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diff --git a/old/10114-0.txt b/old/10114-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ac48d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10114-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16572 @@ +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 *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. +</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 NON-PARTISAN 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>rôle</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 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."</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 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.</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 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.</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 +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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 preëminence.</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 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.</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>mêlée</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 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.</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 +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.</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 & +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 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.</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 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.</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 +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.</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 Arsinoë, 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 Arsinoë. 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 +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?</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 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.</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, 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.</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> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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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 Bibliothque Nationale. + +It was executed by the Royal Binder, Clovis Eve, for Marie de' Mdicis, +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 cordelire, the sign of her widowhood, accompanied by the +monogram M.M. (Marie Mdicis). 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 _rle_ 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 Ltorius, 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 Cso 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 qustors 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 Lacedmonians +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 preminence, 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 preminent 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 renforcements 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 restablishing 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 preminence 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 _Phdo, or the Immortality of the Soul_, gives the +following dialogue between Echecrates and Phdo--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? + +_Phd._ 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.] + +_Phd._ 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? + +_Phd._ 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? + +_Phd._ 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, Phdo, 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? + +_Phd._ 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. + +_Phd._ 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. + +_Phd._ 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? + +_Phd._ He, then, was entirely overcome by these emotions; and I too was +troubled, as well as the others. + +_Ech._ But who were present, Phaedo? + +_Phd._ Of his fellow-countrymen, this Apollodorus was present, and +Critobulus, and his father Crito, moreover Hermogenes, Epigenes, +schines, and Antisthenes; Ctesippus the Panian, Menexenus, and some +other of his countrymen were also there: Plato I think was sick. + +_Ech._ Were any strangers present? + +_Phd._ Yes: Simmias the Theban, Cebes, and Phaedondes: and from Megara, +Euclides and Terpsion. + +_Ech._ But what! were not Aristippus and Cleombrotus present? + +_Phd._ No: for they were said to be at gina. + +_Ech._ Was anyone else there? + +_Phd._ I think that these were nearly all who were present. + +_Ech._ Well, now, what do you say was the subject of conversation? + +_Phd._ 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 Crites [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 medival 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 renforcements 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 primval 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 Csar'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 Mazus, 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 +Lvinus, 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 Lernan 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 Lilybum. 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 Lvinus 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 preminence. + +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 renforced 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 _mle_; 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. + +Llius 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 Lilybum 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 MACCABUS 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 Maccabus,[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 Maccabaus, 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 relect 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 restablishment 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 Besanon. 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 Compigne; 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 +Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar, 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, Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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. Csar, 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. Csar 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 +Csar, 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 Csar. 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 prtors 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 CSAR 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 Csar, whom she had captivated by her charms. Her reinstatement +by the help of Csar, 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 Csar, 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 Csar'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 Csar 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 Csar--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 Csar were engaged in their conflict for a far greater +kingdom. + +Csar 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 Csar, 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 Csar. 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 +Csar'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 Csar which she retained till his death. Csar +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 Csar'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 Csarion, 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 Csar 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 +Csar'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 +Csar 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 Ptolemus, 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 Csar'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 Csarion 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 Csar was assassinated, she was still at Rome, and had some wild +hopes of having her son recognized by the Csareans. 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 +Csar. + +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 Csarean cause, +held his _joyeuse entre_ 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 +Csar 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 Csar 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 +Csarion 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 Csarion, 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 Csarion, the reputed son of the +former Csar. 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 Csar, 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 Csar 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 Csar, 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 Csar 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. Csar 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 Csar'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 +Csar'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 +Csar 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 Csar a letter which she had written +and sealed, and, putting everybody out of the monument but her two +women, she shut the doors. Csar, 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 CSAR + +B.C. 44 + +NIEBUHR and PLUTARCH + + +(Csar'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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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, Csar 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 Csar and Pompey. Csar'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 Csar. For a time he opposed the latter's +election as consul, but later yielded. + +Csar 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 Csar. Both Pompey +and Csar were removed from leadership, but the Consul Marcellus refused +to execute the decree. Csar 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 Csar, who was enthusiastically supported by his soldiers +and "crossed the Rubicon." + +Having become master of all Italy in three months without a battle, +Csar rentered 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 Csar. + +Upon receipt of the news of Pompey's death Csar 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. + +Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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, Csar 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 +Csar 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. + +Csar 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 +Csar did not himself confer the consulship, yet the whole republic was +reduced to a mere form and appearance. Csar 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 prtors, 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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar +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 Csar 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 +Csar 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 Csar, +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 Csar, as it had for Cromwell--a surprising +phenomenon in a practical mind like that of Csar. Everyone knows the +fact that while Csar 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. Csar saw the great alarm which the +act created and declined the diadem for the sake of appearance; but had +the people been silent, Csar 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 Csar adorned with the diadem; but two tribunes of the people, +L. Caesetius Flavus and Epidius Marullus, took it away: and here Csar +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. Csar 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 Csar unlimited powers, the +senators, consuls, and prtors, or the whole senate, in festal attire, +presented the decrees to him, and Csar 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] Csar 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 Csar's death, Brutus and Cassius were prtors. 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. + +Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar, 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 Csar, who had inquired after +him; and when Csar heard of his safety he was delighted, and invited +him to his camp. Csar 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 Csar. After the battle of Pharsalus, +Csar did not at first know whither Pompey was gone. Cassius was at the +time stationed with some galleys in the Hellespont, notwithstanding +which Csar 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 Csar forgave him, as he forgave all his +adversaries: even Marcellus, who had mortally offended him, was pardoned +at the request of Cicero. Csar thus endeavored to efface all +recollections of the civil war. + +Csar had appointed both Brutus and Cassius prtors for that year. With +the exception of the office of _prtor urbanus_, which was honorable and +lucrative, the prtorship was a burdensome office and conferred little +distinction, since the other prtors were only the presidents of the +courts. Formerly they had been elected by lot, but the office was now +altogether in the gift of Csar. Both Brutus and Cassius had wished for +the prtura urbana, and, when Csar gave that office to Brutus, Cassius +was not only indignant at Csar, 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 Csar the crown. This was a welcome +opportunity for Cassius, who resolved to take vengeance, for he had even +before entertained a personal hatred of Csar, and was now disappointed +at not having obtained the city prtorship. 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 Csar, 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. + +Csar'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 Csar's death. Goethe says somewhere that the murder of +Csar 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. + +Csar 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 Csar +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. +Csar once expressed to some of his friends his conviction that Brutus +was capable of harboring a murderous design, but he added that as he, +Csar, could not live much longer, Brutus would wait, and not be guilty +of such a crime. Csar'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. Csar 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 Csar, 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 Csar'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. Csar 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 Csar some extravagant honors, the +consuls and prtors, 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 Csar, 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. Csar 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 Csar, 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. Csar refused +it, and then the plaudits were loud and general. Antony presented it +once more, and few applauded his officiousness; but when Csar rejected +it again, the applause again was general. Csar, 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 Csar 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. Csar, +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 Csar, 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 prtorship, and he had named him +for the consulship four years after, in preference to Cassius, who was +his competitor; on which occasion Csar 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 prtor, 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 Csar. Csar, +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 Csar. 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 Csar 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 +Csar, 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 Csar'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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar adjourned the senate +to another day the affair might be discovered, laughed at the diviners, +and told Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar'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 Csar 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: +"Csar, 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 Csar, and a man of great strength, was held in discourse +without, by Brutus Albinus, who had contrived a long story to detain +him. + +When Csar 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. Csar 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. + +Csar 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, Csar'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 Csar; 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 Csar, at the same time +that they revered Brutus. The senate passed a general amnesty; and, to +reconcile all parties, they decreed Csar 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 Csar'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 Csar's, had a strange dream the preceding night. +He dreamed--as they tell us--that Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar'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. + +Csar 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 Csar; and the most +signal phenomenon in the heavens was that of a great comet, which shone +very bright for seven nights after Csar'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 Csar 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 Csar at Philippi, and +the first day was victorious, carrying all before him, where he fought +in person, and even pillaging Csar'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 Csar, Rome was in confusion; consternation seized +the people, and the "liberators" failed to rally them to their own +support. In possession of Csar's treasure, Antony, the surviving +consul, bided his time. His oration at Csar'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, Csar's heir, had become popular with the army. He returned to +Rome and claimed his inheritance, demanded from Antony Csar's moneys, +but in vain, and assumed the title of Csar. 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 Csar 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 Csar], 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, Csar would quickly be +avenged. In all haste, therefore, they retired to the Capitol. Meanwhile +three of Csar'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 Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar, 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 Csar's funeral. + +On the next day Csar'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 Csarion would be declared the dictator's +heir; for though he had been married thrice, there was no one of his +lineage surviving. But Csar 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 Csar'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 prtor, 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 Csar's will had been published and that he was declared Csar'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 Csar, 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 Csar'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 Csar. 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 Csar. 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 Csar'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 Csarean 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 Csar'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 Btica. Plancus and Pollio, both friends and favorites of Csar, +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 Csar with troops commanded by one of Csar'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 Csar +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 Csar'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 Csar 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 Csar'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 Csar'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. Csar, 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 Csar'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 +Csar'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 Prneste. 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 Csar'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 Csar; 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 Iduman 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 Csar. + +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 Csar 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 Csar, 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 Csar'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 Csar; 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 Csar himself to the extreme of peril at +Alesia--he, too, had finally succumbed, had been led captive in Csar'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, coperated 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, Propyla, 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. Mlius 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 Corcyrans, 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 Potida 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. + +Potida 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. Plata, 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 Csar. + +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. Csar, 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. + +Csar 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 Csar 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 Csar, now prtor, and Cato, tribune of the +people. + +60. First Triumvirate in Rome, formed of Pompey, Crassus, and Csar, +equally dividing the power. + +59. Consulship of Csar 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. Csar begins his campaigns in Gaul. See "CSAR 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 Csar. + +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; Csar 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. + +Csar'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 Csar out of Gaul; he is unsuccessful, and +Csar, besieging him in his stronghold Alesia, forces him to surrender. + +51. Peace between Rome and Parthia. Csar completes his conquest of +Gaul. + +Cleopatra, on the death of her father, Ptolemy Auletes, becomes queen of +Egypt. See "CLEOPATRA'S CONQUEST OF CSAR AND ANTONY," ii, 295. + +50. Csar returns to Italy; jealousy between him and Pompey arouses the +people of Rome. + +49. War breaks out between Csar and Pompey; the second civil war in +Rome. + +48. Pompey is defeated by Csar at Pharsalia; Pompey flees to Egypt, +where he is assassinated. + +47. The Roman senate appoints Csar dictator, M. Antony as his master of +the horse. Csar subdues Egypt. + +46. Csar 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 Csar. + +45. Csar conquers the sons of Pompey at Munda, Spain. He is appointed +dictator for life. + +44. Brutus, Cassius, and other conspirators murder Csar in Rome. See +"ASSASSINATION OF CSAR," 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*** + + +******* This file should be named 10114-8.txt or 10114-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/1/1/10114 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/old/10114-8.zip b/old/old/10114-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f53f54 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/10114-8.zip diff --git a/old/old/10114.txt b/old/old/10114.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..83444ec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/10114.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: 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 +HISTORIANS, VOL. 2*** + + +******* This file should be named 10114.txt or 10114.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/1/1/10114 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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