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diff --git a/27114.txt b/27114.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c6aa03 --- /dev/null +++ b/27114.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21676 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ancient States and Empires by John Lord + + + +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 http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: Ancient States and Empires + +Author: John Lord + +Release Date: November 1, 2008 [Ebook #27114] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT STATES AND EMPIRES*** + + + + + + Ancient States and Empires + + For Colleges And Schools + + By + + John Lord LL.D. + + Author of the "Old Roman World" + + "Modern History" &c. + + New York + + Charles Scribner & Company + + 1869 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PREFACE. +BOOK I. ANCIENT ORIENTAL NATIONS. + CHAPTER I. THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. + CHAPTER II. POSTDILUVIAN HISTORY TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.--THE + PATRIARCHAL CONSTITUTION, AND THE DIVISION OF NATIONS. + CHAPTER III. THE HEBREW RACE FROM ABRAHAM TO THE SALE OF JOSEPH. + CHAPTER IV. EGYPT AND THE PHARAOHS. + CHAPTER V. THE JEWS UNTIL THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. + CHAPTER VI. THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM + OF DAVID. + CHAPTER VII. THE JEWISH MONARCHY. + CHAPTER VIII. THE OLD CHALDEAN AND ASSYRIAN MONARCHIES. + CHAPTER IX. THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS. + CHAPTER X. ASIA MINOR AND PHOENICIA. + CHAPTER XI. JEWISH HISTORY FROM THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY TO THE BIRTH + OF CHRIST.--THE HIGH PRIESTS AND THE ASMONEAN AND IDUMEAN KINGS. + CHAPTER XII. THE ROMAN GOVERNORS. +BOOK II. THE GRECIAN STATES. + CHAPTER XIII. THE GEOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ITS EARLY + INHABITANTS. + CHAPTER XIV. THE LEGENDS OF ANCIENT GREECE. + CHAPTER XV. THE GRECIAN STATES AND COLONIES TO THE PERSIAN WARS. + CHAPTER XVI. GRECIAN CIVILIZATION BEFORE THE PERSIAN WARS. + CHAPTER XVII. THE PERSIAN WAR. + CHAPTER XVIII. THE AGE OF PERICLES. + CHAPTER XIX. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. + CHAPTER XX. MARCH OF CYRUS AND RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS. + CHAPTER XXI. THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE. + CHAPTER XXII. THE REPUBLIC OF THEBES. + CHAPTER XXIII. DIONYSIUS AND SICILY. + CHAPTER XXIV. PHILIP OF MACEDON. + CHAPTER XXV. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. +BOOK III. THE ROMAN EMPIRE. + CHAPTER XXVI. ROME IN ITS INFANCY, UNDER KINGS. + CHAPTER XXVII. THE ROMAN REPUBLIC TILL THE INVASION OF THE GAULS. + CHAPTER XXVIII. THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. + CHAPTER XXIX. THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. + CHAPTER XXX. THE SECOND PUNIC OR HANNIBALIC WAR. + CHAPTER XXXI. THE MACEDONIAN AND ASIATIC WARS. + CHAPTER XXXII. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. + CHAPTER XXXIII. ROMAN CONQUESTS FROM THE FALL OF CARTHAGE TO THE TIMES + OF THE GRACCHI. + CHAPTER XXXIV. ROMAN CIVILIZATION AT THE CLOSE OF THE THIRD PUNIC WAR, + AND THE FALL OF GREECE. + CHAPTER XXXV. THE REFORM MOVEMENT OF THE GRACCHI. + CHAPTER XXXVI. THE WARS WITH JUGURTHA AND THE CIMBRI.--MARIUS. + CHAPTER XXXVII. THE REVOLT OF ITALY, AND THE SOCIAL WAR.--MARIUS AND + SULLA. + CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE MITHRIDATIC AND CIVIL WARS.--MARIUS AND SULLA. + CHAPTER XXXIX. ROME FROM THE DEATH OF SULLA TO THE GREAT CIVIL WARS OF + CAESAR AND POMPEY.--CICERO, POMPEY, AND CAESAR. + CHAPTER XL. THE CIVIL WARS BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY. + CHAPTER XLI. THE CIVIL WARS FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF + CAESAR.--ANTONIUS.--AUGUSTUS. + CHAPTER XLII. THE ROMAN EMPIRE ON THE ACCESSION OF AUGUSTUS. + CHAPTER XLIII. THE SIX CAESARS OF THE JULIAN LINE. + CHAPTER XLIV. THE CLIMAX OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. + CHAPTER XLV. THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. + CHAPTER XLVI. THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE. +Advertisements. +Footnotes + + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This work is designed chiefly for educational purposes, since there is +still felt the need of some book, which, within moderate limits, shall +give a connected history of the ancient world. + +The author lays no claim to original investigation in so broad a field. He +simply has aimed to present the salient points--the most important events +and characters of four thousand years, in a connected narrative, without +theories or comments, and without encumbering the book with details of +comparatively little interest. Most of the ancient histories for schools, +have omitted to notice those great movements to which the Scriptures +refer; but these are here briefly presented, since their connection with +the Oriental world is intimate and impressive, and ought not to be +omitted, even on secular grounds. What is history without a Divine +Providence? + +In the preparation of this work, the author has been contented with the +last standard authorities, which he has merely simplified, abridged, and +condensed, being most indebted to Rawlinson, Grote, Thirlwall, Niebuhr, +Mommsen, and Merivale,--following out the general plan of Philip Smith, +whose admirable digest, in three large octavos, is too extensive for +schools. + +Although the author has felt warranted in making a free use of his +materials, it will be seen that the style, arrangement, and reflections +are his own. If the book prove useful, his object will be attained. + +STAMFORD _October, 1869_. + + + + + + BOOK I. + + +ANCIENT ORIENTAL NATIONS. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +THE ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. + + +(M1) The history of this world begins, according to the chronology of +Archbishop Ussher, which is generally received as convenient rather than +probable, in the year 4004 before Christ. In six days God created light +and darkness, day and night, the firmament and the continents in the midst +of the waters, fruits, grain, and herbs, moon and stars, fowl and fish, +living creatures upon the face of the earth, and finally man, with +dominion "over the fish of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and cattle, +and all the earth, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." +He created man in his own image, and blessed him with universal dominion. +He formed him from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils +the breath of life. On the seventh day, God rested from this vast work of +creation, and blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, as we suppose, +for a day of solemn observance for all generations. + +(M2) He there planted a garden eastward in Eden, with every tree pleasant +to the sight and good for food, and there placed man to dress and keep it. +The original occupation of man, and his destined happiness, were thus +centered in agricultural labor. + +(M3) But man was alone; so God caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and +took one of his ribs and made a woman. And Adam said, "this woman," which +the Lord had brought unto him, "is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; +therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto +his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Thus marriage was instituted. We +observe three divine institutions while man yet remained in a state of +innocence and bliss--the Sabbath; agricultural employment; and marriage. + +(M4) Adam and his wife lived, we know not how long, in the garden of Eden, +with perfect innocence, bliss, and dominion. They did not even know what +sin was. There were no other conditions imposed upon them than they were +not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which +was in the midst of the garden--a preeminently goodly tree, "pleasant to +the eyes, and one to be desired." + +(M5) Where was this garden--this paradise--located? This is a mooted +question--difficult to be answered. It lay, thus far as we know, at the +head waters of four rivers, two of which were the Euphrates and the +Tigris. We infer thence, that it was situated among the mountains of +Armenia, south of the Caucasus, subsequently the cradle of the noblest +races of men,--a temperate region, in the latitude of Greece and Italy. + +(M6) We suppose that the garden was beautiful and fruitful, beyond all +subsequent experience--watered by mists from the earth, and not by rains +from the clouds, ever fresh and green, while its two noble occupants lived +upon its produce, directly communing with God, in whose image they were +made, moral and spiritual--free from all sin and misery, and, as we may +conjecture, conversant with truth in its loftiest forms. + +But sin entered into the beautiful world that was made, and death by sin. +This is the first recorded fact in human history, next to primeval +innocence and happiness. + +(M7) The progenitors of the race were tempted, and did not resist the +temptation. The form of it may have been allegorical and symbolic; but, as +recorded by Moses, was yet a stupendous reality, especially in view of its +consequences. + +(M8) The tempter was the devil--the antagonist of God--the evil power of the +world--the principle of evil--a Satanic agency which Scripture, and all +nations, in some form, have recognized. When rebellion against God began, +we do not know; but it certainly existed when Adam was placed in Eden. + +(M9) The form which Satanic power assumed was a serpent--then the most +subtle of the beasts of the field, and we may reasonably suppose, not +merely subtle, but attractive, graceful, beautiful, bewitching. + +(M10) The first to feel its evil fascination was the woman, and she was +induced to disobey what she knew to be a direct command, by the desire of +knowledge as well as enjoyment of the appetite. She put trust in the +serpent. She believed a lie. She was beguiled. + +(M11) The man was not directly beguiled by the serpent. Why the serpent +assailed woman rather than man, the Scriptures do not say. The man yielded +to his wife. "She gave him the fruit, and he did eat." + +(M12) Immediately a great change came over both. Their eyes were opened. +They felt shame and remorse, for they had sinned. They hid themselves from +the presence of the Lord, and were afraid. + +(M13) God pronounced the penalty--unto the woman, the pains and sorrows +attending childbirth, and subserviency to her husband; unto the man labor, +toil, sorrow--the curse of the ground which he was to till--thorns and +thistles--no rest, and food obtained only by the sweat of the brow; and all +these pains and labors were inflicted upon both until they should return +to the dust from whence they were taken--an eternal decree, never +abrogated, to last as long as man should till the earth, or woman bring +forth children. + +(M14) Thus came sin into the world, through the temptations of +introduction Satan and the weakness of man, with the penalty of labour, +pain, sorrow, and death. + +(M15) Man was expelled from Paradise, and precluded from re-entering it by +the flaming sword of cherubim, until the locality of Eden, by thorns and +briars, and the deluge, was obliterated forever. And man and woman were +sent out into the world to reap the fruit of their folly and sin, and to +gain their subsistence in severe toil, and amid, the accumulated evils +which sin introduced. + +(M16) The only mitigation of the sentence was the eternal enmity between +the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent, in which the final +victory should be given to the former. The rite of sacrifice was +introduced as a type of the satisfaction for sin by the death of a +substitute for the sinner; and thus a hope of final forgiveness held out +for sin, Meanwhile the miseries of life were alleviated by the fruits of +labor, by industry. + +(M17) Industry, then, became, on the expulsion from Eden, one of the final +laws of human happiness on earth, while the sacrifice held out hopes of +eternal life by the substitution which the sacrifice typified--the Saviour +who was in due time to appear. + +With the expulsion from Eden came the sad conflicts of the race--conflicts +with external wickedness--conflicts with the earth--conflicts with evil +passions in a man's own soul. + +(M18) The first conflict was between Cain, the husbandman, and Abel, the +shepherd; the representatives of two great divisions of the human family +in the early ages. Cain killed Abel because the offering of the latter was +preferred to that of the former. The virtue of Abel was faith: the sin of +Cain was jealousy, pride, resentment, and despair. The punishment of Cain +was expulsion from his father's house, the further curse of the land for +_him_, and the hatred of the human family. He relinquished his occupation, +became a wanderer, and gained a precarious support, while his descendants +invented arts and built cities. + +(M19) Eve bear another son--Seth, among whose descendants the worship of +God was preserved for a long time; but the descendants of Seth +intermarried finally with the descendants of Cain, from whom sprung a race +of lawless men, so that the earth was filled with violence. The material +civilization which the descendants of Cain introduced did not preserve +them from moral degeneracy. So great was the increasing wickedness, with +the growth of the race, that "it repented the Lord that he had made man," +and he resolved to destroy the whole race, with the exception of one +religious family, and change the whole surface of the earth by a mighty +flood, which should involve in destruction all animals and fowls of the +air--all the antediluvian works of man. + +(M20) It is of no consequence to inquire whether the Deluge was universal +or partial--whether it covered the whole earth or the existing habitations +of men. All were destroyed by it, except Noah, and his wife, and his three +sons, with their wives. The authenticity of the fact rests with Moses, and +with him we are willing to leave it. + +(M21) This dreadful catastrophe took place in the 600th year of Noah's +life, and 2349 years before Christ, when world was 1655 years old, +according to Usshur, but much older according to Hale and other +authorities--when more time had elapsed than from the Deluge to the reign +of Solomon. And hence there were more people destroyed, in all +probability, than existed on the earth in the time of Solomon. And as men +lived longer in those primeval times than subsequently, and were larger +and stronger, "for there were giants in those days," and early invented +tents, the harp, the organ, and were artificers in brass and iron, and +built cities--as they were full of inventions as well as imaginations, it +is not unreasonable to infer, though we can not know with certainty, that +the antediluvian world was more splendid and luxurious than the world in +the time of Solomon and Homer--the era of the Pyramids of Egypt. + +(M22) The art of building was certainly then carried to considerable +perfection, for the ark, which Noah built, was four hundred and fifty feet +long, seventy-five wide, and forty-five deep; and was constructed so +curiously as to hold specimens of all known animals and birds, with +provisions for them for more than ten months. + +(M23) This sacred ark or ship, built of gopher wood, floated on the +world's waves, until, in the seventh month, it rested upon the mountains +of Ararat. It was nearly a year before Noah ventured from the ark. His +first act, after he issued forth, was to build an altar and offer +sacrifice to the God who had preserved him and his family alone, of the +human race. And the Lord was well pleased, and made a covenant with him +that he would never again send a like destruction upon the earth, and as a +sign and seal of the covenant which he made with all flesh, he set his bow +in the cloud. We hence infer that the primeval world was watered by mists +from the earth, like the garden of Eden, and not by rains. + +(M24) "The memory of the Deluge is preserved in the traditions of nearly +all nations, as well as in the narrative of Moses; and most heathen +mythologies have some kind of sacred ark." Moreover, there are various +geological phenomena in all parts of the world, which can not be accounted +for on any other ground than some violent disruption produced by a +universal Deluge. The Deluge itself can not be explained, although there +are many ingenious theories to show it might be in accordance with natural +causes. The Scriptures allude to it as a supernatural event, for an +express end. When the supernatural power of God can be disproved, then it +will be time to explain the Deluge by natural causes, or deny it +altogether. The Christian world now accepts it as Moses narrates it. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +POSTDILUVIAN HISTORY TO THE CALL OF ABRAHAM.--THE PATRIARCHAL CONSTITUTION, +AND THE DIVISION OF NATIONS. + + +(M25) When Noah and his family issued from the ark, they were blessed by +God. They were promised a vast posterity, dominion over nature, and all +animals for food, as well as the fruits of the earth. But new laws were +imposed, against murder, and against the eating of blood. An authority was +given to the magistrate to punish murder. "Whosoever sheddeth man's blood, +by man shall _his_ blood be shed." This was not merely a penalty, but a +prediction. The sacredness of life, and the punishment for murder are +equally asserted, and asserted with peculiar emphasis. This may be said to +be the Noachic Code, afterward extended by Moses. From that day to this, +murder has been accounted the greatest human crime, and has been the most +severely punished. On the whole, this crime has been the rarest in the +subsequent history of the world, although committed with awful frequency, +but seldom till other crimes are exhausted. The sacredness of life is the +greatest of human privileges. + +(M26) The government was patriarchal. The head of a family had almost +unlimited power. And this government was religious as well as civil. The +head of the family was both priest and king. He erected altars and divided +inheritances. He ruled his sons, even if they had wives and children. And +as the old patriarchs lived to a great age, their authority extended over +several generations and great numbers of people. + +Noah pursued the life of a husbandman, and planted vines, probably like +the antediluvians. Nor did he escape the shame of drunkenness, though we +have no evidence it was an habitual sin. + +(M27) From this sin and shame great consequences followed. Noah was +indecently exposed. The second son made light of it; the two others +covered up the nakedness of their father. For this levity Ham was cursed +in his children. Canaan, his son, was decreed to be a servant of +servants--the ancestor of the races afterward exterminated by the Jews. To +Shem, for his piety, was given a special religious blessing. Through him +all the nations of the earth were blessed. To Japhet was promised especial +temporal prosperity, and a participation of the blessing of Shem, The +European races are now reaping this prosperity, and the religious +privileges of Christianity. + +(M28) Four generations passed without any signal event. They all spoke the +same language, and pursued the same avocations. They lived in Armenia, but +gradually spread over the surrounding countries and especially toward the +west and south. They journeyed to the land of Shinar, and dwelt on its +fertile plains. This was the great level of Lower Mesopotamia, or Chaldea, +watered by the Euphrates. + +(M29) Here they built a city, and aspired to build a tower which should +reach unto the heavens. It was vanity and pride which incited them,--also +fear lest they should be scattered. + +(M30) We read that Nimrod--one of the descendants of Ham--a mighty hunter, +had migrated to this plain, and set up a kingdom at Babel--perhaps a revolt +against patriarchal authority. Here was a great settlement--perhaps the +central seat of the descendants of Noah, where Nimrod--the strongest man of +his times--usurped dominion. Under his auspices the city was built--a +stronghold from which he would defy all other powers. Perhaps here he +instituted idolatry, since a tower was also a temple. But, whether fear or +ambition or idolatry prompted the building of Babel, it displeased the +Lord. + +(M31) The punishment which he inflicted upon the builders was confusion of +tongues. The people could not understand each other, and were obliged to +disperse. The tower was left unfinished. The Lord "scattered the people +abroad upon the face of all the earth." Probably some remained at Babel, +on the Euphrates--the forefathers of the Israelites when they dwelt in +Chaldea. It is not probable that every man spoke a different language, but +that there was a great division of language, corresponding with the great +division of families, so that the posterity of Shem took one course, that +of Japhet another, and that of Ham the third--dividing themselves into +three separate nations, each speaking substantially the same tongue, +afterward divided into different dialects from their peculiar +circumstances. + +(M32) Much learning and ingenuity have been expended in tracing the +different races and languages of the earth to the grand confusion of +Babel. But the subject is too complicated, and in the present state of +science, too unsatisfactory to make it expedient to pursue ethnological +and philological inquiries in a work so limited as this. We refer students +to Max Muller, and other authorities. + +(M33) But that there was a great tripartite division of the human family +can not be doubted. The descendants of Japhet occupied a great zone +running from the high lands of Armenia to the southeast, into the +table-lands of Iran, and to Northern India, and to the west into Thrace, +the Grecian peninsula, and Western Europe. And all the nations which +subsequently sprung from the children of Japhet, spoke languages the roots +of which bear a striking affinity. This can be proved. The descendants of +Japhet, supposed to be the oldest son of Noah, possessed the fairest lands +of the world--most favorable to development and progress--most favorable to +ultimate supremacy. They composed the great Caucasian race, which spread +over Northern and Western Asia, and over Europe--superior to other races in +personal beauty and strength, and also intellectual force. From the times +of the Greek and Romans this race has held the supremacy of the world, as +was predicted to Noah. "God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in +the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant." The conquest of the +descendants of Ham by the Greeks and Romans, and their slavery, attest the +truth of Scripture. + +(M34) The descendants of Shem occupied another belt or zone. It extended +from the southeastern part of Asia Minor to the Persian Gulf and the +peninsula of Arabia. The people lived in tents, were not ambitious of +conquest, were religious and contemplative. The great theogonies of the +East came from this people. They studied the stars. They meditated on God +and theological questions. They were a chosen race with whom sacred +history dwells. They had, compared with other races, a small territory +between the possessions of Japhet on the north, and that of Ham on the +south. Their destiny was not to spread over the world, but to exhibit the +dealings of God's providence. From this race came the Jews and the +Messiah. The most enterprising of the descendants of Shem were the +Phoenicians, who pursued commerce on a narrow strip of the eastern shore of +the Mediterranean, and who colonized Carthage and North Africa, but were +not powerful enough to contend successfully with the Romans in political +power. + +(M35) The most powerful of the posterity of Noah were the descendants of +Ham, for more than two thousand years, since they erected great +monarchies, and were warlike, aggressive, and unscrupulous. They lived in +Egypt, Ethiopia, Palestine, and the countries around the Red Sea. They +commenced their empire in Babel, on the great plain of Babylonia, and +extended it northward into the land of Asshur (Assyria). They built the +great cities of Antioch, Rehoboth, Calah and Resen. Their empire was the +oldest in the world--that established by a Cushite dynasty on the plains of +Babylon, and in the highlands of Persia. They cast off the patriarchal +law, and indulged in a restless passion for dominion. And they were the +most civilized of the ancient nations in arts and material life. They +built cities and monuments of power. These temples, their palaces, their +pyramids were the wonders of the ancient world. Their grand and somber +architecture lasted for centuries. They were the wickedest of the nations +of the earth, and effeminacy, pride and sensuality followed naturally from +their material civilization unhallowed by high religious ideas. They were +hateful conquerors and tyrants, and yet slaves. They were permitted to +prosper until their vices wrought out their own destruction, and they +became finally subservient to the posterity of Japhet. But among some of +the descendants of Ham civilization never advanced. The negro race of +Africa ever has been degraded and enslaved. It has done nothing to advance +human society. None of these races, even the most successful, have left +durable monuments of intellect or virtue: they have left gloomy monuments +of tyrannical and physical power. The Babylonians and Egyptians laid the +foundation of some of the sciences and arts, but nothing remains at the +present day which civilization values. + +How impressive and august the ancient prophecy to Noah! How strikingly +have all the predictions been fulfilled! These give to history an +imperishable interest and grandeur. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +THE HEBREW RACE FROM ABRAHAM TO THE SALE OF JOSEPH. + + +(M36) We postpone the narrative of the settlements and empires which grew +up on the banks of the Euphrates and the Nile, the oldest monarchies, +until we have contemplated the early history of the Jews--descended from +one of the children of Shem. This is not in chronological order, but in +accordance with the inimitable history of Moses. The Jews did not become a +nation until four hundred and thirty years after the call of Abram--and +Abram was of the tenth generation from Noah. When he was born, great +cities existed in Babylon, Canaan, and Egypt, and the descendants of Ham +were the great potentates of earth. The children of Shem were quietly +living in tents, occupied with agriculture and the raising of cattle. +Those of Japhet were exploring all countries with zealous enterprise, and +founding distant settlements--adventurers in quest of genial climates and +fruitful fields. + +Abram was born in Ur, a city of the Chaldeans, in the year 1996 before +Christ--supposed by some to be the Edessa of the Greeks, and by others to +be a great maritime city on the right bank of the Euphrates near its +confluence with the Tigris. + +From this city his father Terah removed with his children and kindred to +Haran, and dwelt there. It was in Mesopotamia--a rich district, fruitful in +pasturage. Here Abram remained until he was 75, and had become rich. + +(M37) While sojourning in this fruitful plain the Lord said unto him, "get +thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's +house, unto a land which I will show thee." "And I will make thee a great +nation, and will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a +blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that +curseth thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." +So Abram departed with Lot, his nephew, and Sarai, his wife, with all his +cattle and substance, to the land of Canaan, then occupied by that Hamite +race which had probably proved unfriendly to his family in Chaldea. We do +not know by what route he passed the Syrian desert, but he halted at +Shechem, situated in a fruitful valley, one of the passes of the hills +from Damascus to Canaan. He then built an altar to the Lord, probably +among an idolatrous people. From want of pasturage, or some cause not +explained, he removed from thence into a mountain on the east of Bethel, +between that city and Hai, or Ai, when he again erected an altar, and +called upon the living God. But here he did not long remain, being driven +by a famine to the fertile land of Egypt, then ruled by the Pharaohs, +whose unscrupulous character he feared, and which tempted him to practice +an unworthy deception, yet in accordance with profound worldly sagacity. +It was the dictate of expediency rather than faith. He pretended that +Sarai was his sister, and was well treated on her account by the princes +of Egypt, and not killed, as he feared he would be if she was known to be +his wife. The king, afflicted by great plagues in consequence of his +attentions to this beautiful woman, sent Abram away, after a stern rebuke +for the story he had told, with all his possessions. + +(M38) The patriarch returned to Canaan, enriched by the princes of Egypt, +and resumed his old encampment near Bethel. But there was not enough +pasturage for his flocks, united with those of Lot. So, with magnanimous +generosity, disinclined to strife or greed, he gave his nephew the choice +of lands, but insisted on a division. "Is not the whole land before thee," +said he: "Separate thyself, I pray thee: if thou wilt take the left hand, +I will go to the right, and if thou depart to the right hand, then I will +go to the left." The children of Ham and of Japhet would have quarreled, +and one would have got the ascendency over the other. Not so with the just +and generous Shemite--the reproachless model of all oriental virtues, if we +may forget the eclipse of his fair name in Egypt. + +(M39) Lot chose, as was natural, the lower valley of the Jordan, a fertile +and well-watered plain, but near the wicked cities of the Canaanites, +which lay in the track of the commerce between Arabia, Syria, Egypt, and +the East. The worst vices of antiquity prevailed among them, and Lot +subsequently realized, by a painful experience, the folly of seeking, for +immediate good, such an accursed neighborhood. + +Abram was contented with less advantages among the hills, and after a +renewed blessing from the Lord, removed his tents to the plain of Mamre, +near Hebron, one of the oldest cities of the world. + +(M40) The first battle that we read of in history was fought between the +Chaldean monarch and the kings of the five cities of Canaan, near to the +plain which Lot had selected. The kings were vanquished, and, in the +spoliation which ensued, Lot himself and his cattle were carried away by +Chederlaomer. + +(M41) The news reached Abram in time for him to pursue the Chaldean king +with his trained servants, three hundred and eighteen in number. In a +midnight attack the Chaldeans were routed, since a panic was created, and +Lot was rescued, with all his goods, from which we infer that Abram was a +powerful chieftain, and was also assisted directly by God, as Joshua +subsequently was in his unequal contest with the Canaanites. + +(M42) The king of Sodom, in gratitude, went out to meet him on his return +from the successful encounter, and also the king of Salem, Melchizedek, +with bread and wine. This latter was probably of the posterity of Shem, +since he was also a priest of the most high God, He blessed Abram, and +gave him tithes, which Abram accepted. + +(M43) But Abram would accept nothing from the king of Sodom--not even to a +shoe-latchet--from patriarchal pride, or disinclination to have any +intercourse with idolators. But he did not prevent his young warriors from +eating his bread in their hunger. It was not the Sodomites he wished to +rescue, but Lot, his kinsman and friend. + +(M44) Abram, now a powerful chieftain and a rich man, well advanced in +years, had no children, in spite of the promise of God that he should be +the father of nations. His apparent heir was his chief servant, or +steward, Elizur, of Damascus. He then reminds the Lord of the promise, and +the Lord renewed the covenant, and Abram rested in faith. + +(M45) Not so his wife Sarai. Skeptical that from herself should come the +promised seed, she besought Abram to make a concubine or wife of her +Egyptian maid, Hagar. Abram listens to her, and grants her request. Sarai +is then despised by the woman, and lays her complaint before her husband. +Abram delivers the concubine into the hands of the jealous and offended +wife, who dealt hardly with her, so that she fled to the wilderness. +Thirsty and miserable, she was found by an angel, near to a fountain of +water, who encouraged her by the promise that her child should be the +father of a numerous nation, but counseled her to return to Sarai, and +submit herself to her rule. In due time the child was born, and was called +Ishmael--destined to be a wild man, with whom the world should be at +enmity. Abram was now eighty-six years of age. + +(M46) Fourteen years later the Lord again renewed his covenant that he +should be the father of many nations, who should possess forever the land +of Canaan. His name was changed to Abraham (father of a multitude), and +Sarai's was changed to Sarah. The Lord promised that from Sarah should +come the predicted blessing. The patriarch is still incredulous, and +laughs within himself; but God renews the promise, and henceforth Abraham +believes, and, as a test of his faith, he institutes, by divine direction, +the rite of circumcision to Ishmael and all the servants and slaves of his +family--even those "bought with money of the stranger." + +(M47) In due time, according to prediction, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, who +was circumcised on the eighth day, when Abraham was 100 years old. +Ishmael, now a boy of fifteen, made a mockery of the event, whereupon +Sarah demanded that the son of the bondwoman, her slave, should be +expelled from the house, with his mother. Abraham was grieved also, and, +by divine counsel, they were both sent away, with some bread and a bottle +of water. The water was soon expended in the wilderness of Beersheba, and +Hagar sat down in despair and wept. God heard her lamentations, and she +opened her eyes and saw that she was seated near a well. The child was +preserved, and dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, pursuing the occupation +of an archer, or huntsman, and his mother found for him a wife out of the +land of Egypt. He is the ancestor of the twelve tribes of Bedouin Arabs, +among whom the Hamite blood predominated. + +(M48) Meanwhile, as Abraham dwelt on the plains of Mamre, the destruction +of Sodom and Gomorrah took place, because not ten righteous persons could +be found therein. But Lot was rescued by angels, and afterward dwelt in a +cave, for fear, his wife being turned into a pillar of salt for daring to +look back on the burning cities. He lived with his two daughters, who +became the guilty mothers of the Moabites and the Ammonites, who settled +on the hills to the east of Jordan and the Dead Sea. + +(M49) Before the birth of Isaac, Abraham removed to the South, and dwelt +in Gerah, a city of the Philistines, and probably for the same reason that +he had before sought the land of Egypt. But here the same difficulty +occurred as in Egypt. The king, Abimelech, sent and took Sarah, supposing +she was merely Abraham's sister; and Abraham equivocated and deceived in +this instance to save his own life. But the king, warned by God in a +dream, restored unto Abraham his wife, and gave him sheep, oxen, men +servants and women servants, and one thousand pieces of silver, for he +knew he was a prophet. In return Abraham prayed for him, and removed from +him and his house all impediments for the growth of his family. The king, +seeing how Abraham was prospered, made a covenant with him, so that the +patriarch lived long among the Philistines, worshiping "the everlasting +God." + +(M50) Then followed the great trial of his faith, when requested to +sacrifice Isaac. And when he was obedient to the call, and did not +withhold his son, his only son, from the sacrificial knife, having faith +that his seed should still possess the land of Canaan, he was again +blessed, and in the most emphatic language. After this he dwelt in +Beersheba. + +(M51) At the age of 120 Sarah died at Hebron, and Abraham purchased of +Ephron the Hittite, the cave of Machpelah, with a field near Mamre, for +four hundred shekels of silver, in which he buried his wife. + +(M52) Shortly after, he sought a wife for Isaac. But he would not accept +any of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom he dwelt, but sent his +eldest and most trusted servant to Mesopotamia, with ten loaded camels, to +secure one of his own people. Rebekah, the grand-daughter of Nahor, the +brother of Abraham, was the favored damsel whom the Lord provided. Her +father and brother accepted the proposal of Abraham's servant, and loaded +with presents, jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and raiment, the +Mesopotamian lady departed from her country and her father's house, with +the benediction of the whole family. "Be thou the mother of thousands of +millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them." +Thus was "Isaac comforted after his mother's death." + +(M53) Abraham married again, and had five sons by Keturah; but, in his +life-time, he gave all he had unto Isaac, except some gifts to his other +children, whom he sent away, that they might not dispute the inheritance +with Isaac. He died at a good old age, 175 years, and was buried by his +sons, Isaac and Ishmael, in the cave of Machpelah, which had been +purchased of the sons of Heth. Isaac thus became the head of the house, +with princely possessions, living near a well. + +(M54) But a famine arose, as in the days of his father, and he went to +Gerar, and not to Egypt. He, however, was afraid to call Rebekah his wife, +for the same reason that Abraham called Sarah his sister. But the king +happening from his window to see Isaac "sporting with Rebekah," knew he +had been deceived, yet abstained from taking her, and even loaded Isaac +with new favors, so that he became very great and rich--so much so that the +Philistines envied him, and maliciously filled up the wells which Abraham +had dug. Here again he was befriended by Abimelech, who saw that the Lord +was with him, and a solemn covenant of peace was made between them, and +new wells were dug. + +(M55) Isaac, it seems, led a quiet and peaceful life--averse to all strife +with the Canaanites, and gradually grew very rich. He gave no evidence of +remarkable strength of mind, and was easily deceived. His greatest +affliction was the marriage of his eldest and favorite son Esau with a +Hittite woman, and it was probably this mistake and folly which confirmed +the superior fortunes of Jacob. + +(M56) Esau was a hunter. On returning one day from hunting he was faint +from hunger, and cast a greedy eye on some pottage that Jacob had +prepared. But Jacob would not give his hungry brother the food until he +had promised, by a solemn oath, to surrender his birthright to him. The +clever man of enterprise, impulsive and passionate, thought more, for the +moment, of the pangs of hunger than of his future prospects, and the +quiet, plain, and cunning man of tents availed himself of his brother's +rashness. + +(M57) But the birthright was not secure to Jacob without his father's +blessing. So he, with his mother's contrivance, for he was _her_ favorite, +deceived his father, and appeared to be Esau. Isaac, old and dim and +credulous, supposing that Jacob, clothed in Esau's vestments as a hunter, +and his hands covered with skins, was his eldest son, blessed him. The old +man still had doubts, but Jacob falsely declared that he was Esau, and +obtained what he wanted. When Esau returned from the hunt he saw what +Jacob had done, and his grief was bitter and profound. He cried out in his +agony, "Bless me even me, also, O my father." And Isaac said: "Thy brother +came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing." And Esau said, "Is +he not rightly named Jacob--that is, a supplanter--for he hath supplanted me +these two times: he took away my birthright, and behold now he hath taken +away my blessing." "And he lifted up his voice and wept." Isaac, then +moved, declared that his dwelling should be the fatness of the earth, even +though he should serve his brother,--that he should live by the sword, and +finally break the yoke from off his neck. This was all Esau could wring +from his father. He hated Jacob with ill-concealed resentment, as was to +be expected, and threatened to kill him on his father's death. Rebekah +advised Jacob to flee to his uncle, giving as an excuse to Isaac, that he +sought a wife in Mesopotamia. This pleased Isaac, who regarded a marriage +with a Canaanite as the greatest calamity. So he again gave him his +blessing, and advised him to select one of the daughters of Laban for his +wife. And Jacob departed from his father's house, and escaped the wrath of +Esau. But Esau, seeing that his Hittite wife was offensive to his father, +married also one of the daughters of Ishmael, his cousin. + +(M58) Jacob meanwhile pursued his journey. Arriving at a certain place +after sunset, he lay down to sleep, with stones for his pillow, and he +dreamed that a ladder set up on the earth reached the heavens, on which +the angels of God ascended and descended, and above it was the Lord +himself, the God of his father, who renewed all the promises that had been +made to Abraham of the future prosperity of his house. He then continued +his journey till he arrived in Haran, by the side of a well. Thither +Rachel, the daughter of Laban, came to draw water for the sheep she +tended. Jacob rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well, and +watered her flock, and kissed her, and wept, for he had found in his +cousin his bride. He then told her who he was, and she ran and told her +father that his nephew had come, Isaac's son, and Laban was filled with +joy, and kissed Jacob and brought him to his house, where he dwelt a month +as a guest. + +(M59) An agreement was then made that Jacob should serve Laban seven +years, and receive in return for his services his youngest daughter +Rachel, whom he loved. But Laban deceived him, and gave him Leah instead, +and Jacob was compelled to serve another seven years before he obtained +her. Thus he had two wives, the one tender-eyed, the other beautiful. But +he loved Rachel and hated Leah. + +(M60) Jacob continued to serve Laban until he was the father of eleven +sons and a daughter, and then desired to return to his own country. But +Laban, unwilling to lose so profitable a son-in-law, raised obstacles. +Jacob, in the mean time, became rich, although his flocks and herds were +obtained by a sharp bargain, which he turned to his own account. The envy +of Laban's sons was the result. Laban also was alienated, whereupon Jacob +fled, with his wives and children and cattle. Laban pursued, overtook him, +and after an angry altercation, in which Jacob recounted his wrongs during +twenty years of servitude, and Laban claimed every thing as his--daughters, +children and cattle, they made a covenant on a heap of stones not to pass +either across it for the other's harm, and Laban returned to his home and +Jacob went on his way. + +(M61) But Esau, apprised of the return of his brother, came out of Edom +against him with four hundred men. Jacob was afraid, and sought to +approach Esau with presents. The brothers met, but whether from fraternal +impulse or by the aid of God, they met affectionately, and fell into each +other's arms and wept. Jacob offered his presents, which Esau at first +magnanimously refused to take, but finally accepted: peace was restored, +and Jacob continued his journey till he arrived in Thalcom--a city of +Shechem, in the land of Canaan, where he pitched his tent and erected an +altar. + +Here he was soon brought into collision with the people of Shechem, whose +prince had inflicted a great wrong. Levi and Simeon avenged it, and the +city was spoiled. + +(M62) Jacob, perhaps in fear of the other Amorites, retreated to Bethel, +purged his household of all idolatry, and built an altar, and God again +appeared to him, blessed him and changed his name to Israel. + +(M63) Soon after, Rachel died, on the birth of her son, Benjamin, and +Jacob came to see his father in Mamre, now 180 years of age, and about to +die. Esau and Jacob buried him in the cave of Machpelah. + +Esau dwelt in Edom, the progenitor of a long line of dukes or princes. The +seat of his sovereignty was Mount Seir. + +(M64) Jacob continued to live in Hebron--a patriarchal prince, rich in +cattle, and feared by his neighbors. His favorite son was Joseph, and his +father's partiality excited the envy of the other sons. They conspired to +kill him, but changed their purpose through the influence of Reuben, and +cast him into a pit in the wilderness. While he lay there, a troop of +Ishmaelites appeared, and to them, at the advice of Judah, they sold him +as a slave, but pretended to their father that he was slain by wild +beasts, and produced, in attestation, his lacerated coat of colors. The +Ishmaelites carried Joseph to Egypt, and sold him to Potaphar, captain of +Pharaoh's guard. Before we follow his fortunes, we will turn our attention +to the land whence he was carried. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +EGYPT AND THE PHARAOHS. + + +(M65) The first country to which Moses refers, in connection with the +Hebrew history, is Egypt. This favored land was the seat of one of the +oldest monarchies of the world. Although it would seem that Assyria was +first peopled, historians claim for Egypt a more remote antiquity. Whether +this claim can be substantiated or not, it is certain that Egypt was one +of the primeval seats of the race of Ham. Mizraim, the Scripture name for +the country, indicates that it was settled by a son of Ham. But if this is +true even, the tide of emigration from Armenia probably passed to the +southeast through Syria and Palestine, and hence the descendants of Ham +had probably occupied the land of Canaan before they crossed the desert +between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. I doubt if Egypt had older +cities than Damascus, Hebron, Zoar, and Tyre. + +But Egypt certainly was a more powerful monarchy than any existing on the +earth in the time of Abraham. + +(M66) Its language, traditions, and monuments alike point to a high +antiquity. It was probably inhabited by a mixed race, Shemitic as well as +Hamite; though the latter had the supremacy. The distinction of castes +indicates a mixed population, so that the ancients doubted whether Egypt +belonged to Asia or Africa. The people were not black, but of a reddish +color, with thick lips, straight black hair, and elongated eye, and sunk +in the degraded superstitions of the African race. + +(M67) The geographical position indicates not only a high antiquity, but a +state favorable to great national wealth and power. The river Nile, +issuing from a great lake under the equator, runs 3,000 miles nearly due +north to the Mediterranean. Its annual inundations covered the valley with +a rich soil brought down from the mountains of Abyssinia, making it the +most fertile in the world. The country, thus so favored by a great river, +with its rich alluvial deposits, is about 500 miles in length, with an +area of 115,000 square miles, of which 9,600 are subject to the +fertilizing inundation. But, in ancient times, a great part of the country +was irrigated, and abounded in orchards, gardens, and vineyards. Every +kind of vegetable was cultivated, and grain was raised in the greatest +abundance, so that the people lived in luxury and plenty while other +nations were subject to occasional famines. + +(M68) Among the fruits, were dates, grapes, figs, pomegranates, apricots, +peaches, oranges, citrons, lemons, limes, bananas, melons, mulberries, +olives. Among vegetables, if we infer from what exist at present, were +beans, peas, lentils, luprins, spinach, leeks, onions, garlic, celery, +chiccory, radishes, carrots, turnips, lettuce, cabbage, fennel, gourds, +cucumbers, tomatoes, egg-plant. What a variety for the sustenance of man, +to say nothing of the various kinds of grain,--barley, oats, maize, rice, +and especially wheat, which grows to the greatest perfection. + +In old times the horses were famous, as well as cattle, and sheep, and +poultry. Quails were abundant, while the marshes afforded every kind of +web-footed fowl. Fish, too, abounded in the Nile, and in the lakes. Bees +were kept, and honey was produced, though inferior to that of Greece. + +(M69) The climate also of this fruitful land was salubrious without being +enervating. The soil was capable of supporting a large population, which +amounted, in the time of Herodotus, to seven millions. On the banks of the +Nile were great cities, whose ruins still astonish travelers. The land, +except that owned by the priests, belonged to the king, who was supreme +and unlimited in power. The people were divided into castes, the highest +being priests, and the lowest husbandmen. The kings were hereditary, but +belonged to the priesthood, and their duties and labors were arduous. The +priests were the real governing body, and were treated with the most +respectful homage. They were councilors of the king, judges of the land, +and guardians of all great interests. The soldiers were also numerous, and +formed a distinct caste. + +(M70) When Abram visited Egypt, impelled by the famine in Canaan, it was +already a powerful monarchy. This was about 1921 years before Christ, +according to the received chronology, when the kings of the 15th dynasty +reigned. These dynasties of ancient kings are difficult to be settled, and +rest upon traditions rather than well defined historical grounds,--or +rather on the authority of Manetho, an Egyptian priest, who lived nearly +300 years before Christ. His list of dynasties has been confirmed, to a +great extent, by the hieroglyphic inscriptions which are still to be found +on ancient monuments, but they give us only a barren catalogue of names +without any vital historical truths. Therefore these old dynasties, before +Abraham, are only interesting to antiquarians, and not satisfactory to +them, since so little is known or can be known. These, if correct, would +give a much greater antiquity to Egypt than can be reconciled with Mosaic +history. But all authorities agree in ascribing to Menes the commencement +of the first dynasty, 2712 years before Christ, according to Hales, but +3893 according to Lepsius, and 2700 according to Lane. Neither Menes nor +his successors of the first dynasty left any monuments. It is probable, +however, that Memphis was built by them, and possibly hieroglyphics were +invented during their reigns. + +But here a chronological difficulty arises. The Scriptures ascribe ten +generations from Shem to Abram. Either the generations were made longer +than in our times, or the seventeen dynasties, usually supposed to have +reigned when Abram came to Egypt, could not have existed; for, according +to the received chronology, he was born 1996, B.C., and the Deluge took +place 2349, before Christ, leaving but 353 years from the Deluge to the +birth of Abraham. How could seventeen dynasties have reigned in Egypt in +that time, even supposing that Egypt was settled immediately after the +Flood, unless either more than ten generations existed from Noah to Abram, +or that these generations extended over seven or eight hundred years? +Until science shall reconcile the various chronologies with the one +usually received, there is but little satisfaction in the study of +Egyptian history prior to Abram. Nor is it easy to settle when the +Pyramids were constructed. If they existed in the time of Abram a most +rapid advance had been made in the arts, unless a much longer period +elapsed from Noah to Abraham than Scripture seems to represent. + +(M71) Nothing of interest occurs in Egyptian history until the fourth +dynasty of kings, when the pyramids of Ghizeh, were supposed to have been +built--a period more remote than Scripture ascribes to the Flood itself, +according to our received chronology. These were the tombs of the Memphian +kings, who believed in the immortality of the soul, and its final reunion +with the body after various forms of transmigration. Hence the solicitude +to preserve the body in some enduring monument, and by elaborate +embalment. What more durable monument than these great masses of granite, +built to defy the ravages of time, and the spoliations of conquerors! The +largest of these pyramids, towering above other pyramids, and the lesser +sepulchres of the rich, was built upon a square of 756 feet, and the +height of it was 489 feet 9 inches, covering an area of 571,536 feet, or +more than thirteen acres. The whole mass contained 90,000,000 cubic feet +of masonry, weighing 6,316,000 tons. Nearly in the centre of this pile of +stone, reached by a narrow passage, were the chambers where the royal +sarcophagi were deposited. At whatever period these vast monuments were +actually built, they at least go back into remote antiquity, and probably +before the time of Abram. + +(M72) The first great name of the early Egyptian kings was Sesertesen, or +Osirtasin I., the founder of the twelfth dynasty of kings, B.C. 2080. He +was a great conqueror, and tradition confounds him with the Sesostris of +the Greeks, which gathered up stories about him as the Middle Ages did of +Charlemagne and his paladins. The real Sesostris was Ramenes the Great, of +the nineteenth dynasty. By the kings of this dynasty (the twelfth) +Ethiopia was conquered, the Labyrinth was built, and Lake Moevis dug, to +control the inundations. Under them Thebes became a great city. The +dynasty lasted 100 years, but became subject to the Shepherd kings. These +early Egyptian monarchs wore fond of peace, and their subjects enjoyed +repose and prosperity. + +(M73) The Shepherd kings, who ruled 400 years, were supposed by Manetho to +be Arabs, but leaves us to infer that they were Phoenicians--as is +probable--a roving body of conquerors, who easily subdued the peaceful +Egyptians. They have left no monumental history. They were alien to the +conquered race in language and habits, and probably settled in Lower Egypt +where the land was most fertile, and where conquests would be most easily +retained. + +It was under their rule that Abram probably visited Egypt when driven by a +famine from Canaan. And they were not expelled till the time of Joseph, by +the first of the eighteenth dynasty. The descendants of the old kings, we +suppose, lived in Thebes, and were tributary princes for 400 years, but +gained sufficient strength, finally, to expel the Shemite invaders, even +as the Gothic nations of Spain, in the Middle Ages, expelled their +conquerors, the Moors. + +(M74) But it was under the Shepherd kings that the relations between Egypt +and the Hebrew patriarchs took place. We infer this fact from the friendly +intercourse and absence of national prejudices. The Phoenicians belonged to +the same Shemitic stock from which Abraham came. They built no temples. +They did not advance a material civilization. They loaded Abram and Joseph +with presents, and accepted the latter as a minister and governor. We read +of no great repulsion of races, and see a great similarity in pursuits. + +(M75) Meanwhile, the older dynasties under whom Thebes was built, probably +B.C. 2200, gathered strength in misfortune and subjection. They reigned, +during five dynasties, in a subordinate relation, tributary and oppressed. +The first king of the eighteenth dynasty seems to have been a remarkable +man--the deliverer of his nation. His name was Aah-mes, or Amo-sis, and he +expelled the shepherds from the greater part of Egypt, B.C. 1525. In his +reign we see on the monuments chariots and horses. He built temples both +in Thebes and Memphis, and established a navy. This was probably the king +who knew not Joseph. His successors continued the work of conquest, and +extended their dominion from Ethiopia to Mesopotamia, and obtained that +part of Western Asia formerly held by the Chaldeans. They built the temple +of Karnak, the "Vocal Memnon," and the avenue of Sphinxes in Thebes. + +(M76) The grandest period of Egyptian history begins with the nineteenth +dynasty, founded by Sethee I., or Sethos, B.C. 1340. He built the famous +"Hall of Columns," in the temple of Karnak, and the finest of the tombs of +the Theban kings. On the walls of this great temple are depicted his +conquests, especially over the Hittites. But the glories of the monarchy, +now decidedly military, culminated in Ramesis II.--the Sesostris of the +Greeks. He extended his dominion as far as Scythia and Thrace, while his +naval expeditions penetrated to the Erythraean Sea. The captives which he +brought from his wars were employed in digging canals, which intersected +the country, for purposes of irrigation, and especially that great canal +which united the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. He added to the temple of +Karnak, built the Memnonium on the western side of the Nile, opposite to +Thebes, and enlarged the temple of Ptah, at Memphis, which he adorned by a +beautiful colossal statue, the fist of which is (now in the British +Museum) thirty inches wide across the knuckles. But the Rameseum, or +Memnonium, was his greatest architectural work, approached by an avenue of +sphinxes and obelisks, in the centre of which was the great statue of +Ramesis himself, sixty feet high, carved from a single stone of the red +granite of Syene. + +(M77) The twentieth dynasty was founded by Sethee II., B.C. 1220 (or 1232 +B.C., according to Wilkinson), when Gideon ruled the Israelites and +Theseus reigned at Athens and Priam at Troy. The third king of this +dynasty--Ramesis III.--built palaces and tombs scarcely inferior to any of +the Theban kings, but under his successors the Theban power declined. +Under the twenty-first dynasty, which began B.C. 1085, Lower Egypt had a +new capital, Zoan, and gradually extended its power over Upper Egypt. It +had a strong Shemetic element in its population, and strengthened itself +by alliances with the Assyrians. + +The twenty-second dynasty was probably Assyrian, and began about 1009 B.C. +It was hostile to the Jews, and took and sacked Jerusalem. + +(M78) From this period the history of Egypt is obscure. Ruled by +Assyrians, and then by Ethiopians, the grandeur of the old Theban monarchy +had passed away. On the rise of the Babylonian kingdom, over the ruins of +the old Assyrian Empire, Egypt was greatly prostrated as a military power. +Babylon became the great monarchy of the East, and gained possession of +all the territories of the Theban kings, from the Euphrates to the Nile. + +Leaving, then, the obscure and uninteresting history of Egypt, which +presents nothing of especial interest until its conquest by Alexander, +B.C. 332, with no great kings even, with the exception of Necho, of the +twenty-sixth dynasty, B.C. 611, we will present briefly the religion, +manners, customs, and attainments of the ancient Egyptians. + +(M79) Their religion was idolatrous. They worshiped various divinities: +Num, the soul of the universe; Amen, the generative principle; Khom, by +whom the productiveness of nature was emblematized; Ptah, or the creator +of the universe; Ra, the sun; Thoth, the patron of letters; Athor, the +goddess of beauty; Mu, physical light; Mat, moral light; Munt, the god of +war; Osiris, the personification of good; Isis, who presided over funeral +rites; Set, the personification of evil; Anup, who judged the souls of the +departed. + +(M80) These were principal deities, and were worshiped through sacred +animals, as emblems of divinity. Among them were the bulls, Apis, at +Memphis, and Muenis, at Heliopolis, both sacred to Osiris. The crocodile +was sacred to Lebak, whose offices are unknown; the asp to Num; the cat to +Pasht, whose offices were also unknown; the beetle to Ptah. The worship of +these and of other animals was conducted with great ceremony, and +sacrifices were made to them of other animals, fruits and vegetables. + +Man was held accountable for his actions, and to be judged, according to +them. He was to be brought before Osiris, and receive from him future +rewards or punishments. + +(M81) The penal laws of the Egyptians were severe. Murder was punished +with death. Adultery was punished by the man being beaten with a thousand +rods. The woman had her nose cut off. Theft was punished with less +severity--with a beating by a stick. Usury was not permitted beyond double +of the debt, and the debtor was not imprisoned. + +(M82) The government was a monarchy, only limited by the priesthood, into +whose order he was received, and was administered by men appointed by the +king. On the whole, it was mild and paternal, and exercised for the good +of the people. + +(M83) Polygamy was not common, though concubines were allowed. In the +upper classes women were treated with great respect, and were regarded as +the equals of men. They ruled their households. The rich were hospitable, +and delighted to give feasts, at which were dancers and musicians. They +possessed chariots and horses, and were indolent and pleasure-seeking. The +poor people toiled, with scanty clothing and poor fare. + +(M84) Hieroglyphic writing prevailed from a remote antiquity. The papyrus +was also used for hieratic writing, and numerous papyri have been +discovered, which show some advance in literature. Astronomy was +cultivated by the priests, and was carried to the highest point it could +attain without modern instruments. Geometry also reached considerable +perfection. Mechanics must have been carried to a great extent, when we +remember that vast blocks of stone were transported 500 miles and elevated +to enormous heights. Chemistry was made subservient to many arts, such as +the working of metals and the tempering of steel. But architecture was the +great art in which the Egyptians excelled, as we infer from the ruins of +temples and palaces; and these wonderful fabrics were ornamented with +paintings which have preserved their color to this day. Architecture was +massive, grand, and imposing. Magical arts were in high estimation, and +chiefly exercised by the priests. The industrial arts reached great +excellence, especially in the weaving of linen, pottery, and household +furniture. The Egyptians were great musicians, using harps, flutes, +cymbals, and drums. They were also great gardeners. In their dress they +were simple, frugal in diet, though given to occasional excess; fond of +war, but not cruel like the Assyrians; hospitable among themselves, shy of +strangers, patriotic in feeling, and contemplative in character. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +THE JEWS UNTIL THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN. + + +(M85) When Joseph was sold by the Midianites to Potiphar, Egypt was +probably ruled by the Shepherd kings, who were called Pharaoh, like all +the other kings, by the Jewish writers. Pitiphar (Pet-Pha, dedicated to +the sun) was probably the second person in the kingdom. Joseph, the Hebrew +slave, found favor in his sight, and was gradually promoted to the +oversight of his great household. Cast into prison, from the intrigues of +Potiphar's wife, whose disgraceful overtures he had virtuously and +honorably rejected, he found favor with the keeper of the prison, who +intrusted him with the sole care of the prisoners, although himself a +prisoner,--a striking proof of his transparent virtue. In process of time +two other high officers of the king, having offended him, were cast into +the same prison. They had strange dreams. Joseph interpreted them, +indicating the speedy return of the one to favor, and of the other to as +sudden an execution. These things came to pass. After two years the king +himself had a singular dream, and none of the professional magicians or +priests of Egypt could interpret it. It then occurred to the chief butler +that Joseph, whom he had forgotten and neglected, could interpret the +royal dream which troubled him. He told the king of his own dream in +prison, and the explanation of it by the Hebrew slave. Whereupon Joseph +was sent for, shaven and washed, and clothed with clean raiment to appear +in the royal palace, and he interpreted the king's dream, which not only +led to his promotion to be governor over Egypt, with the State chariots +for his use, and all the emblems of sovereignty about his person--a viceroy +whose power was limited only by that of the king--but he was also +instrumental in rescuing Egypt from the evils of that terrible famine +which for seven years afflicted Western Asia. He was then thirty years of +age, 1715 B.C., and his elevation had been earned by the noblest +qualities--fidelity to his trusts, patience, and high principle--all of +which had doubtless been recounted to the king. + +(M86) The course which Joseph pursued toward the Egyptians was apparently +hard. The hoarded grain of seven years' unexampled plenty was at first +sold to the famishing people, and when they had no longer money to buy it, +it was only obtained by the surrender of their cattle, and then by the +alienation of their land, so that the king became possessed of all the +property of the realm, personal as well as real, except that of the +priests. But he surrendered the land back again to the people +subsequently, on condition of the payment of one-fifth of the produce +annually (which remained to the time of Moses)--a large tax, but not so +great as was exacted of the peasantry of France by their feudal and royal +lords. This proceeding undoubtedly strengthened the power of the Shepherd +kings, and prevented insurrections. + +(M87) The severity of the famine compels the brothers of Joseph to seek +corn in Egypt. Their arrival of course, is known to the governor, who has +unlimited rule. They appear before him, and bowed themselves before him, +as was predicted by Joseph's dreams. But clothed in the vesture of +princes, with a gold chain around his neck, and surrounded by the pomp of +power, they did not know him, while he knows them. He speaks to them, +through an interpreter, harshly and proudly, accuses them of being spies, +obtains all the information he wanted, and learns that his father and +Benjamin are alive. He even imprisons them for three days. He releases +them on the condition that they verify their statement; as a proof of +which, he demands the appearance of Benjamin himself. + +(M88) They return to Canaan with their sacks filled with corn, and the +money which they had brought to purchase it, secretly restored, leaving +Simeon as surety for the appearance of Benjamin. To this Jacob will not +assent. But starvation drives them again to Egypt, the next year, and +Jacob, reluctantly is compelled to allow Benjamin to go with them. The +unexpected feast which Joseph made for them, sitting himself at another +table--the greater portions given to Benjamin, the deception played upon +them by the secretion of Joseph's silver cup in Benjamin's sack, as if he +were a thief, the distress of all the sons of Jacob, the eloquent +pleadings of Judah, the restrained tears of Joseph, the discovery of +himself to them, the generosity of Pharaoh, the return of Jacob's children +laden not only with corn but presents, the final migration of the whole +family, to the land of Goshen, in the royal chariots, and the consummation +of Joseph's triumphs, and happiness of Jacob--all these facts and incidents +are told by Moses in the most fascinating and affecting narrative ever +penned by man. It is absolutely transcendent, showing not only the highest +dramatic skill, but revealing the Providence of God--that overruling power +which causes good to come from evil, which is the most impressive lesson +of all history, in every age. That single episode is worth more to +civilization than all the glories of ancient Egypt; nor is there anything +in the history of the ancient monarchies so valuable to all generations as +the record by Moses of the early relations between God and his chosen +people. And that is the reason why I propose to give them, in this work, +their proper place, even if it be not after the fashion with historians. +The supposed familiarity with Jewish history ought not to preclude the +narration of these great events, and the substitution for them of the less +important and obscure annals of the Pagans. + +(M89) Joseph remained the favored viceroy of Egypt until he died, having +the supreme satisfaction of seeing the prosperity of his father's house, +and their rapid increase in the land of Goshen, on the eastern frontier of +the Delta of the Nile,--a land favorable for herds and flocks. The capital +of this district was On--afterward Heliopolis, the sacred City of the Sun, +a place with which Joseph was especially connected by his marriage with +the daughter of the high priest of On. Separated from the Egyptians by +their position as shepherds, the children of Jacob retained their +patriarchal constitution. In 215 years, they became exceedingly numerous, +but were doomed, on the change of dynasty which placed Ramesis on the +throne, to oppressive labors. Joseph died at the age of 110--eighty years +after he had become governor of Egypt. In his latter years the change in +the Egyptian dynasty took place. The oppression of his people lasted +eighty years; and this was consummated by the cruel edict which doomed to +death the infants of Israel; made, probably, in fear and jealousy from the +rapid increase of the Israelites. The great crimes of our world, it would +seem, are instigated by these passions, rather than hatred and malignity, +like the massacre of St. Bartholomew and the atrocities of the French +Revolution. + +(M90) But a deliverer was raised up by God in the person of Moses, the +greatest man in human annals, when we consider his marvelous intellectual +gifts, his great work of legislation, his heroic qualities, his moral +excellence, and his executive talents. His genius is more powerfully +stamped upon civilization than that of any other one man--not merely on the +Jews, but even Christian nations. He was born B.C. 1571, sixty-four years +after the death of Joseph. Hidden in his birth, to escape the sanguinary +decree of Pharaoh he was adopted by the daughter of the king, and taught +by the priests in all the learning of the Egyptians. He was also a great +warrior, and gained great victories over the Ethiopians. But seeing the +afflictions of his brethren, he preferred to share their lot than enjoy +all the advantages of his elevated rank in the palace of the king--an act +of self-renunciation unparalleled in history. Seeing an Egyptian smite a +Hebrew, he slew him in a burst of indignation, and was compelled to fly. +He fled to Jethro, an Arab chieftain, among the Midianites. He was now +forty years of age, in the prime of his life, and in the full maturity of +his powers. The next forty years were devoted to a life of contemplation, +the best preparation for his future duties. In the most secret places of +the wilderness of Sinai, at Horeb, he communed with God, who appeared in +the burning bush, and revealed the magnificent mission which he was +destined to fulfill. He was called to deliver his brethren from bondage; +but forty years of quiet contemplation, while tending the flocks of +Jethro, whose daughter he married, had made him timid and modest. God +renewed the covenant made to Abraham and Jacob, and Moses returned to +Egypt to fulfill his mission. He joined himself with Aaron, his brother, +and the two went and gathered together all the elders of the children of +Israel, and after securing their confidence by signs and wonders, revealed +their mission. + +(M91) They then went to Pharaoh, a new king, and entreated of him +permission to allow the people of Israel to go into the wilderness and +hold a feast in obedience to the command of God. But Pharaoh said, who is +the Lord that I should obey his voice. I know not the Lord--_your God_. The +result was, the anger of the king and the increased burdens of the +Israelites, which tended to make them indifferent to the voice of Moses, +from the excess of their anguish. + +(M92) Then followed the ten plagues which afflicted the Egyptians, and the +obstinacy of the monarch, resolved to suffer any evil rather than permit +the Israelites to go free. But the last plague was greater than the king +could bear--the destruction of all the first-born in his land--and he +hastily summoned Moses and Aaron in the night, under the impulse of a +mighty fear, and bade them to depart with all their hosts and all their +possessions. The Egyptians seconded the command, anxious to be relieved +from further evils, and the Israelites, after spoiling the Egyptians, +departed in the night--"a night to be much observed" for all generations, +marching by the line of the ancient canal from Rameses, not far from +Heliopolis, toward the southern frontier of Palestine. But Moses, +instructed not to conduct his people at once to a conflict with the +warlike inhabitants of Canaan, for which they were unprepared, having just +issued from slavery, brought them round by a sudden turn to the south and +east, upon an arm or gulf of the Red Sea. To the eyes of the Egyptians, +who repented that they had suffered them to depart, and who now pursued +them with a great army, they were caught in a trap. Their miraculous +deliverance, one of the great events of their history, and the ruin of the +Egyptian hosts, and their three months' march and countermarch in the +wilderness need not be enlarged upon. + +(M93) The exodus took place 430 years from the call of Abraham, after a +sojourn in Egypt of 215 years, the greater part of which had been passed +in abject slavery and misery. There were 600,000 men, besides women and +children and strangers. + +(M94) It was during their various wanderings in the wilderness of +Sinai--forty years of discipline--that Moses gave to the Hebrews the rules +they were to observe during all their generations, until a new +dispensation should come. These form that great system of original +jurisprudence that has entered, more or less, into the codes of all +nations, and by which the genius of the lawgiver is especially manifested; +although it is not to be forgotten he framed his laws by divine direction. + +Let us examine briefly the nature and character of these laws. They have +been ably expounded by Bishop Warburton, Prof. Wines and others. + +(M95) The great fundamental principle of the Jewish code was to establish +the doctrine of the unity of God. Idolatry had crept into the religious +system of all the other nations of the world, and a degrading polytheism +was everywhere prevalent. The Israelites had not probably escaped the +contagion of bad example, and the suggestions of evil powers. The most +necessary truth to impress upon the nation was the God of Abraham, and +Isaac, and Jacob. Jehovah was made the supreme head of the Jewish state, +whom the Hebrews were required, first and last, to recognize, and whose +laws they were required to obey. And this right to give laws to the +Hebrews was deduced, not only because he was the supreme creator and +preserver, but because he had also signally and especially laid the +foundation of the state by signs and miracles. He had spoken to the +patriarchs, he had brought them into the land of Egypt, he had delivered +them when oppressed. Hence, they were to have no other gods than this God +of Abraham--this supreme, personal, benevolent God. The violation of this +fundamental law was to be attended with the severest penalties. Hence +Moses institutes the worship of the Supreme Deity. It was indeed +ritualistic, and blended with sacrifices and ceremonies; but the idea--the +spiritual idea of God as the supreme object of all obedience and faith, +was impressed first of all upon the minds of the Israelites, and engraven +on the tables of stone--"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." + +Having established the idea and the worship of God, Moses then instituted +the various rites of the service, and laid down the principles of civil +government, as the dictation of this Supreme Deity, under whose supreme +guidance they were to be ruled. + +(M96) But before the details of the laws were given to guide the +Israelites in their civil polity, or to regulate the worship of Jehovah, +Moses, it would seem, first spake the word of God, amid the thunders and +lightnings of Sinai, to the assembled people, and delivered the ten +fundamental commandments which were to bind them and all succeeding +generations. Whether these were those which were afterward written on the +two tables of stone, or not, we do not know. We know only that these great +obligations were declared soon after the Israelites had encamped around +Sinai, and to the whole people orally. + +And, with these, God directed Moses more particularly to declare also the +laws relating to man-servants, and to manslaughter, to injury to women, to +stealing, to damage, to the treatment of strangers, to usury, to slander, +to the observance of the Sabbath, to the reverence due to magistrates, and +sundry other things, which seem to be included in the ten commandments. + +(M97) After this, if we rightly interpret the book of Exodus, Moses went +up into the mountain of Sinai, and there abode forty days and forty +nights, receiving the commandments of God. Then followed the directions +respecting the ark, and the tabernacle, and the mercy-seat, and the +cherubim. And then were ordained the priesthood of Aaron and his +vestments, and the garments for Aaron's sons, and the ceremonies which +pertained to the consecration of priests, and the altar of incense, and +the brazen laver. + +(M98) After renewed injunctions to observe the Sabbath, Moses received of +the Lord the two tables of stone, "written with the finger of God." But as +he descended the mountain with these tables, after forty days, and came +near the camp, he perceived the golden calf which Aaron had made of the +Egyptian ear-rings and jewelry,--made to please the murmuring people, so +soon did they forget the true God who brought them out of Egypt. And Moses +in anger, cast down the tables and brake them, and destroyed the calf, and +caused the slaughter of three thousand of the people by the hands of the +children of Levi. + +(M99) But God forgave the iniquity and renewed the tables, and made a new +covenant with Moses, enjoining upon him the utter destruction of the +Canaanites, and the complete extirpation of idolatry. He again gathered +together the people of Israel, and renewed the injunction to observe the +Sabbath, and then prepared for the building of the tabernacle, as the Lord +directed, and also for the making of the sacred vessels and holy garments, +and the various ritualistic form of worship. He then established the +sacrificial rites, consecrated Aaron and his sons as priests, laid down +the law for them in their sacred functions, and made other divers laws for +the nation, in their social and political relations. + +(M100) The substance of these civil laws was the political equality of the +people; the distribution of the public domains among the free citizens +which were to remain inalienable and perpetual in the families to which +they were given, thus making absolute poverty or overgrown riches +impossible; the establishment of a year of jubilee, once every fifty +years, when there should be a release of all servitude, and all debts, and +all the social inequalities which half a century produced; a magistracy +chosen by the people, and its responsibility to the people; a speedy and +impartial administration of justice; the absence of a standing army and +the prohibition of cavalry, thus indicating a peaceful policy, and the +preservation of political equality; the establishment of agriculture as +the basis of national prosperity; universal industry, inviolability of +private property, and the sacredness of family relations. These were +fundamental principles. Moses also renewed the Noahmic ideas of the +sacredness of human life. He further instituted rules for the education of +the people, that "sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, and +daughters as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace." +Such were the elemental ideas of the Hebrew commonwealth, which have +entered, more or less, into all Christian civilizations. I can not enter +upon a minute detail of these primary laws. Each of the tribes formed a +separate state, and had a local administration of justice, but all alike +recognized the theocracy as the supreme and organic law. To the tribe of +Levi were assigned the duties of the priesthood, and the general oversight +of education and the laws. The members of this favored tribe were thus +priests, lawyers, teachers, and popular orators--a literary aristocracy +devoted to the cultivation of the sciences. The chief magistrate of the +united tribes was not prescribed, but Moses remained the highest +magistrate until his death, when the command was given to Joshua. Both +Moses and Joshua convened the states general, presided over their +deliberations, commanded the army, and decided all appeals in civil +questions. The office of chief magistrate was elective, and was held for +life, no salary was attached to it, no revenues were appropriated to it, +no tribute was raised for it. The chief ruler had no outward badges of +authority; he did not wear a diadem; he was not surrounded with a court. +His power was great as commander of the armies and president of the +assemblies, but he did not make laws or impose taxes. He was assisted by a +body of seventy elders--a council or senate, whose decisions, however, were +submitted to the congregation, or general body of citizens, for +confirmation. These senators were elected; the office was not hereditary; +neither was a salary attached to it. + +(M101) The great congregation--or assembly of the people, in which lay the +supreme power, so far as any human power could be supreme in a +theocracy,--was probably a delegated body chosen by the people in their +tribes. They were representatives of the people, acting for the general +good, without receiving instructions from their constituents. It was +impossible for the elders, or for Moses, to address two million of people. +They spoke to a select assembly. It was this assembly which made or +ratified the laws, and which the executioner carried out into execution. + +(M102) The oracle of Jehovah formed an essential part of the constitution, +since it was God who ruled the nation. The oracle, in the form of a pillar +of cloud, directed the wanderings of the people in the wilderness. This +appeared amid the thunders of Sinai. This oracle decided all final +questions and difficult points of justice. It could not be interrogated by +private persons, only by the High Priest himself, clad in his pontifical +vestments, and with the sacred insignia of his office, by "urim and +thummim." Within the most sacred recesses of the tabernacle, in the Holy +of Holies, the Deity made known his will to the most sacred personage of +the nation, in order that no rash resolution of the people, or senate, or +judge might be executed. And this response, given in an audible voice, was +final and supreme, and not like the Grecian oracles, venal and mendacious. +This oracle of the Hebrew God "was a wise provision to preserve a +continual sense of the principal design of their constitution--to keep the +Hebrews from idolatry, and to the worship of the only true God as their +immediate protector; and that their security and prosperity rested upon +adhering to his counsels and commands." + +(M103) The designation and institution of high priest belonged not to the +council of priests--although he was of the tribe of Levi, but to the +Senate, and received the confirmation of the people through their +deputies. "But the priests belonged to the tribe of Levi, which was set +apart to God--the king of the commonwealth." "They were thus, not merely a +sacerdotal body, appointed to the service of the altar, but also a +temporal magistracy having important civil and political functions, +especially to teach the people the laws." The high priest, as head of the +hierarchy, and supreme interpreter of the laws, had his seat in the +capital of the nation, while the priests of his tribe were scattered among +the other tribes, and were hereditary. The Hebrew priests simply +interpreted the laws; the priests of Egypt made them. Their power was +chiefly judicial. They had no means of usurpation, neither from property, +nor military command. They were simply the expositors of laws which they +did not make, which they could not change, and which they themselves were +bound to obey. The income of a Levite was about five times as great as an +ordinary man, and this, of course, was derived from the tithes. But a +greater part of the soil paid no tithes. The taxes to the leading class, +as the Levites were, can not be called ruinous when compared with what the +Egyptian priesthood received, especially when we remember that all the +expenses connected with sacrifice and worship were taken from the tithes. +The treasures which flowed into the sacerdotal treasury belonged to the +Lord, and of these the priests were trustees rather than possessors. + +(M104) Such, in general terms, briefly presented, was the Hebrew +constitution framed by Moses, by the direction of God. It was eminently +republican in spirit, and the power of the people through their +representatives, was great and controlling. The rights of property were +most sacredly guarded, and crime was severely and rigidly punished. Every +citizen was eligible to the highest offices. That the people were the +source of all power is proven by their voluntary change of government, +against the advice of Samuel, against the oracle, and against the council +of elders. We look in vain to the ancient constitutions of Greece and Rome +for the wisdom we see in the Mosaic code. Under no ancient government were +men so free or the laws so just. It is not easy to say how much the +Puritans derived from the Hebrew constitution in erecting their new +empire, but in many aspects there is a striking resemblance between the +republican organization of New England and the Jewish commonwealth. + +The Mosaic code was framed in the first year after the exodus, while the +Israelites were encamped near Sinai. When the Tabernacle was erected, the +camp was broken up, and the wandering in the desert recommenced. This was +continued for forty years--not as a punishment, but as a discipline, to +enable the Jews to become indoctrinated into the principles of their +constitution, and to gain strength and organization, so as more +successfully to contend with the people they were commanded to expel from +Canaan. In this wilderness they had few enemies, and some friends, and +these were wandering Arab tribes. + +(M105) We can not point out all the details of the wanderings under the +leadership of Moses, guided by the pillar of fire and the cloud. After +forty years, they reached the broad valley which runs from the eastern +gulf of the Red Sea, along the foot of Mount Seir, to the valley of the +Dead Sea. Diverted from a direct entrance into Canaan by hostile Edomites, +they marched to the hilly country to the east of Jordan, inhabited by the +Amorites. In a conflict with this nation, they gained possession of their +whole territory, from Mount Hermon to the river Anton, which runs into the +Dead Sea. The hills south of this river were inhabited by pastoral +Moabites--descendants of Lot, and beyond them to the Great Desert were the +Ammonites, also descendants of Lot. That nation formed an alliance with +the Midianites, hoping to expel the invaders then encamped on the plains +of Moab. Here Moses delivered his farewell instructions, appointed his +successor, and passed away on Mount Pisgah, from which he could see the +promised land, but which he was not permitted to conquer. That task was +reserved for Joshua, but the complete conquest of the Canaanites did not +take place till the reign of David. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF DAVID. + + +The only survivors of the generation that had escaped from Egypt were +Caleb and Joshua. All the rest had offended God by murmurings, rebellion, +idolatries, and sundry offenses, by which they were not deemed worthy to +enter the promised land. Even Moses and Aaron had sinned against the Lord. + +(M106) So after forty years' wanderings, and the children of Israel were +encamped on the plains of Moab, Moses finally addressed them, forbidding +all intercourse with Jews with other nations, enjoining obedience to God, +requiring the utter extirpation of idolatry, and rehearsing in general, +the laws which he had previously given them, and which form the substance +of the Jewish code, all of which he also committed to writing, and then +ascended to the top of Pisgah, over against Jericho, from which he +surveyed, all the land of Judah and Napthali, and Manasseh and Gilead unto +Dan--the greater part of the land promised unto Abraham. He then died, at +the age of 120, B.C. 1451 and no man knew the place of his burial. + +(M107) The Lord then encouraged Joshua his successor, and the conquest of +the country began--by the passage over the Jordan and the fall of Jericho. +The manna, with which the Israelites for forty years had been miraculously +fed, now was no longer to be had, and supplies of food were obtained from +the enemy's country. None of the inhabitants of Jericho were spared except +Rahab the harlot, and her father's household, in reward for her secretion +of the spy which Joshua had sent into the city. At the city of Ai, the +three thousand men sent to take it were repulsed, in punishment for the +sin of Achan, who had taken at the spoil of Jericho, a Babylonian garment +and three hundred sheckels of silver and a wedge of gold. After he had +expiated this crime, the city of Ai was taken, and all its inhabitants +were put to death. The spoil of the city was reserved for the nation. + +(M108) The fall of these two cities alarmed the Hamite nations of +Palestine west of the Jordan, and five kings of the Amorites entered into +a confederation to resist the invaders. The Gibeonites made a separate +peace with the Israelites. Their lives were consequently spared, but they +were made slaves forever. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy that Canaan +should serve Shem. + +Meantime the confederate kings--more incensed with the Gibeonites than with +the Israelites, since they were traitors to the general cause, marched +against Gibeon, one of the strongest cities of the land. It invoked the +aid of Joshua, who came up from Gilgal, and a great battle was fought, and +resulted in the total discomfiture of the five Canaanite kings. The cities +of Makkedah, Libnah, Gizu, Eglon, Hebron, successively fell into the hands +of Joshua, as the result of their victory. + +(M109) The following year a confederation of the Northern kings, a vast +host with horses and chariots, was arrayed against the Israelites; but the +forces of the Canaanites were defeated at the "Waters of Merom," a small +lake, formerly the Upper Jordan. This victory was followed by the fall of +Hazor, and the conquest of the whole land from Mount Halak to the Valley +of Lebanon. Thirty-one kings were smitten "in the mountains, in the +plains, in the wilderness, in the south country: the Hittites, the +Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites." +There only remained the Philistines, whose power was formidable. The +conquered country was divided among the different tribes, half of which +were settled on the west of Jordan. The tabernacle was now removed to +Shiloh, in the central hill country between Jordan and the Mediterranean, +which had been assigned, to the tribe of Ephraim. Jacob had prophetically +declared the ultimate settlements of the twelve tribes in the various +sections of the conquered country. The pre-eminence was given to Judah, +whose territory was the most considerable, including Jerusalem, the future +capital, then in the hands of the Jebusites. The hilly country first fell +into the hands of the invaders, while the low lands were held tenaciously +by the old inhabitants where their cavalry and war chariots were of most +avail. + +(M110) The Israelites then entered, by conquest, into a fruitful land, +well irrigated, whose material civilization was already established, with +orchards and vineyards, and a cultivated face of nature, with strong +cities and fortifications. + +(M111) Joshua, the great captain of the nation, died about the year 1426 +B.C., and Shechem, the old abode of Abraham and Jacob, remained the chief +city until the fall of Jerusalem. Here the bones of Joseph were deposited, +with those of his ancestors. + +(M112) The nation was ruled by Judges from the death of Joshua for about +330 years--a period of turbulence and of conquest. The theocracy was in +full force, administered by the high priests and the council of elders. +The people, however, were not perfectly cured of the sin of idolatry, and +paid religious veneration to the gods of Phoenicia and Moab. The tribes +enjoyed a virtual independence, and central authority was weak. In +consequence, there were frequent dissensions and jealousies and +encroachments. + +(M113) The most powerful external enemies of this period were the kings of +Mesopotamia, of Moab, and of Hazor, the Midianites, the Amalekites, the +Ammonites, and the Philistines. The great heroes of the Israelites in +their contests with these people were Othnie, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, +Jepthna, and Samson. After the victories of Gideon over the Midianites, +and of Jepthna over the Ammonites, the northern and eastern tribes enjoyed +comparative repose, and when tranquillity was restored Eli seems to have +exercised the office of high priest with extraordinary dignity, but his +sons were a disgrace and scandal, whose profligacy led the way to the +temporary subjection of the Israelites for forty years to the Philistines, +who obtained possession of the sacred ark. + +(M114) A deliverer of the country was raised up in the person of Samuel, +the prophet, who obtained an ascendancy over the nation by his purity and +moral wisdom. He founded the "School of the Prophets" in Kamah, and to him +the people came for advice. He seems to have exercised the office of +judge. Under his guidance the Israelites recovered their sacred ark, which +the Philistines, grievously tormented by God, sent back in an impulse of +superstitious fear. Moreover, these people were so completely overthrown +by the Israelites that they troubled them no longer for many years. + +(M115) Samuel, when old, made his sons judges, but their rule was venal +and corrupt. In disgust, the people of Israel then desired a king. Samuel +warned them of the consequences of such a step, and foretold the +oppression to which they would be necessarily subject; but they were bent +on having a king, like other nations--a man who should lead them on to +conquest and dominion. Samuel then, by divine command, granted their +request, and selected Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, as a fit captain to +lead the people against the Philistines--the most powerful foe which had +afflicted Israel. + +(M116) After he had anointed the future king he assembled the whole nation +together, through their deputies, at Mizpeh, who confirmed the divine +appointment. Saul, who appeared reluctant to accept the high dignity, was +fair and tall, and noble in appearance, patriotic, warlike, generous, +affectionate--the type of an ancient hero, but vacillating, jealous, moody, +and passionate. He was a man to make conquests, but not to elevate the +dignity of the nation. Samuel retired into private life, and Saul reigned +over the whole people. + +(M117) His first care was to select a chosen band of experienced warriors, +and there was need, for the Philistines gathered together a great army, +with 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and encamped at Michmash. The +Israelites, in view of this overwhelming force, hid themselves from fear, +in caves and amid the rocks of the mountain fastnesses. In their trouble +it was found necessary to offer burnt sacrifices; but Saul, impulsive and +assuming, would not wait to have the rites performed according to the +divine direction, but offered the sacrifices himself. By this act he +disobeyed the fundamental laws which Moses had given, violated, as it +were, the constitution; and, as a penalty for this foolish and rash act, +Samuel pronounced his future deposition; but God confounded, nevertheless, +the armies of the Philistines, and they were routed and scattered. Saul +then turned against the Amalekites, and took their king, whom he spared in +an impulse of generosity, even though he utterly destroyed his people. +Samuel reproved him for this leniency against the divine command, Saul +attempted to justify himself by the sacrifice of all the enemies' goods +and oxen, to which Samuel said, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt +sacrifices and offerings as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold! to +obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams; for +rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and +idolatry." Most memorable words! thus setting virtue and obedience over +all rites and ceremonies--a final answer to all ritualism and phariseeism. + +(M118) The remainder of the life of Saul was embittered by the +consciousness that the kingdom would depart from his house; and by his +jealousy of David, and his unmanly persecution of him; in whom he saw his +successor. He was slain, with three of his sons, at the battle of Gilboa, +when the Philistines gained a great victory--B.C. 1056. + +(M119) David, meanwhile had been secretly anointed by Samuel as king over +Israel. Nothing could exceed his grief when he heard of the death of Saul, +and of Jonathan, whom he loved, and who returned his love with a love +passing that of women, and who had protected him against the wrath and +enmity of his father. + +(M120) David, of the tribe of Judah, after his encounter with Goliath, was +the favorite of the people, and was rewarded by a marriage with the +daughter of Saul--Michal, who admired his gallantry and heroism. Saul too +had dissembled his jealousy, and heaped honors on the man he was +determined to destroy. By the aid of his wife, and of Jonathan, and +especially protected by God, the young warrior escaped all the snares laid +for his destruction, and even spared the life of Saul when he was in his +power in the cave of Engedi. He continued loyal to his king, patiently +waiting for his future exaltation. + +(M121) On the death of Saul, he was anointed king over Judah, at Hebron; +but the other tribes still adhered to the house of Saul. A civil war +ensued, during which Abner, the captain-general of the late king, was +treacherously murdered, and also Ishboseth, the feeble successor of Saul. +The war lasted seven and a half years, when all the tribes gave their +allegiance to David, who then fixed his seat at Jerusalem, which he had +wrested from the Jebusites, and his illustrious reign began, when he was +thirty years of age, B.C. 1048, after several years of adversity and +trial. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +THE JEWISH MONARCHY. + + +(M122) We can not enter upon a detail of the conquests of David, the +greatest warrior that his nation has produced. In successive campaigns, +extending over thirty years, he reduced the various Canaanite nations that +remained unconquered--the Amalekites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the +Edomites, and the Syrians of Tobah. Hiram, king of Tyre, was his ally. His +kingdom extended from the borders of Egypt to the Euphrates, and from the +valley of Coelo-Syria to the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. But his reign, if +glorious and successful, was marked by troubles. He was continually at +war; his kingdom was afflicted with a plague as the punishment for his +vanity in numbering the people; his son Amnon disgraced him; Absalom, his +favorite son, revolted and was slain; he himself was expelled for a time +from his capital. + +(M123) But David is memorable for his character, and his poetry, his +romantic vicissitudes of life, and as the founder of a dynasty rather than +for his conquests over the neighboring nations. His magnificent virtues +blended with faults; his piety in spite of his sins, his allegiance to +God, and his faith in his promises invest his character with singular +interest. In his Psalms he lives through all the generations of men. He +reigned thirty-three years at Jerusalem, and seven at Hebron, and +transmitted his throne to Solomon--his youngest child, a youth ten years of +age, precocious in wisdom and culture. + +(M124) The reign of Solomon is most distinguished for the magnificent +Temple he erected in Jerusalem, after the designs furnished by his father, +aided by the friendship of the Phoenicians. This edifice, "beautiful for +situation--the joy of the whole earth," was the wonder of those times, and +though small compared with subsequent Grecian temples, was probably more +profusely ornamented with gold, silver, and precious woods, than any +building of ancient times. We have no means of knowing its architectural +appearance, in the absence of all plans and all ruins, and much ingenuity +has been expended in conjectures, which are far from satisfactory. It most +probably resembled an Egyptian temple, modified by Phoenician artists. It +had an outer court for worshipers and their sacrifices, and an inner court +for the ark and the throne of Jehovah, into which the high priest alone +entered, and only once a year. It was erected upon a solid platform of +stone, having a resemblance to the temples of Paestum. The portico, as +rebuilt, in the time of Herod, was 180 feet high, and the temple itself +was entered by nine gates thickly coated with silver and gold. The inner +sanctuary was covered on all sides by plates of gold, and was dazzling to +the eye. It was connected with various courts and porticoes which gave to +it an imposing appearance. Its consecration by Solomon, amid the cloud of +glories in which Jehovah took possession of it, and the immense body of +musicians and singers, was probably the grandest religious service ever +performed. That 30,000 men were employed by Solomon, in hewing timber on +Mount Lebanon, and 70,000 more in hewing stones, would indicate a very +extensive and costly edifice. The stones which composed the foundation +were of extraordinary size, and rivaled the greatest works of the +Egyptians. The whole temple was overlaid with gold--a proof of its +extraordinary splendor, and it took seven years to build it. + +(M125) The palace of Solomon must also have been of great magnificence, on +which the resources of his kingdom were employed for thirteen years. He +moreover built a palace for his wife, the daughter of Pharaoh, composed of +costly stones, the foundation-stones of which were fifteen feet in length, +surrounded with beautiful columns. But these palaces did not include all +his works, for the courts of the temple were ornamented with brazen +pillars, with elaborate capitals, brazen seas standing upon bronze oxen, +brazen bases ornamented with figures of various animals, brazen layers, +one of which contained forty baths, altars of gold, tables, candelabras, +basins, censers and other sacred vessels of pure gold,--all of which +together were of enormous expense and great beauty. + +(M126) During the execution of these splendid works, which occupied +thirteen years or more, Solomon gave extraordinary indications of wisdom, +as well as signs of great temporal prosperity. His kingdom was the most +powerful of Western Asia, and he enjoyed peace with other nations. His +fame spread through the East, and the Queen of Sheba, among others, came +to visit him, and witness his wealth and prosperity. She was amazed and +astonished at the splendor of his life, the magnificence of his court, and +the brilliancy of his conversation, and she burst out in the most +unbounded panegyrics. "The half was not told me." She departed leaving a +present of one hundred and twenty talents of gold, besides spices and +precious stones; and he gave, in return, all she asked. We may judge of +the wealth of Solomon from the fact that in one year six hundred and +sixty-six talents of gold flowed into his treasury, besides the spices, +and the precious stones, and ivory, and rare curiosities which were +brought to him from Arabia and India. The voyages of his ships occupied +three years, and it is supposed that they doubled the Cape of Good Hope. +All his banqueting cups and dishes were of pure gold, and "he exceeded all +the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom," who made their +contributions with royal munificence. In his army were 1,400 chariots and +12,000 horses, which it would seem were purchased in Egypt. + +(M127) Intoxicated by this splendor, and enervated by luxury, Solomon +forgot his higher duties, and yielded to the fascination of oriental +courts. In his harem were 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines, who +turned his heart to idolatry. In punishment for his apostasy, God declared +that his kingdom should be divided, and that his son should reign only +over the single tribe of Judah, which was spared him for the sake of his +father David. In his latter days he was disturbed in his delusions by +various adversaries who rose up against him--by Hadad, a prince of Edom, +and Rezon, king of Damascus, and Jeroboam, one of his principal officers, +who afterward became king of the ten revolted tribes. Solomon continued, +however, to reign over the united tribes for forty years, when he was +gathered to his fathers. + +(M128) The apostasy of Solomon is the most mournful fall recorded in +history, thereby showing that no intellectual power can rescue a man from +the indulgence of his passions and the sins of pride and vainglory. How +immeasurably superior to him in self-control was Marcus Aurelius, who had +the whole world at his feet! It was women who had estranged him from +allegiance to God--the princesses of idolatrous nations. Although no +mention is made of his repentance, the heart of the world will not accept +his final impenitence; and we infer from the book of Ecclesiastes, written +when all his delusions were dispelled--that sad and bitter and cynical +composition,--that he was at least finally persuaded that the fear of the +Lord constitutes the beginning and the end of all wisdom in this +probationary state. And we can not but feel that he who urged this wisdom +upon the young with so much reason and eloquence at last was made to feel +its power upon his own soul. + +(M129) The government of Solomon, nevertheless had proved arbitrary, and +his public works oppressive. The monarch whom he most resembled, in his +taste for magnificence, in the splendor of his reign, and in the vexations +and humiliations of his latter days, was Louis XIV. of France, who sowed +the seeds of future revolutions. So Solomon prepared the way for +rebellion, by his grievous exactions. Under his son Rehoboam, a vain and +frivolous, and obstinate young man, who ascended the throne B.C. 975, the +revolt took place. He would not listen to his father's councillors, and +increased rather than mitigated the burdens of the people. And this revolt +was successful: ten tribes joined the standard of Jeroboam, with 800,000 +fighting men. Judah remained faithful to Rehoboam, and the tribe of +Benjamin subsequently joined it, and from its geographical situation, it +remained nearly as powerful as the other tribes, having 500,000 fighting +men. But the area of territory was only quarter as large. + +(M130) The Jewish nation is now divided. The descendants of David reign at +Jerusalem; the usurper and rebel Jeroboam reigns over the ten tribes, at +Shechem. + +For the sake of clearness of representation we will first present the +fortunes of the legitimate kings who reigned over the tribe of Judah. + +(M131) Rehoboam reigned forty-one years at Jerusalem, but did evil in the +sight of the Lord. In the fifth year of his reign his capital was rifled +by the king of Egypt, who took away the treasures which Solomon had +accumulated. He was also at war with Jeroboam all his days. He was +succeeded by his son Abijam, whose reign was evil and unfortunate, during +which the country was afflicted with wars which lasted for ninety years +between Judah and Israel. But his reign was short, lasting only three +years, and he was succeeded by Asa, his son, an upright and warlike +prince, who removed the idols which his father had set up. He also formed +a league with Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, and, with a large bribe, induced +him to break with Baasha, king of Israel. His reign lasted forty years, +and he was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat, B.C. 954. Under this prince +the long wars between Judah and Israel terminated, probably on account of +the marriage of Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, with the daughter of Ahab, +king of Israel--an unfortunate alliance on moral, if not political grounds. +Jehoshaphat reigned thirty-five years, prosperously and virtuously, and +his ships visited Ophir for gold as in the time of Solomon, being in +alliance with the Phoenicians. His son Jehoram succeeded him, and reigned +eight years, but was disgraced by the idolatries which Ahab encouraged. It +was about this time that Elijah and Elisha were prophets of the Lord, +whose field of duties lay chiefly among the idolatrous people of the ten +tribes. During the reign of Jehoram, Edom revolted from Judah, and +succeeded in maintaining its independence, according to the predictions +made to Esau, that his posterity, after serving Israel, should finally +break their yoke. + +(M132) His son Ahaziah succeeded him at Jerusalem B.C. 885, but formed an +alliance with Jehoram, king of Israel, and after a brief and wicked reign +of one year, he was slain by Jehu, the great instrument of divine +vengeance on the idolaters. Of his numerous sons, the infant Joash alone +was spared by Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, who usurped +authority in the name of the infant king, until she was overthrown by the +high priest Jehoiada. The usurpations of this queen have furnished a +subject for one of the finest tragedies of Racine. Jehoiada restored the +temple worship, and instituted many other reforms, having supreme power, +like Dunstan over the Saxon kings, when they were ruled by priests. His +death left Judah under the dominion of the patriarchal rulers (the princes +of Judah), who opposed all reforms, and even slew the son of Jehoida, +Zechariah the prophet, between the altar and the temple. It would seem +that Joash ruled wisely and benignantly during the life of Jehoiada, by +whom he was influenced--a venerable old man of 130 years of age when he +died. After his death Joash gave occasion for reproach, by permitting or +commanding the assassination of Zechariah, who had reproved the people for +their sins, and his country was invaded by the Syrians under Hazaal, and +they sent the spoil of Jerusalem to Damascus. Joash reigned in all forty +years, and was assassinated by his servants. + +(M133) His son Amaziah succeeded him B.C. 839, and reigned twenty-nine +years. He was on the whole a good and able prince, and gained great +victories over the Edomites whom he attempted to reconquer. He punished +also the murderers of his father, and spared their sons, according to the +merciful provision of the laws of Moses. But he worshiped the gods of the +Edomites, and was filled with vainglory from his successes over them. It +was then he rashly challenged the king of Israel, who replied haughtily: +"The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, +saying, give thy daughter to my son to wife, and there passed by a wild +beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle." "So thou hast +smitten the Edomites, and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast. Abide now +at home; why shouldst thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldst fall, +even thou and Judah with thee." But Amaziah would not heed, and the two +kings encountered each other in battle, and Judah suffered a disastrous +defeat, and Joash, the king of Israel, came to Jerusalem and took all the +gold and silver and all the sacred vessels of the temple and the treasures +of the royal palace, and returned to Samaria. After this humiliation +Amaziah reigned, probably wisely, more than fifteen years, until falling +into evil courses, he was slain in a conspiracy, B.C. 810, and his son +Uzziah or Azariah, a boy of sixteen, was made king by the people of Judah. + +(M134) This monarch enjoyed a long and prosperous reign of fifty-two +years. He reorganized the army and refortified his capital. He conquered +the Philistines, and also the Arabs, on his borders: received tribute from +the Ammonites, and spread his name unto Egypt. During his reign the +kingdom of Judah and Benjamin had great prosperity and power. The army +numbered 307,500 men well equipped and armed, with military engines to +shoot arrows and stones from the towers and walls. He also built castles +in the desert, and digged wells for his troops stationed there. He +developed the resources of his country, and devoted himself especially to +the arts of agriculture and the cultivation of the vine, and the raising +of cattle. But he could not stand prosperity, and in his presumption, +attempted even to force himself in the sacred part of the temple to offer +sacrifices, which was permitted to the priests alone; for which violation +of the sacred laws of the realm, he was smitten with leprosy--the most +loathsome of all the diseases which afflict the East. As a leper, he +remained isolated the rest of his life, not even being permitted by the +laws to enter the precincts of the temple to worship, or administer his +kingdom. It was during his reign that the Assyrians laid Samaria under +contribution. + +(M135) He was succeeded by Jotham, his son, B.C. 758, who carried on his +father's reforms and wars, and was therefore prospered. It is worthy of +notice that the kings of Judah, who were good, and abstained from +idolatry, enjoyed great temporal prosperity. Jotham reigned sixteen years, +receiving tribute from the Ammonites, and was succeeded by Ahaz, who +walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and restored idolatrous and +superstitious rites. Besieged in Jerusalem by the forces of Rezin, king of +Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, and afflicted by the Edomites and +Philistines, he invoked the aid of Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, +offering him the treasure of the temple and his royal palace. The Assyrian +monarch responded, and took Damascus, and slew its king. Ahaz, in his +distress, yet sinned still more against the Lord by sacrificing to the +gods of Damascus whither he went to meet the Assyrian king. He died in the +year B.C. 726, after a reign of sixteen years, and Hezekiah, his son, +reigned in his stead. + +(M136) This prince was one of the best and greatest of the kings of Judah. +He carried his zeal against idolatry so far as to break in pieces the +brazen serpent of Moses, which had become an object of superstitious +homage. He proclaimed a solemn passover, which was held in Jerusalem with +extraordinary ceremony, and at which 2,000 bullocks and 17,000 sheep were +slaughtered. No such day of national jubilee had been seen since the reign +of Solomon. He cut down the groves in which idolatrous priests performed +their mysterious rites, and overthrew their altars throughout the land. +The temple was purified, and the courses of the priests were restored. +Under his encouragement the people brought in joyfully their tithes to the +priests and levites, and offerings for the temple. + +(M137) In all his reforms he was ably supported by Isaiah, the most +remarkable of all the prophets who flourished during the latter days of +the Hebrew monarchy. Under his direction he made war successfully against +the Philistines, and sought to recover the independence of Judah. In the +fourteenth year of his reign, Sennacherib invaded Palestine. Hezekiah +purchased his favor by a present of three hundred talents of silver and +thirty talents of gold, which stripped his palace and the temple of all +their treasure. But whether he neglected to pay further tribute or not, he +offended the king of Assyria, who marched upon Jerusalem, but was arrested +in his purpose by the miraculous destruction of his army, which caused him +to retreat with shame into his own country. After this his reign was +peaceful and splendid, and he accumulated treasures greater than had been +seen in Jerusalem since the time of Solomon. He also built cities, and +diverted the course of the river Gihar to the western side of his capital, +and made pools and conduits. It was in these years of prosperity that he +received the embassadors of the king of Babylon, and showed unto them his +riches, which led to his rebuke by Isaiah, and the prophecy of the future +captivity of his people. + +(M138) He was succeeded by his son, Manasseh, B.C. 698, who reigned +fifty-five years; but he did not follow out the policy of his father, or +imitate his virtues. He restored idolatry, and "worshiped all the hosts of +heaven," and built altars to them, as Ahab had done in Samaria. He was +also cruel and tyrannical, and shed much innocent blood; wherefore, for +these and other infamous sins, the Lord, through the mouth of the +prophets, declared that "he would wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish," +and would deliver the people into the hands of their enemies. + +(M139) His son, Amon, followed in the steps of his father, but after a +brief reign of two years, was killed by his servants, B.C. 639, and was +buried in the sepulchre of his family, in the garden of Uzza. + +(M140) Then followed the noble reign of Josiah--the last independent king +of Judah--whose piety and zeal in destroying idolatry, and great reforms, +have made him the most memorable of all the successors of David. He +repaired the temple, and utterly destroyed every vestige of idolatry, +assisted by the high priest Hilkiah, who seems to have been his prime +minister. He kept the great feast of the passover with more grandeur than +had ever been known, either in the days of the judges, or of the kings, +his ancestors; nor did any king ever equal him in his fidelity to the laws +of Moses. But notwithstanding all his piety and zeal, God was not to be +turned from chastising Judah for the sins of Manasseh, and the repeated +idolatries of his people; and all that Josiah could secure was a promise +from the Lord that the calamities of his country should not happen in his +day. + +(M141) In the thirty-first year of his reign, Necho, the king of Egypt, +made war against the king of Babylon, who had now established his empire +on the banks of the Euphrates, over the ruins of the old Assyrian +monarchy. Josiah rashly embarked in the contest, either with a view of +giving his aid to the king of Babylon, or to prevent the march of Necho, +which lay through the great plain of Esdraelon. Josiah, heedless of all +warnings, ventured in person against the Egyptian army, though in +disguise, and was slain by an arrow. His dead body was brought to +Jerusalem, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers; and all +Judah and Israel mourned for the loss of one of the greatest, and +certainly the best of their kings. + +The prophet Jeremiah pronounced his eulogy, and led the lamentations of +the people for this great calamity, B.C. 608. + +(M142) The people proclaimed one of his sons, Shallum, to be king, under +the name of Jehoahaz, but the Egyptian conqueror deposed him and set up +his brother Jehoiakim as a tributary vassal. He reigned ingloriously for +eleven years--an idolator and a tyrant. + +(M143) In his days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against him, +having driven the Egyptians out of Palestine. Jehoiakim made his +submission to the conqueror of Egypt, who now reigned over the whole +Assyrian empire, but did not escape captivity in Babylon, with many other +of the first men of the nation, including Daniel, and the spoil of +Jerusalem. He was restored to the throne, on promise of paying a large +tribute. He served the king of Babylon three years and then rebelled, +hoping to secure the assistance of Egypt. But he leaned on a broken reed. +A Chaldean army laid siege to Jerusalem, and Jehoiakim was killed in a +sally, B.C. 597. His son Jehoiachin had reigned only three months when +Nebuchadnezzar, a great general, came to carry on the siege in person. The +city fell, the king was carried into captivity, with 10,000 of his +subjects, among whom were Ezekiel and Mordecai, and only the poorer class +remained behind. Over these people Nebuchadnezzar set up Zedekiah, the +youngest son of Josiah, as tributary king. Yet even in this state of +degradation and humiliation the Jews, wrought upon by false prophets, +expected deliverance, against the solemn warnings of Jeremiah, who +remained at Jerusalem. Zedekiah, encouraged by the partial successes of +the Egyptians, rebelled, upon which the king of Babylon resolved upon the +complete conquest and utter ruin of the country. Jerusalem fell into his +hands, by assault, and was leveled with the ground, and the temple was +destroyed. Zedekiah, in attempting to escape, was taken, had his eyes put +out, and was carried captive to Babylon, together with the whole nation, +and the country was reduced to utter desolation. It was not, however, +repeopled by heathen settlers, as was Samaria. The small remnant that +remained, under the guidance of Jeremiah, recovered some civil rights, and +supported themselves by the cultivation of the land, and in their bitter +misery learned those lessons which prepared them for a renewed prosperity +after the seventy years captivity. Never afterward was idolatry practiced +by the Jews. But no nation was ever more signally humiliated and +prostrated. Can we hence wonder at the mournful strains of Jeremiah, or +the bitter tears which the captive Jews, now slaves, shed by the rivers of +Babylon when they remembered the old prosperity of Zion. + +(M144) The Jewish monarchy ended by the capture of Zedekiah. The kingdom +of the ten tribes had already fallen to the same foes, and even more +disastrously, because the kings of Israel were uniformly wicked, without a +single exception, and were hopelessly sunk into idolatry; whereas the +kings of Judah were good as well as evil, and some of them were +illustrious for virtues and talents. The descendants of David reigned in +Jerusalem in an unbroken dynasty for more than 500 years, while the +monarchs of Samaria were a succession of usurpers. The degenerate kings +were frequently succeeded by the captains of their guards, who in turn +gave way for other usurpers, all of whom were bad. The dynasty of David +was uninterrupted to the captivity of the nation. And the kingdom of Judah +was also more powerful and prosperous than that of the ten tribes, in +spite of their superior numbers. + +(M145) But it is time to consider these ten tribes which revolted under +Jeroboam. Their history is uninteresting, and, were it not for the +beautiful episodes which relate to the prophets who were sent to reclaim +the people from idolatry, would be without significance other than that +which is drawn from the lives of wicked and idolatrous kings. + +(M146) Jeroboam commenced his reign B.C. 975, by setting up for worship +two golden calves in Bethel and Dan, and thus inaugurated idolatry: for +which his dynasty was short. His son Nadah was murdered in a military +revolution, B.C. 953, and the usurper of his throne, Baasha, destroyed his +whole house. He, too, was a wicked prince, and his son Elah was slain by +Zimri, captain of his guard, who now reigned over Israel, after +exterminating the whole family of Elah, but was in his turn assassinated +after a reign of seven years, B.C. 929. Omri, the captain of the guard, +was now raised by the voice of the people to the throne; but he had a +rival in Tibni, whom he succeeded in conquering. Omri reigned twelve +years, and bought the hill of Samaria, on which he built the capital of +his kingdom. But he exceeded all his predecessors in iniquity, and was +succeeded by his son Ahab, who reigned twenty-two years. He was the most +infamous of all the kings of Israel, both for cruelty and idolatry, and +his queen, Jezebel, was also unique in crime--the Messalina and Fredigonde +of her age. It was through her influence that the worship of Baal became +the established religion, thus showing that the general influence of woman +on man is evil whenever she is not Christian. And this is perhaps the +reason that the ancients represented women as worse than men. + +(M147) It was during the reign of this wicked king that God raised up the +greatest of the ancient prophets--Elijah, and sent him to Ahab with the +stern intelligence that there should be no rain until the prophet himself +should invoke it. After three years of grievous famine, during which he +sought to destroy the man who prophesied so much evil, but who was +miraculously fed in his flight by the ravens, Ahab allowed Elijah to do +his will. + +(M148) Thereupon he caused the king to assemble together the whole people +of Israel, through their representatives, upon Mount Carmel, together with +the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, and the four hundred false +prophets of the grove, whom Jezebel supported. He then invoked the people, +who, it seems, vacillated in their opinions in respect to Jehovah and +Baal, to choose finally, of these two deities, the God whom they _would_ +worship. Having discomfited the priests of Baal in the trial of +sacrifices, and mocked them with the fiercest irony, thereby showing to +the people how they had been imposed upon, Elijah incited them to the +slaughter of these false prophets and foreign priests, and then set up an +altar to the true God. But all the people had not fallen into idolatry; +there still had remained seven thousand who had not bowed unto Baal. + +(M149) Rain descended almost immediately, and Ahab departed, and told +Jezebel what had transpired. Hereupon, she was transported with rage and +fury, and sought the life of the prophet. He again escaped, and by divine +command went to the wilderness of Damascus and anointed Hazael to be king +over Syria, and Jehu to be king over Israel, and Elisha to be his +successor as prophet. + +(M150) Soon after this, Benhadad, the king of Syria, came from Damascus +with a vast army and thirty-two allied kings, to besiege Samaria. Defeated +in a battle with Ahab, the king of Syria fled, but returned the following +year with a still larger army for the conquest of Samaria. But he was +again defeated, with the loss of one hundred thousand men in a single day, +and sought to make peace with the king of Israel. Ahab made a treaty with +him, instead of taking his life, for which the prophet of the Lord +predicted evil upon him and his people. But the anger of God was still +further increased by the slaughter of Naboth, through the wiles of +Jezebel, and the unjust possession of the vineyard which Ahab had coveted. +Elijah, after this outrage on all the fundamental laws of the Jews, met +the king for the last time, and pronounced a dreadful penalty--that his own +royal blood should be licked up by dogs in the very place where Naboth was +slain, and that his posterity should be cut off from reigning over Israel; +also, that his wicked queen should be eaten by dogs. + +(M151) In three years after, while attempting to recover Ramoth, in +Gilead, from Benhadad, he lost his life, and was brought in his chariot to +Samaria to be buried. And the dogs came and licked the blood from the +chariot where it was washed. He was succeeded by Ahaziah, his son, B.C. +913, who renewed the worship of Baal, and died after a short and +inglorious reign, B.C. 896, without leaving any son, and Jehoram, his +brother, succeeded him. In reference to this king the Scripture accounts +are obscure, and he is sometimes confounded with Jehoram, the son of +Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, who married a daughter of Ahab. This accounts +for the alliance between Jehoshaphat and Ahab, and also between the two +Jehorams, since they were brothers-in-law, which brought to an end the +long wars of seventy years, which had wasted both Israel and Judah. + +Jehoram did evil in the sight of the Lord, but was not disgraced by +idolatry. In his reign the Moabites, who paid a tribute of one hundred +thousand sheep and one hundred thousand lambs, revolted. Jehoram, assisted +by the kings of Judah, and of Edom, marched against them, and routed them, +and destroyed their cities, and filled up their wells, and felled all +their good trees, and covered their good land with stones. + +(M152) Meanwhile, it happened that there was a grievous famine in Samaria, +so that an ass's head sold for eighty pieces of silver. Benhadad, in this +time of national distress, came with mighty host and besieged the city; +but in the night, in his camp was heard a mighty sound of chariots and +horses, and a panic ensued, and the Syrians fled, leaving every thing +behind them. The spoil of their camp furnished the starving Samaritans +with food. + +(M153) After this, Jehoram was engaged in war with the Syrians, now ruled +by Hazael, one of the generals of Benhadad, who had murdered his master. +In this war, Jehoram, or Joram, was wounded, and went to be healed of his +wounds at Jezreel, where he was visited by his kinsman, Ahaziah, who had +succeeded to the throne of Judah. While he lay sick in this place, Jehu, +one of his generals, conspired against him, and drew a bow against him, +and the arrow pierced him so that he died, and his body was cast into +Naboth's vineyard. Thus was the sin against Naboth again avenged. Jehu +prosecuted the work of vengeance assigned to him, and slew Ahaziah, the +king of Judah, also, and then caused Jezebel, the queen mother, to be +thrown from a window, and the dogs devoured her body. He then slew the +seventy sons of Ahab, and all his great men, and his kinsfolk, and his +priests, so that none remained of the house of Ahab, as Elijah had +predicted. His zeal did not stop here, but he collected together, by +artifice, all the priests of Baal, and smote them, and brake their images. + +(M154) But Jehu, now king of Israel, though he had destroyed the priests +of Baal, fell into the idolatry of Jehoram, and was therefore inflicted +with another invasion of the Syrians, who devastated his country, and +decimated his people. He died, after a reign of twenty-eight years, B.C. +856, and was succeeded by his son, Jehoahaz. + +(M155) This king also did evil in the sight of the Lord, so that he was +made subject to Hazael, king of Syria, all his days, who ground down and +oppressed Israel, as the prophet had predicted. He reigned seventeen +years, in sorrow and humiliation, and was succeeded by his son Johash, who +followed the wicked course of his predecessors. His reign lasted sixteen +years, during which Elisha died. There is nothing in the Scriptures more +impressive than the stern messages which this prophet, as well as Elijah, +sent to the kings of Israel, and the bold rebukes with which he reproached +them. Nor is anything more beautiful than those episodes which pertain to +the cure of Naaman, the Syrian, and the restoration to life of the son of +the Shunamite woman, in reward for her hospitality, and the interview with +Hazael before he became king. All his predictions came to pass. He seems +to have lived an isolated and ascetic life, though he had great influence +with the people and the king, like other prophets of the Lord. + +(M156) Jeroboam II. succeeded Johash, B.C. 825, and reigned successfully, +and received all the territory which the Syrians had gained, but he did +not depart from the idolatry of the golden calves. His son and successor, +Zachariah, followed his evil courses, and was slain by Shallum, after a +brief reign of six mouths, and the dynasty of Jehu came to an end, B.C. +772. + +(M157) Shallum was murdered one month afterward by Menahem, who reigned +ingloriously ten years. It was during his reign that Pul, king of Assyria, +invaded his territories, but was induced to retire for a sum of one +thousand talents of silver, which he exacted from his subjects. He was +succeeded by Pekaiah, a bad prince, who was assassinated at the end of two +years by Pekah, one of his captains, who seized his throne. During his +reign, which lasted twenty years, Tiglath-Pilaser, king of Assyria, made +war against him, by invitation of Ahaz, and took his principal cities, and +carried their inhabitants captive to Nineveh. He was assassinated by +Hosea, who reigned in his stead. He also was a bad prince, and became +subject to Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, who came up against him. In the +ninth year of his reign, having proved treacherous to Shalmanezer, the +king of Assyria besieged Samaria, and carried him captive to his own +capital. Thus ended the kingdom of the ten tribes, who were now carried +into captivity beyond the Euphrates, and who settled in the eastern +provinces of Assyria, and probably relapsed hopelessly into idolatry, +without ever revisiting their native laud. In all probability most of them +were absorbed among the nations which composed the Assyrian empire, B.C. +721. + +(M158) Nineteen sovereigns thus reigned over the children of Israel in +Samaria--a period of two hundred and fifty-four years; not one of them was +obedient to the laws of God, and most of whom perished by assassination, +or in battle. There is no record in history of more inglorious kings. +There was not a great man nor a good man among them all. They were, with +one or two exceptions, disgraced by the idolatry of Jeroboam, in whose +steps they followed. Nor was their kingdom ever raised to any considerable +height of political power. The history of the revolted and idolatrous +tribes is gloomy and disgraceful, only relieved by the stern lives of +Elijah and Elisha, the only men of note who remained true to the God of +their fathers, and who sought to turn the people from their sins. +"Whereupon the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of +his sight." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +THE OLD CHALDEAN AND ASSYRIAN MONARCHIES. + + +(M159) On a great plain, four hundred miles in length and one hundred +miles in width, forming the valley of the Euphrates, bounded on the north +by Mesopotamia, on the east by the Tigris, on the south by the Persian +Gulf, and on the west by the Syrian Desert, was established, at a very +early period, the Babylonian monarchy. This plain, or valley, contains +about twenty-three thousand square miles, equal to the Grecian +territories. It was destitute of all striking natural features--furnishing +an unbroken horizon. The only interruptions to the view on this level +plain were sand-hills and the embankments of the river. The river, like +the Nile, is subject to inundations, though less regular than the Nile, +and this, of course, deposits a rich alluvial soil. The climate in summer +is intensely hot, and in winter mild and genial. Wheat here is indigenous, +and the vine and other fruits abound in rich luxuriance. The land was as +rich as the valley of the Nile, and was favorable to flocks and herds. The +river was stocked with fish, and every means of an easy subsistence was +afforded. + +(M160) Into this goodly land a migration from Armenia--the primeval seat of +man--came at a period when history begins. Nimrod and his hunters then +gained an ascendency over the old settlers, and supplanted them--Cushites, +of the family of Ham, and not the descendants of Shem. The beginning of +the kingdom of Nimrod was Babel, a tower, or temple, modeled after the one +which was left unfinished, or was destroyed. This was erected, probably, +B.C. 2334. It was square, and arose with successive stories, each one +smaller than the one below, presenting an analogy to the pyramidical form. +The highest stage supported the sacred ark. The temple was built of burnt +brick. Thus the race of Ham led the way in the arts in Chaldea as in +Egypt, and soon fell into idolatry. We know nothing, with certainty, of +this ancient monarchy, which lasted, it is supposed, two hundred and +fifty-eight years, from B.C. 2234 to 1976. It was not established until +after the dispersion of the races. The dynasty of which Nimrod was the +founder came to an end during the early years of Abraham. + +(M161) The first king of the new dynasty is supposed to be Chedorlaomer, +though Josephus represents him as a general of the Chaldean king who +extended the Chaldean conquests to Palestine. His encounters with the +kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, and others in the vale of Siddim, tributary +princes, and his slaughter by Abraham's servants, are recounted in the +fourteenth chapter of Genesis, and put an end to Chaldean conquests beyond +the Syrian desert. From his alliance, however, with the Tidal, king of +nations; Amrapher, king of Shinar; and Arioch, king of Ellasar, we infer +that other races, besides the Hamite, composed the population of Chaldea, +of which the subjects of Chedorlaomer were pre-eminent. + +His empire was subverted by Arabs from the desert, B.C. 1518; and an +Arabian dynasty is supposed to have reigned for two hundred and forty-five +years. + +(M162) This came to an end in consequence of a grand irruption of +Assyrians--of Semitic origin. "Asshur (Gen. 10, 11), the son of Shem, built +Nineveh," which was on the Tigris. The name Assyria came to be extended to +the whole of Upper Mesopotamia, from the Euphrates to the Tagros +mountains. This country consisted of undulating pastures, diversified by +woodlands, and watered by streams running into the Tigris. Its valleys +were rich, its hills were beautiful, and its climate was cooler than the +Chaldean plain. + +(M163) It would seem from the traditions preserved by the Greeks, that +Nineveh was ruled by a viceroy of the Babylonian king. This corresponds +with the book of Genesis, which makes the dynasty Chaldean, while the +people were Semitic, since the kingdom of Asshur was derived from that of +Nimrod. "Ninus, the viceroy," says Smith, "having revolted from the king +of Babylon, overruns Armenia, Asia Minor, and the shores of the Euxine, as +far as Tanais, subdues the Medes and Persians, and makes war upon the +Bactrians. Semiramis, the wife of one of the chief nobles, coming to the +camp before Bactria, takes the city by a bold stroke. Her courage wins the +love of Ninus, and she becomes his wife. On his death she succeeds to the +throne, and undertakes the conquest of India, but is defeated." These two +sovereigns built Nineveh on a grand scale, as well as added to the +edifices of Babylon. + +This king was the founder of the northwest palace of Nineveh, three +hundred and sixty feet long and three hundred wide, standing on a raised +platform overlooking the Tigris, with a grand facade to the north fronting +the town, and another to the west commanding the river. It was built of +hewn stone, and its central hall was one hundred and twenty feet long and +ninety wide. The ceilings were of cedar brought from Lebanon. The walls +were paneled with slabs of marble ornamented with bas-reliefs. The floors +were paved with stone. (See Rawlinson's Herodotus.) + +(M164) All this is tradition, but recent discoveries in cuneiform +literature shed light upon it. From these, compared with the fragments of +Berosus, a priest of Babylon in the third century before Christ, and the +scattered notices of Scripture history, we infer that the dynasty which +Belus founded reigned more than five hundred years, from 1272 to 747 +before Christ. Of these kings, Sardanapalus, the most famous, added +Babylonia to the Assyrian empire, and built vast architectural works. He +employed three hundred and sixty thousand men in the construction of this +palace, some of whom were employed in making brick, and others in cutting +timber on Mount Hermon. It covered an area of eight acres. The palaces of +Nineveh were of great splendor, and the scenes portrayed on the walls, as +discovered by Mr. Layard, lately disinterred from the mounds of earth, +represent the king as of colossal stature, fighting battles, and clothed +with symbolic attributes. He appears as a great warrior, leading captives, +and storming cities, and also in the chase, piercing the lion, and +pursuing the wild ass. This monarch should not be confounded with the +Sardanapalus of the Greeks, the last of the preceding dynasty. His son, +Shalmanezer, was also a great prince, and added to the dominion of the +Assyrian empire. Distant nations paid tribute to him, the Phoenicians, the +Syrians, the Jews, and the Medians beyond the Tagros mountains. He +defeated Benhadad and routed Hazael. His reign ended, it is supposed, B.C. +850. Two other kings succeeded him, who extended their conquests to the +west, the last of whom is identified by Smith with Pul, the reigning +monarch when Jonah visited Nineveh, B.C. 770. + +The next dynasty commences with Tiglath-Pileser II., who carried on wars +against Babylon and Syria and Israel. This was in the time of Ahaz, B.C. +729. + +(M165) His son, Shalmanezer, made Hosea, king of Israel, his vassal, and +reduced the country of the ten tribes to a province of his empire, and +carried the people away into captivity. Hezekiah was also, for a time, his +vassal. He was succeeded by Sargon, B.C. 721, according to Smith, but 715 +B.C., according to others. He reigned, as Geseneus thinks, but two or +three years; but fifteen according to Rawlinson, and built that splendid +palace, the ruins of which, at Khorsabad, have supplied the Louvre with +its choicest remains of Assyrian antiquity. He was one of the greatest of +the Assyrian conquerors. He invaded Babylon and drove away its kings; he +defeated the Philistines, took Ashdod and Tyre, received tribute from the +Greeks at Cyprus, invaded even Egypt, whose king paid him tribute, and +conquered Media. + +(M166) His son, Sennacherib, who came to the throne, B.C. 702, is an +interesting historical personage, and under him the Assyrian empire +reached its culminating point. He added to the palace of Nineveh, and +built one which exceeded all that had existed before him. No monarch +surpassed this one in the magnificence of his buildings. He erected no +less than thirty temples, shining with silver and gold. One of the halls +of his palace was two hundred and twenty feet long, and one hundred and +one wide. He made use of Syrian, Greek, and Phoenician artists. It is from +the ruins of this palace at _Koyunjik_ that Mr. Layard made those valuable +discoveries which have enriched the British Museum. He subdued Babylonia, +Upper Mesopotamia, Syria, Phoenicia, Philistia, Idumaen, and a part of +Egypt, which, with Media, a part of Armenia, and the old Assyrian +territory, formed his vast empire--by far greater than the Egyptian +monarchy at any period. He chastised also the Jews for encouraging a +revolt among the Philistines, and carried away captive two hundred +thousand people, and only abstained from laying siege to Jerusalem by a +present from Hezekiah of three hundred talents of silver and thirty of +gold. The destruction of his host, as recorded by Scripture, is thought by +some to have occurred in a subsequent invasion of Judea, when it was in +alliance with Egypt. That "he returned to Nineveh and dwelt there" is +asserted by Scripture, but only to be assassinated by his sons, B.C. 680. + +His son Esar-Haddon succeeded him, a warlike monarch, who fought the +Egyptians, and colonized Samaria with Babylonian settlers. He also built +the palace of Nimrod, and cultivated art. + +(M167) The civilization of the Assyrians shows a laborious and patient +people. Its chief glory was in architecture. Sculpture was imitated from +nature, but had neither the grace nor the ideality of the Greeks. War was +the grand business of kings, and hunting their pleasure. The people were +ground down by the double tyranny of kings and priests. There is little of +interest in the Assyrian annals, and what little we know of their life and +manners is chiefly drawn by inductions from the monuments excavated by +Botta and Layard. The learned treatise of Rawlinson sheds a light on the +annals of the monarchy, which, before the discoveries of Layard, were +exceedingly obscure, and this treatise has been most judiciously abridged, +by Smith, whom I have followed. It would be interesting to consider the +mythology of the Assyrians, but it is too complicated for a work like +this. + +(M168) Under his successors, the empire rapidly declined. Though it +nominally included the whole of Western Asia, from the Mediterranean to +the desert of Iran, and from the Caspian Sea and the mountains of Armenia +to the Persian Gulf, it was wanting in unity. It embraced various +kingdoms, and cities, and tribes, which simply paid tribute, limited by +the power of the king to enforce it. The Assyrian armies, which committed +so great devastations, did not occupy the country they chastised, as the +Romans and Greeks did. Their conquests were like those of Tamerlane. As +the monarchs became effeminated, new powers sprung up, especially Media, +which ultimately completed the ruin of Assyria, under Cyaxares. The last +of the monarchs was probably the Sardanapalus of the Greeks. + +(M169) The decline of this great monarchy was so rapid and complete, that +even Nineveh, the capital city, was blotted out of existence. No traces of +it remained in the time of Herodotus, and it is only from recent +excavations that its site is known. Still, it must have been a great city. +The eastern wall of it, as it now appears from the excavations, is fifteen +thousand nine hundred feet (about three miles); but the city probably +included vast suburbs, with fortified towers, so as to have been equal to +four hundred and eighty stadias in circumference, or sixty miles--the three +days' journey of Jonah. It is supposed, with the suburbs, to have +contained five hundred thousand people. The palaces of the great were +large and magnificent; but the dwellings of the people were mean, built of +brick dried in the sun. The palaces consisted of a large number of +chambers around a central hall, open to the sky, since no pillars are +found necessary to support a roof. No traces of windows are found in the +walls, which were lined with slabs of coarse marble, with cuneiform +inscriptions. The facade of the palaces we know little about, except that +the entrances to them were lined by groups of colossal bulls. These are +sculptured with considerable spirit, but _art_, in the sense that the +Greeks understood it, did not exist. In the ordinary appliances of life +the Assyrians were probably on a par with the Egyptians; but they were +debased by savage passions and degrading superstitions. They have left +nothing for subsequent ages to use. Nothing which has contributed to +civilization remains of their existence. They have furnished no _models_ +of literature, art, or government. + +(M170) While Nineveh was rising to greatness, Babylon was under an +eclipse, and thus lasted six hundred and fifty years. It was in the year +1273 that this eclipse began. But a great change took place in the era of +Narbonassar, B.C. 747, when Babylon threatened to secure its independence, +and which subsequently compelled Esar-Haddon, the Assyrian monarch, to +assume, in his own person, the government of Babylon, B.C. 680. + +(M171) In 625 B.C. the old Chaldeans recovered their political importance, +probably by an alliance with the Medes, and Nabopolassar obtained +undisputed possession of Babylon, and founded a short but brilliant +dynasty. He obtained a share of the captives of Nineveh, and increased the +population of his capital. His son, Nebuchadnezzar, was sent as general +against the Egyptians, and defeated their king, Neko, reconquered all the +lands bordering on Egypt, and received the submission of Jehoiakim, of +Jerusalem. The death of Nabopolassar recalled his son to Babylon, and his +great reign began B.C. 604. + +(M172) It was he who enlarged the capital to so great an extent that he +may almost be said to have built it. It was in the form of a square, on +both banks of the Euphrates, forty-eight miles in circuit, according to +Herodotus, with an area of two hundred square miles--large enough to +support a considerable population by agriculture alone. The walls of this +city, if we accept the testimony of Herodotus, were three hundred and +fifty feet high, and eighty-seven feet thick, and were strengthened by two +hundred and fifty towers, and pierced with one hundred gates of brass. The +river was lined by quays, and the two parts of the city were united by a +stone bridge, at each end of which was a fortified palace. The greatest +work of the royal architect was the new palace, with the adjoining hanging +garden--a series of terraces to resemble hills, to please his Median queen. +This palace, with the garden, was eight miles in circumference, and +splendidly decorated with statues of men and animals. Here the mighty +monarch, after his great military expeditions, solaced himself, and +dreamed of omnipotence, until a sudden stroke of madness--that form which +causes a man to mistake himself for a brute animal--sent him from his +luxurious halls into the gardens he had planted. His madness lasted seven +years, and he died, after a reign of forty-three years, B.C. 561, and +Evil-Merodach, his son, reigned in his stead. + +(M173) He was put to death two years after, for lawlessness and +intemperance, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law and murderer, +Neriglissar. So rapid was the decline of the monarchy, that after a few +brief reigns Babylon was entered by the army of Cyrus, and the last king, +Bil-shar-utzur, or Bilshassar, associated with his father Nabonadius, was +slain, B.C. 538. Thus ended the Chaldean monarchy, seventeen hundred and +ninety-six years after the building of Babel by Nimrod, according to the +chronology it is most convenient to assume. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +THE EMPIRE OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS. + + +(M174) The third of the great Oriental monarchies brought in contact with +the Jews was that of the Medes and Persians, which arose on the +dissolution of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires. The nations we have +hitherto alluded to were either Hamite or Shemite. But our attention is +now directed to a different race, the descendants of Japhet. Madai, the +third son of Japhet, was the progenitor of the Medes, whose territory +extended from the Caspian Sea on the north, to the mountains of Persia on +the south, and from the highlands of Armenia and the chain of Tagros on +the west, to the great desert of Iran on the east. It comprised a great +variety of climate, and was intersected by mountains whose valleys were +fruitful in corn and fruits. "The finest part of the country is an +elevated region inclosed by the offshoots of the Armenian mountains, and +surrounding the basin of the great lake Urumizu, four thousand two hundred +feet above the sea, and the valleys of the ancient Mardus and the Araxes, +the northern boundary of the land. In this mountain region stands Tabris, +the delightful summer seat of the modern Persian shahs. The slopes of the +Tagros furnish excellent pasture; and here were reared the famous horses +which the ancients called Nisaean. The eastern districts are flat and +pestilential, where they sink down to the shores of the Caspian Sea; +rugged and sterile where they adjoin the desert of Iran." The people who +inhabited this country were hardy and bold, and were remarkable for their +horsemanship. They were the greatest warriors of the ancient world, until +the time of the Greeks. They were called Aryans by Herodotus. They had +spread over the highlands of Western Asia in the primeval ages, and formed +various tribes. The first notice of this Aryan (or Arian) race, appears in +the inscriptions on the black obelisk of Nimrod, B.C. 880, from which it +would appear that this was about the period of the immigration into Media, +and they were then exposed to the aggressions of the Assyrians. "The first +king who menaced their independence was the monarch whose victories are +recorded on the black obelisk in the British Museum." He made a raid into, +rather than a conquest of, the Median country. Sargon, the third monarch +of the Lower Empire, effected something like a conquest, and peopled the +cities which he founded with Jewish captives from Samaria, B.C. 710. Media +thus became the most eastern province of his empire, but the conquest of +it was doubtless incomplete. The Median princes paid tribute to the kings +of Nineveh, or withheld it, according to their circumstances. + +(M175) According to Ctesias, the Median monarchy commenced B.C. 875; but +Herodotus, with greater probable accuracy, places the beginning of it B.C. +708. The revolt of Media from Assyria was followed by the election of +Deioces, who reigned fifty-three years. The history of this king is drawn +through Grecian sources, and can not much be depended upon. According to +the legends, the seven tribes of the Medes, scattered over separate +villages, suffered all the evils of anarchy, till the reputation of +Deioces made him the arbiter of their disputes. He then retired into +private life; anarchy returned, a king was called for, and Deioces was +elected. He organized a despotic power, which had its central seat in +Ecbatana, which he made his capital, built upon a hill, on the summit of +which was the royal palace, where the king reigned in seclusion, +transacting all business through spies, informers, petitions, and decrees. +Such is the account which Rawlinson gives, and which Smith follows. + +(M176) The great Median kingdom really began with Cyaxares, about the year +B.C. 633, when the Assyrian empire was waning. He emerges from the +obscurity like Attila and Gengis Khan, and other eastern conquerors, at +the head of irresistible hordes, sweeps all away before him, and builds up +an enormous power. This period was distinguished by a great movement among +the Turanian races (Cimmerians), living north of the Danube, which, +according to Herodotus, made a great irruption into Asia Minor, where some +of the tribes effected a permanent settlement; while the Scythians, from +Central Asia, overran Media, crossed the Zagros mountains, entered +Mesopotamia, passed through Syria to Egypt, and held the dominion of +Western Asia, till expelled by Cyaxares. He only established his new +kingdom after a severe conflict between the Scythian and Aryan races, +which had hitherto shared the possession of the tablelands of Media. + +(M177) From age to age the Turanian races have pressed forward to occupy +the South, and it was one of these great movements which Cyaxares opposed, +and opposed successfully--the first recorded in history. These nomads of +Tartary, or Scythian tribes, which overran Western Asia in the seventh +century before Christ, under the new names of Huns, Avari, Bulgarians, +Magyars, Turks, Mongols, devastated Europe and Asia for fifteen successive +centuries. They have been the scourge of the race, and they commenced +their incursions before Grecian history begins. + +(M178) Learning from these Scythian invaders many arts, not before +practiced in war, such as archery and cavalry movements, Cyaxares was +prepared to extend his empire to the west over Armenia and Asia Minor, as +far as the river Halys. He made war in Lydia with the father of Croesus. +But before these conquests were made, he probably captured Nineveh and +destroyed it, B.C. 625. He was here assisted by the whole force of the +Babylonians, under Nabopolassar, an old general of the Assyrians, but who +had rebelled. In reward he obtained for his son, Nebuchadnezzar, the hand +of the daughter of Cyaxares. The last of the Assyrian monarchs, whom the +Greeks have called Sardanapalus, burned himself in his palace rather than +fall into the hands of the Median conqueror. + +(M179) The fall of Nineveh led to the independence of Babylon, and its +wonderful growth, and also to the conquests of the Medes as far as Lydia +to the west. The war with Lydia lasted six years, and was carried on with +various success, until peace was restored by the mediation of a Babylonian +prince. The reason that peace was made was an eclipse of the sun, which +happened in the midst of a great battle, which struck both armies with +superstitious fears. On the conclusion of peace, the son of the Median +king, Astyages, married the daughter of the Lydian monarch, Alyattes, and +an alliance was formed between Media and Lydia. + +(M180) At this time Lydia comprised nearly all of Asia Minor, west of the +Halys. The early history of this country is involved in obscurity. The +dynasty on the throne, when invaded by the Medes, was founded by Gyges, +B.C. 724, who began those aggressions on the Grecian colonies which were +consummated by Croesus. Under the reign of Ardys, his successor, Asia Minor +was devastated by the Cimmerians, a people who came from the regions north +of the Black Sea, between the Danube and the Sea of Azov, being driven +away by an inundation of Scythians, like that which afterward desolated +Media. These Cimmerians, having burned the great temple of Diana, at +Ephesus, and destroyed the capital city of Sardis, were expelled from +Lydia by Alyattes, the monarch against whom Cyaxares had made war. + +(M181) Cyaxares reigned forty years, and was succeeded by Astyages, B.C. +593, whose history is a total blank, till near the close of his long reign +of thirty-five years, when the Persians under Cyrus arose to power. He +seems to have resigned himself to the ordinary condition of Oriental +kings--to effeminacy and luxury--brought about by the prosperity which he +inherited. He was contemporary with Croesus, the famous king of Lydia, +whose life has been invested with so much romantic interest by +Herodotus--the first of the Asiatic kings who commenced hostile aggression +on the Greeks. After making himself master of all the Greek States of Asia +Minor, he combated a power which was destined to overturn the older +monarchies of the East--that of the Persians--a race closely connected with +the Medes in race, language, and religion. + +(M182) The Persians first appear in history as a hardy, warlike people, +simple in manners and scornful of luxury. They were uncultivated in art +and science, but possessed great wit, and a poetical imagination. They +lived in the mountainous region on the southwest of Iran, where the great +plain descends to the Persian Gulf. The sea-coast is hot and arid, as well +as the eastern region where the mountains pass into the table-land of +Iran. Between these tracts, resembling the Arabian desert, lie the high +lands at the extremity of the Zagros chain. These rugged regions, rich in +fruitful valleys, are favorable to the cultivation of corn, of the grape, +and fruits, and afford excellent pasturage for flocks. In the northern +part is the beautiful plain of Shiraz, which forms the favorite residence +of the modern shahs. In the valley of Bend-amir was the old capital of +Persepolis, whose ruins attest the magnificent palaces of Darius and +Xerxes. Persia proper was a small country, three hundred miles from north +to south, and two hundred and eighty from east to west, inhabited by an +Aryan race, who brought with them, from the country beyond the Indus, a +distinctive religion, language, and political institutions. Their language +was closely connected with the Aryan dialects of India, and the tongues of +modern Europe. Hence the Persians were noble types of the great +Indo-European family, whose civilization has spread throughout the world. +Their religion was the least corrupted of the ancient races, and was +marked by a keen desire to arrive at truth, and entered, in the time of +the Gnostics, into the speculations of the Christian fathers, of whom +Origen was the type. Their teachers were the Magi, a wise and learned +caste, some of whom came to Jerusalem in the time of Herod, guided by the +star in the East, to institute inquiries as to the birth of Christ. They +attempted to solve the mysteries of creation, but their elemental +principle of religion was worship of all the elements, especially of fire. +But the Persians also believed in the two principles of good and evil, +which were called the principle of dualism, and which they brought from +India. It is thought by Rawlinson that the Persians differed in their +religion from the primeval people of India, whose Vedas, or sacred books, +were based on monotheism, in its spiritual and personal form, and that, +for the heresy of "dualism," they were compelled to migrate to the West. +The Medes, with whom they subsequently became associated, were inclined to +the old elemental worship of nature, which they learned from the Turanian +or Scythic population. + +(M183) The great man among the Persians was Zoroaster--or Zerdusht, born, +probably, B.C. 589. He is immortal, not from his personal history, the +details of which we are ignorant, but from his ideas, which became the +basis of the faith of the Persians. He stamped his mind on the nation, as +Mohammed subsequently did upon Arabia. His central principle was +"dualism"--the two powers of good and evil--the former of which was destined +ultimately to conquer. But with this dualistic creed of the old Persian, +he also blended a reformed Magian worship of the elements, which had +gained a footing among the Chaldean priests, and which originally came +from the Scythic invaders. Magism could not have come from the Semitic +races, whose original religion was theism, like that of Melchisedek and +Abraham; nor from the Japhetic races, or Indo-European, whose worship was +polytheism--that of personal gods under distinct names, like Jupiter, Juno, +and Minerva. The first to yield to this Magism were the Medes, who adopted +the religion of older settlers,--the Scythic tribes, their subjects,--and +which faith superseded the old Aryan religion. + +(M184) The Persians, the flower of the Aryan races, were peculiarly +military in all their habits and aspirations. Their nobles, mounted on a +famous breed of horses, composed the finest cavalry in the world. Nor was +their infantry inferior, armed with lances, shields, and bows. Their +military spirit was kept alive by their mountain life and simple habits +and strict discipline. + +(M185) Astyages, we have seen, was the last of the Median kings. He +married his daughter, according to Herodotus, to Cambyses, a Persian +noble, preferring him to a higher alliance among the Median princes, in +order that a dream might not be fulfilled that her offspring should +conquer Asia. On the return of the dream he sought to destroy the child +she was about to bear, but it was preserved by a herdsman; and when the +child was ten years of age he was chosen by his playfellows on the +mountains to be their king. As such he caused the son of a noble Median to +be scourged for disobedience, who carried his complaint to Astyages. The +Median monarch finds out his pedigree from the herdsman, and his officer, +Harpagns, to whom he had intrusted the commission for his destruction. He +invites, in suppressed anger, this noble to a feast, at which he serves up +the flesh of his own son. Harpagus, in revenge, conspires with some +discontented nobles, and invites Cyrus, this boy-king, now the bravest of +the youths of his age and country, to a revolt. Cyrus leads his troops +against Astyages, and gains a victory, and also the person of the +sovereign, and his great reign began, B.C. 558. + +(M186) The dethronement of Astyages caused a war between Lydia and Persia. +Croesus hastens to attack the usurper and defend his father-in-law. He +forms a league with Babylonia and Egypt. Thus the three most powerful +monarchs of the world are arrayed against Cyrus, who is prepared to meet +the confederation. Croesus is defeated, and retreats to his capital, +Sardis; and the next spring, while summoning his allies, is attacked +unexpectedly by Cyrus, and is again defeated. He now retires to Sardia, +which is strongly fortified, and the city is besieged, by the Persians, +and falls after a brief siege. Croesus himself is spared, and in his +adversity gives wise counsel to his conqueror. + +(M187) Cyrus leaves a Lydian in command of the captured city, and departs +for home. A revolt ensues, which leads to a collision between Persia and +the Greek colonies, and the subjection of the Grecian cities by Harpagus, +the general of Cyrus. Then followed the conquest of Asia Minor, which +required several years, and was conducted by the generals of Cyrus. He was +required in Media, to consolidate his power. He then extended his +conquests to the East, and subdued the whole plateau of Iran, to the +mountains which divided it from the Indus. Thus fifteen years of splendid +military successes passed before he laid siege to Babylon, B.C. 538. + +(M188) On the fall of that great city Cyrus took up his residence in it, +as the imperial capital of his vast dominion. Here he issued his decree +for the return of the Jews to their ancient territory, and for the +rebuilding of their temple, after seventy years' captivity. This decree +was dictated by the sound military policy of maintaining the frontier +territory of Palestine against his enemies in Asia Minor, which he knew +the Jews would do their best to preserve, and this policy he carried out +with noble generosity, and returned to the Jews the captured vessels of +silver and gold which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away; and for more than +two centuries Persia had no warmer friends and allies than the obedient +and loyal subjects of Judea. + +(M189) Cyrus fell in battle while fighting a tribe of Scythians at the +east of the Caspian Sea, B.C. 529, He was the greatest general that the +Oriental world ever produced, and well may rank with Alexander himself. +His reign of twenty-nine years was one constant succession of wars, in +which he was uniformly successful, and in which success was only equaled +by his magnanimity. His empire extended from the Indus to the Hellespont +and the Syrian coast, far greater than that of either Assyria or +Babylonia. + +(M190) The result of the Persian conquest on the conquerors themselves was +to produce habits of excessive luxury, a wide and vast departure from +their original mode of life, which enfeebled the empire, and prepared the +way for a rapid decline. + +(M191) Cambyses, however, the son and successor of Cyrus, carried out his +policy and conquests. He was, unlike his father, a tyrant and a +sensualist, but possessed considerable military genius. He conquered +Phoenicia, and thus became master of the sea as well as of the land. He +then quarreled with Amasis, the king of Egypt, and subdued his kingdom. + +(M192) Like an eastern despot, he had, while in Egypt, in an hour of +madness and caprice, killed his brother, Smerdis. It happened there was a +Magian who bore a striking resemblance to the murdered prince. With the +help of his brother, whom the king had left governor of his household, +this Magian usurped the throne of Persia, while Cambyses was absent, the +death of the true Smerdis having been carefully concealed. + +(M193) The news of the usurpation reached Cambyses while returning from an +expedition to Syria. An accidental wound from the point of his sword +proved mortal, B.C. 522. But Cambyses, about to die, called his nobles +around him, and revealed the murder of his brother, and exhorted them to +prevent the kingdom falling into the hands of the Medes. He left no +children. + +(M194) The usurper proved a tyrant. A conspiracy of Persians followed, +headed by the descendants of Cyrus; and Darius, the chief of these--the son +of Hystaspes, became king of Persia, after Smerdis had reigned seven +months. But this reign, brief as it was, had restored the old Magian +priests to power, who had, by their magical arts, great popularity with +the people, not only Medes, but Persians. + +(M195) Darius restored the temples and the worship which the Magian +priests had overthrown, and established the religion of Zoroaster. The +early years of his reign were disturbed by rebellions in Babylonia and +Media, but these were suppressed, and Darius prosecuted the conquests +which Cyrus had begun. He invaded both India and Scythia, while his +general, Megabazus, subdued Thrace and the Greek cities of the Hellespont. + +(M196) The king of Macedonia acknowledged the supremacy of the great +monarch of Asia, and gave the customary present of earth and water. Darius +returned at length to Susa to enjoy the fruit of his victories, and the +pleasures which his great empire afforded. For twenty years his glories +were unparalleled in the East, and his life was tranquil. + +(M197) But in the year B.C. 500, a great revolt of the Ionian cities took +place. It was suppressed, at first, but the Atticans, at Marathon, +defeated the Persian warriors, B.C. 490, and the great victory changed the +whole course of Asiatic conquest. Darius made vast preparations for a new +invasion of Greece, but died before they were completed, after a reign of +thirty-six years, B.C. 485, leaving a name greater than that of any +Oriental sovereign, except Cyrus. + +(M198) Unfortunately for him and his dynasty, he challenged the spirit of +western liberty, then at its height among the cities of Greece. His +successor, Xerxes, inherited his power, but not his genius, and rashly +provoked Europe by new invasions, while he lived ingloriously in his +seraglio. He was murdered in his palace, the fate of the great tyrants of +eastern monarchies, for in no other way than by the assassin's dagger +could a change of administration take place--a poor remedy, perhaps, but +not worse than the disease itself. This tyrant was the Ahasuerus of the +Scriptures. + +(M199) We need not follow the fortunes of the imbecile princes who +succeeded Xerxes, for the Persian monarchy was now degenerate and +weakened, and easily fell under the dominion of Alexander, who finally +overthrew the power of Persia, B.C. 330. + +(M200) And this was well. The Persian monarchy was an absolute despotism, +like that of Turkey, and the monarch not only controlled the actions of +his subjects, but was the owner even of their soil. He delegated his power +to satraps, who ruled during his pleasure, but whose rule was disgraced by +every form of extortion--sometimes punished, however, when it became +outrageous and notorious. The satraps, like pashas, were virtually +independent princes, and exercised all the rights of sovereigns so long as +they secured the confidence of the supreme monarch, and regularly remitted +to him the tribute which was imposed. The satrapies were generally given +to members of the royal family, or to great nobles connected with it by +marriage. The monarch governed by no council, and the laws centered in the +principle that the will of the king was supreme. The only check which he +feared was assassination, and he generally spent his life in the +retirement of his seraglio, at Susa, Babylon, or Ecbatana. + +The Persian empire was the last of the great monarchies of the Oriental +world, and these flourished for a period of two thousand years. When +nations became wicked or extended over a large territory, the patriarchal +rule of the primitive ages no longer proved an efficient government. Men +must be ruled, however, in some way, and the irresponsible despotism of +the East, over all the different races, Semitic, Hamite, and Japhetic, was +the government which Providence provided, in a state of general rudeness, +or pastoral simplicity, or oligarchal usurpations. The last great monarchy +was the best; it was that which was exercised by the descendants of +Japhet, according to the prediction that he should dwell in the tents of +Shem, and Canaan should be his servant. + +Before we follow the progress of the descendants of Japhet in Greece, +among whom a new civilization arose, designed to improve the condition of +society by the free agency displayed in art, science, literature, and +government--the rise, in short, of free institutions--we will glance at the +nations in Asia Minor which were brought in contact with the powers we +have so briefly considered. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +ASIA MINOR AND PHOENICIA. + + +(M201) Concerning the original inhabitants of Asia Minor our information +is very scanty. The works of Strabo shed an indefinite light, and the +author of the Iliad seems to have been but imperfectly acquainted with +either the geography or the people of that extensive country. According to +Herodotus, the river Halys was the most important geographical limit; nor +does he mention the great chain of Taurus, which begins from the southern +coast of Lycia, and strikes northeastward as far as Armenia--the most +important boundary line in the time of the Romans. Northward of Mount +Taurus, on the upper portion of the river Halys, was situated the spacious +plain of Asia Minor. The northeast and south of this plain was +mountainous, and was bounded by the Euxine, the AEgean, and the Pamphylian +seas. The northwestern part included the mountainous region of Ida, +Temnus, and Olympus. The peninsula was fruitful in grains, wine, fruit, +cattle, and oil. + +(M202) Along the western shores of this great peninsula were Pelasgians, +Mysians, Bythinians, Phrygians, Lydians, and other nations, before the +Greeks established their colonies. Further eastward were Lycians, +Pisidians, Phrygians, Cappadocians, Paphlagonians, and others. The +Phrygians, Mysians, and Teucrians were on the northwest. These various +nations were not formed into large kingdoms or confederacies, nor even +into large cities, but were inconsiderable tribes, that presented no +formidable resistance to external enemies. The most powerful people were +the Lydians, whose capital was Sardis, who were ruled by Gyges, 700 B.C. +This monarchy extinguished the independence of the Greek cities on the +coast, without impeding their development in wealth and civilization. All +the nations west of the river Halys were kindred in language and habits. +East of the Halys dwelt Semitic races, Assyrians, Syrians, Cappadocians, +and Cilicians. Along the coast of the Euxine dwelt Bythinians, +Marandynians, and Paphlagonians--branches of the Thracian race. Along the +southern coast of the Propontis were the Doliones and Pelasgians. In the +region of Mount Ida were the Teucrians and Mysians. All these races had a +certain affinity with the Thracians, and all modified the institutions of +the Greeks who settled on the coast for purposes of traffic or +colonization. The music of the Greeks was borrowed from the Phrygians and +Lydians. The flute is known to have been invented, or used by the +Phrygians, and from them to have passed to Greek composers. + +(M203) The ancient Phrygians were celebrated chiefly for their flocks and +agricultural produce, while the Lydians, dwelling in cities, possessed +much gold and and silver. But there are few great historical facts +connected with either nation. There is an interesting legend connected +with the Phrygian town of Gordium. The primitive king, Gordius, was +originally a poor husbandman, upon the yoke of whose team, as he tilled +the field, an eagle perched. He consulted the augurs to explain the +curious portent, and was told that the kingdom was destined for his +family. His son was Midas, offspring of a maiden of prophetic family. Soon +after, dissensions breaking out among the Phrygians, they were directed by +an oracle to choose a king, whom they should first see approaching in a +wagon. Gordius and his son Midas were the first they saw approaching the +town, and the crown was conferred upon them. The wagon was consecrated, +and became celebrated for a knot which no one could untie. Whosoever +should untie that knot was promised the kingdom of Asia. It remained +untied until Alexander the Great cut it with his sword. + +(M204) The Lydians became celebrated for their music, of which the chief +instruments were the flute and the harp. Their capital, Sardis, was +situated on a precipitous rock, and was deemed impregnable. Among their +kings was Croesus, whose great wealth was derived from the gold found in +the sands of the river Pactolus, which flowed toward the Hermus from Mount +Tmolus, and also from the industry of his subjects. They were the first on +record to coin gold and silver. The antiquity of the Lydian monarchy is +very great, and was traced to Heracles. The Heracleid dynasty lasted five +hundred and five years, and ended with Myrsus, or Kandaules. His wife was +of exceeding beauty, and the vanity of her husband led him to expose her +person to Gyges, commander of his guard. The affronted wife, in revenge, +caused her husband to be assassinated, and married Gyges. A strong party +opposed his ascent to the throne, and a civil war ensued, which was +terminated by a consultation of the oracle, which decided in favor of +Gyges, the first historical king of Lydia, about the year 715 B.C. + +(M205) With this king commenced the aggressions from Sardis on the Asiatic +Greeks, which ended in their subjection. How far the Lydian kingdom of +Sardis extended during the reign of Gyges is not known, but probably over +the whole Troad, to Abydus, on the Hellespont. Gyges reigned thirty-eight +years, and was succeeded by his son Ardys, during whose reign was an +extensive invasion of the Cimmerians, and a collision between the +inhabitants of Lydia and those of Upper Asia, under the Median kings, who +first acquired importance about the year 656 B.C. under a king called, by +the Greeks, Phraortes, son of Deioces, who built the city of Ecbatana. + +(M206) Phraortes greatly extended the empire of the Medes, and conquered +the Persians, but was defeated and slain by the Assyrians of Nineveh. His +son, Cyaxares (636-595 B.C.) continued the Median conquests to the river +Halys, which was the boundary between the Lydian and Median kingdoms. A +war between these two powers was terminated by the marriage of the +daughter of the Lydian king with the son of the Median monarch, Cyaxares, +who shortly after laid siege to Nineveh, but was obliged to desist by a +sudden inroad of Scythians. + +(M207) This inroad of the Scythians in Media took place about the same +time that the Cimmerians invaded Lydia, a nomad race which probably +inhabited the Tauric Chersonessus (Crimea), and had once before desolated +Asia Minor before the time of Homer. The Cimmerians may have been urged +forward into Asia Minor by an invasion of the Scythians themselves, a +nomadic people who neither planted nor reaped, but lived on food derived +from animals--prototypes of the Huns, and also progenitors--a formidable +race of barbarians, in the northern section of Central Asia, east of the +Caspian Sea. The Cimmerians fled before this more warlike race, abandoned +their country on the northern coast of the Euxine, and invaded Asia Minor. +They occupied Sardis, and threatened Ephesus, and finally were overwhelmed +in the mountainous regions of Cilicia. Some, however, effected a +settlement in the territory where the Greek city of Sinope was afterward +built. + +(M208) Ardys was succeeded by his son Tadyattes, who reigned twelve years; +and his son and successor, Alyattes, expelled the Cimmerians from Asia +Minor. But the Scythians, who invaded Media, defeated the king, Cyaxares, +and became masters of the country, and spread as far as Palestine, and +enjoyed their dominion twenty-eight years, until they were finally driven +away by Cyaxares. These nomadic tribes from Tartary were the precursors of +Huns, Avars, Bulgarians, Magyars, Turks, Mongols, and Tartars, who, at +different periods, invaded the civilized portions of Asia and Europe, and +established a dominion more or less durable. + +(M209) Cyaxares, after the expulsion of the Scythians, took Nineveh, and +reduced the Assyrian empire, while Alyattes, the king of Lydia, after the +Cimmerians were subdued, made war on the Greet city of Miletus, and +reduced the Milesians to great distress, and also took Smyrna. He reigned +fifty-seven years with great prosperity, and transmitted his kingdom to +Croesus, his son by an Ionian wife. His tomb was one of the architectural +wonders of that day, and only surpassed by the edifices of Egypt and +Babylon. + +(M210) Croesus made war on the Asiatic Greeks, and as the twelve Ionian +cities did not co-operate with any effect, they were subdued. He extended +his conquests over Asia Minor, until he had conquered the Phrygians, +Mysians, and other nations, and created a great empire, of which Sardia +was the capital. The treasures lie amassed exceeded any thing before known +to the Greeks, though inferior to the treasures accumulated at Susa and +other Persian capitals when Alexander conquered the East. + +But the Lydian monarchy under Croesus was soon absorbed in the Persian +empire, together with the cities of the Ionian Greeks, as has been +narrated. + +(M211) But there was another power intimately connected with the kingdom +of Judea,--the Phoenician, which furnished Solomon artists and timber for +his famous temple. We close this chapter with a brief notice of the +greatest merchants of the ancient world, the Phoenicians. + +(M212) They belonged, as well as the Assyrians, to the Semitic or +Syro-Arabian family, comprising, besides, the Syrians, Jews, Arabians, and +in part the Abyssinians. They were at a very early period a trading and +mercantile nation, and the variegated robes and golden ornaments +fabricated at Sidon were prized by the Homeric heroes. They habitually +traversed the AEgean Sea, and formed settlements on its islands. + +(M213) The Phoenician towns occupied a narrow slip of the coast of Syria +and Palestine, about one hundred and twenty miles in length, and generally +about twenty in breadth--between Mount Libanus and the sea, Aradus was the +northernmost, and Tyre the southernmost city. Between these were situated +Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, and Byblus. Within this confined territory was +concentrated a greater degree of commercial wealth and enterprise, also of +manufacturing skill, than could be found in the other parts of the world +at the time. Each town was an independent community, having its own +surrounding territory, and political constitution and hereditary prince. +Tyre was a sort of presiding city, having a controlling political power +over the other cities. Mount Libanus, or Lebanon, touched the sea along +the Phoenician coast, and furnished abundant supplies for ship-building. + +(M214) The great Phoenician deity was Melkarth, whom the Greeks called +Hercules, to whom a splendid temple was erected at Tyre, coeval, perhaps, +with the foundation of the city two thousand three hundred years before +the time of Herodotus. In the year 700 B.C., the Phoenicians seemed to have +reached their culminating power, and they had colonies in Africa, Sicily, +Sardinia, and Spain. Carthage, Utica, and Gades were all flourishing +cities before the first Olympiad. The commerce of the Phoenicians extended +through the Red Sea and the coast of Arabia in the time of Solomon. They +furnished the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Persians with the varied +productions of other countries at a very remote period. + +(M215) The most ancient colonies were Utica and Carthage, built in what is +now called the gulf of Tunis; and Cades, now Cadiz, was prosperous one +thousand years before the Christian era. The enterprising mariners of Tyre +coasted beyond the pillars of Hercules without ever losing sight of land. +The extreme productiveness of the southern region of Spain in the precious +metals tempted the merchants to that distant country. But Carthage was by +far the most important centre for Tyrian trade, and became the mistress of +a large number of dependent cities. + +When Psammetichus relaxed the jealous exclusion of ships from the mouth of +the Nile, the incitements to traffic were greatly increased, and the +Phoenicians, as well as Ionian merchants, visited Egypt. But the Phoenicians +were jealous of rivals in profitable commerce, and concealed their tracks, +and magnified the dangers of the sea. About the year 600 B.C., they had +circumnavigated Africa, starting from the Red Sea, and going round the +Cape of Good Hope to Gades, and from thence returning by the Nile. + +(M216) It would seem that Nechos, king of Egypt, anxious to procure a +water communication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, began +digging a canal from one to the other. In the prosecution of this project +he dispatched Phoenicians on an experimental voyage round Libya, which was +accomplished, in three years. The mariners landed in the autumn, and +remained long enough to plant corn and raise a crop for their supplies. +They reached Egypt through the Straits of Gibraltar, and recounted a tale, +which, says Herodotus, "others may believe it if they choose, but I can +not believe, that in sailing round Libya, they had the sun on their right +and--to the north." In going round Africa they had no occasion to lose +sight of land, and their vessels were amply stored. The voyage, however, +was regarded as desperate and unprofitable, and was not repeated. + +Besides the trade which the Phoenicians carried on along the coasts, they +had an extensive commerce in the interior of Asia. But we do not read of +any great characters who arrested the attention of their own age or +succeeding ages, Phoenician history is barren in political changes and +great historical characters, as is that of Carthage till the Roman wars. + +(M217) Between the years 700 and 530 B.C., there was a great decline of +Phoenician power, which was succeeded by the rise of the Greek maritime +cities. Nebuchadnezzar reduced the Phoenician cities to the same dependence +that the Ionian cities were reduced by Croesus and Cyrus. The opening of +the Nile to the Grecian commerce contributed to the decline of Phoenicia. +But to this country the Greeks owed the alphabet and the first standard of +weights and measures. + +(M218) Carthage, founded 819 B.C., by Dido, had a flourishing commerce in +the sixth century before Christ, and also commenced, at this time, their +encroachments in Sicily, which led to wars for two hundred and fifty years +with the Greek settlements. It contained, it is said, at one time, seven +hundred thousand people. But a further notice of their great city is +reserved until allusion is made to the Punic wars which the Romans waged +with this powerful State. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +JEWISH HISTORY FROM THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY TO THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.--THE +HIGH PRIESTS AND THE ASMONEAN AND IDUMEAN KINGS. + + +(M219) We have seen how the ten tribes were carried captive to Assyria, on +the fall of Samaria, by Shalmanezer, B.C., 721. From that time history +loses sight of the ten tribes, as a distinct people. They were probably +absorbed with the nations among whom they settled, although imagination +has loved to follow them into inaccessible regions where they await their +final restoration. But there are no reliable facts which justify this +conclusion. They may have been the ancestors of the Christian converts +afterward found among the Nestorians. They may have retained in the East, +to a certain extent, some of their old institutions. But nothing is known +with certainty. All is vain conjecture respecting their ultimate fortunes. + +(M220) The Jews of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin never entirely +departed from their ancient faith, and their monarchs reigned in regular +succession till the captivity of the family of David. They were not +carried to Babylon for one hundred and twenty-three years after the +dispersion of the ten tribes, B.C. 598. + +(M221) During the captivity, the Jews still remained a separate people, +governed by their own law and religion. It is supposed that they were +rather colonists than captives, and were allowed to dwell together in +considerable bodies--that they were not sold as slaves, and by degrees +became possessed of considerable wealth. What region, from time +immemorial, has not witnessed their thrift and their love of money? Well +may a Jew say, as well as a Greek, "_Quae __ regio in terris nostri non +plena laboris._" Taking the advice of Jeremiah they built houses, planted +gardens, and submitted to their fate, even if they bewailed it "by the +rivers of Babylon," in such sad contrast to their old mountain homes. They +had the free enjoyment of their religion, and were subjected to no general +and grievous religious persecutions. And some of their noble youth, like +Daniel, were treated with great distinction during the captivity. Daniel +had been transported to Babylon before Jerusalem fell, as a hostage, among +others, of the fidelity of their king. These young men, from the highest +Jewish families, were educated in all the knowledge of the Babylonians, as +Joseph had been in Egyptian wisdom. They were the equals of the Chaldean +priests in knowledge of astronomy, divination, and the interpretation of +dreams. And though these young hostages were maintained at the public +expense, and perhaps in the royal palaces, they remembered their +distressed countrymen, and lived on the simplest fare. It was as an +interpreter of dreams that Daniel maintained his influence in the +Babylonian court. Twice was he summoned by Nebuchadnezzar, and once by +Belshazzar to interpret the handwriting on the wall. And under the Persian +monarch, when Babylon fell, Daniel became a vizier, or satrap, with great +dignity and power. + +(M222) When the seventy years' captivity, which Jeremiah had predicted, +came to an end, the empire of the Medes and Persians was in the hands of +Cyrus, under whose sway he enjoyed the same favor and rank that he did +under Darius, or any of the Babylonian princes. The miraculous deliverance +of this great man from the lion's den, into which he had been thrown from +the intrigues of his enemies and the unalterable law of the Medes, +resulted in a renewed exaltation. Josephus ascribes to Daniel one of the +noblest and most interesting characters in Jewish history, a great skill +in architecture, and it is to him that the splendid mausoleum at Ecbatana +is attributed. But Daniel, with all his honors, was not corrupted, and it +was probably through his influence, as a grand vizier, that the exiled +Jews obtained from Cyrus the decree which restored them to their beloved +land. + +(M223) The number of the returned Jews, under Zerubbabel, a descendant of +the kings of Judah, were forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty men--a +great and joyful caravan--but small in number compared with the Israelites +who departed from Egypt with Moses. On their arrival in their native land, +they were joined by great numbers of the common people who had remained. +They bore with them the sacred vessels of the temple, which Cyrus +generously restored. They arrived in the spring of the year B.C. 536, and +immediately made preparations for the restoration of the temple; not under +those circumstances which enabled Solomon to concentrate the wealth of +Western Asia, but under great discouragements and the pressure of poverty. +The temple was built on the old foundation, but was not completed till the +sixth year of Darius Hystaspes, B.C. 515, and then without the ancient +splendor. + +(M224) It was dedicated with great joy and magnificence, but the sacrifice +of one hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and twelve +goats, formed a sad contrast to the hecatombs which Solomon had offered. + +Nothing else of importance marked the history of the dependent, +impoverished, and humiliated Jews, who had returned to the country of +their ancestors during the reign of Darius Hystaspes. + +(M225) It was under his successor, Xerxes, he who commanded the Hellespont +to be scourged--that mad, luxurious, effeminated monarch, who is called in +Scripture Ahasuerus,--that Mordecai figured in the court of Persia, and +Esther was exalted to the throne itself. It was in the seventh year of his +reign that this inglorious king returned, discomfited, from the invasion +of Greece. Abandoning himself to the pleasures of his harem, he marries +the Jewess maiden, who is the instrument, under Providence, of averting +the greatest calamity with which the Jews were ever threatened. Haman, a +descendant of the Amalekitish kings, is the favorite minister and grand +vizier of the Persian monarch. Offended with Mordecai, his rival in +imperial favor, the cousin of the queen, he intrigues for the wholesale +slaughter of the Jews wherever they were to be found, promising the king +ten thousand talents of silver from the confiscation of Jewish property, +and which the king needed, impoverished by his unsuccessful expedition +into Greece. He thus obtains a decree from Ahasuerus for the general +massacre of the Jewish nation, in all the provinces of the empire, of +which Judea was one. The Jews are in the utmost consternation, and look to +Mordecai. His hope is based on Esther, the queen, who might soften, by her +fascinations, the heart of the king. She assumes the responsibility of +saving her nation at the peril of her own life--a deed of not extraordinary +self-devotion, but requiring extraordinary tact. What anxiety must have +pressed the soul of that Jewish woman in the task she undertook! What a +responsibility on her unaided shoulders? But she dissembles her grief, her +fear, her anxiety, and appears before the king radiant in beauty and +loveliness. The golden sceptre is extended to her by her weak and cruel +husband, though arrayed in the pomp and power of an Oriental monarch, +before whom all bent the knee, and to whom, even in his folly, he appears +as demigod. She does not venture to tell the king her wishes. The stake is +too great. She merely invites him to a grand banquet, with his minister +Haman. Both king and minister are ensnared by the cautious queen, and the +result is the disgrace of Haman, the elevation of Mordecai, and the +deliverance of the Jews from the fatal sentence--not a perfect deliverance, +for the decree could not be changed, but the Jews were warned and allowed +to defend themselves, and they slew seventy-five thousand of their +enemies. The act of vengeance was followed by the execution of the ten +sons of Haman, and Mordecai became the real governor of Persia. We see in +this story the caprice which governed the actions, in general, of Oriental +kings, and their own slavery to their favorite wives. The charms of a +woman effect, for evil or good, what conscience, and reason, and policy, +and wisdom united can not do. Esther is justly a favorite with the +Christian and Jewish world; but Vashti, the proud queen who, with true +woman's dignity, refuses to grace with her presence the saturnalia of an +intoxicated monarch, is also entitled to our esteem, although she paid the +penalty of disobedience; and the foolish edict which the king promulgated, +that all women should implicitly obey their husbands, seems to indicate +that unconditional obedience was not the custom of the Persian women. + +(M226) The reign of Artaxerxes, the successor of Xerxes, was favorable to +the Jews, for Judea was a province of the Persian empire. In the seventh +year of his reign, B.C. 458, a new migration of Jews from Babylonia took +place, headed by Ezra, a man of high rank at the Persian court. He was +empowered to make a collection among the Jews of Babylonia for the +adornment of the temple, and he came to Jerusalem laden with treasures. He +was, however, affected by the sight of a custom which had grown up, of +intermarriage of the Jews with adjacent tribes. He succeeded in causing +the foreign wives to be repudiated, and the old laws to be enforced which +separated the Jews from all other nations. And it is probably this stern +law, which prevents the Jews from marriage with foreigners, that has +preserved their nationality, in all their wanderings and misfortunes, more +than any other one cause. + +(M227) A renewed commission granted to Nehemiah, B.C. 445, resulted in a +fresh immigration of Jews to Palestine, in spite of all the opposition +which the Samaritan and other nations made. Nehemiah was cup-bearer to the +Persian king, and devoted to the Persian interests. At that time Persia +had suffered a fatal blow at the battle of Cindus, and among the +humiliating articles of peace with the Athenian admiral was the +stipulation that the Persians should not advance within three days' +journey of the sea. Jerusalem being at this distance, was an important +post to hold, and the Persian court saw the wisdom of intrusting its +defense to faithful allies. In spite of all obstacles, Nehemiah succeeded, +in fifty-two days, in restoring the old walls and fortifications; the +whole population, of every rank and order having devoted themselves to the +work. Moreover, contributions for the temple continued to flow into the +treasury of a once opulent, but now impoverished and decimated people. +After providing for the security of the capital and the adornment of the +temple, the leaders of the nation turned their attention to the +compilation of the sacred books and the restoration of religion. Many +important literary works had been lost during their captivity, including +the work of Solomon on national history, and the ancient book of Jasher. +But the books on the law, the historical books, the prophetic writings, +the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Songs of Solomon, were +collected and copied. The law, revised and corrected, was publicly read by +Ezra; the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated with considerable splendor; +and a renewed covenant was made by the people to keep the law, to observe +the Sabbath, to avoid idolatry, and abstain from intermarriage with +strangers. The Jewish constitution was restored, and Nehemiah, a Persian +satrap in reality, lived in a state of considerable magnificence, +entertaining the chief leaders of the nation, and reforming all disorders. +Jerusalem gradually regained political importance, while the country of +the ten tribes, though filled with people, continued to be the seat of +idolaters. + +(M228) On the death of Nehemiah, B.C. 415, the history of the Jews becomes +obscure, and we catch only scattered glimpses of the state of the country, +till the accession of Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 175, when the Syrian +monarch had erected a new kingdom on the ruins of the Persian empire. For +more than two centuries, when the Greeks and Romans flourished, Jewish +history is a blank, with here and there some scattered notices and +traditions which Josephus has recorded. The Jews, living in vassalage to +the successors of Alexander during this interval, had become animated by a +martial spirit, and the Maccabaic wars elevated them into sufficient +importance to become allies of Rome--the new conquering power, destined to +subdue the world. During this period the Jewish character assumed the +hard, stubborn, exclusive cast which it has ever since maintained--an +intense hostility to polytheism and all Gentile influences. The Jewish +Scriptures took their present shape, and the Apocryphal books came to +light. The sects of the Jews arose, like Pharisees and Sadducees, and +religious and political parties exhibited an unwonted fierceness and +intolerance. While the Greeks and Romans were absorbed in wars, the Jews +perfected their peculiar economy, and grew again into political +importance. The country, by means of irrigation and cultivation, became +populous and fertile, and poetry and the arts regained their sway. The +people took but little interest in the political convulsions of +neighboring nations, and devoted themselves quietly to the development of +their own resources. The captivity had cured them of war, of idolatry, and +warlike expeditions. + +(M229) During this two hundred years of obscurity, but real growth, +unnoticed and unknown by other nations, a new capital had arisen in Egypt; +Alexandria became a great mart of commerce, and the seat of revived +Grecian learning. The sway of the Ptolemaic kings, Grecian in origin, was +favorable to letters, and to arts. The Jews settled in their magnificent +city, translated their Scriptures into Greek, and cultivated the Greek +philosophy. + +(M230) Meanwhile the internal government of the Jews fell into the hands +of the high priests--the Persian governors exercising only a general +superintendence. At length the country, once again favored, was subjected +to the invasion of Alexander. After the fall of Tyre, the conqueror +advanced to Gaza, and totally destroyed it. He then approached Jerusalem, +in fealty to Persia. The high priest made no resistance, but went forth in +his pontifical robes, followed by the people in white garments, to meet +the mighty warrior. Alexander, probably encouraged by the prophesies of +Daniel, as explained by the high priest, did no harm to the city or +nation, but offered gifts, and, as tradition asserts, even worshiped the +God of the Jews. On the conquest of Persia, Judea came into the possession +of Laomedon, one of the generals of Alexander, B.C. 321. On his defeat by +Ptolemy, another general, to whom Egypt had fallen as his share, one +hundred thousand Jews were carried captive to Alexandria, where they +settled and learned the Greek language. The country continued to be +convulsed by the wars between the generals of Alexander, and fell into the +hands, alternately, of the Syrian and Egyptian kings--successors of the +generals of the great conqueror. + +(M231) On the establishment of the Syro-Grecian kingdom by Seleucus, +Antioch, the capital, became a great city, and the rival of Alexandria. +Syria, no longer a satrapy of Persia, became a powerful monarchy, and +Judea became a prey to the armies of this ambitious State in its warfare +with Egypt, and was alternately the vassal of each--Syria and Egypt. Under +the government of the first three Ptolemies--those enlightened and +magnificent princes, Soter, Philadelphus, and Evergetes, the Jews were +protected, both at home and in Alexandria, and their country enjoyed peace +and prosperity, until the ambition of Antiochus the Great again plunged +the nation in difficulties. He had seized Judea, which was then a province +of the Egyptian kings, but was defeated by Ptolemy Philopator. This +monarch made sumptuous presents to the temple, and even ventured to enter +the sanctuary, but was prevented by the high priest. Although filled with +fear in view of the tumult which this act provoked, he henceforth hated +and persecuted the Jews. Under his successor, Judea was again invaded by +Antiochus, and again was Jerusalem wrested from his grasp by Scopas, the +Egyptian general. Defeated, however, near the source of the Jordan, the +country fell into the hands of Antiochus, who was regarded as a deliverer. +And it continued to be subject to the kings of Syria, until, with +Jerusalem, it suffered calamities scarcely inferior to those inflicted by +the Babylonians. + +(M232) It is difficult to trace, with any satisfaction, the internal +government of the Jews during the two hundred years when the chief power +was in the hands of the high priests--this period marked by the wars +between Syria and Egypt, or rather between the successors of the generals +of Alexander. The government of the high priests at Jerusalem was not +exempt from those disgraceful outrages which occasionally have marked all +the governments of the world--whether in the hands of kings, or in an +oligarchy of nobles and priests. Nehemiah had expelled from Jerusalem, +Manasseh, the son of Jehoiada, who succeeded Eliashib in the high +priesthood, on account of his unlawful marriage with a stranger. Manasseh, +invited to Samaria by the father of the woman he had married, became high +priest of the temple on Mount Gerizim, and thus perpetuated the schism +between the two nations. Before the conquests of Alexander, while the +country was under the dominion of Persia, a high priest by the name of +John murdered his brother Jesus within the precincts of the sanctuary, +which crime was punished by the Persian governor, by a heavy fine imposed +upon the whole nation. Jaddua was the high priest in the time of +Alexander, and by his dignity and tact won over the conqueror of Asia. +Onias succeeded Jaddua, and ruled for twenty-one years, and he was +succeeded by Simon the Just, a pontiff on whose administration Jewish +tradition dwells with delight. Simon was succeeded by his uncles, Eleazar +and Manasseh, and they by Onias II., son of Simon, through whose +misconduct, or indolence, in omitting the customary tribute to the +Egyptian king, came near involving the country in fresh +calamities--averted, however, by his nephew Joseph, who pacified the +Egyptian court, and obtained the former generalship of the revenues of +Judea, Samaria, and Phoenicia, which he enjoyed to the time of Antiochus +the Great. Onias II. was succeeded by his son Simon, under whose +pontificate the Egyptian monarch was prevented from entering the temple, +and he by Onias III., under whose rule a feud took place with the sons of +Joseph, disgraced by murders, which called for the interposition of the +Syrian king, who then possessed Judea. Joshua, or Jason, by bribery, +obtained the pontificate, but he allowed the temple worship to fall into +disuse, and was even alienated from the Jewish faith by his intimacy with +the Syrian court. He was outbidden in his high office by Onias, his +brother, who was disgraced by savage passions, and who robbed the temple +of its golden vessels. The people, indignant, rose in a tumult, and slew +his brother, Lysimachus. Meanwhile, Jason, the dispossessed high priest, +recovered his authority, and shut up Onias, or Menelaus, as he called +himself, in a castle. This was interpreted by Antiochus as an +insurrection, and he visited on Jerusalem a terrible penalty--slaughtering +forty thousand of the people, and seizing as many more for slaves. He then +abolished the temple services, seized all the sacred vessels, collected +spoil to the amount of eighteen hundred talents, defiled the altar by the +sacrifice of a sow, and suppressed every sign of Jewish independence. He +meditated the complete extirpation of the Jewish religion, dismantled the +capitol, harassed the country people, and inflicted unprecedented +barbarities. The temple itself was dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, and the +reluctant and miserable Jews were forced to join in all the rites of pagan +worship, including the bacchanalia, which mocked the virtue of the older +Romans. + +(M233) From this degradation and slavery the Jews were rescued by a line +of heroes whom God raised up--the Asmoneans, or Maccabees. The head of this +heroic family was Mattathias, a man of priestly origin, living in the town +of Modin, commanding a view of the sea--an old man of wealth and influence +who refused to depart from the faith of his fathers, while most of the +nation had relapsed into the paganism of the Greeks. He slew with his own +hand an apostate Jew, who offered sacrifice to a pagan deity, and then +killed the royal commissioner, Apelles, whom Antiochus had sent to enforce +his edicts. The heroic old man, who resembled William Tell, in his mission +and character, summoned his countrymen, who adhered to the old faith, and +intrenched himself in the mountains, and headed a vigorous revolt against +the Syrian power, even fighting on the Sabbath day. The ranks of the +insurrectionists were gradually filled with those who were still zealous +for the law, or inspired with patriotic desires for independence. +Mattathias was prospered, making successful raids from his mountain +fastnesses, destroying heathen altars, and punishing apostate Jews. Two +sects joined his standard with peculiar ardor--the Zadikim, who observed +the written law of Moses, from whom the Sadducees of later times sprang, +and the more zealous and austere Chasidim, who added to the law the +traditions of the elders, from whom the Pharisees came. + +Old men are ill suited to conduct military expeditions when great fatigue +and privation are required, and the aged Mattathias sank under the weight +which he had so nobly supported, and bequeathed his power to Judas, the +most valiant of his sons. + +(M234) This remarkable man, scarcely inferior to Joshua and David in +military genius and heroic qualities, added prudence and discretion to +personal bravery. When his followers had gained experience and courage by +various gallant adventures, he led them openly against his enemies. The +governor of Samaria, Apollonius, was the first whom he encountered, and +whom he routed and slew. Seron, the deputy governor of Coelesyria, sought +to redeem the disgrace of the Syrian arms; but he also was defeated at the +pass of Bethoron. At the urgent solicitation of Philip, governor of +Jerusalem, Antiochus then sent a strong force of forty thousand foot and +seven thousand horse to subdue the insurgents, under the command of +Ptolemy Macron. Judas, to resist these forces, had six thousand men; but +he relied on the God of Israel, as his fathers had done in the early ages +of Jewish history, and in a sudden attack he totally routed a large +detachment of the main army, under Gorgias, and spoiled their camp. He +then defeated another force beyond the Jordan, and the general fled in the +disguise of a slave, to Antioch. Thus closed a triumphant campaign. + +(M235) The next year, Lysias, the lieutenant-general of Antiochus, invaded +Judea with a large force of sixty-five thousand men. Judas met it with ten +thousand, and gained a brilliant victory, which proved decisive, and which +led to the re-establishment of the Jewish power at Jerusalem. Judas +fortified the city and the temple, and assumed the offensive, and +recovered, one after another, the cities which had fallen under the +dominion of Syria. In the mean time, Antiochus, the bitterest enemy which +the Jews ever had, died miserably in Persia--the most powerful of all the +Syrian kings. + +(M236) On the accession of Antiochus Eupater, Lysias again attempted the +subjugation of Judea, This time he advanced with one hundred thousand +foot, twenty thousand horse, and thirty-two elephants. But this large +force wasted away in an unsuccessful attack on Jerusalem, harassed by the +soldiers of the Maccabees. A treaty of peace was concluded, by which full +liberty of worship was granted to the Jews, with permission to be ruled by +their own laws. + +(M237) Demetrius, the lawful heir of Antiochus the Great, had been +detained at Rome as a hostage, in consequence of which Antiochus Eupater +had usurped his throne. Escaping from Rome, he overpowered his enemies and +recovered his kingdom. But he was even more hostile to the Jews than his +predecessor, and succeeded in imposing a high priest on the nation +friendly to his interests. His cruelties and crimes once more aroused the +Jews to resistance, and Judas gained another decisive victory, and +Nicanor, the Syrian general, was slain. + +(M238) Judas then adopted a policy which was pregnant with important +consequences. He formed a league with the Romans, then bent on the +conquest of the East. The Roman senate readily entered into a coalition +with the weaker State, in accordance with its uniform custom of protecting +those whom they ultimately absorbed in their vast empire: but scarcely was +the treaty ratified when the gallant Judas died, leaving the defense of +his country to his brothers, B.C. 161. + +(M239) Jonathan, on whom the leadership fell, found the forces under his +control disheartened by the tyranny of the high priest, Alcimus, whom the +nation had accepted. Leagued with Bacchides, the Syrian general, the high +priest had every thing his own way, until Jonathan, emerging from his +retreat, delivered his countrymen once again, and another peace was made. +Several years then passed in tranquillity, Jonathan being master of Judea. +A revolution in Syria added to his power, and his brother Simon was made +captain-general of all the country from Tyre to Egypt. Jonathan, +unfortunately, was taken in siege, and the leadership of the nation +devolved upon Simon, the last of this heroic family. He ruled with great +wisdom, consolidated his power, strengthened his alliance with Rome, +repaired Jerusalem, and restored the peace of the country. He was, on a +present of one thousand pounds of gold to the Romans, decreed to be prince +of Judea, and taken under the protection of his powerful ally. But the +peace with Syria, from the new complications to which that kingdom was +subjected from rival aspirants to the throne, was broken in the old age of +Simon, and he was treacherously murdered, with his oldest son, Judas, at a +banquet in Jerusalem. The youngest son, John Hyrcanus, inherited the vigor +of his family, and was declared high priest, and sought to revenge the +murder of his father and brother. Still, a Syrian army overran the +country, and John Hyrcanus, shut up in Jerusalem, was reduced to great +extremities. A peace was finally made between him and the Syrian monarch, +Antiochus, by which Judea submitted to vassalage to the king of Syria. An +unfortunate expedition of Antiochus into Parthia enabled Hyrcanus once +again to throw off the Syrian yoke, and Judea regained its independence, +which it maintained until compelled to acknowledge the Roman power. +Hyrcanus was prospered in his reign, and destroyed the rival temple on +Mount Gerizim, while the temple of Jerusalem resumed its ancient dignity +and splendor. + +(M240) At this period the Jews, who had settled in Alexandria, devoted +themselves to literature and philosophy in that liberal and elegant city, +and were allowed liberty of worship. But they became entangled in the +mazes of Grecian speculation, and lost much of their ancient spirit. By +compliance with the opinions and customs of the Greeks, they reached great +honors and distinction, and even high posts in the army. + +(M241) Hyrcanus, supreme in Judea, now reduced Samaria and Idumea, and was +only troubled by the conflicting parties of Pharisees and Sadducees, whose +quarrels agitated the State. He joined the party of the Sadducees, who +asserted free will, and denied the more orthodox doctrines of the +Pharisees, a kind of epicureans, opposed to severities and the authority +of traditions. It is one proof of the advance of the Hebrew mind over the +simplicity of former ages, that the State could be agitated by theological +and philosophical questions, like the States of Greece in their highest +development. + +(M242) Hyrcanus reigned twenty-nine years, and was succeeded by his son, +Aristobulus, B.C. 106. His brief and inglorious reign was disgraced by his +starving to death his mother in a dungeon, and imprisoning his three +brothers, and assassinating a fourth, Antigonus, who was a victorious +general. This prince died in an agony of remorse and horror on the spot +where his brother was assassinated. + +Alexander Jannaus succeeded to the throne of the Asmonean princes, who +possessed the whole region of Palestine, except the port of Ptolemais, and +the city of Gaza. In an attempt to recover the former he was signally +defeated, and came near losing his throne. He was more successful in his +attack on Gaza, which finally surrendered, after Alexander had incurred +immense losses. + +(M243) While this priest-king was celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, a +meeting, incited by the Pharisaic party, broke out, which resulted in the +slaughter of ten thousand people. While invading the country to the east +of the Jordan, the rebellion was renewed, and the nation, for six years, +suffered all the evils of civil war. Routed in a battle with the Syrian +monarch, whose aid the insurgents had invoked, he was obliged to flee to +the mountains; but recovering his authority, at the head of sixty thousand +men,--which shows the power of Judea at this period,--he marched upon +Jerusalem, and inflicted a terrible vengeance, eight hundred men being +publicly crucified, and eight thousand more forced to abandon the city. +Under his iron sway, the country recovered its political importance, for +his kingdom comprised the greater part of Palestine. He died, after a +turbulent reign of twenty-seven years, B.C. 77, invoking his queen to +throw herself into the arms of the Pharisaic party, which advice she +followed, as it was the most powerful and popular. + +(M244) The high priesthood devolved on his eldest son, Hyrcanus II., while +the reins of government were held by his queen, Alexandra. She reigned +vigorously and prosperously for nine years, punishing the murderers of the +eight hundred Pharisees who had been executed. + +Hyrcanus was not equal to his task amid the bitterness of party strife. +His brother Aristobulus, belonging to the party of the Sadducees, and who +had taken Damascus, was popular with the people, and compelled his elder +brother to abdicate in his favor, and an end came to Pharisaic rule. + +(M245) But now another family appears upon the stage, which ultimately +wrested the crown from the Asmodean princes. Antipater, a noble Idumean, +was the chief minister of the feeble Hyrcanus. He incited, from motives of +ambition, the deposed prince to reassert his rights, and influenced by his +counsels, he fled to Aretas, the king of Arabia, whose capital, Petra, had +become a great commercial emporium. Aretas, Antipater, and Hyrcanus, +marched with an army of fifty thousand men against Aristobulus, who was +defeated, and fled to Jerusalem. + +(M246) At this time Pompey was pursuing his career of conquests in the +East, and both parties invoked his interference, and both offered enormous +bribes. This powerful Roman was then at Damascus, receiving the homage and +tribute of Oriental kings. The Egyptian monarch sent as a present a crown +worth four thousand pieces of gold. Aristobulus, in command of the riches +of the temple, sent a golden vine worth five hundred talents. Pompey, +intent on the conquest of Arabia, made no decision; but, having succeeded +in his object, assumed a tone of haughtiness irreconcilable with the +independence of Judea. Aristobulus, patriotic yet vacillating,--"too +high-minded to yield, too weak to resist,"--fled to Jerusalem and prepared +for resistance. + +(M247) Pompey approached the capital, weakened by those everlasting +divisions to which the latter Jews were subjected by the zeal of their +religious disputes. The city fell, after a brave defense of three months, +and might not have fallen had the Jews been willing to abate from the +rigid observance of the Sabbath, during which the Romans prepared for +assault. Pompey demolished the fortifications of the city, and exacted +tribute, but spared the treasures of the temple which he profaned by his +heathen presence. He nominated Hyrcanus to the priesthood, but withheld +the royal diadem, and limited the dominions of Hyrcanus to Judea. He took +Aristobulus to Rome to grace his triumph. + +(M248) But he contrived to escape, and, with his son Alexander, again +renewed the civil strife; but taken prisoner, he was again sent as a +captive to the "eternal city." Gabinius, the Roman general--for Hyrcanus +had invoked the aid of the Romans--now deprived the high priest of the +royal authority, and reorganized the whole government of Judea; +establishing five independent Sanhedrims in the principal cities, after +the form of the great Sanhedrim, which had existed since the captivity. +This form lasted until Julius Caesar reinvested Hyrcanus with the supreme +dignity. + +(M249) Jerusalem was now exposed to the rapacity of the Roman generals who +really governed the country. Crassus plundered all that Pompey spared. He +took from the temple ten thousand talents--about ten million dollars when +gold and silver had vastly greater value than in our times. These vast +sums had been accumulated from the contributions of Jews scattered over +the world--some of whom were immensely wealthy. + +(M250) Aristobulus and his son Alexander were assassinated during the +great civil war between the partisans of Caesar and Pompey. After the fall +of the latter. Caesar confirmed Hyrcanus in the high priesthood, and +allowed him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But Antipater, presuming on +the incapacity of Hyrcanus, renewed his ambitious intrigues, and contrived +to make his son, Phasael, governor of Jerusalem, and Herod, a second son, +governor of Galilee. + +(M251) Herod developed great talents, and waited for his time. After the +battle of Philippi Herod made acceptable offerings to the conquering +party, and received the crown of Judea, which had been recently ravaged by +the Parthians, through the intrigues of Antigonas, the surviving son of +Aristobulus. By his marriage with Mariamne, of the royal line of the +Asmoneans, he cemented the power he had won by the sword and the favor of +Rome. He was the last of the independent sovereigns of Palestine. He +reigned tyrannically, and was guilty of great crimes, having caused the +death of the aged Hyrcanus, and the imprisonment and execution of his wife +on a foul suspicion. He paid the same court to Augustus that he did to +Antony, and was confirmed in the possession of his kingdom. The last of +the line of the Asmonaeans had perished on the scaffold, beautiful, +innocent, and proud, the object of a boundless passion to a tyrant who +sacrificed her to a still greater one--suspicion. Alternating between his +love and resentment, Herod sank into a violent fit of remorse, for he had +more or less concern in the murder of the father, the grandfather, the +brother, and the uncle of his beautiful and imperious wife. At all times, +even amid the glories of his palace, he was haunted with the image of the +wife he had destroyed, and loved with passionate ardor. He burst forth in +tears, he tried every diversion, banquets and revels, solitude and +labor--still the murdered Mariamne is ever present to his excited +imagination. He settles down in a fixed and indelible gloom, and his stern +nature sought cruelty and bloodshed. His public administration was, on the +whole, favorable to the peace and happiness of the country, although he +introduced the games and the theatres in which the Romans sought their +greatest pleasures. For these innovations he was exposed to incessant +dangers; but he surmounted them all by his vigilance and energy. He +rebuilt Samaria, and erected palaces. But his greatest work was the +building of Caesarea--a city of palaces and theatres. His policy of reducing +Judea to a mere province of Rome was not pleasing to his subjects, and he +was suspected of a design of heathenizing the nation. Neither his +munificence nor severities could suppress the murmurs of an indignant +people. The undisguised hostility of the nation prompted him to an act of +policy by which he hoped to conciliate it forever. The pride and glory of +the Jews was their temple. This Herod determined to rebuild with +extraordinary splendor, so as to approach its magnificence in the time of +Solomon. He removed the old structure, dilapidated by the sieges, and +violence, and wear of five hundred years; and the new edifice gradually +arose, glittering with gold, and imposing with marble pinnacles. + +(M252) But in spite of all his magnificent public works, whether to +gratify the pride of his people, or his own vanity--in spite of his efforts +to develop the resources of the country over which he ruled by the favor +of Rome--in spite of his talents and energies--one of the most able of the +monarchs who had sat on the throne of Judea, he was obnoxious to his +subjects for his cruelties, and his sympathy with paganism, and he was +visited in his latter days by a terrible disorder which racked his body +with pain, and inflamed his soul with suspicions, while his court was +distracted with cabals from his own family, which poisoned his life, and +led him to perpetrate unnatural cruelties. He had already executed two +favorite sons, by Mariamne whom he loved, all from court intrigues and +jealousy, and he then executed his son and heir, by Doris, his first wife, +whom he had divorced to marry Mariamne, and under circumstances so cruel +that Augustus remarked that he had rather be one of his swine than one of +his sons. Among other atrocities, he had ordered the massacre of the +Innocents to prevent any one to be born "as king of the Jews." His last +act was to give the fatal mandate for the execution of his son Antipater, +whom he hoped to make his heir, and then almost immediately expired in +agonies, detested by the nation, and leaving a name as infamous as that of +Ahab, B.C. 4. + +(M253) Herod had married ten wives, and left a numerous family. By his +will, he designated the sons of Malthace, his sixth wife, and a Samaritan, +as his successors. These were Archelaus, Antipas, and Olympias. The first +inherited Idumea, Samaria, and Judea; to the second were assigned Galilee +and Peraea. Archelaus at once assumed the government at Jerusalem; and +after he had given his father a magnificent funeral, and the people a +funeral banquet, he entered the temple, seated himself on a golden throne, +and made, as is usual with monarchs, a conciliatory speech, promising +reform and alleviations from taxes and oppression. But even this did not +prevent one of those disgraceful seditions which have ever marked the +people of Jerusalem, in which three thousand were slain, caused by +religious animosities. After quelling the tumult by the military, he set +out for Rome, to secure his confirmation to the throne. He encountered +opposition from various intrigues by his own family, and the caprice of +the emperor. His younger brother, Antipas, also went to Rome to support +his claim to the throne by virtue of a former will. While the cause of the +royal litigants was being settled in the supreme tribunal of the civilized +world, new disturbances broke out in Judea, caused by the rapacities of +Sabinus, the Roman procurator of Syria. The whole country was in a state +of anarchy, and adventurers flocked from all quarters to assert their +claims in a nation that ardently looked forward to national independence, +or the rise of some conqueror who should restore the predicted glory of +the land now rent with civil feuds, and stained with fratricidal blood. +Varus, the prefect of Syria, attempted to restore order, and crucified +some two thousand ringleaders of the tumults. Five hundred Jews went to +Rome to petition for the restoration of their ancient constitution, and +the abolition of kingly rule. + +(M254) At length the imperial edict confirmed the will of Herod, and +Archelaus was appointed to the sovereignty of Jerusalem, Idumea, and +Samaria, under the title of ethnarch; Herod Antipas obtained Galilee and +Peraea; Philip, the son of Herod and Cleopatra of Jerusalem, was made +tetrarch of Ituraea. Archelaus governed his dominions with such injustice +and cruelty, that he was deposed by the emperor, and Judea became a Roman +province. The sceptre departed finally from the family of David, of the +Asmonaeans, and of Herod, and the kingdom sank into a district dependent on +the prefecture of Syria, though administered by a Roman governor. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +THE ROMAN GOVERNORS. + + +(M255) The history of the Jews after the death of Herod is marked by the +greatest event in human annals. In four years after he expired in agonies +of pain and remorse, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, whose teachings +have changed the whole condition of the world, and will continue to change +all institutions and governments until the seed of the woman shall have +completely triumphed over all the wiles of the serpent. We can not, +however, enter upon the life or mission of the Saviour, or the feeble +beginnings of the early and persecuted Church which he founded, and which +is destined to go on from conquering to conquer. We return to the more +direct history of the Jewish nation until their capital fell into the +hands of Titus, and their political existence was annihilated. + +(M256) They were now to be ruled by Roman governors--or by mere vassal +kings whom the Romans tolerated and protected. The first of these rulers +was P. Sulpicius Quirinus--a man of consular rank, who, as proconsul of +Syria, was responsible for the government of Judea, which was intrusted to +Coponius. He was succeeded by M. Ambivius, and he again by Annius Rufus. A +rapid succession of governors took place till Tiberius appointed Valerius +Gratus, who was kept in power eleven years, on the principle that a rapid +succession of rulers increased the oppression of the people, since every +new governor sought to be enriched. Tiberius was a tyrant, but a wise +emperor, and the affairs of the Roman world were never better administered +than during his reign. These provincial governors, like the Herodian +kings, appointed and removed the high priests, and left the internal +management of the city of Jerusalem to them. They generally resided +themselves at Caesarea, to avoid the disputes of the Jewish sects, and the +tumults of the people. + +(M257) Pontius Pilate succeeded Gratus A.D. 27,--under whose memorable rule +Jesus Christ was crucified and slain--a man cruel, stern, and reckless of +human life, but regardful of the peace and tranquillity of the province. +He sought to transfer the innocent criminal to the tribunal of Herod, to +whose jurisdiction he belonged as a Galilean, but yielded to the +importunities of the people, and left him at the mercy of the Jewish +priesthood. + +The vigilant jealousy of popular commotion, and the reckless disregard of +human life, led to the recall of Pilate; but during the forty years which +had elapsed since the death of Herod, his sons had quietly reigned over +their respective provinces. Antipas at Sepphoris, the capital of Galilee, +and Philip beyond the Jordan. The latter prince was humane and just, and +died without issue, and his territory was annexed to Syria. + +(M258) Herod Antipas was a different man. He seduced and married his niece +Herodias, wife of Herod Philip, daughter of Aristobolus, and granddaughter +of Mariamne, whom Herod the Great had sacrificed in jealousy--the last +scion of the Asmonaean princes. It was for her that John the Baptist was +put to death. But this marriage proved unfortunate, since it involved him +in difficulties with Aretas, king of Arabia, father of his first and +repudiated wife. He ended his days in exile at Lyons, having provoked the +jealousy or enmity of Caligula, the Roman emperor, through the intrigues +of Herod Agrippa, the brother of Herodias, and consequently, a grandson of +Herod the Great and Mariamne. The Herodian family, of Idumean origin, +never was free from disgraceful quarrels and jealousies and rivalries. + +(M259) The dominions of Herod Antipas were transferred to Herod Agrippa, +who had already obtained from Caligula the tetrarchate of Ituraea, on the +death of Philip, with the title of king. The fortunes of this prince, in +whose veins flowed the blood of the Asmonaeans and the Herodians, surpassed +in romance and vicissitude any recorded of Eastern princes; alternately a +fugitive and a favorite, a vagabond and a courtier, a pauper and a +spendthrift--according to the varied hatred and favor of the imperial +family at Rome. He had the good luck to be a friend of Caligula before the +death of Tiberius. When he ascended the throne of the Roman world, he took +his friend from prison and disgrace, and gave him a royal title and part +of the dominions of his ancestors. + +(M260) Agrippa did all he could to avert the mad designs of Caligula of +securing religious worship as a deity from the Jews, and he was moderate +in his government and policy. On the death of the Roman tyrant, he +received from his successor Claudius the investiture of all the dominions +which belonged to Herod the Great. He reigned in great splendor, +respecting the national religion, observing the Mosaic law with great +exactness, and aiming at the favor of the people. He inherited the taste +of his great progenitor for palace building, and theatrical +representations. He greatly improved Jerusalem, and strengthened its +fortifications, and yet he was only a vassal king. He reigned by the favor +of Rome, on whom he was dependent, and whom he feared, like other kings +and princes of the earth, for the emperor was alone supreme. + +(M261) Agrippa sullied his fair fame by being a persecutor of the +Christians, and died in the forty-fourth year of his age, having reigned +seven years over part of his dominions, and three over the whole of +Palestine. He died in extreme agony from internal pains, being "eaten of +worms." He left one son, Agrippa, and three daughters, Drusilla, Berenice, +and Mariamne, the two first of whom married princes. + +(M262) On his death Judea relapsed into a Roman province, his son, +Agrippa, being only seventeen years of age, and too young to manage such a +turbulent, unreasonable, and stiff-necked people as the Jews, rent by +perpetual feuds and party animosities, and which seem to have +characterized them ever since the captivity, when they renounced idolatry +forever. + +(M263) What were these parties? For their opinions and struggles and +quarrels form no inconsiderable part of the internal history of the Jews, +both under the Asmonaean and Idumean dynasties. + +(M264) The most powerful and numerous were the Pharisees, and most popular +with the nation. The origin of this famous sect is involved in obscurity, +but probably arose not long after the captivity. They were the orthodox +party. They clung to the Law of Moses in its most minute observances, and +to all the traditions of their religion. They were earnest, fierce, +intolerant, and proud. They believed in angels, and in immortality. They +were bold and heroic in war, and intractable and domineering in peace. +They were great zealots, devoted to proselytism. They were austere in +life, and despised all who were not. They were learned and decorous, and +pragmatical. Their dogmatism knew no respite or palliation. They were +predestinarians, and believed in the servitude of the will. They were seen +in public with ostentatious piety. They made long prayers, fasted with +rigor, scrupulously observed the Sabbath, and paid tithes to the cheapest +herbs. They assumed superiority in social circles, and always took the +uppermost seats in the synagogue. They displayed on their foreheads and +the hem of their garments, slips of parchment inscribed with sentences +from the law. They were regarded as models of virtue and excellence, but +were hypocrites in the observance of the weightier matters of justice and +equity. They were, of course, the most bitter adversaries of the faith +which Christ revealed, and were ever in the ranks of persecution. They +resembled the most austere of the Dominican monks in the Middle Ages. They +were the favorite teachers and guides of the people, whom they incited in +their various seditions. They were theologians who stood at the summit of +legal Judaism. "They fenced round their law hedges whereby its precepts +were guarded against any possible infringement." And they contrived, by an +artful and technical interpretation, to find statutes which favored their +ends. They wrought out asceticism into a system, and observed the most +painful ceremonials--the ancestors of rigid monks; and they united a +specious casuistry, not unlike the Jesuits, to excuse the violation of the +_spirit_ of the law. They were a hierarchical caste, whose ambition was to +govern, and to govern by legal technicalities. They were utterly deficient +in the virtues of humility and toleration, and as such, peculiarly +offensive to the Great Teacher when he propounded the higher code of love +and forgiveness. Outwardly, however, they were the most respectable as +well as honorable men of the nation--dignified, decorous, and studious of +appearances. + +(M265) The next great party was that of the Sadducees, who aimed to +restore the original Mosaic religion in its purity, and expunge every +thing which had been added by tradition. But they were deficient in a +profound sense of religion, denied the doctrine of immortality, and hence +all punishment in a future life. They made up for their denial of the +future by a rigid punishment of all crimes. They inculcated a belief of +Divine Providence by whom all crime was supposed to be avenged in this +world. The party was not so popular as that of their rivals, but embraced +men of high rank. In common with the Pharisees, they maintained the +strictness of the Jewish code, and professed great uprightness of morals. +They had, however, no true, deep religious life, and were cold and +heartless in their dispositions. They were mostly men of ease and wealth, +and satisfied with earthly enjoyments, and inclined to the epicureanism +which marked many of the Greek philosophers. Nor did they escape the +hypocrisy which disgraced the Pharisees, and their bitter opposition to +the truths of Christianity. + +(M266) In addition to these two great parties which controlled the people, +were the Essenes. But they lived apart from men, in the deserts round the +Dead Sea, and dreaded cities as nurseries of vice. They allowed no women +to come within their settlements. They were recruited by strangers and +proselytes, who thought all pleasure to be a sin. They established a +community of goods, and prosecuted the desire of riches. They were clothed +in white garments which they never changed, and regulated their lives by +the severest forms. They abstained from animal food, and lived on roots +and bread. They worked and ate in silence, and observed the Sabbath with +great precision. They were great students, and were rigid in morals, and +believed in immortality. They abhorred oaths, and slavery, and idolatry. +They embraced the philosophy of the Orientals, and supposed that matter +was evil, and that mind was divine. They were mystics who reveled in the +pleasures of abstract contemplation. Their theosophy was sublime, but +Brahminical. Practically they were industrious, ascetic, and devout--the +precursors of those monks who fled from the abodes of man, and filled the +solitudes of Upper Egypt and Arabia and Palestine, the loftiest and most +misguided of the Christian sects in the second and third centuries, But +the Essenes had no direct influence over the people of Judea like the +Pharisees and Sadducees, except in encouraging obedience and charity. + +(M267) All these sects were in a flourishing state on the death of +Agrippa. Judea was henceforth to be ruled directly by Roman governors. +Cuspius Fadus, Tiberius Alexander, Ventidius Cumanus, Felix Portius, +Festus Albinus, and Gessius Florus successively administered the affairs +of a discontented province. Their brief administrations were marked by +famines and tumults. King Agrippa, meanwhile, with mere nominal power, +resided in Jerusalem, in the palace of the Asmonaean princes, which stood +on Mount Zion, toward the temple. Robbers infested the country, and +murders and robbery were of constant occurrence. High priests were set up, +and dethroned. The people were oppressed by taxation and irritated by +pillage. Prodigies, wild and awful, filled the land with dread of +approaching calamities. Fanatics alarmed the people. The Christians +predicted the ruin of the State. Never was a population of three millions +of people more discontented and oppressed. Outrage, and injustice, and +tumults, and insurrections, marked the doomed people. The governors were +insulted, and massacred the people in retaliation. Florus, at one time, +destroyed three thousand six hundred people, A.D. 66. Open war was +apparent to the more discerning, Agrippa in vain counseled moderation and +reconciliation, showing the people how vain resistance would be to the +overwhelming power of Rome, which had subdued the world; and that the +refusal of tribute, and the demolition of Roman fortifications, were overt +acts of war. But he talked to people doomed. Every day new causes of +discord arose. Some of the higher orders were disposed to be prudent, but +the people generally were filled with bigotry and fanaticism. Some of the +boldest of the war party one day seized the fortress of Masada, near the +Dead Sea, built by Jonathan the Maccabean, and fortified by Herod. The +Roman garrison was put to the sword, and the banner of revolt was +unfolded. In the city of Jerusalem, the blinded people refused to receive, +as was customary, the gifts and sacrifices of foreign potentates offered +in the temple to the God of the Jews. This was an insult and a declaration +of war, which the chief priests and Pharisees attempted in vain to +prevent. The insurgents, urged by zealots and assassins, even set fire to +the palace of the high priest and of Agrippa and Berenice, and also to the +public archives, where the bonds of creditors were deposited, which +destroyed the power of the rich. They then carried the important citadel +of Antonia, and stormed the palace. A fanatic, by the name of Manahem, son +of Judas of Galilee, openly proclaimed the doctrine that it was impious to +own any king but God, and treason to pay tribute to Caesar. He became the +leader of the war party because he was the most unscrupulous and zealous, +as is always the case in times of excitement and passion. He entered the +city, in the pomp of a conqueror, and became the captain of the forces, +which took the palace and killed the defenders. The high priest, Ananias, +striving to secure order, was stoned. Then followed dissensions between +the insurgents themselves, during which Manahem was killed. Eleazar, +another chieftain, pressed the siege of the towers, defended by Roman +soldiers, which were taken, and the defenders massacred. Meanwhile, twenty +thousand Jews were slain by the Greeks in Caesarea, which drove the nation +to madness, and led to a general insurrection in Syria, and a bloody +strife between the Greco-Syrians and Jews, There were commotions in all +quarters--wars and rumors of wars, so that men fled to the mountains, +Wherever the Jews had settled were commotions and massacres, especially at +Alexandria, when fifty thousand bodies were heaped up for burial. + +(M268) Nero was now on the imperial throne, and stringent measures were +adopted to suppress the revolt of the Jews, now goaded to desperation by +the remembrance of their oppressions, and the conviction that every man's +hand was against them. Certius, the prefect of Syria, advanced with ten +thousand Roman troops and thirteen hundred allies, and desperate war +seemed now inevitable. Agrippa, knowing how fatal it would be to the +Jewish nation, attempted to avert it. He argued to infatuated men. Certius +undertook to storm Jerusalem, the head-quarters of the insurrection, but +failed, and was obliged to retreat, with loss of a great part of his +army--a defeat such as the Romans had not received since Varus was +overpowered in the forests of Germany. + +(M269) Judea was now in open rebellion against the whole power of Rome--a +mad and desperate revolt, which could not end but in the political ruin of +the nation. Great preparations were made for the approaching contest, in +which the Jews were to fight single-handed and unassisted by allies. The +fortified posts were in the hands of the insurgents, but they had no +organized and disciplined forces, and were divided among themselves. +Agrippa, the representative of the Herodian kings, openly espoused the +cause of Rome. The only hope of the Jews was in their stern fanaticism, +their stubborn patience, and their daring valor. They were to be justified +for their insurrection by all those principles which animate oppressed +people striving to be free, and they had glorious precedents in the +victories of the Maccabees; but it was their misfortune to contend against +the armies of the masters of the world. They were not strong enough for +revolt. + +(M270) The news of the insurrection, and the defeat of a Roman prefect, +made a profound sensation at Rome. Although Nero affected to treat the +affair with levity, he selected, however, the ablest general of the +empire, Vespasian, and sent him to Syria. The storm broke out in Galilee, +whose mountain fastnesses were intrusted by the Jews to Joseph, the son of +Matthias--lineally descended from an illustrious priestly family, with the +blood of the Asmonaean running in his veins--a man of culture and learning--a +Pharisee who had at first opposed the insurrection, but drawn into it +after the defeat of Certius. He is better known to us as the historian +Josephus. His measures of defence were prudent and vigorous, and he +endeavored to unite the various parties in the contest which he knew was +desperate. He raised an army of one hundred thousand men, and introduced +the Roman discipline, but was impeded in his measures by party dissensions +and by treachery. In the city of Jerusalem, Ananias, the high priest, took +the lead, but had to contend with fanatics and secret enemies. + +(M271) The first memorable event of the war was the unsuccessful +expedition against Ascalon, sixty-five miles from Jerusalem, in which +Roman discipline prevailed against numbers. This was soon followed by the +advance of Vespasian to Ptolemais, while Titus, his lieutenant and son, +sailed from Alexandria to join him. Vespasian had an army of sixty +thousand veterans. Josephus could not openly contend against this force, +but strengthened his fortified cities. Vespasian advanced cautiously in +battle array, and halted on the frontiers of Galilee. The Jews, under +Josephus, fled in despair. Gabaia was the first city which fell, and its +inhabitants were put to the sword--a stern vengeance which the Romans often +exercised, to awe their insurgent enemies. Josephus retired to Tiberius, +hopeless and discouraged, and exhorted the people of Jerusalem either to +re-enforce him with a powerful army, or make submission to the Romans. +They did neither. He then threw himself into Jotaphata, where the +strongest of the Galilean warriors had intrenched themselves. Vespasian +advanced against the city with his whole army, and drew a line of +circumvallation around it, and then commenced the attack. The city stood +on the top of a lofty hill, and was difficult of access, and well supplied +with provisions. As the works of the Romans arose around the city, its +walls were raised thirty-five feet by the defenders, while they issued out +in sallies and fought with the courage of despair. The city could not be +taken by assault, and the siege was converted into a blockade. The +besieged, supplied with provisions, issued out from behind their +fortifications, and destroyed the works of the Romans. The fearful +battering-rams of the besiegers were destroyed by the arts and inventions +of the besieged. The catapults and scorpions swept the walls, and the huge +stones began to tell upon the turrets and the towers. The whole city was +surrounded by triple lines of heavy armed soldiers, ready for assault. The +Jews resorted to all kinds of expedients, even to the pouring of boiling +oil on the heads of their assailants. The Roman general was exasperated at +the obstinate resistance, and proceeded by more cautious measures. He +raised the embankments, and fortified them with towers, in which he placed +slingers and archers, whose missiles told with terrible effect on those +who defended the walls. Forty-seven days did the gallant defenders resist +all the resources of Vespasian, But they were at length exhausted, and +their ranks were thinned, Once again a furious assault was made by the +whole army, and Titus scaled the walls. The city fell with the loss of +forty thousand men on both sides, and Josephus surrendered to the will of +God, but was himself spared by the victors by adroit flatteries, in which +he predicted the elevation of Vespasian to the throne of Nero. + +(M272) It would be interesting to detail the progress of the war, but our +limits forbid. The reader is referred to Josephus. City after city +gradually fell into the hands of Vespasian, who now established himself in +Caesarea. Joppa shared the fate of Jotaphata; the city was razed, but the +citadel was fortified by the Romans. + +(M273) The intelligence of these disasters filled Jerusalem with +consternation and mourning, for scarcely a family had not to deplore the +loss of some of its members. Tiberius and Tarichea, on the banks of the +beautiful lake of Galilee, were the next which fell, followed by atrocious +massacres, after the fashion of war in those days. Galilee stood appalled, +and all its cities but three surrendered. Of these Gamala, the capital, +was the strongest, and more inaccessible than Jotaphata. It was built upon +a precipice, and was crowded with fugitives, and well provisioned. But it +was finally taken, as well as Gischala and Itabyriun, and all Galilee was +in the hands of the Romans. + +(M274) Jerusalem, meanwhile, was the scene of factions and dissensions. It +might have re-enforced the strongholds of Galilee, but gave itself up to +party animosities, which weakened its strength. Had the Jews been united, +they might have offered a more successful resistance. But their fate was +sealed. I can not describe the various intrigues and factions which +paralyzed the national arm, and forewarned the inhabitants of their doom. + +Meanwhile, Nero was assassinated, and Vespasian was elevated to the +imperial throne. He sent his son Titus to complete the subjugation which +had hitherto resisted his conquering legions. + +(M275) Jerusalem, in those days of danger and anxiety, was still rent by +factions, and neglected her last chance of organizing her forces to resist +the common enemy. Never was a city more insensible of its doom. Three +distinct parties were at war with each other, shedding each others' blood, +reckless of all consequences, callous, fierce, desperate. At length the +army of Titus advanced to the siege of the sacred city, still strong and +well provisioned. Four legions, with mercenary troops and allies, burning +to avenge the past, encamped beneath the walls, destroying the orchards +and olive-grounds and gardens which everywhere gladdened the beautiful +environs. The city was fortified with three walls where not surrounded by +impassable ravines, not one within the other, but inclosing distinct +quarters; and these were of great strength, the stones of which were in +some parts thirty-five feet long, and so thick that even the heaviest +battering-rams could make no impression. One hundred and sixty-four towers +surmounted these heavy walls, one of which was one hundred and forty feet +high, and forty-three feet square; another, of white marble, seventy-six +feet in height, was built of stones thirty-five feet long, and seventeen +and a half wide, and eight and a half high, joined together with the most +perfect masonry. Within these walls and towers was the royal palace, +surrounded by walls and towers of equal strength. The fortress of Antonia, +seventy feet high, stood on a rock of ninety feet elevation, with +precipitous sides. High above all these towers and hills, and fortresses, +stood the temple, on an esplanade covering a square of a furlong on each +side. The walls which surrounded this fortress-temple were built of vast +stones, and were of great height; and within these walls, on each side, +was a spacious double portico fifty-two and a half feet broad, with a +ceiling of cedar exquisitely carved, supported by marble columns +forty-three and three-quarters feet high, hewn out of single stones. There +were one hundred and sixty-two of these beautiful columns. Within this +quadrangle was an inner wall, seventy feet in height, inclosing the inner +court, around which, in the interior, was another still more splendid +portico, entered by brazen gates adorned with gold. These doors, or gates, +were fifty-two and a half feet high and twenty-six and a quarter wide. +Each gateway had two lofty pillars, twenty-one feet in circumference. The +gate called Beautiful was eighty-seven and a half feet high, made of +Corinthian brass, and plated with gold. The quadrangle, entered by nine of +these gates, inclosed still another, within which was the temple itself, +with its glittering facade. This third and inner quadrangle was entered by +a gateway tower one hundred and thirty-two and a half feet high and +forty-three and a half wide. "At a distance the temple looked like a +mountain of snow fretted with golden pinnacles." With what emotions Titus +must have surveyed this glorious edifice, as the sun rising above Mount +Moriah gilded its gates and pinnacles--soon to be so utterly demolished +that not one stone should be left upon another. + +(M276) Around the devoted city Titus erected towers which overlooked the +walls, from which he discharged his destructive missiles, while the +battering-rams played against the walls, where they were weakest. The +first wall was soon abandoned, and five days after the second was +penetrated, after a furious combat, and Titus took possession of the lower +city, where most of the people lived. + +The precipitous heights of Zion, the tower of Antonia and the temple still +remained, and although the cause was hopeless, the Jews would hear of no +terms of surrender. Titus used every means. So did Josephus, who harangued +the people at a safe distance. The most obstinate fury was added to +presumptuous, vain confidence, perhaps allied with utter distrust of the +promises of enemies whom they had offended past forgiveness. + +(M277) At length famine pressed. No grain was to be bought. The wealthy +secreted their food. All kind feelings were lost in the general misery. +Wives snatched the last morsel from their family and weary husbands, and +children from their parents. The houses were full of dying and the dead, a +heavy silence oppressed every one, yet no complaints were made. They +suffered in sullen gloom, and despair. From the 14th of April to the 19th +of July, A.D. 70, from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand, +according to different estimates, were buried or thrown from the walls. A +measure of wheat sold for a talent, and the dunghills were raked for +subsistence. + +(M278) When all was ready, the assault on the places which remained +commenced. On the 5th of July the fortress of Antonia was taken, and the +siege of the temple was pressed. Titus made one more attempt to persuade +its defenders to surrender, wishing to save the sacred edifice, but they +were deaf and obstinate. They continued to fight, inch by inch, exhausted +by famine, and reduced to despair. They gnawed their leathern belts, and +ate their very children. On the 8th of August the wall inclosing the +portico, or cloisters, was scaled. On the 10th the temple itself, a +powerful fortress, fell, with all its treasures, into the hands of the +victors. The soldiers gazed with admiration on the plates of gold, and the +curious workmanship of the sacred vessels. All that could be destroyed by +fire was burned, and all who guarded the precincts were killed. + +(M279) Still the palace and the upper city held out. Titus promised to +spare the lives of the defenders if they would instantly surrender. But +they still demanded terms. Titus, in a fury, swore that the whole +surviving population should be exterminated. It was not till the 7th of +September that this last bulwark was captured, so obstinately did the +starving Jews defend themselves. A miscellaneous slaughter commenced, till +the Romans were weary of their work of vengeance. During the whole siege +one million one hundred thousand were killed, and ninety-seven thousand +made prisoners, since a large part of the population of Judea had taken +refuge within the walls. During the whole war one million three hundred +and fifty-six thousand were killed. + +Thus fell Jerusalem, after a siege of five months, the most desperate +defense of a capital in the history of war. It fell never to rise again as +a Jewish metropolis. Never had a city greater misfortunes. Never was +heroism accompanied with greater fanaticism. Never was a prophecy more +signally fulfilled. + +(M280) The fall of Jerusalem was succeeded by bloody combats before the +whole country was finally subdued. With the final conquest the Jews were +dispersed among the nations, and their nationality was at an end. Their +political existence was annihilated. The capital was destroyed, the temple +demolished, and the royal house extinguished, and the high priesthood +buried amid the ruins of the sacred places. + +With the occupation of Palestine by strangers, and the final dispersion of +the Jews over all nations, who, without a country, and without friends, +maintained their institutions, their religion, their name, their +peculiarities, and their associations, we leave the subject--so full of +mournful interest, and of impressive lessons. The student of history +should see in their prosperity and misfortunes the overruling Providence +vindicating his promises, and the awful majesty of eternal laws. + + + + + + BOOK II. + + +THE GRECIAN STATES. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +THE GEOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS. + + +(M281) We have seen that the Oriental-world, so favored by nature, so rich +in fields, in flocks, and fruits, failed to realize the higher destiny of +man. In spite of all the advantages of nature, he was degraded by debasing +superstitions, and by the degeneracy which wealth and ease produced. He +was enslaved by vices and by despots. The Assyrian and Babylonian kingdom, +that "head of gold," as seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, became inferior to +the "breast and arms of silver," as represented by the Persian Empire, and +this, in turn, became subject to the Grecian States, "the belly and the +thighs of brass." It is the nobler Hellenic race, with its original +genius, its enterprise, its stern and rugged nature, strengthened by toil, +and enterprise, and war, that we are now to contemplate. It is Greece--the +land of song, of art, of philosophy--the land of heroes and freemen, to +which we now turn our eyes--the most interesting, and the most famous of +the countries of antiquity. + +(M282) Let us first survey that country in all its stern ruggedness and +picturesque beauty. It was small compared with Assyria or Persia. Its +original name was Hellas, designated by a little district of Thessaly, +which lay on the southeast verge of Europe, and extended in length from +the thirty-sixth to the fortieth degree of latitude. It contained, with +its islands, only twenty-one thousand two hundred and ninety square +miles--less than Portugal or Ireland, but its coasts exceeded the whole +Pyrenean peninsula. Hellas is itself a peninsula, bounded on the north by +the Cambunian and Ceraunian mountains, which separated it from Macedonia; +on the east by the AEgean Sea, (Archipelago), which separated it from Asia +Minor; on the south by the Cretan Sea, and on the west by the Ionian Sea. + +(M283) The northern part of this country of the Hellenes is traversed by a +range of mountains, commencing at Acra Ceraunia, on the Adriatic, and +tending southeast above Dodona, in Epirus, till they join the Cambunian +mountains, near Mount Olympus, which run along the coast of the AEgean till +they terminate in the southeastern part of Thessaly, under the names of +Ossa, Pelion, and Tisaeus. The great range of Pindus enters Greece at the +sources of the Peneus, where it crosses the Cambunian mountains, and +extends at first south, and then east to the sea, nearly inclosing +Thessaly, and dividing it from the rest of Greece. After throwing out the +various spurs of Othrys, OEta, and Corax, it loses itself in those famous +haunts of the Muses--the heights of Parnassus and Helicon, in Phocis and +Boeotia, In the southern part of Greece are the mountains which intersect +the Peloponnesus in almost every part, the principal of which are Scollis, +Aroanii, and Taygetus. We can not enumerate the names of all these +mountains; it is enough to say that no part of Europe, except Switzerland, +is so covered with mountains as Greece, some of which attain the altitude +of perpetual snow. Only a small part of the country is level. + +(M284) The rivers, again, are numerous, but more famous for associations +than for navigable importance. The Peneus which empties itself into the +AEgean, a little below Tempe; the Achelous, which flows into the Ionian +Sea; the Alpheus, flowing into the Ionian Sea; and the Eurotas, which +enters the Laconican Gulf, are among the most considerable. The lakes are +numerous, but not large. The coasts are lined by bays and promontories, +favorable to navigation in its infancy, and for fishing. The adjacent seas +are full of islands, memorable in Grecian history, some of which are of +considerable size. + +(M285) Thus intersected in all parts with mountains, and deeply indented +by the sea, Greece was both mountainous and maritime. The mountains, the +rivers, the valleys, the sea, the islands contributed to make the people +enterprising and poetical, and as each State was divided from every other +State by mountains, or valleys, or gulfs, political liberty was +engendered. The difficulties of cultivating a barren soil on the highlands +inured the inhabitants to industry and economy, as in Scotland and New +England, while the configuration of the country strengthened the powers of +defense, and shut the people up from those invasions which have so often +subjugated a plain and level country. These natural divisions also kept +the States from political union, and fostered a principle of repulsion, +and led to an indefinite multiplication of self-governing towns, and to +great individuality of character. + +(M286) Situated in the same parallels of latitude as Asia Minor, and the +south of Italy and Spain, Greece produced wheat, barley, flax, wine, oil, +in the earliest times. The cultivation of the vine and the olive was +peculiarly careful. Barley cakes were more eaten than wheaten. All +vegetables and fish were abundant and cheap. But little fresh meat was +eaten. Corn also was imported in considerable quantities by the maritime +States in exchange for figs, olives, and oil. The climate, clear and +beautiful to modern Europeans, was less genial than that of Asia Minor, +but more bracing and variable. It also varied in various sections. + +These various sections, or provinces, or states, into which Greece was +divided, claim a short notice. + +(M287) The largest and most northerly State was Epirus, containing four +thousand two hundred and sixty square miles, bounded on the north by +Macedonia, on the east by Thessaly, on the south by Acarnania, and on the +west by the Ionian Sea. Though mountainous, it was fertile, and produced +excellent cattle and horses. Of the interesting places of Epirus, +memorable in history, ranks first Dodona, celebrated for its oracle, the +most ancient in Greece, and only inferior to that of Delphi. It was +founded by the Pelasgi before the Trojan war and was dedicated to Jupiter. +The temple was surrounded by a grove of oak, but the oracles were latterly +delivered by the murmuring of fountains. On the west of Epirus is the +island of Corcyra (Corfu), famous for the shipwreck of Ulysses, and for +the gardens of Aleinous, and for having given rise to the Peloponnesian +war. Epirus is also distinguished as the country over which Pyrrhus ruled. +The Acheron, supposed to communicate with the infernal regions, was one of +its rivers. + +(M288) West of Epirus was Thessaly, and next to it in size, containing +four thousand two hundred and sixty square miles. It was a plain inclosed +by mountains; next to Boeotia, the most fertile of all the States of +Greece, abounding in oil, wine, and corn, and yet one of the weakest and +most insignificant politically. The people were rich, but perfidious. The +river Peneus flowed through the entire extent of the country, and near its +mouth was the vale of Tempe, the most beautiful valley in Greece, guarded +by four strong fortresses. + +(M289) At some distance from the mouth of the Peneus was Larissa, the city +of Achilles, and the general capital of the Pelasgi. At the southern +extremity of the lake Caelas, the largest in Thessaly, was Pherae, one of +the most ancient cities in Greece, and near it was the fountain of +Hyperia. In the southern part of Thessaly was Pharsalia, the battle-ground +between Caesar and Pompey, and near it was Pyrrha, formerly called Hellas, +where was the tomb of Hellen, son of Deucalion, whose descendants, AEolus, +Dorus and Ion, are said to have given name to the three nations, AEolians, +Dorians, and Ionians, Still further south, between the inaccessible cliffs +of Mount OEta and the marshes which skirt the Maliaeus Bay, were the +defiles of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and three hundred heroes died +defending the pass, against the army of Xerxes, and which in one place was +only twenty-five feet wide, so that, in so narrow a defile, the Spartans +were able to withstand for three days the whole power of Persia. In this +famous pass the Amphictyonic council met annually to deliberate on the +common affairs of all the States. + +(M290) South of Epirus, on the Ionian Sea, and west of AEtolia, was +Acarnania, occupied by a barbarous people before the Pelasgi settled in +it. It had no historic fame, except as furnishing on its waters a place +for the decisive battle which Augustus gained over Antony, at Actium, and +for the islands on the coast, one of which, Ithaca, a rugged and +mountainous island, was the residence of Ulysses. + +(M291) AEtolia, to the east of Acarnania, and south of Thessaly, and +separated from Achaia by the Corinthian Gulf, contained nine hundred and +thirty square miles. Its principal city was Thermon, considered +impregnable, at which were held splendid games and festivals. The AEtolians +were little known in the palmy days of Athens and Sparta, except as a +hardy race, but covetous and faithless. + +(M292) Doris was a small tract to the east of AEtolia, inhabited by one of +the most ancient of the Greek tribes--the Dorians, called so from Dorus, +son of Deucalion, and originally inhabited that part of Thessaly in which +were the mountains of Olympus and Ossa. From this section they were driven +by the Cadmeans. Doris was the abode of the Heraclidae when exiled from the +Peloponnesus, and which was given to Hyllas, the son of Hercules, in +gratitude by AEgiminius, the king, who was reinstated by the hero in his +dispossessed dominion. + +(M293) Locri Ozolae was another small State, south of Doris, from which it +is separated by the range of the Parnassus situated on the Corinthian +Gulf, the most important city of which was Salona, surrounded on all sides +by hills. Naupactus was also a considerable place, known in the Middle +Ages as Lepanto, where was fought one of the decisive naval battles of the +world, in which the Turks were defeated by the Venetians. It contained +three hundred and fifty square miles. + +(M294) Phocis was directly to the east, bounded on the north by Doris and +the Locri Epicnemidii, and south by the Corinthian Gulf. This State +embraced six hundred and ten square miles. The Phocians are known in +history from the sacred or Phocian war, which broke out in 357 B.C., in +consequence of refusing to pay a fine imposed by the Amphictyonic council. +The Thebans and Locrians carried on this war successfully, joined by +Philip of Macedon, who thus paved the way for the sovereignty of Greece. +One among the most noted places was Crissa, famed for the Pythian games, +and Delphi, renowned for its oracle sacred to Apollo. The priestess, +Pythia, sat on a sacred tripod over the mouth of a cave, and pronounced +her oracles in verse or prose. Those who consulted her made rich presents, +from which Delphi became vastly enriched. Above Delphi towers Parnassus, +the highest mountain in central Greece, near whose summit was the supposed +residence of Deucalion. + +(M295) Boeotia was the richest State in Greece, so far as fertility of soil +can make a State rich. It was bounded on the north by the territory of the +Locri, on the west by Phocis, on the south by Attica, and on the east by +the Euboean Sea. It contained about one thousand square miles. Its +inhabitants were famed for their stolidity, and yet it furnished Hesiod, +Pindar, Corinna, and Plutarch to the immortal catalogue of names. Its men, +if stupid, were brave, and its women were handsome. It was originally +inhabited by barbarous tribes, all connected with the Leleges. In its +southwestern part was the famous Helicon, famed as the seat of Apollo and +the Muses, and on the southern border was Mount Cithaeron, to the north of +which was Platea, where the Persians were defeated by the confederate +Greeks under Pausanias. Boeotia contained the largest lake in +Greece--Copaias, famed for eels. On the borders of this lake was Coronea, +where the Thebans were defeated by the Spartans. To the north of Coronea +was Chaeronea, where was fought the great battle with Philip, which +subverted the liberties of Greece. To the north of the river AEsopus, a +sluggish stream, was Thebes, the capital of Boeotia, founded by Cadmus, +whose great generals, Epaminondas and Pelopidas, made it, for a time, one +of the great powers of Greece. + +(M296) The most famous province of Greece was Attica, bounded on the north +by the mountains Cithaeron and Parnes, on the west by the bay of Saronicus, +on the east by the Myrtoum Sea. It contained but seven hundred square +miles. It derived its name from Atthis, a daughter of Cranaus; but its +earliest name was Cecropia, from its king, Cecrops. It was divided, in the +time of Cecrops, into four tribes. On its western extremity, on the shores +of the Saronic Gulf, stood Eleusis, the scene of the Eleusinian mysteries, +the most famous of all the religious ceremonials of Greece, sacred to +Ceres, and celebrated every four years, and lasting for nine days. +Opposite to Eleusis was Salamis, the birthplace of Ajax, Teucer, and +Solon. There the Persian fleet of Xerxes was defeated by the Athenians. +The capital, Athens, founded by Cecrops, 1556 B.C., received its name from +the goddess Neith, an Egyptian deity, known by the Greeks as Athena, or +Minerva. Its population, in the time of Pericles, was one hundred and +twenty thousand. The southernmost point of Attica was Sunium, sacred to +Minerva; Marathon, the scene of the most brilliant victory which the +Athenians ever fought, was in the eastern part of Attica. To the southeast +of Athens was Mount Hymettus, celebrated for its flowers and honey. +Between Hymettus and Marathon was Mount Pentelicus, famed for its marbles. + +(M297) Megaris, another small State, was at the west of Attica, between +the Corinthian and the Saronican gulfs. Its chief city, Megara, was a +considerable place, defended by two citadels on the hills above it. It was +celebrated as the seat of the Megaric school of philosophy, founded by +Euclid. + +(M298) The largest of the Grecian States was the famous peninsula known as +the Peloponnesus, entirely surrounded by water, except the isthmus of +Corinth, four geographical miles wide. On the west was the Ionian Sea; on +the east the Saronic Gulf and the Myrtoum Sea; on the north the Corinthian +Gulf. It contained six thousand seven hundred and forty-five square miles. +It was divided into several States. It was said to be left by Hercules on +his death to the Heraclidae, which they, with the assistance of the +Dorians, ultimately succeeded in regaining, about eighty years after the +Trojan war. + +Of the six States into which the Peloponnesus was divided, Achaia was the +northernmost, and was celebrated for the Achaean league, composed of its +principal cities, as well us Corinth, Sicyon, Phlius, Arcadia, Argolis, +Laconia, Megaris, and other cities and States. + +(M299) Southwest of Achaia was Elis, on the Ionian Sea, in which stood +Olympia, where the Olympic games were celebrated every four years, +instituted by Hercules. + +(M300) Arcadia occupied the centre of the Peloponnesus, surrounded on all +sides by lofty mountains--a rich and pastoral country, producing fine +horses and asses. It was the favorite residence of Pan, the god of +shepherds, and its people were famed for their love of liberty and music. + +(M301) Argolis was the eastern portion of the Peloponnesus, watered by the +Saronic Gulf, whose original inhabitants were Pelasgi. It boasted of the +cities of Argos and Mycenae, the former of which was the oldest city of +Greece. Agamemnon reigned at Mycenae, the most powerful of the kings of +Greece during the Trojan war. + +(M302) Laconia, at the southeastern extremity of the peninsula, was the +largest and most important of the States of the Peloponnesus. It was +rugged and mountainous, but its people were brave and noble. Its largest +city, Sparta, for several generations controlled the fortune of Greece, +the most warlike of the Grecian cities. + +(M303) Messenia was the southwestern part of the peninsula--mountainous, +but well watered, and abounding in pasture. It was early coveted by the +Lacedaemonians, inhabitants of Laconia, and was subjugated in a series of +famous wars, called the Messenian. + +Such were the principal States of Greece. But in connection with these +were the islands in the seas which surrounded it, and these are nearly as +famous as the States on the main land. + +(M304) The most important of these was Crete, at the southern extremity of +the AEgean Sea. It was the fabled birthplace of Jupiter. To the south of +Thrace were Thasos, remarkable for fertility, and for mines of gold and +silver; Samothrace, celebrated for the mysteries of Cybele; Imbros, sacred +to Ceres and Mercury. Lemnos, in latitude forty, equidistant from Mount +Athos and the Hellespont, rendered infamous by the massacre of all the +male inhabitants of the island by the women. The island of Euboea stretched +along the coast of Attica, Locris, and Boeotia, and was exceedingly +fertile, and from this island the Athenians drew large supplies of +corn--the largest island in the Archipelago, next to Crete. Its principal +city was Chalcis, one of the strongest in Greece. + +(M305) To the southeast of Euboea are the Cyclades--a group of islands of +which Delos, Andros, Tenos, Myeonos, Naxos, Paros, Olearos, Siphnos, +Melos, and Syros, were the most important. All these islands are famous +for temples and the birthplace of celebrated men. + +(M306) The islands called the Sporades lie to the south and east of the +Cyclades, among which are Amorgo, Ios, Sicinos, Thera, and Anaphe--some of +which are barren, and others favorable to the vine. + +(M307) Besides these islands, which belong to the continent of Europe, are +those which belong to Asia--Tenedos, small but fertile; Lesbos, celebrated +for wine, the fourth in size of all the islands of the AEgean; Chios, also +famed for wine; Samos, famous for the worship of Juno, and the birthplace +of Pythagoras; Patmos, used as a place of banishment; Cos, the birthplace +of Apelles and Hippocrates, exceedingly fertile; and south of all, Rhodes, +the largest island of the AEgean, after Crete and Euboea. It was famous for +the brazen and colossal statue of the sun, seventy cubits high. Its people +were great navigators, and their maritime laws were ultimately adopted by +all the Greeks and Romans. It was also famous for its schools of art. + +Such were the States and islands of Greece, mountainous, in many parts +sterile, but filled with a hardy, bold, and adventurous race, whose +exploits and arts were the glory of the ancient world. + +(M308) The various tribes and nations all belonged to that branch of the +Indo-European race to which ethnographers have given the name of +Pelasgian. They were a people of savage manners, but sufficiently +civilised to till the earth, and build walled cities. Their religion was +polytheistic--a personification of the elemental powers and the heavenly +bodies. The Pelasgians occupied insulated points, but were generally +diffused throughout Greece; and they were probably a wandering people +before they settled in Greece. The Greek traditions about their migration +rests on no certain ground. Besides this race, concerning which we have no +authentic history, were the Leleges and Carians. But all of them were +barbarous, and have left no written records. Argos and Sicyon are said to +be Pelasgian cities, founded as far back as one thousand eight hundred and +fifty-six years before Christ. It is also thought that Oriental elements +entered into the early population of Greece. Cecrops imported into Attica +Egyptian arts. Cadmus, the Phoenician, colonized Boeotia, and introduced +weights and measures. Danaus, driven out of Egypt, gave his name to the +warlike Danai, and instructed the Pelasgian women of Argos in the mystic +rites of Demetus. Pelope is supposed to have passed from Asia into Greece, +with great treasures, and his descendants occupied the throne of Argos. + +(M309) At a period before written history commences, the early inhabitants +of Greece, whatever may have been their origin, which is involved in +obscurity, were driven from their settlements by a warlike race, akin, +however, to the Pelasgians. These conquerors were the Hellenes, who were +believed to have issued from the district of Thessaly, north of Mount +Othrys. They gave their name ultimately to the whole country. Divided into +small settlements, they yet were bound together by language and customs, +and cherished the idea of national unity. There were four chief divisions +of this nation, the Dorians, AEolians, Achaeans, and Ionians, traditionally +supposed to be descended from the three sons of Hellen, the son of +Deucalion, Dorus, AEolus, and Xuthus, the last the father of Achaeus, and +Jon. So the Greek poets represented the origin of the Hellenes--a people +fond of adventure, and endowed by nature with vast capacities, +subsequently developed by education. + +(M310) Of these four divisions of the Hellenic race, the AEolians spread +over northern Greece, and also occupied the western coast of the +Peloponnesus and the Ionian islands. It continued, to the latest times, to +occupy the greater part of Greece. The Achaeans were the most celebrated in +epic poetry, their name being used by Homer to denote all the Hellenic +tribes which fought at Troy. They were the dominant people of the +Peloponnesus, occupying the south and east, and the Arcadians the centre. +The Dorians and Ionians were of later celebrity; the former occupying a +small patch of territory on the slopes of Mount OEta, north of Delphi; the +latter living on a narrow slip of the country along the northern coast of +the Peloponnesus, and extending eastward into Attica. + +(M311) The principal settlements of the AEolians lay around the Pagasaean +Gulf, and were blended with the Minyans, a race of Pelasgian adventurers +known in the Argonautic expedition, under AEolian leaders. In the north of +Boeotia arose the city of Orchomenus, whose treasures were compared by +Homer to those of the Egyptian Thebes. Another seat of the AEolians was +Ephyra, afterward known as Corinth, where the "wily Sisyphus" ruled. He +was the father of Phocus, who gave his name to Phocis. The descendants of +AEolus led also a colony to Elis, and another to Pylus. In general, the +AEolians sought maritime settlements in northern Greece, and the western +side of the Peloponnesus. + +(M312) The Achaeans were the dominant race, in very early times, of the +south of Thessaly, and the eastern side of the Peloponnesus, whose chief +seats were Phthia, where Achilles reigned, and Argolis. Thirlwall seems to +think they were a Pelasgian, rather than an Hellenic people. The ancient +traditions represent the sons of Achaeus as migrating to Argos, where they +married the daughters of Danaus the king, but did not mount the throne. + +(M313) The early fortunes of the Dorians are involved in great obscurity, +nor is there much that is satisfactory in the early history of any of the +Hellenic tribes. Our information is chiefly traditional, derived from the +poets. Dorus, the son of Deucalion, occupied the country over against +Peloponnesus, on the opposite side of the Corinthian Gulf, comprising +AEtolia, Phocis, and the Ozolian Locrians. Nor can the conquests of the +Dorians on the Peloponnesus be reconciled upon any other ground than that +they occupied a considerable tract of country. + +(M314) The early history of the Ionians is still more obscure. Ion, the +son of Xuthus, is supposed to have led his followers from Thessaly to +Attica, and to have conquered the Pelasgians, or effected peaceable +settlements with them. Then follows a series of legends which have more +poetical than historical interest, but which will be briefly noticed in +the next chapter. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +THE LEGENDS OF ANCIENT GREECE. + + +(M315) The Greeks possessed no authentic written history of that period +which included the first appearance of the Hellenes in Thessaly to the +first Olympiad, B.C. 776. This is called the heroic age, and is known to +us only by legends and traditions, called myths. They pertain both to gods +and men, and are connected with what we call mythology, which possesses no +historical importance, although it is full of interest for its poetic +life. And as mythology is interwoven with the literature and the art of +the ancients, furnishing inexhaustible subjects for poets, painters, and +sculptors, it can not be omitted wholly in the history of that classic +people, whose songs and arts have been the admiration of the world. + +(M316) We have space, however, only for those legends which are of +universal interest, and will first allude to those which pertain to gods, +such as appear most prominent in the poems of Hesiod and Homer. + +(M317) Zeus, or Jupiter, is the most important personage in the mythology +of Greece. Although, chronologically, he comes after Kronos and Uranos, he +was called the "father of gods and men," whose power it was impossible to +resist, and which power was universal. He was supposed to be the +superintending providence, whose seat was on Mount Olympus, enthroned in +majesty and might, to whom the lesser deities were obedient. With his two +brothers, Poseidon, or Neptune, and Hades, or Pluto, he reigned over the +heavens, the earth, the sea, and hell. Mythology represents him as born in +Crete; and when he had gained sufficient mental and bodily force, he +summoned the gods to Mount Olympus, and resolved to wrest the supreme +power from his father, Kronos, and the Titans. Ten years were spent in the +mighty combat, in which all nature was convulsed, before victory was +obtained, and the Titans hurled into Tartarus. With Zeus now began a +different order of beings. He is represented as having many wives and a +numerous offspring. From his own head came Athene, fully armed, the +goddess of wisdom, the patron deity of Athens. By Themis he begat the +Horae; by Eurynome, the three Graces; by Mnemosyne, the Muses; by Leto +(Latona), Apollo, and Artemis (Diana); by Demeter (Ceres), Persephone; by +Here (Juno), Hebe, Ares (Mars), and Eileithyia; by Maia, Hermes (Mercury). + +(M318) Under the presidency of Zeus were the twelve great gods and +goddesses of Olympus--Poseidon (Neptune), who presided over the sea; +Apollo, who was the patron of art; Ares, the god of war; Hephaestos +(Vulcan), who forged the thunderbolts; Hermes, who was the messenger of +omnipotence and the protector of merchants; Here, the queen of heaven, and +general protector of the female sex; Athene (Minerva), the goddess of +wisdom and letters; Artemis (Diana), the protectress of hunters and +shepherds; Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of beauty and love; Hertia +(Vesta), the goddess of the hearth and altar, whose fire never went out; +Demeter (Ceres), mother earth, the goddess of agriculture. + +Scarcely inferior to these Olympian deities were Hades (Pluto), who +presided over the infernal regions; Helios, the sun; Hecate, the goddess +of expiation; Dionysus (Bacchus), the god of the vine; Leto (Latona), the +goddess of the concealed powers; Eos (Aurora), goddess of the morn; +Nemesis, god of vengeance; AEolus, the god of winds; Harmonia; the Graces, +the Muses, the Nymphs, the Nereids, marine nymphs--these were all invested +with great power and dignity. + +Besides these were deities who performed special services to the greater +gods, like the Horae; and monsters, offspring of gods, like the gorgons, +chimera, the dragon of the Hesperides, the Lernaean hydra, the Nemean lion, +Scylla and Charybdis, the centaurs, the sphinx, and others. + +(M319) It will be seen that these gods and goddesses represent the powers +of nature, and the great attributes of wisdom, purity, courage, fidelity, +truth, which belong to man's higher nature, and which are associated with +the divine. It was these powers and attributes which were +worshiped--superhuman and adorable. Homer and Hesiod are the great +authorities of the theogonies of the pagan world, and we can not tell how +much of this was of their invention, and how much was implanted in the +common mind of the Greeks, at an age earlier than 700 B.C. The Orphic +theogony belongs to a later date, but acquired even greater popular +veneration than the Hesiodic. + +(M320) The worship of these divinities was attended by rites more or less +elevated, but sometimes by impurities and follies, like those of Bacchus +and Venus. Sometimes this worship was veiled in mysteries, like those of +Eleusis. To all these deities temples were erected, and offerings made, +sometimes of fruits and flowers, and then of animals. Of all these deities +there were legends--sometimes absurd, and these were interwoven with +literature and religious solemnities. The details of these fill many a +large dictionary, and are to be read in dictionaries, or in poems. Those +which pertain to Ceres, to Apollo, to Juno, to Venus, to Minerva, to +Mercury, are full of poetic beauty and fascination. They arose in an age +of fertile imagination and ardent feeling, and became the faith of the +people. + +(M321) Besides the legends pertaining to gods and goddesses, are those +which relate the heroic actions of men. Grote describes the different +races of men as they appear in the Hesiodic theogony--the offspring of +gods. First, the golden race: first created, good and happy, like the gods +themselves, and honored after death by being made the unseen guardians of +men--"terrestrial demons." Second, the silver race, inferior in body and +mind, was next created, and being disobedient, are buried in the earth. +Third, the brazen race, hard, pugnacious, terrible, strong, which was +continually at war, and ultimately destroyed itself, and descended into +Hades, unhonored and without privilege. Fourth, the race of heroes, or +demigods, such as fought at Thebes and Troy, virtuous but warlike, which +also perished in battle, but were removed to a happier state. And finally, +the iron race, doomed to perpetual guilt, care, toil, suffering--unjust, +dishonest, ungrateful, thoughtless--such is the present race of men, with a +small admixture of good, which will also end in due time. Such are the +races which Hesiod describes in his poem of the "Works and +Days,"--penetrated with a profound sense of the wickedness and degeneracy +of human life, yet of the ultimate rewards of virtue and truth. His demons +are not gods, nor men, but intermediate agents, essentially good--angels, +whose province was to guard and to benefit the world. But the notions of +demons gradually changed, until they were regarded as both good and bad, +as viewed by Plato, and finally they were regarded as the causes of evil, +as in the time of the Christian writers. Hesiod, who lived, it is +supposed, four hundred years before Herodotus, is a great ethical poet, +and embodied the views of his age respecting the great mysteries of nature +and life. + +The legends which Hesiod, Homer, and other poets made so attractive by +their genius, have a perpetual interest, since they are invested with all +the fascinations of song and romance. We will not enter upon those which +relate to gods, but confine ourselves to those which relate to men--the +early heroes of the classic land and age; nor can we allude to all--only a +few--those which are most memorable and impressive. + +(M322) Among the most ancient was the legend relating to the Danaides, +which invest the early history of Argos with peculiar interest. Inachus, +who reigned 1986 B.C., according to ancient chronology, is also the name +of the river flowing beneath the walls of the ancient city, situated in +the eastern part of the Peloponnesus. In the reign of Krotopos, one of his +descendants, Danaus came with his fifty daughters from Egypt to Argos in a +vessel of fifty oars, in order to escape the solicitations of the fifty +sons of AEgyptos, his brother, who wished to make them their wives. AEgyptos +and the sons followed in pursuit, and Danaus was compelled to assent to +their desires, but furnished each of his daughters with a dagger, on the +wedding night, who thus slew their husbands, except one, whose husband, +Lynceus, ultimately became king of Argos. From Danaus was derived the name +of Danai, applied to the people of the Argeian territory, and to the +Homeric Greeks generally. We hence infer that Argos--one of the oldest +cities of Greece, was settled in part by Egyptians, probably in the era of +the shepherd kings, who introduced not only the arts, but the religious +rites of that ancient country. Among the regal descendants of Lynceus was +Danae, whose son Perseus performed marvelous deeds, by the special favor +of Athene, among which he brought from Libya the terrific head of the +Gorgon Medusa, which had the marvelous property of turning every one to +stone who looked at her. Stung with remorse for the accidental murder of +his grandfather, the king, he retired from Argos, and founded the city of +Mycenae, the ruins of whose massive walls are still to be seen--Cyclopean +works, which seem to show that the old Pelasgians derived their +architectural ideas from the Egyptian Danauns. The Perseids of Mycenae thus +boasted of an illustrious descent, which continued down to the last +sovereign of Sparta. + +(M323) The grand-daughter of Perseus was Alcmena, whom mythology +represents as the mother of Hercules by Jupiter. The labors of Hercules +are among the most interesting legends of pagan antiquity, since they are +types of the endless toils of a noble soul, doomed to labor for others, +and obey the commands of worthless persecutors. But the hero is finally +rewarded by admission to the family of the gods, and his descendants are +ultimately restored to the inheritance from which they were deprived by +the wrath and jealousy of Juno. A younger branch of the Perseid family +reigned in Lacedaemon--Eurystheus, to whom Hercules was subject; but he, +with all his sons, lost their lives in battle, so that the Perseid family +was represented only by the sons of Hercules--the Heracleids, or Heraclidae. +They endeavored to regain their possessions, and invaded the Peloponnesus, +from which they had been expelled. Hyllos, the oldest son, proposed to the +army of Ionians, Achaeans, and Arcadians, which met them in defense, that +the combat should be decided between himself and any champion of the +invading army, and that, if he were victorious, the Heracleids should be +restored to their sovereignty, but if defeated, should forego their claim +for three generations. Hyllos was vanquished, and the Heracleids retired +and resided with the Dorians. When the stipulated period had ended, they, +assisted by the Dorians, gained possession of the Peloponnesus. Hence the +great Dorian settlement of Argos, Sparta, and Messenia, effected by the +return of the Heracleids. + +(M324) Another important legend is that which relates to Deucalion and the +deluge, as it is supposed to shed light on the different races that +colonized Greece. The wickedness of the world induced Zeus to punish it by +a deluge; a terrible rain laid the whole of Greece under water, except a +few mountain tops. Deucalion was saved in an ark, or chest, which he had +been forewarned to construct. After floating nine days, he landed on the +summit of Mount Parnassus. Issuing from his ark, he found no inhabitants, +they having been destroyed by the deluge. Instructed, however, by Zeus, he +and his wife, Pyrrha, threw stones over their heads, and those which he +threw became men, and those thrown by his wife became women. Thus does +mythology account for the new settlement of the country--a tradition +doubtless derived from the remote ages through the children of Japhet, +from whom the Greeks descended, and who, after many wanderings and +migrations, settled in Greece. + +(M325) Deucalion and Pyrrha had two sons, Hellen and Amphictyon. The +eldest, Hellen, by a nymph was the father of Dorus, AEolus, and Xuthus, and +he gave his name to the nation--Hellenas. In dividing the country among his +sons, AEolus received Thessaly; Xuthus, Peloponnesus; and Dorus, the +country lying opposite, on the northern side of the Corinthian Gulf, as +has been already mentioned in the preceding chapter. Substitute Deucalion +for Noah, Greece for Armenia, and Dorus, AEolus, and Xuthus for Shem, Ham, +and Japhet, and we see a reproduction of the Mosaic account of the second +settlement of mankind. + +As it is natural for men to trace their origin to illustrious progenitors, +so the Greeks, in their various settlements, cherished the legends which +represented themselves as sprung from gods and heroes--those great +benefactors, whose exploits occupy the heroic ages. As Hercules was the +Argine hero of the Peloponnesus, so AEolus was the father of heroes sacred +in the history of the AEolians, who inhabited the largest part of Greece. +AEolus reigned in Thessaly, the original seat of the Hellenes. + +(M326) Among his sons was Salmoneus, whose daughter, Tyro, became enamored +of the river Eneipus, and frequenting its banks, the god Poseidon fell in +love with her. The fruits of this alliance were the twin brothers, Pelias +and Neleus, who quarreled respecting the possession of Iolchos, situated +at the foot of Mount Pelion, celebrated afterward as the residence of +Jason. Pelias prevailed, and Neleus returned into Peloponnesus and founded +the kingdom of Pylos. His beautiful daughter, Pero, was sought in marriage +by princes from all the neighboring countries, but he refused to entertain +the pretensions of any of them, declaring that she should only wed the man +who brought him the famous oxen of Iphiklos, in Thessaly. Melampus, the +nephew of Neleus, obtained the oxen for his brother Bias, who thus +obtained the hand of Pero. Of the twelve sons of Neleus, Nestor was the +most celebrated. It was he who assembled the various chieftains for the +siege of Troy, and was pre-eminent over all for wisdom. + +(M327) Another descendant of AEolus was the subject of a beautiful legend. +Admetus, who married a daughter of Pelias, and whose horses were tended by +Apollo, for a time incarnated as a slave in punishment for the murder of +the Cyclopes. Apollo, in gratitude, obtained from the Fates the privilege +that the life of Admetus should be prolonged if any one could be found to +die voluntarily for him. His wife, Alkestes, made the sacrifice, but was +released from the grasp of death (Thanatos) by Hercules, the ancient +friend of Admetus. + +(M328) But a still more beautiful legend is associated with Jason, a great +grandson of AEolus. Pelias, still reigning at Iolchos, was informed by the +oracle to beware of the man who should appear before him with only one +sandal. He was celebrating a festival in honor of Poseidon when Jason +appeared, having lost one of his sandals in crossing a river. As a means +of averting the danger, he imposed upon Jason the task, deemed desperate, +of bringing back to Iolchos the "Golden Fleece." The result was the +memorable Argonautic expedition of the ship Argo, to the distant land of +Colchis, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Jason invited the noblest +youth of Greece to join him in this voyage of danger and glory. Fifty +illustrious persons joined him, including Hercules and Theseus, Castor and +Pollux, Mopsus, and Orpheus. They proceeded along the coast of Thrace, up +the Hellespont, past the southern coast of the Propontis, through the +Bosphorus, onward past Bithynia and Pontus, and arrived at the river +Phasis, south of the Caucasian mountains, where dwelt AEetes, whom they +sought. But he refused to surrender the golden fleece except on conditions +which were almost impossible. Medea, however, his daughter, fell in love +with Jason, and by her means, assisted by Hecate, he succeeded in yoking +the ferocious bulls and plowing the field, and sowing it with dragons' +teeth. Still AEetes refused the reward, and meditated the murder of the +Argonauts; but Medea lulled to sleep the dragon which guarded the fleece, +and fled with her lover and his companions on board the Argo. The +adventurers returned to Iolchos in safety, after innumerable perils, and +by courses irreconcilable with all geographical truths. But Jason could +avenge himself on Pelias only through the stratagem of his wife, and by +her magical arts she induced the daughters of Pelias to cut up their +father, and to cast his limbs into a cauldron, believing that by this +method he would be restored to the vigor of youth, and Jason was thus +revenged, and obtained possession of the kingdom, which he surrendered to +a son of Pelias, and retired with his wife to Corinth. Here he lived ten +years in prosperity, but repudiated Medea in order to marry Glance, the +daughter of the king of Corinth; Medea avenged the insult by the poisoned +robe she sent to Glance as a marriage present, while Jason perished, while +asleep, from a fragment of his ship Argo, which fell upon him. Such is the +legend of the Argonauts, which is typical of the naval adventures of the +maritime Greeks, and their restless enterprises. + +(M329) The legend of Sisyphus is connected with the early history of +Corinth. Sisyphus was the son of AEolus, and founded this wealthy city. He +was distinguished for cunning and deceit. He detected Antolycus, the son +of Hermes, by marking his sheep under the foot, so that the arch-thief was +obliged to acknowledge the superior craft of the AEolid, and restore the +plunder. He discovered the amour of Zeus with the nymph AEgina, and told +her mother where she was carried, which so incensed the "father of gods +and men," that he doomed Sisyphus, in Hades, to the perpetual punishment +of rolling up a hill a heavy stone, which, as soon as it reached the +summit, rolled back again in spite of all his efforts. This legend +illustrates the never ending toils and disappointments of men. + +(M330) Sisyphus was the grandfather of Bellerophon, whose beauty made him +the object of a violent passion on the part of Antea, the wife of a king +of Argos. He rejected her advances, and became as violently hated. She +made false accusations, and persuaded her husband to kill him. Not wishing +to commit the murder directly, he sent him to his son-in-law, the king of +Sykia, in Asia Minor, with a folded tablet full of destructive symbols, +which required him to perform perilous undertakings, which he successfully +performed. He was then recognized as the son of a god, and married the +daughter of the king. This legend reminds us of Joseph in Egypt. + +(M331) We are compelled to omit other interesting legends of the AEolids, +the sons and daughters of AEolus, among which are those which record the +feats of Atalanta, and turn to those which relate to the Pelopids, who +gave to the Peloponnesus its early poetic interest. Of this remarkable +race were Tantalus, Pelops, Atreus, Thyestes, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen, +and Hermione, all of whom figured in the ancient legendary genealogies. + +(M332) Tantalus resided, at a remote antiquity, near Mount Sipylus, in +Lydia, and was a man of immense wealth, and pre-eminently favored both by +gods and men. Intoxicated by prosperity, he stole nectar and ambrosia from +the table of the gods, and revealed their secrets, for which he was +punished in the under world by perpetual hunger and thirst, yet placed +with fruit and water near him, which eluded his grasp when he attempted to +touch them. He had two children, Pelops and Niobe. The latter was blessed +with seven sons and seven daughters, which so inflamed her with pride that +she claimed equality with the goddesses Latona and Diana, who favored her +by their friendship. This presumption so incensed the goddesses, that they +killed all her children, and Niobe wept herself to death, and was turned +into a stone, a striking image of excessive grief. + +(M333) Pelops was a Lydian king, but was expelled from Asia by Ilus, king +of Troy, for his impieties. He came to Greece, and beat Hippodamenia, +whose father was king of Pisa, near Olympia, in Elis, in a chariot race, +when death was the penalty of failure. He succeeded by the favor of +Poseidon, and married the princess, and became king of Pisa. He gave his +name to the whole peninsula, which he was enabled to do from the great +wealth he brought from Lydia, thus connecting the early settlements of the +Peloponnesus with Asia Minor. He had numerous children, who became the +sovereigns of different cities and states in Argos, Elis, Laconia, and +Arcadia. One of them, Atreus, was king of Mycenae, who inherited the +sceptre of Zeus, and whose wealth was proverbial. The sceptre was made by +Hephaestus (Vulcan) and given to Zeus; he gave it to Hermes; Hermes +presented it to Pelops; and Pelops gave it to Atreus, the ruler of men. +Atreus and his brother, Thyestes, bequeathed it to Agamemnon, who ruled at +Mycenae, while his brother, Menelaus, reigned at Sparta. It was the wife of +Menelaus, Helen, who was carried away by Paris, which occasioned the +Trojan war. Agamemnon was killed on his return from Troy, through the +treachery of his wife Clytemnestra, who was seduced by AEgisthus, the son +of Thyestes. His only son, Orestes, afterward avenged the murder, and +recovered Mycenae. Hermione, the only daughter of Menelaus and Helen, was +given in marriage to the son of Achilles, Neoptolemas, who reigned in +Thessaly. Mycenae maintained its independence to the Persian invasion, and +is rendered immortal by the Iliad and Odyssey. On the subsequent +ascendency of Sparta, the bones of Orestes were brought from Tegea, where +they had reposed for generations, in a coffin seven cubits long. + +The other States of the Peloponnesus, have also their genealogical +legends, which trace their ancestors to gods and goddesses, which I omit, +and turn to those which belong to Attica. + +(M334) The great Deucalian deluge, according to legend, happened during +the reign of Ogyges, 1796 years B.C., and 1020 before the first Olympiad. +After a long interval, Cecrops, half man and half serpent, became king of +the country. By some he is represented as a Pelasgian, by others, as an +Egyptian. He introduced the first elements of civilized life--marriage, the +twelve political divisions of Attica, and a new form of worship, +abolishing the bloody sacrifices to Zeus. He gave to the country the name +of Cecropia. During his reign there ensued a dispute between Athenae and +Poseidon, respecting the possession of the Acropolis. Poseidon struck the +rocks with his trident, and produced a well of salt water; Athenae planted +an olive tree. The twelve Olympian gods decided the dispute, and awarded +to Athenae the coveted possession, and she ever afterward remained the +protecting deity of Athens. + +(M335) Among his descendants was Theseus, the great legendary hero of +Attica, who was one of the Argonauts, and also one of those who hunted the +Calidomian boar. He freed Attica from robbers and wild beasts, conquered +the celebrated Minotaur of Crete, and escaped from the labyrinth by the +aid of Ariadne, whom he carried off and abandoned. In the Iliad he is +represented as fighting against the centaurs, and in the Hesiodic poems he +is an amorous knight-errant, misguided by the beautiful AEgle. Among his +other feats, inferior only to those of Hercules, he vanquished the +Amazons--a nation of courageous and hardy women, who came from the country +about Caucasus, and whose principal seats were near the modern Trezibond. +They invaded Thrace, Asia Minor, Greece, Syria, Egypt, and the islands of +the AEgean. The foundation of several towns in Asia Minor is ascribed to +them. In the time of Theseus, this semi-mythical and semi-historical race +of female warriors invaded Attica, and even penetrated to Athens, but were +conquered by the hero king. Allusion is made to their defeat throughout +the literature of Athens. Although Theseus was a purely legendary +personage, the Athenians were accustomed to regard him as a great +political reformer and legislator, who consolidated the Athenian +commonwealth, distributing the people into three classes. + +(M336) The legends pertaining to Thebes occupy a prominent place in +Grecian mythology. Cadmus, the son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, leaves his +country in search of his sister Europa, with whom Zeus, in the form of a +bull, had fallen in love, and carried on his back to Crete. He first goes +to Thrace, and thence to Delphi, to learn tidings of Europa, but the god +directs him not to prosecute his search; he is to follow the guidance of a +cow, and to found a city where the animal should lie down. The cow stops +at the site of Thebes. He marries Harmonia, the daughter of Ares and +Aphrodite, after having killed the dragons which guarded the fountain +Allia, and sowed their teeth. From these armed men sprang up, who killed +each other, except five. From these arose the five great families of +Thebes, called Sparti. One of the Sparti marries a daughter of Cadmus, +whose issue was Pentheus, who became king. It was in his reign that +Dionysus appears as a god in Boeotia, the giver of the vine, and obtains +divine honors in Thebes. Among the descendants of Cadmus was Laius. He is +forewarned by an oracle that any son he should beget would destroy him, +and hence he caused the infant OEdipus to be exposed on Mount Cithanon. +Here the herdsmen of Polybus, king of Corinth, find him, and convey him to +their lord who brings him up as his own child. Distressed by the taunts of +companions as to his unknown parentage, he goes to Delphi, to inquire the +name of his real father. He is told not to return to his own country, for +it was his destiny to kill his father and become the husband of his +mother. Knowing no country but Corinth, he pursues his way to Boeotia, and +meets Laius in a chariot drawn by mules. A quarrel ensues from the +insolence of attendants, and OEdipus kills Laius. The brother of Laius, +Creon, succeeds to the throne of Thebes. The country around is vexed with +a terrible monster, with the face of a woman, the wings of a bird, and the +tail of a lion, called the Sphinx, who has learned from the Muses a +riddle, which she proposed to the Thebans, and on every failure to resolve +it one of them was devoured. But no person can solve the riddle. The king +offers his crown and his sister Jocasta, wife of Laius, in marriage to any +one who would explain the riddle. OEdipus solves it, and is made king of +Thebes, and marries Jocasta. A fatal curse rests upon him. Jocasta, +informed by the gods of her relationship, hangs herself in agony. OEdipus +endures great miseries, as well as his children, whom he curses, and who +quarrel about their inheritance, which quarrel leads to the siege of +Thebes by Adrastus, king of Argos, who seeks to restore Polynices--one of +the sons of OEdipus, to the throne of which he was dispossessed. The +Argetan chieftains readily enter into the enterprise, assisted by numerous +auxiliaries from Arcadia and Messenia. The Cadmeans, assisted by the +Phocians, march out to resist the invaders, who are repulsed, in +consequence of the magnanimity of a generous youth, who offers himself a +victim to Ares. Eteocles then proposed to his brother, Polynices, the +rival claimants, to decide the quarrel by single combat. It resulted in +the death of both, and then in the renewal of the general contest, and the +destruction of the Argeian chiefs, and Adrastus's return to Argos in shame +and woe. + +(M337) But Creon, the father of the self-sacrificing Menaeceus, succeeds on +the death of the rival brothers, to the administration of Thebes. A second +siege takes place, conducted by Adrastus, and the sons of those who had +been slain. Thebes now falls, and Thereander, the son of Polynices, is +made king. The legends of Thebes have furnished the great tragedians +Sophocles and Euripides, with their finest subjects. In the fable of the +Sphinx we trace a connection between Thebes and ancient Egypt. + +But all the legends of ancient Greece yield in interest to that of Troy, +which Homer chose as the subject of his immortal epic. + +(M338) Dardanus, a son of Zeus, is the primitive ancestor of the Trojan +kings, whose seat of power was Mount Ida. His son, Erichthonius, became +the richest of mankind, and had in his pastures three thousand mares. His +son, Tros, was the father of Ilus, Assarcus, and Ganymede. The latter was +stolen by Zeus to be his cup-bearer. + +(M339) Ilus was the father of Laomedon, under whom Apollo and Poseidon, in +mortal form, went through a temporary servitude--the former tending his +flocks, the latter building the walls of Ilium. Laomedon was killed by +Hercules, in punishment for his perfidy in giving him mortal horses for +his destruction of a sea monster, instead of the immortal horses, as he +had promised, the gift of Zeus to Tros. + +(M340) Among the sons of Laomedon was Priam, who was placed upon the +throne. He was the father of illustrious sons, among whom were Hector and +Paris. The latter was exposed on Mount Ida, to avoid the fulfillment of an +evil prophecy, but grew up beautiful and active among the flocks and +herds. It was to him that the three goddesses, Here, Athenae, and Aphrodite +(Juno, Minerva, and Venus), presented their respective claims to beauty, +which he awarded to Aphrodite, and by whom he was promised, in recompense, +Helen, wife of the Spartan king, Menelaus, and daughter of Zeus. Aphrodite +caused ships to be built for him, and he safely arrived in Sparta, and was +hospitably entertained by the unsuspecting monarch. In the absence of +Menelaus in Crete, Paris carries away to Troy both Helen, and a large sum +of money belonging to the king. Menelaus hastens home, informed of the +perfidy, and consults his brother, Agamemnon, and the venerable Nestor. +They interest the Argeian chieftains, who resolve to recover Helen. Ten +years are spent in preparations, consisting of one thousand one hundred +and eighty-six ships, and one hundred thousand men, comprised of heroes +from all parts of Greece, among whom are Ajax, Diomedes, Achilles, and +Odysseus. The heroes set sail from Aulis, and after various mistakes, +reach Asia. + +(M341) Meanwhile the Trojans assemble, with a large body of allies, to +resist the invaders, who demand the redress of a great wrong. The Trojans +are routed in battle, and return within their walls. After various +fortunes, the city is taken, at the end of ten years, by stratagem, and +the Grecian chieftains who were not killed seek to return to their own +country, with Helen among the spoils. They meet with many misfortunes, +from the anger of the gods, for not having spared the altars of Troy. +Their chieftains quarrel among themselves, and even Agamemnon and Menelaus +lose their fraternal friendship. After long wanderings, and bitter +disappointments, and protracted hopes, the heroes return to their +homes--such as war had spared--to recount their adventures and sufferings, +and reconstruct their shattered States, and mend their broken fortunes--a +type of war in all the ages, calamitous even to conquerors. The wanderings +of Ulysses have a peculiar fascination, since they form the subject of the +Odyssey, one of the noblest poems of antiquity. Nor are the adventures of +AEneas scarcely less interesting, as presented by Virgil, who traces the +first Settlement of Latium to the Trojan exiles. We should like to dwell +on the siege of Troy, and its great results, but the subject is too +extensive and complicated. The student of the great event, whether +historical or mystical, must read the detailed accounts in the immortal +epics of Homer. We have only space for the grand outlines, which can be +scarcely more than allusions. + +(M342) Scarcely inferior to the legend of Troy, is that which recounts the +return of the descendants of Hercules to the ancient inheritance on the +Peloponnesus, which, it is supposed, took place three or four hundred +years before authentic history begins, or eighty years after the Trojan +war. + +We have briefly described the geographical position of the most important +part of ancient Greece--the Peloponnesus--almost an island, separated from +the continent only by a narrow gulf, resembling in shape a palm-tree, +indented on all sides by bays, and intersected with mountains, and +inhabited by a simple and warlike race. + +We have seen that the descendants of Perseus, who was a descendant of +Danaus, reigned at Mycenae in Argolis--among whom was Amphitryon, who fled +to Thebes, on the murder of his uncle, with Alemena his wife. Then +Hercules, to whom the throne of Mycenae legitimately belonged, was born, +but deprived of his inheritance by Eurystheus--a younger branch of the +Perseids--in consequence of the anger and jealousy of Juno, and to whom, by +the fates, Hercules was made subject. We have seen how the sons of +Hercules, under Hyllos, attempted to regain their kingdom, but were +defeated, and retreated among the Dorians. + +(M343) After three generations, the Heraclidae set out to regain their +inheritance, assisted by the Dorians. They at length, after five +expeditions, gained possession of the country, and divided it, among the +various chieftains, who established their dominion in Argos, Mycenae, and +Sparta, which, at the time of the Trojan war, was ruled by Agamemnon and +Menelaus, descendants of Pelops. In the next generation, Corinth was +conquered by the Dorians, under an Heraclide prince. + +(M344) The Achaeans, thus expelled by the Dorians from the south and east +of the Peloponnesus, fell back upon the northwest coast, and drove away +the Ionians, and formed a confederacy of twelve cities, which in later +times became of considerable importance. The dispossessed Ionians joined +their brethren of the same race in Attica, but the rugged peninsula was +unequal to support the increased population, and a great migration took +place to the Cyclades and the coasts of Lydia. The colonists there built +twelve cities, about one hundred and forty years after the Trojan war. +Another body of Achaeans, driven out of the Peloponnesus by the Dorians, +first settled in Boeotia, and afterward, with AEolians, sailed to the isle +of Lesbos, where they founded six cities, and then to the opposite +mainland. At the foot of Mount Ida they founded the twelve AEolian cities, +of which Smyrna was the principal. + +(M345) Crete was founded by a body of Dorians and conquered Achaeans. +Rhodes received a similar colony. So did the island of Cos. The cities of +Lindus, Ialysus, Camirus, Cos, with Cnidus and Halicarnassus, on the +mainland, formed the Dorian Hexapolis of Caria, inferior, however, to the +Ionian and AEolian colonies. + +(M346) At the beginning of the mythical age the dominant Hellenic races +were the Achaeans and AEolians; at the close, the Ionians and Dorians were +predominant. The Ionians extended their maritime possessions from Attica +to the Asiatic colonies across the AEgean, and gradually took the lead of +the Asiatic AEolians, and formed a great maritime empire under the +supremacy of Athens. The Hellenic world ultimately was divided and +convulsed by the great contest for supremacy between the Dorians and +Ionians, until the common danger from the Persian invasion united them +together for a time. + +(M347) Thus far we have only legend to guide us in the early history of +Greece. The historical period begins with the First Olympiad, B.C. 776. +Before this all is uncertain, yet as probable as the events of English +history in the mythical period between the departure of the Romans and the +establishment of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom. The history is not all myth; +neither is it clearly authenticated. + +(M348) The various Hellenic tribes, though separated by political +ambition, were yet kindred in language and institutions. They formed great +leagues, or associations, of neighboring cities, for the performance of +religious rites. The Amphictyonic Council, which became subsequently so +famous, was made up of Thessalians, Boeotians, Dorians, Ionians, Achaeans, +Locrians, and Phocians--all Hellenic in race. Their great centre was the +temple of Apollo at Delphi. The different tribes or nations also came +together regularly to take part in the four great religious festivals or +games--the Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemaean--the two former of which +were celebrated every four years. + +(M349) In the Homeric age the dominant State was Achaea, whose capital was +Mycenae. The next in power was Lacedaemon. After the Dorian conquest, Argos +was the first, Sparta the second, and Messenia the third State in +importance. Argos, at the head of a large confederacy of cities on the +northeast of the Peloponnesus, was governed by Phidon--an irresponsible +ruler, a descendant of Hercules, to whom is inscribed the coinage of +silver and copper money, and the introduction of weights and measures. He +flourished B.C. 747. + +(M350) All these various legends, though unsupported by history, have a +great ethical importance, as well as poetic interest. The passions, +habits, and adventures of a primitive and warlike race are presented by +the poets with transcendent effect, and we read lessons of human nature as +in the dramas of Shakespeare. Hence, one of the most learned and dignified +of the English historians deems it worthy of his pen to devote to these +myths a volume of his noble work. Nor is it misplaced labor. These legends +furnished subjects to the tragic and epic poets of antiquity, as well as +to painters and sculptors, in all the ages of art. They are identified +with the development of Grecian genius, and are as imperishable as history +itself. They were to the Greeks realities, and represent all that is vital +in their associations and worship. They stimulated the poetic faculty, and +taught lessons of moral wisdom which all nations respect and venerate. +They contributed to enrich both literature and art. They make AEschylus, +Euripides, Pindar, Homer, and Hesiod great monumental pillars of the +progress of the human race. Therefore, we will not willingly let those +legends die in our memories or hearts. + +(M351) They are particularly important as shedding light on the manners, +customs, and institutions of the ancient Greeks, although they give no +reliable historical facts. They are memorials of the first state of +Grecian society, essentially different from the Oriental world. We see in +them the germs of political constitutions--the rise of liberty--the +pre-eminence of families which forms the foundation for oligarchy, or the +ascendency of nobles. We see also the first beginnings of democratic +influence--the voice of the people asserting a claim to be heard in the +market-place. We see again the existence of slavery--captives taken in war +doomed to attendance in princely palaces, and ultimately to menial labor +on the land. In those primitive times a State was often nothing but a +city, with the lands surrounding it, and therefore it was possible for all +the inhabitants to assemble in the agora with the king and nobles. We +find, in the early condition of Greece, kings, nobles, citizens, and +slaves. + +(M352) The king was seldom distinguished by any impassable barrier between +himself and subjects. He was rather the chief among his nobles, and his +supremacy was based on descent from illustrious ancestors. It passed +generally to the eldest son. In war he was a leader; in peace, a +protector. He offered up prayers and sacrifices for his people to the gods +in whom they all alike believed. He possessed an ample domain, and the +produce of his lands was devoted to a generous but rude hospitality. He +had a large share of the plunder taken from an enemy, and the most +alluring of the female captives. It was, however, difficult for him to +retain ascendency without great personal gifts and virtues, and especially +bravery on the field of battle, and wisdom in council. To the noblest of +these kings the legends ascribe great bodily strength and activity. + +(M353) The kings were assisted by a great council of chieftains or nobles, +whose functions were deliberation and consultation; and after having +talked over their intentions with the chiefs, they announced them to the +people, who assembled in the market-place, and who were generally +submissive to the royal authority, although they were regarded as the +source of power. Then the king, and sometimes his nobles, administered +justice and heard complaints. Public speaking was favorable to eloquence, +and stimulated intellectual development, and gave dignity to tho people to +whom the speeches were addressed. + +(M354) In those primitive times there was a strong religious feeling, +great reverence for the gods, whose anger was deprecated, and whose favor +was sought. The ties of families were strong. Paternal authority was +recognized and revered. Marriage was a sacred institution. The wife +occupied a position of great dignity and influence. Women were not +secluded in a harem, as were the Asiatics, but employed in useful labors. +Children were obedient, and brothers, sisters, and cousins were united +together by strong attachments. Hospitality was a cherished virtue, and +the stranger was ever cordially welcome, nor questioned even until +refreshed by the bath and the banquet. Feasts were free from extravagance +and luxury, and those who shared in them enlivened the company by a +recital of the adventures of gods and men. But passions were unrestrained, +and homicide was common. The murderer was not punished by the State, but +was left to the vengeance of kindred and friends, appeased sometimes by +costly gifts, as among the ancient Jews. + +(M355) There was a rude civilization among the ancient Greeks, reminding +us of the Teutonic tribes, but it was higher than theirs. We observe the +division of the people into various trades and occupations--carpenters, +smiths, leather-dressers, leeches, prophets, bards, and fishermen, +although the main business was agriculture. Cattle were the great staple +of wealth, and the largest part of the land was devoted to pasture. The +land was tilled chiefly by slaves, and women of the servile class were +doomed to severe labor and privations. They brought the water, and they +turned the mills. Spinning and weaving were, however, the occupations of +all, and garments for men and women were alike made at home. There was +only a limited commerce, which was then monopolized by the Phoenicians, who +exaggerated the dangers of the sea. There were walled cities, palaces, and +temples. Armor was curiously wrought, and arms were well made. Rich +garments were worn by princes, and their palaces glittered with the +precious metals. Copper was hardened so as to be employed in weapons of +war. The warriors had chariots and horses, and were armed with sword, +dagger, and spear, and were protected by helmets, breastplates, and +greaves. Fortified cities were built on rocky elevations, although the +people generally lived in unfortified villages. The means of defense were +superior to those of offense, which enabled men to preserve their +acquisitions, for the ancient chieftains resembled the feudal barons of +the Middle Ages in the passion for robbery and adventure. We do not read +of coined money nor the art of writing, nor sculpture, nor ornamental +architecture among the Homeric Greeks; but they were fond of music and +poetry. Before history commences, they had their epics, which, sung by the +bards and minstrels, furnished Homer and Hesiod with materials for their +noble productions. It is supposed by Grote that the Homeric poems were +composed eight hundred and fifty years before Christ, and preserved two +hundred years without the aid of writing--of all poems the most popular and +natural, and addressed to unlettered minds. + +Such were the heroic ages with their myths, their heroes, their simple +manners, their credulity, their religious faith, their rude civilization. +We have now to trace their progress through the historical epoch. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +THE GRECIAN STATES AND COLONIES TO THE PERSIAN WARS. + + +We come now to consider those States which grew into importance about the +middle of the eighth century before Christ, at the close of the legendary +period. + +(M356) The most important of these was Sparta, which was the leading +State. We have seen how it was conquered by Dorians, under Heraclic +princes. Its first great historic name was Lycurgus, whom some historians, +however, regard as a mythical personage. + +(M357) Sparta was in a state of anarchy in consequence of the Dorian +conquest, a contest between the kings, aiming at absolute power, and the +people, desirous of democratic liberty. At this juncture the king, +Polydectes, died, leaving Lycurgus, his brother, guardian of the realm, +and of the infant heir to the throne. The future lawgiver then set out on +his travels, visiting the other States of Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, and +other countries, and returned to Sparta about the period of the first +Olympiad, B.C. 776, with a rich store of wisdom and knowledge. The State +was full of disorders, but he instituted great reforms, aided by the +authority of the Delphic oracle, and a strong party of influential men. +His great object was to convert the citizens of Sparta into warriors +united by the strongest bonds, and trained to the severest discipline, +governed by an oligarchy under the form of the ancient monarchy. In other +words, his object was to secure the ascendency of the small body of Dorian +invaders that had conquered Laconia. + +(M358) The descendants of these invaders, the Spartans, alone possessed +the citizenship, and were equal in political rights. They were the +proprietors of the soil, which was tilled by Helots. The Spartans +disdained any occupation but war and government. They lived within their +city, which was a fortified camp, and ate in common at public tables, and +on the simplest fare. Every virtue and energy were concentrated on +self-discipline and sacrifice, in order to fan the fires of heroism and +self-devotion. They were a sort of stoics--hard, severe, proud, despotic, +and overbearing. They cared nothing for literature, or art, or philosophy. +Even eloquence was disdained, and the only poetry or music they cultivated +were religions hymns and heroic war songs. Commerce was forbidden by the +constitution, and all the luxuries to which it leads. Only iron was +allowed for money, and the precious metals were prohibited. Every +exercise, every motive, every law, contributed to make the Spartans +soldiers, and nothing but soldiers. Their discipline was the severest +known to the ancients. Their habits of life were austere and rigid. They +were trained to suffer any hardship without complaint. + +(M359) Besides these Spartan citizens were the _Perioeci_--remnants of the +old Achaean population, but mixed with an inferior class of Dorians. They +had no political power, but possessed personal freedom. They were landed +proprietors, and engaged in commerce and manufactures. + +(M360) Below this class were the Helots--pure Greeks, but reduced to +dependence by conquest. They were bound to the soil, like serfs, but dwelt +with their families on the farms they tilled. They were not bought and +sold as slaves. They were the body servants of the Spartan citizens, and +were regarded as the property of the State. They were treated with great +haughtiness and injustice by their masters, which bred at last an intense +hatred. + +(M361) All political power was in the hands of the citizen warriors, only +about nine thousand in number in the time of Lycurgus. From them emanated +all delegated authority, except that of kings. This assembly, or +_ecclesia_, of Spartans over thirty years of age, met at stated intervals +to decide on all important matters submitted to them, but they had no +right of amendment--only a simple approval or rejection. + +(M362) The body to which the people, it would seem, delegated considerable +power, was the Senate, composed of thirty members, not under sixty years +of age, and elected for life. They were a deliberative body, and judges in +all capital charges against Spartans. They were not chosen for noble birth +or property qualifications, but for merit and wisdom. + +(M363) At the head of the State, at least nominally, were two kings, who +were numbered with the thirty senators. They had scarcely more power than +the Roman consuls; they commanded the armies, and offered the public +sacrifices, and were revered as the descendants of Hercules. + +(M364) The persons of most importance were the ephors, chosen annually by +the people, who exercised the chief executive power, and without +responsibility. They could even arrest kings, and bring them to trial +before the Senate. Two of the five ephors accompanied the king in war, and +were a check on his authority. + +(M365) It would thus seem that the government of Sparta was a republic of +an aristocratic type. There were no others nobler than citizens, but these +citizens composed but a small part of the population. They were Spartans--a +handful of conquerors, in the midst of hostile people--a body of lords +among slaves and subjects. They sympathized with law and order, and +detested the democratical turbulence of Athens. They were trained, by +their military education, to subordination, obedience, and self-sacrifice. +They, as citizens or as soldiers, existed only for the _State_, and to the +State every thing was subordinate. In our times, the State is made for the +people; in Sparta, the people for the State. This generated an intense +patriotism and self-denial. It also permitted a greater interference of +the State in personal matters than would now be tolerated in any despotism +in Europe. It made the citizens submissive to a division of property, +which if not a perfect community of goods, was fatal to all private +fortunes. But the property which the citizens thus shared was virtually +created by the Helots, who alone tilled the ground. The wealth of nations +is in the earth, and it is its cultivation which is the ordinary source of +property. The State, not individual masters, owned the Helots; and they +toiled for the citizens. In the modern sense of liberty, there was very +little in Sparta, except that which was possessed by the aristocratic +citizens--the conquerors of the country--men, whose very occupation was war +and government, and whose very amusement were those which fostered warlike +habits. The Roman citizens did not disdain husbandry, nor the Puritan +settlers of New England, but the Spartan citizens despised both this and +all trade and manufacture. Never was a haughtier class of men than these +Spartan soldiers. They exceeded in pride the feudal chieftain. + +(M366) Such an exclusive body of citizens, however, jealous of their +political privileges, constantly declined in numbers, so that, in the time +of Aristotle, there were only one thousand Spartan citizens; and this +decline continued in spite of all the laws by which the citizens were +compelled to marry, and those customs, so abhorrent to our Christian +notions, which permitted the invasion of marital rights for the sake of +healthy children. + +(M367) As it was to war that the best energies of the Spartans were +directed, so their armies were the admiration of the ancient world for +discipline and effectiveness. They were the first who reduced war to a +science. The general type of their military organization was the phalanx, +a body of troops in close array, armed with a long spear and short sword. +The strength of an army was in the heavy armed infantry; and this body was +composed almost entirely of citizens, with a small mixture of Perioeci. +From the age of twenty to sixty, every Spartan was liable to military +service; and all the citizens formed an army, whether congregated at +Sparta, or absent on foreign service. + +Such, in general, were the social, civil, and military institutions of +Sparta, and not peculiar to her alone, but to all the Dorians, even in +Crete; from which we infer that it was not Lycurgus who shaped them, but +that they existed independent of his authority. He may have re-established +the old regulations, and gave his aid to preserve the State from +corruption and decay. And when we remember that the constitution which he +re-established resisted both the usurpations of tyrants and the advances +of democracy, by which other States were revolutionized, we can not +sufficiently admire the wisdom which so early animated the Dorian +legislators. + +(M368) The Spartans became masters of the country after a long struggle, +and it was henceforth called Laconia. The more obstinate Achaeans became +Helots. After the conquest, the first memorable event in Spartan history +was the reduction of Messenia, for which it took two great wars. + +(M369) Messenia has already been mentioned as the southwestern part of the +Peloponnesus, and resembling Laconia in its general aspects. The river +Parnisus flows through its entire length, as Eurotas does in Laconia, +forming fertile valleys and plains, and producing various kinds of cereals +and fruits, even as it now produces oil, silk, figs, wheat, maize, cotton, +wine, and honey. The area of Messenia is one thousand one hundred and +ninety-two square miles, not so large as one of our counties. The early +inhabitants had been conquered by the Dorians, and it was against the +descendants of these conquerors that the Spartans made war. The murder of +a Spartan king, Teleclus, at a temple on the confines of Laconia and +Messenia, where sacrifices were offered in common, gave occasion for the +first war, which lasted nineteen years, B.C. 743. Other States were +involved in the quarrel--Corinth on the side of Sparta, and Sicyon and +Arcadia on the part of the Messenians. The Spartans having the superiority +in the field, the Messenians retreated to their stronghold of Ithome, +where they defended themselves fifteen years. But at last they were +compelled to abandon it, and the fortress was razed to the ground. The +conquered were reduced to the condition of Helots--compelled to cultivate +the land and pay half of its produce to their new masters. The Spartan +citizens became the absolute owners of the whole soil of Messenia. + +(M370) After thirty-nine years of servitude, a hero arose among the +conquered Messenians, Aristomenes, like Judas Maccabeus, or William +Wallace, who incited his countrymen to revolt. The whole of the +Peloponnesus became involved in the new war, and only Corinth became the +ally of Sparta; the remaining States of Argos, Sicyon, Arcadia, and Pisa, +sided with the Messenians. The Athenian poet, Tyrtaeus, stimulated the +Spartans by his war-songs. In the first great battle, the Spartans were +worsted; in the second, they gained a signal victory, so that the +Messenians were obliged to leave the open country and retire to the +fortress on Mount Ira. Here they maintained themselves eleven years, the +Spartans being unused to sieges, and trained only to conflict in the open +field. The fortress was finally taken by treachery, and the hero who +sought to revive the martial glories of his State fled to Rhodes. Messenia +became now, B.C. 668, a part of Laconia, and it was three hundred years +before it appeared again in history. + +(M371) The Spartans, after the conquest of Messenia, turned their eyes +upon Arcadia--that land of shepherds, free and simple and brave like +themselves. The city of Tegea long withstood the arms of the Spartans, but +finally yielded to superior strength, and became a subject ally, B.C. 560. +Sparta was further increased by a part of Argos, and a great battle, B.C. +547, between the Argives and Spartans, resulted in the complete ascendency +of Sparta in the southern part of the Peloponnesus, about the time that +Cyrus overthrew the Lydian empire. The Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor invoked +their aid against the Persian power, and Sparta proudly rallied in their +defense. + +(M372) Meanwhile, a great political revolution was going on in the other +States of Greece, in no condition to resist the pre-eminence of Sparta, +The patriarchal monarchies of the heroic ages had gradually been subverted +by the rising importance of the nobility, enriched by conquered lands. +Every conquest, every step to national advancement, brought the nobles +nearer to the crown, and the government passed into the hands of those +nobles who had formerly composed the council of the king. With the growing +power of nobles was a corresponding growth of the political power of the +people or citizens, in consequence of increased wealth and intelligence. +The political changes were rapid. As the nobles had usurped the power of +the kings, so the citizens usurped the power of the nobles. The +everlasting war of classes, where the people are intelligent and free, was +signally illustrated in the Grecian States, and democracy succeeded to the +oligarchy which had prostrated kings. Then, when the people had gained the +ascendency, ambitious and factious demagogues in turn, got the control, +and these adventurers, now called Tyrants, assumed arbitrary powers. Their +power was only maintained by cruelty, injustice, and unscrupulous means, +which caused them finally to be so detested that they were removed by +assassination. These natural changes, from a monarchy, primitive and just +and limited, to an oligarchy of nobles, and the gradual subversion of +their power by wealthy and enlightened citizens, and then the rise of +demagogues, who became tyrants, have been illustrated in all ages of the +world. But the rapidity of these changes in the Grecian States, with the +progress of wealth and corruption, make their history impressive on all +generations. It is these rapid and natural revolutions which give to the +political history of Greece its permanent interest and value. The age of +the Tyrants is generally fixed from B.C. 650 to B.C. 500--about one hundred +and fifty years. + +(M373) No State passed through these changes of government more signally +than Corinthia, which, with Megaris, formed the isthmus which connected +the Peloponnesus with Greece Proper. It was a small territory, covered +with the ridges and the spurs of the Geranean and and Oneian mountains, +and useless for purposes of agriculture. Its principal city was Corinth; +was favorably situated for commerce, and rapidly grew in population and +wealth. It also commanded the great roads which led from Greece Proper +through the defiles of the mountains into the Peloponnesus. It rapidly +monopolized the commerce of the AEgean Sea, and the East through the +Saronic Gulf; and through the Corinthian Gulf it commanded the trade of +the Ionian and Sicilian seas. + +(M374) Corinth, by some, is supposed have been a Phoenician colony. Before +authentic history begins, it was inhabited by a mixed population of +AEolians and Ionians, the former of whom were dominant. Over them reigned +Sisyphus, according to tradition, the grandfather of Bellerophon who laid +the foundation of mercantile prosperity. The first historical king was +Aletes, B.C. 1074, the leader of Dorian invaders, who subdued the AEolians, +and incorporated them with their own citizens. The descendants of Aletes +reigned twelve generations, when the nobles converted the government into +an oligarchy, under Bacchis, who greatly increased the commercial +importance of the city. In 754, B.C., Corinth began to colonize, and +fitted out a war fleet for the protection of commerce. The oligarchy was +supplanted by Cypselus, B.C. 655, a man of the people, whose mother was of +noble birth, but rejected by her family, of the ruling house of the +Bacchiadae, on account of lameness. His son Periander reigned forty years +with cruel despotism, but made Corinth the leading commercial city of +Greece, and he subjected to her sway the colonies planted on the islands +of the Ionian Sea, one of which was Corcyra (Corfu), which gained a great +mercantile fame. It was under his reign that the poet Arion, or Lesbos, +flourished, to whom he gave his patronage. In three years after the death +of Periander, 585 B.C., the oligarchal power was restored, and Corinth +allied herself with Sparta in her schemes of aggrandizement. + +(M375) The same change of government was seen in Megara, a neighboring +State, situated on the isthmus, between Corinth and Attica, and which +attained great commercial distinction. As a result of commercial opulence, +the people succeeded in overthrowing the government, an oligarchy of +Dorian conquerors, and elevating a demagogue, Theagenes, to the supreme +power, B.C. 630. He ruled tyrannically, in the name of the people, for +thirty years, but was expelled by the oligarchy, which regained power. +During his reign all kinds of popular excesses were perpetrated, +especially the confiscation of the property of the rich. + +(M376) Other States are also illustrations of this change of government +from kings to oligarchies, and oligarchies to demagogues and tyrants, as +on the isle of Lesbos, where Pittacus reigned dictator, but with wisdom +and virtue--one of the seven wise men of Greece--and in Samos, where +Polycrates rivaled the fame of Periander, and adorned his capital with +beautiful buildings, and patronized literature and art. One of his friends +was Anacreon, the poet. He was murdered by the Persians, B.C. 522. + +But the State which most signally illustrates the revolutions in +government was Athens. + +"Where on the AEgean shore a city stands,-- +Built nobly; pure the air, and light the soil: +Athena, the eye of Greece, mother of arts +And eloquence, native to famous wits." + +(M377) Every thing interesting or impressive in the history of classical +antiquity clusters round this famous city, so that without Athens there +could be no Greece. Attica, the little State of which it was the capital, +formed a triangular peninsula, of about seven hundred square miles. The +country is hilly and rocky, and unfavorable to agriculture; but such was +the salubrity of the climate, and the industry of the people, all kinds of +plants and animals flourished. The history of the country, like that of +the other States, is mythical, to the period of the first Olympiad. Ogyges +has the reputation of being the first king of a people who claimed to be +indigenous, about one hundred and fifty years before the arrival of +Cecrops, who came, it is supposed, from Egypt, and founded Athens, and +taught the simple but savage natives a new religion, and the elements of +civilized life, 1556 B.C. It received its name from the goddess Neith, +introduced by him from Egypt, under the name of Athena, or Minerva. It was +also called Cecropia, from its founder. Until the time of Theseus it was a +small town, confined to the Acropolis and Mars Hill. This hero is the +great name of ancient Athenian legend, as Hercules is to Greece generally. +He cleared the roads of robbers, and formed an aristocratical +constitution, with a king, who was only the first of his nobles. But he +himself, after having given political unity, was driven away by a +conspiracy of nobles, leaving the throne to Menesthius, a descendant of +the ancient kings. This monarch reigned twenty-four years, and lost his +life at the siege of Troy. The whole period of the monarchy lies within +the mythical age. Tradition makes Codrus the last king, who was slain +during an invasion of the Dorians, B.C. 1045. Resolving to have no future +king, the Athenians substituted the office of archon, or ruler, and made +his son, Medus, the superior magistrate. This office remained hereditary +in the family of Codrus for thirteen generations. In B.C. 752, the +duration of the office was fixed for ten years. It remained in the family +of Codrus thirty-eight years longer, when it was left open for all the +nobles. In 683 B.C. nine archons were annually elected from the nobles, +the first having superior dignity. + +(M378) The first of these archons, of whom any thing of importance is +recorded, was Draco, who governed Athens in the year 624 B.C., who +promulgated written laws, exceedingly severe, inflicting capital +punishment for slight offenses. The people grew weary of him and his laws, +and he was banished to AEgina, where he died, from a conspiracy headed by +Cylon, one of the nobles, who seized the Acropolis, B.C. 612. His +insurrection, however, failed, and he was treacherously put to death by +one of the archons, which led to the expulsion of the whole body, and a +change in the constitution. + +(M379) This was effected by Solon, the Athenian sage and law-giver--himself +of the race of Codrus, whom the Athenians chose as archon, with full power +to make new laws. Intrusted with absolute power, he abstained from abusing +it--a patriot in the most exalted sense, as well as a poet and philosopher. +Urged by his friends to make himself tyrant, he replied that tyranny might +be a fair country, only there was no way out of it. + +(M380) When he commenced his reforms, the nobles, or Eupatridae, were in +possession of most of the fertile land of Attica, while the poorer +citizens possessed only the sterile highlands. This created an unhappy +jealousy between the rich and poor. Besides, there was another class that +had grown rich by commerce, animated by the spirit of freedom. But their +influence tended to widen the gulf between the rich and poor. The poor got +into debt, and fell in the power of creditors, and sunk to the condition +of serfs, and many were even sold in slavery, for the laws were severe +against debtors, as in ancient Rome. Solon, like Moses in his institution +of the Year of Jubilee, set free all the estates and persons that had +fallen in the power of creditors, and ransomed such as were sold in +slavery. + +(M381) Having removed the chief source of enmity between the rich and +poor, he repealed the bloody laws of Draco, and commenced to remodel the +political constitution. The fundamental principles which he adopted was a +distribution of power to all citizens according to their wealth. But the +nobles were not deprived of their ascendency, only the way was opened to +all citizens to reach political distinction, especially those who were +enriched by commerce. He made an assessment of the landed property of all +the citizens, taking as the medium a standard of value which was +equivalent to a drachma of annual produce. The first class, who had no +aristocratic titles, were called Pentacosio medimni, from possessing five +hundred medimni or upward. They alone were eligible to the archonship and +other high offices, and bore the largest share of the public burdens. The +second class was called Knights, because they were bound to serve as +cavalry. They filled the inferior offices, farmed the revenue, and had the +commerce of the country in their hands. + +(M382) The third class was called Zeugitae (yokesmen), from their ability +to keep a yoke of oxen. They were small farmers, and served in the +heavy-armed infantry, and were subject to a property-tax. All those whose +incomes fell short of two hundred medimni formed the fourth class, and +served in the light-armed troops, and were exempt from property-tax, but +disqualified for public office, and yet they had a vote in popular +elections, and in the judgment passed upon archons at the expiration of +office. "The direct responsibility of all the magistrates to the popular +assembly, was the most democratic of all the institutions of Solon; and +though the government was still in the hands of the oligarchy, Solon +clearly foresaw, if he did not purposely prepare for, the preponderance of +the popular element." "To guard against hasty measures, he also instituted +the Senate of four hundred, chosen year by year, from the four Ionic +tribes, whose office was to prepare all business for the popular assembly, +and regulate its meetings. The Areopagus retained its ancient functions, +to which Solon added a general oversight over all the public institutions, +and over the private life of the citizens. He also enacted many other laws +for the administration of justice, the regulation of social life, the +encouragement of commerce, and the general prosperity of the State." His +whole legislation is marked by wisdom and patriotism, and adaptation to +the circumstances of the people who intrusted to him so much power and +dignity. The laws were, however, better than the people, and his +legislative wisdom and justice place him among the great benefactors of +mankind, for who can tell the ultimate influence of his legislation on +Rome and on other nations. The most beautiful feature was the +responsibility of the chief magistrates to the people who elected them, +and from the fact that they could subsequently be punished for bad conduct +was the greatest security against tyranny and peculation. + +(M383) After having given this constitution to his countrymen, the +lawgiver took his departure from Athens, for ten years, binding the people +by a solemn oath to make no alteration in his laws. He visited Egypt, +Cyprus, and Asia Minor, and returned to Athens to find his work nearly +subverted by one of his own kinsmen. Pisistratus, of noble origin, but a +demagogue, contrived, by his arts and prodigality, to secure a guard, +which he increased, and succeeded in seizing the Acropolis, B.C. 560, and +in usurping the supreme authority--so soon are good laws perverted, so +easily are constitutions overthrown, when demagogues and usurpers are +sustained by the people. A combination of the rich and poor drove him into +exile; but their divisions and hatreds favored his return. Again he was +exiled by popular dissension, and a third time he regained his power, but +only by a battle. He sustained his usurpation by means of Thracian +mercenaries, and sent the children of all he suspected as hostages to +Naxos. He veiled his despotic power under the forms of the constitution, +and even submitted himself to the judgment of the Areopagus on the charge +of murder. He kept up his popularity by generosity and affability, by +mingling freely with the citizens, by opening to them his gardens, by +adorning the city with beautiful edifices, and by a liberal patronage of +arts and letters. He founded a public library, and collected the Homeric +poems in a single volume. He ruled beneficently, as tyrants often +have,--like Caesar, like Richelieu, like Napoleon,--identifying his own glory +with the welfare of the State. He died after a successful reign of +thirty-three years, B.C. 527, and his two sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, +succeeded him in the government, ruling, like their father, at first +wisely but despotically, cultivating art and letters and friendship of +great men. But sensual passions led to outrages which resulted in the +assassination of Hipparchus. Hippias, having punished the conspirators, +changed the spirit of the government, imposed arbitrary taxes, surrounded +himself with an armed guard, and ruled tyrannically and cruelly. After +four years of despotic government, Athens was liberated, chiefly by aid of +the Lacedaemonians, now at the highest of their power. Hippias retired to +the court of Persia, and planned and guided the attack of Darius on +Greece--a traitor of the most infamous kind, since he combined tyranny at +home with the coldest treachery to his country. His accursed family were +doomed to perpetual banishment, and never succeeded in securing a pardon. +Their power had lasted fifty years, and had been fatal to the liberties of +Athens. + +(M384) The Lacedaemonians did not retire until their king Cleomenes formed +a close friendship with Isagoras, the leader of the aristocratic party--and +no people were prouder of their birth than the old Athenian nobles. +Opposed to him was Cleisthenes, of the noble family of the Alcmaeonids, who +had been banished in the time of Megacles, for the murder of Cylon, who +had been treacherously enticed from the sanctuary at the altar of Athena. +Cleisthenes gained the ear of the people, and prevailed over Isagoras, and +effected another change in the constitution, by which it became still more +democratic. He remodeled the basis of citizenship, heretofore confined to +the four Ionic tribes; and divided the whole country into demes, or +parishes, each of which managed its local affairs. All freemen were +enrolled in the demes, and became members of the tribes, now ten in +number, instead of the old four Ionian tribes. He increased the members of +the senate from four to five hundred, fifty members being elected from +each tribe. To this body was committed the chief functions of executive +government. It sat in permanence, and was divided into ten sections, one +for each tribe, and each section or committee, called _prytany_, had the +presidency of the senate and ecclesia during its term. Each prytany of +fifty members was subdivided into committees of ten, each of which held +the presidency for seven days, and out of these a chairman was chosen by +lot every day, to preside in the senate and assembly, and to keep the keys +of the Acropolis and treasury, and public seal. Nothing shows jealousy of +power more than the brief term of office which the president exercised. + +(M385) The ecclesia, or assembly of the people, was the arena for the +debate of all public measures. The archons were chosen according to the +regulations of Solon, but were stripped of their power, which was +transferred to the senate and ecclesia. The generals were elected by the +people annually, one from each tribe. They were called strategi, and had +also the direction of foreign affairs. It was as first strategus that +Pericles governed--"prime minister of the people." + +(M386) In order to guard against the ascendency of tyrants--the great evil +of the ancient States, Cleisthenes devised the institution of _ostracism_, +by which a suspected or obnoxious citizen could be removed from the city +for ten years, though practically abridged to five. It simply involved an +exclusion from political power, without casting a stigma on the character. +It was virtually a retirement, during which his property and rights +remained intact, and attended with no disgrace. The citizens, after the +senate had decreed the vote was needful, were required to write a name in +an oyster shell, and he who had less than six thousand votes was obliged +to withdraw within ten days from the city. The wisdom of this measure is +proved in the fact that no tyrannical usurpation occurred at Athens after +that of Pisistratus. This revolution which Cleisthenes effected was purely +democratic, to which the aristocrats did not submit without a struggle. +The aristocrats called to their aid the Spartans, but without other effect +than creating that long rivalry which existed between democracy and +oligarchy in Greece, in which Sparta and Athens were the representatives. + +About this time began the dominion of Athens over the islands of the AEgean +and the system of colonizing conquered States, This was the period which +immediately preceded the Persian wars, when Athens reached the climax of +political glory. + +(M387) Next in importance to the States which have been briefly mentioned +was Boeotia, which contained fourteen cities, united in a confederacy, of +which Thebes took the lead. They were governed by magistrates, called +boetarchs, elected annually. In these cities aristocratic institutions +prevailed. The people were chiefly of AEolian descent, with a strong +mixture of the Dorian element, and were dull and heavy, owing, probably, +to the easy facilities of support, in consequence of the richness of the +soil. + +(M388) At the west of Boeotia, Phocis, with its small territory, gained +great consideration from the possession of the Delphic oracle; but its +people thus far, of Achaean origin, played no important part in the +politics of Greece. + +(M389) North of the isthmus lay the extensive plains of Thessaly, inclosed +by lofty mountains. Nature favored this State more than any other in +Greece for political pre-eminence, but inhabitants of AEolian origin were +any thing but famous. At first they were governed by kings, but +subsequently an aristocratic government prevailed. They were represented +in the Amphictyonic Council. + +(M390) The history of Macedonia is obscure till the time of the Persian +wars; but its kings claimed an Heraclid origin. The Doric dialect +predominated in a rude form. + +(M391) Epirus, west of Thessaly and Macedonia, was inhabited by various +tribes, under their own princes, until the kings of Molossus, claiming +descent from Achilles, founded the dynasty which was so powerful under +Pyrrus. + +There is but little interest connected with the States of Greece, before +the Persian wars, except Sparta, Athens, and Corinth; and hence a very +brief notice is all that is needed. + +(M392) But the Grecian colonies are of more importance. They were numerous +in the islands of the AEgean Sea, in Epirus, and in Asia Minor, and even +extended into Italy, Sicily, and Gaul. They were said to be planted as +early as the Trojan war by the heroes who lived to return--by Agamemnon on +the coast of Asia; by the sons of Theseus in Thrace; by Ialmenus on the +Euxine; by Diomed and others in Italy. But colonization, to any extent, +did not take place until the AEolians invaded Boeotia, and the Dorians, the +Peloponnesus. The Achaeans, driven from their homes by the Dorians, sought +new seats in the East, under chieftains who claimed descent from Agamemnon +and other heroes who went to the siege of Troy. They settled, first, on +the Isle of Lesbos, where they founded six cities. Others made settlements +on the mainland, from the Hermes to Mount Ida. But the greatest migration +was made by the Ionians, who, dislodged by Achaeans, went first to Attica, +and thence to the Cyclades and the coasts of Asia, afterward called Ionia. +Twelve independent States were gradually formed of divers elements, and +assumed the Ionian name. Among those twelve cities, or States, were +Sarnos, Chios, Miletus, Ephesus, Colophon, and Phocaea. The purest Ionian +blood was found at Miletus, the seat of Neleus. These cities were probably +inhabited by other races before the Ionians came. To these another was +subsequently added--Smyrna, which still retains its ancient name. The +southwest corner of the Asiatic peninsula, about the same time, was +colonized by a body of Dorians, accompanied by conquered Achaeans, the +chief seat of which was Halicarnassus. Crete, Rhodes, Cos, and Cnidus, +were colonized also by the same people; but Rhodes is the parent of the +Greek colonies on the south coast of Asia Minor. A century afterward, +Cyprus was founded, and then Sicily was colonized, and then the south of +Italy. They were successively colonized by different Grecian tribes, +Achaean or AEolian, Dorian, and Ionian. But all the colonists had to contend +with races previously established, Iberians, Phoenicians, Sicanians; and +Sicels. Among the Greek cities in Sicily, Syracuse, founded by Dorians, +was the most important, and became, in turn, the founder of other cities. +Sybaris and Croton, in the south of Italy, were of Achaean origin. The +Greeks even penetrated to the northern part of Africa, and founded Cyrene; +while, on the Euxine, along the north coast of Asia Minor, Cyzicus and +Sinope arose. These migrations were generally undertaken with the +approbation and encouragement of the mother States. There was no colonial +jealousy, and no dependence. The colonists, straitened for room at home, +carried the benedictions of their fathers, and were emancipated from their +control. Sometimes the colony became more powerful than the parent State, +but both colonies and parent States were bound together by strong ties of +religion, language, customs, and interests. The colonists uniformly became +conquerors where they settled, but ever retained their connection with the +mother country. And they grew more rapidly than the States from which they +came, and their institutions were more democratic. The Asiatic colonies +especially, made great advances in civilization by their contact with the +East. Music, poetry, and art were cultivated with great enthusiasm. The +Ionians took the lead, and their principal city, Miletus, is said to have +planted no less than eighty colonies. The greatness of Ephesus was of a +later date, owing, in part, to the splendid temple of Artemis, to which +Asiatics as well as Greeks made contributions. One of the most remarkable +of the Greek colonies was Cyrene, on the coast of Africa, which was of +peculiar beauty, and was famous for eight hundred years. + +(M393) So the Greeks, although they occupied a small territory, yet, by +their numerous colonies in all those parts watered by the Mediterranean, +formed, if not politically, at least socially, a powerful empire, and +exercised a vast influence on the civilized world. From Cyprus to +Marseilles--from the Crimea to Cyrene, numerous States spoke the same +language, and practiced the same rites, which were observed in Athens and +Sparta. Hence the great extent of country in Asia and Europe to which the +Greek language was familiar, and still more the arts which made Athens the +centre of a new civilization. Some of the most noted philosophers and +artists of antiquity were born in these colonies. The power of Hellas was +not a centralized empire, like Persia, or even Rome, but a domain in the +heart and mind of the world. It was Hellas which worked out, in its +various States and colonies, great problems of government, as well as +social life. Hellas was the parent of arts, of poetry, of philosophy, and +of all aesthetic culture--the pattern of new forms of life, and new modes of +cultivation. It is this Grecian civilization which appeared in full +development as early as five hundred years before the Christian era, which +we now propose, in a short chapter, to present--the era which immediately +preceded the Persian wars. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +GRECIAN CIVILIZATION BEFORE THE PERSIAN WARS. + + +Early civilization. We understand by civilization the progress which +nations have made in art, literature, material strength, social culture, +and political institutions, by which habits are softened, the mind +enlarged, the soul elevated, and a wise government, by laws established, +protecting the weak, punishing the wicked, and developing wealth and +national resources. + +Such a civilization did exist to a remarkable degree among the Greeks, +which was not only the admiration of their own times, but a wonder to all +succeeding ages, since it was established by the unaided powers of man, +and affected the relations of all the nations of Europe and Asia which +fell under its influence. + +It is this which we propose briefly to present in this chapter, not the +highest developments of Grecian culture and genius, but such as existed in +the period immediately preceding the Persian wars. + +(M394) One important feature in the civilization of Greece was the +progress made in legislation by Lycurmis and Solon, But as this has been +alluded to, we pass on to consider first those institutions which were +more national and universal. + +(M395) The peculiar situations of the various States, independent of each +other, warlike, encroaching, and ambitious, led naturally to numerous +wars, which would have been civil wars had all these petty States been +united under a common government. But incessant wars, growing out of +endless causes of irritation, would have soon ruined these States, and +they could have had no proper development. Something was needed to +restrain passion and heal dissensions without a resort to arms, ever +attended by dire calamities. And something was needed to unite these +various States, in which the same language was spoken, and the same +religion and customs prevailed. This union was partially effected by the +Amphictyonic Council. It was a congress, composed of deputies from the +different States, and deliberating according to rules established from +time immemorial. Its meetings were held in two different places, and were +convened twice a year, once in the spring, at Delphi, the other in the +autumn, near the pass of Thermopylae. Delphi was probably the original +place of meeting, and was, therefore, in one important sense, the capital +of Greece. Originally, this council or congress was composed of deputies +from twelve States, or tribes--Thessalians, Boeotians, Dorians, Ionians, +Perrhaebians, Magnetes, Locrians, Octaeans, Phthiots, Achaeans, Melians, and +Phocians. These tribes assembled together before authentic history +commences, before the return of the Heracleids. There were other States +which were not represented in this league--Arcadia, Elis, AEolia, and +Acarnania; but the league was sufficiently powerful to make its decisions +respected by the greater part of Greece. Each tribe, whether powerful or +weak, had two votes in the assembly. Beside those members who had the +exclusive power of voting, there were others, and more numerous, who had +the privilege of deliberation. The object of the council was more for +religious purposes than political, although, on rare occasions and +national crises, subjects of a political nature were discussed. The +council laid down the rules of war, by which each State that was +represented was guaranteed against complete subjection, and the supplies +of war were protected. There was no confederacy against foreign powers. +The functions of the league were confined to matters purely domestic; the +object of the league was the protection of temples against sacrilege. But +the council had no common army to execute its decrees, which were often +disregarded. In particular, the protection of the Delphic oracle, it acted +with dignity and effect, whose responses were universally respected. + +(M396) As the Delphic oracle was the object which engrossed the most +important duties of the council, and the responses of this oracle in early +times was a sacred law, the deliberations of the league had considerable +influence, and were often directed to political purposes. But the +immediate management of the oracle was in the hands of the citizens of +Delphi. In process of time the responses of the oracle, by the mouth of a +woman, which were thus controlled by the Delphians, lost much of their +prestige, in consequence of the presents or bribery by which favorable +responses were gained. + +(M397) More powerful than this council, as an institution, were the +Olympic games, solemnized every four years, in which all the states of +Greece took part. These games lasted four days, and were of engrossing +interest. They were supposed to be founded by Hercules, and were of very +ancient date. During these celebrations there was a universal truce, and +also during the time it was necessary for the people to assemble and +retire to their homes. Elis, in whose territory Olympia was situated, had +the whole regulation of the festival, the immediate object of which were +various trials of strength and skill. They included chariot races, foot +races, horse races, wrestling, boxing, and leaping. They were open to all, +even to the poorest Greeks; no accidents of birth or condition affected +these honorable contests. The palm of honor was given to the men who had +real merit. A simple garland of leaves was the prize, but this was +sufficient to call out all the energies and ambition of the whole nation. +There were, however, incidental advantages to successful combatants. At +Athens, the citizen who gained a prize was rewarded by five hundred +drachmas, and was entitled to a seat at the table of the magistrates, and +had a conspicuous part on the field of battle. The victors had statues +erected to them, and called forth the praises of the poets, and thus these +primitive sports incidentally gave an impulse to art and poetry. In later +times, poets and historians recited their compositions, and were rewarded +with the garland of leaves. The victors of these games thus acquired a +social pre-eminence, and were held in especial honor, like those heroes in +the Middle Ages who obtained the honor of tournaments and tilts, and, in +modern times, those who receive decoration at the hands of kings. + +(M398) The celebrity of the Olympic games, which drew spectators from Asia +as well as all the States of Greece, led to similar institutions or +festivals in other places. The Pythian games, in honor of Apollo, were +celebrated near Delphi every third Olympic year; and various musical +contests, exercises in poetry, exhibitions of works of art were added to +gymnastic exercises and chariot and horse races. The sacrifices, +processions, and other solemnities, resemble those at Olympia in honor of +Zeus. They lasted as long as the Olympic games, down to A.D. 394. Wherever +the worship of Apollo was introduced, there were imitations of these +Pythian games in all the States of Greece. + +(M399) The Nemaean and Ithmian games were celebrated each twice in every +Olympiad, the former on the plain of Nemaea, in Argolis; the latter in the +Corinthian Isthmus, under the presidency of Corinth. These also claimed a +high antiquity, and at these were celebrated the same feats of strength as +at Olympia. But the Olympic festival was the representation of all the +rest, and transcended all the rest in national importance. It was viewed +with so much interest, that the Greeks measured time itself by them. It +was Olympiads, and not years, by which the date of all events was +determined. The Romans reckoned their years from the foundation of their +city; modern Christian nations, by the birth of Christ; Mohammedans, by +the flight of the prophet to Medina; and the Greeks, from the first +recorded Olympiad, B.C. 776. + +(M400) It was in these festivals, at which no foreigner, however eminent, +was allowed to contend for prizes, that the Greeks buried their quarrels, +and incited each other to heroism. The places in which they were +celebrated became marts of commerce like the mediaeval fairs of Germany; +and the vast assemblage of spectators favored that communication of news, +and inventions, and improvements which has been produced by our modern +exhibitions. These games answered all the purposes of our races, our +industrial exhibitions, and our anniversaries, religious, political, +educational, and literary, and thus had a most decided influence on the +development of Grecian thought and enterprise. The exhibition of sculpture +and painting alone made them attractive and intellectual, while the +athletic exercises amused ordinary minds. They were not demoralizing, like +the sports of the amphitheatre, or a modern bull-fight, or even +fashionable races. They were more like tournaments in the martial ages of +Europe, but superior to them vastly, since no woman was allowed to be +present at the Olympic games under pain of death. + +(M401) It has already been shown that the form of government in the States +of Ancient Greece, in the Homeric ages, was monarchical. In two or three +hundred years after the Trojan war, the authority of kings had greatly +diminished. The great immigration and convulsions destroyed the line of +the ancient royal houses. The abolition of royalty was in substance rather +than name. First, it was divided among several persons, then it was made +elective, first for life, afterward for a definite period. The nobles or +chieftains gained increasing power with the decline of royalty, and the +government became, in many States, aristocratic. But the nobles abused +their power by making an oligarchy, which is a perverted aristocracy. This +aroused hatred and opposition on the part of the people, especially in the +maritime cities, where the increase of wealth by commerce and the arts +raised up a body of powerful citizens. Then followed popular revolutions +under leaders or demagogues. These leaders in turn became tyrants, and +their exactions gave rise to more hatred than that produced by the +government of powerful families. They gained power by stratagem, and +perverted it by violence. But to amuse the people whom they oppressed, or +to please them, they built temples, theatres, and other public buildings, +in which a liberal patronage was extended to the arts. Thus Athens and +Corinth, before the Persian wars, were beautiful cities, from the lavish +expenditure of the public treasury by the tyrants or despots who had +gained ascendency. In the mean time, those who were most eminent for +wealth, or power, or virtue, were persecuted, for fear they would effect a +revolution. But the parties which the tyrants had trampled upon were +rather exasperated than ruined, and they seized every opportunity to rally +the people under their standard, and effect an overthrow of the tyrants. +Sparta, whose constitution remained aristocratic, generally was ready to +assist any State in throwing off the yoke of the usurpers. In some States, +like Athens, every change favored the rise of the people, who gradually +obtained the ascendency. They instituted the principle of legal equality, +by which every freeman was supposed to exercise the attributes of +sovereignty. But democracy invariably led to the ascendency of factions, +and became itself a tyranny. It became jealous of all who were +distinguished for birth, or wealth, or talents. It encouraged flatterers +and sycophants. It was insatiable in its demands on the property of the +rich, and listened to charges which exposed them to exile and their +estates to confiscation. It increased the public burdens by unwise +expenditures to please the men of the lower classes who possessed +political franchise. + +(M402) But different forms of government existed in different States. In +Sparta there was an oligarchy of nobles which made royalty a shadow, and +which kept the people in slavery and degradation. In Athens the democratic +principle prevailed. In Argos kings reigned down to the Persian wars. In +Corinth the government went through mutations as at Athens. In all the +States and cities experiments in the various forms of government were +perpetually made and perpetually failed. They existed for a time, and were +in turn supplanted. The most permanent government was that of Sparta; the +most unstable was that of Athens. The former promoted a lofty patriotism +and public morality and the national virtues; the latter inequalities of +wealth, the rise of obscure individuals, and the progress of arts. + +(M403) The fall of the ancient monarchies and aristocracies was closely +connected with commercial enterprise and the increase of a wealthy class +of citizens. In the beginning of the seventh century before Christ, a +great improvement in the art of ship-building was made, especially at +Corinth. Colonial settlements kept pace with maritime enterprise; and both +of these fostered commerce and wealth. The Euxine lost its terrors to +navigators, and the AEgean Sea was filled with ships and colonists. The +Adriatic Sea was penetrated, and all the seas connected with the +Mediterranean. From the mouth of the Po was brought amber, which was +highly valued by the ancients. A great number of people were drawn to +Egypt, by the liberal offers of its kings, who went there for the pursuit +of knowledge and of wealth, and from which they brought back the papyrus +as a cheap material for writing. The productions of Greece were exchanged +for the rich fabrics which only Asia furnished, and the cities to which +these were brought, like Athens and Corinth, rapidly grew rich, like +Venice and Genoa in the Middle Ages. + +(M404) Wealth of course introduced art. The origin of art may have been in +religious ideas--in temples and the statues of the gods--in tombs and +monuments of great men. But wealth immeasurably increased the facilities +both for architecture and sculpture. Artists in old times, as in these, +sought a pecuniary reward--patrons who could afford to buy their +productions, and stimulate their genius. Art was cultivated more rapidly +in the Asiatic colonies than in the mother country, both on account of +their wealth, and the objects of interest around them. The Ionian cities, +especially, were distinguished for luxury and refinement. Corinth took the +lead in the early patronage of art, as the most wealthy and luxurious of +the Grecian cities. + +(M405) The first great impulse was given to architecture. The Pelasgi had +erected Cyclopean structures fifteen hundred years before Christ. The +Dorians built temples on the severest principles of beauty, and the Doric +column arose, massive and elegant. Long before the Persian wars the +temples were numerous and grand, yet simple and harmonious. The temple of +Here, at Samos, was begun in the eighth century, B.C., and built in the +Doric style, and, soon after, beautiful structures ornamented Athens. + +(M406) Sculpture rapidly followed architecture, and passed from the +stiffness of ancient times to that beauty which afterward distinguished +Phidias and Polynotus. Schools of art, in the sixth century, flourished in +all the Grecian cities. We can not enter upon the details, from the use of +wood to brass and marble. The temples were filled with groups from +celebrated masters, and their deep recesses were peopled with colossal +forms. Gold, silver, and ivory were used as well as marble and brass. The +statues of heroes adorned every public place. Art, before the Persian +wars, did not indeed reach the refinement which it subsequently boasted, +but a great progress was made in it, in all its forms. Engraving was also +known, and imperfect pictures were painted. But this art, and indeed any +of the arts, did not culminate until after the Persian wars. + +(M407) Literature made equal if not greater progress in the early ages of +Grecian history. Hesiod lived B.C. 735; and lyric poetry flourished in the +sixth and seventh centuries before Christ, especially the elegiac form, or +songs for the dead. Epic poetry was of still earlier date, as seen in the +Homeric poems. The AEolian and Ionic Greeks of Asia were early noted for +celebrated poets. Alcaeus and Sappho lived on the Isle of Lesbos, and were +surrounded with admirers. Anacreon of Teos was courted by the rulers of +Athens. + +(M408) Even philosophy was cultivated at this early age. Thales of Miletus +flourished in the middle of the seventh century, and Anaximander, born +B.C. 610--one of the great original mathematicians of the world, speculated +like Thales, on the origin of things. Pythagoras, born in Samos, B.C. +580--a still greater name, grave and majestic, taught the harmony of the +spheres long before the Ionian revolt. + +But neither art, nor literature, nor philosophy reached their full +development till a later era. It is enough for our purpose to say that, +before the Persian wars, civilization was by no means contemptible, in all +those departments which subsequently made Greece the teacher and the glory +of the world. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +THE PERSIAN WAR. + + +We come now to the most important and interesting of Grecian history--the +great contest with Persia--the age of heroes and of battle-fields, when +military glory was the master passion of a noble race. What inspiration +have all ages gained from that noble contest in behalf of liberty! + +(M409) We have seen how Asiatic cities were colonized by Greeks, among +whom the Ionians were pre-eminent. The cities were governed by tyrants, +who were sustained in their usurpation by the power of Persia, then the +great power of the world. Darius, then king, had absurdly invaded Scythia, +with an immense army of six hundred thousand men, to punish the people for +their inroad upon Western Asia, subject to his sway, about a century +before. He was followed by his allies, the tyrants of the Ionian cities, +to whom he intrusted the guardianship of the bridge of boats by which he +had crossed the Danube, B.C. 510. As he did not return within the time +specified--sixty days--the Greeks were left at liberty to return. A body of +Scythians then appeared, who urged the Greeks to destroy the bridge, as +Darius was in full retreat, and thus secure the destruction of the Persian +army and the recovery of their own liberty. Miltiades, who ruled the +Chersonese--the future hero of Marathon, seconded the wise proposal of the +Scythians, but Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, feared that such an act would +recoil upon themselves, and favor another inroad of Scythians--a fierce +nation of barbarians. The result was that the bridge was not destroyed, +but the further end of it was severed from the shore. Night arrived, and +the Persian hosts appeared upon the banks of the river, but finding no +trace of it, Darius ordered an Egyptian who had a trumpet-voice to summon +to his aid Histiaeus, the Milesian. He came forward with a fleet and +restored the bridge, and Darius and his army were saved, and the +opportunity was lost to the Ionians for emancipating themselves from the +Persians. The bridge was preserved, not from honorable fidelity to fulfill +a trust, but selfish regard in the despot of Miletus to maintain his +power. For this service he was rewarded with a principality on the +Strymon. Exciting, however, the suspicion of Darius, by his intrigues, he +was carried captive to the Persian court, but with every mark of honor. +Darius left his brother Artaphernes as governor of all the cities in +Western Asia Minor. + +(M410) A few years after this unsuccessful invasion of Scythia by Darius, +a political conflict broke out in Naxos, an island of the Cyclades, B.C. +502, which had not submitted to the Persian yoke, and the oligarchy, which +ruled the island, were expelled. They applied for aid to Aristagoras, the +tyrant of Miletus, the largest of the Ionian cities, who persuaded the +Persian satrap to send an expedition against the island. The expedition +failed, which ruined the credit of Aristagoras, son-in-law to Histiaeus, +who was himself incensed at his detention in Susa, and who sent a trusty +slave with a message urging the Ionians to revolt. Aristagoras, as a means +of success, conciliated popular favor throughout Asiatic Greece, by +putting down the various tyrants--the instruments of Persian ascendency. +The flames of revolt were kindled, the despots were expelled, the revolted +towns were put in a state of defense, and Aristagoras visited Sparta to +invoke its aid, inflaming the mind of the king with the untold wealth of +Asia, which would become his spoil. Sparta was then at war with her +neighbors, and unwilling to become involved in so uncertain a contest. +Rejected at Sparta, Aristagoras proceeded to Athens, then the second power +in Greece, and was favorably received, for the Athenians had a powerful +sympathy with the revolted Ionians; they agreed to send a fleet of twenty +ships. When Aristagoras returned, the Persians had commenced the siege of +Miletus. The twenty ships soon crossed the AEgean, and were joined by five +Eretrian ships coming to the succor of Miletus. An unsuccessful attempt of +Aristagoras on Sardis disgusted the Athenians, who abandoned the alliance. +But the accidental burning of the city, including the temple of the +goddess Cybele, encouraged the revolters, and incensed the Persians. Other +Greek cities on the coast took part in the revolt, including the island of +Cyprus. The revolt now assumed a serious character. The Persians rallied +their allies, among whom were the Phoenicians. An armament of Persians and +Phoenicians sailed against Cyprus, and a victory on the land gave the +Persians the control of the island. A large army of Persians and their +allies collected at Sardis, and, under different divisions reconquered all +their principal Ionian cities, except Miletus; but the Ionian fleet kept +its ascendency at sea. Aristagoras as the Persians advanced, lost courage +and fled to Myrkinus, where he shortly afterward perished. + +(M411) Meanwhile Histiaeus presented himself at the gates of Miletus, +having procured the consent of Darius to proceed thither to quell the +revolt. He was, however, suspected by the satrap, Artaphernes, and fled to +Chios, whose people he gained over, and who carried him back to Miletus. +On his arrival, he found the citizens averse to his reception, and was +obliged to return to Chios, and then to Lesbos, where he abandoned himself +to piracy. + +(M412) A vast Persian host, however, had been concentrated near Miletus, +and with the assistance of the Phoenicians, invested the city by sea and +land. The entire force of the confederated cities abandoned the Milesians +to their fate, and took to their ships, three hundred and fifty-three in +number, with a view of fighting the Phoenicians, who had six hundred ships. +But there was a want of union among the Ionian commanders, and the sailors +abandoned themselves to disorder and carelessness; upon which Dionysius, +of Phocaea, which furnished but three ships, rebuked the Ionians for their +neglect of discipline. His rebuke was not thrown away, and the Ionians +having their comfortable tents on shore, submitted themselves to the +nautical labors imposed by Dionysius. At last, after seven days of work, +the Ionian sailors broke out in open mutiny, and refused longer to be +under the discipline of a man whose State furnished the smallest number of +ships. They left their ships, and resumed their pleasures on the shore, +unwilling to endure the discipline so necessary in so great a crisis. +Their camp became a scene of disunion and mistrust. The Samians, in +particular, were discontented, and on the day of battle, which was to +decide the fortunes of Ionia, they deserted with sixty ships, and other +Ionians followed their example. The ships of Chios, one hundred in number, +fought with great fidelity and resolution, and Dionysius captured, with +his three ships, three of the Phoenicians'. But these exceptional examples +of bravery did not compensate the treachery and cowardice of the rest, and +the consequence was a complete defeat of the Ionians at Lade. Dionysius, +seeing the ruin of the Ionian camp, did not return to his own city, and +set sail for the Phoenician coast, doing all he could as a pirate. + +(M413) This victory of Lade enabled the Persians to attack Miletus by sea +as well as land; the siege was prosecuted with vigor, and the city shortly +fell. The adult male population was slain, while the women and children +were sent as slaves to Susa. The Milesian territory was devastated and +stripped of its inhabitants. The other States hastened to make their +submission, and the revolt was crushed, B.C. 496, five years after its +commencement. The Persian forces reconquered all the Asiatic Greeks, +insular and continental, and the Athenian Miltiades escaped with +difficulty from his command in the Chersonese, to his native city. All the +threats which were made by the Persians were realized. The most beautiful +virgins were distributed among the Persian nobles; the cities were +destroyed; and Samos alone remained, as a reward for desertion at the +battle of Lade. + +(M414) The reconquest of Ionia being completed, the satrap proceeded to +organize the future government, the inhabitants now being composed of a +great number of Persians. Meanwhile, Darius made preparations for the +complete conquest of Greece. The wisdom of the advice of Miltiades, to +destroy the bridge over the Danube, when Darius and his army would have +been annihilated by the Scythians, was now apparent. Mardonius was sent +with a large army into Ionia, who deposed the despots in the various +cities, whom Artaphernes had reinstated, and left the people to govern +themselves, subject to the Persian dominion and tribute. He did not remain +long in Ionia, but passed with his fleet to the Hellespont, and joined his +land forces. He transported his army to Europe, and began his march +through Thrace. Thence marched into Macedonia, and subdued a part of its +inhabitants. He then sent his fleet around Mount Athos, with a view of +joining it with his army at the Gulf of Therma. But a storm overtook his +fleet near Athos, and destroyed three hundred ships, and drowned twenty +thousand men. This disaster compelled a retreat, and he recrossed the +Hellespont with the shame of failure. He was employed no more by the +Persian king. + +(M415) Darius, incited by the traitor Hippias, made new preparation for +the invasion of Greece. He sent his heralds in every direction, demanding +the customary token of submission--earth and water. Many of the continental +cities sent in their submission, including the Thebans, Thessalians, and +the island of AEgina, which was on bad terms with Athens. The heralds of +Darius were put to death at Athens and Sparta, which can only be explained +from the fiercest resentment and rage. These two powers made common cause, +and armed all the other States over which they had influence, to resist +the Persian domination. Hellas, headed by Sparta, now resolved to put +forth all its energies, and embarked, in desperate hostility. A war which +Sparta had been waging for several years against Argos crippled that +ancient State, and she was no longer the leading power. The only rival +which Sparta feared was weakened, and full scope was given, for the +prosecution of the Persian war. AEgina, which had submitted to Darius, was +visited by Cleomenes, king of Sparta, and hostages were sent to Athens for +the neutrality of that island. Athens and Sparta suspended their political +jealousies, and acted in concert to resist the common danger. + +(M416) By the spring of 490 B.C. the preparations of Darius were +completed, and a vast army collected on a plain upon the Cilician shore. A +fleet of six hundred ships convoyed it to the rendezvous at Samos. The +exiled tyrant Hippias was present to guide the forces to the attack of +Attica. The Mede Datis, and Artaphernes, son of the satrap of Sardis, +nephew to Darius, were the Persian generals. They had orders from Darius +to bring the inhabitants of Athens as slaves to his presence. + +(M417) The Persian fleet, fearing a similar disaster as happened near +Mount Athos, struck directly across the AEgean, from Samos to Euboea, +attacking on the way the intermediate islands. Naxos thus was invaded and +easily subdued. From Naxos, Datis sent his fleet round the other Cyclades +Islands, demanding reinforcements and hostages from all he visited, and +reached the southern extremity of Euboea in safety. Etruria was first +subdued, unable to resist. After halting a few days at this city, he +crossed to Attica, and landed in the bay of Marathon, on the eastern +coast. The despot Hippias, son of Pisistratus, twenty years after his +expulsion from Athens, pointed out the way. + +(M418) But a great change had taken place at Athens since his expulsion. +The city was now under democratic rule, in its best estate. The ten tribes +had become identified with the government and institutions of the city. +The senate of the areopagus, renovated by the annual archons, was in +sympathy with the people. Great men had arisen under the amazing stimulus +of liberty, among whom Miltiades, Themistocles, and Aristides were the +most distinguished. Miltiades, after an absence of six years in the +Chersonesus of Thrace, returned to the city full of patriotic ardor. He +was brought to trial before the popular assembly on the charge of having +misgoverned the Chersonese; but he was honorably acquitted, and was chosen +one of the ten generals of the republic annually elected. He was not, +however, a politician of the democratic stamp, like Themistocles and +Aristides, being a descendant of an illustrious race, which traced their +lineage to the gods; but he was patriotic, brave, and decided. His advice +to burn the bridge over the Danube illustrates his character--bold and +far-seeing. Moreover, he was peculiarly hostile to Darius, whom he had so +grievously offended. + +(M419) Themistocles was a man of great native genius and sagacity. He +comprehended all the embarrassments and dangers of the political crisis in +which his city was placed, and saw at a glance the true course to be +pursued. He was also bold and daring. He was not favored by the accidents +of birth, and owed very little to education. He had an unbounded passion +for glory and for display. He had great tact in the management of party, +and was intent on the aggrandizement of his country. His morality was +reckless, but his intelligence was great--a sort of Mirabeau: with his +passion, his eloquence, and his talents. His unfortunate end--a traitor and +an exile--shows how little intellectual pre-eminence will avail, in the +long run, without virtue, although such talents as he exhibited will be +found useful in a crisis. + +(M420) Aristides was inferior to both Alcibiades and Themistocles in +genius, in resource, in boldness, and in energy; but superior in virtue, +in public fidelity, and moral elevation. He pursued a consistent course, +was no demagogue, unflinching in the discharge of trusts, just, upright, +unspotted. Such a man, of course, in a corrupt society, would be exposed +to many enmities and jealousies. But he was, on the whole, appreciated, +and died, in a period of war and revolution, a poor man, with unbounded +means of becoming rich--one of the few examples which our world affords of +a man who believed in virtue, in God, and a judgment to come, and who +preferred the future and spiritual to the present and material--a fool in +the eyes of the sordid and bad--a wise man according to the eternal +standards. + +(M421) Aristides, Miltiades, and perhaps Themistocles, were elected among +the ten generals, by the ten tribes, in the year that Datis led his +expedition to Marathon. Each of the ten generals had the supreme command +of the army for a day. Great alarm was felt at Athens as tidings reached +the city of the advancing and conquering Persians. Couriers were sent in +hot haste to the other cities, especially Sparta, and one was found to +make the journey to Sparta on foot--one hundred and fifty miles--in +forty-eight hours. The Spartans agreed to march, without delay, after the +last quarter of the moon, which custom and superstition dictated. This +delay was fraught with danger, but was insisted upon by the Spartans. + +(M422) Meanwhile the dangers multiplied and thickened, that not a moment +should be lost in bringing the Persians into action. Five of the generals +counseled delay. The polemarch, Calimachus, who then had the casting vote, +decided for immediate action. Themistocles and Aristides had seconded the +advice of Miltiades, to whom the other generals surrendered their days of +command--a rare example of patriotic disinterestedness. The Athenians +marched at once to Marathon to meet their foes, and were joined by the +Plataeans, one thousand warriors, from a little city--the whole armed +population, which had a great moral effect. + +(M423) The Athenians had only ten thousand hoplites, including the one +thousand from Plataea. The Persian army is variously estimated at from one +hundred and ten thousand to six hundred thousand. The Greeks were encamped +upon the higher ground overlooking the plain which their enemies occupied. +The fleet was ranged along the beach. The Greeks advanced to the combat in +rapid movement, urged on by the war-cry, which ever animated their +charges. The wings of the Persian army were put to flight by the audacity +of the charge, but the centre, where the best troops were posted, resisted +the attack until Miltiades returned from the pursuit of the retreating +soldiers on the wings. The defeat of the Persians was the result. They +fled to their ships, and became involved in the marshes. Six thousand four +hundred men fell on the Persian side, and only one hundred and ninety-two +on the Athenian. The Persians, though defeated, still retained their +ships, and sailed toward Cape Sunium, with a view of another descent upon +Attica. Miltiades, the victor in the most glorious battle ever till then +fought in Greece, penetrated the designs of the Persians, and rapidly +retreated to Athens on the very day of battle. Datis arrived at the port +of Phalerum to discover that his plans were baffled, and that the +Athenians were still ready to oppose him. The energy and promptness of +Miltiades had saved the city. Datis, discouraged, set sail, without +landing, to the Cyclades. + +(M424) The battle of Marathon, B.C. 490, must be regarded as one of the +great decisive battles of the world, and the first which raised the +political importance of the Greeks in the eyes of foreign powers. It was +fought by Athens twenty years after the expulsion of the tyrants, and as a +democratic State. On the Athenians rest the glory forever. It was not +important for the number of men who fell on either side, but for giving +the first great check to the Persian domination, and preventing their +conquest of Europe. And its moral effect was greater than its political. +It freed the Greeks from that fear of the Persians which was so fatal and +universal, for the tide of Persian conquest had been hitherto +uninterrupted. It animated the Greeks with fresh courage, for the bravery +of the Athenians had been unexampled, as had been the generalship of +Miltiades. Athens was delivered by the almost supernatural bravery of its +warriors, and was then prepared to make those sacrifices which were +necessary in the more desperate struggles which were to come. And it +inspired the people with patriotic ardor, and upheld the new civil +constitution. It gave force and dignity to the democracy, and prepared it +for future and exalted triumphs. It also gave force to the religious +sentiments of the people, for such a victory was regarded as owing to the +special favor of the gods. + +The Spartans did not arrive until after the battle had been fought, and +Datis had returned with his Etrurian prisoners to Asia. + +(M425) The victory of Marathon raised the military fame of Miltiades to +the most exalted height, and there were no bounds to the enthusiasm of the +Athenians. But the victory turned his head, and he lost both prudence and +patriotism. He persuaded his countrymen, in the full tide of his +popularity, to intrust him with seventy ships, with an adequate force, +with powers to direct an expedition according to his pleasure. The +armament was cheerfully granted. But he disgracefully failed in an attack +on the island of Paros, to gratify a private vindictive animosity. He lost +all his _eclat_ and was impeached. He appealed, wounded and disabled from +a fall he had received, to his previous services. He was found guilty, but +escaped the penalty of death, but not of a fine of fifty talents. He did +not live to pay it, or redeem his fame, but died of the injury he had +received. Thus this great man fell from a pinnacle of glory to the deepest +disgrace and ruin--a fate deserved, for he was not true to himself or +country. The Athenians were not to blame, but judged him rightly. It was +not fickleness, but a change in their opinions, founded on sufficient +grounds, from the deep disappointment in finding that their hero was +unworthy of their regards. No man who had rendered a favor has a claim to +pursue a course of selfishness and unlawful ambition. No services can +offset crimes. The Athenians, in their unbounded admiration, had given +unbounded trust, and that trust was abused. And as the greatest despots +who had mounted to power had earned their success by early services, so +had they abused their power by imposing fetters, and the Athenians, just +escaped from the tyranny of these despots, felt a natural jealousy and a +deep repugnance, in spite of their previous admiration. The Athenians, in +their treatment of Miltiades, were neither ungrateful nor fickle, but +acted from a high sense of public morality, and in a stern regard to +justice, without which the new constitution would soon have been +subverted. On the death of Miltiades Themistocles and Aristides became the +two leading men of Athens, and their rivalries composed the domestic +history of the city, until the renewed and vast preparations of the +Persians caused all dissensions to be suspended for the public good. + +(M426) But the jealousies and rivalries of these great men were not +altogether personal. They were both patriotic, but each had different +views respecting the course which Athens should adopt in the greatness of +the dangers which impended. The policy of Aristides was to strengthen the +army--that of Themistocles, the navy. Both foresaw the national dangers, +but Themistocles felt that the hopes of Greece rested on ships rather than +armies to resist the Persians. And his policy was adopted. As the world +can not have two suns, so Athens could not be prospered by the presence of +two such great men, each advocating different views. One or the other must +succumb to the general good, and Aristides was banished by the power of +ostracism. + +(M427) The wrath of Darius--a man of great force of character, but haughty +and self-sufficient, was tremendous when he learned the defeat of Datis, +and his retreat into Asia. He resolved to bring the whole force of the +Persian empire together to subdue the Athenians, from whom he had suffered +so great a disgrace. Three years were spent in active preparations for a +new expedition which should be overwhelming. All the allies of Persia were +called upon for men and supplies. Nor was he deterred by a revolt of +Egypt, which broke out about this time, and he was on the point of +carrying two gigantic enterprises--one for the reconquest of Egypt, and the +other for the conquest of Greece--when he died, after a reign of thirty-six +years, B.C. 485. + +(M428) He was succeeded by his son Xerxes, who was animated by the +animosities, but not the genius of his father. Though beautiful and tall, +he was faint-hearted, vain, blinded by a sense of power, and enslaved by +women. Yet he continued the preparations which Darius projected. Egypt was +first subdued by his generals, and he then turned his undivided attention +to Greece. He convoked the dignitaries of his empire--the princes and +governors of provinces, and announced his resolution to bridge over the +Hellespont and march to the conquest of Europe. Artabanus, his uncle, +dissuaded him from the enterprise, setting forth especially the +probability that the Greeks, if victorious at sea, would destroy the +bridge, and thus prevent his safe return. Mardonius advised differently, +urging ambition and revenge, motives not lost on the Persian monarch. For +four years the preparations went forward from all parts of the empire, +including even the islands in the AEgean. In the autumn of 481 B.C., the +largest army this world has ever seen assembled at Sardis. Besides this, a +powerful fleet of one thousand two hundred and seven ships of war, besides +transports, was collected at the Hellespont. Large magazines of provisions +were formed along the coast of Asia Minor. A double bridge of boats, +extending from Abydos to Sestos--a mile in length across the Hellespont, +was constructed by Phoenicians and Egyptians; but this was destroyed by a +storm. Xerxes, in a transport of fury, caused the heads of the engineers +to be cut off, and the sea itself scourged with three hundred lashes. This +insane wrath being expended, the monarch caused the work to be at once +reconstructed, this time by the aid of Greek engineers. Two bridges were +built side by side upon more than six hundred large ships, moored with +strong anchors, with their heads toward the AEgean. Over each bridge were +sketched six vast cables, which held the ships together, and over these +were laid planks of wood, upon which a causeway was formed of wood and +earth, with a high palisade on each side. To facilitate his march, Xerxes +also constructed a canal across the isthmus which connects Mount Athos +with the main land, on which were employed Phoenician engineers. The men +employed in digging the canal worked under the whip. Bridges were also +thrown across the river Strymon. + +(M429) These works were completed while Xerxes wintered at Sardis. From +that city he dispatched heralds to all the cities of Greece, except Sparta +and Athens, to demand the usual tokens of submission--earth and water. He +also sent orders to the maritime cities of Thrace and Macedonia to prepare +dinner for himself and hosts, as they passed through. Greece was struck +with consternation as the news reached the various cities of the vast +forces which were on the march to subdue them. The army proceeded from +Sardis, in the spring, in two grand columns, between which was the king +and guards and select troops--all native Persians, ten thousand foot and +ten thousand horse. From Sardis the hosts of Xerxes proceeded to Abydos, +through Ilium, where his two bridges across the Hellespont awaited him. +From a marble throne the proud and vainglorious monarch saw his vast army +defile over the bridges, perfumed with frankincense and strewed with +myrtle boughs. One bridge was devoted to the troops, the other to the +beasts and baggage. The first to cross were the ten thousand household +troops, called Immortals, wearing garlands on their heads; then followed +Xerxes himself in his gilded chariot, and then the rest of the army. It +occupied seven days for the vast hosts to cross the bridge. Xerxes then +directed his march to Doriscus, in Thrace, near the mouth of the Hebrus, +where he joined his fleet. There he took a general review, and never, +probably, was so great an army marshaled before or since, and composed of +so many various nations. There were assembled nations from the Indus, from +the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Levant, the AEgean and the +Euxine--Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Lybian. Forty-six nations were +represented--all that were tributary to Persia. From the estimates made by +Herodotus, there were one million seven hundred thousand foot, eighty +thousand horse, besides a large number of chariots. With the men who +manned the fleet and those he pressed into his service on the march, the +aggregate of his forces was two million six hundred and forty thousand. +Scarcely an inferior number attended the soldiers as slaves, sutlers, and +other persons, swelling the amount of the males to five million two +hundred and eighty-three thousand two hundred and twenty--the whole +available force of the Eastern world--Asia against Europe: as in mediaeval +times it was Europe against Asia. It is, however, impossible for us to +believe in so large a force, since it could not have been supplied with +provisions. But with every deduction, it was still the largest army the +world ever saw. + +(M430) After the grand enumeration of forces, Xerxes passed in his chariot +to survey separately each body of contingents, to which he put questions. +He then embarked in a gilded galley, and sailed past the prows of the +twelve hundred ships moored four hundred feet from the shore. That such a +vast force could be resisted was not even supposed to be conceivable by +the blinded monarch. But Demaratus, the exiled king of Sparta, told him he +would be resisted unto death, a statement which was received with +derision. + +(M431) After the review, the grand army pursued its course westward in +three divisions and roads along Thrace, levying enormous contributions on +all the Grecian towns, which submitted as the Persian monarch marched +along, for how could they resist? The mere provisioning this great host +for a single day impoverished the country. But there was no help, for to +mortal eyes the success of Xerxes was certain. At Acanthus, Xerxes +separated from his fleet, which was directed to sail round Mount Athos, +while he pursued his march through Paeonia and Crestonia, and rejoin him at +Therma, on the Thermaic Gulf, in Macedonia, within sight of Mount Olympus. + +(M432) Meanwhile, the Athenians, fully alive to their danger, strained +every nerve to make preparations to resist the enemy; fortunately, there +was in the treasury a large sum derived from the Lamian mines, and this +they applied, on the urgent representations of Themistocles, to building +ships and refitting their navy. A Panhellenic congress, under the +presidency of Athens and Sparta, assembled at the Isthmus of Corinth.--the +first great league since the Trojan war. The representatives of the +various States buried their dissensions, the most prominent of which were +between Athens and AEgina. In reconciling these feuds, Themistocles took a +pre-eminent part. Indeed, there was need, for the political existence of +Hellas was threatened, and despair was seen in most every city. Even the +Delphic oracle gave out replies discouraging and terrible; intimating, +however, that the safety of Athens lay in the wooden wall, which, with +extraordinary tact, was interpreted by Themistocles to mean that the true +defense lay in the navy. Salamis was the place designated by the oracle +for the retreat, which was now imperative, and thither the Athenians fled, +with their wives and children, guarded by their fleet. It was decided by +the congress that Sparta should command the land forces, and Athens the +united navy of the Greeks; but many States, in deadly fear of the +Persians, persisted in neutrality, among which were Argos, Cretes, +Corcyra. The chief glory of the defense lay with Sparta and Athens. The +united army was sent into Thessaly to defend the defile of Tempe, but +discovering that they were unable to do this, since another pass over +Mount Olympus was open in the summer, they retreated to the isthmus of +Corinth, and left all Greece north of Mount Citheron and the Megarid +territory without defense. Had the Greeks been able to maintain the passes +of Olympus and Ossa, all the northern States would probably have joined in +the confederation against Persia; but, as they were left defenseless, we +can not wonder that they submitted, including even the Achaeans, Borotians, +and Dorians. + +(M433) The Pass of Thermopylae was now fixed upon as the most convenient +place of resistance, next to the vale of Tempe. Here the main land was +separated from the island of Euboea by a narrow strait two miles wide. On +the northern part of the island, near the town of Histiaea, the coast was +called Artemisium, and here the fleet was mustered, to co-operate with the +land forces, and oppose, in a narrow strait, the progress of the Persian +fleet. The defile of Thermopylae itself, at the south of Thessaly, was +between Mount OEta and an impassable morass on the Maliac Gulf. Nature had +thus provided a double position of defense--a narrow defile on the land, +and a narrow strait on the water, through which the army and the fleet +must need pass if they would co-operate. + +(M434) While the congress resolved to avail themselves of the double +position, by sea and land, the Olympic games, and the great Dorian, of the +Carneia, were at hand. These could not be dispensed with, even in the most +extraordinary crisis to which the nation could be exposed. While, +therefore, the Greeks assembled to keep the national festivals, probably +from religious and superstitious motives, auguring no good if they were +disregarded, Leonidas, king of Sparta, with three hundred Spartans, two +thousand one hundred and twenty Arcadians, four hundred Corinthians, two +hundred men from Philius, and eighty from Mycenae--in all three thousand one +hundred hoplites, besides Helots and light troops, was sent to defend the +pass against the Persian hosts. On the march through Boeotia one thousand +men from Thebes and Thespiae joined them, though on the point of submission +to Xerxes. The Athenians sent their whole force on board their ships, +joined by the Plataeans. + +(M435) It was in the summer of 480 B.C. when Xerxes reached Therma, about +which time the Greeks arrived at their allotted posts. Leonidas took his +position in the middle of the Pass--a mile in length, with two narrow +openings. He then repaired the old wall built across the Pass by the +Phocians, and awaited the coming of the enemy, for it was supposed his +force was sufficient to hold it till the games were over. It was also +thought that this narrow pass was the only means of access possible to the +invading army; but it was soon discovered that there was also a narrow +mountain path from the Phocian territory to Thermopylae. The Phocians +agreed to guard this path, and leave the defense of the main pass to the +Peloponnesian troops. But Leonidas painfully felt that his men were +insufficient in number, and found it necessary to send envoys to the +different States for immediate re-enforcements. + +(M436) The Greek fleet, assembled at Artemisium, was composed of two +hundred and seventy-one triremes and nine penteconters, commanded by +Themistocles, but furnished by the different States. A disaster happened +to the Greeks very early; three triremes were captured by the Persians, +which caused great discouragement, and in a panic the Greeks abandoned +their strong naval position, and sailed up the Euboean Strait to Chalcis. +This was a great misfortune, since the rear of the army of Leonidas was no +longer protected by the fleet. But a destructive storm dispersed the fleet +of the Persians at this imminent crisis, so that it was impossible to lend +aid to their army now arrived at Thermopylae. Four hundred ships of war, +together with a vast number of transports, were thus destroyed. The storm +lasted three days. After this disaster to the Persians, the Greek fleet +returned to Artemisium. Xerxes encamped within sight of Thermopylae four +days, without making an attack, on account of the dangers to which his +fleet were exposed. On the fifth day he became wroth at the impudence and +boldness of the petty force which quietly remained to dispute his passage, +for the Spartans amused themselves with athletic sports and combing their +hair. Nor was it altogether presumption on the part of the Greeks, for +there were four or five thousand heavily-armed men, the bravest in the +land, to defend a passage scarcely wider than a carriage-road--with a wall +and other defenses in front. + +(M437) The first attack on the Greeks was made by the Medea--the bravest of +the Persian army, but their arrows and short spears were of little avail +against the phalanx which opposed, armed with long spears, and protected +by shields. For two days the attack continued, and was constantly +repulsed, for only a small detachment of Greeks fought at a time. Even the +"Immortals"--the chosen band of Xerxes--were repulsed with a great loss, to +the agony and shame of Xerxes. + +(M438) On the third day, a Malian revealed to the Persian king the fact +that a narrow path, leading over the mountains, was defended only by +Phocians, and that this path led to the rear of the Spartans. A strong +detachment of Persians was sent in the night to secure this path, and the +Phocian guardians fled. The Persians descended the path, and attacked the +Greeks in their rear. Leonidas soon became apprised of his danger, but in +time to send away his army. It was now clear that Thermopylae could no +longer be defended, but the heroic and self-sacrificing general resolved +to remain, and sell his life as dearly as possible, and retard, if he +could not resist, the march of the enemy. Three hundred Spartans, with +seven hundred Thespians and four hundred Thebans joined him, while the +rest retired to fight another day. It required all the efforts of the +Persian generals, assisted by the whip, to force the men to attack this +devoted band. The Greeks fought with the most desperate bravery, till +their spears were broken, and no weapons remained but their swords and +daggers. At last, exhausted, they died, surrounded by vast forces, after +having made the most heroic defence in the history of the war. Only one +man, Aristodemus, returned to his home of all the three hundred Spartans, +but only to receive scorn and infamy. The Theban band alone yielded to the +Persians, but only at the last hour. + +(M439) Nothing could exceed the blended anger and admiration of Xerxes as +he beheld this memorable resistance. He now saw, for the first time, the +difficulty of subduing such a people as the Greeks, resolved to resist +unto death. His mind was perplexed, and he did not know what course to +adopt. Had he accepted the advice of Demaratus, to make war on the +southern coast of Laconia, and thus distract the Spartans and prevent +their co-operation with Athens, he would have probably succeeded. + +(M440) But he followed other councils. Meanwhile, the Persian fleet +rallied after the storm, and was still formidable, in spite of losses. The +Greeks were disposed to retire and leave the strait open to the enemy. The +Euboeans, seeing the evil which would happen to them if their island was +unprotected, sent to Themistocles a present of thirty talents, if he would +keep his position. This money he spent in bribing the different commanders +who wished to retire, and it was resolved to remain. The Persians, +confident of an easy victory, sent round the island of Euboea a detachment +of two hundred ships, to cut off all hopes of escape to the ships which +they expected to capture. A deserter revealed the intelligence to +Themistocles, and it was resolved to fight the Persians, thus weakened, at +once, but at the close of the day, so that the battle would not be +decisive. The battle of Artemisium was a sort of skirmish, to accustom the +Greeks to the Phoenician mode of fighting. It was, however, successful, and +thirty ships of the Persians were taken or disabled. + +(M441) But the Greeks derived a greater succor than ships and men. Another +storm overtook the Persians, damaged their fleet, and destroyed the +squadron sent round the island of Euboea. Another sea-fight was the result, +since the Greeks were not only aided by the storm, but new +re-enforcements; but this second fight was indecisive. Themistocles now +felt he could not hold the strait against superior numbers, and the +disaster of Thermopylae being also now known, he resolved to retreat +farther into Greece, and sailed for Salamis. + +(M442) At this period the Greeks generally were filled with consternation +and disappointment. Neither the Pass of Thermopylae, nor the strait which +connected the Malicas Gulf with the AEgean, had been successfully defended. +The army of Xerxes was advancing through Phocis and Boeotia to the Isthmus +of Corinth, while the navy sailed unobstructed through the Euboean Sea. On +the part of the Greeks there had been no preparations commensurate with +the greatness of the crisis, while, had they rallied to Thermopylae, +instead of wasting time at the festivals, they would have saved the pass, +and the army of Xerxes, strained for provisions, would have been compelled +to retreat. The, Lacedaemonians, aroused by the death of their king, at +last made vigorous efforts to fortify the Isthmus of Corinth, too late, +however, to defend Boeotia and Attica. The situation of Athens was now +hopeless, and it was seen what a fatal mistake had been made not to +defend, with the whole force of Greece, the Pass of Thermopylae. There was +no help from the Spartans, for they had all flocked to the Isthmus of +Corinth, as the last chance of protecting the Peloponnesus. In despair, +the Athenians resolved to abandon Athens, with their families, and take +shelter at Salamis. Themistocles alone was undismayed, and sought to +encourage his countrymen that the "wooden wall" would still be their +salvation. The Athenians, if dismayed, did not lose their energies. The +recall of the exiles was decreed by Themistocles' suggestion. With +incredible efforts the whole population of Attica was removed to Salamis, +and the hopes of all were centered in the ships. Xerxes took possession of +the deserted city, but found but five hundred captives. He ravaged the +country, and a detachment of Persians even penetrated to Delphi, to rob +the shrine, but were defeated. Athens was, however, sacked. + +(M443) The combined fleet of the Greeks now numbered three hundred and +sixty-six ships, more than half of which were Athenian. Many wished to +retreat to the Isthmus of Corinth, and co-operate with the Spartans. +Dissensions came near wrecking the last hopes of Greece, and Themistocles +only prevailed by threatening to withdraw the Athenian ships unless a +battle were at once fought. He resorted to stratagem to compel the fleet +to remain together, with no outlet of escape if conquered. Aristides came +in the night from AEgina, and informed the Greeks that their whole fleet +was surrounded by the Persians--just what Themistocles desired. There was +nothing then left but to fight with desperation, for on the issue of the +battle depended the fortunes of Greece. Both fleets were stationed in the +strait between the bay of Eleusis and the Saronic Gulf, on the west of the +island of Salamis. + +(M444) Xerxes, seated upon a throne upon one of the declivities of Mount +AEgaleos, surveyed the armaments and the coming battle. Both parties fought +with bravery; but the space was too narrow for the Persians to engage +their whole fleet, and they had not the discipline of the Greeks, schooled +by severe experience. The Persian fleet became unmanageable, and the +victory was gained by the Greeks. Two hundred ships fell into the hands of +the victors. But a sufficient number remained to the Persians to renew the +battle with better hopes. Xerxes, however, was intimidated, and in a +transport of rage, disappointment, and fear, gave the order to retreat. He +distrusted the fidelity of the allies, and feared for his own personal +safety; he feared that the victors would sail to the Hellespont, and +destroy the bridges. Themistocles, on the retreat of the Persians, +employed his fleet in levying fines and contributions upon the islands +which had supported the Persians, while Xerxes made his way back to the +Hellespont, and crossed to Asia, leaving Mardonius in Thessaly, with a +large army, to pursue the conquest on land. + +(M445) Thus Greece was saved by the battle of Salamis, and the +distinguished services of Themistocles, which can not be too highly +estimated. The terrific cloud was dispersed, the Greeks abandoned +themselves to joy. Unparalleled honors were bestowed upon the victor, +especially in Sparta, and his influence, like that of Alcibiades, after +the battle of Marathon, was unbounded. No man ever merited greater reward. + +(M446) Though the Persians now abandoned all hopes of any farther maritime +attack, yet still great success was anticipated from the immense army +which Mardonius commanded. The Greeks in the northern parts still adhered +to him, and Thessaly was prostrate at his feet. He sent Alexander, of +Macedon, to Athens to offer honorable terms of peace, which were nobly +rejected, and he was sent back with this message: "Tell Mardonius that as +long as the sun shall continue in his present path we will never contract +alliance with a foe who has shown no reverence to our gods and heroes, and +who has burned their statues and houses." The league was renewed with +Sparta for mutual defense and offense, in spite of seductive offers from +Mardonius; but the Spartans displayed both indifference and selfishness to +any interests outside the Peloponnesus. They fortified the Isthmus of +Corinth, but left Attica undefended. Mardonius accordingly marched to +Athens, and again the city was the spoil of the Persians. The Athenians +again retreated to Salamis, with bitter feelings against Sparta for her +selfishness and ingratitude. Again Mardonius sought to conciliate the +Athenians, and again his overtures were rejected with wrath and defiance. +The Athenians, distressed, sent envoys to Sparta to remonstrate against +her slackness and selfishness, not without effect, for, at last, a large +Spartan force was collected under Pausanias. Meanwhile Mardonius ravaged +Attica and Boeotia, and then fortified his camp near Plataea, ten furlongs +square. Plataea was a plain favorable to the action of the cavalry, not far +from Thebes; but his army was discouraged after so many disasters--in +modern military language, demoralized--while Artabazus, the second in +command, was filled with jealousy. Nor could much be hoped from the +Grecian allies, who secretly were hostile to the invaders. The Thebans and +Boeotians appeared to be zealous, but were governed by fear merely of a +superior power, and hence were unreliable. It can not be supposed that the +Thebans, who sided with the Persians, by compulsion, preferred their cause +to that of their countrymen, great as may have been national jealousy and +rivalries. + +(M447) The total number of Lacedaemonians, Corinthians, Athenians, and +other Greeks, assembled to meet the Persian army, B.C. 479, was +thirty-eight thousand seven hundred men, heavily armed, and seventy-one +thousand three hundred light armed, without defensive armor; but most of +these were simply in attendance on the hoplites. The Persians, about three +hundred thousand in number, occupied the line of the river Asopus, on a +plain; the Greeks stationed themselves on the mountain declivity near +Erythae. The Persian cavalry charged, to dislodge the Greeks, unwilling to +contend on the plain; but the ground was unfavorable for cavalry +operations, and after a brief success, was driven back, while the general, +Masistias, who commanded it, was slain. His death, and the repulse of the +cavalry, so much encouraged Pausanias, the Spartan general, that he +quitted his ground on the mountain declivity, and took position on the +plain beneath. The Lacedaemonians composed the right wing; the Athenians, +the left; and various other allies, the centre. Mardonius then slightly +changed his position, crossing the Asopus, nearer his own camp, and took +post on the left wing, opposite the right wing of the Greeks, commanded by +Pausanias. Both armies then offered sacrifices to the gods, but Mardonius +was able to give constant annoyance to the Greeks by his cavalry, and the +Thebans gave great assistance. Ten days were thus spent by the two armies, +without coming into general action, until Mardonius, on becoming +impatient, against the advice of Artabazus, second in command, resolved to +commence the attack. The Greeks were forewarned of his intention, by +Alexander of Macedon, who came secretly to the Greek camp at night--a proof +that he, as well as others, were impatient of the Persian yoke. The +Lacedaemonians, posted in the right wing, against the Persians, changed +places with the Athenians, who were more accustomed to Persian warfare; +but this manoeuvre being detected, Mardonius made a corresponding change in +his own army--upon which Pausanias led back again his troops to the right +wing, and a second movement of Mardonius placed the armies in the original +position. + +(M448) A vigorous attack of the Persian cavalry now followed, which so +annoyed the Greeks, that Pausanias in the night resolved to change once +again his position, and retreated to the hilly ground, north of Plataea, +about twenty furlongs distant, not without confusion and mistrust on the +part of the Athenians. Mardonias, astonished at this movement, pursued, +and a general engagement followed. Both armies fought with desperate +courage, but discipline was on the side of the Greeks, and Mardonius was +slain, fighting gallantly with his guard. Artabazus, with the forty +thousand Persians under his immediate command, had not taken part, and now +gave orders to retreat, and retired from Greece. The main body, however, +of the defeated Persians retired to their fortified camp. This was +attacked by the Lacedaemonians, and carried with immense slaughter, so that +only three thousand men survived out of the army of Mardonius, save the +forty thousand which Artabazus--a more able captain--had led away. The +defeat of the Persians was complete, and the spoils which fell to the +victors was immense--gold and silver, arms, carpets, clothing, horses, +camels, and even the rich tent of Xerxes himself, left with Mardonius. The +booty was distributed among the different contingents of the army. The +real victors were the Lacedaemonians, Athenians, and Tegeans; the +Corinthians did not reach the field till the battle was ended, and thus +missed their share of the spoil. + +(M449) There was one ally of the Persians which Pausanias resolved to +punish--the city of Thebes when a merited chastisement was inflicted, and +the customary solemnities were observed, and honors decreed for the +greatest and most decisive victory which the Greeks had ever gained. A +confederacy was held at Plataea, in which a permanent league was made +between the leading Grecian States, not to separate until the common foe +was driven back to Asia. + +(M450) While these great events were transpiring in Boeotia, the fleet of +the Greeks, after the battle of Salamis, undertook to rescue Samos from +the Persians, and secure the independence of the Ionian cities in Asia. +The Persian fleet, now disheartened, abandoned Samos and retired to +Mycale, in Ionia. The Greek fleet followed, but the Persians abandoned or +dismissed their fleet, and joined their forces with those of Tigranes, +who, with an army of sixty thousand men, guarded Ionia. The Greeks +disembarked, and prepared to attack the enemy just as the news reached +them of the battle of Plataea. This attack was successful, partly in +consequence of the revolt of the Ionians in the Persian camp, although the +Persians fought with great bravery. The battle of Mycale was as complete +as that of Plataea and Marathon, and the remnants of the Persian army +retired to Sardis. The Ionian cities were thus, for the time, delivered of +the Persians, as well as Greece itself chiefly by means of the Athenians +and Corinthians. The Spartans, with inconceivable narrowness, were +reluctant to receive the continental Ionians as allies, and proposed to +transport them across the AEgean into Western Greece, which proposal was +most honorably rejected by the Athenians. In every thing, except the +defense of Greece Proper, and especially the Peloponnesus, the Spartans +showed themselves inferior to the Athenians in magnanimity and enlarged +views. After the capture of Sestos, B.C. 478, which relieved the Thracian +Chersonese from the Persians, the fleet of Athens returned home. The +capture of this city concludes the narration of Herodotus, which ended +virtually the Persian war, although hostilities were continued in Asia. +The battle of Marathon had given the first effective resistance to Persian +conquests, and created confidence among the Greeks. The battle of Salamis +had destroyed the power of Persia on the sea, and prevented any +co-operation of land and naval forces. The battle of Plataea freed Greece +altogether of the invaders. The battle of Mycale rescued the Ionian +cities. + +(M451) Athens had, on the whole, most distinguished herself in this great +and glorious contest, and now stood forth as the guardian of Hellenic +interests on the sea and the leader of the Ionian race. Sparta continued +to take the lead of the military States, to which Athens had generously +submitted. But a serious rivalry now was seen between these leading +States, chiefly through the jealousy of Sparta, which ultimately proved +fatal to that supremacy which the Greeks might have maintained overall the +powers of the world. Sparta wished that Athens might remain unfortified, +in common with all the cities of Northern Greece, while the isthmus should +be the centre of all the works of defense. But Athens, under the sagacious +and crafty management of Themistocles, amused the Spartans by delays, +while the whole population were employed upon restoring its +fortifications. + +(M452) Although the war against the Persians was virtually concluded by +the capture of Sestos, an expedition was fitted out by Sparta, under +Pausanias, the hero of Plataea, to prosecute hostilities on the shores of +Asia. After liberating most of the cities of Cyprus, and wresting +Byzantium from the Persians, which thus left the Euxine free to Athenian +ships, from which the Greeks derived their chief supplies of foreign corn, +Pausanias, giddy with his victories, unaccountably began a treasonably +correspondence with Xerxes, whose daughter he wished to marry, promising +to bring all Greece again under his sway. He was recalled to Sparta, +before this correspondence was known, having given offense by adopting the +Persian dress, and surrounding himself with Persian and Median guards. +When his treason was at last detected, he attempted to raise a rebellion +among the Helots, but failed, and died miserably by hunger in the temple +in which he had taken sanctuary. + +(M453) A fall scarcely less melancholy came to the illustrious +Themistocles. In spite of his great services, his popularity began to +decline. He was hated by the Spartans for the part he took in the +fortification of the city, who brought all their influence against him. He +gave umbrage to the citizens by his personal vanity, continually boasting +of his services. He erected a private chapel in honor of Artemis. He +prostituted his great influence for arbitrary and corrupt purposes. He +accepted bribes without scruple, to the detriment of the State, and in +violation of justice and right. And as the Persians could offer the +highest bribes, he was suspected of secretly favoring their interests. The +old rivalries between him and Aristides were renewed; and as Aristides was +no longer opposed to the policy which Athens adopted, of giving its +supreme attention to naval defenses, and, moreover, constantly had gained +the respect of the city by his integrity and patriotism, especially by his +admirable management at Delos, where he cemented the confederacy of the +maritime States, his influence was perhaps greater than that of +Themistocles, stained with the imputation of _Medism_. Cimon, the son of +Miltiades, also became a strong opponent. Though acquitted of accepting +bribes from Persia, Themistocles was banished by a vote of ostracism, as +Aristides had been before--a kind of exile which was not dishonorable, but +resorted to from regard to public interests, and to which men who became +unpopular were often subjected, whatever may have been their services or +merits. He retired to Argos, and while there the treason of Pausanias was +discovered. Themistocles was involved in it, since the designs of +Pausanias were known by him. Joint envoys from Sparta and Athens were sent +to arrest him, which, when known, he fled to Corcyra, and thence to +Admetus, king of the Molossians. The Epirotic prince shielded him in spite +of his former hostility, and furnished him with guides to Pydna, across +the mountains, from which he succeeded in reaching Ephesus, and then +repaired to the Persian court. At Athens he was proclaimed a traitor, and +his property, amounting to one hundred talents, accumulated by the war, +was confiscated. In Persia, he represented himself as a deserter, and +subsequently acquired influence with Artaxerxes, and devoted his talents +to laying out schemes for the subjugation of Greece. He received the large +sum of fifty talents yearly, and died at sixty-five years of age, with a +blighted reputation, such as no previous services could redeem from +infamy. + +(M454) Aristides died four years after the ostracism of Themistocles, +universally respected, and he died so poor as not to have enough for his +funeral expenses. Nor did any of his descendants ever become rich. + +(M455) Xerxes himself, the Ahasuerus of the Scriptures, who commanded the +largest expedition ever recorded in human annals, reached Sardis, eight +months after he had left it, disgusted with active enterprise, and buried +himself amid the intrigues of his court and seraglio, in Susa, as recorded +in the book of Esther. He was not deficient in generous impulses, but +deficient in all those qualities which make men victorious in war. He died +fifteen years after, the victim of a conspiracy, in his palace, B.C. +465--six years after Themistocles had sought his protection. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +THE AGE OF PERICLES. + + +(M456) With the defeat of the Persian armies, Athens and Sparta became, +respectively, the leaders of two great parties in Greece. Athens advocated +maritime interests and democratic institutions; Sparta, was the champion +of the continental and oligarchal powers. The one was Ionian, and +organized the league of Delos, under the management of Aristides; the +other was Dorian, and chief of the Peloponnesian confederacy. The +rivalries between these leading States involved a strife between those +ideas and interests of which each was the recognized representative. Those +States which previously had been severed from each other by geographical +position and diversity of interests, now rallied under the guidance either +of Athens or Sparta. The intrigues of Themistocles and Pausanias had +prevented that Panhellenic union, so necessary for the full development of +political power, and which was for a time promoted by the Persian war. +Athens, in particular, gradually came to regard herself as a pre-eminent +power, to which the other States were to be tributary. Her empire, based +on maritime supremacy, became a tyranny to which it was hard for the old +allies to submit. + +(M457) But the rivalry between Sparta and Athens was still more marked. +Sparta had thus far taken the lead among the Grecian States, and Athens +had submitted to it in the Persian invasion. But the consciousness of new +powers, which naval warfare developed, the _eclat_ of the battles of +Marathon and Salamis, and the confederacy of Delos, changed the relative +position of the two States. Moreover, to Athens the highest glory of +resisting the Persians was due, while her patriotic and enlarged spirit +favorably contrasted with the narrow and selfish policy of Sparta. + +(M458) And this policy was seen in nothing more signally than in the +oppositions he made to the new fortifications of Athens, so that +Themistocles was obliged to go to Sparta, and cover up by deceit and +falsehood the fact that the Athenians were really repairing their walls, +which they had an undoubted right to do, but which AEgina beheld with fear +and Sparta with jealousy. And this unreasonable meanness and injustice on +the part of Sparta, again reacted on the Athenians, and created great +bitterness and acrimony. + +(M459) But in spite of the opposition of Sparta, the new fortifications +arose, to which all citizens, rich and poor, lent their aid, and on a +scale which was not unworthy of the grandeur of a future capital. The +circuit of the walls was fifty stadia or seven miles, and they were of +sufficient strength and height to protect the city against external +enemies. And when they were completed Themistocles--a man of great +foresight and genius, persuaded the citizens to fortify also their harbor, +as a means of securing the ascendency of the city in future maritime +conflicts. He foresaw that the political ascendency of Athens was based on +those "wooden walls" which the Delphic oracle had declared to be her hope +in the Persian invasion. The victory at Salamis had confirmed the wisdom +of the prediction, and given to Athens an imperishable glory. Themistocles +persuaded his countrymen that the open roadstead of Phalerum was insecure, +and induced them to inclose the more spacious harbors of Peireus and +Munychia, by a wall as long as that which encircled Athens itself,--so +thick and high that all assault should be hopeless, while within its +fortifications the combined fleets of Greece could safely he anchored, and +to which the citizens of Athens could also retire in extreme danger. +Peireus accordingly was inclosed at vast expense and labor by a wall +fourteen feet in thickness, which served not merely for a harbor, but a +dock-yard and arsenal. Thither resorted metics or resident foreigners, and +much of the trade of Athens was in their hands, since they were less +frequently employed in foreign service. They became a thrifty population +of traders and handy craftsmen identified with the prosperity of Athens. +These various works, absorbed much of the Athenian force and capital, yet +enough remained to build annually twenty new triremes--equivalent to our +modern ships of the line. Athens now became the acknowledged head and +leader of the allied States, instead of Sparta, whose authority as a +presiding State was now openly renunciated by the Athenians. The +Panhellenic union under Sparta was now broken forever, and two rival +States disputed the supremacy,--the maritime States adhering to Athens, and +the land States, which furnished the larger part of the army at Plataea, +adhering to Sparta. It was then that the confederacy of Delos was formed, +under the presidency of Athens, which Aristides directed. His assessment +was so just and equitable that no jealousies were excited, and the four +hundred and sixty talents which were collected from the maritime States +were kept at Delos for the common benefit of the league, managed by a +board of Athenian officers. It was a common fear which led to this great +contribution, for the Phoenician fleet might at any time reappear, and, +co-operating with a Persian land force, destroy the liberties of Greece. +Although Athens reaped the chief benefit of this league, it was +essentially national. It was afterward indeed turned to aggrandize Athens, +but, when it was originally made, was a means of common defense against a +power as yet unconquered though repulsed. + +(M460) During all the time that the fortifications of Athens and the +Peireus were being made, Themistocles was the ruling spirit at Athens, +while Aristides commanded the fleet and organized the confederacy of +Delos. It was thus several years before he became false to his Countrymen, +and the change was only gradually wrought in his character, owing chiefly +to his extravagant habits and the arrogance which so often attends +success. + +(M461) During this period, a change was also made in the civil +constitution of Athens. All citizens were rendered admissible to office. +The State became still more democratic. The archons were withdrawn from +military duties, and confined to civil functions. The stategi or generals +gained greater power with the extending political relations, and upon them +was placed the duty of superintending foreign affairs. Athens became more +democratical and more military at the same time. + +(M462) From this time, 479 B.C., we date the commencement of the Athenian +empire. It gradually was cemented by circumstances rather than a +long-sighted and calculating ambition. At the head of the confederacy of +Delos, opportunities were constantly presented of centralizing power, +while its rapid increase of population and wealth favored the schemes +which political leaders advanced for its aggrandizement. The first ten +years of the Athenian hegemony or headship were years of active warfare +against the Persians. The capture of Eion, on the Strymon, with its +Persian garrison, by Cimonon, led to the settlement of Amphipolis by the +Athenians; and the fall of the cities which the Persians had occupied in +Thrace and in the various islands of the AEgean increased the power of +Athens. + +(M463) The confederate States at last grew weary of personal military +service, and prevailed upon the Athenians to provide ships and men in +their place, for which they imposed upon themselves a suitable +money-payment. They thus gradually sunk to the condition of tributary +allies, unwarlike and averse to privation, while the Athenians, stimulated +by new and expanding ambition, became more and more enterprising and +powerful. + +(M464) But with the growth of Athens was also the increase of jealousies. +Athens became unpopular, not only because she made the different maritime +States her tributaries, but because she embarked in war against them to +secure a still greater aggrandizement. Naxos revolted, but was conquered, +B.C. 467. The confederate State was stripped of its navy, and its +fortifications were razed to the ground. Next year the island of Thasos +likewise seceded from the alliance, and was subdued with difficulty, and +came near involving Athens in a war with Sparta. The Thasians invoked the +aid of Sparta, which was promised though not fulfilled, which imbittered +the relations between the two leading Grecian States. + +(M465) During this period, from the formation of the league at Delos, and +the fall of Thasos, about thirteen years, Athens was occupied in +maintaining expeditions against Persia, being left free from +embarrassments in Attica. The towns of Plataea and Thespiae were restored +and repeopled under Athenian influence. + +(M466) The jealousy of Sparta, in view of the growing power of Athens, at +last gave vent in giving aid to Thebes, against the old policy of the +State, to enable that city to maintain supremacy over the lesser Boeotian +towns. The Spartans even aided in enlarging her circuit and improving her +fortifications, which aid made Thebes a vehement partisan of Sparta. Soon +after, a terrible earthquake happened in Sparta, 464 B.C., which calamity +was seized upon by the Helots as a fitting occasion for revolt. Defeated, +but not subdued, the insurgents retreated to Ithome, the ancient citadel +of their Messenian ancestors, and there intrenched themselves. The +Spartans spent two years in an unsuccessful siege, and were forced to +appeal to their allies for assistance. But even the increased force made +no impression on the fortified hill, so ignorant were the Greeks, at this +period, of the art of attacking walls. And when the Athenians, under +Cimon, still numbered among the allies of Sparta, were not more +successful, their impatience degenerated to mistrust and suspicion, and +summarily dismissed the Athenian contingent. This ungracious and jealous +treatment exasperated the Athenians, whose feelings were worked upon by +Pericles who had opposed the policy of sending troops at all to Laconia. +Cimon here was antagonistic to Pericles, and wished to cement the more +complete union of Greece against Persia, and maintain the union with +Sparta. Cimon, moreover, disliked the democratic policy of Pericles. But +the Athenians rallied under Pericles, and Cimon lost his influence, which +had been paramount since the disgrace of Themistocles. A formal resolution +was passed at Athens to renounce the alliance with Sparta against the +Persians, and to seek alliance with Argos, which had been neutral during +the Persian invasion, but which had regained something of its ancient +prestige and power by the conquest of Mycenae and other small towns. The +Thessalians became members of this new alliance which was intended to be +antagonistic to Sparta. Megara, shortly after, renounced the protection of +the Peloponnesian capital, and was enrolled among the allies of Athens,--a +great acquisition to Athenian power, since this city secured the passes of +Mount Gerania, so that Attica was protected from invasion by the Isthmus +of Corinth. But the alliance of Megara and Athens gave deep umbrage to +Corinth as well as Sparta, and a war with Corinth was the result, in which +AEgina was involved as the ally of Sparta and Corinth. + +(M467) The Athenians were at first defeated on the land; but this defeat +was more than overbalanced by a naval victory over the Dorian seamen, off +the island of AEgina, by which the naval force of _AEgina_ hitherto great, +was forever prostrated. The Athenians captured seventy ships and commenced +the siege of the city itself. Sparta would have come to the rescue, but +was preoccupied in suppressing the insurrection of the Helots. Corinth +sent three hundred hoplites to AEgina and attacked Megara. But the +Athenians prevailed both at AEgina and Megara, which was a great blow to +Corinth. + +(M468) Fearing, however, a renewed attack from Corinth and the +Peloponnesian States, now full of rivalry and enmity, the Athenians, under +the leadership of Pericles, resolved to connect their city with the harbor +of Peireus by a long wall--a stupendous undertaking at that time. It +excited the greatest alarm among the enemies of Athens, and was a subject +of contention among different parties in the city. The party which Cimon, +now ostracised, had headed, wished to cement the various Grecian States in +a grand alliance against the Persians, and dreaded to see this long wall +arise as a standing menace against the united power of the Peloponnesus. +Moreover, the aristocrats of Athens disliked a closer amalgamation with +the maritime people of the Peireus, as well as the burdens and taxes which +this undertaking involved. These fortifications doubtless increased the +power of Athens, but weakened the unity of Hellenic patriotism; and +increased those jealousies which ultimately proved the political ruin of +Greece. + +(M469) Under the influence of these rivalries and jealousies the +Lacedaemonians, although the Helots wore not subdued, undertook a hostile +expedition out of the Peloponnesus, with eleven thousand five hundred men, +ostensibly to protect Doris against the Phoecians, but really to prevent +the further aggrandizement of Athens, and this was supposed to be most +easily effected by strengthening Thebes and securing the obedience of the +Boeotian cities. But there was yet another design, to prevent the building +of the long walls, to which the aristocratical party of Athens was +opposed, but which Pericles, with long-sighted views, defended. + +(M470) This extraordinary man, with whom the glory and greatness of Athens +are so intimately associated, now had the ascendency over all his rivals. +He is considered the ablest of all the statesmen which Greece produced. He +was of illustrious descent, and spent the early part of his life in +retirement and study, and when he emerged from obscurity his rise was +rapid, until he gained the control of his countrymen, which he retained +until his death. He took the side of the democracy, and, in one sense, was +a demagogue, as well as a statesman, since he appealed to popular passions +and interests. He was very eloquent, and was the idol of the party which +was dominant in the State. His rank and fortune enabled him to avail +himself of every mode of culture and self-improvement known in his day. He +loved music, philosophy, poetry, and art. The great Anaxagoras gave a +noble direction to his studies, so that he became imbued with the +sublimest ideas of Grecian wisdom. And his eloquence is said to have been +of the most lofty kind. His manners partook of the same exalted and +dignified bearing as his philosophy. He never lost his temper, and +maintained the severest self-control. His voice was sweet, and his figure +was graceful and commanding. He early distinguished himself as a soldier, +and so gained upon his countrymen that, when Themistocles and Aristides +were dead, and Cimon engaged in military expeditions, he supplanted all +who had gone before him in popular favor. All his sympathies were with the +democratic party, while his manners and habits and tastes and associations +were those of the aristocracy. His political career lasted forty years +from the year 469 B.C. He was unremitting in his public duties, and was +never seen in the streets unless on his way to the assembly or senate. He +was not fond of convivial pleasures, and was, though affable, reserved and +dignified. He won the favor of the people by a series of measures which +provided the poor with amusement and means of subsistence. He caused those +who served in the courts to be paid for their attendance and services. He +weakened the power of the court of the Areopagus, which was opposed to +popular measures. Assured of his own popularity, he even contrived to +secure the pardon of Cimon, his great rival, when publicly impeached. + +(M471) Pericles was thus the leading citizen of his country, when he +advocated the junction of the Peireus with Athens by the long walls which +have been alluded to, and when the Spartan army in Boeotia threatened to +sustain the oligarchal party in the city. The Athenians, in view of this +danger, took decisive measures. They took the field at once against their +old allies, the Lacedaemonians. The unfortunate battle of Tanagra was +decided in favor of the Spartans, chiefly through the desertion of the +Thessalian horse. + +(M472) Cimon, though ostracised, appeared in the field of battle, and +requested permission to fight in the ranks. Though the request was +refused, he used all his influence with his friends to fight with bravery +and fidelity to his country's cause, which noble conduct allayed the +existing jealousies, and through the influence of Pericles, his banishment +of ten years was revoked. He returned to Athens, reconciled with the party +which had defeated him, and so great was the admiration of his magnanimity +that all parties generously united in the common cause. Another battle +with the enemy was fought in Boeotia, this time attended with success, the +result of which was the complete ascendency of the Athenians over all +Boeotia. They became masters of Thebes and all the neighboring towns, and +reversed all the acts of the Spartans, and established democratic +governments, and forced the aristocratical leaders into exile. Phocis and +Locris were added to the list of dependent allies, and the victory +cemented their power from the Corinthian Gulf to the strait of Thermopylae. + +(M473) Then followed the completion of the long walls, B.C. 455, and the +conquest of AEgina. Athens was now mistress of the sea, and her admiral +displayed his strength by sailing round the Peloponnesus, and taking +possession of many cities in the Gulf of Corinth. But the Athenians were +unsuccessful in an expedition into Thessaly, and sustained many losses in +Egypt in the great warfare with Persia. + +(M474) After the success of the Lacedaemonians at Tanagra they made no +expeditions out of the Peloponnesus for several years, and allowed Boeotia +and Phocis to be absorbed in the Athenian empire. They even extended the +truce with Athens for five years longer, and this was promoted by Cimon, +who wished to resume offensive operations against the Persians. Cimon was +allowed to equip a fleet of two hundred triremes and set sail to Cyprus, +where he died. The expedition failed under his successor, and this closed +all further aggressive war with the Persians. + +(M475) The death of Cimon, whose interest it was to fight the Persians, +and thus by the spoils and honors of war keep up his influence at home, +left Pericles without rivals, and with opportunities to develop his policy +of internal improvements, and the development of national resources, to +enable Athens to maintain her ascendency over the States of Greece. So he +gladly concluded peace with the Persians, by the terms of which they were +excluded from the coasts of Asia Minor and the islands of the AEgean; while +Athens stipulated to make no further aggression on Cyprus, Phoenicia, +Cilicia, and Egypt. + +(M476) Athens, at peace with all her enemies, with a large empire of +tributary allies, a great fleet, and large accumulations of treasure, +sought now to make herself supreme in Greece. The fund of the confederacy +of Delos was transferred to the Acropolis. New allies sought her alliance. +It is said the tributary cities amounted to one thousand. She was not only +mistress of the sea, but she was the equal of Sparta on the land. Beside +this political power, a vast treasure was accumulated in the Acropolis. +Such rapid aggrandizement was bitterly felt by Corinth, Sicyon, and +Sparta, and the feeling of enmity expanded until it exploded in the +Peloponnesian war. + +(M477) It was while Athena was at this height of power and renown that +further changes were made in the constitution by Pericles. Great authority +was still in the hands of the court of the Areopagus, which was composed +exclusively of ex-archons, sitting for life, and hence of very +aristocratic sentiments. It was indeed a judicial body, but its functions +were mixed; it decided all disputes, inquired into crimes, and inflicted +punishments. And it was enabled to enforce its own mandates, which were +without appeal, and led to great injustice and oppression. The +magistrates, serving without pay, were generally wealthy, and though their +offices were eligible to all the citizens, still, practically, only the +rich became magistrates, as is the case with the British House of Commons. +Hence, magistrates possessing large powers, and the senate sitting for +life, all belonging to the wealthy class, were animated by aristocratic +sympathies. But a rapidly increasing democracy succeeded in securing the +selection of archons by lot, in place of election. This threw more popular +elements into the court of Areopagus. The innovations which Pericles +effected, of causing the jury courts, or Dikasteries, to be regularly +paid, again threw into public life the poorer citizens. But the great +change which he effected was in transferring to the numerous dikasts, +selected from the citizens, a new judicial power, heretofore exercised by +the magistrates, and the senate of the Areopagus. The magistrate, instead +of deciding causes and inflicting punishment beyond the imposition of a +small fine, was constrained to impanel a jury to try the cause. In fact, +the ten dikasts became the leading judicial tribunals, and as these were +composed, each, of five hundred citizens, judgments were virtually made by +the people, instead of the old court. The pay of each man serving as a +juror was determined and punctually paid. The importance of this +revolution will be seen when these dikasts thus became the exclusive +assemblies, of course popular, in which all cases, civil and criminal, +were tried. The magistrates were thus deprived of the judicial functions +which they once enjoyed, and were confined to purely administrative +matters. The commanding functions of the archon were destroyed, and he +only retained power to hear complaints, and fix the day of trial, and +preside over the dikastic assembly. The senate of the Areopagus, which had +exercised an inquisitorial power over the lives and habits of the +citizens, and supervised the meetings of the assembly--a power uncertain +but immense, and sustained by ancient customs,--now became a mere nominal +tribunal. And this change was called for, since the members of the court +were open to bribery and corruption, and had abused their powers, little +short of paternal despotism. And when the great public improvements, the +growth of a new population, the rising importance of the Penaeus, the +introduction of nautical people, and the active duties of Athens as the +head of the Delian confederacy--all, together, gave force to the democratic +elements of society, the old and conservative court became stricter, and +more oppressive, instead of more popular and conciliatory. + +(M478) But beside this great change in the constitution, Pericles effected +others also. Under his influence, a general power of supervision, over the +magistrates and the assembly, was intrusted to seven men called +Nomophylakes, or Law Guardians, changed every year, who sat with the +president in the senate and assembly, and interposed when any step was +taken contrary to existing laws. Other changes were also effected with a +view to the enforcement of laws, upon which we can not enter. It is enough +to say that it was by means of Pericles that the magistrates were stripped +of judicial power, and the Areopagus of all its jurisdiction, except in +cases of homicide, and numerous and paid and popular dikasts were +substituted to decide judicial cases, and repeal and enact laws; this, +says Grote, was the consummation of the Athenian democracy. And thus it +remained until the time of Demosthenes. + +(M479) But the influence of Pericles is still more memorable from the +impulse he gave to the improvements of Athens and his patronage of art and +letters. He conceived the idea of investing his city with intellectual +glory, which is more permanent than any conquests of territory. And since +he could not make Athens the centre of political power, owing to the +jealousies of other States, he resolved to make her the great attraction +to all scholars, artists, and strangers. And his countrymen were prepared +to second his glorious objects, and were in a condition to do so, enriched +by commerce, rendered independent by successes over the Persians, and +jealous Grecian rivals, and stimulated by the poets and philosophers who +flourished in that glorious age. The age of Pericles is justly regarded as +the epoch of the highest creation genius ever exhibited, and gave to +Athens an intellectual supremacy which no military genius could have +secured. + +(M480) The Persian war despoiled and depopulated Athens. The city was +rebuilt on a more extensive plan, and the streets were made more regular. +The long walls to the Peiraeus were completed--a double wall, as it were, +with a space between them large enough to secure the communication between +the city and the port, in case an enemy should gain a footing in the wide +space between the Peiraean and Thaleric walls. The port itself was +ornamented with beautiful public buildings, of which the Agora was the +most considerable. The theatre, called the Odeon, was erected in Athens +for musical and poetical contests. The Acropolis, with its temples, was +rebuilt, and the splendid Propylaea, of Doric architecture, formed a +magnificent approach to them. The temple of Athenae--the famous +Parthenon--was built of white marble, and adorned with sculptures in the +pediments and frieze by the greatest artists of antiquity, while Phidias +constructed the statue of the goddess of ivory and gold. No Doric temple +ever equaled the severe proportions and chaste beauty of the Parthenon, +and its ruins still are one of the wonders of the world. The Odeon and +Parthenon were finished during the first seven years of the administration +of Pericles, and many other temples were constructed in various parts of +Attica. The genius of Phidias is seen in the numerous sculptures which +ornamented the city, and the general impulse he gave to art. Other great +artists labored in generous competition,--sculptors, painters, and +architects,--to make Athens the most beautiful city in the world. + +(M481) "It was under the administration of Pericles that Greek literature +reached its culminating height in the Attic drama, a form of poetry which +Aristotle justly considers as the most perfect; and it shone with +undiminished splendor to the close of the century. It was this branch of +literature which peculiarly marked the age of Pericles--the period between +the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. The first regular comedies were +produced by Epicharmus, who was born in Cos, B.C. 540, and exhibited at +Syracuse. Comedy arose before tragedy, and was at first at the celebration +of Dionysus by rustic revelers in the season of the vintage, in the form +of songs and dances. But these were not so appropriate in cities, and the +songs of the revelers were gradually molded into the regular choral +dithyramb, while the performers still preserved the wild dress and +gestures of the satyrs--half goat and half man--who accompanied Dionysus." +The prevalence of tales of crime and fate and suffering naturally +impressed spectators with tragic sentiments, and tragedy was thus born and +separated from comedy. Both forms received their earliest development in +the Dorian States, and were particularly cultivated by the Megarians. +"Thespis, a native of Icaria, first gave to tragedy its dramatic +character, in the time of Pisistratus, B.C. 535. He introduced the +dialogue, relieved by choral performances, and the recitation of +mythological and heroic adventures. He traveled about Attica in a wagon, +which served him for a stage; but the art soon found its way to Athens, +where dramatic contests for prizes were established in connection with the +festivals of Dionysus. These became State institutions. Choerilus, B.C. +523, and Phrynichus followed Thespis, and these ventured from the regions +of mythology to contemporaneous history." + +(M482) It was at this time that AEschylus, the father of tragedy, exhibited +his dramas at Athens, B.C. 500. He added a second actor, and made the +choral odes subordinate to the action. The actors now made use of masks, +and wore lofty head-dresses and magnificent robes. Scenes were painted +according to the rules of perspective, and an elaborate mechanism was +introduced upon the stage. New figures were invented for the dancers of +the chorus. Sophocles still further improved tragedy by adding the third +actor, and snatched from AEschylus the tragic prize. He was not equal to +AEschylus in the boldness and originality of his characters, or the +loftiness of his sentiments, or the colossal grandeur of his figures; but +in the harmony of his composition, and the grace and vigor displayed in +all the parts--the severe unity, the classic elegance of his style, and the +charm of his expressions he is his superior. These two men carried tragedy +to a degree of perfection never afterward attained in Greece. It was not +merely a spectacle to the people, but was applied to moral and religious +purposes. The heroes of AEschylus are raised above the sphere of real life, +and often they are the sport of destiny, or victims of a struggle between +superior beings. The characters of Sophocles are rarely removed beyond the +sphere of mortal sympathy, and they are made to rebuke injustice and give +impressive warnings. + +(M483) Comedy also made a great stride during the administration of +Pericles; but it was not till his great ascendency was at its height that +Aristophanes was born, B.C. 444. The comedians of the time were allowed +great license, which they carried even into politics, and which was +directed against Pericles himself. + +(M484) The Athenian stage at this epoch was the chief means by which +national life and liberty were sustained. It answered the functions of the +press and the pulpit in our day, and quickened the perceptions of the +people. The great audiences which assembled at the theatres were kindled +into patriotic glow, and were moved by the noble thoughts, and withering +sarcasm, and inexhaustible wit of the poets. "The gods and goddesses who +swept majestically over the tragic stage were the objects of religious and +national faith, real beings, whose actions and sufferings claimed their +deepest sympathy, and whose heroic fortitude served for an example, or +their terrific fate for a warning. So, too, in the old comedy, the +persons, habits, manners, principles held up to ridicule were all familiar +to the audience in their daily lives; and the poet might exhibit in a +humorous light objects which to attack seriously would have been a treason +or a sacrilege, and might recommend measures which he could only have +proposed in the popular assembly with a halter round his neck." This +susceptibility of the people to grand impressions, and the toleration of +rulers, alike show a great degree of popular intelligence and a great +practical liberty in social life. + +(M485) The age of Pericles was also adorned by great historians and +philosophers. Herodotus and Thucydides have never been surpassed as +historians, while the Sophists who succeeded the more earnest philosophers +of a previous age, gave to Athenian youth a severe intellectual training. +Rhetoric, mathematics and natural history supplanted speculation, led to +the practice of eloquence as an art, and gave to society polish and +culture. The Sophists can not indeed be compared with those great men who +preceded or succeeded them in philosophical wisdom, but their influence in +educating the Grecian mind, and creating polished men of society, can not +be disproved. Politics became a profession in the democratic State, which +demanded the highest culture, and an extensive acquaintance with the +principles of moral and political science. This was the age of lectures, +when students voluntarily assembled to learn from the great masters of +thought that knowledge which would enable them to rise in a State where +the common mind was well instructed. + +(M486) But it must also be admitted that while the age of Pericles +furnished an extraordinary stimulus to the people, in art, in literature, +in political science, and in popular institutions, the great teachers of +the day inculcated a selfish morality, and sought an aesthetic enjoyment +irrespective of high moral improvement, and the inevitable result was the +rapid degeneracy of Athens, and the decline even in political influence, +and strength, as was seen in the superior power of Sparta in the great +contest to which the two leading States of Greece were hurried by their +jealousies and animosities. The prosperity was delusive and outside; for +no intellectual triumph, no glories of art, no fascinations of literature, +can balance the moral forces which are generated in self-denial and lofty +public virtue. + +(M487) It was while the power and glory of Pericles were at their height +that he formed that memorable attachment to Aspasia, a Milesian woman, +which furnished a fruitful subject for the attacks of the comic poets. She +was the most brilliant and intellectual woman of the age, and her house +was the resort of the literary men and philosophers and artists of Athens +until the death of Pericles. He formed as close a union with her as the +law allowed, and her influence in creating a sympathy with intellectual +excellence can not be questioned. But she was charged with pandering to +the vices of Pericles, and corrupting society by her example and +influence. + +(M488) The latter years of Pericles were marked by the outbreak of that +great war with Sparta, which crippled the power of Athens and tarnished +her glories. He also was afflicted by the death of his children by the +plague which devastated Athens in the early part of the Peloponnesian war, +to which attention is now directed. The probity of Pericles is attested by +the fact that during his long administration he added nothing to his +patrimonial estate. His policy was ambitious, and if it could have been +carried out, it would have been wise. He sought first to develop the +resources of his country--the true aim of all enlightened statesmen--and +then to make Athens the centre of Grecian civilization and political +power, to which all other Stales would be secondary and subservient. But +the rivalries of the Grecian States and inextinguishable jealousies would +not allow this. He made Athens, indeed, the centre of cultivated life; he +could not make it the centre of national unity. In attempting this he +failed, and a disastrous war was the consequence. + +Pericles lived long enough to see the commencement of the contest which +ultimately resulted in the political ruin of Athens, and which we now +present. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. + + +(M489) The great and disastrous war between the two leading States of +Greece broke out about two years and a half before the death of Pericles, +but the causes of the war can be traced to a period shortly after the +Persians were driven out of the Ionian cities. It arose primarily from the +rapid growth and power of Athens, when, as the leader of the maritime +States, it excited the envy of Sparta and other republics. A thirty years' +truce was made between Athens and Sparta, B.C. 445, after the revolution +in Boeotia, when the ascendency of Pericles was undisputed, which forced +his rival, Thucydides, a kinsman of Cimon, to go into temporary exile. The +continuance of the truce is identical with the palmy days of Athens, and +the glory of Pericles, during which the vast improvements to the city were +made, and art and literature flourished to a degree unprecedented in the +history of the ancient world. + +(M490) After the conquest of Samos the jealousy of Sparta reached a point +which made it obvious that the truce could not much longer be maintained, +though both powers shrunk from open hostilities, foreseeing the calamities +which would result. The storm burst out in an unexpected quarter. The city +of Epidamnus had been founded by colonists from Corcyra, on the eastern +side of the Adriatic. It was, however, the prey of domestic factions, and +in a domestic revolution a part of the inhabitants became exiles. These +appealed to the neighboring barbarians, who invested the city by sea and +land. The city, in distress, invoked the aid of Corcyra, the parent State, +which aid being disregarded, the city transferred its allegiance to +Corinth. The Corinthians, indulging a hatred of Corcyra, took the +distressed city under their protection. This led to a war between Corcyra +and Corinth, in which the Corinthians were defeated. But Corinth, burning +to revenge the disaster, fitted out a still larger force against Corcyra. +The Corcyraeans, in alarm, then sent envoys to Athens to come to their +assistance. The Corinthians also sent ambassadors to frustrate their +proposal. Two assemblies were held in Athens in reference to the subject. +The delegates of Corcyra argued that peace could not long be maintained +with Sparta, and that in the coming contest the Corcyraeans would prove +useful allies. The envoys of Corinth, on the other hand, maintained that +Athens could not lend aid to Corcyra without violating the treaty with +Corinth. The Athenians decided to assist Corcyra, and ten ships were sent, +under the command of Lacedaemonieus, the son of Cimon. This was considered +a breach of faith by the Corinthians, and a war resulted between Corinth +and Athens. The Corinthians then invited the Lacedaemonians to join them +and make common cause against an aggressive and powerful enemy, that aimed +at the supremacy of Greece. In spite of the influence of Athenian envoys +in Sparta, who attempted to justify the course their countrymen had taken, +the feeling against Athens was bitter and universally hostile. Instant +hostilities were demanded in defense of the allies of Sparta, and war was +decided upon. + +Thus commenced the Peloponnesian war, which led to such disastrous +consequences, and which was thus brought about by the Corinthians, B.C. +433, sixteen years before the conclusion of the truce. + +(M491) To Athens the coming war was any thing but agreeable. It had no +hopes of gain, and the certainty of prodigious loss. But the Spartans were +not then prepared for the contest, and hostilities did not immediately +commence. They contented themselves, at first, with sending envoys to +Athens to multiply demands and enlarge the grounds of quarrel. The +offensive was plainly with Sparta. The first requisition which Sparta made +was the expulsion of the Alcmaeonidae from Athens, to which family Pericles +belonged--a mere political manoeuvre to get rid of so commanding a +statesman. The enemies of Pericles, especially the comic actors at Athens, +seized this occasion to make public attacks upon him, and it was then that +the persecution of Aspasia took place, as well as that against Anaxagoras, +the philosopher, the teacher, and friend of Pericles. He was also accused +of peculation in complicity with Phidias. But he was acquitted of the +various charges made by his enemies. Nor could his services be well +dispensed with in the great crisis of public affairs, even had he been +guilty, as was exceedingly doubtful. + +(M492) The reluctance on the part of the Athenians to go to war was very +great, but Pericles strenuously urged his countrymen to resent the +outrageous demands of Sparta, which were nothing less than the virtual +extinction of the Athenian empire. He showed that the Spartans, though +all-powerful on the Peloponnesus, had no means of carrying on an +aggressive war at a distance, neither leaders nor money, nor habits of +concert with allies; while Athens was mistress of the sea, and was +impregnable in defense; that great calamities would indeed happen in +Attica, but even if overrun by Spartan armies, there were other +territories and islands from which a support could be derived. "Mourn not +for the loss of land," said the orator, "but reserve your mourning for the +men that acquire land." His eloquence and patriotism prevailed with a +majority of the assembly, and answer was made to Sparta that the Athenians +were prepared to discuss all grounds of complaint pursuant to the truce, +by arbitration, but that they would yield nothing to authoritative +command. This closed the negotiations, which Pericles foresaw would be +vain and useless, since the Spartans were obstinately bent on war. The +first imperious blow was struck by the Thebans--allies of Sparta. They +surprised Plataea in the night. The gates were opened by the oligarchal +party; a party of Thebans were admitted into the agora; but the people +rallied, and the party was overwhelmed. Meanwhile another detachment of +Thebans arrived in the morning, and, discovering what had happened, they +laid waste the Plataean territory without the walls. The Plataeans +retaliated by slaughtering their prisoners. Messengers left the city, on +the entrance of the Thebans, to carry the news to Athens, and the +Athenians issued orders to seize all the Boeotians who could be found in +Attica, and sent re-enforcements to Plataea. This aggression of the Thebans +silenced the opponents of Pericles, who now saw that the war had actually +begun, and that active preparations should be made. Athens immediately +sent messengers to her allies, tributary as well as free, and +contributions flowed in from all parts of the Athenian empire. Athens had +soon three hundred triremes fit for service, twelve hundred horsemen, +sixteen hundred bowmen, and twenty-nine thousand hoplites. The Acropolis +was filled with the treasure which had long been accumulating, not less +than six thousand talents--about $7,000,000 of our money--an immense sum at +that time, when gold and silver were worth twenty or thirty times as much +as at present. Moreover, the various temples were rich in votive +offerings, in deposits, plate, and sacred vessels, while the great statue +of the goddess, lately set up in the Parthenon by Phidias, composed of +gold and ivory, was itself valued at four hundred talents. The +contributions of allies swelled the resources of Athens to one thousand +talents, or over $11,000,000. + +(M493) Sparta, on the other hand, had but few ships, no funds, and no +powers of combination, and it would seem that success would be on the side +of Athens, with her unrivaled maritime skill, and the unanimity of the +citizens. Pericles did not promise successful engagements on the land, but +a successful resistance, and the maintenance of the empire. His policy was +purely defensive. But if Sparta was weak in money and ships, she was rich +in allies. The entire strength of the Peloponnesus was brought out, +assisted by Megarians, Boeotians, Phocians, Locrians, and other States. +Corinth, Megara, Sicyon, Elis, and other maritime cities furnished ships +while Boeotians, Phocians, and Locrians furnished cavalry. Not even to +resist the Persian hosts was so large a land force collected, as was now +assembled to destroy the supremacy of Athens. And this great force was +animated with savage hopes, while the Athenians were not without +desponding anticipations, for there was little hope of resisting the +Spartans and their allies on the field. The Spartans, moreover, resolved, +by means of their allies, to send a fleet able to cope with that of +Athens, and even were so transported with enmity and jealousy as to lay +schemes for invoking the aid of Persia. + +(M494) The invasion of Attica was the primary object of Sparta and her +allies; and at the appointed time the Lacedaemonian forces were mustered on +the Isthmus of Corinth, under the command of Archidamus. Envoys were sent +to Athens to summon a surrender, but Pericles would not receive them, nor +allow them to enter the city, upon which the Lacedaemonian army commenced +its march to Attica. It required all the eloquence and tact of Pericles to +induce the proprietors of Attica to submit to the devastation of their +cultivated territory, and fly with their families and movable property to +Athens or the neighboring islands, without making an effort to resist the +invaders. But this was the policy of Pericles. He knew he could not +contend with superior forces on the land. It was hard for the people to +submit to the cruel necessity of seeing their farms devastated without +opposition. But they made the sacrifice, and intrenched themselves behind +the fortifications of Athens. Then was seen the wisdom of the long walls +which connected Athens with the Piraeus. + +(M495) Meanwhile the Spartan forces--sixty thousand hoplites, advanced +through Attica, burning and plundering every thing on their way, and +reached Acharnae, within seven miles of Athens. The Athenians, pent up +behind their walls, and seeing the destruction of their property, were +eager to go forth and fight, but were dissuaded by Pericles. Then came to +him the trying hour. He was denounced as the cause of the existing +sufferings, and was reviled as a coward. But nothing disturbed his +equanimity, and he refused even to convene the assembly. As one of the ten +generals he had this power; but it was a remarkable thing that the people +should have respected the democratic constitution so far as to submit, +when their assembly would have been justified by the exigency of the +crisis. But while the Athenians remained inactive behind their walls, the +cavalry was sent out on skirmishing expeditions, and a large fleet was +sent to the Peloponnesus with orders to devastate the country in +retaliation. The Spartans, after having spent thirty or forty days in +Attica, retired for want of provisions. AEgina was also invaded, and the +inhabitants were expelled and sent to the Peloponnesus. Megara was soon +after invaded by an army under Pericles himself, and its territory was +devastated--a retribution well deserved, for both Megara and AEgina had been +zealous in kindling the war. + +(M496) Expecting a prolonged struggle, the Athenians now made arrangements +for putting Attica in permanent defense, both by sea and land, and set +apart one thousand talents, out of the treasure of the Acropolis, which +was not to be used except in certain dangers previously prescribed, and a +law was passed making it a capital offense for any citizen to propose its +use for any other purpose. + +(M497) The first year of the war closed without decisive successes on +either side. The Athenians made a more powerful resistance than was +anticipated. It was supposed they could not hold out against the superior +forces of their enemies more than a year. They had the misfortune to see +their territory wasted, and their treasures spent in a war which they +would gladly have avoided. But, on the other hand, they inflicted nearly +equal damages upon the Peloponnesus, and still remained masters of the +sea. Pericles pronounced a funeral oration on those who had fallen and +stimulated his countrymen to continued resistance, and excited their +patriotic sentiments. Thus far the anticipations of the statesman and +orator had been more than realized. + +(M498) The second year of the war opened with another invasion of Attica +by the Spartans and their allies. They inflicted even more injury than in +the preceding year, but they found the territory deserted, all the +population having retired within the defenses of Athens. + +(M499) But a new and unforeseen calamity now fell upon the Athenians, and +against which they could not guard. A great pestilence broke out in the +city, which had already overrun Western Asia. Its progress was rapid and +destructive, and the overcrowded city was but too favorable for its +ravages. Thucydides has left a graphic and mournful account of this +pestilence, analogous to the plague of modern times. The victims generally +perished on the seventh or ninth day, and no treatment was efficacious. +The sufferings and miseries of the people were intense, and the calamity +by many was regarded as resulting from the anger of the gods. The +pestilence demoralized the population, who lost courage and fortitude. The +sick were left to take care of themselves. The utmost lawlessness +prevailed. The bonds of law and morality were relaxed, and the thoughtless +people abandoned themselves to every species of folly and excess, seeking, +in their despair, to seize some brief moments of joy before the hand of +destiny should fall upon them. For three years did this calamity desolate +Athens, and the loss of life was deplorable, both in the army and among +private citizens. Pericles lost both his children and his sister; four +thousand four hundred hoplites died, and a greater part of the horsemen. + +(M500) And yet, amid the devastation which the pestilence inflicted, +Pericles led another expedition against the coasts of the Peloponnesus. +But the soldiers carried infection with them, and a greater part of them +died of the disease at the siege or blockade of Potidaea. The Athenians +were nearly distracted by the double ravages of pestilence and war, and +became incensed against Pericles, and sent messengers to Sparta to +negotiate peace. But the Spartans turned a deaf ear, which added to the +bitterness against their heroic leader, whose fortitude and firmness were +never more effectively manifested. He was accused, and condemned to pay a +fine, and excluded from re-election. Though he was restored to power and +confidence, his affliction bore heavily upon his exalted nature, and he +died, B.C. 430, in the early period of the war. He had, indeed, many +enemies, and was hunted down by the comic writers, whose trade it was to +deride all political characters, yet his wisdom, patriotism, eloquence, +and great services are indisputable, and he died, leaving on the whole, +the greatest name which had ever ennobled the Athenians. + +(M501) The war, of course, languished during the prevalence of the +epidemic, and much injury was done to Athenian commerce by Peloponnesian +privateers, who put to death all their prisoners. It was then that Sparta +sent envoys to Persia to solicit money and troops against Athens, which +shows that no warfare is so bitter as civil strife, and that no expedients +are too disgraceful not to be made use of, in order to gratify malignant +passions. But the envoys were seized in Thrace by the allies of Athens, +and delivered up to the Athenians, and by them were put to death. + +(M502) In January, B.C. 429, Potidaea surrendered to the Athenian generals, +upon favorable terms, after enduring all the miseries of famine. The fall +of this city cost Athens two thousand talents. The Lacedaemonians, after +two years, had accomplished nothing. They had not even relieved Potidaea. + +(M503) On the third year, the Lacedaemonians, instead of ravaging Attica, +marched to the attack of Plataea. The inhabitants resolved to withstand the +whole force of the enemies. Archidemus, the Lacedaemonian general, +commenced the siege, defended only by four hundred native citizens and +eighty Athenians. So unskilled were the Greeks in the attack of fortified +cities, that the besiegers made no progress, and were obliged to resort to +blockade. A wall of circumvallation was built around the city, which was +now left to the operations of famine. + +(M504) At the same time the siege was pressed, an Athenian armament was +sent to Thrace, which was defeated; but in the western part of Greece the +Athenian arms were more successful. The Spartans and their allies suffered +a repulse at Stratus, and their fleet was defeated by Phormio, the +Athenian admiral. Nothing could exceed the rage of the Lacedaemonians at +these two disasters. They collected a still larger fleet, and were again +defeated with severe loss near Naupactus, by inferior forces. But the +defeated Lacedaemonians, under the persuasion of the Megarians, undertook +the bold enterprise of surprising the Piraeus, during the absence of the +Athenian fleet; but the courage of the assailants failed at the critical +hour, and the port of Athens was saved. The Athenians then had the +precaution to extend a chain across the mouth of the harbor, to guard +against such surprises in the future. + +(M505) Athens, during the summer, had secured the alliance of the +Odrysians, a barbarous but powerful nation in Thrace. Their king, +Sitalces, with an army of fifteen thousand men, attacked Perdiccas, the +king of Macedonia, and overran his country, and only retired from the +severity of the season and the want of Athenian co-operation. Such were +the chief enterprises and events of the third campaign, and Athens was +still powerful and unhumbled. + +(M506) The fourth year of the war was marked by a renewed invasion of +Attica, without any other results than such as had happened before. But it +was a more serious calamity to the Athenians to learn that Mitylene and +most of Lesbos had revolted--one of the most powerful of the Athenian +allies. Nothing was left to Athens but to subjugate the city. A large +force was sent for this purpose, but the inhabitants of Mitylene appealed +to the Spartans for aid, and prepared for a vigorous resistance. But the +treasures of Athens were now nearly consumed, and the Athenians were +obliged to resort to contributions to force the siege, which they did with +vigor. The Lacedaemonians promised succor, and the Mitylenaeans held out +till their provisions were exhausted, when they surrendered to the +Athenians. The Lacedaemonians advanced to relieve their allies, but were +too late. The Athenian admiral pursued them, and they returned to the +Peloponnesus without having done any thing. Paches, the Athenian general, +sent home one thousand Mitylenaean prisoners, while it was decreed to +slaughter the whole remaining population--about six thousand--able to carry +arms, and makes slaves of the women and children. This severe measure was +prompted by Cleon. But the Athenians repented, and a second decree of the +assembly, through the influence of Diodotus, prevented the barbarous +revenge; but the Athenians put to death the prisoners which Paches had +sent, razed the fortifications of Mitylene, took possession of all her +ships of war, and confiscated all the land of the island except that which +belonged to one town that had been faithful. So severe was ancient +warfare, even among the most civilized of the Greeks. + +(M507) The surrender of Plataea to the Lacedaemonians took place not long +after; but not until one-half of the garrison had sallied from the city, +scaled the wall of circumvallation, and escaped safely to Athens. The +Plataeans were sentenced to death by the Spartan judges, and barbarously +slain. The captured women were sold as slaves, and the town and territory +were handed over to the Thebans. + +(M508) Scenes not less bloody took place in the western part of Greece, in +the island of Corcyra, before which a naval battle was fought between the +Lacedaemonians and the Athenians. The island had been governed by +oligarchies, under the protection of Sparta, but the retirement of the +Lacedaemonian fleet enabled the Athenian general to wreak his vengeance on +the party which had held supremacy, which was exterminated in the most +cruel manner, which produced a profound sensation, and furnished +Thucydides a theme for the most profound reflections on the acerbity and +ferocity of the political parties, which, it seems, then divided Greece, +and were among the exciting causes of the war itself--the struggle between +the advocates of democratic and aristocratic institutions. + +(M509) A new character now appears upon the stage at Athens--Nicias--one of +the ten generals who, in rank and wealth, was the equal of Pericles. He +belonged to the oligarchal party, and succeeded Cimon and Thucydides in +the control of it. But he was moderate in his conduct, and so won the +esteem of his countrymen, that he retained power until his death, although +opposed to the party which had the ascendency. He was incorruptible as to +pecuniary gains, and adopted the conservative views of Pericles, avoiding +new acquisitions at a distance, or creating new enemies. He surrounded +himself, not as Pericles did, with philosophers, but religions men, +avoided all scandals, and employed his large fortune in securing +popularity. Pericles disdained to win the people by such means, cultivated +art, and patronized the wits who surrounded Aspasia. Nicias was zealous in +the worship of the gods, was careful to make no enemies, and conciliated +the poor by presents. Yet he increased his private fortune, so far as he +could, by honorable means, and united thrift and sagacity with honesty and +piety. He was not a man of commanding genius, but his character was above +reproach, and was never assailed by the comic writers. He was the great +opponent of Alcibiades, the oracle of the democracy--one of those memorable +demagogues who made use of the people to forward his ambitious projects. +He was also the opponent of Cleon, whose office it was to supervise +official men for the public conduct--a man of great eloquence, but +fault-finding and denunciatory. + +(M510) The fifth year of the war was not signalized by the usual invasion +of Attica, which gave the Athenians leisure to send an expedition under +Nicias against the island of Melos, inhabited by ancient colonists from +Sparta. Demosthenes, another general, was sent around the Peloponnesus to +attack Acarnania, and he ravaged the whole territory of Leueas. He also +attacked AEtolia, but was completely beaten, and obliged to retire with +loss; but this defeat was counterbalanced by a great victory, the next +year, over the enemy at Olpae, when the Lacedaemonian general was slain. He +returned in triumph to Athens with considerable spoil. The attention of +the Athenians was now directed to Delos, the island sacred to Apollo, and +a complete purification of the island was made, and the old Delian +festivals renewed with peculiar splendor. + +(M511) The war had now lasted six years, without any grand or decisive +results on either side. The expeditions of both parties were of the nature +of raids--destructive, cruel, irritating, but without bringing any grand +triumphs. Though the seventh year was marked by the usual enterprise on +the part of the Lacedaemonians--the invasion of Attica--Corcyra promised to +be the principal scene of military operations. Both an Athenian and +Spartan fleet was sent thither. But an unforeseen incident gave a new +character to the war. In the course of the voyage to Corcyra, Demosthenes, +the Athenian general, stopped at Pylus, with the intention of erecting a +fort on the uninhabited promontory, since it protected the spacious basin +now known as the bay of Navarino, and was itself easily defended. +Eurymedon, the admiral, insisted on going directly to Corcyra, but the +fleet was driven by a storm into the very harbor which Demosthenes +proposed to defend. The place was accordingly fortified by Demosthenes, +where he himself remained with a garrison, while the fleet proceeded to +Corcyra. Intelligence of this insult to Sparta--the attempt to plant a +hostile fort on its territory--induced the Lacedaemonians to send their +fleet to Pylus, instead of Corcyra. Forty-three triremes, under +Thrasymelidas, and a powerful land force, advanced to attack Demosthenes, +intrenched with his small army on the rocky promontory. When the news of +this new diversion reached the Athenian fleet at Corcyra, it returned to +Pylus, to succor Demosthenes. Here a naval battle took place, in which the +Lacedaemonians were defeated. This defeat jeopardized the situation of the +Spartan army which had occupied the island of Shacteria, cut off from +supplies from the main land, as well as the existence of the fleet. So +great was this exigency, that the ephors came from Sparta to consult on +operations. They took a desponding view, and sent a herald to the Athenian +generals to propose an armistice, in order to allow time for envoys to go +to Athens and treat for peace. But Athens demanded now her own terms, +elated by the success. Cleon, the organ of the popular mind, excited and +sanguine, gave utterance to the feelings of the people, and insisted on +the restoration of all the territory they had lost during the war. The +Lacedaemonian envoys, unable to resist a vehement speaker like Cleon, which +required qualities they did not possess, and which could only be acquired +from skill in managing popular assemblies, to which they were unused, +returned to Pylus. And it was the object of Cleon to prevent a hearing of +the envoys by a select committee (what they desired) for fear that Nicias +and other conservative politicians would accede to their proposals. Thus +the best opportunity that could be presented for making an honorable peace +and reuniting Greece was lost by the arts of a demagogue, who inflamed and +shared the popular passions. Had Pericles been alive, the treaty would +probably have been made, but Nicias had not sufficient influence to secure +it. + +(M512) War therefore recommenced, with fresh irritation. The Athenian +fleet blockaded the island where the Spartan hoplites were posted, and +found in the attempt, which they thought so easy, unexpected obstacles. +Provisions clandestinely continually reached the besieged. Week after week +passed without the expected surrender. Demosthenes, baffled for want of +provisions and water for his own fleet, sent urgently to Athens for +re-enforcements, which caused infinite mortification. The people now began +to regret that they had listened to Cleon, and not to the voice of wisdom. +Cleon himself was sent with the re-enforcements demanded, against his +will, although he was not one of the ten generals. The island of +Sphacteria now contained the bravest of the Lacedaemonian troops--from the +first families of Sparta--a prey which Cleon and Demosthenes were eager to +grasp. They attacked the island with a force double of that of the +defenders, altogether ten thousand men, eight hundred of whom were +hoplites. The besieged could not resist this overwhelming force, and +retreated to their last redoubt, but were surrounded and taken prisoners. +This surrender caused astonishment throughout Greece, since it was +supposed the Spartan hoplites would die, as they did at Thermopylae, rather +than allow themselves to be taken alive, and this calamity diminished +greatly the lustre of the Spartan arms. A modern army, surrounded with an +overwhelming force, against which all resistance was madness, would have +done the same as the Spartans. But it was a sad blow to them. Cleon, +within twenty days of his departure, arrived at Athens with his three +hundred Lacedaemonian prisoners, amid universal shouts of joy, for it was +the most triumphant success which the Athenians had yet obtained. The war +was prosecuted with renewed vigor, and the Lacedaemonians again made +advances for peace, but without effect. The flushed victors would hear of +no terms but what were disgraceful to the Spartans. The chances were now +most favorable to Athens. Nicias invaded the Corinthian territory with +eighty triremes, two thousand hoplites, and two hundred horsemen, to say +nothing of the large number which supported these, and committed the same +ravages that the Spartans and their allies had inflicted upon Attica. + +Among other events, the Athenians this year captured the Persian +ambassador, Artaphernes, on his way to Sparta. He was brought to Athens, +and his dispatches were translated and made public. He was sent back to +Ephesus, with Athenian envoys, to the great king, to counteract the +influence of the Spartans, but Artaerxes had died when they reached Susa. + +(M513) The capture of Sphacteria, and the surrender of the whole +Lacedaemonian fleet, not only placed Athens, on the opening of the eighth +year of the war, in a situation more commanding than she had previously +enjoyed, but stimulated her to renewed operations on a grander scale, not +merely against Sparta, but to recover the ascendency in Boeotia, which was +held before the thirty years' truce. The Lacedaemonians, in concert with +the revolted Chalcidic allies of Athens in Thrace, and Perdiccas, king of +Macedonia, also made great preparations for more decisive measures. The +war had dragged out seven years, and nothing was accomplished which +seriously weakened either of the contending parties. + +(M514) The first movement was made by the Athenians on the Laconian coast. +The island of Cythera was captured by an expedition led by Nicias, of +sixty triremes and two thousand hoplites, beside other forces, and the +coast was ravaged. Then Thyrea, an AEginetan settlement, between Laconia +and Argolis, fell into the hands of the Athenians, and all the AEginetans +were either killed in the assault, or put to death as prisoners. These +successive disasters alarmed the Lacedaemonians, and they now began to fear +repeated assaults on their own territory, with a discontented population +of Helots. This fear prompted an act of cruelty and treachery which had no +parallel in the history of the war. Two thousand of the bravest Helots +were entrapped, as if especial honors were to be bestowed upon them, and +barbarously slain. None but the five ephors knew the bloody details. There +was even no public examination of this savage inhumanity, which shows that +Sparta was governed, as Venice was in the Middle Ages, by a small but +exceedingly powerful oligarchy. + +After this cruelty was consummated, envoys came from Perdiccas and the +Chalcidians of Thrace, invoking aid against Athens. It was joyfully +granted, and Brasidas, at the request of Perdiccas and the Chalcidians, +was sent with a large force of Peloponnesian hoplites. + +(M515) Meanwhile the Athenians formed plans to attack Megara, whose +inhabitants had stimulated the war, and had been the greatest sufferers by +it. A force was sent under Hippocrates and Demosthenes to surprise the +place, and also Nisaea. The long walls of Megara, similar to those of +Athens, were taken by surprise, and the Athenians found themselves at the +gates of the city, which came near falling into their hands by treachery. +Baffled for the moment, the Athenians attacked Clisaea, which lay behind +it, and succeeded. + +(M516) But Brasidas, the Lacedaemonian general, learning that the long +walls had fallen into the hands of the Athenians, got together a large +force of six thousand hoplites and six hundred cavalry, and relieved +Megara, and the Athenians were obliged to retire. Ultimately the Megarians +regained possession of the long walls, and instituted an oligarchal +government. + +(M517) The Athenians, disappointed in getting possession of Megara, which +failed by one of those accidents ever recurring in war, organized a large +force for the attack of Boeotia, on three sides, under Hippocrates and +Demosthenes. The attack was first made at Siphae, by Demosthenes, on the +Corinthian Gulf, but failed. In spite of this failure by sea, Hippocrates +marched with a land force to Delium, with seven thousand hoplites, and +twenty-five thousand other troops, and occupied the place, which was a +temple consecrated to Apollo, and strongly fortified it. When the work of +fortification was completed, the army prepared to return to Athens. + +(M518) Forces from all parts of Boeotia rallied, and met the Athenians. +Among the forces of the Boeotians was the famous Theban band of three +hundred select warriors, accustomed to fight in pairs, each man attached +to his companion by peculiar ties of friendship. At Delium was fought the +great battle of the war, in which the Athenians were routed, and the +general, Hippocrates, with a thousand hoplites, were slain. The victors +refused the Athenians the sacred right of burying their dead, unless they +retired altogether from Delium--the post they had fortified on Boeotian +territory. To this the Athenians refused to submit, the consequence of +which was the siege and capture of Delium. + +Among the hoplites who fought in this unfortunate battle, which was a +great discouragement to the Athenian cause, was the philosopher Socrates. +The famous Alcibiades also served in the cavalry, and helped to protect +Socrates in his retreat, after having bravely fought. + +(M519) The disasters of the Athenians in Thrace were yet more +considerable. Brasidas, with a large force, including seventeen hundred +hoplites, rapidly marched through Thrace and Thessaly, and arrived in +Macedonia safely, and attacked Acanthus, an ally of Athens. It fell into +his hands, as well as Stageirus, and he was thus enabled to lay plans for +the acquisition of Amphipolis, which was founded by Athenian colonists. He +soon became master of the surrounding territory. He then offered favorable +terms of capitulation to the citizens of the town, which were accepted, +and the city surrendered--the most important of all the foreign possessions +of Athens. The bridge over the Strymon was also opened, by which all the +eastern allies of Athena were approachable by land. This great reverse +sent dismay into the hearts of the Athenians, greater than had before been +felt. The bloody victory at Delium, and the conquests of Brasidas, more +than balanced the capture of Sphacteria. Sparta, under the victorious +banner of Brasidas, a general of great probity, good faith, and +moderation, now proclaimed herself liberator of Greece. Athens, +discouraged and baffled, lost all the prestige she had gained. + +(M520) But Amphipolis was lost by the negligence of the Athenian +commanders. Encles and Thucydides, the historian, to whom the defense of +the place was intrusted, had means ample to prevent the capture had they +employed ordinary precaution. The Athenians, indignant, banished +Thucydides for twenty years, and probably Eucles also--a just sentence, +since they did not keep the bridge over the Strymon properly guarded, nor +retained the Athenian squadron at Eion. The banishment of Thucydides gave +him leisure to write the history on which his great fame rests--the most +able and philosophical of all the historical works of antiquity. + +(M521) Brasidas, after the fall of Amphipolis, extended his military +operations with success. He took Torone, Lecythus, and other places, and +then went into winter quarters. The campaign had been disastrous to the +Athenians, and a truce of one year was agreed upon by the belligerent +parties--Athens of the one party, and Sparta, Corinth, Sicyon, Epidaurus, +and Megara, of the other. + +(M522) The conditions of this truce stipulated that Delphi might be +visited by all Greeks, without distinction; that all violations of the +property of the Delphian god should be promptly punished; that the +Athenian garrisons at Pylus, Cythera, Nisaea, and Methana, should remain +unmolested; that the Lacedaemonians should be free to use the sea for +trading purposes; and that neither side should receive deserters from the +other--important to both parties, since Athens feared the revolt of subject +allies, and Sparta the desertion of Helots. + +But two days had elapsed after the treaty was made before Scione in Thrace +revolted to Brasidas--a great cause of exasperation to the Athenians, +although the revolt took place before the treaty was known. Mendes, a +neighboring town, also revolted. Brasidas sent the inhabitants a garrison +to protect themselves, and departed with his forces for an expedition into +the interior of Macedonia, but was soon compelled to retreat before the +Illyrians. + +(M523) An Athenian force, under Nicias and Nicostratus, however, proceeded +to Thrace to recover the revolted cities. Everywhere else the truce was +observed. It was intended to give terms for more complete negotiations. +This was the policy of Nicias. But Cleon and his party, the democracy, was +opposed to peace, and wished to prosecute the war vigorously in Thrace. +Brasidas, on his part, was equally in favor of continued hostilities. And +this was the great question of the day in Greece. + +(M524) The war party triumphed, and Cleon, by no means an able general, +was sent with an expedition to recover Amphipolis, B.C. 422. He succeeded +in taking Torone, but Amphipolis, built on a hill in the peninsula formed +by the river Strymon, as it passes from the Strymonic Gulf to Lake +Kerkernilis, was a strongly fortified place in which Brasidas intrenched. +He was obliged to remain inactive at Eion, at the mouth of the river, +three miles distant from Amphipolis, which excited great discontent in his +army, but which was the wiser course, until his auxiliaries arrived. But +the murmur of the hoplites compelled him to some sort of action, and while +he was reconnoitering, he was attacked by Brasidas. Cleon was killed, and +his army totally defeated. Brasidas, the ablest general of the day, +however, was also mortally wounded, and carried from the field. This +unsuccessful battle compelled the Athenians to return home, deeply +disgusted with their generals. But they embarked in the enterprise +reluctantly, and with no faith in their leader, and this was one cause of +their defeat. The death of Brasidas, however, converted the defeat into a +substantial victory, since there remained no Spartan with sufficient +ability to secure the confidence of the allies. Brasidas, when he died, +was the first man in Greece, and universally admired for his valor, +intelligence, probity, and magnanimity. + +(M525) The battle of Amphipolis was decisive; it led to a peace between +the contending parties. It is called the peace of Nicias, made in March, +B.C. 421. By the provisions of this treaty of peace, which was made for +fifty years, Amphipolis was restored to the Athenians, all persons had +full liberty to visit the public temples of Greece, the Athenians restored +the captive Spartans, and the various towns taken during the war were +restored on both sides. This peace was concluded after a ten years' war, +when the resources of both parties were exhausted. It was a war of +ambition and jealousy, without sufficient reasons, and its consequences +were disastrous to the general welfare of Greece. In some respects it must +be considered, not merely as a war between Sparta and Athens to gain +supremacy, but a war between the partisans of aristocratic and democratic +institutions throughout the various States. + +(M526) The peace made by Nicias between Athens and Sparta for fifty years +was not of long continuance. It was a truce rather than a treaty, since +neither party was overthrown--but merely crippled--like Rome and Carthage +after the first Punic war. The same causes which provoked the contest +still remained--an unextinguishable jealousy between States nearly equal in +power, and the desire of ascendency at any cost. But we do not perceive in +either party that persistent and self-sacrificing spirit which marked the +Romans in their conquest of Italy. The Romans abandoned every thing which +interfered with their aggressive policy: the Grecian States were diverted +from political aggrandizement by other objects of pursuit--pleasure, art, +wealth. + +(M527) There was needed only a commanding demagogue, popular, brilliant, +and unprincipled, to embroil Greece once more in war, and such a man was +Alcibiades, who appeared upon the stage at the death of Cleon. And +hostilities were easily kindled, since the allies on both sides were +averse to the treaty which had been made, and the conditions of the peace +were not fulfilled. Athens returned the captive Spartans she had held +since the battle of Sphacteria, but Amphipolis was not restored, from the +continued enmity of the Thracian cities. Both parties were full of +intrigues, and new combinations were constantly being formed. Argos became +the centre of a new Peloponnesian alliance. A change of ephors at Sparta +favored hostile measures, and an alliance was made between the Boeotians +and Lacedaemonians. The Athenians, on their side, captured Scione, and put +to death the prisoners. + +(M528) It was in this unsettled state of things, when all the late +contending States were insincere and vacillating, that Alcibiades stood +forth as a party leader. He was thirty-one years of age, belonged to an +ancient and powerful family, possessed vast wealth, had great personal +beauty and attractive manners, but above all, was unboundedly ambitious, +and grossly immoral--the most insolent, unprincipled, licentious, and +selfish man that had thus far scandalized and adorned Athenian society. +The only redeeming feature in his character was his friendship for +Socrates, who, it seems, fascinated him by his talk, and sought to improve +his morals. He had those brilliant qualities, and luxurious habits, and +ostentatious prodigality, which so often dazzle superficial people, +especially young men of fashion and wealth, but more even than they, the +idolatrous rabble. So great was his popularity and social prestige, that +no injured person ever dared to bring him to trial, and he even rescued +his own wife from the hands of the law when she sought to procure a +divorce--a proof that even in democratic Athens all bowed down to the +insolence of wealth and high social position. + +(M529) Alcibiades, though luxurious and profligate, saw that a severe +intellectual training was necessary to him if he would take rank as a +politician, for a politician who can not make a speech stands a poor +chance of popular favor. So he sought the instructions of Socrates, +Prodicus, Protagoras, and others--not for love of learning, but as means of +success, although it may be supposed that the intellectual excitement, +which the discourse, cross-examination, and ironical sallies of Socrates +produced, was not without its force on so bright a mind. + +(M530) Alcibiades commenced his public life with a sullied reputation, and +with numerous enemies created by his unbearable insolence, but with a +flexibility of character which enabled him to adapt himself to whatever +habits circumstances required. He inspired no confidence, and his +extravagant mode of life was sure to end in ruin, unless he reimbursed +himself out of the public funds; and yet he fascinated the people who +mistrusted and hated him. The great comic poet, Aristophanes, said of him +to the Athenians: "You ought not to keep a lion's whelp in your city at +all, but if you choose to keep him, you must submit to his behavior." + +(M531) Alcibiades, in commencing his political life, departed from his +family traditions; for he was a relative of Pericles, and became a +partisan of the oligarchal party. But he soon changed his polities, on +receiving a repulse from the Spartans, who despised him, and he became a +violent democrat. His first memorable effort was to bring Argos, then in +league with Sparta, into alliance with Athens, in which he was successful. +He then cheated the Lacedaemonian envoys who were sent to protest against +the alliance and make other terms, and put them in a false position, and +made them appear deceitful, and thus arrayed against them the wrath of the +Athenians. As Alcibiades had prevailed upon these envoys, by false +promises and advice, to act a part different from what they were sent to +perform, Nicias was sent to Sparta to clear up embarrassments, but failed +in his object, upon which Athens concluded an alliance with Argos, Elis, +and Mantinea, which only tended to complicate existing difficulties. + +(M532) Shortly after this alliance was concluded, the Olympic games were +celebrated with unusual interest, from which the Athenians had been +excluded during the war. Here Alcibiades appeared with seven chariots, +each with four horses, when the richest Greeks had hitherto possessed but +one, and gained two prizes. He celebrated his success by a magnificent +banquet more stately and expensive than those given by kings. But while +the Athenians thus appeared at the ninetieth Olympiad, the Lacedaemonians +were excluded by the Eleians, who controlled the festival, from an alleged +violation of the Olympic truce, but really from the intrigues of +Alcibiades. + +(M533) The subsequent attack of Argos and Athens on Epidaurus proved that +the peace between Athens and Sparta existed only in name. It was +distinctly violated by the attack of Argos by the Lacedaemonians, Boeotians, +and Corinthians, and the battle of Mantinea opened again the war. This was +decided in favor of the Lacedaemonians, with a great loss to the Athenians +and their allies, including both their generals, Laches and Nicostratus. + +(M534) The moral effect of the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 418, was +overwhelming throughout Greece, and re-established the military prestige +of Sparta. It was lost by the withdrawal of three thousand Eleians before +the battle, illustrating the remark of Pericles that numerous and equal +allies could never be kept in harmonious co-operation. One effect of the +battle was a renewed alliance between Sparta and Argos, and the +re-establishment of an oligarchal government in the latter city. Mantinea +submitted to Sparta, and the Achaian towns were obliged to submit to a +remodeling of their political institutions, according to the views of +Sparta. The people of Argos, however, took the first occasion which was +presented for regaining their power, assisted by an Athenian force under +Alcibiades, and Argos once again became an ally of Athens. + +(M535) The next important operation of the war was the siege and conquest +of Melos, a Dorian island, by the Athenians, B.C. 416. The inhabitants +were killed, and the women and children were sold as slaves, and an +Athenian colony was settled on the island. But this massacre, exceeding +even the customary cruelty of war in those times, raised a general +indignation among the allies of Sparta. + +(M536) But an expedition of far greater importance was now undertaken by +the Athenians--the most gigantic effort which they ever made, but which +terminated disastrously, and led to the ruin and subjugation of their +proud and warlike city, as a political power. This was the invasion of +Sicily and siege of Syracuse. + +Before we present this unfortunate expedition, some brief notice is +necessary of the Grecian colonies in Sicily. + +(M537) In the eighth century before Christ Sicily was inhabited by two +distinct races of barbarians--the Sikels and Sikans--besides Phoenician +colonies, for purposes of trade. The Sikans were an Iberian tribe, and +were immigrants of an earlier date than the Sikels, by whom they were +invaded. The earliest Grecian colony was (B.C. 735) at Naxos, on the +eastern coast of the island, between the Straits of Messina and Mount +AEtna, founded by Theocles, a Chalcidian mariner, who was cast by storms +upon the coast, and built a fort on a hill called Taurus, to defend +himself against the Sikels, who were in possession of the larger half of +the island. Other colonists followed, chiefly from the Peloponnesus. In +the year following that Naxos was founded, a body of settlers from Corinth +landed on the islet Ortygia, expelled the Sikel inhabitants, and laid the +foundation of Syracuse. Successive settlements were made forty-five years +after at Gela, in the southwestern part of the island. Other settlements +continued to be made, not only from Greece, but from the colonies +themselves; so that the old inhabitants were gradually Hellenized and +merged with Greek colonists, while the Greeks, in their turn, adopted many +of the habits and customs of the Sikels and Sikans. The various races +lived on terms of amity, for the native population was not numerous enough +to become formidable to the Grecian colonists. + +(M538) Five hundred years before Christ the most powerful Grecian cities +in Sicily were Agrigentum and Gela, on the south side of the island. The +former, within a few years of its foundation, B.C. 570, fell under the +dominion of one of its rich citizens, Phalasaris, who proved a cruel +despot, but after a reign of sixteen years he was killed in an +insurrection, and an oligarchal government was established, such as then +existed in most of the Grecian cities. Syracuse was governed in this way +by the descendants of the original settlers. Gela was, on the other hand, +ruled by a despot called Gelo, the most powerful man on the island. He got +possession of Syracuse, B.C. 485, and transferred the seat of his power to +this city, by bringing thither the leading people and making slaves of the +rest. Under Gelo Syracuse became the first city on the island, to which +other towns were tributary. When the Greeks confederated against Xerxes, +they sent to solicit his aid as the imperial leader of Sicily, and he +could command, according to Herodotus, twenty thousand hoplites, two +hundred triremes, two thousand cavalry, two thousand archers, and two +thousand light-armed horse. So great was then the power of this despot, +who now sought to expel the Carthaginians and unite all the Hellenic +colonies in Sicily under his sway. But the aid was not given, probably on +account of a Carthaginian invasion simultaneous with the expedition of the +Persian king. The Carthaginians, according to the historian, arrived at +Panormus B.C. 480, with a fleet of three thousand ships and a land force +of three hundred thousand men, besides chariots and horses, under +Hamilcar--a mercenary army, composed of various African nations. Gelo +marched against him with fifty thousand foot and five thousand horse, and +gained a complete victory, so that one hundred and fifty thousand, on the +side of the Carthaginians, were slain, together with their general. The +number of the combatants is doubtless exaggerated, but we may believe that +the force was very great. Gelo was now supreme in Sicily, and the victory +of Himera, which he had gained, enabled him to distribute a large body of +prisoners, as slaves, in all the Grecian colonies. It appears that he was +much respected, but he died shortly after his victory, leaving an infant +son to the guardianship of two of his brothers, Polyzelus and Hiero, who +became the supreme governors of the island. A victory gained by Hiero over +the tyrant of Agrigentum gave him the same supremacy which Gelo had +enjoyed. On his death, B.C. 467, the succession was disputed between his +brother, Thrasybulus, and his nephew, the son of Gelo; but Thrasybulus +contrived to make away with his nephew, and reigned alone, cruelly and +despotically, until a revolution took place, which resulted in his +expulsion and the fall of the Gelonian dynasty. Popular governments were +now established in all the Sicilian cities, but these were distracted by +disputes and confusions. Syracuse became isolated from the other cities, +and a government whose powers were limited by the city. The expulsion of +the Gelonian dynasty left the Grecian cities to reorganize free and +constitutional governments; but Syracuse maintained a proud pre-eminence, +and her power was increased from time to time by conquests in the interior +over the old population. Agrigentum was next in power, and scarcely +inferior in wealth. The temple of Zeus, in this city, was one of the most +magnificent in the world. The population was large, and many were the rich +men who kept chariots and competed at the Olympic games. In these Sicilian +cities the intellectual improvement kept pace with the material, and the +little town of Elea supported the two greatest speculative philosophers of +Greece--Parmenides and Zeno. Empedocles, of Agrigentum, was scarcely less +famous. + +(M539) Such was the state of the Sicilian cities on the outbreak of the +Peloponnesian war. Being generally of Dorian origin, they sympathized with +Sparta, and great expectations were formed by the Lacedaemonians of +assistance from their Sicilian allies. The cities of Sicily could not +behold the contest between Athens and Sparta without being drawn into the +quarrel, and the result was that the Dorian cities made war on the Ionian +cities, which, of course, sympathized with Athens. As these cities were +weaker than the Dorian, they solicited aid from Athens, and an expedition +was sent to Sicily under Laches, B.C. 426. Another one, under Polydorus, +followed, but without decisive results. The next year still another and +larger expedition, under Eurymedon and Sophocles, arrived in Sicily, while +Athens was jubilant by the possession of the Spartan prisoners, and the +possession of Pylus and Cythera. The Sicilian cities now fearing that +their domestic strife would endanger their independence and make them +subject to Athens, the most ambitious and powerful State in Greece, made a +common league with each other. Eurymedon acceded to the peace and returned +to Athens, much to the displeasure of the war party, which embraced most +of the people, and he and his colleague were banished. + +(M540) But wars between the Sicilian cities again led to the intervention +of Athens. Egesta especially sent envoys for help in her struggle against +Selinus, which was assisted by Syracuse. Alcibiades warmly seconded these +envoys, and inflamed the people with his ambitious projects. He, more than +any other man, was the cause of the great Sicilian expedition which proved +the ruin of his country. He was opposed by Nicias, who foretold all the +miserable consequences of so distant an expedition, when so little could +be gained and so much would be jeopardized, and when, on the first +reverse, the enemies of Athens would rally against her. He particularly +cautioned his countrymen not only against the expedition, but against +intrusting the command of it to an unprincipled and selfish man who +squandered his own patrimony in chariot races and other extravagances, and +would be wasteful of the public property--a man without the experience +which became a leader in so great an enterprise. Alcibiades, in reply, +justified his extravagance at the Olympic games, where he contested with +seven chariots, as a means to impress Sparta with the wealth and power of +Athens, after a ten years' war. He inflamed the ambition of the assembly, +held out specious hopes of a glorious conquest which would add to Athenian +power, and make her not merely pre-eminent, but dominant in Greece. The +assembly, eager for war and glory, sided with the youthful and magnificent +demagogue, and disregarded the counsels of the old patriot, whose wisdom +and experience were second to none in the city. + +(M541) Consequently the expedition was fitted out for the attack of +Syracuse--the largest and most powerful which Athens ever sent against an +enemy; for all classes, maddened by military glory, or tempted by love of +gain, eagerly embarked in the enterprise. Nicias, finding he could not +prevent the expedition, demanded more than he thought the people would be +willing to grant. He proposed a gigantic force. But in proposing this +force, he hoped he might thus discourage the Athenians altogether by the +very greatness of the armament which he deemed necessary. But so popular +was the enterprise, that the large force he suggested was voted. +Alcibiades had flattered the people that their city was mistress of the +sea, and entitled to dominion over all the islands, and could easily +prevail over any naval enemy. + +(M542) Three years had now elapsed since the peace of Nicias, and Athens +had ample means. The treasury was full, and triremes had accumulated in +the harbor. The confidence of the Athenians was as unbounded as was that +of Xerxes when he crossed the Hellespont, and hence there had been great +zeal and forwardness in preparation. + +(M543) When the expedition was at last ready, an event occurred which +filled the city with gloom and anxious forebodings. The half statues of +the god Hermes were distributed in great numbers in Athens in the most +conspicuous situations, beside the doors of private houses and temples, +and in the agora, so that the people were accustomed to regard the god as +domiciled among them for their protection. In one night, at the end of +May, B.C. 415, these statues were nearly all mutilated. The heads, necks, +and busts were all destroyed, leaving the lower part of them--mere +quadrangular pillars, without arms, or legs, or body--alone standing. The +sacrilege sent universal dismay into the city, and was regarded as a most +depressing omen, and was done, doubtless, with a view of ruining +Alcibiades and frustrating the expedition. But all efforts were vain to +discover the guilty parties. + +(M544) And this was not the only means adopted to break down the power of +a man whom the more discerning perceived was the evil genius of Athens. +Alcibiades was publicly accused of having profaned and divulged the +Eleusinian mysteries. The charge was denied by Alcibiades, who demanded an +immediate trial. It was eluded by his enemies, who preferred to have the +charge hanging over his head, in case of the failure of the enterprise +which he had projected. + +(M545) So the fleet sailed from Piraeus amid mingled sentiments of anxiety +and popular enthusiasm. It consisted of one hundred triremes, with a large +body of hoplites. It made straight for Corcyra, where the contingents of +the allies were assembled, which nearly doubled its force. The Syracusans +were well informed as to its destination, and made great exertions to meet +this great armament, under Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus. The latter +commander recommended an immediate attack of Syracuse, as unprepared and +dismayed. + +(M546) Alcibiades wished first to open negotiations with the Sikels, of +the interior, to detach them from the aid of Syracuse. His plan was +followed, but before he could carry it into operation he was summoned home +to take his trial. Fearing the result of the accusations against him, for, +in his absence, the popular feeling had changed respecting him--fear and +reason had triumphed over the power of his personal fascination--Alcibiades +made his escape to the Peloponnesus. + +(M547) The master spirit of the expedition was now removed, and its +operations were languid and undecided, for Nicias had no heart in it. The +delays which occurred gave the Syracusans time to prepare, and more +confidence in their means of defense. So that when the forces of the +Athenians were landed in the great harbor, they found a powerful army +ready to resist them. In spite of a victory which Nicias gained near +Olympeion, the Syracusans were not dejected, and the Athenian fleet was +obliged to seek winter quarters at Catana, and also send for additional +re-enforcements. Nicias unwisely delayed, but his inexcusable apathy +afforded the enemy leisure to enlarge their fortifications. The Syracusans +constructed an entirely new wall around the inner and outer city, and +which also extended across the whole space from the outer sea to the great +harbor, so that it would be difficult for the Athenians, in the coming +siege, to draw lines of circumvallation around the city. Syracuse also +sent envoys to Corinth and Sparta for aid, while Alcibiades, filled now +with intense hatred of Athens, encouraged the Lacedaemonians to send a +force to the Sicilian capital. He admitted that it was the design of +Athens first to conquer the Sicilian Greeks, and then the Italian Greeks; +then to make an attempt on Carthage, and then, if that was successful, to +bring together all the forces of the subjected States and attack the +Peloponnesus itself, and create a great empire, of which Athens was to be +the capital. Such an avowal was doubtless the aim of the ambitious +Alcibiades when he first stimulated the enterprise, which, if successful, +would have made him the most powerful man in Greece; but he was thwarted +by his enemies at home, and so he turned all his energies against his +native State. His address made a powerful effect on the Lacedaemonians, +who, impelled by hatred and jealousy, now resolved to make use of the +services of the traitor, and send an auxiliary force to Syracuse. + +(M548) That city then consisted of two parts--an inner and an outer city. +The outer city was defended on two sides by the sea, and a sea wall. On +the land side a long wall extended from the sea to the fortified high land +of Achradina, so that the city could only be taken by a wall of +circumvallation, so as to cut off supplies by land; at the same time it +was blockaded by sea. But the delay of Nicias had enabled the Syracusans +to construct a new wall, covering both the outer and inner city, and +extending from the great port to the high land near the bay of Magnesi, so +that any attack, except from a single point, was difficult, unless the +wall of circumvallation was made much larger than was originally intended. +Amid incredible difficulties the Athenians constructed their works, and in +an assault from the cliff of Epipolae, where they were intrenched, their +general, Lamachus, was slain. But the Athenians had gained an advantage, +and the siege was being successfully prosecuted. It was then that the +Lacedaemonians arrived under Gylippus, who was unable to render succor. But +Nicias, despising him, allowed him to land at Himera, from whence he +marched across Sicily to Syracuse. A Corinthian fleet, under Gorgylus, +arrived only just in time to prevent the city from capitulating, and +Gylippus entered Syracuse unopposed. The inaction of Nicias, who could +have prevented this, is unaccountable. But the arrival of Gylippus turned +the scale, and he immediately prosecuted vigorous and aggressive measures. +He surprised an Athenian fort, and began to construct a third counter-wall +on the north side of the Athenian circle. The Athenians, now shut up +within their lines, were obliged to accept battle, and were defeated, and +even forced to seek shelter within their fortified lines. Under this +discouragement, Nicias sent to Athens for another armament, and the +Athenians responded to his call. But Sparta also resolved to send +re-enforcements, and invade Attica besides. Sicilian forces also marched +in aid of Syracuse. The result of all these gathering forces, in which the +whole strength of Greece was employed, was the total defeat of the +Athenian fleet in the Great Harbor, in spite of the powerful fleet which +had sailed from Athens under Demosthenes. The Syracusans pursued their +advantage by blocking up the harbor, and inclosing the whole Athenian +fleet. The Athenians resolved then to force their way out, which led to +another general engagement, in which the Athenians were totally defeated. +Nicias once again attempted to force his way out, with the remainder of +his defeated fleet, but the armament was too much discouraged to obey, and +the Athenians sought to retreat by land. But all the roads were blockaded. +The miserable army, nevertheless, began its hopeless march completely +demoralized, and compelled to abandon the sick and wounded. The retreating +army was harassed on every side, no progress could be made, and the +discouraged army sought in the night to retreat by a different route. The +rear division, under Demosthenes, was overtaken and forced to surrender, +and were carried captives to Syracuse--some six thousand in number. The +next day, the first division, under Nicias, also was overtaken and made +prisoners. No less than forty thousand who had started from the Athenian +camp, six days before, were either killed or made prisoners, with the two +generals who commanded them. The prisoners at first were subjected to the +most cruel and inhuman treatment, and then sold as slaves. Both Nicias and +Demosthenes were put to death, B.C. 413. + +(M549) Such was the disastrous close of the Sicilian expedition. Our +limits prevent an extended notice. We can only give the barren outline. +But never in Grecian history had so large a force been arrayed against a +foreign power, and never was ruin more complete. The enterprise was +started at the instance of Alcibiades. It was he who brought this disaster +on his country. But it would have been better to have left the expedition +to his management. Nicias was a lofty and religious man, but was no +general. He grossly mismanaged from first to last. The confidence of the +Athenians was misplaced; and he, after having spent his life in +inculcating a conservative policy, which was the wiser, yet became the +unwilling instrument of untold and unparalleled calamities. His fault was +over-confidence. He was personally brave, religious, incorruptible, +munificent, affable--in all respects honorable and respectable, but he had +no military genius. + +(M550) The Lacedaemonians, at the suggestion of Alcibiades, had permanently +occupied Decelea--a fortified post within fifteen miles of Athens, and +instead of spending a few weeks in ravaging Attica, now intrenched +themselves, and issued out in excursions until they had destroyed all that +was valuable in the neighborhood of Athens. The great calamities which the +Athenians had suffered prevented them from expelling the invaders, and the +city itself was now in the condition of a post besieged. All the +accumulations in her treasury were exhausted, and she was compelled to +dismiss even her Thracian mercenaries. They were sent back to their own +country under Dotrephes; but after inflicting great atrocities in Boeotia, +were driven back by the Thebans. + +(M551) The Athenian navy was now so crippled that it could no longer +maintain the supremacy of the sea. The Corinthians were formidable rivals +and enemies. A naval battle at Naupactus, at the mouth of the Corinthian +Gulf, between the Athenians and Corinthians, though indecisive, yet really +was to the advantage of the latter. + +(M552) The full effects of the terrible catastrophe at Syracuse were not +at first made known to the Athenians, but gradually a settled despair +overspread the public mind. The supremacy of Athens in Greece was at an +end, and the city itself was endangered. The inhabitants now put forth all +the energies that a forlorn hope allowed. The distant garrisons were +recalled; all expenses were curtailed; timber was collected for new ships, +and Capo Sunium was fortified. But the enemies of Athens were also +stimulated to renewed exertions, and subject-allies were induced to +revolt. Persia sent envoys to Sparta. The Euboeans and Chians applied to +the same power for aid in shaking off the yoke of Athens now broken and +defenseless. Although a Peloponnesian fleet was defeated by the Athenians +on its way to assist Chios in revolt, yet new dangers multiplied. The +infamous Alcibiades crossed with a squadron to Chios, and the Athenians +were obliged to make use of their reserved fund of one thousand talents, +which Pericles had set aside for the last extremity, in order to equip a +fleet, under the command of Strombichides. Alcibiades passed over to +Miletus, and induced this city also to revolt. A shameful treaty was made +between Sparta and Persia to carry on war against Athens; and the first +step in the execution of the treaty was to hand Miletus over to a Persian +general. Ionia now became the seat of war, and a victory was gained near +Miletus by the Athenians, but this was balanced by the capture of Iasus by +the Lacedaemonians. The Athenians rallied at Samos, which remained +faithful, and still controlled one hundred and twenty-eight triremes at +this island. Alternate successes and defeats happened to the contending +parties, with no decided result. + +(M553) The want of success on the coast of Asia led the Lacedaemonians to +suspect Alcibiades of treachery. Moreover, his intrigue with the wife of +Agis made the king of Sparta his relentless enemy. Agis accordingly +procured a decision of the ephors to send out instructions for his death. +He was warned in time, and made his escape to the satrap Tissaphernes, who +commanded the forces of Persia. He persuaded the Persian not to give a +decisive superiority to either of the contending parties, who followed his +advice, and kept the Peloponnesian fleet inactive, and bribed the Spartan +general. Having now gratified his revenge against Athens and lost the +support of Sparta, Alcibiades now looked to his native country as the best +field for his unprincipled ambition. "He opened negotiations with the +Athenian commanders at Samos, and offered the alliance of Persia as the +price of his restoration, but proposed as a further condition the +overthrow of the democratic government at Athens." + +(M554) Then followed the political revolution which Alcibiades had +planned, in conjunction with oligarchal conspirators. The rally of the +city, threatened with complete ruin, had been energetic and astonishing, +and she was now, a year after the disaster at Syracuse, able to carry on a +purely defensive system, though with crippled resources. But for this +revolution Athens might have secured her independence. + +(M555) The proposal of Alcibiades to change the constitution was listened +to by the rich men, on whom the chief burden of the war had fallen. With +the treasures of Persia to help them, they hoped to carry on the war +against Sparta without cost to themselves. It was hence resolved at Samos, +among the Athenians congregated there, to send a deputation to Athens, +under Pisander, to carry out their designs. But they had no other security +than the word of Alcibiades, that restless and unpatriotic schemer, that +they would secure the assistance of Persia. And it is astonishing that +such a man--so faithless--could be believed. + +(M556) One of the generals of the fleet at Samos, Phrynichus, strongly +opposed this movement, and gave good reasons; but the tide of opinion +among the oligarchal conspirators ran so violently against him, that +Pisander was at once dispatched to Athens. He laid before the public +assembly the terms which Alcibiades proposed. The people, eager at any +cost to gain the Persian king as an ally, in their extremity listened to +the proposal, though unwilling, and voted to relinquish their political +power. Pisander made them believe it was a choice between utter ruin and +the relinquishment of political privileges, since the Lacedaemonians had an +overwhelming force against them. It was while Chios seemed likely to be +recovered by the Athenians, and while the Peloponnesian fleet was +paralyzed at Rhodes by Persian intrigues, that Pisander returned to Ionia +to open negotiations with Alcibiades and Tissaphernes. But Alcibiades had +promised too much, the satrap having no idea of lending aid to Athens, and +yet he extricated himself by such exaggerated demands, which he knew the +Athenians would never concede to Persia, that negotiations were broken +off, and a reconciliation was made between Persia and Sparta. The +oligarchal conspirators had, however, gone so far that a retreat was +impossible. The democracy of Athens was now subverted. Instead of the +Senate of Five Hundred and the assembled people, an oligarchy of Four +Hundred sat in the Senate house, and all except five thousand were +disfranchised--and these were not convened. The oligarchy was in full power +when Pisander returned to Athens. All democratic magistrates had been +removed, and no civil functionaries were paid. The Four Hundred had +complete control. Thus perished, through the intrigues of Alcibiades, the +democracy of Athens. He had organized the unfortunate expedition to +Sicily; he had served the bitterest enemies of his country; and now, he +had succeeded in overturning the constitution which had lasted one hundred +years, during which Athens had won all her glories. Why should the +Athenians receive back to their confidence so bad a man? But whom God +wishes to destroy, he first makes mad, and Alcibiades, it would seem, was +the instrument by which Athens was humiliated and ruined as a political +power. The revolution was effected in an hour of despair, and by delusive +promises. The character and conduct of the insidious and unscrupulous +intriguer were forgotten in his promises. The Athenians were simply +cheated. + +(M557) The Four Hundred, installed in power, solemnized their installation +by prayer and sacrifice, put to death some political enemies, imprisoned +and banished others, and ruled with great rigor and strictness. They then +sought to make peace with Sparta, which was declined. The army at Samos +heard of these changes with exceeding wrath, especially the cruelties +which were inflicted on all citizens who spoke against the new tyranny. A +democratic demonstration took place at Samos, by which the Samians and the +army were united in the strongest ties, for the Samians had successfully +resisted a like revolution on their island. The army at Samos refused to +obey any orders from the oligarchy, and constituted a democracy by +themselves. Yet the man who had been instrumental in creating this +oligarchy, with characteristic versatility and impudence, joined the +democracy at Samos. He came to Samos by invitation of the armament, and +pledged himself to secure Persian aid, and he was believed and again +trusted. He then launched into a new career, and professed to take up +again the interests of the democracy at Athens. The envoys of the Four +Hundred which were sent to Samos were indignantly sent back, and the +general indignation against the oligarchy was intensified. Envoys from +Argos also appeared at Samos, offering aid to the Athenian democracy. +There was now a strong and organized resistance to the Four Hundred, and +their own divisions placed them further in a precarious situation. +Theramenes demanded that the Five Thousand, which body had been thus far +nominal, should be made a reality. The Four Hundred again solicited aid +from Sparta, and constructed a fort for the admission of a Spartan +garrison, while a Lacedaemonian fleet hovered near the Piraeus. + +(M558) The long-suppressed energies of the people at length burst forth. A +body of soldiers seized the fortress the oligarchy were constructing for a +Spartan garrison, and demolished it. The Four Hundred made important +concessions, and agreed to renew the public assembly. While these events +occurred a naval battle took place near Eretria between the Lacedaemonians +and the Athenians, in which the latter were defeated. The victory, if they +had pushed their success, would have completed the ruin of Athens, since +her home fleet was destroyed, and that at Samos was detained by +Alcibiades. When it was seen the hostile fleet did not enter the harbor, +the Athenians recovered their dismay and prosecuted their domestic +revolution by deposing the Four Hundred and placing the whole government +in the hands of the Five Thousand, and this body was soon enlarged to that +of universal citizenship. The old constitution was restored, except that +part of it which allowed pay to the judges. Most of the oligarchal leaders +fled, and a few of them were tried and executed--those who had sought +Spartan aid. Thus this selfish movement terminated, after the oligarchy +had enjoyed a brief reign of only a few months. + +(M559) While Athens was distracted by changes of government, the war was +conducted on the coasts of Asia between the belligerents with alternate +success and defeat. Abydos, connected with Miletus by colonial ties, +revolted from Athens, and Lampsacus, a neighboring town, followed its +example two days afterward. Byzantium also went over to the Lacedaemonians, +which enabled them to command the strait. Alcibiades pursued still his +double game with Persia and Athens. An Athenian fleet was sent to the +Hellespont to contend with the Lacedaemonian squadron, and gained an +incomplete victory at Cynossema, whose only effect was to encourage the +Athenians. The Persians gave substantial aid to the Lacedaemonians, +withheld for a time by the intrigues of Alcibiades, who returned to Samos, +but was shortly after seized by Tissaphernes and sent to Sardis, from +which he contrived to escape. He partially redeemed his infamy by a +victory over the Peloponnesian fleet at Cyzicus, and captured it entirely, +which disaster induced the Spartans to make overtures of peace, which were +rejected through the influence of Cleophon, the demagogue. + +(M560) The Athenian fleet now reigned alone in the Propontis, the +Bosphorus, and the Hellespont, and levied toll on all the ships passing +through the straits, while Chrysopolis, opposite to Byzantium, was +occupied by Alcibiades. Athens now once more became hopeful and energetic. +Thrasyllus was sent with a large force to Ionia, and joined his forces +with the fleet which Alcibiades commanded at Sestos, but the conjoined +forces were unable to retake Abydos, which was relieved by Pharnabazus, +the Persian satrap. + +(M561) The absence of the fleet from Athens encouraged the Lacedaemonians, +who retook Pylus, B.C. 409, while the Athenians captured Chalcedon, and +the following year Byzantium itself. Such was the state of the contending +parties when Cyrus the younger was sent by his father Darius as satrap of +Lydia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia, and whose command in Asia Minor was +attended by important consequences. Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus were +still left in command of the coast. + +(M562) Cyrus, a man of great ambition and self-control, came to Asia Minor +with a fixed purpose of putting down the Athenian power, which for sixty +years had humbled the pride of the Persian kings. He formed a hearty and +cordial alliance with Lysander, the Spartan admiral, and the most eminent +man, after Brasidas, whom the Lacedaemonians had produced during the war. +He was a man of severe Spartan discipline and virtue, but ambitious and +cruel. He visited Cyrus at Sardis, was welcomed with every mark of favor, +and induced Cyrus to grant additional pay to every Spartan seaman. + +(M563) Meanwhile Alcibiades re-entered his native city in triumph, after +eight years' exile, and was welcomed by all parties as the only man who +had sufficient capacity to restore the fallen fortunes of Athens. His +confiscated property was restored, and he was made captain-general with +ample powers, while all his treasons were apparently forgotten, which had +proved so fatal to his country--the sending of Gylippus to Syracuse, the +revolt of Chios and Miletus, and the conspiracy of the Four Hundred. The +effect of this treatment, so much better than what he deserved, +intoxicated this wayward and unprincipled, but exceedingly able man. His +first exploit was to sail to Andros, now under a Lacedaemonian garrison, +whose fields he devastated, but was unable to take the town. He then went +to Samos, and there learned that all his intrigues with Persia had failed, +and that Persia was allied still more strongly with the Lacedaemonians +under Lysander. + +(M564) This great general, now at Ephesus, pursued a cautious policy, and +refused to give battle to the Athenian forces under Alcibiades, who then +retired to Phocaea, leaving his fleet under the command of Antiochus, his +favorite pilot. Antiochus, in the absence of his general, engaged the +Lacedaemonian fleet, but was defeated and slain at Notium. The conduct of +Alcibiades produced great disaffection at Athens. He had sailed with a +fleet not inferior to that which he commanded at Syracuse, and had made +great promises of future achievements, yet in three months he had not +gained a single success. He was therefore dismissed from his command, +which was given to ten generals, of whom Conon was the most eminent, while +he retired to the Chersonese. Lysander, at the same time, was superseded +in the command of the Lacedaemonians by Callicratidas, in accordance with +Spartan custom, his term being expired. + +(M565) Callicratidas was not welcomed by Cyrus, and he was also left +without funds by Lysander, who returned to the Persians the sums he had +received. This conduct so much enraged the Spartan admiral that he sailed +with his whole fleet--the largest which had been assembled during the war, +one hundred and forty triremes, of which only ten were Lacedaemonian--the +rest being furnished by allies--to Lesbos, and liberated the Athenian +captives and garrison at Methymna, and seemed animated by that old +Panhellenic patriotism which had united the Greeks half a century before +against the Persian invaders, declaring that not a single Greek should be +reduced to slavery if he could help it. But while he was thus actuated by +these noble sentiments, he also prosecuted the war of his country, which +had been intrusted to him to conduct. He blocked up the Athenian fleet at +Mitylene, which had no provisions to sustain a siege. The Athenians now +made prodigious efforts to relieve Conon, and one hundred and ten triremes +were sent from the Piraeus, and sailed to Samos. Callicratidas, apprised of +the approach of the large fleet, went out to meet it. At Arginusae was +fought a great battle, in which the Spartan admiral was killed, and his +forces completely defeated. Sixty-nine Lacedaemonian ships were destroyed; +the Athenians lost twenty-five, a severe loss to Greece, since, if +Callicratidas had gained the victory, he would, according to Grote, have +closed the Peloponnesian war, and united the Greeks once more against +Persia. + +The battle of Arginusae now gave the Athenians the control of the Asiatic +seas, and so discouraged were the Lacedaemonians, that they were induced to +make proposals of peace. This is doubted, indeed, by Grote, since no +positive results accrued to Athens. + +(M566) The Chians and other allies of Sparta, in conjunction with Cyrus, +now sent envoys to the ephors, to request the restoration of Lysander to +the command of the fleet. They acceded to the request substantially, and +Lysander reached Ephesus, B.C. 405, to renovate the Lacedaemonian power and +turn the fortunes of war. + +(M567) The victorious Athenian fleet was now at AEgospotami, in the +Hellespont, opposite Lampsacus, having been inactive for nearly a year. +There the fleet was exposed to imminent danger, which was even seen by +Alcibiades, in his forts opposite, on the Chersonese. He expostulated with +the Athenian admirals, but to no purpose, and urged them to retire to +Sestos. As he feared, the Athenian fleet was surprised, at anchor, on this +open shore, while the crews were on shore in quest of a meal. One hundred +and seventy triremes were thus ingloriously captured, without the loss of +a man--the greatest calamity which had happened to Athens since the +beginning of the war, and decisive as to its result. The captive generals +were slaughtered, together with four thousand Athenian prisoners. Conon, +however, made his escape. So disgraceful and unnecessary was this great +calamity, that it is supposed the fleet was betrayed by its own +commanders; and this supposition is strengthened by its inactivity since +the battle of Arginusae. This crowning disaster happened in September, B.C. +405, and caused a dismay at Athens such as had never before been felt--not +even when the Persians were marching through Attica. Nothing was now left +to the miserable city but to make what preparation it could for the siege, +which everybody foresaw would soon take place. The walls were put in the +best defense it was possible, and two of the three ports were blocked up. +Not only was Athens deprived of her maritime power, but her very existence +was now jeopardized. + +(M568) Lysander was in no haste to march upon Athens, since he knew that +no corn ships could reach the city from the Euxine, and that a famine +would soon set in. The Athenian empire was annihilated, and nothing +remained but Athens herself! The Athenians now saw that nothing but union +between the citizens could give them any hope of success, and they made a +solemn pledge in the Acropolis to bury their dissensions and cultivate +harmonious feelings. + +(M569) In November, Lysander, with two hundred triremes, blockaded the +Piraeus. The whole force of Sparta, under King Pausanias, went out to meet +him, and encamped at the gates of Athens. The citizens bore the calamity +with fortitude, and, when they began to die of hunger, sent propositions +for capitulation. But no proposition was received which did not include +the demolition of the long walls which Pericles had built. As famine +pressed, and the condition of the people had become intolerable, Athens +was obliged to surrender on the hard conditions that the Piraeus should be +destroyed, the long walls demolished, all foreign possessions evacuated, +all ships surrendered, and, most humiliating of all, that Athens should +become the ally of Sparta, and follow her lead upon the sea and upon the +land. + +(M570) Thus fell imperial Athens, after a glorious reign of one hundred +years. Lysander entered the city as a conqueror. The ships were +surrendered, all but twelve, which the Athenians were allowed to retain; +the unfinished ships in the dockyards were burned, the fortifications +demolished, and the Piraeus dismantled. The constitution of the city was +annulled, and a board of thirty was nominated, under the dictation of +Lysander, for the government of the city. The conqueror then sailed to +Samos, which was easily reduced, and oligarchy was restored on that +island, as at Athens. + +(M571) The fall of Athens virtually closed the Peloponnesian war, after a +bitter struggle between the two leading States of Greece for thirty years. +Lysander became the leading man in Greece, and wielded a power greater +than any individual Greek before or after him. Sparta, personified in him, +became supreme, and ruled over all the islands, and over the Asiatic and +Thracian cities. The tyrants whom he placed over Athens exercised their +power with extreme rigor--sending to execution all who were obnoxious, +seizing as spoil the property of the citizens, and disarming the remaining +hoplites in the city. They even forbade intellectual teaching, and shut +the mouth of Socrates. Such was Athens, humbled, deprived of her fleet, +and rendered powerless, with a Spartan garrison occupying the Acropolis, +and discord reigning even among the Thirty Tyrants themselves. + +(M572) In considering the downfall of Athens, we perceive that the +unfortunate Sicilian expedition which Alcibiades had stimulated proved the +main cause. Her maritime supremacy might have been maintained but for this +aggression, which Pericles never would have sanctioned, and which Nicias +so earnestly disapproved. After that disaster, the conditions of the State +were totally changed, and it was a bitter and desperate struggle to retain +the fragments of empire. And the catastrophe proved, ultimately, the +political ruin of Greece herself, since there was left no one State +sufficiently powerful to resist foreign attacks. The glory of Athens was +her navy, and this being destroyed, Greece was open to invasion, and to +the corruption brought about by Persian gold. It was Athens which had +resisted Persia, and protected the maritime States and islands. When +Athens was crippled, the decline of the other States was rapid, for they +had all exhausted themselves in the war. And the war itself has few +redeeming features. It was a wicked contest carried on by rivalry and +jealousy. And it produced, as war generally does, a class of unprincipled +men who aggrandize themselves at the expense of their country. Nothing but +war would have developed such men as Alcibiades and Lysander, and it is +difficult to say which of the two brought the greatest dishonor on their +respective States. Both were ambitious, and both hoped to gain an +ascendency incompatible with free institutions. To my mind, Alcibiades is +the worst man in Grecian history, and not only personally disgraced by the +worst vices, but his influence was disastrous on his country. Athens owed +her political degradation more to him than any other man. He was insolent, +lawless, extravagant, and unscrupulous, from his first appearance in +public life. He incited the Sicilian expedition, and caused it to end +disastrously by sending Gylippus to Syracuse. He originated the revolt of +Chios and Miletus, the fortification of Decelea, and the conspiracy of the +Four Hundred. And though he partially redeemed his treason by his three +years' services, after his exile, yet his vanity, and intrigues, and +prodigality prevented him from accomplishing what he promised. It is true +he was a man of great resources, and was never defeated either by sea or +land; "and he was the first man in every party he espoused--Athenian, +Spartan, or Persian, oligarchial or democratical, but he never inspired +confidence with any party, and all parties successively threw him off." +The end of such a man proclaims the avenging Nemesis in this world. He +died by the hands of Persian assassins at the instance of both Lysander +and Cyrus, who felt that there could be nothing settled so long as this +restless schemer lived. And he died, unlamented and unhonored, in spite of +his high birth, wealth, talents, and personal accomplishments. + +(M573) Lysander was more fortunate; he gained a great ascendency in +Sparta, but his ambition proved ruinous to his country, by involving it in +those desperate wars which are yet to be presented. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + +MARCH OF CYRUS AND RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS. + + +(M574) The Peloponnesian war being closed, a large body of Grecian +soldiers were disbanded, but rendered venal and restless by the +excitements and changes of the past thirty years, and ready to embark in +any warlike enterprise that promised money and spoil. They were unfitted, +as is usually the case, for sober and industrial pursuits. They panted for +fresh adventures. + +(M575) This restless passion which war ever kindles, found vent and +direction in the enterprise which Cyrus led from Western Asia to dethrone +his brother Artaxerxes from the throne of Persia. Some fourteen thousand +Greeks from different States joined his standard--not with a view of a +march to Babylon and an attack on the great king, but to conquer and root +out the Pisidian mountaineers, who did much mischief from their fastnesses +in the southeast of Asia Minor. This was the ostensible object of Cyrus, +and he found no difficulty in enlisting Grecian mercenaries, under promise +of large rewards. All these Greeks were deceived but one man, to whom +alone Cyrus revealed his real purpose. This was Clearchus, a Lacedaemonian +general of considerable ability and experience, who had been banished for +abuse of authority at Byzantium, which he commanded. He repaired to Sardis +and offered his services to Cyrus, who had been sent thither by his father +Darius to command the Persian forces. Cyrus accepted the overtures of +Clearchus, who secured his confidence so completely that he gave him the +large sum of ten thousand darics, which he employed in hiring Grecian +mercenaries. + +(M576) Other Greeks of note also joined the army of Cyrus with a view of +being employed against the Pisidians. Among them were Aristippus and +Menon, of a distinguished family in Thessaly; Proxenus, a Boeotian; Agis, +an Arcadian; Socrates, an Achaean, who were employed to collect +mercenaries, and who received large sums of money. A considerable body of +Lacedaemonians were also taken under pay. + +The march of these men to Babylon, and their successful retreat, form one +of the most interesting episodes in Grecian history, and it is this march +and retreat which I purpose briefly to present. + +(M577) Cyrus was an extraordinary man. The younger son of the Persian +king, he aimed to secure the sovereignty of Persia, which fell to his +elder brother, Artaxerxes, on the death of Darius. During his residence at +Sardis, as satrap or governor, he perceived and felt the great superiority +of the Greeks to his own countrymen, not only intellectually, but as +soldiers. He was brave, generous, frank, and ambitious. Had it been his +fortune to have achieved the object of his ambition, the whole history of +Persia would have been changed, and Alexander would have lived in vain. +Perceiving and appreciating the great qualities of the Greeks, and +learning how to influence them, he sought, by their aid, to conquer his +way to the throne. + +(M578) But he dissembled his designs so that they were not suspected, even +in Persia. As has been remarked, he communicated them only to the Spartan +general, Clearchus. Neither Greek nor Persian divined his object as he +collected a great army at Sardis. At first he employed his forces in the +siege of Miletus and other enterprises, which provoked no suspicion of his +real designs. + +(M579) When all was ready, he commenced his march from Sardis, in March, +B.C. 401, with about eight thousand Grecian hoplites and one hundred +thousand native troops, while a joint Lacedaemonian and Persian fleet +coasted around the south of Asia Minor to co-operate with the land forces. + +(M580) These Greeks who thus joined his standard under promise of large +pay, and were unwittingly about to plunge into unknown perils, were not +outcasts and paupers, but were men of position, reputation, and, in some +cases, of wealth. About half of them were Arcadians. Young men of good +family, ennuied of home, restless and adventurous, formed the greater +part, although many of mature age had been induced by liberal offers to +leave their wives and children. They simply calculated on a year's +campaign in Pisidia, from which they would return to their homes enriched. +So they were assured by the Greek commanders at Sardis, and so these +commanders believed, for Cyrus stood high in popular estimation for +liberality and good faith. + +(M581) Among other illustrious Greeks that were thus to be led so far from +home was Xenophon, the Athenian historian, who was induced by his friend +Proxenus, of Boeotia, to join the expedition. He was of high family, and a +pupil of Socrates, but embarked against the wishes and advice of his +teacher. + +When the siege of Miletus was abandoned, and Cyrus began his march, his +object was divined by the satrap Tissaphernes, who hastened to Persia to +put the king on his guard. + +(M582) At Celenae, or Kelaenae, a Phrygian city, Cyrus halted and reviewed +his army. Grecian re-enforcements here joined him, which swelled the +number of Greeks to thirteen thousand men, of whom eleven thousand were +hoplites. As this city was on the way to Pisidia, no mistrust existed as +to the object of the expedition, not even when the army passed into +Lycaonia, since its inhabitants were of the same predatory character as +the Pisidians. But when it had crossed Mount Taurus, which bounded +Cilicia, and reached Tarsus, the Greeks perceived that they had been +cheated, and refused to advance farther. Clearchus attempted to suppress +the mutiny by severe measures, but failed. He then resorted to stratagem, +and pretended to yield to the wishes of the Greeks, and likewise refused +to march, but sent a secret dispatch to Cyrus that all would be well in +the end, and requested him to send fresh invitations, that he might answer +by fresh refusals. He then, with the characteristic cunning and eloquence +of a Greek, made known to his countrymen the extreme peril of making Cyrus +their enemy in a hostile country, where retreat was beset with so many +dangers, and induced them to proceed. So the army continued its march to +Issus, at the extremity of the Issican Gulf, and near the mountains which +separate Cilicia from Syria. Here Cyrus was further re-enforced, making +the grand total of Greeks in his army fourteen thousand. + +(M583) He expected to find the passes over the mountains, a day's journey +from Issus, defended, but the Persian general Abrocomas fled at his +approach, and Cyrus easily crossed into Syria by the pass of Beilan, over +Mount Amanus. He then proceeded south to Myriandus, a Phoenician maritime +town, where he parted from his fleet. Eight days' march brought his army +to Thapsacus, on the Euphrates, where he remained five days to refresh his +troops. Here again the Greeks showed a reluctance to proceed, but, on the +promise of five minae a head, nearly one hundred dollars more than a year's +pay, they consented to advance. It was here Cyrus crossed the river +unobstructed, and continued his march on the left bank for nine days, +until he came to the river Araxes, which separates Syria from Arabia. Thus +far his army was well supplied with provisions from the numerous villages +through which they passed; but now he entered a desert country, entirely +without cultivation, where the astonished Greeks beheld for the first time +wild asses, antelopes, and ostriches. For eighteen days the army marched +without other provisions than what they brought with them, parched with +thirst and exhausted by heat. At Pylae they reached the cultivated +territory of Babylonia, and the alluvial plains commenced. Three days' +further march brought them to Cunaxa, about seventy miles from Babylon, +where the army of Artaxerxes was marshaled to meet them. It was an immense +force of more than a million of men, besides six thousand horse-guards and +two hundred chariots. But so confident was Cyrus of the vast superiority +of the Greeks and their warfare, that he did not hesitate to engage the +overwhelming forces of his brother with only ten thousand Greeks and one +hundred thousand Asiatics. The battle of Cunaxa was fatal to Cyrus; he was +slain and his camp was pillaged. The expedition had failed. + +(M584) Dismay now seized the Greeks, as well it might--a handful of men in +the midst of innumerable enemies, and in the very centre of the Persian +empire. But such men are not driven to despair. They refused to surrender, +and make up their minds to retreat--to find their way back again to Greece, +since all aggressive measures was madness. + +This retreat, amid so many difficulties, and against such powerful and +numerous enemies, is one of the most gallant actions in the history of +war, and has made those ten thousand men immortal. + +(M585) Ariaeus, who commanded the Asiatic forces on the left wing of the +army at the battle of Cunaxa, joined the Greeks with what force remained, +in retreat, and promised to guide them to the Asiatic coast, not by the +route which Cyrus had taken, for this was now impracticable, but by a +longer one, up the course of the Tigris, through Armenia, to the Euxine +Sea. The Greeks had marched ninety days from Sardis, about fourteen +hundred and sixty-four English miles, and rested ninety-six days in +various places. Six months had been spent on the expedition, and it would +take more than that time to return, considering the new difficulties which +it was necessary to surmount. The condition of the Greeks, to all +appearance, was hopeless. How were they to ford rivers and cross +mountains, with a hostile cavalry in their rear, without supplies, without +a knowledge of roads, without trustworthy guides, through hostile +territories? + +(M586) The Persians still continued their negotiations, regarding the +advance or retreat of the Greeks alike impossible, and curious to learn +what motives had brought them so far from home. They replied that they had +been deceived, that they had no hostility to the Persian king, that they +had been ashamed to desert Cyrus in the midst of danger, and that they now +desired only to return home peaceably, but were prepared to repel +hostilities. + +(M587) It was not pleasant to the Persian monarch to have thirteen +thousand Grecian veterans, whose prestige was immense, and whose power was +really formidable, in the heart of the kingdom. It was not easy to conquer +such brave men, reduced to desperation, without immense losses and +probable humiliation. So the Persians dissembled. It was their object to +get the Greeks out of Babylonia, where they could easily intrench and +support themselves, and then attack them at a disadvantage. So +Tissaphernes agreed to conduct them home by a different route. They +acceded to his proposal, and he led them to the banks of the Tigris, and +advanced on its left bank, north to the Great Zab River, about two hundred +miles from Babylon. The Persians marched in advance, and the Greeks about +three miles in the rear. At the Great Zab they halted three days, and then +Tissaphernes enticed the Greek generals to his tent, ostensibly to feast +them and renew negotiations. There they were seized, sent prisoners to the +Persian court, and treacherously murdered. + +(M588) Utter despair now seized the Greeks. They were deprived of their +generals, in the heart of Media, with unscrupulous enemies in the rear, +and the mountains of Armenia in their front, whose passes were defended by +hostile barbarians, and this in the depth of winter, deprived of guides, +and exposed to every kind of hardship, difficulty, and danger. They were +apparently in the hands of their enemies, without any probability of +escape. They were then summoned to surrender to the Persians, but they +resolved to fight their way home, great as were their dangers and +insurmountable the difficulties--a most heroic resolution. And their +retreat, under these circumstances, to the Euxine, is the most +extraordinary march in the whole history of war. + +(M589) But a great man appeared, in this crisis, to lead them, whose +prudence, sagacity, moderation, and courage can never be sufficiently +praised, and his successful retreat places him in the ranks of the great +generals of the world. Xenophon, the Athenian historian, now appears upon +the stage with all those noble qualities which inspired the heroes at the +siege of Troy--a man as religious as he was brave and magnanimous, and +eloquent even for a Greek. He summoned together the captains, and +persuaded them to advance, giving the assurance of the protection of Zeus. +He then convened the army, and inspired them by his spirit, with +surpassing eloquence, and acquired the ascendency of a Moses by his +genius, piety, and wisdom. His military rank was not great, but in such an +emergency talents and virtues have more force than rank. + +(M590) So, under his leadership, the Greeks crossed the Zab, and resumed +their march to the north, harassed by Persian cavalry, and subjected to +great privations. The army no longer marched, as was usual, in one +undivided hollow square, but in small companies, for they were obliged to +cross mountains and ford rivers. So long as they marched on the banks of +the Tigris, they found well-stocked villages, from which they obtained +supplies; but as they entered the country of the Carducians, they were +obliged to leave the Tigris to their left, and cross the high mountains +which divided it from Armenia. They were also compelled to burn their +baggage, for the roads were nearly impassable, not only on account of the +narrow defiles, but from the vast quantities of snow which fell. Their +situation was full of peril, and fatigue, and privation. Still they +persevered, animated by the example and eloquence of their intrepid +leader. At every new pass they were obliged to fight a battle, but the +enemies they encountered could not withstand their arms in close combat, +and usually fled, contented to harass them by rolling stones down the +mountains on their heads, and discharging their long arrows. + +(M591) The march through Armenia was still more difficult, for the +inhabitants were more warlike and hardy, and the passage more difficult. +They also were sorely troubled for lack of guides. The sufferings of the +Greeks were intense from cold and privation. The beasts of burden perished +in the snow, while the soldiers were frost-bitten and famished. It was +their good fortune to find villages, after several days' march, where they +halted and rested, but assailed all the while by hostile bands. Yet onward +they pressed, wearied and hungry, through the country of the Taochi, of +the Chalybes, of the Scytheni, of the Marones, of the Colchians, and +reached Trapezus (Trebizond) in safety. The sight of the sea filled the +Greeks with indescribable joy after so many perils, for the sea was their +own element, and they could now pursue their way in ships rather than by +perilous marches. + +(M592) But the delays were long and dreary. There were no ships to +transport the warriors to Byzantium. They were exposed to new troubles +from the indifference or hostility of the cities on the Euxine, for so +large a force created alarm. And when the most pressing dangers were +passed, the license of the men broke out, so that it was difficult to +preserve order and prevent them from robbing their friends. They were +obliged to resort to marauding expeditions among the Asiatic people, and +it was difficult to support themselves. Not being able to get ships, they +marched along the coast to Cotyora, exposed to incessant hostilities. It +was now the desire of Xenophon to found a new city on the Euxine with the +army; but the army was eager to return home, and did not accede to the +proposal. Clamors arose against the general who had led them so gloriously +from the heart of Media, and his speeches in his defense are among the +most eloquent on Grecian record. He remonstrated against the disorders of +the army, and had sufficient influence to secure reform, and completely +triumphed over faction as he had over danger. + +(M593) At last ships were provided, and the army passed by sea to Sinope--a +Grecian colony--where the men were hospitably received, and fed, and +lodged. From thence the army passed by sea to Heracleia, where the +soldiers sought to extort money against the opposition of Xenophon and +Cherisophus, the latter of whom had nobly seconded the plans of Xenophon, +although a Spartan of superior military rank. The army, at this +opposition, divided into three factions, but on suffering new disasters, +reunited. It made a halt at Calpe, where new disorders broke out. Then +Cleander, Spartan governor of Byzantium, arrived with two triremes, who +promised to conduct the army, and took command of it, but subsequently +threw up his command from the unpropitious sacrifices. Nothing proved the +religious character of the Greeks so forcibly as their scrupulous +attention to the rites imposed by their pagan faith. They undertook no +enterprise of importance without sacrifices to the gods, and if the +auguries were unfavorable, they relinquished their most cherished objects. + +(M594) From Calpe the army marched to Chalcedon, turning into money the +slaves and plunder which it had collected. There it remained seven days. +But nothing could be done without the consent of the Spartan admiral at +Byzantium, Anaxibius, since the Lacedaemonians were the masters of Greece +both by sea and land. This man was bribed by the Persian satrap +Pharnabazus, who commanded the north-western region of Asia Minor, to +transport the army to the European side of the Bosphorus. It accordingly +crossed to Byzantium, but was not allowed to halt in the city, or even to +enter the gates. + +(M595) The wrath of the soldiers was boundless when they were thus +excluded from Byzantium. They rushed into the town and took possession, +which conduct gave grave apprehension to Xenophon, who mustered and +harangued the army, and thus prevented anticipated violence. They at +length consented to leave the city, and accepted the services of the +Theban Coeratidas, who promised to conduct them to the Delta of Thrace, +for purposes of plunder, but he was soon dismissed. After various +misfortunes the soldiers at length were taken under the pay of Seuthes, a +Thracian prince, who sought the recovery of his principality, but who +cheated them out of their pay. A change of policy among the Lacedaemonians +led to the conveyance of the Cyrenian army into Asia in order to make war +on the satraps. Xenophon accordingly conducted his troops, now reduced to +six thousand men, over Mount Ida to Pergamus. He succeeded in capturing +the Persian general Asidates, and securing a valuable booty, B.C. 399. The +soldiers whom he had led were now incorporated with the Lacedaemonian army +in Asia, and Xenophon himself enlisted in the Spartan service. His +subsequent fortunes we have not room to present. An exile from Athens, he +settled in Scillus, near Olympia, with abundant wealth, but ultimately +returned to his native city after the battle of Leuctra. + +(M596) The impression produced on the Grecian mind by the successful +retreat of the Ten Thousand was profound and lasting. Its most obvious +effect was to produce contempt for Persian armies and Persian generals, +and to show that Persia was only strong by employing Hellenic strength +against the Hellenic cause. The real weakness of Persia was thus revealed +to the Greeks, and sentiments were fostered which two generations +afterward led to the expeditions of Alexander and the subjection of Asia +to Grecian rule. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI. + + +THE LACEDAEMONIAN EMPIRE. + + +(M597) I have already shown that Sparta, after a battle with the Argives, +B.C. 547, obtained the ascendency in the southern part of the +Peloponnesus, and became the leading military State of Greece. This +prestige and power were not lost. The severe simplicity of Spartan life, +the rigor of political and social institutions, the aristocratic form of +government, and above all the military spirit and ambition, gave +permanence to all conquests, so that in the Persian wars Sparta took the +load of the land forces. The great rival power of Sparta was Athens, but +this was founded on maritime skill and enterprise. It was to the navy of +Athens, next after the hoplites of Sparta, that the successful resistance +to the empire of Persia may be attributed. + +(M598) After the Persian wars the rivalship between Athens and Sparta is +the most prominent feature in Grecian history. The confederacy of Delos +gave to Athens supremacy over the sea, and the great commercial prosperity +of Athens under Pericles, and the empire gained over the Ionian colonies +and the islands of the AEgaean, made Athens, perhaps, the leading State. It +was the richest, the most cultivated, and the most influential of the +Grecian States, and threatened to absorb gradually all the other States of +Greece in her empire. + +(M599) This ascendency and rapid growth in wealth and power were beheld +with jealous eyes, not only by Sparta, but other States which she +controlled, or with which she was in alliance. The consequence was, the +Peloponnesian war, which lasted half a generation, and which, after +various vicissitudes and fortunes, terminated auspiciously for Sparta, but +disastrously to Greece as a united nation. The Persian wars bound all the +States together by a powerful Hellenic sentiment of patriotism. The +Peloponnesian war dissevered this Panhellenic tie. The disaster at +Syracuse was fatal to Athenian supremacy, and even independence. But for +this Athens might have remained the great power of Greece. The democratic +organization of the government gave great vigor and enterprise to all the +ambitious projects of Athens. If Alcibiades had lent his vast talents to +the building up of his native State, even then the fortunes of Athens +might have been different. But he was a traitor, and threw all his +energies on the side of Sparta, until it was too late for Athens to +recover the prestige she had won. He partially redeemed his honor, but had +he been animated by the spirit of Pericles or Nicias, to say nothing of +the self-devotion of Miltiades, he might have raised the power of Athens +to a height which nothing could have resisted. + +(M600) Lysander completed the war which Brasidas had so nobly carried on, +and took possession of Athens, abolished the democratic constitution, +demolished the walls, and set up, as his creatures, a set of tyrants, and +also a Spartan governor in Athens. Under Lysander, the Lacedaemonian rule +was paramount in Greece. At one time, he had more power than any man in +Greece ever enjoyed. He undertook to change the government of the allied +cities, and there was scarcely a city in Greece where the Spartans had not +the ascendency. In most of the Ionian cities, and in all the cities which +had taken the side of Athens, there was a Spartan governor, so that when +Xenophon returned with his Ten Thousand to Asia Minor, he found he could +do nothing without the consent of the Spartan governors. Moreover, the +rule of Sparta was hostile to all democratic governments. She sought to +establish oligarchal institutions everywhere. Perhaps this difference +between Athens and Sparta respecting government was one great cause of tho +Peloponnesian war. + +(M601) But the same envy which had once existed among the Grecian States +of the prosperity of Athens, was now turned upon Sparta. Her rule was +arrogant and hard and she in turn had to experience the humiliation of +revolt from her domination. "The allies of Sparta," says Grote, +"especially Corinth and Thebes, not only relented in their hatred of +Athens, now she had lost her power, but even sympathized with her +suffering exiles, and became disgusted with the self-willed encroachments +of Sparta; while the Spartan king, Pausanias, together with some of the +ephors, were also jealous of the arbitrary and oppressive conduct of +Lysander. He refused to prevent the revival of the democracy. It was in +this manner that Athens, rescued from that sanguinary and rapacious +_regime_ of the Thirty Tyrants, was enabled to reappear as a humble and +dependent member of the Spartan alliance--with nothing but the recollection +of her former power, yet with her democracy again in vigorous action for +internal government." + +(M602) The victory of AEgospotami, which annihilated the Athenian navy, +ushered in the supremacy of Sparta, both on the land and sea, and all +Greece made submission to the ascendant power. Lysander established in +most of the cities an oligarchy of ten citizens, as well as a Spartan +harmost, or governor. Everywhere the Lysandrian dekarchy superseded the +previous governments, and ruled oppressively, like the Thirty at Athens, +with Critias at their head. And no justice could be obtained at Sparta +against the bad conduct of the harmosts who now domineered in every city. +Sparta had embroiled Greece in war to put down the ascendency of Athens, +but exercised a more tyrannical usurpation than Athens ever meditated. The +language of Brasidas, who promised every thing, was in striking contrast +to the conduct of Lysander, who put his foot on the neck of Greece. + +(M603) The rule of the Thirty at Athens came to an end by the noble +efforts of Thrasybulus and the Athenian democracy, and the old +constitution was restored because the Spartan king was disgusted with the +usurpations and arrogance of Lysander, and forbore to interfere. Had +Sparta been wise, with this vast accession of power gained by the +victories of Lysander, she would have ruled moderately, and reorganized +the Grecian world on sound principles, and restored a Panhellenic +stability and harmony. She might not have restored, as Brasidas had +promised, a universal autonomy, or the complete independence of all the +cities, but would have bound together all the States under her presidency, +by a just and moderate rule. But Sparta had not this wisdom. She was +narrow, hard, and extortionate. She loved her own, as selfish people +generally do, but nothing outside her territory with any true magnanimity. +And she thus provoked her allies into rebellion, so that her chance was +lost, and her dominion short-lived. Athens would have been more +enlightened, but she never had the power, as Sparta had, of organizing a +general Panhellenic combination. The nearest approach which Athens ever +made was the confederacy of Delos, which did not work well, from the +jealousy of the cities. But Sparta soon made herself more unpopular than +Athens ever was, and her dream of empire was short. + +(M604) The first great movement of Sparta, after the establishment of +oligarchy in all the cities which yielded to her, was a renewal of the war +with Persia. The Asiatic Greek cities had been surrendered to Persia +according to treaty, as the price for the assistance which Persia rendered +to Sparta in the war with Athens. But the Persian rule, under the satraps, +especially of Tissaphernes, who had been rewarded by Artaxerxes with more +power than before, became oppressive and intolerable. Nothing but +aggravated slavery impended over them. They therefore sent to Sparta for +aid to throw off the Persian yoke. The ephors, with nothing more to gain +from Persia, and inspired with contempt for the Persian armies--contempt +created by the expedition of the Ten Thousand--readily listened to the +overtures, and sent a considerable force into Asia, under Thimbron. He had +poor success, and was recalled, and Dereyllidas was sent in his stead. He +made a truce with Tissaphernes, in order to attack Pharnabazus, against +whom he had an old grudge, and with whom Tissaphernes himself happened for +the time to be on ill terms. Dereyllidas overrun the satrapy of +Pharnabazus, took immense spoil, and took up winter-quarters in Bythinia. +Making a truce with Pharnabazus, he crossed over into Europe and fortified +the Chersonesus against the Thracians. He then renewed the war both +against Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes upon the Maeander, the result of which +was an agreement, on the part of the satraps, to exempt the Grecian cities +from tribute and political interference, while the Spartan general +promised to withdraw from Asia his army, and the Spartan governors from +the Grecian cities. + +(M605) At this point, B.C. 397, Dercyllidas was recalled to Sparta, and +King Agesilaus, who had recently arrived with large re-enforcements, +superseded him in command of the Lacedaemonian army. Agesilaus was the son +of king Archidamus, and half-brother to King Agis. He was about forty when +he became king, through the influence of Lysamler, in preference to his +nephew, and having been brought up without prospects of the throne, had +passed through the unmitigated rigor of the Spartan drill and training. He +was distinguished for all the Spartan virtues--obedience to authority, +extraordinary courage and energy, simplicity and frugality. + +(M606) Agesilaus was assisted by large contingents from the allied Greek +cities for his war in Asia; but Athens, Corinth, and Thebes stood aloof. +Lysander accompanied him as one of the generals, but gave so great offense +by his overweening arrogance, that he was sent to command at the +Hellespont. The truce between the Spartans and Persians being broken, +Agesilaus prosecuted the war vigorously against both Tissaphernes and +Pharnabazus. He gained a considerable victory over the Persians near +Sardis, invaded Phrygia, and laid waste the satrapy of Pharnabazus. He +even surprised the camp of the satrap, and gained immense booty. But in +the midst of his victories he was recalled by Sparta, which had need of +his services at home. A rebellion of the allies had broken out, which +seriously threatened the stability of the Spartan empire. + +(M607) "The prostration of the power of Athens had removed that common +bond of hatred and alarm which attached the allied cities to the headship +of Sparta; while her subsequent conduct had given positive offense, and +had excited against herself the same fear of unmeasured imperial ambition +which had before run so powerfully against Athens. She had appropriated to +herself nearly the whole of the Athenian maritime empire, with a tribute +of one thousand talents. But while Sparta had gained so much by the war, +not one of her allies had received the smallest remuneration. Even the +four hundred and seventy talents which Lysander brought home out of the +advances made by Cyrus, together with the booty acquired at Decelea, was +all detained by the Lacedaemonians. Hence there arose among the allies not +only a fear of the grasping dominion, but a hatred of the monopolizing +rapacity of Sparta. This was manifested by the Thebans and Corinthians +when they refused to join Pausanias in his march against Thrasybulus and +the Athenian exiles in Piraeus. But the Lacedaemonians were strong enough to +despise this alienation of the allies, and even to take revenge on such as +incurred their displeasure. Among these were the Elians, whose territory +they invaded, but which they retreated from, on the appearance of an +earthquake." + +The following year the Spartans, under King Agis, again invaded the +territory of Elis, enriched by the offerings made to the temple of +Olympeia. Immense booty in slaves, cattle, and provisions was the result +of this invasion, provoked by the refusal of the Elians to furnish aid in +the war against Athens. The Elians were obliged to submit to hard terms of +peace, and all the enemies of Sparta were rooted out of the Peloponnesus. + +(M608) Such was the triumphant position of Sparta at the close of the +Peloponnesian war. And a great change had also taken place in her internal +affairs. The people had become enriched by successful war, and gold and +silver were admitted against the old institution of Lycurgus, which +recognized only iron money. The public men were enriched by bribes. The +strictness of the old rule of Spartan discipline was gradually relaxed. + +(M609) It was then, shortly after the accession of Agesilaus to the +throne, on the death of Agis, that a dangerous conspiracy broke out in +Sparta itself, headed by Cinadon, a man of strength and courage, who saw +that men of his class were excluded from the honors and distinctions of +the State by the oligarchy--the ephors and the senate. But the rebellion, +though put down by the energy of Agesilaus, still produced a dangerous +discontent which weakened the power of the State. + +(M610) The Lacedaemonian naval power, at this crisis, was seriously +threatened by the union of the Persian and Athenian fleet under Conon. +That remarkable man had escaped from the disaster of AEgospotami with eight +triremes, and sought the shelter of Cyprus, governed by his friend +Evagoras, where he remained until the war between Sparta and the Persians +gave a new direction to his enterprising genius. He joined Pharnabazus, +enraged with the Spartans on account of the invasion of his satrapy by +Lysander and Agesilaus, and by him was intrusted with the command of the +Persian fleet. He succeeded in detaching Rhodes from the Spartan alliance, +and gained, some time after, a decisive victory over Pisander--the Spartan +admiral, off Cnidus, which weakened the power of Sparta on the sea, B.C. +394. More than half of the Spartan ships were captured and destroyed. + +(M611) This great success emboldened Thebes and other States to throw off +the Spartan yoke. Lysander was detached from his command at the Hellespont +to act against Boeotia, while Pausanias conducted an army from the +Peloponnesus. The Thebans, threatened by the whole power of Sparta, +applied to Athens, and Athens responded, no longer under the control of +the Thirty Tyrants. Lysander was killed before Haliartus, an irreparable +blow to Sparta, since he was her ablest general. Pausanias was compelled +to evacuate Boeotia, and the enemies of Sparta took courage. An alliance +between Athens, Corinth, Thebes, and Argos was now made to carry on war +against Sparta. + +(M612) Thebes at this time steps from the rank of a secondary power, and +gradually rises to the rank of an ascendant city. Her leading citizen was +Ismenias, one of the great organizers of the anti-Spartan movement--the +precursor of Pelopidas and Epaminondas. He conducted successful operations +in the northern part of Boeotia, and captured Heracleia. + +(M613) Such successes induced the Lacedaemonians to recall Agesilaus from +Asia, and to concentrate all their forces against this new alliance, of +which Thebes and Corinth were then the most powerful cities. The allied +forces were also considerable--some twenty-four thousand hoplites, besides +light troops and cavalry, and these were mustered at Corinth, where they +took up a defensive position. The Lacedaemonians advanced to attack them, +and gained an indecisive victory, B.C. 394, which secured their ascendency +within the Peloponnesus, but no further. Agesilaus advanced from Asia +through Thrace to co-operate, but learned, on the confines of Boeotia, the +news of the great battle of Cnidus. At Coronaea another battle was fought +between the Spartan and anti-Spartan forces, which was also indecisive, +but in which the Thebans displayed great heroism. This battle compelled +Agesilaus, with the Spartan forces, which he commanded, to retire from +Boeotia. + +(M614) This battle was a moral defeat to Sparta. Nearly all her maritime +allies deserted her--all but Abydos, which was held by the celebrated +Dercyllidas. Pharnabazus and Conon now sailed with their fleet to Corinth, +but the Persian satrap soon left and Conon remained sole admiral, assisted +with Persian money. With this aid he rebuilt the long walls of Athens, +with the hearty co-operation of those allies which had once been opposed +to Athens. + +(M615) Conon had large plans for the restoration of the Athenian power. He +organized a large mercenary force at Corinth, which had now become the +seat of war. But as many evils resulted from the presence of so many +soldiers in the city, a conspiracy headed by the oligarchal party took +place, with a view of restoring the Lacedaemonian power. Pasimelus, the +head of the conspirators, admitted the enemy within the long walls of the +city, which, as in Athens, secured a communication between the city and +the port. And between these walls a battle took place, in which the +Lacedaemonians were victorious with a severe loss. They pulled down a +portion of the walls between Corinth and the port of Lechaeum, sallied +forth, and captured two Corinthian dependencies, but the city of Corinth +remained in the hands of their gallant defenders, under the Athenian +Iphicrates. The long walls were soon restored, by aid of the Athenians, +but were again retaken by Agesilaus and the Spartans, together with +Lechaeum. This success alarmed Thebes, which unsuccessfully sued for peace. +The war continued, with the loss, to the Corinthians, of Piraeum, an +important island port, which induced the Thebans again to open +negotiations for peace, which were contemptuously rejected. + +(M616) In the midst of these successes, tidings came to Agesilaus of a +disaster which was attended with important consequences, and which spoiled +his triumph. This was the destruction of a detachment of six hundred +Lacedaemonian hoplites by the light troops of Iphicrates--an unprecedented +victory--for the hoplites, in their heavy defensive armor, held in contempt +the peltarts with their darts and arrows, even as the knights of mediaeval +Europe despised an encounter with the peasantry. This event revived the +courage of the anti-Spartan allies, and intensely humiliated the +Lacedaemonians. It was not only the loss of the aristocratic hoplites, but +the disgrace of being beaten by peltarts. Iphicrates recovered the places +which Agesilaus had taken, and Corinth remained undisturbed. + +(M617) Sparta, in view of these great disasters, now sought to detach +Persia from Athens. She sent Antalcidas to Ionia, offering to surrender +the Asiatic Greeks, and promising a universal autonomy throughout the +Grecian world. These overtures were disliked by the allies, who sent Conon +to counteract them. But Antalcidas gained the favor of the Persian satrap +Tiribasus, who had succeeded Tissaphernes, and he privately espoused the +cause of Sparta, and seized Conon and caused his death. Tiribasus, +however, was not sustained by the Persian court, which remained hostile to +Sparta. Struthas, a Persian general, was sent into Ionia, to act more +vigorously against the Lacedaemonians. He gained a victory, B.C. 390, over +the Spartan forces, commanded by Thimbron, who was slain. + +(M618) The Lacedaemonians succeeded, after the death of Conon, in +concentrating a considerable fleet near Rhodes. Against this, Thrasybulus +was sent from Athens with a still larger one, and was gaining advantages, +when he was slain near Aspendus, in Pamphylia, in a mutiny, and Athens +lost the restorer of her renovated democracy, and an able general and +honest citizen, without the vindictive animosities which characterized the +great men of his day. + +(M619) Rhodes still held out against the Lacedaemonians, who were now +commanded by Anaxibius, in the place of Dercyllidas. He was surprised by +Iphicrates, and was slain, and the Athenians, under this gallant leader, +again became masters of the Hellespont. But this success was balanced by +the defection of AEgina, which island was constrained by the Lacedaemonians +into war with Athens. I need not detail the various enterprises on both +sides, until Antalcidas returned from Susa with the treaty confirmed +between the Spartans and the court of Persia, which closed the war between +the various contending parties, B.C. 387. This treaty was of great +importance, but it indicates the loss of all Hellenic dignity when Sparta, +too, descends so far as to comply with the demands of a Persian satrap. +Athens and Sparta, both, at different times, invoked the aid of Persia +against each other--the most mournful fact in the whole history of Greece, +showing how much more powerful were the rivalries of States than the +sentiment of patriotism, which should have united them against their +common enemy. The sacrifice of Ionia was the price which was paid by +Sparta, in order to retain her supremacy over the rest of Greece, and +Persia ruled over all the Greeks on the Asiatic coast. Sparta became +mistress of Corinth and of the Corinthian Isthmus. She organized +anti-Theban oligarchies in the Boeotian cities, with a Spartan harmost. She +decomposed the Grecian world into small fragments. She crushed Olythus, +and formed a confederacy between the Persian king and the Dionysius of +Syracuse. In short, she ruled with despotic sway over all the different +States. + +We have now to show how Sparta lost the ascendency she had gained, and +became involved in a war with Thebes, and how Thebes became, under +Pelopidas and Epaminondas, for a time the dominant State of Greece. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII. + + +THE REPUBLIC OF THEBES. + + +(M620) After Sparta and Athens, no State of Greece arrived at +pre-eminence, until the Macedonian empire arose, except Thebes, the +capital of Boeotia; and the empire of this city was short, though +memorable, from the extraordinary military genius of Epaminondas. + +In the year B.C. 370, Sparta was the ascendant power of Greece, and was +feared, even as Athens was in the time of Pericles. She had formed an +alliance with the Persian king and with Dionysius of Syracuse. All Greece, +within and without the Peloponnesus, except Argos and Attica and some +Thessalian cities, was enrolled in a confederacy under the lead of Sparta, +and Spartan governors and garrisons occupied the principal cities. + +(M621) Thebes especially was completely under Spartan influence and +control, and was apparently powerless. Her citadel, the Cadmea, was filled +with Spartan soldiers, and the independence of Greece was at an end. +Confederated with Macedonians, Persians, and Syracusans, nobody dared to +call in question the headship of Sparta, or to provoke her displeasure. + +(M622) This destruction of Grecian liberties, with the aid of the old +enemies of Greece, kindled great indignation. The orator Lysias, at +Athens, gave vent to the general feeling, in which he veils his +displeasure under the form of surprise, that Sparta, as the chief of +Greece, should permit the Persians, under Artaxerxes, and the Syracusans, +under Dionysius, to enslave Greece. The orator Isocrates spoke still more +plainly, and denounced the Lacedaemonians as "traitors to the general +security and freedom of Greece, and seconding foreign kings to aggrandize +themselves at the cost of autonomous Grecian cities--all in the interest of +their own selfish ambition." Even Xenophon, with all his partiality for +Sparta, was still more emphatic, and accused the Lacedaemonians with the +violation of their oaths. + +(M623) In Thebes the discontent was most apparent, for their leading +citizens were exiled, and the oligarchal party, headed by Leontiades and +the Spartan garrison, was oppressive and tyrannical. The Theban exiles +found at Athens sympathy and shelter. Among these was Pelopidas, who +resolved to free his country from the Spartan yoke. Holding intimate +correspondence with his friends in Thebes, he looked forward patiently for +the means of effecting deliverance, which could only be effected by the +destruction of Leontiades and his colleagues, who ruled the city. +Philidas, secretary of the polemarchs, entered into the conspiracy, and, +being sent in an embassy to Athens, concocted the way for Pelopidas and +his friends to return to Thebes and effect a revolution. Charon, an +eminent patriot, agreed to shelter the conspirators in his house until +they struck the blow. Epaminondas, then living at Thebes, dissuaded the +enterprise as too hazardous, although all his sympathies were with the +conspirators. + +(M624) When all was ready, Philidas gave a banquet at his house to the +polemarchs, agreeing to introduce into the company some women of the first +families of Thebes, distinguished for their beauty. In concert with the +Theban exiles at Athens, Pelopidas, with six companions, crossed Cithaeron +and arrived at Thebes, in December, B.C. 379, disguised as hunters, with +no other arms than concealed daggers. By a fortunate accident they entered +the gates and sought shelter in the house of Charon until the night of the +banquet. They were introduced into the banqueting chamber when the +polemarchs were full of wine, disguised in female attire, and, with the +aid of their Theban conspirators, dispatched three of the polemarchs with +their daggers. Leontiades was not present, but the conspirators were +conducted secretly to his house, and effected their purpose. Leontiades +was slain, in the presence of his wife. The conspirators then proceeded to +the prison, slew the jailer, and liberated the prisoners, and then +proclaimed, by heralds, in the streets, at midnight, that the despots were +slain and Thebes was free. But the Spartans still held possession of the +citadel, and, apprised of the _coup d'etat_, sent home for +re-enforcements. But before they could arrive Pelopidas and the +enfranchised citizens stormed the Cadmea, dispersed the garrison, put to +death the oligarchal Thebans, and took full possession of the city. + +(M625) This unlooked-for revolution was felt throughout Greece like an +electric shook, and had a powerful moral effect. But the Spartans, +although it was the depth of winter, sent forth an expedition, under King +Cleombrotus--Agesilaus being disabled--to reconquer Thebes. He conducted his +army along the Isthmus of Corinth, through Megara, but did nothing, and +returned, leaving his lieutenant, Sphodrias, to prosecute hostilities. +Sphodrias, learning that the Piraeus was undefended, undertook to seize it, +but failed, which outrage so incensed the Athenians, that they dismissed +the Lacedaemonian envoys, and declared war against Sparta. Athens now +exerted herself to form a second maritime confederacy, like that of Delos, +and Thebes enrolled herself a member. As the Athenian envoys, sent to the +islands of the AEgean, promised the most liberal principles, a new +confederacy was formed. The confederates assembled at Athens and +threatened war on an extensive scale. A resolution was passed to equip +twenty thousand hoplites, five hundred horsemen, and two hundred triremes. +A new property-tax was imposed at Athens to carry on the war. + +(M626) At Thebes there was great enthusiasm, and Pelopidas, with Charon +and Melon, were named the first boeotrarchs. The Theban government became +democratic in form and spirit, and the military force was put upon a +severe training. A new brigade of three hundred hoplites, called the +Sacred Band, was organized for the special defense of the citadel, +composed of young men from the best families, distinguished for strength +and courage. The Thebans had always been good soldiers, but the popular +enthusiasm raised up the best army for its size in Greece. + +(M627) Epaminondas now stands forth as a leader of rare excellence, +destined to achieve the greatest military reputation of any Greek, before +or since his time, with the exception of Alexander the Great--a kind of +Gustavus Adolphus, introducing new tactics into Grecian warfare. He was in +the prime of life, belonging to a poor but honorable family, younger than +Pelopidas, who was rich. He had acquired great reputation for his +gymnastic exercises; and was the most cultivated man in Thebes, a good +musician, and a still greater orator. He learned to play on both the lyre +and flute from the teachings of the best masters, sought the conversation +of the learned, but was especially eloquent in speech, and effective, even +against the best Athenian opponents. He was modest, unambitious, +patriotic, intellectual, contented with poverty, generous, and +disinterested. When the Cadmea was taken, he was undistinguished, and his +rare merits were only known to Pelopidas and his friends. He was among the +first to join the revolutionists, and was placed by Pelopidas among the +organizers of the military force. + +(M628) The Spartans now made renewed exertions, and King Agesilaus, the +greatest military man of whom Sparta can boast, marched with a large army, +in the spring of B.C. 378, to attack Thebes. He established his +head-quarters in Thespiae, from which he issued to devastate the Theban +territory. + +The Thebans and Athenians, unequal in force, still kept the field against +him, acting on the defensive, declining battle, and occupying strong +positions. After a month of desultory warfare, Agesilaus retired, leaving +Phoebidas in command at Thespiae, who was slain in an incautious pursuit of +the enemy. + +(M629) In the ensuing summer Agesilaus undertook a second expedition into +Boeotia, but gained no decided advantage, while the Thebans acquired +experience, courage, and strength. Agesilaus having strained his lame leg, +was incapacitated for active operation, and returned to Sparta, leaving +Cleombrotus to command the Spartan forces. He was unable to enter Boeotia, +since the passes over Mount Cithaeron were held by the Thebans, and he made +an inglorious retreat, without even reaching Boeotia. + +(M630) The Spartans now resolved to fit out a large naval force to operate +against Athens, by whose assistance the Thebans had maintained their +ground for two years. The Athenians, on their part, also fitted out a +fleet, assisted by their allies, under the command of Chabrias, which +defeated the Lacedaemonian fleet near Naxos, B.C. 376. This was the first +great victory which Athens had gained since the Peloponnesian war, and +filled her citizens with joy and confidence, and led to a material +enlargement of their maritime confederacy. Phocion, who had charge of a +squadron detached from the fleet of Chabrias, also sailed victorious round +the AEgean, took twenty triremes, three thousand prisoners, with one +hundred and ten talents in money, and annexed seventeen cities to the +confederacy. Timotheus, the son of Conon, was sent with the fleet of +Chabrias, to circumnavigate the Peloponnesus, and alarm the coast of +Laconia. The important island of Corcyra entered into the confederation, +and another Spartan fleet, under Nicolochus, was defeated, so that the +Athenians became once again the masters of the sea. But having regained +their ascendency, Athens became jealous of the growing power of Thebes, +now mistress of Boeotia, and this jealousy, inexcusable after such +reverses, was increased when Pelopidas gained a great victory over the +Lacedaemonians near Tegyra, which led to the expulsion of their enemies +from all parts of Boeotia, except Orchomenus, on the borders of Phocis. +That territory was now attacked by the victorious Thebans, upon which +Athens made peace with the Lacedaemonians. + +(M631) It would thus seem that the ancient Grecian States were perpetually +jealous of any ascendant power, and their policy was not dissimilar from +that which was inaugurated in modern Europe since the treaty of +Westphalia--called the balance of power. Greece, thus far, was not +ambitious to extend her rule over foreign nations, but sought an +autonomous independence of the several States of which she was composed. +Had Greece united under the leadership of Sparta or Athens, her foreign +conquests might have been considerable, and her power, centralized and +formidable, might have been a match even for the Romans. But in the +anxiety of each State to secure its independence, there were perpetual and +unworthy jealousies of each rising State, when it had reached a certain +point of prosperity and glory. Hence the various States united under +Sparta, in the Peloponnesian war, to subvert the ascendency of Athens. And +when Sparta became the dominant power of Greece, Athens unites with Thebes +to break her domination. And now Athens becomes jealous of Thebes, and +makes peace with Sparta, in the same way that England in the eighteenth +century united with Holland and other States, to prevent the +aggrandizement of France, as different powers of Europe had previously +united to prevent the ascendency of Austria. + +(M632) The Spartan power was now obviously humbled, and one of the +greatest evidences of this was the decline of Sparta to give aid to the +cities of Thessaly, in danger of being conquered by Jason, the despot of +Pherae, whose formidable strength was now alarming Northern Greece. + +(M633) The peace which Sparta had concluded with Athens was of very short +duration. The Lacedaemonians resolved to attack Corcyra, which had joined +the Athenian confederation. An armament collected from the allies, under +Mnasippus, in the spring of B.C. 373, proceeded against Corcyra. The +inhabitants, driven within the walls of the city, were in danger of +famine, and invoked Athenian aid. Before it arrived, however, the +Corcyraeans made a successful sally upon the Spartan troops, over-confident +of victory, in which Mnasippus was slain, and the city became supplied +with provisions. After the victory, Iphicrates, in command of the Athenian +fleet, which had been delayed, arrived and captured the ships which +Dionysius of Syracuse had sent to the aid of the Lacedaemonians. These +reverses induced the Spartans to send Antalcidas again to Persia to sue +for fresh intervention, but the satraps, having nothing more to gain from +Sparta, refused aid. But Athens was not averse to peace, since she no +longer was jealous of Sparta, and was jealous of Thebes. In the mean time +Thebes seized Plataea, a town of Boeotia, unfriendly to her ascendency, and +expelled the inhabitants who sought shelter in Athens, and increased the +feeling of disaffection toward the rising power. This event led to renewed +negotiations for peace between Athens and Sparta, which was effected at a +congress held in the latter city. The Athenian orator Callistratus, one of +the envoys, proposed that Sparta and Athens should divide the headship of +Greece between them, the former having the supremacy on land, the latter +on the sea. Peace was concluded on the basis of the autonomy of each city. + +(M634) Epaminondas was the Theban deputy to this congress. He insisted on +taking the oath in behalf of the Boeotian confederation, even as Sparta had +done for herself and allies. But Agesilaus required he should take the +oath for Thebes alone, as Athens had done for herself alone. He refused, +and made himself memorable for his eloquent speeches, in which he +protested against the pretensions of Sparta. "Why," he maintained, "should +not Thebes respond for Boeotia, as well as Sparta for Laconia, since Thebes +had the same ascendency in Boeotia that Sparta had in Laconia?" Agesilaus, +at last, indignantly started from his seat, and said to Epaminondas: +"Speak plainly. Will you, or will you not, leave to each of the Boeotian +cities its separate autonomy?" To which the other replied: "Will you leave +each of the Laconian towns autonomous?" Without saying a word, Agesilaus +struck the name of the Thebans out of the roll, and they were excluded +from the treaty. + +(M635) The war now is to be prosecuted between Sparta and Thebes, since +peace was sworn between all the other States. The deputies of Thebes +returned home discouraged, knowing that their city must now encounter, +single-handed, the whole power of the dominant State of Greece. "The +Athenians--friendly with both, yet allies with neither--suffered the dispute +to be fought out without interfering." The point of it was, whether Thebes +was in the same relation to the Boeotian towns that Sparta was to the +Laconian cities. Agesilaus contended that the relations between Thebes and +other Boeotian cities was the same as what subsisted between Sparta and her +allies. This was opposed by Epaminondas. + +(M636) After the congress of B.C. 371, both Sparta and Athens fulfilled +the conditions to which their deputies had sworn. The latter gave orders +to Iphicrates to return home with his fleet, which had threatened the +Lacedaemonian coast; the former recalled her harmosts and garrisons from +all the cities which she occupied, while she made preparations, with all +her energies, to subdue Thebes. It was anticipated that so powerful a +State as Sparta would soon accomplish her object, and few out of Boeotia +doubted her success. + +(M637) King Cleombrotus was accordingly ordered to march out of Phocis, +where he was with a powerful force, into Boeotia. Epaminondas, with a body +of Thebans, occupied a narrow pass near Coronea, between a spur of Mount +Helicon and the Lake Copais. But instead of forcing this pass, the Spartan +king turned southward by a mountain road, over Helicon, deemed scarcely +practicable, and defeated a Theban division which guarded it, and marched +to Creusis, on the Gulf of Alcyonis, and captured twelve Theban triremes +in the harbor. He then left a garrison to occupy the post, and proceeded +over a mountainous road in the territory of Thespiae, on the eastern +declivity of Helicon, to Leuctra, where he encamped. He was now near +Thebes, having a communication with Sparta through the port of Creusis. +The Thebans were dismayed, and it required all the tact and eloquence of +Epaminondas and Pelopidas to rally them. They marched out at length from +Thebes, under their seven boeotrarchs, and posted themselves opposite the +Spartan camp. Epaminondas was one of these generals, and urged immediate +battle, although the Theban forces were inferior. + +(M638) It was through him that a change took place in the ordinary Grecian +tactics. It was customary to fight simultaneously along the whole line, in +which the opposing armies were drawn up. Departing from this custom, he +disposed his troops obliquely, or in echelon, placing on his left chosen +Theban hoplites to the depth of fifty, so as to bear with impetuous force +on the Spartan right, while his centre and right were kept back for awhile +from action. Such a combination, so unexpected, was completely successful. +The Spartans could not resist the concentrated and impetuous assault made +on their right, led by the Sacred Band, with fifty shields propelling +behind. Cleombrotus, the Spartan king, was killed, with the most +distinguished of his staff, and the Spartans were driven back to their +camp. The allies, who fought without spirit or heart, could not be +rallied. The victory was decisive, and made an immense impression +throughout Greece; for it was only twenty days since Epaminondas had +departed from Sparta, excluded from the general peace. The Spartans bore +the defeat with their characteristic fortitude, but their prestige was +destroyed. A new general had arisen in Boeotia, who carried every thing +before him. The Athenians heard of the victory with ill-concealed jealousy +of the rising power. + +(M639) Jason, the tyrant of Pherae, now joined the Theban camp and the +Spartan army was obliged to evacuate Boeotia. The great victory of Leuctra +gave immense extension to the Theban power, and broke the Spartan rule +north of the Peloponnesus. All the cities of Boeotia acknowledged the +Theban supremacy, while the harmosts which Sparta had placed in the +Grecian cities were forced to return home. Sparta was now discouraged and +helpless, and even many Peloponnesian cities put themselves under the +presidency of Athens. None were more affected by the Spartan overthrow +than the Arcadians, whose principal cities had been governed by an +oligarchy in the interest of Sparta, such as Tegea and Orchomenus, while +Mantinea was broken up into villages. The Arcadians, free from Spartan +governors, and ceasing to look henceforth for victory and plunder in the +service of Sparta, became hostile, and sought their political +independence. A Pan-Arcadian union was formed. + +(M640) Sparta undertook to recover her supremacy over Arcadia, and +Agesilaus was sent to Mantinea with a considerable force, for the city had +rebuilt its walls, and resumed its former consolidation, which was a great +offense in the eyes of Sparta. The Arcadians, invaded by Spartans, first +invoked the aid of Athens, which being refused, they turned to Thebes, and +Epaminondas came to their relief with a great army of +auxiliaries--Argeians, Elians, Phocians, Locrians, as well as Thebans, for +his fame now drew adventurers from every quarter to his standard. These +forces urged him to invade Laconia itself, and his great army, in four +divisions, penetrated the country through different passes. He crossed the +Eurotas and advanced to Sparta, which was in the greatest consternation, +not merely from the near presence of Epaminondas with a powerful army of +seventy thousand men, but from the discontent of the Helots. But Agesilaus +put the city in the best possible defense, while every means were used to +secure auxiliaries from other cities. Epaminondas dared not to attempt to +take the city by storm, and after ravaging Laconia, returned into Arcadia. +This insult to Sparta was of great moral force, and was an intense +humiliation, greater even than that felt after the battle of Leuctra. + +(M641) This expedition, though powerless against Sparta herself, prepared +Epaminondas to execute the real object which led to the assistance of the +Arcadians. This was the re-establishment of Messenia, which had been +conquered by Sparta two hundred years before. The new city of Messenia was +built on the site of Mount Ithome, where the Messenians had defended +themselves in their long war against the Laconians, and the best masons +and architects were invited from all Greece to lay out the streets, and +erect the public edifices, while Epaminondas superintended the +fortifications. All the territory westward and south of Ithome--the +southwestern corner of the Peloponnesus, richest on the peninsula, was now +subtracted from Sparta, while the country to the east was protected by the +new city in Arcadia, Megalopolis, which the Arcadians built. This wide +area, the best half of the Spartan territory, was thus severed from +Sparta, and was settled by Helots, who became free men, with +inextinguishable hatred of their old masters. But these Helots were +probably the descendants of the old Messenians whom Sparta had conquered. +This renovation of Messenia, and the building of the two cities, Messenia +and Megalopolis, was the work of Epaminondas, and were the most important +events of the day. The latter city was designed as the centre of a new +confederacy, comprising all Arcadia. + +(M642) Sparta being thus crippled, dismembered, and humbled, Epaminondas +evacuated the Peloponnesus, filled, however, with undiminished hostility. +Sparta condescends to solicit aid from Athens, so completely was its power +broken by the Theban State, and Athens consents to assist her, in the +growing fear and jealousy of Thebes, thereby showing that the animosities +of the Grecian States grew out of political jealousy rather than from +revenge or injury. To rescue Sparta was a wise policy, if it were +necessary to maintain a counterpoise against the ascendency of Thebes. An +army was raised, and Iphicrates was appointed general. He first marched to +Corinth, and from thence into Arcadia, but made war with no important +results. + +(M643) Such were the great political changes which occurred within two +years under the influence of such a hero as Epaminondas. Laconia had been +invaded and devastated, the Spartans were confined within their walls, +Messenia had been liberated from Spartan rule, two important cities had +been built, to serve as great fortresses to depress Sparta, Helots were +converted into freemen, and Greece generally had been emancipated from the +Spartan yoke. Such were the consequences of the battle of Leuctra. + +And this battle, which thus destroyed the prestige of Sparta, also led to +renewed hopes on the part of the Athenians to regain the power they had +lost. Athens already had regained the ascendency on the sea, and looked +for increased maritime aggrandizement. On the land she could only remain a +second class power, and serve as a bulwark against Theban ascendency. + +(M644) Athens sought also to recover Amphipolis--a maritime city, colonized +by Athenians, at the head of the Strymonican Gulf, in Macedonia, which was +taken from her in the Peloponnesian war, by Brasidas. Amyntas, the king of +Macedonia, seeking aid against Jason of Pherae, whose Thessalian dominion +and personal talents and ambition combined to make him a powerful +potentate, consented to the right of Athens to this city. But Amyntas died +not long after the assassination of Jason, and both Thessaly and Macedonia +were ruled by new kings, and new complications took place. Many Thessalian +cities, hostile to Alexander, the son of Jason, invoked the aid of Thebes, +and Pelopidas was sent into Thessaly with an army, who took Larissa and +various other cities under his protection. A large part of Thessaly thus +came under the protection of Thebes. On the other hand, Alexander, who +succeeded Amyntas in Macedonia, found it difficult to maintain his own +dominion without holding Thessalian towns in garrison. He was also +harassed by interior commotions, headed by Pausanias, and was slain. +Ptolemy, of Alorus, now became regent, and administered the kingdom in the +name of the minor children of Amyntas--Perdiccas and Philip. The mother of +these children, Eurydice, presented herself, with her children, to +Iphicrates, and invoked protection. He declared in her favor, and expelled +Pausanias, and secured the sceptre of Amyntas, who had been friendly to +the Athenians, to his children, under Ptolemy as regent. The younger of +these children lived to overthrow the liberties of Greece. + +(M645) But Iphicrates did not recover Amphipolis, which was a free city, +and had become attached to the Spartans after Brasidas had taken it. +Iphicrates was afterward sent to assist Sparta in the desperate contest +with Thebes. The Spartan allied army occupied Corinth, and guarded the +passes which prevented the Thebans from penetrating into the Peloponnesus. +Epaminondas broke through the defenses of the Spartans, and opened a +communication with his Peloponnesian allies, and with these increased +forces was more than a match for the Spartans and Athenians. He ravaged +the country, induced Sicyon to abandon Sparta, and visited Arcadia to +superintend the building of Megalopolis. Meanwhile Pelopidas, B.C. 368, +conducted an expedition into Thessaly, to protect Larissa against +Alexander of Pherae, and to counterwork the projects of that despot, who +was in league with Athens. He was successful, and then proceeded to +Macedonia, and made peace with Ptolemy, who was not strong enough to +resist him, taking, among other hostages to Thebes, Philip, the son of +Amyntas. The Thebans and Macedonians now united to protect the freedom of +Amphipolis against Athens. Pelopidas returned to Thebes, having extended +her ascendency over both Thessaly and Macedonia. + +(M646) Thebes, now ambitious for the headship of Greece, sent Pelopidas on +a mission to the Persian king at Susa, who obtained a favorable rescript. +The States which were summoned to Thebes to hear the rescript read refused +to accept it; and even the Arcadian deputies protested against the +headship of Thebes. So powerful were the sentiments of all the Grecian +States, from first to last, against the complete ascendency of any one +power, either Athens, or Sparta, or Thebes. The rescript was also rejected +at Corinth. Pelopidas was now sent to Thessaly to secure the recognition +of the headship of Thebes; but in the execution of his mission he was +seized and detained by Alexander of Pherae. + +The Thebans then sent an army into Thessaly to rescue Pelopidas. +Unfortunately, Epaminondas did not command it. Having given offense to his +countrymen, he was not elected that year as boeotrarch, and served in the +ranks as a private hoplite. Alexander, assisted by the Athenians, +triumphed in his act of treachery, and treated his illustrious captive +with harshness and cruelty, and the Theban army, unsuccessful, returned +home. + +(M647) The Thebans then sent another army, under Epaminondas, into +Thessaly for the rescue of Pelopidas, and such was the terror of his name, +that Alexander surrendered his prisoner, and sought to make peace. But the +rescue of Pelopidas disabled Thebes from prosecuting the war in the +Peloponnesus. As soon, however, as this was effected, Epaminondas was sent +as an envoy into Arcadia to dissuade her from a proposed alliance with +Athens, and there had to contend with the Athenian orator Callistratus. +The complicated relations of the different Grecian States now became so +complicated, that it is useless, in a book like this, to attempt to +unravel them. Negotiations between Athens and Persia, the efforts of +Corinth and other cities to secure peace, the ambition of Athens to +maintain ascendency on the sea, the creation of a Theban navy--these and +other events must be passed by. + +But we can not omit to notice the death of Pelopidas. + +(M648) He had been sent with an army into Thessaly against Alexander of +Pherae, who was at the height of his power, holding in dependence a +considerable part of Thessaly, and having Athens for an ally. In a battle +which took place between Pelopidas and Alexander, near Pharsalus, the +Thessalians were routed. Pelopidas, seeing his enemy apparently within his +reach, and remembering only his injuries, sallied forth, unsupported, like +Cyrus, on the field of Cunaxa, at the sight of his brother, to attack him +when surrounded by his guards, and fell while fighting bravely. Nothing +could exceed the grief of the victorious Thebans in view of this disaster, +which was the result of inexcusable rashness. He was endeared by +uninterrupted services from the day he slew the Spartan governors and +recovered the independence of his city. He had taken a prominent part in +all the struggles which had raised Thebes to unexpected glory, and was +second in abilities to Epaminondas alone, whom he ever cherished with more +than fraternal friendship, without envy and without reproach. All that +Thebes could do was to revenge his death. Alexander was stripped of all +his Thessalian dependencies, and confined to his own city, with its +territory, near the Gulf of Pegasae. + +(M649) It was while Pelopidas was engaged in his Thessalian campaign, that +a conspiracy against the power of Thebes took place in the second city of +Boeotia--Orchomenus, on Lake Copais. This city was always disaffected, and +in the absence of Pelopidas in Thessaly, and Epaminondas with a fleet on +the Hellespont, some three hundred of the richest citizens undertook to +overthrow the existing government. The plot was discovered before it was +ripe for execution, the conspirators were executed, the town itself was +destroyed, the male adults were killed, and the women and children were +sold into slavery. This barbarous act was but the result of long pent up +Theban hatred, but it kindled a great excitement against Thebes throughout +Greece. The city, indeed, sympathized with the Spartan cause, and would +have been destroyed before but for the intercession of Epaminondas, whose +policy was ever lenient and magnanimous. It was a matter of profound grief +to this general, now re-elected as one of the boeotarchs, that Thebes had +stained her name by this cruel vengeance, since he knew it would intensify +the increasing animosity against the power which had arrived so suddenly +to greatness. + +(M650) Hostilities, as he feared, soon broke out with increased bitterness +between Sparta and Thebes. And these were precipitated by difficulties in +Arcadia, then at war with Elis, and the appropriation of the treasures of +Olympia by the Arcadians. Sparta, Elis, and Achaia formed an alliance, and +Arcadia invoked the aid of Thebes. The result was that Epaminondas marched +with a large army into the Peloponnesus, and mustered his forces at Tegea, +which was under the protection of Thebes. His army comprised, besides +Thebans and Boeotians, Euboeans, Thessalians, Locrians, and other allies +from Northern Greece. The Spartans, allied with Elians, Achaeans, and +Athenians, united at Mantinea, under the command of Agesilaus, now an old +man of eighty, but still vigorous and strong. Tegea lay in the direct road +from Sparta to Mantinea, and while Agesilaus was moving by a more +circuitous route to the westward, Epaminondas resolved to attempt a +surprise on Sparta. This movement was unexpected, and nothing saved Sparta +except the accidental information which Agesilaus received of the movement +from a runner, in time to turn back to Sparta and put it in a condition of +defense before Epaminondas arrived, for Tegea was only about thirty miles +from Sparta. The Theban general was in no condition to assault the city, +and his enterprise failed, from no fault of his. Seeing that Sparta was +defended, he marched back immediately to Tegea, and dispatched his cavalry +to surprise Mantinea, about fifteen miles distant. The surprise was +baffled by the unexpected arrival of Athenian cavalry. An encounter took +place between these two bodies of cavalry, in which the Athenians gained +an advantage. Epaminondas saw then no chance left for striking a blow but +by a pitched battle, with all his forces. He therefore marched from Tegea +toward the enemy, who did not expect to be attacked, and was unprepared. +He adopted the same tactics that gave him success at Leuctra, and posted +himself, with his Theban phalanx on the left, against the opposing right, +and bore down with irresistible force, both of infantry and cavalry, while +he kept back the centre and right, composed of his trustworthy troops, +until the battle should be decided. His column, not far from fifty shields +in depth, pressed upon the opposing column of only eight shields in depth, +like the prow of a trireme impelled against the midships of an antagonist +in a sea-fight. This mode of attack was completely successful. Epaminondas +broke through the Lacedaemonian line, which turned and fled, but he +himself, pressing on to the attack, at the head of his column, was +mortally wounded. He was pierced with a spear--the handle broke, leaving +the head sticking in his breast. He at once fell, and his own troops +gathered around his bleeding body, giving full expression to their grief +and lamentations. + +(M651) Thebes gained, by the battle of Mantinea, the preservation of her +Arcadian allies and of her anti-Spartan frontier; while Sparta lost, +beyond hope, her ancient prestige and power. But the victory was dearly +purchased by the death of Epaminondas, who has received, and probably +deserves, more unmingled admiration than any hero whom Greece ever +produced. He was a great military genius, and introduced new tactics into +the art of war. He was a true patriot, thinking more of the glory of his +country than his own exaltation. He was a man of great political insight, +and merits the praise of being a great statesman. He was, above all, +unsullied by vices, generous, devoted, merciful in war, magnanimous in +victory, and laborious in peace. He was also learned, eloquent, and wise, +ruling by moral wisdom as well as by genius. His death was an irreparable +loss--one of those great men whom his country could not spare, and whose +services no other man could render. Of modern heroes he most resembles +Gustavus Adolphus. And as the Thirty Years in Germany loses all its +interest after the battle of Leutzen, when the Swedish hero laid down his +life in defense of his Protestant brethren, so the Theban contest with +Sparta has no great significance after the battle of Mantinea. The only +great blunder which Epaminondas made was to encourage his countrymen to +compete with Athens for the sovereignty of the seas. That sovereignty was +the natural empire of Athens, even as the empire of the land was the glory +of Sparta. If these two powers had been contented with their own peculiar +sphere, and joined in a true alliance with each other, the empire of +Greece might have resisted the encroachments of Philip and Alexander, and +defied the growing ascendency of Rome. + +(M652) Shortly after the death of Epaminondas, B.C. 362, the greatest man +of Spartan annals disappeared from the stage of history. Agesilaus died in +Egypt, having gone there to assist the king in his revolt from Persia. He +also possessed all the great qualities of a prince, a soldier, a statesman +and a man. He, too, was ambitious, but only to perpetuate the power of +Sparta. It was his misfortune to contend with a greater man, but he did +all that was in the power of a king of Sparta to retrieve her fortunes, +and died deeply lamented and honored. Artaxerxes died B.C. 358, after +having subdued the revolt of his satraps and of Egypt, having reigned +forty-five years, and Ochus succeeded to his throne, taking his father's +name. + +(M653) Athens recovered, during the wars between Sparta and Thebes, much +of her former maritime power, and succeeded in retaking the Chersonese. +But another great character now arises to our view--Philip of Macedon, who +succeeded in overturning the liberties of Greece. But before we present +his career, that of Dionysius of Syracuse, demands a brief notice, and the +great power of Sicily, as a Grecian State, during his life. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII. + + +DIONYSIUS AND SICILY. + + +We have already seen how the Athenian fleet was destroyed at the siege of +Syracuse, where Nicias and Demosthenes were so lamentably defeated, which +defeat resulted in the humiliation of Athens and the loss of her power as +the leading State of Greece. + +The destruction of this great Athenian armament in September, B.C. 413, +created an intoxication of triumph in the Sicilian cities. Nearly all of +them had joined Syracuse, except Naxos and Catana, which sided with +Athens. Agrigentum was neutral. + +(M654) The Syracusans were too much exhausted by the contest to push their +victory to the loss of the independence of these cities, but they assisted +their allies, the Lacedaemonians, with twenty triremes against Athens, +under Hermocrates, while Rhodes furnished a still further re-enforcement, +under Dorieus. But the Peloponnesian war was not finished as soon as the +Syracusans anticipated. Even the combined Peloponnesian and Syracusan +fleets sustained two defeats in the Hellespont. The battle of Cyxicus was +even still more calamitous, since the Spartan admiral Mindarus was slain, +and the whole of his fleet was captured and destroyed. The Syracusans +suffered much by this latter defeat, and all their triremes were burned to +prevent them falling into the hands of their enemies, and the seamen were +left destitute on the Propontis, in the satrapy of Pharnabazus. These +adverse events led to the disgrace of Hermocrates, who stimulated the +movement and promised what he could not perform. But his conduct had been +good, and his treatment was unjust and harsh. War recognizes only success, +whatever may be the virtues and talents of the commanders; and this is one +of the worst phases of war, when accident and circumstances contribute +more to military rewards than genius itself. + +(M655) The banishment of Hermocrates was followed by the triumph of the +democratical party, and Diocles, an influential citizen, was named, with a +commission of ten, to revise the constitution and the laws. The laws of +Diocles did not remain in force long, and were exceeding severe in their +penalties. But they were afterward revived, and copied by other Sicilian +cities, and remained in force to the Grecian conquest of the island. + +(M656) The Syracusans then prosecuted war with vigor against Naxos, which +sided with Athens, until it was brought to a sudden close by an invasion +of the Carthaginians, the ancient foes of Greece. As far back as the year +480 B.C.--that year which witnessed the invasion of Greece by Xerxes--the +Carthaginians had invaded Sicily, with a mercenary army under Hamilcar, +for the purpose of reinstating the tyrant of Himera, expelled by Theron of +Agrigentum. The Carthaginian army was routed, and Hamilcar was slain by +Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse. This defeat was so signal, that it was +seventy years before the Carthaginians again invaded Sicily, shortly after +the destruction of Athenian power at Syracuse. No sooner was the +protecting naval power of Athens withdrawn from Greece, than the Persians +and the Carthaginians pressed upon the Hellenic world. + +(M657) It is singular that so little is known of the early history of +Carthage, which became the great rival of Rome. It was founded by the +Phoenicians, and became a considerable commercial city before Athens had +reached the naval supremacy of Greece. Her possessions were extensive on +the coast of Africa, both east and west, comprehending Sardinia and the +Balearic isles. At the maximum of her power, before the first Punic war, +the population was nearly a million of people. It was built on a fortified +peninsula of about twenty miles in circumference, with the isthmus. Upon +this isthmus was the citadel Byrsa, surrounded with a triple wall, and +crowned at its summit by a magnificent temple of AEsculapius. It possessed +three hundred tributary cities in Libya, which was but a small part of the +great empire which belonged to it in the fourth century before Christ. All +the towns on the coast, even those founded by the Phoenicians, like Hippo +and Utica, were tributary, with the exception of Utica. Although the +Carthaginians were averse to land service, yet no less than forty thousand +hoplites, with one thousand cavalry and two thousand war chariots, marched +out from the gates to resist an enemy. But the Carthaginian armies were +mostly composed of mercenaries--Gauls, Iberians, and Libyans, and forming a +discordant host in language and custom. + +(M658) The political constitution of Carthage was oligarchal. Two kings +were elected annually, and presided over the Senate, of three hundred +persons, made up from the principal families. The great families divided +between them, as in Rome, the offices and influence of the State, and +maintained an insolent distinction from the people. It was an aristocracy, +based on wealth, and created by commerce, as in Venice, in the Middle +Ages. There was a demos, or people, at Carthage, who were consulted on +particular occasions; but, whether numerous or not, they were kept in +dependence to the rich families by banquets and lucrative employments. The +government was stable and well conducted, both for internal tranquillity +and commercial aggrandizement. + +(M659) The first eminent historical personage was Mago, B.C. 500, who +greatly extended the dominions of Carthage. Of his two sons, Hamilcar was +defeated and slain by Gelon of Syracuse. The other son, Hasdrubal, +perished in Sardinia. His sons remained the most powerful citizens of the +State, carrying on war against the Moors and other African tribes. +Hannibal, grandson of Hamilcar, distinguished himself in an invasion of +Sicily, B.C. 410, and with a large army, of one hundred thousand men, +stormed and took Selinus, and killed one hundred and sixty thousand of the +inhabitants, and carried away captive five thousand more. He then laid +siege to Himera, which he also took, and slaughtered three thousand of the +inhabitants, in expiation of the memory of his grandfather. These were +Grecian cities, and the alarm throughout Greece was profound for this new +enemy. These events look place about the time that Hermocrates was +banished for an unsuccessful maritime war. Hermocrates afterward attempted +to enter Syracuse, but was defeated and slain. + +(M660) At this period Dionysius appears upon the stage--for the next +generation the most formidable name in the Grecian world. He had none of +the advantages of family or wealth--but was well educated, and espoused the +cause of Hermocrates, and rose to distinction during the intestine +commotions which resulted from the death of Hermocrates and the banishment +of Diocles, the lawgiver. + +(M661) In 406 B.C., Sicily was again invaded by a large force from +Carthage, estimated by some writers as high as three hundred thousand men, +who were chiefly mercenaries. Hannibal was the leader of these forces. All +the Greek cities now prepared for vigorous war. The Syracusans sent to +Sparta and the Italian Greek cities for aid. Agrigentum was most in +danger, and most alarmed of the Greek Sicilian cities. It was second only +to Syracuse in numbers and wealth, having a population of eight hundred +thousand people, though this is probably an exaggeration. It was rich in +temples and villas and palaces; its citizens were wealthy, luxurious, and +hospitable. + +(M662) The army of Hannibal advanced against this city, which was strongly +fortified, and re-enforced by a strong body of troops from Syracuse, under +Daphneus. He defeated the Iberian mercenaries, but did not preserve his +victory, so that the Carthaginians were enabled to take and plunder +Agrigentum. There was, of course, bitter complaint against the Syracusan +generals, who might have prevented this calamity. In the discontent which +succeeded, Dionysius was elevated to the command. He procured a vote to +restore the Hermocratean exiles, and procured, also, a body of paid +guards, and established himself as despot of Syracuse; and he arrived at +this power by demagogic arts, allying himself with the ultra democratic +party. + +(M663) Soon after his elevation, the Carthaginians advanced, under Imoleo, +to attack Gela, which was relieved by Dionysius with a force of fifty +thousand men. Intrenching himself between Gela and the sea, opposite the +Carthaginians, he resolved to attack the invaders, but was defeated and +obliged to retreat, so that Gela fell into the hands of the Carthaginians, +who perpetrated their usual cruelties. This defeat occasioned a mutiny at +Syracuse, and his house was plundered of the silver and gold and valuables +which he had already collected. But he rapidly returned to Syracuse, and +punished the mutineers, and became master of the city, driving away the +rich citizens who had vainly obstructed his elevation. He abolished every +remnant of freedom, and ruled despotically with the aid of his +mercenaries, and the common people who rallied to his standard. + +(M664) It was fortunate for him that the Carthaginians, although victors +at Gela, made proposals of peace, which were accepted. Dionysius accepted +a peace, the terms of which were favorable to Carthage, in order to secure +his own power. He betrayed the interests of Sicily to an enemy from +selfish and unworthy motives. The whole south of Sicily was consigned to +the Carthaginians, and Syracuse to Dionysius. + +(M665) Dionysius now concentrated all his efforts to centralize and +maintain his power. He greatly strengthened the fortifications of +Syracuse. He constructed a new wall, with lofty towers and elaborate +defenses, outside the mole which connected the islet Ortygia with Sicily. +He also erected a citadel. He then had an impregnable stronghold, powerful +for attack and defense. The fortress he erected in the islet of Ortygia he +filled with his devoted adherents, consisting mostly of foreigners, to +whom he assigned a permanent support and residence. He distributed anew +the Syracusan territory, reserving the best lands for his friends, who +thus became citizens. By this wholesale confiscation he was enabled to +support ten thousand mercenary troops, devoted to him and his tyranny. The +contributions he extorted were enormous, so that in five years twenty per +cent of the whole property of Syracuse was paid into his hands. + +(M666) Having thus strengthened his power in Syracuse, he marched against +the Sikels, in the interior of the island. But his absence was taken +advantage of by the discontented citizens, who attempted to regain their +freedom. He returned at once to Syracuse, and intrenched himself in his +fortress, where he was besieged by the insurgents. The tyrant was now +driven to desperation, and nothing saved him but the impregnable +fortifications which he had erected. But his situation was so desperate +that his adherents melted away, and he began to abandon all hope of +retaining his position. As a last resource, he purchased the aid of a body +of Campanian cavalry, in the Carthaginian service, which was stationed at +Gela, while he amused the Syracusans, to gain time, by a pretended +submission. They agreed to allow him to depart with five triremes, and +relaxed the siege, supposing him already subdued. Meanwhile the +Carthaginian mercenaries arrived and defeated the Syracusans, already +dispersed and divided. Dionysius, finding himself rescued and +re-established in his dominions, strengthened the fortifications of +Ortygia, and employed his forces, now that Syracuse was subdued, in +conquering the Grecian cities of Naxos, Catana, and Leontini. Strengthened +at home and in the interior, Dionysius then prepared to attack the +Carthaginians, but previously took measures to insure the defensibility of +Syracuse. Six thousand persons were employed on a wall three and a half +miles in length, from the fort of Trogilus to Euryalus, the summit of the +slope of Epipolae, a high cliff, which commanded the roads to the city. Six +thousand teams of oxen were employed in drawing the stones from the +quarries. This wall was not like Ortygia, a guard-house against the people +of Syracuse, but a defense against external enemies. As it was a great +public work of defense, the citizens worked with cheerfulness and vigor, +and so enthusiastically did they labor, that the work was completed in +twenty days. The city being now impregnable, he commenced preparations for +offensive war, and changed his course toward the citizens, pursuing a +mild, and conciliatory policy. He made peace with Messene and Rhegium, and +married a lady from Locri. He collected all the best engineers, mechanics, +and artisans from Sicily and Italy, constructed immense machines, provided +arms from every nation around the Mediterranean, so that he collected or +fabricated one hundred and forty thousand shields and fourteen thousand +breastplates, destined for his body-guard and officers, together with a +vast number of helmets, spears, and daggers. All these were accumulated in +his impregnable fortress of Ortygia. His naval preparations were equally +stupendous. The docks of Syracuse were filled with workmen, and two +hundred triremes were added to the one hundred and ten which already were +housed in the docks. The trireme was the largest ship of war which for +three hundred years had sailed in the Grecian or Mediterranean waters. But +Dionysius constructed triremes with five banks of oars, and had a navy +vastly superior to what Athens ever possessed. He now hired soldiers from +every quarter, enlisting Syracusans and the inhabitants of the cities +depending upon her. He sent envoys to Italy and the Peloponnesus for +recruits, offering the most liberal pay. + +(M667) When all his preparations were completed, he married, on the same +day, two wives--the Locrian (Doris), and the Syracusan (Aristomache), and +both of these women lived with him at the same table in equal dignity. He +had three children by Doris, the oldest of whom was Dionysius the Younger, +and four by Aristomache. When his nuptials had been celebrated with +extraordinary magnificence, and banquets, and fetes, in which the whole +population shared, he convoked a public assembly, and exhorted the +citizens to war against Carthage, as the common enemy of Greece, B.C. 397. +He then granted permission to plunder the Carthaginian ships in the +harbor, and shortly after marched out from Syracuse with an army against +the Carthaginians in Sicily, consisting of eighty thousand men, while a +fleet of two hundred triremes and five hundred transports accompanied his +march along the coast--the largest military force hitherto assembled under +Grecian command. + +(M668) The first place he attacked was Motya, north of Cape Lilybaeum, in +the western extremity of the island, all the Grecian cities under +Carthaginian leadership having revolted. This city was both populous and +wealthy, built on an islet, which was separated from Sicily by a narrow +strait two-thirds of a mile in width, bridged over by a narrow mole. The +Motyans, seeing the approach of so formidable an army, broke up their +mole, and insulated themselves from Sicily. The Carthaginians sent a large +fleet to assist Motya, under Imilco, but being inferior to that of +Dionysius, it could not venture on a pitched battle. Motya made a +desperate defense, but a road across the strait being built by the +besiegers, the new engines of war carried over it were irresistible, the +town was at length carried and plundered, and the inhabitants slaughtered +or sold as slaves. + +(M669) The siege occupied the summer, and Dionysius, triumphant, returned +to Syracuse. But Imilco being elevated to the chief magistracy of +Carthage, brought over to Sicily an overwhelming force, collected from all +Africa and Iberia, amounting to one hundred thousand men, afterward +re-enforced by thirty thousand more, at the lowest estimate, with four +hundred ships and six hundred transports. This army disembarked at +Panormus, on the northwestern side of the island (Palermo) retook Motya, +regained Eryx, then marched east and captured Messene, at the extreme +eastern part of the island near Italy, which prevented Dionysius from +getting aid from Italy. The Sikels also rebelled, and Dionysius, greatly +disquieted by the loss of all his conquests, and by approaching dangers, +strengthened the fortifications of Syracuse, to which he had retired, and +made preparations to resist the enemy. He had still a force of thirty +thousand foot and three thousand horse, and one hundred and eighty ships +of war. He sent also to Sparta for aid. He then advanced to Catana. A +naval battle took place off this city, gained by the Carthaginians, from +superior numbers. One hundred of the Syracusan ships were destroyed, with +twenty thousand men, B.C. 395. + +(M670) After this defeat, Dionysius retreated to Syracuse with his land +forces, amid great discontent, and invoked the aid of Sparta and Corinth. +Imilco advanced also to Syracuse, while his victorious fleet occupied the +great harbor--a much more imposing armament than that the Athenians had at +the close of the Persian war. The total number of vessels was two +thousand. Imilco established his head-quarters at the temple of Zeus +Olympius, one mile and a half from the city, and allowed his troops thirty +days for plunder over the Syracusan territory; then he established +fortified posts, and encircled his camp with a wall, and set down in +earnest to reduce the city to famine. But as he was not master of Epipolae, +as Nicias was, Syracuse was able to communicate with the country around, +both west and north, and also found means to secure supplies by sea. + +(M671) Meanwhile the Syracusans defeated a portion of the Carthaginian +fleet, and a terrific pestilence overtook the army before the city. The +military strength of the Carthaginians was prostrated by the terrible +malady, which swept away one hundred and fifty thousand persons in the +camp. When thus weakened and demoralized, the Carthaginians were attacked +by the Syracusans, and were completely routed. The fleet was also defeated +and set on fire, and the conflagration reached the camp, which was thus +attacked by pestilence, fire, and sword. The disaster was fatal to the +Carthaginians, and retreat was necessary. Imilco dispatched a secret envoy +to Dionysius, offering three hundred talents if the fleet was allowed to +sail away unmolested to Africa. This could not be permitted, but Imilco +and the native Carthaginians were allowed to retire. The remaining part of +the army, deprived of their head, was destroyed, with the exception of the +Sikels, who knew the roads, and made good their escape. + +(M672) This immense disaster, greater than that the Athenians had suffered +under Nicias, produced universal mourning and distress at Carthage, while +the miserable Imilco vainly endeavoring to disarm the wrath of his +countrymen, shut himself up in his house, and starved himself to death. +This misfortune led also to a revolt of the African allies, which was +subdued with difficulty, while the power of Carthage in Sicily was reduced +to the lowest ebb. Dionysius was now left to push his conquests in other +directions, and Syracuse was rescued from impending ruin. + +(M673) Dionysius had now reigned eleven years, with absolute power. The +pestilence, and the treachery of Imilco, had freed him of the +Carthaginians. But a difficulty arose as to the payment of his +mercenaries, which he compromised by giving them the rich territory of +Leontini, so that ten thousand quitted Syracuse, and took up their +residence in the town. The cost of maintaining a large standing army was +exceeding burdensome, and we only wonder how the tyrant found means to pay +it, and prosecute at the same time such great improvements. + +(M674) He now directed his attention to the Sikels, in the interior of the +island, and took several of their towns, but from one of them he met with +desperate resistance, find came near losing his life from a wound by a +spear which penetrated his cuirass. This repulse caused the Carthaginians +to rally in the west of the island, under Magon, with an army of eighty +thousand. But he was repulsed by Dionysius, and concluded a truce with +him, which gave the latter leisure to make himself master of Messene and +Taurominium--the two most important maritime posts on the Italian side of +Sicily, and thus prepare for the invasion of the Greek cities in the south +of Italy, B.C. 391. + +(M675) Dionysius departed from Syracuse, B.C. 389, with a powerful force, +to subdue the Italiot Greeks, and laid siege to Caulonia. He defeated +their army, and slew their general. The victor treated the defeated Greeks +with lenity, and then laid siege to Rhegium, to which he granted peace on +severe terms. Caulonia and Hipponeum, two cities whose territory occupied +the breadth of the Calabrian peninsula, fell into his hands. Rhegium +surrendered after a desperate defense, and Phyton, who commanded the town, +was treated with brutal inhumanity. The town was dismantled, and all the +territory of Southern Calabria was united to Locri. It was at this time +that the peace of Antalcidas took place, which put an end to the Spartan +wars in Asia Minor. The ascendant powers of Greece were now Sparta and +Syracuse, each fortified by alliance with the other. + +(M676) Croton, the largest city in Magna Grecia, was now conquered by +Dionysius, who plundered the temple of Ilere, near Cape Lacinium, and +among its treasure was a splendid robe, decorated in the most costly +manner, which the conqueror sold to the Carthaginians, which long remained +one of the ornaments of their city. The value and beauty of the robe may +be estimated at the price paid for it--one hundred and twenty talents, more +than one hundred thousand dollars. + +(M677) He now undertook a maritime expedition along the coast of Latium +and Etruria, and pillaged the rich temple at Agylla, stripping it of gold +and ornaments to the value of one thousand talents. So great was the +celebrity he acquired, that the Gauls of Northern Italy, who had recently +sacked Rome, proffered their alliance and aid. Master of Sicily and +Southern Italy, he inspired, by his unscrupulous plundering of temples, +the greatest terror and dislike throughout Central Greece. He then entered +as competitor at the festivals of Greece for the prize of tragic poetry. +But so contemptible were his poems, they were disgracefully hissed and +ridiculed. Especially those poems which were recited at Olympeia--where he +sent legations decked in the richest garments, furnished with gold and +silver, and provided with splendid tents--were received with a storm of +hisses, which plunged him in an agony of shame and grief, and drove him +nearly mad, and made him conscious of the deep hatred which everywhere +existed toward him. All his rich displays, which surpassed every thing +that had ever before been seen in that holy plain, were worse than a +failure--because they came from him. Not all his grandeur in Syracuse could +save him from the disgrace and insults which he had received in Olympeia. + +(M678) It was at this time, B.C. 387, that Plato visited Sicily on a +voyage of inquiry and curiosity, chiefly to see Mount AEtna, and was +introduced to Dion, then a young man in Syracuse, and brother-in-law to +Dionysius. Dion was so impressed with the conversation of Plato, that he +invited the tyrant to talk with him also. Plato discoursed on virtue and +justice, showing that happiness belonged only to the virtuous, and that +despots could not lay claim even to the merit of true courage--most +unpalatable doctrine to the tyrant, who became bitterly hostile to the +philosopher. He even caused Plato to be exposed in the market as a slave, +and sold for twenty minae, which his friends paid and released him. On his +voyage home, through the influence of the tyrant, he was again sold at +Egina, and again repurchased, and set at liberty. So bitter are tyrants of +the virtues which contrast with their misdeeds; and so vindictive +especially was the despot who reigned at Syracuse. + +(M679) Dionysius was now occupied, by the new defenses and fortifications +of his capital, so that the whole slope of Epipolae was bordered and +protected by massive walls and towers, and five divisions of the city had +each its separate fortifications, so that it was the largest fortified +city in all Greece--larger than Athens herself. + +(M680) The plunder the tyrant had accumulated enabled him to make new +preparations for a war with Carthage. But he was defeated in a great +battle at Cronium, with terrible loss, by the youthful son of Magon, which +compelled him to make peace, and cede to Carthage all the territory of +Sicily west of the river Halycus, and pay a tribute of one thousand +talents. + +(M681) Very little is recorded of Dionysius after this peace, B.C. 382, +for thirteen years, during which the Spartans had made themselves master +of Thebes, and placed a garrison in Cadmea. In the year 368 he made war +again with Carthage, but was defeated near Lilybaeum, and forced to return +to Syracuse. In the year 367 it would seem that he was at last successful +with his poems, for he gained the prize of tragedy at the Lenaean festival +at Athens, which so intoxicated him with joy, that he invited his friends +to a splendid banquet, and died from the effects of excess and wine, after +a reign of thirty-eight years. He was a man of restless energy and +unscrupulous ambition. His personal bravery was great, and he was vigilant +and long sighted--a man of great abilities, sullied by cruelty and +jealousy. In his spare time he composed tragedies to compete for prizes. +No other Greek had ever arrived at so great power from a humble position, +or achieved so striking exploits abroad, or preserved his grandeur so +unimpaired at his death. But he was greatly favored by fortune, especially +when the pestilence destroyed the hosts of Imilco. He maintained his power +by intimidation of his subjects, careful organization, and liberal pay to +his mercenaries. He cared nothing for money excepting as a means to secure +dominion. His exactions were exorbitant, and his rapacity boundless. He +trusted no one, and his suspicion was extended even to his wives. He +allowed no one to shave him, and searched his most intimate friends for +concealed weapons before they were allowed in his presence. He made +Syracuse a great fortress, to the injury of Sicily and Italy, and fancied +that he left his dominions fastened by chains of adamant. He could point +to Ortygia with its impregnable fortifications, to a large army of +mercenaries--to four hundred ships of war, and to vast magazines of arms +and military stores. + +(M682) He left no successor competent to rivet the chains he had forged. +His son Dionysius succeeded to his throne at the age of twenty-five. His +brother-in-law Dion was the next prominent member of his family, and +possessed a fortune of one hundred talents--a man of great capacity, +ambitious, luxurious, but fond of literature and philosophy. He was, +however, so much influenced by Plato, whose Socratic talk and democratic +principles enchained and fascinated him, that his character became +essentially modified, and he learned to hate the despotism under which he +grew up, and formed large schemes for political reform. He aspired to +cleanse Syracuse of slavery, and clothe her in the dignity of freedom, by +establishing an improved constitutional polity, with laws which secured +individual rights. He exchanged his luxurious habits for the simple fare +of a philosopher. Never before had Plato met with a pupil who so +profoundly and earnestly profited from his instructions. The harsh +treatment which Plato received from the tyrant was a salutary warning to +Dion. He saw that patience was imperatively necessary, and he so conducted +as to maintain the favor of Dionysius. + +(M683) Dionysius II. was twenty-five years old when his father died, and +though he possessed generous impulses, was both weak and vain, given to +caprice, and insatiate of praise. He had been kept from business from the +excessive jealousy of his father, and his life had been passed in idleness +and luxury at the palace of Ortygia. His father's taste for poetry had +introduced guests to his table whose conversation opened his mind to +generous sentiments, but the indecision of his character prevented his +profiting from any serious studies. Dion supported this feeble novice on +the throne of his father, and tried to gain influence over him, and +frankly suggested the measures to be adopted, and Dionysius listened at +first to his wise counsels. Dion wished to make Syracuse a free city, with +good laws, to expel the Carthaginians from Sicily, and replant the +semi-barbarian Hellenic cities. He also endeavored to reform the life of +Dionysius as well as Syracuse, and actually wrought a signal change in his +royal pupil, so that he desired to see and converse with the great sage +who had so completely changed the life of Dion, and inspired him with +patriotic enthusiasm. Accordingly, Plato was sent for, who reluctantly +consented to visit Syracuse. He had no great faith in the despot who +sought his wisdom, and he did not wish, at sixty-one, to leave his +favorite grove, with admiring disciples from every part of Greece, where +he reigned as monarch of the mind. He went to Syracuse, not with the hope +so much of converting a weak tyrant, as from unwillingness to desert his +friend, and be taunted with the impotence of his philosophy. He was +received with great distinction at court, and a royal carriage conveyed +him to his lodgings. The banquets of the Acropolis became distinguished +for simplicity, and the royal pupil commenced at once in taking lessons in +geometry. The old courtiers were alarmed, and disgusted. "A single +Athenian sophist," they said, "with no force but his tongue and +reputation, has achieved the conquest of Syracuse." Dionysius seemed to +have abdicated in favor of Plato, and the noble objects for which Dion +labored seemed to be on the way of fulfillment. But Plato acted +injudiciously, and spoiled his influence by unreasonable vigor. It was +absurd to expect that the despot would go to school like a boy, and insist +upon a mental regeneration before he gave him lessons of practical wisdom +in politics. All the necessary reforms were postponed on the ground that +the royal pupil was not yet ripe for them, and every influence was exerted +to show him his own unworthiness--that his whole past life had been +vicious--delicate ground for any teacher to assume, since he irritated +rather than reformed. He was even averse to any political changes until +Dionysius had gone through his schooling. Plato also maintained a proud, +philosophical dignity, showing no respect to persons, and refusing to the +defects of his pupil any more indulgence than he granted to those who +listened to his teachings at home. + +(M684) Such a mistake was attended soon with difficulties. The old +courtiers recovered their influence. Dion was calumniated and slandered, +as seeking to usurp the sovereign powers, and that Plato was brought to +Syracuse as an agent in the conspiracy. Plato tried to counterwork this +mischief, but in vain. Dionysius lost all inclination to reform, and Dion +was hated, for he was superior to his nephew in dignity and ability, and +was haughty and austere in his manners. He was accordingly banished from +Syracuse, and Plato was retained _in the Acropolis_, but was otherwise +well treated, and entreated to remain. The tyrant, however, refused to +recall Dion, but consented to the departure of Plato. Another visit to +Syracuse, which he made with the hope of securing the recall of Dion, was +a splendid captivity, and although he was treated with extraordinary +deference, he was not at rest until he obtained permission to depart. He +had failed in his mission of benevolence and friendship. All the vast +possessions of Dion were confiscated, and Plato had the mortification to +hear of this injury in the very palace to which he went as a reformer. + +(M685) Incensed at the seizure of his property, and hopeless of permission +to return, and of all those reforms which he had projected, Dion now +meditated the overthrow of the power of Dionysius, and his own restoration +at the point of the sword. During his exile he had chiefly resided in +Athens, enjoying the teaching of his friend Plato, and dispensing his vast +wealth in generous charities. Nor did Plato fully approve of his plans for +the overthrow of Dionysius, anticipating little good from such violence, +although he fully admitted his wrongs. But other friends, less judicious +and more interested, warmly seconded his projects. With aid from various +sources, he at last could muster eight hundred veterans, with which he +ventured to attack the most powerful despot in Greece, and in his own +stronghold. And so enthusiastic was Dion, all disparity of forces was a +matter of indifference. Moreover, he accounted it glory and honor to +perish in so just and noble a cause as the liberation of Sicily from a +weak and cruel despot, every way inferior to his father in character, +though as strong in resources. + +(M686) But the friends of Dion did not dream of throwing away their lives. +They calculated on a rising of the Syracusans to throw off an +insupportable yoke, and they had utter contempt for the tyrant himself, +knowing his drunken habits, and effeminate character, and personal +incompetency. So, after ten years' exile, Dion, with his followers, landed +in Sicily, at Heracleia, also in the absence of Dionysius, who had quitted +Syracuse for Italy, with eighty triremes, so that the city was easy of +access. + +(M687) This unaccountable mistake of the tyrant in leaving his capital at +such a crisis, was regarded with great joy by the small army of Dion, +which marched out at once from Heracleia, and was joined in the +Agrigentian territory with two hundred horsemen. As he approached +Syracuse, other bands joined him, so that he had five thousand men as he +approached the capital. Timocrates, the husband of Dion's late wife, for +his wife was taken away from him, was left in command at Syracuse with a +large force of mercenaries. But as Dion advanced to the city, there was a +general rising of the citizens, and Timocrates was obliged to return, +leaving the fortresses garrisoned. Dion entered the city by the principal +street, which was decorated as on a day of jubilee, and proclaimed liberty +to all. He was also chosen general, with his brother Megacles, and +approached Ortygia, and challenged the garrison to come out and fight. He +then succeeded in capturing Epipolae and Eurylae, those fortified quarters, +and erected a cross wall from sea to sea to block up Ortygia. + +(M688) At the end of seven days, when all these results had been +accomplished, Dionysius returned to Syracuse, but Ortygia was the only +place which remained to him, and that, too, shut up on the land side by a +blockading wall. The rest of the city was in possession of his enemies, +though those enemies were subjects. His abdication was imperatively +demanded by Dion, who refused all conciliation and promises of reform. +Rallying, then, his soldiers, he made a sally to surprise the blockading +wall, and was nearly successful, but Dion, at length, repulsed his forces, +and recovered the wall. Ortygia was again blockaded, but as Dionysius was +still master of the sea, he ravaged the coasts for provisions, and +maintained his position, until the arrival of Heraclides, with a +Peloponnesian fleet, gave the Syracusans a tolerable naval force. +Philistus commanded the fleet of Dionysius, but in a battle with +Heraclides, he lost his life. + +(M689) Dionysius now lost all hope of recovering his power by force, and +resorted to intrigues, stimulating the rivalry of Heraclides, and exposing +the defeats of Dion, whose arrogance and severity were far from making him +popular. Calumnies now began to assail Dion, and he was mistrusted by the +Syracusans, who feared only an exchange of tyrants. There was also an +unhappy dissension between Dion and Heraclides, which resulted in the +deposition of Dion, and he was forced to retreat from Syracuse, and seek +shelter with the people of Leontini, who stood by him. Dionysius again had +left Ortygia for Italy, leaving his son in command, and succeeded in +sending re-enforcements from Locri, under Nypsius, so that the garrison of +Ortygia was increased to ten thousand men, with ample stores. Nypsius +sallied from the fortress, mastered the blockading wall, and entered +Neapolis and Achradina, fortified quarters of the city. The Syracusans, in +distress, then sent to Leontini to invoke the aid of Dion, who returned as +victor, drove Nypsius into his fortress, and saved Syracuse. He also +magnanimously pardoned Heraclides, and prosecuted the blockade of Ortygia, +and was again named general. Still Heraclides, who was allowed to command +the fleet, continued his intrigues, and frustrated the operations against +Dionysius. At last, Ortygia surrendered to Dion, who entered the fortress, +where he found his wife and sister, from whom he had been separated twelve +years. At first, Arete, his wife, who had consented to marry Timocrates, +was afraid to approach him, but he received her with the tenderest emotion +and affection. His son, however, soon after died, having fallen into the +drunken habits of Dionysius. + +(M690) Dion was now master of Syracuse, and on the pinnacle of power. His +enterprise had succeeded against all probabilities. But prosperity, which +the Greeks were never able to bear, poisoned all his good qualities and +exaggerated his bad ones. He did not fall into the luxury of his +predecessors. He still wore the habit of a philosopher, and lived with +simplicity, but he made public mistakes. His manners, always haughty, +became repulsive. He despised popularity. He conferred no real liberty. He +retained his dictatorial power. He preserved the fortifications of +Ortygia. He did not meditate a permanent despotism, but meant to make +himself king, with a modified constitution, like that of Sparta. He had no +popular sympathies, and sought to make Syracuse, like Corinth, completely +oligarchial. He took no step to realize any measure of popular freedom, +and, above all, refused to demolish the fortress, behind whose +fortifications the tyrants of Syracuse had intrenched themselves in +danger. He also caused Heraclides to be privately assassinated, so that +the Syracusans began to hate him as cordially as they had hated Dionysius. +This unpopularity made him irritable, and suspicious and disquieted. A +conspiracy, headed by Callippus, put an end to his reign. He was slain by +the daggers of assassins. Thus perished one of the noblest of the Greeks, +but without sufficient virtue to bear success. His great defect was +inexperience in government, and it may be doubted whether Plato himself +could have preserved liberty in so corrupt a city as Syracuse. The +character of Dion also changed greatly by his banishment, since vindictive +sentiments were paramount in his soul. He had a splendid opportunity of +becoming a benefactor to his country, but this was thrown away, and +instead of giving liberty he only ruled by force, and moved from bad to +worse, until he made a martyr of the man whom once he magnanimously +forgave. Had he lived longer, he probably would have proved a remorseless +tyrant like Tiberius. So rare is it for men to be temperate in the use of +power, and so much easier is it to give expression to grand sentiments +than practice the self-restraint which has immortalized the few +Washingtons of the world. + +(M691) The Athenian Callippus, who overturned Dion, remained master of +Syracuse for more than a year, but its condition was miserable and +deplorable, convulsed by passions and hostile interests. In the midst of +the anarchy which prevailed, Dionysius contrived to recover Ortygia, and +establish himself as despot. The Syracusans endured more evil than before, +for the returned tyrant had animosities to gratify. There was also fresh +danger from Carthage, so that the Syracusans appealed to their mother +city, Corinth, for aid. Timoleon was chosen as the general of the forces +to be sent--an illustrious citizen of Corinth, then fifty years of age, +devoted to the cause of liberty, with hatred of tyrants and wrongs, who +had even slain his brother when he trampled on the liberties of +Corinth--and a brother whom he loved. But he was forced to choose between +him and his country, and he chose his country, securing the gratitude of +Corinth, but the curses of his mother and the agonies of self-reproach, so +that he left for years the haunts of men, and buried himself in the +severest solitude. Twenty years elapsed from the fratricide to his command +of a force to relieve the Syracusans from their tyrant Dionysius. + +(M692) Timoleon commenced his preparations of ships and soldiers with +alacrity, but his means were scanty, not equal even to those of Dion when +he embarked on his expedition. He was prevented with his small force from +reaching Sicily by a Carthaginian fleet of superior force, but he effected +his purpose by stratagem, and landed at Taurominium under great +discouragements. He defeated Hicetas, who had invoked the aid of Carthage, +at Adranum, and marched unimpeded to the walls of Syracuse. Dionysius, +blocked up at Ortygia, despaired of his position, and resolved to +surrender the fortress, stipulating for a safe conveyance and shelter at +Corinth. This tyrant, broken by his drunken habits, did not care to fight, +as his father did, for a sceptre so difficult to be maintained, and only +sought his ease and self-indulgence. So he passed into the camp of +Timoleon with what money he could raise, and the fortress was surrendered. +A re-enforcement from Corinth enabled Timoleon to maintain his ground. + +(M693) The appearance of the fallen tyrant in Corinth produced a great +sensation. Some from curiosity, others from sympathy, and still more from +derision, went to see a man who had enjoyed so long despotic power, now +suing only for a humble domicile. But his conduct, considering his drunken +habits, was marked by more dignity than was to be expected from so weak a +man. He is said to have even opened a school to teach boys to read, and to +have instructed the public singers in reciting poetry. His career, at +least, was an impressive commentary on the mutability of fortune, to which +the Greeks were fully alive. + +(M694) Timoleon, in possession of Ortygia, with its numerous stores, found +himself able to organize a considerable force to oppose the Carthaginians +who sought to get possession of the fortress. Hicetas, now assisted by a +Carthaginian force under Magon, attacked Ortygia, but was defeated by the +Corinthian Neon, who acquired Achradina, and joined it by a wall to +Ortygia. But Magon now distrusted Hicetas, and suddenly withdrew his army. +Timoleon thus became master of Syracuse, and Hicetas was obliged to retire +to Leontini. Timoleon ascribed his good fortune to the gods, but purchased +a greater hold on men's minds than fortune gave him by his moderation in +the hour of success--a striking contrast to Dion and the elder Dionysius. +He invited the Syracusans to demolish the stronghold of tyranny, where the +despots had so long intrenched themselves. He erected courts of justice on +its site. He recalled the exiles, and invited new colonists to the +impoverished city, so that sixty thousand immigrants arrived. He relieved +the poverty and distress of the people by selling the public lands, and +employed his forces to expel remaining despots from the island. + +(M695) But Hicetas again invited the Carthaginians to Sicily. They came, +with a vast army of seventy thousand men and twelve hundred ships, under +Hasdrubal and Hamilcar, B.C. 340. Timoleon could only assemble twelve +thousand to meet this overwhelming force, but with these he marched +against the Carthaginians, and gained a great victory, by the aid of a +terrible storm which pelted the Carthaginians in the face. No victory was +ever more complete than this at Crimisus. Ten thousand of the invaders +were slain, and fifteen thousand made prisoners, together with an enormous +spoil. + +(M696) Timoleon had now to deal with two Grecian enemies--Hicetas and +Mamercus--tyrants of Leontini and Catana. Over these he gained a complete +victory, and put them to death. He then, after having delivered Syracuse, +and defeated his enemies, laid down his power, and became a private +citizen. But his influence remained, as it ought to have been, as great as +ever, for he was a patriot of most exalted virtue, a counselor whom all +could trust--a friend who sacrificed his own interests. And he exerted his +influence for the restoration of Syracuse, for the introduction of +colonists, and the enforcement of wise laws. The city was born anew, and +the gratitude and admiration of the citizens were unbounded. In his latter +years he became blind, but his presence could not then even be spared when +any serious difficulty arose--ruling by the moral power of wisdom and +sanctity--one of the best and loftiest characters of all antiquity. And +nothing was more remarkable than his patience under contradiction, and his +eagerness to insure freedom of speech, even against himself. + +(M697) Thus, by the virtues and wisdom of this remarkable man, were +freedom and comfort diffused throughout Sicily for twenty-four years, +until the despotism of Agathocles. Timoleon died B.C. 337--a father and +benefactor--and the Syracusans solemnized his funeral with lavish honors, +which was attended by a countless procession, and passed a vote to honor +him for all future time with festive matches, in music and chariot-races, +and such gymnastics as were practiced at the Grecian games. A magnificent +monument was erected to his memory. "The mournful letters written by Plato +after the death of Dion contrasts strikingly with the enviable end of +Timoleon, and with the grateful inscription of the Syracusans on his +tomb." + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV. + + +PHILIP OF MACEDON. + + +(M698) No one would have supposed, B.C. 400, that the destruction of +Grecian liberties would come from Macedonia--a semi-barbarous kingdom +which, during the ascendency of Sparta, had so little political +importance. And if any new power threatened to rise over the ruins of the +Spartan State, and become paramount in Greece, it was Thebes. The +successes of Pelopidas and Epaminondas had effectually weakened the power +of Sparta. She no longer enjoyed the headship of Greece. She no longer was +the leader of dependent allies, submitting to her dictation in all +external politics, serving under the officers she appointed, administering +their internal affairs by oligarchies devoted to her purposes, and even +submitting to be ruled by governors whom she put over them. She had lost +her foreign auxiliary force and dignity, and even half of her territory in +Laconia. The Peloponnesians, who once rallied around her were disunited, +and Megalopolis and Messene were hostile. Corinth, Sicyon, Epidaurus, and +other cities, formerly allies, stood aloof, and the grand forces of Hellas +now resided outside of the Peloponnesus. Athens and Thebes were the new +seats of power. Athens had regained her maritime supremacy, and Thebes was +formidable on the land, having absorbed one-third of the Boeotian +territory, and destroyed three or four autonomous cities, and secured +powerful allies in Thessaly. + +(M699) When the battle of Mantinea was fought, at which Epaminondas lost +his life, Perdiccas, son of Amyntas, was the king of Macedonia. He was +slain, in the flower of his life, in a battle with the Illyrians, B.C. +359. On the advice of Plato, who had been his teacher, he was induced to +bestow upon his brother Philip a portion of territory in Macedonia, who +for three years preceding had been living in Thebes as a hostage, carried +there by Pelopidas at fifteen years of age, when he had reduced Macedonia +to partial submission. + +(M700) At Thebes the young prince was treated with courtesy, and resided +with one of the principal citizens, and received a good education. He was +also favored with the society of Pelopidas and Epaminondas, and witnessed +with great interest the training of the Theban forces by these two +remarkable men--one the greatest organizer, and the other the greatest +tactician of the age. When transferred from Thebes to a subordinate +government of a district in his brother's kingdom, he organized a military +force on the principles he had learned in Thebes. The unexpected death of +Perdiccas, leaving an infant son, opened to him the prospect of succeeding +to the throne. He first assumed the government as guardian of his young +nephew Amyntas, but the difficulties with which he was surrounded, having +many competitors from other princes of the family of Amyntas, his father, +that he assumed the crown, putting to death one of his half brothers, +while the other two fled into exile. + +(M701) His first proceeding as king was to buy the Thracians, his enemies, +by presents and promises, so that only the Athenians and the Illyrians +remained formidable. But he made peace with Athens by yielding up +Amphipolis, for the possession of which the Athenians had made war in +Macedonia. + +(M702) The Athenians, however, neglected to take possession of Amphipolis, +being engaged in a struggle to regain the island of Euboea, then under the +dominion of Thebes. It also happened that a revolt of a large number of +the islands of the AEgean, which belonged to the confederacy of which +Athens was chief, took place--Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Cos, and Rhodes, +including Byzantium. This revolt is called the social war, caused by the +selfishness of Athens in acting more for her own interest than that of her +allies, and neglecting to pay the mercenaries in her service. The revolt +was also stimulated by the intrigues of the Carian prince, Mausolus. But +it was a serious blow to the foreign ascendency of Athens, and in a battle +to recover these islands, the Athenians, under Chabrias, were defeated at +Chios. They were also unsuccessful on the Hellespont from quarrels among +their generals--Timotheus, Iphicrates, and Chares. The popular voice at +Athens laid the blame of defeat on the two former unjustly, in consequence +of which Timotheus was fined one hundred talents, the largest fine ever +imposed at Athens, and shortly after died in exile--a distinguished man, +who had signally maintained the honor and glory of his country. Iphicrates +also was never employed again. The loss of these two generals could +scarcely be repaired. Soon after, peace was made with the revolted cities, +by which their independence and autonomy were guaranteed. This was an +inglorious result of the war to Athens, and fatally impaired her power and +dignity, so that she was unable to make a stand against the aggressions of +Philip. + +(M703) One of the first things he did after defeating the Illyrians was to +lay siege to Amphipolis, although he had ceded the city to Athens. For +this treachery there was no other reason than ambition and the weakened +power of Athens. Amphipolis had long remained free, and was not disposed +to give up its liberties, and sent to Athens for aid. Philip, an arch +politician, contrived by his intrigues to prevent Athens from giving +assistance. The neglect of Athens was a great mistake, for Amphipolis +commanded the passage over the Strymon, and shut up Macedonia from the +east, and was, moreover, easily defensible by sea. Deprived of aid from +Athens, the city fell into the hands of Philip, and was an acquisition of +great importance. It was the most convenient maritime station in Thrace, +and threw open to him all the country east of the Strymon, and especially +the gold region near Mount Pangreus. This place henceforward became one of +the bulwarks of Macedonia, until the Roman conquest. + +(M704) Having obtained this place, he commenced, without a declaration of +war against Athens, a series of hostile measures, while he professed to be +her friend. He deprived her of her hold upon the Thermaic Gulf, conquered +Pydna and Potidaea, and conciliated Olynthus. His power was thus so far +increased that he founded a new city, called Philippi, in the regions +where his gold mines yielded one thousand talents yearly. He then married +Olympias, daughter of a prince of the Molossi, who gave birth, in the year +B.C. 356, to a son destined to conquer the world. + +(M705) The capture of Amphipolis by Philip was, of course, followed by war +with Athens, which lasted twelve years. And this war commenced at a time +Athens was in great embarrassments, owing to the social war. + +(M706) But he was aided by another event of still greater importance--the +sacred war, which for a time convulsed the Hellenic world, and which grew +out of the accusation of Thebes, before the Amphictyonic Council, that +Sparta had seized her citadel in time of profound peace. The sentence of +the council, that Sparta should pay a fine of five hundred talents, was a +departure of Grecian custom, and Sparta refused to pay it, which refusal +led to her exclusion from the council, the Delphic temple, and the Pythian +games, and this exclusion again arrayed the different States of Greece +against each other, as to the guardianship of the Oracle itself. + +Philip of Macedon seized this opportunity, when so many States were +engaged in war, to prosecute his schemes. He attacked Methone, the last +remaining possession of Athens on the Macedonian coast, and captured the +city, and then advanced into Thessaly against the despots of Pherae, who +invoked the aid of Onomarchus, now very powerful. + +(M707) It was at this time, B.C. 353, that Demosthenes, the orator, +appeared before the Athenian people. He was about twenty-seven years of +age, and the wealth of his father secured him great advantages in +education. His father died while he was young, and his property was +confided to the care of guardians, named in his father's will. But they +administered the property with such negligence, that only a small sum came +to Demosthenes when he attained his civil majority, at the age of sixteen. +After repeated complaints, he brought a judicial action against one of the +guardians, and obtained verdict against him to the extent of ten talents. +But the guardian delayed the payment, and Demosthenes lost nearly all his +patrimony. He had, however, received a good education, and in spite of a +feeble constitution, he mastered all the learning of the age. His family +influence enabled him to get an early introduction to public affairs, and +he proceeded to train himself as a speaker, and a writer of speeches for +others. He put himself under the teaching of a famous rhetorician, Iaenus, +and profited by the discourses of Plato and Isocrates then in the height +of their fame. He also was a great student of Thucydides, and copied his +whole history, with his own hand, eight times. He still had to contend +against a poor voice, and an ungraceful gesticulation; but by unwearied +labor he overcame his natural difficulties so as to satisfy the most +critical Athenian audience. But this conquest in self-education was only +made by repeated trials and humiliations, and it is said he even spoke +with pebbles in his mouth, and prepared himself to overcome the noise of +the Assembly by declaiming in stormy weather on the sea-shore. He +sometimes passed two or three mouths in a subterranean chamber, practicing +by day and by night, both in composition and declamation, such pains did +those old Greeks take to perfect themselves in art; for public speaking is +an art, as well as literary composition. He learned Sophocles by heart, +and took lessons from actors even to get the true accent. It was several +years before he was rewarded with success, and then his delivery was full +of vehemence and energy, but elaborate and artificial. But it was not more +labor which made Demosthenes the greatest orator of antiquity, and +perhaps, of all ages and nations, but also natural genius. His +self-training merely developed the great qualities of which he was +conscious, as was Disraeli when he made his early failures in Parliament. +Without natural gifts of eloquence, he might have worked till doomsday +without producing the extraordinary effect which is ascribed to him, for +his speeches show great insight, genius, and natural force, as well as +learning, culture, and practice; so that they could be read like the +speeches of Burke and Webster, with great effect. He had great political +sagacity, moral wisdom, elevation of sentiment, and patriotic ardor, as +well as art. He would have been great, if he had stammered all his life. +He composed speeches for other great orators before he had confidence in +his own eloquence. + +(M708) In contrast with Demosthenes, who was rich, was Phocion, who +remained poor, and would receive neither money nor gifts. He went +barefoot, like Socrates, and had only one female slave in his household, +was personally incorruptible, and also brave in battle, so that he was +elected to the office of strategus, or general, forty-five times, without +ever having solicited place or been present at the election. He had great +contempt of fine speeches, yet was most effective as an orator for his +brevity, good sense, and patriotism, and despised the "warlike eloquence, +un-warlike despotism, paid speech-writing, and delicate habits of +Demosthenes." + +(M709) This Athenian, with Spartan character and habits, was opposed to +the war with Philip, and was therefore the leading opponent of +Demosthenes, whose foresight and sagacity led him to penetrate the schemes +of the Macedonian king. But the Athenians were generally induced to a +peace policy in degenerate times, and did not sympathize with the lofty +principles which Demosthenes declared, and hence the influence of Phocion, +though of commanding patriotism and morality, was mischievous, while that +of Demosthenes was good. The citizens of Athens, enriched by commerce and +enervated by leisure, were at this time averse to the burdens of military +service, and formed a striking contrast to their ancestors one hundred +years earlier, in the time of Pericles. In the time of Demosthenes, they +sought home pleasures, the refinements of art, and the enjoyments of +cultivated life, not warlike enterprises. And this decline in military +spirit was equally noticeable in the cities of the Peloponnesus. And hence +the cities of Greece resorted to mercenaries, like Carthage, and intrusted +to them the defense of their liberties. The warlike spirit of ancient +Sparta and Athens now was pre-eminent in Macedonia, where the people were +poor, hardy, adventurous and bold. + +It was against these warlike Macedonians, rude and hardy, that the refined +Athenians were now to contend, led by a prince of uncommon military +talents and insatiable ambition, and who joined craft to bravery and +genius. Demosthenes in vain invoked the ancient spirit which had inspired +the heroes of Marathon. + +(M710) In the year 383 B.C., Philip attacked Lyeophron, of Pherae, in +Thessaly. Onomarchus, then victorious over the Thebans, advanced against +Philip, and defeated him in two battles, so that the Macedonian army +withdrew from Thessaly. But Philip repaired his losses, marched again into +Thessaly, defeated the Phocians, and slew Onomarchus. His conquest of +Pherae was now easy, and he rapidly made himself master of all Thessaly, +and expelled Lycophron. He then marched to Thermopylae, to the great alarm +of Athens, which sent a force to resist him, which force succeeded in +defending the pass, and keeping Philip, for a time, from entering Southern +Greece. The Phocians also rallied, again availed themselves of the +treasure of Delphi, and melted down the golden ornaments and vessels which +Croesus, the Lydian king, had given one hundred years before, among which +were three hundred and sixty golden goblets, from the proceeds of which a +new army of mercenaries was raised. + +(M711) The power of Philip was now exceedingly formidable, and his +successes inspired great alarm throughout Greece, as would appear from the +first Philippic of Demosthenes, delivered in B.C. 352. But the Grecian +States had no general able to cope with him on the land, while he created +a navy to annoy the Athenians at sea. + +(M712) For a time, however, the efforts of Philip were diverted from +Southern and Central Greece, in order to conquer the Olynthians. They were +his neighbors, and had been his allies; but the expulsion of the Athenians +from the coast of Thrace and Macedonia now alarmed the Olynthians, +together with the increasing power of Philip, so that they concluded a +treaty of peace with Athens. Hostilities broke out in the year 350 B.C., +and Demosthenes put forward all his eloquence to excite his countrymen to +vigorous war. Athens, partially aroused, sent a body of mercenaries to the +assistance of Olynthus, one of the most flourishing of the cities of +Chalcidia, southeast of Macedonia. But before effective aid could he +rendered, the island of Euboea, through the intrigues of Philip, revolted +from Athens. It was in an expedition to recover that island that +Demosthenes served as a hoplite in the army, under Phocion as general. It +was not till the summer of B.C. 348 that this territory was recovered by +Athens. In the year following, Athens made great exertions in behalf of +Olynthus, and amid great financial embarrassments. Three expeditions were +sent into Chalcidia, under the command of Chares, numbering altogether +four thousand Athenians and ten thousand mercenaries. But they were +powerless against the conquering arms of Philip, who completely overran +and devastated the peninsula, taking thirty-two cities, and selling the +people for slaves. At last Olynthus fell, B.C. 347, and the spoils of this +old Hellenic city were divided among the soldiers of the conqueror, who +celebrated his victories by a splendid festival. + +No such calamity had befallen Greece for a century as the conquest of +Chalcidia, and it filled Athens with unspeakable alarms. AEschines, the +rival of Demosthenes as an orator, now joined with him in denouncing +Philip as the common enemy of Greece. Aristodemus was sent to him with +propositions of peace, and Philip professed to entertain them favorably, +with his characteristic duplicity. + +(M713) Meanwhile the sacred war had impoverished the Phocians, and there +were dissensions among themselves. Their temple of Delphi had already been +stripped of the enormous sum of ten thousand talents, eleven million five +hundred thousand dollars, probably equal in our times to two hundred and +thirty million dollars; so that it must have been richer, when the +relative value of gold and silver is considered, than any church in +Christendom. The treasures of the temple, enriched for three hundred years +by offerings from all parts of the world, still enabled the Phocians to +maintain war with Thebes. At last the Thebans invoked the aid of Philip, +and a Macedonian army, under Parmenio, advanced as far as Thessaly. But +the Phocians, in alarm, entreated both Sparta and Athens for assistance. +The crisis was great, for if Philip should once secure the Pass of +Thermopylae, all Southern Greece was in imminent danger. The whole defense +of Greece now turned upon this Pass, of as much importance to Philip as to +Athens and Sparta, for it was the only road into Greece. Envoys were again +sent from Athens to Philip, to learn on what conditions peace could be +secured, among whom were Demosthenes and AEschines. But he would grant no +better terms than that each party should retain what they already +possessed, and the Athenians consented. Philip reaped all the advantages +of a peace, which gave him the possession of the cities and territory he +had taken. The Phocians were left out in the negotiations, a fatal step, +since it required the united forces of Greece from preventing the further +encroachments of the Macedonian king. He had now leisure for the +completion of the conquest of Thrace. When this was completed, he marched +toward Thermopylae, which was held by the Phocians, carefully veiling his +real intentions, and even pretending that his advance to the south was for +the purpose of reconstituting the Boeotian cities and putting down Thebes. +His real object was to surprise the Pass, for he was a man who had very +little respect to treaties, promises, or oaths. All this while he +contrived to deceive Athens and the Phocians, with the connivance of +AEschines, whom he had bribed or cheated. But he did not deceive +Demosthenes, who entreated his countrymen to make a stand against him, +even at the eleventh hour, for he was then within three days' march of the +Pass. But the eloquence and warnings of Demosthenes were in vain. The +people went with AEschines, who persuaded them that Philip was friendly to +Athens and only hostile to Thebes. It was the design of Philip to detach +Athens from the Phocians, and thus make his conquest easier; and he +succeeded by his falsehoods and intrigues. Under these circumstances, the +Phocians surrendered to Philip the pass, which they ought to have defended +at all hazard, and the king retired to Phocis, but still professed the +greatest friendship for Athens, with whom he made peace. + +(M714) Master now of Phocis, with a triumphant army, he openly joined the +Thebans and restored the Temple of Delphi to its inhabitants, and convoked +the Amphictyonic Council, which dispossessed the Phocians of their place +in the assembly, and conferred it upon Philip. The unhappy Phocians were +now reduced to a state of utter ruin. Their towns were dismantled, and +their villages were not allowed to contain over fifty houses each. They +were stripped, and slain, and their fields laid waste. Philip was now +master of the keys of Greece, and the recognized leader of the +Amphictyonic Council. Athens had secured an inglorious peace with her +enemy, through the corruption of her own envoys, B.C. 346, and was soon to +reap the penalty of her credulity and indolence. She allowed herself to be +deceived, and Philip, in co-operation with Thebes, the enemy of Athens, +presently threw off the mask and disgracefully renewed the war with +Athens, He had gained his object by bribery and falsehood. It is mournful +that the Athenians should not have listened to the warnings of the most +sagacious patriot who adorned those degenerate times, but the influence of +AEschines was then paramount, and he was sold to Philip. He cried peace, +when there was no peace. The great error of Athens was in not rendering +timely assistance to the Phocians, who possessed the Pass of Thermopylae, +although they had brought upon themselves the indignation of Greece by the +seizure of the Delphic treasures. + +(M715) The victories and encroachments of Philip, within the line of +common Grecian defense, were profoundly lamented by Demosthenes, and he +now felt that it was expedient to keep on terms of peace with so powerful +and unscrupulous and cunning a man. Isocrates wished Philip to reconcile +the four great cities of Greece, Sparta, Athens, Thebes, and Argos, put +himself at the head of their united forces, and Greece generally, invade +Persia, and liberate the Asiatic Greeks. But this was putting the Hellenic +world under one man, and renouncing the independence of States and the +autonomy of cities--the great principles of Grecian policy from the +earliest historic times, and therefore a complete subversion of Grecian +liberties, and the establishment of a centralized power under Philip, +whose patrimonial kingdom was among the least civilized in Greece. + +(M716) The peace between Philip and Athens lasted, without any formal +renunciation, for six years, during which the Macedonian king pursued his +aggressive policy and his intrigues in all the States of Greece. His +policy was precisely that of Rome when it meditated the conquest of the +world, only his schemes were confined chiefly to Greece. Every year his +power increased, while the States of Greece remained inactive and +uncombined--a proof of the degeneracy of the times--certainly in regard to +self-sacrifices to secure their independence. Demosthenes plainly saw the +approaching absorption of Greece in the Macedonian dominion, unless the +States should unite for common defense; and he took every occasion to +denounce Philip, not only in Athens, but to the envoys of the different +States. The counsels of the orator were a bitter annoyance to the despot, +who sent to Athens letters of remonstrance. + +(M717) At last an occasion was presented for hostilities by the refusal of +the Athenians to allow Philip to take possession of the island of +Halicarnassus, claiming the island as their own. Reprisals took place, and +Philip demanded the possession of the Hellespont and Bosphorus, and the +Greek cities on their coast, of the greatest value to Athens, since she +relied upon the possession of the straits for the unobstructed importation +of corn. The Athenians now began to realize the encroaching ambition of +Philip, and to listen to Demosthenes, who, about this time, B.C. 341, +delivered his third Philippic. From this time to the battle of Chaeronea, +the influence of Demosthenes was greater than that of any other man in +Athens, which too late listened to his warning voice. Through his +influence, Euboea was detached from Philip, and also Byzantium, and they +were brought into alliance with Athens. Philip was so much chagrined that +he laid siege to Perinthus, and marched through the Chersonese, which was +part of the Athenian territory, upon which Athens declared war. Philip, on +his side, issued a manifesto declaring his wrongs, as is usual with +conquerors, and announced his intention of revenge. The Athenians fitted +out a fleet and sent it under Chares to the Hellespont. Philip prosecuted, +on his part, the siege of Perinthus, on the Propontis, with an army of +thirty thousand men, with a great number of military engines. One of his +movable towers was one hundred and twenty feet high, so that he was able +to drive away the defenders of the walls by missiles. He succeeded in +driving the citizens of this strong town into the city, and it would have +shared the fate of Olynthus, had it not been relieved by the Byzantine and +Grecian mercenaries. Philip was baffled, after a siege of three months, +and turned his forces against Byzantium, but this town was also relieved +by the Athenians, and the inhabitants from the islands of the AEgean. These +operations lasted six mouths, and were the greatest adverses which Philip +had as yet met with. A vote of thanks was decreed by the Athenians to +Demosthenes, who had stimulated these enterprises. Philip was obliged to +withdraw from Byzantium, and retreated to attack the Scythians. An +important reform in the administration of the marine was effected by +Demosthenes, although opposed by the rich citizens and by AEschines. + +(M718) While these events transpired, a new sacred war was declared by the +Amphictyonic Council against the Locrians of Amphissa, kindled by +AEschines, which more than compensated Philip for his repulse at Byzantium, +bringing advantage to him and ruin to Grecian liberty. But the Athenians +stood aloof from this suicidal war, when all the energies of Greece were +demanded to put down the encroachments of Philip. As was usual in these +intestine troubles, the weaker party invoked the aid of a foreign power, +and the Amphictyonic Assembly, intent on punishing Amphissa, sought +assistance from Philip. He, of course, accepted the invitation, and +marched south through Thermopylae, proclaiming his intention to avenge the +Delphian god. In his march he took Nicaea from the Thebans, and entered +Phocis, and converted Elatea into a permanent garrison. Hitherto he had +only proclaimed himself as a general acting under the Amphictyonic vote to +avenge the Delphian god,--now he constructed a military post in the heart +of Greece. + +(M719) Thebes, ever since the battle of Leuctra, had been opposed to +Athens, and even now unfriendly relations existed between the two cities, +and Philip hoped that Thebes would act in concert with him against Athens. +But this last outrage of Philip exceedingly alarmed Athens, and +Demosthenes stood up in the Assembly to propose an embassy to Thebes with +offers of alliance. His advice was adopted, and he was dispatched with +other envoys to Thebes. The Athenian orator, in spite of the influence of +the Macedonian envoys, carried his point with the Theban Assembly, and an +alliance was formed between Thebes and Athens. The Athenian army marched +at once to Thebes, and vigorous measures were made at Athens for the +defensive war which so seriously threatened the loss of Grecian liberty. +The alliance was a great disappointment to Philip, who remained at Phocis, +and sent envoys to Sparta, inviting the Peloponnesians to join him against +Amphissa. But the Thebans and Athenians maintained their ground against +him, and even gained some advantages. Among other things, they +reconstituted the Phocian towns. The Athenians and their allies had a +force of fifteen thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry, and +Demosthenes was the war minister by whom these forces were collected. +These efforts on the part of Thebes and Athens led to renewed preparations +on the part of Philip. He defeated a large body of mercenaries, and took +Amphissa. Unfortunately, the Athenians had no general able to cope with +him, and it was the work of Demosthenes merely to keep up the courage of +his countrymen and incite them to effort. + +(M720) At last, in the month of August, Philip, with thirty thousand foot +and two thousand horse, met the allied Greeks at Chaeronea, the last +Boeotian town on the frontiers of Phocis. The command of the armies of the +allies was shared between the Thebans and Athenians, but their movements +were determined by a council of civilians and generals, of which +Demosthenes was the leading spirit. Philip, in this battle, which decided +the fortunes of Greece, commanded the right wing, opposed to the +Athenians, and his son Alexander, the left wing, opposed to the Thebans. +The Macedonian phalanx, organized by Philip, was sixteen deep, with +veteran soldiers in the front. The Theban "Sacred Band" was overpowered +and broken by its tremendous force, much increased by the long pikes which +projected in front of the foremost soldiers. But the battle was not gained +by the phalanx alone. The organization of the Macedonian army was perfect, +with many other sorts of troops, bodyguards, light hoplites, light +cavalry, bowmen, and slingers. One thousand Athenians were slain, and two +thousand more were made captives. The Theban loss was still greater. + +(M721) Unspeakable was the grief and consternation of Athens, when the +intelligence reached her of this decisive victory. A resolution was at +once taken for a vigorous defense of the city. All citizens sent in their +contributions, and every hand was employed on the fortifications. The +temples were stripped of arms, and envoys were sent to various places for +aid. + +(M722) Thebes was unable to rally, and fell into the hands of the victors, +and a Macedonian garrison was placed in the Cadmea, or citadel. From +Athens, envoys were sent to Philip for peace, which was granted on the +condition that he should be recognized as the chief of the Hellenic world. +It was a great humiliation to Athens to concede this, after having +defeated the Persian hosts, and keeping out so long all foreign +domination. But times had changed, and the military spirit had fled. + +Athens was not prostrated by the battle of Chaeronea. She still retained +her navy, and her civic rights. Thebes was utterly prostrated, and never +rallied again. + +(M723) Philip, having now subjugated Thebes, and constrained Athens into +submission, next proceeded to carry his arms into the Peloponnesus. He +found but little resistance, except in Laconia. The Corinthians, Argeians, +Messenians, Elians, and Arcadians submitted to his power. Even Sparta +could make but feeble resistance. He laid waste Laconia, and then convened +a congress of Grecian cities at Corinth, and announced his purpose to +undertake an expedition against the king of Persia, avenge the invasion of +Greece by Xerxes, and liberate the Asiatic Greeks. A large force of two +hundred thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse was promised him, and all +the States of Greece concurred, except Sparta, which held aloof from the +congress. Athens was required to furnish a well equipped fleet. All the +States, and all the islands, and all the cities of Greece, were now +subservient to Philip, and no one State could exercise control over its +former territories. + +(M724) It was in the year B.C. 337, that this great scheme for the +invasion of Persia was concerted, which created no general enthusiasm, +since Persia was no longer a power to be feared. The only power to be +feared now was Macedonia. While preparations were going on for this +foolish and unnecessary expedition, the prime mover of it was +assassinated, and his career, so disastrous to Grecian liberty, came to an +end. It seems that he had repudiated his wife, Olympias, disgusted with +the savage impulses of her character, and married, for his last wife, for +he had several, Cleopatra, which provoked bitter dissensions among the +partisans of the two queens, and also led to a separation between himself +and his son Alexander, although a reconciliation afterward took place. It +was while celebrating the marriage of his daughter by Olympias, with +Alexander, king of Epirus, and also the birth of a son by Cleopatra, that +Pausanias, one of the royal body-guard, who nourished an implacable hatred +of Philip, chose his opportunity, and stabbed him with a short sword he +had concealed under his garment. + +(M725) Alexander, the son of Philip by Olympias, was at once declared +king, whose prosecution of the schemes of his father are to be recounted +in the next chapter. Philip perished at the age of forty-seven, after a +most successful reign of twenty-three years. On his accession he found his +kingdom a narrow territory around Pella, excluded from the sea-coast. At +his death the Macedonian kingdom was the most powerful in Greece, and all +the States and cities, except Sparta, recognized its ascendency. He had +gained this great power, more from the weakness and dissensions of the +Grecian States, than from his own strength, great as were his talents. He +became the arbiter of Greece by unscrupulous perjury and perpetual +intrigues. But he was a great organizer, and created a most efficient +army. Without many accomplishments, he affected to be a patron of both +letters and religion. His private life was stained by character or +drunkenness, gambling, perfidy, and wantonness. His wives and mistresses +were as numerous as those of an Oriental despot. He was a successful man, +but it must be borne in mind that he had no opponents like Epaminondas, or +Agesilaus, or Iphicrates. Demosthenes was his great opponent, but only in +counsels and speech. The generals of Athens, and Sparta, and Thebes had +passed away, and with the decline of military spirit, it is not remarkable +that Philip should have ascended to a height from which he saw the Grecian +world suppliant at his feet. + + + + + CHAPTER XXV. + + +ALEXANDER THE GREAT. + + +(M726) We come now to consider briefly the career of Alexander, the son of +Philip--the most successful, fortunate, and brilliant hero of antiquity. I +do not admire either his character or his work. He does not compare the +with Caesar or Napoleon in comprehensiveness of genius, or magnanimity, or +variety of attainments, or posthumous influences. He was a meteor--a star +of surprising magnitude, which blazed over the whole Oriental world with +unprecedented brilliancy. His military genius was doubtless great--even +transcendent, and his fame is greater than his genius. His prestige is +wonderful. He conquered the world more by his name than by his power. Only +two men, among military heroes, dispute his pre-eminence in the history of +nations. After more than two thousand years, his glory shines with +undiminished brightness. His conquests extended over a period of only +twelve years, yet they were greater and more dazzling than any man ever +made before in a long reign. Had he lived to be fifty, he might have +subdued the whole world, and created a universal empire equal to that of +the Caesars--which was the result of five hundred years' uninterrupted +conquests by the greatest generals of a military nation. Though we neither +love nor reverence Alexander, we can not withhold our admiration, for his +almost superhuman energy, courage, and force of will. He looms up as one +of the prodigies of earth--yet sent by Providence as an avenger--an +instrument of punishment on those effeminated nations, or rather +dynasties, which had triumphed over human misery. I look upon his career, +as the Christians of the fifth century looked upon that of Alaric or +Attila, whom they called the scourge of God. + +(M727) His conquests and dominions were, however, prepared by one perhaps +greater than himself in creative genius, and as unscrupulous and cruel as +he. Philip found his kingdom a little brook; he left it a river--broad, +deep, and grand. Under Alexander, this river became an irresistible +torrent, sweeping every thing away which impeded its course. Philip +created an army, and a military system, and generals, all so striking, +that Greece succumbed before him, and yielded up her liberties. Alexander +had only to follow out his policy, which was to subdue the Persians. The +Persian empire extended over all the East--Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, +Parthia, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Bactria, and other countries--the +one hundred and twenty provinces of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, from the +Mediterranean to India, from the Euxine and Caspian Seas to Arabia and the +Persian Gulf--a monstrous empire, whose possession was calculated to +inflame the monarchs who reigned at Susa and Babylon with more than mortal +pride and self-sufficiency. It had been gradually won by successive +conquerors, from Nimrod to Darius. It was the gradual absorption of all +the kingdoms of the East in the successive Assyrian, Babylonian, and +Persian empires--for these three empires were really one under different +dynasties, and were ruled by the same precedents and principles. The +various kingdoms which composed this empire, once independent, yielded to +the conquerors who reigned at Babylon, or Nineveh, or Persepolis, and +formed satrapies paying tribute to the great king. The satraps of Cyrus +were like the satraps of Nebuchadnezzar, members or friends of the +imperial house, who ruled the various provinces in the name of the king of +Babylon, or Persia, without much interference with the manners, or +language, or customs, or laws, or religion of the conquered, contented to +receive tribute merely, and troops in case of war. And so great was the +accumulation of treasure in the various royal cities where the king +resided part of the year, that Darius left behind him on his flight, in +Ecbatana alone, one hundred and eighty thousand talents, or two hundred +million dollars. It was by this treasure that the kings of Persia lived in +such royal magnificence, and with it they were able to subsidize armies to +maintain their power throughout their vast dominions, and even gain allies +like the Greeks, when they had need of their services. Their treasures +were inexhaustible--and were accumulated with the purpose of maintaining +empire, and hence were not spent, but remained as a sacred deposit. + +(M728) It was to overthrow this empire that Philip aspired, after he had +conquered Greece, in part to revenge the injuries inflicted by the Persian +invasions, but more from personal ambition. And had he lived, he would +have succeeded, and his name would have been handed down as the great +conqueror, rather than that of his more fortunate son. Philip knew what a +rope of sand the Persian military power was. Xenophon had enlightened the +Greeks as to the inefficiency of the Persian armies, if they needed any +additional instruction after the defeat of Xerxes and his generals. The +vast armies of the Persians made a grand show, and looked formidable when +reviewed by the king in his gilded chariot, surrounded by his nobles, the +princes of his family, and the women of his harem. And these armies were +sufficient to keep the empire together. The mighty prestige attending +victories for one thousand years, and all the pomp of millions in battle +array, was adequate to keep the province together, for the system of +warfare and the character of the forces were similar in all the provinces. +It was external enemies, with a different system of warfare, that the +Persian kings had to dread--not the revolt of enervated States, and +unwarlike cities. The Orientals were never warlike in the sense that +Greece and Rome were. The armies of Greece and Rome were small, but +efficient. It was seldom that any Grecian or Roman army exceeded fifty +thousand men, but they were veterans, and they had military science and +skill and discipline. The hosts of Xerxes or Darius were undisciplined, +and they were mercenaries, unlike the original troops of Cyrus. + +(M729) Now it was the mission of Alexander to overturn the dynasties which +reigned so ingloriously on the banks of the Euphrates--to overrun the +Persian empire from north to south and east to west--to cut it up, and form +new kingdoms of the dismembered provinces, and distribute the hoarded +treasures of Susa, Persepolis, and Ecbatana--to introduce Greek satraps +instead of Persian--to favor the spread of the Greek language and +institutions--to found new cities where Greeks might reign, from which they +might diffuse their spirit and culture. Alexander spent only one year of +his reign in Greece, all the rest of his life was spent in the various +provinces of Persia. He was the conqueror of the Oriental world. He had no +hard battles to fight, like Caesar or Napoleon. All he had to do was to +appear with his troops, and the enemy fled. Cities were surrendered as he +approached. The two great battles which decided the fate of Persia--Issus +and Arbela--were gained at the first shock of his cavalry. Darius fled from +the field, in both instances, at the very beginning of the battle, and +made no real resistance. The greater the number of Persian soldiers, the +more disorderly was the rout. The Macedonian soldiers fought retreating +armies in headlong flight. The slaughter of the Persians was mere +butchery. It was something like collecting a vast number of birds in a +small space, and shooting them when collected in a corner, and dignifying +the slaughter with a grand name--not like chasing the deer over rocks and +hills. + +(M730) The military genius of Alexander was seen in the siege of the few +towns which _did_ resist, like Tyre and Gaza; in his rapid marches; in the +combination of his forces; in the system, foresight, and sagacity he +displayed, conquering at the light time, marching upon the right place, +husbanding his energies, wasting no time in expeditions which did not bear +on the main issue, and concentrating his men on points which were vital +and important. Philip, if he had lived, might have conquered the Persian +empire; but he would not have conquered so rapidly as Alexander, who knew +no rest, and advanced from conquering to conquer, in some cases without +ulterior objects, as in the Indian campaigns--simply from the love and +excitement of conquest. He only needed time. He met no enemies who could +oppose him--more, I apprehend, from the want of discipline among his +enemies, than from any irresistible strength of his soldiers, for he +embodied the conquered soldiers in his own army, and they fought like his +own troops, when once disciplined. Nor did he dream of reconstruction, or +building up a great central power. He would, if he had lived, have overrun +Arabia, and then Italy, and Gaul. But he did not live to measure his +strength with the Romans. His mission was ended when he had subdued the +Persian world. And he left no successor. His empire was divided among his +generals, and new kingdoms arose on the ruins of the Persian empire. + +(M731) "Alexander was born B.C. 356, and like his father, Philip, was not +Greek, but a Macedonian and Epirot, only partially imbued with Grecian +sentiment and intelligence." He inherited the ambition of Philip, and the +violent and headstrong temperament of his furious mother, Olympias. His +education was good, and he was instructed by his Greek tutors in the +learning common to Grecian princes. His taste inclined him to poetry and +literature, rather than to science and philosophy. At thirteen he was +intrusted to the care of the great Aristotle, and remained under his +teaching three years. At sixteen he was left regent of the Macedonian +kingdom, whose capital was Pella, while his father was absent in the siege +of Byzantium. At eighteen he commanded one of the wings of the army at the +battle of Chaeronea. His prospects were uncertain up to the very day when +Philip was assassinated, on account of family dissensions, and the wrath +of his father, whom he had displeased. But he was proclaimed king on the +death of Philip, B.C., 336 and celebrated his funeral with great +magnificence, and slew many of his murderers. The death of Philip had +excited aspirations of freedom in the Grecian States, but there was no +combination to throw off the Macedonian yoke. Alexander well understood +the discontent of Greece, and his first object was to bring it to abject +submission. With the army of his father he marched from State to State, +compelling submission, and punishing with unscrupulous cruelty all who +resisted. After displaying his forces in various portions of the +Peloponnesus, he repaired to Corinth and convened the deputies from the +Grecian cities, and was chosen to the headship of Greece, as his father, +Philip, had been. He was appointed the keeper of the peace of Greece. Each +Hellenic city was declared free, and in each the existing institutions +were recognized, but no new despot was to be established, and each city +was forbidden to send armed vessels to the harbor of any other, or build +vessels, or engage seamen there. Such was the melancholy degradation of +the Grecian world. Its freedom was extinguished, and there was no hope of +escaping the despotism of Macedonia, but by invoking aid from the Persian +king. Had he been wise, he would have subsidized the Greeks with a part of +his vast treasures, and raised a force in Greece able to cope with +Alexander. But he was doomed, and the Macedonian king was left free to +complete the conquest of all the States. He first marched across Mount +Haemus, and subdued the Illyrians, Paeonians, and Thracians. He even crossed +the Danube, and defeated the Gaetae. + +(M732) Just as he had completed the conquest of the barbarians north of +Macedonia, he heard that the Thebans had declared their independence, +being encouraged by his long absence in Thrace, and by reports of his +death. But he suddenly appeared with his victorious army, and as the +Thebans had no generals equal to Pelopidas and Epaminondas, they were +easily subdued. Thebes was taken by assault, and the population was +massacred--even women and children, whether in their houses or in temples. +Thirty thousand captives were reserved for sale. The city was razed to the +ground, and the Cadmea alone was preserved for a Macedonian garrison. The +Theban territory was partitioned among the reconstructed cities of +Orchomenus and Plataea. This severity was unparalleled in the history of +Greece, but the remorseless conqueror wished to strike with terror all +other cities, and prevent rebellion. He produced the effect he desired. +All the cities of Greece hastened to make peace with so terrible an enemy. +He threatened a like doom on Athens because she refused to surrender the +anti-Macedonian leaders, including Demosthenes, but was finally appeased +through the influence of Phocion, since he did not wish to drive Athens to +desperate courses, which might have impeded his contemplated conquest of +Persia, for the city was still strong in naval defenses, and might unite +with the Persian king. So Athens was spared, but the empire of Thebes was +utterly destroyed. He then repaired to Corinth to make arrangements for +his Persian campaign, and while in that city he visited the cynical +philosopher, Diogenes, who lived in a tub. It is said that when the +philosopher was asked by Alexander if he wished any thing, he replied: +"Nothing, except that you would stand a little out of my sunshine"--a reply +which extorted from the conqueror the remark: "If I were not Alexander, I +would be Diogenes." + +(M733) It took Alexander a year and a few months to crush out what little +remained of Grecian freedom, subdue the Thracians, and collect forces for +his expedition into Persia. In the spring of 334 B.C., his army was +mustered between Pella and Amphipolis, while his fleet was at hand to +render assistance. In April he crossed the strait from Sestos to Abydos, +and never returned to his own capital--Pella--or to Europe. The remainder of +his life, eleven years and two months, was spent in Asia, in continued and +increasing conquests; and these were on such a gigantic scale that Greece +dwindled into insignificance. + +(M734) When marshalled on the Asiatic shore, the army of Alexander +presented a total of thirty thousand infantry, and four thousand five +hundred cavalry--a small force, apparently, to overthrow the most venerable +and extensive empire in the world. But these troops were veterans, trained +by Philip, and commanded by able generals. Of these troops twelve thousand +were Macedonians, armed with the sarissa, a long pike, which made the +phalanx, sixteen deep, so formidable. The sarissa was twenty-one feet in +length, and so held by both hands as to project fifteen feet before the +body of the pikeman. The soldier of the phalanx was also provided with a +short sword, a circular shield, a breastplate, leggings, and broad-brimmed +hat. But, besides the phalanx of heavy armed men, there were hoplites +lightly armed, hypaspists for the assault of walled places, and troops +with javelins and with bows. The cavalry was admirable, distributed into +squadrons, among whom were the body-guards--all promoted out of royal pages +and the picked men of the army, sons of the chief people in Macedonia, and +these were heavily armed. + +(M735) The generals who served under Alexander were all Macedonians, and +had been trained by Philip. Among these were Hephaestion, the intimate +personal friend of Alexander, Ptolemy, Perdiccas, Antipater, Clitus, +Parmenio, Philotas, Nicanor, Seleucus, Amyntas, Phillipes, Lysimachus, +Antigonas, most of whom reached great power. Parmenio and Antipater were +the highest in rank, the latter of whom was left as viceroy of Macedonia, +Eumenes was the private secretary of Alexander, the most long-headed man +in his army. + +(M736) Alexander had landed, unopposed, against the advice of Memnon and +Mentor--two Rhodians, in the service of Darius, the king--descendants of one +of the brothers of Artaxerxes Mnemon--the children of King Ochus, after his +assassination, having all been murdered by the eunuch Bagoas. As the +Persians were superior by sea to the Macedonians, it was an imprudence to +allow Alexander to cross the Hellespont without opposition; but Memnon was +overruled by the Persian satraps, who supposed that they were more than a +match for Alexander on the land, and hoped to defeat him. Arsites, the +Phrygian satrap, commanded the Persian forces, assisted by other satraps, +and Persians of high rank, among whom were Spithridates, satrap of Lydia +and Ionia. The cavalry of the Persians greatly outnumbered that of the +Macedonians, but the infantry was inferior. Memnon advised the satraps to +avoid fighting on the land, and to employ the fleet for aggressive +movements in Macedonia and Greece, but Arsites rejected his advice. The +Persians took post on the river Granicus, near the town of Parium, on one +of the declivities of Mount Ida. Alexander at once resolved to force the +passage of the river, taking the command of the right wing, and giving the +left to Parmenio. The battle was fought by the cavalry, in which Alexander +showed great personal courage. At one time he was in imminent danger of +his life, from the cimeter of Spithridates, but Clitus saved him by +severing the uplifted arm of the satrap from his body with his sword. The +victory was complete, and great numbers of the satraps were slain. There +remained no force in Asia Minor to resist the conqueror, and the Asiatics +submitted in terror and alarm. Alexander then sent Parmenio to subdue +Dascyleum, the stronghold of the satrap of Phrygia, while he advanced to +Sardis, the capital of Lydia, and the main station of the Persians in Asia +Minor. The citadel was considered impregnable, yet such was the terror of +the Persians, that both city and citadel surrendered without a blow. +Phrygia and Lydia then fell into his hands, with immense treasure, of +which he stood in need. He then marched to Ephesus, and entered the city +without resistance, and thus was placed in communication with his fleet, +under the command of Nicanor. He found no opposition until he reached +Miletus, which was encouraged to resist him from the approach of the +Persian fleet, four hundred sail, chiefly of Phoenician and Cyprian ships, +which, a few weeks earlier, might have prevented his crossing into Asia. +But the Persian fleet did not arrive until the city was invested, and the +Macedonian fleet, of one hundred and sixty sail, had occupied the harbor. +Alexander declined to fight on the sea, but pressed the siege on the land, +so that the Persian fleet, unable to render assistance, withdrew to +Halicarnassus. The city fell, and Alexander took the resolution of +disbanding his own fleet altogether, and concentrating all his operations +on the land--doubtless a wise, but desperate measure. He supposed, and +rightly, that after he had taken the cities on the coast, the Persian +fleet would be useless, and the country would be insured to his army. + +(M737) Alexander found some difficulty at the siege of Halicarnassus, from +the bravery of the garrison, commanded by Memnon, and the strength of the +defenses, aided by the Persian fleet. But his soldiers, "protected from +missiles by movable pent-houses, called tortoises, gradually filled up the +deep and wide ditch round the town, so as to open a level road for his +engines (rolling towers of wood) to come up close to the walls." Then the +battering-rams overthrew the towers of the city wall, and made a breach in +them, so that the city was taken by assault. Memnon, forced to abandon his +defenses, withdrew the garrison by sea, and Alexander entered the city. +The ensuing winter months were employed in the conquest of Lydia, +Pamphylia, and Pisidia, which was effected easily, since the terror of his +arms led to submission wherever he appeared. At Gordium, in Phrygia, he +performed the exploit familiarly known as the cutting of the Gordian knot, +which was a cord so twisted and entangled, that no one could untie it. The +oracle had pronounced that to the person who should untie it, the empire +of Persia was destined. Alexander, after many futile attempts to +disentangle the knot, in a fit of impatience, cut it with his sword, and +this was accepted as the solution of the problem. + +(M738) Meanwhile Memnon, to whom Darius had intrusted the guardianship of +the whole coast of Asia Minor, with a large Phoenician fleet and a +considerable body of Grecian mercenaries, acquired the important island of +Chios, and a large part of Lesbos. But in the midst of his successes, he +died of sickness, and no one was left able to take his place. Had his +advice been taken, Alexander could not have landed in Asia. His death was +an irreparable loss to Persian cause, and with his death vanished all hope +of employing the Persian force with wisdom and effect. Darius now changed +his policy, and resolved to carry on offensive measures on the land. He +therefore summoned a vast army, from all parts of his empire, of five +hundred thousand infantry, and one hundred thousand cavalry. An eminent +Athenian, Charidemus, advised the Persian king to employ his great +treasure in subsidizing the Greeks, and not to dream, with his +undisciplined Asiatics, to oppose the Macedonians in battle. But the +advice was so unpalatable to the proud and self-reliant king, in the midst +of his vast forces, that he looked upon Charidemus as a traitor, and sent +him to execution. + +(M739) It would not have been difficult for Darius to defend his kingdom, +had he properly guarded the mountain passes through which Alexander must +needs march to invade Persia. Here again Darius was infatuated, and he, in +his self-confidence, left the passes over Mount Taurus and Mount Amanus +undefended. Alexander, with re-enforcements from Macedonia, now marched +from Gordium through Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, whose inhabitants made +instant submission, and advanced to the Cilician Gates--an impregnable pass +in the Taurus range, which opened the way to Cilicia. It had been +traversed seventy years before by Cyrus the Younger, with the ten thousand +Greeks, and was the main road from Asia Minor into Cilicia and Syria. The +narrowest part of this defile allowed only four soldiers abreast, and here +Darius should have taken his stand, even as the Greeks took possession of +Thermopylae in the invasion of Xerxes. But the pass was utterly undefended, +and Alexander marched through unobstructed without the loss of a man. He +then found himself at Tarsus, where he made a long halt, from a dangerous +illness which he got by bathing in the river Cydnus. When he recovered, he +sent Parmenio to secure the pass over Mount Amanus, six days' march from +Tarsus, called the Cilician Gates. These were defended, but the guard fled +at the approach of the Macedonians, and this important defile was secured. +Alexander then marched through Issus to Myriandrus, to the south of the +Cilician Gates, which he had passed. The Persians now advanced from Sochi +and appeared in his rear at Issus--a vast host, in the midst of which was +Darius with his mother, his wife, his harem, and children, who accompanied +him to witness his anticipated triumph, for it seemed to him an easy +matter to overwhelm and crush the invaders, who numbered only about forty +thousand men. So impatient was Darius to attack Alexander that he +imprudently advanced into Cilicia by the northern pass, now called Beylan, +with all his army, so that in the narrow defiles of that country his +cavalry was nearly useless. He encamped near Issus, on the river Pinarus. +Alexander, learning that Darius was in his rear, retraced his steps, +passed north through the Gates of Cilicia, through which he had marched +two days before, and advanced to the river Pinarus, on the north bank of +which Darius was encamped. And here Darius resolved to fight. He threw +across the river thirty thousand cavalry and twenty thousand infantry, to +insure the undisturbed formation of his main force. His main line was +composed of ninety thousand hoplites, of which thirty thousand were Greek +in the centre. On the mountain to his left, he posted twenty thousand, to +act against the right wing of the Macedonian army. He then recalled the +thirty thousand cavalry and twenty thousand infantry, which he had sent +across the river, and awaited the onset of Alexander, Darius was in his +chariot, in the centre, behind the Grecian hoplites. But the ground was so +uneven, that only a part of his army could fight. A large proportion of it +were mere spectators. + +(M740) Alexander advanced to the attack. The left-wing was commanded by +Parmenio, and the right by himself, on which were placed the Macedonian +cavalry. The divisions of the phalanx were in the centre, and the +Peloponnesian cavalry and Thracian light infantry on the left. The whole +front extended only one and a half mile. Crossing the river rapidly, +Alexander, at the head of his cavalry, light infantry, and some divisions +of the phalanx, fell suddenly upon the Asiatic hoplites which were +stationed on the Persian left. So impetuous and unexpected was the charge, +that the troops instantly fled, vigorously pressed by the Macedonian +right. Darius, from his chariot, saw the flight of his left wing, and, +seized with sudden panic, caused his chariot to be turned, and fled also +among the foremost fugitives. In his terror he cast away his bow, shield, +and regal mantle. He did not give a single order, nor did he remain a +moment after the defeat of his left, as he ought, for he was behind thirty +thousand Grecian hoplites, in the centre, but abandoned himself to +inglorious flight, and this was the signal for a general flight also of +all his troops, who turned and trampled each other down in their efforts +to get beyond the reach of the enemy. + +(M741) Thus the battle was lost by the giving way of the Asiatic hoplites +on the left, and the flight of Darius in a few minutes after. The Persian +right showed some bravery, till Alexander, having completed the rout of +the left, turned to attack the Grecian mercenaries in the flank and rear, +when all fled in terror. The slaughter of the fugitives was prodigious. +The camp of Darius was taken, with his mother, wife, sister, and children. +One hundred thousand Persians were slain, not in _fight_, but in _flight_, +and among them were several eminent satraps and grandees. The Persian +hosts were completely dispersed, and Darius did not stop till he had +crossed the Euphrates. The booty acquired was immense, in gold, silver, +and captives. + +(M742) Such was the decisive battle of Issus, where the cowardice and +incompetency of Darius were more marked than the generalship of Alexander +himself. No victory was ever followed by more important consequences. It +dispersed the Persian hosts, and opened Persia to a victorious enemy, and +gave an irresistible prestige to the conqueror. The fall of the empire was +rendered probable, and insured successive triumphs to Alexander. + +(M743) But before he proceeded to the complete conquest of the Persian +empire, Alexander, like a prudent and far-reaching general, impetuous as +he was, concluded to subdue first all the provinces which lay on the +coast, and thus make the Persian fleet useless, and ultimately capture it, +and leave his rear without an enemy. Accordingly he sent Parmenio to +capture Damascus, where were collected immense treasures. It was +surrendered without resistance though it was capable of sustaining a +siege. There were captured vast treasures, with prodigious numbers of +Persians of high rank, and many illustrious Greek exiles. Master of +Damascus, Alexander, in the winter of B.C. 331, advanced upon Phoenicia, +the cities of which mostly sent letters of submission. While at Maranthus, +Darius wrote to Alexander, asking for the restitution of his wife, mother, +sister, and daughter, and tendering friendship, to which Alexander replied +in a haughty letter, demanding to be addressed, not as an equal, but as +lord of Asia. + +(M744) The last hope of Darius was in the Phoenicians, who furnished him +ships; and one city remained firm in its allegiance--Tyre--the strongest and +most important place in Phoenicia. But even this city would have yielded on +fair and honorable conditions. This did not accord with Alexander's views, +who made exorbitant demands, which could not be accepted by the Tyrians +without hazarding their all. Accordingly they prepared for a siege, +trusting to the impregnable defenses of the city. It was situated on an +islet, half a mile from the main land, surrounded by lofty walls and +towers of immense strength and thickness. But nothing discouraged +Alexander, who loved to surmount difficulties. He constructed a mole from +the main land to the islet, two hundred feet wide, of stone and timber, +which was destroyed by a storm and by the efforts of the Tyrians. Nothing +daunted, he built another, still wider and stronger, and repaired to +Sidon, where he collected a great fleet, with which he invested the city +by sea, as well as land. The doom of the city was now sealed, and the +Tyrians could offer no more serious obstructions. The engines were then +rolled along the mole to the walls, and a breach was at last made, and the +city was taken by assault. The citizens then barricaded the streets, and +fought desperately until they were slain. The surviving soldiers were +hanged, and the women and children sold as slaves. Still the city resisted +for seven months, and its capture was really the greatest effort of genius +that Alexander had shown, and furnished an example to Richelieu in the +siege of La Rochelle. + +(M745) On the fall of this ancient and wealthy capital, whose pride and +wealth are spoken of in the Scriptures, Alexander received a second letter +from Darius, offering ten thousand talents, his daughter in marriage, with +the cession of all the provinces of his empire west of the Euphrates, for +the surrender of his family. To which the haughty and insolent conqueror +replied: "I want neither your money nor your cession. All your money and +territory are mine already, and you are tendering me a part instead of the +whole. If I choose to marry your daughter I _shall_ marry her, whether you +give her to me or not. Come hither to me, if you wish for friendship." + +(M746) Darius now saw that he must risk another desperate battle, and +summoned all his hosts. Yet Alexander did not immediately march against +him, but undertook first the conquest of Egypt. Syria, Phoenicia, and +Palestine were now his, as well as Asia Minor. He had also defeated the +Persian fleet, and was master of all the islands of the AEgean. He stopped +on his way to Egypt to take Gaza, which held out against him, built on a +lofty artificial mound two hundred and fifty feet high, and encircled with +a lofty wall. The Macedonian engineers pronounced the place impregnable, +but the greater the difficulty the greater the eagerness of Alexander to +surmount it. He accordingly built a mound all around the city, as high as +that on which Gaza was built, and then rolled his engines to the wall, +effected a breach, and stormed the city, slew all the garrison, and sold +all the women and children for slaves. As for Batis, the defender of the +city, he was dragged by a chariot around the town, as Achilles, whom +Alexander imitated, had done to the dead body of Hector. The siege of +these two cities, Tyre and Gaza, occupied nine months, and was the hardest +fighting that Alexander ever encountered. + +(M747) He entered and occupied Egypt without resistance, and resolved to +found a new city, near the mouth of the Nile, not as a future capital of +the commercial world, but as a depot for his ships. While he was preparing +for this great work, he visited the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the desert, +and was addressed by the priests as the Son of God, not as a mortal, which +flattery was agreeable to him, so that ever afterward he claimed divinity, +in the arrogance of his character, and the splendor of his successes, and +even slew the man who saved his life at the Granicus, because he denied +his divine claims--the most signal instance of self-exaggeration and pride +recorded in history, transcending both Nebuchadnezzar and Napoleon. + +(M748) After arranging his affairs in Egypt, and obtaining re-enforcements +of Greeks and Thracians, he set out for the Euphrates, which he crossed at +Thapsacus, unobstructed--another error of the Persians. But Darius was +paralyzed by the greatness of his misfortunes, and by the capture of his +family, and could not act with energy or wisdom. He collected his vast +hosts on a plain near Arbela, east of the Tigris, and waited for the +approach of the enemy. He had one million of infantry, forty thousand +cavalry, and two hundred scythed chariots, besides a number of elephants. +He placed himself in the centre, with his choice troops, including the +horse and foot-guards, and mercenary Greeks. In the rear stood deep masses +of Babylonians, and on the left, and right, Bactrians, Cadusians, Medes, +Albanians, and troops from the remote provinces. In the front of Darius, +were the scythed chariots with advanced bodies of cavalry. + +(M749) Alexander, as he approached, ranged his forces with great care and +skill, forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse. His main line was +composed, on the right, of choice cavalry; then, toward the left, of +hypaspists; then the phalanx, in six divisions, which formed the centre; +then Greek cavalry on the extreme left. Behind the main line was a body of +reserves, intended to guard against attack on the flanks and rear. In +front of the main line were advanced squadrons of cavalry and light +troops. The Thracian infantry guarded the baggage and camp. He himself +commanded the right, and Parmenio the left. + +(M750) Darius, at the commencement of the attack, ordered his chariots to +charge, and the main line to follow, calculating on disorder. But the +horses of the chariots were terrified and wounded by the Grecian archers +and darters in front, and most turned round, or were stopped. Those that +pressed on were let through the Macedonian lines without mischief. As at +Issus, Alexander did not attack the centre, where Darius was surrounded +with the choicest troops of the army, but advanced impetuously upon the +left wing, turned it, and advanced by a flank movement toward the centre, +where Darius was posted. The Persian king, seeing the failure of the +chariots, and the advancing troops of Alexander, lost his self-possession, +turned his chariot, and fled, as at Issus. Such folly and cowardice led, +of course, to instant defeat and rout; and nothing was left for the +victor, but to pursue and destroy the disorderly fugitives, so that the +slaughter was immense. But while the left and centre of the Persians were +put to flight, the right fought vigorously, and might have changed the +fortune of the day, had not Alexander seasonably returned from the +pursuit, and attacked the left in the rear and flank. Then all was lost, +and headlong flight marked the Persian hosts. The battle was lost by the +cowardice of Darius, who insisted, with strange presumption, on commanding +in person. Half the troops, under an able general, would have overwhelmed +the Macedonian army, even with Alexander at the head. But the Persians had +no leader of courage and skill, and were a mere rabble. According to some +accounts, three hundred thousand Persians were slain, and not more than +one hundred Macedonians. There was no attempt on the part of Darius to +rally or collect a new army. His cause and throne were irretrievably lost, +and he was obliged to fly to his farthest provinces, pursued by the +conqueror. The battle of Arbela was the death-blow to the Persian empire. +We can not help feeling sentiments of indignation in view of such wretched +management on the part of the Persians, thus throwing away an empire. But, +on the other hand, we are also compelled to admit the extraordinary +generalship of Alexander, who brought into action every part of his army, +while at least three-quarters of the Persians were mere spectators, so +that his available force was really great. His sagacious combinations, his +perception of the weak points of his adversary, and the instant advantage +which he seized--his insight, rapidity of movement, and splendid +organization, made him irresistible against any Persian array of numbers, +without skill. Indeed, the Persian army was too large, since it could not +be commanded by one man with any effect, and all became confusion and ruin +on the first misfortune. The great generals of antiquity, Greek and Roman, +rarely commanded over fifty thousand men on the field of battle; and fifty +thousand, under Alexander's circumstances, were more effective, perhaps, +than two hundred thousand. In modern times, when battles are not decided +by personal bravery, but by the number and disposition of cannon, and the +excellence of firearms, an army of one hundred thousand can generally +overwhelm an army of fifty thousand, with the same destructive weapons. +But in ancient times, the impetuous charge of twenty thousand men on a +single point, followed by success, would produce a panic, and then a rout, +when even flight is obstructed by numbers. Thus Alexander succeeded both +at Issus and Arbela. He concentrated forces upon a weak point, which, when +carried, produced a panic, and especially sent dismay into the mind of +Darius, who had no nerve or self-control. Had he remained firm, and only +fought on the defensive, the Macedonians might not have prevailed. But he +fled; and confusion seized, of course, his hosts. + +(M751) Both Babylon and Susa, the two great capitals of the empire, +immediately surrendered after the decisive battle of Arbela, and Alexander +became the great king and Darius a fugitive. The treasure found at Susa +was even greater than that which Babylon furnished--about fifty thousand +talents, or fifty million dollars, one-fifth of which, three years before, +would have been sufficient to subsidize Greece, and present a barrier to +the conquests of both Philip and Alexander. + +(M752) The victor spent a month in Babylon, sacrificing to the Babylonian +deities, feasting his troops, and organizing his new empire. He then +marched into Persia proper, subdued the inhabitants, and entered +Persepolis. Though it was the strongest place in the empire, it made no +resistance. Here were hoarded the chief treasures of the Persian kings, no +less than one hundred and twenty thousand talents, or about one hundred +and twenty million dollars of our money--an immense sum in gold and silver +in that age, a tenth of which, judiciously spent, would have secured the +throne to Darius against any exterior enemy. He was now a fugitive in +Media, and thither Alexander went at once in pursuit, giving himself no +rest. He established himself at Ecbatana, the capital, without resistance, +and made preparations for the invasion of the eastern part of the Persian +empire, beyond the Parthian desert, even to the Oxus and the Indus, +inhabited by warlike barbarians, from which were chiefly recruited the +Persian armies. + +(M753) It would be tedious to describe the successive conquests of +Sogdiana, Margiana, Bactriana, and even some territory beyond the Indus. +Alexander never met from these nations the resistance which Caesar found in +Gaul, nor were his battles in these eastern countries remarkable. He only +had to appear, and he was master. At last his troops were wearied of these +continual marchings and easy victories, when their real enemies were heat, +hunger, thirst, fatigue, and toil. They refused to follow their general +and king any further to the east, and he was obliged to return. Yet some +seven years were consumed in marches and conquests in these remote +countries, for he penetrated to Scythia at the north, and the mouth of the +Indus to the south. + +(M754) It was in the expeditions among these barbarians that some of the +most disgraceful events of his life took place. He seldom rested, but when +he had leisure he indulged in great excesses at the festive board. His +revelries with his officers were prolonged often during the night, and +when intoxicated, he did things which gave him afterward the deepest +remorse and shame. Thus he killed, with his own hand, Clitus, at a feast, +because Clitus ventured to utter some truths which were in opposition to +his notions of omnipotence. But the agony of remorse was so great, that he +remained in bed three whole days and nights immediately after, refusing +all food and drink. He also killed Philotas, one of his most trusted +generals, and commander of his body-guard, on suspicion of treachery, and +then, without other cause than fear of the anger of his father, Parmenio, +he caused that old general to be assassinated at Ecbatana, in command of +the post--the most important in his dominions--where his treasures were +deposited. He savagely mutilated Bessus, the satrap, who stood out against +him in Bactria. Callisthenes, one of the greatest philosophers of the age, +was tortured and assassinated for alleged complexity in a conspiracy, but +he really incurred the hatred of the monarch for denying his claim to +divinity. + +(M755) In the spring of B.C. 326, Alexander crossed the Indus, but met +with no resistance until he reached the river Hydaspes (Jhylum) on the +other side of which, Porus, an Indian prince, disputed his passage, with a +formidable force and many trained elephants--animals which the Macedonians +had never before encountered. By a series of masterly combinations +Alexander succeeded in crossing the river, and the combat commenced. But +the Indians could not long withstand the long pikes and close combats of +the Greeks, and were defeated with great loss. Porus himself, a prince of +gigantic stature, mounted on an elephant, was taken, after having fought +with great courage. Carried into the presence of the conqueror, Alexander +asked him what, he wished to be done for him, for his gallantry and +physical strength excited admiration. Porus replied that he wished to be +treated as a king, which answer still more excited the admiration of the +Greeks. He was accordingly treated with the utmost courtesy and +generosity, and retained as an ally. Alexander was capable of great +magnanimity, when he was not opposed. He was kind to the family of Darius, +both before and after his assassination by the satrap Bessus. And his +munificence to his soldiers was great, and he never lost their affections. +But he was cruel and sanguinary in his treatment of captives who had made +him trouble, putting thousands to the sword in cold blood. + +(M756) As before mentioned, the soldiers were wearied with victories and +hardships, without enjoyments, and longed to return to Europe. Hence +Sangala, in India, was the easternmost point to which he penetrated. On +returning to the river Hydaspes, he constructed a fleet of two thousand +boats, in which a part of his army descended the river with himself, while +another part marched along its banks. He sailed slowly down the river to +its junction with the Indus, and then to the Indian ocean. This voyage +occupied nine months, but most of the time was employed in subduing the +various people who opposed his march. On reaching the ocean, he was +astonished and interested by the ebbing and flowing of the tide--a new +phenomenon to him. The fleet was conducted from the mouth of the Indus, +round by the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Tigris--a great nautical +achievement in those days; but he himself, with the army, marched westward +through deserts, undergoing great fatigues and sufferings, and with a +great loss of men, horses, and baggage. At Carmania he halted, and the +army for seven days was abandoned to drunken festivities. + +(M757) On returning to Persepolis, in Persia, he visited and repaired the +tomb of Cyrus, the greatest conqueror the world had seen before himself. +In February, B.C. 324, he marched to Susa, where he spent several months +in festivities and in organizing his great government, since he no longer +had armies to oppose. He now surrounded himself with the pomp of the +Persian kings, wore their dress, and affected their habits, much to the +disgust of his Macedonian generals. He had married a beautiful +captive--Roxana, in Bactria, and he now took two additional wives, Statira, +daughter of Darius, and Parysatis, daughter of King Ochus. He also caused +his principal officers to marry the daughters of the old Persian grandees, +and seemed to forget the country from which he came, and which he was +destined never again to see. Here also he gave a donation to his soldiers +of twenty thousand talents--about five hundred dollars to each man. But +even this did not satisfy them, and when new re-enforcements arrived, the +old soldiers mutinied. He disbanded the whole of them in anger, and gave +them leave to return to their homes, but they were filled with shame and +regret, and a reconciliation took place. + +(M758) It was while he made a visit to Ecbatana, in the summer of B.C. +324, that his favorite, Hephaestion, died. His sorrow and grief were +unbounded. He cast himself upon the ground, cut his hair close, and +refused food and drink for two days. This was the most violent grief he +ever manifested, and it was sincere. He refused to be comforted, yet +sought for a distraction from his grief in festivals and ostentation of +life. + +(M759) In the spring of B.C. 323, he marched to Babylon, where were +assembled envoys from all the nations of the known world to congratulate +him for his prodigious and unprecedented successes, and invoke his +friendship, which fact indicates his wide-spread fame. At Babylon he laid +plans and made preparations for the circumnavigation and conquest of +Arabia, and to found a great maritime city in the interior of the Persian +Gulf. But before setting out, he resolved to celebrate the funeral +obsequies of Hephaestion with unprecedented splendor. The funeral pile was +two hundred feet high, loaded with costly decorations, in which all the +invention of artists was exhausted. It cost twelve thousand talents, or +twelve million dollars of our money. The funeral ceremonies were succeeded +by a general banquet, in which he shared, passing a whole night in +drinking with his friend Medius. This last feast was fatal. His heated +blood furnished fuel for the raging fever which seized him, and which +carried him off in a few days, at the age of thirty-two, and after a reign +of twelve years and eight months, June, B.C. 323. + +(M760) He indicated no successor. Nor could one man have governed so vast +an empire with so little machinery of government. His achievements threw +into the shade those of all previous conquerors, and he was, most +emphatically, the Great King--the type of all worldly power. "He had +mastered, in defiance of fatigue, hardship, and combat, not merely all the +eastern half of the Persian empire, but unknown Indian regions beyond. +Besides Macedon, Greece, and Thrace, he possessed all the treasures and +forces which rendered the Persian king so formidable," and he was exalted +to all this power and grandeur by conquest at an age when a citizen of +Athens was intrusted with important commands, and ten years less than the +age for a Roman consul. But he was unsatisfied, and is said to have wept +that there were no more worlds to conquer. He would, had he lived, +doubtless have encountered the Romans, and all their foes, and added Italy +and Spain and Carthage to his empire. But there is a limit to human +successes, and when his work of chastisement of the nations was done, he +died. But he left a fame never since surpassed, and "he overawes the +imagination more than any personage of antiquity." He had transcendent +merits as a general, but he was much indebted to fortunate circumstances. +He thought of new conquests, rather than of consolidating what he had +made, so that his empire must naturally be divided and subdivided at his +death. Though divided and subdivided, the effect of those conquests +remained to future generations, and had no small effect on civilization, +and yet, instead of Hellenizing Asia, he rather Asiatized Hellas. That +process, so far as it was carried out, is due to his generals--the +Diadochi--Antigonas, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, &c., who divided +between them the empire. But Hellenism in reality never to a great extent +passed into Asia. The old Oriental habits and sentiments and intellectual +qualities remained, and have survived all succeeding conquests. Oriental +habits and opinions rather invaded the western world with the progress of +wealth and luxury. Asia, by the insidious influences of effeminated +habits, undermined Greece, and even Rome, rather than received from Europe +new impulses or sentiments, or institutions. A new and barbarous country +may prevail, by the aid of hardy warriors, adventurous and needy, over the +civilized nations which have been famous for a thousand years, but the +conquered country almost invariably has transmitted its habits and +institutions among the conquerors, so much more majestic are ideas than +any display of victorious brute forces. Dynasties are succeeded by +dynasties, but civilization survives, when any material exists on which it +can work. + +Athens was never a greater power in the world than at the time her +political ruin was consummated. Hence the political changes of nations, +which form the bulk of all histories, are insignificant in comparison with +those ideas and institutions which gradually transform the habits and +opinions of ordinary life. Yet it is these silent and gradual changes +which escape the notice of historians, and are the most difficult to be +understood and explained, for lack of sufficient and definite knowledge. +Moreover, it is the feats of extraordinary individuals in stirring +enterprise and heroism which have thus far proved the great attraction of +past ages to ordinary minds. No history, truly philosophical, would be +extensively read by any people, in any age, and least of all by the young, +in the process of education. + +The remaining history of Greece has little interest until the Roman +conquests, which will be presented in the next book. + + + + + + BOOK III. + + +THE ROMAN EMPIRE. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVI. + + +ROME IN ITS INFANCY, UNDER KINGS. + + +In presenting the growth of that great power which gradually absorbed all +other States and monarchies so as to form the largest empire ever known on +earth, I shall omit a notice of all other States, in Italy and Europe, +until they were brought into direct collision with Rome herself. + +(M761) The early history of Rome is involved in obscurity, and although +many great writers have expended vast learning and ingenuity in tracing +the origin of the city and its inhabitants, still but little has been +established on an incontrovertible basis. We look to poetry and legends +for the foundation of the "Eternal City." + +(M762) These legends are of peculiar interest. AEneas, in his flight from +Troy, after many adventures, reaches Italy, marries the daughter of +Latinus, king of the people, who then lived in Latium, and builds a city, +which he names Lavinium, and unites his Trojan followers with the +aboriginal inhabitants. + +(M763) Latium was a small country, bounded on the north by the Tiber, on +the East by the Liris and Vinius, and on the south and west by the Tuscan +Sea. It was immediately surrounded by the Etruscans, Sabines, Equi, and +Marsi. When Latium was originally settled we do not know, but the people +doubtless belonged to the Indo-European race, kindred to the early +settlers of Europe. Latium was a plain, inclosed by mountains and +traversed by the Tiber, of about seven hundred square miles. Between the +Alban Lake and the Alban Mount, was Alba--the original seat of the Latin +race, and the mother city of Rome. Here, according to tradition, reigned +Ascanius, the son of AEneas, and his descendants for three hundred years +were the Latin tribes. After eleven generations of kings, Amulius usurps +the throne, which belonged to Numitor, the elder brother, and dooms his +only daughter, Silvia, to perpetual virginity as a Vestal. Silvia, visited +by a god, gives birth to twins, Romulus and Remus. The twins, exposed by +the order of Amulius, are suckled by a she-wolf, and brought up by one of +the king's herdsmen. They feed their flocks on the Palatine, but a quarrel +ensuing between them and the herdsmen of Numitor on the Aventine, their +royal origin is discovered, and the restoration of Numitor is effected. +But the twins resolve to found a city, and Rome arises on the Palatine, an +asylum for outlaws and slaves, who are provided with wives by the "rape of +the Sabine women." + +(M764) Thus, according to the legends, was the foundation of Rome, on a +hill about fourteen miles from the mouth of the Tiber, and on a site less +healthy than the old Latin towns, B.C. 751, or 753. According to the +speculations of Mommsen, it would seem that Rome was at a very early +period the resort of a lawless band of men, who fortified themselves on +the Palatine, and perhaps other hills, and robbed the small merchants, who +sailed up and down the Tiber, as well as the neighboring rural population, +even as the feudal barons intrenched themselves on hills overlooking +plains and rivers. But all theories relating to the foundation of Rome are +based either on legend or speculation. Until we arrive at certain facts, I +prefer those based on legend, such as have been accepted for more than two +thousand years. It is but little consequence whether Romulus and Remus are +real characters, or poetic names. This is probable, that the situation of +Rome was favorable in ancient times for rapine, even if it were not a +healthy locality. The first beginnings of Rome were violence and robbery, +and the murder of Remus by Romulus is a type of its early history, and +whole subsequent career. + +(M765) Romulus and his associate outlaws, now intrenched on the Palatine, +organize a city and government, and extend the limits. The rape of the +Sabines leads to war, and Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines, obtains +possession of the Capitoline Hill--the smallest but most famous of the +seven hills on which Rome was subsequently built. In the valley between, +on which the forum was afterward built, the combatants are separated by +the Sabine wives of the outlaws, and the tribes or nations are united +under the name of Ramnes and Tities, the Sabines retaining the capitol and +the Quirinal, and the Romans the Palatine. Some Etruscans, in possession +of the Caelian Hill, are incorporated as a third tribe, called Luceres. But +it is probable that the Sabine element prevailed. Each tribe contains ten +curiae of a hundred citizens, which, with the three hundred horsemen, form +a body of three thousand three hundred citizens, who alone enjoyed +political rights. + +(M766) The government, though monarchical, was limited. The king was bound +to lay all questions of moment before the assembly of the thirty curiae, +called the _Comitia Curiata_. But the king had a council called the +_Senate_, composed of one hundred members, who were called _Patres_, or +Fathers, and doubtless were the heads of clans called _Gentes_. The Gentes +were divided into _Familiae_, or families. These _Patres_ were the heads of +the patrician houses--that class who alone had political rights, and who +were Roman citizens. + +(M767) Romulus is said to have reigned justly and ably for thirty-seven +years, and no one could be found worthy to succeed him. At length the +Roman tribe, the Ramnes, elected Numa Pompilius, from the Sabines, a man +of wisdom and piety, and said to have acquired his learning from +Pythagoras. This king instituted the religious and civil legislation of +Rome, and built the temple of Janus in the midst of the Forum, whose doors +were shut in peace and opened in war, but were never closed from his death +to the reign of Augustus, but a brief period after the first Punic war. + +(M768) He established the College of Pontiffs, who directed all the +ceremonies of religion and regulated festivals and the system of weights +and measures; also the College of Augurs, who interpreted by various omens +the will of the gods; and also the College of Heralds, who guarded the +public faith. He fixed the boundaries of fields, divided the territory of +Rome into districts, called _pagi_, and regulated the calendar. + +(M769) According to the legends, Tullus Hostilius was the third king of +Rome, elected by the curiae. He assigned the Caelian Mount for the poor, and +the strangers who flocked to Rome, and was a warlike sovereign. The great +event of his reign was the destruction of Alba. The growing power of Rome +provoked the jealousy of this ancient seat of Latin power, and war ensued. +The armies of the two States were drawn up in battle array, when it was +determined that the quarrel should be settled by three champions, chosen +from each side. Hence the beautiful story of the Curiatii and the Horatii, +three brothers on each side. Two of the Horatii were slain, and the three +Curiatii were wounded. The third of the Horatii affected to fly, and was +pursued by the Curiatii, but as they were wounded, the third Roman subdued +them in detail, and so the Albans became subjects of the Romans. The +conqueror met his sister at one of the gates, who, being betrothed to one +of the Curiatii, reproached him for the death of her lover, which so +incensed him that he slew her. Thus early does patriotism surmount natural +affections among the Romans. But Horatius was nevertheless tried for his +life by two judges and condemned. He appealed to the people, who reversed +the judgment--the first instance on record of an appeal in a capital case +to the people, which subsequently was the right of Roman citizens. + +(M770) Hostilities again breaking out between Alba and Rome, the former +city was demolished and the inhabitants removed to the Caeilian Mount and +enrolled among the citizens. By the destruction of Alba, Rome obtained the +presidency over the thirty cities of the Latin confederacy. Tullus, it +would seem, was an unscrupulous king, but able, and to him is ascribed the +erection of the Curia Hostilia, where the Senate had its meetings. + +(M771) The Sabine Ancus Martius was the fourth king, B.C. 640, who pursued +the warlike policy of his predecessor, conquering many Latin towns, and +incorporating their inhabitants with the Romans, whom he settled on Mount +Aventine. They were freemen, but not citizens. They were called plebeians, +with modified civil, but not political rights, and were the origin of that +great middle class which afterward became so formidable. The plebeians, +though of the same race as the Romans, were a conquered people, and yet +were not reduced to slavery like most conquered people among the ancients. +They had their Gentes and Familiae, but they could not intermarry with the +patricians. Though they were not citizens, they were bound to fight for +the State, for which, as a compensation, they retained their lands, that +is, their old possessions. + +(M772) On the death, B.C. 616, of Ancus Marlius, Lucius Tarquinius, of an +Etruscan family, became king, best known as Tarquinius Priscus. He had +been guardian of the two sons of Ancus, but offered himself as candidate +for the throne, from which it would appear that the monarchs were elected +by the people. + +(M773) He carried on successful war against the Latins and Sabines, and +introduced from Etruria, by permission of the Senate, a golden crown, an +ivory chain, a sceptre topped with an eagle, and a crimson robe studded +with gold--emblems of royalty. But he is best known for various public +works of great magnificence at the time, as well as of public utility. +Among these was the Cloaca Maxima, to drain the marshy land between the +Palatine and the Tiber--a work so great, that Niebuhr ranks it with the +pyramids. It has lasted, without the displacement of a stone, for more +than two thousand years. It shows that the use of the arch was known at +that period. The masonry of the stones is perfect, joined together without +cement. Tarquin also instituted public games, and reigned with more +splendor than we usually associate with an infant State. + +(M774) This king, who excited the jealousy of the patricians, was +assassinated B.C. 578, and Servius Tullius reigned in his stead. He was +the greatest of the Roman kings, and arose to his position by eminent +merit, being originally obscure. He married the daughter of Tarquin, and +shared all his political plans. + +(M775) He is most celebrated for remodeling the constitution. He left the +old institutions untouched, but added new ones. He made a new territorial +division of the State, and created a popular assembly. He divided the +whole population into thirty tribes, at the head of each of which was a +tribune. Each tribe managed its own local affairs, and held public +meetings. These tribes included both patricians and plebeians. This was +the commencement of the power of the plebs, which was seen with great +jealousy by the patricians. + +(M776) The basis or principle of the new organization of Servius was the +possession of property. All free citizens, whether patricians or +plebeians, were called to defend the State, and were enrolled in the army. +The equites, or cavalry, took the precedence in the army, and was composed +of the wealthy citizens. There were eighteen centuries of these knights, +six patrician and twelve plebeian, all having more than one hundred +thousand ases. They were armed with sword, spear, helmet, shield, greaves, +and cuirass. The infantry was composed of the classes, variously armed, of +which, including equites, there were one hundred and ninety-four +centuries, one hundred of whom were of the first rank, heavily armed--all +men possessing one hundred thousand ases. Each class was divided into +seniores--men between forty-five and sixty, and juniores--from seventeen to +forty-five. The former were liable to be called out only in emergencies. +This division of the citizens was a purely military one, and each century +had one vote. But as the first class numbered one hundred centuries, each +man of which was worth land valued at one hundred thousand ases, it could +cast a larger vote than all the other classes, which numbered only +ninety-four together. Thus the rich controlled all public affairs. + +(M777) To this military body of men, in which the rich preponderated, +Servius committed all the highest functions of the State, for the Comitia +Centuriata possessed elective, judicial, and legislative functions. +Servius also rendered many other benefits to the plebeians, He divided +among them the lands gained from the Etruscans. He inclosed the city with +a wall, which remained for centuries, embracing the seven hills on which +Rome was built. But it is as the hero of the plebeian order that he is +famous, and paid the penalty for being such. He was assassinated, probably +by the instigation of the patricians, by his son-in-law, Lucius +Tarquinius, who mounted his throne as Tarquinius Superbus, the last king +of Rome, B.C. 534. The daughter of the murdered king, Tullia, who rode in +her chariot over his bleeding body, is enrolled among the infamous women +of antiquity. + +(M778) Tarquinius Superbus, a usurper and murderer, abrogated the popular +laws of Servius Tullius, and set aside even the assembly of the Curiae, and +degraded and decimated the Senate, and appropriated the confiscated +estates of those whom he destroyed. He reigned as a despot, making +treaties without consulting the Senate, and living for his pleasure alone. +But he ornamented the city with magnificent edifices, and completed the +Circus Maximus as well as the Capitoline Temple, which stood five hundred +years. He was also successful in war, and exalted the glory of the Roman +name. + +(M779) An end came to his tyranny by one of those events on which poetry +and history have alike exhausted all their fascinations. It was while +Tarquin was conducting a war against Ardea, and the army was idly encamped +before the town, that the sons of Tarquin, with their kinsmen, were +supping in the tent of Sextus, that conversation turned upon the +comparative virtue of their wives. By a simultaneous impulse, they took +horse to see the manner in which these ladies were at the time employed. +The wives of Tarquin's sons at Rome were found in luxurious banquets with +other women. Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, was discovered carding wool +in the midst of her maidens. The boast of Collatinus that his wife was the +most virtuous was confirmed. But her charms or virtues made a deep +impression on the heart or passions of Sextus, and he returned to her +dwelling in Collatia to propose infamous overtures. They were proudly +rejected, but the disappointed lover, by threats and force, accomplished +his purpose. Lucretia, stung with shame, made known the crime of Sextus to +her husband and father, who hastened to her house, accompanied with +Brutus. They found the ravished beauty in agonies of shame and revenge, +and after she had revealed the scandalous facts, she plunged a dagger in +her own bosom and died, invoking revenge. Her relatives and friends +carried her corpse to the market-place, revealed the atrocity of the crime +of Sextus, and demanded vengeance. The people rallied in the Forum at +Rome, and the assembled Curiae deprived Tarquin of his throne, and decreed +the banishment of his accursed family. On the news of the insurrection, +the tyrant started for the city with a band of chosen followers, but +Brutus reached the army after the king had left, recounted the wrongs, and +marched to Rome, whose gates were already shut against Tarquin. He fled to +Etruria, with two of his sons, but Sextus was murdered by the people of +Gabii. + +(M780) Thus were the kings driven out of Rome, never to return. In the +revolution which followed, the patricians recovered their power, and a new +form of government was instituted, republican in name, but oligarchal and +aristocratic in reality, two hundred and forty-five years after the +foundation of the city, B.C. 510. Historical criticism throws doubt on the +chronology which assigns two hundred and forty-five years to seven +elective kings, and some critics think that a longer period elapsed from +the reign of Romulus to that of Tarquin than legend narrates, and that +there must have been a great number of kings whose names are unknown. As +the city advanced in wealth and numbers, the popular influence increased. +The admission of commons favored the establishment of despotism, and its +excesses led to its overthrow. It would have been better for the commons +had Brutus established a monarchy with more limited powers, for the +plebeians were now subjected to the tyranny of a proud and grasping +oligarchy, and lost a powerful protector in the king, and the whole +internal history of Rome, for nearly two centuries, were the conflicts +between the plebeians and their aristocratic masters for the privileges +they were said to possess under the reign of Tullius. Under the patricians +the growth of the city was slow, and it was not till the voices of the +tribunes were heard that Rome advanced in civilization and liberty. Under +the kings, the progress in arts and culture had been rapid. + +(M781) Mommsen, in his learned and profound history of Rome, enumerates +the various forms of civilization that existed on the expulsion of the +Tarquins, a summary of which I present. Law and justice were already +enforced on some of the elemental principles which marked the Roman +jurisprudence. The punishment of offenses against order was severe, and +compensation for crime, where injuries to person and property were slight, +was somewhat similar to the penalties of the Mosaic code. The idea of +property was associated with estate in slaves and cattle, and all property +passed freely from hand to hand; but it was not in the power of the father +arbitrarily to deprive his children of their hereditary rights. Contracts +between the State and a citizen were valid without formalities, but those +between private persons were difficult to be enforced. A purchase only +founded an action in the event of its being a transaction for ready money, +and this was attested by witnesses. Protection was afforded to minors and +for the estate of persons not capable of bearing arms. After a man's +death, his property descended to his nearest heirs. The emancipation of +slaves was difficult, and that of a son was attended with even greater +difficulties. Burgesses and clients were equally free in their private +rights, but foreigners were beyond the pale of the law. The laws indicated +a great progress in agriculture and commerce, but the foundation of law +was the State. The greatest liberality in the permission of commerce, and +the most rigorous procedure in execution, went hand in hand. Women were +placed on a legal capacity with men, though restricted in the +administration of their property. Personal credit was extravagant and +easy, but the creditor could treat the debtor like a thief. A freeman +could not, indeed, be tortured, but he could be imprisoned for debt with +merciless severity. From the first, the laws of property were stringent +and inexorable. + +(M782) In religion, the ancient Romans, like the Greeks, personified the +powers of nature, and also abstractions, like sowing, field labor, war, +boundary, youth, health, harmony, fidelity. The profoundest worship was +that of the tutelary deities, who presided over the household. Next to the +deities of the house and forest, held in the greatest veneration, was +Hercules, the god of the inclosed homestead, and, therefore, of property +and gain. The souls of departed mortals were supposed to haunt the spot +where the bodies reposed, but dwelt in the depths below. The hero worship +of the Greeks was uncommon, and even Numa was never worshiped as a god. +The central object of worship was Mars, the god of war, and this was +conducted by imposing ceremonies and rites. The worship of Vesta was held +with peculiar sacredness, and the vestal virgins were the last to yield to +Christianity. The worshipers of the gods often consulted priests and +augurs, who had great colleges, but little power in the State. The Latin +worship was grounded on man's enjoyment of earthly pleasures, and not on +his fear of the wild forces of nature, and it gradually sunk into a dreary +round of ceremonies. The Italian god was simply an instrument for the +attainment of worldly ends, and not an object of profound awe or love, and +hence the Latin worship was unfavorable to poetry, as well as +philosophical speculation. + +(M783) Agriculture is ever a distinguishing mark of civilization, and +forms the main support of a people. It early occupied the time of the +Latins, and was their chief pursuit. In the earliest ages arable land was +cultivated in common, and was not distributed among the people as their +special property, but in the time of Servius there was a distribution. +Attention was chiefly given to cereals, but roots and vegetables were also +diligently cultivated. Vineyards were introduced before the Greeks made +settlements in Italy, but the olive was brought to Italy by the Greeks. +The fig-tree is a native of Italy. The plow was drawn by oxen, while +horses, asses, and mules were used as beasts of burden. The farm was +stocked with swine and poultry, especially geese. The plow was a rude +instrument, but no field was reckoned perfectly tilled unless the furrows +were so close that harrowing was deemed unnecessary. Farming on a large +scale was not usual, and the proprietor of land worked on the soil with +his sons. The use of slaves was a later custom, when large estates arose. + +(M784) Trades scarcely kept pace with agriculture, although in the time of +Numa eight guilds of craftsmen were numbered among the institutions of +Rome--flute-blowers, goldsmiths, coppersmiths, carpenters, fullers, dyers, +potters, and shoemakers. There was no yield for workers in iron, which +shows that iron was a later introduction than copper. + +(M785) Commerce was limited to the mutual dealings of the Italians +themselves. Fairs are of great antiquity, distinguished from ordinary +markets, and barter and traffic were carried on in them, especially that +of Soracte, being before Greek or Phoenicians entered from the sea. Oxen +and sheep, grain and slaves, were the common mediums of exchange. Latium +was, however, deficient of articles of export, and was pre-eminently an +agricultural country. + +(M786) The use of measures and weights was earlier than the art of +writing, although the latter is of high antiquity. Latin poetry began in +the lyrical form. Dancing was a common trade, and this was accompanied +with pipers, and religious litanies were sung from the remotest antiquity. +Comic songs were sung in Saturnian metre, accompanied by the pipe. The art +of dancing was a public care, and a powerful impulse was early given by +Hellenic games. But in all the arts of music and poetry there was not the +easy development as in Greece. Architecture owed its first impulse to the +Etruscans, who borrowed from the Greeks, and was not of much account till +the reigns of the Tuscan kings. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVII. + + +THE ROMAN REPUBLIC TILL THE INVASION OF THE GAULS. + + +(M787) The Tarquins being expelled, political power fell into the hands of +the patricians, under whose government the city slowly increased in wealth +and population, but it was the heroic period of Roman history, and the +legends of patriotic bravery are of great interest. + +(M788) The despotism of Tarquinius Superbus inflamed all classes with +detestation of the very name of king--the wealthy classes, because they +were deprived of their ancient powers; the poorer classes, because they +were oppressed with burdens. The executive power of the State was +transferred to two men, called consuls, annually elected from the +patrician ranks. But they ruled with restricted powers, and were shorn of +the trappings of royalty. They could not nominate priests, and they were +amenable to the laws after their term of office expired. They were elected +by the Comitia Centuriata, in which the patrician power predominated. They +convened the Senate, introduced ambassadors, and commanded the armies. In +public, they were attended by lictors, and wore, as a badge of authority, +a purple border on the toga. + +(M789) The Senate, a great power, still retained its dignity. The members +were elected for life, and were the advisers of the consuls. They were +elected by the consuls; but, as the consuls were practically chosen by the +wealthy classes, men were chosen to the Senate who belonged to powerful +families. The Senate was a judicial and legislative body, and numbered +three hundred men. All men who had held curule magistracies became +members. Their decisions, called Senatus Consulta, became laws--_leges_. + +The Roman government at this time was purely oligarchic. The +aristocratical clement prevailed. Nobles virtually controlled the State. + +(M790) Brutus, on the overthrow of the monarchy, was elected the first +consul B.C. 507 with L. Tarquinius Colatinus; but the latter was not +allowed to possess his office, from hatred of his family, and he withdrew +peaceably to Lavinium, and Publius Valerius was elected consul in his +stead--a harsh measure, prompted by necessity. + +(M791) The history of Rome at this period is legendary. The story goes +that Tarquin, at the head of the armies of Veii and Tarquinii, seeking to +recover his throne, marched against Rome, and that for thirteen years he +struggled with various success, assisted by Porsenna, king of Etruria. The +legends say Horatius Cocles defended a bridge, single-handed, against the +whole Etrurian army--that Mamillus, the ruler of Tuscalum, fought a battle +at Lake Regillus, in which the cause of Tarquin was lost--the subject of +the most beautiful of Macaulay's lays--and that Mutius Scaevola attempted to +assassinate Porsenna, and, as a proof of his fortitude, held his hand in +the fire until it was consumed, which act converted Porsenna into a +friend. Another interesting legend is related in reference to Brutus, who +slew his own sons for their sympathy with, and treasonable aid, to the +banished king. These stories are not history, but still shed light on the +spirit of the time. It is probable that Tarquin made desperate efforts to +recover his dominion, aided by the Etruscans, and that the first wars of +the republic were against them. + +(M792) The Etruscans were then in the height of their power, and were in +close alliance with the Carthaginians. Etruria was a larger State than +Latium, from which it was separated by the Tiber. It was bounded on the +west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, on the north by the Appenines, and the east by +Umbria. Among the cities were Veii and Tarquinii, the latter the +birthplace of Tarquinius Priscus, and the former the powerful rival of +Rome. + +(M793) In the war with the Etruscans, the Romans were worsted, and they +lost all their territory on the right bank of the Tiber, won by the kings, +and were thrown back on their original limits. But the Etruscans were +driven back, by the aid of the Latin cities, beyond the Tiber. It took +Rome one hundred and fifty years to recover what she had lost. + +(M794) It was in those wars with the Etruscans that we first read of +dictators, extraordinary magistrates, appointed in great political +exigencies. The dictator, or commander, was chosen by one of the consuls, +and his authority was supreme, but lasted only for six months. He had all +the powers of the ancient kings. + +(M795) The misfortunes of the Romans, in the contest with the Etruscans, +led to other political changes, and internal troubles. The strife between +the patricians and the plebeians now began, and lasted two centuries +before the latter were admitted to a full equality of civil rights. The +cause of the conflict, it would appear, was the unequal and burdensome +taxation to which the plebeians were subjected, and especially vexations +from the devastations which war produced. They were small land-owners, and +their little farms were overrun by the enemy, and they were in no +condition to bear the burdens imposed upon them: and this inequality of +taxation was the more oppressive, since they had no political power. They +necessarily incurred debts, which were rigorously exacted, and they thus +became the property of their creditors. + +(M796) In their despair, they broke out in open rebellion, in the +fifteenth year of the republic, during the consulship of Publius Servilius +and Appius Claudius--the latter a proud Sabine nobleman, who had lately +settled in Rome. They took position on a hill between the Anio and Tiber, +commanding the most fertile part of the Roman territory. The patrician and +wealthy classes, abandoned by the farmers, who tilled the lands, were +compelled to treat, in spite of the opposition of Appius Claudius. And the +result was, that the plebeians gained a remission of their debts, and the +appointment of two magistrates, as protectors, under the name of tribunes. + +(M797) This new office introduced the first great change in the condition +of the plebeians. The tribunes had the power of putting a stop to the +execution of the law which condemned debtors to imprisonment or a military +levy. Their jurisdiction extended over every citizen, even over the +consul. There was no appeal from their decisions, except in the Comitia +Tributa, where the plebeian interest predominated--an assembly representing +the thirty Roman tribes, according to the Servian constitution, but which, +at first, had insignificant powers. The persons of the tribunes were +inviolable, but their power was negative. They could not originate laws; +they could insure the equitable administration of the laws, and prevent +wrongs. They had a constitutional veto, of great use at the time, but +which ended in a series of dangerous encroachments. + +(M798) The office of aediles followed that of tribunes. There were at first +two, selected from plebeians, whose duty it was to guard the law creating +tribunes, which was deposited in the temple of Vesta, They were afterward +the keepers of the resolutions of the Senate as well as of the plebs, and +had the care of public buildings, and the sanitary police of the city, the +distribution of corn, and of the public lands, the superintendence of +markets and measures, the ordering of festivals, and the duty to see that +no new deities or rites were introduced. + +(M799) One year after the victory of the plebeians, a distinguished man +appeared, who was their bitter enemy. This was Caius Marcius, called +Coriolanus, from his bravery at the capture of a Volscian town, Corioli. +When a famine pressed the city, a supply of corn was sent by a Sicilian +prince, but the proud patrician proposed to the Senate to withhold it from +the plebeians until they surrendered their privileges. The rage of the +plebeians was intense, and he was impeached by the tribunes, and condemned +by the popular assembly to exile. He went over, in indignation, to the +Volscians, became their general, defeated the Romans, and marched against +their city. In this emergency, the city was saved by the intercession of +his mother, Volumnia, who went to seek him in his camp, accompanied by +other Roman matrons. + +(M800) A greater man than he, was Spurius Cassius, who rendered public +services of the greatest magnitude, yet a man whose illustrious deeds no +poet sang. He lived in a great crisis, when the Etruscan war had destroyed +the Roman dominions on the right bank of the Tiber, and where the +Volscians and Acquians were advancing with superior forces. Rome was in +danger of being conquered, and not only conquered, but reduced to +servitude. But he concluded a league with the Latins, and also with the +Hernicians--a Sabine people, who dwelt in one of the valleys of the +Appenines, by which the power of Rome was threatened. He is also known as +the first who proposed an agrarian law. It seems that the patricians had +occupied the public lands to the exclusion of the plebeians. Spurius +Cassius proposed to the Comitia Centuriata that the public domain--land +obtained by conquest--should be measured, and a part reserved for the use +of the State, and another portion distributed among the needy citizens--a +just proposition, since no property held by individuals was meddled with. +This popular measure was carried against violent opposition, but when the +term of office of Cassius as consul expired, he was accused before the +curiae, who assumed the right to judge a patrician, and he lost his life. +He was accused of seeking to usurp regal power, because he had sought to +protect the commons against his own order. "His law was buried with him, +but its spectre haunted the rich, and again and again it arose from its +tomb, till the conflicts to which it led destroyed the commonwealth." + +(M801) The following seven years was a period of incessant war with the +Acquians and Veientines, as well as dissensions in the city, during which +the great house of the Fabii arose to power, for Fabius was chosen consul +seven successive years, and even proposed the execution of the agrarian +law of Cassius, for which he was scorned by the patricians, and left Rome +in disgust, with his family, and all were afterward massacred by the +Veientines. But one of the tribunes accused the consuls for their +opposition of the tribunes for the execution of the agrarian law. He was +assassinated. This violation of the sacred person of a tribune created +great indignation among the commons, and Volero, a tribune, proposed the +celebrated "Publilian Law," that the tribunes henceforth, as well as the +plebeian aediles, should be elected by the plebeians themselves in the +Comitia Tributa. Great disorders followed, but the commons prevailed, and +the Senate adopted the plebiscitum, and proposed it to the Comitia +Curiata, and it became a law. This step raised the authority of the +tribunes, and added to Roman liberties. + +(M802) The critical condition of Rome, from the renewed assaults of the +Acquians and Volscians, led to the appointment of another very remarkable +man to the dictatorship--L. Quintius Cincinnatus, a patrician, who +maintained the virtues of better days. He cultivated a little farm of four +jugera with his own hands, and lived with great simplicity. He summoned +every man of military age to meet him in the Campus Martius, and these +were provided with rations for five days. He then marched against the +triumphant enemy, surrounded them, and compelled them to surrender. He +made no use of his political power, and after sixteen days, laid down the +dictatorship, and retired to his farm, B.C. 458. All subsequent ages and +nations have embalmed the memory of this true patriot, who preferred the +quiet labors of his small farm of three and a half acres to the enjoyment +of absolute power. + +But his victory was not decisive, and the Romans continued to be harassed +by the neighboring nations, and they, moreover, suffered all the evils of +pestilence. It was at this time, in the three hundredth year of the city, +that they sought to make improvements in their laws--at least, to embody +laws in a written form. Greece was then in the height of her glory, in the +interval between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars, and thither a +commission was sent to examine her laws, especially those of Solon, at +Athens. On the return of the three commissioners, a new commission of ten +was appointed to draw up a new code, composed wholly of patricians, at the +head of which was Appius Claudius, consul elect, a man of commanding +influence and talents, but ill-regulated passions and unscrupulous +ambition. The new code was engraved upon ten tables, and subsequently two +more tables were added, and these twelve tables are the foundation of the +Roman jurisprudence, that branch of science which the Romans carried to +considerable perfection, and for which they are most celebrated. The +jurisprudence of Rome has survived all her conquests, and is the most +valuable contribution to civilization which she ever made. + +(M803) The decemvirs--those who codified the laws--came into supreme power, +and suspended the other great magistracies, and ruled, under the direction +of Appius Claudius, in an arbitrary and tyrannical manner. Their power +came to an end in a signal manner, and the history of their fall is +identified with one of the most beautiful legends of this heroic age, +which is also the subject of one of Macaulay's lays. + +(M804) Appius Claudius, who perhaps aspired to regal power, became +enamored of the daughter of a centurion, L. Virginius. In order to gratify +his passions, Claudius suborned a false accuser, one of his clients, who +was to pretend that the mother of Virginia had been his slave. Appius sat +in judgment, and against his own laws, and also the entreaties of the +people, declared her to be the slave of the accuser. Her father returned +from the army, and in his indignation plunged a dagger in her breast, +preferring her death to shame. The people and soldiers rallied around the +courageous soldier, took the capitol, and compelled the decemvirs to lay +down their office. The result of this insurrection was the creation of ten +tribunes instead of the old number, and ten continued to be the regular +number of tribunes till the fall of the republic. It was further decreed +that the votes of the plebs, passed in the Comitia Tributa, should be +binding on the whole people, provided they were confirmed by the Senate +and the assemblies of the curias and centuries. The persons of the +tribunes were declared to be inviolable, under the sanctions of religion, +and they, moreover, were admitted to the deliberations of the Senate, +though without a vote. Thus did the commons ascend another step in +political influence, B.C. 449. The next movement of the commons was to +take vengeance on Appius Claudius, who ended his life in prison. + +(M805) The plebs, now strengthened by the plebeian nobles, who sought +power through the tribunate, insisted on the abrogation of the law which +prevented the marriage of plebeians with patricians. This was effected +four years later, B.C. 445. These then attempted to secure the higher +magistracies, but this was prevented for a time, although they acquired +the right of plebeians to become military tribunes, or chief officer of +the legions, but none of the plebeians arose to that rank for several +years. + +(M806) A new office of great dignity was now created, that of censors, who +were chosen from men who had been consuls, and therefore had higher rank +than they. It was their duty to superintend the public morals, take the +census, and administer the finances. They could brand with ignominy the +highest officers of the State, could elect to the Senate, and control, +with the aediles, the public buildings and works. There were two elected to +this high office, and were chosen from the patrician ranks till the year +B.C. 421, when plebeians were admitted. They were even held in great +reverence, and enjoyed a larger term of office than the consuls, even of +five years. + +(M807) The commons gained additional importance by the opening of the +quaestorship to the plebeians, which took place about this time. The +quaestors virtually had charge of the public money, and were the paymasters +of the army. As these were curule officers, they had, by their office, +admission to the Senate. Another great increase of power among the +plebeians, about twenty years after the decemviral legislature, was the +right, transferred from the curiae to the centuries, of determining peace +and war. + +(M808) While these internal changes were in progress, the State was in +almost constant war with the Volscians and Acquians, and also with the +Etruscans. The former were kept at bay by the aid of the Latin and +Hernican allies. The latter were more formidable foes, and especially the +inhabitants of Veii--a powerful city in the plain of Southern Etruria, and +the largest of the confederated Etruscan cities, equal in size to Athens, +defended by a strong citadel on a hill. The Veientines, not willing to +contend with the Romans in the field, shut themselves up in their strong +city, to which the Romans laid siege. They drew around it a double line of +circumvallation, the inner one to prevent egress from the city, the outer +one to defend themselves against external attacks. The siege lasted ten +years, as long as that of Troy, but was finally taken by the great +Camillus, by means of a mine under the citadel. The fall of this strong +place was followed by the submission of all the Etruscan cities south of +the Ciminian forest, and the lands of the people of Veii were distributed +among the whole Roman people, at the rate of seven jugera to each +landholder, B.C. 396. + +(M809) But this event was soon followed by a great calamity to Rome--the +greatest she had ever suffered. The city fell into the hands of the +Gauls--a Celtic race. They were rather pastoral than agricultural, and +reared great numbers of swine. They had little attachment to the soil, +like the Italians and Germans, and delighted in towns. Their chief +qualities were personal bravery, an impetuous temper, boundless vanity, +and want of perseverance. They were good soldiers and bad citizens. They +were fond of a roving life, and given to pillage. They loved ornaments and +splendid dresses, and wore a gold collar round the neck. After an +expedition, they abandoned themselves to carousals. They sprung from the +same cradle as the Hellenic, Italian, and German people. Their first great +migration flowed past the Alps, and we find them in Gaul, Britain, and +Spain. From these settlements, they proceeded westward across the Alps. In +successive waves they invaded Italy. It was at the height of Etruscan +power, that they assumed a hostile attitude. From Etruria they proceeded +to the Roman territories. + +(M810) The first battle with these terrible foes resulted disastrously to +the Romans, who regarded them as half-disciplined barbarians, and +underrated their strength. Their defeat was complete, and their losses +immense. The flower of the Roman youth perished, B.C. 390. + +(M811) The victors entered Rome without resistance, while the Romans +retreated to their citadel, such as were capable of bearing arms. The rest +of the population dispersed. The fathers of the city, aged citizens, and +priests, seated themselves in the porches of their patrician houses, and +awaited the enemy. At first, they were mistaken for gods, so venerable and +calm their appearance; but the profanation of the sacred person of +Papirius dissolved the charm, and they were massacred. + +(M812) The Gauls then attempted to assault the capital, but failed. But a +youth, Pontius Cominius, having climbed the hill in the night with safety, +and opened communication with the Romans at Veii, the marks of his passage +suggested to the Gauls the means of taking the citadel. In the dead of the +following night a party of Gauls scaled the cliff, and were about to +surprise the citadel, when some geese, sacred to Juno, cried out and +flapped their wings, which noise awakened M. Manlius, who rushed to the +cliff and overpowered the foremost Gaul. A panic seized the rest, and the +capitol was saved. At length, when the siege had lasted seven months, and +famine pressed, the invaders were bought off by a ransom of one thousand +pounds weight of gold. "The iron of the barbarians had conquered; but they +sold their victory, and by selling, lost it." They were subsequently +defeated by Camillus, and Manlius, surnamed Torquatus, from the gold +collar he took from a gigantic Gaul, and also by other generals. + +The destruction of Rome was not a permanent calamity; it was a misfortune. +The period which followed was one of distress, but the energy of Camillus +reorganized the military force, and new alliances were made with the Latin +cities. Etruria, humbled and restricted within narrower limits, and +moreover enervated by luxury, was in no condition to oppose a people +inured to danger and sobered by adversity. + +(M813) The subsequent fate of Manlius, who saved the city, suggests the +fickleness and ingratitude of a republican State. The distress of the +lower classes, in consequence of the Gaulish invasion, became intolerable. +They became involved in debt, and thus were in the power of their +creditors. Manlius undertook to be their defender, but the envy of the +patricians caused him to be accused of aspiring to the supreme power, and +he was, in spite of his great services, sentenced to death and hurled from +the Tarpeian rock. His error was in premature reform. But, in the year 367 +B.C., the tribunes Licinius and L. Sextius secured the passage of three +memorable laws in the Curiata Tributa--the abolition of the military +tribunate, which had increased the power of the patricians, and the +restoration of the consulate, on the condition that one of the consuls +should be a plebeian; the second, that no citizen should possess more than +five hundred jugera of the public lands; and the third, that all interest +thus paid on loans should be deducted from the principal. These were +called the _Licinian Rogations_. But a new curule magistracy was created, +as a sort of compensation to the patricians, that of praetors, to be held +by them, exclusively. These political changes were made peaceably, and +with them the old gentile aristocracy ceased to be a political +institution. The remaining patrician offices were not long withheld from +the plebeians. But these political changes did not much ameliorate the +social condition of the poorer classes. The strictness of the Licinian +laws, the oppression of the rich, the high rate of interest, and the +existence of slavery, made the poor poorer, and the rich richer, and +prevented the expansion of industry. The plebeians had gained political +privileges, but not till great plebeian families had arisen. Power was +virtually in the hands of nobles, whether patrician or plebeian, and +aristocratic distinctions still remained. The plebeian noble sympathized +with patricians rather than with the poorer classes. Debt, usury, and +slavery began to bear fruits before the conquest of Italy. + + + + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + + +THE CONQUEST OF ITALY. + + +Hitherto, the Romans, after the expulsion of the kings, were involved in +wars with their immediate neighbors, and exposed to great calamities. All +they could do for one hundred and fifty years was to recover the +possessions they had lost. During this period great prodigies of valor +were performed, and great virtues were generated. It was the heroic period +of their history, when adversity taught them patience, endurance, and +public virtue. + +(M814) But a new period opens, when the plebeians had obtained political +power, and the immediate enemies were subdued. This was a period of +conquest over the various Italian States. The period is still heroic, but +historical. Great men arose, of talent and patriotism. The ambition of the +Romans now prominently appears. They had been struggling for +existence--they now fought for conquest. "The great achievement of the +regal period was the establishment," says Mommsen, "of the sovereignty of +Rome over Latium." That was shaken by the expulsion of Tarquin, but was +re-established in the wars which subsequently followed. After the fall of +Veii, all the Latin cities became subject to the Romans. On the overthrow +of the Volscians, the Roman armies reached the Samnite territory. + +(M815) The next memorable struggle of Rome was with Samnium, for the +supremacy of Italy. Samnium was a hilly country on the east of the +Volscians, and its people were brave and hardy. The Samnites had, at the +fall of Veii, an ascendency over Lower Italy, with the exception of the +Grecian colonies. Tarentum, Croton, Metapontum, Heraclea, Neapolis, and +other Grecian cities, maintained a precarious independence, but were +weakened by the successes of the Samnites. Capua, the capital of Campania, +where the Etruscan influence predominated, was taken by them, and Cumae was +wrested from the Greeks. + +But in the year B.C. 343, the Samnites came in collision with Rome, from +an application of Capua to Rome for assistance against them. The victories +of Valerius Corvus, and Cornelius Cossus gave Campania to the Romans. + +(M816) In the mean time the Latins had recovered strength, and determined +to shake off the Roman yoke, and the Romans made peace with the Samnites +and formed a close alliance, B.C. 341. The Romans and Samnites were ranged +against the Latins and Campanians. The hostile forces came in sight of +each other before Capua, and the first great battle was fought at the foot +of Mount Vesuvius. It was here that Titus Manlius, the son of the consul, +was beheaded by him for disobedience of orders, for the consuls issued +strict injunctions against all skirmishing, and Manlius, disregarding +them, slew an enemy in single combat. "The consul's cruelty was execrated, +but the discipline of the army was saved." + +(M817) This engagement furnishes another legend of the heroic and +patriotic self-devotion of those early Romans. The consuls, before the +battle, dreamed that the general on the one side should fall, and the army +on the other side should be beaten. Decius, the plebeian consul, when he +found his troops wavering, called the chief pontiff, and after invoking +the gods to assist his cause, rushed into the thickest of the Latin +armies, and was slain. The other consul, Torquatus, by a masterly use of +his reserve, gained the battle. Three-fourths of the Latin army were +slain. The Latin cities, after this decisive victory, lost their +independence, and the Latin confederacy was dissolved, and Latin +nationality was fused into one powerful State, and all Latium became +Roman. Roman citizens settled on the forfeited lands of the conquered +cities. + +(M818) The subjugation of Latium and the progress of Rome in Campania +filled the Samnites with jealousy, and it is surprising that they should +have formed an alliance with Rome, when Rome was conquering Campania. They +were the most considerable power in Italy, next to Rome, and to them fell +the burden of maintaining the independence of the Italian States against +the encroachments of the Romans. + +(M819) The Greek cities of Palaeapolis and Neapolis, the only communities +in Campania not yet reduced by the Romans, gave occasion to the outbreak +of the inevitable war between the Samnites and Romans. The Tarentines and +Samnites, informed of the intention of the Romans to seize these cities, +anticipated the seizure, upon which the Romans declared war, and commenced +the siege of Palaeapolis, which soon submitted, on the offer of favorable +terms. An alliance of the Romans with the Lucanians, left the Samnites +unsupported, except by tribes on the eastern mountain district. The Romans +invaded the Samnite territories, pillaging and destroying as far as +Apulia, on which the Samnites sent back the Roman prisoners and sought for +peace. But peace was refused by the inexorable enemy, and the Samnites +prepared for desperate resistance. They posted themselves in ambush at an +important pass in the mountains, and shut up the Romans, who offered to +capitulate. Instead of accepting the capitulation and making prisoners of +the whole army, the Samnite general, Gaius Pontius, granted an equitable +peace. But the Roman Senate, regardless of the oaths of their generals, +and regardless of the six hundred equites who were left as hostages, +canceled the agreement, and the war was renewed with increased +exasperation on the part of the Samnites, who, however, were sufficiently +magnanimous not to sacrifice the hostages they held. Rome sent a new army, +under Lucius Papirius Cursor, and laid siege to Lucania, where the Roman +equites lay in captivity. The city surrendered, and Papirius liberated his +comrades, and retaliated on the Samnite garrison. The war continued, like +all wars at that period between people of equal courage and resources, +with various success--sometimes gained by one party and sometimes by +another, until, in the fifteenth year of the war, the Romans established +themselves in Apulia, on one sea, and Campania, on the other. + +The people of Northern and Central Italy, perceiving that the Romans aimed +at the complete subjugation of the whole peninsula, now turned to the +assistance of the Samnites. The Etruscans joined their coalition, but were +at length subdued by Papirius Cursor. The Samnites found allies in the +Umbrians of Northern, and the Marsi and Pieligni of Central Italy, But +these people were easily subdued, and a peace was made with Samnium, after +twenty-two years' war, when Bovianum, its strongest city, was taken by +storm, B.C. 298. + +(M820) The defeated nations would not, however, submit to Rome without one +more final struggle, and the third Samnite war was renewed the following +year, for which the Samnites called to their aid the Gauls. This war +lasted nine years, and was virtually closed by the great victory of +Seutinum--a fiercely contested battle, where the Romans, though victorious, +lost nine thousand men. Umbria submitted, the Gauls dispersed, and the +Etruscans made a truce for four hundred months. The Samnites still made +desperate resistance, but were finally subdued in a decisive battle, where +twenty thousand were slain, and their great general, Pontius, was taken +prisoner, with four thousand Samnites. This misfortune closed the war, but +the Samnites were not subjected to humiliating terms. The Romans, however, +sullied their victories by the execution of C. Pontius, the Samnite +general, who had once spared the lives of two Roman armies, B.C. 291. Rome +now became the ruling State of Italy, but there were still two great +nations unsubdued--the Etruscans in the north, and the Lucanians in the +south. + +(M821) A new coalition arose against Rome, soon after the Samnites were +subdued, composed of Etruscans, Bruttians, and Lucanians. The war began in +Etruria, B.C. 283, and continued with alternate successes, until the +decisive victory at the Vadimonian Lake, gained by G. Domitius Calvinus, +destroyed forever the power of the Etruscans. The attention of Rome was +now given to Tarentum, a Greek city, at the bottom of the gulf of that +name, adjacent to the fertile plain of Lucania. This city, which was +pre-eminent among the States of Magna Grecia, had grown rich by commerce, +and was sufficiently powerful to defend herself against the Etruscans and +the Syracusans. It was a Dorian colony, but had abandoned the Lacedaemonian +simplicity, and was given over to pleasure and luxury; but, luxurious as +it was, it was the only obstacle to the supremacy of Rome over Italy. + +(M822) This thoughtless and enervated, but great city, ruled by +demagogues, had insulted Rome--burning and destroying some of her ships. It +was a reckless insult which Rome could not forget, prompted by fear as +well as hatred. When the Samnite war closed, the Tarentines, fearing the +vengeance of the most powerful State in Italy, sent to Pyrrhus, king of +Epirus, a soldier of fortune, for aid. They offered the supreme command of +their forces, with the right to keep a garrison in their city, till the +independence of Italy was secured. + +(M823) Pyrrhus, who was compared with Alexander of Macedon, aspired to +found an Hellenic empire in the West, as Alexander did in the East, and +responded to the call of the Tarentines. Rome was not now to contend with +barbarians, but with Hellenes--with phalanxes and cohorts instead of a +militia--with a military monarchy and sustained by military science. He +landed, B.C. 281, on the Italian shores, with an army of twenty thousand +veterans in phalanx, two thousand archers, three thousand cavalry, and +twenty elephants. The Tarentine allies promised three hundred and fifty +thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry to support him. The Romans +strained every nerve to meet him before these forces could be collected +and organized. They marched with a force of fifty thousand men, larger +than a consular army, under Laevinius and AEmilius. They met the enemy on +the plain of Heraclea. Seven times did the legion and phalanx drive one or +the other back. But the reserves of Pyrrhus, with his elephants, to which +the Romans were unaccustomed, decided the battle. Seven thousand Romans +were left dead on the field, and an immense number were wounded or taken +prisoners. But the battle cost Pyrrhus four thousand of his veterans, +which led him to say that another such victory would be his ruin. The +Romans retreated into Apulia, but the whole south of Italy, Lucania, +Samnium, the Bruttii, and the Greek cities were the prizes which the +conqueror won. + +(M824) Pyrrhus then offered peace, since he only aimed to establish a +Greek power in Southern Italy. The Senate was disposed to accept it, but +the old and blind Appius Claudius was carried in his litter through the +crowded forum--as Chatham, in after times, bowed with infirmities and age, +was carried to the parliament--and in a vehement speech denounced the +peace, and infused a new spirit into the Senate. The Romans refused to +treat with a foreign enemy on the soil of Italy. The ambassador of +Pyrrhus, the orator Cineas, returned to tell the conqueror that to fight +the Romans was to fight a hydra--that their city was a temple, and their +senators were kings. + +(M825) Two new legions were forthwith raised to re-enforce Laevinius, while +Pyrrhus marched direct to Rome. But when he arrived within eighteen miles, +he found an enemy in his front, while Laevinius harassed his rear. He was +obliged to retreat, and retired to Tarentum with an immense booty. The +next year he opened the campaign in Apulia; but he found an enemy of +seventy thousand infantry and eight thousand horse--a force equal to his +own. The first battle was lost by the Romans, who could not penetrate the +Grecian phalanx, and were trodden down by the elephants. But he could not +prosecute his victory, his troops melted away, and he again retired to +Tarentum for winter quarters. + +(M826) Like a military adventurer, he then, for two years, turned his +forces against the Carthaginians, and relieved Syracuse. But he did not +avail himself of his victories, being led by a generous nature into +political mistakes. He then returned to Italy to renew his warfare with +the Romans. The battle of Beneventum, gained by Carius, the Roman general, +decided the fate of Pyrrhus. The flower of his Epirot troops was +destroyed, and his camp fell, with all its riches, into the hands of the +Romans. The king of Epirus retired to his own country, and was +assassinated by a woman at Argos, after he had wrested the crown of +Macedonia from Antigonus, B.C. 272. He had left, however, to garrison, +under Milo, at Tarentum. The city fell into the hands of the Romans the +year that Pyrrhus died. + +(M827) With the fall of Tarentum, the conquest of Italy was complete. The +Romans found no longer any enemies to resist them on the peninsula. A +great State was organized for the future subjection of the world. The +conquest of Italy greatly enriched the Romans. Both rich and poor became +possessed of large grants of land from the conquered territories. The +conquered cities were incorporated with the Roman State, and their +inhabitants became Roman citizens or allies. The growth of great plebeian +families re-enforced the aristocracy, which was based on wealth. Italy +became Latinized, and Rome was now acknowledged as one of the great powers +of the world. + +(M828) The great man at Rome during the period of the Samnite wars was +Appius Claudius--great grandson of the decemvir, and the proudest +aristocrat that had yet appeared. He enjoyed all the great offices of +State. To him we date many improvements in the city, also the highway +which bears his name. He was the patron of art, of eloquence, and poetry. +But, at this period, all individual greatness was lost in the State. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIX. + + +THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. + + +A contest greater than with Pyrrhus and the Greek cities, more memorable +in its incidents, and more important in its consequences, now awaited the +Romans. This was with Carthage, the greatest power, next to Rome, in the +world at that time--a commercial State which had been gradually aggrandized +for three hundred years. It was a rich and powerful city at the close of +the Persian wars. It had succeeded Tyre as the mistress of the sea. + +(M829) We have seen, in the second book, how the Carthaginians were +involved in wars with Syracuse, when that city had reached the acme of its +power under Dionysius. We have also alluded to the early history and power +of Carthage. At the time Pyrrhus landed in Sicily, it contained nearly a +million of people, and controlled the northern coast of Africa, and the +western part of the Mediterranean. Carthage was strictly a naval power, +although her colonies were numerous, and her dependencies large. The land +forces were not proportionate to the naval; but large armies were +necessary to protect her dependencies in the constant wars in which she +was engaged. These armies were chiefly mercenaries, and their main +strength consisted in light cavalry. + +(M830) The territories of Carthage lay chiefly in the islands which were +protected by her navy and enriched by her commerce. Among these insular +possessions, Sardinia was the largest and most important, and was the +commercial depot of Southern Europe. A part of Sicily, also, as we have +seen (Book ii., chap. 24), was colonized and held by her, and she aimed at +the sovereignty of the whole island. Hence the various wars with Syracuse. +The Carthaginians and Greeks were the rivals for the sovereignty of this +fruitful island, the centre of the oil and wine trade, the store-house for +all sorts of cereals. Had Carthage possessed the whole of Sicily, her +fleets would have controlled the Mediterranean. + +(M831) The embroilment of Carthage with the Grecian States on this island +was the occasion of the first rupture with Rome. Messina, the seat of the +pirate republic of the Mamertines, was in close alliance with Rhegium, a +city which had grown into importance during the war with Pyrrhus. Rhegium, +situated on the Italian side of the strait, solicited the protection of +Rome, and a body of Campanian troops was sent to its assistance. These +troops expelled or massacred the citizens for whose protection they had +been sent, and established a tumultuary government. On the fall of +Tarentum, the Romans sought to punish this outrage, and also to embrace +the opportunity to possess a town which would facilitate a passage to +Sicily, for Sicily as truly belonged to Italy as the Peloponnesus to +Greece, being separated only by a narrow strait. A Roman army was +accordingly sent to take possession of Rhegium, but the defenders made a +desperate resistance. It was finally taken by storm, and the original +citizens obtained repossession, as dependents and allies of Rome. The fall +of Rhegium robbed the pirate city of Messina of the only ally on which it +could count, and subjected it to the vengeance of both the Carthaginians +and the Syracusans. The latter were then under the sway of Hiero, who, for +fifty years, had reigned without despotism, and had quietly developed both +the resources and the freedom of the city. He collected an army of +citizens, devoted to him, who expelled the Mamertines from many of their +towns, and gained a decisive victory over them, not far from Messina. + +(M832) The Mamertines, in danger of subjection by the Syracusans, then +looked for foreign aid. One party looked to Carthage, and another to Rome. +The Carthaginian party prevailed on the Mamertines to receive a Punic +garrison. The Romans, seeking a pretext for a war with Carthage, sent an +army ostensibly to protect Messina against Hiero. But the strait which +afforded a passage to Sicily was barred by a Carthaginian fleet. The +Romans, unaccustomed to the sea, were defeated. Not discouraged, however, +they finally succeeded in landing at Messina, and although Carthage and +Rome were at peace, seized Hanno, the Carthaginian general, who had the +weakness to command the evacuation of the citadel as a ransom for his +person. + +(M833) On this violation of international law, Hiero, who feared the +Romans more than the Carthaginians, made an alliance with Carthage, and +the combined forces of Syracuse and Carthage marched to the liberation of +Messina. The Romans, under Appius, the consul, then made overtures of +peace to the Carthaginians, and bent their energies against Hiero. But +Hiero, suspecting the Carthaginians of treachery, for their whole course +with the Syracusans for centuries had been treacherous, retired to +Syracuse. Upon which the Romans attacked the Carthaginians singly, and +routed them, and spread devastation over the whole island. + +This was the commencement of the first Punic war, in which the Romans were +plainly the aggressors. Two consular armies now threatened Syracuse, when +Hiero sought peace, which was accepted on condition of provisioning the +Roman armies, and paying one hundred talents to liberate prisoners. + +The first Punic war began B.C. 264, and lasted twenty-four years. Before +we present the leading events of that memorable struggle, let us glance at +the power of Carthage--the formidable rival of Rome. + +(M834) As has been narrated, Carthage was founded upon a peninsula, or +rocky promontory, sixty-five years before the foundation of Rome. The +inhabitants of Carthage, descendants of Phoenicians, were therefore of +Semitic origin. The African farmer was a Canaanite, and all the Canaanites +lacked the instinct of political life. The Phoenicians thought of commerce +and wealth, and not political aggrandizement. With half their power, the +Hellenic cities achieved their independence. Carthage was a colony of +Phoenicians, and had their ideas. It lived to traffic and get rich. It was +washed on all sides, except the west, by the sea, and above the city, on +the western heights, was the citadel Byrsa, called so from the word {~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}, +a hide, according to the legend that Dido, when she came to Africa, bought +of the inhabitants as much land as could be encompassed by a bull's hide, +which she cut into thongs, and inclosed the territory on which she built +the citadel. The city grew to be twenty-three miles in circuit, and +contained seven hundred thousand people. It had two harbors, an outer and +inner, the latter being surrounded by a lofty wall. A triple wall was +erected across the peninsula, to protect it from the west, three miles +long, and between the walls were stables for three hundred elephants, four +thousand horses, and barracks for two thousand infantry, with magazines +and stores. In the centre of the inner harbor was an island, called +Cothon, the shores of which were lined with quays and docks for two +hundred and twenty ships. The citadel, Byrsa, was two miles in circuit, +and when it finally surrendered to the Romans, fifty thousand people +marched out of it. On its summit was the famous temple of AEsculapius. At +the northwestern angle of the city were twenty immense reservoirs, each +four hundred feet by twenty-eight, filled with water, brought by an +aqueduct at a distance of fifty-two miles. The suburb Megara, beyond the +city walls, but within those that defended the peninsula, was the site of +magnificent gardens and villas, which were adorned with every kind of +Grecian art, for the Carthaginians were rich before Rome had conquered +even Latium. This great city controlled the other Phoenician cities, part +of Sicily, Numidia, Mauritania, Lybia--in short, the northern part of +Africa, and colonies in Spain and the islands of the western part of the +Mediterranean. The city alone could furnish in an exigency forty thousand +heavy infantry, one thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand war chariots. +The garrison of the city amounted to twenty thousand foot and four +thousand horse, and the total force which the city could command was more +than one hundred thousand men. The navy was the largest in the world, for, +in the sea-fight with Regulus, it numbered three hundred and fifty ships, +carrying one hundred and fifty thousand men. + +Such was this great power against which the Romans were resolved to +contend. It would seem that Carthage was willing that Rome should have the +sovereignty of Italy, provided it had itself the possession of Sicily. But +this was what the Romans were determined to prevent. The object of +contention, then, between these two rivals, the one all-powerful by land +and the other by sea, was the possession of Sicily. + +(M835) During the first three years of the war, the Romans made themselves +masters of all the island, except the maritime fortresses at its western +extremity, Eryx and Panormus. Meanwhile the Carthaginians ravaged the +coasts of Italy, and destroyed its commerce. The Romans then saw that +Sicily could not be held without a navy as powerful as that of their +rivals, and it was resolved to build at once one hundred and twenty ships. +A Carthaginian quinquereme, wrecked on the Bruttian shore, furnished the +model, the forests of Silo the timber, and the maritime cities of Italy +and Greece, the sailors. In sixty days a fleet of one hundred and twenty +ships was built and ready for sea. The superior seamanship of the +Carthaginians was neutralized by converting the decks into a battle-field +for soldiers. Each ship was provided with a long boarding-bridge, hinged +up against the mast, to be let down on the prow, and fixed to the hostile +deck by a long spike, which projected from its end. The bridge was wide +enough for two soldiers to pass abreast, and its sides were protected by +bulwarks. + +(M836) The first encounter of the Romans with the Carthaginians resulted +in the capture of the whole force, a squadron of seventeen ships. The +second encounter ended in the capture of more ships than the Roman +admiral, Cn. Scipio, had lost. The next battle, that of Mylae, in which the +whole Roman fleet was engaged, again turned in favor of the Romans, whose +bad seamanship provoked the contempt of their foes, and led to +self-confidence. The battle was gained by grappling the enemy's ships one +by one. The Carthaginians lost fourteen ships, and only saved the rest by +inglorious flight. + +(M837) For six years no decided victories were won by either side, but in +the year B.C. 256, nine years from the commencement of hostilities, M. +Atilius Regulus, a noble of the same class and habits as Cincinnatus and +Fabricius, with a fleet of three hundred and thirty ships, manned by one +hundred thousand sailors, encountered the Carthaginian fleet of three +hundred and fifty ships on the southern coast of Sicily, and gained a +memorable victory. It was gained on the same principle as Epaminondas and +Alexander won their battles, by concentrating all the forces upon a single +point, and breaking the line. The Romans advanced in the shape of a wedge, +with the two consuls' ships at the apex. The Carthaginian admirals allowed +the centre to give way before the advancing squadron. The right wing made +a circuit out in the open sea, and took the Roman reserve in the rear, +while the left wing attacked the vessels that were towing the horse +transports, and forced them to the shore. But the Carthaginian centre, +being thus left weak, was no match for the best ships of the Romans, and +the consuls, victorious in the centre, turned to the relief of the two +rear divisions. The Carthaginians lost sixty-four ships, which were taken, +besides twenty-four which were sunk, and retreated with the remainder to +the Gulf of Carthage, to defend the shores against the anticipated attack. + +(M838) The Romans, however, made for another point, and landed in the +harbor of Aspis, intrenched a camp to protect their ships, and ravaged the +country. Twenty thousand captives were sent to Rome and sold as slaves, +besides an immense booty--a number equal to a fifth part of the free +population of the city. A footing in Africa was thus made, and so secure +were the Romans, that a large part of the army was recalled, leaving +Regulus with only forty ships, fifteen thousand infantry, and five hundred +cavalry. Yet with this small army he defeated the Carthaginians, and +became master of the country to within ten miles of Carthage. The +Carthaginians, shut up in the city, sued for peace; but it was granted +only on condition of the cession of Sicily and Sardinia, the surrender of +the fleet, and the reduction of Carthage to the condition of a dependent +city. Such a proposal was rejected, and despair gave courage to the +defeated Carthaginians. + +(M839) They made one grand effort while Regulus lay inactive in winter +quarters. The return of Hamilcar from Sicily with veteran troops, which +furnished a nucleus for a new army, inspired the Carthaginians with hope, +and assisted by a Lacedaemonian general, Xanthippus, with a band of Greek +mercenaries, the Carthaginians marched unexpectedly upon Regulus, and so +signally defeated him at Tunis, that only two thousand Romans escaped. +Regulus, with five hundred of the legionary force, was taken captive and +carried to Carthage. + +(M840) The Carthaginians now assumed the offensive, and Sicily became the +battle-field. Hasdrubal, son of Hanno, landed on the island with one +hundred and forty elephants, while the Roman fleet of three hundred ships +suffered a great disaster off the Lucanian promontory. A storm arose, +which wrecked one hundred and fifty ships--a disaster equal to the one +which it suffered two years before, when two-thirds of the large fleet +which was sent to relieve the two thousand troops at Clupea was destroyed +by a similar storm. In spite of these calamities, the Romans took Panormus +and Thermae, and gained a victory under the walls of the former city which +cost the Carthaginians twenty thousand men and the capture of one hundred +and twenty elephants. This success, gained by Metellus, was the greatest +yet obtained in Sicily, and the victorious general adorned his triumph +with thirteen captured generals and one hundred and four elephants. + +(M841) The two maritime fortresses which still held out at the west of the +island, Drepanum and Lilybaeum, were now invested, and the Carthaginians, +shut up in these fortresses, sent an embassy to Rome to ask an exchange of +prisoners, and sue for peace. Regulus, now five years a prisoner, was +allowed to accompany the embassy, on his promise to return if the mission +was unsuccessful. As his condition was now that of a Carthaginian slave, +he was reluctant to enter the city, and still more the Senate, of which he +was no longer a member. But when this reluctance was overcome, he +denounced both the peace and the exchange of prisoners. The Romans wished +to retain this noble patriot, but he was true to his oath, and returned +voluntarily to Carthage, after having defeated the object of the +ambassadors, knowing that a cruel death awaited him. The Carthaginians, +indignant and filled with revenge, it is said, exposed the hero to a +burning sun, with his eyelids cut off, and rolled him in a barrel lined +with iron spikes. + +(M842) The embassy having thus failed, the attack on the fortresses, which +alone linked Africa with Sicily, was renewed. The siege of Lilybaeum lasted +till the end of the war, which, from the mutual exhaustion of the parties, +now languished for six years. The Romans had lost four great fleets, three +of which had arms on board, and the census of the city, in the seventeenth +year, showed a decrease of forty thousand citizens. During this interval +of stagnation, when petty warfare alone existed, Hamilcar Burca was +appointed general of Carthage, and in the same year his son Hannibal was +born, B.C. 247. + +(M843) The Romans, disgusted with the apathy of the government, fitted out +a fleet of privateers of two hundred ships, manned by sixty thousand +sailors, and this fleet gained a victory over the Carthaginians, +unprepared for such a force, so that fifty ships were sunk, and seventy +more were carried by the victors into port. This victory gave Sicily to +the Romans, and ended the war. The Roman prisoners were surrendered by +Hamilcar, who had full powers for peace, and Carthage engaged to pay three +thousand two hundred talents for the expenses of the war. + +(M844) The Romans were gainers by this war. They acquired the richest +island in the world, fertile in all the fruits of the earth, with splendid +harbors, cities, and a great accumulation of wealth. The long war of +twenty-four years, nearly a whole generation, was not conducted on such a +scale as essentially to impoverish the contending parties. There were no +debts contracted for future generations to pay. It was the most absorbing +object of public interest, indeed; but many other events and subjects must +also have occupied the Roman mind. It was a foreign war, the first that +Rome had waged. It was a war of ambition, the commencement of those +unscrupulous and aggressive measures that finally resulted in the +political annihilation of all the other great powers of the world. + +But this war, compared with those foreign wars which Rome subsequently +conducted, was carried on without science and skill. It was carried on in +the transition period of Roman warfare, when tactics were more highly +prized than strategy. It was by a militia, and agricultural generals, and +tactics, and personal bravery, that the various Italian nations were +subdued, when war had not ripened into a science, such as was conducted +even by the Greeks. There was no skill or experience in the conduct of +sieges. The navy was managed by Greek mercenaries. + +(M845) The great improvement in the science of war which this first +contest with a foreign power led to, was the creation of a navy, and the +necessity of employing veteran troops, led by experienced generals. A +deliberative assembly, like the Senate, it was found could not conduct a +foreign war. It was left to generals, who were to learn marches and +countermarches, sieges, and a strategical system. The withdrawal of half +the army of Regulus by the Senate proved nearly fatal. Carthage could not +be subdued by that rustic warfare which had sufficed for the conquest of +Etruria or Samnium. The new system of war demanded generals who had +military training and a military eye, and not citizen admirals. The final +success was owing to the errors of the Carthaginians rather than military +science. + + + + + CHAPTER XXX. + + +THE SECOND PUNIC OR HANNIBALIC WAR. + + +The peace between the Carthaginians and Romans was a mere truce. Though it +lasted twenty-one years, new sources of quarrel were accumulating, and +forces were being prepared for a more decisive encounter. + +Before we trace the progress of this still more memorable war, let us +glance at the events which transpired in the interval between it and the +first contest. + +(M846) That interval is memorable for the military career of Hamilcar, and +his great ascendency at Carthage. That city paid dearly for the peace it +had secured, for the tribute of Sicily flowed into the treasury of the +Romans. Its commercial policy was broken up, and the commerce of Italy +flowed in new channels. This change was bitterly felt by the Phoenician +city, and a party was soon organized for the further prosecution of +hostilities. There was also a strong peace party, made up of the indolent +and cowardly money-worshipers of that mercantile State. The war party was +headed by Hamilcar, the peace party by Hanno, which at first had the +ascendency. It drove the army into mutiny by haggling about pay. The +Libyan mercenaries joined the revolt, and Carthage found herself alone in +the midst of anarchies. In this emergency the government solicited +Hamilcar to save it from the effect of its blunders and selfishness. + +(M847) This government, as at Rome, was oligarchic, but the nobles were +merely mercantile grandees, without ability--jealous, exclusive, and +selfish. The great body of the people whom they ruled were poor and +dependent. In intrusting power to Hamilcar, the government of wealthy +citizens only gave him military control. The army which he commanded was +not a citizen militia, it was made up of mercenaries. Hamilcar was obliged +to construct a force from these, to whom the State looked for its +salvation. + +He was a young man, a little over thirty, and foreboding that he would not +live to complete his plans, enjoined his son Hannibal, nine years of age, +when he was about to leave Carthage, to swear at the altar of the Eternal +God hatred of the Roman name. + +(M848) He left Carthage for Spain, taking with him his sons, to be reared +in the camp. He marched along the coast, accompanied by the fleet, which +was commanded by Hasdrubal. He crossed the sea at the Pillars of Hercules, +with the view of organizing a Spanish kingdom to assist the Carthaginians +in their future warfare. But he died prematurely, B.C. 229, leaving his +son-in-law, Hasdrubal, to carry out his designs, and the southern and +eastern provinces of Spain became Carthaginian provinces. Carthagena arose +as the capital of this new Spanish kingdom, in the territory of the +Contestana. Here agriculture flourished, and still more, mining, from the +silver mines, which produced, a century afterward, thirty-six millions of +sesterces--nearly two million dollars--yearly. Carthage thus acquired in +Spain a market for its commerce and manufactures, and the New Carthage +ruled as far as the Ebro. But the greatest advantage of this new +acquisition to Carthage was the new class of mercenary soldiers which were +incorporated with the army. At first, the Romans were not alarmed by the +rise of this new Spanish power, and saw only a compensation for the +tribute and traffic which Carthage had lost in Sicily. And while the +Carthaginians were creating armies in Spain, the Romans were engaged in +conquering Cisalpine Gaul, and consolidating the Italian conquests. + +(M849) Hasdrubal was assassinated after eight years of successful +administration, and Hannibal was hailed as his successor by the army, and +the choice was confirmed by the Carthaginians, B.C. 221. He was now +twenty-nine, trained to all the fatigue and dangers of the camp, and with +a native genius for war, which made him, according to the estimation of +modern critics, the greatest general of antiquity. He combined courage +with discretion, and prudence with energy. He had an inventive craftiness, +which led him to take unexpected routes. He profoundly studied the +character of antagonists, and kept himself informed of the projects of his +enemies. He had his spies at Rome, and was frequently seen in disguises in +order to get important information. + +(M850) This crafty and able general resolved, on his nomination, to make +war at once upon the Romans, whom he regarded as the deadly foe of his +country. His first great exploit was the reduction of Saguntum, an Iberian +city on the coast, in alliance with the Romans. It defended itself with +desperate energy for eight months, and its siege is memorable. The +inhabitants were treated with savage cruelty, and the spoil was sent to +Carthage. + +(M851) This act of Hannibal was the occasion, though not the cause, of the +second Punic war. The Romans, indignant, demanded of Carthage the +surrender of the general who had broken the peace. On the fall of +Saguntum, Hannibal retired to Carthagena for winter quarters, and to make +preparations for the invasion of Italy. He collected an army of one +hundred and twenty thousand infantry, sixteen thousand cavalry, and +fifty-eight elephants, assisted by a naval force. But the whole of this +great army was not designed for the Italian expedition. A part of it was +sent for the protection of Carthage, and a part was reserved for the +protection of Spain, the government of which he intrusted to his brother +Hasdrubal. + +(M852) The nations of the earth, two thousand years ago, would scarcely +appreciate the magnitude of the events which were to follow from the +invasion of Italy, and the war which followed--perhaps "the most memorable +of all the wars ever waged," certainly one of the most memorable in human +annals. The question at issue was, whether the world was to be governed by +a commercial oligarchy, with all the superstitions of the East, or by the +laws of a free and patriotic State. It was a war waged between the genius +of a mighty general and the resources of the Roman people, for Hannibal +did not look for aid so much to his own State, as to those hardy Spaniards +who followed his standard. + +(M853) In the spring, B.C. 218, Hannibal set out from New Carthage with an +army of ninety thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry. He +encountered at the Ebro the first serious resistance, but this was from +the natives, and not the Romans. It took four months to surmount their +resistance, during which he lost one-fourth of his army. As it was his +great object to gain time before the Romans could occupy the passes of the +Alps, he made this sacrifice of his men. When he readied the Pyrenees, he +sent home a part of his army, and crossed those mountains with only fifty +thousand infantry and nine thousand cavalry; but these were veteran +troops. He took the coast route by Narbonne and Nimes, through the Celtic +territory, and encountered no serious resistance till he reached the +Rhone, opposite to Avignon, about the end of July. The passage was +disputed by Scipio, assisted by friendly Gauls, but Hannibal outflanked +his enemies by sending a detachment across the river, on rafts, two days' +march higher up, and thus easily forced the passage, and was three days' +march beyond the river before Scipio was aware that he had crossed. Scipio +then sailed back to Pisa, and aided his colleague to meet the invader in +Cisalpine Gaul. + +(M854) Hannibal, now on Celtic territory on the Roman side of the Rhone, +could not be prevented from reaching the Alps. Two passes then led from +the lower Rhone across the Alps--the one by the Cottian Alps (Mount +Geneva); and the other, the higher pass of the Grain Alps (Mount St. +Bernard), and this was selected by Hannibal. The task of transporting a +large army over even this easier pass was a work of great difficulty, with +baggage, cavalry, and elephants, when the autumn snows were falling, +resisted by the mountaineers, against whom they had to fight to the very +summit of the pass. The descent, though free from enemies, was still more +dangerous, and it required, at one place, three days' labor to make the +road practicable for the elephants. The army arrived, the middle of +September, in the plain of Ivrea, where his exhausted troops were +quartered in friendly villages. Had the Romans met him near Turin with +only thirty thousand men, and at once forced a battle, the prospects of +Hannibal would have been doubtful. But no army appeared; the object was +attained, but with the loss of half his troops, and the rest so +demoralized by fatigue, that a long rest was required. + +(M855) The great talents by which Scipio atoned for his previous errors +now extricated his army from destruction. He retreated across the Ticinio +and the Po, refusing a pitched battle on the plains, and fell back upon a +strong position on the hills. The united consular armies, forty thousand +men, were so posted as to compel Hannibal to attack in front with inferior +force, or go into winter quarters, trusting to the doubtful fidelity of +the Gauls. + +(M856) It has been well said, "that it was the misfortune of Rome's double +magistracy when both consuls were present on the field." Owing to a wound +which Scipio had received, the command devolved upon Sempronius, who, +eager for distinction, could not resist the provocations of Hannibal to +bring on a battle. In one of the skirmishes the Roman cavalry and light +infantry were enticed by the flying Numidians across a swollen stream, and +suddenly found themselves before the entire Punic army. The whole Roman +force hurried across the stream to support the vanguard. A battle took +place on the Trasimene Lake, in which the Romans were sorely beaten, but +ten thousand infantry cut their way through the masses of the enemy, and +reached the fortress of Placentia, where they were joined by other bands. +After this success, which gave Hannibal all of Northern Italy, his army, +suffering from fatigue and disease, retired into winter quarters. He now +had lost all his elephants but one. The remains of the Roman army passed +the winter in the fortresses of Placentia and Cremona. + +(M857) The next spring, the Romans, under Flaminius, took the field, with +four legions, to command the great northern and eastern roads, and the +passes of the Appenines. But Hannibal, knowing that Rome was only +vulnerable at the heart, rapidly changed his base, crossed the Appenines +at an undefended pass, and advanced, by the lower Arno, into Etruria, +while Flaminius was watching by the upper course of that stream. Flaminius +was a mere party leader and demagogue, and was not the man for such a +crisis, for Hannibal was allowed to pass by him, and reach Faesulae +unobstructed. The Romans prepared themselves for the worst, broke down the +bridges over the Tiber, and nominated Quintus Fabius Maximus dictator. + +(M858) Pyrrhus would have marched direct upon Rome, but Hannibal was more +far-sighted. His army needed a new organization, and rest, and recruits, +so he marched unexpectedly through Umbria, devastated the country, and +halted on the shores of the Adriatic. Here he rested, reorganized his +Libyan cavalry, and resumed his communication with Carthage. He then broke +up his camp, and marched into Southern Italy, hoping to break up the +confederacy. But not a single Italian town entered into alliance with the +Carthaginians. + +(M859) Fabius, the dictator, a man of great prudence, advanced in years, +and a tactitian of the old Roman school, determined to avoid a pitched +battle, and starve or weary out his enemy. Hannibal adjusted his plans in +accordance with the character of the man he opposed. So he passed the +Roman army, crossed the Appenines, took Telesia, and turned against Capua, +the most important of all the Italian dependent cities, hoping for a +revolt among the Campanian towns. Here again he was disappointed. So, +retracing his steps, he took the road to Apulia, the dictator following +him along the heights. So the summer was consumed by marchings and +counter-marchings, the lands of the Hispanians, Campamans, Samnites, +Paelignians, and other provinces, being successively devastated. But no +important battle was fought. He selected then the rich lands of Apulia for +winter quarters, and intrenched his camp at Gerenium. The Romans formed a +camp in the territory of the Larinates, and harassed the enemy's foragers. +This defensive policy of Fabius wounded the Roman pride, and the dictator +became unpopular. The Senate resolved to depart from a policy which was +slowly but surely ruining the State, and an army was equipped larger than +Rome ever before sent into the field, composed of eight legions, under the +command of the two consuls, L. AEmilius Paulus, and M. Terentius Varro. The +former, a patrician, had conducted successfully the Illyrian war; the +latter, the popular candidate, incapable, conceited, and presumptuous. + +(M860) As soon as the season allowed him to leave his winter-quarters, +Hannibal, assuming the offensive, marched out of Gerenium, passed Luceria, +crossed the Aufidus, and took the citadel of Cannae, which commanded the +plain of Canusium. The Roman consuls arrived in Apulia in the beginning of +the summer, with eighty thousand infantry and six thousand cavalry. +Hannibal's force was forty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry, +inured to regular warfare. The Romans made up their minds to fight, and +confronted the Carthaginians on the right bank of the Aufidus. According +to a foolish custom, the command devolved on one of the consuls every +other day, and Varro determined to avail himself of the first opportunity +for a battle. The forces met on the plain west of Cannae, more favorable to +the Carthaginians than the Romans, on account of the superiority of the +cavalry. It is difficult, without a long description, to give clear +conceptions of this famous battle. Hannibal, it would seem, like +Epaminondas and Alexander, brought to bear his heavy cavalry, under +Hasdrubal, upon the weakest point of the enemy, after the conflict had +continued awhile without decisive results. The weaker right of the Roman +army, led by Paulus, after bravely fighting, were cut down and driven +across the river. Paulus, wounded, then rode to the centre, composed of +infantry in close lines, which had gained an advantage over the Spanish +and Gaulish troops that encountered them. In order to follow up this +advantage, the legions pressed forward in the form of a wedge. In this +position the Libyan infantry, wheeling upon them right and left, warmly +assailed both sides of the Roman infantry, which checked its advance. By +this double flank attack the Roman infantry became crowded, and were not +free. Meanwhile, Hasdrubal, after defeating the right wing, which had been +led by Paulus, led his cavalry behind the Roman centre and attacked the +left wing, led by Varro. The cavalry of Varro, opposed by the Numidian +cavalry, was in no condition to meet this double attack, and was +scattered. Hasdrubal again rallied his cavalry, and led it to the rear of +the Roman centre, already in close fight with the Spanish and Gaulish +infantry. This last charge decided the battle. Flight was impossible, for +the river was in the rear, and in front was a victorious enemy. No quarter +was given. Seventy thousand Romans were slain, including the consul Paulus +and eighty men of senatorial rank. Varro was saved by the speed of his +horse. The Carthaginians lost not quite six thousand. + +(M861) This immense disaster was the signal for the revolt of the allies, +which Hannibal before in vain had sought to procure. Capua opened her +gates to the conqueror. Nearly all the people of Southern Italy rose +against Rome. But the Greek cities of the coast were held by Roman +garrisons, as well as the fortresses in Apulia, Campania, and Samnium. The +news of the battle of Cannae, B.C. 216, induced the Macedonian king to +promise aid to Hannibal. The death of Hiero at Syracuse made Sicily an +enemy to Rome, while Carthage, now elated, sent considerable +re-enforcements. + +(M862) Many critics have expressed surprise that Hannibal, after this +great victory, did not at once march upon Rome. Had he conquered, as +Alexander did, a Persian, Oriental, effeminate people, this might have +been his true policy. But Rome was still capable of a strong defense, and +would not have succumbed under any pressure of adverse circumstances, and +she also was still strong in allies. And more, Hannibal had not perfected +his political combinations. He was not ready to strike the final blow. He +had to keep his eye on Macedonia, Africa, Sicily, and Spain. Alexander did +not march to Babylon, until he had subdued Phoenicia and Egypt. Even the +capture of Rome would not prevent a long war with the States of Italy. + +(M863) Nor did the Romans lose courage when they learned the greatest +calamity which had ever befallen them. They made new and immense +preparations. All the reserve forces were called out--all men capable of +bearing arms--young or old. Even the slaves were armed, after being +purchased by the State, and made soldiers. Spoils were taken down from the +temples. The Latin cities sent in contingents, and the Senate refused to +receive even the envoy of the conqueror. + +(M864) Such courage and fortitude and energy were not without effect, +while the enervating influence of Capua, the following winter, demoralized +the Carthaginians. The turning point of the war was the winter which +followed the defeat at Cannae. The great aim of Hannibal, in his expedition +to Italy, had been to break up the Italian confederacy. After three +campaigns, that object was only imperfectly accomplished, in spite of his +victories, and he had a great frontier to protect. With only forty +thousand men, he could not leave it uncovered, and advance to Rome. The +Romans, too, learning wisdom, now appointed only generals of experience, +and continued them in command. + +(M865) The animating soul of the new warfare was Marcus Claudius +Marcellus, a man fifty years of age, who had received a severe military +training, and performed acts of signal heroism. He was not a general to be +a mere spectator of the movements of the enemy from the hills, but to take +his position in fortified camps under the walls of fortresses. With the +two legions saved from Cannae, and the troops raised from Rome and Ostia, +he followed Hannibal to Campania, while other Roman armies were posted in +other quarters. + +Hannibal now saw that without great re-enforcements from Carthage, Spain, +Macedonia, and Syracuse, he would be obliged to fight on the defensive. +But the Carthaginians sent only congratulations; the king of Macedonia +failed in courage; while the Romans intercepted supplies from Syracuse and +Spain. Hannibal was left to his own resources. + +(M866) Scipio, meanwhile, in Spain, attacked the real base of Hannibal, +overran the country of the Ebro, secured the passes of the Pyrenees, and +defeated Hasdrubal while attempting to lead succor to his brother. The +capture of Saguntum gave the Romans a strong fortress between the Ebro and +Carthagena. Scipio even meditated an attack on Africa, and induced Syphax, +king of one of the Numidian nations, to desert Carthage, which caused the +recall of Hasdrubal from Spain. His departure left Scipio master of the +peninsula; but Hasdrubal, after punishing the disaffected Numidians, +returned to Spain, and with overwhelming numbers regained their +ascendency, and Scipio was slain, as well as his brother, and their army +routed. + +(M867) It has been mentioned that on the death of Hiero, who had been the +long-tried friend of Rome, Syracuse threw her influence in favor of +Carthage, being ruled by factions. Against this revolted city the consul +Marcellus now advanced, and invested the city by land and sea. He was +foiled by the celebrated mathematician Archimedes, who constructed engines +which destroyed the Roman ships. This very great man advanced the science +of geometry, and made discoveries which rank him among the lights of the +ancient world. His theory of the lever was the foundation of statics till +the time of Newton. His discovery of the method of determining specific +gravities by immersion in a fluid was equally memorable. He was not only +the greatest mathematician of the old world, but he applied science to +practical affairs, and compelled Marcellus to convert the siege of +Syracuse into a blockade. He is said to have launched a ship by the +pressure of the screw, which, reversed in its operation, has +revolutionized naval and commercial marines. + +(M868) The time gained by this eminent engineer, as well as geometer, +enabled the Carthaginians to send an army to relieve Syracuse. The +situation of Marcellus was critical, when, by a fortunate escalade of the +walls, left unguarded at a festival, the Romans were enabled to take +possession of a strong position within the walls. A pestilence carried off +most of the African army encamped in the valley of Anapus, with the +general Himilco. Bomilcar, the Carthaginian admiral, retreated, rather +than fight the Roman fleet. Marcellus obtained, by the treachery of a +Sicilian captain, possession of the island of Ortygia, where Dionysius had +once intrenched himself, the key to the port and the city, and Syracuse +fell. The city was given up to plunder and massacre, and Archimedes was +one of the victims. Marcellus honored the illustrious defender with a +stately funeral, and he was buried outside the gate of Aeradina. One +hundred and fifty years later, the Syracusans had forgotten even where he +was buried, and his tomb was discovered by Cicero. + +(M869) While these events took place in Spain and Sicily, Hannibal bent +his efforts to capture Tarentum, and the Romans were equally resolved to +recover Capua. The fall of Tarentum enabled Hannibal to break up the siege +of Capua, and foiled in his attempts to bring on a decisive battle before +that city, he advanced to Rome, and encamped within five miles of the +city, after having led his troops with consummate skill between the armies +and fortresses of the enemy. But Rome was well defended by two legions, +under Fabius, who refused to fight a pitched battle. Hannibal was, +therefore, compelled to retreat in order to save Capua, which, however, in +his absence, had surrendered to the Romans, after a two years' siege, and +was savagely punished for its defection from the Roman cause. The fall of +Capua gave a renewed confidence to the Roman government, which sent +re-enforcements to Spain. But it imprudently reduced its other forces, so +that Marcellus was left to face Hannibal with an inadequate army. The war +was now carried on with alternate successes, in the course of which +Tarentum again fell into Roman hands. Thirty thousand Tarentines were sold +as slaves, B.C. 209. + +(M870) This great war had now lasted ten years, and both parties were +sinking from exhaustion. In this posture of affairs the Romans were +startled with the intelligence that Hasdrubal had crossed the Pyrenees, +and was advancing to join his brother in Italy. The Romans, in this +exigency, made prodigious exertions. Twenty-three legions were enrolled; +but before preparations were completed, Hasdrubal crossed the Alps, +re-enforced by eight thousand Ligurian mercenaries. It was the aim of the +two Carthaginian generals to form a juncture of their forces, and of the +Romans to prevent it. Gaining intelligence of the intended movements of +Hannibal and Hasdrubal by an intercepted dispatch, the Roman consul, Nero, +advanced to meet Hasdrubal, and encountered him on the banks of the +Metaurus. Here a battle ensued, in which the Carthaginians were defeated +and Hasdrubal slain. Hannibal was waiting in suspense for the dispatch of +his brother in his Apulian camp, when the victor returned from his march +of five hundred miles, and threw the head of Hasdrubal within his +outposts, On the sight of his brothers head, he exclaimed; "I recognize +the doom of Carthage." Abandoning Apulia and Lucania, he retired to the +Bruttian peninsula, and the victor of Cannae retained only a few posts to +re-embark for Africa. + +And yet this great general was able to keep the field four years longer, +nor could the superiority of his opponents compel him to shut himself up +in a fortress or re-embark, a proof of his strategic talents. + +(M871) In the mean time a brilliant career was opened in Spain to the +young Publius Scipio, known as the elder Africanus. He was only +twenty-four when selected to lead the armies of Rome in Spain; for it was +necessary to subdue that country in order to foil the Carthaginians in +Italy. Publius Scipio was an enthusiast, who won the hearts of soldiers +and women. He was kingly in his bearing, confident of his greatness, +graceful in his manners, and eloquent in his speech--popular with all +classes, and inspiring the enthusiasm which he felt. + +(M872) He landed in Spain with an army of thirty thousand, and at once +marched to New Carthage, before the distant armies of the Carthaginians +could come to its relief. In a single day the schemes of Hamilcar and his +sons were dissolved, and this great capital fell into the hands of the +youthful general, not yet eligible for a single curule magistracy. Ten +thousand captives were taken and six hundred talents, with great stores of +corn and munitions of war. Spain seemed to be an easy conquest; but the +following year the Carthaginians made a desperate effort, and sent to +Spain a new army of seventy thousand infantry, four thousand horse, and +thirty-two elephants. Yet this great force, united with that which +remained under Hasdrubal and Mago, was signally defeated by Scipio. This +grand victory, which made Scipio master of Spain, left him free to carry +the war into Africa itself, assisted by his ally Masinassa. Gades alone +remained to the Carthaginians, the original colony of the Phoenicians, and +even this last tie was severed when Mago was recalled to assist Hannibal. + +(M873) Scipio, ambitious to finish the war, and seeking to employ the +whole resources of the empire, returned to Italy and offered himself for +the consulship, B.C. 205, and was unanimously chosen by the centuries, +though not of legal age. His colleague was the chief pontiff P. Licinius +Crassus, whose office prevented him from leaving Italy, and he was thus +left unobstructed in the sole conduct of the war. Sicily was assigned to +him as his province, where he was to build a fleet and make preparations +for passing over to Africa, although a party, headed by old Fabius +Maximus, wished him to remain in Italy to drive away Hannibal. The Senate +withheld the usual power of the consul to make a new levy, but permitted +Scipio to enroll volunteers throughout Italy. In the state of +disorganization and demoralization which ever attend a long war, this +enrollment was easily effected, and money was raised by contributions on +disaffected States. + +(M874) Hannibal was still pent up among the Bruttii, unwilling to let go +his last hold on Italy. Mago, in cisalpine Gaul, was too far off to render +aid. The defense of Africa depended on him alone, and he was recalled. He +would probably have anticipated the order. Rome breathed more freely when +the "Libyan Lion" had departed. For fifteen years he had been an incubus +or a terror, and the Romans, in various conflicts, had lost three hundred +thousand men. Two of the Scipios, Paulus Gracchus and Marcellus, had +yielded up their lives in battle. Only Fabius, among the experienced +generals at the beginning of the war, was alive, and he, at the age of +ninety, was now crowned with a chaplet of the grass of Italy, as the most +honorable reward which could be given him. + +(M875) Hannibal now sought a conference with Scipio, for both parties were +anxious for peace, but was unable to obtain any better terms than the +cession of Spain, as well as the Mediterranean islands, the surrender of +the Carthaginian fleet, the payment of four thousand talents, and the +confirmation of Masinissa in the kingdom of Syphax. Such terms could not +be accepted, and both parties prepared for one more decisive conflict. + +(M876) The battle was fought at Zama. "Hannibal arranged his infantry in +three lines. The first division contained the Carthaginian mercenaries; +the second, the African allies, and the militia of Carriage; the third, +the veterans who followed him from Italy. In the front of the lines were +stationed eighty elephants; the cavalry was placed on the wings. Scipio +likewise disposed the legions in three divisions. The infantry fought hand +to hand in the first division, and both parties falling into confusion, +sought aid in the second division. The Romans were supported, but the +Carthaginian militia was wavering. Upon seeing this, Hannibal hastily +withdrew what remained of the two first lines to the flanks, and pushed +forward his choice Italian troops along the whole line. Scipio gathered +together in the centre all that were able to fight of the first line, and +made the second and third divisions close up on the right and left of the +first. Once again the conflict was renewed with more desperate fighting, +till the cavalry of the Romans and of Masinassa, returning from pursuit of +the beaten cavalry of the enemy, surrounded them on all sides. This +movement annihilated the Punic army. All was lost, and Hannibal was only +able to escape with a handful of men." + +(M877) It was now in the power of Scipio to march upon Carthage and lay +siege to the city, neither protected nor provisioned. But he made no +extravagant use of his victory. He granted peace on the terms previously +rejected, with the addition of an annual tribute of two hundred talents +for fifty years. He had no object to destroy a city after its political +power was annihilated, and wickedly overthrow the primitive seat of +commerce, which was still one of the main pillars of civilization. He was +too great and wise a statesman to take such a revenge as the Romans sought +fifty years afterward. He was contented to end the war gloriously, and see +Carthage, the old rival, a tributary and broken power, with no possibility +of reviving its former schemes, B.C. 201. + +(M878) This ended the Hannibalic war, which had lasted seventeen years, +and which gave to Rome the undisputed sovereignty of Italy, the conversion +of Spain into two Roman provinces, the union of Syracuse with the Roman +province of Sicily, the establishment of a Roman protectorate over the +Numidian chiefs, and the reduction of Carthage to a defenseless mercantile +city. The hegemony of Rome was established over the western region of the +Mediterranean. These results were great, but were obtained by the loss of +one quarter of the burgesses of Rome, the ruin of four hundred towns, the +waste of the accumulated capital of years, and the general demoralization +of the people. It might seem that the Romans could have lived side by side +with other nations in amity, as modern nations do. But, in ancient times, +"it was necessary to be either anvil or hammer." Either Rome or Carthage +was to become the great power of the world. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXI. + + +THE MACEDONIAN AND ASIATIC WARS. + + +Scarcely was Rome left to recover from the exhaustion of the long and +desperate war with Hannibal, before she was involved in a new war with +Macedonia, which led to very important consequences. + +The Greeks had retained the sovereignty which Alexander had won, and their +civilization extended rapidly into the East. There were three great +monarchies which arose, however, from the dismemberment of the empire +which Alexander had founded--Macedonia, Asia, and Egypt--and each of them, +in turn, was destined to become provinces of Rome. + +(M879) Macedonia was then ruled by Philip V., and was much such a monarchy +as the first Philip had consolidated. The Macedonian rule embraced Greece +and Thessaly, and strong garrisons were maintained at Demetrias in +Maguesia, Calchis in the island of Euboea, and in Corinth, "the three +fetters of the Hellenes." But the strength of the kingdom lay in +Macedonia. In Greece proper all moral and political energy had fled, and +the degenerate, but still intellectual inhabitants spent their time in +bacchanalian pleasures, in fencing, and in study of the midnight lamp. The +Greeks, diffused over the East, disseminated their culture, but were only +in sufficient numbers to supply officers, statesmen, and schoolmasters. +All the real warlike vigor remained among the nations of the North, where +Philip reigned, a genuine king, proud of his purple, and proud of his +accomplishments, lawless and ungodly, indifferent to the lives and +sufferings of others, stubborn and tyrannical. He saw with regret the +subjugation of Carthage, but did not come to her relief when his aid might +have turned the scale, ten years before. His eyes were turned to another +quarter, to possess himself of part of the territories of Egypt, assisted +by Antiochus of Asia. In this attempt he arrayed against himself all the +Greek mercantile cities whose interests were identified with Alexandria, +now, on the fall of Carthage, the greatest commercial city of the world. +He was opposed by Pergamus and the Rhodian league, while the Romans gave +serious attention to their Eastern complications, not so much with a view +of conquering the East, as to protect their newly-acquired possessions. A +Macedonian war, then, became inevitable, but was entered into reluctantly, +and was one of the most righteous, according to Mommsen, which Rome ever +waged. + +(M880) The pretext for war--the _casus belli_--was furnished by an attack on +Athens by the Macedonian general, to avenge the murder of two Arcanians +for intruding upon the Eleusinan Mysteries, B.C. 201. Athens was an ally +of Rome. Two legions, under Publius Sulpicius Galba, embarked at +Brundusium for Macedonia, with one thousand Numidian cavalry and a number +of elephants. Nothing was accomplished this year of any historical +importance. The next spring Galba led his troops into Macedonia, and +encountered the enemy, under Philip, on a marshy plain on the northwest +frontier. But the Macedonians avoided battle, and after repeated +skirmishes and marches the Romans returned to Apollonia. Philip did not +disturb the army in its retreat, but turned against the AEtolians, who had +joined the league against him. At the end of the campaign the Romans stood +as they were in the spring, but would have been routed had not the +AEtolians interposed. The successes of Philip filled him with arrogance and +self-confidence, and the following spring he assumed the offensive. The +Romans, meantime, had been re-enforced by new troops, under the command of +Flaminius, who attacked Philip in his intrenched camp. The Macedonian king +lost his camp and two thousand men, and retreated to the Pass of Tempe, +the gate of Macedonia proper, deserted by many of his allies. The Achaeans +entered into alliance with Rome. The winter came on, and Philip sought +terms of peace. All he could obtain from Flaminius was an armistice of two +months. The Roman Senate refused all terms unless Philip would renounce +all Greece, especially Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias. These were +rejected, and Philip strained all his energies to meet his enemy in a +pitched battle. He brought into the field twenty-six thousand men, an +equal force to the Romans, and encountered them at Cynocephalae. The Romans +were victorious, and a great number of prisoners fell into their hands. +Philip escaped to Larissa, burned his papers, evacuated Thessaly, and +returned home. He was completely vanquished, and was obliged to accept +such a peace as the Romans were disposed to grant. But the Romans did not +abuse their power, but treated Philip with respect, and granted to him +such terms as had been given to Carthage. He lost all his foreign +possessions in Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece, and the islands of the AEgean, +but retained Macedonia. He was also bound not to conclude foreign +alliances without the consent of the Romans, nor send garrisons abroad, +nor maintain an army of over five thousand men, nor possess a navy beyond +five ships of war. He was also required to pay a contribution of one +thousand talents. He was thus left in possession only of as much power as +was necessary to guard the frontiers of Hellas against the barbarians. All +the States of Greece were declared free, and most of them were +incorporated with the Achaean League, a confederation of the old cities, +which were famous before the Dorian migration, to resist the Macedonian +domination. This famous league was the last struggle of Greece for +federation to resist overpowering foes. As the Achaean cities were the +dominant States of Greece at the Trojan war, so the expiring fires of +Grecian liberty went out the last among that ancient race. + +(M881) The liberator of Greece, as Flaminius may be called, assembled the +deputies of all the Greek communities at Corinth, exhorted them to use the +freedom which he had conferred upon them with moderation, and requested, +as the sole return for the kindness which the Romans had shown, that they +would send back all the Italian captives sold in Greece during the war +with Hannibal, and then he evacuated the last fortresses which he held, +and returned to Rome with his troops and liberated captives. Rome really +desired the liberation and independence of Greece, now that all fears of +her political power were removed, and that glorious liberty which is +associated with the struggles of the Greeks with the Persians might have +been secured, had not the Hellenic nations been completely demoralized. +There was left among them no foundation and no material for liberty, and +nothing but the magic charm of the Hellenic name could have prevented +Flaminius from establishing a Roman government in that degenerate land. It +was an injudicious generosity which animated the Romans, but for which the +war with Antiochus might not have arisen. + +(M882) Antiochus III., the great-great-grandson of the general of +Alexander who founded the dynasty of the Seleucidae, then reigned in Asia. +On the fall of Philip, who was his ally, he took possession of those +districts in Asia Minor that formerly belonged to Egypt, but had fallen to +Philip. He also sought to recover the Greek cities of Asia Minor as a part +of his empire. This enterprise embroiled him with the Romans, who claimed +a protectorate over all the Hellenic cities. And he was further +complicated by the arrival at Ephesus, his capital, of Hannibal, to whom +he gave an honorable reception. A rupture with Rome could not be avoided. + +(M883) To strengthen himself in Asia for the approaching conflict, +Antiochus married one of his daughters to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, another +to the king of Cappadocia, a third to the king of Pergamus, while the +Grecian cities were amused by promises and presents. He was also assured +of the aid of the AEtolians, who intrigued against the Romans as soon as +Flaminius had left. Then was seen the error of that general for +withdrawing garrisons from Greece, which was to be the theatre of the war. + +(M884) Antiochus collected an army and started for Greece, hoping to be +joined by Philip, who, however, placed all his forces at the disposal of +the Romans. The Achaean League also was firm to the Roman cause. The Roman +armies sent against him, commanded by Maninius Acilius Glabrio, numbered +forty thousand men. Instead of retiring before this superior force, +Antiochus intrenched himself in Thermopylae, but his army was dispersed, +and he fled to Chalcis, and there embarked for Ephesus. The war was now to +be carried to Asia. + +(M885) Both parties, during the winter, vigorously prepared for the next +campaign, and the conqueror of Zama was selected by Rome to conduct her +armies in Asia. It was a long and weary march for the Roman armies to the +Hellespont, which was crossed, however, without serious obstacles, from +the mismanagement of Antiochus, who offered terms of peace when the army +had safely landed in Asia. He offered to pay half the expenses of the war +and the cession of his European possessions, as well as of the Greek +cities of Asia Minor that had gone over to the Romans. But Scipio demanded +the whole cost of the war and the cession of Asia Minor. These terms were +rejected, and the Syrian king hastened to decide the fate of Asia by a +pitched battle. + +(M886) This fight was fought at Magnesia, B.C. 190, not far from Smyrna, +in the valley of the Hermus. The forces of Antiochus were eighty thousand, +including twelve thousand cavalry, but were undisciplined and unwieldy. +Those of Scipio were about half as numerous. The Romans were completely +successful, losing only twenty-four horsemen and three hundred infantry, +whereas the loss of Antiochus was fifty thousand--a victory as brilliant as +that of Alexander at Issus. Asia Minor was surrendered to the Romans, and +Antiochus was compelled to pay three thousand talents (little more than +three million dollars) at once, and the same contribution for twelve +years, so that he retained nothing but Cilicia. His power was broken +utterly, and he was prohibited from making aggressive war against the +States of the West, or from navigating the sea west of the mouth of the +Calycadnus, in Cilicia, with armed ships, or from taming elephants, or +even receiving political fugitives. The province of Syria never again made +a second appeal to the decision of arms--a proof of the feeble organization +of the kingdom of the Seleucidae. + +(M887) The king of Cappadocia escaped with a fine of six hundred talents. +All the Greek cities which had joined the Romans had their liberties +confirmed. The AEtolians lost all cities and territories which were in the +hands of their adversaries. But Philip and the Achaeans were disgusted with +the small share of the spoil granted to them. + +(M888) Thus the protectorate of Rome now embraced all the States from the +eastern to the western end of the Mediterranean. And Rome, about this +time, was delivered of the last enemy whom she feared--the homeless and +fugitive Carthaginian, who lived long enough to see the West subdued, as +well as the armies of the East overpowered. At the age of seventy six he +took poison, on seeing his house beset with assassins. For fifty years he +kept the oath he had sworn as a boy. About the same time that he killed +himself in Bithynia, Scipio, on whom fortune had lavished all her honors +and successes--who had added Spain, Africa, and Asia to the empire, died in +voluntary banishment, little over fifty years of age, leaving orders not +to bury his remains in the city for which he had lived, and where his +ancestors reposed. He died in bitter vexation from the false charges made +against him of corruption and embezzlement, with hardly any other fault +than that overweening arrogance which usually attends unprecedented +success, and which corrodes the heart when the _eclat_ of prosperity is +dimmed by time. The career and death of both these great men--the greatest +of their age--shows impressively the vanity of all worldly greatness, and +is an additional confirmation of the fact that the latter years of +illustrious men are generally sad and gloomy, and certain to be so when +their lives are not animated by a greater sentiment than that of ambition. + +(M889) Philip of Macedon died, B.C. 179, in the fifty-ninth year of his +age and the forty-second of his reign, and his son Perseus succeeded to +his throne at the age of thirty-one. Macedonia had been humbled rather +than weakened by the Romans, and after eighteen years of peace, had +renewed her resources. This kingdom chafed against the foreign power of +Rome, as did the whole Hellenic world. A profound sentiment of discontent +existed in both Asia and Europe. Perseus made alliances with the +discontented cities--with the Byzantines, the AEtolians, and the Boeotians. +But so prudently did he conduct his intrigues, that it was not till the +seventh year of his reign that Rome declared war against him. + +(M890) The resources of Macedonia were still considerable. The army +consisted of thirty thousand men, without considering mercenaries or +contingents, and great quantities of military stores had been collected in +the magazines. And Perseus himself was a monarch of great ability, trained +and disciplined to war. He collected an army of forty-three thousand men, +while the whole Roman force in Greece was scarcely more. Crassus conducted +the Roman army, and in the first engagement at Ossa, was decidedly beaten. +Perseus then sought peace, but the Romans never made peace after a defeat. +The war continued, but the military result of two campaigns was null, +while the political result was a disgrace to the Romans. The third +campaign, conducted by Quintus Marcius Philippus, was equally undecisive, +and had Perseus been willing to part with his money, he could have +obtained the aid of twenty thousand Celts who would have given much +trouble. At last, in the fourth year of the war, the Romans sent to +Macedonia Lucius AEmilius Paulus, son of the consul that fell at Cannae--an +excellent general and incorruptible; a man sixty years of age, cultivated +in Hellenic literature and art. Soon after his arrival at the camp at +Heracleum, he brought about the battle of Pydna, which settled the fate of +Macedonia. The overthrow of the Macedonians was fearful. Twenty thousand +were killed and eleven thousand made prisoners. All Macedonia submitted in +two days, and the king fled with his gold, some six thousand talents he +had hoarded, to Samothrace, accompanied with only a few followers. The +Persian monarch might have presented a more effectual resistance to +Alexander had he scattered his treasures among the mercenary Greeks. So +Perseus could have prolonged his contest had he employed the Celts. When a +man is struggling desperately for his life or his crown, his treasures are +of secondary importance. Perseus was soon after taken prisoner by the +Romans, with all his treasures, and died a few years later at Alba. + +(M891) "Thus perished the empire of Alexander, which had subdued and +Hellenized the East, one hundred and forty-four years from his death." The +kingdom of Macedonia was stricken out of the list of States, and the whole +land was disarmed, and the fortress of Demetrias was razed. Illyria was +treated in a similar way, and became a Roman province. All the Hellenic +States were reduced to dependence upon Rome. Pergamus was humiliated. +Rhodes was deprived of all possessions on the main land, although the +Rhodians had not offended. Egypt voluntarily submitted to the Roman +protectorate, and the whole empire of Alexander the Great fell to the +Roman commonwealth. The universal empire of the Romans dates from the +battle of Pydna--"the last battle in which a civilized State confronted +Rome in the field on the footing of equality as a great power." All +subsequent struggles were with barbarians. Mithridates, of Pontus, made +subsequently a desperate effort to rid the Oriental world of the dominion +of Rome, but the battle of Pydna marks the real supremacy of the Romans in +the civilized world. Mommsen asserts that it is a superficial view which +sees in the wars of the Romans with tribes, cities, and kings, an +insatiable longing after dominion and riches, and that it was only a +desire to secure the complete sovereignty of Italy, unmolested by enemies, +which prompted, to this period, the Roman wars--that the Romans earnestly +opposed the introduction of Africa, Greece, and Asia into the pale of +protectorship, till circumstances compelled the extension of that +pale--that, in fact, they were driven to all their great wars, with the +exception of that concerning Sicily, even those with Hannibal and +Antiochus, either by direct aggression or disturbance of settled political +relations. "The policy of Rome was that of a narrow-minded but very able +deliberate assembly, which had far too little power of grand combination, +and far too much instinctive desire for the preservation of its own +commonwealth, to devise projects in the spirit of a Caesar or a Napoleon." +Nor did the ancient world know of a balance of power among nations, and +hence every nation strove to subdue its neighbors, or render them +powerless, like the Grecian States. Had the Greeks combined for a great +political unity, they might have defied even the Roman power, or had they +been willing to see the growth of equal States without envy, like the +modern nations of Europe, without destructive conflicts, the States of +Sparta, Corinth, and Athens might have grown simultaneously, and united, +would have been too powerful to be subdued. But they did not understand +the balance of power, and they were inflamed with rival animosities, and +thus destroyed each other. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXII. + + +THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. + + +The peace between Carthage and Rome, after the second Punic war, lasted +fifty years, during which the Carthaginians gave the Romans no cause of +complaint. Carthage, in the enjoyment of peace, devoted itself to commerce +and industrial arts, and grew very rich and populous. The government alone +was weak, from the anarchical ascendency of the people, who were lawless +and extravagant. + +(M892) Their renewed miseries can be traced to Masinissa, who was in close +alliance with the Romans. The Carthaginians endured everything rather than +provoke the hostility of Rome, which watched the first opportunity to +effect their ruin. Having resigned themselves to political degradation, +general cowardice and demoralization were the result. + +(M893) Masinissa, king of Numidia, made insolent claims on those Phoenician +settlements on the coast of Byzacene, which the Carthaginians possessed +from the earliest times. Scipio was sent to Carthage, to arrange the +difficulty, as arbitrator, and the circumstances were so aggravated that +he could not, with any justice, decide in favor of the king, but declined +to pronounce a verdict, so that Masinissa and Carthage should remain on +terms of hostility. And as Masinissa reigned for fifty years after the +peace, Carthage was subjected to continual vexations. At last a war broke +out between them. Masinissa was stronger than Carthage, but the city +raised a considerable army, and placed it under the conduct of Hasdrubal, +who marched against the perfidious enemy with fifty thousand mercenaries. +The battle was not decisive, but Hasdrubal retreated without securing his +communication with Carthage. His army was cut off, and he sought terms of +peace, which were haughtily rejected, and he then gave hostages for +keeping the peace, and agreed to pay five thousand talents within fifty +years, and acknowledge Masinissa's usurpation. The Romans, instead of +settling the difficulties, instigated secretly Masinissa. And the Roman +commissioners sent to the Senate exaggerated accounts of the resources of +Carthage. The Romans compelled the Carthaginians to destroy their timber +and the materials they had in abundance for building a new fleet. Still +the Senate, having the control of the foreign relations, and having become +a mere assembly of kings, with the great power which the government of +provinces gave to it, was filled with renewed jealousy. Cato never made a +speech without closing with these words: "_Carthago est delenda._" A blind +hatred animated that vindictive and narrow old patrician, who headed a +party with the avowed object of the destruction of Carthage. And it was +finally determined to destroy the city. + +(M894) The Romans took the Carthaginians to account for the war with +Masinissa, and not contented with the humiliation of their old rival, +aimed at her absolute ruin, though she had broken no treaties. The +Carthaginians, broken-hearted, sent embassy after embassy, imploring the +Senate to preserve peace, to whom the senators gave equivocal answers. The +situation of Carthage was hopeless and miserable--stripped by Masinissa of +the rich towns of Emporia, and on the eve of another conflict with the +mistress of the world. + +(M895) Had the city been animated by the spirit which Hannibal had sought +to infuse, she was still capable of a noble defense. She ruled over three +hundred Libyan cities, and had a population of seven hundred thousand. She +had accumulated two hundred thousand stand of arms, and two thousand +catapults. And she had the means to manufacture a still greater amount. +But she had, unfortunately, on the first demand of the Romans, surrendered +these means of defense. + +(M896) At last Rome declared war, B.C. 149--the wickedest war in which she +ever engaged--and Cato had the satisfaction of seeing, at the age of +eighty-five, his policy indorsed against every principle of justice and +honor. A Roman army landed in Africa unopposed, and the Carthaginians were +weak enough to surrender, not only three hundred hostages from the noblest +families, but the arms already enumerated. Nothing but infatuation can +account for this miserable concession of weakness to strength, all from a +blind confidence in the tender mercies of an unpitying and unscrupulous +foe. Then, when the city was defenseless, the hostages in the hands of the +Romans, and they almost at the gates, it was coolly announced that it was +the will of the Senate that the city should be destroyed. + +(M897) Too late, the doomed city prepared to make a last stand against an +inexorable enemy. The most violent feelings of hatred and rage, added to +those of despair, at last animated the people of Carthage. It was the same +passion which arrayed Tyre against Alexander, and Jerusalem against Titus. +It was a wild patriotic frenzy which knew no bounds, inspired by the +instinct of self-preservation, and aside from all calculation of success +or failure. As the fall of the city was inevitable, wisdom might have +counseled an unreserved submission. Resistance should have been thought of +before. In fact, Carthage should not have yielded to the first Africanus. +And when she had again become rich and populous, she should have defied +the Romans when their spirit was perceived--should have made a more gallant +defense against Masinissa, and concentrated all her energies for a last +stand upon her own territories. But why should we thus speculate? The doom +of Carthage had been pronounced by the decrees of fate. The fall has all +the mystery and solemnity of a providential event, like the fall of all +empires, like the defeat of Darius by Alexander, like the ruin of +Jerusalem, like the melting away of North American Indians, like the final +overthrow of the "Eternal City" itself. + +(M898) The desperation of the city in her last conflict proves, however, +that, with proper foresight and patriotism, her fall might have been +delayed, for it took the Romans three years to subdue her. The disarmed +city withstood the attack of the Romans for a period five times as long as +it required Vespasian and Titus to capture Jerusalem. The city resounded +day and night with the labors of men and women on arms and catapults. One +hundred and forty shields, three hundred swords, five hundred spears, and +one thousand missiles were manufactured daily, and even a fleet of one +hundred and fifty ships was built during the siege. The land side of the +city was protected by a triple wall, and the rocks of Cape Camast and Cape +Carthage sheltered it from all attacks by sea, except one side protected +by fortified harbors and quays. Hasdrubal, with the remnant of his army, +was still in the field, and took up his station at Nephesis, on the +opposite side of the lake of Tunis, to harass the besiegers. Masinissa +died at the age of ninety, soon after hostilities began. + +(M899) The first attack on Carthage was a failure, and the army of the +Consuls Censorinus and Manius Manilius would have been cut to pieces, had +it not been for the the reserve led by Scipio AEmilianus, a grandson of +Africanus, who was then serving as military tribune. He also performed +many gallant actions when Censorinus retired to Rome, leaving the army in +the hands of his incompetent colleague. + +(M900) The second campaign was equally unsuccessful, under L. Calpurnius +Fiso and L. Mancinus. The slow progress of the war excited astonishment +throughout the world. The suspense of the campaign was intolerable to the +proud spirit of the Romans, who had never dreamed of such resistance. The +eyes of the Romans were then turned to the young hero who alone had thus +far distinguished himself. Although he had not reached the proper age, he +was chosen consul, and the province of Africa was assigned to him. He +sailed with his friends Polybius and Laelius. He was by no means equal to +the elder Scipio, although he was an able general and an accomplished man. +He was ostentatious, envious, and proud, and had cultivation rather than +genius. + +(M901) When he arrived at Utica, he found the campaign of B.C. 147 opened +in such a way that his arrival saved a great disaster. The admiral +Mancinus had attempted an attack on an undefended quarter, but a desperate +sally of the besieged had exposed him to imminent danger, and he was only +relieved by the timely arrival of Scipio. + +(M902) The new general then continued the siege with new vigor. His +headquarters were fixed on an isthmus uniting the peninsula of Carthage +with the main-land, from which he attacked the suburb called Megara, and +took it, and shut up the Carthaginians in the old town and ports. The +garrison of the suburb and the army of Hasdrubal retreated within the +fortifications of the city. The Carthaginian leader, to cut off all +retreat, inflicted inhuman barbarities and tortures on all the Roman +prisoners they took. Scipio, meanwhile, intrenched and fortified in the +suburb, cut off all communication between the city and main-land by +parallel trenches, three miles in length, drawn across the whole isthmus. +The communication with the sea being still open, from which the besieged +received supplies, the port was blocked up by a mole of stone ninety-six +feet wide. The besieged worked night and day, and cut a new channel to the +sea, and, had they known how to improve their opportunity, might, with the +new fleet they had constructed, have destroyed that of their enemies, +unprepared for action. + +(M903) Scipio now resolved to make himself master of the ports, which were +separated from the sea by quays and a weak wall. His battering-rams were +at once destroyed by the Carthaginians. He then built a wall or rampart +upon the quay, to the height of the city wall, and placed upon it four +thousand men to harass the besieged. As the winter rains then set in, +making his camp unhealthy, and the city was now closely invested by sea +and land, he turned his attention to the fortified camp of the enemy at +Nephesis, which was taken by storm, and seventy thousand persons put to +the sword. The Carthaginian army was annihilated. + +(M904) Meanwhile famine pressed within the besieged city, and Hasdrubal +would not surrender. An attack, led by Laelius, on the market-place, gave +the Romans a foothold within the city, and a great quantity of spoil. One +thousand talents were taken from the temple of Apollo. Preparations were +then made for the attack of the citadel, and for six days there was a +hand-to-hand fight between the combatants amid the narrow streets which +led to the Byrsa. The tall Oriental houses were only taken one by one and +burned, and the streets were cumbered with the dead. The miserable people, +crowded within the citadel, certain now of destruction, then sent a +deputation to Scipio to beg the lives of those who had sought a retreat in +the Byrsa. The request was granted to all but Roman deserters. But out of +the great population of seven hundred thousand, only thirty thousand men +and twenty-five thousand women marched from the burning ruins. Hasdrubal +and the three hundred Roman deserters, certain of no mercy, retired to the +temple of AEsculapius, the heart of the citadel. But the Carthaginian, +uniting pusillanimity with cruelty, no sooner found the temple on fire, +than he rushed out in Scipio's presence, with an olive-branch in his +hands, and abjectly begged for his life, which Scipio granted, after he +had prostrated himself at his feet in sight of his followers, who loaded +him with the bitterest execrations. The wife of Hasdrubal, deserted by the +abject wretch, called down the curses of the gods on the man who had +betrayed his country and deserted at last his family. She then cut the +throats of her children and threw them into the flames, and then leaped +into them herself. The Roman deserters in the same manner perished. The +city was given up to plunder, the inhabitants whose lives were spared were +sold as slaves, and the gold and works of art were carried to Rome and +deposited in the temples. + +(M905) Such was the fate of Carthage--a doom so awful, that we can not but +feel that it was sent as a chastisement for crimes which had long cried to +Heaven for vengeance. Carthage always was supremely a wicked city. All the +luxurious and wealthy capitals of ancient times were wicked, especially +Oriental cities, as Carthage properly, though not technically, was--founded +by Phoenicians, and a worshiper of the gods of Tyre and Sidon. The Roman +Senate decreed that not only the city, but even the villas of the nobles +in the suburb of Megara, should be leveled with the ground, and the +plowshare driven over the soil devoted to perpetual desolation, and a +curse to the man who should dare to cultivate it or build upon it. For +fourteen days, the fires raged in this once populous and wealthy city, and +the destruction was complete, B.C. 146. So deep-seated was the Roman +hatred of rivals, or States that had been rivals; so dreadful was the +punishment of a wicked city, of which Scipio was made the instrument, not +merely of the Romans, but of Divine providence. + +(M906) All the great cities of antiquity, which had been seats of luxury +and pride, had now been utterly destroyed--Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, and +Carthage. Corinth was already sacked by Mummius, and Jerusalem was to be +by Titus, and Rome herself was finally to receive a still direr +chastisement at the hands of Goths and Vandals. So Providence moves on in +his mysterious power to bring to naught the grandeur and power of +rebellious nations--rebellious to those mighty moral laws which are as +inexorable as the laws of nature. + +The territory on the coast of Zeugitana and Byzantium, which formed the +last possession of Carthage, was erected into the province of Africa, and +the rich plain of that fertile province became more important to Rome for +supplies of corn than even Sicily, which had been the granary of Rome. + +(M907) Scipio returned to Rome, and enjoyed a triumph more gorgeous than +the great Africanus. He also lived to enjoy another triumph for brilliant +successes in Spain, yet to be enumerated, but was also doomed to lose his +popularity, and to perish by the dagger of assassins. + +(M908) Rome had now acquired the undisputed dominion of the civilized +world, and with it, the vices of the nations she subdued. A great decline +in Roman morals succeeded these brilliant conquests. Great internal +changes took place. The old distinction of patricians and plebeians had +vanished, and a new nobility had arisen, composed of rich men and of those +whose ancestors had enjoyed curule magistracies. They possessed the +Senate, and had control of the Comitia Centuriata, by the prerogative vote +of the equestrian centuries. A base rabble had grown up, fed with corn and +oil, by the government, and amused by games and spectacles. The old +republican aristocracy was supplanted by a family oligarchy. The vast +wealth which poured into Rome from the conquered countries created +disproportionate fortunes. The votes of the people were bought by the rich +candidates for popular favor. The superstitions of the East were +transferred to the capitol of the world, and the decay in faith was as +marked as the decay in virtue. Chaldaean astrologers were scattered over +Italy, and the gods of all the conquered peoples of the earth were +worshiped at Rome. The bonds of society were loosed, and a state was +prepared for the civil wars which proved even more destructive than the +foreign. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIII. + + +ROMAN CONQUESTS FROM THE FALL OF CARTHAGE TO THE TIMES OF THE GRACCHI. + + +Although the Roman domination now extended in some form or other over most +of the countries around the Mediterranean, still several States remained +to be subdued, in the East and in the West. + +The subjugation of Spain first deserves attention, commenced before the +close of the third Punic war, and which I have omitted to notice for the +sake of clearness of connection. + +After the Hannibalic war, we have seen how Rome planted her armies in +Spain, and added two provinces to her empire. But the various tribes were +far from being subdued, and Spain was inhabited by different races. + +(M909) This great peninsula, bounded on the north by the ocean +Cantabricus, now called the Bay of Biscay, and the Pyrenees, on the east +and south by the Mediterranean, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, was +called Iberia, by the Greeks, from the river Iberus, or Ebro. The term +Hispania was derived from the Phoenicians, who planted colonies on the +southern shores. The Carthaginians invaded it next, and founded several +cities, the chief of which was New Carthage. At the end of the second +Punic war, it was wrested from them by the Romans, who divided it into two +provinces, Citerior and Ulterior. In the time of Augustus, Ulterior Spain +was divided into two provinces, called Lusitania and Baetica, while the +Citerior province, by far the larger, occupying the whole northern country +from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, was called Tanagona. It included +three-fifths of the peninsula, or about one hundred and seven thousand +three hundred square miles. It embraced the modern provinces of Catalonia, +Aragon, Navarre, Biscay, Asturias, Galicia, Northern Leon, old and new +Castile, Murcia, and Valentia, and a part of Portugal. Baetica nearly +corresponded with Andalusia, and embraced Granada, Jaen, Cordova, Seville, +and half of Spanish Estremadura. Lusitania corresponds nearly with +Portugal. + +(M910) The Tanaconneusis was inhabited by numerous tribes, and the chief +ancient cities were Barcelona, Tanagona the metropolis, Pampeluna, Oporto, +Numantia, Saguntum, Saragossa, and Cartagena. In Baetica were Cordova, +Castile, Gades, and Seville. In Lusitania were Olisipo (Lisbon), and +Salamanca. + +(M911) Among the inhabitants of these various provinces were Iberians, +Celts, Phoenicians, and Hellenes. In the year 154 B.C., the Lusitanians, +under a chieftain called Punicus, invaded the Roman territory which the +elder Scipio had conquered, and defeated two Roman governors. The Romans +then sent a consular army, under Q. Fulvius Nobilior, which was ultimately +defeated by the Lusitanians under Caesarus. This success kindled the flames +of war far and near, and the Celtiberians joined in the warfare against +the Roman invaders. Again the Romans were defeated with heavy loss. The +Senate then sent considerable re-enforcements, under Claudius Marcellus, +who soon changed the aspect of affairs. The nation of the Arevacae +surrendered to the Romans--a people living on the branches of the Darius, +near Numantia--and their western neighbors, the Vaccaei, were also subdued, +and barbarously dealt with. On the outbreak of the third Punic war the +affairs of Spain were left to the ordinary governors, and a new +insurrection of the Lusitanians took place. Viriathus, a Spanish +chieftain, signally defeated the Romans, and was recognized as king of all +the Lusitanians. He was distinguished, not only for bravery, but for +temperance and art, and was a sort of Homeric hero, whose name and +exploits were sounded throughout the peninsula. He gained great victories +over the Roman generals, and destroyed their armies. General after general +was successively defeated. For five years this gallant Spaniard kept the +whole Roman power at bay, and he was only destroyed by treachery. + +(M912) While the Lusitanians at the South were thus prevailing over the +Roman armies on the bunks of the Tagus, another war broke out in the North +among the Celtiberian natives. Against these people Quintus Caecilius +Metellus, the consul, was sent. He showed great ability, and in two years +reduced the whole northern province, except the two cities of Termantia +and Numantia. These cities, wearied at last with war, agreed to submit to +the Romans, and delivered up hostages and deserters, with a sum of money. +But the Senate, with its usual policy, refused to confirm the treaty of +its general, which perfectly aroused the Numantines to resentment and +despair. These brave people obtained successes against the Roman general +Laenas and his successors, Mancinus and M. AEmilius Lepides, as well as +Philus and Piso. + +(M913) The Romans, aroused at last to this inglorious war, which had +lasted nearly ten years, resolved to take the city of the Numantines at +any cost, and intrusted the work to Scipio AEmilianus, their best general. +He spent the summer (B.C. 134) in extensive preparations, and it was not +till winter that he drew his army round the walls of Numantia, defended by +only eight thousand citizens. Scipio even declined a battle, and fought +with mattock and spade. A double wall of circumvallation, surmounted with +towers, was built around the city, and closed the access to it by the +Douro, by which the besieged relied upon for provisions. The city +sustained a memorable siege of nearly a year, and was only reduced by +famine. The inhabitants were sold as slaves, and the city was leveled with +the ground. The fall of this fortress struck at the root of opposition to +Rome, and a senatorial commission was sent to Spain, in order to organize +with Scipio the newly-won territories, and became henceforth the +best-regulated country of all the provinces of Rome. + +(M914) But a graver difficulty existed with the African, Greek, and +Asiatic States that had been brought under the influence of the Roman +hegemony, which was neither formal sovereignty nor actual subjection. The +client States had neither independence nor peace. The Senate, +nevertheless, perpetually interfered with the course of African, Hellenic, +Asiatic, and Egyptian affairs. Commissioners were constantly going to +Alexandria, to the Achaean diet, and to the courts of the Asiatic princes, +and the government of Rome deprived the nations of the blessings of +freedom and the blessings of order. + +(M915) It was time to put a stop to this state of things, and the only way +to do so was to convert the client States into Roman provinces. After the +destruction of Carthage, the children of Masinissa retained in substance +their former territories, but were not allowed to make Carthage their +capital. Her territories became a Roman province, whose capital was Utica. + +(M916) Macedonia also disappeared, like Carthage, from the ranks of +nations. But the four small States into which the kingdom was parceled +could not live in peace. Neither Roman commissioners nor foreign arbiters +could restore order. At this crisis a young man appeared in Thrace, who +called himself the son of Perseus. This pseudo-Philip, for such was his +name, strikingly resembled the son of Perseus. Unable to obtain +recognition in his native country, he went to Demetrius Sotor, king of +Syria. By him he was sent to Rome. The Senate attached so little +importance to the man, that he was left, imperfectly guarded, in an +Italian town, and fled to Miletus. Again arrested, and again contriving to +escape, he went to Thrace, and obtained a recognition from Teres, the +chief of the Thracian barbarians. With his support he invaded Macedonia, +and obtained several successes over the Macedonian militia. The Roman +commissioner Nasica, without troops, was obliged to call to his aid the +Achaean and Pergamene soldiers, until defended by a Roman legion under the +praetor Juventius. Juventius was slain by the pretender, and his army cut +to pieces. And it was not until a stronger Roman array, under Quintus +Caecilius Metellus, appeared, that he was subdued. The four States into +which Macedonia had been divided were now converted into a Roman province, +B.C. 148, and Macedonia became, not a united kingdom, but a united +province, with nearly the former limits. + +The defense of the Hellenic civilization now devolved on the Romans, but +was not conducted with adequate forces or befitting energy, and the petty +States were therefore exposed to social disorganization, and the Greeks +evidently sought to pick a quarrel with Rome. + +(M917) Hence the Achaean war, B.C. 149. It is not of much historical +importance. It was commenced under Metellus, and continued under Mummius, +who reduced the noisy belligerents to terms, and entered Corinth, the seat +of rebellion, and the first commercial city of Greece. By order of the +Senate, the Corinthian citizens were sold into slavery, the fortifications +of the city leveled with the ground, and the city itself was sacked. The +mock sovereignty of leagues was abolished, and all remains of Grecian +liberty fled. + +(M918) In Asia Minor, after the Seleucidae were driven away, Pergamus +became the first power. But even this State did not escape the jealousy of +the Romans, and with Attalus III. the house of Attalids became extinct. + +(M919) He, however, had bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans, and his +testament kindled a civil war. Aristonicus, a natural son of Eumenes II., +made his appearance at Lecuae, a small sea-port near Smyrna, as a pretender +to the crown. He was defeated by the Ephesians, who saw the necessity of +the protection and friendship of the Roman government. But he again +appeared with new troops, and the struggle was serious, since there were +no Roman troops in Asia. But, B.C. 131, a Roman army was sent under the +consul Publius Licinius Crassus Mucianus, one of the wealthiest men of +Rome, distinguished as an orator and jurist. This distinguished general +was about to lay siege to Leucae, when he was surprised and taken captive, +and put to death. His successor, Marcus Perpenua, was fortunate in his +warfare, and the pretender was taken prisoner, and executed at Rome. The +remaining cities yielded to the conqueror, and Asia Minor became a Roman +province. + +(M920) In other States the Romans set up kings as they chose. In Syria, +Antiochus Eupater was recognized over the claims of Demetrius Sotor, then +a hostage in Rome. But he contrived to escape, and seized the government +of his ancestral kingdom. But it would seem that the Romans, at this +period, did not take a very lively interest in the affairs of remote +Asiatic States, and the decrees of the Senate were often disregarded with +impunity. A great reaction of the East took place against the West, and, +under Mithridates, a renewed struggle again gave dignity to the Eastern +kingdoms, which had not raised their heads since the conquests of +Alexander. That memorable struggle will be alluded to in the proper place. +It was a difficult problem which Rome undertook when she undertook to +govern the Asiatic world. It was easy to conquer; it was difficult to +rule, when degeneracy and luxury became the vices of the Romans +themselves. We are now to trace those domestic dissensions and civil wars +which indicate the decline of the Roman republic. But before we describe +those wars, we will take a brief survey of the social and political +changes in Rome at this period. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIV. + + +ROMAN CIVILIZATION AT THE CLOSE OF THE THIRD PUNIC WAR, AND THE FALL OF +GREECE. + + +(M921) Rome was now the unrivaled mistress of the world. She had conquered +all the civilized States around the Mediterranean, or had established a +protectorate over them. She had no fears of foreign enemies. Her empire +was established. + +Before we proceed to present subsequent conquests or domestic revolutions, +it would be well to glance at the political and social structure of the +State, as it was two hundred years before the Christian era, and also at +the progress which had been made in literature and art. + +(M922) One of the most noticeable features of the Roman State at this +period was the rise of a new nobility. The patricians, when they lost the +exclusive control of the government, did not cease to be a powerful +aristocracy. But another class of nobles arose in the fifth century of the +city, and shared their power--those who had held curule offices and were +members of the Senate. Their descendants, plebeian as well as patrician, +had the privilege of placing the wax images of their ancestors in the +family hall, and to have them carried in funeral processions. They also +wore a stripe of purple on the tunic, and a gold ring on the finger. These +were trifling insignia of rank, still they were emblems and signs by which +the nobility were distinguished. The plebeian families, ennobled by their +curule ancestors, were united into one body with the patrician families, +and became a sort of hereditary nobility. This body of exclusive families +really possessed the political power of the State. The Senate was made up +from their members, and was the mainstay of Roman nobility. The equites, +or equestrian order, was also composed of the patricians and wealthy +plebeians. Noble youths gradually withdrew from serving in the infantry, +and the legionary cavalry became a closed aristocratic corps. Not only +were the nobles the possessors of senatorial privileges, and enrolled +among the equites, but they had separate seats from the people at the +games and at the theatres. The censorship also became a prop to the +stability of the aristocratic class. + +(M923) We have some idea of the influence of the aristocracy from the +families which furnished the higher offices of the State. For three +centuries the consuls were chiefly chosen from powerful families. The +Cornelii gentes furnished fifteen consuls in one hundred and twelve years, +and the Valerii, ten. And, what is more remarkable, for the following one +hundred and fifty years these two families furnished nearly the same +number. In one hundred and twelve years fifteen families gave seventy +consuls to the State: the Cornelii, fifteen; the Valerii, ten; the +Claudii, four; the AEmilii, nine; the Fabii, six; the Manilii, four; the +Postumii, two; the Servilii, three; the Sulpicii, six; and also about the +same number the following one hundred and fifty years, thereby showing +that old families, whether patrician or plebeian, were long kept in sight, +and monopolized political power. This was also seen in the elevation of +young men of these ranks to high office before they had reached the lawful +age. M. Valerius Corvus was consul at twenty-three, Scipio at thirty, and +Flaminius at twenty-nine. + +(M924) The control of Rome over conquered provinces introduced a new class +of magistrates, selected by the Senate, and chosen from the aristocratic +circles. These were the provincial governors or praetors, who had great +power, and who sometimes appeared in all the pomp of kings. They resided +in the ancient palaces of the kings, and had great opportunities for +accumulating fortunes. Nor could the governors be called to account, until +after their term of office expired, which rarely happened. The governors +were, virtually, sovereigns while they continued in office--were satraps, +who conducted a legalized tyranny abroad, and returned home arrogant and +accustomed to adulation--a class of men who proved dangerous to the old +institutions, those which recognized equality within the aristocracy and +the subordination of power to the senatorial college. + +(M925) The burgesses, or citizens, before this period, were a very +respectable body, patriotic and sagacious. They occupied chiefly Latium, a +part of Campania, and the maritime colonies. But gradually, a rabble of +clients grew up on footing equality with these independent burgesses. +These clients, as the aristocracy increased in wealth and power, became +parasites and beggars, and undermined the burgess class, and controlled +the Comitia. This class rapidly increased, and were clamorous for games, +festivals, and cheap bread, for corn was distributed to them by those who +wished to gain their favor at elections, at less than cost. Hence, +festivals and popular amusements became rapidly a great feature of the +times. For five hundred years the people had been contented with one +festival in a year, and one circus. Flaminius added another festival, and +another circus. In the year 550 of the city, there were five festivals. +The candidates for the consulship spent large sums on these games, the +splendor of which became the standard by which the electoral body measured +the fitness of candidates. A gladiatorial show cost seven hundred and +twenty thousand sesterces, or thirty-six thousand dollars. + +(M926) And corruption extended to the army. The old burgess militia were +contented to return home with some trifling gift as a memorial of victory, +but the troops of Scipio, and the veterans of the Macedonian and Asiatic +wars, came back enriched with spoils. A decay of a warlike spirit was +observable from the time the burgesses converted war into a traffic in +plunder. A great passion also arose for titles and insignia, which +appeared under different forms, especially for the honors of a triumph, +originally granted only to the supreme magistrate who had signally +augmented the power of the State. Statues and monuments were often erected +at the expense of the person whom they purported to honor. And finally, +the ring, the robe, and the amulet case distinguished not only the +burgesses from the foreigners and slaves, but also the person who was born +free from one who had been a slave, the son of the free-born from the son +of the manumitted, the son of a knight from a common burgess, the +descendant of a curule house from the common senators. These distinctions +in rank kept pace with the extension of conquests, until, at last, there +was as complete a net work of aristocratic distinctions as in England at +the present day. + +(M927) All these distinctions and changes were bitterly deplored by Marcus +Portius Cato--the last great statesman of the older school--a genuine Roman +of the antique stamp. He was also averse to schemes of universal empire. +He was a patrician, brought up at the plow, and in love with his Sabine +farm. Yet he rose to the consulship, and even the censorship. He served in +war under Marcellus, Fabius, and Scipio, and showed great ability as a +soldier. He was as distinguished in the forum as in the camp and +battle-field, having a bold address, pungent wit, and great knowledge of +the Roman laws. He was the most influential political orator of his day. +He was narrow in his political ideas, conservative, austere, and upright; +an enemy to all corruption and villainy, also to genius, and culture, and +innovation. He was the protector of the Roman farmer, plain, homely in +person, disdained by the ruling nobles, but fearless in exposing +corruption from any quarter, and irreconcilably at war with aristocratic +coteries, like the Scipios and Flaminii. He was publicly accused +twenty-four times, but he was always backed by the farmers, +notwithstanding the opposition of the nobles. He erased, while censor, the +name of the brother of Flaminius from the roll of senators, and the +brother of Scipio from that of the equites. He attempted a vigorous +reform, but the current of corruption could only be stemmed for awhile. +The effect of the sumptuary laws, which were passed through his influence, +was temporary and unsatisfactory. No legislation has proved of avail +against a deep-seated corruption of morals, for the laws will be avoided, +even if they are not defied. In vain was the eloquence of the hard, +arbitrary, narrow, worldly wise, but patriotic and stern old censor. The +age of Grecian culture, of wealth, of banquets, of palaces, of games, of +effeminate manners, had set in with the conquest of Greece and Asia. The +divisions of society widened, and the seeds of luxury and pride were to +produce violence and decay. + +(M928) Still some political changes were effected at this time. The +Comitia Centuriata was remodeled. The equites no longer voted first. The +five classes obtained an equal number of votes, and the freedmen were +placed on an equal footing with free-born. Thus terminated the long +conflict between patricians and plebeians. But although the right of +precedence in voting was withdrawn from the equites, still the patrician +order was powerful enough to fill, frequently, the second consulship and +the second censorship, which were open to patricians and plebeians alike, +with men of their own order. At this time the office of dictator went into +abeyance, and was practically abolished; the priests were elected by the +whole community; the public assemblies interfered with the administration +of the public property--the exclusive prerogative of the Senate in former +times--and thus transferred the public domains to their own pockets. These +were changes which showed the disorganization of the government rather +than healthy reform. To this period we date the rise of demagogues, for a +minority in the Senate had the right to appeal to the Comitia, which +opened the way for wealthy or popular men to thwart the wisest actions and +select incompetent magistrates and generals. Even Publius Scipio was not +more distinguished for his arrogance and title-hunting than for the army +of clients he supported, and for the favor which he courted, of both +legions and people, by his largesses of grain. + +(M929) At this period, agriculture had reached considerable perfection, +but Cato declared that his fancy farm was not profitable. Figs, apples, +pears were cultivated, as well as olives and grapes--also shade-trees. The +rearing of cattle was not of much account, as the people lived chiefly on +vegetables, and fruits and corn. Large cattle were kept only for tillage. +Considerable use was made of poultry and pigeons--kept in the farm-yard. +Fish-ponds and hare-preserves were also common. The labor of the fields +was performed by oxen, and asses for carriage and the turning of mills. +The human labor on farms was done by slaves. Vineyards required more +expenditure of labor than ordinary tillage. An estate of one hundred +jugera, with vine plantations, required one plowman, eleven slaves, and +two herdsmen. The slaves were not bred on the estate, but were purchased. +They lived in the farm-buildings, among cattle and produce. A separate +house was erected for the master. A steward had the care of the slaves. +The stewardess attended to the baking and cooking, and all had the same +fare, delivered from the produce of the farm on which they lived. Great +unscrupulousness pervaded the management of these estates. Slaves and +cattle were placed on the same level, and both were fed as long as they +could work, and sold when they were incapacitated by age or sickness. A +slave had no recreations or holidays. His time was spent between working +and sleeping. And when we remember that these slaves were white as well as +black, and had once been free, their condition was hard and inhuman. No +negro slavery ever was so cruel as slavery among the Romans. Great labors +and responsibilities were imposed upon the steward. He was the first to +rise in the morning, and the last to go to bed at night; but he was not +doomed to constant labor, like the slaves whom he superintended. He also +had few pleasures, and was obsequious to the landlord, who performed no +work, except in the earlier ages. The small farmer worked himself with the +slaves and his children. He more frequently cultivated flowers and +vegetables for the market of Rome. Pastoral husbandry was practiced on a +great scale, and at least eight hundred jugera were required. On such +estates, horses, oxen, mules, and asses were raised, also herds of swine +and goats. The breeding of sheep was an object of great attention and +interest, since all clothing was made of wool. The shepherd-slaves lived +in the open air, remote from human habitations, under sheds and +sheep-folds. + +(M930) The prices of all produce were very small in comparison with +present rates, and this was owing, in part, to the immense quantities of +corn and other produce delivered by provincials to the Roman government, +sometimes gratuitously. The armies were supported by transmarine corn. The +government regulated prices. In the time of Scipio, African wheat was sold +as low as twelve ases for six _modii_--(one and a half bushel)--about +sixpence. At one time two hundred and forty thousand bushels of Sicilian +grain were distributed at this price. The rise of demagogism promoted +these distributions, which kept prices down, so that the farmers received +but a small reward for labors, which made, of course, the condition of +laborers but little above that of brutes: when the people of the capital +paid but sixpence sterling for a bushel and a half of wheat, or one +hundred and eighty pounds of dried figs, or sixty pounds of oil, or +seventy-two pounds of meat, or four and a half gallons of wine sold only +for fivepence, or three-fifths of a denarius. In the time of Polybius, the +traveler was charged for victuals and lodgings at an inn only about two +farthings a day, and a bushel of wheat sold for fourpence. At such prices +there was very little market for the farmer. Sicily and Sardinia were the +real granaries of Rome. Thus were all the best interests of the country +sacrificed to the unproductive population of the city. Such was the golden +age of the republic--a state of utter misery and hardship among the +productive classes, and idleness among the Roman people--a state of society +which could but lead to ruin. The farmers, without substantial returns, +lost energy and spirit, and dwindled away. Their estates fell into the +hands of great proprietors, who owned great numbers of slaves. They +themselves were ruined, and sunk into an ignoble class. The cultivation of +grain in Italy was gradually neglected, and attention was given chiefly to +vines, and olives, and wool. The rearing of cattle became more profitable +than tillage, and small farms were absorbed in great estates. + +(M931) The monetary transactions of the Romans were preeminently +conspicuous. No branch of commercial industry was prosecuted with more +zeal than money-lending. The bankers of Rome were a great class, and were +generally rich. They speculated in corn and all articles of produce. Usury +was not disdained even by the nobles. Money-lending became a great system, +and all the laws operated in favor of capitalists. + +Industrial art did not keep pace with usurious calculations, and trades +were concentrated in the capital. Mechanical skill was neglected in all +the rural districts. + +(M932) Business operations were usually conducted by slaves. Even +money-lenders and bankers made use of them. Every one who took contracts +for building, bought architect slaves. Every one who provided spectacles +purchased a band of serfs expert in the art of fighting. The merchants +imported wares in vessels managed by slaves. Mines were worked by slaves. +Manufactories were conducted by slaves. Everywhere were slaves. + +(M933) While the farmer obtained only fourpence a bushel for his wheat, a +penny a gallon for his wine, and fivepence for sixty pounds of oil, the +capitalists, centered in Rome, possessed fortunes which were vastly +disproportionate to those which are seen in modern capitals. Paulus was +not reckoned wealthy for a senator, but his estate was valued at sixty +talents, nearly L15,000, or $75,000. In other words, the daily interest of +his capital was fifteen dollars, enough to purchase one hundred and eighty +bushels of wheat--as much as a farmer could raise in a year on eight +jugera--a farm as large as that of Cincinnatus. Each of the daughters of +Scipio received as a dowry fifty talents, or $60,000. The value of this +sum, in our money, when measured by the scale of wheat, or oil, or +wine--allowing wheat now to be worth five shillings sterling a +bushel--against fivepence in those times, would make gold twelve times more +valuable then than now. And hence, Scipio left each of his daughters a sum +equal to $720,000 of our money. In estimating the fortune of a Roman, by +the prices charged at an inn per day, a penny would go further then than a +dollar would now. But I think that gold and silver, in the time of Scipio, +were about the same value as in England at the time of Henry VII., about +twenty times our present standard. + +(M934) Every law at Rome tended in its operation to the benefit of the +creditor, and to vast accumulations of property; for the government being +in the hands of the rich, as in England a century since, and in France +before the Revolution, favored the rich at the expense of the poor. It +became disgraceful at Rome to perform manual labor, and a wall separated +the laboring classes from the capitalists, which could not be passed. +Industrial art took the lowest place in the scale of labor, and was in the +hands of slaves. The traffic in money, and the farming of the revenue +formed the mainstay and stronghold of the Roman economy. The free +population of Italy declined, while the city of Rome increased. The loss +was supplied by slaves. In the year 502 of the city, the Roman burgesses +in Italy numbered two hundred and ninety-eight thousand men capable of +bearing arms. Fifty years later, the number was only two hundred and +fourteen thousand. The nation visibly diminished, and the community was +resolved into masters and slaves. And this decline of citizens and +increase of slaves were beheld with indifference, for pride, and cruelty, +and heartlessness were the characteristics of the higher classes. + +(M935) With the progress of luxury, and the decline of the rural +population, and the growth of disproportionate fortunes, residence in the +capital became more and more coveted, and more and more costly. Rents rose +to an unexampled height. Extravagant prices were paid for luxuries. When a +bushel of corn sold for fivepence, a barrel of anchovies from the Black +Sea cost L14, and a beautiful boy twenty-four thousand sesterces (L246), +more than a farmer's homestead. Money came to be prized as the end of +life, and all kinds of shifts and devices were made to secure it. +Marriage, on both sides, became an object of mercantile speculation. + +(M936) In regard to education, there was a higher development than is +usually supposed, and literature and art were cultivated, even while the +nation declined in real virtue and strength. By means of the Greek slaves, +the Greek language and literature reached even the lower ranks, to a +certain extent. "The comedies indicate that the humblest classes were +familiar with a sort of Latin, which could no more be understood without a +knowledge of Greek, than Wieland's German without a knowledge of French." +Greek was undoubtedly spoken by the higher classes, as French is spoken in +all the courts of Europe. In the rudiments of education, the lowest people +were instructed, and even slaves were schoolmasters. At the close of the +Punic wars, both comedy and tragedy were among the great amusements of the +Romans, and great writers arose, who wrote, however, from the Greek +models. Livius translated Homer, and Naevius popularized the Greek drama. +Plautus, it is said, wrote one hundred and thirty plays. The tragedies of +Ennius were recited to the latter days of the empire. The Romans did not, +indeed, make such advance in literature as the Greeks, at a comparatively +early period of their history, but their attainments were respectable when +Carthage was destroyed. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXV. + + +THE REFORM MOVEMENT OF THE GRACCHI. + + +A new era in the history of Rome now commences, a period of glory and +shame, when a great change took place in the internal structure of the +State, now corrupted by the introduction of Greek and Asiatic refinements, +and the vast wealth which rolled into the capital of the world. + +(M937) "For a whole generation after the battle of Pydna, the Roman State +enjoyed a profound calm, scarcely varied by a ripple here and there upon +the surface. Its dominion extended over three continents; all eyes rested +on Italy; all talents and all riches flowed thither; it seemed as if a +golden age of peaceful prosperity and intellectual enjoyment of life had +begun. The Orientals of this period told each other with astonishment of +the mighty republic of the West. And such was the glory of the Romans, +that no one usurped the crown, and no one glittered in purple dress; but +they obeyed whomsoever from year to year they made their master, and there +was among them neither envy nor discord." + +(M938) So things seemed at a distance. But this splendid external was +deceptive. The government of the aristocracy was hastening to its ruin. +There was a profound meaning, says Mommsen, in the question of Cato: "What +was to become of Rome when she should no longer have any State to fear?" +All her neighbors were now politically annihilated, and the single thought +of the aristocracy was how they should perpetuate their privileges. A +government of aristocratic nobodies was now inaugurated, which kept new +men of merit from doing any thing, for fear they should belong to their +exclusive ranks. Even an aristocratic conqueror was inconvenient. + +(M939) Still opposition existed to this aristocratic regime, and some +reforms had been carried out. The administration of justice was improved. +The senatorial commissions to the provinces were found inadequate. An +effort was made to emancipate the Comitia from the prepondering influence +of the aristocracy. The senators were compelled to renounce their public +horse on admission to the Senate, and also the privilege of voting in the +eighteen equestrian centimes. But there was the semblance of increased +democratic power rather than the reality. All the great questions of the +day turned upon the election of the curule magistracies, and there was +sufficient influence among the nobles to secure these offices. Young men +from noble families crowded into the political arena, and claimed what +once was the reward of distinguished merit. Powerful connections were +indispensable for the enjoyment of political power, as in England at the +time of Burke. A large body of clients waited on their patron early every +morning, and the candidates for office used all those arts which are +customary when votes were to be bought. The government no longer disposed +of the property of burgesses for the public good, nor favored the idea +among them that they were exempted from taxes. Political corruption +reached through all grades and classes. Capitalists absorbed the small +farms, and great fortunes were the scandal of the times. Capital was more +valued than labor. Italian farms depreciated from the conversion of +tillage into pasture lands and parks, as in England in the present day. +Slavery inordinately increased from the captives taken in war. Western +Asia furnished the greatest number of this miserable population, and +Cretan and Cilician slave-hunters were found on all the coasts of Syria +and Greece. Delos was the great slave-market of the world, where the +slave-dealers of Asia Minor disposed of their wares to Italian +speculators. In one day as many as ten thousand slaves were disembarked +and sold. Farms, and trades, and mines were alike carried on by these +slaves from Asia, and their sufferings and hardships were vastly greater +than ever endured by negroes on the South Carolinian and Cuban +plantations. But they were of a different race--men who had seen better +days, and accustomed to civilization--and hence they often rose upon their +masters. Servile wars were of common occurrence, Sicily at one time had +seventy thousand slaves in arms, and when consular armies were sent to +suppress the revolt, the most outrageous cruelties were inflicted. Twenty +thousand men, at one time, were crucified in Sicily by Publius Rupilius. + +(M940) At this crisis, when disproportionate wealth and slavery were the +great social evils, Tiberius Gracchus arose--a young man of high rank, +chivalrous, noble, and eloquent. His mother, Cornelia, was the daughter of +Scipio Africanus, and therefore belonged to the most exclusive of the +aristocratic circles. Tiberius Gracchus was therefore the cousin of Scipio +AEmilianus, under whom he served with distinction in Africa. He was +seconded in his views of reform by some stern old patriots and +aristocrats, who had not utterly forgotten the interests of the State, now +being undermined. Appius Claudius, his father-in-law, who had been both +consul and censor; Publius Mucius Scaevola, the great lawyer and founder of +scientific jurisprudence; his brother, Publius Crassus Mucianus; the +Pontifex Maximus; Quintus Metellus, the conqueror of Macedonia--all men of +the highest rank and universally respected, entered into his schemes of +reform. + +(M941) This patriotic patrician was elected tribune B.C. 134, at a time +when political mismanagement, moral decay, the decline of burgesses, and +the increase of slaves, were most apparent. So Gracchus, after entering +upon his office, proposed the enaction of an agrarian law, by which all +State lands, occupied by the possessors, without remuneration, should +revert to the State, except five hundred jugera for himself, and two +hundred and fifty for each son. The domain land thus resumed was to be +divided into lots of thirty jugera, and these distributed to burgesses and +Italian allies, not as free property, but inalienable leaseholds, for +which they paid rent to the State. This was a declaration of war upon the +great landholders. The proposal of Gracchus was paralyzed by the vote of +his colleague, Marcus Octavius. Gracchus then, in his turn, suspended the +business of the State and the administration of justice, and placed his +seal on the public chest. The government was obliged to acquiesce. +Gracchus, also, as the year was drawing to a close, brought his law to the +vote a second time. Again it was vetoed by Octavius. Gracchus then, at the +invitation of the consuls, discussed the matter in the Senate; but the +Senate, composed of great proprietors, would not yield. All constitutional +means were now exhausted, and Gracchus must renounce his reform or begin a +revolution. + +(M942) He chose the latter. Before the assembled people he demanded that +his colleague should be deposed, which was against all the customs, and +laws, and precedents of the past. The assembly, composed chiefly of the +proletarians who had come from the country--the Comitia Tributa--voted +according to his proposal, and Octavius was removed by the lictors from +the tribune bench, and then the agrarian law was passed by acclamation. +The Commissioners chosen to confiscate and redistribute the lands were +Tiberius Gracchus, his brother Gaius, and his father-in-law Appius +Claudius, which family selection vastly increased the indignation of the +Senate, who threw every obstacle in the way. + +(M943) The author of the law, fearing for his personal safety, no longer +appeared in the forum without a retinue of three or four thousand men, +another cause of bitter hatred on the part of the aristocracy. He also +sought to be re-elected tribune, but the Assembly broke up without a +choice. The next day the election terminated in the same manner, and it +was rumored in the city that Tiberius had deposed all the tribunes, and +was resolved to continue in office without re-election. A tumult, +originating with the Senate, was the result. A mob of senators rushed +through the streets, with fury in their eyes and clubs in their hands. The +people gave way, and Gracchus was slain on the slope of the capitol. The +Senate officially sanctioned the outrage, on the ground that Tiberius +meditated the usurpation of supreme power. + +(M944) In regard to the author of this agrarian law, there is no doubt he +was patriotic in his intentions, was public-spirited, and wished to revive +the older and better days of the republic. I do not believe he +contemplated the usurpation of supreme power. I doubt if he was ambitious, +as Caesar was. But he did not comprehend the issues at stake, and the shock +he was giving to the constitution of his country. He was like Mirabeau, +that other aristocratic reformer, who voted for the spoliation of the +church property of France, on the ground, which that leveling +sentimentalist Rousseau had advanced, that the church property belonged to +the nation. But this plea, in both cases, was sophistical. It was, +doubtless, a great evil that the property of the State had fallen into the +hands of wealthy proprietors, as it was an evil that half the landed +property of France was in possession of the clergy. But, in both cases, +this property had been enjoyed uninterruptedly for centuries by the +possessors, and, to all intents and purposes, was _private_ property. And +this law of confiscation was therefore an encroachment on the rights of +property, in all its practical bearings. It appeared to the jurists of +that age to be an ejection of the great landholders for the benefit of the +proletarians. The measure itself was therefore not without injustice, +desirable as a division of property might be. But the mode to effect this +division was incompatible with civilization itself. It was an appeal to +revolutionary forces. It was setting aside all constitutional checks and +usages. It was a defiance of the Senate, the great ruling body of the +State. It was an appeal to the people to overturn the laws. It was like +assembling the citizens of London to override the Parliament. It was like +the French revolution, when the Assembly was dictated to by the clubs. +Robespierre may have been sincere and patriotic, but he was a fanatic, +fierce and uncompromising. So was Gracchus. In setting aside his +colleagues, to accomplish what he deemed a good end, he did evil. When +this rich patrician collected the proletarian burgesses to decree against +the veto of the tribune that the public property should be distributed +among them, he struck a vital blow on the constitution of his country, and +made a step toward monarchy, for monarchy was only reached through the +democracy--was only brought about by powerful demagogues. And hence the +verdict of the wise and judicious will be precisely that, of the leading +men of Rome at the time, even that of Cornelia herself: "Shall then our +house have no end of madness? Have we not enough to be ashamed of in the +disorganization of the State?" + +(M945) The law of Tiberius Gracchus survived its author. The Senate had +not power to annul it, though it might slay its author. The work of +redistribution continued, even as the National Assembly of France +sanctioned the legislation of preceding revolutionists. And in consequence +of the law, there was, in six years, an increase of burgesses capable of +bearing arms, of seventy-six thousand. But so many evils attended the +confiscation and redistribution of the public domain--so many acts of +injustice were perpetrated--there was such gross mismanagement, that the +consul Scipio AEmilianus intervened, and by a decree of the people, through +his influence, the commission was withdrawn, and the matter was left to +the consuls to adjudicate, which was virtually the suspension of the law +itself. For this intervention Scipio lost his popularity, unbounded as it +had been, even as Daniel Webster lost his prestige and influence when he +made his 7th of March speech--the fate of all great men, however great, +when they oppose popular feelings and interests, whether they are right or +wrong. Scipio, the hero of three wars, not only lost his popularity, but +his life. He was found murdered in his bed at the age of fifty-six. +"Scipio's assassination was the democratic reply to the aristocratic +massacre of Tiberius Gracchus." The greatest general of the age, a man of +unspotted moral purity, and political unselfishness, and generous +patriotism, could not escape the vengeance of a baffled populace, B.C. +129. + +(M946) The distribution of land ceased, but the revolution did not stop. +The soul of Tiberius Gracchus "was marching on." A new hero appeared in +his brother, Gaius Gracchus, nine years younger--a man who had no relish +for vulgar pleasures,--brave, cultivated, talented, energetic, vehement. A +master of eloquence, he drew the people; consumed with a passion for +revenge, he led them on to revolutionary measures. He was elected tribune +in the year 123, and at once declared war on the aristocratic party, to +which by birth he belonged. + +He inaugurated revolutionary measures, by proposing to the people a law +which should allow the tribune to solicit a re-election. He then, to gain +the people and secure material power, enacted that every burgess should be +allowed, monthly, a definite quantity of corn from the public stores at +about half the average price. And he caused a law to be passed that the +existing order of voting in the Comitia Centuriata, according to which the +five property classes voted first, should be done away with, and that all +the centuries should vote in the order to be determined by lot. He also +caused a law to be passed that no citizen should enlist in the army till +seventeen, nor be compelled to serve in the army more than twenty years. +These measures all had the effect to elevate the democracy. + +(M947) He also sought to depress the aristocracy, by dividing its ranks. +The old aristocracy embraced chiefly the governing class, and were the +chief possessors of landed property. But a new aristocracy of the rich had +grown up, composed of speculators, who managed the mercantile transactions +of the Roman world. The old senatorial aristocracy were debarred by the +Claudian ordinance from mercantile pursuits, and were merely sleeping +partners in the great companies, managed by the speculators. But the new +aristocracy, under the name of the equestrian order, began at this time to +have political influence. Originally, the equestrians were a burgess +cavalry; but gradually all who possessed estates of four hundred thousand +sesterces were liable to cavalry service, and became enrolled in the +order, which thus comprehended the whole senatorial and non-senatorial +noble society of Rome. In process of time, the senators were exempted from +cavalry service, and were thus marked off from the list of those liable to +do cavalry service. The equestrian order then, at last, comprehended the +aristocracy of rich men, in contradistinction from the Senate. And a +natural antipathy accordingly grew up between the old senatorial +aristocracy and the men to whom money had given rank. The ruling lords +stood aloof from the speculators; and were better friends of the people +than the new moneyed aristocrats, since they, brought directly in contact +with the people, oppressed them, and their greediness and injustice were +not usually countenanced by the Senate. The two classes of nobles had +united to put down Tiberius Gracchus; but a deep gulf still yawned between +them, for no class of aristocrats was ever more exclusive than the +governing class at Rome, confined chiefly to the Senate. The Roman Senate +was like the House of Peers in England, when the peers had a +preponderating political power, and whose property lay in landed estates. + +(M948) Gracchus raised the power of the equestrians by a law which +provided that the farming of the taxes raised in the provinces should be +sold at auction at Rome. A gold mine was thus opened for the speculators. +He also caused a law to be passed which required the judges of civil and +criminal cases to be taken from the equestrians, a privilege before +enjoyed by the Senate. And thus a senator, impeached for his conduct as +provincial governor, was now tried, not as before, by his peer, but by +merchants and bankers. + +(M949) Gracchus, by the aid of the proletarians and the mercantile class, +then proceeded to the overthrow of the ruling aristocracy, especially in +the functions of legislation, which had belonged to the Senate. By means +of comitial laws and tribunician dictation, he restricted the business of +the Senate. He meddled with the public chest by distributing corn at half +its value; he meddled with the domains by sending colonies by decrees of +the people; he meddled with provincial administration by overturning the +regulations which had been made by the Senate. He also sought to +re-enforce the Senate by three hundred new members from the equestrians +elected by the comitia, a creation of peers which would have reduced the +Senate to dependence on the chief of the State. But this he did not +succeed in effecting. + +(M950) It is singular that he could have carried these measures during his +term of office, two years, for he was re-elected, with so little +opposition--a proof of the power of the moneyed classes, such, perhaps, as +are now represented by the Commons of England. The great change he sought +to effect was the re-election of magistrates--an unlimited tribuneship, +which was truly Napoleonic. And he knew what he was doing. He was not a +fanatic, but a Statesman of great ability, seeking to break the oligarchy, +and transfer its powers to the tribunes of the people. He desired a firm +administration, but resting on continuous individual usurpations. He was a +political incendiary, like Mirabeau. He was the true founder of that +terrible civic proletariate, which, flattered by the classes above it, led +to the usurpations of Sulla and Caesar. He is the author of the great +change, which in one hundred years was effected, of transferring power +from the Senate to an emperor. He furnished the tactics for all succeeding +demagogues. + +(M951) Great revolutionists are doomed to experience the loss of +popularity, and Gracchus lost his by an attempt to extend the Roman +franchise to the people of the provinces. The Senate and the mob here +united to prevent what was ultimately effected. The Senate seized the +advantage by inciting a rival demagogue, in the person of Marcus Livius +Drusus, to propose laws which gave still greater privileges to the +equestrians. The Senate bid for popularity, as English prime ministers +have retained place, by granting more to the people than their rivals +would have granted. The Livian laws, which released the proletarians from +paying rent for their lands, were ratified by the people as readily as the +Sempronian laws had been. The foundation of the despotism of Gracchus was +thus assailed by the Senate uniting with the proletarians. An opportunity +was only wanted to effect his complete overthrow. + +(M952) On the expiration of two years, Gracchus ceased to be tribune, and +his enemy, Lucius Opimius, a stanch aristocrat, entered upon his office. +The attack on the ex-tribune was made by prohibiting the restoration of +Carthage, which Gracchus had sought to effect, and which was a popular +measure. On the day when the burgesses assembled with a view to reject the +measure which Gracchus had previously secured, he appeared with a large +body of adherents. An attendant on the consul demanded their dispersion, +on which he was cut down by a zealous Gracchian. On this, a tumult arose. +Gracchus in vain sought to be heard, and even interrupted a tribune in the +act of speaking, which was against an obsolete law. This offense furnished +a pretense for the Senate and the citizens to arm. Gracchus retired to the +temple of Castor, and passed the night, while the capitol was filled with +armed men. The next day, he fled beyond the Tiber, but the Senate placed a +price upon his head, and he was overtaken and slain. Three thousand of his +adherents were strangled in prison, and the memory of the Gracchi remained +officially proscribed. But Cornelia put on mourning for her last son, and +his name became embalmed in the hearts of the democracy. + +(M953) Thus perished Gaius Gracchus, a wiser man than his brother--a man +who attempted greater changes, and did not defy the constitutional forms. +He was, undoubtedly, patriotic in his intentions, but the reforms which he +projected were radical, and would have changed the whole structure of +government. It was the consummation of the war against the patrician +oligarchy. Whether wise or foolish, it is not for me to give an opinion, +since such an opinion is of no account, and would imply equally a judgment +as to the relative value of an aristocratical or democratic form of +government, in a corrupt age of Roman society. This is a mooted point, and +I am not capable of settling it. The efforts of the Gracchi to weaken the +power of the ruling noble houses formed a precedent for subsequent +reforms, or usurpations, as they are differently regarded, and led the way +to the rule of demagogues, to be supplanted in time by that of emperors, +with unbounded military authority. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVI. + + +THE WARS WITH JUGURTHA AND THE CIMBRI.--MARIUS. + + +The fall of the Gracchi restored Rome to the rule of the oligarchy. The +government of the Senate was resumed, and a war of prosecution was carried +on against the followers of Gracchus. His measures were allowed to drop. +The claims of the Italian allies were disregarded, the noblest of all the +schemes of the late tribune, that of securing legal equality between the +Roman burgesses and their Italian allies. The restoration of Carthage was +set aside. Italian colonies were broken up. The allotment commission was +abolished, and a fixed rent was imposed on the occupants of the public +domains, but the proletariate of the capital continued to have a +distribution of corn, and jurymen or judges (_judices_) were still +selected from the mercantile classes. The Senate continued to be composed +of effeminated nobles, and insignificant persons were raised to the +highest offices. + +The administration, under the restoration, was feeble and unpopular. +Social evils spread with alarming rapidity. Both slavery and great +fortunes increased. The provinces were miserably governed, while pirates +and robbers pillaged the countries around the Mediterranean. There was a +great revolt of slaves in Sicily, who gained, for a time, the mastery of +the island. + +(M954) While public affairs were thus disgracefully managed, a war broke +out between Numidia and Rome. That African kingdom extended from the river +Molochath to the great Syrtis on the one hand, and to Cyrene and Egypt on +the other, and included the greatest part of the ancient Carthaginian +territories. Numidia, next to Egypt, was the most important of the Roman +client States. On the fall of Carthage, it was ruled by the eldest son of +Masinassa, Micipsa, a feeble old man, who devoted himself to the study of +philosophy, rather than affairs of State. The government was really in the +hands of his nephew, Jugurtha, courageous, sagacious, and able. He was +adopted by Micipsa, to rule in conjunction with his two sons, Adherbal and +Hiempsal. In the year B.C. 118 Micipsa died, and a collision arose, as was +to be expected, among his heirs. Hiempsal was assassinated, and the +struggle for the Numidian crown lay between Adherbal and Jugurtha. The +latter seized the whole territory, and Adherbal escaped to Rome, and laid +his complaint before the Senate. Jugurtha's envoys also appeared, and the +Senate decreed that the two heirs should have the kingdom equally divided +between them, but Jugurtha obtained the more fertile western half. + +Then war arose between the two kings, and Adherbal was defeated, and +retired to his capital, Aita, where he was besieged by Jugurtha. Adherbal +made his complaints to Rome, and a commission of aristocratic but +inexperienced young men came to the camp of Jugurtha to arrange the +difficulties. Jugurtha rejected their demands, and the young men returned +home. Adherbal sent again messengers to Rome, being closely pressed, +demanding intervention. The Senate then sent Marcus Scaurus, who held +endless debates with Jugurtha, at Utica, to which place he was summoned. +These were not attended with any results. Scaurus returned to Rome, and +Jugurtha pressed the siege of Aita, which soon capitulated. Adherbal was +executed with cruel torture, and the adult population was put to the +sword. + +A cry of indignation arose in Italy. The envoys of Jugurtha were summarily +dismissed, and Scaurus was sent to Africa with an army, but a peace with +Rome was purchased by the African prince through the bribery of the +generals. The legal validity of the peace was violently assailed in the +Senate, and Massiva, a grandson of Masinissa, then in Rome, laid claim to +the Numidian throne. But this prince was assassinated by one of the +confidants of Jugurtha, which outrage, perpetrated under the eyes of the +Roman government, led to a renewed declaration of war, and Spurius Albinus +was intrusted with the command of an army. But Jugurtha bribed the Roman +general into inaction, and captured the Roman camp. This resulted in the +evacuation of Numidia, and a second treaty of peace. + +(M955) Such an ignoble war created intense dissatisfaction at Rome, and +the Senate was obliged to cancel the treaty, and renewed the war in +earnest, intrusting the conduct of it to Quintus Metellus, an aristocrat, +of course, but a man of great ability. Selecting for his lieutenants able +generals, he led over his army to Africa. Jugurtha made proposals of +peace, which were refused, and he prepared for a desperate defense. +Intrenched on a ridge of hills in the wide plain of Muthul, he awaited the +attack of his enemies, but was signally defeated by Metellus, assisted by +Marius, a brave plebeian, who had arisen from the common soldiers. After +this battle Jugurtha contented himself with a guerrilla warfare, while his +kingdom was occupied by the conquerors. Metellus even intrigued to secure +the assassination of the king. + +(M956) The war continued to be prosecuted without decisive results, as is +so frequently the case when civilized nations fight with barbarians. Like +the war of Charlemagne against the Saxons, victories were easily obtained, +but the victors gained unsubstantial advantages. Jugurtha retired to +inaccessible deserts with his children, his treasures, and his best +troops, to await better times. Numidia was seemingly reduced, but its king +remained in arms. + +(M957) It was then, in the third year of the renewed war, that Metellus +was recalled, and Marius, chosen consul, was left with the supreme +command. But even he did not find it easy, with a conquering army, to +seize Jugurtha, and he was restricted to a desultory war. At last Bocchus, +king of Mauritania, slighted by the Romans, but in alliance with Jugurtha, +effected by treachery what could not be gained by arms. He entered into +negotiations with Marius to deliver up the king of Numidia, who had +married his daughter, and had sought his protection. Marius sent Sulla to +consummate the treachery. Jugurtha, the traitor, was thus in turn +sacrificed, and became a Roman prisoner. + +(M958) This miserable war lasted seven years, and its successful +termination secured to Marius a splendid triumph, at which the conquered +king, with his two sons, appeared in chains before the triumphal car, and +was then executed in the subterranean prison on the Capitoline Hill. + +(M959) Numidia was not converted into a Roman province, but into a client +State, because the country could not be held without an army on the +frontiers. The Jugurthan war was important in its consequences, since it +brought to light the venality of the governing lords, and made it evident +that Rome must be governed by a degenerate and selfish oligarchy, or by a +tyrant, whether in the form of a demagogue, like Gracchus, or a military +chieftain, like Marius. + +(M960) But a more difficult war than that waged against the barbarians of +the African deserts was now to be conducted against the barbarians of +European forests. The war with the Cimbri was also more important in its +political results. There had been several encounters with the northern +nations of Spain, Gaul, and Italy, under different names, with different +successes, which it would be tedious to describe. But the contest with the +Cimbri has a great and historic interest, since they were the first of the +Germanic tribes with which the Romans contended. Mommsen thinks these +barbarians were Teutonic, although, among older historians, they were +supposed to be Celts. The Cimbri were a migratory people, who left their +northern homes with their wives and children, goods and chattels, to seek +more congenial settlements than they had found in the Scandinavian +forests. The wagon was their house. They were tall, fair-haired, with +bright blue eyes. They were well armed with sword, spear, shield, and +helmet. They were brave warriors, careless of danger, and willing to die. +They were accompanied by priestesses, whose warnings were regarded as +voices from heaven. + +(M961) This homeless people of the Cimbri, prevented from advancing south +on the Danube by the barrier raised by the Celts, advanced to the passes +of the Carnian Alps, B.C. 113, protected by Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, not far +from Aquileia. An engagement took place not far from the modern Corinthia, +where Carbo was defeated. Some years after, they proceeded westward to the +left bank of the Rhine, and over the Jura, and again threatened the Roman +territory. Again was a Roman army defeated under Silanus in Southern Gaul, +and the Cimbri sent envoys to Rome, with the request that they might be +allowed peaceful settlements. The Helvetii, stimulated by the successes of +the Cimbri, also sought more fertile settlements in Western Gaul, and +formed an alliance with the Cimbri. They crossed the Jura, the western +barrier of Switzerland, succeeded in decoying the Roman army under +Longinus into an ambush, and gained a victory. + +(M962) In the year B.C., 105 the Cimbrians, under their king Boiorix, +advanced to the invasion of Italy. They were opposed on the right bank of +the Rhone by the proconsul Caepio, and on the left by the consul Gnaeus +Mallius Maximus, and the consular Marcus Aurelius Scaurus. The first +attack fell on the latter general, who was taken prisoner and his corps +routed. Maximus then ordered his colleague to bring his army across the +Rhone, where the Roman force stood confronting the whole Cimbrian army, +but Caepio refused. The mutual jealousy of these generals, and refusal to +co-operate, led to one of the most disastrous defeats which the Romans +ever suffered. No less than eighty thousand soldiers, and half as many +more camp followers, perished. The battle of Aransio (Orange) filled Rome +with alarm and fear, and had the Cimbrians immediately advanced through +the passes of the Alps to Italy, overwhelming disasters might have ensued. + +(M963) In this crisis, Marius was called to the supreme command, hated as +he was by the aristocracy, which still ruled, and in defiance of the law +which prohibited the holding of the consulship more than once. He was +accompanied by a still greater man, Lucius Sulla, destined to acquire +great distinction. Marius maintained a strictly defensive attitude within +the Roman territories, training and disciplining his troops for the +contest which was yet to come with the most formidable antagonists the +Romans had ever encountered, and who were destined in after times to +subvert the empire. + +(M964) The Cimbri formed a confederation with the Helvetii and the +Teutons, and after an unsuccessful attempt to sweep away the Belgae, who +resisted them, concluded to invade Italy, through Roman Gaul and the +Western passes of the Alps. They crossed the Rhone without difficulty, and +resumed the struggle with the Romans. Marius awaited them in a well-chosen +camp, well fortified and provisioned, at the confluence of the Rhone and +the Isere, by which he intercepted the passage of the barbarians, either +over the Little St. Barnard--the route Hannibal had taken--or along the +coast. The barbarians attacked the camp, but were repulsed. They then +resolved to pass the camp, leaving an enemy in the rear, and march to +Italy. Marius, for six days, permitted them to defile with their immense +baggage, and when their march was over, followed in the steps of the +enemy, who took the coast road. At Aquae Sextiae the contending parties came +into collision, and the barbarians were signally defeated; the whole horde +was scattered, killed, or taken prisoners. It would seem that these +barbarians were Teutons or Germans; but on the south side of the Alps, the +Cimbri and Helvetii crossed the Alps by the Brenner Pass, and descended +upon the plains of Italy. The passes had been left unguarded, and the +Roman army, under Catulus, on the banks of the Adige, suffered a defeat, +and retreated to the right bank of the Po. The whole plain between the Po +and the Alps was in the hands of the barbarians, who did not press +forward, as they should have done, but retired into winter quarters, where +they became demoralized by the warm baths and abundant stores of that +fertile and lovely region. Thus the Romans gained time, and the victorious +Marius, relinquishing all attempts at the conquest of Gaul, conducted his +army to the banks of the Po, and formed a junction with Catulus. + +(M965) The two armies met at Vercillae, not far from the place where +Hannibal had fought his first battle on the Italian soil. The day of the +battle was fixed beforehand by the barbaric general and Marius, on the +30th of June, B.C. 101. A complete victory was gained by the Romans, and +the Cimbri were annihilated. The victory of the rough plebeian farmer was +not merely over the barbarians, but over the aristocracy. He became, in +consequence, the leading man in Rome. He had fought his way from the ranks +to the consulship, and had distinguished himself in all the campaigns in +which he fought. In Spain, he had arisen to the grade of an officer. In +the Numantine war he attracted, at twenty-three, the notice of Scipio. On +his return to Rome, with his honorable scars and military _eclat_, he +married a lady of the great patrician house of the Julii. At forty, he +obtained the praetorship; at forty-eight, he was made consul, and +terminated the African war, and his victories over the Cimbri and Teutons +enabled him to secure his re-election five consecutive years, which was +unexampled in the history of the republic. As consul he administered +justice impartially, organized the military system, and maintained in the +army the strictest discipline. He had but little culture; his voice was +harsh, and his look wild. But he was simple, economical, and +incorruptible. He stood aloof from society and from political parties, +exposed to the sarcasms of the aristocrats into whose ranks he had +entered. + +(M966) He made great military reforms, changing the burgess levy into a +system of enlistments, and allowing every free-born citizen to enlist. He +abolished the aristocratic classification, reduced the infantry of the +line to a level, and raised the number of the legion from four thousand +two hundred to six thousand, to which he gave a new standard--the silver +eagle, which proclaims the advent of emperors. The army was changed from a +militia to a band of mercenaries. + +After effecting these military changes, he sought political supremacy by +taking upon himself the constitutional magistracies. In effecting this he +was supported by the popular, or democratic party, which now regained its +political importance. He, therefore, obtained the consulship for the sixth +time, while his friends among the popular party were made tribunes and +praetors. He was also supported at the election by his old soldiers who had +been discharged. + +But the whole aristocracy rallied, and Marius was not sufficiently a +politician to cope with experienced demagogues. He made numerous blunders, +and lost his political influence. But he accepted his position, and waited +for his time. Not in the field of politics was he to arise to power, but +in the strife and din of arms. An opportunity was soon afforded in the +convulsions which arose from the revolt of the Roman allies in Italy, soon +followed by civil wars. It is these wars which next claim our notice. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVII. + + +THE REVOLT OF ITALY, AND THE SOCIAL WAR.--MARIUS AND SULLA. + + +Great discontent had long existed among the Italian subjects of Rome. They +were not only oppressed, but they enjoyed no political privileges. They +did not belong to the class of burgesses. + +With the view of extending the Roman franchise, a movement was made by the +tribune, M. Livius Drusus, an aristocrat of great wealth and popular +sympathies. He had, also, projected other reforms, which made him +obnoxious to all parties; but this was peculiarly offensive to the order +to which he belonged, and he lost his life while attempting to effect the +same reforms which were fatal to Gracchus. + +On his assassination, the allies, who outnumbered the Roman burgesses, and +who had vainly been seeking citizenship, found that they must continue +without political rights, or fight, and they made accordingly vast +preparations for war. Had all the Italian States been united, they would, +probably, have obtained their desire without a conflict in the field, but +in those parts where the moneyed classes preponderated, the people +remained loyal to Rome. But the insurgents embraced most of the people in +Central and Southern Italy, who were chiefly farmers. + +(M967) The insurrection broke out in Asculum in Picenum, and spread +rapidly through Samnium, Apulia, and Lucania. All Southern and Central +Italy was soon in arms against Rome. The Etruscans and Umbrians remained +in allegiance as they had before taken part with the equestrians, now a +most powerful body, against Drusus. Italy was divided into two great +military camps. The insurgents sent envoys to Rome, with the proposal to +lay down their arms if citizenship were granted them, but this was +refused. Both sides now made extensive preparations, and the forces were +nearly balanced. One hundred thousand men were in arms, in two divisions, +on either side, the Romans commanded by the consul, Publius Rutilius +Lupus, and the Italians by Quintus Silo and Gaius Papius Mutilus. Gaius +Marius served as a lieutenant-commander. The war was carried on with +various successes, for "Greek met Greek." The first campaign proved, on +the whole, to the disadvantage of the Romans, who suffered several +defeats. In a political point of view, also, the insurgents were the +gainers. Great despondency reigned in the capital, for the war had become +serious. At length, it was resolved to grant the political franchise to +such Italians as had remained faithful, or who had submitted. This +concession, great as it was, did not include the actual insurgents, but it +operated in strengthening wavering communities on the side of Rome. +Etruria and Umbria were tranquilized. + +(M968) The second campaign, B.C. 89, was opened in Bicenum. Marius was not +in the field. His conduct in the previous campaign was not satisfactory, +and the conqueror of the Cimbri, at sixty-six, was thought to be in his +dotage. Asculum was besieged and taken by the Romans, who had seventy-five +thousand troops under the walls. The Sabellians and Marsians were next +subjugated, and all Campania was lost to the insurgents, as far as Nola. +The Southern army was under the command of the consul, Lucius Sulla, whose +great career had commenced in Africa, under Marius. Sulla advanced into +the Samnite country and took its capital, Bovianum. Under his able +generalship, the position of affairs greatly changed. At the close of the +campaign, most of the insurgent regions were subdued. The Samnites were +almost the only people which held out. + +(M969) It was fortunate for Rome that the rebellion was so far suppressed +when the flames of war were rekindled in the East. A great reaction +against the Roman domination had taken place, and the eastern nations +seemed determined to rally once more for independent dominion. This was +the last great Asiatic rising till the fall of the Roman empire. The +potentate under whom the Oriental forces rallied, was Mithridates, king of +Pontus. + +(M970) The army of Sulla, in Campania, was destined to embark for Asia as +soon as the state of things in Southern Italy should allow his departure. +So the third campaign of the Social war, as it is called, began favorably +for Rome, when events transpired in the capital which gave fresh life to +the almost extinguished insurrection. The attack of Drusus on the +equestrian courts, and his sudden downfall, had sown the bitterest discord +between the aristocracy and the burgess class. The Italian communities, +received into Roman citizenship, were fettered by restrictions which had +an odious stigma, which led to great irritation, for the aristocracy had +conferred the franchise grudgingly. And this franchise was moreover +withheld from the insurgent communities which had again submitted. A deep +indignation also settled in the breast of Marius, on his return from the +first campaign, to find himself neglected and forgotten. To these +discontents were added the distress of debtors, who, amid the financial +troubles of the war, were unable to pay the interest on their debts, and +were yet inexorably pressed by creditors. + +(M971) It was then, in this state of fermentation and demoralization, that +the tribune Publius Sulpicius Rufus proposed that every senator who owed +more than two thousand denarii (L82) should forfeit his seat in the +Senate; that burgesses condemned by non-free jury courts should have +liberty to return home; and that the new burgesses should be distributed +among all the tribes, in which the freed men should also have the +privilege of voting. These proposals, although made by a patrician, met +with the greatest opposition from the Senate, but were passed amid riots +and tumults. Sulla was on the best terms with the Senate, and Sulpicius +feared that he might return from his camp at Nola, and take vengeance for +these popular measures. The tribune, therefore, conceived the plan of +taking the command from Sulla, who was then consul, and transfer it upon +Marius, who was also to conduct the war against Mithridates, in Asia. + +(M972) Sulla disobeyed the mandate, and marched to Rome with his +army--little more than a body of mercenaries devoted to him. In his eyes, +the sovereign Roman citizens were a rabble, and Rome itself a city without +a garrison. Sulla had an army of thirty-five thousand men, and before the +Romans could organize resistance he appeared at the gate, and crossed the +sacred boundary which the law had forbidden war to enter. In a few hours +Sulla was the absolute master of Rome. Marius and Sulpicius fled. It was +the conservative party which exchanged the bludgeon for the sword. Sulla +at once made null the Sulpician laws, punished their author and his +adherents, as Sulpicius had feared. The gray-haired conqueror of the +Cimbri fled, and found his way to the coast and embarked on a +trading-vessel, but the timid mariners put him ashore, and Marius stole +along the beach with his pursuers in the rear. He was found in a marsh +concealed in reeds and mud, seized and imprisoned by the people of +Minturnae, and a Cimbrian slave was sent to put him to death, The ax, +however, fell from his hands when the old hero demanded in a stern voice +if he dared to kill Gaius Marius. The magistrates of the town, ashamed, +then loosed his fetters, gave him a vessel, and sent him to AEnaria +(Ischia). There, in those waters, the proscribed met, and escaped to +Numidia, and Sulla was spared the odium of putting to death his old +commander, who had delivered Rome from the Cimbrians. + +(M973) Sulla, master of Rome, did not destroy her liberties. He suggested +a new series of legislative enactments in the interests of the +aristocracy. He created three hundred new senators, and brought back the +old Servian rule of voting in the Comitia Centuriata. The poorer classes +were thus virtually again disfranchised. He also abolished the power of +the tribune to propose laws to the people, and the initiatory of +legislation was submitted to the Senate. The absurd custom by which a +consul, praetor, or tribune, could propose to the burgesses any measure he +pleased, and carry it without debate, was in itself enough to overturn any +constitution. + +Having settled these difficulties, and made way with his enemies, Sulla, +still consul, embarked with his legion for the East, where the presence of +a Roman army was imperatively needed. But before he left, he extorted a +solemn oath from Cinna, consul elect, that he would attempt no alteration +in the recent changes which had been made. Cinna took the oath, but Sulla +had scarcely left before he created new disturbances. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXVIII. + + +THE MITHRIDATIC AND CIVIL WARS.--MARIUS AND SULLA. + + +There reigned at this time in Pontus, the northeastern State of Asia +Minor, bordered on the south by Cappadocia, on the east by Armenia, and +the north by the Euxine, a powerful prince, Mithridates VI., surnamed +Eupator, who traced an unbroken lineage to Darius, the son of the +Hystaspes, and also to the Seleucidae. He was a great eastern hero, whose +deeds excited the admiration of his age. He could, on foot, overtake the +swiftest deer; he accomplished journeys on horseback of one hundred and +twenty miles a day; he drove sixteen horses in hand at the chariot races; +he never missed his aim in hunting; he drank his boon companions under the +table; he had as many mistresses as Solomon; he was fond of music and +poetry; he collected precious works of art; he had philosophers and poets +in his train; he was the greatest jester and wit of his court. His +activity was boundless; he learned the antidotes for all poisons; he +administered justice in twenty-two languages; and yet he was coarse, +tyrannical, cruel, superstitious, and unscrupulous. Such was this +extraordinary man who led the great reaction of the Asiatics against the +Occidentals. + +(M974) The resources of this Oriental king were immense, since he bore +rule over the shores of the Euxine to the interior of Asia Minor. His +field for recruits to his armies stretched from the mouth of the Danube to +the Caspian Sea. Thracians, Scythians, Colchians, Iberians, crowded under +his banners. When he marched into Cappadocia, he had six hundred scythed +chariots, ten thousand horse, and eighty thousand foot. A series of +aggressions and conquests made this monarch the greatest and most +formidable Eastern foe the Romans ever encountered. The Romans, engrossed +with the war with the Cimbri and the insurrection of their Italian +subjects, allowed his empire to be silently aggrandized. + +(M975) The Roman Senate, at last, disturbed and jealous, sent Lucius Sulla +to Cappadocia with a handful of troops to defend its interests. On his +return, Mithridates continued his aggressions, and formed an alliance with +his father-in-law, Tigranes, king of Armenia, but avoided a direct +encounter with the great Occidental power which had conquered the world. +Things continued for awhile between war and peace, but, at last, it was +evident that only war could prevent the aggrandizement of Mithridates, and +it was resolved upon by the Romans. + +(M976) The king of Pontus made immense preparations to resist his powerful +enemies. He strengthened his alliance with Tigranes. He made overtures to +the Greek cities. He attempted to excite a revolt in Thrace, in Numidia, +and in Syria. He encouraged pirates on the Mediterranean. He organized a +foreign corps after the Roman fashion, and took the field with two hundred +and fifty thousand infantry and forty thousand cavalry--the largest army +seen since the Persian wars. He then occupied Asia Minor, and the Roman +generals retreated as he advanced. He made Ephesus his head-quarters, and +issued orders to all the governors dependent upon him to massacre, on the +same day, all Italians, free or enslaved--men, women, and children, found +in their cities. One hundred and fifty thousand were thus barbarously +slaughtered in one day. The States of Cappadocia, Sinope, Phrygia, and +Bithynia were organized as Pontic satrapies. The confiscation of the +property of the murdered Italians replenished his treasury, as well as the +contributions of Asia Minor. He not only occupied the Asiatic provinces of +the Romans, but meditated the invasion of Europe. Thrace and Macedonia +were occupied by his armies, and his fleet appeared in the AEgean Sea. +Delos, the emporium of Roman commerce, was taken, and twenty thousand +Italians massacred. Most of the small free States of Greece entered into +alliance with him--the Achaeans, Laconians, and Boeotians. So commanding was +his position, that an embassy of Italian insurgents invited him to land in +Italy. + +The position of the Roman government was critical. Asia Minor, Hellas, and +Macedonia were in the hands of Mithridates, while his fleet sailed without +a rival. The Italian insurrection was not subdued, and political parties +divided the capital. + +(M977) At this crisis Sulla landed on the coast of Epirus, but with an +army of only thirty thousand men, and without a single vessel of war. He +landed with an empty military chest. But he was a second Alexander--the +greatest general that Rome had yet produced. He soon made himself master +of Greece, with the exception of the fortresses of Athens and the Piraeus, +into which the generals of Mithridates had thrown themselves. He +intrenched himself at Eleusis and Megara, from which he commanded Greece +and the Peloponnesus, and commenced the siege of Athena. This was attended +with great difficulties, and the city only fell, after a protracted +defense, when provisions were exhausted. The conqueror, after allowing his +soldiers to pillage the city, gave back her liberties, in honor of her +illustrious dead. + +(M978) But a year was wasted, and without ships it was impossible for +Sulla to secure his communications. He sent one of his best officers, +Lucullus, to Alexandria, to raise a fleet, but the Egyptian court evaded +the request. To add to his embarrassments, the Roman general was without +money, although he had rifled the treasures which still remained in the +Grecian temples. Moreover, what was still more serious, a revolution at +Rome overturned his work, and he had been deposed, and his Asiatic command +given to M. Valerius Flaccus. + +Sulla was unexpectedly relieved by the resolution of Mithridates to carry +on the offensive in Greece. Taxiles, one of the lieutenants of the Pontic +king, was sent to combat Sulla with an army of one hundred thousand +infantry and ten thousand cavalry. + +(M979) Then was fought the battle of Chaeronea, B.C. 86, against the advice +of Archelaus, in which the Romans were the victors. But Sulla could not +reap the fruits of victory without a fleet, since the sea was covered with +Pontic ships. In the following year a second army was sent into Greece by +Mithridates, and the Romans and Asiatics met once more in the plain of the +Cephissus, near Orchomenus. The Romans were the victors, who speedily +cleared the European continent of its eastern invaders. At the end of the +third year of the war, Sulla took up his winter quarters in Thessaly, and +commenced to build ships. + +(M980) Meanwhile a reaction against Mithridates took place in Asia Minor. +His rule was found to be more oppressive than that of the Romans. The +great mercantile cities of Smyrna, Colophon, Ephesus, and Sardis were in +revolt, and closed their gates against his governors. The Hellenic cities +of Asia Minor had hoped to gain civil independence and a remission of +taxes, and were disappointed. And those cities which were supposed to be +secretly in favor of the Romans were heavily fined. The Chians were +compelled to pay two thousand talents. Great cruelties were also added to +fines and confiscations. Lucullus, unable to obtain the help of an +Alexandrian fleet, was more fortunate in the Syrian ports, and soon was +able to commence offensive operations. Flaccus, too, had arrived with a +Roman army, but this incapable general was put to death by a mob-orator, +Fimbria, more able than he, who defeated a Pontic army at Miletopolis. The +situation of Mithridates then became perilous. Europe was lost; Asia Minor +was in rebellion; and Roman armies were pressing upon him. + +(M981) He therefore negotiated for peace. Sulla required the restoration +of all the conquests he had made: Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Galatia, +Bithynia, the Hellenic cities, the islands of the sea, and a contribution +of three thousand talents. These conditions were not accepted, and Sulla +proceeded to Asia, upon which Mithridates reluctantly acceded to his +terms. + +(M982) Sulla then turned against Fimbria, who commanded the Roman army +sent to supplant him, which, as was to be expected, deserted to his +standard. Fimbria fled to Pergamus, and fell on his own sword. Sulla +intrusted the two legions which had been sent from Rome under Flaccus to +the command of his best officer, Murena, and turned his attention to +arrange the affairs of Asia. He levied contributions to the amount of +twenty thousand talents, reduced Mithridates to the rank of a client king, +richly compensated his soldiers, and embarked for Italy, leaving Lucullus +behind to collect the contributions. + +(M983) Thus was the Mithridatic war ended by the genius of a Roman +general, who had no equal in Roman history, with the exception of Pompey +and Julius Caesar. He had distinguished himself in Africa, in Spain, in +Italy, and in Greece. He had defeated the barbarians of the West, the old +Italian foes of Rome, and the armies of the most powerful Oriental monarch +since the fall of Persia. He had triumphed over Roman factions, and +supplanted the great Marius himself. He was now to contend with one more +able foe, Lucius Cornelius Cinna, who represented the revolutionary forces +which had rallied under the Gracchi and Marius--the democratic elements of +Roman society. + +When Sulla embarked for the Mithridatic war, Cinna, supported by a +majority of the College of Tribunes, concerted a reaction against the rule +which Sulla had re-established--the rule of the aristocracy. But Cinna, a +mere tool of the revolutionary party,--a man without ability,--was driven +out of the city by the aristocratic party, and outlawed, and L. Cornelia +Mesula was made consul in his stead. The outlaws fled to the camp before +Nola. The Campanian army, democratic and revolutionary, recognized Cinna +as the leader of the republic. Gaius Marius, then an exile in Numidia, +brought six thousand men, whom he had rallied to his standard, to the +disposal of the consul, and was placed by Cinna in supreme command at +Etruria. A storm gathered around the capitol. Cinna was overshadowed by +the greatness of that plebeian general who had defeated the Cimbrians, and +who was bent upon revenge for the mortification and insults he had +received from the Roman aristocracy. Famine and desertion soon made the +city indefensible, and Rome capitulated to an army of her own citizens. + +(M984) Marius, now master of Rome, entered the city, and a reign of terror +commenced. The gates were closed, and the slaughter of the aristocratic +party commenced. The consul Octavius was the first victim, and with him +the most illustrious of his party. The executioners of Marius fulfilled +his orders, and his revenge was complete. He entered upon a new consulate, +execrated by all the leading citizens. But in the midst of his victories +he was seized with a burning fever, and died in agonies, at the age of +seventy, in the full possession of honor and power. Cinna succeeded him in +the consulship and Rome was under the government of a detested tyrant. For +four years his reign was absolute, and was a reign of terror, during which +the senators were struck down, as the French nobles were in the time of +Robespierre. Cinna, like Robespierre, reigned with the mightiest plenitude +of power, united with incapacity. + +In this state of anarchy Sulla's wife and children escaped with +difficulty, and Sulla himself was deprived of his command against +Mithridates. But Cinna, B.C. 84, was killed in a mutiny, and the command +of the revolutionists devolved on Carbo. The situation of Sulla was +critical, even at the head of his veteran forces. In the spring of the +year following the death of Cinna, he landed in Brundusium, where he was +re-enforced by partisans and deserters. The Senate made advances to Sulla, +and many patricians joined his ranks, including Cneius Pompeius, then +twenty-three years of age. + +(M985) Civil war was now inaugurated between Sulla and the revolutionary +party, at the head of which were now the consul Carbo and the younger +Marius. Carbo was charged with Upper Italy, while Marius guarded Rome at +the fortress of Praeneste. At Sacriportus Sulla defeated Marius, and +entered Rome. But the insurgent Italians united with the revolutionary +forces of Rome, and seventy thousand Samnites and Lucanians approached the +capital. At the Colline gate a battle was fought, in which Sulla was +victorious. This ended the Social war, and the subjugation of the +revolutionists soon followed. + +(M986) Sulla was now made dictator, and the ten years of revolution and +insurrection were at an end in both West and East. The first use which +Sulla made of his absolute power was to outlaw all his enemies. Lists of +the proscribed were posted at Rome and in the Italian cities. It was a +fearful visitation. A second reign of terror took place, more fearful and +systematic than that of Marius. Four thousand seven hundred persons were +slaughtered, among whom were forty senators, and one thousand six hundred +equites. + +(M987) The next year Sulla celebrated his magnificent triumph over +Mithridates, and was saluted by the name of Felix. The despotism at which +the Gracchi were accused of aiming was introduced by a military conqueror, +aided by the aristocracy. + +(M988) Sulla then devoted himself to the reorganization of the State. He +conferred citizenship upon all the Italians but freedmen, and bestowed the +sequestered estates of those who had taken side against him or his +soldiers. The office of judices was restored to the Senate, and the +equites were deprived of their separate seats at festivals. The Senate was +restored to its ancient dignity and power, and three hundred new members +appointed. The number of praetors was increased to eight. The government +still rested on the basis of popular election, but was made more +aristocratic than before. The Comitia Centuriata was left in possession of +the nominal power of legislation, but it could only be exercised upon the +initiation of a decree of the Senate. The Comitia Tributa was stripped of +the powers by which it had so long controlled the Senate and the State. +Tribunes of the people were selected from the Senate. The College of +Pontiffs was no longer filled by popular election, but by the choice of +their own members. A new criminal code was made, and the several courts +were presided over by the praetors. Such, in substance, were the Cornelian +laws to restore the old powers of the aristocracy. + +(M989) Having effected this labor, Sulla, in the plenitude of power, +retired into private life. He retired, not like Charles V., wearied of the +toils of war, and disgusted with the vanity of glory and fame, nor like +Washington, from lofty patriotic motives, but to bury himself in epicurean +pleasures. In the luxury of his Cumaenon villa he divided his time between +hunting and fishing, and the enjoyments of literature, until, worn out +with sensuality, he died in his sixtieth year, B.C. 78. A grand procession +of the Senate he had saved, the equites, the magistrates, the vestal +virgins, and his disbanded soldiers, bore his body to the funeral pyre, +and his ashes were deposited beside the tombs of the kings. A splendid +monument was raised to his memory, on which was inscribed his own epitaph, +that no friend ever did him a kindness, and no enemy a wrong, without +receiving a full requital. + + + + + CHAPTER XXXIX. + + +ROME FROM THE DEATH OF SULLA TO THE GREAT CIVIL WARS OF CAESAR AND +POMPEY.--CICERO, POMPEY, AND CAESAR. + + +On the death of Sulla, the Roman government was once more in the hands of +the aristocracy, and for several years the consuls were elected from the +great ruling families. But, in spite of all the conquests of Sulla and all +his laws, the State was tumbling into anarchy, and was convulsed with +fresh wars. + +(M990) Sulla was alive when M. Lepidus came forward as the leader of the +democratic party against C. Lutatius Catulus--a man without character or +ability, who had deserted from the optimates to the popular party, to +escape prosecution for the plunder of Sicily. The fortune he acquired in +his government of that province enabled Lepidus to secure his election as +consul, B.C. 78, and he even attempted to deprive Sulla of his funeral +honors. A conspiracy was organized in Etruria, where the Sullan +confiscation had been most severe. Lepidus came forward as an avenger of +the old Romans whose fortunes had been ruined. The Senate, fearing +convulsions, made Lepidus and Catulus, the consuls, swear not to take up +arms against each other; but at the expiration of the consulship of +Lepidus, went, as was usual, to the province assigned to him. This was +Gaul, and here the war first broke out. An attempt on Rome was frustrated +by Catulus, who defeated Lepidus, and the latter soon died in Sardinia, +whither he had retired. + +(M991) Sertorius was then in command of the army in Spain,--a man who had +risen from an obscure position, but who possessed the hardy virtues of the +old Sabine farmers. He served under Marius in Gaul, and was praetor when +Sulla returned to Italy. When the cause of Marius was lost in Africa, he +organized a resistance to Sulla in Spain. His army was re-enforced by +Marian refugees, and he was aided by the Iberian tribes, among whom he was +a favorite. For eight years this celebrated hero baffled the armies which +Rome, under the lead of the aristocracy, sent against him, for he +undertook to restore the cause of the democracy. + +(M992) Against Sertorius was sent the man who, next to Caesar, was destined +to play the most important part in the history of those times--Cn. +Pompeius, born the same year as Cicero, B.C. 106, who had enlisted in the +cause of Sulla, and early distinguished himself against the generals of +Marius. He gained great successes in Sicily and Africa, and was, on his +return to Rome, saluted by the dictator Sulla himself with the name of +_Magnus_, which title he ever afterward bore. He was then a simple +equestrian, and had not risen to the rank of quaestor, or praetor, or +consul. Yet he had, at the early age of twenty-four, without enjoying any +curule office, the honor of a triumph, even against the opposition of +Sulla. + +(M993) Pompey was sent to Spain with the title of proconsul, and with an +army of thirty thousand men. He crossed the Alps between the sources of +the Rhone and Po, and advanced to the southern coast of Spain. Here he was +met by Sertorius, and at first was worsted. I need not detail the varied +events of this war in Spain. The Spaniards at length grew weary of a +contest which was not to their benefit, but which was carried on in behalf +of rival factions at the capital. Dissensions broke out among the officers +of Sertorius, and he was killed at a banquet by Perpenna, his lieutenant. +On the death of the only man capable of resisting the aristocracy of Rome, +and whose virtues were worthy of the ancient heroes, the progress of +Pompey was easy. Perpenna was taken prisoner and his army was dispersed, +and Spain was reduced to obedience. + +(M994) In the mean time, while Pompey was fighting Sertorius in Spain, a +servile war broke out in Italy, produced in part by the immense demand of +slaves for the gladiatorial shows. One of these slaves, Spartacus, once a +Thracian captain of banditti, escaped with seventy comrades to the crater +of Vesuvius, and organized an insurrection, and he was soon at the head of +one hundred thousand of those wretched captives whose condition was +unendurable. Italy was ravaged from the Alps to the Straits of Messina. No +Roman general, then in Italy, was equal to the task of subduing them. But, +in the second year of the war, Crassus, who was a great proprietor of +slaves, and who had ably served under Sulla, undertook the task of +subduing the insurrectionary slaves. With six legions he drove them to the +extremity of the Bruttian peninsula, and shut them up in Rhegium by strong +lines of circumvallation. Spartacus was killed, after having broken +through the lines, and most of his followers were destroyed; but six +thousand escaped into Cisalpine Gaul, as the northern part of Italy was +then called, and met Pompey on his victorious return from Spain, by whom +they were utterly annihilated. Pompey claimed the merit of ending the +servile war, and sought the honor of the consulship, although ineligible. +Crassus, also ineligible, also demanded the consulship, and both these +lieutenants of Sulla obtained their ends. But both, in order to obtain the +consulship, made great promises. Pompey, in particular, promised to +restore the tribunitian power. Pompey now broke with the aristocracy, +whose champion he had been, and even carried another law by which the +judices were taken from the equites as well as the Senate. Thus was the +constitution of Sulla subverted within ten years. In this movement Pompey +was supported by Julius Caesar, who was a young man of thirty years of age. + +(M995) On the expiration of his consulship, Pompey remained inactive, +refusing a province, until the troubles with the Mediterranean pirates +again called him into active military service. These pirates swarmed on +every coast, plundering cities, and cutting off communication between Rome +and the provinces. They especially attacked the corn vessels, so that the +price of provisions rose inordinately. The people, in distress, turned +their eyes to Pompey; but he was not willing to accept any ordinary +command, and through his intrigues, his tool, the tribune Gabinius, +proposed that the people should elect a man for this service of consular +rank, who should have absolute power for three years over the whole of the +Mediterranean, and to a distance of fifty miles inward from the coast, and +who should command a fleet of two hundred ships. He did not name Pompey, +but everybody knew who was meant. The people, furious at the price of +corn, and full of admiration for the victories of Pompey, were ready to +appoint him; the Senate, alarmed and jealous, was equally determined to +prevent his appointment. Tumults and riots were the consequence. Pompey +affected to desire some other person for the command but himself; but the +law passed, in spite of the opposition of the Senate, and Pompey was +commissioned to prepare five hundred ships, enlist one hundred and twenty +thousand sailors and soldiers, and also to take from the public treasury +whatever sum he needed. + +In the following spring his preparations were made, and in forty days he +cleared the western half of the Mediterranean from the pirates, and drove +them to the Cilician coast. Here he gained a great victory over their +united fleets, and took twenty thousand prisoners, whom he settled at +various points on the coasts, and returned home in forty-nine days after +he had sailed from Brundusium. In less than three months he had ended the +war. + +(M996) This great success led to his command against Mithridates, who had +again rallied his forces for one more decisive and desperate struggle with +the Romans. Asia rallied against Europe, as Europe rallied against Asia in +the crusades. Mithridates, after his defeat by Sulla, had retired to +Armenia to the court of his son-in-law, Tigranes, whose power was greater +than that of any other Oriental potentate. Tigranes was not at first +inclined to break with Rome, but (B.C. 70) he consented to the war, which +continued for seven years without decisive results. The Romans were +commanded by Lucullus, the old lieutenant of Sulla, and although his +labors were not appreciated at Rome, he broke really the power of +Mithridates. But, through the intrigues of Pompey and his friends, he was +recalled, and Pompey was commissioned, with the extraordinary power of +unlimited control of the Eastern army and fleet, and the rights of +proconsul over the whole of Asia. He already had the dominion of the +Mediterranean. The Senate opposed this dangerous precedent, but it was +carried by the people, who could not heap too many honors on their +favorite. Cicero, then forty years of age, with Caesar, supported the +measure, which was opposed by Hortensius and Catulus. + +(M997) Lucullus retired to his luxurious villa to squander the riches he +had accumulated in Asia, and to study the academic philosophy, while +Pompey pursued his conquests in the East over foes already broken and +humiliated. He showed considerable ability, and drove Mithridates from +post to post in the heart of his dominion. The Eastern monarch made +overtures of peace, which were rejected. Nothing but unconditional +surrender would be accepted. His army was finally cut to pieces, and the +old man escaped only with a few horsemen. Rejected by Tigranes, he made +his way to the Cimmerian Bosphorus, which was his last retreat. Pompey +then turned his attention to Armenia, and Tigranes threw himself upon his +mercy, at the cost of all his territories but Armenia Proper. Pompey then +resumed the pursuit of Mithridates, fighting his way though the mountains +of Iberia and Albania, but he did not pursue his foe over the Caucasus. +Mithridates, secure in the Crimea, then planned a daring attempt on Rome +herself, which was to march round the Euxine and up the Danube, collecting +in his train the Sarmatians, Gaetae, and other barbarians, cross the Alps, +and descend upon Italy. _His_ kingdom of Pontus was already lost, and had +been made a Roman province. His followers, however, became disaffected, +his son Pharnaces rebelled, and he had no other remedy than suicide to +escape capture. He died B.C. 63, after a reign of fifty-three years, in +the sixty-ninth year of his age--the greatest Eastern prince since Cyrus. +Racine has painted him in one of his dramas as one of the most heroic men +of the world. But it was his misfortune to contend with Rome in the +plenitude of her power. + +(M998) Pompey, before the death of Mithridates, went to Syria to regulate +its affairs, it being ceded to Rome by Tigranes. After the defeat of +Tigranes by Lucullus, that kingdom, however, had been recovered by +Antiochus XIII., the last of the Seleucidae, who held a doubtful +sovereignty. He was, however, reduced by a legate of Pompey, and Syria +became a Roman province. The next year, Pompey advanced south, and +established the Roman supremacy in Phoenicia and Palestine, the latter +country being the seat of civil war between Hyrcanus and Aristobulus. It +was then that Jerusalem was taken by the Roman general, after a siege of +three months, and the conqueror entered the most sacred precincts of the +temple, to the horror of the priesthood. He established Hyrcanus as high +priest, as has been already related, and then retired to Pontus, settled +its affairs, and departed with his army for Italy, having won a succession +of victories never equaled in the East, except by Alexander. And never did +victories receive such great _eclat_, which, however, were easily won, as +those of Alexander had been. No Asiatic foe was a match for either Greeks +or Romans in the field. The real difficulties were in marches, in +penetrating mountain passes, in crossing arid plains. + +(M999) But before the conqueror of Asia received the reward of his great +services to the State--the most splendid triumph which had as yet been seen +on the Via Sacra--Rome was brought to the verge of ruin by the conspiracy +of Catiline. The departure of Pompey to punish the pirates of the +Mediterranean and conquer Mithridates, left the field clear to the two +greatest men of their age, Cicero and Caesar. It was while Cicero was +consul that the conspiracy was detected. + +(M1000) Marcus Tullius Cicero, the most accomplished man, on the whole, in +Roman annals, and as immortal as Caesar himself, was born B.C. 106, near +Arpinum, of an equestrian, but not senatorial family. He received a good +education, received the manly gown at sixteen, and entered the forum to +hear the debates, but pursued his studies with great assiduity. He was +intrusted by his wealthy father to the care of the augur, Q. Mucius +Scaevola, an old lawyer deeply read in the constitution of his country and +the principles of jurisprudence. At eighteen he served his first and only +campaign under the father of the great Pompey, in the social war. He was +twenty-four before he made a figure in the eye of the public, keeping +aloof from the fierce struggles of Marius and Sulla, identifying himself +with neither party, and devoted only to the cultivation of his mind, +studying philosophy and rhetoric as well as law, traveling over Sicily and +Greece, and preparing himself for a forensic orator. At twenty-five he +appeared in the forum as a public pleader, and boldly defended the +oppressed and injured, and even braved the anger of Sulla, then +all-powerful as dictator. At twenty-seven he again repaired to Athens for +greater culture, and extensively traveled in Asia Minor, holding converse +with the most eminent scholars and philosophers in the Grecian cities. At +twenty-nine he returned to Rome, improved in health as well as in those +arts which contributed to his unrivaled fame as an orator--a rival with +Hortensius and Cotta, the leaders of the Roman bar. At thirty he was +elected quaestor, not, as was usually the case, by family interest, but +from his great reputation as a lawyer. The duties of his office called him +to Sicily, under the praetor of Lilybaeum, which he admirably discharged, +showing not only executive ability, but rare virtue and impartiality. The +vanity which dimmed the lustre of his glorious name, and which he never +exorcised, received a severe wound on his return to Italy. He imagined he +was the observed of all observers, but soon discovered that his gay and +fashionable friends were ignorant, not only of what he had done in Sicily +but of his administration at all. + +(M1001) For the next four years he was absorbed in private studies, and in +the courts of law, at the end of which he became aedile, the year that +Verres was impeached for misgovernment in Sicily. This was the most +celebrated State trial for impeachment on record, with the exception, +perhaps, of that of Warren Hastings. But Cicero, who was the public +accuser and prosecutor, was more fortunate than Burke. He collected such +an overwhelming mass of evidence against this corrupt governor, that he +went into exile without making a defense, although defended by Hortensius, +consul elect. The speech which the orator _was to have_ made at the trial +was subsequently published by Cicero, and is one of the most eloquent +tirades against public corruption ever composed or uttered. + +(M1002) Nothing of especial interest marked the career of this great man +for three more years, until B.C. 67 he was elected first praetor, or +supreme judge, an office for which he was supremely qualified. But it was +not merely civic cases which he decided. He appeared as a political +speaker, and delivered from the rostrum his celebrated speech on the +Manilian laws, maintaining the cause of Pompey when he departed from the +policy of the aristocracy. He had now gained by pure merit, in a corrupt +age, without family influence, the highest offices of the State, even as +Burke became the leader of the House of Commons without aristocratic +connections, and now naturally aspired to the consulship,--the great prize +which every ambitious man sought, but which, in the aristocratic age of +Roman history, was rarely conferred except on members of the ruling +houses, or very eminent success in war. By the friendship of Pompey, and +also from the general admiration which his splendid talents and +attainments commanded, this great prize was also secured. He had six +illustrious competitors, among whom were Antonius and Catiline, who were +assisted by Crassus and Caesar. As consul, all the energies of his mind and +character were absorbed in baffling the treason of this eminent patrician +demagogue. L. Sergius Catiline was one of those wicked, unscrupulous, +intriguing, popular, abandoned and intellectual scoundrels that a corrupt +age and patrician misrule brought to the surface of society, aided by the +degenerate nobles to whose class he belonged. In the bitterness of his +political disappointments, headed off by Cicero at every turn, he +meditated the complete overthrow of the Roman constitution, and his own +elevation as chief of the State, and absolutely inaugurated rebellion. +Cicero, who was in danger of assassination, boldly laid the conspiracy +before the Senate, and secured the arrest of many of his chief +confederates. Catiline fled and assembled his followers, which numbered +twelve thousand desperate men, and fought with the courage of despair, but +was defeated and slain. + +Had it not been for the vigilance, energy, and patriotism of Cicero, it is +possible this atrocious conspiracy would have succeeded. The state of +society was completely demoralized; the disbanded soldiers of the Eastern +wars had spent their money and wanted spoils; the Senate was timid and +inefficient, and an unscrupulous and able leader, at the head of +discontented factions, on the assassination of the consuls and the +virtuous men who remained in power, might have bid defiance to any force +which could then, in the absence of Pompey in the East, have been +marshaled against him. + +(M1003) But the State was saved, and saved by a patriotic statesman who +had arisen by force of genius and character to the supreme power. The +gratitude of the people was unbounded. Men of all ranks hailed him as the +savior of his country; thanksgivings to the gods were voted in his name, +and all Italy joined in enthusiastic praises. + +(M1004) But he had now reached the culminating height of his political +greatness, and his subsequent career was one of sorrow and disappointment. +Intoxicated by his elevation,--for it was unprecedented at Rome, in his +day, for a man to rise so high by mere force of eloquence and learning, +without fortune, or family, or military exploits,--he became conceited and +vain. In the civil troubles which succeeded the return of Pompey, he was +banished from the country he had saved, and there is nothing more pitiful +than his lamentations and miseries while in exile. His fall was natural. +He had opposed the demoralising current which swept every thing before it. +When his office of consul was ended, he was exposed to the hatred of the +senators whom he had humiliated, of the equites whose unreasonable demands +he had opposed, of the people whom he disdained to flatter, and of the +triumvirs whose usurpation he detested. No one was powerful enough to +screen him from these combined hostilities, except the very men who aimed +at the subversion of Roman liberties, and who wished him out of the way; +his friend Pompey showed a mean, pusillanimous, and calculating +selfishness, and neither Crassus nor Caesar liked him. But in his latter +days, part of which were passed in exile, and all without political +consideration, he found time to compose those eloquent treatises on almost +every subject, for which his memory will be held in reverence. Unlike +Bacon, he committed no crime against the laws; yet, like him, fell from +his high estate in the convulsions of a revolutionary age, and as Bacon +soothed his declining years with the charms of literature and philosophy, +so did Cicero display in his writings the result of long years of study, +and unfold for remotest generations the treasures of Greek and Roman +wisdom, ornamented, too, by that exquisite style, which, of itself, would +have given him immortality as one of the great artists of the world. He +lived to see the utter wreck of Roman liberties, and was ultimately +executed by order of Antonius, in revenge for those bitter philippics +which the orator had launched against him before the descending sun of his +political glory had finally disappeared in the gloom and darkness of +revolutionary miseries. + +(M1005) But we resume the thread of political history in those tangled +times. Cicero was at the highest of his fame and power when Pompey +returned from his Asiatic conquests, the great hero of his age, on whom +all eyes were fixed, and to whom all bent the knee of homage and +admiration. His triumph, at the age of forty-five, was the grandest ever +seen. It lasted two days. Three hundred and twenty-four captive princes +walked before his triumphal car, followed by spoils and emblems of a war +which saw the reduction of one thousand fortresses. The enormous sum of +twenty thousand talents was added to the public treasury. + +(M1006) Pompey was, however, greater in war than in peace. Had he known +how to make use of his prestige and his advantages, he might have +henceforth reigned without a rival. He was not sufficiently noble and +generous to live without making grave mistakes and alienating some of his +greatest friends, nor was he sufficiently bad and unscrupulous to abuse +his military supremacy. He pursued a middle course, envious of all talent, +absorbed in his own greatness, vain, pompous, and vacillating. His +quarrels with Crassus and Lucullus severed him from the aristocratic +party, whose leader he properly was. His haughtiness and coldness +alienated the affections of the people, through whom he could only advance +to supreme dominion. He had neither the arts of a demagogue, nor the +magnanimity of a conqueror. + +(M1007) It was at this crisis that Caesar returned from Spain as the +conqueror of the Lusitanians. Caius Julius Caesar belonged to the ancient +patrician family of the Julii, and was born B.C. 100, and was six years +younger than Pompey and Cicero. But he was closely connected with the +popular party by the marriage of his aunt Julia with the great Marius, and +his marriage with Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, one of the chief +opponents of Sulla. He early served in the army of the East, but devoted +his earliest years to the art of oratory. His affable manners and +unbounded liberality made him popular with the people. He obtained the +quaestorship at thirty-two, the year he lost his wife, and went as quaestor +to Antistius Vetus, into the province of Further Spain. On his return, the +following year, he married Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sulla, of the +Cornelia gens, and formed a union with Pompey. By his family connections +he obtained the curule aedileship at the age of thirty-five, and surpassed +his predecessors in the extravagance of his shows and entertainments, the +money for which he borrowed. At thirty-seven he was elected Pontifex +Maximus, so great was his popularity, and the following year he obtained +the praetorship, B.C. 62, and on the expiration of his office he obtained +the province of Further Spain. His debts were so enormous that he applied +for aid to Crassus, the richest man in Rome, and readily obtained the loan +he sought. In Spain, with an army at his command, he gained brilliant +victories over the Lusitanians, and returned to Rome enriched, and sought +the consulship. To obtain this, he relinquished the customary triumph, +and, with the aid of Pompey, secured his election, and entered into that +close alliance with Pompey and Crassus which historians call the first +triumvirate. It was merely a private agreement between the three most +powerful men of Rome to support each other, and not a distinct magistracy. + +(M1008) As consul, Caesar threw his influence against the aristocracy, to +whose ranks he belonged, both by birth and office, and caused an agrarian +law to be passed, against the fiercest opposition of the Senate, by which +the rich Campanian lands were divided for the benefit of the poorest +citizens--a good measure, perhaps, but which brought him forward as the +champion of the people. He next gained over the equites, by relieving +them, by a law which he caused to be passed, of one-third of the sum they +had agreed to pay for the farming of the taxes of Asia. He secured the +favor of Pompey by causing all his acts in the East to be confirmed. At +the expiration of his consulship he obtained the province of Gaul, as the +fullest field for the development of his military talents, and the surest +way to climb to subsequent greatness. At this period Cicero went into +exile without waiting for his trial--that miserable period made memorable +for aristocratic broils and intrigues, and when Clodius, a reckless young +noble, entered into the house of the Pontifex Maximus, disguised as a +woman, in pursuit of a vile intrigue with Caesar's wife. + +(M1009) The succeeding nine years of Caesar's life were occupied by the +subjugation of Gaul. In the first campaign he subdued the Helvetii, and +conquered Ariovistus, a powerful German chieftain. In the second campaign +he opposed a confederation of Belgic tribes--the most warlike of all the +Gauls, who had collected a force of three hundred thousand men, and +signally defeated them, for which victories the Senate decreed a public +thanksgiving of fifteen days. That given in Pompey's honor, after the +Mithridatic war, had lasted but ten. At this time he made a renewed +compact with Pompey and Crassus, by which Pompey was to have the two +Spains for his province, Crassus that of Syria, and he himself should have +a prolonged government in Gaul for five years more. The combined influence +of these men was enough to secure the elections, and the year following +Crassus and Pompey were made consuls. Caesar had to resist powerful +confederations of the Gauls, and in order to strike terror among them, in +the fourth year of the war, invaded Britain. But I can not describe the +various campaigns of Caesar in Gaul and Britain without going into details +hard to be understood--his brilliant victories over enemies of vastly +greater numbers, his marchings and countermarchings, his difficulties and +dangers, his inventive genius, his strategic talents, his boundless +resources, his command over his soldiers and their idolatry, until, after +nine years, Gaul was subdued and added to the Roman provinces. During his +long absence from Rome his interests were guarded by the tribune Curio, +and Marcus Antonius, the future triumvir. During this time Crassus had +ingloriously conducted a distant war in Parthia, in quest of fame and +riches, and was killed by an unknown hand after a disgraceful defeat. This +avaricious patrician must not be confounded with the celebrated orator, of +a preceding age, who was so celebrated for his elegance and luxury. + +Affairs at Rome had also taken a turn which indicated a rupture with Caesar +and Pompey, now left, by the death of Crassus, at the head of the State. +The brilliant victories of the former in Gaul were in everybody's mouth, +and the fame of the latter was being eclipsed. A serious rivalry between +these great generals began to show itself. The disturbances which also +broke out on the death of Clodius led to the appointment of Pompey as sole +consul, and all his acts as consul tended to consolidate his power. His +government in Spain was prolonged for five years more; he entered into +closer connections with the aristocracy, and prepared for a rupture with +his great rival, which had now become inevitable, as both grasped supreme +power. That struggle is now to be presented in the following chapter. + + + + + CHAPTER XL. + + +THE CIVIL WARS BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY. + + +(M1010) The condition of Rome when Caesar returned, crowned with glory, +from his Gallic campaign, in which he had displayed the most consummate +ability, was miserable enough. The constitution had been assailed by all +the leading chieftains, and even Cicero could only give vent to his +despair and indignation in impotent lamentations. The cause of liberty was +already lost. Caesar had obtained the province of Gaul for ten years, +against all former precedent, and Pompey had obtained the extension of his +imperium for five additional years. Both these generals thus had armies +and an independent command for a period which might be called +indefinite--that is, as long as they could maintain their authority in a +period of anarchy. Rome was disgraced by tumults and assassinations; +worthless people secured the highest offices, and were the tools of the +two great generals, who divided between them the empire of the world. All +family ties between these two generals were destroyed by the death of +Julia. The feud between Clodius and Milo, the one a candidate for the +praetorship, and the other for the consulship, was most disgraceful, in the +course of which Clodius was slain. Each wanted an office as the means of +defraying enormous debts. Pompey, called upon by the Senate to relieve the +State from anarchy, was made sole consul--another unprecedented thing. The +trial of Milo showed that Pompey was the absolute master at Rome, and it +was his study to maintain his position against Caesar. + +(M1011) It was plain that the world could not have two absolute masters, +for both Pompey and Caesar aspired to universal sovereignty. One must +succumb to the other--be either anvil or hammer. Neither would have been +safe without their unities and their armed followers. And if both were +destroyed, the State would still be convulsed with factions. All true +constitutional liberty was at an end, for both generals and demagogues +could get such laws passed as they pleased, with sufficient money to bribe +those who controlled the elections. It was a time of universal corruption +and venality. Money was the mainspring of society. Public virtue had +passed away,--all elevated sentiment,--all patriotism,--all self-sacrifice. +The people cared but little who ruled, if they were supplied with corn and +wine at nominal prices. Patrician nobles had become demagogues, and +demagogues had power in proportion to their ability or inclination to +please the people. Cicero despaired of the State, and devoted himself to +literature. There yet remained the aristocratic party, which had wealth +and prestige and power, and the popular party, which aimed to take these +privileges away, but which was ruled by demagogues more unprincipled than +the old nobility. Pompey represented the one, and Caesar the other, though +both were nobles. + +Both these generals had rendered great services. Pompey had subdued the +East, and Caesar the West. Pompey had more prestige, Caesar more genius. +Pompey was a greater tactician, Caesar a greater strategist. Pompey was +proud, pompous, jealous, patronizing, self-sufficient, disdainful. Caesar +was politic, intriguing, patient, lavish, unenvious, easily approached, +forgiving, with great urbanity and most genial manners. Both were +ambitious, unscrupulous, and selfish. Cicero distrusted both, flattered +each by turns, but inclined to the side of Pompey as more conservative, +and less dangerous. The Senate took the side of Pompey, the people that of +Caesar. Both Caesar and Pompey had enjoyed power so long, that neither would +have been contented with private life. + +(M1012) In the year B.C. 49, Caesar's proconsular imperium was to terminate +one year after the close of the Gallic war. He wished to be re-elected +consul, and also secure his triumph. But he could not, according to law, +have the triumph without disbanding the army, and without an army he would +not be safe at Rome, with so many enemies. Neither could he be elected +consul, according to the forms, while he enjoyed his imperium, for it had +long been the custom that no one could sue for the consulship at the head +of an army. He, therefore, could neither be consul nor enjoy a triumph, +legitimately, without disbanding his army. Moreover, the party of Pompey, +being then in the ascendant at Rome, demanded that Caesar should lay down +his imperium. The tribunes, in the interests of Caesar, opposed the decree +of the Senate; the reigning consuls threatened the tribunes, and they fled +to Caesar's camp in Cisalpine Gaul. It should, however, be mentioned, that +when the consul Marcellus, an enemy of Caesar, proposed in the Senate that +he should lay down his command, Curio, the tribune, whose debts Caesar had +paid, moved that Pompey should do the same; which he refused to do, since +the election of Caesar to the consulship would place the whole power of the +republic in his hands. Caesar made a last effort to avoid the inevitable +war, by proposing to the Senate to lay down his command, if Pompey would +also; but Pompey prevaricated, and the compromise came to nothing. Both +generals distrusted each other, and both were disloyal to the State. The +Senate then appointed a successor to Caesar in Gaul, ordered a general levy +of troops throughout Italy, and voted money and men to Pompey. Caesar had +already crossed the Rubicon, which was high treason, before his last +proposal to compromise, and he was on his way to Rome. No one resisted +him, for the people had but little interest in the success of either +party. Pompey, exaggerating his popularity, thought he had only to stamp +the ground, and an army would appear, and when he discovered that his +rival was advancing on the Flaminican way, fled hastily from Rome with +most of the senators, and went to Brundusium. Caesar did not at once seize +the capital, but followed Pompey, and so vigorously attacked him, that he +quit the town and crossed over to Illyricum. Caesar had no troops to pursue +him, and therefore retraced his steps, and entered Rome, after an absence +of ten years, at the head of a victorious army, undisputed master of +Italy. + +(M1013) But Pompey still controlled his proconsular province of Spain, +where seven legions were under his lieutenants, and Africa also was +occupied by his party. Caesar, after arranging the affairs of Italy, +marched through Gaul into Spain to fight the generals of Pompey. That +campaign was ended in forty days, and he became master of Spain. While in +Spain he was elected to his second consulship, and also made dictator. He +returned to Rome as rapidly as he had marched into Spain, and enacted some +wholesome laws, among others that by which the inhabitants of Cisalpine +Gaul, the northern part of Italy, obtained citizenship. After settling the +general affairs of Italy, he laid down the dictatorship, and went, to +Brundusium, and collected his forces from various parts for a decisive +conflict with Pompey, who had remained, meanwhile, in Macedonia, +organizing his army. He collected nine legions, with auxiliary forces, +while his fleet commanded the sea. He also secured vast magazines of corn +in Thessaly, Asia, Egypt, Crete, and Cyrene. + +(M1014) Caesar was able to cross the sea with scarcely more than fifteen +thousand men, on account of the insufficiency of his fleet, and he was +thrown upon a hostile shore, cut off from supplies, and in presence of a +vastly superior force. But his troops were veterans, and his cause was +strengthened by the capture of Apollonia. He then advanced north to seize +Dyrhachiuim, where Pompey's stores were deposited, but Pompey reached the +town before him, and both armies encamped on the banks of the river Apsus, +the one on the left and the other on the right bank. There Caesar was +joined by the remainder of his troops, brought over with great difficulty +from Brundusium by Marcus Antonius, his most able lieutenant and devoted +friend. Pompey was also re-enforced by two legions from Syria, led by his +father-in-law, Scipio. Both parties abstained from attacking each other +while these re-enforcements were being brought forward, and Caesar even +made a last effort at compromise, while the troops on each side exchanged +mutual courtesies. + +(M1015) Pompey avoided a pitched battle, and intrenched himself on a hill +near Dyrhachium. Caesar surrounded him with lines of circumvallation. +Pompey broke through them, and compelled Caesar to retire, with +considerable loss. He retreated to Thessaly, followed by Pompey, who, had +he known how to pursue his advantage, might, after this last success--the +last he ever had--have defeated Caesar. He had wisely avoided a pitched +battle until his troops should become inured to service, or until he +should wear out his adversary; but now, puffed up with victory and +self-confidence, and unduly influenced by his officers, he concluded to +risk a battle. Caesar was encamped on the plain of Pharsalia, and Pompey on +a hill about four miles distant. The steep bank of the river Enipeus +covered the right of Pompey's line and the left of Caesar's. The infantry +of the former numbered forty-five thousand; that of the latter, twenty-two +thousand, but they were veterans. Pompey was also superior in cavalry, +having seven thousand, while Caesar had only one thousand. With these, +which formed the strength of Pompey's force, he proposed to outflank the +right of Caesar, extended on the plain. To guard against this movement, +Caesar withdrew six cohorts from his third line, and formed them into a +fourth in the rear of his cavalry on the right. The battle commenced by a +furious assault on the lines of Pompey by Caesar's veterans, who were +received with courage. Meanwhile Pompey's cavalry swept away that of +Caesar, and was advancing to attack the rear, when they received, +unexpectedly, the charge of the cohorts which Caesar had posted there, The +cavalry broke, and fled to the mountains. The six cohorts then turned upon +the slingers and archers, who had covered the attack of the cavalry, +defeated them, and fell upon the rear of Pompey's left. Caesar then brought +up his third line, and decided the battle. Pompey had fled when he saw the +defeat of his cavalry. His camp was taken and sacked, and his troops, so +confident of victory, were scattered, surrounded, and taken prisoners. +Caesar, with his usual clemency, spared their lives, nor had he any object +to destroy them. Among those who surrendered after this decisive battle +was Junius Brutus, who was not only pardoned, but admitted to the closest +friendship. + +(M1016) Pompey, on his defeat, fled to Larissa, embarked with his +generals, and sailed to Mitylene. As he had still the province of Africa +and a large fleet, it was his policy to go there; but he had a silly +notion that his true field of glory was the East, and he saw no place of +refuge but Egypt. That kingdom was then governed by the children of +Ptolemy Auletes, Cleopatra and Ptolemy, neither of whom were adults, and +who, moreover, were quarreling with each other for the undivided +sovereignty of Egypt. At this juncture, Pompey appeared on the coast, on +which Ptolemy was encamped. He sent a messenger to the king, with the +request that he might be sheltered in Alexandria. To grant it would +compromise Ptolemy with Caesar; to refuse it would send Pompey to the camp +of Cleopatra in Syria. He was invited to a conference, and his minister +Achillus was sent out in a boat to bring him on shore. Pompey, infatuated, +imprudently trusted himself in the boat, in which he recognized an old +comrade, Septimius, who, however, did not return his salutation. On +landing, he was stabbed by Septimius, who had persuaded Ptolemy to take +his life, in order to propitiate Caesar and gain the Egyptian crown. Thus +ingloriously fell the conqueror of Asia, and the second man in the empire, +by treachery. + +(M1017) On the flight of Pompey from the fatal battle-field, Caesar pressed +in pursuit, with only one legion and a troop of cavalry. Fearing a new war +in Asia, Caesar waited to collect his forces, and then embarked for Egypt. +He arrived at Alexandria only a few days after the murder of his rival, +and was met by an officer bearing his head. He ordered it to be burned +with costly spices, and placed the ashes in a shrine, dedicated to +Nemesis. He then demanded ten million drachmas, promised by the late king, +and summoned the contending sovereigns to his camp. Cleopatra captivated +him, and he decided that both should share the throne, but that the +ministers of Ptolemy should be deposed, which was reducing the king to a +cipher. But the fanaticism of the Alexandrians being excited, and a +collision having taken place between them and his troops, Caesar burned the +Egyptian fleet, and fortified himself at Pharos, awaiting re-enforcements. +Ptolemy, however, turned against him, when he had obtained his release, +and perished in an action on the banks of the Nile. Cleopatra was restored +to the throne, under the protection of Rome. + +(M1018) Pharnaces, son of Mithridates, rewarded by Pompey with the throne +of the Bosphorus for the desertion of his father, now made war against +Rome. Galvinus, sent against him, sustained a defeat, and Caesar rapidly +marched to Asia to restore affairs. It was then he wrote to the Senate +that brief, but vaunting letter: "_Veni, vidi, vici._" He already +meditated those conquests in the East which had inflamed the ambition of +his rival. He caught the spirit of Oriental despotism. He was not proof +against the flatteries of the Asiatics. But his love for Cleopatra worked +a still greater change in his character, even as it undermined the respect +of his countrymen. History brands with infamy that unfortunate connection, +which led to ostentation, arrogance, harshness, impatience, and contempt +of mankind--the same qualities which characterized Napoleon on his return +from Egypt. + +(M1019) In September, B.C. 47, Caesar returned to Italy, having been +already named dictator by a defeated and obsequious Senate. Cicero was +among the first to meet him, and was graciously pardoned. The only severe +measure which he would allow was the confiscation of the property of +Pompey and his sons, whose statues, however, he replaced. He now ruled +absolutely, but under the old forms, and was made tribune for life. The +Senate nominated him consul for five years, and he was also named +dictator. + +(M1020) The only foes who now seriously stood out against him were the +adherents of Pompey, who had time, during his absence in the East, to +reorganize their forces, and it was in Africa that the last conflict was +to be fought. The Pompeians were commanded by Scipio, who fixed his +head-quarters at Hadrumentum, with an army of ten legions, a large force +of Numidian cavalry, and one hundred and twenty elephants. But Caesar +defeated this large army with a vastly inferior force, and the rout was +complete. Scipio took ship for Spain, but was driven back, as Marius had +been on the Italian coasts when pursued by the generals of Sulla, and +ended his life by suicide. Cato, the noblest Roman of his day, whose march +across the African desert was one of the great feats of his age, might +have escaped, and would probably have been pardoned: but the lofty stoic +could not endure the sight of the prostration of Roman liberties, and, +fortifying his courage with the _Phaedon_ of Plato, also fell upon his +sword. The Roman republic ended with his death. + +(M1021) After reducing Numidia to a Roman province, Caesar returned to +Italy with immense treasures, and was everywhere received with unexampled +honors. At Rome he celebrated a fourfold triumph--for victories in Gaul, +Egypt, Africa, and the East--and the Senate decreed that his image in ivory +should be carried in procession with those of the gods. His bronze statue +was set upon a globe in the capitol, as the emblem of universal +sovereignty. All the extravagant enthusiasm which marked the French people +for the victories of Napoleon, and all the servility which unbounded power +everywhere commands, were bestowed upon the greatest conqueror the ancient +world ever saw. A thanksgiving was decreed for forty days; the number of +the lictors was doubled; he was made dictator for ten years, with the +command of all the armies of the State, and the presidency of the public +festivals. He also was made censor for three years, by which he regulated +the Senate according to his sovereign will. His triumphs were followed by +profuse largesses to the soldiers and people, and he also instituted +magnificent games under an awning of silk, at the close of which the +_Forum Julium_ was dedicated. + +(M1022) Such were his unparalleled honors and powers. All the great +offices of the State were invested and united in him, and nothing was +wanted to complete his aggrandizement but the name of emperor. But we turn +from these, the usual rewards of conquerors, to glance at the services he +rendered to civilization, which constitute his truest claim to +immortality. One of the greatest was the reform of the calendar, for the +Roman year was ninety days in advance of the true meaning of that word. +The old year had been determined by lunar months rather than by the +apparent path of the sun among the fixed stars which had been determined +by the ancient astronomers, and was one of the greatest discoveries of +ancient science. The Roman year consisted of three hundred and fifty-five +days, so that January was an autumn month. Caesar inserted the regular +intercalary month of twenty-three days, and two additional ones of +sixty-seven days. These were added to the three hundred and sixty-five +days, making a year of transition of four hundred and forty-five days, by +which January was brought back to the first month of the year, after the +winter solstice. And to prevent the repetition of the error, he directed +that in future the year should consist of three hundred and sixty-five +days and one quarter of a day, which he effected by adding one day to the +months of April, June, September, and November, and two days to the months +of January, Sextilis, and December, making an addition of ten days to the +old year of three hundred and fifty-five, and he provided for a uniform +intercalation of one day in every fourth year. Caesar was a student of +astronomy, and always found time for its contemplation. He even wrote an +essay on the motion of the stars, assisted in his observation by +Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer. He took astronomy out of the hands +of priests, and made it a matter of civil legislation. He was drawn away +from legislation to draw the sword once more against the relics of the +Pompeian party, which had been collected in Spain. On the field of Munda +was fought his last great battle, contested with unusual fury, and +attended with savage cruelties. Thirty thousand of his opponents fell in +this battle, and Sextus Pompey alone, of all the marked men, escaped to +the mountains, and defied pursuit. On this victory he celebrated his last +triumph, and the supple Senate decreed to him the title of Imperator. He +was made consul for ten years, dictator for life, his person was decreed +inviolable, and he was surrounded by a guard of nobles and senators. He +also received the insignia of royalty, a golden chair and a diadem set +with gems, and was allowed to wear the triumphal robe of purple whenever +he appeared in public. The coins were stamped with his image, his statue +was placed in the temples, and his friends obtained all the offices of the +State. He adopted Octavius, his nephew, for his heir, and paved the way +for an absolute despotism under his successors. The measure of his glory +and ambition was full. He was the undisputed master of the world. + +He then continued his reforms and improvements, as Napoleon did after his +coronation as emperor. He gave the Roman franchise to various States and +cities out of Italy, and colonized new cities. He excluded _judices_ from +all ranks but those of senators and knights, and enacted new laws for the +security of persons and property. He gave unbounded religious toleration, +and meditated a complete codification of the Roman law. He founded a +magnificent public library, appointed commissioners to make a map of the +whole empire, and contemplated the draining of the Pontine marshes. + +(M1023) After these works of legislation and public improvement, he +prepared for an expedition to Parthia, in which he hoped to surpass the +conquests of Alexander in the East. But his career was suddenly cut off by +his premature death. The nobles whom he humiliated, and the Oriental +despotism he contemplated, caused a secret hostility which he did not +suspect amid the universal subserviency to his will. Above all, the title +of king, the symbol of legitimate sovereignty, to which he aspired, +sharpened the daggers of the few remaining friends of the liberty which +had passed away for ever. All the old party of the State concocted the +conspiracy, some eighty nobles, at the head of which were Brutus and +Cassius. On the fifteenth day of March, B.C. 44, the Ides of March, the +day for which the Senate was convened for his final departure for the +East, he was stabbed in the senate-house, and he fell, pierced with +wounds, at the foot of Pompey's statue, in his fifty-sixth year, and +anarchy, and new wars again commenced. + +(M1024) The concurrent voices of all historians and critics unite to give +Caesar the most august name of all antiquity. He was great in every +thing,--as orator, as historian, as statesman, as general, and as lawgiver. +He had genius, understanding, memory, taste, industry, and energy. He +could write, read, and dictate at the same time. He united the bravery of +Alexander with the military resources of Hannibal. He had a marvelous +faculty of winning both friends and enemies. He was generous, magnanimous, +and courteous. Not even his love for Cleopatra impaired the energies of +his mind and body. He was not cruel or sanguinary, except when urged by +reasons of State. He pardoned Cicero, and received Brutus into intimate +friendship. His successes were transcendent, and his fortune never failed +him. He reached the utmost limit of human ambition, and was only hurled +from his pedestal of power by the secret daggers of fanatics, who saw in +his elevation the utter extinction of Roman liberty. But liberty had +already fled, and a degenerate age could only be ruled by a despot. It +might have been better for Rome had his life been prolonged when all +constitutional freedom had become impossible. But he took the sword, and +Nemesis demanded that he should perish by it, as a warning to all future +usurpers who would accomplish even good ends by infamous means. Vulgar +pity compassionates the sad fate of the great Julius; but we can not +forget that it was he who gave the last blow to the constitution and +liberties of his country. The greatness of his gifts and services pale +before the gigantic crime of which he stands accused at the bar of all the +ages, and the understanding of the world is mocked when his usurpation is +justified. + + + + + CHAPTER XLI. + + +THE CIVIL WARS FOLLOWING THE DEATH OF CAESAR.--ANTONIUS.--AUGUSTUS. + + +The assassination of Caesar was not immediately followed with the +convulsions which we should naturally expect. The people were weary of +war, and sighed for repose, and, moreover, were comparatively indifferent +on whom the government fell, since their liberties were hopelessly +prostrated. Only one thing was certain, that power would be usurped by +some one, and most probably by the great chieftains who represented +Caesar's interests. + +(M1025) The most powerful men in Rome at this time, were Marcus Antonius, +the most able of Caesar's lieutenants, the most constant of his friends, +and the nearest of his relatives, although a man utterly unprincipled; +Octavius, grandson of Julius, whom Caesar adopted as his heir, a young man +of nineteen; Lepidus, colleague consul with Caesar, the head of the ancient +family of the Lepidi, thirteen of whom had been honored with curule +magistracies; Sextus Pompeius, son of Pompey; Brutus and Cassius, chief +conspirators; Dolabella, a man of consular rank, and one of the profligate +nobles of his time; Hirtia and Pansa, consuls; Piso, father-in-law of +Caesar, of a powerful family, which boasted of several consuls; and +Cicero--still influential from his great weight of character. All these men +were great nobles, and had filled the highest offices. + +(M1026) The man who, to all appearance, had the fairest chance for supreme +command in those troubled times, was Antony, whose mother was Julia, +Caesar's sister. He was grandson to the great orator M. Antonius, who +flourished during the civil wars between Marius and Sulla, and was +distinguished for every vice, folly, and extravagance which characterized +the Roman nobles. But he was a man of consummate ability as a general, was +master of the horse, and was consul with Caesar, when he was killed, B.C. +44. He was also eloquent, and pronounced the funeral oration of the +murdered Imperator, as nearest of kin. He had possession of Caesar's +papers, and was the governor of Cisalpine Gaul. He formed a union with +Lepidus, to whom he offered the office of Pontifex Maximus, the second +office in the State. As consul, he could unlock the public treasury, which +he rifled to the extent of seven hundred million of sesterces--the vast sum +left by Caesar. One of his brothers was praetor, and another, a tribune. He +convened the Senate, and employed, by the treasure he had at command, the +people to overawe the Senate, as the Jacobin clubs of the French +revolution overawed the Assembly. He urged the Senate to ratify Caesar's +acts and confirm his appointments, and in this was supported by Cicero and +a majority of the members. Now that the deed was done, he wished to have +the past forgotten. This act of amnesty confirmed his fearful +pre-eminence, and the inheritance of the mighty dead seemingly devolved +upon him. The conspirators came to terms with him, and were even +entertained by him, and received the provinces which he assigned to them. +Brutus received Macedonia; Cassius, Syria; Trebonius, Asia; Cimber, +Bythinia; and Decimus, Cisalpine Gaul. Dolabella was his colleague in the +consulship,--a personal enemy, yet committed to his policy. + +Caesar had left three hundred sesterces to every citizen, (about L3,) and +his gardens beyond the Tiber to the use of the people. Such gifts operated +in producing an intense gratitude for the memory of a man who had proved +so great a benefactor, and his public funeral was of unprecedented +splendor. Antony, as his nearest heir, and the first magistrate, +pronounced the oration, which was a consummate piece of dramatic art, in +which he inflamed the passions of the people, and stimulated them to +frenzy, so that they turned upon the assassins with fury. But he assured +the Senate of his moderation, abolished the dictatorship forever, and +secured his own personal safety by a body-guard. + +(M1027) He had, however, a powerful rival in the young Octavius, who had +been declared by Caesar's will his principal heir, then absent in +Apollonia. He resolved to return at once and claim his inheritance, and +was warmly received at Brundusium by the veteran troops, and especially by +Cicero, who saw in him a rival to Antony. Octavius flattered the old +orator, and ingratiated himself in the favor of everybody by his +unassuming manners, and his specious language. He entered Rome under +favorable omens, paid his court to the senators, and promised to fulfill +his uncle's requests. He was received by Antony in the gardens of +Pompeius, and claimed at once his inheritance. Antony replied that it was +not private property but the public treasure, and was, moreover, spent. +Octavius was not to be put off, and boldly declared that he would and +could pay the legacies, and contrived to borrow the money. Such an act +secured unrivaled popularity. He gave magnificent shows, and then claimed +that the jeweled crown of Caesar should be exhibited on the festival which +he instituted to Venus, and to whose honor Caesar had vowed to build a +temple, on the morning of his victory at Pharsalia. The tribunes, +instigated by Antonius, refused to sanction this mark of honor, but +fortune favored Octavius, and, in the enthusiasm of the festival, which +lasted eleven days, the month Quintilius was changed to Julius--the first +demigod whom the Senate had translated to Olympus. + +(M1028) Meanwhile Brutus and Cassius retired from public affairs, +lingering in the neighborhood of Rome, and the provinces promised to them +were lost. At Antium they had an interview with Cicero, who advised them +to keep quiet, and not venture to the capital, where the people were +inflamed against them. Their only encouragement was the successes of +Sextus Pompeius in Spain, who had six legions at his command. Cicero +foresaw that another civil war was at hand, and had the gloomiest +forebodings, for one or the other of the two great chieftains of the +partisans of Caesar was sure of ultimately obtaining the supreme power. The +humiliating conviction that the murder of Caesar was a mistake, was now +deeply impressed upon his mind, since it would necessarily inaugurate +another bloody war. Self banished from Rome, this great and true patriot +wandered from place to place to divert his mind. But neither the +fascinations of literature, nor the attractions of Tusculum, Puteoli, +Pompeii, and Neapolis, where he had luxurious villas, could soothe his +anxious and troubled soul. Religious, old, and experienced, he could only +ponder on the coming and final prostration of that cause of constitutional +liberty to which he was devoted. + +(M1029) Antonius, also aware of the struggle which was impending, sought +to obtain the government of Cisalpine Gaul, and of the six legions +destined for the Parthian war. But he was baffled by the Senate, and by +the intrigues of Octavius, who sheltered himself behind the august name of +the man by whom he had been adopted. He therefore made a hollow +reconciliation with Octavius, and by his means, obtained the Gaulish +provinces. Cicero, now only desirous to die honorably, returned to Rome to +accept whatever fate was in store for him, and defend to the last his +broken cause. It was then, in the Senate, that he launched forth those +indignant philippies against Antonius, as a public enemy, which are among +his greatest efforts, and which most triumphantly attest his moral +courage. + +The hollow reconciliation between Antonius and Octavius was not of long +duration, and the former, as consul, repaired to Brundusium to assume +command of the legions stationed there, and Octavius collected his forces +in Campania. Both parties complained of each other, and both invoked the +name of Caesar. Cicero detested the one, and was blinded as to the other. + +(M1030) The term of office as consul, which Antonius held, had now +expired, and Hirtius, one of the new consuls, marched into Cisalpine Gaul, +and Octavius placed himself under his command. The Senate declared a state +of public danger. The philippics of Cicero had taken effect, and the +Senate and the government were now opposed to Antonius, as the creator of +a new revolution. The consuls crossed swords with Antonius at Forum +Gallorum, and the consul Pansa fell, but success was with the government. +Another success at Mutina favored the government party, which Octavius had +joined. On the news of this victory, Cicero delivered his fourteenth and +last philippic against Antonius, who now withdrew from Cisalpine Gaul, and +formed a junction with Lepidus beyond the Alps. Octavius declined to +pursue him, and Plancus hesitated to attack him, although joined by +Decimus, one of the murderers of Caesar, with ten legions. Octavius now +held aloof from the government army, from which it was obvious that he had +ambitious views of his own to further, and was denounced by Plancus to +Cicero. The veteran statesman, at last, perceived that Octavius, having +deserted Decimus (who, of all the generals, was the only one on whose +fidelity the State could securely lean), was not to be further relied +upon, and cast his eyes to Macedonia and Syria, to which provinces Brutus +and Cassius had retired. The Senate, too, now distrusted Octavius, and +treated him with contumely; but supported by veteran soldiers, he demanded +the consulship, and even secretly corresponded with Antonius, and assured +him of his readiness to combine with him and Lepidus, and invited them to +follow him to Rome. He marched at the head of eight legions, pretending +all the while to be coerced by them. The Senate, overawed, allowed him, at +twenty years of age, to assume the consulship, with Pedius, grand-nephew +of Caesar, for his colleague. Since Hirtius and Pansa had both fallen, +Octavius, then leaving the city in the hands of a zealous colleague, +opened negotiations with Antonius and Lepidus, perceiving that it was only +in conjunction with them that his usurpation could be maintained. They met +for negotiations at Bononia, and agreed to share the empire between them. +They declared themselves triumvirs for the settlement of the commonwealth, +and after a conference of three days, divided between themselves the +provinces and legions. They then concerted a general proscription of their +enemies. The number whom they thus doomed to destruction was three hundred +senators and two thousand knights, from the noblest families of Rome, +among whom were brothers, uncles, and favorite officers. The possession of +riches was fatal to some, and of beautiful villas to others. Cicero was +among this number, as was to be expected, for he had exhausted the Latin +language in vituperations of Antonius, whom he hated beyond all other +mortals, and which hatred was itself a passion. He spoke of Caesar with +awe, of Pompey with mortification, of Crassus with dislike, and of Antony +with bitter detestation and unsparing malice. It was impossible that he +could escape, even had he fled to the ends of the earth. The vacillation +of his last hours, his deep distress, and mournful agonies are painted by +Plutarch. He fell a martyr to the cause of truth, and public virtue, and +exalted patriotism, although his life was sullied by weakness and +infirmities, such as vanity, ambition, and jealousy. In the dark and +wicked period which he adorned by his transcendent talents and matchless +services, he lived and died in faith--the most amiable and the most noble +of all his contemporaries. + +The triumvirs had now gratified their vengeance by a series of murders +never surpassed in the worst ages of religious and political fanaticism. +And all these horrible crimes were perpetrated in the name of that great +and august character who had won the world by his sword. The prestige of +that mighty name sanctioned their atrocities and upheld their power. Caesar +still lived, although assassinated, and the triumvirs reigned as his heirs +or avengers, even as Louis Napoleon grasped the sceptre of his uncle, not +from any services _he_ had rendered, but as the heir of his conquests. The +Romans loved Caesar as the French loved Napoleon, and submitted to the rule +of the triumvirs, as the French submitted to the usurpations of the +proscribed prisoner of Ham. And in the anarchy which succeeded the +assassination of the greatest man of antiquity, it must need be that the +strongest would seize the reins, since all liberty and exalted patriotism +had fled. + +(M1031) But these usurpers did not secure their power without one more +last struggle of the decimated and ruined aristocracy. They rallied under +the standards of Brutus and Cassius in Macedonia and Syria. The one was at +the head of eight legions, and the other of eleven, a still formidable +force. Sextus Pompeius also still lived, and had intrenched himself in +Sicily. A battle had still to be fought before the republic gave its last +sigh. Cicero ought to have joined these forces, and might have done so, +but for his vacillation. So Lepidus, as consul, took control of Rome and +the interests of Italy, while Antonius marched against Brutus and Cassius +in the East, and Octavius assailed Sextus in Sicily; unable, however, to +attack him without ships, he joined his confederate. Their united forces +were concentrated in Philippi, in Thrace, and there was fought the last +decisive battle between the republicans, if the senatorial and +aristocratic party under Brutus and Cassius can be called republicans, and +the liberators, as they called themselves, or the adherents of Caesar. The +republicans had a force of eighty thousand infantry and twenty thousand +cavalry, while the triumvirs commanded a still superior force. The numbers +engaged in this great conflict exceeded all former experience, and the +battle of Philippi was the most memorable in Roman annals, since all the +available forces of the empire were now arrayed against each other. The +question at issue was, whether power should remain with the old +constitutional party, or with the party of usurpation which Caesar had +headed and led to victory. It was whether Rome should be governed by the +old forms, or by an imperator with absolute authority. The forces arrayed +on that fatal battle-field--the last conflict for liberty ever fought at +Rome--were three times as great as fought at Pharsalia. On that memorable +battle-field the republic perished. The battle was fairly and bravely +fought on both sides, but victory inclined to the Caesarians, in two +distinct actions, after an interval of twenty days, B.C. 42. Both Cassius +and Brutus fell on their own swords, and their self-destruction, in utter +despair of their cause, effectually broke up their party. + +(M1032) The empire was now in the hands of the triumvirs. The last contest +was decisive. Future struggles were worse than useless. Destiny had +proclaimed the extinction of Roman liberties for ever. It was vice and +faction which had prepared the way for violence, and the last appeal to +the sword had settled the fate of the empire, henceforth to be governed by +a despot. + +But there being now three despots among the partisans of Caesar, who sought +to grasp his sceptre, Which should prevail? Antonius was the greatest +general; Octavius was the greatest man; Lepidus was the tool of both. The +real rivalry was between Octavius and Antonius. But they did not at once +quarrel. Antonius undertook the subjugation of the eastern provinces, and +Octavius repaired to Rome. The former sought, before the great encounter +with his rival, to gain military _eclat_ from new victories; the latter to +control factions and parties in the capital. They first got rid of +Lepidus, now that their more powerful enemies were subdued, and compelled +him to surrender the command in Italy and content himself with the +government of Africa. Antonius, commanding no less than twenty-eight +legions, which, with auxiliaries, numbered one hundred and seventy +thousand, had perhaps the best chance. His exactions were awful; but he +squandered his treasures, and gave vent to his passions. + +(M1033) The real cause of his overthrow was Cleopatra, for had he not been +led aside by his inordinate passion for this woman, and had he exercised +his vast power with the wisdom and ability which he had previously shown, +the most able of all of Caesar's generals, he probably would have triumphed +over every foe. On his passage through Cilicia, he was met by Cleopatra, +in all the pomp and luxury of an Oriental sovereign. She came to deprecate +his wrath, ostensibly, and ascended the Cydnus in a bark with gilded stern +and purple sails, rowed with silver oars, to the sound of pipes and +flutes. She reclined, the most voluptuous of ancient beauties, under a +spangled canopy, attended by Graces and Cupids, while the air was scented +with the perfumes of Olympus. She soon fascinated the most powerful man in +the empire, who, forgetting his ambition, resigned himself to love. +Octavius, master of himself, and of Italy, confiscated lands for the +benefit of the soldiership prepared for future contingencies. Though +Antonius married Octavia, the sister of Octavius, he was full of intrigues +against him and Octavius, on his part, proved more than a match in +duplicity and concealed hostilities. They, however, pretended to be +friends; and the treaty of Brundusium, celebrated by Virgil, would seem to +indicate that the world was now to enjoy the peace it craved. After a +debauch, Antonius left Rome for the East, and Octavius for Gaul, each with +a view of military conquests. Antonius, with his new wife, had seemingly +forgotten Cleopatra, and devoted himself to the duties of the camp with an +assiduity worthy of Caesar himself. Octavius has a naval conflict with +Sextus, and is defeated, but Sextus fails to profit from his victory, and +Octavius, with the help of his able lieutenants, and re-enforced by +Antonius, again attacks Sextus, and is again defeated. In a third conflict +he is victorious, and Sextus escapes to the East. Lepidus, ousted and +cheated by both Antonius and Octavius, now combines with Sextus and the +Pompeians, and makes head against Octavius; but is deserted by his +soldiers, and falls into the hands of his enemy, who spares his life in +contempt. He had owed his elevation to his family influence, and not to +his own abilities. Sextus, at last, was taken and slain. + +At this juncture Octavius was at the head of the Caesarian party. He had +won the respect and friendship of the Romans by his clemency and +munificence. He was not a great general, but he was served by a great +general, Agrippa, and by another minister of equal talents, Mecrenas. He +controlled even more forces than Antonius, no less than forty-five legions +of infantry, and twenty-five thousand cavalry, and thirty-seven thousand +light-armed auxiliaries. Antonius, on the other hand, had forfeited the +esteem of the Romans by his prodigalities, by his Oriental affectations, +and by his slavery to Cleopatra. + +This artful and accomplished woman again met Antonius in Asia, and resumed +her sway. The general of one hundred battles became effeminated by his +voluptuous dalliance, so that his Parthian campaign was a failure, even +though he led an army of one hundred thousand men. He was obliged to +retreat, and his retreat was disastrous. It was while he was planning +another campaign that Octavia, his wife, and the sister of his rival,--a +woman who held the most dignified situation in the world,--brought to his +camp both money and troops, and hoped to allay the jealousies of her +husband, and secure peace between him and her brother. But Antonius +heartlessly refused to see this noble-minded woman, while he gave +provinces to Cleopatra. At Alexandria this abandoned profligate plunged, +with his paramour, into every excess of extravagant debauchery, while she +who enslaved him only dreamed of empire and domination. She may have loved +him, but she loved power more than she did debauchery. Her intellectual +accomplishments were equal to her personal fascinations, and while she +beguiled the sensual Roman with costly banquets, her eye was steadily +directed to the establishment of her Egyptian throne. + +The rupture which Octavia sought to prevent between her brother and her +husband--for, with the rarest magnanimity she still adhered to him in spite +of his infatuated love for Cleopatra--at last took place, when Octavius was +triumphant over Sextus, and Antonius was unsuccessful in the distant East. +Octavius declared war against the queen of Egypt, and Antonius divorced +Octavia. Throughout the winter of B.C. 31, both parties prepared for the +inevitable conflict, for Rome now could have but one master. The fate of +the empire was to be settled, not by land forces, but a naval battle, and +that was fought at Actium, not now with equal forces, for those of +Antonius had been weakened by desertions. Moreover, he rejected the advice +of his ablest generals, and put himself under the guidance of his +mistress, while Octavius listened to the counsels of Agrippa. + +The battle had scarcely begun before Cleopatra fled, followed by Antonius. +The destruction of the Antonian fleet was the consequence. This battle, +B.C. 31, gave the empire of the world to Octavius, and Antonius fled to +Alexandria with the woman who had ruined him. And it was well that the +empire fell into the hands of a politic and profound statesman, who sought +to consolidate it and preserve its peace, rather than into those of a +debauched general, with insatiable passions and blood-thirsty vengeance. +The victor landed in Egypt, while the lovers abandoned themselves to +despair. Antonius, on the rumor of Cleopatra's death, gave himself a +mortal wound, but died in the arms of her for whom he had sacrificed fame, +fortune, and life. Cleopatra, in the interview which Octavius sought at +Alexandria, attempted to fascinate him by those arts by which she had led +astray both Caesar and Antonius, but the cold and politic conqueror was +unmoved, and coldly demanded the justification of her political career, +and reserved her to grace his future triumph. She eluded his vigilance, +and destroyed herself, as is supposed, by the bite of asps, since her dead +body showed none of the ordinary spots of poison. She died, B.C. 30, in +the fortieth year of her age, and was buried as a queen by the side of her +lover. Her son Caesarion, by Julius Caesar, was also put to death, and then +the master of the world "wiped his blood-stained sword, and thrust it into +the scabbard." No more victims were needed. No rivalship was henceforth to +be dreaded, and all opposition to his will had ceased. + +Octavius reduced Egypt to the form of a Roman province, and after +adjusting the affairs of the East, among which was the confirmation of +Herod as sovereign of Judea, he returned to Rome to receive his new +honors, and secure his undivided sovereignty. Peace was given to the world +at last. The imperator dedicated temples to the gods, and gave games and +spectacles to the people. The riches of all previous conquests were his to +dispose and enjoy--the extent of which may be conjectured from the fact +that Caesar alone had seized an amount equal to one hundred and seventy +million pounds, not reckoning the relative value to gold in these times. +Divine honors were rendered to Octavius as the heir of Caesar. He assumed +the praenomen of imperator, but combined in himself all the great offices +of the republic which had been overturned. As censor, he purged and +controlled the Senate, of which he was appointed _princeps_, or chief. As +consul he had the control of the armies of the State; as perpetual +proconsul over all the provinces of the empire, he controlled their +revenues, their laws, their internal reforms, and all foreign relations. +As tribune for life, he initiated legal measures before the Comitia of the +tribes; as Pontifex Maximus, he had the regulation of all religious +ceremonials. All these great offices were voted him by a subservient +people. The only prerogative which remained to them was the making of +laws, but even this great and supreme power he controlled, by assuming the +initiation of all laws and measures,--that which Louis Napoleon has claimed +in the Corps Legislatif. He had also resorted to edicts, which had the +force of laws, and ultimately composed no small part of the Roman +jurisprudence. Finally, he assumed the name of Caesar, as he had of +Augustus, and consummated the reality of despotism by the imposing title +of imperator, or emperor. + + + + + CHAPTER XLII. + + +THE ROMAN EMPIRE ON THE ACCESSION OF AUGUSTUS. + + +Octavius, now master of the world, is generally called Augustus Caesar--the +name he assumed. He was the first of that great line of potentates whom we +call emperors. Let us, before tracing the history of the empire, take a +brief survey of its extent, resources, population, institutions, state of +society, and that development of Art, science, and literature, which we +call civilization, in the period which immediately preceded the birth of +Christ, when the nations were subdued, submissive to the one central +power, and at peace with each other. + +(M1034) The empire was not so large as it subsequently became, nor was it +at that height of power and prosperity which followed a century of peace, +when uninterrupted dominion had reconciled the world to the rule of the +Caesars. But it was the golden age of imperial domination, when arts, +science, and literature flourished, and when the world rested from +incessant wars. It was not an age of highest glory to man, since all +struggles for liberty had ceased; but it was an age of good government, +when its machinery was perfected, and the great mass of mankind felt +secure, and all classes abandoned themselves to pleasure, or gain, or +uninterrupted toils. It was the first time in the history of the world, +when there was only _one_ central authority, and when the experiment was +to be tried, not of liberty and self-government, but of universal empire, +growing up from universal rivalries and wars--wielded by one central and +irresistible will. The spectacle of the civilized world obedient to _one_ +master has sublimity, and moral grandeur, and suggests principles of grave +interest. The last of the great monarchies which revelation had foretold, +and the greatest of all--the iron monarchy which Daniel saw in prophetic +vision, reveals lessons of profound significance. + +(M1035) The empire then embraced all the countries bordering on the +Mediterranean--that great inland sea upon whose shores the most famous +cities of antiquity flourished, and toward which the tide of Assyrian and +Persian conquests had rolled, and then retreated for ever. The boundaries +of this mighty empire were great mountains, and deserts, and oceans, and +impenetrable forests. On the east lay the Parthian empire, separated from +the Roman by the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Armenian Mountains, beyond +which were other great empires not known to the Greeks, like the Indian +and the Chinese monarchies, with a different civilization. On the south +were the African deserts, not penetrated even by travelers. On the west +was the ocean; and on the north were barbaric tribes of different names +and races--Slavonic, Germanic, and Celtic. The empire extended over a +territory of one million six hundred thousand square miles, and among its +provinces were Spain, Gaul, Sicily, Africa, Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, +Achaia, Macedonia, and Illyricum--all tributary to Italy, whose capital was +Rome. The central province numbered four millions who were free, and could +furnish, if need be, seven hundred thousand foot, and seventy thousand +horse for the armies of the republic. It was dotted with cities, and +villages, and villas, and filled with statues, temples, and works of art, +brought from remotest provinces--the spoil of three hundred years of +conquest. In all the provinces were great cities, once famous and +independent--centres of luxury and wealth--Corinth, Athens, Syracuse, +Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Damascus, and Jerusalem, with +their dependent cities, all connected with each other and the capital by +granite roads, all favored by commerce, all rejoicing in a uniform +government. Rome, the great mistress who ruled over one hundred and twenty +millions, contained an immense population, variously estimated, in which +were centred whatever wealth or power had craved. This capital had become +rapidly ornamented with palaces, and temples, and works of art, with the +subjugation of Greece and Asia Minor, although it did not reach the climax +of magnificence until the time of Hadrian. In the time of Augustus, the +most imposing buildings were the capitol, restored by Sulla and Caesar, +whose gilded roof alone cost $15,000,000. The theatre of Pompey could +accommodate eighty thousand spectators, behind which was a portico of one +hundred pillars. Caesar built the Forum Julium, three hundred and forty +feet long, and two hundred wide, and commenced the still greater +structures known as the Basilica Julia and Curia Julia. The Forum Romanum +was seven hundred feet by four hundred and seventy, surrounded with +basilica, halls, porticoes, temples, and shops--the centre of architectural +splendor, as well as of life and business and pleasure. Augustus restored +the Capitoline Temple, finished the Forum and Basilica Julia, built the +Curia Julia, and founded the imperial palace on the Palatine, and erected +many temples, the most beautiful of which was that of Apollo, with columns +of African marble, and gates of ivory finely sculptured. He also erected +the Forum Augusti, the theatre of Marcellus, capable of holding twenty +thousand spectators, and that mausoleum which contained the ashes of the +imperial family to the time of Hadrian, at the entrance of which were two +Egyptian obelisks. It was the boast of this emperor, that he found the +city of brick and left her of marble. But great and beautiful as Rome was +in the Augustan era, enriched not only by his own munificence, but by the +palaces and baths which were erected by his ministers and courtiers,--the +Pantheon, the Baths of Agrippa, the Gardens of Maecenas,--it was not until +other emperors erected the Imperial Palace, the Flavian Amphitheatre, the +Forum Trajanum, the Basilica Ulpia, the Temple of Venus and Rome, the +Baths of Caracalla, the Arches of Septimius Severus and Trajan, and other +wonders, that the city became so astonishing a wonder, with its palaces, +theatres, amphitheatres, baths, fountains, bronze statues of emperors and +generals, so numerous and so grand, that we are warranted in believing its +glories, like its population, surpassed those of both Paris and London +combined. + +(M1036) And this capital and this empire seemed to be the domain of one +man, so vast his power, so august his dignity, absolute master of the +lives and property of one hundred and twenty millions, for the people were +now deprived of the election of magistrates and the creation of laws. How +could the greatest nobles otherwise than cringe to the supreme captain of +the armies, the prince of the Senate, and the high-priest of the national +divinities--himself, the recipient of honors only paid to gods! But +Augustus kept up the forms of the old republic--all the old offices, the +old dignities, the old festivals, the old associations. The Senate, +prostrate and powerless, still had external dignity, like the British +House of Peers. There were six hundred senators, each of whom possessed +more than one million two hundred thousand sesterces--about $50,000, when +that sum must have represented an amount equal to a million of dollars in +gold, at the present time, and some of whom had an income of one thousand +pounds a day, the spoil of the provinces they had administered. + +(M1037) The Roman Senate, so august under the republic, still continued, +with crippled legislative powers, to wield important functions, since the +ordinary official business was performed by them. The provinces were +governed by men selected from senatorial ranks. They wore the badges of +distinction; they had the best places in the circus and theatre; they +banqueted in the capitol at the public charge; they claimed the right to +elect emperors. + +(M1038) The equestrian order also continued to farm the revenues of the +provinces, and to furnish judges. The knights retained external +decorations, were required to possess property equal to one-third of the +senators, and formed an aristocratic class. + +(M1039) The consuls, too, ruled, but with delegated powers from the +emperor. They were his eyes, and ears, and voice, and hands; but neither +political experience nor military services were required as qualifications +of the office. They wore the wreath of laurel on their brow, the striped +robe of white and purple, and were attended with lictors. All citizens +made way for them, and dismounted when they passed, and rose in their +presence. The praetors, too, continued to be the supreme judges, and the +quaestors regulated the treasury. The tribunes existed also, but without +their former independence. The prefect of the city was a new office, and +overshadowed all other offices--appointed by the emperor as his lieutenant, +his most efficient executive minister, his deputy in his absence from the +city. + +(M1040) A standing army, ever the mark of despotism, became an imperial +institution. At the head of this army were the praetorian guards, who +protected the person of the emperor, and had double pay over that of the +ordinary legionaries. They had a regular camp outside the city, and were +always on hand to suppress tumults. Twenty-five legions were regarded as +sufficient to defend the empire, and each legion was composed of six +thousand one hundred foot and seven hundred and twenty-six horse. They +were recruited with soldiers from the countries beyond Italy. Auxiliary +troops were equal to the legions, and all together numbered three hundred +and forty thousand--the standing army of the empire, stationed in the +different provinces. Naval armaments were also established in the +different seas and in great frontier rivers. + +The revenue for this great force, and the general expenses of the +government, were derived from the public domains, from direct taxes, from +mines and quarries, from salt works, fisheries and forests, from customs +and excise, from the succession to property, from enfranchisement of +slaves. + +(M1041) The monarchy instituted by Augustus, in all but the name, was a +political necessity. Pompey would have ruled as the instrument of the +aristocracy, but he would only have been _primus inter pares_; Caesar +recognized the people as the basis of sovereignty; Augustus based his +power on an organized military establishment, of which he was the +permanent head. All the soldiers swore personal fealty to him--all the +officers were appointed by him, directly or indirectly. But he paid +respect to ancient traditions, forms, and magistracies, especially to the +dignity of the Senate, and thus vested his military power, which was his +true power, under the forms of an aristocracy, which was the governing +power before the constitution was subverted. + +It need scarcely be said that the great mass of the people were +indifferent to these political changes. The horrors of the Marian and +Sullan revolutions, the struggles of Caesar and Pompey, and the awful +massacres of the triumvirs had alarmed and disgusted all classes, and they +sought repose, security, and peace. Any government which would repress +anarchy was, to them, the best. They wished to be spared from executions +and confiscations. The great enfranchisement of foreign slaves, also, +degraded the people, and made them indifferent to the masters who should +rule over them. All races were mingled with Roman citizens. The spoliation +of estates in the civil wars cast a blight on agriculture, and the +population had declined from war and misery. + +(M1042) Augustus, intrenched by military power, sought to revive not +merely patrician caste, but religious customs, which had declined. Temples +were erected, and the shrines of gods were restored. Marriage was +encouraged, and the morals of the people were regulated by sumptuary laws. +Severe penalties were enacted against celibacy, to which the people had +been led by the increasing profligacy of the times, and the expenses of +living. Restrictions were placed on the manumission of slaves. The +personal habits of the imperator were simple, but dignified. His mansion +on the Palatine was moderate in size. His dress was that of a senator, and +woven by the hands of Livia and her maidens. He was courteous, sober, +decorous, and abstemious. His guests were chosen for their social +qualities. Virgil and Horace, plebeian poets, were received at his table, +as well as Pollio and Messala. He sought to guard morals, and revive +ancient traditions. He was jealous only of those who would not flatter +him. He freely spent money for games and festivals, and secured peace and +plenty within the capital, where he reigned supreme. The people +felicitated themselves on the appearance of unbounded prosperity, and +servile poets sung the praises of the emperor as if he were a god. + +(M1043) And, to all appearance, Rome was the most favored spot upon the +globe. Vast fleets brought corn from Gaul, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, +Africa, and Egypt, to feed the four millions of people who possessed the +world. The capital was the emporium of all the luxuries of distant +provinces. Spices from the East, ivory, cotton, silk, pearls, diamonds, +gums thither flowed, as well as corn, oil, and wine. A vast commerce gave +unity to the empire, and brought all the great cities into communication +with each other and with Rome--the mighty mistress of lands and continents, +the directress of armies, the builder of roads, the civilizer and +conservator of all the countries which she ruled with her iron hand. There +was general security to commerce, as well as property. There were order +and law, wherever proconsular power extended. The great highways, built +originally for military purposes, extending to every part of the empire, +and crossing mountains and deserts, and forests and marshes, and studded +with pillars and post-houses, contributed vastly to the civilization of +the world. + +(M1044) At this time, Rome herself, though not so large and splendid as in +subsequent periods, was the most attractive place on earth. Seven +aqueducts already brought water to the city, some over stone arches, and +some by subterranean pipes. The sepulchres of twenty generations lined the +great roads which extended from the capital to the provinces. As these +roads approached the city, they became streets, and the houses were dense +and continuous. The seven original hills were covered with palaces and +temples, while the valleys were centres of a great population, in which +were the forums, the suburra, the quarter of the shops, the circus, and +the velabrum. The Palatine, especially, was occupied by the higher +nobility. Here were the famous mansions of Drusus, of Crassus, of Cicero, +of Clodius, of Scaurus, and of Augustus, together with the temples of +Cybele, of Juno Sospita, of Luna, of Febris, of Fortune, of Mars, and +Vesta. On the Capitoline were the Arx, or citadel, and the temple of +Jupiter. On the Pincian Hill were villas and gardens, including those of +Lucullus and Sallust. Every available inch of ground in the suburra and +velabrum was filled with dwellings, rising to great altitudes, even to the +level of the Capitoline summit. The temples were all constructed after the +Grecian models. The houses of the great were of immense size. The suburbs +were of extraordinary extent. The population exceeded that of all modern +cities, although it has been, perhaps, exaggerated. It was computed by +Lipsius to reach the enormous number of four millions. Nothing could be +more crowded than the streets, whose incessant din was intolerable to +those who sought repose. And they were filled with idlers, as well as +trades-people, and artisans and slaves. All classes sought the excitement +of the theater and circus--all repaired to the public baths. The +amphitheatres collected, also, unnumbered thousands within their walls to +witness the combats of beasts with man, and man with man. The gladiatorial +sports were the most exciting exhibitions ever known in ancient or modern +times, and were the most striking features of Roman society. The baths, +too, resounded with shouts and laughter, with the music of singers and of +instruments, and even by the recitations of poets and lecturers. The +luxurious Roman rose with the light of day, and received, at his levee, a +crowd of clients and retainers. He then repaired to the forum, or was +carried through the crowds on a litter. Here he presided as a judge, or +appeared as a witness or advocate, or transacted his business affairs. At +twelve, the work of the day ceased, and he retired for his midday siesta. +When this had ended, he recreated himself with the sports of the Field of +Mars, and then repaired to the baths, after which was the supper, or +principal meal, in which he indulged in the coarsest luxuries, valued more +for the cost than the elegance. He reclined at table, on a luxurious +couch, and was served by slaves, who carved for him, and filled his cup, +and poured water into his hand after every remove. He ate without knives +or forks, with his fingers only. The feast was beguiled by lively +conversation, or music and dancing. + +(M1045) At this period, the literature of Rome reached its highest purity +and terseness. Livy, the historian, secured the friendship of Augustus, +and his reputation was so high that an enthusiastic Spaniard traveled from +Cadiz on purpose to see him, and having gratified his curiosity, +immediately returned home. He took the dry chronicles of his country, drew +forth from them the poetry of the old traditions, and incited a patriotic +spirit. A friend of the old oligarchy, an aristocrat in all his prejudices +and habits, he heaped scorn on tribunes and demagogues, and veiled the +despotism of his imperial master. Virgil also inflamed the patriotism of +his countrymen, while he flattered the tyrant in whose sunshine he basked. +Patronized by Maecenas, countenanced by Octavius, he sung the praises of +law, of order, and of tradition, and attempted to revive an age of faith, +a love of agricultural life, a taste for the simplicities of better days, +and a veneration of the martial virtues of heroic times. Horace ridiculed +and rebuked the vices of his age, and yet obtained both riches and honors. +His matchless wit and transcendent elegance of style have been admired by +every scholar for nearly two thousand years. Propertius and Tibullus, and +Ovid, also adorned this age, never afterward equaled by the labors of men +of genius. Literature and morals went hand in hand as corruption +accomplished its work. The age of Augustus saw the highest triumph in +literature that Rome was destined to behold. Imperial tyranny was fatal to +that independence of spirit without which all literature languishes and +dies. But the limit of this work will not permit an extended notice of +Roman civilization. This has been attempted by the author in another work. + + + + + CHAPTER XLIII. + + +THE SIX CAESARS OF THE JULIAN LINE. + + +We have alluded to the centralization of political power in the person of +Octavius. He simply retained all the great offices of State, and ruled, +not so much by a new title, as he did as consul, tribune, censor, pontifex +maximus, and chief of the Senate. But these offices were not at once +bestowed. + +His reign may be said to have commenced on the final defeat of his rivals, +B.C. 29. Two years later, he received the title of Augustus, by which he +is best known in history, although he was ordinarily called Caesar. That +proud name never lost its pre-eminence. + +(M1046) The first part of the reign was memorable for the organization of +the State, and especially of the army; and also for the means he used to +consolidate his empire. Augustus had no son, and but one daughter, +although married three times. His first wife was Clodia, daughter of +Clodius; his second was Scribonia, sister-in-law of Sextus Pompey; and the +third was Livia Drusilla. The second wife was the mother of his daughter, +Julia. This daughter was married to M. Claudius Marcellus, son of +Marcellus and Octavia, the divorced wife of Antonius, and sister of +Octavius. M. Claudius Marcellus thus married his cousin, but died two +years afterward. It was to his honor that Augustus built the theatre of +Marcellus. + +(M1047) On the death of Marcellus, Augustus married his daughter Julia to +Agrippa, his prime minister and principal lieutenant. The issue of this +marriage were three sons and two daughters. The sons died early. The +youngest daughter, Agrippina, married Germanicus, and was the mother of +the emperor Caligula. The marriage of Agrippina with Germanicus united the +lines of Julia and Livia, the two last wives of Augustus, for Germanicus +was the son of Drusus, the younger son of Livia by her first husband, +Tiberius Claudius Nero. The eldest son of Livia, by Tiberius Claudius +Nero, was the emperor Tiberius Nero, adopted by Augustus. Drusus married +Antonia, the daughter of Antonius the triumvir, and was the father, not +only of Germanicus, but of Claudius Drusus Caesar, the fifth emperor. +Another daughter of Antonius, also called Antonia, married L. Domitius +Ahenobardus, whose son married Agrippina, the mother of Nero. Thus the +descendants of Octavia and Antony became emperors, and were intertwined +with the lines of Julia and Livia. The four successors of Augustus were +all, in the male line, sprung from Livia's first husband, and all, except +Tiberius, traced their descent from the defeated triumvir. Only the first +six of the twelve Caesars had relationship with the Julian house. + +I mention this genealogy to show the descent of the first six emperors +from Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar, and grandmother of Augustus. +Although the first six emperors were elected, they all belonged to the +Julian house, and were the heirs of the great Caesar. + +(M1048) When the government was organized, Augustus left the care of his +capital to Maecenas, his minister of civil affairs and departed for Gaul, +to restore order in that province, and build a series of fortifications to +the Danube, to check the encroachments of barbarians. The region between +the Danube and the Alps was peopled by various tribes, of different names, +who gave perpetual trouble to the Romans; but they were now apparently +subdued, and the waves of barbaric conquest were stayed for three hundred +years. Vindelicea and Rhaetia were added to the empire, in a single +campaign, by Tiberius and Drusus, the sons of Livia--the emperor's beloved +wife. Agrippa returned shortly after from a successful war in the East, +but sickened and died B.C. 12. By his death Julia was again a widow, and +was given in marriage to Tiberius, whom Augustus afterward adopted as his +successor. Drusus, his brother, remained in Gaul, to complete the +subjugation of the Celtic tribes, and to check the incursions of the +Germans, who, from that time, were the most formidable enemies of Rome. + +(M1049) What interest is attached to those Teutonic races who ultimately +became the conquerors of the empire! They were more warlike, persevering, +and hardy, than the Celts, who had been incorporated with the empire. +Tacitus has painted their simple manners, their passionate love of +independence, and their religious tendency of mind. They occupied those +vast plains and forests which lay between the Rhine, the Danube, the +Vistula, and the German Ocean. Under different names they invaded the +Roman world--the Suevi, the Franks, the Alemanni, the Burgundians, the +Lombards, the Goths, the Vandals; but had not, at the time of Augustus, +made those vast combinations which threatened immediate danger. They were +a pastoral people, with blue eyes, ruddy hair, and large stature, trained +to cold, to heat, to exposure, and to fatigue. Their strength lay in their +infantry, which was well armed, and their usual order of battle was in the +form of a wedge. They were accompanied even in war with their wives and +children, and their women had peculiar virtue and influence. They inspired +that reverence which never passed away from the Germanic nations, +producing in the Middle Ages the graces of chivalry. All these various +tribes had the same peculiarities, among which reverence was one of the +most marked. They were not idol worshipers, but worshiped God in the form +of the sun, moon, and stars, and in the silence of their majestic groves. +Odin was their great traditional hero, whom they made an object of +idolatry. War was their great occupation, and the chase was their +principal recreation and pleasure. Tacitus enumerates as many as fifty +tribes of these brave warriors, who feared not death, and even gloried in +their losses. The most powerful of these tribes, in the time of Augustus, +was the confederation of the Suevi, occupying half of Germany, from the +Danube to the Baltic. Of this confederation the Cauci were the most +powerful, living on the banks of the Elbe, and obtaining a precarious +living. In close connection with them were the Saxons and Longobardi +(Long-beards). On the shores of the Baltic, between the Oder and the +Vistula, were the Goths. + +(M1050) The arms of Caesar and Augustus had as yet been only felt by the +smaller tribes on the right bank of the Rhine, and these were assailed by +Drusus, but only to secure his flank during the greater enterprise of +sailing down the Rhine, to attack the people of the maritime plains. Great +feats were performed by this able step-son of Augustus, who advanced as +far as the Elbe, but was mortally injured by a fall from his horse. He +lingered a month, and died, to the universal regret of the Romans, for he +was the ablest general sent against the barbarians since Julius Caesar, +B.C. 9. The effect of his various campaigns was to check the inroads of +the Germans for a century. It was at this time that the banks of the Rhine +were studded by the forts which subsequently became those picturesque +towns which now command the admiration of travelers. + +(M1051) After the death of Drusus, to whose memory a beautiful triumphal +arch was erected, Tiberius was sent against the Germans, and after +successful warfare, at the age of forty, obtained the permission of +Augustus to retire to Rhodes, in order to improve his mind by the study of +philosophy, or, as it is supposed by many historians, from jealousy of +Caius and Lucius Caesar, the children of Julia and Agrippa--those young +princes to whom the throne of the world was apparently destined. At +Rhodes, Tiberius, now the ablest man in the empire, for both Agrippa and +Maecenas were dead, lived in simple retirement for seven years. But the +levities of Julia, to which Augustus could not be blind, compelled him to +banish her--his only daughter--to the Campanian coast, where she died +neglected and impoverished. The emperor was so indignant in view of her +disgraceful conduct, that he excluded her from any inheritance. The +premature death of her sons nearly broke the heart of their grandfather, +bereft of the wise councils and pleasant society of his great ministers, +and bending under the weight of the vast empire which he, as the heir of +Caesar, had received. The loss of his grandsons compelled the emperor to +provide for his succession, and he turned his eyes to Tiberius, his +step-son, who was then at Rhodes. He adopted him as his successor, and +invested him with the tribunitian power. But, while he selected him as his +heir, he also required him to adopt Germanicus, the son of his brother +Drusus. + +(M1052) Another great man now appeared upon the stage, L. Domitius +Ahenobardus, the son-in-law of Octavia and Antony, who was intrusted with +the war against the Germanic tribes, and who was the first Roman general +to cross the Elbe. He was the grandfather of Nero. But Tiberius was sent +to supersede him, and following the plan of his brother Drusus, he sent a +flotilla down the Rhine, with orders to ascend the Elbe, and meet his army +at an appointed rendezvous, which was then regarded as a great military +feat, in the face of such foes as the future conquerors of Rome. After +this Tiberius was occupied in reconquering the wide region between the +Adriatic and the Danube, known as Illyricum, which occupied him three +years, A.D. 7-9. In this war he was assisted by his nephew and adopted +son, Germanicus, whose brilliant career revived the hope which had centred +in Drusus. + +(M1053) Meanwhile Augustus, wearied with the cares of State, provoked by +the scandals which his daughter occasioned, and irritated by plots against +his life, began to relax his attention to business, and to grow morose. It +was then that he banished Ovid, whose _Tristia_ made a greater sensation +than his immortal _Metamorphoses_. The disaster which befell Varus with a +Roman army, in the forest of Teutoburg, near the river Lippe, when thirty +thousand men were cut to pieces by the Germans under Arminius (Hermann), +completed the humiliation of Augustus, for, in this defeat, he must have +foreseen the future victories of the barbarians. All ideas of extending +the empire beyond the Rhine were now visionary, and that river was +henceforth to remain its boundary on the north. New levies were indeed +dispatched to the Rhine, and Tiberius and Germanicus led the forces. But +the princes returned to Rome without effecting important results. + +(M1054) Soon after, in the year A.D. 14, Augustus died in his +seventy-seventh year, after a reign of forty-four years from the battle of +Actium, and fifty from the triumvirate--one of the longest reigns in +history, and one of the most successful. From his nineteenth year he was +prominent on the stage of Roman public life. Under his auspices the empire +reached the Elbe, and Egypt was added to its provinces. He planted +colonies in every province, and received from the Parthians the captured +standards of Crassus. His fleets navigated the Northern Ocean; his armies +reduced the Pannonians and Illyrians. He added to the material glories of +his capital, and sought to secure peace throughout the world. He was both +munificent and magnificent, and held the reins of government with a firm +hand. He was cultivated, unostentatious, and genial; but ambitious, and +versed in all the arts of dissimulation and kingcraft. But he was a great +monarch, and ruled with signal ability. After the battle of Actium, his +wars were chiefly with the barbarians, and his greatest generals were +members of the imperial family. That he could have reigned so long, in +such an age, with so many enemies, is a proof of his wisdom and +moderation, as well as of his good fortune. That he should have triumphed +over such generals as Brutus, and Antonius, and Sextus--representing the +old parties of the republic, is unquestionable evidence of transcendent +ability. But his great merit was his capacity to rule, to organize, and to +civilize. He is one of the best types of a sovereign ruler that the world +has seen. It is nothing against him, that, in his latter years, there were +popular discontents. Such generally happen at the close of all long +reigns, as in the case of Solomon and Louis XIV. And yet, the closing +years of his reign were melancholy, like those of the French monarch, in +view of the extinction of literary glories, and the passing away of the +great lights of the age, without the appearance of new stars to take their +place. But this was not the fault of Augustus, whose intellect expanded +with his fortunes, and whose magnanimity grew with his intellect--a man who +comprehended his awful mission, and who discharged his trusts with dignity +and self-reliance. + +Tiberius Caesar, the third of the Roman emperors, found no opposition to +his elevation on the death of Augustus. He ascended the throne of the +Roman world at the mature age of fifty-six, after having won great +reputation both as a statesman and a general. He was probably the most +capable man in the empire, and in spite of all his faults, the empire was +never better administered than by him. His great misfortune and fault was +the suspicion of his nature, which made him the saddest of mankind, and +finally, a monster of cruelty. + +(M1055) Like Augustus, he veiled his power as emperor by assuming the old +offices of the republic. A subservient Senate and people favored the +consolidation of the new despotism to which the world was now accustomed, +and with power, which it cheerfully acquiesced as the best government for +the times. The last remnant of popular elections was abolished, and the +Comitia was transferred from the Campus Martius to the Senate, who elected +the candidate proposed by the emperor. + +(M1056) The first year of the accession of Tiberius was marked by mutinies +in the legions, which were quelled by his nephew Germanicus, whose +popularity was boundless, even as his feats had been heroic. This young +prince, on whom the hopes of the empire rested, had married Agrippina, the +daughter of Julia and Agrippa, and traced through his mother Antonia, and +grandmother Octavia, a direct descent from Julia, the sister of the +dictator. The blood of Antony also ran in his veins, as well as that of +Livia. His wife was worthy of him, and was devotedly attached to him. By +this marriage the lines of Julia and Livia were united; and by his descent +from Antony the great parties of the revolution were silenced. He was +equally the heir of Augustus and of Antonius, of Julia and of Livia; and +of all the chiefs of Roman history no one has been painted in fairer +colors. In natural ability, in military heroism, in the virtues of the +heart, in exalted rank, he had no equal. As consul, general, and governor, +he called forth universal admiration. His mind was also highly cultivated, +and he excelled in Greek and Latin verse, while his condescending and +courteous manners won both soldiers and citizens. + +(M1057) Of such a man, twenty-nine years of age, Tiberius was naturally +jealous, especially since, through his wife, Germanicus was allied with +the Octavian family and through his mother, with the sister of the great +Julius; and, therefore, had higher claims than he, on the principle of +legitimacy. He was only the adopted son of Octavius, but Germanicus, +through his mother Antonia, had the same ancestry as Octavius himself. +Moreover, the cries of the legionaries, "Caesar Germanicus will not endure +to be a subject," added to the fears of the emperor, that he would be +supplanted. So he determined to send his nephew on distant and dangerous +expeditions, against those barbarians who had defeated Varus. + +(M1058) Germanicus, no sooner than he had quelled the sedition in his +camp, set out for Germany with eight legions and an equal number of +auxiliaries. With this large force he crossed the Rhine, revisited the +scene of the slaughter of Varus, and paid funeral honors to the remains of +the fallen Romans. But the campaigns were barren of results, although +attended with great expenses. No fortresses were erected to check the +return of the barbarians from the places where they had been dislodged, +and no roads were made to expedite future expeditions. Germanicus carried +on war in savage and barbarous tracts, amid innumerable obstacles, which +tasked his resources to the utmost. Tiberius was dissatisfied with these +results, and vented his ill-humor in murmurs against his nephew. The Roman +people were offended at this jealousy, and clamored for his recall. +Germanicus, however, embarked on a third campaign, A.D. 15, with renewed +forces, and confronted the Germans on the Weser, and crossed the river in +the face of the enemy. There the Romans obtained a great victory over +Arminius, leader of the barbaric hosts, who retreated beyond the Elbe. The +great German confederacy was, for a time, dispersed. Germanicus himself +retired to the banks of the Rhine--which became the final boundary of the +empire on the side of Germany. The hero who had persevered against +innumerable obstacles, in overcoming which the discipline and force of the +Roman legions were never more apparent, not even under Julius Caesar, was +now recalled to Rome, and a triumph was given him, amid the wildest +enthusiasm of the Roman people. The young hero was the great object of +attraction, as he was borne along in his triumphal chariot, surrounded by +the five male descendants of his union with Agrippina--his faithful and +heroic wife. Tiberius, in the name of his adopted son, bestowed three +hundred sesterces apiece upon all the citizens, and the Senate chose the +popular favorite as consul for the ensuing year, in conjunction with the +emperor himself. + +(M1059) Troubles in the East induced Tiberius to send Germanicus to Asia +Minor, while Drusus was sent to Illyricum. This prince was the son of +Tiberius by his first wife, Vipsania, and was the cousin of Germanicus. He +was disgraced by the vices of debauchery and cruelty, and was finally +poisoned by his wife, Livilla, at the instance of Sejanus. So long as +Germanicus lived, the court was divided between the parties of Drusus and +Germanicus, and Tiberius artfully held the balance of favor between them, +taking care not to declare which should be his successor. But Drusus was, +probably, the favorite of the emperor, although greatly inferior to the +elder prince in every noble quality. Tiberius, in sending him to +Illyricum, wished to remove him from the dissipations of the capital, and +also, to place a man in that important post who should be loyal to his +authority. + +(M1060) In appointing Germanicus to the chief command of the provinces +beyond the AEgean, Tiberius also gave the province of Syria to Cnaeus Piso, +of the illustrious Calpurnian house, one of the proudest and most powerful +of the Roman nobles. His wife, Plancina, was the favorite of Livia,--the +empress-mother,--and he believed himself appointed to the government of +Syria for the purpose of checking the ambitious designs which were imputed +to Germanicus, while his wife was instructed to set up herself as a rival +to Agrippina. The moment Piso quitted Italy, he began to thwart his +superior, and to bring his authority into contempt. Yet he was treated by +Germanicus with marked kindness. After visiting the famous cities of +Greece, Germanicus marched to the frontiers of Armenia to settle its +affairs with the empire--the direct object of his mission. He crowned a +prince, called Zeno, as monarch of that country, reduced Cappadocia, and +visited Egypt, apparently to examine the political affairs of the +province, but really to study its antiquities, even as Scipio had visited +Sicily in the heat of the Punic war. For thus going out of his way, he was +rebuked by the emperor. He then retraced his steps, and shaped his course +to Syria, where he found his regulations and appointments had been +overruled by Piso, between whom and himself bitter altercations ensued. +While in Syria, he fell sick and died, and his illness was attributed to +poison administered by Piso, although there was little evidence to support +the charge. + +(M1061) The death of Germanicus was received with great grief by the Roman +people, and the general sorrow of the Roman world, and his praises were +pronounced in every quarter. He was even fondly compared to Alexander the +Great. His character was embellished by the greatest master of pathos +among the Roman authors, and invested with a gleam of mournful splendor. +His remains were brought to Rome by his devoted wife, and the most +splendid funeral honors were accorded to him. Drusus, with the younger +brother and children of Germanicus, went forth to meet the remains, and +the consuls, the Senate, and a large concourse of people, swelled the +procession, as it neared the city. The precious ashes were deposited in +the Caesarian mausoleum, and the memory of the departed prince was +cherished in the hearts of the people. Whether he would have realized the +expectations formed of him, had he lived to succeed Tiberius, can not be +known. He, doubtless, had most amiable traits of character, while his +talents were undoubted. But he might have succumbed to the temptations +incident to the most august situation in the world, or have been borne +down by its pressing cares, or have shown less talent for administration +than men disgraced by private vices. Had Tiberius died before Augustus, +his character would have appeared in the most favorable light, for he was +a man of great abilities, and was devoted to the interests of the empire. +He became moody, suspicious, and cruel, and yielded to the pleasures so +lavishly given to the master of the world. When we remember the atmosphere +of lies in which he lived,--as is the case with all absolute monarchs, +especially in venal and corrupt times,--the unbounded temptations, the +servile and sycophantic attentions of his courtiers, the perpetual +vexations and cares incident to such overgrown and unlimited powers, and +the disgust, satiety, and contempt which his experiences engendered, we +can not wonder that his character should change for the worse. And when we +see a man rendered uninteresting and unamiable by cares, temptations, and +bursts of passion or folly, yet who still governs vigilantly and ably, our +indignation should be modified, when the lower propensities are indulged. +It is not pleasant to palliate injustices, tyrannies, and lusts. But human +nature, at the best, is weak. Of all men, absolute princes claim a +charitable judgment, and our eyes should be directed to their services, +rather than to their defects. These remarks not only pertain to Tiberius, +but to Augustus, and many other emperors who have been harshly estimated, +but whose general ability and devotion to the interests of the empire are +undoubted. How few monarchs have been free from the stains of occasional +excesses, and that arbitrary and tyrannical character which unlimited +powers develop! Even the crimes of monsters, whom we execrate, are to be +traced to madness and intoxication, more than to natural fierceness and +wickedness. But when monarchs _do_ reign in justice, and conquer the +temptations incident to their station, like the Antonines, then our +reverence becomes profound. "Heavy is the head that wears a crown." Kings +are objects of our sympathy, as well as of our envy. Their burdens are as +heavy as their temptations are great; and frivolous or wicked princes are +almost certain to yield, like Nero or Caligula, to the evils with which +they are peculiarly surrounded. + +But to return to our narrative of the leading events connected with the +reign of Tiberius, one of the ablest of all the emperors, so far as +administrative talents are concerned. After the death of Germanicus, which +was probably natural, the vengeance of the people and the court was +directed to his supposed murderer, Piso. He was arraigned and tried by the +Senate, not only for the crime of which he was accused by the family of +Germanicus, who thought himself poisoned, but for exceeding his powers as +governor of Syria, which province he continued unwisely to claim. Tiberius +abstained from all interference with the great tribunal which sat in +judgment. He even checked the flow of popular feeling. Cold and hard, he +allowed the trial to take its course, without betraying sympathy or +aversion, and acted with great impartiality. Piso found no favor from the +Senate or the emperor, and killed himself when his condemnation was +certain. + +(M1062) Relieved by the death of Germanicus and Piso, Tiberius began to +reign more despotically, and incurred the hatred of the people, to which +he was apparently insensible. He was greatly influenced by his mother, +Livia, an artful and ambitious princess, and by Sejanus, his favorite, a +man of rare energy and ability, who was prefect of the praetorian guards. +This office, unknown to the republic, became the most important and +influential under the emperors. The prefect was virtually the vizier, or +prime minister, since it was his care to watch over the personal safety of +a monarch whose power rested on the military. The instruments of his +government, however, were the Senate, which he controlled especially by +his power as censor, and the law of _majestas_, which was virtually a +great system of espionage and public accusation, which the emperor +encouraged. But his general administration was marked by prudence, equity, +and mildness. Under him the Roman dominion was greatly consolidated, and +it was his policy to guard rather than extend the limits of the empire. +The legions were stationed in those provinces which were most likely to be +assailed by external dangers, especially on the banks of the Rhine, in +Illyricum, and Dalmatia. But they were scattered in all the provinces. The +city of Rome was kept in order by the praetorian guards. Their discipline +was strenuously maintained. Governors of provinces were kept several years +in office, which policy was justified by the apologue he was accustomed to +use, founded on the same principle as that which is recognized in all +corrupt times by great administrators, whether of States, or factories, or +railroads. "A number of flies had settled on a soldier's wound, and a +compassionate passer-by was about to scare them away. The sufferer begged +him to refrain. 'These flies,' he said, 'have nearly sucked their full, +and are beginning to be tolerable; if you drive them away, they will be +immediately succeeded by fresh-comers with keener appetites.' " The +emperor saw the abuses which existed, but despaired to remedy them, since +he distrusted human nature. But there is no doubt that the government of +the provinces was improved under this prince, and the governors were made +responsible. The emperor also was assiduous to free Italy from robbers and +banditti, and in stimulating the diligence of the police, so that riots +seldom occurred, and were severely punished. There was greater security of +life and property throughout the empire, and the laws were wise and +effective. Tiberius limited the number of the gladiators, expelled the +soothsayers from Italy, and suppressed the Egyptian rites. The habits of +the people, even among the higher classes, were so generally disgraceful +and immoral,--the dissipation was so widely spread, that Tiberius despaired +to check it by sumptuary laws, but he restrained it all in his power. He +was indefatigable in his vigilance. For several years he did not quit the +din and dust of the city for a single day, and he lived with great +simplicity, apparently anxious to exhibit the ancient ideal of a Roman +statesman. He took no pleasure in the sports of the circus or theatre, and +was absorbed in the cares of office, as Augustus had been before him. +Augustus, however, was a man of genius, while he was only a man of +ability, and his great defect was jealousy of the family of Germanicus, +and the favor he lavished on Sejanus, who even demanded the hand of +Livilla, the widow of Drusus,--a suit which Tiberius rejected. + +(M1063) Weariness of the cares of State, and the desire of repose, at last +induced Tiberius to retire from the city. He had neither happiness nor +rest. He quarreled with Agrippina, the widow of Germanicus, and his temper +was exasperated by the imputations and slanders from which no monarch can +escape. His enemies, however, declared that he had no higher wish than to +exercise in secret the cruelty and libidinousness to which he was +abandoned. For eleven years he ruled in the retirement of his guarded +fortress, and never again re-entered the city he had left in disgust. But +in this retirement, he did not relax his vigilance in the administration +of affairs, although his government was exceedingly unpopular, and was +doubtless stained by many acts of cruelty. At Capreae, a small island near +Naples, barren and desolate, but beautiful in climate and scenery, the +master of the world spent his latter years, surrounded with literary men +and soothsayers. I do not believe the calumnies which have been heaped on +this imperial misanthrope. And yet, the eleven years he spent in his +retreat were marked by great complaints against him, and by many revolting +crimes and needless cruelties. He persecuted the family of Germanicus, +banished Agrippina, and imprisoned her son, Drusus. Sejanus, however, +instigated these proceedings, and worked upon the jealousy of the emperor. +This favorite was affianced to Livilla, the widow of Drusus, and was made +consul conjointly with Tiberius. + +(M1064) Tiberius penetrated, at last, the character of this ambitious +officer, and circumvented his ruin with that profound dissimulation which +was one of his most marked traits. Sejanus conspired against his life, but +the emperor shrank from openly denouncing him to the Senate. He used +consummate craft in securing his arrest and execution, the instrument of +which was Macro, an officer of his bodyguard, and his death was followed +by the ruin of his accomplices and friends. + +(M1065) Shortly after the execution of Sejanus, Drusus, the son of +Agrippina, was starved to death in prison, and many cruelties were +inflicted on the friends of Sejanus. Tiberius now began to show signs of +insanity, and his life henceforth was that of a miserable tyrant. His +career began to draw to a close, and he found himself, in his fits of +despair and wretchedness, supported by only three surviving members of the +lineage of Caesar: Tiberius Claudius Drusus, the last of the sons of +Drusus, and nephew of the emperor, infirm in health and weak in mind, and +had been excluded from public affairs; Caius, the younger son of +Germanicus, and Tiberius, the son of the second Drusus,--the one, +grand-nephew, and the other, grandson, of the emperor. Both were young; +one twenty-five, the other eighteen. The failing old man failed to +designate either as his successor, but the voice of the public pointed out +the son of Germanicus, nicknamed Caligula. At the age of seventy-eight, +the tyrant died, unable in his last sickness to restrain his appetite. He +died at Misenum, on his way to Capreae, which he had quitted for a time, to +the joy of the whole empire; for his reign, in his latter years, was one +of terror, which caused a deep gloom to settle upon the face of the higher +society at Rome, A.D. 37. The body was carried to Rome with great pomp, +and its ashes were deposited in the mausoleum of the Caesars. Caius was +recognized as his successor without opposition, and he commenced his reign +by issuing a general pardon to all State prisoners, and scattering, with +promiscuous munificence, the vast treasures which Tiberius had +accumulated. He assumed the collective honors of the empire with modesty, +and great expectations were formed of a peaceful and honorable reign. + +Caligula was the heir of the Drusi, grandson of Julia and Agrippa, +great-grandson of Octavius, of Livia, and of Antony. In him the lines of +Julia and Livia were united. His defects and vices were unknown to the +people, and he made grand promises to the Senate. He commenced his reign +by assiduous labors, and equitable measures, and professed to restore the +golden age of Augustus. His popularity with the people was unbounded, from +his lavish expenditure for shows and festivals, by the consecration of +temples, and the distribution of corn and wine. + +(M1066) But it was not long before he abandoned himself to the most +extravagant debauchery. His brain reeled on the giddy eminence to which he +had been elevated without previous training and experience. Augustus +fought his own way to power, and Tiberius had spent the best years of his +life in the public service before his elevation. Yet even he, with all his +experience and ability, could not resist the blandishments of power. How, +then, could a giddy and weak young man, without redeeming qualities? He +fell into the vortex of pleasures, and reeling in the madness which +excesses caused, was soon guilty of the wildest caprices, and the most +cruel atrocities. He was corrupted by flattery as well as pleasure. He +even descended into the arena of the circus as a charioteer, and the races +became a State institution. In a few months he squandered the savings of +the previous reign, swept away the wholesome restraints which Augustus and +Tiberius had imposed upon gladiators, and carried on the sports of the +amphitheatre with utter disregard of human life. His extravagance and his +necessities led to the most wanton murders of senators and nobles whose +crime was their wealth. The most redeeming features of the first year of +his reign were his grief at the death of his sister, his friendship with +Herod Agrippa, to whom he gave a sovereignty in Palestine, and the +activity he displayed in the management of his vast inheritance. He had a +great passion for building, and completed the temple of Augustus, +projected the grandest of the Roman aqueducts, enlarged the imperial +palace, and carried a viaduct from the Palatine to the Capitoline over the +lofty houses of the Velabrum. But his prodigalities led to a most +oppressive taxation, which soon alienated the people, while his senseless +debaucheries, especially his costly banquets, disgusted the more +contemplative of the nobles. He was also disgraced by needless cruelties, +and it was his exclamation: "Would that the people of Rome had but one +neck!" His vanity was preposterous. He fancied himself divine, and +insisted on divine honors being rendered to him. He systematically +persecuted the nobles, and exacted contributions. He fancied himself, at +one time an orator, and at another a general; and absolutely led an army +to the Rhine, when there was no enemy to attack. He married several wives, +but divorced them with the most fickle inconstancy. + +(M1067) It is needless to repeat the wanton follies of this young man who +so outrageously disgraced the imperial station. The most charitable +construction to be placed upon acts which made his name infamous among the +ancients is that his brain was turned by his elevation to a dignity for +which he was not trained or disciplined--that unbounded power, united with +the most extravagant abandonment to sensual pleasures, undermined his +intellect. His caprices and extravagance can only be explained by partial +madness. He had reigned but four years, and all expectations of good +government were dispelled. The majesty of the empire was insulted, and +assassination, the only way by which he could be removed, freed the world +from a madman, if not a monster. + +There was great confusion after the assassination of Caius Caesar, and +ill-concerted efforts to recover a freedom which had fled forever, ending, +as was to be expected, by military power. The consuls convened the Senate +for deliberation (for the forms of the republic were still kept up), but +no settled principles prevailed. Various forms of government were proposed +and rejected. While the Senate deliberated, the praetorian guards acted. + +(M1068) Among the inmates of the palace, in that hour of fear, among +slaves and freed men, half hidden behind a curtain in an obscure corner, +was a timid old man, who was dragged forth with brutal violence. He was no +less a personage than Claudius, the neglected uncle of the emperor, the +son of Drusus and Antonia, and nephew of Tiberius, and brother of +Germanicus. Instead of slaying the old man, the soldiers, respecting the +family of Caesar, hailed him, partly in jest, as imperator, and carried him +to their camp. Claudius, heretofore thought to be imbecile, and therefore +despised, was not unwilling to accept the dignity, and promised the +praetorians, if they would swear allegiance to him, a donation of fifteen +thousand sesterces apiece. The Senate, at the dictation of the praetorians, +accepted Claudius as emperor. + +(M1069) He commenced his reign, A.D. 41, by proclaiming a general amnesty. +He restored confiscated estates, recalled the wretched sisters of Caius, +sent back to Greece and Asia the plundered statues of temples which Caius +had transported to Rome, and inaugurated a _regime_ of moderation and +justice. His life had been one of sickness, neglect, and obscurity, but he +was suffered to live because he was harmless. His mother was ashamed of +him, and his grandmother, Livia, despised him, and his sister, Livilla, +ridiculed him. He was withheld from public life, and he devoted himself to +literary pursuits, and even wrote a history of Roman affairs from the +battle of Actium, but it gained him no consideration. Tiberius treated him +with contumely, and his friends deserted him. All this neglect and +contempt were the effects of a weak constitution, a paralytic gait, and an +imperfect utterance. + +(M1070) Claudius took Augustus as his model, and at once a great change in +the administration was observable. There was a renewed activity of the +armies on the frontiers, and great generals arose who were destined to be +future emperors. The colonies were strengthened and protected, and foreign +affairs were conducted with ability. Herod Agrippa, the favorite of Caius, +was confirmed in his government of Galilee, and received in addition the +dominions of Samaria and Judaea. Antiochus was restored to the throne of +Commagene, and Mithridates received a district of Cilicia. The members of +the Senate were made responsible for the discharge of their magistracies, +and vacancies to this still august body were filled up from the wealthy +and powerful families. He opened an honorable career to the Gauls, revised +the lists of the knights, and took an accurate census of Roman citizens. +He conserved the national religion, and regulated holidays and festivals. +His industry and patience were unwearied, and the administration of +justice extorted universal admiration. His person was accessible to all +petitioners, and he relieved distress wherever he found it. He +relinquished the most grievous exactions of his predecessors, and tenderly +guarded neglected slaves. He also constructed great architectural works, +especially those of utility, completed the vast aqueduct which Caius +commenced, and provided the city with provisions. He built the port of +Ostia, to facilitate commerce, and drained marshes and lakes. The draining +of the Lake Fucinus occupied thirty thousand men for eleven years. While +he executed vast engineering works to supply the city with water, he also +amused the people with gladiatorial shows. In all things he showed the +force of the old Roman character, in spite of bodily feebleness. + +(M1071) The most memorable act of his administration was the conquest of +South Britain. By birth a Gaul, being born at Lugdunum, he cast his eyes +across the British channel and resolved to secure the island beyond as the +extreme frontier of his dominions, then under the dominion of the Druids--a +body of Celtic priests whom the Romans ever detested, and whose rites all +preceding emperors had proscribed. Julius Caesar had pretended to impose a +tribute on the chiefs of Southern Britain, but it was never exacted. Both +Augustus and Tiberius felt but little interest in the political affairs of +that distant island, but the rapid progress of civilization in Gaul, and +the growing cities on the banks of the Rhine, elicited a spirit of +friendly intercourse. Londinium, a city which escaped the notice of Caesar, +was a great emporium of trade in the time of Claudius. But the southern +chieftains were hostile, and jealous of their independence. So Claudius +sent four legions to Britain, under Plautius, and his lieutenant, +Vespasianus, to oppose the forces under Caractacus. He even entered +Britain in person, and subdued the Trinobantes. But for nine years +Caractacus maintained an independent position. He was finally overthrown +in battle, and betrayed to the Romans, and exhibited at Rome. The +insurrection was suppressed, or rather, a foothold was secured in the +island, which continued henceforth under the Roman rule. + +(M1072) The feeble old man, always nursed by women, had the misfortune to +marry, for his third wife, the most infamous woman in Roman annals +(Valeria Messalina), under whose influence the reign, at first beneficent, +became disgraceful. Claudius was entirely ruled by her. She amassed +fortunes, sold offices, confiscated estates, and indulged in guilty loves. +She ruled like a Madame de Pompadour, and degraded the throne which she +ought to have exalted. The influence of women generally was bad in those +corrupt times, but her influence was scandalous and degrading. + +Claudius also was governed by his favorites, generally men of low +birth--freedmen who usurped the place of statesmen. Narcissus and Pallus +were the most confidential of the emperor's advisers, who, in consequence, +became enormously rich, for favors flowed through them, and received the +great offices of State. The court became a scene of cabals and crimes, +disgraced by the wanton shamelessness of the empress and the venality of +courtiers. Appius Silanus, one of the best and greatest of the nobles, was +murdered through the intrigues of Messalina, to whose progress in +wickedness history furnishes no parallel, and Valerius Asiaticus, another +great noble, also suffered the penalty of offending her, and was +destroyed; and his magnificent gardens, which she coveted, were bestowed +upon her. + +(M1073) But Messalina was rivaled in iniquity by another princess, between +whom and herself there existed the deadliest animosity. Thus was +Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus, who had been married to Cn. +Domitius Ahenobardus, grandson of Octavia, and whose issue was the future +emperor Nero. The niece of Claudius occupied the second place in the +imperial household, and it became her aim to poison the mind of her uncle +against the woman she detested, and who returned her hatred. She now +leagued with the freedmen of the palace to destroy her rival. An +opportunity to gratify her vengeance soon occurred. Messalina, according +to Tacitus, was guilty of the inconceivable madness of marrying Silanus, +one of her paramours, while her husband lived, and that husband an +emperor, which story can not be believed without also supposing that +Claudius was a perfect idiot. Such a defiance of law, of religion, and of +the feelings of mankind, to say nothing of its folly, is not to be +supposed. Yet such was the scandal, and it filled the imperial household +with consternation. Callistus, Pallas, and Narcissus--the favorites who +ruled Claudius--united with Agrippina to secure her ruin. The emperor, then +absent in Ostia, was informed of the shamelessness of his wife. It was +difficult for him to believe such a fact, but it was attested by the +trusted members of his household. His fears were excited, as well as his +indignation, and he hastened to Rome for vengeance and punishment. +Messalina had retired to her magnificent gardens on the Pineian, which had +once belonged to Lucullus, the price of the blood of the murdered +Asiaticus; but, on the approach of the emperor, of which she was informed, +she advanced boldly to confront him, with every appearance of misery and +distress, with her children Britannicus and Octavia. Claudius vacillated, +and Messalina retired to her gardens, hoping to convince her husband of +her innocence on the interview which he promised the following day. But +Narcissus, knowing her influence, caused her to be assassinated, and the +emperor drowned his grief, or affection, or anger, in wine and music, and +seemingly forgot her. That Messalina was a wicked and abandoned woman is +most probable; that she was as bad as history represents her, may be +doubted, especially when we remember she was calumniated by a rival, who +succeeded in taking her place as wife. It is easier to believe she was the +victim of Agrippina and the freedmen, who feared as well as hated her, +than to accept the authority of Tacitus and Juvenal. On the death of +Messalina, Agrippina married her uncle, and the Senate sanctioned the +union, which was incest by the Roman laws. + +(M1074) The fourth wife of the emperor transcended the third in intrigue +and ambition, and her marriage, at the age of thirty-three, was soon +followed by the betrothal of her son, L. Domitius, a boy of twelve, with +Octavia, the daughter of Claudius and Messalina. He was adopted by the +emperor, and assumed the name of Nero. Henceforth she labored for the +advancement of her son only. She courted the army and the favor of the +people, and founded the city on the Rhine which we call Cologne. But she +outraged the notions and sentiments of the people more by her unfeminine +usurpation of public honors, than by her cruelty or her dissoluteness. She +seated herself by the side of the emperor in military festivals. She sat +by him at a sea-fight on the Lucrine Lake, clothed in a soldier's cloak. +She took her station in front of the Roman standard, when Caractacus, the +conquered British chief, was brought in chains to the emperor's tribunal. +She caused the dismissal of the imperial officers who incurred her +displeasure. She exercised a paramount sway over her husband, and +virtually ruled the empire. She distracted the palace with discords, +cabals, and jealousies. + +How the bad influence of these women over the mind of Claudius can be +reconciled with the vigilance, and the labors, and the beneficent measures +of the emperor, as generally admitted, history does not narrate. But it +was during the ascendency of both Messalina and Agrippina, that Claudius +presided at the tribunals of justice with zeal and intelligence, that he +interested himself in works of great public utility, and that he carried +on successful war in Britain. + +(M1075) In the year A.D. 54, and in the fourteenth of his reign, Claudius, +exhausted by the affairs of State, and also, it is said, by intemperance, +fell sick at Rome, and sought the medicinal waters of Sinuessa. It was +there that Agrippina contrived to poison him, by the aid of Locusta, a +professed poisoner, and Xenophon, a physician, while she affected an +excess of grief. She held his son Britannicus in her arms, and detained +him and his sisters in the palace, while every preparation was made to +secure the accession of her own son, Nero. She was probably prompted to +this act from fear that she would be supplanted and punished, for Claudius +had said, when wine had unloosed his secret thoughts, "that it was his +fate to suffer the crimes of his wives, but at last to punish them." She +also was eager to elevate her own son to the throne, which, of right, +belonged to Britannicus, and whose rights might have been subsequently +acknowledged by the emperor, for his eyes could not be much longer blinded +to the character of his wife. + +(M1076) Claudius must not be classed with either wicked or imbecile +princes, in spite of his bodily infirmities, or the slanders with which +his name is associated. It is probable he indulged to excess in the +pleasures of the table, like the generality of Roman nobles, but we are to +remember that he ever sought to imitate Augustus in his wisest measures; +that he ever respected letters when literature was falling into contempt; +that his administration was vigorous and successful, fertile in victories +and generals; that he exceeded all his ministers in assiduous labors, and +that he partially restored the dignity and authority of the Senate. His +great weakness was in being ruled by favorites and women; but his +favorites were men of ability, and his women were his wives. + +(M1077) Nero, the son of Agrippina and Cn. Domitius Ahenobardus, by the +assistance of the praetorian guards, was now proclaimed imperator, A.D. 54, +directly descended, both on his paternal and maternal side, from Antonia +Major, the granddaughter of Antony and Domitius Ahenobardus. Through +Octavia, his grandmother, he traced his descent from the family of Caesar. +The Domitii--the paternal ancestors of Nero--had been illustrious for +several hundred years, and no one was more distinguished than Lucius +Domitius, called Ahenobardus, or Red-Beard, in the early days of the +republic. The father of Nero, who married Agrippina, was as infamous for +crimes as he was exalted for rank. But he died when his son Nero was three +years of age. He was left to the care of his father's sister, Domitia +Lepida, the mother of Messalina, and was by her neglected. His first +tutors were a dancer and a barber. On the return of his mother from exile +his education was more in accordance with his rank, as a prince of the +blood, though not in the line of succession. He was docile and +affectionate as a child, and was intrusted to the care of Seneca, by whom +he was taught rhetoric and moral philosophy, and who connived at his taste +for singing, piping, and dancing, the only accomplishments of which, as +emperor, he was afterward proud. He was surrounded with perils, in so +wicked an age, as were other nobles, and, by his adoption, was admitted a +member of the imperial family--the sacred stock of the Claudii and Julii. +He was under the influence of his mother--the woman who subverted +Messalina, and murdered Claudius,--who used every art and intrigue to +secure his accession. + +(M1078) When he mounted the throne of the Caesars, he gave promise of a +benignant reign. His first speech to the Senate made a good impression, +and his first acts were beneficent. But he ruled only through his mother, +who aspired to play the empress, a woman who gave answers to ambassadors, +and sent dispatches to foreign courts. Burrhus, the prefect of the +imperial guard, and Seneca, tutor and minister, through whose aid the +claims of Nero had been preferred over those of Britannicus, the son of +the late emperor, opposed her usurpations, and attempted to counteract her +influence. + +(M1079) The early promises of Nero were not fulfilled. He soon gave vent +to every vice, which was disguised by his ministers. One of the first acts +was to disgrace the freedman, Pallas,--the prime minister of Claudius,--and +to destroy Britannicus by poison, which crimes were palliated, if not +suggested, by Seneca. + +(M1080) The influence which Seneca and Burrhus had over the young emperor, +who screened his vices from the eyes of the people and Senate, necessarily +led to a division between Nero and Agrippina. He withdrew her guard of +honor, and paid her only formal visits, which conduct led to the desertion +of her friends, and the open hostility of her enemies. The wretched woman +defended herself against the charges they brought, with spirit, and for a +time she escaped. The influence of Seneca, at this period, was paramount, +and was exerted for the good of the empire, so that the Senate acquiesced +in the public measures of Nero, and no notice was taken of his private +irregularities. The empress mother apparently yielded to the ascendency of +the ministers, and provoked no further trial of strength. + +(M1081) Thus five years passed, until Nero was twenty-two, when Poppaea +Sabina, the fairest woman of her time, appeared upon the stage. Among the +dissolute women of imperial Rome, she was pre-eminent. Introduced to the +intimacy of Nero, she aspired to still higher elevation, and this was +favored by the detestation with which Agrippina was generally viewed, and +the continued decline of her influence, since she had ruled by fear rather +than love. Poppaea was now found intriguing against her, and induced Nero +to murder his own mother, to whose arts and wickedness he owed his own +elevation. The murder was effected in her villa, on the Lucrine Lake, +under circumstances of utter brutality. Nero came to examine her mangled +body, and coolly praised the beauty of her form. Nor were her ashes even +placed in the mausoleum of Augustus. This wicked Jezebel, who had poisoned +her husband, and was accused of every crime revolting to our nature, paid +the penalty of her varied infamies, and her name has descended to all +subsequent ages as the worst woman of antiquity. + +(M1082) With the murder of Agrippina, the madness and atrocities of Nero +gained new force. He now appears as a monster, and was only tolerated for +the amusements with which he appeased the Roman people. He disgraced the +imperial dignity by descending upon the stage, which was always infamous; +he instituted demoralizing games; he was utterly insensible to national +sentiments and feelings; he exceeded all his predecessors in extravagance +and follies; he was suspected of poisoning Burrhus, by whom he was +advanced to power; he executed men of the highest rank, whose crime was +their riches; he destroyed the members of the imperial family; he murdered +Doryphorus and Pallas, because they were averse to his marriage with +Poppaea; he drove his chariot in the Circus Maximus, pleased with the +acclamations of two hundred thousand spectators; he gave banquets in which +the utmost excesses of bacchanalian debauchery were openly displayed; he +is said to have kindled the conflagration of his own capital; he levied +oppressive taxes to build his golden palace, and support his varied +extravagance; he even destroyed his tutor and minister, Seneca, that he +might be free from his expostulations, and take possession of the vast +fortune which this philosopher had accumulated in his service; and he +finally kicked his wife so savagely that she died from the violence he +inflicted. If it were possible to add to his enormities, his persecution +of the Christians swelled the measure of his infamies--the first to which +they had been subjected in Rome, and in which Paul himself was a victim. +But his government was supported by the cruelty and voluptuousness of the +age, and which has never been painted in more vivid colors than by St. +Paul himself. The corrupt morality of the age tolerated all these crimes, +and excesses, and follies--an age which saw no great writers except Seneca, +Lucan, Perseus, and Martial, two of whom were murdered by the emperor. + +(M1083) But the hour of retribution was at hand. The provinces were +discontented, and the city filled with cabals and conspiracies. Though one +of them, instigated by Piso, was unsuccessful, and its authors punished, a +revolt in Gaul, headed by Galba--an old veteran of seventy-two, and +assisted by Vindex and Virginius, was fatal to Nero. The Senate and the +praetorian guards favored the revolution. The emperor was no longer safe in +his capital. Terrified by dreams, and stung by desertion, the wretched +tyrant fled to the Servilian Gardens, and from thence to the villa of one +of his freedmen, near which he committed suicide, at the age of +thirty-six, and in the fourteenth year of his inglorious reign, during +which there are scarcely other events to chronicle than his own personal +infamies. "In him perished the last scion of the stock of the Julii, +refreshed in vain by grafts from the Octavii, the Claudii, and the +Domitii." Though the first of the emperors had married four wives, the +second three, the third two, the fourth three, the fifth six, and the +sixth three, yet Nero was the last of the Caesars. None of the five +successors of Julius were truly his natural heirs. They trace their +lineage to his sister Julia, but the three last had in their veins the +blood of Antony as well as Octavia, and thus the descendants of the +triumvir reigned at Rome as well as those of his rival Octavius. We have +only to remark that it is strange that the Julian line should have been +extinguished in the sixth generation, with so many marriages. + + + + + CHAPTER XLIV. + + +THE CLIMAX OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. + + +On the extinction of the Julian line, a new class of emperors succeeded, +by whom the prosperity of the empire was greatly advanced. We have now to +fall back on Niebuhr, Gibbon, and the Roman historians, and also make more +use of Smith's digest of these authors. But so much ground still remains +to go over, that we can only allude to salient points, and our notice of +succeeding emperors must be brief. + +(M1084) The empire was now to be the prize of successful soldiers, and +Galba, at the age of seventy-three, was saluted imperator by the legions +before the death of Nero, A.D. 68, and acknowledged by the Senate soon +after. There is nothing memorable in his short reign of a few months, and +he was succeeded by Otho, who only reigned three months, and he was +succeeded by Vitellius, who was removed by violent death, like Galba and +Otho. These three emperors left no mark, and were gluttons and +sensualists, who excited nothing but contempt; soldiers of fortune--only +respectable in inferior rank. + +(M1085) On the first of July, A.D. 69, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, of +humble family, arose, as general, to the highest honors of the State, and +was first proclaimed emperor at Alexandria, at the close of the Jewish +war, which he conducted to a successful issue. A brief contest with +Vitellius secured his recognition by the Senate, and the first of the +Flavian line began to reign--a man of great talents and virtues. On the +fall of Jerusalem, his son Titus returned to Rome, and celebrated a joint +triumph with his father, and the gates of the temple of Janus were +shut,--the first time since Augustus,--and universal peace was proclaimed. + +(M1086) One of the first acts of the new emperor was to purify the Senate, +reduced to two hundred members, soon followed by the restoration of the +finances. He rebuilt the capitol, erected the temple of Peace, the new +forum, the baths of Titus, and the Coliseum. He extended a generous +patronage to letters, and under his reign Quintilian, the great +rhetorician, and Pliny, the naturalist, flourished. It was in the ninth +year of his reign that an eruption of Vesuvius occurred, when Herculaneum +and Pompeii were destroyed, to witness which Pliny lost his life. +Vespasian had associated with himself his son Titus in the government, and +died, after a reign of ten years, exhausted by the cares of empire; and +Titus quietly succeeded him, but reigned only for two years and a quarter, +and was succeeded by his brother, Domitian, a man of some ability, but +cruel, like Nero. He was ten years younger than Titus, and was thirty +years of age when proclaimed emperor by the praetorians, and accepted by +the Senate, A.D. 81. At first he was a reformer, but soon was stained by +the most odious vices. He continued the vast architectural works of his +father and brother, and patronized learning. + +(M1087) It was during the reign of Domitian that Britain was finally +conquered by Agricola, who was recalled by the jealousy of the emperor, +after a series of successes which gave him immortality. The reduction of +this island did not seriously commence until the reign of Claudius. By +Nero, Suetonius Paulinus was sent to Britain, and under him Agricola took +his first lessons of soldiership. Under Vespasian he commanded the +twentieth legion in Britain, and was the twelfth Roman general sent to the +island. On his return to Rome he was made consul, and Britain was assigned +to him as his province, where he remained seven years, until he had +extended his conquests to the Grampian Hills. He taught the Britons the +arts and luxuries of civilized life, to settle in towns, and to build +houses and temples. Among the foes he encountered, the most celebrated was +Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, on the eastern coast, who led the incredible +number of two hundred and forty thousand against the Roman legions, but +was defeated, with the loss of eighty thousand,--some atonement for the +seventy thousand Romans, and their allies, who had been slain at +Londinium, when Suetonius Paulinus commanded. + +(M1088) The year of Agricola's recall, A.D. 84, forms the epoch of the +undisguised tyranny which Domitian subsequently exercised. The reign of +informers and proscriptions recommenced, and many illustrious men were +executed for insufficient reasons. The Christians were persecuted, and the +philosophers were banished, and yet he received the most fulsome flattery +from the poet Martial. The tyrant lived in seclusion, in his Alban villa, +and was finally assassinated, after a reign of fifteen years, A.D. 96. + +(M1089) On his death a new era of prosperity and glory was inaugurated, by +the election of Nerva, and for five successive reigns the Roman world was +governed with virtue and ability. It is the golden era of Roman history, +praised by Gibbon and admired by all historians, during which the eyes of +contemporaries saw nothing but to panegyrize. + +(M1090) Marcus Cocceius Nerva was the great-grandson of a minister of +Octavius, and was born in Umbria. He was consul with Vespasian, A.D. 71, +and with Domitian, in A.D. 90, and was far advanced in life when chosen by +the Senate. The public events of his short but beneficent reign are +unimportant. He relieved poverty, diminished the expenses of the State, +and set, in his own life, an example of republican simplicity. But he did +not reign long enough to have his character tested. He died in sixteen +months after his elevation to the purple. His chief work was to create a +title for his successor, for he assumed the right of adoption, and made +choice of Trajan, without regard to his own kin, then at the head of the +armies of Germany. + +(M1091) The new emperor, one of the most illustrious that ever reigned at +Rome, was born in Spain, A.D. 52, and had spent his life in the camp. He +had a tall and commanding form, was social and genial in his habits, and +inspired universal respect. No better choice could have been made. He +entered his capital without pomp, unattended by guards, distinguished only +for the dignity of his bearing, allowing free access to his person, and +paying vows to the gods of his country. His wife, Plotina, bore herself as +the spouse of a simple senator, and his sister, Marciana, exhibited a +demeanor equally commendable. + +(M1092) The great external event of his reign was the war against the +Dacians, and their country was the last which the Romans subdued in +Europe. They belonged to the Thracian group of nations, and were identical +with the Getae. They inhabited the country which was bordered on the south +by the Danube and Moesia. They were engaged in frequent wars with the +Romans, and obtained a decided advantage, in the reign of Domitian, under +their king Decebalus. The honor of the empire was so far tarnished as to +pay a tribute to Dacia, but Trajan resolved to wipe away the disgrace, and +headed himself an expedition into this distant country, A.D. 101, with +eighty thousand veterans, subdued Decebalus, and added Dacia to the +provinces of the empire. He built a bridge over the Danube, on solid stone +piers, about two hundred and twenty miles below the modern Belgrade, which +was a remarkable architectural work, four thousand five hundred and +seventy feet in length. Enough treasures were secured by the conquest of +Dacia to defray the expenses of the war, and of the celebrated triumph +which commemorated his victories. At the games instituted in honor of this +conquest, eleven thousand beasts were slain, and ten thousand gladiators +fought in the Flavian Amphitheatre. The column on which his victories were +represented still remains to perpetuate his magnificence, with its two +thousand five hundred figures in bas-relief, winding in a spiral band +around it from the base to the summit--one of the most interesting relics +of antiquity. Near this column were erected the Forum Trajanum, and the +Basilica Ulpia, the former one thousand one hundred feet long, and the +basilica connected with it, surrounded with colonnades, and filled with +colossal statues. This enormous structure covered more ground than the +Flavian Amphitheatre, and was built by the celebrated Apollodorus, of +Damascus. It filled the whole space between the Capitoline and the +Quirinal. The double colonnade which surrounded it was one of the most +beautiful works of art in the world. + +On the conquest of Dacia, Trajan devoted himself to the internal +administration of his vast empire. He maintained the dignity of the +Senate, and allowed the laws to take their course. He was untiring in his +efforts to provide for the material wants of his subjects, and in +developing the resources of the empire, nor did he rule by oppressive +exactions. + +(M1093) After seven years of wise administration, he again was called into +the field to extend the eastern frontier of the empire. His efforts were +directed against Armenia and Parthia. He reduced the former to a Roman +province, and advanced into those Caucasian regions where no Roman +imperator had preceded him, except Pompey, receiving the submission of +Iberians and Albanians. To overthrow Parthia was now his object, and he +advanced across the Tigris to Ctesiphon. In the Parthian capital he was +saluted as imperator; but, oppressed with gloom and enfeebled by sickness, +he did not presume to reach, as he had aspired, the limits of the +Macedonian conquest. He was too old for such work. He returned to Antioch, +sickened, and died in Cilicia, August, A.D. 117, after a prosperous and +even glorious reign of nineteen and a half years. But he had the +satisfaction of having raised the empire to a state of unparalleled +prosperity, and of having extended its limits on the east and on the west +to the farthest point it ever reached. + +(M1094) Publius AElius Hadrian succeeded this great emperor, and was born +in Rome A.D. 76, and was a son of the first cousin of Trajan. He made +extraordinary attainments as a youth, and served honorably in the armies +of his country, especially during the Dacian wars. At twenty-five he was +quaestor, at thirty-one he was praetor, and in the following year was made +consul, for the forms of the old republic were maintained under the +emperors. He was adopted by Trajan, and left at the head of the army at +Antioch at the age of forty-two, when Trajan died on his way to Rome. He +was at once proclaimed emperor by the army, and its choice was confirmed +by the Senate. + +(M1095) He entered upon his reign with matured knowledge and experience, +and sought the development of the empire rather than its extension beyond +the Euphrates. He therefore withdrew his armies from Armenia, Mesopotamia, +and Parthia, and returned to Rome to celebrate, in Trajan's name, a +magnificent triumph, and by employing the spoils of war in largesses and +remission of taxes. Averse to the extension of the empire, he still aimed +to secure its limits from hostile inroads, and was thus led to repel +invasions in Dacia and Britain. He marched at the head of his legions, +bareheaded and on foot, as far as Moesia, and in another campaign through +Gaul to the Rhine, and then crossed over to Britain, and secured the +northern frontier, by a wall sixty-eight and a half miles in length, +against the Caledonians. He then returned to Gaul, passed through Spain, +crossed the straits to Mauritania, threatened by the Moors, restored +tranquillity, and then advanced to the frontiers of Parthia. He then +returned through Asia Minor, and across the AEgean to Athens, and commenced +the splendid works with which he adorned the intellectual capital of the +empire. Before returning to Rome, he visited Carthage and Sicily. + +(M1096) Five years later, he made a second progress through the empire, +which lasted ten years, with some intervals, spent in his capital, +residing chiefly at Athens, constructing great architectural works, and +holding converse with philosophers and scholars. During this period he +visited Alexandria, whose schools were rivaled only by those of Athens, +studying the fantastic philosophy of the Gnostics, and probably examining +the Christian system. He ascended the Nile as far as Thebes, and then +repaired to Antioch, and returned to Rome through Asia Minor. In his +progress, he not merely informed himself of the condition of the empire, +but corrected abuses, and made the Roman rule tolerable. + +(M1097) His remaining years were spent at Rome, diligently administrating +the affairs of his vast government, founding libraries and schools, and +decorating his capital with magnificent structures. His temple of Venus at +Rome was the largest ever erected in the city, and his mausoleum, stripped +of its ornaments, now forms the Castle of St. Angelo. Next to the +Coliseum, it was the grandest architectural monument in Rome. He also +built a villa at Tivoli, whose remains are among the most interesting +which seventeen centuries have preserved. + +This good emperor made a noble choice for his successor, Titus Aurelius +Antonius, and soon after died childless, A.D. 138, after a peaceful reign +of twenty-one years, in which, says Merivale, "he reconciled, with eminent +success, things hitherto found irreconcilable: a contented army and a +peaceful frontier; an abundant treasury with lavish expenditure; a free +Senate and stable monarchy; and all this without the lustre of a great +military reputation, the foil of an odious predecessor, or disgust at +recent civil commotions. He recognized, in theory, both conquerors and +conquered as one people, and greeted in person every race among his +subjects." He had personal defects of character, but his reign is one of +the best of the imperial series, and marked the crowning age of Roman +civilization. + +(M1098) Antonius Pius, his successor, had less ability, but a still more +faultless character. He sprung from the ranks of the nobility; was consul +in the third year of Hadrian, and was prefect of Asia until his adoption, +when he took up his residence in Rome, and never left its neighborhood +during the remainder of his life. His peaceful reign is barren of external +events, but fruitful in the peace and security of his subjects, and the +only drawback in his happiness was the licentious character of his wife, +who bore him two sons and two daughters. The sons died before his +elevation, but one of his daughters married M. Annius Verus, whom he +adopted as his successor, and associated with him in the government of the +empire. He died after a reign of twenty-three years, and was buried in the +mausoleum of Hadrian, which he completed. His character is thus drawn by +his son-in-law and successor, Marcus Aurelius: "In my father, I noticed +mildness of manner with firmness of resolution, contempt of vainglory, +industry in business, and accessibility of person. He knew how to relax, +as well as when to labor. From him I learned to acquiesce in every +fortune, to exercise foresight in public affairs, to rise superior to +vulgar praises, to worship the gods without superstition, to serve mankind +without ambition, to be sober and steadfast, to be content with little, to +be no sophist or dreaming bookworm, to be practical and active, to be neat +and cheerful, to be temperate, modest in dress, and indifferent to the +beauty of slaves and furniture, not to be led away by novelties, yet to +render honor to true philosophers." What a picture of a heathen emperor, +drawn by a pagan philosopher!--the single purpose of ruling for the +happiness of their subjects, and realizing the idea of a paternal +government, and this in one of the most corrupt periods of Roman society. + +(M1099) Marcus Aurelius, like Trajan and Hadrian, derived his origin from +Spain, but was born in Italy. His features are the most conspicuously +preserved in the repositories of ancient art, as his name is the most +honorably enshrined on the pages of history--the noblest and most august +type of the ancient rulers of the world, far transcending any Jewish king +in the severity of his virtues, and the elevation of his soul. His life +was modeled on the strictest discipline of the stoical philosophy, of +which he was the brightest ornament. He was nearly forty years of age on +the death of his father-in-law, although for twenty-three years he had sat +side by side with him on the tribunals of the State. His reign, therefore, +was virtually a long one, and he was devoted to all the duties which his +station imposed. He was great as ruler, as he was profound as a +philosopher. + +(M1100) It was under his illustrious reign that the barbarians formed a +general union for the invasion of the Roman world, and struck the first of +those fatal blows under which the empire finally succumbed. We have but +little information of the long contest with Germans, Sarmatians, +Marcomanni, Quadi, and Alani, on the banks of the Danube, who were pressed +forward by the Scythian tribes. They were repelled, indeed, but they soon +after advanced, with renovated forces, when the empire was weakened by the +miserable emperors who succeeded Aurelius. And although this great prince +commemorated his victory over the barbarians by a column similar to that +of Trajan, still they were far from being subdued, and a disgraceful +peace, which followed his death, shows that they were exceedingly +formidable. He died at Sirmium, or Vindobona (Vienna), exhausted by +incessant wars and the cares of State, A.D. 180, in the fifty-ninth year +of his age, and twentieth of his reign. The concurrent testimony of +historians represents this emperor as the loftiest character that ever +wielded a sceptre among the nations of antiquity, although we can not +forget that he was a persecutor of the Christians. + +(M1101) His son, Commodus, succeeded him, and the thirteen years of his +inglorious reign are summed up in conflicts with the Moors, Dacians, and +Germans. Skillful generals, by their successes, warded off the attacks of +barbarians, but the character and rule of the emperor resembled that of +Nero and Domitian. He was weak, cruel, pleasure-seeking, and dissolute. +His time was divided between private vices and disgraceful public +exhibitions. He fought as a gladiator more than seven hundred times, and +against antagonists whose only weapons were tin and lead. He also laid +claim to divinity, and was addicted to debasing superstitions. He +destroyed the old ministers of his father, and decimated the Senate. All +who excited his jealousy, or his covetousness, were put out of the way. He +was poisoned by his favorite mistress, Marcia, and the Senate set the +brand of infamy on his name. Thus perished the last of the line of the +Antonines, even as the Julian line was ended by the assassination of Nero, +and the Flavian by that of Domitian, and the empire became once again the +prize of the soldier, A. D. 192. + + + + + CHAPTER XLV. + + +THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. + + +(M1102) Able or virtuous princes had now ruled the Roman world, with a few +exceptions, from Julius Caesar to Commodus, a period of more than two +hundred years. Among these were some odious tyrants, or madmen, who were +removed by assassination. But some of these very tyrants governed with +ability, and such was the general prosperity, such the wonderful mechanism +of government for which the Romans had a genius, that the general +condition of the world was better than at any preceding period. All that +government could do to preserve and extend civilization was done, on the +whole. Despotism was not signally oppressive, and the _regime_ of +Augustus, of Vespasian, and Hadrian was generally maintained. The Roman +governors, appointed by the emperors, ruled more wisely and beneficently +than in the time of the republic. Peace, security, and law reigned, and, +in consequence, the population increased, civilization advanced, and +wealth was accumulated. The whole empire rejoiced in populous cities, in +works of art, in literary culture, and in genial manners. Society was +pagan, but attractive, and Rome herself was the resort of travelers, the +centre of fashion and glory, the joy and the pride of the whole earth. +There were no destructive wars, except on the frontiers; all classes were +secure, the face of nature was cultivated and beautiful, and poets sung +the praises of civilization such as never existed but in isolated cities +and countries. + +(M1103) But now we observe the commencement of a great and melancholy +change. Prosperity had led to vice, false security, and pride. All classes +had become corrupt. Disproportionate fortunes, slavery, and luxury +undermined the moral health, and destroyed not only elevation of sentiment +but martial virtues. Literature declined in spirit and taste, and was +directed to frivolous subjects. Christianity had not become a power +sufficiently strong to change or modify the corrupt institutions +controlled by the powerful classes. The expensive luxury of the nobles was +almost incredible. The most distant provinces were ransacked for game, +fish, and fowl for the tables of the great. Usury was practiced at a +ruinous rate. Every thing was measured by the money standard. Art was +prostituted to please degraded tastes. There was no dignity of character; +women were degraded; only passing vanities made any impression on +egotistical classes; games and festivals were multiplied; gladiatorial +sports outraged humanity; the descendants of the proudest families prided +themselves chiefly on their puerile frivolities; the worst rites of +paganism were practiced; slaves performed the most important functions; +the circus and the theatre were engrossing pleasures; the baths were the +resort of the idle and the luxurious, who almost lived in them, and were +scenes of disgraceful orgies; great extravagance in dress and ornaments +was universal; the pleasures of the table degenerated to riotous excesses; +cooks, buffoons, and dancers received more consideration than scholars and +philosophers; everybody worshiped the shrine of mammon; all science was +directed to utilities that demoralized; sensualism reigned triumphant, and +the people lived as if there were no God. + +(M1104) Such a state must prepare the way for violence, and when external +dangers came there were not sufficient virtues to meet them. But the +decline was gradual, and dangers were still at a distance. Both nature and +art were the objects of perpetual panegyric, and the worldly and sensual +Romans dreamed only of a millennium of protracted joys. + +The last experiment of a constitutional empire was succeeded by +undisguised military despotism, and no one now desired or expected the +restoration of the republic. The Senate was servile and submissive, the +people had no voice in public affairs, and the prefects of the imperial +guard were the recognized lieutenants and often masters of the emperors. + +(M1105) Pertinax succeeded to the sceptre of Commodus, a wise and good +man, and great hopes were entertained of a beneficent reign, when they +were suddenly blasted by a sedition of the praetorians, only eighty-six +days after the death of Commodus, and these guards publicly sold the +empire to Didius Julianus, a wealthy senator, at the price of one thousand +dollars to each soldier. Such a bargain disgusted the capital, and raised +the legions in the provinces to revolt. Each of the three principal armies +set up their own candidate, but L. Septimius Severus, who commanded in +Illyricum, was the fortunate one, and was confirmed by the Senate. Didius +Julianus was murdered after a brief reign of sixty-six days, and the +praetorians who had created the scandal were disbanded. + +The reign of this general was able and fortunate, although he was cruel +and superstitious. His vigor prevented the separation of the empire for a +century; but he had powerful rivals in Clodius Albinus, in Britain, and +Pescennius Niger, in Syria, both of whom he subdued. At Lyons it is said +that one hundred and fifty thousand Romans fought on both sides, when +Albinus was killed. The full of Niger at the Hellespont insured the +submission of the East, and the victorious emperor penetrated as far as +Ctesiphon, and received the submission of Mesopotamia and Arabia. The +triumphal arch erected by him celebrated those military successes. + +(M1106) Having bestowed peace, and restored the dignity of the empire, +this martial prince established an undisguised military despotism, and +threw aside all deference to the Senate. He created a new guard of +praetorian soldiers four times as numerous as the old, which were recruited +from the ranks of the barbarians, who thus began to overawe the capital. +The commander of this great force was no less a man than the celebrated +jurist, Papianus, and he was the prime minister of the emperor. It was +during his reign that a violent persecution of the Christians took place, +A.D. 200, which called out the famous apology of Tertullian. Severus died +in Britain, to which he was summoned by an irruption of Caledonians, A.D. +211, having reigned nineteen years, and with a vigor worthy of Trajan. + +(M1107) He left two sons, who are best known by the names of Caracalla and +Geta, and both of whom, in their father's lifetime, had been raised to the +dignity of Augustus. The oldest son succeeded to the empire, and the year +after his elevation murdered his brother in his mother's arms. He also +executed Papinian, the praetorian prefect, because he refused to justify +the fratricide, together with twenty thousand persons who were the friends +of Geta. After this wholesale murder he left his capital, and never +returned to it, spending his time in different provinces, which were +alternately the scene of his cruelty and rapine, a victim of the foulest +superstitions of the East, and arrogant and vainglorious as he was savage. +His tyranny became unendurable, and he was murdered by an agent of the +praetorian prefect, A.D. 217, Opilius Macrinus, who became the next +emperor. + +(M1108) Macrinus was only elevated to the purple by promising rich +donations to the soldiers, for his rank was only that of a knight. He +undertook to restore discipline in the army, and the licentious soldiery +found a new candidate for the empire in the person of Avitus, of the +family of Severus, a beautiful boy of seventeen, who officiated as priest +of the sun in Syria, and whose name in history, from the god he served, is +called Elagabalus, or Heliogabalus. But Macrinus was at the head of a +formidable force, and fought his rival with bravery, but without success. +The battle was decided against him, and he was overtaken in flight and put +to death, A.D. 218. + +(M1109) With Elagabalus is associated the most repulsive and loathsome +reign of all the emperors. He was guilty of the most shameless +obscenities, and the most degrading superstitions. He painted and dressed +himself like an Oriental prince; he banqueted in halls hung with cloth of +gold, and enriched with jewels; he slept on mattresses stuffed with down +found only under the wings of partridges; he dined from tables of pure +gold; he danced in public, arrayed in the garb of a Syrian priest; and he +collected in his capital all the forms of idolatry and all the hideous +abominations which even Grecian paganism despised. This wretch, who +insulted every consecrated sentiment, was murdered after a reign of little +more than three years, A.D. 222, and his body was thrown into the Tiber, +and his memory branded with infamy by the Senate. + +(M1110) The praetorians, who now controlled the State, offered the purple +to his cousin, Alexander Severus, grand-nephew of Septimius Severus, an +emperor who adorned those degenerate times, and who resembled the great +Aurelius in the severity of his virtues. His prime minister--the prefect of +the praetorian guards--was the celebrated Ulpian, the greatest of Roman +jurists, and next to him in dignity and power was the historian, Dion +Cassius, consul, governor in Africa, and legate in Dalmatia. + +(M1111) The great labors of Alexander Severus were to quell the mutinous +spirit of the praetorian guards, who reveled in the spoil of the empire; to +subdue the Persians; and to repel barbarian inroads on the western +frontiers. It was while he was in Thrace that a young barbarian of +gigantic stature solicited permission to contend for the prize of +wrestling. Sixteen of the stoutest Roman soldiers he successively +overthrew, and he was permitted to enlist among the troops. The next day +he attracted the notice of the emperor, and again contended successfully +with seven of the Roman champions, and received, at the hand of the +emperor, a gold collar and a place in the body-guard. He rose, step by +step, till appointed to discipline the recruits of the army of the Rhine. +He became the favorite of the army, and was saluted as imperator. Severus +fled to his tent, and was assassinated, A.D. 235. + +(M1112) The savage, Maximin, who now governed the empire, ruled like a +barbarian, as he was, disdaining all culture, and hostile to all +refinements. Confiscations, exile, or death awaited the few illustrious +men who adorned the age. Only brute force was recognized as a claim to +imperial favor. The sole object of Maximin was to secure the favor of the +soldiers, barbarians like himself, whom he propitiated with exorbitant +donations, extorted by fines and confiscations, and derived from the sack +of temples. He lived in the camp, and knew nothing of the cities he ruled. + +(M1113) Such outrages of course provoked rebellion, and M. Antonius +Gordianus, the proconsul of Africa, a descendant of the Gracchi and of +Trajan, distinguished for wealth and culture, was proclaimed emperor, at +the age of eighty, who associated with him, in the government, his son. +The Senate confirmed the Gordians, who fixed their court at Carthage, but +Maximin suppressed the insurrection, and proceeded to Rome to satisfy his +vengeance. The Senate, in despair, conferred the purple on two members of +their own body, Maximus, an able soldier, and Balbinus, a poet and orator. +The praetorians supported their claims, and Maximin was assassinated in his +tent, A.D. 238. But the new emperors had scarcely given promise of a wise +administration, before they in turn were assassinated by the praetorians, +and Gordian, a grandson of the first of that name, was elevated to the +imperial dignity. He, again, was soon murdered in a mutiny of the +soldiers, who elected Philip as his successor, A.D. 244. This emperor, +whose reign was marked by the celebration of the secular games with +unwonted magnificence, to commemorate the one thousand years since Rome +was founded, was put to death by the praetorian guards the following year, +and the dignity of Augustus was conferred on Decius. + +(M1114) His reign is memorable for a savage persecution of the Christians, +and the victories of the Goths, who, in the preceding reign, had +penetrated to Dacia, and conquered Moesia. The next twenty years were +mournful and disgraceful. The emperor marched against these barbarians in +person, but was defeated by them in Thrace, and lost his life at a place +called Abrutum, A.D. 251. The Goths continued their ravages along the +coasts of the Euxine, and made themselves masters of the Crimea. They then +sailed, with a large fleet, to the northern parts of the Euxine, took +Pityus and Trapezus, attacked the wealthy cities of the Thracian +Bosphorus, conquered Chalcedon, Nicomedia, and Nice, and retreated laden +with spoil. The next year, with five hundred boats, they pursued their +destructive navigation, destroyed Cyzicus, crossed the AEgean, landed at +Athens, plundered Thebes, Argos, Corinth and Sparta, advanced to the +coasts of Epirus, and devastated the whole Illyrian peninsula. In their +ravages they destroyed the famous temple of Ephesus, and, wearied with +plunder, returned through Moesia to their own settlements beyond the +Danube. + +(M1115) During this raid, the son of Decius, Hostilianus, reigned in +conjunction with Gallus, one of the generals of Decius, but were put to +death by AEmilianus, governor of Pannonia and Moesia, who had succeeded in +gaining a victory over the new and terrible enemy. He was in turn +overthrown by Valerianus--a nobleman of great distinction, who signalized +himself by considerable military ability, and who associated with himself +in the empire his son, Gallienus, A.D. 253, whose frivolities were an +offset to the virtues of his father. Valerian was taken prisoner by Sapor, +king of Persia, and shortly after died, and the Roman world relapsed under +the sway of his son, and at a time of great calamity, memorable for the +successes of the Goths, and the direst pestilence which had ever visited +the empire. Gallienus--not without accomplishments, but utterly unfit to +govern an empire in the stormy times which witnessed the fierce irruptions +of the Goths--was slain by a conspiracy of his officers, A.D. 268. + +(M1116) The empire was now threatened by barbarians, and wasted by +pestilence, and distracted by rebellions and riots. It was on the verge of +ruin; but the ruin was averted for one hundred years by a succession of +great princes, who traced their origin to the martial province of +Illyricum. The first of these emperors was Claudius, one of the generals +of Gallienus, and was fifty-four years of age when invested with the +purple. He led the armies of the waning empire against the Alemanni, who +had invaded Italy, and drove them beyond the Alps. But a fiercer tribe of +Germanic barbarians remained to be subdued or repelled--those who had +devastated Greece--the Goths. They again appeared upon the Euxine with a +fleet, variously estimated from two thousand to six thousand vessels, +carrying three hundred and twenty thousand men. A division of this vast, +but undisciplined force, invaded Crete and Cyprus, but the main body +ravaged Macedonia, and undertook the siege of Thessalonica. Claudius +advanced to meet them, and gained at Naissus a complete victory, where +fifty thousand of the barbarians perished. A desultory war followed in +Thrace, Macedonia, and Moesia, which resulted in the destruction of the +Gothic fleet, and an immense booty in captives and cattle. + +(M1117) Claudius survived this great, but not decisive victory, but two +years, and was carried off by pestilence, at Sirmiun, A.D. 270; but not +until he had designated for his successor a still greater man--the +celebrated Aurelian, whose father had been a peasant. Every day of his +short reign was filled with wonders. He put an end to the Gothic war, +chastised the Germans who invaded Italy, recovered Gaul, Britain, and +Spain, defeated the Alemanni, who devastated the empire from the Po to the +Danube, destroyed the proud monarchy which Zenobia had built up in the +deserts of the East, took the queen captive, and carried her to Rome, +where he celebrated the most magnificent triumph which the world had seen +since the days of Pompey and Caesar. This celebrated woman, equaling +Cleopatra in beauty, and Boadicea in valor, and blending the popular +manners of the Roman princes with the stately pomp of Oriental kings, had +retired, on her defeat, to the beautiful city which Solomon had built, +shaded with palms, and ornamented with palaces. There, in that Tadmor of +the wilderness, Palmyra, the capital of her empire, which embraced a large +part of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, she had cultivated the learning of +the Greeks, and the Oriental tongues of the countries she ruled, excelling +equally in the chase and in war, the most truly accomplished woman of +antiquity,--sprung, like Cleopatra, from the Greek kings of Egypt. Among +her counselors was the celebrated Longinus--the most conspicuous ornament +of the last age of Greek classic literature, and a philosopher who taught +the wisdom of Plato. When Palmyra was taken by Aurelian, this great man, +who had stimulated Zenobia in her rebellion, was executed, without +uttering a word of complaint, together with the people of the city, with +remorseless barbarity, and the city of Solomon became an inconsiderable +Arab town. The queen, who had fled, was pursued and taken, and graced the +magnificent triumph of the martial emperor. The captive queen was made to +precede the triumphal chariot, on foot, loaded with fetters of gold, and +arrayed in the most gorgeous dress of her former empire. She was not +executed, but permitted to reside in the capital in the state of princes. + +(M1118) This great and brilliant triumph--one of the last glories of the +setting sun of Roman greatness--seemed to augur the restoration of the +empire. The emperor was sanguine, and boasted that all external danger had +passed away. But in a few months he was summoned to meet new enemies in +the East, and he was murdered by a conspiracy of his officers, probably in +revenge for the cruelties and massacres he had inflicted at Rome. In one +of his reforms a sedition arose, and was quelled inexorably by the +slaughter of seven thousand of the soldiers, besides a large number of the +leading nobles. + +(M1119) His sceptre descended to Tacitus, A.D. 275, a descendant of the +great historian: a man, says Niebuhr, "who was great in every thing that +could distinguish a senator; he possessed immense property, of which he +made a brilliant use; he was a man of unblemished character; he possessed +the knowledge of a statesman, and had, in his youth, shown great military +skill." Scarcely was he inaugurated as emperor before he marched against +the Alans, a Scythian tribe, who had ravaged Pontus, Cappadocia, Cilicia, +and Galatea. He, however, lost his life amid the hardships of his first +campaign, at the age of seventy-five, and after a brief reign of six +months. + +(M1120) The veteran general, M. Aurelius Probus, the commander of the +Eastern provinces, was proclaimed emperor by the legions, although +originally of peasant rank. He was forty-five years of age, and united the +military greatness of Aurelian with political prudence, in all respects +the best choice which could have been made, and one of the best and +greatest of all the emperors. His six years of administration were marked +by uninterrupted successes, and he won a fame equal to that of the ancient +heroes. He restored peace and order in all the provinces; he broke the +power of the Sarmatians; he secured the alliance of the Goths; he drove +the Isaurians to their strongholds among their inaccessible mountains; he +chastised the rebellious cities of Egypt; he delivered Gaul from the +Germanic barbarians; he drove the Franks to their morasses at the mouth of +the Rhine; he vanquished the Burgundians who had wandered in quest of +booty from the banks of the Oder; he defeated the Lygii, a fierce tribe on +the borders of Silesia; he extended his victories to the Elbe, and erected +a wall, two hundred miles in length, from the Danube to the Rhine; so that +"there was not left," says Gibbon, "in all the provinces, a hostile +barbarian, or tyrant, or even a robber." After having destroyed four +hundred thousand of the barbarians, he returned to his capital to +celebrate a triumph, which equaled in splendor that of Aurelian. He, too, +fancied that all external enemies were subdued forever, and that Rome +should henceforth rejoice in eternal peace. But scarcely had the paeans of +victory been sung by a triumphant and infatuated people, when he was +assassinated in a mutiny of his own troops, whom he had compelled to labor +in draining the marshes around Sirmium, A.D. 282. + +(M1121) The soldiers, repenting the act as soon as it was done, conferred +the purple on the praetorian prefect, and _notified_ the Senate of its +choice. And the choice was a good one; and the new emperor, Carus, at +sixty years of age, conferring the title of Caesar upon his two sons, +Carinus and Numerianus, whom he left to govern the West, hastened against +the Sarmatians, who had overrun Illyricum. Successful in his objects, he +advanced, in the depth of winter, through Thrace and Asia Minor to the +confines of Persia. The Persian king, wishing to avert the storm, sent his +ambassadors to the imperial camp, and found the emperor seated on the +grass, dining from peas and bacon, in all the simplicity of the early +successors of Mohammed. But before he could advance beyond the Tigris, his +tent was struck by lightning, and he was killed, on Christmas day, A.D. +283. + +(M1122) Carinus and Numerian succeeded to the vacant throne. The former, +at Rome, disgraced his trust by indolence and shameless vices; while the +latter, in the camp, was unfit, though virtuous, to control the turbulent +soldiers, and was found murdered in his bed the very day that Carinus +celebrated the games with unusual magnificence. + +(M1123) The army raised C. Valerius Diocletianus to the vacant dignity, +and his first act was to execute the murderer of Numerian. His next was to +encounter Carinus in battle, who was slain, A.D. 285, and +Diocletian--perhaps the greatest emperor after Augustus--reigned alone. +Diocletian is, however, rendered infamous in ecclesiastical history, as +the most bitter of all the persecutors of the Christians, now a large and +growing body; but he was a man of the most distinguished abilities, though +of obscure birth, in a little Dalmatian town. He commenced his illustrious +reign at the age of thirty-nine, and reigned twenty years,--more as a +statesman than warrior,--politic, judicious, indefatigable in business, and +steady in his purposes. + +(M1124) This emperor inaugurated a new era, and a new policy of +government. The cares of State in a disordered age, when the empire was +threatened on every side by hostile barbarians, and disgraced by +insurrections and tumults, induced Diocletian to associate with himself +three colleagues, who had won fame in the wars of Aurelian and Carus. +Maximian, Galerius, and Constantine--one of whom had the dignity of +Augustus, and two that of Caesar. + +Maximian, associated with Diocletian, with the rank of Augustus, had been +also an Illyrian peasant, and was assigned to the government of the +western provinces, while Diocletian retained that of the eastern. Maximum +established the seat of his government at Milan, giving a death-blow to +the Senate, which, though still mentioned honorably by name, was +henceforth severed from the imperial court. The empire had been ruled by +soldiers ever since pressing dangers had made it apparent that only men of +martial virtues could preserve it from the barbarians. But now the most +undisguised _military_ rule, uninfluenced by old constitutional form, was +the only recognized authority, and the warlike emperors, bred in the camp, +had a disdain of the ancient capital, as well as great repugnance to the +enervated praetorian soldiers, who made and unmade emperors, whose +privileges were abolished forever. Milan was selected for the seat of +imperial government, from its proximity to the frontier, perpetually +menaced by the barbarians; and this city, before a mere military post, now +assumed the splendor of an imperial city, and was defended by a double +wall. + +(M1125) Diocletian made choice, at first, of Nicomedia, the old capital of +the Bithynian kings, as the seat of his Eastern government, equally +distant from the Danube and the Euphrates. He assumed the manner and state +of an Oriental monarch. He wore a diadem set with pearls, and a robe of +silk and gold instead of the simple toga with its purple stripe. His shoes +were studded with precious stones, and his court was marked by Oriental +ceremonials. His person was difficult of access, and the avenues to his +palace were guarded by various classes of officers. No one could approach +him without falling prostrate in adoration, and he was addressed as "My +lord the emperor." But he did not live in Oriental seclusion, and was +perpetually called away by pressing dangers. + +(M1126) The Caesars Galerius and Constantius were sent to govern the +provinces on the frontiers; the former, from his capital, Sirmium, in +Illyricum, watched the whole frontier of the Danube; the latter spent his +time in Britain. Galerius was adopted by Diocletian, and received his +daughter Valeria in marriage; while Constantius was adopted by Maximian, +and married his daughter Theodora. + +The division of the empire under these four princes nearly corresponded +with the prefectures which Constantine subsequently established, and which +were deemed necessary to preserve the empire from dissolution--a +dissolution inevitable, had it not been for the great emperors whom the +necessities of the empire had raised up, but whose ruin was only for a +time averted. Not even able generals and good emperors could save the +corrupted empire. It was doomed. Vice had prepared the way for violence. +The four emperors, who now labored to prevent a catastrophe, were engaged +in perpetual conflicts, and through their united efforts peace was +restored throughout the empire, and the last triumph that Rome ever saw +was celebrated by them. + +(M1127) Only one more enemy, to the eye of Diocletian, remained to be +subdued, and this was Christianity. But this enemy was unconquerable. +Silently, surely, without pomp, and without art, the new religion had made +its way, against all opposition, prejudice, and hatred, from Jews and +pagans alike, and was now a power in the empire. The followers of the +hated sect were, however, from the humble classes, and but few great men +had arisen among them, and even these were unimportant to the view of +philosophers and rulers. The believers formed an esoteric circle, and were +lofty, stern, and hostile to all the existing institutions of society. +They formed an _imperium in imperio_, but did not aim, at this time, to +reach political power. They were scattered throughout the great cities of +the empire, and were ruled by their bishops and ministers. They did not +make war on men, but on their ideas and habits and customs. They avoided +all external conflicts, and contended with devils and passions. But +government distrusted and disliked them, and sought at different times to +exterminate them. There had already been nine signal persecutions from the +time of Nero, and yet they had constantly increased in numbers and +influence. But now a more serious attack was to be made upon them by the +emperors, provoked, probably, by the refusal of some Christians to take +the military oath, and serve in the armies, on conscientious principles: +but interpreted by those in authority as disloyalty in a great national +crisis. The mind of the emperor was alienated; and both Galerius and +Diocletian resolved that a religion which seemed hostile to the political +relations of the empire, should be suppressed. A decree was issued to +destroy all the Christian churches, to confiscate their property, to burn +the sacred writings, to deprive Christians of their civil rights, and even +to doom them to death. The decree which was publicly exhibited in +Nicomedia, was torn down by a Christian, who expressed the bitterest +detestation of the tyrannical governors. The fires which broke out in the +palace were ascribed to the Christians, and the command was finally issued +to imprison all the ministers of religion, and punish those who protected +them. A persecution which has had no parallel in history, was extended to +all parts of the empire. The whole civil power, goaded by the old priests +of paganism, was employed in searching out victims, and all classes of +Christians were virtually tormented and murdered. The earth groaned for +ten years under the sad calamity, and there was apparently no hope. But +whether scourged, or lacerated, or imprisoned, or burned, the martyrs +showed patience, faith, and moral heroism, and invoked death to show its +sting, and the grave its victory. + +(M1128) The persecution of the Christians--this attempt to suppress +religion thought to be hostile to the imperial authority, and not without +some plausibility, since many Christians refused to be enrolled in the +armies, and suffered death sooner than enlist--was the last great act of +Diocletian. Whether wearied with the cares of State, or disgusted with his +duties, or ill, or craving rest and repose, he took the extraordinary +resolution of abdicating his throne, at the very summit of his power, and +at the age of fifty-nine. He influenced Maximian to do the same, and the +two Augusti gave place to the two Caesars. The double act of resignation +was performed at Nicomedia and Milan, on the same day, May 1, A.D. 305. +Diocletian took a graceful farewell of his soldiers, and withdrew to a +retreat near his native city of Salonae, on the coast of the Adriatic. He +withdrew to a magnificent palace, which he had built on a square of six +hundred feet, in a lovely and fertile spot, in sight of the sea, and the +mountains, and luxurious plains. He there devoted himself to the pleasures +of agriculture, and planted cabbages with his own hand, and refused all +solicitations to resume his power. But his repose was alloyed by the sight +of increasing troubles, and the failure of the system he had inaugurated. +If the empire could not be governed by one master, it could not be +governed by four, with their different policies and rivalries. He lived +but nine years in retirement; but long enough to see his religious policy +reversed, by the edict of Milan, which confirmed the Christian religion, +and the whole imperial fabric which he had framed reversed by Constantine. + +(M1129) Confusion followed his abdication. Civil wars instead of barbaric +wasted the empire. The ancient heart of the empire had no longer the +presence of an Augustus, and a new partition virtually took place, by +which Italy and Africa became dependencies of the East. Galerius--now +Augustus--assumed the right to nominate the two new Caesars, one of whom was +his sister's son, who assumed the name of Galerius Valerius Maximinus, to +whom were assigned Syria and Egypt, and the other was his faithful +servant, Severus, who was placed over Italy and Africa. According to the +forms of the constitution, he was subordinate to Constantius, but he was +devoted to Galerius. The emperor Constantius, then in Boulogne, was dying, +and his son, Constantine, was at the court of Galerius. Though summoned to +the bedside of his father, Galerius sought to retain him, but Constantine +abruptly left Nicomedia, evaded Severus, traversed Europe, and reached his +father, who was just setting out for Britain, to repel an invasion of the +Caledonians. He reached York only to die, A.D. 306, and with his last +breath transmitted his empire to his son, and commended him to the +soldiers. Galerius was transported with rage, but was compelled to submit, +and named Constantine Caesar over the western provinces, who was not +elevated to the dignity of Augustus till two years later. + +The elevation of Severus to supreme power in Italy by Galerius, filled the +abdicated emperor Maximian with indignation, and humiliated the Roman +people. The praetorians rose against the party of Severus, who retired to +Ravenna, and soon after committed suicide. The Senate assumed their old +prerogative, and conferred the purple on Maxentius, the son of Maximilian. +Galerius again assumed the power of nominating an Augustus, and bestowed +the purple, made vacant by the death of Severus, on an old comrade, +Licinius, originally a Dacian peasant. + +(M1130) Thus, there were six emperors at a time; Constantine, in Britain; +Maximian, who resumed the purple; Maxentius, his son; Licinius Galerius, +in the East; and Maximin, his nephew. Maximian crossed the Alps in person, +won over Constantine to his party, and gave him his daughter, Fausta, in +marriage, and conferred upon him the rank of Augustus; so, in the West, +Maxentius and Constantine affected to be subordinate to Maximian; while, +in the East, Licinius and Maximin obeyed the orders of their benefactor, +Galerius. The sovereigns of the East and West were hostile to each other, +but their mutual fears produced an apparent tranquillity, and a feigned +reconciliation. + +(M1131) The first actual warfare, however, broke out between Maximian and +his son. Maxentius insisted on the renewed abdication of his father, and +had the support of the praetorian guards. Driven into exile, he returned to +Gaul, and took refuge with his son and daughter, who received him kindly; +but in the absence of Constantine, he seized the treasure to bribe his +troops, and was holding communication with Maxentius when Constantine +returned from the Rhine. The old intriguer had only time to throw himself +into Marseilles, where he strangled himself, when the city was hard +pressed by Constantine, A.D. 310. + +(M1132) In a year after, Galerius died, like Herod Agrippa, a prey to +loathsome vermin--morbus pediculosus, and his dominions were divided +between Maximin and Licinius, each of whom formed secret alliances with +Maxentius and Constantine, between whom was war. + +(M1133) The tyranny of Maxentius led his subjects to look to Constantine +as a deliverer, who marched to the relief of the Senate and Roman people. +He crossed the Alps with forty thousand men. Maxentius collected a force +of one hundred and seventy thousand, to maintain which he had the wealth +of Italy, Africa, and Sicily. Constantine first encountered the +lieutenants of Maxentius in the plains of Turin, and gained a complete +victory, the prize of which was Milan, the new capital of Italy. He was +advancing to Rome on the Flaminian way, before Maxentius was aroused to +his danger, being absorbed in pleasures. A few miles from Rome was fought +the battle of Saxa Rubra, A.D. 312, between the rival emperors, at which +Maxentius perished, and Constantine was greeted by the Senate as the first +of the three surviving Augusti. The victory of Constantine was +commemorated by a triumphal arch, which still remains, and which was only +a copy of the arch of Trajan. The ensuing winter was spent in Rome, during +which Constantine abolished forever the praetorian guards, which had given +so many emperors to the world. In the spring Constantine gave his daughter +Constantia in marriage to Licinius, but was soon called away to the Rhine +by an irruption of Franks, while Licinius marched against Maximin, and +defeated him under the walls of Heracles. Maximin retreated to Nicomedia, +and was about to renew the war, when he died at Tarsus, and Licinius +became master of the Eastern provinces. + +(M1134) There were now but two emperors, one in the East, and the other in +the West. Constantine celebrated the restoration of tranquillity by +promulgating at Milan an edict in favor of universal religious toleration, +and the persecution of the Christians by the pagans was ended forever, in +Europe. About this time Constantine himself was converted to the new +religion. In his march against Maxentius, it is declared by Eusebius, that +he saw at noonday a cross in the heavens, inscribed with the words, "By +this conquer." It is also asserted that the vision of the cross was seen +by the whole army, and the cross henceforth became the standard of the +Christian emperors. It was called the _Labarum_, and is still seen on the +coins of Constantine, and was intrusted to a chosen guard of fifty men. It +undoubtedly excited enthusiasm in the army, now inclined to accept the new +faith, and Constantine himself joined the progressive party, and made +Christianity the established religion of the empire. Henceforth the +protection of the Christian religion became one of the cherished objects +of his soul, and although his life was stained by superstitions and many +acts of cruelty and wickedness, Constantine stands out in history as the +first Christian emperor. For this chiefly he is famous, and a favorite +with ecclesiastical writers. The edict of Milan is an era in the world's +progress. But he was also a great sovereign, and a great general. + +(M1135) The harmony between so ambitious a man and Licinius was not of +long duration. Rival interests and different sympathies soon led to the +breaking out of hostilities, and Licinius was defeated in two great +battles, and resigned to Constantine all his European possessions, except +Thrace. The nine successive years were spent by Licinius in slothful and +vicious pleasures, while Constantine devoted his energies to the +suppression of barbarians, and the enactment of important laws. He +repulsed the Gothic and Sarmatian hordes, who had again crossed the +Danube, and pursued them into Dacia; nor did the Goths secure peace until +they had furnished forty thousand recruits to the Roman armies. This +recruiting of the imperial armies from the barbarians was one of the most +melancholy signs of decaying strength, and indicated approaching ruin. + +(M1136) In the year 323 a new civil war broke out between Constantine and +Licinius. The aged and slothful Eastern emperor roused himself to a grand +effort and marshalled an army of one hundred and fifty thousand foot and +fifteen thousand horse on the plains of Hadrianople, while his fleet of +three hundred and fifty triremes commanded the Hellespont. Constantine +collected an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men at Thessalonica, +and advanced to attack his foe, intrenched in a strong position. The +battle was decided in favor of Constantine, who slew thirty-four thousand +of his enemies, and took the fortified camp of Licinius, who fled to +Byzantium, July, A.D. 323. + +(M1137) The fleet of Licinius still remained, and with his superior naval +force he might have baffled his rival. But fortune, or valor, again +decided in favor of the Western emperor, and after a fight of two days the +admiral of Licinius retired to Byzantium. The siege of this city was now +pressed with valor by Constantine, and Licinius fled with his treasures to +Chalcedon, and succeeded in raising another army of fifty thousand men. +These raw levies were, however, powerless against the veterans of +Constantine, whom he led in person. The decisive battle was fought at +Chrysopolis, and Licinius retired to Nicomedia, but soon after abdicated, +and was banished to Thessalonica. There he was not long permitted to +remain, being executed by order of Constantine, one of the foul blots on +his memory and character. + +(M1138) The empire was now reunited under a single man, at the cost of +vast treasures and lives. The policy of Diocletian had only inaugurated +civil war. There is no empire so vast which can not be more easily +governed by one man than by two or four. It may be well for empires to be +subdivided, like that of Charlemagne, but it is impossible to prevent +civil wars when the power is shared equally by jealous rivals. It was +better for the Roman world to be united under Octavius, than divided +between him and Antony. + +(M1139) On the fall of Byzantium, Constantine was so struck with its +natural advantages, that he resolved to make it the capital of the empire. +Placed on the inner of two straits which connect the Euxine and the AEgean +with the Mediterranean, on the frontiers of both Europe and Asia, it +seemed to be the true centre of political power, while its position could +be itself rendered impregnable against any external enemy that threatened +the Roman world. The wisdom of the choice of Constantine, and his +unrivaled sagacity, were proved by the fact, that while Rome was +successively taken and sacked by Goths and Vandals, Constantinople +remained the capital of the eastern Roman empire for eleven continuous +centuries. + +(M1140) The reign of Constantine as sole emperor was marked by another +event, A.D. 325. which had a great influence on the subsequent condition +of the world in a moral and religious point of view, and this was the +famous Council of Nicaea, which assembled to settle points of faith and +discipline in the new religion which was now established throughout the +empire. It is called the first Ecumenical, or General Council, and was +attended by three hundred and eighteen bishops, with double the number of +presbyters, assembled from all parts of the Christian world. Here the +church and the empire met face to face. In this council the emperor left +the cares of State, and the command of armies, to preside over discussions +on the doctrine of the Trinity, as expounded by two great rival +parties,--one headed by Athanasius, then archdeacon, afterward archbishop +of Alexandria--the greatest theologian that had as yet appeared in the +church,--and the other by Arius, a simple presbyter of Alexandria, but a +man of subtle and commanding intellect. Arius maintained that the Son, the +second person of the Trinity, derived his being from the Father within the +limits of time, and was secondary to him in power and glory. Athanasius +maintained that the Son was co-eternal with the Father, and the same in +substance with the Father. This theological question had long been +discussed, and the church was divided between the two parties, each of +which exhibited extreme acrimony. Constantine leaned to the orthodox side, +although his most influential adviser, Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, the +historian, inclined to the Arian view. But the emperor was more desirous +to secure peace and unity, than the ascendency of any dogma, and the +doctrine of Athanasius became the standard of faith, and has since +remained the creed of the church. + +(M1141) After the settlement of the faith of the church, now becoming the +great power of the world, the reign of Constantine was disgraced by a +domestic tragedy seldom paralleled in history. His son, Crispus, by a +low-born woman, conspicuous for talents and virtues, either inflamed the +jealousy of his father, or provoked him by a secret conspiracy. It has +never been satisfactorily settled whether he was a rival or a conspirator, +but he was accused, tried, and put to death, in the twentieth year of the +reign, while Constantine was celebrating at Rome the festival of his +_vicennalia_. After this bloody tragedy, for which he is generally +reproached, he took his final departure from Rome, and four years after, +the old capital was degraded to the rank of a secondary city, and +Constantinople was dedicated as the new capitol of the empire. From the +eastern promontory to the Golden Horn, the extreme length of +Constantinople was three Roman miles, and the circumference measured ten, +inclosing an area of two thousand acres, besides the suburbs. The new city +was divided into fourteen wards, and was ornamented with palaces, fora, +and churches. The church of St. Sophia was built on the site of an old +temple, and was in the form of a Greek cross, surmounted by a beautiful +and lofty dome. In a century afterward, Constantinople rivaled Rome in +magnificence. It had a capitol, a circus, two theatres, eight public +baths, fifty-two porticoes, eight aqueducts, four halls, and fourteen +churches, and four thousand three hundred and eighty-three large palatial +residences. + +(M1142) After the building of this new and beautiful city, Constantine +devoted himself to the internal regulation of the empire, which he divided +into four prefectures, subdivided into thirteen dioceses, each governed by +vicars or vice-prefects, who were styled counts and dukes. The provinces +were subdivided to the number of one hundred and sixteen. Three of these +were governed by proconsuls, thirty-seven by consuls, five by correctors, +and seventy-one by presidents, chosen from the legal profession, and +called _clarissimi_. The prefecture of the East embraced the Asiatic +provinces, together with Egypt, Thrace, and the lower Moesia; that of +Illyricum contained the countries between the Danube, the AEgean, and the +Adriatic; that of Italy extended over the Alps to the Danube; and that of +the Gauls embraced the western provinces beyond the Rhine and the Alps. + +(M1143) The military power was separated from the civil. There were two +master-generals, one of infantry, and the other of cavalry, afterward +increased to eight, under whom were thirty-five commanders, ten of whom +were counts, and twenty dukes. The legions were reduced from six thousand +to fifteen hundred men. Their number was one hundred and thirty-two, and +the complete force of the empire was six hundred and forty-five thousand, +holding five hundred and eighty-three permanent stations. + +(M1144) The ministers of the palace, who exercised different functions +about the presence of the emperor, were seven in number: the prefect of +the bed-chamber; a eunuch, who waited on the emperor; the master of +offices--the supreme magistrate of the palace; the quaestor--at the head of +the judicial administration, and who composed the orations and edicts of +the emperor; the treasurer, and two counts of domestics, who commanded the +body-guard. + +(M1145) The bishopric nearly corresponded with the civil divisions of the +empire, and the bishops had different ranks. We now observe archbishops +and metropolitans. + +The new divisions complicated the machinery of government, and led to the +institution of many new offices, which greatly added to the expense of +government, for which taxation became more rigorous and oppressive. The +old constitution was completely subverted, and the emperor became an +Oriental monarch. + +(M1146) Constantine was called away from his labors of organization to +resist the ambition of Sapor II., when he died, at the age of sixty-four, +at his palace near Nicomedia, A.D. 337, after a memorable but tumultuous +reign--memorable for the recognition of Christianity as a State religion; +tumultuous, from civil wars and contests with barbarians. Constantinople, +not Rome, became the future capital of the empire. + + + + + CHAPTER XLVI. + + +THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE. + + +After the death of Constantine, the decline was rapid, and new dangers +multiplied. Warlike emperors had staved off the barbarians, and done all +that man could do to avert ruin. But the seeds of ruin were planted, and +must bear their wretched fruit. The seat of empire was removed to a new +city, more able, from its position, to withstand the shock which was to +come. In the strife between new and hardy races, and the old corrupt +population, the issue could not be doubtful. The empire had fulfilled its +mission. Christianity was born, protected, and rendered triumphant. +Nothing more was wanted than the conversion of the barbarians to the new +faith before desolation should overspread the world--and a State prepared +for new ideas, passions, and interests. + +(M1147) Constantine left three sons and two daughters, by Fausta, the +daughter of Maximian,--Constantine, Constantius, Constans, Constantina, and +Helena. The imperial dignity was enjoyed by the sons, and the youngest +daughter, Helena, married the emperor Julian, grandson of Constantius +Chlorus. The three sons of Constantine divided the empire between them. +The oldest, at the age of twenty-one, retained the prefecture of Gaul; +Constantius, aged twenty, kept Thrace and the East; while Constans, the +youngest, at the age of seventeen, added the Italian prefecture with +Greece. + +(M1148) The ablest of these princes was Constantius, on whom fell the +burden of the Persian war, and which ultimately ended on the defeat of +Julian, in Sapor wresting from the emperor all the countries beyond the +Euphrates. + +Constantine II. was dissatisfied with his share of the empire, and +compelled Constans to yield up Africa, but was slain in an expedition +beyond the Julian Alps, A.D. 340. + +(M1149) Constans held the empire of the West for ten years, during which +he carried on war with the Franks, upon the Rhine, and with the Scots and +Picts. His vices were so disgraceful that a rebellion took place, under +Magnentius, who slew Constans, A.D. 350, and reigned in his stead, the +seat of his government being Treves. + +(M1150) Constantius II. made war on the usurper, Magnentius, a rough +barbarian, and finally defeated him on the banks of the Danube, where +fifty-four thousand men perished in battle, soon after which the usurper +killed himself. + +(M1151) Constantius, by the death of his brother, and overthrow of +Magnentius, was now sole master of the empire, and through his permission +Athanasius was restored to the arch-bishopric of Alexandria, but was again +removed, the emperor being an Arian. This second removal raised a tumult +in Alexandria, and he was allowed to return to his see, where he lived in +peace until he died, A.D. 372--the great defender of the orthodox creed, +which finally was established by councils and the emperors. + +(M1152) The emperor Constantius was engaged in successive wars with the +barbarians,--with the Persians on the East, the Sarmatians on the Danube, +and the Franks and Alemanni, on the Rhine. During these wars, his +brother-in-law, Julian, was sent to the West with the title of Caesar, +where he restored order, and showed signal ability. On the death of +Constantius, he was recognized as emperor without opposition, A.D. 361. + +(M1153) Julian is generally called the Apostate, since he proclaimed a +change in the established religion, but tolerated Christianity. He was a +Platonic philosopher--a man of great virtue and ability, whose life was +unstained by vices. But his attempt to restore paganism was senseless and +ineffectual. As a popular belief, paganism had expired. His character is +warmly praised by Gibbon, and commended by other historians. He struggled +against the spirit of his age, and was unsuccessful. He was worthy of the +best ages of the empire in the exercise of all pagan virtues--the true +successor of Hadrian and the Antonines. + +(M1154) He was also a great general, and sought to crush the power of the +Persian kings and make Babylonia a Roman province. Here, too, he failed, +although he gained signal successes. He was mortally wounded while +effecting a retreat from the Tigris, after a short reign of twenty months. +With him ended the house of Constantine. The empire was conferred by the +troops on Flavius Claudius Jovianus, chief of the imperial household, A.D. +363--a man of moderate talents and good intentions, but unfit for such +stormy times. He restored Christianity, which henceforth was the national +religion. He died the following year, and was succeeded by Flavius +Valentinianus, the son of Count Gratian, a general who had arisen from +obscurity in Pannonia, to the command of Africa and Britain. + +(M1155) Valentinian was forty-four years of age when he began to reign, +A.D. 364, a man of noble character and person, and in a month associated +his brother Flavius Valens with him in the government of the empire. +Valentinian kept the West, and conferred the East on Valens. Thus was the +empire again formally divided, and was not reunited until the reign of +Theodosius. Valentinian chose the post of danger, rather than of pleasure +and luxury, for the West was now invaded by various tribes of the Germanic +race. The Alemanni were powerful on the Rhine; the Saxons were invading +Britain; the Burgundians were commencing their ravages in Gaul; and the +Goths were preparing for another inroad. The emperor, whose seat of power +was Milan, was engaged in perpetual, but indecisive conflicts. He reigned +with vigor, and repressed the barbarians. He bestowed the title of +Augustus on his son Gratian, and died in a storm of wrath by the bursting +of a blood-vessel, while reviling the ambassadors of the Quadi, A.D. 375. + +(M1156) The emperor Valens, at Constantinople, was exposed to no less +dangers, without the force to meet them. The great nation of the Goths, +who had been at peace with the empire for a generation, resumed their +hostilities upon the Danube. Hermanneric, the first historic name among +these fierce people, had won a series of brilliant victories over other +barbarians, after he was eighty years of age. His dominions extended from +the Danube to the Baltic, and embraced the greater part of Germany and +Scythia. + +(M1157) But the Goths were invaded by a fierce race of barbarians, more +savage than themselves, from the banks of the Don, called Scythians, or +Huns, of Sclavonic origin. Pressed by this new enemy, they sought shelter +in the Roman territory. Instead of receiving them as allies, the emperor +treated them as enemies. Hostages from the flower of their youth were +scattered through the cities of Asia Minor, while the corrupt governors of +Thrace annoyed them by insults and grievances. The aged Hermanneric, +exasperated by misfortune, made preparations for a general war, while +Sarmatians, Alans, and Huns united with them. After three indecisive +campaigns, the emperor Valens advanced to attack their camp near +Hadrianople, defended by Fritagern. Under the walls of this city was +fought the most bloody and disastrous battle which Rome ever lost, A.D. +378. Two-thirds of the imperial army was destroyed, the emperor was slain, +and the remainder fled in consternation. Sixty thousand infantry and six +thousand cavalry lay dead upon the fatal field. The victors, intoxicated +with their success, invested Hadrianople, but were unequal to the task, +being inexperienced in sieges. Laden with spoil, they retired to the +western boundaries of Thrace. From the shores of the Bosphorus to the +Julian Alps, nothing was seen but conflagration, murder, and devastation. +So great were the misfortunes of the Illyrian provinces, that they never +afterward recovered. Churches were turned into stables, palaces were +burned, works of art were destroyed, the relics of martyrs were +desecrated, the population decimated, and the provinces were overrun. + +(M1158) In this day of calamity a hero and deliverer was needed. The +feeble Gratian, who ruled in the West, cast his eyes upon an exile, whose +father, an eminent general, had been unjustly murdered by the emperor +Valentinian. This man was Theodosius, then living in modest retirement on +his farm near Valladolid, in Spain, as unambitious as David among his +sheep, as contented as Cincinnatus at the plow. Even Gibbon does not sneer +at this great Christian emperor, who revived for a while the falling +empire. He accepted the sceptre of Valens, A.D. 370, and the conduct of +the Gothic war, being but thirty-three years of age. One of the greatest +of all the emperors, and the last great man who swayed the sceptre of +Trajan, his ancestor, he has not too warmly been praised by the Church, +whose defender he was--the last flickering light of an expiring +monarchy,--although his character has been assailed by modern critics of +great respectability. + +(M1159) As soon as he was invested with the purple, he took up his +residence in Thessalonica, and devoted his energies to the task assigned +him by the necessities of the empire. He succeeded in putting a stop to +the progress of the Goths, disarmed them by treaties, and allowed them to +settle on the right bank of the Danube, within the limits of the empire. +He invited the aged Athanaric to his capital and table, who was astonished +by his riches and glory. Peace was favored by the death of Fritagern, and +forty thousand Goths were received as soldiers of the empire,--an impolitic +act. + +(M1160) At this period the Goths settled in Moesia were visited by Uphilas, +a Christian missionary and Arian bishop, who translated the Bible, and had +great success in the conversion of the barbarians to a nominal faith. This +is the earliest instance of the reception of the new faith by the Germanic +races. + +(M1161) While Theodosius was restoring the eastern empire, Gratian +relapsed into indolent pleasures at Milan, which provoked a revolution. +Maximus was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Britain, and invaded +Gaul. Gratian fled, with a retinue of three hundred horse, and was +overtaken and slain. Theodosius recognized the claims of the usurper, +unwilling to waste the blood of the enfeebled soldiers in a new civil war, +provided that Italy and Africa were secured to Valentinian II., the +younger brother of Gratian. The young emperor made himself unpopular by +espousing Arianism, and for being governed by his mother Justina, and four +years after was obliged to flee to Thessalonica, on an invasion of Italy +by Maximus, and invoke the aid of Theodosius, who responded to his call, +won by the charms of the princess Galla, whom he married. Maximus was +defeated, put to death, and Valentinian II. was replaced upon his throne. + +(M1162) It was when Maximus was triumphant in Gaul that the celebrated +Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, was sent to the usurper's camp to demand the +dead body of the murdered Gratian. But this intrepid prelate made himself +still more famous for his defense of orthodoxy against the whole power of +Valentinian II. and his mother. He is also immortalized for the +chastisement he inflicted upon Theodosius himself for the slaughter of +Thessalonica. The emperor was in Milan when intelligence arrived of a +sedition in the city, caused by factions of the circus, during which +Boderic, the commander of the imperial troops, was killed. This outrage +was revenged by the wanton massacre of seven thousand people. The news of +this barbarity filled Ambrose with horror, and he wrote a letter to the +emperor, which led to his repentance; but as he was about to enter the +basilica, the prelate met him at the door, and refused admission until he +had expiated his crime by a rigorous penance, and the emperor submitted to +the humiliation--an act of submission to the Church which was much +admired--an act of ecclesiastical authority which formed a precedent for +the heroism of Hildebrand. + +(M1163) Under the influence of the clergy, now a great power, Theodosius +the same year promulgated an edict for the suppression of all acts of +pagan worship, private and public, under heavy penalties, and the Church, +in turn, became persecuting. At this lime the corruption of the Church +made rapid progress. Pretended miracles, pious frauds, the worship of +saints, veneration of relics, ascetic severities, monastic superstitions, +the pomp of bishops, and a secular spirit marked the triumph of +Christianity over paganism. The Church was united to the State, and the +profession of the new faith was made a necessary qualification for the +enjoyment of civil rights. But the Church was now distinguished for great +men, who held high rank, theologians, and bishops, like Augustine, +Ambrose, Chrysostom, Gregory, Nazianzin, Basil, Eusebius, and Martin of +Tours. + +(M1164) Theodosius died in Milan, in the arms of Ambrose, A.D. 395, and +with him the genius of Rome expired, and the real drama of the fall of the +empire began. He was succeeded by his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the +one in the East and the other in the West, the former being under the +tutelage of Rufinus, the latter under the care of Stilicho, master-general +of the armies. Both emperors were unworthy or unequal to maintain their +inheritances. The barbarians gained fresh courage from the death of +Theodosius, and recommenced their ravages. The soldiers of the empire were +dispirited and enervated, and threw away their defensive armor. They even +were not able to bear the weight of the cuirass and helmet, and the heavy +weapons of their ancestors were exchanged for the bow. Thus they were +exposed to the deadly missiles of their enemies, and fled upon the +approach of danger. Gainas the Goth, who commanded the legions, slew +Rufinus in the presence of Arcadius, who abandoned himself at +Constantinople to the influence of the eunuch Eutropius, most celebrated +for introducing Chrysostom to the court. The eunuch minister soon after +was murdered in a tumult, and Arcadius was then governed by his wife +Eudoxia, who secured the banishment of Chrysostom. + +(M1165) The empire was now finally divided. A long succession of feeble +princes reigned in the East, ruled by favorites and women, at whose courts +the manners and customs of Oriental kings were introduced. The Eastern +empire now assumes the character of an Eastern monarchy, and henceforth +goes by the name of the Greek empire, at first, embracing those countries +bounded by the Adriatic and Tigris, but gradually narrowed to the +precincts of Constantinople. It lasted for one thousand years longer, +before it was finally subdued by the Turks. The history of the Greek +empire properly belongs to the mediaeval ages. It is our object to trace +the final fall of the Western empire. + +(M1166) Under Honorius, the Visigoths, ruled by Alaric, appear in history +as a great and warlike people. Stilicho, the general of Honorius, +encountered them unsuccessfully in two campaigns, in Macedonia and +Thessaly, and the degenerate cities of Greece purchased their preservation +at an enormous ransom. In the year 402, Alaric crossed the Alps, and +Honorius fled to the marshes of Ravenna, where, protected by the shallow +sea, the Western emperors a long time resided. Stilicho gained, however, a +great victory over the Goths at Pollentia, near Turin, and arrested the +march of Alaric upon Rome. The defeated Goth rose, however, superior to +this defeat, celebrated by the poet Claudian, as the greatest victory +which Rome had ever achieved. He escaped with the main body of his +cavalry, broke through the passes of the Apennines, spread devastation on +the fruitful fields of Tuscany, resolved to risk another battle for the +great prize he aimed to secure, even imperial Rome. But Stilicho purchased +the retreat of the Goths by a present of forty thousand pounds of gold. +The departure of Alaric from Italy, which he had ravaged, was regarded by +the Roman people as a complete and final deliverance, and they abandoned +themselves to absurd rejoicings and gladiatoral shows. + +(M1167) But scarcely was Italy delivered from the Goths before an +irruption of Vandals, Suevi, and Burgundians, under the command of +Rodogast, or Rhadagast, two hundred thousand in number, issued from the +coast of the Baltic, crossed the Vistula, the Alps, and the Apennines, +ravaged the northern cities of Italy, and laid siege to Florence. The +victor of Pollentia appeared for the rescue with the last army which the +empire could raise, surrounded the enemy with strong intrenchments, and +forced them to retire. Stilicho again delivered Italy, but one hundred +thousand barbarians remained in arms between the Alps and the Apennines, +who crossed into Gaul, then the most cultivated of the Western provinces, +and completely devastated its fields, and villas, and cities. Mentz was +destroyed; Worms fell, after an obstinate siege; Strasburg, Spires, +Rheims, Tournay, Arras, and Amiens, all fell under the German yoke, and +Gaul was finally separated from the empire. The Vandals, Sueves, and +Alans, passed into Spain, while the Burgundians remained behind, masters +of the mountainous regions of Eastern Gaul, to which was given the name of +Burgundy, A.D. 409. + +The troubles of the empire led to the final withdrawal of the legions from +Britain about the time that Gaul was lost, and about forty years before +the conquest of the island by the Saxons. + +Italy, for a time delivered, forgot the services of Stilicho, the only man +capable of defending her. The jealousy of the timid emperor he served, and +the frivolous Senate which he saved, removed for ever the last hope of +Rome. This able general was assassinated at Ravenna, A.D. 408. + +(M1168) The Gothic king, in his distant camp, beheld with joy the +intrigues and factions which deprived the emperor of his best and last +defender, and prepared for a new invasion of Italy. He descended like an +avalanche upon the plains of Italy, and captured the cities of Aquileia, +Concordia, and Cremona. He then ravaged the coasts of the Adriatic, and +following the Flaminian way, crossed the Appennines, devastated Umbria, +and reached, without obstruction, the city which for six hundred years had +not seen a foreign enemy at her gates. Rome still contained within her +walls, twenty-three miles in circuit, a vast population, but she had no +warriors. She could boast of a long line of senatorial families, one +thousand seven hundred and eighty palaces, and two million of people, +together with the spoil of the ancient world, immense riches, and +innumerable works of art; but where were her defenders? It is a sad proof +of the degeneracy of the people that they were incapable of defense. + +(M1169) Alaric made no effort to storm the city, but quietly sat down, and +inclosed the wretched inhabitants with a cordon through which nothing +could force its way. He cut off all communication with the country and the +sea, and commanded the gates. Famine, added to pestilence, did the work of +soldiers. Despair seized the haughty and effeminate citizens, who invoked +the clemency of the barbarians. He derided the ambassadors, and insulted +them with rude and sarcastic jokes. "The thicker the hay, the easier it is +mowed," replied he, when warned not to drive the people to despair. He +condescended to spare the lives of the people on condition that they gave +up _all_ their gold and silver, _all_ their precious movables, and _all_ +their slaves of barbaric birth. More moderate terms were afterward +granted, but the victor did not retreat until he had loaded his wagons +with precious spoil. He retired to the fertile fields of Tuscany, to make +negotiations with Honorius, intrenched at Ravenna; and it was only on the +condition of being appointed master-general of the imperial army, with an +annual subsidy of corn and money, the free possession of Dalmatia, +Noricum, and Venetia, that he consented to peace with the emperor. These +terms were disregarded, and the indignant barbarian once again turned his +face to the city he had spared. He took possession of Ostia, and Rome was +at his mercy, since her magazines were in his hands. Again the Senate, +fearful of famine, consented to the demands of the conqueror. He nominated +Atticus, prefect of the city, as emperor, and from him received the +commission of master-general of the armies of the West. + +(M1170) Atticus, after a brief reign, was degraded, and negotiations were +opened with Honorius. Repelled by fresh insults, which can not be +comprehended other than from that infatuation which is sent upon the +doomed, Alaric, vindictive and indignant, once more set out for Rome, +resolved on plunder and revenge. In vain did the nobles organize a +defense. Cowardice or treachery opened the Salarian gate. In the dead of +night the Goths entered the city, which now was the prey of soldiers. For +five days and five nights the "Eternal City" was exposed to every +barbarity and license, and only the treasures accumulated and deposited in +the churches of St. Paul and St. Peter were saved. A cruel slaughter of +the citizens added to the miseries of a sack. Forty thousand slaves were +let loose upon the people. The matrons and women of Rome were exposed to +every indignity. The city was given up to pillage. The daughters and wives +of senatorial families were made slaves. Italian fugitives thronged the +shores of Africa and Syria, begging daily bread. The whole world was +filled with consternation. The news of the capture of Rome made the tongue +of St. Jerome cleave to the roof of his mouth, in his cell at Bethlehem. +Sorrow, misery, desolation, and despair, were everywhere. The end of the +world was supposed to be at hand, and the great churchmen of the age found +consolation only in the doctrine of the second coming of our Lord amid the +clouds of heaven, A.D. 410. + +(M1171) After six days the Goths evacuated the city, and advanced on the +Appian way, to the southern provinces of Italy, destroying ruthlessly all +who opposed their march, and laden with the spoil of Rome. The beautiful +villas of the Campanian coast, where the masters of the world had +luxuriated for centuries, were destroyed or plundered, and the rude Goths +gave themselves up to all the license of barbaric soldiers. + +(M1172) At length, gorged with wine and plunder, they prepared to invade +Sicily, when Alaric sickened and died in Bruttium, and was buried beneath +the bed of a river, that the place of his sepulchre should never be found +out. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Adolphus, with whom Honorius +concluded peace, and whom he created a general of his armies. As such, he +led his forces into Gaul, and the southern part of the country became the +seat of their permanent settlement, with Toulouse for a capital. The +Visigoths extended their conquests on both sides of the Pyrenees; +Vandalusia was conquered by his son, Wallia, A.D. 418, on whom the emperor +bestowed Aquitania. His son, Theodoric, was the first king of the Goths. + +(M1173) The same year that saw the establishment of this new Gothic +kingdom, also witnessed the foundation of the kingdom of the Franks, by +Pharamund, and the final loss of Britain. Thus province after province was +wrested away from the emperor, who died, A.D. 423, and was succeeded by +Constantius, who had married his sister. He died the same year, leaving an +infant, called Valentinian. The chief secretary of the late emperor, John, +was proclaimed emperor; but he was dethroned two years after, and +Valentinian III. six years of age, reigned in his stead, favored by the +services of two able generals, Boniface and Aetius, who arrested by their +talents the incursions of the barbarians, But they quarreled, and their +discord led to the loss of Africa, invaded by the Vandals. + +(M1174) These barbarians also belonged to the great Teutonic race, and +their settlements were on the Elbe and the Vistula. In the time of Marcus +Aurelius they had invaded the empire, but were signally defeated. One +hundred years later, they settled in Pannonia, where they had a bitter +contest with the Goths. Defeated by them, they sought the protection of +Rome, and enlisted in her armies. In 406 they invaded Gaul, and advanced +to the Pyrenees, inflicting every atrocity. They then crossed into Spain, +and settled in Andalusia, A.D. 409, and resumed the agricultural life they +had led in Pannonia. The Roman governor of Spain intrigued with their old +enemies, the Goths, then settled in Gaul, to make an attack upon them, +under Wallia. Worried and incensed, the Vandals turned against the Romans, +and routed them, and got possession of the peninsula. + +(M1175) It was then that Aetius, the general of Valentinian III., +persuaded the emperor,--or rather his mother, Placidia, the real ruler,--to +recall Boniface from the government of Africa. He refused the summons, +revolted, and called to his aid the Vandals, who had possession of Spain. +They were commanded by Genseric, one of those hideous monsters, who +combined great military talents with every vice. He responded to the call +of Boniface, and invaded Africa, rich in farms and cities, whose capital, +Carthage, was once more the rival of Rome, and had even outgrown +Alexandria as a commercial city. With fifty thousand warriors, Genseric +devastated the country, and Boniface, too late repenting of his error, +turned against the common foe, but was defeated, and obliged to cede to +the barbarians three important provinces, A.D. 432. + +(M1176) Peace was not of long duration, and the Vandals renewed the war, +on the retreat of Boniface to Italy, where he was killed in a duel, by +Aetius. All Africa was overrun, and Carthage was taken and plundered, and +met a doom as awful as Tyre and Jerusalem, for her iniquities were +flagrant, and called to heaven for vengeance. In the sack of the city, the +writings of Augustine, bishop of Hippo, were fortunately preserved as a +thesaurus of Christian theological literature, the influence of which can +hardly be overrated in the dark period which succeeded, A.D. 439. + +(M1177) The Vandals then turned their eyes to Rome, and landed on the +Italian coast. The last hope of the imperial city, now threatened by an +overwhelming force, was her Christian bishop--the great Leo, who hastened +to the barbarians' camp, and in his pontifical robes, sought the mercy of +the unrelenting and savage foe. But he could secure no better terms, than +that the unresisting should be spared, the buildings protected from fire, +and the captives from torture. But this promise was only partially +fulfilled. The pillage lasted fourteen days and fourteen nights, and all +that the Goths had spared was transported to the ships of Genseric. The +statues of the old pagan gods, which adorned the capitol, the holy vessels +of the Jewish temple, which Titus had brought from Jerusalem, the shrines +and altars of the Christian churches, the costly ornaments of the imperial +palace, the sideboards of massive silver from senatorial mansions,--the +gold, the silver, the brass, the precious marbles,--were all transported to +the ships. The Empress Eudoxia, herself, stripped of her jewels, was +carried away captive, with her two daughters, the sole survivors of the +family of Theodosius. + +(M1178) Such was the doom of Rome, A.D. 455, forty-five years after the +Gothic invasion. The haughty city met the fate which she had inflicted on +her rivals, and nothing remained but desolation and recollections. + +(M1179) While the Vandals were plundering Rome, the Huns--a Sclavonic race, +hideous and revolting barbarians, under Attila, called the scourge of God, +were ravaging the remaining provinces of the empire. Never since the days +of Xerxes was there such a gathering of nations as now inundated the Roman +world--some five hundred thousand warriors, chiefly Asiatic, armed with +long quivers and heavy lances, cuirasses of plaited hair, scythes, round +bucklers, and short swords. This host, composed of Huns, Alans, Gepidae, +and other tribes, German as well as Asiatic, from the plains of Sarmatia, +and the banks of the Vistula and Niemen, extended from Bash to the mouth +of the Rhine. The great object of attack was Orleans--an important +strategic position. + +(M1180) The leader of the imperial forces was Aetius, banished for the +death of Boniface, composed of Britains, Franks, Burgundians, Sueves, +Saxons, and Visigoths. It was not now the Romans against barbarians, but +Europe against Asia. The contending forces met on the plains of Champagne, +and at Chalons was fought the decisive battle by which Europe was +delivered from Asia, and the Gothic nations from the Mongol races, A.D. +451. Attila was beaten, and Gaul was saved from Sclavonic invaders. It is +said that three hundred thousand of the barbarians, on both sides, were +slain. + +The discomfited king of the Huns led back his forces to the Rhine, +ravaging the country through which he passed. The following year he +invaded Italy. + +(M1181) Aetius had won one of the greatest victories of ancient times, and +alone remained to stem the barbaric hosts. But he was mistrusted by the +emperor at Ravenna, whose daughter he had solicited in marriage for his +son, and was left without sufficient force. Aquileia, the most important +city in Northern Italy, fell into the hands of Attila. He then resolved to +cross the Apennines and give a last blow to Rome. Leo, the intrepid +bishop, sought his camp, as he had once before entreated Genseric. The Hun +consented to leave Italy for an annual tribute, and the hand of the +princess Honoria, sister of the Emperor Valentinian. He retired to the +Danube by the passes of the Alps, and spent the winter in bacchanalian +orgies, but was cut off in his career by the poisoned dagger of a +Burgundian princess, whose relations he had slain. + +(M1182) The retreat of the Huns did not deliver the wasted provinces of a +now fallen empire from renewed ravages. For twenty years longer, Italy was +subject to incessant depredations. Valentinian, the last emperor of the +family of Theodosius, was assassinated A.D. 455, at the instigation of +Maximus--a senator of the Anician family, whose wife had been violated by +the emperor. The successive reigns of Maximus, Avitus, Majorian, Severus, +Anthemius, Olybrius, Glycerins, Nepos,and Augustulus--nine emperors in +twenty-one years, suggest nothing but ignominy and misfortune. They were +shut up in their palaces, within the walls of Ravenna, and were unable to +arrest the ruin. Again, during this period, was Rome sacked by the +Vandals. The great men of the period were Theodoric--king of the +Ostrogoths, who ruled both sides of the Alps, and supported the crumbling +empire, and Count Ricimer, a Sueve, and generalissimo of the Roman armies. +It was at this disastrous epoch that fugitives from the Venetian territory +sought a refuge among the islands which skirt the northern coast of the +Adriatic--the haunts of fishermen and sea-birds. There Venice was born--to +revive the glory of the West, and write her history upon the waves for one +thousand years. + +(M1183) The last emperor was the son of Orestes--a Pannonian, who was +christened Romulus. When elevated by the soldiers upon a shield and +saluted Augustus, he was too small to wear the purple robe, and they +called him Augustulus!--a bitter mockery, recalling the foundation and the +imperial greatness of Rome. This prince, feeble and powerless, was +dethroned by Odoacer--chief of the Heruli, and one of the unscrupulous +mercenaries whose aid the last emperor had invoked. The throne of the +Caesars was now hopelessly subverted, and Odoacer portioned out the lands +of Italy among his greedy followers, but allowed Augustulus to live as a +pensioner in a Campanian villa, which had once belonged to Sulla, A.D. +476. Odoacer, however, reigned but fourteen years, and was supplanted by +Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, A.D. 490. The barbarians were now +fairly settled in the lands they had invaded, and the Western empire was +completely dismembered. + +(M1184) In Italy were the Ostrogoths, who established a powerful kingdom, +afterward assailed by Belisarius and Narses, the generals of Justinian, +the Eastern emperor, and also by the Lombards, under Alboin, who secured a +footing in the north of Italy. Gaul was divided among the Franks, +Burgundians, and Visigoths, among whom were perpetual wars. Britain was +possessed by the Saxons. Spain became the inheritance of Vandals, Suevi, +and Visigoths. The Vandals retained Africa. The Eastern empire, with the +exception of Constantinople, finally fell into the hands of the Saracens. + +(M1185) It would be interesting to trace the various fortunes of the +Teutonic nations in their new settlements, but this belongs to mediaeval +history. The real drama of the fall of Rome was ended when Alaric gained +possession of the imperial city. "The empire fell," says Guizot, "because +no one would belong to it." At the period of barbaric invasion it had lost +all real vigor, and was kept together by mechanism--the mechanism of +government which had been one thousand years perfecting. It was energy, +patriotism, patience, and a genius for government which built up the +empire. But prosperity led to luxury, self-exaggeration, and enervating +vices. Society was steeped in sensuality, frivolity, and selfishness. The +empire was rotten to the core, and must become the prey of barbarians, who +had courage and vitality. Three centuries earlier, the empire might have +withstood the shock of external enemies, and the barbarians might have +been annihilated. But they invaded the provinces when central power was +weak, when public virtue had fled, when the middle classes were extinct, +when slavery, demoralizing pleasures, and disproportionate fortunes +destroyed elevation of sentiment, and all manly energies. A noble line of +martial emperors for a time arrested ruin, but ruin was inevitable. +Natural law asserted its dignity. The penalty of sin must be paid. Nothing +could save the empire. No conservative influences were sufficiently +strong--neither literature, nor art, nor science, nor philosophy, nor even +Christianity. Society retrograded as the new religion triumphed, a +mysterious fact, but easily understood when we remember that vices were +universal before a remedy could be applied. The victories of Christianity +came not too late for the human race, but too late for the salvation of a +worn-out empire. + +The barbarians were advancing when Constantine was converted. The +salvation of the race was through these barbarians themselves, for, though +they desolated, they reconstructed; and, when converted to the new faith, +established new institutions on a better basis. The glimmering life-sparks +of a declining and miserable world disappeared, but new ideas, new +passions, new interests arose, and on the ruins of the pagan civilization +new Christian empires were founded, which have been gaining power for one +thousand five hundred years, and which may not pass away till civilization +itself shall be pronounced a failure in the present dispensations of the +Moral Governor of the World. + +THE END. + + + + + +ADVERTISEMENTS. + + +EDINBURGH REVIEW.--"The BEST History of the Roman Republic." + +LONDON TIMES--"BY FAR THE BEST History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman +Commonwealth." + +NOW READY, VOLUME I, of the History of Rome, FROM THE EARLIEST TIME TO THE +PERIOD OF ITS DECLINE. + +By Dr. THEODOR MOMMSEN. + +Translated, with the author's sanction and additions, by the Rev. W. P. +DICKSON, Regius Professor of Biblical Criticism in the University of +Glasgow, late Classical Examiner in the University of St. Andrews. With an +Introduction by Dr. LEONHARD SCHMITZ. + +REPRINTED FROM THE REVISED LONDON EDITION. + +Four Volumes crown 8vo. Price of Volume I., $2.50. + +Dr. Mommsen has long been known and appreciated through his researches +into the languages, laws, and institutions of Ancient Rome and Italy, as +the most thoroughly versed scholar now living in these departments of +historical investigation. To a wonderfully exact and exhaustive knowledge +of these subjects, he unites great powers of generalization, a vigorous, +spirited, and exceedingly graphic style and keen analytical powers, which +give this history a degree of interest and a permanent value possessed by +no other record of the decline and fall of the Roman Commonwealth. "Dr. +Mommsen's work," as Dr. Schmitz remarks in the introduction, "though the +production of a man of most profound and extensive learning and knowledge +of the world, is not as much designed for the professional scholar as for +intelligent readers of all classes who take an interest in the history of +by-gone ages, and are inclined there to seek information that may guide +them safely through the perplexing mazes of modern history." + +CRITICAL NOTICES. + +"A work of the very highest merit; its learning is exact and profound; its +narrative full of genius and skill; its descriptions of men are admirably +vivid. We wish to place on record our opinion that Dr. Mommsen's is by far +the best history of the Decline and Fall of the Roman +Commonwealth."--_London Times._ + +"Since the days of Niebuhr, no work on Roman History has appeared that +combines so much to attract, instruct, and charm the reader. Its style--a +rare quality in a German author--is vigorous, spirited, and animated. +Professor Mommsen's work can stand a comparison with the noblest +productions of modern history."--_Dr. Schmitz._ + +"This is the best history of the Roman Republic, taking the work on the +whole--the author's complete mastery of his subject, the variety of his +gifts and acquirements, his graphic power in the delineation of national +and individual character, and the vivid interest which he inspires in +every portion of his book. He is without an equal in his own +sphere."--_Edinburgh Review._ + +"A book of deepest interest."--_Dean Trench._ + +SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. + +THE POPULAR EDITION + +OF + +Froude's History of England, + +FROM THE FALL OF WOLSEY TO THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH. + +*In Twelve Volumes 12mo., $1.25 per Volume.* + +_New York_, October, 1869. + +Messrs. 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We see the course of events day by day, not only the +more serious and important communications, but the gossip of the hour.... +If truth and vivid reality be the perfection of history, much is to be +said in favor of this mode of composition."--_London Quarterly._ + +Those desiring to purchase THE POPULAR EDITION OF FROUDE'S HISTORY can +have the volumes sent post-paid to their address as soon as issued, by +remitting $15 to the publishers. + +*THE LIBRARY EDITION OF FROUDE'S HISTORY* + +is published in Ten volumes, printed upon heavy tinted paper, and +handsomely bound in brown cloth, with gilt side and back, at $3 per +volume; in half calf, $5 per volume. + +_The above volumes sent, post-paid, to any address by the publishers upon +receipt of price._ + +CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., +_654 Broadway, New York._ + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + M1 The Creation. + M2 The garden of Eden. + M3 Adam and Eve. + M4 Primeval Paradise. + M5 Situation of Eden. + M6 Glory of Eden. + M7 The temptation. + M8 The Devil. + M9 His assumption of the form of a serpent. + M10 The disobedience of Eve. + M11 The Fall of Adam. + M12 The effect. + M13 The penalty. + M14 Introduction of sin. + M15 Expulsion from paradise. + M16 The mitigation of the punishment. + M17 Industry--one of the fundamental conditions of life. + M18 Cain and Abel. + M19 The descendants of Cain. + M20 The deluge. + M21 The probable condition of the antediluvian world. + M22 The ark. + M23 The Divine covenant with Noah. + M24 The tradition of the deluge. + M25 The Noachic Code. + M26 Patriarchal constitutions. + M27 Consequences of the sin of Noah. + M28 Settlements of his descendants. + M29 The Tower of Babel. + M30 Nimrod. + M31 The Confusion of tongues. + M32 Dispersion of nations. + M33 The settlements of the children of Japhet. + M34 The settlements of the descendants of Shem. + M35 The descendants of Ham. + M36 Abram. + M37 The wanderings and settlements of Abraham. + M38 The separation of Abraham and Lot. + M39 The settlements of Lot. + M40 The first recorded battle in history. + M41 The victory of Abraham. + M42 Melchizedek. + M43 The pride of Abraham. + M44 His prospects. + M45 Hagar. + M46 The renewed Covenant with Abraham. + M47 The birth of Isaac. + M48 The destruction of Sodom. + M49 The duplicity of Abraham. + M50 The Trial of Abraham. + M51 Death of Sarah. + M52 The marriage of Isaac. + M53 Second marriage of Abraham. + M54 He deceives the Philistines. + M55 The affliction of Isaac. + M56 Jacob and Esau. + M57 Jacob obtains the birthright. The despair of Esau. + M58 Jacob's wanderings. + M59 He served Laban. + M60 The quarrel with Laban. + M61 Meeting of Esau and Jacob. + M62 Jacob in Bethel. + M63 Death of Rachel. + M64 The sale of Joseph. + M65 The original inhabitants of Egypt. + M66 Their peculiarities. + M67 The fertility of Egypt. + M68 The productions of Egypt. + M69 The castes of Egypt. + M70 Egyptian dynasties. + M71 The Pyramids. + M72 Thebes. + M73 The shepherd kings. + M74 Friendly relations of the Hebrews with the Shepherd Kings. + M75 Expulsion of the Shepherd kings. + M76 Greatness of Ramesis II. His architectural works. + M77 Decline of Thebes. + M78 Obscurity of Egyptian history. + M79 Religion of the Egyptians. + M80 The Deities. + M81 Laws of the Egyptians. + M82 Government. + M83 Habits of the people. + M84 Literary culture. + M85 Potiphar and Joseph. Elevation of Joseph. + M86 His rule as Viceroy. + M87 The famine in Egypt. + M88 Benjamin and his brothers. Moses as an historian. + M89 Prosperity of the Hebrews. Their subsequent miseries. + M90 Moses. + M91 The slavery of the Israelites. + M92 The ten plagues. The deliverance of the Israelites. + M93 The exodus. + M94 Hebrew jurisprudence. + M95 The principles of the Jewish code. + M96 The Ten Commandments. + M97 Moses on Mount Sinai. + M98 The tables of stone. + M99 The idolatry of the Jews. + M100 The Mosaic legislation. + M101 The Jewish theocracy. + M102 The Oracle. + M103 The Priesthood. + M104 The Hebrew Constitution. + M105 The wanderings of the Israelites. + M106 Non-intercourse of the Jews with other nations. Death of Moses. + M107 Joshua. + M108 His victories. + M109 Combination of the Canaanites against Joshua. + M110 Conquest of Canaan. + M111 Death of Joshua. + M112 The Judges. + M113 Their wars. + M114 Samuel. + M115 The Israelites demand a King. + M116 Anointment of Saul. + M117 His wars with the Philistine. + M118 The unhappiness of Saul. + M119 David. + M120 The enmity of Saul. + M121 The elevation of David. + M122 The reign of David. + M123 Character of David. + M124 The reign of Solomon. His architectural works. + M125 The palace. + M126 The Wisdom of Solomon. + M127 His apostasy. + M128 His latter days. + M129 The rebellion of Jeroboam. + M130 Division of the Nation. + M131 The reign of Rheoboam. His successors. + M132 The Princes of Judah at Jerusalem. + M133 The reign of Amiaziah. + M134 Uzziah. His prosperity. + M135 Jotham. + M136 Hezekiah. + M137 His wars. + M138 Manasseh. + M139 Amon. + M140 Josiah. His noble reign. + M141 His death. + M142 His successor. + M143 Nebuchadnezzar wars against Judah. The fall of Jerusalem. Captivity + of the Jews. Jeremiah. + M144 The character of the kings of Judah. + M145 The ten tribes. + M146 Jeroboam. His wicked reign. + M147 Elijah. Ahab. + M148 The destruction of the priests of Baal. + M149 Wrath of Jezebel. + M150 War with Damascus. Curse upon Ahab. + M151 Ahaziah. + M152 Famine in Samaria. + M153 Wars with the Syrians. + M154 Jehu. + M155 His successors. + M156 Their short reigns. + M157 Fall of Samaria. + M158 The kings of Israel. + M159 The plains of Babylon. + M160 The Tower of Babel. + M161 The foundation of the Assyrian monarchy. + M162 Extension of the kingdom. + M163 Nineveh. + M164 The palaces. Assyrian kings. + M165 Conquests of Shalmanezer. + M166 Sennacherib. Culmination of the power of Nineveh. + M167 Assyrian civilisation. + M168 Decline of the monarchy. + M169 Destruction of Nineveh. Its remains. + M170 Growth of Babylon. + M171 The Chaldean monarchy. + M172 Nebuchadnezzar. Magnificence of Babylon. + M173 Fall of the Monarchy. + M174 The country of the Medes and Persians. The martial character of the + people. Early kings of Media. + M175 Deioces. + M176 Cyaxares. + M177 The irruption of the Turanian races. + M178 Conquests of Cyaxares. + M179 War with Lydia. + M180 The Lydian monarchy. + M181 Astyages. + M182 The early history of the Persians. + M183 Zoroaster. His religion. + M184 Character of the Persians. + M185 Rise of Cyrus. + M186 His wars. + M187 His great empire. + M188 He makes Babylon his capital. + M189 Greatness of the reign of Cyrus. + M190 Degeneracy of the Persian conquerors. + M191 Cambyses. + M192 His follies. + M193 Usurpation of the Magians. + M194 Darius. + M195 His conquests. + M196 His greatness. + M197 The revolt of the Ionian cities. + M198 Xerxes. + M199 Fate of the Persian empire. + M200 Its characteristics. + M201 Original inhabitants of Asia Minor. + M202 Its various nations. + M203 The Phrygians + M204 The Lydians. Gyges. + M205 His prosperous reign. + M206 Alliance of Lydia with Persia. + M207 Scythian inroads. Their characteristics. + M208 Scythian conquests. + M209 Croesus. + M210 His prosperity. + M211 The Phoenicians. + M212 Their Semitic origin. + M213 The country. + M214 Phoenician cities. + M215 Phoenician colonies. + M216 Voyage of the Phoenicians. + M217 Decline of Phoenician power. + M218 Carthage. + M219 Absorption of the ten tribes. + M220 The Jews at Babylon. + M221 Daniel. + M222 His beautiful character. + M223 Return of the Jews. + M224 Dedication of the Temple. + M225 Mordecai and Ahasuerus. The story of Esther. + M226 Return to Palestine of Jews under Ezra. + M227 Nehemiah. Rebuilding of Jerusalem. Revival of ancient laws. + M228 Obscurity of Jewish history after Nehemiah. + M229 Obscurity and growth of the Jews. + M230 The ascendency of the high priests. + M231 Persecution of the Jews by Antiochus. + M232 The reign of the high priests. Their turbulent reigns. Popular + tumults. Misery of the Jews. + M233 The Maccabees. Mattathias. His successes. + M234 His son Judas. His heroic deeds. + M235 Syria invades Palestine. + M236 Another unsuccessful invasion. + M237 Continued hostilities between Syria and Palestine. + M238 The Jews force an alliance with the Romans. + M239 Jonathan Maccabeus master of Judea. His rule. John Hyrcanus as high + priest. + M240 The Jews in Alexandria. + M241 The rule of John Hyrcanus. + M242 Succeeded by his son. + M243 Turbulent reign of Alexander. + M244 Queen Alexandra. + M245 The Idumean family. + M246 All parties invoke the aid of Pompey. + M247 Jerusalem falls into the hands of Pompey. + M248 Reorganization of the government. + M249 Jerusalem governed by Roman generals. + M250 Herod governor of Galilee. + M251 Receives the crown of Judea. And reigns tyrannically. His miserable + life. + M252 The hatred in which he was held. His death. + M253 His kingdom is divided among his sons. The claims of the rival + princes. + M254 The Romans confirm the will of Herod. + M255 Birth of Christ. + M256 The rule of Roman governors. + M257 Pontius Pilate. + M258 Herod Antipas. + M259 Herod Agrippa. + M260 His brilliant reign. + M261 Persecutes the Christians. + M262 Judea a Roman province. + M263 Jewish parties. + M264 The Pharisees. Their doctrines and character. + M265 The Sadducees. + M266 The Essenes. + M267 State of the country. Miserable condition of the Jews. Popular + Commotions. Wars and rumors of wars. + M268 Incipient rebellion. + M269 Open rebellion of Judea. + M270 Sensation at Rome. Roman preparations for war. + M271 Expedition against Ascalon. Fall of Jotaphata. + M272 Fall of Joppa. + M273 Fall of Gamala. + M274 Factions at Jerusalem. + M275 Infatuation of the city. Its fortifications. The temple. + M276 The siege. + M277 Famine in the city. + M278 The assault of Jerusalem. The fall. + M279 The siege and sack of the city. + M280 Consequences of the fall of Jerusalem. + M281 Degeneracy of the oriental states. + M282 Boundaries of Greece. + M283 The mountains of Greece. Between Ossa and Olympus is the famous vale + of Tempe. + M284 The rivers. + M285 Natural advantages for political independence. + M286 Natural productions. + M287 Epirus. + M288 Thessaly. + M289 The famous places. + M290 Acarnania. + M291 AEtolia. + M292 Doris. + M293 Locri Ozolae. + M294 Phocis. + M295 Boeotia. + M296 Attica. + M297 Megaris. + M298 The Peloponnesus and its states. + M299 Elis. + M300 Arcadia. + M301 Argolis. + M302 Laconia. + M303 Messenia. + M304 Crete. + M305 The Cyclades. + M306 The Sporades. + M307 Lesbos, and other islands. + M308 Origin of the Grecian nations. The Pelasgians. + M309 The Hellenes. The AEolians. The Achaeans. + M310 The Dorians and Ionians. + M311 Settlements of the AEolians. + M312 Of the Achaeans. + M313 Of the Dorians. + M314 Of the Ionians. + M315 The heroic ages of Greece. + M316 The legends. + M317 Zeus. + M318 The other deities. + M319 Who represent the powers of Nature. + M320 The worship of these deities. + M321 Legends which pertain to heroes. + M322 The Danaides. + M323 Hercules. + M324 Deucalion. + M325 Hellen and Pyrrha. + M326 Pelias and Neleus. + M327 Admetus. + M328 Jason and the Argonauts. + M329 Sisyphus. + M330 Bellerophon. + M331 AEolus. + M332 Tantalus. + M333 Pelops. + M334 The Deucalian deluge. + M335 Theseus. + M336 Theban legends. Cadmus. OEdipus. + M337 Creon. + M338 Dardanus. + M339 Ilus. + M340 Priam. Helen. + M341 The Trojan war. + M342 The legend of the Heraclidae. + M343 Their settlement in Sparta. + M344 The wanderings of the dispossessed Achaeans. + M345 Crete. + M346 The Dorians and Ionians become the leading tribes. + M347 First Olympiad, the era of the historic period. + M348 Grecian leagues. + M349 Early dominant states. + M350 Interest to be attached to the legends of Greece. + M351 Their historical importance. + M352 The early government of the Hellenes. The king. + M353 The councils. + M354 Religious and social life. + M355 Early forms of civilization. + M356 Lycurgus. + M357 His legislation. + M358 Spartan citizens. + M359 The old Achaean population. + M360 The Helots. + M361 The Ecclesia. + M362 The Senate. + M363 The kings. + M364 The Ephors. + M365 Aristocratic form of government. The citizen lost in the State. + M366 Number of citizens. + M367 Spartan armies. + M368 The Spartans obtain the ascendency on the Peninsula. + M369 Messenia. The war with Sparta. + M370 Aristomenes. Conquest of Messenia. + M371 Aggrandizement of Sparta. + M372 Political changes. The age of Tyrants. + M373 Corinthia. + M374 Changes in Corinth. + M375 Changes in Megara. + M376 Changes in other States. + M377 Early history of Athens. Theseus. Codrus. + M378 Draco. + M379 Solon. + M380 His institutions. + M381 Loss of aristocratic power. Different classes. + M382 Other political changes. + M383 Departure of Solon from Athens. Pisistratus. His reign. Hippias. + M384 Cleisthenes. The increase of the Senate. + M385 The ecclesia. + M386 Ostracism. + M387 Boeotia. + M388 Phocis. + M389 Thessaly. + M390 Macedonia. + M391 Epirus. + M392 Grecian colonies. The Ionian cities in Asia Minor. + M393 Political importance of the colonies. + M394 Legislation. + M395 The Amphictyonic Council. + M396 The Delphic oracle. + M397 The Olympic games. + M398 The Pythian games. + M399 The Nemaean and Ithmian games. + M400 Effect of these festivals. + M401 Changes in government. Erection of temples. Legal equality and + political rights. + M402 Different forms of government. + M403 Commercial enterprise. + M404 Increase of wealth. Introduction of art. + M405 Architecture. + M406 Sculpture. + M407 Literature. + M408 Philosophy. + M409 Condition of the Ionian cities. Invasion of Scythia by Darius. + M410 Revolt of the Ionian cities from Persia. Defeat of the Ionian + cities. + M411 Histiaeus. + M412 Want of union among the Ionian cities. Their signal defeat. + M413 Attack of Miletus. Complete conquest of the Ionian Greeks. + M414 Artaphernes organizes the Government. Darius prepares for the + invasion of Greece. + M415 His immense preparations. + M416 His vast army. + M417 The Persian fleet. + M418 Political change at Athens. Miltiades, and other generals. + M419 Themistocles. + M420 Aristides. + M421 Athens allies herself with Sparta. + M422 Prominence of the dangers. + M423 Marshaling of the Grecian forces at Marathon. The battle of + Marathon. + M424 Results of the battle. + M425 Fame of Miltiades. His subsequent reverses. His death. Jealousies + between Aristides and Themistocles. + M426 Not altogether on personal grounds. + M427 Renewed preparations of Darius. His death. + M428 Xerxes. His enormous preparations. His bridges over the Hellespont. + M429 His advance. He crosses the Hellespont. His review of his army. + M430 The magnitude of his forces. + M431 Progress of the Persians. + M432 Preparations of the Athenians. Sparta commands the land forces and + Athens the naval. + M433 The pass of Thermopylae. + M434 Interruption of military preparations by the Olympic games. + M435 Leonidas defends the pass of Thermopylae. + M436 The Greek fleet. Disaster to the Persian fleet. + M437 Attack on the Greeks by the Persians. + M438 Leonidas defends the pass, but is slain. Heroic death of the three + hundred Spartans. + M439 The dismay and indignation of Xerxes. + M440 Naval battle of Artemisium. + M441 Themistocles sails for Salamis. + M442 Despair of the Greeks. Themistocles revives courage by his "wooden + wall." + M443 The hostile fleets at Salamis. + M444 Self-confidence of Xerxes. Battle of Salamis and retreat of Xerxes. + M445 The important results. + M446 Mardonius left in command of the Persians. He ravishes Attica and + Boeotia. + M447 The Greeks assemble against the Persians at Plataea. Preparations for + battle. + M448 Battle of Plataea. + M449 Chastisement of Thebes. + M450 Battle of Mycale. + M451 Rivalry between Athens and Sparta. + M452 Disgrace and death of Pausanias. + M453 Fall of Themistocles. Cimon Death of Themistocles.. + M454 Death of Aristides. + M455 Death of Xerxes. + M456 Rivalry between the Grecian States. + M457 Pre-eminently between Athens and Sparta. + M458 Opposition by Sparta to the fortifications of Athens. + M459 The city nevertheless fortified. The Peireus. Increase of the navy. + Confederacy of Delos. + M460 Confederacy of Delos. + M461 Change in the Athenian constitution. + M462 The political growth of Athens. + M463 The Confederate States. + M464 Unpopularity of Athens. + M465 Expeditions against Persia. + M466 Sparta. Rebellion of the Helots. Cimon opposed to Pericles. Alliance + of different states with Athens. + M467 Defeat of Athens on the land and victory on the sea. + M468 Pericles begins his career. Cimon banished. + M469 Hostilities between Sparta and Athens. + M470 Ascendency of Pericles. His character and accomplishments. + M471 The union of the Peireus with Athens. + M472 Magnanimity of Cimon. + M473 Completion of the long walls. + M474 Death of Cimon. + M475 Pericles without rivals. + M476 Aggrandizement of Athens. + M477 Change in the constitution by Pericles. Increase of democratic + power. The dikasts. Ascendency of the democratic power. + M478 Other political changes effected by Pericles. + M479 Improvements of Athens. + M480 The public buildings. + M481 Impulse given to literature. The drama. + M482 AEschylus. Sophocles. + M483 Comedy. + M484 Power of the stage. + M485 The historians and philosophers. + M486 Athens declines in moral power. + M487 Aspasia. + M488 Latter days of Pericles. Policy of Pericles. + M489 Causes of the war. + M490 War between Corcyra and Corinth. Both parties appealed to Athens. + Athens decides in favor of Corcyra. + M491 Intrigues of Sparta. + M492 Pericles urges the Athenians to support a war. Imperious demands of + Sparta. Preparations for war. Wealth of Athens. + M493 Immense array of forces against Athens. + M494 Invasion of Attica. Defensive policy of Pericles. + M495 Retreat of the Lacedaemonians. + M496 Athens sets aside 1,000 talents for future contingencies. + M497 Results of the first year of the war. + M498 The Spartans again invade Attica. + M499 The plague at Athens. + M500 Naval expedition against Sparta. Death of Pericles. + M501 Sparta invokes the aid of the Persians. + M502 Results of the second year of the war. + M503 Siege of Plataea. + M504 Naval defeat of the Spartans. + M505 Results of the third campaign. + M506 Renewed invasion of Athens. Revolt and subjugation of Mitylene. + M507 Surrender of Plataea. + M508 Cruelties of the Athenians at Corcyra. + M509 Nicias. He continues the policy of Pericles. Opposed by Alcibiades + and Cleon. + M510 The fifth year of the war. + M511 The sixth year of the war. Undecisive nature of the conflict. Great + defeat of the Lacedaemonians at Pylus. Sparta seeks peace. Peace + prevented by Cleon. + M512 Renewed hostilities. Surrender of Sphacteria. Triumph of the + Athenians. Who refuse all overtures of peace. + M513 Situation of Athens in eighth year of the war. + M514 Despair of the Lacedaemonians, and slaughter of the Helots. + M515 Attack of Megara. + M516 Relieved by Brasidas. + M517 Occupation of Delium by the Athenians. + M518 Battle of Delium. + M519 Disasters of the Athenians in Thrace. Successes of Brasidas. + M520 Loss of Amphipolis. + M521 Truce of one year. + M522 Its conditions. + M523 Both Cleon and Brasidas opposed to the truce. + M524 Death of Cleon and of Brasidas. + M525 Consequences of the battle of Amphipolis. The peace of Nicias. + M526 Causes of the war still continued. + M527 Alcibiades. + M528 Character of Alcibiades. + M529 His intellectual training under Socrates. + M530 His abandoned habits. + M531 His intrigues. + M532 His extravagance at the Olympic games. + M533 Renewal of hostilities. + M534 Effect of the battle of Mantinea. + M535 Siege of Melos. + M536 The invasion of Sicily. + M537 The Grecian colonies in Sicily. Syracuse. + M538 Agrigentum and Gela. The reign of Gelo. His power in Sicily. His + successor Hiero. Grandeur of Syracuse. + M539 The Dorian cities of Sicily make war on the Ionian. + M540 Intervention of Athens. Opposed by Nicias, but favored by + Alcibiades. + M541 Athenian expedition against Syracuse. + M542 Self-confidence of the Athenians. + M543 Unfavorable auguries. + M544 Alcibiades accused of divulging the Eleusinian mysteries. + M545 Sailing of the Athenian fleet. + M546 Escape of Alcibiades to Sparta. + M547 Nicias commands the expedition. Rebellion and treason of Alcibiades. + M548 Situation of Syracuse. Inaction of Nicias. Athenian fleet inclosed + by the Syracusans. Retreat of Athenians. + M549 Mismanagement of Nicias. + M550 Exhaustion of Athens. + M551 The Athenian navy hopelessly crippled. + M552 Effects of the disastrous expedition against Syracuse. The Athenians + compelled to make use of their reserved fund. + M553 Escape of Alcibiades from Sparta. + M554 Popular revolution in Athens. + M555 Restless schemes of Alcibiades. + M556 Vain promises of Alcibiades. Aid invoked from Persia. An oligarchy + at Athens. Alcibiades cheats the Athenians. + M557 Athens seeks peace with Sparta. Unprincipled conduct of Alcibiades. + M558 Subversion of the oligarchy. Restoration of the old constitution. + M559 Alternate successes and failures of the belligerents. + M560 Revival of the hopes of the Athenians. + M561 Cyrus sent to Phrygia. + M562 Union of Cyrus with Lysander. + M563 Return of Alcibiades to Athens. His exploits. + M564 His reverses. Lysander recalled to Sparta. + M565 Vigorous measures of the Lacedaemonians. The battle of Arginusae. + M566 Lysander returns to power. + M567 Capture of the Athenian fleet. Despair of Athens. + M568 Annihilation of the Athenian empire. + M569 Surrender of Athens to the Spartans. + M570 Fate of Athens. + M571 Close of the war. + M572 Cause of the fall of Athens. Miserable spirit of the war. Alcibiades + the evil genius of Athens. His inglorious death. + M573 Glory of Lysander. + M574 Effect of the Peloponnesian war. + M575 The real ends of Cyrus disguised. + M576 Mercenary Greeks enlist under Cyrus. + M577 Character of Cyrus. High estimation in which he held the Greeks. + M578 He dissembles his designs. + M579 He commences his march. + M580 Character of the Greeks who joined his standard. + M581 Xenophon. + M582 Cyrus reviews his army. The Greeks perceive that they have been + deceived. + M583 Cyrus crosses into Syria. He crosses the Euphrates. Battle of + Cunaxa. + M584 Dismay of the Greeks. They retreat. + M585 Their forlorn condition. + M586 Deceitful negotiations of the Persians. + M587 The Persian king aims at their overthrow. + M588 The despair of the Greeks. + M589 Xenophon rallies the Greeks. + M590 Their retreat to the Tigris. Their perils and hardships. + M591 The march through Armenia. They reach the Euxine. + M592 New troubles and dangers. + M593 They pass by sea to Sinope. Their courage and faith. + M594 They reach Byzantium. + M595 But are excluded from the city. They enlist in the service of + Sparta. + M596 Moral effect of the expedition. + M597 Sparta never lost her power. + M598 Continued glory of Athens also. + M599 Consequences of the Peloponnesian war. + M600 Paramount authority of Sparta after the victories of Lysander. + M601 Sparta incurs the jealousy of Greece. + M602 Her oppressive superiority. + M603 Effect of the tyrannical policy of Sparta. + M604 Renewal of the war with Persia. + M605 Agesilaus, king of Sparta. + M606 Recall of Agesilaus from the war. + M607 Discontent of the Grecian States. Alienation of the allies of + Sparta. + M608 Enrichment of Sparta. + M609 Conspiracy against the States. + M610 Lacedaemonian fleet threatened. Naval victory over the Lacedaemonians. + M611 Revolt of Thebes. + M612 Renewed power of the city. + M613 Battle of Coronaea. + M614 Decline of Sparta. + M615 Corinth becomes the seat of war. + M616 Great disaster to Sparta. + M617 Sparta invokes the aid of Persia. + M618 Death of Thrasybulus. + M619 Investment of Rhodes. Evil consequences of the rivalries of the + Grecian States. + M620 Thebes. + M621 Under the domination of Sparta. + M622 Invectives of the orators against Sparta. + M623 Discontent in Thebes. + M624 Rebellion under Philidas. Its success. + M625 The Theban revolution produces a great sensation. Thebes forms an + alliance with Athens. + M626 Theban government. + M627 Epaminondas. His accomplishments. + M628 Sparta attacks Thebes. + M629 Second unsuccessful expedition of Agesilaus. + M630 Naval victory of the Athenians. Victory of Pelopidas. + M631 The jealousy of the Grecian republics. + M632 Humiliation of Sparta. + M633 Hostilities between Athens and Sparta. Peace between Athens and + Sparta. + M634 Epaminondas at the congress of Sparta. + M635 Renewal of hostilities between Sparta and Thebes. + M636 Great preparations of Sparta. + M637 Defeat of a Theban force. + M638 Military tactics of Epaminondas. Great victory obtained by Thebes. + M639 The Spartans evacuate Boeotia. + M640 Agesilaus marches into Arcadia. Epaminondas invades Sparta. + M641 Restores the independence of Messenia. The Spartan kingdom + dismembered. + M642 Sparta forms an alliance with Athens. + M643 Greece emancipated from the Spartan yoke. + M644 Athens seeks to recover Amphipolis. A part of Thessaly under the + protection of Thebes. + M645 The Theban supremacy in Thessaly and Macedonia. + M646 Thebes now aspires to the leadership of Greece. + M647 Thebes rescues Pelopidas. Complicated political relations of the + Grecian States. + M648 Death of Pelopidas. Grief of the Thebans. + M649 Orchomenus revolts from Thebes. Unfortunate fate of the city. + M650 Renewed hostilities. Epaminondas attempts to surprise Sparta. His + great victory over the Lacedaemonians at Mantinea. His death. + M651 His great military genius. His character. + M652 Death of Agesilaus. Death of Artaxerxes. + M653 Philip of Macedon. + M654 Syracuse after the failure of Nicias. + M655 Internal condition of the city. + M656 The wars of the Syracusans with Carthage. + M657 Carthage. Its maritime power. + M658 Its political constitution. + M659 Its eminent men. + M660 Dionysius at Syracuse. + M661 Carthaginians invade Sicily. + M662 Rise of Dionysius. + M663 Defeated by the Carthaginians. + M664 Carthaginians make peace. + M665 Dionysius centralizes his power. + M666 Marches against the Sikels. His critical condition. Strengthens the + fortifications of Syracuse. His vast military preparations. + M667 His marriage. Marches against the Carthaginians. + M668 His success. + M669 He returns to Syracuse. His naval defeat at Catana. + M670 Imilco lays siege to Syracuse. + M671 Disasters of the Carthaginians. They retire from Syracuse. + M672 Death of Imilco. + M673 Financial embarrassments of Dionysius. + M674 Makes himself master of Messene. + M675 Invades Italy. + M676 Conquers Croton. + M677 Becomes master of Southern Italy. Hissed at the Grecian games. + M678 Dion. + M679 Power and wealth of Dionysius. + M680 Defeated in a war with Carthage. + M681 Again defeated. Gains a prize for poetry, dies from a fit of + debauchery. His character. + M682 Dion. + M683 Dionysius II. His feeble character. Plato visits Syracuse. His + injudicious teachings. + M684 Banishment of Dion. Second visit of Plato. + M685 Dion in exile. Meditates the overthrow of Dionysius. + M686 He lands in Sicily. + M687 Enters Syracuse in triumph. + M688 Demands the abdication of Dionysius. + M689 Dionysius resorts to intrigues. Unpopularity of Dion. But Ortygia + surrenders to him. + M690 Dion master of Syracuse. His mistakes. His death. His character. + M691 Dionysius recovers Ortygia. Syracuse invokes the aid of Corinth. + Timoleon sent as general. + M692 His wonderful successes. + M693 Dionysius an exile in Corinth. + M694 Timoleon demolishes the stronghold of tyranny. His noble + administration. + M695 His great victory over the Carthaginians. + M696 He lays down his power. + M697 His death and character. + M698 Unexpected Rise of Macedonia. + M699 Philip of Macedon. + M700 Philip at Thebes. + M701 Surrender of Amphipolis. + M702 Revolt from Athens of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, &c. Death of Timotheus. + M703 Philip lays siege to Amphipolis. Fall of the city. + M704 Duplicity of Philip. + M705 War with Athens. + M706 The sacred war. + M707 Demosthenes. His accomplishments. His great eloquence. + M708 Phocion. + M709 Different policy of these two leaders. + M710 Conquests of Philip to Thessaly. Threatens Central Greece. + M711 No generals fit to cope with him. + M712 Philip conquers the Olynthians. Revolt of Euboea. Ravages of Philip. + M713 The temple of Delphi robbed. Encroachments of Philip. His + duplicities and intrigues. Philip obtains possession of the pass of + Thermopylae. + M714 And is master of the keys of Greece. + M715 Lamentations of Demosthenes. + M716 Philip's continued encroachments. His insatiate ambition. + M717 Athens at last aroused by Demosthenes. Siege of Perinthus. Philip + withdraws from Byzantium. + M718 Another sacred war. Ruinous to Grecian liberties. + M719 Alliance of Thebes and Athens. Renewed military preparations of + Philip. + M720 Battle of Chaeronea. Its decisive character. Macedonian phalanx. + M721 Desperate measures of Athens. + M722 Fall of Thebes. + M723 Philip invades the Peloponnesus. Collects a large force against the + Persians. + M724 Death of Philip. + M725 Alexander. Character of Philip. + M726 Alexander the Great. Sent by Providence to do a great work. + M727 Which was prepared by his father. Extent of the Persian empire. The + accumulation of riches in the royal cities. + M728 Philip had aspired to overturn the empire. Knowing its internal + weakness. + M729 But this work is reserved for Alexander. Who was the conqueror of + the Oriental world? What constituted his military genius. + M730 It was his passion to conquer, not reconstruct. + M731 His early history. His conquest of the Grecian States. + M732 He annihilates the Theban power. Moral effect of his merciless + severity. He is master of Greece. + M733 Prepares to invade Persia. + M734 He marshals his forces in Asia. His phalanx and the armor of his + troops. + M735 His generals. + M736 Alexander is unobstructed in crossing the Hellespont. Error of the + Persians. Battle of the Granicus. Alexander dispenses with his + fleet. Fall of Miletus. + M737 The siege of Halicarnassus. Conquest of Asia Minor. + M738 The Persians resolve on offensive operations. + M739 Neglect to guard the mountain passes. Which Alexander passes through + unobstructed. Infatuation and errors of the Persians. The Persians + advance to Issus. + M740 The great and decisive battle of Issus. + M741 The mistakes of the Persians, and the cowardice of Darius. + M742 Important consequences of the battle. + M743 The flight and inaction of Darius. + M744 The siege of Tyre. Its fall. + M745 Offer of Darius. Rejected by Alexander. + M746 Who conquers Egypt. + M747 Founding of Alexandria. + M748 Alexander marches to the Euphrates. + M749 Marshalling of the armies at Arbela. + M750 Utter discomfiture of Darius. His inglorious flight. The battle of + Arbela a death-blow to Persia. Military genius of the conqueror. + M751 Surrender of Babylon and Susa. + M752 The enormous treasures of the Persian Kings. + M753 Successive conquests of Alexander. + M754 He kills his friend Clitus. Agony and remorse of Alexander. + M755 He penetrates to the Indus. Porus. + M756 The soldiers of Alexander refuse to advance further to the East. + M757 He returns to Persepolis. His abandonment to pleasure. + M758 Death of Hephaestion and grief of Alexander. + M759 His entrance into Babylon. Splendor of the funeral of Hephaestion. + Death of Alexander. + M760 His boundless ambition. His death a fortunate event. Effects of his + conquests. + M761 Obscurity of the early history of Rome. + M762 AEneas. + M763 Latium. Foundation of Rome. + M764 The early inhabitants. Rome founded in violence. + M765 The Sabine element of Rome. + M766 The constitution. + M767 Numa Pompilius. + M768 Establishment of religion. + M769 Tullus Hostilius. The Horatii and the Curiatii. + M770 Destruction of Alba. + M771 The origin of plebians. + M772 Tarquinius Priscus. + M773 His public work. + M774 Servius Tullius. + M775 His reforms. + M776 Based on property. New division of the people. + M777 Comitia Centuriata. + M778 The despotism of Tarquin. + M779 The legend of Lucretia. Death of Lucretia. Banishment of the + Tarquins. + M780 The restoration of power to the patricians. + M781 Jurisprudence. + M782 Religion. Objects of worship. + M783 Agriculture. Fruits and cereals. + M784 Trades. + M785 Commerce. + M786 Measures and weights. + M787 Heroic period of Roman History. + M788 The consuls. + M789 The Senate. + M790 Brutus the first consul. + M791 The legends of ancient Rome. Tarquin attempts to recover his throne. + M792 Etruria. + M793 War with the Etruscans. + M794 Dictators. + M795 Oppression and miseries of the plebeians. + M796 Their rebellion. + M797 The Tribunes. Comitia Tributa. + M798 AEdiles. + M799 Coriolanus. + M800 Spurius Cassius. Agrarian law. + M801 Fabius. Increased power of plebians. + M802 The dictatorship of Cincinnatus. + M803 The decemvirs.--Appius Claudius. + M804 His injustice and punishment. + M805 Intermarriage of plebians and patricians. + M806 Censors. + M807 Quaestors. + M808 The siege and fall of Veii. + M809 Invasion of the Gauls. Habits and manners of the Gauls. + M810 Disastrous battle with the Gauls. + M811 The fall of Rome. + M812 M. Manlius. + M813 His services and fall. The Lincinian rogation. + M814 The period of conquest begins. + M815 Samnium. + M816 The Latins throw off the Roman yoke. + M817 Reconquest of the Latin cities. + M818 Jealousy of the Samnites. + M819 The war. The Samnite war. Siege of Lucania. + M820 Victory of Seutinum. + M821 New coalition against Rome. Tarentum. + M822 Pyrrhus. + M823 Marches to the assistance of the Tarentines. Battle of Heraclea. + M824 Pyrrhus offers peace. + M825 Retreat of Pyrrhus. + M826 Battle of Beneventum. + M827 Complete subjugation of Italy. + M828 Appius Claudius. + M829 Causes of the Punic war. + M830 Territories of Carthage. Sicilian affairs. + M831 Rhegium. + M832 The Mamertines. + M833 Hiero. + M834 Wealth and population of Carthage. Power of Carthage. + M835 Creation of a Roman fleet. + M836 Naval battle of Mylae. + M837 Great victory of Regulus. + M838 Other victories of Regulus. + M839 Hamilcar. + M840 Hasdrubal. + M841 Imprisonment of Regulus. Death of Regulus. + M842 Hamilcar Barca. + M843 Conquest of Sicily. + M844 Acquisition of Sicily. + M845 Creation of a Roman naval power. + M846 Condition of Carthage after the war. + M847 Hamilcar. + M848 Hasdrubal. + M849 Hannibal. + M850 Fall of Saguntum. + M851 Hannibal retires to Carthagena. + M852 He prepares for vigorous war. + M853 Crosses the Ebro. + M854 Hannibal crosses the Alps. + M855 Scipio. + M856 Battle of the Trasimene Lake. + M857 Hannibal in Italy. + M858 Hannibal marches to the Adriatic. + M859 Fabius. Efforts of the Romans. + M860 Battle of Cannae. Its great consequences. Varro. + M861 Revolt of allies. + M862 Wisdom of Hannibal. + M863 Fortitude of the Romans. + M864 The crisis. + M865 Marcellus. + M866 Scipio. + M867 Revolt of Syracuse. Archimedes. + M868 Siege of Syracuse. Death of Archimedes. + M869 Fall of Capua. + M870 Battle of Metaurus. Reverses of Hannibal. + M871 Scipio. + M872 His successes in Spain. + M873 Scipio consul. He invades Africa. + M874 Hannibal evacuates Italy. + M875 Hannibal seeks for peace. + M876 The battle of Zama. + M877 Scipio gives peace to Carthage. + M878 Close of the war. + M879 Macedonia. Philip. + M880 Makes war with the Romans. Battle of Cynocephalae. The Achaean League. + M881 The liberties of Greece secured. Flaminius. + M882 Antiochus. + M883 Power of Antiochus. + M884 His preparations for war. + M885 Scipio in Asia. + M886 Defeat of Antiochus. Syria a Roman province. + M887 Subjection of the Greek cities. + M888 Death of Hannibal. + M889 Perseus. + M890 Makes war on Rome. Battle of Pydna. + M891 Its decisive results. Supremacy of the Romans in the civilized + world. + M892 Causes of the third Punic war. + M893 Masinissa. Usurpation of Masinissa. + M894 Carthage called to account. + M895 Power of Carthage. + M896 War declared. + M897 Despair of the Carthaginians. + M898 The city makes desperate efforts. Hasdrubal. + M899 Failure of the Romans. + M900 Rome disgusted. + M901 Mistake of Mancinus. + M902 Siege of Carthage. + M903 Scipio master of the ports. + M904 Attack of the citadel. Capture and destruction of Carthage. + M905 Her awful fate. Carthage utterly destroyed. + M906 The fate of great commercial capitals. + M907 Scipio triumphs. + M908 Change in Roman manners. + M909 The Spanish peninsula. + M910 Geography of Spain. + M911 War with the Spaniards. + M912 Inglorious war. + M913 Scipio. + M914 Difficulties in Asiatic provinces. + M915 Province of Africa. + M916 The Macedonian war. + M917 Fall of Corinth. + M918 Asia Minor. + M919 War in Asia. + M920 Syria. + M921 Dominion of Rome. + M922 The rise of a new nobility. Roman nobility. + M923 Leading families. + M924 Provincial governors. + M925 Decline of the burgesses. Public amusements. + M926 Decay of military sports. Distinctions in society. + M927 Cato. + M928 Political changes. Rise of demagogues. + M929 Agriculture. The slaves. Small farmers. + M930 Decline of agriculture. The farmers sacrificed to the city + population. + M931 Money. + M932 Business operations. + M933 Great fortunes. + M934 The rich favored. + M935 Extravagant prices for luxuries. + M936 Education. + M937 Rome after the battle of Pydna. + M938 The inefficiency of the government. + M939 Opposition to the ruling classes. Capitalists. Slaves. + M940 Tiberius Gracchus. + M941 His reforms. + M942 His unlawful movements. + M943 His death. + M944 Character of Gracchus. Nature of his reform. + M945 The Death of Scipio. + M946 Gaius Gracchus. + M947 He makes war on the aristocracy. The Equestrian order. + M948 The speculators. + M949 The power of the Senate curtailed. + M950 Radical reforms. + M951 Gracchus loses his popularity. + M952 Gracchus assassinated. + M953 His character. + M954 The Numidian war. Jugurtha. + M955 Metellus. + M956 Difficulties of the war. + M957 Marius. + M958 Close of the war. + M959 Results of the war. + M960 The Cimbri. + M961 War with the Cimbri. + M962 Invasion of Italy. + M963 Marius called to command. + M964 Battle of Aquae Sextiae. + M965 Battle of Vercillae. + M966 Reforms of Marius. + M967 Indecisive war. + M968 Sulla. + M969 Asiatic rising. + M970 Disgust of Marius. + M971 The Sulpician laws. + M972 The Sullan legislation. + M973 Sullan constitution. + M974 Mithridates. + M975 Tigranes. + M976 Preparations of Mithridates. Power of Mithridates. + M977 Sulla lands in Epirus. Siege of Athens. + M978 Sulla deposed. + M979 Battle of Chaeronea. + M980 Revolt of Asia against Mithridates. + M981 Negotiations for peace. + M982 Sulla returns to Italy. + M983 His greatness. Cinna. + M984 Civil war. Success of Cinna. + M985 Sulla ends the war. + M986 Absolute power of Sulla. + M987 His triumphs. + M988 He reforms. The reforms of Sulla. + M989 His retirement. + M990 Reaction in favor of the aristocracy. + M991 Sertorius. + M992 Pompey. + M993 Death of Sertorius. + M994 Servile war. Pompey. + M995 The pirates. Great power given to Pompey. + M996 Renewal of hostilities in the East. Lucullus. + M997 His victories. Defeat of Mithridates. His death. + M998 Pompey in Syria. His victories. + M999 His triumph. +M1000 Cicero. +M1001 Verres. +M1002 Public career of Cicero. Cicero as consul. Catiline. +M1003 Cicero's services. +M1004 His fall. Accomplishments and character of Cicero. +M1005 Pompey. +M1006 His policy. +M1007 Caesar. +M1008 The consulship of Caesar. +M1009 Caesar in Gaul. +M1010 Power of Caesar and Pompey. +M1011 Rivalship between Caesar and Pompey. Deplorable state of public + affairs. +M1012 The Senate demands the abdication of Caesar. Caesar seeks a + compromise. Rejected by Pompey. Caesar pursues Pompey. +M1013 Caesar in Spain. +M1014 Military preparations. +M1015 Battle of Dyrhachium. Battle of Pharsalia. +M1016 Flight of Pompey to Egypt. Pompey assassinated. +M1017 Caesar in Egypt. Eastern conquests. +M1018 Pharnaces. +M1019 Dictatorship of Caesar. +M1020 Cato. +M1021 Triumph of Caesar. The vast power of Caesar. +M1022 The Julian calendar. Last battle of Caesar. +M1023 Death of Caesar. +M1024 Character of Caesar. +M1025 Great men of Rome at this time. +M1026 Antonius takes the lead at Rome. +M1027 Octavius. +M1028 Brutus and Cassius. +M1029 Cicero. +M1030 Prospects of civil war. Situation of Roman affairs. The triumvirate + of Antonius, Octavius and Lepidus. They proscribe their enemies. +M1031 Cassius and Brutus rally the aristocracy. Battle of Philippi. +M1032 Roman liberty extinguished. +M1033 Cleopatra and Antonius. War between Octavius and Sextus. +M1034 Prosperity of the empire. +M1035 Extent of the empire. Cities of the empire. Magnificence of Rome. +M1036 The imperial master. +M1037 Roman Senate. +M1038 The equestrians. +M1039 The consuls. +M1040 The army. +M1041 Policy of Augustus. +M1042 Institutions of Augustus. +M1043 Roman commerce. +M1044 Residences of the nobility. Amusements of the aristocracy. +M1045 Roman literature. +M1046 The wives of Augustus. +M1047 The family of Augustus. +M1048 Maecenas and Agrippa. +M1049 The Teutonic races. +M1050 Drusus. +M1051 Banishment of Julia. +M1052 Domitius Ahenobardus. +M1053 Disaster of Varus. +M1054 Death of Augustus. Character of Augustus. +M1055 Tiberius veils his power. +M1056 Germanicus. +M1057 Jealousy of Tiberius. +M1058 The campaign of Germanicus. Triumph of Germanicus. +M1059 Drusus. +M1060 Cnaeus Piso. Death of Germanicus. +M1061 Funeral of Germanicus. Able administration of Tiberius. Excellence + of the imperial rule. +M1062 Tiberius becomes a tyrant. Instruments of tyranny. Provincial + governors. Reforms of Tiberius. +M1063 Tiberius secludes himself in Capreae. Sejanus. +M1064 His conspiracy and death. +M1065 Death of Drusus. Death of Tiberius. His funeral. +M1066 Caligula. His infamous pleasures. Cruelty of Caligula. +M1067 His madness and folly. His assassination. +M1068 Claudius. +M1069 His efforts at reform. +M1070 The able administration of Claudius. +M1071 Conquest of Britain. +M1072 Messalina. +M1073 Agrippina. Assassination of Messalina. Marriage of Claudius with + Agrippina. +M1074 Infamy of Agrippina. +M1075 Death of Claudius. +M1076 Character of Claudius. +M1077 Ascension of Nero. His early character. +M1078 He gives promise of reigning wisely. +M1079 New developments in the character of Nero. +M1080 His ministers. +M1081 Poppaea Sabina. Her vile character. +M1082 The infamies of Nero. +M1083 Conspiracies against him. Flight of Nero. Death of Nero. +M1084 Galba. +M1085 Vespasian proclaimed emperor. +M1086 His first acts. Titus. +M1087 Domitian. Conquest of Britain. +M1088 Persecution of Christians. +M1089 Nerva. +M1090 Death of Nerva. +M1091 Trajan. +M1092 The Dacian war. Gladiatorial sports. The Forum Trajanum. +M1093 The Parthian expedition. Death of Trajan. +M1094 Hadrian. +M1095 His warlike expeditions. +M1096 Hadrian visits the provinces. +M1097 His public works. +M1098 Antonius Pius. Death of Antonius. His eulogy. +M1099 Marcus Aurelius. +M1100 Invasion of the empire. Death of Aurelius. +M1101 Commodus. +M1102 Apparent prosperity. +M1103 Great moral changes. +M1104 Preparations for violence. +M1105 Pertinax and Julianus. Severus. +M1106 Vigorous rule of Severus. +M1107 Caracalla and Geta. +M1108 Macrinus. +M1109 Elagabalus. His luxury. +M1110 Alexander Severus. +M1111 His labors. +M1112 Maximin. His cruelties. +M1113 Gordianus. Death of Maximin. Philip. +M1114 Persecution of the Christians. Ravages of the Goths. +M1115 Successive emperors. Gallienus. +M1116 Gothic invasions. Defeat of the barbarians. +M1117 Aurelian. Zenobia. Palmyra. Zenobia taken captive. +M1118 Triumph of Aurelian. +M1119 Tacitus. +M1120 Probus. His warlike career. +M1121 Carus. +M1122 Carinus. +M1123 Diocletian. +M1124 Important political changes. +M1125 New seat of government. Oriental pomp of Diocletian. +M1126 Galerius and Constantius. +M1127 Persecution of Christians. The reason of their persecution. +M1128 Retirement of Diocletian. +M1129 The evils which flowed from it. Death of Constantius. +M1130 Six emperors. +M1131 Civil wars. +M1132 Death of Galerius. +M1133 Elevation of Constantine. Successors of Constantine. +M1134 Conversion of Constantine. Establishment of Christianity. +M1135 Renewed wars. +M1136 Victory of Constantine over Licinius. +M1137 Death of Licinius. +M1138 Constantine reigns alone. +M1139 Foundation of Constantinople. +M1140 Council of Nice. Athanasius. Theological discussion on the Trinity. +M1141 Assassination of Crispus. The new capital. +M1142 New divisions of the empire. +M1143 Changes in the army. +M1144 The ministers. +M1145 The bishoprics. +M1146 Death of Constantine. +M1147 The heirs of Constantine. +M1148 Constantius. +M1149 Constans. +M1150 War with Magnentius. +M1151 Death of Athanasius. +M1152 Wars of Constantius. +M1153 Julian. +M1154 Death of Julian. Jovian. +M1155 Valentinian. Barbaric invasions. +M1156 Valens. +M1157 Gothic invasion. Death of Valens. Ravages of the Goths. +M1158 Theodosius. +M1159 Successes over the Goths. +M1160 Uphilas. +M1161 Gratian. Valentinian II. +M1162 Ambrose. Penance of Theodosius. +M1163 Theodosius defends the church. +M1164 Death of Theodosius. Arcadius and Honorius. +M1165 Final division of the empire. +M1166 Alaric. Defeat of the Goths. Stilicho. +M1167 Successive barbaric irruptions. Loss of Gaul to the empire. +M1168 Alaric advances to Rome. +M1169 Siege of Rome. Heavy tribute imposed on Rome. Alaric master-general. +M1170 Sack of Rome. +M1171 Evacuation of Rome. +M1172 Death of Alaric. +M1173 Kingdom of the Franks. Discords between Boniface and Aetius. +M1174 The Vandals. +M1175 The Vandals in Africa. +M1176 Fall of Carthage. +M1177 Vandals in Italy. Sack of Rome by the Vandals. +M1178 The fall of Rome. +M1179 The Huns. +M1180 Battle of Chalons. +M1181 Attila in Italy. +M1182 Retreat of the Huns. The last emperors. +M1183 Odoacer. Theodoric. +M1184 Gothic kingdom of Italy. Division of the empire among barbarians. +M1185 Reflections on the fall of the empire. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT STATES AND EMPIRES*** + + + +CREDITS + + +November 1, 2008 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, David King, and the + Online Distributed Proofreading Team at + <http://www.pgdp.net/>. 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