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+Project Gutenberg's The Comic History of Rome, by Gilbert Abbott Becket
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Comic History of Rome
+
+Author: Gilbert Abbott Becket
+
+Illustrator: John Leech
+
+Release Date: October 7, 2011 [EBook #37657]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMIC HISTORY OF ROME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Margo Romberg, crana and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE
+
+ COMIC HISTORY OF ROME,
+
+ FROM THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY TO THE END OF
+ THE COMMONWEALTH.
+
+ [Illustration: _Romulus and Remus discovered by a gentle shepherd._]
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+ THE
+ COMIC
+ HISTORY
+ OF
+ ROME
+
+ BY GILBERT ABBOTT À BECKET.
+
+ ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN LEECH.
+
+ BRADBURY AND EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET.
+
+
+
+
+ LONDON:
+ BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Some explanation is perhaps due from a writer who adopts the title of
+Comic in relation to a subject which is ordinarily considered to be so
+essentially grave as that of History. Though the epithet may be thought
+by many inappropriate to the theme, this work has been prompted by a
+very serious desire to instruct those who, though willing to acquire
+information, seek in doing so as much amusement as possible.
+
+It is true that professedly Comic literature has been the subject of a
+familiarity not unmixed with contempt on the part of a portion of the
+public, since that class of writing obtained the popularity which has
+especially attended it within the last few years; but as whatever
+disrepute it has fallen into is owing entirely to its abuse, there is no
+reason for abandoning an attempt to make a right use of it. The title of
+Comic has therefore been retained in reference to this work, though the
+author has felt that its purport is likely to be misconceived by many,
+and among them not a few whose judgment he would highly esteem, who
+would turn away from a Comic History solely on account of its name, and
+without giving themselves the trouble to look into it. Those persons
+are, however, grievously mistaken who have imagined that in this, and in
+similar books from the same pen, the object has been to treat History as
+a mere farce, or to laugh at Truth--the aim of the writer having
+invariably been to expose falsehood, and to bring into merited contempt
+all that has been injudiciously, ignorantly, or dishonestly held up to
+general admiration. His method of telling a story may be objected to;
+nevertheless, if he does his utmost to tell it truly, he ought not,
+perhaps, to be very severely criticised for adopting the style in which
+he feels himself most at home; and if his opinions are found to be, in
+the main, such as just and sensible persons can agree with, he only asks
+that his views and sentiments may be estimated by what they contain, and
+not by any peculiarity in his mode of expressing them.
+
+The writer of this book is animated by an earnest wish to aid, as far as
+he is able, in the project of combining instruction with amusement; and
+he trusts he shall not be blamed for endeavouring to render such ability
+as he possesses available for as much as it is worth, in applying it to
+subjects of useful information.
+
+Those who are not disposed to approve of his design, will perhaps give
+him credit for his motive; and he may with confidence assert, that, from
+the care and attention he has bestowed upon this work, it will be found
+to form (irrespective of its claims to amuse) by no means the least
+compendious and correct of the histories already in existence of Rome to
+the end of the Commonwealth. If he has failed in justifying the
+application of the title of Comic to his work, he has reason to believe
+it will be found accurate. Though the style professes to be light, he
+would submit that truth does not necessarily make more impression by
+being conveyed through a heavy medium; and although facts may be
+playfully told, it is hoped that narrative in sport may be found to
+constitute history in earnest.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ CHAP. I.--FROM THE FOUNDATION OF ROME TO THE DEATH OF ROMULUS 1
+
+ II.--FROM THE ACCESSION OF NUMA POMPILIUS TO THE DEATH OF
+ ANCUS MARTIUS 14
+
+ III.--FROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS PRISCUS TO THE DEATH
+ OF SERVIUS TULLIUS 23
+
+ IV.--FROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE
+ BANISHMENT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY, AND THE ABOLITION OF
+ THE KINGLY DIGNITY 33
+
+ V.--FROM THE BANISHMENT OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE
+ BATTLE OF LAKE REGILLUS 43
+
+ VI.--FROM THE BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS TO THE CLOSE OF
+ THE WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS 56
+
+ VII.--FROM THE CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS TO THE
+ PASSING OF THE BILL OF TERENTILLUS 65
+
+ VIII.--FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DECEMVIRATE TO THE
+ TAKING OF VEII 73
+
+ IX.--FROM THE TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS TO ITS SUBSEQUENT
+ PRESERVATION BY MANLIUS 89
+
+ X.--FROM THE TRIBUNESHIP OF C. LICINIUS TO THE DEFEAT OF
+ THE GAULS BY VALERIUS 97
+
+ XI.--FROM THE FIRST WAR AGAINST THE SAMNITES TO THE PASSING
+ OF THE LAWS OF PUBLILIUS 107
+
+ XII.--FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND TO THE END OF THE
+ THIRD SAMNITE WAR 116
+
+ XIII.--ON THE PEACEFUL OCCUPATIONS OF THE ROMANS. FROM THE
+ SCARCITY OF SUBJECT, NECESSARILY A VERY SHORT CHAPTER 129
+
+ XIV.--FROM THE END OF THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR TO THE
+ SUBJUGATION OF ALL ITALY BY THE ROMANS 135
+
+ XV.--THE FIRST PUNIC WAR 150
+
+ XVI.--SOME MISCELLANEOUS WARS OF ROME 161
+
+ XVII.--THE SECOND PUNIC WAR 171
+
+ XVIII.--CONCLUSION OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR 183
+
+ XIX.--WAR WITH THE MACEDONIANS. PROCLAMATION OF THE FREEDOM
+ OF GREECE BY FLAMINIUS. WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS. DEATH OF
+ HANNIBAL, AND OF SCIPIO AFRICANUS 193
+
+ XX.--PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. MORALS, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND STATE
+ OF THE DRAMA AND LITERATURE AMONG THE ROMANS 204
+
+ XXI.--WARS AGAINST PERSEUS. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. SIEGE AND
+ DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE, AND DITTO DITTO OF CORINTH 215
+
+ XXII.--WARS IN SPAIN. VIRIATHUS. DESTRUCTION OF NUMANTIA.
+ THE SERVILE WAR IN SICILY. APPROPRIATION OF PERGAMUS 225
+
+ XXIII.--THE GRACCHI AND THEIR MOTHER. RISE AND FALL OF
+ TIBERIUS AND CAIUS GRACCHUS 234
+
+ XXIV.--THE JUGURTHINE WAR. WAR AGAINST THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI 247
+
+ XXV.--MITHRIDATES, SULLA, MARIUS, CINNA, ET CÆTERA 257
+
+ XXVI.--DEATH OF CINNA. RETURN OF SULLA TO ROME. C. PAPIRIUS
+ CARBO. DICTATORSHIP OF SULLA 267
+
+ XXVII.--REACTION AGAINST THE POLICY OF SULLA. SERVICES OF
+ Q. SERTORIUS. METELLUS. CN. POMPEY. SPIRITED STEPS
+ OF SPARTACUS. THE IRATE PIRATE 275
+
+ XXVIII.--THE THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR. DEPOSITION AND DEATH OF
+ MITHRIDATES 284
+
+ XXIX.--CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. INTRODUCTION OF CICERO.
+ CÆSAR, POMPEY, CRASSUS, AND CO. 289
+
+ XXX.--OVERTHROW OF CRASSUS. DEFEAT OF POMPEY. DICTATORSHIP
+ AND DEATH OF CÆSAR. END OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC 299
+
+
+
+
+ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ 1. ROMULUS AND REMUS DISCOVERED BY A GENTLE SHEPHERD i
+
+ 2. TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS MAKES HIMSELF KING 33
+
+ 3. APPIUS CLAUDIUS PUNISHED BY THE PEOPLE 80
+
+ 4. THE GALLANT CURTIUS LEAPING INTO THE GULF 104
+
+ 5. PYRRHUS ARRIVES IN ITALY WITH HIS TROUPE 138
+
+ 6. HANNIBAL, WHILST EVEN YET A CHILD, SWEARS ETERNAL HATRED
+ TO THE ROMANS 168
+
+ 7. FLAMINIUS RESTORING LIBERTY TO GREECE AT THE ISTHMIAN GAMES 195
+
+ 8. THE MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI 234
+
+ 9. MARIUS DISCOVERED IN THE MARSHES AT MINTURNÆ 261
+
+ 10. CICERO DENOUNCING CATILINE 292
+
+
+
+
+ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD.
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ Initial T.--Æneas and Anchises 1
+
+ Rhea Silvia 4
+
+ Romulus Consulting the Augury 6
+
+ Remus jumping over the Walls 7
+
+ Awful Appearance of the Shade of Remus to Romulus 8
+
+ The Romans walking off with the Sabine Women 10
+
+ Initial R 14
+
+ Numa Pompilius remembering the Grotto 15
+
+ Death of Cluilius 17
+
+ Combat between the Horatii and Curiatii 19
+
+ Initial 23
+
+ Celeres 24
+
+ Debtor and Creditor. Seizure of Goods for a Debt 28
+
+ Initial T 33
+
+ Tarquinius Superbus has the Sibylline Books valued 35
+
+ The Evil Conscience of Tarquin 37
+
+ Mrs. Sextus consoles herself with a Little Party 39
+
+ Tail-piece 42
+
+ Initial B 43
+
+ Aruns and Brutus 45
+
+ Horatius Cocles Defending the Bridge 49
+
+ Mucius Scævola before Porsenna 51
+
+ Clælia and her Companions escaping from the Etruscan Camp 52
+
+ Initial T 56
+
+ Coriolanus parting from his Wife and Family 63
+
+ Initial A 65
+
+ A Lictor is sent to arrest Publilius Volero 68
+
+ Cincinnatus chosen Dictator 70
+
+ Roman Bull and Priest of the Period 73
+
+ Virginia carried off by a Minion in the pay of Appius 78
+
+ In the foreground of the Tableau may be observed a Patrician
+ looking very black at the Triumph of the General 83
+
+ In all probability something of this sort 84
+
+ School-boys flogging the Schoolmaster 88
+
+ Initial A.--A Gaul 89
+
+ The Citadel saved by the cackling of the Geese 93
+
+ Initial R.--Roman Soldier 97
+
+ Miss Fabia, the Younger, astonished at the Patrician's
+ Double-knock 98
+
+ Titus threatening Pomponius 103
+
+ Terrific Combat between Titus Manlius and a Gaul of gigantic
+ Stature 105
+
+ Initial T 107
+
+ A Scare-crow 109
+
+ Metius aggravating Titus Manlius 111
+
+ The Romans clothed by the Inhabitants
+ of Capua 119
+
+ Samnite Soldier 126
+
+ Initial I.--Æsculapius 129
+
+ The Ambassadors purchasing Æsculapius 133
+
+ Tail-piece 134
+
+ Initial R 135
+
+ Appearance in the Senate of a young Nobleman, named Meto 139
+
+ Self-possession of Fabricius, the Ambassador, under rather
+ Trying Circumstances 142
+
+ Discovery of the Head of Summanus 145
+
+ Curius Dentatus refusing the Magnificent Gift offered by the
+ Samnite Ambassadors 146
+
+ Initial A 150
+
+ Roman Man-of-War, from a scarce Medal 153
+
+ Initial P 161
+
+ Hanno announcing to the Mercenaries the Emptiness of the
+ Public Coffers 162
+
+ Early Roman Gladiator and his Patron 165
+
+ His Excellency Q. Fabius offering Peace or War to the
+ Carthaginian Senate 169
+
+ Hannibal crossing the Alps 173
+
+ Hannibal disguising himself 176
+
+ The "Slow Coach" 179
+
+ Young Varro 180
+
+ Archimedes taking a Warm Bath 186
+
+ Considerate Conduct of Scipio Africanus 188
+
+ Initial W 193
+
+ Hannibal leads the Ambassadors rather a fatiguing Walk round
+ Carthage 197
+
+ Hannibal requesting the Cretan Priests to become his Bankers 200
+
+ Hannibal makes the usual neat and appropriate Speech previous
+ to killing himself 201
+
+ Initial I 204
+
+ Roman Lady "Shopping" 205
+
+ Terence reading his Play to Cæcilius 210
+
+ Light Comedy Man of the Period 212
+
+ Bacchanalian Group, from a very old Vase 223
+
+ Assassination of Viriathus 226
+
+ Arrest of Eunus 231
+
+ Tib. Gracchus canvassing 238
+
+ Melancholy end of Tib. Gracchus 239
+
+ Scipio Æmilianus cramming himself for a Speech after a hearty
+ Supper 240
+
+ Rash Act of Caius Gracchus 244
+
+ Tail-piece 246
+
+ Drusus is Stabbed, and Expires gracefully 254
+
+ Initial F 257
+
+ "Who dares kill Marius?" 261
+
+ Marius in the Ruins of Carthage 263
+
+ Marius in his Old Age 266
+
+ Funeral Pile of Sulla 274
+
+ Initial T--Cæsar and Pompey very much alike, especially Pompey 275
+
+ Sertorius and his young Friends 278
+
+ Armed Slave 280
+
+ Spartacus 281
+
+ Mithridates, his rash act 286
+
+ Mithridates 287
+
+ Initial A--Libertas, Æqualitas, Fraternitas 289
+
+ Fulvia 291
+
+ Cicero throws up his Brief, like a Gentleman 296
+
+ Initial C 299
+
+ "Quid times? Cæsarem vehis." 301
+
+ The End of Julius Cæsar 308
+
+
+
+
+THE COMIC HISTORY OF ROME.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIRST.
+
+FROM THE FOUNDATION OF ROME TO THE DEATH OF ROMULUS.
+
+[Illustration: Æneas and Anchises.]
+
+
+The origin of the Romans has long been lost in that impenetrable fog,
+the mist of ages; which, it is to be feared, will never clear off, for
+it unfortunately seems to grow thicker the more boldly we try to grope
+about in it. In the midst of these fogs, some energetic individual will
+now and then appear with a pretty powerful link, but there are not
+enough of these links to form a connected chain of incidents.
+
+One of the oldest and most popular traditions concerning the origin of
+the Romans, is that founded on the remarkable feat of filial pick-a-back
+alleged to have been performed by Æneas, who is frequently dragged in
+head and shoulders, with his venerable parent, to lead off the march of
+events, and, as it were, open the ball of history.
+
+It is said that after[1] the siege of Troy, Æneas snatched up his Lares
+and Penates in one hand, and his father, Anchises, in the other; when,
+flinging the former over the right shoulder, and the latter over the
+left, he ran down to the sea-shore, called "A boat a-hoy," and escaped
+from the jaws of destruction into the mouth of the Tiber. There are many
+reasons for disbelieving this story, and it is quite enough to deprive
+it of weight to consider what must have been the weight of Anchises
+himself, and the large bundle of household images that Æneas is alleged
+to have been burdened with. Putting probability in one scale, and an
+elderly gentleman, with a lot of Lares and a parcel of Penates in the
+other, there can be no doubt which will preponderate. It happens, also,
+that Troy is usually said to have been destroyed 430 years before Rome
+was founded,[2] so that it would have been to this day as unfounded as
+the tale itself, if the city had had no other foundation than that which
+Æneas was supposed to have given it.
+
+The Latin Bards have adorned this story in their own peculiar way, by
+adding that Æneas, on his arrival in the Tiber, resolved to sacrifice a
+milk white sow, in gratitude for his safety. The sow, who must have been
+an ancestor of the learned pig, got scent of her fate, and running two
+or three miles up the country, produced a sad litter of thirty little
+ones; when Æneas, fancying he heard a voice telling him to build a town
+on the spot, determined, "please the pigs," to found a city there. The
+classical story-teller goes on to say, that Latinus, king of the Latins,
+happened to be at war with Turnus--or as we might call him Turner--King
+of the Rutuli, when the Trojans arrived, and the former, thinking it
+better worth his while to make friends than foes of the immigrants, gave
+them a tract of land, which rendered them extremely tractable. On the
+principle that one good turn deserves another, they turned round upon
+Turnus, and completely routed the Rutuli. Latinus, to show his
+gratitude, gave Lavinia--not the "lovely young" one, who Thomson tells
+us, "once had friends;" but his own daughter of that name--in marriage
+to Æneas, who at the death of his father-in-law, ruled over the city,
+and called his colony Lavinium. Tradition tells us further that Æneas
+had a son, Ascanius, sometimes called Parvus Iulus, or little Juli, who
+subsequently left Lavinium, and built Alba Longa--a sort of classical
+long acre--in that desirable neighbourhood known as the Alban Mount,
+which, from its becoming subsequently the most fashionable part of the
+city, may deserve the name of the Roman Albany.
+
+The descendants of Ascanius are said to have reigned 300 years, and an
+attempt has been made to fill up the gap of these three centuries with a
+quantity of dry rubbish of the antiquarian kind, which occupies space,
+without affording anything like a solid foundation for the structure to
+be built upon it. Of such a nature is the catalogue of matters alleged
+to have connected Æneas with the actual founders of Rome; but though
+names and dates are given, there is little doubt that the value of
+names is not even nominal, and that if we trust the dates, we shall
+rely on the falsest data.
+
+The spirit of antiquarianism is as ancient as the subjects on which it
+employs its ingenuity, and the Romans began puzzling themselves at a
+very early period about their own origin. A long course of fabrication
+ended in rearing up a legendary fabric, which was acknowledged by all
+the Roman bards; and however much they may have doubted the truth of the
+tale, they deserve some credit for the consistency with which they have
+adhered to it.
+
+The legend states that one Procas, belonging to the family of the
+Silvii, or Silvers, had two sons,--the elder, to whom the kingdom was
+left, being called Numitor, and the younger going by the name of
+Amulius. Though Numitor was the bigger brother, he does not seem to have
+been, pugilistically speaking, the better man, for he was deprived of
+the kingdom by Amulius, who, to prevent the chances of the law of
+primogeniture again taking effect, by placing any of Numitor's
+descendants on the throne, caused Rhea Silvia, the only daughter of that
+individual to become a virgin in the Temple of Vesta. The Vestals were,
+in fact, the old original nuns, withdrawing themselves from the world,
+and entering into a solemn vow against marriage during thirty years;
+after which period they were free to wed, though they were scarcely ever
+invited to avail themselves of their rather tardy privilege. The senior
+sister went by the highly respectable name of Virgo Maxima--or old maid
+in chief--and was doubtless something more than ordinary in her
+appearance, as well as in her position. The Vestals were required to be
+plain in their dress, and in order to extend this plainness as far as
+possible to their looks, their hair was cut very short, however much
+they may have been distressed at parting with their tresses. Their chief
+duty consisted in keeping up the fire on the altar of Vesta, and they
+were prohibited on pain of death from giving to any other flame the
+smallest encouragement. In the event of such an offence having been
+committed by an unfortunate Vestal, who found her position little better
+than being buried alive, she was made to undergo literally that awful
+penalty.
+
+Though the duties of the Vestals were rigidly enforced, and the letting
+out of the sacred fire was, in some cases, punished by the extinction of
+the delinquent's vital spark, they enjoyed some peculiar advantages.
+Though their acts were under strict control, they were, in one sense,
+allowed a will of their own; for they were permitted, even when under
+age, to make their own testaments. They occupied reserved seats at
+public entertainments; and if they happened to meet a criminal in
+custody, they had the privilege of releasing him from the hands of the
+police of the period. Notwithstanding these inducements, the office of
+Vestal was not in much request; and, in the event of a vacancy, it was
+awarded by lot to some young lady, whose dissatisfaction with her lot
+was usually very visible. Such is a brief outline of the duties and
+liabilities of the order into which Amulius forced his niece, and it
+has been the subject of complaint in more recent times that Rome still
+occasionally does as Rome used to do. We will now return to Rhea Silvia,
+who appears to have entered the service of the goddess as a
+maid-of-all-work; for she was in the habit of going to draw water from a
+well; and it was on one of these aquatic excursions she met with a
+military man, passing himself off as Mars who paid his addresses to her,
+and proved irresistible.
+
+[Illustration: Rhea Silvia.]
+
+Rhea Silvia gave birth to twins; upon which her cruel uncle ordered her
+to be put to death, and desired that her infant offspring should be
+treated as a couple of unwelcome puppies, and got rid of by drowning in
+the ordinary manner.
+
+The children were placed in a cradle, or, as some say, a bowl, and
+turned adrift on the river; so that Amulius, if he had any misgiving as
+to the security of his crown, preferred to drown it in the bowl with his
+unhappy little relatives.
+
+It happened that there had been such a run on the banks of the Tiber,
+that its coffers or coffer-dams had poured out their contents all over
+the adjacent plains, and caused a very extensive distribution of its
+currency. Among other valuable deposits, it chanced to lodge for
+security, in a branch connected with the bank, the children of Rhea
+Silvia, who, by the way, must have been very fortunate under the
+circumstances, in being able to keep a balance. The infants were not in
+a very enviable condition; for there was nobody to board and lodge them,
+though the Tiber was still at hand to wash and do for them. The high
+tide proved a tide of good fortune to the children, who were floated so
+far inland, that when the river receded, they were left high and dry at
+the foot of a fig[3] tree, with no one, apparently, to care a fig what
+became of them. Under these circumstances a she-wolf, who had gone down
+to the Tiber to drink, heard the whimpering of the babies among the
+trees, and, her attention being drawn off from the water in the river to
+the whine in the wood, she came forward in the most handsome manner in
+the capacity of a wet-nurse to give them suck and succour. How this wolf
+became possessed of so much of the milk of human kindness, does not
+appear, and it is not perhaps worth while to inquire.
+
+The children, it is said, were awakened by receiving a gentle licking
+from the tongue of the animal standing _in loco parentis_ over them.
+Finding the situation damp, the wolf removed the infants to her den,
+where they were visited by a philanthropic woodpecker; who, when they
+were hungry, would bring them some tempting grub, or worm, by which the
+woodpecker soon wormed itself into the children's confidence. Other
+members of the feathered tribe made themselves useful in this novel
+nursery, by keeping off the insects; and many a gnat found itself--or
+rather lost itself--unexpectedly in the throat of some remorseless
+swallow. However well-meaning the animal may have been, the children
+could not have profited greatly, if there had been no one ready to take
+them from the month; and happily Faustulus, the king's shepherd, who had
+watched them as they were being carried to the wolf's cave or loup-hole,
+provided them with another loophole to get out of it. Taking advantage
+of the wolf's temporary absence from home, the "gentle shepherd,"
+resolving to rescue the children, by hook or by crook, removed the babes
+to his own hut, and handed them over to his wife Laurentia, as a sort of
+supplement to their previously rather extensive family.
+
+Some historians, refusing to believe the story of the Wolf and the
+Woodpecker, have endeavoured to reconcile probability with tradition, by
+suggesting that the wife of Faustulus had got the name of the Wolf from
+the contrast she presented to her lamb-like husband, and that the
+supposed woodpecker was simply a hen-pecker, in the person of
+Laurentia.
+
+[Illustration: Romulus consulting the Augury.]
+
+[Illustration: Remus jumping over the Walls.]
+
+Romulus and Remus were the names of the two infants, who, as they grew
+up, began to take after their foster-mother the wolf, turning out
+exceedingly wild lads, with a lupine propensity for worrying the flocks,
+and going on altogether in a very brutal manner. Remus was taken up on a
+charge of sheep stealing, or something very like it, and brought before
+Numitor, his own grandfather, when a recognition took place in a manner
+not much in accordance with the ordinary rules of evidence. Romulus had
+also been apprised of his relationship by Faustulus, who must have made
+a pretty bold guess at a fact he could not have known; and the two lads,
+being adopted by Numitor, were sent for their education to Gabii, where
+everything was taught that men of rank in those days were expected to
+learn, and whence the word Gaby is clearly derivable. Anxious to do
+something for the old gentleman, their grandfather, Romulus and Remus
+got up a demonstration in his favour, and they succeeded in restoring
+him to the throne of Alba Longa, a long row of white houses, which was
+less of a territory than a Terrace, and it is a strange coincidence that
+Terracina, or little Terrace, formed one end of it. Amulius was killed,
+and leaving Numitor sole master of White's Row, Romulus and Remus
+resolved on a building speculation a great deal higher up--that is to
+say on the spot where they had passed the days of their infancy. Before
+the new city was commenced, a dispute arose, first, about what it
+should be called, and secondly, as to who should govern it. Romulus and
+Remus, being twins, could not bring the law of primogeniture to bear
+upon their little differences, and it was therefore agreed to refer the
+matter to augury, which should decide who was to be inaugurated as the
+ruler of the new colony. Romulus mounted the Palatine Mount, and Remus
+took his station on the Aventine, when both began to keep a very sharp
+look out for something ominous. Remus was the first to remark something
+odd in the shape of six vultures flying from north to south, but Romulus
+no sooner heard the news than he declared he had seen twelve, and the
+question arose whether, figuratively speaking, the one bird in hand seen
+by Remus should outweigh the two in the bush that subsequently appeared
+to Romulus. The augur, when appealed to, gave, as usual, a very
+ambiguous answer. It amounted, in effect, to the observation that there
+were six of one and a dozen of the other; so that the soothsayer,
+instead of having said anything to soothe, was far more likely to
+irritate. Both parties claimed the victory; Remus contending for the
+precedence usually granted to the early bird, and Romulus maintaining
+that he had been specially favoured, by having been permitted to see so
+many birds of a feather flock together. Romulus accordingly commenced
+drawing his plans in the Etruscan fashion, by causing a boundary line to
+be marked out with a plough, to which were yoked a heifer and a bull, a
+ceremony from which, perhaps, the English term bulwarks, and the French
+word boulevards or bulvards, may or may not be derivable. The line thus
+traced was called the Pomœrium, and where an entrance was to be made, it
+was customary to carry the plough across the space--a little engineering
+difficulty that gave the name of Porta to a gate, from the verb
+_portare_, to carry. Remus looked on at the proceedings in a
+half-quizzing, half-quarrelsome spirit, until the wall rose a little
+above the ground, when he amused himself by leaping derisively over it.
+"Thus," said he, "will the enemy leap over those barriers." "And thus,"
+rejoined the superintendent or clerk of the works--one Celer, who acted
+in this instance with thoughtless celerity--"thus shall die whoever may
+leap over my barriers."[4] With these words he gave Remus a mortal
+blow, and the legend goes on to state, that Romulus was immediately
+seized with remorse, and subsequent visits from his brother's ghost
+rendered Romulus himself little better than the ghost of what he used to
+be. Remus showed as much spirit after his decease as during his
+lifetime; and took the form of the deadly nightshade, springing up at
+the bed-side, to poison the existence of his brother.
+
+[Illustration: Awful appearance of the Shade of Remus to Romulus.]
+
+Tradition tells us that Romulus came at length to terms with the ghost,
+who agreed to discontinue his visits, in consideration of the
+establishment of the festival of the Lemuria--called, originally,
+Remuria--in honour of his memory. The rites were celebrated
+bare-footed--an appropriate penalty for one who had stepped into a
+brother's shoes; the hands were thrice washed--a process much needed, as
+a sort of expiation for dirty work;--and black beans were thrown four
+times behind the back, with the superstitious belief that the growing up
+of the beans would prevent the stalking abroad of evil spirits. The
+unfortunate twin was buried on Mount Aventine, and Romulus ordered a
+double set of sceptres, crowns, and royal badges, in order that he might
+set up one set by the side of his own, in honour of his late relative.
+These duplicates of mere senseless symbols served only to commemorate
+the double part which Romulus had acted; for a vacant throne and a
+headless crown were but empty tributes to a murdered brother's memory.
+
+The city having been built, was found considerably too large for the
+people there were to live in it; and as a place cannot, like a garment,
+be made to fit by taking it in, there was no alternative but to fill the
+city with any stuff that might serve for stuffing. Romulus, therefore,
+threw open his gates to any one who chose to walk in, which caused an
+influx of those who, from having no character at all, usually go under
+the denomination of all sorts of characters. Society became terribly
+mixed, and, in fact, the place was a kind of Van Demon's Land, crammed
+with criminals, replete with runaway slaves, and forming--in a word--a
+regular refuge for the morally destitute. It says something for the
+females of the period, that women were very scarce at Rome, and it is
+surprising that some learned philologist has never yet made the remark,
+that the fact of the word Ro-man being familiar to us all, while there
+is no such term as Ro-woman, may be taken as a collateral proof of the
+scarcity of the gentler sex in the city founded by Romulus.
+
+The ladies of the neighbourhood were indisposed to listen to the
+addresses of the male population of Rome, which was quite bad enough to
+suggest the possibility of the Latin word _male-factor_ having supplied
+the distinctive epithet "male" to the ruder sex in general. In vain were
+proposals of marriage made to the maidens of the adjoining states, who
+one and all declared they would not change their state by becoming the
+wives of Romans. Irritated by these refusals, Romulus determined to
+prove himself more than a match for these women, every one of whom
+thought herself too good a match for any of his people. He announced his
+intention to give a party or pic-nic for the celebration of the
+Consualia, which were games in honour of Consus, the god of Counsel,--a
+sort of lawyer's frolic, in which a mole was sacrificed, probably
+because working in the dark was always the characteristic of the legal
+fraternity. Invitations to these games were issued in due form to the
+Latins and Sabines, with their wives and daughters, many of whom flocked
+to the spot, under the influence of female curiosity.
+
+[Illustration: _The Romans walking off with the Sabine Women._]
+
+The weather being propitious, all the Sabine beauty and fashion were
+attracted to the place, and the games, consisting of horse-racing, gave
+to the scene all the animation of a cup day at Ascot. Suddenly, at a
+preconcerted signal, there was a general elopement of the Roman youth
+with the Sabine ladies, who were, in the most ungallant manner,
+abandoned to their fate by the Sabine gentlemen. It is true that the
+latter were taken by surprise, but they certainly made the very best of
+their way home before they thought of avenging the wrong and insult that
+had been committed. Had they been all married ladies who were carried
+off, the cynic might have suggested that the Sabine husbands would not
+have objected to a cheap mode of divorce, but--to make use of an
+Irishism--there was only one single woman who happened to be a wife in
+the whole of the "goodly company." The small Latin states, Antennæ,
+Crustumerium, and Cœnina, were very angry at the supineness of the
+Sabines, whose King--one Tatius--seemed disposed to take the thing
+rather too tacitly. The three states above mentioned commenced an action
+on their own account, and Acron, the King of Cœnina, fell in battle by
+the hand of Romulus, who, stripping off the apparel of the foe, caused
+it to be carried to Rome and hung upon an oak, where the arms and armour
+of Acron, glittering among the acorns, were dedicated, as _Spolia
+opima_, to Jupiter Feretrius.[5]
+
+Though Tatius had been the last, he was not destined to be the least of
+those taking part in the Sabine war; and he determined to rely less on
+strategy than stratagem. The water in those days was not so well laid on
+as in later times; when the lofty aqueducts, still running in ruins
+about the neighbourhood of Rome, were carried to an elevation fitted for
+the very highest service that could be desired. Rome, instead of being
+well supplied, was supplied by wells; and ladies of rank were accustomed
+to draw the water required for domestic purposes. It chanced, one
+afternoon, that Tarpeia, the daughter of Tarpeius, the commander of the
+Roman city, on the Capitoline Hill, was proceeding on an errand of the
+sort, when she met with Tatius, who, addressing her in the language of a
+friend, requested "a drink" of her pitcher. Tarpeia, dazzled by the
+splendour of his gold bracelets and glittering armour, could not resist
+the request of such a highly polished gentleman. Tatius had purposely
+electrotyped himself for the interview, and, seeing the effect he had
+produced, he intimated that he had several friends, who were covered
+with metal quite as attractive as that he wore, and that, if Tarpeia
+would only open the gate of the citadel to himself and party, she should
+have more gold than she could carry. The bargain was faithfully kept on
+both sides; for Tarpeia opened the gate to Tatius and the Sabines, who,
+on their part performed their contract to the letter, for, as they
+entered, they threw at her not only their bracelets but their
+breast-plates, completely crushing her with the weight of the gold she
+had coveted; and making her think, no doubt, that "never was poor woman
+so unmercifully put upon." So thorough an illustration of an _embarras
+des richesses_ is not often met with in history.
+
+Being now possessed of the Capitoline, the Sabines were in an improved
+position; and the Romans, having tried in vain to recover the citadel,
+saw that they must either give in or give battle. Determining on the
+latter course, Romulus selected the valley between the Palatine and the
+Capitoline, where a general engagement began; but the Romans seemed to
+have special engagements elsewhere, for they were all running away, when
+their leader, with great tact, vowed a Temple to Jupiter Stator--the
+flight-stayer. This gave to the action a decided re-action; for the
+Romans, being rallied upon their cowardice, by their chief, began, in
+their turn, to rally. The contest grew fierce on both sides, when
+suddenly the Sabine ladies, who were the primary cause of the quarrel,
+threw themselves into the midst; and, though female interference has
+rarely the effect of making peace, the women were, on this occasion, the
+cause of a cessation of hostility. It was agreed that the two nations
+should be henceforth united under the name of Romans and Quirites, each
+having a distinct king, a distinction which, had it continued, must in
+time have led to a difference. In a few years, however, Tatius was slain
+at a sacrifice which he had attended without the remotest idea of being
+made a victim himself; and Romulus, finding nothing said about a
+successor, thought it politic to hush the matter up without even
+avenging his late colleague. Romulus is said to have reigned for
+seven-and-thirty years; but when we enquire into the exact time and
+manner of his death we learn nothing, beyond the fact that nobody knows
+what became of him. According to the statement of one set of
+authorities, he was attending a review in the Palus Capræ--a marsh near
+the Tiber--when a total eclipse of the sun took place, and on the return
+of light, Romulus was nowhere visible. If this was really the case, it
+is probable that he got into a perilous swamp, where he felt a rapid
+sinking; and all his attendants being in the dark as to his situation
+were unable to extricate him from the marsh in which, according to some
+authorities, he went down to posterity.
+
+It must, however, be confessed, that when we look for the cause of
+the death of Romulus in this fatal swamp, we have but very poor
+ground to go upon. It is, nevertheless, some consolation to us for the
+mystery that overhangs the place and manner of his decease, that his
+existence is, after all, quite apocryphal; and we are not expected to go
+into an elaborate inquiry when, where, and how he died, until the fact
+of his having ever lived at all has been satisfactorily settled.
+
+Before we have quite done with Romulus, it will be proper to state
+how he is said to have divided the people under his sovereignty. He
+is alleged to have separated them into three tribes--the Latin word
+_tribus_ will here suggest itself to the acute student--namely the Ramnes,
+called after the Romans; the Tities, after Titus Tatius; and the Luceres,
+who derived their appellation either from one Lucumo, an Etruscan
+ally of Romulus, or Lucerus a king of Ardea; or _lucus_ a grove, because
+there was no grove, and hence we get _lucerus a non luco_, on the same
+principle as _lucus a non lucendo_: or lastly, according to Niebuhr's
+opinion, from a place called Lucer or Lucerum, which the Luceres
+might have inhabited.
+
+Each tribe was divided into ten _curiæ_,[6] every one of which had a
+chapel for the performance of sacred rites, and was presided over by a
+_curio_; and the reader must have little curiosity, indeed, if he does
+not ask whether our modern word curate may not be referred to this
+remote origin. The _curiæ_ were subdivided into gentes, or clans, and
+each gens consisted of several families, called gentiles; so that a man
+of family and a member of the gentes, became somewhat synonymous. In
+time, however, the gentiles got very much mixed by unsuitable marriages;
+and hence there arose among those who could claim to belong to a gens, a
+distinction similar to that between the _gentes_, or _gents_, of our own
+day, and the _gentiles_, or _gentlemen_. Romulus is said to have
+selected his body-guard from the three tribes, taking one hundred from
+each, and as Celer, the Etruscan, was their captain, the guards got the
+name of Celeres--the fast men of the period.
+
+In addition to the tribes, there existed in those early times a separate
+body, consisting of slaves, and a somewhat higher class, called by the
+name of clients.[7] The latter belonged to the common people, each of
+whom was permitted to choose from among the patricians a _patronus_, or
+patron, who could claim the life and fortune of his client in exchange
+for the cheaper commodities of protection and patronage. The patron gave
+his countenance and advice when asked, the client giving his labour and
+his money when wanted--an arrangement which proves that clients, from
+the remotest times to the present hour, were liable to pecuniary mulcts,
+even to the extent of the entire sacrifice of the whole of their
+subsistence, for the benefit of those who had the privilege of advising
+them.
+
+The Senate--a term derived from the Latin word _Senes_, old men--formed
+the chief council of the state, and its first institution is usually
+referred to the reign of Romulus. Three members were nominated by each
+tribe, and three by each of the thirty _curiæ_, making ninety-nine in
+all, to which Romulus himself is said to have added one, for the purpose
+of making up round numbers, and at the same time nominating a sort of
+president over the assembly, who also had to take care of the city, in
+the absence of the sovereign. There is a difference of opinion as to
+whether one hundred new members were added to the Senate at the time of
+the union with the Sabines, for Dionysius says there were; but Livy says
+there were not; and we are disposed to attach credit to the former, for
+he was an extremely particular man, while Livy was frequently oblivious
+of caution in giving credence and currency to mere tradition.
+
+Before closing this portion of the narrative of the History of Rome, it
+is necessary to warn the reader against believing too much of it. The
+current legends are, indeed, _Legenda_, or things to be read, because
+every body is in the habit of repeating them; but the student must guard
+himself against placing credence in the old remark, that "what everybody
+says must be true," for here is a direct instance of what everybody says
+being decidedly otherwise. The life and reign of Romulus, are to be
+taken not simply _cum grano salis_--with a grain of salt--but with an
+entire cellar of that condiment, which is so useful in correcting the
+evil consequences of swallowing too much of anything.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] The Lares of the Romans are supposed to have been the Manes or
+shades of their ancestors, and consisted of little waxen figures--such
+as we should put under shades made of glass--which adorned the halls of
+houses. The Lares were sewn up in stout dog's-skin, durability being
+consulted more than elegance. The Penates were a superior order of
+deities, who were kept in the innermost parts of the establishment, and
+took their name from _penitus_, within, which caused the portion of the
+house they occupied to be afterwards called the _penetralia_.
+
+[2] Troy destroyed, B.C. 1184. Rome founded, B.C. 753.
+
+[3] From this circumstance the fig was considered figurative of the
+foundation of the city, and held sacred in Rome for many centuries.
+
+[4] The Pomœrium was not the actual wall, but a boundary line, held very
+sacred by the Romans. It consisted of nothing but the clod turned
+inwards by the furrow, and, it is probable, that the offensive act of
+Remus was not his leaping over the wall, but his hopping over the clod,
+which would, naturally, excite indignation against him as an unmannerly
+clod-hopper.
+
+[5] The word Feretrius will strike the merest tyro as being derived from
+_fero_, to strike, and meaning to designate Jupiter in his character of
+Striker, or Smiter.
+
+[6] The best derivation of the word _curia_ is _quiris_, which, on
+inquiry, is found to correspond with _curis_.
+
+[7] The word "client" is probably derived from _cluere_, to hear or
+obey--at all events cluere is the best clue we can give to the origin of
+the word in question.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SECOND.
+
+FROM THE ACCESSION OF NUMA POMPILIUS TO THE DEATH OF ANCUS MARTIUS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Romulus having been swamped in the marsh of Capra, or having disappeared
+down one of those drains, which have carried away into the great sea of
+conjecture so many of the facts of former ages, the senate put off from
+week to week, and from this day se'nnight to that day se'nnight the
+choice of a successor. The honourable members agreed to try their hands
+at Government by turns, and they took the sceptre for five days each by
+a constant rotation, which any wheel, and more particularly a
+commonwheal, was sure to suffer from. The people growing tired of this
+unprofitable game of fives, which threw everything into a state of sixes
+and sevens, clamoured so loudly to be reduced under one head, that
+permission was given them to elect a sovereign. Their choice fell upon
+Numa Pompilius, because he was born on the day of the foundation of the
+city; so that he may be said to have succeeded by birth to the berth of
+chief magistrate. Numa Pompilius was a Sabine, who we are told had been
+instructed by Pythagoras, and we should be happy to believe what we are
+told, if we did not happen to know that the sage belonged to quite a
+different time, having lived two hundred years later than the alleged
+existence of the pupil.
+
+Before entering on his duties, the newly chosen king consulted the
+augurs, with one of whom he walked up to the Temple on the Saturnian
+Hill, where Numa, seated on a stone, looked to the south as far as he
+could see, in order to ascertain whether there was any impediment to his
+views and prospects. In the earliest periods of the history of Rome no
+office was undertaken without a consultation of the augurs, or auspices;
+and the continued use of these words affords proof of the ancient custom
+to which they relate; though inauguration now takes place under auspices
+of a very different character. The recognised signs of those times were
+only two, consisting of the lightning, by means of which the truth was
+supposed to flash across the augur's mind; and, secondly, the birds,
+who, by being consulted for something singular in their singing, or
+eccentric in their flying, might, had they known it, have fairly plumed
+themselves on the honours done to them. A crow on the left betokened
+that things were looking black, but the same bird on the right imparted
+to everything a brighter colour; and as these birds are in the habit of
+wandering right and left, the augurs could always declare there was
+something to be said on both sides.
+
+Numa Pompilius was, according to all accounts, a just ruler, and he
+began his career in a ruler-like manner by drawing several straight
+lines about Rome, to mark its boundaries. He placed these under a deity,
+termed Terminus, and he erected twelve stones within a stone's throw of
+each other, at regular intervals along the frontier. These were visited
+once a year by twelve officers, called Fratres Arvales, appointed for
+the purpose, and the custom originated, no doubt, the parochial practice
+of perambulating parishes with wands and staves, placed in the hands of
+beadles, who not unfrequently add the luxury of beating the boys to the
+ceremony of beating the boundaries.
+
+[Illustration: Numa Pompilius remembering the Grotto.]
+
+Numa, though he had come to the throne, was fond of the retired walks of
+life, and frequently took a solitary stroll in the suburbs. During one
+of his rambles chance brought him to a grotto, and he was induced to
+remember the grotto by the surpassing loveliness of its fair inhabitant.
+Her name was Egeria, her profession that of a fortune-teller, which gave
+her such an influence over the superstitious mind of Numa, that she
+ruled him with her divining rod as completely as if it had been a rod of
+iron. He professed to act under the advice of this nymph, to whom
+tradition--an inveterate match-maker--has married him, and he instituted
+the Flamines, an order of priests, to give weight to the falsehoods or
+"flams" he thought fit to promulgate. The privileges of the Flamines
+were not altogether of the most comfortable kind, and consisted chiefly
+in the right of wearing the Apex--a cap made of olive wood--and the
+Laena, a sort of Roman wrap-rascal, shaggy on both sides, and worn above
+the toga, as an overcoat. The Flamen was prohibited from appearing in
+public without his Apex, which could not be kept on the head without
+strings; but such was the stringency of the regulations, that one
+Sulpicius[8] was deprived of his priesthood, in consequence of his
+official hat, which was as light as a modern zephyr, having been blown
+off his head in the midst of a sacrifice.
+
+Numa added, also, a sort of _ballet_ company to the mythological
+arrangements of his day, by establishing twelve _Salii_, or dancing
+priests, whose duty it was to execute a grand _pas de douze_ on certain
+occasions through the principal public thorough fares. The Salii, though
+a highly respectable, were not a very venerable order, for no one could
+remain in it whose father and mother were not both alive, the existence
+of the parents of the dancing priests being, no doubt, required as a
+guarantee that their dancing days were not yet over.
+
+Several temples are dated from this reign, including that of Janus, the
+double-faced deity, who presided over peace and war--a most appropriate
+office to one capable of looking two ways at once, for there are always
+two sides to every quarrel. This temple must have been perfectly useless
+during the life of its founder, for it was never to be opened in the
+time of peace, and Numa preserved for Rome forty-three years of
+undisturbed tranquillity. He was emphatically the friend of order, and
+its usual consequences, prosperity to trade, with soundness of credit,
+and he encouraged commerce by giving a patron-saint or Lar to every
+industrial occupation. He marked also the value of good faith by
+building a temple to Bona Fides, and it may be presumed that the
+creditor, who, putting up with the loss of his little bill, sacrificed a
+bad debt in this Temple, was still in hope that he should eventually
+find his account in it.
+
+If it cannot be said that Numa never lost a day, it must be admitted
+that he made the most of his time; for he added two whole months to the
+year of Romulus. January and February were the names given to the time
+thus gained; but as the year did not then correspond with the course of
+the sun, it was usual to introduce, every other year, a supplementary
+month, so that if one year was too short, the next, by being too long,
+made it as broad as it was long in the aggregate.
+
+Numa Pompilius lived to be eighty-two; when he had the beatitude of
+dying as peacefully as he had lived; and so gently had Nature dealt with
+him, that she had suffered him to run up more than four scores, before
+her debt was satisfied. Certain stories are told of the funeral
+ceremonies that followed Numa's death; and it is said that the Senators
+acted as porters to his bier, in token of their appreciation of the
+imperial measures which Numa had himself carried. It has been stated,
+also, that he caused to be placed, within his tomb, a copy, on papyrus,
+or palm leaves,[9] of his own works, in twenty-four books; and it is
+certainly a happy idea to bury an author with his writings, when, if
+they have been provocative of sleep in others, he may eventually reap
+the benefit of their somniferous properties.
+
+On the death of Numa, the country having been taught, by past
+experience, the danger of allowing the crown to go from head to head,
+without the slightest regard to a fit, determined that the interregnum
+should be short, and the election of a new king was at once proceeded
+with. The choice fell upon Tullus Hostilius, who was of a decidedly
+warlike turn, and was ever on the look-out for a pretext to commence
+hostilities. The Albans, our old friends of Alba Longa, or White's Row,
+were the nearest, and consequently the most conveniently situated, for
+the indulgence of his pugnacious propensities; and tradition relates
+that on one occasion some Alban peasants, having been attacked and
+stripped by the Romans, the former, who had lost even their clothes,
+sought redress at the hands of their rulers. In the course of an attempt
+to settle the dispute between Alba and Rome, each place sent
+ambassadors, who crossed each other on the road, as if the two states
+were determined to be in every way at cross purposes. The Alban envoys
+were beguiled of all ideas of business by invitations to banquets and
+feasts, so that whenever they attempted to ask for explanations, their
+mouths were stopped with a dinner or a supper, given in honour of their
+visit. The Roman messengers were prohibited, on the contrary, from
+accepting invitations, or giving up to parties what was meant for
+Romankind; and had received peremptory instructions to demand an
+immediate settlement of their long-standing account from the Albans. The
+parties could not understand each other, or, rather, they understood
+each other too well; for war was the object of both, though neither of
+them liked the responsibility of beginning it. The Albans, however,
+prepared to march on Rome, and encamped themselves within the confines
+of a ditch, into which ditch their King, Cluilius, tumbled, one night,
+very mysteriously, and died, which caused them to dignify the ditch with
+the name of _fossa Cluilia_.
+
+[Illustration: Death of Cluilius.]
+
+The Albans appointed one Mettius Fuffetius, a fussy and nervous
+personage, as Dictator, in the place of the late King; and Fuffetius
+requested an interview with Tullus, who agreed to the proposition, with
+a determination, before meeting the Dictator, not to be dictated to.
+Mettius represented the inconvenience of wasting whole rivers of blood,
+when a few pints might answer all the purpose; and it was finally agreed
+to settle the matter by a grand combat of six, sustained on either side
+by three champions, chosen from each army. The Alban and the Roman
+forces were graced, respectively, with a trio of brothers, whose
+strength and activity rendered them worthy to be ranked with the small
+family parties who attach the epithet of Herculean, Acrobatic, Indian
+rubber, or Incredible, to the fraternal character in which they come
+forward to astonish and amuse the enlightened age we live in.
+
+These six young men were known as the Horatii and Curiatii,--the former
+being on the Roman, the latter on the Alban side; and to them it was
+agreed, by mutual consent, to trust the fate of the battle. The
+story-tellers have done their utmost to render everything Roman as
+romantic as possible; and the legend of the Horatii and Curiatii has
+been heightened by making one of the latter batch of brothers the
+accepted lover of the sister of the Horatii.
+
+All the arrangements for the sanguinary _sestetto_ having been
+completed, the six champions came forward, looking fresh and confident,
+not one of them displaying nervousness by a shaking of the hand, though
+they shook each other's hands very heartily. Having taken their
+positions, the men presented a picture which we regret has not been
+preserved for us by some sporting annalist of the period. Imagination,
+who is "our own reporter" on this occasion, and, perhaps, as accurate a
+reporter as many who profess to chronicle passing events, must fill up
+the outlines of the sketch that has been handed down to us.
+
+The contest commenced with a great deal of that harmless, but violent
+exercise, which goes on between Shakspeare's celebrated pair of
+Macs--the well known 'Beth and 'Duff--when the former requests the
+latter to "lay on" to him, and there ensues a clashing of their swords,
+as vigorous as the clashing of their claims to the crown of Scotland. At
+length one of the Curiatii, feeling that they had all met for the
+despatch of business, despatched one of the Horatii, upon which the
+combatants, being set going, they continued to go one by one with great
+rapidity. A few seconds had scarcely elapsed when a second of the
+Horatii fell, and the survivor of the trio, thinking that he must
+eventually become number three if he did not speedily take care of
+number one, resolved to stop short this run of ill-luck against his
+race, by attempting a run of good luck for his life; or, in other words,
+having a race for it. The excellence of his wind saved him from drawing
+his last breath, for the Curiatii, starting off in pursuit, soon proved
+unequal in their speed, and one shot far in advance of the other two,
+who, though stout of heart, were somewhat too stout of body to be as
+forward as their nimbler brother in giving chase to their antagonist.
+The survivor of the Horatii perceiving this, turned suddenly round upon
+the nearest of his foes, and having at once disposed of him, waited
+patiently for the other two, who were coming at unequal speed, puffing
+and panting after him. A single blow did for the second of the Curiatii,
+who was already blown by the effort of running, and it was unnecessary
+to do more with the third, who came up completely out of breath, than to
+render him incapable of taking in a further supply of that vitally
+important article. The last of the Horatii had consequently become the
+conqueror, and though when he began to run his life seemed to hang on a
+thread, which an unlucky stitch in his side would have finished off, his
+flight was the cause of his coming off in the end with flying colours.
+After the first of the Curiatii fell, fatness proved fatal to the other
+two, for Horatius, by dealing with them _en gros_, as well as _en
+detail_, settled all accounts with both of them.
+
+[Illustration: Combat between the Horatii and Curiatii.]
+
+Seeing the result of the contest, Fuffetius, on the part of the Albans,
+gave out that they gave in, and the Romans returned home with Horatius
+at their head, carrying--in a huge bundle--the spoils of the Curiatii.
+At the entrance of the city he met his sister, who, perceiving among the
+spoils, a garment of her late lover, embroidered with a piece of work
+from her own hands, commenced another piece of work of a most frantic
+and desperate character. Maddened at the sight of the yarn she had spun
+for the lost object of her affections, she began spinning another yarn
+that threatened to be interminable, if her brother had not soon cut the
+thread of it. She called him by all kinds of names but his own, and was,
+in fact, as noisy and abusive as a conventional "female in distress,"
+or, as that alarming and dangerous nuisance, "an injured woman."
+Horatius, who had found the blades of three assailants less cutting than
+a sister's tongue, interrupted her as she ran through her wrongs, by
+running her through with his sword, accompanying the act with the
+exclamation, "Thus perish all the enemies of Rome." Notwithstanding the
+excitement and _éclat_ attending the triumphant entry of Horatius into
+Rome, the proper officer of the period, whoever he may have been, was
+evidently not only on duty, but prepared to do it, for the victorious
+fratricide, or sororicide, was at once hurried off to the nearest Roman
+station. Having been taken before the king, his majesty saw great
+difficulties in the case, and was puzzled how to dispose of it. Taking
+out the scales of justice, he threw the heavy crime of Horatius into
+one; but the services performed for his country, when cast into the
+other scale, seemed to balance the matter pretty evenly. Tullus,
+therefore, referred the case to another tribunal, which sentenced the
+culprit to be hanged, but he was allowed to have so capitally acquitted
+himself in the fight, that he was acquitted of the capital punishment.
+This was commuted for the penalty of passing under the yoke, which
+consisted of the ceremony of walking under a pike raised upright on two
+others, and at these three pikes the only toll placed upon his crime was
+levied.
+
+The fallen warriors were honoured with tombs in the form of
+sugar-loaves, by which the unsatisfactory sweets of posthumous renown
+were symbolised. Fuffetius, who though not wounded in his person, was
+fearfully wounded in his pride by the result of the conflict, felt so
+jealous of Tullus, that the former, though afraid to burst into open
+revolt, determined on the really more revolting plan of treachery. The
+rival soldiers had now to combine their forces against the Veientines
+and the Fidenates, and, having set out together, they soon found the foe
+drawn up in battle array, when Tullus with his Romans faced the
+Veientines, and Mettius with his Albans formed a _vis à vis_ to the
+Fidenates. When the conflict commenced, the Alban wing showed the white
+feather, and Fuffetius gradually withdrew his forces to an adjacent
+hill, which he lowered himself by ascending for the purpose of watching
+the turn of events, so that he might declare himself on the side of
+victory. Tullus saw the unmanly manœuvre, but winked at it, and rushed
+like winking upon the Fidenates, who ran so fast that their discretion
+completely out-ran their valour. The Roman leader then turned his eyes,
+arms, and legs towards the Veientines, who fled towards the Tiber, into
+which they desperately dived, but many of them, for divers reasons,
+never got out again. The perfidious Albans, headed by Mettius Fuffetius,
+now came down into the plain, and putting on a plain, straightforward
+manner, he congratulated Tullus on the victory. Pretending not to have
+noticed their treachery, he invited them all to a sacrifice on the
+following day, and having particularly requested them to come early,
+they were on the ground by sunrise, but were completely in the dark as
+to the intentions of T. Hostilius. The Romans at a given signal closed
+in upon the Albans, who were informed that their city should be razed,
+or rather, lowered to the ground, and, that their chief, who had pulled
+a different way from his new ally, should be fastened to horses who
+should be driven in opposite directions. This cruel sentence, upon which
+we have scarcely patience to bestow a sentence of our own, was
+barbarously carried into execution. Alba fell to the ground; which is
+all we have been able to pick up relating to the subject of this portion
+of our history.
+
+The remainder of the reign of Hostilius was occupied with military
+successes; but he neglected the worship of the gods, who it is said
+evinced their anger by a tremendous shower of stones on the Alban Mount,
+in order to soften his flinty heart, by making him feel the weight of
+their displeasure. From the extreme of indifference he went to the
+opposite extreme of superstition, and called upon Jupiter to send him a
+sign--which was, in fact, a sign of the King's head being in a
+lamentable condition. The unhappy sovereign, imitating his predecessor
+Numa, attempted some experiments in the hope of drawing down some
+lightning, but it was not likely that one who had conducted himself so
+badly could be a better conductor of the electric fluid, and the result
+was, that though he learned the art of attracting the spark, it flashed
+upon him with such force that he instantly expired.
+
+Such is the tradition with reference to the death of Tullus; but it is
+hard to say whether the accounts handed down to us have been
+overcharged, or whether the clouds were in that condition. Some
+speculators insinuate that the royal experimentalist owed his sad fate
+to some mismanagement of his electrical jar while attempting to produce
+an unnatural jarring of the elements. The good actions of Tullus were so
+few, that his fame will not afford the omission of one, and being
+desirous to put the best construction we can upon his works, we give him
+credit for the construction of the Curia Hostilia, whose site still
+meets the eye near the northern angle of the Palatine. Ambassadors are
+spoken of as existing in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, but whether they
+owe their origin to Numa, who went before, or to Ancus Martius, who came
+after him, is so much a matter of doubt, that some historians, in trying
+to meet the claims of both half-way, stop short of giving the merit to
+either. Tullus may, at all events, have the credit of employing, if he
+did not institute, the art of diplomacy in Rome; for he appointed
+ambassadors, as we have already seen, to negotiate with the Albans.
+These envoys were called Feciales, the chief of whom wore on his head a
+fillet of white wool, with a quantity of green herbs, formed into a
+turban, which must have had somewhat the appearance of a fillet of veal,
+with the ingredients for stuffing. His duty was to proceed to the
+offending country, and proclaim his wrongs upon the border, though there
+might be no one there to listen, and having crossed the boundary--if his
+indignation happened to know any bounds--he was to astonish the first
+native he met by a catalogue of grievances. On reaching a city, the
+ambassador went over the old story to the soldier at the gate, just as
+though, at Storey's gate, an irritated foreigner should pour out his
+country's real or imaginary wrongs to the sentinel on duty. To this
+recital the soldier would, of course, be as deaf as his post, and the
+Fecialis would then proceed to lay his complaint before the magistrates.
+In the event of his obtaining no redress, he returned home for a spear,
+and killing a pig with one end, he poked the fire with the other. The
+instrument being thus charred in the handle and blood-stained at the
+point, became an appropriate emblem of hostility, and the Fecialis
+declared war by stirring it up with the long pole, which he threw across
+the enemy's boundary.
+
+After the death of Tullus Hostilius, the people lost no time in choosing
+Ancus Martius, a grandson of Numa, for their sovereign. The new king
+copied his grandfather, which he had a perfect right to do, but he
+imposed on the Pontifex Maximus the very severe task of copying on white
+tables the somewhat ponderous works of Pompilius, which were posted up
+for the perusal of the populace.
+
+Though partial on the whole to peace, Ancus was not afraid of war, and,
+when his kingdom was threatened, he was quite ready to fight for it. He
+subdued the Latins, and having first settled them in the field, allowed
+them to settle themselves in the city. He enlarged Rome, but abridged
+the distance between different parts by throwing the first bridge across
+the Tiber, and his name has come down to posterity in the ditch of the
+Quirites which he caused to be dug for the defence of the city, against
+those who were unlikely to go through thick and thin for the purpose of
+invading it. He also built a prison in the heart of the city, and what
+might be truly termed a heart of stone, for the prison was formed of a
+quarry, and is still in existence as a monument of the hard lot of its
+inmates. Ancus Martius further signalised his reign by founding the city
+of Ostia at the Tiber's mouth, and thus gave its waters the benefit of
+that port which so much increased their value. On the spot may still be
+seen some ruins supposed to belong to a temple dedicated to the winds,
+among whom the greater part of the temple has long since been
+promiscuously scattered. Salt-works were also established in its
+neighbourhood, but the _sal_ was of that volatile kind that none now
+remains from which buyers could fill their cellars. Ancus Martius
+reigned for a period of twenty-four years, and either in tranquillity or
+war--whether engaged in the works of peace, or embroiled in a piece of
+work--he proved himself thoroughly worthy of his predecessors, and, in
+fact, he left far behind him many who had gone before him in the task of
+government.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] Val. Maximùs, i. 1. § 4.
+
+[9] There exist, in the British Museum, books older than the time of
+Numa, written by the Egyptians, on these palm leaves, which show, in one
+sense, the palmy state of literature at that early period.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRD.
+
+FROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS PRISCUS TO THE DEATH OF SERVIUS
+TULLIUS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+It is the opinion of the best authorities that the Muse of History has
+employed her skipping-rope in passing, or rather skipping, from the
+grave of Ancus Martius to the throne of Tarquinius Priscus; for there is
+a very visible gap yawning between the two; and as we have no wish to
+set the reader yawning in sympathy with the gap, we at once drag him
+away from it.
+
+Plunging into the times of Tarquinius Priscus, we describe him as the
+son of a Corinthian merchant, who, being compelled to quit his country
+for political reasons, had withdrawn all his Corinthian capital, and
+settled at Tarquinii, an Etruscan city. Having fallen in love with a
+lady of the place, or, more poetically speaking, deposited his
+affections in an Etruscan vase, he became a husband to her, and the
+father of two children, named respectively Lucumo and Aruns. Poor Aruns
+had a very brief run, and soon met his death; but we cannot say how or
+where, for we have no report of the meeting. Lucumo married Tanaquil, an
+Etruscan lady, of great beauty and ambition, who professed to dive into
+futurity; and, guided by this diving belle, he threw himself into the
+stream of events, in the hope of being carried onwards by the tide of
+fortune. She persuaded him that Tarquinii was a poor place, where
+nothing was to be done; that his foreign extraction prevented him from
+being properly drawn out; and that Rome alone could afford him a field
+wide enough for his vast abilities. Driven by his wife, he jumped up
+into his chariot, which was an open one, and was just entering Rome,
+when his cap was suddenly removed from his head by a strange bird, which
+some allege was an eagle; though, had they said it was a lark, we should
+have believed them far more readily. Lucumo followed his hat as well as
+he could with his eyes; but his wife was so completely carried away with
+it, that she declared the circumstance told her he would gain a crown,
+though it really proved how nearly he had lost one; for until the bird
+replaced his hat upon his head, there was only a bare possibility of his
+getting it back again.
+
+The wealth of his wife enabled Lucumo to live in the first style of
+fashion; and having been admitted to the rights of citizenship, he
+changed his name to Lucius Tarquinius: for the sake, perhaps, of the
+sound, in the absence of any sounder reason. He was introduced at Court,
+where he won the favour of Ancus, who was so much taken by his dashing
+exterior, that he gave him a commission in the army, as Tribunus
+Celerum, a sort of Captain of the Guards, who, from the title of
+Celeres, appear to have been, as we have before observed, the fast men,
+as opposed to the "slow coaches" of the period.
+
+[Illustration: Celeres.]
+
+The Captain made himself so generally useful to Ancus, that when the
+latter died, his two sons were left to the guardianship of the former,
+who, on the day fixed for the election of a new king, sent his wards to
+the chase, that they might be pursuing other game, instead of looking
+after the Crown, which Tarquinius had set his own eye upon. In the
+absence of the youths, Tarquinius, who had got the name of Priscus, or
+the old hand, which he seems to have well deserved, proposed himself as
+a candidate; and, in a capital electioneering speech, put forth his own
+merits with such success, that he was voted on to the throne without
+opposition.
+
+The commencement of his reign was not very peaceful, for he was attacked
+by the Latins; but he gave them a very severe Latin lesson, and,
+crushing them under his feet, sent them back to that part of Italy
+forming the lower part of the boot, with the loss of considerable booty.
+He, nevertheless, found time for all manner of games; and he instituted
+the Ludi Magni, which were great sport, in a space he marked out as the
+Circus Maximus.
+
+The position of the Circus was between the Palatine and Aventine Hills,
+there being a slope on either side, so that the people followed the
+inclination of nature as well as their own in selecting the spot for
+spectacular purposes. In the earliest times a Circus was formed of
+materials brought by the spectators themselves, who raised temporary
+scaffolds, from which an unfortunate drop, causing fearful execution
+among the crowd, would frequently happen. Tarquinius Priscus, desirous
+of giving more permanent accommodation to the Roman sight seers, built a
+Circus capable of containing 150,000 persons, and, from its vast
+superiority in size over other similar buildings, it obtained the
+distinction of Maximus. The sports of the Circus were extremely
+attractive to the Romans, who looked to the _libelli_, containing the
+lists of the horses, and names and colours of the drivers, with all the
+eagerness of a "gentleman sportsman" seeking information from Dorling's
+correct card at Epsom. In the early days of Rome the amusements of the
+Circus were limited to the comparatively harmless contests of equestrian
+speed; and it was not until the city had reached a high state of
+refinement--cruelty having become refined like everything else--that
+animals were killed by thousands, and human beings by hundreds at a
+time, to glut the sanguinary appetites of the prince and the people. The
+ancient Circus was circular at one end only, and the line of seats was
+broken by a sort of outwork, supposed to have comprised the box and
+retiring-room of the sovereign; while, at the opposite side, was another
+deviation from the line of seats, to form a place for the _editor
+spectaculorum_--a box for the manager. Though Tarquinius is said to have
+founded the Circus Maximus in commemoration of his victory over the
+Latins, they were not the only foes whom he might have boasted of
+vanquishing.
+
+Having fought and conquered the Sabines, he took from them Collatræ, as
+a collateral security for their good behaviour; and coming home with a
+great deal of money, he built the Temple of Jupiter on the capitol.
+
+Tarquinius, being desirous of increasing the army, was opposed by a
+celebrated augur of the day, one Attus Navius, whose reputation seems to
+have been well deserved, if the annexed anecdote is to be believed; for
+it indicates that he could see further into a whetstone than any one who
+has either gone before or followed him. Navius declared that augury must
+determine whether the plan of Tarquinius could be carried out, which
+caused the latter to ask, sneeringly, whether he knew what he was
+thinking about. The question was ambiguous, but Navius boldly replied he
+did, and added, that what Tarquinius proposed to do was perfectly
+possible. "Is it indeed," said the King, "I was thinking of cutting
+through this whetstone with this razor." "It will be a close shave," was
+the reply of the augur, "but it can be done, so cut away;" and the
+bluntness of the observation was only equalled by the sharpness of the
+blade, which cut the article in two as easily as if it had been a pound
+of butter, instead of a stone of granite. This reproof was literally
+more cutting than any other that could have been possibly conveyed to
+the king, who ever afterwards paid the utmost respect to the augurs, of
+whom he was accustomed thenceforth to say, that the affair of the
+whetstone proved them to be much sharper blades than he had been willing
+to take them for.
+
+Having been at war with the Tuscans, whom he vanquished, he was admitted
+into the ranks of the Kings of Etruria; a position which led him to
+indulge in the most extravagant desires. He must needs have a crown of
+gold, which often tears or encumbers the brow it adorns; a throne of
+ivory, on whose too highly polished surface the foot is apt to slip; and
+a sceptre, having on its top an eagle, which frequently gives wings to
+the power it is intended to typify. His robe was of purple, with so
+costly an edging, that the border exceeded all reasonable limits, and
+furnished an instance of extravagance carried to the extreme, while the
+rate at which he went on may be judged from the fact of his always
+driving four in hand in his chariot. He did not, however, wholly neglect
+the useful in his taste for the ornamental; and though his extravagance
+must have been a drain upon the public pocket, he devoted himself to the
+more honourable drainage of the lower portions of the city. He set an
+example to all future commissioners of sewers, by his great work of the
+_Cloaca Maxima_, some portion of which still exists, and which contains,
+in its spacious vault, a far more honourable monument than the most
+magnificent tomb that could have been raised to his memory.
+
+Tarquinius had reigned about thirty-eight years, when the sons of Ancus
+Martius, who had been from the first brooding over their own ejection
+from the throne, carried their brooding so far as to hatch a conspiracy,
+which, though regarded by the best authorities as a mare's nest, forms
+one of those "lays" of ancient Rome which tradition gives as part of her
+history. The youths, expecting that Tarquinius would secure the
+succession to a favourite, named Servius Tullius, made an arrangement
+with a couple of shepherds, who, pretending to have a quarrel, went with
+hatchets in their hands to the king, and requested him to settle their
+little difference. Tarquinius seems to have been in a most accommodating
+humour, for he is said to have stepped to the door of the palace, to
+arbitrate between these most un-gentle shepherds, who, pretending that
+they only came with their hatchets to axe his advice, began to axe him
+about the head; and while he was endeavouring to act as an arbitrator,
+they, acting as still greater traitors, cruelly made away with him. The
+lictors who stood by must have had their faces and their fasces turned
+the wrong way, for they administered a beating to the shepherds when,
+too late, after the regal crown was already cracked beyond the
+possibility of repair, and the king was almost knocked to pieces before
+he had time to collect himself.
+
+Tarquinius was a practical reformer, and rested his fame on the most
+durable foundations, among which the still-existing remains of the
+Cloaca Maxima, or largest common sewer, have already been noticed. Those
+who are over nice might feel repugnant to come down to posterity by such
+a channel; but that country is fortunate indeed in which genius seeks
+"the bubble reputation" at the mouth of the sewer, instead of in the
+mouth of the cannon.
+
+It must be recorded, to the honour of Tarquinius, that he organised the
+plebeians, and elevated some of them to the rank of patricians, thus
+giving vigour to the aristocratic body, which runs the risk of becoming
+corrupt, and losing its vitality, unless a supply of plebeian life-blood
+is from time to time poured into it.
+
+This measure would have been followed by other wholesome reforms, but
+for the short-sighted and selfish policy of the patricians themselves,
+who could not perceive the fact, full of apparent paradoxes, that if
+anything is to remain, it must not stand still; that no station can be
+stationary with safety to itself; and that nothing possessed of vitality
+can grow old without something new being continually added.
+
+The sixth king of Rome was Servius Tullius, who is said to have been the
+son of a female in the establishment of Tanaquil. His mother's name was
+Ocrisia; but there is something vague about the paternity of the boy,
+which has been assigned sometimes to the Lar, or household god of the
+establishment, and sometimes to Vulcan. Whoever may have been the
+father, it was soon intimated that the child was to occupy a high
+position; and on one occasion, when sleeping in his cradle, his head was
+seen to be on fire; but no one was allowed to blow out the poor boy's
+brains, or otherwise extinguish the flame, which was rapidly consuming
+the hair on the head of the future heir to the monarchy. The nurses and
+attendants were ordered to sit down and see the fire burn out of its own
+accord, which, the tradition says, it did, though common sense says it
+couldn't; for the unfortunate infant must have died of consumption had
+he been suffered to blaze away in the cool manner spoken of. Though of
+common origin, at least on his mother's side, young Servius Tullius was
+supposed to have been completely purified by the fire, which warmed the
+hearts of all who came near him; and not only did the queen adopt him as
+her own son, but the partial baking had produced such an effect upon his
+very ordinary clay, that he was treated like a brick required for the
+foundations of the royal house into which Tarquinius cemented him, by
+giving him, as a wife, one of the daughters of the royal family.
+
+Tanaquil having kept secret her husband's death, Servius Tullius
+continued for some time to carry on the business of government, just as
+if nothing had happened. When it was at length felt that the young
+favourite of fortune had got the reins fairly in his hands, the murder
+came out, and the barbarous assassination of Tarquinius was published to
+the multitude. Servius was the first instance of a king who mounted the
+throne without the aid of the customary pair of steps, consisting of an
+election by the Senate, and a confirmation by the Curiæ.
+
+It might have been expected that Servius, when elevated above his own
+humble stock, might have held his head so high and become so
+stiff-necked as to prevent him from noticing the rank from which he had
+sprung; but, on the contrary, he exalted himself by endeavouring to
+raise others. His reign was not a continued round of fights, for he
+preferred the trowel to the sword, and, instead of cutting his name with
+the latter weapon, he wisely chose to build up his reputation with the
+former instrument. His first care was to complete the city, to which he
+added three hills, feeling, perhaps, that his fame would become as
+ancient as the hills themselves; and with a happy perception that if
+"walls have ears" they are just as likely to have tongues, he surrounded
+Rome with a wall, which might speak to future ages of his spirit and
+enterprise. He was a friend to insolvent debtors, to whom he gave the
+benefit of an act of unexampled liberality. Desiring them to make out
+schedules of their liabilities, he paid off the creditors in a double
+sense, for they were extremely reluctant to receive the cash, the
+payment of which cashiered their claim on the person and possessions of
+their debtors. He abolished imprisonment for debt, giving power to
+creditors over the goods and not the persons--or, as an ingenious
+scholar has phrased it, the bona and not the bones--of their debtors.
+
+[Illustration: Debtor and Creditor.--Seizure of Goods for a Debt.]
+
+Servius found that while he was raising up buildings he was knocking
+down a great deal of money; but being nevertheless anxious to erect a
+temple to Diana on the Aventine Hill he persuaded the Latins, who had
+made the place a sort of _quartier Latin_, to subscribe to it. The
+Latins, the Romans, and the Sabines, were every year to celebrate a sort
+of union sacrifice on this spot, where the cutting up and cooking of
+oxen formed what may be termed a joint festival. It happened that a
+Sabine agriculturist had reared a prize heifer, which caused quite an
+effervescence among his neighbours, and taking the bull quietly by the
+horns, he asked the augur what it would be meet for him to do with it.
+The soothsayer looked at the bull, who turned his brilliant bull's eye
+upon the astonished sage, with a sort of supercilious stare that almost
+amounted to a glaring oversight. The augur, not liking the look of the
+animal, and anxious, no doubt, to put an end to the interview, declared
+that whoever sacrificed the beast to Diana, off-hand, would benefit his
+race, and cause his nation to rule over the other confederates. The
+animal was led away with a shambling gait to the sacred shambles, where
+the Roman priest was waiting to set his hand to any Bull that might be
+presented to him. Seeing the Sabine preparing to act as slaughterman,
+the pontiff became tiffy, and suggested, that if the other was going to
+do the job, he might as well do it with clean hands, upon which the
+Sabine rushed to the river to take a finger bath. While the owner was
+occupied about his hands the Roman priest took advantage of the pause to
+slaughter the animal, and, on his return, the Sabine found that he had
+unintentionally washed his hands of the business altogether. The oracle
+was thus fulfilled in favour of the Romans, who trumpeted the fact
+through the bull's horns, which were hung up in front of the temple in
+memory of this successful piece of priest-craft.
+
+The growing popularity of Servius with the plebs made the patricians
+anxious to get rid of him, for they had not the sense to feel that if
+they aspired to be the pillars of the state, a close union with the
+class beneath, or, as they would have contemptuously termed it, the
+base, was indispensable. It happened that Servius, in the hope of
+propitiating the two sons of Tarquinius, had given them his two
+daughters as their wives, though it was a grievous mistake to suppose
+that family marriages are usually productive of family union. Jealousy
+and quarrelling ensued, which ended in the elder, Tullia, persuading her
+sister's husband Lucius Tarquinius to murder his own brother and his own
+wife, in order that he might make a match with the lump of female
+brimstone that had inflamed his brutal passions. Not satisfied with the
+double murder, which would have qualified her new husband to be struck
+in the hardest wax and to occupy chambers among the worst of horrors,
+Tullia was always whispering into his ear that she wished her father
+farther, and by this demoniac spell she worked on the weak and wicked
+mind of Lucius Tarquinius. It having been reported that Servius Tullus
+intended to crown his own reign by uncrowning himself, and exchanging,
+as it were, the royal stock for consuls, the patricians thought it would
+be a good opportunity to speculate for a fall, by attempting the king's
+overthrow. Tullia and her husband were asked to join in this conspiracy,
+when it was found that the wretched and corrupt pair would be quite ripe
+for any enormity. It was arranged, therefore, that Lucius Tarquinius, at
+a meeting of the Senate, should go down to the House with all the
+insignia of royalty, and, having seated himself upon the throne, the
+trumpeters in attendance were, by one vigorous blow, to proclaim him as
+the sovereign. When Servius heard the news he proceeded to the Assembly,
+where all things--including the trumpets--seemed to be flourishing in
+favour of the traitor. As the sound of the instruments fell upon the old
+king's ears, he seemed to tremble for a moment before the rude blast
+which threatened the blasting of all his benevolent views, but calling
+out from the doorway in which he stood, he rebuked the insolence and
+treachery of his son-in-law. A disgraceful scene ensued, in which other
+blows than those of the trumpeters were exchanged, and Servius, who had
+in vain desired the traitor to "come off the throne," was executing a
+threat to "pull him off" as well as the old man's strength, or rather,
+his feebleness, would allow him. The senators were watching the scene
+with the vulgar interest attaching to a prize fight, and were no doubt
+backing up the combatants with the ordinary expressions of
+encouragement, which we can only interpret by our own familiar phrases
+of, "Go it," "Now then young 'un," "Bravo old 'un," and "Give it him."
+Getting rather too near the edge of the throne, but holding each other
+firmly in their respective grasps, the two combatants rolled together
+down the steps of the throne--an incident not to be met with in the
+rolls of any other Parliament. Getting immediately on to their legs they
+again resumed their hostile footing, when Tarquinius being younger and
+fresher than his antagonist, seized up the old man, now as feeble as an
+infant in arms, and carried his brutality to such a pitch as to pitch
+him down the steps of the Senate House. Servius tried in vain to pick up
+his courage, and being picked up himself, he was on his road home when
+he was overtaken and murdered in a street, which got the name of _Vicus
+Sceleratus_, or Rascally Row, from the disgraceful row that occurred in
+it. Tullia was driving down to the House to hear the news when her
+coachman pulled up at the horrid sight of the king lying in the street,
+but the female fury only ordered the man to "drive on," and it is said
+that she enforced her directions by flinging a footstool at his head,
+though, on subjecting the story to the usual tests, we find the
+footstool without a leg to stand upon. Servius Tullus had reigned
+forty-four years, and his memory was cherished for centuries after his
+death, his birthday being celebrated on the Nones of every month,
+because he was known to have been born on some nones, but which
+particular nones were unknown to any one. We have already noticed the
+wall of Servius, but we must not forget the Agger, or mound, connected
+with it, the value of which was equal to that of the wall itself, and,
+indeed, those who give the preference to the Agger over the wall do not
+much ex-aggerate. There remains to this day a great portion of the
+mound, which was sixty feet high and fifty broad, skirted with flag
+stones towards the outer side, and the Romans no doubt would derive more
+security from laying down their flags on the outer wall than from
+hanging out their banners.
+
+The greatest work, however, of the reign of Servius was the reform of
+the Constitution, which he constructed with a view to the reconciling of
+the wide differences between the patricians and the plebeians, so as to
+form one powerful body by making somebodies of those who had hitherto
+been treated as nobodies. His first care was to divide the plebeians
+into thirty tribes--a name derived from the word _tribus_, or three, and
+applied to the three plebeian tribes--the derivation being so simple
+that were we to ask any schoolboy if he understood it, his answer would
+be, that "he might be whipped" and he would assuredly deserve to be
+whipped "if he didn't." These thirty tribes were placed under an officer
+called a _tribunus_, whose duty it was to keep a list of the members and
+collect the _tributum_--a word, to which in the reader's ready mind, the
+word tribute will at once be attributed. Besides the orders of
+patricians and plebeians, whose position was determined by descent
+alone, Servius thought there were many who might be connected together
+by a tie proper to them all, namely, that of property. He accordingly
+established a census to be held every five years, in which the name of
+every one who had come to man's estate was put down, together with the
+amount of his other estate, if he was lucky enough to have any. The
+whole number was divided into two heads, one of which was foot, or
+_pedites_, and the other horse, or _equites_, among whom an equitable
+share of rights and duties had to be distributed. The _pedites_, or
+infantry, were not all on the same footing, but were subdivided into six
+classes, according to the amount of their possessions, which determined
+their position in the army; but even the sixth class, or those who had
+no other possession than their self-possession, were not excluded from
+the service. Each class was divided into seniors and juniors, the former
+being men between forty-five and sixty; the latter, including all below
+forty-five and above seventeen, at which early age, though frequently
+not bearded themselves, they were expected to go forth and beard the
+enemy. In addition to the two assemblies of the curiæ (the _comitia
+curiata_) and the tribes (the _comitia tributa_), there was instituted
+by Servius a great national assembly called the _comitia centuriata_,
+and consisting of the whole of the centuries. Of these centuries there
+were altogether one hundred and ninety-three; but, instead of every
+individual member being allowed a separate vote, the suffrage was
+distributed amongst classes according to their wealth or the number of
+asses they possessed, a principle which the opponent of a mere property
+qualification will regard as somewhat asinine. By this arrangement the
+poor were practically excluded from voting at all, unless the rich were
+disagreed among themselves, when the merely industrious classes, such as
+the _Fabri_--the very extensive family of the Smiths and the
+Carpenters--the _Cornicines_--the respectable race of Hornblowers--and
+others of similar degree sometimes had sufficient weight to turn the
+balance.
+
+Though the equestrian centuries comprised the richest class, they seem
+to have been in one respect little better than beggars on horseback, for
+each eques received from the treasury a sum for the purchase of his
+horse and an annual grant for its maintenance. The amount was levied
+upon orphans and widows, who were, it is true, exempt from other
+imposts, though their contributing from their slender means to keep a
+horse on its legs caused many to complain that the law rode rough-shod
+over them. The Assembly of the Centuries was a grand step towards
+self-government, and, though many may think that wealth had an actual
+preponderance, it was always possible for a member of a lower class to
+get into a higher, and thus an inducement to self-advancement was
+secured, which is, certainly, not one of the least useful ends of
+government. There were numerous instances of energetic Romans rising
+from century to century with a rapidity showing that they were greatly
+in advance of the age, or, at all events, of the century in which they
+were originally placed by their lot, or rather by their little.
+
+Servius introduced into Rome the Etruscan As, of the value of which we
+can give no nearer notion than by stating the fact that a Roman sheep
+was worth about ten Etruscan asses. To the poorer classes these coins
+could have been of little service, and by way of small change they were
+permitted to use shells, from which we no doubt get the phrase of
+"shelling out," a quaint expression sometimes used to describe the
+process of paying. In some parts of the world shells are still current
+as cash, and even among ourselves fish are employed at cards as the
+representatives of money. Though in ordinary use for the smaller
+purposes of commerce, shells were not receivable as taxes, for when the
+Government required the sinews of war it would not have been satisfied
+with mussels or any other similar substitute.
+
+The Roman As was of bronze and stamped on one side with a portrait of
+Janus, whose two heads we never thought much better than one, though
+they appeared appropriately on a coin as a sign, perhaps, that people
+are often made doublefaced by money. On the other side was the prow of a
+ship, which might be emblematical of the fact that money is necessary to
+keep one above water.
+
+In the time of Servius all were expected to arm themselves according to
+their means, and the richest were thoroughly clad in bronze for the
+protection of their persons, while the poorer, who could not afford
+anything of the kind, were obliged to trust for their self-defence to
+their own natural metal. The patricians carried a clypeus, or shield, of
+such dimensions as to cover frequently the whole body, and by hiding
+himself behind it the wearer often escaped a hiding from the enemy. The
+material of which the clypeus was composed was wood covered with a
+bull's skin that had been so thoroughly tanned as to afford safety
+against the severest leathering.
+
+[Illustration: _Tarquinus Superbus makes himself King._]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTH.
+
+FROM THE ACCESSION OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE BANISHMENT OF THE ROYAL
+FAMILY, AND THE ABOLITION OF THE KINGLY DIGNITY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Tarquinius had ascended the throne more by the force of his fists, than
+by the strength of his arms; for he had aimed a blow, not only at the
+crown, but at the face of the unhappy sovereign who had preceded him.
+Carrying his hostility beyond the grave, Tarquinius refused to bury his
+animosity, or to grant his victim a funeral. The upstart nature of the
+new king gained for him the nickname of Superbus, or the proud, though
+he had as little to be proud of as some of the most contemptible
+characters in history. He, however, asserted himself with so much
+audacity, that the people were completely overawed by his pretensions,
+and many made away with themselves, to insure their lives, by a sort of
+Irish policy, against Tarquin's violence. He took away the privileges of
+the plebeians, and sent many to the scaffold, by employing them as
+common bricklayers; but there were several who preferred laying violent
+hands on themselves, to laying a single brick of the magnificent
+buildings which he planned, in the hope, perhaps, that the splendour of
+the constructions of his reign would induce posterity to place the best
+construction on his character.
+
+He coolly assumed the whole administration of the law, and added the
+office of executioner to that of judge, while he combined with both the
+character of a criminal, by seizing the property of all those whom he
+punished, and thus adding robbery to violence. To prevent the
+possibility of a majority against him in the Senate, he cut off several
+of the heads of that body; and though he never condescended to submit
+to the Assembly a single question, he treated the unhappy members as if
+they had much to answer for.
+
+Finding the continued ill-treatment of his own people getting rather
+monotonous, he sought the pleasures of variety, by harassing the
+Volscians, whom he robbed of a sufficient sum to enable him to commence
+a temple to Jupiter. Bricks and mortar soon ran up above the estimated
+cost; and Tarquin had scarcely built the lower floor, when he came to
+the old story of shortness of funds, which he supplied by making the
+people pay as well as work, and taxing at once their time and their
+pockets. This temple was on the Capitoline Hill; and it is said that in
+digging the foundations the workmen hit upon a freshly-bleeding human
+head, which, of course, must be regarded as an idle tale; nor would it
+be right for history to hold an elaborate inquest on this head, since it
+would be impossible to find a verdict without having first found the
+body. The augur, who, according to the legend, was present on the
+occasion, is reported to have made a _post-mortem_ examination of the
+head, which he identified as that of one Tolus; but who Tolus was, or
+whether he ever was at all, we are told nothing on any competent
+authority. The augur, whose duty it was to be ready to interpret
+anything that turned up, no sooner saw the head, than putting upon it
+the best face he could, he declared it to be a sign that Rome was
+destined to be the head of the world--an obvious piece of fulsome
+adulation, worthy of being offered to the flattest of flats, by one
+disposed to flatter. The temple itself was a great fact, notwithstanding
+the numerous fictions that are told concerning it; and there is little
+doubt that though, as some say, Tarquinius Priscus (the old one) may
+have begun it, Tarquinius Superbus put to it the finishing touch, and
+surmounted it with a chariot and four in baked clay, which, had it been
+preserved to this day, would have been one of the most interesting of
+Potter's Antiquities.
+
+[Illustration: Tarquinius Superbus has the Sibylline Books valued.]
+
+A curious anecdote, connected with the bookselling business of the
+period, has been handed down to us; and it is sufficiently interesting
+to be handed on to the readers of this work, who are at liberty either
+to take it up, or to set it down at its real value. It is said that
+Tarquin was waited upon by a female, who brought with her nine books,
+and, expressing herself willing to do business, asked three hundred
+pieces of gold for the entire set of volumes. The King pooh-poohed the
+proposition, on the ground of the exorbitant price, and desired her to
+be off with the books, when she solemnly advised him not to off with the
+bargain. Finding him obstinate, the woman, who was, it seems, a sibyl,
+and eked out her bookseller's profits by the business of a prophetess,
+threw into the flames three of the volumes, which, assuming, for a few
+minutes, the aspect of illuminated copies, soon left no traces--not even
+a spark--of any genius by which they might have been inspired. The
+sibyl, soon after, paid a second visit to Tarquin, bringing with her the
+six remaining volumes; and having asked in vain the same sum for the
+imperfect copy as she had done for the whole work, she went through a
+sort of second edition of Burns, by throwing three more of her books
+into the fire. To the surprise of Tarquin, she appeared a third time
+with her stock of books, now reduced to three; and upon the King's
+observing to her "What do you want for these?" she replied that three
+hundred pieces of gold was her price; that she made no abatement; that
+if the books were not instantly bought, they would speedily be converted
+into light literature, and being condensed into one thick volume of
+smoke, would, of course, take their final leaves of the royal residence.
+The King, astonished at the woman's pertinacity, resolved at last to
+send for a valuer, to look at the books, who declared them to be well
+worth the money. They contained a variety of remedies for diseases,
+directions for preparing sacrifices, and other interesting matter, with
+a collection of the oracles of Cumæ, by way of appendix, so that the
+volumes formed a sort of encyclopædia, embracing the advantages of a
+Cookery Book, a Buchan's Domestic Medicine, and a Complete
+Fortune-teller. Tarquin[10] became the purchaser of these three very odd
+volumes, which seem to have been estimated less according to their
+intrinsic value, than the price they had brought; and they were
+carefully put away in the Temple library.
+
+It was the desire of the Government to prevent the people from knowing
+what these books might contain, and the office of librarian was
+entrusted to two individuals of illustrious birth, under the idea--not
+very flattering to aristocracy--that patricians would be found the best
+promoters of ignorance. One of these officers, having acted so
+inconsistently with his rank, as to have imparted some information to a
+fellow-citizen, was dismissed from his place and thrown into the sea in
+a bag; so that he may be said, by the heartless punster, to have got the
+sack in a double meaning.
+
+While building operations were going on at home, destruction was being
+dealt out abroad; and the Gabii being about twelve miles from Rome, were
+the objects of the King's hostility. Having sent one of his captains
+against them, who was repulsed by a major force, Tarquinius resolved on
+trying treachery. He accordingly despatched his son, Sextus, to complain
+of ill-treatment at his father's hands, and to implore the pity of the
+Gabii, who were gabies enough not only to believe the story, but even to
+appoint Sextus their general. He was ultimately chosen their governor;
+and finding the Gabii completely in his hands, he sent to his own
+governor--Tarquinius--to know what to do with them. The King was in the
+garden when the messenger arrived; and whenever the latter asked a
+question, the former made no reply, but kept knocking off the heads of
+the tallest poppies with his walking-stick. The messenger ventured to
+intimate, once or twice, that he was waiting for an answer; but the
+heads of the poppies flying off in all directions, he began to tremble
+for his own, and he flew off himself, to prevent accidents. On his
+return, he mentioned the circumstances to Sextus, who regarded the
+poppies as emblems of the Gabii; and, indeed, the latter seemed so
+thoroughly asleep, that the comparison was no less just than odious.
+
+Sextus, taking the paternal hint, knocked off several of the heads of
+the people; and keeping up the allegory to the fullest extent, cut off
+the flower of the Gabii. Many of their fairest blossoms perished by a
+too early blow; and being thus deprived of what might fairly be termed
+its primest pick, the soil was soon planted with the victorious
+standards of Tarquinius. He, however, instead of introducing any apple
+of discord, judiciously grafted the Gabian on the Roman stock; and thus
+cultivated the only really valuable fruits of victory.
+
+[Illustration: The Evil Conscience of Tarquin.]
+
+Tarquin was a great deal troubled by the signs of the times; or, rather,
+he was made so uncomfortable by an evil conscience, that if a snake
+appeared in his path, it seemed to hang over him like a horrible load;
+and if he went to sleep, there was a mare's-nest always at hand, to
+trouble him with a night-mare. He dreamed that some eagles had built in
+his gardens, and that in their temporary absence from the nest, some
+vultures had breakfasted on the new-laid eggs, and, armed with their
+beaks, taken possession of the deserted small tenement. Unable to drive
+the vultures out of his head, he was anxious to ascertain the meaning of
+the omen, for he had become so superstitious, that if he saw a sparrow
+dart from a branch, he regarded it as an emblem that he was himself
+about to hop the twig in some unexpected manner. Doubting the efficiency
+of his own augurs, on whom he was beginning to throw some of the
+discredit to which prophets in their own country are liable, Tarquin
+resolved on seeking the aid of foreign talent; and as the omens were
+worse than Greek to him, he sent to the oracles at Delphi, thinking if
+the matter was Greek to them they would be able to interpret it. His
+messengers to the fortune-tellers were his two sons, Aruns and Titus,
+together with his nephew, one Lucius Junius Brutus, who, though an
+extremely sensible young man, was in the habit of playing the fool, in
+order to avert the suspicions of his uncle. Though Brutus assumed the
+look of an idiot, and generally had his eye on vacancy, it was only to
+conceal the fact that a vacancy on the throne was what he really had his
+eye upon. Valuable gifts were taken to the oracle, which was slow to
+speak in the absence of presents. When Brutus put a _báton_ into the
+hand of the Priestess, she knew, by the weight, that the _báton_ was a
+hollow pretext for the conveyance of a bribe, which she looked for,
+found, and pocketed. On the strength of a large lump of gold, thus
+cunningly conveyed to the Priestess, Brutus ventured to ask who would be
+the next King of Rome, to which she replied by a recommendation that
+all the applicants should go home to their mothers, for that "he who
+kissed his mother first should be the one to govern." Titus and Aruns
+made at once for their mamma, and eager to kiss her, ran as fast as they
+could to catch the first bus, but Brutus, whom they had perhaps tripped
+up, to prevent his getting a fair start, saluted his mother earth with a
+smack of the lip in return for the blow on the face that his fall had
+occasioned him.
+
+When the ambassadors returned to Rome they found Tarquin as nervous as
+ever; and there is little doubt, that if tea had been known in those
+days, the King would have sat for ever over his cups, endeavouring to
+read the grounds for his fears in the grounds of the beverage. The
+treasury having been exhausted by his building speculations, the people
+were growing more dissatisfied every day; and, in order to turn their
+discontent away from home, he engaged them in a quarrel with Ardea, a
+city situated on a lofty rock, against which the Romans threw themselves
+with a sort of dashing energy. The attempt to take the place by a common
+assault and battery was vain, for the rock stood firm; and it was
+probable, that if the Romans remained at the gates, and continued
+knocking over and over again, they would ultimately be compelled to
+knock under. They therefore resolved on hemming the Ardeans in, as there
+was no chance of whipping them out, and military works were run in a
+continuous thread round the borders of the city.
+
+The Romans, acting as a sort of army of occupation, had, of course,
+scarcely any occupation at all; and there being nothing that soldiers
+find it so difficult to kill as their time, the officers were in the
+habit of going halves in suppers at each other's quarters. At one of
+these entertainments the King's sons, and their cousin, one Tarquinius,
+surnamed Collatinus, from the town of Collatia, were discussing the
+merits of their respective wives, and each of the officers, with an
+uxuriousness among the military that the commonest civility would have
+restrained, was praising his own wife at the expense of all others.
+
+It was at length agreed that the husbands should proceed forthwith to
+Rome, and that having paid an unexpected visit to all the ladies, the
+palm should be awarded to her who should be employed in the most
+praiseworthy way, when thus unceremoniously popped in upon. They first
+visited the wife of Sextus, who had got a large evening party and ball
+at home, and who was much confused by this unexpected revelation of her
+midnight revels. Dancing was at its height; and as a great writer has
+said of dancing among the Romans, "_Nemo fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte
+insaniat_,"[11]--any one who dances must be either very drunk, or stark
+mad,--we may guess the state of the company that Sextus found at his
+residence. In one corner the game of _Par et Impar_--"odd or
+even"--might perhaps have been played; for nothing can be more purely
+classical than the origin of some of those sports which form almost the
+only pretexts for the employment of our modern street-keepers. A portion
+of the guests might have been amusing themselves with the _Tali_, or
+"knuckle-bones," others might have been employed at _Jactus
+bolus_--"pitch and toss;" while here and there among the revellers might
+have been heard the familiar cry of _Aut caput aut navem_--the "heads or
+tails" of antiquity.
+
+[Illustration: Mrs. Sextus consoles herself with a Little Party.]
+
+Their next call was at the house of Collatinus, whose wife, Lucretia,
+was also engaged with a ball, but it was of cotton, and instead of
+devoting herself to the whirl of the dance, she was spinning with her
+maids, by way of spinning out the long, dreary hours of her husband's
+absence. Sextus at once admitted that Collatinus had indeed got a
+treasure of a wife, and the officers returned to the camp; but a few
+evenings afterwards, availing himself of the introduction of her
+husband, Sextus paid the lady a second visit. Being a kinsman, he was
+asked to make himself at home, but his manner became so strange, that
+Lucretia could not make him out; and as he did not seem disposed to go
+home till morning, she retired to her chamber, with the impression, no
+doubt, that being left alone in the sitting-room he would take the hint,
+order his horse, and proceed to his lodgings. Lucretia was, however,
+disturbed in the middle of the night by Sextus, who was standing over
+her with a drawn sword, and who was guilty of such brutal insolence,
+that she sent a messenger, the first thing in the morning, to fetch her
+husband from Ardea, and her father from Rome, who speedily arrived with
+his friend, P. Valerius, a highly respectable man, who afterwards got
+the name of Publicola. Collatinus brought with him L. J. Brutus, and
+Lucretia having rapidly run through the story of her wrongs, she still
+more rapidly run through herself before any one had time to arrest the
+deadly weapon. Revenge against Tarquin and his whole race was instantly
+sworn, in a sort of quartette, by the four friends, and L. J. Brutus,
+snatching up the dagger, made a great point of it in a speech he
+addressed to the people in the market place. Indignation was now
+thoroughly roused against the Tarquin family, and Brutus, proceeding to
+Rome, called a public meeting in the Forum. He opened the business of
+the day by stating what had been done, and having made his deposition he
+proposed the deposition of the king; when it was moved, by way of
+amendment, and carried unanimously, that the resolution should be
+extended by the addition of the words, "and the banishment of his wife
+and family." A volunteer corps was at once formed to set out for Ardea,
+where the king was supposed to be; but on hearing of the insurrection,
+he had at once decamped from the camp, and proceeded to Rome, where he
+found the gates closed, and feeling himself shut out from the throne, he
+took refuge with his two sons, Titus and Aruns, at Caere, in Etruria.
+There history loses sight of the old king, but Sextus has been traced to
+Gabii, a principality of which he thought he was the head; but the
+people soon undeceived him, by showing him they would have no head at
+all, for they cut him off one day in a tumult.
+
+Tullia had fled, and it is not known whither; but mercy to the fallen
+king would lead us to hope that the queen had gone in a different
+direction from that which he had taken. The Ardeans agreed to a truce
+for fifteen years--a somewhat lengthy letter of license--during which
+all hostile proceedings were to be stayed, and the people decreed the
+total abolition of the kingly dignity. The royal stock was converted, as
+it were, into consuls, and L. Junius Brutus, with L. Tarquinius
+Collatinus, were elected for one year, to fill the latter character.
+
+Before closing an account of what is usually termed the kingly period of
+the history of Rome, it is due to truth to state, that though some of
+the alleged kings were good and others were bad, they must all be
+considered as very doubtful characters. The fact of their existence
+depends on no better authority than certain annals, compiled more than
+a century and a half after the materials for compiling them had been
+destroyed; and we are thus driven to rely upon the statements of certain
+story-tellers, belonging, we fear, to a class, whose memories, according
+to the proverb, ought to be excellent. In pretending to recollect what
+they never knew, they have sometimes forgotten themselves, and in
+building up their stories, they have shown how mere fabrication may
+raise an ostensibly solid fabric.
+
+Of the seven kings, who are said to have ruled in Rome during a period
+of nearly two hundred and fifty years, three or four were murdered;
+another subsided in a bog, and another ran for his life, which he saved
+by his speed, though he was the last of the race of royalty. It is
+difficult to spread these seven sovereigns over a space of two centuries
+and a half, and we feel that we might as well attempt to cover an acre
+of bread with a thin slice of ham, or turn the river Thames into negus
+by throwing a few glasses of sherry into it. Of the earliest Roman
+annals, some were burnt, leaving nothing to the student but the tinder,
+from which it is, in these days, hardly possible to obtain much light,
+but the greater portion of the early history of Rome has come down to us
+by tradition, that extraordinary carrier, who is continually adding to
+the bulk, but diminishing the weight of the matters consigned to it for
+delivery.
+
+Of the condition of the people at this early period little or nothing
+can be known, and to amuse ourselves with idle guesses, would be
+scarcely better than to turn into a game of blindman's buff the
+important business of history. We can however state, with confidence,
+that the earliest Romans had no regular coinage, but were in the habit
+of answering with brass, in the rudest shape, the demands of their
+creditors. Servius Tullius is reputed to have been the first who
+converted the brass into coin, and marked it with the figure of a horse
+or some other animal,[12] as an emblem, perhaps, of the fact, that money
+runs away very rapidly.
+
+Among the early Romans, the most honourable occupations were agriculture
+and war; the latter enabling the citizens to make a conquest of the soil
+with the sword, and the former teaching them to subdue it to their
+purposes by the implements of husbandry. Trade and commerce were held in
+contempt, and left to the plebeians; the patrician considering himself
+suitably employed only when he was thrashing his corn, or performing the
+same operation on his enemies.
+
+During the early existence of the city the native artists were few, and
+the great works of architecture undertaken by the later kings were
+embellished by foreign talent from Etruria. The writing-master had made
+so little progress in ancient Rome, that it is doubtful whether many of
+the patricians could write their own names; and even some of the most
+distinguished characters of the day were men of mark, not only by their
+position, but by their signatures.
+
+It is not very gratifying to the friends of education to find that
+though ignorance was almost universal among the early Romans, there was
+a wholesome tone of morality among the people, which led them, not only
+to condemn in their traditions the cruelty and laxity of principle
+prevailing in the family of their last king, but to pay due reverence to
+the domestic virtues of Lucretia. The legend of the latter being found
+spinning with her maids, while the princesses of the house of Tarquin
+were reeling in the dance, during the absence of their respective
+husbands, is sufficient to show the estimation in which decency and
+sobriety were held, as well as the odium that attached to riotous
+revelry. The patrician youth of infant and unlettered Rome would have
+been ashamed of those nocturnal gambols which have prevailed among
+portions of the juvenile aristocracy and gentry in more civilised
+countries, and in a more enlightened age, when door-knockers, and
+bell-handles, have been carried off as the _spolia opima_ of some
+disorderly triumph.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] Some say that Tarquinius Priscus bought the books; but it is of
+little consequence who was the real buyer, as the whole story is very
+probably "a sell" on the part of the narrators, as well as of the sibyl.
+
+[11] Cicero. It is true this was said at a much later time than that of
+which we are now writing; but dancing, except in connection with certain
+ceremonies, was considered degrading by the Romans from the earliest
+period.
+
+[12] Hence, from the word _pecus_, cattle, was derived _pecunia_,
+signifying money, and giving rise to our own word "pecuniary."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTH.
+
+FROM THE BANISHMENT OF TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS TO THE BATTLE OF LAKE
+REGILLUS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Brutus, who had gained his eminence by swearing that there should be no
+monarch or single ruler in Rome, found himself in sole possession of the
+supreme authority. His position presents nothing very remarkable to the
+modern observer, who is accustomed to see those who have denounced a
+system yesterday participating in the profits of the same system to-day,
+and declaring their own arguments to be thoroughly out of place, as
+applied to themselves when in office. Brutus, however, could not
+consistently exercise a power he had sworn to overthrow; and to carry
+out his anti-monarchical principles, he had either to go out himself, or
+to ask for a colleague. On the same principle that prefers the half
+quartern to utter loaflessness, Brutus proposed a partnership in the
+government; and Collatinus was taken into the firm, which proved to have
+no firmness at all, for it was dissolved very speedily. The difficulty
+of agreement between two of the same trade was severely felt by the two
+popular reformers, who were dividing the substance without the name of
+that power they had vowed to destroy; it was soon evident that if they
+had thought it too much for one, they considered it not enough for two;
+and they were accordingly always quarrelling. To prevent collision, they
+tried the experiment of taking the supreme authority by turns, each
+assuming the fasces for a month at a time; but this alternate chopping
+of the regal sticks, or fasces, which were the emblems of power, led to
+nothing satisfactory.
+
+A question at length arose, upon which the duality of the ruling mind
+was so distinctly marked, that the two consuls, whose very name is
+derived from _con_, with, and _salio_, to leap, were trying to leap in
+two opposite ways; and an end of their own power was the only conclusion
+to which they were likely to jump together. Tarquin had retired to
+Caere, waiting the chances of a restoration of his line; but his line
+had fallen into such contempt, that he was fishing in vain for his
+recall, though he nevertheless sent ambassadors to demand the
+restoration of himself, or at all events of his private property.
+
+The senate decreed that though Tarquin could not have the fasces, he was
+at liberty to make a bundle of all the other sticks that might belong to
+him. On this question Brutus and Collatinus were violently opposed, and
+both becoming hot, their excessive warmth led to a mutual coolness that
+ended in an open hostility, which shut out every hope of compromise.
+Collatinus gave in by going out, and was succeeded by P. Valerius, one
+of the party of four who had roused the popular spirit over the bier of
+Lucretia.
+
+Tarquin's ambassadors, instead of being satisfied with the permission to
+remove his goods, had other objects in the back-ground; for they had a
+plan for his restoration in the rear, while they let nothing appear in
+the van, but the late king's furniture. The plot was being discussed
+after dinner, by a party of the conspirators, when one of the waiters,
+who had concealed himself behind the door, overheard the scheme, and ran
+to Valerius with the exclusive intelligence. The traitors were secured,
+and when they were brought up before the consuls, Brutus recognising
+among the offenders his two sons, subjected both them and himself to a
+very severe trial. Asking them what they had to say to the charge, and
+getting "nothing" in reply, he looked in the faces of his sons, and
+declaring that he must class all malefactors under one general head,
+which must be cut off, he called upon the lictors to do their duty. In
+leaving the other prisoners to be tried by Valerius, Brutus whispered to
+his colleague, "Now try them, and acquit them, if you can;" but he could
+only execute the law, and the law could only execute the criminals. The
+ambassadors were allowed to remain at large, though their plotting
+proved that they had been at something very little; and the government
+withdrew the permission that had been granted for the removal of
+Tarquin's goods, which were divided by means of a scramble among the
+populace.
+
+Thus Tarquin, who had broken the twenty valuable tables of Servius, was
+doomed to have the tables turned upon him by the destruction of his own,
+while every leaf of the former was restored under the Consular
+government. The landed estates of the Tarquins were distributed among
+the plebeians, so that the banished family had no chance of recovering
+their lost ground, which was afterwards known as the Field of Mars, or
+Campus Martius. The corn on the confiscated property was ripe; but the
+people felt a conscientious objection to consuming the produce which no
+labour of their own had reared; and they did not allow the tyrant's
+grain to outweigh their honest scruple. Throwing all idea of profit
+overboard, they cast the corn into the Tiber, which, it is said, was so
+shallow, that the sheaves stuck in the mud, and formed the small island
+known as the Insula Tiberina. That a piece of land, however small,
+should be formed by a crop of corn, however plentiful, is difficult to
+believe: but the story of the wheat can only find reception from the
+very longest ears; for common sense will admit that in the effort to
+give credit to the tale, it must go thoroughly against the grain on a
+proper sifting of all the evidence.
+
+Tarquin relinquishing his hopes of a restoration by stratagem, resolved
+on resorting to strategy, and brought into the field a large army, of
+which the Veii formed a considerable part, and his son Aruns headed the
+Etruscan cavalry. The Roman consuls commanded their own forces; Valerius
+being at the head of the foot, and Brutus mounted on a clever cob, with
+a strong sword, that might be called a useful hack, taking the lead of
+the equestrians. When Aruns entered the field, he recognised Brutus in
+Tarquin's cloak, and the young man felt the blood mantling with
+indignation into his cheek at the first sight of the mantle. He
+instantly made for Brutus, who with equal eagerness made for Aruns, and
+so violent was the collision, that the breath was knocked at one blow
+out of both their bodies.
+
+[Illustration: Aruns and Brutus.]
+
+The hostile leaders having fallen to the ground, the battle shared their
+fate, and both armies withdrew to their camps; but neither would allow
+the other the credit of a victory. The legend goes on to state that the
+god Silvanus--an alarmist among the classical deities, and synonymous
+with Pan--was heard shouting in the night that the Etruscans having lost
+one man more than the Romans, the latter had gained the battle. This
+announcement of the result of the contest, though only by a majority of
+one, so alarmed the Etruscans, who were always panic struck at the voice
+of Pan, that they took to flight, leaving the enemy to carry everything
+before them, including all the property that the fugitives had left
+behind them. The remains of Brutus were brought to the Forum, where they
+lay in state; but the state in which they lay was truly deplorable; for
+the deceased consul had been so knocked about, that had he been alive,
+he would scarcely have known himself, even by the aid of reflection. His
+colleague, Valerius, delivered an oration over his departed virtues,
+making a catalogue of the whole, and fixing the highest price to every
+one of them.
+
+The question of "Shall Brutus have a statue?" was soon answered in the
+affirmative, and he was placed among the kings, though he had destroyed
+the monarchy. Where failure constitutes the traitor, success makes the
+patriot: and upon the merest accident may depend the question whether
+the originator of a design against a bad government shall go to the
+block of the sculptor, or to that of the executioner.
+
+P. Valerius was in no hurry to ask the people for a colleague, and he
+for some time did the whole of the business of the chief magistracy
+himself; so that had it not been for the mere name of the office, Rome
+might just as well have remained a monarchy. This fact seems to have
+flashed at last on the public mind; and when it was found that P.
+Valerius was building himself a stone residence, in a strong position, a
+rumour was spread abroad that he was aiming at the foundation of his own
+house, or family, in the kingly power. On hearing the report he
+immediately stopped the works of his intended residence, and having
+called a meeting of the curiæ, he appeared before them with his fasces
+reversed; a sign that the bundles of rods were not intended to be used
+on the backs of the people alone, but that they were held, as it were,
+in trust, and in pickle for the punishment of delinquency in general.
+This treatment of the fasces so fascinated the people, that they
+acquitted P. Valerius of every charge, and acknowledging their
+suspicions of a plot to be groundless, they gave him a plot of ground to
+build his house upon. Pleased with the taste of popularity, he continued
+to court it with so much success, that he gained the name of Publicola,
+or one who honours the public; and he certainly introduced many very
+wholesome legal reforms, by dabbling in law, in a spirit truly
+lau-dable. He gave an appeal from the magistrate to the people, in cases
+where the punishment awarded had been a fine, a whipping, or a hanging;
+and in the last instance the provision was extremely salutary, for the
+suspending of a sentence might often avoid the necessity for suspending
+an alleged criminal. This right of appeal was, however, limited to
+within a mile from the city; an arrangement that would have justified
+the formation of a league to abolish the mile, as an unnecessary
+distinction, of which we can only expose the absurdity, by suggesting
+the possibility of an offence committed at Knightsbridge being
+punishable at Newgate with immediate death; while the culprit of Holborn
+Hill, though nearer the place of execution, would be further from the
+scaffold.
+
+Having passed several salutary acts, and secured, as it were, the cream
+of popularity to himself, he proposed the election of a colleague who
+might share the skim with him. The new consul was Spurius Lucretius; but
+poor Spurius enjoyed none of the genuine sweets of power. He was so far
+advanced in years, at the period of his advancement to office, that he
+had already one foot in the grave, and the other foot went in after it
+immediately on his taking his new position. M. Horatius Pulvillius was
+chosen in the poor old man's stead, and an incident speedily happened
+which caused a difference, leading to something more than personal
+indifference between the two consuls. The temple of Jupiter, on the
+Capitoline, so called from the incident already related, of the Caput
+Toli, or head of Tolus, had not yet been dedicated; and it having been
+arranged that the thing was to be done, the next question that arose
+was, "Who is to do it?" Both consuls were anxious for the job; and it
+was at length arranged that lots should be drawn, in order to settle the
+undecided point, which had led to such a decided coolness between P.
+Valerius and his colleague. Horatius was the happy man whom fortune
+favoured by her choice; and he was in the act of performing the
+ceremony, when, without any ceremony at all, a messenger rushed in,
+exclaiming that the son of the consul had suddenly expired. Believing
+the alarm to be false, Horatius hinted at his suspicion of its being one
+of the blackest of jobs, by suggesting that those who brought the news
+should go and attend the funeral. "As for me," he exclaimed, "I have
+other engagements just now;" and, continuing the work of dedication, he
+proceeded to mark the commencement of a new era, by driving a huge nail
+into the wall of the temple. Such was the mode by which chronology was
+taught to the early Romans, who had their dates literally hammered into
+them; and, as long as the consul hit the right nail upon the head, or
+went upon the proper tack, mistake was almost impossible.
+
+The first specimen of diplomacy to be met with in the records of Rome
+must be referred to the first year of the Republic, when a treaty was
+concluded with Carthage, and engraved on brazen tables. The material was
+appropriate to the purpose it served; and the language was so obscure,
+that a modern treaty could scarcely have surpassed it in ambiguity. Some
+parts of it were unintelligible to the most learned of the Romans
+themselves; and, had any difference arisen as to the interpretation of
+the treaty, the tables must have been left to brazen it out; for no one
+could have explained their meaning. Though the document may have
+mystified many things, it made one thing clear, for it proved history to
+have been wrong in stating that Horatius succeeded Brutus, for they are
+described as both being consuls together at the date of the treaty. In
+following the ordinary version or perversion of the facts or fictions
+connected with the rise of Rome, we take history as we find it; and
+though much of it is known to be false, we, by continually making the
+admission, prevent the bane from remaining very long without the
+antidote.
+
+P. Valerius was still consul, with P. Lucretius for a colleague, when
+the old King Tarquin happened to be on a visit, at Clusium, in Etruria,
+with the local Lar, Porsenna.[13] After supper, Tarquin often grew
+garrulous about his alleged wrongs, and worked on the sympathies of his
+host, who declared the Romans should receive, through the medium of
+Porsenna, a tremendous physicking. The Lar accordingly set forth at the
+head of his army, and its approach being announced, the people in the
+suburbs of Rome were frightened out of their wits, and into the city.
+Throughout the whole of his journey, Porsenna administered a strong dose
+to all that opposed his way; and he scoured the country by the most
+drastic system of pillage. On arriving at Rome, he at once forced the
+Janiculum, the garrison rushing with their leader at their head, and the
+foe almost at their heels, into the city. Nothing was now between the
+Romans and their assailants but the wooden bridge, or _Pons Sublicius_;
+and when the people asked for consolation from their consul, he had none
+to offer them. Looking at the water, he saw there was no time for
+reflection; and he ordered the bridge to be cut down, when Horatius
+Cocles, the gatekeeper, volunteered to offer a check to the enemy. "I
+want but two," cried Horatius, "two only are wanted, to join with me in
+throwing for that great stake, the safety of Rome;" and there
+immediately presented themselves, as ready to "stand the hazard of the
+die," if die they must, the youthful Spurius Lartius of the Neminian
+race, and Herminius, belonging to the Tities. The three heroes took
+their station at the foot of the bridge, resolved that no one should
+pass without paying a poll-tax, in the shape of a blow on the head,
+which the valiant trio stood prepared to administer. A shout of derisive
+laughter was the only salute they received from the Etruscan army; but
+the laughter was soon transferred to the other side of the Etruscan
+mouth, and subsided altogether when no less than half-a-dozen tongues
+were found to have licked the dust, instead of the enemy. Porsenna's
+army had advanced to the sound of trumpets, which seemed no longer in a
+flourishing condition, but were as incapable of dealing out a blow as
+the soldiers themselves. A few of the troops in the rear shouted
+"Forward!" to those in the van; but there was such a determined cry of
+"Keep back!" among the foremost men, that all were under the influence
+of a general gib, and every rank gave evidence of rank cowardice.
+
+While the Etruscans were shaking in their shoes on one side of the
+river, the Romans were shivering their own timbers, and knocking down
+beams and rafters on the other. They had razed the bridge to the ground,
+or rather lowered it to the water, when they called to their gallant
+defenders to come back, while there was still a plank left--a single
+deal to enable them to cut over to their partners.
+
+Lartius and Herminius, seeing the game was nearly over, thought the only
+card they had to play was to discard their companion, and save
+themselves by a trick, which, however, would leave all the honours to
+Horatius. The two former darted across just before the remainder of the
+bridge fell, splashing into the water below, and rendering the tide
+untidy with the broken fragments.
+
+Horatius was now alone in his glory, with the foe before him, and the
+flood behind; his only alternative being between a fatally hot reception
+by the one, and an uncomfortably cold reception by the other.
+Disdaining to beg for mercy from Porsenna, he prayed for pity from the
+Tiber, and making a bold plunge, he threw himself on the kind indulgence
+of the river. Being fastened up in armour, his case was a particularly
+hard one, and being encumbered as he was with his arms, to use his legs
+was scarcely possible. He nevertheless got on swimmingly, for his heart
+never sank, and at length, feeling his foot touch the bottom, he knew
+that his hopes were not groundless.
+
+[Illustration: Horatius Cocles Defending the Bridge.]
+
+By courage and strength Horatius prevailed over every obstacle, and
+Cocles owed to the cockles of his heart, as well as to the muscles of
+his body, the happy results of his hazardous experiment. To recompense
+him for his risk by water, the grateful nation gave him a large portion
+of land, and erected his statue in the Comitium, a portion of the Forum
+from which orators were in the habit of holding forth, and where the
+figure of Horatius was placed to speak for itself to the populace.
+Though the enemy was kept out of the city, the Romans were kept in,
+while provisions were growing shorter and shorter every day--a sort of
+growth that led of course to a constant diminution. Such was the
+gratitude of the citizens to Horatius, that they subscribed to give him
+always as much as he could eat; and although the fact involves a pun we
+abominate, we are obliged to state the truth, that, in order to give him
+his desert, many went without their dinners.
+
+The Romans had declared they would hold out to the last, and though they
+were left with scarcely any food, though they might have at once
+procured it, had they consented to eat their own words, they declined to
+satisfy their hunger by such a humiliating process. All hope of saving
+the city being apparently lost, the senate entered into an agreement
+with one Caius Mucius, who could talk a little Tuscan, and who undertook
+to go across the water for the purpose of killing Porsenna. Mucius
+disguised himself in an Etrurian helmet--a sort of Tuscan bonnet--and
+with a sword concealed under the folds of his ample Roman wrap-rascal,
+he arrived at Porsenna's camp, just as the salaries were being paid to
+the soldiers. While the troops were intent on drawing their pay, Mucius
+slily drew his sword, and seeing an individual rather handsomely
+dressed, rushed upon him to administer to him, with the weapon, a most
+unhandsome dressing.
+
+The individual thus assailed was rapidly despatched, but it turned out
+that the victim, instead of being the king, was an unfortunate scribe,
+or writer, who could have been by no means prepared for this unusual
+fate of genius. Had the critics unmercifully cut him up, the scribe
+would have felt that his death was, to a certain extent, in the way of
+business; but to be murdered by mistake for a king, was a result that
+any member of the republic of letters might fairly have objected to. It
+may appear at first sight startling that a literary man should have been
+well-dressed, and in the company of a king, but it must be remembered
+that the scribe was not necessarily a man of remarkable ability. His art
+was that of a mere copyist, which, even in these days, frequently gains
+a reputation for the imitator, who is often confounded with, instead of
+being confounded by the man of original genius. The scribes of
+antiquity, like many modern writers, did no more than set down the
+thoughts of others, and, as their style was extremely hard, consisting
+of a piece of iron, with which they wrote upon wax, their works were not
+likely to make a very deep or lasting impression.
+
+Our pity for the unfortunate literary character is considerably lessened
+by the fact, that being in the camp he had no doubt been dining with the
+guards; and we know he was wearing a showy dress--two circumstances
+indicating an affectation of the manners of the fast man, which are
+always unbecoming to the man of letters.
+
+Mucius was about to retire after the execution of the deed, but he was
+seized by the attendants, and then seized by remorse when he was
+informed that he had despatched a harmless literary man instead of
+Porsenna. Being taken to the king, Mucius found him sitting before the
+fire of a large altar. The Etruscan chief, on hearing the charge,
+pointed out the penalty that had been incurred, when the prisoner,
+thrusting his right hand into the fire, allowed it to remain, with
+extraordinary coolness, or, rather, with most intense heat, until it was
+consumed as far as the wrist; and he concluded the act of self
+incendiarism, by declaring there were three hundred others who were just
+as ready as himself to take up arms and burn off a hand, in defiance of
+their oppressor. Porsenna, who had watched the painful process with
+extreme interest, was so delighted at the fortitude displayed, that he
+jumped from his seat, and mentally remarking that "the fellow was a
+wonderfully cool hand at an operation of the kind," ordered some guards
+to conduct him in safety to Rome; at the same time advising Mucius to
+conduct himself more wisely for the future.
+
+[Illustration: Mucius Scævola before Porsenna.]
+
+Mucius returned to Rome, where he obtained the name of Scævola (from
+_Scærus_) in consequence of his being left-handed, or it might have been
+because of his having evinced such an utter want of dexterity in the
+business he had undertaken.
+
+Porsenna, having heard that there were three hundred Romans ready to
+take his life, felt uneasy at such fearful odds as three hundred to one
+against him; nor could he enjoy a moment's peace with himself until a
+peace with Rome was concluded. He sent ambassadors to negotiate a
+treaty, which was soon arranged; the only difficulty arising on the
+subject of the proposed restoration of Tarquin, which his subjects would
+not listen to; and, though he and Porsenna had hitherto rowed in the
+same boat, the latter found it absolutely necessary to throw the former
+overboard. Rome was compelled to return the territory taken from the
+Veii, and Porsenna claimed several hostages, among whom were sundry
+young ladies of the principal Roman families. One of these was named
+Clælia, who, with other maidens, having resolved on a bold plunge for
+their liberty, jumped into the Tiber's bed, and swam like a party of
+ducks to the other side of the river. Clælia ran home in her dripping
+clothes, but, instead of a warm reception, she was met with a wet
+blanket, for her father fearing that her having absconded would be
+visited upon Rome, sent her back like a runaway school-girl to the camp
+of Porsenna. That individual behaved with his usual magnanimity, for he
+not only pardoned Clælia and her companions, but sent them home to their
+parents, who, perhaps, knew better than Porsenna how to manage them.
+
+[Illustration: Clælia and her Companions escaping from the Etruscan
+Camp.]
+
+The Etruscan monarch seems to have been one of those who could do
+nothing by halves, but having once granted quarter to the foe, he was
+not satisfied until he had surrendered the whole of what he had taken
+from the vanquished. He gave them unprovisionally all the provisions
+remaining in his camp, and, in fact, he left behind him so many goods
+and chattels, that at public auctions it was customary for many years
+afterwards to advertise the effects as "the property of King Porsenna."
+Returning to Clusium, he is believed to have shut himself up at home,
+and never stirred out again, for we meet with him no more in any of the
+highways or byways of history.
+
+The Romans having recovered from the blow, or series of blows, they had
+received from Porsenna, were prepared to turn their anger on the subject
+nearest at hand, and the Sabines were conveniently situated to receive a
+great deal of it. Irritated by the enemy, the Sabines lost their temper
+towards each other, and several of them, among whom were Atta Clausus,
+or Appius Claudius and family, went over to Rome. The renegades were
+received by their new allies with honour; for apostacy, which should
+carry with it disgrace, was even in those days treated too often as a
+virtue. The Claudii were made patricians of Rome, which seems to have
+always courted converts by offering the highest price to those who were
+ready to part with their old opinions and principles. Valerius
+Publicola--or as some call him, Popli-cola, one who honoured the
+people--died soon after the last-mentioned event, and received the
+compliment of a magnificent funeral. The procession commenced with a
+band of pipers, every one of whom the public paid, and the crown was
+carried in state; but on such an occasion as this, the empty crown could
+be suggestive of nothing but its own hollowness.
+
+The armour belonging to the deceased was buried with him, as if in
+mockery of its uselessness against the attacks of the grim enemy; and
+the face was painted, as is still the custom in Italy, where the attempt
+to disguise the complexion to which we must come at last, only gives to
+the reality a hideousness neither necessary nor natural. After the
+funeral of a great or a much lamented man, it was usual to hang branches
+of cypress on his house, and his gates were decorated with pine by those
+who were left pining after him.
+
+It was about this period that the great battle of Lake Regillus is
+supposed to have been fought, when the Latins, who had been trying to
+translate into Latin everything belonging to Rome, were at length taught
+that the Roman character was strong enough to maintain its own
+individuality.
+
+In times of extreme peril, it has always been found that two heads,
+instead of being better than one, are likely to neutralise each other,
+and to reduce the supreme power under one head is the best mode of
+making it effectual. The Romans, when seriously threatened by the
+Latins, proceeded at once to the appointment of a dictator, from whose
+decrees there should be no appeal; so that whatever he said should be no
+sooner said than done--a principle of action which contributes
+materially to the success of every great enterprise. P. Lartius was the
+first dictator; but we can find no traces of his dictation, and he seems
+to have been speedily superseded by Aulus Postumius, whose sword is
+said to have been known "to bite,"[14]--a propensity which must have
+rendered his blade rather liable to snap, unless its temper was
+excellent. The appointment of dictator was only for six months; so that
+the people were soon absolved from the absolute power under which they
+placed themselves. The best piece of patronage at the disposal of the
+dictator, was the place of Master of the Horse, which Aulus conferred on
+Æbutius; the latter acting completely under the guidance of the former,
+who never parted with the reins while deputing the mastership of the
+horse to another. Aulus and Æbutius set forward towards the Lake
+Regillus, on the margin of which they waited till it was pitch dark
+before they pitched their tent, with the intention of preparing for a
+pitched battle.
+
+The Latins were led by Mamilius, and the foe being face to face, engaged
+themselves hand to hand with the most desperate energy. According to the
+legend, Æbutius and Mamilius, meeting in the thick of the fight, came
+individually to blows, which resulted in the unhorsing of the Master of
+the Horse, who was almost bored to death with the points of the swords
+of the enemy. At one time the battle seemed so much in favour of the
+Latins, that Aulus entreated the Romans not to resign themselves to the
+ravens, to be crowed over in a double sense, by the birds of prey and
+the enemy. So mutual was the slaughter, and so equal the bravery on both
+sides, that it would have been difficult to decide the battle; and the
+legend, in its equal apportionment of valour to each party, would have
+come to no practical result, had not supernatural agency stepped in
+opportunely to give to one side the victory. Two gigantic youths were
+seen fighting on the Roman side, and though nobody knew their names,
+their address was the admiration of every one. Their valour was shown at
+the expense of the unfortunate Latins, who, unable to sustain the heavy
+charge that was now made upon them, made no further attempt to meet any
+engagement, but resorted to flight, as the only act that seemed to offer
+benefit.
+
+The warriors wore nothing on their heads, and many surmises arose as to
+who they could be; but nobody suspected the truth,--that the heroes,
+without helmets or hats, were Castor, who never was unaccompanied by his
+friend Pollux, and Pollux, who never went anywhere without his Castor.
+The same noble youths were the first to announce in Rome the news of the
+victory, acting as "their own reporters" of their own exploits. Having
+delivered their message, they disappeared as mysteriously as they came;
+for the legend loses sight of them in a horse-trough near the temple of
+Vesta. Hither they repaired to water their steeds, and to refresh
+themselves at an adjacent well; and those who feel the insatiable thirst
+of curiosity, are referred to the bottom of this well for the truth, if
+a deeper inquiry into the legend is desired. For many ages a
+superstitious reverence was shown for the margin of the Lake Regillus,
+where a mark, said to be the impression of a celestial horse's hoof,
+remained, to make a lasting impression on the softness of credulity.
+
+We have hitherto been swimming, as well as we can, in the sea of
+conjecture, catching eagerly at the lightest cork or bladder, in the
+shape of fact, to keep us afloat in the stream of events flowing from
+legendary sources.
+
+The continuation of the journey will be chiefly on the _terra firma_ of
+fact; and, instead of being, now and then, so thoroughly at sea as to
+find ourselves wandering into the wildest latitudes, with no other pilot
+than tradition, we shall henceforth, in our progress, have good and
+substantial grounds to go upon. Hitherto we have had credulity pulling
+at the oars, the idle and uncertain breezes of rumour filling our sails,
+and our rudder in the hands of various authorities distinguished for
+nothing but their disagreement with each other, and who would, in fact,
+be without distinction of any kind if they were without a difference.
+
+We are now about to pursue our journey by a more certain road, to carry
+on our history, as it were, by the rail; and, though the line may be a
+peculiar one of our own, the train of facts will be regular, coming, we
+trust into no violent collision with others pursuing the same path, and
+arriving, in due time, at the appointed terminus.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] Niebuhr spells the word with a double n, in the penultimate
+syllable; but Macaulay, who quotes four verses from different writers in
+favour of his orthography, writes the word Porsena, with the penultimate
+short.
+
+[14]
+
+ "Camerium knows how deeply
+ The sword of Aulus bites,
+ And all our city calls him
+ The man of seventy fights."
+
+ MACAULAY's _Lay of the Battle of the Lake Regillus_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
+
+FROM THE BATTLE OF THE LAKE REGILLUS TO THE CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH THE
+VOLSCIANS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The resources of Rome had hitherto been derived from the plunder taken
+in war, but the field of battle is always far less fertile than the
+field of industry. In the former case, the crop once gathered is
+rendered for ever unproductive, and to beat the same enemy twice over,
+is like the useless operation of thrashing straw; for if, in either
+case, the first thrashing has been complete, there is nothing to be got
+by a second. The plebeians had been so long withdrawn from the
+cultivation of the land, that they found it extremely awkward to
+cultivate a second time an acquaintance once dropped; and the earth
+having been hitherto regarded as _infra dig._, was not likely to yield
+much to those who had despised until they wanted it. The plebeians could
+only reap what they had sown, and as they had sown nothing of any value,
+they had fallen into a state of extreme seediness. Begging and borrowing
+were the only alternatives of those who could no longer steal, and the
+patrician body became a sort of loan society to the plebeians, who
+pledged themselves not only morally, but physically, for the return of
+the money that had been advanced to them. The law of debtor and creditor
+was extremely stringent in ancient Rome; and indeed its stringency
+amounted almost to a rope round the debtor's neck; for if he could not
+pay within a certain time, he was tied down as the slave of his
+creditor. In this position the assailant was called an _addictus_, for
+he was regularly sold, without even the equity of redemption being
+allowed to him. If the borrower had only pledged himself without an
+actual sale, he was simply a _nexus_, with the power of paying off his
+debt by either money or work; but if he could do neither, he became an
+_addictus_[15] forthwith, when he was thrown into chains, and wore
+nothing but the stripes, which were the ordinary livery of that
+disgraceful state of servitude.
+
+Appius Claudius had been chosen Consul, with P. Servilius as a
+colleague, in the year of the City 258, when a miserable old insolvent,
+with his hair like a mat, giving evidence of the severe rubs that had
+fallen on his head, rushed into the forum. His face had the paleness of
+ashes, and many tried to sift his countenance, in which the marks of his
+having been ground down to the dust were plainly visible. His back bore
+traces of recent scores, every one of which he declared should be
+accounted as a score to be paid off upon his oppressors. His farm had
+been burned down, and its contents burned up; his cattle had been driven
+he knew not where, while he himself had been driven to distraction. The
+tax-gatherer had, nevertheless, been as punctual as ever in his calls,
+and having soundly rated the ruined agriculturist for not being ready
+with his rates, the latter had been compelled to run into debt; for the
+Romans had not made insurance against fire any feature of their policy.
+Having been unable to pay his debts, the impoverished farmer became the
+slave of his creditor; and the shoulders of the former bore
+unmistakeable marks of the latter having got the whip-hand of him. The
+excitement in the forum was intense; for all were seized with
+indignation, who might possibly be seized for debt; and every one who
+owed anything to anybody began to feel that he owed a great deal more to
+common humanity. A popular outbreak seemed to be close at hand, and the
+two Consuls consulted together on the crisis. Appius Claudius gave it as
+his opinion, that as the people were put up, the best way was to put
+them down; but his colleague, Servilius, was an advocate for a milder
+regimen. At this juncture, news arrived of the Volscian army having set
+out for Rome; and the plebeians being called upon to enlist, declared
+that they would not enlist themselves at the bidding of those who would
+do nothing to enlist their sympathies. In this difficult dilemma, P.
+Servilius promised that if they would come out and fight, they should be
+released from prison during the war; and guaranteed that if they would
+present a bold front to the enemy's sword, their backs should be safe
+from the scourge of domestic tyranny. There was an immediate rush of
+insolvents into the ranks, which were soon filled almost to overflowing;
+for as a great majority of the population happened to be hopelessly in
+debt, a summons to the field was the only sort of summons their
+appearance to which might have been reasonably relied upon.
+
+They fought with the energy of desperation, for each rank had sworn an
+oath, and there was an affidavit, therefore, on every file, to do
+execution on the Volscians. Never were bankrupts more determined to
+avoid a surrender than the band of defaulters who went forth to meet the
+foe with a confidence, which would, probably, have disappeared had they
+recognised at the meeting a single one of their creditors. The success
+of the Romans was complete, and those who had fought upon the
+understanding that every blow they struck was to wipe out a debt,
+returned home in the expectation that every old liability had been
+rubbed off, and that they would be free to rub on as they best could for
+the future. They were, however, doomed to bitter disappointment, for
+Appius Claudius declared that no faith ought to be kept with those who
+had kept no faith with their creditors; and all the debtors who were not
+prepared to pay upon the nail had the screw cruelly applied to them. The
+debtors were sent back to their prisons, and many an unfortunate
+insolvent, as he thought of the imposition that had been practised upon
+him, could only cast his eyes upon the walls of his dungeon, and murmur
+at the dreadful cell of which he had become the victim. The bolts and
+bars of oppression would have brought liberty to a dead lock, had it not
+been for the people outside the gaols, who threatened to rise for the
+purpose of falling upon the tyrants. At this critical period Rome was
+menaced by the Sabines, when the plebeians were called upon to enlist;
+but they declared they would be recruits of the very rawest description
+if they allowed themselves to be again done as they had been already.
+Public meetings were held on the Esquiline and Aventine hills, where
+liberal sentiments, which have now become as old as the hills
+themselves, fell upon the popular ear with all the charm and force of
+novelty. The patricians were divided as to the best means of dealing
+with the difficulty their own misconduct had created, and it was obvious
+that the fatal error having been committed of refusing to accede to a
+just demand, the scarcely less dangerous mistake of yielding to violence
+and clamour was the only course that could now be followed. The
+patricians would have stood by their order; but the difficulty was to
+know how public order, as well as their own order, could be preserved;
+and it was at length agreed that a dictator should be appointed. The
+choice fell upon M. Valerius, a moderate man, whom the plebeians could
+trust, for he came of a good stock, his father being no other than that
+great gun of the popular party, the famous Publicola. A large army was
+soon ready to take the field, or to take anything else that came in the
+ordinary course of battle. Valerius marched against the Sabines, who
+fled, or, more literally speaking, decamped; for they left behind them
+their camp, which was taken by the enemy.
+
+On his return to Rome in triumph, the dictator asked for an inquiry into
+the people's wrongs, with a view to giving them their rights; but the
+patrician party in the senate refusing him his committee, Valerius sent
+in his resignation, which was accepted by the senate. He apologised to
+the plebeians for not having been able to carry his measures of reform;
+and the patricians, pleased by his moderation in resigning his seat,
+gave him a curule chair--a sort of portable stall, or reserved seat,
+which, at the Circensian games he was privileged to occupy.
+
+The Curule Chair, or Sella Curulis, invites us to pause for a moment,
+and hold a short sitting upon it, for the purpose of inquiring into its
+origin. Comfort seems to have been supplied most charily in the
+construction of this official chair; but there was a fine touch of
+morality in giving uneasiness to the seat of unlimited power. The legs
+of the Sella Curulis folded like those of a camp-stool; a device which
+may have been emblematical of the fact, that the dictatorial office was
+liable to a speedy shutting up, for the appointment was never more than
+of six months' duration. The material of which the chair was formed was
+the smoothest and most highly-polished ivory; so that the fatal facility
+of a fall must have been frequently suggested to the occupant of the
+seat by its exceedingly slippery surface.[16]
+
+The Consuls, fearing an outbreak if the army was disbanded, ordered the
+soldiers to remain on duty in the capacity of special constables over
+each other--the staff being held responsible for the conduct of the main
+body. To be continued thus as a standing army, was more than the troops
+felt disposed to stand; and, determining to take high ground, they
+withdrew to the top of the Mons Sacer or Sacred Mount, in the
+neighbourhood of Crustumenium. Electing L. Sicinius as their leader,
+they accommodated themselves as well as they could, until matters should
+be accommodated with the senate.
+
+The patricians began to be greatly alarmed at the secession of the
+plebeians; for though the former had been accustomed to trample the
+latter under foot, all the foundations of society seemed to be withdrawn
+in the absence of that part which, though it may be called the base, is
+essential to the existence of the capital. Rome, in fact, was beginning
+to find out that an aristocracy cut off from all connection with the
+people at large, is little better than a flower separated from the tree,
+and doomed to fall speedily into bad odour. The patrician order happily
+recognised the important truth, that the most delicate tendrils owe all
+their vitality to the sap, carried up to the top of the tree from those
+portions that are in the closest connection with the soil; and steps
+were therefore taken to prevent the final severing of the sturdy trunk
+from the higher branches. An embassy, consisting of ten patricians, was
+sent to negotiate; but as the patricians were no orators, and their
+stupidity spoke for itself, Menenius Agrippa, who had once been a
+plebeian, was sent as their head, which of course included their
+mouth-piece.
+
+Menenius, using his authority as spokesman for the common weal, cited
+the fable of the Belly and the Members, to the bellicose _plebs_, who
+seemed struck by his relation of it to them, and its own relation to
+their existing position. He told them that, once upon a time, all the
+members of the human body resolved on aiming a blow at the stomach,
+which was accused of leading a life of idleness. The hands struck with
+no particular aim; the legs, moved to rebellion, refused to stir; the
+eye shut down its lid; the mouth went into open hostility, and the nose
+joining in the general blow, there seemed every prospect that the proud
+stomach would be glad to eat humble pie in the absence of all other
+provisions. It was, however, soon found that, in nourishing their
+animosity, the members were keeping all nourishment from themselves, and
+that they and their revenge were about equally wasted.
+
+The plebeians, understanding the moral of the story, were disposed to
+treat, on the understanding that they should henceforth be better
+treated. An agreement was entered into, by which the sponge was to be
+applied to all old debts; and all who had lost their liberty by being
+the slaves of bad circumstances were restored to freedom. The new
+compact provided also for the institution of two officers, named
+Tribunes, who were invested with authority over the concerns of the
+plebeians; and it was certainly one of the best investments ever made
+for the profit of the Roman people. The person of the Tribune was so
+sacred, that a common assault upon this officer, when in the execution
+of his duty, rendered the assailant liable not merely to be taken up,
+but to be knocked down and killed in the streets by any one having a
+mania for manslaughter.
+
+The Tribune was allowed such an unlimited liberty of speech, that it was
+punishable to interrupt him; and in default of bail, it was death to
+cough him down while addressing the people. Even to yawn during one of
+his discourses, was to open an abyss into which the yawner might be
+plunged before he was aware of it; and the involuntary action of his
+distended jaws would often render them the jaws of his own destruction.
+
+The house of the Tribune was open day and night; so that it was as easy
+to find one of these officers as it is in these days to find a
+policeman, and sometimes rather easier. The Tribunes had power to bring
+parties before them, or, in other words, to issue summonses, as well as
+to enforce fines, which, if not paid, involved the forfeiture of
+property, or, in simpler terms, were recoverable by distress warrant
+upon the defaulter's goods and chattels. One of the greatest privileges
+of the Tribunes was the right of exercising a veto on any decree of the
+senate. Though they had no seats in the assembly, they were permitted to
+look in at the door; and if any act was passing that they disapproved,
+they had the privilege of exercising, by a shout of "No," a sort of
+negative authority. This power of prevention left fewer evils to be
+cured; and the plebeians, having at last obtained an organ of their own,
+may be said to have found the key to their liberties.
+
+The Tribunes seem to have had power to add to their number, for they
+selected three colleagues, soon after they themselves had been chosen;
+and, from this time forth, a struggle ensued between plebeian energy,
+seeking its fair share of right, and patrician tenacity, holding on with
+obstinate determination to exclusive advantages.
+
+Contemporaneously with the institution of the Tribunes, some new
+officers were appointed, under the name of Ædiles, who were something
+like our Commissioners of Woods and Forests, of Sewers, and of Paving
+combined; for they had the care of public buildings, roads, and drains,
+as well as of baths and washhouses. They sometimes decided small
+disputes, and acted as Inspectors of Markets, examining weights,
+settling quarrels, and holding the scales of justice as well as of
+merchandise. They kept an eye to unwholesome provisions, and a nose to
+stale fish; their ears took cognisance of bad language; in their hands
+they carried a staff; and they were, in fact, a curious compound of the
+beadle, the commissioner, the policeman, and the magistrate.
+
+While the plebeians had been sulking on the Mons Sacer, a treaty between
+the Latins and the Romans had been brought about by Spurius Cassius, a
+Consul, who, though his name sounds like counterfeit coin, seems to have
+possessed a good deal of the true metal. By the treaty, both nations
+were to be almost entirely equal in every respect; and, even with regard
+to booty, they were to be on the same footing.
+
+By another clause in the act, those insolvent debtors who had been
+converted into "alarming sacrifices!" and were reduced to slavery,
+because their creditors "must have cash," or its equivalent, were
+restored to freedom. The ceremony of manumission was curious, and
+comprised so many indignities done to the slave, that, although free, he
+could not have been very easy under the process. He was first taken
+before the Consul by his master, who gave him a blow on the cheek, which
+was rather a back-handed mode of making an independent man of him. The
+Consul then laid his wand about the insolvent's back, at the same time
+declaring him perfectly free, and telling him to go about his
+business--if he happened to have any. The beating having been gone
+through, there was still more lathering to be endured; for the head of
+the freedman was closely shaved, as a precaution, perhaps, against his
+going mad on the attainment of his liberty. His release from his chains
+was not complete until he had been deprived of his locks; and to crown
+all, he was invested with that emblem of butchery in a political, as
+well as a social point of view, the red cap of liberty.
+
+During the internal quarrels of Rome, agriculture had been so thoroughly
+neglected, that the harvest had completely fallen to the ground, or,
+rather, had never come out of it. The husbandman had husbanded nothing,
+either for himself or others; and as nothing had been sown but civil
+dissension, there was nothing to reap but the fruit of it. The Romans,
+who, until lately, had been thirsting for power, were now hungry for
+food; and, to prevent the people from dying at home, envoys were sent to
+scour the surrounding countries,--a process which involved many a brush
+with the inhabitants. It is stated, by some historians, that, during the
+famine, an order was forwarded to Gelo, of Syracuse, for corn, which
+that individual was quite ready to supply, but for which he was so
+thoroughly unbusiness-like as to refuse the money. The incident, though
+utterly without commercial interest, would have been pleasing in a
+different point of view, were it not for the stern realities of
+chronology, which prove that Gelo could not have acted as a gratuitous
+corn-dealer at the time specified, for he was not alive at the period.
+
+While Rome was suffering from want of corn, it was wasting the very
+flower of its population in a war with the Volscians. Among the most
+distinguished warriors on the side of the Romans was Caius Marcius, a
+young patrician, who led all his own clients into an action in which the
+defendants--the unfortunate Volscians--were subjected to enormous
+damages. He subsequently proceeded against Corioli, which made an
+obstinate defence; but was ultimately beaten, and compelled to pay the
+whole of the costs of the conflict. From this affair he took the name of
+Coriolanus, by which he is better known than by his original appellation
+of C. Marcius, for mankind will too often award the largest measure of
+fame to the most extensive perpetrator of mischief; and he who would
+carve himself a name, may carve it much more deeply and durably with the
+sword than with any other instrument.
+
+When the corn arrived from Sicily, the popular party proposed a
+gratuitous distribution of the boon; but the patricians, headed by
+Coriolanus, who was a tyrant in grain, recommended that the plebeians
+should pay for what they required. Complaint is never so open-mouthed as
+when it has nothing to eat; and the people became desperate when they
+found Coriolanus advising, without a scruple, that not a grain should be
+given, nor an ear lent to their sufferings. He proposed the abolition of
+the Tribunes as the condition of food being supplied to the people; but
+they, becoming every day more crusty from the want of bread, insisted on
+his being tried for treason. Coriolanus saw the people waxing resolute
+to seal his doom, and he accordingly made his escape, so that when the
+time came for him to be tried, he was found wanting. Judgment went
+against him by default; his name was struck out of the list of
+patricians--a sort of peerage of the period. He was sentenced, moreover,
+to _aquæ et ignis interdictio_--prohibition from fire and water; a
+punishment which, looking at the fiery nature of all spirituous liquors,
+may be fancifully supposed to have involved especially a stoppage of
+grog, as it certainly prevented everybody from entertaining him. This
+sentence amounted, in fact, to banishment; and, indeed, it was designed
+to do so; for the interdiction of fire and water left the culprit
+nothing on earth but air, which of course it was quite impossible to
+live upon.
+
+[Illustration: Coriolanus parting from his Wife and Family.]
+
+Stung with what he called the ingratitude of his countrymen, though they
+had really not much to thank him for, Coriolanus, in a spirit not very
+magnanimous, proceeded to offer his services to the enemy. Taking leave
+of his wife Volumnia, a voluminous woman, who had had greatness thrust
+upon her by nature to an awkward extent, he departed for the country of
+the Volscians, and arrived at Antium about supper time. His name was
+taken up at once to Attius Tullius, who, though sitting at his meal with
+the usual accompaniment of _manus unctæ_, or greasy hands, determined
+not to allow the illustrious stranger to slip through his fingers.
+Coriolanus was hospitably entertained, and induced to take the command
+of the Volscian army against the Roman colonists. He drove them from
+place to place until he had got them up against the Cluilian ditch, and
+into it many were thrown; a sad proof of his animosity having been
+carried to a pitch that must always leave a black stain on his memory.
+Here also he pitched his tent within almost a stone's throw of Rome; and
+as the plebeians were unwilling to fight, ambassadors were sent to
+entreat Coriolanus to lay down his sword; but, contemptuously folding
+his arms, he returned no answer. The priests next tried their powers of
+persuasion, but though they did all they could to convert Coriolanus to
+the cause of Rome, it was not until female influence was brought into
+requisition, that the attempt proved successful. His mother Veturia,
+accompanied by his considerably better half, Volumnia, and a party of
+Roman ladies made up for the occasion, visited him at his camp, when the
+clamour of the strong-minded, the sighs and sobs of the weaker, the
+sneers of some, the tears of others, and the importunity of all, proved
+irresistible. He had been resolute for some time; but when his wife,
+with a heavy heart added to her natural weight, fell upon his neck, he
+seemed to be sinking under that which he could no longer stand up
+against.
+
+His mother, Veturia, following up the advantage that had been gained,
+tried the power of the female tongue, to which time seems to go on
+adding all the force of which it deprives the rest of the body. The old
+lady raved and shouted with a degree of anile energy that struck
+Coriolanus with dismay; and when she threw herself on the ground,
+declaring he should walk over her body if he attempted to march upon
+Rome, he felt that he could not take another step without trampling on
+the tenderest relations of humanity. With Volumnia hanging to his neck,
+and Veturia clinging to his heels,--with a wife pouring the loudest
+lamentations into his ear,--with a mother cursing everything in general,
+but his own birthday in particular,--with a bevy of Roman ladies
+shrieking and sobbing in the background,--Coriolanus could no longer
+resist, but ordered his camp to be broken up, and led his legions back
+again. Tradition differs as to the date of the death of Coriolanus, who,
+according to some accounts, sunk under the attack made upon him by the
+weaker sex; while others assert that he lived to a good old age, which
+is likely to have been the case, if the scene we have described was not
+immediately the death of him--for the constitution that could have
+survived so severe a trial must have been of a strength truly wonderful.
+
+Coriolanus has been held up as a model of disinterestedness, but we
+cannot help setting him down as a selfish upstart, who turned traitor to
+his country, because it did not form the highest estimate of his
+personal merits. His deserts are overbalanced by the fact of his being a
+deserter; and it was, assuredly, the reverse of magnanimity to evince
+his spite against the nation to which he belonged, merely because his
+own value had not been put upon his own services. Such is our view of
+Coriolanus without the masquerade dress in which he has been often made
+to appear; for truth compels us to take off the gilt in which he has
+hitherto shone, and to substitute the guilt that really belongs to him.
+
+The Temple of Fortuna Muliebris was raised, in compliment to the women
+who, by their hysterical, and now historical efforts, were said to have
+saved Rome; and indeed, considering the frequency with which female
+influence operates the other way, the fact of its having been exercised
+for the prevention of mischief, deserves the commemoration of a
+monument.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] This law is said to have been altered by Servius Tullius; but if
+legislation on the subject was at one time loose, it became very binding
+afterwards, and was extremely strict at the date above alluded to.
+
+[16] The Curule Chair is said to have been imported, with other articles
+of state furniture, from Etruria. In some cases, the feet were formed of
+ivory in the shape of elephant's tusks; but there are other proofs of
+their Tuscan origin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.
+
+FROM THE CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS TO THE PASSING OF THE BILL
+OF TERENTILLUS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+After the war with the Volscians was at an end, the Romans are said to
+have entered into a treaty with their former foe, the object of which
+was a sort of partnership in plunder; it being agreed that the new
+allies should take the field together, and divide the produce.
+Ill-gotten gain is never a source of real profit; and the land stolen in
+war became a ground of contention among the Romans. The patricians had
+hitherto grasped the whole of the conquered soil, though they could not
+do so with clean hands; and Spurius Cassius proposed that the plebeians
+should have a share of it. The suggestion, though violently resisted,
+became the law of the land; but the land was not appropriated in
+conformity with the law until a much later period. Spurius Cassius did
+not long survive, when the year of his Consulship had expired; for the
+patricians caused him to be impeached, and his head was struck off upon
+a block, though, from the services he had performed, it deserved rather
+to have been struck off upon a medal.
+
+The patricians tried to divert the attention of the plebeians from
+domestic affairs by leading them constantly into battle; but the latter,
+though compelled to march into the field, would take no steps to secure
+a victory. Like horses brought to the water but refusing to drink, the
+soldiers, though conducted to the field, evinced no thirst for blood;
+but firmly declining to aim a single blow, they presented a striking
+picture of passive disobedience. In vain did the officers suggest, that
+for those ambitious of a soldier's grave, there was at length an
+eligible opening; they would gain no laurels, but allowed themselves to
+be kept at bay; they laughed outright at their commanders, and, instead
+of straining every nerve for success, they kept their risible muscles
+only in full exercise.
+
+There existed at this time a gens in Rome which had managed to obtain
+such a share of power for itself, that it was generally recognised as
+the governing family. The gens alluded to was that of the Fabii, whose
+union formed their chief strength; for no member of the family, though
+he might be unmindful of his antecedents, was ever known to forget his
+relatives. The Fabii derived their name from Faba, a bean, because their
+ancestors had cultivated that kind of pulse; but in later times the gens
+became remarkable for feeling the popular pulse, and making a cat's-paw
+of the patricians. By an arrangement with the order to which they
+belonged, the Fabii were ensured one of the consulships, on condition of
+their influencing their clients to elect a patrician to the other; and
+thus both the people and the senate were played off against each other
+for the special advantage of the "family." Fortunately for society,
+there is in all corruption a rottenness which is always bringing it
+towards its conclusion while it seems to be gaining its end; and the
+usual difficulty of getting unprincipled men to hang long together by a
+rope of sand, was illustrated in the case of the patricians and the
+Fabii. The quarrels among themselves helped to render them contemptible
+to the plebeians, and the troops had become so accustomed to treat their
+leaders with disrespect, that many an intended fight ended without a
+sword being taken from its sheath, and nothing was drawn but the battle.
+
+One of the Consuls had, for several years, been chosen from the family
+of the Fabii; when its members growing tired, at last, of their
+patrician stock being a laughing-stock to the army, determined to make
+themselves popular. Marcus Fabius won the hearts of the soldiers, by
+dressing their wounds, and promising to redress their grievances. Kæso
+Fabius, his successor, recommended the distribution of the land among
+the plebeians, by whose sweat it had been gained; but he had not been
+always equally anxious to acknowledge the claims of popular
+perspiration; for he had been one of those who condemned Spurius Cassius
+for having made a similar proposition.
+
+Tradition states that the Fabii afterwards emigrated in a body, upwards
+of three hundred strong, taking with them four thousand clients; but
+whether the clients went at their own solicitation, or whether the Fabii
+were the solicitors, we are not in a position to determine. It is said
+that the whole party of four thousand three hundred went into action
+together, and paid with their lives the costs of the sad affair; but the
+critical authorities doubt the whole story; and it is satisfactory to
+our best feelings to know that we, on this point, know nothing.[17]
+
+The Etrurians soon after wasted the country near Rome, and wasted their
+own time into the bargain, for they were at last glad to treat, though
+not until they had retreated. A peace was concluded; and the parties
+held their peace for forty years,--or, at all events, if they ever had
+words, they did not come to blows during that lengthened period.
+
+As some of the events recorded in this chapter arose out of the Roman
+law of debtor and creditor, it may be just as well to include in this
+account a few items of a commercial character. When a man ran into debt,
+he was almost sure to be brought to a stand-still, for compound interest
+continued to accrue so rapidly that there was no chance of compounding
+with those to whom he owed money. Thirty days after a debt being
+demanded, the defaulter was handed over to his creditor, and bound with
+a cord, by way of accord and satisfaction; but, at the end of sixty
+days, a crier, whose office was enough to make him shed tears,
+advertised the insolvent for sale as a slave in the market-place. It is
+not surprising that the plebeians should rise against their being put up
+to this degrading auction, more particularly when the masters to whom
+they were knocked down were in the habit of beating and cruelly
+ill-treating them. The patricians laid violent hands, not only upon the
+plebeians, but upon all the property of the State, assuming to the
+utmost all its rights, and repudiating all its duties. They took as a
+matter of right all the offices of state; and so complete was the
+seizure made by the patricians of every thing in the shape of a
+Government situation, that the name of the order which absorbed to
+itself all the good things is to be traced in the modern word
+"patronage." The whole of the profits of war went into the pockets of
+the upper class; and though the plebeians drew the sword, the patricians
+drew whatever money was to be obtained from the enemy.
+
+The patricians, however, were not allowed to exercise their tyranny
+always without resistance; for, if their conduct was revolting to human
+nature, it was to be expected that human nature would revolt against
+them when opportunity offered. An instance occurred during the
+Consulship of Appius Claudius, who had been elected by the senate, and
+who, wishing to levy troops, caused the names of all the men between
+eighteen and forty-five to be called over in a list, which furnished the
+materials for enlistment. Amongst the names was that of Publilius
+Volero, who had formerly held a commission as a centurion, or captain;
+and, being now selected to serve as a common soldier, declared
+indignantly that rather than go as a private into the ranks, he would
+continue in a private station. Publilius, in fact, kicked violently
+against the orders of the Consul, and being a man of very powerful
+stamp, it was felt that when Publilius kicked in earnest, there was
+something on foot that it was not easy to contend against. Appius
+intimating that the Consuls must be obeyed, desired one of the lictors
+to do his duty; when Volero, being a strong and robust man, received the
+lictor with open arms, and lifting him from the ground, gave him a
+setting down that shook the nerves of the astonished officer. Having
+thrown the lictor on the ground, where the unhappy functionary took his
+own measure, instead of carrying out those of his superiors, Volero
+threw himself on the public, upon whom he made a very strong impression.
+
+[Illustration: A Lictor is sent to arrest Publilius Volero.]
+
+Publilius from this moment had considerable weight with the plebeians,
+who made him one of their Tribunes; and he at once proposed a large
+measure of reform in the mode of electing those officers. He suggested
+an extension of the suffrage, by giving it to the tribes instead of the
+centuries; and public meetings were got up in support of the project.
+These meetings were attended by the patricians, and disturbances ensued,
+owing to the attempts of one party to put the other party down; for
+public discussion in all ages seems to have been conducted on the
+principle that it is to be all on one side, and that any opinion opposed
+to that of the majority is not to be listened to. When the strength of
+lungs happens to be with the party having the strength of argument,
+there is not much harm done; but as the patricians and plebeians
+mustered in nearly equal numbers at the meetings alluded to, personal
+altercations frequently took place; and the Tribunes as well as the
+Consuls sent their respective officers to arrest each other.
+
+At length Lætorius, who had been elected as the colleague of Publilius
+Volero, marched into the Forum with an armed force, determined that he
+would that morning carry the day; and as he drew his sword, he declared
+he would go through with it. The patricians, losing their own
+resolution, offered to agree to any that he might propose; but, refusing
+to trust them, he took possession of the Capitol, as a guarantee for the
+fulfilment of their promise. The _Lex Publilia_ was accordingly passed,
+to the great annoyance of Appius, who always treated the plebeians as if
+different sorts of clay, as well as different moulds, were employed by
+Nature in her great man--ufacture. When his year of office was over, he
+was impeached by the Tribunes; but on the day when the trial ought to
+have come on, the worldly trials of Appius were all past, for he died
+the night before the cause stood for hearing. Posterity has agreed on
+the verdict which the judges were not required to pronounce; and it has
+even been said that he fell by his own hand, in consequence of his sense
+of guilt preventing him from knowing how to acquit himself.
+
+To add to its troubles, Rome was visited by a double plague, in the
+shape of an external foe and an internal pestilence. The enemy having
+approached the gates of the city, the country people had taken refuge
+inside the walls, bringing with them their cattle in such numbers that
+the place was literally littered with pigs, while the oxen and sheep
+were packed in pens to an extent of which our own pen can furnish but a
+faint outline. The summer was at the height of its heat, and the
+sufferings of the poor dumb animals, as they lost their fat, and met
+their fate, were enough to melt not only a heart of stone, but many a
+stone of suet. The foe, fearing from the pestilence a plaguy deal of
+trouble, broke up their camp; and Rome was allowed to enjoy an interval
+of peace, though disease did more havoc than might have been expected at
+the hands of an enemy.
+
+We now come to the legend of Cincinnatus; and though it is no better
+than a legend, which, as the smallest student will be aware, is so
+called from _legendum_, a thing to be read, we must proceed upon the
+assumption that, as it is a thing to be read, it is _à fortiori_ a thing
+to be written. Lucius Quinctius, surnamed Cincinnatus from his curly
+locks--for nature had dressed his hair to a turn--was of a high
+patrician family. He passed his life as a country gentleman occupying
+his own estate, and occupying himself in looking after it. His land, it
+must be admitted, was better cultivated than his manners, which were
+haughty and imperious. His virtues were all of the domestic kind; he was
+equally attached to his wife and his farm, and he was an excellent
+husband, as well as a good husbandman.
+
+[Illustration: Cincinnatus chosen Dictator.]
+
+It happened that Rome was in such a perilous state as to need a strong
+hand, when Cincinnatus, being famed for the use of the spade, was
+invited to leave his _otium cum dig._--as everybody knows already, and
+somebody may have said before--that he might assume the office of
+dictator. When the messengers arrived from the senate, Cincinnatus was
+at work in the fields, perhaps sowing up some old tares, or examining
+the state of his pulse--a favourite crop in those days--or cutting out
+the sickliest of his corn with the sickle. The soil being loamy, and
+Cincinnatus being in the thick of his work, he was not very presentable;
+but hastily throwing his toga round him, he made the best appearance he
+could before the messengers of the senate. They at once hailed him as
+dictator, and carried him to Rome, where he called out every man capable
+of bearing arms; and every man thus called out, accepted the patriotic
+challenge. Every soldier was to carry with him food for five days, and
+twelve stakes cut into lengths to form a barricade; so that, as the
+stakes weighed several pounds, and the eatables were solid, the burden
+of each man, together with his accoutrements--which included a cask on
+the head from which the perspiration poured--must have been
+inconveniently ponderous. Notwithstanding their heavy load, the legend,
+which is less weighty than their equipments, goes on to state that the
+soldiers started at sunset, with Cincinnatus at their head, and reached
+the camp, a distance of two-and-twenty miles, at a quick march, or
+rather at a fast trot, by midnight. Though the story runs thus, we are
+compelled to doubt the running of the troops, who, with their legs
+encumbered by their arms and other equipments, must have found speed
+impossible. On arriving at Mount Algidus, where the enemy was encamped,
+Cincinnatus made his soldiers surround the place, and by aiming at all
+in the ring, they were sure to hit somebody. Finding themselves in the
+midst of a circle by no means social, the Æquians sued for mercy; but
+Cincinnatus threw Gracchus Clœlius and his lieutenants into chains,
+which was equivalent to making them enter into bonds for their future
+good behaviour. Clœlius continued in his command after having been thus
+formally tied down, and Cincinnatus returned to Rome in triumph. Having
+held the dictatorship only sixteen days, he laid it quietly down, and
+returning to his farming operations, after having submitted the enemy to
+the yoke, he fitted it once more to the necks of his oxen.
+
+While engaged in fighting with an external enemy, a nation often forgets
+the foes she has within; and it is the cruel policy of despotism to
+waste the popular energy on quarrels with strangers, in order to divert
+the attention of the public from domestic grievances. The war being
+ended, the people began to look at home, and they soon perceived that,
+while the sword of aggression had been in constant use, the sword of
+justice had been rusting in the scabbard, or had been only drawn forth
+to inflict, occasionally, a wound on public liberty. A movement arose in
+favour of law reform, and C. Terentillus Arsa brought in a bill for
+getting the patricians and plebeians to a better understanding, by
+putting them on nearly the same footing. The measure led to considerable
+agitation; for, though the tribunes passed it, the senate could not get
+over it at all; and, the latter having thrown it out, the former brought
+in a bill, containing a great deal more than the original demand, in the
+year following. In political, as well as pecuniary affairs, a just claim
+carries interest, which accumulates as long as the claim remains
+unsatisfied; and every day, while it augments the debt due, increases
+the difficulty of meeting it.
+
+The proposition of Terentillus was much discussed in large assemblies,
+the harmony of which was disturbed by some of the young patricians; for,
+even in the early days of which we write, the noble art of laughing
+down, or crowing over a discomfited orator, was understood by some of
+the juvenile scions of aristocracy. It happened that Cincinnatus had
+four sons, who were exceedingly fine young men, with very coarse
+manners. One of them, named Kæso, was continually getting into street
+rows, or disturbing public meetings; and frequently went so far as to
+interfere with Virginius, a tribune, in the execution of his duty. The
+officer was for a long time patient; but, at length, was goaded to take
+the matter, as well as the offender, up; and Kæso was charged with a
+series of assaults, of a more or less aggravated and aggravating
+character. While these accusations were hanging over him, an old case of
+manslaughter came to light; the victim having been an aged invalid, whom
+Kæso, in a disreputable night brawl, had cruelly maltreated. He was
+already under heavy sureties when this fresh charge was brought up, and,
+to avoid meeting it, this proud patrician ran away from his bail,
+leaving their recognizances to be forfeited.
+
+Reports were soon afterwards spread, that the man who had left the city
+as a contemptible runaway, was about to return to it in the more
+formidable character of a robber and a murderer. One night when the
+people had gone to bed, many of them heard in their sleep the trampling
+of horses, which seemed to come like a tremendous nightmare over the
+city. Presently a shout arose, which beat upon the drum of every ear
+like a call to battle. The Consuls sprang out of bed, and throwing about
+them the first substitute for a toga that the bedclothes presented,
+they made at once for the walls of the city. The plebeians, when called
+upon, refused to serve; and the Consuls, feeling how weak they were in
+going to the wall alone, made the usual promises, which the people, as
+usual, were induced to discount, at a great personal sacrifice.
+Proceeding to the Capitol, they found it in the possession of a large
+band of exiles and runaway slaves, who would have been glad to run away
+a second time, had escape been possible. Many fell, and were felled to
+the earth, on both sides, while P. Valerius after putting several to the
+sword, had the sword put to him in a most uncomfortable manner.
+
+The exiles took nothing by their expedition as far as the attack was
+concerned; but many of them owed something to the expedition with which
+they fled from the contest. After this battle, all traces of Kæso
+Quinctius are lost; but whether he fell in the fray, or whether the
+thread of his existence was frayed out in some other way, is a mystery
+we have no means of unravelling.
+
+Appius Claudius was now called upon, as the surviving partner of P.
+Valerius, to redeem the pledge given by the latter; but Appius, with a
+chicanery worthy of Chancery in its best, or rather in its worst days,
+pleaded the death of his colleague as a bar to the suit, declaring that
+both consuls must be joined in it, though he knew all the while that a
+bill of revivor for the purpose of including the deceased consul was
+quite impossible. During these unhappy differences between the two
+orders, many of the leading plebeians were murdered at the instigation
+of the patricians, who, however, were rapidly cutting their own throats;
+for violence, while it thinned the body, added to the stoutness of heart
+of the popular party. The tribunes were increased in number from five to
+ten; and, somewhat later, a still higher point was gained for the
+plebeians by limiting to a couple of sheep and thirty beeves the fines
+to which they were liable. These exactions were, however, enforced with
+such rigour that the tenderest lamb was allowed no quarter if a fine had
+been incurred, and the smallest stake in the country--if the stake
+happened to be beef--was seized without remorse if the owner had become
+subject to a penalty.
+
+It was many years before the Bill of Terentillus--which has been
+specially noted--was at length taken up, when the patricians graciously
+consented to a change in the laws, and offered the benefit of their
+services into the bargain, by taking upon themselves to determine the
+sort of change that was required. Hitting, by anticipation, on the
+modern expedient for delaying useful measures, the patricians appointed
+a select committee to inquire into law reform, and, by way of rendering
+the chances of legislation still more remote, they ordered the members
+to proceed to Athens, where, under the enervating influence of Attic
+associations, they were likely to go to sleep over the subject of their
+labours. The special commissioners became, no doubt, so thoroughly Greek
+in all their ideas, that, even the preparation of their report was
+deferred until the Greek Kalends.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[17] Among the other difficulties of this story is the comparatively
+trifling one, that the Fabian race did not become extinct; but tradition
+hops over this dilemma, by leaving one of the family behind to serve as
+a father to future Fabii.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.
+
+FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DECEMVIRATE TO THE TAKING OF VEII.
+
+[Illustration: Roman Bull and Priest of the period.]
+
+
+The Romans, being at peace abroad, began to think of improving the means
+of quarrelling among themselves at home, and a desire for law reform
+became general. Three senators had been sent to Athens to collect
+information, but what they picked up in Greece was so thoroughly Greek
+to them, that they were obliged to get it translated into Latin by one
+Hermodorus, an Ephesian refugee, before they could understand a word of
+it.[18] As one job naturally leads to another, it was arranged that
+three commissioners having been employed in cramming, the process of
+digesting should be entrusted to ten more, who were called the
+Decemviri. These were appointed from the patricians, after a struggle on
+the part of the plebeians to get five selected from their own order;
+but, with a laudable regard to public order, they withdrew their
+opposition. The especial object for which the Decemviri had been
+appointed was to frame a new code of laws, but it seems to have been
+always understood that the practical purpose of a commission is to delay
+an object, quite as much as to further it. Lest the Decemviri should
+proceed too rapidly with the work they had been specially chosen to do,
+arrangements were made for distracting their attention from it by
+throwing on them the whole business of Government. Had they been modern
+commissioners of inquiry, they would have needed no excuse for delay;
+but, with a stubborn resolution to get through their task, they
+surmounted, or avoided, the obstacles they might have been excused for
+stumbling at. Instead of making their administrative duties an
+interruption to their legislative labours, and urging the necessity for
+attending to both as a plea for the performance of neither, the
+commissioners took the sovereignty in rotation for five days at a time,
+and as ten rulers acting all at once would have kept nothing straight,
+this arrangement for obtaining the strength of unity was altogether a
+judicious one. At the expiration of their year of office the Decemviri
+had completed a system of laws, which was engraved on ten tables;--a
+proof of the industry of the Government of the day, for in these times
+it would be hopeless to expect ten tables from those who might be, at
+the same time, forming a cabinet.
+
+Though the Decemviri had done enough to win the public favour, they had
+left enough undone to afford a pretext for the prolongation of their
+powers. It was suggested that though the ten tables were very good as
+far as they went, there was room for two more; and to give an
+opportunity for this small sum in addition being completed, the
+continuance of the decemviral form of government was agreed upon. As the
+time for the election approached, the most disgraceful election
+intrigues were practised, and in order to disqualify Appius
+Claudius--one of the former Decemviri--the patricians put him in the
+chair, or elected him president, on the day of the nomination of the
+candidates. Appius had for some time been acting the character of the
+"people's friend," and he had shown himself a consummate actor, for,
+being a tyrant by nature, he must have been wholly indebted to art for
+appearing otherwise. Having been called upon to preside, he opened the
+business of the day by proposing nine names of little note--including
+five plebeians--and then, with an air of frankness, he suggested himself
+as a fit and proper person to complete the number. The people--surprised
+and amused at the coolness of the proposition--proceeded to elect the
+very candid candidate, who, being joined with a number of nonentities,
+formed the unit to the ten of which the rest composed the cipher. Soon
+after their election, the new Decemviri proceeded to complete the twelve
+tables--and as they formed the origin of the Civil Law, embodying
+principles which the best jurists have been unable to improve--we will
+spread these tables before the student, and ask him to sit down with us
+for a few moments over them.
+
+We cannot promise him any other than a dry repast, with little or
+nothing to whet his curiosity; and unless his appetite for information
+is extremely vigorous, there will be little to suit his taste on those
+plates of bronze or ivory--the material is immaterial, and has been
+variously described--on which the provisions we are about to serve up
+were originally carved.
+
+The first table coincided in some respects with our County Courts Act,
+and furnished a cheap mode of bringing a defendant into court by a
+simple summons, though if he refused to walk, a mule, an appropriate
+type of obstinacy, was to be provided for him.
+
+By the second table, it was justifiable to kill a thief in the night;
+but a person robbed in the day was to have the thief as his slave; a
+privilege equal to that of being allowed to take into your service, as
+your page, the urchin who has just picked your pocket. Such an exploit
+would no doubt indicate a smart lad, and, in order to make him literally
+smart, the Roman law, in the spirit of our Juvenile Offenders Act,
+ordered the knave a whipping.
+
+The third table was in some respects an interest table; for it
+prohibited the taking of more than 12 per cent. on a loan; but if a
+debtor did not pay within thirty days, he might be bound with chains; an
+arrangement by which his exertions to get out of difficulty must have
+been grievously fettered. Having been made to enter into these
+unprofitable bonds for sixty days, the debtor, if his creditors were
+more than one, might have been divided between them; but human nature
+must have found it difficult, under such circumstances, to declare a
+dividend.
+
+The fourth table seems hardly to have a sound leg to stand upon; for it
+gave a father the right of life and death over all his children,
+together with the privilege of selling them. To prevent a parent from
+pursuing a disgraceful traffic in a series of alarming sacrifices of his
+family stock, he was not permitted to sell the same child more than
+three times over, when the infant was permitted to go into the market on
+his own account, free of all filial duty.
+
+The fifth table related to the estates of deceased persons; and if a
+freedman died without a will or a direct heir, the law provided for the
+distribution of his goods without providing for his family. Fallacious
+hopes among poor relations were checked by handing over to the patron
+all that remained; and thus the client may be said to have been subject
+to costs, even after the debt of nature had been satisfied.
+
+In the sixth table, there is nothing worthy of remark; but the seventh
+guards against damage done by quadrupeds, and not only meets the old
+familiar case of the donkey among the chickens, but declares that any
+one wilfully treading on a neighbour's corn shall pay a suitable
+penalty.
+
+Agriculture was protected by making it a capital offence to blast by
+incantation another's wheat; so that had the farmers of the day moaned
+over each other's ruined prospects as they have done in more recent
+times, performing a sort of incantation by singing the same old song of
+despair, they might have been liable to lose their heads in the literal
+as well as in the intellectual sense of which the phrase is susceptible.
+By the same table, a man breaking another's limb was exposed to
+retaliation; and a simple fracture was compensated by a simple fracture,
+though the parties were allowed to compound if they preferred doing so.
+
+The eighth table was equivalent to a Building Act; and by providing a
+space of two feet and a half between house and house, it prevented
+collisions among neighbours; while the fruit dropping from one person's
+tree into another's garden, fell by law into the hands of the latter.
+
+The purity of justice was provided for by the ninth table, which ordered
+the execution of a judge who accepted a bribe in the execution of his
+office. It inflicted the same penalty on a corrupt arbitrator, or--that
+greater traitor still--the wretch who should deliver up a Roman citizen
+to the enemy.
+
+The tenth table might teach a lesson to our own enlightened age, in
+which it is too generally the custom to waste in hollow and costly
+ceremonies over the dead, much that might be made serviceable to the
+living. More than twenty centuries have passed since the Roman
+law-makers, seeing how mourners might be caught by the undertakers in the
+traps and trappings of woe, limited to a certain sum the costs of a
+funeral. The outlay upon the "infernal deities," to whom sacrifices were
+made in those days, and to whom, therefore, we may compare the black
+job-masters of our own time, was also reduced to the very lowest figure.
+In measures of health the Romans were equally in advance of us; for we
+still accumulate our dead in the grave-yards of our towns, though by the
+laws of the twelve tables, burials within the city were prohibited.
+
+The eleventh and twelfth tables have come down to us in such mere
+fragments, that it is difficult to make up an entire leaf from both of
+them put together. To the eleventh, is attributed the aristocratic
+provision against marriages between the patricians and the plebeians;
+but as the law could not always prevent a flame, it was at last found
+expedient to allow a match which was permitted five years later by the
+Lex Canuleia.[19]
+
+Such is a brief account of the Laws of the Twelve Tables; which although
+cut up by the shears of time into very little bits, say much, in broken
+sentences, to the honour of their authors. Even as late as the days of
+Cicero, it was a part of a boy's education to learn these laws as a
+_carmen necessarium_--or necessary verse--though they were not
+necessarily in verse at all; for the better opinion is, that they were
+all in prose, and that they were, in fact, as free from rhyme as they
+were full of reason.
+
+The Decemvirs had now completed their allotted task; but, though elected
+for a limited time, they seemed determined to remain in their offices
+after their office hours were fairly over. During the first Decemvirate
+the members had taken the Government alternately for twenty-four hours
+at a time, on the principle of every lucky dog having his day: but now
+the whole ten assumed, at once, the insignia of royalty. Unable to
+resist the fascination of the fasces, the Decemvirs were each of them
+preceded, when they walked abroad, by a bundle of those imposing sticks;
+the sight of which, at last, aroused public attention to the number of
+rods that might be in pickle for the backs of the people.
+
+Murmurs at home were echoed by rumours of war abroad; the Æquians and
+Sabines had renewed their hostility; and the Decemvirs, who could not
+levy troops or money, summoned the country gentlemen from their seats
+out of town to their seats in the senate. Many honourable members
+protested strongly against the Government, but agreed to the necessary
+supplies; from which it seems that the practice of speaking one way and
+voting another is a very ancient one. The Decemvirs stuck to their
+places with an adhesiveness that might suggest a comparison with Roman
+cement, but for the fact that the adhesiveness is not uncommon in modern
+times, though the secret of the Roman cement has perished. Armies were
+despatched to meet the foe, the people having met the expenses, and
+Appius remained at home with one of his colleagues. The Roman forces
+abroad had to contend with internal as well as external enemies; for a
+venerable, but too garrulous soldier, one Dentatus, called also Siccius,
+was constantly declaring himself heartily sick of the tyranny of the
+Decemvirs. He had even talked of another secession of the plebs; and, to
+prevent him from taking himself off, a plan was formed to cut him off by
+a summary process. He received orders from his superior officer to go up
+the country, with a few others, and select a spot where a tent might be
+pitched, in the event of a pitched battle. His companions were assassins
+in disguise, who, on arriving at a lonely spot, threw off their masks,
+and appeared in their true features. They immediately fell upon the
+astonished Dentatus; who must have seen through his assailants before he
+died, for many were found perforated with the sword of the veteran.
+
+While the rest of the Decemvirs were disgusting the people by their
+tyranny, Appius was proceeding to render himself one of those objects of
+contempt at which not only the Roman nose, but the nose of all humanity,
+was destined to turn up, and at which scorn was to point her
+imperishable finger-post.
+
+[Illustration: Virginia carried off by a Minion in the pay of Appius.]
+
+A centurion, named Virginius, had an only daughter, named Virginia, whom
+her father, with a want of caution pardonable, perhaps, in a widower,
+permitted to go backwards and forwards alone through the public streets
+to a private day-school.[20] The young lady, in all the playful
+innocence of sixteen, was in the habit of dancing and singing along the
+thoroughfare, when the smallness of her feet, and the beauty of her
+voice, struck the eye and ear of Appius. According to some authorities,
+Virginia was attended by a nurse-maid; but it is scarcely necessary to
+remark, that the same fatal fascination, which in military
+neighbourhoods attracts female attention from children that ought to be,
+to men that are, in arms, was no less powerful in the Via Sacra than in
+Rotten Row,--by the banks of the Tiber, than on the shores of the
+Serpentine. One morning, as Virginia was passing through the
+market-place, on her way to the seminary, with her tablets and
+school-bag--or more familiarly speaking, her slate and satchel--on her
+arm, a minion, under the dominion of Appius, seized an opportunity for
+seizing the maiden by the wrist. The nurse was either absent, or more
+probably talking to one of the officers on duty round the corner; for
+the fasces were as irresistible to the female servants of the day, as
+the honied words and oilskin capes of a similar class of officials at a
+much later period. Virginia screamed for assistance, and they only who
+have heard the cry of a female in distress, can imagine the shrillness
+of the shriek that rang through the market. Marcus--for such was the
+minion's name--was instantly surrounded by a circle of respectable
+tradesmen, who knew and desired to rescue Virginia. The smith, though he
+had other irons in the fire, left his bellows to deal Marcus a blow;
+the butcher, with uplifted cleaver, was preparing a most extensive chop;
+and the money-changer was just on the point of paying off the ruffian in
+a new kind of coin, when he declared Virginia to be his slave, and
+announced himself as the client of the dreaded Appius. At this
+formidable name, the smith's work seemed to be done, the butcher became
+a senseless block, and there was a sudden change in the note of the
+money-changer.
+
+The officer on duty, who had arrested the attention of the nurse, being
+at length called away by some trifling charge, had left her at leisure
+to look after the more precious charge with which she had been
+entrusted. As those usually talk the loudest who do the least, the
+remonstrances of the female attendant were, no doubt, vehement in
+proportion to her neglect; and, indeed, the confusion created by the
+shrieks of the nurse was rather calculated to draw off the attention of
+the crowd from Virginia herself, who was carried away by Marcus, with an
+intimation that he should at once take the case before a magistrate.
+Among the other consequences of the neglect of the maid, was an
+attachment that had sprung up between the day-school miss and a young
+gentleman, named Icilius. This impetuous youth, having heard of what had
+happened, proceeded to the court at which the case was about to come on,
+and which was presided over by the tyrant Appius. Icilius prayed for an
+adjournment, on the ground of the absence of the young lady's father;
+and it was found impossible to resist the application of such an earnest
+solicitor. This point having been conceded, the friends of Virginia
+applied for her admission to bail; and there was such a general tender
+of securities among the throng, that Appius felt he could not calculate
+on his own security if he refused the request that had been made to him.
+The next morning the matter again came on, in the shape of a remanded
+case; and Virginius, who had been on duty with his regiment the day
+before, was now present at the hearing.
+
+Had there been in those days the same love of the horrible that has
+prevailed in our own times, the startling incident of a girl killed by
+her own father, would have probably come down to us, through the medium
+of the fullest reports, amplified by "other accounts," and a long
+succession of "latest particulars." We must, however, on the present
+occasion, be satisfied with the merest summary; for the Romans, in the
+time of Appius, were equally destitute of relish for the details of the
+spilling of blood, and of "family Sunday newspapers," whose respectable
+proprietors are always ready to avail themselves of a sanguinary affair,
+with an eagerness that seems to show that they look upon blood as
+essential to the vitality of a journal, and involving the true theory of
+the circulation. It remains only to be told, that Virginius, after
+taking leave of his daughter, and finding her escape from the power of
+Appius impossible, stabbed her with a knife, snatched up from a
+butcher's stall, and, brandishing the weapon in the air, threatened
+perdition to the tyrant. Appius, at the sight of the blood-stained
+steel, felt his heart fluttering, as if affected by magnetic influence;
+and losing, for the time, his own head, he offered ten thousand pounds
+of copper for that of Virginius.[21]
+
+It is the common characteristic of a moving spectacle to strike every
+one motionless; and the guards of Appius, when ordered to seize
+Virginius, found themselves fixed to the spot by so many stirring
+incidents. In vain did Appius call upon his clients and his lictors to
+do their duty. Among all his numerous attendants there was not a sole
+but shook in its shoe, while the tyrant trembled from head to foot with
+bootless anger. Urged at length by the commands of Appius, the officers
+attempted to clear the spot, when a severe scuffle ensued, and the
+authorities were assailed with all sorts of missiles. The market-place
+supplied abundance of ammunition. Ducks and geese flew in all
+directions. Some of the lictors found calves' heads suddenly lighting on
+their shoulders. Others, who were treated, or rather maltreated, with
+oysters, suffered severely from an incessant discharge of shells, and
+many received the entire contents of a Roman feast, _ab ovo usque ad
+malum_,--from the assault and battery of the egg, to the _malum in se_
+of a well-aimed apple. The stalls of the dealers in vegetables were
+speedily cleared of their contents; and a trembling lictor,
+smothered--like a rabbit--in onions, might be seen, trying to creep away
+unperceived, while others, who were receiving their desert in the form
+of fresh fruit, fled, under a smart shower of grape, from the fury of
+the populace. At length, the stock of the market being exhausted, the
+assailants had recourse to stones; and Appius, feeling that he was
+within a stone's throw of his life, entreated the lictors to remove him
+from the scene of danger. Four of the stoutest of his attendants,
+hoisting his curule chair on to their shoulders, made the best of their
+way home, where Appius at length arrived, with the apple of his eye
+damaged by a blow from a pear, his mouth choked with indignation and
+mud, his lips blue with rage and grape juice, his robe caked with
+confectionary, and his head, which had been made spongy with the loaves
+thrown at it, affected with a sort of drunken roll.[22] Such is the
+melancholy portrait which historical truth compels us to draw of the
+unhappy Appius, for whom, however, no pity can be felt, even though his
+case and his countenance presented many very sad features. The assault
+in the market-place must have rendered it difficult for an artist of
+the day to have taken his likeness, after the carrots, whirling about
+his head, had settled in his hair, the rich oils having given to his
+Roman nose a touch of grease, and the eggs thrown by the populace, who
+continued to egg each other on, having lengthened his round cheeks into
+an oval countenance.
+
+[Illustration: _Appius Claudius punished by the People._]
+
+Having gained his palace, the wretched tyrant ran up stairs, in the hope
+that he might save himself by such a flight; but he was overtaken, and
+thrown into gaol, where he, who had hitherto been permitted to do
+precisely as he pleased, was allowed just rope enough to hang himself; a
+process, it is believed, he performed, though the subject is so knotty,
+that we are not prepared to disentangle it.
+
+Virginius had returned to the camp, where the soldiers, having heard of
+the fall of the decemvir, proceeded to hit him, as usual, when down,
+renouncing the authority of Appius and his colleagues. The valour of the
+insurgents was, however, of a negative kind; for in times of danger they
+seemed to think absence of body better than presence of mind, and their
+policy was to secede from the city. They withdrew to the Sacred Mount,
+where ambassadors from the Senate were sent after them, to see if
+matters might not be arranged; when the popular chiefs, with a sort of
+one-sided liberality, in which some friends of freedom are too apt to
+indulge, asked an amnesty for themselves, and the immediate putting to
+death of the whole of the late government. The ambassadors, not liking a
+precedent, which might be applied to succeeding administrations, of
+which themselves might form a part, suggested the propriety of trying
+the decemvirs first, and executing them, if necessary, afterwards. It
+was some time before the friends of freedom and justice could bring
+themselves to consent to the trial preceding the punishment; but upon
+being assured that the decemvirs would have little chance of escape, it
+was at length agreed to allow them the preliminary forms of a trial.
+
+The plebeians having got the upper hand, became almost as intolerant as
+the tyrants they had displaced,--a common error, unfortunately, among
+the professing lovers of liberty. They demanded that the Tribunes should
+be restored, which was well enough; that the Tribunate should be
+perpetual,--which was an insolent and overbearing interference with the
+will of any succeeding generation; and, by way of climax, they required
+that any one suggesting the abolition of their favourite office should
+be burnt as a traitor. They were no doubt fully justified in having a
+will of their own, but they had no authority to entail that will upon a
+subsequent age; and least of all had they the right to make bonfires of
+those who were of a different way of thinking. It is true that, at such
+a moment, few are willing to put their lives literally at stake, by
+uttering their opinions; but these arbitrary pranks, so frequently
+committed in the name of freedom, account sufficiently for the frequent
+use of the words "more free than welcome." The truth is, that when
+Liberty becomes a notorious public character, she seems to disappear
+from private life; and, indeed, how is she to be found at home, if she
+is occupied out of doors, knocking off the hats of those who will not
+give her a cheer, or breaking the windows of those who will not
+illuminate in her honour?
+
+The plebeians having gained the permission of the Senate to hang and
+burn to their hearts' content all who might give way to difference of
+opinion, under the weak-minded impression that it would never alter
+friendship, proceeded to the election of Tribunes in place of the
+Decemvirs, who were thrown into prison. This is said to have been the
+first instance of the incarceration of any one belonging to the
+patrician order; and the sensation in the upper circles was immense when
+they heard that a few exclusives of their own set were in actual
+custody. Some aristocratic families went into mourning on the melancholy
+occasion, and offered any fine, as a matter of course, for the release
+of their kindred.
+
+Appius Claudius and Spurius Appius--probably an illegitimate member of
+the family--were thrown into the same cell, where, it is said, they made
+away with themselves or each other; but whether there is any truth in
+this story of the cell, or whether it is merely a cellular tissue of
+falsehood, it is difficult to decide, after so long an interval. The
+eight remaining Decemviri went into exile, or, in other words, were
+transported for life; while Marcus Claudius, who had claimed Virginia,
+repaired to Tibur, now Tivoli, and may be said to have taken his
+conscience out to wash in the famous baths of the neighbourhood. Other
+authorities say that he fled to avoid the ironing for life with which he
+had been threatened, or that he feared the mangling to which he might be
+exposed at home, at the hands of the infuriated populace.
+
+Consuls had already been elected, in the persons of L. Valerius and M.
+Horatius; but ten Tribunes were now chosen, among whom, of course, were
+the leaders in the revolution; for it is a popular notion, that those
+who have overthrown one government, must necessarily be the fittest
+persons to construct another. It is, however, much easier to knock down
+than to build up; and those who have shown themselves extremely clever
+at bowling out, are often bowled out rapidly in turn, when they get
+their innings.
+
+It is a characteristic of nations, as well as of individuals, that those
+who have no affairs of their own immediately on hand, are apt to concern
+themselves with the affairs of their neighbours. The Romans having
+arranged matters among themselves, began to look abroad, and having rid
+themselves of domestic foes, they sent their Consuls, L. Valerius and M.
+Horatius, to deal with foreign enemies. Valerius seized upon the camp of
+the Æqui, just as they were canvassing their prospects under their
+tents; and Horatius, after routing the Sabines, made them free of the
+city; thus converting into respectable tradesmen those who had been
+hitherto extremely troublesome customers.
+
+When the Consuls returned to Rome, they expected the Senate would pay
+them the usual compliment of a triumph; and instead of entering the city
+at once, they put up at the temple of Bellona, outside the walls,
+waiting for orders. The patricians, who were jealous of the generals,
+thought to deprive them of the customary honours, by a low trick; but
+the tribes dealing more fairly with the warriors, or, to use a familiar
+expression, lending them a hand, decreed the triumph which the Senate
+had denied to them. Thus did the patricians lose a privilege they had
+abused; and the two Consuls drove four-in-hand into the city in spite of
+them.
+
+[Illustration: In the foreground of the Tableau may be observed a
+Patrician looking very black at the Triumph of the General.]
+
+In modern times, the nearest approach we have to a triumph is the
+entrance into a country town of a company of equestrians, or a
+travelling menagerie. The arrangements were in many respects suitable to
+a fair, and it would seem to have been the opinion of the Romans that
+none but the brave deserved the fair, for it was only the most eminent
+warriors who were awarded the honours of a triumph. There was, however,
+something very undignified in the practice of hanging about the
+outskirts of the town until regularly called in, which was the usual
+course adopted by those who anticipated the glory of a summons from the
+senate. It sometimes happened that the summons never arrived, and the
+General, who had hoped to make his entry in a chariot and four, was at
+last compelled to sneak, unattended, into the city. Such might have been
+the lot of L. Valerius and M. Horatius, had it not been for their
+popularity, aided, probably, by the senseless love of show, which often
+causes the hero to be degraded into the mountebank. As triumphs, like
+Lord Mayors' shows, were nearly all the same, the following account will
+comprehend, or lead the reader to comprehend, the general features of
+these military pageants.
+
+The procession opened with a band of trumpeters, and as much breath as
+possible was blown out of the whole body. Next came some men with
+boards, inscribed with numerous achievements, and forming, in fact, the
+posting bills, or puffing placards, of the principal character. These
+were followed by a variety of objects, taken from the enemy, and may be
+compared to the properties used in the show, the next feature of which
+was a file of flute-players, who walked in a sort of fluted column. Next
+in order came the white bulls, or oxen devoted for sacrifice,
+accompanied by the slaughtering priests, or holy butchers; and
+immediately afterwards a remarkable beast, odd fish, or strange bird,
+that had been snared, hooked, or caged, in the conquered country. These
+were followed by the arms of the foe, with as many captives as possible,
+in chains, and the larger the string of fettered victims, so much the
+greater was the amount of "linked sweetness, long drawn out" before the
+eye of the conqueror. After these were carried the gifts the General had
+received from allied or friendly powers, consisting usually of crowns
+made of grass, every blade of which was a tribute to the sword of the
+victor. Next came a file of lictors, and then the General himself, in a
+chariot and four, with a slave on the footboard behind, whispering in
+his ear, to remind him of his being still "a man and a brother."
+
+[Illustration: In all probability something of this sort.]
+
+The Consuls having gained a civil as well as a military triumph, by
+their defeat of the patricians, would have been re-elected by
+acclamation for another year; but they had the good sense to retire upon
+the popularity they had gained, without waiting to become bankrupt of
+that very fleeting commodity. The patricians, getting tired of an
+exclusiveness which seemed likely to exclude them from real power,
+condescended to vie with the plebeians as candidates for the office of
+Tribune. They judiciously came to the conclusion that it was better to
+cast their pride under foot, than to stand too much upon their dignity;
+and the result was, that, by the election of two of their order, they
+obtained a voice in the new government.
+
+Popular measures were now the order of the day; and C. Canuleius, one of
+the tribunes, brought in a bill to legalise the connubium between the
+Patres and the Plebs, so that the fathers of the senate might marry the
+daughters of the people. This proposition for an enlargement of the
+connubial noose gave rise to several very knotty points, and to much
+opposition on the part of the patricians. The greater number of them
+believed themselves to be the essence of all that was rare and refined,
+until the more sensible portion of them perceived that the essence was
+growing rarer every day, and that unless it formed a combination with
+something more solid, it would all very soon evaporate. The law was
+accordingly allowed to pass; and by the timely application of some
+common clay, the roots of aristocracy were saved from the decay that had
+threatened them. Many of the patricians, who had long been wedded to old
+prejudices, found it far more agreeable to be married to young
+plebeians; and matrimony was contracted, or, rather, greatly extended,
+among the different classes of society.
+
+The Reform party had now become strong enough to propose that one of the
+consuls should always be a plebeian; and though the Senate tried very
+hard to maintain the principle, that those only are fit for a snug place
+who have been qualified by a good birth, the tide of opinion had set in
+so strongly the other way, that it was hopeless, with the thickest
+sculls, to pull against the current.
+
+_Tribuni militum_, with the power of consuls, were instituted; but the
+patricians managed, by a trick, to reduce these consuls into a sort of
+stock for their own use, by selecting from their own body two officers
+named Censors, who were to be employed in taking the census, an
+extremely important part of the consular authority. The mere enumeration
+of the people was not of itself a high privilege, and required no
+acquaintance with the law, or of any of the twelve tables, excepting,
+perhaps, the simple tables of arithmetic. Besides the privilege of
+looking after the numbers of the people, the office gave especial
+opportunities of looking after number one; for the administration of the
+finances of the state was committed to the Censor;[23] and it has too
+often happened that a collector of duties has considered that there was
+a duty owing to himself, out of those received on behalf of the
+Government. They were also Commissioners of the Property Tax, with full
+inquisitorial powers; but, most odious part of all, they had authority
+to ascertain the dates of the birth of females, as well as males, and
+could mercilessly surcharge a lady for her age, as well as her husband
+for his income. They were also controllers of virtue and morality, their
+duty being to maintain the _mos majorum_, or manners of the old school;
+for it seems to have been always the custom of mankind to lament the
+past as "the good old times," no matter how bad the old times may have
+been, and how infinitely inferior to the present.
+
+The Censors, however, derived their chief influence from their power of
+determining the rank of every citizen; for, from the very earliest
+times, the multitude were in the habit of pursuing, through thick and
+thin, that perilous Will o' the Wisp--a wisp that reduces many a man of
+substance to a man of straw--a position in society. This the Censors
+could award; and people were ready to pay any price for that most costly
+of all stamps--though perhaps, after all, the most difficult to
+purchase--the stamp of fashion. From the early days of Rome to the
+present hour, we meet with frequent counterfeits of the stamp in
+question, the forgery of which has spoiled, and continues to spoil, a
+quantity of calves' skin, and asses' skin, that might otherwise be found
+of service, at least to its owners.
+
+Rome had begun to enjoy a short repose, like an infant in its cradle,
+when it was unexpectedly made to rock to its very foundations, by a
+shortness of provisions; for the absence of anything to eat is sure to
+afford food to the disaffected. Grumbling is the peculiar attribute of
+an empty stomach; and flatulence, caused by hunger, is an ill wind, that
+blows good to nobody. During the scarcity, a wealthy citizen, one
+Spurius Maelius, anxious to give his fellow-citizens a genuine meal,
+purchased corn at his own expense, and sold it for a mere song--taking
+the produce, perhaps, in promissory notes--to his poorer countrymen.
+This liberality rendered Maelius extremely popular with all but the
+patricians, who declared that they saw through his design in selling
+cheap corn; that as old birds they were not to be caught with chaff: and
+that his real aim was the kingly dignity. Under the pretext of
+preventing him from accomplishing this object, the patricians appointed
+a Dictator; and poor old Cincinnatus, bowed down with age and
+agriculture, which had been his natural bent, was dragged from the tail
+of the plough to the head of the state, though his own state was that of
+extreme bodily decrepitude. His Master of the Horse, who really held the
+reins, was Servilius Ahala, by whom Maelius was summoned before the
+Dictator, to answer any charge that might be brought against him. If the
+mode of making the accusation was strange, the method of answering it
+was equally irregular; for Maelius, instead of meeting it with dignity,
+ran away from it, with a butcher's knife, which he snatched from a stall
+in the market-place. Flourishing the formidable weapon, he cut in among
+the crowd, and was immediately followed by Servilius Ahala, with a party
+of young patrician blades, who, in a manner that would have pierced a
+heart of stone, plunged their swords into their victim's bosom.
+
+Ahala was charged with the murder, but he was enabled to avoid the
+consequences, as men of consequence in those days could do, by a
+voluntary exile. Though domestic cookery had received a check from the
+dearth at home, there was no scarcity of foreign broils, and the Romans
+created Mam. Æmilius dictator, to encounter the Fidenates and
+Veientines. Three ambassadors were sent to Fidenae, but the diplomatic
+service could not have been so desirable in those days as in our own,
+for the three ambassadors were slain, and perhaps the financial
+reformers would say that it was very proper to cut down such a piece of
+gross extravagance. The order emanated from Lar Tolumnius of Veii; and
+while it said little for his heart, it cost him his head, which was cut
+off by Cornelius Cossus--the master of the horse to Æmilius.
+
+The Veientines continuing troublesome, Furius Camillus was appointed
+dictator, when, with an engineering talent rare in those days, he
+commenced a mine, and overcoming all minor, as well as major, or general
+difficulties, he forced a way into the city. The King of Veii was
+offering a sacrifice in the Temple of Juno, just as the Romans had
+completed their tunnel, and as the soldiers burst like a crop of early
+champions through the earth, he saw his fate written in bold Roman
+characters. Everything was given to the conquerors, and it is said that
+the statue of Juno, followed of its own accord; but the probability is,
+the statue remained _in statu quo_, for miraculous instances of going
+over to Rome were not in those days numerous.
+
+Rome was once more at peace, when the citizens, with peculiar
+ingratitude, having no other foes, began to quarrel with Camillus
+himself, to whom they owed their tranquillity. They accused him of
+having unduly trafficked in shares, by appropriating more than his due
+portion of the booty. His unpopularity had not, however, come down upon
+him until it was found that he had, in a fit of piety, dedicated a tenth
+of the spoils of Veii to the Delphic God--a circumstance he had
+forgotten to mention, until he had disposed of the whole of his own
+share of the prize, and it became necessary for the other participators
+in the plunder to redeem his promise at their own cost, and, with their
+own ready money, to save his credit. His name fell at once from the
+highest premium of praise to the lowest discount of disparagement, and
+he incurred the especial detestation of those whom he had served; for
+kindnesses are often written in marble in the hearts of those who
+remember them only to repay them with ingratitude. Not liking to lie
+under the imputation of dishonesty, and being unable to get over it, he
+chose a middle course, and passed a sort of sentence of transportation
+upon himself by going into voluntary exile. He, however, with a
+littleness of mind that was not uncommon among the early Romans, vented
+his spite as he left the city gate, expressing a wish that Rome might
+rue his absence; but Rome consoled herself for the loss she might
+sustain in him by confiscating the whole of his property.
+
+Among the incidents of the life of Camillus, a story is told of an event
+that happened, when, after having subdued the Veientines, he drove the
+Faliscans out their city of Falerii. There existed within the walls a
+fashionable boys' school, to which the patricians sent their sons, who
+were frequently taken out walking in the suburbs. One morning the
+pupils, who were two and two, found themselves growing very tired one by
+one, for their promenade had been prolonged unusually by the pedagogue.
+The wretch and his ushers had, in fact, ushered the unsuspecting infants
+into the camp of Camillus, with an intimation that the parents of the
+boys were immensely opulent, that the schooling was regularly paid, and
+there could be no doubt that a rich ransom could be procured for such a
+choice assemblage of fathers' prides and mothers' darlings. Camillus
+nobly answered, that he did not make war on young ideas not yet taught
+to shoot, and he concluded by giving the schoolmaster a lesson; for,
+causing him to be stripped, and putting a scourge into the hands of the
+boys, the young whipper-snappers snapped many a whip on the back of
+their master.
+
+[Illustration: School-boys flogging the Schoolmaster.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[18] It has been often a subject of regret that the particulars of this
+expedition have not been handed down to us, and that the three Roman
+excursionists did not put their heads together to form a log during
+their voyage. It is, however, seldom that the marine expeditions of the
+sages are fully detailed, for nothing can be scantier than the account
+of the journey of the three wise men of Gotham who went to sea in a
+bowl; and there is reason to believe that many a chapter has been lost
+to the philosophical transactions of the world, by the chapter of
+nautical accidents.
+
+[19] "Law of the Twelve Tables," B.C. 450. "Lex Canuleia," B.C. 445.
+
+[20] It seems, however, to have been the custom of the period for
+plebeians to send their daughters from six to sixteen to a scholastic
+establishment from about nine to five; and it is ten to one that
+Virginia was a pupil at one of these cheap nursery grounds, in which
+young ideas were planted out for the purpose of shooting.
+
+[21]
+
+ "Then up sprung Appius Claudius, 'Stop him--alive or dead,
+ Ten thousand pounds of copper to the man who brings his head.'"--
+
+ _Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome._
+
+[22] This description is not exaggerated, at least, if the authority of
+Macaulay is to be relied upon; and for the incidents of this remote
+period we are perhaps justified in trusting quite as much to the lay of
+the poet, as to any other source. The following lines refer to the state
+of Appius, when taken home, after the death of Virginia:--
+
+ "One stone hit Appius in the mouth, and one beneath the ear,
+ And ere he reached Mount Palatine he swooned with pain and fear.
+ His cursed head, that he was wont to hold so high with pride,
+ Now like a drunken man's, hung down, and swayed from side to side.
+ And when his stout retainers had brought him to his door,
+ His face and neck were all one cake of filth and clotted gore."
+
+[23] At a later period, the Censors had the entire control over the
+public expenditure, even to the feeding of the sacred geese; and there
+is no doubt that even the geese were made to yield a considerable nest
+egg to a dishonest functionary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE NINTH.
+
+FROM THE TAKING OF ROME BY THE GAULS, TO ITS SUBSEQUENT PRESERVATION BY
+MANLIUS.
+
+[Illustration: A Gaul.]
+
+
+As a prophet is sure to come right in the end, if he will go on
+prophesying a thing until it really happens; so the soothsayers, who had
+been constantly predicting the taking of Rome, seemed likely, at last,
+to have their forebodings verified.
+
+The Gauls were destined to be the invaders, and tradition tells us that
+they were attracted to cross the Alps by the reputation of the Italian
+grapes, which induced them to expect a superior glass of wine on the
+other side of the mountains. The Gauls were remarkable for the hugeness
+of their bodies, which presented a series of gigantic pictures in their
+iron frames; and their faces being covered with long shaggy hair, they
+seemed ready, by their ferocious aspect, to beard an enemy. These people
+were the ancient inhabitants of modern France, and it is a curious fact,
+that the occupants of the country have, up to the present time,
+cultivated that hairiness of visage, in which they may be said to have
+literally aped their ancestors. Tradition--that wholesale carrier, who
+delivers so many parcels at the historian's door, some of which are
+scarcely worth the carriage--has handed to us a small packet, with
+reference to the Gauls and their origin, the contents of which we
+proceed to examine. On taking it up, we find that it possesses very
+little weight; but we, nevertheless, proceed to the operation of
+unpacking. Beginning as we would with a basket, we find ourselves
+hampered to a considerable extent, for on opening the lid, and using the
+eye of discernment, we turn over the contents with eagerness, and after
+all catch at little better than straw, in our attempts to take hold of
+something tangible. Turning over the flimsy mass, we arrive at very
+little of a solid description, though, on getting to the bottom of it,
+we establish the fact that the Gauls, under Brennus, their chief,
+marched upon Clusium, one of the states of Etruria. People in
+difficulties are apt to grow exceedingly amiable towards those who are
+in a position to help them; the man of money becomes the very "dear Sir"
+of one who needs a loan, and the Clusians appealed to their "friends,"
+the Romans, of whom they knew nothing, for their kind assistance.
+
+The Roman Senate, adopting the quarrel of the Clusians, sent three
+ambassadors, the sons of M. Fabius Ambustus, to the Gauls, desiring them
+to withdraw; but the Gauls sent back a very galling answer. They
+declared their own country was little, and their necessities were large;
+that they had not land enough to supply them with bread; and, though
+they wished not to tread on a neighbour's corn, they could not help
+feeling where the shoe was pinching. They added, that, as to Clusium,
+they did not want it all, but would willingly share it with its owners;
+a proposition similar to that of a pickpocket, who, while robbing you of
+your handkerchief, politely offers you the joint use of it.
+
+This arrangement not having been acceded to, the Clusians and the Gauls
+came into collision; when the Roman ambassadors, who only went to have a
+few words, so far forgot their diplomatic character as to come to blows;
+and, though it is not unusual for peace-makers to cause more mischief
+than they prevent, it was rather too much to find the pacificators, who
+had gone forth to knock discord on the head, engaged in fracturing the
+skulls of those whom they went to propitiate. One of the Fabii not only
+killed a Gallic chief, but, having made away with the individual, was
+making off with his arms and accoutrements; when a cry of "shame!" arose
+from the Gauls, who did not approve of an arrangement by which the envoy
+was killing several of them, while a delicate regard to the law of
+nations prevented them from killing the envoy. It is difficult for men
+to stand upon a point of etiquette when threatened with the point of the
+sword; but the Gauls, with extreme moderation, resolved on sending
+envoys to complain of the envoys; and thus, as it were, fight the
+ambassadors with their own weapons. The Roman Senate felt the justice of
+the complaint; but, seeing that public feeling ran the other way, the
+Senators were base enough to do an injustice rather than make an
+honourable stand against the wilfulness of the people.
+
+The Fabii, whom the Senate had been too cowardly to punish, the million
+thought proper to reward by appointing them Consular Tribunes for the
+year ensuing; and when the news reached the Gauls, it excited in them a
+very natural bitterness. After their first burst of rage, they began to
+collect themselves; and finding, when collected, they could muster
+30,000 strong, they were joined by upwards of 40,000 Senones, in
+alliance with whom they reached Allia, a little stream flowing towards
+the Tiber. Here they were met by the Romans, who threw up entrenchments
+to prevent the enemy from entrenching upon their domain; but being
+comparatively few in numbers, they endeavoured to spread themselves out
+as far apart as possible.
+
+As a kettle of water thrown upon a spoonful of tea, with the intention
+of making it go further, produces a weakening effect; so did the
+expansion of the Roman line dilute its strength to such a degree, that
+the right wing became panic-stricken, and the left catching the
+infection, both wings began to fly together. Several of the Romans
+plunged into the Tiber, to save their lives, and the dux or general set
+the ignominious example. Some lost all self-possession, and fell
+helplessly into the possession of the enemy; while others finding their
+heads beginning to swim violently on shore, could not obtain the chance
+of safety by swimming across the river.
+
+A few only of the soldiers got home in safety, soaked to the skin; and
+though there may be something ignoble in the picture of a party of Roman
+warriors dripping in their wet clothes, we are compelled to follow the
+dry threads of history. Those who escaped by means of the friendly tide,
+took the sad tidings to Rome, which would now have fallen an easy prey
+to the Gauls, had they not remained on the field of battle, uttering
+horrid yells, shaking their yellow locks, and intoxicating themselves
+with something more potent than the stream cup of success which they had
+quaffed so easily. When the bad news reached Rome, the citizens began to
+fly apace, and some were startled by their own shadows, as if, like
+guilty creatures, they were unable to bear their own reflections. Many
+of the patricians ran for safety into the Arx, or topmost part of the
+city, which was carrying cowardice to the utmost height; and some who
+tried to save their goods as well as their lives, packed their property
+in casks with the hope of preserving it.
+
+On the arrival of the Gauls, they found the walls and the inhabitants
+completely unmanned, and though nearly every one who remained was
+somebody beside himself, the population had, owing to the foolish panic,
+been most sensibly diminished. Among those who remained were eighty old
+patricians, who had filled in their turns, the chief offices of state,
+and who, having sworn to die, took the oaths and their seats in the
+Forum. They wore their official robes, occupied their ivory chairs, and
+being carefully got up with venerable white beards, they had all the
+imposing effect of a _tableau vivant_ upon the Gauls who entered the
+Forum. One of the barbarians, attracted by the singularity of the scene,
+stroked the beard of the aged Papirius to ascertain if he was real, when
+the aged P. having returned the salutation by a smart stroke with his
+sceptre, the inquisitive Gaul found his head and the charm broken
+together. Though the patricians had, at first, worn the appearance of
+mere wax-work, they now began to wax warm, which led to their speedy
+dissolution; for the Gauls, falling violently upon them, converted the
+whole scene into a chamber of horrors. The eighty senators were slain,
+to the immense satisfaction of the Romans themselves, who felt a
+conviction that after this alarming sacrifice they were sure of a
+triumph. They seemed to look upon the venerable victims as so much old
+stock that must be cleared off, and the previously depressed citizens
+began to rally with all the renewed vigour of a bankrupt who has just
+undergone the operation of an extensive failure. The Gauls invested the
+Capitol, but its defenders feeling that no one had a right to invest
+that Capitol but themselves, did their utmost to keep it standing in
+their own names; and, not even for the sake of ensuring their own lives,
+would they agree to an unconditional surrender. The barbarians, finding
+nothing better to do, commenced firing the city in several parts,
+pulling down the walls and throwing them into the Tiber; a species of
+sacking that must have been very injurious to the bed of the river.
+
+The occupants of the Capitol continued to hold out, or rather, to keep
+in, and it being desirable to communicate with them, a bold youth, named
+Pontius Cominius, attempted the hazardous enterprise. Having encased
+himself in a suit of cork, he crossed the Tiber, and clambering on his
+hands, he performed the wonderful feat of reaching the Capitol. He
+returned in the same manner; and, on the following day the Gauls
+observing the track, thought to be all fours with him, by stealing up on
+the points of their fingers and the tips of their toes, to the point he
+had arrived at. With a cat-like caution, which eluded even the vigilance
+of the dogs, and while the sentinels were off their guard, a party of
+the Gauls crept up one by one to the top of the rock, which was the
+summit of their wishes. Just as they had effected their object, a
+wakeful goose,[24] with a head not unworthy of the sage, commenced a
+vehement cackle, and the solo of one old bird was soon followed by a
+full chorus from a score of others. Marcus Manlius, who resided near the
+poultry, was so alarmed at the sound that he instantly jumped out of his
+skin--for, in those days, a sheep's skin was the usual bedding--and ran
+to the spot, where he caught hold of the first Gaul he came to, and,
+giving him a smart push, the whole pack behind fell like so many cards
+to the bottom.
+
+Manlius was rewarded with the scarcest luxury the city contained, in the
+shape of plenty to eat, and it cannot be said that we have greatly
+improved upon the early Romans in matters of the same kind, for a dinner
+is still a common mode of acknowledging the services of a public man,
+and literally feeding his vanity.
+
+The Gauls continued to invest Rome, and heard with savage delight of the
+diminishing supplies, or rather, to use an Irishism, the increasing
+scarcity. News at last came that the garrison had been for some time
+living upon soles, and it is an admitted fact that they had consumed all
+but a few remaining pairs belonging to the shoes of their generals.
+Driven at length to desperation, they baked as hard as they could the
+flour they still had on hand, and making it up into quarterns, or four
+pounders, threw it at the enemy. The Gauls looked up with astonishment,
+when another volley of crust satisfied them that bread was coming "down
+again;" and not wishing to get their heads broken with the staff of
+life, which they fancied must be very plentiful in Rome, they offered
+terms of ransom. The price fixed upon was one thousand pounds of gold,
+in the weighing of which the Gauls are said to have used false weights,
+but it is difficult to say what weight ought to be given to the
+accusation. The story goes on to say that the Gallic king, on being
+remonstrated with for his dishonesty, cut dissension short with his
+sword, and throwing it into the scale with a cry of _Væ victis_, turned
+the balance still more in his own favour.
+
+[Illustration: The Citadel saved by the cackling of the Geese.]
+
+In the meantime the Romans at Veii had called Camillus from exile, and
+chosen him Dictator; for it was the opinion of the day that good use
+could always be made of a man after thoroughly ill-using him. Camillus
+arrived at Rome just as the gold was being weighed, when he declared
+that he would deliver his country, but would not allow the delivery of
+the treasure. He added, that the metal with which all claims upon Rome
+should be met was steel; that he cared not who might draw upon him, for
+he was ready, at sight, with prompt acceptance. While the discussion was
+proceeding, a Roman legion arrived; and the Gauls were driven out of the
+city, having lost not only their self-possession, but possession of the
+gold that had been assigned to them. On the road to Gabii a battle
+ensued, in which every Gaul, it is said, was slain, not one being left
+alive to tell the tale; and as there are two sides of a story, as well
+as of a fight, it is impossible, in the absence of the other party, to
+say which side was victorious.
+
+When the Romans returned to their city, they found it little better than
+a dust-heap, or a plot of ground on which a shooting party had met for
+the purpose of shooting dry rubbish. The people were called upon to
+rebuild their houses; but even in those days the principle of the
+proverb, that fools build houses for wise men to live in, appears to
+have been recognised. There was a general disinclination to dabble in
+mortar; and there seemed to be a conspiracy not to enter upon a plot for
+building purposes.
+
+Rome seemed very unlikely to be built in that day; and it might never
+have been restored, had not an accident--on which they put an ominous
+construction--caused the citizens to proceed to the re-construction of
+their city. While Camillus was "on his legs" in the senate, a centurion,
+passing the House of Assembly with a flag in his hand, was heard to say,
+"Let us plant our banner here, for this is the place for us to stop at."
+The senators, rushing forth, declared their acceptance of the omen,
+though there was nothing ominous in the fact; and the people, carried
+away, or rather attracted to the spot, by the same stupidly
+superstitious feeling, declared that on that place they would rebuild
+the city. There is no doubt that the anxiety of the senators for the
+restoration of Rome was owing to the fact of their own property lying
+near at hand; and they were desirous, therefore, of improving the
+neighbourhood. There was very little patriotism, and a large amount of
+self-interest, in a suggestion that materially enhanced their own
+estates; and it was extremely easy to find an omen that would put twenty
+or thirty per cent. upon the value of their property. In pursuance of
+the "omen," they liberally gave bricks that did not belong to them, and
+followed up their munificence by allowing stone to be cut from the
+public quarries, in order that the works might be hastened; while, as a
+further act of generosity, it was permitted to the citizens to pull to
+pieces their houses at Veii, for the purpose of embellishing Rome and
+its vicinity. Speed being the order of the day, every other kind of
+order was neglected. All idea of a general plan fell to the ground, in
+consequence of every one having a ground plan of his own. The houses,
+instead of wearing the aspect of uniformity, showed a variety of faces,
+and told each a different story; while the streets were so constructed,
+with reference to the sewers, that the latter were as useless as if
+they had been devised by a modern commission.
+
+Rome was still exposed to aggression on various sides from numerous
+foes; but Camillus, in his capacity of Dictator, first vanquished them,
+and then, admitting them to the franchise, received them in the light of
+friends, as if, like old carpets, a thorough beating brought them out in
+new colours. Whatever may be the fortune of war, it is its misfortune
+invariably to entail a heavy debt; and it is a truth of universal
+application, that a country, like an individual, no sooner gets into hot
+water, than liquidation becomes extremely difficult. Such was the case
+with Rome, where taxation became so high, that the poor were compelled
+to borrow of the rich, who, with the usual short-sightedness of avarice,
+added an exorbitant claim for interest to the principal debt, and thus,
+by insisting on both, got in most cases neither.
+
+Manlius, whose quick apprehension of a goose's cackle had rendered him
+the deliverer of his country, was exceedingly hurt at the neglect with
+which he had been treated, though he had little cause of complaint; for
+his merit, after all, consisted chiefly in the fact of his living within
+hearing of the fowl-house. He was, however, jealous of the honours
+conferred on others; for he expected, no doubt, that the whole of the
+plumage of the sacred geese would have been feathers in his cap in the
+eyes of his countrymen. Seeking, therefore, another mode of gaining
+popularity, he cast his eye upon some unfortunate birds of a different
+description--the unhappy plebeians, who were being plucked like so many
+pigeons in the hands of their patrician creditors. He went about with
+purses in his hand, like the philanthropist of the old school of comedy,
+releasing prisoners for debt; and declaring his determination to extend
+his bounty to all who needed it. This advertisement of his intention
+brought crowds of applicants to his house; for there was always "a case
+of real distress" at hand, for the indulgence of one whose greatest
+luxury was the liquidation of other people's liabilities. The popularity
+of Manlius excited the jealousy of the patricians, who, not appreciating
+his magnanimity, thought him little better than a goose that was always
+laying golden eggs, and he retaliated upon them by declaring he had
+rather be a fool than a knave; that the money he disposed of was his
+own, but that they had grown rich upon gold embezzled from the price of
+the city's ransom. Their only answer to the charge was to get him thrown
+into prison for making it. The plebeians, finding their friend and
+banker in gaol, with nobody to pay their debts, were dissolved in
+tears--the only solvency of which they were capable. Some went into
+mourning, while those who could not afford it put on black looks, and
+threatened to release him from custody.
+
+The Senate, unable to maintain any charge, and tired, perhaps, of the
+expense of keeping him in prison, sent him forth to maintain himself at
+his own charge; but his means having been greatly reduced, he found a
+corresponding reduction in his popularity. While his resources flowed in
+a golden stream, he was a rich pump that any one was ready to make a
+handle of; but no sooner did the supply fall off, and the pump cease to
+act, than he was left destitute of the commonest succour. He was
+eventually brought to trial; and being called upon for his defence, he
+produced four hundred insolvents whose debts he had paid--and who passed
+through the Court of Justice--as witnesses to his liberality. He then
+showed his wounds, which were not the sore places of which the
+patricians complained; and he ultimately pointed to the Capitol, in the
+preservation of which he had acquitted himself so well, that on the
+recollection of it, his acquittal was pronounced by the citizens. His
+persecutors, however, obtained a new trial, upon which he was condemned
+to death; and a slave having been sent with the despatch containing the
+news, proceeded to the despatch of Manlius himself in a treacherous
+manner. Proposing a walk along the cliff, under the pretence of
+friendship, the slave gradually got Manlius near the edge, until the
+latter suddenly found himself driven to the last extremity. Upon this he
+received a push which sent him down the Tarpeian Rock; and the man who
+pretended to have come as a friend, had been base enough to throw him
+over. The sudden idea of the traitor was afterwards carried into
+frequent execution; for the practice he had commenced, was subsequently
+applied to the execution of criminals.
+
+After the death of Manlius, his house was levelled with the ground, and
+he himself experienced the fate of most men when thoroughly down, for he
+was repudiated even by his own family. The gens, or gents, of the
+Manlii, with a contemptible want of manliness, resolved that none of the
+members should ever bear the name of Marcus, which they avoided as a
+mark of disgrace, though at one time it had been a title of honour.
+
+Rome seemed now to be declining, and going down all its seven hills at
+once; pestilence killed some, and gave the vapours to others, and the
+sewers no longer fulfilled their office, but overflowing, in consequence
+of the irregular rebuilding of the city, they threw a damp upon the
+inhabitants. The free population was growing daily less, while the
+number of patricians continued the same, and there seemed reason to fear
+that Rome would soon become one of those most inconvenient of
+oligarchies, in which there are many to govern and comparatively few to
+be governed. The "eternal city" was in danger of being prematurely cut
+off by an early decline, for its constitution was not yet matured; and
+though it had once been saved by mere quackery,[25] it was now to be
+preserved by a bolder and wiser regimen.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[24] These geese were sacred to Juno, who was the goddess of marriage;
+but we cannot say whether the goose became identified with her on that
+account.
+
+[25] See _ante_, the anecdote of the Sacred Geese.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TENTH.
+
+FROM THE TRIBUNESHIP OF C. LICINIUS TO THE DEFEAT OF THE GAULS BY
+VALERIUS.
+
+[Illustration: Roman Soldier.]
+
+
+Rome was now overwhelmed with debt, and fresh taxes were imposed to
+rebuild the wall of stone; but it would have been as easy to have got
+blood out of the stones themselves, as money from the pockets of the
+people. The more they went on not paying, the more were they called upon
+to pay; and ruin appeared inevitable, until it occurred to the great
+financial reformers of the day that there can be no permanent balance to
+the credit of a state without a due adjustment of the balance of power.
+Happily for the interests of humanity, there is scarcely ever a crisis
+requiring a hero, but there is a hero for the crisis,--no situation
+demanding a man, without a man for the situation; and though there may
+be on hand a formidable list of those who perpetually "Want places," we
+have the consolation of feeling that when there is a vacant place to be
+filled up, there is no lack of the material required to fill it.
+
+The man for the situation in which Rome then happened to be, was a
+certain C. Licinius, who had married the younger daughter of the
+patrician, M. Fabius. The lady was considered to have wed below her
+station, and the Roman noses of her relatives were converted into snubs,
+by the habit of turning up for the purpose of snubbing her. Being on a
+visit with her sister, who was the wife of Servius Sulpicius, the
+Consular Tribune, she was one day alarmed by such a knocking at the door
+as she had never yet heard, and on inquiring the cause, she found that
+the lictors of old, like the modern footmen, were in the habit of
+estimating, by the number of raps he was worth, the dignity of their
+master. The elder Fabia, perceiving her sister's surprise, took the
+opportunity of administering a rap on the knuckles, through the medium
+of the knocker, and observed, that if the latter had not married a low
+plebeian, she would have been accustomed to hearing her own husband
+knock as loud, instead of being obliged to knock under.
+
+The vanity of Fabia had received a blow which had deprived her of sense;
+and the effect of the knocking at the door had been so stunning, that
+she could scarcely call her head her own. She was resolved that her
+husband should make as much noise in the world as her brother-in-law,--
+that he should gain an important post, and win the privilege of knocking
+as violently as he chose at his own threshold.
+
+[Illustration: Miss Fabia, the Younger, astonished at the Patrician's
+double-knock.]
+
+Those who would supply a higher motive to the ambition of C. Licinius,
+have asserted that his wife must have been accustomed to the loud
+knockings at the house of her father, who had once been consul; but
+whether the young lady heard them, unless she remained at home to answer
+the door, may be an open question. Whatever may have been the spur used
+to stir up ambition in his breast, we, at all events, know the fact,
+that C. Licinius was elected a tribune of the people, in conjunction
+with his friend Lucius Sextius; so that even if the former were roused
+by the knocker, it is not likely that ambition was hammered into the
+latter by the same ignoble instrument.
+
+Having obtained their places, they began to bid very high for
+popularity; but, like many other bold bidders in the same market, it was
+by no means at their own expense that they proposed to make their
+purchases. They introduced three new laws: the first, touching other
+people's money; the second, touching other people's land; and, in
+reference to both these matters, touching and taking were nearly
+synonymous.
+
+The first of these laws related to the debts of the plebs, and
+furnished an easy mode of payment, by providing that all the money paid
+as interest should be considered as principal. By this arrangement, if
+Spurius owed his tailor one hundred asses, and paid him five per cent.,
+by way of interest, the tailor would, in thirty years, not only have had
+his debt cancelled, without receiving his money, but he would have to
+refund no less than fifty asses to Spurius.
+
+This law was sure to obtain for its framers a certain kind of
+popularity; for as those who do not meet their engagements are always a
+numerous class, it is a safe clap-trap to legislate in favour of the
+insolvent classes of the community. C. Licinius became at once the idol
+of all those who were continually running into debt one day, and out of
+the way the next, and whose valour far outstripped the discretion of
+those who had trusted them.
+
+The second law related to land, enacting that no one should occupy more
+than five hundred jugera, or acres, and that if he had a surplus, he
+should be deprived of it, for the benefit of those who wished to settle
+their own liabilities with other people's property. From this
+arrangement there was no appeal, for the land was taken away; and if the
+owner wished to complain, he had no ground for it.
+
+The third law provided for the restoration of the Consuls, and
+stipulated that one should always be a plebeian; but the patricians, who
+wanted everything their own way, just as the plebeians wanted everything
+theirs, succeeded in putting a veto upon the propositions.
+
+In the meantime, the people, placed between two parties--one of which
+was seeking popularity at any price, while the other was endeavouring to
+preserve its exclusive interests at any cost--were for eight years
+deprived of all benefit from either side; and though the public would
+have accepted a compromise, Licinius, who knew that when the point was
+settled his popularity would be on the wane, declared that they should
+either have all or nothing. This policy, which is the same as that of
+prohibiting a starving man from accepting a moderate meal, unless he is
+invited to a banquet, was well adapted to the purposes of those whose
+happiness depends upon the dissatisfaction of all around, and to whom
+the success of all their avowed designs is the consummation of failure.
+
+As long as the bills continued to be thrown out year after year, C.
+Licinius and Sextius were pretty sure of their annual election to the
+tribuneship. At about the end of the fifth year, the opposition began to
+wane, and it became exceedingly likely that the three bills would pass,
+when Licinius kept the popularity market brisk, by proposing a fourth
+measure, which was sure to be strenuously objected to. This was a
+proposal to put on eight new hands to the keeping of the Sibylline
+books, by increasing from two to ten the number of the librarians. As
+the books were but three, there would, of course, be no less than three
+book-keepers and a fraction to each volume,--an arrangement as
+objectionable as pluralism, though in an opposite direction; for it is
+scarcely worse to give ten offices to one man, than to put ten men into
+one office. Excuses were, however, found for the suggestion, on the
+ground that as five of the book-keepers were to be plebeians, the skill
+they would acquire in the interpretation of auguries would qualify a
+larger number for the consulship; the patricians having maintained that
+at least a smattering of the fortune-telling art was required for the
+due execution of the office.
+
+Rome was now suffering from domestic wounds, when, fortunately, a little
+counter-irritation was got up, by an attack of the Veliternians on
+Tusculum. There is no better cure for a family quarrel, than the sudden
+incursion of a neighbour; and when relatives are breaking each other's
+heads at Number One, a stone thrown from the garden of Number Two will
+frequently, by the establishment of a single new wound, be the cause of
+healing half a-dozen. The threatened aggression from without had caused
+the ten Tribunes to agree to the measures of their colleagues, Licinius
+and Sextius; but the patricians still held out, and appointed the
+veteran Furius Camillus to the dictatorship. The tribes were in the act
+of voting, when Furius ordered them away, with violent menaces; but the
+fury of Furius was impotent from age, and the Tribunes coolly threatened
+him with a fine of five hundred thousand asses. They had come to the
+correct conclusion that he could not get together so many asses without
+selling himself up; he thought it better to abdicate, and P. Manlius was
+chosen to stop the fermentation that the sour old man had created.
+
+The bills were now all passed; and L. Sextius had been appointed
+plebeian consul, when the patricians, refusing to sanction what they
+could not prevent, declined to ratify the election. As the avalanche
+does not wait for the consent of the object it is about to sweep away,
+so the will of the public overcame the feeble opposition of the
+patricians. The latter, however, succeeded in taking a large portion of
+power from the consuls, and giving it to a new magistrate, called a
+Prætor, who was invested with authority that some historians have
+described as almost preternatural. He was chosen from the patricians,
+and was, in fact, a sort of third consul, whose duty it was _Jus in urbe
+dicere_,[26] to lay down the law--a privilege that, if improperly
+exercised, might include the prostration of justice--in the city. The
+patricians thus kept to themselves the power of interpreting the law;
+and as ambiguity seems inherent in the very nature of law, almost any
+latitude was left to those who were at liberty to declare its meaning.
+The power of the patricians was further augmented by the appointment of
+two curule or aristocratic Ædiles, in addition to the two chosen from
+the plebeians; and though their duties related chiefly to the mending of
+the roads, they had opportunities of paving the way for many
+encroachments on the part of their own order.
+
+The struggle between the patrician and the plebeian parties was severe,
+and each endeavoured to represent itself as the only real friend of the
+people. Among other acts, in the interest of the masses, was a measure
+introduced by C. Poetelius, consisting of a _lex de ambitû_, an election
+law, relating to the getting round, or circumventing, of the electors by
+the candidates. It will astonish those acquainted with election
+practices to be told, that the word "candidate" is derived from
+_candidus_, in allusion to the white robe usually worn as an emblem of
+purity by the seeker of popular suffrages. The white robe, however, was
+notoriously, in many cases, a white lie, and the law _de ambitû_ was
+passed to prohibit canvassing on market-days, when many more things were
+purchased than the articles ostensibly sold; and the butcher has been
+known to include in the price of a calf's head, the value he placed upon
+his own judgment.
+
+The cause of reform made slow but inevitable progress, though it was
+occasionally discredited by some of those incidents which still cause us
+to look well to our pockets in the presence of the professional lover of
+liberty. C. Licinius, the framer of the law against occupying more than
+a certain quantity of the public land, was, it is said, the first to pay
+the fine, for holding a double allowance, comprising five hundred jugera
+in his own name, and five hundred in that of his son; a piece of
+duplicity which was detected and duly punished. Other instances of
+private peculation were discovered among those most clamorous for the
+public good; and it became necessary in those days, as in our own, to
+look among the loudest talkers for the smallest doers, and the greatest
+doos of the community.
+
+The law of debt had been rendered somewhat less severe; but the
+impossibility of permanently helping those who could not help themselves
+was strikingly exemplified. The rate of interest had been reduced; and
+advances were to be made by the State to those who could give security;
+but those who could give none were to have no assistance whatever. To
+those who could pay no interest at all, it mattered little whether the
+interest was moderate or high; and an extension of time for discharging
+a debt, in the case of a man who could pay nothing, was only like
+lengthening the rope with which he was to hang himself.
+
+In the year of the City 390, a plague broke out in Rome, and the
+calamity, which swallowed up thousands, being ascribed to the gods,
+repasts were prepared for them, under the title of _lectisternia_, in
+order to draw off their appetites from the people. The richest luxuries
+were laid out upon tables, to which the gods were invited; but these
+tables caused no diminution in the tables of mortality. As the guests
+did not accept in person the invitations addressed to them, they were
+represented by images; but this imaginary attendance at a real feast fed
+nothing but the superstition of the people. A statue of Jupiter was
+laid, at full length, upon a couch of ivory, covered with the softest
+cushions; but it was found impossible to produce the sort of impression
+that was so earnestly desired. Chairs were also set round for the
+goddesses, but none came forward to take the chair at this unfortunate
+banquet. An effort was then made to divert the attention of the gods, by
+getting up stage plays, or histriones:[27] but the gods did not
+patronise the drama in those days, more than in our own; and whether the
+Olympian dinner-hour interfered, or whether no interest was felt in an
+entertainment translated from Etruria, as the English drama is from
+France, the result was the same in both cases, for the plays, during
+their short-lived career, were dead failures. To add to the misery of
+the whole affair, while the stage performances were unattended, there
+was an inconvenient "succession of overflows" of the Tiber's banks,
+which damped the spirits and deluged the houses of the inhabitants.
+
+Seizing hold of every piece of superstition, instead of taking the
+pestilence fairly in hand, the Romans, hearing that a plague had once
+been stopped by knocking a nail into the wall of a temple, resolved on
+going on that absurd tack; and, for this purpose, a hammer was put by
+the ninny-hammers into the hands of Manlius. As the pestilence had by
+this time begun to wear itself out, the people were foolish enough to
+suppose that the plague had been driven in with the nail; and Manlius
+having fulfilled the task, which any carpenter might have performed,
+resigned the dictatorship.
+
+It is always the fate of a real or supposed benefactor of the public to
+have plenty of private foes; and, indeed, an elevated position is
+usually an inviting mark for the arrows of malevolence. Manlius became a
+target forthwith; and, had the very bull's eye been aimed at, the apple
+of his eye could not have been more effectually hit, than by a wound
+sought to be inflicted on him, through his son Titus. The youth had, it
+seems, an unfortunate hesitation in his speech, which irritated his
+hasty parent; and as the boy could scarcely stammer out a word, a few
+words with his father became a very frequent consequence. As he laboured
+so much in his speech, the unhappy lad was sent to labour with his hands
+among the slaves; and Pomponius, the plebeian tribune, having a spite
+against the father, began to regard the son with the most enlarged
+benevolence.
+
+Pomponius, by way of prosecuting his vindictive plans, resolved on
+prosecuting Manlius, for cruelty to his son; but the boy, in a powerful
+fit of filial piety, though he had a considerable hesitation in his own
+delivery, had no hesitation whatever about the delivery of his father
+from the hands of his enemies. Proceeding to the house of Pomponius,
+under the cloak of friendship, and with a dagger under his cloak, he
+desired to speak with the Tribune, who was still in bed, and not being
+up to the designs of Titus, ordered his admission to the chamber. The
+young man had been received in a spirit of friendly confidence by
+Pomponius, who only discovered that young Manlius was at daggers-drawn,
+when he was seen to brandish a glittering weapon. He demanded an
+unconditional withdrawal of the charge against his father; when the
+terrified Tribune, finding it impossible to bolster up his courage,
+muttered a promise to stay all proceedings; and Titus, who had formerly
+irritated his father by stammering, was received with open arms, for
+having spoken out so boldly in his favour.
+
+[Illustration: Titus threatening Pomponius.]
+
+No sooner were the divisions of the people healed, than the city itself
+began to be torn to pieces in a most extraordinary manner. Rome was
+convulsed to its centre: the earth began to quake, and the citizens to
+tremble. A tremendous chasm appeared at length in the Forum; and as the
+abyss yawned more and more, it was thought unsafe for the people to go
+to sleep over it. Some thought it was a freak of Nature, who, as if in
+enjoyment of the cruel sport she occasioned, had gone into convulsions,
+and split her sides. Others formed different conjectures; but the chasm
+still remained,--a formidable open question. Some of the people tried to
+fill it up with dry rubbish, but they only filled up their own time,
+without producing the least effect upon the cavity. In vain did the
+largest contractors undertake the job, for it was impossible to contract
+the aperture, that, instead of being small by degrees and beautifully
+less, grew every day large by fits and starts, and horribly greater.
+
+At length the augurs were consulted, who, taking a view of the hole,
+announced their conviction that the perforation of the earth would
+continue, and that, in fact, it would become in time a frightful bore,
+if the most precious thing in Rome were not speedily thrown into it.
+Upon this, a young guardsman, named Marcus Curtius, fancying there could
+be nothing more precious than his precious self, arrayed himself in a
+full suit of armour, and went forth, fully determined to show his metal.
+Notice was given that at an appointed time a rapid act of horsemanship
+would be performed by M. Curtius; and as there is always great
+attraction in a feat which puts life in jeopardy, the attendance, at a
+performance where death for the man and the courser was a matter of
+course, was what we should call numerous and respectable. All the rank
+and fashion of Rome occupied the front seats, at a spectacle throwing
+every thing else into the shade, and the performer himself into the very
+centre of the earth, which was to prove to him a centre of so much
+gravity. Having cantered once or twice round the ring, he prepared for
+the bold plunge; but his horse having looked before he leaped, began to
+plunge in a different direction. Taking another circuit, M. Curtius,
+spurred on by ambition, put his spurs into the animal's side, and the
+poor brute was hurried into the abyss, though, had there been any way of
+backing out, he would have eagerly jumped at it. The equestrian
+performance was no sooner over, than the theatre of the exploit was
+immediately closed, and a lake arose on the spot, as if to mark the
+scene as one that might command a continued overflow. The place got the
+name of the Lacus Curtius, in honour of the hero, if such he may be
+called; and his fate certainly involved the sacrifice of one of the most
+precious articles in Rome, for it would have been impossible to find in
+the whole city such a precious simpleton.
+
+Rome continued at war with the Gauls, who made frequent inroads; and on
+one occasion, during the dictatorship of T. Quinctius Pennus, came
+within a short distance from the city. The two armies were divided by
+the Anio, when the Gauls, who had a giant in their van, sent him on to
+the bridge, with an offer to fight any one of the enemy. The Gaul being
+at least twenty stone, was far above the ordinary pitch; but Titus
+Manlius, a tight-built light-weight--the plebeian pet, who had already
+proved himself too much for the Tribune, Pomponius--came forward to
+accept the polite offer of the giant. The fight was one of extreme
+interest, and both parties came up to the encounter with surly
+confidence. The plebeian pet wore a suit of plain bronze; but the giant
+was painted in various colours, presenting a formidable picture. The
+giant aimed the first blow with his right, but the young one having got
+away cleverly, commenced jobbing his opponent with such effect, that the
+latter, finding it a bad job, fell heavily. The giant was unable to
+continue the contest, and young Manlius, taking the collar, or torques,
+from his victim's neck, got the title of Torquatus, which, from its
+connection with his neckcloth, descended to his domestic ties, and
+became a stock name in his family.
+
+[Illustration: _The Gallant Curtius leaping into the gulf._]
+
+[Illustration: Terrific Combat between Titus Manlius and a Gaul of
+gigantic stature.]
+
+The Gauls retreated for a while, but having subsequently joined the
+Volscii, they got into the Pontine Marshes, and resolved to go through
+thick and thin for the purpose of attacking the Romans. Again a giant
+appeared in the Gallic ranks, where, it would seem, a giant was always
+to be found,--an appendage indicating less of the brave than of the fair
+in the composition of the Gallic army. Again a young Roman was ready to
+meet an opponent twice his size; and Marcus Valerius declared that if
+the giant meant fighting, he, Marcus Valerius, was to be heard of at a
+place agreed upon. The terms were concluded, and the giant came up,
+with the appearance of contemplating mischief, when a crow, settling on
+the Gaul's helmet, by way of crest, soon enabled the Roman to crow over
+his crest-fallen antagonist. The bird, flapping his wings whenever the
+giant attempted to hit out, put so many feathers in his face as to
+render his position ticklish; and as he could not see with a bundle of
+crow-quills in his eye, his look-out became rather desperate. Valerius,
+in the mean time, laid about him with such vigour and effect, that the
+giant, who was doubly blinded with rage and feathers, knew not where to
+have him. The contest soon terminated in favour of the Roman youth, who
+took the name of Corvus, or the Crow, from the cause already mentioned.
+The Gauls were vanquished, and Valerius was awarded no less than ten
+prize oxen; so that he obtained in solid beef, rather than in empty
+praise, an acknowledgment of his services. At his triumph, 4000
+Volscians were drawn up on each side of him in chains; but there is
+something in the idea of his passing through this Fetter Lane which is
+repugnant to our more civilised notions of true glory.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] Livy, vi., 42.
+
+[27] The word "Histriones" is said to be derived from the Etruscan
+_hister_, a dancer. The earliest performers introduced into Rome were
+dancers--in fact, a ballet company--from Etruria. Those sensitive
+admirers of the purely classical in the entertainments of the stage, who
+clamour against opera and ballet, will, perhaps, be surprised to learn
+that the most truly classical performances are those which they most
+energetically protest against.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.
+
+FROM THE FIRST WAR AGAINST THE SAMNITES TO THE PASSING OF THE LAWS OF
+PUBLILIUS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The Romans were now about to encounter a truly formidable foe, in the
+Samnites,--a warlike people, who had been extending their territory, by
+going to great lengths, and allowing themselves extraordinary latitude.
+Coming down upon Campania, they overlooked Capua, or rather they did not
+overlook it; for, having an eye to its wealth, they resolved to do their
+utmost to become possessed of it. Under these circumstances, the
+Campanians, being unable to find the means of a successful campaign,
+applied to Rome for assistance.
+
+Two consular armies were equipped; one under M. Valerius Corvus, or the
+Crow, who was really ravenous for glory, and the other under A.
+Cornelius Cossus; this A. Cossus being in fact THE Cossus already spoken
+of.[28]
+
+Corvus was an enormous favourite with the soldiers; less, however, on
+the strength of his moral qualities, than on the strength of his arms
+and legs; for he was an athlete of remarkable power. He could leap so
+high as to be able to jump over the heads of others of his own standing;
+and the rapidity of his promotion is therefore not astonishing. He was
+no less light with his tongue than with his legs; for he could run on
+almost as pleasantly with the former as he could with the latter. He
+was, in fact, an agreeable rattle, who could make and take a joke with
+equal ease,--a quality common in more modern times; for those who
+profess to make jokes of their own are very much in the habit of taking
+those of other people. He loved a glass of wine, and could drink it
+without professing his connoisseurship, after the manner of those
+learned wine-bibbers of the present day who are addicted to talking so
+much unmeaning buzz on the subject of bees-wing. His relish for the
+grape allured him to Mount Gaurus, then clad with vines, where he could
+take his observations among the raisins, and make in his mind's eye a
+sort of _catalogue raisonnée_ of the enemy.
+
+On this spot a battle ensued, which was fought with such fierceness on
+the side of the Romans, that the Samnites afterwards declared they had
+seen fire in their opponents' eyes; but the Samnites must have been
+light-headed themselves, to have made so absurd a statement. Valerius
+having been thus far successful, advanced into the Apennines, where,
+what are called the mountain fastnesses, are rendered dangerous by those
+occasional loosenesses of the earth that give rise to, or cause the fall
+of, an avalanche. Though nothing of this sort fell upon him, he was
+expecting the descent of the foe, which suddenly appeared on the topmost
+heights, and came down with such a run, that the escape of the Romans
+seemed impossible. In this difficult dilemma, a subordinate officer
+proved to be the safeguard of the whole Roman army; and as the noble
+lion, when netted to the profit of a bold hunter, was delivered by a
+mouse, so was the noble-hearted Valerius indebted to P. Decius Mus for
+the safety of himself and his followers. P. Decius laid, in fact, a
+snare for the Samnites, who were caught in this trap of Mus, or military
+mouse-trap. He climbed, with a little band, a height so narrow, that
+large numbers could not reach it to dislodge him, though it was
+necessary to keep an eye upon him; and, while the Mus attracted the
+cat-like vigilance of the whole Samnite army, Valerius and his followers
+were allowed to steal away unperceived to their own quarters.
+
+When the enemy, tired with watching, had fallen asleep, Mus crept out,
+as quietly as his name would imply, and reached his camp in safety. He
+received immediately from the Consul an ox, with gilded horns, through
+which he might trumpet his fame; and the soldiers presented him with a
+_corona obsidionalis_--a crown made of blades of grass--in commemoration
+of their having been gallantly rescued from the blades of the enemy. The
+materials for a crown of this description were plucked on the spot, in
+memory of the pluck shown on the spot by the gallant recipient. Such a
+crown conveyed a finer lesson of morality than anything that the cold
+brilliance of gold or jewels could suggest; for the wreath of grass,
+converted, by the very sunshine in which it basked, into the dry and
+lifeless hayband, told, in a few hours, the perishable nature of glory.
+
+Aided by the manœuvre of the Mus, the success of Valerius was complete:
+the Samnites fled in such consternation that they left behind them
+40,000 shields and 170 standards; so that the Romans must have found the
+way literally paved with the flags of the vanquished. A triumph was
+decreed to both the Consuls, and foreign nations sent to congratulate
+the Romans on their success; the Carthaginians forwarding a crown of
+gold, twenty-five pounds in weight, the mere cartage of which from
+Carthage must have been costly and difficult. Compliments poured in upon
+the conquerors from every side; for good fortune increases the number of
+addresses to a state, just as the success of an individual causes a
+sensible, or rather a senseless, addition to the contents of his
+card-basket. Rome was inundated with calls upon her--many of which were
+for assistance from feeble countries, whose weak states seemed to be
+threatened with speedy dissolution.
+
+[Illustration: A Scare-crow.]
+
+It was about this time (B.C. 342) that the garrison at Capua broke out
+into revolt, arising, it is said, from the fact that Capua was extremely
+rich, and the soldiers very poor; that the latter were hopeless debtors,
+and forgot what they owed their country in the vast sums they owed to
+their creditors. The story goes on to say, that a corps of heavy
+insolvents first originated the idea of sacking the city and bagging its
+wealth, by placing it among their own baggage. The Consul, C. Martius
+Rutilius, was sent to take the command, and he attempted the soothing
+system; but the soldiers were goaded with the fetters of debt, and
+refused to be smoothed over, or to submit to remain under irons. Being
+in want of a leader, they seized on T. Quinctius, an aged veteran, whose
+head was so completely bowed down, that he could not do otherwise than
+bow when asked if he would lead them as their general. The nod of palsy
+was interpreted into the nod of assent, and T. Quinctius was selected to
+oppose Corvus, or the Crow, though the only chance for the veteran was,
+that in the capacity of a scare-crow he might succeed in frightening his
+antagonist. The armies at length met, when the insurgents, led by a
+shivering veteran, began to follow their leader, and to shake with fear,
+which induced Valerius to offer them terms, and the quaking Quinctius
+was the first to recommend his troops to accept an amnesty. Thus ended
+an insurrection, of which the motive appears vague, and the management
+thoroughly contemptible. The best opinion of its origin seems to be,
+that the army abounded in debtors, who were afraid to go home, and who
+preferred the chances of a mutiny to the certainty of having to meet
+their creditors. The only concession they asked was the cancelling of
+all their debts; a proposition that savours rather of the swindler than
+the patriot. It is, however, an almost universal fact, that the
+insolvent classes of a community are to be found in opposition to the
+constituted authorities; and, indeed, the strength or weakness of such
+an opposition is no bad test, after all, of the merits of an
+administration; for if the majority of the people are well-to-do, the
+inference must be favourable to the government.
+
+Peace was concluded with the Samnites, but Rome was now on the brink of
+a war with the Latins, who sent ambassadors, proposing that the two
+people should henceforth be considered as one, in order to establish
+their unity. The Senate was to be half Latin and half Roman; but the
+latter declared they would not recognise this sort of half and half in
+any of their measures. The Consul, T. Manlius, when he heard the terms,
+went off into a series of clap-traps, in which he knew he was perfectly
+safe; for the contingency in which he might have been called upon to
+keep his word, was not at all likely to happen. He exclaimed, that if
+the Senate should be half Latin, he would enter the assembly with his
+drawn sword, and cause vacancies in half the seats of the house by
+slaying all the Latin occupants. This species of paulo-post-future
+patriotism is equally common and convenient, for it pledges the
+professor to do nothing until after the doing of something else, which,
+in all probability, may never happen. T. Manlius was not put to the
+test, though he certainly proved himself, in some respects, ready for
+the Latins, had they come on in earnest; for poor Annius, their
+spokesman, having tumbled down stairs from top to bottom, the consul
+brutally chuckled over the weak legs of the unhappy legate. "Ha! ha!"
+roared Manlius, with savage mirth, "thus will I prostrate all the
+Latins;" and he proceeded to kick at the ambassador, who, being a man of
+several stone, was completely stunned by his too facile descent from the
+upper landing to the basement of the Temple of Jupiter.
+
+[Illustration: Metius aggravating Titus Manlius.]
+
+The two Consuls went forth to fight, and both commenced their campaign
+by going to sleep, which led naturally to the inquiry, what they could
+both have been dreaming about. So thoroughly sympathetic were they in
+their drowsiness, that they had dreamed precisely the same dream, in
+which each had seen a ghost, who had addressed both in the same spirit.
+The spectre, who was decidedly on the shady side of existence, professed
+through his lantern jaws to throw a light upon Rome's future destiny. He
+told the Consuls that the general on one side was doomed; but, as this
+was merely dealing with generalities, he went on to add, that the whole
+army on one side was to be buried in the earth; a suggestion neither
+side would be very anxious to fall in with. The spectre, who was rather
+more communicative than spectres usually are, and who was not so
+monosyllabic as a fair average ghost, proceeded to further explanations,
+in the course of which he remarked, that "the general who first devoted
+himself to the infernal gods, would, by that act of devotion, consign
+the whole of the opposing army to" a most unpleasant neighbourhood. Both
+agreed that the one whose army was the first to back out, should be the
+first to rush into danger. The hostile armies accordingly began to
+recede as far as they could, and the only contest was to ascertain who
+could be the cleverest and quickest in walking in one direction, whilst
+looking in another. It was an understood thing that nobody was to fight
+unless first attacked, and the general aim was to avoid aiming at
+anything. Foraging parties went out daily to try and provoke each other
+to an onslaught, and the prevailing sentiment on both sides was a hope,
+that "somebody would only just do so and so." Titus Manlius, the son of
+Torquatus, approached the Latin camp, when Metius, of Tusculum,
+attempted by all sorts of provoking signals to induce the raw youth to
+commence a combat; but the boy for some time combated nothing but his
+own inclination, which would have set him on to an onset. At length he
+became so irritated that he could restrain himself no longer, but
+hurling his javelin with all his might, it stuck in the mane of the
+horse of Metius. The poor brute, looking for sympathy to his master,
+fell back upon him for protection; but this act of affectionate
+confidence was fatal to Metius, who, being brought to the ground, was
+saddled with the whole weight of the unfortunate quadruped. Titus,
+taking advantage of the position of Metius, stabbed him with his sword,
+and the latter, feeling himself pierced, could only set up a piercing
+cry, by way of retaliation upon his antagonist. Having stripped off the
+armour of his victim, young Titus bore it in triumph to his father,
+Torquatus Manlius, who proceeded to imitate Brutus; but, like most
+imitations, the appearance of T. Manlius in the part of the "heavy
+father" was by no means successful.
+
+Collecting the troops by the sound of trumpet, so that the audience
+might be sufficiently large, he threw himself into an imposing attitude;
+but the imposition was seen through, and the reception he met with was
+far from flattering. He next called forward his son, and denouncing him
+as an officer who had disobeyed his governor in a double sense--his
+father and his consul--the lictors were ordered to proceed, by the
+execution of the son, to the execution of their duty. Manlius, having
+witnessed the ceremony, buried his face in his toga, expecting at least
+three rounds of applause; but the performance fell as dead as his
+unhappy offspring. On his return to Rome he was universally cut by the
+young men, who were peculiarly alive to a penalty that might be the
+death of any one of them. The remains of young Manlius were collected
+into a dreary pile, and the trophies he had illegally won were added as
+the materials for a bonfire. His obsequies were the first of the same
+kind among the Romans that we have been able to meet with, after a truly
+industrious analysis of every hole in which the dust of ages might be
+found, and a careful sifting of the ashes of antiquity.
+
+The two armies were still standing, when Decius Mus, who was most
+anxious to distinguish himself, and was watching intently to discover
+which way the cat would jump, observed a backward movement among his
+spearmen. His opportunity for glory had now arrived, and the gallant
+Mus, rushing recklessly to the scratch, behaved himself less like a mus
+than a lion in the conflict. He fell under a perfect shower of javelins,
+and lay on the field literally _piqué_ with the pikes of his enemies.
+The latter were dismayed, and his own friends animated by what had taken
+place; but the rule of contraries must here have prevailed, for the
+death of an adverse general should not have disheartened the Latins,
+while the sacrifice of their own chief was, if looked at in a proper
+light, but poor encouragement for the Romans. They, however, grew bold;
+but it was scarcely necessary for them to strike a blow, as the Latins
+yielded under the stroke of a panic. They fell in such numbers, that
+three parts are said to have perished, and only a fourth of the army
+remained to tell of the little quarter allowed them by the enemy.
+
+The Latins suffered so severely from the victory of Decius Mus, that
+like rats running from a tottering house, their allies, one by one, fell
+away from them. Numisius, the Latin commander, did his utmost to stir up
+the spirit of the nation; but the spirit was so thoroughly weakened by
+cold water, that it was the act of a spoon to endeavour to agitate so
+feeble a compound. He succeeded in raising a slight fermentation, but
+what little spirit remained, went off by speedy evaporation in the
+process of warming up, under the influence of patriotic fire. A small
+and disorderly band, which could not act in concert, was brought into
+play, but produced no effect, though it was conducted by Numisius with
+considerable energy. The Romans succeeded on every side, the Latin army
+was broken down, the confederacy broken up, and one town after another
+showed a preference for the better part of valour by surrendering at
+discretion. The land taken from the conquered was distributed among the
+Roman people; but the word "people" has frequently a very contracted
+meaning when profits are being shared, though the term is comprehensive
+enough to take in a whole nation when the services of the "people" are
+required. It is to be feared the people who went out for the fight were
+far more numerous than those who came in for the spoil that had been got
+by it.
+
+The beaten Latins had the additional mortification of having to pay
+their successful assailants; an arrangement as provoking as it would be
+to the victim of an assault to be obliged to discharge the amount of the
+penalty, in addition to suffering the inconvenience of the outrage. Thus
+was Capua compelled to pension 1600 Campanian knights; and this pension
+the Capuans had to give to the knights, simply because the knights had,
+in a different sense, given it--severely--to the Capuans. It is doubtful
+whether the Samnites took anything by the general adjustment--if that
+can be called an adjustment in which justice had little share; but that
+they left much behind them is quite notorious.
+
+Among their equipments for battle had been several gorgeous gold and
+silver-mounted shields, in the shape of a boy's kite, and as the
+Samnites ultimately protected themselves by flying, the kite-like form
+of their shields was thoroughly appropriate. Their breasts were covered
+with sponge, which gave them a soft-hearted air; and the sinking of
+their bosoms under nearly every blow, was clearly perceptible. They wore
+a shirt of mail, composed of brazen scales, and the display of so much
+metal in their shirts enabled them to present at times a bold front to
+the enemy. They had greaves upon their legs, which were a grievous
+impediment to their running away; and their helmets, adorned with lofty
+plumes, only served to render more conspicuous in defeat their
+crest-fallen condition. They wore tunics or coats of cotton next their
+skin, and put on their shirts outside; but between these, was a short
+garment of wool: so that the only idea we can give of the mode of making
+a Samnite _toilette_ is by asking the reader to begin by putting on his
+coat; to place over that his flannel waistcoat, and to add his shirt by
+way of finish.
+
+Among the other spoils of the war with the Latins, were the ships taken
+from the port of Antium; but the Romans, who were not a nautical people,
+had so little idea of the value of a fleet, that they carried the beaks
+or prows of the vessels to Rome, and fixed them in the Forum, as pulpits
+for their orators.[29] How the ships could have kept above water when
+subjected to mutilation, it is difficult to conceive; and indeed it
+would appear probable that having been deprived of their heads, they
+must have gone down, as a matter of stern necessity. We must, however,
+do the Roman people the justice to add, that two officers had been
+appointed to the superintendence of naval affairs; and some will declare
+they see in the mere existence of an Admiralty Board sufficient to
+account for much extravagance, and all sorts of blundering. Rome had
+hitherto been in the condition of a house divided against itself, or
+rather of the adjoining houses pulling against each other, and every
+widening of the breach must of course have been attended with danger to
+both of them. The cessation of war with the Latins enabled Rome to draw
+closer the neighbouring social fabric, and many of its inhabitants were
+invited to join, and make themselves part of the family of the Romans.
+The latter also began to see the impolicy of keeping up certain
+distinctions between class and class, which have the same effect upon a
+nation, as the bitter feuds between separate floors are likely to
+produce upon the happiness and comfort of a lodging-house. When an
+upstart one-pair-front sneers at its own back, or looks down upon an
+abased basement; when a crushed and crouching kitchen, waiting in vain
+for its turn at the only copper, revenges itself by cutting the only
+clothes-line--if the line is drawn only for the good of those in a
+higher station, instead of its being a line drawn, as every line should
+be, for the good of all;--when a household is in such a state, we may
+see in it the type of a badly ordered community. Such had been long the
+unhappy lot of Rome, until it began to strike on the minds of a few
+influential men, that no nation can be really great while the mass of
+its people are in a state of abject littleness. The majority of the
+patricians fortunately took an equally sensible view of their case, and
+arrived at the wise conclusion, that moderate privileges fairly held,
+and freely conceded, are preferable to any amount of exclusive
+advantage, improperly assumed on the one hand, and impatiently submitted
+to on the other. Happily for the patricians, they had among them a man
+bold enough to incorporate in a law the opinions of the main part of his
+own order, and strong enough to prevail over the weakness and prejudice
+of the meaner members of the body.
+
+The name of this patrician reformer was Q. Publilius Philo, who
+introduced three laws calculated to extend the basis of political
+power. By the first, the _curiæ_, consisting of patricians only, were
+compelled to confirm the laws passed by the centuries in which the two
+orders were mixed; by the second, the _plebiscita_, or decrees of the
+plebs, were to be binding on all Roman citizens; and the third provided,
+that there should always be one plebeian censor. These laws, though,
+perhaps, well adapted to the wants of the age, were not exactly such as
+we should hail with enthusiasm if they were to be brought forward in our
+own day by the head of a government. Depriving the curiæ of a veto was a
+measure equivalent to a proposition that the measures of the House of
+Commons should not require the concurrence of the House of Lords; and
+giving the force of law to a _plebiscitum_ was much the same thing as
+determining that every resolution of every public meeting should at once
+be embodied in the statute-book. Such an arrangement in the present day
+would render our laws a curiosity of legislative mosaic work, laid down
+without the advantage of uniformity or design. If the interpretation of
+an act of Parliament is sometimes difficult, we may conceive the utter
+hopelessness of the effort to understand the laws, if they were to
+consist of a body of resolutions pouring in constantly from Exeter Hall,
+or Freemasons' Tavern, and, occasionally, from a lamp-post in Trafalgar
+Square, or a cart on Kennington Common.
+
+With every due respect for the _plebiscita_--or resolutions of public
+meetings--we doubt whether any party would be desirous of accepting them
+as a substitute for our present method of law-making. The only chance of
+safety would be in the fact, that the _plebiscitum_ of to-morrow would
+be sure to repeal the _plebiscitum_ of to-day, and the best security for
+the state would consist in keeping a public meeting always assembled to
+negative every new proposition.
+
+It was many years, however, before Rome, though it had suffered so much
+from patrician insolence, was prepared to go to the length of allowing a
+_plebiscitum_ the force of law without being subject to the veto of the
+senate.[30] Aristocratic pretension had, however, been carried to such
+an extent in Rome, that we could hardly be surprised at any amount of
+democratic license; for extremes are sure to meet, and it is
+unfortunate, indeed, for a country that is reduced to such extremities.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[28] _Vide_ page 87.
+
+[29] From this circumstance, the word Rostrum, which means the prow of a
+ship, has been derived, and has got into such universal use as to
+describe the box from which an auctioneer launches his eloquence.
+
+[30] The Hortensian Law, carried some years later by Q. Hortensius.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.
+
+FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE SECOND TO THE END OF THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR.
+
+
+Rome had entered into an alliance with the Samnites; but the latter
+became rather suspicious, when they found the former making friends with
+all their enemies. Every one who aimed a blow at Samnium was forthwith
+taken into the favour of Rome; and as Samnium was being attacked on
+every side, the new connexions of Rome became very numerous. Alexander
+of Epirus, who had come over as a friend to the Tarentines, thought he
+might vary the object of his visit by becoming the foe to somebody else;
+and he accordingly pitched upon the Samnites, who might fairly have
+traced the Roman hand in some of the hostile demonstrations that were
+made against them. There being some inconvenience in fighting through a
+third party, to say nothing of the unsatisfactory nature of such an
+arrangement to the go-between, the Romans and the Samnites soon came
+into direct collision.
+
+One of the Consuls, D. J. Brutus, was sent with troops to Apulia; but
+the other Consul, L. Furius Camillus, was in such wretched health, that
+he could scarcely hold up his own head, and was quite unfit for the head
+of an army. L. Papirius Cursor, the dictator, undertook the command
+himself; but on his way to Samnium he was suddenly recalled to Rome, in
+consequence of some blunder with the auspices. Leaving behind him Q.
+Fabius, his master of the horse, he desired that officer to do nothing;
+for L. P. Cursor having taken a cursory view of the state of affairs,
+saw there was a victory to be gained, and wished to reserve to himself
+the glory of gaining it. Q. Fabius, with a natural reluctance to be
+shelved, determined to do the work himself; and by the time his chief
+returned, had won a brilliant victory. The rage of the principal knew no
+bounds, when he discovered that everything had been accomplished in his
+absence; for though there might have been no objection to the
+subordinate's actually doing all that was to be done, there was an
+unpardonable violation of official etiquette in its having been got
+through when the chief was away, and when it was, therefore, notorious
+that he could have had no hand in it. The dictator was so indignant,
+that he would have visited his deputy with all the severity of military
+law, for having dared to show a capacity to command, when his capacity
+was, in fact, subordinate. It was looked upon by official men as an act
+likely to spoil the official market, by showing that the most
+highly-paid services are not always the best; and it was felt, also,
+that the chief had been ousted of his prescriptive title to claim, as
+his own perquisites, all the tact and talent of his underling.
+
+L. P. Cursor swore vengeance upon the head of Q. Fabius; but the
+soldiers threatened a revolt in the event of his being punished, and the
+hero who had put a whole army to flight was obliged to take to his heels
+for having dared to use his head in the absence of his superior.
+
+The Dictator had rendered himself very unpopular with the troops by his
+injustice and cruelty to Q. Fabius; but he regained his popularity by
+allowing them to be guilty of all sorts of injustice and cruelty towards
+a vanquished enemy. Though their indignation had been raised against
+him, through the medium of their generous sympathies, he now appealed to
+their meanest passions, by promising them the fullest license in
+plundering the foe; and such is the inconsistency of human nature, that
+he did not appeal in vain; for, urged by avarice, they fought with such
+determination as to secure a victory. Pillage became at once the order
+of the day, and a truce was granted for one year, on condition that the
+Samnites, who had been robbed of everything available at the moment,
+should become responsible for a twelvemonth's pay to the Dictator's
+army.
+
+The period of the truce was occupied in negotiation; for it would have
+been rather too gross a piece of effrontery on the part of the Romans to
+continue attacking the very party from whom they were receiving their
+pay: and having waited till the receipt of the last instalment, they
+announced that the only terms they would accept would be the
+unconditional assent of the Samnites to anything that might be proposed
+to them.
+
+This result was so excessively disgusting to the Samnites, that some
+actually cried with rage, while others cried for vengeance. A few of the
+most influential, with tears in their eyes, went to their
+fellow-countrymen literally with a cry; but amidst all this
+broken-heartedness, there was a general raising of the nation's spirit.
+The Samnites felt that the time for action had arrived, and C. Pontius
+was chosen to act as their general. He at once laid siege to Luceria,
+when disguising ten of his soldiers as shepherds, he sent them forth
+with instructions to look as sheepish as they could, and they had also
+full directions how to act in the event of their being captured. The
+Romans, commanded by T. Veturius and Sp. Postumius, soon fell in with
+the Samnite masqueraders, whose real character was not suspected; for it
+does not appear to have excited any surprise that ten shepherds should
+be hanging about a neighbourhood in which no sheep were perceptible.
+With a simplicity more suited to romance than history, the Romans
+submitted themselves to the guidance of the ten anonymous shepherds, who
+conducted the whole army into the Caudine forks, as easily as if the
+veterans had connived at their own betrayal. No sooner were they lost
+among the forks, than the soldiers learned what spoons they had been,
+for they found themselves blocked in by the enemy. They fought with
+considerable bravery, but the Samnites, who lined the surrounding
+heights, were completely out of their reach, and the Romans, having made
+a few vain efforts to throw up their spears, suddenly threw up the
+contest. Of every weapon they hurled, the consequence fell upon their
+own heads, and nothing was left but to make the best terms they could
+with the enemy.
+
+Pontius, the Samnite general, was puzzled how to act, and sent to
+inquire of his father what he should do, when the old man replied,
+"Release them unhurt!" and the answer not being quite satisfactory,
+another messenger was sent, who brought back the brief but expressive
+recommendation to "cut them all to pieces." Pontius, thinking the old
+gentleman had gone out of his mind, sought a personal explanation; but
+the veteran, who was clearly averse to doing anything by halves, or
+meeting anybody half-way, persevered in his recommendation to his son,
+to do one thing or the other. The Samnites were struck with admiration
+at the wisdom of the sage; but although all were dumbfounded by the
+profound philosophy of the advice, nobody thought of taking it. Pontius
+proposed terms, and having been deceived so frequently by the Romans
+before, he magnanimously resolved to try and be even with them at last,
+by putting them and his own countrymen on a perfect equality. He
+stipulated for the restoration to the Samnites of all the places taken
+from them; but the most painful portion of the arrangement to the Romans
+was their being called upon to pass under the yoke,--a ceremony which
+was supposed to lower for ever all who had once stooped to it.
+
+Six hundred equites were held as hostages for the due observance of the
+treaty, and these knights were, in fact, so many pawns, held in pledge
+for the honour of the Romans. The Consuls, stripped of every thing but
+their shirts, and looking the most deplorable objects, crawled under the
+yoke, followed by the whole army in the same wretched undress as their
+leaders. As they passed through Capua, the inhabitants, touched with
+sympathy, came forth with bundles of left-off wearing apparel, which was
+tendered to the humiliated troops; but their wounds were too deep for
+ordinary dressing. They walked silently to their homes, through the back
+streets of the city. All business was suspended on the day of their
+arrival, and though the Romans had seen suffering in almost every
+variety of guise, they had never met with it under such melancholy Guys
+as those that were then before them. The Consuls resigned their offices
+as rapidly as they could, for their nominal dignity only added to their
+real disgrace, and they may be supposed to have felt the relief
+experienced by the broken-spirited cur, whose tail has just undergone
+the curtailment of the hateful, but glittering kettle.
+
+[Illustration: The Romans clothed by the Inhabitants of Capua.]
+
+Rome, smarting under the disgrace of a defeat, brought on by want of
+resolution in the troops, proceeded to incur a still greater disgrace by
+a resolution of the Senate. That body having met to consider the
+agreement entered into with the Samnites, determined not to ratify it;
+and, though aware of the fact, that six hundred Roman knights were
+detained as hostages, in chains, the Senate cared as little for their
+bonds as for the words of the Consuls, which had been passed for the
+fulfilment of the treaty. Spurius Postumius, who had nothing genuine in
+his conduct, was among the first to propose the violation of the
+arrangement he had made, and recommended that he himself, as well as all
+who had agreed to peace, should be, for the look of the thing,
+surrendered to the Samnites. He entered so fully into the deception
+about to be enacted, that when the Lictor was tying the cord loosely, as
+if conscious of the illusory character of the whole proceeding, Spurius
+insisted upon the cords being drawn sufficiently tight to enable him to
+declare to the Samnites that his hands were really tied, and that, if
+the Senate refused to be bound by his arrangements, he was so thoroughly
+bound by theirs as to be utterly powerless. Carrying the farce still
+further, he was no sooner delivered up to the Samnites than he turned
+round upon the Roman Fecial, and exclaiming, "I am now a Samnite,"
+administered to the proper officer a violent kick, as if to show that he
+and Rome were to be henceforth on a hostile footing. The Samnite general
+looked on with contempt at the whole affair; the hostages were refused,
+and the 600 knights were also sent back; for Pontius had expected the
+Romans to keep their word, and was neither ready nor willing to be
+burdened with the keep of several hundred captives. This remarkable
+breach of their own faith left a more permanent mark upon them than any
+breach that could have been made by an enemy in the walls of their city;
+and the fact of their having built a temple to Public Credit, rendered
+their discreditable conduct still more remarkable.
+
+The Samnites and the Romans were now perfectly agreed in their
+determination to fall out, wherever they might happen to fall in with
+one another. A series of small conflicts ensued, of which the accounts
+are almost as conflicting as the battles themselves; but there is every
+reason to believe that Fortune showered her favours right and left, by
+giving them first to one side and then to the other. L. Papirius Cursor,
+the Roman Consul, seems to have made himself the pre-cursor of his
+country's ultimate success, for he is said to have led the way to it by
+recovering Luceria. Hostilities had by this time become so fierce, that
+it was necessary to take a little breathing time on both sides, and a
+truce of two years was agreed upon. The war was then renewed under L.
+Æmilius and Q. Fabius, the dictators, who fought with various results,
+taking occasionally a city, and at other times being compelled to take
+what they were not at all disposed to receive at the hands of an enemy.
+No very remarkable incident occurred at the recommencement of the war,
+excepting the taking of the town of Sora by treachery; but meanness and
+deception were so common in the time we write of, that any event
+involving those despicable qualities cannot be considered unusual. Sora
+was situated on a rocky eminence, and though secure to a certain extent
+in its lofty position, it was not above the reach of that low cunning
+which will stoop to anything for the attainment of its object. A
+deserter, who appears to have had everything his own way among the
+Samnites, as well as among the Romans, persuaded the latter to retire
+some miles off, as if they had abandoned the siege, and then ordered
+them to have a regiment of cavalry concealed in a wood near the city.
+What the Samnites were about during these proceedings does not appear;
+nor is it easy to understand how they could have overlooked an important
+branch of the forces of the enemy among the trees; but tradition, when
+she wishes to shut her eyes to a difficulty, never hesitates to shut the
+eyes of all whose vigilance might have been fatal to the incident about
+to be related. The inhabitants of Sora may therefore be supposed to have
+been fast asleep and slow to wake, or to have had their backs turned, or
+to have taken something which had turned their heads, when the deserter
+was making his arrangements for the betrayal of their city. Having taken
+the steps already described, he conducted ten Roman soldiers up a sort
+of back staircase behind the crags; and the blindness of the inhabitants
+of Sora had come to such a pass, that the mountain pass was so
+thoroughly lost sight of as to be left without a single sentinel. Having
+lodged the ten men in the fortress, he concealed them there until night;
+but it is difficult to say how the ten stalwart soldiers could have been
+so thoroughly put away in the day-time as not to be observed, unless
+tradition, wishing to put her own construction on the affair, has
+proceeded to the construction of some secret cupboard in the fortress,
+where the men may have been closeted together until the hour arrived for
+their being brought into action. Waiting till the dead of night, the
+deserter desired the ten men to shout as loud as they possibly could,
+and to keep on hallooing until the cavalry were out of the wood; a
+movement which was to be effected when the deserter, rushing into the
+city, had frightened the inhabitants out of it, by running all over the
+town in a state of pretended alarm, which was to be accounted for by the
+continued shouting of the ten men in the citadel. Notwithstanding the
+numerous objections to the veracity of this story, tradition has handed
+it down to us, and we, as in duty bound, continue to hand it on, though
+we do not allow it to pass through our fingers without taking the
+precaution to stamp it with the mark of counterfeit. Tradition proceeds
+to say that the scheme was perfectly successful: that the citizens,
+frightened by the shouting of the ten soldiers in the citadel, ran into,
+or rather on to, the arms of the legions who were advancing with drawn
+swords to the gates of the city.
+
+The Samnites having become weary of war, and tired of an existence which
+was passed in continually fighting for their lives, determined to bring
+matters to an issue as fast as possible. They met the Romans under Q.
+Fabius at Lautulæ, where Q was driven into a corner, and ran away, when
+his army not receiving from him the cue to fight, rapidly followed his
+example. C. Fabius having subsequently come to the assistance of Q.,
+they united their forces, and being almost two to one against the
+Samnites, they obtained a victory.
+
+Rome had, however, quite enough to contend against in various quarters;
+and, among others, the Ausonians betrayed hostile feelings, which were
+rendered abortive by another betrayal of a very disgraceful character.
+Among the Ausonians there existed a nominal nobility, whose rank gave
+them a sort of respectability to which they possessed no moral title.
+These nobles, by name and ignobles by nature, were mean enough to admit,
+by stealth, into some of the cities of Ausonia, a number of Roman
+soldiers in disguise, who, with the cruelty so commonly associated with
+fraud, commenced a general slaughter of the inhabitants.
+
+It would be a waste of time and patience, both to writer and reader,
+were we to ask him to accompany us into every little field where a
+little skirmish may have taken place, at about this period, between Rome
+and her enemies. To describe the fluctuations of the fortune of war,
+would be as dry and unprofitable as the minute narration of all the
+incidents of a long game at heads and tails; nor would the historian
+have repeated very often the particulars of the throwing up the coin,
+before the reader would be found throwing up the history. We shall,
+therefore, content ourselves with giving the heads in a curtailed form,
+without going into the particulars of the movements of the generals.
+There was an enormous quantity of putting to the sword on both sides,
+but without running through the whole, we will submit to the eye of the
+reader the points best adapted for the use of the pupil. In the north of
+Samnium, the Romans were surprised by an Etruscan army, and nearly
+destroyed; but when they were more than half killed, they began to look
+alive, and completely exterminated the foe, whose survivors, consisting
+of their cattle, fell into the hands of the conquerors. The Consul, C.
+Marcius, had succeeded in taking a place called Allifæ; but the Samnites
+soon afterwards brought themselves completely round, and made him the
+centre of a circle, which, as he was entirely cut off from Rome, was to
+him a centre of extreme gravity. Not even a messenger could find a way
+to take to the city the tidings of the Consul's perilous position; but
+it seems to have become known, by some means or other, for L. Cursor
+hastened to the scene, and caused the Samnites to abandon their
+position. Beginning to despond, they sought a truce, for which they had
+to pay a most exorbitant price, in cash, corn, and clothes; for they had
+to pay, feed, and clothe for three months the troops who had paid them
+off, in another shape, and submitted them to a long series of thorough
+dressings. They, however, still held out against acknowledging the
+sovereignty of Rome, and thought themselves exempt from humiliation in
+making themselves the slaves in fact, as long as they remained
+independent in name, of that ambitious power. The main point of dispute
+remaining still undisposed of, more fighting ensued, until Samnium was
+at length so thoroughly reduced as to be obliged to confess itself
+beaten at last; and the Samnites, who had by degrees parted with
+everything they possessed for the luxury of maintaining that they were
+free to do as they pleased with their own, acknowledged Rome to be their
+master. Rome also needed relaxation; for her energies had become relaxed
+by a war of twenty years; and both parties having done each other all
+the harm they could, ceased only because the power of mischief had
+become completely lost on one side, and seriously impaired on the other.
+
+So inveterate was the hostility between Samnium and Rome, that any pause
+in their actual conflict was filled up by preparations for a renewal,
+the first opportunity for which they were eagerly expecting to take
+advantage of. The third Samnite war was commenced by an attempt on the
+part of the Samnites to recover Lucania, and for that purpose they
+stupified the Lucanians by a series of severe beatings, which deadened
+the sense of the inhabitants to their danger. The nobles, who seem to
+have had the instinct of self-preservation in a higher degree than the
+virtue of patriotism, were quite prepared to obey a master who would
+purchase, rather than resist an enemy who would harass, them. They
+accordingly offered their allegiance to Rome, on condition that Rome
+would save them the trouble of defending themselves against Samnium.
+Roman envoys were despatched, in compliance with this arrangement, to
+call upon the Samnites to evacuate Lucania; but the envoys were
+unceremoniously ordered off, and betook themselves to a very quick
+return, unattended by the smallest profit. After a few minor encounters,
+the two Consuls, Q. Fabius and P. Decius Mus, the son of old Mus,
+already alluded to, led their combined forces into Samnium, and went
+different ways, though they fully purposed pulling together. Q. Fabius
+met the whole of the Samnite army, and a battle commenced, in which each
+was rapidly destroying the other's soldiers in about equal numbers,
+without any good to either, beyond the very melancholy satisfaction of
+being even with each other in the losing game that both sides were
+playing. This would probably have continued until the chances of war had
+degenerated into a game of odd man, in which the sole survivor would
+have been the victor, when a Samnite soldier, rather more far-seeing
+than the rest, espied what he supposed to be the army of Decius. That
+there are some things to which it is better to shut one's eyes, was
+proved on this occasion; for the long-sighted Samnite had no sooner
+espied a body of men in the back-ground, who were in reality the reserve
+of Q. Fabius, than he frightened himself and his fellow soldiers, by
+spreading a rumour that Mus was creeping slowly, but surely, up to them.
+The Samnites were at once struck with a panic, the blow inflicted by
+which is always more fatal than that of the sword, and the loss of
+spirit led to the destruction of nearly the whole body. Decius having
+joined his colleague, the two Consuls hunted the country of the
+Samnites, making game of everything that came in the way, while Appius
+Claudius carried on the war in Etruria. We should be curious to see the
+population returns--if any such existed--in relation to the Samnites,
+who were, according to tradition, being continually cut to pieces,
+routed, ravaged, and otherwise destroyed; but who, nevertheless, were,
+according to tradition, continually taking the field again in large
+numbers, as if nothing had happened. L. Valerius had just returned from
+assisting his colleague, Appius Claudius, in Etruria, when the Samnites
+turned up rather abundantly on the Vulturnus, and being at once
+attacked, were again cut to pieces, for by no means the last or only
+time on the great stage of history.
+
+At about the same time, when the news of this victory reached Rome the
+Gauls were expected, and though it was against the law that the same
+Consul should be elected twice in ten years, the Romans, altering the
+constitution, without the trouble of revision, suspended the law for the
+purpose of securing the services of Q. Fabius.
+
+He was re-elected with his colleague Decius Mus, and before setting out
+for battle, they consulted the augurs, who evinced their usual readiness
+to interpret the omens in the most favourable manner. On coming to the
+fortified camp of Appius Claudius, Fabius found the soldiers collecting
+wood, to form a stockade, which drew from him the remark, "It is not by
+cutting sticks you can succeed, but by showing a bold front to the
+enemy." The soldiers, animated by his words--which, to say the truth, do
+not appear to have anything particularly invigorating about them--were
+suddenly roused into lions, after having been in a lamb-like or sheepish
+condition, and instead of cutting any more wood, or pulling up the
+trunks of trees, began to pluck up a proper spirit. The Romans had now
+about 90,000 troops in the field, if we adopt the round numbers handed
+down to us, which do not always square with probability; but the
+historians wisely provide, as far as possible, for any deficiency that
+may arise in the course of the various cuttings to pieces,
+annihilations, and other contingencies which are at one time or other
+the alleged fate of nearly every army. The vast necessity for a surplus
+that may be boldly dealt with, can perhaps be understood from a
+circumstance recorded with reference to a legion led by L. Scipio. It
+had been stationed near Camerinum, and had in an engagement with the foe
+been cut to pieces without having been missed; nor was the loss
+discovered until their own countrymen recognised their heads carried on
+the lances of the advancing enemy. When the fact thus frightfully stared
+them in the face, the countenances of the Romans fell with sympathy at
+the fate of their comrades, which it must be confessed presented some
+very horrid features.
+
+At length the hostile armies met near Sentinum in Umbria--the Romans
+mustering in considerable force, and the Samnites, in spite of much
+pruning, which seemed only to have the effect of increasing their
+growth, forming a highly respectable remnant. The latter had also a
+considerable accession in the shape of Gauls, Umbrians, and Etrurians;
+for tradition, when it desires to give interest to a battle, is always
+prepared to scrape together from all quarters a sufficient number of
+soldiers, on both sides, to equalise the chances of victory. While the
+armies were drawn out in line before each other, they are said to have
+been suddenly occupied in the contemplation of the following rather
+remarkable incident. A deer, pursued by a wolf, ran rapidly down the
+middle, and the two animals were on the point of going up again, when
+the deer, apparently changing its mind, ran among the Gauls, who,
+without hesitation, converted it into venison. The wolf, with a cunning
+worthy of the fox, declined venturing on an experiment that had been so
+costly to the deer, and turned in among the Romans, who, perhaps,
+fearing that the wolf might have a taste for calves as well as for
+sheep, took the precaution to save their legs, by making as wide an
+opening as possible. No sooner was the wolf out of the way, than the
+Romans began to boast that fear had gone to the foe in the shape of a
+deer, while valour had come to their side in the person of Mars, whom
+they declared they saw hidden under the hide of a wolf, his favourite
+animal. The battle at length commenced, and the day being exceedingly
+warm, added, in one sense, most inconveniently to the heat of the
+contest. The Gauls created immense consternation among the Romans by
+rushing down upon them in chariots armed with scythes, at the sight of
+which they were terribly cut up, and unmercifully cut down, before they
+had time to recover from their astonishment. Not wishing to be left as a
+wretched harvest on the field, the Romans were about to fly, when they
+were once more saved by a Mus, who on this occasion will be thought by
+some to have deserved the epithet of "_ridiculus_." Recollecting the
+example of his father, he resolved to sacrifice himself for the benefit
+of his country, and, calling upon the pontiff, he caused his vow to be
+regularly registered. The ceremony having been gone through, in due
+form, he put spurs to his horse, and rushing in among the foe, he
+became, as it were, a scabbard for the swords of all who could get
+within reach of him. The Gauls were so completely stupified by what they
+saw, that they were literally lost in wonder; for, while they stood
+staring with astonishment, the Romans fell upon and massacred nearly the
+whole of them. Gellius Egnatius, the Samnite General, was slain,
+together with many thousands of his own countrymen, who are described by
+tradition as having been once more cut to pieces, though these pieces
+are not the last in which they are destined to make their appearance.
+History, with a natural anxiety to keep a stock of Samnites on hand for
+future use, suggests that 5000 ran away, though the Romans were too much
+reduced to run after them, and as the fugitives lost a thousand of their
+number by fighting, during their retreat, it must be presumed that, in
+their extreme nervousness, they began attacking each other.
+
+Q. Fabius led back his army into Etruria, which had recently been
+thoroughly ravaged by Cn. Fulvius; and the Etruscans, who had already
+been beaten once, were thoroughly beaten again, so that any residue of
+strength might be effectually knocked out of them. The retreating
+Samnites had by this time arrived at the valley of Vulturnus, where the
+country was in such a state that they could find nothing to eat; but,
+for a people who were accustomed to survive the constant infliction of
+the sword, the absence of food was a very subordinate grievance.
+Volumnius and Appius Claudius fell upon them with their united forces,
+and the Samnites were once more cut to pieces; but, notwithstanding
+their fragmentary condition, they were able to appear collected and
+calm, before the end of the following year, in Etruria. They, at length,
+mustered all their strength, and determined on making a desperate effort
+against the Romans, who were in great force under Papirius Cursor, near
+Aquilonia. Papirius sent for an augur, who kept a small brood of sacred
+chickens, for the purpose of hatching up something to say to those who
+consulted him. The augur declared that the omens were favourable, for
+the chickens had eaten a hearty meal; but an officer, who had watched
+the birds at breakfast, and had been struck by the extreme delicacy of
+their appetites, came forward to impute foul play to the augur. Papirius
+immediately ordered the soothsayer to be placed in the front of the line
+of battle, where the poor old man, who was no chicken in age, whatever
+he may have been at heart, was made to answer with his life for having
+failed to answer with truth the questions proposed to him.
+
+The Samnites paid no attention to omens, but bound each other by awful
+oaths to undergo their usual fate of being cut to pieces rather than
+surrender; and it must be admitted that they bore the penalty of defeat
+with a coolness that can only be accounted for by their being thoroughly
+used to it. No less than 16,000 took the oath, and kept it so well that
+the whole 16,000 were found in bits precisely where they had taken their
+places in battle. We might express our doubts upon this subject, were it
+not that the sage critics, who are averse to any departure from the
+gravity of history, would perhaps accuse us of levity in refusing
+credence to Livy, on whose authority the tale is told, though dulness
+itself will probably be roused to a stare, if incapable of a smile at
+the remarkable dish of hash which the serious historians call upon him
+to swallow.
+
+[Illustration: Samnite Soldier.]
+
+The victory of Rome was complete, and the Samnites, whose riches seem to
+have been almost as inexhaustible as their numbers, yielded up spoil
+that might appear fabulous in the eyes of any but those who are so
+thoroughly matter-of-fact as to be incapable of distinguishing a matter
+of fiction. To swell the triumph of the conquerors, Papirius is said to
+have given crowns of gold and silver to officers and men, with collars
+and bracelets of the same precious material; from which it would seem
+that the Samnites had abandoned their ornaments in running away; for
+metal, though current on ordinary occasions, goes a very little way in
+the hands of those who are groaning beneath the weight of it.
+
+Once more the Samnites poured themselves as copiously and mysteriously
+as the streams that flow from the inexhaustible bottle of the conjuror
+over the greater part of Campania, and Q. Fabius Gurges took the command
+of the Roman army. The Samnites were led by C. Pontius, an aged prodigy,
+who had seen much service, which had been of no service whatever to his
+countrymen, for they had not even learned to profit by the lessons of
+experience. C. Pontius combined, in a remarkable degree, the imbecility
+of age with the rashness of youth, and presented the sad spectacle of
+juvenile and senile indiscretion combined, or the junction of the
+characteristics of an old fool and a young fool in the same individual.
+Q. Fabius, however, reckoned too confidently on success; and seeing a
+detachment of the Samnites executing a manœuvre, he thought it was the
+whole body in the act of retreat, which caused him to proceed so
+carelessly, that he was himself defeated, and would have had his army
+utterly destroyed, but for the feebleness of his antagonists.
+
+The news of the defeat of Fabius excited much dissatisfaction at Rome,
+and the General was about to be recalled, when his father, in an
+uncontrollable fit of nepotism, implored the people to allow the young
+man to keep his place--a request that was at length granted. The
+impolicy of overlooking the incompetence of the son at the request of
+the father, was nearly being exemplified in a fatal manner; for the
+younger Fabius was on the point of another failure, and an alarming
+sacrifice of all his army, when Fabius Maximus came up with a reserve,
+which turned the fortune of the day, by the cutting to pieces of 20,000
+Samnites; while 4000, including poor old Pontius, were made prisoners.
+It will be seen that tradition, while dooming 20,000 Samnites to the
+sword, reserves 4000 in captivity as a surplus to supply future
+contingencies. Although the better authorities consider that in the
+last-mentioned battle this people, who were almost as endless as their
+hostilities were aimless, must have been used up, there are still a few
+skirmishes to be met with on the borders, if not within the verge of
+truth, which require that a few thousand Samnites should be kept as a
+reserve for the purposes of the historian.
+
+C. Pontius was led as a prisoner in the triumph granted to the Fabii;
+but this triumph, and everything connected with it, was converted into a
+disgrace by the beheading of the poor old Samnite chief, who, if he had
+been weak enough to place himself in opposition to Rome, had, after the
+battle of the Caudine forks, evinced an amiable weakness towards the
+captives that had fallen into his power. Fabius Maximus having died soon
+after, tradition, who is much addicted to returning verdicts in the
+absence of evidence, declares the cause of death to have been a broken
+heart; and, as it would certainly have been proper under all the
+circumstances that he should have done so, we have no inclination to
+disturb the rather doubtful decision.
+
+Some authorities,[31] finding they have a Samnite surplus to deal with,
+describe the Samnites as being again defeated by M. Curius Dentatus, who
+seems to have been a curiosity in his way; for, having been offered a
+house with seven hundred jugera as his share of booty, he refused to
+accept more than seven, which was the portion allotted to his comrades.
+Those who are accustomed to read of, and admire, the system on which
+prize-money is apportioned in modern times,[32] will probably set down
+Curius Dentatus as a remarkable fool; and indeed, though his self-denial
+smacks of patriotism, we are not sure of its justice; for, if he had
+performed his duty as a general, his services to his country must have
+been more valuable than those of the ordinary soldiers under him. It may
+be, however, that he knew best what he had done, and what he deserved;
+nor must we forget the great fact that in taking a man's own estimate of
+his own merits, we run very little danger of underrating them.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[31] Eutrop. ii., 5.
+
+[32] A reference to any Gazette containing the announcement of an
+appropriation of prize-money, will introduce to the reader's notice such
+items as the following, which are extracted from a very
+recently-published document, stating the proportions of prize-money
+granted on the seizure of a slave-vessel:--Flag, £87 12_s._ 3_d._;
+Lieutenant commanding, £164 5_s._ 7_d._ The proportions then diminish
+rapidly through several classes down to the tenth, which is adjudged to
+receive £2 13_s._ 3_d._ The ratio may be all fair enough, but we must
+confess the large sum always wrapped up in the flag seems somewhat of a
+mystery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.
+
+ON THE PEACEFUL OCCUPATIONS OF THE ROMANS. FROM SCARCITY OF SUBJECT,
+NECESSARILY A VERY SHORT CHAPTER.
+
+[Illustration: Æsculapius.]
+
+
+It is with sincere satisfaction that we turn from the monotonous details
+of war to the arts of peace; and though it is usually said that the
+stain of blood can never be wiped out, we are glad to find that the
+marks and traces of discord are doubtful and few, while the evidences of
+the nobler pursuits of man are numerous and genuine. Among the most
+enduring monuments of the art and industry of the Romans, may still be
+traced the remains of the celebrated Via Appia, or Appian Way, the
+secret for the formation of which would be invaluable to the inhabitants
+of our large towns, and particularly to the Paving Boards of the
+Metropolis. While parts of the Via Appia remain perfect after upwards of
+twenty centuries, the streets of London are torn to pieces year after
+year; and it might melt a heart of stone--if stone possessed a heart--to
+see the granite continually disturbed by the remorseless pickaxe. The
+Via Appia was constructed of large blocks placed very closely together;
+and though modern Paving Boards have done their best by laying their
+heads together to imitate the plan, success has never rewarded their
+labours.
+
+Not less wonderful than the road of Appius, was the aqueduct that bore
+his name, and which had solved the question so apparently incapable of
+solution in our own times, of the means of securing a supply of water to
+a great Metropolis. Though water was not commonly drunk by the Romans as
+it is by ourselves, and though the Tiber was purity itself compared with
+the Thames, the liquid was so clearly or rather so thickly undrinkable,
+that a supply was brought from a distance of eight miles, in the manner
+we have mentioned.
+
+While all admit the grandeur of the aqueducts of ancient Rome,
+objection has been made to their construction as a needless expense; and
+it has been said, that their lofty arches proved only the height to
+which folly and extravagance could be carried. Pipes have been suggested
+as capable of answering every useful purpose; but considering the
+difficulty of obtaining them sufficiently large, of keeping them always
+free from obstruction, and other obvious disadvantages, it is doubtful
+whether the pipe, after payment of the piper, would prove so economical
+in the main. The aqueduct, indeed, has been recently adopted on a large
+scale, by a people not likely to retrograde in arts and sciences, though
+the rapidity with which they go a-head may cause them to run through the
+whole circle of ingenuity, till the most modern invention, arriving at
+the same point as the most ancient, affords an illustration of the
+meeting of extremes. New York now receives its supply of water through
+an aqueduct,[33] carried on solid masonry, over valleys and rivers,
+under hills and tunnels, for a distance of forty miles; a proof that
+when a city has the will to obtain pure water, there is always a
+way--though it may be forty miles in length--for getting what is
+required.
+
+In Rome, it had been customary to bore a well where water was wanted,
+but the water was so impure, that it soon became necessary to let well
+alone. The science of engineering, aided by that great moral engine,
+their own energy, enabled the inhabitants to bring their supplies from a
+considerable distance, and as the aqueducts were gradually sloped, the
+water followed, as it were, its own inclination in coming to Rome.
+Filtration was ingeniously provided for, at convenient distances, by
+reservoirs having two compartments, into one of which the water fell,
+and passing into the other before returning to the main body, there was
+time for the deposit of all impurities. Every precaution was taken
+against the intrusion of those unhappy families of animalculæ, which are
+continually tearing each other to pieces in every drop of the London
+element, and whose voracity seems to hold out a faint hope that, as they
+are continually demolishing each other, they may be all mutually
+swallowed, before the supply of the Metropolis with pure water is
+achieved.
+
+During the Censorship of Appius Claudius, the cause of literature, or at
+least the dignity of the profession of a public writer, was
+advanced--though, perhaps, we ought rather to say, that official
+employment was honoured--by the promotion of Cn. Flavius, a scribe, to
+the Curule Ædileship. This individual appears to have possessed the
+happy gift of investing dry subjects with the garb of popularity; and he
+had won considerable reputation by giving the forms of legal actions in
+a shape that rendered them comprehensible to the general reader. He made
+law legible in his work on _legis actiones_, and had assisted the spread
+of information by an almanack or calendar, in which the _dies fasti_ and
+_nefasti_ were marked down, and other information afforded which could
+only have been obtained previously from the pontiffs.
+
+The lawyers and the priests, who were less liberal in those days than in
+our own, were both enraged with an author who had laid open the
+mysteries of both professions by a few happy touches of his pen; and on
+his being called upon to give the public the benefit of his services as
+a curule ædile, they appealed to the miserable prejudice existing
+against a man who had shown talent in one line, when called upon to
+exert his abilities in some new direction. The nobility were especially
+affected at the prospect of the public service being thrown open to
+merit alone, instead of gentle or gentile dulness being allowed the sole
+use and abuse of official honour and emolument. Exclusiveness and
+illiberality could not, even in those days, wholly prevail, though the
+opponents of the public writer succeeded in causing him to abandon not
+only his literary pursuits, but to give up all his books, and thus
+render himself emblematically on a par with themselves in ignorance, by
+divesting himself of the types of knowledge on his acceptance of office.
+
+At about the same period other and more important measures were adopted
+for infusing into the service of the State some of that intellectual
+vigour which is to be found most abundantly in the main body of the
+people. The pontiffs and the augurs had been hitherto chosen from the
+patricians alone, when by the Ogulnian law, passed in the tribuneship of
+Q. and Cn. Ogulnius, it was enacted that four pontiffs out of eight, and
+five augurs out of nine--at which the numbers were then fixed--should be
+plebeians. The science of augury certainly required no particular
+talent; but, as its professors were held in very high repute, the
+introduction of the plebeian element into the body, was a triumph for
+popular principles. The divining rod in an age of superstition was also
+a very powerful rod in the hands of those who held it; and the privilege
+of reading or rather interpreting the signs of the times according to
+the wish of the interpreter, was a source of so much influence among a
+people guided by omens, that the admission of the plebeians to the
+exercise of these functions was equivalent to allowing them an important
+share in the government.
+
+The science of augury is intimately connected with the history of the
+Romans, for they never took a step of a private or a public nature
+without consulting the soothsayers, who were, in fact, the
+fortune-tellers of antiquity. That a nation should place its destinies
+in such doubtful hands, seems in the present day as absurd as if the
+Prime Minister, before arranging his measures for a session, were to
+take counsel with Dr. Francis Moore, and the Opposition were to frame
+their tactics on the advice of Zadkiel. A glimpse at the nature of the
+art of augury will demonstrate to the student the ease with which the
+seer could see exactly the thing he wanted. The subjects of his
+observation were, first, the clouds, which afforded ample opportunity
+for obscurity; secondly, the birds, which, when seen to the right, meant
+exactly opposite to that which they indicated when seen on the
+left--thus allowing for a good deal to be said on both sides; thirdly,
+the chickens, who were supposed to give a favourable omen if they ate
+abundantly--a theory which gave rise to many a tremendous cram;
+fourthly, the quadrupeds, from which the augurs could easily draw a
+deduction at all fours with their own wishes; and, fifthly, and last, a
+miscellaneous class of signs, or incidents, comprising a sneeze, which
+enabled the augur to lead the sneezer by the nose, or a casualty, such
+as a tumble, which, in the absence of any other more important sign, the
+soothsayer was always willing to fall back upon.
+
+A remarkable instance of ignorance and superstition was afforded by the
+conduct of the Romans, when the city, being in about its four hundred
+and sixtieth year, was visited by a pestilence. Recourse was had to the
+Sibylline books for a prescription to get rid of the plague, when the
+augurs, like a doctor who, unable to cure his patient, orders him
+abroad, declared that the only thing to be done was to go to Epidaurus,
+a town in Greece, and bring to Rome the god Æsculapius. Ten ambassadors
+were despatched on the mission; but after looking in all directions for
+Æsculapius, they happened to stumble over a stone, in which they were
+told he was resident. Having been induced to purchase the article at a
+high price, they were taking it on board their ship, when they fell in
+with the proprietor of a small menagerie, who, directing their attention
+to a tame snake in the collection, offered it to them a bargain as the
+identical Æsculapius they were looking for. The Roman envoys, thinking
+there might, after all, be nothing in the stone, concluded there might
+be something in the snake, which began to twine itself affectionately
+about them; and having been bought and paid for, sagaciously glided
+through the town, made for the Roman vessel, and coiled himself up like
+a coil of rope in the cabin of the ambassadors.
+
+On their way home, a storm caused them to put in at Antium, when the
+snake, who might have been a very good snake, but was a very bad sailor,
+went ashore, took a turn or two round a palm-tree, hung out there for
+three days, and then went back to the vessel. On the arrival of the
+ambassadors at Rome, they began describing at some length the result of
+their journey, when the snake gave them the slip, and while their
+tongues were running on, managed to run off to the island in the Tiber.
+Having looked in vain for the snake in the grass, they built a temple on
+the spot, in honour of Æsculapius, and the serpent glided on--no one
+knows where--to the end of his existence.
+
+The wars which had been so exhausting to the almost inexhaustible
+Sabines, had been scarcely less ruinous to the Romans, and indeed the
+opening up of so many bones of contention had, to use the words of a
+recent writer, consumed "the very marrow of the nation."[34] In spite of
+all their conquests, the people were miserably poor; for destruction,
+instead of production, had been their occupation during a series of
+years; and though their wants had been supplied for a time by plunder,
+scarcity was sure to ensue at last, from a stoppage of the very source
+of all wealth, the peaceful exercise of industry. The tide of adversity
+which, in the first instance, overwhelms only the lower ranks, rises,
+with unerring certainty, until even the highest are absorbed, and few
+are able, in the end, to keep their heads above water. When
+circumstances appear hopeless, remedies become desperate, rash
+legislation ensues, and thus, during the distresses of Rome, the plebs
+having seceded, a proposal was adopted, in the shape of the Hortensian
+Law, to allow them to do just as they liked, in order to tempt them back
+again.
+
+[Illustration: The Ambassadors purchasing Æsculapius.]
+
+This was, happily, the last secession of the plebs, who, in their
+dignified withdrawal, remained completely within the pale of the law,
+while passing beyond the gates of the city. The intention of the
+seceders was to get on as they could without the patrician class,
+leaving the latter to do their best by themselves--a proceeding that had
+speedily the effect of showing that there is a mutual dependence between
+all ranks, and that one cannot exist in comfort without the association
+and support of the other. In Rome, the patricians had played the
+dangerous game of exercising the rights of their position without
+fulfilling its duties; and the plebeians finding themselves deprived of
+their share of the profits of the connection, were quite justified in
+cutting it. After the passing of the Hortensian Law, the invidious
+distinction between the patricians and the people was at an end, and the
+word _populus_ was applied to the whole body of citizens; but with the
+natural tendency of all classes to level only down to themselves, the
+Romans who were well to do in the world continued to use the term
+_plebs_, or _plebecula_, in a depreciatory sense, to denote the
+multitude.
+
+It is true, that some works of great utility were accomplished during
+the unhappy period to which we have been alluding; and the aqueduct as
+well as the Via Appia, to both of which we have already referred, were
+executed at the time stated. Instead, however, of being the result of
+the free industry of the nation, these undertakings were extorted
+chiefly from the labour of the Samnite prisoners; so that the Romans may
+be said to have watered their city with the tears, and paved their road
+with the sighs,[35] of their miserable captives. The arts made
+considerable progress, notwithstanding the general poverty, and perhaps
+the fact, that necessity is the mother of invention, may account for the
+stimulus given to the skill and ingenuity of the nation. The still
+existing figure, in which two bronze babies are represented in an
+attitude of playful satisfaction, deriving sustenance from a bronze
+wolf, who looks as easy as the hardness of the material will allow, has
+been assigned to the age alluded to, and the Sarcophagus of Scipio
+Barbatus, complete even to the ancient funeral verse, which the
+irreverent might estimate at the value of an old song, belongs,
+probably, to the same period.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[33] The Croton Aqueduct, commenced in 1837, and finished in 1842, for
+conveying water from the river Croton to the City of New York.
+
+[34] Dr. Schmidtz, p. 223
+
+[35] The sigh of a pavier is really a very formidable matter. We always
+fancy the heart of the poor fellow is in his mouth, whenever we hear him
+at his labours.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.
+
+FROM THE END OF THE THIRD SAMNITE WAR TO THE SUBJUGATION OF ALL ITALY BY
+THE ROMANS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Rome was for a time at rest; but its repose was broken by the alarm-bell
+of war still ringing in its ears, while dissension, hanging over it like
+a nightmare, placed a weight upon its chest, and became a constant
+burden on its resources. As if the Romans had not enough troubles of
+their own, they became involved with the disputes of their foreign
+relations, who were, most of them, very poor relations indeed--a sort of
+connexion which nations, as well as individuals, are apt to find
+extremely burdensome.
+
+A number of petty states began urging each other to do something that
+would embarrass Rome, and many who had not the courage to strike were
+desirous of seeing others display their valour. The Tarentines and the
+Volsinians being anxious to fight their own battles with other people's
+arms, succeeded in making cats'-paws of the Gauls, who were induced to
+pounce upon Arretium. The Romans were appealed to for assistance, and
+they immediately sent an army just large enough to be too little. Defeat
+ensued, as a matter of course; and L. Cæcilius, the leader, being slain,
+M. Curius was despatched to head the troops; but on his arrival, he
+found there was no body to which he could serve as a head, for the army
+had been either killed or captured.
+
+In this disagreeable dilemma, he sent ambassadors to know the terms on
+which the prisoners would be given up; but the ambassadors--like good
+money sent after bad--never came back again. The Romans perceiving at
+last that they were only cutting their army into convenient pieces for
+the enemy to swallow up, despatched, at length, a force large enough to
+put a stop to any further consumption of such valuable material. The
+Romans were now decidedly successful, and the Senones were, according to
+certain authorities, "just annihilated;"[36] but as the Senones are
+frequently met with again, it must be presumed that the assertion, _ex
+nihilo nihil fit_--"nothing can come of nothing"--is unacknowledged by
+the writers of classical history.
+
+Foreign intervention seems to have been quite the order of the day; for
+the Boians rushed forward to show their sympathy at the fate of the
+Senones, which, if it consisted of annihilation, must have been nothing
+to the parties themselves, and should have been, _à fortiori_, nothing
+to others. Touched with a similar infection, the Etrurians began to
+sympathise with the Boians, and having met the Romans near Lake Vadimo,
+the sympathisers were "cut to pieces," if we are to believe report; but
+we know not whether to the scissors of the reporters or the shears of
+fate, the cutting to pieces in question may be attributed. The
+Etruscans, at all events, were able to return to Etruria[37] in
+sufficient force to render them a still formidable foe to the Romans,
+who were eventually glad to grant a peace on very favourable terms; and,
+putting all things together, we are inclined to believe that the
+Etruscans were not in that very piecemeal state to which tradition is
+fond of reducing them.
+
+A quarrel between the Lucanians and the Thurii caused another call on
+the intervention of Rome, who was a thorough polygamist in espousing the
+quarrels of others. C. Fabricius was sent to the relief of Thurii with
+an army so small, that it began to shrink from the encounter, and thus
+increase, as it were, its own littleness. The spirit of the Romans had
+something, however, of the caoutchouc in its composition; for it could
+be drawn out as easily as it gave in, and a trifling circumstance showed
+its elasticity on the occasion of the attack on Thurii. A gigantic lad,
+with a ladder in his hand, was seen approaching the ramparts, which he
+proceeded to mount, and by this simple act of scaling the wall, he
+turned the scale of victory.
+
+The opposing general was taken prisoner, and numbers were left dead on
+the field, including several of the Samnites, who in devoting themselves
+to glut the appetite of war, appear to have formed the great _pièce de
+résistance_ of the period. The feast of carnage seems never to have been
+complete in these days, without this very substantial dish, which seems
+to have formed literally an instance of "cut and come again," for we
+find a supply of Samnites always ready for fate's relentless
+carving-knife. The treasure taken by Fabricius, the Roman general, was
+immense, and much of it was derived from the inexhaustible Samnites,
+who, though constantly being cut up like the goose with the golden eggs,
+possessed one extraordinary advantage over that auriferous bird, for
+they could bear the operation as often as avarice itself could require.
+The booty was wonderful in amount; but the mode in which it was disposed
+of, was more marvellous still; for the general, instead of following the
+general custom, by pocketing all he could, distributed a large portion
+of it among the soldiers, reimbursed the amount of a year's taxes to the
+citizens, and sent a handsome surplus to the treasury. It is to be
+regretted that we have no such examples of justice and generosity in the
+present age; for if every man were to return as conscience money to the
+Exchequer all that he did not fairly earn, the National Debt might soon
+figure--without any figures at all--as a myth in our financial annals.
+
+Thurii received a small Roman garrison, which not being strong enough to
+defend itself, was _à fortiori_, or rather _ab impotentiori_, too weak
+to protect those for whose safety it had been appointed. Rome,
+therefore, despatched ten ships to its aid, in defiance of a treaty with
+Tarentum, that no armed vessel should proceed beyond a certain point.
+The people of Tarentum, who happened to be at the theatre, which
+commanded a view of the sea, and who were evidently looking at the ocean
+as a much finer spectacle than the play, observed the approach of the
+ships, and leaving the actors to finish their performance to empty
+benches, they rushed out to meet the enemy. The commander of the
+squadron was not prepared for an audience that would hear nothing he had
+to say, the sailors were alarmed at finding themselves suddenly
+assailed, and the poor rowers were completely overawed at their
+unexpected position. Only five ships escaped, the remainder being sunk
+or captured, with all their crews and cargoes. The Tarentines fell upon
+Thurii, whose cause was now completely undefended; but the Roman
+garrison, instead of being despatched by the sword, was generously
+despatched home by the earliest means of conveyance.
+
+The Romans, having lost a considerable number of men, thought it better
+to recruit themselves by peace, as they were unable to find recruits for
+their army. It was accordingly determined to try the effect of an
+embassy upon the Tarentines, and some Feciales were employed to
+propose--what Rome considered--very moderate terms of arrangement. L.
+Postumius is said to have been one of the envoys, and it is added that
+upon his commencing a speech in bad Greek, there was a burst of laughter
+at his mistakes in grammar, orthography, and accent. He had been
+selected for the charm of his eloquence, but the spell was broken by the
+spelling, and in the confusion of his nominatives and datives, he was
+unable to make out a case of any kind. The Senators gave way to bursts
+of laughter--those bursts of nature which it is often difficult to
+control--and a buffoon, encouraged by the bad example of his betters,
+played some practical joke upon L. Postumius. The insulted emissary
+immediately held up his toga, which had been soiled by the jester, whose
+wit seems to have consisted in throwing dirt; but a shout of laughter
+was the only reply that the complaint of Postumius elicited. Desiring
+them to laugh on, he made an allusion to the possibility of the
+operation being transferred to the other side of the Roman mouth, and he
+added that a lavatory supplied by their blood was the only wash to which
+he would send his toga. Returning to Rome, he pointed out the stain that
+had been thrown upon him, and the Senate declared war on the spot the
+moment the spot was exhibited. An army was accordingly sent against
+Tarentum, but the leader, L. Aemilius Barbula,--so called probably from
+his being the little-bearded or the downy one--offered peace a second
+time. The Tarentines, thinking the Romans were afraid of fighting,
+refused to come to terms; but seeing that the latter did not retire, it
+became necessary to seek assistance in meeting them.
+
+It appears that in these early days there were a set of persons willing
+to undertake butchery as a trade, by hiring themselves, or rather
+lowering themselves, to fight for any one who would pay them. Among
+these, one of the most respectable was Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whom we
+may almost regard as a professional spiller of blood, for he took care
+to turn his labours to a profitable account, by bleeding those on whose
+side he fought, as well as those he fought against. According to some
+writers, Pyrrhus was no mercenary, because in agreeing to lend his arms
+to the Tarentines, he had in view a kingdom, rather than cash, or, in
+other words, he did not propose to be paid by those whom he assisted,
+because he intended to appropriate to himself everything out of which
+they would have the means of paying him. Pyrrhus, in fact, can only be
+excluded from the order of mercenaries by transferring him to the
+catalogue of thieves, and of this arrangement we have no objection to
+give him the benefit.
+
+Though he lived in an age when the education of sovereigns was sadly
+neglected, he possessed a fair amount of information, and he had the
+fortunate habit of listening to good advice, so that he got credit for
+being wise on the strength of the wisdom of his counsellors. His tongue
+was no less polished than his sword, and his manners would have fully
+justified their being charged as extras in the bill of any school in
+which they may have been acquired. He was only thirty-seven years old
+when he entered Italy with a stud, including no less than twenty
+elephants and two thousand horses, though he was, of course, the
+principal lion of his great travelling menagerie. He was accompanied by
+a vast number of slingers, whose arms were in their slings, and a large
+body of bowmen, who could draw the longest bow with a truthfulness quite
+astonishing. An incident connected with the invocation of the aid of
+Pyrrhus by the Tarentines has come down to us by tradition, that common
+carrier who lays much at the historian's door, that he is not always
+inclined to answer for. It is said that a respectable young nobleman, of
+the name of Meto, appeared one day in the Tarentine senate with a
+quantity of faded flowers in his hair, as if he had just come home late
+from a dinner party, and had passed on his way through one of the
+markets. Being attended by a female with a pipe, the Tarentines were
+seized with a sudden desire to cheer, a propensity still evinced by a
+modern mob in the presence of any absurdity.
+
+[Illustration: _Pyrrhus arrives in Italy with his Troupe._]
+
+[Illustration: Appearance in the Senate of a young Nobleman, named
+Meto.]
+
+The excitement at length broke out into a general demand for a dance,
+and a shout arose similar to the unmeaning cry of "Hornpipe!" that is
+heard in a modern theatre on the first performance of a pantomime. The
+young noble, feeling that he might be involved in an extraordinary
+caper, seems to have suddenly resumed his senses; for he exclaimed with
+a serious air, "Yes, we must dance and feast now, for Pyrrhus will
+soon put an end to all our merriment." The words of Meto seemed too
+prophetic; for Pyrrhus had no sooner arrived, than, on the principle,
+perhaps, that where there is a great deal of work, there should be no
+play, he shut up the theatre of the Tarentines. He stopped everything in
+the shape of amusement, and the young noble's prediction as to the
+city's dancing days being nearly over, was completely verified. It would
+certainly have been better for Pyrrhus in the end had he listened in the
+beginning to his counsellor, Cineas, who, according to Plutarch, talked
+the matter over with his royal master, in the most familiar manner
+possible. "Now, tell me," said Cineas, "supposing our expedition to be
+successful, what will be the next step?" a query which elicited from
+Pyrrhus a whole catalogue of arduous exploits, which he had in
+contemplation. "Very good," said the sage, "and when all is conquered,
+what then?"--"What then?" responded Pyrrhus, "why, then, of course, we
+can take our ease, drink, and be merry."--"True enough," rejoined
+Cineas, "but why not take your ease, drink, and be merry at once,
+without all the preliminary toils and dangers you propose to undergo,
+and by which you only postpone, instead of advancing, your ultimate
+object?" Unfortunately Pyrrhus, like many others, failed to see the
+force of this kind of reasoning, and he continued to encounter immediate
+peril and fatigue, with the remote prospect of future repose, which
+there was nothing to prevent his taking at once if he had really set his
+head on it.
+
+Though he would not acknowledge himself to be convinced by the arguments
+of the philosopher, it is probable that Pyrrhus secretly felt the value
+of the advice that had been given him; for his first step was a proposal
+to treat; and he even offered a draft by way of preliminary, but the
+Roman Consul rejected the proffered measure. The armies accordingly met
+on the banks of the Siris, a small river near Heraclea, and Pyrrhus sent
+a spy with a spy-glass, to inspect the position of the enemy. The spy
+was immediately spied out on the other side, and arrested forthwith, so
+that the look-out of the spy appeared utterly deplorable. Having,
+however, been shown everything there was to be seen in the Roman camp,
+as if he had been a traveller in search of information, instead of a
+sneak traversing a hostile area, the spy was sent back with care--right
+side upwards, which he scarcely deserved--to his master. This incident
+elicited from Pyrrhus the remark, that "the barbarians had an
+exceedingly gentlemanly way of conducting a war;" and the next day being
+fixed for the battle, he felt that he should have the satisfaction of a
+gentleman in going out with them.
+
+The attack was commenced by the Romans; and the Consul, resolving either
+to sink or swim, sent a body of cavalry across the river. Pyrrhus,
+putting himself at the head of his horse, proceeded to meet the charge,
+but he soon perceived that his brilliant armour was rendering him
+uncomfortably conspicuous, and he exchanged his dazzling coat of mail
+for an old rusty suit worn by his friend Megacles. The latter was
+perhaps proud to wear the trappings of royalty, but the emptiness of
+false glitter was speedily exemplified, for Megacles being mistaken for
+the king, was killed, and the shining armour was carried in triumph to
+the enemy's camp before the hollow mockery was discovered.
+
+The battle was fought with determined bravery on both sides, but brute
+force decided it at last, for the elephants of Pyrrhus weighed immensely
+in the scale of victory. The creatures coming down _en masse_, were more
+effective than the heaviest of ordinary heavies, and advancing with all
+their might upon the horses, the latter, though resisting with all their
+mane, felt their animal spirits rapidly oozing out of them. The carnage
+committed upon the Romans would have been merciless and complete, had it
+not been for the humanity of one of the elephants, who, taking a
+benevolent turn, pulled himself short round, and prevented his own side
+from continuing the pursuit of the fugitives. Pyrrhus, having laid his
+hands on everything he could take, proceeded to take everything he could
+lay his hands upon. A rich harvest having been collected, he, on the day
+following, went to glean what he could on the field of battle.
+Perceiving that the Romans had all fallen with their eyes towards the
+foe, he could not but acknowledge, with so much bravery staring him in
+the face, the courage of his antagonists. "With such soldiers as these,"
+he exclaimed, "the world would be mine, or, at all events, it would be
+theirs if I were their general." He had, however, lost half his own men;
+and as they lay prostrate before him, they seemed to offer a flat
+contradiction to the congratulations offered to him on his victory.
+"Another such a triumph," he replied, "and I should return to Epirus
+thoroughly unmanned, for there would not remain to me a single soldier."
+He offered to the prisoners employment in his own army, but they,
+without exception, refused; and, considering their conduct
+unexceptionable, he had their chains taken off, that they might feel
+themselves quite unfettered in their future movements. He burned the
+bodies of the dead, out of compliment to their remains, whose
+combustion, could they have acted for themselves, would no doubt have
+been spontaneous. He made a tolerably fair division of the spoil, giving
+some to his allies, and devoted a considerable slice to Zeus--a piece of
+devotion of which the priests of the temple got the chief benefit.
+
+The policy of Pyrrhus was to turn old foes into new friends; and he sent
+his trusty counsellor, Cineas, to Rome, with a suggestion that all
+animosity should be buried in the graves of those who had fallen on both
+sides. The Senators were beginning to waver, when Appius Claudius the
+Blind--who had been carried down to the house by his four sons--an
+arrangement that suggests the picture of a veteran supported by a youth
+at each arm and at each leg--declared suddenly that he could see through
+the whole affair, and called upon the Romans to open their eyes to the
+designs of Pyrrhus. The veteran, who, from infirmity, was unable to stir
+without assistance, could still agitate with his tongue; he urged that
+the proposals of Cineas should be rejected; and the assembly having
+first carried the motion, carried home the mover in triumph.
+
+Cineas, on returning to his master, described the city as a temple, and
+the Senate as an assembly of kings; for he could not get the temples out
+of his head; and the magnificent curule chairs kept reminding him of the
+dignified setting down he had received from the Senators.
+
+Pyrrhus, finding his friendly advances repulsed, resolved on advancing
+upon Rome in a less amicable spirit. Proceeding towards Capua, he
+encountered Laevinius, the consul, whom he had on a previous occasion
+beaten; but he was now not quite so fortunate; for, after a severe
+contest, neither side could say exactly which had got the worst of it.
+Pyrrhus, however, marched upon Praeneste, which fell into his hands, in
+consequence of the Romans having let it slip through their fingers. From
+the acropolis of Praeneste he is said to have seen Rome, at a distance
+of eighteen miles; but he must have seen very little, if so far off,
+unless he was accustomed to magnify what he saw in a very remarkable
+manner. The sight was sufficiently imposing to cause him to retreat; and
+he went into winter quarters at Tarentum, where he spent his own time,
+and the money he had taken from the enemy.
+
+[Illustration: Self-possession of Fabricius, the Ambassador, under
+rather Trying Circumstances.]
+
+While Pyrrhus was thus engaged, or rather disengaged, three
+ambassadors, named C. Fabricius, Q. A. Papus, and P. Dolabella, were
+sent to him from Rome, to negotiate for the release of prisoners. C.
+Fabricius was a very superior man; and Pyrrhus, thinking to gain over
+the superior man, employed means by which none but a very inferior
+individual was at all likely to be influenced. Bribery was the first
+expedient attempted by Pyrrhus; but C. Fabricius showed his contempt for
+money by pursing his eyebrows. Having failed in his coarse appeal to
+avarice, Pyrrhus tried what was to be done through fear; and one day a
+_tête-à-tête_ between the king and the ambassador was disturbed by the
+sudden introduction of a third _tête_, in the shape of the head of an
+elephant. The sagacious brute stood concealed behind a curtain, and,
+with a blow of the trunk on the cheek, he administered a smart box on
+the ear to the startled ambassador. The animal accompanied the act with
+a hideous roar, and threw his trunk over the head of C. Fabricius, who
+remained for a moment unable to see the clumsy joke that was being
+played upon him. He, nevertheless, retained his self-possession,
+remarking simply that neither by throwing gold dust in his eyes, nor by
+the still blacker job of the elephant's trunk, was he to be blinded to
+his duty.
+
+Though Pyrrhus would not accede to the terms proposed for ransoming the
+Roman prisoners, he allowed them to go to Rome, for the season, to be
+present at the celebration of the _fêtes_ of the Saturnalia. These games
+appear to have included some rather melancholy mirth, the principal fun
+of the affair consisting in the practice of shouting out "Io!"--which is
+equivalent to "Go it!"--in the public thoroughfare. Presents were
+exchanged among friends; and servants were in the habit of offering wax
+candles to their masters,--a sort of composition, perhaps, which the
+former came to with their consciences, in memory of the enormities of
+the grease pot. The domestic was allowed to wear his employer's clothes;
+and this portion of the ceremonies of the Saturnalia is still privately
+observed by the gentleman's gentleman of the family. While the wardrobe
+of the master remained at the mercy of the valet, the synthesis, or
+dressing-gown, was the fashionable attire; and for a period of general
+relaxation, this loose wrapper was perfectly appropriate.
+
+Having done at Rome as Rome was doing, during the Saturnalia, the
+prisoners returned to Pyrrhus, who opened the campaign in Apulia, and
+met the two Roman consuls--P. Sulpicius, and P. Decius Mus--at Asculum.
+This Mus is the third to which the labours of the historical muse have
+given birth; and he is said to have shared the fate of his grandfather
+and father--if at least that fate can be said to have been "shared," of
+which each had to bear the whole inconvenience. The battle fought at
+Asculum was severe, the Romans having lost 6000 men; for tradition
+delights in round numbers, with which probability often refuses to
+square; and no less than three thousand five hundred and five--for in
+this case exactness is carried to a degree of excess--are said to have
+fallen on the side of Pyrrhus.
+
+War was found to be doing its usual work, the sword was cutting both
+ways at once; the candle was burning away at both ends, and the
+litigants were figuratively cutting their own throats, as well as those
+of their enemies. Each party would have backed out, if he could have
+seen his way, when an incident occurred that opened the door to a
+compromise. Pyrrhus had a medical attendant; who, perhaps, felt that
+doctor's work might as well be done at first as at last, and offered to
+poison by one dose, instead of by slow degrees, his illustrious patient.
+The medical traitor accordingly prepared a draft, which he knew he could
+persuade Pyrrhus to accept; but the Romans rejected the idea with scorn,
+and denounced the scoundrel, who when taken was severely shaken by his
+indignant countrymen. The wretch at first denied having written the
+prescription, and attempted to eat his own words; but they stuck in his
+throat, and he died from the physical impossibility of getting them
+either one way or the other.
+
+Pyrrhus was so pleased with the treatment of the empiric who would have
+poisoned him, that he sent back all his prisoners to Rome without
+ransom, togged[38] out in new togas, and attended by pages, stitched in
+neat wrappers. After some negotiation, which was assisted by the
+returned prisoners, who urged their own new suits in support of that of
+Pyrrhus, now eager for peace, a truce for four years was agreed upon. It
+was stipulated that he should leave Italy, and he took the opportunity
+to cross to Sicily with the benevolent intention of freeing the people
+from the Carthaginian yoke; but, like most foreign liberators, if he
+took off an old yoke with one hand, he had in the other a new apparatus,
+which he was anxious to substitute. His object was to have made himself
+master of the place; but after remaining three years, he began to lament
+the faithlessness of friends, and helping himself to as much booty as he
+could lay his hands upon, he left the Sicilians to deplore the loss of
+himself and the treasure he took away with him. He had, in fact, been
+sent for by the Tarentines, and was on his way to see what he could do
+for them, when he was met by a Carthaginian fleet, which sank seventy of
+his ships--as we are told by the same authority that represents him to
+have started with only sixty,--a fact which leaves little doubt as to
+which party profited most by the friendship between Pyrrhus and the
+people of Sicily. He suffered a further loss in the mountain passes,
+where he had some very narrow escapes; but he nevertheless continued to
+keep a balance of 20,000 foot, and 3000 horse for the purpose of meeting
+any future engagements.
+
+On his arrival at Tarentum, there was such a panic among the Romans that
+nobody would enlist, until Curius Dentatus announced his intention of
+confiscating the property of the first who refused to enter the rank
+that was open to him. Besides the panic caused by the name of Pyrrhus,
+an alarm had sprung up in consequence of the head of the god Summanus
+having been struck off his statue by lightning, and nobody could
+ascertain what had become of it. Accident led to its discovery in the
+bed of the Tiber, from which it had probably been fished by one of those
+extraordinary hooks which so many of our historical facts are found to
+hang upon. The augurs were consulted as a matter of course, and on a
+case being submitted to their opinion, they advised that the action
+against Pyrrhus should be carried on; for, according to the soothsayers,
+the loss and subsequent finding of the head, proved that after
+hair-breadth escapes victory would crown their labours.
+
+[Illustration: Discovery of the Head of Summanus.]
+
+Pyrrhus in the mean time marched to Beneventum to attack Curius,
+intending to surprise the latter by sending, through a mountain pass,
+some troops and elephants. The idea of a short cut for these massive
+brutes was absurd, and the unwieldy bulk of the elephants caused a
+succession of stoppages in the highways and byeways through which they
+were being driven. The Greek columns got occasionally into a fearful
+fix, and it was with difficulty they could lug through the mountain pass
+their extremely bulky luggage. Instead of completing their journey by
+night, it was daylight before they had commenced their descent on
+Curius, who saw them at a distance, and prepared a warm reception for
+the elephants. He attacked them with burning arrows, and lighted barrels
+of tar, which were pitched among the poor brutes, who fell back upon
+their own camp, and every tent was turned into a crush-room. Several
+elephants were killed, and four, being taken alive, were made to march
+as prisoners in the Consul's triumph. Pyrrhus reached Tarentum with a
+handful of horse, and a pocket-full of bread; but, being unable to pay
+the salaries of his adherents, they soon fell away in the absence of the
+usual golden rivets. He retired to Greece, where he engaged in all sorts
+of adventures, till the want of money prevented him from carrying on the
+war in any shape; and it is said that he had come down, at last, to such
+very petty disputes, that he died of a blow on the head, from a stone
+aimed at him in a street-row by an angry woman. On the death of Pyrrhus,
+those whom he had assisted relinquished all hope of maintaining
+themselves against such a formidable enemy as Rome, and the Lucanians,
+Bruttians, and Samnites proceeded to do homage to a power they had been
+in the habit of defying as long as they had any one on their side
+strong enough to assist them in fighting their battles. The Samnite
+ambassadors, who were entrusted with the humiliating duty of conveying
+the submission of their countrymen to Curius Dentatus, found him at his
+Sabine farm, engaged in the discussion of a large dish of turnips. He
+received the envoys with no other form than a wooden one, upon which he
+was seated, and he continued his vegetarian meal, as he listened to
+their overtures. They offered to bribe him with gold; but, taking up a
+spoonful of the mashed turnips, he declared that, as long as he could
+make sure of his daily bunch of his favourite luxury, wealth had no
+charms for him.
+
+[Illustration: Curius Dentatus refusing the Magnificent Gift offered by
+the Samnite Ambassadors.]
+
+The Samnites made one more desperate effort against Rome, and Lollius, a
+runaway hostage, who had escaped to his native mountains, found life
+such thoroughly up-hill work, that he resolved to change it, or part
+with it. Having got round him a band of robbers, who were just the sort
+of persons to do everything by stealth, he secretly prepared to attack
+the Romans; but they, hearing of the approach of the marauders, were
+early in the field, and, securing the leaders of the insurrection,
+struck off their heads in order to break the neck of it.
+
+Rome was now mistress of Italy, but her ambition, which, though always
+vaulting, knew no bounds, would not allow her to keep her empire within
+its natural limits. In the management of her conquered possessions she
+affected much generosity, in professing to admit the vanquished to a
+share of her own advantages,--an operation she effected by taking all
+the advantages to herself in the first instance, and then conveying a
+small moiety back to those from whom they had been wrested.
+
+The Colonial system pursued by Rome was peculiar, for instead of
+selecting uninhabited places, she preferred a population ready made,
+possessing wealth already acquired, of which she usually helped herself
+to a full third in exchange for a Government, which she supplied from
+her own large stock of persons in want of places. The relationship
+between Rome and her colonies has been compared to that of parent and
+child; but considering the stripping process to which Rome had recourse,
+she seems to have acted less as a mother than a kidnapper. The Roman
+Constitution, like the Roman cement, was an excellent compound, of which
+it is impossible to describe the ingredients; and, indeed, it is found
+that the best Constitutions--like our own British--are those which
+cannot be defined by a written prescription, or made the subject of a
+perfect analysis. There was a judicious spreading of political power
+over a considerable surface, and thus--to use a figure from the
+chemist's shop--a plaster was always ready to be applied to the sores,
+or even the trifling eruptions that might make their appearance on any
+portion of the great body of the nation.
+
+As in our own admirable form of government, there were three estates,
+comprising the people, the senate, and the executive; but the want of a
+permanent and universally recognised head of the state, kept the country
+continually exposed to agitation on the part of designing demagogues.
+
+As the sword, unfortunately, cuts the most prominent figure in the early
+history of Rome, we must not omit to speak of its military organisation,
+which was very complete; for in early times there seemed to be an
+impression that neighbours ought to be approached with the arm of war,
+rather than with the hand of friendship. Every Roman citizen was a
+soldier, and was liable at any moment to be called upon to turn his
+ploughshare into a sword, though when his special service was over he
+was at liberty to turn his sword back again into a ploughshare. This
+transformation was not effected without damage to the instrument, and
+the ordinary operations of agriculture were frequently interrupted by
+calling the labourer from the garden to the field, and forcing him to
+drill when engaged in sowing broad-cast. We have in a single chapter of
+Livy[39] an account of what a Roman army consisted of during the great
+Latin war, and though learned writers[40] have snarled and quarrelled
+over the materials, like dogs over a dry and meatless bone, we quietly
+walk into the midst of them, and deliberately extract the marrow. An
+army may be described in half-a-dozen lines, though it consisted of
+five, which were termed respectively, _Hastati_, _Principes_, _Triarii_,
+_Rorarii_, and _Accensi_.
+
+The _Hastati_, so called from their carrying the _hasta_ or spear,
+consisted of youth in the bloom of early manhood, and who went in front,
+that their early bloom might encounter the first blow of the enemy. The
+next row was formed of the _Principes_, or men in the vigour of life,
+distinguished by the abundance and splendour of their shields, arms, and
+accoutrements, and comprising what may be termed the heavy swells of the
+army. Next in order came the _Triarii_, a body of veterans, selected for
+their past experience--a quality which, however valuable in council, may
+be often useless in war; for though experience might have told a veteran
+that he ought to run for his life, his heels, being as old as his head,
+might have refused to do the latter's bidding. The fourth rank was
+composed of _Rorarii_, from the word _Rora_, dew, who sprinkled the
+enemy with various missiles, and who standing behind the _Triarii_, must
+occasionally, by aiming short of the foe, have given more than their due
+to the veterans immediately in front of them. Last in order came the
+_Accensi_, or supernumeraries, whose courage and fidelity were not of
+the highest class, and who either brought up the rear or left it behind,
+as their resolution urged them on, or their want of it kept them back,
+while there was always an opening left in case their fears should run
+away with them. It was frequently the practice of the _Accensi_ to
+reserve the vacant back-ground as a sort of race-course, in which races
+between their valour and their discretion were being continually run,
+and in the majority of cases the latter got by far the best of it.
+
+The habits of the early Romans were extremely simple; agriculture was
+their most honoured employment; and it was thought high praise to say of
+any man, that he was a good husband, and a good husbandman. Their food
+was chiefly corn; and many a happy family afforded an illustration of
+the fact that love, notwithstanding the assertion of the song writer to
+the contrary, can sometimes live on flour. Wine was so precious, that,
+in libations to the gods, it was poured out drop by drop, to prevent
+their getting a drop too much; and, indeed, so scarce was it in the
+early days of Rome, that Romulus is said to have used milk in his
+sacrifices; while Papirius, at a later period, vowed, in the event of
+his victory over the Samnites, a small glass--or _petit verre_--to
+Jupiter.
+
+Long beards were worn by the Romans until the arrival of a Greek barber
+from Sicily; and he is said to have plucked out, with a pair of
+tweezers, the beard which had grown for four centuries and a half into a
+rooted habit. On some he employed the razor, and he was able to reap an
+abundant harvest from the chins of a people who had never yet worn a
+smooth-faced aspect.
+
+The invasion of Pyrrhus caused the adoption at Rome of many Grecian
+luxuries, and among others was the luxury of substituting a silver
+coinage for copper, which had been found so inconvenient that a rich man
+had been obliged to use a wagon instead of a purse, if he wished to take
+his money about with him. Silver was, however, so scarce, that one
+Cornelius Rufinus was turned out of the Senate for having on his
+sideboard more than ten pounds of plate; for it was believed that he
+could not have come honestly by so much of it, and he was regarded as
+either a thief, or at least as a receiver of stolen property.
+
+So humble were the pretensions to display in those early days, that a
+silver cup and a salt-cellar formed, usually, the entire contents of a
+Roman noble's plate-basket. Music, among the early Romans, was at the
+lowest possible pitch, and the only professors were flute-players, of
+scarcely any note, from Etruria. Their strains were so dismal as to be
+employed only at a sacrifice or a funeral, when extreme melancholy was
+required. On one occasion the band is said to have struck, and retired
+to Tibur, when the musicians were only brought back by being made
+helplessly drunk,--a weakness to which some of those hirelings who
+assist at the performance of funerals are in our day liable.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[36] Polybius.
+
+[37] Polyb., ii. 20.
+
+[38] The ignorantly squeamish, who may object to the word "togged," will
+please to observe that it is purely classical--the Latin _toga_ being
+the root of the participle "togged," as well as the substantive
+"toggery."
+
+[39] Livy, viii.--8.
+
+[40] Lipsius and others.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.
+
+THE FIRST PUNIC WAR.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+All Italy now belonged to Rome, but the thirst for conquest was not
+quenched even by the sea itself, beyond which the Romans prepared to
+extend their power. Among those who made a business of bloodshed, by
+lending themselves out as soldiers to any one who paid them, the
+Campanians enjoyed--if there could have been any real enjoyment in the
+matter--a bad eminence. They had followed the trade of human butchers
+for about fifty years; and, among other sanguinary engagements, they had
+accepted a job from the tyrant[41] of Syracuse.
+
+The Campanians had done their work of devastation; and there being no
+further use for them, they had received notice to quit; but instead of
+returning home, they resolved to stay, and perpetrate a little plunder
+for their own exclusive benefit. They accordingly surprised the town of
+Messana--if any enormity may be considered surprising, when committed by
+such a set--and calling themselves the Sons of Mamers, or Mars, they
+established themselves under the title of the Republic of the
+Mamertines. From this point they carried on their trade of robbery and
+murder, which they put in practice right and left, upon most of their
+neighbours. On the unerring principle, that wrong never comes right, the
+rulers of Syracuse, who had, for their own bad purposes, introduced the
+Campanians into the place, became, in turn, the victims of that lawless
+band of freebooters. At length, Hiero, a king of Syracuse, determined on
+getting rid of the nuisance which his predecessors had established, and
+fell upon the Mamertines with such effect, that they were on the point
+of being crushed, when they were saved by the interference of a
+Carthaginian Admiral. The Mamertines being themselves faithless, were
+suspicious of every one else, and were as false to each other as they
+were untrue to all besides; so that they looked distrustingly on the
+offer made, and were unable to agree as to the policy of accepting it.
+They were speedily in the position of a house divided, for some were
+ready to receive the protection of Carthage, while others sent for help
+to the Romans, who, to their utter disgrace, passed a decree, pledging
+themselves to an alliance with the Mamertine miscreants. It must be
+stated, to the honour of the Senate, that a majority of that body
+rejected the humiliating proposal with scorn; but the Consuls, desirous
+of giving _éclat_ to their term of office--an evil incidental to the
+system of having a temporary, instead of a permanent, head to the
+state--did all they could to plunge the country into a war, and brought
+the question before the assembly of the people.
+
+The lower passions of pride and avarice are soon aroused among the mass
+by specious promises of glory and conquest; and though each man might,
+for himself, have spurned an alliance with the Mamertine mercenaries,
+the result proved the truth of the saying, that "a corporation will do
+what an individual will shrink from with shame;" for the Comitia Tributa
+voted that the disgraceful compact should be formed.
+
+Appius Claudius, the son of the blind Consul, was sent to Messana with a
+fleet of TRIREMES, or vessels with three ranks of oars, which had been
+borrowed from the Greek towns of Italy; for the Roman Admiralty, in the
+true spirit of a board, though continually building ships, was unable to
+produce an effective navy. Appius Claudius was not seaman enough to
+carry his TRIREMES to Sicily, and his rowers were not so expert as they
+should have been in the management of the oars, which were placed in
+ranks, one above the other, to a considerable height, so that a long
+pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether was extremely difficult.
+
+Having at last got near enough for a parley, he invited Hanno, the
+Carthaginian general, to a conference; and, finding him a weak and
+nervous person, he seized him by the neck, and fairly shook the whole of
+his resolution out of him.
+
+Hanno was frightened into delivering up the citadel, and returning to
+Carthage, he was hurried off to speedy execution, for having failed in
+the execution of his duty. King Hiero, being deprived of his
+Carthaginian aid, was completely beaten, and was glad to offer peace, or
+rather he was glad to get it, on any conditions, for his own condition
+was truly deplorable. He paid down 200 talents in ready money, which was
+equivalent to about fifty thousand pounds of our modern coin, to prevent
+the sacking of Syracuse, and by sacrificing all his cash in hand, he was
+able to save his capital. From this period may be dated the commencement
+of the first Punic War; and as a feeble-minded reader may be dwelling on
+the word Punic, in the silly expectation of a pun, we, by explaining
+that it is derived from Phœnicia, whence Phœnic or Punic, at once check
+the morbid appetite. The city of Carthage is said to have been about one
+hundred years older than Rome; but cities, like ladies beyond a certain
+date, baffle all attempts to reduce their age to a matter of certainty.
+Tradition assigns the foundation of Carthage to Dido, who, having been
+converted into an unprotected female by the murder of her husband, fled
+from Tyre, and when completely tired out, sat down to rest on the coast
+of Africa. Here she agreed to take, on a building lease, as much land as
+could be covered with a bull's hide, when, to the astonishment of the
+lessor, she produced a skin cut up into thongs, and acting as her own
+surveyor, she claimed to be monarch of all she surveyed, by putting this
+new species of leathern girdle round as much earth as possible. There
+was certainly less of the princess than of the tradeswoman in this
+transaction, which, however, was characteristic of the future city, for
+it became famous for its business and its bargains, as well as infamous
+for its bad faith; the term _Punica fides_ having become a by-word to
+express the grossest dishonesty. Her devotion to commerce led to the
+establishment of a powerful navy, and her citizens having something more
+profitable to do than to fight, her army was always hired from abroad
+when occasion required. Rome, on the other hand, had made war her chief
+pursuit, and the consequence was, that she had plenty of soldiers, but
+no ships, except a few she had taken from her foes; and her occupations
+being mostly of a military or destructive kind, she had no resources but
+her valour to rely upon.
+
+The Romans remained in Sicily, where several powers claimed their
+protection; but Hannibal Gisco, anxious to preserve Agrigentum, threw
+himself and sixty elephants into it. Here he was besieged for seven
+months with an army of 50,000 men, who, of course, consumed daily a
+large quantity of food; but there was something utterly irrational in
+providing daily rations for sixty elephants. It was arranged, therefore,
+that Hanno should proceed to the relief of Agrigentum, but he was
+defeated with the loss of thirty elephants, left dead on the field--a
+field which must have been necessarily a very wide one for conjecture.
+Hannibal Gisco's army consisted of a medley of mercenaries, including
+some Gauls, who, having much money owing to them, refused to strike,
+except for their pay, and who intimated that they would not draw their
+swords until they had drawn their salaries. Their general, unable to
+settle with them in cash, chose a more treacherous way of paying them
+off; for, getting them into an ambush, he caused a volley of missiles to
+be aimed at them, and the discharge was in full of all demands, for it
+effectually stopped all further clamour.
+
+Agrigentum was plundered by the Romans, who sold 25,000 of the
+inhabitants for slaves--at least, according to tradition, who usually
+deals in round numbers, amounting often in value to the sum which a
+perfectly round number or figure indicates.
+
+Though the Carthaginians had failed on land, their fleet gave them
+advantages at sea, for there the Romans were completely out of their
+element. The latter, however, resolved to have a navy of their own, and
+the Board of Admiralty set to work in good earnest, with the cooperation
+of the Woods and Forests, which supplied the requisite timber. The
+difficulty now felt, was to obtain a design upon which to build, and
+instead of trusting to official surveyors, who might have shown plenty
+of cunning, without producing any craft, the Romans took for a model a
+Carthaginian quinquereme that had come ashore on the coast of Bruttium.
+Being relieved from the supervision of the professional architects, the
+ship-building progressed rapidly, and within sixty days after the trees
+had been felled, one hundred and thirty ships were built; though the
+builders must have been as green as the wood, and as crazy as the craft,
+to have imagined that such a fleet could have any but the most fleeting
+existence. While the vessels were being got ready, it occurred to the
+authorities that crews would be required, and as the Romans had as yet
+neither ships nor sailors, a few scaffolds were erected on land, that
+the intended tars might try their hands at naval tactics.
+
+[Illustration: Roman Man-of-War, from a scarce Medal.]
+
+Matters went smoothly enough on shore, till the would-be seamen, having
+ventured out to sea, found themselves as ignorant as babies, when rocked
+in the cradle of the deep; and as the waves washed over them, they
+perceived they had learnt nothing of their new art but its driest
+details. With seventeen of these queer quinqueremes, each with 300
+rowers, who by their misunderstandings kept up a continual but useless
+row, the Consul, Cn. Cornelius Scipio, sailed for Messana, when the
+Punic Captain Bugud, a regular Carthaginian tar, sent him flying, with
+half his timbers shivered, into a port of the Lipari. The crews, most of
+them half dead with sea sickness, scrambled as well as they could on
+shore. Their commander, Cn. Scipio, was taken prisoner, and so
+ridiculous had been the figure he cut, that his countrymen conferred
+upon him the name of Asina--or the donkey--a character that might in
+these days have qualified him for an appointment to a jackass frigate.
+
+After this ludicrous defeat, the command of the Roman navy was taken by
+the other Consul, C. Duilius, who determined to wash out in the ocean,
+as well as he could, the stain thrown upon his countrymen. He felt that
+naval tactics were out of the question among those who were, in one
+sense, sailors of the first water, for they had never been on the water
+before; and as to rowing, he knew it to be so impracticable that he
+resolved to throw the oars overboard. He hit on an expedient for making
+a naval engagement resemble as much as possible a fight on shore; and by
+overcoming in some respect the inequalities of the waves, he put his own
+men on nearly the same footing with the enemy. He constructed boarding
+bridges, capable of holding two or three persons abreast, and these
+bridges being thrown on to the enemy's ships, enabled the Romans to walk
+into them.
+
+The Carthaginians who were not prepared for such close quarters, and had
+trusted rather to the roughness of the sea, to deprive their opponents
+of an even chance of success, were so thoroughly taken by surprise, that
+they suffered their ships to be taken one after the other. C. Duilius
+was handsomely rewarded for his victory; he was hailed as the first
+naval hero that Rome had introduced, and as if the festive propensities
+of a sailor on shore had been foreseen, he was allowed the curious
+privilege of being accompanied home at night from banquets by an
+attendant with a torch--in which we see a foreshadowing of the policeman
+and the bull's-eye. He was further honoured by a _columna rostrata_, a
+sort of Nelson Column, adorned with the beaks of ships--a short stumpy
+looking affair, of which the museum at Rome contains an imitation from
+the hand of Michael Angelo,[42]--who has afforded us a fair copy of one
+of the columns of the Times, in which the deeds of great men were
+advertised.
+
+This nautical exploit of Rome was followed up by minor successes, and
+L. Scipio made an attack upon Corsica, where he was opposed by a
+Carthaginian fleet, under the command of Hannibal Gisco, who was killed
+by his own men, but honourably entombed by the Romans, who nobly buried
+their former animosity.
+
+Carthage and Rome were mutually suffering by their hostilities, and each
+nation lost its thousands alternately, according to what is called the
+fortune of war; but which, like the fortune of the gaming-table, must
+end in the ruin of both sides, for the sole profit of the grim enemy.
+While the forces of Rome were being diminished nearly every day, her
+enemies were multiplying; and that inextinguishable race, the
+Samnites--the increase of whose population would present a most
+startling series of returns--appeared to the number of upwards of 4000,
+who had been enlisted into the Roman navy. Their intention was to set
+the city on fire, but their own leader threw cold water on it before it
+was even lighted, by making himself an engine of communication with the
+Roman Government.
+
+In Sicily the Romans were continually in motion, but they took little by
+their motion beyond a few small towns. At length they determined on one
+grand naval effort, and they prepared 330 quinqueremes, which were
+placed under the Consuls, L. Manlius and M. Atilius Regulus, who were
+probably selected as the most likely to be able to command a fleet
+because they had never tried. The Carthaginians went to meet them with
+350 quinqueremes, in which were--according to tradition--150,000 men; an
+instance of overcrowding which would have qualified the commander,
+Hamilcar, for the captainship of a Thames steam-boat. The collision
+between the two fleets was as destructive as might be anticipated.
+Thirty ships of the Carthaginians went to the bottom; and, considering
+their cargo, we can only wonder how they remained at the top. The Romans
+lost comparatively little, for with them matters went on pretty
+swimmingly. Regulus was so elated that he sailed for Africa, and, having
+taken Clupea, the neighbourhood of which was cultivated like a garden,
+he sat down to enjoy the fruits of success. He took the pick of
+everything he could lay his hands upon, and he pounced upon the cattle
+wherever a herd was to be seen. At the end of the year his colleague, L.
+Manlius, returned to Rome, with a portion of the fleet, and 27,000
+prisoners--an arrangement that savours of an enormous cram--and left
+Regulus alone in his glory, which was destined to become his shame.
+
+Early in the year of the city 498, Regulus, having the field to himself,
+went into it with great confidence. He laid siege to the town of Adis,
+which the Carthaginians tried to relieve; but getting among the
+mountains with their elephants, they were unable to turn round, and
+found themselves encumbered by the trunks as well as the bodies of these
+ponderous animals. Regulus took Tunis, and several other places, though
+in the course of the campaign he is said to have encountered an
+unexpected enemy in the form of a snake in the grass--a species of
+serpent one hundred and twenty feet long, which swallowed up his
+soldiers by hundreds--swords and all--though the reptile ran the risk of
+cutting its own throat by such extreme voracity.[43]
+
+The Carthaginians were anxious for peace, and sent ambassadors to the
+Roman camp to negotiate, but Regulus, in his proposal of terms, exceeded
+all reasonable limits. He pretended to act on the principle of give and
+take, but the giving was to be all on one side, and the taking all on
+the other. The Carthaginians returned no answer to these insolent
+demands; but it is probable their silence must soon have been construed
+into consent, had it not been for the valour of a Spartan of the name of
+Xanthippus. This individual was a mere mercenary, who put other people
+to death for his own living; but he was, at all events, a working man,
+and infused his own spirit of energy into the Carthaginian army. He
+personally superintended the training, not only of the men, but of the
+elephants, and taught the soldiers how to wield as a power those
+hitherto unwieldy animals. Taking a hundred under his immediate tuition,
+he brought them into such a state of docility, that when turned out for
+exercise, they formed a stud worthy of the zoologist's attentive study.
+
+With these sagacious brutes, and a large number of troops, he went forth
+against Regulus, whose army amounted to 30,000 men; but the soldiers of
+Xanthippus fought with the courage of lions, which, backed up as it was
+by the firmness of the elephants, gave them a decisive victory. More
+than 30,000 Romans perished, if the accounts handed down to us are to be
+believed, and 500 were taken prisoners, though, if the same accounts are
+to be believed, the Roman army was only 30,000 strong; so that the 500
+captives must have been supplied from some of those exclusive sources
+which are open to none but the historian. 2000 more are alleged to have
+escaped, but we must leave the reader to solve the difficulty as he can;
+for as two into one will not go, so 33,500 out of 30,000 will not come
+by any process we are acquainted with. Xanthippus, the mercenary, had
+made it worth his while, for he was highly paid, and received rich
+presents, with which, as he dreaded the envy of the nobles, he thought
+he had better make himself absent as speedily as possible. He returned,
+therefore, to Sparta, to astonish the natives of his own city with the
+wealth he had acquired.
+
+The Consuls of the year, Ser. Fulvius and M. Aemilius, were now
+despatched with the whole of the Roman fleet, amounting to about 300
+ships, to Africa, where, after destroying the whole of the Carthaginian
+fleet, it went ashore on the southern coast; and this fleet of 300 ships
+lost, according to the authorities,[44] 340 vessels. The Carthaginians,
+whose army on land amounted to about 18,000, managed to lose about
+30,000 at sea; but an abundant population was still left for the
+historian to deal, or rather to cut and shuffle, with. We must confess
+ourselves wholly incompetent to grapple with the arithmetical problems
+that continually present themselves to us in the course of our
+researches, and we therefore postpone all attempt at a solution of the
+difficulty until the universal solvent shall be discovered.
+
+The Romans and Carthaginians, instead of being overwhelmed by their own
+misfortunes, were in high spirits at the disasters of each other, and
+both parties proceeded to repair the damage done to themselves, in order
+to qualify them for doing further injury. At Rome the Senate ordered a
+new fleet to be built, which took several Carthaginian towns, and
+Carthage ordered a fresh army to be levied, which took nearly all the
+Roman vessels.
+
+Shortly afterwards another naval force was despatched under the Consuls,
+Cn. Serulius Cæpio and C. Sempronius Blaesus, who had got together 260
+ships, with which sundry ravages had been committed on the African
+coast, when the sea, with its insatiable appetite, swallowed up at a few
+gulps the greater part of the squadron.
+
+Rome was now thoroughly sea-sick, and determined to have nothing more to
+do with the water, but to wash her hands of it. She was, however, still
+powerful by land, and encountered the Carthaginians at Panormus, where
+the pro-consul, L. C. Metellus, gained a decisive victory, by turning
+the elephants against their owners, and fighting the latter as it were
+with their own weapons. This defeat led to a desire on the part of
+Carthage for peace, and an embassy was sent to Rome, accompanied by
+Regulus, who had been a prisoner five years, and who agreed to consider
+himself morally in pawn, pledging himself to return, if the terms
+proposed by Carthage should not be acceded to by his countrymen. The
+conduct of Regulus seems to have been dictated by a strong love of
+histrionic display, for he appears to have been acting a part in which
+he sought to make as many effective points as possible. In the first act
+we find him at the gates of Rome, refusing to come in, although he had
+left Carthage for the purpose of doing so. His wife and two children
+having gone to meet him, he looked at them as strangers; but this piece
+of dramatic effect may be accounted for as springing from various other
+motives than those affecting the patriot.
+
+Having been invited to take his seat in the Senate, he at first refused,
+but he yielded after a considerable amount of pressing; a proof that his
+refusal was founded on no fixed principle. When asked for his opinion on
+the Carthaginian question, he spoke against the arrangement he had been
+sent home to further, and the noble Romans strongly urged him to stay
+behind, though he had pledged his honour to return, and the Pontifex
+Maximus, the head of the religion of the nation, devised a dodge by
+which Regulus might have evaded his promise. It must, however, be
+stated, to his credit, that he kept his word to the Carthaginians, and
+returned among them; but instead of being hailed as a hero, he was
+denounced as an impostor, and put to death in the most cruel manner. The
+stories told of his being corked up in a cask filled with nails and
+serpents, are altogether false; for, after carefully looking into the
+matter, we are glad to be enabled to knock the cask to pieces by the
+gentlest tap possible.
+
+Rome, having refused to make peace, was compelled, in self-defence, to
+go to war, and ordered 200 new ships with the recklessness of the
+spend-thrift who, calling on his coachmaker, desired that "some more
+gigs" should be immediately sent home to him. The Carthaginian fleet was
+in the harbour of Drepana, when P. Claudius Pulcher--son of Appius the
+blind, and who seems to have wilfully shut his eyes to the danger he
+ought to have seen--determined to surprise the enemy. Every attempt to
+dissuade him from his rash purpose was vain, and he persevered in spite
+of the auspices, which were declared to be unfavourable; for the sacred
+chickens were completely off their feed--a fact he set at defiance, by
+observing that, if the birds would not eat, he would at least make them
+drink; and he threw them all neck and crop into the water. The fate of
+the chickens went to the hearts of the Roman soldiers, who became
+thoroughly chicken-hearted, and fought so languidly, that they allowed
+themselves to fall by hundreds into the hands of the enemy. The Senate
+recalled Claudius to Rome, where a charge of high treason was preferred
+against him; but a thunder-storm interrupted the proceedings, which were
+never resumed, for the thunder seems to have cleared the air of all the
+clouds impending over him. As he must have ultimately died in some way
+or other, and as there are no records of his having been put to death,
+history has returned an open verdict, which is equally adapted to the
+suspicion that he came to his death by his own hands, or that it was
+brought to him by the hands of his fellow countrymen.
+
+The reverses of Rome by sea were a second time the cause of her giving
+up her naval establishments, and she sold her marine equipments to the
+dealers in marine stores, at a ruinous sacrifice. Carthage, therefore,
+became mistress of the seas; but the mistress being unable to pay the
+wages she owed, began borrowing money of her neighbours. Ptolemy of
+Egypt was applied to, but he civilly laid his hand on his heart,
+declaring he had nothing to lend, and kept his money--if he had any--in
+his pocket. In this dilemma, the command of the Carthaginians fell upon
+Hamilcar, surnamed Barca, or the lightning, from his being one of the
+fastest men of the day; and though any general, equal to the general
+run, might head a force with plenty of money to pay the troops, a genius
+was required to keep an army going, or rather to keep up a standing
+army, with empty pockets. He found the mercenaries in a state of
+insubordination for want of their customary emolument; but, having no
+money of his own, he made Bruttium and Locri his bankers, and gave his
+soldiers a general authority to draw, with their swords, for whatever
+they required. Taking his position on Mount Hercte, now the Monte
+Pelegrino, he maintained himself and his army for three years, enabling
+his troops to carry out the principle of spending half-a-crown out of
+sixpence a day--the sixpence being their own, and the half-crown being
+anybody else's, from whom it could be most conveniently taken. After
+remaining three years at Hercte, he removed to the town of Eryx,
+intending to tire the Romans out; but like many others who attempt to
+exhaust the patience of others, he found his own stock rapidly
+diminishing. He was drawn into an engagement, in which he lost so many
+of his soldiers, that he was obliged to ask for a truce to bury the
+dead; but the Roman general would give him no undertaking not to proceed
+during the funerals. A short time afterwards, when the fortune of war
+had changed, Hamilcar was asked to give a similar permission, and, by
+allowing the burials to proceed, he has raised a monument to his own
+magnanimity.
+
+The Romans, who were as fickle on the subject of a fleet as the element
+to which it was destined, resolved a third time to have a naval force;
+but ships were out of the question, when raising the wind was quite
+impossible. The state being without funds, appealed to the merchants,
+who consented to sink a large sum in an entirely new navy, with the
+understanding that if the tide of fortune should turn in their favour,
+they were to receive their money back again. The Romans had by this time
+become better sailors than before, while the Carthaginian tars had
+greatly deteriorated for want of practice. The ships of the latter were
+so heavily laden with corn that they could not proceed like chaff before
+the wind; and the sailors, encumbered by the cargo, found themselves
+going continually against the grain in attempting to work the vessels.
+The Romans obtained an easy victory, but it could not have been so easy
+to dispose of its results; for, after killing 14,000 men, they found
+themselves still saddled with 34,000 prisoners. A peace was concluded;
+one of the conditions being, that Carthage should pay to Rome 200
+talents by instalments extending over twenty years--an arrangement
+equivalent to the discharge of a liability at the rate of one shilling
+per annum in the pound, and the extinction of the whole debt by simply
+paying the interest.
+
+The first Punic War was now at an end, and it was high time it should
+be, for the losses sustained on both sides were enough to have exhausted
+the Roman as well as the Carthaginian population; and our history would
+then have come to an abrupt termination, like the tragedy of the youth,
+who was obliged to drop his curtain in the second act, in consequence of
+his having killed all his characters. It is fortunate, therefore, that
+the classical authorities, after "cutting to pieces" their thousands and
+drowning their hundreds, in a day, should have paused in their career of
+devastation just in time to leave something to go on with, to the
+conscientious historian.
+
+While, however, war killed everything else, it kept itself alive in the
+most extraordinary manner; for though brought to a temporary pause by
+having swallowed up all its usual articles of consumption, fresh food
+was speedily found, and the jaws of destruction were again on active
+service.
+
+The Romans having subdued Sicily, proceeded to prepare a constitution,
+or, in other words, having rendered the place subservient to
+themselves, they took measures for supplying a livery. Being tired of
+the old pattern, they devised something new, and produced an article of
+the following fashion:--They made Sicily a province; but those whose
+province it is to say what a province was, have left us in some doubt as
+to its precise meaning. The best definition is that which derives the
+word from Providentia, a duty, or a thing that ought to be done, and the
+provinces of the Romans were sometimes done indeed, though in a sense
+more modern and familiar than classical. A province, instead of becoming
+a part of Rome, retained its national existence, though such existence
+was scarcely worth having, for it was accompanied by a loss of
+sovereignty,--a condition that may be compared to that of a body living
+after its head was off.
+
+A governor was sent annually from Rome with a long train of officials,
+and the appointment being only for a year, leaves no doubt that the
+holder for the time being made the most he could of it. His staff
+included two Quæstors or tax-collectors, and a number of Præcones or
+auctioneers, who were always ready to sell off, in the event of a
+seizure. Sicily was, in fact, in a state of complete servitude to Rome,
+the only anomaly in the relationship consisting in the fact that the
+master, or rather the mistress, received the wages, instead of paying
+them. The amount was fixed at one-tenth of the wine, the oil, the
+olives, and other products of the soil; so that much of the fat of the
+land became the perquisite of the mistress of Sicily. These tenths were
+called _decimæ_, and so ruinous was their effect on the place whence
+they were drawn, that the words decimation and destruction have become
+nearly synonymous.
+
+The constitution of Rome had remained much the same during the period to
+which the present chapter refers, though the aristocracy of birth was
+beginning to give way to the far more objectionable aristocracy of
+money. Such was the influence of wealth, that the Quæstors or
+tax-collectors became members of the Senate as vacancies occurred, and
+the enormous riches of these persons proved how much of the public
+money, of which they had the entire handling, stuck to their fingers.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[41] The word "tyrant" meant, originally, nothing more than a sovereign
+who had arrived at supreme power by rather irregular means; but, as
+power thus obtained was most commonly abused, the words "tyrant" and
+"tyranny" became universally odious.
+
+[42] The curious reader, who is disposed to go over to Rome, will find
+the work of art alluded to in the text at the southern extremity of the
+vestibule, just at the foot of the staircase leading to the upper
+apartments, and close to a marble statue of Augustus.
+
+[43] The tale of this serpent has come down to us from Livy, and would,
+no doubt, form a very suitable companion to the sea serpent, if the
+latter could be found.
+
+[44] Diodorus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.
+
+SOME MISCELLANEOUS WARS OF ROME.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Prostrate greatness always offers an inviting mark to upstart
+littleness; and the story of the Lion _couchant_ kicked by the Jackass
+_rampant_, is as old, at least, as the days when Rome, exhausted by her
+wars with Carthage, was attacked by the imbecile inhabitants of the
+feeble city of Falerii.
+
+Had the Faliscans dashed their heads deliberately against a brick wall,
+they could not more effectually have shown how few brains they
+possessed; and, to carry out the figure of the Lion and the Ass, a
+switch of the former's tail soon told the latter's story. A few days
+sufficed to lay the Faliscans in the dust they had so foolishly kicked
+up, and in the clouds of which we very rapidly lose sight of them.
+
+The Carthaginians had been compelled to evacuate Sicily, and the
+mercenaries were of course to be paid off in one way or the other. On a
+former occasion, some of the hired soldiers who had demanded their money
+were taken to a bank--which proved to be a sand-bank in the sea--where,
+at the rising of the tide, they, instead of their claims, were subjected
+to immediate liquidation.[45] The army from Sicily took, however, a
+firmer stand, and proceeded to Carthage with a determination to do
+business in the city. It contained, as they knew, the spices and
+luxuries of India on which they loved to live; the purple of Tyre, which
+taught them how to dye; and the ebony and ivory which proclaim in black
+and white the wealth of Ethiopia. The persons who poured into the place
+formed an assemblage less pleasing than picturesque, for the group
+comprised all sorts--except the right sort--of characters. Among the
+mass might be seen the almost naked Gaul, who was outstripped in
+barbarity by some of the other tribes; the light cavalry of dark
+Numidians, and men who had their arms in slings; for such were the
+weapons of the Balearic slingers. The mercenaries, immediately on their
+arrival in Carthage, proceeded to the Treasury, where they found nobody
+but Hanno, who in an appropriately hollow speech, announced the
+emptiness of the public coffers. He regretted the necessity for
+appearing before them in the character of an apologist; but while
+admitting how much Carthage owed to the troops, he announced the
+impossibility of paying them. The State, he said, was heavily taxed,
+and, he added, with a feeble attempt to be facetious, that he must lay a
+small tax upon their patience, by getting them to wait for their money.
+The speaker was at once assailed with imprecations in ten different
+languages; but he stood firm under the polyglot uproar. The cry of "Down
+with him!" reached his ears in nearly a dozen different tongues; and
+when he tried to remonstrate, through the medium of interpreters, the
+worst interpretation was put on all that was said, and a good
+understanding seemed quite impossible.
+
+[Illustration: Hanno announcing to the Mercenaries the emptiness of the
+Public Coffers.]
+
+An attempt was then made to stop the mouths of the mercenaries with
+food; and provisions were sent in abundance; but the only reply was, an
+unprovisional demand for the money owing. At length the pay had been got
+together, and was about to be distributed, when an Italian slave, named
+Spendius, who had probably spent by anticipation all he had to receive,
+advised his companions to decline the offer, on the ground that if they
+refused what was due, their policy might obtain for them a large
+additional bonus. The suggestion was popular with the mercenaries, who
+held a meeting to discuss the point, and who, to save the time of the
+meeting, overwhelmed with a shower of stones anybody who rose to speak
+on either side. The resolution was soon carried; but it was by the aid
+of what may be termed the casting votes of those who sent up, in the
+impressive form of a plumper, the first missile they could lay their
+hands upon. For three years these intestine disturbances raged in
+Africa, and reduced it to the lowest point of exhaustion, till at length
+the malady wore itself out, though Hamilcar Barca, by intercepting the
+supplies of the rebels, assisted greatly in depriving treachery of the
+food it lived upon.
+
+The pecuniary panic of Carthage spread in nearly every direction, and
+the mercenaries at Sardinia, affected by the tightness of money, called
+upon the African colonists to pay with their lives the debt they could
+not discharge with their pockets. While the Sardinians and Carthaginians
+were reducing each other to a state of such weakness that neither could
+make any further effort, Rome stepped in, and like the lawyer between
+the exhausted litigants, carried off the whole of what they had been
+fighting for. Sardinia became a Roman province; when Carthage, whose bad
+faith has passed into a proverb, complained bitterly of the treachery of
+Rome: for we find the story of the kettle accused of blackness by the
+pot, is as old as the earliest pothooks employed in the writing of
+history. Hamilcar, who was the patriotic mouthpiece of the day, declared
+that he would raise his country; and it must be admitted, to his honour,
+that he did not take the means employed by self-styled patriots, who
+pretend to raise a country by stirring it up from the lowest dregs, but
+he tried to elevate it by all the honourable means in his power.
+
+Rome had at this time her hands tolerably full, and found employment for
+her arms in all directions; when, to add to her embarrassment, the
+Cisalpine Gauls were set in a flame by one of the many irons that she
+had in the fire. An Agrarian law, proposed by the tribune, C.
+Flaminius--whose name savours of the firebrand--was the cause of the
+outbreak. The measure enacted, that the land taken from the Gauls should
+be distributed among the Romans; and accordingly some settlers were sent
+out, who unsettled everything. The Cisalpines commenced negotiations
+with their Transalpine allies; but though the negotiations were carried
+a very long way, they eventually came to nothing.
+
+Rome was so occupied with foes, that she had scarcely time to turn
+round; but when she did turn round, she discovered that some very
+objectionable proceedings were being carried on behind her back by a set
+of people called the Illyrians. These persons picked up a dishonest
+living as pirates, and had plundered, among others, some Italian
+merchants who supplied the Italian warehouses of Rome and its
+neighbourhood. The Illyrians were ruled over by a woman, named Teuta,
+who, when applied to for reparation, observed that she was sorry for
+what had occurred, but that piracy was what her subjects got their
+living by, and she did not see how she could interfere with the manners
+and customs of her people. The Roman ambassadors answered, that the
+custom of their country was to protect the injured; but on this
+occasion, at least, the country failed in its Protectionist principles,
+for the ambassadors were slain before they could get home again. When
+their death was known at Rome, every exertion was made to afford them
+that protection which came too late to be of any use, and a large army
+was sent into the country of the Illyrians. The Roman arms were
+perfectly successful, and Teuta was glad to obtain peace by promising to
+put down piracy, and by actually putting down a very large sum of money
+by way of tribute. Rome had done considerable service to the Isles of
+Greece by checking the disreputable trade of piracy; and as the Romans
+took evident pride in being noticed by the Greeks, the latter paid the
+former for their military aid, by some of those civil attentions which
+cost nothing. At Athens, as well as at Corinth, Roman embassies were
+received; and though the ambassadors might be considered rather too
+venerable for sport, they were allowed to take part in the Isthmian
+Games, as well as in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
+
+The Isthmian Games were the same as those at Olympia, of which we
+furnish a brief outline for the information of those who feel an
+interest in the sporting annals of antiquity.
+
+During the first thirteen Olympiads, the only game was the foot-race, of
+which the spectators and the competitors, but especially the latter, if
+they selected it as their walk of life, must have been at last
+thoroughly tired. Wrestling was next introduced under the name of πάλη,
+or Lucta; and though wrestlers have for centuries been endeavouring to
+throw each other, they have not yet fallen to the ground, for they still
+maintain a footing in the sports and pastimes of our own people. Next
+came the Pentathlon, a sort of five-in-one, which comprised, in addition
+to the foot-race and wrestling, the practice of leaping, in which much
+vaulting ambition was displayed; and throwing of the discus, as well as
+of the spear--an exercise that required the utmost pitch of strength and
+dexterity. Subsequently boxing was introduced, under the name of
+Pugilatus, and it seems to have resembled pretty closely our own
+pugilistic encounters; for in ancient works of art we find the boxers
+represented with faces whose indentures witness their apprenticeship to
+the degrading trade they followed. The physicians of the period are said
+to have recommended boxing as a remedy for headache;[46] but this
+application of the theory of counter irritation is not adopted in modern
+practice. Another feature of the Olympian and Isthmian Games was the
+Pancratium, a contest calling for all the powers of the combatant. In
+this exercise biting and scratching were allowed--a disgraceful license
+which leaves us in no doubt as to the classical source whence the vulgar
+phrase of "going at it tooth and nail" is derivable. Horse and chariot
+races were also introduced, as well as contests of trumpeters, who dealt
+out blows of the most harmless description against each other.
+
+[Illustration: Early Roman Gladiator and his Patron.]
+
+Such were the games in which the Roman visitors to Corinth were allowed
+to take part; and we will now proceed to confer on the reader the
+privilege once peculiar to the inhabitants of Athens, by initiating him
+into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Their celebration lasted several days,
+the first of which was occupied in getting together the mystæ, or
+initiated, whose qualification consisted in their having sacrificed a
+sow--an act less worthy of a priest than of a pork-butcher. On the
+second day the mystæ went in solemn procession to the sea-coast, where
+they took a bath, by way of wetting the public curiosity. On the third
+day they went through the interesting ceremony of a fast, which, to the
+looker-on, must have been a somewhat slow process. The fourth day was
+devoted to the carrying about of a basket containing poppy seeds; and
+this literally seedy procession was closed by a number of women, each
+holding in her hand a mystic case, the contents of which were in no case
+allowed to be visible. On the fifth day the mystæ went, with lighted
+torches, to the temple of Demeter, at Eleusis, where they spent the
+night; but the torches throw no light upon what they were looking for.
+The sixth was the grandest day of all, and was employed in carrying
+about a statue of the son of Demeter; in whose honour the mysteries were
+held; because, when wandering about in search of her daughter, she had
+supplied corn--though nobody can say how she carried it about with
+her--to the inhabitants of Athens. During the night of this important
+day the mystæ were taken, in the dark, to see what nobody appears to
+have seen at all; and we are therefore spared the trouble of describing
+it. On the seventh day the initiated returned to Athens, and stopped on
+their way at a bridge over the Cephisus, from which they indulged in
+jests at the passers-by; and the obscurity of the jokes would, no doubt,
+if they had come down to us, have been thoroughly in keeping with the
+mysteries they were intended to celebrate.
+
+Such were the games and mysteries to which the Romans were admitted in
+Athens and Corinth, though they had, at about this time, established
+among themselves a sport exceeding in ferocity the scratchings and
+bitings of the Greek Pancratiastæ, or the ear-flattening and nose
+breaking efforts of the Corinthian pugilists.
+
+Until the Punic War commenced, the state had found money for the public
+games at Rome; but war having exhausted the treasury, the expense of
+amusing the people was thrown upon the Ædiles, who made the matter a
+medium of corruption, for they vied with each other in their outlays, in
+order to catch the votes of the people. The Ædile who had carried on the
+most extravagant games was the most likely to get elected to higher
+dignities; for popularity has ever been, and it is to be feared ever
+will be, the prize of those who possess the art of dazzling, rather than
+permanently enlightening the people. That their taste was degraded by
+those who sought their suffrages, we learn from the fact, that at about
+this time the sanguinary conflicts of the gladiators[47] were first
+added to the amusements of the populace.
+
+There seems to have existed in almost all ages and countries a morbid
+appetite, similar to that which formerly gorged itself on the spectacle
+of human beings "butchered to make a Roman holiday." When the
+brute-tamer promises to thrust his head into the mouth of the lion, or
+the "intrepid aëronaut" is about to risk the dashing to pieces which
+some previous aëronauts have experienced, and from which others have
+narrowly escaped, the crowds who flock to be present are actuated by the
+same sanguinary thirst for brutal excitement which filled the Roman
+amphitheatre when an encounter of gladiators was advertised. The
+attraction was great enough on ordinary occasions, but an overflow could
+always be secured by announcing an entertainment _sine missione_, which
+implied that the lives of the conquered were not to be spared. It is to
+be feared that many of those who have never been at Rome are
+nevertheless prepared to do as Rome did on the occasions alluded to; and
+if the certainty, instead of the mere chance, of a sacrifice of human
+life were to be announced as an entertainment, the largest place of
+amusement in the metropolis would, in all probability, be thronged,
+though the ordinary charge for admission should be doubled.
+
+The early Roman gladiators were either captives or malefactors, and were
+fed on a particular kind of diet, as brutes in the present day are
+fattened for the prize-show and the shambles. To give as much variety as
+possible to the sport, the gladiators were divided into different
+classes, and, with an excess of ferocity almost incredible, measures
+were adopted to give a dash of mirth to the frightful encounters. Some
+of the combatants, called Andabatæ, wore helmets without any apertures
+for the eyes, so that "roars of laughter" might be excited at an
+occasional display of blind fury. Others, called Retiarii, carried nets
+to throw over the heads of their antagonists, and when caught in these
+nets, their lives hung upon a thread; for, if the net did not break,
+their defeat was unavoidable.[48]
+
+The foes of Rome were just about this time so numerous, that whichever
+way she looked, she had in her eye the sword of an enemy. The Boians,
+the Tauriscans, and the Insubrians, with a number of miscellaneous
+tribes, entered into an alliance, and threatened to enter into Rome
+itself, where a prophecy was current, that the Gauls and Greeks would
+take the city. Having consulted the book of fate, the Romans found
+instructions for burying alive in the forum two Gauls and two Greeks; a
+proceeding which, but for its connection with the grave, would border on
+the ludicrous. An army, under the Consul L. Æmilius Papus, was sent to
+Ariminum; but the Gauls, ignoring the movement, advanced within three
+days' march of Rome, and ultimately found themselves between the army
+just mentioned and another army that had been stationed in Etruria.
+Flight was their only resource; and though the cavalry took to their
+horses' heels, and the infantry took to their own, forty thousand are
+said to have fallen on the field; but even imagination, which is
+accustomed to wander in very wide fields, can scarcely find one
+sufficiently extensive for such an incident.
+
+It would seem that population in those days partook of the nature of
+corn; for however thoroughly a people might be cut down and thrashed in
+one year, there was always an abundant supply for the sword of an enemy
+to go to work upon in the year following. The Gauls were accordingly to
+be found in full force within twelve months after their having been
+destroyed, and the consul, C. Flaminius, killed them all over again; but
+they still were numerous enough in body, and sufficiently poor in
+spirit, to acknowledge the sovereignty of their conquerors.
+
+While the attention of Rome had been divided among her numerous foes,
+the remnant of the Carthaginians had been expanding with the usual
+rapidity, and had extended to Spain, where, under Hamilcar Barca, a
+Carthaginian empire was in the course of being established. Hamilcar's
+policy towards the Spaniards was bold and rather original, for he
+determined to win their affections by thoroughly beating them. Every
+blow he aimed produced a favourable impression, and the Spaniards were
+as ready as so many spaniels to lick the hands that were continually
+smiting them.
+
+The system of Hamilcar was followed after his death by his son-in-law,
+Hasdrubal, who ruled in Spain for eight years, and who proved so good a
+ruler, that matters were kept as straight as could be desired. He was,
+however, assassinated at last by some culprit, who has eluded the
+vigilance of the historical detectives, for not even Niebuhr, who stands
+acknowledged as A 1, has been able to lay his finger on the criminal.
+
+Hasdrubal was succeeded by the son of Hamilcar Barca, a young man, named
+Hannibal, whose precocity as a lad was exemplified by an awful oath,
+which he took at nine years old, under the direction of his father.
+Whether it was judicious of a parent to teach his son to swear, is a
+question for the moralist; but whether a child of nine could have
+understood the nature of an oath, is usually a question for a judge; and
+any intelligent reader may safely act as a judge in the matter alluded
+to.
+
+The biographers of Hannibal have endeavoured to prove that he was that
+precocious nuisance, an infant prodigy, because, at the age of nine, he
+expressed a desire to accompany his father to the wars; though there is
+scarcely an infant of those tender years who, if asked "whether he would
+like to go with his papa," would not answer "yes," as a matter of
+course, without having the slightest notion where he might be going to.
+Young Hannibal is said to have learned the art of war in the camp, and
+to have gone into arms before he could be considered fairly out of them.
+Before leaving Carthage, his father administered to him a soldier's
+oath, and the boy swore like a trooper that he would be Rome's
+implacable enemy.
+
+[Illustration: _Hannibal, whilst even yet a child, swears eternal hatred
+to the Romans._]
+
+On succeeding to the command in Spain, he was twenty-six years old--a
+proof that promotion had been very rapid in his case; and, although
+merit may have had something to do with his rise, there can be little
+doubt that he owed much to interest. Adopting the policy of his
+predecessor, he attempted to engrave his name in the hearts of the
+Spaniards by the agency of the sword; and he may be said to have
+literally thrust himself upon them, though they were often bored to
+death by his too pointed attentions. All the South of Spain was under
+his thumb, with the exception of Saguntum, which had hitherto slipped
+through his fingers. He proceeded, therefore, to take it immediately in
+hand, when the Saguntines sent for assistance to Rome, whose Senate
+resolved unanimously that Hannibal could not attack the place; but when
+a copy of the resolution reached him, he had already begun besieging the
+city. He sent word to the ambassadors who brought the intelligence out,
+that they would display a sad want of intelligence if they ventured to
+come too near to him; and, as he had no time to go to them, they had
+better retire. Acting upon his suggestion, they repaired to Carthage,
+where they demanded that Hannibal should be given up; and there being
+some hesitation among the Carthaginian Senate, Q. Fabius, one of the
+Roman ambassadors, made a fold in his toga as if he had some mystery
+wrapped up in it. "Here," he exclaimed, "is either peace or war,
+whichever you prefer;" to which the Senate, in a spirit rather
+military than civil, replied, "Whichever you think proper." Fabius,
+throwing back his toga, and assuming an imposing attitude, exclaimed,
+"Then I offer you war;" when the Punic Senators, taking up his last
+word, raised through the senate-house a shout of "War," which, vibrating
+through every pillar, was conveyed by every post, and echo sent back an
+immediate answer.
+
+[Illustration: His Excellency Q. Fabius offering Peace or War to the
+Carthaginian Senate.]
+
+This was a declaration of that Second Punic War, for which Hannibal
+began to prepare when Saguntum, after having held out for eight months,
+was starved into submission. Though rich in the precious metals, and
+particularly in silver, the Saguntines experienced the bitter truth,
+that to be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth, is but an empty
+gratification, after all, when the spoon has nothing in it. Hannibal
+sacked the city, and converted into baggage all the loose silver he
+could find, which he kept in hand for the purpose of glutting the
+avarice of his troops, whose valour depended materially on other
+people's metal.
+
+The battle of Saguntum was signalised by the introduction of a weapon
+called the Falarica, which was in one respect a species of firearm,--for
+its point was covered with flaming pitch and tow, that, when pitched
+with effect, carried fire into the ranks of an enemy. It was, perhaps,
+fortunate, that inventive ingenuity had not gone very far among a people
+who seemed only disposed to throw away the little they possessed of it,
+in the form of destructive missiles.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[45] Diod. 5.
+
+[46] Aretæus de Morb. diut. Cur. i.
+
+[47] The first public exhibition of the kind at Rome took place B.C.
+244, at the funeral of the father of Marcus and Decius Brutus; but the
+Ædiles carried out the idea on what they considered a grand scale, and
+immense numbers of gladiators were sacrificed for the "amusement" of the
+people.
+
+[48] It may be hinted to the student that the Dying Gladiator in the
+Museum at Rome is no gladiator, but a Gaul; and the collar round his
+neck, supposed to be a mark of disgrace, is, in fact, the Torques, a
+symbol of honour. The sculpture is Greek, and belongs to a period of Art
+long previous to the introduction of gladiatorial displays.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.
+
+THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.
+
+
+We have now arrived at the great historical drama of the Second Punic
+War, which some authorities have divided into five acts; the principal
+part being undertaken by Hannibal, and the scenery being laid in Italy,
+Spain, Sicily, and Africa. The first act opens with the passage of
+Hannibal over the Alps, which forms one of the most remarkable passages
+in the life of that renowned soldier. In the second act we arrive at the
+taking of Capua; and in the third, we see Hannibal on the look-out for
+reinforcements, which never arrive from his brother Hasdrubal. The
+fourth act brings us to Italy, from which the Carthaginian commander
+makes a forced exit; and for the last act of all, the scene is changed
+to Africa, when the curtain and 20,000 Carthaginians fall together.
+
+Hannibal having resolved on the part he was about to play, called
+together those who were to act with him in the stirring scenes in which
+he intended to figure. His company consisted of 90,000 foot, 12,000
+horse, and an unrivalled stud of 37 elephants. With this troop he
+crossed the Pyrenees, by means of slopes, which nature had kindly
+provided, instead of platforms. The first incident of importance which
+happened on the way, was a mutiny among those, who, when they arrived at
+the foot of the mountain, protested against being brought to such a
+pass; and Hannibal wisely sent the discontented back, that the
+insubordination might go no further. Forty thousand foot retraced their
+steps, and 3000 horse backed out, on the opportunity being offered them.
+With the rest of his army, he reached the banks of the "arrowy Rhone,"
+which he found particularly arrowy when he made an effort to cross; for
+he did so under a shower of darts from the Gauls, who thus pointedly
+objected to his progress. The hostility manifested towards the invaders
+was not simply on account of their appetite for conquest, but their
+appetite for food was productive of a most inconvenient scarcity. To
+provide every day for 60,000 soldiers was difficult enough, but there
+was something awful in the idea of the daily dinner-party being
+increased by 9000 hungry horses, and nearly 40 healthy elephants. The
+passage of the Rhone was a matter of considerable difficulty; for the
+horses stood plunging on the banks of the river, instead of plunging
+boldly into it. The elephants were still less tractable, and were, after
+much trouble, pushed or persuaded on to a raft, covered with earth and
+bushes, to make it resemble dry land; but it no sooner began to move,
+than the unwieldy animals felt themselves and their confidence seriously
+shaken. This caused them to crowd together to the edge; and, while
+taking this one-sided view of their position, they turned the matter
+over so completely, that they all fell in with one another, and most of
+them came to the same conclusion. Continuing his journey, Hannibal
+arrived at the bottom of the Alps, and, coming to the foot of St.
+Bernard, he extracted from the foot all the corn he could lay his hands
+upon. The weather was, unfortunately, so severe that the cold nearly
+broke his army up into shivers; while provisions were so scarce that at
+one time there seemed to be no chance of anything to eat but ice, and
+though the air was thoroughly gelid, it was impossible to live on it.
+Tradition tells us, that when Hannibal came to this point of his journey
+he found two brothers in the middle of a fight for a crown; but what was
+the country to which the crown belonged, or whether the article was a
+mere bauble that had been picked up in the road, or whether the crown
+was a sum of money representing the stake for which the brothers fought,
+we have no means of determining. The combatants, at all events, agreed
+that Hannibal should arbitrate between them; when, adopting the
+principle of "Age before honesty," he adjudged the article in dispute to
+the elder of the litigants. The decision did not involve any very
+remarkable acuteness on the part of the umpire, who seems simply to have
+sided with the big brother against the little one. The successful
+claimant was so delighted with the judgment delivered in his favour,
+that he placed a large stock of clothes, for the army, at the disposal
+of Hannibal. Some fearful misfits arose from this neglect of the
+wholesome maxim, "Measures, not men," for there was not a man whose
+measure could have been properly taken.
+
+It was now time to undertake the ascent of the Alps, and to commence
+operations on a scale so grand, that all former experience in scaling a
+height, was little better than useless. Many of the soldiers at the
+sight of the mountains, instead of rising with the occasion, sunk with
+it into a fainting state; and others objected to venture into the snow,
+on the ground that they did not understand the drift of it. Hannibal
+represented the whole affair as a mere nothing; and added, that the
+passage over the Alps was not such very up-hill work after all, for that
+men, women, and even children, had often been quite up to the work he
+now proposed to cut out for his army. "Soldiers!" he exclaimed, "you
+have no choice, except between certain famine on one side of the Alps,
+or fertile plains, which you may see plainly enough in your mind's eye,
+on the other." Hannibal having made this brief speech, was rewarded with
+loud cheers; the army followed him, and proceeding to the passes, he
+found them lined with Gauls; but he tore the lining out in the most
+merciless fashion.
+
+On reaching the Valley of the Tarentaise, Hannibal was offered guides,
+whom, however, he distrusted; and refusing, therefore, to be led away by
+specious promises, he sent his baggage by way of experiment; intending,
+when he heard of the safe arrival of his soldiers' trunks, to despatch
+by the same route their entire body. When the elephants came within a
+stone's throw of the Gauls, the latter hurled down rocks in vast masses
+on the affrighted beasts, and snowballed them with the snow from the
+loftiest part of the mountains. The assailants, however, completely
+missed their aim, for Hannibal threw himself upon them, and succeeded in
+completely crushing them.
+
+[Illustration: Hannibal crossing the Alps.]
+
+It was a fine October morning when the Carthaginian general set out to
+cross the Alps by the road over the Little St. Bernard, and after a nine
+days' march, which was at that time a nine days' wonder, he reached the
+top of the mountain. The fatigue endured by Hannibal and his army cannot
+be described, and the toils of the journey were aggravated by the
+chance of their falling into the toils and snares of the enemy. Little
+passed their lips in the shape of food, and very little passed their
+lips in a contrary direction, for they were afraid to speak, lest their
+words should disturb the impending avalanche. The way was rugged, save
+where it was carpeted by the snow; but even where it was trodden hard
+enough to serve as a sort of track or guide, they could scarcely trust
+to it, for it gave them the slip every now and then in the most
+unsatisfactory manner. On the tenth day they began their descent: and
+they, perhaps, little thought at the moment that in quitting the top of
+the Alps they were coming down to posterity. The two first days slid
+away merrily enough over the ice and snow, but on the third they arrived
+at a point where the ground had slipped out of its place, and left to
+the enterprising travellers a far from eligible opening.
+
+The shifting of the earth had, in fact, put them to the most perplexing
+shifts, for the old road had perversely gone out of its way to baffle
+the travellers, and lay at the distance of 1000 feet below them. As
+Hannibal looked down upon the chasm, his spirits fell for a moment; but
+he speedily rallied, and determined, rather than allow his army to
+perish with cold, that he would make a way with them. Nature, however,
+opposed him by means of a mass of rock; and as he and Nature were at
+variance, he began to think how he could best split the difference. How
+he made his way cannot be confidently stated, though several of the
+learned,[49] who have gone deeply into the subject, have come out of it
+in opposite directions; and the authorities cannot be said to clash, for
+they are as wide apart as possible. Tradition, who never fails to take a
+trenchant way of getting through a difficulty, settles the point at
+once, by attributing to vinegar the success of Hannibal's scheme; but
+the vinegar must have been sharp indeed to have cut asunder the rocks
+which barred the progress of the illustrious traveller.
+
+It is difficult, also, to conceive how he could have carried with him
+the liquid in sufficient abundance to enable him to accomplish the
+object he had in view, and we are inclined to the belief that it was by
+continued assiduity, rather than by a mere acid, that the wondrous task
+was effected. A good-sized cruet full of vinegar would produce no
+impression on a common pebble, and when we imagine how many hogsheads
+after hogsheads must have been necessary to moisten the rocks through
+which Hannibal passed, it can only be the sheerest pig-headedness that
+would still obstinately adhere to the supposition we have stated.
+
+The passage of Hannibal over the Alps may be regarded literally as one
+of the grandest passages in history. Though subsequent generals have, in
+some degree, generalised the achievement, the special merit of it
+belongs to the Carthaginian leader, whose superiority over his followers
+consists in the fact that they did but find the way, while he might
+have claimed the credit of making it. The exploit of Napoleon has been
+compared to that of Hannibal, though the former, after all, did but
+follow what had been, for two thousand years, a beaten track; the latter
+being the individual who beat originally a track for himself, and
+thoroughly vanquished every obstacle.
+
+At length, after having nearly lost himself in the Alps, Hannibal found
+himself, at the end of a journey of fifteen days, in the plain of Turin.
+On mustering his army, he discovered that considerable reductions had
+taken place in it; for the foot, which had stood at 50,000 when he
+crossed the Rhone, had now dwindled to less than half the number. He had
+lost 3000 horse, and his stock of elephants had materially
+diminished--the few that remained having become so thin, that there was
+a striking falling off in the material as well as the numbers of the
+body. So little had his visit been expected, that the Romans were not
+prepared for it; and Scipio, who ought to have been waiting at the foot
+of the Alps, did not arrive at Pavia until Hannibal had had time to
+recruit himself after his late fatigue. Here both armies met, and Scipio
+gave battle; but Hannibal's cavalry gave it to him in a sense more
+familiar than satisfactory. In the course of the engagement, the Roman
+general received a wound, which wound him up to the highest pitch of
+rage; and he would have exposed himself to certain death, if his son had
+not valiantly rushed between him and the enemy.
+
+The Romans now began to rate each other for having underrated the
+strength of the foe; and Tib. Sempronius was recalled from Africa, where
+he was wasting his time by wasting the coast in the most unprofitable
+manner. Hannibal pitched his camp on the banks of the Trebia, where,
+among the bushes, he found for his army a convenient ambush. Sempronius
+had by this time joined Scipio, who was still a great invalid, and being
+generally indisposed, was not at all disposed for battle. Sempronius, on
+the other hand, thinking he should obtain all the glory that was to be
+acquired, felt eager for the fight; and Hannibal, from the other side of
+the river, assumed the most provoking attitude, in order to tempt the
+Romans to come after him.
+
+At length, some of the guards became so irritated, that they volunteered
+into the cold-stream, and plunged into the icy river. There happened to
+be at the moment a fall of snow, which was taken by the wind into the
+faces of the soldiers, who, nevertheless, fought with bravery, though in
+appearance they seemed to exhibit a mass of white feathers. The Romans,
+though nearly frozen to death, were not only cool and collected, but
+eagerly sought, in the hope of warming themselves, the heat of the
+battle. They were, however, completely beaten, and retired to Placentia,
+from which the Consuls, with much self-complacency, sent to Rome an
+account of the battle, in which they attributed to the wind the blow
+they had sustained, and, plausibly suggesting the ice as the cause of
+their failure, they endeavoured to slip out of it.
+
+Hannibal determined to pass the winter as quietly as he could, but he
+appears, according to the authorities,[50] to have indulged in a little
+masquerading, for the purpose of deceiving the Cisalpine Gauls, who more
+than once conspired to kill him. He would frequently change his dress;
+and he appears to have had a large assortment of wigs, in one or other
+of which he was accustomed to disguise himself. Sometimes he would
+appear in hair of the richest brown, and at other times it was of the
+reddest dye; so that the people were puzzled to understand how the same
+head could, on one day, appear covered with the luxuriant chestnut, and
+on another day, disfigured with an untidy bunch of carrots. On one
+occasion, when a conspiracy against him was ripe, he came to the council
+with a limping gait, and thus saved himself from a much more serious
+hobble.
+
+[Illustration: Hannibal disguising himself.]
+
+In the spring of the next year, the Consul, C. Flaminius, was sent to
+Ariminum with an army, and Hannibal started for Etruria. This
+expedition--if expedition is the proper term for an affair so extremely
+slow--lasted three days and three nights; the soldiers proceeding
+through marsh and morass, through thick and thin, to the end of their
+journey. The Spaniards went first, who picked their way, followed by the
+Gauls, who stuck in the mud, and were spurred on by the swords of the
+Numidians, who followed. All the horses were knocked up, and Hannibal,
+to whom all the glory of the march has been given, endured the least of
+the fatigue, for, while the common soldiers were wading through the mud,
+their chief was elevated on the back of the only surviving elephant.
+
+The advantages of a high position were, in this instance, strikingly
+exemplified, for if Hannibal had moved in the humbler walks on this
+occasion, the probability is, that he could not have walked at all; but
+that, sinking in the marshes, he would have gone down--in a swamp--to
+posterity. He, himself, lost the use of one of his eyes, though, indeed,
+he exhibited throughout this disastrous affair an unusual amount of
+shortsightedness. After reaching Fæsulæ, now Fiesole, near Florence, he
+made for Rome, and Flaminius made after him as far as Cortona; but
+Hannibal, turning sharp round the corner of the Lake Trasimenus; ran
+unperceived up the heights, getting round to the rear of the Roman
+general, who thought the foe was still in front of him. While Flaminius
+was pressing forward, Hannibal and his forces fell upon him right and
+left, as well as behind, and a fog coming on at the time added to the
+perplexity of the Consul, by preventing him from seeing his danger. A
+fight in a fog is one of the most dismal pictures that can be described,
+if, indeed, it can be called a picture at all, when nothing can be seen,
+and the whole is a mere daub, caused by a fearful brush between two
+conflicting armies. Such was the fury of the fight, that it is said an
+earthquake, which happened at the time, was unperceived by the
+combatants; and, indeed, so shocking was the carnage, that a shock of
+nature might have sunk by its side into comparative insignificance.
+15,000 Romans were slain, and those who are always ready to prophecy
+after an event, began to see clearly in certain omens that had happened
+some time before, the cause of all that had lately happened.
+
+A shower of stones had fallen at Picenum, but it does not appear whether
+those who told the story of the stones had a hand in throwing them. In
+Gaul a wolf had swallowed the sword of a sentinel; and in Cœre the
+answers of the oracle were suddenly written in smaller characters--a
+proof only that the oracle had got from text into round-hand--the
+ordinary result of improved penmanship.
+
+The battle had undoubtedly been fearful in its results, for Flaminius
+himself was slain; and 15,000 Romans having been cut to pieces, were
+thrown into a brook, which still bears the name of Sanguinetta, from its
+being turned into the colour of blood, though the statement is too
+extravagant to have the colour of probability. The horrors of the war
+were great enough without the aid of exaggeration, and though the
+instances of suffering were no doubt great, we are inclined to doubt the
+story, that the Numidians went without their allowance of wine, in order
+to wash the feet of their horses; for, though the animals might have
+been unable to do without their hock, they could surely have dispensed
+with their Falernian.
+
+On the news of Hannibal's victory reaching Rome, the prætor announced
+the distressing circumstance to a numerous meeting of the people, who,
+in the absence of the Consul, took upon themselves to appoint a
+dictator. Q. Fabius Maximus was chosen, and the mastership of the horse
+was conferred on M. Minucius. Hannibal was expected at Rome, but, like a
+wise general, he defeated general expectation, and proceeded to
+Spoletum, a Roman colony, which he hoped would have held out great
+advantages; but it held out with great spirit against him. Wishing to
+avoid the inconvenience of a siege, and of sitting down before the city
+with nothing but a marsh to sit down upon, he marched into Picenum,
+which contained abundance of everything necessary for the support of his
+army. His soldiers were afflicted at this time with a cutaneous disease,
+and, though this annoyance was only skin-deep, he feared a general
+breaking-out, if he had detained them against their will in an unhealthy
+country. From Picenum he passed into Apulia; and though he was
+disappointed in the hope that the inhabitants would join him, they were
+too weak to resist, and he turned every Italian city into an Italian
+warehouse for the supply of the comestibles he required. The dictator
+Fabius followed at a short distance, but always taking the high ground,
+by hovering about the hills and keeping the upper hand of Hannibal.
+
+His intention was to proceed to Casinum, but by some stupid
+misunderstanding, the general led the way to Casilinum, and the result
+was, that Fabius got ahead of him. On the mistake being discovered by
+Hannibal, he got 2000 oxen--but where he got them from does not exactly
+appear--and, having procured several thousand bundles of wood, he tied
+them to the horns of the animals. Having set the wood on fire, he turned
+the oxen out among the Romans, whose quarters soon were thrown into the
+sort of confusion prevalent in a London thoroughfare on a Smithfield
+market-day. In order to inflame the oxen, their horns had been covered
+over with pitch, which gave them an inclination to toss, and the poor
+creatures were running about in all directions, under the influence of
+fear and fury. Fabius is said to have mistaken the cattle for the
+Carthaginians, and to have rushed forwards, sword in hand, resolved on
+butchery. The Romans were thus drawn out of their favourable position,
+and Hannibal slipped into it, leaving the bulls to decide by a toss-up,
+if they pleased, the chances of victory over their aggressors. On the
+mistake being discovered by Fabius, he backed out as well as he could,
+and ventured on a few skirmishes, in which he met with some success, but
+he continued his policy of trying to tire out the enemy.
+
+The plan he adopted was to continue always in an imposing attitude but
+to be ready to slip away, so that, when his antagonist gathered up his
+strength to make a hit, the force was always expended on vacancy. The
+Romans grew extremely impatient of a series of tactics which showed no
+immediate result; and Fabius, having occasion to return to Rome, was
+insulted by having the epithet of Cunctator, the dawdler, or the
+slow-coach, applied to him. One of the tribunes even went so far as to
+charge him with treachery; to which he made, what is usually called, the
+"noble" reply, "Fabius cannot be suspected."
+
+It seems to have been extremely easy to get a reputation for "noble"
+replies among the Romans, since the mere denial of a charge, amounting
+to the commonplace plea of "not guilty," is frequently cited by the
+historians as a noble reply, because an individual in a toga happens to
+have uttered it. For the purpose of annoying Fabius, or the "slow
+coach," the people conferred on Minucius, who, for the sake of
+distinction, may be appropriately termed the "fast man," an equal share
+of power with the dictator himself, and half the command of the army. On
+the return of Fabius to the camp, Minucius proposed that they should
+command on alternate days, a course that would have been extremely
+inconvenient; for if Minucius had ordered the army to take a week's
+march, it is possible that on the day ensuing, Fabius would have ordered
+the army back again. The latter, therefore, proposed that each should
+take a separate half; but an army, like a house, cannot be divided
+without weakness being the inevitable consequence. The ill effects of
+the separation were soon shown; for Minucius, who was hot and hasty, was
+soon provoked by Hannibal to make an attack, and the Carthaginian
+general, who had been accustomed to talk of the Romans hanging over him
+like a cloud, declared that they had now come down upon him in a weak
+and watery shower. Minucius and his army would certainly have been
+absorbed, or, to use a more powerful figure, they would have been
+effectually wiped out, but for the generous intervention of Fabius. The
+latter saved the former from destruction, when Minucius, who was no less
+mawkish than rash, followed up the allegory of the rain by bursting into
+tears, and throwing himself on the neck, as well as on the generosity,
+of Fabius. Minucius resigned the dictatorship into the hands of his
+colleague, who leisurely wound up the campaign; and having resigned his
+power, has to this day reigned supreme as the example of the
+slow-and-sure principle in the theme of every schoolboy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Hannibal was now beginning to feel the effects of the policy of delay,
+for he was getting out of heart, and was terribly out of pocket. The
+harvest had been all gathered in before he could lay his hands upon it;
+and he felt it would be idle to take the field, unless he could take the
+corn that had grown in it. His army was clamorous for food; and
+complaint is never so open-mouthed as when hunger is at the bottom of
+it. The Romans began to think the time had arrived for a decisive blow,
+and had chosen as one of the Consuls of the year an individual named C.
+T. Varro, whom Livy has described as an eloquent meat salesman.[51] He
+had been in the habit of going from door to door in the service of his
+father, collecting orders for meat in the morning, and taking it round
+in the afternoon; but he was determined that his voice should be heard
+in something more impressive than a cry of "butcher," at the door-ways
+of the citizens. His first flights of eloquence were in the
+market-place, where he interlarded his ordinary exclamations of "Buy,
+buy," with sarcastic inquiries how long the people would consent to be
+sold by those who professed to be their friends and rulers. By degrees,
+he quitted the shambles for the platform, and he began attending public
+meetings as a professional demagogue. Like those who pursue patriotism
+as a trade, he accepted the first offer of a place that was made to him;
+and he became in succession a quæstor, an ædile, and a prætor. At length
+he was elevated to the consulship, or rather the consulship was lowered
+to him; for though the name of Varro became afterwards truly
+illustrious, we cannot allow to C. T. the title of respectable. His
+colleague, as Consul, was L. Æmilius Paulus, a patrician, who is said to
+have cherished a profound hatred of the people; but why he is said to
+have done anything of the sort--except it is in slavish subjection to
+the old prejudice, according to which all the patricians are supposed to
+hate all the people--we are at a loss to discover. The two Consuls were
+at daggers drawn between themselves, which prevented them from agreeing
+as to the proper time for drawing the sword against the enemy. C. T.
+Varro, the ex-butcher, was for cutting and slashing at the Carthaginians
+off-hand; but Æmilius Paulus, having consulted a poulterer, declared the
+sacred chickens to have lost their appetites, which some considered a
+foul pretext, and others a fair excuse, for avoiding a battle. The
+Consuls had, however, set out with 80,000 foot, and 6000 horse, which
+were encamped on the river Aufidus; their stores being packed up in
+baskets and cans at the little town of Cannæ. Hannibal, who was
+completely out of elephants--there being not even one left for the
+saddle for his own especial use--was compelled to ride the high
+horse--the highest he could find among his cavalry--as a substitute. He
+took Cannæ under the very eyes and Roman noses of the consuls, one of
+whom, Varro, would have fought, but Æmilius Paulus, the other, had taken
+the sacred chickens so much to heart, that he had not courage for
+anything.
+
+[Illustration: Young Varro.]
+
+At length, on the 2nd of August, Hannibal, whose pockets were empty of
+cash, and whose baggage was bare of provisions, determined to provoke
+the Romans to a battle. Had the policy of Fabius Cunctator, "slow
+coach," been pursued at this stage, the defeat of the Carthaginians was
+certain, for they were an army of mercenaries without pay, and in ten
+days there would not have been a bone for the dogs of war to feed upon.
+Hannibal, who had always much tact in discovering which way the wind
+blew, was taking a walk in the morning, when his eyes getting suddenly
+filled with dust, caused him to see a point that had hitherto escaped
+him. It occurred to him at once that, by placing his army with its back
+to the wind, the Romans who faced him would have to face a blow which
+might prove very embarrassing. He knew that the dust would set the
+Romans rubbing their eyes, or even if they did not raise a hand against
+the inconvenience, they would, at all events, be compelled to wink at
+it. In order to increase the annoyance, he ordered the ground to be
+thoroughly well ploughed, and though he had not the advantage of shot,
+he found the dust a very good substitute for powder. He had placed the
+Gauls in the middle, supported by Africans on each side, and the Romans
+having first attacked the centre, which gave way, were enclosed between
+the two wings; a position in which they were so hard pressed, that they
+could not get out of the claws of the enemy.
+
+The slaughter was, as usual, tremendous, 45,000 being left dead on the
+field, or rather, in conformity with the excess of caution used in those
+days to prevent the return of an adversary to life, being "cut to
+pieces." Æmilius Paulus, the patrician, who had been reluctant to fight,
+was killed while boldly combating with his sword in his hand, but Varro,
+the patriotic butcher, who had been all ardour and enthusiasm to strike
+the decisive blow, ran off as fast as his horse's heels could carry him.
+He reached Rome in safety, and such a perfect master was he of the
+demagogue's art, that he succeeded in obtaining the thanks of the Senate
+for his services. It was true that he had shown boldness, amounting to
+rashness, when the security of the army was at stake, and he had
+exhibited caution amounting to cowardice, in taking care of himself, by
+running away when the battle was lost; but he had got the character of
+the "people's friend," and the people are often a long time in finding
+out, and casting off, those who are in the habit of duping them.
+
+Among other instances of gross popular delusion which occurred about
+this time, was the sending of Fabius Pictor as ambassador to Delphi, to
+consult the Oracle. Fabius was the historian of his age, and was
+supposed, therefore, qualified to record all sorts of falsehood; for
+history in those early days had not been dignified by that conscientious
+accuracy which is in our own time indispensable. His second name of
+Pictor was acquired rather by his industry as a house-painter, than by
+his talent as an artist, for he had done the whole of the painting of
+the Temple of the Goddess of Health; and he probably devoted himself
+rather to the pound-brush than the pencil. As a writer of history, there
+was something of the painter in his labours; but he was unfortunately in
+the habit of employing very false colours. On his return from Delphi,
+the public seemed to have derived very little instruction from his
+journey; for the sacrifice of two pairs of human beings, a male and
+female Greek, and a male and female Gaul, was the principal result of
+the information he brought home with him.
+
+As it may be interesting to the student to be told how the Oracle was
+worked in those days, we furnish a few particulars. The office for
+making inquiries of the Delphic Oracle was in the Temple--dedicated to
+Apollo--where a fire was continually burning, fed with the wood of
+laurels, which typifies the ever-greenness that deception lives upon. In
+the centre of the Temple was a small opening which emitted intoxicating
+smoke, and, as the Pythia sat immediately above it, she was rapidly
+reduced to a state in which she fell on the floor and uttered incoherent
+sounds, which were said to be inspired. A prophet was in attendance to
+write down the pith of what the Pythia was supposed to say, and the
+purport of these drunken ravings was accepted by nations and individuals
+as a guide to their conduct in cases of the most serious interest.
+
+Originally the Pythia was always a young girl, but, subsequently, a law
+was passed, limiting the office to those who had passed their fiftieth
+year; and there is no doubt that intoxication being the chief duty,
+rendered the place peculiarly eligible to the old women. At first there
+had been only one female employed, but when the business increased, a
+second, and subsequently a third, was appointed, so that there might
+always be one at hand to perform the duty, while the other was drunk and
+incapable. Of course, a fee was exacted from all who came to consult the
+Oracle, which was entirely in the hands of a few aristocratic families
+of the place, who made a double profit, by taking money, and giving only
+such advice as was calculated to promote their own class interests.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[49] See the "Course of Hannibal over the Alps ascertained," by
+Whittaker, London, 1794, 2 vols. 8vo.; and "A Dissertation on the
+Passage of Hannibal over the Alps," by Walsham and Cramer, Oxford.
+
+[50] Polybius, 3. Appian, c. 316. Livy, 22.
+
+[51] Polybius says nothing about the origin of Varro; and as there was
+no directory in those days, we are unable to decide whether the omission
+of Polybius, or the assertion of Livy, is more to be relied upon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH.
+
+CONCLUSION OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.
+
+
+Hannibal was now strongly urged by one Maharbal, the commander of the
+cavalry, to march against Rome, and the gallant general went so far as
+to promise that if he had permission, he would go and take it so easy,
+that in five days they might sleep in the Capitol. "The idea is indeed a
+good one," said Hannibal, with an incredulous smile, "but the only
+objection to its being carried out, is that it's utterly impossible."
+Maharbal persevered in his recommendation; but finding his advice
+rejected, he grew sententious and sentimental, which is often the effect
+of a snubbing. "Alas!" he exclaimed, with that anti-colloquial style of
+expression, which characters in history--but not in real life--are so
+fond of assuming,--"Alas! thou knowest how to gain a victory, but thou
+knowest not how thou oughtest to use thy victory when thou hast gained
+it." If this was the ordinary mode in which Maharbal expressed himself,
+it is not surprising that Hannibal preferred his deeds to his words, the
+use of his sword to the abuse of his tongue, and his hand in war to his
+advice in council.
+
+The object of Hannibal had been to attach to himself the Italian towns,
+but they naturally repudiated an attachment, which consisted in his
+fastening himself on to them with an army which they were made to
+support at a ruinous sacrifice. He had, however, succeeded in winning
+over Capua to his designs, for it was inhabited by a contemptible race,
+who lay continually in the lap of luxury, where the lapse of all the
+better qualities would seem to be unavoidable. Not satisfied with
+treachery to the parent state, the Capuans added cruelty to their other
+vices, and stifled in their hot baths all the Romans who were living
+among them--an enormity which sends the blood immediately to boiling
+heat, to contemplate. The faithless inhabitants stipulated that they
+should be allowed to break all their engagements with Rome, on entering
+into new engagements with Carthage,--an arrangement like that of a
+dishonest servant, who, having robbed a former master, stipulates for
+impunity for past roguery as the condition of future fidelity. Hannibal
+was weak or politic enough to enter into terms with this contemptible
+set; but he incurred the unfailing penalty of wrong, for his own army
+became corrupted by contact with the Capuan crew, and his fortunes began
+to decline from the time of his alliance with this degraded people.
+
+The exertions of Rome to repair her reverses were extreme after the
+battle of Cannæ; and though nearly every family had lost a relative, the
+period of mourning was limited to thirty days, while a law was passed
+prohibiting all women from weeping in the streets, for they had been
+found a crying evil. Sparing no expense, the state performed an
+operation of a rather curious kind, for 8000 slaves were bought on
+credit--the Government thus making a large purchase without any money at
+all--and freeing these slaves, made them fight; thus retaining them
+actually in bondage, while nominally giving them their liberty. Even
+gladiators were allowed the valuable privilege of fighting the foe
+instead of each other, and of falling in the field instead of falling in
+the circus.
+
+Hannibal having used up nearly all his men and materials, was compelled
+to send to Carthage for fresh supplies, when his old rival Hanno
+exclaimed in the senate, that if the Carthaginian general had been
+unsuccessful, he deserved no help, and if he had been victorious, he
+could not possibly need any. The speech of Hanno on this occasion would
+have done credit--or discredit--to a political partisan of the present
+day; for it was essentially the language of a disappointed leader of the
+opposition. "If," said the honourable--or dis-honourable--member (for in
+mere party dissensions it is difficult to distinguish one from the
+other), "if Hannibal has conquered all our enemies, why does he send to
+us for soldiers? If he has reduced Italy--the most fertile country in
+Europe--why does he ask us for corn? And if he has obtained such rich
+booty, what on earth can he want with money? The truth, I suspect, to
+be, that his victories are sham--his territorial acquisitions sham--the
+riches (of which he has sent us specimens, in the shape of a few rings,)
+sham,--while his necessities, and the burden thrown upon us in supplying
+them, are the only things that are real."
+
+This argument, though specious, did not altogether prevail, for the
+senate decreed him four thousand Numidians and forty elephants, the men
+and the brutes being looked upon as equally articles of consumption in
+the game of war that had been so long playing. The Romans began to act
+with increased determination, and blockaded Capua, which was left to its
+fate by Hannibal, though an attempt to relieve it was made by a
+detachment which received a severe beating at the hands of Tib. S.
+Gracchus.
+
+This period is rendered additionally remarkable by the siege of
+Syracuse, which eventually fell into the hands of M. Claudius Marcellus,
+whose efforts had long been thwarted by the genius of Archimedes. This
+illustrious inventor lived to the good old age of seventy-five; but how
+he lived so long is a matter of almost as much wonder as some of his
+inventions, for his biographers tell us that he always forgot to eat and
+drink; nor could he ever be persuaded to take a bath, except when his
+friends pushed him into one. Even when this was accomplished, he was
+sure to be found under the ashes of the fire-places, writing problems
+among the cinders, and endeavouring to sift some important point; so
+that a bath was really thrown away upon the great philosopher. In a
+visit to Egypt, he became anxious to elevate the Nile to a certain
+point; but he remained in Egypt until all his money was spent, for the
+philosopher had never thought of raising the wind while intent on
+raising the water. He invented a screw, which still bears his name; but
+he is said to have amused himself, during the siege of Syracuse, by
+sitting at the window and inventing all sorts of missiles to hurl at the
+ships of the enemy. One day he might be seen throwing stones from a
+newly-invented sling, and a few days after he was found casting out
+chains, to pull--with a tremendous hook--the ships of the foe completely
+out of the water. He was so intent upon everything he came near, that he
+gave a lift to enemies occasionally as well as to friends, as in the
+instance just recorded, and he declared his ability to give the whole
+world a lift if he could only find a convenient spot in the
+neighbourhood for himself and his lever to rest upon. That in one sense
+he carried out his boast, we are willing to admit; for he undoubtedly
+elevated the world by raising the standard of science, and he exalted
+the whole of civilised humanity by his great discoveries. The part he
+took in the siege of Syracuse has been underrated by some, and
+exaggerated by others; for though the story of his pulling the ships out
+of the sea requires a length of rope, and other apparatus, which none
+but the greatest stretch of imagination can supply, his destroying the
+vessels by burning-glasses is perfectly credible. He is supposed to have
+used very powerful reflectors, capable of taking effect within the
+distance of bow-shot; and though for some time the moderns insisted that
+the long-bow had been pulled for the purpose of increasing the space,
+the powers of the burning-glass are now familiar to every schoolboy.
+
+On the fall of Syracuse, orders were given by Marcellus, the Roman
+general, that the philosopher should be respected; but he was so
+absorbed in a problem, that the soldier who was sent after him not being
+able to solve the problem of who he was, or what he was about, fell upon
+and slew him.
+
+It is of the great man we have been noticing that a story is told, which
+proves that the pursuit of the laws of gravity may sometimes be
+associated with the ludicrous. King Hiero, of Syracuse, had handed over
+a good lump of pure gold to a working jeweller to be converted into a
+crown, with the distinct understanding that the true metal only should
+be used, and that there might be no alloy to the pleasure his Majesty
+would feel in wearing it. The goldsmith brought back an article of the
+proper weight; but the king, after trying it on his head, turning it
+over in his mind, and revolving it beneath his eyes in the sun, declared
+his suspicion that the metal had been tampered with, and a base
+imposition had been practised. He consulted Archimedes as to the means
+of detecting the imposture; and on one of those days when the friends of
+the philosopher had forced him to take a bath, he became immersed as
+deeply in speculation as in the water.
+
+The bath into which he plunged having been full to the brim, the
+apartment was soon flooded by the water he displaced; and looking at the
+wet floor, he thought only of the dry facts of science. It occurred to
+him that any body of equal bulk would have done exactly the same thing;
+and he immediately thought of his royal master's crown, which, if all
+the gold sent for its construction had been fairly used up, should
+displace as much water as a piece of pure metal equal in weight to that
+which the crown ought to contain. The moment the idea struck him he
+jumped out of the bath, and thinking of nothing but the bare facts, he
+ran through the streets, perfectly unconscious of the naked truth of his
+own condition. His shout was εὕρηκα[52]--I have found it; but everybody
+thought, when they saw him, that whatever he might have found, he had
+certainly lost his senses.
+
+[Illustration: Archimedes taking a Warm Bath.]
+
+There is, no doubt, much exaggeration in the absurd stories told of
+Archimedes; but we may excuse a little oddness in a great man whom none
+was even with. He ran so far in advance of his age, that eighteen
+centuries had nearly elapsed before any one came up to him, and then it
+was chiefly by following the track marked out by his footsteps.[53]
+
+We must now leave the nobler instruments of science, to return to the
+engines of war, which were as usual in full play, and had been employed
+in the total dissolution of the already too dissolute city of Capua. The
+dissipated nobles, palsied by their excesses, and paralysed by their
+fears, fell by their own hands; for they had neither the courage to
+fight for the chance of success, nor the nerve to meet the consequences
+of failure.
+
+It is stated that one Vibius Virrius, the chief of the Senate, on the
+eve of the opening of the gates, gave a sort of legislative supper to
+twenty-eight of the members, and, at the conclusion of a hearty meal, he
+produced a cup, with the contents of which he proposed that every one
+present should poison the remainder of his own existence. The deadly
+potion was poured out into twenty-nine different vessels, and, with
+faces more or less wry, the Senators swallowed the fatal mixture. On the
+surrender of the place, the citizens were sold for slaves; and it must
+be admitted that they had shown themselves fit for little better than
+the fate assigned to them.
+
+In the year previous to the fall of Capua, Hannibal had taken Tarentum;
+but, three years later, the stupidity or treachery of the general in
+charge, or man in possession, had allowed Q. Fabius Maximus to take it
+back again. Hannibal was thus daily losing territory, and his cause was
+consequently losing ground. Many small states which had adhered to him
+because they believed him to be strong enough to assist them, withdrew
+from him directly he appeared as if he could not help himself.
+
+Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, had been harassed in Spain by the
+two Scipios--Cn. C. and P.--when fortune cleared the stage for him, by
+killing both within a month, and annihilating both their armies. The
+fate of the two leaders had such an effect in Rome, that when those
+eligible to command had heard the particulars, they had no inclination
+to act as generals. Every one seemed to fear that if he went to head the
+army in Spain, he should be simply going to his own funeral, and every
+one naturally shrunk from such an undertaking. At length young P. C. S.
+A. M.--or, to give his name at full length, Publius Cornelius Scipio
+Africanus Major--who was only twenty-four years of age, though he had
+entered the army at seventeen, and had been present, or rather absent,
+at the battle of Cannæ, where the only survivors were those who ran
+away--volunteered to supply the places of his deceased relatives. An
+objection was, at first, made to his age--or rather to his want of
+age--but, as there was no older candidate for the post of honour and of
+danger, he was permitted to step into it. His popularity was, in some
+measure, owing to his having acquired the character of a serious young
+man; for ever since he had assumed the toga virilis--an assumption
+something like the modern practice of going into stick-ups--he had been
+in the habit of passing his mornings in the Temple of Jupiter. He
+proceeded to Spain, with the title of Pro-consul, and an army of about
+11,000 men, at the head of whom he proceeded to Carthagena; where he
+knew the enemy kept the greater portion of their cash, their corn, and
+their captives. He was accompanied by his friend Lælius, who commanded
+the fleet, and who was sent to make an unexpected attack from the sea;
+for Scipio, who was very deep, had ascertained that the water was very
+shallow. The defenders of New Carthage had relied upon the ocean as a
+defence; but they had, in reality, built their hopes on sand, which,
+during the prevalence of a particular wind and tide, afforded easy
+access to the city. The place speedily fell into his hands; and his
+gallantry--in a double sense--made him with the brave and the fair an
+equal favourite. Towards the ladies he was particularly amiable; and he
+not only sent back to her lover an interesting young girl, but he
+returned to her husband a maudlin old woman. The latter was the aged
+wife of the chief Mardonius, who weepingly implored that her sex might
+be treated with respect; when the young soldier, hiding his face in his
+sleeve, either cried or laughed in it.
+
+[Illustration: Considerate Conduct of Scipio Africanus.]
+
+Hasdrubal now turned his attention to Italy, while Scipio continued his
+conquests in Spain, and, among other places, took Astapa, which, if
+tradition tells the truth, he must have found without a single
+inhabitant. It is said that the place was defended with such valour that
+only fifty men remained alive, and these became impressed with the
+feeling that when a thing must be done, it is better to do it oneself
+than to leave it to be done by others. They came to the resolution that
+they were sure not to be spared, and they had, therefore, better get rid
+of one another. They accordingly proceeded to the sanguinary task of
+mutual destruction; though, as one must have remained to the last, and
+there would have been some difficulty in disposing of him, it is
+probable that he survived for the purpose of acting as his own reporter
+of the dreadful incident. The graver historians insist that not one was
+left alive in the city; that the last fifty soldiers, having first
+killed all their women, and all their children, made away with all of
+themselves; a state of things which induces us to ask how the
+particulars have come down to us. If, however, we were to indulge this
+spirit of inquiry to any extent, we should, we fear, be compelled to
+throw a doubt upon many of those interesting particulars which form the
+most agreeable portions of history.
+
+Hasdrubal resolved to make a grand effort, and assembled an army, which
+including some Iberians, under his brother Mago, as well as some
+Numidians, headed by Masinissa, their king, numbered 75,000 men, and
+six-and-thirty elephants. Scipio, though objecting to attack a power
+more than twice his size, was compelled to do so, by a want of
+provisions, for he had so little food that his army could not even have
+grubbed on for a month or two. He was again victorious, and Hasdrubal
+proceeded to join his brother Hannibal; but the letters written by the
+former to apprise the latter of his coming, instead of going regularly
+through all the military posts, fell, by some misdirection or
+indirection, into the hands of the enemy. The Consul Livius Salinator
+went into the neighbourhood of Sena Gallica--now Senigaglia--and was
+joined by his colleague, C. Claudius Nero, who came, under cover of the
+night, with a large army; and it would appear that the forces of
+Hasdrubal kept such very early hours, that they had all gone to bed, and
+knew nothing of the reinforcements that had been sent against them.
+Hasdrubal, however, saw among the Romans, on the following morning, some
+soldiers, whose faces were so sun-burnt, as to give a strange complexion
+to a part of the troops, and he concluded that they had recently been on
+a journey. After having indulged in an inquiring look, he commenced a
+patient listen, and he fancied he heard two trumpet calls in the hostile
+camp, when, without considering whether the second might have been the
+mere echo of the first, he resolved, in his own mind, that the armies
+of the two Consuls had joined together. He accordingly determined to
+fly, and began by trying to swim across the river Metaurus, which is
+usually shallow enough; but the rains had swelled it to such a torrent
+that he was soon plunged into the depths of misery. His guides,
+following the impulse of their own cowardice, ran away as fast as they
+could, and he, in perfect ignorance of the country, found the river
+rising and his spirits sinking in about an equal ratio. The Romans came
+up with him in time to find his army completely damped, and his troops
+were, according to the military practice of the period, cut, at once, to
+pieces.
+
+Hasdrubal, who had lost heart early in the battle, seems ultimately to
+have lost his head, for rushing into the midst of a cohort, he was
+decapitated by a Roman soldier. It is said that the head of Hasdrubal
+was afterwards brutally thrown into the camp of his brother Hannibal;
+but happily for the credit of humanity, this story of the head is absurd
+on the very face of it.
+
+Spain was now subject to Rome; and Scipio, after quelling an
+insurrection in his army, paid a visit to Syphax, who was king of a
+portion of Numidia, and who was desperately in love with a young lady,
+named Sophonisba, the daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco, a Carthaginian
+general. Sophonisba was one of those troublesome persons, known as
+fascinating creatures, who, by attracting the eyes of mankind, set them
+very often by the ears, and lead to much calamity. This too interesting
+individual had also won the admiration of Masinissa, another king of
+another part of Numidia, when her father, irrespective of any attachment
+she might have formed, gave her hand to Syphax, by way of attaching the
+latter to his interests. Masinissa, in a fit of jealousy, went over to
+Rome, leaving Syphax and Hasdrubal to fight it out with Scipio.
+
+The Africans and Carthaginians were, to a certain extent, people of
+straw, which was the material they used in constructing their tents, and
+Scipio, basely pretending that he desired to negotiate a peace, sent a
+set of firebrands, under the garb of envoys, into the camp of the enemy.
+These hypocritical incendiaries carried fire among the foe; and, though
+the elephants fought like lions, the Carthaginians behaved like lambs,
+for the poor creatures, thinking the burning of their tents was
+accidental, looked on with simple bewilderment. 40,000 Africans were cut
+to pieces on the spot; and Syphax, who had managed to escape, was ready
+immediately with 30,000 more, to engage Scipio in the neighbourhood of
+Utica. Syphax was urged on by his wife, who is described as a woman of
+remarkable spirit--a character equivalent to that of a very troublesome
+body. Poor Syphax did all he could against a very superior force, but he
+was ultimately taken prisoner, and sent to Scipio, while Sophonisba
+remained at home to receive Masinissa--like a woman of spirit--at the
+gates of her husband's palace.
+
+The lovely creature, admitting that she was vanquished, and declaring
+that further opposition would be vain, appealed, in the character of an
+unprotected female, to the generosity of Masinissa. Expressing the
+utmost horror at being placed as a captive behind the car of Scipio, she
+entreated the protection of her husband's conqueror; and Masinissa, not
+knowing exactly what to do, politely offered to marry her. She at once
+consented; and, after a widowhood of a few hours, she was presented to
+Lælius, the Roman Consul, in her new character.
+
+Syphax, not being dead, was of course rather painfully alive to the
+conduct of his wife, and having hinted to Scipio that she might be the
+cause of further mischief, an order was immediately sent to Masinissa to
+send her back by the bearer. This her new husband was unwilling to do,
+but he forwarded her a cup of poison, which she drank off with the air
+of a tragedy queen, and died with a clap-trap in her mouth, which was
+almost as nauseous as the stuff that she was called upon to swallow.
+
+The Carthaginians now began to feel that every thing went wrong in the
+absence of Hannibal, whom they invited home, and on his arrival he was
+really anxious for peace and quietness. Scipio felt much the same, and
+the two generals, having met, looked at each other for some time in
+silent admiration. It may be doubted whether they got any further than
+this point, for even if they had a few words, it did not prevent them
+from ultimately coming to blows at the great and decisive battle of
+Zama. Hannibal brought into the field 50,000 men, and about 80 real
+elephants; but his soldiers were most of them raw, and liable to be
+roasted on the ground of extreme awkwardness. He put the Moors, the
+Gauls, and Libyans in front, the Carthaginian cowards in the centre, for
+they were but a middling set, and he brought up the rear, with a few of
+his best soldiers. Scipio exhibited some very skillful generalship on
+this momentous occasion, and by a clever arrangement of his forces, he
+left room for the elephants to run through the ranks without coming into
+contact with any of his soldiers.
+
+The success of Scipio was complete; and Hannibal returned to Carthage
+after an absence of thirty-six years; having so far forgotten the
+manners and customs of his country, that, during a debate in the Senate,
+he dragged a noble--whose sentiments did not exactly coincide with his
+own--by force from the tribune. On being called to order, he explained
+that he had forgotten the forms of the house; and the discussion
+proceeded as if nothing particular had happened. Carthage made peace
+with Rome, on very advantageous terms to the latter; and Scipio, who
+took the name of Africanus, enjoyed the honours of a triumph, at which
+poor Syphax--who appears to have been everybody's victim--was obliged to
+figure in fetters.
+
+The terms imposed upon Carthage were very severe; for she was to deliver
+up, without ransom, all the Roman prisoners: to surrender nearly all her
+ships; and to part with all her elephants. She was also to pay over a
+considerable sum in cash,--a stipulation which set the Senate off into a
+roar of anguish, and caused Hannibal sneeringly to exclaim that "the
+only thing to draw tears from their eyes was to draw money from their
+pockets."[54]
+
+Though Rome had been victorious, so fatal is war to all who engage in
+it, that her successes had brought her almost to the verge of ruin.
+Scenes of cruelty had dyed the country with blood, and left a stain upon
+it which could not easily be effaced; and wherever the sword of war had
+been brandished, nothing else had flourished. Troops had been raised
+merely to be cut down; the country had been wasted on all sides; and
+there had been a still more terrible waste of human existence. While
+life was being made so cheap, the means of supporting it were getting
+dearer every day; for provisions rose to an enormous price under the
+influence of a system which converted the ploughshare into the sword,
+and turned what should have been fields of corn into fields of battle.
+To meet the expenses of the war, the public had been obliged to run into
+debt; and there is no process to which the term running is more properly
+applied, though the opposite movement is always slow, and often
+impossible.
+
+The Carthaginian fleet having been destroyed, Rome became nominally
+mistress of the seas; but, for want of means, she made a very bad
+mistress, and the sea might be said to maintain a mastery over her.
+
+War, however, had been in some degree productive of good; for it had led
+to the recognition of the great principle that the public service was
+not to be monopolised by the privileged few, inasmuch as where there is
+real work to be done, there is scope for the talents and energies to be
+met with among the many. Wealth, however, had become a passport to
+public employment; and the door could be opened by a golden key, which
+has, in modern times, served most appropriately as the emblem of office.
+
+The drain upon the resources of the nation was so considerable, in
+consequence of the frequent wars, that the Senators sent their plate to
+the treasury, and received bank bills instead,--an arrangement as
+satisfactory as exchanging silver dishes for silver paper. The merchants
+supplied dresses for the troops on the same terms, and accepted printed
+rags for comfortable clothing.
+
+Superstition also sensibly--or rather foolishly--increased during the
+wars against Carthage; and the Sibylline books were consulted from time
+to time, though usually with no other result than the recommendation of
+a job, to be performed by Government Commissioners. On one occasion the
+books were declared to require that Cybele should be brought to Rome;
+and ambassadors were appointed, at a considerable expense, to go to
+Phrygia, for the purpose of fetching her. They professed to find her,
+and bring her home; but upon their arrival, they produced nothing but a
+large black stone, which the people welcomed as a most precious stone,
+and which they were contented to receive as the goddess they required.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[52] The term εὕρηκα has lately been applied to a newly-invented shirt;
+but the term is extremely inappropriate, for the philosopher had no
+shirt on when he proclaimed his great discovery.
+
+[53] Stevinus, the Flemish mathematician, and Galileo, both of whom were
+born about the middle of the sixteenth century, were the first who came
+after Archimedes in any great mechanical discoveries.
+
+[54] Livy, xxx. 44.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.
+
+WAR WITH THE MACEDONIANS. PROCLAMATION OF THE FREEDOM OF GREECE BY
+FLAMINIUS. WAR WITH ANTIOCHUS. DEATH OF HANNIBAL, AND OF SCIPIO
+AFRICANUS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+War being still the theme of our history, we are obliged to ask the
+reader to accompany us into the field, though we are aware that battles,
+and their deadly details, cannot inspire a very lively interest.
+
+Philip of Macedonia had become jealous of the power of Rome, which had
+now got a footing in the boot of Italy; and, as Greece lay nearly under
+the heel, it was natural that the Grecians should prepare to resist
+being trampled on. Philip, therefore, concluded a treaty with Hannibal,
+and sent ambassadors with the document; but, instead of delivering it
+into the hands for which it was designed, they themselves fell into the
+hands of the Romans.
+
+Rome at once despatched to Illyricum a fleet of 50 sail, when Philip,
+observing that the vessels were being wafted over by a favourable
+breeze, saw there was something in the wind, and resolved--whatever the
+blow--to be prepared for it. This was the commencement of the Macedonian
+War, which became extremely unpopular with the Romans; for the people at
+large regarded it as a bitter cup, though the nobles desired it for the
+sake of the "bubble reputation" that the few might find in it. In vain
+did the tribes protest against the proposed war, declaring they were no
+enemies to Philip, for the Senate insisted he was an enemy of theirs,
+and that it was accordingly their duty to fight with him.
+
+The campaign was opened by P. Sulpicius Galba, who crossed the Adriatic,
+but did little, and was succeeded by Villius Tappulus, who did nothing.
+Fortune had hitherto observed a sort of stiffness towards both sides,
+leaning neither to the right nor to the left, when she suddenly took a
+turn under the consulship of T. Quinctius Flaminius. This individual
+was, comparatively, young in years, but superlatively old in cunning;
+and he possessed in an eminent degree the low arts of deceit which are
+usually held to constitute the high art of statesmanship. He could
+electrotype falsehood with the external appearance of truth, and he had
+no lack of that lacquer which brazens out a fraud with the brass of
+impudence. Everything in the shape of rust had been rubbed off his
+manners, which had become smooth in the extreme, and had acquired that
+high state of polish which is frequently associated with a very slippery
+character. He slid, as it were, into the confidence of all, with the
+easy lubricity of the serpent, and with not a little of its wiliness.
+His smile won, or rather lost, those whom he wished to deceive, and he
+tried its fascination with such effect on some of the Greek chiefs, that
+they permitted him to enter Thebes, and either did not see what he had
+in his eye, or were induced to wink at it. He pretended that he wished
+to parley with the authorities; but, when the citizens were waiting to
+see what would take place, they found the place itself quietly taken by
+Flaminius.
+
+Thessaly now became the scene of war, and the Romans met the Greeks near
+a line of small hills, called, from their shape, the Dogs' Heads, or
+Cynocephalæ. Here both parties fought with a dogged obstinacy, which was
+quite in character with the place, until the Greek phalanx, or
+Macedonian heavies, gave way before the Roman legions. The principle of
+the phalanx was to pack the soldiers so closely together that their
+shields touched, and their spears being upwards of twenty feet long, the
+arms of the rear ranks leaned on the shoulders of those in advance, so
+that they went forth arm in arm, as it were, to meet the enemy. The
+Romans, on the contrary, preserved a sort of open order, in which there
+was room for the exercise of their limbs; while the Greeks, if they were
+able to raise their arms at all, were very likely to lift them against
+each other. If the Romans were in need of assistance, there was space
+left in their ranks for reinforcements to come up. But, amidst the
+density of a Greek phalanx, nothing could make its way except a panic,
+which will always find room to run through an entire army. Though
+presenting, by these means, a formidable front, their line was no sooner
+broken than they offered a most unprotected rear to an active foe, and
+the Greek files on the occasion in question bore marks of a special
+endorsement at the hands of the Romans. Having been packed as closely as
+cards, 8000 Macedonians fell upon the field, or rather upon one another,
+and Philip fled to Tempe, as if he was desirous to hide his face in
+its well-known vale after his discomfiture. Here he negotiated an
+arrangement, which may be termed the peace of the valley, though it was
+a kind of peace with which he could scarcely be contented, for it
+stipulated that he should give up all his ships except five; but he was,
+nevertheless, permitted to retain 500 men of war in the shape of that
+number of heavy-armed soldiers.
+
+[Illustration: _Flaminus restoring liberty to Greece at the Isthmian
+Games._]
+
+He was also to pay 1000 talents, which would have taken every talent he
+possessed, and put him to his wit's end at once, if he had not been
+allowed ten years, within which to find the money. He was furthermore
+compelled to send his son Demetrius to Rome for his education--a
+stipulation, of which the object is not particularly clear, unless it
+was thought that while the offspring was being schooled, a lesson was
+also being given to the father. Flaminius, laying aside the character of
+the warrior, proceeded to Greece as a tourist; and, though in private
+life he was as gentle as a lamb, he was everywhere received as a lion.
+Having visited the Isthmian games, he interrupted the herald who was
+about to open the proceedings with the usual proclamation, and putting
+into the hands of the officer a scroll, desired him to "read it out"
+before proceeding with the programme. The document was an announcement
+of the freedom of the Greek cities over which Macedonia had domineered;
+and the people, finding that Flaminius had made them free, resolved on
+making him welcome. Frantic with joy, they nearly deafened him with
+cheers, and almost buried him in flowers; nor could he keep at bay those
+who pressed forward to crown him with laurel. So dense was the throng,
+that he must have felt a smothered satisfaction, if he felt any at all;
+and even if he could have found words to return thanks, he could find no
+breath to give them utterance.
+
+In order that the Greeks might be shown the use of their new freedom,
+Flaminius remained behind, to give an illustration of the method of
+taking a liberty. Calling to his aid ten commissioners from Rome, he
+proceeded to apportion the free cities of Greece in the manner most
+agreeable to his own views; for it is a peculiarity of all freedom
+imported from abroad, that it must be a freedom in conformity with the
+taste of the importers, and not of those for whose use the article is
+required. It thus frequently happens that what is recommended as a
+luxury from abroad proves far from palatable to a people not accustomed
+to the new commodity; and, though efforts may be made to force it down
+their throats, at the point of the sword, the morsel is not easy of
+digestion, and is only revolting to those whom it may have been intended
+to satisfy.
+
+After completing the independence of Greece, by forcing republics on
+some of its cities, taking possession of some others, and establishing
+internal discord in nearly all, Flaminius returned to Rome in the year
+of the City 559, and enjoyed the honours of a triumph.
+
+As no one is at times louder in his denunciations of dishonesty than the
+practised rogue, so the Romans, who were for enslaving and plundering
+all the world, found it convenient, occasionally, to protest against the
+rapacity of such as were rivals in the game of conquest. Philip had
+already been dealt with on the principle that it is impossible for two
+of a trade to agree; and a quarrel was now picked with Antiochus, who
+was doing a somewhat extensive business as a wholesale appropriator of
+what did not rightly belong to him. Flaminius, therefore, while
+declaring, after his own fashion, the independence of Greece, stipulated
+that freedom should be restored by Antiochus to all the Greek cities in
+Asia,--an arrangement that would have left the cities at liberty to be
+made free with by Rome in her usual manner. Antiochus justified his own
+wrong by denying the right of any one else to interfere, and continued
+appropriating to himself other places to which he had no legal or
+equitable title. He seized on the Thracian Chersonesus, on the ground
+that one of his ancestors had seized it once before,--a principle about
+as just as if the grandson of a thief, who had been transported for
+stealing a watch, should, on the strength of his ancestral crime, rob
+the owner anew of the same property.
+
+Finding Lysimachia deserted, he took it as his own desert; when the
+Romans, growing jealous of his success in the predatory line, declared
+that they should regard, as a direct opposition to Rome, any further
+acts of plunder.
+
+While matters were in this state, Hannibal was living in scarcely any
+state at all, as an ordinary member of the Carthaginian Senate. He had
+taken the opposition side of the house; and though he was a proposer of
+many useful reforms, he was frequently coughed down, and in a minority
+always. Finding little sympathy amongst his own countrymen, who were all
+for peace and quietness, he entered into a negotiation with Antiochus,
+for the purpose of ascertaining whether they could arrange to create a
+joint disturbance, and thus weaken the Roman power. Treachery was,
+however, going on in all directions; for, while Hannibal was plotting
+with Antiochus against Rome, some of the Carthaginians were plotting
+with Rome against Hannibal; and a further breach of trust in some other
+quarter made him acquainted with his danger. He accordingly resolved to
+escape; and having a small tower--or marine residence--on the coast, he
+sent orders that a ship should be ready to sail, and a berth secured for
+him. He walked about the streets of Carthage all day, as if nothing had
+happened, and nothing was likely to occur; for the Roman ambassadors
+were continually dogging his footsteps; and he led them about so
+perseveringly all day, that when the evening arrived they had scarcely a
+leg to stand upon. Hannibal had, however, ordered his horse, which flew
+with him across the country to the spot where the ship was in waiting;
+and, after a difficult passage, by land as well as by sea, he arrived at
+the Court of Antiochus.
+
+True to his infantine oath, Hannibal did his utmost to excite hostility
+against the Romans; and asked Antiochus to lend him a trifle, in the
+shape of 10,000 men, as if they were so many counters, that the game of
+war required. Antiochus, however, like a boy jealous of his toys,
+refused to hand over the 10,000 men, whose lives might be required as
+playthings for himself; and he was not long in making use of them.
+
+[Illustration: Hannibal leads the Ambassadors rather a fatiguing Walk
+round Carthage.]
+
+The Greeks, being unable to appreciate the sort of independence they had
+received at the hands of Rome, sent an invitation to Antiochus; for it
+is the characteristic of slavery, as a moral disease, to seek relief
+from the existing cause of oppression by the introduction of some more
+violent form of the same malady.[55]
+
+As the interference of strangers will usually lead to family quarrels,
+so the effect of foreign influence on Greece was to keep the people
+continually involved in disputes with each other. Part of the population
+would have welcomed Antiochus warmly, while others received him coldly;
+and the king, who had penetrated into Thessaly, had sufficient
+penetration to see that he had better go a considerable part of the way
+back again.
+
+By way of narrowing the ground of dispute, he took his position in the
+Pass of Thermopylæ, and had, for some time, maintained an advantage over
+the Romans, when M. Porcius Cato, ascending the heights, ran round to
+the rear, and, by a decisive blow on the enemy's back, changed the whole
+face of the engagement. Antiochus fled in dismay, and never stopped to
+look behind him, until he reached Asia Minor, when he sat down, and took
+a gloomy retrospect of all that had happened. While he met with reverses
+on land, he heard of the reverse, or rather the same thing, that had
+happened to his fleet at sea; and he fairly gave up, not only his cause,
+but the Chersonesus, Lysimachia, Sestos, and Abydos, with all their
+contents and non-contents; the latter of which included the inhabitants.
+
+Antiochus, though subdued in spirit, was not quite beaten in form; and a
+large army was sent to Asia, under the command of the two consuls, L.
+Cornelius Scipio and C. Lælius. L. C. Scipio, though without any
+acknowledged merit of his own, had the good fortune to be the brother of
+the celebrated Scipio Africanus, who got him the place; but it is
+manifest that such an illegitimate step to an appointment will often end
+in a grievous disappointment of one kind or another. To provide against
+the ill consequences of this flagrant job, the celebrated Scipio went
+out in the capacity of legate, to counteract the consequences of his
+brother's general incapacity in the capacity of general. The Romans had
+20,000 men, who, having arrived in Asia, met 70,000 soldiers of
+Antiochus, at Magnesia, where the latter received a dose from which they
+never recovered. Peace was granted to them on very humiliating terms;
+but, however bitter the cup prescribed for Antiochus, so disagreeable
+was the recollection of Magnesia, that he was obliged to swallow almost
+anything that came after it.
+
+Rome continued her system of giving independence to various places and
+people, many of whom seemed so little to appreciate the proffered boon,
+that in some cases money was tendered and accepted as the price of
+exemption from the proposed advantages. The Cappadocians were so alarmed
+at the prospect of their new freedom, that, being still free to confess
+their dislike to it, they sent 200 talents to the Romans, who, no doubt,
+mentally impressed with the proverbial baseness of the "slave who pays,"
+quietly pocketed the money.
+
+While the principles of independence were being promulgated in the East,
+the Romans were also employed in carrying their notions of emancipation
+into the North, where several tribes were cut to pieces, in order that
+they might feel the interest which Rome condescended to take in them.
+In some places the old inhabitants were rooted up like old trees, while
+the younger branches were transplanted to other soils; and a large
+quantity of Ligurian offshoots were carried off from their parent stems
+to fill some vacant ground at Samnium. Many places were thoroughly
+destroyed; and among others, Cremona was so unmercifully played upon,
+that it was utterly broken up, and the lamentations of its inhabitants
+were regarded no more than the moanings of a set of old fiddle-strings.
+
+Not satisfied with being the masters of Italy and the tyrants of Greece,
+the Romans aimed at establishing their dominion in Spain, which was
+partly achieved by the treachery of some of the inhabitants, and the
+cowardice of others. Some of its most powerful men entered into an
+alliance with Rome, and were treated as insurgents or rebels, when they
+dared to revolt against the foreign authority that had either cowed or
+corrupted them.
+
+The subjugation of Spain was mainly effected by M. Porcius Cato, who
+took a rather remarkable way of reducing the country to submission; for
+he induced several places to commit a sort of moral suicide; and after
+condemning them in his own mind, he arranged that they should become, as
+it were, their own executioners. He sent circulars to a large number of
+fortified towns in Spain, with instructions that the communications were
+not to be looked into before a certain day; and the inhabitants of every
+town experienced the agony of suspense, in the fear that their doom was
+sealed in a letter they were not allowed to open. At length, when the
+day arrived for penetrating the envelope in which the mystery was
+enclosed, every circular was found to contain a command that the walls
+of the town to which it was addressed should be razed to the ground, or,
+in case of disobedience, that the heaviest punishment should light on
+its inhabitants. The authorities not being able to communicate with each
+other, fancied their own town the only one that was doomed, and
+proceeded to pull the place about their own ears, until it was reduced
+to a heap of dry rubbish.
+
+When the mischief was done, it was too late to discover that it need not
+have been done at all; and though unity is in ordinary cases strength,
+the unity with which the Spaniards had acted in demolishing their own
+towns, had reduced them to a condition of utter feebleness.
+
+For some time they lived in peace, though their homes were knocked to
+pieces; but a war broke out again, in the year of the City 572 (B.C.
+181). The Spaniards, however, were not thoroughly reduced until four
+years after, though they were being continually killed, beaten, cut to
+pieces, and otherwise dealt with, in a manner from which their reduction
+would seem to flow as a natural consequence. It was Tib. Sempronius
+Gracchus--the father of the two great Gracchi, of whom we shall have
+something to say hereafter--that concluded peace with several of the
+Spanish tribes, who were brought down so low, that their being otherwise
+than peaceable was almost impossible.
+
+The Romans continued to intrude themselves and their system on
+different parts of Europe, and planted a colony at Aquileia, in Istria,
+which caused the Istrians to try and put a full stop to the disposition
+which Rome had shown to colon-ise. A war ensued, which resulted in the
+loss of three towns and one king, when the Istrians came to the
+conclusion that they had had enough of it, and immediately submitted to
+the Roman authority.
+
+[Illustration: Hannibal requesting the Cretan Priests to become his
+Bankers.]
+
+Having, for a time, lost sight of the illustrious Hannibal, we begin to
+look about for him once more, and find him living in a Court, kept by
+one Prusias, the greedy and needy king of Bithynia. After the treaty
+made by Antiochus and the Romans, Hannibal had fled to Crete, where he
+could not long remain; and, though history is silent as to the cause, we
+may conjecture something from the fact, that he effected a clandestine
+removal of all his wealth, though he pretended to leave behind him a
+vast amount of treasure. Tradition states that, having procured a number
+of earthen jars, he filled them with lead, and, strewing a little gold,
+or loose silver, over the top, he carried them to the temple of Diana,
+and requested the Cretan priests to become his bankers, for the purpose
+of his entrusting to them this valuable deposit. The priests assured
+him, with many protestations, that he would find it all right on his
+return; and Hannibal, having previously packed all his real gold into
+the hollow insides of some statues of brass, which he pretended to carry
+with him, in his character of an admirer of the arts, got clear off with
+all his money.
+
+He continued to travel from place to place, and had spent the contents
+of nearly all his statues, except a small one, so that his means had
+literally come down to the lowest figure. In this dilemma he found
+himself at Bithynia, where Prusias gave him house-room for a short time;
+taking advantage of the visit, to render his guest useful in a war that
+was being carried on against Eumenes, king of Pergamus. Hannibal,
+however, could not persuade the parsimonious Prusias to go to the
+expense of conducting hostilities in an effective style; and, indeed,
+there being no money to carry on the war, it was impossible to do so
+with credit; for nobody would make any advance on the security of a bad
+sovereign. The Romans regarding Hannibal as a dangerous agitator, which
+he had indeed proved himself to be, required that he should be given up;
+but Prusias, declining to be at the expense of carriage, intimated that
+whoever wanted Hannibal had better come for him. The Carthaginian
+general, foreseeing his fate, endeavoured to make his escape by one of
+seven secret passages leading from his house; but his enemies had found
+them out, and were therefore certain of finding him at home; for they
+had taken care to bar his egress.
+
+[Illustration: Hannibal makes the usual neat and appropriate Speech
+previous to killing himself.]
+
+Though possessing all the courage of a soldier, he was miserably
+destitute of a superior kind of fortitude, and he always carried a
+bottle of poison about with him. Finding escape impossible, he drew the
+fatal phial from his pocket, and, as he shook it up, he indulged in one
+of those speeches which are usually attributed by classical historians
+to men on the point of suicide. "I will," he said--or is said to have
+said, for nobody could have heard him, as he was quite alone, and nobody
+could have been listening, or the bottle would have been snatched out of
+his hand; "I will deliver the Romans from the dread which has so long
+tormented them, since they think it too long to wait for the decease of
+a worn-out old man." Here he may be supposed to have paused; and, after
+giving the bottle another final shake, to have continued as follows:
+"Flaminius's victory over a foe, unarmed and betrayed, will not redound
+much to his honour;" and, with a mental once, twice, thrice, and away,
+the wretched Hannibal may be imagined to have raised the nauseous
+draught to his lips, and to have tossed it off with desperate energy.
+
+Hannibal had certainly, in his lifetime, shown proofs of greatness,
+though, in the manner of his death, he gave evidence of lamentable
+littleness. On the admirable principle of "look to the end," we are
+unable to agree with those classical enthusiasts who regard Hannibal as
+one of the most illustrious of mankind, because he was more daring and
+more skilful in the art of exterminating his fellow-creatures than many
+of his competitors. His personal ambition brought misery on his own, as
+well as other countries, and his obstinate hatred to Rome was not
+justified by his juvenile oath, for the taking of which he deserved
+rather the birch than the laurel. The first public act of his life was
+to swear when he was too young to have known what he was about, and the
+last act was to poison himself at the age of sixty-two, when he was
+quite old enough to have known better. He made a bad beginning, but a
+worse ending, and he proved that, though aspiring to rule over others,
+he was unable to command himself, and was in nearly every respect a
+melancholy specimen of ill-regulated humanity.
+
+Within about a year of Hannibal's death, Scipio Africanus also died in
+exile. This great man, as it has been customary to call him, because he
+was a large destroyer of the human race, was taken up before the Senate
+on a charge of embezzlement. The case happened to be appointed for
+hearing on the anniversary of some battle he had won, when he declared
+the day was ill-suited for litigation, and the people, who are always
+ready for an excuse for a holiday, immediately agreed with him. His
+brother Lucius was involved in the same accusation, which he met by
+producing his accounts; but, the popular idol seizing the books,
+declared it was shabby for a nation to be too particular with those who
+had served it so well, and tore up the whole of the financial statement.
+Lucius Scipio remained in Rome; but Africanus ran away to a villa in
+Campania, leaving his brother to undergo the confiscation of the whole
+of his property. The innocence of Lucius was subsequently established,
+and, though no "money returned," is generally the motto of the law, he
+succeeded in getting back a part of what he had been unjustly deprived
+of. He, however, having lived without his income, had no sooner got the
+means restored to him of living within it, than he died, with the
+melancholy satisfaction of having had justice done when it was too late
+to be of the smallest earthly use to him.
+
+The merits and demerits of Scipio Africanus have been differently
+estimated by different authorities; and though it is charitable to give
+to any man the benefit of a doubt, no one would be thankful for the
+admission that his was a doubtful character. Scipio Africanus was a
+great patron of letters; but he seems to have been a despiser of
+figures, if the story relating to his contempt for the accuracy of his
+accounts is to be relied upon. Cicero has spoken eloquently of the
+simple habits of Scipio Africanus, in his marine retirement, throwing
+stones into the sea, and skimming with them the surface of the water;
+but this innocent pastime does not relieve him from the accusation of
+making "ducks and drakes" of the public money, which was the charge that
+Cato had endeavoured to bring home to him.
+
+He is said to have been generous to his relatives; but to help them,
+after freely helping himself, may have been nothing more than nepotism,
+under the disguise of a domestic virtue. It is stated that he showed his
+disregard for wealth by relinquishing to his brother his own share of
+his patrimony; but there is little merit in his having despised the
+comparatively mean contents of his family purse, if he was unscrupulous
+during the time that he had the public pocket to dip into.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[55] This is, in fact, the homœopathic principle applied to politics;
+the counteracting of like by like, _similia similibus_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH.
+
+PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. MORALS, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND STATE OF THE DRAMA AND
+LITERATURE AMONG THE ROMANS.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+It is customary with the grandiloquent to declare that the page of
+history is stained with gore; but we limit ourselves to ink, which
+perhaps, after all, furnishes a decent type of mourning over the deeds
+we are compelled to chronicle. It is true that history has too often
+wars for her principal facts, and the numbers of dead for her figures;
+but she is apt to speak rather figuratively in estimating the thousands
+upon thousands who are said to have fallen, sword in hand, or to have
+been terribly put to it.
+
+The weapon of war cuts, however, both ways; and a nation cannot play
+with edged tools more safely than an individual can indulge in such
+dangerous pastime.
+
+The state of war in which Rome habitually lived, had encouraged the
+worst passions of the people; and nearly every vice had taken an iron
+hold of them. By continually fighting, they had become familiar with
+murder and violence, while the practice of plunder had accustomed them
+to robbery. Military stratagem--which was the very essence of
+strategy--had taught them to regard cunning as a virtue; and he was a
+hero, in their opinion, who would face the swords and spears of a foe,
+but sought in poison a cowardly refuge from the "slings and arrows" of
+his own conscience. The wealth taken by force was often appropriated by
+fraud; and a successful leader thought nothing of putting into his own
+pocket an enormous sum, declaring that it was unreasonable to expect a
+general to be particular.[56] The few became enormously rich, while the
+many were miserably poor. The higher orders grasped everything, leaving
+nothing to those beneath, and the consequence was a state of
+top-heaviness, which, when existing in the social column, exposes base
+and capital--but especially the latter--to extreme danger. Money had
+been acquired by some, who did not know its use; and its abuse was the
+inevitable result; for the improper employment of gold leads to every
+kind of guilt on the part of those who are possessed of it.
+
+With the wealth of other nations, foreign fashions were imported, and
+Roman simplicity was superseded by the art and cunning of the Grecian
+craftsmen. The pleasures of the table were carried to a gluttonous
+excess; and a slave who, in the capacity of a cook, could set before his
+master an agreeable kind of sauce, was often allowed impunity for
+insolence.
+
+Extravagance began to prevail to such an extent among the Roman women,
+that those females whose wardrobe was of a gaudy hue, were virtually
+condemned to dye, for a law was passed by the tribune Appius,
+prohibiting them from wearing dresses of a gay colour. The same law
+limited them to half-an-ounce of gold; but this was unnecessary; for the
+extravagantly-disposed would spend all they had; and they were further
+restricted from riding at or near Rome, or any other city, in a carriage
+drawn by two horses; for it was considered that with one the road to
+ruin could be quite rapidly enough travelled. This law occasioned some
+violent agitation among the Roman women, who manifested the force of
+female influence so effectually, that in a few years the law was
+repealed.
+
+[Illustration: Roman Lady "Shopping."]
+
+The stern necessities of historical truth compel us to attribute to what
+is termed the gentler sex, the introduction, among the Romans, of some
+vices so foul, as to be at variance with all our notions of the fair.
+One of the worst of these enormities was the celebration of the
+Bacchanalia, introduced from Etruria; and recent discoveries[57] in that
+locality have initiated us into the secret of what are usually termed
+the Bacchic mysteries. The mystification of the votaries was
+accomplished by drink; under the influence of which they wound up their
+festivities with a reel, such as may be traced in ancient paintings; and
+round every such reel there is twined some important thread of history.
+
+Imitation is seldom respectable in any case; for even merit loses half
+its value when it is not original; but nothing can be more contemptible
+than a people putting on bad habits at second-hand. Such, however, was
+the practice of the Romans, who borrowed nearly all their iniquities
+from Athens or other cities, and who wilfully brought upon themselves
+the moral stain of Greece. Cruelty, which goes hand in hand with
+depravity, had reached such an infamous excess, that it was practised
+openly by those whom the people delighted to honour. Among other
+instances, may be cited the example of the Consul L. Quinctius
+Flaminius, who, while encamped in Gaul, happened to be feasting with one
+of his degraded creatures, when the latter lamented he had never seen a
+gladiator killed. A noble Boian entering at the moment, to ask for
+shelter, Flaminius observed that, though unable to treat his friend to
+the sight of a dying gladiator, he might satisfy his appetite for
+cruelty by the exhibition of a dying Gaul. The "creature" had no sooner
+expressed his readiness to accept the lighter relish as a substitute for
+the more substantial meal, than Flaminius, drawing his sword, smote the
+unfortunate Boian on the head, and ran him through the body. So
+brutalised had the people become by continual war, that no notice was
+taken of this occurrence until eight years afterwards, when Cato, the
+Censor, brought up the charge, with a variety of others, more or less
+weighty, against Flaminius, and caused his expulsion from the Senate.
+
+The name of Cato the Censor, naturally induces a few observations on the
+character of this ancient specimen of the
+
+ "Fine old Roman gentleman all of the olden time."
+
+He was the son of a respectable Sabine farmer, and passed his earliest
+years in the country, where he followed the plough--a peaceful pursuit,
+which imprints no early furrows on the forehead, but leaves many on the
+earth it at once improves and lacerates. At seventeen, every Roman
+became, of necessity, a soldier; and though in the game of life fortune
+had dealt him a spade, he was obliged to throw it out of his hand. Such
+was the lot of young Marcus Porcius Priscus; for that was in reality his
+name, though he afterwards had the title of Cato, or the "knowing one,"
+bestowed on him. His military duties were performed with credit, though
+he preferred cultivating any other seeds than the seeds of dissension;
+and he was more at home in a trench dug for celery, than in one designed
+for undermining a fort.
+
+After returning from the wars, he took some ground adjoining that which
+had been occupied by Dentatus; and regarding that individual as a model
+farmer, Cato tried to make his own a model farm. So thoroughly did he
+throw himself into his agrarian occupation, that he may be said to have
+buried himself in his land. He wrote a work on Agriculture,[58] which
+included much miscellaneous information, from the mode of buying an
+estate to the art of making a cheesecake, the curing of a side of bacon,
+and the setting of a dislocated bone. While attending to his own
+business, he found leisure to attend to that of his neighbours; and in
+all their petty disputes before the local tribunals, he was in the habit
+of attending the hearing of summonses for and against his friends. He
+had a word of advice or a maxim to meet every circumstance in which his
+advice was asked or offered; and he could always cut through a
+difficulty with one of his wise saws. Some might be disposed to term him
+a busybody and a meddler; but at all events a young patrician, named
+Valerius Flaccus, considered him to be a meddler well worth
+transplanting, and persuaded him to go to Rome, "as," in the language of
+Plutarch, "a plant that deserved a better soil." Here he "put up" for
+various places in the public service, and we find him climbing
+successively to several very high posts, where the example he set by his
+externally virtuous mode of living, formed a decent contrast to the
+undisguised vices of the age.
+
+Such was Cato in his earlier years; but the melancholy fact must be
+stated, that, though flattery paints only one side of every picture,
+there is none to which truth may not be called upon to add a reverse. In
+his youthful days Cato had worked with his labourers; had partaken of
+the same fare with them at the same board, and drank nothing stronger
+than water; but, in after-life, he contracted a disreputable marriage,
+and, giving himself up to the dissipations of the table, might have
+found himself occasionally under it. So thoroughly utilitarian was he in
+his political philosophy, that he looked upon a labourer as a mere
+machine, which, when worn out, he contended ought to be got rid of as
+speedily as possible. Cato the Censor owes much of his reputation for
+morality to the fact of his having set himself up as a professional
+moralist. Though he was useful as a castigator of the vices of his age,
+there was nothing very amiable in the rancorous and uncharitable spirit
+in which he performed his office. He had a keen appetite for an abuse or
+a piece of scandal, but, while crime or error excited his hatred, virtue
+and generosity seemed to rouse less of his admiration than his jealousy.
+If he had lived in modern times, he would, probably, have been a common
+informer, a rigid observer of all the outward appearances of virtue, and
+a discounter of bills; for it is said of Cato, that he advanced money at
+exorbitant interest to those whose necessities or recklessness induced
+them to comply with his terms.
+
+Religion had, at about this period, sunk to a very low ebb in the hands
+of a crafty priesthood, who used the influence of their position for
+their own temporal purposes. Prodigies were declared to have happened;
+such as the talking of a cow, which was alleged to have "whispered low"
+in a priest's ear; statues were said to have wept; and the tale was
+listened to by those who believed that their augurs could, if they
+pleased, get blood out of a stone.
+
+In literature, though it is customary to speak of Roman characters as an
+original form of letters, Rome had nothing new, but trusted to what was
+already known; for she not only copied the vices of the Greeks, but took
+a leaf out of their books in a more literal manner. She had no writers
+of her own; but what literary food she possessed was supplied by those
+translating cooks who make a hash of nearly everything they lay their
+hands upon.
+
+The earliest Roman dramatist is supposed to have been one Lucius
+Andronicus, who had formerly been a slave, and who continued his slavish
+propensities by a servile adaptation of Greek plays, instead of boldly
+attempting an original production. Like many of the modern translators,
+he was himself an actor in his own pieces; and it is declared by Livy
+the historian, that he lost his voice by the frequency with which he was
+encored by the audience. This statement seems to show that puffs were
+not unknown when the Roman drama was in its very earliest stage; for the
+assertion in question could scarcely have been true, since Cicero[59]
+has told us that there was nothing worthy of being read or listened to
+twice, in the plays of Lucius Andronicus.
+
+The greatest comic writer of the period at which our history has
+arrived, was Marcus Accius Plautus, of whose origin little is known; for
+the Romans held their wits and humorists in such little respect, that as
+long as they could raise a laugh, it mattered little who they were,
+whence they sprung, or what became of them. It was not until after a
+writer's death that any interest was felt in his life, and such was the
+case with regard to Plautus, who has been the subject of more invention
+than is to be found in all his comedies. Conjecture--the author of half
+the history, and three-fourths of the biography, which the world
+possesses--describes Plautus as a low-born fellow, made of the very
+commonest clay, moulded by one of Nature's awkwardest journeymen into a
+misshapen lump, and whose angular deformities constituted his chief
+points of humour. Having made a little money as a dramatist, he is said
+to have embarked it in the baking business; some would say that he might
+make his own puffs; but his shop failed, and as the public would not, he
+of course could not, get his bread at it. He next entered the service of
+a miller and master baker, where he attempted, in grinding corn, to turn
+at once the handle of a mill and an honest penny. Even in the bakehouse
+he was unable to forget the flowery path of literature; and while
+watching the bread, he managed to inscribe on different rolls no less
+than three comedies. Of these he made sufficient to enable him to quit
+the oven, which was incapable of warming his imagination; and taking
+lodgings in Rome, he resumed the life of a dramatist.
+
+What Plautus may have wanted in originality, he made up for by
+industry, there being still extant twenty of his plays, and he was,
+according to some, the author of one hundred pieces.
+
+The mantle of Plautus--supposing the dramatist to have died with a coat
+to his back--may be said to have fallen on Terentius Afer, or Terence.
+He is believed to have been born at Carthage, and to have been the slave
+of a Roman senator; for his biographers--who, by the way, were writers
+themselves--will not hazard the supposition that one of their own order
+could have been the son of a gentleman. Terentius, however, got into
+what is usually termed the best society, which had the usual effect of
+the "best society" on a literary man; for it took what it could never
+compensate him for--his time; it led him into idle and extravagant
+habits, and thus brought him, where it will inevitably leave him, if it
+once gets him there--to ruin. His fashionable friends carried their
+patronage so far, as to tax his reputation as well as his means, and
+even claimed a share in the credit of his writings, declaring the best
+part of them to be their own, though they suffered Terentius to affix
+his name to them.
+
+Scipio Africanus, who stands convicted of fraud and embezzlement in a
+former chapter,[60] had the effrontery to say, or allow it to be said,
+that he had written portions of the plays in question, or, at least,
+contributed some of the jokes; but we have nothing to support the claim,
+except the fact that he might, perhaps, have made a pun, as he is known
+to have picked the public pocket. The following anecdote, related by his
+biographer, Donatus, or Suetonius--for the learned are at issue, and
+have long been stumbling over the two styles--may afford some idea of
+the treatment to which authors were submitted in the age we are writing
+of. Having completed his play of "Andria," Terence was desirous of
+getting it licensed, and applied to the Ædiles, who referred him to
+Cæcilius, for an opinion on the manuscript. The critic being at dinner,
+desired the dramatist to take a seat on a low stool, and read his piece,
+so that Cæcilius might, at the same time, swallow his meal, and digest
+the new comedy. Terence had read but a few verses, when the critic
+declared he could not continue selfishly putting good things into his
+own mouth, while so many good things were coming from the mouth of his
+visitor. He was requested to put the comedy away until after the dinner,
+which he was invited to share; and, having done so, the play was
+finished over a glass or two of wine, which increased the enthusiasm
+with which the author read, and the critic listened. Both were delighted
+with each other. Their better acquaintance was drunk; success to the
+comedy was drunk; their healths were drunk together; and, ultimately,
+Cæcilius and Terence were drunk separately as well as jointly, before
+the termination of the evening.
+
+The plays of Terence, though of Greek origin, were moulded after a
+fashion of his own, and what little of the material he borrowed was
+almost immaterial to the value of his productions. He received for one
+of them "The Eunuchus," no less than 8000 sesterces (about £64), which
+was, in those days, the largest sum that had ever been paid for a five
+act comedy. After having been successful for some years, he embarked,
+according to some authorities, for Greece--as our dramatists embark
+occasionally for Boulogne--to lay in a new stock of pieces for future
+translation. Other authorities assert that he went to Asia, taking a
+number of translations with him, and was never heard of again, the ship
+having been sunk, perhaps, by the weight of his too heavy manuscripts.
+
+[Illustration: Terence reading his Play to Cæcilius.]
+
+Among the writers of the period, we must not forget to mention Ennius, a
+Calabrian, who gave lessons in Greek to the patrician youths, at a small
+lodging on the Aventine. He is regarded as the father of Latin poetry;
+but Latin poetry could profit little from the paternal care of one whose
+devotion to the bottle rendered his own care of himself frequently
+impossible. His productions are of a very fragmentary kind; and, indeed,
+his habits of intemperance prevented him from making any sustained
+effort. He was the boon companion of several patricians, who helped him
+to ruin when alive, and gave him a monument at his death;--one of them
+(Scipio Africanus) accommodating the poet with a place in his tomb, so
+that the patron might literally go down to posterity with the man of
+genius.
+
+While on the subject of the drama, as represented at Rome in the days of
+Plautus and Terence, we may refer to the fact that masks were worn by
+the actors, which gave to a theatrical performance some absurd and not
+very interesting features. There were several sets of masks among the
+properties of a regular theatre, beginning with that of the first tragic
+old man, which had a quantity of venerable white worsted attached to it
+for hair, with cheeks as chalky as grief and tears, strong enough to
+have washed out the fastest colour, might be supposed to have rendered
+them. The mask of the second tragic old man was less pale than that of
+the first, for he was not supposed to have attained to that universal
+privilege of aged heroism,--a countenance sicklied o'er with a pale coat
+of whitewash. The mask of the tragic young man, or youthful hero, was
+remarkable for its luxuriant head of hair, which, from the earliest days
+of the drama to the present hour, seems to be accepted as the stage
+indication of a noble character. The tragic masks for slaves embraced
+some interesting varieties, including a sharp nose, intended to be
+indicative of many a blow from fortune's hand,--a sunken eye, to bespeak
+a sorry look-out,--and, occasionally, long white hair, quite straight,
+which was supposed to convey the idea of the party having seen better
+days, though the analogy is difficult, unless the lankiness of the locks
+may be held to show that a favourable turn has in vain been waited for.
+The mask of a tragic lady had all those signs of a genuine female in
+distress which are even to this day required on the stage, where long
+black hair, in terribly straightened circumstances, is the emblem of an
+anxious mind, which has long been a stranger to curl-papers. When
+insanity, as well as anguish, had to be represented by the mask, the
+hair was undivided in the centre, but floated in wild profusion, as if
+the wearer had gone through a great deal, and as if, whatever she had
+gone through, her hair had caught in the middle of.
+
+The classical mask of the first comic old man was drawn excessively mild
+and benevolent, to indicate that propensity for scattering purses among
+the poor, and bestowing his daughter, with some millions of sesterces,
+on young Lucius, which were the probable attributes of the Greek and
+Latin stage veteran. There was also the mask of the testy old man, who
+was represented perfectly bald, as if he was always taking something or
+other into his head which had torn all the hair out of it. The masks for
+comic young men had the ordinary characteristics of stage humour,
+including red hair, pug noses, broad lips, and raised eyebrows, which
+are in these days supplied from those recognised sources of dramatic
+drollery, the burnt cork, the gum-pot, and the paint-box.
+
+We might enumerate a long list of different masks, without introducing
+any variety, for they were very nearly the same; but we have shown
+enough to prove that the classical taste for which so many clamour
+without knowing what they talk about, was very little, if at all, above
+the modern standard. Some authorities[61] assert that masks were not
+worn in the earliest representations of the Roman drama; but some of the
+oldest MS. of Terence contain figures of the required masks, just as a
+play of the present day has prefixed to it a list of the costumes of the
+characters. The admirers of the classical may be grieved and astonished
+to hear that the taste, for the restoration of which they so much pine,
+took greater delight in the deadly games of the Circus, than in the
+lively representations of men and manners.
+
+[Illustration: Light Comedy Man of the Period.]
+
+Historical literature was in a very humble condition, and had much, or
+indeed all, the prolixity, with little of the accuracy, of a modern
+report for a newspaper. It is, however, hardly fair to judge the authors
+severely for writings which we have never seen, and are never likely to
+see; for they have never come down to us, except in scraps--the result
+of the various cuttings-up they have encountered at the hands of
+Polybius and other critics. For the same reason, we are unable to praise
+conscientiously the "Origines" of Cato, which has long ago been lost,
+and we are unwilling to adopt the "opinions of the press," which have
+too often been at the disposal of the member of a clique, or of the
+purchaser of a puffing paragraph. Oratory always was, and always will
+be, an important art, except in those countries which are so excessively
+republican and free, that the people are free for every imaginable or
+imaginary purpose, except to do as they please, and to say what they
+think proper. The Romans took the art of rhetoric from the Greeks, but
+even a good thing is distasteful if forced where it is not asked; and,
+when the Athenians sent three professed orators as propagandists of
+their art to Rome, the foreign agitators were ordered--very properly--to
+quit the city.
+
+As lawyers, the early Romans are entitled to high praise, and they
+evinced their prudence by making juris-prudence an essential part of
+their ordinary studies. The Roman youth were required to get the Twelve
+Tables by heart, or rather, by head, which was supposed to be
+sufficiently furnished when the whole of the Twelve Tables alluded to
+were crammed into it.
+
+The science of Medicine was not in very high repute among the early
+Romans, and physic was, commercially speaking, in very little demand, so
+that it would have been a mere drug if brought into the market. The
+aristocratic families generally expected one of their slaves to know
+something of the healing process, as they usually did of other arts or
+trades; and a surgical operation, like a gardening operation, or any
+piece of merely manual labour, was frequently entrusted to the hands of
+a simple bondsman. Physic was scarcely known in Rome as a distinct
+pursuit, until the year of the City 534 (B.C. 219), when the Greek
+physician Archagathus opened a shop with an extensive stock, and an
+establishment of baths; the expense of which would have plunged him into
+hot water, had not the public come forward to make him a present of his
+premises. The shops of the doctors were lounging places for the idle,
+who are always the most profitable patients; for there is no ailing so
+troublesome as that of having nothing to do, and abundance of time to do
+it in. The Romans had made little advance in art, though they professed
+to show their love for it by robbing other nations of their treasures.
+On the same principle, the pickpocket, who pilfers a handkerchief, might
+ask credit for being attracted by the beauty of its design; and the
+knave who walks away with a set of silver spoons might pretend to be
+actuated by a desire to patronise their pattern or their workmanship.
+Rome, indeed, can scarcely be said to have introduced the arts from
+Greece, but merely to have introduced a few of the articles on which the
+arts had employed themselves.
+
+Commerce was looked down upon for a long period as a degrading pursuit;
+but from the time of the Second Punic War, the equites, with a total
+disregard of equity, began lending out money at exorbitant interest.
+Though they would not condescend to trade for gain, they were prepared
+to pocket the profits of usury. They would also purchase corn at a low
+price abroad, and sell it at a dear rate at home; for they understood
+and practised all the tricks of the tradesman, though they sneered at
+and repudiated his position. The slave trade was also carried on to a
+vast extent by the higher classes, and even Cato is said to have done a
+little in that way himself, notwithstanding the stiffness of his
+notions, and the alleged purity of his morals. The patrician principle
+seemed to be, that the same thing which would be blamable on a small
+scale, was excusable when practised on a broad basis--that to sell a
+little was degrading, but to sell a great deal was no disgrace at all;
+and by a parity of reasoning, they must have held, that so far from its
+being the same thing whether to be hanged for a sheep or a lamb, it
+would only be the smaller depredator who would deserve any punishment
+whatever.
+
+Robbery had greatly augmented the public wealth; but individuals were
+wretchedly poor, with the exception of the few who had had a hand in the
+pockets of the conquered nations. Slaves were brought in such numbers to
+Rome, that at length they would hardly fetch a price; and so many were
+brought from Sardinia, who were constantly being put up, knocked down at
+nothing, bought in, and left on hand, that "Sardians to sell!" passed
+into a proverb to express an unsaleable article. In vain were the poor
+creatures prepared to do as they were bid, for no one would give them a
+bidding. The Greek captives fetched a higher price, for they were many
+of them accomplished men, and became tutors, music-masters, or teachers
+of painting, in the families of their purchasers. Among the hostages
+brought to Rome, was Polybius the historian, who got so good a living by
+giving lessons, that though he had been brought to Rome against his
+will, he solicited the privilege of remaining there. His "Universal
+History," in forty books, was a work that ought to be, and would have
+been, in every gentleman's library, but for the unfortunate fact of its
+having been nearly all lost: and we may judge of the excellence of the
+whole, from the knowledge that though what remains of the work is very
+good, by far the best part of it is missing.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] P. Cornelius Scipio gave no better answer than this to a charge of
+having embezzled a sum amounting to 36,000_l._ sterling.
+
+[57] _Vide_ "The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria," by Dennis.
+
+[58] De Re rustica.
+
+[59] Brut., c. 18
+
+[60] Chapter xix., p. 202.
+
+[61] Diomedes, iii., p. 486, ed. Putsch.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.
+
+WARS AGAINST PERSEUS. THE THIRD PUNIC WAR. SIEGE AND DESTRUCTION OF
+CARTHAGE, AND DITTO DITTO OF CORINTH.
+
+
+Philip of Macedon bad been from time to time waging war with Rome; but
+the wages of the troops were so exhausting to his means, that he was
+driven to a hollow peace by his empty pockets. He had agreed to confine
+his dominion within a certain space; but, as his ambition had no bounds,
+he would not be content that his territory should have any limits. He
+accordingly fought with and thrashed the Thracians, who sent ambassadors
+to Rome for the purpose of showing him up, as it were, to their common
+master. Rome punished him by ordering him to keep within bounds; and
+threatened, that if he should be found venturing out of bounds, he
+should be severely punished. Philip muttered something about seeking
+justice elsewhere--a threat of paulo-post-future revenge which is common
+with those who, being engaged in a dispute, have got decidedly the worst
+of it.
+
+His prospects of ulterior measures were, however, sufficiently remote to
+induce him to attempt an arrangement through the intervention of his son
+Demetrius. The latter had been educated in Rome, and of course had a
+thorough understanding of the Roman character. He succeeded in his
+mission, but he obtained his end in a less agreeable sense; for his
+existence was brought to a close by treachery. Some designing persons
+fomented a feeling of jealousy between himself and his elder brother,
+Perseus, who poisoned the mind of Philip with such fatal effect, that he
+caused the poisoning--not merely mental, but physical--of his son
+Demetrius. When the wretched parent discovered that he had been duped,
+he became so uneasy in his mind, that he went quite out of it, and died
+at the age of three-score, unable to meet the heavy score that he had
+run up against himself in the court of his own conscience.
+
+Perseus was hailed by the Romans as king; but all their hailing could
+not render his reign prosperous. He endeavoured to cement his power by a
+marriage with the daughter of Antiochus Epiphanes, for Perseus thought
+that the aid he would derive from the match, would render him more than
+a match for his enemies. He gave his sister to Prusias of Bithynia, in
+the hope that the latter, having married into the family, would feel
+himself wedded to its interests. Avarice was, however, the ruin of
+Perseus; for he did not understand the true use of the purse, which he
+used his utmost exertions to fill, and then held its strings with
+parsimonious stringency. He had promised to pay his allies, but their
+zeal in his cause subsided when they were left without their subsidies.
+
+Eumenes of Pergamus being among others seized with a panic, went to Rome
+to ask advice, and on his return nearly lost his life on the highway, by
+some persons who attacked him in a very low manner. He was passing a
+narrow footpath near Delphi--from which it would appear that he had
+walked at least a portion of the way--when some persons concealed in the
+rocks, hurled down several large blocks of granite, which though not
+causing his death, brought him within a stone's throw of it. Several
+huge pieces having fallen upon him, something struck him that all was
+not right; and he was revolving the affair in his mind, when he found
+himself rolling down the precipice. He was picked up nearly lifeless,
+but though very much jammed, he was preserved; and though almost dashed
+to pieces, he was sufficiently collected, in a few days, to be enabled
+to go home, by another road, to Asia. It was said that Perseus had had a
+hand in this disgraceful affair; but he declared that even if he had
+wished for the death of Eumenes, he would not have been guilty of making
+such a desperate push for it.
+
+This circumstance gave an impetus to the hostilities between Rome and
+Perseus, who was driven by the Consul Paulus Æmilius to a place called
+Pydna, where the two armies came to such very close quarters, that their
+cavalry were compelled to go halves in the same stream of water. A Roman
+horse happened to be drinking, when, startled by his own shadow, and not
+giving himself time for reflection, which would have shown him the cause
+of his alarm, he ran away into the camp of the enemy. The animal, though
+goaded on by nothing but the spur of the moment, continued his flight;
+and some Roman soldiers running after him into the enemy's camp, were
+speedily followed by so many more, that, though they had come after
+their own horse, they began attacking the foot of the enemy.
+
+The battle was commenced under such unfavourable circumstances, that
+Æmilius, the Roman leader, thinking it all lost, declared that it was
+all one to him what became of him. He manifested his grief by tearing
+his robe to show how much he was cut up; and beating his foot
+impatiently on the ground, he stamped himself for ever as a man without
+strength of mind, in a case where fortitude was required. The Roman
+cavalry beginning to bear down successfully, the Consul began to bear
+up; and the tide of fortune being turned, the Macedonians were,
+according to those grave authorities--which never mince matters, though
+always mincing men--cut, as usual, to pieces. Perseus flew to Pella; but
+having omitted to close the gates after him, he was shut out from all
+chance of escape had he remained in the place, and he went on,
+therefore, to Amphipolis. There he attempted to address the inhabitants
+on his own behalf; but he shed so many tears, that he drowned his own
+voice, and choked his own utterance. He had hoped to rouse the
+inhabitants by going to the country with a cry; but he damped their
+enthusiasm with a flood of tears, when they had been looking for a flow
+of eloquence.
+
+After flying from place to place, like a hunted hare, he felt the game
+was up, and, retreating to Samothrace, he consigned his weary head to
+the shelter of Castor, in whose temple he hid himself. He had managed to
+carry about with him a large supply of treasure, which he was anxious to
+save, and had hired a mariner to take him to Crete; but the money having
+been first sent on board, the crafty seaman, out of curiosity, weighed
+the gold, and immediately weighed anchor. Perseus having gone down to
+the beach, to embark, saw the ship in the offing, and, having watched
+it, he perceived that it was fairly, or rather unfairly off, with all
+his treasure. As he paced the shore, he felt himself quite aground, and,
+having no lodging for the night, or the means of obtaining one, he
+returned to the solitary chambers of the temple. Having a wife and
+family to provide for, he threw himself on the generosity of Æmilius,
+who gave him a subsistence, but loaded him with chains, that he might
+feel the weight of his obligations. The unhappy Perseus was made to walk
+in a triumph before the car of his conqueror; and though he had
+entreated that he might not be so lowered, he was still further let
+down, by cruel confinement in a subterranean dungeon. His
+fellow-prisoners are said to have offered him a sword, to end his days,
+but, on looking at the weapon, he very properly declined to bring his
+sufferings to a point, by an act of folly and wickedness. He eventually
+found his way to Alba, where he died in about two years; his son,
+Alexander, having adopted the trade of a turner, with the laudable view
+of turning an honest penny.
+
+Paulus Æmilius exercised the usual privilege of a conqueror, by robbing
+the vanquished of all they had possessed; and Macedonia was declared
+free, in the customary manner, by placing it entirely under the
+government of its foreign victors.
+
+The triumph of Paulus Æmilius was one of the most magnificent shows that
+had ever been seen, and lasted three days, during which a perpetual fair
+was kept up; for, among the Romans, "None but the brave deserve the
+fair" was a maxim literally followed. On the first day there was a
+procession of pictures, showing the exploits of Æmilius in the brightest
+colours. The second day was devoted to the carrying of the trophies and
+the silver coin; but, on the third, which was the grandest day of all,
+the gold was paraded, followed by 120 bulls, which seem to be suggestive
+of nothing belonging to war but its butchery. After these came the
+unhappy Perseus, loaded with fetters, and having about him some other
+links of a far more affecting kind, in the shape of his three children.
+
+The fame spread by the fate of Perseus was general among the kings of
+the earth, who flocked like sheep, or rather, crawled like curs, to do
+homage to the Roman Senate. Perseus arrived with his head shaved, as if
+to show that he owed not only his crown, but his hair and all, to Rome;
+and he wore the tattered garments of a freed slave, as if to prove that
+he had not a rag to his back, but what he held at the pleasure of his
+masters.
+
+All who had shown any sympathy with the cause of Perseus were cruelly
+persecuted, and the unfortunate Rhodians were so terrified with the bare
+anticipation of their fate, that they began to anticipate it in reality,
+by making away with themselves and with one another. On the few who
+remained the hardest conditions were imposed, which made their own
+condition the more deplorable. Carthage and the Achaian League were the
+only two powers that seemed to stand in the way of Rome, and of these
+the latter was thought so contemptible, that some Achaians who had been
+detained in Italy were saved by a sarcasm of Cato on their feebleness
+and decrepitude. "We have only to decide," said he, "whether these poor
+creatures shall be buried by their own grave-diggers, or by ours;" a
+cruel pleasantry, which, however, had a humane result, for it was
+decided that they should be at liberty to go home and yield to their
+native undertakers the profit--or loss--attendant on their funerals.
+
+The Carthaginians had been for some years at peace with Rome, but had
+been much harassed by some of her allies, and particularly by
+Massinissa, their neighbour, in Numidia. It was annoying enough to be
+subjected to attack, but it was still more provoking to be unable to
+return the blow, which was the case with Carthage, whose hands were tied
+by a bond prohibiting her from going to war without Rome's permission.
+An appeal was addressed to Rome, which sent ambassadors, who were
+instructed to hear the Carthaginians, but to decide in favour of
+Massinissa. Carthage at length grew tired of allowing Rome to hold the
+scales of justice; for, though the scales might have been true, a false
+weight was always attached to one side, which gave it a vast
+preponderance.
+
+The Carthaginians, therefore, took up arms against Massinissa, who,
+though ninety years of age, fought with great determination; for he
+felt, probably, that he was too old to fly, and that his only chance was
+to make that determined stand so well adapted to a time of life when
+progress is somewhat difficult. The Carthaginians were worsted, but they
+were not yet quite at their worst, until Rome was seized with the idea
+of destroying their city. Cato was especially bent upon this design, or
+rather he pursued it with unbending obstinacy, for he finished every
+speech with the words "_Delenda est Carthago_," which may be freely
+rendered into "Carthage must be smashed." Whatever might have been the
+commencement of his oration, he always ended with the same words, and
+whether he spoke in the Senate, the market-place, or his own house,
+though the premises might be different, he always came to the same
+conclusion. He went about as a man with one idea, and his conduct was
+almost that of a monomaniac; for, if he met a friend in the street, and
+conversed on different or indifferent subjects, he would take his
+farewell with the accustomed words, "_Valete; delenda est
+Carthago_,"--"Good-bye; we must smash Carthage." During a debate in the
+Senate he pulled some figs out of his pocket, which he exhibited to some
+of his brother members as being "remarkably fine." As the fruit was
+being examined, he observed, that he had "picked them up in Africa;"
+that "they were capital;" that "there were plenty more where those came
+from," and, in a word, he added, "_Delenda est Carthago_"--"We really
+must smash Carthage."
+
+Rome agreed with Cato, more especially when he pointed out that the
+place was exceedingly rich; for the Romans, whenever there was anything
+to be got by robbery, were quite prepared for violence. The Consuls, M.
+Manilius and L. Marcius Censorinus, assembled with a large force in
+Sicily, where some ambassadors appeared from Carthage; but the only
+result of negotiation was an order that 300 members of the best
+Carthaginian families should be sent over by way of hostages. The Romans
+then passed over into Utica, where the Carthaginian ambassadors again
+tried to treat, but the treatment they experienced was a demand for the
+instant giving up of all their arms and ammunition. Commissioners were
+sent into the city to see the orders carried out, which comprised the
+carrying out of 200,000 suits of armour, and 3000 catapults.[62] The
+Carthaginians appear to have lost the use of their heads when they so
+quietly resigned their arms; but when they were told that they must, in
+the next place, abandon Carthage, and build another city ten miles off,
+they began to feel--somewhat too late--that it was time to defend
+themselves.
+
+The Carthaginian ambassadors proceeded to the usual expression of
+anguish by tearing their hair out by the roots, instead of trying to
+pluck up a little courage. Some, who were already bald, rolled
+themselves in the dust; and only a few went, like sensible men, to
+communicate to the Carthaginians the doom with which their city was
+threatened.
+
+The receipt of the news seems to have deprived the Carthaginians of all
+their natural intelligence; for their first step was to maltreat the
+envoys. An effort was then made to save the city, by shutting the gates;
+and the citizens armed themselves with stones, having determined to set
+their lives upon the cast of these unwarlike missiles. It is impossible
+not to respect and admire the heroism displayed under the very trying
+circumstances; but, unfortunately, trying was of little use, for the
+chances were all against the Carthaginians. Hasdrubal, who had been
+living in exile, at the head of 20,000 men--a somewhat large party to
+remain in banishment--was sent for to take the command, and occupied a
+post outside the city. The inhabitants, having given up all their
+ordinary arms to the enemy, supplied fresh ammunition by devoting all
+their gold and silver to the furnace; and it was a melting sight to see
+their treasure sacrificed for this patriotic object. The women cut off
+their hair, to devote it to the making of crossbows, and the sex took a
+characteristic pride in furnishing as many strings to a bow as possible.
+They worked so energetically, that they are said to have fabricated as
+many as 500 javelins, 140 bucklers, and 300 swords each day; but this
+statement seems to involve so much of fabrication, that we find
+difficulty in believing it.
+
+The resistance of Carthage was obstinate; and the confidence of Rome led
+to a sort of indolence on the part of the latter, which protracted the
+siege, until a new life was put into the affair, by the appointment of
+young P. C. Scipio, the son of Paulus Æmilius, to the Consulship. The
+Carthaginians also were urged to fresh exertion, and a party of 300
+waded through the harbour, with torches in their hands, to burn some
+engines; but the water damped their efforts, which might be compared to
+an attempt to set the Thames on fire; and all who were not drowned were
+glad to make their way back again. The suggestion of the use of flame
+was an unfortunate one for Carthage, since it seemed to cause the
+breaking in of a new light upon the Romans, who had recourse to
+incendiarism in their turn for the accomplishment of their object.
+Having got within the walls, they ignited several houses, and, carrying
+fire from street to street, they invested their cause with a glare which
+is none the less hateful for having been the glare of victory.
+
+After nearly everybody had been killed, 50,000 men and women came forth
+with olive branches to meet the conqueror; and 900 Roman deserters were
+still stowed away in the citadel. Hasdrubal yielded; but his wife, who
+was a strong-minded woman, reviled him in a speech from the ramparts,
+and, parading her poor helpless children up and down for a few minutes,
+she threw them before her, and ultimately flung herself into the burning
+ruins. Preceding historians have expressed their admiration of this
+frantic female, for the act of murder and suicide which we have
+described; but we must confess our total inability to appreciate the
+heroism of a piece of cruelty and cowardice, involving a large amount of
+brutal daring, but wholly destitute of moral fortitude.
+
+Carthage was now utterly destroyed, and Scipio, who had been the main
+instrument of its having been set on fire, is said to have shed tears
+over its smouldering ashes; but we should be inclined to attribute the
+fact to the smoke having got into his eyes, rather than to any feeling
+of humanity. Even those who give him credit for sensibility, accuse him
+of selfishness, for they say that he alluded to the possibility that the
+same fate would befal his own country; and they add that, while thinking
+of his home, he quoted Homer, who had foretold the doom of Troy through
+the mouth of Hector.[63] The Romans having possession of the place,
+razed to the ground every part that had escaped the flames; but they
+lowered themselves even still more completely than they levelled the
+city. Thus fell a place which had maintained a noble rivalry with Rome,
+and which, in many respects, surpassed her proud competitor.
+
+The greatness of Carthage had been, undoubtedly, the cause of that
+littleness of feeling which had been manifested towards it by Cato, who
+could not bear the idea that there should exist a city rivalling in
+grandeur the place he inhabited. The walls, which were triple, were
+divided into two stories, the upper for men, and the lower for brutes;
+the former comprising barracks for soldiers, and the latter being fitted
+up as stables for elephants.
+
+The chief glory of the place was, however, to be found in its aqueducts,
+which ran in a long line of seventy miles, and of which the people had
+more reason to be proud than of even a still longer line of ancestors.
+That a place surrounded almost by aqueducts should have been destroyed
+by fire, is an extraordinary fact, though it is possible that turncocks
+may have been neglectful, and if called upon to turn the water on, they
+may have turned it off in favour of some more agreeable engagement.
+
+There were not so many spoils as had been expected, for everything was
+spoilt by the mischief that had been done, and though there had been
+plenty of gold, the fearful amount of violent change had so scattered
+the gold, that there was not so much remaining as there otherwise would
+have been. With a touch of that honour which the proverb says is to be
+found among thieves, Scipio called upon the places formerly plundered by
+Carthage to reclaim their goods; and the people of Agrigentum demanded a
+brazen Bull they had once used as an instrument of torture, though the
+invention was so discreditable to humanity, that its inventors ought to
+have been ashamed to ask for it back again. Among the prizes secured by
+the Romans, was a very small parcel of books, including a little work on
+agriculture, by Mago, which had taught the Carthaginians to till the
+earth, though not how to keep their ground, for they had lost every foot
+of it.
+
+Carthage became a province of Rome, under the name of Africa, and
+Scipio, who subsequently styled himself Africanus, enjoyed one of those
+triumphs, which were in fact disgraces to the object they were designed
+to honour. Part of the "triumph" consisted in the barbarity of throwing
+as food to lions the fugitives that had fallen into his hands, and games
+were celebrated, in which death to the conquered was the chief sport to
+the conqueror.
+
+Macedonia, which was groaning under the freedom forced upon it by Rome,
+was glad to become the slave of everybody who offered to ease it of the
+obnoxious burden. The Macedonians, therefore, became the dupes of three
+impostors in succession, who, with all their imposition, were less
+objectionable than the hardships imposed by Rome in her character of
+liberator to the world in general. The impostors--one of whom was a
+runaway gladiator--were in turn subdued, and Macedonia was swallowed up
+by Rome's insatiable appetite for conquest.
+
+Of the three pretenders just alluded to, the only one who had been able
+to maintain his ground--though, by the way, the ground was never his to
+maintain--was a young man, who declared himself to be Philip, the son of
+Perseus. The youth was certainly very like his alleged father; and, upon
+the strength of the resemblance in features, he put upon his claim such
+a bold face, that the Macedonians favoured it. They put their crown upon
+his head, and the kingly name seemed to have invested the young
+adventurer with a tower of strength; for he was successful in an attack
+upon the Romans, under the consul Juventius. The impostor, however, soon
+lost control over himself, and there was at once an end to his influence
+over his new subjects. They threw him off, and he was compelled to take
+refuge in a Court inhabited by one Bysas, a petty Thracian prince, who
+gave up, or, more probably, sold, the fugitive, who had sought his
+hospitality. The pretender, who had led away so many others, was
+eventually led away himself, and made to march as a "frightful example"
+in the triumph of Metellus.
+
+About this time the Achaians, who had entered into a league, began to
+quarrel among themselves; for Sparta, like a spoiled child, wanted to
+have its own way, and sulked, as it were, alone in a corner, apart from
+the rest of the confederacy. Rome was appealed to for advice, and Roman
+ambassadors came to Corinth; but they were so unpopular, that on a visit
+to the theatre, where they had gone, expecting fair play, they were
+insulted and pelted by the audience. This irritated the Romans, and an
+army was sent, under Mummius, to encounter the Greek general Diæus, who
+made so certain of victory, that he had seats erected for the women and
+children to see him win a battle. He had prepared everything in the
+neighbourhood of Corinth, and appropriating the privilege of the brave
+who are said to deserve the fair, he clustered a large bevy of female
+beauty round the spot of his intended achievement. The ladies were all
+expectation, and Diæus was all confidence, until Mummius made his
+appearance, and in a very few minutes sent Diæus flying towards
+Megalopolis. Here he entered his own abode, and setting fire to the
+premises, celebrated, with the most dismal of house-warmings, the defeat
+that took the place of his intended victory.
+
+Mummius, thinking it idle to pursue the fugitive, preferred following up
+his advantage, and arrived at the gates of Corinth, which had been left
+wide open by the citizens. The place was deserted; and Mummius not only
+sacked its palaces, but ransacked its private houses, and, looking into
+its magazines, extracted from them some very valuable articles. So
+little, however, did he understand or appreciate art, that when sending
+valuable pictures or pieces of sculpture to Rome, he told the sailors,
+that if any damage was done on the voyage, he would make them execute
+objects precisely similar to those with which he entrusted them. Among
+the pictures was the celebrated "Bacchus" of Aristides,--which was so
+perfect as to be looked upon as one of the wonders of the world--and,
+when consigning it as part of a cargo of curiosities, he declared that,
+if any injury was done to it, the ship's painter should immediately
+paint another. Such was the barbarism of the destroyers of Corinth, that
+this picture was only rescued by Polybius from the hands of the
+soldiers, who were gambling on its face, and who, with every throw of
+the die, took off a portion of its colour.
+
+The scenes enacted during the pillage of Corinth were barbarous in the
+extreme, and involved the total destruction of what may have been termed
+one of the chief pillars of civilisation--or, at all events, its
+Corinthian capital. Many of the Roman soldiers, intoxicated with success
+and something more, perished in the flames, to which the city was doomed
+by the barbarous order of Mummius. When the conflagration first
+commenced, it is said that a liquid metal was seen to flow through the
+streets, which induced the invaders to rush forward in the hope of
+profiting by such a strange metallic currency. Those, however, who laid
+their hands upon the tempting issue, as it ran from the banks on either
+side of the thoroughfare, found it a mass of floating fire, with which
+they terribly burned their fingers. On cooler examination the material
+proved to be a fusion of beautiful ores, to which the name of Corinthian
+brass has since been given.
+
+[Illustration: Bacchanalian Group, from a very old Vase.]
+
+Greece was now at the feet of Rome, which trampled not only on her
+fallen foe, but upon all the obligations of honour and morality. The
+population and wealth of Corinth were disposed of--the former by murder,
+and the latter by robbery. Greece was formed into a Roman province under
+the title of Achaia, and Mummius, glorying in, rather than being
+ashamed of, his share of the work, took the surname of Achaicus. We may
+instance as a redeeming feature of the period, the erection at Rome of a
+clock, which was in some degree at variance with the time; for the
+useful arts were neglected amid the pursuits of war and rapine. The
+clock consisted of a bottle with a narrow neck, filled with water,
+divided into twelve measures, to mark the hours; but it was only a
+minute observer that could ascertain the minutes. The only mode of
+telling the time at Rome, had been previously by means of the sun-dial,
+which was, of course, useless in the absence of sun, and those who were
+particular to a shade, could derive from it no assistance in their
+evening arrangements.
+
+We dwell with some satisfaction on the introduction of the apparatus we
+have described; for the mere manifestation of a desire to note the
+progress of time is indicative of a wish to make an improved use of it.
+The application of the bottle to a wholesome purpose must also be a
+cheering symptom, when it is met with among those who had previously
+looked at the bottle as the means of killing time, rather than as an
+instrument for making its flight perceptible.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[62] A catapult was an instrument for throwing arrows to a considerable
+distance. The arrows were called _Tormenta_, not from the torment they
+inflicted, but from _torqueo_, to twist, because they were made of
+twisted hair, and perhaps the sight of them was calculated to give a
+turn to the enemy.
+
+[63]
+
+ "The day shall come when Ilium's self shall fall,
+ With Priam and his strong-spear'd people all."--_Iliad_, vi. 446.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.
+
+WARS IN SPAIN. VIRIATHUS. DESTRUCTION OF NUMANTIA. THE SERVILE WAR IN
+SICILY. APPROPRIATION OF PERGAMUS.
+
+
+War had become so familiar to the Romans, that they never felt at home
+unless they were fighting abroad, and the sword was the only thing they
+took in hand with real earnestness. The intoxication of success, like
+other habits of intoxication, cannot be easily got rid of, and the
+Romans sought to indulge their thirst for conquest in a manner wholly at
+variance with sober judgment. Their design was to conquer Spain, and in
+the execution of this design they cruelly executed large numbers of the
+Lusitanians, who had laid down their arms, in consequence of a promise
+that if they quitted the field of battle, they should be allowed quiet
+possession of the fields of peaceful industry. On this assurance, they
+divided themselves into three parts, and were then--as we are gravely
+assured by the chroniclers--treacherously cut into several thousand
+pieces. One of the few that escaped was Viriathus, who combined the
+qualities of the wolf and the lamb, for he had turned a desperate
+robber, after having been employed as a gentle shepherd. Abandoning the
+honest hook of a pastoral life, he had adopted the more crooked ways of
+the common thief; and he seems to have gradually stolen upon the
+confidence of his countrymen, until they made him a general. He had
+passed his early days among the mountains, and was prepared for the ups
+and downs of life, which he afterwards experienced. His predatory
+properties had taught him how to attack, and his practice as a
+robber--which rendered it necessary for him frequently to keep out of
+the way--had familiarised him with the art of avoiding an enemy. He
+would appear suddenly from the thick of a thicket, and after doing
+considerable mischief, he would find concealment in the hollow of some
+rock which his companions would never split upon. Though he had
+commenced his career as a poor country clown, he had trained himself to
+perform feats of activity worthy of the most experienced Harlequin.
+Life, which is a drama in the case of most men, was, in his case, a
+series of scenes in a pantomime. He was here, there, and everywhere,
+when he was not expected, and he was immediately nowhere when his
+opponents were in pursuit of him. His policy was first to scatter, and
+then to destroy; to divide an enemy _en gros_, and cut it to pieces _en
+detail_. He had encountered Vitellius, the Roman Prætor, near a place
+called Tribula, where the latter got into the utmost tribulation by
+being led through briers and bushes into an ambush, where he lost half
+his army. The other half lost him, for he was killed by the sword of
+some one who did not know him, though, had he been known, the
+acquaintance would, most probably, have been cut in the same barbarous
+manner.
+
+[Illustration: Assassination of Viriathus.]
+
+Viriathus for some time baffled the enemy by cunning and address, or
+rather by having no address at all, for he had no fixed residence; and
+there was, consequently, much difficulty in finding him. At length he
+fought a battle, in which he was so far successful that a peace was
+concluded, in which he was acknowledged as the friend and ally of Rome;
+but having no one to save him from his friends, he was basely murdered
+in his sleep by some Lusitanian assassins that the Roman general had
+hired. The instigators of this barbarous act refused to pay when the
+sanguinary work was done; and the murderers, in making a demand on
+account of their crime, may be said to have, figuratively, cut their own
+throats, for they were threatened with punishment for the iniquity they
+confessed themselves guilty of. After the death of Viriathus, the
+Lusitanians having lost their head, were without the brains necessary to
+defend themselves, and fell an easy prey into the hands of Q. Pompeius.
+This individual was the son of a musician; but instead of following his
+father's profession, he had become the leader of a warlike band, and he
+found the soldiers willing instruments to play into his hands, or act in
+concert with him, for the gratification of his personal ambition. He
+attacked Numantia, though with so little success, that he was compelled
+to conclude a peace; but treacherously declaring that the conclusion of
+a peace meant the beginning of a war, he renewed hostilities at the
+first convenient opportunity. Subsequently, C. Hostilius Mancinus
+commenced an attack, but 10,000 of his men having been killed, and
+20,000 more being blocked up in a ravine, he could not exactly see his
+way out of it without a surrender. The Numantines refused to treat with
+him, until young Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, whom they trusted, came
+forward to pledge his honour that Numantia should be fairly treated. The
+Senate, however, repudiated the arrangement, and the honour of young
+Tib. remains among the enormous stock of unredeemed pledges which
+history has handed down to us.
+
+The Romans began to feel that none but the best man was likely to win,
+and they accordingly looked out for the best man, whom they found in
+Scipio Africanus, the destroyer of Carthage. He was sent against
+Numantia, which he surrounded by fortifications, in order that he might
+starve out the inhabitants by keeping them in, and he did his utmost to
+restore the discipline of the Roman army. He hardened the soldiers by
+making them carry loads of wood, a novel plan of providing them with a
+billet; he forced them to sleep on the ground, which they complained of
+as hard; and he allowed them no other cooking utensils than a saucepan,
+which caused the indignation of many to boil over.
+
+Numantia stood upon a lofty rock, and its inhabitants displayed a
+courage worthy of its high position. The river Durius (now the Douro)
+washed its feet; there were forests on either hand; while the mounds and
+ditches abounding in the vale before it, rendered any attempt to
+approach it in the front almost unavailable. Scipio Africanus soon
+perceived the hopelessness of succeeding by a direct attack, and he
+proceeded, therefore, to raise round the place a double stockade, to
+prevent any aid in the form of a stock of provisions being carried into
+it. He impeded the navigation of the river by throwing across it large
+beams, perforated with swords, which, revolving with the tide, cut off
+all communication by means of water.
+
+Notwithstanding all the precautions that had been taken, a party of
+about half-a-dozen young men, having slipped through the lines--and very
+hard lines they were--succeeded in reaching the town of Lutia. The head
+of the party, holding an olive-branch, begged for assistance with such
+effect, that the Lutians offered to lend him a hand in his terrible
+emergency. Scipio, who had been in pursuit, no sooner heard of the
+Lutians having offered to lend a hand, than he savagely declared that
+they should have no hands to spare, and he barbarously ordered the
+cutting off of the hands of four hundred citizens.
+
+The Numantines being completely hemmed in, were unable to obtain
+provisions; but though reduced at last to eat cats, they became only the
+more dogged in their resistance to the enemy. Eventually, they begged
+for a truce of three days, which they employed in destroying their wives
+and children--a species of heroism not easily understood; for to kill
+those who are dear, by way of protecting them, is a mode of insurance of
+which we must dispute the policy. The men were so sadly dispirited, and
+so fearfully cut up by their own or each other's swords, that the
+conquerors had only a remnant to take, in the shape of population, when
+they entered the city.
+
+In conformity with the custom of the period, Scipio Africanus Minor,
+whose atrocities, in connexion with the siege of Numantia, have branded
+his name for ever with disgrace, proceeded to make arrangements for a
+triumph. Instead of feeling a decent shame, he manifested a most
+unbecoming pride in what he had done; and to identify himself more
+completely with the horrors of the siege, he took the name of
+Numantinus. So thoroughly had starvation done its work, that of the few
+citizens who were found alive, only fifty were in sufficiently good
+condition to appear in the show got up in celebration of his
+dishonourable victory.
+
+While Rome was thus extending her arms, she may be said to have been
+painfully on the stretch; and Scipio, during his consulship, seeing the
+republic was likely to outgrow its strength, caused prayers to be said
+for its safety. Rome was certainly in danger, though from a different
+cause than that which had been apprehended; for the free population had
+been greatly reduced by war, and the captives, or slaves to
+circumstances, had been vastly multiplied. The office of the latter was
+to tend flocks; and they were so thoroughly regarded as a portion of the
+stock, that they were treated like brutes by their masters.
+
+The system of slavery which existed at Rome, had so much influence upon
+her fate, and is calculated to afford such an insight into her morals,
+that the fetters she placed upon others may be regarded as so many links
+in her history. We will, therefore, break for a moment the chain of
+narrative, and proceed to a brief consideration of the Roman system of
+slavery and chains, to which we cannot hope that the attention of the
+reader can remain long riveted.
+
+According to the strict letter of the Roman law, a master could treat,
+or maltreat, his slave in any way he pleased, either by death, sale, or
+punishment. Though the slave could hold no property, he had the power of
+taking anything he could get, but simply as a medium for conveying it to
+his master. So thoroughly were the slaves looked upon as articles of
+traffic, that they were liable to be pledged or put into pawn--a
+position in which they were the subjects of a melancholy sort of
+interest.
+
+The demand for slave labour in Rome was caused by the annual consumption
+of the free population in war, at whose bidding many who should have
+remained to cultivate the land, were sent forth to plough the ocean. The
+result was a redundancy of slave population, accustomed to agricultural
+labour of every kind, and which, having been already brought under the
+yoke, had become sufficiently brutalised to do the work of oxen. The
+chief supply of slaves was drawn from the prisoners taken in war, and an
+army was generally attended by dealers, who, in case of a glut, could
+frequently buy a lot cheap; and at the camp of Lucullus they were being
+picked up for about three shillings and three-pence of our money--or
+four drachmas. In Rome it was usual to sell slaves by auction, and, as
+if the poor wretches were not already low enough, they were knocked down
+by the hammer. The dealers were in the habit of practising the same sort
+of tricks to conceal the defects of a slave, as are, in these days,
+employed to hide the faults of a horse, and it was customary therefore,
+in purchasing, to require a warranty. The character was often suspended
+on a scroll round the neck, and their chief recommendation consisted in
+a guarantee that they would neither commit suicide, nor steal--having no
+tendency to make away with either themselves or their master's property.
+There was a considerable variation in the value of slaves, and fancy
+prices have been known to be given for some curious specimens of captive
+humanity. A fool has been known to fetch 20,000 sesterces--about one
+hundred and seventy pounds--a sum that would seem to show that folly was
+scarce; but when we remember how wise a man is required to make a fool,
+we may take it for granted that the wisdom comprised in the subject of
+the bargain was the rare and costly part of it. Literary men were often
+exposed for sale like cattle when they happened to be slaves, and the
+useful hack, or occasionally the literary lion, might be seen chained to
+a pen in the public market-place. Slaves had no distinctive dress; and
+when it was once proposed to give them one, the measure was rejected, on
+the ground that it might show them their numerical strength, and that if
+they once saw their power by obtaining their livery, they might attempt
+to take up their freedom. It was deemed better to keep them in the dark,
+by clothing them in sombre colours, and their numbers not being
+manifested to them by any peculiar dress, it was not likely they would
+unite in order to redress their grievances.
+
+There is, however, something elastic in human nature, which causes it to
+rise after being trodden on. Such was the case with the slaves, who
+began to swell with indignation, which was rendered particularly tumid
+by the inflated and inflating eloquence of one Eunus, a Syrian, who was
+a member of their own body. This individual possessed the art of oratory
+in a high degree, and there is nothing more stimulating to the breeze of
+discontent than the breath of an enthusiastic demagogue. He persuaded
+the slaves to revolt, and while preaching to them the doctrine of
+equality, he claimed to be not only their leader, but their prince and
+ruler--a species of practice which is not uncommon with the propounders
+of the most levelling theories. Pretending to possess the gift of
+prophecy, he predicted that he would be a king one day; and the rich,
+putting a mimic crown on his head for a few hours, jeeringly told him
+that he had been a king one day--or at least half a day, and that his
+prediction had been therefore verified. The slaves, however, put faith
+in him, and shouldering their spades, axes, poles, and hatchets, made
+themselves, as well as their implements, the tools of Eunus. No less
+than 70,000 slaves acknowledged as their head the man who taught them
+that they ought to have no head at all, and he urged them to a merciless
+massacre of their vanquished foes, while inculcating the doctrines of
+humanity. Rage without restraint, and revenge without reason, were,
+however, of no permanent avail, and the slaves under Eunus were soon
+routed by the disciplined forces of the Consul, Rupilius. He besieged
+Tauromenium; and the slaves, by being completely shut in, were
+altogether shut out from the chance of obtaining provisions. Their
+condition from day to day was so desperate and monotonous, that, with
+nothing to eat, they furnish but sorry food to the historian. Having
+swallowed their last morsel, the inhabitants could not satisfy their
+hunger by bolting the gates, and Rupilius was admitted within the city.
+Eunus escaped into a cutting in the rocks; but when he relied on the
+friendly shelter of the cave, he found it a hollow mockery. His retreat
+was discovered, and he was taken into custody with his cook, his
+confectioner, his butler, and his buffoon, who, with the exception of
+the last, must have held sinecures in their master's limited
+establishment. The buffoon must have been worked the hardest of the
+party, for the pursuit of mirth under difficulties is one of the most
+melancholy tasks that can be imposed on the professed humorist. Eunus
+himself was transferred from his subterranean cellar to an underground
+cell, where it is said he was devoured by rats; but happily this horrid
+tale receives no authentic ratification at the hands of history.
+
+The Servile War had not yet ceased, when Attalus, the King of Pergamus,
+died, and left no sign; for there was no succeeding king's head for the
+crown of Pergamus to rest upon. It was fortunate, perhaps, that Attalus
+left no heir; for had there been any inheritor of his qualities as well
+as his title, the perpetuation of a nuisance would have been the
+deplorable consequence. The man was so thoroughly wicked that it is
+charity to pronounce him mad, and we accordingly set him down as a
+lunatic, though we feel scarcely justified in acquitting him of his many
+crimes on the single ground of insanity. He is said to have been so much
+addicted to the practice of poisoning his relations, that he found it
+cheaper to grow his own plants; and he cultivated the hemlock, or the
+night-shade, as others grew their own faba or cicer, their beans and
+chickweed. Death lurked at the root of everything his garden contained,
+and it is probable that he sent many a present of putative mushrooms to
+his unsuspecting kindred. So odious had he become, that it is said he
+would have been murdered, if he had not died a little too soon for the
+arrangements of the assassins to be completed. Having been in the habit
+of expressing his will very briefly in his lifetime, it is not
+surprising that he should have left at his death a will, so short, that
+it purported to say in four letters all he desired. His last testament
+was comprised in the characters P. R. H. E.; and all his property was
+supposed to be represented in this small collection of capitals. The
+Romans affecting to be initiated in the meaning of these initials,
+declared them to signify, _Populus Romanus hæres est_, Let the Roman
+people be the heirs of my property. Regarding these letters as letters
+of administration, the Romans possessed themselves of all the effects of
+Attalus; but the will was disputed by the next of kin, one Aristonicus,
+a natural brother, whose claim to succeed, as a member of the testator's
+line, was stifled by a rope, with which the unfortunate claimant was
+cruelly strangled.
+
+[Illustration: Arrest of Eunus.]
+
+Pergamus became a Roman province under the name of Asia Proper--a
+species of appropriation which there was nothing to justify.
+
+Rome was now in the position of a man who had outgrown his strength, or
+rather of an adult still wearing the clothes of its infancy. Its
+measures had been adapted to a social body which had since spread itself
+in all directions, while the constitution, with which it was clothed,
+had not been extended to the new growth; and the extreme points of the
+Republic were therefore reduced to all sorts of extremities. The people
+at large had become so miserably poor, that they were easily bribed to
+become the tools of their own further abasement; and they were not only
+ready to sell themselves for a mere nothing, but to lend themselves to
+almost anything.
+
+The tribuneship, which had been originally a purely popular institution,
+had changed, or rather lost, its character. Instead of being stationed
+outside the entrance of the Senate House, to prevent the door from being
+opened to abuse, the Tribunes were, by a law of C. Atinius, constituted
+_ex-officio_ members of that aristocratic body. The design of the
+tribuneship was to insure to the people a certain number of friends
+invested with high authority; but the people were eventually anxious to
+be saved from their friends--a result that is by no means rare in
+ancient or modern history. As the bitterest vinegar can be made from the
+most generous wine, the sharpest of despots is often created out of the
+blandest of demagogues.
+
+So great had the power of the Tribunes become, and so much had it been
+abused, that even the Senate grew jealous of it; and a law was enacted
+to bring the tribuneship under the operation of signs and omens. These
+were interpreted by the Augurs, who of course had the power of reading
+in the lightning, and hearing in the reports of the thunder, whatever it
+suited their purpose to circulate.
+
+Aristocracy had lost its exclusive privileges; but these had only become
+more objectionable by being spread over a larger surface; for they were
+now extended to a certain portion of the plebeians, who went by the name
+of _novi homines_, or upstarts. These were distinguished from the
+Nobiles, or, to speak shortly, the nobs, who enjoyed the right of having
+the images of their ancestors in wax; but this _jus imaginum_, as it was
+termed, conferred only an imaginary dignity. There was no legal
+privilege attached to the sort of nobility above described; but those
+persons who were qualified by the possession of the waxen forms of their
+fathers, were looked upon as men making in society a highly respectable
+figure.
+
+Notwithstanding the liberty which is declared by republicans to be
+inseparable from the Republican form of Government, laws were passed to
+restrain the liberty of private action in the days of the Roman
+Commonwealth. By the Orchian law, made in the year of the city 572 (B.C.
+181), the number of guests that might sit down to dinner was limited:
+and as a further illustration of republican freedom, it may be mentioned
+that the entertainer was obliged to keep open his doors, so that all
+who were freely-and-easily inclined might enter his house to see that
+the law was complied with. Twenty years later, it was decreed by the law
+of Fannius, that no entertainment should cost more than one hundred
+asses, or six shillings and five-pence farthing, on high days and
+holidays; on ten other days in the month, the meal was not to exceed
+thirty asses, or one and eleven-pence farthing; but on ordinary
+occasions seven-pence farthing was the figure to which even the richest
+man was to limit the cost of his dinner. The law not only interfered
+with the bill of expenses, but with the bill of fare; and, under the
+Consulship of M. Scaurus, the dormouse was excluded from the
+dinner-table as an enervating luxury. Vegetables were allowed to any
+extent, and bread might be eaten at--or even beyond--discretion.
+
+To such a ridiculous extent did the Romans carry their interference with
+the private expenditure of each other, that when Crassus and Cn.
+Demetrius were Censors, they endeavoured in the most absurd manner to
+damage each other's popularity. Demetrius publicly charged Crassus with
+having been guilty of extravagance for going into mourning on the death
+of a favourite fish; and Crassus retorted by declaring that Demetrius
+had lost three wives without exhibiting signs of mourning for any one of
+them.[64]
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[64] Macrobius, Saturnal., lib. ii., c. 1.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD
+
+THE GRACCHI AND THEIR MOTHER. RISE AND FALL OF TIBERIUS AND CAIUS
+GRACCHUS.
+
+
+A people trained to live chiefly on spoils taken from others must be
+continually spoiling itself for any peaceful occupation; and those whose
+chief support is the sword, must be always destroying the food they live
+upon. When foreign means are exhausted, it becomes necessary to look at
+home, and those who have existed by robbing strangers, are no sooner
+deprived of their external sources of support, than they begin to rob
+each other. Such was the order--or rather the disorder--of things in
+Rome, where wealth had got into the hands of the few, and the social
+fabric, like a building too heavy at the top, was in immediate danger of
+a downfall. There were large classes of persons who were assured that
+they were perfectly free; but, though enjoying the freedom of air
+itself, they found in it no element of comfort, when they had nothing
+more substantial than the air to live upon. Deprived of every inch of
+land, there was but a flatulent sort of satisfaction in the enjoyment of
+the atmosphere, nor could the most long-winded of orators impress the
+people with the idea that life could be maintained by simply imbibing
+the breath of liberty. They were informed that they were the lords of
+the earth;[65] but this mockery of respect was simply insulting the
+emptiness of their mouths by a scarcely less empty title. The plebeians
+were like a number of ciphers without a preliminary figure, and, though
+possessing all the materials of strength in their vast body, were
+powerless until a head could be found for them. This at length appeared
+in the person of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, the grandson of the elder
+Scipio, and as two heads are said to be better than one, Tib. united his
+brother Caius with him in the office of leader to the great plebeian
+movement.
+
+The elder Gracchus had been tutored by his mother Cornelia--one of the
+earliest members of the ancient and honourable order of blue-stockings.
+She had superintended the education of her children, and had personally
+tutored them in eloquence; an art of which the female tongue is
+peculiarly capable. Her own house was the resort of some of the first
+philosophers of the day, who, like many modern philosophers, were
+thoroughly impressed with the idea that the way to penetrate the
+youthful mind, is to continue for ever boring it. In this manner the
+understandings of the young Gracchi had been thoroughly drilled, and the
+treasures of science had been admitted at so many apertures, that the
+only fear was lest the treasures, through some of the numerous
+openings by which they had got into the mind, might find their way out
+again.
+
+[Illustration: _The Mother of the Gracchi._]
+
+Tib. had already won some reputation in Spain, and was returning home,
+when he saw the Etrurian estates of the wealthy being cultivated by
+foreign slaves in chains, whose bonds not only bore the seal of
+degradation for themselves, but were the means of fettering native
+industry. These slaves were housed and huddled together in places called
+Ergastula, which were literally workhouses, but practically, prisons.
+They are said to have been built under-ground in the shape of vaults;
+but, in giving this account of their construction, there has perhaps
+been some misconstruction on the part of Columella, who is the chief
+authority for the statement.
+
+We must now return to Tib. Gracchus, who had, by this time, returned to
+Rome, and had formed the noble resolution of remedying abuses, though he
+knew that loud abuse of himself would be the inevitable consequence. He
+had seen that the aristocracy had got possession of nearly all the land,
+allowing the plebeians to have no share in it, except the ploughshare,
+and even this was often denied them by the employment of slaves instead
+of the free agricultural labourer. Tib. was learned in the law, and
+recollected the existence in the books of the old statute of Licinius,
+which had fallen into disuse, and the renewal of which he thought might
+put new life into the plebeian body. By this law, no one was allowed to
+occupy more than 500 jugera--about 330 English acres--of the land of the
+state; but the state of the land exhibited a very different distribution
+of the public property.
+
+The poorer occupants of the soil had been compelled by their necessities
+to sell to the richer, and Tiberius made the popular but scarcely honest
+proposal, that those who had bought should give back to those who had
+sold--a suggestion which was hailed by the masses as the happy
+inspiration of a patriot. The idea was simple enough, and if simplicity
+is an element of grandeur, the notion was so far a great one; though, as
+it is based on the principle, that when a man has sold everything he
+possesses, the purchaser or the possessor should hand the property back
+to the original vendor, the project is not well adapted to business
+purposes. The suggestion was, however, one which enabled a patriot to go
+to the country with a "cry," and though the end proposed was laudable
+enough, the means, which involved an interference with the means of the
+wealthy, could not command the general approval. It is true that much of
+the property had been unfairly obtained, and that much more was held in
+illegal quantities; but some had been the subject of regular sale, and
+the general confiscation proposed was but a Procrustean measure of
+justice.
+
+The plan was of course opposed, and the term of "selfish aristocrat" was
+liberally, or illiberally--for they are unfortunately too much alike,
+sometimes, in their political sense--bestowed on every one who did his
+utmost to protect what the law had allowed him to regard for years as
+his own property. Common sense, however, began so far to prevail over
+clamour, that the proposal of Tib. Gracchus was modified to some extent,
+and the distribution of the surplus land was confided to a permanent
+commission of three men, who were called the Triumviri. In order to give
+something like consistency to the measure, it provided, that the land
+which had been taken away from its old possessors should not be sold by
+the new; and thus a sort of uniformity was observed by robbing the
+former, and restricting the latter; so that the principle of not being
+able to do what one likes with one's own, was affirmed in each instance.
+The injustice of the whole proceeding was so palpable, notwithstanding
+the "popularity" of the scheme, that a compensation clause was
+introduced to indemnify those who had built houses at their own expense
+upon the ground; but nothing was awarded to those who had only built
+upon it their hopes of being allowed to continue in quiet possession of
+the property.
+
+Party feeling ran, of course, exceedingly high, or, in other words, its
+proceedings were extremely low on both sides. Tib. Gracchus was lauded
+by the people as the essence of everything noble, and denounced by the
+patricians as the incarnation of everything contemptible. On one side he
+was hailed as a patriot, and on the other side he was hooted as a
+fraudulent demagogue; so that if everything that went in at one ear went
+out at the other, his head must have been a thoroughfare for every kind
+of vehicle of abuse and flattery. The Senate took the meanest means of
+revenge, and reduced his official salary to one denarius and a half, or
+about a shilling a day in English money. Tiberius, thus curtailed of the
+means on which he lived, declared there was a conspiracy against his
+life, and rather prematurely went into mourning for himself, to excite
+the public sympathy. Putting his children into black, he took them with
+him from house to house, requesting that they might be taken in as
+orphans; but the public refused to be taken in by a trick so obvious.
+False accusations were, however, brought against him; and a next-door
+neighbour stood up in the Senate, declaring that he had that morning
+observed a diadem and a scarlet robe delivered at the back door, which
+proved that Tiberius intended to usurp the regal authority. In order to
+obtain the weight of an official position for his reforms, Tiberius got
+himself elected tribune of the people, and the apparently inevitable
+effects of taking office were at once shown in his introduction of a
+modified edition of the measure he had previously clamoured for.
+
+The aristocratic party set every engine and every old pump at work to
+throw cold water on his project, and they at length persuaded one of his
+colleagues, named Octavius, who was played upon as easily as an octave
+flute, to take part against him. The mode of opposition resorted to by
+Gracchus was rather more effective than constitutional, for he called
+upon the people to dismiss his colleague--an arrangement almost as
+equitable as it would be for one judge to insist upon the dismissal of
+another, who might refuse to announce himself submissively as "of the
+same opinion" with his learned brother. When, however, the people are
+once fairly off, in a certain or uncertain course, they seldom think
+how unfairly their precipitancy may operate. They had set their hearts
+on a particular measure, and they refused to be guided by their heads;
+but without deliberation, drove away every obstacle that impeded the
+accomplishment of their wishes. As Octavius still held his position,
+Gracchus gave notice that he had a resolution to propose, and, on the
+following day, he moved the removal of his colleague. Octavius, however,
+met the proposed resolution by a remarkable display of resolution on his
+own part, and he declared that he should stick to his office,
+notwithstanding the other's unfriendly offices. These means having
+failed, Tiberius made a personal appeal to his colleague, and pointed
+out to him the gracefulness of a voluntary resignation; but Octavius,
+who rated himself very highly, objected altogether to the voluntary
+principle. Tiberius next attempted to starve his colleague out by
+sealing up the treasury; but the sealing made no impression on Octavius,
+who retained his official seat until it was drawn from under him by the
+mob, and he fell to the ground, between the two stools of himself and
+his unscrupulous colleague. A client or creature of the Gracchi was
+elected in the place of the deposed Tribune, who had been got rid of by
+upsetting one of the most important forms of the constitution--that form
+being no other than the bench occupied by one of the highest officers of
+the government. Octavius was hurried out among the mob, who thrust him
+about in every direction; but, when it came to the push, Tiberius
+Gracchus endeavoured to pull him through his difficulties. The effort
+was almost vain; and Octavius owed his life to a faithful slave, who
+lost an eye in seeing his master through the dangers that surrounded
+him. After this manifestation of the popular opinion, no Tribune
+ventured to have an opinion of his own--or, if he had, he kept it to
+himself, with a prudent regard to his personal safety.
+
+The new bill for distributing the soil became at once the law of the
+land, and the two Gracchi--Tib. and Caius--with Appius Claudius, the
+father-in-law of the former, became a permanent triumvirate. This desire
+of the temporary holders of power to change their tenancy at will to a
+life estate, has been in all ages conspicuous. The stability of
+authority is so desirable, that a fixed executive seems to be everywhere
+a natural want; but the mushroom might as well seek to substitute itself
+for the oak, whose roots have struck deep into the soil, as the mere
+chief of a revolution might hope, without any hold on the affections of
+a nation, to become the founder of a dynasty.
+
+[Illustration: Tib. Gracchus canvassing.]
+
+Tib. Gracchus, in the true spirit of a patriot by profession, proposed
+limiting every power but his own, which he sought to render as extensive
+as possible. When his term of office had legally expired, he declared
+that the safety of the republic required his re-election, and he
+accordingly forced himself on the attention of the electors as the only
+desirable candidate. On the day previous to the election, he spent all
+the afternoon in the mourning he had already bought, and leading his
+children by the hand, he exhibited himself and them as the "un-happy
+family," in the public thoroughfares. The election had already
+commenced, on the following day, when the Conservative party objected
+to it on the ground of illegality. The proceedings were already opened,
+when Tib. Gracchus set out on a canvass, expecting that his canvass
+would enable him to reach the desired point with a wet sail and flying
+colours. Not content with going alone to solicit the electors, he took
+one of his own boys in his hand, and he got all the mothers on his side,
+by introducing what may be termed child's play into his electioneering
+movements. In the afternoon, the candidate doubted whether he would go
+personally to the poll, when his friends--some of them from whom he
+would have been glad to have been saved--assured him that he had better
+go, for there was no danger. Taking their advice, he had got as far as
+the area in front of the Capitol, when he was seized with the
+irresolution of an area-sneak, and hanging about the spot, he refused to
+go further. A debate was in progress among the senators, when one of
+them, P. Scipio Nasica, called upon the house to come to the door, and
+save the republic by sacrificing Tiberius. The whole assembly rushed
+upon its legs and its crutches; some of the members seized hold of
+sticks, others snatched up their clubs, and declared that the vengeance
+of the clubs should fall on Tiberius. In this spirit they sallied forth,
+and looking for Gracchus, they soon knocked dissension on the head, by
+one of those blows which disposed of any pretensions he might have had
+to a crown when they first encountered him. His brother, Caius Gracchus,
+fell politically with his relative; but without resigning his office, he
+abandoned his post, and he withdrew to a little place he had in the
+country, though neglecting to give up his place in the triumvirate.
+
+[Illustration: Melancholy End of Tib. Gracchus.]
+
+Scipio Æmilianus was on his return from Spain to Rome when he heard of
+the death of his brother-in-law; and, quoting a line from Homer, to the
+effect that
+
+ "All thus perish who such deeds perform,"
+
+he declared that his relative Tib. had met with such a fate as his
+antecedents warranted. Scipio at once assumed the leadership of the
+Conservatives, or rather of the destructives; for their Conservatism
+consisted merely in a desire to keep all they had unfairly got, while
+their policy tended to break all the bonds of mutual interest and
+goodwill, which can alone permanently bind society.
+
+[Illustration: Scipio Æmilianus cramming himself for a Speech after a
+hearty Supper.]
+
+The plebeian party became quite as unreasonable on one side of the
+question, as the patricians had been on the other; and C. Papirius
+Carbo, a demagogue, who had got the place of tribune, proposed that the
+people should have the right of re-electing the same person to the
+tribuneship over and over again,--a suggestion designed to render his
+own position permanent. Scipio Æmilianus opposed the measure to the
+utmost; and after going home one night, he had no sooner finished his
+supper, than he began to cram himself for a speech, with which he
+contemplated coming out on the day following. He was, however, found
+dead in his bed; and, though probability points to apoplexy as the
+cause, the historians have--without much, indeed, of evidence--returned
+a verdict of Wilful Murder against C. P. Carbo. We have no hesitation in
+acquitting him of this dreadful crime; but we cannot say that we shall
+be able to allow him to quit these pages without a stain on his
+character. It is to be regretted that the Senate had not the courage to
+institute an inquiry at the time when the occurrence took place, and
+when only the real facts could have been ascertained; for such a course
+would have saved considerable trouble to those chroniclers who are
+always ready to frame an entirely new set of circumstances of their own,
+to replace those which contemporaneous investigation has omitted to
+supply us with.
+
+Caius Sempronius Gracchus was getting daily more tired of his thoroughly
+retired life; and, being an excellent spokesman, he began to flatter
+himself that the commonweal might profit by his services. He is said to
+have been urged on by his brother's ghost; but there is reason to
+believe that he was impelled by a more commendable spirit. This
+fraternal shade is stated to have appeared to him in his dreams; but the
+matters he now began to take in hand were not those which he could
+afford to go to sleep over.
+
+In republics, where he who is the humble servant of the people to-day,
+may be, to-morrow, the people's master, talent is looked upon with
+jealousy by the governing power, which, while ostensibly employing an
+able instrument, may be, in fact, promoting a dangerous rival. Thus,
+when the head of a nation is removable, it is reluctant to employ the
+best men, lest they prove better than the head itself, and aspire to the
+very highest position.
+
+Where the form of government is monarchical, it is to the interest of
+the ruler to avail himself of the ablest assistance he can obtain; for,
+being himself irremovable, he becomes the fixed centre towards which the
+glories and successes of his ministers and servants continually
+gravitate.
+
+It was on the principle of getting rid of a dangerous rival, that the
+republican government had sent away Caius Gracchus from Rome,--where he
+might have been everything--to Sardinia, where he would almost
+inevitably sink to nothing. He was himself apprehensive of this result,
+and he consequently returned to Rome, leaving Sardinia without the leave
+of any one. His duty should have kept him abroad, but ambition urged him
+home; and, in a republic, there is little to insure the fidelity of one
+who, though the servant of the Government to-day, may be its master
+to-morrow. Leaving the interests of his country in Sardinia to take care
+of themselves, this professed patriot came to look after his own
+interests in Rome, and took his talents into the political market. He
+immediately stood for the tribuneship; and though he had abandoned one
+post--that of Quæstor in Sardinia--he was elected to the more important
+post, which might, indeed, be termed the chief pillar of popular
+liberty.
+
+Though he had, of course, solicited and obtained his high office on
+purely public grounds, he at once endeavoured to use it for the
+gratification of personal animosities. His first two measures were
+proposed with a view to avenging his brother's death; and he sought to
+give the intended new laws a retrospective effect, for the purpose of
+gratifying his private enmity. He introduced a law to prevent a person
+deprived by the people of any office, from being appointed to the public
+service again; but this exalted patriot withdrew the bill to please his
+mother. He carried various measures of more or less value, and among
+them was a law for the establishment of granaries for supplying the poor
+with corn at a very low price; but though this might have been very
+attractive to buyers, and insured a brisk demand, it does not seem
+calculated to encourage growers and sellers to such an extent that a
+supply could always be relied upon. Of course, the deficiency had to be
+made good from the pockets of the public; and therefore the process
+amounted to little more than receiving with one hand what had been paid
+by the other.
+
+The privilege of purchasing cheap corn was not limited, as some[66] have
+supposed, to the poor; but every citizen could claim his share; and even
+Piso, a Consul--though perhaps he was one of the greatly reduced
+Consuls--had been shabby enough to demand the privilege. Piso had been
+an opponent of the law; and Gracchus, seeing him among the crowd
+receiving a bushel of the cheap grain, taunted him with his
+inconsistency in taking advantage of a corn measure which he had set his
+face against. The answer of Piso was sensible and just; for, said he,
+"though I had a strong objection to your giving away my property, I
+think I have a right to try to get my share of it." Another of his
+enactments vested the right of putting a Roman citizen to death, in the
+people themselves, a measure that was no doubt theoretically attractive,
+though practically inconvenient. To vest in the public at large the
+privilege of applying the sentences to the highest offences, would
+really be giving a nation so much rope, that business would be suspended
+very often, instead of the criminals.
+
+Caius Gracchus next applied himself to Law Reform with considerable
+zeal; but it was not so much the law itself, as those who administered
+it, that required amendment. Those who held the scales of justice, used
+to weigh only the gold of the suitors; and the judges were so far
+impartial, that they had no bias towards any particular side, but
+favoured that which was the most liberal in bribing them. Many of the
+defendants had been guilty of extortion, which was a common practice
+with the judges themselves; and therefore a rude sort of honour,
+commonly known as honour among thieves, was not altogether banished from
+the judgment-seat. Caius Gracchus, however, caused a law to be passed,
+in which we trace the origin of that glorious institution, familiarly
+known as "twelve men in a box," so dear to the hearts, and sometimes,
+also, to the pockets of Englishmen. The law alluded to, provided for the
+trial of causes by a middle class of equites or knights, who were,
+literally speaking, men who could keep a horse, and who, on the same
+principle adopted in modern times as to the keepers of gigs,[67] were
+considered to be respectable.
+
+The Senators had made a practice of acquitting all criminals of their
+own class, and, by acquitting themselves thus shamefully, they had
+become guilty of the grossest corruption; but the equites were
+frequently regardless of equity, and were found leaning with undue
+leniency towards offenders of their own order. Gracchus had now become
+the popular idol, but he never had an idle hour, and was always busy in
+building up a reputation for himself by the construction of works of
+permanent utility. He knew that general occupation is necessary to
+public content, and he felt that as long as he could keep the hands of
+the multitude employed on bricks and mortar, he was, in reality,
+cementing his own power. This policy placed considerable patronage at
+his command, and he rallied round him a crowd of contractors and
+artificers, who, but for his power of giving them something better to
+do, would, perhaps, have been contracting the bad habit of political
+agitation, or resorting to every kind of revolutionary artifice.
+
+The greatest political work of Caius was that in which he did the least;
+and his legislative successes sink into insignificance by the side of
+the real grandeur of his extensive failure. This was his attempt to
+extend the franchise to all the Italians, and the other allies; but Rome
+refused to aid him in the grand design, and determined to rivet upon
+Italy those Italian irons with which Rome at a future period was
+destined to burn her fingers. So popular was Caius Gracchus, that, upon
+his re-election to office, the people, who could not get near enough to
+the Campus Martius on account of the crowd, voted for him from the tops
+of houses or unfinished buildings; and many came up to the poll by
+climbing an adjacent scaffold.
+
+He who would keep himself constantly sailing before the wind raised by
+the breath of public applause, must be for ever on some new tack; for no
+airs are more variable than those which the people are apt to give
+themselves. Caius Gracchus was soon destined to discover the fact that,
+amid the storms of political life, the highest point can be safely
+occupied by none but the political weathercock. He had too much rigid
+inflexibility to turn with every breeze; and instead of being moved by
+each passing gust, he was simply dis-gusted by the vacillation
+exhibited.
+
+[Illustration: Rash Act of Caius Gracchus.]
+
+The aristocratic party, perceiving this, resolved to beat him with his
+own weapons; and they prevailed upon M. Livius Drusus, his colleague in
+the tribuneship, to outbid him by all sorts of extravagances for the
+prize of popularity. When Gracchus proposed to distribute land among
+the poor at a small fixed rental, Drusus moved, by way of amendment,
+that they should have it for nothing at all; and as to the corn in the
+public granaries, if Gracchus said the people ought to have it at half
+price, Drusus would insist upon their right to be paid for the trouble
+of walking away with it. The people, as a matter of course, followed the
+man who was most profuse in his promises, rather than him who had been
+the most liberal in his performances. Caius Gracchus was, in the mean
+time, induced to go to Africa to mark out the ground for a new city. The
+reporters of the period--who were, no doubt, in the pay of his
+opponents--circulated all kinds of ill-natured stories, in which it was
+alleged that the omens had been unfavourable; that the flags had been
+blown down, or the pavement blown up; and that the wolves had eaten up
+every flag-staff--a thing not very easy to swallow. On his return to
+Rome, from which he had been absent only seventy days, he found Drusus
+amazingly popular, and every nose turned up at himself, which induced
+him to recognise a general snub in the faces of many of his old
+followers. He offered himself a third time for the tribuneship, but he
+was at the bottom of the poll, and an election row commenced, when an
+officious lictor lost, first, his fasces; secondly, his securis--which
+he had done his utmost to secure; and ultimately his life, in the
+scuffle. Caius Gracchus, who had mainly endeavoured to keep the peace,
+knew he would be accused of breaking it, and he accordingly ran as fast
+as he could; but in scaling a wall to get into another street, he
+unfortunately sprained his ankle. His friends continued to carry him
+until, moved by a sudden instinct of self-preservation, they dropped an
+acquaintance it would have been no longer safe to keep up, and poor
+Caius was left alone with a single manservant. His pursuers being at his
+heels, the ex-tribune desired the faithful attendant to stab him, and
+the man was too much in the habit of obeying his master's orders to
+hesitate. Having respectfully run his employer through, he found himself
+so terribly out of place in the world, that, apologising for the
+liberty, he finished himself off with the same dagger.
+
+A reward of its weight in gold had already been offered for the head of
+Caius Gracchus, when one Septimulcius, having picked it up, carried it
+home, and plumbed it with lead before he took it to the authorities.
+Opimius, the Consul, weighed it, and exclaiming, "Bless me! seven pounds
+and a half!" threw down in exchange for the head, the same quantity of
+the precious metal. His customer having gone away, Opimius proceeded at
+his leisure to examine his bargain. "Well!" said he, "I don't know that
+it's worth its weight in gold, but the offer was my own, and I must make
+the best of it." On a minuter inspection, he detected the trick that had
+been played, and though he had looked upon Caius as somewhat
+leaden-headed, he at once perceived that nature had not been the only
+plumber employed in this disgraceful transaction.
+
+All the friends of Gracchus were cast into prison and slain; but it was
+astonishing to observe how contracted his circle became when it was
+known that ruin awaited every member of it. They who had been his
+intimates made the sudden discovery that they had never known him at
+all, and others, who had been too frequently in his company to repudiate
+the acquaintance, declared that they had been grievously mistaken in his
+character. Several of his radical associates joined the aristocratic
+party, and his friend Carbo was so severely bantered on his having gone
+over to the other side, that after trying both sides, he took refuge in
+suicide as the only side left for him.
+
+Rome owed much to the Gracchi; but it paid them both off in a most
+unsatisfactory manner. Tiberius was an orator of such power, that, to
+prevent his voice from being too loud, he took with him a piper--paying
+the piper out of his own pocket--to prevent him from pitching it too
+strong when he was addressing the multitude. Tiberius Gracchus was the
+first orator who introduced the graces of action into the art of public
+speaking; and he was in the habit of rolling, as it were, from side to
+side, which gave him great sway with his audience.
+
+Caius Gracchus was a man of action, rather than of words, and was the
+first to divide distance into portions of one thousand paces, each of
+which he called a mile, and which was one of his really useful measures.
+He was also the inventor of milestones, and of those stations for
+awkward equestrians, which enabled many to ride the high horse, who
+would otherwise have been placed on their own humble footing.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The two Gracchi owed, no doubt, to the teaching of their mother, much of
+their success--if, at least, that can be called success which ended in
+the violent death of both of them. Cornelia was, however, a little too
+much addicted to making prodigies of her sons; and it is said of her,
+that, on one occasion, when receiving a visit from a Campanian lady, who
+came to display her jewels, the mother of the Gracchi, having privately
+sent for the children, exclaimed, as they stole gently in with their
+nurse, "These are my jewels: what do you think of them?" So maudlin was
+her maternal sensibility, that she never spoke of her sons without
+tears, which were always responded to by the infants themselves, with
+sympathetic, but uncomfortable, moisture. Nothing, however, can damp
+parental love; and, to a fond mother's feelings, childhood has no
+unpleasant features; though it is different to him who, if approaching
+them at all, prefers looking at them in a drier aspect.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[65] Plut., Tib. Gracch.
+
+[66] Plutarch implies that it was so; but Cicero relates anecdotes
+showing the fact to have been otherwise.
+
+[67] The following question and answer, uttered in a Court of Law on a
+modern trial, are well known:--
+
+_Counsel._ "What do you mean by respectable?"
+
+_Witness._ "He keeps a gig."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH.
+
+THE JUGURTHINE WAR. WAR AGAINST THE CIMBRI AND TEUTONI.
+
+
+While Rome had been making the numerous conquests already described,
+self-conquest--the most important conquest of all--had been altogether
+lost sight of, and she had failed in obtaining the victory over her own
+vices. Though she possessed, nominally, a constituted body of rulers,
+money was actually the governing power; and so debasing is its
+influence, that it is more fatal to the liberty of a people to be ruled
+with a rod of gold, than with a rod of iron. No consideration but
+pecuniary consideration had any weight, corruption presided in the
+courts of law, the people were bought by the Senate, and the Senate sold
+the people. In the army there was a system of shameless plunder on the
+part of the commanders, and the soldiers followed their leaders with
+avidity.
+
+Numidia had, since the death of Masinissa, been ruled over by his son
+Micipsa, who, by his will, put his kingdom, as it were, into commission,
+by giving it to his two sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal, conjointly with a
+lad whom he had adopted, and whose name was Jugurtha. Jugurtha was a
+person of excellent manners and genteel address, an excellent horseman,
+the first to strike the lion[68] in the field, and himself a lion much
+run after in society.
+
+On the death of Micipsa, when the three rulers came to the throne of
+Numidia, they found the accommodation rather insufficient, and Jugurtha
+insolently threw himself down in the middle of it. By this act the two
+sons of Micipsa were practically set aside, and Jugurtha assumed that in
+himself alone the monarchy was centered. His next act was to propose the
+abolition of the acts of the last five years of Micipsa's reign,
+declaring that they ought all to be dotted out, on the ground of the old
+man's dotage. Hiempsal, with a touch of sarcasm, assented to the
+proposal, observing--"We shall then get rid of you, as your adoption was
+an act performed within the prescribed period." This attempt to be funny
+was a serious matter to Hiempsal, for Jugurtha caused the would-be wag
+to be murdered in the palace.
+
+After this instance of sharp practice, on the part of Jugurtha, Adherbal
+began to tremble in his shoes lest he might be made to walk in his
+brother's footsteps. This fear was so nearly on the point of being
+realised, that Adherbal took to flight, and ran all the way to Rome, to
+ask for aid; upon which a commission of inquiry, consisting of ten
+members, was despatched to Numidia.
+
+To refer any matter to a commission, has always been considered
+equivalent to laying it permanently on the shelf; and such might have
+been the result of the quarrel of the Numidian princes, had it not been
+for the fact that Jugurtha had settled the dispute in his own way,
+before the commissioners had even opened their inquiry. By the time they
+had arrived on the spot to which they had been sent, they found one of
+the parties dead, and the other in possession of all that he desired.
+Jugurtha was, of course, the survivor in this affair; and when the
+ambassadors, on their arrival, expressed their astonishment at their
+services having been dispensed with, he, by offering them something for
+their trouble, sent them home fully and shame-fully satisfied.
+
+Every spark of honour was not, however, extinct in Rome; for the
+tribune, C. Memmius, who had not received, or, indeed, had not been
+offered, any of Jugurtha's gold, became virtuously indignant at the
+disgraceful harvest made by the ten commissioners. His agitation was so
+far successful, that war was declared, and the Consul, L. Calpurnius
+Bestia, with his legate, M. Æmilius Scaurus, were sent to invade Africa.
+Bestia immediately made the best bargain he could for himself, by
+concluding a peace with Jugurtha, on certain terms, for which the Roman
+Consul's own terms were most exorbitant. He and his legate, Scaurus,
+accepted a nominal surrender of all Jugurtha's tents, horses, and
+elephants; but he was allowed to reserve nearly the whole of his canvas
+booths and his menagerie.
+
+When the tribune Memmius heard of the venality of the ambassadors, and
+of the money they had corruptly made by their services abroad, he, whose
+duties kept him at home, became more indignant than ever. He denounced,
+in abusive language, the abuse of which they had been guilty, and
+succeeded at last in carrying a motion that Jugurtha should appear to
+answer for his offences of bribery and corruption before the Senate. The
+summons was carried to Africa, by the stern and incorruptible Cassius,
+who refused every offer of cash, and insisted on the personal appearance
+of Jugurtha at the time and place appointed. The artful Numidian came
+with a very small retinue and a very long purse; for he knew that in
+meeting such an antagonist as Rome, he should not have to draw the steel
+from the scabbard, but the gold from the treasury. He threw purses in
+all directions; and so extensive was his bribery, that the criminals who
+had accepted his money were a strong majority over the few who were
+qualified, by not having participated in the offence, to sit in judgment
+over it. Memmius, who had seen none of Jugurtha's gold, insisted on his
+giving up the names of those who had received it; but there was such a
+vehement and general shout of "No," that any further inquiry as to who
+were the culprits, would have been quite superfluous.
+
+The only punishment the Senate ventured to inflict upon Jugurtha, was a
+sentence of banishment; and it was indeed quite natural that the
+dishonourable members should have been glad to send speedily out of the
+way the principal witness to their own turpitude. As Jugurtha quitted
+Rome, he expressed his disgust at her venality, in a sentiment which
+came with but an ill grace from an accomplice in her infamy. "Oh!" he
+exclaimed, with an air of affected horror, "Oh! thou venal city; thou
+wouldst sell thyself to perdition, if thou couldst only find a
+purchaser!" The exact point at which this claptrap was uttered, who was
+at hand to hear it, and supposing the reporters to have been present,
+whether they proceeded to take it down, are points which the historians
+have not shown any disposition to look into.
+
+After the retirement of the only witness, the inquiry into the bribery
+cases was prosecuted with considerable vigour. Scaurus, who had been one
+of the chief delinquents, attempted to expiate his own faults by getting
+himself appointed a member of the committee, and passing as severe
+sentences as he could upon his fellow criminals.
+
+War with Jugurtha was again declared; for it was one of the most
+prolific sources of a profitable job to those in power. The Consul,
+Spurius Posthumius Albinus, was despatched with an army to Africa; but
+he soon came home, like his predecessors, with a large fortune, which
+seemed to be the kind of fortune of war that attended all who went to
+fight against Numidia. He left the army under the guidance of his
+brother Aulus, who, with his officers, were easily bribed into accepting
+any terms, provided they were of a pecuniary nature, that Jugurtha
+proposed to them. The Senate, however, refused to ratify the
+dishonourable peace concluded by Aulus; and thus, by the somewhat
+dishonest process of repudiating the acts of an authorised agent, Rome
+was again free to make a further property of the Numidian sovereign. At
+last, however, the affair was placed in honourable hands, by the
+appointment of Metellus (Q. C.) to the command of the army. His probity
+placed him far above any bribe that Jugurtha could offer; and though it
+is a maxim with many, that every man has his price, it may be said of
+Metellus that his moral standard was too high for any pecuniary standard
+to be applied to it.
+
+With the generosity of true genius, Metellus selected as his legate a
+man capable of sharing with himself any of the honours that might be
+gained in the wars about to be undertaken. This man was Caius Marius,
+who had been, in early life, a labourer; but, while working with the
+spade, he felt sure that something would eventually turn up in his
+favour. He had served as a common soldier, but proved himself no common
+man; and he rose, step by step, to a highly respectable position.
+Vanity, however, was one of his weak points, and he fell into the hands
+of an old Syrian fortune-teller, who resorted to all sorts of tricks to
+persuade him that he was destined for the highest honours. He mentioned
+his aspirations to Metellus, and hinted at the possibility of his
+obtaining the Consulship; but his superior officer burst into a loud
+laugh, which, instead of putting Marius out of conceit, put him further
+into it. He proceeded to Rome, and, by a series of popular speeches, in
+which he promised everything to the people, he, of course, gained their
+suffrages. Having obtained the Consulship, he was despatched to finish
+the war against Jugurtha; but Metellus, having first pretended that
+there was nothing more to be done, for that he had settled the whole
+business himself, resigned his post to Marius.
+
+Peace had indeed been already concluded with Jugurtha; but Rome, with
+its habitual want of faith, re-opened the war, which terminated at last
+in Jugurtha's being taken prisoner. He was drawn behind the chariot of
+Marius--a situation little less exalted than being tied to a cart's
+tail, and in that position received the pelting of a pitiless storm of
+mud from the congenial hands of a cowardly populace. Being thrown into a
+damp dungeon, he--as we are told by the grave historians--still
+preserved his wit; for he exclaimed, as he entered his prison, "By
+Hercules, what a cold bath!"--a touch of humour which seems to us
+remarkable for neither breadth, point, nor neatness. When, however, we
+consider the moisture of the circumstances under which he was placed, we
+cannot be surprised that he should have failed in an attempt at dry
+humour.
+
+The war with Jugurtha was no sooner at an end, than Rome found herself
+threatened by the swords of half-a-dozen different foes; and, in default
+of being able to cut herself into six, for the purpose of dividing her
+strength, she seemed in danger of such a cutting-up at the hands of her
+enemies. It would be a tedious task to unravel the excessive tangle into
+which the threads of history are thrown by the windings of those
+numerous lines of barbarians who kept themselves suspended over Rome at
+about this period. The Cimbri, a Celtic race, entered into an alliance
+with the Teutoni--a German band--and threw themselves upon Gaul; which
+was unable to throw them off again. They encountered the Consul, M.
+Junius Silanus, to whom they applied for a country to be assigned to
+them; but, as this modest request could not be attended to, they set
+upon Silanus, and gave him a sound beating. At length the Consul, Q.
+Servilius Cœpio, offered to meet the difficulty, and approached the
+Rhone, but the Cimbri cut to pieces 80,000 soldiers and 40,000 camp
+followers; at least, if we are to believe the authorities, who are
+always ready to mince men, though never mincing matters.
+Cœpio--according to the same authentic accounts--was glad to make his
+escape across the Rhone with a handful of men, and the term, "handful"
+is in this instance not misapplied; for as the number is said to have
+been exactly ten, he might have easily told them off on his fingers. As
+if to show that they had not been actuated by mercenary motives, the
+Cimbri threw into the river the whole of their booty; and, not satisfied
+with spoiling the foe, they proceeded to spoil the property taken in
+battle.
+
+It says little to the credit of Rome that her dangers seemed to damp the
+ambition of her citizens, and no one evinced an anxiety for the perilous
+honours of the Consulship. Those among the aristocracy who claimed a
+sort of prescriptive right to the government in times when there was
+everything to be got, now that there was a prospect of everything being
+lost, shrunk from the responsibility of a high position. The plebeian,
+Marius, was declared to be the only man for the situation; and, instead
+of being obliged to solicit the Consulship, it was thrust upon him even
+before he had returned from Africa.
+
+His first care was to get together an army capable of bearing the
+fatigues of a military life, in preference to those who were only fit to
+support its gaudy trappings. He enlisted large numbers of working men,
+and tested their strength by putting into their hands a spade before he
+entrusted them with a sword, subjecting them to all sorts of privations,
+and putting them even upon reduced rations--an experiment that was by no
+means rational. Many of the soldiers, who, under a generous diet, would
+have become strong healthy men, dwindled to mere skeletons, and many of
+the recruits were reduced so low that their strength was past
+recruiting. Those who were able to stand against the fatigue, were hardy
+enough to stand against anything; and, in order to give them the benefit
+of a lengthy training, he refused to accept battle until a convenient
+opportunity. He allowed the Teutoni to pass his camp, and, as they did
+so, they inquired tauntingly if there were any messages or parcels for
+Rome, as they--the Teutoni--were on their journey thither. Marius
+pursued them to Aquæ Sextiæ--now Aix--and purposely pitched his camp in
+such a place, that water could not be obtained without a fight for it.
+Every soldier who went down to the river was obliged to draw his sword
+as he drew the water he required, and, while he fought with one hand,
+defended himself as well as he could with a bucket in the other. The
+Teutoni were completely defeated, and rushed, for safety, to their
+wagons; but all who remained in the rear, together with many who had got
+into the van, were cut to pieces.
+
+Marius had no sooner disposed of the Teutoni, than he heard that the
+Cimbri were pouring themselves all over the plains of Lombardy; and,
+proceeding to meet them, he threatened to "turn their bones into
+whitening for the fields," a menace that proves the practice of bone
+manuring to be an agricultural process of great antiquity. He drew up
+his army near Verona, at a place called the Campi Raudii, and found the
+front ranks of the Cimbri linked together by chains,--an arrangement
+adopted, probably, to prevent their running away, and making them feel
+bound to stand against the enemy. Marius, with considerable tact, got
+into such a position that the sun got into their eyes, and the wind blew
+their noses. Unable to look their danger in the face, they were sent
+winking and sneezing to destruction.
+
+Marius celebrated the success of the day in a magnificent triumph, and
+paraded, among his trophies, a Cimbric king of such a gigantic height,
+that, notwithstanding his humiliating position, everybody looked up to
+him.
+
+For the sixth time the consulship was bestowed on Marius, though not
+without a vast amount of bribery on the part of the successful
+candidate, who, while he corrupted the electors with one hand, raised a
+temple to Virtue and Honour with the other. He had now become so
+inflated with vanity, that he came swelling into the Senate in his
+triumphal robes; but he was so coldly received, that he pretended he
+had forgotten to change his dress, though his astonishment was as
+clearly put on as his objectionable attire. He caused to be engraved
+upon his buckler the image of a Gaul pulling out his tongue; an allegory
+rather difficult to comprehend, except by adopting the somewhat vulgar
+reading, that the design was emblematical of the fact that, after the
+victory of Marius, the Gaul might as well pull out his tongue at once,
+as there could be no chance of his giving a licking to the Romans.
+
+Marius was so popular, that he was acknowledged as the third founder of
+Rome; Romulus, Camillus, and himself being figuratively regarded as so
+many bricks that the city had been built upon.
+
+Success had rendered Marius so arrogant, that he committed many illegal
+acts, declaring that, amid the clashing of the swords of war, the silent
+motion of the sword of justice could neither be heard nor attended to.
+His morbid appetite for mob popularity caused him to enter into a
+disgraceful alliance with an unprincipled demagogue, named L. Appuleius
+Saturninus, whose performances equalled his promises; but he always
+promised one thing, and performed another. He adopted the extremely
+liberal side in politics, and proposed, among other liberal measures,
+that every member of the Senate should bind himself by an oath to
+support some very liberal law for dealing with property, by taking it
+from those who had it, and giving it to those who were ready to take it.
+This friend of freedom suggested, further, that every senator attempting
+to exercise a free will, should pay a heavy penalty. One of the
+aristocratic party having ventured on proposing an amendment, was driven
+from the Senate by a shower of missiles. Another having suggested that
+he heard thunder--a sign at which the Assembly should have broken
+up--was told that there would probably be some hail, with hail-stones of
+real stone, if he opposed the project of Saturninus. Marius had the
+courage to declare that he would never take the degrading oath; Metellus
+seconded his resolution; and the whole Senate, with one voice--which
+turned out, ultimately, to be _vox et præterea nihil_--swore that they
+would never swear to what the people had dared to demand of them.
+Notwithstanding this spirited proposition, Marius had not sufficient
+bravery to brave the popular clamour, and his courage had died away
+before five days had expired. Having called a special meeting of the
+Senate, he intimated that second thoughts were sometimes best, and that,
+after his first thought, there had occurred to him a second, which he
+proposed that they should place upon their minutes. He concluded by
+intimating that he had been pelted in public for the part he had taken,
+and, as the people were determined, apparently, on having their fling,
+there was little use in opposing them. He declared his attachment to his
+native soil; and, though he had always kept it in his eye, he objected
+to its being thrown in his face by his own countrymen. He finished by
+proposing that the oath should be taken, with a mental reservation that
+it should not be kept--a disgraceful compromise between cowardice and
+conscience, which the Senate without hesitation assented to. There was,
+after this, so little disposition to freedom among the members, that
+Metellus Numidicus was the only one who held out; and he, instead of
+remaining to battle with the abuse, preferred sneaking away from it into
+voluntary exile.
+
+Saturninus not only put himself up for the tribuneship a third time, but
+endeavoured to get the Consulship for one Servilius Glaucia; and these
+noisy demagogues--by way of guiding the people in their choice--coolly
+murdered C. Memmius, who had started as an opposition candidate.
+
+Marius now began to perceive that he had connected himself with a
+disreputable set, and finding his popularity on the wane, he repudiated
+his new political allies as suddenly as he had joined with them. He
+drove Saturninus to the Capitol, where, being without provisions, the
+demagogue found himself at last driven to an unprovisional surrender.
+Saturninus, Glaucia, and others were put to death by the command of
+Marius, who thus regained the good opinion of the people, though he had,
+in fact, simply trampled under foot, when down, those whom he had taken
+by the hand when they were uppermost. Having so far reinstated himself
+in the favour of the public, Marius retired into private life; and it
+was time that he should do so, while he had yet a certain amount of
+popularity left to fall back upon.
+
+Law Reform, and the extension of the franchise, had now become the two
+great questions of the day; for the tribunals were courts of in-justice,
+and the Italians thought that as much weight ought to be allowed to the
+Italic as to the Roman character. It was the policy of the Senate to
+purchase popularity at almost any price, and the members were ready to
+outbid each other by the most extravagant offers, for the object of
+their ignoble competition. Among the boldest of the bidders was M.
+Livius Drusus, the son of old Drusus--the colleague of Gracchus--who
+seems to have inherited his father's propensity for sacrificing all his
+principle, in order to convert it into political capital. Young Drusus
+is said to have been a remarkable man, because, when Quæstor in Asia, he
+dispensed with the insignia of office, preferring to depend upon his own
+personal bearing, and, perhaps, wishing to save the cost of those
+externals which, sometimes, take from the public functionary quite as
+much in the way of emolument, as they bring him in the way of dignity.
+He had been elected to the Tribuneship, and in that capacity he did
+everything he could to catch the breath of popular applause, which often
+sullies the brightness of the object that seeks to reflect the
+evanescent vapour.
+
+One of the principal propositions of M. Livius Drusus was, that the
+judges should be liable to be brought to trial themselves, for their
+mode of conducting the trials of others. This attempt to undermine the
+independence of the judicial order, was shown to be so fatal to the
+administration of justice, that the people, who, after all, require only
+to be convinced of what is right in order to take the right direction,
+repudiated the proposal which Drusus had intended to be the means of
+misleading them, and obtaining for himself--under false pretences--a
+little additional popularity. It was pointed out to them, that a judge
+who felt every trial at which he was presiding to be his own, and who
+would be always divided between the calm demands of justice on one hand,
+and the unreasoning voice of public clamour on the other, would feel
+himself exposed to a pressure that would prevent him from maintaining an
+upright position. Notwithstanding his failure in this instance, M.
+Livius Drusus made himself the champion of the movement, and opened his
+house every evening, to give political advice gratis to all who were
+desirous of consulting him. He was engaged in this manner during one of
+his evenings at home, when he was suddenly stabbed by a shoe-maker's
+knife; and though the assassin was never discovered, the blow was
+supposed to have been connived at by some persons who had persuaded the
+cobbler to risk his awl in the dangerous effort. As a Roman could never
+die without a claptrap in his mouth, Drusus was of course prepared with
+a neat speech on the melancholy occasion. Having ejaculated, "Oh! thou
+ungrateful Republic, thou hast never lost a more devoted son!" he
+arranged his toga in becoming folds, and bowing to circumstances--
+bowing, perhaps, to the audience as well--he gracefully expired.
+
+[Illustration: Drusus is stabbed, and expires gracefully.]
+
+The Italians, being deprived of the support of Drusus, were more than
+ever oppressed, and the multitude, whom it is customary to regard as
+synonymous with the liberal party, became vehement in denouncing the
+idea of allowing an equality of rights to all classes of Roman subjects.
+The Italians, therefore, came to the resolution, that if Rome was not to
+exist for them, it should not exist at all; but that they would either
+bring the city to the ground, or raise themselves from the dust to which
+injustice had lowered them. Several of the Italian nations formed
+themselves into a league, but never did a league go to such lengths as
+the one in question; for some of its members murdered the prætor,
+Servilius Cœpio, and his legate, who attended a meeting in the hope of
+conciliation at the Theatre of Asculum.
+
+The next step of the Italians was to start a republic of their own,
+under the name of Italica; and by way of giving it an imposing
+appearance, it was to have a senate five hundred strong--though in a
+deliberative assembly numbers are not so much an element of strength as
+of weakness. It was to have two annual consuls, and no less than twelve
+prætors; it being perhaps the policy of the framers of the constitution
+to have plenty of patronage to tempt adherents to the new government.
+The two consuls first appointed were Silo Popædius, a Marsian, and C.
+Papius Mutilus, a Samnite, who took the field with great vigour, but
+took little else in the first instance; for Silo fell in the fight,
+though Mutilus, whose army was terribly mutilated, obtained some success
+in Campania.
+
+Though the Italians had commenced their operations as fast friends, they
+loosened considerably in their friendship as the war advanced, and made
+separate treaties of peace, by which Rome was enabled to deal with them
+piecemeal, instead of being compelled to stand against their united
+efforts. The Samnites evinced their old obstinacy, and waited, as usual,
+to be cut to pieces, before they abandoned the hope of holding together.
+When the sword had been busy among them for three years, there remained
+still a mass of sufficient importance to induce the Romans to offer the
+franchise to all who would lay down their arms; and of this proposal the
+Samnites at last reluctantly availed themselves.
+
+Rome having acquired a large accession of new citizens, was puzzled to
+determine what to do with them. Had they been distributed amongst the
+thirty-five country tribes, the old members would have been swamped by
+the new, and the latter were, therefore, formed into--some say six, some
+say eight, and some say fifteen separate bodies. Such is the
+disagreement of the learned doctors on this head, that we cannot put
+confidence in one without discrediting two; and we consequently take the
+more impartial course of believing none of them. So great is the
+discrepancy of the authorities on nearly every point, that, for the sake
+of history, we can only hope they do not go for their facts to the same
+sources which have supplied their figures. It is true that they usually
+profess to deal with round numbers alone; and perhaps if every number
+employed were literally round, it would represent the sum of what is
+known with certainty on the subjects that are spoken of.
+
+The fact, however, is indisputable, that, in the times to which our
+history relates, the weaker states were the prey of the stronger,--might
+overcame right; and the only mode by which a small society could save
+itself from destruction by one power, was by the sale of its
+independence to another. Those places which were incompetent to practise
+the noble art of self-defence, could only obtain protection against
+violence on the right hand, by submitting to robbery on the left; and
+the Romans, who were usually appealed to for aid, always plentifully
+helped themselves at the cost of those by whom their help was required.
+
+By the foreign policy of Rome, ambassadors were always planted in all
+places of importance, to interfere in the quarrels between nations and
+their kings; and the ambassadors took care, by fomenting quarrels, that
+there should be no lack of material for their diplomacy. The cost of
+intervention fell heavily on those upon whom it was bestowed, but it
+eventually helped to ruin Rome itself; for neglect of one's own affairs
+is the inevitable consequence of interfering with the affairs of one's
+neighbours. The professed object of this meddling on the part of the
+great republic, was to give to other states the benefit of freedom.
+There is, however, no slavery more abject than that which induces a
+nation to accept a foreign, instead of a domestic, tyranny. Those who
+are willing to import their independence from abroad, will never find it
+flourish at home; and there is not a more melancholy object--as recent
+events have proved--than a transplanted tree of liberty.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[68] Sallust, Jugurthine War, c. vi.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.
+
+MITHRIDATES, SULLA, MARIUS, CINNA, ET CÆTERA.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Following the order of dates, we come to Mithridates, the son of old
+Mithridates the Fifth, surnamed Eupator, who had been a fast ally of
+Rome; but his son, who was much faster in another sense, soon came to
+hostilities.
+
+The birth of young Mithridates had been, according to Justin,[69]
+signalised by the appearance of a wondrous comet, which was, probably,
+an idle tale; but those whose eyes are always strained towards a rising
+sun, are liable to be dazzled by all sorts of illusory visions.
+
+If the comet was to have brought prosperity to Mithridates, the
+consignment must have been dropped on the way, inasmuch as none of it
+reached the young prince, whose early years were passed in hot water;
+for he was in one continual perspiration, caused by the constant
+discovery that his life was in danger. His grandmother, Laodice, had
+killed five of her children, when young Mithridates, fearing that
+infanticide might run in the family, resorted to matricide, as an
+alternative for checking the fearful disease, and, according to
+Appian,[70] murdered his mother. It is said that his guardians did their
+utmost to get rid of him, by encouraging him in all sorts of dangerous
+games;--that they gave him weapons for playthings, and that one of his
+toys was a real sword, with which the child might have accidentally cut
+the slender thread of his own existence.
+
+They mounted him, also, upon the highest horses that could be found,
+which was the height of cruelty; but though the animals often kicked and
+hurled the youngster from his seat, fortune always decided the throw in
+his favour. He soon acquired such skill, that he was deep enough to meet
+the most fearful amount of plunging; and when placed upon a determined
+jibber, he could always back out of his danger. Though the horses given
+him to ride were quite unbroken, his neck remained entire; and he at
+length became such an excellent horseman, that he could travel on
+horseback--according to Polybius--125 miles a day, a length to which we
+are not prepared to go with the ancient historian. Young Mithridates,
+going at full gallop, for several successive hours, presents a spirited
+picture to the mind's eye, but duty compels us to pull him up at the
+turnpike of truth; for we can allow no evasion of the important trust of
+history.
+
+Among his other accomplishments, it is said that he could hurl the
+javelin to such a distance, that the enthusiasm of the spectators would
+be roused to the utmost pitch; but we are obliged to add, that his power
+in throwing the spear was not equal to that of the chroniclers in
+throwing the hatchet.
+
+His guardians having failed to kill him by physical force, attempted to
+do so by the force of physic, and were continually giving him poisonous
+drugs, which, though exceedingly unpleasant, he was not nice enough to
+reject, for he had the bad taste to swallow them. They put him through a
+course of hen-bane, but he was now no chicken, and had learnt to
+neutralise the effects of the bane by a powerful antidote. So admirably
+did the latter answer its object, that he could swallow arsenic by the
+drachm without a scruple, and his inside was rendered thoroughly
+poison-proof, though there is an utter absence of historical proof to
+support the statement.
+
+In order to harden himself externally, as well as internally, we are
+informed that he would lie at night in the open air; but we do not
+believe he was any more hardened by lying than those who make the
+statement. He would trust to the chase for a dinner, and he was often
+very hard run for a meal, which he sometimes sought by a contest with a
+wild beast: and the question then was, whether the latter was to be
+cooked, or Mithridates himself done for.
+
+The excitement of an encounter with some ferocious animal furnished the
+continual source of a _sauce piquante_ to what he took to eat, which
+formed food for his courage as well as for his appetite. He was well
+versed in physics, which he was continually imbibing at the hands of his
+enemies, and, in accordance with the saying _fas est ab hoste doceri_,
+he turned the dosing to good account by studying the power of antidotes.
+He became a master of languages, and taught himself; so that he was, in
+fact, his own master and his own pupil. His object appears to have been
+to save the trouble and expense of diplomatic agents, by qualifying
+himself to talk with all foreign ambassadors, and to prevent the chance
+of matters being misinterpreted through the mouth of an interpreter.
+
+Those historians who have built up a considerable fabric on
+inconsiderable grounds, do not hesitate to add to their fabrications
+another story, by describing Mithridates as a giant in growth, and as a
+lad so tall that he might have overlooked an ordinary ladder.
+
+Such had been the education and pursuits of the young man whom we find
+occupying the throne of Pontus, and interfering in the affairs of
+Cappadocia, to which he undertook to supply a king, from his own family,
+whenever a vacancy happened. Rome, also, began to take an interest in
+Cappadocia, and the only party without a voice in the affair, consisted
+of the Cappadocians. They were assailed with the offer of freedom and a
+republic at the point of the sword, on one side,--while, on the other,
+they were asked to pin their faith to a monarchy which would otherwise
+be pinned to them by the blades of a foreign army. The Cappadocians had
+a wholesome horror of republican freedom, especially when imported from
+abroad; and Rome, therefore, sent them a king, who was accepted until
+his throne was overthrown by Mithridates--the Cappadocians having to pay
+a heavy fine on each change of government.
+
+The king, who was thoroughly put out by Mithridates, applied to Rome,
+which raised an army in three divisions; but the Romans were so hated in
+Asia Minor, that they encountered every opposition from the inhabitants.
+Appius and Aquilinus, who were leaders of two of the divisions, soon
+fell into the hands of Mithridates, and it is said that he punished
+their avarice by pouring melted gold down their throats; but this is
+more than any one could swallow.
+
+The Roman Senate, irritated by defeat, called upon L. Cornelius
+Sulla--or Sylla, as, by an alteration of the first syllable, he is
+sometimes called--to take the command of the army. The family boasted of
+its antiquity, though one family must be quite as old as another, if
+everybody's pedigree could be traced; and the real wonder would be to
+find a man whose ancestors had a beginning, instead of the ordinary case
+of one with an apparently endless line of progenitors. The family of
+Cornelius Sulla claimed connection with that of Cornelius Rufinus, who,
+in the year of Rome 540, instituted the Ludi Apollinares, in honour of
+Apollo, and in conformity with the directions of the Sibylline books,
+from which he had taken the name of Sibylla. This had, according to the
+interpretation put upon it by family pride, been corrupted into Sulla;
+and such is the empty boast of ancestry, that even corruption is eagerly
+acknowledged as a proof of ancient lineage. The father of L. Cornelius
+Sulla had left little--not even an unsullied name--to his son, but had
+been equally wasteful of fortune and character. The boy was clever and
+quick, but his speediness speedily degenerated into fastness. Having
+neither morality nor means, he took a cheap apartment, where he
+entertained a low set, and there was nothing to be envied either in his
+room or his company.
+
+In early life he had distinguished himself as a soldier in the
+Jugurthine War; and he subsequently obtained the office of Prætor, in
+which he won the affections of the people, by introducing into the
+entertainments of the amphitheatre the extraordinary attraction of 100
+real lions.
+
+These noble animals had been the gift of a Mauritanian king, and as
+Sulla might have wished the present absent, if he had been saddled with
+the cost of the keep of no less than one hundred monarchs of the forest,
+the donor forwarded a band of Moors, who were to serve as food for the
+lions, by being turned into the arena with them when occasion required.
+
+Sulla had excited the jealousy of Marius during the Jugurthine War, and
+the latter, though now a man of seventy, still cherished his old
+animosity with all the obstinacy of a most inveterate veteran. He was
+still ambitious of the laurel, though he should have been thinking only
+of the cypress; and with one foot in the grave, he was anxious to march
+with the other at the head of an army. Limping into the Campus Martius,
+where the soldiers were being drilled, he placed himself by the side of
+the youngest, and hobbled through the exercise with an air of
+ill-assumed juvenility. His feeble evolutions excited a mixed feeling of
+ridicule and disgust among the lookers-on, instead of obtaining for him
+the command to which he aspired. Having been disappointed of producing
+the effect he had anticipated, he had recourse to his friend, the
+tribune P. Sulpicius, who exercised a sort of reign of terror by means
+of 3000 gladiators, whom he always had about him. This formidable band
+of armed ruffians went by the name of the Anti-Senate of Sulpicius, who
+employed them to carry any measure he proposed, by showing the point of
+the sword to those who did not see the point of his argument. In order
+to gain time, the Senate appointed a series of holidays, or Feriæ,
+during which all business was suspended for the celebration of public
+sports, which often enabled the authorities to play a game of their own,
+by delaying any measure that was opposed to their interests. After a
+brief interval, the Senate appointed Sulla to the chief command,
+whereupon the Anti-Senate appointed Marius; and the former had no sooner
+heard the news, than he marched upon Rome with the whole of his army.
+The utmost consternation ensued; for no army having been expected at
+Rome, there had been no preparations for defence; and though the gates
+were closed, they were almost as crazy and unhinged as the terrified
+inhabitants.
+
+[Illustration: _Marius discovered in the Marshes at Minturnæ._]
+
+A feeble attempt was made to bolt the doors against Sulla and his
+soldiers, but it was impossible to bar their entrance. As they marched
+through the streets, they were assailed from the houses with showers
+of brick, which, though very destructive, could not have been so
+damaging as the modern mortar. Some of the inhabitants were armed with
+slings, and now and then an arrow was discharged from a bow window.
+Orders were immediately given to set fire to the quarters whence the
+annoyance proceeded, and the directions were acted upon with that
+indiscriminate ferocity which is too often displayed by an incensed
+soldiery against an unarmed populace. The anger excited by the few was
+vented on the unoffending many, and the troops performed, with savage
+alacrity, the most humiliating service on which they could have been
+employed--the butchery of their defenceless fellow-citizens.
+
+[Illustration: "Who dares kill Marius?"]
+
+The leaders, or, rather, the mis-leaders of the people in this miserable
+conspiracy, were the first to seek their own safety in flight, and the
+tribune P. Sulpicius, who had set the example of employing brute force,
+evinced the most cowardly haste in running away from it, when he seemed
+likely to become one of its victims. Marius made for the marshes near
+Minturnæ, where he stuck in the mud, and covered his reputation with a
+number of stains that are quite indelible. On being discovered in his
+ignoble retreat, by those who had pursued him through thick and thin, he
+was dragged to the town and lodged in the nearest station. A price had
+been put upon his head, but the article does not seem to have been worth
+much, for he had shown very little sense in the part he had been
+playing. His gray hairs, or, perhaps, rather, his total baldness, still
+commanded so much of sympathy, that nobody evinced a disposition to
+become his executioner, until a Cimbric soldier undertook the
+discreditable office. He approached the veteran with a drawn sword, but
+Marius had got into a dark corner, and succeeded in frightening the
+man-at-arms by putting on a voice of the most dismal character. The
+soldier fancying himself in the presence of a ghost, failed in plucking
+up a sufficient spirit; and when a moan was heard--inquiring, "Who dares
+kill Caius Marius?" the would-be assassin, having flung down his sword,
+ran away, exclaiming--"Not I, for one, at any rate!" The soldier, of
+course, exaggerated the cause of his fears, and declared that the eyes
+of Marius had appeared to him like two candles burning in their sockets.
+The inhabitants of Minturnæ became as nervous as the panic-stricken
+soldier, and put Marius on board a ship, which, after being tossed about
+for several days, came to an anchor, or ran aground, high and dry, on
+the fine old crusted port of Carthage. Here he rambled about the ruins,
+and rested his aching head upon its broken temples. The Roman Governor,
+Sextilius, not knowing what to do with such an embarrassing visitor,
+sent a messenger to request him to "move on;" but the exile, with a
+dignified air, claimed his right to repose upon the dry rubbish. "Tell
+thy master," he observed to the officer on duty, who had respectfully
+told him he must "come out of that," in compliance with the orders of
+the authorities,--"Tell thy master that thou hast seen Marius, sitting
+on the ruins of Carthage." The intelligence was not new, but it seems to
+have been rather startling, for it had the effect of causing Marius to
+be allowed to remain; and we will, therefore, leave him there, while we
+proceed with the march of our history.
+
+Sulla having reduced the city to the most complete subjection, made a
+merit of not pursuing his vengeance farther against the defenceless
+inhabitants; and so great was his confidence in the efficacy of his
+work, that he acquiesced in the appointment of L. Cornelius Cinna, a
+partisan of Marius, to the consulship. Sulla proceeded to Greece, where
+he blockaded Athens, whose inhabitants he plundered, as a practical
+acknowledgment of their worth; and he spared their lives, to show how he
+valued their ancestors. He manifested his respect for their arts by
+robbing their city of its chief ornaments; and he paid their learning
+the compliment of stealing their principal libraries.
+
+In the meantime Cinna had entered on the duties of the consulship at
+Rome, but there the truth of the maxim, that two heads are better than
+one, was rendered extremely doubtful by the constant dissensions between
+himself and his colleague. The latter was Cn. Octavius, who opposed
+whatever the former recommended; and while one tried to carry his
+measures by brute force, the other endeavoured to defeat them by armed
+violence. Cinna appealed to the mob, and Octavius trusted to the army,
+both forces being the principal movers under a republican rule or
+misrule, and both being equally repugnant to the spirit of
+constitutional government. The arms of such a republic might have for
+its supporters the bludgeon and the sword, with the figure of Liberty
+battered and bleeding, slashed and sabred, gagged and fettered, in the
+middle. Octavius and the sword had, on this occasion, got the upper
+hand; and Cinna, the clubbist, was glad to break his bludgeon or cut his
+stick, in flying from the city.
+
+[Illustration: Marius in the Ruins of Carthage.]
+
+The Senate decreed that he had forfeited the consulship, and Cinna,
+having been well received in the Italian towns, decreed that the Senate
+had forfeited their authority. The Government was thus reduced to two
+negatives, which could not make an affirmative; and in the midst of a
+theoretical perfection of republican forms, there existed only the
+substance of practical anarchy. The inhabitants of the Capitol, with the
+sword at their throats, elected a Consul, who was, of course, declared
+by the executive to be their free choice; while the people in the
+provinces protested, as loudly as they dared, against the violence that
+had been done to all the principles of law and liberty. Cinna, who had
+possessed himself of large sums of public money, employed bribes and
+promises to get himself acknowledged as the lawful Consul, for it is
+customary with despotism, acting under the name of freedom, to rob the
+people with one hand, in order to corrupt them with the other.
+
+The veteran Marius, who, after making his bed on the ruins of Carthage,
+was not too anxious to lie there, had been wanted to join the party of
+Cinna, and the great captain of the age was received with enthusiasm, in
+consideration of the great age of the captain. Papirius Carbo and Q.
+Sertorius also gave in their adhesion; but Cn. Pompeius, who was
+stationed with an army at Umbria, waited to see which side would pay him
+best, and of those who would bid the highest, he was prepared to do the
+bidding. Marius, in the meanwhile, landed in Tuscany with a few friends;
+but to excite commiseration, he dressed himself in rags, which was,
+indeed, putting on the garb of poverty. He spoke so repeatedly of his
+reverses, and touched so frequently on his old clothes, that the subject
+was completely threadbare. Rags are seldom attractive, but in this
+instance, they were successful in obtaining for the wearer a large crowd
+of followers.
+
+Cn. Pompeius had at length consented to espouse the cause of the Senate,
+but the alliance was one of interest on his side, for he would not
+espouse anything without a very large pecuniary settlement having been
+made in his favour. He met the army of Cinna under the walls of Rome,
+but both forces were enfeebled by sickness. Each party proceeded to do
+its best, but the soldiers on both sides were so wretchedly ill, that
+none of them could, for one moment, stand at ease; and all were much
+fitter to be in bed than in battle. A storm did sad havoc among the
+defenders of Rome, and a flash of lightning falling naturally upon the
+conductor of the army, caused the death of Cn. Pompeius. The gates of
+the city were thrown open, Cinna was restored to the Consulship, and
+though there had been an understanding that no blood should be shed,
+Marius set a band of slaves and mercenaries upon the defenceless people.
+
+Under the pretence that he would only act according to law, this
+sanguinary impostor, declaring himself an exile, pretended that he would
+not enter the city until the sentence should be repealed; and with a
+sword at every throat, he demanded an expression of the voice of the
+people. The decision need scarcely be told, and Marius entered the city,
+where, standing behind Cinna's consular chair, he made a series of
+savage grimaces at his intended victims. Among these was the Consul,
+Octavius, who, soothed by the soothsayers into the belief that he had
+nothing to fear, boldly refused to fly, until some hired assassins
+executed their task, by executing the unhappy officer. He met his death
+while still maintaining his seat, and expired in the arms of his
+armchair of office.
+
+Marius being now master of the situation, did all he could to make the
+situation vacant by a system of indiscriminate murder. The heads of the
+nation were not only imprisoned, but struck off. The two Cæsars were
+savagely seized and killed, while Marc Antony--an orator of considerable
+mark--had concealed himself in a place that was made known to Marius.
+The tyrant was at supper when he heard the news, and as if determined to
+sup full of horrors, he started up with a determination to witness the
+murder, which he desired should immediately take place; but his friends
+pacified him with the assurance that the head should be brought in to
+him.
+
+If the chroniclers are to be credited, Marc Antony owed his detection to
+his fastidiousness as to the sort of wine that was placed before him.
+While in concealment, his daily supply was procured from a neighbouring
+tavern, by a messenger who was in the habit of tasting several bottles
+before he was satisfied. This excited the curiosity of the landlord, who
+became anxious to know the name of his very particular customer. The
+messenger, on one occasion, had taken so much of the wine in, that he
+let the truth out, when the wine-merchant treacherously proceeded to
+betray the hiding-place of Marc Antony. Soldiers were sent to his
+lodgings; but he grew so eloquent over his generous wine, that he
+excited among the guards a generous spirit. His life would probably have
+been spared, had not the tribune Annius rushed up-stairs, and himself
+struck off the head of the unhappy Antony.
+
+Several men of consideration, in the most inconsiderate manner, killed
+themselves, to avoid the fate which was intended for them by Cinna, and
+that still greater sinner, Marius. Q. Lutatius Catulus proceeded to the
+temple, and getting into a corner among the statues of the gods, placing
+himself opposite Pan, perished by the fumes of charcoal. Merula, the
+Flamen of Jupiter, may be said to have snuffed himself out, or
+extinguished his own vital spark; for, seating himself in the portico of
+the Capitoline, he calmly made preparations for suicide, and took off
+his flame-coloured cap, in which it was not lawful for him to expire.
+Producing some surgical instruments from his pocket, he sat ruminating
+over his case, and taking out a lancet, he showed that he was no longer
+in the vein to live, but quite in the vein to die, for he opened an
+artery. The tyrant himself took to drinking in his old age, and
+frequently rolled about in a state of frenzy, under the impression that
+he was commanding an army against Mithridates. He ultimately drove
+himself to _delirium tremens_, and he contracted a constant shake of
+the hands by his frequent use of cordials. He died after a short
+illness, on the 15th of January, B.C. 86, without having devoted himself
+to that sober reflection, which would have induced him to repent of his
+numerous enormities. Such was the end of a man, whose faults have been
+sometimes glossed over with the varnish of flattery, though at the hands
+of truth they can only receive an appropriate coat of blacking.
+
+[Illustration: Marius in his Old Age.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[69] Some say that Just-in was just-out, on this occasion, for that no
+comet appeared at the time stated. See Justin, xxxvii. 2, _et seq._
+
+[70] "De rebus Mithridaticis."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.
+
+DEATH OF CINNA. RETURN OF SULLA TO ROME. C. PAPIRIUS CARBO. DICTATORSHIP
+OF SULLA.
+
+
+Liberty being now established on a republican basis, by the massacre of
+all who had a word to say against the military usurper Cinna, that
+individual began the task of consolidating his power. He nominated L.
+Valerius Flaccus to the consulship; and those of the aristocracy who
+wished for freedom, were free to leave Rome if they did not like living
+under a tyrannical government. To speak openly in the forum or the
+courts of justice, was prohibited; and the scantiness of the reports
+that have come down to us of the events of the times, can be no matter
+of surprise, when we consider that the reporters were not permitted to
+give an account of actual occurrences.
+
+It was necessary to amuse the masses by what are termed liberal
+measures, and as an excess of liberality, it was proposed that every
+debtor, paying one fourth of his debt, should be released from all
+further liability to his creditor. This was sure to be a popular act in
+a country already ruined by political agitation, and the despotism to
+which it frequently leads; and, as the debtors were by far the most
+numerous class, a sort of general Insolvent Act was hailed with
+acclamations by a bankrupt community.
+
+Sulla, who was still in Greece, refused his allegiance to the despot at
+home, and L. Valerius Flaccus was sent to supersede him in the command
+of the army. Flaccus was not popular with his soldiers, and as the head
+of the Government had set the example of setting aside all law by a
+_coup d'état_, an imitator was soon found in the person of one Flavius
+Fimbria, a lieutenant, who, by a _coup de tête_, got rid of his
+obnoxious general. Flaccus being thus disposed of, Fimbria promoted
+himself to the chief command; but, cowardice and cruelty going hand in
+hand, he took his own life on hearing that Sulla was setting out against
+him. The soldiers of Fimbria, with the most revolting faithlessness,
+revolted to Sulla, who was now master of Asia. He called upon the
+conquered nation for 20,000 talents, and as the subdued people had not
+so large a sum by them, they were obliged to borrow it with one hand at
+enormous interest, in order to pay it with the other. The Roman
+capitalists lent the cash, and the Roman soldiers assisted them with
+their swords to draw a ruinous per-centage from the unfortunate
+borrowers. Sulla now prepared to march upon Rome, where Cinna had
+re-elected himself as Consul, in conjunction with one Papirius Carbo, a
+political incendiary, who acted like so much touch-paper and coal upon
+the flame of discord. Intending to meet their rival, they proceeded
+with an army into Italy; but the soldiers no sooner found themselves on
+the Italian soil, than they declared their determination to remain
+there. Cinna called them together, and endeavoured to persuade them to
+go forward, but even when he gave the word of command there was no
+advance on his bidding. From passive resistance they proceeded to active
+insubordination, and, denouncing him as a tyrant whom it was high time
+to see through, they perforated him with their swords in several places.
+
+On the death of Cinna, legal authority began to raise its humbled head,
+and Carbo was summoned to hold a Comitia at Rome; but on the day
+appointed, the attendance of voters not promising a satisfactory result,
+the augurs declared the auspices unfavourable, and dissolved the
+meeting.
+
+A deputation had been sent to Sulla to endeavour to make terms, but the
+members of the deputation were forced to return without any terms having
+been agreed upon. Sulla did not march immediately upon Italy, but went
+to Ædepsus, in Eubœa, for the benefit of the hot baths, though he did
+not limit himself to the waters, for he addicted himself to the spirits
+abounding in the neighbourhood. He amused himself in the society of
+those who are sometimes said to live upon their wits, though their
+existence is really derived from the want of wit in others. Sulla,
+however, had a counterpoise to any demerits of his own, in the still
+greater demerits of those who were opposed to him.
+
+The new Consuls were L. Cornelius Scipio, a highly respectable man, and
+C. Julius Norbanus, a mere creature of Carbo. Against these leaders
+Sulla marched from Greece in the rudest health and the most exuberant
+spirits. His pockets, however, were as light as his heart; but this
+signified little, for the troops were so devoted to him that there was
+not an officer unattached; and so far from making any difficulty about
+their pay, they undertook to raise money among themselves, if necessary,
+for the use of their leader.
+
+The expedition landed at Brundusium, where the inhabitants received
+Sulla with open arms, or rather without any arms at all, for they
+permitted him to occupy the place without opposition. Passing through
+Calabria and Apulia, he approached the encampment of Norbanus, in the
+neighbourhood of Capua, and sent ambassadors to treat; but their
+treatment was anything but courteous. They were insulted by all kinds of
+abuse, and it is said that they had a great deal more thrown in their
+face than mere reproaches. When Sulla heard of their reception, or
+rather their rejection at the enemy's camp, he fell upon it with such
+force that everything fell under him.
+
+He next turned his attention to L. Scipio, whose army went over in a
+body to the side of Sulla, while Scipio and his son were sitting
+together, talking over general matters in the tent of the general. L.
+Scipio had despatched his son with directions for the right division,
+when the youth returned to say, that of the right division, there was
+not one man left; and when Scipio himself went to look after his men,
+he found there was not one remaining, even for the look of the thing,
+to mount guard at the tent of their commander. He, of course, proposed a
+series of strong resolutions, seconded by his son, that all those who
+had joined Sulla were enemies to the state; but the state in which he
+then was, rendered his denunciations idle, if not ridiculous. The
+position of Sulla was becoming rather alarming to the party of Carbo,
+who caused himself to be appointed Consul, for the year B.C. 82, in
+conjunction with young C. Marius, who, as the heir of his father, had
+inherited a large stock of wickedness. Cn. Pompeius had already sent in
+his adhesion to Sulla, who had received him as a very promising young
+man, for he had a fair share of popularity, and a good amount of
+property. Young Pompey was opposed to old Carbo, and the former so
+harassed the latter, that his temper, always sour, became equal to
+carbonic acid in its inflammable tendency.
+
+Sulla took young Marius in hand, and followed him up to a place called
+Sacriportus, where, in consequence of a dream--for the ancients were
+addicted to taking advice with their eyes shut--an attack by the former
+on the latter was resolved upon. Sulla ordered his soldiers to advance,
+but they were so fatigued that they fell asleep on the road, and caused
+their leader to wonder what they could possibly be dreaming of. Instead
+of their being equipped in the arms of the warrior, they were stretched
+in the arms of Somnus, and Sulla, though reluctant to go counter to his
+dream, perceived the folly of marching to battle with a somnambulist
+army. He gave orders, therefore, to halt, and the men had commenced
+digging the foundations for a camp, when the cavalry of Marius rode up
+for the purpose of annoying them. Irritated by the conduct of the
+enemy's horse, the soldiers of Sulla kicked against it, and even while
+engaged in their work, picked out, with their pickaxes, a few of the
+foremost of the Marian army. This led to a general engagement, in which
+Sulla's forces forgot their fatigue, and pursued the enemy to the
+neighbouring town of Præneste, the gates of which were shut in such
+haste, that all the fugitives had not time to get in, and Marius himself
+was pulled up by a rope over the wall, together with a few immediate
+hangers-on, who had tied themselves to his fortunes. Sulla is said to
+have slain 20,000 men, and to have taken 8000 prisoners, while he lost
+only twenty-three; but as he is his own authority for the statement,[71]
+we must take in a purely figurative sense many of his figures.
+
+The Marian party, fearing that the successes of Sulla might encourage
+resistance to the despotism still prevailing at Rome, determined on
+getting rid of the principal politicians of the day, the heads of the
+National Assembly of the period. The modern practice might have been to
+have shut up the place of meeting, and prevent the members, by armed
+force, from going in--slaughtering them, of course, in case of their
+perseverance; but the Marian policy was to summon them to the Curia
+Hostilia, and having got them in, to butcher those who attempted to go
+out again.
+
+The prætor, L. Damasippus, was entrusted with this sanguinary business;
+and every eminent politician, who was suspected of having an independent
+opinion of his own, was at once massacred. This step was declared to be
+necessary to give strength to the Government, and to insure the
+unanimity of the nation, by cutting the throats of all who ventured to
+be of a way of thinking contrary to that of the ruling power.
+Unfortunately, some of the best and wisest men of the day were blind to
+the virtues of the chief of the republic; and the whole of these,
+including Q. Mucius Scævola, the eminent jurist, were unceremoniously
+sacrificed.
+
+The news of the success of Sulla at Sacriportus, caused a panic among
+those who had been combining the butcher's business with that of
+government at Rome, and the perpetrators tried to fly when they heard
+the enemy was approaching the city. Sulla, leaving Lucretius Ofella to
+keep watch at the gates of Præneste, lest Marius should attempt to creep
+out, marched in person on the capital. Directing his steps towards the
+Colline gate, he found there an army of those same Samnites, who had
+been previously cut into so many pieces, and who were ready to be cut
+into so many more, should occasion require the alarming sacrifice. Their
+general, Pontius Telesinus, rode in front of them, entreating them to
+come and be killed for positively the last time; and the dux had
+sufficient influence to induce them to rush like a flock of geese on
+their own destruction. The victory of Sulla was complete; and Pontius
+Telesinus having been overlooked by the foe in the heat of battle,
+supplied the omission in the business of the day by making away with
+himself--after the usual cowardly fashion of the heroes of antiquity.
+
+Sulla's success seemed only to have effected a change of tyrants; and
+his conduct proved that the monster grievance of Rome was the series of
+inhuman monsters who had got hold of the government. The atrocities
+attributed to Sulla are, however, so enormous, as almost to border on
+the burlesque; and it is comfortable to feel in the exaggeration a
+ground for hope that in the account furnished by the historians, much
+may fall under the head of "Errors excepted."
+
+It is said that 3000 of the enemy at Antennæ implored his mercy, which
+he granted, on the understanding that they were to assassinate their
+associates--a service that was performed with brutal eagerness. When the
+3000 claimed their own pardon as a reward, they were, according to
+Plutarch, conveyed to Rome, and butchered with a few thousand others,
+who had the misfortune to differ in opinion with the chief of a
+republican government.
+
+It was found so extremely embarrassing to heads of families and others
+who were liable every day or hour to be cut off, that it was at length
+proposed, as a matter of convenience, that Sulla should save time by
+publishing a short list, containing the few names of those whom he did
+not intend to sacrifice. He replied, by bringing out a very long list of
+those he did, which he stated to be merely the first number of a serial
+work, which he did not pledge himself to complete within any particular
+period. As every copyright is liable to be infringed, the work of Sulla
+was the subject of numerous imitations; and there were many who made
+lists of their own, containing names disagreeable to themselves; so that
+no man could walk the streets without the chance of reading his own
+death-warrant on the walls of the capital. Sulla, in many instances,
+offered rewards for the heads of his victims, and his doors were beset
+from morning till night with the cry of, "Butcher!" by those who called
+for the sums they had earned as slaughtermen. Assassinations proceeded
+to such a fearful degree, that Q. Catulus asked Sulla, in confidence,
+whether it was the intention of the latter to spare any human being at
+all? for there seemed a chance of his having no one left to rule over
+but himself; and such a man was likely to find self-government
+exceedingly difficult.
+
+While these things were going on at Rome, Marius was besieged in
+Præneste, from which he tried to make his escape through the common
+sewer; a mode of insuring his life that was far from dignified. He,
+however, was espied through an iron aperture, which was so grating to
+his feelings, that he called upon his slave to run him through; when the
+faithful fellow immediately bored him to death with a trusty and rusty
+weapon.
+
+Sulla, the perpetrator of all the acts of despotism and cruelty which
+are above described, was without any legal authority, and had no more
+right than the meanest subject of the republic to the power which he
+exercised. His reign was a reign of terror, supported by the swords of a
+sordid soldiery. Of the two Consuls, Marius was already dead; and Carbo,
+being taken prisoner, was condemned to death; so that Carbo--the
+blackness of whose conduct justified his title of the coal--was soon
+reduced to ashes.
+
+The senate, which had been cut down by assassination to suit the views
+of Sulla, elected L. Valerius Flaccus as interrex, who immediately
+caused Sulla to be invested with the power of doing whatever he liked,
+as long as he liked; or, to use the official phraseology, made him
+dictator for an unlimited period.
+
+On receiving his appointment, the first measure of Sulla was to reward
+the tools who had assisted him, and L. Valerius Flaccus was immediately
+made master of the horse, while the military murderers, who had acted as
+executioners in the execution of his plans, received grants of land in
+the places which had been unfavourable to the tyrant. He courted a
+certain sort of popularity by extending the suffrage to some 10,000
+emancipated slaves, who retained enough of their slavishness to cause
+them to vote as their master desired. He affected to reconstitute the
+legislative body which he had illegally destroyed, and he sent into it a
+quantity of that noxious scum which, in the troubled waters of
+revolution, is frequently cast up to the surface of society.
+
+Having established his position through the brutality of one part of the
+people, and the cowardice of the other, he set about the business of a
+reformer; and, though he did much harm, the little good that he
+accomplished must not be denied to him. Being a despot by nature, he
+limited, as far as he could, the popular element in the constitution, by
+curtailing the power of the tribunes; and he increased the government
+patronage by adding to the number of pontiffs and augurs, so that he
+might have the privilege of appointment to lucrative, but useless,
+offices. His changes in the criminal code were, however, really
+beneficial, for he made murder, whether committed by poison or violence,
+a crime by law; and, indeed, it was necessary that the point should be
+clearly defined, for military murders at the hands of the executive had
+been so numerous that it was reasonably doubted whether human life was
+henceforth to be protected at all by the government. Many old laws were
+re-enacted, though they had never been repealed; but the usurpers of
+power had so thoroughly trampled on every legal form, that it was
+impossible to know which of the laws were to be regarded as imperative
+on the people.
+
+Sulla, and his friends, boasted that his firmness had given tranquillity
+to Rome; but tranquillity can scarcely be a desirable condition to one
+whose quietude is the result of a gag in the mouth, a sword suspended
+over the head, and chains on every part of the body. The repose, or
+rather, the stillness thus obtained, was no less costly than
+inconvenient, for there was a wholesale confiscation of the property of
+all who were supposed to entertain views different from those of the
+government. The iniquities of the master will often be followed by the
+man, and, in conformity with this rule, a fellow, named Chrysogonus, one
+of Sulla's creatures, caused the murder of Roscius of Armenia, in order
+to get the opportunity of robbing him. The property of Roscius was
+knocked down at a mock auction to a bad lot of ruffians, who were there
+to intimidate the auctioneer into doing their smallest bidding.
+Everything went for positively nothing, and Chrysogonus was understood
+to have got nearly the whole of it at a ludicrously low figure.
+
+The laws made by Sulla, though perhaps plain enough in their purport,
+had an ambiguity in their application which was extremely inconvenient.
+Though binding at some times, in some places, upon some persons, they
+were not so at other times, in other places, upon others. He had laid it
+down as a rule that no one could be elected consul until he had been
+prætor; though, in the case of his own adherents, Sulla was not at all
+particular. When, however, L. Ofella, the commander at Præneste, who had
+never been prætor, put up for the consulship, Sulla declared such
+conduct was not to be put up with at all, and had him killed in the
+middle of a morning's canvass. The people were rather angry at the
+outrage, when Sulla, walking among a group with a sword in his hand,
+"demanded silence for an anecdote."[72] A circle drew round him,
+tremblingly alive to what he was about to say, when the despot proceeded
+as follows: "A labourer," said he, "was at work at the plough, when he
+was annoyed by insects, which caused him to stop and beat them off by
+dusting his own jacket. Finding himself annoyed a second time he took
+off his jacket and threw it into the fire. Now, I advise those whom I
+have twice conquered not to oblige me to try the fire," The people, who
+knew something of Sulla's threatened fire, dreaded it with all the
+horror of a burned child, and he was left to pursue his career of
+unchecked atrocity.
+
+A man who has the cruelty of a brute has, generally, the other debasing
+appetites of the lower order of animals; and Sulla had as much of the
+sensualist as of the tyrant in his character. To a thirst for blood he
+added the appetite of a glutton; and, having amassed enormous wealth by
+murder and rapine, he longed for the opportunity to expend his
+ill-gotten means in idleness and debauchery. He accordingly called the
+people together in the forum, and, having walked up and down for some
+time asking if anybody dared to make a charge against him, he resigned
+the dictatorship. This abdication has been lauded by some as a proof of
+magnanimity and disinterestedness; but, to sum up the truth in a few
+words, he had practised human butchery as a trade, and, having realised
+an enormous fortune, he retired from business. Having secured all the
+profits that were likely to accrue from his unprincipled career, he left
+to others the difficult work of sustaining the results of his policy. He
+retired to Puteoli, where he passed much of his time in the company of
+actors, and became the intimate associate of one or two popular low
+comedians. In his sober moments--which were very few during the latter
+part of his life--he wrote his own memoirs, and was employed upon the
+work until within a few days of his death, which happened B.C. 78, when
+he had reached the age of sixty. Seldom had a man, who had reached but
+three-score, left so many scores unsatisfied. Such was his cruelty, that
+he delighted in loading prisoners with fetters, and then shedding their
+blood, which caused it to be said of him that he was no less fond of
+mangling than of ironing. He had so little regard for old associations,
+that when one of his acquaintances reminded him of the days when they
+lived in the same house--Sulla paying 2000 sesterces for the basement,
+and his former friend 3000 for the first floor--the Dictator refused to
+spare his fellow-lodger's life, but brutally remarked, that the story,
+whether upper or lower, was an old one, and had long ago lost its
+interest. It is said that dungeons or cellars were attached to Sulla's
+house for the purpose of keeping a supply of human beings always on hand
+for occasional sacrifice. The manner of his death rendered him an object
+as repulsive as he had become by his mode of life; for, his
+licentiousness led to a disease which developed itself in the generation
+of vermin in his skin; and he may be said to have been almost eaten up
+with corruption before he expired. By his own desire his body was
+burned; as if he had thought that fire might act in some sort as a
+purifier of his memory. The ladies of the nobility threw perfume on the
+funeral pile,[73] but it was too late to bring him into good odour.
+Numerous attendants carried spices of every kind; and, in addition to
+the ordinary mace-bearers, there were several officers laden with
+cinnamon. The fact of incense having been offered at the funeral pile of
+such a monster, is enough to incense any one who reads a statement so
+humiliating to humanity.
+
+[Illustration: Funeral Pile of Sulla.]
+
+In personal appearance Sulla was by no means attractive; for he had a
+quantity of green in his eye, an abundance of red in his hair, and a
+profusion of purple in his countenance. His face was, like his
+character, full of spots; and those who accused him of aspiring to the
+purple, said the fact might be read in his look, for his cheeks were of
+blue, and caused himself, as well as his acts, to wear a very dark
+complexion. He was coarse in his manners, and had no appreciation of any
+kind of delicacy but the delicacies of the table. Notwithstanding the
+unpleasant features of Sulla's person and character, he was married five
+times; for divorce had become so easy, that a man could always put his
+old wife away when he wished for a new one.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[71] As quoted by Plutarch, in Sulla, c. 28.
+
+[72] Vide the account given by Appian, c. 102.
+
+[73] Plutarch in Sulla, c. 38.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.
+
+
+REACTION AGAINST THE POLICY OF SULLA. SERVICES OF Q. SERTORIUS.
+METELLUS. CN. POMPEY. SPIRITED STEPS OF SPARTACUS. THE IRATE PIRATE.
+
+[Illustration: Cæsar and Pompey very much alike, especially Pompey.]
+
+The tyrannical acts of Sulla had smothered, but not extinguished, the
+flame of liberty, and every piece of injustice had been so much fuel
+heaped upon a smouldering fire. At the death of Sulla, the population
+consisted of little else than those who had been beggared by a rapacious
+soldiery, and the military desperadoes who had done the tyrant's work; a
+melancholy combination of the victimisers and the victimised. The
+Consuls were M. Æmilius Lepidus and Q. Lutatius Catulus; the former
+having enriched himself by connexion with the dictator's party, but the
+tide having turned, he turned with it, in the hope that it might again
+lead on to fortune. Catulus, on the other hand, adhered to the policy of
+Sulla; and there being reason to fear that the two Consuls would get up
+a quarrel--in the course of which the lookers-on would be robbed--the
+Senate made the Consuls swear that they would not take up arms against
+each other. The oath was readily taken, and no less readily broken by
+those republican chiefs, who came into violent collision near the very
+gates of Rome; and Lepidus, having got the worst of it, fled to
+Sardinia, where, having laid down his plans for the future, he laid down
+himself, and died rather unexpectedly.
+
+Several of the laws of Sulla were so manifestly unjust as to be
+indefensible even by his own partisans; and many of them were repealed
+under various consulships. Cn. Pompey, who had been a warm adherent of
+the dictator, had a much warmer feeling for himself, and he courted
+popular favour by the promise of many reforms which involved a
+compromise of his former principles. The republic was, in fact, the
+sport of a set of unprincipled men, who were trying, by every artifice
+and crime, to get to the head of it. They cared nothing for the public
+interests, but thought only of their own; which will be too often the
+case when the chief power in the state is open to any who will make the
+highest bid for it. Pompey had gone into the market with his abilities
+when tyranny required tools; but perceiving that demagogues were now in
+demand, he endeavoured to make a profit of popular principles. Others
+had embarked on the same voyage, shifting their course with the breath
+of public opinion, and having no rudder but self-interest. One of these
+was L. Licinius Lucullus, a man of excessive wealth, which he used, or
+rather abused, in excessive luxury. He employed art for the purpose of
+opposing nature; and, among other pieces of prodigality, he endeavoured
+to convert a portion of the sea into a private fish-pond. This he
+attempted at his winter residence near Naples; where, by a cutting
+through the rocks he formed an opening into the bay, and kept upon his
+own premises a continual supply of fresh fish in a reservoir of salt
+water. His tastes were not, however, limited to the pleasures of the
+dinner-table; for he had not only studied the law, and had the Twelve
+Tables at his fingers' ends, but he had collected a library of such vast
+extent, that it comprehended a store of information far beyond the
+comprehension of its owner.
+
+M. Licinius Crassus was another candidate for power, which he sought
+rather by means of his wealth, than his talents; for he had far more
+money than wit; and Crassus often evinced signs of crass ignorance.
+
+Almost the only illustrious man of the period was C. Julius Cæsar, who
+could turn his hand, no matter what was in it, to anything. He was as
+ready with the pen as with the sword; but the latter was not sharper
+than his tongue; while his mind was so capacious and elastic, that it
+could adapt itself to small or great things with equal facility. A very
+little subject is often lost in the vast expanse of a very great
+intellect; and a diminutive understanding cannot afford space for the
+admission of a grand idea; but there was suitable accommodation for
+either one or the other, or both at once, in the self-adapting mind of
+Cæsar. He was an author without jealousy, a scholar without pedantry,
+and a politician without quackery.
+
+These, and other illustrious men, flourished in Rome about this time;
+but Pompey, who had a natural love of pomp, possessed the art of
+concentrating upon himself the rays reflected from the brilliant
+personages who surrounded him; so that it was difficult to distinguish
+at all times between him and the other men of distinction of the period.
+
+During the lifetime of Sulla, Q. Sertorius had been serving, or rather
+commanding, in Spain, where he held the post of prætor, and was engaged
+in keeping the interests of his party--that of Marius--alive, by killing
+all who were opposed to them. His professed object was to unite
+Spaniards and Romans as one people; but his mode of reconciling any
+differences was to put to the sword those who, after he had put their
+opinions to the test, were found to disagree with him. Sulla had sent an
+army, under C. Annius, to attack Sertorius in Spain, when Sertorius,
+looking upon C. Annius as a mere deputy, with whom a deputy on his side
+might deal, despatched Julius Salinator to meet the envoy. The result
+proved that the prætor had done wisely in acting on his discretion,
+rather than giving way to any sudden impulse of valour; for Salinator,
+whom he had sent as a substitute for himself, was killed, when, in his
+capacity of proxy, he approximated too closely to the enemy.
+
+Sertorius, who had sent out Salinator as a sort of feeler--not exactly
+expecting that the latter would have to feel his death-blow--perceived
+there was little prospect of his own success; and he made his escape to
+Africa. While in Mauritania, having no quarrel of his own, he interfered
+in the quarrels of other people; and there being two claimants to the
+Mauritanian crown, he supported one, and--by way of keeping his hand
+in--picked the pocket of the other. His meddling having paid him
+extremely well, he made up his mind and his luggage to retire into
+private life, and an account he had heard of the Canary Islands tempted
+him to deposit his well-feathered nest in that congenial locality.
+
+The Lusitanians, however, who had been robbed by the Romans belonging to
+Sulla's party, having a vague idea of the propriety of setting a thief
+to catch a thief, entreated Sertorius to defend them against their
+enemies. The engagement was entered into after some little delay as to
+the terms; when Sertorius set to work with so much ardour, that he was
+soon fighting four Roman generals at once; and, what was still more
+remarkable, he was getting decidedly the best of it. His mode of warfare
+was to pour down from one fastness to another with such speed, that his
+foes never knew where to have him, until he had them in the most
+unexpected manner. If they began to march, says Plutarch, he was upon
+their heels,--if they sat still, he was upon their back,--and if they
+invested a town, he turned the investment to his own profit by
+intercepting all their convoys. The enemy had no resource against his
+arms but their own legs, for flight was their sole safeguard.
+
+Not satisfied with fighting the battles of the Spaniards, he began
+regulating their civil domestic affairs, and endeavoured to translate
+the Spanish into the Roman character. His object was to establish a
+Roman republic in Spain; but it is difficult to manufacture a foreign
+article of native materials. He appointed 300 persons as a senate; and,
+though the greater part were Spaniards, he took as many proscribed
+Romans as he could find, in the hope that they would serve as a sort of
+Roman cement, to make it hold together. He established a school--a
+classical academy--where Latin and Greek were taught, and where the
+pupils wore boys' tunics, after the Roman fashion.
+
+Sertorius was a general favourite with all classes, besides the classes
+of the school; and happening to have a favourite fawn, which followed
+him wherever he went, flattery declared the fawn was sent him by the
+gods, as a mark of favour.
+
+Fortune appeared to favour him in all he undertook; and even Q.
+Metellus, with a large army, could produce no effect,--a failure that
+was attributed to the age and imbecility of that illustrious veteran.
+Sertorius was joined by Perperna, who, on the strength of the forces he
+brought, expected to share in the command; but such is the influence of
+success, that Perperna's men repudiated their own leader, and insisted
+on having Sertorius as their general.
+
+[Illustration: Sertorius and his young Friends.]
+
+The constant arrival of unfavourable news at Rome, at length induced
+Pompey to exclaim--"This will never do; I must go and settle the matter
+myself;" for Pompey's conceit induced him to conceive that he should
+easily conquer Sertorius. The latter was besieging Lauro, the modern
+Liria, to which the former advanced for the purpose of relieving it.
+There was, near the walls, a hill that it was important to possess, and
+both parties tried for it; but Sertorius, setting his eye on the top,
+was the first to get up to it. Pompey, with consummate vanity, expressed
+his determination to dislodge the fellow forthwith, and sent a message
+to the town, desiring the inhabitants to sit upon the walls, that they
+might see how cleverly he would dispose of their enemy. Sertorius, on
+hearing the boast, observed, smilingly, that "a general should watch
+behind as well as before,"--an observation that Pompey, who did not see
+behind him at the time, would often afterwards look back upon. Sertorius
+had, in fact, a very considerable reserve, with which he hemmed the
+besiegers in while he burned the inhabitants out, to the utter
+astonishment of Pompey, who, though near enough to the flames to warm
+his hands, could not interfere without burning his fingers.
+
+Pompey was, nevertheless, impatient to measure swords with Sertorius; an
+operation which, though it seems indicative of coming to close
+quarters, must always keep a soldier at arm's length, at least, from
+his antagonist. Desirous of all the glory that might be obtained,
+Pompey, hearing that Metellus was coming up with assistance, resolved on
+precipitating a battle, and he accordingly commenced one rather late in
+the afternoon, though he knew he might be quite in the dark as to the
+issue. Sertorius and Pompey each advanced at the head of a division, but
+by some accident they did not happen to meet; and each of them came back
+to the main body of his army with the conviction that he had been
+victorious. On the renewal of the conflict the generals met, the armies
+knocked their two heads together, when Pompey, being stunned by the
+blow, and having no one to advise him what to do, took to flight for the
+purpose of consulting his own safety.
+
+Though apparently invincible by his enemies, Sertorius was not safe from
+his friends, for he was murdered at a dinner-party given to him by
+Perperna. The cloth had not been removed, when Sertorius was startled by
+a singular _entrée_, in the shape of a band of assassins, who set upon
+him and slew him. So much was he respected by the Spaniards, that it is
+said his death brought dying suddenly into fashion, and many killed
+themselves at his funeral, for the purpose of taking Sertorius as their
+pattern. Perperna immediately declared himself commander-in-chief, but
+he was quite unfit for the place, and in his very first engagement he
+was cut to pieces, with the whole of his army. Whether they were
+literally cut to pieces, is a matter of doubt to us, though the account
+is placidly adopted by the graver historians; but when we consider the
+quantity of cutting and coming again of the same parties--as exemplified
+particularly in the case of the Samnites--which we are continually
+called upon to place faith in, we find belief rather difficult.
+
+While these things were proceeding in Spain, the slaves were going on in
+the most perplexing manner in Italy and its neighbourhood. Some of the
+ablest of them had been trained in gladiatorial schools to afford
+amusement in the Circus; but this outrage to humanity brought much
+misery in its train to those who were the cause of it. The slaves were
+exercised in the use of all sorts of weapons, and humanity was lowered
+by hiring them out for shows on public occasions. Being skilled in the
+employment of the sword, they began to think of wielding it against
+their oppressors, instead of trying it upon each other, and about
+seventy of them escaped under the leadership of a Thracian of their
+body, named Spartacus. Being unprovided with arms, they plundered the
+cook-shops, where they seized spits for spears, skewers for daggers,
+carving knives for swords, dripping-pans for shields, and basting-spoons
+for general purposes. They next entered the shops of the carpenters, and
+seized the tools of the workmen, many of whom concealed the implements
+of their industry; but, if a saw happened to show its teeth, it was
+immediately captured. Their party, though at first small, was increased
+by all the runaway debtors of the district; for it is a remarkable fact
+that those who owe privately more than they can pay, are often foremost
+among those who talk the loudest about what they owe to the public
+interests. They took up their position on Mount Vesuvius--an appropriate
+place for a breaking out--and their numbers having swelled to 10,000,
+they poured themselves down, like a devastating stream of lava, on many
+neighbouring towns, which were speedily laid in ashes. Spartacus pushed
+forward as far as the foot of the Alps; but his followers were intent on
+returning to Rome, in order to sack it, and add its contents to their
+baggage. M. Licinius Crassus was sent after him; and having undertaken
+to overtake him, came up with him in Lucania. The slaves fought like
+lions, or, rather, with the ferocity of the brutes with whom they had
+been taught to contend, and were, in some instances, victorious.
+
+[Illustration: Armed Slave.]
+
+Crassus had sent Mummius to keep the army in check, but the latter had
+received particular directions not to fight; for the object of the
+republican general was to take all the glory for himself, irrespective
+of his country's interests. Mummius, however, had the same feeling, and
+was desirous of winning a reputation, regardless of the orders of his
+superior; for he knew that a military success, in the unstable condition
+of the executive, would, however irregular, be passed over by the
+people, and perhaps made a stepping-stone for himself to supreme power.
+His men, who were not actuated by the same personal motives as himself,
+saw the insufficiency of their force, and, being seized with a panic,
+ran away, without stopping to draw their swords from their scabbards.
+Spartacus formed the idea of passing into Sicily, and proceeded to
+Rhegium, where he bargained with some pirates to supply him with
+vessels; but after pretending much friend-ship, they never furnished him
+with any ship at all, though he had paid the knaves the price of a small
+navy.
+
+Spartacus found himself blockaded in Rhegium; and Crassus, cutting a
+trench all round, thought to prevent all egress from the place; but
+neither Crassus nor his trench proved deep enough to answer the purpose
+proposed, for Spartacus filled up a portion of the ditch, and walked
+over it. Crassus, now fearing that his cause was lost, sent to Rome for
+the assistance of Pompey, who, priding himself on his previous
+victories, and mentally ejaculating, "I'm the only man; they 're always
+obliged to send for me," proceeded to meet Spartacus. No sooner had
+Crassus sent for help, than he recovered from his panic, and sent to say
+he should require no aid; but he had calculated in the absence of the
+host, for when the host of Spartacus appeared, Crassus found it no easy
+matter to contend with them. The latter, however, grown too confident of
+success, determined on running the chance of striking or receiving a
+decisive blow, notwithstanding the misgivings of their leader.
+
+[Illustration: Spartacus.]
+
+Spartacus commenced the day by sending for his horse, and killing it, to
+the utter astonishment of the spectators, and the intense bewilderment
+of the unfortunate animal. "If I win the day," said he, "I shall have
+many better horses; but if I lose it, the poor creature would be useless
+to me in my very humble walk of life, or my more probable walk out of
+it." Such was his only mode of accounting for an act, which none who
+pitied the suffering of an equine animal could regard with equanimity.
+On the day of the battle, Spartacus was soon wounded, but falling on his
+knees, he continued to fight in that uneasy position. Being at last
+overpowered, he fell, with 40,000 of his men, who, according to the
+authorities, were sent to destruction; but though there is no
+hesitation in saying where they went, the question where they came from,
+is one which the grave historians have paid no attention to. Of the
+whole 40,000 who are said to have been found dead upon the field, it is
+asserted that two only had their backs to the foe; but we suspect that
+if there had been time for the defeated to have turned themselves round,
+there would have been many more in the same position.
+
+Crassus marched towards Rome, expecting to be received with enthusiasm;
+but Pompey who had met and exterminated 3000 Thracians, sent a letter
+home, declaring that "what Crassus had done was all very well, but that
+he (Pompey) had really put an end to the war by his act of determined
+butchery." Knowing the value attached by a military republic to a
+sanguinary act, he was sanguine enough to expect the office of Consul.
+This he obtained in conjunction with his rival Crassus, who laid himself
+out, and laid out a considerable sum of money as well, for the purchase
+of mob popularity. He gave the people corn for nothing, and invited them
+to dinner-parties of 10,000 at a time; but his prodigality only proves
+the extent of his plunder, for nothing could have gone into the public
+mouth, but that which had in some shape or other come out of the public
+pocket. Pompey, on the other hand, practised the profession of humility,
+which perhaps answered better in a double sense; for it was certainly
+cheaper, and possibly somewhat more effective, than ostentatious
+prodigality. He used to lead his own horse in a procession, to show that
+he was a simple _eques_, on a footing of equality with other citizens.
+When his consulship was at an end, he retired into a private station,
+where he lived like a prince--a style that seems to be much in favour
+with those who preach the doctrine of perfect equality.
+
+It was impossible for such an active participator in public affairs to
+remain wholly idle; and the alarming spread of piracy soon gave him an
+opportunity for really honourable distinction. The pirates were becoming
+a scourge to Rome, but Rome had richly deserved it, for it had been her
+own injustice that had called into existence these dangerous enemies to
+humanity. They consisted, in the first instance, of men ruined by Roman
+extortion, who took to the mountains and the sea, where the true
+excitement of the ups and downs of life may be most vividly experienced.
+These men had in time been joined by the once rich and noble, some of
+whom, having sold the wives and families they could no longer keep,
+began to plough the ocean as the only field of enterprise. Piracy thus
+became a regular business of man, just as in more civilised times it has
+become a regular part of the business of bookselling. Towns were
+plundered, the cattle were carried off, and the inhabitants walked off
+to captivity. The rich were frequently kidnapped on the roads, and
+nothing but a handsome ransom would obtain their liberty.
+
+The pirates had been often reduced, but had never been rooted out; and
+the tribune, A. Gabinius, proposed, therefore, that Pompey should be
+called upon to do extraordinary things with extraordinary powers. He was
+to have supreme command for three years, during which period he was to
+have whatever was asked, and to order everybody or everything that he
+required. He took his own measures extremely well, and took the measure
+of the pirates also with such effect, that he soon drove them from all
+their fastnesses, with a speed quite marvellous.
+
+Though his extraordinary powers had been conferred upon him for three
+years, he had such still more extraordinary power over himself, that he
+made a voluntary surrender of the former, when the object for which they
+had been entrusted to him was accomplished. Everything was achieved in
+three months, during which period he had taken several towns, none of
+which he had kept to himself, though one of them, in Cilicia, called
+Soli, he made a solitary exception of, by giving it the name of
+Pompeiopolis. The people of Soli talked a mixed dialect of Asiatic and
+Greek, which caused such a confusion of speech, that a great deal of
+confounded nonsense was the result; and it is said that the word
+solecism, as applied to an inaccuracy of speech, is derived from the
+name of the place alluded to.
+
+That the Romans should have been hostile to piracy is somewhat
+inconsistent with the principle, or rather the want of principle, on
+which they acted themselves, for they pirated almost everything. Their
+literature was mere piracy from the Greeks; and according to some
+authorities, the Romans pirated even from the pirates themselves; for
+the former are said to have pirated from the latter the idea of the
+system of the Zodiac.
+
+The pirates carried on their lawless trade with such success, that they
+had a fleet of more than 1000 galleys, many of them being handsomely
+gilded--a fact that glossed over in the eyes of many the iniquity of the
+means by which such wealth had been acquired. A dash of gaiety is said
+to have pervaded the enormities of these lawless depredators; and when
+among their prisoners they captured a Roman of high rank, they would
+politely request him to walk into the sea; for "to enslave one of the
+lords of the earth was an act they could not think of being guilty of."
+Young Julius Cæsar, who fell into their hands when a mere boy, on his
+voyage to Rhodes, appears to have met them more than half way in their
+sallies of humour. They asked twenty talents for his ransom, when he
+offered them fifty; and even then was so little anxious to leave them,
+that he remained thirty-eight days after having paid his money and
+become entitled to his quittance. During his stay among them he wrote
+satirical verses on their barbarous mode of life, and parried off their
+swords by the still keener weapons of ridicule. The pirates were amused
+by the sallies of their prisoner, who conveyed to them all the bluntness
+of truth in all the sharpness of epigram. They were sorry enough to part
+with him, when the money for his ransom arrived; but they had reason to
+be still more sorry when they met him again; for when he did so, it was
+only to capture them and carry them to Pergamus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.
+
+THE THIRD MITHRIDATIC WAR. DEPOSITION AND DEATH OF MITHRIDATES.
+
+
+While Pompey had been busy in punishing the pirates, Rome had something
+to fear from another quarter; for Mithridates had been everywhere
+beating up for recruits to beat down the Commonwealth. He was extremely
+rich, and had an army of 150,000 men; for the trade of war is unhappily
+one of those in which there is never any lack of hands ready to wage
+war, when their wages can be relied upon.
+
+Bithynia was one of the first objects of the attack of Mithridates, who
+was opposed by the Consul, M. Cotta; but the place was burned to the
+ground, and the ashes of poor Cotta were found in the condition of terra
+cotta among the ruins. Lucullus, the colleague of Cotta, was sent into
+Asia with a great army, which attacked Mithridates with such effect,
+that the king only saved his own life by emptying his pockets of all the
+money he had about him, and making a scramble of it among the hostile
+soldiers. The mercenaries, in fighting with each other for the loose
+silver, forgot to make sure of the sovereign. Mithridates fled to his
+son-in-law Tigranes, who, having named the metropolis Tigranocerta,
+after himself, had established himself as King of Armenia. Lucullus
+proceeded across the Tigris, and required that Mithridates should be
+given up; but Tigranes, looking at his venerable though determined
+father-in-law, referred the legate for an answer to the old gentleman.
+The King of Pontus answered by requesting that the enemy would come and
+take him, which the Romans were actually about to do, when Mithridates
+and Tigranes thought it safer to run for their lives; Tigranes
+ingloriously taking his crown from his head, and putting it in his
+pocket, to avoid being recognised.
+
+The treasury of Tigranocerta, with a surplus of two millions sterling,
+fell into the hands of the Romans, who seized on the spoil, and who had
+become so independent by their temporary wealth, that they criticised,
+approved, and abused or disobeyed, when and why they pleased, the orders
+of their general.
+
+Mithridates, taking advantage of this state of things, collected a
+numerous army, and fell wherever he could upon the Roman garrisons. On
+one occasion he approached so near the enemy as to be within a stone's
+throw, and as they happened to be throwing stones, he received one on
+the knee; while an arrow, fixing itself under the eye, at once opened it
+to the full extent of his danger. He soon recovered from the effect of
+his wounds, and was ready by the ensuing spring to attack C. Triarius,
+when a Roman soldier, disguised as a native, pretended to whisper
+something in the ear of Mithridates, at the same time giving him a most
+unfriendly poke in the ribs with a concealed weapon. The King was so
+unprepared for the wound that he fainted right away, and his troops were
+so taken up in catching him, that they forgot to catch the foe, who were
+suffered to escape, though they might otherwise have been easily seized
+upon. Mithridates, having come to, expressed his anger at the
+carelessness of his officers, and, notwithstanding his wound and his
+age, he would have attempted the pursuit--under difficulties--of the
+enemy. The next morning he renewed the attack on Triarius, and cut to
+pieces 7000 men; an operation, however, which seems almost too extensive
+for even the scissors of Fate, and we cannot help regarding it,
+therefore, as a sheer invention of the graver historians.
+
+Pompey was now sent to supersede Lucullus in the command; a measure that
+had become doubly necessary, for Lucullus had not only failed as a
+leader, but his soldiers were daily refusing to follow him. When his
+troops approached within a short distance of Mithridates, they seemed
+more inclined to engage with him in a friendly than in a hostile sense,
+for many of them joined his forces. Soon after the arrival of Pompey, a
+battle was fought by night on the banks of the Euphrates. The moon,
+being near its setting, had lengthened the reflection cast by the Roman
+troops, and the soldiers of Mithridates, mistaking the reflection for
+the substance, began fighting most energetically with mere shadows.
+Every missile, thrown apparently into the midst of the Romans, was as
+ineffective as a miss, and the soldiers of Mithridates believing the foe
+to be invulnerable, fled in a state of panic. The King himself fought
+valiantly at the head of his body-guard; a corps which counted among its
+members his own wife, who, in the arms of a man, committed fearful havoc
+upon the Roman soldiery. Notwithstanding the powerful assistance of this
+strong-minded and able-bodied woman, Mithridates was compelled to fly,
+though he made extensive arrangements for renewing the war on the first
+favourable opportunity. This opportunity seems never to have arrived,
+or, if it came, it was lost by the treachery and cowardice of his son
+Pharnaces, who persuaded the soldiers that his father was an old fool to
+think of fighting with the Romans. Several of the principal officers
+took the same view of the subject, and joined in a conspiracy to depose
+the King, for the purpose of setting up Pharnaces as his substitute.
+
+Mithridates was in bed one morning, when, woke by a considerable
+shouting under his window, he heard the words, "Pharnaces is king!" and
+sent to know the meaning of such an outcry. The answer was
+unsatisfactory, when the veteran, mounting his charger, made a speech on
+horseback, which nobody listened to. His son gave orders that he should
+be seized, when the old man, putting spurs to his horse, galloped up a
+hill, which for a man in the decline of life, who had been going down
+hill rather rapidly, was a bold and hazardous experiment. From the
+eminence he had gained, he saw the depth to which he had fallen; for he
+witnessed the coronation of his son Pharnaces, amidst the acclamations
+of the army. The poor old man was so affected at the sight, that he took
+from a fold in his dress a deadly drug, which, in anticipation of an
+alarming self-sacrifice, he always carried about with him. He was about
+to take off the mixture, when his two daughters, who were standing at
+his side, entreated the privilege of a drink at the deadly decoction.
+For some time he hesitated; but he was at length touched by their looks
+of mute entreaty at the fatal liquid. Dividing the contents of the
+bottle into three parts, he gave a dose to each of his daughters,
+reserving a dose for himself; and on a signal from the old gentleman,
+the two young ladies swallowed the nauseous stuff they had so earnestly
+solicited.
+
+[Illustration: Mithridates, his rash act.]
+
+The poison took effect at once upon the females; but their father
+experienced only a disagreeable taste, without the deadly result he had
+looked for. Though too much for two, it was not enough for three, and
+the poor old man tottered about in a state of nausea, unattended with
+danger. Having been previously tired of existence, he was now thoroughly
+sick of it, and turning to a loyal servant at his side, he requested
+that he might immediately be put out of his misery. The faithful fellow,
+making a compromise between his morality and his duty, turned away his
+eyes, and held out the point of his sword, when Mithridates, coming
+speedily to the point, fell on the outstretched weapon.
+
+Thus ended the Mithridatic War, as well as Mithridates himself; and his
+cowardly son Pharnaces sent in his adhesion to Pompey, acknowledging, in
+a spirit of humility and subservience to Rome, that he only held his
+kingdom at the pleasure of the Senate.
+
+[Illustration: Mithridates.]
+
+The character of Mithridates has been drawn by so many different
+delineators, that his portrait, as taken by the historians, presents a
+daub in which it is difficult to recognise the true features. So many
+skilful artists have been employed upon the task, that we hesitate in
+submitting Mithridates to a fresh canvassing at our hands; nor are we
+desirous of using the pencil, as some have done, for the purpose of
+imparting additional blackness. Some of those who have taken the sketch
+in hand, have thrown in the shadows with a ten-pound brush, while others
+have clothed him in several coats and overcoats of varnish, for the
+purpose of glossing over the defects of his character. All are ready to
+admit that he was an able ruler; but he had not that perfect uprightness
+and straightness which give to a ruler the qualities most to be desired.
+He could speak twenty-five different languages; and thus he was often
+able to talk over those with whom he might not have been able to come to
+an understanding, had his conversation been less versatile. He was of
+gigantic stature, which caused him to be looked up to by those who were
+placed under his authority. Notwithstanding his excessive height, he was
+not at all ungainly in his appearance, but his well-moulded frame was a
+perfect picture.
+
+His fondness for the fine arts was exhibited in the rapacity with which
+he seized upon the choicest efforts of human genius, which were in turn
+stolen from him by other amateurs, whose patronage of talent was evinced
+in the ardour with which they appropriated the result of its labours. In
+Sinope, one of his cities, was found an astronomical sphere, which seems
+to show that the science of the stars was within the circle of his
+knowledge. In one of his fortresses was discovered a statue of himself
+no less than twelve feet high, in pure gold, which proved not only the
+value he set upon himself, but showed how completely he was wrapped up
+in the precious metal.
+
+Credit has been given him for the possession of many domestic virtues;
+because, though he was cruel to one half of his numerous wives, he
+treated the other half with considerate tenderness. He excited the
+terror of his foes, but enjoyed the affection of his servants; and
+though hated in the field, he was beloved in the kitchen. According to
+Paterculus, Mithridates was a man of whom it is difficult to speak, and
+still more difficult to say nothing.[74] The same authority confers upon
+him a character for greatness of mind during the whole of his life; but
+when, having a great mind to kill himself, he prevailed on a slave to
+put him to death, he evinced--to use a contradictory expression--a vast
+amount of mental littleness.
+
+FOOTNOTE:
+
+[74] Mithridates, Ponticus Rex, vir neque silendus, neque dicendus sine
+curâ. Vell. Paterc., lib. ii., c. 18.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH.
+
+CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE. INTRODUCTION OF CICERO. CÆSAR, POMPEY, CRASSUS,
+AND CO.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+A Republic without republicans may be an exceptional state of things;
+but ancient as well as modern history furnishes proof that the existence
+of a republic is not incompatible with the absence of anything for which
+such a form of government is usually desired. It is now an ascertained
+fact, that the people have no greater enemies to liberty than
+themselves; and that universal suffrage is the surest instrument to
+effect the objects of a despot. Equality, in a republican sense, seems
+to imply a condition in which all are equally debased; and a nation
+appears to be never so thoroughly slavish as when it is free to choose
+its own ruler.
+
+The Romans had for some time been in the habit of placing themselves in
+the hands of a succession of tyrants and knaves, who obtained popularity
+by the display of the worst attributes. One would win the public voice
+by his boldness as a thief; another would render himself the elect of
+the people by his sanguinary successes as a wholesale murderer. It is
+unfortunate for what is termed the liberal cause, that the vulgarest
+qualities often attract the largest share of applause; and that those
+who are entrusted most freely with the confidence of the people are
+almost always the most unscrupulous in betraying it.
+
+Rome had now sunk to the lowest condition; and society, under the
+republic, had become so dissolute, that its dissolution might be looked
+for as a natural consequence. Among the nobles of the period was a
+certain mass of cruelty and corruption, under the name of Sergius
+Catiline. He boasted of a long line in connection with his family tree;
+but a much shorter line, in connection with any ordinary tree, would
+have been more appropriate to his merits. Having spent all his own
+money, he spent as much as he could of other people's, by running into
+debt as deeply as possible. In order to meet some of his old engagements
+sufficiently to enable him to contract new, he murdered his brother,
+with a few more of his family connections, and, in fact, justified the
+opinion formed of him on account of his antecedents, by killing his
+relatives. Having obtained a Proprætorship in Africa, he followed up his
+career of private swindling, by the wholesale practice of public
+robbery. He used his office for the purposes of extortion; and the only
+proof he gave of exactness was in the exactions to which he submitted
+all who were under his authority.
+
+On his return to Rome he hoped to have a wider scope for his dishonesty
+in the office of Consul, to which he aspired; and he formed a party of
+ruined spendthrifts, whose only chance of supporting themselves was by
+supporting him as a candidate for power. These desperadoes had nothing
+to lose, and everything to gain,--all that they had to lose being their
+own, and all that they had to gain being the property of others.
+Catiline had attracted the sympathies of these adventurers by promising
+to divide among them all the official salaries; and he had rallied round
+him a considerable number of adherents by offering to the "million" an
+opportunity of helping themselves to that which did not belong to them.
+He professed to be able to relieve all classes at once, by relieving the
+poor of their burdens, and the rich of their property. The dregs of the
+populace were easily stirred up, and even some of the nominal nobles
+were base enough to join in a conspiracy against their own order. The
+object of the conspiracy was to murder the whole of the senate by a
+massacre _en masse_; but the scheme was frustrated by that treachery
+which is almost sure to be found among a set of men who are banded
+together for a bad purpose. One Curius was induced to gratify the
+curiosity of a woman, named Fulvia, with whom he was in love; and the
+secret having reached female ears, flew to the tip of a female tongue,
+when the secret oozed out as naturally as water finding its level.
+
+Cicero, who had been the competitor of Catiline for the Consulship, soon
+became aware of the facts; and the former resolved to try and talk the
+conspiracy down, by making it the subject of several bursts of indignant
+eloquence.
+
+On the entrance of so illustrious a person as Cicero on the historical
+scene, it is fit that we should act the part of cicerone, for the
+purpose of introducing him. This celebrated character was born on the
+3rd of January, in the year of the City 647, at Arpinum, where his
+father had a seat before the future orator was capable of standing. His
+grandfather was a man of some consideration, pecuniary as well as moral;
+for he was possessed of some property, and looked up to as an authority
+in questions of local politics. He had two sons, the eldest of whom,
+Marcus, was the father of the celebrated Marcus Tullius, from whom the
+family has derived that indelible mark which time is not likely to
+obliterate. After receiving the rudiments of his education at his native
+place, he was sent to Rome, where he studied Greek; and the flame of
+oratory was first kindled in his mind by contact with the Greek poetic
+fire. As soon as he had assumed the toga, he became wrapped up in manly
+pursuits, and was placed under the care of Mucius Scævola, the augur,
+who augured extremely well of his pupil. The young Cicero soon evinced
+a turn for poetry, which caused his head to be constantly running upon
+poetical feet; and he came out rather strong in numbers at a very early
+period. At the appointed age he joined the army; for the laws of his
+country required that on his entrance into life he should incur the risk
+of being sent out of it. He was present in the Marsic War, at the taking
+of the Samnite camp; but being in-tent on another part of the field, he
+saw little of the battle. At the end of the war he devoted himself to
+literary pursuits, and wrote his work _De Inventione_, which, in
+accordance with the maxim that necessity is the mother of invention, no
+doubt derived its existence from the author's necessities.
+
+[Illustration: Fulvia.]
+
+He next studied the art of reasoning, under Diodorus, who came to live
+under Cicero's roof, so that the latter probably found, or rather
+provided, lodging, while the Stoic "stood" the logic, which was
+undoubtedly a reasonable consideration for the accommodation afforded
+him. In his twenty-sixth year Cicero came out regularly as a professed
+orator; and the public voice soon accorded to his own a reputation of
+the highest character.
+
+After talking incessantly for nearly two years, he found it necessary to
+take breath in retirement; and proceeded to Athens and to Rhodes, where
+he cultivated a more subdued style of oratory, getting rid of a
+disagreeable redundancy of action, and avoiding that motion, of course,
+of the arms, which is the common defect of the youthful advocate.
+
+On his return to Rome, after an absence of two years, he appeared in the
+courts of law with distinguished success, and had the next best business
+to those popular leaders, Cotta and Hortensius. The three learned
+brethren were all of them successful candidates for the offices of
+Consul and Quæstor, in the last of which capacity Cicero was sent to
+Sicily. There his chief employment was to keep up a good supply of wheat
+for the capital, and, by the production of large crops of corn, he
+cultivated his growing popularity. During his Quæstorship he visited
+Syracuse, and discovered the tomb of Archimedes, which was thoroughly
+overgrown with briers, presenting an apt monument to one who had
+trodden, during life, the thorny paths of science. Cicero left the
+island with the pleasing idea that all Rome had been resounding with the
+praises of his administration; but, on landing at Puteoli, he was not a
+little disgusted at meeting a friend who asked him "where he had been,
+and what was the latest news in the city?" Cicero, at once perceiving
+that out of sight and out of mind were the same thing, determined to
+keep himself henceforth in the public eye to prevent its being shut to
+his merits.
+
+It was not long after this period of his history that he came into
+collision with the conspirator, Catiline, whom he denounced before the
+assembled Senate, in an oration which has been preserved to this day, by
+the pungency of its sarcastic reasoning. Every sentence smacked of Attic
+salt, and every word was so much pepper to the guilty Catiline. The
+latter attempted a reply; but the senators were seized simultaneously
+with one of those coughs which spread like an influenza over an
+unwilling audience. The mask was now fairly torn off; and Catiline stood
+revealed in all his naturally atrocious features. He fled from Rome; but
+Cicero continued to show that though his hostility was all talk, it was
+of the most effective kind; for he sent forth speech after speech, and
+every sentence involved a sentence of "guilty" against Catiline. All
+those conspirators who had remained in Rome were seized, and strangled
+by the executioner, who, when they cried for pity, abruptly choked their
+utterance.
+
+[Illustration: _Cicero denouncing Catiline._]
+
+The conspiracy, though in great part stifled, was not wholly
+extinguished; for Catiline did his utmost to keep it alive, by
+assembling an army in Etruria. There he was to have been opposed by the
+Consul, C. Antonius; but that individual pleaded illness, and declared
+that a severe headache would preclude him from encountering the din of
+war, while a hoarseness, which he said had seized him by the throat,
+incapacitated him, as he alleged, for giving the word of command on
+the field of battle. His troops were, however, so determined on action,
+that they no sooner heard of their general being an invalid, than they
+insisted that his appointment was invalidated, and they proceeded to
+business under the command of his legate, M. Petreius. A fierce battle
+ensued, at Pistoria, and both sides fought like lions; though, to say he
+fought like a tiger would have been more appropriate to one of the race
+of Cati-line. Nobody fled, if the accounts are to be believed; but 3000
+conspirators fell with their swords in their hands, causing a perfect
+mountain of slain; and, to crown the whole, their leader is alleged to
+have formed the summit of this cadaverous pyramid. Those of the
+conspirators who were not killed by the sword were suffocated under the
+heaps of their companions; and the conspiracy itself was effectually
+smothered.
+
+Cicero having saved his country, went out of office,--a course exactly
+opposite to that followed by modern statesmen, who sometimes quit the
+service of their country when they have placed it in danger. He received
+the thanks of the Senate; was hailed as Pater Patriæ, the father of his
+country, and was invested with a civic crown,--a head-dress of
+oak-leaves; the material being a fitting type of that popularity which
+falls away and is scattered to the winds with such fatal facility.
+
+The fickleness of public favour was speedily shown in the case of
+Cicero; for it was proposed that Pompey should be recalled from Asia, to
+restore the Constitution; it being one of the inconveniences of a
+republic, that though the constitution is said to be always the best in
+the world, it is always in need of a succession of restoratives. Pompey
+landed at Brundusium, where he disbanded all his army, in order to show
+his attachment to republican simplicity,--a term which is often
+misapplied; for the simplicity of republicans consists chiefly in their
+aptitude for being imposed upon.
+
+Though Pompey arrived at Rome without his soldiers, he took care to show
+his grateful sense of services to come, by causing every man of them to
+receive a sum equal to about forty-five pounds sterling from the public
+treasury. He devoted a portion of his gains to building a temple,
+ostensibly to Minerva, but, in reality, dedicated to himself; for it was
+inscribed with an account of his victories.
+
+Having sought in vain the support of the Senate, he abandoned the
+aristocratic party, and threw himself upon the people, who received him
+with open arms; but the arms that are open to admit a candidate for
+popularity are often equally open to let him fall from his position.
+
+As Pompey is destined to lose his life before the end of the chapter, it
+may be as well to give some account of his birth, that the reader may be
+able to estimate the loss at its true value.
+
+Pompeius Cneius was born on the 30th of September, B.C. 106, a few
+months later than Cicero, and breathed his first at about the time when
+Jugurtha breathed his last, in a Roman prison. The family of Pompey
+belonged to the plebs; and one of his ancestors may be said to have
+lived upon air, for he was by profession a flute-player. His father,
+Pompeius Strabo, had imbibed aristocratic ideas, and fought in the
+Marsic War; but he seems to have despised the laurel of fame for the
+more profitable branch of plunder. His wealth had been considerable; and
+after his death his son was accused of having participated in the
+ill-gotten gains, when young Pompey, knowing the corruption of the
+tribunals, married the daughter of the judge, as a sure mode of getting
+a decision in his favour.
+
+His acquittal followed as a matter of course; for when public officials
+were immersed in every kind of selfishness and degradation, the sinking
+of the judge in the father-in-law was comparatively venial. By dishonest
+means the elder Pompey had come to a great estate, from a low condition;
+and the son sought to hide, in the abundance of his means, the meanness
+of his origin. He became proud and upstart, evincing a predilection for
+aristocracy, which often animates those of lofty talent and low birth;
+who frequently affect the littlenesses of the nominally great, instead
+of showing that true greatness can exist among the so-called little.
+Self aggrandisement was his grand, or rather his petty, object; and he
+owes to his ignoble attempts to elevate himself, the low place he
+occupies in the opinion of the impartial historian.
+
+Soon after his return from Asia to Rome, he celebrated a triumph, which
+had all the attributes of a vulgar puff; for there were carried before
+him long lists of his achievements, followed by several wagon-loads of
+goods, the produce of much pillage. Finding his political designs
+opposed by Cato and others, he was anxious to form a party of his own;
+and C. J. Cæsar, who saw the necessities of Pompey, determined on
+turning them to his own advantage. He made overtures, to which the other
+listened, and effected a reconciliation between Pompey and Crassus, who
+having both met, were capable of contributing in more senses than one to
+the success of the plans of Cæsar. These three men entered into a sort
+of political union, which is usually distinguished by the name of The
+First Triumvirate.
+
+Cæsar had become Consul in the year of the City 694, (B.C. 59) when the
+party of the Senate, wishing to have a check upon him, practised every
+sort of bribery to obtain the election of one Bibulus as his colleague.
+This individual was a mere nobody, with a remarkable deficiency of head;
+and the small wits of the day were accustomed to date their notes "in
+the Consulship of Julius and Cæsar," instead of in the Consulship of
+Cæsar and Bibulus.
+
+It is a remarkable fact that despotism always looks for its tools among
+those whom it designs for its victims; and there are no instruments so
+ready as the people themselves to put an end to popular liberty. It is
+the policy of a tyrant to destroy all power but his own; and the
+destruction of legal authority is always favourable to those who are
+playing the game of unprincipled ambition. Cæsar began by flattering the
+people at the expense of the Senate; and he enacted that records of the
+proceedings of the latter should be published under the title of _Acta
+Diurna_, which may be regarded as the origin of our journals of the
+House of Commons, and our daily newspapers. A second measure was a sort
+of Insolvent Act, for the benefit of the farmers of the public revenue,
+who, in their anxiety to obtain the contract, had offered more than they
+could pay for the privilege of collecting the taxes. His third great
+project was an agrarian law, in conformity with which any pauper citizen
+who could show at least three children--whether genuine, or borrowed for
+the occasion, it might have been difficult to ascertain--were entitled
+to a grant of land in Campania. This premium on improvident marriages
+called forth such an overwhelming demonstration of paternity, that the
+ground in Campania fell far short of the quantity of fatherland that was
+required; and it was necessary to purchase several thousands of acres,
+in order to widen the field for the operations of Cæsar. Bibulus opposed
+the measure; but his opposition, though for the moment busy, proved idle
+in the end; when, disgusted with failure, he shut himself up in his
+house for the rest of the year; and every one said that he had been
+completely shut up by his more powerful colleague.
+
+Cæsar was now more desirous than ever of a near alliance with Pompey;
+and, in order to draw the bands closer, the former gave his daughter in
+marriage to the latter, though the gentleman was obliged to put away his
+old wife, Mucia, to make room for the new; and the lady, Julia, was
+under the necessity of breaking off an engagement with an intended
+husband. In order to constitute a strong family party for carrying on
+the government, Cæsar himself married Calpurnia, the daughter of L.
+Calpurnius Piso, who, by means of private influence, was made consul for
+the ensuing year with A. Gabinus.
+
+It was customary for a retiring Consul to have a province assigned to
+him for a single year; but Cæsar having worked all the principal public
+departments with tools of his own, obtained, by a flagrant violation of
+the Constitution, a prolonged lease of his own power. The rich provinces
+of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyrium were assigned to him for five years; and
+Transalpine Gaul was afterwards added by the Senate, because they saw
+the people were so completely under his influence, that they would
+either have given him all he asked, or he would have taken all he wanted
+without asking it.
+
+Among the members of the aristocracy of this degenerate age of the Roman
+republic was one Clodius, whose name, like himself, was a corruption of
+Claudius, for he belonged to the family of the Claudii. This
+disreputable profligate had obtained an infamous notoriety during the
+festival of the _Bona Dea_, whose rites were celebrated on the first of
+May; and being conducted exclusively by women, the ceremony was no doubt
+one of a most confused and tedious character. Clodius having disguised
+himself in a female dress, passed unnoticed amid the din of many
+tongues, till female curiosity detected him in a flirtation with the
+wife of Cæsar, whose house was the scene of the festival. Clodius was
+brought to trial for the offence, and sent a retainer to Cicero, with
+instructions to the orator to prove an _alibi_. Instead of following the
+modern professional course of adopting any falsehood, however gross, for
+the sake of a client, Cicero hurried into the opposite extreme, and,
+indignantly throwing up his brief, not only rushed into the witness-box
+to give evidence against the accused, but threw up his cause in an
+explosive burst of eloquence. Notwithstanding this remarkable instance
+of honesty at the bar, there was so much corruption on the bench, that
+Clodius bribed the judge by throwing into the scales of justice a sum of
+gold which turned the balance in his favour. Clodius threatened revenge,
+and promised to stick to Cicero through life, for having cast him off,
+and refused to stick to him at such a momentous crisis.
+
+[Illustration: Cicero throws up his Brief, like a Gentleman.]
+
+Cæsar, who was the person most interested in the subject of the lawsuit,
+allowed it to give him very little uneasiness; for having divorced his
+wife, he continued on terms of friendship with Clodius. The latter
+became a candidate for the tribuneship; but being disqualified by his
+high birth, he got himself adopted into that for which nature had best
+adapted him--a very low family. By a bargain with the Consuls he
+obtained their support; for he promised that if they helped him to the
+tribuneship, he would assist them in helping themselves to a rich
+province at the close of their year of office. The disgraceful
+arrangement was completed,--the plunderers paying each other at the cost
+of the public welfare.
+
+Clodius immediately began to exercise his public authority for the
+gratification of his private feelings; and got a law passed for the sole
+purpose of destroying Cicero. The orator looked to the triumvirate for
+protection; but Pompey went out of town; Crassus remembered an old
+grudge; and Cæsar sided with his friend Clodius. Cicero, without
+waiting to take his trial, left the city, amid the lamentations of all
+the good, who formed a mourning party, far more select than numerous.
+After his departure, sentence of outlawry was passed upon him; his house
+on the Palatine, and his two villas, were by the hand of demolition
+brought to the ground, while the rest of his property was brought to the
+hammer at a public auction.
+
+Clodius having been successful in the gratification of one of his
+personal animosities, began to look about for other victims against whom
+he could put in force the power with which "the people" had entrusted
+him. Recollecting that he had once been in the hands of pirates, and
+that Ptolemy, King of Cyprus, had declined to rescue him, he passed a
+law that Ptolemy should be at once deposed; and he, in order to kill two
+unfortunate birds with one stone, got rid of Cato, by sending him to
+take possession of Cyprus as a Roman province. Ptolemy, instead of
+meeting the matter with spirit, met it with a dose of laudanum, and so
+far forgot himself as to seek in suicide forgetfulness of his sorrows.
+
+Cicero employed his exile in lamenting his fate; and though by
+profession a dealer in philosophy, he had no stock on hand for his own
+use, when its consolation was required. He sent whining letters to his
+wife; and his signature was so bedewed with tears, that he left a blot
+upon his name, through his unmanly weakness.
+
+Clodius being no longer Consul, a portion of the incubus which stifled
+the breath of freedom was removed, and the public voice ventured so make
+itself heard in demanding the recall of Cicero. The orator returned in
+triumph; and he showed his gratitude by supporting any measure that was
+proposed by any of those who had been influential in bringing him home
+again. His advocacy was demanded, and freely given, in favour of many a
+disgraceful proceeding on the part of his friends; and he undertook the
+defence of Gabinius, who had carried on a system of extortion in Syria.
+
+Rome was now completely in the hands of an ambitious party, which, by
+means of armed mercenaries, disposed of the lives, the liberties, and
+even the opinions of the citizens. Pompey and Crassus, at the
+instigation of Cæsar, put up for the Consulship a second time, when an
+opposition candidate, L. Domitius, having come forward, his servant was
+cut down by the soldiers before his face, as a hint to those who should
+presume to hold an opinion adverse to the existing authority. The
+candidate having seen the skull of his domestic split, feared an equally
+decisive plumper for his own poll, and retired into private life,
+leaving the executive to be re-elected without any attempt at
+opposition. The temporary powers of each member of the triumvirate were,
+by treachery and violence, prolonged for five years; and Cato, who
+ventured on an opinion that the step was not quite in accordance with
+the constitution or the law, was unceremoniously thrown into prison.
+Right was in all cases made completely subservient to might; and the
+competitors for power kept armed ruffians in their pay, whose collisions
+with each other were often of the most desperate character. In one of
+these encounters between the creatures of Clodius and the mercenaries of
+Milo, the former was killed, which caused the latter to be put upon his
+trial. Cicero was engaged to defend the accused; but Pompey, who hated
+Milo, had taken care to surround the former with an armed force, which
+so intimidated Cicero, that his tongue stuck to his mouth, when he
+himself ought to have stuck to his client. The orator had not a word to
+say for himself, or rather for Milo; and as not a sentence was said in
+his favour, a sentence was pronounced against him. He went into exile at
+Marseilles; and Cicero, with tardy zeal, wrote a defence when the trial
+was over. He sent a copy of it to Milo, who pronounced it excellent in
+its way, but a little too late; and he added, in writing to Cicero, "If
+you had only delivered it in time, you would have delivered me from the
+dilemma I was placed in."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH.
+
+OVERTHROW OF CRASSUS. DEFEAT OF POMPEY. DICTATORSHIP AND DEATH OF CÆSAR.
+END OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Cæsar's proceedings in Gaul are sufficiently familiar to enable us to
+treat them with a sort of contempt, by omitting even the heads of the
+oft-repeated tale from our history. Though his arms were abroad, his eye
+was at home, and he watched the affairs of Rome with a jealous interest.
+His confederates, Pompey and Crassus, had quarrelled; and the former
+fell out with Cæsar; so that there was a difference between the
+triumvirate, though they were all three alike in their unscrupulous
+designs upon the commonwealth.
+
+Crassus was busy in his province of Syria, laying his hands on every
+thing of any value, until somebody laid hands upon him, notwithstanding
+his worthlessness. His engagement with the Parthians was a short passage
+in his life, which led to his death; for he had been induced by
+treachery to plunge into the mess of the Mesopotamian deserts. There he
+encountered an army which endeavoured to strike terror into the Romans,
+by brayings, bellowings, the beating of drums, and every kind of hollow
+artifice. The Parthians, who were skilful in the use of the bow, sent
+forth such a shower of arrows, that fury darted into many an eye, and on
+many a lip there was a quiver. Crassus began to faint, and went into a
+sort of hysterics, highly incompatible with historic dignity. The enemy,
+however, tried a feint of a different kind, and pretended to run away;
+but when pursued, turned suddenly round, galloped upon the Romans
+through a sand-hill, thus raising so much dust, that the latter were
+obliged to lick it, as their mouths were full of it. In this position
+they were assailed with arrows, which having been shot at their feet,
+pinned many of them to the ground; and their hands being skewered in the
+same manner to their breasts, they could neither fly nor defend
+themselves.[75] The horses might still have charged; but when the poor
+creatures arrived at the Parthian pikes, they were obliged to pull up
+rather suddenly. The cavalry being cut to pieces, Crassus and some of
+his footmen retired to a sand-hill for safety; but they soon found the
+error of building their hopes on such a foundation. Crassus himself hid
+his head in the sand, and would see nobody; but ultimately he was
+induced to enter into a negotiation with the Parthian general. In the
+course of the parley a little misunderstanding arose, when some of the
+parties present began to push each other about, first with their hands,
+then with their clenched fists, and ultimately with their weapons. At
+length Octavius, who had accompanied Crassus, drew his sword, and killed
+a groom, when somebody else killed Octavius; and the assassination
+having once fairly--or unfairly--set in, Crassus himself was soon
+disposed of. The King of the Parthians caused the head of Crassus to be
+filled with gold, as in his lifetime he had devoted all his faculties to
+the accumulation of the metal.
+
+By the death of Crassus, the triumvirate was reduced to a duumvirate,
+and jealousies arose between Pompey and Cæsar; but as the people seemed
+to think that two heads at loggerheads were better than one having
+everything its own way, the opposing tyrants were left by the public to
+fight their own battles. The great prize for which they were now
+contending was the army, which is too often exposed to the degradation
+of being reckoned upon as the sure means of crushing everything in the
+shape of law and liberty.
+
+Cæsar had certainly obtained the attachment of his soldiers; for he had
+shared their dangers; but the vain upstart, Pompey, had no more claim
+upon the army than he could establish by corrupting them. Cæsar held
+them by their affections, but Pompey hoped to unite them to him by those
+golden links which never fix themselves to the heart, though effecting a
+sort of temporary hanging-on to the pocket. Cæsar stood on the bank of
+the Rubicon, which divided his province of Gaul from Italy, and, looking
+at the surface of the river, he was soon absorbed in his own
+reflections. He knew it was against the law to cross the stream with an
+army; but after looking at both sides, and feeling his position to be
+that of sink or swim, he made a bold plunge, with one of his legions
+after him. The Rubicon was now passed; and Pompey, hearing of Cæsar's
+approach, was struck with such a panic before he had received any real
+blow, that he had at once quitted the city. So great was his haste, that
+he omitted even to follow his natural bent, and went away without
+robbing the treasury. The tyrant is so frequently associated in the same
+person with the coward, that the ignoble retreat of Pompey was the
+natural sequel to his previous despotism; for that which passes for
+boldness of action may be prompted by the fears of the knave, instead of
+by the courage of the hero.
+
+Cæsar arrived at Rome, which had become freed from the presence of one
+tyrant, to receive another; and the people certainly deserved all they
+got, or rather all they lost; for they conferred upon the despot many
+marks of popularity. When he wanted money, he burst open the
+treasury-door like a thief; and when opposed in the name of the law, he
+cut down everything in the shape of objection, like a butcher.
+
+[Illustration: "Quid times? Cæsarem vehis."]
+
+Cæsar next proceeded to Spain, but only to be recalled as Dictator, to
+which office he had been illegally nominated by one of his creatures,
+the Prætor, M. Lepidus. Having laid down the dictatorship in eleven
+days, during which period he laid down the law on some very important
+questions, including that of debtor and creditor, Cæsar abandoned his
+legislative pursuits, and started in pursuit of Pompey. The latter had
+proceeded to Greece, where the former suffered much inconvenience in
+trying to manage the movements of his army. Only a portion of his troops
+having got across the water, he became so impatient at the non-arrival
+of the rest, that he went to see after them by going to sea himself in
+disguise, on board a small fishing-boat. The winds were extremely
+contrary, and were blowing the vessel back, with a force threatening to
+dismast her, and to the utmost dismay of the master, when Cæsar, who was
+sitting at the stern, put on a stern look, exclaiming, "_Quid times?
+Cæsarem vehis._" "What are you afraid of? You carry Cæsar as a
+passenger." At this moment the vessel gave a lurch, and the heels of
+Cæsar were suddenly brought to the level at which his head had the
+moment before been visible. The mariner was about to ask for further
+explanation, and had got "_Quid?_" in his mouth, when a wave completely
+washed him up, and he remained in soak for the rest of the voyage. The
+vessel was driven back, and Cæsar, who was wet through, as well as in
+despair, sat wringing alternately his hands and his toga.
+
+At length, soon after his return to his camp, his army was brought to
+him by Antony; but provisions were so scarce, that the soldiers had to
+live upon bark, which proves that the unlucky "dogs of war" were exposed
+to the most biting necessities. There, however, they continued, without
+being subdued; and, indeed, the bark seems to have made them more than
+usually snappish; for they threw some of it into the hostile camp, and
+declared they would live upon grass; nor would they lay down their
+swords while there was a single blade remaining.
+
+Cæsar encountered some slight reverses, and took up his quarters at
+Pharsalia, where he might have been blocked in and starved out, had not
+Pompey been taunted into attacking him. Cæsar was delighted at that
+imprudence, the fruits of which were speedily shown; for Pompey's army
+was utterly routed; and Pompey himself, retreating to his tent, was
+literally sick at the disgusting result of his enterprise. "The way in
+which my soldiers turned their backs," exclaimed Pompey to an intimate
+friend, "has positively turned my stomach;" and he was only sufficiently
+recovered on the following day to start _viâ_ Lesbos for Egypt. There
+ill-fortune still awaited him; for Ptolemy, the young king, instead of
+receiving the outcast with hospitality, was advised to put him to death,
+as a little compliment to Cæsar. Septimius, a Roman, who had served
+under Pompey, was sent to meet him, with instructions to stab him in the
+back; and the victim had no sooner felt the blow, than, according to the
+custom of the period, he arranged the folds of his robe across his face,
+so that although very disgracefully killed, he might very gracefully
+expire. His wife, Cornelia, who witnessed the scene, sailed away as fast
+as she could from the melancholy sight, leaving no one but an old
+servant, named Philip, to perform not only the funeral, but all the
+characters that the performance required. He was, in fact, the
+undertaker of the whole of the sad ceremony, and attended as sole
+mourner at the melancholy undertaking.
+
+On the arrival of Cæsar in Egypt, he was welcomed by having the head of
+Pompey put into his hand; but the former turned away in disgust, and at
+once dropped his old animosity.
+
+Being detained by contrary winds at Alexandria, Cæsar entered into the
+disputes between Cleopatra and her elder brother Ptolemy; when the young
+lady, relying on her powers of fascination, caused herself to be
+brought, concealed in a mattress,[76] into the presence of the Roman
+general. Having emerged from under the bed, she pleaded her cause so
+earnestly, that he went to war on her account with her brother, who
+ultimately fell into the water; thus causing the drowning of himself and
+all his enmity. Cleopatra reigned in Egypt; and Cæsar was so enslaved by
+her charms, that he remained nine months on a visit; nor would he have
+torn himself away, but for the intelligence that Pharnaces, the son of
+Mithridates, was endeavouring to recover his father's lost possessions.
+Hurrying to Pontus, he looked out for the enemy, drew his sword, struck
+one decisive blow, and in the memorable words, "_Veni, vidi, vici,_" he
+set an example of the laconic style, which no writer of military
+despatches has since followed.
+
+Disturbances had by this time broken out at Rome; and in order to repair
+the evil, Cæsar was obliged to repair himself to the capital. So much
+enthusiasm had been excited by the battle of Pharsalia--for the people
+are always too ready to lick the hand which seems capable of striking
+them--that Cæsar had been elected Dictator for one year, Consul for
+five, and Tribune for his whole lifetime.
+
+The fact is, that Rome had become so thoroughly tired of the continual
+contests for the chief power, which a republican form of government
+necessarily invites, that the nation yearned for a permanent head, and
+eagerly adopted the very first that offered. It was thought better to be
+the slaves of one despotic adventurer, than the victims of half-a-dozen;
+and even absolutism was preferred to the republican system, which had
+kept the country so long exposed to laceration at the hands of those who
+were trying to snatch it from each other, without being able to govern
+it.
+
+After a short stay in Rome, during which he exhibited his power by
+making various arbitrary changes in the Law and Constitution--for it is
+the tendency of a republic to place a whole nation at the will of one
+man--Cæsar proceeded to Africa, with the view of quelling there the
+party opposed to him. He marched against Utica, which was governed by
+Cato, who, when he ought to have been preparing to fight, was standing
+upon ceremony, and politely insisting that Scipio ought to take the
+command, as being the man of the highest rank present. Scipio, who was
+not ambitious of the foremost place in the field, declared that the
+pretended deference to his rank was rank nonsense, and that Cato must
+assume his proper position. The Governor, however, persisted; and Scipio
+went forth to fight; but he seems to have killed nobody except himself,
+while Juba and the legate Petreius, two other brave fellows on the same
+side, slew each other.
+
+Cato, trembling for the fate of Utica, called a meeting of the Senate,
+which resolved unanimously to run away; and the Governor went home to
+supper. On retiring to his chamber he called for his sword, which was
+nowhere to be found; and he became so irritated, that he savagely struck
+the domestic who returned without the missing weapon. At length it
+turned out that "one of the young gentlemen had got it;" for the sword
+was brought to Cato by his eldest son, and it was quietly put away for
+the night under the old gentleman's pillow. Cato went to bed, and fell
+asleep while reading one of Plato's dialogues. Waking again at dawn, he
+rose, and having methodically finished the perusal of the dialogue he
+had commenced over-night, he ran himself through the body. His
+attendants rushed in, and sewed up the wound; but they had no sooner
+turned their backs, than--if we are to believe the authorities, which we
+confess we cannot at all times--he either undid the numerous stitches in
+his side, or ran himself through the body again; and, with a compliment
+in his mouth to the excellence of the reasoning of Plato, expired.
+
+Cato was only eight-and-forty at the time of his death; and therefore,
+though in the course of nature too young to die, he was quite old enough
+to have known better than to kill himself. The graver historians inform
+us, that "he died the death of a hero and a philosopher;" but being
+unable to appreciate the heroism of running away from misfortune,
+instead of meeting it, or the philosophy of refusing to endure what one
+cannot cure, we must beg to be allowed to differ from the serious
+writers, who generally hold up suicide as a subject for respect and
+admiration. Cæsar was, of course, deeply affected on hearing of Cato's
+decease; but such affectation was common in those days; and there was
+nothing extraordinary in Cæsar's having gone into mourning for the man
+whose death he had long been compassing.
+
+The victorious general now returned to Rome, where he might have
+obtained as long a lease as he pleased of almost unlimited power. He was
+named Dictator for ten years; and, instead of pursuing the ordinary
+practice of tyranny, which abuses the greatest power to gratify the
+pettiest spite, Cæsar not only made no proscriptions, but declared a
+general amnesty. He celebrated four triumphs, and gave a succession of
+banquets; for he knew that there is no more portentous grumbling than
+that which proceeds from an empty stomach.
+
+Being entrusted with supreme power, he turned it, in many instances, to
+good account; and introduced, among other wholesome regulations, the
+very valuable reform of the Roman Calendar. This was an improvement, not
+merely for the day, but for all time, and has handed down the name of
+its author to every age, and every civilised country, in every almanack.
+
+In these and similar salutary occupations he was disturbed by an
+insurrection in Spain, headed by the two sons of Pompey, Cneius and
+Sextus, whom he encountered, on Saturday, the 17th of March, B.C. 45, on
+the field of Munda. The battle, though ultimately decisive, was at first
+doubtful; for Cæsar's troops had commenced retreating, when their want
+of spirit so dispirited him, that, as they ran away, he was near making
+away with himself, by the mere force of sympathy. By a last effort,
+however, he succeeded in stopping the fugitives, and asked them if they
+were mad, to display such flightiness. His appeal was successful; and,
+having first come to themselves, they fell upon the enemy. Cneius made
+for the shore, and was getting into a ship, when a rope caught his foot,
+and he remained tied by the leg in a most perilous position. Having
+endeavoured for some time to effect his own extrication from the cable,
+which proved utterly impracti-cable, he called to one of his
+companions, who endeavoured to cut the rope, and in doing so, wounded
+Cneius. The unhappy sufferer attempted to fly, but being pursued to
+within an inch of his life, he naturally had not a foot to spare; and
+finding himself deprived of the use of one of his legs; he was, of
+course, in a sad hobble. He had got on shore, and had just placed his
+foot in a doctor's hands, when he was overtaken and killed by the enemy.
+His brother Sextus made his escape; and his hopes of rulership being at
+an end, he commenced the trade of a robber, which is not a very
+different kind of business from that of government in the days of
+military despotism.
+
+On Cæsar's return to Rome he was received with increased adulation,
+though his victory had been over the Romans themselves; who, by
+acquiescing in their own degradation, became fully deserving of all the
+acts of tyranny they were made the victims of. Success, however, is the
+idol to which the multitude will bow, let the object of adoration be
+either good or evil; and it is only when the latter encounters the fall,
+which, sooner or later, must be its inevitable fate, that the _Vox Dei_
+is really echoed by the _Vox Populi_.
+
+We must, however, accept with caution the accounts of the rejoicings
+that are described as attending the dictatorship of one who had so
+completely subjugated his country, that murder or banishment, without
+trial, had become the certain fate of every one who should venture to
+express the smallest disapprobation of any of his measures. Nothing is
+easier than for one who has a drawn sword ready for every hostile
+throat, to style himself the "father of his country," and to exercise
+the ancient privilege of paternity by taking the lives of such of his
+children as might rebel against his parental authority. It was easy to
+decree a thanksgiving of fifty days, and to obtain its outward
+observance, when instant death at the hands of a mercenary might be the
+fate of any one expressing a doubt as to having much to be grateful for.
+The statues of the usurper were placed in all the temples; but this was
+no test of true popularity; for if an armed band should break into our
+house, take forcible possession of all its contents, rob us of all we
+possess, and spend a portion of the proceeds in placing a bust of the
+head of the banditti in our principal apartments, it would be no proof
+of his being a favourite of ours. He decreed himself imperator, or
+Emperor, for life,--a proceeding no less impudent than that of a
+burglar, who, having broken into our premises, calls himself the
+landlord of the property. He declared his own person sacred--a poor
+consolation for a tyrant who knows that there is a curse which must
+eventually be brought terribly down upon all injustice and iniquity. He
+seized upon half the magistracies, as his own private property, to be
+given away by himself; and he virtually seized upon the other half, by
+claiming the nomination of the candidates. He was, in fact, supreme and
+sole master of the Republic; and without any one of the conditions which
+are absolutely essential to the permanency of power. His usurpation had
+neither law, morality, justice, nor reason--nor even that hollowest of
+all mockeries, expediency--to rest upon. The first utterance of the
+public voice, when free to speak, must have overwhelmed him with one
+shout of indignant execration; and the first movement of the popular
+arm, when freed from its ignoble paralysis, must have hurled him from
+power.
+
+Some supporters of the miserable and unprincipled fallacy, that the end
+justifies the means, have pointed to some of Cæsar's salutary acts, as
+an excuse for his usurpation; but that right can never result from
+wrong, is shown in the fate which the Dictator soon met with. His aim
+was evidently the monarchy; and his adherent, Antony, caused a statue of
+Cæsar to be crowned; when two Tribunes seeing the diadem, and perceiving
+that there was an intention of trying it on, ordered it to be taken off
+again. The Dictator of the republic was so offended at this outrage on
+the symbols of monarchy, that he was on the point of putting the
+Tribunes to death, when it was suggested to him that exile might do as
+well, and he accordingly sent them into banishment.
+
+It is one of the numerous penalties of iniquity, that its own example
+may be followed in opposition to itself; and that he who uses
+lawlessness and violence to attain his ends, may find them conducing to
+his own, in a sense he had not expected. The sentiments which, in
+contact with the open air of freedom, form the wholesome breath of
+public opinion, can never be stifled and pent up, without generating the
+foul and dangerous vapours of conspiracy. This noxious poison speedily
+forms itself among an enslaved people, and an explosion eventually takes
+place, which removes a load of oppression, and clears the political
+atmosphere.
+
+A conspiracy had been for some time forming against Cæsar's life; and a
+band of about sixty, headed by M. Brutus and C. Cassius, had resolved on
+his downfall. The Dictator kept continually aiming at the crown, which
+he might perhaps have worn in dignity and safety, had he sought to gain
+it by honest means; for the nation had become so heartily sick of the
+alternate farce and tragedy of a Republic, that the necessity for some
+permanent authority based on law was on all hands admitted. He had,
+however, tried to effect his object by the cunning of a knave, the
+audacity of a thief, and the inhumanity of a butcher.
+
+When a sovereign is really wanted, much may be done for a candidate who
+has circumstances, seconded by prudence, honour, and ability, on his
+side; but that crown is not worth an hour's purchase which is seized by
+force, fraud, and cruelty. The last trick of Cæsar, in trying to turn
+his usurpation into a right, was a pretence that the Sibylline books,
+having declared the Parthians could be conquered by none but a king, it
+was necessary to make him one. The Senate was to meet to consider the
+matter, on the 15th of March, in Pompey's Curia, where now stands the
+Palazzo Massimi. The professional augurs had already begun to prophesy,
+on the strength of those shadows which precede coming events; and Cæsar
+was so puffed up with self-conceit, and the people had been so long his
+abject slaves, that he had almost learned to believe the world would
+never throw off the atom that had got to the top of it. His wife had, it
+is said, an unfavourable dream, on the day previous to the meeting; but
+Cæsar smiled at her warnings, and told her that her night-mare proceeded
+from some ridiculous mare's nest. Cæsar walked down to the house of
+assembly, chatting arm-in-arm with the Consul, Decimus Brutus. Seeing in
+the crowd an augur, who had told him to beware of the Ides of March,
+Cæsar observed, smiling, "Well, here they are; and here am I;" to which,
+"Wait till they are gone, and then where are you?" was the only reply of
+the soothsayer.
+
+The secret of the conspiracy, which had been hitherto well kept, now
+began to ooze out in all directions; and nearly everybody that Cæsar met
+thrust a paper into his hand, or dropped a whisper into his ear; but he
+would read and listen to nothing.
+
+The Senators rose on his entrance; and when he took his seat the
+conspirators got round about him, until one of them, Metellus Cimber,
+came rather intrusively to close quarters, with a petition. Cæsar gave
+him a slight push, as a hint to him to keep his distance; and Cimber, as
+if to catch himself, took hold of the Dictator's toga, which was the
+signal agreed upon. Casca instantly stabbed him in the neck, when
+Cassius followed up the blow with a poke in the ribs; and Brutus had
+raised his hand with a dagger in it, when Cæsar exclaiming, "_Et tu,
+Brute!_"--And you!--you, Brute!--staggered to the foot of Pompey's
+statue, that he might form a _tableau_ as he expired.
+
+The republic was now virtually, if not nominally, at an end, though a
+faint struggle was still made by the murderers of Cæsar, who ran through
+the streets, proclaiming that they had killed a king, but obtained no
+praise for the achievement. Antony, on the other hand, created an
+immense sensation, by exhibiting the identical toga in which Cæsar had
+fallen, and thrusting his ten fingers through twice as many large holes,
+which he declared had been made by the assassins' daggers. Not satisfied
+with making the most of Cæsar's wardrobe, Antony appropriated the money
+of the deceased; and while the widow was wrapped in grief, with her face
+buried in her hands, her late husband's friend was carrying off all he
+could lay his hands upon. Antony had been at once grasping and prodigal,
+giving away with one hand what he had snatched with the other; and
+buying at a liberal price what he had no means of paying for.
+
+His rival in the contest for the supreme power was Octavius, the son of
+a daughter of Cæsar's sister, and who, with no other qualification than
+that of nephew to his uncle, had the impudence to claim absolute
+dominion over a great but broken-spirited nation. This individual was
+without character or courage; and though afraid to be left in the dark,
+he was still more afraid of the light; for he felt that his own actions
+would not bear looking at. His cowardice had the usual effect upon him,
+for it made him cruel; and though there was nothing but his name to make
+him a favourite with the army, he had betrayed the soldiers into the
+disgrace of turning their arms on their fellow-citizens. By a constant
+use of the name of his uncle, he succeeded in cozening a people who
+sought only permanence in their institutions; and Antony being
+ultimately subdued, more by his own feebleness as a voluptuary, than by
+the strength of his opponent, an empire fell into the hands of Octavius.
+He was invested with the title of Imperator for life; and he retained
+his position till his death--a circumstance to be attributed to the
+conviction that had been brought home to the popular mind, that the
+constant changing of the head of a State is a source of constant danger
+to the peace and happiness of the whole community.
+
+[Illustration: The End of Julius Cæsar.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[75] Those who doubt the accuracy of this description, may consult
+Plutarch's "Life of Crassus."
+
+[76] This story of the mattress, though gravely told, is somewhat
+doubtful, and is hardly worth the straw involved in it.
+
+
+LONDON: BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS
+
+
+
+
+ No. 11, BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C.
+ _November, 1860._
+
+
+WORKS PUBLISHED BY
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+A STORY OF THE LAST CENTURY.
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+FROM THE ESCRITOIRE OF THE LATE SAMUEL SCOBEL, CLERK.
+
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+ the contemporary events are touched on just as they would
+ naturally be in the course of a real correspondence. The story
+ is interesting; and there is a tone of good feeling and gentle
+ piety which has a charm that grows on the reader as he
+ proceeds."--_Athenæum_.
+
+
+THE NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH SEA-WEEDS.
+
+Containing Seventy Coloured Nature-Prints, with Engraved Magnified
+Dissections of the whole species described in the Volume.
+
+The Descriptions by WILLIAM G. JOHNSTONE and ALEXANDER CROALL.
+
+The NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH SEA-WEEDS forms Four Handsome Volumes, in
+royal octavo, consisting of 210 plates, with the necessary letter-press.
+
+The price of each volume is 2_l._ 2_s._
+
+
+THE NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH FERNS.
+
+The Descriptions by THOMAS MOORE, F.L.S.
+
+The Work contains 122 Plates, and 500 pages of Letter-press, and is
+completed in Two Volumes, royal 8vo, uniform with the NATRUE-PRINTED
+BRITISH SEA-WEEDS.
+
+The price of each volume is 2_l._ 2_s._
+
+
+_In Two Volumes, fcap. 8vo, price 12s._
+
+SELECTIONS FROM THE PLAYS OF SHAKSPEARE.
+
+As arranged for representation at the Princess's Theatre, and especially
+adapted for Schools, Private Families, and Young People.
+
+BY CHARLES KEAN, F.S.A.
+
+ MACBETH.
+ KING HENRY VIII.
+ THE WINTER'S TALE.
+ MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.
+ KING RICHARD II.
+ THE TEMPEST.
+ KING LEAR.
+ THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.
+ KING JOHN.
+ MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
+ HAMLET.
+ KING HENRY IV.
+
+Either Play may be had separately, price 1_s._
+
+
+A LITTLE TOUR IN IRELAND.
+
+BEING
+
+A VISIT TO DUBLIN, GALWAY, CONNAMARA, ATHLONE, LIMERICK, KILLARNEY,
+GLENGARRIFF, CORK, ETC. ETC. ETC.
+
+By AN OXONIAN.
+
+With a Coloured Frontispiece, and Numerous Illustrations on Wood by JOHN
+LEECH.
+
+Price 10_s._ 6_d._
+
+
+MR. BRIGGS AND HIS DOINGS (FISHING).
+
+A SERIES OF TWELVE COLOURED PLATES.
+
+Enlarged from Mr. JOHN LEECH'S original Drawings from "Punch."
+
+CONTENTS:
+
+ Plate I.--MR. BRIGGS CONTEMPLATES A DAY'S FISHING.
+ II.--MR. BRIGGS MANAGES HIS PUNT HIMSELF.
+ III.--MR. BRIGGS TRIES FOR A PERCH.
+ IV.--MR. BRIGGS CATCHES A JACK.
+ V.--MR. BRIGGS CATCHES AN EEL.
+ VI. and VII.--MR. BRIGGS GOES OUT FLY-FISHING.
+ VIII.--XII.--MR. BRIGGS GOES SALMON-FISHING.
+
+Price 10_s._ 6_d._; or, separately, 1_s._ each.
+
+
+_Price 2s. 6d., fcap. 8vo, with Eight Illustrations, by_ CAPTAIN MAY,
+
+THE CAREER, LAST VOYAGE, AND DISCOVERY OF THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.
+
+BY CAPTAIN SHERARD OSBORN, C.B.
+
+
+BOOK FOR EXAMINATION CANDIDATES.
+
+_This day is published, price 3s. 6d,_
+
+THE ROMAN REPUBLIC;
+
+Being a Review of some of the salient points in its History, designed
+for the use of Examination Candidates.
+
+BY HORACE MOULE,
+
+Author of "Christian Oratory in the First Five Centuries," being the
+Hulsean Prize Essay for 1858.
+
+
+THE WORKS OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.
+
+Including the Imaginary Conversations, with a New and Original Series;
+Pericles and Aspasia; Examination of Shakspeare; Pentameron of Boccaccio
+and Petrarca; Hellenics; Tragedies; and Poems.
+
+With many large Additions throughout, and the Author's last Corrections.
+
+In two Volumes, medium 8vo, price 32_s._ cloth.
+
+_Also, by the same Author,_
+
+IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS OF GREEKS AND ROMANS.
+
+_10s. 6d. cloth._
+
+ANTONY AND OCTAVIUS.
+
+SCENES FOR THE STUDY.
+
+_Fcap. 8vo, 2s. 6d._
+
+LAST FRUIT OFF AN OLD TREE.
+
+_10s. 6d. cloth._
+
+
+_In One Vol., fcap. 8vo, price 5s.,_ THE
+
+AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ITALIAN REBEL.
+
+BY G. RICCIARDI.
+
+TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN.
+
+ "The autobiography before us is possessed of a charming
+ reality."--_Literary Gazette._
+
+
+A DESCRIPTIVE DICTIONARY OF THE INDIAN ISLANDS, &C.
+
+BY JOHN CRAWFURD, F.R.S.
+
+Demy 8vo, with Map, price 16s.
+
+ "It will take its place at once among standard
+ works."--_Athenæum._
+
+
+WORKS BY MR. CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+_In One Vol., 8vo, with Illustrations by H. K. Browne, price 21s. each,_
+
+ I.
+ DOMBEY AND SON.
+
+ II.
+ DAVID COPPERFIELD.
+
+ III.
+ LITTLE DORRIT.
+
+ IV.
+ BLEAK HOUSE.
+
+ V.
+ OLIVER TWIST.
+ Illustrated by G. Cruikshank. 8vo, 11_s._
+
+ VI.
+ HARD TIMES.
+ In crown 8vo, cloth. Price 5_s._
+
+ VII.
+ A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
+ Price 10_s._ 6_d._, neatly bound in cloth, complete in 3 vols.;
+ or 3_s._ 6_d._ each.
+
+
+CHEAP EDITION OF THE WORKS OF MR. CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+_In One Volume, with an Engraved Frontispiece, price 5s. each,_
+
+ DOMBEY AND SON.
+
+ BLEAK HOUSE.
+
+ DAVID COPPERFIELD.
+
+⁂ _The above editions are uniform in size and price with the Cheap
+Edition of Mr. Dickens's former Works, published by Messrs. Chapman &
+Hall._
+
+
+CHRISTMAS STORIES OF CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+_Handsomely bound in cloth, with gilt edges, price 5s. each._
+
+ A CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE. Being a Ghost Story for Christmas.
+
+ THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, A Fairy Tale of Home.
+
+ THE CHIMES.--A Goblin Story of some Bells that rang an Old Year
+ Out and a New Year In.
+
+ THE BATTLE OF LIFE. A Love Story.
+
+ THE HAUNTED MAN AND THE GHOST'S BARGAIN.
+
+
+BOOKS FOR MR. DICKENS'S READINGS.
+
+ _s._ _d._
+ A CHRISTMAS CAROL IN PROSE 1 0
+ THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH 1 0
+ THE CHIMES 1 0
+ THE STORY OF LITTLE DOMBEY 1 0
+ THE POOR TRAVELLER; BOOTS AT
+ THE HOLLY-TREE INN; AND
+ MRS. GAMP 1 0
+
+
+COMPLETE LIBRARY EDITION OF THE WORKS OF MR. CHARLES DICKENS.
+
+_Published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall and Bradbury & Evans, post 8vo,
+price 6s. each, with Vignettes._
+
+ VOLS.
+
+ THE PICKWICK PAPERS 2
+ NICHOLAS NICKLEBY 2
+ MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT 2
+ BARNABY RUDGE, HARD TIMES 2
+ OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, AND
+ REPRINTED PIECES 2
+ SKETCHES BY BOZ 1
+ OLIVER TWIST 1
+ DOMBEY AND SON 2
+ DAVID COPPERFIELD 2
+ PICTURES FROM ITALY, AND
+ AMERICAN NOTES 1
+ BLEAK HOUSE 2
+ LITTLE DORRIT 2
+ CHRISTMAS BOOKS 1 Vol.
+
+
+WORKS OF DOUGLAS JERROLD.
+
+_In Eight Volumes, crown 8vo, price 4s. each,_
+
+THE COLLECTED EDITION
+
+OF
+
+THE WRITINGS OF DOUGLAS JERROLD.
+
+
+ VOL. 1.--ST. GILES AND ST. JAMES.
+
+ VOL. 2.--MEN OF CHARACTER.
+
+ CONTENTS:--Job Pippins: the Man who "couldn't help it"--Jack
+ Runnymede: the Man of "many thanks "--Adam Buff: the Man
+ "without a Shirt"--Matthew Clear: the Man "who saw his
+ way"--John Applejohn: the Man who "meant well"--Barnaby Palms:
+ the Man "who felt his way"--Christopher Snob: the Man who was
+ "born to be hanged"--Creso Quattrino: the Man "who died rich."
+
+ VOL. 3.--MRS CAUDLE'S CURTAIN LECTURES--THE STORY OF A
+ FEATHER--THE SICK GIANT AND THE DOCTOR DWARF.
+
+ VOL. 4.--CAKES AND ALE.
+
+ CONTENTS:--The Lesson of Life--Perditus Mutton, who bought a
+ Caul--The Mayor of Hole-cum-Corner--The Romance of a
+ Key-hole--Mr. Peppercorn "at home"--The Preacher Parrot--The
+ Lives of Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson--Shakespeare at
+ "Bankside"--The Wine Cellar, a "Morality"--Kind Cousin Tom--The
+ Manager's Pig--The Tapestry Weaver of Beauvais--The Genteel
+ Pigeons--Shakespeare in China--The Order of Poverty--A Gossip
+ at Reculvers--The Old Man at the Gate--The Epitaph of Sir Hugh
+ Evans.
+
+ VOL. 5.--PUNCH'S LETTERS TO HIS SON, AND COMPLETE
+ LETTER-WRITER--SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH.
+
+ VOL. 6.--A MAN MADE OF MONEY.
+
+ VOL. 7.--COMEDIES:
+
+ CONTENTS:--Bubbles of the Day--Time Works Wonders--The
+ Catspaw--The Prisoner of War--Retired from Business--St. Cupid;
+ or Dorothy's Fortune.
+
+⁂ _These are also sold separately, price 1s. each._
+
+ VOL. 8.--COMEDIES AND DRAMAS:
+
+ CONTENTS:--The Rent Day--Nell Gwynne--The Housekeeper--The
+ Wedding Gown--The School-Fellows--Doves in a Cage--The Painter
+ of Ghent--Black-eyed Susan.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE FOLLOWING ARE PUBLISHED SEPARATELY:--
+
+ _s._ _d._
+ THE CAUDLE LECTURES 1 0
+ THE STORY OF A FEATHER 2 0
+ PUNCH'S LETTERS TO HIS SON 1 6
+ THE LESSON OF LIFE--THE LIVES OF
+ BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON 1 6
+ SKETCHES OF THE ENGLISH 1 6
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_Price 21s., or separately, 6s. each,_
+
+FOUR PORTRAITS OF DOUGLAS JERROLD.
+
+PHOTOGRAPHED BY HIS FRIEND, DR. DIAMOND.
+
+Three of them were taken within a fortnight of his death, the fourth
+from the marble bust executed by E. H. BAILEY, R.A., F.R.S.
+
+
+VALUABLE WORKS OF REFERENCE.
+
+CONDUCTED BY CHARLES KNIGHT.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_In Six Volumes, price 3l., or bound in 3 Vols., half morocco, 3l.
+12s.,_
+
+THE CYCLOPÆDIA OF BIOGRAPHY.
+
+This Cyclopædia of Biography may, without presumption, be stated to be
+the best Biographical Dictionary extant; unequalled in any language for
+the universality of its range, its fullness, accuracy, and completeness.
+It possesses the new and important feature of giving notices of living
+persons, English and foreign, of contemporary celebrity. No work of a
+similar nature approaches the English Cyclopædia of Biography in
+cheapness.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_In Four Volumes, price 2l. 2s., or bound in 2 Vols., half-morocco, 2l.
+10s.,_
+
+THE CYCLOPÆDIA OF GEOGRAPHY.
+
+The fullness and accuracy of its information renders the Cyclopædia of
+Geography a necessary manual for every library and newsroom; not
+presenting a dry catalogue of names and places, but furnishing ample and
+interesting details of the History, Statistics, and physical features of
+every country in the world, according to the most recent discoveries and
+investigations.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_In Four Volumes, price 2l. 2s., or bound in 2 Vols., half-morocco, 2l.
+10s.,_
+
+THE CYCLOPÆDIA OF NATURAL HISTORY.
+
+This Cyclopædia, embracing the most interesting details of Natural
+History, presented in the most attractive form of scientific
+explanation, and illustrated with many hundreds of beautiful
+wood-engravings, will furnish a most desirable addition to every
+library. To the Medical Student the work is indispensable.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE CYCLOPÆDIA OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
+
+Is now in course of publication, in Monthly Parts, price 2_s._ 6_d._
+each.--This Cyclopædia will be completed in Eight Volumes. Of these,
+Vols. I., II., III., IV., and V. are published, price 12_s._ each: Vol.
+VI. will be published in December: Vols. VII. and VIII. in 1861.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+These Works, perhaps forming the most valuable and comprehensive Works
+of Reference in the language, published as a whole under the title of
+"THE ENGLISH CYCLOPÆDIA," are founded upon the valuable Copyright of the
+PENNY CYCLOPÆDIA, which has always remained in the hands of MR. KNIGHT.
+The elaborate revisions, with the large additions, of the present work,
+have involved a new outlay for literary labour of not less than Seven
+Thousand Pounds, making the cost of literary production alone not far
+short of Fifty Thousand Pounds.
+
+
+NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH FERNS AND SEA-WEEDS.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_This day is published price 21. 2s. (completing the Work in 2 Vols.,
+price 41. 4s.) Vol. II. of the_
+
+OCTAVO NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH FERNS.
+
+Being Figures and Descriptions of the Species and Varieties of Ferns
+found in the United Kingdom.
+
+BY THOMAS MOORE, F.L.S.
+
+The Work contains 122 Plates and 500 pages of Letter-press. Royal 8vo,
+uniform with the "Nature-Printed British Sea-Weeds."
+
+⁂ Either Volume may be had separately.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+_This day is published, price 21. 2s. (completing the work in 4 Vols.,
+price 81. 8s.) Vol. IV. of the_
+
+NATURE-PRINTED BRITISH SEA-WEEDS.
+
+A History accompanied by Figures and Dissections of the Algæ of the
+British Isles.
+
+BY W. JOHNSTONE AND ALEXANDER CROALL.
+
+CONTENTS:
+
+VOLS. I & II
+
+=RHODOSPERMEÆ.=--RED SEA-WEEDS.
+
+VOL. I.--SERIES I. DESMIOSPERMEÆ. 90 Species. 70 Plates.
+
+VOL. II.--Series II. GONGYLOSPERMEÆ. 88 Species. 63 Plates. With
+Dissections of all the Species.
+
+VOL. III
+
+=MELANOSPERMEÆ.=--OLIVE SEA-WEEDS.
+
+SERIES III. 95 Species. 52 Plates. With Dissections of all the Species.
+
+VOL. IV.
+
+=CHLOROSPERMEÆ.=--GREEN SEA-WEEDS.
+
+SERIES IV. 102 Species. 25 Plates. With Dissections of all the Species.
+
+Synoptical Tables of the Orders, Genera, and Species. General View of
+the Structure and uses of the Sea-Weed Family. Sketch of their
+Classification and Distribution. Instructions for the Cultivation of the
+Algæ, their preservation in the Herbarium, and their preparation as
+objects for the Microscope.
+
+⁂ Either Volume may be had separately, price 2_l._ 2_s._ each.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
+
+"This volume is well qualified to receive popular approval, but it has,
+beyond this, other recommendations. It is a first-class book, and it is
+a first-class scientific book as regards its execution.... As a
+scientific book, the authors have well done their part too; for they
+have given us a clear, correct, and comprehensive scientific account of
+the plants they have treated on, adding such popular information as the
+subject admitted of; and they have given us, in addition, well-executed
+magnified dissections of the parts essential for scientific
+study."--_Illustrated London News._
+
+"For this kind of work Nature-Printing is exactly adapted. Every
+delicate and inimitable ramification is most attractively and accurately
+represented. The fifty-six plates in this volume can scarcely be
+surpassed, and have not, as far as we know, been equalled.... We have
+found them pleasing, and still pleasing during several inspections. The
+volume is handsomely got up, and will make a very attractive
+drawing-room table-book at home or at the sea-side."--_Athenæeum._
+
+"The process by which it is produced is that delightful one which has
+been a labour of love to Mr. Henry Bradbury in bringing to perfection,
+and which was first applied to the Ferns. To speak of the accuracy of
+the plates is of course a misnomer. They are of the nature of
+photographs; and the only possible drawback to the work is, that its
+extreme beauty will banish to the drawing-room table, as a mere example
+of pretty drawing, what, as a scientific manual, has not been
+equalled.--_Saturday Review._
+
+"Mr. Henry Bradbury's 'Nature-Printed British Sea-Weeds' is now
+completed by the appearance of the fourth volume. The authors have added
+sketches of the history of British Sea-Weeds, of their geographical
+distribution, of their structure, and of their uses. There are also
+chapters on arranging Algæ for the Herbarium, on the families and
+genera, on the species, and on the bibliography of the subject, the
+whole concluding with a glossary of scientific terms, and a complete
+Index. The whole work now forms four volumes unsurpassed for beauty even
+in the rich field of Natural History."--_Gardeners' Chronicle._
+
+
+ILLUSTRATED WORKS.
+
+I.
+
+PICTURES OF LIFE AND CHARACTER. From the Collection of Mr. Punch. By
+JOHN LEECH. In Three handsome Folio Volumes, price 12_s._ each.
+
+II.
+
+YOUNG TROUBLESOME; OR, MASTER JACKY'S HOLIDAYS. By JOHN LEECH. A Series
+of Plates; price 5_s._ 6_d._ plain; 7_s._ 6_d._ coloured.
+
+III.
+
+THE FOREIGN TOUR OF MESSRS. BROWN, JONES, AND ROBINSON. What they saw
+and did in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. By RICHARD DOYLE. A
+handsome 4to volume, cloth extra, price 21_s._
+
+IV.
+
+MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ENGLISH. By RICHARD DOYLE. With Extracts by
+PERCIVAL LEIGH from "PIPS' DIARY." Elegantly bound in half morocco,
+price 15_s._
+
+V.
+
+THE COMIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By GILBERT A. A'BECKETT. With Coloured
+Engravings and Woodcuts. By JOHN LEECH. Handsomely bound in two vols.,
+price 21_s._
+
+VI.
+
+THE COMIC HISTORY OF ROME. By G. A. A'BECKETT. With Coloured Engravings
+and Woodcuts. By JOHN LEECH. Handsomely bound in cloth, price 11_s._
+
+
+SPORTING WORKS.
+
+WITH COLOURED ENGRAVINGS, AND NUMEROUS WOODCUTS,
+
+BY JOHN LEECH.
+
+I.
+
+MR. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOUR. By the Author of "Handley Cross," &c. With
+coloured Engravings, &c. By JOHN LEECH. One vol. 8vo, price 14_s._
+
+II.
+
+HANDLEY CROSS; OR, MR. JORROCKS'S HUNT. With coloured Engravings, &c. By
+JOHN LEECH. 8vo, price 18_s._
+
+III.
+
+ASK MAMMA; OR, THE RICHEST COMMONER IN ENGLAND. By the Author of
+"Sponge's Tour," "Handley Cross," &c. Illustrated with Thirteen Coloured
+Engravings and numerous Woodcuts by JOHN LEECH. 8vo, price 14_s._
+
+IV.
+
+PLAIN, OR RINGLETS? By the Author of "Handley Cross," &c. With coloured
+Engravings, &c. by JOHN LEECH. One Vol., 8vo, price 14_s._ cloth.
+
+V.
+
+MR. BRIGGS AND HIS DOINGS. (FISHING.) A Series of Twelve Coloured
+Plates, Enlarged from the Original Drawings. By JOHN LEECH. Price 10_s._
+6_d._; or each plate separately, 1_s._
+
+
+WORKS BY W. M. THACKERAY.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE VIRGINIANS.
+
+ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR.
+
+Two Volumes, 8vo, cloth, 26_s._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+THE NEWCOMES.
+
+Illustrated by RICHARD DOYLE. Two vols. 8vo, cloth, 26_s._
+
+⁂ Also, _a Cheap and Popular Edition, without Illustrations, uniform
+with the Miscellanies, in crown 8vo, 7s._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+VANITY FAIR.
+
+Illustrated by the Author. One vol. 8vo, cloth, 21_s._
+
+⁂ Also, _a Cheap and Popular Edition, without Illustrations, uniform
+with the Miscellanies, in crown 8vo, 6s._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+PENDENNIS.
+
+Illustrated by the Author. Two vols. 8vo, cloth, 26_s._
+
+⁂ Also, _a Cheap and Popular Edition, without Illustrations, uniform
+with the Miscellanies, in crown 8vo, 7s._
+
+ * * * * *
+
+HISTORY OF SAMUEL TITMARSH.
+
+Illustrated by the Author. One vol. small 8vo, cloth, 4_s._
+
+
+A COLLECTED EDITION OF MR. THACKERAY'S EARLY WRITINGS.
+
+Complete in Four Vols., crown 8vo, price 6_s._ each, uniform with the
+Cheap Editions of "Vanity Fair" and "Pendennis."
+
+MISCELLANIES IN PROSE AND VERSE.
+
+_The contents of each Volume of the "Miscellanies" are also published in
+separate Parts, at various prices, as follows:_--
+
+ VOL I.
+ _s._ _d._
+ BALLADS 1 6
+ THE SNOB PAPERS 2 0
+ THE TREMENDOUS ADVENTURES OF MAJOR GAHAGAN 1 0
+ THE FATAL BOOTS:--COX'S DIARY 1 0
+
+ VOL. II.
+
+ THE YELLOWPLUSH MEMOIRS:--JEAMES'S DIARY 2 0
+ SKETCHES AND TRAVELS IN LONDON 2 0
+ NOVELS BY EMINENT HANDS:--CHARACTER SKETCHES 1 6
+
+ VOL. III.
+
+ MEMOIRS OF BARRY LYNDON 3 0
+ A LEGEND OF THE RHINE:--REBECCA AND ROWENA 1 6
+ A LITTLE DINNER AT TIMMINS'S:--THE BEDFORD
+ ROW CONSPIRACY 1 0
+
+ VOL. IV.
+
+ THE FITZBOODLE PAPERS:--MEN'S WIVES 2 6
+ A SHABBY GENTEEL STORY 1 6
+ THE HISTORY OF SAMUEL TITMARSH AND THE
+ GREAT HOGGARTY DIAMOND 1 6
+
+
+WORKS ON GARDENING AND BOTANY.
+
+I.
+
+THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM; or, THE STRUCTURE, CLASSIFICATION, AND USES OF
+PLANTS. By DR. LINDLEY. Illustrated upon the Natural System. In One
+Volume, 8vo, cloth, price 36_s._, with upwards of 500 Illustrations.
+
+II.
+
+THE ELEMENTS OF BOTANY, Structural and Physiological. With a Glossary of
+Technical Terms. By DR. LINDLEY. In One Volume, 8vo, cloth, with numerous
+Illustrations, price 12_s._
+
+III.
+
+MEDICAL AND ŒCONOMICAL BOTANY. By DR LINDLEY. With numerous
+Illustrations. A New Edition, in One Volume, 8vo, cloth, price 7_s._
+6_d._
+
+IV.
+
+SCHOOL BOTANY; or, THE RUDIMENTS OF BOTANICAL SCIENCE. By DR. LINDLEY.
+In One Volume, 8vo, half-bound, with 400 Illustrations, price 5_s._
+6_d._
+
+V.
+
+DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY; or, THE ART OF DESCRIBING PLANTS CORRECTLY, in
+Scientific Language, for Self-Instruction and the Use of Schools. By DR.
+LINDLEY. Second Edition. Price 1_s._
+
+VI.
+
+PAXTON'S FLOWER GARDEN. Edited by SIR JOSEPH PAXTON and DR. LINDLEY.
+Complete in Three Volumes, price 33_s._ each, elegantly bound in cloth.
+This work appeared in Monthly Parts, which are still on sale, price
+2_s._ 6_d._ each.
+
+VII.
+
+PAXTON'S BOTANICAL DICTIONARY; Comprising the Names, History, and
+Culture of all Plants known in Britain, together with a full Explanation
+of Technical Terms. Crown 8vo, price 16_s._ cloth extra.
+
+VIII.
+
+THE LADIES' COMPANION TO THE FLOWER GARDEN. Being an Alphabetical
+Arrangement of all the Ornamental Plants grown in Gardens and
+Shrubberies. With full directions for their Culture. By Mrs. LOUDON. The
+Sixth Edition, cloth gilt, price 7_s._
+
+IX.
+
+PRACTICAL HINTS ON PLANTING ORNAMENTAL TREES. With particular reference
+to Coniferæ. In which all the Hardy Species are popularly described. By
+Messrs. STANDISH and NOBLE. Price 5_s._ in cloth.
+
+X.
+
+HOW TO LAY OUT A GARDEN. Intended as a General Guide in Choosing,
+Forming, or Improving an Estate (from a Quarter of an Acre to a Hundred
+Acres in extent). By EDWARD KEMP. Price 12_s._ Illustrated with numerous
+Plans, Sections, and Sketches of Gardens and General Objects.
+
+XI.
+
+THE HANDBOOK OF GARDENING. By EDWARD KEMP, For the use of Persons who
+possess a small Garden. The Eleventh Edition, enlarged and improved.
+Price 2_s._ in cloth.
+
+XII.
+
+MY KITCHEN GARDEN; MY COWS; and HALF AN ACRE OF PASTURE. By a COUNTRY
+PARSON. Price 6_d._
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS WORKS.
+
+CIVILIZED AMERICA. By THOMAS COLLEY GRATTAN, late Her Britannic
+Majesty's Consul for the State of Massachusetts; Honorary Member of the
+American Institute, the New York and Boston Historical Societies, &c.
+&c.; Author of "A History of the Netherlands," "Highways and Byways,"
+&c. &c. Second Edition. In Two Vols., Demy 8vo, with a Coloured Map,
+price 28_s._
+
+ "The chief importance of Mr. Grattan's work at this moment
+ consists, however, in its explanation of the North-Eastern
+ Boundary dispute, and of the questionable proceedings of our
+ American cousins in the course of its discussion."--_The
+ Times_, Dec. 29.
+
+SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS. Original Unpublished Papers illustrating his Life
+as an Artist and a Diplomatist. Preserved in Her Majesty's State Paper
+Office. With an Appendix. Collected and Edited by W. NOEL SAINSBURY (of
+Her Majesty's State Paper Office.) In One large 8vo Volume, bound in
+cloth, price 16_s._
+
+THE LIFE AND TIMES OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH. By JOHN FORSTER,
+Barrister-at-Law, Author of "Lives of Statesmen of the Commonwealth."
+Crown 8vo, price 7_s._ 6_d._, with Forty Woodcuts.
+
+ "This is real Biography."--_Quarterly Review_, Oct. 1854.
+
+THE EGYPTIANS IN THE TIME OF THE PHARAOHS. By SIR GARDNER WILKINSON,
+D.C.L., F.R.S. To which is added, an INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF
+EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. By SAMUEL BIRCH. Crown 8vo, with numerous
+Illustrations, price 7_s._ 6_d._ cloth.
+
+ "A delightful book to go to Sydenham with."--_Athenæum._
+
+THE COMIC BLACKSTONE. By G. A. áBECKETT, Author of the "Comic History of
+England," &c. With an Illustration by GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. New Edition,
+fcap. 8vo, price 2_s._
+
+THE QUIZZIOLOGY OF THE BRITISH DRAMA. By G. A. áBECKETT, Author of the
+"Comic History of England," &c. With Illustrations by G. CRUIKSHANK.
+Fcap. 8vo, cloth. Price 2_s._
+
+SCRIPTURAL CHURCH TEACHING. By Rev. H. MOULE. 12mo., cloth. Price 2_s._
+6_d._
+
+BARRACK SERMONS. By Rev. H. MOULE. Fcap. 8vo. Price 2_s._ 6_d._
+
+A SHORT INQUIRY INTO THE HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE, in Ancient, Mediæval,
+and Modern Times. By CHANDOS WREN HOSKYNS. Cloth. Price 5_s._
+
+STORY OF "NELL GWYNNE," AND THE SAYINGS OF CHARLES THE SECOND. Related
+and Collected by PETER CUNNINGHAM, F.S.A. One Vol. Crown 8vo, with
+Plates. Price 6_s._
+
+WHAT SHALL WE HAVE FOR DINNER? Satisfactorily answered by numerous Bills
+of Fare for from Two to Eighteen Persons. By LADY CLUTTERBUCK. Price
+1_s._
+
+HANDBOOKS OF COOKERY;--THE TOILETTE;--GARDENING. Price 2_s._ each.
+
+THE SHIPMASTER'S GUIDE. Containing ample Directions for making the
+Returns, and complying with the Provisions of the MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT,
+17 & 18 Vict., c. 104, and the MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT'S REPEAL, 17 & 18
+Vict., c. 120; with COPIES OF THE ACTS. Also, the Regulations to be
+observed when Engaging and Discharging the Crews of FOREIGN-GOING and
+HOME-TRADE SHIPS. By the REGISTRAR-GENERAL OF SEAMEN. Price 1_s._
+
+THE GREAT EASTERN'S LOG; containing Her First Transatlantic Voyage, and
+all Particulars of Her American Visit. By an EXECUTIVE OFFICER. Price
+1_s._
+
+
+CHARLES KNIGHT'S
+
+POPULAR HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
+
+The Publishers of this Work have to announce a change in its mode of
+issue. The necessity for this change rests upon the following
+representation of the Author, which appears to the Publishers as
+conclusive as they trust it will be satisfactory to the Public.
+
+ "I have been occupied," says Mr. Knight, "during nearly five
+ years, in writing the Popular History of England, for Monthly
+ Publication. With three exceptions it has appeared regularly
+ during that period; and has now reached to Fifty-three Numbers,
+ bringing up the narrative to 1793. I now find it
+ impossible,--in the first place, with a proper regard to my own
+ health, and, secondly, with an anxious desire to complete my
+ book in a way to justify the favour with which it has been
+ received,--to proceed with a _Monthly_ Publication. The
+ pressure of a periodical issue, with so short an interval
+ between each publication, has become incompatible, according to
+ my view, with a due regard to the research and thought which
+ are necessary to deal with the vast accumulation of materials
+ for history since the period of the French Revolution. The
+ difficulty which now presses upon my responsibility for
+ accuracy and impartiality has not been felt by me in the
+ earlier stages of my undertaking, when the field of
+ investigation was more limited. It has now become so onerous as
+ to demand a decisive change.
+
+ "I propose, therefore, that it should be announced that the
+ publication in Monthly Numbers will be discontinued, and
+ therefore that a Number will not appear on the 1st of October.
+
+ "That the quantity required to complete Vol. VII. will be
+ published as a Part, or Section in the month of January, 1861,
+ simultaneously with the publication of the Volume.
+
+ "That Volume VIII., completing the work, will be published in
+ the course of 1861; and, for the convenience of purchasers,
+ will be divided into two Parts, or Sections."
+
+In making this announcement the Publishers have only to add, that on the
+appearance of each of the Parts, or Sections, the Work will also be on
+sale in the usual form of Shilling Numbers.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+☞ _The Six Volumes of the_ POPULAR HISTORY OF ENGLAND, _which are now
+completed, bring down the narrative from the Invasion of Cæsar to the
+close of the American War. The first Four Volumes, forming the First
+Division of the Work, carry down the history to the Revolution of 1688,
+and are published with a copious Index. The Second Division, commencing
+with Volume V., will come down to that period of the reign of her
+present Majesty which has become a constitutional epoch in the important
+change of the commercial policy of the country. The price of each Volume
+is 9s._
+
+
+BRADBURY & EVANS, 11, BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+Numerous errors in punctuation (mostly missing periods) have been
+silently corrected. Otherwise, the somewhat eccentric use of punctuation
+has been left untouched.
+
+The following typographical errors have been corrected:
+
+"Publiliu" (p. xi): corrected to "Publilius";
+"educa-" (p.6): corrected to "education";
+"isin" (p. 38): corrected to "nisi";
+"vain for his recal" (p. 43): corrected to "vain for his recall";
+"it it is said" (p. 94): corrected to "it is said";
+"Romans to continuue (p. 117): corrected to "Romans to continue";
+"Hasbrubal" (p. 190): corrected to "Hasdrubal";
+"to day" (p. 241): corrected to "to-day";
+"Sertorious" (p. 277): corrected to "Sertorius";
+"ttifled" (p. 297): corrected to "stifled".
+
+There are many examples of words with two spellings: one with a hyphen
+and one without; this seems often to be deliberate (and often for
+humorous purpose) and they have therefore been left unchanged (e.g.
+dis-gusted and disgusted; Ro-man and Roman).
+
+There is no consistency in the use of the æ ligature. For example, Both
+Æmilius and Aemilius, Præneste and Praeneste are found. These
+inconsistencies have been left unaltered.
+
+Similarly the spelling Maximùs, which appears in a footnote on p. 16,
+has been left unaltered, although the spelling elsewhere is Maximus.
+
+Text in bold is indicated by =bold=.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Comic History of Rome, by
+Gilbert Abbott Becket
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COMIC HISTORY OF ROME ***
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