names and stations of King Alexander's generals and
+colonels in this the greatest of his battles.
+
+The eight regiments of the royal horse-guards formed the right of
+Alexander's line. Their colonels were Clitus--whose regiment was on the
+extreme right, the post of peculiar danger--Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis,
+Heraclides, Demetrias, Meleager, and Hegelochus. Philotas was general of
+the whole division. Then came the shield-bearing infantry: Nicanor was
+their general. Then came the phalanx in six brigades. Coenus' brigade
+was on the right, and nearest to the shield-bearers; next to this stood
+the brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager's, then Polysperchon's; and then
+the brigade of Amynias, but which was now commanded by Simmias, as
+Amynias had been sent to Macedonia to levy recruits. Then came the
+infantry of the left wing, under the command of Craterus.
+
+Next to Craterus' infantry were placed the cavalry regiments of the
+allies, with Eriguius for their general. The Thessalian cavalry,
+commanded by Philippus, were next, and held the extreme left of the
+whole army. The whole left wing was intrusted to the command of
+Parmenio, who had round his person the Pharsalian regiment of cavalry,
+which was the strongest and best of all the Thessalian horse regiments.
+
+The centre of the second line was occupied by a body of phalangite
+infantry, formed of companies which were drafted for this purpose from
+each of the brigades of their phalanx. The officers in command of this
+corps were ordered to be ready to face about if the enemy should succeed
+in gaining the rear of the army. On the right of this reserve of
+infantry, in the second line, and behind the royal horse-guards,
+Alexander placed half the Agrian light-armed infantry under Attalus, and
+with them Brison's body of Macedonian archers and Cleander's regiment of
+foot. He also placed in this part of his army Menidas' squadron of
+cavalry and Aretes' and Ariston's light horse. Menidas was ordered to
+watch if the enemy's cavalry tried to turn their flank, and, if they did
+so, to charge them before they wheeled completely round, and so take
+them in flank themselves.
+
+A similar force was arranged on the left of the second line for the same
+purpose. The Thracian infantry of Sitalces were placed there, and
+Coeranus' regiment of the cavalry of the Greek allies, and Agathon's
+troops of the Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme left of the second
+line in this quarter was held by Andromachus' cavalry. A division of
+Thracian infantry was left in guard of the camp. In advance of the right
+wing and centre was scattered a number of light-armed troops, of
+javelin-men and bowmen, with the intention of warding off the charge of
+the armed chariots.[51]
+
+[Footnote 51: Kleber's arrangement of his troops at the battle of
+Heliopolis, where, with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter
+eighty thousand Asiatics in an open plain, is worth comparing with
+Alexander's tactics at Arbela. See Thiers' _Histoire du Consulat_.]
+
+Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armor, and by the chosen band of
+officers who were round his person, Alexander took his own station, as
+his custom was, in the right wing, at the head of his cavalry; and when
+all the arrangements for the battle were complete, and his generals were
+fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, he began to lead
+his men toward the enemy.
+
+It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, and to
+emulate the personal prowess of his great ancestor, Achilles. Perhaps,
+in the bold enterprise of conquering Persia, it was politic for
+Alexander to raise his army's daring to the utmost by the example of his
+own heroic valor; and, in his subsequent campaigns, the love of the
+excitement, of "the raptures of the strife," may have made him, like
+Murat, continue from choice a custom which he commenced from duty. But
+he never suffered the ardor of the soldier to make him lose the coolness
+of the general.
+
+Great reliance had been placed by the Persian King on the effects of the
+scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to launch these against the
+Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry,
+which, it was hoped, would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by
+the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part
+of Alexander's force. In front, therefore, of the Persian centre, where
+Darius took his station, and which it was supposed that the phalanx
+would attack, the ground had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as
+to allow the chariots to charge over it with their full sweep and speed.
+
+As the Macedonian army approached the Persian, Alexander found that the
+front of his whole line barely equalled the front of the Persian centre,
+so that he was outflanked on his right by the entire left wing of the
+enemy, and by their entire right wing on his left. His tactics were to
+assail some one point of the hostile army, and gain a decisive
+advantage, while he refused, as far as possible, the encounter along the
+rest of the line. He therefore inclined his order of march to the right,
+so as to enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with
+the enemy on as favorable terms as possible, although the manoeuvre
+might in some respect compromise his left.
+
+The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the phalanx and his own
+wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground which the Persians had
+prepared for the operations of the chariots; and Darius, fearing to lose
+the benefit of this arm against the most important parts of the
+Macedonian force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were
+drawn up in advance on his extreme left, to charge round upon
+Alexander's right wing, and check its farther lateral progress. Against
+these assailants Alexander sent from his second line Menidas' cavalry.
+As these proved too few to make head against the enemy, he ordered
+Ariston also from the second line with his right horse, and Cleander
+with his foot, in support of Menidas.
+
+The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way; but Darius reenforced
+them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry from his main line, and an
+obstinate cavalry fight now took place. The Bactrians and Scythians were
+numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen under Menidas and
+Ariston; and the loss at first was heaviest on the Macedonian side. But
+still the European cavalry stood the charge of the Asiatics, and at
+last, by their superior discipline, and by acting in squadrons that
+supported each other,[52] instead of fighting in a confused mass like
+the barbarians, the Macedonians broke their adversaries and drove them
+off the field.
+
+[Footnote 52: The best explanation of this may be found in Napoleon's
+account of the cavalry fights between the French and the mamelukes: "Two
+mamelukes were able to make head against three Frenchmen, because they
+were better armed, better mounted, and better trained; they had two pair
+of pistols, a blunderbuss, a carbine, a helmet with a visor, and a coat
+of mail; they had several horses, and several attendants on foot. One
+hundred cuirassiers, however, were not afraid of one hundred mamelukes;
+three hundred could beat an equal number, and one thousand could easily
+put to the rout fifteen hundred, so great is the influence of tactics,
+order, and evolutions! Leclerc and Lasalle presented their men to the
+mamelukes in several lines. When the Arabs were on the point of
+overwhelming the first, the second came to its assistance on the right
+and left; the mamelukes then halted and wheeled, in order to turn the
+wings of this new line; this moment was always seized upon to charge
+them, and they were uniformly broken."]
+
+Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven against
+Alexander's horse-guards and the phalanx, and these formidable vehicles
+were accordingly sent rattling across the plain, against the Macedonian
+line. When we remember the alarm which the war chariots of the Britons
+created among C�sar's legions, we shall not be prone to deride this arm
+of ancient warfare as always useless. The object of the chariots was to
+create unsteadiness in the ranks against which they were driven, and
+squadrons of cavalry followed close upon them to profit by such
+disorder. But the Asiatic chariots were rendered ineffective at Arbela
+by the light-armed troops, whom Alexander had specially appointed for
+the service, and who, wounding the horses and drivers with their missile
+weapons, and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the
+reins, marred the intended charge; and the few chariots that reached the
+phalanx passed harmlessly through the internals which the spearmen
+opened for them, and were easily captured in the rear.
+
+A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, collected
+against Alexander's extreme right, and moved round it, with the view of
+gaining the flank of his army. At the critical moment, when their own
+flanks were exposed by this evolution, Aretes dashed on the Persian
+squadrons with his horsemen from Alexander's second line. While
+Alexander thus met and baffled all the flanking attacks of the enemy
+with troops brought up from his second line, he kept his own
+horse-guards and the rest of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready
+to take advantage of the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow.
+
+This soon came. A large body of horse, who were posted on the Persian
+left wing nearest to the centre, quitted their station, and rode off to
+help their comrades in the cavalry fight that still was going on at the
+extreme right of Alexander's wing against the detachments from his
+second line. This made a huge gap in the Persian array, and into this
+space Alexander instantly charged with his guard and all the cavalry of
+his wing; and then, pressing toward his left, he soon began to make
+havoc in the left flank of the Persian centre. The shield-bearing
+infantry now charged also among the reeling masses of the Asiatics; and
+five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the irresistible might of
+their sarissas, bore down the Greek mercenaries of Darius, and dug their
+way through the Persian centre.
+
+In the early part of the battle Darius had showed skill and energy; and
+he now, for some time, encouraged his men, by voice and example, to keep
+firm. But the lances of Alexander's cavalry and the pikes of the phalanx
+now pressed nearer and nearer to him. His charioteer was struck down by
+a javelin at his side; and at last Darius' nerve failed him, and,
+descending from his chariot, he mounted on a fleet horse and galloped
+from the plain, regardless of the state of the battle in other parts of
+the field, where matters were going on much more favorably for his
+cause, and where his presence might have done much toward gaining a
+victory.
+
+Alexander's operations with his right and centre had exposed his left to
+an immensely preponderating force of the enemy. Parmenio kept out of
+action as long as possible; but Mazaeus, who commanded the Persian right
+wing, advanced against him, completely outflanked him, and pressed him
+severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers.
+
+Seeing the distress of Parmenio's wing, Simmias, who commanded the sixth
+brigade of the phalanx, which was next to the left wing, did not advance
+with the other brigades in the great charge upon the Persian centre, but
+kept back to cover Parmenio's troops on their right flank, as otherwise
+they would have been completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of
+the Macedonian army. By so doing, Simmias had unavoidably opened a gap
+in the Macedonian left centre; and a large column of Indian and Persian
+horse, from the Persian right centre, had galloped forward through this
+interval, and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line.
+Instead of then wheeling round upon Parmenio, or upon the rear of
+Alexander's conquering wing, the Indian and Persian cavalry rode
+straight on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the Thracians who were
+left in charge of it, and began to plunder. This was stopped by the
+phalangite troops of the second line, who, after the enemy's horsemen
+had rushed by them, faced about, countermarched upon the camp, killed
+many of the Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, and forced
+the rest to ride off again.
+
+Just at this crisis, Alexander had been recalled from his pursuit of
+Darius by tidings of the distress of Parmenio and of his inability to
+bear up any longer against the hot attacks of Mazaeus. Taking his
+horse-guards with him, Alexander rode toward the part of the field where
+his left wing was fighting; but on his way thither he encountered the
+Persian and Indian cavalry on their return from his camp.
+
+These men now saw that their only chance of safety was to cut their way
+through, and in one huge column they charged desperately upon the
+Macedonian regiments. There was here a close hand-to-hand fight, which
+lasted some time, and sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three
+generals, who fought close to Alexander's side, were wounded. At length
+the Macedonian discipline and valor again prevailed, and a large number
+of the Persian and Indian horsemen were cut down, some few only
+succeeding in breaking through and riding away.
+
+Relieved of these obstinate enemies, Alexander again formed his
+regiments of horse-guards, and led them toward Parmenio; but by this
+time that general also was victorious. Probably the news of Darius'
+flight had reached Maz�us, and had damped the ardor of the Persian right
+wing, while the tidings of their comrades' success must have
+proportionally encouraged the Macedonian forces under Parmenio. His
+Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished themselves by their
+gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by the time that Alexander
+had ridden up to Parmenio, the whole Persian army was in full flight
+from the field.
+
+It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure the person of
+Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The river Lycus was between the
+field of battle and the city of Arbela, whither the fugitives directed
+their course, and the passage of this river was even more destructive to
+the Persians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had been in
+the engagement.[53]
+
+[Footnote 53: I purposely omit any statement of the loss in the battle.
+There is a palpable error of the transcribers in the numbers which we
+find in our present manuscripts of Arrian, and Curtius is of no
+authority.]
+
+The narrow bridge was soon choked up by the flying thousands who rushed
+toward it, and vast numbers of the Persians threw themselves, or were
+hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and perished in its waters.
+Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through Arbela without halting.
+Alexander reached the city on the next day, and made himself master of
+all Darius' treasure and stores; but the Persian King, unfortunately for
+himself, had fled too fast for his conqueror, but had only escaped to
+perish by the treachery of his Bactrian satrap, Bessus.
+
+A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, "the oldest seat
+of earthly empire" then in existence, as its acknowledged lord and
+master. There were yet some campaigns of his brief and bright career to
+be accomplished. Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his
+phalanx. He was yet to effect that conquest of Afghanistan in which
+England since has failed. His generalship, as well as his valor, was yet
+to be signalized on the banks of the Hydaspes and the field of
+Chillianwallah; and he was yet to precede the queen of England in
+annexing the Punjab to the dominions of a European sovereign. But the
+crisis of his career was reached; the great object of his mission was
+accomplished; and the ancient Persian empire, which once menaced all the
+nations of the earth with subjection, was irreparably crushed when
+Alexander had won his crowning victory at Arbela.
+
+
+
+
+FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS
+
+B.C. 280-279
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+
+(The Romans, in B.C. 290, had conquered the Samnites and this extended
+the Roman power to the very gates of the Grecian cities on the Gulf of
+Tarentine. Tarentum, the chief city among them, was almost totally
+controlled by a party which advised a peaceful submission to the Roman
+conquerors. The opposing party of patriots, against such cowardly
+measures, looked abroad for aid and found a ready ally in Pyrrhus, the
+Molossian king of Epirus. He was warlike and adventurous, and a member
+of the royal family of Macedonia, through Olympias, who was the mother
+of Alexander the Great.
+
+Pyrrhus had established a reputation for fighting. Not alone had he
+fought at the memorable battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia, but he had proven a
+formidable opponent to Demetinus, king of Macedonia, having forced the
+latter powerful monarch to conclude a truce with him, though afterward
+he had been conquered and driven back to his little kingdom of Epirus.
+At the time the Tarentines sent to him to help them against Rome he was
+eager for a field in which he might do something to prove his mettle.
+This was the greatest opportunity of his life, and he seized upon it.
+The campaign is memorable for having brought the Romans and Greeks into
+conflict on the battle-field for the first time.)
+
+
+Pyrrhus, now that he had lost Macedonia, might have spent his days
+peacefully ruling his own subjects in Epirus; but he could not endure
+repose, thinking that not to trouble others and be troubled by them was
+a life of unbearable ennui, and, like Achilles in the _Iliad_,
+
+    "he could not rest in indolence at home,
+  He longed for battle, and the joys of war."
+
+As he desired some new adventures he embraced the following opportunity.
+The Romans were at war with the Tarentines; and as that people were not
+sufficiently powerful to carry on the war, and yet were not allowed by
+the audacious folly of their mob orators to make peace, they proposed to
+make Pyrrhus their leader and to invite him to be their ally in the war,
+because he was more at leisure than any of the other kings, and also was
+the best general of them all. Of the older and more sensible citizens
+some endeavored to oppose this fatal decision, but were overwhelmed by
+the clamor of the war party, while the rest, observing this, ceased to
+attend the public assembly.
+
+There was one citizen of good repute, named Meton, who, on the day when
+the final decision was to be made, when the people were all assembled,
+took a withered garland and a torch, and like a drunkard, reeled into
+the assembly with a girl playing the flute before him. At this, as one
+may expect in a disorderly popular meeting, some applauded and some
+laughed, but no one stopped him. They next bade the girl play, and Meton
+come forward and dance to the music; and he made as though he would do
+so. When he had obtained silence he said: "Men of Tarentum, you do well
+in encouraging those who wish to be merry and amuse themselves while
+they may. If you are wise you will all enjoy your freedom now, for when
+Pyrrhus is come to our city you will have very different things to think
+of and will live very differently." By these words he made an impression
+on the mass of the Tarentine people, and a murmur ran through the crowd
+that he had spoken well. But those politicians who feared that if peace
+were made they should be delivered up to the Romans, reproached the
+people for allowing anyone to insult them by such a disgraceful
+exhibition, and prevailed on them to turn Meton out of the assembly.
+
+Thus the vote for war was passed, and ambassadors were sent to Epirus,
+not from Tarentum alone, but from the other Greek cities in Italy,
+carrying with them presents for Pyrrhus, with instructions to tell him
+that they required a leader of skill and renown, and that they possessed
+a force of Lucanians, Messapians, Samnites, and Tarentines, which
+amounted to twenty thousand cavalry and three hundred and fifty thousand
+infantry. This not only excited Pyrrhus, but also made all the Epirotes
+eager to take part in the campaign.
+
+There was one Cineas, a Thessalian, who was thought to be a man of good
+sense, and who, having heard Demosthenes the orator speak, was better
+able than any of the speakers of his age to delight his hearers with an
+imitation of the eloquence of that great master of rhetoric. He was now
+in the service of Pyrrhus, and being sent about to various cities,
+proved the truth of the Euripidean saw, that
+
+    "All can be done by words
+  Which foemen wish to do with conquering swords."
+
+Pyrrhus at any rate used to say that more cities were won for him by
+Cineas with words than he himself won by force of arms. This man,
+observing that Pyrrhus was eagerly preparing for his Italian expedition,
+once when he was at leisure conversed with him in the following manner.
+"Pyrrhus," said he, "the Romans are said to be good soldiers, and to
+rule over many warlike nations. Now, if heaven grants us the victory
+over them, what use shall we make of it?"
+
+"You ask what is self-evident," answered Pyrrhus. "If we can conquer the
+Romans, there is no city, Greek or barbarian, that can resist us, and we
+shall gain possession of the whole of Italy, a country whose size,
+richness, and power no one knows better than yourself." Cineas then,
+after waiting for a short time, said: "O King, when we have taken Italy,
+what shall we do then?"
+
+Pyrrhus, not yet seeing his drift, answered: "Close to it Sicily invites
+us, a noble and populous island, and one which is very easy to conquer;
+for, my Cineas, now that Agathocles is dead, there is nothing there but
+revolution and faction and the violence of party spirit."
+
+"What you say," answered Cineas, "is very probably true. But is this
+conquest of Sicily to be the extreme limit of our campaign?"
+
+"Heaven," answered Pyrrhus, "alone can give us victory and success; but
+these conquests would merely prove to us the stepping-stones to greater
+things. Who could refrain from making an attempt upon Carthage and Libya
+when he was so close to them, countries which were all but conquered by
+Agathocles when he ran away from Syracuse with only a few ships? and if
+we were masters of these countries, none of the enemies who now give
+themselves such airs at our expense will dare to resist us."
+
+"Certainly not," answered Cineas; "with such a force at our disposal we
+clearly could recover Macedonia, and have the whole of Greece at our
+feet. And after we have made all these conquests, what shall we do
+then?"
+
+Pyrrhus laughing answered: "We will take our ease and carouse every day,
+and enjoy pleasant conversation with one another."
+
+Having brought Pyrrhus to say this, Cineas asked in reply: "But what
+prevents our carousing and taking our ease now, since we have already at
+hand all those things which we propose to obtain with much bloodshed,
+and great toils and perils, and after suffering much ourselves and
+causing much suffering to others?"
+
+By talking in this manner Cineas vexed Pyrrhus, because he made him
+reflect on the pleasant home which he was leaving, but his reasoning had
+no effect in turning him from his purpose.
+
+He first despatched Cineas to Tarentum with three thousand men; next he
+collected from Tarentum many horse-transports, decked vessels, and boats
+of all sorts, and embarked upon them twenty elephants, twenty-three
+thousand cavalry, twenty-two thousand infantry, and five hundred
+slingers. When all was ready he put to sea; and when half way across a
+storm burst upon him from the north, which was unusual at that season of
+the year. He himself, though his ship was carried away by the tempest,
+yet, by the great pains and skill of the sailors and pilots, resisted it
+and reached the land, with great toil to the rowers, and beyond
+everyone's expectation; for the rest of the fleet was overpowered by the
+gale and scattered. Some ships were driven off the Italian coast
+altogether, and forced into the Libyan and Sicilian seas, and some which
+could not weather the Iapygian Cape were overtaken by night, and being
+dashed by a violent and boisterous sea against that harborless coast
+were utterly lost, except only the King's ship. She was so large and
+strongly built as to resist the waves as long as they broke upon her
+from the seaward; but when the wind changed and blew directly off the
+shore, the ship, which now met the waves directly with her head, was in
+great danger of going to pieces, while to let her drive out to sea again
+now that it was so rough, and the wind changed so frequently, seemed
+more terrible than to remain where they were.
+
+Pyrrhus rose and leaped into the water, and at once was eagerly followed
+by his friends and his bodyguard. The darkness of night and the violent
+recoil of the roaring waves made it hard for them to help him, and it
+was not until daybreak, when the wind abated, that he reached the land,
+faint and helpless in body, but with his spirit invincible in
+misfortune. The Messapians, upon whose coast he had been thrown, now
+assembled from the neighboring villages and offered their help, while
+some of the ships which had outlived the storm appeared, bringing a few
+horsemen, about two thousand foot, and two elephants.
+
+With these Pyrrhus marched to Tarentum; Cineas, as soon as he heard of
+his arrival, bringing out the Tarentine army to meet him. When he
+reached the city he did nothing to displease the Tarentines until his
+fleet returned to the coast and he had assembled the greater part of his
+army. But then, as he saw that the populace, unless ruled by a strong
+hand, could neither help him nor help themselves, but intended to stay
+idling about their baths and entertainments at home, while he fought
+their battles in the field, he closed the gymnasia and public walks, in
+which the people were wont to waste their time in empty talk about the
+war. He forbade all drinking, feasting, and unseasonable revels, and
+forced the people to take up arms, proving himself inexorable to
+everyone who was on the muster-roll of able-bodied citizens. This
+conduct made him much disliked, and many of the Tarentines left the city
+in disgust; for they were so unused to discipline that they considered
+that not to be able to pass their lives as they chose was no better than
+slavery.
+
+When news came that Laevinus, the Roman consul, was marching to attack
+him with a large force, and was plundering the country of Lucania as he
+advanced, while Pyrrhus' allies had not yet arrived, he thought it a
+shameful thing to allow the enemy to proceed any farther, and marched
+out with his army. He sent before him a herald to the Roman general,
+informing him that he was willing to act as arbitrator in the dispute
+between the Romans and the Greek cities of Italy, if they chose to
+terminate it peacefully. On receiving for an answer that the Romans
+neither wished for Pyrrhus as an arbitrator, nor feared him as an enemy,
+he marched forward, and encamped in the plain between the city of
+Pandosia and Heraclea.
+
+Learning that the Romans were close by, and were encamping on the
+farther side of the river Siris (the river Aciris, now called Agri), he
+rode up to the river to view them; and when he observed their even
+ranks, their orderly movements, and their well-arranged camp, he was
+surprised, and said to the nearest of his friends: "These barbarians,
+Megacles, have nothing barbarous in their military discipline; but we
+shall soon learn what they can do." He began indeed already to feel some
+uncertainty as to the issue of the campaign, and determined to wait
+until his allies came up, and till then to observe the movements of the
+Romans, and prevent their crossing the river. They, however, perceiving
+his object, at once crossed the river, the infantry at a ford, the
+cavalry at many points at once, so that the Greeks feared they might be
+surrounded, and drew back. Pyrrhus, perceiving this, ordered his
+officers instantly to form the troops in order of battle and wait under
+arms while he himself charged with the cavalry, three thousand strong,
+hoping to catch the Romans in the act of crossing the river and
+consequently in disorder.
+
+When he saw many shields of the Roman infantry appearing over the river
+bank, and their horsemen all ranged in order, he closed up his own ranks
+and charged them first himself, a conspicuous figure in his beautiful
+glittering armor, and proving by his exploits that he deserved his high
+reputation; especially as although he fought personally, and engaged in
+combat with the enemy, yet he continually watched the whole battle, and
+handled his troops with as much facility as though he were not in the
+thick of the fight, appearing always wherever his presence was required,
+and reenforcing those who seemed likely to give way. In this battle
+Leonnatus the Macedonian, observing one of the Italians watching Pyrrhus
+and constantly following him about the field, said to him: "My King, do
+you see that barbarian on the black horse with white feet? He seems to
+be meditating some desperate deed. He is a man of spirit and courage,
+and he never takes his eyes off you, and takes no notice of anyone else.
+Beware of that man."
+
+Pyrrhus answered: "Leonnatus, no man can avoid his fate; but neither
+that Italian nor anyone else who attacks me will do so with impunity."
+While they were yet talking the Italian levelled his lance and urged his
+horse in full career against Pyrrhus. He struck the King's horse with
+his spear, and at the same instant his own horse was struck a sidelong
+blow by Leonnatus. Both horses fell; Pyrrhus was saved by his friends,
+and the Italian perished fighting. He was of the nation of the Frentani,
+Hoplacus by name, and was the captain of a troop of horse.
+
+This incident taught Pyrrhus to be more cautious. He observed that his
+cavalry were inclined to give way, and therefore sent for his phalanx,
+and arrayed it against the enemy. Then he gave his cloak and armor to
+one of his companions, Megacles, and after partially disguising himself
+in those of his friend, led his main body to attack the Roman army. The
+Romans stoutly resisted him, and an obstinate battle took place, for it
+is said that the combatants alternately yielded and again pressed
+forward no less than seven distinct times. The King's exchange of armor,
+too, though it saved his life, yet very nearly lost him the victory: for
+many attacked Megacles, and the man who first struck him down, who was
+named Decius, snatched up his cloak and helmet, and rode with them to
+L�vinus, displaying them and shouting aloud that he had slain Pyrrhus.
+
+The Romans, when they saw these spoils carried in triumph along their
+ranks, raised a joyful cry, while the Greeks were correspondingly
+disheartened, until Pyrrhus, learning what had taken place, rode along
+the line with his head bare, stretching out his hands to his soldiers
+and telling them that he was safe. At length he was victorious, chiefly
+by means of a sudden charge of his Thessalian horse on the Romans after
+they had been thrown into disorder by the advance of the elephants. The
+Roman horses were terrified at these animals, and, long before they came
+near, ran away with their riders in panic. The slaughter was very great:
+Dionysius says that of the Romans there fell but little short of fifteen
+thousand, but Hieronymus reduces this to seven thousand, while on
+Pyrrhus' side there fell, according to Dionysius, thirteen thousand, but
+according to Hieronymus less than four thousand.
+
+These, however, were the very flower of Pyrrhus' army; for he lost all
+his most trusty officers and his most intimate personal friends. Still,
+he captured the Roman camp, which was abandoned by the enemy, induced
+several of their allied cities to join him, plundered a vast extent of
+country, and advanced within three hundred stades--less than forty
+English miles--of Rome itself. After the battle many of the Lucanians
+and Samnites came up; these allies he reproached for their dilatory
+movements, but was evidently well pleased at having conquered the great
+Roman army with no other forces but his own Epirotes and the Tarentines.
+
+The Romans did not remove Laevinus from his office of consul, although
+Caius Fabricius is reported to have said that it was not the Epirotes
+who had conquered the Romans, but Pyrrhus who had conquered Laevinus;
+meaning that he thought that the defeat was owing not to the greater
+force but the superior generalship of the enemy. They astonished Pyrrhus
+by quickly filling up their ranks with fresh levies, and talking about
+the war in a spirit of fearless confidence. He decided to try whether
+they were disposed to make terms with him, as he perceived that to
+capture Rome and utterly subdue the Roman people would be a work of no
+small difficulty, and that it would be vain to attempt it with the force
+at his disposal, while after his victory he could make peace on terms
+which would reflect great lustre on himself. Cineas was sent as
+ambassador to conduct this negotiation.
+
+He conversed with the leading men of Rome, and offered their wives and
+children presents from the King. No one, however, would accept them, but
+they all, men and women alike, replied that if peace were publicly
+concluded with the King, they would then have no objection to regard him
+as a friend. And when Cineas spoke before the senate in a winning and
+persuasive manner he could not make any impression upon his audience,
+although he announced to them that Pyrrhus would restore the prisoners
+he had taken without any ransom, and would assist them in subduing all
+Italy, while all that he asked in return was that he should be regarded
+as a friend, and that the people of Tarentum should not be molested. The
+common people, however, were evidently eager for peace, in consequence
+of their having been defeated in one great battle, and expecting that
+they would have to fight another against a larger force, because the
+Italian states would join Pyrrhus.
+
+At this crisis Appius Claudius, an illustrious man, but who had long
+since been prevented by old age and blindness from taking any active
+part in politics, when he heard of the proposals of Pyrrhus, and that
+the question of peace or war was about to be voted upon by the senate,
+could no longer endure to remain at home, but caused his slaves to carry
+him through the Forum to the senate house in a litter. When he reached
+the doors of the senate house his sons and sons-in-law supported him and
+guided him into the house, while all the assembly observed a respectful
+silence.
+
+Speaking from where he stood, he addressed them as follows: "My
+countrymen, I used to grieve at the loss of my sight, but now I am sorry
+not to be deaf also, when I hear the disgraceful propositions with which
+you are tarnishing the glory of Rome. What has become of that boast
+which we were so fond of making before all mankind, that if Alexander
+the Great had invaded Italy, and had met us when we were young, and our
+fathers when they were in the prime of life, he would not have been
+reputed invincible, but would either have fled or perhaps even have
+fallen, and added to the glory of Rome?
+
+"You now prove that this was mere empty vaporing, by your terror of
+these Chaonians and Molossians, nations who have always been a prey and
+a spoil to the Macedonians, and by your fear of this Pyrrhus, who used
+formerly to dance attendance on one of Alexander's bodyguards,[54] and
+who has now wandered hither not so much in order to assist the Greeks in
+Italy as to escape from his enemies at home, and promises to be our
+friend and protector, forsooth, when the army he commands did not
+suffice to keep for him the least portion of that Macedonia which he
+once acquired. Do not imagine that you will get rid of this man by
+making a treaty with him. Rather you will encourage other Greek princes
+to invade you, for they will despise you and think you an easy prey to
+all men if you let Pyrrhus go home again without paying the penalty of
+his outrages upon you, nay, with the power to boast that he has made
+Rome a laughing-stock for Tarentines and Samnites."
+
+[Footnote 54: Demetrius.]
+
+By these words Appius roused a warlike spirit in the Romans, and they
+dismissed Cineas with the answer that if Pyrrhus would leave Italy they
+would, if he wished, discuss the question of an alliance with him, but
+that while he remained in arms in their country the Romans would fight
+him to the death, however many Laevinuses he might defeat. It is related
+that Cineas, during his mission to Rome, took great interest in
+observing the national life of the Romans, and fully appreciated the
+excellence of their political constitution, which he learned by
+conversing with many of the leading men of the State. On his return he
+told Pyrrhus that the senate seemed to him like an assembly of kings,
+and that as to the populace he feared that the Greeks might find in them
+a new Lern�an hydra; for twice as many troops had been enrolled in the
+consul's army as he had before, and yet there remained many more Romans
+capable of bearing arms.
+
+After this Caius Fabricius came to arrange terms for the exchange of
+prisoners; a man whom Cineas said the Romans especially valued for his
+virtue and bravery, but who was excessively poor. Pyrrhus, in
+consequence of this, entertained Fabricius privately, and made him an
+offer of money, not as a bribe for any act of baseness, but speaking of
+it as a pledge of friendship and sincerity. As Fabricius refused this,
+Pyrrhus waited till the next day, when, desirous of making an impression
+on him, as he had never seen an elephant, he had his largest elephant
+placed behind Fabricius during their conference, concealed by a curtain.
+At a given signal, the curtain was withdrawn, and the creature reached
+out his trunk over the head of Fabricius with a harsh and terrible cry.
+Fabricius, however, quietly turned round, and then said to Pyrrhus with
+a smile, "You could not move me by your gold yesterday, nor can you with
+your beast to-day."
+
+At table that day they conversed upon all subjects, but chiefly about
+Greece and Greek philosophy. Cineas repeated the opinion of Epicurus and
+his school, about the gods, and the practice of political life, and the
+objects at which we should aim, how they considered pleasure to be the
+highest good, and held aloof from taking any active part in politics,
+because it spoiled and destroyed perfect happiness; and about how they
+thought that the gods lived far removed from hopes and fears, and
+interest in human affairs, in a placid state of eternal fruition.[55]
+While he was speaking in this strain Fabricius burst out: "Hercules!"
+cried he, "may Pyrrhus and the Samnites continue to waste their time on
+these speculations as long as they remain at war with us!" Pyrrhus, at
+this, was struck by the spirit and noble disposition of Fabricius, and
+longed more than ever to make Rome his friend instead of his enemy. He
+begged him to arrange terms of peace, and after they were concluded to
+come and live with him as the first of his friends and officers.
+
+[Footnote 55: I have translated the above passages almost literally from
+the Greek. Yet I am inclined to think that Arnold has penetrated the
+true meaning, and shows us the reason for Fabricius' exclamation when he
+states the Epicurean philosophy, as expounded by Cineas, to be "that war
+and state affairs were but toil and trouble, and that the wise man
+should imitate the blissful rest of the gods, who, dwelling in their own
+divinity, regarded not the vain turmoil of this lower world."]
+
+Fabricius is said to have quietly answered: "That, O King, will not be
+to your advantage; for those who now obey you, and look up to you, if
+they had any experience of me, would prefer me to you for their king."
+Pyrrhus was not angry at this speech, but spoke to all his friends about
+the magnanimous conduct of Fabricius, and intrusted the prisoners to him
+alone, on the condition that, if the senate refused to make peace, they
+should be allowed to embrace their friends, and spend the festival of
+the Saturnalia with them, and then be sent back to him. And they were
+sent back after the Saturnalia, for the senate decreed that any of them
+who remained behind should be put to death.
+
+After this, when C. Fabricius was consul, a man came into his camp
+bringing a letter from King Pyrrhus' physician, in which he offered to
+poison the King if he could be assured of a suitable reward for his
+services in thus bringing the war to an end without a blow. Fabricius,
+disgusted at the man's treachery, brought his colleague to share his
+views, and in haste sent off a letter to Pyrrhus, bidding him be on his
+guard. The letter ran as follows: "Caius Fabricius and Quintus �milius,
+the Roman consuls, greet King Pyrrhus. You appear to be a bad judge both
+of your friends and of your enemies. You will perceive, by reading the
+enclosed letter which has been sent to us, that you are fighting against
+good and virtuous men, and trusting to wicked and treacherous ones. We
+do not give you this information out of any love we bear you, but for
+fear that we might be charged with having assassinated you and be
+thought to have brought the war to a close by treachery because we could
+not do so by manhood."
+
+Pyrrhus on receiving this letter, and discovering the plot against his
+life, punished his physician, and, in return for the kindness of
+Fabricius and the Romans, delivered up their prisoners without ransom,
+and sent Cineas a second time to arrange terms of peace. However, the
+Romans refused to receive their prisoners back without ransom, being
+unwilling either to receive a favor from their enemy or to be rewarded
+for having abstained from treachery toward him, but set free an equal
+number of Tarentines and Samnites, and sent them to him. As to terms of
+peace, they refused to entertain the question unless Pyrrhus first
+placed his entire armament on board the ships in which it came, and
+sailed back to Epirus with it.
+
+As it was now necessary that Pyrrhus should fight another battle, he
+advanced with his army to the city of Asculum, and attacked the Romans.
+Here he was forced to fight on rough ground, near the swampy banks of a
+river, where his elephants and cavalry were of no service, and he was
+forced to attack with his phalanx. After a drawn battle, in which many
+fell, night parted the combatants. Next day Pyrrhus manoeuvred so as to
+bring the Romans fairly into the plain, where his elephants could act
+upon the enemy's line. He occupied the rough ground on either side,
+placed many archers and slingers among his elephants, and advanced with
+his phalanx in close order and irresistible strength.
+
+The Romans, who were unable on the level ground to practise the
+bush-fighting and skirmishing of the previous day, were compelled to
+attack the phalanx in front. They endeavored to force their way through
+that hedge of spears before the elephants could come up, and showed
+marvellous courage in hacking at the spears with their swords, exposing
+themselves recklessly, careless of wounds or death. After a long
+struggle, it is said that they first gave way at the point where Pyrrhus
+was urging on his soldiers in person, though the defeat was chiefly due
+to the weight and crushing charge of the elephants. The Romans could not
+find any opportunity in this sort of battle for the display of their
+courage, but thought it their duty to stand aside and save themselves
+from a useless death, just as they would have done in the case of a wave
+of the sea or an earthquake coming upon them. In the flight to their
+camp, which was not far off, Hieronymus says that six thousand Romans
+perished, and that in Pyrrhus' commentaries his loss is stated at three
+thousand five hundred and five.
+
+Dionysius, on the other hand, does not admit that there were two battles
+at Asculum, or that the Romans suffered a defeat, but tells us that they
+fought the whole of one day until sunset, and then separated, Pyrrhus
+being wounded in the arm by a javelin, and the Samnites having plundered
+his baggage. He also states the total loss on both sides to be above
+fifteen thousand.
+
+The armies separated after the battle, and it is said that Pyrrhus, when
+congratulated on his victory by his friends, said in reply: "If we win
+one more such victory over the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." For
+a large part of the force which he had brought with him had perished,
+and very nearly all his friends and officers, and there were no more to
+send for at home.
+
+
+
+
+THE PUNIC WARS
+
+B.C. 264-219-149
+
+FLORUS
+
+
+(The three Punic wars stand out in history as a mighty "duel _�
+l'outrance_" [a fight to the death], as Victor Hugo says, in the final
+scene of which Rome, having herself been brought near to defeat, "rises
+again, uses the limits of her strength in a last blow, throws herself on
+Carthage, and effaces her from the world."
+
+Jealousy and antagonism had long existed between Rome and Carthage, but
+it was the preeminence of the African city which held Roman ambition in
+check and for generations deferred the final struggle. But when at last
+Rome had acquired the strength she needed in order to assert her
+rivalry, it was only a question of actual preparation, and the first
+cause of quarrel was sure to be seized upon by either party, especially
+by the growing and haughty Italian Power.
+
+The immediate object of contention was the island of Sicily, lying
+between the territory of Rome and that of Carthage. In Sicily the First
+Punic War, lasting about twenty-three years, was mainly carried on by
+the Romans with success, while on the sea Carthage for a long time
+maintained superiority.
+
+During the intervals between the Punic wars two things appear with
+striking force in the history of these events--the passive strength and
+recuperative power of Carthage, which enabled her to return again and
+again to the struggle from almost crushing defeat, and the marvellous
+development of resources and aggressive vigor on the part of Rome, in
+whose case the rise of powerful individual leaders more than offset the
+weight of long-accumulated energies, supplemented as these were by the
+genius and achievement of great Carthaginian warriors.
+
+The wars progressed in a spirit of deadly hatred, constantly intensified
+on both sides, and the Roman determination, of which Cato was the
+mouthpiece, that Carthage must be destroyed, met its stubborn answer in
+the endeavors of the Carthaginians to turn this vengeance against Rome
+herself.
+
+Carthage had been mistress of the world, the richest and most powerful
+of cities. Her naval supremacy alone had sufficed to secure her safety
+and superiority over all rivals or possible combinations of force. But
+the strength of her government lay not so much in her people, or even in
+her statesmen and soldiers, as in her men of wealth. A political
+establishment founded upon such supports was peculiarly liable to all
+the dangers of corruption and of public ignorance and apathy in the
+conduct of affairs. These causes appear conspicuously in the history of
+the Punic wars, as contributing largely to the overthrow and final
+extinguishment of Carthage, which left to her successful rival the open
+way to universal dominion.
+
+The account of Florus presents in a style at once comprehensive and
+succinct a splendid narrative of these wars, with their decisive and
+world-changing events.)
+
+
+THE FIRST PUNIC WAR
+
+The victor-people of Italy, having now spread over the land as far as
+the sea, checked its course for a little, like a fire, which, having
+consumed the woods lying in its track, is stopped by some intervening
+river. But soon after, seeing at no great distance a rich prey, which
+seemed in a manner detached and torn away from their own Italy, they
+were so inflamed with a desire to possess it that, since it could
+neither be joined to their country by a mole or bridge, they resolved
+that it should be secured by arms and war, and reunited, as it were, to
+their continent. And behold! as if the Fates themselves opened a way for
+them, an opportunity was not wanting, for Messana, a city of Sicily in
+alliance with them, happened then to make a complaint concerning the
+tyranny of the Carthaginians.
+
+As the Romans coveted Sicily, so likewise did the people of Carthage;
+and both at the same time, with equal desires and equal forces,
+contemplated the attainment of the empire of the world. Under the
+pretext, therefore, of assisting their allies, but in reality being
+allured by the prey, that rude people, that people sprung from
+shepherds, and merely accustomed to the land, made it appear, though the
+strangeness of the attempt startled them (yet such confidence is there
+in true courage), that to the brave it is indifferent whether a battle
+be fought on horseback or in ships, by land or by sea.
+
+It was in the consulship of Appius Claudius that they first ventured
+upon that strait which has so ill a name from the strange things related
+of it, and so impetuous a current. But they were so far from being
+affrighted, that they regarded the violence of the rushing tide as
+something in their favor, and, sailing forward immediately and without
+delay, they defeated Hiero, king of Syracuse, with so much rapidity that
+he owned he was conquered before he saw the enemy. In the consulship of
+Duilius and Cornelius, they likewise had courage to engage at sea, and
+then the expedition used in equipping the fleet was a presage of
+victory; for within sixty days after the timber was felled, a navy of a
+hundred and sixty ships lay at anchor; so that the vessels did not seem
+to have been made by art, but the trees themselves appeared to have been
+turned into ships by the aid of the gods. The aspect of the battle, too,
+was wonderful; as the heavy and slow ships of the Romans closed with the
+swift and nimble barks of the enemy. Little availed their naval arts,
+such as breaking off the oars of a ship, and eluding the beaks of the
+enemy by turning aside; for the grappling-irons and other instruments,
+which, before the engagement, had been greatly derided by the enemy,
+were fastened upon their ships, and they were compelled to fight as on
+solid ground. Being victorious, therefore, at Lipar�, by sinking and
+scattering the enemy's fleet, they celebrated their first naval triumph.
+And how great was the exultation at it! Duilius, the commander, not
+content with one day's triumph, ordered, during all the rest of his
+life, when he returned from supper, lighted torches to be carried, and
+flutes to play, before him, as if he would triumph every day. The loss
+in this battle was trifling, in comparison with the greatness of the
+victory; though the other consul, Cornelius Asina, was cut off, being
+invited by the enemy to a pretended conference, and put to death; an
+instance of Carthaginian perfidy.
+
+Under the dictatorship of Calatinus, the Romans expelled almost all the
+garrisons of the Carthaginians from Agrigentum, Drepanum, Panormus,
+Eryx, and Lilyb�um. Some alarm was experienced at the forest of
+Camarina, but we were rescued by the extraordinary valor of Calpurnius
+Flamma, a tribune of the soldiers, who, with a choice troop of three
+hundred men, seized upon an eminence occupied by the enemy, to our
+annoyance, and so kept them in play till the whole army escaped; thus,
+by eminent success, equalling the fame of Thermopyl� and Leonidas,
+though our hero was indeed more illustrious, inasmuch as he escaped and
+outlived so great an effort, notwithstanding he wrote nothing with his
+blood.
+
+In the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, when Sicily was become as
+a suburban province of the Roman people, and the war was spreading
+farther, they crossed over into Sardinia, and into Corsica, which lies
+near it. In the latter they terrified the natives by the destruction of
+the city of Olbia, in the former by that of Aleria; and so effectually
+humbled the Carthaginians, both by land and sea, that nothing remained
+to be conquered but Africa itself. Accordingly, under the leadership of
+Marcus Atilius Regulus, the war passed over into Africa. Nor were there
+wanting some on the occasion who mutinied at the mere name and dread of
+the Punic sea, a tribune named Mannius increasing their alarm; but the
+general, threatening him with the axe if he did not obey, produced
+courage for the voyage by the terror of death. They then hastened their
+course by the aid of winds and oars, and such was the terror of the
+Africans at the approach of the enemy that Carthage was almost surprised
+with its gates opened.
+
+The first prize taken in the war was the city of Clypea, which juts out
+from the Carthaginian shore as a fortress or watch-tower. Both this and
+more than three hundred fortresses besides were destroyed. Nor had the
+Romans to contend only with men, but with monsters also; for a serpent
+of vast size, born, as it were, to avenge Africa, harassed their camp on
+the Bagrada. But Regulus, who overcame all obstacles, having spread the
+terror of his name far and wide, having killed or taken prisoners a
+great number of the enemy's force, and their captains themselves, and
+having despatched his fleet, laden with much spoil and stored with
+materials for a triumph, to Rome, proceeded to besiege Carthage itself,
+the origin of the war, and took his position close to the gates of it.
+Here fortune was a little changed; but it was only that more proofs of
+Roman fortitude might be given, the greatness of which was generally
+best shown in calamities. For the enemy applying for foreign assistance,
+and Lacedaemon having sent them Xanthippus as a general, we were
+defeated by a captain so eminently skilled in military affairs. It was
+then that by an ignominious defeat, such as the Romans had never before
+experienced, their most valiant commander fell alive into the enemy's
+hands. But he was a man able to endure so great a calamity; as he was
+neither humbled by his imprisonment at Carthage nor by the deputation
+which he headed to Rome; for he advised what was contrary to the
+injunctions of the enemy, and recommended that no peace should be made,
+and no exchange of prisoners admitted. Even by his voluntary return to
+his enemies, and by his last sufferings, whether in prison or on the
+cross, the dignity of the man was not at all obscured. But being
+rendered, by all these occurrences, even more worthy of admiration, what
+can be said of him but that, when conquered, he was superior to his
+conquerors, and that, though Carthage had not submitted, he triumphed
+over Fortune herself?
+
+The Roman people were now much keener and more ardent to revenge the
+fate of Regulus than to obtain victory. Under the consul Metellus,
+therefore, when the Carthaginians were growing insolent, and when the
+war had returned into Sicily, they gave the enemy such a defeat at
+Panormus that they thought no more of that island. A proof of the
+greatness of this victory was the capture of about a hundred elephants,
+a vast prey, even if they had taken that number, not in war, but in
+hunting.[56] Under the consulship of Appius Claudius, they were
+overcome, not by the enemy, but by the gods themselves, whose auspices
+they had despised, their fleet being sunk in that very place where the
+consul had ordered the chickens to be thrown overboard, because he was
+warned by them not to fight. Under the consulship of Marcus Fabius
+Buteo, they overthrew, near �gimurus, in the African sea, a fleet of the
+enemy which was just sailing for Italy. But, oh! how great materials for
+a triumph were then lost by a storm, when the Roman fleet, richly laden
+with spoil, and driven by contrary winds, covered with its wreck the
+coasts of Africa and the Syrtes, and of all the islands lying amid those
+seas! A great calamity! But not without some honor to this eminent
+people, from the circumstance that their victory was intercepted only by
+a storm, and that the matter for their triumph was lost only by a
+shipwreck. Yet, though the Punic spoils were scattered abroad, and
+thrown up by the waves on every promontory and island, the Romans still
+celebrated a triumph. In the consulship of Lutatius Catulus, an end was
+at last put to the war near the islands named �gates. Nor was there any
+greater fight during this war; for the fleet of the enemy was laden with
+provisions, troops, towers, and arms; indeed, all Carthage, as it were,
+was in it; a state of things which proved its destruction, as the Roman
+fleet, on the contrary, being active, light, free from encumbrance, and
+in some degree resembling a land-camp, was wheeled about by its oars
+like cavalry in a battle by their reins; and the beaks of the vessels,
+directed now against one part of the enemy and now against another,
+presented the appearance of living creatures. In a very short time,
+accordingly, the ships of the enemy were shattered to pieces, and filled
+the whole sea between Sicily and Sardinia with their wrecks. So great,
+indeed, was the victory that there was no thought of demolishing the
+enemy's city; since it seemed superfluous to pour their fury on towers
+and walls, when Carthage had already been destroyed at sea.
+
+[Footnote 56: "A vast prey--not in war, but in hunting." The sense is,
+it would have been a considerable capture if he had taken these hundred
+elephants, not in battle, but in hunting, in which more are often
+taken.]
+
+
+THE SECOND PUNIC WAR
+
+After the first Carthaginian war there was scarcely a rest of four
+years, when there was another war, inferior, indeed, in length of time,
+for it occupied but eighteen years, but so much more terrible, from the
+direfulness of its havoc, that if anyone compares the losses on both
+sides, the people that conquered was more like one defeated. What
+provoked this noble people was that the command of the sea was forced
+from them, that their islands were taken, and that they were obliged to
+pay tribute which they had before been accustomed to impose. Hannibal,
+when but a boy, swore to his father, before an altar, to take revenge on
+the Romans; nor was he backward to execute his oath. Saguntum,
+accordingly, was made the occasion of a war; an old and wealthy city of
+Spain, and a great but sad example of fidelity to the Romans. This city,
+though granted, by the common treaty, the special privilege of enjoying
+its liberty, Hannibal, seeking pretences for new disturbances, destroyed
+with his own hands and those of its inhabitants, in order that, by an
+infraction of the compact, he might open a passage for himself into
+Italy.
+
+Among the Romans there is the highest regard to treaties, and
+consequently, on hearing of the siege of an allied city, and
+remembering, too, the compact made with the Carthaginians, they did not
+at once have recourse to arms, but chose rather to expostulate on legal
+grounds. In the mean time the Saguntines, exhausted with famine, the
+assaults of machines, and the sword, and their fidelity being at last
+carried to desperation, raised a vast pile in the market-place, on which
+they destroyed, with fire and sword, themselves, their wives and
+children, and all that they possessed. Hannibal, the cause of this great
+destruction, was required to be given up. The Carthaginians hesitating
+to comply, Fabius, who was at the head of the embassy, exclaimed: "What
+is the meaning of this delay? In the fold of this garment I carry war
+and peace; which of the two do you choose?" As they cried out "War,"
+"Take war, then," he rejoined, and, shaking out the fore-part of his
+toga in the middle of the senate house, as if he really carried war in
+its folds, he spread it abroad, not without awe on the part of the
+spectators.
+
+The sequel of the war was in conformity with its commencement; for, as
+if the last imprecations of the Saguntines, at their public
+self-immolation and burning of the city, had required such obsequies to
+be performed to them, atonement was made to their _manes_ by the
+devastation of Italy, the reduction of Africa, and the destruction of
+the leaders and kings who engaged in that contest. When once, therefore,
+that sad and dismal force and storm of the Punic War had arisen in
+Spain, and had forged, in the fire of Saguntum, the thunderbolt long
+before intended for the Romans, it immediately burst, as if hurried
+along by resistless violence, through the middle of the Alps, and
+descended, from those snows of incredible altitude, on the plains of
+Italy, as if it had been hurled from the skies. The violence of its
+first assault burst, with a mighty sound, between the Po and the
+Ticinus. There the army under Scipio was routed; and the general
+himself, being wounded, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy,
+had not his son, then quite a boy, covered his father with his shield,
+and rescued him from death. This was the Scipio who grew up for the
+conquest of Africa, and who was to receive a name from its ill-fortune.
+
+To Ticinus succeeded Trebia, where, in the consulship of Sempronius, the
+second outburst of the Punic War was spent. On that occasion, the crafty
+enemy, having chosen a cold and snowy day, and having first warmed
+themselves at their fires, and anointed their bodies with oil, conquered
+us, though they were men that came from the south and a warm sun, by the
+aid (strange to say!) of our own winter.
+
+The third thunderbolt of Hannibal fell at the Trasimene lake, when
+Flaminius was commander. There also was employed a new stratagem of
+Carthaginian subtlety; for a body of cavalry, being concealed by a mist
+rising from the lake, and by the osiers growing in the fens, fell upon
+the rear of the Romans as they were fighting. Nor can we complain of the
+gods; for swarms of bees settling upon the standards, the reluctance of
+the eagles to move forward, and a great earthquake that happened at the
+commencement of the battle--unless, indeed, it was the tramping of horse
+and foot, and the violent concussion of arms, that produced this
+trembling of the ground--had forewarned the rash leader of approaching
+defeat.
+
+The fourth and almost mortal wound of the Roman Empire was at Cann�, an
+obscure village of Apulia; which, however, became famous by the
+greatness of the defeat, its celebrity being acquired by the slaughter
+of forty thousand men. Here the general, the ground, the face of heaven,
+the day, indeed, all nature conspired together for the destruction of
+the unfortunate army. For Hannibal, the most artful of generals, not
+content with sending pretended deserters among the Romans, who fell upon
+their rear as they were fighting, but having also noted the nature of
+the ground in those open plains, where the heat of the sun is extremely
+violent, the dust very great, and the wind blows constantly, and as it
+were statedly, from the east, drew up his army in such a position that,
+while the Romans were exposed to all these inconveniences, he himself,
+having heaven, as it were, on his side, fought with wind, dust, and sun
+in his favor. Two vast armies, in consequence, were slaughtered till the
+enemy were satiated, and till Hannibal said to his soldiers, "Put up
+your swords." Of the two commanders, one escaped, the other was slain;
+which of them showed the greater spirit is doubtful. Paulus was ashamed
+to survive; Varrodid not despair. Of the greatness of the slaughter the
+following proofs may be noticed: that the Aufidus was for some time red
+with blood; that a bridge was made of dead bodies, by order of Hannibal,
+over the torrent of Vergellus, and that two _modii_ of rings were sent
+to Carthage, and the equestrian dignity estimated by measure.
+
+It was afterward not doubted but that Rome might have seen its last day,
+and that Hannibal, within five days, might have feasted in the Capitol,
+if--as they say that Adherbal, the Carthaginian, the son of Bomilcar,
+observed--"he had known as well how to use his victory as how to gain
+it." But at that crisis, as is generally said, either the fate of the
+city that was to be empress of the world, or his own want of judgment,
+and the influence of deities unfavorable to Carthage, carried him in a
+different direction. When he might have taken advantage of his victory,
+he chose rather to seek enjoyment from it, and, leaving Rome, to march
+into Campania and to Tarentum, where both he and his army soon lost
+their vigor, so that it was justly remarked that "Capua proved a Cann�
+to Hannibal"; since the sunshine of Campania and the warm springs of
+Bai� subdued--who could have believed it?--him who had been unconquered
+by the Alps and unshaken in the field. In the mean time the Romans began
+to recover and to rise, as it were, from the dead. They had no arms, but
+they took them down from the temples; men were wanting, but slaves were
+freed to take the oath of service; the treasury was exhausted, but the
+senate willingly offered their wealth for the public service, leaving
+themselves no gold but what was contained in their children's
+_bull�_[57] and in their own belts and rings. The knights followed their
+example, and the common people that of the knights; so that when the
+wealth of private persons was brought to the public treasury--in the
+consulship of L�vinus and Marcellus--the registers scarcely sufficed to
+contain the account of it, or the hands of the clerks to record it.
+
+[Footnote 57: A sort of ornament suspended from the necks of children,
+which, among the wealthy, was made of gold. It was in the shape of a
+bubble on water, or, as Pliny says, of a heart.]
+
+But how can I sufficiently praise the wisdom of the centuries in the
+choice of magistrates, when the younger sought advice from the elder as
+to what consuls should be created? They saw that against an enemy so
+often victorious, and so full of subtlety, it was necessary to contend,
+not only with courage, but with his own wiles. The first hope of the
+empire now recovering, and, if I may use the expression, coming to life
+again, was Fabius, who found a new mode of conquering Hannibal, which
+was, _not to fight_. Hence he received that new name, so salutary to the
+commonwealth, of _Cunctator_, or Delayer. Hence too it happened that he
+was called by the people _the shield of the empire_. Through the whole
+of Samnium, and through the Falerian and Gauran forests, he so harassed
+Hannibal that he who could not be reduced by valor was weakened by
+delay. The Romans then ventured, under the command of Claudius
+Marcellus, to engage him; they came to close quarters with him, drove
+him out of his dear Campania, and forced him to raise the siege of Nola.
+They ventured likewise, under the leadership of Sempronius Gracchus, to
+pursue him through Lucania, and to press hard upon his rear as he
+retired; though they then fought him (sad dishonor!) with a body of
+slaves, for to this extremity had so many disasters reduced them, but
+they were rewarded with liberty, and from slaves they made them Romans.
+
+O amazing confidence in the midst of so much adversity! O extraordinary
+courage and spirit of the Roman people in such oppressive and
+distressing circumstances! At a time when they were uncertain of
+preserving their own Italy, they yet ventured to look to other
+countries; and when the enemy were at their throat, flying through
+Campania and Apulia, and making an Africa in the middle of Italy, they
+at the same time both withstood that enemy and dispersed their arms over
+the earth into Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain.
+
+Sicily was assigned to Marcellus, and did not long resist his efforts;
+for the whole island was conquered in the conquest of one city.
+Syracuse, its great and, till that period, unconquered capital, though
+defended by the genius of Archimedes, was at last obliged to yield. Its
+triple wall and three citadels, its marble harbor and the celebrated
+fountain of Arethusa, were no defence to it, except so far as to procure
+consideration for its beauty when it was conquered.
+
+Sardinia Gracchus reduced; the savageness of the inhabitants, and the
+vastness of its Mad Mountains--for so they are called--availed it
+nothing. Great severity was exercised upon its cities, and upon Caralis,
+the city of its cities, that a nation, obstinate and regardless of
+death, might at least be humbled by concern for the soil of its country.
+
+Into Spain were sent the two Scipios, Cnaeus, and Publius, who wrested
+almost the whole of it from the Carthaginians; but, being surprised by
+the artifices of Punic subtlety, they again lost it, even after they had
+slaughtered the enemy's forces in great battles. The wiles of the
+Carthaginians cut off one of them by the sword as he was pitching his
+camp, and the other by surrounding him with lighted fagots after he had
+made his escape into a tower. But the other Scipio, to whom the Fates
+had decreed so great a name from Africa, being sent with an army to
+revenge the death of his father and uncle, recovered all that warlike
+country of Spain, so famous for its men and arms, that seminary of the
+enemy's force, that instructress of Hannibal, from the Pyrenean
+mountains--the account is scarcely credible--to the Pillars of Hercules
+and the ocean, whether with greater speed or good fortune is difficult
+to decide; how great was his speed, four years bear witness; how
+remarkable his good fortune, even one city proves, for it was taken on
+the same day in which siege was laid to it, and it was an omen of the
+conquest of Africa that Carthage in Spain was so easily reduced. It is
+certain, however, that what most contributed to make the province submit
+was the eminent virtue of the general, who restored to the barbarians
+certain captive youths and maidens of extraordinary beauty, not allowing
+them even to be brought into his sight, that he might not seem, even by
+a single glance, to have detracted from their virgin purity.
+
+These actions the Romans performed in different parts of the world, yet
+were they unable, notwithstanding, to remove Hannibal, who was lodged in
+the heart of Italy. Most of the towns had revolted to the enemy, whose
+vigorous commander used even the strength of Italy against the Romans.
+However, we had now forced him out of many towns and districts. Tarentum
+had returned to our side; and Capua, the seat, home, and second country
+of Hannibal, was again in our hands; the loss of which caused the Punic
+leader so much affliction that he then directed all his force against
+Rome.
+
+O people worthy of the empire of the world, worthy of the favor and
+admiration of all, not only men, but gods! Though they were brought into
+the greatest alarm, they desisted not from their original design; though
+they were concerned for their own city, they did not abandon their
+attempts on Capua; but, part of their army being left there with the
+consul Appius, and part having followed Flaccus to Rome, they fought
+both at home and abroad at the same time. Why then should we wonder that
+the gods themselves, the gods, I say--nor shall I be ashamed[58] to
+admit it--again opposed Hannibal as he was preparing to march forward
+when at three miles' distance from Rome. For, at every movement of his
+force, so copious a flood of rain descended, and such a violent storm of
+wind arose, that it was evident the enemy was repulsed by divine
+influence, and the tempest proceeded, not from heaven, but from the
+walls of the city and the Capitol. He therefore fled and departed, and
+withdrew to the farthest corner of Italy, leaving the city in a manner
+adored. It is but a small matter to mention, yet sufficiently indicative
+of the magnanimity of the Roman people, that during those very days in
+which the city was besieged, the ground which Hannibal occupied with his
+camp was offered for sale at Rome, and, being put up to auction,
+actually found a purchaser. Hannibal, on the other side, wished to
+imitate such confidence, and put up for sale the bankers' houses in the
+city; but no buyer was found; so that it was evident that the Fates had
+their presages.
+
+[Footnote 58: Why should he be ashamed to admit that Rome was saved by
+the aid of the gods? To receive assistance from the gods was a proof of
+merit. The gods help those who help themselves, says the proverb. When
+he says that the gods "_again_ opposed Hannibal," he seems to refer to
+what he said above in speaking of the battle of Cannae, that the
+deities, averse to Carthage, prevented Hannibal from marching at that
+time to Rome.]
+
+But as yet nothing had been effectually accomplished by so much valor,
+or even through such eminent favor from the gods; for Hasdrubal, the
+brother of Hannibal, was approaching with a new army, new strength, and
+every fresh requisite for war. There had doubtless been an end of Rome,
+if that general had united himself with his brother; but Claudius Nero,
+in conjunction with Livius Salinator, overthrew him as he was pitching
+his camp. Nero was at that time keeping Hannibal at bay in the farthest
+corner of Italy; while Livius had marched to the very opposite quarter,
+that is, to the very entrance and confines of Italy; and of the ability
+and expedition with which the consuls joined their forces--though so
+vast a space, that is, the whole of Italy where it is longest, lay
+between them--and defeated the enemy with their combined strength, when
+they expected no attack, and without the knowledge of Hannibal, it is
+difficult to give a notion. When Hannibal, however, had knowledge of the
+matter, and saw his brother's head thrown down before his camp, he
+exclaimed, "I perceive the evil destiny of Carthage." This was his first
+confession of that kind, not without a sure presage of his approaching
+fate; and it was now certain, even from his own acknowledgment, that
+Hannibal might be conquered. But the Roman people, full of confidence
+from so many successes, thought it would be a noble enterprise to subdue
+such a desperate enemy in his own Africa. Directing their whole force,
+therefore, under the leadership of Scipio, upon Africa itself, they
+began to imitate Hannibal, and to avenge upon Africa the sufferings of
+their own Italy. What forces of Hasdrubal (good gods!), what armies of
+Syphax, did that commander put to flight! How great were the camps of
+both that he destroyed in one night by casting firebrands into them! At
+last, not at three miles distance, but by a close siege, he shook the
+very gates of Carthage itself. And thus he succeeded in drawing off
+Hannibal when he was still clinging to and brooding over Italy. There
+was no more remarkable day, during the whole course of the Roman Empire,
+than that on which those two generals, the greatest of all that ever
+lived, whether before or after them, the one the conqueror of Italy, and
+the other of Spain, drew up their forces for a close engagement. But
+previously a conference was held between them concerning conditions of
+peace. They stood motionless awhile in admiration of each other. When
+they could not agree on a peace, they gave the signal for battle. It is
+certain, from the confession of both, that no troops could have been
+better drawn up, and no fight more obstinately maintained. This Hannibal
+acknowledged concerning the army of Scipio, and Scipio concerning that
+of Hannibal. But Hannibal was forced to yield, and Africa became the
+prize of the victory; and the whole earth soon followed the fate of
+Africa.
+
+
+THE THIRD PUNIC WAR
+
+The third war with Africa was both short in its duration--for it was
+finished in four years--and, compared with those that preceded it, of
+much less difficulty; as we had to fight not so much against troops in
+the field as against the city itself; but it was far the greatest of the
+three in its consequences, for in it Carthage was at last destroyed. And
+if anyone contemplates the events of the three periods, he will
+understand that the war was begun in the first, greatly advanced in the
+second, and entirely finished in the third.
+
+The cause of this war was that Carthage, in violation of an article in
+the treaty, had once fitted out a fleet and army against the Numidians,
+and had frequently threatened the frontiers of Masinissa. But the Romans
+were partial to this good king, who was also their ally.
+
+When the war had been determined upon, they had to consider about the
+end of it. Cato, even when his opinion was asked on any other subject,
+pronounced, with implacable enmity, that Carthage should be destroyed.
+Scipio Nasica gave his voice for its preservation, lest, if the fear of
+the rival city were removed, the exultation of Rome should grow
+extravagant. The senate decided on a middle course, resolving that the
+city should only be removed from its place; for nothing appeared to them
+more glorious than that there should be a Carthage which should not be
+feared. In the consulship of Manlius and Censorinus, therefore, the
+Roman people having attacked Carthage, but giving them some hopes of
+peace, burned their fleet, which they voluntarily delivered up, in sight
+of the city. Having next summoned the chief men, they commanded them to
+quit the place if they wished to preserve their lives. This requisition,
+from its cruelty, so incensed them that they chose rather to submit to
+the utmost extremities. They accordingly bewailed their necessities
+publicly, and shouted with one voice _to arms_; and a resolution was
+made to resist the enemy by every means in their power; not because any
+hope of success was left, but because they had rather their birthplace
+should be destroyed by the hands of the enemy than by their own. With
+what spirit they resumed the war may be understood from the facts that
+they pulled down their roofs and houses for the equipment of a new
+fleet; that gold and silver, instead of brass and iron, were melted in
+their forges for the construction of arms; and that the women parted
+with their hair to make cordage for the engines of war.
+
+Under the command of the consul Mancinus, the siege was warmly conducted
+both by land and sea. The harbor was dismantled of its works, and a
+first, second, and even third wall taken, while nevertheless the Byrsa,
+which was the name of the citadel, held out like another city. But
+though the destruction of the place was thus very far advanced, it was
+the name of the Scipios only that seemed fatal to Africa. The
+Government, accordingly, applying to another Scipio, desired from him a
+termination of the war. This Scipio, the son of Paulus Macedonicus, the
+son of the great Africanus had adopted as an honor to his family, and,
+as it appeared, with this destiny, that the grandson should overthrow
+the city which the grandfather had shaken. But as the bites of dying
+beasts are wont to be most fatal, so there was more trouble with
+Carthage half-ruined than when it was in its full strength. The Romans
+having shut the enemy up in their single fortress, had also blockaded
+the harbor; but upon this they dug another harbor on the other side of
+the city, not with a design to escape, but because no one supposed that
+they could even force an outlet there. Here a new fleet, as if just
+born, started forth; and, in the mean while, sometimes by day and
+sometimes by night, some new mole, some new machine, some new band of
+desperate men perpetually started up, like a sudden flame from a fire
+sunk in ashes. At last, their affairs becoming desperate, forty thousand
+men, and (what is hardly credible) with Hasdrubal at their head,
+surrendered themselves. How much more nobly did a woman behave, the wife
+of the general, who, taking hold of her two children, threw herself from
+the top of her house into the midst of the flames, imitating the queen
+that built Carthage. How great a city was then destroyed is shown, to
+say nothing of other things, by the duration of the fire, for the flames
+could scarcely be extinguished at the end of seventeen days; flames
+which the enemy themselves had raised in their houses and temples, that,
+since the city could not be rescued from the Romans, all matter for
+triumph might at least be burned.
+
+
+
+
+BATTLE OF THE METAURUS
+
+B.C. 207
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(During the closing years of the Second Punic War the resources of the
+Romans were drained to such an extent as to bring great disheartenment
+to their rulers and generals. Under the stress of financial
+difficulties, the cost of living greatly increased, and the State was
+compelled to resort to loans of various kinds, and to levy upon citizens
+of means for the pay of seamen. This scheme for raising Roman "ship
+money" was one of the most significant indications of the extreme weight
+resting upon the republic in the prosecution of this arduous war. A war
+with Sicily was fortunately terminated, releasing some additional force
+for employment against the Carthaginians; but for some time little
+headway was made by the Roman commanders, and when, in B.C. 207, the
+people were called upon to elect consuls, their affairs were still in a
+condition which caused serious anxiety. The consuls chosen in that year
+were Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius Nero, and without delay they went
+to take command in southern Italy, which the Carthaginians under
+Hannibal, though not in much strength, had invaded.
+
+But when, later in the season, Hasdrubal crossed the Alps from the north
+to join his brother, Hannibal, the aspect of the war became still more
+grave in the eyes of the Romans. Hasdrubal solicited the support of the
+Gauls, but to little purpose. Meanwhile Hannibal made skilful use of his
+small forces in eluding the consul Nero; but the capture by the Romans
+of despatches from Hasdrubal disclosed his plans, and Nero at once
+formed his own for intercepting him. The result was that Nero and Livius
+joined their forces in Hasdrubal's front, and to the Carthaginian they
+offered immediate battle. Hasdrubal attempted a retreat, but was
+compelled to give battle on the banks of the Metaurus. Of this, one of
+the "decisive battles of the world," Creasy has left an authoritative
+and graphic account, which here follows. The part of the consul Nero in
+the campaign is thus remarked upon by Lord Byron:
+
+"The consul Nero, who made the unequalled march which deceived Hannibal
+and deceived Hasdrubal, thereby accomplished an achievement almost
+unrivalled in military annals. The first intelligence of his return, to
+Hannibal, was the sight of Hasdrubal's head thrown into his camp. When
+Hannibal saw this, he exclaimed, with a sigh, that 'Rome would now be
+the mistress of the world.' To this victory of Nero's it might be owing
+that his imperial namesake reigned at all. But the infamy of the one has
+eclipsed the glory of the other. When the name of Nero is heard, who
+thinks of the consul? But such are human things.")
+
+
+About midway between Rimini and Ancona a little river falls into the
+Adriatic, after traversing one of those districts of Italy in which a
+vain attempt has lately been made to revive, after long centuries of
+servitude and shame, the spirit of Italian nationality and the energy of
+free institutions. That stream is still called the Metauro, and wakens
+by its name the recollections of the resolute daring of ancient Rome,
+and of the slaughter that stained its current two thousand and
+sixty-three years ago, when the combined consular armies of Livius and
+Nero encountered and crushed near its banks the varied hosts which
+Hannibal's brother was leading from the Pyrenees, the Rhone, the Alps,
+and the Po, to aid the great Carthaginian in his stern struggle to
+annihilate the growing might of the Roman republic, and make the Punic
+power supreme over all the nations of the world.
+
+The Roman historian,[59] who termed that struggle the most memorable of
+all wars that ever were carried on, wrote in no spirit of exaggeration;
+for it is not in ancient, but in modern history that parallels for its
+incidents and its heroes are to be found. The similitude between the
+contest which Rome maintained against Hannibal, and that which England
+was for many years engaged in against Napoleon, has not passed
+unobserved by recent historians. "Twice," says Arnold, "has there been
+witnessed the struggle of the highest individual genius against the
+resources and institutions of a great nation, and in both cases the
+nation has been victorious. For seventeen years Hannibal strove against
+Rome; for sixteen years Napoleon Bonaparte strove against England: the
+efforts of the first ended in Zama; those of the second in Waterloo."
+
+[Footnote 59: Livy.]
+
+One point, however, of the similitude between the two wars has scarcely
+been adequately dwelt on; that is, the remarkable parallel between the
+Roman general who finally defeated the great Carthaginian, and the
+English general who gave the last deadly overthrow to the French
+Emperor. Scipio and Wellington both held for many years commands of high
+importance, but distant from the main theatres of warfare. The same
+country was the scene of the principal military career of each. It was
+in Spain that Scipio, like Wellington, successively encountered and
+overthrew nearly all the subordinate generals of the enemy before being
+opposed to the chief champion and conqueror himself. Both Scipio and
+Wellington restored their countrymen's confidence in arms when shaken by
+a series of reverses, and each of them closed a long and perilous war by
+a complete and overwhelming defeat of the chosen leader and the chosen
+veterans of the foe.
+
+Nor is the parallel between them limited to their military characters
+and exploits. Scipio, like Wellington, became an important leader of the
+aristocratic party among his countrymen, and was exposed to the
+unmeasured invectives of the violent section of his political
+antagonists. When, early in the last reign, an infuriated mob assaulted
+the Duke of Wellington in the streets of the English capital on the
+anniversary of Waterloo, England was even more disgraced by that outrage
+than Rome was by the factious accusations which demagogues brought
+against Scipio, but which he proudly repelled on the day of trial by
+reminding the assembled people that it was the anniversary of the battle
+of Zama. Happily, a wiser and a better spirit has now for years pervaded
+all classes of our community, and we shall be spared the ignominy of
+having worked out to the end the parallel of national ingratitude.
+Scipio died a voluntary exile from the malevolent turbulence of Rome.
+Englishmen of all ranks and politics have now long united in
+affectionate admiration of our modern Scipio; and even those who have
+most widely differed from the duke on legislative or administrative
+questions, forget what they deem the political errors of that
+time-honored head, while they gratefully call to mind the laurels that
+have wreathed it.
+
+Scipio at Zama trampled in the dust the power of Carthage, but that
+power had been already irreparably shattered in another field, where
+neither Scipio nor Hannibal commanded. When the Metaurus witnessed the
+defeat and death of Hasdrubal, it witnessed the ruin of the scheme by
+which alone Carthage could hope to organize decisive success--the scheme
+of enveloping Rome at once from the north and the south of Italy by two
+chosen armies, led by two sons of Hamilcar. That battle was the
+determining crisis of the contest, not merely between Rome and Carthage,
+but between the two great families of the world, which then made Italy
+the arena of their oft-renewed contest for pre�minence.
+
+The French historian, Michelet, whose _Histoire Romaine_ would have been
+invaluable if the general industry and accuracy of the writer had in any
+degree equalled his originality and brilliancy, eloquently remarks: "It
+is not without reason that so universal and vivid a remembrance of the
+Punic wars has dwelt in the memories of men. They formed no mere
+struggle to determine the lot of two cities or two empires; but it was a
+strife on the event of which depended the fate of two races of mankind,
+whether the dominion of the world should belong to the Indo-Germanic or
+to the Semitic family of nations. Bear in mind that the first of these
+comprises, besides the Indians and the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans,
+and the Germans. In the other are ranked the Jews and the Arabs, the
+Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. On the one side is the genius of
+heroism, of art, and legislation; on the other is the spirit of
+industry, of commerce, of navigation.
+
+"The two opposite races have everywhere come into contact, everywhere
+into hostility. In the primitive history of Persia and Chaldaea, the
+heroes are perpetually engaged in combat with their industrious and
+perfidious neighbors. The struggle is renewed between the Phoenicians
+and the Greeks on every coast of the Mediterranean. The Greek supplants
+the Phoenician in all his factories, all his colonies in the East: soon
+will the Roman come, and do likewise in the West. Alexander did far more
+against Tyre than Shalmaneser or Nebuchadnezzar had done. Not content
+with crushing her, he took care that she never should revive; for he
+founded Alexandria as her substitute, and changed forever the track of
+the commerce of the world. There remained Carthage--the great Carthage,
+and her mighty empire--mighty in a far different degree than Phoenicia's
+had been. Rome annihilated it. Then occurred that which has no parallel
+in history--an entire civilization perished at one blow--banished, like
+a falling star. The _Periplus_ of Hanno, a few coins, a score of lines
+in Plautus, and, lo, all that remains of the Carthaginian world!
+
+"Many generations must needs pass away before the struggle between the
+two races could be renewed; and the Arabs, that formidable rear-guard of
+the Semitic world, dashed forth from their deserts. The conflict between
+the two races then became the conflict of two religions. Fortunate was
+it that those daring Saracenic cavaliers encountered in the East the
+impregnable walls of Constantinople, in the West the chivalrous valor of
+Charles Martel and the sword of the Cid. The crusades were the natural
+reprisals for the Arab invasions, and form the last epoch of that great
+struggle between the two principal families of the human race."
+
+It is difficult, amid the glimmering light supplied by the allusions of
+the classical writers, to gain a full idea of the character and
+institutions of Rome's great rival. But we can perceive how inferior
+Carthage was to her competitor in military resources, and how far less
+fitted than Rome she was to become the founder of centralized and
+centralizing dominion that should endure for centuries, and fuse into
+imperial unity the narrow nationalities of the ancient races that dwelt
+around and near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea?
+
+Carthage was originally neither the most ancient nor the most powerful
+of the numerous colonies which the Phoenicians planted on the coast of
+Northern Africa. But her advantageous position, the excellence of her
+constitution--of which, though ill-informed as to its details, we know
+that it commanded the admiration of Aristotle--and the commercial and
+political energy of her citizens gave her the ascendency over Hippo,
+Utica, Leptis, and her other sister Phoenician cities in those regions;
+and she finally reduced them to a condition of dependency similar to
+that which the subject allies of Athens occupied relatively to that once
+imperial city. When Tyre and Sidon and the other cities of Phoenicia
+itself sank from independent republics into mere vassal states of the
+great Asiatic monarchies, and obeyed by turns a Babylonian, a Persian,
+and a Macedonian master, their power and their traffic rapidly declined,
+and Carthage succeeded to the important maritime and commercial
+character which they had previously maintained.
+
+The Carthaginians did not seek to compete with the Greeks on the
+northeastern shores of the Mediterranean, or in the three inland seas
+which are connected with it; but they maintained an active intercourse
+with the Phoenicians, and through them with Lower and Central Asia; and
+they, and they alone, after the decline and fall of Tyre, navigated the
+waters of the Atlantic. They had the monopoly of all the commerce of the
+world that was carried on beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. We have yet
+extant (in a Greek translation) the narrative of the voyage of Hanno,
+one of their admirals, along the western coast of Africa as far as
+Sierra Leone; and in the Latin poem of Festus Avienus frequent
+references are made to the records of the voyages of another celebrated
+Carthaginian admiral, Himilco, who had explored the northwestern coast
+of Europe. Our own islands are mentioned by Himilco as the lands of the
+Hiberni and Albioni. It is indeed certain that the Carthaginians
+frequented the Cornish coast--as the Phoenicians had done before
+them--for the purpose of procuring tin; and there is every reason to
+believe that they sailed as far as the coasts of the Baltic for amber.
+When it is remembered that the mariner's compass was unknown in those
+ages, the boldness and skill of the seamen of Carthage, and the
+enterprise of her merchants, may be paralleled with any achievements
+that the history of modern navigation and commerce can produce.
+
+In their Atlantic voyages along the African shores the Carthaginians
+followed the double object of traffic and colonization. The numerous
+settlements that were planted by them along the coast from Morocco to
+Senegal provided for the needy members of the constantly increasing
+population of a great commercial capital, and also strengthened the
+influence which Carthage exercised among the tribes of the African
+coast. Besides her fleets, her caravans gave her a large and lucrative
+trade with the native Africans; nor must we limit our belief of the
+extent of the Carthaginian trade with the tribes of Central and Western
+Africa by the narrowness of the commercial intercourse which civilized
+nations of modern times have been able to create in those regions.
+
+Although essentially a mercantile and seafaring people, the
+Carthaginians by no means neglected agriculture. On the contrary, the
+whole of their territory was cultivated like a garden. The fertility of
+the soil repaid the skill and toil bestowed on it; and every invader,
+from Agathocles to Scipio �milianus, was struck with admiration at the
+rich pasture lands carefully irrigated, the abundant harvests, the
+luxuriant vineyards, the plantations of fig and olive trees, the
+thriving villages, the populous towns, and the splendid villas of the
+wealthy Carthaginians, through which his march lay, as long as he was on
+Carthaginian ground.
+
+Although the Carthaginians abandoned the �gean and the Pontus to the
+Greek, they were by no means disposed to relinquish to those rivals the
+commerce and the dominion of the coasts of the Mediterranean westward of
+Italy. For centuries the Carthaginians strove to make themselves masters
+of the islands that lie between Italy and Spain. They acquired the
+Balearic Islands, where the principal harbor, Port Mahon, still bears
+the name of a Carthaginian admiral. They succeeded in reducing the
+greater part of Sardinia; but Sicily could never be brought into their
+power. They repeatedly invaded that island, and nearly overran it; but
+the resistance which was opposed to them by the Syracusans under Gelon,
+Dionysius, Timoleon, and Agathocles preserved the island from becoming
+Punic, though many of its cities remained under the Carthaginian rule
+until Rome finally settled the question to whom Sicily was to belong by
+conquering it for herself.
+
+With so many elements of success, with almost unbounded wealth, with
+commercial and maritime activity, with a fertile territory, with a
+capital city of almost impregnable strength, with a constitution that
+insured for centuries the blessing of social order, with an aristocracy
+singularly fertile in men of the highest genius, Carthage yet failed
+signally and calamitously in her contest for power with Rome. One of the
+immediate causes of this may seem to have been the want of firmness
+among her citizens, which made them terminate the First Punic War by
+begging peace, sooner than endure any longer the hardships and burdens
+caused by a state of warfare, although their antagonists had suffered
+far more severely than themselves. Another cause was the spirit of
+faction among their leading men, which prevented Hannibal in the second
+war from being properly re�nforced and supported. But there were also
+more general causes why Carthage proved inferior to Rome. These were her
+position relatively to the mass of the inhabitants of the country which
+she ruled, and her habit of trusting to mercenary armies in her wars.
+
+Our clearest information as to the different races of men in and about
+Carthage is derived from Diodorus Siculus. That historian enumerates
+four different races: first, he mentions the Phoenicians who dwelt in
+Carthage; next, he speaks of the Liby-Phoenicians: these, he tells us,
+dwelt in many of the maritime cities, and were connected by
+intermarriage with the Phoenicians, which was the cause of their
+compound name; thirdly, he mentions the Libyans, the bulk and the most
+ancient part of the population, hating the Carthaginians intensely on
+account of the oppressiveness of their domination; lastly, he names the
+Numidians, the nomad tribes of the frontier.
+
+It is evident, from this description, that the native Libyans were a
+subject class, without franchise or political rights; and, accordingly,
+we find no instance specified in history of a Libyan holding political
+office or military command. The half-castes, the Liby-Phoenicians, seem
+to have been sometimes sent out as colonists; but it may be inferred,
+from what Diodorus says of their residence, that they had not the right
+of the citizenship of Carthage; and only a single solitary case occurs
+of one of this race being intrusted with authority, and that, too, not
+emanating from the home government. This is the instance of the officer
+sent by Hannibal to Sicily after the fall of Syracuse, whom Polybius
+calls Myttinus the Libyan, but whom, from the fuller account in Livy, we
+find to have been a Liby-Phoenician; and it is expressly mentioned what
+indignation was felt by the Carthaginian commanders in the island that
+this half-caste should control their operations.
+
+With respect to the composition of their armies, it is observable that,
+though thirsting for extended empire, and though some of her leading men
+became generals of the highest order, the Carthaginians, as a people,
+were anything but personally warlike. As long as they could hire
+mercenaries to fight for them, they had little appetite for the irksome
+training and the loss of valuable time which military service would have
+entailed on themselves.
+
+As Michelet remarks: "The life of an industrious merchant, of a
+Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as long as it was possible
+to substitute advantageously for it that of a barbarian from Spain or
+Gaul. Carthage knew, and could tell to a drachma, what the life of a man
+of each nation came to. A Greek was worth more than a Campanian, a
+Campanian worth more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. When once this tariff of
+blood was correctly made out, Carthage began a war as a mercantile
+speculation. She tried to make conquests in the hope of getting new
+mines to work or to open fresh markets for her exports. In one venture
+she could afford to spend fifty thousand mercenaries, in another rather
+more. If the returns were good, there was no regret felt for the capital
+that had been sunk in the investment; more money got more men, and all
+went on well."
+
+Armies composed of foreign mercenaries have in all ages been as
+formidable to their employers as to the enemy against whom they were
+directed. We know of one occasion--between the First and Second Punic
+wars--when Carthage was brought to the very brink of destruction by a
+revolt of her foreign troops. Other mutinies of the same kind must from
+time to time have occurred. Probably one of these was the cause of the
+comparative weakness of Carthage at the time of the Athenian expedition
+against Syracuse, so different from the energy with which she attacked
+Gelon half a century earlier and Dionysius half a century later. And
+even when we consider her armies with reference only to their efficiency
+in warfare, we perceive at once the inferiority of such bands of
+_condottieri_, brought together without any common bond of origin,
+tactics, or cause, to the legions of Rome, which, at the time of the
+Punic wars, were raised from the very flower of a hardy agricultural
+population, trained in the strictest discipline, habituated to victory,
+and animated by the most resolute patriotism.
+
+And this shows, also, the transcendency of the genius of Hannibal, which
+could form such discordant materials into a compact organized force, and
+inspire them with the spirit of patient discipline and loyalty to their
+chief, so that they were true to him in his adverse as well as in his
+prosperous fortunes; and throughout the checkered series of his
+campaigns no panic rout ever disgraced a division under his command, no
+mutiny, or even attempt at mutiny, was ever known in his camp; and
+finally, after fifteen years of Italian warfare, his men followed their
+old leader to Zama, "with no fear and little hope,"[60] and there, on
+that disastrous field, stood firm around him, his Old Guard, till
+Scipio's Numidian allies came up on their flank, when at last,
+surrounded and overpowered, the veteran battalions sealed their devotion
+to their general by their blood!
+
+[Footnote 60: "We advanced to Waterloo as the Greeks did to Thermopylae:
+all of us without fear, and most of us without hope."--_Speech of
+General Foy._]
+
+"But if Hannibal's genius may be likened to the Homeric god, who, in his
+hatred to the Trojans, rises from the deep to rally the fainting Greeks
+and to lead them against the enemy, so the calm courage with which
+Hector met his more than human adversary in his country's cause is no
+unworthy image of the unyielding magnanimity displayed by the
+aristocracy of Rome. As Hannibal utterly eclipses Carthage, so, on the
+contrary, Fabius, Marcellus, Claudius Nero, even Scipio himself, are as
+nothing when compared to the spirit and wisdom and power of Rome. The
+senate, which voted its thanks to its political enemy, Varro, after his
+disastrous defeat, 'because he had not despaired of the commonwealth,'
+and which disdained either to solicit or to reprove or to threaten or in
+any way to notice the twelve colonies which had refused their accustomed
+supplies of men for the army, is far more to be honored than the
+conqueror of Zama. This we should the more carefully bear in mind
+because our tendency is to admire individual greatness far more than
+national; and, as no single Roman will bear comparison to Hannibal, we
+are apt to murmur at the event of the contest, and to think that the
+victory was awarded to the least worthy of the combatants. On the
+contrary, never was the wisdom of God's providence more manifest than in
+the issue of the struggle between Rome and Carthage.
+
+"It was clearly for the good of mankind that Hannibal should be
+conquered; his triumph would have stopped the progress of the world; for
+great men can only act permanently by forming great nations; and no one
+man, even though it were Hannibal himself, can in one generation effect
+such a work. But where the nation has been merely enkindled for a while
+by a great man's spirit, the light passes away with him who communicated
+it; and the nation, when he is gone, is like a dead body to which magic
+power had for a moment given unnatural life: when the charm has ceased,
+the body is cold and stiff as before. He who grieves over the battle of
+Zama should carry on his thoughts to a period thirty years later, when
+Hannibal must in the course of nature have been dead, and consider how
+the isolated Phoenician city of Carthage was fitted to receive and to
+consolidate the civilization of Greece, or by its laws and institutions
+to bind together barbarians of every race and language into an organized
+empire, and prepare them for becoming, when that empire was dissolved,
+the free members of the commonwealth of Christian Europe."[61]
+
+[Footnote 61: Arnold.]
+
+It was in the spring of 207 B.C. that Hasdrubal, after skilfully
+disentangling himself from the Roman forces in Spain, and after a march
+conducted with great judgment and little loss through the interior of
+Gaul and the passes of the Alps, appeared in the country that now is the
+north of Lombardy, at the head of troops which he had partly brought out
+of Spain and partly levied among the Gauls and Ligurians on his way. At
+this time Hannibal, with his unconquered and seemingly unconquerable
+army, had been eight years in Italy, executing with strenuous ferocity
+the vow of hatred to Rome which had been sworn by him while yet a child
+at the bidding of his father, Hamilcar, who, as he boasted, had trained
+up his three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, like three lion's
+whelps, to prey upon the Romans. But Hannibal's latter campaigns had not
+been signalized by any such great victories as marked the first years of
+his invasion of Italy. The stern spirit of Roman resolution, ever
+highest in disaster and danger, had neither bent nor despaired beneath
+the merciless blows which "the dire African" dealt her in rapid
+succession at Trebia, at Thrasymene, and at Cannae. Her population was
+thinned by repeated slaughter in the field; poverty and actual scarcity
+ground down the survivors, through the fearful ravages which Hannibal's
+cavalry spread through their cornfields, their pasture lands, and their
+vineyards; many of her allies went over to the invader's side, and new
+clouds of foreign war threatened her from Macedonia and Gaul. But Rome
+receded not. Rich and poor among her citizens vied with each other in
+devotion to their country. The wealthy placed their stores, and all
+placed their lives, at the State's disposal. And though Hannibal could
+not be driven out of Italy, though every year brought its sufferings and
+sacrifices, Rome felt that her constancy had not been exerted in vain.
+If she was weakened by the continued strife, so was Hannibal also; and
+it was clear that the unaided resources of his army were unequal to the
+task of her destruction. The single deerhound could not pull down the
+quarry which he had so furiously assailed. Rome not only stood fiercely
+at bay, but had pressed back and gored her antagonist, that still,
+however, watched her in act to spring. She was weary, and bleeding at
+every pore; and there seemed to be little hope of her escape if the
+other hound of old Hamilcar's race should come up in time to aid his
+brother in the death grapple.
+
+Hasdrubal had commanded the Carthaginian armies in Spain for some time
+with varying but generally unfavorable fortune. He had not the full
+authority over the Punic forces in that country which his brother and
+his father had previously exercised. The faction at Carthage, which was
+at feud with his family, succeeded in fettering and interfering with his
+power; and other generals were from time to time sent into Spain, whose
+errors and misconduct caused the reverses that Hasdrubal met with. This
+is expressly attested by the Greek historian Polybius, who was the
+intimate friend of the younger Africanus, and drew his information
+respecting the Second Punic War from the best possible authorities. Livy
+gives a long narrative of campaigns between the Roman commanders in
+Spain and Hasdrubal, which is so palpably deformed by fictions and
+exaggerations as to be hardly deserving of attention. It is clear that
+in the year B.C. 208, at least, Hasdrubal outmanoeuvred Publius Scipio,
+who held the command of the Roman forces in Spain, and whose object was
+to prevent him from passing the Pyrenees and marching upon Italy. Scipio
+expected that Hasdrubal would attempt the nearest route along the coast
+of the Mediterranean, and he therefore carefully fortified and guarded
+the passes of the eastern Pyrenees. But Hasdrubal passed these mountains
+near their western extremity; and then, with a considerable force of
+Spanish infantry, with a small number of African troops, with some
+elephants and much treasure, he marched, not directly toward the coast
+of the Mediterranean, but in a northeastern line toward the centre of
+Gaul. He halted for the winter in the territory of the Arverni, the
+modern Auvergne, and conciliated or purchased the goodwill of the Gauls
+in that region so far that he not only found friendly winter quarters
+among them, but great numbers of them enlisted under him, and, on the
+approach of spring, marched with him to invade Italy.
+
+By thus entering Gaul at the southwest, and avoiding its southern
+maritime districts, Hasdrubal kept the Romans in complete ignorance of
+his precise operations and movements in that country; all that they knew
+was that Hasdrubal had baffled Scipio's attempts to detain him in Spain;
+that he had crossed the Pyrenees with soldiers, elephants, and money,
+and that he was raising fresh forces among the Gauls. The spring was
+sure to bring him into Italy, and then would come the real tempest of
+the war, when from the north and from the south the two Carthaginian
+armies, each under a son of the Thunderbolt[62], were to gather together
+around the seven hills of Rome.
+
+[Footnote 62: Hamilcar was surnamed Barca, which means the Thunderbolt.
+Sultan Bajazet had the similar surname of Yilderim.]
+
+In this emergency the Romans looked among themselves earnestly and
+anxiously for leaders fit to meet the perils of the coming campaign.
+
+The senate recommended the people to elect, as one of their consuls,
+Caius Claudius Nero, a patrician of one of the families of the great
+Claudian house. Nero had served during the preceding years of the war
+both against Hannibal in Italy and against Hasdrubal in Spain; but it is
+remarkable that the histories which we possess record no successes as
+having been achieved by him either before or after his great campaign of
+the Metaurus. It proves much for the sagacity of the leading men of the
+senate that they recognized in Nero the energy and spirit which were
+required at this crisis, and it is equally creditable to the patriotism
+of the people that they followed the advice of the senate by electing a
+general who had no showy exploits to recommend him to their choice.
+
+It was a matter of greater difficulty to find a second consul; the laws
+required that one consul should be a plebeian; and the plebeian nobility
+had been fearfully thinned by the events of the war. While the senators
+anxiously deliberated among themselves what fit colleague for Nero could
+be nominated at the coming comitia, and sorrowfully recalled the names
+of Marcellus, Gracchus, and other plebeian generals who were no more,
+one taciturn and moody old man sat in sullen apathy among the conscript
+fathers. This was Marcus Livius, who had been consul in the year before
+the beginning of this war, and had then gained a victory over the
+Illyrians. After his consulship he had been impeached before the people
+on a charge of peculation and unfair division of the spoils among his
+soldiers; the verdict was unjustly given against him, and the sense of
+this wrong, and of the indignity thus put upon him, had rankled
+unceasingly in the bosom of Livius, so that for eight years after his
+trial he had lived in seclusion in his country seat, taking no part in
+any affairs of State. Latterly the censors had compelled him to come to
+Rome and resume his place in the senate, where he used to sit gloomily
+apart, giving only a silent vote. At last an unjust accusation against
+one of his near kinsmen made him break silence, and he harangued the
+house in words of weight and sense, which drew attention to him and
+taught the senators that a strong spirit dwelt beneath that unimposing
+exterior.
+
+Now, while they were debating on what noble of a plebeian house was fit
+to assume the perilous honors of the consulate, some of the elder of
+them looked on Marcus Livius, and remembered that in the very last
+triumph which had been celebrated in the streets of Rome, this grim old
+man had sat in the car of victory, and that he had offered the last
+thanksgiving sacrifice for the success of the Roman arms which had bled
+before Capitoline Jove. There had been no triumphs since Hannibal came
+into Italy. The Illyrian campaign of Livius was the last that had been
+so honored; perhaps it might be destined for him now to renew the
+long-interrupted series. The senators resolved that Livius should be put
+in nomination as consul with Nero; the people were willing to elect him:
+the only opposition came from himself. He taunted them with their
+inconsistency in honoring the man whom they had convicted of a base
+crime. "If I am innocent," said he, "why did you place such a stain on
+me? If I am guilty, why am I more fit for a second consulship than I was
+for my first one?" The other senators remonstrated with him, urging the
+example of the great Camillus, who, after an unjust condemnation on a
+similar charge, both served and saved his country. At last Livius ceased
+to object; and Caius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius were chosen consuls
+of Rome.
+
+A quarrel had long existed between the two consuls, and the senators
+strove to effect a reconciliation between them before the campaign. Here
+again Livius for a long time obstinately resisted the wish of his
+fellow-senators. He said it was best for the State that he and Nero
+should continue to hate one another. Each would do his duty better when
+he knew that he was watched by an enemy in the person of his own
+colleague. At last the entreaties of the senate prevailed, and Livius
+consented to forego the feud, and to cooperate with Nero in preparing
+for the coming struggle.
+
+As soon as the winter snows were thawed, Hasdrubal commenced his march
+from Auvergne to the Alps. He experienced none of the difficulties which
+his brother had met with from the mountain tribes. Hannibal's army had
+been the first body of regular troops that had ever traversed their
+regions; and, as wild animals assail a traveller, the natives rose
+against it instinctively, in imagined defence of their own habitations,
+which they supposed to be the objects of Carthaginian ambition. But the
+fame of the war, with which Italy had now been convulsed for twelve
+years, had penetrated into the Alpine passes, and the mountaineers now
+understood that a mighty city southward of the Alps was to be attacked
+by the troops whom they saw marching among them. They now not only
+opposed no resistance to the passage of Hasdrubal, but many of them, out
+of love of enterprise and plunder, or allured by the high pay that he
+offered, took service with him; and thus he advanced upon Italy with an
+army that gathered strength at every league. It is said, also, that some
+of the most important engineering works which Hannibal had constructed
+were found by Hasdrubal still in existence, and materially favored the
+speed of his advance. He thus emerged into Italy from the Alpine valleys
+much sooner than had been anticipated. Many warriors of the Ligurian
+tribes joined him; and, crossing the River Po, he marched down its
+southern bank to the city of Placentia, which he wished to secure as a
+base for his future operations. Placentia resisted him as bravely as it
+had resisted Hannibal twelve years before, and for some time Hasdrubal
+was occupied with a fruitless siege before its walls.
+
+Six armies were levied for the defence of Italy when the long-dreaded
+approach of Hasdrubal was announced. Seventy thousand Romans served in
+the fifteen legions of which, with an equal number of Italian allies,
+those armies and the garrisons were composed. Upward of thirty thousand
+more Romans were serving in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. The whole
+number of Roman citizens of an age fit for military duty scarcely
+exceeded a hundred and thirty thousand. The census taken before the
+commencement of the war had shown a total of two hundred and seventy
+thousand, which had been diminished by more than half during twelve
+years. These numbers are fearfully emphatic of the extremity to which
+Rome was reduced, and of her gigantic efforts in that great agony of her
+fate. Not merely men, but money and military stores, were drained to the
+utmost, and if the armies of that year should be swept off by a
+repetition of the slaughters of Thrasymene and Cannae all felt that Rome
+would cease to exist.
+
+Even if the campaign were to be marked by no decisive success on either
+side her ruin seemed certain. In South Italy, Hannibal had either
+detached Rome's allies from her or had impoverished them by the ravages
+of his army. If Hasdrubal could have done the same in Upper Italy; if
+Etruria, Umbria, and Northern Latium had either revolted or been laid
+waste, Rome must have sunk beneath sheer starvation, for the hostile or
+desolated territory would have yielded no supplies of corn for her
+population, and money to purchase it from abroad there was none. Instant
+victory was a matter of life or death. Three of her six armies were
+ordered to the North, but the first of these was required to overawe the
+disaffected Etruscan. The second army of the North was pushed forward,
+under Porcius, the praetor, to meet and keep in check the advanced
+troops of Hasdrubal; while the third, the grand army of the North, which
+was to be under the immediate command of the consul Livius, who had the
+chief command in all North Italy, advanced more slowly in its support.
+There were similarly three armies in the South, under the orders of the
+other consul, Claudius Nero.
+
+The lot had decided that Livius was to be opposed to Hasdrubal, and that
+Nero should face Hannibal. And "when all was ordered as themselves
+thought best, the two consuls went forth from the city, each his several
+way. The people of Rome were now quite otherwise affected than they had
+been when L. �milius Paulus and C. Terentius Varro were sent against
+Hannibal. They did no longer take upon them to direct their generals, or
+bid them despatch and win the victory betimes, but rather they stood in
+fear lest all diligence, wisdom, and valor should prove too little; for
+since few years had passed wherein some one of their generals had not
+been slain, and since it was manifest that, if either of these present
+consuls were defeated or put to the worst, the two Carthaginians would
+forthwith join, and make short work with the other, it seemed a greater
+happiness than could be expected that each of them should return home
+victor, and come off with honor from such mighty opposition as he was
+like to find. With extreme difficulty had Rome held up her head ever
+since the battle of Cannae; though it were so, that Hannibal alone, with
+little help from Carthage, had continued the war in Italy. But there was
+now arrived another son of Hamilcar, and one that in his present
+expedition had seemed a man of more sufficiency than Hannibal himself;
+for whereas, in that long and dangerous march through barbarous nations,
+over great rivers and mountains that were thought unpassable, Hannibal
+had lost a great part of his army, this Hasdrubal, in the same places,
+had multiplied his numbers, and gathering the people that he found in
+the way, descended from the Alps like a rolling snowball, far greater
+than he came over the Pyrenees at his first setting out of Spain. These
+considerations and the like, of which fear presented many unto them,
+caused the people of Rome to wait upon their consuls out of the town,
+like a pensive train of mourners, thinking upon Marcellus and Crispinus,
+upon whom, in the like sort, they had given attendance the last year,
+but saw neither of them return alive from a less dangerous war.
+Particularly old Q. Fabius gave his accustomed advice to M. Livius, that
+he should abstain from giving or taking battle until he well understood
+the enemy's condition. But the consul made him a froward answer, and
+said that he would fight the very first day, for that he thought it long
+till he should either recover his honor by victory, or, by seeing the
+overthrow of his own unjust citizens, satisfy himself with the joy of a
+great though not an honest revenge. But his meaning was better than his
+words."
+
+Hannibal at this period occupied with his veteran but much-reduced
+forces the extreme south of Italy. It had not been expected either by
+friend or foe that Hasdrubal would effect his passage of the Alps so
+early in the year as actually occurred. And even when Hannibal learned
+that his brother was in Italy, and had advanced as far as Placentia, he
+was obliged to pause for further intelligence before he himself
+commenced active operations, as he could not tell whether his brother
+might not be invited into Etruria, to aid the party there that was
+disaffected to Rome, or whether he would march down by the Adriatic Sea.
+Hannibal led his troops out of their winter quarters in Bruttium, and
+marched northward as far as Canusium. Nero had his head-quarters near
+Venusia, with an army which he had increased to forty thousand foot and
+two thousand five hundred horse, by incorporating under his own command
+some of the legions which had been intended to act under other generals
+in the South. There was another Roman army, twenty thousand strong,
+south of Hannibal at Tarentum. The strength of that city secured this
+Roman force from any attack by Hannibal, and it was a serious matter to
+march northward and leave it in his rear, free to act against all his
+depots and allies in the friendly part of Italy, which for the two or
+three last campaigns had served him for a base of his operations.
+Moreover, Nero's army was so strong that Hannibal could not concentrate
+troops enough to assume the offensive against it without weakening his
+garrisons and relinquishing, at least for a time, his grasp upon the
+southern provinces. To do this before he was certainly informed of his
+brother's operations would have been a useless sacrifice, as Nero could
+retreat before him upon the other Roman armies near the capital, and
+Hannibal knew by experience that a mere advance of his army upon the
+walls of Rome would have no effect on the fortunes of the war. In the
+hope, probably, of inducing Nero to follow him and of gaining an
+opportunity of outmanoeuvring the Roman consul and attacking him on his
+march, Hannibal moved into Lucania, and then back into Apulia; he again
+marched down into Bruttium, and strengthened his army by a levy of
+recruits in that district. Nero followed him, but gave him no chance of
+assailing him at a disadvantage. Some partial encounters seem to have
+taken place; but the consul could not prevent Hannibal's junction with
+his Bruttian levies, nor could Hannibal gain an opportunity of
+surprising and crushing the consul.[63] Hannibal returned to his former
+headquarters at Canusium, and halted there in expectation of further
+tidings of his brother's movements. Nero also resumed his former
+position in observation of the Carthaginian army.
+
+[Footnote 63: The annalists whom Livy copied spoke of Nero's gaining
+repeated victories over Hannibal, and killing and taking his men by tens
+of thousands. The falsehood of all this is self-evident. If Nero could
+thus always beat Hannibal, the Romans would not have been in such an
+agony of dread about Hasdrubal as all writers describe. Indeed, we have
+the express testimony of Polybius that the statements which we read in
+Livy of Marcellus, Nero, and others gaining victories over Hannibal in
+Italy must be all fabrications of Roman vanity. Polybius states that
+Hannibal was never defeated before the battle of Zama; and in another
+passage he mentions that after the defeats which Hannibal inflicted on
+the Romans in the early years of the war, they no longer dared face his
+army in a pitched battle on a fair field, and yet they resolutely
+maintained the war. He rightly explains this by referring to the
+superiority of Hannibal's cavalry, the arm which gained him all his
+victories. By keeping within fortified lines, or close to the sides of
+the mountains when Hannibal approached them, the Romans rendered his
+cavalry ineffective; and a glance at the geography of Italy will show
+how an army can traverse the greater part of that country without
+venturing far from the high grounds.]
+
+Meanwhile, Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, and was
+advancing toward Ariminum on the Adriatic, and driving before him the
+Roman army under Porcius. Nor when the consul Livius had come up, and
+united the second and third armies of the North, could he make head
+against the invaders. The Romans still fell back before Hasdrubal beyond
+Ariminum, beyond the Metaurus, and as far as the little town of Sena, to
+the southeast of that river. Hasdrubal was not unmindful of the
+necessity of acting in concert with his brother. He sent messengers to
+Hannibal to announce his own line of march, and to propose that they
+should unite their armies in South Umbria and then wheel round against
+Rome. Those messengers traversed the greater part of Italy in safety,
+but, when close to the object of their mission, were captured by a Roman
+detachment; and Hasdrubal's letter, detailing his whole plan of the
+campaign, was laid, not in his brother's hands, but in those of the
+commander of the Roman armies of the South. Nero saw at once the full
+importance of the crisis. The two sons of Hamilcar were now within two
+hundred miles of each other, and if Rome were to be saved the brothers
+must never meet alive. Nero instantly ordered seven thousand picked men,
+a thousand being cavalry, to hold themselves in readiness for a secret
+expedition against one of Hannibal's garrisons, and as soon as night had
+set in he hurried forward on his bold enterprise; but he quickly left
+the southern road toward Lucania, and, wheeling round, pressed northward
+with the utmost rapidity toward Picenum. He had, during the preceding
+afternoon, sent messengers to Rome, who were to lay Hasdrubal's letters
+before the senate. There was a law forbidding a consul to make war or
+march his army beyond the limits of the province assigned to him; but in
+such an emergency, Nero did not wait for the permission of the senate to
+execute his project, but informed them that he was already on his march
+to join Livius against Hasdrubal. He advised them to send the two
+legions which formed the home garrison on to Narnia, so as to defend
+that pass of the Flaminian road against Hasdrubal, in case he should
+march upon Rome before the consular armies could attack him. They were
+to supply the place of these two legions at Rome by a levy _en masse_ in
+the city, and by ordering up the reserve legion from Capua. These were
+his communications to the senate. He also sent horsemen forward along
+his line of march, with orders to the local authorities to bring stores
+of provisions and refreshment of every kind to the roadside, and to have
+relays of carriages ready for the conveyance of the wearied soldiers.
+Such were the precautions which he took for accelerating his march; and
+when he had advanced some little distance from his camp, he briefly
+informed his soldiers of the real object of their expedition. He told
+them that never was there a design more seemingly audacious and more
+really safe. He said he was leading them to a certain victory, for his
+colleague had an army large enough to balance the enemy already, so that
+_their_ swords would decisively turn the scale. The very rumor that a
+fresh consul and a fresh army had come up, when heard on the
+battle-field--and he would take care that they should not be heard of
+before they were seen and felt--would settle the business. They would
+have all the credit of the victory and of having dealt the final
+decisive blow. He appealed to the enthusiastic reception which they
+already met with on their line of march as a proof and an omen of their
+good fortune. And, indeed, their whole path was amid the vows and
+prayers and praises of their countrymen. The entire population of the
+districts through which they passed flocked to the roadside to see and
+bless the deliverers of their country. Food, drink, and refreshments of
+every kind were eagerly pressed on their acceptance. Each peasant
+thought a favor was conferred on him if one of Nero's chosen band would
+accept aught at his hands. The soldiers caught the full spirit of their
+leader. Night and day they marched forward, taking their hurried meals
+in the ranks, and resting by relay in the wagons which the zeal of the
+country people provided, and which followed in the rear of the column.
+
+Meanwhile, at Rome, the news of Nero's expedition had caused the
+greatest excitement and alarm. All men felt the full audacity of the
+enterprise, but hesitated what epithet to apply to it. It was evident
+that Nero's conduct would be judged of by the event, that most unfair
+criterion, as the Roman historian truly terms it. People reasoned on the
+perilous state in which Nero had left the rest of his army, without a
+general, and deprived of the core of its strength, in the vicinity of
+the terrible Hannibal. They speculated on how long it would take
+Hannibal to pursue and overtake Nero himself, and his expeditionary
+force. They talked over the former disasters of the war, and the fall of
+both the consuls of the last year. All these calamities had come on them
+while they had only one Carthaginian general and army to deal with in
+Italy. Now they had two Punic wars at a time. They had two Carthaginian
+armies, they had almost two Hannibals, in Italy. Hasdrubal was sprung
+from the same father; trained up in the same hostility to Rome; equally
+practised in battle against their legions; and, if the comparative speed
+and success with which he had crossed the Alps were a fair test, he was
+even a better general than his brother. With fear for their interpreter
+of every rumor, they exaggerated the strength of their enemy's forces in
+every quarter, and criticised and distrusted their own.
+
+Fortunately for Rome, while she was thus a prey to terror and anxiety,
+her consul's nerves were stout and strong, and he resolutely urged on
+his march toward Sena, where his colleague Livius and the praetor
+Porcius were encamped, Hasdrubal's army being in position about half a
+mile to their north. Nero had sent couriers forward to apprise his
+colleague of his project and of his approach; and by the advice of
+Livius, Nero so timed his final march as to reach the camp at Sena by
+night. According to a previous arrangement, Nero's men were received
+silently into the tents of their comrades, each according to his rank.
+By these means there was no enlargement of the camp that could betray to
+Hasdrubal the accession of force which the Romans had received. This was
+considerable, as Nero's numbers had been increased on the march by the
+volunteers, who offered themselves in crowds, and from whom he selected
+the most promising men, and especially the veterans of former campaigns.
+A council of war was held on the morning after his arrival, in which
+some advised that time should be given for Nero's men to refresh
+themselves after the fatigue of such a march. But Nero vehemently
+opposed all delay. "The officer," said he, "who is for giving time to my
+men here to rest themselves is for giving time to Hannibal to attack my
+men, whom I have left in the camp in Apulia. He is for giving time to
+Hannibal and Hasdrubal to discover my march, and to manoeuvre for a
+junction with each other in Cisalpine Gaul at their leisure. We must
+fight instantly, while both the foe here and the foe in the South are
+ignorant of our movements. We must destroy this Hasdrubal, and I must be
+back in Apulia before Hannibal awakes from his torpor." Nero's advice
+prevailed. It was resolved to fight directly; and before the consuls and
+praetor left the tent of Livius, the red ensign, which was the signal to
+prepare for immediate action, was hoisted, and the Romans forthwith drew
+up in battle array outside the camp.
+
+Hasdrubal had been anxious to bring Livius and Porcius to battle, though
+he had not judged it expedient to attack them in their lines. And now,
+on hearing that the Romans offered battle, he also drew up his men and
+advanced toward them. No spy or deserter had informed him of Nero's
+arrival, nor had he received any direct information that he had more
+than his old enemies to deal with. But as he rode forward to reconnoitre
+the Roman line, he thought that their numbers seemed to have increased,
+and that the armor of some of them was unusually dull and stained. He
+noticed, also, that the horses of some of the cavalry appeared to be
+rough and out of condition, as if they had just come from a succession
+of forced marches. So also, though, owing to the precaution of Livius,
+the Roman camp showed no change of size, it had not escaped the quick
+ear of the Carthaginian general that the trumpet which gave the signal
+to the Roman legions sounded that morning once oftener than usual, as if
+directing the troops of some additional superior officer. Hasdrubal,
+from his Spanish campaigns, was well acquainted with all the sounds and
+signals of Roman war, and from all that he heard and saw he felt
+convinced that both the Roman consuls were before him. In doubt and
+difficulty as to what might have taken place between the armies of the
+South, and probably hoping that Hannibal also was approaching, Hasdrubal
+determined to avoid an encounter with the combined Roman forces, and to
+endeavor to retreat upon Insubrian Gaul, where he would be in a friendly
+country, and could endeavor to reopen his communication with his
+brother. He therefore led his troops back into their camp; and as the
+Romans did not venture on an assault upon his intrenchments, and
+Hasdrubal did not choose to commence his retreat in their sight, the day
+passed away in inaction. At the first watch of the night Hasdrubal led
+his men silently out of their camp, and moved northward toward the
+Metaurus, in the hope of placing that river between himself and the
+Romans before his retreat was discovered. His guides betrayed him; and
+having purposely led him away from the part of the river that was
+fordable, they made their escape in the dark, and left Hasdrubal and his
+army wandering in confusion along the steep bank, and seeking in vain
+for a spot where the stream could be safely crossed. At last they
+halted; and when day dawned on them, Hasdrubal found that great numbers
+of his men, in their fatigue and impatience, had lost all discipline and
+subordination, and that many of his Gallic auxiliaries had got drunk,
+and were lying helpless in their quarters. The Roman cavalry was soon
+seen coming up in pursuit, followed at no great distance by the legions,
+which marched in readiness for an instant engagement. It was hopeless
+for Hasdrubal to think of continuing his retreat before them. The
+prospect of immediate battle might recall the disordered part of his
+troops to a sense of duty, and revive the instinct of discipline. He
+therefore ordered his men to prepare for action instantly, and made the
+best arrangement of them that the nature of the ground would permit.
+
+Heeren has well described the general appearance of a Carthaginian army.
+He says: "It was an assemblage of the most opposite races of the human
+species from the farthest parts of the globe. Hordes of half-naked Gauls
+were ranged next to companies of white-clothed Iberians, and savage
+Ligurians next to the far-travelled Nasamones and Lotophagi.
+Carthaginians and Phoenici-Africans formed the centre, while innumerable
+troops of Numidian horsemen, taken from all the tribes of the Desert,
+swarmed about on unsaddled horses, and formed the wings; the van was
+composed of Balearic slingers; and a line of colossal elephants, with
+their Ethiopian guides, formed, as it were, a chain of moving fortresses
+before the whole army."
+
+Such were the usual materials and arrangements of the hosts that fought
+for Carthage; but the troops under Hasdrubal were not in all respects
+thus constituted or thus stationed. He seems to have been especially
+deficient in cavalry, and he had few African troops, though some
+Carthaginians of high rank were with him. His veteran Spanish infantry,
+armed with helmets and shields, and short cut-and-thrust swords, were
+the best part of his army. These and his few Africans he drew up on his
+right wing, under his own personal command. In the centre he placed his
+Ligurian infantry, and on the left wing he placed or retained the Gauls,
+who were armed with long javelins and with huge broadswords and targets.
+The rugged nature of the ground in front and on the flank of this part
+of his line made him hope that the Roman right wing would be unable to
+come to close quarters with these unserviceable barbarians before he
+could make some impression with his Spanish veterans on the Roman left.
+This was the only chance that he had of victory or safety, and he seems
+to have done everything that good generalship could do to secure it. He
+placed his elephants in advance of his centre and right wing. He had
+caused the driver of each of them to be provided with a sharp iron spike
+and a mallet, and had given orders that every beast that became
+unmanageable, and ran back upon his own ranks, should be instantly
+killed by driving the spike into the vertebra at the junction of the
+head and the spine. Hasdrubal's elephants were ten in number. We have no
+trustworthy information as to the amount of his infantry, but it is
+quite clear that he was greatly outnumbered by the combined Roman
+forces.
+
+The tactics of the Roman legions had not yet acquired that perfection
+which they received from the military genius of Marius,[64] and which we
+read of in the first chapter of Gibbon. We possess, in that great work,
+an account of the Roman legions at the end of the commonwealth, and
+during the early ages of the empire, which those alone can adequately
+admire who have attempted a similar description. We have also, in the
+sixth and seventeenth books of Polybius, an elaborate discussion on the
+military system of the Romans in his time, which was not far distant
+from the time of the battle of the Metaurus. But the subject is beset
+with difficulties; and instead of entering into minute but inconclusive
+details, I would refer to Gibbon's first chapter as serving for a
+general description of the Roman army in its period of perfection, and
+remark that the training and armor which the whole legion received in
+the time of Augustus were, two centuries earlier, only partially
+introduced. Two divisions of troops, called _hastati_ and _principes_,
+formed the bulk of each Roman legion in the Second Punic War. Each of
+these divisions was twelve hundred strong. The hastatus and the princeps
+legionary bore a breastplate or coat of mail, brazen greaves, and a
+brazen helmet with a lofty upright crest of scarlet or black feathers.
+He had a large oblong shield; and, as weapons of offence, two javelins,
+one of which was light and slender, but the other was a strong and
+massive weapon, with a shaft about four feet long and an iron head of
+equal length. The sword was carried on the right thigh, and was a short
+cut-and-thrust weapon, like that which was used by the Spaniards. Thus
+armed, the hastati formed the front division of the legion, and the
+principes the second. Each division was drawn up about ten deep, a space
+of three feet being allowed between the files as well as the ranks, so
+as to give each legionary ample room for the use of his javelins and of
+his sword and shield. The men in the second rank did not stand
+immediately behind those in the first rank, but the files were
+alternate, like the position of the men on a draught-board. This was
+termed the _quincunx_ order.
+
+[Footnote 64: Most probably during the period of his prolonged
+consulship, from B.C. 104 to B.C. 101, while he was training his army
+against the Cimbri and the Teutons.]
+
+Niebuhr considers that this arrangement enabled the legion to keep up a
+shower of javelins on the enemy for some considerable time. He says:
+"When the first line had hurled its _pila_, it probably stepped back
+between those who stood behind it, and two steps forward restored the
+front nearly to its first position; a movement which, on account of the
+arrangement of the quincunx, could be executed without losing a moment.
+Thus one line succeeded the other in the front till it was time to draw
+the swords; nay, when it was found expedient, the lines which had
+already been in the front might repeat this change, since the stores of
+pila were surely not confined to the two which each soldier took with
+him into battle.
+
+"The same charge must have taken place in fighting with the sword,
+which, when the same tactics were adopted on both sides, was anything
+but a confused _m�l�e_; on the contrary, it was a series of single
+combats." He adds that a military man of experience had been consulted
+by him on the subject and had given it as his opinion "that the change
+of the lines as described above was by no means impracticable; but, in
+the absence of the deafening noise of gunpowder, it cannot have had even
+any difficulty with well-trained troops."
+
+The third division of the legion was six hundred strong and acted as a
+reserve. It was always composed of veteran soldiers, who were called the
+_triarii_. Their arms were the same as these of the principes and
+hastati, except that each _triarian_ carried a spear instead of
+javelins. The rest of the legion consisted of light-armed troops, who
+acted as skirmishers. The cavalry of each legion was at this period
+about three hundred strong. The Italian allies who were attached to the
+legion seem to have been similarly armed and equipped, but their
+numerical proportion of cavalry was much larger.
+
+Such was the nature of the forces that advanced on the Roman side to the
+battle of the Metaurus. Nero commanded the right wing, Livius the left,
+and the praetor Porcius had the command of the centre. "Both Romans and
+Carthaginians well understood how much depended upon the fortune of this
+day, and how little hope of safety there was for the vanquished. Only
+the Romans herein seemed to have had the better in conceit and opinion
+that they were to fight with men desirous to have fled from them; and
+according to this presumption came Livius the consul, with a proud
+bravery, to give charge on the Spaniards and Africans, by whom he was so
+sharply entertained that the victory seemed very doubtful. The Africans
+and Spaniards were stout soldiers, and well acquainted with the manner
+of the Roman fight. The Ligurians also were a hardy nation, and not
+accustomed to give ground, which they needed the less, or were able now
+to do, being placed in the midst. Livius, therefore, and Porcius found
+great opposition; and with great slaughter on both sides prevailed
+little or nothing. Besides other difficulties, they were exceedingly
+troubled by the elephants, that brake their first ranks and put them in
+such disorder as the Roman ensigns were driven to fall back; all this
+while Claudius Nero, laboring in vain against a steep hill, was unable
+to come to blows with the Gauls that stood opposite him, but out of
+danger. This made Hasdrubal the more confident, who, seeing his own left
+wing safe, did the more boldly and fiercely make impression on the other
+side upon the left wing of the Romans."[65]
+
+[Footnote 65: Sir Walter Raleigh: _Historie of the World_.]
+
+But at last Nero, who found that Hasdrubal refused his left wing, and
+who could not overcome the difficulties of the ground in the quarter
+assigned to him, decided the battle by another stroke of that military
+genius which had inspired his march. Wheeling a brigade of his best men
+round the rear of the rest of the Roman army, Nero fiercely charged the
+flank of the Spaniards and Africans. The charge was as successful as it
+was sudden. Rolled back in disorder upon each other, and overwhelmed by
+numbers, the Spaniards and Ligurians died, fighting gallantly to the
+last. The Gauls, who had taken little or no part in the strife of the
+day, were then surrounded, and butchered almost without resistance.
+Hasdrubal, after having, by the confession of his enemies, done all that
+a general could do, when he saw that the victory was irreparably lost,
+scorning to survive the gallant host which he had led, and to gratify,
+as a captive, Roman cruelty and pride, spurred his horse into the midst
+of a Roman cohort, and sword in hand, met the death that was worthy of
+the son of Hamilcar and the brother of Hannibal.
+
+Success the most complete had crowned Nero's enterprise. Returning as
+rapidly as he had advanced, he was again facing the inactive enemies in
+the South before they even knew of his march. But he brought with him a
+ghastly trophy of what he had done. In the true spirit of that savage
+brutality which deformed the Roman national character, Nero ordered
+Hasdrubal's head to be flung into his brother's camp. Ten years had
+passed since Hannibal had last gazed on those features. The sons of
+Hamilcar had then planned their system of warfare against Rome which
+they had so nearly brought to successful accomplishment. Year after year
+had Hannibal been struggling in Italy, in the hope of one day hailing
+the arrival of him whom he had left in Spain, and of seeing his
+brother's eye flash with affection and pride at the junction of their
+irresistible hosts. He now saw that eye glazed in death, and in the
+agony of his heart the great Carthaginian groaned aloud that he
+recognized his country's destiny.
+
+Meanwhile, at the tidings of the great battle, Rome at once rose from
+the thrill of anxiety and terror to the full confidence of triumph.
+Hannibal might retain his hold on Southern Italy for a few years longer,
+but the imperial city and her allies were no longer in danger from his
+arms; and, after Hannibal's downfall, the great military republic of the
+ancient world met in her career of conquest no other worthy competitor.
+Byron has termed Nero's march "unequalled," and, in the magnitude of its
+consequences, it is so. Viewed only as a military exploit, it remains
+unparalleled save by Marlborough's bold march from Flanders to the
+Danube in the campaign of Blenheim, and perhaps also by the Archduke
+Charles' lateral march in 1796, by which he overwhelmed the French under
+Jourdan, and then, driving Moreau through the Black Forest and across
+the Rhine, for a while freed Germany from her invaders.
+
+
+
+
+SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES CARTHAGE
+
+B.C. 202
+
+LIVY
+
+
+(Sprung from a colony of Tyre, Carthage, founded about B.C. 800, rapidly
+developed, through a wonderful system of colonization, into a dominating
+power, her rule extending through Northwestern Africa and Western
+Europe. In B.C. 509 Carthage made her first treaty with Rome. But the
+rivalry which grew up between the two Powers developed into a stubborn
+contest for the empire of the world, culminating in the three Punic
+wars. The first of these lasted from B.C. 264 to 241; the second, from
+B.C. 218 to 201. In the interval between these two wars Rome acquired
+the northern part of Italy, whence she sent victorious armies against
+the barbarians in Gaul. Meanwhile, under Hamilcar Barcar, the
+Carthaginians had effected the conquest of Southern Spain, which they
+reduced to the condition of a dependency.
+
+Hamilcar's greater son, Hannibal, was compelled by his father to swear
+eternal enmity to Rome. Having established the Carthaginian empire in
+Spain, at the age of twenty-six he took the Spanish city of Saguntum, an
+ally of Rome, and this was the immediate cause of the Second Punic War,
+which the Romans declared. The passage of the Alps by Hannibal is
+regarded as one of the greatest military performances in history. He was
+welcomed by the Gauls as a deliverer, and was soon operating in Northern
+Italy, his appearance there being a complete surprise to the Romans. He
+won victories over them at the rivers Ticinus and Trebia, B.C. 218;
+another in 217 at Lake Trasimenus; a great triumph at Cannae in 216;
+took Capua in the same year, and wintered there; in 212 captured
+Tarentum; marched against Rome in 211; and in 203 was recalled to
+Africa.
+
+In the mean time the Romans had decided to carry the war into Africa,
+although in 215 they had beaten Hannibal, and in 211 had retaken Capua.
+Publius Cornelius Scipio [Scipio Africanus Major] in B.C. 210-206 drove
+the Carthaginians out of Spain. In 205 he was made consul, and the next
+year invaded Africa. Landing on the coast, he was met by the forces of
+the Numidian King, who became his allies against Carthage. In 203 he
+defeated Syphax and Hasdrubal. Hannibal now having returned to Carthage,
+he took command of the forces which she opposed to the Roman invaders,
+but in B.C. 202 suffered final overthrow at Zama, in the battle that
+ended the Second Punic War. Livy's account of the closing scenes of that
+war, which here follows, gives the reader a clear understanding of the
+sequence and conclusion of the events related.)
+
+
+Marcus Servilius and Tiberius Claudius, having assembled the senate,
+consulted them respecting the provinces. As both were desirous of having
+Africa, they wished Italy and Africa to be disposed of by lots; but,
+principally in consequence of the exertions of Quintus Metellus, Africa
+was neither assigned to anyone nor withheld. The consuls were ordered to
+make application to the tribunes of the people, to the effect that, if
+they thought proper, they should put it to the people to decide whom
+they wished to conduct the war in Africa. All the tribes nominated
+Publius Scipio. Nevertheless, the consuls put the province of Africa to
+the lot, for so the senate had decreed. Africa fell to the lot of
+Tiberius Claudius, who was to cross over into Africa with a fleet of
+fifty ships, all quinqueremes, and have an equal command with Scipio.
+Marcus Servilius obtained Etruria. Caius Servilius was continued in
+command in the same province, in case the senate resolved that the
+consul should remain at the city. Of the praetors, Marcus Sextus
+obtained Gaul, which province, together with two legions, Publius
+Quinctilius Varus was to deliver to him; Caius Livius obtained Bruttium,
+with the two legions which Publius Sempronius, the proconsul, had
+commanded the former year; Cneius Tremellius had Sicily, and was to
+receive the province and two legions from Publius Villius Tappulus, a
+praetor of the former year; Villius, as propraetor, was to protect the
+coast of Sicily with twenty men-of-war and a thousand soldiers; and
+Marcus Pomponius was to convey thence to Rome one thousand five hundred
+soldiers, with the remaining twenty ships. The city jurisdiction fell to
+Caius Aurelius Cotta; and the rest of the praetors were continued in
+command of the respective provinces and armies which they then had. Not
+more than sixteen legions were employed this year in the defence of the
+empire. And, that they might have the gods favorably disposed toward
+them in all their undertakings and proceedings, it was ordered that the
+consuls, before they set out to the war, should celebrate those games
+and sacrifice those victims of the larger sort which, in the consulate
+of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Titus Quinctius, Titus Manlius the
+dictator had vowed, provided the commonwealth should continue in the
+same state for the next five years. The games were exhibited in the
+circus during four days, and the victims sacrificed to those deities to
+whom they had been vowed.
+
+Meanwhile, hope and anxiety daily and simultaneously increased; nor
+could the minds of men be brought to any fixed conclusion, whether it
+was a fit subject for rejoicing that Hannibal had now at length, after
+the sixteenth year, departed from Italy and left the Romans in the
+unmolested possession of it or whether they had not greater cause to
+fear from his having transported his army in safety into Africa. They
+said that the scene of action certainly was changed, but not the danger.
+That Quintus Fabius, lately deceased, who had foretold how arduous the
+contest would be, was used to predict, not without good reason, that
+Hannibal would prove a more formidable enemy in his own country than he
+had been in a foreign one; and that Scipio would have to encounter, not
+Syphax, a king of undisciplined barbarians whose armies Statorius, a man
+little better than a soldier's drudge, was used to lead, nor his
+father-in-law Hasdrubal, that most fugacious general, nor tumultuary
+armies hastily collected out of a crowd of half-armed rustics, but
+Hannibal, born in a manner in the pavilion of his father, that bravest
+of generals, nurtured and educated in the midst of arms, who served as a
+soldier formerly, when a boy, and became a general when he had scarcely
+attained the age of manhood; who, having grown old in victory, had
+filled Spain, Gaul, and Italy, from the Alps to the strait, with
+monuments of his vast achievements; who commanded troops who had served
+as long as he had himself; troops hardened by the endurance of every
+species of suffering, such as it is scarcely credible that men could
+have supported; stained a thousand times with Roman blood, and bearing
+with them the spoils not only of soldiers, but of generals. That many
+would meet the eyes of Scipio in battle who had with their own hands
+slain Roman praetors, generals, and consuls; many decorated with crowns
+in reward for having scaled walls and crossed ramparts; many who had
+traversed the captured camps and cities of the Romans. That the
+magistrates of the Roman people had not then so many fasces as Hannibal
+could have carried before him, having taken them from generals whom he
+had slain. While their minds were harassed by these apprehensions, their
+anxiety and fears were further increased from the circumstance that,
+whereas they had been accustomed to carry on war for several years in
+different parts of Italy, and within their view, with languid hopes and
+without the prospect of bringing it to a speedy termination, Scipio and
+Hannibal had stimulated the minds of all, as generals prepared for a
+final contest. Even those persons whose confidence in Scipio and hopes
+of victory were great, were affected with anxiety, increasing in
+proportion as they saw their completion approaching. The state of
+feeling among the Carthaginians was much the same; for when they turned
+their eyes on Hannibal, and the greatness of his achievements, they
+repented having solicited peace; but when again they reflected that they
+had been twice defeated in a pitched battle, that Syphax had been made
+prisoner, that they had been driven out of Spain and Italy, and that all
+this had been effected by the valor and conduct of Scipio alone, they
+regarded him with horror, as a general marked out by destiny, and born
+for their destruction.
+
+Hannibal had by this time arrived at Adrumetum, from which place, after
+employing a few days there in refreshing his soldiers, who had suffered
+from the motion by sea, he proceeded by forced marches to Zama, roused
+by the alarming statements of messengers who brought word that all the
+country around Carthage was filled with armed troops. Zama is distant
+from Carthage a five days' journey. Some spies whom he sent out from
+this place, being intercepted by the Roman guard and brought before
+Scipio, he directed that they should be handed over to the military
+tribunes, and after having been desired fearlessly to survey everything,
+to be conducted through the camp wherever they chose; then, asking them
+whether they had examined everything to their satisfaction, he assigned
+them an escort and sent them back to Hannibal.
+
+Hannibal received none of the circumstances which were reported to him
+with feelings of joy, for they brought word that, as it happened,
+Masinissa had joined the enemy that very day with six thousand infantry
+and four thousand horse; but he was principally dispirited by the
+confidence of his enemy, which, doubtless, was not conceived without
+some ground. Accordingly, though he himself was the originator of the
+war, and by his coming had upset the truce which had been entered into,
+and cut off all hopes of a treaty, yet concluding that more favorable
+terms might be obtained if he solicited peace while his strength was
+unimpaired than when vanquished, he sent a message to Scipio requesting
+permission to confer with him.
+
+Scipio took up his position not far from the city of Naragara, in a
+situation convenient not only for other purposes, but also because there
+was a watering-place within a dart's throw. Hannibal took possession of
+an eminence four miles thence, safe and convenient in every respect,
+except that he had a long way to go for water. Here in the intermediate
+space a place was chosen open to view from all sides, that there might
+be no opportunity for treachery.
+
+Their armed attendants having retired to an equal distance, they met,
+each attended by one interpreter, being the greatest generals not only
+of their own times, but of any to be found in the records of the times
+preceding them, and equal to any of the kings or generals of any nation
+whatever. When they came within sight of each other they remained silent
+for a short time, thunderstruck, as it were, with mutual admiration. At
+length Hannibal thus began: "Since fate hath so ordained it that I, who
+was the first to wage war upon the Romans, and who have so often had
+victory almost within my reach, should voluntarily come to sue for
+peace, I rejoice that it is you, above all others, from whom it is my
+lot to solicit it. To you, also, amid the many distinguished events of
+your life, it will not be esteemed one of the least glorious that
+Hannibal, to whom the gods had so often granted victory over the Roman
+generals, should have yielded to you; and that you should have put an
+end to this war, which has been rendered remarkable by your calamities
+before it was by ours.
+
+"Peace is proposed at a time when you have the advantage. We who
+negotiate it are the persons whom it most concerns to obtain it, and we
+are persons whose arrangements, be they what they will, our states will
+ratify. You have recovered Spain, which had been lost, after driving
+thence four Carthaginian armies. When elected consul, though all others
+wanted courage to defend Italy, you crossed over into Africa, where
+having cut to pieces two armies, having at once captured and burnt two
+camps in the same hour, having made prisoner Syphax, a most powerful
+king, and seized so many towns of his dominions and so many of ours, you
+have dragged me from Italy, the possession of which I had firmly held
+for now sixteen years. While your affairs are in a favorable and ours in
+a dubious state, you would derive honor and splendor from granting
+peace; while to us, who solicit it, it would be considered as necessary
+rather than honorable.
+
+"It is indeed the right of him who grants, and not of him who solicits
+it, to dictate the terms of peace, but perhaps we may not be unworthy to
+impose upon ourselves the fine. We do not refuse that all those
+possessions on account of which the war was begun should be yours;
+Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, with all the islands lying in any part of the
+sea, between Africa and Italy. Let us Carthaginians, confined within the
+shores of Africa, behold you, since such is the pleasure of the gods,
+extending your empire over foreign nations both by sea and land. I
+cannot deny that you have reason to suspect the Carthaginian faith, in
+consequence of their insincerity lately in soliciting a peace and while
+awaiting the decision. The sincerity with which a peace will be observed
+depends much, Scipio, on the person by whom it is sought. Your senate,
+as I hear, refused to grant a peace in some measure because the deputies
+were deficient in respectability. It is I, Hannibal, who now solicit
+peace; who would neither ask for it unless I believed it expedient, nor
+will I fail to observe it for the same reason of expedience on account
+of which I have solicited it. And in the same manner as I, because the
+war was commenced by me, brought it to pass that no one regretted it
+till the gods began to regard me with displeasure; so will I also exert
+myself that no one may regret the peace procured by my means."
+
+In answer to these things the Roman general spoke nearly to the
+following effect: "I was aware that it was in consequence of the
+expectation of your arrival that the Carthaginians violated the existing
+faith of the truce and broke off all hope of a peace. Nor, indeed, do
+you conceal the fact, inasmuch as you artfully withdraw from the former
+conditions of peace every concession except what relates to those things
+which have for a long time been in our own power. But as it is your
+object that your countrymen should be sensible how great a burden they
+are relieved from by your means, so it is incumbent upon me to endeavor
+that they may not receive, as the reward of their perfidy, the
+concessions which they formerly stipulated, by expunging them now from
+the conditions of the peace. Though you do not deserve to be allowed the
+same conditions as before, you now request even to be benefited by your
+treachery.
+
+"Neither did our fathers first make war respecting Sicily, nor did we
+respecting Spain. In the former case the danger which threatened our
+allies the Mamertines, and in the present the destruction of Saguntum,
+girded us with just and pious arms. That you were the aggressors, both
+you yourselves confess and the gods are witnesses, who determined the
+issue of the former war, and who are now determining and will determine
+the issue of the present according to right and justice. As to myself, I
+am not forgetful of the instability of human affairs, but consider the
+influence of fortune, and am well aware that all our measures are liable
+to a thousand casualties. But as I should acknowledge that my conduct
+would savor of insolence and oppression if I rejected you on your coming
+in person to solicit peace before I crossed over into Africa, you
+voluntarily retiring from Italy, and after you had embarked your troops,
+so now, when I have dragged you into Africa almost by manual force,
+notwithstanding your resistance and evasions, I am not bound to treat
+you with any respect. Wherefore, if in addition to those stipulations on
+which it was considered that a peace would at that time have been agreed
+upon, and what they are you are informed, a compensation is proposed for
+having seized our ships together with their stores during a truce, and
+for the violence offered to our ambassadors, I shall then have matter to
+lay before my council. But if these things also appear oppressive,
+prepare for war, since you could not brook the conditions of peace."
+
+Thus, without effecting an accommodation, when they had returned from
+the conference to their armies, they informed them that words had been
+bandied to no purpose, that the question must be decided by arms, and
+that they must accept that fortune which the gods assigned them.
+
+When they had arrived at their camps, they both issued orders that their
+soldiers should get their arms in readiness and prepare their minds for
+the final contest; in which, if fortune should favor them, they would
+continue victorious, not for a single day, but forever. "Before
+to-morrow night," they said, "they would know whether Rome or Carthage
+should give laws to the world, and that neither Africa nor Italy, but
+the whole world, would be the prize of victory. That the dangers which
+threatened those who had the misfortune to be defeated were proportioned
+to the rewards of the victors." For the Romans had not any place of
+refuge in an unknown and foreign land, and immediate destruction seemed
+to await Carthage if the troops which formed her last reliance were
+defeated. To this important contest, the day following, two generals, by
+far the most renowned of any, and belonging to two of the most powerful
+nations in the world, advanced either to crown or overthrow on that day
+the many honors they had previously acquired.
+
+Scipio drew up his troops, posting the hastati in front, the principes
+behind them, and closing his rear line with the triarii. He did not draw
+up his cohorts in close order, but each before their respective
+standards; placing the companies at some distance from each other, so as
+to leave a space through which the elephants of the enemy passing might
+not at all break their ranks. Laelius, whom he had employed before as
+lieutenant-general, but this year as quaestor, by special appointment,
+according to a decree of the senate, he posted with the Italian cavalry
+in the left wing, Masinissa and the Numidians in the right. The open
+spaces between the companies of those in the van he filled with velites,
+which then formed the Roman light-armed troops, with an injunction that
+on the charge of the elephants they should either retire behind the
+files, which extended in a right line, or, running to the right and left
+and placing themselves by the side of those in the van, afford a passage
+by which the elephants might rush in between weapons on both sides.
+
+Hannibal, in order to terrify the enemy, drew up his elephants in front,
+and he had eighty of them, being more than he had ever had in any
+battle; behind these his Ligurian and Gallic auxiliaries, with
+Balearians and Moors intermixed. In the second line he placed the
+Carthaginians, Africans, and a legion of Macedonians; then, leaving a
+moderate interval, he formed a reserve of Italian troops, consisting
+principally of Bruttians, more of whom had followed him on his departure
+from Italy by compulsion and necessity than by choice. His cavalry also
+he placed in the wings, the Carthaginian occupying the right, the
+Numidian the left. Various were the means of exhortation employed in an
+army consisting of a mixture of so many different kinds of men; men
+differing in language, customs, laws, arms, dress, and appearance, and
+in the motives for serving. To the auxiliaries, the prospect both of
+their present pay and many times more from the spoils was held out. The
+Gauls were stimulated by their peculiar and inherent animosity against
+the Romans. To the Ligurians the hope was held out of enjoying the
+fertile plains of Italy, and quitting their rugged mountains, if
+victorious. The Moors and Numidians were terrified with subjection to
+the government of Masinissa, which he would exercise with despotic
+severity.
+
+Different grounds of hope and fear were represented to different
+persons. The view of the Carthaginians was directed to the walls of
+their city, their household gods, the sepulchres of their ancestors,
+their children and parents, and their trembling wives; they were told
+that either the destruction of their city and slavery or the empire of
+the world awaited them; that there was nothing intermediate which they
+could hope for or fear.
+
+While the general was thus busily employed among the Carthaginians, and
+the captains of the respective nations among their countrymen, most of
+them employing interpreters among troops intermixed with those of
+different nations, the trumpets and cornets of the Romans sounded; and
+such a clamor arose that the elephants, especially those in the left
+wing, turned round upon their own party, the Moors and Numidians.
+Masinissa had no difficulty in increasing the alarm of the terrified
+enemy, and deprived them of the aid of their cavalry in that wing. A
+few, however, of the beasts which were driven against the enemy, and
+were not turned back through fear, made great havoc among the ranks of
+the velites, though not without receiving many wounds themselves; for
+when the velites, retiring to the companies, had made way for the
+elephants, that they might not be trampled down, they discharged their
+darts at them; exposed as they were to wounds on both sides, those in
+the van also keeping up a continual discharge of javelins, until driven
+out of the Roman line by the weapons which fell upon them from all
+quarters, these elephants also put to flight even the cavalry of the
+Carthaginians posted in their right wing. Laelius, when he saw the enemy
+in disorder, struck additional terror into them in their confusion.
+
+The Carthaginian line was deprived of the cavalry on both sides, when
+the infantry, who were now not a match for the Romans in confidence or
+strength, engaged. In addition to this there was one circumstance,
+trifling in itself, but at the same time producing important
+consequences in the action. On the part of the Romans the shout was
+uniform, and on that account louder and more terrific, while the voices
+of the enemy, consisting as they did of many nations of different
+languages, were dissonant. The Romans used the stationary kind of fight,
+pressing upon the enemy with their own weight and that of their arms;
+but on the other side there was more of skirmishing and rapid movement
+than force. Accordingly, on the first charge, the Romans immediately
+drove back the line of their opponents; then pushing them with their
+elbows and the bosses of their shields, and pressing forward into the
+places from which they had pushed them, they advanced a considerable
+space, as though there had been no one to resist them, those who formed
+the rear urging forward those in front when they perceived the line of
+the enemy giving way, which circumstance itself gave great additional
+force in repelling them.
+
+On the side of the enemy, the second line, consisting of the Africans
+and Carthaginians, were so far from supporting the first line when
+giving ground, that on the contrary they even retired, lest their enemy,
+by slaying those who made a firm resistance, should penetrate to
+themselves also. Accordingly the auxiliaries suddenly turned their
+backs, and facing about upon their own party, fled, some of them into
+the second line, while others slew those who did not receive them into
+their ranks, since before they did not support them, and now refused to
+receive them. And now there were, in a manner, two contests going on
+together, the Carthaginians being compelled to fight at once with the
+enemy and with their own party. Not even then, however, did they receive
+into their line the terrified and exasperated troops, but, closing their
+ranks, drove them out of the scene of action to the wings and the
+surrounding plain, lest they should mingle these soldiers, terrified
+with defeat and wounds, with that part of their line which was firm and
+fresh.
+
+But such a heap of men and arms had filled the space in which the
+auxiliaries a little while ago had stood that it was almost more
+difficult to pass through it than through a close line of troops. The
+spearmen, therefore, who formed the front line, pursuing the enemy as
+each could find a way through the heap of arms and men and streams of
+blood, threw into complete disorder the battalions and companies. The
+standards also of the principes had begun to waver when they saw the
+line before them driven from their ground. Scipio, perceiving this,
+promptly ordered the signal to be given for the spearmen to retreat, and
+having taken his wounded into the rear, brought the principes and
+triarii to the wings in order that the line of spearmen in the centre
+might be more strong and secure. Thus a fresh and renewed battle
+commenced, inasmuch as they had penetrated to their real antagonists,
+men equal to them in the nature of their arms, in their experience in
+war, in the fame of their achievements, and the greatness of their hopes
+and fears. But the Romans were superior both in numbers and courage, for
+they had now routed both the cavalry and the elephants, and, having
+already defeated the front line, were fighting against the second.
+
+L�lius and Masinissa, who had pursued the routed cavalry through a
+considerable space, returning very opportunely, charged the rear of the
+enemy's line. This attack of the cavalry at length routed them. Many of
+them, being surrounded, were slain in the field; and many, dispersed in
+flight through the open plain around, were slain on all hands, as the
+cavalry were in possession of every part. Of the Carthaginians and their
+allies, above twenty thousand were slain on that day; about an equal
+number were captured, with a hundred and thirty-three military standards
+and eleven elephants. Of the victors as many as two thousand fell.
+
+Hannibal, slipping off during the confusion, with a few horsemen, came
+to Adrumetum, not quitting the field till he had tried every expedient
+both in the battle and before the engagement; having, according to the
+admission of Scipio and everyone skilled in military science, acquired
+the fame of having marshalled his troops on that day with singular
+judgment. He placed his elephants in the front, in order that their
+desultory attack and insupportable violence might prevent the Romans
+from following their standards and preserving their ranks, on which they
+placed their principal dependence. Then he posted his auxiliaries before
+the line of Carthaginians, in order that men who were made up of the
+refuse of all nations, and who were not bound by honor but by gain,
+might not have any retreat open to them in case they fled; at the same
+time that the first ardor and impetuosity might be exhausted upon them,
+and, if they could render no other service, that the weapons of the
+enemy might be blunted in wounding them. Next he placed the Carthaginian
+and African soldiers, on whom he placed all his hopes, in order that,
+being equal to the enemy in every other respect, they might have the
+advantage of them inasmuch as, being fresh and unimpaired in strength
+themselves, they would fight with those who were fatigued and wounded.
+The Italians he removed into the rear, separating them also by an
+intervening space, as he knew not with certainty whether they were
+friends or enemies. Hannibal, after performing this as it were his last
+work of valor, fled to Adrumetum, whence, having been summoned to
+Carthage, he returned thither in the sixth and thirtieth year after he
+had left it when a boy, and confessed in the senate house that he was
+defeated, not only in the battle, but in the war, and that there was no
+hope of safety in anything but in obtaining peace.
+
+Immediately after the battle, Scipio, having taken and plundered the
+enemy's camp, returned to the sea and his ships with an immense booty,
+news having reached him that Publius Lentulus had arrived at Utica with
+fifty men-of-war, and a hundred transports laden with every kind of
+stores. Concluding that he ought to bring before Carthage everything
+which could increase the consternation already existing there, after
+sending Laelius to Rome to report his victory, he ordered Cneius
+Octavius to conduct the legions thither by land, and setting out himself
+from Utica with the fresh fleet of Lentulus added to his former one,
+made for the harbor of Carthage. When he had arrived within a short
+distance he was met by a Carthaginian ship decked with fillets and
+branches of olive. There were ten deputies, the leading men in the
+State, sent at the instance of Hannibal to solicit peace, to whom, when
+they had come up to the stern of the general's ship, holding out the
+badges of suppliants, entreating and imploring the protection and
+compassion of Scipio, the only answer given was that they must come to
+Tunis, to which place he would move his camp. After taking a view of the
+site of Carthage, not so much for the sake of acquainting himself with
+it for any present object as to dispirit the enemy, he returned to
+Utica, having recalled Octavius to the same place.
+
+As they were proceeding thence to Tunis, they received intelligence that
+Vermina, the son of Syphax, with a greater number of horse than foot,
+was coming to the assistance of the Carthaginians. A part of his
+infantry with all the cavalry having attacked them on their march on the
+first day of the Saturnalia, routed the Numidians with little
+opposition, and as every way by which they could escape in flight was
+blocked up, for the cavalry surrounded them on all sides, fifteen
+thousand men were slain, twelve hundred were taken alive, with fifteen
+hundred Numidian horses and seventy-two military standards. The prince
+himself fled from the field with a few attendants during the confusion.
+The camp was then pitched near Tunis in the same place as before, and
+thirty ambassadors came to Scipio from Carthage. These behaved in a
+manner even more calculated to excite compassion than the former, in
+proportion as their situation was more pressing; but from the
+recollection of their recent perfidy, they were heard with considerably
+less pity. In the council, though all were impelled by just resentment
+to demolish Carthage, yet, when they reflected upon the magnitude of the
+undertaking and the length of time which would be consumed in the siege
+of so well fortified and strong a city, while Scipio himself was uneasy
+in consequence of the expectation of a successor, who would come in for
+the glory of having terminated the war, though it was accomplished
+already by the exertions and danger of another, the minds of all were
+inclined to peace.
+
+The next day the ambassadors being called in again, and with many
+rebukes of their perfidy, warned that instructed by so many disasters
+they would at length believe in the existence of the gods and the
+obligation of an oath, these conditions of the peace were stated to
+them: "That they should enjoy their liberty and live under their own
+laws; that they should possess such cities and territories as they had
+enjoyed before the war, and with the same boundaries, and that the
+Romans should on that day desist from devastation. That they should
+restore to the Romans all deserters and fugitives, giving up all their
+ships-of-war except ten triremes, with such tamed elephants as they had,
+and that they should not tame any more. That they should not carry on
+war in or out of Africa without the permission of the Roman people. That
+they should make restitution to Masinissa, and form a league with him.
+That they should furnish corn, and pay for the auxiliaries until the
+ambassadors had returned from Rome. That they should pay ten thousand
+talents of silver in equal annual installments distributed over fifty
+years. That they should give a hundred hostages, according to the
+pleasure of Scipio, not younger than fourteen nor older than thirty.
+That he would grant them a truce on condition that the transports,
+together with their cargoes, which had been seized during the former
+truce, were restored. Otherwise they would have no truce, nor any hope
+of a peace." When the ambassadors who were ordered to bear these
+conditions home reported them in an assembly, and Gisgo had stood forth
+to dissuade them from the terms, and was being listened to by the
+multitude, who were at once indisposed for peace and unfit for war,
+Hannibal, indignant that such language should be held and listened to at
+such a juncture, laid hold of Gisgo with his own hand and dragged him
+from his elevated position.
+
+This unusual sight in a free State having raised a murmur among the
+people, the soldier, disconcerted at the liberties which the citizens
+took, thus addressed them: "Having left you when nine years old, I have
+returned after a lapse of thirty-six years. I flatter myself I am well
+acquainted with the qualifications of a soldier, having been instructed
+in them from my childhood, sometimes by my own situation and sometimes
+by that of my country. The privileges, the laws, and customs of the city
+and the forum you ought to teach me." Having thus apologized for his
+indiscretion, he discoursed largely concerning the peace, showing how
+inoppressive the terms were, and how necessary it was. The greatest
+difficulty was that of the ships which had been seized during the truce
+nothing was to be found except the ships themselves, nor was it easy to
+collect the property, because those who were charged with having it were
+opposed to the peace. It was resolved that the ships should be restored
+and that the men at least should be looked up; and as to whatever else
+was missing, that it should be left to Scipio to put a value upon it,
+and that the Carthaginians should make compensation accordingly in
+money. There are those who say that Hannibal went from the field of
+battle to the sea-coast; whence he immediately sailed in a ship, which
+he had ready for the purpose, to king Antiochus; and that when Scipio
+demanded above everything that Hannibal should be given up to him,
+answer was made that Hannibal was not in Africa.
+
+After the ambassadors returned to Scipio, the quaestors were ordered to
+give in an account, made out from the public registers, of the public
+property which had been in the ships; and the owners to make a return of
+the private property. For the amount of the value twenty-five thousand
+pounds of silver were required to be paid down; and a truce for three
+months was granted to the Carthaginians. It was added that during the
+time of the truce they should not send ambassadors anywhere else than to
+Rome; and that whatever ambassadors came to Carthage, they should not
+dismiss them before informing the Roman general who they were and what
+they sought. With the Carthaginian ambassadors, Lucius Veturius Philo,
+Marcus Marcius Ralla, and Lucius Scipio, brother of the general, were
+sent to Rome.
+
+The Roman, together with the Carthaginian, ambassadors having arrived at
+Rome from Africa, the senate was assembled at the temple of Bellona;
+when Lucius Veturius Philo stated, to the great joy of the senate, that
+a battle had been fought with Hannibal which was decisive of the fate of
+the Carthaginians, and that a period was at length put to that
+calamitous war. He added what formed a small accession to their
+successes, that Vermina, the son of Syphax, had been vanquished. He was
+then ordered to go forth to the public assembly and impart the joyful
+tidings to the people. Then, a thanksgiving having been appointed, all
+the temples in the city were thrown open and supplications for three
+days were decreed. Publius Scipio was continued in command in the
+province of Africa with the armies which he then had. The Carthaginian
+ambassadors were called before the senate. On observing their ages and
+dignified appearance, for they were by far the first men of the State,
+all promptly declared their conviction that now they were sincere in
+their desire to effect a peace. Hasdrubal, however, surnamed by his
+countrymen Haedus, who had invariably recommended peace and was opposed
+to the Barcine faction, was regarded with greater interest than the
+rest.
+
+On these accounts the greater weight was attached to him when
+transferring the blame of the war from the State at large to the
+cupidity of a few. After a speech of varied character, in which he
+sometimes refuted the charges which had been brought, at other times
+admitted some, lest by imprudently denying what was manifestly true
+their forgiveness might be the more difficult; and then, even
+admonishing the conscript fathers to be guided by the rules of decorum
+and moderation in their prosperity, he said that if the Carthaginians
+had listened to himself and Hanno, and had been disposed to make a
+proper use of circumstances, they would themselves have dictated terms
+of peace, instead of begging it as they now did. That it rarely happened
+that good fortune and a sound judgment were bestowed upon men at the
+same time. That the Roman people were therefore invincible, because when
+successful they forgot not the maxims of wisdom and prudence; and indeed
+it would have been matter of astonishment did they act otherwise. That
+those persons to whom success was a new and uncommon thing proceeded to
+a pitch of madness in their ungoverned transports in consequence of
+their not being accustomed to it. That to the Roman people the joy
+arising from victory was a matter of common occurrence, and was now
+almost become old-fashioned. That they had extended their empire more by
+sparing the vanquished than by conquering.
+
+The language employed by the others was of a nature more calculated to
+excite compassion; they represented from what a height of power the
+Carthaginian affairs had fallen. That nothing besides the walls of
+Carthage remained to those who a little time ago held almost the whole
+world in subjection by their arms; that shut up within these, they could
+see nothing anywhere on sea or land which owned their authority. That
+they would retain possession of their city itself and their household
+gods only in case the Roman people should refrain from venting their
+indignation upon these, which is all that remains for them to do. When
+it was manifest that the fathers were moved by compassion, it is said
+that one of the senators, violently incensed at the perfidy of the
+Carthaginians, immediately asked with a loud voice by what gods they
+would swear in striking the league, since they had broken their faith
+with those by whom they swore in striking the former one? By those same,
+replied Hasdrubal, who have shown such determined hostility to the
+violators of treaties.
+
+The minds of all being disposed to peace, Cneius Lentulus, whose
+province the fleet was, protested against the decree of the senate. Upon
+this, Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the people, put
+the question to the people whether they willed and ordered that the
+senate should decree that peace should be made with the Carthaginians?
+whom they ordered to grant that peace, and whom to conduct the army out
+of Africa? All the tribes ordered respecting the peace according as the
+question had been put. That Publius Scipio should grant the peace, and
+that he also should conduct the army home. Agreeably to this order, the
+senate decreed that Publius Scipio, acting according to the opinion of
+the ten deputies, should make peace with the Carthaginian people on what
+terms he pleased. The Carthaginians then returned thanks to the senate,
+and requested that they might be allowed to enter the city and converse
+with their countrymen who had been made prisoners and were in custody of
+the State; observing that some of them were their relations and friends,
+and men of rank, and some, persons to whom they were charged with
+messages from their relations.
+
+Having obtained these requests, they again asked permission to ransom
+such of them as they pleased; when they were desired to give in their
+names. Having given in a list of about two hundred, a decree of the
+senate was passed to the effect that the Carthaginian ambassadors should
+be allowed to take away into Africa to Publius Cornelius Scipio two
+hundred of the Carthaginian prisoners, selecting whom they pleased; and
+that they should convey to him a message that if the peace were
+concluded he should restore them to the Carthaginians without ransom.
+The heralds being ordered to go into Africa to strike the league, at
+their own desire the senate passed a decree that they should take with
+them flint stones of their own and vervain of their own; that the Roman
+praetor should command them to strike the league, and that they should
+demand of him herbs. The description of herb usually given to the
+heralds is taken from the Capitol. Thus the Carthaginians being allowed
+to depart from Rome, when they had gone into Africa to Scipio concluded
+the peace on the terms before mentioned. They delivered up their
+men-of-war, their elephants, deserters, fugitives, and four thousand
+prisoners, among whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo, a senator. The ships
+he ordered to be taken out into the main and burned. Some say there were
+five hundred of every description of those which are worked with oars,
+and that the sudden sight of these when burning occasioned as deep a
+sensation of grief to the Carthaginians as if Carthage had been in
+flames. The measures adopted respecting the deserters were more severe
+than those respecting the fugitives. Those who were of the Latin
+confederacy were decapitated; the Romans were crucified.
+
+The last peace with the Carthaginians was made forty years before this
+in the consulate of Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius. The war
+commenced twenty-three years afterward in the consulate of Publius
+Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It was concluded in the seventeenth
+year, in the consulate of Cneius Cornelius and Publius Aelius Paetus. It
+is related that Scipio frequently said afterward, that first the
+ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterward of Cneius Cornelius, were
+the causes which prevented his terminating the war by the destruction of
+Carthage.
+
+The Carthaginians finding difficulty in raising the first sum of money
+to be paid, as their finances were exhausted by a protracted war, and in
+consequence great lamentation and grief arising in the senate house, it
+is said that Hannibal was observed laughing, and when Hasdrubal Haedus
+rebuked him for laughing amid the public grief, when he himself was the
+occasion of the tears which were shed, he said: "If, as the expression
+of the countenance is discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of
+the mind could be distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that
+that laughter which you censure came from a heart not elated with joy,
+but frantic with misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those
+absurd and inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept when
+our arms were taken from us, our ships burned, and we were forbidden to
+engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by which we fell. Nor is
+it just that you should suppose that the measures which the Romans have
+adopted toward you have been dictated by animosity. No great state can
+remain at rest long together. If it has no enemy abroad it finds one at
+home in the same manner as over-robust bodies seem secure from external
+causes, but are encumbered with their own strength. So far, forsooth, we
+are affected with the public calamities as they reach our private
+affairs; nor is there any circumstance attending them which is felt more
+acutely than the loss of money. Accordingly, when the spoils were torn
+down from vanquished Carthage, when you beheld her left unarmed and
+defenceless amid so many armed nations of Africa, none heaved a sigh.
+Now, because a tribute is to be levied from private property you lament
+with one accord, as though at the funeral of the State. How much do I
+dread lest you should soon be made sensible that you have shed tears
+this day for the lightest of your misfortunes!"
+
+Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered to the Carthaginians.
+Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented Masinissa, in addition to
+his paternal dominions, with the town of Cirta, and the other cities and
+territories which had passed from the kingdom of Syphax into the
+possession of the Romans. He ordered Cneius Octavius to conduct the
+fleet to Sicily and deliver it to Cneius Cornelius the consul, and
+directed the Carthaginian ambassadors to go to Rome, that the
+arrangements he had made with the advice of the ten deputies might be
+ratified by the sanction of the fathers and the order of the people.
+
+Peace having been established by sea and land, he embarked his troops
+and crossed over to Lilyb�um in Sicily, whence, having sent a great part
+of his soldiers by ships, he himself proceeded through Italy, which was
+rejoicing not less on account of the peace than the victory; while not
+only the inhabitants of the cities poured out to show him honor, but
+crowds of rustics thronged the roads. He arrived at Rome and entered the
+city in a triumph of unparalleled splendor. He brought into the treasury
+one hundred and twenty-three thousand pounds of silver. He distributed
+to each of his soldiers four hundred asses out of the spoils. By the
+death of Syphax, which took place but a short time before at Tibur,
+whither he had been removed from Alba, a diminution was occasioned in
+the interest of the pageant rather than in the glory of him who
+triumphed. His death, however, was attended with circumstances which
+produced a strong sensation, for he was buried at the public expense.
+Polybius, an author by no means to be despised, asserts that this King
+was led in the triumph. Quintus Terentius Culleo followed Scipio in his
+triumph with a cap of liberty on his head, and during the remainder of
+his life treated him with the respect due to him as the author of his
+freedom. I have not been able to ascertain whether the partiality of the
+soldiers or the favor of the people fixed upon him the surname of
+Africanus, or whether in the same manner as Felix was applied to Sulla,
+and Magnus to Pompey, in the memory of our fathers, it originated in the
+flattery of his friends. He was doubtless the first general who was
+distinguished by a name derived from the nation which he had conquered.
+Afterward, in imitation of his example, some, by no means his equals in
+his victories, affixed splendid inscriptions on their statues and gave
+honorable surnames to their families.
+
+
+
+
+JUDAS MACCA�BUS LIBERATES JUDEA
+
+B.C. 165
+
+JOSEPHUS
+
+
+(The noble-minded Judas Maccabaeus was the hero of Jewish independence--
+the deliverer of Judea and Judaism during the bloody persecutions of the
+Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, in the second century B.C. This King
+was attempting to destroy in Palestine the national religion. For this
+purpose pagan altars were set up among the Jews and pagan sacrifices
+enjoined upon the worshippers of Jehovah. Many Jews fled from their own
+towns and villages into the uninhabited wilderness, in order that they
+might have liberty to worship the God of their fathers; but a few
+conformed to the ordinances of Antiochus. Soon, however, open resistance
+to the decrees of the pagan ruler began to manifest itself among the
+faithful.
+
+The first protest in the shape of active opposition was made by
+Mattathias, a priest living at Modin. When the servants of Antiochus
+came to that retired village and commanded Mattathias to do sacrifice to
+the heathen gods, he refused; he went so far as to strike down at the
+altar a Jew who was preparing to offer such a sacrifice. Then he escaped
+to the mountains with his five sons and a band of followers. These
+followers grew in numbers and activity, overthrowing pagan altars,
+circumcising heathen children, and putting to the sword both apostates
+and unbelievers. When Mattathias died, in B.C. 166, he was succeeded as
+leader by his son Judas, called Maccabaeus, "the Hammer"; as Charles,
+who defeated the Saracens at Tours, is called Martel or hammer.
+
+The successes of Judas were uninterrupted, and culminated B.C. 165 in
+the repulse of Lysias, the general of Antiochus, at Bethzur, where a
+large Syrian force gathered in the expectation of crushing the patriotic
+army of Judas. After this victory Judas led his followers into Jerusalem
+and proceeded to restore the Temple and the worship of the national
+religion, and to cleanse the Temple from all traces of pagan worship.
+The great altar was rebuilt; new sacred vessels provided; and an
+eight-days' dedication festival begun on the very day when, three years
+before, the altar of Jehovah had been desecrated by a heathen sacrifice.
+This Feast of the Dedication was ever afterward observed in the Temple
+at Jerusalem and is mentioned in the gospels [John x. 22]. Judas
+established a dynasty of priest-kings, which lasted until supplanted by
+Herod, with the aid of the Romans, in B.C. 40; and gave by his genuinely
+heroic bearing his name to this whole glorious epoch of Jewish history.)
+
+
+Now at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who dwelt at
+Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamoneus, a
+priest of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five
+sons: John, who was called Gaddis, and Simon, who was called Matthes,
+and Judas, who was called Maccab�us,[66] and Eleazar, who was called
+Auran, and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. Now this Mattathias lamented
+to his children the sad state of their affairs, and the ravage made in
+the city, and the plundering of the Temple, and the calamities the
+multitude were under; and he told them that it was better for them to
+die for the laws of their country than to live so ingloriously as they
+then did.
+
+[Footnote 66: That this appellation of Maccabee was not first of all
+given to Judas Maccab�aus, nor was derived from any initial letters of
+the Hebrew words on his banner, _Mi Kamoka Be Elim, Jehovah_? ("Who is
+like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?"), Exod. xv. II, as the modern
+rabbins vainly pretend, see _Authent. Rec._, part i., pp. 205, 206. Only
+we may note, by the way, that the original name of these Maccabees and
+their posterity was Asamoneans, which was derived from Asamoneus, the
+great-grandfather of Mattathias, as Josephus here informs us.]
+
+But when those that were appointed by the King were come to Modin that
+they might compel the Jews to do what they were commanded, and to enjoin
+those that were there to offer sacrifice, as the King had commanded,
+they desired that Mattathias, a person of the greatest character among
+them, both on other accounts and particularly on account of such a
+numerous and so deserving a family of children, would begin the
+sacrifice, because his fellow-citizens would follow his example, and
+because such a procedure would make him honored by the King. But
+Mattathias said that he would not do it, and that if all the other
+nations would obey the commands of Antiochus, either out of fear or to
+please him, yet would not he nor his sons leave the religious worship of
+their country; but as soon as he had ended his speech there came one of
+the Jews into the midst of them and sacrificed as Antiochus had
+commanded. At which Mattathias had great indignation, and ran upon him
+violently with his sons, who had swords with them, and slew both the man
+himself that sacrificed and Apelles, the King's general who compelled
+him to sacrifice, with a few of his soldiers.
+
+He also overthrew the idol altar and cried out, "If," said he, "anyone
+be zealous for the laws of his country and for the worship of God, let
+him follow me"; and when he had said this he made haste into the desert
+with his sons, and left all his substance in the village. Many others
+did the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the
+desert and dwelt in caves; but when the King's generals heard this, they
+took all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and
+pursued the Jews into the desert; and when they had overtaken them, they
+in the first place endeavored to persuade them to repent, and to choose
+what was most for their advantage and not put them to the necessity of
+using them according to the law of war; but when they would not comply
+with their persuasions, but continued to be of a different mind, they
+fought against them on the Sabbath day, and they burned them as they
+were in the caves, without resistance, and without so much as stopping
+up the entrances of the caves. And they avoided to defend themselves on
+that day because they were not willing to break in upon the honor they
+owed the Sabbath, even in such distresses; for our law requires that we
+rest upon that day.
+
+There were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were
+smothered and died in these caves; but many of those that escaped joined
+themselves to Mattathias and appointed him to be their ruler, who taught
+them to fight even on the Sabbath day, and told them that unless they
+would do so they would become their own enemies by observing the law [so
+rigorously] while their adversaries would still assault them on this
+day, and they would not then defend themselves; and that nothing could
+then hinder but they must all perish without fighting. This speech
+persuaded them, and this rule continues among us to this day, that if
+there be a necessity we may fight on Sabbath days. So Mattathias got a
+great army about him and overthrew their idol altars and slew those that
+broke the laws, even all that he could get under his power; for many of
+them were dispersed among the nations round about them for fear of him.
+He also commanded that those boys who were not yet circumcised should be
+circumcised now; and he drove those away that were appointed to hinder
+such their circumcision.
+
+But when he had ruled one year and was fallen into a distemper, he
+called for his sons and set them round about him, and said: "O my sons,
+I am going the way of all the earth; and I recommend to you my
+resolution and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping it, but to be
+mindful of the desires of him who begat you and brought you up, and to
+preserve the customs of your country, and to recover your ancient form
+of government which is in danger of being overturned, and not to be
+carried away with those that either by their own inclination or out of
+necessity betray it, but to become such sons as are worthy of me; to be
+above all force and necessity, and so to dispose your souls as to be
+ready when it shall be necessary to die for your laws, as sensible of
+this, by just reasoning, that if God see that you are so disposed he
+will not overlook you, but will have a great value for your virtue, and
+will restore to you again what you have lost and will return to you that
+freedom in which you shall live quietly and enjoy your own customs.
+
+"Your bodies are mortal and subject to fate; but they receive a sort of
+immortality by the remembrance of what actions they have done; and I
+would have you so in love with this immortality that you may pursue
+after glory, and that when you have undergone the greatest difficulties
+you may not scruple for such things to lose your lives. I exhort you
+especially to agree one with another, and in what excellency any one of
+you exceeds another, to yield to him so far, and by that means to reap
+the advantage of everyone's own virtues. Do you then esteem Simon as
+your father because he is a man of extraordinary prudence, and be
+governed by him in what counsels he gives you. Take Maccabaeus for the
+general of your army, because of his courage and strength, for he will
+avenge your nation and will bring vengeance on your enemies. Admit among
+you the righteous and religious, and augment their power."
+
+When Mattathias had thus discoursed to his sons and had prayed to God to
+be their assistant and to recover to the people their former
+constitution, he died a little afterward, and was buried at Modin, all
+the people making great lamentation for him. Whereupon his son Judas
+took upon him the administration of public affairs, in the hundred and
+forty-sixth year; and thus, by the ready assistance of his brethren and
+of others, Judas cast their enemies out of the country and put those of
+their own country to death who had transgressed its laws, and purified
+the land of all the pollutions that were in it.
+
+When Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this he took
+his army and made haste to go against Judas, who met him and joined
+battle with him, and beat him and slew many of his men, and among them
+Apollonius himself, their general, whose sword, being that which he
+happened then to wear, he seized upon and kept for himself; but he
+wounded more than he slew, and took a great deal of prey from the
+enemy's camp, and went his way; but when Seron, who was general of the
+army of Celesyria, heard that many had joined themselves to Judas, and
+that he had about him an army sufficient for fighting and for making
+war, he determined to make an expedition against him, as thinking it
+became him to endeavor to punish those that transgressed the King's
+injunctions. He then got together an army as large as he was able, and
+joined to it the renegade and wicked Jews, and came against Judas.
+
+He then came as far as Bethoron, a village of Judea, and there pitched
+his camp; upon which Judas met him, and when he intended to give him
+battle he saw that his soldiers were backward to fight because their
+number was small and because they wanted food, for they were fasting. He
+encouraged them and said to them that victory and conquest of enemies
+are not derived from the multitude in armies, but in the exercise of
+piety toward God; and that they had the plainest instances in their
+forefathers, who, by their righteousness and exerting themselves on
+behalf of their own laws and their own children, had frequently
+conquered many ten thousands, for innocence is the strongest army. By
+this speech he induced his men to contemn the multitude of the enemy,
+and to fall upon Seron; and upon joining battle with him he beat the
+Syrians; and when their general fell among the rest they all ran away
+with speed, as thinking that to be their best way of escaping. So he
+pursued them unto the plain and slew about eight hundred of the enemy,
+but the rest escaped to the region which lay near to the sea.
+
+When king Antiochus heard of these things he was very angry at what had
+happened; so he got together all his own army, with many mercenaries
+whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with him, and prepared
+to break into Judea about the beginning of the spring; but when, upon
+his mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were
+deficient, and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were
+not paid, by reason of the seditions there had been among the nations,
+he having been so magnanimous and so liberal that what he had was not
+sufficient for him, he therefore resolved first to go into Persia and
+collect the taxes of that country. Hereupon he left one whose name was
+Lysias, who was in great repute with him, governor of the kingdom, as
+far as the bounds of Egypt and of the Lower Asia and reaching from the
+river Euphrates, and committed to him a certain part of his forces and
+of his elephants and charged him to bring up his son Antiochus with all
+possible care until he came back; and that he should conquer Judea and
+take its inhabitants for slaves and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and
+abolish the whole nation; and when king Antiochus had given these things
+in charge to Lysias, he went into Persia, and in the hundred and
+forty-seventh year he passed over Euphrates and went to the superior
+provinces.
+
+Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and
+Gorgias, very potent men among the King's friends, and delivered to them
+forty thousand foot-soldiers and seven thousand horsemen, and sent them
+against Judea, who came as far as the city Emmaus and pitched their camp
+in the plain country. There came also to them auxiliaries out of Syria
+and the country round about, as also many of the renegade Jews; and
+besides these came some merchants to buy those that should be carried
+captives--having bonds with them to bind those that should be made
+prisoners--with that silver and gold which they were to pay for their
+price; and when Judas saw their camp and how numerous their enemies
+were, he persuaded his own soldiers to be of good courage, and exhorted
+them to place their hopes of victory in God and to make supplication to
+him, according to the custom of their country, clothed in sackcloth, and
+to show what was their usual habit of supplication in the greatest
+dangers, and thereby to prevail with God to grant them the victory over
+their enemies. So he set them in their ancient order of battle used by
+their forefathers, under their captains of thousands, and other
+officers, and dismissed such as were newly married, as well as those
+that had newly gained possessions, that they might not fight in a
+cowardly manner out of an inordinate love of life, in order to enjoy
+those blessings.
+
+When he had thus disposed his soldiers he encouraged them to fight by
+the following speech, which he made to them: "O my fellow-soldiers, no
+other time remains more opportune than the present for courage and
+contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully you may recover your
+liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it
+proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty
+of worshipping God. Since, therefore, you are in such circumstances at
+present, you must either recover that liberty and so regain a happy and
+blessed way of living, which is that according to our laws and the
+customs of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings;
+nor will any seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this battle.
+Fight therefore manfully, and suppose that you must die though you do
+not fight; but believe that besides such glorious rewards as those of
+the liberty of your country, of your laws, of your religion, you shall
+then obtain everlasting glory. Prepare yourselves, therefore, and put
+yourselves into such an agreeable posture that you may be ready to fight
+with the enemy as soon as it is day to-morrow morning."
+
+And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But when the
+enemy sent Gorgias with five thousand foot and one thousand horse, that
+he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for that purpose certain of
+the renegade Jews as guides, the son of Mattathias perceived it and
+resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their
+forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time and had
+left many fires in their camp he marched all night to those enemies that
+were at Emmaus; so that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but
+suspected that they were retired and had hidden themselves among the
+mountains, he resolved to go and seek them wheresoever they were.
+
+But about break of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were at
+Emmaus, with only three thousand men, and those ill-armed by reason of
+their poverty; and when he saw the enemy very well and skilfully
+fortified in their camp he encouraged the Jews and told them that they
+ought to fight, though it were with their naked bodies, for that God had
+sometimes of old given such men strength, and that against such as were
+more in number, and were armed also, out of regard to their great
+courage. So he commanded the trumpeters to sound for the battle, and by
+thus falling upon the enemy when they did not expect it, and thereby
+astonishing and disturbing their minds, he slew many of those that
+resisted him and went on pursuing the rest as far as Gadara and the
+plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia; and of these there fell about
+three thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not to be too desirous
+of the spoils, for that still they must have a contest and battle with
+Gorgias and the forces that were with him, but that when they had once
+overcome them then they might securely plunder the camp because they
+were the only enemies remaining, and they expected no others.
+
+And just as he was speaking to his soldiers, Gorigas' men looked down
+into that army which they left in their camp and saw that it was
+overthrown and the camp burned; for the smoke that arose from it showed
+them, even when they were a great way off, what had happened. When,
+therefore, those that were with Gorgias understood that things were in
+this posture, and perceived that those that were with Judas were ready
+to fight them, they also were affrighted and put to flight; but then
+Judas, as though he had already beaten Gorgias' soldiers without
+fighting, returned and seized on the spoils. He took a great quantity of
+gold and silver and purple and blue, and then returned home with joy,
+and singing hymns to God for their good success; for this victory
+greatly contributed to the recovery of their liberty.
+
+Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the defeat of the army which he had
+sent, and the next year he got together sixty thousand chosen men. He
+also took five thousand horsemen and fell upon Judea, and he went up to
+the hill country of Bethsur, a village of Judea, and pitched his camp
+there, where Judas met him with ten thousand men; and when he saw the
+great number of his enemies, he prayed to God that he would assist him,
+and joined battle with the first of the enemy that appeared and beat
+them and slew about five thousand of them, and thereby became terrible
+to the rest of them. Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of
+the Jews, how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty,
+and being afraid of their desperate way of fighting, as if it were real
+strength, he took the rest of the army back with him and returned to
+Antioch.
+
+When, therefore, the generals of Antiochus' armies had been beaten so
+often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them that after
+these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to
+Jerusalem and purify the Temple and offer the appointed sacrifices. But
+as soon as he with the whole multitude was come to Jerusalem and found
+the Temple deserted and its gates burned down and plants growing in the
+Temple of their own accord on account of its desertion, he and those
+that were with him began to lament and were quite confounded at the
+sight of the Temple; so he chose out some of his soldiers and gave them
+orders to fight against those guards that were in the citadel until he
+should have purified the Temple. When therefore he had carefully purged
+it and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of
+shewbread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, he hung
+up the veils at the gates and added doors to them.
+
+He also took down the altar [of burnt-offering], and built a new one of
+stones that he gathered together and not of such as were hewn with iron
+tools. So on the five-and-twentieth day of the month of Casleu, which
+the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the lamps that were on the
+candlestick and offered incense upon the altar [of incense], and laid
+the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings
+upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out that these
+things were done on the very same day on which their divine worship had
+fallen off and was reduced to a profane and common use after three
+years' time; for so it was, that the Temple was made desolate by
+Antiochus, and so continued for three years. This desolation happened to
+the Temple in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day
+of the month Apelleus, and on the hundred and fifty-third Olympiad; but
+it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the month
+Apelleus, in the hundred and forty-eighth year, and on the hundred and
+fifty-fourth Olympiad. And this desolation came to pass according to the
+prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and eight years before,
+for he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for
+some time].
+
+Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices
+of the Temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon;
+but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices, and he
+honored God and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so
+very glad at the revival of their customs, when after a long time of
+intermission they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their
+worship, that they made it a law for their posterity that they should
+keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their Temple worship,
+for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival
+and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was, because this liberty
+beyond our hopes appeared to us, and that thence was the name given to
+that festival. Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the city, and
+reared towers of great height against the incursions of enemies, and set
+guards therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura that it might serve
+as a citadel against any distresses that might come from our enemies.
+
+When these things were over, the nations round about the Jews were very
+uneasy at the revival of their power and rose up together and destroyed
+many of them, as gaining advantage over them by laying snares for them
+and making secret conspiracies against them. Judas made perpetual
+expeditions against these men, and endeavored to restrain them from
+those incursions and to prevent the mischiefs they did to the Jews. So
+he fell upon the Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, at Acra-battene, and
+slew a great many of them and took their spoils. He also shut up the
+sons of Bean, that laid wait for the Jews; and he sat down about them,
+and besieged them, and burned their towers and destroyed the men [that
+were in them]. After this he went thence in haste against the Ammonites
+who had a great and a numerous army, of which Timotheus was the
+commander. And when he had subdued them he seized on the city of Jazer,
+and took their wives and their children captives and burned the city and
+then returned into Judea. But when the neighboring nations understood
+that he was returned they got together in great numbers in the land of
+Gilead and came against those Jews that were at their borders, who then
+fled to the garrison of Dathema, and sent to Judas to inform him that
+Timotheus was endeavoring to take the place whither they were fled. And
+as these epistles were reading, there came other messengers out of
+Galilee who informed him that the inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre
+and Sidon, and strangers of Galilee, were gotten together.
+
+Accordingly Judas, upon considering what was fit to be done with
+relation to the necessity both these cases required, gave order that
+Simon his brother should take three thousand chosen men and go to the
+assistance of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of his brothers,
+Jonathan, made haste into the land of Gilead with eight thousand
+soldiers. And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, to be
+over the rest of the forces, and charged them to keep Judea very
+carefully and to fight no battles with any persons whomsoever until his
+return. Accordingly Simon went into Galilee and fought the enemy and put
+them to flight, and pursued them to the very gates of Ptolemais, and
+slew about three thousand of them, and took the spoils of those that
+were slain and those Jews whom they had made captives, with their
+baggage, and then returned home.
+
+Now as for Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan, they passed over
+the river Jordan, and when they had gone three days' journey they
+lighted upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them peaceably and who told
+them how the affairs of those in the land of Galilee stood and how many
+of them were in distress and driven into garrisons and into the cities
+of Galilee, and exhorted him to make haste to go against the foreigners,
+and to endeavor to save his own countrymen out of their hands. To this
+exhortation Judas hearkened and returned into the wilderness, and in the
+first place fell upon the inhabitants of Bosor, and took the city, and
+beat the inhabitants, and destroyed all the males, and all that were
+able to fight, and burned the city. Nor did he stop even when night came
+on, but he journeyed in it to the garrison where the Jews happened to be
+then shut up, and where Timotheus lay round the place with his army; and
+Judas came upon the city in the morning, and when he found that the
+enemy were making an assault upon the walls, and that some of them
+brought ladders on which they might get upon those walls, and that
+others brought engines [to batter them], he bid the trumpeter to sound
+his trumpet, and he encouraged his soldiers cheerfully to undergo
+dangers for the sake of their brethren and kindred; he also parted his
+army into three bodies and fell upon the backs of their enemies. But
+when Timotheus' men perceived that it was Maccabaeus that was upon them,
+of both whose courage and good success in war they had formerly had
+sufficient experience, they were put to flight; but Judas followed them
+with his army and slew about eight thousand of them. He then turned
+aside to a city of the foreigners called Malle, and took it, and slew
+all the males and burned the city itself. He then removed from thence,
+and overthrew Casphom and Bosor, and many other cities of the land of
+Gilead.
+
+But not long after this Timotheus prepared a great army, and took many
+others as auxiliaries, and induced some of the Arabians by the promise
+of rewards to go with him in this expedition, and came with his army
+beyond the brook over against the city Raphon; and he encouraged his
+soldiers, if it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight courageously,
+and to hinder their passing over the brook; for he said to them
+beforehand that "if they come over it we shall be beaten." And when
+Judas heard that Timotheus prepared himself to fight he took all his own
+army and went in haste against Timotheus, his enemy; and when he had
+passed over the brook he fell upon his enemies, and some of them met
+him, whom he slew, and others of them he so terrified that he compelled
+them to throw down their arms and fly, and some of them escaped; but
+some of them fled to what was called the temple of Carnaim, and hoped
+thereby to preserve themselves, but Judas took the city and slew them
+and burned the temple, and so used several ways of destroying his
+enemies.
+
+When he had done this he gathered the Jews together with their children
+and wives and the substance that belonged to them, and was going to
+bring them back into Judea. But as soon as he was come to a certain city
+the name of which was Ephron, that lay upon the road--and as it was not
+possible for him to go any other way, so he was not willing to go back
+again--he then sent to the inhabitants, and desired that they would open
+their gates and permit them to go on their way through the city; for
+they had stopped up the gates with stones and cut off their passage
+through it. And when the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree to this
+proposal, he encouraged those that were with him, and encompassed the
+city round and besieged it, and lying round it by day and night took the
+city and slew every male in it and burned it all down, and so obtained a
+way through it; and the multitude of those that were slain was so great
+that they went over the dead bodies. So they came over Jordan and
+arrived at the great plain over against which is situate the city
+Bethshan, which is called by the Greeks Scythopolis.[67] And going away
+hastily from thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms and hymns as
+they went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual in triumphs
+upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings both for their good
+success and for the preservation of their army, for not one of the Jews
+was slain in these battles.
+
+[Footnote 67: The reason why Bethshan was called Scythopolis is well
+known from Herodotus, b. i., p. 105, and Syncellus, p. 214, that the
+Scythians, where they overran Asia, in the days of Josiah, seized on
+this city, and kept it as long as they continued in Asia; from which
+time it retained the name of Scythopolis, or the City of the Scythians.]
+
+But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, whom Judas left
+generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same time when Simon was in
+Galilee fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and Judas himself and
+his brother Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, did these men also
+affect the glory of being courageous generals in war, in order whereto
+they took the army that was under their command and came to Jamnia.
+There Gorgias, the general of the forces of Jamnia, met them, and upon
+joining battle with him they lost two thousand of their army and fled
+away, and were pursued to the very borders of Judea. And this misfortune
+befell them by their disobedience to what injunctions Judas had given
+them not to fight with anyone before his return. For besides the rest of
+Judas' sagacious counsels, one may well wonder at this concerning the
+misfortune that befell the forces commanded by Joseph and Azarias, which
+he understood would happen if they broke any of the injunctions he had
+given them. But Judas and his brethren did not leave off fighting with
+the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides, and took from them the
+city of Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications and set all its
+towers on fire, and burned the country of the foreigners and the city
+Marissa. They came also to Ashdod, and took it, and laid it waste, and
+took away a great deal of the spoils and prey that were in it and
+returned to Judea.
+
+
+
+
+THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS
+
+B.C. 133
+
+THEODOR MOMMSEN
+
+
+(Cornelia, whose father was Scipio Africanus, preferred to be called
+"Mother of the Gracchi" rather than daughter of the conqueror of
+Numantia. Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, her sons, were born at a time
+when the social condition of Rome was rank with corruption. The small
+farmer class were deprived of holdings, the soil was being worked by
+slaves, and its products wasted on pleasure and debauchery by the rich;
+the law courts were controlled by the wealthy and powerful, while
+oppression, bribery, and fraud were generally rampant in the city.
+
+On December 10, B.C. 133, Tiberius Gracchus entered upon the office of
+tribune, to which he had been elected, and pledged himself to the
+abolition of crying abuses. His first movement was in the direction of
+agrarian legislation. He proposed to vest all public lands in the hands
+of three commissioners [triumviri], who were to distribute the public
+lands, at that time largely monopolized by the wealthy, to all citizens
+in needy circumstances. The bill met with bitter opposition from the
+rich landholders, but was eventually passed, and Gracchus rose to the
+summit of popular power. He also brought forward a measure limiting the
+necessary period of military service; a second bill was drawn up by him
+for the reformation of the law courts, and a third established a right
+of appeal from the law courts to the popular assembly. These measures
+were afterward carried by his brother Caius. Tiberius Gracchus was
+killed in a tumult which was raised in the Forum by the nobles and their
+partisans, and three hundred of his followers lost their lives in the
+fray.
+
+Caius Gracchus, his brother, returned to Rome B.C. 124 from Sardinia,
+where he had been engaged in subduing the mountaineers. For ten years he
+had kept aloof from public life, but was at once elected tribune, in the
+discharge of which office he showed distinguished powers as an orator.
+He brought forth the important measures known as the Sempronian Laws,
+the provisions of which were quite revolutionary in character. The first
+of these laws renewed and extended the agrarian laws of his brother and
+instituted new colonies in Italy and the provinces. By the second
+Sempronian law the State undertook to furnish corn at a low price to all
+Roman citizens.
+
+Other measures aimed at diminishing the great administrative power of
+the senate, which had so far monopolized all judicial offices. By the
+law of Gracchus the administration of justice was entirely transferred
+to a body of three hundred persons who possessed the equestrian rate of
+property. The Sempronian law for the assignment of consular provinces,
+which hitherto had been left to the senate, made the allotment of two
+designated provinces to be decided by the newly elected consuls
+themselves. The power of the senate was also crippled by the law of
+Gracchus in which he transferred to the tribunes the burden of improving
+the roads of Italy, contracts for which had hitherto been awarded by the
+censor under the approval of the senate. These movements were all in the
+direction of increasing popular and democratic power, and the work of
+the Gracchi tended to the extension of political freedom. In the history
+of politics these social struggles are among the most important events
+illustrative of the gradual dawn of civil liberty among a people which
+had been dominated and oppressed by a selfish aristocracy.)
+
+
+The power of Gracchus rested on the mercantile class and the
+proletariat; primarily on the latter, which in this conflict--wherein
+neither side had any military reserve--acted, as it were, the part of an
+army. It was clear that the senate was not powerful enough to wrest
+either from the merchants or from the proletariat their new privileges;
+any attempt to assail the corn laws or the new jury arrangement would
+have led under a somewhat grosser or somewhat more civilized form to a
+street riot, in presence of which the senate was utterly defenceless.
+But it was no less clear that Gracchus himself and these merchants and
+proletarians were only kept together by mutual advantage, and that the
+men of material interests were ready to accept their posts, and the
+populace, strictly so called, its bread, quite as well from any other as
+from Caius Gracchus.
+
+The institutions of Gracchus stood, for the moment at least, immovably
+firm, with the exception of a single one--his own supremacy. The
+weakness of the latter lay in the fact that in the constitution of
+Gracchus there was no relation of allegiance subsisting at all between
+the chief and the army; and, while the new constitution possessed all
+other elements of vitality, it lacked one--the moral tie between ruler
+and ruled, without which every state rests on a pedestal of clay. In the
+rejection of the proposal to admit the Latins to the franchise it had
+been demonstrated with decisive clearness that the multitude in fact
+never voted for Gracchus, but always simply for itself. The aristocracy
+conceived the plan of offering battle to the author of the corn
+largesses and land assignations on his own ground.
+
+As a matter of course the senate offered to the proletariat not merely
+the same advantages as Gracchus had already assured to it in corn and
+otherwise, but advantages still greater. Commissioned by the senate, the
+tribune of the people, Marcus Livius Drusus, proposed to relieve those
+who received land under the laws of Gracchus from the rent imposed on
+them, and to declare their allotments to be free and alienable property;
+and, further, to provide for the proletariat not in transmarine, but in
+twelve Italian, colonies, each of three thousand colonists, for the
+planting of which the people might nominate suitable men; only Drusus
+himself declined--in contrast with the family complexion of the Gracchan
+commission--to take part in this honorable duty. Presumably the Latins
+were named as those who would have to bear the costs of the plan, for
+there does not appear to have existed then in Italy other occupied
+domain land of any extent save that which was enjoyed by them.
+
+We find isolated enactments of Drusus--such as the regulation that the
+punishment of scourging might only be inflicted on the Latin soldier by
+the Latin officer set over him, and not by the Roman officer--which were
+to all appearance intended to indemnify the Latins for other losses. The
+plan was not the most refined. The attempt at rivalry was too clear; the
+endeavor to draw the fair bond between the nobles and the proletariat
+still closer by their exercising jointly a tyranny over the Latins was
+too transparent; the inquiry suggested itself too readily.
+
+In what part of the peninsula, now that the Italian domains had been
+mainly given away already--even granting that the whole domains assigned
+to the Latins were confiscated--was the occupied domain land requisite
+for the formation of twelve new, numerous, and compact burgess
+communities to be discovered? Lastly, the declaration of Drusus that he
+would have nothing to do with the execution of his law was so dreadfully
+prudent as to border on sheer folly. But the clumsy snare was quite
+suited to the stupid game which they wished to catch. There was the
+additional and perhaps decisive consideration that Gracchus, on whose
+personal influence everything depended, was just then establishing the
+Carthaginian colony in Africa, and that his lieutenant in the capital,
+Marcus Flaccus, played into the hands of his opponents by his vehement
+and maladroit acts. The "people" accordingly ratified the Livian laws as
+readily as it had before ratified the Sempronian. It then as usual
+repaid its latest by inflicting a gentle blow on its earlier benefactor,
+declining to re�lect him when he stood for the third time as a candidate
+for the tribunate for the year B.C. 120. On this occasion, however,
+there are alleged to have been unjust proceedings on the part of the
+tribune presiding at the election, who had been offended by Gracchus.
+
+Thus the foundation of his despotism gave way beneath him. A second blow
+was inflicted on him by the consular elections, which not only proved,
+in a general sense, adverse to the democracy, but which placed at the
+head of the State Lucius Opimius, one of the least scrupulous chiefs of
+the strict aristocratic party and a man firmly resolved to get rid of
+their dangerous antagonist at the earliest opportunity. Such an
+opportunity soon occurred. On the 10th of December, B.C. 121, Gracchus
+ceased to be tribune of the people. On the 1st of January, B.C. 120,
+Opimius entered upon his office.
+
+The first attack, as was fair, was directed against the most useful and
+the most unpopular measure of Gracchus, the re�stablishment of Carthage,
+while the transmarine colonies had hitherto been only indirectly
+assailed through the greater allurements of the Italian. African hyenas,
+it was now alleged, dug up the newly placed boundary stones of Carthage,
+and the Roman priests when requested certified that such signs and
+portents ought to form an express warning against rebuilding on a site
+accursed by the gods. The senate thereby found itself in its conscience
+compelled to have a law proposed which prohibited the planting of the
+colony of Sunonia. Gracchus, who with the other men nominated to
+establish it was just then selecting the colonists, appeared on the day
+of voting at the Capitol, whither the burgesses were convoked, with a
+view to procure by means of his adherents the rejection of the law.
+
+He wished to shun acts of violence that he might not himself supply his
+opponents with the pretext which they sought, but he had not been able
+to prevent a great portion of his faithful partisans--who remembered the
+catastrophe of Tiberius, and were well acquainted with the designs of
+the aristocracy--from appearing in arms, fearing that, amid the immense
+excitement on both sides, quarrels could hardly be avoided. The consul
+Lucius Opimius offered the usual sacrifice in the porch of the
+Capitoline temple, one of the attendants assisting at the ceremony.
+Quintus Antullius, with the holy entrails in his hands, haughtily
+ordered the "bad citizens" to quit the porch, and seemed as though he
+would lay hands on Caius himself; whereupon a zealous Gracchan drew his
+sword and cut the man down. A fearful tumult arose. Gracchus vainly
+sought to address the people and to disclaim the responsibility for the
+sacreligious murder; he only furnished his antagonists with a further
+formal ground of accusation, as, without being aware of it in the
+confusion, he interrupted a tribune in the act of speaking to the
+people--an offence for which an obsolete statute, originating at the
+time of the old dissensions between the orders (I. 353), had prescribed
+the severest penalty. The consul Lucius Opimius took his measures to put
+down by force of arms the insurrection for the overthrow of the
+republican constitution, as they were fond of designating the events of
+this day. He himself passed the night in the temple of Castor in the
+Forum. At early dawn the Capitol was filled with Cretan archers, the
+senate house and Forum with the men of the government party (the
+senators and that section of the _equites_ adhering to them), who by
+order of the consul had all appeared in arms, each attended by two armed
+slaves. None of the aristocracy was absent; even the aged and venerable
+Quintus Metellus, well disposed to reform, had appeared with shield and
+sword. An officer of ability and experience acquired in the Spanish
+wars, Decimus Brutus, was intrusted with the command of the armed force;
+the senate assembled in the senate house. The bier with the corpse of
+Antullius was deposited in front of it, the senate as if surprised
+appeared _en masse_ at the door in order to view the dead body, and then
+retired to determine what should be done.
+
+The leaders of the democracy had gone from the Capitol to their houses;
+Marcus Flaccus had spent the night in preparing for the war in the
+streets, while Gracchus apparently disdained to strive with destiny.
+Next morning when they learned of the preparations made by their
+opponents at the Capitol and the Forum, both proceeded to the Aventine,
+the old stronghold of the popular party in the struggles between the
+patricians and the plebeians. Gracchus went thither silent and unarmed.
+Flaccus called the slaves to arms and intrenched himself in the temple
+of Diana, while he at the same time sent his younger son Quintus to the
+enemy's camp in order if possible to arrange a compromise. The latter
+returned with the announcement that the aristocracy demanded
+unconditional surrender. At the same time he brought a summons from the
+senate to Gracchus and Flaccus to appear before it and to answer for
+their violation of the majesty of the tribunes.
+
+Gracchus wished to comply with the summons, but Flaccus prevented him
+from doing so, and repeated the equally weak and mistaken attempt to
+move such antagonists to a compromise. When instead of the two cited
+leaders the young Quintus Flaccus once more presented himself alone, the
+consul treated their refusal to appear as the beginning of open
+insurrection against the Government. He ordered the messenger to be
+arrested and gave the signal for attack on the Aventine, while at the
+same time he caused proclamations to be made in the streets that the
+Government would give to whomsoever should bring the head of Gracchus or
+of Flaccus its literal weight in gold; and that they would guarantee
+complete indemnity to everyone who should leave the Aventine before the
+beginning of the conflict. The ranks on the Aventine speedily thinned;
+the valiant nobility in conjunction with the Cretans and the slaves
+stormed the almost undefended mount, and killed all whom they
+found--about two hundred and fifty persons, mostly of humble rank.
+Marcus Flaccus fled with his eldest son to a place of concealment, where
+they were soon afterward hunted out and put to death. Gracchus had at
+the beginning of the conflict retired into the temple of Minerva and was
+there about to pierce himself with his sword when his friend Publius
+Laetorius seized his arm and besought him to preserve himself, if
+possible, for better times.
+
+Gracchus was induced to make an attempt to escape to the other bank of
+the Tiber, but when hastening down the hill he fell and sprained his
+foot. To gain time for him to escape, his two attendants turned, and
+facing his pursuers allowed themselves to be cut down. As Marcus
+Pomponius at the Porta Trigemina under the Aventine; Publius Laetorius
+at the bridge over the Tiber--where Horatius Cocles was said to have
+once withstood, singly, the Etruscan army--so Gracchus, attended only by
+his slave Euporus, reached the suburb on the right bank of the Tiber.
+
+There, in the grove of Furrina, afterward were found the two dead
+bodies. It seemed as if the slave had put to death first his master, and
+then himself. The heads of the two fallen leaders were handed over to
+the Government as required. The stipulated price, and more, was paid to
+Lucius Septumuleius, a man of quality, the bearer of the head of
+Gracchus; while the murderers of Flaccus, persons of humble rank, were
+sent away with empty hands. The bodies of the dead were thrown into the
+river, and the houses of the leaders were abandoned to the pillage of
+the multitude. The warfare of prosecution against the partisans of
+Gracchus began on the grandest scale; as many as three thousand of them
+are said to have been strangled in prison, among whom was Quintus
+Flaccus, eighteen years of age, who had taken no part in the conflict,
+and was universally lamented on account of his youth and his amiable
+disposition. On the open space beneath the Capitol, where the altar
+consecrated by Camillus after the restoration of internal peace (I.
+382), and other shrines--erected on similar occasions to Concord--were
+situated, the small chapels were pulled down, and out of the property of
+the killed or condemned traitors--which was confiscated, even to the
+portions of their wives--a new and splendid temple of Concord, with the
+basilica belonging to it, was erected in accordance with a decree of the
+senate by the consul Lucius Opimius.
+
+Certainly it was an act in accordance with the spirit of the age to
+remove the memorials of the old and to inaugurate a new Concord over the
+remains of the three grandsons of Zama, all of whom--first, Tiberius
+Gracchus, then Scipio Aemilianus, and lastly the youngest and the
+mightiest, Caius Gracchus--had now been engulfed by the revolution. The
+memory of the Gracchi remained officially proscribed; Cornelia was not
+allowed even to put on mourning for the death of her last son; but the
+passionate attachment which very many had felt toward the two noble
+brothers, and especially toward Caius, during their life, was touchingly
+displayed also after their death, in the almost religious veneration
+which the multitude, in spite of all precautions of the police,
+continued to pay to their memory and to the spots where they had fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CAESAR CONQUERS GAUL[68]
+
+
+B.C. 58-50
+
+NAPOLEON III
+
+
+[Footnote 68: From Louis Napoleon's Julius Caesar, by permission of
+Harper & Brothers.]
+
+(In Caesar's military performances the Gallic war plays the most
+important part, as shown in his _Commentaries_, his sole extant literary
+work and almost the only authority for this part of Roman history.
+
+
+Cisalpine Gaul--that portion lying on the southern or Italian side of
+the Alps--came partly under the dominion of Rome as early as B.C. 282,
+when a Roman colony was founded at Sena Gallica. This division of Gaul
+was wholly conquered by B.C. 191; and in B.C. 43, having been made a
+Roman province, it became a part of Italy.
+
+Transalpine Gaul--that part lying north and northwest of the Alps from
+Rome--comprised in Caesar's day three divisions: Aquitaine to the
+southwest, Celtic Gaul in the middle, and Belgic Gaul to the northwest.
+The region was inhabited by various tribes having neither unity of race
+nor of customs whereby nationality becomes distinguished. Toward the
+close of the second century B.C. the Romans made their first settlements
+in Transalpine Gaul, in the southeastern part. At the time when Caesar
+became proconsul in Gaul, B.C. 58, the province was in a state of
+tranquillity, but Fortune seemed determined that he should have great
+opportunities for the display of his military genius, and, when Asia had
+been subdued by Pompey, "conferred what remained to be done in Europe
+upon Caesar." The attempt of the Helvetii to leave their homes in the
+Alps for new dwelling-places in Gaul served him as an occasion for war.
+As they were crossing the Arar [now Saone] he attacked and routed them,
+later defeated them again, and at last drove them back to their own
+country.
+
+The story of the long war, with its various campaigns, has become
+familiar to the world's readers through the masterly account of Caesar
+himself, known to "every schoolboy" who advances to the dignity of
+classical studies. In the end the country between the Pyrenees and the
+Rhine was subjugated, and for several centuries it remained a Roman
+province.
+
+At the time when the history is taken up in the following narrative by
+Napoleon III, the great rebellion, B.C. 52, had sustained a heavy blow
+in the surrender of Alesia, and the capture of the heroic chief and
+leader of the insurrection, Vercingetorix, whom Caesar exhibited in his
+triumph at Rome, B.C. 46, and then caused to be put to death.
+
+The distinguished author of the article says he wrote "for the purpose
+of proving that when Providence raises up such men as Caesar,
+Charlemagne, and Napoleon it is to trace out to peoples the path they
+ought to follow, to stamp with the seal of their genius a new era, and
+to accomplish in a few years the work of many centuries." The work was
+prepared [_vide Manual of Historical Literature_: Adams] with the utmost
+care--a care which extended in some instances to special surveys, to
+insure perfect accuracy in the descriptions, etc.)
+
+
+The capture of Alesia and that of Vercingetorix, in spite of the united
+efforts of all Gaul, naturally gave Caesar hopes of a general
+submission; and he therefore believed that he could leave his army
+during the winter to rest quietly in its quarters from the hard labors
+which had lasted without interruption during the whole of the past
+summer. But the spirit of insurrection was not extinct among the Gauls;
+and convinced by experience that whatever might be their number they
+could not in a body cope with troops inured to war, they resolved, by
+partial insurrections raised on all points at once, to divide the
+attention and the forces of the Romans as their only chance of resisting
+them with advantage.
+
+Caesar was unwilling to leave them time to realize this new plan, but
+gave the command of his winter quarters to his quaestor, Mark Antony;
+quitted Bibracte on the day before the Calends of January (the 25th of
+December) with an escort of cavalry, joined the Thirteenth legion, which
+was in winter quarters among the Bituriges, not far from the frontier of
+the Aldui, and called to him the Eleventh legion, which was the nearest
+at hand. Having left two cohorts of each legion to guard the baggage, he
+proceeded toward the fertile country of the Bituriges, a vast territory,
+where the presence of a single legion was insufficient to put a stop to
+the preparations for insurrection.
+
+His sudden arrival in the midst of men without distrust, who were spread
+over the open country, produced the result which he expected. They were
+surprised before they could enter into their _oppidae_--for Caesar had
+strictly forbidden everything which might have raised their suspicion;
+especially the application of fire, which usually betrays the sudden
+presence of an enemy. Several thousands of captives were made. Those who
+succeeded in escaping sought in vain a refuge among the neighboring
+nations. Caesar, by forced marches, came up with them everywhere and
+obliged each tribe to think of its own safety before that of others.
+
+This activity held the populations in their fidelity, and through fear
+engaged the wavering to submit to the conditions of peace. Thus the
+Bituriges, seeing that Caesar offered them an easy way to recover his
+protection, and that the neighboring states had suffered no other
+chastisement than that of having to deliver hostages, did not hesitate
+in submitting.
+
+The soldiers of the Eleventh and Thirteenth legions had, during the
+winter, supported with rare constancy the fatigues of very difficult
+marches in intolerable cold. To reward them he promised to give by way
+of prize-money two hundred _sestertii_ to each soldier and two thousand
+to each centurion. He then sent them into their winter quarters and
+returned to Bibracte after an absence of forty days. While he was there,
+dispensing justice, the Bituriges came to implore his support against
+the attacks of the Carnutes. Although it was only eighteen days since he
+returned, he marched again at the head of two legions--the Sixth and the
+Fourteenth--which had been placed on the Saone to insure the supply of
+provisions.
+
+On his approach the Carnutes, taught by the fate of others, abandoned
+their miserable huts--which they had erected on the site of their burgs
+and oppida destroyed in the last campaign--and fled in every direction.
+
+Caesar, unwilling to expose his soldiers to the rigor of the season,
+established his camp at Genabum (Gien), and lodged them partly in the
+huts which had remained undestroyed, partly in tents under penthouses
+covered with straw. The cavalry and auxiliary infantry were sent in
+pursuit of the Carnutes, who, hunted down everywhere, and without
+shelter, took refuge in the neighboring counties.
+
+After having dispersed some rebellious meetings and stifled the germs of
+an insurrection, Caesar believed that the summer would pass without any
+serious war. He left therefore at Genabum the two legions he had with
+him, and gave the command of them to C. Trebonius.
+
+Nevertheless, he learned by several intimations from the Remi that the
+Bellovaci and neighboring peoples, with Correus and Commius at their
+head, were collecting troops to make an inroad on the territory of the
+Suessiones, who had been placed--since the campaign of 697--under the
+dependence of the Remi.
+
+He considered that he regarded his interest as well as his dignity in
+protecting allies who had deserved so well of the republic. He again
+drew the Eleventh legion from its winter quarters, sent written orders
+to C. Fabius, who was encamped in the country of the Remi, to bring into
+that of the Suessiones the two legions under his command, and demanded
+one of his legions from Labienus, who was at Besan�on. Thus without
+taking any rest himself he shared the fatigues among the legions by
+turns, as far as the position of the winter quarters and the necessities
+of the war permitted.
+
+When this army was assembled he marched against the Bellovaci,
+established his camp on their territory, and sent cavalry in every
+direction in order to make some prisoners and learn from them the
+designs of the enemy. The cavalry reported that the emigration was
+general, and that the few inhabitants who were to be seen were not
+remaining behind in order to apply themselves to agriculture, but to act
+as spies upon the Romans.
+
+Caesar by interrogating the prisoners learned that all the Bellovaci
+able to fight had assembled on one spot, and that they had been joined
+by the Ambiani, the Aulerci, the Caletes, the Veliocasses, and the
+Atrebates. Their camp was in a forest on a height surrounded by
+marshes--Mont Saint Marc, in the forest of Compi�gne; their baggage had
+been transported to more distant woods. The command was divided among
+several chiefs, but the greater part obeyed Correus on account of his
+well-known hatred of the Romans. Commius had a few days before gone to
+seek succor from the numerous Germans who lived in great numbers in the
+neighboring counties--probably those on the banks of the Meuse.
+
+The Bellovaci resolved with one accord to give Caesar battle, if, as
+report said, he was advancing with only three legions; for they would
+not run the risk of having afterward to encounter his entire army. If,
+on the contrary, the Romans were advancing with more considerable forces
+they proposed to keep their positions and confine themselves to
+intercepting, by means of ambuscades, the provisions and forage, which
+were very scarce at that season.
+
+This plan, confirmed by many reports, seemed to Caesar full of prudence
+and altogether contrary to the usual rashness of the barbarians. He took
+therefore every possible care to dissimulate as to the number of his
+troops. He had with him the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth legions, composed
+of old soldiers of tried valor, and the Eleventh, which, formed of
+picked young men who had gone through eight campaigns, deserved his
+confidence, although it could not be compared with the others with
+regard to bravery and experience in war. In order to deceive the enemy
+by showing them only three legions--the only number they were willing to
+fight--he placed the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth in one line; while the
+baggage, which was not very considerable, was placed behind under the
+protection of the Eleventh legion, which closed the march. In this
+order, which formed almost a square, he came unawares in sight of the
+Bellovaci. At the unexpected view of the legions, which advanced in
+order of battle and with a firm step, they lost their courage and,
+instead of attacking, as they had engaged to do, they confined
+themselves to drawing themselves up before their camp without leaving
+the height. A valley deeper than it was wide separated the two armies.
+
+On account of this obstacle and the numerical superiority of the
+barbarians, Caesar, though he had wished for battle, abandoned the idea
+of attacking them and placed his camp opposite that of the Gauls in a
+strong position. He caused it to be surrounded with a parapet twelve
+feet high, surmounted by accessory works proportioned to the importance
+of the retrenchment and preceded by a double fosse fifteen feet wide,
+with a square bottom. Towers of three stories were constructed from
+distance to distance and united together by covered bridges, the
+exterior parts of which were protected by hurdle-work. In this manner
+the camp was protected not only by a double fosse, but also by a double
+row of defenders, some of whom, placed on the bridges, could from this
+elevated and sheltered position throw their missiles farther and with a
+better aim; while the others, placed on the _vallum_, nearer to the
+enemy, were protected by the bridges from the missiles which showered
+down upon them. The entrances were defended by means of higher towers
+and were closed with gates.
+
+These formidable retrenchments had a double aim--to increase the
+confidence of the barbarians by making them believe that they were
+feared, and next to allow the number of the garrison to be reduced with
+safety when they had to go far for provisions. For some days there were
+no serious engagements, but slight skirmishes in the marshy plain which
+extended between the two camps. The capture, however, of a few foragers
+did not fail to swell the presumption of the barbarians, which was still
+more increased by the arrival of Commius, although he had brought only
+five hundred German cavalry.
+
+The enemy remained for several days shut up in its impregnable position.
+Caesar judged that an assault would cost too many lives; an investment
+alone seemed to him opportune, but it would require a greater number of
+troops.
+
+He wrote thereupon to Trebonius to send him as soon as possible the
+Thirteenth legion, which, under the command of T. Sextius, was in winter
+quarters among the Bituriges, to join it with the Sixth and the
+Fourteenth (which the first of these lieutenants commanded at Genabum),
+and to come himself with these three legions by forced marches.
+
+During this time he employed the numerous cavalry of the Remi, the
+Lingones and the other allies, to protect the foragers and to prevent
+surprises, but this daily service, as is often the case, ended by being
+negligently performed. And one day the Remi, pursuing the Bellovaci with
+too much ardor, fell into an ambuscade. In withdrawing they were
+surrounded by foot-soldiers in the midst of whom Vertiscus, their chief,
+met with his death. True to his Gaulish nature, he would not allow his
+age to exempt him from commanding and mounting on horseback, although he
+was hardly able to keep his seat. His death and this feeble advantage
+raised the self-confidence of the barbarians still more, but it rendered
+the Romans more circumspect.
+
+Nevertheless, in one of the skirmishes which were continually taking
+place within sight of the two camps about the fordable places of the
+marsh, the German infantry--which Caesar had sent for from beyond the
+Rhine in order to mix them with the cavalry--joined in a body, boldly
+crossed the marsh, and, meeting with little resistance, continued the
+pursuit with such impetuosity that fear seized not only the enemy who
+fought, but even those who were in reserve. Instead of availing
+themselves of the advantages of the ground, all fled in a cowardly
+manner. They did not stop until they were within their camp, and some
+even were not ashamed to fly beyond it. This defeat caused a general
+discouragement, for the Gauls were as easily daunted by the least
+reverse as they were made arrogant by the smallest success.
+
+Day after day was passing in this manner when Caesar was informed of the
+arrival of C. Trebonius and his troops, which raised the number of his
+legions to seven. The chiefs of the Bellovaci then feared an investment
+like that of Alesia, and resolved to quit their position. They sent away
+by night the old men, the infirm, the unarmed men, and the part of the
+baggage which they had kept with them. Scarcely was this confused
+multitude in motion--embarrassed by its own mass and its numerous
+chariots--when daylight surprised it, and the troops had to be drawn up
+in line before the camp to give the column time to move away. Caesar saw
+no advantage either in giving battle to those who were in position, nor,
+on account of the steepness of the hill, in pursuing those who were
+making their retreat; he resolved, nevertheless, to make two legions
+advance in order to disturb the enemy in its retreat. Having observed
+that the mountain on which the Gauls were established was connected with
+another height (Mont Collet), from which it was only separated by a
+narrow valley, he ordered bridges to be thrown across the marsh. The
+legions crossed over them and soon attained the summit of the height,
+which was defended on both sides by abrupt declivities.
+
+There he collected his troops and advanced in order of battle up to the
+extremity of the plateau, whence the engines placed in battery could
+reach the masses of the enemy with their missiles.
+
+The barbarians, rendered confident by the advantage of their position,
+were ready to accept battle if the Romans dared to attack the mountain;
+besides, they were afraid to withdraw their troops successively, as, if
+divided, they might have been thrown into disorder. This attitude led
+C�sar to resolve upon leaving twenty cohorts under arms, and on tracing
+a camp on this spot and retrenching it. When the works were completed
+the legions were placed before the retrenchments and the cavalry
+distributed with their horses bridled at the outposts. The Bellovaci had
+recourse to a stratagem in order to effect their retreat. They passed
+from hand to hand the fascines and the straw on which, according to the
+Gaulish custom, they were in the habit of sitting, preserving at the
+same time their order of battle; placed them in front of the camp, and
+toward the close of the day, on a preconcerted signal, set fire to them.
+Immediately a vast flame concealed from the Romans the Gaulish troops,
+who fled in haste.
+
+Although the fire prevented C�sar from seeing the retreat of the enemy
+he suspected it. He ordered his legions to advance, and sent the cavalry
+in pursuit, but he marched slowly in fear of some stratagem, suspecting
+the barbarians to have formed the design of drawing the Romans to
+disadvantageous ground. Besides, the cavalry did not dare to ride
+through the smoke and flames; and thus the Bellovaci were able to pass
+over a distance of ten miles and halt in a place strongly fortified by
+nature (Mont Ganelon), where they pitched their camp. In this position
+they confined themselves to placing cavalry and infantry in frequent
+ambuscades, thus inflicting great damage on the Romans when they went to
+forage. After several encounters of this kind C�sar learned by a
+prisoner that Correus, chief of the Bellovaci, with six thousand picked
+infantry and one thousand horsemen, was preparing an ambuscade in places
+where the abundance of corn and forage was likely to attract the Romans.
+In consequence of this information he sent forward the cavalry, which
+was always employed to protect the foragers, and joined with them some
+light-armed auxiliaries, while he himself, with a greater number of
+legions, followed them as closely as possible.
+
+The enemy had posted themselves in a plain--that of Choisy-au-Bac--of
+about one thousand paces in length and the same in breadth, surrounded
+on one side by forests, on the other by a river which was difficult to
+pass (the Aisne). The cavalry becoming acquainted with the designs of
+the Gauls and feeling themselves supported, advanced resolutely in
+squadrons toward this plain, which was surrounded with ambushes on all
+sides.
+
+Correus, seeing them arrive in this manner, believed the opportunity
+favorable for the execution of his plan and began by attacking the first
+squadrons with a few men. The Romans sustained the shock without
+concentrating themselves in a mass on the same point, "which," says
+Hirtius, "usually happens in cavalry engagements, and leads always to a
+dangerous confusion." There, on the contrary, the squadrons, remaining
+separated, fought in detached bodies, and when one of them advanced, its
+flanks were protected by the others. Correus then ordered the rest of
+his cavalry to issue from the woods. An obstinate combat began on all
+sides without any decisive result until the enemy's infantry, debouching
+from the forest in close ranks, forced the Roman cavalry to fall back.
+The lightly armed soldiers who preceded the legions placed themselves
+between the squadrons and restored the fortune of the combat. After a
+certain time the troops, animated by the approach of the legions and the
+arrival of Caesar, and ambitious of obtaining alone the honor of the
+victory, redoubled their efforts and gained the advantage. The enemy, on
+the other hand, were discouraged and took to flight, but were stopped by
+the very obstacles which they intended to throw in the way of the
+Romans. A small number, nevertheless, escaped through the forest and
+crossed the river. Correus, who remained unshaken under this
+catastrophe, obstinately refused to surrender, and fell pierced with
+wounds. After this success Caesar hoped that if he continued his march
+the enemy in dismay would abandon his camp, which was only eight miles
+from the field of battle. He therefore crossed the Aisne, though not
+without great difficulties.
+
+The Bellovaci and their allies, informed by the fugitives of the death
+of Correus, of the loss of their cavalry and the flower of their
+infantry, and fearing every moment to see the Romans appear, convoked by
+sound of trumpet a general assembly and decided by acclamation to send
+deputies and hostages to the proconsul. The barbarians implored
+forgiveness, alleging that this last defeat had ruined their power, and
+that the death of Correus, the instigator of the war, delivered them
+from oppression, for, during his life, it was not the senate which
+governed, but an ignorant multitude. To their prayers Caesar replied
+that last year the Bellovaci had revolted in concert with the other
+Gaulish peoples, but that _they_ alone had persisted in the revolt. It
+was very convenient to throw their faults upon those who were dead, but
+how could it be believed that with nothing but the help of a weak
+populace a man should have had sufficient influence to raise and sustain
+a war contrary to the will of the chiefs, the decision of the senate,
+and the desire of honest people? However, the evil which they had drawn
+upon themselves was for him a sufficient reparation.
+
+The following night the Bellovaci and their allies submitted, with the
+exception of Commius, who fled to the country from which he had but
+recently drawn support. He had not dared to trust the Romans for the
+following reason: "The year before, in the absence of Caesar, T.
+Labienus, informed that Commius was conspiring and preparing an
+insurrection, thought that without accusing him of bad faith," says
+Hirtius, "he could repress his treason." ("Under pretext of an interview
+he sent C. Volusenus Quadratus, with some centurions, to kill him; but
+when they were in the presence of the Gaulish chief the centurion who
+was to strike him missed his blow and only wounded him; swords were
+drawn on both sides and Commius had time to escape.")
+
+The most warlike tribes had been vanquished and none of them dreamed of
+further revolt. Nevertheless, many inhabitants of the newly conquered
+countries abandoned the towns and the fields in order to withdraw
+themselves from the Roman dominion. Caesar, in order to put a stop to
+this emigration, distributed his army in different countries. He ordered
+the quaestor, Mark Antony, to come to him with the Twelfth legion, and
+sent the lieutenant Fabius with twenty-five cohorts into an opposite
+part of Gaul--to the country situated between the Creuse and the
+Vienne--where it was said that several tribes were in arms, and where
+the lieutenant, Caninius Rebilus, who commanded with two legions, did
+not appear to be sufficiently strong. Lastly, he ordered T. Labienus to
+join him in person and to send the Fifteenth legion, which he had under
+his command, into Cisalpine Gaul to protect the colonies of Roman
+citizens there against the sudden inroads of the barbarians, who the
+summer before had attacked the Tergestini (the inhabitants of Trieste).
+
+As for C�sar, he proceeded with four legions to the territory of the
+Eburones to lay it waste. As he could not secure Ambiorix, who was still
+wandering at large, he thought it advisable to destroy everything by
+fire and sword, persuaded that this chief would never dare to return to
+a country upon which he had brought such a terrible calamity. The
+legions and the auxiliaries were charged with the execution of this
+plan. Then he sent Labienus, with two legions, to the country of the
+Treviri, who, always at war with the Germans, were only kept in
+obedience by the presence of a Roman army.
+
+During this time Caninius Rebilus, who had first been appointed to go
+into the country of the Ruteni, but who had been detained by petty
+insurrections in the region situated between the Creuse and the Vienne,
+learned that numerous hostile bands were assembling in the country of
+the Pictones. He was informed of this by letters from Duratius, their
+king, who, amid the defection of a part of his people, had remained
+invariably faithful to the Romans. He started immediately for Lemonum
+(Poitiers). On the road he learned from prisoners that Duratius was shut
+up there and besieged by several thousand men under the orders of
+Dumnacus, chief of the Andes.
+
+Rebilus, at the head of two weak legions, did not dare to measure his
+strength with the enemy; he contented himself with establishing his camp
+in a strong position. At the news of his approach, Dumnacus raised the
+siege, and marched to meet the legions, but after several days of
+fruitless attempts to force their camp he returned to attack Lemonum.
+
+Meanwhile, the lieutenant, Caius Fabius, occupied in pacifying several
+other tribes, learned from Caninius Rebilus what was going on in the
+country of the Pictones and marched without delay to the assistance of
+Duratius. The news of the march of Fabius deprived Dumnacus of all hope
+of opposing, at the same time, the troops shut up in Lemonum and the
+relieving army. He abandoned the siege again in great haste, not
+thinking himself safe until he had placed the Loire between himself and
+the Romans; but he could only pass that river where there was a bridge
+(at Saumur). Before he had joined Rebilus, before he had even obtained a
+sight of the enemy, Fabius, who came from the North, and had lost no
+time, doubted not, from what he heard from the people of the country,
+that Dumnacus, in his fear, had taken the road which led to that bridge.
+He therefore marched thither with his legions, preceded at a short
+distance by his cavalry. The latter surprised the column of Dumnacus on
+its march, dispersed it, and returned to the camp laden with booty.
+
+During the night of the following day Fabius again sent his cavalry
+forward with orders to delay the march of the enemy so as to give time
+for the arrival of the infantry. The two bodies of cavalry were soon
+engaged, but the enemy, thinking he had to contend with only the same
+troops as the day before, drew up his infantry in line so as to support
+the squadrons, when suddenly the Roman legions appeared in order of
+battle. At this sight the barbarians were struck with terror, the long
+train of baggage thrown into confusion, and the infantry dispersed. More
+than twelve thousand men were killed and all the baggage fell into the
+hands of the Romans.
+
+Only five thousand fugitives escaped from this rout; they were received
+by the Senonan, Drappes, the same who in the first revolt of the Gauls
+had collected a crowd of vagabonds, slaves, exiles, and robbers to
+intercept the convoys of the Romans.
+
+They took the direction of the Narbonnese with the Cadurcan Lucterius
+who had before attempted a similar invasion.
+
+Rebilus pursued them with two legions in order to avoid the shame of
+seeing the province suffering any injury from such a contemptible
+rabble. As for Fabius, he led the twenty-five cohorts against the
+Carnutes and the other tribes whose forces had already been reduced by
+the defeat they had suffered from Dumnacus. The Carnutes, though often
+beaten, had never been completely subdued. They gave hostages, and the
+Armoricans followed their example. Dumnacus, driven out of his own
+territory, went to seek a refuge in the remotest part of Gaul.
+
+Drappes and Lucterius, when they learned that they were pursued by
+Rebilus and his two legions, gave up the design of penetrating into the
+province; they halted in the country of the Cadurci and threw themselves
+into the _oppidum_ of Uxellodunum (Puy-d'Issolu, near Varac), an
+exceedingly strong place formerly under the dependence of Lucterius, who
+soon incited the inhabitants to revolt.
+
+Rebilus appeared immediately before the town, which, surrounded on all
+sides by steep rocks, was, even without being defended, difficult of
+access to armed men. Knowing that there was in the oppidum so great a
+quantity of baggage that the besieged could not send it away secretly
+without being detected and overtaken by the cavalry, and even by the
+infantry, he divided his cohorts into three bodies and established three
+camps on the highest points. Next he ordered a countervallation to be
+made. On seeing these preparations the besieged remembered the
+ill-fortune of Alesia, and feared a similar fate. Lucterius, who had
+witnessed the horrors of famine during the investment of that town, now
+took especial care of the provisions.
+
+During this time the garrison of the oppidum attacked the redoubts of
+Rebilus several times, which obliged him to interrupt the work of the
+countervallation, which, indeed, he had not sufficient forces to defend.
+
+Drappes and Lucterius established themselves at a distance of ten miles
+from the oppidum, with the intention of introducing the provisions
+gradually. They shared the duties between them. Drappes remained with
+part of the troops to protect the camp. Lucterius, during the
+night-time, endeavored to introduce beasts of burden into the town by a
+narrow and wooded path. The noise of their march gave warning to the
+sentries. Rebilus, informed of what was going on, ordered the cohorts to
+sally from the neighboring redoubts, and at daybreak fell upon the
+convoy, the escort of which was slaughtered. Lucterius, having escaped
+with a small number of his followers, was unable to rejoin Drappes.
+
+Rebilus soon learned from prisoners that the rest of the troops which
+had left the oppidum were with Drappes at a distance of twelve miles,
+and that by a fortunate chance not one fugitive had taken that direction
+to carry him news of the last combat. The Roman general sent in advance
+all the cavalry and the light German infantry; he followed them with one
+legion, without baggage, leaving the other as a guard to the three
+camps. When he came near the enemy he learned, by his scouts, that the
+barbarians--according to their custom of neglecting the heights--had
+placed their camp on the banks of a river (probably the Dordogne); that
+the Germans and the cavalry had surprised them, and that they were
+already fighting. Rebilus then advanced rapidly at the head of the
+legion drawn up in order of battle and took possession of the heights.
+
+As soon as the ensigns appeared, the cavalry redoubled its ardor; the
+cohorts rushed forward from all sides and the Gauls were taken or
+killed. The booty was immense and Drappes fell into the hands of the
+Romans.
+
+Rebilus, after this successful exploit, which cost him but a few
+wounded, returned under the walls of Uxellodunum. Fearing no longer any
+attack from without, he set resolutely to work to continue his
+circumvallation. The day after, C. Fabius arrived, followed by his
+troops, and shared with him the labors of the siege. While the south of
+Gaul was the scene of serious trouble, C�sar left the quaestor, Mark
+Antony, with fifteen cohorts in the country of the Bellovaci. To deprive
+the Belg� of all idea of revolt he had proceeded to the neighboring
+countries with two legions; had exacted hostages, and restored
+confidence by his conciliating speeches. When he arrived among the
+Carnutes--who the year before had been the first to revolt--he saw that
+the remembrance of their conduct kept them in great alarm, and he
+resolved to put an end to it by causing his vengeance to fall only upon
+Gutruatus, the instigator of the war.
+
+This man was brought in and delivered up. Although C�sar was naturally
+inclined to be indulgent, he could not resist the tumultuous entreaties
+of his soldiers, who made that chief responsible for all the dangers
+they had run and for all the misery they had suffered. Gutruatus died
+under the stripes and was afterward beheaded.
+
+It was in the land of the Carnutes that C�sar received news, by the
+letters of Rebilus, of the events which had taken place at Uxellodunum
+and of the resistance of the besieged. Although a handful of men shut up
+in a fortress was not very formidable, he judged it necessary to punish
+their obstinacy, for fear that the Gauls should entertain the conviction
+that it was not strength, but constancy, which had failed them in
+resisting the Romans; and lest this example might encourage the other
+states which possessed fortresses advantageously situated, to recover
+their independence.
+
+Moreover, it was known everywhere among the Gauls that C�sar had only
+one more summer to hold his command, and that after that time they would
+have nothing more to fear. He left therefore the lieutenant Quintus
+Calenus at the head of his two legions, with orders to follow him by
+ordinary marches, and, with his cavalry, hastened by long marches toward
+Uxellodunum. C�sar, arriving unexpectedly before the town, found it
+completely defended at all accessible points. He judged that it could
+not be taken by assault (_neque ab oppugnatione recedi vidaret ulla
+conditione posse_), and, as it was abundantly provided with provisions,
+conceived the project of depriving the inhabitants of water.
+
+The mountain was surrounded almost on every side by very low ground, but
+on one side there existed a valley through which a river (the Tourmente)
+ran. As it flowed at the foot of two precipitous mountains the
+disposition of the localities did not admit of turning it aside and
+conducting it into lower channels. It was difficult for the besieged to
+come down to it, and the Romans rendered the approaches to it still more
+dangerous. They placed posts of archers and slingers, and brought
+engines which commanded all the slopes which gave access to the river.
+The besieged had thenceforth no other means of procuring water but by
+carrying it from an abundant spring which arose at the foot of the wall
+three hundred feet from the channel of the Tourmente. C�sar resolved to
+drain this spring, and for this purpose he did not hesitate to attempt a
+laborious undertaking. Opposite the point where it rose he ordered
+covered galleries to be pushed forward against the mountain, and under
+protection of these a terrace to be raised--labors which were carried on
+in the midst of continual fighting and weariness.
+
+Although the besieged from their elevated position fought without danger
+and wounded many Romans, yet the latter did not yield to discouragement,
+but continued the work. At the same time they made a subterranean
+gallery, which, running from the covered galleries, was intended to lead
+up to the spring. This work, carried on free from all danger, was
+executed without being perceived by the enemy. The terrace attained a
+height of sixty feet and was surmounted by a tower of ten stories,
+which, without equalling the elevation of the wall--a result it was
+impossible to obtain--still commanded the fountain. Its approaches,
+battered by engines from the top of this tower, became inaccessible. In
+consequence of this, many men and animals in the place died of thirst.
+The besieged, terrified at this mortality, filled barrels with pitch,
+grease, and shavings, and rolled them flaming upon the Roman works,
+making at the same time a sally to prevent them from extinguishing the
+fire. Soon it spread to the covered galleries and the terrace, which
+stopped the progress of the inflammable materials.
+
+Notwithstanding the difficult nature of the ground and the increasing
+danger, the Romans still persevered in their struggle. The battle took
+place on a height within sight of the army. Loud cries were raised on
+both sides. Each individual sought to rival his fellow in zeal, and the
+more he was exposed to view the more courageously he faced the missiles
+and the fire.
+
+Caesar, as he was sustaining great loss, determined to feign an assault.
+In order to create a diversion he ordered some cohorts to climb the hill
+on all sides, uttering loud cries. This movement terrified the besieged,
+who, fearing to be attacked at other points, called back to the defence
+of the wall those who were setting fire to the works. Then the Romans
+were enabled to extinguish the flames. The Gauls, although exhausted by
+thirst and reduced to a small number, ceased not to defend themselves
+vigorously. At length the subterranean gallery having reached the source
+of the spring, the supply was turned aside. The besieged, beholding the
+fountain suddenly become dry, believed in their despair that it was an
+intervention of the gods, and, submitting to necessity, surrendered.
+
+Caesar considered that the pacification of Gaul would never be completed
+if as strong a resistance was encountered in other towns. He thought it
+advisable to spread terror by a severe example--so much the more so as
+"the well-known mildness of his temper," says Hirtius, "would not allow
+this necessary rigor to be ascribed to cruelty." He ordered that all
+those who had borne arms should have their hands cut off, and sent them
+away living examples of the punishment reserved for rebels.
+
+Drappes, who had been taken prisoner, starved himself to death;
+Lucterius, who had been arrested by the Arvernan Epasnactus (a friend of
+the Romans), was delivered up to Caesar. While these events were taking
+place on the banks of the Dordogne, Labienus, in a cavalry engagement,
+had gained a decisive advantage over a part of the Treviri and Germans;
+had taken prisoner their chief, and thus subjected a people who were
+always ready to support any insurrection against the Romans. The Aeduan
+Surus fell also into his hands. He was a chief distinguished for his
+courage and birth, and the only one of that nation who had not yet laid
+down his arms.
+
+From that moment Caesar considered Gaul to be completely pacified. He
+resolved, however, to go himself to Aquitaine, which he had not yet
+visited and which Publius Crassus had partly conquered. Arriving there
+at the head of two legions, he obtained the complete submission of that
+country without difficulty. All the tribes sent him hostages. He
+proceeded next to Narbonne with a detachment of cavalry and charged his
+lieutenants to put the army into winter quarters. Four legions, under
+the orders of Mark Antony, Caius Trebonius, Publius Vatinius, and Q.
+Tullius, were quartered in Belgium, two among the Aedui and two among
+the Turones on the frontier of the Carnutes, to hold in check all the
+countries bordering on the ocean.
+
+These two last legions took up their winter quarters on the territory of
+the Lemovices, not far from the Arverni, so that no part of Gaul should
+be without troops. Caesar remained but a short time in the province,
+presiding hastily over the assemblies, determining cases of public
+dispute, and rewarding those who had served him well. He had had
+occasion more than anyone to know their sentiments individually, because
+during the general revolt of Gaul the fidelity and succor of the
+province had aided him in triumphing over it. When these affairs were
+settled he returned to his legions in Belgium and took up his winter
+quarters at Nemetocenna (Arras).
+
+There he was informed of the last attempts of Commius, who, continuing a
+partisan war at the head of a small number of cavalry, intercepted the
+Roman convoys. Mark Antony had charged C. Volusenus Quadratus, prefect
+of the cavalry, to pursue him. He had accepted the task eagerly in the
+hope of succeeding the second time better than the first, but Commius,
+taking advantage of the rash ardor with which his enemy had rushed upon
+him, had wounded him seriously and escaped. He was discouraged, however,
+and had promised Mark Antony to retire to any spot which should be
+appointed him on condition that he should never be compelled to appear
+before a Roman. This condition having been accepted, he had given
+hostages. Gaul was hereby subjugated. Death or slavery had carried off
+its principal citizens. Of all the chiefs who had fought for its
+independence only two survived--Commius and Ambiorix.
+
+Banished far from their country they died in obscurity.
+
+
+
+
+ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN
+
+B.C. 55 - A.D. 79
+
+OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+
+(When Julius Caesar received the province of Gaul as his government,
+B.C. 58, it was only a small portion of the territory inhabited by the
+Gauls or Celts, being almost conterminous with the mediaeval Provence.
+It was also at peace, and there seemed no excuse for making an extension
+of Roman territory among the three tribes or races between which
+Northern and Western Gaul were divided. But the Helvetii, who occupied
+that part of the Alps known to-day as Switzerland, meditated an
+emigration into the plains of Gaul, and, as their shortest route lay
+across the Roman provinces, they asked leave of Caesar to pass three
+hundred and sixty thousand souls in all, counting women and children,
+through the imperial territory.
+
+The Roman commander, after giving them an evasive answer, met them in
+the territory of the Sequani and Aedui and defeated them, driving them
+back to their mountains. He next went to the aid of the Aedui, ancient
+allies of Rome, against the Arverni and Sequani, who had invaded the
+Aeduan territory under a German chieftain, Ariovistus. The result was
+that Ariovistus was defeated and driven eastward across the Rhine. He
+then defeated the Belgae, who, in B.C. 57, took up arms against the
+garrisons which he had left in the country of the Sequani [dwellers on
+the Seine]. He continued his conquest of the Belgic territory, and
+subjected the three nations who occupied it, finally entering the
+country of the warlike Nervii, whom he only conquered after a stubborn
+and bloody battle. As soon as he had subjugated the whole of Gaul, he
+crossed the Rhine for the purpose of intimidating the Germans and
+teaching them to keep within their own boundaries.
+
+He pursued the same policy with regard to the Britons, who, according to
+information received by him, had sent aid to the Gauls in their struggle
+with Rome. His ships were brought round from the Loire to that part of
+the French coast now known as Boulogne, and he set out for Britain,
+where he landed, and eventually received the submission of the British
+chieftains.)
+
+
+The Britons in their rude and barbarous state seemed to stand in need of
+more polished instructors; and indeed whatever evils may attend the
+conquest of heroes, their success has generally produced one good effect
+in disseminating the arts of refinement and humanity. It ever happens
+when a barbarous nation is conquered by another more advanced in the
+arts of peace, that it gains in elegance a recompense for what it loses
+in liberty.
+
+The Britons had long remained in this rude but independent state, when
+C�sar, having overrun Gaul with his victories, and willing still further
+to extend his fame, determined upon the conquest of a country that
+seemed to promise an easy triumph. He was allured neither by the riches
+nor by the renown of the inhabitants; but being ambitious rather of
+splendid than of useful conquests, he was willing to carry the Roman
+arms into a country the remote situation of which would add seeming
+difficulty to the enterprise and consequently produce an increase of
+reputation. His pretence was to punish these islanders for having sent
+succors to the Gauls while he waged war against that nation, as well as
+for granting an asylum to such of the enemy as had sought protection
+from his resentment.
+
+The natives, informed of his intention, were sensible of the unequal
+contest and endeavored to appease him by submission. He received their
+ambassadors with great complacency, and having exhorted them to continue
+steadfast in the same sentiments, in the mean time made preparations for
+the execution of his design. When the troops designed for the expedition
+were embarked he set sail for Britain about midnight, and the next
+morning arrived on the coast near Dover, where he saw the rocks and
+cliffs covered with armed men to oppose his landing.
+
+Finding it impracticable to gain the shore where he first intended, from
+the agitation of the sea and the impending mountains, he resolved to
+choose a landing-place of greater security. The place he chose was about
+eight miles farther on (some suppose at Deal), where an inclining shore
+and a level country invited his attempts. The poor, naked, ill-armed
+Britons we may well suppose were but an unequal match for the
+disciplined Romans who had before conquered Gaul and afterward became
+the conquerors of the world. However, they made a brave opposition
+against the veteran army; the conflicts between them were fierce, the
+losses mutual, and the success various.
+
+The Britons had chosen Cassibelaunus for their commander-in-chief; but
+the petty princes under his command, either desiring his station or
+suspecting his fidelity, threw off their allegiance. Some of them fled
+with their forces into the internal parts of the kingdom, others
+submitted to Caesar; till at length Cassibelaunus himself, weakened by
+so many desertions, resolved upon making what terms he was able while
+yet he had power to keep the field. The conditions offered by Caesar and
+accepted by him were that he should send to the Continent double the
+number of hostages at first demanded and that he should acknowledge
+subjection to the Romans.
+
+The Romans were pleased with the name of this new and remote conquest,
+and the senate decreed a supplication of twenty days in consequence of
+their general's success. Having therefore in this manner rather
+discovered than subdued the southern parts of the island, Caesar
+returned into Gaul with his forces and left the Britons to enjoy their
+customs, religion, and laws. But the inhabitants, thus relieved from the
+terror of his arms, neglected the performance of their stipulations, and
+only two of their states sent over hostages according to the treaty.
+Caesar, it is likely, was not much displeased at the omission, as it
+furnished him with a pretext for visiting the island once more and
+completing a conquest which he had only begun.
+
+Accordingly the ensuing spring he set sail for Britain with eight
+hundred ships,[69] and arriving at the place of his descent he landed
+without opposition. The islanders being apprised of his invasion had
+assembled an army and marched down to the sea-side to oppose him, but
+seeing the number of his forces, and the whole sea, as it were, covered
+with his shipping, they were struck with consternation and retired to
+their places of security. The Romans, however, pursued them to their
+retreats until at last common danger induced these poor barbarians to
+forget their former dissensions and to unite their whole strength for
+the mutual defence of their liberty and possessions.
+
+[Footnote 69: With regard to these Roman _ships_, let not our readers be
+misled by a familiar notion or a pompous name. They were but little more
+than rowboats, as may be easily imagined from the fact that Cicero
+instances for its uncommon magnitude a _ship_ of only fifty-six tons!
+These ancient vessels were occasionally sheathed with leather or lead,
+and had the prow decorated with paint and gilding, while the stern was
+sometimes carved in the figure of a shield, elaborately adorned. Upon a
+staff there erected hung ribbons distinctive of the ship and serving at
+the same time to show the direction of the wind. There, too, stood the
+_tutela_, or chosen patron of the ship, to whom prayers and sacrifices
+were daily offered. The selection of this deity was guided by either
+private or professional reasons, and as merchants committed themselves
+to the protection of Mercury, or lovers to the care of Cupid, warriors,
+it will at once be surmised, made Mars the object of their pious
+supplication.
+
+At a later period than the epoch to which our present note attaches,
+when Constantius removed from Heliopolis to Rome an enormous obelisk,
+weighing fifteen hundred tons, the vessel on board of which it was
+shipped also carried _eleven hundred and thirty-eight tons_ of pulse;
+but such vast and unmanageable masses were regarded as monsters, and
+owed their existence to the absolute urgency of a remarkable purpose,
+backed by the despotic institutions of the times.]
+
+Cassibelaunus was chosen to conduct the common cause, and for some time
+he harassed the Romans in their march and revived the desponding hopes
+of his countrymen. But no opposition that undisciplined strength could
+make was able to repress the vigor and intrepidity of C�sar. He
+discomfited the Britons in every action; he advanced into the country,
+passed the Thames in the face of the enemy, took and burned the capital
+city of Cassibelaunus, established his ally Mandubratius as sovereign of
+the Trinobantes; and having obliged the inhabitants to make new
+submissions, he again returned with his army into Gaul, having made
+himself rather the nominal than the real possessor of the island.
+
+Whatever the stipulated tribute might have been, it is more than
+probable, as there was no authority left to exact it, that it was but
+indifferently paid. Upon the accession of Augustus, that Emperor had
+formed a design of visiting Britain, but was diverted from it by an
+unexpected revolt of the Pannonians. Some years after he resumed his
+design; but being met in his way by the British ambassadors, who
+promised the accustomed tribute and made the usual submissions, he
+desisted from his intention. The year following, finding them remiss in
+their supplies and untrue to their former professions, he once more
+prepared for the invasion of the country; but a well-timed embassy again
+averted his indignation, and the submissions he received seemed to
+satisfy his resentment; upon his death-bed he appeared sensible of the
+overgrown extent of the Roman Empire and recommended it to his
+successors never to enlarge their territories.
+
+Tiberius followed the maxims of Augustus and, wisely judging the empire
+already too extensive, made no attempt upon Britain. Some Roman soldiers
+having been wrecked on the British coast the inhabitants not only
+assisted them with the greatest humanity, but sent them in safety back
+to their general. In consequence of these friendly dispositions, a
+constant intercourse of good offices subsisted between the two nations;
+the principal British nobility resorted to Rome, and many received their
+education there.
+
+From that time the Britons began to improve in all the arts which
+contribute to the advancement of human nature. The first art which a
+savage people is generally taught by politer neighbors is that of war.
+The Britons thenceforward, though not wholly addicted to the Roman
+method of fighting, nevertheless adopted several of their improvements,
+as well in their arms as in their arrangement in the field. Their
+ferocity to strangers, for which they had been always remarkable, was
+mitigated and they began to permit an intercourse of commerce even in
+the internal parts of the country. They still, however, continued to
+live as herdsmen and hunters; a manifest proof that the country was yet
+but thinly inhabited. A nation of hunters can never be populous, as
+their subsistence is necessarily diffused over a large tract of country,
+while the husbandman converts every part of nature to human use, and
+flourishes most by the vicinity of those whom he is to support.
+
+The wild extravagances of Caligula by which he threatened Britain with
+an invasion served rather to expose him to ridicule than the island to
+danger. The Britons therefore for almost a century enjoyed their liberty
+unmolested, till at length the Romans in the reign of Claudius began to
+think seriously of reducing them under their dominion. The expedition
+for this purpose was conducted in the beginning by Plautius and other
+commanders, with that success which usually attended the Roman arms.
+
+Claudius himself, finding affairs sufficiently prepared for his
+reception, made a journey thither and received the submission of such
+states as living by commerce were willing to purchase tranquillity at
+the expense of freedom. It is true that many of the inland provinces
+preferred their native simplicity to imported elegance and, rather than
+bow their necks to the Roman yoke, offered their bosoms to the sword.
+But the southern coast with all the adjacent inland country was seized
+by the conquerors, who secured the possession by fortifying camps,
+building fortresses, and planting colonies. The other parts of the
+country, either thought themselves in no danger or continued patient
+spectators of the approaching devastation.
+
+Caractacus was the first who seemed willing, by a vigorous effort, to
+rescue his country and repel its insulting and rapacious conquerors.[70]
+The venality and corruption of the Roman pr�tors and officers, who were
+appointed to levy the contributions in Britain, served to excite the
+indignation of the natives and give spirit to his attempts. This rude
+soldier, though with inferior forces, continued for about the space of
+nine years to oppose and harass the Romans; so that at length Ostorius
+Scapula was sent over to command their armies. He was more successful
+than his predecessors. He advanced the Roman conquest over Britain,
+pierced the country of the Silures, a warlike nation along the banks of
+the Severn, and at length came up with Caractacus, who had taken
+possession of a very advantageous post upon an almost inaccessible
+mountain, washed by a deep and rapid stream.
+
+[Footnote 70: The character of this hero has been powerfully depicted by
+Beaumont and Fletcher, in one of their noblest dramas.]
+
+The unfortunate British general, when he saw the enemy approaching, drew
+up his army, composed of different tribes, and going from rank to rank
+exhorted them to strike the last blow for liberty, safety, and life. To
+these exhortations his soldiers replied with shouts of determined valor.
+But what could undisciplined bravery avail against the attack of an army
+skilled in all the arts of war and inspired by a long train of
+conquests? The Britons were, after an obstinate resistance, totally
+routed, and a few days after Caractacus himself was delivered up to the
+conquerors by Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, with whom he had
+taken refuge. The capture of this general was received with such joy at
+Rome that Claudius commanded that he should be brought from Britain in
+order to be exhibited as a spectacle to the Roman people. Accordingly,
+on the day appointed for that purpose, the Emperor, ascending his
+throne, ordered the captives and Caractacus among the number to be
+brought into his presence. The vassals of the British King, with the
+spoils taken in war, were first brought forward; these were followed by
+his family, who, with abject lamentations, were seen to implore for
+mercy.
+
+Last of all came Caractacus with an undaunted air and a dignified
+aspect. He appeared no way dejected at the amazing concourse of
+spectators that were gathered upon this occasion, but, casting his eyes
+on the splendors that surrounded him, "Alas!" cried he, "how is it
+possible that a people possessed of such magnificence at home could envy
+me an humble cottage in Britain?" When brought into the Emperor's
+presence he is said to have addressed him in the following manner: "Had
+my moderation been equal to my birth and fortune, I had arrived in this
+city not as a captive, but as a friend. But my present misfortunes
+redound as much to your honor as to my disgrace; and the obstinacy of my
+opposition serves to increase the splendor of your victory. Had I
+surrendered myself in the beginning of the contest, neither my disgrace
+nor your glory would have attracted the attention of the world, and my
+fate would have been buried in general oblivion. I am now at your mercy;
+but if my life be spared, I shall remain an eternal monument of your
+clemency and moderation." The Emperor was affected with the British
+hero's misfortunes and won by his address. He ordered him to be
+unchained upon the spot, with the rest of the captives, and the first
+use they made of their liberty was to go and prostrate themselves before
+the empress Agrippina, who as some suppose had been an intercessor for
+their freedom.
+
+Notwithstanding these misfortunes, the Britons were not subdued, and
+this island was regarded by the ambitious Romans as a field in which
+military honor might still be acquired. The Britons made one expiring
+effort to recover their liberty in the time of Nero, taking advantage of
+the absence of Paulinus, the Roman general, who was employed in subduing
+the isle of Anglesey. That small island, separated from Britain by a
+narrow channel, still continued the chief seat of the Druidical
+superstition, and constantly afforded a retreat to their defeated
+forces. It was thought necessary therefore to subdue that place, in
+order to extirpate a religion that disdained submission to foreign laws
+or leaders; and Paulinus, the greatest general of his age, undertook the
+task.
+
+The Britons endeavored to obstruct his landing on that last retreat of
+their superstitions and liberties, both by the force of their arms and
+the terrors of their religion. The priests and islanders were drawn up
+in order of battle upon the shore, to oppose his landing. The women,
+dressed like Furies, with dishevelled hair, and torches in their hands,
+poured forth the most terrible execrations. Such a sight at first
+confounded the Romans and fixed them motionless on the spot; so that
+they received the first assault without opposition. But Paulinus,
+exhorting his troops to despise the menaces of an absurd superstition,
+impelled them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field, burned the
+Druids in the same fires they had prepared for their captive enemies,
+and destroyed all their consecrated groves and altars.
+
+In the mean time the Britons, taking advantage of his absence, resolved,
+by a general insurrection, to free themselves from that state of abject
+servitude to which they were reduced by the Romans. They had many
+motives to aggravate their resentment--the greatness of their taxes,
+which were levied with unremitting severity; the cruel insolence of
+their conquerors, who reproached that very poverty which they had
+caused, but particularly the barbarous treatment of Boadicea, queen of
+the Iceni, drove them at last into open rebellion.
+
+Prasatagus, king of the Iceni, at his death had bequeathed one-half of
+his dominions to the Romans, and the other to his daughters; thus hoping
+by the sacrifice of a part to secure the rest in his family; but it had
+a different effect; for the Roman procurator immediately took possession
+of the whole, and when Boadicea, the widow of the deceased, attempted to
+remonstrate, he ordered her to be scourged like a slave, and violated
+the chastity of her daughters. These outrages were sufficient to produce
+a revolt through the whole island. The Iceni, being the most deeply
+interested in the quarrel, were the first to take arms; all the other
+states soon followed the example, and Boadicea, a woman of great beauty
+and masculine spirit, was appointed to head the common forces, which
+amounted to two hundred and thirty thousand fighting men.
+
+These, exasperated by their wrongs, attacked several of the Roman
+settlements and colonies with success, Paulinus hastened to relieve
+London, which was already a flourishing colony; but found on his arrival
+that it would be requisite, for the general safety, to abandon that
+place to the merciless fury of the enemy. London was therefore soon
+reduced to ashes; such of the inhabitants as remained in it were
+massacred; and the Romans with all other strangers to the number of
+seventy thousand were cruelly put to the sword. Flushed with these
+successes the Britons no longer sought to avoid the enemy, but boldly
+came to the place where Paulinus awaited their arrival, posted in a very
+advantageous manner with a body of ten thousand men. The battle was
+obstinate and bloody. Boadicea herself appeared in a chariot with her
+two daughters and harangued her army with masculine firmness; but the
+irregular and undisciplined bravery of her troops was unable to resist
+the cool intrepidity of the Romans. They were routed with great
+slaughter; eighty thousand perished in the field, and an infinite number
+were made prisoners, while Boadicea herself, fearing to fall into the
+hands of the enraged victor, put an end to her life by poison. Nero soon
+after recalled Paulinus from a government where, by suffering and
+inflicting so many severities, he was judged improper to compose the
+angry and alarmed minds of the natives.
+
+After an interval, Cerealis received the command from Vespasian, and by
+his bravery propagated the terror of the Roman arms. Julius Frontinus
+succeeded Cerealis both in authority and reputation. The general who
+finally established the dominion of the Romans in this island was Julius
+Agricola, who governed it during the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and
+Domitian, and distinguished himself as well by his courage as humanity.
+
+Agricola, who is considered as one of the greatest characters in
+history, formed a regular plan for subduing and civilizing the island,
+and thus rendering the acquisition useful to the conquerors. As the
+northern part of the country was least tractable, he carried his
+victorious arms thither, and defeated the undisciplined enemy in every
+encounter. He pierced into the formerly inaccessible forests and
+mountains of Caledonia; he drove onward all those fierce and intractable
+spirits who preferred famine to slavery, and who, rather than submit,
+chose to remain in perpetual hostility. Nor was it without opposition
+that he thus made his way into a country rude and impervious by nature.
+
+He was opposed by Galgacus at the head of a numerous army, whom he
+defeated in a decisive action, in which considerable numbers were slain.
+Being thus successful, he did not think proper to pursue the enemy into
+their retreats; but embarking a body of troops on board his fleet, he
+ordered the commander to surround the whole coast of Britain, which had
+not been discovered to be an island till the preceding year. This
+armament, pursuant to his orders, steered to the northward, and there
+subdued the Orkneys; then making the tour of the whole island, it
+arrived in the port of Sandwich, without having met with the least
+disaster.
+
+During these military enterprises, Agricola was ever attentive to the
+arts of peace. He attempted to humanize the fierceness of those who
+acknowledged his power, by introducing the Roman laws, habits, manners,
+and learning. He taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of
+life, instructed them in the arts of agriculture, and, in order to
+protect them in their peaceable possessions, he drew a rampart, and
+fixed a train of garrisons between them and their northern neighbors,
+thus cutting off the ruder and more barren parts of the island and
+securing the Roman province from the invasion of a fierce and
+necessitous enemy. In this manner the Britons, being almost totally
+subdued, now began to throw off all hopes of recovering their former
+liberty, and, having often experienced the superiority of the Romans,
+consented to submit, and were content with safety. From that time the
+Romans seemed more desirous of securing what they possessed than of
+making new conquests, and were employed rather in repressing than
+punishing their restless northern invaders.
+
+
+
+
+CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF C�SAR AND
+ANTONY
+
+B.C. 51-30
+
+JOHN P. MAHAFFY
+
+
+(Several Egyptian princesses of the line of the Ptolemies bore the name
+of Cleopatra, but history, romance, and tragedy are all illumined with
+the story of one--Cleopatra the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. Born at
+Alexandria, B.C. 69, she ruled jointly with her brother Ptolemy from 51
+to 48. Being then expelled by her colleague, she entered upon the
+performance of her part in Roman history when her cause was espoused by
+Julius C�sar, whom she had captivated by her charms. Her reinstatement
+by the help of C�sar, as well as all that followed in her relations with
+Roman rulers, was due primarily to personal considerations, rather than
+political or military causes; and among women whose lives have vitally
+influenced the conduct of great historic leaders, and thereby affected
+the course of events, Cleopatra holds a place at once the most
+conspicuous and most unique.
+
+Like C�sar, Mark Antony, at his first interview with Cleopatra,
+succumbed to the fascinations of the "Rare Egyptian," and he never after
+ceased to be her slave. Not long after C�sar's death Antony had married
+Fulvia, whom he deserted for the "enchanting queen." From this point to
+its culmination in overwhelming disaster and the tragic death of this
+celebrated pair of lovers, the romantic drama of Cleopatra's conquests
+becomes even more important in literature than in history. This
+extraordinary voluptuary, whose beauty and witcheries have interested
+mankind for almost twenty centuries, has been the subject of some thirty
+tragedies in various languages; and in _Antony and Cleopatra_--one of
+his greatest plays--Shakespeare, closely following the narratives of
+Plutarch and other classical writers, has invested her with a potency of
+charm unparalleled among literary creations.
+
+She matches Antony in qualities of intellect, while she dazzles him with
+her coquettish arts. "A queen, a siren," says Thomas Campbell, "a
+Shakespeare's Cleopatra alone could have entangled Shakespeare's
+Antony." And Shakespeare alone, as declared by Mrs. Jameson, "has dared
+to exhibit the Egyptian Queen with all her greatness and all her
+littleness, all her paltry arts and dissolute passions, yet awakened our
+pity for fallen grandeur without once beguiling us into sympathy with
+guilt."
+
+Yet the plain history of this "Sorceress of the Nile," with her
+"infinite variety," as told by Plutarch and the other ancients, and
+retold, with whatever advantages gained from critical research, by the
+modern masters, makes the same impression of moral contrast and
+inscrutability as that imparted by the greatest poet who has dramatized
+the character of Cleopatra.)
+
+
+Now at last Egypt, coming into close connection with the world's
+masters, becomes the stage for some of the most striking scenes in
+ancient history. They seem to most readers something new and
+strange--the pageants and passions of the fratricide Cleopatra as
+something unparalleled--and yet she was one of a race in which almost
+every reigning princess for the last two hundred years had been swayed
+by like storms of passion, or had been guilty of like daring violations
+of common humanity. What Arsino�, what Cleopatra, from the first to the
+last, had hesitated to murder a brother or a husband, to assume the
+throne, to raise and command armies, to discard or adopt a partner of
+her throne from caprice in policy, or policy in caprice? But hitherto
+this desperate gambling with life had been carried on in Egypt and
+Syria; the play had been with Hellenistic pawns--Egyptian or Syrian
+princes; the last Cleopatra came to play with Roman pieces, easier
+apparently to move than the others, but implying higher stakes, greater
+glory in the victory, greater disaster in the defeat. Therefore is it
+that this last Cleopatra, probably no more than an average specimen of
+the beauty, talent, daring, and cruelty of her ancestors, has taken an
+unique place among them in the imagination of the world, and holds her
+own even now and forever as a familiar name throughout the world.
+
+Ptolemy Auletes, when dying, had taken great care not to bequeath his
+mortgaged kingdom to his Roman creditors. In his will he had named as
+his heirs the elder of his two sons, and his daughter, who was the
+eldest of the family. Nobody thought of claiming Egypt for a heritage of
+the Roman Republic, when the whole world was the prize proposed in the
+civil conflict, for though the war of C�sar and Pompey had not actually
+broken out, the political sky was lowering with blackness, and the
+coming tempest was muttering its thunder through the sultry air. So
+Cleopatra, now about sixteen or seventeen years of age, and her much
+younger brother (about ten) assumed the throne as was traditional,
+without any tumult or controversy,
+
+The opening discords came from within the royal family. The tutors and
+advisers of the young King, among whom Pothinos, a eunuch brought up
+with him as his playmate, according to the custom of the court, was the
+ablest and most influential, persuaded him to assume sole direction of
+affairs and to depose his elder sister. Cleopatra was not able to
+maintain herself in Alexandria, but went to Syria as an exile, where she
+promptly collected an army, as was the wont of these Egyptian
+princesses, who seem to have resources always under their control, and
+returned--within a few months, says C�sar--by way of Pelusium, to
+reconquer her lawful share in the throne. This happened in the fourth
+year of their so-called joint reign, B.C. 48, at the very time that
+Pompey and C�sar were engaged in their conflict for a far greater
+kingdom.
+
+C�sar expressed his opinion that the quarrel of the sovereigns in Egypt
+concerned the Roman people, and himself as consul, the more so as it was
+in his previous consulate that the recognition of and alliance with
+their father had taken place. So he signified his decision that Ptolemy
+and Cleopatra should dismiss their armies, and should discuss their
+claims before him by argument and not by arms. All our authorities,
+except Dio Cassius, state that he sent for Cleopatra that she might
+personally urge her claims; but Dio tells us, with far more detail and I
+think greater probability, "that at first the quarrel with her brother
+was argued for her by friends, till she, learning the amorous character
+of C�sar, sent him word that her case was being mismanaged by her
+advocates, and she desired to plead it herself, She was then in the
+flower of her age (about twenty) and celebrated for her beauty.
+Moreover, she had the sweetest of voices, and every charm of
+conversation, so that she was likely to ensnare even the most obdurate
+and elderly man. These gifts she regarded as her claims upon C�sar. She
+prayed therefore for an interview, and adorned herself in a garb most
+becoming, but likely to arouse his pity, and so came secretly by night
+to visit him."
+
+If she indeed arrived secretly and was carried into the palace by one
+faithful follower as a bale of carpet, it was from fear of assassination
+by the party of Pothinos. She knew that as soon as she had reached
+C�sar's sentries she was safe; as the event proved, she was more than
+safe, for in the brief interval of peace, and perhaps even of apparent
+jollity, while the royal dispute was under discussion, she gained an
+influence over C�sar which she retained till his death. C�sar
+adjudicated the throne according to the will of Auletes; he even
+restored Cyprus to Egypt, and proposed to send the younger brother and
+his sister Arsino� to govern it; but he also insisted on a repayment, in
+part at least, of the enormous outstanding debt of Auletes to him and
+his party.
+
+A few months after C�sar's departure from Egypt Cleopatra gave birth to
+a son, whom she alleged, without any immediate contradiction, to be the
+dictator's. The Alexandrians called him C�sarion, and she never swerved
+from asserting for him royal privileges. We hear of no other lover,
+though it is impossible to imagine Cleopatra arriving at the age of
+twenty without providing herself with this luxury. She was, however,
+afraid to let C�sar live far from her influence, and some time before
+his assassination--that is to say, some time between B.C. 48 and 44--she
+came with the young King her brother to Rome, where she was received in
+C�sar's palace beyond the Tiber, causing by her residence there
+considerable scandal among the stricter Romans. Cicero confesses that he
+went to see her, but protests that his reasons for doing so were
+absolutely nonpolitical. Cicero found her haughty; he does not say she
+was beautiful and fascinating. We do not hear of any political activity
+on her part, though Cicero evidently suspects it; it is well-nigh
+impossible that she can have preferred her very doubtful position at
+Rome to her brilliant life in the East. She was suspected of urging
+C�sar to move eastward the capital of his new empire, to desert Rome,
+and choose either Ilium, the imaginary cradle of his race, or
+Alexandria, as his residence. She is likely to have encouraged at all
+events his expedition against the Parthians, which would bring him to
+Syria, whence she hoped to gain new territory for her son. The whole
+situation is eloquently, perhaps too eloquently, described by Merivale,
+for he weaves in many conjectures of his own, as if they were
+ascertained facts.
+
+The colors of this imitation of a hateful original [the oriental despot]
+were heightened by the demeanor of Cleopatra, who followed her lover to
+Rome at his invitation. She came with the younger Ptolem�us, who now
+shared her throne, and her ostensible object was to negotiate a treaty
+between her kingdom and the Commonwealth. While the Egyptian nation was
+formally admitted to the friendship and alliance of Rome, its sovereign
+was lodged in C�sar's villa on the other side of the Tiber, and the
+statue of the most fascinating of women was erected in the temple of the
+Goddess of Love and Beauty. The connection which subsisted between her
+and the dictator was unblushingly avowed. Public opinion demanded no
+concessions to its delicacy; the feelings of the injured Calpurnia had
+been blunted by repeated outrage, and Cleopatra was encouraged to
+proclaim openly that her child C�sarion was the son of her Roman
+admirer. A tribune, named Helvius Cinna, ventured, it is said, to assert
+among his friends that he was prepared to propose a law, with the
+dictator's sanction, to enable him to marry more wives than one, for the
+sake of progeny, and to disregard in his choice the legitimate
+qualification of Roman descent. The Romans, however, were spared this
+last insult to their prejudices. The queen of Egypt felt bitterly the
+scorn with which she was popularly regarded as the representative of an
+effeminate and licentious people. It is not improbable that she employed
+her fatal influence to withdraw her lover from the Roman capital, and
+urged him to schemes of oriental conquest to bring him more completely
+within her toils. In the mean while the haughtiness of her demeanor
+corresponded with the splendid anticipations in which she indulged. She
+held a court in the suburbs of the city, at which the adherents of the
+dictator's policy were not the only attendants. Even his opponents and
+concealed enemies were glad to bask in the sunshine of her smiles.
+
+When C�sar was assassinated, she was still at Rome, and had some wild
+hopes of having her son recognized by the C�sareans. But failing in this
+she escaped secretly, and sailed to Egypt, not without causing
+satisfaction to cautious men like Cicero that she was gone. The passage
+in which he seems to allude to a rumor that she was about to have
+another child--another misfortune to the State--does not bear that
+interpretation. As he says not a word concerning the young king Ptolemy,
+we may assume that the youth was already dead, and that he died at Rome.
+The common belief was that Cleopatra poisoned him as soon as his
+increasing years made him troublesome to her. In her reign four years
+are assigned to a joint rule with her elder brother, four more to that
+with her younger, so that this latter must have died in the same year as
+C�sar.
+
+Cleopatra, watching from Egypt the great civil war which ensued,
+summoned and commanded by the various leaders to send aid in ships and
+money, threatened with plunder and confiscation by those who were now
+exhausting Asia Minor and the islands with monstrous exactions, had
+ample occupation for her talents in steering safely among these constant
+dangers. Appian says she pleaded famine and pestilence in her country in
+declining the demands of Cassius for subsidies. The latter was on the
+point of invading Egypt, at the moment denuded of defending forces and
+_wasted with famine_, when he was summoned to Philippi by Brutus.
+
+It was not till B.C. 41, after the decisive battle of Philippi, that the
+victorious Antony, turning to subdue the East to the C�sarean cause,
+held his _joyeuse entr�e_ into Ephesus, and then proceeded to drain all
+Asia Minor of money for the satisfaction of his greedy legionaries and
+his own still more greedy vices. Reaching Cilicia, he sent an order to
+the queen of Egypt to come before him and explain her conduct during the
+late war, for she was reported to have sent aid to Cassius. The sequel
+may be told in Plutarch's famous narrative:
+
+"Dellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen her face, and
+remarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, than he felt convinced
+that Antony would not so much as think of giving any molestation to a
+woman like this. On the contrary, she would be the first in favor with
+him. So he set himself at once to pay his court to the Egyptian, and
+gave her his advice, 'to go,' in the Homeric style, to Cilicia, 'in her
+best attire,' and bade her fear nothing from Antony, the gentlest and
+kindest of soldiers. She had some faith in the words of Dellius, but
+more in her own attractions, which, having formerly recommended her to
+C�sar and the young Cnaeus Pompey, she did not doubt might yet prove
+more successful with Antony. Their acquaintance was with her when a
+girl, young, and ignorant of the world, but she was to meet Antony in
+the time of life when women's beauty is most splendid and their
+intellects are in full maturity. She made great preparation for her
+journey, of money, gifts, and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a
+kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in her
+own magic arts and charms.
+
+"She received several letters, both from Antony and from his friends, to
+summon her, but she took no account of these orders; and at last, as if
+in mockery of them, she came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge
+with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver
+beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay
+all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a
+picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted cupids, stood on each
+side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like sea nymphs and graces, some
+steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes.[71] The perfumes
+diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with
+multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part
+running out of the city to see the sight. The market-place was quite
+emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal,
+while the word went through all the multitude that Venus was come to
+feast with Bacchus, for the common good of Asia.[72] On her arrival,
+Antony sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should
+come to her; so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he
+complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent
+beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of
+lights, for on a sudden there was let down altogether so great a number
+of branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares
+and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has
+seldom been equalled for beauty."
+
+[Footnote 71: There was no Egyptian feature in this show, which was
+purely Hellenistic.]
+
+[Footnote 72: How easily such a belief started up in the minds of a
+crowd in the Asia Minor of that day appears from Acts xiv. 11 _seq_.,
+where the crowd at Iconium, on seeing a cripple cured, at once exclaim
+that the gods are come down to them in the likeness of men, and call
+Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker,
+bringing sacrifices to offer to the apostles.]
+
+"The next day Antony invited her to supper, and was very desirous to
+outdo her as well in magnificence as contrivance; but he found he was
+altogether beaten in both, and was so well convinced of it that he was
+himself the first to jest and mock at his poverty of wit and his rustic
+awkwardness. She, perceiving that his raillery was broad and gross and
+savored more of the soldier than the courtier, rejoined in the same
+taste, and fell into it at once, without any sort of reluctance or
+reserve, for her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so
+remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could
+see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if
+you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person,
+joining with the charm of her conversation and the character that
+attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a
+pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an
+instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another;
+so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an
+interpreter. To most of them she spoke herself, as to the Ethiopians,
+troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many
+others, whose language she had learned;[73] which was all the more
+surprising, because most of the kings her predecessors scarcely gave
+themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of
+them quite abandoned the Macedonian."
+
+[Footnote 73: We have here the usual lies of courtiers.]
+
+"Antony was so captivated by her that, while Fulvia, his wife,
+maintained his quarrels in Rome against C�sar by actual force of arms,
+and the Parthian troops, commanded by Labienus--the King's generals
+having made him commander-in-chief--were assembled in Mesopotamia, and
+ready to enter Syria, he could yet suffer himself to be carried away by
+her to Alexandria, there to keep holiday, like a boy, in play and
+diversion, squandering and fooling away in enjoyments that most costly,
+as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time. They had a sort of company, to
+which they gave a particular name, calling it that of the 'Inimitable
+Livers.' The members entertained one another daily in turn, with an
+extravagance of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a
+physician of Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in
+Alexandria, used to tell my grandfather Lamprias that, having some
+acquaintance with one of the royal cooks, he was invited by him, being a
+young man, to come and see the sumptuous preparations for dinner. So he
+was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety of
+all things, but, particularly seeing eight wild boars roasting whole,
+says he, 'Surely you have a great number of guests.' The cook laughed at
+his simplicity, and told him there were not above twelve to dine, but
+that every dish was to be served up just roasted to a turn, and if
+anything was but one minute ill-timed it was spoiled. 'And,' said he,
+'maybe Antony will dine just now, maybe not this hour, maybe he will
+call for wine, or begin to talk, and will put it off. So that,' he
+continued, 'it is not one, but many dinners, must be had in readiness,
+as it is impossible to guess at his hour.'"
+
+Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but Cleopatra had a thousand. Were
+Antony serious or disposed to mirth she had any moment some new delight
+or charm to meet his wishes. At every turn she was upon him, and let him
+escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him,
+drank with him, hunted with him, and when he exercised in arms she was
+there to see. At night she would go rambling with him to joke with
+people at their doors and windows, dressed like a servant woman, for
+Antony also went in servant's disguise, and from these expeditions he
+always came home very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten
+severely, though most people guessed who it was. However, the
+Alexandrians in general liked it all well enough, and joined
+good-humoredly and kindly in his frolic and play, saying they were much
+obliged to Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome and keeping his
+comedy for them. It would be trifling without end to be particular in
+relating his follies, but his fishing must not be forgotten. He went out
+one day to angle with Cleopatra, and being so unfortunate as to catch
+nothing in the presence of his mistress, he gave secret orders to the
+fishermen to dive under water and put fishes that had been already taken
+upon his hooks, and these he drew in so fast that the Egyptian perceived
+it. But feigning great admiration, she told everybody how dexterous
+Antony was, and invited them next day to come and see him again. So when
+a number of them had come on board the fishing boats, as soon as he had
+let down his hook, one of her servants was beforehand with his divers
+and fixed upon his hook a salted fish from Pontus. Antony, feeling his
+line taut, drew up the prey, and when, as may be imagined, great
+laughter ensued, "Leave," said Cleopatra, "the fishing rod, autocrat, to
+us poor sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your game is cities, kingdoms,
+and continents."
+
+Plutarch does not mention the most tragic and the most characteristic
+proof of Cleopatra's complete conquest of Antony. Among his other crimes
+of obedience he sent by her orders and put to death the Princess
+Arsino�, who, knowing well her danger, had taken refuge as a suppliant
+in the temple of Artemis Leucophryne at Miletus.
+
+It is not our duty to follow the various complications of war and
+diplomacy, accompanied by the marriage with the serious and gentle
+Octavia, whereby the brilliant but dissolute Antony was weaned, as it
+were, from his follies, and persuaded to live a life of public activity.
+Whether the wily Octavian did not foresee the result, whether he did not
+even sacrifice his sister to accumulate odium against his dangerous
+rival, is not for us to determine. But when it was arranged (in B.C. 36)
+that Antony should lead an expedition against the Parthians, any man of
+ordinary sense must have known that he would come within the reach of
+the eastern siren, and was sure to be again attracted by her fatal
+voice. It is hard to account for her strange patience during these four
+years. She had borne twins to Antony, probably after the meeting in
+Cilicia. Though she still maintained the claims of her eldest son
+C�sarion to be the divine Julius' only direct heir, we do not hear of
+her sending requests to Antony to support him, or that any agents were
+working in her interests at Rome. She was too subtle a woman to solicit
+his return to Alexandria. There are mistaken insinuations that she
+thought the chances of Sextus Pompey, with his naval supremacy, better
+than those of Antony, but these stories refer to his brother Cnaeus, who
+visited Egypt before Pharsalia.
+
+It is probably to this pause in her life, as we know it, that we may
+refer her activity in repairing and enlarging the national temples. The
+splendid edifice at Dendera, at present among the most perfect of
+Egyptian temples, bears no older names than those of Cleopatra and her
+son C�sarion, and their portraits represent the latter as a growing lad,
+his mother as an essentially Egyptian figure, conventionally drawn
+according to the rules which had determined the figures of gods and
+kings for fifteen hundred years. Under these circumstances it is idle to
+speak of this well-known relief picture as a portrait of the Queen. It
+is no more so than the granite statues in the Vatican are portraits of
+Philadelphus and Arsino�. The artist had probably never seen the Queen,
+and if he had, it would not have produced the slightest alteration in
+his drawing.
+
+Plutarch expressly says that it was not in peerless beauty that her
+fascination lay, but in the combination of more than average beauty with
+many other personal attractions. The Egyptian portrait is likely to
+confirm in the spectator's mind the impression derived from
+Shakespeare's play, that Cleopatra was a swarthy Egyptian, in strong
+contrast to the fair Roman ladies, and suggesting a wide difference of
+race. She was no more an Egyptian than she was an Indian, but a pure
+Macedonian, of a race akin to, and perhaps fairer than, the Greeks.
+
+No sooner had Antony reached Syria than the fell influence of the
+Egyptian Queen revived. In the words of Plutarch:
+
+"But the mischief that thus long had lain still, the passion for
+Cleopatra, which better thoughts had seemed to have lulled and charmed
+into oblivion, upon his approach to Syria, gathered strength again, and
+broke out into a flame. And in fine, like Plato's restive and rebellious
+horse of the human soul, flinging off all good and wholesome counsel and
+breaking fairly loose, he sent Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra into
+Syria; to whom at her arrival he made no small or trifling
+present--Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, great part of Cilicia, that
+side of Judea which produces balm, that part of Arabia where the
+Nabathaeans extend to the outer sea--profuse gifts which much displeased
+the Romans. For although he had invested several private persons with
+great governments and kingdoms, and bereaved many kings of theirs, as
+Antigonus of Judea, whose head he caused to be struck off--the first
+example of that punishment being inflicted on a king--yet nothing stung
+the Romans like the shame of these honors paid to Cleopatra. Their
+dissatisfaction was augmented also by his acknowledging as his own the
+twin children he had by her, giving them the names of Alexander and
+Cleopatra, and adding, as their surnames, the titles of Sun and Moon."
+
+After much dallying the triumvir really started for the wild East,
+whither it is not our business to follow him. Cleopatra he sent home to
+Egypt, to await his victorious return, and it was on this occasion that
+she came in state to Jerusalem to visit Herod the Great--probably the
+most brilliant scene of the kind which had taken place since the queen
+of Sheba came to learn the wisdom of Solomon. But it was a very
+different wisdom that Herod professed, and in which he was verily a high
+authority, nor was the subtle daughter of the Ptolemies a docile pupil,
+but a practised expert in the same arts of cruelty and cunning;
+wherewith both pursued their several courses of ambition and sought to
+wheedle from their Roman masters cities and provinces. The reunion of
+Antony and Cleopatra must have greatly alarmed Herod, whose plans were
+directly thwarted by the freaks of Antony, and he must have been
+preparing at the time to make his case with Octavian, and seek from his
+favor protection against the new caprices of the then lord of the East.
+
+"The scene at Herod's palace must have been inimitable. The display of
+counter-fascinations between these two tigers; their voluptuous natures
+mutually attracted; their hatred giving to each that deep interest in
+the other which so often turns to mutual passion while it incites to
+conquest; the grace and finish of their manners, concealing a ruthless
+ferocity; the splendor of their appointments--what more dramatic picture
+can we imagine in history?
+
+"We hear that she actually attempted to seduce Herod, but failed, owing
+to his deep devotion to his wife Mariamne. The prosaic Josephus adds
+that Herod consulted his council whether he should not put her to death
+for this attempt upon his virtue. He was dissuaded by them on the ground
+that Antony would listen to no arguments, not even from the most
+persuasive of the world's princes, and would take awful vengeance when
+he heard of her death. So she was escorted with great gifts and
+politenesses back to Egypt."
+
+Such, then, was the character of this notorious Queen. But her violation
+of temples, and even of ancient tombs, for the sake of treasure must
+have been a far more public and odious exhibition of that want of
+respect for the sentiment of others which is the essence of bad
+manners.[74]
+
+[Footnote 74: _The Greek World under Roman Sway._]
+
+As is well known, the first campaign of Antony against Armenians and
+Parthians was a signal failure, and it was only with great difficulty
+that he escaped the fate of Crassus. But Cleopatra was ready to meet him
+in Syria with provisions and clothes for his distressed and ragged
+battalions, and he returned with her to spend the winter (B.C. 36-35) at
+Alexandria. She thus snatched him again from his noble wife, Octavia,
+who had come from Rome to Athens with succors even greater than
+Cleopatra had brought. This at least is the word of the historians who
+write in the interest of the Romans, and regard the queen of Egypt with
+horror and with fear.
+
+The new campaign of Antony (B.C. 34) was apparently more prosperous, but
+it was only carried far enough to warrant his holding a Roman triumph at
+Alexandria--perhaps the only novelty in pomp which the triumvir could
+exhibit to the Alexandrian populace, while it gave the most poignant
+offence at Rome. It was apparently now that he made that formal
+distribution of provinces which Octavian used as his chief _casus
+belli_.
+
+"Nor was the division he made among his sons at Alexandria less
+unpopular. It seemed a theatrical piece of insolence and contempt of his
+country, for, assembling the people in the exercise ground, and causing
+two golden thrones to be placed on a platform of silver, the one for him
+and the other for Cleopatra, and at their feet lower thrones for their
+children, he proclaimed Cleopatra queen of Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and
+Coele-Syria, and with her conjointly C�sarion, the reputed son of the
+former C�sar. His own sons by Cleopatra were to have the style of 'King
+of Kings'; to Alexander he gave Armenia and Media, with Parthia so soon
+as it should be overcome; to Ptolemy Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia.
+Alexander was brought out before the people in Median costume, the tiara
+and upright peak, and Ptolemy in boots and mantle and Macedonian cap
+done about with the diadem; for this was the habit of the successors of
+Alexander, as the other was of the Medes and Armenians. And, as soon as
+they had saluted their parents, the one was received by a guard of
+Macedonians, the other by one of Armenians. Cleopatra was then, as at
+other times when she appeared in public, dressed in the habit of the
+goddess Isis, and gave audience to the people under the name of the New
+Isis.
+
+"This over, he gave Priene to his players for a habitation, and set sail
+for Athens, where fresh sports and play-acting employed him. Cleopatra,
+jealous of the honors Octavia had received at Athens--for Octavia was
+much beloved by the Athenians--courted the favor of the people with all
+sorts of attentions. The Athenians, in requital, having decreed her
+public honors, deputed several of the citizens to wait upon her at her
+house, among whom went Antony as one, he being an Athenian citizen, and
+he it was that made the speech.
+
+"The speed and extent of Antony's preparations alarmed C�sar, who feared
+he might be forced to fight the decisive battle that summer, for he
+wanted many necessaries, and the people grudged very much to pay the
+taxes; freemen being called upon to pay a fourth part of their incomes,
+and freed slaves an eighth of their property, so that there were loud
+outcries against him, and disturbances throughout all Italy. And this is
+looked upon as one of the greatest of Antony's oversights that he did
+not then press the war, for he allowed time at once for C�sar to make
+his preparations, and for the commotions to pass over, for while people
+were having their money called for they were mutinous and violent; but,
+having paid it, they held their peace.
+
+"Titius and Plancus, men of consular dignity and friends to Antony,
+having been ill-used by Cleopatra, whom they had most resisted in her
+design of being present in the war, came over to C�sar, and gave
+information of the contents of Antony's will, with which they were
+acquainted. It was deposited in the hands of the vestal virgins, who
+refused to deliver it up, and sent C�sar word, if he pleased, he should
+come and seize it himself, which he did. And, reading it over to
+himself, he noted those places that were most for his purpose, and,
+having summoned the senate, read them publicly. Many were scandalized at
+the proceeding, thinking it out of reason and equity to call a man to
+account for what was not to be until after his death. C�sar specially
+pressed what Antony said in his will about his burial, for he had
+ordered that even if he died in the city of Rome, his body, after being
+carried in state through the Forum, should be sent to Cleopatra at
+Alexandria.
+
+"Calvisius, a dependent of C�sar's, urged other charges in connection
+with Cleopatra against Antony: that he had given her the library of
+Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct volumes; that at a
+great banquet, in the presence of many guests, he had risen up and
+rubbed her feet, to fulfil some wager or promise; that he had suffered
+the Ephesians to salute her as their queen; that he had frequently at
+the public audience of kings and princes received amorous messages
+written in tablets made of onyx and crystal, and read them openly on the
+tribunal; that when Furnius, a man of great authority and eloquence
+among the Romans, was pleading, Cleopatra happening to pass by in her
+litter, Antony started up and left them in the middle of their cause, to
+follow at her side and attend her home."[75]
+
+[Footnote 75: Plutarch: _Antony_.]
+
+When war was declared, Antony sought to gain the support of the East in
+the conflict. He made alliance with a Median king who betrothed his
+daughter to Cleopatra's infant son Alexander; but he made the fatal
+mistake of allowing Cleopatra to accompany him to Samos, where he
+gathered his army, and even to Actium, where she led the way in flying
+from the fight, and so persuading the infatuated Antony to leave his
+army and join in her disgraceful escape.
+
+Historians have regarded this act of Cleopatra as the mere cowardice of
+a woman who feared to look upon an armed conflict and join in the din of
+battle. But she was surely made of sterner stuff. She had probably
+computed with the utmost care the chances of the rivals, and had made up
+her mind that, in spite of Antony's gallantry, his cause was lost.[76]
+If she fought out the battle with her strong contingent of ships, she
+would probably fall into Octavian's hands as a prisoner, and would have
+no choice between suicide or death in the Roman prison, after being
+exhibited to the mob in Octavian's triumph. There was no chance whatever
+that she would have been spared, as was her sister Arsino� after Julius
+C�sar's triumph, nor would such clemency be less hateful than death. But
+there was still a chance, if Antony were killed or taken prisoner, that
+she might negotiate with the victor as queen of Egypt, with her fleet,
+army, and treasures intact, and who could tell what effect her charms,
+though now full ripe, might have upon the conqueror? Two great Romans
+had yielded to her, why not the third, who seemed a smaller man?
+
+[Footnote 76: Dion says that Antony was of the same opinion, and went
+into the battle intending to fly; but this does not agree with his
+character or with the facts.]
+
+This view implies that she was already false to Antony, and it may well
+be asked how such a charge is compatible with the affecting scenes which
+followed at Alexandria, where her policy seemed defeated by her passion,
+and she felt her old love too strong even for her heartless ambition? I
+will say in answer that there is no more frequent anomaly in the
+psychology of female love than a strong passion coexisting with selfish
+ambition, so that each takes the lead in turn; nay, even the
+consciousness of treachery may so intensify the passion as to make a
+woman embrace with keener transports the lover whom she has betrayed
+than one whom she has no thought of surrendering. There are, moreover,
+in these tragedies unexpected accidents, which so affect even the
+hardest nature that calculations are cast aside, and the old loyalty
+resumes a temporary sway. Nor must we fail to insist again upon the
+traditions wherein this last Cleopatra was born and bred. She came from
+a stock whose women played with love and with life as if they were mere
+counters. To hesitate whether such a scion of such a house would have
+delayed to discard Antony and to assume another passion is to show small
+appreciation of the effects of heredity and of example. Dion tells us
+that she arrived in Alexandria before the news of her defeat, pretended
+a victory, and took the occasion of committing many murders, in order to
+get rid of secret opponents, and also to gather wealth by confiscation
+of their goods, for both she and Antony, who came along the coast of
+Libya, seem still to have thought of defending the inaccessible Egypt,
+and making terms for themselves and their children with the conqueror.
+But Antony's efforts completely failed; no one would rally to his
+standard. And meanwhile the false Queen had begun to send presents to
+C�sar and encourage him to treat with her. But when he bluntly proposed
+to her to murder Antony as the price of her reconciliation with himself,
+and when he even declared by proxy that he was in love with her, he
+clearly made a rash move in this game of diplomacy, though Dion says he
+persuaded her of his love, and that accordingly she betrayed to him the
+fortress of Pelusium, the key of the country. Dion also differs from
+Plutarch in repeatedly ascribing to Octavian great anxiety to secure the
+treasures which Cleopatra had with her, and which she was likely to
+destroy by fire if driven to despair.
+
+The historian may well leave to the biographer, nay, to the poet, the
+affecting details of the closing scenes of Cleopatra's life. In the
+fourth and fifth acts of _Antony and Cleopatra_ Shakespeare has
+reproduced every detail of Plutarch's narrative, which was drawn from
+that of her physician Olympos. Her fascinations were not dead, for they
+swayed Dolabella to play false to his master so far as to warn her of
+his intentions, and leave her time for her dignified and royal end. But
+if these Hellenistic queens knew how to die, they knew not how to live.
+Even the penultimate scene of the tragedy, when she presents an
+inventory of her treasures to Octavian, and is charged by her steward
+with dishonesty, shows her in uncivilized violence striking the man in
+the face and bursting into indecent fury, such as an Athenian, still
+less a Roman, matron would have been ashamed to exhibit. Nor is there
+any reason to doubt the genuineness of this scene, though we must not be
+weary of cautioning ourselves against the hostile witnesses who have
+reported to us her life. They praise nothing in her but her bewitching
+presence and her majestic death.
+
+"After her repast Cleopatra sent to C�sar a letter which she had written
+and sealed, and, putting everybody out of the monument but her two
+women, she shut the doors. C�sar, opening her letter, and finding
+pathetic prayers and entreaties that she might be buried in the same
+tomb with Antony, soon guessed what was doing. At first he was going
+himself in all haste; but, changing his mind, he sent others to see. The
+thing had been quickly done. The messengers came at full speed, and
+found the guards apprehensive of nothing; but on opening the doors they
+saw her stone dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal
+ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her feet, and Charmion,
+just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was adjusting her
+mistress' diadem. And when one that came in said angrily, 'Was this well
+done of your lady, Charmion?' 'Perfectly well,' she answered, 'and as
+became the daughter of so many kings'; and as she said this she fell
+down dead by the bedside."
+
+Even the hostile accounts cannot conceal from us that both in physique
+and in intellect she was a very remarkable figure, exceptional in her
+own, exceptional had she been born in any other, age. She is a speaking
+instance of the falsehood of a prevailing belief, that the intermarriage
+of near relations invariably produces a decadence in the human race. The
+whole dynasty of the Ptolemies contradicts this current theory, and
+exhibits in the last of the series the most signal exception. Cleopatra
+VI was descended from many generations of breeding-in, of which four
+exhibit marriages of full brother and sister. And yet she was deficient
+in no quality, physical or intellectual, which goes to make up a
+well-bred and well-developed human being. Her morals were indeed those
+of her ancestors, and as bad as could be, but I am not aware that it is
+degeneration in this direction which is assumed by the theory in
+question, except as a consequence of physical decay. Physically,
+however, Cleopatra was perfect. She was not only beautiful, but
+prolific, and retained her vigor, and apparently her beauty, to the time
+of her death, when she was nearly forty years old.
+
+
+
+
+ASSASSINATION OF C�SAR
+
+B.C. 44
+
+NIEBUHR and PLUTARCH
+
+
+(C�sar's assassination forms the groundwork of one of Shakespeare's most
+notable tragedies. The "itching palm" of Cassius, Brutus' rectitude and
+honesty of purpose, and Mark Antony's oration will ever live while the
+English language endures. When the great C�sar was struck down, the
+civil war was over and he was master of the world. The month of the year
+B.C. 100 in which he was born, Quinctilis, was afterward called in his
+honor, July.
+
+Caius Julius C�sar was one of the greatest figures in history, and early
+took a prominent part in the affairs of Rome. He was a rival of Cicero
+in forensic eloquence and highly esteemed as a writer, his
+_Commentaries_ being universally admired. Ransomed from pirates who had
+captured him on his way to study philosophy at Rhodes, he attacked them
+in turn, took them to Pergamus, and crucified them.
+
+After various successful engagements C�sar marched against Pharnaces,
+now established in the kingdom of the Bosphorus, gaining at Zela, in
+Pontus, the decisive victory which he announced in the famous despatch,
+_Veni, vidi, vici_ ["I came, I saw, I conquered"].
+
+His unbounded affability, his liveliness and cordiality, his unaffected
+kindness to his friends had made him popular with the high as well as
+the low. His ambition began to show itself. During the wrangles over the
+election of Afranius as consul, C�sar returned from his brilliant
+successes in Spain. The troops saluted him as imperator and the senate
+voted a thanksgiving in his honor. He was now strong enough to take his
+place as the leader of the popular party. He was elected consul in spite
+of the hostility of the senate.
+
+A coalition was formed between C�sar and Pompey. C�sar's agrarian law
+added to his popularity with the people, and he gained the influence of
+the _equites_ by relief of one-third of the farmed taxes of Asia. He now
+became proconsul of Illyricum and Gaul for five years. This suited his
+ambition. At this time Pompey was the absolute master of Rome. And now
+arose his duel for power with C�sar. For a time he opposed the latter's
+election as consul, but later yielded.
+
+C�sar had achieved his brilliant success beyond the Alps. He had won
+victories in Gaul and Britain; but in the mean time his enemies had been
+active at Rome. Still believing that the senate would permit his quiet
+election to the consulship, he refused to strike any blow at their
+authority. But the senate had determined to humble C�sar. Both Pompey
+and C�sar were removed from leadership, but the Consul Marcellus refused
+to execute the decree. C�sar was directed by the senate to disband his
+army by a fixed day, on pain of being considered a public enemy. Pompey
+sided with the senate. This meant civil war. Antony and Cassius fled to
+the camp of C�sar, who was enthusiastically supported by his soldiers
+and "crossed the Rubicon."
+
+Having become master of all Italy in three months without a battle,
+C�sar re�ntered Rome. Pompey had fled, and at the battle of Pharsalia
+was utterly routed, and took refuge in Egypt, where he was murdered a
+few days before the arrival of C�sar.
+
+Upon receipt of the news of Pompey's death C�sar was named dictator for
+one year. The government was now placed without disguise in his hands.
+He was invested with the tribunician power for life. He was also again
+elected consul and named dictator.
+
+C�sar had now become a demi-god, and was named dictator for ten years,
+being awarded a fourfold triumph, and a thanksgiving being decreed for
+forty days. He was also made censor. This was in B.C. 46. After
+defeating the remnant of the Pompeians, he returned to Rome in
+September, B.C. 45, and was named imperator, and appointed consul for
+ten years and dictator for life, being hailed as _Parens Patri�_.
+
+All these triumphs had caused jealousies. It was thought that he aspired
+to become king, and this led to his fall.)
+
+
+NIEBUHR
+
+It is one of the inestimable advantages of a hereditary government
+commonly called the legitimate, whatever its form may be, that it may be
+formally inactive in regard to the state and the population--that it may
+reserve its interference until it is absolutely necessary, and
+apparently leave things to take their own course. If we look around us
+and observe the various constitutions, we shall scarcely perceive the
+interference of the government; the greater part of the time passes away
+without those who have the reins in their hands being obliged to pay any
+particular attention to what they are doing, and a very large amount of
+individual liberty may be enjoyed. But if the government is what we call
+a usurpation, the ruler has not only to take care to maintain his power,
+but in all that he undertakes he has to consider by what means and in
+what ways he can establish his right to govern, and his own personal
+qualifications for it. Men who are in such a position are urged on to
+act by a very sad necessity, from which they cannot escape, and such was
+the position of C�sar at Rome.
+
+In our European States, men have wide and extensive spheres in which
+they can act and move. The much-decried system of centralization has
+indeed many disadvantages; but it has this advantage for the ruler, that
+he can exert an activity which shows its influence far and wide. But
+what could C�sar do, in the centre of nearly the whole of the known
+world? He could not hope to effect any material improvements either in
+Italy or in the provinces. He had been accustomed from his youth, and
+more especially during the last fifteen years, to an enormous activity,
+and idleness was intolerable to him. At the close of the civil war he
+would have had little or nothing to do unless he had turned his
+attention to some foreign enterprise. He was obliged to venture upon
+something that would occupy his whole soul, for he could not rest. His
+thoughts were therefore again directed to war, and that in a quarter
+where the most brilliant triumphs awaited him, where the bones of the
+legions of Crassus lay unavenged--to a war against the Parthians. About
+this time the Getae also had spread in Thrace, and he intended to check
+their progress likewise. But his main problem was to destroy the
+Parthian empire and to extend the Roman dominion as far as India, a plan
+in which he would certainly have been successful; and he himself felt so
+sure of this that he was already thinking of what he should undertake
+afterward.
+
+It is by no means incredible that, as we are told, he intended on his
+return to march through the passes of the Caucasus, and through ancient
+Scythia into the country of the Getae, and thence through Germany and
+Gaul into Italy. Besides this expedition, he entertained other plans of
+no less gigantic dimensions. The port of Ostia was bad, and in reality
+little better than a mere roadstead, so that great ships could not come
+up the river. Accordingly it is said that C�sar intended to dig a canal
+for sea-ships, from the Tiber, above or below Rome, through the Pomptine
+marshes as far as Terracina. He further contemplated to cut through the
+Isthmus of Corinth. It is not easy to see in what manner he would have
+accomplished this, considering the state of hydraulic architecture in
+those times. The Roman canals were mere _foss�_, and canals with
+sluices, though not unknown to the Romans, were not constructed by
+them.[77]
+
+[Footnote 77: The first canals with sluices were executed by the Dutch
+in the fifteenth century.]
+
+The fact of C�sar forming such enormous plans is not very surprising;
+but we can scarcely comprehend how it was possible for him to accomplish
+so much of what he undertook in the short time of five months preceding
+his death. Following the unfortunate system of Sulla, C�sar founded
+throughout Italy a number of colonies of veterans. The old Sullanian
+colonists were treated with great severity, and many of them and their
+children were expelled from their lands, and were thus punished for the
+cruelty which they or their fathers had committed against the
+inhabitants of the municipia. In like manner colonies were established
+in Southern Gaul, Italy, Africa, and other parts; I may mention in
+particular the colonies founded at Carthage and Corinth. The latter,
+however, was a _colonia libertinorum_, and never rose to any importance.
+We do not know the details of its foundation, but one would imagine that
+C�sar would have preferred restoring the place as a purely Greek town.
+This, however, he did not do. Its population was and remained a mixed
+one, and Corinth never rose to a state of real prosperity.
+
+C�sar made various new arrangements in the State, and among others he
+restored the full franchise, or the _jus honorum_, to the sons of those
+who had been proscribed in the time of Sulla. He had obtained for
+himself the title of imperator and the dictatorship for life and the
+consulship for ten years. Half of the offices of the republic to which
+persons had before been elected by the centuries were in his gift, and
+for the other half he usually recommended candidates; so that the
+elections were merely nominal.
+
+The tribes seem to have retained their rights of election uncurtailed,
+and the last tribunes must have been elected by the people. But although
+C�sar did not himself confer the consulship, yet the whole republic was
+reduced to a mere form and appearance. C�sar made various new laws and
+regulations; for example, to lighten the burdens of debtors and the
+like; but the changes he introduced in the form of the constitution were
+of little importance. He increased the number of pr�tors, which Sulla
+had raised to eight, successively to ten, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen,
+and the number of quaestors was increased to forty. Hence the number of
+persons from whom the senate was to be filled up became greater than
+that of the vacancies, and C�sar accordingly increased the number of
+senators, though it is uncertain what number he fixed upon, and raised a
+great many of his friends to the dignity of senators. In this, as in
+many other cases, he acted very arbitrarily; for he elected into the
+senate whomsoever he pleased, and conferred the franchise in a manner
+equally arbitrary. These things did not fail to create much discontent.
+It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding his mode of filling up the
+senate, not even the majority of senators were attached to his cause
+after his death.
+
+If we consider the changes and regulations which C�sar introduced, it
+must strike us as a singular circumstance that among all his measures
+there is no trace of any indicating that he thought of modifying the
+constitution for the purpose of putting an end to the anarchy, for all
+his changes are in reality not essential or of great importance. Sulla
+felt the necessity of remodelling the constitution, but he did not
+attain his end; and the manner, too, in which he set about it was that
+of a short-sighted man; but he was at least intelligent enough to see
+that the constitution as it then was could not continue to exist. In the
+regulations of C�sar we see no trace of such a conviction; and I think
+that he despaired of the possibility of effecting any real good by
+constitutional reforms. Hence, among all his laws there is not one that
+had any relation to the constitution. The fact of his increasing the
+number of patrician families had no reference to the constitution; so
+far in fact were the patricians from having any advantages over the
+plebeians that the office of the two _oediles Cereales_, which C�sar
+instituted, was confined to the plebeians--a regulation which was
+opposed to the very nature of the patriciate.
+
+His raising persons to the rank of patricians was neither more nor less
+than the modern practice of raising a family to the rank of nobility; he
+picked out an individual and gave him the rank of patrician for himself
+and his descendants, but did not elevate a whole gens. The distinction
+itself was merely a nominal one and conferred no privilege upon a person
+except that of holding certain priestly offices, which could be filled
+by none but patricians, and for which their number was scarcely
+sufficient. If C�sar had died quietly the republic would have been in
+the same, nay, in a much worse, state of dissolution than if he had not
+existed at all. I consider it a proof of the wisdom and good sense of
+C�sar that he did not, like Sulla, think an improvement in the state of
+public affairs so near at hand or a matter of so little difficulty. The
+cure of the disease lay yet at a very great distance, and the first
+condition on which it could be undertaken was the sovereignty of C�sar,
+a condition which would have been quite unbearable even to many of his
+followers, who as rebels did not scruple to go along with him. But Rome
+could no longer exist as a republic.
+
+It is curious to see in Cicero's work, _de Republica_, the consciousness
+running through it that Rome, as it then stood, required the strong hand
+of a king. Cicero had surely often owned this to himself; but he saw no
+one who would have entered into such an idea. The title of king had a
+great fascination for C�sar, as it had for Cromwell--a surprising
+phenomenon in a practical mind like that of C�sar. Everyone knows the
+fact that while C�sar was sitting on the _suggestum_, during the
+celebration of the _Lupercalia_, Antony presented to him the diadem, to
+try how the people would take it. C�sar saw the great alarm which the
+act created and declined the diadem for the sake of appearance; but had
+the people been silent, C�sar would unquestionably have accepted it. His
+refusal was accompanied by loud shouts of acclamation, which for the
+present rendered all further attempts impossible. Antony then had a
+statue of C�sar adorned with the diadem; but two tribunes of the people,
+L. Caesetius Flavus and Epidius Marullus, took it away: and here C�sar
+showed the real state of his feelings, for he treated the conduct of the
+tribunes as a personal insult toward himself. He had lost his
+self-possession and his fate carried him irresistibly onward. He wished
+to have the tribunes imprisoned, but was prevailed upon to be satisfied
+with their being stripped of their office and sent into exile.
+
+This created a great sensation at Rome. C�sar had also been guilty of an
+act of thoughtlessness, or perhaps merely of distraction, as might
+happen very easily to a man in his circumstances. When the senate had
+made its last decrees, conferring upon C�sar unlimited powers, the
+senators, consuls, and pr�tors, or the whole senate, in festal attire,
+presented the decrees to him, and C�sar at the moment forgot to show his
+respect for the senators; he did not rise from his _sella curulis_, but
+received the decrees in an unceremonious manner. This want of politeness
+was never forgiven by the persons who had not scrupled to make him their
+master; for it had been expected that he would at least behave politely
+and be grateful for such decrees.[78] C�sar himself had no design in the
+act, which was merely the consequence of distraction or thoughtlessness;
+but it made the senate his irreconcilable enemies. The affair with the
+tribunes, moreover, had made a deep impression upon the people. We must,
+however, remember that the people under such circumstances are most
+sensible to anything affecting their honor, as we have seen at the
+beginning of the French Revolution.
+
+[Footnote 78: I have known an instance of a man of rank and influence
+who could never forgive another man, who was by far his superior in
+every respect, for having forgotten to take off his hat during a visit.]
+
+In the year of C�sar's death, Brutus and Cassius were pr�tors. Both had
+been generals under Pompey. Brutus' mother, Servilia, was a half-sister
+of Cato, for after the death of her first husband Cato's mother had
+married Servilius Caepio. She was a remarkable woman, but very immoral,
+and unworthy of her son; not even the honor of her own daughter was
+sacred to her. The family of Brutus derived its origin from L. Junius
+Brutus, and from the time of its first appearance among the plebeians it
+had had few men of importance to boast of. During the period subsequent
+to the passing of the Licinian laws we meet with some Junii in the
+Fasti, but not one of them acquired any great reputation. The family had
+become reduced and almost contemptible. One M. Brutus in particular
+disgraced his family by sycophancy in the time of Sulla and was
+afterward killed in Gaul by Pompey. Although no Roman family belonged to
+a more illustrious gens, yet Brutus was not by any means one of those
+men who are raised by fortunate circumstances. The education, however,
+which he received had a great influence upon him. His uncle Cato, whose
+daughter Porcia he married--whether in Cato's lifetime or afterward is
+doubtful--had initiated him from his early youth in the Stoic
+philosophy, and had instilled into his mind a veneration for it, as
+though it had been a religion.
+
+Brutus had qualities which Cato did not possess. The latter had
+something of an ascetic nature, and was, if I may say so, a scrupulously
+pious character; but Brutus had no such scrupulous timidity; his mind
+was more flexible and lovable. Cato spoke well, but could not be
+reckoned among the eloquent men of his time. Brutus' great talents had
+been developed with the utmost care, and if he had lived longer and in
+peace he would have become a classical writer of the highest order. He
+had been known to Cicero from his early age, and Cicero felt a fatherly
+attachment to him; he saw in him a young man who he hoped would exert a
+beneficial influence upon the next generation.
+
+C�sar too had known and loved him from his childhood; but the stories
+which are related to account for this attachment must be rejected as
+foolish inventions of idle persons; for nothing is more natural than
+that C�sar should look with great fondness upon a young man of such
+extraordinary and amiable qualities. The absence of envy was one of the
+distinguishing features in the character of C�sar, as it was in that of
+Cicero. In the battle of Pharsalus, Brutus served in the army of Pompey,
+and after the battle he wrote a letter to C�sar, who had inquired after
+him; and when C�sar heard of his safety he was delighted, and invited
+him to his camp. C�sar afterward gave him the administration of
+Cisalpine Gaul, where Brutus distinguished himself in a very
+extraordinary manner by his love of justice.
+
+Cassius was related to Brutus, and had likewise belonged to the Pompeian
+party, but he was very unlike Brutus; he was much older, and a
+distinguished military officer. After the death of Crassus he had
+maintained himself as quaestor in Syria against the Parthians, and he
+enjoyed a very great reputation in the army, but he was after all no
+better than an ordinary officer of C�sar. After the battle of Pharsalus,
+C�sar did not at first know whither Pompey was gone. Cassius was at the
+time stationed with some galleys in the Hellespont, notwithstanding
+which C�sar with his usual boldness took a boat to sail across that
+strait, and on meeting Cassius called upon him to embrace his party.
+Cassius readily complied, and C�sar forgave him, as he forgave all his
+adversaries: even Marcellus, who had mortally offended him, was pardoned
+at the request of Cicero. C�sar thus endeavored to efface all
+recollections of the civil war.
+
+C�sar had appointed both Brutus and Cassius pr�tors for that year. With
+the exception of the office of _pr�tor urbanus_, which was honorable and
+lucrative, the pr�torship was a burdensome office and conferred little
+distinction, since the other pr�tors were only the presidents of the
+courts. Formerly they had been elected by lot, but the office was now
+altogether in the gift of C�sar. Both Brutus and Cassius had wished for
+the pr�tura urbana, and, when C�sar gave that office to Brutus, Cassius
+was not only indignant at C�sar, but began quarrelling with Brutus also.
+While Cassius was in this state of exasperation, a meeting of the senate
+was announced for the 15th of March, on which day, as the report went, a
+proposal was to be made to offer C�sar the crown. This was a welcome
+opportunity for Cassius, who resolved to take vengeance, for he had even
+before entertained a personal hatred of C�sar, and was now disappointed
+at not having obtained the city pr�torship. He first sounded Brutus and,
+finding that he was safe, made direct overtures to him. During the night
+some one wrote on the tribunal and the house of Brutus the words,
+"Remember that thou art Brutus."
+
+Brutus became reconciled to Cassius, offered his assistance, and gained
+over several other persons to join the conspiracy. All party differences
+seemed to have vanished all at once; two of the conspirators were old
+generals of C�sar, C. Trebonius and Decimus Brutus, both of whom had
+fought with him in Gaul, and against Massilia, and had been raised to
+high honors by their chief. There were among the conspirators persons of
+all parties. Men who had fought against one another at Pharsalus now
+went hand-in-hand and intrusted their lives to one another. No proposals
+were made to Cicero, the reasons usually assigned for which are of the
+most calumniatory kind. It is generally said that the conspirators had
+no confidence in Cicero, an opinion which is perfectly contemptible.
+Cicero would not have betrayed them for any consideration, but what they
+feared were his objections. Brutus had as noble a soul as anyone, but he
+was passionate; Cicero, on the other hand, who was at an advanced age,
+had many sad experiences, and his feelings were so exceedingly delicate
+that he could not have consented to take away the life of him to whom he
+himself owed his own, who had always behaved most nobly toward him, and
+had intentionally drawn him before the world as his friend.
+
+C�sar's conduct toward those who had fought in the ranks of Pompey and
+afterward returned to him was extremely noble, and he regarded the
+reconciliation of those men as a personal favor conferred upon himself.
+All who knew Cicero must have been convinced that he would not have
+given his consent to the plan of the conspirators; and if they ever did
+give the matter a serious thought, they must have owned to themselves
+that every wise man would have dissuaded them from it; for it was in
+fact the most complete absurdity to fancy that the republic could be
+restored by C�sar's death. Goethe says somewhere that the murder of
+C�sar was the most senseless act that the Romans ever committed; and a
+truer word was never spoken. The result of it could not possibly be any
+other than that which did follow the deed.
+
+C�sar was cautioned by Hirtius and Pansa, both wise men of noble
+character, especially the former, who saw that the republic must become
+consolidated and not thrown into fresh convulsions. They advised C�sar
+to be careful, and to take a bodyguard; but he replied that he would
+rather not live at all than be in constant fear of losing his life.
+C�sar once expressed to some of his friends his conviction that Brutus
+was capable of harboring a murderous design, but he added that as he,
+C�sar, could not live much longer, Brutus would wait, and not be guilty
+of such a crime. C�sar's health was at that time weak, and the general
+opinion was that he intended to surrender his power to Brutus as the
+most worthy. While the conspirators were making their preparations,
+Porcia, the wife of Brutus, inferred from the excitement and
+restlessness of her husband that some fearful secret was pressing on his
+mind; but as he did not show her any confidence, she seriously wounded
+herself with a knife and was seized with a violent wound-fever. No one
+knew the cause of her illness; and it was not till after many entreaties
+of her husband that at length she revealed it to him, saying that as she
+had been able to conceal the cause of her illness, so she could also
+keep any secret that might be intrusted to her. Her entreaties induced
+Brutus to communicate to her the plan of the conspirators. C�sar was
+also cautioned by the haruspices, by a dream of his wife, and by his own
+forebodings, which we have no reason for doubting. But on the morning of
+the 15th of March, the day fixed upon for assassinating C�sar, Decimus
+Brutus treacherously enticed him to go with him to the Curia, as it was
+impossible to delay the deed any longer.
+
+The conspirators were at first seized with fear lest their plan should
+be betrayed; but on C�sar's entrance into the senate house, C. Tillius
+(not Tullius) Cimber made his way up to him, and insulted him with his
+importunities, and Casca gave the first stroke. C�sar fell covered with
+twenty-three wounds. He was either in his fifty-sixth year or had
+completed it; I am not quite certain on this point, though, if we judge
+by the time of his first consulship, he must have been fifty-six years
+old. His birthday, which is not generally known, was the 11th of
+Quinctilis, which month was afterward called Julius, and his death took
+place on the 15th of March, between eleven and twelve o'clock.
+
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+At one time the senate having decreed C�sar some extravagant honors, the
+consuls and pr�tors, attended by the whole body of patricians, went to
+inform him of what they had done. When they came, he did not rise to
+receive them, but kept his seat, as if they had been persons in a
+private station, and his answer to their address was, "that there was
+more need to retrench his honors than to enlarge them." This haughtiness
+gave pain not only to the senate, but the people, who thought the
+contempt of that body reflected dishonor upon the whole Commonwealth;
+for all who could decently withdraw went off greatly dejected.
+
+Perceiving the false step he had taken, he retired immediately to his
+own house, and, laying his neck bare, told his friends "he was ready for
+the first hand that would strike." He then bethought himself of alleging
+his distemper as an excuse; and asserted that those who are under its
+influence are apt to find their faculties fail them when they speak
+standing, a trembling and giddiness coming upon them, which bereave them
+of their senses. This, however, was not really the case; for it is said
+he was desirous to rise to the senate; but Cornelius Balbus, one of his
+friends, or rather flatterers, held him, and had servility enough to
+say, "Will you not remember that you are C�sar, and suffer them to pay
+their court to you as their superior?"
+
+These discontents were greatly increased by the indignity with which he
+treated the tribunes of the people. In the Lupercalia, which, according
+to most writers, is an ancient pastoral feast, and which answers in many
+respects to the _Lycaea_ among the Arcadians, young men of noble
+families, and indeed many of the magistrates, run about the streets
+naked, and, by way of diversion, strike all they meet with leathern
+thongs with the hair upon them. Numbers of women of the first quality
+put themselves in their way, and present their hands for stripes--as
+scholars do to a master--being persuaded that the pregnant gain an easy
+delivery by it, and that the barren are enabled to conceive. C�sar wore
+a triumphal robe that day, and seated himself in a golden chair upon the
+_rostra_, to see the ceremony.
+
+Antony ran among the rest, in compliance with the rules of the festival,
+for he was consul. When he came into the Forum, and the crowd had made
+way for him, he approached C�sar, and offered him a diadem wreathed with
+laurel. Upon this some plaudits were heard, but very feeble, because
+they proceeded only from persons placed there on purpose. C�sar refused
+it, and then the plaudits were loud and general. Antony presented it
+once more, and few applauded his officiousness; but when C�sar rejected
+it again, the applause again was general. C�sar, undeceived by his
+second trial, rose up and ordered the diadem to be consecrated in the
+Capitol.
+
+A few days after, his statues were seen adorned with royal diadems; and
+Flavius and Marullus, two of the tribunes, went and tore them off. They
+also found out the persons who first saluted C�sar king, and committed
+them to prison. The people followed with cheerful acclamations, and
+called them Brutuses, because Brutus was the man who expelled the kings
+and put the government in the hands of the senate and people. C�sar,
+highly incensed at their behavior, deposed the tribunes, and by way of
+reprimand to them, as well as insult to the people, called them several
+times _Brutes_ and _Cumceans_.
+
+Upon this, many applied to Marcus Brutus, who, by the father's side, was
+supposed to be a descendant of that ancient Brutus, and whose mother was
+of the illustrious house of the Servilli. He was also nephew and
+son-in-law to Cato. No man was more inclined than he to lift his hand
+against monarchy, but he was withheld by the honors and favors he had
+received from C�sar, who had not only given him his life after the
+defeat of Pompey at Pharsalia, and pardoned many of his friends at his
+request, but continued to honor him with his confidence. That very year
+he had procured him the most honorable pr�torship, and he had named him
+for the consulship four years after, in preference to Cassius, who was
+his competitor; on which occasion C�sar is reported to have said,
+"Cassius assigns the strongest reasons, but I cannot refuse Brutus."
+
+Some impeached Brutus after the conspiracy was formed; but, instead of
+listening to them, he laid his hand on his body and said, "Brutus will
+wait for this skin"; intimating that though the virtue of Brutus
+rendered him worthy of empire, he would not be guilty of any ingratitude
+or baseness to obtain it. Those, however, who were desirous of a change
+kept their eyes upon him only, or principally at least; and as they
+durst not speak out plain, they put billets night after night in the
+tribunal and seat which he used as pr�tor, mostly in these terms: "Thou
+sleepest, Brutus," or, "Thou art not Brutus."
+
+Cassius, perceiving his friend's ambition a little stimulated by these
+papers, began to ply him closer than before, and spur him on to the
+great enterprise; for he had a particular enmity against C�sar. C�sar,
+too, had some suspicion of him, and he even said one day to his friends:
+"What think you of Cassius? I do not like his pale looks." Another time,
+when Antony and Dolabella were accused of some designs against his
+person and government, he said: "I have no apprehensions from those fat
+and sleek men; I rather fear the pale and lean ones," meaning Cassius
+and Brutus.
+
+It seems, from this instance, that fate is not so secret as it is
+inevitable; for we are told there were strong signs and presages of the
+death of C�sar. As to the lights in the heavens, the strange noises
+heard in various quarters by night, and the appearance of solitary birds
+in the Forum, perhaps they deserve not our notice in so great an event
+as this. But some attention should be given to Strabo the philosopher.
+According to him there were seen in the air men of fire encountering
+each other; such a flame appeared to issue from the hand of a soldier's
+servant that all the spectators thought it must be burned, yet, when it
+was over, he found no harm; and one of the victims which C�sar offered
+was found without a heart. The latter was certainly a most alarming
+prodigy; for, according to the rules of nature, no creature can exist
+without a heart. What is still more extraordinary, many report that a
+certain soothsayer forewarned him of a great danger which threatened him
+on the ides of March, and that when the day was come, as he was going to
+the senate house, he called to the soothsayer, and said, laughing, "The
+ides of March are come"; to which he answered softly, "Yes; but they are
+not gone."
+
+The evening before, he supped with Marcus Lepidus, and signed, according
+to custom, a number of letters, as he sat at table. While he was so
+employed, there arose a question, "What kind of death was the best?" and
+C�sar, answering before them all, cried out, "A sudden one." The same
+night, as he was in bed with his wife, the doors and windows of the room
+flew open at once. Disturbed both with the noise and the light, he
+observed, by moonshine, Calpurnia in a deep sleep, uttering broken words
+and inarticulate groans. She dreamed that she was weeping over him, as
+she held him, murdered, in her arms. Others say she dreamed that the
+pinnacle was fallen, which, as Livy tells us, the senate had ordered to
+be erected upon C�sar's house by way of ornament and distinction; and
+that it was the fall of it which she lamented and wept for. Be that as
+it may, the next morning she conjured C�sar not to go out that day if he
+could possibly avoid it, but to adjourn the senate; and, if he had no
+regard to her dreams, to have recourse to some other species of
+divination, or to sacrifices, for information as to his fate. This gave
+him some suspicion and alarm; for he had never known before, in
+Calpurnia, anything of the weakness or superstition of her sex, though
+she was now so much affected.
+
+He therefore offered a number of sacrifices, and, as the diviners found
+no auspicious tokens in any of them, he sent Antony to dismiss the
+senate. In the mean time Decius Brutus, surnamed Albinus, came in. He
+was a person in whom C�sar placed such confidence that he had appointed
+him his second heir, yet he was engaged in the conspiracy with the other
+Brutus and Cassius. This man, fearing that if C�sar adjourned the senate
+to another day the affair might be discovered, laughed at the diviners,
+and told C�sar he would be highly to blame if by such a slight he gave
+the senate an occasion of complaint against him. "For they were met," he
+said, "at his summons, and came prepared with one voice to honor him
+with the title of king in the provinces, and to grant that he should
+wear the diadem both by sea and land everywhere out of Italy. But if
+anyone go and tell them, now they have taken their places, they must go
+home again, and return when Calpurnia happens to have better dreams,
+what room will your enemies have to launch out against you? Or who will
+hear your friends when they attempt to show that this is not an open
+servitude on the one hand and tyranny on the other? If you are
+absolutely persuaded that this is an unlucky day, it is certainly better
+to go yourself and tell them you have strong reasons for putting off
+business till another time." So saying he took C�sar by the hand and led
+him out.
+
+He was not gone far from the door when a slave, who belonged to some
+other person, attempted to get up to speak to him, but finding it
+impossible, by reason of the crowd that was about him, he made his way
+into the house, and putting himself into the hands of Calpurnia desired
+her to keep him safe till C�sar's return, because he had matters of
+great importance to communicate.
+
+Artemidorus the Cnidian, who, by teaching the Greek eloquence, became
+acquainted with some of Brutus' friends, and had got intelligence of
+most of the transactions, approached C�sar with a paper explaining what
+he had to discover. Observing that he gave the papers, as fast as he
+received them, to his officers, he got up as close as possible and said:
+"C�sar, read this to yourself, and quickly, for it contains matters of
+great consequence and of the last concern to you." He took it and
+attempted several times to read it, but was always prevented by one
+application or other. He therefore kept that paper, and that only, in
+his hand, when he entered the house. Some say it was delivered to him by
+another man, Artemidorus being kept from approaching him all the way by
+the crowd.
+
+These things might, indeed, fall out by chance; but as in the place
+where the senate was that day assembled, and which proved the scene of
+that tragedy, there was a statue of Pompey, and it was an edifice which
+Pompey had consecrated for an ornament to his theatre, nothing can be
+clearer than that some deity conducted the whole business and directed
+the execution of it to that very spot. Even Cassius himself, though
+inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus, turned his eye to the statue of
+Pompey, and secretly invoked his aid, before the great attempt. The
+arduous occasion, it seems, overruled his former sentiments, and laid
+them open to all the influence of enthusiasm. Antony, who was a faithful
+friend to C�sar, and a man of great strength, was held in discourse
+without, by Brutus Albinus, who had contrived a long story to detain
+him.
+
+When C�sar entered the house, the senate rose to do him honor. Some of
+Brutus' accomplices came up behind his chair, and others before it,
+pretending to intercede, along with Metillius Cimber, for the recall of
+his brother from exile. They continued their instances till he came to
+his seat. When he was seated he gave them a positive denial; and as they
+continued their importunities with an air of compulsion, he grew angry.
+Cimber, then, with both hands, pulled his gown off his neck, which was
+the signal for the attack. Casca gave him the first blow. It was a
+stroke upon the neck with his sword, but the wound was not dangerous;
+for in the beginning of so tremendous an enterprise he was probably in
+some disorder. C�sar therefore turned upon him and laid hold of his
+sword. At the same time they both cried out, the one in Latin, "Villain!
+Casca! what dost thou mean?" and the other in Greek, to his brother,
+"Brother, help!"
+
+After such a beginning, those who knew nothing of the conspiracy were
+seized with consternation and horror, insomuch that they durst neither
+fly nor assist, nor even utter a word. All the conspirators now drew
+their swords, and surrounded him in such a manner that, whatever way he
+turned, he saw nothing but steel gleaming in his face, and met nothing
+but wounds. Like some savage beast attacked by the hunters, he found
+every hand lifted against him, for they all agreed to have a share in
+the sacrifice and a taste of his blood. Therefore Brutus himself gave
+him a stroke in the groin. Some say he opposed the rest, and continued
+struggling and crying out till he perceived the sword of Brutus; then he
+drew his robe over his face and yielded to his fate. Either by accident
+or pushed thither by the conspirators, he expired on the pedestal of
+Pompey's statue, and dyed it with his blood; so that Pompey seemed to
+preside over the work of vengeance, to tread his enemy under his feet,
+and to enjoy his agonies. Those agonies were great, for he received no
+less than three-and-twenty wounds. And many of the conspirators wounded
+each other as they were aiming their blows at him.
+
+C�sar thus despatched, Brutus advanced to speak to the senate and to
+assign his reasons for what he had done, but they could not bear to hear
+him; they fled out of the house and filled the people with inexpressible
+horror and dismay. Some shut up their houses; others left their shops
+and counters. All were in motion; one was running to see the spectacle;
+another running back. Antony and Lepidus, C�sar's principal friends,
+withdrew, and hid themselves in other people's houses. Meantime Brutus
+and his confederates, yet warm from the slaughter, marched in a body
+with their bloody swords in their hands, from the senate house to the
+Capitol, not like men that fled, but with an air of gayety and
+confidence, calling the people to liberty, and stopping to talk with
+every man of consequence whom they met. There were some who even joined
+them and mingled with their train, desirous of appearing to have had a
+share in the action and hoping for one in the glory. Of this number were
+Caius Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who afterward paid dear for their
+vanity, being put to death by Antony and young C�sar; so that they
+gained not even the honor for which they lost their lives, for nobody
+believed that they had any part in the enterprise; and they were
+punished, not for the deed, but for the will.
+
+Next day Brutus and the rest of the conspirators came down from the
+Capitol and addressed the people, who attended to their discourse
+without expressing either dislike or approbation of what was done. But
+by their silence it appeared that they pitied C�sar, at the same time
+that they revered Brutus. The senate passed a general amnesty; and, to
+reconcile all parties, they decreed C�sar divine honors and confirmed
+all the acts of his dictatorship; while on Brutus and his friends they
+bestowed governments and such honors as were suitable; so that it was
+generally imagined the Commonwealth was firmly established again, and
+all brought into the best order.
+
+But when, upon the opening of C�sar's will, it was found that he had
+left every Roman citizen a considerable legacy, and they beheld the
+body, as it was carried through the Forum, all mangled with wounds, the
+multitude could no longer be kept within bounds. They stopped the
+procession, and, tearing up the benches, with the doors and tables,
+heaped them into a pile, and burned the corpse there. Then snatching
+flaming brands from the pile, some ran to burn the houses of the
+assassins, while others ranged the city to find the conspirators
+themselves and tear them in pieces; but they had taken such care to
+secure themselves that they could not meet with one of them.
+
+One Cinna, a friend of C�sar's, had a strange dream the preceding night.
+He dreamed--as they tell us--that C�sar invited him to supper, and, upon
+his refusal to go, caught him by the hand and drew him after him, in
+spite of all the resistance he could make. Hearing, however, that the
+body of C�sar was to be burned in the Forum, he went to assist in doing
+him the last honors, though he had a fever upon him, the consequence of
+his uneasiness about his dream. On his coming up, one of the populace
+asked who that was? and having learned his name, told it to his next
+neighbor. A report immediately spread through the whole company that it
+was one of C�sar's murderers; and, indeed, one of the conspirators was
+named Cinna. The multitude, taking this for the man, fell upon him, and
+tore him to pieces upon the spot. Brutus and Cassius were so terrified
+at this rage of the populace that a few days after they left the city.
+An account of their subsequent actions, sufferings, and death may be
+found in the life of Brutus.
+
+C�sar died at the age of fifty-six, and did not survive Pompey above
+four years. His object was sovereign power and authority, which he
+pursued through innumerable dangers, and by prodigious efforts he gained
+it at last. But he reaped no other fruit from it than an empty and
+invidious title. It is true the divine Power, which conducted him
+through life, attended him after his death as his avenger, pursued and
+hunted out the assassins over sea and land, and rested not till there
+was not a man left, either of those who dipped their hands in his blood
+or of those who gave their sanction to the deed.
+
+The most remarkable of natural events relative to this affair was that
+Cassius, after he had lost the battle of Philippi, killed himself with
+the same dagger which he had made use of against C�sar; and the most
+signal phenomenon in the heavens was that of a great comet, which shone
+very bright for seven nights after C�sar's death, and then disappeared;
+to which we may add the fading of the sun's lustre; for his orb looked
+pale all that year; he rose not with a sparkling radiance, nor had the
+heat he afforded its usual strength. The air, of course, was dark and
+heavy, for want of that vigorous heat which clears and rarefies it; and
+the fruits were so crude and unconcocted that they pined away and
+decayed, through the chilliness of the atmosphere.
+
+We have a proof still more striking that the assassination of C�sar was
+displeasing to the gods, in the phantom that appeared to Brutus. The
+story of it is this: Brutus was on the point of transporting his army
+from Abydos to the opposite continent; and the night before, he lay in
+his tent awake, according to custom, and in deep thought about what
+might be the event of the war; for it was natural for him to watch a
+great part of the night, and no general ever required so little sleep.
+With all his senses about him, he heard a noise at the door of his tent,
+and looking toward the light, which was now burned very low, he saw a
+terrible appearance in the human form, but of prodigious stature and the
+most hideous aspect. At first he was struck with astonishment; but when
+he saw it neither did nor spoke anything to him, but stood in silence by
+his bed, he asked it who it was? The spectre answered: "I am thy evil
+genius, Brutus; thou shalt see me at Philippi." Brutus answered boldly,
+"I'll meet thee there"; and the spectre immediately vanished.
+
+Some time after, he engaged Antony and Octavius C�sar at Philippi, and
+the first day was victorious, carrying all before him, where he fought
+in person, and even pillaging C�sar's camp. The night before he was to
+fight the second battle the same spectre appeared to him again, but
+spoke not a word. Brutus, however, understood that his last hour was
+near, and courted danger with all the violence of despair. Yet he did
+not fall in the action; but seeing all was lost, he retired to the top
+of a rock, where he presented his naked sword to his breast, and a
+friend, as they tell us, assisting the thrust, he died upon the spot.
+
+
+
+
+ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY
+
+DEATH OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
+
+B.C. 44-30
+
+HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL
+
+
+(After the death of C�sar, Rome was in confusion; consternation seized
+the people, and the "liberators" failed to rally them to their own
+support. In possession of C�sar's treasure, Antony, the surviving
+consul, bided his time. His oration at C�sar's funeral stirred the
+populace against the "liberators," and made him for the moment master of
+Rome; but his self-seeking soon turned the people against him. The young
+Octavius, C�sar's heir, had become popular with the army. He returned to
+Rome and claimed his inheritance, demanded from Antony C�sar's moneys,
+but in vain, and assumed the title of C�sar. The rivalry between the two
+leaders rapidly approached a crisis. The partisans of Antony and
+Octavius began to clash, and civil war followed. Defeated, Antony
+retreated across the Alps. Octavius was elected consul, and began
+negotiations with Antony and Lepidus, which resulted in the three new
+masters constituting themselves a triumvirate--the Second
+Triumvirate--to settle the affairs of the Commonwealth. They divided the
+powers of government, and a partition of territory was made between
+them. Their next business was to put out of the way, by proscription,
+the enemies of this new order of things. Three hundred senators,
+including Cicero, were massacred, as well as two thousand knights.
+
+When the terrified senate had legalized the self-assumed authority of
+the triumvirs, they turned their attention to Brutus and Cassius in the
+East, whither they had gone after the assassination of C�sar and
+established and maintained themselves in power. At the battle of
+Philippi in Macedonia [B.C. 42] Antony and Octavius defeated Brutus and
+Cassius, both of whom died by their own hands. The Roman world was now
+in the hands of the triumvirs. Antony ruled in the East, Octavius in the
+West, and Lepidus in Africa, B.C. 42-36. In the latter year Lepidus was
+deposed by Octavius after a short conflict. And only a year after
+Philippi a war between Octavius and Antony was threatened because of a
+revolt in Italy, raised by Antony's brother Lucius and Fulvia, wife of
+Antony; but it was prevented by a treaty of peace, sealed by the
+marriage of Antony to Octavia, sister of Octavius. This peace lasted for
+ten years, during which time, however, there was constant friction
+between them.
+
+At Tarsus, in B.C. 41, Antony received a visit from Cleopatra, to whose
+charms he had yielded years before. This was the turning-point in his
+career; he went with her to Alexandria. By his oppression of the people
+of the East, and his dalliance with Cleopatra, he made himself the
+object of hatred and contempt. His army met with a series of defeats. In
+the mean time Octavius was constantly strengthening himself. The rivalry
+between them finally reached the point where both prepared for war. The
+great sea fight near Actium, September 2d, B.C. 31, resulted in the
+destruction of Antony's fleet after he had followed Cleopatra in her
+flight. A year later occurred the death of both. This important battle
+established Octavius as the sole ruler of the Roman possessions, and
+historians regard it as marking the end of the republic and the
+beginning of the empire.)
+
+
+While the conspirators were at their bloody work [of slaying C�sar], the
+mass of the senators rushed in confused terror to the doors; and when
+Brutus turned to address his peers in defence of the deed, the hall was
+well-nigh empty. Cicero, who had been present, answered not, though he
+was called by name; Antony had hurried away to exchange his consular
+robes for the garb of a slave. Disappointed of obtaining the sanction of
+the senate, the conspirators sallied out into the Forum to win the ear
+of the people. But here, too, they were disappointed. Not knowing what
+massacre might be in store, every man had fled to his own house; and in
+vain the conspirators paraded the Forum, holding up their blood-stained
+weapons and proclaiming themselves the liberators of Rome.
+Disappointment was not their only feeling: they were not without fear.
+They knew that Lepidus, being on the eve of departure for his province
+of Narbonnese Gaul, had a legion encamped on the island of the Tiber:
+and if he were to unite with Antony against them, C�sar would quickly be
+avenged. In all haste, therefore, they retired to the Capitol. Meanwhile
+three of C�sar's slaves placed their master's body upon a stretcher and
+carried it to his house on the south side of the Forum, with one arm
+dangling from the unsupported corner. In this condition the widowed
+Calpurnia received the lifeless clay of him who had lately been
+sovereign of the world.
+
+Lepidus moved his troops to the Campus Martius. But Antony had no
+thoughts of using force; for in that case probably Lepidus would have
+become master of Rome. During the night he took possession of the
+treasure which C�sar had collected to defray the expenses of his
+Parthian campaign, and persuaded Calpurnia to put into his hands all the
+dictator's papers. Possessed of these securities, he barricaded his
+house on the Carinae, and determined to watch the course of events.
+
+In the evening Cicero, with other senators, visited the self-styled
+liberators in the Capitol. They had not communicated their plot to the
+orator, through fear (they said) of his irresolute counsels; but now
+that the deed was done, he extolled it as a godlike act. Next morning,
+Dolabella, Cicero's son-in-law, whom C�sar had promised should be his
+successor in the consulship, assumed the consular fasces and joined the
+liberators; while Cinna, son of the old Marian leader and therefore
+brother-in-law to C�sar, threw aside his praetorian robes, declaring he
+would no longer wear the tyrant's livery. Dec. Brutus, a good soldier,
+had taken a band of gladiators into pay, to serve as a bodyguard of the
+liberators. Thus strengthened, they ventured again to descend into the
+Forum. Brutus mounted the tribune, and addressed the people in a
+dispassionate speech, which produced little effect. But when Cinna
+assailed the memory of the dictator, the crowd broke out into menacing
+cries, and the liberators again retired to the Capitol.
+
+That same night they entered into negotiations with Antony, and the
+result appeared next morning, the second after the murder. The senate,
+summoned to meet, obeyed the call in large numbers. Antony and Dolabella
+attended in their consular robes, and Cinna resumed his praetorian garb.
+It was soon apparent that a reconciliation had been effected: for Antony
+moved that a general amnesty should be granted, and Cicero seconded the
+motion in an animated speech. It was carried; and Antony next moved that
+all the acts of the dictator should be recognized as law. He had his own
+purposes here; but the liberators also saw in the motion an advantage to
+themselves; for they were actually in possession of some of the chief
+magistracies, and had received appointments to some of the richest
+provinces of the empire. This proposal, therefore, was favorably
+received; but it was adjourned to the next day, together with the
+important question of C�sar's funeral.
+
+On the next day C�sar's acts were formally confirmed, and among them his
+will was declared valid, though its provisions were yet unknown. After
+this, it was difficult to reject the proposal that the dictator should
+have a public burial. Old senators remembered the riots that attended
+the funeral of Clodius and shook their heads. Cassius opposed it. But
+Brutus, with imprudent magnanimity, decided in favor of allowing it. To
+seal the reconciliation, Lepidus entertained Brutus at dinner and
+Cassius was feasted by Mark Antony.
+
+The will was immediately made public. Cleopatra was still in Rome, and
+entertained hopes that the boy C�sarion would be declared the dictator's
+heir; for though he had been married thrice, there was no one of his
+lineage surviving. But C�sar was too much a Roman, and knew the Romans
+too well, to be guilty of this folly. Young C. Octavius, his sister's
+son, was declared his heir. Legacies were left to all his supposed
+friends, among whom were several of those who had assassinated him. His
+noble gardens beyond the Tiber were devised to the use of the public,
+and every Roman citizen was to receive a donation of three hundred
+sesterces--between ten and fifteen dollars. The effect of this recital
+was electric. Devotion to the memory of the dictator and hatred for his
+murderers at once filled every breast.
+
+Two or three days after this followed the funeral. The body was to be
+burned, and the ashes deposited in the Campus Martius, near the tomb of
+his daughter Julia. But it was first brought into the Forum upon a bier
+inlaid with ivory and covered with rich tapestries, which was carried by
+men high in rank and office. There Antony, as consul, rose to pronounce
+the funeral oration. He ran through the chief acts of C�sar's life,
+recited his will, and then spoke of the death which had rewarded him. To
+make this more vividly present to the excitable Italians he displayed a
+waxen image marked with the three-and-twenty wounds, and produced the
+very robe which he had worn, all rent and blood-stained. Soul-stirring
+dirges added to the solemn horror of the scene. But to us the memorable
+speech which Shakespeare puts into Antony's mouth will give the
+liveliest notion of the art used and the impression produced. That
+impression was instantaneous. The senator friends of the liberators who
+had attended the ceremony looked on in moody silence. Soon the menacing
+gestures of the crowd made them look to their safety. They fled; and the
+multitude insisted on burning the body, as they had burned the body of
+Clodius, in the sacred precincts of the Forum. Some of the veterans who
+attended the funeral set fire to the bier; benches and firewood heaped
+round it soon made a sufficient pile.
+
+From the blazing pyre the crowd rushed, eager for vengeance, to the
+houses of the conspirators. But all had fled betimes. One poor wretch
+fell a victim to the fury of the mob--Helvius Cinna, a poet who had
+devoted his art to the service of the dictator. He was mistaken for L.
+Cornelius Cinna the pr�tor, and was torn to pieces before the mistake
+could be explained.[79]
+
+[Footnote 79: This story is, however, rendered somewhat doubtful by the
+manner in which Cinna is mentioned in Vergil's ninth _Eclogue_, which
+was certainly written in or after the year B.C. 40.]
+
+Antony was now the real master of Rome. The treasure which he had seized
+gave him the means of purchasing good will, and of securing the
+attachment of the veterans stationed in various parts of Italy. He did
+not, however, proceed in the course which, from the tone of his funeral
+harangue, might have been expected. He renewed friendly intercourse with
+Brutus and Cassius, who were encouraged to visit Rome once at least, if
+not oftener, after that day; and Dec. Brutus, with his gladiators, was
+suffered to remain in the city. Antony went still further. He gratified
+the senate by passing a law to abolish the dictatorship forever. He then
+left Rome to win the favor of the Italian communities and try the temper
+of the veterans.
+
+Meanwhile another actor appeared upon the scene. This was young
+Octavius. He had been but six months in the camp at Apollonia; but in
+that short time he had formed a close friendship with M. Vipsanius
+Agrippa, a young man of his own age, who possessed great abilities for
+active life, but could not boast of any distinguished ancestry. As soon
+as the news of his uncle's assassination reached the camp, his friend
+Agrippa recommended him to appeal to the troops and march upon Rome. But
+the youth, with a wariness above his years, resisted these bold
+counsels. Landing near Brundusium almost alone, he there first heard
+that C�sar's will had been published and that he was declared C�sar's
+heir. He at once accepted the dangerous honor. As he travelled slowly
+toward the city he stayed some days at Puteoli with his mother, Atia,
+who was now married to L. Philippus. Both mother and stepfather
+attempted to dissuade him from the perilous business of claiming his
+inheritance. At the same place he had an interview with Cicero, who had
+quitted Rome in despair after the funeral, and left the orator under the
+impression that he might be won to what was deemed the patriotic party.
+
+He arrived at Rome about the beginning of May, and demanded from Antony,
+who had now returned from his Italian tour, an account of the moneys of
+which the consul had taken possession, in order that he might discharge
+the obligations laid upon him by his uncle's will. But Antony had
+already spent great part of the money in bribing Dolabella and other
+influential persons; nor was he willing to give up any portion of his
+spoil. Octavius therefore sold what remained of his uncle's property,
+raised money on his own credit, and paid all legacies with great
+exactness. This act earned him much popularity. Antony began to fear
+this boy of eighteen, whom he had hitherto despised, and the senate
+learned to look on him as a person to be conciliated.
+
+Still Antony remained in possession of all actual power. Cicero, not
+remarkable for political firmness, in this crisis displayed a vigor
+worthy of his earlier days. He had at one moment made up his mind to
+retire from public life and end his days at Athens in learned leisure.
+In the course of this summer he continued to employ himself on some of
+his most elaborate treatises. His works on the _Nature of the Gods_ and
+on _Divination_, his _Offices_, his _Dialogue on Old Age_, and several
+other essays belong to this period and mark the restless activity of his
+mind. But though he twice set sail from Italy, he was driven back to
+port at Velia, where he found Brutus and Cassius. Here he received
+letters from Au. Hirtius and other friends of C�sar, which gave him
+hopes that, in the name of Octavius, they might successfully oppose
+Antony and restore constitutional government. He determined to return,
+and announced his purpose to Brutus and Cassius, who commended him and
+took leave of him. They went their way to the east to raise armies
+against Antony; he repaired to Rome to fight the battles of his party in
+the senate house.
+
+Meanwhile Antony had been running riot. In possession of C�sar's papers,
+with no one to check him, he produced ready warrant for every measure
+which he wished to carry, and pleaded the vote of the senate which
+confirmed all the acts of C�sar. When he could not produce a genuine
+paper, he interpolated or forged what was needful.
+
+On the day after Cicero's return (September 1st) there was a meeting of
+the senate. But the orator did not attend, and Antony threatened to send
+men to drag him from his house. Next day Cicero was in his place, but
+now Antony was absent. The orator arose and addressed the senate in what
+is called his _First Philippic_. This was a measured attack upon the
+government and policy of Antony, but personalities were carefully
+eschewed: the tone of the whole speech, indeed, is such as might be
+delivered by a leader of opposition in parliament at the present day.
+But Antony, enraged at his boldness, summoned a meeting for the 19th of
+September, which Cicero did not think it prudent to attend. He then
+attacked the absent orator in the strongest language of personal abuse
+and menace. Cicero sat down and composed his famous _Second Philippic_,
+which is written as if it were delivered on the same day, in reply to
+Antony's invective. At present, however, he contented himself with
+sending a copy of it to Atticus, enjoining secrecy.
+
+Matters quickly drew to a head between Antony and Octavius. The latter
+had succeeded in securing a thousand men of his uncle's veterans who had
+settled in Campania; and by great exertions in the different towns of
+Italy had levied a considerable force. Meantime four of the Epirote
+legions had just landed at Brundusium, and Antony hastened to attach
+them to his cause. But the largess which he offered them was only a
+hundred _denaries_ a man, and the soldiers laughed in his face. Antony,
+enraged at their conduct, seized the ringleaders and decimated them. But
+this severity only served to change their open insolence into sullen
+anger, and emissaries from Octavius were ready to draw them over to the
+side of their young master. They had so far obeyed Antony as to march
+northward to Ariminum, while he repaired to Rome. But as he entered the
+senate house he heard that two of the four legions had deserted to his
+rival, and in great alarm he hastened to the camp just in time to keep
+the remainder of the troops under his standard by distributing to every
+man five hundred denaries.
+
+The persons to hold the consulship for the next year had been designated
+by C�sar. They were both old officers of the Gallic army, C. Vibius
+Pansa and Au. Hirtius, the reputed author of the Eighth Book of the
+_History of the Gallic War_. Cicero was ready to believe that they had
+become patriots, because, disgusted with the arrogance of Antony, they
+had declared for Octavius and the senate. Antony began to fear that all
+parties might combine to crush him. He determined, therefore, no longer
+to remain inactive; and about the end of November, having now collected
+all his troops at Ariminum, he marched along the �milian road to drive
+Dec. Brutus out of Cisalpine Gaul. Decimus was obliged to throw himself
+into Mutina (Modena), and Antony blockaded the place. As soon as his
+back was turned, Cicero published the famous _Second Philippic_, in
+which he lashed the consul with the most unsparing hand, going through
+the history of his past life, exaggerating the debaucheries, which were
+common to Antony with great part of the Roman youth, and painting in the
+strongest colors the profligate use he had made of C�sar's papers. Its
+effect was great, and Cicero followed up the blow by the following
+twelve _Philippics_, which were speeches delivered in the senate house
+and Forum, at intervals from December (44) to April in the next year.
+
+Cicero was anxious to break with Antony at once, by declaring him a
+public enemy. But the latter was still regarded by many senators as the
+head of the C�sarean party, and it was resolved to treat with him. But
+the demands of Antony were so extravagant that negotiations were at once
+broken off, and nothing remained but to try the fortune of arms. The
+consuls proceeded to levy troops; but so exhausted was the treasury that
+now for the first time since the triumph of �milius Paullus it was found
+necessary to levy a property tax on the citizens of Rome.
+
+Octavius and the consuls assembled their forces at Alba. On the first
+day of the new year (43) Hirtius marched for Mutina, with Octavius under
+his command. The other consul, Pansa, remained at Rome to raise new
+levies; but by the end of March he also marched to form a junction with
+Hirtius. Both parties pretended to be acting in C�sar's name.
+
+Antony left his brother Lucius in the trenches before Mutina, and took
+the field against Hirtius and Octavius. For three months the opponents
+lay watching each other. But when Antony learned that Pansa was coming
+up, he made a rapid movement southward with two of his veteran legions
+and attacked him. A sharp conflict followed, in which Pansa's troops
+were defeated, and the consul himself was carried, mortally wounded, off
+the field. But Hirtius was on the alert, and assaulted Antony's wearied
+troops on their way back to their camp, with some advantage. This was on
+the 15th of April, and on the 27th Hirtius drew Antony from his
+intrenchments before Mutina. A fierce battle followed, which ended in
+the troops of Antony being driven back into their lines. Hirtius
+followed close upon the flying enemy; the camp was carried by storm, and
+a complete victory would have been won had not Hirtius himself fallen.
+Upon this disaster Octavius drew off the troops. The news of the first
+battle had been reported at Rome as a victory, and gave rise to
+extravagant rejoicings. The second battle was really a victory, but all
+rejoicing was damped by the news that one consul was dead and the other
+dying. No such fatal mischance had happened since the Second Punic War,
+when Marcellus and Crispinus fell in one day.
+
+After his defeat Antony felt it impossible to maintain the siege of
+Mutina. With Dec. Brutus in the town behind him, and the victorious
+legions of Octavius before him, his position was critical. He therefore
+prepared to retreat, and effected this purpose like a good soldier. His
+destination was the province of Narbonnese Gaul, where Lepidus had
+assumed the government and had promised him support. But the senate also
+had hopes in the same quarter. L. Munatius Plancus commanded in Northern
+Gaul, and C. Asinius Pollio in Southern Spain. Sext. Pompeius had made
+good his ground in the latter country, and had almost expelled Pollio
+from B�tica. Plancus and Pollio, both friends and favorites of C�sar,
+had as yet declared neither for Antony nor Octavius. If they would
+declare for the senate, Lepidus, a feeble and fickle man, might desert
+Antony; or if Octavius would join with Dec. Brutus, and pursue him,
+Antony might not be able to escape from Italy at all. But these
+political combinations failed. Plancus and Pollio stood aloof, waiting
+for the course of events. Dec. Brutus was not strong enough to pursue
+Antony by himself, and Octavius was unwilling, perhaps unable, to unite
+the veterans of C�sar with troops commanded by one of C�sar's murderers.
+And so it happened that Antony effected his retreat across the Alps, but
+not without extreme hardships, which he bore in common with the meanest
+soldier. It was at such times that his good qualities always showed
+themselves, and his gallant endurance of misery endeared him to every
+man under his command. On his arrival in Narbonnese Gaul he met Lepidus
+at Forum Julii (Frejus), and here the two commanders agreed on a plan of
+operations.
+
+The conduct of Octavius gave rise to grave suspicions. It was even said
+that the consuls had been killed by his agents. Cicero, who had hitherto
+maintained his cause, was silent. He had delivered his _Fourteenth_ and
+last _Philippic_ on the news of the first victory gained by Hirtius. But
+now he talked in private of "removing" the boy of whom he had hoped to
+make a tool. Octavius, however, had taken his part, and was not to be
+removed. Secretly he entered into negotiations with Antony. After some
+vain efforts on the part of the senate to thwart him, he appeared in the
+Campus Martius with his legions. Cicero and most of the senators
+disappeared, and the fickle populace greeted the young heir of C�sar
+with applause. Though he was not yet twenty he demanded the consulship,
+having been previously relieved from the provisions of the _Lex Annalis_
+by a decree of the senate, and he was elected to the first office in the
+State, with his cousin, Q. Pedius.[80]
+
+[Footnote 80: Pedius was son of C�sar's second sister, Julia minor, and
+therefore first cousin (once removed) to Octavius.]
+
+A curiate law passed, by which Octavius was adopted into the patrician
+gens of the Julii, and was put into legal possession of the name which
+he had already assumed--C. Julius C�sar Octavianus. We shall henceforth
+call him Octavian.
+
+The change in his policy was soon indicated by a law in which he
+formally separated himself from the senate. Pedius brought it forward.
+By its provisions all C�sar's murderers were summoned to take their
+trial. Of course none of them appeared and they were condemned by
+default. By the end of September Octavian was again in Cisalpine Gaul
+and in close negotiation with Antony and Lepidus. The fruits of his
+conduct soon appeared. Plancus and Pollio declared against C�sar's
+murderers. Dec. Brutus, deserted by his soldiery, attempted to escape
+into Macedonia through Illyricum; but he was overtaken near Aquileia and
+slain by order of Antony.
+
+Italy and Gaul being now clear of the senatorial party, Lepidus, as
+mediator, arranged a meeting between Octavian and Antony, upon an island
+in a small river near Bononia (Bologna). Here the three potentates
+agreed that they should assume a joint and coordinate authority, under
+the name of "Triumvirs for settling the affairs of the Commonwealth."
+Antony was to have the two Gauls, except the Narbonnese district, which,
+with Spain, was assigned to Lepidus; Octavian received Sicily, Sardinia,
+and Africa. Italy was for the present to be left to the consuls of the
+year, and for the ensuing year Lepidus, with Plancus, received promise
+of this high office. In return, Lepidus gave up his military force,
+while Octavian and Antony, each at the head of ten legions, prepared to
+conquer the Eastern part of the empire, which could not yet be divided
+like the Western provinces, because it was in possession of Brutus and
+Cassius.
+
+But before they began war, the triumvirs agreed to follow the example
+set by Sylla--to extirpate their opponents by a proscription, and to
+raise money by confiscation. They framed a list of all men's names whose
+death could be regarded as advantageous to any of the three, and on this
+list each in turn pricked a name. Antony had made many personal enemies
+by his proceedings at Rome, and was at no loss for victims. Octavian had
+few direct enemies; but the boy-despot discerned with precocious
+sagacity those who were likely to impede his ambitious projects, and
+chose his victims with little hesitation. Lepidus would not be left
+behind in the bloody work. The author of the _Philippics_ was one of
+Antony's first victims; Octavian gave him up, and took as an equivalent
+for his late friend the life of L. C�sar, uncle of Antony. Lepidus
+surrendered his brother Paullus for some similar favor. So the work went
+on. Not fewer than three hundred senators and two thousand knights were
+on the list. Q. Pedius, an honest and upright man, died in his
+consulship, overcome by vexation and shame at being implicated in these
+transactions.
+
+As soon as their secret business was ended, the triumvirs determined to
+enter Rome publicly. Hitherto they had not published more than seventeen
+names of the proscribed. They made their entrance severally on three
+successive days, each attended by a legion. A law was immediately
+brought in to invest them formally with the supreme authority, which
+they had assumed. This was followed by the promulgation of successive
+lists, each larger than its predecessor.
+
+Among the victims, far the most conspicuous was Cicero. With his brother
+Quintus, the old orator had retired to his Tusculan villa after the
+battle of Mutina; and now they endeavored to escape in the hope of
+joining Brutus in Macedonia; for the orator's only son was serving as a
+tribune in the liberator's army. After many changes of domicile they
+reached Astura, a little island near Antium, where they found themselves
+short of money, and Quintus ventured to Rome to procure the necessary
+supply. Here he was recognized and seized, together with his son. Each
+desired to die first, and the mournful claim to precedence was settled
+by the soldiers killing both at the same moment.
+
+Meantime Cicero had put to sea. But even in this extremity he could not
+make up his mind to leave Italy, and put to land at Circeii. After
+further hesitation he again embarked, and again sought the Italian shore
+near Formiae. For the night he stayed at his villa near that place, and
+next morning would not move, exclaiming: "Let me die in my own
+country--that country which I have so often saved." But his faithful
+slaves forced him into a litter and carried him again toward the coast.
+Scarcely were they gone when a band of Antony's bloodhounds reached his
+villa, and were put upon the track of their victim by a young man who
+owed everything to the Ciceros. The old orator from his litter saw the
+pursuers coming up. His own followers were strong enough to have made
+resistance, but he desired them to set the litter down. Then, raising
+himself on his elbow, he calmly waited for the ruffians and offered his
+neck to the sword. He was soon despatched. The chief of the band, by
+Antony's express orders, hewed off the head and hands and carried them
+to Rome. Fulvia, the widow of Clodius and now the wife of Antony, drove
+her hairpin through the tongue which had denounced the iniquities of
+both her husbands. The head which had given birth to the _Second
+Philippic_, and the hands which had written it, were nailed to the
+Rostra, the home of their eloquence. The sight and the associations
+raised feelings of horror and pity in every heart. Cicero died in his
+sixty-fourth year.
+
+Brutus and Cassius left Italy in the autumn of B.C. 44 and repaired to
+the provinces which had been allotted to them, though by Antony's
+influence the senate had transferred Macedonia from Brutus to his own
+brother Caius, and Syria from Cassius to Dolabella. C. Antonius was
+already in possession of parts of Macedonia; but Brutus succeeded in
+dislodging him. Meanwhile Cassius, already well known in Syria for his
+successful conduct of the Parthian War, had established himself in that
+province before he heard of the approach of Dolabella. This worthless
+man left Italy about the same time as Brutus and Cassius, and at the
+head of several legions marched without opposition through Macedonia
+into Asia Minor. Here C. Trebonius had already arrived. But he was
+unable to cope with Dolabella; and the latter surprised him and took him
+prisoner at Smyrna. He was put to death with unseemly contumely in
+Dolabella's presence. This was in February, 43; and thus two of C�sar's
+murderers, in less than a year's time, felt the blow of retributive
+justice. When the news of this piece of butchery reached Rome, Cicero,
+believing that Octavian was a puppet in his hands, was ruling Rome by
+the eloquence of his _Philippics_. On his motion Dolabella was declared
+a public enemy.[81] Cassius lost no time in marching his legions into
+Asia, to execute the behest of the senate, though he had been
+dispossessed of his province by the senate itself. Dolabella threw
+himself into Laodicea, where he sought a voluntary death.
+
+[Footnote 81: He had divorced Tullia, the orator's daughter, before he
+left Italy.]
+
+By the end of B.C. 43, therefore, the whole of the East was in the hands
+of Brutus and Cassius. But instead of making preparations for war with
+Antony, the two commanders spent the early part of the year 42 in
+plundering the miserable cities of Asia Minor. Brutus demanded men and
+money of the Lycians; and, when they refused, he laid siege to Xanthus,
+their principal city. The Xanthians made the same brave resistance which
+they had offered five hundred years before to the Persian invaders. They
+burned their city and put themselves to death rather than submit. Brutus
+wept over their fate and abstained from further exactions. But Cassius
+showed less moderation; from the Rhodians alone, though they were allies
+of Rome, he demanded all their precious metals. After this campaign of
+plunder, the two chiefs met at Sardis and renewed the altercations which
+Cicero had deplored in Italy. It is probable that war might have broken
+out between them had not the preparations of the triumvirs waked them
+from their dream of security. It was as he was passing over into Europe
+that Brutus, who continued his studious habits amid all disquietudes,
+and limited his time of sleep to a period too small for the requirements
+of health, was dispirited by the vision which Shakespeare, after
+Plutarch, has made famous. It was no doubt the result of a diseased
+frame, though it was universally held to be a divine visitation. As he
+sat in his tent in the dead of night, he thought a huge and shadowy form
+stood by him; and when he calmly asked, "What and whence art thou?" it
+answered, or seemed to answer: "I am thine evil genius, Brutus: we shall
+meet again at Philippi."
+
+Meantime Antony's lieutenants had crossed the Ionian Sea and penetrated
+without opposition into Thrace. The republican leaders found them at
+Philippi. The army of Brutus and Cassius amounted to at least eighty
+thousand infantry, supported by twenty thousand horse; but they were
+ill-supplied with experienced officers. For M. Valerius Messalla, a
+young man of twenty-eight, held the chief command after Brutus and
+Cassius; and Horace, who was but three-and-twenty, the son of a
+freedman, and a youth of feeble constitution, was appointed a legionary
+tribune. The forces opposed to them would have been at once overpowered
+had not Antony himself opportunely arrived with the second corps of the
+triumviral army. Octavian was detained by illness at Dyrrhachium, but he
+ordered himself to be carried on a litter to join his legions. The army
+of the triumvirs was now superior to the enemy; but their cavalry,
+counting only thirteen thousand, was considerably weaker than the force
+opposed to it. The republicans were strongly posted upon two hills, with
+intrenchments between: the camp of Cassius upon the left next the sea,
+that of Brutus inland on the right. The triumviral army lay upon the
+open plain before them, in a position rendered unhealthy by marshes;
+Antony, on the right, was opposed to Cassius; Octavian, on the left,
+fronted Brutus. But they were ill-supplied with provisions and anxious
+for a decisive battle. The republicans, however, kept to their
+intrenchments, and the other party began to suffer severely from famine.
+
+Determined to bring on an action, Antony began works for the purpose of
+cutting off Cassius from the sea. Cassius had always opposed a general
+action, but Brutus insisted on putting an end to the suspense, and his
+colleague yielded. The day of the attack was probably in October. Brutus
+attacked Octavian's army, while Cassius assaulted the working parties of
+Antony. Cassius' assault was beaten back with loss, but he succeeded in
+regaining his camp in safety. Meanwhile, Messalla, who commanded the
+right wing of Brutus' army, had defeated the host of Octavian, who was
+still too ill to appear on the field, and the republican soldiers
+penetrated into the triumvirs' camp. Presently his litter was brought in
+stained with blood, and the corpse of a young man found near it was
+supposed to be Octavian's. But Brutus, not receiving any tidings of the
+movements of Cassius, became so anxious for his fate that he sent off a
+party of horse to make inquiries, and neglected to support the
+successful assaults of Messalla.
+
+Cassius, on his part, discouraged at his ill-success, was unable to
+ascertain the progress of Brutus. When he saw the party of horse he
+hastily concluded that they belonged to the enemy, and retired into his
+tent with his freedman Pindarus. What passed there we know not for
+certain. Cassius was found dead, with the head severed from the body.
+Pindarus was never seen again. It was generally believed that Pindarus
+slew his master in obedience to orders; but many thought that he had
+dealt a felon blow. The intelligence of Cassius' death was a heavy blow
+to Brutus. He forgot his own success, and pronounced the elegy of
+Cassius in the well-known words, "There lies the last of the Romans."
+The praise was ill-deserved. Except in his conduct of the war against
+the Parthians, Cassius had never played a worthy part.
+
+After the first battle of Philippi it would have still been politic in
+Brutus to abstain from battle. The triumviral armies were in great
+distress, and every day increased their losses. Reinforcements coming to
+their aid by sea were intercepted--a proof of the neglect of the
+republican leaders in not sooner bringing their fleet into action. Nor
+did Brutus ever hear of this success. He was ill-fitted for the life of
+the camp, and after the death of Cassius he only kept his men together
+by largesse and promises of plunder. Twenty days after the first battle
+he led them out again. Both armies faced one another. There was little
+manoeuvring. The second battle was decided by numbers and force, not by
+skill; and it was decided in favor of the triumvirs. Brutus retired with
+four legions to a strong position in the rear, while the rest of his
+broken army sought refuge in the camp. Octavian remained to watch them,
+while Antony pursued the republican chief. Next day Brutus endeavored to
+rouse his men to another effort; but they sullenly refused to fight; and
+Brutus withdrew with a few friends into a neighboring wood. Here he took
+them aside one by one, and prayed each to do him the last service that a
+Roman could render to his friend. All refused with horror; till at
+nightfall a trusty Greek freedman named Strato held the sword, and his
+master threw himself upon it. Most of his friends followed the sad
+example. The body of Brutus was sent by Antony to his mother. His wife
+Portia, the daughter of Cato, refused all comfort; and being too closely
+watched to be able to slay herself by ordinary means, she suffocated
+herself by thrusting burning charcoal into her mouth. Massalla, with a
+number of other fugitives, sought safety in the island of Thasos, and
+soon after made submission to Antony.
+
+The name of Brutus has, by Plutarch's beautiful narrative, sublimed by
+Shakespeare, become a byword for self-devoted patriotism. This exalted
+opinion is now generally confessed to be unjust. Brutus was not a
+patriot, unless devotion to the party of the senate be patriotism.
+Toward the provincials he was a true Roman, harsh and oppressive. He was
+free from the sensuality and profligacy of his age, but for public life
+he was unfit. His habits were those of a student. His application was
+great, his memory remarkable. But he possessed little power of turning
+his acquirements to account; and to the last he was rather a learned man
+than a man improved by learning. In comparison with Cassius, he was
+humane and generous; but in all respects his character is contrasted for
+the worse with that of the great man from whom he accepted favors and
+then became his murderer.
+
+The battle of Philippi was in reality the closing scene of the
+republican drama. But the rivalship of the triumvirs prolonged for
+several years the divided state of the Roman world; and it was not till
+after the crowning victory of Actium that the imperial government was
+established in its unity. We shall, therefore, here add a rapid
+narrative of the events which led to that consummation.
+
+The hopeless state of the republican or rather the senatorial party was
+such that almost all hastened to make submission to the conquerors:
+those whose sturdy spirit still disdained submission resorted to Sext.
+Pompeius in Sicily. Octavian, still suffering from ill-health, was
+anxious to return to Italy; but before he parted from Antony, they
+agreed to a second distribution of the provinces of the empire. Antony
+was to have the Eastern world; Octavian the Western provinces. To
+Lepidus, who was not consulted in this second division, Africa alone was
+left. Sext. Pompeius remained in possession of Sicily.
+
+Antony at once proceeded to make a tour through Western Asia, in order
+to exact money from its unfortunate people. About midsummer (B.C. 41) he
+arrived at Tarsus, and here he received a visit which determined the
+future course of his life and influenced Roman history for the next ten
+years.
+
+Antony had visited Alexandria fourteen years before, and had been
+smitten by the charms of Cleopatra, then a girl of fifteen. She became
+C�sar's paramour, and from the time of the dictator's death Antony had
+never seen her. She now came to meet him in Cilicia. The galley which
+carried her up the Cydnus was of more than oriental gorgeousness: the
+sails of purple; oars of silver, moving to the sound of music; the
+raised poop burnished with gold. There she lay upon a splendid couch,
+shaded by a spangled canopy; her attire was that of Venus; around her
+flitted attendant cupids and graces. At the news of her approach to
+Tarsus, the triumvir found his tribunal deserted by the people. She
+invited him to her ship, and he complied. From that moment he was her
+slave. He accompanied her to Alexandria, exchanged the Roman garb for
+the Graeco-Egyptian costume of the court, and lent his power to the
+Queen to execute all her caprices.
+
+Meanwhile Octavian was not without his difficulties. He was so ill at
+Brundusium that his death was reported at Rome. The veterans, eager for
+their promised rewards, were on the eve of mutiny. In a short time
+Octavian was sufficiently recovered to show himself. But he could find
+no other means of satisfying the greedy soldiery than by a confiscation
+of lands more sweeping than that which followed the proscription of
+Sylla. The towns of Cisalpine Gaul were accused of favoring Dec. Brutus,
+and saw nearly all their lands handed over to new possessors. The young
+poet, Vergil, lost his little patrimony, but was reinstated at the
+instance of Pollio and Maecenas, and showed his gratitude in his _First
+Eclogue_. Other parts of Italy also suffered: Apulia, for example, as we
+learn from Horace's friend Ofellus, who became the tenant of the estate
+which had formerly been his own.
+
+But these violent measures deferred rather than obviated the difficulty.
+The expulsion of so many persons threw thousands loose upon society,
+ripe for any crime. Many of the veterans were ready to join any new
+leader who promised them booty. Such a leader was at hand.
+
+Fulvia, wife of Antony, was a woman of fierce passions and ambitious
+spirit. She had not been invited to follow her husband to the East. She
+saw that in his absence imperial power would fall into the hands of
+Octavian. Lucius, brother of Mark Antony, was consul for the year, and
+at her instigation he raised his standard at Pr�neste. But L. Antonius
+knew not how to use his strength; and young Agrippa, to whom Octavian
+intrusted the command, obliged Antonius and Fulvia to retire northward
+and shut themselves up in Perusia. Their store of provisions was so
+small that it sufficed only for the soldiery. Early in the next year
+Perusia surrendered, on condition that the lives of the leaders should
+be spared. The town was sacked; the conduct of L. Antonius alienated all
+Italy from his brother.
+
+While his wife, his brother, and his friends were quitting Italy in
+confusion, the arms of Antony suffered a still heavier blow in the
+Eastern provinces, which were under his special government. After the
+battle of Philippi, Q. Labienus, son of C�sar's old lieutenant Titus,
+sought refuge at the court of Orodes, king of Parthia. Encouraged by the
+proffered aid of a Roman officer, Pacorus (the King's son) led a
+formidable army into Syria. Antony's lieutenant was entirely routed; and
+while Pacorus with one army poured into Palestine and Phoenicia, Q.
+Labienus with another broke into Cilicia. Here he found no opposition;
+and, overrunning all Asia Minor even to the Ionian Sea, he assumed the
+name of Parthicus, as if he had been a Roman conqueror of the people
+whom he served.
+
+These complicated disasters roused Antony from his lethargy. He sailed
+to Tyre, intending to take the field against the Parthians; but the
+season was too far advanced, and he therefore crossed the �gean to
+Athens, where he found Fulvia and his brother, accompanied by Pollio,
+Plancus, and others, all discontented with Octavian's government.
+Octavian was absent in Gaul, and their representation of the state of
+Italy encouraged him to make another attempt. Late in the year (41)
+Antony formed a league with Sext. Pompeius; and while that chief
+blockaded Thurii and Consentia, Antony assailed Brundusium. Agrippa was
+preparing to meet this new combination; and a fresh civil war was
+imminent. But the soldiery was weary of war: both armies compelled their
+leaders to make pacific overtures, and the new year was ushered in by a
+general peace, which was rendered easier by the death of Fulvia. Antony
+and Octavian renewed their professions of amity, and entered Rome
+together in joint ovation to celebrate the restoration of peace. They
+now made a third division of the provinces, by which Scodra (Scutari) in
+Illyricum was fixed as the boundary of the West and East; Lepidus was
+still left in possession of Africa. It was further agreed that Octavian
+was to drive Sext. Pompeius, lately the ally of Antony, out of Sicily;
+while Antony renewed his pledges to recover the standards of Crassus
+from the Parthians. The new compact was sealed by the marriage of Antony
+with Octavia, his colleague's sister, a virtuous and beautiful lady,
+worthy of a better consort. These auspicious events were celebrated by
+the lofty verse of Vergil's _Fourth Eclogue_.
+
+Sext. Pompeius had reason to complain. By the peace of Brundusium he was
+abandoned by his late friend to Octavian. He was not a man to brook
+ungenerous treatment. Of late years his possession of Sicily had given
+him command of the Roman corn market. During the winter which followed
+the peace of Brundusium (B.C. 40-39), Sextus blockaded Italy so closely
+that Rome was threatened with a positive dearth. Riots arose; the
+triumvirs were pelted with stones in the Forum, and they deemed it
+prudent to temporize by inviting Pompey to enter their league. He met
+them at Misenum, and the two chiefs went on board his ship to settle the
+terms of alliance. It is said that one of his chief officers, a Greek
+named Menas or Menodorus, suggested to him the expediency of putting to
+sea with the great prize, and then making his own terms. Sextus rejected
+the advice with the characteristic words, "You should have done it
+without asking me." It was agreed that Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica
+should be given up to his absolute rule, and that Achaia should be added
+to his portion; so that the Roman world was now partitioned among four:
+Octavian, Antony, Lepidus, and Sext. Pompeius. On their return the
+triumvirs were received with vociferous applause.
+
+Before winter, Antony sailed for Athens in company with Octavia, who for
+the time seems to have banished Cleopatra from his thoughts. But he
+disgusted all true Romans by assuming the attributes of Grecian gods and
+indulging in Grecian orgies.
+
+He found the state of things in the East greatly changed since his
+departure. He had commissioned P. Ventidius Bassus, an officer who had
+followed Fulvia from Italy, to hold the Parthians in check till his
+return. Ventidius was son of a Picenian nobleman of Asculum, who had
+been brought to Rome as a captive in the Social War. In his youth he had
+been a contractor to supply mules for the use of the Roman commissariat.
+But in the civil wars which followed, men of military talent easily rose
+to command; and such was the lot of Ventidius. While Antony was absent
+in Italy, he drove Q. Labienus into the defiles of Taurus, and here that
+adventurer was defeated and slain. The conqueror then marched rapidly
+into Syria, and forced Pacorus also to withdraw to the eastern bank of
+the Euphrates.
+
+In the following year (38) he repelled a fresh invasion of the
+Parthians, and defeated them in three battles. In the last of these
+engagements Pacorus himself was slain on the fifteenth anniversary of
+the death of Crassus. Antony found Ventidius laying siege to Samosata,
+and displaced him, only to abandon the siege and return to Athens.
+Ventidius repaired to Rome, where he was honored with a well-deserved
+triumph. He had left it as a mule jobber; he returned with the laurel
+round his brows. He was the first, and almost the last, Roman general
+who could claim such a distinction for victory over the Parthians.
+
+The alliance with Sext. Pompeius was not intended to last, and it did
+not last. Antony refused to put him in possession of Achaia, and to
+avenge himself for this breach of faith Pompeius again began to
+intercept the Italian corn fleets. Fresh discontent appeared at Rome,
+and Octavian equipped a second fleet to sail against the naval chief;
+but after two battles of doubtful result, the fleet was destroyed by a
+storm, and Sextus was again left in undisputed mastery of the sea.
+Octavian, however, was never daunted by reverses, and he gave his
+favorite Agrippa full powers to conduct the war against Pompeius. This
+able commander set about his work with that resolution that marked a man
+determined not to fail. As a harbor for his fleet, he executed a plan of
+the great C�sar; namely, to make a good and secure harbor on the coast
+of Latium, which then, as now, offered no shelter to ships. For this
+purpose he cut a passage through the narrow necks of land which
+separated Lake Lucrinus from the sea, and Lake Avernus from Lake
+Lucrinus, and faced the outer barrier with stone. This was the famous
+Julian Port. In the whole of the two years B.C. 38 and 37 Agrippa was
+occupied in this work and in preparing a sufficient force of ships.
+Every dockyard in Italy was called into requisition. A large body of
+slaves was set free that they might be trained to serve as rowers.
+
+On the 1st of July, B.C. 36, the fleet put to sea. Octavian himself,
+with one division, purposed to attack the northern coast of Sicily,
+while a second squadron was assembled at Tarentum for the purpose of
+assailing the eastern side. Lepidus, with a third fleet from Africa, was
+to assault Lilybaeum. But the winds were again adverse; and, though
+Lepidus effected a landing on the southern coast, Octavian's two fleets
+were driven back to Italy with great damage. But the injured ships were
+refitted, and Agrippa was sent westward toward Panormus, while Octavian
+himself kept guard near Messana. Off Mylae, a place famous for having
+witnessed the first naval victory of the Romans, Agrippa encountered the
+fleet of Sext. Pompeius; but Sextus, with the larger portion of his
+ships, gave Agrippa the slip, and sailing eastward fell suddenly upon
+Octavian's squadron off Tauromenium. A desperate conflict followed,
+which ended in the complete triumph of Sextus, and Octavian escaped to
+Italy with a few ships only. But Agrippa was soon upon the traces of the
+enemy. On the 3d of September Sextus was obliged once more to accept
+battle near the Straits of Messana, and suffered an irretrievable
+defeat. His troops on land were attacked and dispersed by an army which
+had been landed on the eastern coast by the indefatigable Octavian; and
+Sextus sailed off to Lesbos, where he had found refuge as a boy during
+the campaign of Pharsalia, to seek protection from the jealousy of
+Antony.
+
+Lepidus had assisted in the campaign; but after the departure of Sextus
+he openly declared himself independent of his brother triumvirs.
+Octavian, with prompt and prudent boldness, entered the camp of Lepidus
+in person with a few attendants. The soldiers deserted in crowds, and in
+a few hours Lepidus was fain to sue for pardon, where he had hoped to
+rule. He was treated with contemptuous indifference, Africa was taken
+from him; but he was allowed to live and die at Rome in quiet enjoyment
+of the chief pontificate.
+
+It was fortunate for Octavian that during this campaign Antony was on
+friendly terms with him. In B.C. 37 the ruler of the East again visited
+Italy, and a meeting between the two chiefs was arranged at Tarentum.
+The five years for which the triumvirs were originally appointed were
+now fast expiring; and it was settled that their authority should be
+renewed by the subservient senate and people for a second period of the
+same duration. They parted good friends; and Octavian undertook his
+campaign against Sext. Pompeius without fear from Antony. This was
+proved by the fate of the fugitive. From Lesbos Sextus passed over to
+Asia, where he was taken prisoner by Antony's lieutenants and put to
+death.
+
+Hitherto Octavia had retained her influence over Antony. But presently,
+after his last interview with her brother, the fickle triumvir abruptly
+quitted a wife who was too good for him, and returned to the fascinating
+presence of the Egyptian Queen, whom he had not seen for three years.
+From this time forth he made no attempt to break the silken chain of her
+enchantments. During the next summer, indeed, he attempted a new
+Parthian campaign. But his advance was made with reckless indifference
+to the safety of his troops. Provisions failed; disease broke out; and
+after great suffering he was forced to seek safety by a precipitate
+retreat into the Armenian mountains. In the next year he contented
+himself with a campaign in Armenia, to punish the King of that country
+for alleged treachery in the last campaign. The King fell into his
+hands; and with this trophy Antony returned to Alexandria, where the
+Romans were disgusted to see the streets of a Graeco-Egyptian town
+honored by a mimicry of a Roman triumph.
+
+For the next three years he surrendered himself absolutely to the will
+of the enchantress. To this period belong those tales of luxurious
+indulgence which are known to every reader. The brave soldier, who in
+the perils of war could shake off all luxurious habits and could rival
+the commonest man in the cheerfulness with which he underwent every
+hardship, was seen no more. He sunk into an indolent voluptuary, pleased
+by childish amusements. At one time he would lounge in a boat at a
+fishing party, and laugh when he drew up pieces of salt fish which by
+the Queen's order had been attached to his hook by divers. At another
+time she wagered that she would consume ten million sesterces at one
+meal, and won her wager by dissolving in vinegar a pearl of unknown
+value. While Cleopatra bore the character of the goddess Isis, her lover
+appeared as Osiris. Her head was placed conjointly with his own on the
+coins which he issued as a Roman magistrate. He disposed of the kingdoms
+and principalities of the East by his sole word. By his influence Herod,
+son of Antipater, the Idum�an minister of Hyrcanus, the late sovereign
+of Judea, was made king to the exclusion of the rightful heir. Polemo,
+his own son by Cleopatra, was invested with the sceptre of Armenia.
+Encouraged by the absolute submission of her lover, Cleopatra fixed her
+eye upon the Capitol, and dreamed of winning by means of Antony that
+imperial crown which she had vainly sought from C�sar.
+
+While Antony was engaged in voluptuous dalliance, Octavian was
+resolutely pursuing the work of consolidating his power in the West. His
+patience, his industry, his attention to business, his affability, were
+winning golden opinions and rapidly obliterating all memory of the
+bloody work by which he had risen to power. He had won little glory in
+war; but so long as the corn fleets arrived daily from Sicily and
+Africa, the populace cared little whether the victory had been won by
+Octavian or by his generals. In Agrippa he possessed a consummate
+captain, in Maecenas a wise and temperate minister. It is much to his
+credit that he never showed any jealousy of the men to whom he owed so
+much. He flattered the people with the hope that he would, when Antony
+had fulfilled his mission of recovering the standards of Crassus, engage
+him to join in putting an end to their sovereign power and restoring
+constitutional liberty.
+
+In point of fidelity to his marriage vows Octavian was little better
+than Antony. He renounced his marriage with Clodia, the daughter of
+Fulvia, when her mother attempted to raise Italy against him. He
+divorced Scribonia, when it no longer suited him to court the favor of
+her kinsman. To replace this second wife, he forcibly took away Livia
+from her husband, T. Claudius Nero, though she was at that time pregnant
+of her second son. But in this and other less pardonable immoralities
+there was nothing to shock the feelings of Romans.
+
+But Octavian never suffered pleasure to divert him from business. If he
+could not be a successful general, he resolved at least to show that he
+could be a hardy soldier. While Antony in his Egyptian palace was
+neglecting the Parthian War, his rival led his legions in more than one
+dangerous campaign against the barbarous Dalmatians and Pannonians, who
+had been for some time infesting the province of Illyricum. In the year
+B.C. 33 he announced that the limits of the empire had been extended
+northward to the banks of the Save.
+
+Octavian now began to feel that any appearance of friendship with Antony
+was a source of weakness rather than of strength at Rome.
+Misunderstandings had already broken out. Antony complained that
+Octavian had given him no share in the provinces wrested from Sext.
+Pompeius and Lepidus. Octavian retorted by accusing his colleague of
+appropriating Egypt and Armenia, and of increasing Cleopatra's power at
+the expense of the Roman Empire. Popular indignation rose to its height
+when Plancus and Titius, who had been admitted to Antony's confidence,
+passed over to Octavian, and disclosed the contents of their master's
+will. In that document Antony ordered that his body should be buried at
+Alexandria, in the mausoleum of Cleopatra. Men began to fancy that
+Cleopatra had already planted her throne upon the Capitol. These
+suspicions were sedulously encouraged by Octavian.
+
+Before the close of B.C. 32, Octavian, by the authority of the senate,
+declared war nominally against Cleopatra. Antony, roused from his sleep
+by reports from Rome, passed over to Athens, issuing orders everywhere
+to levy men and collect ships for the impending struggle. At Athens he
+received news of the declaration of war, and replied by divorcing
+Octavia. His fleet was ordered to assemble at Corcyra; and his legions
+in the early spring prepared to pour into Epirus. He established his
+head-quarters at Patr� on the Corinthian Gulf.
+
+But Antony, though his fleet was superior to that of Octavian, allowed
+Agrippa to sweep the Ionian Sea, and to take possession of Methone, in
+Messenia, as a station for a flying squadron to intercept Antony's
+communications with the East, nay, even to occupy Corcyra, which had
+been destined for his own place of rendezvous. Antony's fleet now
+anchored in the waters of the Ambracian Gulf, while his legions encamped
+on a spot of land which forms the northern horn of that spacious inlet.
+But the place chosen for the camp was unhealthy; and in the heats of
+early summer his army suffered greatly from disease. Agrippa lay close
+at hand watching his opportunity. In the course of the spring Octavian
+joined him in person.
+
+Early in the season Antony had repaired from Patr� to his army, so as to
+be ready either to cross over into Italy or to meet the enemy if they
+attempted to land in Epirus. At first he showed something of his old
+military spirit, and the soldiers, who always loved his military
+frankness, warmed into enthusiasm; but his chief officers, won by
+Octavian or disgusted by the influence of Cleopatra, deserted him in
+such numbers that he knew not whom to trust, and gave up all thoughts of
+maintaining the contest with energy. Urged by Cleopatra, he resolved to
+carry off his fleet and abandon the army. All preparations were made in
+secret, and the great fleet put to sea on the 28th of August. For the
+four following days there was a strong gale from the south. Neither
+could Antony escape nor could Octavian put to sea against him from
+Corcyra. On the 2d of September, however, the wind fell, and Octavian's
+light vessels, by using their oars, easily came up with the unwieldy
+galleys of the eastern fleet. A battle was now inevitable.
+
+Antony's ships were like impregnable fortresses to the assault of the
+slight vessels of Octavian; and, though they lay nearly motionless in
+the calm sea, little impression was made upon them. But about noon a
+breeze sprung up from the west; and Cleopatra, followed by sixty
+Egyptian ships, made sail in a southerly direction. Antony immediately
+sprang from his ship-of-war into a light galley and followed. Deserted
+by their commander, the captains of Antony's ships continued to resist
+desperately; nor was it till the greater part of them were set on fire
+that the contest was decided. Before evening closed, the whole fleet was
+destroyed; most of the men and all the treasure on board perished. A few
+days after, when the shameful flight of Antony was made known to his
+army, all his legions went over to the conqueror.
+
+It was not for eleven months after the battle of Actium that Octavian
+entered the open gates of Alexandria. He had been employed in the
+interval in founding the city of Nicopolis to celebrate his victory on
+the northern horn of the Ambracian Gulf, in rewarding his soldiers, and
+settling the affairs of the provinces of the East. In the winter he
+returned to Italy, and it was midsummer, B.C. 30, before he arrived in
+Egypt.
+
+When Antony and Cleopatra arrived off Alexandria they put a bold face
+upon the matter. Some time passed before the real state of the case was
+known; but it soon became plain that Egypt was at the mercy of the
+conqueror. The Queen formed all kinds of wild designs. One was to
+transport the ships that she had saved across the Isthmus of Suez and
+seek refuge in some distant land where the name of Rome was yet unknown.
+Some ships were actually drawn across, but they were destroyed by the
+Arabs, and the plan was abandoned. She now flattered herself that her
+powers of fascination, proved so potent over C�sar and Antony, might
+subdue Octavian. Secret messages passed between the conqueror and the
+Queen; nor were Octavian's answers such as to banish hope.
+
+Antony, full of repentance and despair, shut himself up in Pharos, and
+there remained in gloomy isolation.
+
+In July, B.C. 30, Octavian appeared before Pelusium. The place was
+surrendered without a blow. Yet, at the approach of the conqueror,
+Antony put himself at the head of a division of cavalry and gained some
+advantage. But on his return to Alexandria he found that Cleopatra had
+given up all her ships; and no more opposition was offered. On the 1st
+of August (Sextilis, as it was then called) Octavian entered the open
+gates of Alexandria. Both Antony and Cleopatra sought to win him.
+Antony's messengers the conqueror refused to see; but he still used fair
+words to Cleopatra. The Queen had shut herself up in a sort of mausoleum
+built to receive her body after death, which was not approachable by any
+door; and it was given out that she was really dead. All the tenderness
+of old times revived in Antony's heart. He stabbed himself, and in a
+dying state ordered himself to be laid by the side of Cleopatra. The
+Queen, touched by pity, ordered her expiring lover to be drawn up by
+cords into her retreat, and bathed his temples with her tears.
+
+After he had breathed his last, she consented to see Octavian. Her
+penetration soon told her that she had nothing to hope from him. She saw
+that his fair words were only intended to prevent her from desperate
+acts and reserve her for the degradation of his triumph. This impression
+was confirmed when all instruments by which death could be inflicted
+were found to have been removed from her apartments. But she was not to
+be so baffled. She pretended all submission; but when the ministers of
+Octavian came to carry her away, they found her lying dead upon her
+couch, attended by her faithful waiting-women, Iras and Charmion. The
+manner of her death was never ascertained; popular belief ascribed it to
+the bite of an asp which had been conveyed to her in a basket of fruit.
+
+Thus died Antony and Cleopatra. Antony was by nature a genial,
+open-hearted Roman, a good soldier, quick, resolute, and vigorous, but
+reckless and self-indulgent, devoid alike of prudence and of principle.
+The corruptions of the age, the seductions of power, and the evil
+influence of Cleopatra paralyzed a nature capable of better things. We
+know him chiefly through the exaggerated assaults of Cicero in his
+_Philippic_, and the narratives of writers devoted to Octavian. But
+after all deductions for partial representation, enough remains to show
+that Antony had all the faults of C�sar, with little of his redeeming
+greatness.
+
+Cleopatra was an extraordinary person. At her death she was but
+thirty-eight years of age. Her power rested not so much on actual beauty
+as on her fascinating manners and her extreme readiness of wit. In her
+follies there was a certain magnificence which excites even a dull
+imagination. We may estimate the real power of her mental qualities by
+observing the impression her character made upon the Roman poets of the
+time. No meditated praises could have borne such testimony to her
+greatness as the lofty strain in which Horace celebrates her fall and
+congratulates the Roman world on its escape from the ruin which she was
+threatening to the Capitol.
+
+Octavian dated the years of his imperial monarchy from the day of the
+battle of Actium. But it was not till two years after (the summer of
+B.C. 29) that he established himself in Rome as ruler of the Roman
+world. Then he celebrated three magnificent triumphs, after the example
+of his uncle the great dictator, for his victories in Dalmatia, at
+Actium, and in Egypt. At the same time the temple of Janus was
+closed--notwithstanding that border wars still continued in Gaul and
+Spain--for the first time since the year B.C. 235. All men drew breath
+more freely, and all except the soldiery looked forward to a time of
+tranquillity. Liberty and independence were forgotten words. After the
+terrible disorders of the last century, the general cry was for quiet at
+any price. Octavian was a person admirably fitted to fulfil these
+aspirations. His uncle Julius was too fond of active exertion to play
+such a part well. Octavian never shone in war, while his vigilant and
+patient mind was well fitted for the discharge of business. He avoided
+shocking popular feeling by assuming any title savoring of royalty; but
+he enjoyed by universal consent an authority more than regal.
+
+
+
+
+GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME
+
+A.D. 9
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(The German race was beginning to make itself felt to a greater extent
+than hitherto in its efforts for freedom from the Roman rule. Research
+shows that from the earliest days there were two distinct peoples under
+this designation of _German_--the northern or Scandinavian, and the
+southern, being more truly the German. Both consisted of numerous
+tribes, the Romans giving separate names to each: from this arose the
+generic titles of _Franks, Bavarians, Alamanni_, and the rest.
+
+They were great fighters and, as a natural sequence, mighty hunters.
+When warfare did not occupy their attention, hunting, feasting, and
+drinking took its place. Tacitus writes: "To drink continuously, night
+and day, was no shame for them." Their chief beverage was barley beer,
+though, in the South, wine was used to some extent.
+
+Rome had garrisons throughout the whole land, and the fortunes of the
+Germans were at a low ebb. Freedom seemed stifled forever when Arminius
+led his forces against the Roman hosts in the forest of Teutoburgium.
+Rightly does Creasy rate this important battle so highly, for it meant
+the final uplifting of the Teuton, and with him the English-speaking
+races of a later time.)
+
+
+To a truly illustrious Frenchman, whose reverses as a minister can never
+obscure his achievements in the world of letters, we are indebted for
+the most profound and most eloquent estimate that we possess of the
+importance of the Germanic element in European civilization, and of the
+extent to which the human race is indebted to those brave warriors who
+long were the unconquered antagonists, and finally became the
+conquerors, of imperial Rome.
+
+Twenty-three eventful years have passed away since M. Guizot[82]
+delivered from the chair of modern history, at Paris, his course of
+lectures on the history of civilization in Europe. During those years
+the spirit of earnest inquiry into the germs and primary developments of
+existing institutions has become more and more active and universal, and
+the merited celebrity of M. Guizot's work has proportionally increased.
+Its admirable analysis of the complex political and social organizations
+of which the modern civilized world is made up must have led thousands
+to trace with keener interest the great crises of times past, by which
+the characteristics of the present were determined. The narrative of one
+of these great crises, of the epoch A.D. 9, when Germany took up arms
+for her independence against Roman invasion, has for us this special
+attraction--that it forms part of our own national history. Had Arminius
+been supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors would have been
+enslaved or exterminated in their original seats along the Eider and the
+Elbe. This island would never have borne the name of England, and "we,
+this great English nation, whose race and language are now overrunning
+the earth, from one end of it to the other," would have been utterly cut
+off from existence.
+
+[Footnote 82: Guizot was minister of foreign affairs, and later (1848)
+prime minister, under Louis Philippe.]
+
+Arnold may, indeed, go too far in holding that we are wholly unconnected
+in race with the Romans and Britons who inhabited this country before
+the coming over of the Saxons; that, "nationally speaking, the history
+of C�sar's invasion has no more to do with us than the natural history
+of the animals which then inhabited our forests." There seems ample
+evidence to prove that the Romanized Celts whom our Teutonic forefathers
+found here influenced materially the character of our nation. But the
+main stream of our people was, and is, Germanic. Our language alone
+decisively proves this. Arminius is far more truly one of our national
+heroes than Caractacus; and it was our own primeval fatherland that the
+brave German rescued when he slaughtered the Roman legions, eighteen
+centuries ago, in the marshy glens between the Lippe and the Ems.
+
+Dark and disheartening, even to heroic spirits, must have seemed the
+prospects of Germany when Arminius planned the general rising of his
+countrymen against Rome. Half the land was occupied by Roman garrisons;
+and, what was worse, many of the Germans seemed patiently acquiescent in
+their state of bondage. The braver portion, whose patriotism could be
+relied on, was ill-armed and undisciplined, while the enemy's troops
+consisted of veterans in the highest state of equipment and training,
+familiarized with victory and commanded by officers of proved skill and
+valor. The resources of Rome seemed boundless; her tenacity of purpose
+was believed to be invincible. There was no hope of foreign sympathy or
+aid; for "the self-governing powers that had filled the Old World had
+bent one after another before the rising power of Rome, and had
+vanished. The earth seemed left void of independent nations."
+
+The German chieftain knew well the gigantic power of the oppressor.
+Arminius was no rude savage, fighting out of mere animal instinct or in
+ignorance of the might of his adversary. He was familiar with the Roman
+language and civilization; he had served in the Roman armies; he had
+been admitted to the Roman citizenship, and raised to the rank of the
+equestrian order. It was part of the subtle policy of Rome to confer
+rank and privileges on the youth of the leading families in the nations
+which she wished to enslave. Among other young German chieftains,
+Arminius and his brother, who were the heads of the noblest house in the
+tribe of the Cherusci, had been selected as fit objects for the exercise
+of this insidious system. Roman refinements and dignities succeeded in
+denationalizing the brother, who assumed the Roman name of Flavius, and
+adhered to Rome throughout all her wars against his country. Arminius
+remained unbought by honors or wealth, uncorrupted by refinement or
+luxury. He aspired to and obtained from Roman enmity a higher title than
+ever could have been given him by Roman favor. It is in the page of
+Rome's greatest historian that his name has come down to us with the
+proud addition of "_Liberator hand dubie Germaniae_."
+
+Often must the young chieftain, while meditating the exploit which has
+thus immortalized him, have anxiously revolved in his mind the fate of
+the many great men who had been crushed in the attempt which he was
+about to renew--the attempt to stay the chariot wheels of triumphant
+Rome. Could he hope to succeed where Hannibal and Mithradates had
+perished? What had been the doom of Viriathus? and what warning against
+vain valor was written on the desolate site where Numantia once had
+flourished? Nor was a caution wanting in scenes nearer home and more
+recent times. The Gauls had fruitlessly struggled for eight years
+against C�sar; and the gallant Vercingetorix, who in the last year of
+the war had roused all his countrymen to insurrection, who had cut off
+Roman detachments, and brought C�sar himself to the extreme of peril at
+Alesia--he, too, had finally succumbed, had been led captive in C�sar's
+triumph, and had then been butchered in cold blood in a Roman dungeon.
+
+It was true that Rome was no longer the great military republic which
+for so many ages had shattered the kingdoms of the world. Her system of
+government was changed, and, after a century of revolution and civil
+war, she had placed herself under the despotism of a single ruler. But
+the discipline of her troops was yet unimpaired and her warlike spirit
+seemed unabated. The first year of the empire had been signalized by
+conquests as valuable as any gained by the republic in a corresponding
+period. It is a great fallacy--though apparently sanctioned by great
+authorities--to suppose that the foreign policy pursued by Augustus was
+pacific; he certainly recommended such a policy to his successors
+(_incertum metu an per invidiam_: Tac., _Ann_., i. 11), but he himself,
+until Arminius broke his spirit, had followed a very different course.
+Besides his Spanish wars, his generals, in a series of generally
+aggressive campaigns, had extended the Roman frontier from the Alps to
+the Danube, and had reduced into subjection the large and important
+countries that now form the territories of all Austria south of that
+river, and of East Switzerland, Lower Wuertemberg, Bavaria, the
+Valtelline, and the Tyrol.
+
+While the progress of the Roman arms thus pressed the Germans from the
+south, still more formidable inroads had been made by the imperial
+legions on the west. Roman armies, moving from the province of Gaul,
+established a chain of fortresses along the right as well as the left
+bank of the Rhine, and, in a series of victorious campaigns, advanced
+their eagles as far as the Elbe, which now seemed added to the list of
+vassal rivers, to the Nile, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the Tagus,
+the Seine, and many more, that acknowledged the supremacy of the Tiber.
+Roman fleets also, sailing from the harbors of Gaul along the German
+coasts and up the estuaries, co�perated with the land forces of the
+empire, and seemed to display, even more decisively than her armies, her
+overwhelming superiority over the rude Germanic tribes. Throughout the
+territory thus invaded the Romans had with their usual military skill
+established fortified posts; and a powerful army of occupation was kept
+on foot, ready to move instantly on any spot where a popular outbreak
+might be attempted.
+
+Vast, however, and admirably organized as the fabric of Roman power
+appeared on the frontiers and in the provinces, there was rottenness at
+the core. In Rome's unceasing hostilities with foreign foes, and still
+more in her long series of desolating civil wars, the free middle
+classes of Italy had almost wholly disappeared. Above the position which
+they had occupied, an oligarchy of wealth had reared itself; beneath
+that position a degraded mass of poverty and misery was fermenting.
+Slaves; the chance sweepings of every conquered country; shoals of
+Africans, Sardinians, Asiatics, Illyrians, and others made up the bulk
+of the population of the Italian peninsula.
+
+The foulest profligacy of manners was general in all ranks. In universal
+weariness of revolution and civil war, and in consciousness of being too
+debased for self-government, the nation had submitted itself to the
+absolute authority of Augustus. Adulation was now the chief function of
+the senate; and the gifts of genius and accomplishments of art were
+devoted to the elaboration of eloquently false panegyrics upon the
+prince and his favorite courtiers. With bitter indignation must the
+German chieftain have beheld all this and contrasted with it the rough
+worth of his own countrymen: their bravery, their fidelity to their
+word, their manly independence of spirit, their love of their national
+free institutions, and their loathing of every pollution and meanness.
+Above all, he must have thought of the domestic virtues that hallowed a
+German home; of the respect there shown to the female character, and of
+the pure affection by which that respect was repaid. His soul must have
+burned within him at the contemplation of such a race yielding to these
+debased Italians.
+
+Still, to persuade the Germans to combine, in spite of the frequent
+feuds among themselves, in one sudden outbreak against Rome; to keep the
+scheme concealed from the Romans until the hour for action arrived; and
+then, without possessing a single walled town, without military stores,
+without training, to teach his insurgent countrymen to defeat veteran
+armies and storm fortifications, seemed so perilous an enterprise that
+probably Arminius would have receded from it had not a stronger feeling
+even than patriotism urged him on. Among the Germans of high rank who
+had most readily submitted to the invaders and become zealous partisans
+of Roman authority was a chieftain named Segestes. His daughter,
+Thusnelda, was preeminent among the noble maidens of Germany. Arminius
+had sought her hand in marriage; but Segestes, who probably discerned
+the young chief's disaffection to Rome, forbade his suit, and strove to
+preclude all communication between him and his daughter. Thusnelda,
+however, sympathized far more with the heroic spirit of her lover than
+with the timeserving policy of her father. An elopement baffled the
+precautions of Segestes, who, disappointed in his hope of preventing the
+marriage, accused Arminius before the Roman governor of having carried
+off his daughter and of planning treason against Rome. Thus assailed,
+and dreading to see his bride torn from him by the officials of the
+foreign oppressor, Arminius delayed no longer, but bent all his energies
+to organize and execute a general insurrection of the great mass of his
+countrymen, who hitherto had submitted in sullen hatred to the Roman
+dominion.
+
+A change of governors had recently taken place, which, while it
+materially favored the ultimate success of the insurgents, served, by
+the immediate aggravation of the Roman oppressions which it produced, to
+make the native population more universally eager to take arms.
+Tiberius, who was afterward emperor, had recently been recalled from the
+command in Germany and sent into Pannonia to put down a dangerous revolt
+which had broken out against the Romans in that province. The German
+patriots were thus delivered from the stern supervision of one of the
+most suspicious of mankind, and were also relieved from having to
+contend against the high military talents of a veteran commander, who
+thoroughly understood their national character, and also the nature of
+the country, which he himself had principally subdued.
+
+In the room of Tiberius, Augustus sent into Germany Quintilius Varus,
+who had lately returned from the proconsulate of Syria. Varus was a true
+representative of the higher classes of the Romans, among whom a general
+taste for literature, a keen susceptibility to all intellectual
+gratifications, a minute acquaintance with the principles and practice
+of their own national jurisprudence, a careful training in the schools
+of the rhetoricians, and a fondness for either partaking in or watching
+the intellectual strife of forensic oratory had become generally
+diffused, without, however, having humanized the old Roman spirit of
+cruel indifference to human feelings and human sufferings, and without
+acting as the least checks on unprincipled avarice and ambition or on
+habitual and gross profligacy. Accustomed to govern the depraved and
+debased natives of Syria--a country where courage in man and virtue in
+woman had for centuries been unknown--Varus thought that he might
+gratify his licentious and rapacious passions with equal impunity among
+the high-minded sons and pure-spirited daughters of Germany. When the
+general of an army sets the example of outrages of this description, he
+is soon faithfully imitated by his officers, and surpassed by his still
+more brutal soldiery. The Romans now habitually indulged in those
+violations of the sanctity of the domestic shrine, and those insults
+upon honor and modesty, by which far less gallant spirits than those of
+our Teutonic ancestors have often been maddened into insurrection.
+
+Arminius found among the other German chiefs many who sympathized with
+him in his indignation at their country's abasement, and many whom
+private wrongs had stung yet more deeply. There was little difficulty in
+collecting bold leaders for an attack on the oppressors, and little fear
+of the population not rising readily at those leaders' call. But to
+declare open war against Rome and to encounter Varus' army in a pitched
+battle would have been merely rushing upon certain destruction. Varus
+had three legions under him, a force which, after allowing for
+detachments, cannot be estimated at less than fourteen thousand Roman
+infantry. He had also eight or nine hundred Roman cavalry, and at least
+an equal number of horse and foot sent from the allied states, or raised
+among those provincials who had not received the Roman franchise.
+
+It was not merely the number, but the quality of this force that made
+them formidable; and, however contemptible Varus might be as a general,
+Arminius well knew how admirably the Roman armies were organized and
+officered, and how perfectly the legionaries understood every manoeuvre
+and every duty which the varying emergencies of a stricken field might
+require. Stratagem was, therefore, indispensable; and it was necessary
+to blind Varus to their schemes until a favorable opportunity should
+arrive for striking a decisive blow.
+
+For this purpose, the German confederates frequented the head-quarters
+of Varus, which seem to have been near the centre of the modern country
+of Westphalia, where the Roman general conducted himself with all the
+arrogant security of the governor of a perfectly submissive province.
+There Varus gratified at once his vanity, his rhetorical tastes, and his
+avarice, by holding courts, to which he summoned the Germans for the
+settlement of all their disputes, while a bar of Roman advocates
+attended to argue the cases before the tribunal of Varus, who did not
+omit the opportunity of exacting court fees and accepting bribes. Varus
+trusted implicitly to the respect which the Germans pretended to pay to
+his abilities as a judge, and to the interest which they affected to
+take in the forensic eloquence of their conquerors.
+
+Meanwhile a succession of heavy rains rendered the country more
+difficult for the operations of regular troops, and Arminius, seeing
+that the infatuation of Varus was complete, secretly directed the tribes
+near the Weser and the Ems to take up arms in open revolt against the
+Romans. This was represented to Varus as an occasion which required his
+prompt attendance at the spot; but he was kept in studied ignorance of
+its being part of a concerted national rising; and he still looked on
+Arminius as his submissive vassal, whose aid he might rely on in
+facilitating the march of his troops against the rebels and in
+extinguishing the local disturbance. He therefore set his army in
+motion, and marched eastward in a line parallel to the course of the
+Lippe. For some distance his route lay along a level plain; but on
+arriving at the tract between the curve of the upper part of that stream
+and the sources of the Ems, the country assumes a very different
+character; and here, in the territory of the modern little principality
+of Lippe, it was that Arminius had fixed the scene of his enterprise.
+
+A wooded and hilly region intervenes between the heads of the two
+rivers, and forms the water-shed of their streams. This region still
+retains the name (Teutobergenwald = _Teutobergiensis saltus_) which it
+bore in the days of Arminius. The nature of the ground has probably also
+remained unaltered. The eastern part of it, round Detmold, the modern
+capital of the principality of Lippe, is described by a modern German
+scholar, Dr. Plate, as being a "table-land intersected by numerous deep
+and narrow valleys, which in some places form small plains, surrounded
+by steep mountains and rocks, and only accessible by narrow defiles. All
+the valleys are traversed by rapid streams, shallow in the dry season,
+but subject to sudden swellings in autumn and winter. The vast forests
+which cover the summits and slopes of the hills consist chiefly of oak;
+there is little underwood, and both men and horse would move with ease
+in the forests if the ground were not broken by gulleys or rendered
+impracticable by fallen trees." This is the district to which Varus is
+supposed to have marched; and Dr. Plate adds that "the names of several
+localities on and near that spot seem to indicate that a great battle
+had once been fought there. We find the names '_das Winnefeld_' (the
+field of victory), '_die Knochenbahn_' (the bone-lane), '_die
+Knochenleke_' (the bone-brook), '_der Mordkessel_' (the kettle of
+slaughter), and others."
+
+Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman discipline, Varus had
+suffered his army to be accompanied and impeded by an immense train of
+baggage wagons and by a rabble of camp followers, as if his troops had
+been merely changing their quarters in a friendly country. When the long
+array quitted the firm, level ground and began to wind its way among the
+woods, the marshes, and the ravines, the difficulties of the march, even
+without the intervention of an armed foe, became fearfully apparent. In
+many places the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for cavalry
+and even for infantry, until trees had been felled and a rude causeway
+formed through the morass.
+
+The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who served in the Roman
+armies. But the crowd and confusion of the columns embarrassed the
+working parties of the soldiery, and in the midst of their toil and
+disorder the word was suddenly passed through their ranks that the
+rear-guard was attacked by the barbarians. Varus resolved on pressing
+forward; but a heavy discharge of missiles from the woods on either
+flank taught him how serious was the peril, and he saw his best men
+falling round him without the opportunity of retaliation; for his
+light-armed auxiliaries, who were principally of Germanic race, now
+rapidly deserted, and it was impossible to deploy the legionaries on
+such broken ground for a charge against the enemy.
+
+Choosing one of the most open and firm spots which they could force
+their way to, the Romans halted for the night; and, faithful to their
+national discipline and tactics, formed their camp amid the harassing
+attacks of the rapidly thronging foes with the elaborate toil and
+systematic skill the traces of which are impressed permanently on the
+soil of so many European countries, attesting the presence in the olden
+time of the imperial eagles.
+
+On the morrow the Romans renewed their march, the veteran officers who
+served under Varus now probably directing the operations and hoping to
+find the Germans drawn up to meet them, in which case they relied on
+their own superior discipline and tactics for such a victory as should
+reassure the supremacy of Rome. But Arminius was far too sage a
+commander to lead on his followers, with their unwieldy broadswords and
+inefficient defensive armor, against the Roman legionaries, fully armed
+with helmet, cuirass, greaves, and shield, who were skilled to commence
+the conflict with a murderous volley of heavy javelins hurled upon the
+foe when a few yards distant, and then, with their short cut-and-thrust
+swords, to hew their way through all opposition, preserving the utmost
+steadiness and coolness, and obeying each word of command in the midst
+of strife and slaughter with the same precision and alertness as if upon
+parade. Arminius suffered the Romans to march out from their camp, to
+form first in line for action and then in column for marching, without
+the show of opposition.
+
+For some distance Varus was allowed to move on, only harassed by slight
+skirmishes, but struggling with difficulty through the broken ground,
+the toil and distress of his men being aggravated by heavy torrents of
+rain, which burst upon the devoted legions, as if the angry gods of
+Germany were pouring out the vials of their wrath upon the invaders.
+After some little time their van approached a ridge of high wooded
+ground, which is one of the offshoots of the great Hercynian forest, and
+is situated between the modern villages of Driburg and Bielefeld.
+Arminius had caused barricades of hewn trees to be formed here, so as to
+add to the natural difficulties of the passage. Fatigue and
+discouragement now began to betray themselves in the Roman ranks. Their
+line became less steady; baggage wagons were abandoned from the
+impossibility of forcing them along; and, as this happened, many
+soldiers left their ranks and crowded round the wagons to secure the
+most valuable portions of their property; each was busy about his own
+affairs, and purposely slow in hearing the word of command from his
+officers.
+
+Arminius now gave the signal for a general attack. The fierce shouts of
+the Germans pealed through the gloom of the forests, and in thronging
+multitudes they assailed the flanks of the invaders, pouring in clouds
+of darts on the encumbered legionaries as they struggled up the glens or
+floundered in the morasses, and watching every opportunity of charging
+through the intervals of the disjointed column, and so cutting off the
+communication between its several brigades. Arminius, with a chosen band
+of personal retainers round him, cheered on his countrymen by voice and
+example. He and his men aimed their weapons particularly at the horses
+of the Roman cavalry. The wounded animals, slipping about in the mire
+and their own blood, threw their riders and plunged among the ranks of
+the legions, disordering all round them. Varus now ordered the troops to
+be countermarched, in the hope of reaching the nearest Roman garrison on
+the Lippe.
+
+But retreat now was as impracticable as advance; and the falling back of
+the Romans only augmented the courage of their assailants and caused
+fiercer and more frequent charges on the flanks of the disheartened
+army. The Roman officer who commanded the cavalry, Numonius Vala, rode
+off with his squadrons in the vain hope of escaping by thus abandoning
+his comrades. Unable to keep together or force their way across the
+woods and swamps, the horsemen were overpowered in detail and
+slaughtered to the last man. The Roman infantry still held together and
+resisted, but more through the instinct of discipline and bravery than
+from any hope of success or escape.
+
+Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge of the Germans against
+his part of the column, committed suicide to avoid falling into the
+hands of those whom he had exasperated by his oppressions. One of the
+lieutenants-general of the army fell fighting; the other surrendered to
+the enemy. But mercy to a fallen foe had never been a Roman virtue, and
+those among her legions who now laid down their arms in hope of quarter,
+drank deep of the cup of suffering, which Rome had held to the lips of
+many a brave but unfortunate enemy. The infuriated Germans slaughtered
+their oppressors with deliberate ferocity, and those prisoners who were
+not hewn to pieces on the spot were only preserved to perish by a more
+cruel death in cold blood.
+
+The bulk of the Roman army fought steadily and stubbornly, frequently
+repelling the masses of assailants, but gradually losing the compactness
+of their array and becoming weaker and weaker beneath the incessant
+shower of darts and the reiterated assaults of the vigorous and
+unencumbered Germans. At last, in a series of desperate attacks, the
+column was pierced through and through, two of the eagles captured, and
+the Roman host, which on the morning before had marched forth in such
+pride and might--now broken up into confused fragments--either fell
+fighting beneath the overpowering numbers of the enemy or perished in
+the swamps and woods in unavailing efforts at flight. Few, very few,
+ever saw again the left bank of the Rhine. One body of brave veterans,
+arraying themselves in a ring on a little mound, beat off every charge
+of the Germans, and prolonged their honorable resistance to the close of
+that dreadful day. The traces of a feeble attempt at forming a ditch and
+mound attested in after-years the spot where the last of the Romans
+passed their night of suffering and despair. But on the morrow this
+remnant also, worn out with hunger, wounds, and toil, was charged by the
+victorious Germans, and either massacred on the spot or offered up in
+fearful rites on the altars of the deities of the old mythology of the
+North.
+
+A gorge in the mountain ridge, through which runs the modern road
+between Paderborn and Pyrmont, leads from the spot where the heat of the
+battle raged to the Extersteine--a cluster of bold and grotesque rocks
+of sandstone--near which is a small sheet of water, overshadowed by a
+grove of aged trees. According to local tradition, this was one of the
+sacred groves of the ancient Germans, and it was here that the Roman
+captives were slain in sacrifice by the victorious warriors of Arminius.
+
+Never was victory more decisive; never was the liberation of an
+oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. Throughout Germany the
+Roman garrisons were assailed and cut off; and within a few weeks after
+Varus had fallen, the German soil was freed from the foot of an invader.
+
+At Rome the tidings of the battle were received with an agony of terror,
+the reports of which we would deem exaggerated did they not come from
+Roman historians themselves. They not only tell emphatically how great
+was the awe which the Romans felt of the prowess of the Germans if their
+various tribes could be brought to unite for a common purpose,[83] but
+they also reveal how weakened and debased the population of Italy had
+become. Dion Cassius says: "Then Augustus, when he heard the calamity of
+Varus, rent his garment, and was in great affliction for the troops he
+had lost, and for terror respecting the Germans and the Gauls. And his
+chief alarm was that he expected them to push on against Italy and Rome;
+and there remained no Roman youth fit for military duty that were worth
+speaking of, and the allied populations, that were at all serviceable,
+had been wasted away. Yet he prepared for the emergency as well as his
+means allowed; and when none of the citizens of military age were
+willing to enlist, he made them cast lots, and punished, by confiscation
+of goods and disfranchisement, every fifth man among those under
+thirty-five and every tenth man of those above that age. At last, when
+he found that not even thus could he make many come forward, he put some
+of them to death. So he made a conscription of discharged veterans and
+of emancipated slaves, and, collecting as large a force as he could,
+sent it, under Tiberius, with all speed into Germany."
+
+[Footnote 83: It is clear that the Romans followed the policy of
+fomenting dissensions and wars of the Germans among themselves.]
+
+Dion mentions also a number of terrific portents that were believed to
+have occurred at the time, and the narration of which is not immaterial,
+as it shows the state of the public mind when such things were so
+believed in and so interpreted. The summits of the Alps were said to
+have fallen, and three columns of fire to have blazed up from them. In
+the Campus Martius, the temple of the war-god, from whom the founder of
+Rome had sprung, was struck by a thunderbolt. The nightly heavens glowed
+several times as if on fire. Many comets blazed forth together; and
+fiery meteors, shaped like spears, had shot from the northern quarter of
+the sky down into the Roman camps. It was said, too, that a statue of
+Victory, which had stood at a place on the frontier, pointing the way
+toward Germany, had of its own accord turned round, and now pointed to
+Italy. These and other prodigies were believed by the multitude to
+accompany the slaughter of Varus' legions and to manifest the anger of
+the gods against Rome.
+
+Augustus himself was not free from superstition; but on this occasion no
+supernatural terrors were needed to increase the alarm and grief that he
+felt, and which made him, even months after the news of the battle had
+arrived, often beat his head against the wall and exclaim, "Quintilius
+Varus, give me back my legions." We learn this from his biographer
+Suetonius; and, indeed, every ancient writer who alludes to the
+overthrow of Varus attests the importance of the blow against the Roman
+power, and the bitterness with which it was felt.
+
+The Germans did not pursue their victory beyond their own territory; but
+that victory secured at once and forever the independence of the
+Teutonic race. Rome sent, indeed, her legions again into Germany, to
+parade a temporary superiority, but all hopes of permanent conquests
+were abandoned by Augustus and his successors.
+
+The blow which Arminius had struck never was forgotten. Roman fear
+disguised itself under the specious title of moderation, and the Rhine
+became the acknowledged boundary of the two nations until the fifth
+century of our era, when the Germans became the assailants, and carved
+with their conquering swords the provinces of imperial Rome into the
+kingdoms of modern Europe.
+
+
+ARMINIUS
+
+I have said above that the great Cheruscan is more truly one of our
+national heroes than Caractacus is. It may be added that an Englishman
+is entitled to claim a closer degree of relationship with Arminius than
+can be claimed by any German of modern Germany. The proof of this
+depends on the proof of four facts: First, that the Cheruscans were Old
+Saxons, or Saxons of the interior of Germany; secondly, that the
+Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons of the coast of Germany, were more closely akin
+than other German tribes were to the Cheruscan Saxons; thirdly, that the
+Old Saxons were almost exterminated by Charlemagne; fourthly, that the
+Anglo-Saxons are our immediate ancestors. The last of these may be
+assumed as an axiom in English history. The proofs of the other three
+are partly philological and partly historical. It may be, however, here
+remarked that the present Saxons of Germany are of the _High_ Germanic
+division of the German race, whereas both the Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon
+were of the _Low_ Germanic.
+
+Being thus the nearest heirs of the glory of Arminius, we may fairly
+devote more attention to his career than, in such a work as the present,
+could be allowed to any individual leader; and it is interesting to
+trace how far his fame survived during the Middle Ages, both among the
+Germans of the Continent and among ourselves.
+
+It seems probable that the jealousy with which Maroboduus, the king of
+the Suevi and Marcomanni, regarded Arminius, and which ultimately broke
+out into open hostilities between those German tribes and the Cherusci,
+prevented Arminius from leading the confederate Germans to attack Italy
+after his first victory. Perhaps he may have had the rare moderation of
+being content with the liberation of his country, without seeking to
+retaliate on her former oppressors. When Tiberius marched into Germany
+in the year 10, Arminius was too cautious to attack him on ground
+favorable to the legions, and Tiberius was too skilful to entangle his
+troops in the difficult parts of the country. His march and countermarch
+were as unresisted as they were unproductive. A few years later, when a
+dangerous revolt of the Roman legions near the frontier caused their
+generals to find them active employment by leading them into the
+interior of Germany, we find Arminius again active in his country's
+defence. The old quarrel between him and his father-in-law, Segestes,
+had broken out afresh.
+
+Segestes now called in the aid of the Roman general, Germanicus, to whom
+he surrendered himself; and by his contrivance, his daughter, Thusnelda,
+the wife of Arminius, also came into the hands of the Romans, she being
+far advanced in pregnancy. She showed, as Tacitus relates, more of the
+spirit of her husband than of her father, a spirit that could not be
+subdued into tears or supplications. She was sent to Ravenna, and there
+gave birth to a son, whose life we know, from an allusion in Tacitus, to
+have been eventful and unhappy; but the part of the great historian's
+work which narrated his fate has perished, and we only know from another
+quarter that the son of Arminius was, at the age of four years, led
+captive in a triumphal pageant along the streets of Rome.
+
+The high spirit of Arminius was goaded almost into frenzy by these
+bereavements. The fate of his wife, thus torn from him, and of his babe
+doomed to bondage even before its birth, inflamed the eloquent
+invectives with which he roused his countrymen against the
+home-traitors, and against their invaders, who thus made war upon women
+and children. Germanicus had marched his army to the place where Varus
+had perished, and had there paid funeral honors to the ghastly relics of
+his predecessor's legions that he found heaped around him.[84] Arminius
+lured him to advance a little farther into the country, and then
+assailed him, and fought a battle, which, by the Roman accounts, was a
+drawn one.
+
+[Footnote 84: In the Museum of Rhenish Antiquities at Bonn there is a
+Roman sepulchral monument the inscription on which records that it was
+erected to the memory of M. Coelius, who fell "_Bella Variano_."]
+
+The effect of it was to make Germanicus resolve on retreating to the
+Rhine. He himself, with part of his troops, embarked in some vessels on
+the Ems, and returned by that river, and then by sea; but part of his
+forces were intrusted to a Roman general named Caecina, to lead them
+back by land to the Rhine. Arminius followed this division on its march,
+and fought several battles with it, in which he inflicted heavy loss on
+the Romans, captured the greater part of their baggage, and would have
+destroyed them completely had not his skilful system of operations been
+finally thwarted by the haste of Inguiomerus, a confederate German
+chief, who insisted on assaulting the Romans in their camp, instead of
+waiting till they were entangled in the difficulties of the country, and
+assailing their columns on the march.
+
+In the following year the Romans were inactive, but in the year
+afterward Germanicus led a fresh invasion. He placed his army on
+shipboard and sailed to the mouth of the Ems, where he disembarked and
+marched to the Weser, there encamping, probably in the neighborhood of
+Minden. Arminius had collected his army on the other side of the river;
+and a scene occurred, which is powerfully told by Tacitus, and which is
+the subject of a beautiful poem by Praed. It has been already mentioned
+that the brother of Arminius, like himself, had been trained up while
+young to serve in the Roman armies; but, unlike Arminius, he not only
+refused to quit the Roman service for that of his country, but fought
+against his country with the legions of Germanicus. He had assumed the
+Roman name of Flavius, and had gained considerable distinction in the
+Roman service, in which he had lost an eye from a wound in battle. When
+the Roman outposts approached the river Weser, Arminius called out to
+them from the opposite bank and expressed a wish to see his brother.
+Flavius stepped forward, and Arminius ordered his own followers to
+retire, and requested that the archers should be removed from the Roman
+bank of the river. This was done; and the brothers, who apparently had
+not seen each other for some years, began a conversation from the
+opposite sides of the stream, in which Arminius questioned his brother
+respecting the loss of his eye, and what battle it had been lost in, and
+what reward he had received for his wound. Flavius told him how the eye
+was lost, and mentioned the increased pay that he had on account of its
+loss, and showed the collar and other military decorations that had been
+given him. Arminius mocked at these as badges of slavery; and then each
+began to try to win the other over--Flavius boasting the power of Rome
+and her generosity to the submissive; Arminius appealing to him in the
+name of their country's gods, of the mother that had borne them, and by
+the holy names of fatherland and freedom, not to prefer being the
+betrayer to being the champion of his country. They soon proceeded to
+mutual taunts and menaces, and Flavius called aloud for his horse and
+his arms, that he might dash across the river and attack his brother;
+nor would he have been checked from doing so had not the Roman general
+Stertinius run up to him and forcibly detained him. Arminius stood on
+the other bank, threatening the renegade, and defying him to battle.
+
+I shall not be thought to need apology for quoting here the stanzas in
+which Praed has described this scene--a scene among the most affecting,
+as well as the most striking, that history supplies. It makes us reflect
+on the desolate position of Arminius, with his wife and child captives
+in the enemy's hands, and with his brother a renegade in arms against
+him. The great liberator of our German race was there, with every source
+of human happiness denied him except the consciousness of doing his duty
+to his country.
+
+  "Back, back! he fears not foaming flood
+    Who fears not steel-clad line:
+  No warrior thou of German blood,
+    No brother thou of mine.
+  Go, earn Rome's chain to load thy neck,
+    Her gems to deck thy hilt;
+  And blazon honor's hapless wreck
+    With all the gauds of guilt.
+
+  "But wouldst thou have _me_ share the prey?
+    By all that I have done,
+  The Varian bones that day by day
+    Lie whitening in the sun,
+  The legion's trampled panoply,
+    The eagle's shatter'd wing--
+  I would not be for earth or sky
+    So scorn'd and mean a thing.
+
+  "Ho, call me here the wizard, boy,
+    Of dark and subtle skill,
+  To agonize but not destroy,
+    To torture, not to kill.
+  When swords are out and shriek and shout
+    Leave little room for prayer,
+  No fetter on man's arm or heart
+    Hangs half so heavy there.
+
+  "I curse him by the gifts the land
+    Hath won from him and Rome,
+  The riving axe, the wasting brand,
+    Rent forest, blazing home.
+  I curse him by our country's gods,
+    The terrible, the dark,
+  The breakers of the Roman rods,
+    The smiters of the bark.
+
+  "Oh, misery that such a ban
+    On such a brow should be!
+  Why comes he not in battle's van
+    His country's chief to be?
+  To stand a comrade by my side,
+    The sharer of my fame,
+  And worthy of a brother's pride
+    And of a brother's name?
+
+  "But it is past! where heroes press
+    And cowards bend the knee,
+  Arminius is not brotherless,
+    His brethren are the free.
+  They come around: one hour, and light
+    Will fade from turf and tide,
+  Then onward, onward to the fight,
+    With darkness for our guide.
+
+  "To-night, to-night, when we shall meet
+    In combat face to face,
+  Then only would Arminius greet
+    The renegade's embrace.
+  The canker of Rome's guilt shall be
+    Upon his dying name;
+  And as he lived in slavery,
+    So shall he fall in shame."
+
+On the day after the Romans had reached the Weser, Germanicus led his
+army across that river, and a partial encounter took place, in which
+Arminius was successful. But on the succeeding day a general action was
+fought, in which Arminius was severely wounded and the German infantry
+routed with heavy loss. The horsemen of the two armies encountered
+without either party gaining the advantage. But the Roman army remained
+master of the ground and claimed a complete victory. Germanicus erected
+a trophy in the field, with a vaunting inscription that the nations
+between the Rhine and the Elbe had been thoroughly conquered by his
+army. But that army speedily made a final retreat to the left bank of
+the Rhine; nor was the effect of their campaign more durable than their
+trophy. The sarcasm with which Tacitus speaks of certain other triumphs
+of Roman generals over Germans may apply to the pageant which Germanicus
+celebrated on his return to Rome from his command of the Roman army of
+the Rhine. The Germans were "_triumphati potius quam victi_."
+
+After the Romans had abandoned their attempts on Germany, we find
+Arminius engaged in hostilities with Maroboduus, king of the Suevi and
+Marcomanni, who was endeavoring to bring the other German tribes into a
+state of dependency on him. Arminius was at the head of the Germans who
+took up arms against this home invader of their liberties. After some
+minor engagements a pitched battle was fought between the two
+confederacies (A.D. 19) in which the loss on each side was equal, but
+Maroboduus confessed the ascendency of his antagonist by avoiding a
+renewal of the engagement and by imploring the intervention of the
+Romans in his defence. The younger Drusus then commanded the Roman
+legions in the province of Illyricum, and by his mediation a peace was
+concluded between Arminius and Maroboduus, by the terms of which it is
+evident that the latter must have renounced his ambitious schemes
+against the freedom of the other German tribes.
+
+Arminius did not long survive this second war of independence, which he
+successfully waged for his country. He was assassinated in the
+thirty-seventh year of his age by some of his own kinsmen, who conspired
+against him. Tacitus says that this happened while he was engaged in a
+civil war, which had been caused by his attempts to make himself king
+over his countrymen. It is far more probable, as one of the best
+biographers[85] has observed, that Tacitus misunderstood an attempt of
+Arminius to extend his influence as elective war chieftain of the
+Cherusci and other tribes, for an attempt to obtain the royal dignity.
+
+[Footnote 85: Dr. Plate, in _Biographical Dictionary_.]
+
+When we remember that his father-in-law and his brother were renegades,
+we can well understand that a party among his kinsmen may have been
+bitterly hostile to him, and have opposed his authority with the tribe
+by open violence, and, when that seemed ineffectual, by secret
+assassination.
+
+Arminius left a name which the historians of the nation against which he
+combated so long and so gloriously have delighted to honor. It is from
+the most indisputable source, from the lips of enemies, that we know his
+exploits.[86] His countrymen made history, but did not write it. But his
+memory lived among them in the days of their bards, who recorded
+
+  "The deeds he did, the fields he won,
+  The freedom he restored."
+
+Tacitus, writing years after the death of Arminius, says of him,
+"_Canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes_." As time passed on, the gratitude
+of ancient Germany to her great deliverer grew into adoration, and
+divine honors were paid for centuries to Arminius by every tribe of the
+Low Germanic division of the Teutonic races. The _Irmin-sul_, or the
+column of Herman, near Eresburgh (the modern Stadtberg), was the chosen
+object of worship to the descendants of the Cherusci (the Old Saxons),
+and in defence of which they fought most desperately against Charlemagne
+and his Christianized Franks. "Irmin, in the cloudy Olympus of Teutonic
+belief, appears as a king and a warrior; and the pillar, the
+'Irmin-sul,' bearing the statue, and considered as the symbol of the
+deity, was the Palladium of the Saxon nation until the temple of
+Eresburgh was destroyed by Charlemagne, and the column itself
+transferred to the monastery of Corbey, where perhaps a portion of the
+rude rock idol yet remains, covered by the ornaments of the Gothic
+era."[87] Traces of the worship of Arminius are to be found among our
+Anglo-Saxon ancestors after their settlement in this island. One of the
+four great highways was held to be under the protection of the deity,
+and was called the "Irmin street." The name _Arminius_ is, of course,
+the mere Latinized form of _Herman_, the name by which the hero and the
+deity were known by every man of Low German blood on either side of the
+German Sea. It means, etymologically, the _War-man_, the _man of hosts_.
+No other explanation of the worship of the Irmin-sul, and of the name of
+the Irmin street, is so satisfactory as that which connects them with
+the deified Arminius. We know for certain of the existence of other
+columns of an analogous character. Thus there was the _Roland-seule_ in
+North Germany; there was a _Thor-seule_ in Sweden, and (what is more
+important) there was an _Athelstan-seule_ in Saxon England.[88]
+
+[Footnote 86: Tacitus: _Annales_.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Palgrave: _English Commonwealth_.]
+
+[Footnote 88: Lappenburg: _Anglo-Saxons_.]
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
+
+EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME B.C. 450-A.D. 12
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of
+famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page
+references showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+"Est" means date uncertain.
+
+B.C.
+
+450. The decemvirate instituted at Rome; the Twelve Tables of law
+framed. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Alcibiades born.[Est]
+
+448. First Sacred War between the Phocians and Delphians for the
+possession of the temple at Delphi.
+
+The decemvirate abolished at Rome. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE
+DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Athens is now the principal seat of Greek philosophy, literature, and
+art.
+
+447. The Boeotians defeat the Athenians at Coronea; the conflict was
+brought about by Athens breaking the truce arranged between the Greek
+states to endure for five years, in order to combine against Persia. The
+result was the loss to Athens of Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris.
+
+445.[Est] Nehemiah begins the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
+
+Peace of Callias between the Greeks and Persians.
+
+Birth of Xenophon, general and historian.
+
+444. Ascendency of Pericles at Athens.[Est] See "PERICLES RULES IN
+ATHENS," ii, 12.
+
+The military tribunes instituted at Rome. The consulship was in no sense
+abolished; until the passage of the Licinian Rogations (when it
+reappeared as a permanent annual magistracy) it alternated irregularly
+with the military tribunes. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE
+IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Thucydides exiled Athens.
+
+443. An Athenian colony planted at Thurium, near Sybarius; it is
+accompanied by Herodotus and Lysias.
+
+442. Pericles, guided by Phidias the sculptor, adorns Athens; the
+Parthenon, Propyl�a, and Odeum built.
+
+440. Samos resists the Athenian sway; is besieged by Pericles and
+Sophocles; Melissus defends the city, but surrenders after a siege of
+nine months.
+
+Comedies prohibited performance at Athens.
+
+439. Great famine in Rome; Sp. M�lius distributes corn to the citizens,
+for which he is accused of wishing to be king, and is assassinated by
+Servilius Ahala.
+
+438. Spartacus becomes king of Bosporus.
+
+Ahala impeached and exiled Rome.
+
+437. The prohibition of comedy repealed at Athens.
+
+Syracuse, the predominant state in Sicily, reaches the height of its
+prosperity. See "DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
+
+436. Commencement of the dispute between Corinth and Corcyra regarding
+the city of Epidamnus, in which Athens supported the latter; this led to
+the Peloponnesian War.
+
+435. Naval victory over the Corinthians by the Corcyr�ans, near Actium.
+
+432. Ambassadors from Corcyra implore the aid of Athens, which series a
+fleet to defend the island against the Corinthian attack. Corinth
+incites Potid�a to revolt from Athens.
+
+431. Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta declares on the side of
+Corinth and makes war on Athens. The real cause of the war--which was to
+be so disastrous to Greece--was that Sparta and its allies were jealous
+of the great power Athens had attained. Sparta was an oligarchy and a
+friend of the nobles everywhere; Athens was a democracy and the friend
+of the common people; so that the war was to some extent a struggle
+between these classes all over Greece.
+
+430. "GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS." See ii, 34. The physician Hippocrates
+distinguishes himself by extraordinary cures of the sick.
+
+Second invasion of Attica by the Spartans.
+
+429. Death of Pericles, during the plague, at Athens.
+
+Potid�a reduced by the Athenians.
+
+Birth of Plato.
+
+428. Attica invaded the third time.
+
+Lesbos revolts from the Athenian confederacy; on this the Athenians
+besiege Mitylene.
+
+427. Mitylene reduced; Athens becomes master of Lesbos. Plat�a, the ally
+of Athens, after being besieged, surrenders to the Peloponnesians and is
+destroyed.
+
+Attica again invaded.
+
+425. Agis begins the fifth invasion of Attica; he retires on learning
+that the Athenians under Cleon had taken Pylos and Sapachteria.
+
+Mount �etna in eruption.
+
+On the death of Artaxerxes I, his son, Xerxes II, succeeds him as ruler
+of Persia; he reigns only forty-five days, being slain by his brother
+Sogdianus, who usurps the throne.
+
+424. The island of Cythera taken by the Athenians. Brasidas, the Spartan
+general, captures Amphipolis, defeating Thucydides.
+
+Ochus (Darius Nothus) rids himself of Sogdianus and succeeds him on the
+Persian throne.
+
+423. The Athenians banish Thucydides for having suffered Amphipolis to
+be taken.
+
+422. The Athenians send Cleon to recover Amphipolis; he is defeated by
+Brasidas; both fall in the battle.
+
+421. Peace of Nicias between Sparta and Athens. End of the first period
+of the Peloponnesian War.
+
+420. Alcibiades negotiates an alliance between Athens and Argos.
+Amphipolis retained by the Spartans.
+
+419. An Athenian expedition is led into the Peloponnesus by Alcibiades.
+
+418. Victory of the Spartans at Mantinea.
+
+The league between Athens and Argos dissolved.
+
+416. The island of Melos, which had remained neutral, is conquered by
+the Athenians; its inhabitants are treated with extreme cruelty.
+
+415. The Athenians send an expedition against Syracuse under Nicias,
+Lamachus, and Alcibiades; the latter is recalled to answer an accusation
+of having broken some statues of Mercury in Athens; he takes refuge in
+Sparta. Andocides, the orator, implicated in the same charge, is
+imprisoned and exiled.
+
+414. Syracuse is invested by the Athenians under Nicias; being hard
+pressed, Syracuse appeals to the other Greek states; Cylippus, the
+Spartan commander, comes with a fleet to the aid of the city. See
+"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
+
+The Romans capture Bolae, an �quian town; the division of the booty
+causes a mutiny among the soldiers, who slay the quaestor and the
+military tribune, M. Postumius.
+
+413. On Alcibiades' advice the Spartans fortify a position at Decelea,
+in Attica.
+
+"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE." See ii, 48.
+
+412. Alcibiades visits the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, with whose aid
+he negotiates an alliance between Persia and Sparta.
+
+411. Owing to the machinations of Alcibiades a revolt is organized in
+Athens, by the aid of the clubs of the nobles and rich men; its object
+being to overthrow the democracy and establish an oligarchy. The rising
+is successful and the "Reign of the Four Hundred" ensues; it lasts four
+months; its framer, Antipho, is put to death. Alcibiades is recalled.
+
+410. The Spartans are defeated by Alcibiades in a naval encounter at
+Cyzicus. Sparta makes overtures for peace.
+
+409. The Carthaginians invade Sicily; they reduce Silenus and Himera.
+
+408. Alcibiades takes Selymbria and Byzantium.
+
+Psammeticus is king of Egypt.
+
+Roman plebs first admitted to the quaestorship.
+
+407. Lysander, the Spartan admiral, defeats the Athenian fleet at
+Notium; in consequence of this defeat, Alcibiades, who had been received
+with great honor, is banished, and ten generals are nominated to succeed
+him.
+
+406. The Athenians vanquish the Spartan fleet under Callicratidas, at
+Arginusae. The Athenian generals are executed at Athens for not saving
+the shattered vessels and the bodies of the slain.
+
+Dionysius the Elder becomes ruler of Syracuse.
+
+Anxur and other towns captured by the Romans, who now first give their
+soldiers a regular pay.
+
+405. The Spartan under Lysander, who had been restored to command,
+annihilate the Athenian navy at Aegospotami.
+
+Artaxerxes II succeeds Darius II on the Persian throne.
+
+Successful revolt of the Egyptians against the Persians; the
+independence of Egypt secured.
+
+404. Athens taken by Lysander and dismantled; thirty tyrants appointed
+by him. Lysias and other orators banished. End of the Peloponnesian War.
+
+403. Democracy is restored in Athens by Thrasybulus; he publishes an act
+of amnesty. The Ionian alphabet adopted at Athens.
+
+401. Cyrus rebels against his brother Artaxerxes, of Persia; he is
+defeated and slain at the battle of Cunaxa.
+
+400. The Ten Thousand Greek auxiliaries of Cyrus effect their retreat to
+the sea. See "RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS," ii, 68.
+
+399. Sparta and Persia engage in war.
+
+"CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES." See ii, 87.
+
+396. Agesilaus, the Spartan general, begins his victorious campaigns
+against the Persians.
+
+The Romans, headed by Camillus, capture Veii, after a ten years' siege.
+
+395. Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and Athens combine against Sparta; the
+Spartans are defeated at Haliartus; Lysander is slain.
+
+Tissaphernes' Persian army is defeated by Agesilaus, near Sardis.
+
+394. The Athenian admiral Conon, in charge of the Persian fleet,
+crushingly defeats that of the Spartans, under Pisander, off Cnidus.
+
+Agesilaus is recalled from Asia; commanding the Spartans, he gains a
+victory over the confederate Greeks at Coronea.
+
+393. Conon undertakes the rebuilding of the walls in Athens and restores
+the fortifications.
+
+392. Conon excites the jealousy of the Persians; he retires into Cyprus,
+where he dies.
+
+391. Camillus banished from Rome, charged with misappropriating the
+booty secured at Veii, but really on account of his patrician
+haughtiness; he dies at Ardea, whither he had withdrawn.
+
+389. Aeschines born; he was accounted in Athens second only to
+Demosthenes as an orator.
+
+388[89] (387). Brennus, commanding the Gauls, burns Rome. See "BRENNUS
+BURNS ROME," ii, 110.
+
+[Footnote 89: By the old chronological reckoning this event occurred
+B.C. 390.]
+
+387. Through the mediation of Persia, Sparta compels the Greek states to
+accept the peace of Antalcidas, which leaves the Ionian cities and
+Cyprus at his mercy; this enables Sparta to maintain her supremacy in
+Greece.
+
+385.[Est] Birth of Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator and general.
+
+384. Aristotle born.
+
+383. War of Syracuse with Carthage.
+
+Thebes is betrayed to Sparta, during her war against Olynthus.
+
+379. The Olynthians are forced to submission by the Spartans. Pelopidas
+and his associates drive the Spartans from Thebes.
+
+378. Athens declares in favor of Thebes against Sparta.
+
+376. Cleombrotus leads the Spartans into Boeotia; the Spartan fleet,
+under Pollis, is overwhelmed off Maxos, by Chabrias.
+
+371. Congress of Sparta, Thebes being excluded from the treaty of peace;
+Pelopidas and Epaminondas gain the great victory of Leuctra, in which
+Cleombrotus, King of Sparta, is slain. Thebes becomes the dominant power
+in Greece.
+
+The Arcadian union formed. One of the first effects of the battle of
+Leuctra was to emancipate the Arcadians, and a plan was formed to raise
+them in the political affairs of Greece.
+
+370. Epaminondas, the Theban general, heads his first expedition into
+the Peloponnesus; he threatens Sparta, which Agesilaus saves.
+
+369. The Thebans advance into Laconia; they restore the independence of
+the Messenians. Epaminondas and Pelopidas are condemned for having
+retained their command beyond the term allowed by the laws of Thebes;
+they are pardoned and reappointed.
+
+The Arcadians found Megalopolis, which they make the capital of the
+Arcadian confederacy.
+
+368. The Thebans again enter the Peloponnesus, but retreat before the
+arrival of succor sent by Dionysius to the Lacedaemonians. Pelopidas,
+treacherously made prisoner by Alexander of Pherae, is rescued by
+Epaminondas. A congress, under the mediation of Persia, is held at
+Delphi; it fails, because the Thebans will not abandon the Messenians.
+
+The Carthaginians at war with Dionysius; but, after losing Selinus and
+other towns, they make peace.
+
+Camillus, more than eighty years old, appointed dictator at Rome; he
+persuades the patricians to assent to the demands of the plebs, and
+builds the temple of Concord.
+
+A celestial globe brought into Greece from Egypt.
+
+367. The Licinian Rogations, Rome; three bills introduced by Licinius,
+decreeing: 1. That interest on loans be deducted from the principal; 2.
+Limiting the public land held by any individual to 500 jugera (320
+acres); 3. Ordering that one of the two consuls should be a plebeian.
+Institution of the praetorship.
+
+364. Pelopidas attacks Alexander of Pherae; during the battle of
+Cymoscephale his soldiers are alarmed at an eclipse of the sun, and he
+is slain.
+
+362. The Spartans and allies defeated at Mantinea by Epaminondas; he is
+slain.
+
+361 (359). Artaxerxes II of Persia succeeded by Artaxerxes III (Ochus).
+
+359. Philip ascends the throne of Macedon; he concludes peace with the
+Athenians.
+
+358.[Est] Athens involves herself in the Social War with Cos, Rhodes,
+Chios, and Byzantium.
+
+Amphipolis captured by Philip of Macedon; he loses his right eye by an
+arrow from Astor.
+
+357. Outbreak of the Ten Years' Sacred War, caused by the Crissians
+levying grievous taxes on those who went to consult the oracle of
+Delphi.
+
+356. Burning of the temple of Diana at Ephesus; this building was
+accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
+
+Birth of Alexander the Great.
+
+Dion frees Syracuse from Dionysius the Younger; he is expelled from
+Sicily.
+
+355. The Social War ends in Greece. Athens recognizes the independence
+of the confederated states.
+
+353. Final conquest of Egypt by the Persians.
+
+352. Philip of Macedon interferes in the Greek Sacred War; Demosthenes
+delivers his First Philippic encouraging the Greeks to resist the
+Macedonians; Philip's attempt to seize Thermopylae is defeated.
+
+Two thousand colonists are sent from Athens to Samos.
+
+347. Philip of Macedon captures and destroys Olynthus.
+
+346. Phocis occupied by Philip of Macedon; this ends the Sacred War.
+
+Dionysius the Younger again assumes power in Syracuse.
+
+343 (340). Timoleon effects the deliverance of Syracuse from Dionysius
+the Younger.
+
+Rome engages in the First Samnite War.
+
+341 (338). End of the First Samnite War.
+
+Invasion of China by Meha the Hun. See "TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY
+MEHA," ii, 126.[Est]
+
+340. Adoption of the Publilian laws in Rome, which further restricted
+the power of the patricians.
+
+The Romans make war upon the Latins; the latter are subjugated. Manlius,
+one of the Roman consuls, condemns his son to death for a breach of
+discipline.
+
+338. Athens and Thebes form an alliance to resist Philip of Macedon, who
+had passed Thermopylae and seized Elatea. The allied forces are
+overwhelmed at Chaeronea, and Philip establishes the Macedonian dominion
+in Greece.
+
+Artaxerxes III is succeeded by Arses in Persia.
+
+337. Philip of Macedon declares himself commander of the Greeks against
+the Persians; he repudiates his wife Olympias; their son Alexander
+attends his mother into Epirus.
+
+336. Assassination of Philip of Macedon, by Pausanias at Aegae, while
+preparing to invade Persia; he is succeeded by his son, Alexander the
+Great.
+
+Arses is succeeded by Darius III (Codomannus) in Persia.
+
+335. Thebes, revolting against the Macedonian authority, is subdued and
+destroyed by Alexander, who, however, spares the house of Pindar the
+poet.
+
+Rome concludes a peace with Gaul.
+
+334. Alexander enters upon the conquest of Persia; he is victorious over
+Darius at the Granicus.
+
+333. Lycia and Syria reduced by Alexander; Damascus captured by
+Parmenio, Alexander's general, and the siege of Tyre begun.
+
+Darius is defeated at Issus; his family are among Alexander's captives.
+
+332. "ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA." See ii, 133. He
+takes Gaza and occupies Egypt.
+
+The Lucanians and Bruttians defeat and slay Alexander of Epirus, his
+ambitious designs in Italy having been betrayed.
+
+331. "THE BATTLE OF ARBELA," in which Alexander the Great conquers
+Darius and overthrows the Persian empire. See ii, 141.
+
+330. The Spartans, under Agis III, revolt against the Macedonians;
+Antipater defeats the Spartans and their allies at Megalopolis; Agis is
+slain.
+
+Darius is seized and laden with chains by Bessus, a Bactrian satrap who
+soon after slays him.
+
+Alexander captures Bessus and delivers him to Oxathres, the brother of
+Darius, by whom he is executed.
+
+Alexander pursues his conquests in Parthia, Media, Bactria, and on the
+shores of the Caspian.
+
+329. The Oxus and Jaxartes are crossed by Alexander; he drives back the
+Scythians; he founds new cities in the countries adjacent, and winters
+in Bactria.
+
+The consuls at Rome are granted a triumph and the surname of
+"Privernas," for the conquest of Privernum.
+
+328. Sogdiana, Central Asia, occupies Alexander during this, his seventh
+campaign, and he winters there at Nautaca.
+
+327. Marriage of Alexander to Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian
+ruler.
+
+326. Alexander invades India and defeats Porus; his soldiers refuse to
+proceed farther.
+
+Rome begins the Second Samnite War.
+
+325-4. Alexander marches from the Indus to Persepolis; his fleet is
+sailed to the Euphrates by Nearchus.
+
+Harpalus flees from Babylon with immense treasures, which he conveys to
+Athens.
+
+323. Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon. His principal generals
+endeavored to obtain, each for himself, a portion of his empire. Ptolemy
+first secures Egypt and establishes his dynasty firmly there. Philip
+Aridaeus, half-brother of Alexander, succeeds him on the throne of
+Macedon, with Perdiccas as regent. Demosthenes returns to Athens and
+rouses the Greek states to recover their freedom; under Leosthenes they
+overpower Antipater, who takes refuge in Lamia, whence this is called
+the Lamian War.
+
+The Samnites sue for peace, but reject the terms on which it is offered
+by the Romans.
+
+322. The body of Alexander is entombed at Alexandria.
+
+The confederate Greeks are defeated by Antipater at Crannon; end of the
+Lamian War.
+
+Demosthenes, who was accused by the Macedonians of being privy to the
+looting of the treasury by Harpalus, after the battle of Crannon fled to
+Calauria; he was captured by the Macedonian troops and thereupon
+poisoned himself.
+
+321. Beginning of the wars between Alexander's successors; Perdiccas and
+Eumenes oppose themselves to Antipater, Craterus, Antigonus, and
+Ptolemy.
+
+Perdiccas assails Ptolemy in Egypt; Perdiccas is slain in a mutiny. In
+Asia Minor, Eumenes triumphs over Craterus, who is killed.
+
+Victory of the Samnites over the Romans at the Caudine Forks. These were
+two narrow gorges, united by a range of mountains on each side. The
+Romans went through the first pass, but found the second blocked up; on
+returning they found the first similarly obstructed. Being thus hemmed
+in they passed under the yoke.
+
+320. Eumenes, defeated by Antigonus, shuts himself up in the castle of
+Nora, where he sustains a year's siege.
+
+319. Polysperchon is appointed by Antipater to succeed him as regent for
+Philip Arrhidaeus and Alexander Aegus, half-brother and son of Alexander
+the Great, on his, Antipater's, death.
+
+Polysperchon's elevation to power is followed by a league against him,
+formed by Antipater's son Cassander, Antigonus, and Ptolemy. Eumenes
+lends his support to Polysperchon, after escaping from Nora.
+
+318. The Romans and Samnites make a truce.
+
+Polysperchon prevailed over by Cassander in the struggle for power in
+Greece and Macedonia. Athens he places under the rule of Phalereus.
+
+317. Phocion, an Athenian general who wisely advised in vain for peace
+with Antipater, became regarded as a traitor; he fled to Phocis, entered
+into the intrigues of Cassander, who delivered him up to the Athenians,
+who condemned him to drink hemlock. Olympias, mother of Alexander the
+Great, aided by Polysperchon and the Epirotes, seizes Macedonia.
+
+Olympias is put to death by Cassander. Eumenes, being betrayed to
+Antigonus, is put to death; Antigonus holds the supreme power in Asia.
+
+315. The rebuilding of Thebes undertaken by Cassander.
+
+314. Commencement of the struggle against Antigonus waged by Cassander,
+Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus.
+
+313. Tyre surrenders to Antigonus. Ptolemy engages with him and conquers
+Cyprus.
+
+The Romans take Fregellae and other towns from the Samnites.
+
+312. Seleucus Nicator establishes the realm of the Seleucidae, the army
+of Antigonus, under his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, being defeated by
+Ptolemy and Seleucus. Babylon is made the capital.
+
+Ptolemy conquers Judea; he transplants many Jews to Alexandria and
+Cyrene, where their industry is encouraged and their religion protected.
+
+At Rome Appius Claudius, the blind, constructs the Via Appia, the first
+aqueduct, and a canal through the Pontine marshes.
+
+Zeno institutes the sect of Stoics at Athens.
+
+311. A temporary peace among the competitors for power in Asia. Greece
+is declared to be free, and Ptolemy resigns Phoenicia to Antigonus.
+
+Roxana, the widow of Alexander the Great, and her young son Alexander
+Aegas, are put to death by Cassander.
+
+The Roman consul Bubulcus penetrates into Samnium, where he is
+surrounded, and cuts his way through with great courage.
+
+310. Agathocles, the Syracusan ruler, defeated by the Carthaginians at
+Himera, passes over to Africa and carries the war into their own
+country.
+
+The Etruscans take up arms in favor of the Samnites.
+
+Civil war in the little kingdom of Bosporus; Satyrus II, king for a few
+months, falls in battle.
+
+An eclipse of the sun, August 15th.
+
+309. Hercules, a natural son of Alexander, proclaimed king of Macedon;
+he is murdered by Cassander.
+
+The Romans are victorious over the Samnites and the Etruscans.
+
+308. The Romans, under Fabius, compel the Etruscans to make peace;
+Fabius then turns against the Samnites, whom he defeats.
+
+307. Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, arrives with a fleet at
+Athens, expels Demetrius Phalereus, and restores the democracy, the
+Athenians throw down Phalereus' statues and condemn him to death.
+
+306. Ptolemy's fleet is destroyed by Demetrius Poliorcetes at Salamis;
+but Antigonus fails in his attempt on Egypt. Antigonus assumes the title
+of king of Asia; Ptolemy Lagi, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, the rulers of
+Egypt, Thrace, and that part of Alexander's empire east of the
+Euphrates, likewise assume the royal title. Cassander of Macedon is
+hailed king by his subjects.
+
+305. War between Seleucus and India, under Sandrocottus, ends in a
+treaty of amity.
+
+Flavius reconciles all orders of the Roman state and erects a temple of
+Concord.
+
+Demetrius Poliorcetes besieges Rome.
+
+304. The Romans triumphantly end the Second Samnite War.
+
+302. The priesthood at Rome is opened to the plebs.
+
+300.[90] Battle of Ipsus. Seleucus and Lysimachus overwhelm the army of
+Antigonus and his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes; Antigonus is slain. His
+dominions are divided among the victors. Lysimachus takes a large
+portion of Asia Minor; Seleucus appropriates Upper Syria, Capuadocia,
+and other territory.
+
+[Footnote 90: The date is usually given as 301.]
+
+Seleucus Nicator builds Antioch, which he makes the capital of his
+kingdom of Syria.
+
+299. Rome engages in the Third Samnite War, which becomes one of
+extermination, but the Samnites bravely resist in their mountain holds.
+
+295. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, espouses Antigone of the house of Ptolemy;
+he returns to his dominions, out of which he had been driven by the
+Molossi.
+
+The Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls unite against Rome. Q.
+Fabius Rullianus and P. Decimo Mus defeat the Samnites and Gauls at
+Sentinum.
+
+Demetrius Poliorcetes retakes Athens; Lysimachus and Ptolemy deprive him
+of all he possesses.
+
+294. The Macedonian throne is seized by Demetrius Poliorcetes; by
+violence or treachery the sons of Cassander are slain.
+
+293. Many towns of the Samnites are so utterly destroyed by the Romans
+that their sites are unknown; a portion of the spoil is cast into a
+brazen colossus, and placed in front of the Roman Capitol.
+
+The Roman census is 272,308 citizens.
+
+The first sun-dial at Rome is placed on the temple of Quirinus.
+
+290. The end of the Third Samnite War, which results in the submission
+of the Samnites to Rome.
+
+287. Birth of Archimedes, celebrated mathematician.[Est]
+
+Lysimachus and Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wrest Macedonia from Demetrius
+Poliorcetes; immediately after, Lysimachus expels Pyrrhus.
+
+286. The Hortensian law, passed by Q. Hortensino, affirmed the
+legislative power granted the plebeians B.C. 446 and 336.
+
+285. Completion of the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Scriptures,
+called "the Alexandrian."
+
+The length of the solar year first accurately determined by Dionysius,
+in the astronomical canon.
+
+283. Death of Ptolemy Lagi (Ptolemy Soter); Ptolemy Philadelphus
+(jointly on the throne with his father since 295) succeeds him as King
+of Egypt. He further encourages the immigration of the Jews, who
+flourish exceedingly.
+
+282. The Tarentines attack a Roman fleet and insult the ambassadors, who
+demand satisfaction. Rome prepares for war; the Tarentines engage
+Pyrrhus to assist them.
+
+281. Lysimachus, at war with Seleucus Nicator, is defeated and slain in
+Phrygia.
+
+The Roman consul Aemilius invades the territory of Tarentum.
+
+280. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, invades Italy; he makes the cause of
+Tarentum his own and wars on Rome. Laevinus, the Roman consul, is
+defeated. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
+
+Revival of the Achaean League. The Achaei originally inhabited the
+neighborhood of Argos; when driven thence by the Heraclidae, they
+retired among the Ionians, expelled the natives, and seized their
+thirteen cities, forming the Achaean League.
+
+279. Pyrrhus, who had tried to mediate between Tarentum and Rome,
+meeting with non-success, advances on Rome. He fails to make any
+impression and returns to Tarentum; the Romans follow him, and he gains
+an unimportant victory over them at Asculum. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN
+GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
+
+Irruption of Gauls into Macedonia; King Ptolemy Ceraunus offers battle
+to them, in which he is killed.[91]
+
+[Footnote 91: The date usually given is B.C. 280.]
+
+278. The Gauls under Brennus invade Greece; they are cut to pieces near
+Delphi.
+
+Alliance formed between Rome and Carthage.
+
+Pyrrhus wars against Carthage in Sicily.
+
+277. A body of Gauls enter Northern Phrygia, of which they take
+possession.
+
+Pyrrhus expels the Carthaginians from most of their possessions in
+Sicily.
+
+276. Other Grecian cities join the Achaean League.
+
+275. Pyrrhus, on the arrival of Carthaginian reenforcements, returns to
+Italy; he is totally defeated by M. Curius Dentatus (at Beneventum), who
+exhibits in his triumphs the first elephants ever seen in Rome.
+
+273. Ptolemy Philadelphus, of Egypt, sends an embassy to congratulate
+the Romans on their victory and to ask an alliance with them.
+
+272. Pyrrhus attempts the siege of Sparta; he is repulsed. In an attack
+on Argos, Pyrrhus is slain.
+
+Tarentum surrenders to the Romans.
+
+Lucania and Brittium also submit to Rome.
+
+269. The first silver coinage at Rome.
+
+266. The Romans capture and destroy Volsinii; Rome controls all Italy.
+
+264. War between Rome and Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+Gladiators first introduced into Rome.
+
+263. Antigonus Gonatus, King of Macedon, captures Athens.
+
+The Romans compel Hiero, King of Syracuse, to withdraw from the support
+of Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+Philetaerus at his death appoints his nephew, Eumenes, King of Pergamus;
+the competition for books between him and Ptolemy Philadelphus causes
+the latter to prohibit the export of papyrus from Egypt; this leads to
+the invention of parchment at Pergamus, whence it takes its name.
+
+Hiero makes peace with the Romans; he becomes their most trusted ally.
+
+260. Ships-of-war first built by the Romans; the naval power of Rome
+inaugurated by the decisive victory of Duilius over the Carthaginians at
+Mylae. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+259. The Romans invade Corsica; they carry off much rich spoil from
+thence and Sardinia, but make no permanent conquests. The island of
+Melita (Malta) is captured by the Romans.
+
+258. Atilius, the Roman consul, surrounded by the Carthaginians in
+Sicily, escapes with difficulty.
+
+257. A drawn battle between the fleets of Rome and Carthage off Tyndaris
+causes the Romans to prepare larger ships, in order to strike a decisive
+blow.
+
+256. Total defeat of the Carthaginian fleet near Ecnomus; the victorious
+Roman consuls land in Africa. The Carthaginians hire troops from Greece
+and give the command to Xanthippus. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+255. Regelus and his Roman legions are vanquished by Xanthippus; Regelus
+is taken captive. The Romans fit out a large fleet, which gains another
+victory and brings off the remains of the army from Africa. Many of the
+ships are wrecked.
+
+254. Another fleet consisting of 220 ships is equipped in three months
+by the Romans; Panormus (Palermo) is captured. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+253. The Romans again land in Africa and ravage many Carthaginian coast
+cities; on their return most of their ships are wrecked; the Romans
+resolve to abstain from naval warfare.
+
+252. Birth of Philopoemen, called the "Last of the Greeks."
+
+251. Aratus restores the freedom of Sicyon; joins the Achaean League,
+which becomes a powerful body.
+
+250. Arsaceo founds the kingdom of Parthia.
+
+The Romans begin the siege of Lilybaeum; the Carthaginians successfully
+defend it till the close of the war. Metellus, the Roman proconsul,
+commanding in Sicily, gains a great victory over Hasdrubal near
+Panoramus; over one hundred elephants form part of his triumphal
+procession.
+
+249. Naval victory of the Carthaginians over the Romans at Drepanum.
+
+Regelus is sent to Rome to propose an exchange of prisoners; on his
+return the Carthaginians put him to death with the utmost cruelty.
+
+The war between Syria and Egypt, which had been ruinous to the former,
+is ended by a treaty between Antiochus II and Ptolemy Philadelphus. One
+of the conditions was that Antiochus repudiate Laodice and marry
+Berenice, Ptolemy's daughter.
+
+248. Parthia becomes an independent kingdom.
+
+247. Birth of Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian general.
+
+Ptolemy Euergetes succeeds his father Ptolemy Philadelphus on the throne
+of Egypt.
+
+243. Corinth, delivered by Aratus from the yoke of Macedon, joins the
+Achaean League; other states follow the example.
+
+241. Agis IV, of Sparta, assists the Achaeans in their war against the
+Aetolians.
+
+Rome, having again assembled a great fleet, under Lutatius Catalus,
+vanquishes the Carthaginians in a naval encounter off the Aegates. End
+of the First Punic War; Sicily is relinquished by Carthage to Rome.
+
+240. The Carthaginian mercenaries in Africa revolt; Hamilcar Barca
+crushes it out.
+
+237. Carthage is compelled to cede Sardinia to Rome.
+
+236-221. Celomenes III of Sparta institutes great political reforms and
+engages in a struggle with the Achaean League.
+
+236-220. Hamilcar Barca and Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, conquer a great
+part of Spain.
+
+235. Rome, at peace with all the world, closes the temple of Janus, for
+the first time since Numa, according to legend, the second king of Rome.
+
+234. Birth of Cato the Elder.
+
+Scipio Africanus born.
+
+230. Ambassadors sent by Rome to protest against the piracies of the
+Illyrians are murdered by the order of Queen Teuta.
+
+229. A successful war is waged by the Romans against the Greek kingdom
+of Illyria; the Roman power is extended across the Adriatic.
+
+On the death of Hamilcar, his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, takes his place in
+Spain; he founds Carthago Nova (Carthagena).
+
+227. Sparta makes war with the Achaean League.
+
+225-222. Cisalpine Gaul is conquered by the Romans.
+
+221. Cleomenes III is crushed by Antigonus Doson, ruler of Macedon, at
+Sellasia; the Spartan power is utterly destroyed.
+
+220. Social war; the war made by the Aetolian League on the Achaean
+League.
+
+219. Hannibal lays siege to Saguntum, which he destroys; this is the
+real commencement of the Second Punic War. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+Philip V, of Macedon, is victorious in his campaigns against the
+Aetolian League.
+
+218. Hannibal crosses the Alps into Italy; he defeats the Romans on the
+Ticinus and Trebia. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+217. Philip V continues his victorious way against the Aetolian League.
+
+Hannibal defeats the Romans at the Trasimene Lake.
+
+Antiochus the Great cedes Coele-Syria and Palestine to Egypt.
+
+216. Crushing defeat of the Romans by Hannibal at Cannae. See "THE PUNIC
+WARS," ii, 179.
+
+214. Rome has her first encounter with Macedon; Philip V allies himself
+with Hannibal and begins the war.
+
+Marcellus is sent into Sicily and besieges Syracuse, which had declared
+against Rome.
+
+213. Aratus, strategus of the Achaean League, is poisoned by Philip V of
+Macedon; this alienates from him many Greek states.
+
+Hwangti crushes out literature in China.
+
+212. After a two-years' siege the Romans under Marcellus take Syracuse.
+
+The two Scipios defeated and killed in Spain. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+211. Hannibal before the gates of Rome. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+The Aetolian League with its allies assists Rome against Macedon.
+
+210. Aegina taken by the Romans; the inhabitants reduced to slavery.
+
+Agrigentum, being conquered by Caevinus, places all Sicily again under
+Roman subjection.
+
+Scipio, victorious in Spain, takes Carthago Nova. See "THE PUNIC WARS,"
+ii, 179.
+
+208. Suspension of his operations against Scipio--the future Scipio
+Africanus--in Spain by Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar, who sets out to
+relieve his brother Hannibal in Italy.
+
+207. Hasdrubal is defeated and slain on the Metaurus. See "BATTLE OF THE
+METAURUS," ii, 195.
+
+A signal victory is achieved by Philopoemen, general of the Achaean
+League, with Macedon, over the Spartans at Matinea.
+
+206. Birth of Polybius, Greek historian.
+
+The Carthaginian power in Spain completely destroyed by Scipio.
+
+205. End of the first Romo-Macedonian war.
+
+204. Scipio carries the war into Africa; he defeats the Carthaginians
+and the Numidians.
+
+203. Hannibal, recalled from Italy, arrives at Carthage.
+
+202. The Carthaginian power is completely broken, ending the Second
+Punic War. See "SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES
+CARTHAGE," ii, 224.
+
+201. A war is begun by Rome for the resubjugation of the Boii and
+Insubres of Cisalpine Gaul, who had attained freedom owing to the
+Carthaginian invasion.
+
+The Jews become subject to the Seleucid monarchy.
+
+200. Declaration of war by Rome against Macedon; the second Macedonian
+war.
+
+198. Antiochus the Great, of Syria, conquers Palestine and Coele-Syria
+from Egypt, defeating Scopas and the Aetolian allies.
+
+197. Decisive Roman victory over the Macedonians at Cynoscephale; Philip
+V of Macedon makes a humiliating peace.
+
+196. The Roman general Flaminius proclaims the freedom of the Greeks.
+
+195.[Est] Birth of Terrence, Roman comic poet.
+
+Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, King of Egypt. See i, 1, "The Rosetta Stone."
+
+192. In concert with the Aetolians, Antiochus the Great takes up arms
+against Rome.
+
+191. Antiochus is defeated by the Romans under Acilius Glabrio, at
+Thermopylae, in Greece. The resubjugation of Cisalpine Gaul is completed
+by Rome.
+
+All the Peloponnesus is included in the Achaean League, which attains
+its apogee.
+
+190. Scipio Asiaticus takes command of the Romans in Greece, with his
+brother Africanus as lieutenant; Antiochus is vanquished at Magnesia and
+he is compelled to release his hold on the greater part of Asia Minor.
+Most of the conquered territory is annexed to Pergamus. Scipio Asiaticus
+takes his surname for the courage and ability he showed.
+
+189. Fall of the Aetolian League.
+
+185. Birth of Scipio Africanus the Younger.
+
+179. Death of Philip V of Macedon. His son Perseus negotiates secretly
+with other states against Rome. The Celtiberians and Lusitanians lay
+down their arms.
+
+177. Rome suppresses a revolt in Sardinia. A colony settled at Lucca.
+The Achaeans contract an alliance with Rome.
+
+Thessaly relapses under the Macedonian influence.
+
+176. The consul Scipio dies, and C. Valerius Laevinus takes his place
+for the rest of the year. His colleague Petilius is slain in battle
+against the Ligurians. The Orchian and other sumptuary laws fail to
+repress the luxury of the Romans.
+
+175. Disgraceful struggles for the high-priesthood of Jerusalem;
+Antiochus sells it to Jason, the brother of Onias, who is deposed.
+
+174. Masinissa, after many encroachments, seizes the Carthaginian
+provinces of Tyssa, with fifty cities; Roman ambassadors sent to settle
+the dispute. Others deputed to ascertain the intentions of Perseus.
+
+Mithridates VI of the Arsacidae begins his reign and prepares the
+elevation of Parthia to great power.
+
+173. The Roman ambassadors return, Perseus having refused to receive
+them.
+
+Death of Cleopatra, who, in the name of her young son, had been regent
+of Egypt.
+
+172. The Ligurians are subdued and Northern Italy filled with Roman
+colonies. Eumenes honorably received at Rome; on his way back he is
+attacked by assassins near Delphi.
+
+Menelaus, another brother, supplants Jason in the high-priesthood of
+Jerusalem.
+
+171. Commencement of the Third Macedonian War; King Perseus begins his
+struggle with Rome.
+
+Antiochus invades Egypt and takes Memphis.
+
+170. Hostilius, who takes the command in Macedon, makes no progress; the
+Roman fleet ravages the sea-coast.
+
+Perseus negotiates with Antiochus, Prusias, and many Greek states to
+form a coalition against Rome; even Eumenes begins to treat with him.
+
+Ptolemy Physcon is associated with his brother as joint King of Egypt.
+
+169. The manoeuvres of Marcius Philippus drive Perseus from his strong
+position in Tempe.
+
+Antiochus lays siege to Alexandria; the Egyptians apply to Rome for aid.
+
+168. Battle of Pydna; complete defeat of Perseus, King of Macedon, by
+the Romans, under L. Aenilius Paulas. Macedon becomes a Roman province.
+
+Antiochus, awed by the Roman ambassador Popillius and the fate of
+Perseus, evacuates Egypt. In his retreat he plunders Jerusalem and
+despoils the Temple, in which he sets up the statue of Jupiter Olympias.
+
+167. Deportation of a thousand Achaeans to Rome; among them is Polybius,
+the historian, who there finds patrons and friends. The first library
+opened in Rome, consisting of books plundered from Macedon.
+
+Arms are taken up by the Asmoneans against Antiochus, King of Syria.
+
+165. Judas Maccabaeus enters Jerusalem; he purifies the Temple. See
+"JUDAS MACCABEUS LIBERATES JUDEA," ii, 245.
+
+160. Defeat and death of Judas Maccabaeus in battle.
+
+158. Roman citizens are almost entirely relieved of direct taxation by
+the revenues from Macedon and other conquests.
+
+149. Commencement of the Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage. See
+"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+First Roman law against bribery at elections.
+
+147.[Est] Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader, has his first great victory
+over the Romans.
+
+146. Scipio Africanus the Younger completely destroys Carthage.
+
+Mummius, commanding in Greece, defeats the Archaeans at Leucopetra; he
+captures and destroys Corinth. The treasures of Grecian art conveyed to
+Rome. Greece becomes a Roman province.
+
+Demetrius Nicator slays Alexander Bala in battle and becomes king of
+Syria.
+
+141. Simon Maccabaeus captures the citadel of Jerusalem.
+
+Silanus, accused by the Macedonians of corrupt practices, is condemned
+by his father, Torquatus, and takes his own life.
+
+140. The Jews proclaim Simon Maccabaeus hereditary prince; with this
+dignity is united the office of high-priest.
+
+[Est]Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader against the Romans in Spain, is
+assassinated by order of the consul Caepio.
+
+135. Simon Maccabaeus is assassinated; John Hyrcanus, his son, succeeds
+him as ruler at Jerusalem.
+
+134-133. Antiochus Tidetes, King of Syria, besieges Jerusalem; he is
+repulsed.
+
+134-132. Servile War in Sicily, caused by the inhuman treatment of the
+slaves by their owners; two great battles were fought before the rising
+was suppressed.
+
+133. Tiberius Gracchus attempts his great political and agrarian reforms
+in Rome. See "THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
+
+Scipio Africanus the Younger reduces Numantia.
+
+Attalus III of Pergamus bequeaths his kingdom, which embraces a great
+part of Asia Minor, to the Romans.
+
+125-121. The southeastern portion of Transalpine Gaul conquered by the
+Romans.
+
+123-122. Caius Gracchus commences his agrarian reforms in Rome. See "THE
+GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
+
+118. Rome extends her dominion beyond the Rhone; the colony of Narbo
+Martius (Narbonne) founded.
+
+113. Hordes of the Cimbri and Teutons threaten the Rome dominion by an
+invasion of Illyrium.
+
+112. Jugurtha, King of Numidia, kills Adherbal, who has been restored to
+the throne of Numidia after being driven thence by Jugurtha.
+
+111. The consul Calpurnius proceeds with a Roman army into Numidia;
+bribed by Jugurtha, he makes a peace and withdraws his forces.
+
+109. Jugurtha is opposed in Numidia by the Roman army headed by
+Metellus.
+
+John Hyrcanus, the Jewish Prince and high-priest, defeats Ptolemy
+Lathyrus and captures Samaria.[Est]
+
+The Cimbri request an allotment of land from the Romans, whereon to
+settle; it is refused; they ravage the country, but are checked in
+Thrace by Nimicus Rufus.
+
+108. Metellus, as proconsul, continues the war in Numidia.
+
+The Cimbri defeat the consul Scaurus in Gaul.
+
+Mithridates of Pontus secretly prepares to regain by force the province
+of Phrygia, which the Romans took from him during his minority.
+
+107. Marius vigorously carries on the war against Jugurtha; Marius is
+consul, Sylla his quaestor.
+
+Cassius, Roman consul, is defeated and slain by the Cimbri in Gaul.
+
+106. Birth of Cicero. Birth of Pompey the Great.
+
+Jugurtha is betrayed by Bocchus, King of Mauretania, into the hands of
+the Romans, which ends the Jugurthine War.
+
+105. The Cimbri and Teutones defeat the consul Manilius and proconsul
+Caepio, near the Rhone, with great loss.
+
+Aristobulus, son of John Hyrcanus, succeeds his father and assumes the
+title of king of Judea.
+
+104. Alexander Jannaeus succeeds his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
+
+102. Marius overwhelmingly defeats the Teutones, while they were
+retreating from Spain, at Aquae Sextiae (Aix).
+
+Another revolt of the slaves in Sicily (Second Servile War).
+
+101. Marius utterly crushes the Cimbri on the Raudian Fields, after they
+had previously defeated the proconsul Lutatius Catulus.
+
+100. The Second Servile War continues.
+
+Birth of Julius C�sar.
+
+99. M. Aquilius finally crushes out the slave uprising in Sicily.
+
+94. Mithridates makes his son king of Cappadocia.
+
+93. Cappadocians appeal to the Romans, who give them Ariobarzanes for
+their king. Mithridates seizes Galatia.
+
+92. Sulla is sent by the Romans into Cappadocia to observe Mithridates'
+proceedings; ambassadors from Parthia meet him there.
+
+91. M. Livius Drussus, people's tribune, advocates giving the rights of
+citizenship to the Roman allies; he is assassinated.
+
+90. Social or Marsic War, a conflict of the Italian states against Rome,
+begins, the cause being the refusal of the franchise by Rome. C�sar, the
+consul, is unfortunate against the Samnites, and Rutilius is defeated
+and slain by the Marsi. Marius retrieves these disasters. Citizenship
+granted to the states which remain faithful to Rome.
+
+The Roman senate promises aid to Cappadocia against Mithridates.
+
+89. The consul Pompeius (father of Pompey the Great) gains decided
+victories over the Picentines; his colleague, Cato, defeats the Marsi,
+but is killed in the battle; Sulla takes the command, and is so
+successful that he is elected consul for the ensuing year. Cicero is a
+cadet in the army of Pompeius.
+
+Cleopatra is put to death by her son Alexander, who is expelled from
+Egypt, and Ptolemy Soter restored.
+
+88. End of the Social War. Most of the refractory states admitted to
+Roman citizenship.
+
+Mithridates, King of Pontus, occupies Phrygia; he asks all Asia Minor to
+join him; a general massacre of the Romans occurs.
+
+Quarrel between Sulla and Marius which causes war between them for the
+control of the Roman army. The first Roman civil war.
+
+87. Sulla proceeds to Greece to conduct the war against Mithridates;
+Sulla besieges Athens.
+
+The consul Cinna, deposed by the senate, calls Marius from Africa,
+raises an Italian army, and reinstates himself in office; bloody
+proscriptions by Marius and Cinna follow.
+
+86. Death of Marius, in the beginning of his seventh consulate; Flaccus,
+appointed in his place, is assassinated on his march to the east, by C.
+Fimbria, who assumes command of the Roman army.
+
+Sulla captures the revolted city of Athens and defeats the army of
+Mithridates under Archelaus.
+
+A sedition of the Jews is quelled with merciless severity by Alexander
+Jannaeus.
+
+85. The Romans are successful against Mithridates in Asia.
+
+84. End of the First Mithridatic War; Mithridates, finding himself
+between two victorious Roman armies, agrees to peace and relinquishes
+all his acquisitions.
+
+83. Sulla makes war against the Marian party in Italy.
+
+The Roman senate refuses to send Mithridates a formal ratification of
+the treaty. He retains a part of Cappadocia. The Second Mithridatic War
+begins.
+
+82. Sulla becomes dictator at Rome, after crushing the Marian party; he
+inflicts a bloody vengeance on his enemies.
+
+End of the Second Mithridatic War.
+
+81. Pompey, having been successful in Africa, is granted a triumph in
+Rome.
+
+80. Sertorius, the Marian leader, sets up an independent state in Spain.
+
+C�sar serves as a cadet at the siege of Mitylene; he receives a civic
+crown for saving the life of a citizen.
+
+79. Sulla resigns the dictatorship, but remains master of Rome.
+
+Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea, is succeeded on his death by his
+widow Alexandra.
+
+78. Death of Sulla.
+
+76. Pompey is sent into Spain to oppose Sertorius.
+
+74. Mithridates renews hostilities; he enters into an abortive alliance
+with Sertorius. Third Mithridatic War. Lucullus commands the Roman
+forces.
+
+73. Lucullus routs the army of Mithridates.
+
+Rising of the gladiators; Spartacus collects, on Mount Vesuvius, a
+numerous army of slaves and gladiators; they overcome the forces sent
+against them and ravage Southern Italy. The Third Servile War.
+
+72. Sertorius is assassinated in Spain; the Spaniards submit to Pompey.
+
+King Mithridates is driven from his dominions by Lucullus; the King
+takes refuge in Armenia.
+
+71. Crassus defeats and slays Spartacus; the gladiators are crushed.
+
+70. Death of Alexandra, widow of Jannaeus; she nominates her son,
+Hyrcanus, as her successor; but his brother, Aristobulus, usurps the
+throne of Judea.
+
+Pompey and Crassus, previously at variance, are reconciled during their
+joint consulship.
+
+Cicero's six orations (the first only being actually delivered) against
+Verres, who, when governor of Sicily, had plundered the island of
+property, art treasures, etc.
+
+Birth of Vergil.
+
+69. Lucullus crosses the Euphrates, captures Tigranocerta, and defeats
+Tigranes, who had succored Mithridates in Armenia.
+
+68. Lucullus defeats Tigranes and takes Nisibis.
+
+67. A mutiny in the Roman army caused by the appointment of Glabrio to
+succeed Lucullus.
+
+Pompey crushes the pirates of Cilicia and makes it a Roman province.
+
+Julius C�sar is quaestor in Spain.
+
+Metellus completes the conquest of Crete for the Romans.
+
+Mithridates makes a successful advance.
+
+66. Pompey, after a conference with Lucullus, completely crushes
+Mithridates and drives him over the Cimmerian Bosporus.
+
+65. End of the Third Mithridatic War.
+
+Antiochus XIII is deposed by Pompey; this puts an end to the kingdom of
+the Seleucidas (Syria).
+
+Hyrcanus takes up arms against his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
+
+64. Pompey takes possession of Syria; he is recalled thence to oppose
+Mithridates, who, returned to his states, prepares for further
+resistance.
+
+63. Having intervened between the brothers John Hyrcanus II and
+Aristobulus II, and decided in favor of Hyrcanus, Pompey lays siege to
+Jerusalem, where Aristobulus reigns, captures it, and makes Judea a
+Roman province.
+
+Mithridates, betrayed by his son, poisons himself.
+
+Cicero frustrates the conspiracy of Catiline, having for its object the
+cancellation of debts, the proscription of the wealthy, and the
+distribution among the conspirators of all the offices of honor and
+emolument.
+
+62. Catiline is defeated and slain, after having collected an army in
+Etruria.
+
+Discord arises between C�sar, now pr�tor, and Cato, tribune of the
+people.
+
+60. First Triumvirate in Rome, formed of Pompey, Crassus, and C�sar,
+equally dividing the power.
+
+59. Consulship of C�sar at Rome; he carries his agrarian law and
+ingratiates himself with the people; he is given the command in Gaul and
+Illyrium for five years.
+
+58. C�sar begins his campaigns in Gaul. See "C�SAR CONQUERS GAUL," ii,
+267.
+
+Cicero exiled from Rome; he had saved the Republic at the time of the
+Catiline conspiracy, but had broken the constitution, which forbade
+capital punishment without the sentence of the assembly of the people.
+
+57. The Belgae conquered by C�sar.
+
+Cicero recalled to Rome.
+
+56. Roman conquest of Aquitaine.
+
+55. Cato is imprisoned for opposing the vote giving the triumvirs five
+more years in their respective provinces: Pompey in Spain; C�sar in
+Gaul; Crassus in Syria. The triumvirs meet at Lucca.
+
+Caesar's first expedition into Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST
+OF BRITAIN," ii, 285.
+
+54. First campaign of Crassus; he plunders the Temple of Jerusalem and
+proceeds against the Parthians.
+
+Mithridates of Parthia is murdered by his brother Orodes.
+
+C�sar's second invasion of Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF
+BRITAIN," ii, 285.
+
+53. Crassus defeated and slain in the war against the Parthians at
+Carrhae.
+
+52. Vercingetorix, at the head of various Gallic tribes, makes a
+formidable effort to drive C�sar out of Gaul; he is unsuccessful, and
+C�sar, besieging him in his stronghold Alesia, forces him to surrender.
+
+51. Peace between Rome and Parthia. C�sar completes his conquest of
+Gaul.
+
+Cleopatra, on the death of her father, Ptolemy Auletes, becomes queen of
+Egypt. See "CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF C�SAR AND ANTONY," ii, 295.
+
+50. C�sar returns to Italy; jealousy between him and Pompey arouses the
+people of Rome.
+
+49. War breaks out between C�sar and Pompey; the second civil war in
+Rome.
+
+48. Pompey is defeated by C�sar at Pharsalia; Pompey flees to Egypt,
+where he is assassinated.
+
+47. The Roman senate appoints C�sar dictator, M. Antony as his master of
+the horse. C�sar subdues Egypt.
+
+46. C�sar overwhelms the Pompeians in Africa at the battle of Thapsus;
+Juba, King of Numidia, on the defeat, takes his own life.[92]
+
+[Footnote 92: Other authorities say he fell in battle.]
+
+Death of Cato.
+
+The calendar is reformed by C�sar.
+
+45. C�sar conquers the sons of Pompey at Munda, Spain. He is appointed
+dictator for life.
+
+44. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators murder C�sar in Rome. See
+"ASSASSINATION OF C�SAR," ii, 313.
+
+Conflict for power between Antony and Octavius; Cicero's oration secures
+Octavius' success in Rome.
+
+Antony resorts to arms to regain his lost ascendency. See "ROME BECOMES
+A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+43. Second Triumvirate at Rome, formed by Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus.
+
+Murder of Cicero. Birth of Ovid.
+
+42. Brutus and Cassius are defeated at the two battles of Philippi. See
+"ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+41. Octavius and Antony's party war in Italy.
+
+Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and the consul Lucius, his brother, oppose
+Octavius, who drives them from Rome. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii,
+333.
+
+40. Herod I, in his absence at Rome, is proclaimed by Antony and
+Octavius king of Judea.
+
+Antony accompanies Cleopatra to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY,"
+ii, 333.
+
+39. Herod lands in Syria to take the throne of Judea.
+
+38. Pompey is defeated in a naval engagement and loses all his fleet.
+
+37. Herod conquers Jerusalem; the Asmonean house ends.
+
+36. Lepidus, aspiring to greater power, is deserted by his soldiers and
+ejected from the triumvirate.
+
+31. War of Antony and Octavius; Octavius is victorious at Actium: he
+becomes master of the Roman dominions. Flight of Antony with Cleopatra
+to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+30. Death of Antony and Cleopatra. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii,
+333.
+
+Egypt becomes a Roman province.
+
+27. Octavius has a triumph at Rome and receives the title of Augustus.
+
+The temple of Janus is closed.
+
+24. Aelius Gallus, governor of Egypt, fails in an expedition into
+Arabia.
+
+19. Final subjugation of the Cantabri by Agrippa; the whole Spanish
+peninsula subject to Rome.
+
+15. The Rhaetians and Vindelicians subdued by Drassus and Tiberius, at
+the head of the Roman troops.
+
+12. Victorious advance of Drusus in Germany.
+
+9. Pannonia completely subdued by Tiberius.
+
+Last German campaign and death of Drusus.
+
+4. Death of Herod the Great, King of Judea.
+
+Probable date of the birth of Jesus.
+
+A.D.
+
+1. Beginning of the Christian era.
+
+4. Emperor Tiberius' campaign in Germany.
+
+6. Archelaus, the Herodian ethnarch, is deposed; Judea becomes a
+district of the Roman prefecture of Syria.
+
+9. Arminius annihilates the army of Varus in Teutoburg Forest. See
+"GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME," ii, 362.
+
+12. Tiberius leaves Germanicus to prosecute the war, and returns to
+Rome.
+
+
+END OF VOLUME II
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS
+HISTORIANS, VOL. 2***
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol.
+2, by Various, Edited by Rossiter Johnson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Great Events by Famous Historians, Vol. 2
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2003  [eBook #10114]
+
+Language: English
+
+Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS
+HISTORIANS, VOL. 2***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, David King, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS HISTORIANS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+A COMPREHENSIVE AND READABLE ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD'S HISTORY. EMPHASIZING
+THE MORE IMPORTANT EVENTS, AND PRESENTING THESE AS COMPLETE NARRATIVES
+IN THE MASTER-WORDS OF THE MOST EMINENT HISTORIANS
+
+  NON-SECTARIAN        NON-PARTISAN         NON-SECTIONAL
+
+ON THE PLAN EVOLVED FROM A CONSENSUS OF OPINIONS GATHERED FROM THE MOST
+DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS OF AMERICA AND EUROPE, INCLUDING BRIEF
+INTRODUCTIONS BY SPECIALISTS TO CONNECT AND EXPLAIN THE CELEBRATED
+NARRATIVES, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH THOROUGH INDICES,
+BIBLIOGRAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES, AND COURSES OF READING
+
+EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
+
+ROSSITER JOHNSON, LL.D.
+
+ASSOCIATE EDITORS
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BINDING
+
+Vol. II
+
+The binding of this volume is a facsimile of the original on exhibition
+in the Bibliotheque Nationale.
+
+It was executed by the Royal Binder, Clovis Eve, for Marie de' Medicis,
+Queen Consort of Henry IV of France. She was a great lover of fine arts,
+and especially of rich bindings. The one here shown was her special
+pride. It shows her arms--the arms of France and Tuscany--surrounded
+with the cordeliere, the sign of her widowhood, accompanied by the
+monogram M.M. (Marie Medicis). She was exiled by Cardinal Richelieu in
+1631.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+VOLUME II
+
+An Outline Narrative of the Great Events,
+    CHARLES F. HORNE
+
+Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in Rome (B.C. 450),
+    HENRY G. LIDDELL
+
+Pericles Rules in Athens (B.C. 444),
+    PLUTARCH
+
+Great Plague at Athens (B.C. 430),
+    GEORGE GROTE
+
+Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse (B.C. 413),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks (B.C. 401-399),
+    XENOPHON
+
+Condemnation and Death of Socrates (B.C. 399),
+    PLATO
+
+Brennus Burns Rome (B.C. 388),
+    BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR
+
+Tartar Invasion of China by Meha (B.C. 341),
+    DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER
+
+Alexander Reduces Tyre, Later Founds Alexandria (B.C. 332),
+    OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+The Battle of Arbela (B.C. 331),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+First Battle Between Greeks and Romans (B.C. 280-279),
+    PLUTARCH
+
+The Punic Wars (B.C. 264-219-149),
+    FLORUS
+
+Battle of the Metaurus (B.C. 2O7),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama and Subjugates Carthage (B.C.
+202),
+    LIVY
+
+Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea (B.C. 165-141),
+    JOSEPHUS
+
+The Gracchi and Their Reforms (B.C. 133),
+    THEODOR MOMMSEN
+
+Caesar Conquers Gaul (B.C. 58-50),
+    NAPOLEON III
+
+Roman Invasion and Conquest of Britain (B.C. 55-A.D. 79),
+    OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and Antony (B.C. 51-30),
+    JOHN P. MAHAFFY
+
+Assassination of Caesar (B.C. 44),
+    NIEBUHR
+    PLUTARCH
+
+Rome Becomes a Monarchy
+Death of Antony and Cleopatra (B.C. 44-30),
+    HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL
+
+Germans under Arminius Revolt Against Rome (A.D. 9),
+    SIR EDWARD S. CREASY
+
+Universal Chronology (B.C. 450-A.D. 12),
+    JOHN RUDD
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+VOLUME II
+
+Blind Appius Claudius led into the Roman Senate Chamber to vote on the
+proposition of peace or war with Pyrrhus (page 174),
+
+Painting by Prof, A. Maccari.
+
+
+Oracle of Delphi,
+
+Painting by Claudius Harper.
+
+
+Death of Alexander the Great after a prolonged debauch,
+
+Painting by Carl von Piloty.
+
+
+
+
+AN OUTLINE NARRATIVE
+
+
+TRACING BRIEFLY THE CAUSES, CONNECTIONS, AND CONSEQUENCES OF
+
+THE GREAT EVENTS
+
+(FROM THE RISE OF GREECE TO THE CHRISTIAN ERA)
+
+CHARLES F. HORNE, Ph.D.
+
+
+Earth's upward struggle has been baffled by so many stumbles that
+critics have not been lacking to suggest that we do not advance at all,
+but only swing in circles, like a squirrel in its cage. Certain it is
+that each ancient civilization seemed to bear in itself the seeds of its
+own destruction. Yet it may be held with equal truth that each new
+power, rising above the ruins of the last, held something nobler, was
+borne upward by some truth its rival could not reach.
+
+At no period is this more evident than in the five centuries immediately
+preceding the Christian era. Persia, Greece, Carthage, Rome, each in
+turn was with some justice proclaimed lord of the world; each in turn
+felt the impulse of her glory and advanced rapidly in culture and
+knowledge of the arts; and each in turn succumbed to the temptations
+that beset unlimited success. They degenerated not only in physical
+strength, but in moral honesty.
+
+Let us recognize, however, that the term "world-ruler" as applied to
+even the greatest of these nations has but a restricted sense. When the
+Persian monarch called himself lord of the sun and moon, he only meant
+in a figurative way that he was acquainted with no other king so
+powerful as himself; that beyond his own dominions he heard only of
+feeble colonies, and beyond those the wilderness. Alexander, when he
+sighed for more worlds to conquer, had in reality made himself lord of
+less than a quarter of Asia and of about one-sixtieth part of Europe.
+
+No man and no nation has ever yet been intrusted with the government of
+the entire globe. None has proved sufficiently fitted for the giant
+task. Each empire has been, as it were, but an experiment; and beyond
+the border line of seas and deserts which ringed each boastful
+conqueror, there were always other races developing along slower, and it
+may be surer, lines.
+
+In those old days our world was in truth too big for conquest. Armies
+marched on foot. Provisions could not be carried in any quantity, unless
+a general clung to the sea-shore and depended on his ships. What
+Alexander might with more truth have sighed for, was some modern means
+of swift transportation, possessed of which he might still have enjoyed
+many interesting, bloody battles in more distant lands.
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREEKS
+
+Taking the idea "world power" in the restricted sense suggested, Persia
+lost it to Greece at Salamis. As the Asiatic hordes fled behind their
+panic-stricken king, the Greeks, looking round their limited horizon,
+could see no power that might vie with them. The idea of pressing home
+their success and overthrowing the entire unwieldy Persian empire was at
+once conceived.
+
+But the Greeks were of all races least like to weld earth into one
+dominion. They could not even unite among themselves. In short it cannot
+be too emphatically pointed out that the work of Greece was not to
+consolidate, but to separate, to teach the value of each individual man.
+Asia had made monarchies in plenty. King after king had passed in
+splendid, glittering pomp across her plains, circled by a crowd of
+obsequious courtiers, trampling on a nameless multitude of slaves.
+Europe was to make democracies, or at least to try her hand at them.
+
+It has been well said that a democracy is the strongest government for
+defence, the weakest for attack. Every little Greek city clung jealously
+to its own freedom, and to its equally obvious right to dominate its
+neighbors. The supreme danger of the Persian invasion united them for a
+moment; but as soon as safety was assured, they recommenced their
+bickering. Sparta with her record of ancient leadership, Athens with her
+new-won glory against the common foe, each tried to draw the other
+cities in her train. There was no one man who could dominate them all
+and concentrate their strength against the enemy. So for a time Persia
+continued to exist; she even by degrees regained something of her former
+influence over the divided cities.
+
+Among these Athens held the foremost rank. She was, as we have
+previously seen, far more truly representative of the Greek spirit than
+her rival. Sparta was aristocratic and conservative; Athens democratic
+and progressive. The genius of her leaders gathered the lesser towns
+into a great naval league, in which she grew ever more powerful. Her
+allies sank to be dependent and unwilling vassals, forced to contribute
+large sums to the treasury of their overlord.
+
+This was the age of Pericles.[1] As Athens became wealthy, her citizens
+became cultured. Statues, temples, theatres made the city beautiful.
+Dramatists, orators, and poets made her intellectually renowned. A
+marvellous outburst, this of Athens! Displaying for the first time in
+history the full capacity of the human mind! Had there been similar
+flowerings of genius amid forgotten Asiatic times? One doubts it; doubts
+if such brilliancy could ever anywhere have passed, and left no clearer
+record of its triumphs.
+
+[Footnote 1: See _Pericles Rules in Athens_, page 12.]
+
+Amid such splendor it seems captious to point out the flaw. Yet Athenian
+and all Greek civilization did ultimately decline. It represented
+intellectual, but not moral culture. The Greeks delighted intensely in
+the purely physical life about them; they had small conception of
+anything beyond. To enjoy, to be successful, that was all their goal;
+the means scarce counted. The Athenians called Aristides the Just; but
+so little did they honor his high rectitude that they banished him for a
+decade. His title, or it may have been his insistence on the subject,
+bored them.
+
+His rival, Themistocles, was more suited to their taste, a clever scamp,
+who must always be dealing with both sides in every quarrel, and
+outwitting both. Athens was driven to banish him also at last, at his
+too flagrant treachery. But he was not dismissed with the scathing scorn
+our modern age would heap upon a traitor. He was sent regretfully, as
+one turns from a charming but too persistently lawless friend. The
+banishment was only for ten years, and he had his nest already prepared
+with the Persian King. If you would understand the Greek spirit in its
+fullest perfection, study Themistocles. Rampant individualism, seeking
+personal pleasure, clamorous for the admiration of its fellows, but not
+restrained from secret falsity by any strong moral sense--that was what
+the Greeks developed in the end.
+
+Neither must Athens be regarded as a democracy in the modern sense. She
+was only so by contrast with Persia or with Sparta. Not every man in the
+beautiful city voted, or enjoyed the riches that flowed into her
+coffers, and could thus afford, free from pecuniary care, to devote
+himself to art. Athens probably had never more than thirty thousand
+"citizens." The rest of the adult male population, vastly outnumbering
+these, were slaves, or foreigners attracted by the city's splendor.
+
+But those thirty thousand were certainly men. "There were giants in
+those days." One sometimes stands in wonder at their boldness. What all
+Greece could not do, what Persia had completely failed in, they
+undertook. Athens alone should conquer the world. By force of arms they
+would found an empire of intellect. They fought Persia and Sparta, both
+at once. Plague swept their city, yet they would not yield.[2] Their own
+subject allies turned against them; and they fought those too. They sent
+fleets and armies against Syracuse, the mightiest power of the West. It
+was Athens against all mankind!
+
+[Footnote 2: See _Great Plague at Athens_, page 34.]
+
+She was unequal to the task, superbly unequal to it. The destruction of
+her army at Syracuse[3] was only the foremost of a series of inevitable
+disasters, which left her helpless. After that, Sparta, and then Thebes,
+became the leading city of Greece. Athens slowly regained her fighting
+strength; her intellectual supremacy she had not lost. Socrates,[4]
+greatest of her sons, endeavored to teach a morality higher than earth
+had yet received, higher than his contemporaries could grasp. Plato gave
+to thought a scientific basis.
+
+[Footnote 3: See _Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse_, page 48.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See _Condemnation and Death of Socrates_, page 87.]
+
+Then Macedonia, a border kingdom of ancient kinship to the Greeks, but
+not recognized as belonging among them, began to obtrude herself in
+their affairs, and at length won that leadership for which they had all
+contended. A hundred and fifty years had elapsed since the Greeks had
+stood united against Persia. During all that time their strength had
+been turned against themselves. Now at last the internecine wars were
+checked, and all the power of the sturdy race was directed by one man,
+Alexander, King of Macedon. Democracy had made the Greeks intellectually
+glorious, but politically weak. Monarchy rose from the ruin they had
+wrought.
+
+As though that ancient invasion of Xerxes had been a crime of yesterday,
+Alexander proclaimed his intention of avenging it; and the Greeks
+applauded. They understood Persia now far better than in the elder days;
+they saw what a feeble mass the huge heterogeneous empire had become.
+Its people were slaves, its soldiers mercenaries. The Greeks themselves
+had been hired to suppress more than one Persian rebellion,[5] and to
+foment these also. They had learned the enormous advantage their
+stronger personality gave them against the masses of sheeplike Asiatics.
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks_, page 68.]
+
+So it was in holiday mood that they followed Alexander, and in schoolboy
+roughness that they trampled on the civilization of the East. In fact,
+it is worth noting that the most vigorous resistance they encountered
+was not from the Persians, but from a remnant of the Semites, the
+merchants of the Phoenician city of Tyre.[6] In less than eight years,
+B.C. 331-323, Alexander overran the whole known world of the East,[7]
+only stopping when, on the border of India, his soldiers broke into open
+revolt, not against fighting, but against further wandering.
+
+[Footnote 6: See _Alexander Reduces Tyre_, page 133.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See _The Battle of Arbela_, page 141.]
+
+If this invasion had been the mere outcome of one man's ambition, it
+might scarce be worth recording. But Alexander was only the topmost wave
+in the surging of a long imminent, inevitable racial movement. Its
+effect upon civilization, upon the world, was incalculably vast.
+Alexander and his successors were city-builders, administrators. As such
+they spread Greek culture, the Greek idea of individualism, over all
+their world.
+
+How deep was the change, made upon the imbruted Asiatics, we may perhaps
+question. Our own age has seen how much of education may be lavished on
+an inferior race without materially altering the brute instincts within.
+The building-up of the soul in man is not a matter of individuals, but
+of centuries. Yet in at least a superficial way Greek thought became the
+thought of all mankind. We may dismiss Alexander's savage conquests with
+a sigh of pity; but we cannot deny him recognition as a most potent
+teacher of the world.
+
+His empire did not last. It was in too obvious opposition to all that we
+have recognized as the Grecian spirit. At his death the same impulse
+seems to have stirred each one of his subordinates, to snatch for
+himself a kingdom from the confusion. Instead of one there were soon
+three, four, and then a dozen semi-Grecian states in Asia. The Greek
+element in each grew very faint.
+
+From this time onward Asia takes a less prominent place in world
+affairs. Her ancient leadership in the march of civilization had long
+been yielded to the Greeks. Now her semblance of military power
+disappeared as well. Only two further happenings in all Asia seem worth
+noting, down to the birth of Christ. One of these was the Tartar
+conquest of China, an event which coalesced the Tartars, helped make
+them a nation.[8] It was thus fraught with most disastrous consequences
+for the Europe of the future. The other was the revolt of the Hebrews
+under Judas Maccabaeus, against their Grecian rulers. This was a
+religious revolt, a religious war. Here for the first time we find a
+people who will believe, who can believe, in no god but their own, who
+will die sooner than give worship to another. We approach the borders of
+an age where the spirit is more valued than the body, where the mental
+is stronger than the physical, where facts are dominated by ideas.[9]
+
+[Footnote 8: See _Tartar Invasion of China_, page 126.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See _Judas Maccabaeus Liberates Judea_, page 245.]
+
+Had Alexander even at the moment of his greatest strength directed his
+forces westward instead of east, he would have found a different world
+and encountered a sturdier resistance. He himself recognized this, and
+during his last years was gathering all the resources of his unwieldy
+empire, to hurl them against Carthage and against Italy. What the issue
+might have been no man can say. Alexander's death ended forever the
+impossible attempt to unite his race. Once more and until the end,
+Grecian strength was wasted against itself.
+
+This gave opportunity to the growing powers of the West. Alexander is
+scarce gone ere we hear Carthage boasting that the Mediterranean is but
+a private lake in her possession. She rules all Western Africa and
+Spain, Sardinia and Corsica. She masters the Greeks of Sicily, against
+whom Athens failed. Rome is compelled to sign treaties with her as an
+inferior.
+
+THE GROWTH OF ROME
+
+Rome was only husbanding her strength; the little republic of B.C. 510
+had grown much during the two centuries of Grecian splendor. Her people
+had become far better fitted for conquest than their eastern kinsmen. It
+is presumable that here too it was the difference of surroundings which
+had differentiated the race. The ancient Etrurian (non-Aryan)
+civilization on which the Latins intruded, was apparently more advanced
+than their own. For centuries their utmost prowess scarce sufficed to
+maintain their independence. Thus it was not possible for them to become
+too self-satisfied, to stand afar off and look down on their neighbors
+with Grecian scorn. The _ego_ was less prominently developed; the
+necessity of mutual dependence and united action was more deeply taught.
+Their records display less of brilliancy, but more of patient
+persistency, than those of Greece, less of spectacular individualism,
+more of truly patriotic self-suppression. In Rome, even more than in
+Sparta, the "State" was everything. During the early days men found
+their highest glory in making their city glorious; their proudest boast
+was to be "citizens of Rome."
+
+To trace the slow steps by which the tiny republic grew to be mistress
+of all Italy would take too long. She settled her internal difficulties
+as all such difficulties must be settled, if the race is to progress;
+that is, she became more democratic.[10] As the lower classes advanced
+in knowledge and intelligence they insisted on a share of the
+government. They fought their way to it. They united Rome, mastered the
+other Latin cities, and admitted them to partnership in her power. She
+conquered the Etruscans and the Samnites. For a moment we find her
+almost overwhelmed by an inroad of the wild Celtic tribes from the
+forests of Central Europe;[11] but, fortunately for her, the other
+Italian states were equally crushed. It was weakness against weakness,
+and the Romans retained their foremost place.
+
+[Footnote 10: See _Institution and Fall of the Decemvirate in Rome_,
+page 1.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See _Brennus Burns Rome_, page 110.]
+
+Not till more than a century later were they brought into serious
+conflict with the Greeks. In the year B.C. 280, Pyrrhus, King of Epirus,
+who had won a temporary leadership over a portion of the Grecian land,
+undertook the conquest of the West.[12] Fifty years before, Alexander
+with far greater power might have been victorious over a feebler Rome.
+Pyrrhus failed completely. If the Romans had less dash and a less wide
+experience of varied warfare than his followers, they had far more of
+true, heroic endurance. The Greeks had reached that stage of individual
+culture where they were much too selfishly intelligent to be willing to
+die in battle. Pyrrhus withdrew from Italy. Grecian brilliancy was
+helpless against Roman strength of union.
+
+[Footnote 12: See _First Battle between Greeks and Romans_, page 166.]
+
+Then came the far more serious contest between Rome and Carthage.[13]
+Carthage was a Phoenician, a Semite state; and hers was the last, the
+most gigantic struggle made by Semitism to recover its waning
+superiority, to dominate the ancient world. Three times in three
+tremendous wars did she and Rome put forth their utmost strength against
+each other. Hannibal, perhaps the greatest military genius who ever
+lived, fought upon the side of Carthage. At one time Rome seemed
+crushed, helpless before him.[14] Yet in the end Rome won.[15] It was
+not by the brilliancy of her commanders, not by the superiority of her
+resources. It was the grim, cool courage of the Aryan mind, showing
+strongest and calmest when face to face with ruin.
+
+[Footnote 13: See _The Punic Wars_, page 179.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See _Battle of the Metaurus_, page 195.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See _Scipio Africanus Crushes Hannibal at Zama and
+Subjugates Carthage_, page 224.]
+
+Our modern philosophers, being Aryan, assure us that the victory of
+Carthage would have been an irretrievable disaster to mankind; that her
+falsity, her narrow selfishness, her bloody inhumanity, would have
+stifled all progress; that her dominion would have been the tyranny of a
+few heartless masters over a world of tortured slaves. On the other
+hand, Rome up to this point had certainly been a generous mistress to
+her subjects. She had left them peace and prosperity among themselves;
+she had given them as much political freedom as was consistent with her
+sovereignty; she had wellnigh succeeded in welding all Italy into a
+Roman nation. It is noteworthy that the large majority of the Italian
+cities clung to her, even in the darkest straits to which she was
+reduced by Hannibal.
+
+Yet when the fall of her last great rival left Rome irresistible abroad,
+her methods changed. It is hard to see how even Carthaginians could have
+been more cruel, more grasping, more corrupt than the Roman rulers of
+the provinces. Having conquered the governments of the world, Rome had
+to face outbreak after outbreak from the unarmed, unsheltered masses of
+the people. Her barbarity drove them to mad despair. "Servile" wars,
+slave outbreaks are dotted over all the last century of the Roman
+Republic.
+
+The good, if there was any good, that Roman dominion brought the world
+at that period was the spreading of Greek culture across the western
+half of the world. As Rome mastered the Greek states one by one, their
+genius won a subtler triumph over the conqueror. Her generals recognized
+and admired a culture superior to their own. They carried off the
+statues of Greece for the adornment of their villas, and with equal
+eagerness they appropriated her manners and her thought, her literature
+and her gods.
+
+But this superficial culture could not save the Roman Republic from the
+dry-rot that sapped her vitals from within. As a mere matter of numbers,
+the actual citizens of Rome or even of the semi-Roman districts close
+around her were too few to continue fighting over all the vast empire
+they controlled. The sturdy peasant population of Italy slowly
+disappeared. The actual inhabitants of the capital came to consist of a
+few thousand vastly wealthy families, who held all the power, a few
+thousand more of poorer citizens dependent on the rich, and then a vast
+swarm of slaves and foreigners, feeders on the crumbs of the Roman
+table.
+
+In the battles against Carthage, the mass of Rome's armies had consisted
+of her own citizens or of allies closely united to them in blood and
+fortune. Her later victories were won by hired troops, men gathered from
+every clime and every race. Roman generals still might lead them, Roman
+laws environ them, Roman gold employ them. Yet the fact remained, that
+in these armies lay the strength of the Republic, no longer within her
+own walls, no longer in the stout hearts of her citizens.
+
+Perhaps the world itself was slow in seeing this degeneration. The
+Gracchi brothers tried to stem the tide, and they were slain, sacrificed
+by the nation they sought to save.[16] Cornelius Sulla was the man who
+completed, and at the same time made plain to all, the change that had
+been growing up. Having bitter grievances against his enemies in the
+capital, he appealed for redress, not to the Roman senate, not to the
+votes of the populace, but to the swords of the legions he commanded.
+Twice he marched his soldiers against Rome. He brushed aside the feeble
+resistance that was offered, and entered the city like a conqueror. The
+blood of those who had opposed his wishes flowed in streams. Three
+thousand senators and knights, the flower of the Roman aristocracy, were
+slain at his nod. Of the common folk and of the Italians throughout the
+peninsula, the slaughter was immeasurable. And when his bloody vengeance
+was at last glutted, Sulla ruled as an extravagant, conscienceless,
+licentious dictator. Rome had found a fitting master.
+
+[Footnote 16: See _The Gracchi and Their Reforms_, page 259.]
+
+THE STRUGGLE OF INDIVIDUALS FOR SUPREMACY
+
+The Roman people, the mighty race who had defied a Hannibal at their
+gates, were clearly come to an end. Sulla had proved the power of the
+Republic to be an empty shell. After his death, men used the empty forms
+awhile; but the surviving aristocrats had learned their awful lesson.
+They put no further faith in the strength of the city; they watched the
+armies and the generals; they intrigued for the various commands. It was
+an exciting game. Life and fortune were the stakes they risked; the
+prize--the mastery of a helpless world, waiting to be plundered.
+
+Pompey and Caesar proved the ablest players. Pompey overthrew what was
+left of the Greek Asiatic kingdoms and returned to Rome the idol of his
+troops, wellnigh as powerful as had been Sulla. Caesar, looking in his
+turn for a place to build up an army devoted to himself, selected Gaul
+and spent eight years in subduing and civilizing what was in a way the
+most important of all Rome's conquests. In Gaul he came in contact with
+another, fresher Aryan race.[17] Rome received new soldiers for her
+legions, new brains fitted to understand and carry on the work of
+civilizing the world.
+
+[Footnote 17: See _Caesar Conquers Gaul_, page 267.]
+
+When Caesar, turning away from Britain,[18] marched these new-formed
+legions back against Rome, even as Sulla had done, it was almost like
+another Gallic invasion of the South. Pompey fled. He gathered his
+legions from Asia; and the world resounded once more to the clash of
+arms.
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Roman Invasion and Conquest of Britain_, page 285.]
+
+This, then, was the third and final stage of the huge struggle for
+empire. War was still the business of the world. Rome had first defeated
+foreign nations; then she had to defeat the uprisings of the subject
+peoples; now her chiefs, finding her exhausted, fought among themselves
+for the supreme power. Armies of Asiatics, armies of Gauls, each
+claiming to represent Rome, battled over her helpless body.
+
+Caesar was victorious. But when the conquering power which had once
+belonged to the united nation became embodied in a single man, there was
+a new way by which it might be checked. The government of Rome, like
+that of the Greek and Asiatic tyrannies, became a "despotism tempered by
+assassination"; and Caesar was its foremost victim.[19]
+
+[Footnote 19: See _Assassination of Caesar_, page 313.]
+
+His death did not stop the fascinating gamble for empire. It only added
+one more move to the possible complexities of the game. The lesser
+players had their chance. They intrigued and they fought. Egypt, the
+last remaining civilized state outside of Rome, was drawn into the
+whirlpool also.[20] Cleopatra and Antony acted their reckless parts, and
+at length out of the world-wide tumult emerged "young Octavius," to
+assume his _role_ as "Augustus Caesar," acknowledged emperor of the
+world.[21]
+
+[Footnote 20: See _Cleopatra's Conquest of Caesar and Antony_, page
+295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See _Rome Becomes a Monarchy_, page 333.]
+
+Note, however, that the term "world" is still one of boast, not truth.
+Emperor over many men, Augustus was; but the powers of nature still shut
+many races safe beyond his mastery. The ocean bounded his dominion on
+the west; the deserts to the south and east; the German forests to the
+north. These last he did essay to conquer, but they proved beyond him.
+The wild German tribes having no cities, which they must defend at any
+cost, could afford to flee or hide. Choosing their own time and place
+they rose suddenly, smote the legions of Augustus, and melted into the
+wilderness again.[22]
+
+[Footnote 22: See _Germans Under Arminius Revolt against Rome_, page
+362.]
+
+Rome was checked at last. No civilized nation had been able to stand
+against her; but the wild tribes of the Germans and the Parthians did.
+Barbarism had still by far the larger portion of the world wherein to
+live and develop, and gather brain and brawn. Rome could not conquer the
+wilderness.
+
+(For the next section of this general survey see Volume III.)
+
+
+
+
+INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME
+
+B.C. 450
+
+HENRY G. LIDDELL
+
+
+(When wars and pestilence had laid a heavy burden upon the Roman people,
+there appears to have been a period in which internal commotions and
+civil strife were stilled, and the quarrels of patricians and plebeians
+gave way to temporary truce. On the inevitable renewal of the old
+struggle the college of tribunes adopted a measure favorable to the
+plebeians in so far as it provided means for checking the abuse of power
+on the part of consuls in punishing members of that class in connection
+with the prosecution of suits against them.
+
+The passage of this measure had the effect of reopening former
+conflicts, the patrician elements becoming greatly alarmed at what they
+regarded as a fresh encroachment upon their hereditary rights. The
+contest was long and bitter, each side either bringing forward or
+rejecting again and again the same measures or the same representatives.
+
+Finally, compromises were made, and in the year B.C. 452 a commission of
+ten men, called _decemvirs_, constituting the _Decemvirate_, was chosen,
+consisting wholly of patricians, who entered with great efficiency upon
+the discharge of legislative duties which resulted in the production of
+a new code. This was approved by the senate and by the popular
+representatives, and was published in the form of ten copper plates or
+tables, which were affixed to the speaker's pulpit in the Forum. Among
+the new decemvirs appointed in the year B.C. 450 were several plebeians,
+the first official representatives of the entire people who were chosen
+from that class.)
+
+
+The patrician burgesses endeavored to wrest independence from the
+"plebs" after the battle of Lake Regillus; and the latter, ruined by
+constant wars with the neighboring nations, being compelled to make good
+their losses by borrowing money from patrician creditors, and liable to
+become bondsmen in default of payment, at length deserted the city, and
+only returned on condition of being protected by tribunes of their own;
+they then, by the firmness of Publilius Volero and Laetorius, obtained
+the right of electing these tribunes at their own assembly, the "Comitia
+of the Tribes." Finally the great consul Spurius Cassius endeavored to
+relieve the commonalty by an agrarian law, so as to better their
+condition permanently.
+
+The execution of the Agrarian law was constantly evaded. But on the
+conquest of Antium from the Volscians, in the year B.C. 468, a colony
+was sent thither, and this was one of the first examples of a
+distribution of public land to poorer citizens; which answered two
+purposes--the improvement of their condition, and the defence of the
+place against the enemy.
+
+Nor did the tribunes, now made altogether independent of the patricians,
+fail to assert their power. One of the first persons who felt the force
+of their arm was the second Appius Claudius. This Sabine noble,
+following his father's example, had, after the departure of the Fabii,
+led the opposition to the Publilian law. When he took the field against
+the Volscians, his soldiers would not fight, and the stern commander put
+to death every tenth man in his legions. For the acts of his consulship
+he was brought to trial by the tribunes M. Duillius and C. Sicinius.
+Seeing that conviction was certain, the proud patrician avoided
+humiliation by suicide.
+
+Nevertheless the border wars still continued, and the plebeians suffered
+much. To the evils of debt and want were added about this time the
+horrors of pestilential disease, which visited the Roman territory
+several times at that period. In one year (B.C. 464) the two consuls,
+two of the four augurs, and the curio Maximus, who was the head of all
+the patricians, were swept off--a fact which implies the death of a vast
+number of less distinguished persons. The government was administered by
+the plebeian aediles, under the control of senatorial interreges. The
+Volscians and Aequians ravaged the country up to the walls of Rome; and
+the safety of the city must be attributed to the Latins and Hernici, not
+to the men of Rome.
+
+Meantime the tribunes had in vain demanded a full execution of the
+Agrarian law. But in the year B.C. 462, one of the Sacred College, by
+name C. Terentilius Harsa, came forward with a bill, the object of which
+was to give the plebeians a surer footing in the state. This man
+perceived that as long as the consuls retained their almost despotic
+power, and were elected by the influence of the patricians, this order
+had it in its power to thwart all measures, even after they were passed,
+which tended to advance the interests of the plebeians. He therefore no
+longer demanded the execution of the Agrarian law, but proposed that a
+commission of ten men (_decemviri_) should be appointed to draw up
+constitutional laws for regulating the future relations of the
+patricians and plebeians.
+
+The Reform Bill of Terentilius was, as might be supposed, vehemently
+resisted by the patrician burgesses. But the plebeians supported their
+champion no less warmly. For five consecutive years the same tribunes
+were reelected and in vain endeavored to carry the bill. This was the
+time which least fulfils the character which we have claimed for the
+Roman people--patience and temperance, combined with firmness in their
+demands. To prevent the tribunes from carrying their law, the younger
+patricians thronged to the assemblies and interfered with all
+proceedings; Terentilius, they said, was endeavoring to confound all
+distinction between the orders. Some scenes occurred which seem to show
+that both sides were prepared for civil war.
+
+In the year B.C. 460 the city was alarmed by hearing that the Capitol
+had been seized by a band of Sabines and exiled Romans, under the
+command of one Herdonius. Who these exiles were is uncertain. But we
+know, by the legend of Cincinnatus, that Caeso Quinctius, the son of that
+old hero, was an exile. It has been inferred, therefore, that he was
+among them, that the tribunes had succeeded in banishing from the city
+the most violent of their opponents, and that these persons had not
+scrupled to associate themselves with Sabines to recover their homes.
+The consul Valerius, aided by the Latins of Tusculum, levied an army to
+attack the insurgents, on condition that after success the law should be
+fully considered. The exiles were driven out and Herdonius was killed.
+But the consul fell in the assault, and the patricians, led by old
+Cincinnatus, refused to fulfil his promises.
+
+Then followed the danger of the AEquian invasion, to which the legend of
+Cincinnatus, as given above, refers. The stern old man used his
+dictatorial power quite as much to crush the tribunes at home as to
+conquer the enemies abroad.
+
+One of the historians tells us that in this period of seditious violence
+many of the leading plebeians were assassinated (as the tribune Genucius
+had been), and to this time only can be attributed the horrible story,
+mentioned by more than one writer, that nine tribunes were burned alive
+at the instance of their colleague Mucius. Society was utterly
+disorganized. The two orders were on the brink of civil war. It seemed
+as if Rome was to become the city of discord, not of law. Happily, there
+were moderate men in both orders. Now, as at the time of the secession,
+their voices prevailed, and a compromise was arranged.
+
+In the eighth year after the first promulgation of the Terentilian law,
+this compromise was made (B.C. 454). The law itself was no longer
+pressed by the tribunes. The patricians, on the other hand, so far gave
+way as to allow three men (_triumviri_) to be appointed, who were to
+travel into Greece, and bring back a copy of the laws of Solon, as well
+as the laws and institutes of any other Greek states which they might
+deem good and useful. These were to be the groundwork of a new code of
+laws, such as should give fair and equal rights to both orders and
+restrain the arbitrary power of the patrician magistrates.
+
+Another concession made by the patrician lords was a small installment of
+the Agrarian law. L. Icilius, tribune of the plebs, proposed that all
+the Aventine hill, being public land, should be made over to the plebs,
+to be their quarter forever, as the other hills were occupied by the
+patricians and their clients. This hill, it will be remembered, was
+consecrated to the goddess Diana (Jana), and though included in the
+walls of Servius, was yet not within the sacred limits (_pomoerium_) of
+the patrician city. After some opposition the patricians suffered this
+Icilian law to pass, in hopes of soothing the anger of the plebeians.
+The land was parcelled out into building-sites. But as there was not
+enough to give a separate plot to every plebeian householder that wished
+to live in the city, one allotment was assigned to several persons, who
+built a joint house _flats_ or stories, each of which was inhabited--as
+in Edinburgh and in most foreign towns--by a separate family.
+
+The three men who had been sent into Greece returned in the third year
+(B.C. 452). They found the city free from domestic strife, partly from
+the concessions already made, partly from expectation of what was now to
+follow, and partly from the effect of a pestilence which had broken out
+anew.
+
+So far did moderate counsels now prevail among the patricians, that
+after some little delay they agreed to suspend the ordinary government
+by the consuls and other officers, and in their stead to appoint a
+council of ten, who were, during their existence, to be intrusted with
+all the functions of government. But they were to have a double duty:
+they were not only an administrative, but also a legislative council. On
+the one hand, they were to conduct the government, administer justice,
+and command the armies. On the other, they were to draw up a code of
+laws by which equal justice was to be dealt out to the whole Roman
+people, to patricians and plebeians alike, and by which especially the
+authority to be exercised by the consuls, or chief magistrates, was to
+be clearly determined and settled.
+
+This supreme council of ten, or decemvirs, was first appointed in the
+year B.C. 450. They were all patricians. At their head stood Appius
+Claudius and T. Genucius, who had already been chosen consuls for this
+memorable year. This Appius Claudius (the third of his name) was son and
+grandson of those two patrician chiefs who had opposed the leaders of
+the plebeians so vehemently in the matter of the tribunate. But he
+affected a different conduct from his sires. He was the most popular man
+of the whole council, and became in fact the sovereign of Rome. At first
+he used his great power well, and the first year's government of the
+decemvirs was famed for justice and moderation.
+
+They also applied themselves diligently to their great work of
+law-making, and before the end of the year had drawn up a code of ten
+tables, which were posted in the Forum, that all citizens might examine
+them and suggest amendments to the decemvirs. After due time thus spent,
+the ten tables were confirmed and made law at the Comitia of the
+Centuries. By this code equal justice was to be administered to both
+orders without distinction of persons.
+
+At the close of the year the first decemvirs laid down their office,
+just as the consuls and other officers of state had been accustomed to
+do before. They were succeeded by a second set of ten, who, for the next
+year at least, were to conduct the government like their predecessors.
+The only one of the old decemvirs reelected was Appius Claudius. The
+patricians, indeed, endeavored to prevent even this, and to this end he
+was himself appointed to preside at the new elections; for it was held
+impossible for a chief magistrate to return his own name, when he was
+himself presiding. But Appius scorned precedents. He returned himself as
+elected, together with nine others, men of no name, while two of the
+great Quinctian gens, who offered themselves, were rejected.
+
+Of the new decemvirs, it is certain that three--and it is probable that
+five--were plebeians. Appius, with the plebeian Oppius, held the
+judicial office, and remained in the city; and these two seem to have
+been regarded as the chiefs. The other six commanded the armies and
+discharged the duties previously assigned to the quaestors and aediles.
+
+The first decemvirs had earned the respect and esteem of their
+fellow-citizens. The new Council of Ten deserved the hatred which has
+ever since cloven to their name. Appius now threw off the mask which he
+had so long worn, and assumed his natural character--the same as had
+distinguished his sire and grandsire, of unhappy memory. He became an
+absolute despot. His brethren in the council offered no hinderance to
+his will; even the plebeian decemvirs, bribed by power, fell into his
+way of action and supported his tyranny. They each had twelve lictors,
+who carried fasces with the axes in them the symbol of absolute power,
+as in the times of the kings; so that it was said, "Rome had now twelve
+Tarquins instead of one, and one hundred and twenty armed lictors
+instead of twelve!" All freedom of speech ceased. The senate was seldom
+called together. The leading men, patricians and plebeians, left the
+city. The outward aspect of things was that of perfect calm and peace,
+but an opportunity only was wanting for the discontent which was
+smouldering in all men's hearts to break out and show itself.
+
+By the end of the year the decemvirs had added two more tables to the
+code, so that there were now twelve tables. But these two last were of a
+most oppressive and arbitrary kind, devoted chiefly to restore the
+ancient privileges of the patrician caste. Of these tables, it should be
+observed that they were made laws not by the vote of the people, but by
+the simple edict of the decemvirs.
+
+It was, no doubt, expected that the second decemvirs also would have
+held _comitia_ for the election of successors. But Appius and his
+colleagues showed no such intention, and when the year came to a close
+they continued to hold office as if they had been reelected. So firmly
+did their power seem to be established that we hear of no endeavor being
+made to induce them to resign.
+
+In the course of this next year (B.C. 449), the border wars were
+renewed. On the north the Sabines, and the AEquians on the northeast,
+invaded the Roman country at the same time. The latter penetrated as far
+as Mount Algidus, as in B.C. 458, when they were routed by old
+Cincinnatus. The decemvirs probably, like the patrician burgesses in
+former times, regarded these inroads not without satisfaction; for they
+turned away the mind of the people from their sufferings at home. Yet
+from these very wars sprung the events which overturned their power and
+destroyed themselves.
+
+Two armies were levied, one to check the Sabines, the other to oppose
+the AEquians, and these were commanded by the six military decemvirs.
+Appius and Oppius remained to administer affairs at home. But there was
+no spirit in the armies. Both were defeated; and that which was opposed
+to the AEquians was compelled to take refuge within the walls of
+Tusculum.
+
+Then followed two events which were preserved in well-known legends, and
+which give the popular narrative of the manner in which the power of the
+decemvirs was at last overthrown.
+
+LEGEND OF SICCIUS DENTATUS
+
+In the army sent against the Sabines, Siccius Dentatus was known as the
+bravest man. He was then serving as a centurion; he had fought in one
+hundred and twenty battles; he had slain eight champions in single
+combat; had saved the lives of fourteen citizens; had received forty
+wounds, all in front; had followed in nine triumphal processions, and
+had won crowns and decorations without number. This gallant veteran had
+taken an active part in the civil contests between the two orders, and
+was now suspected, by the decemvirs commanding the Sabine army, of
+plotting against them. Accordingly they determined to get rid of him;
+and for this end they sent him out as if to reconnoitre, with a party of
+soldiers, who were secretly instructed to murder him. Having discovered
+their design, he set his back against a rock and resolved to sell his
+life dearly. More than one of his assailants fell and the rest stood at
+bay around him, not venturing to come within sword's length, when one
+wretch climbed up the rock behind and crushed the brave old man with a
+massive stone. But the manner of his death could not be hidden from the
+army, and the generals only prevented an outbreak by honoring him with a
+magnificent funeral.
+
+Such was the state of things in the Sabine army.
+
+LEGEND OF VIRGINIA[23]
+
+[Footnote 23: Dionysius is the authority for this legend.]
+
+The other army had a still grosser outrage to complain of. In this there
+was a notable centurion, Virginius by name. His daughter Virginia, just
+ripening into womanhood, beautiful as the day, was betrothed to L.
+Icilius, the tribune who had carried the law for allotting the Aventine
+hill to the plebeians. Appius Claudius, the decemvir, saw her and lusted
+to make her his own. And with this intent he ordered one of his clients,
+M. Claudius by name, to lay hands upon her as she was going to her
+school in the Forum, and to claim her as his slave. The man did so; and
+when the cries of her nurse brought a crowd round them, M. Claudius
+insisted on taking her before the decemvir, in order, as he said, to
+have the case fairly tried. Her friends consented; and no sooner had
+Appius heard the matter than he gave judgment that the maiden should be
+delivered up to the claimant, who should be bound to produce her in case
+her alleged father appeared to gainsay the claim. Now this judgment was
+directly against one of the laws of the twelve tables, which Appius
+himself had framed; for therein it was provided that any person being at
+freedom should continue free till it was proved that such person was a
+slave. Icilius, therefore, with Numitorius, the uncle of the maiden,
+boldly argued against the legality of the judgment, and at length
+Appius, fearing a tumult, agreed to leave the girl in their hands on
+condition of their giving bail to bring her before him next morning; and
+then, if Virginius did not appear, he would at once, he said, give her
+up to her pretended master. To this Icilius consented, but he delayed
+giving bail, pretending that he could not procure it readily; and in the
+mean time he sent off a secret message to the camp on Algidus, to inform
+Virginius of what had happened. As soon as the bail was given, Appius
+also sent a message to the decemvirs in command of that army, ordering
+them to refuse leave of absence to Virginius. But when this last message
+arrived, Virginius was already halfway on his road to Rome; for the
+distance was not more than twenty miles, and he had started at
+nightfall.
+
+Next morning, early, Virginius entered the Forum, leading his daughter
+by the hand, both clad in mean attire. A great number of friends and
+matrons attended him, and he went about among the people entreating them
+to support him against the tyranny of Appius. So when Appius came to
+take his place on the judgment seat he found the Forum full of people,
+all friendly to Virginius and his cause. But he inherited the boldness
+as well as the vices of his sires, and though he saw Virginius standing
+there ready to prove that he was the maiden's father, he at once gave
+judgment, against his own law, that Virginia should be given up to M.
+Claudius till it should be proved that she was free. The wretch came up
+to seize her, and the lictors kept the people from him. Virginius, now
+despairing of deliverance, begged Appius to allow him to ask the maiden
+whether she were indeed his daughter or not. "If," said he, "I find I am
+not her father, I shall bear her loss the lighter." Under this pretence
+he drew her aside to a spot upon the northern side of the Forum,
+afterward called the "_Nova Tabernce_" and here, snatching up a knife
+from a butcher's stall, he cried: "In this way only can I keep thee
+free!"--and so saying, stabbed her to the heart. Then he turned to the
+tribunal and said, "On thee, Appius, and on thy head be this blood!"
+Appius cried out to seize "the murderer," but the crowd made way for
+Virginius, and he passed through them holding up the bloody knife, and
+went out at the gate and made straight for the army. There, when the
+soldiers had heard his tale, they at once abandoned their decemviral
+generals and marched to Rome. They were soon followed by the other army
+from the Sabine frontier; for to them Icilius had gone, and Numitorius;
+and they found willing ears among men who were already enraged by the
+murder of old Siccius Dentatus. So the two armies joined their banners,
+elected new generals, and encamped upon the Aventine hill, the quarter
+of the plebeians.
+
+Meantime the people at home had risen against Appius, and after driving
+him from the Forum they joined their armed fellow-citizens upon the
+Aventine. There the whole body of the commons, armed and unarmed, hung
+like a dark cloud ready to burst upon the city.
+
+Whatever may be the truth of the legends of Siccius and Virginia, there
+can be no doubt that the conduct of the decemvirs had brought matters to
+the verge of civil war. At this juncture the senate met, and the
+moderate party so far prevailed as to send their own leaders, M.
+Horatius Barbatus and L. Valerius Potitus, to negotiate with the
+insurgents. The plebeians were ready to listen to the voices of these
+men; for they remembered that the consuls of the first year of the
+Republic, when the patrician burgesses were friends to the plebeians,
+were named Valerius and Horatius; and so they appointed M. Duillius, a
+former tribune, to be their spokesman. But no good came of it; and
+Duillius persuaded the plebeians to leave the city, and once more to
+occupy the Sacred Mount.
+
+Then remembrances of the great secession came back upon the minds of the
+patricians, and the senate, observing the calm and resolute bearing of
+the plebeian leaders, compelled the decemvirs to resign, and sent back
+Valerius and Horatius to negotiate anew.
+
+The leaders of the plebeians demanded: First, that the tribuneship
+should be restored, and the _Comitia Tributa_ recognized; secondly, that
+a right of appeal to the people against the power of the supreme
+magistrate should be secured; thirdly, that full indemnity should be
+granted to the movers and promoters of the late secession; fourthly,
+that the decemvirs should be burnt alive.
+
+Of these demands the deputies of the senate agreed to the three first;
+but the fourth, they said, was unworthy of a free people; it was a piece
+of tyranny, as bad as any of the worst acts of the late government; and
+it was needless, because anyone who had reason of complaint against the
+late decemvirs might proceed against them according to law. The
+plebeians listened to these words of wisdom, and withdrew their savage
+demand. The other three were confirmed by the fathers, and the plebeians
+returned to their quarters on the Aventine. Here they held an assembly
+according to their tribes, in which the pontifex Maximus presided; and
+they now, for the first time, elected ten tribunes--first Virginius,
+Numitorius, and Icilius, then Duillius and six others: so full were
+their minds of the wrong done to the daughter of Virginius; so entirely
+was it the blood of young Virginia that overthrew the decemvirs, even as
+that of Lucretia had driven out the Tarquins.
+
+The plebeians had now returned to the city, headed by their ten
+tribunes, a number which was never again altered so long as the
+tribunate continued in existence. It remained for the patricians to
+redeem the pledges given by their agents Valerius and Horatius on the
+other demands of the plebeian leaders.
+
+The first thing to settle was the election of the supreme magistrates.
+The decemvirs had fallen, and the state was without any executive
+government.
+
+It has been supposed, as we have said above, that the government of the
+decemvirs was intended to be perpetual. The patricians gave up their
+consuls, and the plebeians their tribunes, on condition that each order
+was to be admitted to an equal share in the new decemviral college. But
+the tribunes were now restored in augmented number, and it was but
+natural that the patricians should insist on again occupying all places
+in the supreme magistracy. By common consent, as it would seem, the
+Comitia of the Centuries met and elected to the consulate the two
+patricians who had shown themselves the friends of both orders: L.
+Valerius Potitus and M. Horatius Barbatus. Thus ended the government of
+the decemvirate.
+
+
+
+
+PERICLES RULES IN ATHENS
+
+B.C. 444
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+
+(Under the sway of Pericles many changes occurred in the civil affairs
+of Athens affecting the constitution of the state and the character and
+administration of its laws. Events of magnitude marked the struggles of
+the Athenians with other powers. The development of art and learning was
+carried to an unprecedented height, and the Age of Pericles is the most
+illustrious in ancient history.
+
+Pericles began his career by opposing the aristocratic party of Athens,
+led by Cimon. In this policy he was aided by complications arising with
+Sparta and Argos. Directing his attack particularly against the
+Areopagus, he succeeded in greatly modifying the composition of that
+body and diminishing its powers. The exile of Cimon, the strengthening
+of Athens by new alliances, and the vigorous prosecution of wars against
+Persia and Corinth combined to establish his supremacy, which was still
+further confirmed by the building of the long walls connecting Athens
+with the sea, and by the acquisition of neighboring territory.
+
+A favorable convention was concluded with Persia, Athens resumed a state
+of general peace, and Pericles found himself at the head of a powerful
+empire formed out of a confederacy previously existing. The strength of
+this empire was indeed soon impaired by ill-judged military movements,
+against the advice of Pericles himself, but during six years of peace
+which followed he succeeded in perfecting a state whose preeminence in
+intellectual, political, and artistic development has had no rival.
+
+In the later wars of Athens the renown of Pericles was still further
+enhanced; but his chief glory arose from the architectural adornment of
+the city, and especially from the building of the Parthenon and the
+splendid decoration of the Acropolis; while his work of judicial reform
+remains an added monument to his fame, and among the masters of
+eloquence his orations preserve for him a foremost place.)
+
+
+Pericles was of the tribe Acamantis, and of the township of Cholargos,
+and was descended from the noblest families in Athens, on both his
+father's and mother's side. His father, Xanthippus, defeated the Persian
+generals at Mycale, while his mother, Agariste, was a descendant of
+Clisthenes, who drove the sons of Pisistratus out of Athens, put an end
+to their despotic rule, and established a new constitution admirably
+calculated to reconcile all parties and save the country. She dreamed
+that she had brought forth a lion, and a few days afterward was
+delivered of Pericles. His body was symmetrical, but his head was long,
+out of all proportion; for which reason, in nearly all his statues he is
+represented wearing a helmet, as the sculptors did not wish, I suppose,
+to reproach him with this blemish. The Attic poets called him
+squill-head, and the comic poet Cratinus, in his play _Chirones_, says;
+
+  "From Chronos old and faction
+    Is sprung a tyrant dread,
+  And all Olympus calls him
+    The man-compelling head."
+
+And again in the play of _Nemesis_:
+
+  "Come, hospitable Zeus, with lofty head."
+
+Teleclides, too, speaks of him as sitting
+
+                         "Bowed down
+           With a dreadful frown,
+  Because matters of state have gone wrong,
+           Until at last,
+           From his head so vast,
+  His ideas burst forth in a throng."
+
+And Eupolis, in his play of _Demoi_, asking questions about each of the
+great orators as they come up from the other world one after the other,
+when at last Pericles ascends, says:
+
+  "The great headpiece of those below."
+
+Most writers tell us that his tutor in music was Damon, whose name they
+say should be pronounced with the first syllable short. Aristotle,
+however, says that he studied under Pythoclides. This Damon, it seems,
+was a sophist of the highest order, who used the name of music to
+conceal this accomplishment from the world, but who really trained
+Pericles for his political contests just as a trainer prepares an
+athlete for the games. However, Damon's use of music as a pretext did
+not impose upon the Athenians, who banished him by ostracism, as a
+busybody and lover of despotism.
+
+Pericles greatly admired Anaxagoras, and became deeply interested in
+grand speculations, which gave him a haughty spirit and a lofty style of
+oratory far removed from vulgarity and low buffoonery, and also an
+imperturbable gravity of countenance and a calmness of demeanor and
+appearance which no incident could disturb as he was speaking, while the
+tone of his voice never showed that he heeded any interruption. These
+advantages greatly impressed the people. The poet Ion, however, says
+that Pericles was overbearing and insolent in conversation, and that his
+pride had in it a great deal of contempt for others, while he praises
+Cimon's civil, sensible, and polished address. But we may disregard Ion
+as a mere dramatic poet who always sees in great men something upon
+which to exercise his satiric vein; whereas Zeno used to invite those
+who called the haughtiness of Pericles a mere courting of popularity and
+affectation of grandeur, to court popularity themselves in the same
+fashion, since the acting of such a part might insensibly mould their
+dispositions until they resembled that of their model.
+
+Pericles when young greatly feared the people. He had a certain personal
+likeness to the despot Pisistratus; and as his own voice was sweet, and
+he was ready and fluent in speech, old men who had known Pisistratus
+were struck by his resemblance to him. He was also rich, of noble birth,
+and had powerful friends, so that he feared he might be banished by
+ostracism, and consequently held aloof from politics, but proved himself
+a brave and daring soldier in the wars. But when Aristides was dead,
+Themistocles banished, and Cimon generally absent on distant campaigns,
+Pericles engaged in public affairs, taking the popular side, that of the
+poor and many, against that of the rich and few; quite contrary to his
+own feelings, which were entirely aristocratic. He feared, it seems,
+that he might be suspected of a design to make himself despot, and
+seeing that Cimon took the side of the nobility, and was much beloved by
+them, he betook himself to the people, as a means of obtaining safety
+for himself, and a strong party to combat that of Cimon. He immediately
+altered his mode of life; was never seen in any street except that which
+led to the market-place and the national assembly, and declined all
+invitations to dinner and such like social gatherings. But Pericles
+feared to make himself too common even with the people, and only
+addressed them after long intervals; not speaking upon every subject,
+and not constantly addressing them, but, as Critolaus says, keeping
+himself like the Salaminian trireme for great crises, and allowing his
+friends and the other orators to manage matters of less moment.
+
+Wishing to adopt a style of speaking consonant with his haughty manner
+and lofty spirit, Pericles made free use of the instrument which
+Anaxagoras, as it were, put into his hand, and often tinged his oratory
+with natural philosophy. He far surpassed all others by using this
+"lofty intelligence and power of universal consummation," as the divine
+Plato calls it; in addition to his natural advantages, adorning his
+oratory with apt illustrations drawn from physical science. For this
+reason some think that he was nicknamed the Olympian; though some refer
+this to his improvement of the city by new and beautiful buildings, and
+others from his power both as a politician and a general. It is not by
+any means unlikely that these causes all combined to produce the name.
+
+Pericles was very cautious about his words, and, whenever he ascended
+the tribune to speak, used first to pray to the gods that nothing
+unfitted for the present occasion might fall from his lips. He left no
+writings, except the measures which he brought forward, and very few of
+his sayings are recorded.
+
+Thucydides represents the constitution under Pericles as a democracy in
+name, but really an aristocracy, because the government was all in the
+hands of one leading citizen. But as many other writers tell us that,
+during his administration, the people received grants of land abroad,
+and were indulged with dramatic entertainments, and payments for their
+services, in consequence of which they fell into bad habits, and became
+extravagant and licentious, instead of sober hard-working people as they
+had been before, let us consider the history of this change, viewing it
+by the light of the facts themselves. First of all, Pericles had to
+measure himself with Cimon, and to transfer the affections of the people
+from Cimon to himself. As he was not so rich a man as Cimon, who used
+from his own ample means to give a dinner daily to any poor Athenian who
+required it, clothe aged persons, and take away the fences round his
+property, so that anyone might gather the fruit, Pericles, unable to vie
+with him in this, turned his attention to a distribution of the public
+funds among the people, at the suggestion, we are told by Aristotle, of
+Damonides of Oia. By the money paid for public spectacles, for citizens
+acting as jurymen, and other paid offices, and largesses, he soon won
+over the people to his side, so that he was able to use them in his
+attack upon the senate of the Areopagus, of which he himself was not a
+member, never having been chosen _archon_, or _thesmothete_, or _king
+archon_, or _polemarch_. These offices had from ancient times been
+obtained by lot, and it was only through them that those who had
+approved themselves in the discharge of them were advanced to the
+Areopagus. For this reason it was that Pericles, when he gained strength
+with the populace, destroyed this senate, making Ephialtes bring forward
+a bill which restricted its judicial powers, while he himself succeeded
+in getting Cimon banished by ostracism, as a friend of Sparta and a
+hater of the people, although he was second to no Athenian in birth or
+fortune, and won most brilliant victories over the Persians, and had
+filled Athens with plunder and spoils of war. So great was the power of
+Pericles with the common people.
+
+One of the provisions of ostracism was that the person banished should
+remain in exile for ten years. But during this period the Lacedaemonians
+with a great force invaded the territory of Tanagra, and, as the
+Athenians at once marched out to attack them, Cimon came back from
+exile, took his place in full armor among the ranks of his own tribe,
+and hoped by distinguishing himself in the battle among his
+fellow-citizens to prove the falsehood of the Laconian sympathies with
+which he had been charged. However, the friends of Pericles drove him
+away, as an exile. On the other hand, Pericles fought more bravely in
+that battle than he had ever fought before, and surpassed everyone in
+reckless daring. The friends of Cimon also, whom Pericles had accused of
+Laconian leanings, fell, all together, in their ranks; and the Athenians
+felt great sorrow for their treatment of Cimon, and a great longing for
+his restoration, now that they had lost a great battle on the frontier,
+and expected to be hard pressed during the summer by the Lacedaemonians.
+Pericles, perceiving this, lost no time in gratifying the popular wish,
+but himself proposed the decree for his recall; and Cimon on his return
+reconciled the two states, for he was on familiar terms with the
+Spartans, who were hated by Pericles and the other leaders of the common
+people. Some say that, before Cimon's recall by Pericles, a secret
+compact was made with him by Elpinice, Cimon's sister, that Cimon was to
+proceed on foreign service against the Persians with a fleet of two
+hundred ships, while Pericles was to retain his power in the city. It is
+also said that, when Cimon was being tried for his life, Elpinice
+softened the resentment of Pericles, who was one of those appointed to
+impeach him. When Elpinice came to beg her brother's life of him, he
+answered with a smile, "Elpinice, you are too old to meddle in affairs
+of this sort." But, for all that, he spoke only once, for form's sake,
+and pressed Cimon less than any of his other prosecutors. How, then, can
+one put any faith in Idomeneus, when he accuses Pericles of procuring
+the assassination of his friend and colleague Ephialtes, because he was
+jealous of his reputation? This seems an ignoble calumny which Idomeneus
+has drawn from some obscure source to fling at a man who, no doubt, was
+not faultless, but of a generous spirit and noble mind, incapable of
+entertaining so savage and brutal a design. Ephialtes was disliked and
+feared by the nobles, and was inexorable in punishing those who wronged
+the people; wherefore his enemies had him assassinated by means of
+Aristodicus of Tanagra. This we are told by Aristotle. Cimon died in
+Cyprus while in command of the Athenian forces.
+
+The nobles now perceived that Pericles was the most important man in the
+state, and far more powerful than any other citizen; wherefore, as they
+still hoped to check his authority, and not allow him to be omnipotent,
+they set up Thucydides, of the township of Alopecae, as his rival, a man
+of good sense and a relative of Cimon, but less of a warrior and more of
+a politician, who, by watching his opportunities, and opposing Pericles
+in debate, soon brought about a balance of power. He did not allow the
+nobles to mix themselves up with the people in the public assembly as
+they had been wont to do, so that their dignity was lost among the
+masses; but he collected them into a separate body, and by thus
+concentrating their strength was able to use it to counterbalance that
+of the other party. From the beginning these two factions had been but
+imperfectly welded together, because their tendencies were different;
+but now the struggle for power between Pericles and Thucydides drew a
+sharp line of demarcation between them, and one was called the party of
+the Many, the other that of the Few. Pericles now courted the people in
+every way, constantly arranging public spectacles, festivals, and
+processions in the city, by which he educated the Athenians to take
+pleasure in refined amusements; and also he sent out sixty triremes to
+cruise every year, in which many of the people served for hire for eight
+months, learning and practising seamanship. Besides this he sent a
+thousand settlers to the Chersonese, five hundred to Naxos, half as many
+to Andros, a thousand to dwell among the Thracian tribe of the Bisaltae,
+and others to the new colony in Italy founded by the city of Sybaris,
+which was named Thurii. By this means he relieved the state of numerous
+idle agitators, assisted the necessitous, and overawed the allies of
+Athens by placing his colonists near them to watch their behavior.
+
+The building of the temples, by which Athens was adorned, the people
+delighted, and the rest of the world astonished, and which now alone
+prove that the tales of the ancient power and glory of Greece are no
+fables, was what particularly excited the spleen of the opposite
+faction, who inveighed against him in the public assembly, declaring
+that the Athenians had disgraced themselves by transferring the common
+treasury of the Greeks from the island of Delos to their own custody.
+"Pericles himself," they urged, "has taken away the only possible excuse
+for such an act--the fear that it might be exposed to the attacks of the
+Persians when at Delos, whereas it would be safe at Athens. Greece has
+been outraged, and feels itself openly tyrannized over, when it sees us
+using the funds--which we extorted from it for the war against the
+Persians--for gilding and beautifying our city as if it were a vain
+woman, and adorning it with precious marbles and statues and temples
+worth a thousand talents." To this Pericles replied that the allies had
+no right to consider how their money was spent, so long as Athens
+defended them from the Persians; while they supplied neither horses,
+ships, nor men, but merely money, which the Athenians had a right to
+spend as they pleased, provided they afforded them that security which
+it purchased. It was right, he argued, that after the city had provided
+all that was necessary for war, it should devote its surplus money to
+the erection of buildings which would be a glory to it for all ages,
+while these works would create plenty by leaving no man unemployed, and
+encouraging all sorts of handicraft, so that nearly the whole city would
+earn wages, and thus derive both its beauty and its profit from itself.
+For those who were in the flower of their age, military service offered
+a means of earning money from the common stock; while, as he did not
+wish the mechanics and lower classes to be without their share, nor yet
+to see them receive it without doing work for it, he had laid the
+foundations of great edifices which would require industries of every
+kind to complete them; and he had done this in the interests of the
+lower classes, who thus, although they remained at home, would have just
+as good a claim to their share of the public funds as those who were
+serving at sea, in garrison, or in the field. The different materials
+used, such as stone, brass, ivory, gold, ebony, cypress-wood, and so
+forth, would require special artisans for each, such as carpenters,
+modelers, smiths, stone-masons, dyers, melters and moulders of gold,
+and ivory painters, embroiderers, workers in relief; and also men to
+bring them to the city, such as sailors and captains of ships and pilots
+for such as came by sea; and, for those who came by land, carriage
+builders, horse breeders, drivers, ropemakers, linen manufacturers,
+shoemakers, road menders, and miners. Each trade, moreover, employed a
+number of unskilled laborers, so that, in a word, there would be work
+for persons of every age and every class, and general prosperity would
+be the result.
+
+These buildings were of immense size, and unequalled in beauty and
+grace, as the workmen endeavored to make the execution surpass the
+design in beauty; but what was most remarkable was the speed with which
+they were built. All these edifices, each of which one would have
+thought it would have taken many generations to complete, were all
+finished during the most brilliant period of one man's administration.
+In beauty each of them at once appeared venerable as soon as it was
+built; but even at the present day the work looks as fresh as ever, for
+they bloom with an eternal freshness which defies time, and seems to
+make the work instinct with an unfading spirit of youth.
+
+The overseer and manager of the whole was Phidias, although there were
+other excellent architects and workmen, such as Callicrates and Ictinus,
+who built the Parthenon on the site of the old Hecatompedon, which had
+been destroyed by the Persians, and Coroebus, who began to build the
+Temple of Initiation at Eleusis, but who only lived to see the columns
+erected and the architraves placed upon them. On his death, Metagenes,
+of Xypete, added the frieze and the upper row of columns, and Xenocles,
+of Cholargos, crowned it with the domed roof over the shrine. As to the
+long wall, about which Socrates says that he heard Pericles bring
+forward a motion, Callicrates undertook to build it. The Odeum, which
+internally consisted of many rows of seats and many columns, and
+externally of a roof sloping on all sides from a central point, was said
+to have been built in imitation of the king of Persia's tent, and was
+built under Pericles' direction.
+
+The Propylaea, before the Acropolis, were finished in five years by
+Mnesicles the architect; and a miraculous incident during the work
+seemed to show that the goddess did not disapprove, but rather
+encouraged and assisted the building. The most energetic and active of
+the workmen fell from a great height, and lay in a dangerous condition,
+given over by his doctors. Pericles grieved much for him; but the
+goddess appeared to him in a dream, and suggested a course of treatment
+by which Pericles quickly healed the workman. In consequence of this, he
+set up the brazen statue of Athene the Healer, near the old altar in the
+Acropolis. The golden statue of the goddess was made by Phidias, and his
+name appears upon the basement in the inscription. Almost everything was
+in his hands, and he gave his orders to all the workmen--as has been
+said before--because of his friendship with Pericles.
+
+When the speakers of Thucydides' party complained that Pericles had
+wasted the public money, and destroyed the revenue, he asked the people
+in the assembly whether they thought he had spent much. When they
+answered, "Very much indeed," he said in reply; "Do not, then, put it
+down to the public account, but to mine; and I will inscribe my name
+upon all the public buildings." When Pericles said this, the people,
+either in admiration of his magnificence of manner, or being eager to
+bear their share in the glory of the new buildings, shouted to him with
+one accord to take what money he pleased from the treasury, and spend it
+as he pleased, without stint. And finally, he underwent the trial of
+ostracism with Thucydides, and not only succeeded in driving him into
+exile, but broke up his party.
+
+As now there was no opposition to encounter in the city, and all parties
+had been blended into one, Pericles undertook the sole administration of
+the home and foreign affairs of Athens, dealing with the public revenue,
+the army, the navy, the islands and maritime affairs, and the great
+sources of strength which Athens derived from her alliances, as well
+with Greek as with foreign princes and states. Henceforth he became
+quite a different man: he no longer gave way to the people, and ceased
+to watch the breath of popular favor; but he changed the loose and
+licentious democracy which had hitherto existed, into a stricter
+aristocratic, or rather monarchical, form of government. This he used
+honorably and unswervingly for the public benefit, finding the people,
+as a rule, willing to second the measures which he explained to them to
+be necessary and to which he asked their consent, but occasionally
+having to use violence, and to force them, much against their will, to
+do what was expedient; like a physician dealing with some complicated
+disorder, who at one time allows his patient innocent recreation, and at
+another inflicts upon him sharp pains and bitter though salutary
+draughts. Every possible kind of disorder was to be found among a people
+possessing so great an empire as the Athenians, and he alone was able to
+bring them into harmony by playing alternately upon their hopes and
+fears, checking them when overconfident, and raising their spirits when
+they were cast down and disheartened. Thus, as Plato says, he was able
+to prove that oratory is the art of influencing men's minds, and to use
+it in its highest application, when it deals with men's passions and
+characters, which, like certain strings of a musical instrument, require
+a skilful and delicate touch. The secret of his power is to be found,
+however, as Thucydides says, not so much in his mere oratory as in his
+pure and blameless life, because he was so well known to be
+incorruptible, and indifferent to money; for though he made the city,
+which was a great one, into the greatest and richest city of Greece, and
+though he himself became more powerful than many independent sovereigns,
+who were able to leave their kingdoms to their sons, yet Pericles did
+not increase by one single drachma the estate which he received from his
+father. For forty years he held the first place among such men as
+Ephialtes, Leocrates, Myronides, Cimon, Tolmides, and Thucydides; and,
+after the fall and banishment of Thucydides by ostracism, he united in
+himself for five-and-twenty years all the various offices of state,
+which were supposed to last only for one year; and yet during the whole
+of that period proved himself incorruptible by bribes.
+
+As the Lacedaemonians began to be jealous of the prosperity of the
+Athenians, Pericles, wishing to raise the spirit of the people and to
+make them feel capable of immense operations, passed a decree, inviting
+all the Greeks, whether inhabiting Europe or Asia, whether living in
+large cities or small ones, to send representatives to a meeting at
+Athens to deliberate about the restoration of the Greek temples which
+had been burned by the barbarians, about the sacrifices which were due
+in consequence of the vows which they had made to the gods on behalf of
+Greece before joining battle, and about the sea, that all men might be
+able to sail upon it in peace and without fear. To carry out this decree
+twenty men, selected from the citizens over fifty years of age, were
+sent out, five of whom invited the Ionian and Dorian Greeks in Asia and
+the islands as far as Lesbos and Rhodes, five went to the inhabitants of
+the Hellespont and Thrace as far as Byzantium, and five more proceeded
+to Boeotia, Phocis, and Peloponnesus, passing from thence through Locris
+to the neighboring continent as far as Acarnania and Ambracia; while the
+remainder journeyed through Euboea to the Oetaeans and the Malian Gulf,
+and to the Achaeans of Phthia and the Thessalians, urging them to join
+the assembly and take part in the deliberations concerning the peace and
+well-being of Greece. However, nothing was effected, and the cities
+never assembled, in consequence it is said of the covert hostility of
+the Lacedaemonians, and because the attempt was first made in
+Peloponnesus and failed there: yet I have inserted an account of it in
+order to show the lofty spirit and the magnificent designs of Pericles.
+
+In his campaigns he was chiefly remarkable for caution, for he would
+not, if he could help it, begin a battle of which the issue was
+doubtful; nor did he wish to emulate those generals who have won
+themselves a great reputation by running risks and trusting to good
+luck. But he ever used to say to his countrymen, that none of them
+should come by their deaths through any act of his. Observing that
+Tolmides, the son of Tolmaeus, elated by previous successes and by the
+credit which he had gained as a general, was about to invade Boeotia in
+a reckless manner, and had persuaded a thousand young men to follow him
+without any support whatever, he endeavored to stop him, and made that
+memorable saying in the public assembly, that if Tolmides would not take
+the advice of Pericles, he would at any rate do well to consult that
+best of advisers, Time. This speech had but little success at the time;
+but when, a few days afterward, the news came that Tolmides had fallen
+in action at Coronea, and many noble citizens with him, Pericles was
+greatly respected and admired as a wise and patriotic man.
+
+His most successful campaign was that in the Chersonesus, which proved
+the salvation of the Greeks residing there: for he not only settled a
+thousand colonists there, and thus increased the available force of the
+cities, but built a continuous line of fortifications reaching across
+the isthmus from one sea to the other, by which he shut off the
+Thracians, who had previously ravaged the peninsula, and put an end to a
+constant and harassing border warfare to which the settlers were
+exposed, as they had for neighbors tribes of wild plundering barbarians.
+
+But that by which he obtained most glory and renown was when he started
+from Pegae, in the Megarian territory, and sailed round the Peloponnesus
+with a fleet of a hundred triremes; for he not only laid waste much of
+the country near the coast, as Tolmides had previously done, but he
+proceeded far inland, away from his ships, leading the troops who were
+on board, and terrified the inhabitants so much that they shut
+themselves up in their strongholds. The men of Sicyon alone ventured to
+meet him at Nemea, and them he overthrew in a pitched battle, and
+erected a trophy. Next he took on board troops from the friendly
+district of Achaia, and, crossing over to the opposite side of the
+Corinthian Gulf, coasted along past the mouth of the river Achelous,
+overran Acarnania, drove the people of Oeneadae to the shelter of their
+city walls, and after ravaging the country returned home, having made
+himself a terror to his enemies, and done good service to Athens; for
+not the least casualty, even by accident, befell the troops under his
+command.
+
+When he sailed into the Black Sea with a great and splendidly equipped
+fleet, he assisted the Greek cities there, and treated them with
+consideration, and showed the neighboring savage tribes and their chiefs
+the greatness of his force, and his confidence in his power, by sailing
+where he pleased, and taking complete control over that sea. He left at
+Sinope thirteen ships, and a land force under the command of Lamachus,
+to act against Timesileon, who had made himself despot of that city.
+When he and his party were driven out, Pericles passed a decree that six
+hundred Athenian volunteers should sail to Sinope, and become citizens
+there, receiving the houses and lands which had formerly been in the
+possession of the despot and his party. But in other cases he would not
+agree to the impulsive proposals of the Athenians, and he opposed them
+when, elated by their power and good fortune, they talked of recovering
+Egypt and attacking the seaboard of the Persian empire. Many, too, were
+inflamed with that ill-starred notion of an attempt on Sicily, which was
+afterward blown into a flame by Alcibiades and other orators. Some even
+dreamed of the conquest of Etruria and Carthage, in consequence of the
+greatness which the Athenian empire had already reached, and the full
+tide of success which seemed to attend it.
+
+Pericles, however, restrained these outbursts, and would not allow the
+people to meddle with foreign states, but used the power of Athens
+chiefly to preserve and guard her already existing empire, thinking it
+to be of paramount importance to oppose the Lacedaemonians, a task to
+which he bent all his energies, as is proved by many of his acts,
+especially in connection with the Sacred War. In this war the
+Lacedaemonians sent a force to Delphi, and made the Phocians, who held
+it, give it up to the people of Delphi: but as soon as they were gone
+Pericles made an expedition into the country, and restored the temple to
+the Phocians; and as the Lacedaemonians had scratched the oracle which
+the Delphians had given them, on the forehead of the brazen wolf there,
+Pericles got a response from the oracle for the Athenians, and carved it
+on the right side of the same wolf.
+
+Events proved that Pericles was right in confining the Athenian empire
+to Greece. First of all Euboea revolted, and he was obliged to lead an
+army to subdue that island. Shortly after this, news came that the
+Megarians had become hostile, and that an army, under the command of
+Plistoanax, king of the Lacedaemonians, was menacing the frontier of
+Attica. Pericles now in all haste withdrew his troops from Euboea, to
+meet the invader. He did not venture on an engagement with the numerous
+and warlike forces of the enemy, although repeatedly invited by them to
+fight: but, observing that Plistoanax was a very young man, and entirely
+under the influence of Cleandrides, whom the _ephors_ had sent to act as
+his tutor and counsellor because of his tender years, he opened secret
+negotiations with the latter, who at once, for a bribe, agreed to
+withdraw the Peloponnesians from Attica. When their army returned and
+dispersed, the Lacedaemonians were so incensed that they imposed a fine
+on their king, and condemned Cleandrides, who fled the country, to be
+put to death. This Cleandrides was the father of Gylippus, who caused
+the ruin of the Athenian expedition in Sicily. Avarice seems to have
+been hereditary in the family, for Gylippus himself, after brilliant
+exploits in war, was convicted of taking bribes, and banished from
+Sparta in disgrace.
+
+When Pericles submitted the accounts of the campaign to the people,
+there was an item of ten talents, "for a necessary purpose," which the
+people passed without any questioning, or any curiosity to learn the
+secret. Some historians, among whom is Theophrastus the philosopher, say
+that Pericles sent ten talents annually to Sparta, by means of which he
+bribed the chief magistrates to defer the war, thus not buying peace,
+but time to make preparations for a better defence. He immediately
+turned his attention to the insurgents in Euboea, and proceeding thither
+with a fleet of fifty sail, and five thousand heavy armed troops, he
+reduced their cities to submission. He banished from Chalcis the
+"equestrian order," as it was called, consisting of men of wealth and
+station; and he drove all the inhabitants of Hestiaea out of their
+country, replacing them by Athenian settlers. He treated these people
+with this pitiless severity, because they had captured an Athenian ship,
+and put its crew to the sword. After this, as the Athenians and
+Lacedaemonians made a truce for thirty years, Pericles decreed the
+expedition against Samos, on the pretext that they had disregarded the
+commands of the Athenians to cease from their war with the Milesians.
+
+Pericles is accused of going to war with Samos to save the Milesians.
+These states were at war about the possession of the city of Priene, and
+the Samians, who were victorious, would not lay down their arms and
+allow the Athenians to settle the matter by arbitration, as they ordered
+them to do. For this reason Pericles proceeded to Samos, put an end to
+the oligarchical form of government there, and sent fifty hostages and
+as many children to Lemnos, to insure the good behavior of the leading
+men. It is said that each of these hostages offered him a talent for his
+own freedom, and that much more was offered by that party which was
+loath to see a democracy established in the city. Besides all this,
+Pissuthnes the Persian, who had a liking for the Samians, sent and
+offered him ten thousand pieces of gold if he would spare the city.
+Pericles, however, took none of these bribes, but dealt with Samos as he
+had previously determined, and returned to Athens. The Samians now at
+once revolted, as Pissuthnes managed to get them back their hostages,
+and furnished them with the means of carrying on the war. Pericles now
+made a second expedition against them, and found them in no mind to
+submit quietly, but determined to dispute the empire of the seas with
+the Athenians. Pericles gained a signal victory over them in a sea-fight
+off the Goats' Island, beating a fleet of seventy ships with only
+forty-four, twenty of which were transports.
+
+Simultaneously with his victory and the flight of the enemy he obtained
+command of the harbor of Samos, and besieged the Samians in their city.
+They, in spite of their defeat, still possessed courage enough to sally
+out and fight a battle under the walls; but soon a larger force arrived
+from Athens, and the Samians were completely blockaded.
+
+Pericles now with sixty ships sailed out of the Archipelago into the
+Mediterranean, according to the most current report intending to meet
+the Phoenician fleet which was coming to help the Samians, but,
+according to Stesimbrotus, with the intention of attacking Cyprus, which
+seems improbable. Whatever his intention may have been, his expedition
+was a failure, for Melissus, the son of Ithagenes, a man of culture, who
+was then in command of the Samian forces, conceiving a contempt for the
+small force of the Athenians and the want of experience of their leaders
+after Pericles' departure, persuaded his countrymen to attack them. In
+the battle the Samians proved victorious, taking many Athenians
+prisoners, and destroying many of their ships. By this victory they
+obtained command of the sea, and were able to supply themselves with
+more warlike stores than they had possessed before. Aristotle even says
+that Pericles himself was before this beaten by Melissus in a sea-fight.
+The Samians branded the figure of an owl on the foreheads of their
+Athenian prisoners, to revenge themselves for the branding of their own
+prisoners by the Athenians with the figure of a _samaina_. This is a
+ship having a beak turned up like a swine's snout, but with a roomy
+hull, so as both to carry a large cargo and sail fast. This class of
+vessel is called _samaina_ because it was first built at Samos by
+Polycrates, the despot of that island.
+
+When Pericles heard of the disaster which had befallen his army, he
+returned in all haste to assist them. He beat Melissus, who came out to
+meet him, and, after putting the enemy to rout, at once built a wall
+round their city, preferring to reduce it by blockade to risking the
+lives of his countrymen in an assault. In the ninth month of the siege
+the Samians surrendered. Pericles demolished their walls, confiscated
+their fleet, and imposed a heavy fine upon them, some part of which was
+paid at once by the Samians, who gave hostages for the payment of the
+remainder at fixed periods.
+
+Pericles, after the reduction of Samos, returned to Athens, where he
+buried those who had fallen in the war in a magnificent manner, and was
+much admired for the funeral oration which, as is customary, was spoken
+by him over the graves of his countrymen. Ion says that his victory over
+the Samians wonderfully flattered his vanity. Agamemnon, he was wont to
+say, took ten years to take a barbarian city, but he in nine months had
+made himself master of the first and most powerful city in Ionia. And
+the comparison was not an unjust one, for truly the war was a very great
+undertaking, and its issue quite uncertain, since, as Thucydides tells
+us, the Samians came very near to wresting the empire of the sea from
+the Athenians.
+
+After these events, as the clouds were gathering for the Peloponnesian
+war, Pericles persuaded the Athenians to send assistance to the people
+of Corcyra, who were at war with the Corinthians, and thus to attach to
+their own side an island with a powerful naval force, at a moment when
+the Peloponnesians had all but declared war against them.
+
+When the people passed this decree, Pericles sent only ten ships under
+the command of Lacedaemonius, the son of Cimon, as if he designed a
+deliberate insult; for the house of Cimon was on peculiarly friendly
+terms with the Lacedaemonians. His design in sending Lacedaemonius out,
+against his will, and with so few ships, was that if he performed
+nothing brilliant he might be accused, even more than he was already, of
+leaning to the side of the Spartans. Indeed, by all means in his power,
+he always threw obstacles in the way of the advancement of Cimon's
+family, representing that by their very names they were aliens, one son
+being named Lacedaemonius, another Thessalus, another Elius. Moreover,
+the mother of all three was an Arcadian.
+
+Now Pericles was much reproached for sending these ten ships, which were
+of little value to the Corcyreans, and gave a great handle to his
+enemies to use against him, and in consequence sent a larger force after
+them to Corcyra, which arrived there after the battle. The Corinthians,
+enraged at this, complained in the congress of Sparta of the conduct of
+the Athenians, as did also the Megarians, who said that they were
+excluded from every market and every harbor which was in Athenian hands,
+contrary to the ancient rights and common privileges of the Hellenic
+race. The people of Aegina also considered themselves to be oppressed
+and ill-treated, and secretly bemoaned their grievances in the ears of
+the Spartans, for they dared not openly bring any charges against the
+Athenians. At this time, too, Potidaea, a city subject to Athens, but a
+colony of Corinth, revolted, and its siege materially hastened the
+outbreak of the war. Archidamus, indeed, the king of the Lacedaemonians,
+sent ambassadors to Athens, was willing to submit all disputed points to
+arbitration, and endeavored to moderate the excitement of his allies, so
+that war probably would not have broken out if the Athenians could have
+been persuaded to rescind their decree of exclusion against the
+Megarians, and to come to terms with them. And, for this reason,
+Pericles, who was particularly opposed to this, and urged the people not
+to give way to the Megarians, alone bore the blame of having begun the
+war.
+
+Pericles passed a decree for a herald to be sent to the Megarians, and
+then to go on to the Lacedaemonians to complain of their conduct. This
+decree of Pericles is worded in a candid and reasonable manner; but the
+herald, Anthemocritus, was thought to have met his death at the hands of
+the Megarians, and Charinus passed a decree to the effect that Athens
+should wage war against them to the death, without truce or armistice;
+that any Megarian found in Attica should be punished with death, and
+that the generals, when taking the usual oath for each year, should
+swear in addition that they would invade the Megarian territory twice
+every year; and that Anthemocritus should be buried near the city gate
+leading into the Thriasian plain, which is now called the Double Gate.
+How the dispute originated it is hard to say, but all writers agree in
+throwing on Pericles the blame of refusing to reverse the decree.
+
+Now, as the Lacedaemonians knew that if he could be removed from power
+they would find the Athenians much more easy to deal with, they bade
+them "drive forth the accursed thing," alluding to Pericles' descent
+from the Alcmaeonidae by his mother's side, as we are told by Thucydides
+the historian. But this attempt had just the contrary effect to that
+which they intended; for, instead of suspicion and dislike, Pericles met
+with much greater honor and respect from his countrymen than before,
+because they saw that he was an object of especial dislike to the enemy.
+For this reason, before the Peloponnesians, under Archidamus, invaded
+Attica, he warned the Athenians that if Archidamus, when he laid waste
+everything else, spared his own private estate because of the friendly
+private relations existing between them, or in order to give his
+personal enemies a ground for impeaching him, he should give both the
+land and the farm buildings upon it to the state.
+
+The Lacedaemonians invaded Attica with a great host of their own troops
+and those of their allies, led by Archidamus, their king. They
+proceeded, ravaging the country as they went, as far as Acharnae (close
+to Athens), where they encamped, imagining that the Athenians would
+never endure to see them there, but would be driven by pride and shame
+to come out and fight them. However, Pericles thought that it would be a
+very serious matter to fight for the very existence of Athens against
+sixty thousand Peloponnesian and Boeotian heavy-armed troops, and so he
+pacified those who were dissatisfied at his inactivity by pointing out
+that trees when cut down quickly grow again, but that when the men of a
+state are lost, it is hard to raise up others to take their place. He
+would not call an assembly of the people, because he feared that they
+would force him to act against his better judgment, but, just as the
+captain of a ship, when a storm comes on at sea, places everything in
+the best trim to meet it, and trusting to his own skill and seamanship,
+disregarding the tears and entreaties of the seasick and terrified
+passengers, so did Pericles shut the gates of Athens, place sufficient
+forces to insure the safety of the city at all points, and calmly carry
+out his own policy, taking little heed of the noisy grumblings of the
+discontented. Many of his friends besought him to attack, many of his
+enemies threatened him and abused him, and many songs and offensive
+jests were written about him, speaking of him as a coward, and one who
+was betraying the city to its enemies. Cleon too attacked him, using the
+anger which the citizens felt against him to advance his own personal
+popularity.
+
+Pericles was unmoved by any of these attacks, but quietly endured all
+this storm of obloquy. He sent a fleet of a hundred ships to attack
+Peloponnesus, but did not sail with it himself, remaining at home to
+keep a tight hand over Athens until the Peloponnesians drew off their
+forces. He regained his popularity with the common people, who suffered
+much from the war, by giving them allowances of money from the public
+revenue, and grants of land; for he drove out the entire population of
+the island of Aegina, and divided the land by lot among the Athenians. A
+certain amount of relief also was experienced by reflecting upon the
+injuries which they were inflicting on the enemy; for the fleet as it
+sailed round Peloponnesus destroyed many small villages and cities, and
+ravaged a great extent of country, while Pericles himself led an
+expedition into the territory of Megara and laid it all waste. By this
+it is clear that the allies, although they did much damage to the
+Athenians, yet suffered equally themselves, and never could have
+protracted the war for such a length of time as it really lasted, but,
+as Pericles foretold, must soon have desisted had not Providence
+interfered and confounded human counsels. For now the pestilence fell
+among the Athenians, and cut off the flower of their youth. Suffering
+both in body and mind they raved against Pericles, just as people when
+delirious with disease attack their fathers or their physicians. They
+endeavored to ruin him, urged on by his personal enemies, who assured
+them that he was the author of the plague, because he had brought all
+the country people into the city, where they were compelled to live
+during the heat of summer, crowded together in small rooms and stifling
+tents, living an idle life too, and breathing foul air instead of the
+pure country breeze to which they were accustomed. The cause of this,
+they said, was the man who, when the war began, admitted the masses of
+the country people into the city, and then made no use of them, but
+allowed them to be penned up together like cattle, and transmit the
+contagion from one to another, without devising any remedy or
+alleviation of their sufferings.
+
+Hoping to relieve them somewhat, and also to annoy the enemy, Pericles
+manned a hundred and fifty ships, placed on board, besides the sailors,
+many brave infantry and cavalry soldiers, and was about to put to sea.
+The Athenians conceived great hopes, and the enemy no less terror from
+so large an armament. When all was ready, and Pericles himself had just
+embarked in his own trireme, an eclipse of the sun took place, producing
+total darkness, and all men were terrified at so great a portent.
+Pericles sailed with the fleet, but did nothing worthy of so great a
+force. He besieged the sacred city of Epidaurus, but, although he had
+great hopes of taking it, he failed on account of the plague, which
+destroyed not only his own men, but every one who came in contact with
+them. After this he again endeavored to encourage the Athenians, to whom
+he had become an object of dislike. However, he did not succeed in
+pacifying them, but they condemned him by a public vote to be general no
+more, and to pay a fine which is stated at the lowest estimate to have
+been fifteen talents, and at the highest fifty. This was carried,
+according to Idomeneus, by Cleon, but, according to Theophrastus, by
+Simmias; while Heraclides of Pontus says that it was effected by
+Lacratides.
+
+He soon regained his public position, for the people's outburst of anger
+was quenched by the blow they had dealt him, just as a bee leaves its
+sting in the wound; but his private affairs were in great distress and
+disorder, as he had lost many of his relatives during the plague, while
+others were estranged from him on political grounds. Yet he would not
+yield, nor abate his firmness and constancy of spirit because of these
+afflictions, but was not observed to weep or mourn, or attend the
+funeral of any of his relations, until he lost Paralus, the last of his
+legitimate offspring. Crushed by this blow, he tried in vain to keep up
+his grand air of indifference, and when carrying a garland to lay upon
+the corpse he was overpowered by his feelings, so as to burst into a
+passion of tears and sobs, which he had never done before in his whole
+life.
+
+Athens made trial of her other generals and public men to conduct her
+affairs, but none appeared to be of sufficient weight or reputation to
+have such a charge intrusted to him. The city longed for Pericles, and
+invited him again to lead its counsels and direct its armies; and he,
+although dejected in spirits and living in seclusion in his own house,
+was yet persuaded by Alcibiades and his other friends to resume the
+direction of affairs.
+
+After this it appears that Pericles was attacked by the plague, not
+acutely or continuously, as in most cases, but in a slow wasting
+fashion, exhibiting many varieties of symptoms, and gradually
+undermining his strength. As he was now on his death-bed, the most
+distinguished of the citizens and his surviving friends collected round
+him and spoke admiringly of his nobleness and immense power, enumerating
+also the number of his exploits, and the trophies which he had set up
+for victories gained; for while in chief command he had won no less than
+nine victories for Athens.
+
+Events soon made the loss of Pericles felt and regretted by the
+Athenians. Those who during his lifetime had complained that his power
+completely threw them into the shade, when after his death they had made
+trial of other orators and statesmen, were obliged to confess that with
+all his arrogance no man ever was really more moderate, and that his
+real mildness in dealing with men was as remarkable as his apparent
+pride and assumption. His power, which had been so grudged and envied,
+and called monarchy and despotism, now was proved to have been the
+saving of the State; such an amount of corrupt dealing and wickedness
+suddenly broke out in public affairs, which he before had crushed and
+forced to hide itself, and so prevented its becoming incurable through
+impunity and license.
+
+
+
+
+GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS
+
+B.C. 430
+
+GEORGE GROTE
+
+
+(Almost at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, when the prosperity
+of Athens had placed her at the height of her power and given her
+unquestioned supremacy among the Grecian states, her strength was
+greatly impaired by a visitation against which there was nothing in
+military prowess or patriotic pride and devotion that could prevail.
+
+It is one of the tragic contrasts of history--the picture of Athens, in
+her full triumph and glory, smitten, at a moment when she needed to put
+forth her full strength, by a deadly foe against whose might mortal arms
+were vain. Her citizens were rejoicing in her social no less than her
+military preeminence, and they had already been trained in the hardships
+necessary to be endured in defence of an invaded country. Again they
+were prepared to undergo whatever service might be laid upon them in her
+behalf. They could foresee the arduous tasks and inevitable sufferings
+of a great war, but had no warning of an impending calamity far worse
+than those which even war, though always attended with horrors, usually
+entails. Pericles had lately delivered his great funeral oration at the
+public interment of soldiers who had fallen for Athens. "The bright
+colors and tone of cheerful confidence," says Grote, whose account of
+the plague follows, "which pervaded the discourse of Pericles, appear
+the more striking from being in immediate antecedence to the awful
+description of this distemper."
+
+The death of Pericles himself, who directly or indirectly fell a victim
+to the prevailing pestilence, marked a grievous crisis for Athens in
+what was already become a measureless public woe. During the autumn of
+the year B.C. 427 the epidemic again broke out, after a considerable
+intermission, and for one year continued, "to the sad ruin both of the
+strength and the comfort of the city.")
+
+
+At the close of one year after the attempted surprise of Plataea by the
+Thebans, the belligerent parties in Greece remained in an unaltered
+position as to relative strength. Nothing decisive had been accomplished
+on either side, either by the invasion of Attica or by the flying
+descents round the coast of Peloponnesus. In spite of mutual damage
+inflicted--doubtless in the greatest measure upon Attica--no progress
+was yet made toward the fulfilment of those objects which had induced
+the Peloponnesians to go to war. Especially the most pressing among all
+their wishes--the relief of Potidaea--was in no way advanced; for the
+Athenians had not found it necessary to relax the blockade of that city,
+The result of the first year's operations had thus been to disappoint
+the hopes of the Corinthians and the other ardent instigators of war,
+while it justified the anticipations both of Pericles and of Archidamus.
+
+A second devastation of Attica was resolved upon for the commencement of
+spring; and measures were taken for carrying it all over that territory,
+since the settled policy of Athens, not to hazard a battle with the
+invaders, was now ascertained. About the end of March or beginning of
+April the entire Peloponnesian force--two-thirds from each confederate
+city as before--was assembled under the command of Archidamus and
+marched into Attica. This time they carried the work of systematic
+destruction not merely over the Thriasian plain and the plain
+immediately near to Athens, as before; but also to the more southerly
+portions of Attica, down even as far as the mines of Laurium. They
+traversed and ravaged both the eastern and the western coast, remaining
+not less than forty days in the country. They found the territory
+deserted as before, all the population having retired within the walls.
+
+In regard to this second invasion, Pericles recommended the same
+defensive policy as he had applied to the first; and apparently the
+citizens had now come to acquiesce in it, if not willingly, at least
+with a full conviction of its necessity. But a new visitation had now
+occurred, diverting their attention from the invader, though enormously
+aggravating their sufferings. A few days after Archidamus entered
+Attica, a pestilence or epidemic sickness broke out unexpectedly at
+Athens.
+
+It appears that this terrific disorder had been raging for some time
+throughout the regions round the Mediterranean; having begun, as was
+believed, in Ethiopia--thence passing into Egypt and Libya, and
+overrunning a considerable portion of Asia under the Persian government.
+About sixteen years before, there had been a similar calamity in Rome
+and in various parts of Italy. Recently it had been felt in Lemnos and
+some other islands of the Aegean, yet seemingly not with such intensity
+as to excite much notice generally in the Grecian world: at length it
+passed to Athens, and first showed itself in the Piraeus. The progress
+of the disease was as rapid and destructive as its appearance had been
+sudden; while the extraordinary accumulation of people within the city
+and long walls, in consequence of the presence of the invaders in the
+country, was but too favorable to every form of contagion. Families
+crowded together in close cabins and places of temporary
+shelter--throughout a city constructed, like most of those in Greece,
+with little regard to the conditions of salubrity and in a state of
+mental chagrin from the forced abandonment and sacrifice of their
+properties in the country, transmitted the disorder with fatal facility
+from one to the other. Beginning as it did about the middle of April,
+the increasing heat of summer further aided the disorder, the symptoms
+of which, alike violent and sudden, made themselves the more remarked
+because the year was particularly exempt from maladies of every other
+description.
+
+Of this plague--or, more properly, eruptive typhoid fever, distinct
+from, yet analogous to, the smallpox--a description no less clear than
+impressive has been left by the historian Thucydides, himself not only a
+spectator but a sufferer. It is not one of the least of his merits, that
+his notice of the symptoms, given at so early a stage of medical science
+and observation, is such as to instruct the medical reader of the
+present age, and to enable the malady to be understood and identified.
+The observations with which that notice is ushered in deserve particular
+attention. "In respect to this distemper (he says), let every man,
+physician or not, say what he thinks respecting the source from whence
+it may probably have arisen, and respecting the causes which he deems
+sufficiently powerful to have produced so great a revolution. But I,
+having myself had the distemper, and having seen others suffering under
+it, will state _what it actually was_, and will indicate in addition
+such other matters as will furnish any man, who lays them to heart, with
+knowledge and the means of calculation beforehand, in case the same
+misfortune should ever occur again."
+
+To record past facts, as a basis for rational prevision in regard to the
+future--the same sentiment which Thucydides mentions in his preface, as
+having animated him to the composition of his history--was at that time
+a duty so little understood that we have reason to admire not less the
+manner in which he performs it in practice than the distinctness with
+which he conceives it in theory. We infer from his language that
+speculation in his day was active respecting the causes of this plague,
+according to the vague and fanciful physics, and scanty stock of
+ascertained facts, which was all that could then be consulted. By
+resisting the itch of theorizing from one of those loose hypotheses
+which then appeared plausibly to explain everything, he probably
+renounced the point of view from which most credit and interest would be
+derivable at the time. But his simple and precise summary of observed
+facts carries with it an imperishable value, and even affords grounds
+for imagining that he was no stranger to the habits and training of his
+contemporary Hippocrates, and the other Asclepiads of Cos.
+
+It is hardly within the province of a historian of Greece to repeat
+after Thucydides the painful enumeration of symptoms, violent in the
+extreme and pervading every portion of the bodily system, which marked
+this fearful disorder. Beginning in Piraeus, it quickly passed into the
+city, and both the one and the other was speedily filled with sickness
+and suffering, the like of which had never before been known. The
+seizures were sudden, and a large proportion of the sufferers perished
+after deplorable agonies on the seventh or on the ninth day. Others,
+whose strength of constitution carried them over this period, found
+themselves the victims of exhausting and incurable diarrhoea afterward;
+with others again, after traversing both these stages, the distemper
+fixed itself in some particular member, the eyes, the genitals, the
+hands, or the feet, which were rendered permanently useless, or in some
+cases amputated, even where the patient himself recovered.
+
+There were also some whose recovery was attended with a total loss of
+memory, so that they no more knew themselves or recognized their
+friends. No treatment or remedy appearing, except in accidental cases,
+to produce any beneficial effect, the physicians or surgeons whose aid
+was invoked became completely at fault. While trying their accustomed
+means without avail, they soon ended by catching the malady themselves
+and perishing. The charms and incantations, to which the unhappy patient
+resorted, were not likely to be more efficacious. While some asserted
+that the Peloponnesians had poisoned the cisterns of water, others
+referred the visitation to the wrath of the gods, and especially to
+Apollo, known by hearers of the _Iliad_ as author of pestilence in the
+Greek host before Troy. It was remembered that this Delphian god had
+promised the Lacedaemonians, in reply to their application immediately
+before the war, that he would assist them whether invoked or uninvoked;
+and the disorder now raging was ascribed to the intervention of their
+irresistible ally; while the elderly men further called to mind an
+oracular verse sung in the time of their youth: "The Dorian war will
+come, and pestilence along with it." Under the distress which suggested,
+and was reciprocally aggravated by these gloomy ideas, prophets were
+consulted, and supplications with solemn procession were held at the
+temples, to appease the divine wrath.
+
+When it was found that neither the priest nor the physician could retard
+the spread or mitigate the intensity of the disorder, the Athenians
+abandoned themselves to despair, and the space within the walls became a
+scene of desolating misery. Every man attacked with the malady at once
+lost his courage--a state of depression itself among the worst features
+of the case, which made him lie down and die, without any attempt to
+seek for preservatives. And although at first friends and relatives lent
+their aid to tend the sick with the usual family sympathies, yet so
+terrible was the number of these attendants who perished, "like sheep,"
+from such contact, that at length no man would thus expose himself;
+while the most generous spirits, who persisted longest in the discharge
+of their duty, were carried off in the greatest numbers. The patient was
+thus left to die alone and unheeded. Sometimes all the inmates of a
+house were swept away one after the other, no man being willing to go
+near it: desertion on the one hand, attendance on the other, both tended
+to aggravate the calamity. There remained only those who, having had the
+disorder and recovered, were willing to tend the sufferers.
+
+These men formed the single exception to the all-pervading misery of the
+time--for the disorder seldom attacked anyone twice, and when it did the
+second attack was never fatal. Elate with their own escape, they deemed
+themselves out of the reach of all disease, and were full of
+compassionate kindness for others whose sufferings were just beginning.
+It was from them too that the principal attention to the bodies of
+deceased victims proceeded: for such was the state of dismay and sorrow
+that even the nearest relatives neglected the sepulchral duties, sacred
+beyond all others in the eyes of a Greek. Nor is there any circumstance
+which conveys to us so vivid an idea of the prevalent agony and despair
+as when we read, in the words of an eyewitness, that the deaths took
+place among this close-packed crowd without the smallest decencies of
+attention--that the dead and the dying lay piled one upon another not
+merely in the public roads, but even in the temples, in spite of the
+understood defilement of the sacred building--that half-dead sufferers
+were seen lying round all the springs, from insupportable thirst--that
+the numerous corpses thus unburied and exposed were in such a condition
+that the dogs which meddled with them died in consequence, while no
+vultures or other birds of the like habits ever came near.
+
+Those bodies which escaped entire neglect were burnt or buried without
+the customary mourning, and with unseemly carelessness. In some cases
+the bearers of a body, passing by a funeral pile on which another body
+was burning, would put their own there to be burnt also; or perhaps, if
+the pile was prepared ready for a body not yet arrived, would deposit
+their own upon it, set fire to the pile, and then depart. Such indecent
+confusion would have been intolerable to the feelings of the Athenians
+in any ordinary times.
+
+To all these scenes of physical suffering, death, and reckless despair
+was superadded another evil, which affected those who were fortunate
+enough to escape the rest. The bonds both of law and morality became
+relaxed, amid such total uncertainty of every man both for his own life
+and that of others. Men cared not to abstain from wrong, under
+circumstances in which punishment was not likely to overtake them, nor
+to put a check upon their passions, and endure privations, in obedience
+even to their strongest conviction, when the chance was so small of
+their living to reap reward or enjoy any future esteem. An interval,
+short and sweet, before their doom was realized--before they became
+plunged in the widespread misery which they witnessed around, and which
+affected indiscriminately the virtuous and the profligate--was all that
+they looked to enjoy; embracing with avidity the immediate pleasures of
+sense, as well as such positive gains, however ill-gotten, as could be
+made the means of procuring them, and throwing aside all thought both of
+honor and of long-sighted advantage. Life and property being alike
+ephemeral, there was no hope left but to snatch a moment of enjoyment,
+before the outstretched hand of destiny should fall upon its victims.
+
+The picture of society under the pressure of a murderous epidemic, with
+its train of physical torments, wretchedness, and demoralization, has
+been drawn by more than one eminent author, but by none with more
+impressive fidelity and conciseness than by Thucydides, who had no
+predecessor, nor anything but the reality, to copy from. We may remark
+that amid all the melancholy accompaniments of the time there are no
+human sacrifices, such as those offered up at Carthage during pestilence
+to appease the anger of the gods--there are no cruel persecutions
+against imaginary authors of the disease, such as those against the
+Untori (anointers of doors) in the plague of Milan in 1630.
+
+Three years altogether did this calamity desolate Athens: continuously,
+during the entire second and third years of the war--after which
+followed a period of marked abatement for a year and a half; but it then
+revived again, and lasted for another year, with the same fury as at
+first. The public loss, over and above the private misery, which this
+unexpected enemy inflicted upon Athens, was incalculable. Out of twelve
+hundred horsemen, all among the rich men of the state, three hundred
+died of the epidemic; besides forty-four hundred _hoplites_ out of the
+roll formally kept, and a number of the poorer population so great as to
+defy computation. No efforts of the Peloponnesians could have done so
+much to ruin Athens, or to bring the war to a termination such as they
+desired: and the distemper told the more in their favor, as it never
+spread at all into Peloponnesus, though it passed from Athens to some of
+the more populous islands. The Lacedaemonian army was withdrawn from
+Attica somewhat earlier than it would otherwise have been, for fear of
+taking the contagion.
+
+But it was while the Lacedaemonians were yet in Attica, and during the
+first freshness of the terrible malady, that Pericles equipped and
+conducted from Piraeus an armament of one hundred triremes and four
+thousand hoplites to attack the coasts of Peloponnesus; three hundred
+horsemen were also carried in some horse-transports, prepared for the
+occasion out of old triremes. To diminish the crowd accumulated in the
+city was doubtless of beneficial tendency, and perhaps those who went
+aboard might consider it as a chance of escape to quit an infected home.
+But unhappily they carried the infection along with them, which
+desolated the fleet not less than the city, and crippled all its
+efforts. Reenforced by fifty ships of war from Chios and Lesbos, the
+Athenians first landed near Epidaurus in Peloponnesus, ravaging the
+territory and making an unavailing attempt upon the city; next they made
+like incursions on the most southerly portions of the Argolic
+peninsula--Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione--and lastly attacked and
+captured Prasiae, on the eastern coast of Laconia. On returning to
+Athens, the same armament was immediately conducted under Agnon and
+Cleopompus, to press the siege of Potidaea, the blockade of which still
+continued without any visible progress. On arriving there an attack was
+made on the walls by battering engines and by the other aggressive
+methods then practised; but nothing whatever was achieved. In fact, the
+armament became incompetent for all serious effort, from the aggravated
+character which the distemper here assumed, communicated by the soldiers
+fresh from Athens even to those who had before been free from it at
+Potidaea. So frightful was the mortality that out of the four thousand
+hoplites under Agnon no fewer than one thousand and fifty died in the
+short space of forty days. The armament was brought back in this
+distressed condition to Athens, while the reduction of Potidaea was left
+as before, to the slow course of blockade.
+
+On returning from the expedition against Peloponnesus, Pericles found
+his countrymen almost distracted with their manifold sufferings. Over
+and above the raging epidemic they had just gone over Attica and
+ascertained the devastations committed by the invaders throughout all
+the territory--except the Marathonian Tetrapolis and Deceleia, districts
+spared, as we are told, through indulgence founded on an ancient
+legendary sympathy--during their long stay of forty days. The rich had
+found their comfortable mansions and farms, the poor their modest
+cottages, in the various _demes_, torn down and ruined. Death, sickness,
+loss of property, and despair of the future now rendered the Athenians
+angry and intractable to the last degree. They vented their feelings
+against Pericles as the cause not merely of the war, but also of all
+that they were now enduring. Either with or without his consent, they
+sent envoys to Sparta to open negotiations for peace, but the Spartans
+turned a deaf ear to the proposition. This new disappointment rendered
+them still more furious against Pericles, whose long-standing political
+enemies now doubtless found strong sympathy in their denunciations of
+his character and policy. That unshaken and majestic firmness, which
+ranked first among his many eminent qualities, was never more
+imperiously required and never more effectively manifested.
+
+In his capacity of _strategus_, or general, Pericles convoked a formal
+assembly of the people, for the purpose of vindicating himself publicly
+against the prevailing sentiment, and recommending perseverance in his
+line of policy. The speeches made by his opponents, assuredly very
+bitter, are not given by Thucydides; but that of Pericles himself is set
+down at considerable length, and a memorable discourse it is. It
+strikingly brings into relief both the character of the man and the
+impress of actual circumstances--an impregnable mind conscious not only
+of right purposes, but of just and reasonable anticipations, and bearing
+up with manliness, or even defiance, against the natural difficulty of
+the case, heightened by an extreme of incalculable misfortune. He had
+foreseen, while advising the war originally, the probable impatience of
+his countrymen under its first hardships, but he could not foresee the
+epidemic by which that impatience had been exasperated into madness: and
+he now addressed them not merely with unabated adherence to his own
+deliberate convictions, but also in a tone of reproachful remonstrance
+against their unmerited change of sentiment toward him--seeking at the
+same time to combat that uncontrolled despair which for the moment
+overlaid both their pride and their patriotism. Far from humbling
+himself before the present sentiment, it is at this time that he sets
+forth his titles to their esteem in the most direct and unqualified
+manner, and claims the continuance of that which they had so long
+accorded, as something belonging to him by acquired right.
+
+His main object, through this discourse, is to fill the minds of his
+audience with patriotic sympathy for the weal of the entire city, so as
+to counterbalance the absorbing sense of private woe. If the collective
+city flourishes, he argues, private misfortunes may at least be borne;
+but no amount of private prosperity will avail if the collective city
+falls--a proposition literally true in ancient times and under the
+circumstances of ancient warfare, though less true at present.
+"Distracted by domestic calamity, ye are now angry both with me who
+advised you to go to war, and with yourselves who followed the advice.
+Ye listened to me, considering me superior to others in judgment, in
+speech, in patriotism, and in incorruptible probity--nor ought I now to
+be treated as culpable for giving such advice, when in point of fact the
+war was unavoidable and there would have been still greater danger in
+shrinking from it. I am the same man, still unchanged--but ye in your
+misfortunes cannot stand to the convictions which ye adopted when yet
+unhurt. Extreme and unforeseen, indeed, are the sorrows which have
+fallen upon you: yet inhabiting as ye do a great city, and brought up in
+dispositions suitable to it, ye must also resolve to bear up against the
+utmost pressure of adversity, and never to surrender your dignity. I
+have often explained to you that ye have no reason to doubt of eventual
+success in the war, but I will now remind you, more emphatically than
+before, and even with a degree of ostentation suitable as a stimulus to
+your present unnatural depression, that your naval force makes you
+masters not only of your allies, but of the entire sea--one-half of the
+visible field for action and employment. Compared with so vast a power
+as this, the temporary use of your houses and territory is a mere
+trifle, an ornamental accessory not worth considering: and this too, if
+ye preserve your freedom, ye will quickly recover. It was your fathers
+who first gained this empire, without any of the advantages which ye now
+enjoy; ye must not disgrace yourselves by losing what they acquired.
+
+"Delighting as ye all do in the honor and empire enjoyed by the city, ye
+must not shrink from the toils whereby alone that honor is sustained:
+moreover, ye now fight, not merely for freedom instead of slavery, but
+for empire against loss of empire, with all the perils arising out of
+imperial unpopularity. It is not safe for you now to abdicate, even if
+ye chose to do so; for ye hold your empire like a despotism--unjust
+perhaps in the original acquisition, but ruinous to part with when once
+acquired. Be not angry with me, whose advice ye followed in going to
+war, because the enemy have done such damage as might be expected from
+them: still less on account of this unforeseen distemper: I know that
+this makes me an object of your special present hatred, though very
+unjustly, unless ye will consent to give me credit also for any
+unexpected good-luck which may occur. Our city derives its particular
+glory from unshaken bearing up against misfortune: her power, her name,
+her empire of Greeks over Greeks, are such as have never before been
+seen; and if we choose to be great, we must take the consequence of that
+temporary envy and hatred which is the necessary price of permanent
+renown. Behave ye now in a manner worthy of that glory: display that
+courage which is essential to protect you against disgrace at present,
+as well as to guarantee your honor for the future. Send no further
+embassy to Sparta, and bear your misfortunes without showing symptoms of
+distress."
+
+The irresistible reason, as well as the proud and resolute bearing of
+this discourse, set forth with an eloquence which it was not possible
+for Thucydides to reproduce--together with the age and character of
+Pericles--carried the assent of the assembled people, who when in the
+Pnyx, and engaged according to habit on public matters, would for a
+moment forget their private sufferings in considerations of the safety
+and grandeur of Athens. Possibly, indeed, those sufferings, though still
+continuing, might become somewhat alleviated when the invaders quitted
+Attica, and when it was no longer indispensable for all the population
+to confine itself within the walls. Accordingly, the assembly resolved
+that no further propositions should be made for peace, and that the war
+should be prosecuted with vigor.
+
+But though the public resolution thus adopted showed the ancient habit
+of deference to the authority of Pericles, the sentiments of individuals
+taken separately were still those of anger against him as the author of
+that system which had brought them into so much distress. His political
+opponents--Cleon, Simmias, or Lacratidas, perhaps all three in
+conjunction--took care to provide an opportunity for this prevalent
+irritation to manifest itself in act, by bringing an accusation against
+him before the _dicastery_. The accusation is said to have been
+preferred on the ground of pecuniary malversation, and ended by his
+being sentenced to pay a considerable fine, the amount of which is
+differently reported--fifteen, fifty, or eighty talents, by different
+authors. The accusing party thus appeared to have carried their point,
+and to have disgraced, as well as excluded from reelection, the veteran
+statesman. The event, however, disappointed their expectations. The
+imposition of the fine not only satiated all the irritation of the
+people against him, but even occasioned a serious reaction in his favor,
+and brought back as strongly as ever the ancient sentiment of esteem and
+admiration. It was quickly found that those who had succeeded Pericles
+as generals neither possessed nor deserved in an equal degree the public
+confidence. He was accordingly soon reelected, with as much power and
+influence as he had ever in his life enjoyed.
+
+But that life, long, honorable, and useful, had already been prolonged
+considerably beyond the sixtieth year, and there were but too many
+circumstances, besides the recent fine, which tended to hasten as well
+as to embitter its close. At the very moment when Pericles was preaching
+to his countrymen, in a tone almost reproachful, the necessity of manful
+and unabated devotion to the common country in the midst of private
+suffering, he was himself among the greatest of sufferers, and most
+hardly pressed to set the example of observing his own precepts. The
+epidemic carried off not merely his two sons--the only two legitimate,
+Xanthippus and Paralus--but also his sister, several other relatives,
+and his best and most useful political friends. Amid this train of
+domestic calamities, and in the funeral obsequies of so many of his
+dearest friends, he remained master of his grief, and maintained his
+habitual self-command, until the last misfortune--the death of his
+favorite son Paralus, which left his house without any legitimate
+representative to maintain the family and the hereditary sacred rites.
+On this final blow, though he strove to command himself as before, yet
+at the obsequies of the young man, when it became his duty to place a
+wreath on the dead body, his grief became uncontrollable, and he burst
+out, for the first time in his life, into profuse tears and sobbing.
+
+In the midst of these several personal trials he received the
+intimation, through Alcibiades and some other friends, of the restored
+confidence of the people toward him, and of his reelection to the office
+of strategus. But it was not without difficulty that he was persuaded to
+present himself again at the public assembly and resume the direction of
+affairs. The regret of the people was formally expressed to him for the
+recent sentence--perhaps, indeed, the fine may have been repaid to him,
+or some evasion of it permitted, saving the forms of law--in the present
+temper of the city; which was further displayed toward him by the grant
+of a remarkable exemption from a law of his own original proposition.
+
+He had himself, some years before, been the author of that law whereby
+the citizenship of Athens was restricted to persons born both of
+Athenian fathers and Athenian mothers, under which restriction several
+thousand persons, illegitimate on the mother's side, are said to have
+been deprived of the citizenship, on occasion of a public distribution
+of corn. Invidious as it appeared to grant, to Pericles singly, an
+exemption from a law which had been strictly enforced against so many
+others, the people were now moved not less by compassion than by anxiety
+to redress their own previous severity. Without a legitimate heir, the
+house of Pericles, one branch of the great Alcmaeonid gens by his
+mother's side, would be left deserted, and the continuity of the family
+sacred rites would be broken--a misfortune painfully felt by every
+Athenian family, as calculated to wrong all the deceased members, and
+provoke their posthumous displeasure toward the city. Accordingly,
+permission was granted to Pericles to legitimize, and to inscribe in his
+own gens and phratry, his natural son by Aspasia, who bore his own name.
+
+It was thus that Pericles was reinstated in his post of strategus as
+well as in his ascendency over the public counsels--seemingly about
+August or September, B.C. 430. He lived about one year longer, and seems
+to have maintained his influence as long as his health permitted. Yet we
+hear nothing of him after this moment, and he fell a victim, not to the
+violent symptoms of the epidemic, but to a slow and wearing fever, which
+undermined his strength as well as his capacity. To a friend who came to
+ask after him when in this disease, Pericles replied by showing a charm
+or amulet which his female relations had hung about his neck--a proof
+how low he was reduced, and how completely he had become a passive
+subject in the hands of others.
+
+And according to another anecdote which we read--yet more interesting
+and equally illustrative of his character--it was during his last
+moments, when he was lying apparently unconscious and insensible, that
+the friends around his bed were passing in review the acts of his life,
+and the nine trophies which he had erected at different times for so
+many victories. He heard what they said, though they fancied that he was
+past hearing, and interrupted them by remarking: "What you praise in my
+life belongs partly to good fortune--and is, at best, common to me with
+many other generals. But the peculiarity of which I am most proud, you
+have not noticed--no Athenian has ever put on mourning through any
+action of mine."
+
+
+
+
+DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE
+
+B.C. 413
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(That great writer of the history of the Romans, Thomas Arnold, says of
+the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Syracuse: "The Romans knew not, and
+could not know, how deeply the greatness of their own posterity, and the
+fate of the whole western world, were involved in the destruction of the
+fleet of Athens in the harbor of Syracuse. Had that great expedition
+proved victorious, the energies of Greece during the next eventful
+century would have found their field in the West no less than in the
+East; Greece, and not Rome; might have conquered Carthage; Greek instead
+of Latin might have been at this day the principal element of the
+language of Spain, of France, and of Italy; and the laws of Athens,
+rather than of Rome, might be the foundation of the law of the civilized
+world."
+
+The foregoing, the author's own selection, really sums up all that need
+be said as to the importance of the great event so finely treated by
+Creasy.)
+
+
+Few cities have undergone more memorable sieges during ancient and
+mediaeval times than has the city of Syracuse. Athenian, Carthaginian,
+Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Saracen, and Norman have in turns beleaguered
+her walls; and the resistance which she successfully opposed to some of
+her early assailants was of the deepest importance, not only to the
+fortunes of the generations then in being, but to all the subsequent
+current of human events. To adopt the eloquent expressions of Arnold
+respecting the check which she gave to the Carthaginian arms, "Syracuse
+was a breakwater which God's providence raised up to protect the yet
+immature strength of Rome." And her triumphant repulse of the great
+Athenian expedition against her was of even more widespread and enduring
+importance. It forms a decisive epoch in the strife for universal
+empire, in which all the great states of antiquity successively engaged
+and failed.
+
+The present city of Syracuse is a place of little or no military
+strength, as the fire of artillery from the neighboring heights would
+almost completely command it. But in ancient warfare its position, and
+the care bestowed on its walls, rendered it formidably strong against
+the means of offence which were then employed by besieging armies.
+
+The ancient city, in its most prosperous times, was chiefly built on the
+knob of land which projects into the sea on the eastern coast of Sicily,
+between two bays; one of which, to the north, was called the Bay of
+Thapsus, while the southern one formed the great harbor of the city of
+Syracuse itself. A small island, or peninsula (for such it soon was
+rendered), lies at the southeastern extremity of this knob of land,
+stretching almost entirely across the mouth of the great harbor, and
+rendering it nearly land-locked. This island comprised the original
+settlement of the first Greek colonists from Corinth, who founded
+Syracuse two thousand five hundred years ago; and the modern city has
+shrunk again into these primary limits. But, in the fifth century before
+our era, the growing wealth and population of the Syracusans had led
+them to occupy and include within their city walls portion after portion
+of the mainland lying next to the little isle, so that at the time of
+the Athenian expedition the seaward part of the land between the two
+bays already spoken of was built over, and fortified from bay to bay,
+and constituted the larger part of Syracuse.
+
+The landward wall, therefore, of this district of the city traversed
+this knob of land, which continues to slope upward from the sea, and
+which, to the west of the old fortifications, that is, toward the
+interior of Sicily, rises rapidly for a mile or two, but diminishes in
+width, and finally terminates in a long narrow ridge, between which and
+Mount Hybla a succession of chasms and uneven low ground extends. On
+each flank of this ridge the descent is steep and precipitous from its
+summits to the strips of level land that lie immediately below it, both
+to the southwest and northwest.
+
+The usual mode of assailing fortified towns in the time of the
+Peloponnesian war was to build a double wall round them sufficiently
+strong to check any sally of the garrison from within or any attack of a
+relieving force from without. The interval within the two walls of the
+circumvallation was roofed over, and formed barracks, in which the
+besiegers posted themselves, and awaited the effects of want or
+treachery among the besieged in producing a surrender; and in every
+Greek city of those days, as in every Italian republic of the Middle
+Ages, the rage of domestic sedition between aristocrats and democrats
+ran high. Rancorous refugees swarmed in the camp of every invading
+enemy; and every blockaded city was sure to contain within its walls a
+body of intriguing malcontents, who were eager to purchase a party
+triumph at the expense of a national disaster. Famine and faction were
+the allies on whom besiegers relied. The generals of that time trusted
+to the operation of these sure confederates as soon as they could
+establish a complete blockade. They rarely ventured on the attempt to
+storm any fortified post, for the military engines of antiquity were
+feeble in breaching masonry before the improvements which the first
+Dionysius effected in the mechanics of destruction; and the lives of
+spearmen the boldest and most high-trained would, of course, have been
+idly spent in charges against unshattered walls.
+
+A city built close to the sea, like Syracuse, was impregnable save by
+the combined operations of a superior hostile fleet and a superior
+hostile army; and Syracuse, from her size, her population, and her
+military and naval resources, not unnaturally thought herself secure
+from finding in another Greek city a foe capable of sending a sufficient
+armament to menace her with capture and subjection. But in the spring of
+B.C. 414 the Athenian navy was mistress of her harbor and the adjacent
+seas; an Athenian army had defeated her troops, and cooped them within
+the town; and from bay to bay a blockading wall was being rapidly
+carried across the strips of level ground and the high ridge outside the
+city (then termed Epipolae), which, if completed, would have cut the
+Syracusans off from all succor from the interior of Sicily, and have
+left them at the mercy of the Athenian generals. The besiegers' works
+were, indeed, unfinished; but every day the unfortified interval in
+their lines grew narrower, and with it diminished all apparent hope of
+safety for the beleaguered town.
+
+Athens was now staking the flower of her forces, and the accumulated
+fruits of seventy years of glory, on one bold throw for the dominion of
+the western world. As Napoleon from Mount Coeur de Lion pointed to St.
+Jean d'Acre, and told his staff that the capture of that town would
+decide his destiny and would change the face of the world, so the
+Athenian officers, from the heights of Epipolae, must have looked on
+Syracuse, and felt that with its fall all the known powers of the earth
+would fall beneath them. They must have felt also that Athens, if
+repulsed there, must pause forever from her career of conquest, and sink
+from an imperial republic into a ruined and subservient community.
+
+At Marathon, the first in date of the great battles of the world, we
+beheld Athens struggling for self-preservation against the invading
+armies of the East. At Syracuse she appears as the ambitious and
+oppressive invader of others. In her, as in other republics of old and
+of modern times, the same energy that had inspired the most heroic
+efforts in defence of the national independence soon learned to employ
+itself in daring and unscrupulous schemes of self-aggrandizement at the
+expense of neighboring nations. In the interval between the Persian and
+the Peloponnesian wars she had rapidly grown into a conquering and
+dominant state, the chief of a thousand tributary cities, and the
+mistress of the largest and best-manned navy that the Mediterranean had
+yet beheld. The occupations of her territory by Xerxes and Mardonius, in
+the second Persian war, had forced her whole population to become
+marines; and the glorious results of that struggle confirmed them in
+their zeal for their country's service at sea.
+
+The voluntary suffrage of the Greek cities of the coasts and islands of
+the Aegean first placed Athens at the head of the confederation formed
+for the further prosecution of the war against Persia. But this titular
+ascendency was soon converted by her into practical and arbitrary
+dominion. She protected them from piracy and the Persian power, which
+soon fell into decrepitude and decay, but she exacted in return implicit
+obedience to herself. She claimed and enforced a prerogative of taxing
+them at her discretion, and proudly refused to be accountable for her
+mode of expending their supplies. Remonstrance against her assessments
+was treated as factious disloyalty, and refusal to pay was promptly
+punished as revolt. Permitting and encouraging her subject allies to
+furnish all their contingents in money, instead of part consisting of
+ships and men, the sovereign republic gained the double object of
+training her own citizens by constant and well-paid service in her
+fleets, and of seeing her confederates lose their skill and discipline
+by inaction, and become more and more passive and powerless under her
+yoke. Their towns were generally dismantled, while the imperial city
+herself was fortified with the greatest care and sumptuousness; the
+accumulated revenues from her tributaries serving to strengthen and
+adorn to the utmost her havens, her docks, her arsenals, her theatres,
+and her shrines, and to array her in that plenitude of architectural
+magnificence the ruins of which still attest the intellectual grandeur
+of the age and people which produced a Pericles to plan and a Phidias to
+execute.
+
+All republics that acquire supremacy over other nations rule them
+selfishly and oppressively. There is no exception to this in either
+ancient or modern times. Carthage, Rome, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Pisa,
+Holland, and republican France, all tyrannized over every province and
+subject state where they gained authority. But none of them openly
+avowed their system of doing so upon principle with the candor which the
+Athenian republicans displayed when any remonstrance was made against
+the severe exactions which they imposed upon their vassal allies. They
+avowed that their empire was a tyranny, and frankly stated that they
+solely trusted to force and terror to uphold it. They appealed to what
+they called "the eternal law of nature, that the weak should be coerced
+by the strong." Sometimes they stated, and not without some truth, that
+the unjust hatred of Sparta against themselves forced them to be unjust
+to others in self-defence. To be safe, they must be powerful; and to be
+powerful, they must plunder and coerce their neighbors. They never
+dreamed of communicating any franchise, or share in office, to their
+dependants, but jealously monopolized every post of command and all
+political and judicial power; exposing themselves to every risk with
+unflinching gallantry; embarking readily in every ambitious scheme; and
+never suffering difficulty or disaster to shake their tenacity of
+purpose: in the hope of acquiring unbounded empire for their country,
+and the means of maintaining each of the thirty thousand citizens who
+made up the sovereign republic, in exclusive devotion to military
+occupations, and to those brilliant sciences and arts in which Athens
+already had reached the meridian of intellectual splendor.
+
+Her great political dramatist speaks of the Athenian empire as
+comprehending a thousand states. The language of the stage must not be
+taken too literally; but the number of the dependencies of Athens, at
+the time when the Peloponnesian confederacy attacked her, was
+undoubtedly very great. With a few trifling exceptions, all the islands
+of the Aegean, and all the Greek cities which in that age fringed the
+coasts of Asia Minor, the Hellespont, and Thrace, paid tribute to
+Athens, and implicitly obeyed her orders. The Aegean Sea was an Attic
+lake. Westward of Greece, her influence, though strong, was not equally
+predominant. She had colonies and allies among the wealthy and populous
+Greek settlements in Sicily and South Italy, but she had no organized
+system of confederates in those regions; and her galleys brought her no
+tribute from the Western seas. The extension of her empire over Sicily
+was the favorite project of her ambitious orators and generals. While
+her great statesman, Pericles, lived, his commanding genius kept his
+countrymen under control, and forbade them to risk the fortunes of
+Athens in distant enterprises, while they had unsubdued and powerful
+enemies at their own doors. He taught Athens this maxim; but he also
+taught her to know and to use her own strength; and when Pericles had
+departed, the bold spirit which he had fostered overleaped the salutary
+limits which he had prescribed.
+
+When her bitter enemies, the Corinthians, succeeded, B.C. 431, in
+inducing Sparta to attack her, and a confederacy was formed of
+five-sixths of the continental Greeks, all animated by anxious jealousy
+and bitter hatred of Athens; when armies far superior in numbers and
+equipment to those which had marched against the Persians were poured
+into the Athenian territory, and laid it waste to the city walls, the
+general opinion was that Athens would be reduced, in two or three years
+at the furthest, to submit to the requisitions of her invaders. But her
+strong fortifications, by which she was girt and linked to her principal
+haven, gave her, in those ages, almost all the advantages of an insular
+position. Pericles had made her trust to her empire of the seas. Every
+Athenian in those days was a practised seaman. A state, indeed, whose
+members, of an age fit for service, at no time exceeded thirty thousand,
+could only have acquired such a naval dominion as Athens once held by
+devoting and zealously training all its sons to service in its fleets.
+In order to man the numerous galleys which she sent out, she necessarily
+employed large numbers of hired mariners and slaves at the oar; but the
+staple of her crews was Athenian, and all posts of command were held by
+native citizens. It was by reminding them of this, of their long
+practice in seamanship, and the certain superiority which their
+discipline gave them over the enemy's marine, that their great minister
+mainly encouraged them to resist the combined power of Lacedaemon and
+her allies. He taught them that Athens might thus reap the fruit of her
+zealous devotion to maritime affairs ever since the invasion of the
+Medes; "she had not, indeed, perfected herself; but the reward of her
+superior training was the rule of the sea--a mighty dominion, for it
+gave her the rule of much fair land beyond its waves, safe from the idle
+ravages with which the Lacedaemonians might harass Attica, but never
+could subdue Athens."
+
+Athens accepted the war with which her enemies threatened her rather
+than descend from her pride of place; and though the awful visitation of
+the plague came upon her, and swept away more of her citizens than the
+Dorian spear laid low, she held her own gallantly against her enemies.
+If the Peloponnesian armies in irresistible strength wasted every spring
+her corn-lands, her vineyards, and her olive groves with fire and sword,
+she retaliated on their coasts with her fleets; which, if resisted, were
+only resisted to display the preeminent skill and bravery of her seamen.
+Some of her subject allies revolted, but the revolts were in general
+sternly and promptly quelled. The genius of one enemy had indeed
+inflicted blows on her power in Thrace which she was unable to remedy;
+but he fell in battle in the tenth year of the war, and with the loss of
+Brasidas the Lacedaemonians seemed to have lost all energy and judgment.
+Both sides at length grew weary of the war, and in 421 a truce for fifty
+years was concluded, which, though ill kept, and though many of the
+confederates of Sparta refused to recognize it, and hostilities still
+continued in many parts of Greece, protected the Athenian territory from
+the ravages of enemies, and enabled Athens to accumulate large sums out
+of the proceeds of her annual revenues. So also, as a few years passed
+by, the havoc which the pestilence and the sword had made in her
+population was repaired; and in 415 Athens was full of bold and restless
+spirits, who longed for some field of distant enterprise wherein they
+might signalize themselves and aggrandize the state, and who looked on
+the alarm of Spartan hostility as a mere old-woman's tale. When Sparta
+had wasted their territory she had done her worst; and the fact of its
+always being in her power to do so seemed a strong reason for seeking to
+increase the transmarine dominion of Athens.
+
+The West was now the quarter toward which the thoughts of every aspiring
+Athenian were directed. From the very beginning of the war Athens had
+kept up an interest in Sicily, and her squadron had, from time to time,
+appeared on its coasts and taken part in the dissensions in which the
+Sicilian Greeks were universally engaged one against the other. There
+were plausible grounds for a direct quarrel, and an open attack by the
+Athenians upon Syracuse.
+
+With the capture of Syracuse, all Sicily, it was hoped, would be
+secured. Carthage and Italy were next to be attacked. With large levies
+of Iberian mercenaries she then meant to overwhelm her Peloponnesian
+enemies. The Persian monarchy lay in hopeless imbecility, inviting Greek
+invasion; nor did the known world contain the power that seemed capable
+of checking the growing might of Athens, if Syracuse once should be
+hers.
+
+The national historian of Rome has left us an episode of his great work,
+a disquisition on the probable effects that would have followed if
+Alexander the Great had invaded Italy. Posterity has generally regarded
+that disquisition as proving Livy's patriotism more strongly than his
+impartiality or acuteness. Yet, right or wrong, the speculations of the
+Roman writer were directed to the consideration of a very remote
+possibility. To whatever age Alexander's life might have been prolonged,
+the East would have furnished full occupation for his martial ambition,
+as well as for those schemes of commercial grandeur and imperial
+amalgamation of nations in which the truly great qualities of his mind
+loved to display themselves. With his death the dismemberment of his
+empire among his generals was certain, even as the dismemberment of
+Napoleon's empire among his marshals would certainly have ensued if he
+had been cut off in the zenith of his power. Rome, also, was far weaker
+when the Athenians were in Sicily than she was a century afterward in
+Alexander's time. There can be little doubt but that Rome would have
+been blotted out from the independent powers of the West, had she been
+attacked at the end of the fifth century B.C. by an Athenian army,
+largely aided by Spanish mercenaries, and flushed with triumphs over
+Sicily and Africa, instead of the collision between her and Greece
+having been deferred until the latter had sunk into decrepitude, and the
+Roman Mars had grown into full vigor.
+
+The armament which the Athenians equipped against Syracuse was in every
+way worthy of the state which formed such projects of universal empire,
+and it has been truly termed "the noblest that ever yet had been sent
+forth by a free and civilized commonwealth." The fleet consisted of one
+hundred and thirty-four war-galleys, with a multitude of storeships. A
+powerful force of the best heavy-armed infantry that Athens and her
+allies could furnish was sent on board it, together with a smaller
+number of slingers and bowmen. The quality of the forces was even more
+remarkable than the number. The zeal of individuals vied with that of
+the republic in giving every galley the best possible crew and every
+troop the most perfect accoutrements. And with private as well as public
+wealth eagerly lavished on all that could give splendor as well as
+efficiency to the expedition, the fated fleet began its voyage for the
+Sicilian shores in the summer of 415.
+
+The Syracusans themselves, at the time of the Peloponnesian war, were a
+bold and turbulent democracy, tyrannizing over the weaker Greek cities
+in Sicily, and trying to gain in that island the same arbitrary
+supremacy which Athens maintained along the eastern coast of the
+Mediterranean. In numbers and in spirit they were fully equal to the
+Athenians, but far inferior to them in military and naval discipline.
+When the probability of an Athenian invasion was first publicly
+discussed at Syracuse, and efforts were made by some of the wiser
+citizens to improve the state of the national defences and prepare for
+the impending danger, the rumors of coming war and the proposal for
+preparation were received by the mass of the Syracusans with scornful
+incredulity. The speech of one of their popular orators is preserved to
+us in Thucydides.
+
+The Syracusan orator told his countrymen to dismiss with scorn the
+visionary terrors which a set of designing men among themselves strove
+to excite, in order to get power and influence thrown into their own
+hands. He told them that Athens knew her own interest too well to think
+of wantonly provoking their hostility: "Even if the enemies were to
+come," said he, "so distant from their resources, and opposed to such a
+power as ours, their destruction would be easy and inevitable. Their
+ships will have enough to do to get to our island at all, and to carry
+such stores of all sorts as will be needed. They cannot therefore carry,
+besides, an army large enough to cope with such a population as ours.
+They will have no fortified place from which to commence their
+operations, but must rest them on no better base than a set of wretched
+tents, and such means as the necessities of the moment will allow them.
+But, in truth, I do not believe that they would even be able to effect a
+disembarkation. Let us, therefore, set at naught these reports as
+altogether of home manufacture; and be sure that if any enemy does come,
+the state will know how to defend itself in a manner worthy of the
+national honor."
+
+Such assertions pleased the Syracusan assembly; but the invaders of
+Syracuse came, made good their landing in Sicily; and if they had
+promptly attacked the city itself, instead of wasting nearly a year in
+desultory operations in other parts of Sicily, the Syracusans must have
+paid the penalty of their self-sufficient carelessness in submission to
+the Athenian yoke. But, of the three generals who led the Athenian
+expedition, two only were men of ability, and one was most weak and
+incompetent. Fortunately for Syracuse, Alcibiades, the most skilful of
+the three, was soon deposed from his command by a factious and fanatic
+vote of his fellow-countrymen, and the other competent one, Lamachus,
+fell early in a skirmish; while, more fortunately still for her, the
+feeble and vacillating Nicias remained unrecalled and unhurt, to assume
+the undivided leadership of the Athenian army and fleet, and to mar, by
+alternate over-caution and over-carelessness, every chance of success
+which the early part of the operations offered. Still, even under him,
+the Athenians nearly won the town. They defeated the raw levies of the
+Syracusans, cooped them within the walls, and, as before mentioned,
+almost effected a continuous fortification from bay to bay over
+Epipolae, the completion of which would certainly have been followed by
+a capitulation.
+
+Alcibiades--the most complete example of genius without principle that
+history produces; the Bolingbroke of antiquity, but with high military
+talents superadded to diplomatic and oratorical powers--on being
+summoned home from his command in Sicily to take his trial before the
+Athenian tribunal, had escaped to Sparta, and had exerted himself there
+with all the selfish rancor of a renegade to renew the war with Athens
+and to send instant assistance to Syracuse.
+
+When we read his words in the pages of Thucydides--who was himself an
+exile from Athens at this period, and may probably have been at Sparta,
+and heard Alcibiades speak--we are at a loss whether most to admire or
+abhor his subtle counsels. After an artful exordium, in which he tried
+to disarm the suspicions which he felt must be entertained of him, and
+to point out to the Spartans how completely his interests and theirs
+were identified, through hatred of the Athenian democracy, he thus
+proceeded:
+
+"Hear me, at any rate, on the matters which require your grave
+attention, and which I, from the personal knowledge that I have of them,
+can and ought to bring before you. We Athenians sailed to Sicily with
+the design of subduing, first the Greek cities there, and next those in
+Italy. Then we intended to make an attempt on the dominions of Carthage,
+and on Carthage itself.[24] If all these projects succeeded--nor did we
+limit ourselves to them in these quarters--we intended to increase our
+fleet with the inexhaustible supplies of ship timber which Italy
+affords, to put in requisition the whole military force of the conquered
+Greek states, and also to hire large armies of the barbarians, of the
+Iberians,[25] and others in those regions, who are allowed to make the
+best possible soldiers. _Then_, when we had done all this, we intended
+to assail Peloponnesus with our collected force. Our fleets would
+blockade you by sea and desolate your coasts, our armies would be landed
+at different points and assail your cities. Some of these we expected to
+storm,[26] and others we meant to take by surrounding them with
+fortified lines. We thought that it would thus be an easy matter
+thoroughly to war you down; and then we should become the masters of the
+whole Greek race. As for expense, we reckoned that each conquered state
+would give us supplies of money and provisions sufficient to pay for its
+own conquest, and furnish the means for the conquest of its neighbors."
+
+[Footnote 24: Arnold, in his notes on this passage, well reminds the
+reader that Agathocles, with a Greek force far inferior to that of the
+Athenians at this period, did, some years afterward, very nearly conquer
+Carthage.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It will be remembered that Spanish infantry were the
+staple of the Carthaginian armies. Doubtless Alcibiades and other
+leading Athenians had made themselves acquainted with the Carthaginian
+system of carrying on war, and meant to adopt it. With the marvellous
+powers which Alcibiades possessed of ingratiating himself with men of
+every class and every nation, and his high military genius, he would
+have been as formidable a chief of an army of _condottieri_ as Hannibal
+afterward was.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Alcibiades here alluded to Sparta itself, which was
+unfortified. His Spartan hearers must have glanced round them at these
+words with mixed alarm and indignation.]
+
+"Such are the designs of the present Athenian expedition to Sicily, and
+you have heard them from the lips of the man who, of all men living, is
+most accurately acquainted with them. The other Athenian generals, who
+remain with the expedition, will endeavor to carry out these plans. And
+be sure that without your speedy interference they will all be
+accomplished. The Sicilian Greeks are deficient in military training;
+but still, if they could at once be brought to combine in an organized
+resistance to Athens, they might even now be saved. But as for the
+Syracusans resisting Athens by themselves, they have already, with the
+whole strength of their population, fought a battle and been beaten;
+they cannot face the Athenians at sea; and it is quite impossible for
+them to hold out against the force of their invaders. And if this city
+falls into the hands of the Athenians, all Sicily is theirs, and
+presently Italy also; and the danger, which I warned you of from that
+quarter, will soon fall upon yourselves. You must, therefore, in Sicily,
+fight for the safety of Peloponnesus. Send some galleys thither
+instantly. Put men on board who can work their own way over, and who, as
+soon as they land, can do duty as regular troops. But, above all, let
+one of yourselves, let a man of Sparta, go over to take the chief
+command, to bring into order and effective discipline the forces that
+are in Syracuse, and urge those who at present hang back to come forward
+and aid the Syracusans. The presence of a Spartan general at this crisis
+will do more to save the city than a whole army."
+
+The renegade then proceeded to urge on them the necessity of encouraging
+their friends in Sicily, by showing that they themselves were in earnest
+in hostility to Athens. He exhorted them not only to march their armies
+into Attica again, but to take up a permanent fortified position in the
+country; and he gave them in detail information of all that the
+Athenians most dreaded, and how his country might receive the most
+distressing and enduring injury at their hands.
+
+The Spartans resolved to act on his advice, and appointed Gylippus to
+the Sicilian command. Gylippus was a man who, to the national bravery
+and military skill of a Spartan united political sagacity that was
+worthy of his great fellow-countryman Brasidas; but his merits were
+debased by mean and sordid vices; and his is one of the cases in which
+history has been austerely just, and where little or no fame has been
+accorded to the successful but venal soldier. But for the purpose for
+which he was required in Sicily, an abler man could not have been found
+in Lacedaemon. His country gave him neither men nor money, but she gave
+him her authority; and the influence of her name and of his own talents
+was speedily seen in the zeal with which the Corinthians and other
+Peloponnesian Greeks began to equip a squadron to act under him for the
+rescue of Sicily. As soon as four galleys were ready, he hurried over
+with them to the southern coast of Italy, and there, though he received
+such evil tidings of the state of Syracuse that he abandoned all hope of
+saving that city, he determined to remain on the coast, and do what he
+could in preserving the Italian cities from the Athenians.
+
+So nearly, indeed, had Nicias completed his beleaguering lines, and so
+utterly desperate had the state of Syracuse seemingly become, that an
+assembly of the Syracusans was actually convened, and they were
+discussing the terms on which they should offer to capitulate, when a
+galley was seen dashing into the great harbor, and making her way toward
+the town with all the speed which her rowers could supply. From her
+shunning the part of the harbor where the Athenian fleet lay, and making
+straight for the Syracusan side, it was clear that she was a friend; the
+enemy's cruisers, careless through confidence of success, made no
+attempt to cut her off; she touched the beach, and a Corinthian captain,
+springing on shore from her, was eagerly conducted to the assembly of
+the Syracusan people just in time to prevent the fatal vote being put
+for a surrender.
+
+Providentially for Syracuse, Gongylus, the commander of the galley, had
+been prevented by an Athenian squadron from following Gylippus to South
+Italy, and he had been obliged to push direct for Syracuse from Greece.
+
+The sight of actual succor, and the promise of more, revived the
+drooping spirits of the Syracusans. They felt that they were not left
+desolate to perish, and the tidings that a Spartan was coming to command
+them confirmed their resolution to continue their resistance. Gylippus
+was already near the city. He had learned at Locri that the first report
+which had reached him of the state of Syracuse was exaggerated, and that
+there was unfinished space in the besiegers' lines through which it was
+barely possible to introduce reenforcements into the town. Crossing the
+Straits of Messina, which the culpable negligence of Nicias had left
+unguarded, Gylippus landed on the northern coast of Sicily, and there
+began to collect from the Greek cities an army, of which the regular
+troops that he brought from Peloponnesus formed the nucleus. Such was
+the influence of the name of Sparta, and such were his own abilities and
+activity, that he succeeded in raising a force of about two thousand
+fully armed infantry, with a larger number of irregular troops. Nicias,
+as if infatuated, made no attempt to counteract his operation, nor, when
+Gylippus marched his little army toward Syracuse, did the Athenian
+commander endeavor to check him. The Syracusans marched out to meet him;
+and while the Athenians were solely intent on completing their
+fortifications on the southern side toward the harbor, Gylippus turned
+their position by occupying the high ground in the extreme rear of
+Epipolae. He then marched through the unfortified interval of Nicias'
+lines into the besieged town, and joining his troops with the Syracusan
+forces, after some engagements with varying success, gained the mastery
+over Nicias, drove the Athenians from Epipolae, and hemmed them into a
+disadvantageous position in the low grounds near the great harbor.
+
+The attention of all Greece was now fixed on Syracuse, and every enemy
+of Athens felt the importance of the opportunity now offered of checking
+her ambition, and, perhaps, of striking a deadly blow at her power.
+Larger reinforcements from Corinth, Thebes, and other cities now reached
+the Syracusans, while the baffled and dispirited Athenian general
+earnestly besought his countrymen to recall him, and represented the
+further prosecution of the siege as hopeless.
+
+But Athens had made it a maxim never to let difficulty or disaster drive
+her back from any enterprise once undertaken, so long as she possessed
+the means of making any effort, however desperate, for its
+accomplishment. With indomitable pertinacity, she now decreed, instead
+of recalling her first armament from before Syracuse, to send out a
+second, though her enemies near home had now renewed open warfare
+against her, and by occupying a permanent fortification in her territory
+had severely distressed her population, and were pressing her with
+almost all the hardships of an actual siege. She still was mistress of
+the sea, and she sent forth another fleet of seventy galleys, and
+another army, which seemed to drain almost the last reserves of her
+military population, to try if Syracuse could not yet be won, and the
+honor of the Athenian arms be preserved from the stigma of a retreat.
+Hers was, indeed, a spirit that might be broken, but never would bend.
+At the head of this second expedition she wisely placed her best
+general, Demosthenes, one of the most distinguished officers that the
+long Peloponnesian war had produced, and who, if he had originally held
+the Sicilian command, would soon have brought Syracuse to submission.
+
+The fame of Demosthenes the general has been dimmed by the superior
+lustre of his great countryman, Demosthenes the orator. When the name of
+Demosthenes is mentioned, it is the latter alone that is thought of. The
+soldier has found no biographer. Yet out of the long list of great men
+whom the Athenian republic produced, there are few that deserve to stand
+higher than this brave, though finally unsuccessful leader of her fleets
+and armies in the first half of the Peloponnesian war. In his first
+campaign in Aetolia he had shown some of the rashness of youth, and had
+received a lesson of caution by which he profited throughout the rest of
+his career, but without losing any of his natural energy in enterprise
+or in execution. He had performed the distinguished service of rescuing
+Naupactus from a powerful hostile armament in the seventh year of the
+war; he had then, at the request of the Acarnanian republics, taken on
+himself the office of commander-in-chief of all their forces, and at
+their head he had gained some important advantages over the enemies of
+Athens in Western Greece. His most celebrated exploits had been the
+occupation of Pylos on the Messenian coast, the successful defence of
+that place against the fleet and armies of Lacedaemon, and the
+subsequent capture of the Spartan forces on the isle of Sphacteria,
+which was the severest blow dealt to Sparta throughout the war, and
+which had mainly caused her to humble herself to make the truce with
+Athens.
+
+Demosthenes was as honorably unknown in the war of party politics at
+Athens as he was eminent in the war against the foreign enemy. We read
+of no intrigues of his on either the aristocratic or democratic side. He
+was neither in the interest of Nicias nor of Cleon. His private
+character was free from any of the stains which polluted that of
+Alcibiades. On all these points the silence of the comic dramatist is
+decisive evidence in his favor. He had also the moral courage, not
+always combined with physical, of seeking to do his duty to his country,
+irrespective of any odium that he himself might incur, and unhampered by
+any petty jealousy of those who were associated with him in command.
+There are few men named in ancient history of whom posterity would
+gladly know more or whom we sympathize with more deeply in the
+calamities that befell them than Demosthenes, the son of Alcisthenes,
+who, in the spring of the year 413, left Piraeus at the head of the
+second Athenian expedition against Sicily.
+
+His arrival was critically timed; for Gylippus had encouraged the
+Syracusans to attack the Athenians under Nicias by sea as well as by
+land, and by one able stratagem of Ariston, one of the admirals of the
+Corinthian auxiliary squadron, the Syracusans and their confederates had
+inflicted on the fleet of Nicias the first defeat that the Athenian navy
+had ever sustained from a numerically inferior enemy. Gylippus was
+preparing to follow up his advantage by fresh attacks on the Athenians
+on both elements, when the arrival of Demosthenes completely changed the
+aspect of affairs and restored the superiority to the invaders. With
+seventy-three war-galleys in the highest state of efficiency, and
+brilliantly equipped, with a force of five thousand picked men of the
+regular infantry of Athens and her allies, and a still larger number of
+bowmen, javelin-men, and slingers on board, Demosthenes rowed round the
+great harbor with loud cheers and martial music, as if in defiance of
+the Syracusans and their confederates. His arrival had indeed changed
+their newly born hopes into the deepest consternation.
+
+The resources of Athens seemed inexhaustible, and resistance to her
+hopeless. They had been told that she was reduced to the last
+extremities, and that her territory was occupied by an enemy; and yet
+here they saw her sending forth, as if in prodigality of power, a second
+armament, to make foreign conquests, not inferior to that with which
+Nicias had first landed on the Sicilian shores.
+
+With the intuitive decision of a great commander, Demosthenes at once
+saw that the possession of Epipolae was the key to the possession of
+Syracuse, and he resolved to make a prompt and vigorous attempt to
+recover that position while his force was unimpaired and the
+consternation which its arrival had produced among the besieged remained
+unabated. The Syracusans and their allies had run out an outwork along
+Epipolae from the city walls, intersecting the fortified lines of
+circumvallation which Nicias had commenced, but from which he had been
+driven by Gylippus. Could Demosthenes succeed in storming this outwork,
+and in reestablishing the Athenian troops on the high ground, he might
+fairly hope to be able to resume the circumvallation of the city and
+become the conqueror of Syracuse; for when once the besiegers' lines
+were completed, the number of the troops with which Gylippus had
+garrisoned the place would only tend to exhaust the stores of provisions
+and accelerate its downfall.
+
+An easily repelled attack was first made on the outwork in the daytime,
+probably more with the view of blinding the besieged to the nature of
+the main operations than with any expectation of succeeding in an open
+assault, with every disadvantage of the ground to contend against. But,
+when the darkness had set in, Demosthenes formed his men in columns,
+each soldier taking with him five days' provisions, and the engineers
+and workmen of the camp following the troops with their tools and all
+portable implements of fortification, so as at once to secure any
+advantage of ground that the army might gain. Thus equipped and
+prepared, he led his men along by the foot of the southern flank of
+Epipolae, in a direction toward the interior of the island, till he came
+immediately below the narrow ridge that forms the extremity of the high
+ground looking westward. He then wheeled his vanguard to the right, sent
+them rapidly up the paths that wind along the face of the cliff, and
+succeeded in completely surprising the Syracusan outposts, and in
+placing his troops fairly on the extreme summit of the all-important
+Epipolae. Thence the Athenians marched eagerly down the slope toward the
+town, routing some Syracusan detachments that were quartered in their
+way, and vigorously assailing the unprotected side of the outwork.
+
+All at first favored them. The outwork was abandoned by its garrison,
+and the Athenian engineers began to dismantle it. In vain Gylippus
+brought up fresh troops to check the assault; the Athenians broke and
+drove them back, and continued to press hotly forward, in the full
+confidence of victory. But, amid the general consternation of the
+Syracusans and their confederates, one body of infantry stood firm. This
+was a brigade of their Boeotian allies, which was posted low down the
+slope of Epipolae, outside the city walls. Coolly and steadily the
+Boeotian infantry formed their line, and, undismayed by the current of
+flight around them, advanced against the advancing Athenians. This was
+the crisis of the battle. But the Athenian van was disorganized by its
+own previous successes; and, yielding to the unexpected charge thus made
+on it by troops in perfect order, and of the most obstinate courage, it
+was driven back in confusion upon the other divisions of the army that
+still continued to press forward. When once the tide was thus turned,
+the Syracusans passed rapidly from the extreme of panic to the extreme
+of vengeful daring, and with all their forces they now fiercely assailed
+the embarrassed and receding Athenians. In vain did the officers of the
+latter strive to reform their line. Amid the din and the shouting of the
+fight, and the confusion inseparable upon a night engagement, especially
+one where many thousand combatants were pent and whirled together in a
+narrow and uneven area, the necessary manoeuvres were impracticable; and
+though many companies still fought on desperately, wherever the
+moonlight showed them the semblance of a foe, they fought without
+concert or subordination; and not infrequently, amid the deadly chaos,
+Athenian troops assailed each other. Keeping their ranks close, the
+Syracusans and their allies pressed on against the disorganized masses
+of the besiegers, and at length drove them, with heavy slaughter, over
+the cliffs, which an hour or two before they had scaled full of hope and
+apparently certain of success.
+
+This defeat was decisive of the event of the siege. The Athenians
+afterward struggled only to protect themselves from the vengeance which
+the Syracusans sought to wreak in the complete destruction of their
+invaders. Never, however, was vengeance more complete and terrible. A
+series of sea-fights followed, in which the Athenian galleys were
+utterly destroyed or captured. The mariners and soldiers who escaped
+death in disastrous engagements, and a vain attempt to force a retreat
+into the interior of the island, became prisoners of war. Nicias and
+Demosthenes were put to death in cold blood, and their men either
+perished miserably in the Syracusan dungeons or were sold into slavery
+to the very persons whom, in their pride of power, they had crossed the
+seas to enslave.
+
+All danger from Athens to the independent nations of the West was now
+forever at an end. She, indeed, continued to struggle against her
+combined enemies and revolted allies with unparalleled gallantry, and
+many more years of varying warfare passed away before she surrendered to
+their arms. But no success in subsequent contests could ever have
+restored her to the preeminence in enterprise, resources, and maritime
+skill which she had acquired before her fatal reverses in Sicily. Nor
+among the rival Greek republics, whom her own rashness aided to crush
+her, was there any capable of reorganizing her empire, or resuming her
+schemes of conquest. The dominion of Western Europe was left for Rome
+and Carthage to dispute two centuries later, in conflicts still more
+terrible, and with even higher displays of military daring and genius
+than Athens had witnessed either in her rise, her meridian, or her fall.
+
+
+
+
+RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS
+
+B.C. 401-399
+
+XENOPHON
+
+
+(The expedition of the Greeks, generally known as the "Retreat of the
+Ten Thousand," was conducted by Xenophon, a Greek historian, essayist,
+and military commander. Xenophon was a pupil of Socrates, of whom he
+left a famous memoir. In B.C. 401 he accepted the invitation of his
+friend Proxenus of Boeotia, a general of Greek mercenaries, to take
+service under Cyrus the Younger, brother of Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of
+Persia.
+
+Cyrus had considered himself as deeply wronged by his elder brother, who
+had thrown him into prison on the death of their father, Darius.
+Escaping from prison, he formed a design to wrest the throne from
+Artaxerxes. For this purpose he engaged the forces of Proxenus, and to
+this army Xenophon attached himself. The rendezvous was Sardis, from
+which the army marched east under the pretext of chastising the
+revolting mountaineers of Pisidia. Instead of attacking the Pisidians,
+the followers of Cyrus proceeded east through Asia and Babylonia till
+they met the forces of Artaxerxes at Cunaxa. A furious battle took
+place, and the rout of the king's army had begun when Cyrus, elated with
+the victory that seemed just within his grasp, challenged his brother to
+single combat. In the duel that ensued Cyrus was slain. Proxenus had
+already fallen, and the virtual command of the Greek army soon devolved
+upon Xenophon, who thereupon began the famous retreat.
+
+A vivid account of battles, and of hardships endured from the cold, in
+the struggle through mountain snows, through almost impassable forests,
+and across bridgeless rivers, is given in Xenophon's _Anabasis_, the
+celebrated work, in seven books, which forms the classical narrative of
+the campaign and the retreat. Soon after the death of Cyrus, in
+September, B.C. 401, the seizure and murder of the leading Greek
+generals by the treacherous Persian satrap, Tissaphernes, placed the
+Greek army in great peril. Xenophon, who now took practical command,
+counselled and exhorted the surviving leaders, and on the next day the
+Greeks formed in a hollow square, the baggage in the centre, and began
+their retreat, which led them along the Tigris to the territory of the
+Carduchi [Kurds], through Armenia, and across Georgia, the enemy often
+harassing them.
+
+At the point where the climax of the story, which is presented here, may
+be said to begin, the Greeks have entered Armenia, passed the sources of
+the Tigris, and reached the Teleboas. Having made a treaty with
+Tiribazus, governor of the province, and discovered his insincerity, and
+that he was ready to attack them in their passage over the mountains,
+they resolved upon a quick resumption of their march.
+
+When, in the fifth month of the retreat the Greeks at last from a
+hilltop beheld the Euxine, they sent up a cry, "The sea! the sea!" which
+has echoed through succeeding ages as one of the great historic
+jubilations of humanity. At the end of the retreat their numbers were
+reduced to about six thousand, and from the starting-point at Cunaxa to
+the middle of the southern coast of the Black Sea they had travelled as
+much as two thousand miles. From Ephesus to Cunaxa and thence to the
+Black Sea region they had marched in fifteen months [February, B.C. 401,
+to June, 400], and nine months more passed before they joined the
+Spartan army in Asia Minor, and their task was fully accomplished. Their
+great performance is regarded as having prepared the way for Alexander's
+triumphant advances in the East. The young conqueror, on the eve of the
+battle of Issus, declared that he owed inspiration to the feat of the
+Ten Thousand.)
+
+
+It was thought necessary to march away as fast as possible, before the
+enemy's force should be reassembled, and get possession of the pass.
+
+Collecting their baggage at once, therefore, they set forward through a
+deep snow, taking with them several guides, and, having the same day
+passed the height on which Tiribazus had intended to attack them, they
+encamped. Hence they proceeded three days' journey through a desert
+tract of country, a distance of fifteen _parasangs_, to the river
+Euphrates, and passed it without being wet higher than the middle. The
+sources of the river were said not to be far off. From hence they
+advanced three days' march, through much snow and a level plain, a
+distance of fifteen parasangs; the third day's march was extremely
+troublesome, as the north wind blew full in their faces, completely
+parching up everything and benumbing the men. One of the augurs, in
+consequence, advised that they should sacrifice to the wind, and a
+sacrifice was accordingly offered, when the vehemence of the wind
+appeared to everyone manifestly to abate. The depth of the snow was a
+fathom, so that many of the baggage cattle and slaves perished, with
+about thirty of the soldiers.
+
+They continued to burn fires through the whole night, for there was
+plenty of wood at the place of encampment. But those who came up late
+could get no wood; those, therefore, who had arrived before and had
+kindled fires would not admit the late comers to the fire unless they
+gave them a share of the corn or other provisions that they had brought.
+Thus they shared with each other what they respectively had. In the
+places where the fires were made, as the snow melted, there were formed
+large pits that reached down to the ground, and here there was
+accordingly opportunity to measure the depth of the snow.
+
+From hence they marched through snow the whole of the following day, and
+many of the men contracted the _bulimia_.[28] Xenophon, who commanded in
+the rear, finding in his way such of the men as had fallen down with it,
+knew not what disease it was. But as one of these acquainted with it
+told him that they were evidently affected with bulimia, and that they
+would get up if they had something to eat, he went round among the
+baggage and wherever he saw anything eatable he gave it out, and sent
+such as were able to run to distribute it among those diseased, who, as
+soon as they had eaten, rose up and continued their march. As they
+proceeded, Chirisophus came, just as it grew dark, to a village, and
+found, at a spring in front of the rampart, some women and girls
+belonging to the place fetching water. The women asked them who they
+were, and the interpreter answered, in the Persian language, that they
+were people going from the king to the satrap. They replied that he was
+not there, but about a parasang off.
+
+[Footnote 28: Spelman quotes a description of the bulimia from Galen, in
+which it is said to be "a disease in which the patient frequently craves
+for food, loses the use of his limbs, falls down, turns pale, feels his
+extremities become cold, his stomach oppressed, and his pulse feeble."
+Here, however, it seems to mean little more than a faintness from long
+fasting.]
+
+However, as it was late, they went with the water-carriers within the
+rampart, to the head man of the village, and here Chirisophus and as
+many of the troops as could come up encamped; but of the rest, such as
+were unable to get to the end of the journey spent the night on the way
+without food or fire, and some of the soldiers lost their lives on that
+occasion. Some of the enemy too, who had collected themselves into a
+body, pursued our rear, and seized any of the baggage-cattle that were
+unable to proceed, fighting with one another for the possession of them.
+Such of the soldiers also as had lost their sight from the effects of
+the snow, or had their toes mortified by the cold, were left behind. It
+was found to be a relief to the eyes against the snow, if the soldiers
+kept something black before them on the march, and to the feet, if they
+kept constantly in motion, and allowed themselves no rest, and if they
+took off their shoes in the night. But as to such as slept with their
+shoes on, the straps worked into their feet, and the soles were frozen
+about them, for when their old shoes had failed them, shoes of raw hides
+had been made by the men themselves from the newly skinned oxen.
+
+From such unavoidable sufferings some of the soldiers were left behind,
+who, seeing a piece of ground of a black appearance, from the snow
+having disappeared there, conjectured that it must have melted, and it
+had in fact melted in the spot from the effect of a fountain, which was
+sending up vapor in a wooded hollow close at hand. Turning aside
+thither, they sat down and refused to proceed farther. Xenophon, who was
+with the rear-guard, as soon as he heard this tried to prevail on them
+by every art and means not to be left behind, telling them, at the same
+time, that the enemy were collected and pursuing them in great numbers.
+At last he grew angry, and they told him to kill them, as they were
+quite unable to go forward. He then thought it the best course to strike
+a terror, if possible, into the enemy that were behind, lest they should
+fall upon the exhausted soldiers. It was now dark, and the enemy were
+advancing with a great noise, quarrelling about the booty that they had
+taken, when such of the rear-guard as were not disabled started up and
+rushed toward them, while the tired men, shouting as loud as they could,
+clashed their spears against their shields. The enemy, struck with
+alarm, threw themselves among the snow into the hollow, and no one of
+them afterward made himself heard from any quarter.
+
+Xenophon and those with him, telling the sick men that a party should
+come to their relief next day, proceeded on their march, but before they
+had gone four _stadia_ they found other soldiers resting by the way in
+the snow, and covered up with it, no guard being stationed over them.
+They roused them up, but they said that the head of the army was not
+moving forward. Xenophon, going past them and sending on some of the
+ablest of the _peltasts_, ordered them to ascertain what it was that
+hindered their progress. They brought word that the whole army was in
+that manner taking rest. Xenophon and his men, therefore, stationing
+such a guard as they could, took up their quarters there without fire or
+supper. When it was near day, he sent the youngest of his men to the
+sick, telling them to rouse them and oblige them to proceed. At this
+juncture Chirisophus sent some of his people from the village to see how
+the rear were faring. The young men were rejoiced to see them, and gave
+them the sick to conduct to the camp, while they themselves went
+forward, and, before they had gone twenty stadia, found themselves at
+the village in which Chirisophus was quartered. When they came together,
+it was thought safe enough to lodge the troops up and down in the
+village. Chirisophus accordingly remained where he was, and the other
+officers, appropriating by lot the several villages that they had in
+sight, went to their respective quarters with their men.
+
+Here Polycrates, an Athenian captain, requested leave of absence, and
+taking with him the most active of his men, and hastening to the village
+to which Xenophon had been allotted, surprised all the villagers and
+their head man in their houses, together with seventeen colts that were
+bred as a tribute for the king, and the head man's daughter, who had
+been but nine days married; her husband was gone out to hunt hares, and
+was not found in any of the villages. Their houses were underground, the
+entrance like the mouth of a well, but spacious below; there were
+passages dug into them for the cattle, but the people descended by
+ladders. In the houses were goats, sheep, cows, and fowls, with their
+young; all the cattle were kept on fodder within the walls.[29] There
+were also wheat, barley, leguminous vegetables, and barley wine[30] in
+large bowls; the grains of barley floated in it even with the brim of
+the vessels, and reeds also lay in it, some larger and some smaller,
+without joints; and these, when any one was thirsty, he was to take in
+his mouth and suck.[31] The liquor was very strong, unless one mixed
+water with it, and a very pleasant drink to those accustomed to it.
+
+[Footnote 29: This description of a village on the Armenian uplands
+applies itself to many that I visited in the present day. The descent by
+wells is now rare, but is still to be met with; but in exposed and
+elevated situations the houses are uniformly semi-subterraneous and
+entered by as small an aperture as possible, to prevent the cold getting
+in. Whatever the kind of cottage used, cows, sheep, goats, and fowls
+participate with the family in the warmth and protection thereof.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Something like our ale.]
+
+[Footnote 31: The reeds were used, says Krueger, that none of the grains
+of barley might be taken into the mouth.]
+
+Xenophon made the chief man of his village sup with him, and told him to
+be of good courage, assuring him that he should not be deprived of his
+children, and that they would not go away without filling his house with
+provisions in return for what they took, if he would but prove himself
+the author of some service to the army till they should reach another
+tribe. This he promised, and, to show his good-will, pointed out where
+some wine[32] was buried. This night, therefore, the soldiers rested in
+their several quarters in the midst of great abundance, setting a guard
+over the chief, and keeping his children at the same time under their
+eye. The following day Xenophon took the head man and went with him to
+Chirisophus, and wherever he passed by a village he turned aside to
+visit those who were quartered in it, and found them in all parts
+feasting and enjoying themselves; nor would they anywhere let them go
+till they had set refreshments before them; and they placed everywhere
+upon the same table lamb, kid, pork, veal, and fowl, with plenty of
+bread, both of wheat and barley. Whenever any person, to pay a
+compliment, wished to drink to another, he took him to the large bowl,
+where he had to stoop down and drink, sucking like an ox. The chief they
+allowed to take whatever he pleased, but he accepted nothing from them;
+where he found any of his relatives, however, he took them with him.
+
+[Footnote 32: Xenophon seems to mean _grape_ wine, rather than to refer
+to the barley wine just before mentioned, of which the taste does not
+appear to have been much liked by the Greeks. Wine from grapes was not
+made, it is probable, in these parts, on account of the cold, but Strabo
+speaks of the fruit wine of Armenia Minor as not inferior to any of the
+Greek wines.--_Schneider_.]
+
+When they came to Chirisophus, they found his men also feasting in their
+quarters, crowned with wreaths made of hay, and Armenian boys, in their
+barbarian dress, waiting upon them, to whom they made signs what they
+were to do as if they had been deaf and dumb. When Chirisophus and
+Xenophon had saluted one another, they both asked the chief man, through
+the interpreter who spoke the Persian language, what country it was. He
+replied that it was Armenia. They then asked him for whom the horses
+were bred, and he said that they were a tribute for the king, and added
+that the neighboring country was that of Chalybes, and told them in what
+direction the road lay. Xenophon then went away, conducting the chief
+back to his family, giving him the horse that he had taken, which was
+rather old, to fatten and offer in sacrifice (for he had heard that it
+had been consecrated to the sun), being afraid, indeed, that it might
+die, as it had been injured by the journey. He then took some of the
+young horses, and gave one of them to each of the other generals and
+captains. The horses in this country were smaller than those of Persia,
+but far more spirited. The chief instructed the men to tie little bags
+round the feet of the horses and other cattle when they drove them
+through the snow, for without such bags they sunk up to their bellies.
+
+When the eighth day was come, Xenophon committed the guide to
+Chirisophus. He left the chief[33] all the members of his family, except
+his son, a youth just coming to mature age; him he gave in charge to
+Episthenes of Amphipolis, in order that if the father should conduct
+them properly he might return home with him. At the same time they
+carried to his house as many provisions as they could, and then broke up
+their camp and resumed their march. The chief conducted them through the
+snow, walking at liberty. When he came to the end of the third day's
+march, Chirisophus was angry at him for not guiding them to some
+villages. He said that there was none in that part of the country.
+Chirisophus then struck him, but did not confine him, and in consequence
+he ran off in the night, leaving his son behind him. This affair, the
+ill-treatment and neglect of the guide, was the only cause of dissension
+between Chirisophus and Xenophon during the march. Episthenes conceived
+an affection for the youth, and, taking him home, found him extremely
+attached to him.
+
+[Footnote 33: This is rather oddly expressed, for the guide and the
+chief were the same person.]
+
+After this occurrence they proceeded seven days' journey, five parasangs
+each day, till they came to the river Phasis, the breadth of which is a
+_plethrum_. Hence they advanced two days' journey, ten parasangs, when,
+on the pass that led over the mountains into the plain, the Chalybes,
+Taochi, and Phasians were drawn up to oppose their progress.
+Chirisophus, seeing these enemies in possession of the height, came to a
+halt, at the distance of about thirty stadia, that he might not approach
+them while leading the army in a column. He accordingly ordered the
+other officers to bring up their companies, that the whole force might
+be formed in line.
+
+When the rear-guard was come up, he called together the generals and
+captains and spoke to them as follows: "The enemy, as you see, is in
+possession of the pass over the mountains, and it is proper for us to
+consider how we may encounter them to the best advantage. It is my
+opinion, therefore, that we should direct the troops to get their dinner
+and that we ourselves should hold a council, in the mean time, whether
+it is advisable to cross the mountain to-day or to-morrow."
+
+"It seems best to me," exclaimed Cleanor, "to march at once, as soon as
+we have dined and resumed our arms, against the enemy; for if we waste
+the present day in inaction the enemy, who are now looking down upon us,
+will grow bolder, and it is likely that, as their confidence is
+increased, others will join them in greater numbers."
+
+After him Xenophon said: "I am of opinion that if it be necessary to
+fight, we ought to make our arrangements so as to fight with the
+greatest advantage; but that if we propose to pass the mountains as
+easily as possible, we ought to consider how we may incur the fewest
+wounds and lose the fewest men. The range of hills, as far as we see,
+extends more than sixty stadia in length; but the people nowhere seem to
+be watching us except along the line of road; and it is, therefore,
+better, I think, to endeavor to try to seize unobserved some part of the
+unguarded range, and to get possession of it, if we can, beforehand,
+than to attack a strong post and men prepared to resist us, for it is
+far less difficult to march up a steep ascent without fighting than
+along a level road with enemies on each side; and in the night, if men
+are not obliged to fight, they can see better what is before them than
+by day if engaged with enemies; while a rough road is easier to the feet
+to those who are marching without molestation than a smooth one to those
+who are pelted on the head with missiles. Nor do I think it at all
+impracticable for us to steal a way for ourselves, as we can march by
+night, so as not to be seen, and can keep at such a distance from the
+enemy as to allow no possibility of being heard. We seem likely, too, in
+my opinion, if we make a pretended attack on this point, to find the
+rest of the range still less guarded, for the enemy will so much the
+more probably stay where they are. But why should I speak doubtfully
+about stealing? For I hear that you Lacedaemonians, O Chirisophus, such
+of you at least as are of the better class, practise stealing from your
+boyhood, and it is not a disgrace, but an honor, to steal whatever the
+law does not forbid; while, in order that you may steal with the utmost
+dexterity, and strive to escape discovery, it is appointed by law that,
+if you are caught stealing, you are scourged. It is now high time for
+you, therefore, to give proof of your education, and to take care that
+we may not receive many stripes."
+
+"But I hear that you Athenians also," rejoined Chirisophus, "are very
+clever at stealing the public money, though great danger threatens him
+that steals it; and that your best men steal it most, if indeed your
+best men are thought worthy to be your magistrates; so that it is time
+for you likewise to give proof of your education."
+
+"I am then ready," exclaimed Xenophon, "to march with the rear-guard, as
+soon as we have supped, to take possession of the hills. I have guides
+too, for our light-armed men captured some of the marauders following
+us, by lying in ambush, and from them I learn that the mountains are not
+impassable, but are grazed over by goats and oxen, so that if we once
+gain possession of any part of the range, there will be tracks also for
+our baggage cattle. I expect also that the enemy will no longer keep
+their ground, when they see us upon a level with them on the heights,
+for they will not now come down to be upon a level with us." Chirisophus
+then said: "But why should you go, and leave the charge of the rear?
+Rather send others, unless some volunteers present themselves." Upon
+this Aristonymus of Methydria came forward with his heavy-armed men, and
+Aristeas of Chios and Nichomachus of Oeta with their light-armed; and
+they made an arrangement that as soon as they should reach the top they
+should light a number of fires. Having settled these points, they went
+to dinner; and after dinner Chirisophus led forward the whole army ten
+stadia toward the enemy, that he might appear to be fully resolved to
+march against them on that quarter.
+
+When they had taken their supper, and night came on, those appointed for
+the service went forward and got possession of the hills; the other
+troops rested where they were. The enemy, when they saw the heights
+occupied, kept watch and burned a number of fires all night. As soon as
+it was day, Chirisophus, after having offered sacrifice, marched forward
+along the road; while those who had gained the heights advanced by the
+ridge. Most of the enemy, meanwhile, stayed at the pass, but a part went
+to meet the troops coming along the heights. But before the main bodies
+came together, those on the ridge closed with one another, and the
+Greeks had the advantage, and put the enemy to flight. At the same time
+the Grecian peltasts ran up from the plain to attack the enemy drawn up
+to receive them, and Chirisophus followed at a quick pace with the
+heavy-armed men. The enemy at the pass, however, when they saw those
+above defeated, took to flight. Not many of them were killed, but a
+great number of shields were taken, which the Greeks, by hacking them
+with their swords, rendered useless. As soon as they had gained the
+ascent, and had sacrificed and erected a trophy, they went down into the
+plain before them, and arrived at a number of villages stored with
+abundance of excellent provisions.
+
+From hence they marched five days' journey, thirty parasangs, to the
+country of the Taochi, where provisions began to fail them; for the
+Taochi inhabited strong fastnesses, in which they had laid up all their
+supplies. Having at length, however, arrived at one place which had no
+city or houses attached to it, but in which men and women and a great
+number of cattle were assembled, Chirisophus, as soon as he came before
+it, made it the object of an attack; and when the first division that
+assailed it began to be tired, another succeeded, and then another, for
+it was not possible for them to surround it in a body, as there was a
+river about it. When Xenophon came up with his rear-guard, peltasts, and
+heavy-armed men, Chirisophus exclaimed: "You come seasonably, for we
+must take this place, as there are no provisions for the army unless we
+take it."
+
+They then deliberated together, and Xenophon asking what hindered them
+from taking the place, Chirisophus replied: "The only approach to it is
+the one which you see; but when any of our men attempt to pass along it,
+the enemy roll down stones over yonder impending rock, and whoever is
+struck is treated as you behold;" and he pointed, at the same moment, to
+some of the men who had had their legs and ribs broken. "But if they
+expend all their stones," rejoined Xenophon, "is there anything else to
+prevent us from advancing? For we see, in front of us, only a few men,
+and but two or three of them armed. The space, too, through which we
+have to pass under exposure to the stones is, as you see, only about a
+hundred and fifty feet in length; and of this about a hundred feet is
+covered with large pine trees in groups, against which, if the men place
+themselves, what would they suffer either from the flying stones or the
+rolling ones? The remaining part of the space is not above fifty feet,
+over which, when the stones cease, we must pass at a running pace."
+
+"But," said Chirisophus, "the instant we offer to go to the part covered
+with trees, the stones fly in great numbers."
+
+"That," cried Xenophon, "would be the very thing we want, for thus they
+will exhaust their stones the sooner. Let us then advance, if we can, to
+the point whence we shall have but a short way to run, and from which we
+may, if we please, easily retreat."
+
+Chirisophus and Xenophon, with Callimachus of Parrhasia, one of the
+captains, who had that day the lead of all the other captains of the
+rear-guard, then went forward, all the rest of the captains remaining
+out of danger. Next, about seventy of the men advanced under the trees,
+not in a body, but one by one, each sheltering himself as he could.
+Agasias of Stymphalus, and Aristonymus of Methydria, who were also
+captains of the rear-guard, with some others were at the same time
+standing behind, without the trees, for it was not safe for more than
+one company to stand under them. Callimachus then adopted the following
+stratagem: he ran forward two or three paces from the tree under which
+he was sheltered, and when the stones began to be hurled, hastily drew
+back; and at each of his sallies more than ten cartloads of stones were
+spent.
+
+Agasias, observing what Callimachus was doing, and that the eyes of the
+whole army were upon him, and fearing that he himself might not be the
+first to enter the place, began to advance alone--neither calling to
+Aristonymus who was next him, nor to Eurylochus of Lusia, both of whom
+were his intimate friends, nor to any other person--and passed by all
+the rest. Callimachus, seeing him rushing by, caught hold of the rim of
+his shield, and at that moment Aristonymus of Methydria ran past them
+both, and after him Eurylochus of Lusia, for all these sought
+distinction for valor, and were rivals to one another; and thus, in
+mutual emulation, they got possession of the place, for when they had
+once rushed in, not a stone was hurled from above. But a dreadful
+spectacle was then to be seen; for the women, flinging their children
+over the precipice, threw themselves after them; and the men followed
+their example. AEneas of Stymphalus, a captain, seeing one of them, who
+had on a rich garment, running to throw himself over, caught hold of it
+with intent to stop him. But the man dragged him forward, and they both
+went rolling down the rocks together, and were killed. Thus very few
+prisoners were taken, but a great number of oxen, asses, and sheep.
+
+Hence they advanced, seven days' journey, a distance of fifty parasangs,
+through the country of the Chalybes. These were the most warlike people
+of all that they passed through, and came to close combat with them.
+They had linen cuirasses, reaching down to the groin, and, instead of
+skirts, thick cords twisted. They had also greaves and helmets, and at
+their girdles a short falchion, as large as a Spartan crooked dagger,
+with which they cut the throats of all whom they could master, and then,
+cutting off their heads, carried them away with them. They sang and
+danced when the enemy were likely to see them. They carried also a spear
+of about fifteen cubits in length, having one spike.[34] They stayed in
+their villages till the Greeks had passed by, when they pursued and
+perpetually harassed them. They had their dwellings in strong places, in
+which they had also laid up their provisions, so that the Greeks could
+get nothing from that country, but lived upon the cattle which they had
+taken from the Taochi.
+
+[Footnote 34: Having one iron point at the upper end, and no point at
+the lower for fixing the spear in the ground.]
+
+The Greeks next arrived at the river Harpasus, the breadth of which was
+four _plethra_. Hence they proceeded through the territory of the
+Scythini, four days' journey, making twenty parasangs, over a level
+tract, until they came to some villages, in which they halted three days
+and collected provisions. From this place they advanced four days'
+journey, twenty parasangs, to a large, rich and populous city, called
+Gymnias, from which the governor of the country sent the Greeks a guide
+to conduct them through a region at war with his own people. The guide,
+when he came, said that he would take them in five days to a place
+whence they should see the sea; if not, he would consent to be put to
+death. When, as he proceeded, he entered the country of their enemies,
+he exhorted them to burn and lay waste the lands; whence it was evident
+that he had come for this very purpose, and not from any good-will to
+the Greeks.
+
+On the fifth day they came to the mountain; and the name of it was
+Theches. When the men who were in the front had mounted the height, and
+looked down upon the sea, a great shout proceeded from them; and
+Xenophon and the rearguard, on hearing it, thought that some new enemies
+were assailing the front, for in the rear, too, the people from the
+country that they had burned were following them, and the rear-guard, by
+placing an ambuscade, had killed some, and taken others prisoners, and
+had captured about twenty shields made of raw ox-hides with the hair on.
+But as the noise still increased, and drew nearer, and as those who came
+up from time to time kept running at full speed to join those who were
+continually shouting, the cries becoming louder as the men became more
+numerous, it appeared to Xenophon that it must be something of very
+great moment. Mounting his horse, therefore, and taking with him Lycius
+and the cavalry, he hastened forward to give aid, when presently they
+heard the soldiers shouting, "The sea, the sea!" and cheering on one
+another. They then all began to run, the rear-guard as well as the rest,
+and the baggage-cattle and horses were put to their speed; and when they
+had all arrived at the top, the men embraced one another and their
+generals and captains, with tears in their eyes. Suddenly, whoever it
+was that suggested it, the soldiers brought stones, and raised a large
+mound, on which they laid a number of raw ox-hides, staves, and shields
+taken from the enemy. The shields the guide himself hacked in pieces,
+and exhorted the rest to do the same. Soon after, the Greeks sent away
+the guide, giving him presents from the common stock: a horse, a silver
+cup, a Persian robe, and ten _darics_; but he showed most desire for the
+rings on their fingers, and obtained many of them from the soldiers.
+Having then pointed out to them a village where they might take up their
+quarters, and the road by which they were to proceed to the Macrones,
+when the evening came on he departed, pursuing his way during the night.
+
+Hence the Greeks advanced three days' journey, a distance of ten
+parasangs, through the country of the Macrones. On the first day they
+came to a river which divides the territories of the Macrones from those
+of the Scythini. On their right they had an eminence extremely difficult
+of access, and on their left another river, into which the boundary
+river, which they had to cross, empties itself. This stream was thickly
+edged with trees, not indeed large, but growing closely together. These
+the Greeks, as soon as they came to the spot, cut down,[35] being in
+haste to get out of the country as soon as possible. The Macrones,
+however, equipped with wicker shields, and spears, and hair tunics, were
+drawn up on the opposite side of the crossing-place; they were animating
+one another and throwing stones into the river.[36] They did not hit our
+men or cause them any inconvenience.
+
+[Footnote 35: The Greeks cut down the trees in order to throw them into
+the stream, and form a kind of bridge on which they might cross.]
+
+[Footnote 36: They threw stones into the river that they might stand on
+them and approach nearer to the Greeks, so as to use their weapons with
+more effect.]
+
+At this juncture one of the peltasts came up to Xenophon, saying that he
+had been a slave at Athens, and adding that he knew the language of
+these men. "I think, indeed," said he, "that this is my country, and, if
+there is nothing to prevent, I should wish to speak to the people."
+
+"There is nothing to prevent," replied Xenophon; "so speak to them, and
+first ascertain what people they are." When he asked them, they said
+that they were the Macrones. "Inquire, then," said Xenophon, "why they
+are drawn up to oppose us and wish to be our enemies." They replied,
+"Because you come against our country." The generals then told him to
+acquaint them that we were not come with any wish to do them injury, but
+that we were returning to Greece after having been engaged in war with
+the king, and that we were desirous to reach the sea. They asked if the
+Greeks would give pledges to this effect; and the Greeks replied that
+they were willing both to give and receive them. The Macrones
+accordingly presented the Greeks with a barbarian lance, and the Greeks
+gave them a Grecian one; for they said that such were their usual
+pledges. Both parties called the gods to witness.
+
+After these mutual assurances, the Macrones immediately assisted them in
+cutting away the trees and made a passage for them as if to bring them
+over, mingling freely among the Greeks; they also gave such facilities
+as they could for buying provisions, and conducted them through their
+country for three days, until they brought them to the confines of the
+Colchians. Here was a range of hills, high, but accessible, and upon
+them the Colchians were drawn up in array. The Greeks, at first, drew up
+against them in a line, with the intention of marching up the hill in
+this disposition; but afterward the generals thought proper to assemble
+and deliberate how they might engage with the best effect.
+
+Xenophon then said it appeared to him that they ought to relinquish the
+arrangement in line, and to dispose the troops in columns; "for a line,"
+pursued he, "will be broken at once, as we shall find the hills in some
+parts impassable, though in others easy of access; and this disruption
+will immediately produce despondency in the men, when, after being
+ranged in a regular line, they find it dispersed. Again, if we advance
+drawn up very many deep, the enemy will stretch beyond us on both sides,
+and will employ the parts that outreach us in any way they may think
+proper; and if we advance only a few deep, it would not be at all
+surprising if our line be broken through by showers of missiles and men
+falling upon us in large bodies. If this happen in any part, it will be
+ill for the whole extent of the line. I think, then, that having formed
+our companies in columns, we should keep them so far apart from each
+other as that the last companies on each side may be beyond the enemy's
+wings. Thus our extreme companies will both outflank the line of the
+enemy, and, as we march in file, the bravest of our men will close with
+the enemy first, and wherever the ascent is easiest, there each division
+will direct its course. Nor will it be easy for the enemy to penetrate
+into the intervening spaces when there are companies on each side, nor
+will it be easy to break through a column as it advances; while, if any
+one of the companies be hard pressed, the neighboring one will support
+it; and if but one of the companies can by any path attain the summit,
+the enemy will no longer stand their ground."
+
+This plan was approved, and they threw the companies into columns.
+Xenophon, riding along from the right wing to the left, said: "Soldiers,
+the enemy whom you see before you is now the only obstacle to hinder us
+from being where we have long been eager to be. These, if we can, we
+must eat up alive."
+
+When the men were all in their places, and they had formed the companies
+into columns, there were about eighty companies of heavy-armed men, and
+each company consisted of about eighty men. The peltasts and archers
+they divided into three bodies, each about six hundred men, one of which
+they placed beyond the left wing, another beyond the right, and the
+third in the centre. The generals then desired the soldiers to make
+their vows to the gods; and having made them, and sung the paean, they
+moved forward. Chirisophus and Xenophon, and the peltasts that they had
+with them, who were beyond the enemy's flanks, pushed on; and the enemy,
+observing their motions, and hurrying forward to receive them, was drawn
+off, some to the right and others to the left, and left a great void in
+the centre of the line; when the peltasts in the Arcadian division, whom
+Aeschines the Acarnanian commanded, seeing the Colchians separate, ran
+forward in all haste, thinking that they were taking to flight; and
+these were the first that reached the summit. The Arcadian heavy-armed
+troop, of which Clearnor the Orchomenian was captain, followed them. But
+the enemy, when once the Greeks began to run, no longer stood its
+ground, but went off in flight, some one way and some another.
+
+Having passed the summit, the Greeks encamped in a number of villages
+containing abundance of provisions. As to other things here, there was
+nothing at which they were surprised; but the number of bee-hives was
+extraordinary, and all the soldiers that ate of the combs lost their
+senses, vomited, and were affected with purging, and not any of them was
+able to stand upright; such as had eaten a little were like men greatly
+intoxicated, and such as had eaten much were like madmen, and some like
+persons at the point of death. They lay upon the ground, in consequence,
+in great numbers, as if there had been a defeat; and there was general
+dejection. The next day no one of them was found dead; and they
+recovered their senses about the same hour that they had lost them on
+the preceding day; and on the third and fourth days they got up as if
+after having taken physic.[37]
+
+[Footnote 37: That there was honey in these parts, with intoxicating
+qualities, was well known to antiquity. Pliny mentions two sorts of it,
+one produced at Heraclea in Pontus, and the other among the Sanni or
+Macrones. The peculiarities of the honey arose from the herbs to which
+the bees resorted; the first came from the flower of a plant called
+_oegolethron_, or goatsbane; the other from a species of rhododendron.
+Tournefort, when he was in that country, saw honey of this description.
+Ainsworth found that the intoxicating honey had a bitter taste. This
+honey is also mentioned by Dioscorides.]
+
+From hence they proceeded two days' march, seven parasangs, and arrived
+at Trebizond, a Greek city, of large population, on the Euxine Sea; a
+colony of Sinope, but lying in the territory of the Colchians. Here they
+stayed about thirty days, encamping in the villages of the Colchians,
+whence they made excursions and plundered the country of Colchis. The
+people of Trebizond provided a market for the Greeks in the camp, and
+entertained them in the city; and made them presents of oxen,
+barley-meal, and wine. They negotiated with them also on behalf of the
+neighboring Colchians, those especially who dwelt in the plain, and from
+them too were brought presents of oxen.
+
+Soon after, they prepared to perform the sacrifice which they had vowed.
+Oxen enough had been brought them to offer to Jupiter the Preserver, and
+to Hercules, for their safe conduct, and whatever they had vowed to the
+other gods. They also celebrated gymnastic games upon the hill where
+they were encamped, and chose Dracontius, a Spartan--who had become an
+exile from his country when quite a boy, for having involuntarily killed
+a child by striking him with a dagger--to prepare the course and preside
+at the contests. When the sacrifice was ended, they gave the hides[38]
+to Dracontius, and desired him to conduct them to the place where he had
+made the course. Dracontius, pointing to the place where they were
+standing, said, "This hill is an excellent place for running, in
+whatever direction the men may wish."
+
+[Footnote 38: Lion and Kuehner have a notion that these skins were to be
+given as prizes to the victors, referring to Herodotus, who says that
+the Egyptians, in certain games which they celebrate in honor of
+Perseus, offer as prizes cattle, cloaks, and hides. Krueger doubts
+whether they were intended for prizes, or were given as a present to
+Dracontius.]
+
+"But how will they be able," said they, "to wrestle on ground so rough
+and bushy?"
+
+"He that falls," said he, "will suffer the more." Boys, most of them
+from among the prisoners, contended in the short course, and in the long
+course above sixty Cretans ran; while others were matched in wrestling,
+boxing, and the _pancratium_. It was a fine sight; for many entered the
+lists, and as their friends were spectators, there was great emulation.
+Horses also ran; and they had to gallop down the steep, and, turning
+round in the sea, to come up again to the altar. In the descent, many
+rolled down; but in the ascent, against the exceedingly steep ground,
+the horses could scarcely get up at a walking pace. There was
+consequently great shouting and laughter and cheering from the people.
+
+
+
+
+CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES
+
+B.C. 399
+
+PLATO
+
+
+(The death of Socrates was brought about under the restored democracy by
+three of his enemies--Lycon, Meletus, and Anytus, the last a man of high
+rank and reputation in the state. Socrates was accused by them of
+despising the ancient gods of the state, introducing new divinities and
+corrupting the youth of Athens. He was charged with having taught his
+followers, young men of the first Athenian families, to despise the
+established government, to be turbulent and seditious, and his accusors
+pointed to Alcibiades and Critias, notorious for their lawlessness, as
+examples of the fruits of his teaching.
+
+It is quite certain that Socrates disliked the Athenian government and
+considered democracy as tyrannical as despotism. But there was no law at
+Athens by which he could be put to death for his words and actions, and
+the vague charge could never have been made unless the whole trial of
+the philosopher had been a party movement, headed by men like Lycon and
+Anytus, whose support of the unjust measure made the condemnation of
+Socrates a foregone conclusion. Xenophon, the pupil and admirer of the
+philosopher, expresses in his _Memorabilia of Socrates_ his surprise
+that the Athenians should have condemned to death a man of such exalted
+character and transparent innocence. But the influence of the teacher
+with his pupils, most of them sons of the wealthiest citizens, might
+well have been dreaded by those in office and engaged in the conduct of
+public business. By them, the common politicians of the day, Socrates,
+with his keen and witty criticism of political corruption and
+demagogism, must have been considered a formidable adversary.
+
+Accordingly, by the decision of the Athenian court, the philosopher was
+sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock. Although it was usual
+for criminals to be executed the day following their condemnation, he
+enjoyed a respite of thirty days, during which time his friends had
+access to his prison cell. It was the time when the ceremonial galley
+was crowned and sent on her pilgrimage to the holy Isle of Delos, and no
+criminal could be executed until her return. Socrates exhibited heroic
+constancy and cheerfulness during this interval, and repudiated the
+offers of his friends to aid in his escape, though they had chartered a
+ship to carry him to Thessaly. With calm composure he reasoned on the
+immortality of the soul, and cheered his visitors with words of hope.
+
+The literary portraits of Socrates furnished by himself, and the
+writings of Plato, are among the most precious monuments of antiquity,
+and the life and death of such a man form a memorable era in the moral
+and intellectual history of mankind.
+
+Plato, in his _Phaedo, or the Immortality of the Soul_, gives the
+following dialogue between Echecrates and Phaedo--two friends and
+disciples of the late philosopher--evidently with no other purpose in
+view than to lend to the account of the great teacher's last hours, and
+the last words his followers were to hear from his lips, the additional
+force and dramatic value of a personal narrative in the mouth of a
+loving pupil and an actual eyewitness of his death.)
+
+
+Echecrates. Were you personally present, Phaedo, with Socrates on that
+day when he drank the poison in prison? or did you hear an account of it
+from someone else?
+
+_Phaed._ I was there myself, Echecrates.
+
+_Ech._ What then did he say before his death? and how did he die? for I
+should be glad to hear; for scarcely any citizen of Phlius[39] ever
+visits Athens now, nor has any stranger for a long time come from
+thence, who was able to give us a clear account of the particulars,
+except that he died from drinking poison; but he was unable to tell us
+anything more.
+
+[Footnote 39: Phlius, to which Echecrates belonged, was a town of
+Sicyonia in Peloponnesus.]
+
+_Phaed._ And did you not hear about the trial how it went off?
+
+_Ech._ Yes; some one told me this; and I wondered, that as it took place
+so long ago, he appears to have died long afterward. What was the reason
+of this, Phaedo?
+
+_Phaed._ An accidental circumstance happened in his favor, Echecrates:
+for the poop of the ship which the Athenians send to Delos, chanced to
+be crowned on the day before the trial.
+
+_Ech._ But what is this ship?
+
+_Phaed._ It is the ship, as the Athenians say, in which Theseus formerly
+conveyed the fourteen boys and girls to Crete and saved both them and
+himself. They, therefore, made a vow to Apollo on that occasion, as it
+is said, that if they were saved they would every year despatch a solemn
+embassy to Delos; which, from that time to the present, they send yearly
+to the god. When they begin the preparations for this solemn embassy,
+they have a law that the city shall be purified during this period, and
+that no public execution shall take place until the ship has reached
+Delos, and returned to Athens: and this occasionally takes a long time,
+when the winds happen to impede their passage. The commencement of the
+embassy is when the priest of Apollo has crowned the poop of the ship.
+And this was done, as I said, on the day before the trial: on this
+account Socrates had a long interval in prison between the trial and his
+death.
+
+_Ech._ And what, Phaedo, were the circumstances of his death? what was
+said and done? and who of his friends were with him? or would not the
+magistrates allow them to be present, but did he die destitute of
+friends?
+
+_Phaed._ By no means; but some, indeed several, were present.
+
+_Ech._ Take the trouble, then, to relate to me all the particulars as
+clearly as you can, unless you have any pressing business.
+
+_Phaed._ I am at leisure, and will endeavor to give you a full account:
+for to call Socrates to mind, whether speaking myself or listening to
+some one else, is always most delightful to me.
+
+_Ech._ And indeed, Phaedo, you have others to listen to you who are of
+the same mind. However, endeavor to relate everything as accurately as
+you can.
+
+_Phaed._ I was indeed wonderfully affected by being present, for I was
+not impressed with a feeling of pity, like one present at the death of a
+friend; for the man appeared to me to be happy, Echecrates, both from
+his manner and discourse, so fearlessly and nobly did he meet his death:
+so much so that it occurred to me that in going to Hades he was not
+going without a divine destiny, but that when he arrived there he would
+be happy, if anyone ever was. For this reason I was entirely
+uninfluenced by any feeling of pity, as would seem likely to be the case
+with one present on so mournful an occasion; nor was I affected by
+pleasure from being engaged in philosophical discussions, as was our
+custom; for our conversation was of that kind. But an altogether
+unaccountable feeling possessed me, a kind of unusual mixture compounded
+of pleasure and pain together, when I considered that he was immediately
+about to die. And all of us who were present were affected in much the
+same manner, at one time laughing, at another weeping one of us
+especially, Apollodorus, for you know the man and his manner.
+
+_Ech._ How should I not?
+
+_Phaed._ He, then, was entirely overcome by these emotions; and I too was
+troubled, as well as the others.
+
+_Ech._ But who were present, Phaedo?
+
+_Phaed._ Of his fellow-countrymen, this Apollodorus was present, and
+Critobulus, and his father Crito, moreover Hermogenes, Epigenes,
+AEschines, and Antisthenes; Ctesippus the Paeanian, Menexenus, and some
+other of his countrymen were also there: Plato I think was sick.
+
+_Ech._ Were any strangers present?
+
+_Phaed._ Yes: Simmias the Theban, Cebes, and Phaedondes: and from Megara,
+Euclides and Terpsion.
+
+_Ech._ But what! were not Aristippus and Cleombrotus present?
+
+_Phaed._ No: for they were said to be at AEgina.
+
+_Ech._ Was anyone else there?
+
+_Phaed._ I think that these were nearly all who were present.
+
+_Ech._ Well, now, what do you say was the subject of conversation?
+
+_Phaed._ I will endeavor to relate the whole to you from the beginning.
+On the preceding days I and the others were constantly in the habit of
+visiting Socrates, meeting early in the morning at the court-house where
+the trial took place, for it was near the prison. Here then we waited
+every day till the prison was opened, conversing with each other; for it
+was not opened very early, but, as soon as it was opened we went in to
+Socrates, and usually spent the day with him. On that occasion, however,
+we met earlier than usual; for on the preceding day, when we left the
+prison in the evening, we heard that the ship had arrived from Delos. We
+therefore urged each other to come as early as possible to the
+accustomed place; accordingly we came, and the porter, who used to admit
+us, coming out, told us to wait, and not enter until he called us.
+"For," he said, "the Eleven are now freeing Socrates from his bonds, and
+announcing to him that he must die to-day." But in no long time he
+returned, and bade us enter.
+
+When we entered, we found Socrates just freed from his bonds, and
+Xantippe (you know her), holding his little boy and sitting by him. As
+soon as Xantippe saw us, she wept aloud and said such things as women
+usually do on such occasions, as, "Socrates, your friends will now
+converse with you for the last time, and you with them." But Socrates,
+looking toward Crito, said, "Crito, let some one take her home." Upon
+which some of Crito's attendants led her away, wailing and beating
+herself.
+
+But Socrates, sitting up in bed, drew up his leg and rubbed it with his
+hand, and as he rubbed it said: "What an unaccountable thing, my
+friends, that seems to be which men call pleasure; and how wonderfully
+is it related toward that which appears to be its contrary, pain; in
+that they will not both be present to a man at the same time, yet, if
+anyone pursues and attains the one, he is almost always compelled to
+receive the other, as if they were both united together from one head.
+
+"And it seems to me," he said, "that if AEsop had observed this he would
+have made a fable from it, how the Deity, wishing to reconcile these
+warring principles, when he could not do so, united their heads
+together, and from hence whomsoever the one visits the other attends
+immediately after; as appears to be the case with me, since I suffered
+pain in my leg before from the chain, but now pleasure seems to have
+succeeded."
+
+Hereupon Cebes, interrupting him, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates, you have
+done well in reminding me. With respect to the poems which you made, by
+putting into metre those Fables of AEsop and the hymn to Apollo, several
+other persons asked me, and especially Evenus recently, with what design
+you made them after you came here, whereas before, you had never made
+any. If, therefore, you care at all that I should be able to answer
+Evenus when he asks me again--for I am sure he will do so--tell me what
+I must say to him."
+
+"Tell him the truth then, Cebes," he replied, "that I did not make them
+from a wish to compete with him, or his poems, for I knew that this
+would be no easy matter; but that I might discover the meaning of
+certain dreams, and discharge my conscience, if this should happen to be
+the music which they have often ordered me to apply myself to. For they
+were to the following purport: often in my past life the same dream
+visited me, appearing at different times in different forms, yet always
+saying the same thing. 'Socrates,' it said, 'apply yourself to and
+practise music.' And I formerly supposed that it exhorted and encouraged
+me to continue the pursuit I was engaged in, as those who cheer on
+racers, so that the dream encouraged me to continue the pursuit I was
+engaged in, namely, to apply myself to music, since philosophy is the
+highest music, and I was devoted to it. But now since my trial took
+place, and the festival of the god retarded my death, it appeared to me
+that, if by chance the dream so frequently enjoined me to apply myself
+to popular music, I ought not to disobey it but do so, for that it would
+be safer for me not to depart hence before I had discharged my
+conscience by making some poems in obedience to the dream. Thus, then, I
+first of all composed a hymn to the god whose festival was present, and
+after the god, considering that a poet, if he means to be a poet, ought
+to make fables and not discourses, and knowing that I was not skilled in
+making fables, I therefore put into verse those fables of AEsop, which
+were at hand, and were known to me, and which first occurred to me.
+
+"Tell this then to Evenus, Cebes, and bid him farewell, and, if he is
+wise, to follow me as soon as he can. But I depart, as it seems, to-day;
+for so the Athenians order."
+
+To this Simmias said: "What is this, Socrates, which you exhort Evenus
+to do? for I often meet with him; and from what I know of him, I am
+pretty certain that he will not at all be willing to comply with your
+advice."
+
+"What then," said he, "is not Evenus a philosopher?"
+
+"To me he seems to be so," said Simmias.
+
+"Then he will be willing," rejoined Socrates, "and so will everyone who
+worthily engages in this study; perhaps indeed he will not commit
+violence on himself, for that they say is not allowable." And as he said
+this he let down his leg from the bed on the ground, and in this posture
+continued during the remainder of the discussion.
+
+Cebes then asked him: "What do you mean, Socrates, by saying that it is
+not lawful to commit violence on one's self, but that a philosopher
+should be willing to follow one who is dying?"
+
+"What, Cebes, have not you and Simmias, who have conversed familiarly
+with Philolaus[40] on this subject, heard?"
+
+[Footnote 40: A Pythagorean of Crotona.]
+
+"Nothing very clearly, Socrates."
+
+"I however speak only from hearsay; what then I have heard I have no
+scruple in telling. And perhaps it is most becoming for one who is about
+to travel there, to inquire and speculate about the journey thither,
+what kind we think it is. What else can one do in the interval before
+sunset?"
+
+"Why, then, Socrates, do they say that it is not allowable to kill one's
+self? for I, as you asked just now, have heard both Philolaus, when he
+lived with us, and several others say that it was not right to do this;
+but I never heard anything clear upon the subject from anyone."
+
+"Then you should consider it attentively," said Socrates, "for perhaps
+you may hear: probably, however, it will appear wonderful to you, if
+this alone of all other things is an universal truth,[41] and it never
+happens to a man, as is the case in all other things, that at some times
+and to some persons only it is better to die than to live; yet that
+these men for whom it is better to die--this probably will appear
+wonderful to you--may not, without impiety, do this good to themselves,
+but must await another benefactor."
+
+[Footnote 41: Namely, "that it is better to die than live."]
+
+Then Cebes, gently smiling, said, speaking in his own dialect, "Jove be
+witness."
+
+"And indeed," said Socrates, "it would appear to be unreasonable, yet
+still perhaps it has some reason on its side. The maxim indeed given on
+this subject in the mystical doctrines,[42] that we men are in a kind of
+prison, and that we ought not to free ourselves from it and escape,
+appears to me difficult to be understood, and not easy to penetrate.
+This however appears to me, Cebes, to be well said, that the gods take
+care of us, and that we men are one of their possessions. Does it not
+seem so to you?"
+
+[Footnote 42: Of Pythagoras.]
+
+"It does," replied Cebes.
+
+"Therefore," said he, "if one of your slaves were to kill himself,
+without your having intimated that you wished him to die, should you not
+be angry with him, and should you not punish him if you could?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied.
+
+"Perhaps then, in this point of view, it is not unreasonable to assert,
+that a man ought not to kill himself before the deity lays him under a
+necessity of doing so, such as that now laid on me."
+
+"This, indeed," said Cebes, "appears to be probable. But what you said
+just now, Socrates, that philosophers should be very willing to die,
+appears to be an absurdity, if what we said just now is agreeable to
+reason, that it is God who takes care of us, and that we are his
+property. For that the wisest men should not be grieved at leaving that
+service in which they govern them who are the best of all masters,
+namely, the gods, is not consistent with reason. For surely he cannot
+think that he will take better care of himself when he has become free:
+but a foolish man might perhaps think thus, that he should fly from his
+master, and would not reflect that he ought not to fly from a good one,
+but should cling to him as much as possible, therefore he would fly
+against all reason; but a man of sense would desire to be constantly
+with one better than himself. Thus, Socrates, the contrary of what you
+just now said is likely to be the case; for it becomes the wise to be
+grieved at dying, but the foolish to rejoice."
+
+Socrates, on hearing this, appeared to me to be pleased with the
+pertinacity of Cebes, and looking toward us said: "Cebes, you see,
+always searches out arguments, and is not at all willing to admit at
+once anything one has said."
+
+Whereupon Simmias replied: "But indeed, Socrates, Cebes appears to me,
+now, to say something to the purpose; for with what design should men
+really wise fly from masters who are better than themselves, and so
+readily leave them? And Cebes appears to me to direct his argument
+against you, because you so easily endure to abandon both us and those
+good rulers--as you yourself confess--the gods."
+
+"You speak justly," said Socrates, "for I think you mean that I ought to
+make my defence to this charge, as if I were in a court of justice."
+
+"Certainly," replied Simmias.
+
+"Come then," said he, "I will endeavor to defend myself more
+successfully before you than before the judges. For," he proceeded,
+"Simmias and Cebes, if I did not think that I should go first of all
+among other deities who are both wise and good, and next among men who
+have departed this life better than any here, I should be wrong in not
+grieving at death: but now be assured, I hope to go among good men,
+though I would not positively assert it; that, however, I shall go among
+gods who are perfectly good masters, be assured I can positively assert
+this, if I can anything of the kind. So that, on this account, I am not
+so much troubled, but I entertain a good hope that something awaits
+those who die, and that, as was said long since, it will be far better
+for the good than the evil."
+
+"What then, Socrates," said Simmias, "would you go away keeping this
+persuasion to yourself, or would you impart it to us? For this good
+appears to me to be also common to us; and at the same time it will be
+an apology for you, if you can persuade us to believe what you say."
+
+"I will endeavor to do so," he said. "But first let us attend to Crito
+here, and see what it is he seems to have for some time wished to say."
+
+"What else, Socrates," said Crito, "but what he who is to give you the
+poison told me some time ago, that I should tell you to speak as little
+as possible? For he says that men become too much heated by speaking,
+and that nothing of this kind ought to interfere with the poison, and
+that, otherwise, those who did so were sometimes compelled to drink two
+or three times."
+
+To which Socrates replied: "Let him alone, and let him attend to his own
+business, and prepare to give it me twice, or, if occasion requires,
+even thrice."
+
+"I was almost certain what you would say," answered Crito, "but he has
+been some time pestering me."
+
+"Never mind him," he rejoined.
+
+"But now I wish to render an account to you, my judges, of the reason
+why a man who has really devoted his life to philosophy, when he is
+about to die appears to me, on good grounds, to have confidence, and to
+entertain a firm hope that the greatest good will befall him in the
+other world, when he has departed this life. How then this comes to
+pass, Simmias and Cebes, I will endeavor to explain.
+
+"For as many as rightly apply themselves to philosophy seem to have left
+all others in ignorance, that they aim at nothing else than to die and
+be dead. If this then is true, it would surely be absurd to be anxious
+about nothing else than this during their whole life, but when it
+arrives, to be grieved at what they have been long anxious about and
+aimed at."
+
+Upon this, Simmias, smiling, said: "By Jupiter, Socrates, though I am
+not now at all inclined to smile, you have made me do so; for I think
+that the multitude, if they heard this, would think it was very well
+said in reference to philosophers, and that our countrymen particularly
+would agree with you, that true philosophers do desire death, and that
+they are by no means ignorant that they deserve to suffer it."
+
+"And indeed, Simmias, they would speak the truth, except in asserting
+that they are not ignorant; for they are ignorant of the sense in which
+true philosophers desire to die, and in what sense they deserve death,
+and what kind of death. But," he said, "let us take leave of them, and
+speak to one another. Do we think that death is anything?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Simmias.
+
+"Is it anything else than the separation of the soul from the body? and
+is not this to die, for the body to be apart by itself separated from
+the soul, and for the soul to subsist apart by itself separated from the
+body? Is death anything else than this?"
+
+"No, but this," he replied.
+
+"Consider then, my good friend, whether you are of the same opinion as
+me; for thus I think we shall understand better the subject we are
+considering. Does it appear to you to be becoming in a philosopher to be
+anxious about pleasures, as they are called, such as meats and drinks?"
+
+"By no means, Socrates," said Simmias.
+
+"But what? about the pleasures of love?"
+
+"Not at all"
+
+"What then? does such a man appear to you to think other bodily
+indulgences of value? for instance, does he seem to you to value or
+despise the possession of magnificent garments and sandals, and other
+ornaments of the body, except so far as necessity compels him to use
+them?"
+
+"The true philosopher," he answered, "appears to me to despise them."
+
+"Does not, then," he continued, "the whole employment of such a man
+appear to you to be, not about the body, but to separate himself from it
+as much as possible, and be occupied about his soul?"
+
+"It does."
+
+"First of all, then, in such matters, does not the philosopher, above
+all other men, evidently free his soul as much as he can from communion
+with the body?"
+
+"It appears so."
+
+"And it appears, Simmias, to the generality of men, that he who takes no
+pleasure in such things, and who does not use them, does not deserve to
+live; but that he nearly approaches to death who cares nothing for the
+pleasures that subsist through the body."
+
+"You speak very truly."
+
+"But what with respect to the acquisition of wisdom, is the body an
+impediment or not, if anyone takes it with him as a partner in the
+search? What I mean is this: Do sight and hearing convey any truth to
+men, or are they such as the poets constantly sing, who say that we
+neither hear nor see anything with accuracy? If, however, these bodily
+senses are neither accurate nor clear, much less can the others be so:
+for they are all far inferior to these. Do they not seem so to you?"
+
+"Certainly," he replied.
+
+"When, then," said he, "does the soul light on the truth? for, when it
+attempts to consider anything in conjunction with the body, it is plain
+that it is then led astray by it."
+
+"You say truly."
+
+"Must it not then be by reasoning, if at all, that any of the things
+that really are become known to it?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And surely the soul then reasons best when none of these things
+disturbs it, neither hearing, nor sight, nor pain, nor pleasure of any
+kind, but it retires as much as possible within itself, taking leave of
+the body, and, as far as it can, not communicating or being in contact
+with it, it aims at the discovery of that which is."
+
+"Such is the case."
+
+"Does not then the soul of the philosopher, in these cases, despise the
+body, and flee from it, and seek to retire within itself?"
+
+"It appears so."
+
+"But what as to such things as these, Simmias? Do we say that justice
+itself is something or nothing?"
+
+"We say it is something, by Jupiter."
+
+"And that beauty and goodness are something?"
+
+"How not?"
+
+"Now, then, have you ever seen anything of this kind with your eyes?"
+
+"By no means," he replied.
+
+"Did you ever lay hold of them by any other bodily sense? but I speak
+generally, as of magnitude, health, strength, and, in a word, of the
+essence of everything, that is to say, what each is. Is then the exact
+truth of these perceived by means of the body, or is it thus, whoever
+among us habituates himself to reflect most deeply and accurately on
+each several thing about which he is considering, he will make the
+nearest approach to the knowledge of it?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Would not he, then, do this with the utmost purity, who should in the
+highest degree approach each subject by means of the mere mental
+faculties, neither employing the sight in conjunction with the
+reflective faculty, nor introducing any other sense together with
+reasoning; but who, using pure reflection by itself, should attempt to
+search out each essence purely by itself, freed as much as possible from
+the eyes and ears, and, in a word, from the whole body, as disturbing
+the soul, and not suffering it to acquire truth and wisdom, when it is
+in communion with it. Is not he the person, Simmias, if any one can, who
+will arrive at the knowledge of that which is?"
+
+"You speak with wonderful truth, Socrates," replied Simmias.
+
+"Wherefore," he said, "it necessarily follows from all this, that some
+such opinion as this should be entertained by genuine philosophers, so
+that they should speak among themselves as follows: 'A by-path, as it
+were, seems to lead us on in our researches undertaken by reason,'
+because as long as we are encumbered with the body, and our soul is
+contaminated with such an evil, we can never fully attain to what we
+desire; and this, we say, is truth. For the body subjects us to
+innumerable hinderances on account of its necessary support, and
+moreover if any diseases befall us, they impede us in our search after
+that which is; and it fills us with longings, desires, fears, all kinds
+of fancies, and a multitude of absurdities, so that, as it is said in
+real truth, by reason of the body it is never possible for us to make
+any advances in wisdom.
+
+"For nothing else but the body and its desires occasions wars,
+seditions, and contests; for all wars among us arise on account of our
+desire to acquire wealth; and we are compelled to acquire wealth on
+account of the body, being enslaved to its service; and consequently on
+all these accounts we are hindered in the pursuit of philosophy. But the
+worst of all is, that if it leaves us any leisure, and we apply
+ourselves to the consideration of any subject, it constantly obtrudes
+itself in the midst of our researches, and occasions trouble and
+disturbance, and confounds us so that we are not able by reason of it to
+discern the truth. It has then in reality been demonstrated to us, that
+if we are ever to know anything purely, we must be separated from the
+body, and contemplate the things themselves by the mere soul. And then,
+as it seems, we shall obtain that which we desire, and which we profess
+ourselves to be lovers of, wisdom, when we are dead, as reason shows,
+but not while we are alive. For if it is not possible to know anything
+purely in conjunction with the body, one of these two things must
+follow, either that we can never acquire knowledge, or only after we are
+dead; for then the soul will subsist apart by itself, separate from the
+body, but not before. And while we live, we shall thus, as it seems,
+approach nearest to knowledge, if we hold no intercourse or communion at
+all with the body, except what absolute necessity requires, nor suffer
+ourselves to be polluted by its nature, but purify ourselves from it,
+until God himself shall release us. And thus being pure, and freed from
+the folly of body, we shall in all likelihood be with others like
+ourselves, and shall of ourselves know the whole real essence, and that
+probably is truth; for it is not allowable for the impure to attain to
+the pure. Such things, I think, Simmias, all true lovers of wisdom must
+both think and say to one another. Does it not seem so to you?"
+
+"Most assuredly, Socrates."
+
+"If this, then," said Socrates, "is true, my friend, there is great hope
+for one who arrives where I am going, there, if anywhere, to acquire
+that perfection for the sake of which we have taken so much pains during
+our past life; so that the journey now appointed me is set out upon with
+good hope, and will be so by any other man who thinks that his mind has
+been as it were purified.
+
+"This earth and the whole region here are decayed and corroded, as
+things in the sea by the saltness; for nothing of any value grows in the
+sea, nor, in a word, does it contain anything perfect, but there are
+caverns, and sand, and mud in abundance, and filth in whatever parts of
+the sea there is earth, nor are they at all worthy to be compared with
+the beautiful things with us. But, on the other hand, those things in
+the upper regions of the earth would appear far more to excel the things
+with us. For, if we may tell a beautiful fable, it is well worth
+hearing, Simmias, what kind the things are on the earth beneath the
+heavens."
+
+"Indeed, Socrates," said Simmias, "we should be very glad to hear that
+fable."
+
+"First of all, then, my friend," he continued, "this earth, if anyone
+should survey it from above, is said to have the appearance of balls
+covered with twelve different pieces of leather, variegated and
+distinguished with colors, of which the colors found here, and which
+painters use, are as it were copies. But there the whole earth is
+composed of such, and far more brilliant and pure than these; for one
+part of it is purple, and of wonderful beauty, part of a golden color,
+and part of white, more white than chalk or snow, and in like manner
+composed of other colors, and those more in number and more beautiful
+than any we have ever beheld. And those very hollow parts of the earth,
+though filled with water and air, exhibit a certain species of color,
+shining among the variety of other colors, so that one continually
+variegated aspect presents itself to the view. In this earth, being
+such, all things that grow grow in a manner proportioned to its
+nature--trees, flowers, and fruits; and again, in like manner, its
+mountains and stones possess, in the same proportion, smoothness and
+transparency and more beautiful colors; of which the well-known stones
+here that are so highly prized are but fragments, such as sardin-stones,
+jaspers, and emeralds, and all of that kind. But there, there is nothing
+subsists that is not of this character, and even more beautiful than
+these.
+
+"But the reason of this is, because the stones there are pure, and not
+eaten up and decayed, like those here, by rottenness and saltness, which
+flow down hither together, and which produce deformity and disease in
+the stones and the earth, and in other things, even animals and plants.
+But that earth is adorned with all these, and moreover with gold and
+silver, and other things of the kind: for they are naturally
+conspicuous, being numerous and large, and in all parts of the earth; so
+that to behold it is a sight for the blessed. There are also many other
+animals and men upon it, some dwelling in mid-earth, others about the
+air, as we do about the sea, and others in islands which the air flows
+round, and which are near the continent: and in one word, what water and
+the sea are to us for our necessities, the air is to them; and what air
+is to us, that ether is to them.
+
+"But their seasons are of such a temperament that they are free from
+disease, and live for a much longer time than those here, and surpass us
+in sight, hearing, and smelling, and everything of this kind, as much as
+air excels water, and ether air, in purity. Moreover, they have abodes
+and temples of the gods, in which gods really dwell, and voices and
+oracles, and sensible visions of the gods, and such-like intercourse
+with them; the sun, too, and moon, and stars, are seen by them such as
+they really are, and their felicity in other respects is correspondent
+with these things.
+
+"And such, indeed, is the nature of the whole earth and the parts about
+the earth; but there are many places all round it throughout its
+cavities, some deeper and more open than that in which we dwell: but
+others that are deeper have less chasm than in our region, and other are
+shallower in depth than they are here, and broader.
+
+"But all these are in many places perforated one into another under the
+earth, some with narrower and some with wider channels, and have
+passages through, by which a great quantity of water flows from one into
+another, as into basins, and there are immense bulks of ever-flowing
+rivers under the earth, both of hot and cold water, and a great quantity
+of fire, and mighty rivers of fire, and many of liquid mire, some purer
+and some more miry, as in Sicily there are rivers of mud that flow
+before the lava, and the lava itself, and from these the several places
+are filled, according as the overflow from time to time happens to come
+to each of them. But all these move up and down as it were by a certain
+oscillation existing in the earth. And this oscillation proceeds from
+such natural cause as this: one of the chasms of the earth is
+exceedingly large, and perforated through the entire earth, and is that
+which Homer[43] speaks of, 'very far off, where is the most profound
+abyss beneath the earth,' which elsewhere both he and many other poets
+have called Tartarus. For into this chasm all rivers flow together, and
+from it flow out again, but they severally derive their character from
+the earth through which they flow."
+
+[Footnote 43: _Iliad_, lib. viii., v. 14.]
+
+"And the reason why all streams flow out from thence and flow into it is
+because this liquid has neither bottom nor base. Therefore it oscillates
+and fluctuates up and down, and the air and the wind around it do the
+same; for they accompany it, both when it rushes to those parts of the
+earth, and when to these. And as in respiration the flowing breath is
+continually breathed out and drawn in, so there the wind, oscillating
+with the liquid, causes certain vehement and irresistible winds both as
+it enters and goes out. When, therefore, the water rushing in descends
+to the place which we call the lower region, it flows through the earth
+into the streams there and fills them, just as men pump up water. But
+when again it leaves those regions and rushes hither, it again fills the
+rivers here, and these, when filled, flow through channels and through
+the earth, and having severally reached the several places to which they
+are journeying, they make seas, lakes, rivers, and fountains.
+
+"Then sinking again from thence beneath the earth, some of them having
+gone round longer and more numerous places, and others round fewer and
+shorter, they again discharge themselves into Tartarus, some much lower
+than they were drawn up, others only a little so, but all of them flow
+in again beneath the point at which they flowed out. And some issue out
+directly opposite the place by which they flow in, others on the same
+side: there are also some which having gone round altogether in a
+circle, folding themselves once or several times round the earth, like
+serpents, when they had descended as low as possible, discharge
+themselves again; and it is possible for them to descend on either side
+as far as the middle, but not beyond; for in each direction there is an
+acclivity to the streams both ways.
+
+"Now there are many other large and various streams, and among this
+great number there are four certain streams, of which the largest, and
+that which flows most outwardly round the earth, is called Ocean, but
+directly opposite this, and flowing in a contrary direction, is Acheron,
+which flows through other desert places, and moreover passing under the
+earth, reaches the Acherusian lake, where the souls of most who die
+arrive, and having remained there for certain destined periods, some
+longer and some shorter, are again sent forth into the generations of
+animals. A third river issues midway between these, and near its source
+falls into a vast region, burning with abundance of fire, and forms a
+lake larger than our sea, boiling with water and mud; from hence it
+proceeds in a circle, turbulent and muddy, and folding itself round it
+reaches both other places and the extremity of the Acherusian lake, but
+does not mingle with its water; but folding itself oftentimes beneath
+the earth, it discharges itself into the lower parts of Tartarus. And
+this is the river which they call Pyriphlegethon, whose burning streams
+emit dissevered fragments in whatever part of the earth they happen to
+be. Opposite to this again the fourth river first falls into a place
+dreadful and savage, as it is said, having its whole color like
+_cyanus_: this they call Stygian, and the lake which the river forms by
+its discharge, Styx. This river having fallen in here, and received
+awful power in the water, sinking beneath the earth, proceeds, folding
+itself round, in an opposite course to Pyriphlegethon, and meets it in
+the Acherusian lake from a contrary direction. Neither does the water of
+this river mingle with any other, but it, too, having gone round in a
+circle, discharges itself into Tartarus opposite to Pyriphlegethon. Its
+name, as the poets say, is Cocytus.
+
+"These things being thus constituted, when the dead arrive at the place
+to which their demon leads them severally, first of all they are judged,
+as well those who have lived well and piously as those who have not. And
+those who appear to have passed a middle kind of life, proceeding to
+Acheron, and embarking in the vessels they have, on these arrive at the
+lake, and there dwell, and when they are purified, and have suffered
+punishment for the iniquities they may have committed, they are set
+free, and each receives the reward of his good deeds, according to his
+deserts: but those who appear to be incurable, through the magnitude of
+their offences, either from having committed many and great sacrileges,
+or many unjust and lawless murders, or other similar crimes, these a
+suitable destiny hurls into Tartarus, whence they never come forth.
+
+"But those who appear to have been guilty of curable yet great offences,
+such as those who through anger have committed any violence against
+father or mother, and have lived the remainder of their life in a state
+of penitence, or they who have become homicides in a similar manner,
+these must of necessity fall into Tartarus, but after they have fallen,
+and have been there for a year, the wave casts them forth, the homicides
+into Cocytus, but the parricides and matricides into Pyriphlegethon: but
+when, being borne along, they arrive at the Acherusian lake, there they
+cry out to and invoke, some those whom they slew, others those whom they
+injured, and invoking them they entreat and implore them to suffer them
+to go out into the lake, and to receive them, and if they persuade them
+they go out and are freed from their sufferings; but if not, they are
+borne back to Tartarus, and thence again to the rivers, and they do not
+cease from suffering this until they have persuaded those whom they have
+injured, for this sentence was imposed on them by the judges.
+
+"But those who are found to have lived an eminently holy life, these are
+they who, being freed and set at large from these regions in the earth,
+as from a prison, arrive at the pure abode above, and dwell on the upper
+parts of the earth. And among these, they who have sufficiently purified
+themselves by philosophy shall live without bodies, throughout all
+future time, and shall arrive at habitations yet more beautiful than
+these, which it is neither easy to describe nor at present is there
+sufficient time for the purpose.
+
+"But for the sake of these things which we have described, we should use
+every endeavor, Simmias, so as to acquire virtue and wisdom in this
+life; for the reward is noble, and the hope great.
+
+"To affirm positively, indeed, that these things are exactly as I have
+described them does not become a man of sense; that however either this
+or something of the kind takes place with respect to our souls and their
+habitations--since our soul is certainly immortal--this appears to me
+most fitting to be believed, and worthy the hazard for one who trusts in
+its reality; for the hazard is noble, and it is right to allure
+ourselves with such things, as with enchantments; for which reason I
+have prolonged my story to such a length.
+
+"On account of these things, then, a man ought to be confident about his
+soul who during this life has disregarded all the pleasures and
+ornaments of the body as foreign from his nature, and who, having
+thought that they do more harm than good, has zealously applied himself
+to the acquirement of knowledge, and who having adorned his soul not
+with a foreign but its own proper ornament--temperance, justice,
+fortitude, freedom, and truth--thus waits for his passage to Hades, as
+one who is ready to depart whenever destiny shall summon him. You,
+then," he continued, "Simmias and Cebes, and the rest, will each of you
+depart at some future time; but now 'destiny summons me,' as a tragic
+writer would say, and it is nearly time for me to betake myself to the
+bath; for it appears to me to be better to drink the poison after I have
+bathed myself, and not to trouble the women with washing my dead body."
+
+When he had thus spoken, Crito said: "So be it, Socrates, but what
+commands have you to give to these or to me, either respecting your
+children or any other matter, in attending to which we can most oblige
+you?"
+
+"What I always say, Crito," he replied, "nothing new; that by taking
+care of yourselves you will oblige both me and mine and yourselves,
+whatever you do, though you should not now promise it; but if you
+neglect yourselves, and will not live as it were in the footsteps of
+what has been now and formerly said, even though you should promise much
+at present, and that earnestly, you will do no good at all."
+
+"We will endeavor then so to do," he said; "but how shall we bury you?"
+
+"Just as you please," he said, "if only you can catch me, and I do not
+escape from you." And at the same time smiling gently, and looking round
+on us, he said: "I cannot persuade Crito, my friends, that I am that
+Socrates who is now conversing with you, and who methodizes each part of
+the discourse; but he thinks that I am he whom he will shortly behold
+dead, and asks how he should bury me. But that which I some time since
+argued at length, that when I have drunk the poison I shall no longer
+remain with you, but shall depart to some happy state of the blessed,
+this I seem to have urged to him in vain, though I meant at the same
+time to console both you and myself. Be ye then my sureties to Crito,"
+he said, "in an obligation contrary to that which he made to the judges;
+for he undertook that I should remain; but do you be sureties that, when
+I die, I shall not remain, but shall depart, that Crito may more easily
+bear it, and when he sees my body either burnt or buried, may not be
+afflicted for me, as if I suffered some dreadful thing, nor say at my
+interment that Socrates is laid out, or is carried out, or is buried.
+
+"For be well assured," he said, "most excellent Crito, that to speak
+improperly is not only culpable as to the thing itself, but likewise
+occasions some injury to our souls. You must have a good courage, then,
+and say that you bury my body, and bury it in such a manner as is
+pleasing to you, and as you think is most agreeable to our laws."
+
+When he had said thus he rose and went into a chamber to bathe, and
+Crito followed him, but he directed us to wait for him. We waited,
+therefore, conversing among ourselves about what had been said, and
+considering it again, and sometimes speaking about our calamity, how
+severe it would be to us, sincerely thinking that, like those who are
+deprived of a father, we should pass the rest of our life as orphans.
+When he had bathed, and his children were brought to him, for he had two
+little sons, and one grown up; and the women belonging to his family
+were come, having conversed with them in the presence of Crito and given
+them such injunctions as he wished, he directed the women and children
+to go away, and then returned to us. And it was now near sunset; for he
+spent a considerable time within.
+
+But when he came from bathing he sat down, and did not speak much
+afterward; then the officer of the Eleven came in, and standing near
+him, said: "Socrates, I shall not have to find that fault with you that
+I do with others, that they are angry with me and curse me, when, by
+order of the archons, I bid them drink the poison. But you, on all other
+occasions during the time you have been here, I have found to be the
+most noble, meek, and excellent man of all that ever came into this
+place; and therefore I am now well convinced that you will not be angry
+with me (for you know who are to blame) but with them. Now, then, for
+you know what I came to announce to you, farewell; and endeavor to bear
+what is inevitable as easily as possible." And at the same time,
+bursting into tears, he turned away and withdrew.
+
+And Socrates, looking after him, said: "And thou too, farewell; we will
+do as you direct." At the same time turning to us, he said: "How
+courteous the man is; during the whole time I have been here he has
+visited me, and conversed with me sometimes, and proved the worthiest of
+men; and now how generously he weeps for me. But come, Crito, let us
+obey him, and let some one bring the poison, if it is ready pounded, but
+if not, let the man pound it."
+
+Then Crito said: "But I think, Socrates, that the sun is still on the
+mountains and has not yet set. Besides, I know that others have drunk
+the poison very late, after it had been announced to them, and have
+supped and drunk freely, and some even have enjoyed the objects of their
+love. Do not hasten, then, for there is yet time."
+
+Upon this Socrates replied: "These men whom you mention, Crito, do these
+things with good reason, for they think they shall gain by so doing, and
+I too with good reason shall not do so; for I think I shall gain nothing
+by drinking a little later, except to become ridiculous to myself, in
+being so fond of life, and sparing of it when none any longer remains.
+Go, then," he said, "obey, and do not resist."
+
+Crito having heard this, nodded to the boy that stood near. And the boy
+having gone out, and stayed for some time, came, bringing with him the
+man that was to administer the poison, who brought it ready pounded in a
+cup. And Socrates, on seeing the man, said: "Well, my good friend, as
+you are skilled in these matters, what must I do?"
+
+"Nothing else," he replied, "than when you have drunk it walk about
+until there is a heaviness in your legs, then lie down; thus it will do
+its purpose." And at the same time he held out the cup to Socrates. And
+he having received it very cheerfully, Echecrates, neither trembling nor
+changing at all in color or countenance, but, as he was wont, looking
+steadfastly at the man, said: "What say you of this potion, with respect
+to making a libation to anyone, is it lawful or not?"
+
+"We only pound so much, Socrates," he said, "as we think sufficient to
+drink."
+
+"I understand you," he said; "but it is certainly both lawful and right
+to pray to the gods, that my departure hence thither may be happy; which
+therefore I pray, and so may it be." And as he said this he drank it off
+readily and calmly. Thus far, most of us were with difficulty able to
+restrain ourselves from weeping, but when we saw him drinking, and
+having finished the draught, we could do so no longer; but in spite of
+myself the tears came in full torrent, so that, covering my face, I wept
+for myself, for I did not weep for him, but for my own fortune, in being
+deprived of such a friend. But Crito, even before me when he could not
+restrain his tears, had risen up.
+
+But Apollodorus, even before this, had not ceased weeping, and then
+bursting into an agony of grief, weeping and lamenting, he pierced the
+heart of everyone present except Socrates himself. But he said: "What
+are you doing, my admirable friends? I indeed, for this reason chiefly,
+sent away the women that they might not commit any folly of this kind.
+For I have heard that it is right to die with good omens. Be quiet,
+therefore, and bear up."
+
+When we heard this we were ashamed and restrained our tears. But he,
+having walked about, when he said that his legs were growing heavy, laid
+down on his back; for the man so directed him. And at the same time he
+who gave him the poison, taking hold of him, after a short interval
+examined his feet and legs; and then having pressed his foot hard, he
+asked if he felt it.
+
+He said that he did not.
+
+And after this he pressed his thighs; and thus going higher, he showed
+us that he was growing cold and stiff.
+
+Then Socrates touched himself, and said that when the poison reached his
+heart he should then depart.
+
+But now the parts around the lower belly were almost cold; when,
+uncovering himself (for he had been covered over), he said, and they
+were his last words: "Crito, we owe a cock to Aesculapius; pay it,
+therefore, and do not neglect it!"
+
+"It shall be done," said Crito; "but consider whether you have anything
+else to say?"
+
+To this question he gave no reply; but shortly after he gave a
+convulsive movement, and the man covered him, and his eyes were fixed;
+and Crito, perceiving it, closed his mouth and eyes.
+
+This, Echecrates, was the end of our friend, a man, as we may say, the
+best of all of his time that we have known, and, moreover, the most wise
+and just.
+
+
+
+
+BRENNUS BURNS ROME
+
+B.C. 388
+
+BARTHOLD GEORG NIEBUHR
+
+
+(Julius Caesar is the first writer who gives us an authentic and
+enlightening account of the Gauls, whom he divided into three groups.
+The Gauls were the chief branch of the great original stock of Celts.
+They were a nomadic people, and from their home in Western Europe they
+spread to Britain, invaded Spain, and swarmed over the Alps into Italy,
+and it is from the latter event that this tall, fair, and fighting
+nation first came into the region of history.
+
+Before the Gauls had come within the borders of Italy, Camillus, the
+Dictator, had dealt the death-blow to the Etruscan League through his
+capture and destruction of its stronghold, Veii. But at the very summit
+of his triumph he lost the grace of his countrymen by demanding a tenth
+of their spoil taken at Veii, and which he claimed to have vowed to
+Apollo. It was popularly considered a ruse to increase his private
+fortune. Furthermore, a counter-claim was brought against him for
+appropriating bronze gates, which in Rome at that time were nothing less
+than actual money--bronze being the medium of currency. Camillus went
+into exile in consequence of the accusation. His parting prayer was that
+his country might feel his need and call him back. His desire was
+fulfilled, for soon after "the Gaul was at the gates" under the
+leadership of the haughty Brennus, who had come upon the Romans at a
+most opportune moment. This event of the overthrow of the Romans on the
+Alia has been the occasion for the well-known tale of the cackling of
+the geese in the temple of Juno, which alarmed the garrison. The episode
+also gave rise to the saying of the conqueror, Brennus, who, when
+reproached by his antagonists with using false weights, cast his sword
+into the scale, crying, "Woe to the conquered!")
+
+
+At that time no Roman foresaw the calamity which was threatening the
+empire. Rome had become great, because the country which she had
+conquered was weak through its oligarchical institutions; the subjects
+of the other states gladly joined the Romans, because under them their
+lot was more favorable, and probably because they were kindred nations.
+But matters went with the Romans as they did with Basilius, who subdued
+the Armenians when they were threatened by the Turks, and who soon after
+attacked the whole Greek empire and took away far more than had been
+gained before.
+
+The expedition of the Gauls into Italy must be regarded as a migration,
+and not as an invasion for the purpose of conquest: as for the
+historical account of it, we must adhere to Polybius and Diodorus, who
+place it shortly before the taking of Rome by the Gauls. We can attach
+no importance to the statement of Livy that they had come into Italy as
+early as the time of Tarquinius Priscus, having been driven from their
+country by a famine. It undoubtedly arose from the fact that some Greek
+writer, perhaps Timaeus, connected this migration with the settlement of
+the Phocians at Massilia. It is possible that Livy even here made use of
+Dionysius; and that the latter followed Timaeus; for as Livy made use of
+Dionysius in the eighth book, why not also in the fifth? He himself knew
+very little of Greek history;[44] but Justin's account is here evidently
+opposed to Livy.
+
+[Footnote 44: Comp. _Hist. of Rome_, vol. iii. n. 485.]
+
+Trogus Pompeius was born in the neighborhood of Massilia, and in writing
+his forty-third book he obviously made use of native chronicles, for
+from no other source could he derive the account of the _decreta
+honorifica_ of the Romans to the Massilians for the friendship which the
+latter had shown to the Romans during the Gallic war; and from the same
+source must he have obtained his information about the maritime wars of
+Massilia against Carthage. Trogus knows nothing of the story that the
+Gauls assisted the Phocians on their arrival; but according to him, they
+met with a kind reception among the Ligurians, who continued to inhabit
+those parts for a long time after. Even the story of the _lucumo_ who is
+said to have invited the Gauls is opposed to him, and if it were
+referred to Clusium alone it would be absurd. Polybius places the
+passage of the Gauls across the Alps about ten or twenty years before
+the taking of Rome; and Diodorus describes them as advancing toward Rome
+by an uninterrupted march. It is further stated that Melpum in the
+country of the Insubrians was destroyed on the same day as Veii: without
+admitting this coincidence, we have no reason to doubt that the
+statement is substantially true; and it is made by Cornelius Nepos, who,
+as a native of Gallia Transpadana, might possess accurate information,
+and whose chronological accounts were highly esteemed by the Romans.
+
+There was no other passage for the Gauls except either across the Little
+St. Bernard or across the Simplon; it is not probable that they took the
+former road, because their country extended only as far as the Ticinus,
+and if they had come across the Little St. Bernard, they would naturally
+have occupied also all the country between that mountain and the
+Ticinus. The Salassi may indeed have been a Gallic people, but it is by
+no means certain; moreover, between them and the Gauls who had come
+across the Alps the Laevi also lived; and there can be no doubt that at
+that time Ligurians still continued to dwell on the Ticinus.
+
+Melpum must have been situated in the district of Milan. The latter
+place has an uncommonly happy situation: often as it has been destroyed,
+it has always been restored, so that it is not impossible that Melpum
+may have been situated on the very spot afterward occupied by Milan. The
+Gallic migration undoubtedly passed by like a torrent with irresistible
+rapidity: how then is it possible to suppose that Melpum resisted them
+for two centuries, or that they conquered it and yet did not disturb the
+Etruscans for two hundred years? It would be absurd to believe it,
+merely to save an uncritical expression of Livy. According to the common
+chronology, the Triballi, who in the time of Herodotus inhabited the
+plains, and were afterward expelled by the Gauls, appeared in Thrace
+twelve years after the taking of Rome--according to a more correct
+chronology it was only nine years after that event. It was the same
+movement assuredly which led the Gauls to the countries through which
+the middle course of the Danube extends, and to the Po; and could the
+people who came in a few days from Clusium to Rome, and afterward
+appeared in Apulia, have been sitting quiet in a corner of Italy for two
+hundred years? If they had remained there because they had not the power
+to advance, they would have been cut to pieces by the Etruscans. We must
+therefore look upon it as an established fact, that the migration took
+place at the late period mentioned by Polybius and Diodorus.
+
+These Gauls were partly Celts, and partly (indeed principally) Belgae or
+Cymri, as may be perceived from the circumstance that their king, as
+well as the one who appeared before Delphi, is called Brennus. _Brenin_,
+according to Adelung, in his _Mithridates_, signifies in the language of
+Wales and Lower Brittany a _king_. But what caused this whole
+emigration? The statement of Livy, that the Gauls were compelled by
+famine to leave their country, is quite in keeping with the nature of
+all traditions about migrations, such as we find them in Saxo
+Grammaticus, in Paul Warnefried from the sagas of the Swedes, in the
+Tyrrhenian traditions of Lydia, and others. However, in the case of a
+people like the Celts, every specific statement of this kind, in which
+even the names of their leaders are mentioned, is of no more value than
+the traditions of other barbarous nations which were unacquainted with
+the art of writing. It is indeed, well known that the Celts in writing
+used the Greek alphabet, but they probably employed it only in the
+transactions of daily life; for we know that they were not allowed to
+commit their ancient songs to writing.
+
+During the Gallic migration we are again made aware how little we know
+of the history of Italy generally: our knowledge is limited to Rome, so
+that we are in the same predicament there, as if of all the historical
+authorities of the whole German empire we had nothing but the annals of
+a single imperial city. According to Livy's account, it would seem as if
+the only object of the Gauls had been to march to Rome; and yet this
+immigration changed the whole aspect of Italy. After the Gauls had once
+crossed the Apennines, there was no further obstacle to prevent their
+marching to the south of Italy by any road they pleased; and it is in
+fact mentioned that they did proceed farther south. The Umbrians still
+inhabited the country on the lower Po, in the modern Romagna and Urbino,
+parts of which were occupied by Liburnians. Polybius says that many
+people there became tributary to the Gauls, and that this was the case
+with the Umbrians is quite certain.
+
+The first historical appearance of the Gauls is at Clusium, whither a
+noble Clusine is said to have invited them for the purpose of taking
+vengeance on his native city. Whether this account is true, however,
+must remain undecided, and if there is any truth in it, it is more
+probable that the offended Clusine went across the Apennines and fetched
+his avengers. Clusium has not been mentioned since the time of Porsena;
+the fact of the Clusines soliciting the aid of Rome is a proof how
+little that northern city of Etruria was concerned about the fate of the
+southern towns, and makes us even suspect that it was allied with Rome;
+however, the danger was so great that all jealousy must have been
+suppressed. The natural road for the Gauls would have been along the
+Adriatic, then through the country of Umbrians who were tributary to
+them and already quite broken down, and thence through the Romagna
+across the Apennines.
+
+But the Apennines which separate Tuscany from the Romagna are very
+difficult to cross, especially for sumpter-horses; as therefore the
+Gauls could not enter Etruria on that side--which the Etruscans had
+intentionally allowed to grow wild--and as they had been convinced of
+this in an unsuccessful attempt, they crossed the Apennines in the
+neighborhood of Clusium, and appeared before that city. Clusium was the
+great bulwark of the valley of the Tiber; and if it were taken, the
+roads along the Tiber and the Arno would be open, and the Gauls might
+reach Arezzo from the rear: the Romans therefore looked upon the fate of
+Clusium as decisive of their own. The Clusines sued for a treaty with
+the mighty city of Rome, and the Romans were wise enough readily to
+accept the offer: they sent ambassadors to the Gauls, ordering them to
+withdraw. According to a very probable account, the Gauls had demanded
+of the Clusines a division of their territory as the condition of peace,
+and not, as was customary with the Romans, as a tax upon a people
+already subdued: if this is correct, the Romans sent the embassy
+confiding in their own strength. But the Gauls scorned the ambassadors,
+and the latter, allowing themselves to be carried away by their warlike
+disposition, joined the Etruscans in a fight against the Gauls. This was
+probably only an insignificant and isolated engagement. Such is the
+account of Livy, who goes on to say that the Gauls, as soon as they
+perceived this violation in the law of nations, gave the signal for a
+retreat, and, having called upon the gods to avenge the wrong, marched
+against Rome.
+
+This is evidently a mere fiction, for a barbarous nation like the Gauls
+cannot possibly have had such ideas, nor was there in reality any
+violation of the law of nations, as the Romans stood in no kind of
+connection with the Gauls. But it was a natural feeling with the Romans
+to look upon the fall of their city as the consequence of a _nefas_
+which no human power could resist. Roman vanity also is at work here,
+inasmuch as the Roman ambassadors are said to have so distinguished
+themselves that they were recognized by the barbarians among the hosts
+of Etruscans. Now, according to another tradition directly opposed to
+these statements, the Gauls sent to Rome to demand the surrender of
+those ambassadors: as the senate was hesitating and left the decision to
+the people, the latter not only rejected the demand, but appointed the
+same ambassadors to the office of military tribunes, whereupon the Gauls
+with all their forces at once marched toward Rome.
+
+Livy here again speaks of the _populus_ as the people to whom the senate
+left the decision: this must have been the patricians only, for they
+alone had the right to decide upon the fate of the members of their own
+order. It is not fair to accuse the Romans on that occasion of
+dishonesty; but this account assuredly originated with later writers,
+who transferred to barbarians the right belonging to a nation standing
+in a legal relation to another. The statement that the three
+ambassadors, all of whom were Fabii, were appointed military tribunes,
+is not even the usual one, for there is another in Diodorus, who must
+here have used Roman authorities written in Greek, that is, Fabius;
+since he calls the Caerites [Greek: Kairioi] and not [Greek: Agullaioi].
+He speaks of a single ambassador, who being a son of a military tribune
+fought against the Gauls. This is at least a sign how uncertain history
+yet is. The battle on the Alia was fought on the 16th of July; the
+military tribunes entered upon their office on the first of that month;
+and the distance between Clusium and Rome is only three good days'
+marches. It is impossible to restore the true history, but we can
+discern what is fabulous from what is really historical.
+
+An innumerable host of Gauls now marched from Clusium toward Rome. For a
+long time the Gauls were most formidable to the Romans, as well as to
+all other nations with whom they came in contact, even as far east as
+the Ukraine; as to Rome, we see this as late as the Cisalpine war of the
+year A.U. 527. Polybius and Diodorus are our best guides in seeking for
+information about the manners of the Gauls, for in the time of Caesar
+they had already become changed. In the description of their persons we
+partly recognize the modern Gael, or the inhabitants of the Highlands of
+Scotland: huge bodies, blue eyes, bristly hair; even their dress and
+armor are those of the Highlanders, for they wore the checked and
+variegated tartans; their arms consisted of the broad, unpointed
+battle-sword, the same weapon as the claymore among the Highlanders.
+They had a vast number of horns, which were used in the Highlands for
+many centuries after, and threw themselves upon the enemy in immense
+irregular masses with terrible fury, those standing behind impelling
+those stationed in front, whereby they became irresistible by the
+tactics of those times.
+
+The Romans ought to have used against them their phalanx and doubled it,
+until they were accustomed to this enemy and were enabled by their
+greater skill to repel them. If the Romans had been able to withstand
+their first shock, the Gauls would have easily been thrown into
+disorder, and put to flight. The Gauls who were subsequently conquered
+by the Romans were the descendants of such as were born in Italy, and
+had lost much of their courage and strength. The Goths under Vitiges,
+not fifty years after the immigration of Theodoric into Italy, were
+cowards, and unable to resist the twenty thousand men of Belisarius:
+showing how easily barbarians degenerate in such climates.
+
+The Gauls, moreover, were terrible on account of their inhuman cruelty,
+for, wherever they settled, the original towns and their inhabitants
+completely disappeared from the face of the earth. In their own country
+they had the feudal system and a priestly government: the Druids were
+their only rulers, who avenged the oppressed people on the lords, but in
+their turn became tyrants: all the people were in the condition of
+serfs, a proof that the Gauls, in their own country too, were the
+conquerors who had subdued an earlier population. We always find mention
+of the wealth of the Gauls in gold, and yet France has no rivers that
+carry gold-sand, and the Pyrenees were then no longer in their
+possession: the gold must therefore have been obtained by barter. Much
+may be exaggeration; and the fact of some noble individuals wearing gold
+chains was probably transferred by ancient poets to the whole nation,
+since popular poetry takes great liberty, especially in such
+embellishments.
+
+Pliny states that previous to the Gallic calamity the census amounted to
+one hundred and fifty thousand persons, which probably refers only to
+men entitled to vote in the assemblies, and does not comprise women,
+children, slaves, and strangers. If this be correct, the number of
+citizens was enormous; but it must not be supposed to include the
+inhabitants of the city only, the population of which was doubtless much
+smaller. The statement of Diodorus that all men were called to arms to
+resist the Gauls, and that the number amounted to forty thousand, is by
+no means improbable: according to the testimony of Polybius, Latins and
+Hernicans also were enlisted. Another account makes the Romans take the
+field against the Gauls with twenty-four thousand men, that is, with
+four field legions and four civic legions: the field legions were formed
+only of plebeians, and served, according to the order of the classes,
+probably in _maniples_; the civic legions contained all those who
+belonged neither to the patricians nor to the plebeians, that is, all
+the _aerarii, proletarii_, freedmen, and artisans who had never before
+faced an enemy. They were certainly not armed with the _pilum_, nor
+drawn up in _maniples_; but used pikes and were employed in phalanxes.
+
+Now as for the field legions, each consisted half of Latins and half of
+Romans, there being in each _maniple_ one century of Roman and one of
+Latins. There were at that time four legions, and as a legion, including
+the reserve troops, contained three thousand men, the total is twelve
+thousand; now the account which mentions twenty-four thousand men must
+have presumed that there were four field legions and four irregular
+civic ones. There would accordingly have been no more than six thousand
+plebeians, and, even if the legions were all made up of Romans, only
+twelve thousand; if in addition to these we take twelve thousand
+irregular troops and sixteen thousand allies, the number of forty
+thousand would be completed. In this case, the population of Rome would
+not have been as large as that of Athens in the Peloponnesian war, and
+this is indeed very probable. The cavalry is not included in this
+calculation: but forty thousand must be taken as the maximum of the
+whole army. There seems to be no exaggeration in this statement, and the
+battle on the Alia, speaking generally, is an historical event.
+
+It is surprising that the Romans did not appoint a dictator to command
+in the battle; it cannot be said indeed that they regarded this war as
+an ordinary one, for in that case they would not have raised so great a
+force, but they cannot have comprehended the danger in all its
+greatness. New swarms continued to come across the Alps; the Senones
+also now appeared to seek habitations for themselves; they, like the
+Germans in after-times, demanded land, as they found the Insubrians,
+Boians, and others already settled; the latter had taken up their abode
+in Umbria, but only until they should find a more extensive and suitable
+territory.
+
+The Romans committed the great mistake of fighting with their hurriedly
+collected troops a battle against an enemy who had hitherto been
+invincible. The hills along which the right wing is said to have been
+drawn up are no longer discernible, and they were probably nothing but
+little mounds of earth: at any rate it was senseless to draw up a long
+line against the immense mass of enemies. The Gauls, on the other hand,
+were enabled without any difficulty to turn off to the left. They
+proceeded to a higher part of the river, where it was more easily
+fordable, and with great prudence threw themselves with all their force
+upon the right wing, consisting of the civic legions. The latter at
+first resisted, but not long; and when they fled, the whole remaining
+line, which until then seems to have been useless and inactive, was
+seized with a panic.
+
+Terror preceded the Gauls as they laid waste everything on their way,
+and this paralyzed the courage of the Romans, instead of rousing them to
+a desperate resistance. The Romans therefore were defeated on the Alia
+in the most inglorious manner. The Gauls had taken them in their rear,
+and cut off their return to Rome. A portion fled toward the Tiber, where
+some effected a retreat across the river, and others were drowned;
+another part escaped into a forest. The loss of life must have been
+prodigious, and it is inconceivable how Livy could have attached so much
+importance to the mere disgrace. If the Roman army had not been almost
+annihilated, it would not have been necessary to give up the defence of
+the city, as was done, for the city was left undefended and deserted by
+all. Many fled to Veii instead of returning to Rome: only a few, who had
+escaped along the high road, entered the city by the Colline gate.
+
+Rome was exhausted, her power shattered, her legions defenceless, and
+her warlike allies had partly been beaten in the same battle, and were
+partly awaiting the fearful enemy in their own countries. At Rome it was
+believed that the whole army was destroyed, for nothing was known of
+those who had reached Veii. In the city itself there were only old men,
+women, and children, so that there was no possibility of defending it.
+It is, however, inconceivable that the gates should have been left open,
+and that the Gauls, from fear of a stratagem, should have encamped for
+several days outside the gates. A more probable account is that the
+gates were shut and barricaded. We may form a vivid conception of the
+condition of Rome after this battle, by comparing it with that of Moscow
+before the conflagration: the people were convinced that a long defence
+was impossible, since there was probably a want of provisions.
+
+Livy gives a false notion of the evacuation of the city, as if the
+defenceless citizens had remained immovable in their consternation, and
+only a few had been received into the Capitol. The determination, in
+fact, was to defend the Capitol, and the tribune Sulpicius had taken
+refuge there, with about one thousand men. There was on the Capitol an
+ancient well which still exists, and without which the garrison would
+soon have perished. This well remained unknown to all antiquaries, till
+I discovered it by means of information gathered from the people who
+live there. Its depth in the rock descends to the level of the Tiber,
+but the water is now not fit to drink. The Capitol was a rock which had
+been hewn steep, and thereby made inaccessible, but a _clivus_, closed
+by gates both below and above, led up from the Forum and the Sacred Way.
+The rock, indeed, was not so steep as in later times, as is clear from
+the account of the attempt to storm it; but the Capitol was nevertheless
+very strong. Whether some few remained in the city, as at Moscow, who in
+their stupefaction did not consider what kind of enemy they had before
+them, cannot be decided. The narrative is very beautiful, and reminds us
+of the taking of the Acropolis of Athens by the Persians, where,
+likewise, the old men allowed themselves to be cut down by the Persians.
+
+Notwithstanding the improbability of the matter, I am inclined to
+believe that a number of aged patricians--their number may not be
+exactly historical--sat down in the Forum, in their official robes, on
+their curule chairs, and that the chief pontiff devoted them to death.
+Such devotions are a well-known Roman custom. It is certainly not
+improbable that the Gauls were amazed when they found the city deserted,
+and only these old men sitting immovable, that they took them for
+statues or supernatural visions, and did nothing to them, until one of
+them struck a Gaul who touched him, whereupon all were slaughtered. To
+commit suicide was repugnant to the customs of the Romans, who were
+guided in many things by feelings more correct and more resembling our
+own, than many other ancient nations. The old men, indeed, had given up
+the hope of their country being saved; but the Capitol might be
+maintained, and the survivors preferred dying in the attempt of
+self-defence to taking refuge at Veii, where after all they could not
+have maintained themselves in the end.
+
+The sacred treasures were removed to Caere, and the hope of the Romans
+now was that the barbarians would be tired of the long siege. Provisions
+for a time had been conveyed to the Capitol, where a couple of thousand
+men may have been assembled, and where all buildings, temples, as well
+as public and private houses, were used as habitations. The Gauls made
+fearful havoc at Rome, even more fearful than the Spaniards and Germans
+did in the year 1527. Soldiers plunder, and when they find no human
+beings they engage in the work of destruction; and fires break out, as
+at Moscow, without the existence of any intention to cause a
+conflagration. The whole city was changed into a heap of ashes, with the
+exception of a few houses on the Palatine, which were occupied by the
+leaders of the Gauls. It is astonishing to find, nevertheless, that a
+few monuments of the preceding period, such as statues, situated at some
+distance from the Capitol, are mentioned as having been preserved; but
+we must remember that _travertino_ is tolerably fireproof. That Rome was
+burned down is certain; and when it was rebuilt, not even the ancient
+streets were restored.
+
+The Gauls were now encamped in the city. At first they attempted to
+storm the _clivus_, but were repelled with great loss, which is
+surprising, since we know that at an earlier time the Romans succeeded
+in storming it against Appius Herdonius. Afterward they discovered the
+footsteps of a messenger who had been sent from Veii, in order that the
+State might be taken care of in due form; for the Romans in the Capitol
+were patricians, and represented the _curies_ and the Government,
+whereas those assembled at Veii represented the tribes, but had no
+leaders. The latter had resolved to recall Camillus, and raise him to
+the dictatorship. For this reason Pontius Cominius had been sent to Rome
+to obtain the sanction of the senate and the curies. This was quite in
+the spirit of the ancient times. If the curies had interdicted him _aqua
+et igni_, they alone could recall him, if they previously obtained a
+resolution of the senate authorizing them to do so; but if he had gone
+into voluntary exile, and had given up his Roman franchise by becoming a
+citizen of Ardea before a sentence had been passed upon him by the
+centuries, it was again in the power of the curies alone, he being a
+patrician, to recall him as a citizen; and otherwise he could not have
+become dictator, nor could he have regarded himself as such.
+
+It was the time of the dog-days when the Gauls came to Rome, and as the
+summer at Rome is always pestilential, especially during the two months
+and a half before the first of September, the unavoidable consequence
+must have been, as Livy relates, that the barbarians, bivouacking on the
+ruins of the city in the open air, were attacked by disease and carried
+off, like the army of Frederick Barbarossa when encamped before the
+castle of St. Angelo. The whole army of the Gauls, however, was not in
+the city, but only as many as were necessary to blockade the garrison of
+the Capitol; the rest were scattered far and wide over the face of the
+country, and were ravaging all the unprotected places and isolated farms
+in Latium; many an ancient town, which is no longer mentioned after this
+time, may have been destroyed by the Gauls. None but fortified places
+like Ostia, which could obtain supplies by sea, made a successful
+resistance, for the Gauls were unacquainted with the art of besieging.
+
+The Ardeatans, whose territory was likewise invaded by the Gauls,
+opposed them, under the command of Camillus; the Etruscans would seem to
+have endeavored to avail themselves of the opportunity of recovering
+Veii, for we are told that the Romans at Veii, commanded by Caedicius,
+gained a battle against them, and that, encouraged by this success, they
+began to entertain a hope of regaining Rome, since by this victory they
+got possession of arms.
+
+A Roman of the name of Fabius Dorso is said to have offered up, in broad
+daylight, a _gentilician_ sacrifice on the Quirinal; and the astonished
+Gauls are said to have done him no harm--a tradition which is not
+improbable.
+
+The provisions in the Capitol were exhausted, but the Gauls themselves
+being seized with epidemic diseases became tired of their conquests, and
+were not inclined to settle in a country so far away from their own
+home. They once more attempted to take the Capitol by storm, having
+observed that the messenger from Veii had ascended the rock, and come
+down again near the Porta Carmentalis, below Araceli. The ancient rock
+is now covered with rubbish, and no longer discernible. The besieged did
+not think of a storm on that side; it may be that formerly there had in
+that part been a wall, which had become decayed; and in southern
+countries an abundant vegetation always springs up between the stones,
+and if this had actually been neglected it cannot have been very
+difficult to climb up. The Gauls had already gained a firm footing, as
+there was no wall at the top--the rock which they stormed was not the
+Tarpeian, but the Arx--when Manlius, who lived there, was roused by the
+screaming of the geese: he came to the spot and thrust down those who
+were climbing up.
+
+This rendered the Gauls still more inclined to commence negotiations;
+they were, moreover, called back by an inroad of some Alpine tribes into
+Lombardy, where they had left their wives and children: they offered to
+depart if the Romans would pay them a ransom of a thousand pounds of
+gold, to be taken no doubt from the Capitoline treasury. Considering the
+value of money at that time, the sum was enormous: in the time of
+Theodosius, indeed, there were people at Rome who possessed several
+hundredweight of gold, nay, one is said to have had an annual revenue of
+two hundredweight. There can be no doubt that the Gauls received the sum
+they demanded, and quitted Rome; that in weighing it they scornfully
+imposed upon the Romans is very possible, and the _vae victis_ too may
+be true: we ourselves have seen similar things before the year 1813.
+
+But there can be no truth in the story told by Livy, that while they
+were disputing Camillus appeared with an army and stopped the
+proceedings, because the military tribunes had had no right to conclude
+the treaty. He is there said to have driven the Gauls from the city, and
+afterward in a twofold battle to have so completely defeated them that
+not even a messenger escaped. Beaufort, inspired by Gallic patriotism,
+has most excellently shown what a complete fable this story is. To
+attempt to disguise the misfortunes of our forefathers by substituting
+fables in their place is mere childishness. This charge does not affect
+Livy, indeed, for he copied only what others had written before him; but
+he did not allow his own conviction to appear as he generally does, for
+he treats the whole of the early history with a sort of irony, half
+believing, half disbelieving it.
+
+According to another account in Diodorus, the Gauls besieged a town
+allied with Rome--its name seems to be mis-written, but is probably
+intended for Vulsinii--and the Romans relieved it and took back from the
+Gauls the gold which they had paid them; but this siege of Vulsinii is
+quite unknown to Livy. A third account in Strabo and also mentioned by
+Diodorus does not allow this honor to the Romans, but states that the
+Caerites pursued the Gauls, attacked them in the country of the Sabines,
+and completely annihilated them. In like manner the Greeks endeavored to
+disguise the fact that the Gauls took the money from the Delphic
+treasury, and that in a quite historical period (Olymp. 120). The true
+explanation is undoubtedly the one found in Polybius, that the Gauls
+were induced to quit Rome by an insurrection of the Alpine tribes, after
+it had experienced the extremity of humiliation.
+
+Whatever the enemy had taken as booty was consumed; they had not made
+any conquests, but only indulged in plunder and devastation; they had
+been staying at Rome for seven or eight months, and could have gained
+nothing further than the Capitol and the very money which they received
+without taking that fortress. The account of Polybius throws light upon
+many discrepant statements, and all of them, not even excepting Livy's
+fairy-tale-like embellishment, may be explained by means of it. The
+Romans attempted to prove that the Gauls had actually been defeated, by
+relating that the gold afterward taken from the Gauls and buried in the
+Capitol was double the sum paid to them as a ransom; but it is much more
+probable that the Romans paid their ransom out of the treasury of the
+temple of the Capitoline Jupiter and of other temples, and that
+afterward double this sum was made up by a tax; which agrees with a
+statement in the history of Manlius, that a tax was imposed for the
+purpose of raising the Gallic ransom: surely this could not have been
+done at the time of the siege, when the Romans were scattered in all
+parts of the country, but must have taken place afterward for the
+purpose of restoring the money that had been taken. Now if at a later
+time there actually existed in the Capitol such a quantity of gold, it
+is clear that it was believed to be a proof that the Gauls had not kept
+the gold which was paid to them.
+
+Even as late as the time of Cicero and Caesar, the spot was shown at
+Rome in the Carinae, where the Gauls had heaped up and burned their
+dead; it was called _busta Gallica_, which was corrupted in the Middle
+Ages into Protogallo, whence the church which was built there was in
+reality called _S. Andreas in bustis Gallicis_, or, according to the
+later Latinity, _in busta Gallica--busta Gallica_ not being declined.
+
+The Gauls departed with their gold, which the Romans had been compelled
+to pay on account of the famine that prevailed in the Capitol, which was
+so great that they pulled the leather from their shields and cooked it,
+just as was done during the siege of Jerusalem. The Gauls were certainly
+not destroyed. Justin has preserved the remarkable statement that the
+same Gauls who sacked Rome went to Apulia, and there offered for money
+their assistance to the elder Dionysius of Syracuse. From this important
+statement it is at any rate clear that they traversed all Italy, and
+then probably returned along the shore of the Adriatic: their
+devastations extended over many parts of Italy, and there is no doubt
+that the AEquians received their death-blow at that time, for henceforth
+we hear no more of the hostilities of the AEquians against Rome.
+Praeneste, on the other hand, which must formerly have been subject to
+the AEquians, now appears as an independent town. The AEquians, who
+inhabited small and easily destructible towns, must have been
+annihilated during the progress of the Gauls.
+
+There is nothing so strange in the history of Livy as his view of the
+consequences of the Gallic calamity; he must have conceived it as a
+transitory storm by which Rome was humbled but not broken. The army,
+according to him, was only scattered, and the Romans appear afterward
+just as they had been before, as if the preceding period had only been
+an evil dream, and as if there had been nothing to do but to rebuild the
+city. But assuredly the devastation must have been tremendous throughout
+the Roman territory: for eight months the barbarians had been ravaging
+the country, every trace of cultivation, every farmer's house, all the
+temples and public buildings were destroyed; the walls of the city had
+been purposely pulled down, a large number of its inhabitants were led
+into slavery, the rest were living in great misery at Veii; and what
+they had saved scarcely sufficed to buy their bread. In this condition
+they returned to Rome. Camillus as dictator is called a second Romulus,
+and to him is due the glory of not having despaired in those distressing
+circumstances.
+
+
+
+
+TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY MEHA
+
+B.C. 341
+
+DEMETRIUS CHARLES BOULGER
+
+
+(The first Chinese are supposed to have been a nomad tribe in the
+provinces of Shensi, which lies in the northwest of China, and among
+them at last appeared a ruler, Fohi, whose name at least has been
+preserved. His deeds and his person are mythical, but he is credited
+with having given his country its first regular institutions.
+
+The annalists of the Chinese chronicles placed the date of the Creation
+at a point of time two millions of years before Confucius; this interval
+they filled up with lines of dynasties. Preceding the Chow dynasty the
+chronicles give ten epochs--prior to the eighth of these there is no
+authentic history. Yew-chow She [the "Nest-having"] taught the people to
+build huts of the boughs of trees. Fire was discovered by Say-jin She
+[the "Fire producer"]. Fuh-he [B.C. 2862] was the discoverer of iron.
+With Yaou [B.C. 2356] is the period whence Confucius begins his story.
+He says of that epoch: "The house door could safely be left open." Yaou
+greatly extended and strengthened the empire and established fairs and
+marts over the land.
+
+One of China's most notable rulers was Tsin Chi Hwangti, who was
+studious in providing for the security of his empire, and with this
+object began the construction of a fortified wall across the northern
+frontier to serve as a defence against the troublesome Hiongnou tribes,
+who are identified with the Huns of Attila. This wall, which he began in
+the first years of his reign--about the close of the third century
+B.C.--was finished before his death. It still exists, known as the Great
+Wall of China, and has long been considered one of the wonders of the
+world. Every third man of the whole empire was employed on this work. It
+is said that five hundred thousand of them died of starvation. The
+contents of the Great Wall would be enough to build two walls six feet
+high and two feet thick around the equator. It is the largest artificial
+structure in the world; carried for fourteen hundred miles over height
+and hollow, reaching in one place the level of five thousand
+feet--nearly one mile--above the sea. Earth, gravel, brick, and stone
+were used in its construction.
+
+The weak successors of Hwangti finally gave way to the usurper, Kaotsou,
+who had been originally the ruler of a small town, and had borne the
+name of Lieou Pang.
+
+The reign of Kaotsou was distinguished by the consolidation of the
+empire; the connection of Western with Eastern China by high walls and
+bridges, some of which are still in perfect condition, and the
+institution of an elaborate code of court etiquette. His attention to
+these things was, however, rudely interrupted by an irruption of the
+Hiongnou Tartars.)
+
+
+The death of Tsin Chi Hwangti proved the signal for the outbreak of
+disturbances throughout the realm. Within a few months five princes had
+founded as many kingdoms, each hoping, if not to become supreme, at
+least to remain independent. Moungtien, beloved by the army, and at the
+head, as he tells us in his own words, of three hundred thousand
+soldiers, might have been the arbiter of the empire; but a weak feeling
+of respect for the imperial authority induced him to obey an order, sent
+by Eulchi, Hwangti's son and successor, commanding him "to drink the
+waters of eternal life." Eulchi's brief reign of three years was a
+succession of misfortunes. The reins of office were held by the eunuch
+Chow-kow, who first murdered the minister Lissep and then Eulchi
+himself.
+
+Ing Wang, a grandson of Hwangti, was the next and last of the Tsin
+emperors. On coming to power, he at once caused Chow-kow, whose crimes
+had been discovered, to be arrested and executed. This vigorous
+commencement proved very transitory, for when he had enjoyed nominal
+authority during six weeks, Ing Wang's troops, after a reverse in the
+field, went over in a body to Lieou Pang, the leader of a rebel force.
+Ing Wang put an end to his existence, thus terminating, in a manner not
+less ignominious than any of its predecessors, the dynasty of the Tsins,
+which Hwangti had hoped to place permanently on the throne of China, and
+to which his genius gave a lustre far surpassing that of many other
+families who had enjoyed the same privilege during a much longer period.
+
+The crisis in the history of the country had afforded one of those great
+men who rise periodically from the ranks of the people to give law to
+nations the opportunity for advancing his personal interests at the same
+time that he made them appear to be identical with the public weal. Of
+such geniuses, if the test applied be the work accomplished, there have
+been few with higher claims to respectful and admiring consideration
+than Lieou Pang, who after the fall of the Tsins became the founder of
+the Han dynasty under the style of Kaotsou. Originally the governor of a
+small town, he had, soon after the death of Hwangti, gathered round him
+the nucleus of a formidable army, and while nominally serving under one
+of the greater princes, he scarcely affected to conceal that he was
+fighting for his own interest. On the other hand, he was no mere soldier
+of fortune, and the moderation which he showed after victory enhanced
+his reputation as a general. The path to the throne being thus cleared,
+the successful general became emperor.
+
+His first act was to proclaim an amnesty to all those who had borne arms
+against him. In a public proclamation he expressed his regret at the
+suffering of the people "from the evils which follow in the train of
+war." During the earlier years of his reign he chose the city of Loyang
+as his capital--now the flourishing and populous town of Honan--but at a
+later period he removed it to Singanfoo, in the western province of
+Shensi. His dynasty became known by the name of the small state where he
+was born, and which had fallen early in his career into his hands.
+
+Kaotsou sanctioned or personally undertook various important public
+works, which in many places still exist to testify to the greatness of
+his character. Prominent among those must be placed the bridges
+constructed along the great roads of Western China. Some of them are
+still believed to be in perfect condition. No act of Kaotsou's reign
+places him higher in the scale of sovereigns than the improvement of the
+roads and the construction of those remarkable bridges. Kaotsou loved
+splendor and sought to make his receptions and banquets imposing by
+their brilliance. He drew up a special ceremonial which must have proved
+a trying ordeal for his courtiers, and dire was the offence if it were
+infringed in the smallest particular. He kept up festivities at
+Singanfoo for several weeks, and on one of these occasions he exclaimed:
+"To-day I feel I am emperor and perceive all the difference between a
+subject and his master."
+
+Kaotsou's attention was rudely summoned away from these trivialities by
+the outbreak of revolts against his authority and by inroads on the part
+of the Tartars. The latter were the more serious. The disturbances that
+followed Hwangti's death were a fresh inducement to these clans to again
+gather round a common head and prey upon the weakness of China, for
+Kaotsou's authority was not yet recognized in many of the tributary
+states which had been fain to admit the supremacy of the great Tsin
+emperor. About this time the Hiongnou[45] Tartars were governed by two
+chiefs in particular, one named Tonghou, the other Meha or Mehe. Of
+these the former appears to have been instigated by a reckless ambition
+or an overweening arrogance, and at first it seemed that the forbearance
+of Meha would allow his pretensions[46] to pass unchallenged.
+
+[Footnote 45: Probably the same race as the Huns.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Meha had become chief of his clan by murdering his father,
+Teou-man, who was on the point of ordering his son's assassination when
+thus forestalled in his intention. Tonghou sent to demand from him a
+favorite horse, which Meha sent him. His kinsmen advised him to refuse
+compliance; but he replied: "What! Would you quarrel with your neighbors
+for a horse?" Shortly afterward Tonghou sent to ask for one of the wives
+of the former chief. This also Meha granted, saying: "Why should we
+undertake a war for the sake of a woman?" It was only when Tonghou
+menaced his possessions that Meha took up arms.]
+
+Meha's successes followed rapidly upon each other. Issuing from the
+desert, and marching in the direction of China, he wrested many fertile
+districts from the feeble hands of those who held them; and while
+establishing his personal authority on the banks of the Hoangho, his
+lieutenants returned laden with plunder from expeditions into the rich
+provinces of Shensi and Szchuen. He won back all the territory lost by
+his ancestors to Hwangti and Moungtien, and he paved the way to greater
+success by the siege and capture of the city of Maye, thus obtaining
+possession of the key of the road to Tsinyang. Several of the border
+chiefs and of the Emperor's lieutenants, dreading the punishment
+allotted in China to want of success, went over to the Tartars, and took
+service under Meha.
+
+The Emperor, fully aroused to the gravity of the danger, assembled his
+army, and placing himself at its head marched against the Tartars.
+Encouraged by the result of several preliminary encounters, the Emperor
+was eager to engage Meha's main army, and after some weeks' searching
+and manoeuvring, the two forces halted in front of each other. Kaotsou,
+imagining that victory was within his grasp, and believing the stories
+brought to him by spies of the weakness of the Tartar army, resolved on
+an immediate attack. He turned a deaf ear to the cautious advice of one
+of his generals, who warned him that "in war we should never despise an
+enemy," and marched in person at the head of his advance guard to find
+the Tartars. Meha, who had been at all these pains to throw dust in the
+Emperor's eyes and to conceal his true strength, no sooner saw how well
+his stratagem had succeeded, and that Kaotsou was rushing into the trap
+so elaborately laid for him, than by a skilful movement he cut off his
+communications with the main body of his army, and, surrounding him with
+an overwhelming force, compelled him to take refuge in the city of
+Pingching in Shensi.
+
+With a very short supply of provisions, and hopelessly outnumbered, it
+looked as if the Chinese Emperor could not possibly escape the grasp of
+the desert chief. In this strait one of his officers suggested as a last
+chance that the most beautiful virgin in the town should be discovered,
+and sent as a present to mollify the conqueror. Kaotsou seized at this
+suggestion, as the drowning man will catch at a straw, and the story is
+preserved, though her name has passed into oblivion, of how the young
+Chinese girl entered into the plan and devoted all her wits to charming
+the Tartar conqueror. She succeeded as much as their fondest hopes could
+have led them to believe; and Meha permitted Kaotsou, after signing an
+ignominious treaty, to leave his place of confinement and rejoin his
+army, glad to welcome the return of the Emperor, yet without him
+helpless to stir a hand to effect his release. Meha retired to his own
+territory, well satisfied with the material results of the war and the
+rich booty which had been obtained in the sack of Chinese cities, while
+Kaotsou, like the ordinary type of an oriental ruler, vented his
+discomfiture on his subordinates.
+
+The closing acts of the war were the lavishing of rewards on the head of
+the general to whose warnings he had paid no heed, and the execution of
+the scouts who had been misled by the wiles of Meha.
+
+The success which had attended this incursion and the spoil of war were
+potent inducements to the Tartars to repeat the invasion. While Kaotsou
+was meditating over the possibility of revenge, and considering schemes
+for the better protection of his frontier, the Tartars, disregarding the
+truce that had been concluded, retraced their steps, and pillaged the
+border districts with impunity. In this year (B.C. 199) they were
+carrying everything before them, and the Emperor, either unnerved by
+recent disaster or appalled at the apparently irresistible energy of the
+followers of Meha, remained apathetic in his palace. The representations
+of his ministers and generals failed to rouse him from his stupor, and
+the weapon to which he resorted was the abuse of his opponent, and not
+his prompt chastisement. Meha was "a wicked and faithless man, who had
+risen to power by the murder of his father, and one with whom oaths and
+treaties carried no weight." In the mean while the Tartars were
+continuing their victorious career. The capital itself could not be
+pronounced safe from their assaults, or from the insult of their
+presence.
+
+In this crisis counsels of craft and dissimulation alone found favor in
+the Emperor's cabinet. No voice was raised in support of the bold and
+only true course of going forth to meet the national enemy. The
+capitulation of Pingching had for the time destroyed the manhood of the
+race, and Kaotsou held in esteem the advice of men widely different to
+those who had placed him on the throne. Kaotsou opened fresh
+negotiations with Meha, who concluded a treaty on condition of the
+Emperor's daughter being given to him in marriage, and on the assumption
+that he was an independent ruler. With these terms Kaotsou felt obliged
+to comply, and thus for the first time this never-ceasing collision
+between the tribes of the desert and the agriculturists of the plains of
+China closed with the admitted triumph of the former. The contest was
+soon to be renewed with different results, but the triumph of Meha was
+beyond question.[47]
+
+[Footnote 47: One historian had the courage to declare that "Never was
+so great a shame inflicted on the Middle Kingdom, which then lost its
+dignity and honor."]
+
+The weakness thus shown against a foreign foe brought its own punishment
+in domestic troubles. The palace became the scene of broils, plots, and
+counterplots, and so badly did Kaotsou manage his affairs at this epoch
+that one of his favorite generals raised the standard of revolt against
+him through apparently a mere misunderstanding. In this instance Kaotsou
+easily put down the rising, but others followed which, if not pregnant
+with danger, were at the least extremely troublesome. The murder of
+Hansin, to whose aid Kaotsou owed his elevation to the throne as much as
+to any other, by order of the empress, during a reception at the palace,
+shook confidence still more in the ruler, and many of his followers were
+forced into open rebellion through dread of personal danger. What wonder
+that, as he has said, "the very name of revolt inspired Kaotsou with
+apprehension."
+
+In B.C. 195 we find Kaotsou going out of his way to visit the tomb of
+Confucius. Shortly after this event it became evident that he was
+approaching his end. His eldest son Hiaohoei was proclaimed heir
+apparent. Kaotsou died in the fifty-third year of his age, having
+reigned as emperor during eight years. The close of his reign did not
+bear out all the promise of its commencement; and the extent of his
+authority was greatly curtailed by the disastrous effects of the war
+with the Tartars and the subsequent revolts among his generals.
+
+Despite these reverses there remains much in favor of his character. He
+had performed his part in the consolidation of the Hans; it remained for
+those who came after him to complete what he left half finished.
+
+Under Hoeiti, the Tartar King Meha sent an envoy to the capital, but
+either the form or the substance of his message enraged the
+empress-mother, who ordered his execution. The two peoples were thus
+again brought to the brink of war, but eventually the difference was
+sunk for the time, and the Chinese chroniclers have represented that the
+satisfactory turn in the question was due to Meha seeing the error of
+his ways.[48] Not long afterward the Tartar King died, and was succeeded
+by his son Lao Chang.
+
+[Footnote 48: Meha's letter of excuse is thus given: "In the barbarous
+country which I govern both virtue and the decencies of life are
+unknown. I have been unable to free myself from them, and, therefore, I
+blush. China has her wise men; that is a happiness which I envy. They
+would have prevented my being wanting in the respect due to your rank."]
+
+
+
+
+ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA
+
+B.C. 332
+
+OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+
+(The master spirit who could sigh for more worlds to conquer was at this
+time high in his dazzling flight. Alexander has always been considered
+one of the most striking and picturesque characters of history. His
+personality was pleasing, his endurance remarkable, and courage
+dauntless. Educated by Aristotle, his keen mind was well trained. He was
+skilled in horsemanship, and his control over the fiery Bucephalus,
+untamable by others, has become a household tale in all lands. There
+never was a more kingly prince.
+
+A king at twenty, his career has been an object of wonder to succeeding
+generations. He shot like a meteor across the sky of ancient
+civilization. His military achievements were remarkable for quickness of
+conception and rapidity of execution; his life was a progress from
+conquest to conquest. Alexander's army, with its solid phalanx, its
+darting cavalry, and light troops, had become irresistible. He possessed
+Napoleon's ability to select good generals and to make the most of his
+talents. In battle Alexander was entirely devoid of fear. After a
+victory his chief thoughts were for the wounded. Like Napoleon, he also
+possessed that personal equation of absolute popularity with his
+soldiers. Their devotion to him was simply complete.
+
+After Thebes came the invasion of Asia. The invincible Macedonian had
+fought and won the battle of the Granicus. In this battle nearly all of
+the Persian leaders were slain, and its result spread terror throughout
+Persia. Halicarnassus was next reduced. The march of Alexander was ever
+onward. In the citadel of Gordium he cut the "Gordian knot," and
+prophecy marked him for the lord of Asia.
+
+And now Darius marched to meet him, making a fatally bad choice of
+battle-ground. Darius was totally defeated at the celebrated battle of
+Issus, although he had anticipated a victory. After the Persian rout and
+the flight of Darius, whose numbers counted for nothing before the
+Macedonian's skill, Lindon welcomed the invaders, and Alexander
+determined to take Tyre. This was accomplished after a siege, which was
+attended with much cruelty.
+
+The siege of Gaza followed, in which nearly all of the citizens
+perished. In B.C. 332 Alexander began his expedition to Egypt. He
+conciliated the natives by paying honors to their gods. In his progress
+he was struck by the advantages of a certain site for a city, and
+founded there the town which is now called Alexandria.)
+
+
+All Phoenicia was subdued except Tyre, the capital city. This city was
+justly entitled the "Queen of the Sea," that element bringing to it the
+tribute of all nations. She boasted of having first invented navigation
+and taught mankind the art of braving the winds and waves by the
+assistance of a frail bark. The happy situation of Tyre, at the upper
+end of the Mediterranean; the conveniency of its ports, which were both
+safe and capacious; and the character of its inhabitants, who were
+industrious, laborious, patient, and extremely courteous to strangers,
+invited thither merchants from all parts of the globe; so that it might
+be considered, not so much a city belonging to any particular nation, as
+the common city of all nations and the centre of their commerce.
+
+Alexander thought it necessary, both for his glory and his interest, to
+take this city. The spring was now coming on. Tyre was at that time
+seated on an island of the sea, about a quarter of a league from the
+continent. It was surrounded by a strong wall, a hundred and fifty feet
+high, which the waves of the sea washed; and the Carthaginians, a colony
+from Tyre, a mighty people, and sovereigns of the ocean, promised to
+come to the assistance of their parent State. Encouraged, therefore, by
+these favorable circumstances, the Tyrians determined not to surrender,
+but to hold out the place to the last extremity. This resolution,
+however imprudent, was certainly magnanimous, but it was soon after
+followed by an act which was as blamable as the other was praiseworthy.
+
+Alexander was desirous of gaining the place rather by treaty than by
+force of arms, and with this in view sent heralds into the town with
+offers of peace; but the inhabitants were so far from listening to his
+proposals, or endeavoring to avert his resentment by any kind of
+concession, that they actually killed his ambassadors and threw their
+bodies from the top of the walls into the sea. It is easy to imagine
+what effect so shocking an outrage must produce in a mind like
+Alexander's. He instantly resolved to besiege the place, and not to
+desist until he had made himself master of it and razed it to the
+ground.
+
+As Tyre was divided from the continent by an arm of the sea, there was
+necessity for filling up the intermediate space with a bank or pier,
+before the place could be closely invested. This work, accordingly, was
+immediately undertaken and in a great measure completed; when all the
+wood, of which it was principally composed, was unexpectedly burned by
+means of a fire-ship sent in by the enemy. The damage, however, was very
+soon repaired, and the mole rendered more perfect than formerly, and
+carried nearer to the town, when all of a sudden a furious tempest
+arose, which, undermining the stonework that supported the wood, laid
+the whole at once in the bottom of the sea.
+
+Two such disasters, following so closely on the heels of each other,
+would have cooled the ardor of any man except Alexander, but nothing
+could daunt his invincible spirit, or make him relinquish an enterprise
+he had once undertaken. He, therefore, resolved to prosecute the siege;
+and in order to encourage his men to second his views, he took care to
+inspire them with the belief that heaven was on their side and would
+soon crown their labors with the wished-for success. At one time he gave
+out that Apollo was about to abandon the Tyrians to their doom, and
+that, to prevent his flight, they had bound him to his pedestal with a
+golden chain; at another, he pretended that Hercules, the tutelar deity
+of Macedon, had appeared to him, and, having opened prospects of the
+most glorious kind, had invited him to proceed to take possession of
+Tyre.
+
+These favorable circumstances were announced by the augurs as
+intimations from above; and every heart was in consequence cheered. The
+soldiers, as if that moment arrived before the city, forgetting all the
+toils they had undergone and the disappointments they had suffered,
+began to raise a new mole, at which they worked incessantly.
+
+To protect them from being annoyed by the ships of the enemy, Alexander
+fitted out a fleet, with which he not only secured his own men, but
+offered the Tyrians battle, which, however, they thought proper to
+decline, and withdrew all their galleys into the harbor.
+
+The besiegers, now allowed to proceed unmolested, went on with the work
+with the utmost vigor, and in a little time completed it and brought it
+close to the walls. A general attack was therefore resolved on, both by
+sea and land, and with this in view the King, having manned his galleys
+and joined them together with strong cables, ordered them to approach
+the walls about midnight and attack the city with resolution. But just
+as the assault was going to begin, a dreadful storm arose, which not
+only shook the ships asunder, but even shattered them in a terrible
+manner, so that they were all obliged to be towed toward the shore,
+without having made the least impression on the city.
+
+The Tyrians were elated with this gleam of good fortune; but that joy
+was of short duration, for in a little time they received intelligence
+from Carthage that they must expect no assistance from that quarter, as
+the Carthaginians themselves were then overawed by a powerful army of
+Syracusans, who had invaded their country. Reduced, therefore, to the
+hard necessity of depending entirely upon their own strength and their
+own resources, the Tyrians sent all their women and children to
+Carthage, and prepared to encounter the very last extremities. For now
+the enemy was attacking the place with greater spirit and activity than
+ever. And, to do the Tyrians justice, it must be acknowledged that they
+employed a number of methods of defence which, considering the rude
+state of the art of war at that early period, were really astonishing.
+They warded off the darts discharged from the ballisters against them,
+by the assistance of turning wheels, which either broke them to pieces
+or carried them another way. They deadened the violence of the stones
+that were hurled at them, by setting up sails and curtains made of a
+soft substance which easily gave way.
+
+To annoy the ships which advanced against their walls, they fixed
+grappling irons and scythes to joists or beams; then, straining their
+catapultas--an enormous kind of crossbow--they laid those great pieces
+of timber upon them instead of arrows, and shot them off on a sudden at
+the enemy. These crushed some of their ships by their great weight, and,
+by means of the hooks or hanging scythes, tore others to pieces. They
+also had brazen shields, which they drew red-hot out of the fire; and
+filling these with burning sand, hurled them in an instant from the top
+of the wall upon the enemy.
+
+There was nothing the Macedonians dreaded so much as this fatal
+instrument; for the moment the burning sand got to the flesh through the
+crevices of the armor, it penetrated to the very bone, and stuck so
+close that there was no pulling it off; so that the soldiers, throwing
+down their arms, and tearing their clothes to pieces, were in this
+manner exposed, naked and defenceless, to the shot of the enemy.
+
+Alexander, finding the resources and even the courage of the Tyrians
+increased in proportion as the siege continued, resolved to make a last
+effort, and attack them at once both by sea and land, in order, if
+possible, to overwhelm them with the multiplicity of dangers to which
+they would be thus exposed. With this view, having manned his galleys
+with some of the bravest of his troops, he commanded them to advance
+against the enemy's fleet, while he himself took his post at the head of
+his men on the mole.
+
+And now the attack began on all sides with irresistible and unremitting
+fury. Wherever the battering-rams had beat down any part of the wall,
+and the bridges were thrown out, instantly the argyraspides mounted the
+breach with the utmost valor, being led on by Admetus, one of the
+bravest officers in the army, who was killed by the thrust of a spear as
+he was encouraging his soldiers.
+
+The presence of the King, and the example he set, fired his troops with
+unusual bravery. He himself ascended one of the towers on the mole,
+which was of a prodigious height, and there was exposed to the greatest
+dangers he had ever yet encountered; for being immediately known by his
+insignia and the richness of his armor, he served as a mark for all the
+arrows of the enemy. On this occasion he performed wonders, killing with
+javelins several of those who defended the wall; then, advancing nearer
+to them, he forced some with his sword, and others with his shield,
+either into the city or the sea, the tower on which he fought almost
+touching the wall.
+
+He soon ascended the wall, followed by his principal officers, and
+possessed himself of two towers and the space between them. The
+battering-rams had already made several breaches; the fleet had forced
+its way into the harbor; and some of the Macedonians had possessed
+themselves of the towers which were abandoned. The Tyrians, seeing the
+enemy masters of their rampart, retired toward an open place, called
+Agenor, and there stood their ground; but Alexander, marching up with
+his regiment of bodyguards, killed part of them and obliged the rest to
+fly.
+
+At the same time, Tyre being taken on that side which lay toward the
+harbor, a general carnage of the citizens ensued, and none was spared,
+except the few that fell into the hands of the Siclonians in Alexander's
+army, who--considering the Tyrians as countrymen--granted them
+protection and carried them privately on board their ships.
+
+The number that was slaughtered on this occasion is almost incredible;
+even after conquest, the victor's resentment did not subside. He ordered
+no less than five thousand men, who were taken in the storming, to be
+nailed to crosses along the shore. The number of prisoners amounted to
+thirty thousand and were all sold as slaves in different parts of the
+world. Thus fell Tyre, that had been for many ages the most flourishing
+city in the world, and had spread the arts and commerce into the
+remotest regions.
+
+While Alexander was employed in the siege of Tyre he received a second
+letter from Darius, in which that monarch treated him with greater
+respect than before. He now gave him the title of king; he offered him
+ten thousand talents as a ransom for his captive mother and queen; and
+he promised him his daughter Statira in marriage, with all the country
+he had conquered, as far as the river Euphrates, provided he would agree
+to a peace. These terms were so advantageous that, when the King debated
+upon them in council, Parmenio, one of his generals, could not help
+observing that he would certainly accept of them were he Alexander. "And
+so would I," replied the King, "were I Parmenio!" But deeming it
+inconsistent with his dignity to listen to any proposals from a man whom
+he had so lately overcome, he haughtily rejected them, and scorned to
+accept of that as a favor which he already considered his own by
+conquest.
+
+From Tyre, Alexander marched to Jerusalem, fully determined to punish
+that city for having refused to supply his army with provisions during
+the siege; but his resentment was mollified by a deputation of the
+citizens coming out to meet him, with their high priest, Taddua, before
+them, dressed in white, and having a mitre on his head, on the front of
+which the name of God was written. The moment the King perceived the
+high priest, he advanced toward him with an air of the most profound
+respect, bowed his body, adored the august name upon his front, and
+saluted him who wore it with religious veneration.
+
+And when some of his courtiers expressed their surprise that he, who was
+adored by everyone, should adore the high priest of the Jews: "I do
+not," said he, "adore the high priest, but the God whose minister he is;
+for while I was at Dium in Macedonia, my mind wholly fixed on the great
+design of the Persian war, as I was revolving the methods how to conquer
+Asia, this very man, dressed in the same robes, appeared to me in a
+dream, exhorted me to banish my fear, bade me cross the Hellespont
+boldly, and assured me that God would march at the head of my army and
+give me the victory over the Persians." This speech, delivered with an
+air of sincerity, no doubt had its effect in encouraging the army and
+establishing an opinion that his mission was from heaven.
+
+From Jerusalem he went to Gaza, where, having met with a more obstinate
+resistance than he expected, he cut to pieces the whole garrison,
+consisting of ten thousand men. Not satisfied with this act of cruelty,
+he caused holes to be bored through the heels of Boetis, the governor,
+and tying him with cords to the back of his chariot dragged him in this
+manner around the walls of the city. This he did in imitation of
+Achilles, whom Homer describes as having dragged Hector around the walls
+of Troy in the same manner. It was reading the past to very little, or
+rather, indeed, to very bad purpose, to imitate this hero in the most
+unworthy part of his character.
+
+Alexander, having left a garrison in Gaza, turned his arms toward Egypt;
+of which he made himself master without opposition. Here he formed the
+design of visiting the temple of Jupiter, which was situated in the
+sandy deserts of Lybia at the distance of twelve days' journey from
+Memphis, the capital of Egypt. His chief object in going thither was to
+get himself acknowledged the son of Jupiter, an honor he had long
+aspired to. In this journey he founded the city of Alexandria, which
+soon became one of the greatest towns in the world for commerce.
+
+Nothing could be more dreary than the desert through which he passed,
+nor anything more charming--according to the fabulous accounts of the
+poets--than the particular spot where the temple was situated.
+
+It was a perfect paradise in the midst of an immeasurable wilderness. At
+last, having reached the place, and appeared before the altar of the
+deity, the priest, who was no stranger to Alexander's wishes, declared
+him to be the son of Jupiter.
+
+The conqueror, elated with this high compliment, asked whether he should
+have success in his expedition. The priest answered that he should be
+monarch of the world. The conqueror inquired if his father's murderers
+were punished. The priest replied that his father Jupiter was immortal,
+but that the murderers of Philip had all been extirpated.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF ARBELA
+
+B.C. 331
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(When Alexander, having returned from his campaign against the
+barbarians of the North, had suppressed a revolt which meanwhile had
+broken out in Greece, he found himself free for undertaking those great
+foreign conquests which he had planned. When he left Greece to conquer
+the world, he said farewell to his own country forever. Crossing the
+Hellespont into Asia Minor with a small but well equipped and
+disciplined army, he advanced unopposed until he reached the river
+Granicus, where he found himself confronted with a Persian host. Upon
+this army he inflicted a defeat so signal as to bring at once to
+submission nearly the whole of Asia Minor. He next advanced into Syria
+and met the Persian king, Darius III, who in person commanded an immense
+body of soldiers, against which the young conqueror fought at Issus,
+winning a decisive victory. He not only captured the Persian camp, but
+also secured the King's treasures and took his family prisoners. From
+this time Alexander held complete mastery of the western dominions of
+Darius, whom the conqueror afterward dethroned.
+
+After he had next invaded and subjugated Egypt and there founded the
+city of Alexandria, he pursued King Darius, who had taken flight, into
+the very heart of his empire, where the Persian monarch, on the plains
+of Gaugamela, near the village of Arbela, made his last stand against
+his invincible foe. Of the battle to which Arbela gave its name, and
+which proved the death-blow of the Persian empire, Creasy's narrative
+furnishes a realistic description.)
+
+
+A long and not uninstructive list might be made out of illustrious men
+whose characters have been vindicated during recent times from
+aspersions which for centuries had been thrown on them. The spirit of
+modern inquiry, and the tendency of modern scholarship, both of which
+are often said to be solely negative and destructive, have, in truth,
+restored to splendor, and almost created anew, far more than they have
+assailed with censure or dismissed from consideration as unreal.
+
+The truth of many a brilliant narrative of brilliant exploits has of
+late years been triumphantly demonstrated, and the shallowness of the
+sceptical scoffs with which little minds have carped at the great minds
+of antiquity has been in many instances decisively exposed. The laws,
+the politics, and the lines of action adopted or recommended by eminent
+men and powerful nations have been examined with keener investigation
+and considered with more comprehensive judgment than formerly were
+brought to bear on these subjects. The result has been at least as often
+favorable as unfavorable to the persons and the states so scrutinized,
+and many an oft-repeated slander against both measures and men has thus
+been silenced, we may hope forever.
+
+The veracity of Herodotus, the pure patriotism of Pericles, of
+Demosthenes, and of the Gracchi, the wisdom of Clisthenes and of
+Licinius as constitutional reformers, may be mentioned as facts which
+recent writers have cleared from unjust suspicion and censure. And it
+might be easily shown that the defensive tendency which distinguishes
+the present and recent great writers of Germany, France, and England has
+been equally manifested in the spirit in which they have treated the
+heroes of thought and heroes of action who lived during what we term the
+Middle Ages, and whom it was so long the fashion to sneer at or neglect.
+
+The name of the victor of Arbela has led to these reflections; for,
+although the rapidity and extent of Alexander's conquests have through
+all ages challenged admiration and amazement, the grandeur of genius
+which he displayed in his schemes of commerce, civilization, and of
+comprehensive union and unity among nations, has, until lately, been
+comparatively unhonored. This long-continued depreciation was of early
+date. The ancient rhetoricians--a class of babblers, a school for lies
+and scandal, as Niebuhr justly termed them--chose, among the stock
+themes for their commonplaces, the character and exploits of Alexander.
+
+They had their followers in every age; and, until a very recent period,
+all who wished to "point a moral or adorn a tale," about unreasoning
+ambition, extravagant pride, and the formidable frenzies of free will
+when leagued with free power, have never failed to blazon forth the
+so-called madman of Macedonia as one of the most glaring examples.
+Without doubt, many of these writers adopted with implicit credence
+traditional ideas, and supposed, with uninquiring philanthropy, that in
+blackening Alexander they were doing humanity good service. But also,
+without doubt, many of his assailants, like those of other great men,
+have been mainly instigated by "that strongest of all antipathies, the
+antipathy of a second-rate mind to a first-rate one," and by the envy
+which talent too often bears to genius.
+
+Arrian, who wrote his history of Alexander when Hadrian was emperor of
+the Roman world, and when the spirit of declamation and dogmatism was at
+its full height, but who was himself, unlike the dreaming pedants of the
+schools, a statesman and a soldier of practical and proved ability, well
+rebuked the malevolent aspersions which he heard continually thrown upon
+the memory of the great conqueror of the East.
+
+He truly says: "Let the man who speaks evil of Alexander not merely
+bring forward those passages of Alexander's life which were really evil,
+but let him collect and review _all_ the actions of Alexander, and then
+let him thoroughly consider first who and what manner of man he himself
+is, and what has been his own career; and then let him consider who and
+what manner of man Alexander was, and to what an eminence of human
+grandeur _he_ arrived. Let him consider that Alexander was a king, and
+the undisputed lord of the two continents, and that his name is renowned
+throughout the whole earth.
+
+"Let the evil-speaker against Alexander bear all this in mind, and then
+let him reflect on his own insignificance, the pettiness of his own
+circumstances and affairs, and the blunders that he makes about these,
+paltry and trifling as they are. Let him then ask himself whether he is
+a fit person to censure and revile such a man as Alexander. I believe
+that there was in his time no nation of men, no city, nay, no single
+individual with whom Alexander's name had not become a familiar word. I
+therefore hold that such a man, who was like no ordinary mortal, was not
+born into the world without some special providence."
+
+And one of the most distinguished soldiers and writers, Sir Walter
+Raleigh, though he failed to estimate justly the full merits of
+Alexander, has expressed his sense of the grandeur of the part played in
+the world by "the great Emathian conqueror" in language that well
+deserves quotation:
+
+"So much hath the spirit of some one man excelled as it hath undertaken
+and effected the alteration of the greatest states and commonweals, the
+erection of monarchies, the conquest of kingdoms and empires, guided
+handfuls of men against multitudes of equal bodily strength, contrived
+victories beyond all hope and discourse of reason, converted the fearful
+passions of his own followers into magnanimity, and the valor of his
+enemies into cowardice; such spirits have been stirred up in sundry ages
+of the world, and in divers parts thereof, to erect and cast down again,
+to establish and to destroy, and to bring all things, persons, and
+states to the same certain ends which the infinite spirit of the
+_Universal_, piercing, moving, and governing all things, hath ordained.
+Certainly, the things that this King did were marvellous and would
+hardly have been undertaken by anyone else; and though his father had
+determined to have invaded the Lesser Asia, it is like enough that he
+would have contented himself with some part thereof, and not have
+discovered the river of Indus, as this man did."
+
+A higher authority than either Arrian or Raleigh may now be referred to
+by those who wish to know the real merit of Alexander as a general, and
+how far the commonplace assertions are true that his successes were the
+mere results of fortunate rashness and unreasoning pugnacity. Napoleon
+selected Alexander as one of the seven greatest generals whose noble
+deeds history has handed down to us, and from the study of whose
+campaigns the principles of war are to be learned. The critique of the
+greatest conqueror of modern times on the military career of the great
+conqueror of the Old World is no less graphic than true:
+
+"Alexander crossed the Dardanelles B.C. 334, with an army of about forty
+thousand men, of which one-eighth was cavalry; he forced the passage of
+the Granicus in opposition to an army under Memnon, the Greek, who
+commanded for Darius on the coast of Asia, and he spent the whole of the
+year 333 in establishing his power in Asia Minor. He was seconded by the
+Greek colonies, who dwelt on the borders of the Black Sea and on the
+Mediterranean, and in Sardis, Ephesus, Tarsus, Miletus, etc. The kings
+of Persia left their provinces and towns to be governed according to
+their own particular laws. Their empire was a union of confederated
+states, and did not form one nation; this facilitated its conquest. As
+Alexander only wished for the throne of the monarch, he easily effected
+the change by respecting the customs, manners, and laws of the people,
+who experienced no change in their condition.
+
+"In the year 332 he met with Darius at the head of sixty thousand men,
+who had taken up a position near Tarsus, on the banks of the Issus, in
+the province of Cilicia. He defeated him, entered Syria, took Damascus,
+which contained all the riches of the Great King, and laid siege to
+Tyre. This superb metropolis of the commerce of the world detained him
+nine months.
+
+"He took Gaza after a siege of two months; crossed the desert in seven
+days; entered Pelusium and Memphis, and founded Alexandria. In less than
+two years, after two battles and four or five sieges, the coasts of the
+Black Sea, from Phasis to Byzantium, those of the Mediterranean as far
+as Alexandria, all Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, had submitted to his
+arms.
+
+"In 331 he repassed the desert, encamped in Tyre, re-crossed Syria,
+entered Damascus, passed the Euphrates and Tigris, and defeated Darius
+on the field of Arbela when he was at the head of a still stronger army
+than that which he commanded on the Issus, and Babylon opened her gates
+to him. In 330 he overran Susa and took that city, Persepolis, and
+Pasargada, which contained the tomb of Cyrus. In 329 he directed his
+course northward, entered Ecbatana, and extended his conquests to the
+coasts of the Caspian, punished Bessus, the cowardly assassin of Darius,
+penetrated into Scythia, and subdued the Scythians.
+
+"In 328 he forced the passage of the Oxus, received sixteen thousand
+recruits from Macedonia, and reduced the neighboring people to
+subjection. In 327 he crossed the Indus, vanquished Porus in a pitched
+battle, took him prisoner, and treated him as a king. He contemplated
+passing the Ganges, but his army refused. He sailed down the Indus, in
+the year 326, with eight hundred vessels; having arrived at the ocean,
+he sent Nearchus with a fleet to run along the coasts of the Indian
+Ocean and the Persian Gulf as far as the mouth of the Euphrates. In 325
+he took sixty days in crossing from Gedrosia, entered Keramania,
+returned to Pasargada, Persepolis, and Susa, and married Statira, the
+daughter of Darius. In 324 he marched once more to the north, passed
+Echatana, and terminated his career at Babylon."
+
+The enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to be estimated, not
+by the duration of his own life and empire, or even by the duration of
+the kingdoms which his generals after his death formed out of the
+fragments of that mighty dominion. In every region of the world that he
+traversed, Alexander planted Greek settlements and founded cities, in
+the populations of which the Greek element at once asserted its
+predominance. Among his successors, the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies
+imitated their great captain in blending schemes of civilization, of
+commercial intercourse, and of literary and scientific research with all
+their enterprises of military aggrandizement and with all their systems
+of civil administration.
+
+Such was the ascendency of the Greek genius, so wonderfully
+comprehensive and assimilating was the cultivation which it introduced,
+that, within thirty years after Alexander crossed the Hellespont, the
+Greek language was spoken in every country from the shores of the AEgean
+to the Indus, and also throughout Egypt--not, indeed, wholly to the
+extirpation of the native dialects, but it became the language of every
+court, of all literature, of every judicial and political function, and
+formed a medium of communication among the many myriads of mankind
+inhabiting these large portions of the Old World.
+
+Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt the Hellenic character that was
+thus imparted remained in full vigor down to the time of the Mahometan
+conquests. The infinite value of this to humanity in the highest and
+holiest point of view has often been pointed out, and the workings of
+the finger of Providence have been gratefully recognized by those who
+have observed how the early growth and progress of Christianity were
+aided by that diffusion of the Greek language and civilization
+throughout Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt which had been caused by the
+Macedonian conquest of the East.
+
+In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and material influence
+of Greek ascendency was more short-lived. Yet, during the existence of
+the Hellenic kingdoms in these regions, especially of the Greek kingdom
+of Bactria, the modern Bokhara, very important effects were produced on
+the intellectual tendencies and tastes of the inhabitants of those
+countries, and of the adjacent ones, by the animating contact of the
+Grecian spirit. Much of Hindu science and philosophy, much of the
+literature of the later Persian kingdom of the Arsacidae, either
+originated from or was largely modified by Grecian influences. So, also,
+the learning and science of the Arabians were in a far less degree the
+result of original invention and genius than the reproduction, in an
+altered form, of the Greek philosophy and the Greek lore acquired by the
+Saracenic conquerors, together with their acquisition of the provinces
+which Alexander had subjugated, nearly a thousand years before the armed
+disciples of Mahomet commenced their career in the East.
+
+It is well known that Western Europe in the Middle Ages drew its
+philosophy, its arts, and its science principally from Arabian teachers.
+And thus we see how the intellectual influence of ancient Greece, poured
+on the Eastern world by Alexander's victories, and then brought back to
+bear on mediaeval Europe by the spread of the Saracenic powers, has
+exerted its action on the elements of modern civilization by this
+powerful though indirect channel, as well as by the more obvious effects
+of the remnants of classic civilization which survived in Italy, Gaul,
+Britain, and Spain, after the irruption of the Germanic nations.
+
+These considerations invest the Macedonian triumphs in the East with
+never-dying interest, such as the most showy and sanguinary successes of
+mere "low ambition and the pride of kings," however they may dazzle for
+a moment, can never retain with posterity. Whether the old Persian
+empire which Cyrus founded could have survived much longer than it did,
+even if Darius had been victorious at Arbela, may safely be disputed.
+That ancient dominion, like the Turkish at the present time, labored
+under every cause of decay and dissolution. The satraps, like the modern
+pachas, continually rebelled against the central power, and Egypt in
+particular was almost always in a state of insurrection against its
+nominal sovereign. There was no longer any effective central control, or
+any internal principle of unity fused through the huge mass of the
+empire, and binding it together.
+
+Persia was evidently about to fall; but, had it not been for Alexander's
+invasion of Asia, she would most probably have fallen beneath some other
+oriental power, as Media and Babylon had formerly fallen before herself,
+and as, in after-times, the Parthian supremacy gave way to the revived
+ascendency of Persia in the East, under the sceptres of the Arsacidae. A
+revolution that merely substituted one Eastern power for another would
+have been utterly barren and unprofitable to mankind.
+
+Alexander's victory at Arbela not only overthrew an oriental dynasty,
+but established European rulers in its stead. It broke the monotony of
+the eastern world by the impression of western energy and superior
+civilization, even as England's present mission is to break up the
+mental and moral stagnation of India and Cathay by pouring upon and
+through them the impulsive current of Anglo-Saxon commerce and conquest.
+
+Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the decisive battle
+which gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than twenty miles from the
+actual scene of conflict. The little village, then named Gaugamela, is
+close to the spot where the armies met, but has ceded the honor of
+naming the battle to its more euphonious neighbor. Gaugamela is situated
+in one of the wide plains that lie between the Tigris and the mountains
+of Kurdistan. A few undulating hillocks diversify the surface of this
+sandy tract; but the ground is generally level and admirably qualified
+for the evolutions of cavalry, and also calculated to give the larger of
+two armies the full advantage of numerical superiority.
+
+The Persian King--who, before he came to the throne, had proved his
+personal valor as a soldier and his skill as a general--had wisely
+selected this region for the third and decisive encounter between his
+forces and the invader. The previous defeats of his troops, however
+severe they had been, were not looked on as irreparable. The Granicus
+had been fought by his generals rashly and without mutual concert; and,
+though Darius himself had commanded and been beaten at Issus, that
+defeat might be attributed to the disadvantageous nature of the ground,
+where, cooped up between the mountains, the river, and the sea, the
+numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike the general's skill
+and the soldiers' prowess, and their very strength had been made their
+weakness. Here, on the broad plains of Kurdistan, there was scope for
+Asia's largest host to array its lines, to wheel, to skirmish, to
+condense or expand its squadrons, to manoeuvre, and to charge at will.
+Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to plunge into that living sea
+of war, their destruction seemed inevitable.
+
+Darius felt, however, the critical nature to himself as well as to his
+adversary of the coming encounter. He could not hope to retrieve the
+consequences of a third overthrow. The great cities of Mesopotamia and
+Upper Asia, the central provinces of the Persian empire, were certain to
+be at the mercy of the victor. Darius knew also the Asiatic character
+well enough to be aware how it yields to _prestige_ of success and the
+apparent career of destiny. He felt that the diadem was now either to be
+firmly replaced on his own brow or to be irrevocably transferred to the
+head of his European conqueror. He, therefore, during the long interval
+left him after the battle of Issus, while Alexander was subjugating
+Syria and Egypt, assiduously busied himself in selecting the best troops
+which his vast empire supplied, and in training his varied forces to act
+together with some uniformity of discipline and system.
+
+The hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, Bokhara, Khiva, and Tibet were
+then, as at present, far different from the generality of Asiatics in
+warlike spirit and endurance. From these districts Darius collected
+large bodies of admirable infantry; and the countries of the modern
+Kurds and Turkomans supplied, as they do now, squadrons of horsemen,
+hardy, skilful, bold, and trained to a life of constant activity and
+warfare. It is not uninteresting to notice that the ancestors of our own
+late enemies, the Sikhs, served as allies of Darius against the
+Macedonians. They are spoken of in Arrian as Indians who dwelt near
+Bactria. They were attached to the troops of that satrapy, and their
+cavalry was one of the most formidable forces in the whole Persian army.
+
+Besides these picked troops, contingents also came in from the numerous
+other provinces that yet obeyed the Great King. Altogether, the horse
+are said to have been forty thousand, the scythe-bearing chariots two
+hundred, and the armed elephants fifteen in number. The amount of the
+infantry is uncertain; but the knowledge which both ancient and modern
+times supply of the usual character of oriental armies, and of their
+populations of camp-followers, may warrant us in believing that many
+myriads were prepared to fight or to encumber those who fought for the
+last Darius.
+
+The position of the Persian King near Mesopotamia was chosen with great
+military skill. It was certain that Alexander, on his return from Egypt,
+must march northward along the Syrian coast before he attacked the
+central provinces of the Persian empire. A direct eastward march from
+the lower part of Palestine across the great Syrian Desert was then, as
+ever, utterly impracticable. Marching eastward from Syria, Alexander
+would, on crossing the Euphrates, arrive at the vast Mesopotamian
+plains. The wealthy capitals of the empire, Babylon, Susa, and
+Persepolis, would then lie to the south; and if he marched down through
+Mesopotamia to attack them, Darius might reasonably hope to follow the
+Macedonians with his immense force of cavalry, and, without even risking
+a pitched battle, to harass and finally overwhelm them.
+
+We may remember that three centuries afterward a Roman army under
+Crassus was thus actually destroyed by the oriental archers and horsemen
+in these very plains, and that the ancestors of the Parthians who thus
+vanquished the Roman legions served by thousands under King Darius. If,
+on the contrary, Alexander should defer his march against Babylon, and
+first seek an encounter with the Persian army, the country on each side
+of the Tigris in this latitude was highly advantageous for such an army
+as Darius commanded, and he had close in his rear the mountainous
+districts of Northern Media, where he himself had in early life been
+satrap, where he had acquired reputation as a soldier and a general, and
+where he justly expected to find loyalty to his person, and a safe
+refuge in case of defeat.[49]
+
+[Footnote 49: Mitford's remarks on the strategy of Darius in his last
+campaign are very just. After having been unduly admired as a historian,
+Mitford is now unduly neglected. His partiality and his deficiency in
+scholarship have been exposed sufficiently to make him no longer a
+dangerous guide as to Greek politics, while the clearness and brilliance
+of his narrative, and the strong common sense of his remarks (where his
+party prejudices do not interfere), must always make his volumes
+valuable as well as entertaining.]
+
+His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against him, at the
+head of an army which Arrian, copying from the journals of Macedonian
+officers, states to have consisted of forty thousand foot and seven
+thousand horse. In studying the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the
+peculiar advantage of deriving our information from two of Alexander's
+generals of division, who bore an important part in all his enterprises.
+Aristobulus and Ptolemy--who afterward became king of Egypt--kept
+regular journals of the military events which they witnessed, and these
+journals were in the possession of Arrian when he drew up his history of
+Alexander's expedition.
+
+The high character of Arrian for integrity makes us confident that he
+used them fairly, and his comments on the occasional discrepancies
+between the two Macedonian narratives prove that he used them sensibly.
+He frequently quotes the very words of his authorities; and his history
+thus acquires a charm such as very few ancient or modern military
+narratives possess. The anecdotes and expressions which he records we
+fairly believe to be genuine, and not to be the coinage of a
+rhetorician, like those in Curtius. In fact, in reading Arrian, we read
+General Aristobulus and General Ptolemy on the campaigns of the
+Macedonians, and it is like reading General Jomini or General Foy on the
+campaigns of the French.
+
+The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of Alexander's army
+seems reasonable enough, when we take into account both the losses which
+he had sustained and the reenforcements which he had received since he
+left Europe. Indeed, to Englishmen, who know with what mere handfuls of
+men our own generals have, at Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and other
+Indian battles, routed large hosts of Asiatics, the disparity of numbers
+that we read of in the victories won by the Macedonians over the
+Persians presents nothing incredible. The army which Alexander now led
+was wholly composed of veteran troops in the highest possible state of
+equipment and discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader, and
+full of confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny.
+
+The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main strength of his
+infantry. This force had been raised and organized by his father,
+Philip, who, on his accession to the Macedonian throne, needed a
+numerous and quickly formed army, and who, by lengthening the spear of
+the ordinary Greek phalanx, and increasing the depth of the files,
+brought the tactics of armed masses to the highest extent of which it
+was capable with such materials as he possessed. He formed his men
+sixteen deep, and placed in their grasp the _sarissa_, as the Macedonian
+pike was called, which was four-and-twenty feet in length, and, when
+couched for action, reached eighteen feet in front of the soldier; so
+that, as a space of about two feet was allowed between the ranks, the
+spears of the five files behind him projected in front of each
+front-rank man.
+
+The phalangite soldier was fully equipped in the defensive armor of the
+regular Greek infantry. And thus the phalanx presented a ponderous and
+bristling mass, which, as long as its order was kept compact, was sure
+to bear down all opposition. The defects of such an organization are
+obvious, and were proved in after-years, when the Macedonians were
+opposed to the Roman legions. But it is clear that under Alexander the
+phalanx was not the cumbrous, unwieldy body which it was at Cynoscephate
+and Pydna. His men were veterans; and he could obtain from them an
+accuracy of movement and steadiness of evolution such as probably the
+recruits of his father would only have floundered in attempting, and
+such as certainly were impracticable in the phalanx when handled by his
+successors, especially as under them it ceased to be a standing force,
+and became only a militia.
+
+Under Alexander the phalanx consisted of an aggregate of eighteen
+thousand men, who were divided into six brigades of three thousand each.
+These were again subdivided into regiments and companies; and the men
+were carefully trained to wheel, to face about, to take more ground, or
+to close up, as the emergencies of the battle required. Alexander also
+arrayed troops armed in a different manner in the intervals of the
+regiments of his phalangites, who could prevent their line from being
+pierced and their companies taken in flank, when the nature of the
+ground prevented a close formation, and who could be withdrawn when a
+favorable opportunity arrived for closing up the phalanx or any of its
+brigades for a charge, or when it was necessary to prepare to receive
+cavalry.
+
+Besides the phalanx, Alexander had a considerable force of infantry who
+were called shield-bearers: they were not so heavily armed as the
+phalangites, or as was the case with the Greek regular infantry in
+general, but they were equipped for close fight as well as for
+skirmishing, and were far superior to the ordinary irregular troops of
+Greek warfare. They were about six thousand strong. Besides these, he
+had several bodies of Greek regular infantry; and he had archers,
+slingers, and javelin-men, who fought also with broadsword and target,
+and who were principally supplied him by the highlanders of Illyria and
+Thracia.
+
+The main strength of his cavalry consisted in two chosen regiments of
+cuirassiers, one Macedonian and one Thessalian, each of which was about
+fifteen hundred strong. They were provided with long lances and heavy
+swords, and horse as well as man was fully equipped with defensive
+armor. Other regiments of regular cavalry were less heavily armed, and
+there were several bodies of light-horsemen, whom Alexander's conquests
+in Egypt and Syria had enabled him to mount superbly.
+
+A little before the end of August, Alexander crossed the Euphrates at
+Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry under Mazaeus retiring
+before him. Alexander was too prudent to march down through the
+Mesopotamian deserts, and continued to advance eastward with the
+intention of passing the Tigris, and then, if he was unable to find
+Darius and bring him to action, of marching southward on the left side
+of that river along the skirts of a mountainous district where his men
+would suffer less from heat and thirst, and where provisions would be
+more abundant.
+
+Darius, finding that his adversary was not to be enticed into the march
+through Mesopotamia against his capital, determined to remain on the
+battle-ground, which he had chosen on the left of the Tigris; where, if
+his enemy met a defeat or a check, the destruction of the invaders would
+be certain with two such rivers as the Euphrates and the Tigris in their
+rear.
+
+The Persian King availed himself to the utmost of every advantage in his
+power. He caused a large space of ground to be carefully levelled for
+the operation of his scythe-armed chariots; and he deposited his
+military stores in the strong town of Arbela, about twenty miles in his
+rear. The rhetoricians of after-ages have loved to describe Darius
+Codomanus as a second Xerxes in ostentation and imbecility; but a fair
+examination of his generalship in this his last campaign shows that he
+was worthy of bearing the same name as his great predecessor, the royal
+son of Hystaspes.
+
+On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left of the Tigris,
+Alexander hurried forward and crossed that river without opposition. He
+was at first unable to procure any certain intelligence of the precise
+position of the enemy, and after giving his army a short interval of
+rest he marched for four days down the left bank of the river.
+
+A moralist may pause upon the fact that Alexander must in this march
+have passed within a few miles of the ruins of Nineveh, the great city
+of the primaeval conquerors of the human race. Neither the Macedonian
+King nor any of his followers knew what those vast mounds had once been.
+They had already sunk into utter destruction; and it is only within the
+last few years that the intellectual energy of one of our own countrymen
+has rescued Nineveh from its long centuries of oblivion.
+
+On the fourth day of Alexander's southward march, his advance guard
+reported that a body of the enemy's cavalry was in sight. He instantly
+formed his army in order for battle, and directing them to advance
+steadily he rode forward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry and
+charged the Persian horse, whom he found before him. This was a mere
+reconnoitring party, and they broke and fled immediately; but the
+Macedonians made some prisoners, and from them Alexander found that
+Darius was posted only a few miles off, and learned the strength of the
+army that he had with him. On receiving this news Alexander halted, and
+gave his men repose for four days, so that they should go into action
+fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his camp and deposited in it all
+his military stores and all his sick and disabled soldiers, intending to
+advance upon the enemy with the serviceable part of his army perfectly
+unencumbered.
+
+After this halt, he moved forward, while it was yet dark, with the
+intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking them at break of day.
+About half way between the camps there were some undulations of the
+ground, which concealed the two armies from each other's view; but, on
+Alexander arriving at their summit, he saw, by the early light, the
+Persian host arrayed before him, and he probably also observed traces of
+some engineering operation having been carried on along part of the
+ground in front of them.
+
+Not knowing that these marks had been caused by the Persians having
+levelled the ground for the free use of their war chariots, Alexander
+suspected that hidden pitfalls had been prepared with a view of
+disordering the approach of his cavalry. He summoned a council of war
+forthwith. Some of the officers were for attacking instantly, at all
+hazards; but the more prudent opinion of Parmenio prevailed, and it was
+determined not to advance farther till the battle-ground had been
+carefully surveyed.
+
+Alexander halted his army on the heights, and, taking with him some
+light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed part of the day in
+reconnoitring the enemy and observing the nature of the ground which he
+had to fight on. Darius wisely refrained from moving from his position
+to attack the Macedonians on the eminences which they occupied, and the
+two armies remained until night without molesting each other.
+
+On Alexander's return to his headquarters, he summoned his generals and
+superior officers together, and telling them that he knew well that
+_their_ zeal wanted no exhortation, he besought them to do their utmost
+in encouraging and instructing those whom each commanded, to do their
+best in the next day's battle. They were to remind them that they were
+now not going to fight for a province as they had hitherto fought, but
+they were about to decide by their swords the dominion of all Asia. Each
+officer ought to impress this upon his subalterns, and they should urge
+it on their men. Their natural courage required no long words to excite
+its ardor; but they should be reminded of the paramount importance of
+steadiness in action. The silence in the ranks must be unbroken as long
+as silence was proper; but when the time came for the charge, the shout
+and the cheer must be full of terror for the foe. The officers were to
+be alert in receiving and communicating orders; and everyone was to act
+as if he felt that the whole result of the battle depended on his own
+single good conduct.
+
+Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander ordered that the
+army should sup and take their rest for the night.
+
+Darkness had closed over the tents of the Macedonians when Alexander's
+veteran general, Parmenio, came to him and proposed that they should
+make a night attack on the Persians. The King is said to have answered
+that he scorned to filch a victory, and that Alexander must conquer
+openly and fairly. Arrian justly remarks that Alexander's resolution was
+as wise as it was spirited. Besides the confusion and uncertainty which
+are inseparable from night engagements, the value of Alexander's victory
+would have been impaired if gained under circumstances which might
+supply the enemy with any excuse for his defeat, and encourage him to
+renew the contest. It was necessary for Alexander not only to beat
+Darius, but to gain such a victory as should leave his rival without
+apology and without hope of recovery.
+
+The Persians, in fact, expected and were prepared to meet a night
+attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius entertained of it that he
+formed his troops at evening in order of battle, and kept them under
+arms all night. The effect of this was that the morning found them jaded
+and dispirited, while it brought their adversaries all fresh and
+vigorous against them.
+
+The written order of battle which Darius himself caused to be drawn up
+fell into the hands of the Macedonians after the engagement, and
+Aristobulus copied it into his journal. We thus possess, through Arrian,
+unusually authentic information as to the composition and arrangement of
+the Persian army. On the extreme left were the Bactrian, Daan, and
+Arachosian cavalry. Next to these Darius placed the troops from Persia
+proper, both horse and foot. Then came the Susians, and next to these
+the Cadusians. These forces made up the left wing.
+
+Darius' own station was in the centre. This was composed of the Indians,
+the Carians, the Mardian archers, and the division of Persians who were
+distinguished by the golden apples that formed the knobs of their
+spears. Here also were stationed the bodyguard of the Persian nobility.
+Besides these, there were, in the centre, formed in deep order, the
+Uxian and Babylonian troops and the soldiers from the Red Sea. The
+brigade of Greek mercenaries whom Darius had in his service, and who
+alone were considered fit to stand the charge of the Macedonian phalanx,
+was drawn up on either side of the royal chariot.
+
+The right wing was composed of the Coelosyrians and Mesopotamians, the
+Medes, the Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians, Hyrcanians, Albanians,
+and Sacesinae. In advance of the line on the left wing were placed the
+Scythian cavalry, with a thousand of the Bactrian horse and a hundred
+scythe-armed chariots. The elephants and fifty scythe-armed chariots
+were ranged in front of the centre; and fifty more chariots, with the
+Armenian and Cappadocian cavalry, were drawn up in advance of the right
+wing.
+
+Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the night that to
+many thousands of them was the last of their existence. The morning of
+the first of October[50] dawned slowly to their wearied watching, and
+they could hear the note of the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and
+could see King Alexander's forces descend from their tents on the
+heights and form in order of battle on the plain.
+
+[Footnote 50: The battle was fought eleven days after an eclipse of the
+moon, which gives the means of fixing the precise date.]
+
+There was deep need of skill, as well as of valor, on Alexander's side;
+and few battle-fields have witnessed more consummate generalship than
+was now displayed by the Macedonian King. There were no natural barriers
+by which he could protect his flanks; and not only was he certain to be
+overlapped on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but
+there was imminent risk of their circling round him, and charging him in
+the rear, while he advanced against their centre. He formed, therefore,
+a second, or reserve line, which was to wheel round, if required, or to
+detach troops to either flank, as the enemy's movements might
+necessitate; and thus, with their whole army ready at any moment to be
+thrown into one vast hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two
+lines against the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right wing,
+and the renowned phalanx forming the centre, while Parmenio commanded on
+the left.
+
+Such was the general nature of the disposition which Alexander made of
+his army. But we have in Arrian the details of the position of each
+brigade and regiment; and as we know that these details were taken from
+the journals of Macedonian generals, it is interesting to examine them,
+and to read the names and stations of King Alexander's generals and
+colonels in this the greatest of his battles.
+
+The eight regiments of the royal horse-guards formed the right of
+Alexander's line. Their colonels were Clitus--whose regiment was on the
+extreme right, the post of peculiar danger--Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis,
+Heraclides, Demetrias, Meleager, and Hegelochus. Philotas was general of
+the whole division. Then came the shield-bearing infantry: Nicanor was
+their general. Then came the phalanx in six brigades. Coenus' brigade
+was on the right, and nearest to the shield-bearers; next to this stood
+the brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager's, then Polysperchon's; and then
+the brigade of Amynias, but which was now commanded by Simmias, as
+Amynias had been sent to Macedonia to levy recruits. Then came the
+infantry of the left wing, under the command of Craterus.
+
+Next to Craterus' infantry were placed the cavalry regiments of the
+allies, with Eriguius for their general. The Thessalian cavalry,
+commanded by Philippus, were next, and held the extreme left of the
+whole army. The whole left wing was intrusted to the command of
+Parmenio, who had round his person the Pharsalian regiment of cavalry,
+which was the strongest and best of all the Thessalian horse regiments.
+
+The centre of the second line was occupied by a body of phalangite
+infantry, formed of companies which were drafted for this purpose from
+each of the brigades of their phalanx. The officers in command of this
+corps were ordered to be ready to face about if the enemy should succeed
+in gaining the rear of the army. On the right of this reserve of
+infantry, in the second line, and behind the royal horse-guards,
+Alexander placed half the Agrian light-armed infantry under Attalus, and
+with them Brison's body of Macedonian archers and Cleander's regiment of
+foot. He also placed in this part of his army Menidas' squadron of
+cavalry and Aretes' and Ariston's light horse. Menidas was ordered to
+watch if the enemy's cavalry tried to turn their flank, and, if they did
+so, to charge them before they wheeled completely round, and so take
+them in flank themselves.
+
+A similar force was arranged on the left of the second line for the same
+purpose. The Thracian infantry of Sitalces were placed there, and
+Coeranus' regiment of the cavalry of the Greek allies, and Agathon's
+troops of the Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme left of the second
+line in this quarter was held by Andromachus' cavalry. A division of
+Thracian infantry was left in guard of the camp. In advance of the right
+wing and centre was scattered a number of light-armed troops, of
+javelin-men and bowmen, with the intention of warding off the charge of
+the armed chariots.[51]
+
+[Footnote 51: Kleber's arrangement of his troops at the battle of
+Heliopolis, where, with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter
+eighty thousand Asiatics in an open plain, is worth comparing with
+Alexander's tactics at Arbela. See Thiers' _Histoire du Consulat_.]
+
+Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armor, and by the chosen band of
+officers who were round his person, Alexander took his own station, as
+his custom was, in the right wing, at the head of his cavalry; and when
+all the arrangements for the battle were complete, and his generals were
+fully instructed how to act in each probable emergency, he began to lead
+his men toward the enemy.
+
+It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, and to
+emulate the personal prowess of his great ancestor, Achilles. Perhaps,
+in the bold enterprise of conquering Persia, it was politic for
+Alexander to raise his army's daring to the utmost by the example of his
+own heroic valor; and, in his subsequent campaigns, the love of the
+excitement, of "the raptures of the strife," may have made him, like
+Murat, continue from choice a custom which he commenced from duty. But
+he never suffered the ardor of the soldier to make him lose the coolness
+of the general.
+
+Great reliance had been placed by the Persian King on the effects of the
+scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to launch these against the
+Macedonian phalanx, and to follow them up by a heavy charge of cavalry,
+which, it was hoped, would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by
+the rush of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part
+of Alexander's force. In front, therefore, of the Persian centre, where
+Darius took his station, and which it was supposed that the phalanx
+would attack, the ground had been carefully levelled and smoothed, so as
+to allow the chariots to charge over it with their full sweep and speed.
+
+As the Macedonian army approached the Persian, Alexander found that the
+front of his whole line barely equalled the front of the Persian centre,
+so that he was outflanked on his right by the entire left wing of the
+enemy, and by their entire right wing on his left. His tactics were to
+assail some one point of the hostile army, and gain a decisive
+advantage, while he refused, as far as possible, the encounter along the
+rest of the line. He therefore inclined his order of march to the right,
+so as to enable his right wing and centre to come into collision with
+the enemy on as favorable terms as possible, although the manoeuvre
+might in some respect compromise his left.
+
+The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the phalanx and his own
+wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground which the Persians had
+prepared for the operations of the chariots; and Darius, fearing to lose
+the benefit of this arm against the most important parts of the
+Macedonian force, ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were
+drawn up in advance on his extreme left, to charge round upon
+Alexander's right wing, and check its farther lateral progress. Against
+these assailants Alexander sent from his second line Menidas' cavalry.
+As these proved too few to make head against the enemy, he ordered
+Ariston also from the second line with his right horse, and Cleander
+with his foot, in support of Menidas.
+
+The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way; but Darius reenforced
+them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry from his main line, and an
+obstinate cavalry fight now took place. The Bactrians and Scythians were
+numerous, and were better armed than the horsemen under Menidas and
+Ariston; and the loss at first was heaviest on the Macedonian side. But
+still the European cavalry stood the charge of the Asiatics, and at
+last, by their superior discipline, and by acting in squadrons that
+supported each other,[52] instead of fighting in a confused mass like
+the barbarians, the Macedonians broke their adversaries and drove them
+off the field.
+
+[Footnote 52: The best explanation of this may be found in Napoleon's
+account of the cavalry fights between the French and the mamelukes: "Two
+mamelukes were able to make head against three Frenchmen, because they
+were better armed, better mounted, and better trained; they had two pair
+of pistols, a blunderbuss, a carbine, a helmet with a visor, and a coat
+of mail; they had several horses, and several attendants on foot. One
+hundred cuirassiers, however, were not afraid of one hundred mamelukes;
+three hundred could beat an equal number, and one thousand could easily
+put to the rout fifteen hundred, so great is the influence of tactics,
+order, and evolutions! Leclerc and Lasalle presented their men to the
+mamelukes in several lines. When the Arabs were on the point of
+overwhelming the first, the second came to its assistance on the right
+and left; the mamelukes then halted and wheeled, in order to turn the
+wings of this new line; this moment was always seized upon to charge
+them, and they were uniformly broken."]
+
+Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven against
+Alexander's horse-guards and the phalanx, and these formidable vehicles
+were accordingly sent rattling across the plain, against the Macedonian
+line. When we remember the alarm which the war chariots of the Britons
+created among Caesar's legions, we shall not be prone to deride this arm
+of ancient warfare as always useless. The object of the chariots was to
+create unsteadiness in the ranks against which they were driven, and
+squadrons of cavalry followed close upon them to profit by such
+disorder. But the Asiatic chariots were rendered ineffective at Arbela
+by the light-armed troops, whom Alexander had specially appointed for
+the service, and who, wounding the horses and drivers with their missile
+weapons, and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the
+reins, marred the intended charge; and the few chariots that reached the
+phalanx passed harmlessly through the internals which the spearmen
+opened for them, and were easily captured in the rear.
+
+A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, collected
+against Alexander's extreme right, and moved round it, with the view of
+gaining the flank of his army. At the critical moment, when their own
+flanks were exposed by this evolution, Aretes dashed on the Persian
+squadrons with his horsemen from Alexander's second line. While
+Alexander thus met and baffled all the flanking attacks of the enemy
+with troops brought up from his second line, he kept his own
+horse-guards and the rest of the front line of his wing fresh, and ready
+to take advantage of the first opportunity for striking a decisive blow.
+
+This soon came. A large body of horse, who were posted on the Persian
+left wing nearest to the centre, quitted their station, and rode off to
+help their comrades in the cavalry fight that still was going on at the
+extreme right of Alexander's wing against the detachments from his
+second line. This made a huge gap in the Persian array, and into this
+space Alexander instantly charged with his guard and all the cavalry of
+his wing; and then, pressing toward his left, he soon began to make
+havoc in the left flank of the Persian centre. The shield-bearing
+infantry now charged also among the reeling masses of the Asiatics; and
+five of the brigades of the phalanx, with the irresistible might of
+their sarissas, bore down the Greek mercenaries of Darius, and dug their
+way through the Persian centre.
+
+In the early part of the battle Darius had showed skill and energy; and
+he now, for some time, encouraged his men, by voice and example, to keep
+firm. But the lances of Alexander's cavalry and the pikes of the phalanx
+now pressed nearer and nearer to him. His charioteer was struck down by
+a javelin at his side; and at last Darius' nerve failed him, and,
+descending from his chariot, he mounted on a fleet horse and galloped
+from the plain, regardless of the state of the battle in other parts of
+the field, where matters were going on much more favorably for his
+cause, and where his presence might have done much toward gaining a
+victory.
+
+Alexander's operations with his right and centre had exposed his left to
+an immensely preponderating force of the enemy. Parmenio kept out of
+action as long as possible; but Mazaeus, who commanded the Persian right
+wing, advanced against him, completely outflanked him, and pressed him
+severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers.
+
+Seeing the distress of Parmenio's wing, Simmias, who commanded the sixth
+brigade of the phalanx, which was next to the left wing, did not advance
+with the other brigades in the great charge upon the Persian centre, but
+kept back to cover Parmenio's troops on their right flank, as otherwise
+they would have been completely surrounded and cut off from the rest of
+the Macedonian army. By so doing, Simmias had unavoidably opened a gap
+in the Macedonian left centre; and a large column of Indian and Persian
+horse, from the Persian right centre, had galloped forward through this
+interval, and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line.
+Instead of then wheeling round upon Parmenio, or upon the rear of
+Alexander's conquering wing, the Indian and Persian cavalry rode
+straight on to the Macedonian camp, overpowered the Thracians who were
+left in charge of it, and began to plunder. This was stopped by the
+phalangite troops of the second line, who, after the enemy's horsemen
+had rushed by them, faced about, countermarched upon the camp, killed
+many of the Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, and forced
+the rest to ride off again.
+
+Just at this crisis, Alexander had been recalled from his pursuit of
+Darius by tidings of the distress of Parmenio and of his inability to
+bear up any longer against the hot attacks of Mazaeus. Taking his
+horse-guards with him, Alexander rode toward the part of the field where
+his left wing was fighting; but on his way thither he encountered the
+Persian and Indian cavalry on their return from his camp.
+
+These men now saw that their only chance of safety was to cut their way
+through, and in one huge column they charged desperately upon the
+Macedonian regiments. There was here a close hand-to-hand fight, which
+lasted some time, and sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three
+generals, who fought close to Alexander's side, were wounded. At length
+the Macedonian discipline and valor again prevailed, and a large number
+of the Persian and Indian horsemen were cut down, some few only
+succeeding in breaking through and riding away.
+
+Relieved of these obstinate enemies, Alexander again formed his
+regiments of horse-guards, and led them toward Parmenio; but by this
+time that general also was victorious. Probably the news of Darius'
+flight had reached Mazaeus, and had damped the ardor of the Persian right
+wing, while the tidings of their comrades' success must have
+proportionally encouraged the Macedonian forces under Parmenio. His
+Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished themselves by their
+gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by the time that Alexander
+had ridden up to Parmenio, the whole Persian army was in full flight
+from the field.
+
+It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure the person of
+Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The river Lycus was between the
+field of battle and the city of Arbela, whither the fugitives directed
+their course, and the passage of this river was even more destructive to
+the Persians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had been in
+the engagement.[53]
+
+[Footnote 53: I purposely omit any statement of the loss in the battle.
+There is a palpable error of the transcribers in the numbers which we
+find in our present manuscripts of Arrian, and Curtius is of no
+authority.]
+
+The narrow bridge was soon choked up by the flying thousands who rushed
+toward it, and vast numbers of the Persians threw themselves, or were
+hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and perished in its waters.
+Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through Arbela without halting.
+Alexander reached the city on the next day, and made himself master of
+all Darius' treasure and stores; but the Persian King, unfortunately for
+himself, had fled too fast for his conqueror, but had only escaped to
+perish by the treachery of his Bactrian satrap, Bessus.
+
+A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, "the oldest seat
+of earthly empire" then in existence, as its acknowledged lord and
+master. There were yet some campaigns of his brief and bright career to
+be accomplished. Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his
+phalanx. He was yet to effect that conquest of Afghanistan in which
+England since has failed. His generalship, as well as his valor, was yet
+to be signalized on the banks of the Hydaspes and the field of
+Chillianwallah; and he was yet to precede the queen of England in
+annexing the Punjab to the dominions of a European sovereign. But the
+crisis of his career was reached; the great object of his mission was
+accomplished; and the ancient Persian empire, which once menaced all the
+nations of the earth with subjection, was irreparably crushed when
+Alexander had won his crowning victory at Arbela.
+
+
+
+
+FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS
+
+B.C. 280-279
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+
+(The Romans, in B.C. 290, had conquered the Samnites and this extended
+the Roman power to the very gates of the Grecian cities on the Gulf of
+Tarentine. Tarentum, the chief city among them, was almost totally
+controlled by a party which advised a peaceful submission to the Roman
+conquerors. The opposing party of patriots, against such cowardly
+measures, looked abroad for aid and found a ready ally in Pyrrhus, the
+Molossian king of Epirus. He was warlike and adventurous, and a member
+of the royal family of Macedonia, through Olympias, who was the mother
+of Alexander the Great.
+
+Pyrrhus had established a reputation for fighting. Not alone had he
+fought at the memorable battle of Ipsus, in Phrygia, but he had proven a
+formidable opponent to Demetinus, king of Macedonia, having forced the
+latter powerful monarch to conclude a truce with him, though afterward
+he had been conquered and driven back to his little kingdom of Epirus.
+At the time the Tarentines sent to him to help them against Rome he was
+eager for a field in which he might do something to prove his mettle.
+This was the greatest opportunity of his life, and he seized upon it.
+The campaign is memorable for having brought the Romans and Greeks into
+conflict on the battle-field for the first time.)
+
+
+Pyrrhus, now that he had lost Macedonia, might have spent his days
+peacefully ruling his own subjects in Epirus; but he could not endure
+repose, thinking that not to trouble others and be troubled by them was
+a life of unbearable ennui, and, like Achilles in the _Iliad_,
+
+    "he could not rest in indolence at home,
+  He longed for battle, and the joys of war."
+
+As he desired some new adventures he embraced the following opportunity.
+The Romans were at war with the Tarentines; and as that people were not
+sufficiently powerful to carry on the war, and yet were not allowed by
+the audacious folly of their mob orators to make peace, they proposed to
+make Pyrrhus their leader and to invite him to be their ally in the war,
+because he was more at leisure than any of the other kings, and also was
+the best general of them all. Of the older and more sensible citizens
+some endeavored to oppose this fatal decision, but were overwhelmed by
+the clamor of the war party, while the rest, observing this, ceased to
+attend the public assembly.
+
+There was one citizen of good repute, named Meton, who, on the day when
+the final decision was to be made, when the people were all assembled,
+took a withered garland and a torch, and like a drunkard, reeled into
+the assembly with a girl playing the flute before him. At this, as one
+may expect in a disorderly popular meeting, some applauded and some
+laughed, but no one stopped him. They next bade the girl play, and Meton
+come forward and dance to the music; and he made as though he would do
+so. When he had obtained silence he said: "Men of Tarentum, you do well
+in encouraging those who wish to be merry and amuse themselves while
+they may. If you are wise you will all enjoy your freedom now, for when
+Pyrrhus is come to our city you will have very different things to think
+of and will live very differently." By these words he made an impression
+on the mass of the Tarentine people, and a murmur ran through the crowd
+that he had spoken well. But those politicians who feared that if peace
+were made they should be delivered up to the Romans, reproached the
+people for allowing anyone to insult them by such a disgraceful
+exhibition, and prevailed on them to turn Meton out of the assembly.
+
+Thus the vote for war was passed, and ambassadors were sent to Epirus,
+not from Tarentum alone, but from the other Greek cities in Italy,
+carrying with them presents for Pyrrhus, with instructions to tell him
+that they required a leader of skill and renown, and that they possessed
+a force of Lucanians, Messapians, Samnites, and Tarentines, which
+amounted to twenty thousand cavalry and three hundred and fifty thousand
+infantry. This not only excited Pyrrhus, but also made all the Epirotes
+eager to take part in the campaign.
+
+There was one Cineas, a Thessalian, who was thought to be a man of good
+sense, and who, having heard Demosthenes the orator speak, was better
+able than any of the speakers of his age to delight his hearers with an
+imitation of the eloquence of that great master of rhetoric. He was now
+in the service of Pyrrhus, and being sent about to various cities,
+proved the truth of the Euripidean saw, that
+
+    "All can be done by words
+  Which foemen wish to do with conquering swords."
+
+Pyrrhus at any rate used to say that more cities were won for him by
+Cineas with words than he himself won by force of arms. This man,
+observing that Pyrrhus was eagerly preparing for his Italian expedition,
+once when he was at leisure conversed with him in the following manner.
+"Pyrrhus," said he, "the Romans are said to be good soldiers, and to
+rule over many warlike nations. Now, if heaven grants us the victory
+over them, what use shall we make of it?"
+
+"You ask what is self-evident," answered Pyrrhus. "If we can conquer the
+Romans, there is no city, Greek or barbarian, that can resist us, and we
+shall gain possession of the whole of Italy, a country whose size,
+richness, and power no one knows better than yourself." Cineas then,
+after waiting for a short time, said: "O King, when we have taken Italy,
+what shall we do then?"
+
+Pyrrhus, not yet seeing his drift, answered: "Close to it Sicily invites
+us, a noble and populous island, and one which is very easy to conquer;
+for, my Cineas, now that Agathocles is dead, there is nothing there but
+revolution and faction and the violence of party spirit."
+
+"What you say," answered Cineas, "is very probably true. But is this
+conquest of Sicily to be the extreme limit of our campaign?"
+
+"Heaven," answered Pyrrhus, "alone can give us victory and success; but
+these conquests would merely prove to us the stepping-stones to greater
+things. Who could refrain from making an attempt upon Carthage and Libya
+when he was so close to them, countries which were all but conquered by
+Agathocles when he ran away from Syracuse with only a few ships? and if
+we were masters of these countries, none of the enemies who now give
+themselves such airs at our expense will dare to resist us."
+
+"Certainly not," answered Cineas; "with such a force at our disposal we
+clearly could recover Macedonia, and have the whole of Greece at our
+feet. And after we have made all these conquests, what shall we do
+then?"
+
+Pyrrhus laughing answered: "We will take our ease and carouse every day,
+and enjoy pleasant conversation with one another."
+
+Having brought Pyrrhus to say this, Cineas asked in reply: "But what
+prevents our carousing and taking our ease now, since we have already at
+hand all those things which we propose to obtain with much bloodshed,
+and great toils and perils, and after suffering much ourselves and
+causing much suffering to others?"
+
+By talking in this manner Cineas vexed Pyrrhus, because he made him
+reflect on the pleasant home which he was leaving, but his reasoning had
+no effect in turning him from his purpose.
+
+He first despatched Cineas to Tarentum with three thousand men; next he
+collected from Tarentum many horse-transports, decked vessels, and boats
+of all sorts, and embarked upon them twenty elephants, twenty-three
+thousand cavalry, twenty-two thousand infantry, and five hundred
+slingers. When all was ready he put to sea; and when half way across a
+storm burst upon him from the north, which was unusual at that season of
+the year. He himself, though his ship was carried away by the tempest,
+yet, by the great pains and skill of the sailors and pilots, resisted it
+and reached the land, with great toil to the rowers, and beyond
+everyone's expectation; for the rest of the fleet was overpowered by the
+gale and scattered. Some ships were driven off the Italian coast
+altogether, and forced into the Libyan and Sicilian seas, and some which
+could not weather the Iapygian Cape were overtaken by night, and being
+dashed by a violent and boisterous sea against that harborless coast
+were utterly lost, except only the King's ship. She was so large and
+strongly built as to resist the waves as long as they broke upon her
+from the seaward; but when the wind changed and blew directly off the
+shore, the ship, which now met the waves directly with her head, was in
+great danger of going to pieces, while to let her drive out to sea again
+now that it was so rough, and the wind changed so frequently, seemed
+more terrible than to remain where they were.
+
+Pyrrhus rose and leaped into the water, and at once was eagerly followed
+by his friends and his bodyguard. The darkness of night and the violent
+recoil of the roaring waves made it hard for them to help him, and it
+was not until daybreak, when the wind abated, that he reached the land,
+faint and helpless in body, but with his spirit invincible in
+misfortune. The Messapians, upon whose coast he had been thrown, now
+assembled from the neighboring villages and offered their help, while
+some of the ships which had outlived the storm appeared, bringing a few
+horsemen, about two thousand foot, and two elephants.
+
+With these Pyrrhus marched to Tarentum; Cineas, as soon as he heard of
+his arrival, bringing out the Tarentine army to meet him. When he
+reached the city he did nothing to displease the Tarentines until his
+fleet returned to the coast and he had assembled the greater part of his
+army. But then, as he saw that the populace, unless ruled by a strong
+hand, could neither help him nor help themselves, but intended to stay
+idling about their baths and entertainments at home, while he fought
+their battles in the field, he closed the gymnasia and public walks, in
+which the people were wont to waste their time in empty talk about the
+war. He forbade all drinking, feasting, and unseasonable revels, and
+forced the people to take up arms, proving himself inexorable to
+everyone who was on the muster-roll of able-bodied citizens. This
+conduct made him much disliked, and many of the Tarentines left the city
+in disgust; for they were so unused to discipline that they considered
+that not to be able to pass their lives as they chose was no better than
+slavery.
+
+When news came that Laevinus, the Roman consul, was marching to attack
+him with a large force, and was plundering the country of Lucania as he
+advanced, while Pyrrhus' allies had not yet arrived, he thought it a
+shameful thing to allow the enemy to proceed any farther, and marched
+out with his army. He sent before him a herald to the Roman general,
+informing him that he was willing to act as arbitrator in the dispute
+between the Romans and the Greek cities of Italy, if they chose to
+terminate it peacefully. On receiving for an answer that the Romans
+neither wished for Pyrrhus as an arbitrator, nor feared him as an enemy,
+he marched forward, and encamped in the plain between the city of
+Pandosia and Heraclea.
+
+Learning that the Romans were close by, and were encamping on the
+farther side of the river Siris (the river Aciris, now called Agri), he
+rode up to the river to view them; and when he observed their even
+ranks, their orderly movements, and their well-arranged camp, he was
+surprised, and said to the nearest of his friends: "These barbarians,
+Megacles, have nothing barbarous in their military discipline; but we
+shall soon learn what they can do." He began indeed already to feel some
+uncertainty as to the issue of the campaign, and determined to wait
+until his allies came up, and till then to observe the movements of the
+Romans, and prevent their crossing the river. They, however, perceiving
+his object, at once crossed the river, the infantry at a ford, the
+cavalry at many points at once, so that the Greeks feared they might be
+surrounded, and drew back. Pyrrhus, perceiving this, ordered his
+officers instantly to form the troops in order of battle and wait under
+arms while he himself charged with the cavalry, three thousand strong,
+hoping to catch the Romans in the act of crossing the river and
+consequently in disorder.
+
+When he saw many shields of the Roman infantry appearing over the river
+bank, and their horsemen all ranged in order, he closed up his own ranks
+and charged them first himself, a conspicuous figure in his beautiful
+glittering armor, and proving by his exploits that he deserved his high
+reputation; especially as although he fought personally, and engaged in
+combat with the enemy, yet he continually watched the whole battle, and
+handled his troops with as much facility as though he were not in the
+thick of the fight, appearing always wherever his presence was required,
+and reenforcing those who seemed likely to give way. In this battle
+Leonnatus the Macedonian, observing one of the Italians watching Pyrrhus
+and constantly following him about the field, said to him: "My King, do
+you see that barbarian on the black horse with white feet? He seems to
+be meditating some desperate deed. He is a man of spirit and courage,
+and he never takes his eyes off you, and takes no notice of anyone else.
+Beware of that man."
+
+Pyrrhus answered: "Leonnatus, no man can avoid his fate; but neither
+that Italian nor anyone else who attacks me will do so with impunity."
+While they were yet talking the Italian levelled his lance and urged his
+horse in full career against Pyrrhus. He struck the King's horse with
+his spear, and at the same instant his own horse was struck a sidelong
+blow by Leonnatus. Both horses fell; Pyrrhus was saved by his friends,
+and the Italian perished fighting. He was of the nation of the Frentani,
+Hoplacus by name, and was the captain of a troop of horse.
+
+This incident taught Pyrrhus to be more cautious. He observed that his
+cavalry were inclined to give way, and therefore sent for his phalanx,
+and arrayed it against the enemy. Then he gave his cloak and armor to
+one of his companions, Megacles, and after partially disguising himself
+in those of his friend, led his main body to attack the Roman army. The
+Romans stoutly resisted him, and an obstinate battle took place, for it
+is said that the combatants alternately yielded and again pressed
+forward no less than seven distinct times. The King's exchange of armor,
+too, though it saved his life, yet very nearly lost him the victory: for
+many attacked Megacles, and the man who first struck him down, who was
+named Decius, snatched up his cloak and helmet, and rode with them to
+Laevinus, displaying them and shouting aloud that he had slain Pyrrhus.
+
+The Romans, when they saw these spoils carried in triumph along their
+ranks, raised a joyful cry, while the Greeks were correspondingly
+disheartened, until Pyrrhus, learning what had taken place, rode along
+the line with his head bare, stretching out his hands to his soldiers
+and telling them that he was safe. At length he was victorious, chiefly
+by means of a sudden charge of his Thessalian horse on the Romans after
+they had been thrown into disorder by the advance of the elephants. The
+Roman horses were terrified at these animals, and, long before they came
+near, ran away with their riders in panic. The slaughter was very great:
+Dionysius says that of the Romans there fell but little short of fifteen
+thousand, but Hieronymus reduces this to seven thousand, while on
+Pyrrhus' side there fell, according to Dionysius, thirteen thousand, but
+according to Hieronymus less than four thousand.
+
+These, however, were the very flower of Pyrrhus' army; for he lost all
+his most trusty officers and his most intimate personal friends. Still,
+he captured the Roman camp, which was abandoned by the enemy, induced
+several of their allied cities to join him, plundered a vast extent of
+country, and advanced within three hundred stades--less than forty
+English miles--of Rome itself. After the battle many of the Lucanians
+and Samnites came up; these allies he reproached for their dilatory
+movements, but was evidently well pleased at having conquered the great
+Roman army with no other forces but his own Epirotes and the Tarentines.
+
+The Romans did not remove Laevinus from his office of consul, although
+Caius Fabricius is reported to have said that it was not the Epirotes
+who had conquered the Romans, but Pyrrhus who had conquered Laevinus;
+meaning that he thought that the defeat was owing not to the greater
+force but the superior generalship of the enemy. They astonished Pyrrhus
+by quickly filling up their ranks with fresh levies, and talking about
+the war in a spirit of fearless confidence. He decided to try whether
+they were disposed to make terms with him, as he perceived that to
+capture Rome and utterly subdue the Roman people would be a work of no
+small difficulty, and that it would be vain to attempt it with the force
+at his disposal, while after his victory he could make peace on terms
+which would reflect great lustre on himself. Cineas was sent as
+ambassador to conduct this negotiation.
+
+He conversed with the leading men of Rome, and offered their wives and
+children presents from the King. No one, however, would accept them, but
+they all, men and women alike, replied that if peace were publicly
+concluded with the King, they would then have no objection to regard him
+as a friend. And when Cineas spoke before the senate in a winning and
+persuasive manner he could not make any impression upon his audience,
+although he announced to them that Pyrrhus would restore the prisoners
+he had taken without any ransom, and would assist them in subduing all
+Italy, while all that he asked in return was that he should be regarded
+as a friend, and that the people of Tarentum should not be molested. The
+common people, however, were evidently eager for peace, in consequence
+of their having been defeated in one great battle, and expecting that
+they would have to fight another against a larger force, because the
+Italian states would join Pyrrhus.
+
+At this crisis Appius Claudius, an illustrious man, but who had long
+since been prevented by old age and blindness from taking any active
+part in politics, when he heard of the proposals of Pyrrhus, and that
+the question of peace or war was about to be voted upon by the senate,
+could no longer endure to remain at home, but caused his slaves to carry
+him through the Forum to the senate house in a litter. When he reached
+the doors of the senate house his sons and sons-in-law supported him and
+guided him into the house, while all the assembly observed a respectful
+silence.
+
+Speaking from where he stood, he addressed them as follows: "My
+countrymen, I used to grieve at the loss of my sight, but now I am sorry
+not to be deaf also, when I hear the disgraceful propositions with which
+you are tarnishing the glory of Rome. What has become of that boast
+which we were so fond of making before all mankind, that if Alexander
+the Great had invaded Italy, and had met us when we were young, and our
+fathers when they were in the prime of life, he would not have been
+reputed invincible, but would either have fled or perhaps even have
+fallen, and added to the glory of Rome?
+
+"You now prove that this was mere empty vaporing, by your terror of
+these Chaonians and Molossians, nations who have always been a prey and
+a spoil to the Macedonians, and by your fear of this Pyrrhus, who used
+formerly to dance attendance on one of Alexander's bodyguards,[54] and
+who has now wandered hither not so much in order to assist the Greeks in
+Italy as to escape from his enemies at home, and promises to be our
+friend and protector, forsooth, when the army he commands did not
+suffice to keep for him the least portion of that Macedonia which he
+once acquired. Do not imagine that you will get rid of this man by
+making a treaty with him. Rather you will encourage other Greek princes
+to invade you, for they will despise you and think you an easy prey to
+all men if you let Pyrrhus go home again without paying the penalty of
+his outrages upon you, nay, with the power to boast that he has made
+Rome a laughing-stock for Tarentines and Samnites."
+
+[Footnote 54: Demetrius.]
+
+By these words Appius roused a warlike spirit in the Romans, and they
+dismissed Cineas with the answer that if Pyrrhus would leave Italy they
+would, if he wished, discuss the question of an alliance with him, but
+that while he remained in arms in their country the Romans would fight
+him to the death, however many Laevinuses he might defeat. It is related
+that Cineas, during his mission to Rome, took great interest in
+observing the national life of the Romans, and fully appreciated the
+excellence of their political constitution, which he learned by
+conversing with many of the leading men of the State. On his return he
+told Pyrrhus that the senate seemed to him like an assembly of kings,
+and that as to the populace he feared that the Greeks might find in them
+a new Lernaean hydra; for twice as many troops had been enrolled in the
+consul's army as he had before, and yet there remained many more Romans
+capable of bearing arms.
+
+After this Caius Fabricius came to arrange terms for the exchange of
+prisoners; a man whom Cineas said the Romans especially valued for his
+virtue and bravery, but who was excessively poor. Pyrrhus, in
+consequence of this, entertained Fabricius privately, and made him an
+offer of money, not as a bribe for any act of baseness, but speaking of
+it as a pledge of friendship and sincerity. As Fabricius refused this,
+Pyrrhus waited till the next day, when, desirous of making an impression
+on him, as he had never seen an elephant, he had his largest elephant
+placed behind Fabricius during their conference, concealed by a curtain.
+At a given signal, the curtain was withdrawn, and the creature reached
+out his trunk over the head of Fabricius with a harsh and terrible cry.
+Fabricius, however, quietly turned round, and then said to Pyrrhus with
+a smile, "You could not move me by your gold yesterday, nor can you with
+your beast to-day."
+
+At table that day they conversed upon all subjects, but chiefly about
+Greece and Greek philosophy. Cineas repeated the opinion of Epicurus and
+his school, about the gods, and the practice of political life, and the
+objects at which we should aim, how they considered pleasure to be the
+highest good, and held aloof from taking any active part in politics,
+because it spoiled and destroyed perfect happiness; and about how they
+thought that the gods lived far removed from hopes and fears, and
+interest in human affairs, in a placid state of eternal fruition.[55]
+While he was speaking in this strain Fabricius burst out: "Hercules!"
+cried he, "may Pyrrhus and the Samnites continue to waste their time on
+these speculations as long as they remain at war with us!" Pyrrhus, at
+this, was struck by the spirit and noble disposition of Fabricius, and
+longed more than ever to make Rome his friend instead of his enemy. He
+begged him to arrange terms of peace, and after they were concluded to
+come and live with him as the first of his friends and officers.
+
+[Footnote 55: I have translated the above passages almost literally from
+the Greek. Yet I am inclined to think that Arnold has penetrated the
+true meaning, and shows us the reason for Fabricius' exclamation when he
+states the Epicurean philosophy, as expounded by Cineas, to be "that war
+and state affairs were but toil and trouble, and that the wise man
+should imitate the blissful rest of the gods, who, dwelling in their own
+divinity, regarded not the vain turmoil of this lower world."]
+
+Fabricius is said to have quietly answered: "That, O King, will not be
+to your advantage; for those who now obey you, and look up to you, if
+they had any experience of me, would prefer me to you for their king."
+Pyrrhus was not angry at this speech, but spoke to all his friends about
+the magnanimous conduct of Fabricius, and intrusted the prisoners to him
+alone, on the condition that, if the senate refused to make peace, they
+should be allowed to embrace their friends, and spend the festival of
+the Saturnalia with them, and then be sent back to him. And they were
+sent back after the Saturnalia, for the senate decreed that any of them
+who remained behind should be put to death.
+
+After this, when C. Fabricius was consul, a man came into his camp
+bringing a letter from King Pyrrhus' physician, in which he offered to
+poison the King if he could be assured of a suitable reward for his
+services in thus bringing the war to an end without a blow. Fabricius,
+disgusted at the man's treachery, brought his colleague to share his
+views, and in haste sent off a letter to Pyrrhus, bidding him be on his
+guard. The letter ran as follows: "Caius Fabricius and Quintus AEmilius,
+the Roman consuls, greet King Pyrrhus. You appear to be a bad judge both
+of your friends and of your enemies. You will perceive, by reading the
+enclosed letter which has been sent to us, that you are fighting against
+good and virtuous men, and trusting to wicked and treacherous ones. We
+do not give you this information out of any love we bear you, but for
+fear that we might be charged with having assassinated you and be
+thought to have brought the war to a close by treachery because we could
+not do so by manhood."
+
+Pyrrhus on receiving this letter, and discovering the plot against his
+life, punished his physician, and, in return for the kindness of
+Fabricius and the Romans, delivered up their prisoners without ransom,
+and sent Cineas a second time to arrange terms of peace. However, the
+Romans refused to receive their prisoners back without ransom, being
+unwilling either to receive a favor from their enemy or to be rewarded
+for having abstained from treachery toward him, but set free an equal
+number of Tarentines and Samnites, and sent them to him. As to terms of
+peace, they refused to entertain the question unless Pyrrhus first
+placed his entire armament on board the ships in which it came, and
+sailed back to Epirus with it.
+
+As it was now necessary that Pyrrhus should fight another battle, he
+advanced with his army to the city of Asculum, and attacked the Romans.
+Here he was forced to fight on rough ground, near the swampy banks of a
+river, where his elephants and cavalry were of no service, and he was
+forced to attack with his phalanx. After a drawn battle, in which many
+fell, night parted the combatants. Next day Pyrrhus manoeuvred so as to
+bring the Romans fairly into the plain, where his elephants could act
+upon the enemy's line. He occupied the rough ground on either side,
+placed many archers and slingers among his elephants, and advanced with
+his phalanx in close order and irresistible strength.
+
+The Romans, who were unable on the level ground to practise the
+bush-fighting and skirmishing of the previous day, were compelled to
+attack the phalanx in front. They endeavored to force their way through
+that hedge of spears before the elephants could come up, and showed
+marvellous courage in hacking at the spears with their swords, exposing
+themselves recklessly, careless of wounds or death. After a long
+struggle, it is said that they first gave way at the point where Pyrrhus
+was urging on his soldiers in person, though the defeat was chiefly due
+to the weight and crushing charge of the elephants. The Romans could not
+find any opportunity in this sort of battle for the display of their
+courage, but thought it their duty to stand aside and save themselves
+from a useless death, just as they would have done in the case of a wave
+of the sea or an earthquake coming upon them. In the flight to their
+camp, which was not far off, Hieronymus says that six thousand Romans
+perished, and that in Pyrrhus' commentaries his loss is stated at three
+thousand five hundred and five.
+
+Dionysius, on the other hand, does not admit that there were two battles
+at Asculum, or that the Romans suffered a defeat, but tells us that they
+fought the whole of one day until sunset, and then separated, Pyrrhus
+being wounded in the arm by a javelin, and the Samnites having plundered
+his baggage. He also states the total loss on both sides to be above
+fifteen thousand.
+
+The armies separated after the battle, and it is said that Pyrrhus, when
+congratulated on his victory by his friends, said in reply: "If we win
+one more such victory over the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." For
+a large part of the force which he had brought with him had perished,
+and very nearly all his friends and officers, and there were no more to
+send for at home.
+
+
+
+
+THE PUNIC WARS
+
+B.C. 264-219-149
+
+FLORUS
+
+
+(The three Punic wars stand out in history as a mighty "duel _a
+l'outrance_" [a fight to the death], as Victor Hugo says, in the final
+scene of which Rome, having herself been brought near to defeat, "rises
+again, uses the limits of her strength in a last blow, throws herself on
+Carthage, and effaces her from the world."
+
+Jealousy and antagonism had long existed between Rome and Carthage, but
+it was the preeminence of the African city which held Roman ambition in
+check and for generations deferred the final struggle. But when at last
+Rome had acquired the strength she needed in order to assert her
+rivalry, it was only a question of actual preparation, and the first
+cause of quarrel was sure to be seized upon by either party, especially
+by the growing and haughty Italian Power.
+
+The immediate object of contention was the island of Sicily, lying
+between the territory of Rome and that of Carthage. In Sicily the First
+Punic War, lasting about twenty-three years, was mainly carried on by
+the Romans with success, while on the sea Carthage for a long time
+maintained superiority.
+
+During the intervals between the Punic wars two things appear with
+striking force in the history of these events--the passive strength and
+recuperative power of Carthage, which enabled her to return again and
+again to the struggle from almost crushing defeat, and the marvellous
+development of resources and aggressive vigor on the part of Rome, in
+whose case the rise of powerful individual leaders more than offset the
+weight of long-accumulated energies, supplemented as these were by the
+genius and achievement of great Carthaginian warriors.
+
+The wars progressed in a spirit of deadly hatred, constantly intensified
+on both sides, and the Roman determination, of which Cato was the
+mouthpiece, that Carthage must be destroyed, met its stubborn answer in
+the endeavors of the Carthaginians to turn this vengeance against Rome
+herself.
+
+Carthage had been mistress of the world, the richest and most powerful
+of cities. Her naval supremacy alone had sufficed to secure her safety
+and superiority over all rivals or possible combinations of force. But
+the strength of her government lay not so much in her people, or even in
+her statesmen and soldiers, as in her men of wealth. A political
+establishment founded upon such supports was peculiarly liable to all
+the dangers of corruption and of public ignorance and apathy in the
+conduct of affairs. These causes appear conspicuously in the history of
+the Punic wars, as contributing largely to the overthrow and final
+extinguishment of Carthage, which left to her successful rival the open
+way to universal dominion.
+
+The account of Florus presents in a style at once comprehensive and
+succinct a splendid narrative of these wars, with their decisive and
+world-changing events.)
+
+
+THE FIRST PUNIC WAR
+
+The victor-people of Italy, having now spread over the land as far as
+the sea, checked its course for a little, like a fire, which, having
+consumed the woods lying in its track, is stopped by some intervening
+river. But soon after, seeing at no great distance a rich prey, which
+seemed in a manner detached and torn away from their own Italy, they
+were so inflamed with a desire to possess it that, since it could
+neither be joined to their country by a mole or bridge, they resolved
+that it should be secured by arms and war, and reunited, as it were, to
+their continent. And behold! as if the Fates themselves opened a way for
+them, an opportunity was not wanting, for Messana, a city of Sicily in
+alliance with them, happened then to make a complaint concerning the
+tyranny of the Carthaginians.
+
+As the Romans coveted Sicily, so likewise did the people of Carthage;
+and both at the same time, with equal desires and equal forces,
+contemplated the attainment of the empire of the world. Under the
+pretext, therefore, of assisting their allies, but in reality being
+allured by the prey, that rude people, that people sprung from
+shepherds, and merely accustomed to the land, made it appear, though the
+strangeness of the attempt startled them (yet such confidence is there
+in true courage), that to the brave it is indifferent whether a battle
+be fought on horseback or in ships, by land or by sea.
+
+It was in the consulship of Appius Claudius that they first ventured
+upon that strait which has so ill a name from the strange things related
+of it, and so impetuous a current. But they were so far from being
+affrighted, that they regarded the violence of the rushing tide as
+something in their favor, and, sailing forward immediately and without
+delay, they defeated Hiero, king of Syracuse, with so much rapidity that
+he owned he was conquered before he saw the enemy. In the consulship of
+Duilius and Cornelius, they likewise had courage to engage at sea, and
+then the expedition used in equipping the fleet was a presage of
+victory; for within sixty days after the timber was felled, a navy of a
+hundred and sixty ships lay at anchor; so that the vessels did not seem
+to have been made by art, but the trees themselves appeared to have been
+turned into ships by the aid of the gods. The aspect of the battle, too,
+was wonderful; as the heavy and slow ships of the Romans closed with the
+swift and nimble barks of the enemy. Little availed their naval arts,
+such as breaking off the oars of a ship, and eluding the beaks of the
+enemy by turning aside; for the grappling-irons and other instruments,
+which, before the engagement, had been greatly derided by the enemy,
+were fastened upon their ships, and they were compelled to fight as on
+solid ground. Being victorious, therefore, at Liparae, by sinking and
+scattering the enemy's fleet, they celebrated their first naval triumph.
+And how great was the exultation at it! Duilius, the commander, not
+content with one day's triumph, ordered, during all the rest of his
+life, when he returned from supper, lighted torches to be carried, and
+flutes to play, before him, as if he would triumph every day. The loss
+in this battle was trifling, in comparison with the greatness of the
+victory; though the other consul, Cornelius Asina, was cut off, being
+invited by the enemy to a pretended conference, and put to death; an
+instance of Carthaginian perfidy.
+
+Under the dictatorship of Calatinus, the Romans expelled almost all the
+garrisons of the Carthaginians from Agrigentum, Drepanum, Panormus,
+Eryx, and Lilybaeum. Some alarm was experienced at the forest of
+Camarina, but we were rescued by the extraordinary valor of Calpurnius
+Flamma, a tribune of the soldiers, who, with a choice troop of three
+hundred men, seized upon an eminence occupied by the enemy, to our
+annoyance, and so kept them in play till the whole army escaped; thus,
+by eminent success, equalling the fame of Thermopylae and Leonidas,
+though our hero was indeed more illustrious, inasmuch as he escaped and
+outlived so great an effort, notwithstanding he wrote nothing with his
+blood.
+
+In the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, when Sicily was become as
+a suburban province of the Roman people, and the war was spreading
+farther, they crossed over into Sardinia, and into Corsica, which lies
+near it. In the latter they terrified the natives by the destruction of
+the city of Olbia, in the former by that of Aleria; and so effectually
+humbled the Carthaginians, both by land and sea, that nothing remained
+to be conquered but Africa itself. Accordingly, under the leadership of
+Marcus Atilius Regulus, the war passed over into Africa. Nor were there
+wanting some on the occasion who mutinied at the mere name and dread of
+the Punic sea, a tribune named Mannius increasing their alarm; but the
+general, threatening him with the axe if he did not obey, produced
+courage for the voyage by the terror of death. They then hastened their
+course by the aid of winds and oars, and such was the terror of the
+Africans at the approach of the enemy that Carthage was almost surprised
+with its gates opened.
+
+The first prize taken in the war was the city of Clypea, which juts out
+from the Carthaginian shore as a fortress or watch-tower. Both this and
+more than three hundred fortresses besides were destroyed. Nor had the
+Romans to contend only with men, but with monsters also; for a serpent
+of vast size, born, as it were, to avenge Africa, harassed their camp on
+the Bagrada. But Regulus, who overcame all obstacles, having spread the
+terror of his name far and wide, having killed or taken prisoners a
+great number of the enemy's force, and their captains themselves, and
+having despatched his fleet, laden with much spoil and stored with
+materials for a triumph, to Rome, proceeded to besiege Carthage itself,
+the origin of the war, and took his position close to the gates of it.
+Here fortune was a little changed; but it was only that more proofs of
+Roman fortitude might be given, the greatness of which was generally
+best shown in calamities. For the enemy applying for foreign assistance,
+and Lacedaemon having sent them Xanthippus as a general, we were
+defeated by a captain so eminently skilled in military affairs. It was
+then that by an ignominious defeat, such as the Romans had never before
+experienced, their most valiant commander fell alive into the enemy's
+hands. But he was a man able to endure so great a calamity; as he was
+neither humbled by his imprisonment at Carthage nor by the deputation
+which he headed to Rome; for he advised what was contrary to the
+injunctions of the enemy, and recommended that no peace should be made,
+and no exchange of prisoners admitted. Even by his voluntary return to
+his enemies, and by his last sufferings, whether in prison or on the
+cross, the dignity of the man was not at all obscured. But being
+rendered, by all these occurrences, even more worthy of admiration, what
+can be said of him but that, when conquered, he was superior to his
+conquerors, and that, though Carthage had not submitted, he triumphed
+over Fortune herself?
+
+The Roman people were now much keener and more ardent to revenge the
+fate of Regulus than to obtain victory. Under the consul Metellus,
+therefore, when the Carthaginians were growing insolent, and when the
+war had returned into Sicily, they gave the enemy such a defeat at
+Panormus that they thought no more of that island. A proof of the
+greatness of this victory was the capture of about a hundred elephants,
+a vast prey, even if they had taken that number, not in war, but in
+hunting.[56] Under the consulship of Appius Claudius, they were
+overcome, not by the enemy, but by the gods themselves, whose auspices
+they had despised, their fleet being sunk in that very place where the
+consul had ordered the chickens to be thrown overboard, because he was
+warned by them not to fight. Under the consulship of Marcus Fabius
+Buteo, they overthrew, near AEgimurus, in the African sea, a fleet of the
+enemy which was just sailing for Italy. But, oh! how great materials for
+a triumph were then lost by a storm, when the Roman fleet, richly laden
+with spoil, and driven by contrary winds, covered with its wreck the
+coasts of Africa and the Syrtes, and of all the islands lying amid those
+seas! A great calamity! But not without some honor to this eminent
+people, from the circumstance that their victory was intercepted only by
+a storm, and that the matter for their triumph was lost only by a
+shipwreck. Yet, though the Punic spoils were scattered abroad, and
+thrown up by the waves on every promontory and island, the Romans still
+celebrated a triumph. In the consulship of Lutatius Catulus, an end was
+at last put to the war near the islands named AEgates. Nor was there any
+greater fight during this war; for the fleet of the enemy was laden with
+provisions, troops, towers, and arms; indeed, all Carthage, as it were,
+was in it; a state of things which proved its destruction, as the Roman
+fleet, on the contrary, being active, light, free from encumbrance, and
+in some degree resembling a land-camp, was wheeled about by its oars
+like cavalry in a battle by their reins; and the beaks of the vessels,
+directed now against one part of the enemy and now against another,
+presented the appearance of living creatures. In a very short time,
+accordingly, the ships of the enemy were shattered to pieces, and filled
+the whole sea between Sicily and Sardinia with their wrecks. So great,
+indeed, was the victory that there was no thought of demolishing the
+enemy's city; since it seemed superfluous to pour their fury on towers
+and walls, when Carthage had already been destroyed at sea.
+
+[Footnote 56: "A vast prey--not in war, but in hunting." The sense is,
+it would have been a considerable capture if he had taken these hundred
+elephants, not in battle, but in hunting, in which more are often
+taken.]
+
+
+THE SECOND PUNIC WAR
+
+After the first Carthaginian war there was scarcely a rest of four
+years, when there was another war, inferior, indeed, in length of time,
+for it occupied but eighteen years, but so much more terrible, from the
+direfulness of its havoc, that if anyone compares the losses on both
+sides, the people that conquered was more like one defeated. What
+provoked this noble people was that the command of the sea was forced
+from them, that their islands were taken, and that they were obliged to
+pay tribute which they had before been accustomed to impose. Hannibal,
+when but a boy, swore to his father, before an altar, to take revenge on
+the Romans; nor was he backward to execute his oath. Saguntum,
+accordingly, was made the occasion of a war; an old and wealthy city of
+Spain, and a great but sad example of fidelity to the Romans. This city,
+though granted, by the common treaty, the special privilege of enjoying
+its liberty, Hannibal, seeking pretences for new disturbances, destroyed
+with his own hands and those of its inhabitants, in order that, by an
+infraction of the compact, he might open a passage for himself into
+Italy.
+
+Among the Romans there is the highest regard to treaties, and
+consequently, on hearing of the siege of an allied city, and
+remembering, too, the compact made with the Carthaginians, they did not
+at once have recourse to arms, but chose rather to expostulate on legal
+grounds. In the mean time the Saguntines, exhausted with famine, the
+assaults of machines, and the sword, and their fidelity being at last
+carried to desperation, raised a vast pile in the market-place, on which
+they destroyed, with fire and sword, themselves, their wives and
+children, and all that they possessed. Hannibal, the cause of this great
+destruction, was required to be given up. The Carthaginians hesitating
+to comply, Fabius, who was at the head of the embassy, exclaimed: "What
+is the meaning of this delay? In the fold of this garment I carry war
+and peace; which of the two do you choose?" As they cried out "War,"
+"Take war, then," he rejoined, and, shaking out the fore-part of his
+toga in the middle of the senate house, as if he really carried war in
+its folds, he spread it abroad, not without awe on the part of the
+spectators.
+
+The sequel of the war was in conformity with its commencement; for, as
+if the last imprecations of the Saguntines, at their public
+self-immolation and burning of the city, had required such obsequies to
+be performed to them, atonement was made to their _manes_ by the
+devastation of Italy, the reduction of Africa, and the destruction of
+the leaders and kings who engaged in that contest. When once, therefore,
+that sad and dismal force and storm of the Punic War had arisen in
+Spain, and had forged, in the fire of Saguntum, the thunderbolt long
+before intended for the Romans, it immediately burst, as if hurried
+along by resistless violence, through the middle of the Alps, and
+descended, from those snows of incredible altitude, on the plains of
+Italy, as if it had been hurled from the skies. The violence of its
+first assault burst, with a mighty sound, between the Po and the
+Ticinus. There the army under Scipio was routed; and the general
+himself, being wounded, would have fallen into the hands of the enemy,
+had not his son, then quite a boy, covered his father with his shield,
+and rescued him from death. This was the Scipio who grew up for the
+conquest of Africa, and who was to receive a name from its ill-fortune.
+
+To Ticinus succeeded Trebia, where, in the consulship of Sempronius, the
+second outburst of the Punic War was spent. On that occasion, the crafty
+enemy, having chosen a cold and snowy day, and having first warmed
+themselves at their fires, and anointed their bodies with oil, conquered
+us, though they were men that came from the south and a warm sun, by the
+aid (strange to say!) of our own winter.
+
+The third thunderbolt of Hannibal fell at the Trasimene lake, when
+Flaminius was commander. There also was employed a new stratagem of
+Carthaginian subtlety; for a body of cavalry, being concealed by a mist
+rising from the lake, and by the osiers growing in the fens, fell upon
+the rear of the Romans as they were fighting. Nor can we complain of the
+gods; for swarms of bees settling upon the standards, the reluctance of
+the eagles to move forward, and a great earthquake that happened at the
+commencement of the battle--unless, indeed, it was the tramping of horse
+and foot, and the violent concussion of arms, that produced this
+trembling of the ground--had forewarned the rash leader of approaching
+defeat.
+
+The fourth and almost mortal wound of the Roman Empire was at Cannae, an
+obscure village of Apulia; which, however, became famous by the
+greatness of the defeat, its celebrity being acquired by the slaughter
+of forty thousand men. Here the general, the ground, the face of heaven,
+the day, indeed, all nature conspired together for the destruction of
+the unfortunate army. For Hannibal, the most artful of generals, not
+content with sending pretended deserters among the Romans, who fell upon
+their rear as they were fighting, but having also noted the nature of
+the ground in those open plains, where the heat of the sun is extremely
+violent, the dust very great, and the wind blows constantly, and as it
+were statedly, from the east, drew up his army in such a position that,
+while the Romans were exposed to all these inconveniences, he himself,
+having heaven, as it were, on his side, fought with wind, dust, and sun
+in his favor. Two vast armies, in consequence, were slaughtered till the
+enemy were satiated, and till Hannibal said to his soldiers, "Put up
+your swords." Of the two commanders, one escaped, the other was slain;
+which of them showed the greater spirit is doubtful. Paulus was ashamed
+to survive; Varrodid not despair. Of the greatness of the slaughter the
+following proofs may be noticed: that the Aufidus was for some time red
+with blood; that a bridge was made of dead bodies, by order of Hannibal,
+over the torrent of Vergellus, and that two _modii_ of rings were sent
+to Carthage, and the equestrian dignity estimated by measure.
+
+It was afterward not doubted but that Rome might have seen its last day,
+and that Hannibal, within five days, might have feasted in the Capitol,
+if--as they say that Adherbal, the Carthaginian, the son of Bomilcar,
+observed--"he had known as well how to use his victory as how to gain
+it." But at that crisis, as is generally said, either the fate of the
+city that was to be empress of the world, or his own want of judgment,
+and the influence of deities unfavorable to Carthage, carried him in a
+different direction. When he might have taken advantage of his victory,
+he chose rather to seek enjoyment from it, and, leaving Rome, to march
+into Campania and to Tarentum, where both he and his army soon lost
+their vigor, so that it was justly remarked that "Capua proved a Cannae
+to Hannibal"; since the sunshine of Campania and the warm springs of
+Baiae subdued--who could have believed it?--him who had been unconquered
+by the Alps and unshaken in the field. In the mean time the Romans began
+to recover and to rise, as it were, from the dead. They had no arms, but
+they took them down from the temples; men were wanting, but slaves were
+freed to take the oath of service; the treasury was exhausted, but the
+senate willingly offered their wealth for the public service, leaving
+themselves no gold but what was contained in their children's
+_bullae_[57] and in their own belts and rings. The knights followed their
+example, and the common people that of the knights; so that when the
+wealth of private persons was brought to the public treasury--in the
+consulship of Laevinus and Marcellus--the registers scarcely sufficed to
+contain the account of it, or the hands of the clerks to record it.
+
+[Footnote 57: A sort of ornament suspended from the necks of children,
+which, among the wealthy, was made of gold. It was in the shape of a
+bubble on water, or, as Pliny says, of a heart.]
+
+But how can I sufficiently praise the wisdom of the centuries in the
+choice of magistrates, when the younger sought advice from the elder as
+to what consuls should be created? They saw that against an enemy so
+often victorious, and so full of subtlety, it was necessary to contend,
+not only with courage, but with his own wiles. The first hope of the
+empire now recovering, and, if I may use the expression, coming to life
+again, was Fabius, who found a new mode of conquering Hannibal, which
+was, _not to fight_. Hence he received that new name, so salutary to the
+commonwealth, of _Cunctator_, or Delayer. Hence too it happened that he
+was called by the people _the shield of the empire_. Through the whole
+of Samnium, and through the Falerian and Gauran forests, he so harassed
+Hannibal that he who could not be reduced by valor was weakened by
+delay. The Romans then ventured, under the command of Claudius
+Marcellus, to engage him; they came to close quarters with him, drove
+him out of his dear Campania, and forced him to raise the siege of Nola.
+They ventured likewise, under the leadership of Sempronius Gracchus, to
+pursue him through Lucania, and to press hard upon his rear as he
+retired; though they then fought him (sad dishonor!) with a body of
+slaves, for to this extremity had so many disasters reduced them, but
+they were rewarded with liberty, and from slaves they made them Romans.
+
+O amazing confidence in the midst of so much adversity! O extraordinary
+courage and spirit of the Roman people in such oppressive and
+distressing circumstances! At a time when they were uncertain of
+preserving their own Italy, they yet ventured to look to other
+countries; and when the enemy were at their throat, flying through
+Campania and Apulia, and making an Africa in the middle of Italy, they
+at the same time both withstood that enemy and dispersed their arms over
+the earth into Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain.
+
+Sicily was assigned to Marcellus, and did not long resist his efforts;
+for the whole island was conquered in the conquest of one city.
+Syracuse, its great and, till that period, unconquered capital, though
+defended by the genius of Archimedes, was at last obliged to yield. Its
+triple wall and three citadels, its marble harbor and the celebrated
+fountain of Arethusa, were no defence to it, except so far as to procure
+consideration for its beauty when it was conquered.
+
+Sardinia Gracchus reduced; the savageness of the inhabitants, and the
+vastness of its Mad Mountains--for so they are called--availed it
+nothing. Great severity was exercised upon its cities, and upon Caralis,
+the city of its cities, that a nation, obstinate and regardless of
+death, might at least be humbled by concern for the soil of its country.
+
+Into Spain were sent the two Scipios, Cnaeus, and Publius, who wrested
+almost the whole of it from the Carthaginians; but, being surprised by
+the artifices of Punic subtlety, they again lost it, even after they had
+slaughtered the enemy's forces in great battles. The wiles of the
+Carthaginians cut off one of them by the sword as he was pitching his
+camp, and the other by surrounding him with lighted fagots after he had
+made his escape into a tower. But the other Scipio, to whom the Fates
+had decreed so great a name from Africa, being sent with an army to
+revenge the death of his father and uncle, recovered all that warlike
+country of Spain, so famous for its men and arms, that seminary of the
+enemy's force, that instructress of Hannibal, from the Pyrenean
+mountains--the account is scarcely credible--to the Pillars of Hercules
+and the ocean, whether with greater speed or good fortune is difficult
+to decide; how great was his speed, four years bear witness; how
+remarkable his good fortune, even one city proves, for it was taken on
+the same day in which siege was laid to it, and it was an omen of the
+conquest of Africa that Carthage in Spain was so easily reduced. It is
+certain, however, that what most contributed to make the province submit
+was the eminent virtue of the general, who restored to the barbarians
+certain captive youths and maidens of extraordinary beauty, not allowing
+them even to be brought into his sight, that he might not seem, even by
+a single glance, to have detracted from their virgin purity.
+
+These actions the Romans performed in different parts of the world, yet
+were they unable, notwithstanding, to remove Hannibal, who was lodged in
+the heart of Italy. Most of the towns had revolted to the enemy, whose
+vigorous commander used even the strength of Italy against the Romans.
+However, we had now forced him out of many towns and districts. Tarentum
+had returned to our side; and Capua, the seat, home, and second country
+of Hannibal, was again in our hands; the loss of which caused the Punic
+leader so much affliction that he then directed all his force against
+Rome.
+
+O people worthy of the empire of the world, worthy of the favor and
+admiration of all, not only men, but gods! Though they were brought into
+the greatest alarm, they desisted not from their original design; though
+they were concerned for their own city, they did not abandon their
+attempts on Capua; but, part of their army being left there with the
+consul Appius, and part having followed Flaccus to Rome, they fought
+both at home and abroad at the same time. Why then should we wonder that
+the gods themselves, the gods, I say--nor shall I be ashamed[58] to
+admit it--again opposed Hannibal as he was preparing to march forward
+when at three miles' distance from Rome. For, at every movement of his
+force, so copious a flood of rain descended, and such a violent storm of
+wind arose, that it was evident the enemy was repulsed by divine
+influence, and the tempest proceeded, not from heaven, but from the
+walls of the city and the Capitol. He therefore fled and departed, and
+withdrew to the farthest corner of Italy, leaving the city in a manner
+adored. It is but a small matter to mention, yet sufficiently indicative
+of the magnanimity of the Roman people, that during those very days in
+which the city was besieged, the ground which Hannibal occupied with his
+camp was offered for sale at Rome, and, being put up to auction,
+actually found a purchaser. Hannibal, on the other side, wished to
+imitate such confidence, and put up for sale the bankers' houses in the
+city; but no buyer was found; so that it was evident that the Fates had
+their presages.
+
+[Footnote 58: Why should he be ashamed to admit that Rome was saved by
+the aid of the gods? To receive assistance from the gods was a proof of
+merit. The gods help those who help themselves, says the proverb. When
+he says that the gods "_again_ opposed Hannibal," he seems to refer to
+what he said above in speaking of the battle of Cannae, that the
+deities, averse to Carthage, prevented Hannibal from marching at that
+time to Rome.]
+
+But as yet nothing had been effectually accomplished by so much valor,
+or even through such eminent favor from the gods; for Hasdrubal, the
+brother of Hannibal, was approaching with a new army, new strength, and
+every fresh requisite for war. There had doubtless been an end of Rome,
+if that general had united himself with his brother; but Claudius Nero,
+in conjunction with Livius Salinator, overthrew him as he was pitching
+his camp. Nero was at that time keeping Hannibal at bay in the farthest
+corner of Italy; while Livius had marched to the very opposite quarter,
+that is, to the very entrance and confines of Italy; and of the ability
+and expedition with which the consuls joined their forces--though so
+vast a space, that is, the whole of Italy where it is longest, lay
+between them--and defeated the enemy with their combined strength, when
+they expected no attack, and without the knowledge of Hannibal, it is
+difficult to give a notion. When Hannibal, however, had knowledge of the
+matter, and saw his brother's head thrown down before his camp, he
+exclaimed, "I perceive the evil destiny of Carthage." This was his first
+confession of that kind, not without a sure presage of his approaching
+fate; and it was now certain, even from his own acknowledgment, that
+Hannibal might be conquered. But the Roman people, full of confidence
+from so many successes, thought it would be a noble enterprise to subdue
+such a desperate enemy in his own Africa. Directing their whole force,
+therefore, under the leadership of Scipio, upon Africa itself, they
+began to imitate Hannibal, and to avenge upon Africa the sufferings of
+their own Italy. What forces of Hasdrubal (good gods!), what armies of
+Syphax, did that commander put to flight! How great were the camps of
+both that he destroyed in one night by casting firebrands into them! At
+last, not at three miles distance, but by a close siege, he shook the
+very gates of Carthage itself. And thus he succeeded in drawing off
+Hannibal when he was still clinging to and brooding over Italy. There
+was no more remarkable day, during the whole course of the Roman Empire,
+than that on which those two generals, the greatest of all that ever
+lived, whether before or after them, the one the conqueror of Italy, and
+the other of Spain, drew up their forces for a close engagement. But
+previously a conference was held between them concerning conditions of
+peace. They stood motionless awhile in admiration of each other. When
+they could not agree on a peace, they gave the signal for battle. It is
+certain, from the confession of both, that no troops could have been
+better drawn up, and no fight more obstinately maintained. This Hannibal
+acknowledged concerning the army of Scipio, and Scipio concerning that
+of Hannibal. But Hannibal was forced to yield, and Africa became the
+prize of the victory; and the whole earth soon followed the fate of
+Africa.
+
+
+THE THIRD PUNIC WAR
+
+The third war with Africa was both short in its duration--for it was
+finished in four years--and, compared with those that preceded it, of
+much less difficulty; as we had to fight not so much against troops in
+the field as against the city itself; but it was far the greatest of the
+three in its consequences, for in it Carthage was at last destroyed. And
+if anyone contemplates the events of the three periods, he will
+understand that the war was begun in the first, greatly advanced in the
+second, and entirely finished in the third.
+
+The cause of this war was that Carthage, in violation of an article in
+the treaty, had once fitted out a fleet and army against the Numidians,
+and had frequently threatened the frontiers of Masinissa. But the Romans
+were partial to this good king, who was also their ally.
+
+When the war had been determined upon, they had to consider about the
+end of it. Cato, even when his opinion was asked on any other subject,
+pronounced, with implacable enmity, that Carthage should be destroyed.
+Scipio Nasica gave his voice for its preservation, lest, if the fear of
+the rival city were removed, the exultation of Rome should grow
+extravagant. The senate decided on a middle course, resolving that the
+city should only be removed from its place; for nothing appeared to them
+more glorious than that there should be a Carthage which should not be
+feared. In the consulship of Manlius and Censorinus, therefore, the
+Roman people having attacked Carthage, but giving them some hopes of
+peace, burned their fleet, which they voluntarily delivered up, in sight
+of the city. Having next summoned the chief men, they commanded them to
+quit the place if they wished to preserve their lives. This requisition,
+from its cruelty, so incensed them that they chose rather to submit to
+the utmost extremities. They accordingly bewailed their necessities
+publicly, and shouted with one voice _to arms_; and a resolution was
+made to resist the enemy by every means in their power; not because any
+hope of success was left, but because they had rather their birthplace
+should be destroyed by the hands of the enemy than by their own. With
+what spirit they resumed the war may be understood from the facts that
+they pulled down their roofs and houses for the equipment of a new
+fleet; that gold and silver, instead of brass and iron, were melted in
+their forges for the construction of arms; and that the women parted
+with their hair to make cordage for the engines of war.
+
+Under the command of the consul Mancinus, the siege was warmly conducted
+both by land and sea. The harbor was dismantled of its works, and a
+first, second, and even third wall taken, while nevertheless the Byrsa,
+which was the name of the citadel, held out like another city. But
+though the destruction of the place was thus very far advanced, it was
+the name of the Scipios only that seemed fatal to Africa. The
+Government, accordingly, applying to another Scipio, desired from him a
+termination of the war. This Scipio, the son of Paulus Macedonicus, the
+son of the great Africanus had adopted as an honor to his family, and,
+as it appeared, with this destiny, that the grandson should overthrow
+the city which the grandfather had shaken. But as the bites of dying
+beasts are wont to be most fatal, so there was more trouble with
+Carthage half-ruined than when it was in its full strength. The Romans
+having shut the enemy up in their single fortress, had also blockaded
+the harbor; but upon this they dug another harbor on the other side of
+the city, not with a design to escape, but because no one supposed that
+they could even force an outlet there. Here a new fleet, as if just
+born, started forth; and, in the mean while, sometimes by day and
+sometimes by night, some new mole, some new machine, some new band of
+desperate men perpetually started up, like a sudden flame from a fire
+sunk in ashes. At last, their affairs becoming desperate, forty thousand
+men, and (what is hardly credible) with Hasdrubal at their head,
+surrendered themselves. How much more nobly did a woman behave, the wife
+of the general, who, taking hold of her two children, threw herself from
+the top of her house into the midst of the flames, imitating the queen
+that built Carthage. How great a city was then destroyed is shown, to
+say nothing of other things, by the duration of the fire, for the flames
+could scarcely be extinguished at the end of seventeen days; flames
+which the enemy themselves had raised in their houses and temples, that,
+since the city could not be rescued from the Romans, all matter for
+triumph might at least be burned.
+
+
+
+
+BATTLE OF THE METAURUS
+
+B.C. 207
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(During the closing years of the Second Punic War the resources of the
+Romans were drained to such an extent as to bring great disheartenment
+to their rulers and generals. Under the stress of financial
+difficulties, the cost of living greatly increased, and the State was
+compelled to resort to loans of various kinds, and to levy upon citizens
+of means for the pay of seamen. This scheme for raising Roman "ship
+money" was one of the most significant indications of the extreme weight
+resting upon the republic in the prosecution of this arduous war. A war
+with Sicily was fortunately terminated, releasing some additional force
+for employment against the Carthaginians; but for some time little
+headway was made by the Roman commanders, and when, in B.C. 207, the
+people were called upon to elect consuls, their affairs were still in a
+condition which caused serious anxiety. The consuls chosen in that year
+were Marcus Livius and Caius Claudius Nero, and without delay they went
+to take command in southern Italy, which the Carthaginians under
+Hannibal, though not in much strength, had invaded.
+
+But when, later in the season, Hasdrubal crossed the Alps from the north
+to join his brother, Hannibal, the aspect of the war became still more
+grave in the eyes of the Romans. Hasdrubal solicited the support of the
+Gauls, but to little purpose. Meanwhile Hannibal made skilful use of his
+small forces in eluding the consul Nero; but the capture by the Romans
+of despatches from Hasdrubal disclosed his plans, and Nero at once
+formed his own for intercepting him. The result was that Nero and Livius
+joined their forces in Hasdrubal's front, and to the Carthaginian they
+offered immediate battle. Hasdrubal attempted a retreat, but was
+compelled to give battle on the banks of the Metaurus. Of this, one of
+the "decisive battles of the world," Creasy has left an authoritative
+and graphic account, which here follows. The part of the consul Nero in
+the campaign is thus remarked upon by Lord Byron:
+
+"The consul Nero, who made the unequalled march which deceived Hannibal
+and deceived Hasdrubal, thereby accomplished an achievement almost
+unrivalled in military annals. The first intelligence of his return, to
+Hannibal, was the sight of Hasdrubal's head thrown into his camp. When
+Hannibal saw this, he exclaimed, with a sigh, that 'Rome would now be
+the mistress of the world.' To this victory of Nero's it might be owing
+that his imperial namesake reigned at all. But the infamy of the one has
+eclipsed the glory of the other. When the name of Nero is heard, who
+thinks of the consul? But such are human things.")
+
+
+About midway between Rimini and Ancona a little river falls into the
+Adriatic, after traversing one of those districts of Italy in which a
+vain attempt has lately been made to revive, after long centuries of
+servitude and shame, the spirit of Italian nationality and the energy of
+free institutions. That stream is still called the Metauro, and wakens
+by its name the recollections of the resolute daring of ancient Rome,
+and of the slaughter that stained its current two thousand and
+sixty-three years ago, when the combined consular armies of Livius and
+Nero encountered and crushed near its banks the varied hosts which
+Hannibal's brother was leading from the Pyrenees, the Rhone, the Alps,
+and the Po, to aid the great Carthaginian in his stern struggle to
+annihilate the growing might of the Roman republic, and make the Punic
+power supreme over all the nations of the world.
+
+The Roman historian,[59] who termed that struggle the most memorable of
+all wars that ever were carried on, wrote in no spirit of exaggeration;
+for it is not in ancient, but in modern history that parallels for its
+incidents and its heroes are to be found. The similitude between the
+contest which Rome maintained against Hannibal, and that which England
+was for many years engaged in against Napoleon, has not passed
+unobserved by recent historians. "Twice," says Arnold, "has there been
+witnessed the struggle of the highest individual genius against the
+resources and institutions of a great nation, and in both cases the
+nation has been victorious. For seventeen years Hannibal strove against
+Rome; for sixteen years Napoleon Bonaparte strove against England: the
+efforts of the first ended in Zama; those of the second in Waterloo."
+
+[Footnote 59: Livy.]
+
+One point, however, of the similitude between the two wars has scarcely
+been adequately dwelt on; that is, the remarkable parallel between the
+Roman general who finally defeated the great Carthaginian, and the
+English general who gave the last deadly overthrow to the French
+Emperor. Scipio and Wellington both held for many years commands of high
+importance, but distant from the main theatres of warfare. The same
+country was the scene of the principal military career of each. It was
+in Spain that Scipio, like Wellington, successively encountered and
+overthrew nearly all the subordinate generals of the enemy before being
+opposed to the chief champion and conqueror himself. Both Scipio and
+Wellington restored their countrymen's confidence in arms when shaken by
+a series of reverses, and each of them closed a long and perilous war by
+a complete and overwhelming defeat of the chosen leader and the chosen
+veterans of the foe.
+
+Nor is the parallel between them limited to their military characters
+and exploits. Scipio, like Wellington, became an important leader of the
+aristocratic party among his countrymen, and was exposed to the
+unmeasured invectives of the violent section of his political
+antagonists. When, early in the last reign, an infuriated mob assaulted
+the Duke of Wellington in the streets of the English capital on the
+anniversary of Waterloo, England was even more disgraced by that outrage
+than Rome was by the factious accusations which demagogues brought
+against Scipio, but which he proudly repelled on the day of trial by
+reminding the assembled people that it was the anniversary of the battle
+of Zama. Happily, a wiser and a better spirit has now for years pervaded
+all classes of our community, and we shall be spared the ignominy of
+having worked out to the end the parallel of national ingratitude.
+Scipio died a voluntary exile from the malevolent turbulence of Rome.
+Englishmen of all ranks and politics have now long united in
+affectionate admiration of our modern Scipio; and even those who have
+most widely differed from the duke on legislative or administrative
+questions, forget what they deem the political errors of that
+time-honored head, while they gratefully call to mind the laurels that
+have wreathed it.
+
+Scipio at Zama trampled in the dust the power of Carthage, but that
+power had been already irreparably shattered in another field, where
+neither Scipio nor Hannibal commanded. When the Metaurus witnessed the
+defeat and death of Hasdrubal, it witnessed the ruin of the scheme by
+which alone Carthage could hope to organize decisive success--the scheme
+of enveloping Rome at once from the north and the south of Italy by two
+chosen armies, led by two sons of Hamilcar. That battle was the
+determining crisis of the contest, not merely between Rome and Carthage,
+but between the two great families of the world, which then made Italy
+the arena of their oft-renewed contest for preeminence.
+
+The French historian, Michelet, whose _Histoire Romaine_ would have been
+invaluable if the general industry and accuracy of the writer had in any
+degree equalled his originality and brilliancy, eloquently remarks: "It
+is not without reason that so universal and vivid a remembrance of the
+Punic wars has dwelt in the memories of men. They formed no mere
+struggle to determine the lot of two cities or two empires; but it was a
+strife on the event of which depended the fate of two races of mankind,
+whether the dominion of the world should belong to the Indo-Germanic or
+to the Semitic family of nations. Bear in mind that the first of these
+comprises, besides the Indians and the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans,
+and the Germans. In the other are ranked the Jews and the Arabs, the
+Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. On the one side is the genius of
+heroism, of art, and legislation; on the other is the spirit of
+industry, of commerce, of navigation.
+
+"The two opposite races have everywhere come into contact, everywhere
+into hostility. In the primitive history of Persia and Chaldaea, the
+heroes are perpetually engaged in combat with their industrious and
+perfidious neighbors. The struggle is renewed between the Phoenicians
+and the Greeks on every coast of the Mediterranean. The Greek supplants
+the Phoenician in all his factories, all his colonies in the East: soon
+will the Roman come, and do likewise in the West. Alexander did far more
+against Tyre than Shalmaneser or Nebuchadnezzar had done. Not content
+with crushing her, he took care that she never should revive; for he
+founded Alexandria as her substitute, and changed forever the track of
+the commerce of the world. There remained Carthage--the great Carthage,
+and her mighty empire--mighty in a far different degree than Phoenicia's
+had been. Rome annihilated it. Then occurred that which has no parallel
+in history--an entire civilization perished at one blow--banished, like
+a falling star. The _Periplus_ of Hanno, a few coins, a score of lines
+in Plautus, and, lo, all that remains of the Carthaginian world!
+
+"Many generations must needs pass away before the struggle between the
+two races could be renewed; and the Arabs, that formidable rear-guard of
+the Semitic world, dashed forth from their deserts. The conflict between
+the two races then became the conflict of two religions. Fortunate was
+it that those daring Saracenic cavaliers encountered in the East the
+impregnable walls of Constantinople, in the West the chivalrous valor of
+Charles Martel and the sword of the Cid. The crusades were the natural
+reprisals for the Arab invasions, and form the last epoch of that great
+struggle between the two principal families of the human race."
+
+It is difficult, amid the glimmering light supplied by the allusions of
+the classical writers, to gain a full idea of the character and
+institutions of Rome's great rival. But we can perceive how inferior
+Carthage was to her competitor in military resources, and how far less
+fitted than Rome she was to become the founder of centralized and
+centralizing dominion that should endure for centuries, and fuse into
+imperial unity the narrow nationalities of the ancient races that dwelt
+around and near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea?
+
+Carthage was originally neither the most ancient nor the most powerful
+of the numerous colonies which the Phoenicians planted on the coast of
+Northern Africa. But her advantageous position, the excellence of her
+constitution--of which, though ill-informed as to its details, we know
+that it commanded the admiration of Aristotle--and the commercial and
+political energy of her citizens gave her the ascendency over Hippo,
+Utica, Leptis, and her other sister Phoenician cities in those regions;
+and she finally reduced them to a condition of dependency similar to
+that which the subject allies of Athens occupied relatively to that once
+imperial city. When Tyre and Sidon and the other cities of Phoenicia
+itself sank from independent republics into mere vassal states of the
+great Asiatic monarchies, and obeyed by turns a Babylonian, a Persian,
+and a Macedonian master, their power and their traffic rapidly declined,
+and Carthage succeeded to the important maritime and commercial
+character which they had previously maintained.
+
+The Carthaginians did not seek to compete with the Greeks on the
+northeastern shores of the Mediterranean, or in the three inland seas
+which are connected with it; but they maintained an active intercourse
+with the Phoenicians, and through them with Lower and Central Asia; and
+they, and they alone, after the decline and fall of Tyre, navigated the
+waters of the Atlantic. They had the monopoly of all the commerce of the
+world that was carried on beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. We have yet
+extant (in a Greek translation) the narrative of the voyage of Hanno,
+one of their admirals, along the western coast of Africa as far as
+Sierra Leone; and in the Latin poem of Festus Avienus frequent
+references are made to the records of the voyages of another celebrated
+Carthaginian admiral, Himilco, who had explored the northwestern coast
+of Europe. Our own islands are mentioned by Himilco as the lands of the
+Hiberni and Albioni. It is indeed certain that the Carthaginians
+frequented the Cornish coast--as the Phoenicians had done before
+them--for the purpose of procuring tin; and there is every reason to
+believe that they sailed as far as the coasts of the Baltic for amber.
+When it is remembered that the mariner's compass was unknown in those
+ages, the boldness and skill of the seamen of Carthage, and the
+enterprise of her merchants, may be paralleled with any achievements
+that the history of modern navigation and commerce can produce.
+
+In their Atlantic voyages along the African shores the Carthaginians
+followed the double object of traffic and colonization. The numerous
+settlements that were planted by them along the coast from Morocco to
+Senegal provided for the needy members of the constantly increasing
+population of a great commercial capital, and also strengthened the
+influence which Carthage exercised among the tribes of the African
+coast. Besides her fleets, her caravans gave her a large and lucrative
+trade with the native Africans; nor must we limit our belief of the
+extent of the Carthaginian trade with the tribes of Central and Western
+Africa by the narrowness of the commercial intercourse which civilized
+nations of modern times have been able to create in those regions.
+
+Although essentially a mercantile and seafaring people, the
+Carthaginians by no means neglected agriculture. On the contrary, the
+whole of their territory was cultivated like a garden. The fertility of
+the soil repaid the skill and toil bestowed on it; and every invader,
+from Agathocles to Scipio AEmilianus, was struck with admiration at the
+rich pasture lands carefully irrigated, the abundant harvests, the
+luxuriant vineyards, the plantations of fig and olive trees, the
+thriving villages, the populous towns, and the splendid villas of the
+wealthy Carthaginians, through which his march lay, as long as he was on
+Carthaginian ground.
+
+Although the Carthaginians abandoned the AEgean and the Pontus to the
+Greek, they were by no means disposed to relinquish to those rivals the
+commerce and the dominion of the coasts of the Mediterranean westward of
+Italy. For centuries the Carthaginians strove to make themselves masters
+of the islands that lie between Italy and Spain. They acquired the
+Balearic Islands, where the principal harbor, Port Mahon, still bears
+the name of a Carthaginian admiral. They succeeded in reducing the
+greater part of Sardinia; but Sicily could never be brought into their
+power. They repeatedly invaded that island, and nearly overran it; but
+the resistance which was opposed to them by the Syracusans under Gelon,
+Dionysius, Timoleon, and Agathocles preserved the island from becoming
+Punic, though many of its cities remained under the Carthaginian rule
+until Rome finally settled the question to whom Sicily was to belong by
+conquering it for herself.
+
+With so many elements of success, with almost unbounded wealth, with
+commercial and maritime activity, with a fertile territory, with a
+capital city of almost impregnable strength, with a constitution that
+insured for centuries the blessing of social order, with an aristocracy
+singularly fertile in men of the highest genius, Carthage yet failed
+signally and calamitously in her contest for power with Rome. One of the
+immediate causes of this may seem to have been the want of firmness
+among her citizens, which made them terminate the First Punic War by
+begging peace, sooner than endure any longer the hardships and burdens
+caused by a state of warfare, although their antagonists had suffered
+far more severely than themselves. Another cause was the spirit of
+faction among their leading men, which prevented Hannibal in the second
+war from being properly reenforced and supported. But there were also
+more general causes why Carthage proved inferior to Rome. These were her
+position relatively to the mass of the inhabitants of the country which
+she ruled, and her habit of trusting to mercenary armies in her wars.
+
+Our clearest information as to the different races of men in and about
+Carthage is derived from Diodorus Siculus. That historian enumerates
+four different races: first, he mentions the Phoenicians who dwelt in
+Carthage; next, he speaks of the Liby-Phoenicians: these, he tells us,
+dwelt in many of the maritime cities, and were connected by
+intermarriage with the Phoenicians, which was the cause of their
+compound name; thirdly, he mentions the Libyans, the bulk and the most
+ancient part of the population, hating the Carthaginians intensely on
+account of the oppressiveness of their domination; lastly, he names the
+Numidians, the nomad tribes of the frontier.
+
+It is evident, from this description, that the native Libyans were a
+subject class, without franchise or political rights; and, accordingly,
+we find no instance specified in history of a Libyan holding political
+office or military command. The half-castes, the Liby-Phoenicians, seem
+to have been sometimes sent out as colonists; but it may be inferred,
+from what Diodorus says of their residence, that they had not the right
+of the citizenship of Carthage; and only a single solitary case occurs
+of one of this race being intrusted with authority, and that, too, not
+emanating from the home government. This is the instance of the officer
+sent by Hannibal to Sicily after the fall of Syracuse, whom Polybius
+calls Myttinus the Libyan, but whom, from the fuller account in Livy, we
+find to have been a Liby-Phoenician; and it is expressly mentioned what
+indignation was felt by the Carthaginian commanders in the island that
+this half-caste should control their operations.
+
+With respect to the composition of their armies, it is observable that,
+though thirsting for extended empire, and though some of her leading men
+became generals of the highest order, the Carthaginians, as a people,
+were anything but personally warlike. As long as they could hire
+mercenaries to fight for them, they had little appetite for the irksome
+training and the loss of valuable time which military service would have
+entailed on themselves.
+
+As Michelet remarks: "The life of an industrious merchant, of a
+Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as long as it was possible
+to substitute advantageously for it that of a barbarian from Spain or
+Gaul. Carthage knew, and could tell to a drachma, what the life of a man
+of each nation came to. A Greek was worth more than a Campanian, a
+Campanian worth more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. When once this tariff of
+blood was correctly made out, Carthage began a war as a mercantile
+speculation. She tried to make conquests in the hope of getting new
+mines to work or to open fresh markets for her exports. In one venture
+she could afford to spend fifty thousand mercenaries, in another rather
+more. If the returns were good, there was no regret felt for the capital
+that had been sunk in the investment; more money got more men, and all
+went on well."
+
+Armies composed of foreign mercenaries have in all ages been as
+formidable to their employers as to the enemy against whom they were
+directed. We know of one occasion--between the First and Second Punic
+wars--when Carthage was brought to the very brink of destruction by a
+revolt of her foreign troops. Other mutinies of the same kind must from
+time to time have occurred. Probably one of these was the cause of the
+comparative weakness of Carthage at the time of the Athenian expedition
+against Syracuse, so different from the energy with which she attacked
+Gelon half a century earlier and Dionysius half a century later. And
+even when we consider her armies with reference only to their efficiency
+in warfare, we perceive at once the inferiority of such bands of
+_condottieri_, brought together without any common bond of origin,
+tactics, or cause, to the legions of Rome, which, at the time of the
+Punic wars, were raised from the very flower of a hardy agricultural
+population, trained in the strictest discipline, habituated to victory,
+and animated by the most resolute patriotism.
+
+And this shows, also, the transcendency of the genius of Hannibal, which
+could form such discordant materials into a compact organized force, and
+inspire them with the spirit of patient discipline and loyalty to their
+chief, so that they were true to him in his adverse as well as in his
+prosperous fortunes; and throughout the checkered series of his
+campaigns no panic rout ever disgraced a division under his command, no
+mutiny, or even attempt at mutiny, was ever known in his camp; and
+finally, after fifteen years of Italian warfare, his men followed their
+old leader to Zama, "with no fear and little hope,"[60] and there, on
+that disastrous field, stood firm around him, his Old Guard, till
+Scipio's Numidian allies came up on their flank, when at last,
+surrounded and overpowered, the veteran battalions sealed their devotion
+to their general by their blood!
+
+[Footnote 60: "We advanced to Waterloo as the Greeks did to Thermopylae:
+all of us without fear, and most of us without hope."--_Speech of
+General Foy._]
+
+"But if Hannibal's genius may be likened to the Homeric god, who, in his
+hatred to the Trojans, rises from the deep to rally the fainting Greeks
+and to lead them against the enemy, so the calm courage with which
+Hector met his more than human adversary in his country's cause is no
+unworthy image of the unyielding magnanimity displayed by the
+aristocracy of Rome. As Hannibal utterly eclipses Carthage, so, on the
+contrary, Fabius, Marcellus, Claudius Nero, even Scipio himself, are as
+nothing when compared to the spirit and wisdom and power of Rome. The
+senate, which voted its thanks to its political enemy, Varro, after his
+disastrous defeat, 'because he had not despaired of the commonwealth,'
+and which disdained either to solicit or to reprove or to threaten or in
+any way to notice the twelve colonies which had refused their accustomed
+supplies of men for the army, is far more to be honored than the
+conqueror of Zama. This we should the more carefully bear in mind
+because our tendency is to admire individual greatness far more than
+national; and, as no single Roman will bear comparison to Hannibal, we
+are apt to murmur at the event of the contest, and to think that the
+victory was awarded to the least worthy of the combatants. On the
+contrary, never was the wisdom of God's providence more manifest than in
+the issue of the struggle between Rome and Carthage.
+
+"It was clearly for the good of mankind that Hannibal should be
+conquered; his triumph would have stopped the progress of the world; for
+great men can only act permanently by forming great nations; and no one
+man, even though it were Hannibal himself, can in one generation effect
+such a work. But where the nation has been merely enkindled for a while
+by a great man's spirit, the light passes away with him who communicated
+it; and the nation, when he is gone, is like a dead body to which magic
+power had for a moment given unnatural life: when the charm has ceased,
+the body is cold and stiff as before. He who grieves over the battle of
+Zama should carry on his thoughts to a period thirty years later, when
+Hannibal must in the course of nature have been dead, and consider how
+the isolated Phoenician city of Carthage was fitted to receive and to
+consolidate the civilization of Greece, or by its laws and institutions
+to bind together barbarians of every race and language into an organized
+empire, and prepare them for becoming, when that empire was dissolved,
+the free members of the commonwealth of Christian Europe."[61]
+
+[Footnote 61: Arnold.]
+
+It was in the spring of 207 B.C. that Hasdrubal, after skilfully
+disentangling himself from the Roman forces in Spain, and after a march
+conducted with great judgment and little loss through the interior of
+Gaul and the passes of the Alps, appeared in the country that now is the
+north of Lombardy, at the head of troops which he had partly brought out
+of Spain and partly levied among the Gauls and Ligurians on his way. At
+this time Hannibal, with his unconquered and seemingly unconquerable
+army, had been eight years in Italy, executing with strenuous ferocity
+the vow of hatred to Rome which had been sworn by him while yet a child
+at the bidding of his father, Hamilcar, who, as he boasted, had trained
+up his three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, like three lion's
+whelps, to prey upon the Romans. But Hannibal's latter campaigns had not
+been signalized by any such great victories as marked the first years of
+his invasion of Italy. The stern spirit of Roman resolution, ever
+highest in disaster and danger, had neither bent nor despaired beneath
+the merciless blows which "the dire African" dealt her in rapid
+succession at Trebia, at Thrasymene, and at Cannae. Her population was
+thinned by repeated slaughter in the field; poverty and actual scarcity
+ground down the survivors, through the fearful ravages which Hannibal's
+cavalry spread through their cornfields, their pasture lands, and their
+vineyards; many of her allies went over to the invader's side, and new
+clouds of foreign war threatened her from Macedonia and Gaul. But Rome
+receded not. Rich and poor among her citizens vied with each other in
+devotion to their country. The wealthy placed their stores, and all
+placed their lives, at the State's disposal. And though Hannibal could
+not be driven out of Italy, though every year brought its sufferings and
+sacrifices, Rome felt that her constancy had not been exerted in vain.
+If she was weakened by the continued strife, so was Hannibal also; and
+it was clear that the unaided resources of his army were unequal to the
+task of her destruction. The single deerhound could not pull down the
+quarry which he had so furiously assailed. Rome not only stood fiercely
+at bay, but had pressed back and gored her antagonist, that still,
+however, watched her in act to spring. She was weary, and bleeding at
+every pore; and there seemed to be little hope of her escape if the
+other hound of old Hamilcar's race should come up in time to aid his
+brother in the death grapple.
+
+Hasdrubal had commanded the Carthaginian armies in Spain for some time
+with varying but generally unfavorable fortune. He had not the full
+authority over the Punic forces in that country which his brother and
+his father had previously exercised. The faction at Carthage, which was
+at feud with his family, succeeded in fettering and interfering with his
+power; and other generals were from time to time sent into Spain, whose
+errors and misconduct caused the reverses that Hasdrubal met with. This
+is expressly attested by the Greek historian Polybius, who was the
+intimate friend of the younger Africanus, and drew his information
+respecting the Second Punic War from the best possible authorities. Livy
+gives a long narrative of campaigns between the Roman commanders in
+Spain and Hasdrubal, which is so palpably deformed by fictions and
+exaggerations as to be hardly deserving of attention. It is clear that
+in the year B.C. 208, at least, Hasdrubal outmanoeuvred Publius Scipio,
+who held the command of the Roman forces in Spain, and whose object was
+to prevent him from passing the Pyrenees and marching upon Italy. Scipio
+expected that Hasdrubal would attempt the nearest route along the coast
+of the Mediterranean, and he therefore carefully fortified and guarded
+the passes of the eastern Pyrenees. But Hasdrubal passed these mountains
+near their western extremity; and then, with a considerable force of
+Spanish infantry, with a small number of African troops, with some
+elephants and much treasure, he marched, not directly toward the coast
+of the Mediterranean, but in a northeastern line toward the centre of
+Gaul. He halted for the winter in the territory of the Arverni, the
+modern Auvergne, and conciliated or purchased the goodwill of the Gauls
+in that region so far that he not only found friendly winter quarters
+among them, but great numbers of them enlisted under him, and, on the
+approach of spring, marched with him to invade Italy.
+
+By thus entering Gaul at the southwest, and avoiding its southern
+maritime districts, Hasdrubal kept the Romans in complete ignorance of
+his precise operations and movements in that country; all that they knew
+was that Hasdrubal had baffled Scipio's attempts to detain him in Spain;
+that he had crossed the Pyrenees with soldiers, elephants, and money,
+and that he was raising fresh forces among the Gauls. The spring was
+sure to bring him into Italy, and then would come the real tempest of
+the war, when from the north and from the south the two Carthaginian
+armies, each under a son of the Thunderbolt[62], were to gather together
+around the seven hills of Rome.
+
+[Footnote 62: Hamilcar was surnamed Barca, which means the Thunderbolt.
+Sultan Bajazet had the similar surname of Yilderim.]
+
+In this emergency the Romans looked among themselves earnestly and
+anxiously for leaders fit to meet the perils of the coming campaign.
+
+The senate recommended the people to elect, as one of their consuls,
+Caius Claudius Nero, a patrician of one of the families of the great
+Claudian house. Nero had served during the preceding years of the war
+both against Hannibal in Italy and against Hasdrubal in Spain; but it is
+remarkable that the histories which we possess record no successes as
+having been achieved by him either before or after his great campaign of
+the Metaurus. It proves much for the sagacity of the leading men of the
+senate that they recognized in Nero the energy and spirit which were
+required at this crisis, and it is equally creditable to the patriotism
+of the people that they followed the advice of the senate by electing a
+general who had no showy exploits to recommend him to their choice.
+
+It was a matter of greater difficulty to find a second consul; the laws
+required that one consul should be a plebeian; and the plebeian nobility
+had been fearfully thinned by the events of the war. While the senators
+anxiously deliberated among themselves what fit colleague for Nero could
+be nominated at the coming comitia, and sorrowfully recalled the names
+of Marcellus, Gracchus, and other plebeian generals who were no more,
+one taciturn and moody old man sat in sullen apathy among the conscript
+fathers. This was Marcus Livius, who had been consul in the year before
+the beginning of this war, and had then gained a victory over the
+Illyrians. After his consulship he had been impeached before the people
+on a charge of peculation and unfair division of the spoils among his
+soldiers; the verdict was unjustly given against him, and the sense of
+this wrong, and of the indignity thus put upon him, had rankled
+unceasingly in the bosom of Livius, so that for eight years after his
+trial he had lived in seclusion in his country seat, taking no part in
+any affairs of State. Latterly the censors had compelled him to come to
+Rome and resume his place in the senate, where he used to sit gloomily
+apart, giving only a silent vote. At last an unjust accusation against
+one of his near kinsmen made him break silence, and he harangued the
+house in words of weight and sense, which drew attention to him and
+taught the senators that a strong spirit dwelt beneath that unimposing
+exterior.
+
+Now, while they were debating on what noble of a plebeian house was fit
+to assume the perilous honors of the consulate, some of the elder of
+them looked on Marcus Livius, and remembered that in the very last
+triumph which had been celebrated in the streets of Rome, this grim old
+man had sat in the car of victory, and that he had offered the last
+thanksgiving sacrifice for the success of the Roman arms which had bled
+before Capitoline Jove. There had been no triumphs since Hannibal came
+into Italy. The Illyrian campaign of Livius was the last that had been
+so honored; perhaps it might be destined for him now to renew the
+long-interrupted series. The senators resolved that Livius should be put
+in nomination as consul with Nero; the people were willing to elect him:
+the only opposition came from himself. He taunted them with their
+inconsistency in honoring the man whom they had convicted of a base
+crime. "If I am innocent," said he, "why did you place such a stain on
+me? If I am guilty, why am I more fit for a second consulship than I was
+for my first one?" The other senators remonstrated with him, urging the
+example of the great Camillus, who, after an unjust condemnation on a
+similar charge, both served and saved his country. At last Livius ceased
+to object; and Caius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius were chosen consuls
+of Rome.
+
+A quarrel had long existed between the two consuls, and the senators
+strove to effect a reconciliation between them before the campaign. Here
+again Livius for a long time obstinately resisted the wish of his
+fellow-senators. He said it was best for the State that he and Nero
+should continue to hate one another. Each would do his duty better when
+he knew that he was watched by an enemy in the person of his own
+colleague. At last the entreaties of the senate prevailed, and Livius
+consented to forego the feud, and to cooperate with Nero in preparing
+for the coming struggle.
+
+As soon as the winter snows were thawed, Hasdrubal commenced his march
+from Auvergne to the Alps. He experienced none of the difficulties which
+his brother had met with from the mountain tribes. Hannibal's army had
+been the first body of regular troops that had ever traversed their
+regions; and, as wild animals assail a traveller, the natives rose
+against it instinctively, in imagined defence of their own habitations,
+which they supposed to be the objects of Carthaginian ambition. But the
+fame of the war, with which Italy had now been convulsed for twelve
+years, had penetrated into the Alpine passes, and the mountaineers now
+understood that a mighty city southward of the Alps was to be attacked
+by the troops whom they saw marching among them. They now not only
+opposed no resistance to the passage of Hasdrubal, but many of them, out
+of love of enterprise and plunder, or allured by the high pay that he
+offered, took service with him; and thus he advanced upon Italy with an
+army that gathered strength at every league. It is said, also, that some
+of the most important engineering works which Hannibal had constructed
+were found by Hasdrubal still in existence, and materially favored the
+speed of his advance. He thus emerged into Italy from the Alpine valleys
+much sooner than had been anticipated. Many warriors of the Ligurian
+tribes joined him; and, crossing the River Po, he marched down its
+southern bank to the city of Placentia, which he wished to secure as a
+base for his future operations. Placentia resisted him as bravely as it
+had resisted Hannibal twelve years before, and for some time Hasdrubal
+was occupied with a fruitless siege before its walls.
+
+Six armies were levied for the defence of Italy when the long-dreaded
+approach of Hasdrubal was announced. Seventy thousand Romans served in
+the fifteen legions of which, with an equal number of Italian allies,
+those armies and the garrisons were composed. Upward of thirty thousand
+more Romans were serving in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. The whole
+number of Roman citizens of an age fit for military duty scarcely
+exceeded a hundred and thirty thousand. The census taken before the
+commencement of the war had shown a total of two hundred and seventy
+thousand, which had been diminished by more than half during twelve
+years. These numbers are fearfully emphatic of the extremity to which
+Rome was reduced, and of her gigantic efforts in that great agony of her
+fate. Not merely men, but money and military stores, were drained to the
+utmost, and if the armies of that year should be swept off by a
+repetition of the slaughters of Thrasymene and Cannae all felt that Rome
+would cease to exist.
+
+Even if the campaign were to be marked by no decisive success on either
+side her ruin seemed certain. In South Italy, Hannibal had either
+detached Rome's allies from her or had impoverished them by the ravages
+of his army. If Hasdrubal could have done the same in Upper Italy; if
+Etruria, Umbria, and Northern Latium had either revolted or been laid
+waste, Rome must have sunk beneath sheer starvation, for the hostile or
+desolated territory would have yielded no supplies of corn for her
+population, and money to purchase it from abroad there was none. Instant
+victory was a matter of life or death. Three of her six armies were
+ordered to the North, but the first of these was required to overawe the
+disaffected Etruscan. The second army of the North was pushed forward,
+under Porcius, the praetor, to meet and keep in check the advanced
+troops of Hasdrubal; while the third, the grand army of the North, which
+was to be under the immediate command of the consul Livius, who had the
+chief command in all North Italy, advanced more slowly in its support.
+There were similarly three armies in the South, under the orders of the
+other consul, Claudius Nero.
+
+The lot had decided that Livius was to be opposed to Hasdrubal, and that
+Nero should face Hannibal. And "when all was ordered as themselves
+thought best, the two consuls went forth from the city, each his several
+way. The people of Rome were now quite otherwise affected than they had
+been when L. AEmilius Paulus and C. Terentius Varro were sent against
+Hannibal. They did no longer take upon them to direct their generals, or
+bid them despatch and win the victory betimes, but rather they stood in
+fear lest all diligence, wisdom, and valor should prove too little; for
+since few years had passed wherein some one of their generals had not
+been slain, and since it was manifest that, if either of these present
+consuls were defeated or put to the worst, the two Carthaginians would
+forthwith join, and make short work with the other, it seemed a greater
+happiness than could be expected that each of them should return home
+victor, and come off with honor from such mighty opposition as he was
+like to find. With extreme difficulty had Rome held up her head ever
+since the battle of Cannae; though it were so, that Hannibal alone, with
+little help from Carthage, had continued the war in Italy. But there was
+now arrived another son of Hamilcar, and one that in his present
+expedition had seemed a man of more sufficiency than Hannibal himself;
+for whereas, in that long and dangerous march through barbarous nations,
+over great rivers and mountains that were thought unpassable, Hannibal
+had lost a great part of his army, this Hasdrubal, in the same places,
+had multiplied his numbers, and gathering the people that he found in
+the way, descended from the Alps like a rolling snowball, far greater
+than he came over the Pyrenees at his first setting out of Spain. These
+considerations and the like, of which fear presented many unto them,
+caused the people of Rome to wait upon their consuls out of the town,
+like a pensive train of mourners, thinking upon Marcellus and Crispinus,
+upon whom, in the like sort, they had given attendance the last year,
+but saw neither of them return alive from a less dangerous war.
+Particularly old Q. Fabius gave his accustomed advice to M. Livius, that
+he should abstain from giving or taking battle until he well understood
+the enemy's condition. But the consul made him a froward answer, and
+said that he would fight the very first day, for that he thought it long
+till he should either recover his honor by victory, or, by seeing the
+overthrow of his own unjust citizens, satisfy himself with the joy of a
+great though not an honest revenge. But his meaning was better than his
+words."
+
+Hannibal at this period occupied with his veteran but much-reduced
+forces the extreme south of Italy. It had not been expected either by
+friend or foe that Hasdrubal would effect his passage of the Alps so
+early in the year as actually occurred. And even when Hannibal learned
+that his brother was in Italy, and had advanced as far as Placentia, he
+was obliged to pause for further intelligence before he himself
+commenced active operations, as he could not tell whether his brother
+might not be invited into Etruria, to aid the party there that was
+disaffected to Rome, or whether he would march down by the Adriatic Sea.
+Hannibal led his troops out of their winter quarters in Bruttium, and
+marched northward as far as Canusium. Nero had his head-quarters near
+Venusia, with an army which he had increased to forty thousand foot and
+two thousand five hundred horse, by incorporating under his own command
+some of the legions which had been intended to act under other generals
+in the South. There was another Roman army, twenty thousand strong,
+south of Hannibal at Tarentum. The strength of that city secured this
+Roman force from any attack by Hannibal, and it was a serious matter to
+march northward and leave it in his rear, free to act against all his
+depots and allies in the friendly part of Italy, which for the two or
+three last campaigns had served him for a base of his operations.
+Moreover, Nero's army was so strong that Hannibal could not concentrate
+troops enough to assume the offensive against it without weakening his
+garrisons and relinquishing, at least for a time, his grasp upon the
+southern provinces. To do this before he was certainly informed of his
+brother's operations would have been a useless sacrifice, as Nero could
+retreat before him upon the other Roman armies near the capital, and
+Hannibal knew by experience that a mere advance of his army upon the
+walls of Rome would have no effect on the fortunes of the war. In the
+hope, probably, of inducing Nero to follow him and of gaining an
+opportunity of outmanoeuvring the Roman consul and attacking him on his
+march, Hannibal moved into Lucania, and then back into Apulia; he again
+marched down into Bruttium, and strengthened his army by a levy of
+recruits in that district. Nero followed him, but gave him no chance of
+assailing him at a disadvantage. Some partial encounters seem to have
+taken place; but the consul could not prevent Hannibal's junction with
+his Bruttian levies, nor could Hannibal gain an opportunity of
+surprising and crushing the consul.[63] Hannibal returned to his former
+headquarters at Canusium, and halted there in expectation of further
+tidings of his brother's movements. Nero also resumed his former
+position in observation of the Carthaginian army.
+
+[Footnote 63: The annalists whom Livy copied spoke of Nero's gaining
+repeated victories over Hannibal, and killing and taking his men by tens
+of thousands. The falsehood of all this is self-evident. If Nero could
+thus always beat Hannibal, the Romans would not have been in such an
+agony of dread about Hasdrubal as all writers describe. Indeed, we have
+the express testimony of Polybius that the statements which we read in
+Livy of Marcellus, Nero, and others gaining victories over Hannibal in
+Italy must be all fabrications of Roman vanity. Polybius states that
+Hannibal was never defeated before the battle of Zama; and in another
+passage he mentions that after the defeats which Hannibal inflicted on
+the Romans in the early years of the war, they no longer dared face his
+army in a pitched battle on a fair field, and yet they resolutely
+maintained the war. He rightly explains this by referring to the
+superiority of Hannibal's cavalry, the arm which gained him all his
+victories. By keeping within fortified lines, or close to the sides of
+the mountains when Hannibal approached them, the Romans rendered his
+cavalry ineffective; and a glance at the geography of Italy will show
+how an army can traverse the greater part of that country without
+venturing far from the high grounds.]
+
+Meanwhile, Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, and was
+advancing toward Ariminum on the Adriatic, and driving before him the
+Roman army under Porcius. Nor when the consul Livius had come up, and
+united the second and third armies of the North, could he make head
+against the invaders. The Romans still fell back before Hasdrubal beyond
+Ariminum, beyond the Metaurus, and as far as the little town of Sena, to
+the southeast of that river. Hasdrubal was not unmindful of the
+necessity of acting in concert with his brother. He sent messengers to
+Hannibal to announce his own line of march, and to propose that they
+should unite their armies in South Umbria and then wheel round against
+Rome. Those messengers traversed the greater part of Italy in safety,
+but, when close to the object of their mission, were captured by a Roman
+detachment; and Hasdrubal's letter, detailing his whole plan of the
+campaign, was laid, not in his brother's hands, but in those of the
+commander of the Roman armies of the South. Nero saw at once the full
+importance of the crisis. The two sons of Hamilcar were now within two
+hundred miles of each other, and if Rome were to be saved the brothers
+must never meet alive. Nero instantly ordered seven thousand picked men,
+a thousand being cavalry, to hold themselves in readiness for a secret
+expedition against one of Hannibal's garrisons, and as soon as night had
+set in he hurried forward on his bold enterprise; but he quickly left
+the southern road toward Lucania, and, wheeling round, pressed northward
+with the utmost rapidity toward Picenum. He had, during the preceding
+afternoon, sent messengers to Rome, who were to lay Hasdrubal's letters
+before the senate. There was a law forbidding a consul to make war or
+march his army beyond the limits of the province assigned to him; but in
+such an emergency, Nero did not wait for the permission of the senate to
+execute his project, but informed them that he was already on his march
+to join Livius against Hasdrubal. He advised them to send the two
+legions which formed the home garrison on to Narnia, so as to defend
+that pass of the Flaminian road against Hasdrubal, in case he should
+march upon Rome before the consular armies could attack him. They were
+to supply the place of these two legions at Rome by a levy _en masse_ in
+the city, and by ordering up the reserve legion from Capua. These were
+his communications to the senate. He also sent horsemen forward along
+his line of march, with orders to the local authorities to bring stores
+of provisions and refreshment of every kind to the roadside, and to have
+relays of carriages ready for the conveyance of the wearied soldiers.
+Such were the precautions which he took for accelerating his march; and
+when he had advanced some little distance from his camp, he briefly
+informed his soldiers of the real object of their expedition. He told
+them that never was there a design more seemingly audacious and more
+really safe. He said he was leading them to a certain victory, for his
+colleague had an army large enough to balance the enemy already, so that
+_their_ swords would decisively turn the scale. The very rumor that a
+fresh consul and a fresh army had come up, when heard on the
+battle-field--and he would take care that they should not be heard of
+before they were seen and felt--would settle the business. They would
+have all the credit of the victory and of having dealt the final
+decisive blow. He appealed to the enthusiastic reception which they
+already met with on their line of march as a proof and an omen of their
+good fortune. And, indeed, their whole path was amid the vows and
+prayers and praises of their countrymen. The entire population of the
+districts through which they passed flocked to the roadside to see and
+bless the deliverers of their country. Food, drink, and refreshments of
+every kind were eagerly pressed on their acceptance. Each peasant
+thought a favor was conferred on him if one of Nero's chosen band would
+accept aught at his hands. The soldiers caught the full spirit of their
+leader. Night and day they marched forward, taking their hurried meals
+in the ranks, and resting by relay in the wagons which the zeal of the
+country people provided, and which followed in the rear of the column.
+
+Meanwhile, at Rome, the news of Nero's expedition had caused the
+greatest excitement and alarm. All men felt the full audacity of the
+enterprise, but hesitated what epithet to apply to it. It was evident
+that Nero's conduct would be judged of by the event, that most unfair
+criterion, as the Roman historian truly terms it. People reasoned on the
+perilous state in which Nero had left the rest of his army, without a
+general, and deprived of the core of its strength, in the vicinity of
+the terrible Hannibal. They speculated on how long it would take
+Hannibal to pursue and overtake Nero himself, and his expeditionary
+force. They talked over the former disasters of the war, and the fall of
+both the consuls of the last year. All these calamities had come on them
+while they had only one Carthaginian general and army to deal with in
+Italy. Now they had two Punic wars at a time. They had two Carthaginian
+armies, they had almost two Hannibals, in Italy. Hasdrubal was sprung
+from the same father; trained up in the same hostility to Rome; equally
+practised in battle against their legions; and, if the comparative speed
+and success with which he had crossed the Alps were a fair test, he was
+even a better general than his brother. With fear for their interpreter
+of every rumor, they exaggerated the strength of their enemy's forces in
+every quarter, and criticised and distrusted their own.
+
+Fortunately for Rome, while she was thus a prey to terror and anxiety,
+her consul's nerves were stout and strong, and he resolutely urged on
+his march toward Sena, where his colleague Livius and the praetor
+Porcius were encamped, Hasdrubal's army being in position about half a
+mile to their north. Nero had sent couriers forward to apprise his
+colleague of his project and of his approach; and by the advice of
+Livius, Nero so timed his final march as to reach the camp at Sena by
+night. According to a previous arrangement, Nero's men were received
+silently into the tents of their comrades, each according to his rank.
+By these means there was no enlargement of the camp that could betray to
+Hasdrubal the accession of force which the Romans had received. This was
+considerable, as Nero's numbers had been increased on the march by the
+volunteers, who offered themselves in crowds, and from whom he selected
+the most promising men, and especially the veterans of former campaigns.
+A council of war was held on the morning after his arrival, in which
+some advised that time should be given for Nero's men to refresh
+themselves after the fatigue of such a march. But Nero vehemently
+opposed all delay. "The officer," said he, "who is for giving time to my
+men here to rest themselves is for giving time to Hannibal to attack my
+men, whom I have left in the camp in Apulia. He is for giving time to
+Hannibal and Hasdrubal to discover my march, and to manoeuvre for a
+junction with each other in Cisalpine Gaul at their leisure. We must
+fight instantly, while both the foe here and the foe in the South are
+ignorant of our movements. We must destroy this Hasdrubal, and I must be
+back in Apulia before Hannibal awakes from his torpor." Nero's advice
+prevailed. It was resolved to fight directly; and before the consuls and
+praetor left the tent of Livius, the red ensign, which was the signal to
+prepare for immediate action, was hoisted, and the Romans forthwith drew
+up in battle array outside the camp.
+
+Hasdrubal had been anxious to bring Livius and Porcius to battle, though
+he had not judged it expedient to attack them in their lines. And now,
+on hearing that the Romans offered battle, he also drew up his men and
+advanced toward them. No spy or deserter had informed him of Nero's
+arrival, nor had he received any direct information that he had more
+than his old enemies to deal with. But as he rode forward to reconnoitre
+the Roman line, he thought that their numbers seemed to have increased,
+and that the armor of some of them was unusually dull and stained. He
+noticed, also, that the horses of some of the cavalry appeared to be
+rough and out of condition, as if they had just come from a succession
+of forced marches. So also, though, owing to the precaution of Livius,
+the Roman camp showed no change of size, it had not escaped the quick
+ear of the Carthaginian general that the trumpet which gave the signal
+to the Roman legions sounded that morning once oftener than usual, as if
+directing the troops of some additional superior officer. Hasdrubal,
+from his Spanish campaigns, was well acquainted with all the sounds and
+signals of Roman war, and from all that he heard and saw he felt
+convinced that both the Roman consuls were before him. In doubt and
+difficulty as to what might have taken place between the armies of the
+South, and probably hoping that Hannibal also was approaching, Hasdrubal
+determined to avoid an encounter with the combined Roman forces, and to
+endeavor to retreat upon Insubrian Gaul, where he would be in a friendly
+country, and could endeavor to reopen his communication with his
+brother. He therefore led his troops back into their camp; and as the
+Romans did not venture on an assault upon his intrenchments, and
+Hasdrubal did not choose to commence his retreat in their sight, the day
+passed away in inaction. At the first watch of the night Hasdrubal led
+his men silently out of their camp, and moved northward toward the
+Metaurus, in the hope of placing that river between himself and the
+Romans before his retreat was discovered. His guides betrayed him; and
+having purposely led him away from the part of the river that was
+fordable, they made their escape in the dark, and left Hasdrubal and his
+army wandering in confusion along the steep bank, and seeking in vain
+for a spot where the stream could be safely crossed. At last they
+halted; and when day dawned on them, Hasdrubal found that great numbers
+of his men, in their fatigue and impatience, had lost all discipline and
+subordination, and that many of his Gallic auxiliaries had got drunk,
+and were lying helpless in their quarters. The Roman cavalry was soon
+seen coming up in pursuit, followed at no great distance by the legions,
+which marched in readiness for an instant engagement. It was hopeless
+for Hasdrubal to think of continuing his retreat before them. The
+prospect of immediate battle might recall the disordered part of his
+troops to a sense of duty, and revive the instinct of discipline. He
+therefore ordered his men to prepare for action instantly, and made the
+best arrangement of them that the nature of the ground would permit.
+
+Heeren has well described the general appearance of a Carthaginian army.
+He says: "It was an assemblage of the most opposite races of the human
+species from the farthest parts of the globe. Hordes of half-naked Gauls
+were ranged next to companies of white-clothed Iberians, and savage
+Ligurians next to the far-travelled Nasamones and Lotophagi.
+Carthaginians and Phoenici-Africans formed the centre, while innumerable
+troops of Numidian horsemen, taken from all the tribes of the Desert,
+swarmed about on unsaddled horses, and formed the wings; the van was
+composed of Balearic slingers; and a line of colossal elephants, with
+their Ethiopian guides, formed, as it were, a chain of moving fortresses
+before the whole army."
+
+Such were the usual materials and arrangements of the hosts that fought
+for Carthage; but the troops under Hasdrubal were not in all respects
+thus constituted or thus stationed. He seems to have been especially
+deficient in cavalry, and he had few African troops, though some
+Carthaginians of high rank were with him. His veteran Spanish infantry,
+armed with helmets and shields, and short cut-and-thrust swords, were
+the best part of his army. These and his few Africans he drew up on his
+right wing, under his own personal command. In the centre he placed his
+Ligurian infantry, and on the left wing he placed or retained the Gauls,
+who were armed with long javelins and with huge broadswords and targets.
+The rugged nature of the ground in front and on the flank of this part
+of his line made him hope that the Roman right wing would be unable to
+come to close quarters with these unserviceable barbarians before he
+could make some impression with his Spanish veterans on the Roman left.
+This was the only chance that he had of victory or safety, and he seems
+to have done everything that good generalship could do to secure it. He
+placed his elephants in advance of his centre and right wing. He had
+caused the driver of each of them to be provided with a sharp iron spike
+and a mallet, and had given orders that every beast that became
+unmanageable, and ran back upon his own ranks, should be instantly
+killed by driving the spike into the vertebra at the junction of the
+head and the spine. Hasdrubal's elephants were ten in number. We have no
+trustworthy information as to the amount of his infantry, but it is
+quite clear that he was greatly outnumbered by the combined Roman
+forces.
+
+The tactics of the Roman legions had not yet acquired that perfection
+which they received from the military genius of Marius,[64] and which we
+read of in the first chapter of Gibbon. We possess, in that great work,
+an account of the Roman legions at the end of the commonwealth, and
+during the early ages of the empire, which those alone can adequately
+admire who have attempted a similar description. We have also, in the
+sixth and seventeenth books of Polybius, an elaborate discussion on the
+military system of the Romans in his time, which was not far distant
+from the time of the battle of the Metaurus. But the subject is beset
+with difficulties; and instead of entering into minute but inconclusive
+details, I would refer to Gibbon's first chapter as serving for a
+general description of the Roman army in its period of perfection, and
+remark that the training and armor which the whole legion received in
+the time of Augustus were, two centuries earlier, only partially
+introduced. Two divisions of troops, called _hastati_ and _principes_,
+formed the bulk of each Roman legion in the Second Punic War. Each of
+these divisions was twelve hundred strong. The hastatus and the princeps
+legionary bore a breastplate or coat of mail, brazen greaves, and a
+brazen helmet with a lofty upright crest of scarlet or black feathers.
+He had a large oblong shield; and, as weapons of offence, two javelins,
+one of which was light and slender, but the other was a strong and
+massive weapon, with a shaft about four feet long and an iron head of
+equal length. The sword was carried on the right thigh, and was a short
+cut-and-thrust weapon, like that which was used by the Spaniards. Thus
+armed, the hastati formed the front division of the legion, and the
+principes the second. Each division was drawn up about ten deep, a space
+of three feet being allowed between the files as well as the ranks, so
+as to give each legionary ample room for the use of his javelins and of
+his sword and shield. The men in the second rank did not stand
+immediately behind those in the first rank, but the files were
+alternate, like the position of the men on a draught-board. This was
+termed the _quincunx_ order.
+
+[Footnote 64: Most probably during the period of his prolonged
+consulship, from B.C. 104 to B.C. 101, while he was training his army
+against the Cimbri and the Teutons.]
+
+Niebuhr considers that this arrangement enabled the legion to keep up a
+shower of javelins on the enemy for some considerable time. He says:
+"When the first line had hurled its _pila_, it probably stepped back
+between those who stood behind it, and two steps forward restored the
+front nearly to its first position; a movement which, on account of the
+arrangement of the quincunx, could be executed without losing a moment.
+Thus one line succeeded the other in the front till it was time to draw
+the swords; nay, when it was found expedient, the lines which had
+already been in the front might repeat this change, since the stores of
+pila were surely not confined to the two which each soldier took with
+him into battle.
+
+"The same charge must have taken place in fighting with the sword,
+which, when the same tactics were adopted on both sides, was anything
+but a confused _melee_; on the contrary, it was a series of single
+combats." He adds that a military man of experience had been consulted
+by him on the subject and had given it as his opinion "that the change
+of the lines as described above was by no means impracticable; but, in
+the absence of the deafening noise of gunpowder, it cannot have had even
+any difficulty with well-trained troops."
+
+The third division of the legion was six hundred strong and acted as a
+reserve. It was always composed of veteran soldiers, who were called the
+_triarii_. Their arms were the same as these of the principes and
+hastati, except that each _triarian_ carried a spear instead of
+javelins. The rest of the legion consisted of light-armed troops, who
+acted as skirmishers. The cavalry of each legion was at this period
+about three hundred strong. The Italian allies who were attached to the
+legion seem to have been similarly armed and equipped, but their
+numerical proportion of cavalry was much larger.
+
+Such was the nature of the forces that advanced on the Roman side to the
+battle of the Metaurus. Nero commanded the right wing, Livius the left,
+and the praetor Porcius had the command of the centre. "Both Romans and
+Carthaginians well understood how much depended upon the fortune of this
+day, and how little hope of safety there was for the vanquished. Only
+the Romans herein seemed to have had the better in conceit and opinion
+that they were to fight with men desirous to have fled from them; and
+according to this presumption came Livius the consul, with a proud
+bravery, to give charge on the Spaniards and Africans, by whom he was so
+sharply entertained that the victory seemed very doubtful. The Africans
+and Spaniards were stout soldiers, and well acquainted with the manner
+of the Roman fight. The Ligurians also were a hardy nation, and not
+accustomed to give ground, which they needed the less, or were able now
+to do, being placed in the midst. Livius, therefore, and Porcius found
+great opposition; and with great slaughter on both sides prevailed
+little or nothing. Besides other difficulties, they were exceedingly
+troubled by the elephants, that brake their first ranks and put them in
+such disorder as the Roman ensigns were driven to fall back; all this
+while Claudius Nero, laboring in vain against a steep hill, was unable
+to come to blows with the Gauls that stood opposite him, but out of
+danger. This made Hasdrubal the more confident, who, seeing his own left
+wing safe, did the more boldly and fiercely make impression on the other
+side upon the left wing of the Romans."[65]
+
+[Footnote 65: Sir Walter Raleigh: _Historie of the World_.]
+
+But at last Nero, who found that Hasdrubal refused his left wing, and
+who could not overcome the difficulties of the ground in the quarter
+assigned to him, decided the battle by another stroke of that military
+genius which had inspired his march. Wheeling a brigade of his best men
+round the rear of the rest of the Roman army, Nero fiercely charged the
+flank of the Spaniards and Africans. The charge was as successful as it
+was sudden. Rolled back in disorder upon each other, and overwhelmed by
+numbers, the Spaniards and Ligurians died, fighting gallantly to the
+last. The Gauls, who had taken little or no part in the strife of the
+day, were then surrounded, and butchered almost without resistance.
+Hasdrubal, after having, by the confession of his enemies, done all that
+a general could do, when he saw that the victory was irreparably lost,
+scorning to survive the gallant host which he had led, and to gratify,
+as a captive, Roman cruelty and pride, spurred his horse into the midst
+of a Roman cohort, and sword in hand, met the death that was worthy of
+the son of Hamilcar and the brother of Hannibal.
+
+Success the most complete had crowned Nero's enterprise. Returning as
+rapidly as he had advanced, he was again facing the inactive enemies in
+the South before they even knew of his march. But he brought with him a
+ghastly trophy of what he had done. In the true spirit of that savage
+brutality which deformed the Roman national character, Nero ordered
+Hasdrubal's head to be flung into his brother's camp. Ten years had
+passed since Hannibal had last gazed on those features. The sons of
+Hamilcar had then planned their system of warfare against Rome which
+they had so nearly brought to successful accomplishment. Year after year
+had Hannibal been struggling in Italy, in the hope of one day hailing
+the arrival of him whom he had left in Spain, and of seeing his
+brother's eye flash with affection and pride at the junction of their
+irresistible hosts. He now saw that eye glazed in death, and in the
+agony of his heart the great Carthaginian groaned aloud that he
+recognized his country's destiny.
+
+Meanwhile, at the tidings of the great battle, Rome at once rose from
+the thrill of anxiety and terror to the full confidence of triumph.
+Hannibal might retain his hold on Southern Italy for a few years longer,
+but the imperial city and her allies were no longer in danger from his
+arms; and, after Hannibal's downfall, the great military republic of the
+ancient world met in her career of conquest no other worthy competitor.
+Byron has termed Nero's march "unequalled," and, in the magnitude of its
+consequences, it is so. Viewed only as a military exploit, it remains
+unparalleled save by Marlborough's bold march from Flanders to the
+Danube in the campaign of Blenheim, and perhaps also by the Archduke
+Charles' lateral march in 1796, by which he overwhelmed the French under
+Jourdan, and then, driving Moreau through the Black Forest and across
+the Rhine, for a while freed Germany from her invaders.
+
+
+
+
+SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES CARTHAGE
+
+B.C. 202
+
+LIVY
+
+
+(Sprung from a colony of Tyre, Carthage, founded about B.C. 800, rapidly
+developed, through a wonderful system of colonization, into a dominating
+power, her rule extending through Northwestern Africa and Western
+Europe. In B.C. 509 Carthage made her first treaty with Rome. But the
+rivalry which grew up between the two Powers developed into a stubborn
+contest for the empire of the world, culminating in the three Punic
+wars. The first of these lasted from B.C. 264 to 241; the second, from
+B.C. 218 to 201. In the interval between these two wars Rome acquired
+the northern part of Italy, whence she sent victorious armies against
+the barbarians in Gaul. Meanwhile, under Hamilcar Barcar, the
+Carthaginians had effected the conquest of Southern Spain, which they
+reduced to the condition of a dependency.
+
+Hamilcar's greater son, Hannibal, was compelled by his father to swear
+eternal enmity to Rome. Having established the Carthaginian empire in
+Spain, at the age of twenty-six he took the Spanish city of Saguntum, an
+ally of Rome, and this was the immediate cause of the Second Punic War,
+which the Romans declared. The passage of the Alps by Hannibal is
+regarded as one of the greatest military performances in history. He was
+welcomed by the Gauls as a deliverer, and was soon operating in Northern
+Italy, his appearance there being a complete surprise to the Romans. He
+won victories over them at the rivers Ticinus and Trebia, B.C. 218;
+another in 217 at Lake Trasimenus; a great triumph at Cannae in 216;
+took Capua in the same year, and wintered there; in 212 captured
+Tarentum; marched against Rome in 211; and in 203 was recalled to
+Africa.
+
+In the mean time the Romans had decided to carry the war into Africa,
+although in 215 they had beaten Hannibal, and in 211 had retaken Capua.
+Publius Cornelius Scipio [Scipio Africanus Major] in B.C. 210-206 drove
+the Carthaginians out of Spain. In 205 he was made consul, and the next
+year invaded Africa. Landing on the coast, he was met by the forces of
+the Numidian King, who became his allies against Carthage. In 203 he
+defeated Syphax and Hasdrubal. Hannibal now having returned to Carthage,
+he took command of the forces which she opposed to the Roman invaders,
+but in B.C. 202 suffered final overthrow at Zama, in the battle that
+ended the Second Punic War. Livy's account of the closing scenes of that
+war, which here follows, gives the reader a clear understanding of the
+sequence and conclusion of the events related.)
+
+
+Marcus Servilius and Tiberius Claudius, having assembled the senate,
+consulted them respecting the provinces. As both were desirous of having
+Africa, they wished Italy and Africa to be disposed of by lots; but,
+principally in consequence of the exertions of Quintus Metellus, Africa
+was neither assigned to anyone nor withheld. The consuls were ordered to
+make application to the tribunes of the people, to the effect that, if
+they thought proper, they should put it to the people to decide whom
+they wished to conduct the war in Africa. All the tribes nominated
+Publius Scipio. Nevertheless, the consuls put the province of Africa to
+the lot, for so the senate had decreed. Africa fell to the lot of
+Tiberius Claudius, who was to cross over into Africa with a fleet of
+fifty ships, all quinqueremes, and have an equal command with Scipio.
+Marcus Servilius obtained Etruria. Caius Servilius was continued in
+command in the same province, in case the senate resolved that the
+consul should remain at the city. Of the praetors, Marcus Sextus
+obtained Gaul, which province, together with two legions, Publius
+Quinctilius Varus was to deliver to him; Caius Livius obtained Bruttium,
+with the two legions which Publius Sempronius, the proconsul, had
+commanded the former year; Cneius Tremellius had Sicily, and was to
+receive the province and two legions from Publius Villius Tappulus, a
+praetor of the former year; Villius, as propraetor, was to protect the
+coast of Sicily with twenty men-of-war and a thousand soldiers; and
+Marcus Pomponius was to convey thence to Rome one thousand five hundred
+soldiers, with the remaining twenty ships. The city jurisdiction fell to
+Caius Aurelius Cotta; and the rest of the praetors were continued in
+command of the respective provinces and armies which they then had. Not
+more than sixteen legions were employed this year in the defence of the
+empire. And, that they might have the gods favorably disposed toward
+them in all their undertakings and proceedings, it was ordered that the
+consuls, before they set out to the war, should celebrate those games
+and sacrifice those victims of the larger sort which, in the consulate
+of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Titus Quinctius, Titus Manlius the
+dictator had vowed, provided the commonwealth should continue in the
+same state for the next five years. The games were exhibited in the
+circus during four days, and the victims sacrificed to those deities to
+whom they had been vowed.
+
+Meanwhile, hope and anxiety daily and simultaneously increased; nor
+could the minds of men be brought to any fixed conclusion, whether it
+was a fit subject for rejoicing that Hannibal had now at length, after
+the sixteenth year, departed from Italy and left the Romans in the
+unmolested possession of it or whether they had not greater cause to
+fear from his having transported his army in safety into Africa. They
+said that the scene of action certainly was changed, but not the danger.
+That Quintus Fabius, lately deceased, who had foretold how arduous the
+contest would be, was used to predict, not without good reason, that
+Hannibal would prove a more formidable enemy in his own country than he
+had been in a foreign one; and that Scipio would have to encounter, not
+Syphax, a king of undisciplined barbarians whose armies Statorius, a man
+little better than a soldier's drudge, was used to lead, nor his
+father-in-law Hasdrubal, that most fugacious general, nor tumultuary
+armies hastily collected out of a crowd of half-armed rustics, but
+Hannibal, born in a manner in the pavilion of his father, that bravest
+of generals, nurtured and educated in the midst of arms, who served as a
+soldier formerly, when a boy, and became a general when he had scarcely
+attained the age of manhood; who, having grown old in victory, had
+filled Spain, Gaul, and Italy, from the Alps to the strait, with
+monuments of his vast achievements; who commanded troops who had served
+as long as he had himself; troops hardened by the endurance of every
+species of suffering, such as it is scarcely credible that men could
+have supported; stained a thousand times with Roman blood, and bearing
+with them the spoils not only of soldiers, but of generals. That many
+would meet the eyes of Scipio in battle who had with their own hands
+slain Roman praetors, generals, and consuls; many decorated with crowns
+in reward for having scaled walls and crossed ramparts; many who had
+traversed the captured camps and cities of the Romans. That the
+magistrates of the Roman people had not then so many fasces as Hannibal
+could have carried before him, having taken them from generals whom he
+had slain. While their minds were harassed by these apprehensions, their
+anxiety and fears were further increased from the circumstance that,
+whereas they had been accustomed to carry on war for several years in
+different parts of Italy, and within their view, with languid hopes and
+without the prospect of bringing it to a speedy termination, Scipio and
+Hannibal had stimulated the minds of all, as generals prepared for a
+final contest. Even those persons whose confidence in Scipio and hopes
+of victory were great, were affected with anxiety, increasing in
+proportion as they saw their completion approaching. The state of
+feeling among the Carthaginians was much the same; for when they turned
+their eyes on Hannibal, and the greatness of his achievements, they
+repented having solicited peace; but when again they reflected that they
+had been twice defeated in a pitched battle, that Syphax had been made
+prisoner, that they had been driven out of Spain and Italy, and that all
+this had been effected by the valor and conduct of Scipio alone, they
+regarded him with horror, as a general marked out by destiny, and born
+for their destruction.
+
+Hannibal had by this time arrived at Adrumetum, from which place, after
+employing a few days there in refreshing his soldiers, who had suffered
+from the motion by sea, he proceeded by forced marches to Zama, roused
+by the alarming statements of messengers who brought word that all the
+country around Carthage was filled with armed troops. Zama is distant
+from Carthage a five days' journey. Some spies whom he sent out from
+this place, being intercepted by the Roman guard and brought before
+Scipio, he directed that they should be handed over to the military
+tribunes, and after having been desired fearlessly to survey everything,
+to be conducted through the camp wherever they chose; then, asking them
+whether they had examined everything to their satisfaction, he assigned
+them an escort and sent them back to Hannibal.
+
+Hannibal received none of the circumstances which were reported to him
+with feelings of joy, for they brought word that, as it happened,
+Masinissa had joined the enemy that very day with six thousand infantry
+and four thousand horse; but he was principally dispirited by the
+confidence of his enemy, which, doubtless, was not conceived without
+some ground. Accordingly, though he himself was the originator of the
+war, and by his coming had upset the truce which had been entered into,
+and cut off all hopes of a treaty, yet concluding that more favorable
+terms might be obtained if he solicited peace while his strength was
+unimpaired than when vanquished, he sent a message to Scipio requesting
+permission to confer with him.
+
+Scipio took up his position not far from the city of Naragara, in a
+situation convenient not only for other purposes, but also because there
+was a watering-place within a dart's throw. Hannibal took possession of
+an eminence four miles thence, safe and convenient in every respect,
+except that he had a long way to go for water. Here in the intermediate
+space a place was chosen open to view from all sides, that there might
+be no opportunity for treachery.
+
+Their armed attendants having retired to an equal distance, they met,
+each attended by one interpreter, being the greatest generals not only
+of their own times, but of any to be found in the records of the times
+preceding them, and equal to any of the kings or generals of any nation
+whatever. When they came within sight of each other they remained silent
+for a short time, thunderstruck, as it were, with mutual admiration. At
+length Hannibal thus began: "Since fate hath so ordained it that I, who
+was the first to wage war upon the Romans, and who have so often had
+victory almost within my reach, should voluntarily come to sue for
+peace, I rejoice that it is you, above all others, from whom it is my
+lot to solicit it. To you, also, amid the many distinguished events of
+your life, it will not be esteemed one of the least glorious that
+Hannibal, to whom the gods had so often granted victory over the Roman
+generals, should have yielded to you; and that you should have put an
+end to this war, which has been rendered remarkable by your calamities
+before it was by ours.
+
+"Peace is proposed at a time when you have the advantage. We who
+negotiate it are the persons whom it most concerns to obtain it, and we
+are persons whose arrangements, be they what they will, our states will
+ratify. You have recovered Spain, which had been lost, after driving
+thence four Carthaginian armies. When elected consul, though all others
+wanted courage to defend Italy, you crossed over into Africa, where
+having cut to pieces two armies, having at once captured and burnt two
+camps in the same hour, having made prisoner Syphax, a most powerful
+king, and seized so many towns of his dominions and so many of ours, you
+have dragged me from Italy, the possession of which I had firmly held
+for now sixteen years. While your affairs are in a favorable and ours in
+a dubious state, you would derive honor and splendor from granting
+peace; while to us, who solicit it, it would be considered as necessary
+rather than honorable.
+
+"It is indeed the right of him who grants, and not of him who solicits
+it, to dictate the terms of peace, but perhaps we may not be unworthy to
+impose upon ourselves the fine. We do not refuse that all those
+possessions on account of which the war was begun should be yours;
+Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, with all the islands lying in any part of the
+sea, between Africa and Italy. Let us Carthaginians, confined within the
+shores of Africa, behold you, since such is the pleasure of the gods,
+extending your empire over foreign nations both by sea and land. I
+cannot deny that you have reason to suspect the Carthaginian faith, in
+consequence of their insincerity lately in soliciting a peace and while
+awaiting the decision. The sincerity with which a peace will be observed
+depends much, Scipio, on the person by whom it is sought. Your senate,
+as I hear, refused to grant a peace in some measure because the deputies
+were deficient in respectability. It is I, Hannibal, who now solicit
+peace; who would neither ask for it unless I believed it expedient, nor
+will I fail to observe it for the same reason of expedience on account
+of which I have solicited it. And in the same manner as I, because the
+war was commenced by me, brought it to pass that no one regretted it
+till the gods began to regard me with displeasure; so will I also exert
+myself that no one may regret the peace procured by my means."
+
+In answer to these things the Roman general spoke nearly to the
+following effect: "I was aware that it was in consequence of the
+expectation of your arrival that the Carthaginians violated the existing
+faith of the truce and broke off all hope of a peace. Nor, indeed, do
+you conceal the fact, inasmuch as you artfully withdraw from the former
+conditions of peace every concession except what relates to those things
+which have for a long time been in our own power. But as it is your
+object that your countrymen should be sensible how great a burden they
+are relieved from by your means, so it is incumbent upon me to endeavor
+that they may not receive, as the reward of their perfidy, the
+concessions which they formerly stipulated, by expunging them now from
+the conditions of the peace. Though you do not deserve to be allowed the
+same conditions as before, you now request even to be benefited by your
+treachery.
+
+"Neither did our fathers first make war respecting Sicily, nor did we
+respecting Spain. In the former case the danger which threatened our
+allies the Mamertines, and in the present the destruction of Saguntum,
+girded us with just and pious arms. That you were the aggressors, both
+you yourselves confess and the gods are witnesses, who determined the
+issue of the former war, and who are now determining and will determine
+the issue of the present according to right and justice. As to myself, I
+am not forgetful of the instability of human affairs, but consider the
+influence of fortune, and am well aware that all our measures are liable
+to a thousand casualties. But as I should acknowledge that my conduct
+would savor of insolence and oppression if I rejected you on your coming
+in person to solicit peace before I crossed over into Africa, you
+voluntarily retiring from Italy, and after you had embarked your troops,
+so now, when I have dragged you into Africa almost by manual force,
+notwithstanding your resistance and evasions, I am not bound to treat
+you with any respect. Wherefore, if in addition to those stipulations on
+which it was considered that a peace would at that time have been agreed
+upon, and what they are you are informed, a compensation is proposed for
+having seized our ships together with their stores during a truce, and
+for the violence offered to our ambassadors, I shall then have matter to
+lay before my council. But if these things also appear oppressive,
+prepare for war, since you could not brook the conditions of peace."
+
+Thus, without effecting an accommodation, when they had returned from
+the conference to their armies, they informed them that words had been
+bandied to no purpose, that the question must be decided by arms, and
+that they must accept that fortune which the gods assigned them.
+
+When they had arrived at their camps, they both issued orders that their
+soldiers should get their arms in readiness and prepare their minds for
+the final contest; in which, if fortune should favor them, they would
+continue victorious, not for a single day, but forever. "Before
+to-morrow night," they said, "they would know whether Rome or Carthage
+should give laws to the world, and that neither Africa nor Italy, but
+the whole world, would be the prize of victory. That the dangers which
+threatened those who had the misfortune to be defeated were proportioned
+to the rewards of the victors." For the Romans had not any place of
+refuge in an unknown and foreign land, and immediate destruction seemed
+to await Carthage if the troops which formed her last reliance were
+defeated. To this important contest, the day following, two generals, by
+far the most renowned of any, and belonging to two of the most powerful
+nations in the world, advanced either to crown or overthrow on that day
+the many honors they had previously acquired.
+
+Scipio drew up his troops, posting the hastati in front, the principes
+behind them, and closing his rear line with the triarii. He did not draw
+up his cohorts in close order, but each before their respective
+standards; placing the companies at some distance from each other, so as
+to leave a space through which the elephants of the enemy passing might
+not at all break their ranks. Laelius, whom he had employed before as
+lieutenant-general, but this year as quaestor, by special appointment,
+according to a decree of the senate, he posted with the Italian cavalry
+in the left wing, Masinissa and the Numidians in the right. The open
+spaces between the companies of those in the van he filled with velites,
+which then formed the Roman light-armed troops, with an injunction that
+on the charge of the elephants they should either retire behind the
+files, which extended in a right line, or, running to the right and left
+and placing themselves by the side of those in the van, afford a passage
+by which the elephants might rush in between weapons on both sides.
+
+Hannibal, in order to terrify the enemy, drew up his elephants in front,
+and he had eighty of them, being more than he had ever had in any
+battle; behind these his Ligurian and Gallic auxiliaries, with
+Balearians and Moors intermixed. In the second line he placed the
+Carthaginians, Africans, and a legion of Macedonians; then, leaving a
+moderate interval, he formed a reserve of Italian troops, consisting
+principally of Bruttians, more of whom had followed him on his departure
+from Italy by compulsion and necessity than by choice. His cavalry also
+he placed in the wings, the Carthaginian occupying the right, the
+Numidian the left. Various were the means of exhortation employed in an
+army consisting of a mixture of so many different kinds of men; men
+differing in language, customs, laws, arms, dress, and appearance, and
+in the motives for serving. To the auxiliaries, the prospect both of
+their present pay and many times more from the spoils was held out. The
+Gauls were stimulated by their peculiar and inherent animosity against
+the Romans. To the Ligurians the hope was held out of enjoying the
+fertile plains of Italy, and quitting their rugged mountains, if
+victorious. The Moors and Numidians were terrified with subjection to
+the government of Masinissa, which he would exercise with despotic
+severity.
+
+Different grounds of hope and fear were represented to different
+persons. The view of the Carthaginians was directed to the walls of
+their city, their household gods, the sepulchres of their ancestors,
+their children and parents, and their trembling wives; they were told
+that either the destruction of their city and slavery or the empire of
+the world awaited them; that there was nothing intermediate which they
+could hope for or fear.
+
+While the general was thus busily employed among the Carthaginians, and
+the captains of the respective nations among their countrymen, most of
+them employing interpreters among troops intermixed with those of
+different nations, the trumpets and cornets of the Romans sounded; and
+such a clamor arose that the elephants, especially those in the left
+wing, turned round upon their own party, the Moors and Numidians.
+Masinissa had no difficulty in increasing the alarm of the terrified
+enemy, and deprived them of the aid of their cavalry in that wing. A
+few, however, of the beasts which were driven against the enemy, and
+were not turned back through fear, made great havoc among the ranks of
+the velites, though not without receiving many wounds themselves; for
+when the velites, retiring to the companies, had made way for the
+elephants, that they might not be trampled down, they discharged their
+darts at them; exposed as they were to wounds on both sides, those in
+the van also keeping up a continual discharge of javelins, until driven
+out of the Roman line by the weapons which fell upon them from all
+quarters, these elephants also put to flight even the cavalry of the
+Carthaginians posted in their right wing. Laelius, when he saw the enemy
+in disorder, struck additional terror into them in their confusion.
+
+The Carthaginian line was deprived of the cavalry on both sides, when
+the infantry, who were now not a match for the Romans in confidence or
+strength, engaged. In addition to this there was one circumstance,
+trifling in itself, but at the same time producing important
+consequences in the action. On the part of the Romans the shout was
+uniform, and on that account louder and more terrific, while the voices
+of the enemy, consisting as they did of many nations of different
+languages, were dissonant. The Romans used the stationary kind of fight,
+pressing upon the enemy with their own weight and that of their arms;
+but on the other side there was more of skirmishing and rapid movement
+than force. Accordingly, on the first charge, the Romans immediately
+drove back the line of their opponents; then pushing them with their
+elbows and the bosses of their shields, and pressing forward into the
+places from which they had pushed them, they advanced a considerable
+space, as though there had been no one to resist them, those who formed
+the rear urging forward those in front when they perceived the line of
+the enemy giving way, which circumstance itself gave great additional
+force in repelling them.
+
+On the side of the enemy, the second line, consisting of the Africans
+and Carthaginians, were so far from supporting the first line when
+giving ground, that on the contrary they even retired, lest their enemy,
+by slaying those who made a firm resistance, should penetrate to
+themselves also. Accordingly the auxiliaries suddenly turned their
+backs, and facing about upon their own party, fled, some of them into
+the second line, while others slew those who did not receive them into
+their ranks, since before they did not support them, and now refused to
+receive them. And now there were, in a manner, two contests going on
+together, the Carthaginians being compelled to fight at once with the
+enemy and with their own party. Not even then, however, did they receive
+into their line the terrified and exasperated troops, but, closing their
+ranks, drove them out of the scene of action to the wings and the
+surrounding plain, lest they should mingle these soldiers, terrified
+with defeat and wounds, with that part of their line which was firm and
+fresh.
+
+But such a heap of men and arms had filled the space in which the
+auxiliaries a little while ago had stood that it was almost more
+difficult to pass through it than through a close line of troops. The
+spearmen, therefore, who formed the front line, pursuing the enemy as
+each could find a way through the heap of arms and men and streams of
+blood, threw into complete disorder the battalions and companies. The
+standards also of the principes had begun to waver when they saw the
+line before them driven from their ground. Scipio, perceiving this,
+promptly ordered the signal to be given for the spearmen to retreat, and
+having taken his wounded into the rear, brought the principes and
+triarii to the wings in order that the line of spearmen in the centre
+might be more strong and secure. Thus a fresh and renewed battle
+commenced, inasmuch as they had penetrated to their real antagonists,
+men equal to them in the nature of their arms, in their experience in
+war, in the fame of their achievements, and the greatness of their hopes
+and fears. But the Romans were superior both in numbers and courage, for
+they had now routed both the cavalry and the elephants, and, having
+already defeated the front line, were fighting against the second.
+
+Laelius and Masinissa, who had pursued the routed cavalry through a
+considerable space, returning very opportunely, charged the rear of the
+enemy's line. This attack of the cavalry at length routed them. Many of
+them, being surrounded, were slain in the field; and many, dispersed in
+flight through the open plain around, were slain on all hands, as the
+cavalry were in possession of every part. Of the Carthaginians and their
+allies, above twenty thousand were slain on that day; about an equal
+number were captured, with a hundred and thirty-three military standards
+and eleven elephants. Of the victors as many as two thousand fell.
+
+Hannibal, slipping off during the confusion, with a few horsemen, came
+to Adrumetum, not quitting the field till he had tried every expedient
+both in the battle and before the engagement; having, according to the
+admission of Scipio and everyone skilled in military science, acquired
+the fame of having marshalled his troops on that day with singular
+judgment. He placed his elephants in the front, in order that their
+desultory attack and insupportable violence might prevent the Romans
+from following their standards and preserving their ranks, on which they
+placed their principal dependence. Then he posted his auxiliaries before
+the line of Carthaginians, in order that men who were made up of the
+refuse of all nations, and who were not bound by honor but by gain,
+might not have any retreat open to them in case they fled; at the same
+time that the first ardor and impetuosity might be exhausted upon them,
+and, if they could render no other service, that the weapons of the
+enemy might be blunted in wounding them. Next he placed the Carthaginian
+and African soldiers, on whom he placed all his hopes, in order that,
+being equal to the enemy in every other respect, they might have the
+advantage of them inasmuch as, being fresh and unimpaired in strength
+themselves, they would fight with those who were fatigued and wounded.
+The Italians he removed into the rear, separating them also by an
+intervening space, as he knew not with certainty whether they were
+friends or enemies. Hannibal, after performing this as it were his last
+work of valor, fled to Adrumetum, whence, having been summoned to
+Carthage, he returned thither in the sixth and thirtieth year after he
+had left it when a boy, and confessed in the senate house that he was
+defeated, not only in the battle, but in the war, and that there was no
+hope of safety in anything but in obtaining peace.
+
+Immediately after the battle, Scipio, having taken and plundered the
+enemy's camp, returned to the sea and his ships with an immense booty,
+news having reached him that Publius Lentulus had arrived at Utica with
+fifty men-of-war, and a hundred transports laden with every kind of
+stores. Concluding that he ought to bring before Carthage everything
+which could increase the consternation already existing there, after
+sending Laelius to Rome to report his victory, he ordered Cneius
+Octavius to conduct the legions thither by land, and setting out himself
+from Utica with the fresh fleet of Lentulus added to his former one,
+made for the harbor of Carthage. When he had arrived within a short
+distance he was met by a Carthaginian ship decked with fillets and
+branches of olive. There were ten deputies, the leading men in the
+State, sent at the instance of Hannibal to solicit peace, to whom, when
+they had come up to the stern of the general's ship, holding out the
+badges of suppliants, entreating and imploring the protection and
+compassion of Scipio, the only answer given was that they must come to
+Tunis, to which place he would move his camp. After taking a view of the
+site of Carthage, not so much for the sake of acquainting himself with
+it for any present object as to dispirit the enemy, he returned to
+Utica, having recalled Octavius to the same place.
+
+As they were proceeding thence to Tunis, they received intelligence that
+Vermina, the son of Syphax, with a greater number of horse than foot,
+was coming to the assistance of the Carthaginians. A part of his
+infantry with all the cavalry having attacked them on their march on the
+first day of the Saturnalia, routed the Numidians with little
+opposition, and as every way by which they could escape in flight was
+blocked up, for the cavalry surrounded them on all sides, fifteen
+thousand men were slain, twelve hundred were taken alive, with fifteen
+hundred Numidian horses and seventy-two military standards. The prince
+himself fled from the field with a few attendants during the confusion.
+The camp was then pitched near Tunis in the same place as before, and
+thirty ambassadors came to Scipio from Carthage. These behaved in a
+manner even more calculated to excite compassion than the former, in
+proportion as their situation was more pressing; but from the
+recollection of their recent perfidy, they were heard with considerably
+less pity. In the council, though all were impelled by just resentment
+to demolish Carthage, yet, when they reflected upon the magnitude of the
+undertaking and the length of time which would be consumed in the siege
+of so well fortified and strong a city, while Scipio himself was uneasy
+in consequence of the expectation of a successor, who would come in for
+the glory of having terminated the war, though it was accomplished
+already by the exertions and danger of another, the minds of all were
+inclined to peace.
+
+The next day the ambassadors being called in again, and with many
+rebukes of their perfidy, warned that instructed by so many disasters
+they would at length believe in the existence of the gods and the
+obligation of an oath, these conditions of the peace were stated to
+them: "That they should enjoy their liberty and live under their own
+laws; that they should possess such cities and territories as they had
+enjoyed before the war, and with the same boundaries, and that the
+Romans should on that day desist from devastation. That they should
+restore to the Romans all deserters and fugitives, giving up all their
+ships-of-war except ten triremes, with such tamed elephants as they had,
+and that they should not tame any more. That they should not carry on
+war in or out of Africa without the permission of the Roman people. That
+they should make restitution to Masinissa, and form a league with him.
+That they should furnish corn, and pay for the auxiliaries until the
+ambassadors had returned from Rome. That they should pay ten thousand
+talents of silver in equal annual installments distributed over fifty
+years. That they should give a hundred hostages, according to the
+pleasure of Scipio, not younger than fourteen nor older than thirty.
+That he would grant them a truce on condition that the transports,
+together with their cargoes, which had been seized during the former
+truce, were restored. Otherwise they would have no truce, nor any hope
+of a peace." When the ambassadors who were ordered to bear these
+conditions home reported them in an assembly, and Gisgo had stood forth
+to dissuade them from the terms, and was being listened to by the
+multitude, who were at once indisposed for peace and unfit for war,
+Hannibal, indignant that such language should be held and listened to at
+such a juncture, laid hold of Gisgo with his own hand and dragged him
+from his elevated position.
+
+This unusual sight in a free State having raised a murmur among the
+people, the soldier, disconcerted at the liberties which the citizens
+took, thus addressed them: "Having left you when nine years old, I have
+returned after a lapse of thirty-six years. I flatter myself I am well
+acquainted with the qualifications of a soldier, having been instructed
+in them from my childhood, sometimes by my own situation and sometimes
+by that of my country. The privileges, the laws, and customs of the city
+and the forum you ought to teach me." Having thus apologized for his
+indiscretion, he discoursed largely concerning the peace, showing how
+inoppressive the terms were, and how necessary it was. The greatest
+difficulty was that of the ships which had been seized during the truce
+nothing was to be found except the ships themselves, nor was it easy to
+collect the property, because those who were charged with having it were
+opposed to the peace. It was resolved that the ships should be restored
+and that the men at least should be looked up; and as to whatever else
+was missing, that it should be left to Scipio to put a value upon it,
+and that the Carthaginians should make compensation accordingly in
+money. There are those who say that Hannibal went from the field of
+battle to the sea-coast; whence he immediately sailed in a ship, which
+he had ready for the purpose, to king Antiochus; and that when Scipio
+demanded above everything that Hannibal should be given up to him,
+answer was made that Hannibal was not in Africa.
+
+After the ambassadors returned to Scipio, the quaestors were ordered to
+give in an account, made out from the public registers, of the public
+property which had been in the ships; and the owners to make a return of
+the private property. For the amount of the value twenty-five thousand
+pounds of silver were required to be paid down; and a truce for three
+months was granted to the Carthaginians. It was added that during the
+time of the truce they should not send ambassadors anywhere else than to
+Rome; and that whatever ambassadors came to Carthage, they should not
+dismiss them before informing the Roman general who they were and what
+they sought. With the Carthaginian ambassadors, Lucius Veturius Philo,
+Marcus Marcius Ralla, and Lucius Scipio, brother of the general, were
+sent to Rome.
+
+The Roman, together with the Carthaginian, ambassadors having arrived at
+Rome from Africa, the senate was assembled at the temple of Bellona;
+when Lucius Veturius Philo stated, to the great joy of the senate, that
+a battle had been fought with Hannibal which was decisive of the fate of
+the Carthaginians, and that a period was at length put to that
+calamitous war. He added what formed a small accession to their
+successes, that Vermina, the son of Syphax, had been vanquished. He was
+then ordered to go forth to the public assembly and impart the joyful
+tidings to the people. Then, a thanksgiving having been appointed, all
+the temples in the city were thrown open and supplications for three
+days were decreed. Publius Scipio was continued in command in the
+province of Africa with the armies which he then had. The Carthaginian
+ambassadors were called before the senate. On observing their ages and
+dignified appearance, for they were by far the first men of the State,
+all promptly declared their conviction that now they were sincere in
+their desire to effect a peace. Hasdrubal, however, surnamed by his
+countrymen Haedus, who had invariably recommended peace and was opposed
+to the Barcine faction, was regarded with greater interest than the
+rest.
+
+On these accounts the greater weight was attached to him when
+transferring the blame of the war from the State at large to the
+cupidity of a few. After a speech of varied character, in which he
+sometimes refuted the charges which had been brought, at other times
+admitted some, lest by imprudently denying what was manifestly true
+their forgiveness might be the more difficult; and then, even
+admonishing the conscript fathers to be guided by the rules of decorum
+and moderation in their prosperity, he said that if the Carthaginians
+had listened to himself and Hanno, and had been disposed to make a
+proper use of circumstances, they would themselves have dictated terms
+of peace, instead of begging it as they now did. That it rarely happened
+that good fortune and a sound judgment were bestowed upon men at the
+same time. That the Roman people were therefore invincible, because when
+successful they forgot not the maxims of wisdom and prudence; and indeed
+it would have been matter of astonishment did they act otherwise. That
+those persons to whom success was a new and uncommon thing proceeded to
+a pitch of madness in their ungoverned transports in consequence of
+their not being accustomed to it. That to the Roman people the joy
+arising from victory was a matter of common occurrence, and was now
+almost become old-fashioned. That they had extended their empire more by
+sparing the vanquished than by conquering.
+
+The language employed by the others was of a nature more calculated to
+excite compassion; they represented from what a height of power the
+Carthaginian affairs had fallen. That nothing besides the walls of
+Carthage remained to those who a little time ago held almost the whole
+world in subjection by their arms; that shut up within these, they could
+see nothing anywhere on sea or land which owned their authority. That
+they would retain possession of their city itself and their household
+gods only in case the Roman people should refrain from venting their
+indignation upon these, which is all that remains for them to do. When
+it was manifest that the fathers were moved by compassion, it is said
+that one of the senators, violently incensed at the perfidy of the
+Carthaginians, immediately asked with a loud voice by what gods they
+would swear in striking the league, since they had broken their faith
+with those by whom they swore in striking the former one? By those same,
+replied Hasdrubal, who have shown such determined hostility to the
+violators of treaties.
+
+The minds of all being disposed to peace, Cneius Lentulus, whose
+province the fleet was, protested against the decree of the senate. Upon
+this, Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the people, put
+the question to the people whether they willed and ordered that the
+senate should decree that peace should be made with the Carthaginians?
+whom they ordered to grant that peace, and whom to conduct the army out
+of Africa? All the tribes ordered respecting the peace according as the
+question had been put. That Publius Scipio should grant the peace, and
+that he also should conduct the army home. Agreeably to this order, the
+senate decreed that Publius Scipio, acting according to the opinion of
+the ten deputies, should make peace with the Carthaginian people on what
+terms he pleased. The Carthaginians then returned thanks to the senate,
+and requested that they might be allowed to enter the city and converse
+with their countrymen who had been made prisoners and were in custody of
+the State; observing that some of them were their relations and friends,
+and men of rank, and some, persons to whom they were charged with
+messages from their relations.
+
+Having obtained these requests, they again asked permission to ransom
+such of them as they pleased; when they were desired to give in their
+names. Having given in a list of about two hundred, a decree of the
+senate was passed to the effect that the Carthaginian ambassadors should
+be allowed to take away into Africa to Publius Cornelius Scipio two
+hundred of the Carthaginian prisoners, selecting whom they pleased; and
+that they should convey to him a message that if the peace were
+concluded he should restore them to the Carthaginians without ransom.
+The heralds being ordered to go into Africa to strike the league, at
+their own desire the senate passed a decree that they should take with
+them flint stones of their own and vervain of their own; that the Roman
+praetor should command them to strike the league, and that they should
+demand of him herbs. The description of herb usually given to the
+heralds is taken from the Capitol. Thus the Carthaginians being allowed
+to depart from Rome, when they had gone into Africa to Scipio concluded
+the peace on the terms before mentioned. They delivered up their
+men-of-war, their elephants, deserters, fugitives, and four thousand
+prisoners, among whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo, a senator. The ships
+he ordered to be taken out into the main and burned. Some say there were
+five hundred of every description of those which are worked with oars,
+and that the sudden sight of these when burning occasioned as deep a
+sensation of grief to the Carthaginians as if Carthage had been in
+flames. The measures adopted respecting the deserters were more severe
+than those respecting the fugitives. Those who were of the Latin
+confederacy were decapitated; the Romans were crucified.
+
+The last peace with the Carthaginians was made forty years before this
+in the consulate of Quintus Lutatius and Aulus Manlius. The war
+commenced twenty-three years afterward in the consulate of Publius
+Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It was concluded in the seventeenth
+year, in the consulate of Cneius Cornelius and Publius Aelius Paetus. It
+is related that Scipio frequently said afterward, that first the
+ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterward of Cneius Cornelius, were
+the causes which prevented his terminating the war by the destruction of
+Carthage.
+
+The Carthaginians finding difficulty in raising the first sum of money
+to be paid, as their finances were exhausted by a protracted war, and in
+consequence great lamentation and grief arising in the senate house, it
+is said that Hannibal was observed laughing, and when Hasdrubal Haedus
+rebuked him for laughing amid the public grief, when he himself was the
+occasion of the tears which were shed, he said: "If, as the expression
+of the countenance is discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of
+the mind could be distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that
+that laughter which you censure came from a heart not elated with joy,
+but frantic with misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those
+absurd and inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept when
+our arms were taken from us, our ships burned, and we were forbidden to
+engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by which we fell. Nor is
+it just that you should suppose that the measures which the Romans have
+adopted toward you have been dictated by animosity. No great state can
+remain at rest long together. If it has no enemy abroad it finds one at
+home in the same manner as over-robust bodies seem secure from external
+causes, but are encumbered with their own strength. So far, forsooth, we
+are affected with the public calamities as they reach our private
+affairs; nor is there any circumstance attending them which is felt more
+acutely than the loss of money. Accordingly, when the spoils were torn
+down from vanquished Carthage, when you beheld her left unarmed and
+defenceless amid so many armed nations of Africa, none heaved a sigh.
+Now, because a tribute is to be levied from private property you lament
+with one accord, as though at the funeral of the State. How much do I
+dread lest you should soon be made sensible that you have shed tears
+this day for the lightest of your misfortunes!"
+
+Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered to the Carthaginians.
+Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented Masinissa, in addition to
+his paternal dominions, with the town of Cirta, and the other cities and
+territories which had passed from the kingdom of Syphax into the
+possession of the Romans. He ordered Cneius Octavius to conduct the
+fleet to Sicily and deliver it to Cneius Cornelius the consul, and
+directed the Carthaginian ambassadors to go to Rome, that the
+arrangements he had made with the advice of the ten deputies might be
+ratified by the sanction of the fathers and the order of the people.
+
+Peace having been established by sea and land, he embarked his troops
+and crossed over to Lilybaeum in Sicily, whence, having sent a great part
+of his soldiers by ships, he himself proceeded through Italy, which was
+rejoicing not less on account of the peace than the victory; while not
+only the inhabitants of the cities poured out to show him honor, but
+crowds of rustics thronged the roads. He arrived at Rome and entered the
+city in a triumph of unparalleled splendor. He brought into the treasury
+one hundred and twenty-three thousand pounds of silver. He distributed
+to each of his soldiers four hundred asses out of the spoils. By the
+death of Syphax, which took place but a short time before at Tibur,
+whither he had been removed from Alba, a diminution was occasioned in
+the interest of the pageant rather than in the glory of him who
+triumphed. His death, however, was attended with circumstances which
+produced a strong sensation, for he was buried at the public expense.
+Polybius, an author by no means to be despised, asserts that this King
+was led in the triumph. Quintus Terentius Culleo followed Scipio in his
+triumph with a cap of liberty on his head, and during the remainder of
+his life treated him with the respect due to him as the author of his
+freedom. I have not been able to ascertain whether the partiality of the
+soldiers or the favor of the people fixed upon him the surname of
+Africanus, or whether in the same manner as Felix was applied to Sulla,
+and Magnus to Pompey, in the memory of our fathers, it originated in the
+flattery of his friends. He was doubtless the first general who was
+distinguished by a name derived from the nation which he had conquered.
+Afterward, in imitation of his example, some, by no means his equals in
+his victories, affixed splendid inscriptions on their statues and gave
+honorable surnames to their families.
+
+
+
+
+JUDAS MACCAAEBUS LIBERATES JUDEA
+
+B.C. 165
+
+JOSEPHUS
+
+
+(The noble-minded Judas Maccabaeus was the hero of Jewish independence--
+the deliverer of Judea and Judaism during the bloody persecutions of the
+Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, in the second century B.C. This King
+was attempting to destroy in Palestine the national religion. For this
+purpose pagan altars were set up among the Jews and pagan sacrifices
+enjoined upon the worshippers of Jehovah. Many Jews fled from their own
+towns and villages into the uninhabited wilderness, in order that they
+might have liberty to worship the God of their fathers; but a few
+conformed to the ordinances of Antiochus. Soon, however, open resistance
+to the decrees of the pagan ruler began to manifest itself among the
+faithful.
+
+The first protest in the shape of active opposition was made by
+Mattathias, a priest living at Modin. When the servants of Antiochus
+came to that retired village and commanded Mattathias to do sacrifice to
+the heathen gods, he refused; he went so far as to strike down at the
+altar a Jew who was preparing to offer such a sacrifice. Then he escaped
+to the mountains with his five sons and a band of followers. These
+followers grew in numbers and activity, overthrowing pagan altars,
+circumcising heathen children, and putting to the sword both apostates
+and unbelievers. When Mattathias died, in B.C. 166, he was succeeded as
+leader by his son Judas, called Maccabaeus, "the Hammer"; as Charles,
+who defeated the Saracens at Tours, is called Martel or hammer.
+
+The successes of Judas were uninterrupted, and culminated B.C. 165 in
+the repulse of Lysias, the general of Antiochus, at Bethzur, where a
+large Syrian force gathered in the expectation of crushing the patriotic
+army of Judas. After this victory Judas led his followers into Jerusalem
+and proceeded to restore the Temple and the worship of the national
+religion, and to cleanse the Temple from all traces of pagan worship.
+The great altar was rebuilt; new sacred vessels provided; and an
+eight-days' dedication festival begun on the very day when, three years
+before, the altar of Jehovah had been desecrated by a heathen sacrifice.
+This Feast of the Dedication was ever afterward observed in the Temple
+at Jerusalem and is mentioned in the gospels [John x. 22]. Judas
+established a dynasty of priest-kings, which lasted until supplanted by
+Herod, with the aid of the Romans, in B.C. 40; and gave by his genuinely
+heroic bearing his name to this whole glorious epoch of Jewish history.)
+
+
+Now at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who dwelt at
+Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamoneus, a
+priest of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five
+sons: John, who was called Gaddis, and Simon, who was called Matthes,
+and Judas, who was called Maccabaeus,[66] and Eleazar, who was called
+Auran, and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. Now this Mattathias lamented
+to his children the sad state of their affairs, and the ravage made in
+the city, and the plundering of the Temple, and the calamities the
+multitude were under; and he told them that it was better for them to
+die for the laws of their country than to live so ingloriously as they
+then did.
+
+[Footnote 66: That this appellation of Maccabee was not first of all
+given to Judas Maccabaeaus, nor was derived from any initial letters of
+the Hebrew words on his banner, _Mi Kamoka Be Elim, Jehovah_? ("Who is
+like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?"), Exod. xv. II, as the modern
+rabbins vainly pretend, see _Authent. Rec._, part i., pp. 205, 206. Only
+we may note, by the way, that the original name of these Maccabees and
+their posterity was Asamoneans, which was derived from Asamoneus, the
+great-grandfather of Mattathias, as Josephus here informs us.]
+
+But when those that were appointed by the King were come to Modin that
+they might compel the Jews to do what they were commanded, and to enjoin
+those that were there to offer sacrifice, as the King had commanded,
+they desired that Mattathias, a person of the greatest character among
+them, both on other accounts and particularly on account of such a
+numerous and so deserving a family of children, would begin the
+sacrifice, because his fellow-citizens would follow his example, and
+because such a procedure would make him honored by the King. But
+Mattathias said that he would not do it, and that if all the other
+nations would obey the commands of Antiochus, either out of fear or to
+please him, yet would not he nor his sons leave the religious worship of
+their country; but as soon as he had ended his speech there came one of
+the Jews into the midst of them and sacrificed as Antiochus had
+commanded. At which Mattathias had great indignation, and ran upon him
+violently with his sons, who had swords with them, and slew both the man
+himself that sacrificed and Apelles, the King's general who compelled
+him to sacrifice, with a few of his soldiers.
+
+He also overthrew the idol altar and cried out, "If," said he, "anyone
+be zealous for the laws of his country and for the worship of God, let
+him follow me"; and when he had said this he made haste into the desert
+with his sons, and left all his substance in the village. Many others
+did the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the
+desert and dwelt in caves; but when the King's generals heard this, they
+took all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and
+pursued the Jews into the desert; and when they had overtaken them, they
+in the first place endeavored to persuade them to repent, and to choose
+what was most for their advantage and not put them to the necessity of
+using them according to the law of war; but when they would not comply
+with their persuasions, but continued to be of a different mind, they
+fought against them on the Sabbath day, and they burned them as they
+were in the caves, without resistance, and without so much as stopping
+up the entrances of the caves. And they avoided to defend themselves on
+that day because they were not willing to break in upon the honor they
+owed the Sabbath, even in such distresses; for our law requires that we
+rest upon that day.
+
+There were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were
+smothered and died in these caves; but many of those that escaped joined
+themselves to Mattathias and appointed him to be their ruler, who taught
+them to fight even on the Sabbath day, and told them that unless they
+would do so they would become their own enemies by observing the law [so
+rigorously] while their adversaries would still assault them on this
+day, and they would not then defend themselves; and that nothing could
+then hinder but they must all perish without fighting. This speech
+persuaded them, and this rule continues among us to this day, that if
+there be a necessity we may fight on Sabbath days. So Mattathias got a
+great army about him and overthrew their idol altars and slew those that
+broke the laws, even all that he could get under his power; for many of
+them were dispersed among the nations round about them for fear of him.
+He also commanded that those boys who were not yet circumcised should be
+circumcised now; and he drove those away that were appointed to hinder
+such their circumcision.
+
+But when he had ruled one year and was fallen into a distemper, he
+called for his sons and set them round about him, and said: "O my sons,
+I am going the way of all the earth; and I recommend to you my
+resolution and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping it, but to be
+mindful of the desires of him who begat you and brought you up, and to
+preserve the customs of your country, and to recover your ancient form
+of government which is in danger of being overturned, and not to be
+carried away with those that either by their own inclination or out of
+necessity betray it, but to become such sons as are worthy of me; to be
+above all force and necessity, and so to dispose your souls as to be
+ready when it shall be necessary to die for your laws, as sensible of
+this, by just reasoning, that if God see that you are so disposed he
+will not overlook you, but will have a great value for your virtue, and
+will restore to you again what you have lost and will return to you that
+freedom in which you shall live quietly and enjoy your own customs.
+
+"Your bodies are mortal and subject to fate; but they receive a sort of
+immortality by the remembrance of what actions they have done; and I
+would have you so in love with this immortality that you may pursue
+after glory, and that when you have undergone the greatest difficulties
+you may not scruple for such things to lose your lives. I exhort you
+especially to agree one with another, and in what excellency any one of
+you exceeds another, to yield to him so far, and by that means to reap
+the advantage of everyone's own virtues. Do you then esteem Simon as
+your father because he is a man of extraordinary prudence, and be
+governed by him in what counsels he gives you. Take Maccabaeus for the
+general of your army, because of his courage and strength, for he will
+avenge your nation and will bring vengeance on your enemies. Admit among
+you the righteous and religious, and augment their power."
+
+When Mattathias had thus discoursed to his sons and had prayed to God to
+be their assistant and to recover to the people their former
+constitution, he died a little afterward, and was buried at Modin, all
+the people making great lamentation for him. Whereupon his son Judas
+took upon him the administration of public affairs, in the hundred and
+forty-sixth year; and thus, by the ready assistance of his brethren and
+of others, Judas cast their enemies out of the country and put those of
+their own country to death who had transgressed its laws, and purified
+the land of all the pollutions that were in it.
+
+When Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this he took
+his army and made haste to go against Judas, who met him and joined
+battle with him, and beat him and slew many of his men, and among them
+Apollonius himself, their general, whose sword, being that which he
+happened then to wear, he seized upon and kept for himself; but he
+wounded more than he slew, and took a great deal of prey from the
+enemy's camp, and went his way; but when Seron, who was general of the
+army of Celesyria, heard that many had joined themselves to Judas, and
+that he had about him an army sufficient for fighting and for making
+war, he determined to make an expedition against him, as thinking it
+became him to endeavor to punish those that transgressed the King's
+injunctions. He then got together an army as large as he was able, and
+joined to it the renegade and wicked Jews, and came against Judas.
+
+He then came as far as Bethoron, a village of Judea, and there pitched
+his camp; upon which Judas met him, and when he intended to give him
+battle he saw that his soldiers were backward to fight because their
+number was small and because they wanted food, for they were fasting. He
+encouraged them and said to them that victory and conquest of enemies
+are not derived from the multitude in armies, but in the exercise of
+piety toward God; and that they had the plainest instances in their
+forefathers, who, by their righteousness and exerting themselves on
+behalf of their own laws and their own children, had frequently
+conquered many ten thousands, for innocence is the strongest army. By
+this speech he induced his men to contemn the multitude of the enemy,
+and to fall upon Seron; and upon joining battle with him he beat the
+Syrians; and when their general fell among the rest they all ran away
+with speed, as thinking that to be their best way of escaping. So he
+pursued them unto the plain and slew about eight hundred of the enemy,
+but the rest escaped to the region which lay near to the sea.
+
+When king Antiochus heard of these things he was very angry at what had
+happened; so he got together all his own army, with many mercenaries
+whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with him, and prepared
+to break into Judea about the beginning of the spring; but when, upon
+his mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were
+deficient, and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were
+not paid, by reason of the seditions there had been among the nations,
+he having been so magnanimous and so liberal that what he had was not
+sufficient for him, he therefore resolved first to go into Persia and
+collect the taxes of that country. Hereupon he left one whose name was
+Lysias, who was in great repute with him, governor of the kingdom, as
+far as the bounds of Egypt and of the Lower Asia and reaching from the
+river Euphrates, and committed to him a certain part of his forces and
+of his elephants and charged him to bring up his son Antiochus with all
+possible care until he came back; and that he should conquer Judea and
+take its inhabitants for slaves and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and
+abolish the whole nation; and when king Antiochus had given these things
+in charge to Lysias, he went into Persia, and in the hundred and
+forty-seventh year he passed over Euphrates and went to the superior
+provinces.
+
+Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and
+Gorgias, very potent men among the King's friends, and delivered to them
+forty thousand foot-soldiers and seven thousand horsemen, and sent them
+against Judea, who came as far as the city Emmaus and pitched their camp
+in the plain country. There came also to them auxiliaries out of Syria
+and the country round about, as also many of the renegade Jews; and
+besides these came some merchants to buy those that should be carried
+captives--having bonds with them to bind those that should be made
+prisoners--with that silver and gold which they were to pay for their
+price; and when Judas saw their camp and how numerous their enemies
+were, he persuaded his own soldiers to be of good courage, and exhorted
+them to place their hopes of victory in God and to make supplication to
+him, according to the custom of their country, clothed in sackcloth, and
+to show what was their usual habit of supplication in the greatest
+dangers, and thereby to prevail with God to grant them the victory over
+their enemies. So he set them in their ancient order of battle used by
+their forefathers, under their captains of thousands, and other
+officers, and dismissed such as were newly married, as well as those
+that had newly gained possessions, that they might not fight in a
+cowardly manner out of an inordinate love of life, in order to enjoy
+those blessings.
+
+When he had thus disposed his soldiers he encouraged them to fight by
+the following speech, which he made to them: "O my fellow-soldiers, no
+other time remains more opportune than the present for courage and
+contempt of dangers; for if you now fight manfully you may recover your
+liberty, which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it
+proves to be to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty
+of worshipping God. Since, therefore, you are in such circumstances at
+present, you must either recover that liberty and so regain a happy and
+blessed way of living, which is that according to our laws and the
+customs of our country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings;
+nor will any seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this battle.
+Fight therefore manfully, and suppose that you must die though you do
+not fight; but believe that besides such glorious rewards as those of
+the liberty of your country, of your laws, of your religion, you shall
+then obtain everlasting glory. Prepare yourselves, therefore, and put
+yourselves into such an agreeable posture that you may be ready to fight
+with the enemy as soon as it is day to-morrow morning."
+
+And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But when the
+enemy sent Gorgias with five thousand foot and one thousand horse, that
+he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for that purpose certain of
+the renegade Jews as guides, the son of Mattathias perceived it and
+resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their
+forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time and had
+left many fires in their camp he marched all night to those enemies that
+were at Emmaus; so that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but
+suspected that they were retired and had hidden themselves among the
+mountains, he resolved to go and seek them wheresoever they were.
+
+But about break of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were at
+Emmaus, with only three thousand men, and those ill-armed by reason of
+their poverty; and when he saw the enemy very well and skilfully
+fortified in their camp he encouraged the Jews and told them that they
+ought to fight, though it were with their naked bodies, for that God had
+sometimes of old given such men strength, and that against such as were
+more in number, and were armed also, out of regard to their great
+courage. So he commanded the trumpeters to sound for the battle, and by
+thus falling upon the enemy when they did not expect it, and thereby
+astonishing and disturbing their minds, he slew many of those that
+resisted him and went on pursuing the rest as far as Gadara and the
+plains of Idumea, and Ashdod, and Jamnia; and of these there fell about
+three thousand. Yet did Judas exhort his soldiers not to be too desirous
+of the spoils, for that still they must have a contest and battle with
+Gorgias and the forces that were with him, but that when they had once
+overcome them then they might securely plunder the camp because they
+were the only enemies remaining, and they expected no others.
+
+And just as he was speaking to his soldiers, Gorigas' men looked down
+into that army which they left in their camp and saw that it was
+overthrown and the camp burned; for the smoke that arose from it showed
+them, even when they were a great way off, what had happened. When,
+therefore, those that were with Gorgias understood that things were in
+this posture, and perceived that those that were with Judas were ready
+to fight them, they also were affrighted and put to flight; but then
+Judas, as though he had already beaten Gorgias' soldiers without
+fighting, returned and seized on the spoils. He took a great quantity of
+gold and silver and purple and blue, and then returned home with joy,
+and singing hymns to God for their good success; for this victory
+greatly contributed to the recovery of their liberty.
+
+Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the defeat of the army which he had
+sent, and the next year he got together sixty thousand chosen men. He
+also took five thousand horsemen and fell upon Judea, and he went up to
+the hill country of Bethsur, a village of Judea, and pitched his camp
+there, where Judas met him with ten thousand men; and when he saw the
+great number of his enemies, he prayed to God that he would assist him,
+and joined battle with the first of the enemy that appeared and beat
+them and slew about five thousand of them, and thereby became terrible
+to the rest of them. Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of
+the Jews, how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty,
+and being afraid of their desperate way of fighting, as if it were real
+strength, he took the rest of the army back with him and returned to
+Antioch.
+
+When, therefore, the generals of Antiochus' armies had been beaten so
+often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them that after
+these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to
+Jerusalem and purify the Temple and offer the appointed sacrifices. But
+as soon as he with the whole multitude was come to Jerusalem and found
+the Temple deserted and its gates burned down and plants growing in the
+Temple of their own accord on account of its desertion, he and those
+that were with him began to lament and were quite confounded at the
+sight of the Temple; so he chose out some of his soldiers and gave them
+orders to fight against those guards that were in the citadel until he
+should have purified the Temple. When therefore he had carefully purged
+it and had brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of
+shewbread], and the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, he hung
+up the veils at the gates and added doors to them.
+
+He also took down the altar [of burnt-offering], and built a new one of
+stones that he gathered together and not of such as were hewn with iron
+tools. So on the five-and-twentieth day of the month of Casleu, which
+the Macedonians call Apelleus, they lighted the lamps that were on the
+candlestick and offered incense upon the altar [of incense], and laid
+the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and offered burnt-offerings
+upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so fell out that these
+things were done on the very same day on which their divine worship had
+fallen off and was reduced to a profane and common use after three
+years' time; for so it was, that the Temple was made desolate by
+Antiochus, and so continued for three years. This desolation happened to
+the Temple in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the twenty-fifth day
+of the month Apelleus, and on the hundred and fifty-third Olympiad; but
+it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of the month
+Apelleus, in the hundred and forty-eighth year, and on the hundred and
+fifty-fourth Olympiad. And this desolation came to pass according to the
+prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and eight years before,
+for he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve that worship [for
+some time].
+
+Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices
+of the Temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon;
+but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices, and he
+honored God and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so
+very glad at the revival of their customs, when after a long time of
+intermission they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their
+worship, that they made it a law for their posterity that they should
+keep a festival, on account of the restoration of their Temple worship,
+for eight days. And from that time to this we celebrate this festival
+and call it Lights. I suppose the reason was, because this liberty
+beyond our hopes appeared to us, and that thence was the name given to
+that festival. Judas also rebuilt the walls round about the city, and
+reared towers of great height against the incursions of enemies, and set
+guards therein. He also fortified the city Bethsura that it might serve
+as a citadel against any distresses that might come from our enemies.
+
+When these things were over, the nations round about the Jews were very
+uneasy at the revival of their power and rose up together and destroyed
+many of them, as gaining advantage over them by laying snares for them
+and making secret conspiracies against them. Judas made perpetual
+expeditions against these men, and endeavored to restrain them from
+those incursions and to prevent the mischiefs they did to the Jews. So
+he fell upon the Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, at Acra-battene, and
+slew a great many of them and took their spoils. He also shut up the
+sons of Bean, that laid wait for the Jews; and he sat down about them,
+and besieged them, and burned their towers and destroyed the men [that
+were in them]. After this he went thence in haste against the Ammonites
+who had a great and a numerous army, of which Timotheus was the
+commander. And when he had subdued them he seized on the city of Jazer,
+and took their wives and their children captives and burned the city and
+then returned into Judea. But when the neighboring nations understood
+that he was returned they got together in great numbers in the land of
+Gilead and came against those Jews that were at their borders, who then
+fled to the garrison of Dathema, and sent to Judas to inform him that
+Timotheus was endeavoring to take the place whither they were fled. And
+as these epistles were reading, there came other messengers out of
+Galilee who informed him that the inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre
+and Sidon, and strangers of Galilee, were gotten together.
+
+Accordingly Judas, upon considering what was fit to be done with
+relation to the necessity both these cases required, gave order that
+Simon his brother should take three thousand chosen men and go to the
+assistance of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of his brothers,
+Jonathan, made haste into the land of Gilead with eight thousand
+soldiers. And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, to be
+over the rest of the forces, and charged them to keep Judea very
+carefully and to fight no battles with any persons whomsoever until his
+return. Accordingly Simon went into Galilee and fought the enemy and put
+them to flight, and pursued them to the very gates of Ptolemais, and
+slew about three thousand of them, and took the spoils of those that
+were slain and those Jews whom they had made captives, with their
+baggage, and then returned home.
+
+Now as for Judas Maccabaeus and his brother Jonathan, they passed over
+the river Jordan, and when they had gone three days' journey they
+lighted upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them peaceably and who told
+them how the affairs of those in the land of Galilee stood and how many
+of them were in distress and driven into garrisons and into the cities
+of Galilee, and exhorted him to make haste to go against the foreigners,
+and to endeavor to save his own countrymen out of their hands. To this
+exhortation Judas hearkened and returned into the wilderness, and in the
+first place fell upon the inhabitants of Bosor, and took the city, and
+beat the inhabitants, and destroyed all the males, and all that were
+able to fight, and burned the city. Nor did he stop even when night came
+on, but he journeyed in it to the garrison where the Jews happened to be
+then shut up, and where Timotheus lay round the place with his army; and
+Judas came upon the city in the morning, and when he found that the
+enemy were making an assault upon the walls, and that some of them
+brought ladders on which they might get upon those walls, and that
+others brought engines [to batter them], he bid the trumpeter to sound
+his trumpet, and he encouraged his soldiers cheerfully to undergo
+dangers for the sake of their brethren and kindred; he also parted his
+army into three bodies and fell upon the backs of their enemies. But
+when Timotheus' men perceived that it was Maccabaeus that was upon them,
+of both whose courage and good success in war they had formerly had
+sufficient experience, they were put to flight; but Judas followed them
+with his army and slew about eight thousand of them. He then turned
+aside to a city of the foreigners called Malle, and took it, and slew
+all the males and burned the city itself. He then removed from thence,
+and overthrew Casphom and Bosor, and many other cities of the land of
+Gilead.
+
+But not long after this Timotheus prepared a great army, and took many
+others as auxiliaries, and induced some of the Arabians by the promise
+of rewards to go with him in this expedition, and came with his army
+beyond the brook over against the city Raphon; and he encouraged his
+soldiers, if it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight courageously,
+and to hinder their passing over the brook; for he said to them
+beforehand that "if they come over it we shall be beaten." And when
+Judas heard that Timotheus prepared himself to fight he took all his own
+army and went in haste against Timotheus, his enemy; and when he had
+passed over the brook he fell upon his enemies, and some of them met
+him, whom he slew, and others of them he so terrified that he compelled
+them to throw down their arms and fly, and some of them escaped; but
+some of them fled to what was called the temple of Carnaim, and hoped
+thereby to preserve themselves, but Judas took the city and slew them
+and burned the temple, and so used several ways of destroying his
+enemies.
+
+When he had done this he gathered the Jews together with their children
+and wives and the substance that belonged to them, and was going to
+bring them back into Judea. But as soon as he was come to a certain city
+the name of which was Ephron, that lay upon the road--and as it was not
+possible for him to go any other way, so he was not willing to go back
+again--he then sent to the inhabitants, and desired that they would open
+their gates and permit them to go on their way through the city; for
+they had stopped up the gates with stones and cut off their passage
+through it. And when the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree to this
+proposal, he encouraged those that were with him, and encompassed the
+city round and besieged it, and lying round it by day and night took the
+city and slew every male in it and burned it all down, and so obtained a
+way through it; and the multitude of those that were slain was so great
+that they went over the dead bodies. So they came over Jordan and
+arrived at the great plain over against which is situate the city
+Bethshan, which is called by the Greeks Scythopolis.[67] And going away
+hastily from thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms and hymns as
+they went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual in triumphs
+upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings both for their good
+success and for the preservation of their army, for not one of the Jews
+was slain in these battles.
+
+[Footnote 67: The reason why Bethshan was called Scythopolis is well
+known from Herodotus, b. i., p. 105, and Syncellus, p. 214, that the
+Scythians, where they overran Asia, in the days of Josiah, seized on
+this city, and kept it as long as they continued in Asia; from which
+time it retained the name of Scythopolis, or the City of the Scythians.]
+
+But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, whom Judas left
+generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same time when Simon was in
+Galilee fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and Judas himself and
+his brother Jonathan were in the land of Gilead, did these men also
+affect the glory of being courageous generals in war, in order whereto
+they took the army that was under their command and came to Jamnia.
+There Gorgias, the general of the forces of Jamnia, met them, and upon
+joining battle with him they lost two thousand of their army and fled
+away, and were pursued to the very borders of Judea. And this misfortune
+befell them by their disobedience to what injunctions Judas had given
+them not to fight with anyone before his return. For besides the rest of
+Judas' sagacious counsels, one may well wonder at this concerning the
+misfortune that befell the forces commanded by Joseph and Azarias, which
+he understood would happen if they broke any of the injunctions he had
+given them. But Judas and his brethren did not leave off fighting with
+the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides, and took from them the
+city of Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications and set all its
+towers on fire, and burned the country of the foreigners and the city
+Marissa. They came also to Ashdod, and took it, and laid it waste, and
+took away a great deal of the spoils and prey that were in it and
+returned to Judea.
+
+
+
+
+THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS
+
+B.C. 133
+
+THEODOR MOMMSEN
+
+
+(Cornelia, whose father was Scipio Africanus, preferred to be called
+"Mother of the Gracchi" rather than daughter of the conqueror of
+Numantia. Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, her sons, were born at a time
+when the social condition of Rome was rank with corruption. The small
+farmer class were deprived of holdings, the soil was being worked by
+slaves, and its products wasted on pleasure and debauchery by the rich;
+the law courts were controlled by the wealthy and powerful, while
+oppression, bribery, and fraud were generally rampant in the city.
+
+On December 10, B.C. 133, Tiberius Gracchus entered upon the office of
+tribune, to which he had been elected, and pledged himself to the
+abolition of crying abuses. His first movement was in the direction of
+agrarian legislation. He proposed to vest all public lands in the hands
+of three commissioners [triumviri], who were to distribute the public
+lands, at that time largely monopolized by the wealthy, to all citizens
+in needy circumstances. The bill met with bitter opposition from the
+rich landholders, but was eventually passed, and Gracchus rose to the
+summit of popular power. He also brought forward a measure limiting the
+necessary period of military service; a second bill was drawn up by him
+for the reformation of the law courts, and a third established a right
+of appeal from the law courts to the popular assembly. These measures
+were afterward carried by his brother Caius. Tiberius Gracchus was
+killed in a tumult which was raised in the Forum by the nobles and their
+partisans, and three hundred of his followers lost their lives in the
+fray.
+
+Caius Gracchus, his brother, returned to Rome B.C. 124 from Sardinia,
+where he had been engaged in subduing the mountaineers. For ten years he
+had kept aloof from public life, but was at once elected tribune, in the
+discharge of which office he showed distinguished powers as an orator.
+He brought forth the important measures known as the Sempronian Laws,
+the provisions of which were quite revolutionary in character. The first
+of these laws renewed and extended the agrarian laws of his brother and
+instituted new colonies in Italy and the provinces. By the second
+Sempronian law the State undertook to furnish corn at a low price to all
+Roman citizens.
+
+Other measures aimed at diminishing the great administrative power of
+the senate, which had so far monopolized all judicial offices. By the
+law of Gracchus the administration of justice was entirely transferred
+to a body of three hundred persons who possessed the equestrian rate of
+property. The Sempronian law for the assignment of consular provinces,
+which hitherto had been left to the senate, made the allotment of two
+designated provinces to be decided by the newly elected consuls
+themselves. The power of the senate was also crippled by the law of
+Gracchus in which he transferred to the tribunes the burden of improving
+the roads of Italy, contracts for which had hitherto been awarded by the
+censor under the approval of the senate. These movements were all in the
+direction of increasing popular and democratic power, and the work of
+the Gracchi tended to the extension of political freedom. In the history
+of politics these social struggles are among the most important events
+illustrative of the gradual dawn of civil liberty among a people which
+had been dominated and oppressed by a selfish aristocracy.)
+
+
+The power of Gracchus rested on the mercantile class and the
+proletariat; primarily on the latter, which in this conflict--wherein
+neither side had any military reserve--acted, as it were, the part of an
+army. It was clear that the senate was not powerful enough to wrest
+either from the merchants or from the proletariat their new privileges;
+any attempt to assail the corn laws or the new jury arrangement would
+have led under a somewhat grosser or somewhat more civilized form to a
+street riot, in presence of which the senate was utterly defenceless.
+But it was no less clear that Gracchus himself and these merchants and
+proletarians were only kept together by mutual advantage, and that the
+men of material interests were ready to accept their posts, and the
+populace, strictly so called, its bread, quite as well from any other as
+from Caius Gracchus.
+
+The institutions of Gracchus stood, for the moment at least, immovably
+firm, with the exception of a single one--his own supremacy. The
+weakness of the latter lay in the fact that in the constitution of
+Gracchus there was no relation of allegiance subsisting at all between
+the chief and the army; and, while the new constitution possessed all
+other elements of vitality, it lacked one--the moral tie between ruler
+and ruled, without which every state rests on a pedestal of clay. In the
+rejection of the proposal to admit the Latins to the franchise it had
+been demonstrated with decisive clearness that the multitude in fact
+never voted for Gracchus, but always simply for itself. The aristocracy
+conceived the plan of offering battle to the author of the corn
+largesses and land assignations on his own ground.
+
+As a matter of course the senate offered to the proletariat not merely
+the same advantages as Gracchus had already assured to it in corn and
+otherwise, but advantages still greater. Commissioned by the senate, the
+tribune of the people, Marcus Livius Drusus, proposed to relieve those
+who received land under the laws of Gracchus from the rent imposed on
+them, and to declare their allotments to be free and alienable property;
+and, further, to provide for the proletariat not in transmarine, but in
+twelve Italian, colonies, each of three thousand colonists, for the
+planting of which the people might nominate suitable men; only Drusus
+himself declined--in contrast with the family complexion of the Gracchan
+commission--to take part in this honorable duty. Presumably the Latins
+were named as those who would have to bear the costs of the plan, for
+there does not appear to have existed then in Italy other occupied
+domain land of any extent save that which was enjoyed by them.
+
+We find isolated enactments of Drusus--such as the regulation that the
+punishment of scourging might only be inflicted on the Latin soldier by
+the Latin officer set over him, and not by the Roman officer--which were
+to all appearance intended to indemnify the Latins for other losses. The
+plan was not the most refined. The attempt at rivalry was too clear; the
+endeavor to draw the fair bond between the nobles and the proletariat
+still closer by their exercising jointly a tyranny over the Latins was
+too transparent; the inquiry suggested itself too readily.
+
+In what part of the peninsula, now that the Italian domains had been
+mainly given away already--even granting that the whole domains assigned
+to the Latins were confiscated--was the occupied domain land requisite
+for the formation of twelve new, numerous, and compact burgess
+communities to be discovered? Lastly, the declaration of Drusus that he
+would have nothing to do with the execution of his law was so dreadfully
+prudent as to border on sheer folly. But the clumsy snare was quite
+suited to the stupid game which they wished to catch. There was the
+additional and perhaps decisive consideration that Gracchus, on whose
+personal influence everything depended, was just then establishing the
+Carthaginian colony in Africa, and that his lieutenant in the capital,
+Marcus Flaccus, played into the hands of his opponents by his vehement
+and maladroit acts. The "people" accordingly ratified the Livian laws as
+readily as it had before ratified the Sempronian. It then as usual
+repaid its latest by inflicting a gentle blow on its earlier benefactor,
+declining to reelect him when he stood for the third time as a candidate
+for the tribunate for the year B.C. 120. On this occasion, however,
+there are alleged to have been unjust proceedings on the part of the
+tribune presiding at the election, who had been offended by Gracchus.
+
+Thus the foundation of his despotism gave way beneath him. A second blow
+was inflicted on him by the consular elections, which not only proved,
+in a general sense, adverse to the democracy, but which placed at the
+head of the State Lucius Opimius, one of the least scrupulous chiefs of
+the strict aristocratic party and a man firmly resolved to get rid of
+their dangerous antagonist at the earliest opportunity. Such an
+opportunity soon occurred. On the 10th of December, B.C. 121, Gracchus
+ceased to be tribune of the people. On the 1st of January, B.C. 120,
+Opimius entered upon his office.
+
+The first attack, as was fair, was directed against the most useful and
+the most unpopular measure of Gracchus, the reestablishment of Carthage,
+while the transmarine colonies had hitherto been only indirectly
+assailed through the greater allurements of the Italian. African hyenas,
+it was now alleged, dug up the newly placed boundary stones of Carthage,
+and the Roman priests when requested certified that such signs and
+portents ought to form an express warning against rebuilding on a site
+accursed by the gods. The senate thereby found itself in its conscience
+compelled to have a law proposed which prohibited the planting of the
+colony of Sunonia. Gracchus, who with the other men nominated to
+establish it was just then selecting the colonists, appeared on the day
+of voting at the Capitol, whither the burgesses were convoked, with a
+view to procure by means of his adherents the rejection of the law.
+
+He wished to shun acts of violence that he might not himself supply his
+opponents with the pretext which they sought, but he had not been able
+to prevent a great portion of his faithful partisans--who remembered the
+catastrophe of Tiberius, and were well acquainted with the designs of
+the aristocracy--from appearing in arms, fearing that, amid the immense
+excitement on both sides, quarrels could hardly be avoided. The consul
+Lucius Opimius offered the usual sacrifice in the porch of the
+Capitoline temple, one of the attendants assisting at the ceremony.
+Quintus Antullius, with the holy entrails in his hands, haughtily
+ordered the "bad citizens" to quit the porch, and seemed as though he
+would lay hands on Caius himself; whereupon a zealous Gracchan drew his
+sword and cut the man down. A fearful tumult arose. Gracchus vainly
+sought to address the people and to disclaim the responsibility for the
+sacreligious murder; he only furnished his antagonists with a further
+formal ground of accusation, as, without being aware of it in the
+confusion, he interrupted a tribune in the act of speaking to the
+people--an offence for which an obsolete statute, originating at the
+time of the old dissensions between the orders (I. 353), had prescribed
+the severest penalty. The consul Lucius Opimius took his measures to put
+down by force of arms the insurrection for the overthrow of the
+republican constitution, as they were fond of designating the events of
+this day. He himself passed the night in the temple of Castor in the
+Forum. At early dawn the Capitol was filled with Cretan archers, the
+senate house and Forum with the men of the government party (the
+senators and that section of the _equites_ adhering to them), who by
+order of the consul had all appeared in arms, each attended by two armed
+slaves. None of the aristocracy was absent; even the aged and venerable
+Quintus Metellus, well disposed to reform, had appeared with shield and
+sword. An officer of ability and experience acquired in the Spanish
+wars, Decimus Brutus, was intrusted with the command of the armed force;
+the senate assembled in the senate house. The bier with the corpse of
+Antullius was deposited in front of it, the senate as if surprised
+appeared _en masse_ at the door in order to view the dead body, and then
+retired to determine what should be done.
+
+The leaders of the democracy had gone from the Capitol to their houses;
+Marcus Flaccus had spent the night in preparing for the war in the
+streets, while Gracchus apparently disdained to strive with destiny.
+Next morning when they learned of the preparations made by their
+opponents at the Capitol and the Forum, both proceeded to the Aventine,
+the old stronghold of the popular party in the struggles between the
+patricians and the plebeians. Gracchus went thither silent and unarmed.
+Flaccus called the slaves to arms and intrenched himself in the temple
+of Diana, while he at the same time sent his younger son Quintus to the
+enemy's camp in order if possible to arrange a compromise. The latter
+returned with the announcement that the aristocracy demanded
+unconditional surrender. At the same time he brought a summons from the
+senate to Gracchus and Flaccus to appear before it and to answer for
+their violation of the majesty of the tribunes.
+
+Gracchus wished to comply with the summons, but Flaccus prevented him
+from doing so, and repeated the equally weak and mistaken attempt to
+move such antagonists to a compromise. When instead of the two cited
+leaders the young Quintus Flaccus once more presented himself alone, the
+consul treated their refusal to appear as the beginning of open
+insurrection against the Government. He ordered the messenger to be
+arrested and gave the signal for attack on the Aventine, while at the
+same time he caused proclamations to be made in the streets that the
+Government would give to whomsoever should bring the head of Gracchus or
+of Flaccus its literal weight in gold; and that they would guarantee
+complete indemnity to everyone who should leave the Aventine before the
+beginning of the conflict. The ranks on the Aventine speedily thinned;
+the valiant nobility in conjunction with the Cretans and the slaves
+stormed the almost undefended mount, and killed all whom they
+found--about two hundred and fifty persons, mostly of humble rank.
+Marcus Flaccus fled with his eldest son to a place of concealment, where
+they were soon afterward hunted out and put to death. Gracchus had at
+the beginning of the conflict retired into the temple of Minerva and was
+there about to pierce himself with his sword when his friend Publius
+Laetorius seized his arm and besought him to preserve himself, if
+possible, for better times.
+
+Gracchus was induced to make an attempt to escape to the other bank of
+the Tiber, but when hastening down the hill he fell and sprained his
+foot. To gain time for him to escape, his two attendants turned, and
+facing his pursuers allowed themselves to be cut down. As Marcus
+Pomponius at the Porta Trigemina under the Aventine; Publius Laetorius
+at the bridge over the Tiber--where Horatius Cocles was said to have
+once withstood, singly, the Etruscan army--so Gracchus, attended only by
+his slave Euporus, reached the suburb on the right bank of the Tiber.
+
+There, in the grove of Furrina, afterward were found the two dead
+bodies. It seemed as if the slave had put to death first his master, and
+then himself. The heads of the two fallen leaders were handed over to
+the Government as required. The stipulated price, and more, was paid to
+Lucius Septumuleius, a man of quality, the bearer of the head of
+Gracchus; while the murderers of Flaccus, persons of humble rank, were
+sent away with empty hands. The bodies of the dead were thrown into the
+river, and the houses of the leaders were abandoned to the pillage of
+the multitude. The warfare of prosecution against the partisans of
+Gracchus began on the grandest scale; as many as three thousand of them
+are said to have been strangled in prison, among whom was Quintus
+Flaccus, eighteen years of age, who had taken no part in the conflict,
+and was universally lamented on account of his youth and his amiable
+disposition. On the open space beneath the Capitol, where the altar
+consecrated by Camillus after the restoration of internal peace (I.
+382), and other shrines--erected on similar occasions to Concord--were
+situated, the small chapels were pulled down, and out of the property of
+the killed or condemned traitors--which was confiscated, even to the
+portions of their wives--a new and splendid temple of Concord, with the
+basilica belonging to it, was erected in accordance with a decree of the
+senate by the consul Lucius Opimius.
+
+Certainly it was an act in accordance with the spirit of the age to
+remove the memorials of the old and to inaugurate a new Concord over the
+remains of the three grandsons of Zama, all of whom--first, Tiberius
+Gracchus, then Scipio Aemilianus, and lastly the youngest and the
+mightiest, Caius Gracchus--had now been engulfed by the revolution. The
+memory of the Gracchi remained officially proscribed; Cornelia was not
+allowed even to put on mourning for the death of her last son; but the
+passionate attachment which very many had felt toward the two noble
+brothers, and especially toward Caius, during their life, was touchingly
+displayed also after their death, in the almost religious veneration
+which the multitude, in spite of all precautions of the police,
+continued to pay to their memory and to the spots where they had fallen.
+
+
+
+
+CAESAR CONQUERS GAUL[68]
+
+
+B.C. 58-50
+
+NAPOLEON III
+
+
+[Footnote 68: From Louis Napoleon's Julius Caesar, by permission of
+Harper & Brothers.]
+
+(In Caesar's military performances the Gallic war plays the most
+important part, as shown in his _Commentaries_, his sole extant literary
+work and almost the only authority for this part of Roman history.
+
+
+Cisalpine Gaul--that portion lying on the southern or Italian side of
+the Alps--came partly under the dominion of Rome as early as B.C. 282,
+when a Roman colony was founded at Sena Gallica. This division of Gaul
+was wholly conquered by B.C. 191; and in B.C. 43, having been made a
+Roman province, it became a part of Italy.
+
+Transalpine Gaul--that part lying north and northwest of the Alps from
+Rome--comprised in Caesar's day three divisions: Aquitaine to the
+southwest, Celtic Gaul in the middle, and Belgic Gaul to the northwest.
+The region was inhabited by various tribes having neither unity of race
+nor of customs whereby nationality becomes distinguished. Toward the
+close of the second century B.C. the Romans made their first settlements
+in Transalpine Gaul, in the southeastern part. At the time when Caesar
+became proconsul in Gaul, B.C. 58, the province was in a state of
+tranquillity, but Fortune seemed determined that he should have great
+opportunities for the display of his military genius, and, when Asia had
+been subdued by Pompey, "conferred what remained to be done in Europe
+upon Caesar." The attempt of the Helvetii to leave their homes in the
+Alps for new dwelling-places in Gaul served him as an occasion for war.
+As they were crossing the Arar [now Saone] he attacked and routed them,
+later defeated them again, and at last drove them back to their own
+country.
+
+The story of the long war, with its various campaigns, has become
+familiar to the world's readers through the masterly account of Caesar
+himself, known to "every schoolboy" who advances to the dignity of
+classical studies. In the end the country between the Pyrenees and the
+Rhine was subjugated, and for several centuries it remained a Roman
+province.
+
+At the time when the history is taken up in the following narrative by
+Napoleon III, the great rebellion, B.C. 52, had sustained a heavy blow
+in the surrender of Alesia, and the capture of the heroic chief and
+leader of the insurrection, Vercingetorix, whom Caesar exhibited in his
+triumph at Rome, B.C. 46, and then caused to be put to death.
+
+The distinguished author of the article says he wrote "for the purpose
+of proving that when Providence raises up such men as Caesar,
+Charlemagne, and Napoleon it is to trace out to peoples the path they
+ought to follow, to stamp with the seal of their genius a new era, and
+to accomplish in a few years the work of many centuries." The work was
+prepared [_vide Manual of Historical Literature_: Adams] with the utmost
+care--a care which extended in some instances to special surveys, to
+insure perfect accuracy in the descriptions, etc.)
+
+
+The capture of Alesia and that of Vercingetorix, in spite of the united
+efforts of all Gaul, naturally gave Caesar hopes of a general
+submission; and he therefore believed that he could leave his army
+during the winter to rest quietly in its quarters from the hard labors
+which had lasted without interruption during the whole of the past
+summer. But the spirit of insurrection was not extinct among the Gauls;
+and convinced by experience that whatever might be their number they
+could not in a body cope with troops inured to war, they resolved, by
+partial insurrections raised on all points at once, to divide the
+attention and the forces of the Romans as their only chance of resisting
+them with advantage.
+
+Caesar was unwilling to leave them time to realize this new plan, but
+gave the command of his winter quarters to his quaestor, Mark Antony;
+quitted Bibracte on the day before the Calends of January (the 25th of
+December) with an escort of cavalry, joined the Thirteenth legion, which
+was in winter quarters among the Bituriges, not far from the frontier of
+the Aldui, and called to him the Eleventh legion, which was the nearest
+at hand. Having left two cohorts of each legion to guard the baggage, he
+proceeded toward the fertile country of the Bituriges, a vast territory,
+where the presence of a single legion was insufficient to put a stop to
+the preparations for insurrection.
+
+His sudden arrival in the midst of men without distrust, who were spread
+over the open country, produced the result which he expected. They were
+surprised before they could enter into their _oppidae_--for Caesar had
+strictly forbidden everything which might have raised their suspicion;
+especially the application of fire, which usually betrays the sudden
+presence of an enemy. Several thousands of captives were made. Those who
+succeeded in escaping sought in vain a refuge among the neighboring
+nations. Caesar, by forced marches, came up with them everywhere and
+obliged each tribe to think of its own safety before that of others.
+
+This activity held the populations in their fidelity, and through fear
+engaged the wavering to submit to the conditions of peace. Thus the
+Bituriges, seeing that Caesar offered them an easy way to recover his
+protection, and that the neighboring states had suffered no other
+chastisement than that of having to deliver hostages, did not hesitate
+in submitting.
+
+The soldiers of the Eleventh and Thirteenth legions had, during the
+winter, supported with rare constancy the fatigues of very difficult
+marches in intolerable cold. To reward them he promised to give by way
+of prize-money two hundred _sestertii_ to each soldier and two thousand
+to each centurion. He then sent them into their winter quarters and
+returned to Bibracte after an absence of forty days. While he was there,
+dispensing justice, the Bituriges came to implore his support against
+the attacks of the Carnutes. Although it was only eighteen days since he
+returned, he marched again at the head of two legions--the Sixth and the
+Fourteenth--which had been placed on the Saone to insure the supply of
+provisions.
+
+On his approach the Carnutes, taught by the fate of others, abandoned
+their miserable huts--which they had erected on the site of their burgs
+and oppida destroyed in the last campaign--and fled in every direction.
+
+Caesar, unwilling to expose his soldiers to the rigor of the season,
+established his camp at Genabum (Gien), and lodged them partly in the
+huts which had remained undestroyed, partly in tents under penthouses
+covered with straw. The cavalry and auxiliary infantry were sent in
+pursuit of the Carnutes, who, hunted down everywhere, and without
+shelter, took refuge in the neighboring counties.
+
+After having dispersed some rebellious meetings and stifled the germs of
+an insurrection, Caesar believed that the summer would pass without any
+serious war. He left therefore at Genabum the two legions he had with
+him, and gave the command of them to C. Trebonius.
+
+Nevertheless, he learned by several intimations from the Remi that the
+Bellovaci and neighboring peoples, with Correus and Commius at their
+head, were collecting troops to make an inroad on the territory of the
+Suessiones, who had been placed--since the campaign of 697--under the
+dependence of the Remi.
+
+He considered that he regarded his interest as well as his dignity in
+protecting allies who had deserved so well of the republic. He again
+drew the Eleventh legion from its winter quarters, sent written orders
+to C. Fabius, who was encamped in the country of the Remi, to bring into
+that of the Suessiones the two legions under his command, and demanded
+one of his legions from Labienus, who was at Besancon. Thus without
+taking any rest himself he shared the fatigues among the legions by
+turns, as far as the position of the winter quarters and the necessities
+of the war permitted.
+
+When this army was assembled he marched against the Bellovaci,
+established his camp on their territory, and sent cavalry in every
+direction in order to make some prisoners and learn from them the
+designs of the enemy. The cavalry reported that the emigration was
+general, and that the few inhabitants who were to be seen were not
+remaining behind in order to apply themselves to agriculture, but to act
+as spies upon the Romans.
+
+Caesar by interrogating the prisoners learned that all the Bellovaci
+able to fight had assembled on one spot, and that they had been joined
+by the Ambiani, the Aulerci, the Caletes, the Veliocasses, and the
+Atrebates. Their camp was in a forest on a height surrounded by
+marshes--Mont Saint Marc, in the forest of Compiegne; their baggage had
+been transported to more distant woods. The command was divided among
+several chiefs, but the greater part obeyed Correus on account of his
+well-known hatred of the Romans. Commius had a few days before gone to
+seek succor from the numerous Germans who lived in great numbers in the
+neighboring counties--probably those on the banks of the Meuse.
+
+The Bellovaci resolved with one accord to give Caesar battle, if, as
+report said, he was advancing with only three legions; for they would
+not run the risk of having afterward to encounter his entire army. If,
+on the contrary, the Romans were advancing with more considerable forces
+they proposed to keep their positions and confine themselves to
+intercepting, by means of ambuscades, the provisions and forage, which
+were very scarce at that season.
+
+This plan, confirmed by many reports, seemed to Caesar full of prudence
+and altogether contrary to the usual rashness of the barbarians. He took
+therefore every possible care to dissimulate as to the number of his
+troops. He had with him the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth legions, composed
+of old soldiers of tried valor, and the Eleventh, which, formed of
+picked young men who had gone through eight campaigns, deserved his
+confidence, although it could not be compared with the others with
+regard to bravery and experience in war. In order to deceive the enemy
+by showing them only three legions--the only number they were willing to
+fight--he placed the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth in one line; while the
+baggage, which was not very considerable, was placed behind under the
+protection of the Eleventh legion, which closed the march. In this
+order, which formed almost a square, he came unawares in sight of the
+Bellovaci. At the unexpected view of the legions, which advanced in
+order of battle and with a firm step, they lost their courage and,
+instead of attacking, as they had engaged to do, they confined
+themselves to drawing themselves up before their camp without leaving
+the height. A valley deeper than it was wide separated the two armies.
+
+On account of this obstacle and the numerical superiority of the
+barbarians, Caesar, though he had wished for battle, abandoned the idea
+of attacking them and placed his camp opposite that of the Gauls in a
+strong position. He caused it to be surrounded with a parapet twelve
+feet high, surmounted by accessory works proportioned to the importance
+of the retrenchment and preceded by a double fosse fifteen feet wide,
+with a square bottom. Towers of three stories were constructed from
+distance to distance and united together by covered bridges, the
+exterior parts of which were protected by hurdle-work. In this manner
+the camp was protected not only by a double fosse, but also by a double
+row of defenders, some of whom, placed on the bridges, could from this
+elevated and sheltered position throw their missiles farther and with a
+better aim; while the others, placed on the _vallum_, nearer to the
+enemy, were protected by the bridges from the missiles which showered
+down upon them. The entrances were defended by means of higher towers
+and were closed with gates.
+
+These formidable retrenchments had a double aim--to increase the
+confidence of the barbarians by making them believe that they were
+feared, and next to allow the number of the garrison to be reduced with
+safety when they had to go far for provisions. For some days there were
+no serious engagements, but slight skirmishes in the marshy plain which
+extended between the two camps. The capture, however, of a few foragers
+did not fail to swell the presumption of the barbarians, which was still
+more increased by the arrival of Commius, although he had brought only
+five hundred German cavalry.
+
+The enemy remained for several days shut up in its impregnable position.
+Caesar judged that an assault would cost too many lives; an investment
+alone seemed to him opportune, but it would require a greater number of
+troops.
+
+He wrote thereupon to Trebonius to send him as soon as possible the
+Thirteenth legion, which, under the command of T. Sextius, was in winter
+quarters among the Bituriges, to join it with the Sixth and the
+Fourteenth (which the first of these lieutenants commanded at Genabum),
+and to come himself with these three legions by forced marches.
+
+During this time he employed the numerous cavalry of the Remi, the
+Lingones and the other allies, to protect the foragers and to prevent
+surprises, but this daily service, as is often the case, ended by being
+negligently performed. And one day the Remi, pursuing the Bellovaci with
+too much ardor, fell into an ambuscade. In withdrawing they were
+surrounded by foot-soldiers in the midst of whom Vertiscus, their chief,
+met with his death. True to his Gaulish nature, he would not allow his
+age to exempt him from commanding and mounting on horseback, although he
+was hardly able to keep his seat. His death and this feeble advantage
+raised the self-confidence of the barbarians still more, but it rendered
+the Romans more circumspect.
+
+Nevertheless, in one of the skirmishes which were continually taking
+place within sight of the two camps about the fordable places of the
+marsh, the German infantry--which Caesar had sent for from beyond the
+Rhine in order to mix them with the cavalry--joined in a body, boldly
+crossed the marsh, and, meeting with little resistance, continued the
+pursuit with such impetuosity that fear seized not only the enemy who
+fought, but even those who were in reserve. Instead of availing
+themselves of the advantages of the ground, all fled in a cowardly
+manner. They did not stop until they were within their camp, and some
+even were not ashamed to fly beyond it. This defeat caused a general
+discouragement, for the Gauls were as easily daunted by the least
+reverse as they were made arrogant by the smallest success.
+
+Day after day was passing in this manner when Caesar was informed of the
+arrival of C. Trebonius and his troops, which raised the number of his
+legions to seven. The chiefs of the Bellovaci then feared an investment
+like that of Alesia, and resolved to quit their position. They sent away
+by night the old men, the infirm, the unarmed men, and the part of the
+baggage which they had kept with them. Scarcely was this confused
+multitude in motion--embarrassed by its own mass and its numerous
+chariots--when daylight surprised it, and the troops had to be drawn up
+in line before the camp to give the column time to move away. Caesar saw
+no advantage either in giving battle to those who were in position, nor,
+on account of the steepness of the hill, in pursuing those who were
+making their retreat; he resolved, nevertheless, to make two legions
+advance in order to disturb the enemy in its retreat. Having observed
+that the mountain on which the Gauls were established was connected with
+another height (Mont Collet), from which it was only separated by a
+narrow valley, he ordered bridges to be thrown across the marsh. The
+legions crossed over them and soon attained the summit of the height,
+which was defended on both sides by abrupt declivities.
+
+There he collected his troops and advanced in order of battle up to the
+extremity of the plateau, whence the engines placed in battery could
+reach the masses of the enemy with their missiles.
+
+The barbarians, rendered confident by the advantage of their position,
+were ready to accept battle if the Romans dared to attack the mountain;
+besides, they were afraid to withdraw their troops successively, as, if
+divided, they might have been thrown into disorder. This attitude led
+Caesar to resolve upon leaving twenty cohorts under arms, and on tracing
+a camp on this spot and retrenching it. When the works were completed
+the legions were placed before the retrenchments and the cavalry
+distributed with their horses bridled at the outposts. The Bellovaci had
+recourse to a stratagem in order to effect their retreat. They passed
+from hand to hand the fascines and the straw on which, according to the
+Gaulish custom, they were in the habit of sitting, preserving at the
+same time their order of battle; placed them in front of the camp, and
+toward the close of the day, on a preconcerted signal, set fire to them.
+Immediately a vast flame concealed from the Romans the Gaulish troops,
+who fled in haste.
+
+Although the fire prevented Caesar from seeing the retreat of the enemy
+he suspected it. He ordered his legions to advance, and sent the cavalry
+in pursuit, but he marched slowly in fear of some stratagem, suspecting
+the barbarians to have formed the design of drawing the Romans to
+disadvantageous ground. Besides, the cavalry did not dare to ride
+through the smoke and flames; and thus the Bellovaci were able to pass
+over a distance of ten miles and halt in a place strongly fortified by
+nature (Mont Ganelon), where they pitched their camp. In this position
+they confined themselves to placing cavalry and infantry in frequent
+ambuscades, thus inflicting great damage on the Romans when they went to
+forage. After several encounters of this kind Caesar learned by a
+prisoner that Correus, chief of the Bellovaci, with six thousand picked
+infantry and one thousand horsemen, was preparing an ambuscade in places
+where the abundance of corn and forage was likely to attract the Romans.
+In consequence of this information he sent forward the cavalry, which
+was always employed to protect the foragers, and joined with them some
+light-armed auxiliaries, while he himself, with a greater number of
+legions, followed them as closely as possible.
+
+The enemy had posted themselves in a plain--that of Choisy-au-Bac--of
+about one thousand paces in length and the same in breadth, surrounded
+on one side by forests, on the other by a river which was difficult to
+pass (the Aisne). The cavalry becoming acquainted with the designs of
+the Gauls and feeling themselves supported, advanced resolutely in
+squadrons toward this plain, which was surrounded with ambushes on all
+sides.
+
+Correus, seeing them arrive in this manner, believed the opportunity
+favorable for the execution of his plan and began by attacking the first
+squadrons with a few men. The Romans sustained the shock without
+concentrating themselves in a mass on the same point, "which," says
+Hirtius, "usually happens in cavalry engagements, and leads always to a
+dangerous confusion." There, on the contrary, the squadrons, remaining
+separated, fought in detached bodies, and when one of them advanced, its
+flanks were protected by the others. Correus then ordered the rest of
+his cavalry to issue from the woods. An obstinate combat began on all
+sides without any decisive result until the enemy's infantry, debouching
+from the forest in close ranks, forced the Roman cavalry to fall back.
+The lightly armed soldiers who preceded the legions placed themselves
+between the squadrons and restored the fortune of the combat. After a
+certain time the troops, animated by the approach of the legions and the
+arrival of Caesar, and ambitious of obtaining alone the honor of the
+victory, redoubled their efforts and gained the advantage. The enemy, on
+the other hand, were discouraged and took to flight, but were stopped by
+the very obstacles which they intended to throw in the way of the
+Romans. A small number, nevertheless, escaped through the forest and
+crossed the river. Correus, who remained unshaken under this
+catastrophe, obstinately refused to surrender, and fell pierced with
+wounds. After this success Caesar hoped that if he continued his march
+the enemy in dismay would abandon his camp, which was only eight miles
+from the field of battle. He therefore crossed the Aisne, though not
+without great difficulties.
+
+The Bellovaci and their allies, informed by the fugitives of the death
+of Correus, of the loss of their cavalry and the flower of their
+infantry, and fearing every moment to see the Romans appear, convoked by
+sound of trumpet a general assembly and decided by acclamation to send
+deputies and hostages to the proconsul. The barbarians implored
+forgiveness, alleging that this last defeat had ruined their power, and
+that the death of Correus, the instigator of the war, delivered them
+from oppression, for, during his life, it was not the senate which
+governed, but an ignorant multitude. To their prayers Caesar replied
+that last year the Bellovaci had revolted in concert with the other
+Gaulish peoples, but that _they_ alone had persisted in the revolt. It
+was very convenient to throw their faults upon those who were dead, but
+how could it be believed that with nothing but the help of a weak
+populace a man should have had sufficient influence to raise and sustain
+a war contrary to the will of the chiefs, the decision of the senate,
+and the desire of honest people? However, the evil which they had drawn
+upon themselves was for him a sufficient reparation.
+
+The following night the Bellovaci and their allies submitted, with the
+exception of Commius, who fled to the country from which he had but
+recently drawn support. He had not dared to trust the Romans for the
+following reason: "The year before, in the absence of Caesar, T.
+Labienus, informed that Commius was conspiring and preparing an
+insurrection, thought that without accusing him of bad faith," says
+Hirtius, "he could repress his treason." ("Under pretext of an interview
+he sent C. Volusenus Quadratus, with some centurions, to kill him; but
+when they were in the presence of the Gaulish chief the centurion who
+was to strike him missed his blow and only wounded him; swords were
+drawn on both sides and Commius had time to escape.")
+
+The most warlike tribes had been vanquished and none of them dreamed of
+further revolt. Nevertheless, many inhabitants of the newly conquered
+countries abandoned the towns and the fields in order to withdraw
+themselves from the Roman dominion. Caesar, in order to put a stop to
+this emigration, distributed his army in different countries. He ordered
+the quaestor, Mark Antony, to come to him with the Twelfth legion, and
+sent the lieutenant Fabius with twenty-five cohorts into an opposite
+part of Gaul--to the country situated between the Creuse and the
+Vienne--where it was said that several tribes were in arms, and where
+the lieutenant, Caninius Rebilus, who commanded with two legions, did
+not appear to be sufficiently strong. Lastly, he ordered T. Labienus to
+join him in person and to send the Fifteenth legion, which he had under
+his command, into Cisalpine Gaul to protect the colonies of Roman
+citizens there against the sudden inroads of the barbarians, who the
+summer before had attacked the Tergestini (the inhabitants of Trieste).
+
+As for Caesar, he proceeded with four legions to the territory of the
+Eburones to lay it waste. As he could not secure Ambiorix, who was still
+wandering at large, he thought it advisable to destroy everything by
+fire and sword, persuaded that this chief would never dare to return to
+a country upon which he had brought such a terrible calamity. The
+legions and the auxiliaries were charged with the execution of this
+plan. Then he sent Labienus, with two legions, to the country of the
+Treviri, who, always at war with the Germans, were only kept in
+obedience by the presence of a Roman army.
+
+During this time Caninius Rebilus, who had first been appointed to go
+into the country of the Ruteni, but who had been detained by petty
+insurrections in the region situated between the Creuse and the Vienne,
+learned that numerous hostile bands were assembling in the country of
+the Pictones. He was informed of this by letters from Duratius, their
+king, who, amid the defection of a part of his people, had remained
+invariably faithful to the Romans. He started immediately for Lemonum
+(Poitiers). On the road he learned from prisoners that Duratius was shut
+up there and besieged by several thousand men under the orders of
+Dumnacus, chief of the Andes.
+
+Rebilus, at the head of two weak legions, did not dare to measure his
+strength with the enemy; he contented himself with establishing his camp
+in a strong position. At the news of his approach, Dumnacus raised the
+siege, and marched to meet the legions, but after several days of
+fruitless attempts to force their camp he returned to attack Lemonum.
+
+Meanwhile, the lieutenant, Caius Fabius, occupied in pacifying several
+other tribes, learned from Caninius Rebilus what was going on in the
+country of the Pictones and marched without delay to the assistance of
+Duratius. The news of the march of Fabius deprived Dumnacus of all hope
+of opposing, at the same time, the troops shut up in Lemonum and the
+relieving army. He abandoned the siege again in great haste, not
+thinking himself safe until he had placed the Loire between himself and
+the Romans; but he could only pass that river where there was a bridge
+(at Saumur). Before he had joined Rebilus, before he had even obtained a
+sight of the enemy, Fabius, who came from the North, and had lost no
+time, doubted not, from what he heard from the people of the country,
+that Dumnacus, in his fear, had taken the road which led to that bridge.
+He therefore marched thither with his legions, preceded at a short
+distance by his cavalry. The latter surprised the column of Dumnacus on
+its march, dispersed it, and returned to the camp laden with booty.
+
+During the night of the following day Fabius again sent his cavalry
+forward with orders to delay the march of the enemy so as to give time
+for the arrival of the infantry. The two bodies of cavalry were soon
+engaged, but the enemy, thinking he had to contend with only the same
+troops as the day before, drew up his infantry in line so as to support
+the squadrons, when suddenly the Roman legions appeared in order of
+battle. At this sight the barbarians were struck with terror, the long
+train of baggage thrown into confusion, and the infantry dispersed. More
+than twelve thousand men were killed and all the baggage fell into the
+hands of the Romans.
+
+Only five thousand fugitives escaped from this rout; they were received
+by the Senonan, Drappes, the same who in the first revolt of the Gauls
+had collected a crowd of vagabonds, slaves, exiles, and robbers to
+intercept the convoys of the Romans.
+
+They took the direction of the Narbonnese with the Cadurcan Lucterius
+who had before attempted a similar invasion.
+
+Rebilus pursued them with two legions in order to avoid the shame of
+seeing the province suffering any injury from such a contemptible
+rabble. As for Fabius, he led the twenty-five cohorts against the
+Carnutes and the other tribes whose forces had already been reduced by
+the defeat they had suffered from Dumnacus. The Carnutes, though often
+beaten, had never been completely subdued. They gave hostages, and the
+Armoricans followed their example. Dumnacus, driven out of his own
+territory, went to seek a refuge in the remotest part of Gaul.
+
+Drappes and Lucterius, when they learned that they were pursued by
+Rebilus and his two legions, gave up the design of penetrating into the
+province; they halted in the country of the Cadurci and threw themselves
+into the _oppidum_ of Uxellodunum (Puy-d'Issolu, near Varac), an
+exceedingly strong place formerly under the dependence of Lucterius, who
+soon incited the inhabitants to revolt.
+
+Rebilus appeared immediately before the town, which, surrounded on all
+sides by steep rocks, was, even without being defended, difficult of
+access to armed men. Knowing that there was in the oppidum so great a
+quantity of baggage that the besieged could not send it away secretly
+without being detected and overtaken by the cavalry, and even by the
+infantry, he divided his cohorts into three bodies and established three
+camps on the highest points. Next he ordered a countervallation to be
+made. On seeing these preparations the besieged remembered the
+ill-fortune of Alesia, and feared a similar fate. Lucterius, who had
+witnessed the horrors of famine during the investment of that town, now
+took especial care of the provisions.
+
+During this time the garrison of the oppidum attacked the redoubts of
+Rebilus several times, which obliged him to interrupt the work of the
+countervallation, which, indeed, he had not sufficient forces to defend.
+
+Drappes and Lucterius established themselves at a distance of ten miles
+from the oppidum, with the intention of introducing the provisions
+gradually. They shared the duties between them. Drappes remained with
+part of the troops to protect the camp. Lucterius, during the
+night-time, endeavored to introduce beasts of burden into the town by a
+narrow and wooded path. The noise of their march gave warning to the
+sentries. Rebilus, informed of what was going on, ordered the cohorts to
+sally from the neighboring redoubts, and at daybreak fell upon the
+convoy, the escort of which was slaughtered. Lucterius, having escaped
+with a small number of his followers, was unable to rejoin Drappes.
+
+Rebilus soon learned from prisoners that the rest of the troops which
+had left the oppidum were with Drappes at a distance of twelve miles,
+and that by a fortunate chance not one fugitive had taken that direction
+to carry him news of the last combat. The Roman general sent in advance
+all the cavalry and the light German infantry; he followed them with one
+legion, without baggage, leaving the other as a guard to the three
+camps. When he came near the enemy he learned, by his scouts, that the
+barbarians--according to their custom of neglecting the heights--had
+placed their camp on the banks of a river (probably the Dordogne); that
+the Germans and the cavalry had surprised them, and that they were
+already fighting. Rebilus then advanced rapidly at the head of the
+legion drawn up in order of battle and took possession of the heights.
+
+As soon as the ensigns appeared, the cavalry redoubled its ardor; the
+cohorts rushed forward from all sides and the Gauls were taken or
+killed. The booty was immense and Drappes fell into the hands of the
+Romans.
+
+Rebilus, after this successful exploit, which cost him but a few
+wounded, returned under the walls of Uxellodunum. Fearing no longer any
+attack from without, he set resolutely to work to continue his
+circumvallation. The day after, C. Fabius arrived, followed by his
+troops, and shared with him the labors of the siege. While the south of
+Gaul was the scene of serious trouble, Caesar left the quaestor, Mark
+Antony, with fifteen cohorts in the country of the Bellovaci. To deprive
+the Belgae of all idea of revolt he had proceeded to the neighboring
+countries with two legions; had exacted hostages, and restored
+confidence by his conciliating speeches. When he arrived among the
+Carnutes--who the year before had been the first to revolt--he saw that
+the remembrance of their conduct kept them in great alarm, and he
+resolved to put an end to it by causing his vengeance to fall only upon
+Gutruatus, the instigator of the war.
+
+This man was brought in and delivered up. Although Caesar was naturally
+inclined to be indulgent, he could not resist the tumultuous entreaties
+of his soldiers, who made that chief responsible for all the dangers
+they had run and for all the misery they had suffered. Gutruatus died
+under the stripes and was afterward beheaded.
+
+It was in the land of the Carnutes that Caesar received news, by the
+letters of Rebilus, of the events which had taken place at Uxellodunum
+and of the resistance of the besieged. Although a handful of men shut up
+in a fortress was not very formidable, he judged it necessary to punish
+their obstinacy, for fear that the Gauls should entertain the conviction
+that it was not strength, but constancy, which had failed them in
+resisting the Romans; and lest this example might encourage the other
+states which possessed fortresses advantageously situated, to recover
+their independence.
+
+Moreover, it was known everywhere among the Gauls that Caesar had only
+one more summer to hold his command, and that after that time they would
+have nothing more to fear. He left therefore the lieutenant Quintus
+Calenus at the head of his two legions, with orders to follow him by
+ordinary marches, and, with his cavalry, hastened by long marches toward
+Uxellodunum. Caesar, arriving unexpectedly before the town, found it
+completely defended at all accessible points. He judged that it could
+not be taken by assault (_neque ab oppugnatione recedi vidaret ulla
+conditione posse_), and, as it was abundantly provided with provisions,
+conceived the project of depriving the inhabitants of water.
+
+The mountain was surrounded almost on every side by very low ground, but
+on one side there existed a valley through which a river (the Tourmente)
+ran. As it flowed at the foot of two precipitous mountains the
+disposition of the localities did not admit of turning it aside and
+conducting it into lower channels. It was difficult for the besieged to
+come down to it, and the Romans rendered the approaches to it still more
+dangerous. They placed posts of archers and slingers, and brought
+engines which commanded all the slopes which gave access to the river.
+The besieged had thenceforth no other means of procuring water but by
+carrying it from an abundant spring which arose at the foot of the wall
+three hundred feet from the channel of the Tourmente. Caesar resolved to
+drain this spring, and for this purpose he did not hesitate to attempt a
+laborious undertaking. Opposite the point where it rose he ordered
+covered galleries to be pushed forward against the mountain, and under
+protection of these a terrace to be raised--labors which were carried on
+in the midst of continual fighting and weariness.
+
+Although the besieged from their elevated position fought without danger
+and wounded many Romans, yet the latter did not yield to discouragement,
+but continued the work. At the same time they made a subterranean
+gallery, which, running from the covered galleries, was intended to lead
+up to the spring. This work, carried on free from all danger, was
+executed without being perceived by the enemy. The terrace attained a
+height of sixty feet and was surmounted by a tower of ten stories,
+which, without equalling the elevation of the wall--a result it was
+impossible to obtain--still commanded the fountain. Its approaches,
+battered by engines from the top of this tower, became inaccessible. In
+consequence of this, many men and animals in the place died of thirst.
+The besieged, terrified at this mortality, filled barrels with pitch,
+grease, and shavings, and rolled them flaming upon the Roman works,
+making at the same time a sally to prevent them from extinguishing the
+fire. Soon it spread to the covered galleries and the terrace, which
+stopped the progress of the inflammable materials.
+
+Notwithstanding the difficult nature of the ground and the increasing
+danger, the Romans still persevered in their struggle. The battle took
+place on a height within sight of the army. Loud cries were raised on
+both sides. Each individual sought to rival his fellow in zeal, and the
+more he was exposed to view the more courageously he faced the missiles
+and the fire.
+
+Caesar, as he was sustaining great loss, determined to feign an assault.
+In order to create a diversion he ordered some cohorts to climb the hill
+on all sides, uttering loud cries. This movement terrified the besieged,
+who, fearing to be attacked at other points, called back to the defence
+of the wall those who were setting fire to the works. Then the Romans
+were enabled to extinguish the flames. The Gauls, although exhausted by
+thirst and reduced to a small number, ceased not to defend themselves
+vigorously. At length the subterranean gallery having reached the source
+of the spring, the supply was turned aside. The besieged, beholding the
+fountain suddenly become dry, believed in their despair that it was an
+intervention of the gods, and, submitting to necessity, surrendered.
+
+Caesar considered that the pacification of Gaul would never be completed
+if as strong a resistance was encountered in other towns. He thought it
+advisable to spread terror by a severe example--so much the more so as
+"the well-known mildness of his temper," says Hirtius, "would not allow
+this necessary rigor to be ascribed to cruelty." He ordered that all
+those who had borne arms should have their hands cut off, and sent them
+away living examples of the punishment reserved for rebels.
+
+Drappes, who had been taken prisoner, starved himself to death;
+Lucterius, who had been arrested by the Arvernan Epasnactus (a friend of
+the Romans), was delivered up to Caesar. While these events were taking
+place on the banks of the Dordogne, Labienus, in a cavalry engagement,
+had gained a decisive advantage over a part of the Treviri and Germans;
+had taken prisoner their chief, and thus subjected a people who were
+always ready to support any insurrection against the Romans. The Aeduan
+Surus fell also into his hands. He was a chief distinguished for his
+courage and birth, and the only one of that nation who had not yet laid
+down his arms.
+
+From that moment Caesar considered Gaul to be completely pacified. He
+resolved, however, to go himself to Aquitaine, which he had not yet
+visited and which Publius Crassus had partly conquered. Arriving there
+at the head of two legions, he obtained the complete submission of that
+country without difficulty. All the tribes sent him hostages. He
+proceeded next to Narbonne with a detachment of cavalry and charged his
+lieutenants to put the army into winter quarters. Four legions, under
+the orders of Mark Antony, Caius Trebonius, Publius Vatinius, and Q.
+Tullius, were quartered in Belgium, two among the Aedui and two among
+the Turones on the frontier of the Carnutes, to hold in check all the
+countries bordering on the ocean.
+
+These two last legions took up their winter quarters on the territory of
+the Lemovices, not far from the Arverni, so that no part of Gaul should
+be without troops. Caesar remained but a short time in the province,
+presiding hastily over the assemblies, determining cases of public
+dispute, and rewarding those who had served him well. He had had
+occasion more than anyone to know their sentiments individually, because
+during the general revolt of Gaul the fidelity and succor of the
+province had aided him in triumphing over it. When these affairs were
+settled he returned to his legions in Belgium and took up his winter
+quarters at Nemetocenna (Arras).
+
+There he was informed of the last attempts of Commius, who, continuing a
+partisan war at the head of a small number of cavalry, intercepted the
+Roman convoys. Mark Antony had charged C. Volusenus Quadratus, prefect
+of the cavalry, to pursue him. He had accepted the task eagerly in the
+hope of succeeding the second time better than the first, but Commius,
+taking advantage of the rash ardor with which his enemy had rushed upon
+him, had wounded him seriously and escaped. He was discouraged, however,
+and had promised Mark Antony to retire to any spot which should be
+appointed him on condition that he should never be compelled to appear
+before a Roman. This condition having been accepted, he had given
+hostages. Gaul was hereby subjugated. Death or slavery had carried off
+its principal citizens. Of all the chiefs who had fought for its
+independence only two survived--Commius and Ambiorix.
+
+Banished far from their country they died in obscurity.
+
+
+
+
+ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF BRITAIN
+
+B.C. 55 - A.D. 79
+
+OLIVER GOLDSMITH
+
+
+(When Julius Caesar received the province of Gaul as his government,
+B.C. 58, it was only a small portion of the territory inhabited by the
+Gauls or Celts, being almost conterminous with the mediaeval Provence.
+It was also at peace, and there seemed no excuse for making an extension
+of Roman territory among the three tribes or races between which
+Northern and Western Gaul were divided. But the Helvetii, who occupied
+that part of the Alps known to-day as Switzerland, meditated an
+emigration into the plains of Gaul, and, as their shortest route lay
+across the Roman provinces, they asked leave of Caesar to pass three
+hundred and sixty thousand souls in all, counting women and children,
+through the imperial territory.
+
+The Roman commander, after giving them an evasive answer, met them in
+the territory of the Sequani and Aedui and defeated them, driving them
+back to their mountains. He next went to the aid of the Aedui, ancient
+allies of Rome, against the Arverni and Sequani, who had invaded the
+Aeduan territory under a German chieftain, Ariovistus. The result was
+that Ariovistus was defeated and driven eastward across the Rhine. He
+then defeated the Belgae, who, in B.C. 57, took up arms against the
+garrisons which he had left in the country of the Sequani [dwellers on
+the Seine]. He continued his conquest of the Belgic territory, and
+subjected the three nations who occupied it, finally entering the
+country of the warlike Nervii, whom he only conquered after a stubborn
+and bloody battle. As soon as he had subjugated the whole of Gaul, he
+crossed the Rhine for the purpose of intimidating the Germans and
+teaching them to keep within their own boundaries.
+
+He pursued the same policy with regard to the Britons, who, according to
+information received by him, had sent aid to the Gauls in their struggle
+with Rome. His ships were brought round from the Loire to that part of
+the French coast now known as Boulogne, and he set out for Britain,
+where he landed, and eventually received the submission of the British
+chieftains.)
+
+
+The Britons in their rude and barbarous state seemed to stand in need of
+more polished instructors; and indeed whatever evils may attend the
+conquest of heroes, their success has generally produced one good effect
+in disseminating the arts of refinement and humanity. It ever happens
+when a barbarous nation is conquered by another more advanced in the
+arts of peace, that it gains in elegance a recompense for what it loses
+in liberty.
+
+The Britons had long remained in this rude but independent state, when
+Caesar, having overrun Gaul with his victories, and willing still further
+to extend his fame, determined upon the conquest of a country that
+seemed to promise an easy triumph. He was allured neither by the riches
+nor by the renown of the inhabitants; but being ambitious rather of
+splendid than of useful conquests, he was willing to carry the Roman
+arms into a country the remote situation of which would add seeming
+difficulty to the enterprise and consequently produce an increase of
+reputation. His pretence was to punish these islanders for having sent
+succors to the Gauls while he waged war against that nation, as well as
+for granting an asylum to such of the enemy as had sought protection
+from his resentment.
+
+The natives, informed of his intention, were sensible of the unequal
+contest and endeavored to appease him by submission. He received their
+ambassadors with great complacency, and having exhorted them to continue
+steadfast in the same sentiments, in the mean time made preparations for
+the execution of his design. When the troops designed for the expedition
+were embarked he set sail for Britain about midnight, and the next
+morning arrived on the coast near Dover, where he saw the rocks and
+cliffs covered with armed men to oppose his landing.
+
+Finding it impracticable to gain the shore where he first intended, from
+the agitation of the sea and the impending mountains, he resolved to
+choose a landing-place of greater security. The place he chose was about
+eight miles farther on (some suppose at Deal), where an inclining shore
+and a level country invited his attempts. The poor, naked, ill-armed
+Britons we may well suppose were but an unequal match for the
+disciplined Romans who had before conquered Gaul and afterward became
+the conquerors of the world. However, they made a brave opposition
+against the veteran army; the conflicts between them were fierce, the
+losses mutual, and the success various.
+
+The Britons had chosen Cassibelaunus for their commander-in-chief; but
+the petty princes under his command, either desiring his station or
+suspecting his fidelity, threw off their allegiance. Some of them fled
+with their forces into the internal parts of the kingdom, others
+submitted to Caesar; till at length Cassibelaunus himself, weakened by
+so many desertions, resolved upon making what terms he was able while
+yet he had power to keep the field. The conditions offered by Caesar and
+accepted by him were that he should send to the Continent double the
+number of hostages at first demanded and that he should acknowledge
+subjection to the Romans.
+
+The Romans were pleased with the name of this new and remote conquest,
+and the senate decreed a supplication of twenty days in consequence of
+their general's success. Having therefore in this manner rather
+discovered than subdued the southern parts of the island, Caesar
+returned into Gaul with his forces and left the Britons to enjoy their
+customs, religion, and laws. But the inhabitants, thus relieved from the
+terror of his arms, neglected the performance of their stipulations, and
+only two of their states sent over hostages according to the treaty.
+Caesar, it is likely, was not much displeased at the omission, as it
+furnished him with a pretext for visiting the island once more and
+completing a conquest which he had only begun.
+
+Accordingly the ensuing spring he set sail for Britain with eight
+hundred ships,[69] and arriving at the place of his descent he landed
+without opposition. The islanders being apprised of his invasion had
+assembled an army and marched down to the sea-side to oppose him, but
+seeing the number of his forces, and the whole sea, as it were, covered
+with his shipping, they were struck with consternation and retired to
+their places of security. The Romans, however, pursued them to their
+retreats until at last common danger induced these poor barbarians to
+forget their former dissensions and to unite their whole strength for
+the mutual defence of their liberty and possessions.
+
+[Footnote 69: With regard to these Roman _ships_, let not our readers be
+misled by a familiar notion or a pompous name. They were but little more
+than rowboats, as may be easily imagined from the fact that Cicero
+instances for its uncommon magnitude a _ship_ of only fifty-six tons!
+These ancient vessels were occasionally sheathed with leather or lead,
+and had the prow decorated with paint and gilding, while the stern was
+sometimes carved in the figure of a shield, elaborately adorned. Upon a
+staff there erected hung ribbons distinctive of the ship and serving at
+the same time to show the direction of the wind. There, too, stood the
+_tutela_, or chosen patron of the ship, to whom prayers and sacrifices
+were daily offered. The selection of this deity was guided by either
+private or professional reasons, and as merchants committed themselves
+to the protection of Mercury, or lovers to the care of Cupid, warriors,
+it will at once be surmised, made Mars the object of their pious
+supplication.
+
+At a later period than the epoch to which our present note attaches,
+when Constantius removed from Heliopolis to Rome an enormous obelisk,
+weighing fifteen hundred tons, the vessel on board of which it was
+shipped also carried _eleven hundred and thirty-eight tons_ of pulse;
+but such vast and unmanageable masses were regarded as monsters, and
+owed their existence to the absolute urgency of a remarkable purpose,
+backed by the despotic institutions of the times.]
+
+Cassibelaunus was chosen to conduct the common cause, and for some time
+he harassed the Romans in their march and revived the desponding hopes
+of his countrymen. But no opposition that undisciplined strength could
+make was able to repress the vigor and intrepidity of Caesar. He
+discomfited the Britons in every action; he advanced into the country,
+passed the Thames in the face of the enemy, took and burned the capital
+city of Cassibelaunus, established his ally Mandubratius as sovereign of
+the Trinobantes; and having obliged the inhabitants to make new
+submissions, he again returned with his army into Gaul, having made
+himself rather the nominal than the real possessor of the island.
+
+Whatever the stipulated tribute might have been, it is more than
+probable, as there was no authority left to exact it, that it was but
+indifferently paid. Upon the accession of Augustus, that Emperor had
+formed a design of visiting Britain, but was diverted from it by an
+unexpected revolt of the Pannonians. Some years after he resumed his
+design; but being met in his way by the British ambassadors, who
+promised the accustomed tribute and made the usual submissions, he
+desisted from his intention. The year following, finding them remiss in
+their supplies and untrue to their former professions, he once more
+prepared for the invasion of the country; but a well-timed embassy again
+averted his indignation, and the submissions he received seemed to
+satisfy his resentment; upon his death-bed he appeared sensible of the
+overgrown extent of the Roman Empire and recommended it to his
+successors never to enlarge their territories.
+
+Tiberius followed the maxims of Augustus and, wisely judging the empire
+already too extensive, made no attempt upon Britain. Some Roman soldiers
+having been wrecked on the British coast the inhabitants not only
+assisted them with the greatest humanity, but sent them in safety back
+to their general. In consequence of these friendly dispositions, a
+constant intercourse of good offices subsisted between the two nations;
+the principal British nobility resorted to Rome, and many received their
+education there.
+
+From that time the Britons began to improve in all the arts which
+contribute to the advancement of human nature. The first art which a
+savage people is generally taught by politer neighbors is that of war.
+The Britons thenceforward, though not wholly addicted to the Roman
+method of fighting, nevertheless adopted several of their improvements,
+as well in their arms as in their arrangement in the field. Their
+ferocity to strangers, for which they had been always remarkable, was
+mitigated and they began to permit an intercourse of commerce even in
+the internal parts of the country. They still, however, continued to
+live as herdsmen and hunters; a manifest proof that the country was yet
+but thinly inhabited. A nation of hunters can never be populous, as
+their subsistence is necessarily diffused over a large tract of country,
+while the husbandman converts every part of nature to human use, and
+flourishes most by the vicinity of those whom he is to support.
+
+The wild extravagances of Caligula by which he threatened Britain with
+an invasion served rather to expose him to ridicule than the island to
+danger. The Britons therefore for almost a century enjoyed their liberty
+unmolested, till at length the Romans in the reign of Claudius began to
+think seriously of reducing them under their dominion. The expedition
+for this purpose was conducted in the beginning by Plautius and other
+commanders, with that success which usually attended the Roman arms.
+
+Claudius himself, finding affairs sufficiently prepared for his
+reception, made a journey thither and received the submission of such
+states as living by commerce were willing to purchase tranquillity at
+the expense of freedom. It is true that many of the inland provinces
+preferred their native simplicity to imported elegance and, rather than
+bow their necks to the Roman yoke, offered their bosoms to the sword.
+But the southern coast with all the adjacent inland country was seized
+by the conquerors, who secured the possession by fortifying camps,
+building fortresses, and planting colonies. The other parts of the
+country, either thought themselves in no danger or continued patient
+spectators of the approaching devastation.
+
+Caractacus was the first who seemed willing, by a vigorous effort, to
+rescue his country and repel its insulting and rapacious conquerors.[70]
+The venality and corruption of the Roman praetors and officers, who were
+appointed to levy the contributions in Britain, served to excite the
+indignation of the natives and give spirit to his attempts. This rude
+soldier, though with inferior forces, continued for about the space of
+nine years to oppose and harass the Romans; so that at length Ostorius
+Scapula was sent over to command their armies. He was more successful
+than his predecessors. He advanced the Roman conquest over Britain,
+pierced the country of the Silures, a warlike nation along the banks of
+the Severn, and at length came up with Caractacus, who had taken
+possession of a very advantageous post upon an almost inaccessible
+mountain, washed by a deep and rapid stream.
+
+[Footnote 70: The character of this hero has been powerfully depicted by
+Beaumont and Fletcher, in one of their noblest dramas.]
+
+The unfortunate British general, when he saw the enemy approaching, drew
+up his army, composed of different tribes, and going from rank to rank
+exhorted them to strike the last blow for liberty, safety, and life. To
+these exhortations his soldiers replied with shouts of determined valor.
+But what could undisciplined bravery avail against the attack of an army
+skilled in all the arts of war and inspired by a long train of
+conquests? The Britons were, after an obstinate resistance, totally
+routed, and a few days after Caractacus himself was delivered up to the
+conquerors by Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, with whom he had
+taken refuge. The capture of this general was received with such joy at
+Rome that Claudius commanded that he should be brought from Britain in
+order to be exhibited as a spectacle to the Roman people. Accordingly,
+on the day appointed for that purpose, the Emperor, ascending his
+throne, ordered the captives and Caractacus among the number to be
+brought into his presence. The vassals of the British King, with the
+spoils taken in war, were first brought forward; these were followed by
+his family, who, with abject lamentations, were seen to implore for
+mercy.
+
+Last of all came Caractacus with an undaunted air and a dignified
+aspect. He appeared no way dejected at the amazing concourse of
+spectators that were gathered upon this occasion, but, casting his eyes
+on the splendors that surrounded him, "Alas!" cried he, "how is it
+possible that a people possessed of such magnificence at home could envy
+me an humble cottage in Britain?" When brought into the Emperor's
+presence he is said to have addressed him in the following manner: "Had
+my moderation been equal to my birth and fortune, I had arrived in this
+city not as a captive, but as a friend. But my present misfortunes
+redound as much to your honor as to my disgrace; and the obstinacy of my
+opposition serves to increase the splendor of your victory. Had I
+surrendered myself in the beginning of the contest, neither my disgrace
+nor your glory would have attracted the attention of the world, and my
+fate would have been buried in general oblivion. I am now at your mercy;
+but if my life be spared, I shall remain an eternal monument of your
+clemency and moderation." The Emperor was affected with the British
+hero's misfortunes and won by his address. He ordered him to be
+unchained upon the spot, with the rest of the captives, and the first
+use they made of their liberty was to go and prostrate themselves before
+the empress Agrippina, who as some suppose had been an intercessor for
+their freedom.
+
+Notwithstanding these misfortunes, the Britons were not subdued, and
+this island was regarded by the ambitious Romans as a field in which
+military honor might still be acquired. The Britons made one expiring
+effort to recover their liberty in the time of Nero, taking advantage of
+the absence of Paulinus, the Roman general, who was employed in subduing
+the isle of Anglesey. That small island, separated from Britain by a
+narrow channel, still continued the chief seat of the Druidical
+superstition, and constantly afforded a retreat to their defeated
+forces. It was thought necessary therefore to subdue that place, in
+order to extirpate a religion that disdained submission to foreign laws
+or leaders; and Paulinus, the greatest general of his age, undertook the
+task.
+
+The Britons endeavored to obstruct his landing on that last retreat of
+their superstitions and liberties, both by the force of their arms and
+the terrors of their religion. The priests and islanders were drawn up
+in order of battle upon the shore, to oppose his landing. The women,
+dressed like Furies, with dishevelled hair, and torches in their hands,
+poured forth the most terrible execrations. Such a sight at first
+confounded the Romans and fixed them motionless on the spot; so that
+they received the first assault without opposition. But Paulinus,
+exhorting his troops to despise the menaces of an absurd superstition,
+impelled them to the attack, drove the Britons off the field, burned the
+Druids in the same fires they had prepared for their captive enemies,
+and destroyed all their consecrated groves and altars.
+
+In the mean time the Britons, taking advantage of his absence, resolved,
+by a general insurrection, to free themselves from that state of abject
+servitude to which they were reduced by the Romans. They had many
+motives to aggravate their resentment--the greatness of their taxes,
+which were levied with unremitting severity; the cruel insolence of
+their conquerors, who reproached that very poverty which they had
+caused, but particularly the barbarous treatment of Boadicea, queen of
+the Iceni, drove them at last into open rebellion.
+
+Prasatagus, king of the Iceni, at his death had bequeathed one-half of
+his dominions to the Romans, and the other to his daughters; thus hoping
+by the sacrifice of a part to secure the rest in his family; but it had
+a different effect; for the Roman procurator immediately took possession
+of the whole, and when Boadicea, the widow of the deceased, attempted to
+remonstrate, he ordered her to be scourged like a slave, and violated
+the chastity of her daughters. These outrages were sufficient to produce
+a revolt through the whole island. The Iceni, being the most deeply
+interested in the quarrel, were the first to take arms; all the other
+states soon followed the example, and Boadicea, a woman of great beauty
+and masculine spirit, was appointed to head the common forces, which
+amounted to two hundred and thirty thousand fighting men.
+
+These, exasperated by their wrongs, attacked several of the Roman
+settlements and colonies with success, Paulinus hastened to relieve
+London, which was already a flourishing colony; but found on his arrival
+that it would be requisite, for the general safety, to abandon that
+place to the merciless fury of the enemy. London was therefore soon
+reduced to ashes; such of the inhabitants as remained in it were
+massacred; and the Romans with all other strangers to the number of
+seventy thousand were cruelly put to the sword. Flushed with these
+successes the Britons no longer sought to avoid the enemy, but boldly
+came to the place where Paulinus awaited their arrival, posted in a very
+advantageous manner with a body of ten thousand men. The battle was
+obstinate and bloody. Boadicea herself appeared in a chariot with her
+two daughters and harangued her army with masculine firmness; but the
+irregular and undisciplined bravery of her troops was unable to resist
+the cool intrepidity of the Romans. They were routed with great
+slaughter; eighty thousand perished in the field, and an infinite number
+were made prisoners, while Boadicea herself, fearing to fall into the
+hands of the enraged victor, put an end to her life by poison. Nero soon
+after recalled Paulinus from a government where, by suffering and
+inflicting so many severities, he was judged improper to compose the
+angry and alarmed minds of the natives.
+
+After an interval, Cerealis received the command from Vespasian, and by
+his bravery propagated the terror of the Roman arms. Julius Frontinus
+succeeded Cerealis both in authority and reputation. The general who
+finally established the dominion of the Romans in this island was Julius
+Agricola, who governed it during the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and
+Domitian, and distinguished himself as well by his courage as humanity.
+
+Agricola, who is considered as one of the greatest characters in
+history, formed a regular plan for subduing and civilizing the island,
+and thus rendering the acquisition useful to the conquerors. As the
+northern part of the country was least tractable, he carried his
+victorious arms thither, and defeated the undisciplined enemy in every
+encounter. He pierced into the formerly inaccessible forests and
+mountains of Caledonia; he drove onward all those fierce and intractable
+spirits who preferred famine to slavery, and who, rather than submit,
+chose to remain in perpetual hostility. Nor was it without opposition
+that he thus made his way into a country rude and impervious by nature.
+
+He was opposed by Galgacus at the head of a numerous army, whom he
+defeated in a decisive action, in which considerable numbers were slain.
+Being thus successful, he did not think proper to pursue the enemy into
+their retreats; but embarking a body of troops on board his fleet, he
+ordered the commander to surround the whole coast of Britain, which had
+not been discovered to be an island till the preceding year. This
+armament, pursuant to his orders, steered to the northward, and there
+subdued the Orkneys; then making the tour of the whole island, it
+arrived in the port of Sandwich, without having met with the least
+disaster.
+
+During these military enterprises, Agricola was ever attentive to the
+arts of peace. He attempted to humanize the fierceness of those who
+acknowledged his power, by introducing the Roman laws, habits, manners,
+and learning. He taught them to desire and raise all the conveniences of
+life, instructed them in the arts of agriculture, and, in order to
+protect them in their peaceable possessions, he drew a rampart, and
+fixed a train of garrisons between them and their northern neighbors,
+thus cutting off the ruder and more barren parts of the island and
+securing the Roman province from the invasion of a fierce and
+necessitous enemy. In this manner the Britons, being almost totally
+subdued, now began to throw off all hopes of recovering their former
+liberty, and, having often experienced the superiority of the Romans,
+consented to submit, and were content with safety. From that time the
+Romans seemed more desirous of securing what they possessed than of
+making new conquests, and were employed rather in repressing than
+punishing their restless northern invaders.
+
+
+
+
+CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF CAESAR AND
+ANTONY
+
+B.C. 51-30
+
+JOHN P. MAHAFFY
+
+
+(Several Egyptian princesses of the line of the Ptolemies bore the name
+of Cleopatra, but history, romance, and tragedy are all illumined with
+the story of one--Cleopatra the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes. Born at
+Alexandria, B.C. 69, she ruled jointly with her brother Ptolemy from 51
+to 48. Being then expelled by her colleague, she entered upon the
+performance of her part in Roman history when her cause was espoused by
+Julius Caesar, whom she had captivated by her charms. Her reinstatement
+by the help of Caesar, as well as all that followed in her relations with
+Roman rulers, was due primarily to personal considerations, rather than
+political or military causes; and among women whose lives have vitally
+influenced the conduct of great historic leaders, and thereby affected
+the course of events, Cleopatra holds a place at once the most
+conspicuous and most unique.
+
+Like Caesar, Mark Antony, at his first interview with Cleopatra,
+succumbed to the fascinations of the "Rare Egyptian," and he never after
+ceased to be her slave. Not long after Caesar's death Antony had married
+Fulvia, whom he deserted for the "enchanting queen." From this point to
+its culmination in overwhelming disaster and the tragic death of this
+celebrated pair of lovers, the romantic drama of Cleopatra's conquests
+becomes even more important in literature than in history. This
+extraordinary voluptuary, whose beauty and witcheries have interested
+mankind for almost twenty centuries, has been the subject of some thirty
+tragedies in various languages; and in _Antony and Cleopatra_--one of
+his greatest plays--Shakespeare, closely following the narratives of
+Plutarch and other classical writers, has invested her with a potency of
+charm unparalleled among literary creations.
+
+She matches Antony in qualities of intellect, while she dazzles him with
+her coquettish arts. "A queen, a siren," says Thomas Campbell, "a
+Shakespeare's Cleopatra alone could have entangled Shakespeare's
+Antony." And Shakespeare alone, as declared by Mrs. Jameson, "has dared
+to exhibit the Egyptian Queen with all her greatness and all her
+littleness, all her paltry arts and dissolute passions, yet awakened our
+pity for fallen grandeur without once beguiling us into sympathy with
+guilt."
+
+Yet the plain history of this "Sorceress of the Nile," with her
+"infinite variety," as told by Plutarch and the other ancients, and
+retold, with whatever advantages gained from critical research, by the
+modern masters, makes the same impression of moral contrast and
+inscrutability as that imparted by the greatest poet who has dramatized
+the character of Cleopatra.)
+
+
+Now at last Egypt, coming into close connection with the world's
+masters, becomes the stage for some of the most striking scenes in
+ancient history. They seem to most readers something new and
+strange--the pageants and passions of the fratricide Cleopatra as
+something unparalleled--and yet she was one of a race in which almost
+every reigning princess for the last two hundred years had been swayed
+by like storms of passion, or had been guilty of like daring violations
+of common humanity. What Arsinoe, what Cleopatra, from the first to the
+last, had hesitated to murder a brother or a husband, to assume the
+throne, to raise and command armies, to discard or adopt a partner of
+her throne from caprice in policy, or policy in caprice? But hitherto
+this desperate gambling with life had been carried on in Egypt and
+Syria; the play had been with Hellenistic pawns--Egyptian or Syrian
+princes; the last Cleopatra came to play with Roman pieces, easier
+apparently to move than the others, but implying higher stakes, greater
+glory in the victory, greater disaster in the defeat. Therefore is it
+that this last Cleopatra, probably no more than an average specimen of
+the beauty, talent, daring, and cruelty of her ancestors, has taken an
+unique place among them in the imagination of the world, and holds her
+own even now and forever as a familiar name throughout the world.
+
+Ptolemy Auletes, when dying, had taken great care not to bequeath his
+mortgaged kingdom to his Roman creditors. In his will he had named as
+his heirs the elder of his two sons, and his daughter, who was the
+eldest of the family. Nobody thought of claiming Egypt for a heritage of
+the Roman Republic, when the whole world was the prize proposed in the
+civil conflict, for though the war of Caesar and Pompey had not actually
+broken out, the political sky was lowering with blackness, and the
+coming tempest was muttering its thunder through the sultry air. So
+Cleopatra, now about sixteen or seventeen years of age, and her much
+younger brother (about ten) assumed the throne as was traditional,
+without any tumult or controversy,
+
+The opening discords came from within the royal family. The tutors and
+advisers of the young King, among whom Pothinos, a eunuch brought up
+with him as his playmate, according to the custom of the court, was the
+ablest and most influential, persuaded him to assume sole direction of
+affairs and to depose his elder sister. Cleopatra was not able to
+maintain herself in Alexandria, but went to Syria as an exile, where she
+promptly collected an army, as was the wont of these Egyptian
+princesses, who seem to have resources always under their control, and
+returned--within a few months, says Caesar--by way of Pelusium, to
+reconquer her lawful share in the throne. This happened in the fourth
+year of their so-called joint reign, B.C. 48, at the very time that
+Pompey and Caesar were engaged in their conflict for a far greater
+kingdom.
+
+Caesar expressed his opinion that the quarrel of the sovereigns in Egypt
+concerned the Roman people, and himself as consul, the more so as it was
+in his previous consulate that the recognition of and alliance with
+their father had taken place. So he signified his decision that Ptolemy
+and Cleopatra should dismiss their armies, and should discuss their
+claims before him by argument and not by arms. All our authorities,
+except Dio Cassius, state that he sent for Cleopatra that she might
+personally urge her claims; but Dio tells us, with far more detail and I
+think greater probability, "that at first the quarrel with her brother
+was argued for her by friends, till she, learning the amorous character
+of Caesar, sent him word that her case was being mismanaged by her
+advocates, and she desired to plead it herself, She was then in the
+flower of her age (about twenty) and celebrated for her beauty.
+Moreover, she had the sweetest of voices, and every charm of
+conversation, so that she was likely to ensnare even the most obdurate
+and elderly man. These gifts she regarded as her claims upon Caesar. She
+prayed therefore for an interview, and adorned herself in a garb most
+becoming, but likely to arouse his pity, and so came secretly by night
+to visit him."
+
+If she indeed arrived secretly and was carried into the palace by one
+faithful follower as a bale of carpet, it was from fear of assassination
+by the party of Pothinos. She knew that as soon as she had reached
+Caesar's sentries she was safe; as the event proved, she was more than
+safe, for in the brief interval of peace, and perhaps even of apparent
+jollity, while the royal dispute was under discussion, she gained an
+influence over Caesar which she retained till his death. Caesar
+adjudicated the throne according to the will of Auletes; he even
+restored Cyprus to Egypt, and proposed to send the younger brother and
+his sister Arsinoe to govern it; but he also insisted on a repayment, in
+part at least, of the enormous outstanding debt of Auletes to him and
+his party.
+
+A few months after Caesar's departure from Egypt Cleopatra gave birth to
+a son, whom she alleged, without any immediate contradiction, to be the
+dictator's. The Alexandrians called him Caesarion, and she never swerved
+from asserting for him royal privileges. We hear of no other lover,
+though it is impossible to imagine Cleopatra arriving at the age of
+twenty without providing herself with this luxury. She was, however,
+afraid to let Caesar live far from her influence, and some time before
+his assassination--that is to say, some time between B.C. 48 and 44--she
+came with the young King her brother to Rome, where she was received in
+Caesar's palace beyond the Tiber, causing by her residence there
+considerable scandal among the stricter Romans. Cicero confesses that he
+went to see her, but protests that his reasons for doing so were
+absolutely nonpolitical. Cicero found her haughty; he does not say she
+was beautiful and fascinating. We do not hear of any political activity
+on her part, though Cicero evidently suspects it; it is well-nigh
+impossible that she can have preferred her very doubtful position at
+Rome to her brilliant life in the East. She was suspected of urging
+Caesar to move eastward the capital of his new empire, to desert Rome,
+and choose either Ilium, the imaginary cradle of his race, or
+Alexandria, as his residence. She is likely to have encouraged at all
+events his expedition against the Parthians, which would bring him to
+Syria, whence she hoped to gain new territory for her son. The whole
+situation is eloquently, perhaps too eloquently, described by Merivale,
+for he weaves in many conjectures of his own, as if they were
+ascertained facts.
+
+The colors of this imitation of a hateful original [the oriental despot]
+were heightened by the demeanor of Cleopatra, who followed her lover to
+Rome at his invitation. She came with the younger Ptolemaeus, who now
+shared her throne, and her ostensible object was to negotiate a treaty
+between her kingdom and the Commonwealth. While the Egyptian nation was
+formally admitted to the friendship and alliance of Rome, its sovereign
+was lodged in Caesar's villa on the other side of the Tiber, and the
+statue of the most fascinating of women was erected in the temple of the
+Goddess of Love and Beauty. The connection which subsisted between her
+and the dictator was unblushingly avowed. Public opinion demanded no
+concessions to its delicacy; the feelings of the injured Calpurnia had
+been blunted by repeated outrage, and Cleopatra was encouraged to
+proclaim openly that her child Caesarion was the son of her Roman
+admirer. A tribune, named Helvius Cinna, ventured, it is said, to assert
+among his friends that he was prepared to propose a law, with the
+dictator's sanction, to enable him to marry more wives than one, for the
+sake of progeny, and to disregard in his choice the legitimate
+qualification of Roman descent. The Romans, however, were spared this
+last insult to their prejudices. The queen of Egypt felt bitterly the
+scorn with which she was popularly regarded as the representative of an
+effeminate and licentious people. It is not improbable that she employed
+her fatal influence to withdraw her lover from the Roman capital, and
+urged him to schemes of oriental conquest to bring him more completely
+within her toils. In the mean while the haughtiness of her demeanor
+corresponded with the splendid anticipations in which she indulged. She
+held a court in the suburbs of the city, at which the adherents of the
+dictator's policy were not the only attendants. Even his opponents and
+concealed enemies were glad to bask in the sunshine of her smiles.
+
+When Caesar was assassinated, she was still at Rome, and had some wild
+hopes of having her son recognized by the Caesareans. But failing in this
+she escaped secretly, and sailed to Egypt, not without causing
+satisfaction to cautious men like Cicero that she was gone. The passage
+in which he seems to allude to a rumor that she was about to have
+another child--another misfortune to the State--does not bear that
+interpretation. As he says not a word concerning the young king Ptolemy,
+we may assume that the youth was already dead, and that he died at Rome.
+The common belief was that Cleopatra poisoned him as soon as his
+increasing years made him troublesome to her. In her reign four years
+are assigned to a joint rule with her elder brother, four more to that
+with her younger, so that this latter must have died in the same year as
+Caesar.
+
+Cleopatra, watching from Egypt the great civil war which ensued,
+summoned and commanded by the various leaders to send aid in ships and
+money, threatened with plunder and confiscation by those who were now
+exhausting Asia Minor and the islands with monstrous exactions, had
+ample occupation for her talents in steering safely among these constant
+dangers. Appian says she pleaded famine and pestilence in her country in
+declining the demands of Cassius for subsidies. The latter was on the
+point of invading Egypt, at the moment denuded of defending forces and
+_wasted with famine_, when he was summoned to Philippi by Brutus.
+
+It was not till B.C. 41, after the decisive battle of Philippi, that the
+victorious Antony, turning to subdue the East to the Caesarean cause,
+held his _joyeuse entree_ into Ephesus, and then proceeded to drain all
+Asia Minor of money for the satisfaction of his greedy legionaries and
+his own still more greedy vices. Reaching Cilicia, he sent an order to
+the queen of Egypt to come before him and explain her conduct during the
+late war, for she was reported to have sent aid to Cassius. The sequel
+may be told in Plutarch's famous narrative:
+
+"Dellius, who was sent on this message, had no sooner seen her face, and
+remarked her adroitness and subtlety in speech, than he felt convinced
+that Antony would not so much as think of giving any molestation to a
+woman like this. On the contrary, she would be the first in favor with
+him. So he set himself at once to pay his court to the Egyptian, and
+gave her his advice, 'to go,' in the Homeric style, to Cilicia, 'in her
+best attire,' and bade her fear nothing from Antony, the gentlest and
+kindest of soldiers. She had some faith in the words of Dellius, but
+more in her own attractions, which, having formerly recommended her to
+Caesar and the young Cnaeus Pompey, she did not doubt might yet prove
+more successful with Antony. Their acquaintance was with her when a
+girl, young, and ignorant of the world, but she was to meet Antony in
+the time of life when women's beauty is most splendid and their
+intellects are in full maturity. She made great preparation for her
+journey, of money, gifts, and ornaments of value, such as so wealthy a
+kingdom might afford, but she brought with her her surest hopes in her
+own magic arts and charms.
+
+"She received several letters, both from Antony and from his friends, to
+summon her, but she took no account of these orders; and at last, as if
+in mockery of them, she came sailing up the river Cydnus, in a barge
+with gilded stern and outspread sails of purple, while oars of silver
+beat time to the music of flutes and fifes and harps. She herself lay
+all along, under a canopy of cloth of gold, dressed as Venus in a
+picture, and beautiful young boys, like painted cupids, stood on each
+side to fan her. Her maids were dressed like sea nymphs and graces, some
+steering at the rudder, some working at the ropes.[71] The perfumes
+diffused themselves from the vessel to the shore, which was covered with
+multitudes, part following the galley up the river on either bank, part
+running out of the city to see the sight. The market-place was quite
+emptied, and Antony at last was left alone sitting upon the tribunal,
+while the word went through all the multitude that Venus was come to
+feast with Bacchus, for the common good of Asia.[72] On her arrival,
+Antony sent to invite her to supper. She thought it fitter he should
+come to her; so, willing to show his good humor and courtesy, he
+complied, and went. He found the preparations to receive him magnificent
+beyond expression, but nothing so admirable as the great number of
+lights, for on a sudden there was let down altogether so great a number
+of branches with lights in them so ingeniously disposed, some in squares
+and some in circles, that the whole thing was a spectacle that has
+seldom been equalled for beauty."
+
+[Footnote 71: There was no Egyptian feature in this show, which was
+purely Hellenistic.]
+
+[Footnote 72: How easily such a belief started up in the minds of a
+crowd in the Asia Minor of that day appears from Acts xiv. 11 _seq_.,
+where the crowd at Iconium, on seeing a cripple cured, at once exclaim
+that the gods are come down to them in the likeness of men, and call
+Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker,
+bringing sacrifices to offer to the apostles.]
+
+"The next day Antony invited her to supper, and was very desirous to
+outdo her as well in magnificence as contrivance; but he found he was
+altogether beaten in both, and was so well convinced of it that he was
+himself the first to jest and mock at his poverty of wit and his rustic
+awkwardness. She, perceiving that his raillery was broad and gross and
+savored more of the soldier than the courtier, rejoined in the same
+taste, and fell into it at once, without any sort of reluctance or
+reserve, for her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so
+remarkable that none could be compared with her, or that no one could
+see her without being struck by it, but the contact of her presence, if
+you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person,
+joining with the charm of her conversation and the character that
+attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a
+pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an
+instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another;
+so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an
+interpreter. To most of them she spoke herself, as to the Ethiopians,
+troglodytes, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, Parthians, and many
+others, whose language she had learned;[73] which was all the more
+surprising, because most of the kings her predecessors scarcely gave
+themselves the trouble to acquire the Egyptian tongue, and several of
+them quite abandoned the Macedonian."
+
+[Footnote 73: We have here the usual lies of courtiers.]
+
+"Antony was so captivated by her that, while Fulvia, his wife,
+maintained his quarrels in Rome against Caesar by actual force of arms,
+and the Parthian troops, commanded by Labienus--the King's generals
+having made him commander-in-chief--were assembled in Mesopotamia, and
+ready to enter Syria, he could yet suffer himself to be carried away by
+her to Alexandria, there to keep holiday, like a boy, in play and
+diversion, squandering and fooling away in enjoyments that most costly,
+as Antiphon says, of all valuables, time. They had a sort of company, to
+which they gave a particular name, calling it that of the 'Inimitable
+Livers.' The members entertained one another daily in turn, with an
+extravagance of expenditure beyond measure or belief. Philotas, a
+physician of Amphissa, who was at that time a student of medicine in
+Alexandria, used to tell my grandfather Lamprias that, having some
+acquaintance with one of the royal cooks, he was invited by him, being a
+young man, to come and see the sumptuous preparations for dinner. So he
+was taken into the kitchen, where he admired the prodigious variety of
+all things, but, particularly seeing eight wild boars roasting whole,
+says he, 'Surely you have a great number of guests.' The cook laughed at
+his simplicity, and told him there were not above twelve to dine, but
+that every dish was to be served up just roasted to a turn, and if
+anything was but one minute ill-timed it was spoiled. 'And,' said he,
+'maybe Antony will dine just now, maybe not this hour, maybe he will
+call for wine, or begin to talk, and will put it off. So that,' he
+continued, 'it is not one, but many dinners, must be had in readiness,
+as it is impossible to guess at his hour.'"
+
+Plato admits four sorts of flattery, but Cleopatra had a thousand. Were
+Antony serious or disposed to mirth she had any moment some new delight
+or charm to meet his wishes. At every turn she was upon him, and let him
+escape her neither by day nor by night. She played at dice with him,
+drank with him, hunted with him, and when he exercised in arms she was
+there to see. At night she would go rambling with him to joke with
+people at their doors and windows, dressed like a servant woman, for
+Antony also went in servant's disguise, and from these expeditions he
+always came home very scurvily answered, and sometimes even beaten
+severely, though most people guessed who it was. However, the
+Alexandrians in general liked it all well enough, and joined
+good-humoredly and kindly in his frolic and play, saying they were much
+obliged to Antony for acting his tragic parts at Rome and keeping his
+comedy for them. It would be trifling without end to be particular in
+relating his follies, but his fishing must not be forgotten. He went out
+one day to angle with Cleopatra, and being so unfortunate as to catch
+nothing in the presence of his mistress, he gave secret orders to the
+fishermen to dive under water and put fishes that had been already taken
+upon his hooks, and these he drew in so fast that the Egyptian perceived
+it. But feigning great admiration, she told everybody how dexterous
+Antony was, and invited them next day to come and see him again. So when
+a number of them had come on board the fishing boats, as soon as he had
+let down his hook, one of her servants was beforehand with his divers
+and fixed upon his hook a salted fish from Pontus. Antony, feeling his
+line taut, drew up the prey, and when, as may be imagined, great
+laughter ensued, "Leave," said Cleopatra, "the fishing rod, autocrat, to
+us poor sovereigns of Pharos and Canopus; your game is cities, kingdoms,
+and continents."
+
+Plutarch does not mention the most tragic and the most characteristic
+proof of Cleopatra's complete conquest of Antony. Among his other crimes
+of obedience he sent by her orders and put to death the Princess
+Arsinoe, who, knowing well her danger, had taken refuge as a suppliant
+in the temple of Artemis Leucophryne at Miletus.
+
+It is not our duty to follow the various complications of war and
+diplomacy, accompanied by the marriage with the serious and gentle
+Octavia, whereby the brilliant but dissolute Antony was weaned, as it
+were, from his follies, and persuaded to live a life of public activity.
+Whether the wily Octavian did not foresee the result, whether he did not
+even sacrifice his sister to accumulate odium against his dangerous
+rival, is not for us to determine. But when it was arranged (in B.C. 36)
+that Antony should lead an expedition against the Parthians, any man of
+ordinary sense must have known that he would come within the reach of
+the eastern siren, and was sure to be again attracted by her fatal
+voice. It is hard to account for her strange patience during these four
+years. She had borne twins to Antony, probably after the meeting in
+Cilicia. Though she still maintained the claims of her eldest son
+Caesarion to be the divine Julius' only direct heir, we do not hear of
+her sending requests to Antony to support him, or that any agents were
+working in her interests at Rome. She was too subtle a woman to solicit
+his return to Alexandria. There are mistaken insinuations that she
+thought the chances of Sextus Pompey, with his naval supremacy, better
+than those of Antony, but these stories refer to his brother Cnaeus, who
+visited Egypt before Pharsalia.
+
+It is probably to this pause in her life, as we know it, that we may
+refer her activity in repairing and enlarging the national temples. The
+splendid edifice at Dendera, at present among the most perfect of
+Egyptian temples, bears no older names than those of Cleopatra and her
+son Caesarion, and their portraits represent the latter as a growing lad,
+his mother as an essentially Egyptian figure, conventionally drawn
+according to the rules which had determined the figures of gods and
+kings for fifteen hundred years. Under these circumstances it is idle to
+speak of this well-known relief picture as a portrait of the Queen. It
+is no more so than the granite statues in the Vatican are portraits of
+Philadelphus and Arsinoe. The artist had probably never seen the Queen,
+and if he had, it would not have produced the slightest alteration in
+his drawing.
+
+Plutarch expressly says that it was not in peerless beauty that her
+fascination lay, but in the combination of more than average beauty with
+many other personal attractions. The Egyptian portrait is likely to
+confirm in the spectator's mind the impression derived from
+Shakespeare's play, that Cleopatra was a swarthy Egyptian, in strong
+contrast to the fair Roman ladies, and suggesting a wide difference of
+race. She was no more an Egyptian than she was an Indian, but a pure
+Macedonian, of a race akin to, and perhaps fairer than, the Greeks.
+
+No sooner had Antony reached Syria than the fell influence of the
+Egyptian Queen revived. In the words of Plutarch:
+
+"But the mischief that thus long had lain still, the passion for
+Cleopatra, which better thoughts had seemed to have lulled and charmed
+into oblivion, upon his approach to Syria, gathered strength again, and
+broke out into a flame. And in fine, like Plato's restive and rebellious
+horse of the human soul, flinging off all good and wholesome counsel and
+breaking fairly loose, he sent Fonteius Capito to bring Cleopatra into
+Syria; to whom at her arrival he made no small or trifling
+present--Phoenicia, Coele-Syria, Cyprus, great part of Cilicia, that
+side of Judea which produces balm, that part of Arabia where the
+Nabathaeans extend to the outer sea--profuse gifts which much displeased
+the Romans. For although he had invested several private persons with
+great governments and kingdoms, and bereaved many kings of theirs, as
+Antigonus of Judea, whose head he caused to be struck off--the first
+example of that punishment being inflicted on a king--yet nothing stung
+the Romans like the shame of these honors paid to Cleopatra. Their
+dissatisfaction was augmented also by his acknowledging as his own the
+twin children he had by her, giving them the names of Alexander and
+Cleopatra, and adding, as their surnames, the titles of Sun and Moon."
+
+After much dallying the triumvir really started for the wild East,
+whither it is not our business to follow him. Cleopatra he sent home to
+Egypt, to await his victorious return, and it was on this occasion that
+she came in state to Jerusalem to visit Herod the Great--probably the
+most brilliant scene of the kind which had taken place since the queen
+of Sheba came to learn the wisdom of Solomon. But it was a very
+different wisdom that Herod professed, and in which he was verily a high
+authority, nor was the subtle daughter of the Ptolemies a docile pupil,
+but a practised expert in the same arts of cruelty and cunning;
+wherewith both pursued their several courses of ambition and sought to
+wheedle from their Roman masters cities and provinces. The reunion of
+Antony and Cleopatra must have greatly alarmed Herod, whose plans were
+directly thwarted by the freaks of Antony, and he must have been
+preparing at the time to make his case with Octavian, and seek from his
+favor protection against the new caprices of the then lord of the East.
+
+"The scene at Herod's palace must have been inimitable. The display of
+counter-fascinations between these two tigers; their voluptuous natures
+mutually attracted; their hatred giving to each that deep interest in
+the other which so often turns to mutual passion while it incites to
+conquest; the grace and finish of their manners, concealing a ruthless
+ferocity; the splendor of their appointments--what more dramatic picture
+can we imagine in history?
+
+"We hear that she actually attempted to seduce Herod, but failed, owing
+to his deep devotion to his wife Mariamne. The prosaic Josephus adds
+that Herod consulted his council whether he should not put her to death
+for this attempt upon his virtue. He was dissuaded by them on the ground
+that Antony would listen to no arguments, not even from the most
+persuasive of the world's princes, and would take awful vengeance when
+he heard of her death. So she was escorted with great gifts and
+politenesses back to Egypt."
+
+Such, then, was the character of this notorious Queen. But her violation
+of temples, and even of ancient tombs, for the sake of treasure must
+have been a far more public and odious exhibition of that want of
+respect for the sentiment of others which is the essence of bad
+manners.[74]
+
+[Footnote 74: _The Greek World under Roman Sway._]
+
+As is well known, the first campaign of Antony against Armenians and
+Parthians was a signal failure, and it was only with great difficulty
+that he escaped the fate of Crassus. But Cleopatra was ready to meet him
+in Syria with provisions and clothes for his distressed and ragged
+battalions, and he returned with her to spend the winter (B.C. 36-35) at
+Alexandria. She thus snatched him again from his noble wife, Octavia,
+who had come from Rome to Athens with succors even greater than
+Cleopatra had brought. This at least is the word of the historians who
+write in the interest of the Romans, and regard the queen of Egypt with
+horror and with fear.
+
+The new campaign of Antony (B.C. 34) was apparently more prosperous, but
+it was only carried far enough to warrant his holding a Roman triumph at
+Alexandria--perhaps the only novelty in pomp which the triumvir could
+exhibit to the Alexandrian populace, while it gave the most poignant
+offence at Rome. It was apparently now that he made that formal
+distribution of provinces which Octavian used as his chief _casus
+belli_.
+
+"Nor was the division he made among his sons at Alexandria less
+unpopular. It seemed a theatrical piece of insolence and contempt of his
+country, for, assembling the people in the exercise ground, and causing
+two golden thrones to be placed on a platform of silver, the one for him
+and the other for Cleopatra, and at their feet lower thrones for their
+children, he proclaimed Cleopatra queen of Egypt, Cyprus, Libya, and
+Coele-Syria, and with her conjointly Caesarion, the reputed son of the
+former Caesar. His own sons by Cleopatra were to have the style of 'King
+of Kings'; to Alexander he gave Armenia and Media, with Parthia so soon
+as it should be overcome; to Ptolemy Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia.
+Alexander was brought out before the people in Median costume, the tiara
+and upright peak, and Ptolemy in boots and mantle and Macedonian cap
+done about with the diadem; for this was the habit of the successors of
+Alexander, as the other was of the Medes and Armenians. And, as soon as
+they had saluted their parents, the one was received by a guard of
+Macedonians, the other by one of Armenians. Cleopatra was then, as at
+other times when she appeared in public, dressed in the habit of the
+goddess Isis, and gave audience to the people under the name of the New
+Isis.
+
+"This over, he gave Priene to his players for a habitation, and set sail
+for Athens, where fresh sports and play-acting employed him. Cleopatra,
+jealous of the honors Octavia had received at Athens--for Octavia was
+much beloved by the Athenians--courted the favor of the people with all
+sorts of attentions. The Athenians, in requital, having decreed her
+public honors, deputed several of the citizens to wait upon her at her
+house, among whom went Antony as one, he being an Athenian citizen, and
+he it was that made the speech.
+
+"The speed and extent of Antony's preparations alarmed Caesar, who feared
+he might be forced to fight the decisive battle that summer, for he
+wanted many necessaries, and the people grudged very much to pay the
+taxes; freemen being called upon to pay a fourth part of their incomes,
+and freed slaves an eighth of their property, so that there were loud
+outcries against him, and disturbances throughout all Italy. And this is
+looked upon as one of the greatest of Antony's oversights that he did
+not then press the war, for he allowed time at once for Caesar to make
+his preparations, and for the commotions to pass over, for while people
+were having their money called for they were mutinous and violent; but,
+having paid it, they held their peace.
+
+"Titius and Plancus, men of consular dignity and friends to Antony,
+having been ill-used by Cleopatra, whom they had most resisted in her
+design of being present in the war, came over to Caesar, and gave
+information of the contents of Antony's will, with which they were
+acquainted. It was deposited in the hands of the vestal virgins, who
+refused to deliver it up, and sent Caesar word, if he pleased, he should
+come and seize it himself, which he did. And, reading it over to
+himself, he noted those places that were most for his purpose, and,
+having summoned the senate, read them publicly. Many were scandalized at
+the proceeding, thinking it out of reason and equity to call a man to
+account for what was not to be until after his death. Caesar specially
+pressed what Antony said in his will about his burial, for he had
+ordered that even if he died in the city of Rome, his body, after being
+carried in state through the Forum, should be sent to Cleopatra at
+Alexandria.
+
+"Calvisius, a dependent of Caesar's, urged other charges in connection
+with Cleopatra against Antony: that he had given her the library of
+Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct volumes; that at a
+great banquet, in the presence of many guests, he had risen up and
+rubbed her feet, to fulfil some wager or promise; that he had suffered
+the Ephesians to salute her as their queen; that he had frequently at
+the public audience of kings and princes received amorous messages
+written in tablets made of onyx and crystal, and read them openly on the
+tribunal; that when Furnius, a man of great authority and eloquence
+among the Romans, was pleading, Cleopatra happening to pass by in her
+litter, Antony started up and left them in the middle of their cause, to
+follow at her side and attend her home."[75]
+
+[Footnote 75: Plutarch: _Antony_.]
+
+When war was declared, Antony sought to gain the support of the East in
+the conflict. He made alliance with a Median king who betrothed his
+daughter to Cleopatra's infant son Alexander; but he made the fatal
+mistake of allowing Cleopatra to accompany him to Samos, where he
+gathered his army, and even to Actium, where she led the way in flying
+from the fight, and so persuading the infatuated Antony to leave his
+army and join in her disgraceful escape.
+
+Historians have regarded this act of Cleopatra as the mere cowardice of
+a woman who feared to look upon an armed conflict and join in the din of
+battle. But she was surely made of sterner stuff. She had probably
+computed with the utmost care the chances of the rivals, and had made up
+her mind that, in spite of Antony's gallantry, his cause was lost.[76]
+If she fought out the battle with her strong contingent of ships, she
+would probably fall into Octavian's hands as a prisoner, and would have
+no choice between suicide or death in the Roman prison, after being
+exhibited to the mob in Octavian's triumph. There was no chance whatever
+that she would have been spared, as was her sister Arsinoe after Julius
+Caesar's triumph, nor would such clemency be less hateful than death. But
+there was still a chance, if Antony were killed or taken prisoner, that
+she might negotiate with the victor as queen of Egypt, with her fleet,
+army, and treasures intact, and who could tell what effect her charms,
+though now full ripe, might have upon the conqueror? Two great Romans
+had yielded to her, why not the third, who seemed a smaller man?
+
+[Footnote 76: Dion says that Antony was of the same opinion, and went
+into the battle intending to fly; but this does not agree with his
+character or with the facts.]
+
+This view implies that she was already false to Antony, and it may well
+be asked how such a charge is compatible with the affecting scenes which
+followed at Alexandria, where her policy seemed defeated by her passion,
+and she felt her old love too strong even for her heartless ambition? I
+will say in answer that there is no more frequent anomaly in the
+psychology of female love than a strong passion coexisting with selfish
+ambition, so that each takes the lead in turn; nay, even the
+consciousness of treachery may so intensify the passion as to make a
+woman embrace with keener transports the lover whom she has betrayed
+than one whom she has no thought of surrendering. There are, moreover,
+in these tragedies unexpected accidents, which so affect even the
+hardest nature that calculations are cast aside, and the old loyalty
+resumes a temporary sway. Nor must we fail to insist again upon the
+traditions wherein this last Cleopatra was born and bred. She came from
+a stock whose women played with love and with life as if they were mere
+counters. To hesitate whether such a scion of such a house would have
+delayed to discard Antony and to assume another passion is to show small
+appreciation of the effects of heredity and of example. Dion tells us
+that she arrived in Alexandria before the news of her defeat, pretended
+a victory, and took the occasion of committing many murders, in order to
+get rid of secret opponents, and also to gather wealth by confiscation
+of their goods, for both she and Antony, who came along the coast of
+Libya, seem still to have thought of defending the inaccessible Egypt,
+and making terms for themselves and their children with the conqueror.
+But Antony's efforts completely failed; no one would rally to his
+standard. And meanwhile the false Queen had begun to send presents to
+Caesar and encourage him to treat with her. But when he bluntly proposed
+to her to murder Antony as the price of her reconciliation with himself,
+and when he even declared by proxy that he was in love with her, he
+clearly made a rash move in this game of diplomacy, though Dion says he
+persuaded her of his love, and that accordingly she betrayed to him the
+fortress of Pelusium, the key of the country. Dion also differs from
+Plutarch in repeatedly ascribing to Octavian great anxiety to secure the
+treasures which Cleopatra had with her, and which she was likely to
+destroy by fire if driven to despair.
+
+The historian may well leave to the biographer, nay, to the poet, the
+affecting details of the closing scenes of Cleopatra's life. In the
+fourth and fifth acts of _Antony and Cleopatra_ Shakespeare has
+reproduced every detail of Plutarch's narrative, which was drawn from
+that of her physician Olympos. Her fascinations were not dead, for they
+swayed Dolabella to play false to his master so far as to warn her of
+his intentions, and leave her time for her dignified and royal end. But
+if these Hellenistic queens knew how to die, they knew not how to live.
+Even the penultimate scene of the tragedy, when she presents an
+inventory of her treasures to Octavian, and is charged by her steward
+with dishonesty, shows her in uncivilized violence striking the man in
+the face and bursting into indecent fury, such as an Athenian, still
+less a Roman, matron would have been ashamed to exhibit. Nor is there
+any reason to doubt the genuineness of this scene, though we must not be
+weary of cautioning ourselves against the hostile witnesses who have
+reported to us her life. They praise nothing in her but her bewitching
+presence and her majestic death.
+
+"After her repast Cleopatra sent to Caesar a letter which she had written
+and sealed, and, putting everybody out of the monument but her two
+women, she shut the doors. Caesar, opening her letter, and finding
+pathetic prayers and entreaties that she might be buried in the same
+tomb with Antony, soon guessed what was doing. At first he was going
+himself in all haste; but, changing his mind, he sent others to see. The
+thing had been quickly done. The messengers came at full speed, and
+found the guards apprehensive of nothing; but on opening the doors they
+saw her stone dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal
+ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her feet, and Charmion,
+just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was adjusting her
+mistress' diadem. And when one that came in said angrily, 'Was this well
+done of your lady, Charmion?' 'Perfectly well,' she answered, 'and as
+became the daughter of so many kings'; and as she said this she fell
+down dead by the bedside."
+
+Even the hostile accounts cannot conceal from us that both in physique
+and in intellect she was a very remarkable figure, exceptional in her
+own, exceptional had she been born in any other, age. She is a speaking
+instance of the falsehood of a prevailing belief, that the intermarriage
+of near relations invariably produces a decadence in the human race. The
+whole dynasty of the Ptolemies contradicts this current theory, and
+exhibits in the last of the series the most signal exception. Cleopatra
+VI was descended from many generations of breeding-in, of which four
+exhibit marriages of full brother and sister. And yet she was deficient
+in no quality, physical or intellectual, which goes to make up a
+well-bred and well-developed human being. Her morals were indeed those
+of her ancestors, and as bad as could be, but I am not aware that it is
+degeneration in this direction which is assumed by the theory in
+question, except as a consequence of physical decay. Physically,
+however, Cleopatra was perfect. She was not only beautiful, but
+prolific, and retained her vigor, and apparently her beauty, to the time
+of her death, when she was nearly forty years old.
+
+
+
+
+ASSASSINATION OF CAESAR
+
+B.C. 44
+
+NIEBUHR and PLUTARCH
+
+
+(Caesar's assassination forms the groundwork of one of Shakespeare's most
+notable tragedies. The "itching palm" of Cassius, Brutus' rectitude and
+honesty of purpose, and Mark Antony's oration will ever live while the
+English language endures. When the great Caesar was struck down, the
+civil war was over and he was master of the world. The month of the year
+B.C. 100 in which he was born, Quinctilis, was afterward called in his
+honor, July.
+
+Caius Julius Caesar was one of the greatest figures in history, and early
+took a prominent part in the affairs of Rome. He was a rival of Cicero
+in forensic eloquence and highly esteemed as a writer, his
+_Commentaries_ being universally admired. Ransomed from pirates who had
+captured him on his way to study philosophy at Rhodes, he attacked them
+in turn, took them to Pergamus, and crucified them.
+
+After various successful engagements Caesar marched against Pharnaces,
+now established in the kingdom of the Bosphorus, gaining at Zela, in
+Pontus, the decisive victory which he announced in the famous despatch,
+_Veni, vidi, vici_ ["I came, I saw, I conquered"].
+
+His unbounded affability, his liveliness and cordiality, his unaffected
+kindness to his friends had made him popular with the high as well as
+the low. His ambition began to show itself. During the wrangles over the
+election of Afranius as consul, Caesar returned from his brilliant
+successes in Spain. The troops saluted him as imperator and the senate
+voted a thanksgiving in his honor. He was now strong enough to take his
+place as the leader of the popular party. He was elected consul in spite
+of the hostility of the senate.
+
+A coalition was formed between Caesar and Pompey. Caesar's agrarian law
+added to his popularity with the people, and he gained the influence of
+the _equites_ by relief of one-third of the farmed taxes of Asia. He now
+became proconsul of Illyricum and Gaul for five years. This suited his
+ambition. At this time Pompey was the absolute master of Rome. And now
+arose his duel for power with Caesar. For a time he opposed the latter's
+election as consul, but later yielded.
+
+Caesar had achieved his brilliant success beyond the Alps. He had won
+victories in Gaul and Britain; but in the mean time his enemies had been
+active at Rome. Still believing that the senate would permit his quiet
+election to the consulship, he refused to strike any blow at their
+authority. But the senate had determined to humble Caesar. Both Pompey
+and Caesar were removed from leadership, but the Consul Marcellus refused
+to execute the decree. Caesar was directed by the senate to disband his
+army by a fixed day, on pain of being considered a public enemy. Pompey
+sided with the senate. This meant civil war. Antony and Cassius fled to
+the camp of Caesar, who was enthusiastically supported by his soldiers
+and "crossed the Rubicon."
+
+Having become master of all Italy in three months without a battle,
+Caesar reentered Rome. Pompey had fled, and at the battle of Pharsalia
+was utterly routed, and took refuge in Egypt, where he was murdered a
+few days before the arrival of Caesar.
+
+Upon receipt of the news of Pompey's death Caesar was named dictator for
+one year. The government was now placed without disguise in his hands.
+He was invested with the tribunician power for life. He was also again
+elected consul and named dictator.
+
+Caesar had now become a demi-god, and was named dictator for ten years,
+being awarded a fourfold triumph, and a thanksgiving being decreed for
+forty days. He was also made censor. This was in B.C. 46. After
+defeating the remnant of the Pompeians, he returned to Rome in
+September, B.C. 45, and was named imperator, and appointed consul for
+ten years and dictator for life, being hailed as _Parens Patriae_.
+
+All these triumphs had caused jealousies. It was thought that he aspired
+to become king, and this led to his fall.)
+
+
+NIEBUHR
+
+It is one of the inestimable advantages of a hereditary government
+commonly called the legitimate, whatever its form may be, that it may be
+formally inactive in regard to the state and the population--that it may
+reserve its interference until it is absolutely necessary, and
+apparently leave things to take their own course. If we look around us
+and observe the various constitutions, we shall scarcely perceive the
+interference of the government; the greater part of the time passes away
+without those who have the reins in their hands being obliged to pay any
+particular attention to what they are doing, and a very large amount of
+individual liberty may be enjoyed. But if the government is what we call
+a usurpation, the ruler has not only to take care to maintain his power,
+but in all that he undertakes he has to consider by what means and in
+what ways he can establish his right to govern, and his own personal
+qualifications for it. Men who are in such a position are urged on to
+act by a very sad necessity, from which they cannot escape, and such was
+the position of Caesar at Rome.
+
+In our European States, men have wide and extensive spheres in which
+they can act and move. The much-decried system of centralization has
+indeed many disadvantages; but it has this advantage for the ruler, that
+he can exert an activity which shows its influence far and wide. But
+what could Caesar do, in the centre of nearly the whole of the known
+world? He could not hope to effect any material improvements either in
+Italy or in the provinces. He had been accustomed from his youth, and
+more especially during the last fifteen years, to an enormous activity,
+and idleness was intolerable to him. At the close of the civil war he
+would have had little or nothing to do unless he had turned his
+attention to some foreign enterprise. He was obliged to venture upon
+something that would occupy his whole soul, for he could not rest. His
+thoughts were therefore again directed to war, and that in a quarter
+where the most brilliant triumphs awaited him, where the bones of the
+legions of Crassus lay unavenged--to a war against the Parthians. About
+this time the Getae also had spread in Thrace, and he intended to check
+their progress likewise. But his main problem was to destroy the
+Parthian empire and to extend the Roman dominion as far as India, a plan
+in which he would certainly have been successful; and he himself felt so
+sure of this that he was already thinking of what he should undertake
+afterward.
+
+It is by no means incredible that, as we are told, he intended on his
+return to march through the passes of the Caucasus, and through ancient
+Scythia into the country of the Getae, and thence through Germany and
+Gaul into Italy. Besides this expedition, he entertained other plans of
+no less gigantic dimensions. The port of Ostia was bad, and in reality
+little better than a mere roadstead, so that great ships could not come
+up the river. Accordingly it is said that Caesar intended to dig a canal
+for sea-ships, from the Tiber, above or below Rome, through the Pomptine
+marshes as far as Terracina. He further contemplated to cut through the
+Isthmus of Corinth. It is not easy to see in what manner he would have
+accomplished this, considering the state of hydraulic architecture in
+those times. The Roman canals were mere _fossae_, and canals with
+sluices, though not unknown to the Romans, were not constructed by
+them.[77]
+
+[Footnote 77: The first canals with sluices were executed by the Dutch
+in the fifteenth century.]
+
+The fact of Caesar forming such enormous plans is not very surprising;
+but we can scarcely comprehend how it was possible for him to accomplish
+so much of what he undertook in the short time of five months preceding
+his death. Following the unfortunate system of Sulla, Caesar founded
+throughout Italy a number of colonies of veterans. The old Sullanian
+colonists were treated with great severity, and many of them and their
+children were expelled from their lands, and were thus punished for the
+cruelty which they or their fathers had committed against the
+inhabitants of the municipia. In like manner colonies were established
+in Southern Gaul, Italy, Africa, and other parts; I may mention in
+particular the colonies founded at Carthage and Corinth. The latter,
+however, was a _colonia libertinorum_, and never rose to any importance.
+We do not know the details of its foundation, but one would imagine that
+Caesar would have preferred restoring the place as a purely Greek town.
+This, however, he did not do. Its population was and remained a mixed
+one, and Corinth never rose to a state of real prosperity.
+
+Caesar made various new arrangements in the State, and among others he
+restored the full franchise, or the _jus honorum_, to the sons of those
+who had been proscribed in the time of Sulla. He had obtained for
+himself the title of imperator and the dictatorship for life and the
+consulship for ten years. Half of the offices of the republic to which
+persons had before been elected by the centuries were in his gift, and
+for the other half he usually recommended candidates; so that the
+elections were merely nominal.
+
+The tribes seem to have retained their rights of election uncurtailed,
+and the last tribunes must have been elected by the people. But although
+Caesar did not himself confer the consulship, yet the whole republic was
+reduced to a mere form and appearance. Caesar made various new laws and
+regulations; for example, to lighten the burdens of debtors and the
+like; but the changes he introduced in the form of the constitution were
+of little importance. He increased the number of praetors, which Sulla
+had raised to eight, successively to ten, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen,
+and the number of quaestors was increased to forty. Hence the number of
+persons from whom the senate was to be filled up became greater than
+that of the vacancies, and Caesar accordingly increased the number of
+senators, though it is uncertain what number he fixed upon, and raised a
+great many of his friends to the dignity of senators. In this, as in
+many other cases, he acted very arbitrarily; for he elected into the
+senate whomsoever he pleased, and conferred the franchise in a manner
+equally arbitrary. These things did not fail to create much discontent.
+It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding his mode of filling up the
+senate, not even the majority of senators were attached to his cause
+after his death.
+
+If we consider the changes and regulations which Caesar introduced, it
+must strike us as a singular circumstance that among all his measures
+there is no trace of any indicating that he thought of modifying the
+constitution for the purpose of putting an end to the anarchy, for all
+his changes are in reality not essential or of great importance. Sulla
+felt the necessity of remodelling the constitution, but he did not
+attain his end; and the manner, too, in which he set about it was that
+of a short-sighted man; but he was at least intelligent enough to see
+that the constitution as it then was could not continue to exist. In the
+regulations of Caesar we see no trace of such a conviction; and I think
+that he despaired of the possibility of effecting any real good by
+constitutional reforms. Hence, among all his laws there is not one that
+had any relation to the constitution. The fact of his increasing the
+number of patrician families had no reference to the constitution; so
+far in fact were the patricians from having any advantages over the
+plebeians that the office of the two _oediles Cereales_, which Caesar
+instituted, was confined to the plebeians--a regulation which was
+opposed to the very nature of the patriciate.
+
+His raising persons to the rank of patricians was neither more nor less
+than the modern practice of raising a family to the rank of nobility; he
+picked out an individual and gave him the rank of patrician for himself
+and his descendants, but did not elevate a whole gens. The distinction
+itself was merely a nominal one and conferred no privilege upon a person
+except that of holding certain priestly offices, which could be filled
+by none but patricians, and for which their number was scarcely
+sufficient. If Caesar had died quietly the republic would have been in
+the same, nay, in a much worse, state of dissolution than if he had not
+existed at all. I consider it a proof of the wisdom and good sense of
+Caesar that he did not, like Sulla, think an improvement in the state of
+public affairs so near at hand or a matter of so little difficulty. The
+cure of the disease lay yet at a very great distance, and the first
+condition on which it could be undertaken was the sovereignty of Caesar,
+a condition which would have been quite unbearable even to many of his
+followers, who as rebels did not scruple to go along with him. But Rome
+could no longer exist as a republic.
+
+It is curious to see in Cicero's work, _de Republica_, the consciousness
+running through it that Rome, as it then stood, required the strong hand
+of a king. Cicero had surely often owned this to himself; but he saw no
+one who would have entered into such an idea. The title of king had a
+great fascination for Caesar, as it had for Cromwell--a surprising
+phenomenon in a practical mind like that of Caesar. Everyone knows the
+fact that while Caesar was sitting on the _suggestum_, during the
+celebration of the _Lupercalia_, Antony presented to him the diadem, to
+try how the people would take it. Caesar saw the great alarm which the
+act created and declined the diadem for the sake of appearance; but had
+the people been silent, Caesar would unquestionably have accepted it. His
+refusal was accompanied by loud shouts of acclamation, which for the
+present rendered all further attempts impossible. Antony then had a
+statue of Caesar adorned with the diadem; but two tribunes of the people,
+L. Caesetius Flavus and Epidius Marullus, took it away: and here Caesar
+showed the real state of his feelings, for he treated the conduct of the
+tribunes as a personal insult toward himself. He had lost his
+self-possession and his fate carried him irresistibly onward. He wished
+to have the tribunes imprisoned, but was prevailed upon to be satisfied
+with their being stripped of their office and sent into exile.
+
+This created a great sensation at Rome. Caesar had also been guilty of an
+act of thoughtlessness, or perhaps merely of distraction, as might
+happen very easily to a man in his circumstances. When the senate had
+made its last decrees, conferring upon Caesar unlimited powers, the
+senators, consuls, and praetors, or the whole senate, in festal attire,
+presented the decrees to him, and Caesar at the moment forgot to show his
+respect for the senators; he did not rise from his _sella curulis_, but
+received the decrees in an unceremonious manner. This want of politeness
+was never forgiven by the persons who had not scrupled to make him their
+master; for it had been expected that he would at least behave politely
+and be grateful for such decrees.[78] Caesar himself had no design in the
+act, which was merely the consequence of distraction or thoughtlessness;
+but it made the senate his irreconcilable enemies. The affair with the
+tribunes, moreover, had made a deep impression upon the people. We must,
+however, remember that the people under such circumstances are most
+sensible to anything affecting their honor, as we have seen at the
+beginning of the French Revolution.
+
+[Footnote 78: I have known an instance of a man of rank and influence
+who could never forgive another man, who was by far his superior in
+every respect, for having forgotten to take off his hat during a visit.]
+
+In the year of Caesar's death, Brutus and Cassius were praetors. Both had
+been generals under Pompey. Brutus' mother, Servilia, was a half-sister
+of Cato, for after the death of her first husband Cato's mother had
+married Servilius Caepio. She was a remarkable woman, but very immoral,
+and unworthy of her son; not even the honor of her own daughter was
+sacred to her. The family of Brutus derived its origin from L. Junius
+Brutus, and from the time of its first appearance among the plebeians it
+had had few men of importance to boast of. During the period subsequent
+to the passing of the Licinian laws we meet with some Junii in the
+Fasti, but not one of them acquired any great reputation. The family had
+become reduced and almost contemptible. One M. Brutus in particular
+disgraced his family by sycophancy in the time of Sulla and was
+afterward killed in Gaul by Pompey. Although no Roman family belonged to
+a more illustrious gens, yet Brutus was not by any means one of those
+men who are raised by fortunate circumstances. The education, however,
+which he received had a great influence upon him. His uncle Cato, whose
+daughter Porcia he married--whether in Cato's lifetime or afterward is
+doubtful--had initiated him from his early youth in the Stoic
+philosophy, and had instilled into his mind a veneration for it, as
+though it had been a religion.
+
+Brutus had qualities which Cato did not possess. The latter had
+something of an ascetic nature, and was, if I may say so, a scrupulously
+pious character; but Brutus had no such scrupulous timidity; his mind
+was more flexible and lovable. Cato spoke well, but could not be
+reckoned among the eloquent men of his time. Brutus' great talents had
+been developed with the utmost care, and if he had lived longer and in
+peace he would have become a classical writer of the highest order. He
+had been known to Cicero from his early age, and Cicero felt a fatherly
+attachment to him; he saw in him a young man who he hoped would exert a
+beneficial influence upon the next generation.
+
+Caesar too had known and loved him from his childhood; but the stories
+which are related to account for this attachment must be rejected as
+foolish inventions of idle persons; for nothing is more natural than
+that Caesar should look with great fondness upon a young man of such
+extraordinary and amiable qualities. The absence of envy was one of the
+distinguishing features in the character of Caesar, as it was in that of
+Cicero. In the battle of Pharsalus, Brutus served in the army of Pompey,
+and after the battle he wrote a letter to Caesar, who had inquired after
+him; and when Caesar heard of his safety he was delighted, and invited
+him to his camp. Caesar afterward gave him the administration of
+Cisalpine Gaul, where Brutus distinguished himself in a very
+extraordinary manner by his love of justice.
+
+Cassius was related to Brutus, and had likewise belonged to the Pompeian
+party, but he was very unlike Brutus; he was much older, and a
+distinguished military officer. After the death of Crassus he had
+maintained himself as quaestor in Syria against the Parthians, and he
+enjoyed a very great reputation in the army, but he was after all no
+better than an ordinary officer of Caesar. After the battle of Pharsalus,
+Caesar did not at first know whither Pompey was gone. Cassius was at the
+time stationed with some galleys in the Hellespont, notwithstanding
+which Caesar with his usual boldness took a boat to sail across that
+strait, and on meeting Cassius called upon him to embrace his party.
+Cassius readily complied, and Caesar forgave him, as he forgave all his
+adversaries: even Marcellus, who had mortally offended him, was pardoned
+at the request of Cicero. Caesar thus endeavored to efface all
+recollections of the civil war.
+
+Caesar had appointed both Brutus and Cassius praetors for that year. With
+the exception of the office of _praetor urbanus_, which was honorable and
+lucrative, the praetorship was a burdensome office and conferred little
+distinction, since the other praetors were only the presidents of the
+courts. Formerly they had been elected by lot, but the office was now
+altogether in the gift of Caesar. Both Brutus and Cassius had wished for
+the praetura urbana, and, when Caesar gave that office to Brutus, Cassius
+was not only indignant at Caesar, but began quarrelling with Brutus also.
+While Cassius was in this state of exasperation, a meeting of the senate
+was announced for the 15th of March, on which day, as the report went, a
+proposal was to be made to offer Caesar the crown. This was a welcome
+opportunity for Cassius, who resolved to take vengeance, for he had even
+before entertained a personal hatred of Caesar, and was now disappointed
+at not having obtained the city praetorship. He first sounded Brutus and,
+finding that he was safe, made direct overtures to him. During the night
+some one wrote on the tribunal and the house of Brutus the words,
+"Remember that thou art Brutus."
+
+Brutus became reconciled to Cassius, offered his assistance, and gained
+over several other persons to join the conspiracy. All party differences
+seemed to have vanished all at once; two of the conspirators were old
+generals of Caesar, C. Trebonius and Decimus Brutus, both of whom had
+fought with him in Gaul, and against Massilia, and had been raised to
+high honors by their chief. There were among the conspirators persons of
+all parties. Men who had fought against one another at Pharsalus now
+went hand-in-hand and intrusted their lives to one another. No proposals
+were made to Cicero, the reasons usually assigned for which are of the
+most calumniatory kind. It is generally said that the conspirators had
+no confidence in Cicero, an opinion which is perfectly contemptible.
+Cicero would not have betrayed them for any consideration, but what they
+feared were his objections. Brutus had as noble a soul as anyone, but he
+was passionate; Cicero, on the other hand, who was at an advanced age,
+had many sad experiences, and his feelings were so exceedingly delicate
+that he could not have consented to take away the life of him to whom he
+himself owed his own, who had always behaved most nobly toward him, and
+had intentionally drawn him before the world as his friend.
+
+Caesar's conduct toward those who had fought in the ranks of Pompey and
+afterward returned to him was extremely noble, and he regarded the
+reconciliation of those men as a personal favor conferred upon himself.
+All who knew Cicero must have been convinced that he would not have
+given his consent to the plan of the conspirators; and if they ever did
+give the matter a serious thought, they must have owned to themselves
+that every wise man would have dissuaded them from it; for it was in
+fact the most complete absurdity to fancy that the republic could be
+restored by Caesar's death. Goethe says somewhere that the murder of
+Caesar was the most senseless act that the Romans ever committed; and a
+truer word was never spoken. The result of it could not possibly be any
+other than that which did follow the deed.
+
+Caesar was cautioned by Hirtius and Pansa, both wise men of noble
+character, especially the former, who saw that the republic must become
+consolidated and not thrown into fresh convulsions. They advised Caesar
+to be careful, and to take a bodyguard; but he replied that he would
+rather not live at all than be in constant fear of losing his life.
+Caesar once expressed to some of his friends his conviction that Brutus
+was capable of harboring a murderous design, but he added that as he,
+Caesar, could not live much longer, Brutus would wait, and not be guilty
+of such a crime. Caesar's health was at that time weak, and the general
+opinion was that he intended to surrender his power to Brutus as the
+most worthy. While the conspirators were making their preparations,
+Porcia, the wife of Brutus, inferred from the excitement and
+restlessness of her husband that some fearful secret was pressing on his
+mind; but as he did not show her any confidence, she seriously wounded
+herself with a knife and was seized with a violent wound-fever. No one
+knew the cause of her illness; and it was not till after many entreaties
+of her husband that at length she revealed it to him, saying that as she
+had been able to conceal the cause of her illness, so she could also
+keep any secret that might be intrusted to her. Her entreaties induced
+Brutus to communicate to her the plan of the conspirators. Caesar was
+also cautioned by the haruspices, by a dream of his wife, and by his own
+forebodings, which we have no reason for doubting. But on the morning of
+the 15th of March, the day fixed upon for assassinating Caesar, Decimus
+Brutus treacherously enticed him to go with him to the Curia, as it was
+impossible to delay the deed any longer.
+
+The conspirators were at first seized with fear lest their plan should
+be betrayed; but on Caesar's entrance into the senate house, C. Tillius
+(not Tullius) Cimber made his way up to him, and insulted him with his
+importunities, and Casca gave the first stroke. Caesar fell covered with
+twenty-three wounds. He was either in his fifty-sixth year or had
+completed it; I am not quite certain on this point, though, if we judge
+by the time of his first consulship, he must have been fifty-six years
+old. His birthday, which is not generally known, was the 11th of
+Quinctilis, which month was afterward called Julius, and his death took
+place on the 15th of March, between eleven and twelve o'clock.
+
+
+PLUTARCH
+
+At one time the senate having decreed Caesar some extravagant honors, the
+consuls and praetors, attended by the whole body of patricians, went to
+inform him of what they had done. When they came, he did not rise to
+receive them, but kept his seat, as if they had been persons in a
+private station, and his answer to their address was, "that there was
+more need to retrench his honors than to enlarge them." This haughtiness
+gave pain not only to the senate, but the people, who thought the
+contempt of that body reflected dishonor upon the whole Commonwealth;
+for all who could decently withdraw went off greatly dejected.
+
+Perceiving the false step he had taken, he retired immediately to his
+own house, and, laying his neck bare, told his friends "he was ready for
+the first hand that would strike." He then bethought himself of alleging
+his distemper as an excuse; and asserted that those who are under its
+influence are apt to find their faculties fail them when they speak
+standing, a trembling and giddiness coming upon them, which bereave them
+of their senses. This, however, was not really the case; for it is said
+he was desirous to rise to the senate; but Cornelius Balbus, one of his
+friends, or rather flatterers, held him, and had servility enough to
+say, "Will you not remember that you are Caesar, and suffer them to pay
+their court to you as their superior?"
+
+These discontents were greatly increased by the indignity with which he
+treated the tribunes of the people. In the Lupercalia, which, according
+to most writers, is an ancient pastoral feast, and which answers in many
+respects to the _Lycaea_ among the Arcadians, young men of noble
+families, and indeed many of the magistrates, run about the streets
+naked, and, by way of diversion, strike all they meet with leathern
+thongs with the hair upon them. Numbers of women of the first quality
+put themselves in their way, and present their hands for stripes--as
+scholars do to a master--being persuaded that the pregnant gain an easy
+delivery by it, and that the barren are enabled to conceive. Caesar wore
+a triumphal robe that day, and seated himself in a golden chair upon the
+_rostra_, to see the ceremony.
+
+Antony ran among the rest, in compliance with the rules of the festival,
+for he was consul. When he came into the Forum, and the crowd had made
+way for him, he approached Caesar, and offered him a diadem wreathed with
+laurel. Upon this some plaudits were heard, but very feeble, because
+they proceeded only from persons placed there on purpose. Caesar refused
+it, and then the plaudits were loud and general. Antony presented it
+once more, and few applauded his officiousness; but when Caesar rejected
+it again, the applause again was general. Caesar, undeceived by his
+second trial, rose up and ordered the diadem to be consecrated in the
+Capitol.
+
+A few days after, his statues were seen adorned with royal diadems; and
+Flavius and Marullus, two of the tribunes, went and tore them off. They
+also found out the persons who first saluted Caesar king, and committed
+them to prison. The people followed with cheerful acclamations, and
+called them Brutuses, because Brutus was the man who expelled the kings
+and put the government in the hands of the senate and people. Caesar,
+highly incensed at their behavior, deposed the tribunes, and by way of
+reprimand to them, as well as insult to the people, called them several
+times _Brutes_ and _Cumceans_.
+
+Upon this, many applied to Marcus Brutus, who, by the father's side, was
+supposed to be a descendant of that ancient Brutus, and whose mother was
+of the illustrious house of the Servilli. He was also nephew and
+son-in-law to Cato. No man was more inclined than he to lift his hand
+against monarchy, but he was withheld by the honors and favors he had
+received from Caesar, who had not only given him his life after the
+defeat of Pompey at Pharsalia, and pardoned many of his friends at his
+request, but continued to honor him with his confidence. That very year
+he had procured him the most honorable praetorship, and he had named him
+for the consulship four years after, in preference to Cassius, who was
+his competitor; on which occasion Caesar is reported to have said,
+"Cassius assigns the strongest reasons, but I cannot refuse Brutus."
+
+Some impeached Brutus after the conspiracy was formed; but, instead of
+listening to them, he laid his hand on his body and said, "Brutus will
+wait for this skin"; intimating that though the virtue of Brutus
+rendered him worthy of empire, he would not be guilty of any ingratitude
+or baseness to obtain it. Those, however, who were desirous of a change
+kept their eyes upon him only, or principally at least; and as they
+durst not speak out plain, they put billets night after night in the
+tribunal and seat which he used as praetor, mostly in these terms: "Thou
+sleepest, Brutus," or, "Thou art not Brutus."
+
+Cassius, perceiving his friend's ambition a little stimulated by these
+papers, began to ply him closer than before, and spur him on to the
+great enterprise; for he had a particular enmity against Caesar. Caesar,
+too, had some suspicion of him, and he even said one day to his friends:
+"What think you of Cassius? I do not like his pale looks." Another time,
+when Antony and Dolabella were accused of some designs against his
+person and government, he said: "I have no apprehensions from those fat
+and sleek men; I rather fear the pale and lean ones," meaning Cassius
+and Brutus.
+
+It seems, from this instance, that fate is not so secret as it is
+inevitable; for we are told there were strong signs and presages of the
+death of Caesar. As to the lights in the heavens, the strange noises
+heard in various quarters by night, and the appearance of solitary birds
+in the Forum, perhaps they deserve not our notice in so great an event
+as this. But some attention should be given to Strabo the philosopher.
+According to him there were seen in the air men of fire encountering
+each other; such a flame appeared to issue from the hand of a soldier's
+servant that all the spectators thought it must be burned, yet, when it
+was over, he found no harm; and one of the victims which Caesar offered
+was found without a heart. The latter was certainly a most alarming
+prodigy; for, according to the rules of nature, no creature can exist
+without a heart. What is still more extraordinary, many report that a
+certain soothsayer forewarned him of a great danger which threatened him
+on the ides of March, and that when the day was come, as he was going to
+the senate house, he called to the soothsayer, and said, laughing, "The
+ides of March are come"; to which he answered softly, "Yes; but they are
+not gone."
+
+The evening before, he supped with Marcus Lepidus, and signed, according
+to custom, a number of letters, as he sat at table. While he was so
+employed, there arose a question, "What kind of death was the best?" and
+Caesar, answering before them all, cried out, "A sudden one." The same
+night, as he was in bed with his wife, the doors and windows of the room
+flew open at once. Disturbed both with the noise and the light, he
+observed, by moonshine, Calpurnia in a deep sleep, uttering broken words
+and inarticulate groans. She dreamed that she was weeping over him, as
+she held him, murdered, in her arms. Others say she dreamed that the
+pinnacle was fallen, which, as Livy tells us, the senate had ordered to
+be erected upon Caesar's house by way of ornament and distinction; and
+that it was the fall of it which she lamented and wept for. Be that as
+it may, the next morning she conjured Caesar not to go out that day if he
+could possibly avoid it, but to adjourn the senate; and, if he had no
+regard to her dreams, to have recourse to some other species of
+divination, or to sacrifices, for information as to his fate. This gave
+him some suspicion and alarm; for he had never known before, in
+Calpurnia, anything of the weakness or superstition of her sex, though
+she was now so much affected.
+
+He therefore offered a number of sacrifices, and, as the diviners found
+no auspicious tokens in any of them, he sent Antony to dismiss the
+senate. In the mean time Decius Brutus, surnamed Albinus, came in. He
+was a person in whom Caesar placed such confidence that he had appointed
+him his second heir, yet he was engaged in the conspiracy with the other
+Brutus and Cassius. This man, fearing that if Caesar adjourned the senate
+to another day the affair might be discovered, laughed at the diviners,
+and told Caesar he would be highly to blame if by such a slight he gave
+the senate an occasion of complaint against him. "For they were met," he
+said, "at his summons, and came prepared with one voice to honor him
+with the title of king in the provinces, and to grant that he should
+wear the diadem both by sea and land everywhere out of Italy. But if
+anyone go and tell them, now they have taken their places, they must go
+home again, and return when Calpurnia happens to have better dreams,
+what room will your enemies have to launch out against you? Or who will
+hear your friends when they attempt to show that this is not an open
+servitude on the one hand and tyranny on the other? If you are
+absolutely persuaded that this is an unlucky day, it is certainly better
+to go yourself and tell them you have strong reasons for putting off
+business till another time." So saying he took Caesar by the hand and led
+him out.
+
+He was not gone far from the door when a slave, who belonged to some
+other person, attempted to get up to speak to him, but finding it
+impossible, by reason of the crowd that was about him, he made his way
+into the house, and putting himself into the hands of Calpurnia desired
+her to keep him safe till Caesar's return, because he had matters of
+great importance to communicate.
+
+Artemidorus the Cnidian, who, by teaching the Greek eloquence, became
+acquainted with some of Brutus' friends, and had got intelligence of
+most of the transactions, approached Caesar with a paper explaining what
+he had to discover. Observing that he gave the papers, as fast as he
+received them, to his officers, he got up as close as possible and said:
+"Caesar, read this to yourself, and quickly, for it contains matters of
+great consequence and of the last concern to you." He took it and
+attempted several times to read it, but was always prevented by one
+application or other. He therefore kept that paper, and that only, in
+his hand, when he entered the house. Some say it was delivered to him by
+another man, Artemidorus being kept from approaching him all the way by
+the crowd.
+
+These things might, indeed, fall out by chance; but as in the place
+where the senate was that day assembled, and which proved the scene of
+that tragedy, there was a statue of Pompey, and it was an edifice which
+Pompey had consecrated for an ornament to his theatre, nothing can be
+clearer than that some deity conducted the whole business and directed
+the execution of it to that very spot. Even Cassius himself, though
+inclined to the doctrines of Epicurus, turned his eye to the statue of
+Pompey, and secretly invoked his aid, before the great attempt. The
+arduous occasion, it seems, overruled his former sentiments, and laid
+them open to all the influence of enthusiasm. Antony, who was a faithful
+friend to Caesar, and a man of great strength, was held in discourse
+without, by Brutus Albinus, who had contrived a long story to detain
+him.
+
+When Caesar entered the house, the senate rose to do him honor. Some of
+Brutus' accomplices came up behind his chair, and others before it,
+pretending to intercede, along with Metillius Cimber, for the recall of
+his brother from exile. They continued their instances till he came to
+his seat. When he was seated he gave them a positive denial; and as they
+continued their importunities with an air of compulsion, he grew angry.
+Cimber, then, with both hands, pulled his gown off his neck, which was
+the signal for the attack. Casca gave him the first blow. It was a
+stroke upon the neck with his sword, but the wound was not dangerous;
+for in the beginning of so tremendous an enterprise he was probably in
+some disorder. Caesar therefore turned upon him and laid hold of his
+sword. At the same time they both cried out, the one in Latin, "Villain!
+Casca! what dost thou mean?" and the other in Greek, to his brother,
+"Brother, help!"
+
+After such a beginning, those who knew nothing of the conspiracy were
+seized with consternation and horror, insomuch that they durst neither
+fly nor assist, nor even utter a word. All the conspirators now drew
+their swords, and surrounded him in such a manner that, whatever way he
+turned, he saw nothing but steel gleaming in his face, and met nothing
+but wounds. Like some savage beast attacked by the hunters, he found
+every hand lifted against him, for they all agreed to have a share in
+the sacrifice and a taste of his blood. Therefore Brutus himself gave
+him a stroke in the groin. Some say he opposed the rest, and continued
+struggling and crying out till he perceived the sword of Brutus; then he
+drew his robe over his face and yielded to his fate. Either by accident
+or pushed thither by the conspirators, he expired on the pedestal of
+Pompey's statue, and dyed it with his blood; so that Pompey seemed to
+preside over the work of vengeance, to tread his enemy under his feet,
+and to enjoy his agonies. Those agonies were great, for he received no
+less than three-and-twenty wounds. And many of the conspirators wounded
+each other as they were aiming their blows at him.
+
+Caesar thus despatched, Brutus advanced to speak to the senate and to
+assign his reasons for what he had done, but they could not bear to hear
+him; they fled out of the house and filled the people with inexpressible
+horror and dismay. Some shut up their houses; others left their shops
+and counters. All were in motion; one was running to see the spectacle;
+another running back. Antony and Lepidus, Caesar's principal friends,
+withdrew, and hid themselves in other people's houses. Meantime Brutus
+and his confederates, yet warm from the slaughter, marched in a body
+with their bloody swords in their hands, from the senate house to the
+Capitol, not like men that fled, but with an air of gayety and
+confidence, calling the people to liberty, and stopping to talk with
+every man of consequence whom they met. There were some who even joined
+them and mingled with their train, desirous of appearing to have had a
+share in the action and hoping for one in the glory. Of this number were
+Caius Octavius and Lentulus Spinther, who afterward paid dear for their
+vanity, being put to death by Antony and young Caesar; so that they
+gained not even the honor for which they lost their lives, for nobody
+believed that they had any part in the enterprise; and they were
+punished, not for the deed, but for the will.
+
+Next day Brutus and the rest of the conspirators came down from the
+Capitol and addressed the people, who attended to their discourse
+without expressing either dislike or approbation of what was done. But
+by their silence it appeared that they pitied Caesar, at the same time
+that they revered Brutus. The senate passed a general amnesty; and, to
+reconcile all parties, they decreed Caesar divine honors and confirmed
+all the acts of his dictatorship; while on Brutus and his friends they
+bestowed governments and such honors as were suitable; so that it was
+generally imagined the Commonwealth was firmly established again, and
+all brought into the best order.
+
+But when, upon the opening of Caesar's will, it was found that he had
+left every Roman citizen a considerable legacy, and they beheld the
+body, as it was carried through the Forum, all mangled with wounds, the
+multitude could no longer be kept within bounds. They stopped the
+procession, and, tearing up the benches, with the doors and tables,
+heaped them into a pile, and burned the corpse there. Then snatching
+flaming brands from the pile, some ran to burn the houses of the
+assassins, while others ranged the city to find the conspirators
+themselves and tear them in pieces; but they had taken such care to
+secure themselves that they could not meet with one of them.
+
+One Cinna, a friend of Caesar's, had a strange dream the preceding night.
+He dreamed--as they tell us--that Caesar invited him to supper, and, upon
+his refusal to go, caught him by the hand and drew him after him, in
+spite of all the resistance he could make. Hearing, however, that the
+body of Caesar was to be burned in the Forum, he went to assist in doing
+him the last honors, though he had a fever upon him, the consequence of
+his uneasiness about his dream. On his coming up, one of the populace
+asked who that was? and having learned his name, told it to his next
+neighbor. A report immediately spread through the whole company that it
+was one of Caesar's murderers; and, indeed, one of the conspirators was
+named Cinna. The multitude, taking this for the man, fell upon him, and
+tore him to pieces upon the spot. Brutus and Cassius were so terrified
+at this rage of the populace that a few days after they left the city.
+An account of their subsequent actions, sufferings, and death may be
+found in the life of Brutus.
+
+Caesar died at the age of fifty-six, and did not survive Pompey above
+four years. His object was sovereign power and authority, which he
+pursued through innumerable dangers, and by prodigious efforts he gained
+it at last. But he reaped no other fruit from it than an empty and
+invidious title. It is true the divine Power, which conducted him
+through life, attended him after his death as his avenger, pursued and
+hunted out the assassins over sea and land, and rested not till there
+was not a man left, either of those who dipped their hands in his blood
+or of those who gave their sanction to the deed.
+
+The most remarkable of natural events relative to this affair was that
+Cassius, after he had lost the battle of Philippi, killed himself with
+the same dagger which he had made use of against Caesar; and the most
+signal phenomenon in the heavens was that of a great comet, which shone
+very bright for seven nights after Caesar's death, and then disappeared;
+to which we may add the fading of the sun's lustre; for his orb looked
+pale all that year; he rose not with a sparkling radiance, nor had the
+heat he afforded its usual strength. The air, of course, was dark and
+heavy, for want of that vigorous heat which clears and rarefies it; and
+the fruits were so crude and unconcocted that they pined away and
+decayed, through the chilliness of the atmosphere.
+
+We have a proof still more striking that the assassination of Caesar was
+displeasing to the gods, in the phantom that appeared to Brutus. The
+story of it is this: Brutus was on the point of transporting his army
+from Abydos to the opposite continent; and the night before, he lay in
+his tent awake, according to custom, and in deep thought about what
+might be the event of the war; for it was natural for him to watch a
+great part of the night, and no general ever required so little sleep.
+With all his senses about him, he heard a noise at the door of his tent,
+and looking toward the light, which was now burned very low, he saw a
+terrible appearance in the human form, but of prodigious stature and the
+most hideous aspect. At first he was struck with astonishment; but when
+he saw it neither did nor spoke anything to him, but stood in silence by
+his bed, he asked it who it was? The spectre answered: "I am thy evil
+genius, Brutus; thou shalt see me at Philippi." Brutus answered boldly,
+"I'll meet thee there"; and the spectre immediately vanished.
+
+Some time after, he engaged Antony and Octavius Caesar at Philippi, and
+the first day was victorious, carrying all before him, where he fought
+in person, and even pillaging Caesar's camp. The night before he was to
+fight the second battle the same spectre appeared to him again, but
+spoke not a word. Brutus, however, understood that his last hour was
+near, and courted danger with all the violence of despair. Yet he did
+not fall in the action; but seeing all was lost, he retired to the top
+of a rock, where he presented his naked sword to his breast, and a
+friend, as they tell us, assisting the thrust, he died upon the spot.
+
+
+
+
+ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY
+
+DEATH OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
+
+B.C. 44-30
+
+HENRY GEORGE LIDDELL
+
+
+(After the death of Caesar, Rome was in confusion; consternation seized
+the people, and the "liberators" failed to rally them to their own
+support. In possession of Caesar's treasure, Antony, the surviving
+consul, bided his time. His oration at Caesar's funeral stirred the
+populace against the "liberators," and made him for the moment master of
+Rome; but his self-seeking soon turned the people against him. The young
+Octavius, Caesar's heir, had become popular with the army. He returned to
+Rome and claimed his inheritance, demanded from Antony Caesar's moneys,
+but in vain, and assumed the title of Caesar. The rivalry between the two
+leaders rapidly approached a crisis. The partisans of Antony and
+Octavius began to clash, and civil war followed. Defeated, Antony
+retreated across the Alps. Octavius was elected consul, and began
+negotiations with Antony and Lepidus, which resulted in the three new
+masters constituting themselves a triumvirate--the Second
+Triumvirate--to settle the affairs of the Commonwealth. They divided the
+powers of government, and a partition of territory was made between
+them. Their next business was to put out of the way, by proscription,
+the enemies of this new order of things. Three hundred senators,
+including Cicero, were massacred, as well as two thousand knights.
+
+When the terrified senate had legalized the self-assumed authority of
+the triumvirs, they turned their attention to Brutus and Cassius in the
+East, whither they had gone after the assassination of Caesar and
+established and maintained themselves in power. At the battle of
+Philippi in Macedonia [B.C. 42] Antony and Octavius defeated Brutus and
+Cassius, both of whom died by their own hands. The Roman world was now
+in the hands of the triumvirs. Antony ruled in the East, Octavius in the
+West, and Lepidus in Africa, B.C. 42-36. In the latter year Lepidus was
+deposed by Octavius after a short conflict. And only a year after
+Philippi a war between Octavius and Antony was threatened because of a
+revolt in Italy, raised by Antony's brother Lucius and Fulvia, wife of
+Antony; but it was prevented by a treaty of peace, sealed by the
+marriage of Antony to Octavia, sister of Octavius. This peace lasted for
+ten years, during which time, however, there was constant friction
+between them.
+
+At Tarsus, in B.C. 41, Antony received a visit from Cleopatra, to whose
+charms he had yielded years before. This was the turning-point in his
+career; he went with her to Alexandria. By his oppression of the people
+of the East, and his dalliance with Cleopatra, he made himself the
+object of hatred and contempt. His army met with a series of defeats. In
+the mean time Octavius was constantly strengthening himself. The rivalry
+between them finally reached the point where both prepared for war. The
+great sea fight near Actium, September 2d, B.C. 31, resulted in the
+destruction of Antony's fleet after he had followed Cleopatra in her
+flight. A year later occurred the death of both. This important battle
+established Octavius as the sole ruler of the Roman possessions, and
+historians regard it as marking the end of the republic and the
+beginning of the empire.)
+
+
+While the conspirators were at their bloody work [of slaying Caesar], the
+mass of the senators rushed in confused terror to the doors; and when
+Brutus turned to address his peers in defence of the deed, the hall was
+well-nigh empty. Cicero, who had been present, answered not, though he
+was called by name; Antony had hurried away to exchange his consular
+robes for the garb of a slave. Disappointed of obtaining the sanction of
+the senate, the conspirators sallied out into the Forum to win the ear
+of the people. But here, too, they were disappointed. Not knowing what
+massacre might be in store, every man had fled to his own house; and in
+vain the conspirators paraded the Forum, holding up their blood-stained
+weapons and proclaiming themselves the liberators of Rome.
+Disappointment was not their only feeling: they were not without fear.
+They knew that Lepidus, being on the eve of departure for his province
+of Narbonnese Gaul, had a legion encamped on the island of the Tiber:
+and if he were to unite with Antony against them, Caesar would quickly be
+avenged. In all haste, therefore, they retired to the Capitol. Meanwhile
+three of Caesar's slaves placed their master's body upon a stretcher and
+carried it to his house on the south side of the Forum, with one arm
+dangling from the unsupported corner. In this condition the widowed
+Calpurnia received the lifeless clay of him who had lately been
+sovereign of the world.
+
+Lepidus moved his troops to the Campus Martius. But Antony had no
+thoughts of using force; for in that case probably Lepidus would have
+become master of Rome. During the night he took possession of the
+treasure which Caesar had collected to defray the expenses of his
+Parthian campaign, and persuaded Calpurnia to put into his hands all the
+dictator's papers. Possessed of these securities, he barricaded his
+house on the Carinae, and determined to watch the course of events.
+
+In the evening Cicero, with other senators, visited the self-styled
+liberators in the Capitol. They had not communicated their plot to the
+orator, through fear (they said) of his irresolute counsels; but now
+that the deed was done, he extolled it as a godlike act. Next morning,
+Dolabella, Cicero's son-in-law, whom Caesar had promised should be his
+successor in the consulship, assumed the consular fasces and joined the
+liberators; while Cinna, son of the old Marian leader and therefore
+brother-in-law to Caesar, threw aside his praetorian robes, declaring he
+would no longer wear the tyrant's livery. Dec. Brutus, a good soldier,
+had taken a band of gladiators into pay, to serve as a bodyguard of the
+liberators. Thus strengthened, they ventured again to descend into the
+Forum. Brutus mounted the tribune, and addressed the people in a
+dispassionate speech, which produced little effect. But when Cinna
+assailed the memory of the dictator, the crowd broke out into menacing
+cries, and the liberators again retired to the Capitol.
+
+That same night they entered into negotiations with Antony, and the
+result appeared next morning, the second after the murder. The senate,
+summoned to meet, obeyed the call in large numbers. Antony and Dolabella
+attended in their consular robes, and Cinna resumed his praetorian garb.
+It was soon apparent that a reconciliation had been effected: for Antony
+moved that a general amnesty should be granted, and Cicero seconded the
+motion in an animated speech. It was carried; and Antony next moved that
+all the acts of the dictator should be recognized as law. He had his own
+purposes here; but the liberators also saw in the motion an advantage to
+themselves; for they were actually in possession of some of the chief
+magistracies, and had received appointments to some of the richest
+provinces of the empire. This proposal, therefore, was favorably
+received; but it was adjourned to the next day, together with the
+important question of Caesar's funeral.
+
+On the next day Caesar's acts were formally confirmed, and among them his
+will was declared valid, though its provisions were yet unknown. After
+this, it was difficult to reject the proposal that the dictator should
+have a public burial. Old senators remembered the riots that attended
+the funeral of Clodius and shook their heads. Cassius opposed it. But
+Brutus, with imprudent magnanimity, decided in favor of allowing it. To
+seal the reconciliation, Lepidus entertained Brutus at dinner and
+Cassius was feasted by Mark Antony.
+
+The will was immediately made public. Cleopatra was still in Rome, and
+entertained hopes that the boy Caesarion would be declared the dictator's
+heir; for though he had been married thrice, there was no one of his
+lineage surviving. But Caesar was too much a Roman, and knew the Romans
+too well, to be guilty of this folly. Young C. Octavius, his sister's
+son, was declared his heir. Legacies were left to all his supposed
+friends, among whom were several of those who had assassinated him. His
+noble gardens beyond the Tiber were devised to the use of the public,
+and every Roman citizen was to receive a donation of three hundred
+sesterces--between ten and fifteen dollars. The effect of this recital
+was electric. Devotion to the memory of the dictator and hatred for his
+murderers at once filled every breast.
+
+Two or three days after this followed the funeral. The body was to be
+burned, and the ashes deposited in the Campus Martius, near the tomb of
+his daughter Julia. But it was first brought into the Forum upon a bier
+inlaid with ivory and covered with rich tapestries, which was carried by
+men high in rank and office. There Antony, as consul, rose to pronounce
+the funeral oration. He ran through the chief acts of Caesar's life,
+recited his will, and then spoke of the death which had rewarded him. To
+make this more vividly present to the excitable Italians he displayed a
+waxen image marked with the three-and-twenty wounds, and produced the
+very robe which he had worn, all rent and blood-stained. Soul-stirring
+dirges added to the solemn horror of the scene. But to us the memorable
+speech which Shakespeare puts into Antony's mouth will give the
+liveliest notion of the art used and the impression produced. That
+impression was instantaneous. The senator friends of the liberators who
+had attended the ceremony looked on in moody silence. Soon the menacing
+gestures of the crowd made them look to their safety. They fled; and the
+multitude insisted on burning the body, as they had burned the body of
+Clodius, in the sacred precincts of the Forum. Some of the veterans who
+attended the funeral set fire to the bier; benches and firewood heaped
+round it soon made a sufficient pile.
+
+From the blazing pyre the crowd rushed, eager for vengeance, to the
+houses of the conspirators. But all had fled betimes. One poor wretch
+fell a victim to the fury of the mob--Helvius Cinna, a poet who had
+devoted his art to the service of the dictator. He was mistaken for L.
+Cornelius Cinna the praetor, and was torn to pieces before the mistake
+could be explained.[79]
+
+[Footnote 79: This story is, however, rendered somewhat doubtful by the
+manner in which Cinna is mentioned in Vergil's ninth _Eclogue_, which
+was certainly written in or after the year B.C. 40.]
+
+Antony was now the real master of Rome. The treasure which he had seized
+gave him the means of purchasing good will, and of securing the
+attachment of the veterans stationed in various parts of Italy. He did
+not, however, proceed in the course which, from the tone of his funeral
+harangue, might have been expected. He renewed friendly intercourse with
+Brutus and Cassius, who were encouraged to visit Rome once at least, if
+not oftener, after that day; and Dec. Brutus, with his gladiators, was
+suffered to remain in the city. Antony went still further. He gratified
+the senate by passing a law to abolish the dictatorship forever. He then
+left Rome to win the favor of the Italian communities and try the temper
+of the veterans.
+
+Meanwhile another actor appeared upon the scene. This was young
+Octavius. He had been but six months in the camp at Apollonia; but in
+that short time he had formed a close friendship with M. Vipsanius
+Agrippa, a young man of his own age, who possessed great abilities for
+active life, but could not boast of any distinguished ancestry. As soon
+as the news of his uncle's assassination reached the camp, his friend
+Agrippa recommended him to appeal to the troops and march upon Rome. But
+the youth, with a wariness above his years, resisted these bold
+counsels. Landing near Brundusium almost alone, he there first heard
+that Caesar's will had been published and that he was declared Caesar's
+heir. He at once accepted the dangerous honor. As he travelled slowly
+toward the city he stayed some days at Puteoli with his mother, Atia,
+who was now married to L. Philippus. Both mother and stepfather
+attempted to dissuade him from the perilous business of claiming his
+inheritance. At the same place he had an interview with Cicero, who had
+quitted Rome in despair after the funeral, and left the orator under the
+impression that he might be won to what was deemed the patriotic party.
+
+He arrived at Rome about the beginning of May, and demanded from Antony,
+who had now returned from his Italian tour, an account of the moneys of
+which the consul had taken possession, in order that he might discharge
+the obligations laid upon him by his uncle's will. But Antony had
+already spent great part of the money in bribing Dolabella and other
+influential persons; nor was he willing to give up any portion of his
+spoil. Octavius therefore sold what remained of his uncle's property,
+raised money on his own credit, and paid all legacies with great
+exactness. This act earned him much popularity. Antony began to fear
+this boy of eighteen, whom he had hitherto despised, and the senate
+learned to look on him as a person to be conciliated.
+
+Still Antony remained in possession of all actual power. Cicero, not
+remarkable for political firmness, in this crisis displayed a vigor
+worthy of his earlier days. He had at one moment made up his mind to
+retire from public life and end his days at Athens in learned leisure.
+In the course of this summer he continued to employ himself on some of
+his most elaborate treatises. His works on the _Nature of the Gods_ and
+on _Divination_, his _Offices_, his _Dialogue on Old Age_, and several
+other essays belong to this period and mark the restless activity of his
+mind. But though he twice set sail from Italy, he was driven back to
+port at Velia, where he found Brutus and Cassius. Here he received
+letters from Au. Hirtius and other friends of Caesar, which gave him
+hopes that, in the name of Octavius, they might successfully oppose
+Antony and restore constitutional government. He determined to return,
+and announced his purpose to Brutus and Cassius, who commended him and
+took leave of him. They went their way to the east to raise armies
+against Antony; he repaired to Rome to fight the battles of his party in
+the senate house.
+
+Meanwhile Antony had been running riot. In possession of Caesar's papers,
+with no one to check him, he produced ready warrant for every measure
+which he wished to carry, and pleaded the vote of the senate which
+confirmed all the acts of Caesar. When he could not produce a genuine
+paper, he interpolated or forged what was needful.
+
+On the day after Cicero's return (September 1st) there was a meeting of
+the senate. But the orator did not attend, and Antony threatened to send
+men to drag him from his house. Next day Cicero was in his place, but
+now Antony was absent. The orator arose and addressed the senate in what
+is called his _First Philippic_. This was a measured attack upon the
+government and policy of Antony, but personalities were carefully
+eschewed: the tone of the whole speech, indeed, is such as might be
+delivered by a leader of opposition in parliament at the present day.
+But Antony, enraged at his boldness, summoned a meeting for the 19th of
+September, which Cicero did not think it prudent to attend. He then
+attacked the absent orator in the strongest language of personal abuse
+and menace. Cicero sat down and composed his famous _Second Philippic_,
+which is written as if it were delivered on the same day, in reply to
+Antony's invective. At present, however, he contented himself with
+sending a copy of it to Atticus, enjoining secrecy.
+
+Matters quickly drew to a head between Antony and Octavius. The latter
+had succeeded in securing a thousand men of his uncle's veterans who had
+settled in Campania; and by great exertions in the different towns of
+Italy had levied a considerable force. Meantime four of the Epirote
+legions had just landed at Brundusium, and Antony hastened to attach
+them to his cause. But the largess which he offered them was only a
+hundred _denaries_ a man, and the soldiers laughed in his face. Antony,
+enraged at their conduct, seized the ringleaders and decimated them. But
+this severity only served to change their open insolence into sullen
+anger, and emissaries from Octavius were ready to draw them over to the
+side of their young master. They had so far obeyed Antony as to march
+northward to Ariminum, while he repaired to Rome. But as he entered the
+senate house he heard that two of the four legions had deserted to his
+rival, and in great alarm he hastened to the camp just in time to keep
+the remainder of the troops under his standard by distributing to every
+man five hundred denaries.
+
+The persons to hold the consulship for the next year had been designated
+by Caesar. They were both old officers of the Gallic army, C. Vibius
+Pansa and Au. Hirtius, the reputed author of the Eighth Book of the
+_History of the Gallic War_. Cicero was ready to believe that they had
+become patriots, because, disgusted with the arrogance of Antony, they
+had declared for Octavius and the senate. Antony began to fear that all
+parties might combine to crush him. He determined, therefore, no longer
+to remain inactive; and about the end of November, having now collected
+all his troops at Ariminum, he marched along the AEmilian road to drive
+Dec. Brutus out of Cisalpine Gaul. Decimus was obliged to throw himself
+into Mutina (Modena), and Antony blockaded the place. As soon as his
+back was turned, Cicero published the famous _Second Philippic_, in
+which he lashed the consul with the most unsparing hand, going through
+the history of his past life, exaggerating the debaucheries, which were
+common to Antony with great part of the Roman youth, and painting in the
+strongest colors the profligate use he had made of Caesar's papers. Its
+effect was great, and Cicero followed up the blow by the following
+twelve _Philippics_, which were speeches delivered in the senate house
+and Forum, at intervals from December (44) to April in the next year.
+
+Cicero was anxious to break with Antony at once, by declaring him a
+public enemy. But the latter was still regarded by many senators as the
+head of the Caesarean party, and it was resolved to treat with him. But
+the demands of Antony were so extravagant that negotiations were at once
+broken off, and nothing remained but to try the fortune of arms. The
+consuls proceeded to levy troops; but so exhausted was the treasury that
+now for the first time since the triumph of AEmilius Paullus it was found
+necessary to levy a property tax on the citizens of Rome.
+
+Octavius and the consuls assembled their forces at Alba. On the first
+day of the new year (43) Hirtius marched for Mutina, with Octavius under
+his command. The other consul, Pansa, remained at Rome to raise new
+levies; but by the end of March he also marched to form a junction with
+Hirtius. Both parties pretended to be acting in Caesar's name.
+
+Antony left his brother Lucius in the trenches before Mutina, and took
+the field against Hirtius and Octavius. For three months the opponents
+lay watching each other. But when Antony learned that Pansa was coming
+up, he made a rapid movement southward with two of his veteran legions
+and attacked him. A sharp conflict followed, in which Pansa's troops
+were defeated, and the consul himself was carried, mortally wounded, off
+the field. But Hirtius was on the alert, and assaulted Antony's wearied
+troops on their way back to their camp, with some advantage. This was on
+the 15th of April, and on the 27th Hirtius drew Antony from his
+intrenchments before Mutina. A fierce battle followed, which ended in
+the troops of Antony being driven back into their lines. Hirtius
+followed close upon the flying enemy; the camp was carried by storm, and
+a complete victory would have been won had not Hirtius himself fallen.
+Upon this disaster Octavius drew off the troops. The news of the first
+battle had been reported at Rome as a victory, and gave rise to
+extravagant rejoicings. The second battle was really a victory, but all
+rejoicing was damped by the news that one consul was dead and the other
+dying. No such fatal mischance had happened since the Second Punic War,
+when Marcellus and Crispinus fell in one day.
+
+After his defeat Antony felt it impossible to maintain the siege of
+Mutina. With Dec. Brutus in the town behind him, and the victorious
+legions of Octavius before him, his position was critical. He therefore
+prepared to retreat, and effected this purpose like a good soldier. His
+destination was the province of Narbonnese Gaul, where Lepidus had
+assumed the government and had promised him support. But the senate also
+had hopes in the same quarter. L. Munatius Plancus commanded in Northern
+Gaul, and C. Asinius Pollio in Southern Spain. Sext. Pompeius had made
+good his ground in the latter country, and had almost expelled Pollio
+from Baetica. Plancus and Pollio, both friends and favorites of Caesar,
+had as yet declared neither for Antony nor Octavius. If they would
+declare for the senate, Lepidus, a feeble and fickle man, might desert
+Antony; or if Octavius would join with Dec. Brutus, and pursue him,
+Antony might not be able to escape from Italy at all. But these
+political combinations failed. Plancus and Pollio stood aloof, waiting
+for the course of events. Dec. Brutus was not strong enough to pursue
+Antony by himself, and Octavius was unwilling, perhaps unable, to unite
+the veterans of Caesar with troops commanded by one of Caesar's murderers.
+And so it happened that Antony effected his retreat across the Alps, but
+not without extreme hardships, which he bore in common with the meanest
+soldier. It was at such times that his good qualities always showed
+themselves, and his gallant endurance of misery endeared him to every
+man under his command. On his arrival in Narbonnese Gaul he met Lepidus
+at Forum Julii (Frejus), and here the two commanders agreed on a plan of
+operations.
+
+The conduct of Octavius gave rise to grave suspicions. It was even said
+that the consuls had been killed by his agents. Cicero, who had hitherto
+maintained his cause, was silent. He had delivered his _Fourteenth_ and
+last _Philippic_ on the news of the first victory gained by Hirtius. But
+now he talked in private of "removing" the boy of whom he had hoped to
+make a tool. Octavius, however, had taken his part, and was not to be
+removed. Secretly he entered into negotiations with Antony. After some
+vain efforts on the part of the senate to thwart him, he appeared in the
+Campus Martius with his legions. Cicero and most of the senators
+disappeared, and the fickle populace greeted the young heir of Caesar
+with applause. Though he was not yet twenty he demanded the consulship,
+having been previously relieved from the provisions of the _Lex Annalis_
+by a decree of the senate, and he was elected to the first office in the
+State, with his cousin, Q. Pedius.[80]
+
+[Footnote 80: Pedius was son of Caesar's second sister, Julia minor, and
+therefore first cousin (once removed) to Octavius.]
+
+A curiate law passed, by which Octavius was adopted into the patrician
+gens of the Julii, and was put into legal possession of the name which
+he had already assumed--C. Julius Caesar Octavianus. We shall henceforth
+call him Octavian.
+
+The change in his policy was soon indicated by a law in which he
+formally separated himself from the senate. Pedius brought it forward.
+By its provisions all Caesar's murderers were summoned to take their
+trial. Of course none of them appeared and they were condemned by
+default. By the end of September Octavian was again in Cisalpine Gaul
+and in close negotiation with Antony and Lepidus. The fruits of his
+conduct soon appeared. Plancus and Pollio declared against Caesar's
+murderers. Dec. Brutus, deserted by his soldiery, attempted to escape
+into Macedonia through Illyricum; but he was overtaken near Aquileia and
+slain by order of Antony.
+
+Italy and Gaul being now clear of the senatorial party, Lepidus, as
+mediator, arranged a meeting between Octavian and Antony, upon an island
+in a small river near Bononia (Bologna). Here the three potentates
+agreed that they should assume a joint and coordinate authority, under
+the name of "Triumvirs for settling the affairs of the Commonwealth."
+Antony was to have the two Gauls, except the Narbonnese district, which,
+with Spain, was assigned to Lepidus; Octavian received Sicily, Sardinia,
+and Africa. Italy was for the present to be left to the consuls of the
+year, and for the ensuing year Lepidus, with Plancus, received promise
+of this high office. In return, Lepidus gave up his military force,
+while Octavian and Antony, each at the head of ten legions, prepared to
+conquer the Eastern part of the empire, which could not yet be divided
+like the Western provinces, because it was in possession of Brutus and
+Cassius.
+
+But before they began war, the triumvirs agreed to follow the example
+set by Sylla--to extirpate their opponents by a proscription, and to
+raise money by confiscation. They framed a list of all men's names whose
+death could be regarded as advantageous to any of the three, and on this
+list each in turn pricked a name. Antony had made many personal enemies
+by his proceedings at Rome, and was at no loss for victims. Octavian had
+few direct enemies; but the boy-despot discerned with precocious
+sagacity those who were likely to impede his ambitious projects, and
+chose his victims with little hesitation. Lepidus would not be left
+behind in the bloody work. The author of the _Philippics_ was one of
+Antony's first victims; Octavian gave him up, and took as an equivalent
+for his late friend the life of L. Caesar, uncle of Antony. Lepidus
+surrendered his brother Paullus for some similar favor. So the work went
+on. Not fewer than three hundred senators and two thousand knights were
+on the list. Q. Pedius, an honest and upright man, died in his
+consulship, overcome by vexation and shame at being implicated in these
+transactions.
+
+As soon as their secret business was ended, the triumvirs determined to
+enter Rome publicly. Hitherto they had not published more than seventeen
+names of the proscribed. They made their entrance severally on three
+successive days, each attended by a legion. A law was immediately
+brought in to invest them formally with the supreme authority, which
+they had assumed. This was followed by the promulgation of successive
+lists, each larger than its predecessor.
+
+Among the victims, far the most conspicuous was Cicero. With his brother
+Quintus, the old orator had retired to his Tusculan villa after the
+battle of Mutina; and now they endeavored to escape in the hope of
+joining Brutus in Macedonia; for the orator's only son was serving as a
+tribune in the liberator's army. After many changes of domicile they
+reached Astura, a little island near Antium, where they found themselves
+short of money, and Quintus ventured to Rome to procure the necessary
+supply. Here he was recognized and seized, together with his son. Each
+desired to die first, and the mournful claim to precedence was settled
+by the soldiers killing both at the same moment.
+
+Meantime Cicero had put to sea. But even in this extremity he could not
+make up his mind to leave Italy, and put to land at Circeii. After
+further hesitation he again embarked, and again sought the Italian shore
+near Formiae. For the night he stayed at his villa near that place, and
+next morning would not move, exclaiming: "Let me die in my own
+country--that country which I have so often saved." But his faithful
+slaves forced him into a litter and carried him again toward the coast.
+Scarcely were they gone when a band of Antony's bloodhounds reached his
+villa, and were put upon the track of their victim by a young man who
+owed everything to the Ciceros. The old orator from his litter saw the
+pursuers coming up. His own followers were strong enough to have made
+resistance, but he desired them to set the litter down. Then, raising
+himself on his elbow, he calmly waited for the ruffians and offered his
+neck to the sword. He was soon despatched. The chief of the band, by
+Antony's express orders, hewed off the head and hands and carried them
+to Rome. Fulvia, the widow of Clodius and now the wife of Antony, drove
+her hairpin through the tongue which had denounced the iniquities of
+both her husbands. The head which had given birth to the _Second
+Philippic_, and the hands which had written it, were nailed to the
+Rostra, the home of their eloquence. The sight and the associations
+raised feelings of horror and pity in every heart. Cicero died in his
+sixty-fourth year.
+
+Brutus and Cassius left Italy in the autumn of B.C. 44 and repaired to
+the provinces which had been allotted to them, though by Antony's
+influence the senate had transferred Macedonia from Brutus to his own
+brother Caius, and Syria from Cassius to Dolabella. C. Antonius was
+already in possession of parts of Macedonia; but Brutus succeeded in
+dislodging him. Meanwhile Cassius, already well known in Syria for his
+successful conduct of the Parthian War, had established himself in that
+province before he heard of the approach of Dolabella. This worthless
+man left Italy about the same time as Brutus and Cassius, and at the
+head of several legions marched without opposition through Macedonia
+into Asia Minor. Here C. Trebonius had already arrived. But he was
+unable to cope with Dolabella; and the latter surprised him and took him
+prisoner at Smyrna. He was put to death with unseemly contumely in
+Dolabella's presence. This was in February, 43; and thus two of Caesar's
+murderers, in less than a year's time, felt the blow of retributive
+justice. When the news of this piece of butchery reached Rome, Cicero,
+believing that Octavian was a puppet in his hands, was ruling Rome by
+the eloquence of his _Philippics_. On his motion Dolabella was declared
+a public enemy.[81] Cassius lost no time in marching his legions into
+Asia, to execute the behest of the senate, though he had been
+dispossessed of his province by the senate itself. Dolabella threw
+himself into Laodicea, where he sought a voluntary death.
+
+[Footnote 81: He had divorced Tullia, the orator's daughter, before he
+left Italy.]
+
+By the end of B.C. 43, therefore, the whole of the East was in the hands
+of Brutus and Cassius. But instead of making preparations for war with
+Antony, the two commanders spent the early part of the year 42 in
+plundering the miserable cities of Asia Minor. Brutus demanded men and
+money of the Lycians; and, when they refused, he laid siege to Xanthus,
+their principal city. The Xanthians made the same brave resistance which
+they had offered five hundred years before to the Persian invaders. They
+burned their city and put themselves to death rather than submit. Brutus
+wept over their fate and abstained from further exactions. But Cassius
+showed less moderation; from the Rhodians alone, though they were allies
+of Rome, he demanded all their precious metals. After this campaign of
+plunder, the two chiefs met at Sardis and renewed the altercations which
+Cicero had deplored in Italy. It is probable that war might have broken
+out between them had not the preparations of the triumvirs waked them
+from their dream of security. It was as he was passing over into Europe
+that Brutus, who continued his studious habits amid all disquietudes,
+and limited his time of sleep to a period too small for the requirements
+of health, was dispirited by the vision which Shakespeare, after
+Plutarch, has made famous. It was no doubt the result of a diseased
+frame, though it was universally held to be a divine visitation. As he
+sat in his tent in the dead of night, he thought a huge and shadowy form
+stood by him; and when he calmly asked, "What and whence art thou?" it
+answered, or seemed to answer: "I am thine evil genius, Brutus: we shall
+meet again at Philippi."
+
+Meantime Antony's lieutenants had crossed the Ionian Sea and penetrated
+without opposition into Thrace. The republican leaders found them at
+Philippi. The army of Brutus and Cassius amounted to at least eighty
+thousand infantry, supported by twenty thousand horse; but they were
+ill-supplied with experienced officers. For M. Valerius Messalla, a
+young man of twenty-eight, held the chief command after Brutus and
+Cassius; and Horace, who was but three-and-twenty, the son of a
+freedman, and a youth of feeble constitution, was appointed a legionary
+tribune. The forces opposed to them would have been at once overpowered
+had not Antony himself opportunely arrived with the second corps of the
+triumviral army. Octavian was detained by illness at Dyrrhachium, but he
+ordered himself to be carried on a litter to join his legions. The army
+of the triumvirs was now superior to the enemy; but their cavalry,
+counting only thirteen thousand, was considerably weaker than the force
+opposed to it. The republicans were strongly posted upon two hills, with
+intrenchments between: the camp of Cassius upon the left next the sea,
+that of Brutus inland on the right. The triumviral army lay upon the
+open plain before them, in a position rendered unhealthy by marshes;
+Antony, on the right, was opposed to Cassius; Octavian, on the left,
+fronted Brutus. But they were ill-supplied with provisions and anxious
+for a decisive battle. The republicans, however, kept to their
+intrenchments, and the other party began to suffer severely from famine.
+
+Determined to bring on an action, Antony began works for the purpose of
+cutting off Cassius from the sea. Cassius had always opposed a general
+action, but Brutus insisted on putting an end to the suspense, and his
+colleague yielded. The day of the attack was probably in October. Brutus
+attacked Octavian's army, while Cassius assaulted the working parties of
+Antony. Cassius' assault was beaten back with loss, but he succeeded in
+regaining his camp in safety. Meanwhile, Messalla, who commanded the
+right wing of Brutus' army, had defeated the host of Octavian, who was
+still too ill to appear on the field, and the republican soldiers
+penetrated into the triumvirs' camp. Presently his litter was brought in
+stained with blood, and the corpse of a young man found near it was
+supposed to be Octavian's. But Brutus, not receiving any tidings of the
+movements of Cassius, became so anxious for his fate that he sent off a
+party of horse to make inquiries, and neglected to support the
+successful assaults of Messalla.
+
+Cassius, on his part, discouraged at his ill-success, was unable to
+ascertain the progress of Brutus. When he saw the party of horse he
+hastily concluded that they belonged to the enemy, and retired into his
+tent with his freedman Pindarus. What passed there we know not for
+certain. Cassius was found dead, with the head severed from the body.
+Pindarus was never seen again. It was generally believed that Pindarus
+slew his master in obedience to orders; but many thought that he had
+dealt a felon blow. The intelligence of Cassius' death was a heavy blow
+to Brutus. He forgot his own success, and pronounced the elegy of
+Cassius in the well-known words, "There lies the last of the Romans."
+The praise was ill-deserved. Except in his conduct of the war against
+the Parthians, Cassius had never played a worthy part.
+
+After the first battle of Philippi it would have still been politic in
+Brutus to abstain from battle. The triumviral armies were in great
+distress, and every day increased their losses. Reinforcements coming to
+their aid by sea were intercepted--a proof of the neglect of the
+republican leaders in not sooner bringing their fleet into action. Nor
+did Brutus ever hear of this success. He was ill-fitted for the life of
+the camp, and after the death of Cassius he only kept his men together
+by largesse and promises of plunder. Twenty days after the first battle
+he led them out again. Both armies faced one another. There was little
+manoeuvring. The second battle was decided by numbers and force, not by
+skill; and it was decided in favor of the triumvirs. Brutus retired with
+four legions to a strong position in the rear, while the rest of his
+broken army sought refuge in the camp. Octavian remained to watch them,
+while Antony pursued the republican chief. Next day Brutus endeavored to
+rouse his men to another effort; but they sullenly refused to fight; and
+Brutus withdrew with a few friends into a neighboring wood. Here he took
+them aside one by one, and prayed each to do him the last service that a
+Roman could render to his friend. All refused with horror; till at
+nightfall a trusty Greek freedman named Strato held the sword, and his
+master threw himself upon it. Most of his friends followed the sad
+example. The body of Brutus was sent by Antony to his mother. His wife
+Portia, the daughter of Cato, refused all comfort; and being too closely
+watched to be able to slay herself by ordinary means, she suffocated
+herself by thrusting burning charcoal into her mouth. Massalla, with a
+number of other fugitives, sought safety in the island of Thasos, and
+soon after made submission to Antony.
+
+The name of Brutus has, by Plutarch's beautiful narrative, sublimed by
+Shakespeare, become a byword for self-devoted patriotism. This exalted
+opinion is now generally confessed to be unjust. Brutus was not a
+patriot, unless devotion to the party of the senate be patriotism.
+Toward the provincials he was a true Roman, harsh and oppressive. He was
+free from the sensuality and profligacy of his age, but for public life
+he was unfit. His habits were those of a student. His application was
+great, his memory remarkable. But he possessed little power of turning
+his acquirements to account; and to the last he was rather a learned man
+than a man improved by learning. In comparison with Cassius, he was
+humane and generous; but in all respects his character is contrasted for
+the worse with that of the great man from whom he accepted favors and
+then became his murderer.
+
+The battle of Philippi was in reality the closing scene of the
+republican drama. But the rivalship of the triumvirs prolonged for
+several years the divided state of the Roman world; and it was not till
+after the crowning victory of Actium that the imperial government was
+established in its unity. We shall, therefore, here add a rapid
+narrative of the events which led to that consummation.
+
+The hopeless state of the republican or rather the senatorial party was
+such that almost all hastened to make submission to the conquerors:
+those whose sturdy spirit still disdained submission resorted to Sext.
+Pompeius in Sicily. Octavian, still suffering from ill-health, was
+anxious to return to Italy; but before he parted from Antony, they
+agreed to a second distribution of the provinces of the empire. Antony
+was to have the Eastern world; Octavian the Western provinces. To
+Lepidus, who was not consulted in this second division, Africa alone was
+left. Sext. Pompeius remained in possession of Sicily.
+
+Antony at once proceeded to make a tour through Western Asia, in order
+to exact money from its unfortunate people. About midsummer (B.C. 41) he
+arrived at Tarsus, and here he received a visit which determined the
+future course of his life and influenced Roman history for the next ten
+years.
+
+Antony had visited Alexandria fourteen years before, and had been
+smitten by the charms of Cleopatra, then a girl of fifteen. She became
+Caesar's paramour, and from the time of the dictator's death Antony had
+never seen her. She now came to meet him in Cilicia. The galley which
+carried her up the Cydnus was of more than oriental gorgeousness: the
+sails of purple; oars of silver, moving to the sound of music; the
+raised poop burnished with gold. There she lay upon a splendid couch,
+shaded by a spangled canopy; her attire was that of Venus; around her
+flitted attendant cupids and graces. At the news of her approach to
+Tarsus, the triumvir found his tribunal deserted by the people. She
+invited him to her ship, and he complied. From that moment he was her
+slave. He accompanied her to Alexandria, exchanged the Roman garb for
+the Graeco-Egyptian costume of the court, and lent his power to the
+Queen to execute all her caprices.
+
+Meanwhile Octavian was not without his difficulties. He was so ill at
+Brundusium that his death was reported at Rome. The veterans, eager for
+their promised rewards, were on the eve of mutiny. In a short time
+Octavian was sufficiently recovered to show himself. But he could find
+no other means of satisfying the greedy soldiery than by a confiscation
+of lands more sweeping than that which followed the proscription of
+Sylla. The towns of Cisalpine Gaul were accused of favoring Dec. Brutus,
+and saw nearly all their lands handed over to new possessors. The young
+poet, Vergil, lost his little patrimony, but was reinstated at the
+instance of Pollio and Maecenas, and showed his gratitude in his _First
+Eclogue_. Other parts of Italy also suffered: Apulia, for example, as we
+learn from Horace's friend Ofellus, who became the tenant of the estate
+which had formerly been his own.
+
+But these violent measures deferred rather than obviated the difficulty.
+The expulsion of so many persons threw thousands loose upon society,
+ripe for any crime. Many of the veterans were ready to join any new
+leader who promised them booty. Such a leader was at hand.
+
+Fulvia, wife of Antony, was a woman of fierce passions and ambitious
+spirit. She had not been invited to follow her husband to the East. She
+saw that in his absence imperial power would fall into the hands of
+Octavian. Lucius, brother of Mark Antony, was consul for the year, and
+at her instigation he raised his standard at Praeneste. But L. Antonius
+knew not how to use his strength; and young Agrippa, to whom Octavian
+intrusted the command, obliged Antonius and Fulvia to retire northward
+and shut themselves up in Perusia. Their store of provisions was so
+small that it sufficed only for the soldiery. Early in the next year
+Perusia surrendered, on condition that the lives of the leaders should
+be spared. The town was sacked; the conduct of L. Antonius alienated all
+Italy from his brother.
+
+While his wife, his brother, and his friends were quitting Italy in
+confusion, the arms of Antony suffered a still heavier blow in the
+Eastern provinces, which were under his special government. After the
+battle of Philippi, Q. Labienus, son of Caesar's old lieutenant Titus,
+sought refuge at the court of Orodes, king of Parthia. Encouraged by the
+proffered aid of a Roman officer, Pacorus (the King's son) led a
+formidable army into Syria. Antony's lieutenant was entirely routed; and
+while Pacorus with one army poured into Palestine and Phoenicia, Q.
+Labienus with another broke into Cilicia. Here he found no opposition;
+and, overrunning all Asia Minor even to the Ionian Sea, he assumed the
+name of Parthicus, as if he had been a Roman conqueror of the people
+whom he served.
+
+These complicated disasters roused Antony from his lethargy. He sailed
+to Tyre, intending to take the field against the Parthians; but the
+season was too far advanced, and he therefore crossed the AEgean to
+Athens, where he found Fulvia and his brother, accompanied by Pollio,
+Plancus, and others, all discontented with Octavian's government.
+Octavian was absent in Gaul, and their representation of the state of
+Italy encouraged him to make another attempt. Late in the year (41)
+Antony formed a league with Sext. Pompeius; and while that chief
+blockaded Thurii and Consentia, Antony assailed Brundusium. Agrippa was
+preparing to meet this new combination; and a fresh civil war was
+imminent. But the soldiery was weary of war: both armies compelled their
+leaders to make pacific overtures, and the new year was ushered in by a
+general peace, which was rendered easier by the death of Fulvia. Antony
+and Octavian renewed their professions of amity, and entered Rome
+together in joint ovation to celebrate the restoration of peace. They
+now made a third division of the provinces, by which Scodra (Scutari) in
+Illyricum was fixed as the boundary of the West and East; Lepidus was
+still left in possession of Africa. It was further agreed that Octavian
+was to drive Sext. Pompeius, lately the ally of Antony, out of Sicily;
+while Antony renewed his pledges to recover the standards of Crassus
+from the Parthians. The new compact was sealed by the marriage of Antony
+with Octavia, his colleague's sister, a virtuous and beautiful lady,
+worthy of a better consort. These auspicious events were celebrated by
+the lofty verse of Vergil's _Fourth Eclogue_.
+
+Sext. Pompeius had reason to complain. By the peace of Brundusium he was
+abandoned by his late friend to Octavian. He was not a man to brook
+ungenerous treatment. Of late years his possession of Sicily had given
+him command of the Roman corn market. During the winter which followed
+the peace of Brundusium (B.C. 40-39), Sextus blockaded Italy so closely
+that Rome was threatened with a positive dearth. Riots arose; the
+triumvirs were pelted with stones in the Forum, and they deemed it
+prudent to temporize by inviting Pompey to enter their league. He met
+them at Misenum, and the two chiefs went on board his ship to settle the
+terms of alliance. It is said that one of his chief officers, a Greek
+named Menas or Menodorus, suggested to him the expediency of putting to
+sea with the great prize, and then making his own terms. Sextus rejected
+the advice with the characteristic words, "You should have done it
+without asking me." It was agreed that Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica
+should be given up to his absolute rule, and that Achaia should be added
+to his portion; so that the Roman world was now partitioned among four:
+Octavian, Antony, Lepidus, and Sext. Pompeius. On their return the
+triumvirs were received with vociferous applause.
+
+Before winter, Antony sailed for Athens in company with Octavia, who for
+the time seems to have banished Cleopatra from his thoughts. But he
+disgusted all true Romans by assuming the attributes of Grecian gods and
+indulging in Grecian orgies.
+
+He found the state of things in the East greatly changed since his
+departure. He had commissioned P. Ventidius Bassus, an officer who had
+followed Fulvia from Italy, to hold the Parthians in check till his
+return. Ventidius was son of a Picenian nobleman of Asculum, who had
+been brought to Rome as a captive in the Social War. In his youth he had
+been a contractor to supply mules for the use of the Roman commissariat.
+But in the civil wars which followed, men of military talent easily rose
+to command; and such was the lot of Ventidius. While Antony was absent
+in Italy, he drove Q. Labienus into the defiles of Taurus, and here that
+adventurer was defeated and slain. The conqueror then marched rapidly
+into Syria, and forced Pacorus also to withdraw to the eastern bank of
+the Euphrates.
+
+In the following year (38) he repelled a fresh invasion of the
+Parthians, and defeated them in three battles. In the last of these
+engagements Pacorus himself was slain on the fifteenth anniversary of
+the death of Crassus. Antony found Ventidius laying siege to Samosata,
+and displaced him, only to abandon the siege and return to Athens.
+Ventidius repaired to Rome, where he was honored with a well-deserved
+triumph. He had left it as a mule jobber; he returned with the laurel
+round his brows. He was the first, and almost the last, Roman general
+who could claim such a distinction for victory over the Parthians.
+
+The alliance with Sext. Pompeius was not intended to last, and it did
+not last. Antony refused to put him in possession of Achaia, and to
+avenge himself for this breach of faith Pompeius again began to
+intercept the Italian corn fleets. Fresh discontent appeared at Rome,
+and Octavian equipped a second fleet to sail against the naval chief;
+but after two battles of doubtful result, the fleet was destroyed by a
+storm, and Sextus was again left in undisputed mastery of the sea.
+Octavian, however, was never daunted by reverses, and he gave his
+favorite Agrippa full powers to conduct the war against Pompeius. This
+able commander set about his work with that resolution that marked a man
+determined not to fail. As a harbor for his fleet, he executed a plan of
+the great Caesar; namely, to make a good and secure harbor on the coast
+of Latium, which then, as now, offered no shelter to ships. For this
+purpose he cut a passage through the narrow necks of land which
+separated Lake Lucrinus from the sea, and Lake Avernus from Lake
+Lucrinus, and faced the outer barrier with stone. This was the famous
+Julian Port. In the whole of the two years B.C. 38 and 37 Agrippa was
+occupied in this work and in preparing a sufficient force of ships.
+Every dockyard in Italy was called into requisition. A large body of
+slaves was set free that they might be trained to serve as rowers.
+
+On the 1st of July, B.C. 36, the fleet put to sea. Octavian himself,
+with one division, purposed to attack the northern coast of Sicily,
+while a second squadron was assembled at Tarentum for the purpose of
+assailing the eastern side. Lepidus, with a third fleet from Africa, was
+to assault Lilybaeum. But the winds were again adverse; and, though
+Lepidus effected a landing on the southern coast, Octavian's two fleets
+were driven back to Italy with great damage. But the injured ships were
+refitted, and Agrippa was sent westward toward Panormus, while Octavian
+himself kept guard near Messana. Off Mylae, a place famous for having
+witnessed the first naval victory of the Romans, Agrippa encountered the
+fleet of Sext. Pompeius; but Sextus, with the larger portion of his
+ships, gave Agrippa the slip, and sailing eastward fell suddenly upon
+Octavian's squadron off Tauromenium. A desperate conflict followed,
+which ended in the complete triumph of Sextus, and Octavian escaped to
+Italy with a few ships only. But Agrippa was soon upon the traces of the
+enemy. On the 3d of September Sextus was obliged once more to accept
+battle near the Straits of Messana, and suffered an irretrievable
+defeat. His troops on land were attacked and dispersed by an army which
+had been landed on the eastern coast by the indefatigable Octavian; and
+Sextus sailed off to Lesbos, where he had found refuge as a boy during
+the campaign of Pharsalia, to seek protection from the jealousy of
+Antony.
+
+Lepidus had assisted in the campaign; but after the departure of Sextus
+he openly declared himself independent of his brother triumvirs.
+Octavian, with prompt and prudent boldness, entered the camp of Lepidus
+in person with a few attendants. The soldiers deserted in crowds, and in
+a few hours Lepidus was fain to sue for pardon, where he had hoped to
+rule. He was treated with contemptuous indifference, Africa was taken
+from him; but he was allowed to live and die at Rome in quiet enjoyment
+of the chief pontificate.
+
+It was fortunate for Octavian that during this campaign Antony was on
+friendly terms with him. In B.C. 37 the ruler of the East again visited
+Italy, and a meeting between the two chiefs was arranged at Tarentum.
+The five years for which the triumvirs were originally appointed were
+now fast expiring; and it was settled that their authority should be
+renewed by the subservient senate and people for a second period of the
+same duration. They parted good friends; and Octavian undertook his
+campaign against Sext. Pompeius without fear from Antony. This was
+proved by the fate of the fugitive. From Lesbos Sextus passed over to
+Asia, where he was taken prisoner by Antony's lieutenants and put to
+death.
+
+Hitherto Octavia had retained her influence over Antony. But presently,
+after his last interview with her brother, the fickle triumvir abruptly
+quitted a wife who was too good for him, and returned to the fascinating
+presence of the Egyptian Queen, whom he had not seen for three years.
+From this time forth he made no attempt to break the silken chain of her
+enchantments. During the next summer, indeed, he attempted a new
+Parthian campaign. But his advance was made with reckless indifference
+to the safety of his troops. Provisions failed; disease broke out; and
+after great suffering he was forced to seek safety by a precipitate
+retreat into the Armenian mountains. In the next year he contented
+himself with a campaign in Armenia, to punish the King of that country
+for alleged treachery in the last campaign. The King fell into his
+hands; and with this trophy Antony returned to Alexandria, where the
+Romans were disgusted to see the streets of a Graeco-Egyptian town
+honored by a mimicry of a Roman triumph.
+
+For the next three years he surrendered himself absolutely to the will
+of the enchantress. To this period belong those tales of luxurious
+indulgence which are known to every reader. The brave soldier, who in
+the perils of war could shake off all luxurious habits and could rival
+the commonest man in the cheerfulness with which he underwent every
+hardship, was seen no more. He sunk into an indolent voluptuary, pleased
+by childish amusements. At one time he would lounge in a boat at a
+fishing party, and laugh when he drew up pieces of salt fish which by
+the Queen's order had been attached to his hook by divers. At another
+time she wagered that she would consume ten million sesterces at one
+meal, and won her wager by dissolving in vinegar a pearl of unknown
+value. While Cleopatra bore the character of the goddess Isis, her lover
+appeared as Osiris. Her head was placed conjointly with his own on the
+coins which he issued as a Roman magistrate. He disposed of the kingdoms
+and principalities of the East by his sole word. By his influence Herod,
+son of Antipater, the Idumaean minister of Hyrcanus, the late sovereign
+of Judea, was made king to the exclusion of the rightful heir. Polemo,
+his own son by Cleopatra, was invested with the sceptre of Armenia.
+Encouraged by the absolute submission of her lover, Cleopatra fixed her
+eye upon the Capitol, and dreamed of winning by means of Antony that
+imperial crown which she had vainly sought from Caesar.
+
+While Antony was engaged in voluptuous dalliance, Octavian was
+resolutely pursuing the work of consolidating his power in the West. His
+patience, his industry, his attention to business, his affability, were
+winning golden opinions and rapidly obliterating all memory of the
+bloody work by which he had risen to power. He had won little glory in
+war; but so long as the corn fleets arrived daily from Sicily and
+Africa, the populace cared little whether the victory had been won by
+Octavian or by his generals. In Agrippa he possessed a consummate
+captain, in Maecenas a wise and temperate minister. It is much to his
+credit that he never showed any jealousy of the men to whom he owed so
+much. He flattered the people with the hope that he would, when Antony
+had fulfilled his mission of recovering the standards of Crassus, engage
+him to join in putting an end to their sovereign power and restoring
+constitutional liberty.
+
+In point of fidelity to his marriage vows Octavian was little better
+than Antony. He renounced his marriage with Clodia, the daughter of
+Fulvia, when her mother attempted to raise Italy against him. He
+divorced Scribonia, when it no longer suited him to court the favor of
+her kinsman. To replace this second wife, he forcibly took away Livia
+from her husband, T. Claudius Nero, though she was at that time pregnant
+of her second son. But in this and other less pardonable immoralities
+there was nothing to shock the feelings of Romans.
+
+But Octavian never suffered pleasure to divert him from business. If he
+could not be a successful general, he resolved at least to show that he
+could be a hardy soldier. While Antony in his Egyptian palace was
+neglecting the Parthian War, his rival led his legions in more than one
+dangerous campaign against the barbarous Dalmatians and Pannonians, who
+had been for some time infesting the province of Illyricum. In the year
+B.C. 33 he announced that the limits of the empire had been extended
+northward to the banks of the Save.
+
+Octavian now began to feel that any appearance of friendship with Antony
+was a source of weakness rather than of strength at Rome.
+Misunderstandings had already broken out. Antony complained that
+Octavian had given him no share in the provinces wrested from Sext.
+Pompeius and Lepidus. Octavian retorted by accusing his colleague of
+appropriating Egypt and Armenia, and of increasing Cleopatra's power at
+the expense of the Roman Empire. Popular indignation rose to its height
+when Plancus and Titius, who had been admitted to Antony's confidence,
+passed over to Octavian, and disclosed the contents of their master's
+will. In that document Antony ordered that his body should be buried at
+Alexandria, in the mausoleum of Cleopatra. Men began to fancy that
+Cleopatra had already planted her throne upon the Capitol. These
+suspicions were sedulously encouraged by Octavian.
+
+Before the close of B.C. 32, Octavian, by the authority of the senate,
+declared war nominally against Cleopatra. Antony, roused from his sleep
+by reports from Rome, passed over to Athens, issuing orders everywhere
+to levy men and collect ships for the impending struggle. At Athens he
+received news of the declaration of war, and replied by divorcing
+Octavia. His fleet was ordered to assemble at Corcyra; and his legions
+in the early spring prepared to pour into Epirus. He established his
+head-quarters at Patrae on the Corinthian Gulf.
+
+But Antony, though his fleet was superior to that of Octavian, allowed
+Agrippa to sweep the Ionian Sea, and to take possession of Methone, in
+Messenia, as a station for a flying squadron to intercept Antony's
+communications with the East, nay, even to occupy Corcyra, which had
+been destined for his own place of rendezvous. Antony's fleet now
+anchored in the waters of the Ambracian Gulf, while his legions encamped
+on a spot of land which forms the northern horn of that spacious inlet.
+But the place chosen for the camp was unhealthy; and in the heats of
+early summer his army suffered greatly from disease. Agrippa lay close
+at hand watching his opportunity. In the course of the spring Octavian
+joined him in person.
+
+Early in the season Antony had repaired from Patrae to his army, so as to
+be ready either to cross over into Italy or to meet the enemy if they
+attempted to land in Epirus. At first he showed something of his old
+military spirit, and the soldiers, who always loved his military
+frankness, warmed into enthusiasm; but his chief officers, won by
+Octavian or disgusted by the influence of Cleopatra, deserted him in
+such numbers that he knew not whom to trust, and gave up all thoughts of
+maintaining the contest with energy. Urged by Cleopatra, he resolved to
+carry off his fleet and abandon the army. All preparations were made in
+secret, and the great fleet put to sea on the 28th of August. For the
+four following days there was a strong gale from the south. Neither
+could Antony escape nor could Octavian put to sea against him from
+Corcyra. On the 2d of September, however, the wind fell, and Octavian's
+light vessels, by using their oars, easily came up with the unwieldy
+galleys of the eastern fleet. A battle was now inevitable.
+
+Antony's ships were like impregnable fortresses to the assault of the
+slight vessels of Octavian; and, though they lay nearly motionless in
+the calm sea, little impression was made upon them. But about noon a
+breeze sprung up from the west; and Cleopatra, followed by sixty
+Egyptian ships, made sail in a southerly direction. Antony immediately
+sprang from his ship-of-war into a light galley and followed. Deserted
+by their commander, the captains of Antony's ships continued to resist
+desperately; nor was it till the greater part of them were set on fire
+that the contest was decided. Before evening closed, the whole fleet was
+destroyed; most of the men and all the treasure on board perished. A few
+days after, when the shameful flight of Antony was made known to his
+army, all his legions went over to the conqueror.
+
+It was not for eleven months after the battle of Actium that Octavian
+entered the open gates of Alexandria. He had been employed in the
+interval in founding the city of Nicopolis to celebrate his victory on
+the northern horn of the Ambracian Gulf, in rewarding his soldiers, and
+settling the affairs of the provinces of the East. In the winter he
+returned to Italy, and it was midsummer, B.C. 30, before he arrived in
+Egypt.
+
+When Antony and Cleopatra arrived off Alexandria they put a bold face
+upon the matter. Some time passed before the real state of the case was
+known; but it soon became plain that Egypt was at the mercy of the
+conqueror. The Queen formed all kinds of wild designs. One was to
+transport the ships that she had saved across the Isthmus of Suez and
+seek refuge in some distant land where the name of Rome was yet unknown.
+Some ships were actually drawn across, but they were destroyed by the
+Arabs, and the plan was abandoned. She now flattered herself that her
+powers of fascination, proved so potent over Caesar and Antony, might
+subdue Octavian. Secret messages passed between the conqueror and the
+Queen; nor were Octavian's answers such as to banish hope.
+
+Antony, full of repentance and despair, shut himself up in Pharos, and
+there remained in gloomy isolation.
+
+In July, B.C. 30, Octavian appeared before Pelusium. The place was
+surrendered without a blow. Yet, at the approach of the conqueror,
+Antony put himself at the head of a division of cavalry and gained some
+advantage. But on his return to Alexandria he found that Cleopatra had
+given up all her ships; and no more opposition was offered. On the 1st
+of August (Sextilis, as it was then called) Octavian entered the open
+gates of Alexandria. Both Antony and Cleopatra sought to win him.
+Antony's messengers the conqueror refused to see; but he still used fair
+words to Cleopatra. The Queen had shut herself up in a sort of mausoleum
+built to receive her body after death, which was not approachable by any
+door; and it was given out that she was really dead. All the tenderness
+of old times revived in Antony's heart. He stabbed himself, and in a
+dying state ordered himself to be laid by the side of Cleopatra. The
+Queen, touched by pity, ordered her expiring lover to be drawn up by
+cords into her retreat, and bathed his temples with her tears.
+
+After he had breathed his last, she consented to see Octavian. Her
+penetration soon told her that she had nothing to hope from him. She saw
+that his fair words were only intended to prevent her from desperate
+acts and reserve her for the degradation of his triumph. This impression
+was confirmed when all instruments by which death could be inflicted
+were found to have been removed from her apartments. But she was not to
+be so baffled. She pretended all submission; but when the ministers of
+Octavian came to carry her away, they found her lying dead upon her
+couch, attended by her faithful waiting-women, Iras and Charmion. The
+manner of her death was never ascertained; popular belief ascribed it to
+the bite of an asp which had been conveyed to her in a basket of fruit.
+
+Thus died Antony and Cleopatra. Antony was by nature a genial,
+open-hearted Roman, a good soldier, quick, resolute, and vigorous, but
+reckless and self-indulgent, devoid alike of prudence and of principle.
+The corruptions of the age, the seductions of power, and the evil
+influence of Cleopatra paralyzed a nature capable of better things. We
+know him chiefly through the exaggerated assaults of Cicero in his
+_Philippic_, and the narratives of writers devoted to Octavian. But
+after all deductions for partial representation, enough remains to show
+that Antony had all the faults of Caesar, with little of his redeeming
+greatness.
+
+Cleopatra was an extraordinary person. At her death she was but
+thirty-eight years of age. Her power rested not so much on actual beauty
+as on her fascinating manners and her extreme readiness of wit. In her
+follies there was a certain magnificence which excites even a dull
+imagination. We may estimate the real power of her mental qualities by
+observing the impression her character made upon the Roman poets of the
+time. No meditated praises could have borne such testimony to her
+greatness as the lofty strain in which Horace celebrates her fall and
+congratulates the Roman world on its escape from the ruin which she was
+threatening to the Capitol.
+
+Octavian dated the years of his imperial monarchy from the day of the
+battle of Actium. But it was not till two years after (the summer of
+B.C. 29) that he established himself in Rome as ruler of the Roman
+world. Then he celebrated three magnificent triumphs, after the example
+of his uncle the great dictator, for his victories in Dalmatia, at
+Actium, and in Egypt. At the same time the temple of Janus was
+closed--notwithstanding that border wars still continued in Gaul and
+Spain--for the first time since the year B.C. 235. All men drew breath
+more freely, and all except the soldiery looked forward to a time of
+tranquillity. Liberty and independence were forgotten words. After the
+terrible disorders of the last century, the general cry was for quiet at
+any price. Octavian was a person admirably fitted to fulfil these
+aspirations. His uncle Julius was too fond of active exertion to play
+such a part well. Octavian never shone in war, while his vigilant and
+patient mind was well fitted for the discharge of business. He avoided
+shocking popular feeling by assuming any title savoring of royalty; but
+he enjoyed by universal consent an authority more than regal.
+
+
+
+
+GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME
+
+A.D. 9
+
+SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY
+
+
+(The German race was beginning to make itself felt to a greater extent
+than hitherto in its efforts for freedom from the Roman rule. Research
+shows that from the earliest days there were two distinct peoples under
+this designation of _German_--the northern or Scandinavian, and the
+southern, being more truly the German. Both consisted of numerous
+tribes, the Romans giving separate names to each: from this arose the
+generic titles of _Franks, Bavarians, Alamanni_, and the rest.
+
+They were great fighters and, as a natural sequence, mighty hunters.
+When warfare did not occupy their attention, hunting, feasting, and
+drinking took its place. Tacitus writes: "To drink continuously, night
+and day, was no shame for them." Their chief beverage was barley beer,
+though, in the South, wine was used to some extent.
+
+Rome had garrisons throughout the whole land, and the fortunes of the
+Germans were at a low ebb. Freedom seemed stifled forever when Arminius
+led his forces against the Roman hosts in the forest of Teutoburgium.
+Rightly does Creasy rate this important battle so highly, for it meant
+the final uplifting of the Teuton, and with him the English-speaking
+races of a later time.)
+
+
+To a truly illustrious Frenchman, whose reverses as a minister can never
+obscure his achievements in the world of letters, we are indebted for
+the most profound and most eloquent estimate that we possess of the
+importance of the Germanic element in European civilization, and of the
+extent to which the human race is indebted to those brave warriors who
+long were the unconquered antagonists, and finally became the
+conquerors, of imperial Rome.
+
+Twenty-three eventful years have passed away since M. Guizot[82]
+delivered from the chair of modern history, at Paris, his course of
+lectures on the history of civilization in Europe. During those years
+the spirit of earnest inquiry into the germs and primary developments of
+existing institutions has become more and more active and universal, and
+the merited celebrity of M. Guizot's work has proportionally increased.
+Its admirable analysis of the complex political and social organizations
+of which the modern civilized world is made up must have led thousands
+to trace with keener interest the great crises of times past, by which
+the characteristics of the present were determined. The narrative of one
+of these great crises, of the epoch A.D. 9, when Germany took up arms
+for her independence against Roman invasion, has for us this special
+attraction--that it forms part of our own national history. Had Arminius
+been supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors would have been
+enslaved or exterminated in their original seats along the Eider and the
+Elbe. This island would never have borne the name of England, and "we,
+this great English nation, whose race and language are now overrunning
+the earth, from one end of it to the other," would have been utterly cut
+off from existence.
+
+[Footnote 82: Guizot was minister of foreign affairs, and later (1848)
+prime minister, under Louis Philippe.]
+
+Arnold may, indeed, go too far in holding that we are wholly unconnected
+in race with the Romans and Britons who inhabited this country before
+the coming over of the Saxons; that, "nationally speaking, the history
+of Caesar's invasion has no more to do with us than the natural history
+of the animals which then inhabited our forests." There seems ample
+evidence to prove that the Romanized Celts whom our Teutonic forefathers
+found here influenced materially the character of our nation. But the
+main stream of our people was, and is, Germanic. Our language alone
+decisively proves this. Arminius is far more truly one of our national
+heroes than Caractacus; and it was our own primeval fatherland that the
+brave German rescued when he slaughtered the Roman legions, eighteen
+centuries ago, in the marshy glens between the Lippe and the Ems.
+
+Dark and disheartening, even to heroic spirits, must have seemed the
+prospects of Germany when Arminius planned the general rising of his
+countrymen against Rome. Half the land was occupied by Roman garrisons;
+and, what was worse, many of the Germans seemed patiently acquiescent in
+their state of bondage. The braver portion, whose patriotism could be
+relied on, was ill-armed and undisciplined, while the enemy's troops
+consisted of veterans in the highest state of equipment and training,
+familiarized with victory and commanded by officers of proved skill and
+valor. The resources of Rome seemed boundless; her tenacity of purpose
+was believed to be invincible. There was no hope of foreign sympathy or
+aid; for "the self-governing powers that had filled the Old World had
+bent one after another before the rising power of Rome, and had
+vanished. The earth seemed left void of independent nations."
+
+The German chieftain knew well the gigantic power of the oppressor.
+Arminius was no rude savage, fighting out of mere animal instinct or in
+ignorance of the might of his adversary. He was familiar with the Roman
+language and civilization; he had served in the Roman armies; he had
+been admitted to the Roman citizenship, and raised to the rank of the
+equestrian order. It was part of the subtle policy of Rome to confer
+rank and privileges on the youth of the leading families in the nations
+which she wished to enslave. Among other young German chieftains,
+Arminius and his brother, who were the heads of the noblest house in the
+tribe of the Cherusci, had been selected as fit objects for the exercise
+of this insidious system. Roman refinements and dignities succeeded in
+denationalizing the brother, who assumed the Roman name of Flavius, and
+adhered to Rome throughout all her wars against his country. Arminius
+remained unbought by honors or wealth, uncorrupted by refinement or
+luxury. He aspired to and obtained from Roman enmity a higher title than
+ever could have been given him by Roman favor. It is in the page of
+Rome's greatest historian that his name has come down to us with the
+proud addition of "_Liberator hand dubie Germaniae_."
+
+Often must the young chieftain, while meditating the exploit which has
+thus immortalized him, have anxiously revolved in his mind the fate of
+the many great men who had been crushed in the attempt which he was
+about to renew--the attempt to stay the chariot wheels of triumphant
+Rome. Could he hope to succeed where Hannibal and Mithradates had
+perished? What had been the doom of Viriathus? and what warning against
+vain valor was written on the desolate site where Numantia once had
+flourished? Nor was a caution wanting in scenes nearer home and more
+recent times. The Gauls had fruitlessly struggled for eight years
+against Caesar; and the gallant Vercingetorix, who in the last year of
+the war had roused all his countrymen to insurrection, who had cut off
+Roman detachments, and brought Caesar himself to the extreme of peril at
+Alesia--he, too, had finally succumbed, had been led captive in Caesar's
+triumph, and had then been butchered in cold blood in a Roman dungeon.
+
+It was true that Rome was no longer the great military republic which
+for so many ages had shattered the kingdoms of the world. Her system of
+government was changed, and, after a century of revolution and civil
+war, she had placed herself under the despotism of a single ruler. But
+the discipline of her troops was yet unimpaired and her warlike spirit
+seemed unabated. The first year of the empire had been signalized by
+conquests as valuable as any gained by the republic in a corresponding
+period. It is a great fallacy--though apparently sanctioned by great
+authorities--to suppose that the foreign policy pursued by Augustus was
+pacific; he certainly recommended such a policy to his successors
+(_incertum metu an per invidiam_: Tac., _Ann_., i. 11), but he himself,
+until Arminius broke his spirit, had followed a very different course.
+Besides his Spanish wars, his generals, in a series of generally
+aggressive campaigns, had extended the Roman frontier from the Alps to
+the Danube, and had reduced into subjection the large and important
+countries that now form the territories of all Austria south of that
+river, and of East Switzerland, Lower Wuertemberg, Bavaria, the
+Valtelline, and the Tyrol.
+
+While the progress of the Roman arms thus pressed the Germans from the
+south, still more formidable inroads had been made by the imperial
+legions on the west. Roman armies, moving from the province of Gaul,
+established a chain of fortresses along the right as well as the left
+bank of the Rhine, and, in a series of victorious campaigns, advanced
+their eagles as far as the Elbe, which now seemed added to the list of
+vassal rivers, to the Nile, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the Tagus,
+the Seine, and many more, that acknowledged the supremacy of the Tiber.
+Roman fleets also, sailing from the harbors of Gaul along the German
+coasts and up the estuaries, cooeperated with the land forces of the
+empire, and seemed to display, even more decisively than her armies, her
+overwhelming superiority over the rude Germanic tribes. Throughout the
+territory thus invaded the Romans had with their usual military skill
+established fortified posts; and a powerful army of occupation was kept
+on foot, ready to move instantly on any spot where a popular outbreak
+might be attempted.
+
+Vast, however, and admirably organized as the fabric of Roman power
+appeared on the frontiers and in the provinces, there was rottenness at
+the core. In Rome's unceasing hostilities with foreign foes, and still
+more in her long series of desolating civil wars, the free middle
+classes of Italy had almost wholly disappeared. Above the position which
+they had occupied, an oligarchy of wealth had reared itself; beneath
+that position a degraded mass of poverty and misery was fermenting.
+Slaves; the chance sweepings of every conquered country; shoals of
+Africans, Sardinians, Asiatics, Illyrians, and others made up the bulk
+of the population of the Italian peninsula.
+
+The foulest profligacy of manners was general in all ranks. In universal
+weariness of revolution and civil war, and in consciousness of being too
+debased for self-government, the nation had submitted itself to the
+absolute authority of Augustus. Adulation was now the chief function of
+the senate; and the gifts of genius and accomplishments of art were
+devoted to the elaboration of eloquently false panegyrics upon the
+prince and his favorite courtiers. With bitter indignation must the
+German chieftain have beheld all this and contrasted with it the rough
+worth of his own countrymen: their bravery, their fidelity to their
+word, their manly independence of spirit, their love of their national
+free institutions, and their loathing of every pollution and meanness.
+Above all, he must have thought of the domestic virtues that hallowed a
+German home; of the respect there shown to the female character, and of
+the pure affection by which that respect was repaid. His soul must have
+burned within him at the contemplation of such a race yielding to these
+debased Italians.
+
+Still, to persuade the Germans to combine, in spite of the frequent
+feuds among themselves, in one sudden outbreak against Rome; to keep the
+scheme concealed from the Romans until the hour for action arrived; and
+then, without possessing a single walled town, without military stores,
+without training, to teach his insurgent countrymen to defeat veteran
+armies and storm fortifications, seemed so perilous an enterprise that
+probably Arminius would have receded from it had not a stronger feeling
+even than patriotism urged him on. Among the Germans of high rank who
+had most readily submitted to the invaders and become zealous partisans
+of Roman authority was a chieftain named Segestes. His daughter,
+Thusnelda, was preeminent among the noble maidens of Germany. Arminius
+had sought her hand in marriage; but Segestes, who probably discerned
+the young chief's disaffection to Rome, forbade his suit, and strove to
+preclude all communication between him and his daughter. Thusnelda,
+however, sympathized far more with the heroic spirit of her lover than
+with the timeserving policy of her father. An elopement baffled the
+precautions of Segestes, who, disappointed in his hope of preventing the
+marriage, accused Arminius before the Roman governor of having carried
+off his daughter and of planning treason against Rome. Thus assailed,
+and dreading to see his bride torn from him by the officials of the
+foreign oppressor, Arminius delayed no longer, but bent all his energies
+to organize and execute a general insurrection of the great mass of his
+countrymen, who hitherto had submitted in sullen hatred to the Roman
+dominion.
+
+A change of governors had recently taken place, which, while it
+materially favored the ultimate success of the insurgents, served, by
+the immediate aggravation of the Roman oppressions which it produced, to
+make the native population more universally eager to take arms.
+Tiberius, who was afterward emperor, had recently been recalled from the
+command in Germany and sent into Pannonia to put down a dangerous revolt
+which had broken out against the Romans in that province. The German
+patriots were thus delivered from the stern supervision of one of the
+most suspicious of mankind, and were also relieved from having to
+contend against the high military talents of a veteran commander, who
+thoroughly understood their national character, and also the nature of
+the country, which he himself had principally subdued.
+
+In the room of Tiberius, Augustus sent into Germany Quintilius Varus,
+who had lately returned from the proconsulate of Syria. Varus was a true
+representative of the higher classes of the Romans, among whom a general
+taste for literature, a keen susceptibility to all intellectual
+gratifications, a minute acquaintance with the principles and practice
+of their own national jurisprudence, a careful training in the schools
+of the rhetoricians, and a fondness for either partaking in or watching
+the intellectual strife of forensic oratory had become generally
+diffused, without, however, having humanized the old Roman spirit of
+cruel indifference to human feelings and human sufferings, and without
+acting as the least checks on unprincipled avarice and ambition or on
+habitual and gross profligacy. Accustomed to govern the depraved and
+debased natives of Syria--a country where courage in man and virtue in
+woman had for centuries been unknown--Varus thought that he might
+gratify his licentious and rapacious passions with equal impunity among
+the high-minded sons and pure-spirited daughters of Germany. When the
+general of an army sets the example of outrages of this description, he
+is soon faithfully imitated by his officers, and surpassed by his still
+more brutal soldiery. The Romans now habitually indulged in those
+violations of the sanctity of the domestic shrine, and those insults
+upon honor and modesty, by which far less gallant spirits than those of
+our Teutonic ancestors have often been maddened into insurrection.
+
+Arminius found among the other German chiefs many who sympathized with
+him in his indignation at their country's abasement, and many whom
+private wrongs had stung yet more deeply. There was little difficulty in
+collecting bold leaders for an attack on the oppressors, and little fear
+of the population not rising readily at those leaders' call. But to
+declare open war against Rome and to encounter Varus' army in a pitched
+battle would have been merely rushing upon certain destruction. Varus
+had three legions under him, a force which, after allowing for
+detachments, cannot be estimated at less than fourteen thousand Roman
+infantry. He had also eight or nine hundred Roman cavalry, and at least
+an equal number of horse and foot sent from the allied states, or raised
+among those provincials who had not received the Roman franchise.
+
+It was not merely the number, but the quality of this force that made
+them formidable; and, however contemptible Varus might be as a general,
+Arminius well knew how admirably the Roman armies were organized and
+officered, and how perfectly the legionaries understood every manoeuvre
+and every duty which the varying emergencies of a stricken field might
+require. Stratagem was, therefore, indispensable; and it was necessary
+to blind Varus to their schemes until a favorable opportunity should
+arrive for striking a decisive blow.
+
+For this purpose, the German confederates frequented the head-quarters
+of Varus, which seem to have been near the centre of the modern country
+of Westphalia, where the Roman general conducted himself with all the
+arrogant security of the governor of a perfectly submissive province.
+There Varus gratified at once his vanity, his rhetorical tastes, and his
+avarice, by holding courts, to which he summoned the Germans for the
+settlement of all their disputes, while a bar of Roman advocates
+attended to argue the cases before the tribunal of Varus, who did not
+omit the opportunity of exacting court fees and accepting bribes. Varus
+trusted implicitly to the respect which the Germans pretended to pay to
+his abilities as a judge, and to the interest which they affected to
+take in the forensic eloquence of their conquerors.
+
+Meanwhile a succession of heavy rains rendered the country more
+difficult for the operations of regular troops, and Arminius, seeing
+that the infatuation of Varus was complete, secretly directed the tribes
+near the Weser and the Ems to take up arms in open revolt against the
+Romans. This was represented to Varus as an occasion which required his
+prompt attendance at the spot; but he was kept in studied ignorance of
+its being part of a concerted national rising; and he still looked on
+Arminius as his submissive vassal, whose aid he might rely on in
+facilitating the march of his troops against the rebels and in
+extinguishing the local disturbance. He therefore set his army in
+motion, and marched eastward in a line parallel to the course of the
+Lippe. For some distance his route lay along a level plain; but on
+arriving at the tract between the curve of the upper part of that stream
+and the sources of the Ems, the country assumes a very different
+character; and here, in the territory of the modern little principality
+of Lippe, it was that Arminius had fixed the scene of his enterprise.
+
+A wooded and hilly region intervenes between the heads of the two
+rivers, and forms the water-shed of their streams. This region still
+retains the name (Teutobergenwald = _Teutobergiensis saltus_) which it
+bore in the days of Arminius. The nature of the ground has probably also
+remained unaltered. The eastern part of it, round Detmold, the modern
+capital of the principality of Lippe, is described by a modern German
+scholar, Dr. Plate, as being a "table-land intersected by numerous deep
+and narrow valleys, which in some places form small plains, surrounded
+by steep mountains and rocks, and only accessible by narrow defiles. All
+the valleys are traversed by rapid streams, shallow in the dry season,
+but subject to sudden swellings in autumn and winter. The vast forests
+which cover the summits and slopes of the hills consist chiefly of oak;
+there is little underwood, and both men and horse would move with ease
+in the forests if the ground were not broken by gulleys or rendered
+impracticable by fallen trees." This is the district to which Varus is
+supposed to have marched; and Dr. Plate adds that "the names of several
+localities on and near that spot seem to indicate that a great battle
+had once been fought there. We find the names '_das Winnefeld_' (the
+field of victory), '_die Knochenbahn_' (the bone-lane), '_die
+Knochenleke_' (the bone-brook), '_der Mordkessel_' (the kettle of
+slaughter), and others."
+
+Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman discipline, Varus had
+suffered his army to be accompanied and impeded by an immense train of
+baggage wagons and by a rabble of camp followers, as if his troops had
+been merely changing their quarters in a friendly country. When the long
+array quitted the firm, level ground and began to wind its way among the
+woods, the marshes, and the ravines, the difficulties of the march, even
+without the intervention of an armed foe, became fearfully apparent. In
+many places the soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for cavalry
+and even for infantry, until trees had been felled and a rude causeway
+formed through the morass.
+
+The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who served in the Roman
+armies. But the crowd and confusion of the columns embarrassed the
+working parties of the soldiery, and in the midst of their toil and
+disorder the word was suddenly passed through their ranks that the
+rear-guard was attacked by the barbarians. Varus resolved on pressing
+forward; but a heavy discharge of missiles from the woods on either
+flank taught him how serious was the peril, and he saw his best men
+falling round him without the opportunity of retaliation; for his
+light-armed auxiliaries, who were principally of Germanic race, now
+rapidly deserted, and it was impossible to deploy the legionaries on
+such broken ground for a charge against the enemy.
+
+Choosing one of the most open and firm spots which they could force
+their way to, the Romans halted for the night; and, faithful to their
+national discipline and tactics, formed their camp amid the harassing
+attacks of the rapidly thronging foes with the elaborate toil and
+systematic skill the traces of which are impressed permanently on the
+soil of so many European countries, attesting the presence in the olden
+time of the imperial eagles.
+
+On the morrow the Romans renewed their march, the veteran officers who
+served under Varus now probably directing the operations and hoping to
+find the Germans drawn up to meet them, in which case they relied on
+their own superior discipline and tactics for such a victory as should
+reassure the supremacy of Rome. But Arminius was far too sage a
+commander to lead on his followers, with their unwieldy broadswords and
+inefficient defensive armor, against the Roman legionaries, fully armed
+with helmet, cuirass, greaves, and shield, who were skilled to commence
+the conflict with a murderous volley of heavy javelins hurled upon the
+foe when a few yards distant, and then, with their short cut-and-thrust
+swords, to hew their way through all opposition, preserving the utmost
+steadiness and coolness, and obeying each word of command in the midst
+of strife and slaughter with the same precision and alertness as if upon
+parade. Arminius suffered the Romans to march out from their camp, to
+form first in line for action and then in column for marching, without
+the show of opposition.
+
+For some distance Varus was allowed to move on, only harassed by slight
+skirmishes, but struggling with difficulty through the broken ground,
+the toil and distress of his men being aggravated by heavy torrents of
+rain, which burst upon the devoted legions, as if the angry gods of
+Germany were pouring out the vials of their wrath upon the invaders.
+After some little time their van approached a ridge of high wooded
+ground, which is one of the offshoots of the great Hercynian forest, and
+is situated between the modern villages of Driburg and Bielefeld.
+Arminius had caused barricades of hewn trees to be formed here, so as to
+add to the natural difficulties of the passage. Fatigue and
+discouragement now began to betray themselves in the Roman ranks. Their
+line became less steady; baggage wagons were abandoned from the
+impossibility of forcing them along; and, as this happened, many
+soldiers left their ranks and crowded round the wagons to secure the
+most valuable portions of their property; each was busy about his own
+affairs, and purposely slow in hearing the word of command from his
+officers.
+
+Arminius now gave the signal for a general attack. The fierce shouts of
+the Germans pealed through the gloom of the forests, and in thronging
+multitudes they assailed the flanks of the invaders, pouring in clouds
+of darts on the encumbered legionaries as they struggled up the glens or
+floundered in the morasses, and watching every opportunity of charging
+through the intervals of the disjointed column, and so cutting off the
+communication between its several brigades. Arminius, with a chosen band
+of personal retainers round him, cheered on his countrymen by voice and
+example. He and his men aimed their weapons particularly at the horses
+of the Roman cavalry. The wounded animals, slipping about in the mire
+and their own blood, threw their riders and plunged among the ranks of
+the legions, disordering all round them. Varus now ordered the troops to
+be countermarched, in the hope of reaching the nearest Roman garrison on
+the Lippe.
+
+But retreat now was as impracticable as advance; and the falling back of
+the Romans only augmented the courage of their assailants and caused
+fiercer and more frequent charges on the flanks of the disheartened
+army. The Roman officer who commanded the cavalry, Numonius Vala, rode
+off with his squadrons in the vain hope of escaping by thus abandoning
+his comrades. Unable to keep together or force their way across the
+woods and swamps, the horsemen were overpowered in detail and
+slaughtered to the last man. The Roman infantry still held together and
+resisted, but more through the instinct of discipline and bravery than
+from any hope of success or escape.
+
+Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge of the Germans against
+his part of the column, committed suicide to avoid falling into the
+hands of those whom he had exasperated by his oppressions. One of the
+lieutenants-general of the army fell fighting; the other surrendered to
+the enemy. But mercy to a fallen foe had never been a Roman virtue, and
+those among her legions who now laid down their arms in hope of quarter,
+drank deep of the cup of suffering, which Rome had held to the lips of
+many a brave but unfortunate enemy. The infuriated Germans slaughtered
+their oppressors with deliberate ferocity, and those prisoners who were
+not hewn to pieces on the spot were only preserved to perish by a more
+cruel death in cold blood.
+
+The bulk of the Roman army fought steadily and stubbornly, frequently
+repelling the masses of assailants, but gradually losing the compactness
+of their array and becoming weaker and weaker beneath the incessant
+shower of darts and the reiterated assaults of the vigorous and
+unencumbered Germans. At last, in a series of desperate attacks, the
+column was pierced through and through, two of the eagles captured, and
+the Roman host, which on the morning before had marched forth in such
+pride and might--now broken up into confused fragments--either fell
+fighting beneath the overpowering numbers of the enemy or perished in
+the swamps and woods in unavailing efforts at flight. Few, very few,
+ever saw again the left bank of the Rhine. One body of brave veterans,
+arraying themselves in a ring on a little mound, beat off every charge
+of the Germans, and prolonged their honorable resistance to the close of
+that dreadful day. The traces of a feeble attempt at forming a ditch and
+mound attested in after-years the spot where the last of the Romans
+passed their night of suffering and despair. But on the morrow this
+remnant also, worn out with hunger, wounds, and toil, was charged by the
+victorious Germans, and either massacred on the spot or offered up in
+fearful rites on the altars of the deities of the old mythology of the
+North.
+
+A gorge in the mountain ridge, through which runs the modern road
+between Paderborn and Pyrmont, leads from the spot where the heat of the
+battle raged to the Extersteine--a cluster of bold and grotesque rocks
+of sandstone--near which is a small sheet of water, overshadowed by a
+grove of aged trees. According to local tradition, this was one of the
+sacred groves of the ancient Germans, and it was here that the Roman
+captives were slain in sacrifice by the victorious warriors of Arminius.
+
+Never was victory more decisive; never was the liberation of an
+oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. Throughout Germany the
+Roman garrisons were assailed and cut off; and within a few weeks after
+Varus had fallen, the German soil was freed from the foot of an invader.
+
+At Rome the tidings of the battle were received with an agony of terror,
+the reports of which we would deem exaggerated did they not come from
+Roman historians themselves. They not only tell emphatically how great
+was the awe which the Romans felt of the prowess of the Germans if their
+various tribes could be brought to unite for a common purpose,[83] but
+they also reveal how weakened and debased the population of Italy had
+become. Dion Cassius says: "Then Augustus, when he heard the calamity of
+Varus, rent his garment, and was in great affliction for the troops he
+had lost, and for terror respecting the Germans and the Gauls. And his
+chief alarm was that he expected them to push on against Italy and Rome;
+and there remained no Roman youth fit for military duty that were worth
+speaking of, and the allied populations, that were at all serviceable,
+had been wasted away. Yet he prepared for the emergency as well as his
+means allowed; and when none of the citizens of military age were
+willing to enlist, he made them cast lots, and punished, by confiscation
+of goods and disfranchisement, every fifth man among those under
+thirty-five and every tenth man of those above that age. At last, when
+he found that not even thus could he make many come forward, he put some
+of them to death. So he made a conscription of discharged veterans and
+of emancipated slaves, and, collecting as large a force as he could,
+sent it, under Tiberius, with all speed into Germany."
+
+[Footnote 83: It is clear that the Romans followed the policy of
+fomenting dissensions and wars of the Germans among themselves.]
+
+Dion mentions also a number of terrific portents that were believed to
+have occurred at the time, and the narration of which is not immaterial,
+as it shows the state of the public mind when such things were so
+believed in and so interpreted. The summits of the Alps were said to
+have fallen, and three columns of fire to have blazed up from them. In
+the Campus Martius, the temple of the war-god, from whom the founder of
+Rome had sprung, was struck by a thunderbolt. The nightly heavens glowed
+several times as if on fire. Many comets blazed forth together; and
+fiery meteors, shaped like spears, had shot from the northern quarter of
+the sky down into the Roman camps. It was said, too, that a statue of
+Victory, which had stood at a place on the frontier, pointing the way
+toward Germany, had of its own accord turned round, and now pointed to
+Italy. These and other prodigies were believed by the multitude to
+accompany the slaughter of Varus' legions and to manifest the anger of
+the gods against Rome.
+
+Augustus himself was not free from superstition; but on this occasion no
+supernatural terrors were needed to increase the alarm and grief that he
+felt, and which made him, even months after the news of the battle had
+arrived, often beat his head against the wall and exclaim, "Quintilius
+Varus, give me back my legions." We learn this from his biographer
+Suetonius; and, indeed, every ancient writer who alludes to the
+overthrow of Varus attests the importance of the blow against the Roman
+power, and the bitterness with which it was felt.
+
+The Germans did not pursue their victory beyond their own territory; but
+that victory secured at once and forever the independence of the
+Teutonic race. Rome sent, indeed, her legions again into Germany, to
+parade a temporary superiority, but all hopes of permanent conquests
+were abandoned by Augustus and his successors.
+
+The blow which Arminius had struck never was forgotten. Roman fear
+disguised itself under the specious title of moderation, and the Rhine
+became the acknowledged boundary of the two nations until the fifth
+century of our era, when the Germans became the assailants, and carved
+with their conquering swords the provinces of imperial Rome into the
+kingdoms of modern Europe.
+
+
+ARMINIUS
+
+I have said above that the great Cheruscan is more truly one of our
+national heroes than Caractacus is. It may be added that an Englishman
+is entitled to claim a closer degree of relationship with Arminius than
+can be claimed by any German of modern Germany. The proof of this
+depends on the proof of four facts: First, that the Cheruscans were Old
+Saxons, or Saxons of the interior of Germany; secondly, that the
+Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons of the coast of Germany, were more closely akin
+than other German tribes were to the Cheruscan Saxons; thirdly, that the
+Old Saxons were almost exterminated by Charlemagne; fourthly, that the
+Anglo-Saxons are our immediate ancestors. The last of these may be
+assumed as an axiom in English history. The proofs of the other three
+are partly philological and partly historical. It may be, however, here
+remarked that the present Saxons of Germany are of the _High_ Germanic
+division of the German race, whereas both the Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon
+were of the _Low_ Germanic.
+
+Being thus the nearest heirs of the glory of Arminius, we may fairly
+devote more attention to his career than, in such a work as the present,
+could be allowed to any individual leader; and it is interesting to
+trace how far his fame survived during the Middle Ages, both among the
+Germans of the Continent and among ourselves.
+
+It seems probable that the jealousy with which Maroboduus, the king of
+the Suevi and Marcomanni, regarded Arminius, and which ultimately broke
+out into open hostilities between those German tribes and the Cherusci,
+prevented Arminius from leading the confederate Germans to attack Italy
+after his first victory. Perhaps he may have had the rare moderation of
+being content with the liberation of his country, without seeking to
+retaliate on her former oppressors. When Tiberius marched into Germany
+in the year 10, Arminius was too cautious to attack him on ground
+favorable to the legions, and Tiberius was too skilful to entangle his
+troops in the difficult parts of the country. His march and countermarch
+were as unresisted as they were unproductive. A few years later, when a
+dangerous revolt of the Roman legions near the frontier caused their
+generals to find them active employment by leading them into the
+interior of Germany, we find Arminius again active in his country's
+defence. The old quarrel between him and his father-in-law, Segestes,
+had broken out afresh.
+
+Segestes now called in the aid of the Roman general, Germanicus, to whom
+he surrendered himself; and by his contrivance, his daughter, Thusnelda,
+the wife of Arminius, also came into the hands of the Romans, she being
+far advanced in pregnancy. She showed, as Tacitus relates, more of the
+spirit of her husband than of her father, a spirit that could not be
+subdued into tears or supplications. She was sent to Ravenna, and there
+gave birth to a son, whose life we know, from an allusion in Tacitus, to
+have been eventful and unhappy; but the part of the great historian's
+work which narrated his fate has perished, and we only know from another
+quarter that the son of Arminius was, at the age of four years, led
+captive in a triumphal pageant along the streets of Rome.
+
+The high spirit of Arminius was goaded almost into frenzy by these
+bereavements. The fate of his wife, thus torn from him, and of his babe
+doomed to bondage even before its birth, inflamed the eloquent
+invectives with which he roused his countrymen against the
+home-traitors, and against their invaders, who thus made war upon women
+and children. Germanicus had marched his army to the place where Varus
+had perished, and had there paid funeral honors to the ghastly relics of
+his predecessor's legions that he found heaped around him.[84] Arminius
+lured him to advance a little farther into the country, and then
+assailed him, and fought a battle, which, by the Roman accounts, was a
+drawn one.
+
+[Footnote 84: In the Museum of Rhenish Antiquities at Bonn there is a
+Roman sepulchral monument the inscription on which records that it was
+erected to the memory of M. Coelius, who fell "_Bella Variano_."]
+
+The effect of it was to make Germanicus resolve on retreating to the
+Rhine. He himself, with part of his troops, embarked in some vessels on
+the Ems, and returned by that river, and then by sea; but part of his
+forces were intrusted to a Roman general named Caecina, to lead them
+back by land to the Rhine. Arminius followed this division on its march,
+and fought several battles with it, in which he inflicted heavy loss on
+the Romans, captured the greater part of their baggage, and would have
+destroyed them completely had not his skilful system of operations been
+finally thwarted by the haste of Inguiomerus, a confederate German
+chief, who insisted on assaulting the Romans in their camp, instead of
+waiting till they were entangled in the difficulties of the country, and
+assailing their columns on the march.
+
+In the following year the Romans were inactive, but in the year
+afterward Germanicus led a fresh invasion. He placed his army on
+shipboard and sailed to the mouth of the Ems, where he disembarked and
+marched to the Weser, there encamping, probably in the neighborhood of
+Minden. Arminius had collected his army on the other side of the river;
+and a scene occurred, which is powerfully told by Tacitus, and which is
+the subject of a beautiful poem by Praed. It has been already mentioned
+that the brother of Arminius, like himself, had been trained up while
+young to serve in the Roman armies; but, unlike Arminius, he not only
+refused to quit the Roman service for that of his country, but fought
+against his country with the legions of Germanicus. He had assumed the
+Roman name of Flavius, and had gained considerable distinction in the
+Roman service, in which he had lost an eye from a wound in battle. When
+the Roman outposts approached the river Weser, Arminius called out to
+them from the opposite bank and expressed a wish to see his brother.
+Flavius stepped forward, and Arminius ordered his own followers to
+retire, and requested that the archers should be removed from the Roman
+bank of the river. This was done; and the brothers, who apparently had
+not seen each other for some years, began a conversation from the
+opposite sides of the stream, in which Arminius questioned his brother
+respecting the loss of his eye, and what battle it had been lost in, and
+what reward he had received for his wound. Flavius told him how the eye
+was lost, and mentioned the increased pay that he had on account of its
+loss, and showed the collar and other military decorations that had been
+given him. Arminius mocked at these as badges of slavery; and then each
+began to try to win the other over--Flavius boasting the power of Rome
+and her generosity to the submissive; Arminius appealing to him in the
+name of their country's gods, of the mother that had borne them, and by
+the holy names of fatherland and freedom, not to prefer being the
+betrayer to being the champion of his country. They soon proceeded to
+mutual taunts and menaces, and Flavius called aloud for his horse and
+his arms, that he might dash across the river and attack his brother;
+nor would he have been checked from doing so had not the Roman general
+Stertinius run up to him and forcibly detained him. Arminius stood on
+the other bank, threatening the renegade, and defying him to battle.
+
+I shall not be thought to need apology for quoting here the stanzas in
+which Praed has described this scene--a scene among the most affecting,
+as well as the most striking, that history supplies. It makes us reflect
+on the desolate position of Arminius, with his wife and child captives
+in the enemy's hands, and with his brother a renegade in arms against
+him. The great liberator of our German race was there, with every source
+of human happiness denied him except the consciousness of doing his duty
+to his country.
+
+  "Back, back! he fears not foaming flood
+    Who fears not steel-clad line:
+  No warrior thou of German blood,
+    No brother thou of mine.
+  Go, earn Rome's chain to load thy neck,
+    Her gems to deck thy hilt;
+  And blazon honor's hapless wreck
+    With all the gauds of guilt.
+
+  "But wouldst thou have _me_ share the prey?
+    By all that I have done,
+  The Varian bones that day by day
+    Lie whitening in the sun,
+  The legion's trampled panoply,
+    The eagle's shatter'd wing--
+  I would not be for earth or sky
+    So scorn'd and mean a thing.
+
+  "Ho, call me here the wizard, boy,
+    Of dark and subtle skill,
+  To agonize but not destroy,
+    To torture, not to kill.
+  When swords are out and shriek and shout
+    Leave little room for prayer,
+  No fetter on man's arm or heart
+    Hangs half so heavy there.
+
+  "I curse him by the gifts the land
+    Hath won from him and Rome,
+  The riving axe, the wasting brand,
+    Rent forest, blazing home.
+  I curse him by our country's gods,
+    The terrible, the dark,
+  The breakers of the Roman rods,
+    The smiters of the bark.
+
+  "Oh, misery that such a ban
+    On such a brow should be!
+  Why comes he not in battle's van
+    His country's chief to be?
+  To stand a comrade by my side,
+    The sharer of my fame,
+  And worthy of a brother's pride
+    And of a brother's name?
+
+  "But it is past! where heroes press
+    And cowards bend the knee,
+  Arminius is not brotherless,
+    His brethren are the free.
+  They come around: one hour, and light
+    Will fade from turf and tide,
+  Then onward, onward to the fight,
+    With darkness for our guide.
+
+  "To-night, to-night, when we shall meet
+    In combat face to face,
+  Then only would Arminius greet
+    The renegade's embrace.
+  The canker of Rome's guilt shall be
+    Upon his dying name;
+  And as he lived in slavery,
+    So shall he fall in shame."
+
+On the day after the Romans had reached the Weser, Germanicus led his
+army across that river, and a partial encounter took place, in which
+Arminius was successful. But on the succeeding day a general action was
+fought, in which Arminius was severely wounded and the German infantry
+routed with heavy loss. The horsemen of the two armies encountered
+without either party gaining the advantage. But the Roman army remained
+master of the ground and claimed a complete victory. Germanicus erected
+a trophy in the field, with a vaunting inscription that the nations
+between the Rhine and the Elbe had been thoroughly conquered by his
+army. But that army speedily made a final retreat to the left bank of
+the Rhine; nor was the effect of their campaign more durable than their
+trophy. The sarcasm with which Tacitus speaks of certain other triumphs
+of Roman generals over Germans may apply to the pageant which Germanicus
+celebrated on his return to Rome from his command of the Roman army of
+the Rhine. The Germans were "_triumphati potius quam victi_."
+
+After the Romans had abandoned their attempts on Germany, we find
+Arminius engaged in hostilities with Maroboduus, king of the Suevi and
+Marcomanni, who was endeavoring to bring the other German tribes into a
+state of dependency on him. Arminius was at the head of the Germans who
+took up arms against this home invader of their liberties. After some
+minor engagements a pitched battle was fought between the two
+confederacies (A.D. 19) in which the loss on each side was equal, but
+Maroboduus confessed the ascendency of his antagonist by avoiding a
+renewal of the engagement and by imploring the intervention of the
+Romans in his defence. The younger Drusus then commanded the Roman
+legions in the province of Illyricum, and by his mediation a peace was
+concluded between Arminius and Maroboduus, by the terms of which it is
+evident that the latter must have renounced his ambitious schemes
+against the freedom of the other German tribes.
+
+Arminius did not long survive this second war of independence, which he
+successfully waged for his country. He was assassinated in the
+thirty-seventh year of his age by some of his own kinsmen, who conspired
+against him. Tacitus says that this happened while he was engaged in a
+civil war, which had been caused by his attempts to make himself king
+over his countrymen. It is far more probable, as one of the best
+biographers[85] has observed, that Tacitus misunderstood an attempt of
+Arminius to extend his influence as elective war chieftain of the
+Cherusci and other tribes, for an attempt to obtain the royal dignity.
+
+[Footnote 85: Dr. Plate, in _Biographical Dictionary_.]
+
+When we remember that his father-in-law and his brother were renegades,
+we can well understand that a party among his kinsmen may have been
+bitterly hostile to him, and have opposed his authority with the tribe
+by open violence, and, when that seemed ineffectual, by secret
+assassination.
+
+Arminius left a name which the historians of the nation against which he
+combated so long and so gloriously have delighted to honor. It is from
+the most indisputable source, from the lips of enemies, that we know his
+exploits.[86] His countrymen made history, but did not write it. But his
+memory lived among them in the days of their bards, who recorded
+
+  "The deeds he did, the fields he won,
+  The freedom he restored."
+
+Tacitus, writing years after the death of Arminius, says of him,
+"_Canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes_." As time passed on, the gratitude
+of ancient Germany to her great deliverer grew into adoration, and
+divine honors were paid for centuries to Arminius by every tribe of the
+Low Germanic division of the Teutonic races. The _Irmin-sul_, or the
+column of Herman, near Eresburgh (the modern Stadtberg), was the chosen
+object of worship to the descendants of the Cherusci (the Old Saxons),
+and in defence of which they fought most desperately against Charlemagne
+and his Christianized Franks. "Irmin, in the cloudy Olympus of Teutonic
+belief, appears as a king and a warrior; and the pillar, the
+'Irmin-sul,' bearing the statue, and considered as the symbol of the
+deity, was the Palladium of the Saxon nation until the temple of
+Eresburgh was destroyed by Charlemagne, and the column itself
+transferred to the monastery of Corbey, where perhaps a portion of the
+rude rock idol yet remains, covered by the ornaments of the Gothic
+era."[87] Traces of the worship of Arminius are to be found among our
+Anglo-Saxon ancestors after their settlement in this island. One of the
+four great highways was held to be under the protection of the deity,
+and was called the "Irmin street." The name _Arminius_ is, of course,
+the mere Latinized form of _Herman_, the name by which the hero and the
+deity were known by every man of Low German blood on either side of the
+German Sea. It means, etymologically, the _War-man_, the _man of hosts_.
+No other explanation of the worship of the Irmin-sul, and of the name of
+the Irmin street, is so satisfactory as that which connects them with
+the deified Arminius. We know for certain of the existence of other
+columns of an analogous character. Thus there was the _Roland-seule_ in
+North Germany; there was a _Thor-seule_ in Sweden, and (what is more
+important) there was an _Athelstan-seule_ in Saxon England.[88]
+
+[Footnote 86: Tacitus: _Annales_.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Palgrave: _English Commonwealth_.]
+
+[Footnote 88: Lappenburg: _Anglo-Saxons_.]
+
+
+
+
+CHRONOLOGY OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
+
+EMBRACING THE PERIOD COVERED IN THIS VOLUME B.C. 450-A.D. 12
+
+JOHN RUDD, LL.D.
+
+
+Events treated at length are here indicated in large type; the numerals
+following give volume and page.
+
+Separate chronologies of the various nations, and of the careers of
+famous persons, will be found in the INDEX VOLUME, with volume and page
+references showing where the several events are fully treated.
+
+"Est" means date uncertain.
+
+B.C.
+
+450. The decemvirate instituted at Rome; the Twelve Tables of law
+framed. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Alcibiades born.[Est]
+
+448. First Sacred War between the Phocians and Delphians for the
+possession of the temple at Delphi.
+
+The decemvirate abolished at Rome. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE
+DECEMVIRATE IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Athens is now the principal seat of Greek philosophy, literature, and
+art.
+
+447. The Boeotians defeat the Athenians at Coronea; the conflict was
+brought about by Athens breaking the truce arranged between the Greek
+states to endure for five years, in order to combine against Persia. The
+result was the loss to Athens of Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris.
+
+445.[Est] Nehemiah begins the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.
+
+Peace of Callias between the Greeks and Persians.
+
+Birth of Xenophon, general and historian.
+
+444. Ascendency of Pericles at Athens.[Est] See "PERICLES RULES IN
+ATHENS," ii, 12.
+
+The military tribunes instituted at Rome. The consulship was in no sense
+abolished; until the passage of the Licinian Rogations (when it
+reappeared as a permanent annual magistracy) it alternated irregularly
+with the military tribunes. See "INSTITUTION AND FALL OF THE DECEMVIRATE
+IN ROME," ii, 1.
+
+Thucydides exiled Athens.
+
+443. An Athenian colony planted at Thurium, near Sybarius; it is
+accompanied by Herodotus and Lysias.
+
+442. Pericles, guided by Phidias the sculptor, adorns Athens; the
+Parthenon, Propylaea, and Odeum built.
+
+440. Samos resists the Athenian sway; is besieged by Pericles and
+Sophocles; Melissus defends the city, but surrenders after a siege of
+nine months.
+
+Comedies prohibited performance at Athens.
+
+439. Great famine in Rome; Sp. Maelius distributes corn to the citizens,
+for which he is accused of wishing to be king, and is assassinated by
+Servilius Ahala.
+
+438. Spartacus becomes king of Bosporus.
+
+Ahala impeached and exiled Rome.
+
+437. The prohibition of comedy repealed at Athens.
+
+Syracuse, the predominant state in Sicily, reaches the height of its
+prosperity. See "DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
+
+436. Commencement of the dispute between Corinth and Corcyra regarding
+the city of Epidamnus, in which Athens supported the latter; this led to
+the Peloponnesian War.
+
+435. Naval victory over the Corinthians by the Corcyraeans, near Actium.
+
+432. Ambassadors from Corcyra implore the aid of Athens, which series a
+fleet to defend the island against the Corinthian attack. Corinth
+incites Potidaea to revolt from Athens.
+
+431. Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Sparta declares on the side of
+Corinth and makes war on Athens. The real cause of the war--which was to
+be so disastrous to Greece--was that Sparta and its allies were jealous
+of the great power Athens had attained. Sparta was an oligarchy and a
+friend of the nobles everywhere; Athens was a democracy and the friend
+of the common people; so that the war was to some extent a struggle
+between these classes all over Greece.
+
+430. "GREAT PLAGUE AT ATHENS." See ii, 34. The physician Hippocrates
+distinguishes himself by extraordinary cures of the sick.
+
+Second invasion of Attica by the Spartans.
+
+429. Death of Pericles, during the plague, at Athens.
+
+Potidaea reduced by the Athenians.
+
+Birth of Plato.
+
+428. Attica invaded the third time.
+
+Lesbos revolts from the Athenian confederacy; on this the Athenians
+besiege Mitylene.
+
+427. Mitylene reduced; Athens becomes master of Lesbos. Plataea, the ally
+of Athens, after being besieged, surrenders to the Peloponnesians and is
+destroyed.
+
+Attica again invaded.
+
+425. Agis begins the fifth invasion of Attica; he retires on learning
+that the Athenians under Cleon had taken Pylos and Sapachteria.
+
+Mount AEetna in eruption.
+
+On the death of Artaxerxes I, his son, Xerxes II, succeeds him as ruler
+of Persia; he reigns only forty-five days, being slain by his brother
+Sogdianus, who usurps the throne.
+
+424. The island of Cythera taken by the Athenians. Brasidas, the Spartan
+general, captures Amphipolis, defeating Thucydides.
+
+Ochus (Darius Nothus) rids himself of Sogdianus and succeeds him on the
+Persian throne.
+
+423. The Athenians banish Thucydides for having suffered Amphipolis to
+be taken.
+
+422. The Athenians send Cleon to recover Amphipolis; he is defeated by
+Brasidas; both fall in the battle.
+
+421. Peace of Nicias between Sparta and Athens. End of the first period
+of the Peloponnesian War.
+
+420. Alcibiades negotiates an alliance between Athens and Argos.
+Amphipolis retained by the Spartans.
+
+419. An Athenian expedition is led into the Peloponnesus by Alcibiades.
+
+418. Victory of the Spartans at Mantinea.
+
+The league between Athens and Argos dissolved.
+
+416. The island of Melos, which had remained neutral, is conquered by
+the Athenians; its inhabitants are treated with extreme cruelty.
+
+415. The Athenians send an expedition against Syracuse under Nicias,
+Lamachus, and Alcibiades; the latter is recalled to answer an accusation
+of having broken some statues of Mercury in Athens; he takes refuge in
+Sparta. Andocides, the orator, implicated in the same charge, is
+imprisoned and exiled.
+
+414. Syracuse is invested by the Athenians under Nicias; being hard
+pressed, Syracuse appeals to the other Greek states; Cylippus, the
+Spartan commander, comes with a fleet to the aid of the city. See
+"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE," ii, 48.
+
+The Romans capture Bolae, an AEquian town; the division of the booty
+causes a mutiny among the soldiers, who slay the quaestor and the
+military tribune, M. Postumius.
+
+413. On Alcibiades' advice the Spartans fortify a position at Decelea,
+in Attica.
+
+"DEFEAT OF THE ATHENIANS AT SYRACUSE." See ii, 48.
+
+412. Alcibiades visits the Persian satrap Tissaphernes, with whose aid
+he negotiates an alliance between Persia and Sparta.
+
+411. Owing to the machinations of Alcibiades a revolt is organized in
+Athens, by the aid of the clubs of the nobles and rich men; its object
+being to overthrow the democracy and establish an oligarchy. The rising
+is successful and the "Reign of the Four Hundred" ensues; it lasts four
+months; its framer, Antipho, is put to death. Alcibiades is recalled.
+
+410. The Spartans are defeated by Alcibiades in a naval encounter at
+Cyzicus. Sparta makes overtures for peace.
+
+409. The Carthaginians invade Sicily; they reduce Silenus and Himera.
+
+408. Alcibiades takes Selymbria and Byzantium.
+
+Psammeticus is king of Egypt.
+
+Roman plebs first admitted to the quaestorship.
+
+407. Lysander, the Spartan admiral, defeats the Athenian fleet at
+Notium; in consequence of this defeat, Alcibiades, who had been received
+with great honor, is banished, and ten generals are nominated to succeed
+him.
+
+406. The Athenians vanquish the Spartan fleet under Callicratidas, at
+Arginusae. The Athenian generals are executed at Athens for not saving
+the shattered vessels and the bodies of the slain.
+
+Dionysius the Elder becomes ruler of Syracuse.
+
+Anxur and other towns captured by the Romans, who now first give their
+soldiers a regular pay.
+
+405. The Spartan under Lysander, who had been restored to command,
+annihilate the Athenian navy at Aegospotami.
+
+Artaxerxes II succeeds Darius II on the Persian throne.
+
+Successful revolt of the Egyptians against the Persians; the
+independence of Egypt secured.
+
+404. Athens taken by Lysander and dismantled; thirty tyrants appointed
+by him. Lysias and other orators banished. End of the Peloponnesian War.
+
+403. Democracy is restored in Athens by Thrasybulus; he publishes an act
+of amnesty. The Ionian alphabet adopted at Athens.
+
+401. Cyrus rebels against his brother Artaxerxes, of Persia; he is
+defeated and slain at the battle of Cunaxa.
+
+400. The Ten Thousand Greek auxiliaries of Cyrus effect their retreat to
+the sea. See "RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS," ii, 68.
+
+399. Sparta and Persia engage in war.
+
+"CONDEMNATION AND DEATH OF SOCRATES." See ii, 87.
+
+396. Agesilaus, the Spartan general, begins his victorious campaigns
+against the Persians.
+
+The Romans, headed by Camillus, capture Veii, after a ten years' siege.
+
+395. Corinth, Thebes, Argos, and Athens combine against Sparta; the
+Spartans are defeated at Haliartus; Lysander is slain.
+
+Tissaphernes' Persian army is defeated by Agesilaus, near Sardis.
+
+394. The Athenian admiral Conon, in charge of the Persian fleet,
+crushingly defeats that of the Spartans, under Pisander, off Cnidus.
+
+Agesilaus is recalled from Asia; commanding the Spartans, he gains a
+victory over the confederate Greeks at Coronea.
+
+393. Conon undertakes the rebuilding of the walls in Athens and restores
+the fortifications.
+
+392. Conon excites the jealousy of the Persians; he retires into Cyprus,
+where he dies.
+
+391. Camillus banished from Rome, charged with misappropriating the
+booty secured at Veii, but really on account of his patrician
+haughtiness; he dies at Ardea, whither he had withdrawn.
+
+389. Aeschines born; he was accounted in Athens second only to
+Demosthenes as an orator.
+
+388[89] (387). Brennus, commanding the Gauls, burns Rome. See "BRENNUS
+BURNS ROME," ii, 110.
+
+[Footnote 89: By the old chronological reckoning this event occurred
+B.C. 390.]
+
+387. Through the mediation of Persia, Sparta compels the Greek states to
+accept the peace of Antalcidas, which leaves the Ionian cities and
+Cyprus at his mercy; this enables Sparta to maintain her supremacy in
+Greece.
+
+385.[Est] Birth of Demosthenes, the famous Greek orator and general.
+
+384. Aristotle born.
+
+383. War of Syracuse with Carthage.
+
+Thebes is betrayed to Sparta, during her war against Olynthus.
+
+379. The Olynthians are forced to submission by the Spartans. Pelopidas
+and his associates drive the Spartans from Thebes.
+
+378. Athens declares in favor of Thebes against Sparta.
+
+376. Cleombrotus leads the Spartans into Boeotia; the Spartan fleet,
+under Pollis, is overwhelmed off Maxos, by Chabrias.
+
+371. Congress of Sparta, Thebes being excluded from the treaty of peace;
+Pelopidas and Epaminondas gain the great victory of Leuctra, in which
+Cleombrotus, King of Sparta, is slain. Thebes becomes the dominant power
+in Greece.
+
+The Arcadian union formed. One of the first effects of the battle of
+Leuctra was to emancipate the Arcadians, and a plan was formed to raise
+them in the political affairs of Greece.
+
+370. Epaminondas, the Theban general, heads his first expedition into
+the Peloponnesus; he threatens Sparta, which Agesilaus saves.
+
+369. The Thebans advance into Laconia; they restore the independence of
+the Messenians. Epaminondas and Pelopidas are condemned for having
+retained their command beyond the term allowed by the laws of Thebes;
+they are pardoned and reappointed.
+
+The Arcadians found Megalopolis, which they make the capital of the
+Arcadian confederacy.
+
+368. The Thebans again enter the Peloponnesus, but retreat before the
+arrival of succor sent by Dionysius to the Lacedaemonians. Pelopidas,
+treacherously made prisoner by Alexander of Pherae, is rescued by
+Epaminondas. A congress, under the mediation of Persia, is held at
+Delphi; it fails, because the Thebans will not abandon the Messenians.
+
+The Carthaginians at war with Dionysius; but, after losing Selinus and
+other towns, they make peace.
+
+Camillus, more than eighty years old, appointed dictator at Rome; he
+persuades the patricians to assent to the demands of the plebs, and
+builds the temple of Concord.
+
+A celestial globe brought into Greece from Egypt.
+
+367. The Licinian Rogations, Rome; three bills introduced by Licinius,
+decreeing: 1. That interest on loans be deducted from the principal; 2.
+Limiting the public land held by any individual to 500 jugera (320
+acres); 3. Ordering that one of the two consuls should be a plebeian.
+Institution of the praetorship.
+
+364. Pelopidas attacks Alexander of Pherae; during the battle of
+Cymoscephale his soldiers are alarmed at an eclipse of the sun, and he
+is slain.
+
+362. The Spartans and allies defeated at Mantinea by Epaminondas; he is
+slain.
+
+361 (359). Artaxerxes II of Persia succeeded by Artaxerxes III (Ochus).
+
+359. Philip ascends the throne of Macedon; he concludes peace with the
+Athenians.
+
+358.[Est] Athens involves herself in the Social War with Cos, Rhodes,
+Chios, and Byzantium.
+
+Amphipolis captured by Philip of Macedon; he loses his right eye by an
+arrow from Astor.
+
+357. Outbreak of the Ten Years' Sacred War, caused by the Crissians
+levying grievous taxes on those who went to consult the oracle of
+Delphi.
+
+356. Burning of the temple of Diana at Ephesus; this building was
+accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
+
+Birth of Alexander the Great.
+
+Dion frees Syracuse from Dionysius the Younger; he is expelled from
+Sicily.
+
+355. The Social War ends in Greece. Athens recognizes the independence
+of the confederated states.
+
+353. Final conquest of Egypt by the Persians.
+
+352. Philip of Macedon interferes in the Greek Sacred War; Demosthenes
+delivers his First Philippic encouraging the Greeks to resist the
+Macedonians; Philip's attempt to seize Thermopylae is defeated.
+
+Two thousand colonists are sent from Athens to Samos.
+
+347. Philip of Macedon captures and destroys Olynthus.
+
+346. Phocis occupied by Philip of Macedon; this ends the Sacred War.
+
+Dionysius the Younger again assumes power in Syracuse.
+
+343 (340). Timoleon effects the deliverance of Syracuse from Dionysius
+the Younger.
+
+Rome engages in the First Samnite War.
+
+341 (338). End of the First Samnite War.
+
+Invasion of China by Meha the Hun. See "TARTAR INVASION OF CHINA BY
+MEHA," ii, 126.[Est]
+
+340. Adoption of the Publilian laws in Rome, which further restricted
+the power of the patricians.
+
+The Romans make war upon the Latins; the latter are subjugated. Manlius,
+one of the Roman consuls, condemns his son to death for a breach of
+discipline.
+
+338. Athens and Thebes form an alliance to resist Philip of Macedon, who
+had passed Thermopylae and seized Elatea. The allied forces are
+overwhelmed at Chaeronea, and Philip establishes the Macedonian dominion
+in Greece.
+
+Artaxerxes III is succeeded by Arses in Persia.
+
+337. Philip of Macedon declares himself commander of the Greeks against
+the Persians; he repudiates his wife Olympias; their son Alexander
+attends his mother into Epirus.
+
+336. Assassination of Philip of Macedon, by Pausanias at Aegae, while
+preparing to invade Persia; he is succeeded by his son, Alexander the
+Great.
+
+Arses is succeeded by Darius III (Codomannus) in Persia.
+
+335. Thebes, revolting against the Macedonian authority, is subdued and
+destroyed by Alexander, who, however, spares the house of Pindar the
+poet.
+
+Rome concludes a peace with Gaul.
+
+334. Alexander enters upon the conquest of Persia; he is victorious over
+Darius at the Granicus.
+
+333. Lycia and Syria reduced by Alexander; Damascus captured by
+Parmenio, Alexander's general, and the siege of Tyre begun.
+
+Darius is defeated at Issus; his family are among Alexander's captives.
+
+332. "ALEXANDER REDUCES TYRE: LATER FOUNDS ALEXANDRIA." See ii, 133. He
+takes Gaza and occupies Egypt.
+
+The Lucanians and Bruttians defeat and slay Alexander of Epirus, his
+ambitious designs in Italy having been betrayed.
+
+331. "THE BATTLE OF ARBELA," in which Alexander the Great conquers
+Darius and overthrows the Persian empire. See ii, 141.
+
+330. The Spartans, under Agis III, revolt against the Macedonians;
+Antipater defeats the Spartans and their allies at Megalopolis; Agis is
+slain.
+
+Darius is seized and laden with chains by Bessus, a Bactrian satrap who
+soon after slays him.
+
+Alexander captures Bessus and delivers him to Oxathres, the brother of
+Darius, by whom he is executed.
+
+Alexander pursues his conquests in Parthia, Media, Bactria, and on the
+shores of the Caspian.
+
+329. The Oxus and Jaxartes are crossed by Alexander; he drives back the
+Scythians; he founds new cities in the countries adjacent, and winters
+in Bactria.
+
+The consuls at Rome are granted a triumph and the surname of
+"Privernas," for the conquest of Privernum.
+
+328. Sogdiana, Central Asia, occupies Alexander during this, his seventh
+campaign, and he winters there at Nautaca.
+
+327. Marriage of Alexander to Roxana, daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian
+ruler.
+
+326. Alexander invades India and defeats Porus; his soldiers refuse to
+proceed farther.
+
+Rome begins the Second Samnite War.
+
+325-4. Alexander marches from the Indus to Persepolis; his fleet is
+sailed to the Euphrates by Nearchus.
+
+Harpalus flees from Babylon with immense treasures, which he conveys to
+Athens.
+
+323. Death of Alexander the Great at Babylon. His principal generals
+endeavored to obtain, each for himself, a portion of his empire. Ptolemy
+first secures Egypt and establishes his dynasty firmly there. Philip
+Aridaeus, half-brother of Alexander, succeeds him on the throne of
+Macedon, with Perdiccas as regent. Demosthenes returns to Athens and
+rouses the Greek states to recover their freedom; under Leosthenes they
+overpower Antipater, who takes refuge in Lamia, whence this is called
+the Lamian War.
+
+The Samnites sue for peace, but reject the terms on which it is offered
+by the Romans.
+
+322. The body of Alexander is entombed at Alexandria.
+
+The confederate Greeks are defeated by Antipater at Crannon; end of the
+Lamian War.
+
+Demosthenes, who was accused by the Macedonians of being privy to the
+looting of the treasury by Harpalus, after the battle of Crannon fled to
+Calauria; he was captured by the Macedonian troops and thereupon
+poisoned himself.
+
+321. Beginning of the wars between Alexander's successors; Perdiccas and
+Eumenes oppose themselves to Antipater, Craterus, Antigonus, and
+Ptolemy.
+
+Perdiccas assails Ptolemy in Egypt; Perdiccas is slain in a mutiny. In
+Asia Minor, Eumenes triumphs over Craterus, who is killed.
+
+Victory of the Samnites over the Romans at the Caudine Forks. These were
+two narrow gorges, united by a range of mountains on each side. The
+Romans went through the first pass, but found the second blocked up; on
+returning they found the first similarly obstructed. Being thus hemmed
+in they passed under the yoke.
+
+320. Eumenes, defeated by Antigonus, shuts himself up in the castle of
+Nora, where he sustains a year's siege.
+
+319. Polysperchon is appointed by Antipater to succeed him as regent for
+Philip Arrhidaeus and Alexander Aegus, half-brother and son of Alexander
+the Great, on his, Antipater's, death.
+
+Polysperchon's elevation to power is followed by a league against him,
+formed by Antipater's son Cassander, Antigonus, and Ptolemy. Eumenes
+lends his support to Polysperchon, after escaping from Nora.
+
+318. The Romans and Samnites make a truce.
+
+Polysperchon prevailed over by Cassander in the struggle for power in
+Greece and Macedonia. Athens he places under the rule of Phalereus.
+
+317. Phocion, an Athenian general who wisely advised in vain for peace
+with Antipater, became regarded as a traitor; he fled to Phocis, entered
+into the intrigues of Cassander, who delivered him up to the Athenians,
+who condemned him to drink hemlock. Olympias, mother of Alexander the
+Great, aided by Polysperchon and the Epirotes, seizes Macedonia.
+
+Olympias is put to death by Cassander. Eumenes, being betrayed to
+Antigonus, is put to death; Antigonus holds the supreme power in Asia.
+
+315. The rebuilding of Thebes undertaken by Cassander.
+
+314. Commencement of the struggle against Antigonus waged by Cassander,
+Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus.
+
+313. Tyre surrenders to Antigonus. Ptolemy engages with him and conquers
+Cyprus.
+
+The Romans take Fregellae and other towns from the Samnites.
+
+312. Seleucus Nicator establishes the realm of the Seleucidae, the army
+of Antigonus, under his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, being defeated by
+Ptolemy and Seleucus. Babylon is made the capital.
+
+Ptolemy conquers Judea; he transplants many Jews to Alexandria and
+Cyrene, where their industry is encouraged and their religion protected.
+
+At Rome Appius Claudius, the blind, constructs the Via Appia, the first
+aqueduct, and a canal through the Pontine marshes.
+
+Zeno institutes the sect of Stoics at Athens.
+
+311. A temporary peace among the competitors for power in Asia. Greece
+is declared to be free, and Ptolemy resigns Phoenicia to Antigonus.
+
+Roxana, the widow of Alexander the Great, and her young son Alexander
+Aegas, are put to death by Cassander.
+
+The Roman consul Bubulcus penetrates into Samnium, where he is
+surrounded, and cuts his way through with great courage.
+
+310. Agathocles, the Syracusan ruler, defeated by the Carthaginians at
+Himera, passes over to Africa and carries the war into their own
+country.
+
+The Etruscans take up arms in favor of the Samnites.
+
+Civil war in the little kingdom of Bosporus; Satyrus II, king for a few
+months, falls in battle.
+
+An eclipse of the sun, August 15th.
+
+309. Hercules, a natural son of Alexander, proclaimed king of Macedon;
+he is murdered by Cassander.
+
+The Romans are victorious over the Samnites and the Etruscans.
+
+308. The Romans, under Fabius, compel the Etruscans to make peace;
+Fabius then turns against the Samnites, whom he defeats.
+
+307. Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, arrives with a fleet at
+Athens, expels Demetrius Phalereus, and restores the democracy, the
+Athenians throw down Phalereus' statues and condemn him to death.
+
+306. Ptolemy's fleet is destroyed by Demetrius Poliorcetes at Salamis;
+but Antigonus fails in his attempt on Egypt. Antigonus assumes the title
+of king of Asia; Ptolemy Lagi, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, the rulers of
+Egypt, Thrace, and that part of Alexander's empire east of the
+Euphrates, likewise assume the royal title. Cassander of Macedon is
+hailed king by his subjects.
+
+305. War between Seleucus and India, under Sandrocottus, ends in a
+treaty of amity.
+
+Flavius reconciles all orders of the Roman state and erects a temple of
+Concord.
+
+Demetrius Poliorcetes besieges Rome.
+
+304. The Romans triumphantly end the Second Samnite War.
+
+302. The priesthood at Rome is opened to the plebs.
+
+300.[90] Battle of Ipsus. Seleucus and Lysimachus overwhelm the army of
+Antigonus and his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes; Antigonus is slain. His
+dominions are divided among the victors. Lysimachus takes a large
+portion of Asia Minor; Seleucus appropriates Upper Syria, Capuadocia,
+and other territory.
+
+[Footnote 90: The date is usually given as 301.]
+
+Seleucus Nicator builds Antioch, which he makes the capital of his
+kingdom of Syria.
+
+299. Rome engages in the Third Samnite War, which becomes one of
+extermination, but the Samnites bravely resist in their mountain holds.
+
+295. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, espouses Antigone of the house of Ptolemy;
+he returns to his dominions, out of which he had been driven by the
+Molossi.
+
+The Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrians, and Gauls unite against Rome. Q.
+Fabius Rullianus and P. Decimo Mus defeat the Samnites and Gauls at
+Sentinum.
+
+Demetrius Poliorcetes retakes Athens; Lysimachus and Ptolemy deprive him
+of all he possesses.
+
+294. The Macedonian throne is seized by Demetrius Poliorcetes; by
+violence or treachery the sons of Cassander are slain.
+
+293. Many towns of the Samnites are so utterly destroyed by the Romans
+that their sites are unknown; a portion of the spoil is cast into a
+brazen colossus, and placed in front of the Roman Capitol.
+
+The Roman census is 272,308 citizens.
+
+The first sun-dial at Rome is placed on the temple of Quirinus.
+
+290. The end of the Third Samnite War, which results in the submission
+of the Samnites to Rome.
+
+287. Birth of Archimedes, celebrated mathematician.[Est]
+
+Lysimachus and Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wrest Macedonia from Demetrius
+Poliorcetes; immediately after, Lysimachus expels Pyrrhus.
+
+286. The Hortensian law, passed by Q. Hortensino, affirmed the
+legislative power granted the plebeians B.C. 446 and 336.
+
+285. Completion of the Septuagint, a Greek version of the Scriptures,
+called "the Alexandrian."
+
+The length of the solar year first accurately determined by Dionysius,
+in the astronomical canon.
+
+283. Death of Ptolemy Lagi (Ptolemy Soter); Ptolemy Philadelphus
+(jointly on the throne with his father since 295) succeeds him as King
+of Egypt. He further encourages the immigration of the Jews, who
+flourish exceedingly.
+
+282. The Tarentines attack a Roman fleet and insult the ambassadors, who
+demand satisfaction. Rome prepares for war; the Tarentines engage
+Pyrrhus to assist them.
+
+281. Lysimachus, at war with Seleucus Nicator, is defeated and slain in
+Phrygia.
+
+The Roman consul Aemilius invades the territory of Tarentum.
+
+280. Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, invades Italy; he makes the cause of
+Tarentum his own and wars on Rome. Laevinus, the Roman consul, is
+defeated. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
+
+Revival of the Achaean League. The Achaei originally inhabited the
+neighborhood of Argos; when driven thence by the Heraclidae, they
+retired among the Ionians, expelled the natives, and seized their
+thirteen cities, forming the Achaean League.
+
+279. Pyrrhus, who had tried to mediate between Tarentum and Rome,
+meeting with non-success, advances on Rome. He fails to make any
+impression and returns to Tarentum; the Romans follow him, and he gains
+an unimportant victory over them at Asculum. See "FIRST BATTLE BETWEEN
+GREEKS AND ROMANS," ii, 166.
+
+Irruption of Gauls into Macedonia; King Ptolemy Ceraunus offers battle
+to them, in which he is killed.[91]
+
+[Footnote 91: The date usually given is B.C. 280.]
+
+278. The Gauls under Brennus invade Greece; they are cut to pieces near
+Delphi.
+
+Alliance formed between Rome and Carthage.
+
+Pyrrhus wars against Carthage in Sicily.
+
+277. A body of Gauls enter Northern Phrygia, of which they take
+possession.
+
+Pyrrhus expels the Carthaginians from most of their possessions in
+Sicily.
+
+276. Other Grecian cities join the Achaean League.
+
+275. Pyrrhus, on the arrival of Carthaginian reenforcements, returns to
+Italy; he is totally defeated by M. Curius Dentatus (at Beneventum), who
+exhibits in his triumphs the first elephants ever seen in Rome.
+
+273. Ptolemy Philadelphus, of Egypt, sends an embassy to congratulate
+the Romans on their victory and to ask an alliance with them.
+
+272. Pyrrhus attempts the siege of Sparta; he is repulsed. In an attack
+on Argos, Pyrrhus is slain.
+
+Tarentum surrenders to the Romans.
+
+Lucania and Brittium also submit to Rome.
+
+269. The first silver coinage at Rome.
+
+266. The Romans capture and destroy Volsinii; Rome controls all Italy.
+
+264. War between Rome and Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+Gladiators first introduced into Rome.
+
+263. Antigonus Gonatus, King of Macedon, captures Athens.
+
+The Romans compel Hiero, King of Syracuse, to withdraw from the support
+of Carthage. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+Philetaerus at his death appoints his nephew, Eumenes, King of Pergamus;
+the competition for books between him and Ptolemy Philadelphus causes
+the latter to prohibit the export of papyrus from Egypt; this leads to
+the invention of parchment at Pergamus, whence it takes its name.
+
+Hiero makes peace with the Romans; he becomes their most trusted ally.
+
+260. Ships-of-war first built by the Romans; the naval power of Rome
+inaugurated by the decisive victory of Duilius over the Carthaginians at
+Mylae. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+259. The Romans invade Corsica; they carry off much rich spoil from
+thence and Sardinia, but make no permanent conquests. The island of
+Melita (Malta) is captured by the Romans.
+
+258. Atilius, the Roman consul, surrounded by the Carthaginians in
+Sicily, escapes with difficulty.
+
+257. A drawn battle between the fleets of Rome and Carthage off Tyndaris
+causes the Romans to prepare larger ships, in order to strike a decisive
+blow.
+
+256. Total defeat of the Carthaginian fleet near Ecnomus; the victorious
+Roman consuls land in Africa. The Carthaginians hire troops from Greece
+and give the command to Xanthippus. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+255. Regelus and his Roman legions are vanquished by Xanthippus; Regelus
+is taken captive. The Romans fit out a large fleet, which gains another
+victory and brings off the remains of the army from Africa. Many of the
+ships are wrecked.
+
+254. Another fleet consisting of 220 ships is equipped in three months
+by the Romans; Panormus (Palermo) is captured. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+253. The Romans again land in Africa and ravage many Carthaginian coast
+cities; on their return most of their ships are wrecked; the Romans
+resolve to abstain from naval warfare.
+
+252. Birth of Philopoemen, called the "Last of the Greeks."
+
+251. Aratus restores the freedom of Sicyon; joins the Achaean League,
+which becomes a powerful body.
+
+250. Arsaceo founds the kingdom of Parthia.
+
+The Romans begin the siege of Lilybaeum; the Carthaginians successfully
+defend it till the close of the war. Metellus, the Roman proconsul,
+commanding in Sicily, gains a great victory over Hasdrubal near
+Panoramus; over one hundred elephants form part of his triumphal
+procession.
+
+249. Naval victory of the Carthaginians over the Romans at Drepanum.
+
+Regelus is sent to Rome to propose an exchange of prisoners; on his
+return the Carthaginians put him to death with the utmost cruelty.
+
+The war between Syria and Egypt, which had been ruinous to the former,
+is ended by a treaty between Antiochus II and Ptolemy Philadelphus. One
+of the conditions was that Antiochus repudiate Laodice and marry
+Berenice, Ptolemy's daughter.
+
+248. Parthia becomes an independent kingdom.
+
+247. Birth of Hannibal, the famous Carthaginian general.
+
+Ptolemy Euergetes succeeds his father Ptolemy Philadelphus on the throne
+of Egypt.
+
+243. Corinth, delivered by Aratus from the yoke of Macedon, joins the
+Achaean League; other states follow the example.
+
+241. Agis IV, of Sparta, assists the Achaeans in their war against the
+Aetolians.
+
+Rome, having again assembled a great fleet, under Lutatius Catalus,
+vanquishes the Carthaginians in a naval encounter off the Aegates. End
+of the First Punic War; Sicily is relinquished by Carthage to Rome.
+
+240. The Carthaginian mercenaries in Africa revolt; Hamilcar Barca
+crushes it out.
+
+237. Carthage is compelled to cede Sardinia to Rome.
+
+236-221. Celomenes III of Sparta institutes great political reforms and
+engages in a struggle with the Achaean League.
+
+236-220. Hamilcar Barca and Hasdrubal, his son-in-law, conquer a great
+part of Spain.
+
+235. Rome, at peace with all the world, closes the temple of Janus, for
+the first time since Numa, according to legend, the second king of Rome.
+
+234. Birth of Cato the Elder.
+
+Scipio Africanus born.
+
+230. Ambassadors sent by Rome to protest against the piracies of the
+Illyrians are murdered by the order of Queen Teuta.
+
+229. A successful war is waged by the Romans against the Greek kingdom
+of Illyria; the Roman power is extended across the Adriatic.
+
+On the death of Hamilcar, his son-in-law, Hasdrubal, takes his place in
+Spain; he founds Carthago Nova (Carthagena).
+
+227. Sparta makes war with the Achaean League.
+
+225-222. Cisalpine Gaul is conquered by the Romans.
+
+221. Cleomenes III is crushed by Antigonus Doson, ruler of Macedon, at
+Sellasia; the Spartan power is utterly destroyed.
+
+220. Social war; the war made by the Aetolian League on the Achaean
+League.
+
+219. Hannibal lays siege to Saguntum, which he destroys; this is the
+real commencement of the Second Punic War. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+Philip V, of Macedon, is victorious in his campaigns against the
+Aetolian League.
+
+218. Hannibal crosses the Alps into Italy; he defeats the Romans on the
+Ticinus and Trebia. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+217. Philip V continues his victorious way against the Aetolian League.
+
+Hannibal defeats the Romans at the Trasimene Lake.
+
+Antiochus the Great cedes Coele-Syria and Palestine to Egypt.
+
+216. Crushing defeat of the Romans by Hannibal at Cannae. See "THE PUNIC
+WARS," ii, 179.
+
+214. Rome has her first encounter with Macedon; Philip V allies himself
+with Hannibal and begins the war.
+
+Marcellus is sent into Sicily and besieges Syracuse, which had declared
+against Rome.
+
+213. Aratus, strategus of the Achaean League, is poisoned by Philip V of
+Macedon; this alienates from him many Greek states.
+
+Hwangti crushes out literature in China.
+
+212. After a two-years' siege the Romans under Marcellus take Syracuse.
+
+The two Scipios defeated and killed in Spain. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii,
+179.
+
+211. Hannibal before the gates of Rome. See "THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+The Aetolian League with its allies assists Rome against Macedon.
+
+210. Aegina taken by the Romans; the inhabitants reduced to slavery.
+
+Agrigentum, being conquered by Caevinus, places all Sicily again under
+Roman subjection.
+
+Scipio, victorious in Spain, takes Carthago Nova. See "THE PUNIC WARS,"
+ii, 179.
+
+208. Suspension of his operations against Scipio--the future Scipio
+Africanus--in Spain by Hasdrubal, son of Hamilcar, who sets out to
+relieve his brother Hannibal in Italy.
+
+207. Hasdrubal is defeated and slain on the Metaurus. See "BATTLE OF THE
+METAURUS," ii, 195.
+
+A signal victory is achieved by Philopoemen, general of the Achaean
+League, with Macedon, over the Spartans at Matinea.
+
+206. Birth of Polybius, Greek historian.
+
+The Carthaginian power in Spain completely destroyed by Scipio.
+
+205. End of the first Romo-Macedonian war.
+
+204. Scipio carries the war into Africa; he defeats the Carthaginians
+and the Numidians.
+
+203. Hannibal, recalled from Italy, arrives at Carthage.
+
+202. The Carthaginian power is completely broken, ending the Second
+Punic War. See "SCIPIO AFRICANUS CRUSHES HANNIBAL AT ZAMA AND SUBJUGATES
+CARTHAGE," ii, 224.
+
+201. A war is begun by Rome for the resubjugation of the Boii and
+Insubres of Cisalpine Gaul, who had attained freedom owing to the
+Carthaginian invasion.
+
+The Jews become subject to the Seleucid monarchy.
+
+200. Declaration of war by Rome against Macedon; the second Macedonian
+war.
+
+198. Antiochus the Great, of Syria, conquers Palestine and Coele-Syria
+from Egypt, defeating Scopas and the Aetolian allies.
+
+197. Decisive Roman victory over the Macedonians at Cynoscephale; Philip
+V of Macedon makes a humiliating peace.
+
+196. The Roman general Flaminius proclaims the freedom of the Greeks.
+
+195.[Est] Birth of Terrence, Roman comic poet.
+
+Ptolemy V, Epiphanes, King of Egypt. See i, 1, "The Rosetta Stone."
+
+192. In concert with the Aetolians, Antiochus the Great takes up arms
+against Rome.
+
+191. Antiochus is defeated by the Romans under Acilius Glabrio, at
+Thermopylae, in Greece. The resubjugation of Cisalpine Gaul is completed
+by Rome.
+
+All the Peloponnesus is included in the Achaean League, which attains
+its apogee.
+
+190. Scipio Asiaticus takes command of the Romans in Greece, with his
+brother Africanus as lieutenant; Antiochus is vanquished at Magnesia and
+he is compelled to release his hold on the greater part of Asia Minor.
+Most of the conquered territory is annexed to Pergamus. Scipio Asiaticus
+takes his surname for the courage and ability he showed.
+
+189. Fall of the Aetolian League.
+
+185. Birth of Scipio Africanus the Younger.
+
+179. Death of Philip V of Macedon. His son Perseus negotiates secretly
+with other states against Rome. The Celtiberians and Lusitanians lay
+down their arms.
+
+177. Rome suppresses a revolt in Sardinia. A colony settled at Lucca.
+The Achaeans contract an alliance with Rome.
+
+Thessaly relapses under the Macedonian influence.
+
+176. The consul Scipio dies, and C. Valerius Laevinus takes his place
+for the rest of the year. His colleague Petilius is slain in battle
+against the Ligurians. The Orchian and other sumptuary laws fail to
+repress the luxury of the Romans.
+
+175. Disgraceful struggles for the high-priesthood of Jerusalem;
+Antiochus sells it to Jason, the brother of Onias, who is deposed.
+
+174. Masinissa, after many encroachments, seizes the Carthaginian
+provinces of Tyssa, with fifty cities; Roman ambassadors sent to settle
+the dispute. Others deputed to ascertain the intentions of Perseus.
+
+Mithridates VI of the Arsacidae begins his reign and prepares the
+elevation of Parthia to great power.
+
+173. The Roman ambassadors return, Perseus having refused to receive
+them.
+
+Death of Cleopatra, who, in the name of her young son, had been regent
+of Egypt.
+
+172. The Ligurians are subdued and Northern Italy filled with Roman
+colonies. Eumenes honorably received at Rome; on his way back he is
+attacked by assassins near Delphi.
+
+Menelaus, another brother, supplants Jason in the high-priesthood of
+Jerusalem.
+
+171. Commencement of the Third Macedonian War; King Perseus begins his
+struggle with Rome.
+
+Antiochus invades Egypt and takes Memphis.
+
+170. Hostilius, who takes the command in Macedon, makes no progress; the
+Roman fleet ravages the sea-coast.
+
+Perseus negotiates with Antiochus, Prusias, and many Greek states to
+form a coalition against Rome; even Eumenes begins to treat with him.
+
+Ptolemy Physcon is associated with his brother as joint King of Egypt.
+
+169. The manoeuvres of Marcius Philippus drive Perseus from his strong
+position in Tempe.
+
+Antiochus lays siege to Alexandria; the Egyptians apply to Rome for aid.
+
+168. Battle of Pydna; complete defeat of Perseus, King of Macedon, by
+the Romans, under L. Aenilius Paulas. Macedon becomes a Roman province.
+
+Antiochus, awed by the Roman ambassador Popillius and the fate of
+Perseus, evacuates Egypt. In his retreat he plunders Jerusalem and
+despoils the Temple, in which he sets up the statue of Jupiter Olympias.
+
+167. Deportation of a thousand Achaeans to Rome; among them is Polybius,
+the historian, who there finds patrons and friends. The first library
+opened in Rome, consisting of books plundered from Macedon.
+
+Arms are taken up by the Asmoneans against Antiochus, King of Syria.
+
+165. Judas Maccabaeus enters Jerusalem; he purifies the Temple. See
+"JUDAS MACCABEUS LIBERATES JUDEA," ii, 245.
+
+160. Defeat and death of Judas Maccabaeus in battle.
+
+158. Roman citizens are almost entirely relieved of direct taxation by
+the revenues from Macedon and other conquests.
+
+149. Commencement of the Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage. See
+"THE PUNIC WARS," ii, 179.
+
+First Roman law against bribery at elections.
+
+147.[Est] Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader, has his first great victory
+over the Romans.
+
+146. Scipio Africanus the Younger completely destroys Carthage.
+
+Mummius, commanding in Greece, defeats the Archaeans at Leucopetra; he
+captures and destroys Corinth. The treasures of Grecian art conveyed to
+Rome. Greece becomes a Roman province.
+
+Demetrius Nicator slays Alexander Bala in battle and becomes king of
+Syria.
+
+141. Simon Maccabaeus captures the citadel of Jerusalem.
+
+Silanus, accused by the Macedonians of corrupt practices, is condemned
+by his father, Torquatus, and takes his own life.
+
+140. The Jews proclaim Simon Maccabaeus hereditary prince; with this
+dignity is united the office of high-priest.
+
+[Est]Viriathus, the Lusitanian leader against the Romans in Spain, is
+assassinated by order of the consul Caepio.
+
+135. Simon Maccabaeus is assassinated; John Hyrcanus, his son, succeeds
+him as ruler at Jerusalem.
+
+134-133. Antiochus Tidetes, King of Syria, besieges Jerusalem; he is
+repulsed.
+
+134-132. Servile War in Sicily, caused by the inhuman treatment of the
+slaves by their owners; two great battles were fought before the rising
+was suppressed.
+
+133. Tiberius Gracchus attempts his great political and agrarian reforms
+in Rome. See "THE GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
+
+Scipio Africanus the Younger reduces Numantia.
+
+Attalus III of Pergamus bequeaths his kingdom, which embraces a great
+part of Asia Minor, to the Romans.
+
+125-121. The southeastern portion of Transalpine Gaul conquered by the
+Romans.
+
+123-122. Caius Gracchus commences his agrarian reforms in Rome. See "THE
+GRACCHI AND THEIR REFORMS," ii, 259.
+
+118. Rome extends her dominion beyond the Rhone; the colony of Narbo
+Martius (Narbonne) founded.
+
+113. Hordes of the Cimbri and Teutons threaten the Rome dominion by an
+invasion of Illyrium.
+
+112. Jugurtha, King of Numidia, kills Adherbal, who has been restored to
+the throne of Numidia after being driven thence by Jugurtha.
+
+111. The consul Calpurnius proceeds with a Roman army into Numidia;
+bribed by Jugurtha, he makes a peace and withdraws his forces.
+
+109. Jugurtha is opposed in Numidia by the Roman army headed by
+Metellus.
+
+John Hyrcanus, the Jewish Prince and high-priest, defeats Ptolemy
+Lathyrus and captures Samaria.[Est]
+
+The Cimbri request an allotment of land from the Romans, whereon to
+settle; it is refused; they ravage the country, but are checked in
+Thrace by Nimicus Rufus.
+
+108. Metellus, as proconsul, continues the war in Numidia.
+
+The Cimbri defeat the consul Scaurus in Gaul.
+
+Mithridates of Pontus secretly prepares to regain by force the province
+of Phrygia, which the Romans took from him during his minority.
+
+107. Marius vigorously carries on the war against Jugurtha; Marius is
+consul, Sylla his quaestor.
+
+Cassius, Roman consul, is defeated and slain by the Cimbri in Gaul.
+
+106. Birth of Cicero. Birth of Pompey the Great.
+
+Jugurtha is betrayed by Bocchus, King of Mauretania, into the hands of
+the Romans, which ends the Jugurthine War.
+
+105. The Cimbri and Teutones defeat the consul Manilius and proconsul
+Caepio, near the Rhone, with great loss.
+
+Aristobulus, son of John Hyrcanus, succeeds his father and assumes the
+title of king of Judea.
+
+104. Alexander Jannaeus succeeds his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
+
+102. Marius overwhelmingly defeats the Teutones, while they were
+retreating from Spain, at Aquae Sextiae (Aix).
+
+Another revolt of the slaves in Sicily (Second Servile War).
+
+101. Marius utterly crushes the Cimbri on the Raudian Fields, after they
+had previously defeated the proconsul Lutatius Catulus.
+
+100. The Second Servile War continues.
+
+Birth of Julius Caesar.
+
+99. M. Aquilius finally crushes out the slave uprising in Sicily.
+
+94. Mithridates makes his son king of Cappadocia.
+
+93. Cappadocians appeal to the Romans, who give them Ariobarzanes for
+their king. Mithridates seizes Galatia.
+
+92. Sulla is sent by the Romans into Cappadocia to observe Mithridates'
+proceedings; ambassadors from Parthia meet him there.
+
+91. M. Livius Drussus, people's tribune, advocates giving the rights of
+citizenship to the Roman allies; he is assassinated.
+
+90. Social or Marsic War, a conflict of the Italian states against Rome,
+begins, the cause being the refusal of the franchise by Rome. Caesar, the
+consul, is unfortunate against the Samnites, and Rutilius is defeated
+and slain by the Marsi. Marius retrieves these disasters. Citizenship
+granted to the states which remain faithful to Rome.
+
+The Roman senate promises aid to Cappadocia against Mithridates.
+
+89. The consul Pompeius (father of Pompey the Great) gains decided
+victories over the Picentines; his colleague, Cato, defeats the Marsi,
+but is killed in the battle; Sulla takes the command, and is so
+successful that he is elected consul for the ensuing year. Cicero is a
+cadet in the army of Pompeius.
+
+Cleopatra is put to death by her son Alexander, who is expelled from
+Egypt, and Ptolemy Soter restored.
+
+88. End of the Social War. Most of the refractory states admitted to
+Roman citizenship.
+
+Mithridates, King of Pontus, occupies Phrygia; he asks all Asia Minor to
+join him; a general massacre of the Romans occurs.
+
+Quarrel between Sulla and Marius which causes war between them for the
+control of the Roman army. The first Roman civil war.
+
+87. Sulla proceeds to Greece to conduct the war against Mithridates;
+Sulla besieges Athens.
+
+The consul Cinna, deposed by the senate, calls Marius from Africa,
+raises an Italian army, and reinstates himself in office; bloody
+proscriptions by Marius and Cinna follow.
+
+86. Death of Marius, in the beginning of his seventh consulate; Flaccus,
+appointed in his place, is assassinated on his march to the east, by C.
+Fimbria, who assumes command of the Roman army.
+
+Sulla captures the revolted city of Athens and defeats the army of
+Mithridates under Archelaus.
+
+A sedition of the Jews is quelled with merciless severity by Alexander
+Jannaeus.
+
+85. The Romans are successful against Mithridates in Asia.
+
+84. End of the First Mithridatic War; Mithridates, finding himself
+between two victorious Roman armies, agrees to peace and relinquishes
+all his acquisitions.
+
+83. Sulla makes war against the Marian party in Italy.
+
+The Roman senate refuses to send Mithridates a formal ratification of
+the treaty. He retains a part of Cappadocia. The Second Mithridatic War
+begins.
+
+82. Sulla becomes dictator at Rome, after crushing the Marian party; he
+inflicts a bloody vengeance on his enemies.
+
+End of the Second Mithridatic War.
+
+81. Pompey, having been successful in Africa, is granted a triumph in
+Rome.
+
+80. Sertorius, the Marian leader, sets up an independent state in Spain.
+
+Caesar serves as a cadet at the siege of Mitylene; he receives a civic
+crown for saving the life of a citizen.
+
+79. Sulla resigns the dictatorship, but remains master of Rome.
+
+Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judea, is succeeded on his death by his
+widow Alexandra.
+
+78. Death of Sulla.
+
+76. Pompey is sent into Spain to oppose Sertorius.
+
+74. Mithridates renews hostilities; he enters into an abortive alliance
+with Sertorius. Third Mithridatic War. Lucullus commands the Roman
+forces.
+
+73. Lucullus routs the army of Mithridates.
+
+Rising of the gladiators; Spartacus collects, on Mount Vesuvius, a
+numerous army of slaves and gladiators; they overcome the forces sent
+against them and ravage Southern Italy. The Third Servile War.
+
+72. Sertorius is assassinated in Spain; the Spaniards submit to Pompey.
+
+King Mithridates is driven from his dominions by Lucullus; the King
+takes refuge in Armenia.
+
+71. Crassus defeats and slays Spartacus; the gladiators are crushed.
+
+70. Death of Alexandra, widow of Jannaeus; she nominates her son,
+Hyrcanus, as her successor; but his brother, Aristobulus, usurps the
+throne of Judea.
+
+Pompey and Crassus, previously at variance, are reconciled during their
+joint consulship.
+
+Cicero's six orations (the first only being actually delivered) against
+Verres, who, when governor of Sicily, had plundered the island of
+property, art treasures, etc.
+
+Birth of Vergil.
+
+69. Lucullus crosses the Euphrates, captures Tigranocerta, and defeats
+Tigranes, who had succored Mithridates in Armenia.
+
+68. Lucullus defeats Tigranes and takes Nisibis.
+
+67. A mutiny in the Roman army caused by the appointment of Glabrio to
+succeed Lucullus.
+
+Pompey crushes the pirates of Cilicia and makes it a Roman province.
+
+Julius Caesar is quaestor in Spain.
+
+Metellus completes the conquest of Crete for the Romans.
+
+Mithridates makes a successful advance.
+
+66. Pompey, after a conference with Lucullus, completely crushes
+Mithridates and drives him over the Cimmerian Bosporus.
+
+65. End of the Third Mithridatic War.
+
+Antiochus XIII is deposed by Pompey; this puts an end to the kingdom of
+the Seleucidas (Syria).
+
+Hyrcanus takes up arms against his brother Aristobulus in Judea.
+
+64. Pompey takes possession of Syria; he is recalled thence to oppose
+Mithridates, who, returned to his states, prepares for further
+resistance.
+
+63. Having intervened between the brothers John Hyrcanus II and
+Aristobulus II, and decided in favor of Hyrcanus, Pompey lays siege to
+Jerusalem, where Aristobulus reigns, captures it, and makes Judea a
+Roman province.
+
+Mithridates, betrayed by his son, poisons himself.
+
+Cicero frustrates the conspiracy of Catiline, having for its object the
+cancellation of debts, the proscription of the wealthy, and the
+distribution among the conspirators of all the offices of honor and
+emolument.
+
+62. Catiline is defeated and slain, after having collected an army in
+Etruria.
+
+Discord arises between Caesar, now praetor, and Cato, tribune of the
+people.
+
+60. First Triumvirate in Rome, formed of Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar,
+equally dividing the power.
+
+59. Consulship of Caesar at Rome; he carries his agrarian law and
+ingratiates himself with the people; he is given the command in Gaul and
+Illyrium for five years.
+
+58. Caesar begins his campaigns in Gaul. See "CAESAR CONQUERS GAUL," ii,
+267.
+
+Cicero exiled from Rome; he had saved the Republic at the time of the
+Catiline conspiracy, but had broken the constitution, which forbade
+capital punishment without the sentence of the assembly of the people.
+
+57. The Belgae conquered by Caesar.
+
+Cicero recalled to Rome.
+
+56. Roman conquest of Aquitaine.
+
+55. Cato is imprisoned for opposing the vote giving the triumvirs five
+more years in their respective provinces: Pompey in Spain; Caesar in
+Gaul; Crassus in Syria. The triumvirs meet at Lucca.
+
+Caesar's first expedition into Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST
+OF BRITAIN," ii, 285.
+
+54. First campaign of Crassus; he plunders the Temple of Jerusalem and
+proceeds against the Parthians.
+
+Mithridates of Parthia is murdered by his brother Orodes.
+
+Caesar's second invasion of Britain. See "ROMAN INVASION AND CONQUEST OF
+BRITAIN," ii, 285.
+
+53. Crassus defeated and slain in the war against the Parthians at
+Carrhae.
+
+52. Vercingetorix, at the head of various Gallic tribes, makes a
+formidable effort to drive Caesar out of Gaul; he is unsuccessful, and
+Caesar, besieging him in his stronghold Alesia, forces him to surrender.
+
+51. Peace between Rome and Parthia. Caesar completes his conquest of
+Gaul.
+
+Cleopatra, on the death of her father, Ptolemy Auletes, becomes queen of
+Egypt. See "CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF CAESAR AND ANTONY," ii, 295.
+
+50. Caesar returns to Italy; jealousy between him and Pompey arouses the
+people of Rome.
+
+49. War breaks out between Caesar and Pompey; the second civil war in
+Rome.
+
+48. Pompey is defeated by Caesar at Pharsalia; Pompey flees to Egypt,
+where he is assassinated.
+
+47. The Roman senate appoints Caesar dictator, M. Antony as his master of
+the horse. Caesar subdues Egypt.
+
+46. Caesar overwhelms the Pompeians in Africa at the battle of Thapsus;
+Juba, King of Numidia, on the defeat, takes his own life.[92]
+
+[Footnote 92: Other authorities say he fell in battle.]
+
+Death of Cato.
+
+The calendar is reformed by Caesar.
+
+45. Caesar conquers the sons of Pompey at Munda, Spain. He is appointed
+dictator for life.
+
+44. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators murder Caesar in Rome. See
+"ASSASSINATION OF CAESAR," ii, 313.
+
+Conflict for power between Antony and Octavius; Cicero's oration secures
+Octavius' success in Rome.
+
+Antony resorts to arms to regain his lost ascendency. See "ROME BECOMES
+A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+43. Second Triumvirate at Rome, formed by Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus.
+
+Murder of Cicero. Birth of Ovid.
+
+42. Brutus and Cassius are defeated at the two battles of Philippi. See
+"ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+41. Octavius and Antony's party war in Italy.
+
+Fulvia, the wife of Antony, and the consul Lucius, his brother, oppose
+Octavius, who drives them from Rome. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii,
+333.
+
+40. Herod I, in his absence at Rome, is proclaimed by Antony and
+Octavius king of Judea.
+
+Antony accompanies Cleopatra to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY,"
+ii, 333.
+
+39. Herod lands in Syria to take the throne of Judea.
+
+38. Pompey is defeated in a naval engagement and loses all his fleet.
+
+37. Herod conquers Jerusalem; the Asmonean house ends.
+
+36. Lepidus, aspiring to greater power, is deserted by his soldiers and
+ejected from the triumvirate.
+
+31. War of Antony and Octavius; Octavius is victorious at Actium: he
+becomes master of the Roman dominions. Flight of Antony with Cleopatra
+to Egypt. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii, 333.
+
+30. Death of Antony and Cleopatra. See "ROME BECOMES A MONARCHY," ii,
+333.
+
+Egypt becomes a Roman province.
+
+27. Octavius has a triumph at Rome and receives the title of Augustus.
+
+The temple of Janus is closed.
+
+24. Aelius Gallus, governor of Egypt, fails in an expedition into
+Arabia.
+
+19. Final subjugation of the Cantabri by Agrippa; the whole Spanish
+peninsula subject to Rome.
+
+15. The Rhaetians and Vindelicians subdued by Drassus and Tiberius, at
+the head of the Roman troops.
+
+12. Victorious advance of Drusus in Germany.
+
+9. Pannonia completely subdued by Tiberius.
+
+Last German campaign and death of Drusus.
+
+4. Death of Herod the Great, King of Judea.
+
+Probable date of the birth of Jesus.
+
+A.D.
+
+1. Beginning of the Christian era.
+
+4. Emperor Tiberius' campaign in Germany.
+
+6. Archelaus, the Herodian ethnarch, is deposed; Judea becomes a
+district of the Roman prefecture of Syria.
+
+9. Arminius annihilates the army of Varus in Teutoburg Forest. See
+"GERMANS UNDER ARMINIUS REVOLT AGAINST ROME," ii, 362.
+
+12. Tiberius leaves Germanicus to prosecute the war, and returns to
+Rome.
+
+
+END OF VOLUME II
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT EVENTS BY FAMOUS
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