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diff --git a/41202-0.txt b/41202-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f8b9df --- /dev/null +++ b/41202-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6561 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41202 *** + +Transcriber's note: + +Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + +Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained +except in obvious cases of typographical error. + +Page 106: "Another leader, Cleon, a Silician". The transcriber has +replaced "Silician" with "Sicilian". + + + * * * * * + + +TWO GREAT REPUBLICS [Illustration: RUINS OF THE ROMAN FORUM] + + + + + THE TWO GREAT REPUBLICS + + ROME AND THE + UNITED STATES + + _By_ + JAMES HAMILTON LEWIS + + [Illustration] + + RAND McNALLY & COMPANY + CHICAGO NEW YORK + + _Copyright, 1913_, + BY RAND, MCNALLY & COMPANY + + The Rand-McNally Press + _Chicago_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +In this book I have proposed to compare conditions recorded in Roman +history with those existing in America that should warn, by reason of +the results at Rome. It is not the purpose of this volume to offer a +mere textbook or a scholastic essay on historical events. It is not +the purpose merely to record those events which led to the destruction +of the Roman republic, and with this end our work. The main purpose of +this book is to compare events as they transpired in the one republic +and in the other. + +The political history of the Roman republic is throughout its whole +course a continuous contest between radicals and conservatives. The +striking resemblances between the basis of the political controversies +of Ancient Rome and the modern political and economic problems render +it almost impossible for any historian to approach the political +history of Rome entirely free from prejudice. The bias of the +historian, whether toward the liberal or the conservative side in +politics, is sure to affect to a greater or less degree the pictures +which he paints of the events and actors in Roman history. To indicate +to some extent these varying views, and to present to the reader some +of the ideas of prominent writers on Roman history, a number of +extracts from the works of other authors have been inserted, as +occasion demanded, in this work. In the majority of cases such an +insertion should be understood as an attempt to present all sides of +some controverted historical question rather than as indicating the +approval by the author of the views expressed therein. + +In arranging the perspective of this book, its main object has been +kept constantly in mind. The importance of events has been weighed +from the standpoint of their effect upon the decay and collapse of the +free political institutions of Rome; with the result that many +subjects, to which considerable space would be devoted in a general +Roman history, have been passed over with a mere notice, while other +events, perhaps of less popular interest, have been treated at length. + +I would be false to the first sense of justice did I not here +acknowledge the aid I have obtained from Professor Albert H. Putney, +dean of the Webster College of Law, Chicago, and a lawyer of the state +of Illinois at the city of Chicago (my home), who has been the +principal contributor from whom I have received assistance, and much +that can be found in this book in the nature of real historical data, +and of the philosophy of reasoning from this data, is due to him, and +I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness and to give full credit for +the value of this work. + + JAMES HAMILTON LEWIS + + _United States Senate Chamber, Washington, D. C. + September 1913._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + _Preface_ 5 + + CHAP. + + I. THE TWO REPUBLICS 9 + + II. ROMAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES 15 + + III. THE FIRST GREAT MELTING POT 28 + + IV. THE EARLY REPUBLIC 35 + + V. THE PERIOD OF FOREIGN CONQUEST 71 + + VI. THE TRIBES, THE COLONIES, AND THE + PROVINCES 89 + + VII. THE CRISIS--THE ATTEMPTED REFORMS + OF THE GRACCHI 100 + + VIII. MARIUS AND SULLA 168 + + IX. POMPEY 218 + + X. CICERO AND CATILINE 228 + + XI. JULIUS CÆSAR 238 + + XII. POST-MORTEM 271 + + XIII. THE COMPARISON 286 + + + + + THE TWO GREAT REPUBLICS + ROME + AND + THE UNITED STATES + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE TWO REPUBLICS + + "How like, how unlike, as we view them together."--_Holmes._ + + +It is now nearly two thousand years since the curtain fell upon the +last act in the history of the Roman republic. During these twenty +centuries many other republics have flourished and passed away, while, +in turn, new republics have arisen to take the place of the earlier +ones; but no other fallen republic in the whole course of history has +attained to the same degree of importance, has possessed the same +degree of interest, or has exerted the same influence on the history +of the world, as did that of Rome. The five centuries of republican +institutions on the banks of the Tiber still remain the richest +quarry to which the student or historian of republican governments is +able to resort for his material. + +"History," says Lord Macaulay, "is philosophy teaching by examples." +The most practical value of the study of history arises from the aid +which it can give us in understanding the present and in forecasting +the future. Bolingbroke, on the "Uses of History," commands its study +as a protection against the unexpected. The main purpose of any +American, who to-day studies the history of the greatest republic of +the ancient world, should be to discover whether or not the story of +the rise and fall of that government teaches any lessons which might +be of value to the American of to-day; whether the evils which were +the causes of the overthrow of the Roman republic find any counterpart +in the problems which agitate our own country. + +One of the greatest of American orators, in urging Americans to draw +their historical lessons from the history of their own country, says +that "when we go back into ancient history, we are bewildered by the +differences of manners and institutions"; but sometimes it is with +the earliest of nations that the most striking comparisons may be +made, and from their history that the greatest lessons may be learned. + +The truth is that the progress of mankind, during that small fragment +of the period of its existence upon this earth which we are permitted +to see by the light of history, has been very uneven in the extent of +its advances along the different lines of human progress. In the +fields of scientific discovery and of material results human +achievements, especially during the past century, have reached almost +into the realm of the marvelous; but in many other fields--those +relating to human reason, to knowledge of the human mind, to the +relation between man and man, and to the science of government--human +progress has been so slight that man's efforts in these directions +must still receive the verdict of failure. + +The reason for this great discrepancy is perhaps not difficult to +discover. It is easy for the mass of mankind to accept and receive the +benefits which come to them from the struggles and mental efforts of +the few intellectual giants whom the human race from time to time +produces; but all this takes place with very little change in the +minds or emotions of the mass of humanity. + +As, for example, the pages of Homer are studied, it is hard to say +whether the strongest impression left upon the mind of the reader is +that of the vast difference between the external life of that period +and of the twentieth century, or that of the striking similarity +between the qualities and emotions of the characters in these epics +and of the men and women of to-day. + +In the field of the material world any comparison between the existing +conditions in the United States to-day and the conditions in any +ancient country could hardly be of any particular value; except, +perhaps, to indicate the great distance which has been traveled. In +the field of government and politics, however, the most valuable +comparison which it is possible to make with existing conditions in +the United States is not with the present conditions in any modern +country, nor is it with conditions of an earlier age in any +Anglo-Saxon or even Teutonic country. The greatest resemblance to the +existing conditions in the United States, both as to the character of +her politics and the nature of the problems which confront her, is to +be found in the great Roman republic of two thousand years ago. + +In studying the decline and fall of the Roman republic it will appear +that this result was most directly brought about by the three +following causes: + +1. Long before the time when Rome had attained to the height of her +power, great inequalities of wealth had arisen between the different +strata of the Roman citizens; the prosperity which came to Rome as a +result of her conquests was not distributed among her whole citizen +body. Indeed, while the wealth of the community as a whole was rapidly +increasing, the wealth of the great mass of the citizens was rapidly +decreasing, not only relatively but even absolutely. The acute stage +of the contest between the rich and the poor arose immediately after +the conclusion of the long contest between patricians and plebeians, +and at the time when, theoretically, all political distinctions and +privileges between citizens had disappeared. Yet, in fact, the +suffrage was then limited to the free citizen--the smallest class of +the humble or toiling numbers. + +2. The influence of a large and constantly increasing class of +demagogues, possessed of knowledge of human nature and endowed with +skill in the management of men, yet entirely lacking in principle, +patriotism, or any sense of public obligation. These wrought upon a +mob of unqualified and reckless voters, who had nothing to lose and +were more anxious for immediate personal benefit than for the gradual +but permanent amelioration of the hardships of the class to which they +belonged. + +3. The absence of any system of representative organization in the +Roman government. + +The first two of these evils are to be found in the American republic +of to-day as well as in the Roman republic of the past; the last of +the three was a disadvantage suffered by Rome but outgrown by the +modern republics. This last evil will be treated by itself in the +succeeding chapter, while the two former will be shown in the +remainder of the volume as the political history of Rome is outlined. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +ROMAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES + + +In one important respect in the management of their political affairs, +the citizens of the Roman republic occupied a most disadvantageous +position in comparison with the citizens of any modern republic. The +greatest defect in the political organization of Rome, as of all other +ancient republics, lay in the utter absence of representative +legislative assemblies. The want of such institutions, in the absence +of all the other causes of disruption, might of itself have been +sufficient to have caused the downfall of the Roman republic. + +The invention and development of such representative assemblies has +been the greatest contribution which the Anglo-Saxon race has made to +the political progress of the world. It is largely the existence of +such bodies which renders practical the continued existence of modern +republics, with jurisdiction over extended areas. + +The Roman legislative bodies were, throughout the whole period of +Roman history, popular assemblies,--bodies of a character well +adapted for the government of the community when Rome was a mere +city-republic on the Tiber, but entirely inadequate to meet existing +conditions when the Roman territories had been extended far beyond the +confines of Latium and even beyond the shores of the Italian +peninsula. + +The system of Roman popular assemblies was so complicated, and these +assemblies were so closely connected with every phase and every +important epoch in Roman political history, that it seems advisable to +stop at the outset and give a brief description of each of these +assemblies; of the manner in which they were constituted; of their +origin; and of the scope of their respective powers. + +The oldest of these popular assemblies was the _comitia curiata_, +which for a considerable period was the only body in Rome with the +power to enact laws. This assembly was based upon the original +division of the people into _gentes_ and _curiæ_, and was throughout +its history a distinctively patrician body. The force of the contest +for a share in political power, waged by the plebeians, took in the +main the direction of stripping the comitia curiata of its power +instead of securing for the plebeians the right of membership in this +assembly. + +After the creation of the _comitia centuriata_ the powers of the older +comitia rapidly declined, and were in the main limited to the control +of certain portions of the state religion; particularly those +religious formalities connected with elections, legislation, or the +investure of military leaders with the _imperium_. At a still later +time, the comitia curiata ceased to meet at all, and was merely +considered as being represented by the lictors. + +The two important assemblies of the people during the period of the +history of the Roman republic were the comitia centuriata and the +_comitia tributa_. The comitia centuriata came into existence during +the period which lies on the border line between mythology and +history. In the legendary history of the Roman kingdom the creation of +this assembly is given as one of the reforms of Servius Tullius. +However this may be, it was undoubtedly in existence (although not in +the exact form which it later acquired) as early as the sixth century +before Christ. This assembly was reorganized some time before the +Punic Wars. In its final form the tribal division was taken as the +primary division of the people; each tribe was divided into five +classes, according to the wealth of the citizens, and each class into +two centuries, one century in each class consisting of _seniores_, or +men above forty-five years of age, and one consisting of _juniores_, +or men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five. The ten centuries +from each of the tribes made a total of three hundred fifty centuries, +to whom were added eighteen centuries of knights, making a total of +three hundred sixty-eight centuries. Every question submitted to the +comitia centuriata was decided by the vote of a majority of centuries. +Although all freemen had the right to vote in this assembly, the power +of the richer classes was disproportionately great. This was secured +by assigning to the five classes, into which each tribe was divided, a +very disproportionate number of citizens. The first class, to which +only the richest citizens were admitted, was very small in size, while +the fifth (and lowest) class was probably more numerous than the other +four classes combined. + +The comitia centuriata was originally an assembly of the Roman +citizens in the form of an army, and the divisions into classes was +based upon the kind of equipment with which each soldier was able to +provide himself. The eighteen centuries of knights represented the +cavalry of the army. These centuries of knights possessed the right of +having their votes taken first, which constituted another advantage +for the wealthy classes. In 241 B.C. the knights were deprived of +their right of voting first, but this privilege was given to the +centuries of the first rank, assigned by lot. + +The comitia tributa, or assembly of the tribes, first met in 489 B.C., +it being convened by the Senate at that time to sit in judgment upon a +patrician, Coriolanus, the responsibility for whose fate the Senate +desired to throw upon the plebeians. This assembly was originally a +strictly plebeian body, and its original authority was limited to the +administration of the business of the plebeian order. The class +character of the comitia tributa is indicated by its original +name--_concilium tributum plebis_, the word _concilium_ indicating a +conference of a certain part of the people rather than a legislative +assembly of the whole people. + +It would be hard to say whether it was the increased power of the +tribunes which developed the authority of the comitia tributa, or +whether it was the increased power of the comitia tributa which first +gave to the tribunes the vast power which they were ultimately able to +exercise in Rome. However this may be, the fact is evident that the +power of the comitia tributa and of the tribunes rose together. At a +later date, membership in the comitia tributa was not limited to the +plebeians, but the influence of the patricians in this assembly was +always inconsiderable and they generally absented themselves from its +meetings. Although the wealthy classes had no predominating influence +in the comitia tributa, its decision upon any question was far from +being, necessarily, the decision of the majority. Measures submitted +to the comitia tributa were carried or defeated by the vote of the +majority of the tribes, and the numbers enrolled in each tribe were +very unequal, all the inhabitants of the city of Rome being enrolled +into four tribes, and a very disproportionate power being thus given +to the rural voters. + +The meetings of the comitia tributa were generally presided over by a +tribune, although sometimes by one of the consuls. At first the laws +passed by the comitia tributa were required to be confirmed by a vote +of the comitia centuriata, but this requirement was abolished in 339 +B.C. by the Publilian and Horatian laws. The provisions of these laws +were reaffirmed by the Hortensian laws in 286 B.C.; and it is certain +that at least from this date the full validity of a law passed by the +comitia tributa was never questioned. + +In the comitia centuriata and the comitia tributa we see the anomalous +condition of two independent law-making assemblies; and as there was +no division between them of the field of legislation, it is hard to +see how, even with the controlling influence of the Senate, conflicts +between the two were so generally avoided. So completely were the two +comitiæ on an equality as to the validity of the laws enacted by each +that the records generally fail to show by which assembly any +particular law was passed, but this can generally be ascertained by +looking at the name of the proposer of the law. If a tribune appears +as the proposer of the law it was passed by the comitia tributa; but +if the proposer was a consul, prætor, or dictator, the law was the +work of the comitia centuriata. + +The powers of the two comitiæ as to the election of officers were +differentiated. The comitia centuriata, at all stages in the history +of the Roman republic, possessed the right of electing the highest +officers of the republic--the consuls, prætors, and censors. The +comitia tributa originally possessed the right of electing only the +tribunes and the plebeian ædiles; at a later period they elected also +the curule ædiles, the quæstors, the majority of the legionary +tribunes, and all the inferior officers of state. The comitia tributa, +in the later days of the republic, secured an indirect control over +the election of the higher officers also, since the adoption of the +legal principle that all Romans who sought the highest honors of the +state must pass through a regular gradation of offices rendered it +necessary for the comitia centuriata to choose as consuls and prætors +men who had previously been chosen by the comitia tributa as quæstors +and ædiles. It must be remembered, however, that the law relative to +the order in which the various offices must be held was of a +directory rather than a mandatory character; while in the main obeyed, +it was, nevertheless, frequently violated. + +The various public offices here referred to will be discussed in the +later chapters as each office first comes into existence in Roman +history. It remains at this time to speak of the organization, powers, +and authority of the Roman Senate, particularly as to its control over +the work of the popular assemblies. + +The extent of the power of the Senate over legislation varied greatly +in different periods of Roman history, and these differences were +caused more by the existing political conditions, and by the relative +strength of the aristocratic and popular parties in Rome, than by any +express changes by legislation. + +At the very outset of Roman history we see the Senate existing as an +aristocratic body, embodying in itself both the oligarchical +principles upon which the Roman government was based, and also the +patriarchal basis upon which the Roman family organization and later +the organization of the Roman state itself had been built. + +Originally, each of the three Roman tribes was divided into ten +gentes, each gens into ten curiæ, and each curia, besides constituting +one of the units in the comitia curiata, furnished one member of the +Roman Senate. The Senate continued after the organization by curiæ had +become obsolete. Membership in the Senate was at all periods for life, +but did not descend from father to son. Vacancies in the Senate were +filled by appointment, these appointments being made first by the +kings, later by the consuls, and finally by the censors. As the +censors were chosen only once in five years, vacancies in the Senate +were filled only at such intervals. The aristocratic party in Rome, by +keeping control of the office of censor, was able to perpetuate their +majority in the Senate. In filling such vacancies, preference was +given to those who had held some of the higher offices during the +preceding five-year-period. Many members of the Senate had held the +office of consul; many more hoped to hold it in the future. All +members of the Senate, with few exceptions, had held some civic +office, and were men of property and of mature age. + +All the dignity of Rome and of the Roman government centered in the +Roman Senate. The minister of Pyrrhus described this body as "an +assembly of kings," and it might well have aroused the surprise and +admiration of a foreign ambassador, as nowhere else in the world at +that time was it possible to find such an assembly, either from the +standpoint of the character of the body itself or of the +qualifications of its members. + +At an early period no law could be presented before the comitia +centuriata or the comitia tributa without having been previously +approved by the Senate, and after the passage of the act, either by +the comitia centuriata or the comitia tributa, it must be promulgated +by the Senate before it went into effect. The Senate, therefore, was +never possessed of a direct general power of legislation, but had in +the fullest degree both the power of initiating legislation and of +vetoing it. At a later period the control of the Senate over +legislation became theoretically less, but practically greater. + +By the Publilian Law (339 B.C.) the control of the Senate over the +comitia centuriata was reduced to a mere formality. By this time, +however, the officers of the state, the tribunes as well as the +consuls, had fallen completely under the control of the Senate, while +the comitia tributa, in turn, fell more and more under the control of +the consuls and tribunes respectively. During the latter period of the +republic the Senate practically legislated, and gave the bill to one +of the tribunes (the tribunes were at this time far more completely +under the control of the Senate than were the consuls) to secure the +mere formality of its passage by the comitia tributa. + +The management of foreign affairs was at all times exclusively in the +hands of the Senate, except that the question of declaring war or +concluding peace must be submitted to the vote of the people in one of +the popular assemblies. The Senate also regulated the religious +affairs of the Roman state (after this power fell from the hands of +the comitia curiata); assigned consuls and prætors their provinces of +administration and command; fixed the amount of troops to be raised +both from the Roman citizens and from the Italian allies; sent and +received ambassadors; controlled the calendar, adding to or taking +away from a year so as to lengthen the term of a favorite official or +to shorten the term of an unpopular one; decreed or refused triumphs +to Roman generals, and possessed a general control over the financial +affairs of the state. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE FIRST GREAT MELTING POT + + +The variety of things which are able to serve as a basis for human +vanity are almost unlimited. This holds true as well in the case of +national vanity as in the case of the vanity of the individual. The +most backward and least attractive of human races generally consider +themselves superior to the rest of mankind, and too often on account +of the peculiarities which, in the minds of others, are the most +convincing proofs of their inferiority. Even among the more advanced +races of mankind great pride is often manifested in attributes which, +properly viewed, are rather a disgrace, or at least a detriment to the +race. + +Few things in the world are held in greater respect, by the great +masses of men, than a long line of ancestry of unmixed blood. It seems +to be generally felt that the purity of any race, that is, its freedom +from interbreeding with outsiders, is a matter of credit. The lesson +of history, however, shows that purity of blood in any nation is an +evidence of, or perhaps rather cause of, degeneracy and decay, and +that the great nations of history have been the cosmopolitan races, +the races of mixed descent and hybrid ancestry. If it be thought that +the Jewish people are an exception to this, let it be recalled that +the Jews are a mixed people, originally of many conflicting tribes, +and later continually mixed with other races. + +In the pages of ancient history Rome stands out as the first great +cosmopolitan race, or at least the first mixed race, in the creation +of which we are able to watch the melting pot in full operation. + +Three thousand years ago the Italian peninsula presented a veritable +medley of races. In the south and along the eastern coast were found +the cities and colonies founded by the two streams of immigration from +the neighboring peninsula across the Adriatic--the Pelasgian and the +Greek. In the center of Italy were to be found the various branches of +the Oscan, Umbrian, and Sabellian races. Farther to the north was the +country of the Latins. Etruscans and Gauls dwelt between Latium and +the Alps. It was only at a much later time that Cisalpine Gaul began +to be considered a part of Italy. + +In its earliest days Rome, while possessing many features in common +with the other Italian cities, presented at the same time many +differences. + + "The unfavorable character of the site renders it hard to + understand how the city could so early attain its prominent + position in Latium. The soil is unfavorable to the growth of + fig or vine, and in addition to the want of good + water-springs, swamps are caused by the frequent inundations + of the Tiber. Moreover, it was confined in all land + directions by powerful cities. But all these disadvantages + were more than compensated by the unfettered command it had + of both banks of the Tiber down to the mouth of the river. + The fact that the clan of the Romilii was settled on the + right bank from time immemorial, and that there lay the + grove of the creative goddess Dea Dia, and the primitive + seat of the Arval festival and Arval brotherhood, proves + that the original territory of Rome comprehended Janiculum + and Ostia, which afterwards fell into the hands of the + Etruscans. Not only did this position on both banks of the + Tiber place in Rome's hands all the traffic of Latium, but, + as the Tiber was the natural barrier against northern + invaders, Rome became the maritime frontier fortress of + Latium. Again, the situation acted in two ways: Firstly, it + brought Rome into commercial relations with the outer world, + cemented her alliance with Cære, and taught her the + importance of building bridges. Secondly, it caused the + Roman canton to become united in the city itself far earlier + than was the case with other Latin communities. And thus, + though Latium was a strictly agricultural country, Rome was + a center of commerce; and this commercial position stamped + its peculiar mark on the Roman character, distinguishing + them from the rest of the Latins and Italians, as the + citizen is distinguished from the rustic. Not, indeed, that + the Roman neglected his farm, or ceased to regard it as his + home; but the unwholesome air of the Campagna tended to make + him withdraw to the more healthful city hills; and from + early times by the side of the Roman farmer arose a + non-agricultural population, composed partly of foreigners + and partly of natives, which tended to develop urban life." + (Mommsen's _History of Rome_.) + +It was, therefore, as a cosmopolitan, commercial city that the Romans +first came into prominence. The early population was composed of mixed +Etruscan and Latin stock, to which representatives of every Italian +tribe and of the Greeks were soon added. By the beginning of the truly +historical times the Romans had become merged into one race, +representing the combined product of the races of Italy. It was this +fact, very largely, which contributed to her success over the purer +(ethnologically) races which surrounded her. + +There were two great divisions of the melting-pot process at Rome; the +first, that existing during the days of the kingdom and of the early +republic; the second, that of the later republic and the empire. +During the first period the process of intermixture, as has been said, +was between the different races of Italy; within the second period +Rome became the center of the civilized world, and her population +included representatives of all the known races of mankind. + +In no other despotism in the history of the world is there to be found +so little racial or class distinction as in the Roman empire. Such +distinctions were never able to exist at Rome during any portion of +her history. The permanent privileged classes were those possessed of +wealth, or of military power, and the descendants of both the +conquerors and the conquered of one epoch would be found in the next +indiscriminately divided among the exploiters and the exploited of the +times. + +The patricians, the descendants of the early settlers of Rome, were +unable to maintain their special caste privileges, and were compelled +to admit the plebeians to equal political rights and privileges. Class +distinction remained in as marked a degree as ever at Rome, but the +distinction was now between rich and poor, and the rich plebeian took +equal rank with the rich patrician. Nor were the united Roman orders +strong enough to preserve a monopoly of political privileges for +Romans when the territory of Rome was extended over the Italian +peninsula. It was found necessary to extend the franchise first to the +residents of Latium and later to those of the other portions of Italy. + +More remarkable still were the conditions which we find after the +establishment of the empire and the extension of Roman territory +around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. There were no royal house, +no hereditary nobility, and few special privileges left for the +inhabitants of Rome. The distinctions between rich and poor were never +more galling; _but_ high birth conferred no great advantage, and the +lowest born could rise to the highest posts of honor. The ponderous +weight of the empire ground out racial and caste distinctions and +welded together all the heterogeneous mass. The provinces became +Romanized, and the population of Rome became a mixture of all the +races of the provinces. Of how little importance Rome was to the +later empire is shown by the removal of the seat of the empire by +Constantine to Constantinople, and the continued existence of an +empire calling itself Roman for more than a thousand years after Rome +had ceased to constitute a part of such empire. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE EARLY REPUBLIC + + +The first epoch of the Roman republic is that extending from the +overthrow of the kings, about 509 B.C., to the passage of the Licinian +Laws in 367 B.C. The history of this century and a half at Rome is +primarily the history of internal strife and class antagonisms. During +these early days the progress made by the republic toward the +expansion of its territories or the extension of its foreign influence +was inappreciable. + +Rome, during these days, was contending on a position of near equality +with the neighboring cities of Latium and Etruria. Twice during this +period the independence, perhaps the very existence, of the city was +seriously threatened. + +The war against the Etruscans, which followed immediately upon the +expulsion of the last of the Tarquin kings, resulted so unfavorably to +Rome that not only was her territory considerably reduced in size but +even the subjugation of Rome itself might probably have been +accomplished but for the forbearance of her victorious opponents. + +Later, in 390 B.C., the capture and sack of Rome by the Gauls nearly +proved the death-blow of the Roman republic. The internal dissensions +of this period were mainly responsible for the lack of military +success. Although it is true that the history of early Rome, unlike +the histories of the various early Grecian states, records few +instances where hatred or bitterness arising from political defeat +induced a citizen to turn traitor to his country, and although the +approach of a foreign foe was generally sufficient to bring about a +truce in Roman political hostilities and the union of all factions in +the city against the common national enemy, still it must be +remembered that the amount of energy possessed by a community is +limited. When the all-absorbing questions agitating a people are those +relative to internal political contests, the energies of the ablest +men of each generation are spent mainly in political contests instead +of being exerted for the common welfare of the community. + +The influence which the internal dissensions at Rome must have +exerted on her military success is shown by a comparison of the +military history of the Roman republic prior to 367 B.C. with the +wonderful career of conquest which the Roman republic entered into +immediately after the passage of the Licinian Act. This act, although +producing a partial and temporary cessation of class contests at Rome, +nevertheless sufficiently healed the internal wounds of the state to +enable it to rapidly advance from a city-republic to a world power. + + "The results of this great change were singularly happy and + glorious. Two centuries of prosperity, harmony, and victory + followed the reconciliation of the orders. Men who + remembered Rome engaged in waging petty wars almost within + sight of the Capitol lived to see her the mistress of Italy. + While the disabilities of the plebeians continued, she was + scarcely able to maintain her ground against the Volscians + and Hernicans. When those disabilities were removed, she + rapidly became more than a match for Carthage and Macedon." + (Macaulay.) + +The republic created at Rome in the course of the sixth century before +Christ was distinctively an undemocratic republic. The benefits to the +plebeians resulting from the overthrow of the kingdom were of slight, +if any importance. The political power of the state remained almost +entirely in the hands of the patricians, and the right to hold office +was restricted to the members of this caste. At this time the members +of the patrician order were perhaps not very much inferior in numbers +to the plebeian order; but the discrepancy between the numbers of the +two orders so rapidly increased that by the beginning of the fourth +century before Christ the government of Rome had become practically +that of an oligarchy. + +In the latter days of the republic, in the contest which resulted in +the overthrow of the republic, the basic reasons for the struggle were +of an economic rather than a political character. In the period now +under discussion the political element predominated in the class +contests, although various elements of disagreement were to be found +existing side by side. + + "Three distinct movements agitated the community. The first + proceeded from the body of full citizens, and was confined + to it; its object was to limit and lessen the life-power of + the single president or king; in all such movements at Rome, + from the time of the Tarquins to that of the Gracchi, there + was no attempt to assert the rights of the individual at the + expense of the state, nor to limit the power of the state, + but only that of its magistrates. The second was the demand + for equality of political privileges, and was the cause of + bitter struggles between the full burgesses and those, + whether plebeians, freedmen, Latins, or Italians, who keenly + resented their political inequality. The third movement was + an equally prolific source of trouble in Roman history; it + arose from the embittered relations between landholders and + those who had either lost possession of their farms, or, as + was the case with many small farmers, held possession at the + mercy of the capitalist or landlord. These three movements + must be clearly grasped, as upon them hinges the internal + history of Rome. Although often intertwined and confused + with one another, they were, nevertheless, essentially and + fundamentally distinct. The natural outcome of the first was + the abolition of the monarchy--a result which we find + everywhere, alike in Greek and Italian states, and which + seems to have been a certain evolution of the form of + constitution peculiar to both peoples." (Mommsen.) + +The overthrow of the monarchy was accomplished quickly and +effectively. Unlike the case in most countries, the monarchy once +overthrown, there was no attempt for nearly five centuries to +reëstablish it. The word "king" was regarded with such hatred that the +mere accusation made against any public leader that he was seeking to +make himself king was generally sufficient to utterly destroy his +influence, even when such charges were unfounded and unsupported by +evidence. + +The men who established the new form of government created after the +expulsion of Tarquinius adopted the theory of political checks and +balances which we afterwards find exerting such a strong influence +upon the framers of our American Constitution. It was necessary that +at least a part of the powers formerly exercised by the king should be +intrusted to some official under the new régime. The greatest efforts, +however, were made to render it impossible for any Roman official to +use the governmental powers granted him in such a manner as to secure +for himself the kingly office. The mere provision that the highest +official in the government should be elected, rather than succeed to +the office by right of descent, was rightly judged to be by itself an +insufficient protection against the seizure of supreme power by some +Roman tyrant. + +A stronger safeguard was found in the division of the highest power in +the state between two officials, who later came to be known as +consuls. (The officers afterwards known as consuls were for a +considerable period known as prætors; after the term consul came into +use the name prætor at a still later period was given to the possessor +of a new office created shortly after the passage of the Licinian +Act.) The kingly power, or that part of it not absolutely abolished or +given to the religious officials, was vested jointly in the two +consuls, each possessing the full right to exercise all the functions +of the office. Under this division of power each consul was considered +a most effective check upon any ambition for a crown which might be +possessed by the other. + +Another safeguard, a safeguard which unfortunately has recently been +too much disregarded in the United States, consisted in the short term +of office prescribed by the new law, the consuls and other Roman +officials being elected for a term of one year only. + +While, as has been said, the consuls retained in general all the +former powers of the king, still in some respects these powers were +curtailed: + +1. By the Valerian Law of 509 B.C. each person condemned by the consul +to capital or corporal punishment was entitled to an appeal as a +matter of right. It had previously been optional with the king whether +to grant an appeal. + +2. The consuls never possessed the various pecuniary rights of the +kings, such as that of having the fields cultivated by the citizens. + +3. The quæstors, who had previously been appointed or not by the king +himself, as he saw fit, now became regular state officials. + +4. The religious duties and powers of the king did not pass to the +consul. The highest religious officer of the state, the _pontifex +maximus_, was from this time on elected by the Pontifical College. The +various colleges of priests (all of whom had formerly been appointed +by the king) now filled up vacancies in their own numbers. Other +religious officers were appointed by the pontifex maximus. On account +of the close connection between the Roman religion and the Roman +government, the pontifex maximus became a strong political power in +the city. By the power of this officer and his associates to hold the +auspices and regulate the calendar, they were enabled to prevent or +permit the holding of the public assemblies, extend or decrease the +term of office of public officials, and exercise a greater or less +influence on almost every public question or proceeding. + +5. The insignia and marks of dignity permitted to the consul were of a +less imposing character than those previously granted to the king. +While the king had been accompanied by twenty-four lictors, the consul +was permitted only twelve, and the axes were taken away. While the +king had worn the purple robe, the consul wore merely the ordinary +Roman toga with a purple border. The royal chariot of the king did not +descend to the consul, who was obliged to travel on foot within the +limits of the city. + +6. There had been no provision in the Roman law for any redress for a +wrong done by the king, but the consul, upon the termination of his +year of office, stepped down at once into the mass of the citizens and +could at any time be punished for any malfeasance during his official +life. + +7. An indirect restriction of the powers of the consuls arose from the +increased dignity and authority of the Senate. The change in this +respect, however, was practical rather than theoretical. According to +the strict form of the law the Senate still bore the same relation to +the consuls that they had previously borne to the king. The Senate was +still nothing more than an advisory body, and all vacancies among the +senators were filled by appointments made by the consuls. The +increased importance of the Senate arose out of the advantage which an +official holding office for life always possesses over a superior +officer holding office for only a brief term. In the present day it +frequently happens that a political appointee at the head of a +department or bureau, with the workings of which he is not familiar, +finds himself compelled to rely almost implicitly upon some +subordinate official whose working life has been spent in that office. + +The short term of a consul and the life term of the members of the +Senate thus tended to secure to this body an ever increasing +influence. It was seldom that any serious conflict arose between the +consul and the Senate. The consuls were men who were already senators +or who expected to become such, while of the senators, many had held +the office of consul and many more hoped to hold it in the future. + +This curtailment of the kingly power and the division of the powers +which remained between two consuls of equal rank, while it secured the +protection of the citizens from the danger of a new monarchy, strongly +hindered vigor and unity of action in the prosecution of any +enterprise. There were times, therefore, during the succeeding +centuries in the life of Rome, when to meet temporary emergencies a +stronger and undivided rule was necessary. To meet this need a new +official was created--the dictator--who might be nominated by one of +the consuls upon the authorization of the Senate and who, during the +term of his office, which could not exceed six months, possessed and +exercised almost absolute authority at Rome, and superseded all the +other officials in their duties. + +The original intention was that such an official should be appointed +only in cases of military necessity, but later this office was +frequently created to aid the patricians in their contests with the +plebeians. Only the patricians were eligible for any of the newly +created offices. The Senate was composed exclusively of this order, +and it has already been explained, in Chapter II, how, through the +expedient of putting more Roman citizens in some centuries than in the +others, the patricians were able to control the vote of the majority +of the centuries in the comitia centuriata. + +It is thus apparent that the mere overthrow of the kings at Rome had +accomplished little for the ordinary Roman citizen. In fact, the rule +of a single monarch is often more beneficial to the poorer classes of +a community than the rule of a favored class. The establishment of a +republic, however, had eliminated one political element, and cleared +the stage for the contest between the patricians and plebeians. + +That the economic condition of the poorer classes in Rome changed for +the worse after the institution of the republic is certain. It was for +the interest of the early Roman kings to favor and protect the small +Roman farmers, both for military and economic reasons. While the +permanent interests of the patricians would have been promoted by the +encouragement of this class, their temporary selfish interests called +for the destruction of the Roman middle class, primarily the middle +agricultural class, and the division of all Roman inhabitants into a +small aristocracy on the one hand and a large proletariat on the +other. + +The two forms of exactions which fell the heaviest upon the Roman +poorer classes were the barbarous laws against debtors and the +dishonest administration of the public leaders. The desperate +condition of the debtors at Rome at this time was a result of a number +of different causes, including the high rate of interest, the right of +the creditor to sell the debtor into slavery if the debt were not +paid, the policy of the patrician creditors to demand the last pound +of flesh in all their transactions, and the conditions which existed +in Rome at this time which compelled many small landowners, against +their wish and without any fault of their own, to become borrowers of +money. + +One harsh feature of this condition was the fact that it was the +military service, which as Roman citizens they were compelled to +render to the state, that more often than any other cause compelled +the plebeians to borrow money and thus ultimately drove them to their +ruin. For example, a small Roman farmer, through absence from his +home on military service for the state, might lose his crop for the +year. To support himself and his family until the next harvest, and to +supply the means for the planting of the next year's crop, he would be +obliged to borrow money, which, under the exorbitant rates of +interest, soon reached an amount out of proportion to the original +loan. Perhaps a second campaign would deprive him of the means of +returning the loan, and his lands would be taken from him and he +himself sold into slavery. As a final blow, the unfortunate plebeian +saw the lands which had been won for the state by armies composed of +his fellow plebeians reserved entirely for the use of the favored +patrician order. + +No more pernicious and unfair system could have been evolved than that +which governed the management of the Roman public lands in the very +first years of the republic. The earlier policy, under the kings, had +been to divide the public land of the state into small allotments and +to distribute it among those citizens of the state who most needed it. +With the republic this policy ceased, and the public lands were +nominally retained in the public ownership, but in reality were let +out on leases to the patricians and a few favored men among the +plebeians. + +In theory the state retained the right to take back the land at any +time and to receive a rent from the lessee; but in practice both these +rights were disregarded. The lands held in this manner by the +patricians were soon considered by them as much their own property as +those to which they held the legal title, and were devised and pledged +by their owners in substantially the same manner as any other land. +The collection of the rent was soon abandoned; and not only this, but +the land being in theory state land, the lessee (who was supposed to, +but did not, pay rent) was not liable to pay taxes on this land. + +The final working out of this matter may be summed up by saying that +the poorer class of the plebeians furnished most of the soldiers for +the campaign, stood most of the expense, suffered nearly all the +losses both of life and property, were excluded from any share in the +land captured in the war, and as a culmination saw their taxes yearly +increased on account of the fact that the patricians, who monopolized +the public land, succeeded in dodging the payment of rent and in +evading the payment of taxes. + +It was these conditions which brought about the remarkable spectacle +of what may be well designated the first recorded strike in history--a +strike in the Roman army. In 495 B.C. the Roman citizens were summoned +to take the field for another military campaign. They refused to obey. +One of the consuls, Publius Servilius, however, induced them to make +the campaign by suspending some of the laws bearing most heavily upon +the poor and by releasing all persons in prison for debt. But hardly +had the army returned from a victorious campaign than the other +consul, Appius Claudius, as a reward for their victory began to +enforce the debtor laws with extraordinary severity. + +Once more, in the following year, the plebeians were induced to take +the field, mainly on account of the popularity of the dictator +appointed for the management of this campaign, Marius Valerius, and +his promise that upon the termination of the campaign permanent +reforms would be made in the law. Again the Roman army was victorious, +and again the patricians broke faith with the plebeians and refused +to carry out their promised reforms. + +The next scene in this conflict is one almost without parallel, either +in ancient or modern history. The plebeians, disgusted by the +selfishness and perfidy of the patricians, determined to abandon Rome +to the patrician order and to found a new city for themselves upon the +"Sacred Mount," a hill situated between the Tiber and the Anio. The +patricians, thunderstruck by this unexpected movement, and being far +more in need of the plebeians than the plebeians were of them, +immediately made sufficient concessions to the plebeians to induce +them to return to Rome. + +Some of the concessions made at this time related to temporary +provisions for relief of debtors; but the great innovation was that +which established the office of tribune. The character of the office +of tribune is absolutely unique in the political history of the world. +The tribunes, elected by the people in the comitia tributa, were +plebeian officers who were at first without any constructive part in +the carrying on of the Roman government and whose sole duty at the +outset was to protect the members of the plebeian order from the +oppression of the patrician officials. This protection was exercised +mainly through the use of the veto power given to the tribunes. Under +this power the tribunes had the right at any time to put a stop to any +act either by any of the public assemblies, by the Senate, or by any +of the magistrates. It was a power which, if exercised to its fullest +extent, could put a stop to the very carrying on of the government. + +It speaks much for the moderation of the Roman tribunes that through +all the centuries of the Roman republic little serious inconvenience +was experienced from the use of this power. With few and unimportant +exceptions, it was exercised only in cases where the welfare of the +plebeians as a class, or of some particular plebeian, demanded it. + +The creation of the office of tribune was merely one more example of +that system of checks and balances which played so prominent a part in +the framing of the government after the expulsion of the king--a +system of checks and balances so strikingly resembling that in our +Federal Constitution. The tribunes were introduced as a protection +for the plebeians and an additional restraint upon the magistrates. + +While at first the power and duties of the tribunes were entirely of a +negative nature, they gradually acquired an authority of a positive +character. The tribunes generally presided over the comitia tributa +and took the lead in securing the passage of laws by that body. In +addition they acquired judicial powers, and in cases where a plebeian +had been wronged they could summon any citizen, even the consuls, +before them, and might impose even the death penalty. The persons of +the tribunes were declared inviolable, and any one who attacked them +was thought to be accursed. The number of the tribunes was at first +two, but was later increased to five and still later to ten. + +The second great victory won by the plebeians was in the passage of +the Publilian Law in 471 B.C. This law was proposed by the tribune +Valerius Publilius, and was brought about by the murder of the tribune +Gnæus Genucius. The main object of this law was the protection of the +plebeian assembly and the plebeian officers, but its exact details are +unknown. It is believed by some that the comitia tributa really came +into existence with this law, and that previously the plebeians had +voted by curies. The law limited to plebeian freeholders the right to +vote in a plebeian assembly, and excluded nearly all the freedmen and +clients who were under the influence of the patricians as well as the +patricians themselves. It is possible also that the increase in the +number of the tribunes from two to five was made by this law. In 462 +B.C. an unsuccessful attempt was made to abolish the office of +tribune; in 457 B.C. came the increase from five tribunes to ten. + +From 451 to 450 B.C. the regular system of government at Rome was +interrupted by the election and rule of the _decemvirs_. The episode +of these decemvirs has an important place in Roman history; but (as is +the case with all events in Roman history in the fifth century before +Christ) our knowledge of these men, of their work, and of their +overthrow is very uncertain. The election of these officials was +primarily brought about by the recognized necessity for a reform and +codification of the Roman laws. If the duties of these men had been +limited to the preparation of such code, its character and position +would not have been unsimilar to that of numerous other bodies of men +appointed for a similar purpose in many countries and in all ages. But +the peculiarity about the work of the decemvirs lies in the fact that +upon their appointment all the ordinary Roman offices were +discontinued and the entire judicial and executive administration of +the state passed into the hands of the decemvirs. + +During their first year of office the decemvirs drew up ten tables of +laws, so called because the laws were engraved upon tables of copper +and stood up in the Forum on the rostra in front of the Senate house. + +According to the legends (for the Roman historical records of this +century are little more than such), it had originally been intended to +intrust the decemvirs with power only for a single year, but their +work being incomplete at the expiration of the first year, they were +chosen for a second year. It is uncertain whether the decemvirs for +the second year were exactly the same men as those for the first year. +According to some reports some of the decemvirs of the second year +were plebeians, while none of those originally elected belonged to +that order. + +During their second year of office the decemvirs prepared two more +tables of laws, and these, with the ten tables prepared during the +preceding year, constituted the famous "Law of the Twelve Tables," the +first Roman code of which we have any knowledge. Only fragmentary +extracts from these tables have come down to us, but these fragments +furnish us with such an insight into early Roman laws, institutions, +and customs that they are here inserted: + + THE TWELVE TABLES + + + TABLE I + + THE SUMMONS BEFORE THE MAGISTRATE + + 1. If the plaintiff summon a man to appear before the + magistrate and he refuse to go, the plaintiff shall first + call witnesses and arrest him. + + 2. If the defendant attempt evasion or flight, the plaintiff + shall take him by force. + + 3. If the defendant be prevented by illness or old age, let + him who summons him before the magistrate furnish a beast of + burden, but he need not send a covered carriage for him + unless he choose. + + 4. For a wealthy defendant only a wealthy man may go bail; + any one who chooses may go bail for a poor citizen of the + lowest class. + + 5. In case the contestants come to an agreement, the + magistrate shall announce the fact. + + 6. In case they come to no agreement, they shall before noon + enter the case in the comitium or forum. + + 7. To the party present in the afternoon the magistrate + shall award the suit. + + 9. Sunset shall terminate the proceedings. + + 10. ... sureties and sub-sureties.... + + + TABLE II + + JUDICIAL PROCEDURE + + 2. A serious illness or a legal appointment with an alien + ... should one of these occur to the judge, arbiter, or + either party to the suit, the appointed trial must be + postponed. + + 3. If the witnesses of either party fail to appear, that + party shall go and serve a verbal notice at his door on + three days. + + + TABLE III + + EXECUTION FOLLOWING CONFESSION OR JUDGMENT + + 1. A debtor, either by confession or judgment, shall have + thirty days' grace. + + 2. At the expiration of this period the plaintiff shall + serve a formal summons upon the defendant, and bring him + before the magistrate. + + 3. If the debt be not paid, or if no one become surety, the + plaintiff shall lead him away, and bind him with shackles + and fetters of not less than fifteen pounds' weight, and + heavier at his discretion. + + 4. If the debtor wish, he may live at his own expense; if + not, he in whose custody he may be shall furnish him a pound + of meal a day, more at his discretion. + + 6. On the third market day the creditors, if there are + several, shall divide the property. If one take more or + less, no guilt shall attach to him. + + + TABLE IV + + PATERNAL RIGHTS + + 3. If a father shall thrice sell his son, the son shall be + free from the paternal authority. + + + TABLE V + + INHERITANCE AND TUTELAGE + + 3. What has been appointed in regard to the property or + tutelage shall be binding in law. + + 4. If a man die intestate, having no natural heirs, his + property shall pass to the nearest agnate. + + 5. If there be no agnate, the gentiles shall succeed. + + 7. ... if one be hopelessly insane, his agnates and gentiles + shall have authority over him and his property ... in case + there be none to take charge.... + + 8. ... from that estate ... into that estate. + + + TABLE VI + + OWNERSHIP AND POSSESSION + + 1. Whenever a party shall negotiate a nexum or transfer by + mancipatio, according to the formal statement so let the law + be. + + 5. Whoever in presence of the magistrates shall join issue + by manuum consertio.... + + 7. A beam built into a house or vine trellis shall not be + removed. + + 9. When the vines have been pruned, until the grapes are + removed.... + + + TABLE VII + + LAW CONCERNING REAL PROPERTY + + 5. If parties get into dispute about boundaries.... + + 7. They shall pave the way. If they do not pave the way with + stones a man may drive where he pleases. + + 8. If water from rain gutters cause damage.... + + + TABLE VIII + + ON TORTS + + 1. Whoever shall chant a magic spell.... + + 2. If a man maim another, and does not compromise with him, + there shall be retaliation in kind. + + 3. If with the fist or club a man break a bone of a freeman, + the penalty shall be three hundred asses; if of a slave, one + hundred and fifty asses. + + 4. If he does any injury to another, twenty-five asses; if + he sing a satirical song let him be beaten. + + 5. ... if he shall have inflicted a loss ... he shall make + it good. + + 6. Whoever shall blight the crops of another by incantation + ... nor shalt thou win over to thyself another's grain.... + + 12. If a thief be caught stealing by night and he be slain, + the homicide shall be lawful. + + 13. If in the daytime the thief defend himself with a + weapon, one may kill him. + + 15. ... with a leather girdle about his naked body, and a + platter in his hand.... + + 16. If a man contend at law about a theft not detected in + the act.... + + 21. If a patron cheat his client, he shall become infamous. + + 22. He who has been summoned as a witness or acts as + libripens, and shall refuse to give his testimony, shall be + accounted infamous, and shall be incapable of acting + subsequently as witness. + + 24. If a weapon slip from a man's hand without his intention + of hurling it.... + + + TABLE IX + + (No fragments of this table are extant.) + + + TABLE X + + SACRED LAW + + 1. They shall not inter or burn a dead man within the city. + + 2. ... more than this a man shall not do ... ; a man shall + not smooth the wood for the funeral pyre with an ax. + + 4. Women shall not lacerate their faces, nor indulge in + immoderate wailing for the dead. + + 5. They shall not collect the bones of a dead man for a + second interment. + + 7. Whoever wins a crown, either in person or by his slaves + or animals, or has received it for valor.... + + 8. ... he shall not add gold ... ; but gold used in joining + the teeth.... This may be burned or buried with the dead + without incurring any penalty. + + + TABLE XI + + (No fragments of this table are extant.) + + + TABLE XII + + SUPPLEMENTARY LAWS + + 2. If a slave has committed theft, or has done damage.... + + 3. If either party shall have won a suit concerning property + by foul means, at the discretion of the opponent ... the + magistrate shall fix the damage at twice the profits arising + from the interim possession. + +The decemvirs were forcibly overthrown before the close of their +second year in office. The stories as to the cause are not only +conflicting but diametrically so. According to one historical theory, +the rebellion against the decemvirs began among the plebeians on +account of the oppression which they suffered from the hands of these +men; while, on the other hand, it is believed by many historians that +the decemvirs were overthrown by the patricians because they were +giving too many concessions to the plebeians. Whatever the cause, the +power of the decemvirs was taken from them and all the former Roman +officials and assemblies were reëstablished, with the old powers and +jurisdictions. The "Law of the Twelve Tables," which the decemvirs had +drawn up, however, remained for centuries as the great basis of Roman +law. + +Five years after the deposition of the decemvirs the tribune Canuleius +secured the passage by the comitia tributa of the Canuleian Law, which +marked another milestone passed by the plebeians in their march toward +equality before the law. + +Two great concessions were given by this act, one in the field of +private and the other in the field of public law. The law which had +existed from the earliest days in Rome, and which had been +incorporated in the "Law of the Twelve Tables," prohibiting +intermarriage between plebeians and patricians, was abolished. It was +also provided that any year the people, instead of electing consuls, +might elect military tribunes, who should possess all the powers, +although not all the dignities, of the consuls. Either patricians or +plebeians could be elected to the office of military tribunes. + +The election of military tribunes was authorized by law many years +before any such officials were elected in Rome; but the fear that the +consular power might sometime fall into the hands of a plebeian +induced the patricians in 443 B.C. to secure the passage of a law for +the creation of new officials who should possess some of the powers +previously held by the consul and who must be chosen from the +patrician order. + +These new officials, called censors, were to be two in number and were +to be elected every five years. At first these officials held office +until the time arrived for the election of their successors, but later +their term of office was limited to one year and a half, there thus +being three and one half years out of every five-year period when this +office was in abeyance. + +The most important duty given to the censors at the outset seems to +have been the authority of filling vacancies in the Senate as it +became necessary to keep the number up to the required three hundred. +Up to this time this power of appointing senators had been exercised +by the consul. As time went on, however, the powers of this office +rapidly increased until at length it became the highest post of honor +at Rome, the men elected censors being almost invariably former +consuls or military tribunes. + +The arbitrary power of inquisition over all the public affairs of Rome +and the private conduct of the Roman citizens was so astonishingly +great that we wonder how it could have existed without constant and +gross abuses. In the later days of the republic the censors had the +right to make a so-called "censorial note" of all Roman citizens, who, +without having gone to the point of violating the criminal law, or at +least without having been convicted of a crime, had been guilty of +dishonorable or immoral conduct. All persons thus named suffered +severe civic penalties. If the person were a senator he lost his seat +in the Senate; if a knight, he lost the peculiar privileges belonging +to this rank. In every case the person lost his membership in the +association of his tribe and was subject to increased taxation. + +The exclusive right to serve as censors was one of the last exclusive +privileges retained by the patricians, the plebeians not being made +eligible to this office until 339 B.C. + +Although Rome was in an almost constant state of warfare during the +fifth century before Christ, the conflicts were neither on a large +scale nor decisive in their results. The chief enemies of Rome were +the neighboring Latin and Etruscan cities, with one or another of whom +Rome was almost constantly engaged in hostilities. At the beginning +of the fourth century before Christ Rome was attacked by a new and +more terrible enemy from the north, who very nearly changed the whole +course of the world's history by wiping the city of Rome out of +existence before its career of greatness had begun. + +This enemy was the Gauls, who captured and burned Rome in the year 390 +B.C., but who failed to take the citadel of the city and finally +withdrew, either being driven away or bribed to depart. Not only are +the details of the capture of Rome by the Gauls very uncertain, but by +destroying all the old Roman records and many of the Roman monuments +in their sack of Rome, the Gauls are responsible for much of the +uncertainty which exists as to the truth of the details of the history +of Rome prior to their invasion. In fact, it is generally considered +that the authentic history of Rome begins only after 390 B.C., the +history of the Roman kingdom being little more than mythology; while +what we know of the Roman republic prior to 390 B.C. consists of an +inseparable mixture of true history and legendary tales. + +After the departure of the Gauls the question arose whether Rome +should be rebuilt on its old site or whether all the Romans should +migrate in a body to Veii. It was only after a long discussion that it +was finally decided to remain at Rome. + +The rebuilding of Rome was immediately followed by another period of +conflict between the patricians and plebeians. Two causes of +discontent brought about the renewal of this contest. The first was +the financial condition of the poorer classes, who had been rendered +more desperate through the losses occasioned by the Gallic invasion; +and second, the desire of the richer plebeians to share in the +political honors reserved exclusively for the patricians. + +In this contest the leaders of the plebeians were the tribunes Gaius +Licinius and Lucius Sextius, who were, year after year, reëlected to +this office by the people. + +The so-called Licinian Laws, first introduced by these tribunes in 376 +B.C., were adopted only after the most bitter political contest which +up to this time had ever been fought in Rome. Time and again, the +tribunes resorted to their veto power to put a stop to the carrying +on of every function of the Roman government. These laws were finally +passed in 367 B.C., their three great provisions being as follows: + +1. That of all debts on which interest had been paid, the sum of the +interest paid should be deducted from the principal, and the remainder +paid off in three successive years. + +2. That no citizen should hold more than five hundred _jugera_ (nearly +320 acres) of the public land, or should feed on the public pastures +more than one hundred head of larger cattle and five hundred of +smaller, under penalty of a heavy fine. + +3. That henceforth consuls, not consular tribunes, should always be +elected, and that one of the two consuls must be a plebeian. + +Although the Licinian Laws are generally held to have equalized the +different orders at Rome, to have terminated forever the bitter +jealousy between patricians and plebeians, to have put a stop for a +time to class controversies of all kinds, and to have rendered +possible the great career of foreign conquest upon which Rome soon +entered, the fact remains that the benefit of these laws was +experienced far more by the small class of wealthy plebeians than by +the great mass of this order. + +Henceforth, with very few exceptions, one consul was always a +plebeian, Lucius Sextius being the first plebeian consul and Gaius +Licinius the third; but the chance of being elected consul was in +reality limited to a small class of plebeians and conferred little +practical benefit upon the ordinary member of the order. + +The laws for the relief of the poorer classes were not so fully +enforced. In particular, the wealthy citizens holding large allotments +of the public land found methods by which to evade the carrying out of +the provisions of this new law, and we are surprised to find Licinius +himself as one of the offenders in this respect. + +It was in the period following the passage of the Licinian Laws that +the greatest inequalities in wealth began to appear at Rome, and the +numbers of free small landowners to decrease. + +The history of the Licinian Laws and of the following period show +conclusively how mere political equality is never sufficient to secure +the welfare of the mass of the community, and that the power held by +a class possessed of great wealth, but without special political +privileges, is greater than that of a recognized nobility, and far +more apt to be abused, on account of the absence of any feeling of +class honor. + +Two slight efforts were made by the patricians to counteract the +political provisions of the Licinian Laws. For the first eleven years +after the passage of the Licinian Laws one consul was a plebeian and +one a patrician. In the thirteen years beginning with 355 B.C., two +patricians were elected consuls in eight of the years; after this, +violations of the law ceased, and one consul belonged to each order +down to the year 172 B.C., when both consulships were open to the +plebeians. The wealthy class of both orders had been so mingled by +this time that thereafter consuls were elected indiscriminately from +either order, although this election was almost invariably restricted +to the members of the great families. + +Immediately after the passage of the Licinian Laws the patricians +secured the creation of a new office. The man holding this office was +called _prætor_, and was given the judicial powers formerly belonging +to the consuls. At a later period the number of prætors was increased +to two, one of whom, known as the _prætor urbanus_, had jurisdiction +over controversies between Roman citizens, and the other, the _prætor +peregrinus_, who had jurisdiction over controversies between +foreigners residing at Rome and between Romans and foreigners. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE PERIOD OF FOREIGN CONQUEST + + +The most glorious period of Roman history, from the military +standpoint, followed closely upon the cessation of fierce national +contests in the fourth century before Christ. The united efforts of +patricians and plebeians, devoted to the task of foreign conquest, +proved sufficient in a few generations to win for Rome her world +empire. + + "The fifth century is the most beautiful century of Rome. + The plebeians had conquered the consulship and are + succeeding in conquering their admission to other + magistracies which the patricians wished to reserve; they + free themselves from the servitude which, under the name of + Nexus, weighed on the debtors. They arrive at political + equality and individual independence; at the same time the + old aristocracy still dominates in the Senate and maintains + there the inflexibility of its resolves and the persistence + of its designs. It was thanks to this interior condition + that the Roman people was able to survive the strongest + tests from without over which it had triumphed, and to make + that progress which cost it most dear. We see the peoples + fight, one by one, and often all together; the Latin people, + the Etruscans, the Goths, the Samnites, the other Sabellic + peoples of the Apennines; and the end is always victory. + The beginnings of this history were somber. Rome was + afflicted by one of those pestilences which one finds in all + the epochs of the history of this unsanitary city. Thence + was the origin of those scenic pieces imported by the + Etruscans and giving origin to comedy--a means devised to + appease the gods; so that Roman comedy had an origin + religious and dismal. The fifth century is for Rome the age + of great devotions and of grand sacrifices." (J. J. Ampère + in _L'empire romaine à Rome_.) + +A full description of the various military campaigns of Rome would +tend to obscure rather than to illumine the political and economic +history of the city. An enumeration of the foreign conquests of Rome +during this period, however, is necessary to indicate the rapid +increase in the territorial possessions of Rome, with their inevitable +reaction upon the domestic conditions of the republic. + +The first wars of Rome after the passage of the Licinian Laws were +renewed contests with her neighboring enemies. In 361 B.C. Rome was +again threatened by a new invasion of the Gauls. The following year +the Roman records mention a victory over the Hernicans by one Roman +consul, and over the Gauls, and the Latins of Tibur, by the other. +This alliance of the Gauls with a portion of the Latins so alarmed +the majority of the Latin cities that a new league between the Romans +and Latins was formed in 358 B.C. The Gauls soon after retired from +the neighborhood of Latium, and their allies, Tibur and Privernum, +were compelled to enter the new Latin League. + +A war waged against Rome by the Etruscan city of Tarquinii and its +allies so seriously threatened Rome that the Roman political factions +forgot their differences so far as to agree to the appointment (for +the first time in the history of the city) of a plebeian, in the +person of C. Marcius Rutilus, to the office of dictator. The old +jealousy of the patricians, however, was soon manifested again in the +opposition of the Senate to the granting of a triumph to this plebeian +for the great military victory which he soon won. + +In 350 B.C. a third invasion of the Gauls was repulsed by the Romans. + +The next great contest in which Rome was engaged was that with the +Samnites. This race was both the most worthy and the most bitter of +the enemies of Rome within Italy, and the long warfare between Rome +and the Samnites was terminated only by the practical extermination +of the latter race. The First Samnite War extended from 343 to 341 +B.C. and was indecisive in its results, the Samnites at its close +agreeing to give a year's pay and three months' provisions to the +Roman army, and being permitted to make war on the Sidicini. + +The close of the First Samnite War was followed closely by the Latin +War (340-338 B.C.). This war was brought about by the jealousy felt by +the other Latin towns toward Rome. Rome had been abusing her position +as the capital of the Latin League, and desired to acquire an +acknowledged supremacy over Latium. The war was an effort on the part +of the other Latin cities to restrain the too rapidly increasing power +of Rome and to reëstablish the balance of power in Latium. In this war +was seen the extraordinary spectacle of the Samnites appearing as +allies of Rome. The Hernicans also aided the Romans, and the Sidicini +and Campanians aided the Latins. The war resulted in the complete +overthrow of the Latins; but the Romans showed great generosity and +good judgment in their treatment of the conquered cities after the +war, and thus did much toward binding the Latins to Rome for the +future. + +The main provisions of the peace agreements were as follows: Roman +citizenships, in different degrees, were conferred upon the +inhabitants of the various Latin towns, who were, however, forbidden +to form any leagues among themselves or to hold diets; intermarriage +and commerce between the different Latin towns were prohibited; the +_municipium_ such as the Latins had previously possessed was given to +the citizens of Capua, Cumæ, Formiæ, Fundi, and Suessula; the Latin +contingents in the Roman army were henceforth to be permitted to serve +apart from the legions under their own officers; and the Latin public +land, two thirds of that of Privernum, and the lands in the Falernian +district of Campania were taken by Rome, as were also the lands of the +principal families of Velitræ, who were compelled to emigrate beyond +the Tiber. + +Ten years of peace followed, and then came the second and greatest of +the Samnite wars (327-304 B.C.). The Samnites were aided during part +of the war by the Etruscans and the Hernicans, but at the end the +Samnites were compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome and give +up their independence. The Hernicans were completely overthrown in 307 +B.C., and were united to Rome on conditions very similar to those +possessed by the Latins. + +In the Third Samnite War (298-290 B.C.) the Romans were again +victorious, although a league of Samnites, Etruscans, Gauls, and +Umbrians was formed against them. The exact terms of the treaty of +peace at the conclusion of this war are not recorded, but undoubtedly +riveted Roman control still more strongly upon Samnium. + +It was the final result of the Roman-Samnite wars which finally +determined the question of the overlordship of Italy. Of all the +numerous races of Italy, two and only two possessed the stamina which +rendered them possible unifiers of the whole peninsula. Rome's defeat +of Samnium left her without a rival in Italy and ready for contests +with her later and greater rivals. The close of the Third Samnite War, +however, did not end the resistance of the Samnites to Roman rule. +Even down to the time of the contests of Marius and Sulla we find this +race grasping every opportunity to strike a blow against Roman +dominion. + +In 284 B.C. the Tarentines succeeded in bringing about a union of the +Samnites, Lucanians, Umbrians, Bruttians, Etruscans, and Gauls against +Rome. This war was a series of victories for the Romans. By the year +282 B.C. all of the Roman enemies were subdued except the Etruscans, +with whom the war continued until 280 B.C. In this last-named year the +Romans, alarmed by the danger of war with Pyrrhus, concluded a peace +with the Etruscans on such terms as changed these people from +bitterest enemies into most faithful allies. + +The time had now arrived when Rome was called upon for the first time +to cross arms with enemies from beyond the Italian peninsula. The +first of these contests with a foreign power was fought out entirely +within the confines of Italy. + +The year 280 B.C. saw the beginning of the contest between Rome and +Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who had been summoned to Italy as an ally of +the Greek city of Tarentum. At the outset the Romans suffered two +great defeats, at Heraclea and on the plain of Apulian Asculum, +largely through their inability to meet the attacks of the phalanxes +and of the war elephants. In the end, however, Pyrrhus, although aided +by all the enemies of Rome in southern and central Italy, ended his +campaign in failure and returned to Epirus in 275 B.C., his dream of a +great western empire forever shattered. + +In the ten years following the departure of Pyrrhus the subjugation of +all Italy was completed, followed by a reorganization of the +government of the Roman colonies and subject cities. + +The second foreign enemy of Rome was Carthage, and the most dramatic +pages in the whole history of Roman conquest are those which relate +the story of the contest between these two titanic rivals for world +supremacy. The immediate cause of the First Punic War arose over the +possession of Messana, a city in Sicily separated from Italy by only a +narrow strait; but war between Rome and Carthage was inevitable; and +if Messana had not become the bone of contention, another would have +been found. The First Punic War lasted from 264 to 241 B.C. and +resulted in victory for Rome. By the terms of peace Carthage gave up +Sicily and all the small islands between Sicily and Italy, and paid a +heavy war indemnity to Rome. Shortly after the close of the war the +Romans, by threats, compelled the Carthaginians to surrender also the +islands of Sardinia and Corsica. + +In 230 B.C. the Romans were engaged in war with the Illyrian pirates; +and from 226 to 221 B.C. with the Insubrian Gauls, both of which +conflicts resulted in easy victories for the Roman arms. + +In the meantime Hamilcar, his son Hannibal, and his son-in-law +Hasdrubal had been busy in Spain, reducing it under Carthaginian rule +and preparing it to be used as a base of operation from which an +invasion of Italy might be attempted whenever a favorable opportunity +should present itself. + +In 227 B.C. the Romans, becoming alarmed at the spread of the +Carthaginian empire in Spain, insisted on a treaty by which the river +Ebro was fixed as the northern boundary beyond which the control of +Carthage should never extend. In 219 B.C. Hannibal (whose father and +brother-in-law had by this time both fallen in the war) attacked the +city of Saguntum, which, though south of the Ebro, was an ally of +Rome. No heed being taken of the Roman remonstrances, war was again +declared. + +The Second Punic War lasted from 218 to 202 B.C. The early years of +this war saw a long series of Carthaginian victories, and their great +general, Hannibal, has ever since ranked as one of the greatest +military geniuses in history. This war, however, has been well +described as that of a man against a nation; and in the end the nation +conquered. The final battle was that of Zama, fought in Africa in 202 +B.C. + +By the terms of the treaty of peace made at the close of this war +Carthage surrendered to Rome all her territorial possessions outside +of Africa, all her elephants, and all her war ships except three +triremes, and also bound herself to pay a heavy annual tribute for +fifty years. In addition, Carthage was prohibited from making war, +under any circumstances, outside of Africa, nor within Africa except +with the consent of Rome; and was compelled to return to the ally of +the Romans, Masinissa, king of Numidia, all the territory and property +which had been taken from him or his predecessors by Carthage. In +many respects, however, the treaty was favorable to Carthage, who was +permitted to keep her African territory practically intact, who was +also permitted to keep her independence, and was not required to +receive any Roman garrison. + +The Second Punic War was the decisive contest between Rome and +Carthage, the First Punic War being indecisive and the third being +merely the destruction of an already conquered people. This Second +Punic War, however, was something more than the decisive contest +between Rome and Carthage; it was the decisive contest between two +continents, two races, two systems of institutions. The battle of +Metaurus has justly been classed as one of the decisive battles of the +world. The capture of Rome by Hannibal could not have failed to have +entirely altered the whole future course of history. If Hannibal had +been able to carry back to Carthage the spoils of a conquered Rome he +would also have carried with them to Africa the scepter of world +empire. He would have wrested race supremacy and the leading place in +civilization from the Aryan for the Hamitic races. For many +centuries, at least, the center of power and civilization would have +been upon the southern instead of the northern shores of the +Mediterranean, and it is at least doubtful whether, even to-day, the +northern races could have completely eradicated the effects of such an +event. + +In spite of the earlier triumphs of Persia and Greece, it was not +until the Roman victory over the Carthaginians that the position of +the Aryan races became definitely assured. + +Mommsen writes on the results of the Second Punic War as follows: + + "It remains for us to sum up the results of this terrible + war, which for seventeen years had devastated the lands and + islands from the Hellespont to the Pillars of Hercules. Rome + was henceforth compelled by the force of circumstances to + assume a position at which she had not directly aimed, and + to exercise sovereignty over all the lands of the + Mediterranean. Outside Italy there arose the two new + provinces in Spain, where the natives lived in a state of + perpetual insurrection; the kingdom of Syracuse was now + included in the Roman province of Sicily; a Roman instead of + a Carthaginian protectorate was now established over the + most important Numidian chiefs; Carthage was changed from a + powerful commercial state into a defenseless mercantile + town. Thus all the western Mediterranean passed under the + supremacy of Rome. In Italy itself, the destruction of the + Celts became a mere question of time: the ruling Latin + people had been exalted by the struggle to a position of + still greater eminence over the heads of the non-Latin or + Latinized Italians such as the Etruscans and Sabellians in + lower Italy. A terrible punishment was inflicted on the + allies of Hannibal. Capua was reduced from the position of + second city to that of first village in Italy; the whole + soil, with a few exceptions, was declared to be public + domain-land, and was leased out to small occupiers. The same + fate befell the Picentes on the Silarus. The Bruttians + became in a manner bondsmen to the Romans and were forbidden + to carry arms. All the Greek cities which had supported + Hannibal were treated with great severity; and in the case + of a number of Apulian, Lucanian, and Samnite communities a + loss of territory was inflicted, and new colonies were + planted. Throughout Italy the non-Latin allies were made to + feel their utter subjection to Rome, and the comedies of the + period testify to the scorn of the victorious Romans. + + "It seems probable that not less than three hundred thousand + Italians perished in this war, the brunt of which loss fell + chiefly on Rome. After the battle of Cannæ it was found + necessary to fill up the hideous gap in the Senate by an + extraordinary nomination of 177 senators; the ordinary + burgesses suffered hardly less severely. Further, the + terrible strain on the resources of the state had shaken the + national economy to its very foundations. Four hundred + flourishing townships had been utterly ruined. The blows + inflicted on the simple morality of the citizens and farmers + by a camp life worked no less mischief. Gangs of robbers and + desperadoes plundered Italy in dangerous numbers. Home + agriculture saw its existence endangered by the proof, first + given in war, that the Roman people could be supported by + foreign grain from Sicily and Egypt. Still, at the close and + happy issue of so terrible a struggle, Rome might justly + point with pride to the past and with confidence to the + future. In spite of many errors she had survived all danger, + and the only question now was whether she would have the + wisdom to make right use of her victory, to bind still more + closely to herself the Latin people, to gradually Latinize + all her Italian subjects, and to rule her foreign dependents + as subjects, not as slaves--whether she would reform her + constitution and infuse new vigor into the unsound and + fast-decaying portion of her state." + +Up to the close of the third century before Christ the wars of Rome +had been mainly forced upon her by the aggressions of others, or had +grown out of disputes which had arisen in the natural course of +events; but after the battle of Zama, Rome entered deliberately upon a +career of foreign conquest. + +In 200 B.C. a Roman army invaded Macedon, and Philip, the king of this +country, was completely defeated at the battle of Cynoscephalæ in 197 +B.C., but the Romans consented to easy terms of peace at this time on +account of the expectation of a war with Syria. The first war between +Rome and Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, began in 191 B.C. and +ended in 187 B.C. By the terms of peace Antiochus gave up all his +claims in Europe, and in Asia west of the Taurus. + +The Second Macedonian War began in 172 B.C. and was concluded by the +great Roman victory at Pydna in 168 B.C. Macedon was at first divided +into four republics, between which the rights of _connubium_ and +_commercium_ were prohibited, but soon sank into the condition of a +Roman province. Roman influence and interference were also rapidly +increasing in Greece during this period, although no formal annexation +of territory was made at this time. + +The Third Punic War (149-146 B.C.), forced by Rome upon an almost +helpless antagonist, resulted in the complete overthrow of the +greatest of Rome's rivals. Carthage was completely destroyed, and +Africa became a Roman province. + +The Achæan War (147-146 B.C.) resulted in the practical subjection of +all Greece to Rome; and between the years 143 and 133 B.C. the +conquest of Spain was completed. + +The interest in Roman history during the period from 367 to 133 B.C. +is mainly centered in the military achievements of the republic, but +certain events in the political history of Rome during this period +must be noted before passing to a consideration of the violent +political conflicts which arose over the proposed reforms of the +Gracchi. + +By the Lex Horatia and the Lex Publilia (339 B.C.) it was provided +that the _plebiscita_ (that is, the decrees of the comitia tributa) +should be binding as laws; that one of the censors must be a plebeian; +and that the subsequent ratification by the Senate should not be +necessary to render valid the laws passed by the comitia centuriata. + +In 326 B.C. the Lex Poetelia Papiria prohibited debtors from assigning +themselves as security for debts. This did not interfere with the +selling of a debtor into slavery by means of the _legis actio per +manus injectionem_; it merely prohibited the debtor from using himself +as a special pledge to secure the payment of the debt. + +In 304 B.C. the plebeians secured the publication of a manual +containing full information as to the proper steps in the proceedings +in the various _legis actiones_, and also as to the _dies fasti_. In +the early days at Rome all legal knowledge had belonged to the +patricians, who had always strenuously resisted any movement toward +making such information open to all. An exclusive knowledge of the law +is of great advantage to any special class in any community, and one +eagerly sought under different disguises in many countries. The +present attempt to monopolize legal education in the United States, +and to attack all movements which might tend to a general diffusion of +legal knowledge among the mass of the community, is merely another +manifestation of the same spirit which animated the Roman patricians +in their long contests to keep all legal knowledge away from the +plebeians. While the study of all professions which have no political +signification, such as that of medicine, may safely be regulated by +the government, and while the government may without injustice impose +proper qualifications upon those who desire to practice law as their +profession, any attempt of the government to restrict the teaching or +study of the law, or to impose upon those desiring to take bar +examinations restrictions intended merely to keep out of the +profession those not fortunate enough to belong to the wealthy +classes, can be intended only as an attack on democratic principles +and as an attempt to create a monopoly of legal learning for improper +purposes. + +In 286 B.C. was passed the Hortensian Law, which brought about the +complete political equality of plebeians and patricians, whatever +slight distinctions still remained being removed by this law. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TRIBES, THE COLONIES, AND THE PROVINCES + + +Complete equality of political and civil rights has never existed, in +any republic, among those subject to the laws; and throughout the +whole history of the Roman republic the most striking discriminations +existed between different strata in the political and economic +organizations. + +The contests arising from caste distinctions among the Romans +themselves are discussed in other chapters of this volume; it is here +proposed to treat of the distinctions existing between Roman citizens, +allies, and subjects and to describe briefly the status of each class. + +Just as in the days of the Roman kingdom the test of Roman citizenship +was membership in one of the curiæ, so in the time of the republic the +test became membership in one of the tribes. + +In the early days of the republic the number of tribes was twenty-one. +Four new tribes were established in 387 B.C. in the conquered +territories of Veii, Capena, and Falerii. Other tribes were from time +to time created, until by the time of the close of the war with +Pyrrhus the total number of tribes was thirty-three. The twelve new +tribes occupied a district beyond the Tiber extending a little farther +than Veii, a portion of the Sabine and Aequian territory beyond the +Anio, part of Latium, part of the Volscian territory, and the coast +lands as far as the Liris. The last addition to the number of tribes +at Rome took place in 235 B.C., when the number was increased to +thirty-five. + +The struggles in Rome for the extension of political rights and +privileges were always of a concrete, never of an abstract character. +We find none of the philosophy of Montesquieu among the Romans; no +discussion of natural rights, no effort for the securing of political +equality in the abstract. The Roman contests for liberty were always +of a strictly practical and, it might perhaps be added, of a strictly +selfish character. We find a series of conflicts, in each of which a +certain class of the citizens (or subjects) of Rome fought for the +right to be enrolled among those possessed of Roman political rights. + +At first the contests were all between the actual inhabitants of Rome +itself. The political controversies, however, did not terminate upon +the admission of the plebeians to full political rights. After the +plebeians had won their contests there came the Latins, and after the +Latins the Italians. + +The relation between early Rome and the other cities of Latium was of +the closest character. From the remotest times, long before the +foundation of Rome, a league of Latin cities was in existence. At the +head of this league stood Alba Longa (the long white city). Rome in an +early period in her history overthrew Alba Longa and succeeded to her +place at the head of the confederacy. While, however, the primary of +Alba Longa had never extended beyond giving to that city the honorary +presidency of the league, making it the religious center of Latium, +the leadership of Rome was of a real and substantial character. By the +terms of agreement between the members of the new Latin League, Rome +was tacitly ranked as the equal of the other cities combined, it being +agreed that all territory won by the league in war should be divided, +one half to Rome and one half among the other cities. The rights of +intermarriage and of trade existed between all the cities of the +league. + +In 384 B.C. Rome was strong enough to compel the league to agree to +the closing of its membership. At that time there were in the league +thirty towns with full Latin rights and seventeen towns without the +right of voting. Towns which in the future should become connected +with the league were to have the rights of intermarriage and of trade +only with Rome. + +The Latin League came to an end in 338 B.C. The extension of the +rights of Roman citizenship, either complete or qualified, to other +races in Italy is referred to in other chapters of this book. The +history of this subject is thus summarized by Mommsen: + + "It remains for us to consider the political effect of the + mighty changes consequent upon the establishment of Roman + supremacy in Italy. We do not know with exactness what + privileges Rome reserved for herself as sovereign state. It + is certain that she alone could make war, conclude treaties, + and coin money; and that, further, any war or treaty + resolved upon by the Roman people was legally binding on all + Italian communities, and that the silver money of Rome was + current everywhere in Italy. + + "The relations of the Italians to Rome cannot in all cases + be precisely defined, but the main features are as follows. + In the first place, the full Roman franchise was extended as + far as was compatible with the preservation of the urban + character of the Roman community. Those who received this + franchise may be divided into three classes. First, all the + occupants of the various allotments of state lands, now + embracing a considerable portion of Etruria and Campania, + were included. Second, all the communities which, after the + method first adopted in the case of Tusculum, were + incorporated and completely merged in the Roman state.... + Finally, full Roman citizenship was possessed by the + maritime or burgess colonies which had been instituted for + the protection of the coast.... + + "Thus the title of Roman citizen in its fullest sense was + possessed by men dwelling as far north as Lake Sabatinus, as + far east as the Apennines, and as far south as Formiæ. But + within those limits isolated communities such as Tibur, + Præneste, Signia, and Norba, were without the Roman + franchise; while beyond them other communities, such as + Sena, possessed it. + + "In the next place, we must distinguish the various grades + of subjection which marked all the communities not honored + with the full Roman franchise. As in the case of the + recipients of full citizenship, so here we may make a + threefold division. To the first division belong the Latin + towns: these retained their Latin rights; that is, they were + self-governing and stood on an equal footing with Roman + citizens as regards the right of trading and inheritance. + But it is important to observe that the Latins of the later + times of the republic were no longer for the most part + members of the old Latin towns, which had participated in + the Alban festival, but were colonists planted in Latium by + Rome, who honored Rome as their capital and parent city, and + formed the main supports of Roman rule in Latium. Indeed, + the old Latin communities, with the exception of Tibur and + Præneste, had sunk into insignificance. It was but natural + that the Latin colonies, issuing as they did from the + burgess-body of Rome, should not rest content with mere + Latin rights, but should aim at the full rights of Roman + citizens. Rome, on the other hand, now that Italy was + subjugated, no longer felt her former need of these + colonies; nor did she deem it prudent to extend the full + franchise with the same freedom as she hitherto had done.... + + "To the second division belong those towns whose inhabitants + were passive citizens of Rome (_cives sine suffragio_). They + were liable to service in the Roman legions and to taxation, + and were included in the Roman census. A deputy or prefect + appointed annually by the Roman prætor administered justice + according to laws which were subjected to Roman revision. + + "In the third and last division we may include all allied + communities which were not Latin states; the relation of + these towns to Rome was defined by separate treaties, and + therefore varied in accordance with the terms imposed by + such agreements.... + + "It had taken Rome 120 years to complete the union of the + Italian peninsula, broken up as it was by mountain ranges + and naturally favoring the formation and preservation of + various isolated states. But union it was, rather than a + subjugation, and each nation was left to the practical + management of its own affairs. Content with self-government, + the various communities, for the most part, easily bore the + yoke of Roman supremacy. Eventually all the municipal towns + received the full Roman franchise (90 B.C.), and thus + established the municipal principle of government which + endures to the present day." + +The rights of Roman citizenship were never generally given outside of +the Italian peninsula, although such rights were granted to a few +favored individuals in all portions of the Roman world. The possession +of these rights was the greatest privilege which could be acquired by +any subject of Rome. Even when the strictly political rights of such +citizen disappeared under the empire, the personal distinction and +protection connected with this citizenship remained. As striking an +evidence of the dignity and privileges of a Roman citizen as could be +desired is found in the Bible in the twenty-second chapter of Acts: + + "The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the + castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; + that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. + + "And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the + centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a + man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? + + "When the centurion heard _that_, he went and told the chief + captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is + a Roman. + + "Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, + art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. + + "And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I + this freedom. And Paul said, But I was _free_ born. + + "Then straightway they departed from him which should have + examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after + he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him." + +At the close of the Second Punic War Rome was in possession of five +provinces--Sicily, Sardinia, Hither Spain, Farther Spain, and the +Gallic coast of Umbria. This latter province soon became an integral +part of Italy, but the number of Roman provinces was kept at five by +the creation of the province of Cisalpine Gaul. From this time on the +number of Roman provinces rapidly increased. The existence of the +provinces perpetuated the existence of various classes of political +rights. + +We will close this account with a description by Gibbon of the +relations between Rome and the provinces as they existed during the +closing years of the republic and the early days of the empire: + + "Till the privileges of Romans had been progressively + extended to all the inhabitants of the empire, an important + distinction was preserved between Italy and the provinces. + The former was esteemed the centre of public unity, and the + firm basis of the constitution. Italy claimed the birth, or + at least the residence, of the emperors and the senate. The + estates of the Italians were exempt from taxes, their + persons from the arbitrary jurisdiction of governors. Their + municipal corporations, formed after the perfect model of + the capital, were intrusted, under the immediate eye of the + supreme power, with the execution of the laws. From the foot + of the Alps to the extremity of Calabria, all the natives of + Italy were born citizens of Rome. Their partial distinctions + were obliterated, and they insensibly coalesced into one + great nation, united by language, manners, and civil + institutions, and equal to the weight of a powerful empire. + The republic gloried in her generous policy, and was + frequently rewarded by the merit and services of her adopted + sons. Had she always confined the distinction of Romans to + the ancient families within the walls of the city, that + immortal name would have been deprived of some of its + noblest ornaments. Virgil was a native of Mantua; Horace was + inclined to doubt whether he should call himself an Apulian + or a Lucanian; it was in Padua that an historian was found + worthy to record the majestic series of Roman victories. The + patriot family of the Catos emerged from Tusculum; and the + little town of Arpinum claimed the double honor of producing + Marius and Cicero, the former of whom deserved, after + Romulus and Camillus, to be styled the Third Founder of + Rome; and the latter, after saving his country from the + designs of Catiline, enabled her to contend with Athens for + the palm of eloquence. + + "The provinces of the empire (as they have been described in + the preceding chapter) were destitute of any public force, + or constitutional freedom. In Etruria, in Greece, and in + Gaul, it was the first care of the senate to dissolve those + dangerous confederacies, which taught mankind that, as the + Roman arms prevailed by division, they might be resisted by + union. Those princes whom the ostentation of gratitude or + generosity permitted for a while to hold a precarious + sceptre were dismissed from their thrones as soon as they + had performed their appointed task of fashioning to the yoke + the vanquished nations. The free states and cities which had + embraced the cause of Rome were rewarded with a nominal + alliance, and insensibly sunk into real servitude. The + public authority was everywhere exercised by the ministers + of the senate and of the emperors, and that authority was + absolute and without control. But the same salutary maxims + of government, which had secured the peace and obedience of + Italy, were extended to the most distant conquests. A + nation of Romans was gradually formed in the provinces, by + the double expedient of introducing colonies, and of + admitting the most faithful and deserving of the provincials + to the freedom of Rome." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE CRISIS--THE ATTEMPTED REFORMS OF THE GRACCHI + + "Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, + In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; + Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, + Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, + And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. + + * * * * * + + "Backward look across the ages and the beacon-moments see + That, like peaks of some sunk continent, jut through Oblivion's sea; + Not an ear in court or market for the low foreboding cry + Of those Crises, God's stern winnowers, from whose feet earth's chaff must fly; + Never shows the choice momentous till the judgment hath passed by. + + "Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record + One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word; + Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,-- + Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, + Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." + + --Lowell's _The Present Crisis_. + + +The critical days of any contest are seldom those of its final +culmination. The end has generally been long foreshadowed. The time at +which the last stand for the Roman liberties was made was not during +the civil wars of the last century before Christ, but at the time of +the attempted reforms of the previous century. The years in which the +great crisis of the Roman republic was reached were those from 134 to +121 B.C., the years marked by the activities of the Gracchi. + +The story of the Gracchi constitutes one of the strangest, grandest, +and saddest stories in the whole course of history. It is a double +story of sacrifice, suffering, and untiring labor; of temporary +success, of ultimate death and failure--but a failure which stands +forth more glorious in the pages of history than the greatest +successes of others. It is the story of two brothers, possessed of +wealth and of high rank and connections, in the richest and most +powerful country of the world--men to whom was open either an easy +path along the old established road to the highest honors of the Roman +state or the life of luxurious ease so eagerly embraced by the +majority of the rich young Romans of that day. Casting aside both +these choices, and recognizing the dangers of their native state, +these brothers sacrificed all in an attempt to restore to Rome those +conditions which in the past had built up her greatness, and to secure +a redress of those conditions which had made the status of the great +mass of the citizens of the "Mistress of the World" hardly superior to +that of the very serfs. It is a story of the most aggravated +selfishness and relentless hatred on the part of those favored few +whose special and illegal interests were threatened by the attacks of +the young reformers. It is also, unfortunately, to too great an extent +a story of ingratitude and cowardice on the part of those for whose +interest Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus sacrificed themselves in vain. + +The Gracchi were fortunate in having as father one of those Romans +who still retained the Roman virtues of an earlier age,--patriotism, +bravery, and honor. Not only had the administration of the elder +Gracchus of the offices of consul and censor at Rome been free from +corruption, but his administration of the governorship of the Province +of Ebro had been of great service to his native country and had, +furthermore, endeared his memory to the Spaniards themselves. + +The mother of the Gracchi was Cornelia, daughter of Africanus Scipio, +the greatest Roman hero of the previous generation. Of the twelve sons +and one daughter born of this union, only the daughter and two sons +lived to maturity. The two surviving sons were the first born, +Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, born about 166 B.C., and his brother +Gaius, nine years younger. + +Few young Romans were afforded the opportunity of such close relations +and intercourse with the leading men of Rome as was Tiberius Gracchus +in his early years. Even in boyhood his mind seems to have been of a +serious cast, more interested in study and speculation than in the +pleasures customary in youth. + +In his father's house, which was to a large extent a common meeting +place for all that was best in Roman society, he frequently heard the +leading men of the city lament the disappearance from the country +districts of the free citizens, and the attendant evils which seemed +to be hovering over the Roman state. But what to his elders appeared +lamentable principally on account of its effect upon the recruiting of +the Roman legions, and consequently upon the control of Rome over her +provinces and her foreign influence, was to young Tiberius an evil of +a very different and more serious character. To him alone of this +group did this condition appear as a great moral and social wrong--a +wrong, moreover, whose effect would not be limited to the character of +the soldiers in the Roman army, but which, if not remedied, would, +like a cancer, eat out the very life of the Roman republic. Another +difference was that those evils which brought forth from others +languid, pessimistic, speculative reflections roused in Tiberius +Gracchus the determination to action. + +Hardly was the boyhood of Tiberius over when his public life began. + + "Scarcely had Tiberius assumed the garb of manhood when he + was elected into the college of augurs. At the banquet given + to celebrate his installation, App. Claudius, the chief of + the senate, offered him his daughter's hand in marriage. + When the proud senator returned home, he told his wife that + he had that day betrothed their daughter. 'Ah,' she cried, + 'she is too young; it had been well to wait a while--unless, + indeed, young Gracchus is the man.' Soon after his marriage + he accompanied Scipio to Carthage, where he was the first to + scale the walls. + + "The personal importance of Gracchus was strengthened by the + marriage of Scipio with his only sister. But this marriage + proved unhappy. Sempronia had no charms of person, and her + temper was not good; Scipio's austere manners were little + pleasing to a bride; nor were children born to form a bond + of union between them." (Liddell's _History of Rome_.) + +A brief taste of military life was added to the experience and +training of Tiberius Gracchus when he served, while a mere youth, in +the capture of Carthage. + +His thirtieth year was spent as a quæstor in Spain. While traveling to +and from this province he was forcibly impressed by the industrial and +economic conditions in Etruria. Throughout this rich and extensive +territory the small freeholder seemed to have entirely disappeared, +and the land was now occupied by large estates cultivated by slaves. +Tiberius returned to Rome just as the so-called "slave war" in Sicily +broke out. This war not only called attention to the vast number and +the depths of wretchedness of the slaves already in Italy and the +adjoining island, but it also served to emphasize the perilous +condition of a state whose foundation rested upon such a smoldering +volcano. + +In this servile war the slaves throughout large portions of the island +of Sicily arose in a body, murdered those of their masters who were +not fortunate enough to escape, and selected a Syrian juggler as their +king. A Greek slave, named Achæus, proved not only a skillful +commander in the field but also a capable organizer, and he soon +mustered a large army containing both slaves and free laborers. +Another leader, Cleon, a Sicilian slave, captured the important city +of Agrigentum. The united forces defeated the Roman prætor Lucius +Hypsæus, and temporarily drove the Romans out of Sicily. + +It was not until after three years of continued warfare, after the +Romans had suffered numerous defeats and great armies had been sent +under three different Roman consuls, that the rebellion in Sicily was +finally put down. + +Upon his return from Spain, and at the breaking out of the servile +war, Tiberius Gracchus had not hesitated to freely express his +feelings as to the cause of the existing evils, and as to the +necessary remedies for their amelioration, and it was not long before +that part of the Roman people who were dissatisfied with existing +conditions turned to Gracchus as the only logical leader for the +reform movement. As his views on the cause of the evils and the +general character of the remedies which he proposed had been shown to +the people by his speeches, Tiberius was elected tribune in 134 B.C., +taking office on December 10 of that year. + +The reforms proposed by Tiberius Gracchus in the bill presented before +the comitia tributa, almost immediately after his installation as +tribune, were entirely of an economic character. In the field of mere +political rights nothing more remained to be asked by the lowest of +the Roman citizens; their pitiable condition was the result of the +existing agrarian situation. The agrarian bill proposed by Tiberius +Gracchus, while a radical departure from existing conditions, was +neither illegal, confiscatory, nor unjust; it merely provided for a +reassumption on the part of the state of land long held illegally by +the "special interests" of the place and age. + +The agrarian law of Tiberius Gracchus was in its main features merely +a revival of the Licinian agrarian law of 367 B.C. By the original law +(which for more than two centuries had been so flagrantly violated) it +had been provided that no head of a family should hold more than five +hundred jugera (a jugera being a little more than three fifths of an +acre) of the public land. Tiberius proposed to reënact this law, but +with the concession added that adult sons might hold each an +additional two hundred and fifty jugera; but not more than one +thousand jugera, in all, were to be held by any single family. Whoever +was unlawfully in possession of the public land was required to return +the same, above the permitted maximum, to the state; fair +compensation, however, was to be allowed for improvements made by the +holder of the land while it was in his possession. + +The law further provided that all public lands were to be placed +under the control of three commissioners. This commission was to allot +the public land, in small parcels, to such poor citizens as might +apply for it. These new occupiers of the land were to hold it in +perpetuity as tenants of the state, paying a small annual rental. +These estates were to descend to the children of the holders, but were +not to be alienated, thus preventing the possibility of the land being +once again gathered together into large estates. + +No valid objection could be made to the proposals of Tiberius +Gracchus, which were merely the righting of one of the worst of the +existing scandals of the Roman administration; a reform, moreover, +which was to be carried out in such a manner as to give to the +wrongdoers far greater consideration than that to which they were +entitled. The law, however, dealt a heavy blow against the richest and +most powerful class in Rome. The greater Roman capitalists had so long +held possession, in utter defiance of the law, of the great bulk of +the public lands of the state that their wrongful possessions had, in +their eyes, ripened into a rightfully vested interest. + +An indirect method of attack has always been used by the opponents of +Gracchus, both by the opponents of his own day and by those historians +who have attempted to assail his memory. A recent historian, +unfriendly both to Gracchus and to his democratic reforms (Ferrero), +refers to this bill as follows: + + "The bill was very favorably received by the peasants and + the small proprietors. It appears also to have given great + satisfaction to the clients, freemen, and artisans, who made + up the proletariat of the metropolis; they fell into the not + unnatural mistake--often made by the poor before and + since--of regarding the greed of the rich, and the + indifference of the government, as a sufficient explanation + of their own distress." + +The ancient historian Plutarch thus refers to this contest: + + "Tiberius defending the matter, which of itself was good and + just, with such eloquence as might have justified an evil + cause, was invincible; and no man was able to argue against + him to confute him, when, speaking in the behalf of the poor + citizens of Rome (the people being gathered round about the + pulpit for orations), he told them, that the wild beasts + through Italy had their dens and caves of abode, and the men + that fought, and were slain for their country, had nothing + else but air and light, and so were compelled to wander up + and down with their wives and children, having no + resting-place nor house to put their heads in. And that the + captains do but mock their soldiers when they encourage them + in battle to fight valiantly for the graves, the temples, + their own houses, and their predecessors. For, said he, of + such a number of poor citizens as there be, there cannot a + man of them show any ancient house or tomb of their + ancestors, because the poor men go to the wars, and are + slain for the rich men's pleasures and wealth; besides, they + falsely call them lords of the earth, where they have not a + handful of ground that is theirs. These and such other like + words being uttered before all of the people with such + vehemency and truth, so moved the common people withal, and + put them in such a rage, that there was no adversary of his + able to withstand him. Therefore, leaving to contradict and + deny the law by argument, the rich men put all their trust + in Marcus Octavius, colleague and fellow-tribune in office, + who was a grave and wise young man, and Tiberius' very + familiar friend. That the first time they came to him, to + oppose him against the confirmation of this law, he prayed + them to hold him excused, because Tiberius was his very + friend. But, in the end, being compelled to it through the + great number of the rich men that were importunate with him, + he withstood Tiberius' law, which was enough to overthrow + it." + +A more deep-dyed treachery than that to which Marcus Octavius at +length consented is, fortunately, but seldom met with in history. It +was a treachery not only to one of his closest friends, not only to +the class which he represented and the voters who had elected him, but +also to the character and traditions of the very office which he held. +The creation of the office of tribune had been the first great victory +won by the plebeians; the duties of those holding this office had been +to protect the lives and property, the rights and the liberties, of +the weaker class in the community--the plebeians. + +To make it possible for the tribunes to give such protection, the veto +had been granted to them. From the time when this power had first been +secured by the tribunes down to the day when the agrarian law of +Tiberius Gracchus came before the comitia tributa for its final +decision, the veto power of the Roman tribune had been the greatest +bulwark of the poor man of Rome. Now, in the greatest crisis of the +long contest in Roman history of human rights against class +privileges, this power was to be the weapon by which a traitor was to +secure the victory of the rich landowners over the great body of the +Roman citizens. + +The day upon which the bill was to come before the comitia tributa +found the Forum crowded with what was probably the largest number of +citizens who, up to this time, had ever attended a meeting of this +assembly. Tiberius Gracchus made his speech in favor of the law, which +speech was received with great applause. The moment of his great +triumph was apparently just at hand. The clerk was about to read the +words of the bill, before it was voted upon, when the renegade tribune +Marcus Octavius stood up and forbade the clerk to read the bill. +Gracchus was surprised and, for the time, helpless. After much bitter +discussion, the meeting was adjourned; but Gracchus gave notice that +he would take up his bill again upon the next regular meeting day of +the comitia tributa. + +The cowardly treachery of his colleague, instead of discouraging +Tiberius Gracchus, merely spurred him on to greater efforts. His +policy, formerly in the main a conciliatory one, now became militant. +In retaliation for the veto of Octavius he too made use of this power. +Indeed, a more thorough and effective use of this power than that made +by Gracchus at this time can hardly be imagined. A veto was put upon +the exercise of any of his functions by any of the Roman officials; +even the treasury was shut up and the courts of justice discontinued. +As the great landowners had now forfeited all claims to consideration +on account of the methods which they had adopted, the compensation +clauses were struck out of the bill, which in its amended form simply +provided that the state should resume possession of all lands held in +contravention of the Licinian Law. Even in this amended form there was +nothing revolutionary about the bill; it was merely the reënactment of +a law which already existed, and should have been in operation. + +On the second day when the bill came before the comitia an attempt was +again made to read the law, and this was again prevented by the veto +of the tribune Octavius. Party feeling by this time ran so high that a +riot seemed inevitable. Trouble was for the time averted by an +agreement to refer the matter to the Senate. + +A few months before, Gracchus' name would have possessed great +influence in the Senate, and, furthermore, a number of the +senators--the most patriotic and clear sighted, who saw the dangers +with which Rome was confronted--had in the beginning sympathized with +Gracchus in the objects which he sought. By this time, however, +Gracchus had lost all the sympathy and support which he had ever +possessed in this direction. This is sometimes explained by saying +that Tiberius Gracchus had alienated all the conservative elements in +his support by the intemperance of his actions. Such an explanation +cannot stand the scrutiny of history. The proposals and objects of +Gracchus were never anything but moderate--never anything more than +the claim that the existing laws must be enforced. The methods of +Gracchus were not only strictly legal but also strictly conventional +and usual, until the disgraceful tactics of his opponents constrained +him to more forcible action. + +At this time Tiberius Gracchus, meeting only reproaches from the +senators, who were enraged at him because he had called attention to +and made an issue of a state of political corruption from which their +class had benefited for generations, returned to the comitia. Upon his +return the meeting was again dissolved; but before it had adjourned +Gracchus gave notice that he would still again bring up his measure +before the comitia tributa, on its next regular meeting day, and that +if Marcus Octavius again interposed the veto power to prevent a vote +being taken upon the bill, he would move the people that Octavius be +deposed as tribune. + +Before the day for the next meeting of the comitia tributa arrived, +Gracchus appears to have made every effort to induce his colleague and +former friend to recede from his position. All efforts in this +direction, however, proving ineffectual, Gracchus immediately upon the +assembling of the comitia moved that the tribune Marcus Octavius be +removed from office. Of the first seventeen tribes to vote, each, by a +unanimous or practically unanimous vote, was in favor of the +deposition of Octavius. Before the vote of the eighteenth tribe was +taken, Gracchus made a final appeal to Octavius to withdraw his +opposition. After some hesitation Octavius refused, and the vote of +the next tribe furnished the required majority for his deposition. + +For the first time in a popular government the principle of the right +of the people to recall an unworthy public official had been put into +practical operation. A more fitting occasion for this action can +hardly be imagined. + +The action of Tiberius Gracchus in adopting this innovation has been +bitterly denounced, and as strongly defended. One of the liberal +historians refers to this action as follows: + + "These acts of Tiberius Gracchus are commonly said to have + been the beginning of revolution at Rome; and the guilt of + it is accordingly laid at his door. And there can be no + doubt that he was guilty in the sense that a man is guilty + who introduces a light into some chamber filled with + explosive vapour, which the stupidity or malice of others + has suffered to accumulate. But, after all, too much is made + of this violation of constitutional forms and the sanctity + of the tribunate. The first were effete, and all regular + means of renovating the republic seemed to be closed to the + despairing patriot, by stolid obstinacy sheltering itself + under the garb of law and order. The second was no longer + what it had been--the recognised refuge and defence of the + poor. The rich, as Tiberius in effect argued, had found out + how to use it also. If all men who set the example of + forcible infringement of law are criminals, Gracchus was a + criminal. But in the world's annals he sins in good company; + and when men condemn him, they should condemn Washington + also. Perhaps his failure has had most to do with his + condemnation. But if ever a revolution was excusable this + was; for it was carried not by a small party for small + aims, but by national acclamations, by the voices of + Italians who flocked to Rome to vote. How far Gracchus saw + the inevitable effects of his acts is open to dispute. But + probably he saw it as clearly as any man can see the future. + Because he was generous and enthusiastic, it is assumed that + he was sentimental and weak, and that his policy was guided + by impulse rather than reason. There seems little to sustain + such a judgment other than the desire of writers to + emphasise a comparison between him and his brother." (A. H. + Beesly, in _The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla_.) + +The procedure adopted by Gracchus on this occasion was unknown to the +law, but it is hard to say that it was against the law. If this action +was unconstitutional, and revolutionary, so had been every change +which had ever been made in the fundamental principles of Roman public +law. The truth of the matter was that Rome had neither a written +constitution nor any law governing the method by which its fundamental +law might be changed. Rome, in this respect, was constantly in a +position similar to that in which the state of Rhode Island found +herself in 1841. The old colonial charter, which after the separation +from England had been continued in force as a state constitution, was +no longer suitable for existing conditions, and there was a general +feeling among the inhabitants of the state that the old charter must +give way to a new state constitution. A difficulty, however, here +presented itself in the fact that the old colonial charter, having +been granted by royal authority, contained no provision as to its +amendment by act of the people. In this situation the people of the +state were compelled to go outside of their organic law, and, +disregarding the old charter, to adopt a new constitution and form of +government. All this was not accomplished, however, without much +confusion and an incipient civil war. + +Similarly situated, Tiberius Gracchus was now obliged to go beyond the +letter of the existing law, and to vindicate the underlying principle +of Roman law that the duty of the tribune was the protection of the +rights of the people, by introducing a new political expedient into +the scheme of Roman government. + +Upon the deposition of Octavius the agrarian law of Gracchus was +immediately passed by acclamation. Three commissioners were appointed +to carry out the provisions of the bill--Tiberius Gracchus, his +brother Gaius, and Appius Claudius, the father-in-law of Tiberius +Gracchus. + +For a time the success and popularity of Gracchus was at its zenith; +the commissioners, appointed to allot the land, energetically +prosecuted the work, and the great landowners became more and more +bitter as they saw their illegal gains about to be wrested from them. + +One difficulty in the carrying out of the agrarian law was due to the +fact that the poverty of the mass of the Roman citizens was such that +very few who desired to secure an allotment of land were possessed of, +or could secure, the necessary money to stock the new farms and to +erect the necessary buildings. When, therefore, at this crisis, it was +learned that Attalus Philometor, the recently deceased king of +Pergamus, in Asia Minor, had made the Roman people his heirs, +bequeathing to them both his kingdom and all his private lands and +treasures, Gracchus grasped at this opportunity to overcome the +difficulty experienced by the agrarian commission. He proposed a law +providing that all the money so received should be used to furnish +the necessary stock for those to whom the public land was assigned. +About the same time another law was enacted, apparently not proposed +by Tiberius Gracchus, providing that the Agrarian Commission (called +the triumviri) should have final jurisdiction in all controversies +over the question as to whether any particular piece of land was +public or private land. The capitalistic party, setting an example +which has been so often followed in our own country and in our own +day, now attempted to divert the issue from the reforms being put into +operation through the energy of Gracchus, by personal attacks upon the +tribune himself; he was accused of having received a purple robe and +diadem from the envoy of the late king of Pergamus; of having violated +the Roman constitution; of desiring to make himself king over Rome. +Only vindictive partisanship could find any basis upon which to allege +the truth of any of these charges except perhaps that of a technical +violation of the Roman constitution in the deposition of Octavius. The +extreme party in the Senate, led by Publius Scipio Nasica, were openly +plotting the death of Tiberius Gracchus, either by assassination or +by judicial proceedings, as soon as his term of office should expire. + +The violent position taken by his opponents clearly showed to Tiberius +Gracchus that both his reforms and his life were in danger. It was +evident that neither the agrarian reforms nor the life of Gracchus +would be safe after he had ceased to hold the office of tribune, and +the course of events finally drove Tiberius into becoming a candidate +for reëlection. To strengthen his hold upon the people he prepared +three new laws. The first law diminished the required period of +military service; the second law changed the procedure in the higher +courts of law, and permitted the jurors to be selected from all +persons possessing a certain amount of property, instead of (as +previously) restricting the selection to members of the Senate; the +third law created the right of appeal from the courts of law to the +assembly of the people in all cases. + +The scenes at the election in June, 133 B.C., when Tiberius Gracchus +for the second time came before the comitia tributa as a candidate for +election as tribune, were among the most tumultuous in all Roman +political history. Upon the first day of voting the first tribe gave +its vote for the reëlection of Tiberius Gracchus; upon this, his +opponents immediately raised a protest, declaring that no one could be +twice, in succession, elected to the office of tribune. The debate on +this question developed into such a tumult that any further business +became an impossibility, and the meeting was adjourned until the next +day. + +The friends of Tiberius were now thoroughly alarmed for his safety. A +large throng accompanied him to his home, and kept watch before his +doors all night. Before going to the comitia tributa in the morning +Tiberius is reported to have told his friends that if he considered +himself in danger, during the day's proceedings, and thought it +necessary for his friends to repel force by force, he would raise his +hand to his head. No means seems to have been adopted, however, for +any concerted or effectual resistance, and none of his friends who +attended the meeting of the comitia tributa went armed. + +On the morning of the second meeting of the comitia tributa the Senate +also met close by in the temple of Faith. Nasica demanded of the +consul Scævola, who presided, to take steps to prevent the reëlection +of Tiberius Gracchus. The consul refused to interfere. At this stage +one of the senators, Fulvius Flaccus, who was friendly to Tiberius, +hastened from the temple to inform him that his death was about to be +resolved upon by the Senate. Upon hearing this news the friends of +Gracchus began hastily to arm themselves with staves, for the +protection of their leader, and Gracchus gave the agreed signal by +raising his hand to his head. + +Seizing every opportunity to attack the motives of Gracchus, his +opponents raised the cry that he was asking for a crown, and this +report was carried into the Senate. Nasica, the bitterest of the +enemies of Gracchus and of his reforms, shouted, "The consul is +betraying the republic! Those who would save their country, follow +me!" and rushed out from the meeting of the Senate. He was followed by +many of the senators, and by their slaves and adherents, those who +were not already armed breaking up the benches to make clubs for +themselves. The followers of Gracchus, without any organization among +themselves, were unable to offer effectual resistance to the attack, +and soon fled in all directions. Tiberius Gracchus attempted to take +refuge in the temple of Jupiter, but the priests closed the doors +against him, and, stumbling over a bench, he was killed by repeated +blows on the head before he could rise. In this riot more than three +hundred of the followers of Gracchus were killed by clubs, or by being +driven over the wall at the edge of the Tarpeian rock. The hatred +toward Tiberius Gracchus, on the part of the special interests of the +time, did not end with his murder. Gaius Gracchus was refused +permission, which he sought, to bury his brother, and it was decreed +by the Senate that the bodies of Tiberius Gracchus and his followers +should be thrown into the Tiber before daybreak on the following +morning. + +Very divergent views have been taken of the conduct of Tiberius +Gracchus and that of his opponents by different classes of historians. +Historians, equally with politicians, inevitably fall into one of the +two classes into which mankind is divided, the class of the radicals +on the one hand, or of the conservatives on the other; into the class +of those who favor progress and the recognition of the supreme right +of manhood, or into the class of those who wish to keep things as they +are, and worship before the shrine of vested interests. No single +incident in history better serves to bring out the bias of the +historian than does that of the efforts of Tiberius Gracchus in behalf +of his agrarian law. No historian can write this page of Roman history +without throwing open for the inspection of the world the inmost +workings of his mind and sympathies. That class of historians who can +see more pathos in the execution of King Louis XVI than in the +combined misery of the downtrodden millions who lived and died in +France under the two centuries of Bourbon misrule, have attempted to +cast upon Tiberius Gracchus the stigma of a demagogue, of a reckless +leader, of a violator of his country's most fundamental laws; while +the conduct of the leaders of the conservative party, who did not +hesitate at the crisis to resort even to murder rather than surrender +their unlawful profits, is excused as being rendered necessary by the +violence of Tiberius Gracchus. + +Yet there are few prominent characters in whose public actions the +impartial critic can find so little to criticize as in that of the +greatest of all Roman tribunes--Tiberius Gracchus. At the outset the +whole policy of Gracchus was moderate and even conciliatory, and it +was only the unyielding selfishness of the great landowners which +forced him into a position where he must either surrender all for +which he was fighting or adopt a more vigorous plan of campaign; +which, finally, against his will, compelled him to adopt those tactics +for which he has been so severely censured by certain historians. + +The legality of the deposition of Octavius has already been discussed. +It only remains to consider the action of Tiberius Gracchus in +presenting himself as a candidate for reëlection as tribune. Of the +vital necessity for this action, both to secure the enforcement of the +agrarian law and the personal safety of Tiberius himself, there can be +no doubt. It must be admitted, however, that this by itself is not a +sufficient defense of the action of Gracchus on this occasion. The +fundamental principles of government in any country cannot, generally, +be safely violated merely to meet a temporary exigency. The worst +possible government is generally better, for those who are to live +under it, than anarchy; and the condition of a country where laws can +be habitually broken with impunity is but one step from that of a +country where no laws exist. The breaking of a law with good motives +is often more disastrous than the breaking of it with bad intentions; +because in a former case an example is set which, being looked upon +with approval by a large class of the best people in the community, is +apt to furnish a precedent for future violations of the law, with the +worst motives and for the most dangerous purposes. No true republic +can long continue to exist unless a sense of reverence for and +obedience to law is bred into the mass of its citizens. The right of +overthrowing a corrupt government and of establishing a new civic +system must ever reside with the people; but such a right must be +resorted to only as an extreme, exceptional, and desperate remedy, and +the frequent recurrence of revolutions and rebellions in a republic +results in a substitution of the rule of force for the peaceful rule +of the majority, and is inconsistent with any true idea of democracy. + +If, then, Tiberius Gracchus had attempted to override the fundamental +law of Rome for the purpose of obtaining some temporary personal or +partisan advantage he might well have deserved the attacks which have +been made upon his memory. Tiberius Gracchus, however, violated no +provision of the Roman constitution. No evidence exists that there was +ever any law making a Roman tribune ineligible for reëlection. + +The prohibition would seem to have arisen from long-continued custom +rather than from law, and to have been of a character not unsimilar to +the so-called "conventions of the English Constitution," or to the +rule in this country that no man shall be elected for a third term as +President. If a law declaring a tribune to be ineligible for +reëlection was ever enacted in Rome (and with the absence of a full +list of Roman laws this is a point on which absolute certainty is +impossible) it was, in all probability, of a directory rather than a +mandatory character. Such was the character of all Roman laws relative +to the qualification of officers. Thus, the Roman laws provided a +regular order in which the principal offices at Rome should be held, +and prohibited any person holding any office until he had held all +those named before it on the list, and until he had reached a certain +specified age. + +This law, while in the main followed, was frequently disregarded. The +violations were in the main chargeable to the very class at Rome that +was most bitter in the denunciation of Tiberius Gracchus for offering +himself as a candidate for reëlection as tribune. Under the existing +political conditions at Rome no great blame could be attached to an +occasional disregard either of the law regulating the qualifications +for office or the law, or custom, relative to the reëlection of a +tribune. It is only on this one occasion in Roman history that the +violation of either of these laws was denounced as an attack on the +Roman constitution. Even in the exciting days preceding the passage of +the Licinian Laws the tribunes Licinius and Sextius were reëlected +year after year, without the legality of their election being +questioned. Only ten years after the death of Tiberius Gracchus the +reëlection to the office of tribune of his brother, Gaius Gracchus, +was permitted. It is a striking comment upon the fairness of some of +the historians who attack Tiberius Gracchus for his alleged violation +of the law that they are able to find excuses for the action of that +branch of the senatorial party whose members were so unwilling to +surrender to the state their illegal profits that they resorted to +force to break up a meeting of the comitia tributa and to murder +Gracchus and three hundred of his adherents. + +The years which intervened between the tribuneship of Tiberius +Gracchus and that of his brother Gaius were filled with internal +factional discord at Rome, but without any decisive results. Each +party, in turn, was able to secure revenge upon its opponents, in the +conflict connected with the death of Tiberius Gracchus. First, the +popular party was successful in compelling Nasica to retire from +Italy. Next, in 132 B.C., the Senate gave to the consuls a commission +to inquire into the actions of those who had supported Tiberius +Gracchus. By means of this commission the aristocratic party was +enabled to bring about the execution of some of the partisans of +Gracchus and the exile of others. + +For the time the leadership of the popular party had passed to C. +Papirius Carbo, a man possessed both of the ability and the vices of +the successful demagogue. He was one of those politicians who are +always to be found in the forefront of every movement for liberty or +reform, and who, by their hypocrisy and selfishness, do more to bring +discredit upon the principles they champion than can possibly be done +by the ablest of the opponents of such principles. No greater contrast +can be imagined than is to be found in a comparison between Tiberius +Gracchus and Carbo. In the case of the former we see a devotion to +principle and to humanity which not even the fear of death could +alter; in the case of Carbo, on the contrary, we can discover nothing +but a striving for selfish ends and personal advancement. He appeared +as a radical among radicals when this attitude seemed to offer the +shortest road to fame and fortune; and with equal facility he became +the most abject tool of the senatorial party when such a change of +position seemed most likely to result to his personal benefit. + +Being elected a tribune, Carbo set himself to win the favor of the +people by new popular legislation. He introduced and secured the +passage of a bill extending the use of the ballot into the legislative +assemblies of the people. His next measure, one to formally authorize +the reëlection of tribunes, was defeated. Gaius Gracchus made his +first public speech in support of this measure. + +The work of the Agrarian Commission, in the meantime, had been +progressing in spite of the murder of Tiberius Gracchus and the +obstacles which the great landowners were constantly throwing in the +way of the commission. The Roman census shows that in the six years +from 131 to 125 B.C. the number of burgesses was increased by +seventy-six thousand; this increase was almost entirely due to the +operation of the agrarian law, and the work of the commission. + +The vacancy in the Agrarian Commission made by the murder of Tiberius +Gracchus had been first filled by the election of P. Licinius Crassus, +father-in-law of Gaius Gracchus. Upon the death of Crassus, and of +Appius Claudius a few years later, these commissioners were succeeded +by Carbo and Fulvius Flaccus, the latter being the senator who had +attempted to warn Tiberius Gracchus of his danger, on the day of his +death. + +Carbo, for the time the guiding spirit of the commission, attempted to +win additional popularity by a vigorous policy in carrying out the +agrarian law. Energetic action along this line was undoubtedly needed, +as the great landowners had in many ways succeeded in blocking the +work of the commission. The policy of Carbo, however, was that of the +demagogue rather than that of the statesman, and the result of the +methods which he adopted was a reaction which, for a time, completely +put a stop to the work of the commission, split the popular party, and +created a new political party or faction whose existence had an +important influence upon the course of Roman political history during +the next two generations. + +The first step taken by Carbo was the publication of a proclamation +calling for information against owners of public land who had not +voluntarily registered themselves as such. In theory such a proceeding +was undoubtedly a proper mode of procedure against the large holders +of public lands who were endeavoring to evade the agrarian law; but in +practice it resulted in a great deal of hardship. Many of the good +land titles throughout all Italy were without sufficient documentary +proof; and many landowners, whose land was private, were yet at a loss +for evidence to prove that their land was of this character when +information against them was filed with the commission. + +The situation was a most delicate one, and one requiring the exercise +of the highest degree of honesty, tact, good judgment, and diligence. +None of these qualities was possessed by Carbo. The commission acted +in the most arbitrary manner and apparently declared a great deal of +private land to belong to the public. The injustice seems to have been +practiced not so much against the great landowners (Carbo appears even +as early as this to have been falling under the influence of the +aristocratic party) as against the small Latin and Italian landowners. +The result was that the Latins and Italians, who had been among the +truest of the adherents of Tiberius Gracchus, now became alienated +from the Roman popular party under the leadership of Carbo, and began +to come under the influence of the senatorial party. + +Politics made strange bedfellows two thousand years ago as well as +now, and the new turn of the wheel of Roman politics brought in +Scipio Africanus as the head of the Latins and Italians, and working +in harmony with the Senate. + +The first action taken by Scipio was to introduce and secure the +passage of a law taking away from the Agrarian Commission the judicial +power by which it was enabled to decide questions as to the public or +private character of lands and vesting such power in the consuls. This +judicial power was then vested in the consul C. Sempronius Tuditanus; +but he being soon sent to Illyria to conduct a military campaign +against the Iapydes, no person was left in Rome with the power to +settle questions of this character. The work of the Agrarian +Commission was now brought to a stop, and no further reassumption or +allotting of public lands could take place. Thus the great landowners +were finally successful in destroying the effect of the agrarian +legislation of Tiberius Gracchus. + +As this result began to make itself manifest, so great criticism arose +against the action of Scipio that he felt called upon to announce that +he would explain and defend his actions both before the Senate and +before the people. In his speech before the Senate he carefully +evaded all reference to the case of the great landowners who still +continued illegally to hold large tracts of the public lands, and +proclaimed his purpose to be to protect the Latin and Italian farmers +whose small holdings of land were being wrongfully taken from them by +the actions of the Agrarian Commission. These small farmers, sympathy +for whom Scipio thus attempted to arouse, thus occupied the position +held by those widows and orphans who to-day appear so prominently +among the stockholders of all law-breaking corporations. + +The speech of Scipio was naturally well received in the Senate; what +its reception would have been on the second day, before the people in +the Forum, is problematical. On the morning following his speech in +the Senate Scipio was found dead in his bed. It is one of the unsolved +mysteries of history whether Scipio died from natural causes or was +murdered. Nor is it more certain, if he was murdered, as to who his +murderers were. Strong suspicion was directed against Carbo, and that +hypocritical demagogue was driven into a temporary political +retirement, from which he emerged a few years later as one of the +most serviceable tools of the senatorial party. + +The importance, ability, and character of Scipio Africanus have been +greatly over-praised by most historians. A. H. Beesly, however, in his +work _The Gracchi, Marius and Sulla_, gives a discriminating criticism +of this Roman general and statesman: + + "He is usually extolled as a patriot who would not stir to + humour a Roman rabble, but who, when downtrodden honest + farmers, his comrades in the wars, appealed to him, at once + stepped into the arena as their champion. In reality he was + a reactionist who, when the inevitable results of those + liberal ideas which had been broached in his own circle + stared him in the face, seized the first available means of + stifling them. The world had moved too fast for him. As + censor, instead of beseeching the gods to increase the glory + of the State, he begged them to preserve it. Brave as a man, + he was a pusillanimous statesman. It was well for his + reputation that he died just then. Without Sulla's personal + vices he might have played Sulla's part as a politician, and + his atrocities in Spain as well as his remark on the death + of Tiberius Gracchus--words breathing the very essence of a + narrow swordsman's nature--showed that from bloodshed at all + events he would not have shrunk. It is hard to respect such + a man in spite of all his good qualities. Fortune gave him + the opportunity of playing a great part, and he shrank from + it. When the crop sprang up which he had himself helped to + sow, he blighted it. But because he was personally + respectable, and because he held a middle course between + contemporary parties, he has found favour with historians, + who are too apt to forget that there is in politics, as in + other things, a right course and a wrong, and that to + attempt to walk along both at once proves a man to be a weak + statesman, and does not prove him to be a great or good + man." + +The fillers in, who had occupied the stage of Roman politics for the +years following the murder of Tiberius Gracchus, were now removed, and +the stage was being rapidly set for the second and final act of the +great historical tragedy of the Gracchi. + +The political problems which confronted Rome at the time of the death +of Scipio rapidly reached such an acute state that it became evident +the solution of these problems, and the preservation of the Roman +republic, must be the work of a Man, not of a manikin or a demagogue. +At this crisis Rome was blessed with the best of fortune, only to be +immediately thereafter cursed with the worst of misfortune. The good +fortune consisted in the fact that at this time the man presented +himself for the work; the bad fortune arose from the refusal of Rome +to avail herself of his work. + +The agitation of Carbo had added to the bitter contest between rich +and poor, and one perhaps still more bitter, at least temporarily, +between Romans and Italians. An attempt was made to reconcile the +differences between the Romans and Italians by means of a compromise, +by the terms of which the Italians were to consent to the carrying out +of the Agrarian Law, and in return were to be admitted to Roman +citizenship. This last proposal was viewed with great alarm by the +Roman proletariat, most of whom were by this time possessed of nothing +in the world except the rights and privileges of Roman citizenship, +and who saw that the value of such rights and privileges would be +greatly diminished by the great increase now proposed in the number of +those by whom such rights and privileges were to be enjoyed. + +The Italians, on their side, delighted at the prospect of obtaining +these rights, began to come to Rome in great numbers. This migration +added fuel to the flame, and in 126 B.C. the tribune, Junius Pennus, +proposed an alien act by which foreigners were compelled to leave +Rome. The law was passed, with unpleasant consequences at a later +date. For the second time in his life Gaius Gracchus made a public +speech, on this occasion appearing on the losing side. + +The following year Gaius Gracchus served as quæstor and was sent to +Sardinia under the consul Aurelius Orestes. The Senate, and the +oligarchical party in general, had by this time come to regard the +young Gaius Gracchus with mingled fear and suspicion, and in disregard +of the laws he was first ordered to remain a second year in Sardinia, +and later to remain a third year. + +In the meantime, at Rome, events had been moving rapidly. Fulvius +Flaccus, the old friend of Tiberius Gracchus, had been elected consul +and had brought in a bill extending the franchise to all the Latin and +Italian allies. Shortly thereafter, before the bill had been voted +upon, Flaccus had been sent by the Senate upon foreign service, and +the bill was sidetracked. The disappointment at such a result on the +part of those who were denied the right of suffrage, after they had +believed it won, culminated in the rebellion of the Latin city of +Fregellæ. The force with which the city was reduced to submission, and +the severity with which the outbreak was punished, destroyed any +further thought on the part of the Latins and Italians of attempting +to secure their rights by force, but increased the silent discontent +of these people. + +It was with these conditions existing at Rome that Gaius Gracchus +returned to the city after two and one-half years' absence in +Sardinia, defying the Senate by disobeying its order to finish out his +third year in the island. + +The censors were in office at the time of the return of Gaius Gracchus +to Rome, and his enemies succeeded in having him summoned before them +immediately to answer for his alleged misconduct in leaving the post +to which he had been assigned by the Senate. It was hoped that the +censors could be induced to denounce him, which action would have +rendered him ineligible to hold public office. Gracchus, however, so +strongly defended himself in a speech to the people that the censors +did not dare take any action against him. In his speech he relied on +the well-established principle of the Roman law at that time, that the +Senate had no authority to compel him to serve as quæstor for a longer +period than one year. As to his own conduct in the exercise of the +office of quæstor he said, "No one can say that I have received a +penny in presents, or have put any one to charges on my own account. +The purse which I took out full I have brought back empty; though I +could name persons who took out casks filled with wine and brought +them home charged with money." + +Upon his acquittal Gaius Gracchus became a candidate for the office of +tribune, and was elected, in spite of the most strenuous opposition of +the senatorial party and of the great landowners. However, the +opposition to him was so strong that, in the number of votes received, +he stood only fourth in the list of successful candidates. + +Before entering upon the work of Gaius Gracchus as Roman tribune it is +admissible to stop for a moment to compare the characters, natures, +and abilities of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. The general judgment of +history seems to assign a far higher place to Gaius Gracchus than to +his elder brother. How far such a view is correct is certainly +questionable. It is a view based largely upon the longer term of +office, the more spectacular reforms, and the more dramatic death of +the younger brother. Without detracting in any degree from the high +character and motives, and the wonderful ability, of Gaius Gracchus, +it may still be said that the higher niche in the temple of history +more properly belongs to Tiberius. + +To Tiberius belongs that special honor which properly attaches itself +to the pioneer; perhaps, most of all, to the pioneer in the field of +political, social, or economic reforms. In the case of Tiberius, his +career was deliberately entered upon, as the result of his profound +study and keen observation, acting upon his naturally strong Roman +patriotism, hatred of wrong and oppression, and sympathy for humanity. +Whether the career of Gaius would have taken the direction which it +did but for the memory and influence of his brother, is problematical. +It is certain that the strongest motive which urged him onward in his +career as tribune was the all-mastering desire and determination to +avenge the murder of his brother, and to vindicate his memory by +carrying his measures through to a triumphant conclusion. It might +almost be said that the mainspring of the career of Tiberius was his +love for Rome, while the mainspring of the career of Gaius was his +love for his brother. + +Tiberius Gracchus was the greater statesman; Gaius Gracchus the better +politician. Tiberius could see more clearly the great outlines of what +lay at a distance; Gaius could discern more exactly the details of +what was close at hand. If the political activities of the two +brothers could have been at the same time, each would have +supplemented the other, and it is possible that their combined efforts +might have been sufficient to secure the accomplishment of their +purposes. + +In many respects Gaius Gracchus surpassed his brother in ability. The +younger brother is generally conceded to have been the greatest orator +who, up to that time, had ever lived in Rome; while Cicero, unfriendly +both to Gaius Gracchus personally and to his measures, lamented his +early death as a loss to Roman literature. It is also probable that +Gaius was superior to his brother in executive ability and in his +wonderful capacity for hard work. Against that must be set the greater +vision displayed by Tiberius Gracchus, in the character and details of +his proposed reforms. There was nothing in the measure proposed by the +elder Gracchus which conflicts with either justice, the soundest +principles of statesmanship, or of political economy; nor was there +any feature which seemed to have been inserted in those measures +merely as a bid for popularity or for votes. + +Unfortunately, as much cannot be said for the reforms of Gaius +Gracchus; some of the provisions of the laws which he proposed were +unsound in theory and dangerous in practice, and were probably brought +forward merely as a bid for popularity. Provisions of this character +were not numerous enough, or important enough, to detract from the +general merit of the reforms proposed by Gaius Gracchus, but their +presence in his bills would seem to indicate on his part a less +comprehensive grasp of political principles than that possessed by his +brother. + +It is a striking illustration of the irony which fate sometimes makes +use of, that the only part of the measures brought forward by the +Gracchi which were permitted to have a permanent influence upon Roman +life and history were the questionable measures of Gaius Gracchus. + +In their temperaments Tiberius appears the calmer, Gaius possessing +the more fiery disposition. Tiberius, throughout his career, continued +to exercise the highest degree of control over both his feelings and +his actions. While fighting for principles which he believed essential +to the safety and welfare of Rome he manifested surprisingly little +animosity toward his opponents. Even in the deposition of Octavius he +seems to have been free from personal malice, as is indicated by his +attempt to secure a reconciliation with his brother tribune after +seventeen out of the necessary eighteen tribunes had voted in favor of +the deposition of the latter. + +Gaius, embittered by the murder of his brother Tiberius, developed a +hatred toward his opponents which time never healed. Patience and +judgment led him to bide his time and prepare for the contest which he +considered as fated, and for the revenge upon which he was +determined. + +His character might be fitly described in the words of Thomas Moore as +one of those + + "Spirits of fire, that brood not long, + But flash resentment back for wrong; + And hearts where, slow but deep, the seeds + Of vengeance ripen into deeds." + +The desire to avenge the death of his brother was indeed the central +idea of Gaius Gracchus throughout his whole political career. It is +when we look at his work from this viewpoint that much which appears +contradictory or obscure becomes easy to appreciate and understand. + +One of the first steps taken by Gaius Gracchus in the reform campaign +undertaken by him was an attempt to divide the ranks of those who had +opposed his brother. The oligarchical party had for many generations +been composed of two different elements united for mutual protection, +but whose interests, in many respects, were mutually antagonistic. The +object of Gracchus was to break the political union between the two +factions by arousing the points of antagonism. + +The two elements in the aristocratic party above referred to were the +senatorial families and the wealthy mercantile interests. The general +line of demarcation between the two classes was the distinction +between the aristocracy of money and the aristocracy of birth, +generally to be found wherever aristocracies exist. The senators, with +few exceptions, were recruited from the old families which had been +prominent in Rome for generations and even for centuries. The majority +of the members were of patrician descent, but the distinction between +patrician and plebeian was now of little, or no, practical importance. +Some of the senatorial families were wealthy, others were not; where +wealth was possessed it generally consisted of large landed estates. +All members of the Senate, whether rich or poor, were possessed of +valuable political rights and opportunities. + +The other element of the aristocracy included the merchants and +speculators, who had control of the financial affairs of the city and +of the government, and who had been rapidly accumulating large +fortunes, during the period which had elapsed since the Punic Wars. +Gracchus played for the support of this element at the same time that +he assailed the power of the Senate. + +By the terms of the Calpurnian Law, passed in 149 B.C., it had been +provided that all provincial magistrates accused of dishonesty in +their administration should be tried before the prætor peregrinus and +a jury selected from the Senate. It was now voted that the jury should +be taken not from the Senate but from a body of three hundred men +selected from all Roman citizens who possessed the amount of property +which entitled a person to be enrolled among the equites. From the +standpoint of judicial reform the fairness of this act could not be +questioned. However gross might have been the misgovernment of any +provincial Roman official, it was generally impossible to secure a +conviction before a senatorial jury. As one historian (Liddell) sums +up the matter: + + "These courts had given little satisfaction. In all + important cases of corruption, especially such as occurred + in the provinces, the offenders were themselves senators. + Some of the judges had been guilty of like offences; + extortion was looked upon as a venial crime; prosecutions + became a trial of party strength, and the culprit was + usually absolved." + +Equally important in the eyes of Gaius Gracchus, to the judicial +reform thus effected, was the effect which the law had toward raising +the equites to a position where, as an order, they would be a +formidable rival to the Senate. As a further bid for the support of +the moneyed aristocracy as against the old landed aristocracy and the +aristocracy of birth, Gracchus, in providing for the levying of new +taxes in the province of Asia, proposed the innovation of having the +tax farmed out at Rome, instead of in the province itself. + +Another law did away with an old established abuse in the assignment +of provinces by the Senate to pro-consuls. Heretofore, each consul had +had his province assigned to him after his election, and the most +desirable provinces had therefore fallen to those toward whom the +Senate was the most friendly. It was now decreed that the provinces +for the two consuls for each year should be assigned before the +election of the consuls, and that the consuls should determine, either +by agreement or by lot, which of the two provinces should fall to +each. + +The first of the economic measures of Gaius Gracchus was one to renew +and extend the agrarian law of his brother. In connection with this +law the right to decide whether land was public or private was once +more given to the Agrarian Commission, and provisions were also made +providing that new colonies should be founded in different parts of +Italy and also in the provinces. The carrying into execution of this +last provision was to be postponed until the following year. The +proposal to found colonies beyond the limits of Italy marked an +innovation both in Roman law and in the economic habits and customs of +the Romans. + +Another law provided that the Roman government should undertake the +work of providing grain for its citizens; that every person possessing +the Roman franchise should have the right of purchasing grain from the +government at the price of six and a third asses per modius (the set +price being far under the market value); and that the losses sustained +in this grain trade should be taken out of the public treasury. Of all +the proposed reforms of the Gracchi this is the least defensible, and +the one which had the greatest influence upon the future. Lord +Macaulay, in the course of his speech made on the third reading of the +great English Reform Bill of 1832, said: + + "The defect is not in the Reform Bill, but in the very + nature of government. On the physical condition of the great + body of people government acts not as a specific, but as an + alterative. Its operation is powerful, indeed, and certain, + but gradual and indirect. The end of government is not + directly to make the people rich, but to protect them in + making themselves rich--and a government which attempts more + than this is precisely the government which is likely to + perform less. Governments do not and cannot support the + people. We have no miraculous powers--and we have not the + rod of the Hebrew lawgiver--we cannot rain down bread on the + multitude from Heaven--we cannot smite the rock and give + them to drink. We can give them only freedom to employ their + industry to the best advantage, and security in the + enjoyment of what their industry has acquired." + +The fundamental principles of the science of government and political +economy, so forcibly expressed by Lord Macaulay on this occasion, and +which must be both understood and applied by every successful +lawmaker, were throughout his career thoroughly realized by Tiberius +Gracchus, and were also generally appreciated by his younger brother. +On this occasion, however, Gaius Gracchus lost sight of, or recklessly +disregarded, all the basic principles of the true science of +government or economics. If it became the permanent policy of Rome to +provide food for a great proportion of her citizens, this could only +result finally in their permanent pauperization. The effect of this +law was certain to be the opposite of that sought by the agrarian laws +of the two Gracchi. + +The object of the latter laws was to bring the Roman citizens, or as +many of them as possible, "back to the soil"; to develop once more +that race of hardy Roman peasants, whose arms had won the great +military victories of the Roman republic; and to reduce both the +numbers and the influence of the unemployed and dangerous proletariat +of the city. The law as to the sale of grain was not only certain to +have an influence in an exactly opposite direction to that which would +be exerted by the agrarian law, if this latter law could be put into +successful operation, but, more than this, the operation of the grain +law would render the success of the agrarian law far more difficult +and doubtful. The truth of the matter was that the success of the +agrarian law was endangered not only by the opposition of the +aristocracy but also by the present character of the Roman +proletariat. The course of events at Rome during the previous century +and a half had done much to destroy the stamina of the mass of the +Roman people; and a life of economic independence, as the result of +hard labor in the country, held less attractions for the majority of +this class than an easily secured, though meager, living in the city. +Anything which rendered life in Rome easier and more pleasant made it +so much the harder to induce Roman citizens to settle on the farms. No +legislation ever yet passed in Rome had aroused such immediate and +universal enthusiasm among the poorer classes at Rome as did this law +relative to the sale of grain. + +This law, the worst of those proposed by the Gracchi, was destined to +have the greatest influence of any of those laws upon the course of +development of Roman history. It is a peculiar phenomenon to be +observed in the study of the psychology of dishonesty that while the +beneficiaries of any system of "graft" will fight to the last +extremity against any infringement upon their interests, sometimes +even, as was the case with French nobility at the time of the French +Revolution, carrying their resistance to such limits as to involve +themselves and their country in a common ruin; nevertheless, it is +often easy to induce these favored interests to assist in the +establishment of some other system of "graft" for the benefit of +certain classes of their opponents. + +When a class has become so blinded to the true standard of right and +wrong, and of relative values, as to look upon special privileges for +the few against the many, and long-continued systems of dishonesty, as +"vested interests," it seems to be much easier for them to submit to +wrongful exactions from others than to cease from such wrongful +exactions themselves. Thus, in the case of the grain laws at Rome, the +aristocratic party, unrelenting in their opposition to the agrarian +laws of the Gracchi, which would put an end to long-continued robbing +of the state and go far toward building up again a class of free +yeoman landowners, without opposition acquiesced in the establishment +of a system of wholesale exploitation of the state for the maintenance +at the public expense of a lazy, worthless, and corrupt mob. + +The fatal idea contained in the grain law, having obtained a foothold +in the Roman policy, rapidly developed. Fifty years after the law of +Gaius Gracchus it was necessary to limit the amount of grain which +could be purchased by any one citizen to five modii (about one and a +quarter bushels) per month; at this period forty thousand citizens +were regular purchasers of grain from the state. At a little later +period it was provided that five modii per month should be given +without charge to such citizens as might require it. At one time the +number of Roman citizens receiving this free allowance of grain rose +to three hundred and twenty thousand. The Emperor Augustus fixed the +maximum number to whom such allowance should be given at two hundred +thousand. + +The permanent and continuing effect of these grain laws was to further +demoralize free labor in Italy and the character of the Roman citizen, +and to bring about a constantly increasing use of slave labor in +agriculture and of mercenaries in war. + +One of the minor laws introduced by Gaius Gracchus was that which +fixed the minimum age for military service at seventeen, and provided +that the uniform and arms of the soldiers should be furnished by the +state. + +A more important law, and one whose object was both to better economic +conditions and to strike at the power of the Senate, was a law calling +for large expenditures for the purpose of improving the roads through +Italy and building new roads, and which gave the complete management +of such work to the tribunes. Previously, the control of all public +works and improvements had been in the hands of the censors, subject +to the supervision of the Senate. + +It was to the carrying out of this last-mentioned law that Gaius +devoted his greatest energies during the year of his first +tribuneship. The improvement of the commercial roads throughout Italy +was a work which all classes in the community must approve; and even +the enemies of Gracchus could but praise the executive ability and the +untiring energy with which he supervised the carrying out of the work. + +The great system of internal improvements undertaken this year, +however, attracted to Rome a great multitude of people from all parts +of Italy, and tended to accentuate the bad feeling on the part of the +mass of the Roman citizens toward the Italians. + +Gaius Gracchus was, for the time, the complete master of the political +situation. In the consular election of 123 B.C. he was able to secure +the election of C. Fannius, an old friend and supporter of his +brother, and the defeat of L. Opimius, the candidate of the senatorial +party. The position of tribune had now become of such dignity and +importance that Fulvius Flaccus, although he had already held the +office of consul, presented himself as a candidate for this office in +the election of this year. + +Gracchus did not present himself as a candidate for reëlection on +account of the law, or custom, against reëlection to this office. +However, he was reëlected tribune this year, although the manner in +which his reëlection was brought about is not very clear to us. The +Roman historians say that as a sufficient number of candidates did not +present themselves to fill all the positions of tribunes, the comitia +tributa reëlected Gracchus under the law which gave them the right to +reëlect a tribune under such conditions. + +This is the only occasion upon which we hear anything of this law, and +we have no knowledge as to when it was passed, or as to what were its +exact provisions. Some writers, of that school of historians hostile +to the work of Tiberius Gracchus, hint that a law authorizing the +reëlection of tribunes, under the peculiar circumstances above +mentioned, must have been enacted since the death of Tiberius +Gracchus. The theory of these writers involves the assumption of the +enactment of a law prohibiting the reëlection of tribunes, and then of +another law limiting the application of the first law, although we +have no evidence as to the passage of either of such laws, and no +evidence of their existence, except during the conflicts of the +Gracchi. + +Upon his reëlection Gaius Gracchus, probably largely through the +influence of Flaccus, introduced a bill to extend the franchise to all +the Latin colonies and probably to all the citizens of the Italian +communities. The measure was that of a patriot and a statesman, but it +proved the undoing of its author. The measure failed to pass, and its +introduction destroyed a great part of the influence and popularity of +Gaius Gracchus. + +Trouble and unpopularity next came to Gaius Gracchus from the +colonies which were to be founded during this year. Gracchus entered +upon this work in a conservative manner, starting out with only a few +colonies, at the outset sending only a few citizens to each colony and +admitting no citizen to any of the colonies unless he was of a +respectable character. + +The Senate, seeing the power of Gaius Gracchus tottering, resolved to +destroy him politically by taking away his influence with the people. +To accomplish this purpose Marcus Livius Drusus, who also held the +office of tribune but who was a man of great wealth and affiliated +with the senatorial party, was put forward to outbid Gracchus for the +popular approval. In pursuance of this plan Drusus introduced a law +for the immediate settlement of twelve colonies, each colony to +consist of three thousand families, chosen without regard to their +character, and each colonist to hold his land rent free. The passage +of this Livian Law, as it was called, marked the close of the control +of Gaius Gracchus over the comitia tributa. In the elections of 122 +B.C. L. Opimius, the enemy of Gracchus, was elected consul, and +neither Gracchus nor Flaccus was reëlected tribune. + +The opponents of Gracchus, however, were not content with having +driven him from political power, but were resolved upon depriving him +of life as well. An excuse for an attack upon Gaius Gracchus was found +in a report from Carthage that the colony founded there by Gracchus +had been situated upon ground which had been cursed by Scipio at the +time of the destruction of Carthage. Acting upon this report, the +Senate directed the tribunes to call a meeting of the comitia tributa +for the purpose of revoking the law relative to the colony at +Carthage. + +Upon the day of the meeting of the tribes one of the followers of the +consul Opimius, who had taken occasion to insult Gaius Gracchus, was +stabbed by some unknown person. The senatorial party now had the +opportunity to secure their prey, and immediately proceeded to +accomplish their purpose. The meeting of the comitia tributa was +broken up, and a meeting of the Senate called, at which Gracchus was +declared a public enemy and the consuls directed to take steps to +secure the safety of the republic. + +It is outside the purpose of this work to go into the details of the +butchery of the next day in which Gaius Gracchus, Fulvius Flaccus, and +three thousand of their supporters lost their lives. The charge that +Gaius Gracchus had planned to do what Julius Cæsar was to do in the +next century, make himself dictator, or emperor, of Rome, is best +disproved by the absolute lack of any military preparations on the +part of Gracchus, even to the extent of securing his own safety when +he knew his life was in constant danger. + +Although the friends of Gracchus and Flaccus had gathered together to +protect their leaders, they were without either proper arms or any +system of military organization, and were cut down, almost without +resistance, by the armed forces which had been collected by the +consul, Opimius. Mention might be made of the fruitless heroism +displayed by some of those friends of Gaius Gracchus who remained true +to him to the last; but the flashes of brightness were few, and the +day must ever be recorded as one of the darkest in all Roman history. + +It was this day that marked the final failure of the last movement +which might have saved and rejuvenated the great Roman republic; it +was this day that showed the right of manhood was no longer the +highest right in Rome, and that the rule of special and vested +interests was now supreme. + +The singleness of purpose and openness of character in Tiberius +Gracchus leave no opening for speculation or doubt as to the motives +from which he acted or the objects which he sought. Both the character +and the actions of Gaius Gracchus are more complex than those of his +brother, and many historians have doubted the disinterestedness of his +agitation for popular rights. The final summaries upon the character +of this man, of two recent historians, are as follows: + + "The man who originates is always so far greater than the + man who imitates, and Caius only followed where his brother + led. The very dream which Caius told to the people shows + that his brother's spell was still on him, and his telling + it, together with his impetuous oratory and his avowed + fatalism, militates against the theory that Tiberius was + swayed by impulse and sentiment, and he by calculation and + reason. But no doubt he profited by experience of the past. + He had learned how to bide his time, and to think generosity + wasted on the murderous crew whom he had sworn to punish. + Pure in life, perfectly prepared for a death to which he + considered himself foredoomed, glowing with one fervent + passion, he took up his brother's cause with a double + portion of his brother's spirit, because he had thought more + before action, because he had greater natural eloquence, and + because being forewarned he was forearmed. + + "In spite of the labours of recent historians, the + legislation of Caius Gracchus is still hard to understand. + Where the original authorities contradict each other, as + they often do, probable conjecture is the most which can be + attained, and no attempt will be made here to specify what + were the measures of the first tribunate of Caius, and what + of the second. The general scope and tendency of his + legislation is clear enough. It was to overthrow the + senatorial government, and in the new government to give the + chief share of the executive power to the mercantile class, + and the chief share of the legislative power to Italians. + These were his immediate aims. Probably he meant to keep all + the strings he thus set in motion in his own hands, so as to + be practically monarch of Rome. But whether he definitely + conceived the idea of monarchy, and, looking beyond his own + requirements, pictured to himself a successor at some future + time inheriting the authority which he had established, no + one can say." (Beesly.) + + "It is clear that he did not wish to place the Roman + Republic on a new democratic basis, but that he wished to + abolish it, and introduce in its stead an absolute + despotism, in the form of an unlimited tribuneship for life. + Nor can he be blamed for it; as, though an absolute monarchy + is a great misfortune for a nation, it is a less misfortune + than an absolute oligarchy. Besides this, he was fired with + the passion for a speedy vengeance, and was in fact a + political incendiary--the author not only of the one hundred + years' revolution, which dates from him, but the founder of + that terrible urban proletariat which, utterly demoralized + by corn largesses and the flattery of the classes above it, + and at the same time conscious of its power, lay like an + incubus for five hundred years on the Roman commonwealth, + and only perished with it. + + "Many of the fundamental maxims of Roman monarchy may be + traced to Gracchus. He first laid down that all the land of + subject communities was to be regarded as the private + property of the state--a maxim first applied to vindicate + the right of the state to tax the land and then to send out + colonies to it, which later became a fundamental principle + of law under the empire. He invented the tactics by which + his successors broke down the governing aristocracy, and + substituted strict and judicious administration for the + previous misgovernment. He first opened the way to a + reconciliation between Rome and the provinces, and his + attempt to rebuild Carthage and to give an opportunity for + Italian emigration to the provinces was the first link in + the chain of that beneficial course of action. Right and + wrong, fortune and misfortune, were so inextricably blended + in this singular man and in this marvelous political + constellation, that it may well beseem history in this + case--though it beseems her but seldom--to reserve her + judgment." (Mommsen.) + +Much of the criticism of each of these historians is manifestly true; +but the charge that Gaius Gracchus contemplated the substitution of +the rule of a despot for the rule of the oligarchy seems not to be +borne out by the facts. + +A true understanding of the policies and objects of Gaius Gracchus can +be had only when we start our investigation with an appreciation of +the strongest motive which urged him onward. This motive was not, on +the one hand, a deep-rooted love and reverence for popular rights (as +was undoubtedly the case with his brother Tiberius); nor, on the other +hand, was it selfish interest, or the desire to usurp to himself the +supreme power in the state. The strongest influence in the life and +character of Gaius Gracchus was the desire to be avenged upon the +senatorial party for the murder of his brother. His efforts in behalf +of popular rights were instigated primarily by the desire to show +respect to his brother's memory and to carry out his brother's +policies. Upon this hypothesis the life and character of Gaius +Gracchus can be easily understood. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +MARIUS AND SULLA + + +The Roman government after the death of Gaius Gracchus, while still +nominally a republic, had lost all its democratic character and had +once more become an oligarchy such as had existed centuries before, +during the period of the patrician republic. It was evident, however, +that the existing situation could not permanently continue. The +oligarchical government is that form of government which from its very +nature can never acquire stability. Both democracy and monarchy +possess elements of strength which may give to such governments a long +continuance of life; the oligarchy, lacking both the strength of +foundation of the one and the unity of action of the other, must +inevitably be supplanted by a freer or a more restricted system of +government. After the fall of Gaius Gracchus the last opportunity for +the re-creation in Rome of a truly democratic form of government was +lost. It should have been evident to any one who could read the signs +of the future that the power for the time possessed by the senatorial +oligarchy would soon be snatched from it, either by the frenzied hand +of a mob or by the strong hand of a despot. + +Few in Rome at this time, however, seem to have been thinking much +about the future. To reactionists or even to conservatives the future +is always almost an unknown word; satisfied with the present, or +looking back with regret to the past, the supporters of special +interests and the votaries of tradition walk backward over the +precipice, the near presence of which they will neither see for +themselves nor be warned of by others. + +A flicker of life on the part of the popular party was seen in an +effort by the tribune Decius to indict the former consul Opimius for +his part in the murder of Gaius Gracchus and his friends. The defense +of Opimius was undertaken by the renegade Carbo. The life of this +politician seems an excellent example in proof of the statement that +the demagogue seeks the favor of the people only for his own +advantage, and that as soon as he has acquired such favor, and has +become a person of influence, his next step is to sell himself, now +valuable on account of the political power he has acquired through +his hypocrisy toward the people, to the special interests. No better +contrast can be found in history between the true reformer and the +unprincipled demagogue than is the contrast between Tiberius Gracchus +and Carbo. While it is comparatively easy, however, to go back into +past ages and to separate the sheep from the goats, and to distinguish +between reformer and hypocrite, it is a much harder undertaking to do +this with the living politicians. It often happens that the people are +too ready to follow the demagogue and to repudiate and ridicule the +honest reformer. Striking illustrations of this phenomenon could +easily be given from recent American history. The doctrine of the +survival of the fittest applies in all sciences, social as well as +natural. In all its applications, however, this doctrine is that of +the survival of the fittest to meet existing conditions, not the +survival of the fittest from the standpoint of absolute merit. With +those who attempt to secure the political support of the proletariat +of a great city, merit is to a great extent a handicap, and a certain +class of vices the greatest advantage. + +There are some men naturally so constituted that the doctrine that the +end justifies the means can be consistently and safely applied by them +in their public life. To this class have belonged most of those men +through whom all the greatest victories for liberty and the greatest +reforms in this world have been finally achieved. The mass of mankind, +however, are incapable of consistently and permanently following the +doctrine; and with all men, except the few above referred to, the +character of their objects and methods must act and react upon each +other. The result is that those seeking reform and honesty in +politics, in the main seek to accomplish their purposes by honest +methods; while the demagogue, seeking his own interests alone, a +hypocrite as to his motives, will never consider as to the honesty of +his methods. It is only on exceptional occasions that the honest +advocate of popular rights can win the support of the mob by honest +methods. Several causes work together to accomplish this result. In +the lower economic strata the individual is far more strongly +influenced by his own immediate interests than by the permanent +interests of the class to which he belongs. Perhaps it would be too +much to expect the contrary. + +We have constantly before us to-day the spectacle of men who--loudest +in their denunciation of the discrimination which public officials +exercise in favor of the special classes and against the common +citizen--at election time, in consideration of a few dollars for +themselves, exert all their influence in favor of the worst exponents +of the system they denounce. By the return, in the form of direct or +indirect bribes to a selected few of the proletariat, of a small +portion of the money previously illegally or unjustly exploited from +the poor, the politicians of the "practical" type are able to secure +the assent of the greater portion of the proletariat to the +continuation of such exploitation. + +Again, the candidate or political leader who intends to carry out his +promises is under a disadvantage in comparison with the candidate or +leader who does not. There are limitations to what government can +accomplish; there are no limitations to what a demagogue can promise. +There is no more unfavorable criticism possible upon the lack of +proper intelligence of the majority of the American voters than the +character of the promises and the arguments which are received with +applause at political meetings of every political party. + +This criticism upon the political actions of the poorer classes, +economically, by no means indicates that they are the least desirable +class of voters in a country, or that a country would be better +governed if the ballot were taken away from them. The truth of the +matter is that it is mainly by the votes and efforts of the lowest +classes in a community (from the standpoint of wealth and social +status) that every great reform or popular victory must be achieved. +It is at the great crises that the masses are most generally right, +and the classes most generally wrong. No phenomenon of history is more +clear and more striking than that, at every great crisis of the +world's history, the mass of the wealthy and educated classes has been +always wrong. Nowhere is this more plainly to be discerned than in the +history of our own country. In the Revolutionary days the great mass +of the wealth and education in the country was to be found on the +Tory side. At the crisis the concrete question of personal interest +prevails over the abstract idea of public welfare; those who are +personally satisfied with existing conditions are slow to advocate a +change; those who have little to lose find it easier to be courageous. +Next to the small nucleus of true reformers, the first adherents of +any reform movement are apt to be the discontented and restless +elements of the community. + +We can see a working example of this phenomenon, many centuries ago, +in the brief account which the Bible gives us of the recruiting of the +force with which David first offered resistance to King Saul. "David +therefore departed thence, and escaped to the Cave Adullam: and when +his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down +thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that +was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves +unto him; and he became a captain over them." + +In the case of the demagogue Carbo, we find him, after a violent +career as a popular tribune, selling his influence and services to the +senatorial party, of which he was henceforth the most servient tool. +He was rewarded for his services to this party by an election as +consul, and it was during his consulship (120 B.C.) that the +indictment was brought against Opimius. Carbo's influence, coupled +with the fear which the murderers of the Gracchi and their followers +had left in the minds of the people, was sufficient to secure the +acquittal of Opimius. The triumph of Carbo, however, was short-lived. +He was himself indicted by L. Licinius Crassus, brother-in-law of +Gaius Gracchus, and the manifestation of the feeling against him +became so bitter that Carbo was driven to take his own life by poison. + +The Roman politicians of the next few years, the Metelli, Æmilius +Scaurus, and others, left little impress upon the course of Roman +history, and their lives and triumphs are of little interest to us. +Their aims were of a strictly personal character, their civic work was +of a routine character; if they did little harm to the state, they +conferred no benefit upon it. + +The most important event of the closing years of the second century +before Christ was the famous, or rather infamous, Jugurthine War. The +story of this war furnishes the final evidence as to the corruption +and degradation of Roman politics and officials at this time. This war +arose out of a disputed succession to the throne of Numidia. Jugurtha, +at first the friend and ally of Rome, after he had secured possession +of the whole country through the murder of his two rivals, his +cousins, found himself at last at war with Rome. The fortune of war +going against him, he secured an advantageous peace by bribing the +Roman general. The facts relative to this peace becoming known at +Rome, Jugurtha was summoned to appear at Rome to give his account of +the proceedings. His history, during this famous visit to Rome, is +thus related by the Roman historian Sallust: + + "During the course of these proceedings at Rome, those whom + Bestia had left in Numidia in command of the army, following + the example of their general, had been guilty of many + scandalous transactions. Some, seduced by gold, had restored + Jugurtha his elephants; others had sold him his deserters; + others had ravaged the lands of those at peace with us; so + strong a spirit of rapacity, like the contagion of a + pestilence, had pervaded the breasts of all. + + "Cassius, when the measure proposed by Memmius had been + carried, and whilst all the nobility were in consternation, + set out on his mission to Jugurtha, whom, alarmed as he was, + and despairing of his fortune, from a sense of guilt, he + admonished 'that, since he had surrendered himself to the + Romans, he had better make trial of their mercy than their + power.' He also pledged his own word, which Jugurtha valued + not less than that of the public, for his safety. Such, at + that period, was the reputation of Cassius. + + "Jugurtha, accordingly, accompanied Cassius to Rome, but + without any mark of royalty, and in the garb, as much as + possible, of a suppliant; and, though he felt great + confidence on his own part, and was supported by all those + through whose power or villainy he had accomplished his + projects, he purchased, by a vast bribe, the aid of Caius + Bæbius, a tribune of the people, by whose audacity he hoped + to be protected against the law, and against all harm. + + "An assembly of the people being convoked, Memmius, although + they were violently exasperated against Jugurtha (some + demanding that he should be cast into prison, others that, + unless he should name his accomplices in guilt, he should be + put to death, according to the usage of their ancestors, as + a public enemy) yet, regarding rather their character than + their resentment, endeavoured to calm their turbulence and + mitigate their rage; and assured them that, as far as + depended on him, the public faith should not be broken. At + length, when silence was obtained, he brought forward + Jugurtha, and addressed them. He detailed the misdeeds of + Jugurtha at Rome and in Numidia, and set forth his crimes + towards his father and brothers; and admonished the prince + 'that the Roman people, though they were well aware by whose + support and agency he had acted, yet desired further + testimony from himself; that, if he disclosed the truth, + there was great hope for him in the honour and clemency of + the Romans; but if he concealed it, he would certainly not + save his accomplices, but ruin himself and his hopes + forever.' + + "But when Memmius had concluded his speech, and Jugurtha was + expected to give his answer, Caius Bæbius, the tribune of + the people, whom I have just noticed as having been bribed, + enjoined the prince to hold his peace; and though the + multitude who formed the assembly were desperately enraged, + and endeavoured to terrify the tribune by outcries, by angry + looks, by violent gestures, and by every other act to which + anger prompts, his audacity was at last triumphant. The + people, mocked and set at naught, withdrew from the place of + assembly, and the confidence of Jugurtha, Bestia, and the + others whom this investigation had alarmed, was greatly + augmented. + + "There was at this period in Rome, a certain Numidian named + Massiva, a son of Gulussa and grandson of Masinissa, who, + from having been, in the dissensions among princes, opposed + to Jugurtha, had been obliged, after the surrender of Cirta + and the murder of Adherbal, to make his escape out of + Africa. Spurius Albinus, who was consul with Quintus + Minucius Rufus the year after Bestia, prevailed upon this + man, as he was of the family of Masinissa, and as odium and + terror hung over Jugurtha for his crimes, to petition the + senate for the kingdom of Numidia. Albinus, being eager for + the conduct of a war, was desirous that affairs should be + disturbed, rather than sink into tranquillity; especially + as, in the division of the provinces, Numidia had fallen to + himself, and Macedonia to Minucius. + + "When Massiva proceeded to carry these suggestions into + execution, Jugurtha, finding that he had no sufficient + support in his friends, as a sense of guilt deterred some + and evil report or timidity, others from coming forward in + his behalf, directed Bomilcar, his most attached and + faithful adherent, to procure by the aid of money, by which + he had already effected so much, assassins to kill Massiva; + and to do it secretly if he could, but if secrecy should be + impossible, to cut him off in any way whatsoever. This + commission Bomilcar soon found means to execute; and, by the + agency of men versed in such service, ascertained the + direction of his journeys, his hours of leaving home, and + the times at which he resorted to particular places, and, + when all was ready, placed his assassins in ambush. One of + their number sprang upon Massiva, though with too little + caution, and killed him; but, being himself caught, he made + at the instigation of many, and especially of Albinus the + consul, a full confession. Bomilcar was accordingly + committed for trial, though rather on the principles of + reason and justice than in accordance with the law of + nations, as he was in the retinue of one who had come to + Rome on a pledge of the public faith for his safety. But + Jugurtha, though clearly guilty of the crime, did not cease + to struggle against the truth, until he perceived that the + infamy of the deed was too strong for his interest or his + money. For that reason, although at the commencement of the + proceedings, he had given fifty of his friends as bail for + Bomilcar, yet thinking more of his kingdom than of the + sureties, he sent him off privately into Numidia, for he + feared that if such a man should be executed, his other + subjects would be deterred from obeying him. A few days + after, he himself departed, having been ordered by the + senate to quit Italy. But, as he was going from Rome, he is + said, after frequently looking back on it in silence, to + have at last exclaimed that 'it was a venal city, and would + soon perish, if it could but find a purchaser.'" + +Upon the resumption of the war with Jugurtha the Romans at first met +with a great disaster, the army under Spurius Albinus being defeated +and compelled to pass under the yoke and withdraw from Numidia. The +result of this defeat was a sweeping investigation of the wholesale +bribery of Roman officials by Jugurtha. Many, though not all, of those +guilty in this respect were punished by banishment. The conduct of the +war was now delegated to Q. Cæcilius Metellus, by whom it was soon +after brought to a successful termination. This result, however, was +due less to the military genius of Metellus than to that of his +lieutenant Gaius Marius, who immediately afterwards became the central +figure in the political arena at Rome. + +Marius was born near Arpinum about 157 B.C. of peasant parents. +Abandoning agriculture for the army, at a very early age he had won +distinction not only for personal strength and courage but also for +military ability. As early as the year 132 B.C. Scipio Africanus, once +being asked by a flatterer where a general could be found to fill his +place, touched the arm of Marius, who happened to be present on the +occasion, and answered, "Perhaps here." It was not only in the field +of war but also in that of politics that Marius had won a reputation +before the time that he served under Metellus against Jugurtha. Being +elected tribune in 119 B.C., his actions, upon some unimportant +controversies which arose during the year, had been such as to show +the determination and ferocity of his disposition, and to win the +favor of the populace and the distrust of the senatorial party. +Through the influence of the aristocracy Marius was defeated for both +the ædileships, but was finally elected prætor in 115 B.C. + +It was while he was serving under Metellus in Africa that Marius +became a candidate for the consulship. The idea of Marius as consul +was very distasteful to Metellus, who permitted Marius to leave the +camp for Rome only twelve days before the day set for the election. +Marius, by almost superhuman exertions, succeeded in making the +journey to Rome in the first six of these days, and in the remaining +six conducted a successful campaign for the consulship. + +The election of Marius to the consulship marks the beginning of the +last age of the Roman republic. With Marius began the habitual rule of +might rather than of right; rule by armies, instead of rule by +majorities. For something over half a century power at Rome was to be +shuffled backward and forward between different military commanders, +until finally a military despot arose strong enough both to overthrow +the oligarchy and to put down the mob. The manner in which the Romans +had abstained from internal violence for centuries, during all the +heat of so many bitter political and class contests, is one of the +wonders of ancient history. The aristocracy first broke this rule by +resorting to force to block the reforms of the Gracchi. Such a +procedure must always be a two-edged weapon, and Marius was the man +fated to turn the sword against those who first drew it in Roman +politics. The very election of Marius as consul (107 B.C.) was the +occasion of much disquietude to the oligarchy. + +Although the consulship had at this time, in theory, been for two +hundred sixty years open to all Roman citizens, nevertheless, in +practice, it had, with occasional exceptions, been confined to the +members of the few great families. In fact, so general had this become +that a man who was the first of his family to be elected to this +office was known as a "new man." Not only was Marius a "new man," but +his immediate ancestors, in all probability, were men lower in the +social and economic scale than had been the father and grandfather of +any previous Roman consul. If the rise of Marius was a source of +danger to the senatorial party, the qualities which had rendered his +success possible were a source of danger to the whole community. +Marius was and had been a soldier, and a soldier only. There is +nothing in his whole life to indicate that he combined with the +attributes of the general any of those of the statesman, as did Cæsar +and Napoleon. The same fighting qualities which brought to him success +in war likewise produced success in politics, and the same ferocity of +disposition was manifested in both fields. + +The military ability of Marius, in connection with the peculiar +circumstances of the times, soon secured to this general a more +absolute control of the Roman community than had previously been +possessed by any consul of Rome. The military ability of Marius has +never been disputed either by his contemporaries or by later +historians. His military successes after his election to the +consulship were rapid and decisive. Where his predecessors had failed, +Marius succeeded in the Jugurthine War, and the year 104 B.C. +witnessed at Rome the triumph of Marius, with the craftiest, ablest, +and most unscrupulous of African kings walking in chains as a captive +in his train. + +Of greater importance and benefit to Rome were the great victories won +by Marius over those terrible invaders, the Teutones and the +Cimbrians, who had been threatening Rome and harassing northern Italy +for a number of years. In 102 B.C. the Teutones were defeated by +Marius at the battle of Aquæ Sextiæ, where the number of the +vanquished who were killed is variously estimated at from one hundred +twenty thousand to two hundred thousand. The following year, during +the fifth consulship of Marius, the Cimbrians were practically +annihilated, sixty thousand being captured and sold as slaves and the +remainder of the vast host, with few exceptions, killed. + +The second century before Christ thus closed with brilliant foreign +victories for the Roman arms. This close likewise saw the beginning of +another period of slave insurrections and civil war. As before, the +principal resistance by the slaves occurred in the island of Sicily. +The immediate cause of this insurrection was the neglect or refusal of +the Roman prætor in Sicily to obey a decree of the Senate. So great a +scandal had arisen from the continued actions of the Roman tax +collectors in the East in seizing and selling into slavery persons who +failed to pay the exorbitant taxes demanded from them that the Senate +passed a decree providing that all persons illegally held as slaves +should be immediately released. This decree would have affected so +many slaves in the island of Sicily that the prætor suspended its +operation. The slaves, rendered desperate by seeing this promised +liberty snatched from them, once more rose in rebellion. + +Again the slaves were commanded by able leaders, and again they won a +number of victories over Roman armies before they were finally put +down. + + "The revolt was thus apparently suppressed, yet many years + the disturbances continued, and there were innumerable local + insurrections, causing great carnage and unspeakable misery. + A Roman knight, Titus Minucius, harassed by debt, and + annoyed by the importunities of his creditors, through + revenge incited an insurrection, and placed himself at the + head of three thousand slaves. A bloody battle ensued before + he was put down. Soon after this, two very able slaves, + Sabrius and Athenio, headed revolts. Their forces were + marshaled in well-disciplined bands, and for some time they + successfully repelled all the power Rome could bring against + them. Several Roman armies were defeated with great loss, + and the whole island was surrendered to blood and violence. + The poorer class of the free inhabitants availed themselves + of the general confusion to indulge in unrestrained license + and devastation. This insurrection became so formidable, + that again Rome was compelled to rouse her energies. A + consular army was sent, which drove the insurgents into + their strongholds and then subdued them by the slow process + of siege. The carnage and misery resulting from these + servile wars no tongue can tell. The whole power of the + Roman empire was pledged to put down insurrections; and + though the captives could avenge their wrongs and sell their + lives dearly, it was in vain for them to hope for ultimate + success. + + "A law was passed prohibiting any slave from carrying a + warlike weapon. Rigorously was this law enforced. At one + time a boar of remarkable size was sent as a present to L. + Domicius, then prætor of the island. He inquired who had + killed it. On being informed that it was a slave, who was + employed as a shepherd, he summoned the man before him, and + asked how he had contrived to kill so powerful an animal. + The shepherd replied that he had killed it with a boar + spear. The merciless Domicius ordered him immediately to be + crucified for having used a weapon in violation of the law. + This rigor was pursued so unrelentingly, that, for a long + period, there were no more revolts!" (Abbott's _History of + Italy_.) + +The victories of Marius over the Teutones and Cimbrians had been +followed by his sixth election to the consulship. This election, +however, had not been secured without great difficulty and tumult. The +aristocratic party had been consistently the opponents and enemies of +Marius throughout his whole career. The great victories which he had +won for Rome, instead of reconciling this class to him, had made them +only the more jealous and fearful of him. + +By this time Marius had in addition, to a great extent, alienated the +lower classes of the Roman citizens. The enmity between the +proletariat at Rome and the Italians, which had commenced at the time +of the younger Gracchus, had been constantly increasing. Marius had +inclined more and more toward the side of the Italians. Like most +generals, his thoughts and affections were for his soldiers rather +than for the state which he served; and the soldiers over whom Marius +had command and with whom he had won his great victories were mainly +Italians. The degenerate city mob at Rome no longer desired or was fit +for military life, and the safety of Rome and the extension of her +territories now rested mainly upon those to whom the rights of her +citizenship were denied. + +The Italians, probably appreciating both the strength of their +position and the injustice of their treatment, were demanding the +rights of Roman citizenship, and in this demand they found a +sympathizer in the consul Marius. Immediately after his victories in +the north of Italy, Marius, in direct violation of the law, had +granted Roman citizenship to one thousand soldiers in his army who had +distinguished themselves in the campaign. His excuse was +characteristic of the existing conditions and prophetic of the course +of Roman history during the succeeding century: "Amid the din of arms, +I could not hear the voice of the laws." + +During his sixth consulship Marius endeavored to secure the Roman +franchise for certain of his soldiers in a more regular manner. The +tribunes, Apuleius Saturninus and Servilius Glaucia, secured the +passage of a law by which Marius was authorized to grant the rights of +Roman citizenship to three persons in every colony which enjoyed the +Latin franchise. + +The career of the tribune Saturninus is illustrative of the condition +of anarchy into which Rome was rapidly drifting. Saturninus was the +first of the Roman politicians to rely as a regular practice upon +"strong-arm methods" to carry elections. In his first race for the +tribuneship he had brazenly murdered one of the opposing candidates; +he had been the principal campaign manager for Marius at the time of +his sixth election to the consulship, when the disbanded army of +Marius had been distributed among the Roman citizens in the meetings +of the comitia tributa in such numbers as to overawe all opposition. +Finally, when C. Memmius, a bitter political enemy of his, seemed +about to be elected to the consulship, he caused him to be stabbed in +the Forum by one of the thugs who constituted his own bodyguard. +Saturninus, however, had now reached the point where he stood almost +alone. The senatorial party were his natural enemies; the Roman mob +had, in the main, fallen away from his support on account of his +friendly feeling toward the Italians, and his extreme methods had +compelled even Marius to withdraw his support. + +Seeing his political power almost gone, Saturninus, in company with +his fellow-tribune Glaucia and a band of the ruffians with which Rome +was so badly infested at this time, seized the citadel on the capitol +and attempted to raise an insurrection against the republic. The +citadel was considered to be impregnable to an attack, but Saturninus +and his followers were soon forced into submission by the cutting off +of their water supply. The insurgents had surrendered upon the +condition that their lives should be spared. Marius, in order to +protect their safety, imprisoned them in a large building, known as +the Curia Hostilia. The mob, however, climbed to the top of the +building, tore off the roof, and murdered all the prisoners by +dropping rocks upon them. + +For centuries one of the most striking characteristics of Roman +political life had been the forbearance with which all political +factions restrained themselves from the use of violence. Such a +condition of affairs, however, no longer existed, and from the +beginning of the first century before Christ the use of force in +political controversies at Rome became the rule rather than the +exception. The exact reasons for the sudden change of sentiment upon +the part of the Roman mob against Saturninus is doubtful. It may have +been solely on account of his advocacy of Italian suffrage, or it may +have been due to the belief by the mob in the accusation made by the +senators that Saturninus was seeking to make himself king. + +The political history of Rome during the first quarter of the first +century before Christ was extremely complicated on account of the +existence, side by side, of the two great contests,--the one between +the aristocratic party and the popular party at Rome; the second, +between the Romans and the Italians. Both contests were from this time +on to be marked by the most extreme bitterness on both sides, and each +soon became a military rather than a political contest. + +The complicated system of laws regulating the status of the citizens +of the various Italian cities under the Roman republic has already +been discussed in previous chapters. It is also to be noted that at an +earlier date the political rights of a Roman citizen were of doubtful +value and were often refused by Italian cities to which they were +offered. This state of affairs no longer existed, and the time had +come when all Italians desired and demanded the political rights of +the Roman citizen. + +The death of Saturninus and the departure of Marius for the East, in +99 B.C., gave an opportunity for a new set of political leaders at +Rome. The first of these politicians to rise into prominence was M. +Livius Drusus. Drusus occupied the unique position among the Roman +politicians of this period of having attempted to play the role of +conciliator between the various conflicting factions. Originally +brought forward in political life by the senatorial party with the +intention that he should play the part formerly taken by his father at +the time of the Gracchian conflicts, and destroy the influence of the +popular leaders by outbidding them in their efforts for popular +support--he soon went beyond the objects of his sponsors and +endeavored to secure real reforms for the benefit of the people and of +the state. Some historians would rank Drusus as the best and ablest of +all the Roman politicians who lived during the latter part of the +republic. It is difficult, however, either to form an accurate opinion +of the policies or merits of Drusus or to assign to him his proper +niche in history. The accounts which we have of his political +activities are conflicting and fragmentary, and his work left few +permanent results. The measure for which he is best remembered was +his proposed law to grant the franchise to the Latins and Italians. +Together with the increase of the franchise Drusus sought to secure +the allotment of land to the needy Roman citizens, and a reform in the +method of administering justice and government in Rome. + +The franchise law of Drusus secured for him unbounded popularity +throughout Italy and bitter opposition at Rome. This opposition in his +own city culminated in his assassination in 91 B.C. + +The murder of Drusus was the spark which produced the conflagration of +the Social War. Losing hope of securing any justice from Rome +voluntarily, ten of the Italian tribes, the Samnites, Trentanians, +Hirpini, Lucanians, Apulians, Picentines, Vestini, Marrucini, +Marsians, and Pæligni banded themselves together and declared war +against Rome. The Romans seemed to have been completely taken by +surprise. The Roman legates sent to the camp of the Italians were +murdered, together with all the Roman citizens upon whom the +insurgents could lay their hands, and a policy of extermination was +resolved upon. Rome was to be destroyed, and Italy was to be made +into a great republic with Corfinium as its capital. The government of +the new republic was modeled after that of Rome. Marsian and Mutilus +were chosen consuls for the first year of the new Italian republic. + +The war at first went against the Romans and for a while it seemed as +if the Italians might even succeed in their scheme for the overthrow +and the destruction of Rome. Again the Romans were obliged to look to +Gaius Marius for their safety. Marius, who shortly before this time +had returned from the East and who had been suffered to hold only a +subordinate command during the first year of the war, now being put in +control of one of the Roman armies turned the tide of the Italian +success by winning the first great victory achieved by the Romans +during the war. The sympathy of Marius, however, was so strongly with +the demands of the Italians, and his desires so great to bring the war +to a close by conceding these demands, that he failed to follow up the +success with his accustomed vigor, with the result that a younger +general was enabled to rise into prominence. + +Lucius Cornelius Sulla had already acquired considerable military +reputation from the campaign which he had served in Africa under +Marius, and was now in command of one of the Roman armies. Sulla, +throughout his whole life, was a consistent adherent of the extreme +oligarchical party. Nowhere in his life's history do we find the +slightest degree of regard for popular rights, or any opposition to +injustice which might rest on the lower classes. With no sympathy for +the Italians or the cause which they represented, and possessed with +military ability almost equal to that of Marius, Sulla became the +military hero of the Social War. Nevertheless, it was soon evident +that the Romans themselves would not be able to bring the war to a +successful termination. Therefore, by the Julian Law, the Roman +franchise was extended to those tribes and cities in possession of the +Latin rights, who, in return for the grant of the franchise to +themselves, seemed to have willingly assisted in preventing its +acquisition by the others. With the aid of the Latins, Sulla was able +to compel the subjugation of the Italians, of whom more than three +hundred thousand are reported to have been killed in the short war. + +The conclusion of this war, however, brought not even a temporary +peace. The Roman sky was overshadowed with clouds both of foreign +invasion and internal dissension. In the far East the great +Mithridates, king of Pontus, had defeated the Romans, murdered in cold +blood eighty thousand Roman citizens whom he had found in Asia Minor, +and was preparing to invade Greece, which was only too ready to rise +and aid in the overthrow of the hated and oppressive Roman rule. + +In the meantime the battle of the Italians, lost in the field, was +being renewed at Rome by the Roman politicians of the popular party. +Under the leadership of the tribune Sulpicius the popular party was +induced to take up the advocacy of the claims of the Italians. + +The fear which had been produced in the minds of all Romans by the +disquieting news from the East tended to make all classes willing to +conciliate the Italians, from whom soldiers for foreign service must +mainly be recruited. + +By the Lex Plautia-Popiria the very same privileges were extended to +all the Italian allies of Rome that had been extended to a favored few +by the Lex Julia. A few cities in Italy, however, mainly those of +Grecian origin, declined to take advantage of this law, preferring to +retain their local system of self-government rather than become +citizens of Rome. + +From the standpoint of Roman supremacy the passage of the Lex +Plautia-Popiria was the wisest action in the whole course of Roman +history. The efforts of years immediately preceding the passage of +this act had shown that the citizenship of Rome, as constituted prior +to the year 90 B.C., was far too limited to be able to long remain as +the base upon which the great pyramid of the Roman foreign possessions +should rest. Nevertheless, by the additions made by the Lex Julia and +the Lex Plautia-Popiria, it was rendered broad and strong enough to +sustain the great weight and bulk of the Roman empire for several +centuries. + +The Lex Plautia-Popiria, however, fell far short of giving to the +Italians the full political influence to which their numbers would +entitle them. The number of the new citizens enrolled by the censors +under the provisions of this new act were divided into eight (or +perhaps ten) new tribes, instead of being divided among all the +existing thirty-five tribes as had been demanded by Sulpicius. + +The passage of these laws, however, while it terminated one of the +great contests between the Romans and Italians, did nothing toward +terminating that between the oligarchical and the popular parties. +During the period of the Social War the oligarchical and the popular +parties in Rome had been by one common danger united against the +combined force of the Latins, but with the close of the war this union +was brought to an end. The popular party at Rome was augmented by the +masses of the Italians; while with the oligarchical party was +associated the aristocracy and nobles of the various Italian cities. + +The contest at Rome soon flamed up again over the question as to whom +the command against Mithridates should be given. Again the question +was settled by force instead of by ballot, Sulla marching to Rome at +the head of his army, and Marius, to whom the command of the army had +been given by the vote of the people, being obliged to flee for his +life. Many stories are told about the hairbreadth escapes of Marius at +this time. It is even related that, being captured in a marsh in +Campania, he was taken before the magistrate at Minturnæ and a +sentence of death passed upon him; that a Gaul was sent to his cell +with the command to cut off his head, but that the barbarian was so +frightened by the look in the eyes of Marius, which seemed to flash +fire in the darkness of the cell, and by the awful tones in which the +old man called out, "Wretch, dare you slay Gaius Marius?" that the +Gaul fled from the prison in dismay without executing his command, and +that Marius was afterwards released and succeeded in reaching Africa. +It is hardly possible, however, in view of the blood which flowed in +Rome at the command of Sulla, both at this time and a few years later +upon his return from the East, that Marius would have succeeded in +escaping death if he had, in reality, been captured by his opponents +at this time. + +The political situation in Rome was now in the condition where +political supremacy depended upon force instead of upon the ballot; +and the rule of the aristocratic party in Rome was destroyed by the +departure of Sulla and his army for the East. + +The consuls for the year 87 B.C. were Octavius, who belonged to the +aristocratic party, and Cornelius Cinna, the friend of Marius, who +belonged to the popular party. The latter attempted to once more bring +forward the law for dividing the new Italian citizens among all the +tribes of Rome, and was deprived of his consulship and exiled by the +oligarchy on this account. Civil war now again broke out in Rome, and +the city soon found herself threatened from all sides. At one time no +less than four distinct and independent rebellious Roman armies were +marching against Rome, while the Samnites, always the most vindictive +and irreconcilable enemies of Rome, again brought their forces in the +field--nominally to aid the popular party, in reality with the hope of +being able to finally strike a blow against the very existence of +Rome. + +Marius, who had fled to Africa, returned to Italy and in connection +with Cinna put himself once more at the head of the popular party. No +military leader of the aristocratic party, capable of successfully +contending against the veteran leader of the popular party, remained +in Italy, and once again the political wheel of fortune revolved in +Rome, leaving the oligarchical party at the mercy of Marius. + +His recent experiences had embittered the old soldier, and aroused +within him a desire for vengeance and for blood which he had never +before exhibited in his long political and military life. In dramatic +fashion he placed before the eyes of the Roman citizens the ungrateful +treatment which he had received in return for the great services he +had rendered his country. Clad in the ragged costume of an exile, he +led his victorious army to Rome, and, saying with bitterness that "an +exile must not enter the city," he waited outside the walls of Rome +until the decree of exile against him was formally repealed. If +Marius, however, was scrupulous in his observation of the form of the +laws prior to his entrance into the city, all his regard for either +the form or substance of the law seems to have been lost after such +entrance. + +Marius and Cinna declared themselves consuls of Rome for the year 86 +B.C. without any election and without even the formality of summoning +a meeting of the comitia tributa. Much more serious than this was the +disregard which was manifested by Marius and his followers for the +life and property of the Roman citizens. For several days Rome was +given up to almost indiscriminate plunder and murder by the soldiers +in the armies of Marius and Cinna; and after a stop was finally +brought to this extra-judicial pillage and murder it was succeeded by +a series of prosecutions almost as destructive, and fully as unjust. + +It was with these days of slaughter, the most sanguinary and unjust of +Marius's whole career, that his life was to end. He was now an old man +of seventy, enfeebled by sickness and hardship, and after his desire +for vengeance on his enemies had been satisfied there appeared to him +nothing left in life worth living for. Reports from the East indicated +the military triumph of his great rival Sulla, and the prospect of the +speedy return of the leader. To his other worries there was added the +belief that the present triumph of his party was but temporary. +Finally, overcome by sickness and melancholy, he took to his bed, and +died at the end of seven days. Many believed that he had committed +suicide, but the truth of this theory can never be anything but a +matter of conjecture. + +Of the character of Marius little need be said. He was primarily a +soldier, and only incidentally a politician. The debt which Rome owed +to the military ability of Marius can hardly be overestimated. It is +probable that but for his services the Roman republic might have been +destroyed on either of two different occasions. + +As a politician Marius exerted little influence on the course of the +development of Roman history. The part which he played was rather +forced upon him by circumstances and the conditions of the times than +one which he himself created. His sympathies throughout were on the +side of popular rights and equal justice. He supported the popular +party at Rome against the oligarchical party, and was one of the +strongest sympathizers with the Italians in their efforts for the +Roman franchise. He was the first to draw the sword to protect the +rights of the people against the oligarchy, but the members of the +oligarchy had themselves drawn it to overthrow the Gracchi, and force, +having been entered into Roman politics, must be met with force, +unless the people were willing to surrender all their claims to right +and justice and permit the whole control of the state to pass to the +aristocracy. + +The only real blemish upon the record of Marius is found in the cruel +revenge which he took upon his enemies in the last years of his life. +Even on this occasion there was something more than mere revenge and +cruelty in the policy of Marius. If the control of the popular party +in Rome was to be permanent, it was necessary that the aristocratic +party should be completely crushed before the return of Sulla from the +East. + +In concluding the career of Gaius Marius, summaries of his character +given by two historians are here inserted: + + "'When Caius Gracchus fell,' said Mirabeau, 'he seized a + handful of dust tinged with his blood and flung it toward + the sky; from that dust was born Marius.' This phrase of + Mirabeau's, though a whit rhetorical, is historically true. + The patricians were willing to cede nothing to the Gracchi, + and they were decimated by Marius. The struggle changed its + methods: one fought no more with laws as the only weapons, + but yet more with proscriptions. Marius was the incarnated + pleb; as ignorant, pitiless, formidable, he had something of + Danton, except that Danton was no soldier." (J. J. Ampère, + _L'Empire romaine à Rome_.) + + "The judgment pronounced on Marius by posterity is not, like + that on many other eminent men, wavering and contradictory. + He is not one of those who to some have appeared heroes, to + others malefactors, nor has he had to wait for ages, like + Tiberius, before his true character became known. + Disregarding the conscious misrepresentations of his + personal enemies, we may say that he has always been taken + for a good specimen of the genuine old Roman, uniting in his + person in an exceptional degree the virtues and the faults + of the rude illiterate peasant and the intrepid soldier. No + one has ever ventured to deny that by his eminent military + ability he rendered essential service to his country. Nobody + has doubted his austere virtues, his simplicity and honesty, + qualities by which, no less than by his genius for war, he + gained for himself the veneration of the people. On the + other hand, it is universally admitted that as a politician + he was incompetent, and that he was only a tool in the hands + of those with whom he acted. But morbid ambition and + revengeful passion urged him at last to deeds which make it + doubtful whether it would not have been better for Rome if + he had never been born. He has, therefore, neither deserved + nor obtained unmixed admiration; but as his darkest deeds + were committed in moments when he was half mad from + sufferings and indignities he had endured, and when perhaps + he hardly knew what he was doing, he may, in the opinion of + humane judges, gain by comparison with Sulla, who acted from + reflection and in cool blood when he consigned thousands to + death and enacted the horrid spectacle of the + proscriptions." (William Ihne, _The History of Rome_.) + +Marius was succeeded as consul by Valerius Flaccus, who had held the +same office fourteen years before. The two consuls Cinna and Flaccus +now attempted to fulfill the pledges to the Italians, and censors were +elected for the express purpose of doing away with the eight (or ten) +new Italian tribes and distributing the Italians throughout the whole +thirty-five tribes. + +Another important law passed at this time was in the nature of a +temporary bankruptcy law for the relief of the Roman debtors. By this +new law all debtors were enabled to clear themselves of their debts by +paying one fourth of the amount owed. + +Sulla, in the meantime, had brought to a successful close the war +against Mithridates, although, on account of his anxiety to return to +Italy as soon as possible, he did not completely crush the king of +Pontus, as he could have done easily at this time. Disregarding the +decree removing him from command of the army and appointing his +successor, Sulla retained the command of his victorious army and +returned with it to Italy, with the express purpose of crushing the +popular party, and placed Rome once more completely under the control +of the oligarchy. + +Even before starting for Italy Sulla had issued a manifesto which +showed that no mercy could be expected for his opponents in the event +of his success. The Roman Senate at this crisis made a feeble effort +to act as a mediator between the rival parties. It sent an embassy to +endeavor to dissuade Sulla to desist from his threatened vengeance, +while on the other hand it forbade the consuls to make any military +preparations to resist. Both parties disregarded the orders of the +Senate. Cinna and Carbo, who were at that time the consuls of Rome, +began to make large levies of soldiers for the purpose of resisting +Sulla upon his return. An attempt by Cinna to lead an expedition to +attack Sulla in the East was frustrated by the refusal of his soldiers +to leave Italy, and Cinna himself was soon after murdered. + +After the death of Cinna, Carbo for some time remained as the sole +consul of Rome. The worst possible use of this undivided power was +made by the consul at this period, and his terror at the approach of +Sulla was shown by the cruelty with which his enemies in the city were +murdered or exiled. + +Sulla returned to Italy with only forty thousand soldiers, while the +popular party, under Carbo and the younger Marius, a nephew of the +veteran general, had secured an army said to have numbered two hundred +thousand. The army of Sulla, however, was composed of trained +veterans, and that of Carbo and Marius consisted, in the main, of +inexperienced recruits. + +Soon after his return Sulla was joined by many of the senatorial +party, with large levies of soldiers. Among the most notable +accessions to the army of Sulla was that led by Cneius Pompey, at that +time a youth of only twenty-three years of age but destined later to +be the great rival of Julius Cæsar for the first place in Roman +politics. + +The war from the start went against the popular party, and its final +outcome can hardly be said to have been at any time doubtful, although +it dragged along for some considerable time. The first important +battle was near Capua, in the year 83 B.C., where the consul Norbanus +was defeated by Sulla. The final fighting was around the city of +Præneste, where all the generals of the popular party had made their +headquarters. + +After the strength of the Roman popular party had been crushed, the +fighting was still kept up by the combined forces of the Samnites, +Lucanians, and Campanians, who, originally drawn into the war as +allies of Carbo and Marius, now continued in a last desperate effort +to overthrow Rome altogether. At the battle of the Colline Gate these +allied Italian forces, under Pontius Telesinus, came very near +inflicting a worse defeat upon Rome than this city had ever received. +The left wing of the Roman army, commanded by Sulla, was in fact +routed, and the battle was saved only by the right wing under the +command of Crassus. In the end the victory of the Romans under Sulla +in this battle was complete, and the great Italian general Pontius +Telesinus was left dead upon the field. + +This battle practically ended the fighting, although a few unimportant +cities still held out against Sulla for a short period. The long +contest between the Romans and the Italians was now definitely over. +The victory of the oligarchical party at Rome over the popular party +was merely temporary, although the supremacy of the latter was never +attacked during the lifetime of Sulla. The victory of Sulla was +followed by the terrible proscriptions with which the name of this +general must ever be associated. The number of names appearing in the +list of those who were proscribed, and liable to be killed by any one +willing to carry out the orders of Sulla, reached the enormous total +of forty-seven thousand. In this list were included most of the +leaders of the popular party, all the personal enemies of Sulla +himself, and also the names of all those whom for any reason of +personal enmity or greed the friends of Sulla desired to have +proscribed. It was only with the greatest difficulty that the friends +of the young Julius Cæsar were able to save his life on this occasion. +There is an historic anecdote to the effect that Sulla, in sparing +him, warned the aristocratic party to beware of him in the future, as +in this young man there was more than one Marius. It is hardly +probable that this story is true, as Cæsar at this time had done +nothing to show his ability. + +The vengeance which Sulla took upon the Italians who had resisted him +was even more terrible. Whole cities were destroyed, and the Samnite +race was practically annihilated. The vengeance of Sulla extended even +to the remote provinces, where the members of the popular party were +everywhere hunted down and murdered. + +In the year 81 B.C. the dictatorship, which had been unknown in the +Roman government for considerably more than a century, was once more +resorted to, and by the means of this office Sulla obtained absolute +power at Rome. The legal changes made by Sulla were few, but all in +favor of the aristocratic party. The laws passed during the previous +half century in favor of the people were disregarded. The presidency +of the courts was limited to the nobility, and the jurymen were again +taken from the senators. Sulla also secured the passage of a large +number of sumptuary laws of the most minute and, it might be added, of +the most ridiculous character. + +Because of poor health, Sulla was compelled, in the year 79 B.C., to +resign the dictatorship, and he died the following year at the age of +sixty. + +To such minds as naturally incline to the democratic side of political +controversies, whether past or present, the character of Sulla will be +apt to appear as perhaps that character in all Roman history most +absolutely without a redeeming trait. + +Sulla's military triumphs consisted in the reconquest of provinces +which had been goaded into rebellion by the terrible exactions of the +Roman tax collectors and the unspeakable atrocities of the Roman slave +hunters. + +The historians of the reactionary and aristocratic school, while they +are able to find much to praise in the life and work of this bitterest +of the enemies of human lives and liberty, are nevertheless compelled +to qualify their praise because of the many features of his character +and the many acts of his life which even they are compelled to +condemn. The historian Charles Merivale has made perhaps as strong a +plea for Sulla as it is possible to make, in the following words: + + "The personal rivalry of her two most fortunate generals + becomes now the main channel of the history of Rome herself. + In the year which closed the contest of the republic with + her dependent allies (88), Sulla was forty-nine years old, + Marius was about seventy. The former was enjoying the full + breeze of popularity and renown, while the latter, wearied + but not sated with accumulated honours, was moodily throwing + away the advantages he had earned in his earlier career. + From campaign to campaign Sulla, as we have seen, had dogged + the steps of the elder warrior, always ready to step in and + seize the opportunities which the other cast recklessly in + his way. Not that Marius in his exalted station was even + from the first indifferent to this incipient rivalry. He was + deeply jealous of his subordinate. He felt chagrin at the + contrast presented by their respective birth and origin; for + Sulla, though needy in point of fortune, was a scion of the + illustrious house of the Cornelii, and plumed himself on the + distinction and advantage such a lineage conferred. Sulla, + moreover, was trained in the accomplishments of Hellenic + education, which Marius, conscious of his want of them, + vainly affected to despise. Sulla wrote and spoke Greek; his + memoirs of his own life became the text-book of the Greek + historians of Rome, from whom we principally derive our + acquaintance with him. But this varnish of superior culture + seems to have failed in softening a rough plebeian nature. + Sulla was one of many noble Romans who combined with + pretensions to literary taste the love of gross debauchery, + and pleasure in the society of mimes and vulgar jesters. He + was a coarse sensualist, and by his disregard of the nuptial + tie offended even the lax morality of his age. His eyes, we + are told, were of a pure and piercing blue, and their + sinister expression was heightened by the coarseness of his + complexion and a countenance disfigured by pimples and + blotches, compared by the raillery of the Greeks to a + mulberry sprinkled with meal. His manners, except when he + unbent in the society of his inferiors, were haughty and + morose; nor is there any act of kindliness or generosity + recorded of him. The nobles who accepted him as their + champion had no personal liking for him. But selfish and + ambitious though he was, the aggrandisement of his party and + order was with Sulla a species of fanaticism. He despised + the isolated ascendency of a Marius, and aspired to rule in + Rome at the head of a dominant oligarchy.... + + "Slowly and with many a painful struggle the Roman + commonwealth had outgrown the narrow limits of a rustic + municipality. The few hundred families which formed the + original nucleus of her citizenship, and which in her + earliest and simplest days had sufficed to execute all the + functions of her government, had been compelled to + incorporate allies and rivals in their own body, to enlarge + their views, and to expand their institutions. The main + object of Sulla's policy was to revive at least the spirit + of the old restrictions. The old families themselves had + perished almost to a man; he replaced them by a newer + growth; but he strove to pare away the accretions of ages, + and restore the government of the vast empire of Rome to a + small section of her children. It contravened the essential + principle of national growth; while the career of conquest, + to which the Romans devoted themselves, required the most + perfect freedom of development. + + "Nevertheless the legislation of Sulla was undoubtedly + supported by a vast mass of existing prejudice. He threw + himself into the ideas of his time, as far as they were + interpreted by history, by tradition, and by religious + usage. The attempt to enlarge the limits of the constitution + was in fact opposed to every acknowledged principle of + polity. It was regarded equally by its opponents and its + promoters as anomalous and revolutionary. It had as yet no + foundation in argument, or in any sense of right, as right + was then understood. Society at Rome was in a highly + artificial state; and Sulla, with many of his ablest + contemporaries, mistook for the laws of nature the + institutions of an obsolete and forgotten expediency. But + nature was carrying on a great work, and proved too strong + for art. Ten years sufficed to overthrow the whole structure + of this reactionary legislation, and to launch the republic + once more upon the career of growth and development. The + champions of a more liberal policy sprang up in constant + succession, and contributed, perhaps unconsciously, to the + great work of union and comprehension, which was now rapidly + in progress. The spirit of isolation which had split Greece + and Italy into hundreds of separate communities was about to + give way to a general yearning for social and moral unity. + The nations were to be trained by the steady development of + the Roman administration. + + "But though Sulla's main policy was thus speedily + overthrown, he had not lived in vain. As dictator he wasted + his strength in attempting what, if successful, would have + destroyed his country; but as proconsul he has saved her. + The tyranny of the Roman domination had set the provinces in + a blaze. Mithridates had fanned the flame. Greece and Asia + had revolted. The genius of the king of Pontus might have + consolidated an empire, such as Xerxes might have envied, on + either shore of the Ægean Sea. But at this crisis of her + fate, hardly less imminent than when Hannibal was wresting + from her allies and subjects within the Alps, Rome had + confided her fortunes to the prowess of Sulla. The great + victory of Chæronea checked the dissolution of her empire. + The invader was hurled back across the Ægean; the cities of + Greece returned reluctantly to their obedience, never more + to be tempted to renounce it. Sulla followed Mithridates + into Asia; one by one he recovered the provinces of the + republic. He bound his foe by treaties to abstain from + fomenting their discontents. He left his officers to enforce + submission to his decrees, and quartered the armies of Rome + upon the wretched populations of the East. The pressing + danger of the moment was averted, though it took twenty + years more to subdue the power of Mithridates, and reduce + Asia to passive submission. Rome was relieved from the last + of her foreign invaders; and this was the great work of + Sulla, which deserved to immortalise his name in her + annals." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +POMPEY + + +Sulla had hoped by his proscriptions to so completely crush the +popular party in Rome that the aristocratic party would be able to +enjoy a long period of undisputed authority and absolute power. Hardly +was Sulla buried, however, before the popular party began to show +signs of life and renewed resistance. The consuls at the time of +Sulla's death were Lepidus and Catulus, both of them elected on +account of their supposed absolute loyalty to the policies of Sulla +and their disregard of popular rights. The first named, however, soon +began to manifest symptoms of justice and humanity, and the Senate, +alarmed at these views and his increasing popularity, sought to remove +him from participation in Roman politics by sending him as proconsul +to govern the (then considered) remote province of Cisalpine Gaul. +This move only strengthened the position of Lepidus, however, by +providing him with an army. This army being augmented by recruits +consisting partly of enthusiastic adherents of the popular cause and +partly of desperate adventurers, Lepidus considered himself strong +enough to brave the chances of war, and began a march toward Rome. His +army, however, was intercepted by the senatorial army sent to meet +him, and Lepidus, completely defeated, fled to Sardinia, where he soon +died. + +One of the leading lieutenants of Lepidus in this campaign was Brutus, +the father of the Brutus who was to be one of the assassins of Julius +Cæsar. The elder Brutus was taken prisoner at this time and put to +death. + +In the meantime another rebellion broke out in Spain, where Sertorius +had assumed the government. Neither Metellus nor Pompey was able to +reduce him to submission, and the rebellion was put to an end only by +the murder of Sertorius in 72 B.C. + +The epoch of civil wars had now fully begun for Rome, and the same +year which witnessed the murder of Sertorius saw also the breaking out +of the rebellion of the gladiators under Spartacus. This rebellion, +starting in the mere uprising of a handful of gladiators, reached very +large proportions and occasioned the greatest fear at Rome before it +was put down by Crassus in the south of Italy and Pompey in the north. +The credit for putting down this insurrection clearly belonged to +Crassus rather than to Pompey, whose share in the work had been merely +the destruction of a band of fugitives who had fled to the north of +Italy. Nevertheless, the Senate gave the highest honors to Pompey, who +was voted a triumph, while only an ovation was granted to Crassus. + +Pompey and Crassus both sought election to the consulship, although +both were ineligible, since Crassus was still a prætor and under the +laws should have waited two years before being a candidate for consul, +and Pompey was only thirty-five years old and had not even been +quæstor. Each of the candidates, however, had an army under his +control at the very gates of Rome, and the two illegal elections were +secured from the people by fear. Pompey and Crassus, the two most +powerful men in Rome at this time, were thus consuls together in the +year 70 B.C. + +Pompey, although he had been an ardent supporter of Sulla and a great +favorite of this leader, nevertheless, upon his election as consul, +began to depart from Sulla's policies. The proposals made by Pompey +were the removal of the restrictions placed upon the tribunes by Sulla +and a reform of the judicial system. The first proposal was consented +to by the Senate after some slight protest, but the second met with +bitter opposition. The complete control possessed by the Senate over +the law courts was of such great value to them that they were +determined to retain it, although the administration of the courts +while under their control had been one long-continued scandal. The +administration of justice under the knights, however, had been almost +as corrupt as that of the Senate, and to avoid giving the complete +control of the trials to either of these orders, the new law prepared +by Pompey and proposed by the prætor urbanus Aurelius Cotta provided +that one third of the jurymen should be furnished by the Senate, one +third by the knights, and one third by the tribunes of the treasury. +It was evident that the law was popular and would be adopted if it +came to a vote. To prevent this, the senatorial party again prepared +to engage in civil war. On this occasion, however, the resistance of +the Senate was broken by the result of the still famous Verres trial. + +In connection with this trial it is necessary to go back and speak of +the work of another of the great men in the new generation of Roman +politicians. As early as the year 79 B.C. Cicero had won considerable +reputation by his defense of Sextius Roscius. From 77 B.C. down to the +period of which we are now writing Cicero had been actively engaged in +the work of an advocate at Rome, except during the single year 75 +B.C., when he served as a quæstor in Sicily, and during this period +had risen in his profession until his reputation in the courts was +second only to that of the greatest lawyer of the age, Hortensius. + +Cicero was now a candidate for ædile and tried to aid his candidacy by +some signal achievements. Just at this time a number of the Sicilians, +to whom Cicero had endeared himself by the honesty and ability with +which he had exercised his duty as quæstor in their island, besought +Cicero to undertake the prosecution of C. Cornelius Verres, who had +just returned from three years' service as prætor in Sicily, in which +province he had been guilty of the most extreme extortions, +dishonesty, and cruelty. The evidence Cicero was able to produce +against Verres, and the impassioned eloquence of the orations against +him which he prepared (for the evidence against Verres was so +unanswerable that his counsel, the great Hortensius, threw up the +case, and Verres fled into exile, thus depriving Cicero of an +opportunity of delivering all the carefully prepared speeches orally +in court) so demoralized the senatorial party that opposition to +Cotta's bill now ceased, and the law was passed without further +difficulty. + +In the same year, 70 B.C., censors were again appointed, after the +office had been suspended for sixteen years, and the corruption of the +times, and particularly of the Senate, was shown by the fact that by +the action of the censors sixty-four members of the Senate were +degraded from their office. + +The greatest military triumphs in the life of Pompey were in the years +following his consulship. In 67 B.C. he was sent to subdue the +Sicilian pirates, armed with more complete powers than had ever before +been voluntarily given by Roman citizens to any Roman general. + + "The terms of the proposal are extraordinary, and require + close attention. First, a generalissimo was to be appointed + by the senate from the consulars, to hold supreme command + over the whole Mediterranean and over all the coast for + fifty miles inland, concurrently with the ordinary + governors, for three years. Second, he might select from the + men of senatorial rank twenty-five lieutenants with + prætorian powers, and two treasurers with questorian power. + Third, he might raise an army of 120,000 infantry and 7,000 + cavalry, and a fleet of 500 ships, and for this purpose + might dispose absolutely of all the resources of the + provinces. Besides this, a large sum of money and a + considerable force of men and ships were at once handed over + to him. + + "By the introduction of this law the government was + practically taken out of the hands of the senate; it was the + final collapse of the oligarchic rule. But it was more than + this--it was practically the institution of an unlimited + dictatorship. + + "Like all extraordinary commands, this new office no doubt + required the confirmation of the people; but it was an + undoubted prerogative of the senate to define the sphere of + every command, and, in fact, to control and limit it in all + ways. The people had hitherto interfered only on the + proposition of the senate, or at any rate of a magistrate + himself qualified for the office of general. Even during the + Jugurthine War, when the command was transferred to Marius + by popular vote, it was only to Marius as consul for the + year. But now a private man was to be invested by the tribes + with extraordinary authority, and the sphere of his office + was defined by themselves. The new commander was empowered + to confer prætorian powers--that is, the highest military + and civil authority--upon adjutants chosen by himself, + though hitherto such authority could only be conferred with + the coöperation of the burgesses; while the office of + general, which was usually conferred for one year only, with + strict limitations as to forces and supplies, was now + committed almost without reserve to one man, who could draw + upon the whole resources of the state. + + "Thus at one stroke the government was taken out of the + hands of the senate, and the fortunes of the empire + committed for the next three years to a dictator." + +The passage of this measure was one of the greatest triumphs in the +life of Pompey. The success of Pompey against the pirates was complete +and immediate, and appeared in striking contrast with the ill-success +which had attended the Roman armies in Asia during the previous few +years. + +In 66 B.C. Gaius Manilius, one of the tribunes, introduced a bill +recalling the Roman generals then conducting the war in Asia Minor and +transferring the control of the Roman armies in this section to +Pompey, giving also to Pompey the full power to make peace and +alliances. This proposed law brought about a most peculiar condition +of affairs in Roman politics. Few, if any, truly favored the +procedure, which was in direct violation of all the principles of the +Roman constitution--a greater violation even than the law which had +conferred upon Pompey his extraordinary powers as proconsul of the +seas. But while everybody feared the passage of this law, everybody, +with the exception of the extreme aristocratic party led by Catulus, +feared more to oppose it, and the law was passed with little +opposition. + +From a military standpoint this grant of power to Pompey was justified +by the results. Inside of three years he succeeded in completely +overthrowing both Mithridates, the old king of Pontus, Rome's most +dreaded enemy, and Tigranes, the king of Armenia. These successes of +Pompey were followed by the conquest of the greater part of Syria. +From the conquests of Pompey in the East four new Roman provinces were +formed: (1) Pontus and Bithynia; (2) Cilicia, including Isauria and +Pamphylia; (3) Syria; (4) Crete. + +The demoralizing effect of these laws conferring such powers upon +Pompey were soon to manifest themselves. Rome was rapidly becoming +accustomed to the disregard of the forms of government and of law, and +to the sight of vast and irresponsible powers being granted to a +single individual. These were the two things needed to prepare Rome to +quietly acquiesce in the abandonment of the republic and the creation +of a despotism. There is never a time in any country where too great a +responsibility or power can be given to a single individual without +the greatest danger to the future of the country. The right of the +people to rule is both meaningless and valueless if such right is +merely to consist in the right to delegate all the duties and powers +of government to the custody of a single individual. A government can +continue free only where the active control of public affairs is +widely distributed, and where the masses of the people are not afraid +to accept responsibility and do not attempt to throw the +responsibility for their safety and welfare upon the shoulders of a +single individual. Where a single individual becomes indispensable to +any free people it is a sign of the degeneracy of the people rather +than of the greatness of the man. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CICERO AND CATILINE + + +Political honors under the Roman republic were generally to be won +only by military success, or by aggressive leadership in the factional +politics of the city. The single instance of a man's rise to a leading +place in Roman politics solely through the power of his oratory is +found in the case of Marcus Tullius Cicero. His success in the defense +of Roscius and in the prosecution of Verres, as well as his growing +reputation as a lawyer and orator, have already been referred to. + +In 65 B.C. Cicero was a successful candidate for the consulship. His +letters written to his friend Atticus at Athens, during his campaign, +give a most vivid insight into the practical Roman politics of the +times, and show us the striking similarity, in many respects, between +the political battles of the Roman republic and our own election +contests. + +In one of his early letters Cicero wrote: "Let me tell you that there +is no class of people so harassed by every kind of unreasonable +difficulty as candidates for office." + +In a later letter he discusses the details of his campaign as follows: + + "The state of things in regard to my candidature, in which I + know that you are supremely interested, is this, as far as + can be as yet conjectured. The only person actually + canvassing is P. Sulpicius Galba. He meets with a good + old-fashioned refusal without reserve or disguise. In the + general opinion this premature canvass of his is not + unfavorable to my interests; for the voters generally give + as a reason for their refusal that they are under + obligations to me. So I hope my prospects are to a certain + degree improved by the report getting about that my friends + are found to be numerous. My intention was to begin my own + canvass just at the very time that Cincius tells me that + your servant starts with this letter, namely, in the campus + at the time of the tribunician election, on the 17th of + July. My fellow candidates, to mention only those who seem + certain, are Galba and Antonius, and Q. Cornificius. At this + I imagine you smiling or sighing. Well, to make you + positively smite your forehead, there are people who + actually think that Cæsonius will stand. I do not think + Aquitius will, for he openly disclaims it and has alleged as + an excuse his health and his leading position at the bar. + Catiline will certainly be a candidate, if you can imagine a + jury finding that the sun does not shine at noon. As for + Aufidius and Policanus, I do not think you will expect to + hear from me about them. Of the candidates for this year's + election, Cæsar is considered certain. Thermus is looked + upon as the rival of Silanus. These latter are so weak both + in friends and reputation that it seems possible to me to + bring in Curius over both. But no one else seems to think + so. What seems most to my interests is that Thermus should + get in with Cæsar. For there is none of those at present + canvassing who, if left over to my year, seems likely to be + a stronger candidate, from the fact that he is commissioner + of the via Flaminia, and when that has been finished I shall + be greatly relieved to have seen him elected consul this + election. Such in outline is the position of affairs in + regard to candidates up to date. For myself I shall take the + greatest pains to carry out all the duties of a candidate, + and perhaps, as Gaul seems to have a considerable voting + power, as soon as business at Rome has come to a standstill + I shall obtain a _libera legatio_ and make an excursion in + the course of September to visit Piso, but so as not to be + back later than January. When I have ascertained the + feelings of the nobility, I shall let you know. You must + undertake to secure for me the support of our friend Pompey, + since you are nearer to him than I. Tell him I shall not be + annoyed if he does not come to my election." + +The year of Cicero's consulship (64 B.C.) was disturbed by the famous +conspiracy of Lucius Sergius Catiline. It was in this conspiracy, and +during this consulship, that the culmination was reached of the +discontent and plotting which had been fermenting at Rome for a +number of years among a large class of the Roman nobility. The most +discontented men in any community are generally to be found among +those who, while belonging by birth to the upper classes of society, +and accustomed to and desirous of the luxuries of life, have lost +their fortunes and are unable to live in the style to which they +consider themselves as of right entitled. Rome, at this time, was +filled with this class of malcontents, the extravagant and wasteful +style of living, combined with the reckless gambling of the age, +having reduced great numbers among the young nobles almost to beggary. + +The overthrow of Sulla's system of government, resulting from the +defection of Pompey and the consequential loss of power and prestige +by the Senate, had also roused a bitter feeling of resentment among +the whole aristocratic party. The effect of this resentment upon the +more solid and substantial element of this party had been to lead them +to make preparations for the overthrow of Pompey upon his return to +Rome; while the effect upon the ruined young nobles was to render +them more than ever ready for any desperate undertaking by which they +stood a chance of repairing their fortunes. + +No cause, whether good or bad, ever lacks a leader; and the leader at +this time was found in Catiline, a young noble of the most profligate +character, but of some degree of ability and possessed of boundless +audacity and ambition. + +Catiline was descended from one of the oldest families in Rome, and +his loyalty to the cause of the aristocracy was proved by the ferocity +with which he had served under Sulla and had assisted in carrying into +execution his most bloodthirsty orders. Catiline did not fail to +derive some profit from these terrible times, as he secured the +proscription and murder of his brother and the grant to himself of his +brother's forfeited estate. + +In spite of these and many other equally heinous crimes, Catiline had +been elected prætor in 68 B.C. and had then spent two years in the +government of Africa. Returning to Rome in 66 B.C., he at once offered +himself as a candidate for the consulship. His political hopes on this +occasion, however, were wrecked by an accusation of misconduct in the +government of his province, brought against him by Publius Clodius. In +revenge, Catiline then conspired with Autronius Pætus, who had just +been deprived of the consulship for bribery, and other profligate and +reckless nobles, to murder Cotta and Manilius, the successful +candidates for consul, and to seize the government. According to +rumor, both Crassus and Cæsar were connected with the conspiracy. The +conspiracy was discovered and the enterprise was abandoned; but the +proceedings against the suspected conspirators were stopped by the +interposition of one of the tribunes, and the facts of the matter were +never definitely ascertained. + +It is a peculiar fact that Cicero was ready, at this time, to defend +Catiline against the charges of Clodius; which charges, however, were +dropped, without being brought to trial. Two years later, Catiline was +again a candidate for consul, but was defeated by Cicero and Antonius. +Catiline now began to make preparations for civil war. The plot was +betrayed by a woman. Curius, one of Catiline's adherents, boasted of +the plot to his mistress Fulvia, and she not only gave information of +the plot to Cicero but entered into his employ as a spy upon the +conspirators. + +In spite of the overwhelming character of the evidence against him, +Catiline continued on his course with the utmost assurance and +insolence. He even took his place in the Senate, and upon being +attacked by Cicero replied, "There are two parties in the +commonwealth; the nobles, weak in both head and body; the people, +strong in body, but headless. I intend to supply this body with a +head." + +On the seventh of November Catiline attempted the assassination of +Cicero by two of his adherents, C. Cornelius and L. Vargunteius. +Cicero was immediately informed of this attempt by his spies, and the +attempt was blocked. The following day Cicero summoned a meeting of +the Senate, and upon Catiline appearing in his place, Cicero burst out +in the first of those famous orations against Catiline, so well known +to all Latin students, which begins: "How long, O Catiline, will you +thus abuse our patience? To what end will your unrestrained audacity +display itself?" + +It is always one of the most difficult of tasks to persuade the +citizens of any republic that any political leader is actually +planning the overthrow of the republican form of government. This +blindness, not restricted to any one race or age, was so dense at this +time in Rome that many people had refused to believe even in the +existence of the conspiracy of Catiline, and had suspected Cicero of +having invented the whole story with the object of making political +capital for himself. + +The fierce fire in the Senate of the oration by Cicero against +Catiline, however, proved sufficient to force Catiline to action; and +the night after Cicero's first oration against him Catiline fled to +Tuscany to join the forces which had been collected there under his +lieutenant Manlius. Catiline, keeping up his deceit and duplicity to +the end, even while en route to the army of the conspirators wrote +letters to Rome declaring that he was the victim of a conspiracy and +that his present purpose was to go into voluntary banishment at +Marseilles. + +Upon reaching his army Catiline threw off the mask and prepared to +take active steps for the overthrow and destruction of Rome. The +conspiracy had now passed the point where it was merely intended to +overthrow the duly elected Roman officials, and to install Catiline +and his friends in their places; the conspirators now sought nothing +less atrocious than the sack of Rome and the murder of her wealthiest +citizens. The contest had now become one directed against the rich +class of the nobles by the poor and bankrupt members of the same +order, assisted by all the unprincipled and desperate adventurers of +Italy. + +The plans of Catiline and his supporters were that the army in Tuscany +should march upon Rome, while the friends of Catiline in the city +should watch for a favorable opportunity to murder the consuls and set +fire to the city. + +To meet this two-sided danger Antonius was sent with an army against +Catiline, while Cicero remained in Rome to secure the safety of the +city. Cicero was the first to complete his part of the work. The +untiring efforts of the consul at length resulted in securing legal +proof against the leading conspirators who had remained at Rome, and +these were immediately arrested and brought to trial. The people were +at length convinced of the truth of the conspiracy, but even now it +was only with the greatest difficulty that Cicero was able to have +the death sentence decreed against the prisoners. + +Catiline now attempted to retreat into Gaul, but was pursued by +Antonius, and in the battle which ensued the army of Catiline was cut +to pieces and Catiline himself killed. + +Cicero had earned the gratitude of Rome by preserving it from its +threatened destruction at the hands of Catiline; but the rest of his +record as consul was not of a very creditable character. Throughout +his year of office Cicero was the consistent champion of the +senatorial party, and the opponent of all measures to improve the +economic conditions of the people. In particular, Cicero is to be +censured for his opposition to the agrarian law proposed at this time. +Cicero was also largely responsible for the defeat of a bill to +restore the right of citizenship to the children of the men who had +been proscribed by Sulla. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +JULIUS CÆSAR + + +It now remains to relate the life history of the man by whom the +republican form of government at Rome was fated to be finally +overthrown. That the existence of this Roman republic was doomed, that +democratic or oligarchical government must give way either to anarchy +or despotism, had been certain ever since the refusal of the Roman +citizens to support the attempted reforms of the Gracchi. + +There is no greater obstacle to the complete success of popular +government than the almost inexplicable tendency of the majority of +men to crucify the true reformer and conscientious lover of humanity +as a disturber of, and a menace to, society, and to heap honors upon +the head of the selfish, unprincipled, egotistical, and vicious +demagogue. The result is that the reforms which might save the country +fail; and later the people, at last roused to a realization of the +evils which surround them, grasp at the promises of the imposter and +follow him with hysterical and insane enthusiasm until their false +leader directs their footsteps to the precipice, over which they fall +to their destruction. If France had adopted the moderate reforms of +Necker and Turgot she might have been saved from the terrible +retribution of the French Revolution; if Rome had not rejected the +leadership of Tiberius Gracchus, and later accepted that of Julius +Cæsar, the Roman republic need not have fallen. + +Julius Cæsar was born in the year 100 B.C. His family were of old +patrician stock, and in addition were possessed of considerable +wealth, but the share that was inherited by young Julius was very +quickly squandered. From the outset of his career Cæsar exhibited +talents of a widely diversified character, showing literary ability as +well as strength and skill in athletic exercises and in military life. +With all these Cæsar combined a dissipated character, and extreme +selfish ambition. Cæsar, by the accidental course of events, became +allied with the popular party at Rome; but throughout his whole life +it was with him merely a case of using the popular favor as a means to +promote his personal ends; never a case of sacrificing himself, his +ambition, or his pleasure for the people's welfare. It was by +marriage that Cæsar had become connected with the popular party, his +aunt Julia having become the wife of Marius, while he himself had +married the daughter of Cinna, the colleague of Marius in his last +consulship. On account of these marriage relations Cæsar barely +escaped being included in the proscriptions of Sulla. He finally +succeeded in making his peace with Sulla, and received his first +military experience under Thermus, whom Sulla had left to besiege +Mitylene. In this campaign young Cæsar distinguished himself by +winning a civic crown for saving the life of a citizen. After the +death of Sulla Cæsar made his first attempt to attract attention in +the political field by impeaching Dolabella for extortion in his +administration in Macedonia. Although Dolabella was acquitted, Cæsar +acquired some reputation from this affair. + +This trial persuaded Cæsar that he should take up the field of +oratory, and he accordingly set out to study rhetoric at Rhodes under +Molo, the great teacher in this subject at that time. On his way, +Cæsar underwent the second great peril of his life by being captured +by Cilician pirates. After being ransomed he abandoned the idea of +studying rhetoric, and instead fitted up an expedition with which he +captured his former captors, whom he crucified at Pergamus. In 74 B.C. +Cæsar was elected one of the pontifices at Rome, and immediately +returned to the city, where he spent several years in ease and +pleasure, not neglecting, however, to use every effort to win the +favor of the populace. + +Cæsar was elected quæstor in 68 B.C., and it was during his year in +this office that he made his first bold play to secure the popular +support. His aunt Julia, the widow of Marius, dying, Cæsar delivered a +panegyric over her in which he spoke far less about his aunt than +about her husband Marius, still the great idol of the popular party, +and in defiance of a still unrepealed statute of Sulla he caused the +bust of Marius to be carried among the family images. + +In 65 B.C. Cæsar was elected ædile. He was obliged to plunge himself +heavily into debt to obtain this office; and after his election he did +not hesitate to go still deeper into debt for the purpose of providing +magnificent shows for the people at the public games. In virtue of the +power of his office Cæsar placed the statue of Marius, surrounded by +the trophies of his Cimbrian and Jugurthine victories, among the new +ornaments of the capitol. At the close of his term as ædile Cæsar +sought to be sent to Egypt for the purpose of forming Egypt into a +Roman province, in accordance with the will of the Egyptian king, +Ptolemy Alexander. This important mission, however, was denied to +Cæsar, to whom was assigned the duty of presiding in the tribunal +which conducted the investigation in cases of suspected murder. + +The following year, the year of the consulship of Cicero and the +conspiracy of Catiline, Cæsar passed temporarily under a cloud on +account of his suspected connection with the conspiracy. The suspicion +that Cæsar had at least been privy to the plans of the conspirators +was strengthened by his efforts to prevent the death sentence being +passed against their leaders. + +The Roman historian Sallust, in his history of Catiline, has reported +Cæsar's speech in the Senate on this occasion, which serves to +illustrate the craftiness of the man. A portion of this speech is here +inserted: + + "In all debates, Conscript Fathers, when the matter under + deliberation is in its nature doubtful, it is the duty of + every senator to bring to the question a mind free from + animosity and friendship, from anger and compassion. When + those emotions prevail, the understanding is clouded, and + truth is scarcely perceived. To be passionate and just at + the same time is not in the power of man. Reason, when + unbiased, and left to act with freedom, answers all our + purposes; when passion gains the ascendant, reason is + fatigued, and judgment lends no assistance. + + "In the case now before us, let it be our wisdom, Conscript + Fathers, not to suffer the crimes of Lentulus and his + accomplices to hurry you beyond the bounds of moderation. + Indignation may operate on your minds, but a due sense of + your own dignity, I trust, will preponderate. My opinion is + this; if you know of any pains and penalties adequate to the + guilt of the conspirators, pronounce your judgment; I have + no objection. If you think death a sufficient punishment, I + concur with Silanus; but if the guilt of the prisoners + exceeds all forms of vindictive justice, we should rest + contented with the laws known to the constitution. + + "The senators who have gone before me have exhausted the + colors of rhetoric, and in a pathetic style have painted + forth the miseries of their country. They have displayed the + horrors of war, and the wretched condition of the + vanquished; the young of both sexes suffering violation; + children torn from the mother's arms; virtuous matrons + exposed to the brutal passions of the conqueror; the houses + of citizens, and the temples of the gods, pillaged without + distinction; the city made a theater of blood and horror; in + a word, desolation and massacre in every quarter. + + "But why, immortal gods! why all that waste of eloquence? + Was it to inflame our passions? to kindle indignation? to + excite a detestation of rebellion? If the guilt of these men + is not of itself sufficient to fire us with resentment, is + it in power of words to do it? I answer, No; resentment is + implanted in our hearts by the hand of nature; every man is + sensible of injury and oppression; many are apt to feel too + intensely. But we know, Conscript Fathers, that resentment + does not operate alike in all the ranks of life: he who + dwells in obscurity may commit an act of violence, but the + consequence is confined to a small circle. The fame of the + offender, like his fortune, makes no noise in the world. It + is otherwise with those who figure in exalted stations; the + eyes of mankind are upon them; and the wrong they do is + considered an abuse of power. Moderation is the virtue of + superior rank. In that preëminence, no apology is allowed + for the injustice that proceeds from partiality, from anger, + aversion, or animosity. The injury committed in the lower + classes of life is called the impulse of sudden passion; in + the higher stations, it takes the name of pride and + cruelty.... + + "With regard to capital punishment, it is a truth well known + that to the man who lives in distress and anguish of heart, + death is not an evil; it is a release from pain and misery; + it puts an end to the calamities of life; and after the + dissolution of the body, all is peace; neither care nor joy + can then intrude.... + + "It may be said, who will object to a decree against the + enemies of their country? The answer is obvious; time may + engender discontent; a future day may condemn the + proceeding; unforeseen events and even chance, that with + wild caprice perplexes human affairs, may give us reason to + repent. The punishment of traitors, however severe, cannot + be more than their flagitious deeds deserve; but it behooves + us, Conscript Fathers, to weigh well the consequences before + we proceed to judgment. Acts of state, that sprung from + policy, and were perhaps expedient on the spur of the + occasion, have grown into precedents often found to be of + evil tendency. The administration may fall into the hands of + ignorance and incapacity; and in that case, the measure, + which at first was just and proper, becomes by + misapplication to other men and other times the rule of bad + policy and injustice. + + "It must be admitted that, in times like the present, when + Marcus Tullius Cicero conducts the administration, scenes of + that tragic nature are not to be apprehended. But in a large + populous city, when the minds of men are ever in agitation, + a variety of jarring opinions must prevail. At a future day + and under another consul, who may have an army at his back, + falsehood may appear in the garb of truth, and gain + universal credit. In such a juncture, should the consul, + encouraged by our example, and armed with the power by the + decree of the Senate, think proper to unsheath the sword, + who shall stop him in his career? who will be able to + appease his vengeance?... + + "But you will say, What is the scope of this long argument? + Shall the conspirators be discharged, and suffered to + strengthen Catiline's army? Far from it; my advice is this; + let their estate and effects be confiscated; detain their + persons in separate prisons, and for that purpose choose the + strongest of the municipal towns; declare, by a positive + law, that no motion in their favor shall be brought forward + in the Senate, and that no appeal shall be made to the + people. Add to your decree, that whoever shall presume to + espouse the cause of the guilty shall be deemed an enemy to + the Commonwealth." + +The year following the conspiracy of Catiline Cæsar secured the office +of prætor. By this time Cæsar had secured such a hold upon the popular +mind as to excite both the fear and hatred of the senatorial party. +This fear and hatred were manifested during Cæsar's year of office as +prætor by the Senate passing a decree depriving Cæsar and one of the +tribunes (Cæcilius Metellus Cepos) of their offices. Fear of popular +violence, however, soon induced the Senate to repeal this decree. + +In December, 62 B.C., there occurred at Rome one of the best +remembered of historical scandals; but one whose exact nature we are +unable to determine on account of lack of knowledge of the character +of the mysteries which were violated. + +The historian Merivale thus describes this scandal: + + "P. Clodius, the corrupt accuser of Catiline, a turbulent + intriguer like so many members of his house, had ingratiated + himself with the people by his popular manners. This + beardless youth, already alike notorious for his debts and + gallantries, had introduced himself into Cæsar's house in + female attire during the celebration of the rites of the + Bona Dea, which should have been studiously guarded from + male intrusion. A servant maid discovered him and uttered a + cry of alarm; the mysteries were hastily veiled, and the + intruder expelled; but the assembled matrons rushing hastily + home revealed each to her husband the scandal and the sin. + The nobles affected grave alarm; the pontiffs were summoned + and consulted, and the people duly informed of the insult + offered to the deity. As chief of the sacred college, Cæsar + could not refrain from lending himself to the general + clamour; but his position was delicate. On the one hand, the + presumed delinquent was an instrument of his own policy, + while on the other his own honour and that of his wife + Pompeia were compromised by the offence. He disappointed + everybody. He divorced his wife, not because she was guilty, + but because 'the wife of Cæsar,' as he said, 'should be + above suspicion.' But he refused to countenance the measures + which the consuls took, by direction of the senate, for the + conviction of the reputed culprit; and it may be suspected + that the money with which Clodius bribed his judges was a + loan negotiated with Crassus by Cæsar himself. Cicero for + his part had been lukewarm in an affair, the barefaced + hypocrisy of which he was perhaps too honourable to + countenance; but, urged by his wife Terentia, a violent + woman who meddled much in his affairs, and was jealous at + the moment of a sister of the culprit, he clearly disproved + his allegation of absence from the city, and thus embroiled + himself, to no purpose, with an able and unscrupulous enemy. + The senate believed their cause gained; the proofs indeed + were decisive, and they had assigned at their own request a + military guard to the judges to protect them from the + anticipated violence of a Clodian mob; but to their + consternation, on opening the urns, the votes for an + acquittal were found to be thirty-one opposed to + twenty-five. 'You only demanded a guard,' then exclaimed + Catulus with bitter irony, 'to secure the money you were to + receive.' Cicero attributed to Crassus the scandal of this + perversion of justice; the nobles sneered at the corruption + of the knights, and the gulf which separated the two orders + yawned more widely than ever." + +In 60 B.C. Cæsar was given the command of the province of Farther +Spain; and it was here that his great military abilities were for the +first time displayed to the world. It had only been by the means of a +large loan (about one million dollars) received from Crassus that +Cæsar was enabled to pay off his most pressing creditors, and to make +preparations for his journey to Spain; into such a financial state had +Cæsar been reduced by his personal extravagances, his political +campaign expenses, and his lavish expenditures to win the popular +favor. + +Upon Cæsar's return from Rome the young general found Pompey still +further alienated from the senatorial party. A comparison of the +character of these two Roman leaders, now for a while about to become +close associates and later (mainly through the limitless ambition and +unprincipled conduct of Cæsar) rivals in a bitter contest for +supremacy, is perhaps proper at this time. The briefest comparison +which can be made perhaps consists in saying that Pompey represented +the best type of an aristocrat--Cæsar the worst type of the +hypocritical popular demagogue. Neither man consistently stood for +those things which he was supposed to represent at the outset of his +career; neither man, it is probable, ever really believed in them. The +training and antecedents of Pompey were of the extreme oligarchical +character; his natural leanings were toward humanity and justice. +Cæsar, shouting his championship of the people from the housetops, was +in practice regardless of everything but his own selfish ambitions. +The populace which he flattered, deceived, and betrayed were to him +merely the tools by which his success was to be won and occupied about +the same position in his philosophy of life as the dice with which he +won large sums of money in gambling. + +Pompey was imbued with a strong sense of the sanctity of the law; +Cæsar never regarded any law which stood between him and his goal. +Pompey dismissed his victorious troops before he approached Rome on +his return from his Eastern campaigns; Cæsar did not hesitate to lead +his legions across the Rubicon. Neither possessed any great degree of +constructive political ability. Pompey's life was one devoted to an +attempt to preserve, Cæsar's was devoted to an attempt to destroy. +Cæsar's ability was far greater than that of Pompey in every field of +human activity. + +Cæsar's Spanish campaign had been so short in duration that he was +enabled to return to Rome in time to run for the consulship in 60 B.C. +In order to begin his canvass without delay, Cæsar asked leave to +enter the city before receiving his triumph. This permission being +refused, mainly through the influence of Cato and Cicero, Cæsar gave +up his claim to a triumph and, entering Rome immediately, began his +political campaign. Being again hard up for money, Cæsar made an +agreement with a very wealthy candidate for consul, named L. Lucceius, +by the terms of which Lucceius was to provide the campaign funds for +both candidates, while Cæsar was to furnish the reputation and +popularity. This combination resulted better for Cæsar than for +Lucceius; Cæsar received his share of the benefit from the campaign +fund, but the benefit of his popularity did not seem to extend to his +running mate. The election resulted in the choice of Cæsar and M. +Calpurnius Bibulus, the candidate of the Cato-Cicero faction. + +At this time Cæsar persuaded Pompey and Crassus to form the first +triumvirate with him. This triumvirate was nothing more nor less than +a Roman political machine, by means of which these three men expected +to be able to make themselves the political bosses of the city. To +cement this political union, Pompey married Julia, the daughter of +Cæsar. + +The most important event of Cæsar's consulship was the passage of an +agrarian act providing for the division of public lands in Campania +among the old soldiers of Pompey. The members of the triumvirate +proved themselves to be strong enough to force this measure through in +spite of the opposition of the consul Bibulus, of Cato, and of others. + +The measure was not passed, however, without considerable violence and +disregard of the technical rules of the Roman law. + +The Senate, acting under the authority of the Sempronian Law, had +assigned the woods and roads as the provinces to which the consuls of +the year were to be assigned after the expiration of their terms of +office. Cæsar, however, who throughout his career never bothered +himself very much as to what the law was, secured the passage by the +comitia tributa of a law introduced by the tribune Vatinius, which +gave to Cæsar the provinces of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum and three +legions for five years. Later the Senate (to prevent another appeal by +Cæsar to the people) added Transalpine Gaul and another legion to his +command. The time of his command was also later extended. + +It was the success of Cæsar's Gallic campaigns (58-51 B.C.) which +rendered possible his overthrow of the republic, and the importance of +this war is therefore very great, but it is unnecessary to deal with +the military details of these campaigns. + +During the years of Cæsar's absence from Rome the first triumvirate +had fallen to pieces. In the year 55 B.C. Pompey and Crassus, without +opposition, had been elected to the consulship for a second term. At +the conclusion of this consulship Crassus was sent with an army +against the Parthians, by whom he was defeated and killed in 53 B.C. +In the meantime Julia, daughter of Cæsar and wife of Pompey, had died +at Rome in 54 B.C. Crassus and Julia had been the two persons who had +kept Cæsar and Pompey together, and from this time these two leaders +rapidly drifted apart. + +All this time affairs at Rome were constantly falling into worse and +worse stages of corruption and confusion. In 58 B.C. (through the +efforts of Cæsar's friends, led by Clodius) Cicero had been banished +from Rome; in 57 B.C. he was recalled, and honors were heaped upon +him. + +In 54 B.C. all the candidates for the consulship were prosecuted for +bribery, and the consular elections postponed seven months. Many +wanted Pompey named as dictator at this period. A little later he +actually served for a considerable period as sole consul. It would +probably have been possible for Pompey, at this time, to have +anticipated Cæsar and to have made himself emperor of Rome, but his +efforts were rather directed toward the restoration of the old order +of things in the republic. The course of events had once more united +Pompey with the moderate senatorial party. + +The election of 52 B.C. was notable, even among the other elections of +this period, for the enormous extent of the corruption funds used by +the various candidates. In the course of this campaign the notorious +Clodius, who was a candidate for prætor, with a retinue of friends and +clients one day chanced to encounter T. Annius Milo, a candidate for +consul belonging to the senatorial party, with a like body of +retainers. A conflict resulted in which Clodius was killed. The next +day Clodius's friends, aided by all the lawless elements of the Roman +population, made a pyre for the corpse out of the seats of the senate +house and burned the dead body of Clodius and the senate house +together. + +The Roman historian Florus thus reviews the situation reached by the +Roman republic at the time of the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey: + + "This is the third age of the Roman people, with reference + to its transactions beyond the sea; an age in which, when + they had once ventured beyond Italy, they carried their arms + through the whole world. Of which age, the first hundred + years were pure and pious, and, as I have called them, + 'golden'; free from vice and immorality, as there yet + remained the sincere and harmless integrity of the pastoral + life, and the imminent dread of a Carthaginian enemy + supported the ancient discipline. + + "The succeeding hundred, reckoned from the fall of Carthage, + Corinth and Numantia, and from the inheritance bequeathed us + by King Attalus in Asia, to the times of Cæsar and Pompey, + and those of Augustus who succeeded them, and of whom we + shall speak hereafter, were as lamentable and disgraceful + for the domestic calamities, as they were honourable for the + lustre of the warlike exploits that distinguished them. For, + as it was glorious and praiseworthy to have acquired the + rich and powerful provinces of Gaul, Thrace, Cilicia, and + Cappadocia, as well as those of the Armenians and Britons, + so it was disgraceful and lamentable at the same time to + have fought at home with our own citizens, with our allies, + our slaves, our gladiators. + + "I know not whether it would have been better for the Romans + to have been content with Sicily and Africa, or even to have + been without them, while still enjoying the dominion of + Italy, than to grow to such greatness as to be ruined by + their own strength. For what else produced these intestine + distractions but excessive good fortune? It was the conquest + of Syria that first corrupted us, and the succession + afterwards in Asia, to the estate of the king of Pergamus. + Such wealth and riches ruined the manners of the age, and + overwhelmed the republic, which was sunk in vices as in a + common sewer. For how did it happen that the Roman people + demanded from the tribunes lands and subsistence, unless + through the scarcity which they had by their luxury + produced? Hence there arose the first and second sedition of + the Gracchi, and a third, that of Apuleius Saturninus. From + what cause did the equestrian order, being divided from the + senate, domineer by virtue of the judiciary laws, if it was + not from avarice, in order that the revenues of the state + and trials of causes might be made a means of gain? Hence + again it was that the privilege of citizenship was promised + to the Latins, and hence were the arms of our allies raised + against us. And what shall we say as to the wars with the + slaves? How did they come upon us, but from the excessive + number of slaves? Whence arose such armies of gladiators + against their masters, if it was not that a profuse + liberality, by granting shows to gain the favour of the + populace, made that an art which was once but a punishment + of enemies? And to touch upon more specious vices, did not + the ambition for honours take its rise from the same excess + of riches? Hence also proceeded the outrages of Marius, + hence those of Sulla. The extravagant sumptuousness of + banquets, too, and profuse largesses, were not they the + effects of wealth, which must in time lead to want? This + also stirred up Catiline against his country. Finally, + whence did that insatiable desire of power and rule proceed, + but from a superabundance of riches? This it was that armed + Cæsar and Pompey with fatal weapons for the destruction of + the state. + + "Almost the whole world being now subdued, the Roman Empire + was grown too great to be overthrown by any foreign power. + Fortune, in consequence, envying the sovereign people of the + earth, armed it to its own destruction. The outrages of + Marius and Cinna had already made a sort of prelude within + the city. The storm of Sulla had thundered even farther, but + still within the bounds of Italy. The fury of Cæsar and + Pompey, as with a general deluge or conflagration, overran + the city, Italy, other countries and nations, and finally + the whole empire wherever it extended; so that it cannot + properly be called a civil war, or war with allies; neither + can it be termed a foreign war; but it was rather a war + consisting of all these, or even something more than a war. + If we look at the leaders in it, the whole of the senators + were on one side or the other; if we consider the armies, + there were on one side eleven legions, and on the other + eighteen; the entire flower and strength of the manhood of + Italy. If we contemplate the auxiliary forces of the allies, + there were on one side levies of Gauls and Germans, on the + other Deiotarus, Ariobarzanes, Tarcondimotus, Cotys, and all + the force of Thrace, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Macedonia, Greece, + Ætolia, and all the East; if we regard the duration of the + war, it was four years, a time short in proportion to the + havoc made in it; if we attend to the space and ground on + which it was conducted, it arose within Italy, whence it + spread into Gaul and Spain, and returning from the West, + settled with its whole force on Epirus and Thessaly; hence + it suddenly passed into Egypt, then turned towards Asia, + next fell upon Africa, and at last wheeled back into Spain, + where it at length found its termination. But the + animosities of parties did not end with the war, nor + subsided till the hatred of those who had been defeated + satiated itself with the murder of the conqueror in the + midst of the city and the senate. + + "The cause of this calamity was the same with that of all + others, excessive good fortune. For in the consulship of + Quintus Metellus and Lucius Afranius, when the majesty of + Rome predominated throughout the world and Rome herself was + celebrating, in the theatres of Pompey, her recent victories + and triumphs over Pontus and Armenia, the overgrown power of + Pompey, as is usual in similar cases, excited among the idle + citizens a feeling of envy towards him. Metellus, + discontented at the diminution of his triumph over Crete, + Cato, ever an enemy to those in power, calumniated Pompey, + and raised a clamour against his acts. Resentment at such + conduct drove Pompey to harsh measures, and impelled him to + provide some support for his authority. Crassus happened at + that time to be distinguished for family, wealth, and + honour, but was desirous to have his power still greater. + Caius Cæsar had become eminent by his eloquence and spirit, + and by his promotion to the consulate. Yet Pompey rose above + them both. Cæsar, therefore, being eager to acquire + distinction, Crassus to increase what he had got, and Pompey + to add to his, and all being equally covetous of power, they + readily formed a compact to seize the government. Striving, + accordingly, with their common forces each for his own + advancement, Cæsar took the provinces of Gaul, Crassus that + of Asia, and Pompey that of Spain; they had three vast + armies and thus the empire of the world was now held by + these leading personages. Their government extended through + ten years, at the expiration of this period (for they had + previously been kept in restraint by dread of one another) a + rivalry broke forth between Cæsar and Pompey, consequent on + the death of Crassus among the Parthians, and that of Julia, + who, being married to Pompey, maintained a good + understanding between the son-in-law and father-in-law by + means of this matrimonial bond. But now the power of Cæsar + was an object of jealousy to Pompey and the eminence of + Pompey was offensive to Cæsar. The one could not bear an + equal, nor the other a superior. Sad to relate, they + struggled for mastery, as if the resources of so great an + empire would not suffice for two." + +The open rupture between Cæsar on the one side and Pompey and the +Senate on the other came in the year 49 B.C. Cæsar had been promised +the consulship for the year 48 B.C., but fear of the powerful position +in which Cæsar would be placed if put in possession of the highest +civil office of the state, while still holding his influence over his +veteran army, together with distrust of Cæsar's motives and ambitions, +caused great opposition to this plan to develop at Rome. + +Cæsar, however, had his active partisans at Rome, among the most +energetic being the tribunes Gaius Curio, Mark Antony, and Gaius +Cassius. The former of these, a man of dissolute character and great +abilities as a politician, proposed to the Senate a resolution calling +upon both Cæsar and Pompey to resign their provinces. + +Upon the passage of this resolution by the Senate, by a vote of three +hundred to seventy, Pompey began to raise troops without the proper +legal authority, and Cæsar refused to surrender his province, or to +appear before the Senate without the protection of his army. Cæsar, +however, sent to the Senate an offer to resign the governorship of +Transalpine Gaul and to reduce the size of his army from ten legions +to two, if the Senate would agree that he should retain the government +of Cisalpine Gaul and the two remaining legions until after the +consular election of 48 B.C. This offer was rejected by the Senate, +who then adopted a motion ordering Cæsar to disband his army and +resign his province within a fixed time under penalty of being +declared guilty of high treason. This measure was vetoed by the +tribunes, who, however, abandoned their posts and fled to Cæsar's camp +upon Pompey bringing two legions of his soldiers into Rome. + +Cæsar, relying upon the support of his veteran army and of the +Transalpian Gauls, to whom, on his own authority and without any color +of legal right, he had granted the full civic rights of Roman +citizens, now decided on a resort to force. + +The war was begun by Cæsar crossing the Rubicon. Pompey and his +friends fled to Greece, where the war was largely fought out. The +really decisive battle of the war was that of Pharsalus, fought on +August 4, 48 B.C. The result of this encounter was the complete +overthrow of Pompey, who fled to Egypt, where he was murdered by those +who hoped in this manner to earn the gratitude of Cæsar. Pompey's +followers in Africa and Spain were soon afterwards put down. The last +battle of the war, on March 17, 45 B.C., was that of Munda, where the +army of Pompey's son was defeated and thirty thousand of his soldiers +killed. + +Cæsar entered Rome, to receive his last triumph in September, 45 B.C. +The Roman republic was now overthrown; and the mere puerile expedient +of giving a new name to the monarch, in place of the hated name of +king, did not in any degree alter the truth of the matter. The new +title of _imperator_, or emperor, in fact, soon came to be used to +designate a ruler of a higher rank, and possessed of a greater degree +of arbitrary power, than that of the monarch who ruled under the name +of _rex_ or king. The forms of government of the republic were still +retained; but the officers who were once the chosen representatives of +a free people were now only the ministerial officers through whom a +despot administered the affairs of his empire. Greatest degradation of +all, the tribunes, once the embodiment of the rights of manhood, now +became the especial tools of tyranical control. + +Few people are unaffected by the glamour of success. It is this +criterion alone which, as Thomas Moore writes, generally marks the +distinction between the patriot and the traitor. + + "Rebellion! foul, dishonoring word, + Whose wrongful blight so oft has stained + The holiest cause that tongue or sword + Of mortal ever lost or gained. + How many a spirit, born to bless, + Hath sunk beneath that withering name, + Whom but a day's, an hour's success + Had wafted to eternal fame! + As exhalations, when they burst + From the warm earth, if chilled at first, + If checked in soaring from the plain, + Darken to fogs and sink again;-- + But if they once triumphant spread + Their wings above the mountain-head, + Become enthroned in upper air, + And turn to sun-bright glories there!" + +This success, so necessary to earn for the patriot or reformer the +fame to which he is so justly entitled, is too often able to win +admiration and respect also for the successful enemies of mankind. + +Few members of the human race ever deserved less praise from posterity +(unless indeed, as a tribute to great but misdirected abilities) than +Julius Cæsar; but, nevertheless, many tributes have been laid before +the tomb of this destroyer of his country's liberties. For example, +the historian Mommsen, thus eulogizes Cæsar: + + "Cæsar, from the outset and as it were by hereditary right + the head of the popular party, had for thirty years borne + aloft its banner without ever changing or even so much as + concealing his colors; he remained democrat even when + monarch. As he accepted without limitation, apart of course + from the preposterous projects of Catiline and Clodius, the + heritage of his party; as he displayed the bitterest, even + personal, hatred to the aristocracy and the genuine + aristocrats; and as he retained unchanged the essential + ideas of Roman democracy, viz., alleviation of the burdens + of debtors, transmarine colonization, gradual equalization + of the differences of rights among the classes belonging to + the State, emancipation of the executive power from the + Senate; his monarchy was so little at variance with + democracy, that democracy on the contrary only attained its + completion and fulfillment by means of that monarchy. For + his monarchy was not the Oriental despotism of divine right, + but a monarchy such as Gaius Gracchus wished to found, such + as Pericles and Cromwell founded--the representation of the + nation by the man in whom it puts supreme and unlimited + confidence. The ideas which lay at the foundation of Cæsar's + work were so far not strictly new; but to him belongs their + realization, which after all is everywhere the main matter; + and to him pertains the grandeur of execution, which would + probably have surprised the brilliant projector himself if + he could have seen it, and which has impressed, and will + always impress, every one to whom it has been presented in + the living reality or in the mirror of history--to whatever + historical epoch or whatever shade of politics he may + belong--according to the measure of his ability to + comprehend human and historical greatness, with deep and + ever-deepening admiration." + +The laudations of Cæsar, it is perhaps needless to say, are always +from men like Mommsen who are absolutely devoid of any true sympathy +for free government or popular rights. No more striking commentary on +such men can be found than from comparing Mommsen's attack upon the +revolutionary methods of Tiberius Gracchus with his defense of Cæsar, +given above. + +The truth of the matter is that Cæsar was never at any time in his +career a sincere member of the popular party. The people were his +dupes, by whose aid he raised himself to the imperial power and +destroyed the political liberties of his native state. His almost +blasphemous use of the names of the great dead leaders and martyrs of +the popular cause as cloaks to cover his own selfish and unpatriotic +schemes is not the least of the indictments against him in the eyes of +the true advocate of popular rights. In such actions, however, Cæsar +does not stand alone. In our politics of to-day nothing is more common +for a politician than to try to cover his corruption by throwing over +himself the mantle of some great national hero. The cloak of Jefferson +in one political party, and of Lincoln in the other, are striven for +by men who desire to use them solely for the purpose of covering their +opposition to everything for which these men stood. + +Nor has Cæsar been without imitators in every age, and in every +republic, who, if the opportunity would only permit, desire above all +else to imitate his life and success. The ability of Cæsar, however, +is seldom or never to be found in his imitators; but the ambition +itself is to be found somewhere among the politicians of every +republic. There is also generally a strong influential class that +would prefer the strong settled rule of one man to the constant +political controversies with "their unsettled effect upon business." +And the reality of a republic can always be destroyed without +affecting its form, as was done in Rome by the centering of the powers +of the different officials in Cæsar, or more recently, in Mexico, by +the many successive elections of Diaz to the presidency. + +The early and violent death of Cæsar came before his plans were +completed, and before he had assumed the title, as well as the +authority, of a king or emperor. The ancient historian Appianus +Alexandrinus has left a vivid account of the closing scene of Cæsar's +life, some extracts from which are here inserted: + + "A rumor was spread that there was an oracle of the Sibyls + which declared that the Parthians could not be subdued by + the Romans, unless they were commanded by a king. This made + some talk publicly that in regard of other nations taxed + under the Roman empire, there needed no scruple be made at + the giving Cæsar that title. He, having still refused it, + hastened all he could to get out of the city where many + envied him. But four days before the day appointed for his + departure he was slain by his enemies in the palace, either + out of malice to see him raised to such supreme felicity and + height of command, or else (as themselves said) out of a + desire to restore the commonwealth to its first estate; for + they feared that, after having overcome these other nations, + nothing could hinder him from making himself king; yet as it + appears to me it was only for the name's sake they + attempted all things; for in the thing itself there is no + difference between dictator and king. + + "There were two chiefs of this conspiracy, the son of that + Brutus whom Sulla put to death, M. Brutus Cæpio, who came + for refuge to Cæsar himself after the battle of Pharsalus, + and C. Cassius, who yielded to him the galleys in the + Hellespont, both of Pompey's party, and with them was joined + one of Cæsar's most intimate friends, Decimus Brutus + Albinus. + + "Having all decreed the palace the place of execution, there + were divers opinions concerning the manner of doing it; some + being of opinion that they should likewise make away with + Antony, Cæsar's colleague, the most powerful of his friends, + and well beloved of the soldiery. But Brutus opposed that, + saying that it was only by killing Cæsar, who was as a king, + that they ought to seek for the glory of destroying tyrants; + and that if they killed his friends too, men would impute + the action to private enmity, and the faction of Pompey. + This advice prevailing, they only expected the assembling of + the Senate. Now the day before, Cæsar being invited to sup + with Lepidus, carried along with him Decimus Brutus Albinus; + and during supper the question being proposed what death was + best for man, some desiring one kind, and some another, he + alone preferred the suddenest and most unexpected. Thus + divining for himself, they fell to discourse of the morrow's + affairs. + + "At the same time that Cæsar went to the palace in his + litter, one of his domestics, who had understood something + of the conspiracy, came to find Calpurnia; but without + saying anything to her but that he must speak with Cæsar + about affairs of importance, he stayed, expecting his return + from the Senate, because he did not know all the + particulars; his host of Cnidus, called Artemidorus, running + to the palace to give him notice of it, came just at the + moment of his being killed; another, as he sacrificed before + the gate of the senate house, gave him a note of all the + conspiracy; but he going in without reading it, it was after + death found in his hands. As he came out of his litter, + Lænas, the same who before had spoken to Cassius, came to + him, and entertained him a long time in private; which + struck a damp into the chiefs of the conspiracy, the more + because their conference was long; they already began to + make signs to one another that they must now kill him before + he arrested them; but in the sequel of the discourse, + observing Lænas to use rather the gesture of suppliant than + accuser, they deferred it; till in the end, seeing him + return thanks to Cæsar, they took courage. + + "They left Trebonius at the gate to stop Antony under the + pretense of discoursing some business with him; and as soon + as Cæsar was seated, the other conspirators surrounded him + according to custom, as friends, having each his dagger + concealed. At the same time Attilius Cimber standing before + him began to entreat him to grant the return of his brother + who was an exile; and upon his refusal, under pretence of + begging it with more humility, he took him by the robe, and, + drawing it to him, hung about his neck, crying out, 'Why do + you delay, my friends?' Thereupon Casca first of all + reaching over his head, thought to strike his dagger into + his throat, but wounded him only in the breast. Cæsar, + having disengaged himself from Cimber, caught hold of + Casca's hand, leaped from his seat, and threw himself upon + Casca with a wonderful force; but being at handy grips with + him, another struck his dagger into his side, Cassius gave + him a wound in the face, Brutus struck him quite through the + thigh, Bucolianus wounded him behind the head, and he, like + one enraged, and roaring like a savage beast, turned + sometimes to one and sometimes to another; till strength + failing him after the wound received from Brutus, he threw + the skirt of his robe over his face and suffered himself + gently to fall before Pompey's statue. They forebore not to + give him many stabs after he was down; so that there were + three and twenty wounds found in his body. And those that + slew him were so eager that some of them, through vehemence, + without thinking of it, wounded each other." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +POST-MORTEM + + +The daggers of Brutus, Cassius, and their allies, on the Ides of +March, 44 B.C., avenged the republic which they were too late to save. +It thus chanced that the details of the new imperial government were +in the main arranged not by Julius Cæsar but by his great-nephew, +Gaius Octavius Cæsar, who succeeded both to the private fortune and +the public office of the usurper. It was, however, only after another +period of civil warfare that the new Cæsar came into his possessions. + +The story of this civil war belongs to the history of the Roman empire +rather than to that of the Roman republic, and will be referred to +only briefly. Octavius Cæsar was in Illyricum at the time of the +assassination of his uncle. Hastening to Rome, he found the city +divided into two factions, one led by Brutus and Cassius, composed of +those who desired to restore the republic; and the other, the old +adherents of Cæsar, under the leadership of Mark Antony. + +Octavius had perhaps more to fear from the friends of his uncle than +from his assassinators, as the latter, while they would have prevented +him from assuming the political powers of his uncle, would probably +not have opposed his taking possession of the latter's private +fortune; while Mark Antony, who had possession of Cæsar's papers and +money, was probably intending to seize both the powers and property of +Julius Cæsar. Octavius Cæsar, however, was possessed of a fair share +both of his uncle's ability and perfidy, and proved himself more than +a match for all his enemies, both in open warfare and in secret +treachery. + +At first Octavius seemed inclined to enter into an alliance with +Cicero and some of the other senators against Antony, but finding that +Cicero sought to restore the republic and could not be used as his +tool, Octavius reached an agreement with Antony, and the two, together +with Lepidus, formed the second triumvirate. + +The immediate result of this coalition was another proscription, +recalling the days of Sulla; the condemnation of all the assassinators +of Cæsar by the Senate; and extensive military preparations to +overthrow the armies which they had collected. + +The ancient historian Appian of Alexandria thus describes the terrors +of the proscriptions: + + "The proscription being published, guards were forthwith + placed at the gates and all the avenues of the city, at the + seaports, and in the marshes, and in all places where there + was any likelihood an unhappy man might shelter himself; + besides, centurions were commanded abroad, to make search in + the country, which was done all at an instant; so that both + within and without the city many persons died suddenly + several kinds of deaths. The streets were filled with the + sad spectacle of heads carrying to the triumvirs, to receive + the reward; and every step some person of quality, + endeavoring to save himself, was met shamefully disguised; + some running down into wells, and others into privies; some + hiding themselves in the tops of the chimneys, or under the + tiles, where they durst not utter a sigh or a groan; for + they stood in more fear of their wives, or children, or + freedmen, or slaves, or debtors, or neighbours that coveted + some of their goods, than of the murderers themselves. + + "All private grudges were now discovered; and it was a + strange change to see the prime men of the senate, + consulars, prætors, tribunes, or pretenders to these + dignities cast themselves at the feet of their slaves with + tears in their eyes, begging and caressing them, calling + them their saviours and patrons; and, which is most + deplorable, not to be able with all these submissions to + obtain the least favour. The most pernicious seditions and + cruellest of wars never had anything in them so terrible as + the calamities wherewith the city was now affrighted; for in + war and tumult none but enemies were feared, and domestics + were confided in; whereas now domestics were more dreaded + than enemies, because having no cause to fear for + themselves, as in war or tumult, from familiars they became + of a sudden persecutors; either out of a dissembled hate, or + out of the hope of recompense publicly proposed, or because + of some silver or gold hid in the house; so that no person + found himself secure in his house, servants being ordinarily + more sensible of profit than of the affection they owe to + their masters; and though some might be found faithful and + kind, yet they durst not assist a proscript, nor conceal + him, nor so much as stay with him, for fear of falling into + the same misfortune. + + "There was now much more danger than when the seventeen + first proscribed were fallen upon; for then no person being + publicly proscribed when on a sudden they saw some killed, + one man defended another, for fear lest the same should + happen to him. But after the proscription was published + those comprised in it were presently forsaken by all the + world; some that thought themselves secure, having their + minds bent on profit, sought them to deliver them to the + murderers, that they might have the reward; others pillaged + the houses of those that had been killed, and with the + present gain comforted themselves against the public + misery. + + "The most prudent and moderate, surprised at a thing so + extraordinary, stood like men astonished, considering that + other cities turmoiled with divisions were re-established by + the concord of their citizens; whereas the Romans, already + afflicted with civil dissensions, completed their ruin by + this reconciliation. Some were killed defending themselves; + others, who thought themselves not condemned, without any + defence; some let themselves die with hunger, or hanged, or + drowned themselves, or threw themselves headlong from the + tops of houses, or cast themselves into the fire, or ran to + meet their murderers; others again sought to protract the + time; and either hid themselves, or begged shamefully, or + fled, or offered money to save their lives. Many likewise + were slain contrary to the intention of the triumvirs, + either by mistake, or out of some particular grudge; but the + bodies of the proscripts might be known from the others, + because they wanted the head, which was cut off, and carried + before the tribunal for orations, where they paid the + reward. On the other side, wonderful examples were to be + seen of the affection of wives, children, brethren and + slaves; who found out a thousand inventions to save their + husbands, fathers, brethren, or masters; died with them when + they were discovered, or killed themselves upon those bodies + they were not able to defend. + + "Of those that escaped the proscription, some pursued by + their ill fortune, perished by shipwreck; others saved + beyond all probability, came afterwards to exercise + dignities in the city, to have command of armies and arrive + at the honour of triumph. Such wonderful things were to be + seen in those days which do not happen in an ordinary city, + or in a small kingdom but in the mistress of the world, as + well by sea as land; Providence disposing it so to reduce + things to that excellent order wherein you now see them. Not + but that Rome felt the same miseries under Sulla, and before + him under Marius; and we have in writing of them reported + many actions of cruelty, even to the depriving their enemies + of burial; but what passed under the triumvirs made much + more noise, because of the height of their reputations; and + particularly the valour and good fortune of him, who having + fixed the foundations of this empire, has left it to those + of his race and name, even to this present." + +Among those murdered at this time was the greatest of all Roman +orators, Marcus Tullius Cicero. + +An interesting incident connected with the raising of the money for +the campaign against Brutus and Cassius was the refusal of the Roman +women at this time to pay their share of the taxes demanded of the +Roman citizens for the support of the armies to be raised against +Brutus and Cassius. + +Hortensia, the daughter of a great orator, was their spokesman. The +burden of her plea was that this was a family quarrel, a civil war, +not one for the defense of Rome. "Let war with the Gauls or the +Parthians come," she said, "and we shall not be inferior to our +mothers in zeal for the common safety, but for civil wars may we never +contribute nor even assist you against one another. Why should we pay +taxes, when we have no part in the honors, the commands, the +statecraft for which you contend against one another with such harmful +results?" + +The campaign resulted in the complete destruction of all the armies +opposed to the triumvirate, the most decisive battle of the campaign +being that at Philippi. How Antony and Octavius again quarreled after +their common enemy had been overthrown, how the destruction of Antony +resulted from his infatuation for Cleopatra, and how Octavius at +length secured the undisputed rule of the Roman world need not here be +described. + +The date of the beginning of the reign of Octavius Cæsar as Emperor of +Rome is generally taken as 31 B.C. Like his predecessor, Octavius +Cæsar endeavored to preserve as far as possible the empty forms of +republican rule. + +In the overthrow of the early Roman kingdom the power of the kings had +mainly passed to the consuls, but partially to other officials, and +some of the powers possessed by the early consuls had been gradually +taken away from them and given to other newly created officials, such +as the censors and prætors. For centuries there had been a continued +policy of division of powers; this policy was now suddenly reversed, +and governmental powers of all kinds reunited in a single official. +This was accomplished by conferring upon Octavius Cæsar, for life, +each of the various offices known in the government of the Roman +republic. Octavius Cæsar became life censor, life consul, and life +tribune. The appointment of his colleagues in all these offices was +likewise in his power. The cycle of governmental change had now been +completed, and the Roman emperor possessed all the old powers of the +Roman kings. In the field of legislation it is indeed probable that +the power of the emperor was greater than that of his early +predecessors. + + "The old popular assemblies for a period after the + establishment of the Empire still went through the form of + passing acts, which had been prepared by the real governing + power, but in addition to this the Emperor was given the + power of direct legislation by his own authority. + + "Laws which owed their force to the authority of the Emperor + were known as Constitutiones and may be divided into four + principal classes, as follows: + + "1. Edicts, which were public ordinances, of universal + application throughout the Empire. These had the authority + of laws, inasmuch as they were generally enforced and + applied to all. In the earlier reigns they were frequently + renewed, and they derived their authority from the Emperor + as the prætorian edict did from the prætor. Gradually they + came to be held as permanently binding the real ground of + their permanent force, custom was overlooked, and the + imperial authority was regarded as such ground. + + "2. Decrees, which were decisions in judicial cases brought + before the Emperor as final court of appeal. Inasmuch as + they were interpretations of law, they were regarded as + binding upon all courts. + + "3. Rescripts, which were decisions upon questions of law + submitted by courts and private persons. They were closely + connected with the pontifical interpretations. + + "4. Mandates, which were directions to officials in the + exercise of their offices. These, by repetition in the + various instructions sent out from time to time by the + Emperor, became a source of general law. They were + theoretically in force only during the lifetime of the + Emperor from which they proceeded; but they became of + permanent force because of repetition and custom." (Lee's + _Historical Jurisprudence_.) + +There are writers who look with favor upon this establishment of the +Roman empire, just as there are those of the same caliber who, if +some form of a dictatorship should be substituted for our present +republican form of government, would be loudest in their approval of +the change. Dr. Hirschfeld, of the University of Berlin, gives us the +following roseate picture of the benefits which Rome received from the +change: + + "The reorganization of the government by Augustus, open to + criticism as it is in many respects, was a blessing to the + Roman empire. The view which prevailed under the republic, + that the provinces had been conquered only to be sucked dry + by senators and knights, governors, and tax-farmers in + league or in rivalry of greed (we have one example out of + hundreds in Verres, condemned to immortality by the + eloquence of Cicero), this view was laid aside with the + advent of the empire, and even if extortion did not wholly + cease in the senatorial provinces, yet the provincial + administration of the first two centuries A.D. is infinitely + superior to the systematic spoliation of the republic. The + governors are no longer masters armed with absolute + authority, constrained to extort money as fast as possible + from the provincials committed to their charge in order to + meet debts contracted by their own extravagance and, more + especially, by that bribery of the populace which was + indispensable to their advancement. They are officials under + strict control, drawing from the government salaries fully + sufficient to their needs. It was a measure imperatively + called for by the altered circumstances of the time and + fraught with most important consequences to create, as + Augustus did, a class of salaried imperial officials and + definitely break with the high-minded but wrong-minded + principle of the republic by which the higher posts were + bestowed as honorary appointments, and none but subordinate + officials were paid, thus branding the latter with the + stigma of servitude. + + "It is true that the cautious reformer adopted into his new + system of government the old names and the offices which had + come down from republican times, with the exception of the + censorship and the dictatorship, which last had long been + obsolete. But these were intended from the outset to lead + but a phantom existence and to take no part in the great + task of imperial administration. Augustus drew his own body + of officials from the knightly class, and under the + unpretentious titles of procurator and præfect practically + committed the whole administration of the empire to their + hands, reserving, apart from certain distinguished sinecures + in Rome, and Italy, for the senators the præfecture of the + city, all the great governorships except Egypt, and the + highest commands in the army. The handsome salaries--varying + in the later days of the empire from £600 to £3,600 ($3,000 + to $18,000)--and the great influence attached to the + procuratorial career, which opened the way to the lofty + positions of præfect of Egypt and commander of the prætorian + guards at Rome, rendered the service very desirable and + highly esteemed. + + "While the high-born magistrates of the republic entered + upon their one year's tenure of office without any training + whatsoever, and were, of course, obliged to rely upon the + knowledge and trustworthiness of the permanent staff of + clerks, recorders and cashiers in their department, there + grew up under the empire a professional class of government + officials who, schooled by years of experience and + continuance in office and supported by a numerous staff + recruited from the imperial freedmen and slaves, were in a + position to cope with the requirements of a world-wide + empire. These procurators, some as governors-in-chief of the + smaller imperial provinces, some as assistants to the + governors of the greater, watched over the interests of the + public exchequer and the emperor's private property, or + looked after the imperial buildings and aqueducts, the + imperial games, the mint, the corn supply of Rome, and the + alimentary institutions, the legacies left to the emperors, + their castles and demesnes in Italy and abroad,--in short, + everything that fell within the vast and ever widening + sphere of imperial government. Meanwhile the exchequer of + the senate dwindled and dwindled, till it finally came to be + merely the exchequer of the city of Rome." + +There is scarcely any event which takes place upon this earth which +produces unmixed evil or unmixed good. There is some slight element of +truth in some of the statements of the last quotation. There was some +temporary restraint placed upon the dishonesty and cruelty of the +Roman tax collectors; and there was undoubtedly a permanent +improvement in the ability of the men holding the minor positions +under the Roman government, through the introduction of what may be +called a civil-service system. But the contention that the +establishment of the empire was for the benefit either of the Roman +citizens or of the Roman subjects is too ridiculous to merit even a +denial. To show the ridiculousness of such a statement it is only +necessary to point to the history of the Roman empire during the half +century following the death of Octavius Cæsar. Corrupt as the +administration of the government often was under the republic, and +cruel as were the successful factional leaders on a few occasions, +such conditions as existed in Rome under the emperors Tiberius, +Caligula, and Nero could never have existed under the republic. + +The character of the Roman empire was a most anomalous one. In the +history of the empire we find the unparalleled situation of an +absolute despotism without any hereditary nobility and even without +any well-established principle as to the descent of the royal power to +the children of the deceased emperor. Under the most despotic days of +the empire any Roman citizen might rise to any position of power or +dignity under the emperor; nay, more than this, any subject of the +Roman empire, no matter how low his origin or condition in society, +might be thrust, by a lucky turn of the wheel of fortune, into the +imperial purple itself. + +The Roman emperors came from every strata of society, and from every +portion of the Roman empire. At different times we see the son of a +slave, a Syrian sun priest, a Dacian peasant, seated in the chair of +the Cæsars; but this state of affairs in no way alleviated or excused +the evils which the empire brought upon its subjects. The exploitation +of the millions at the hands of a favored few is not rendered more +defensible by the fact that any individual has the chance, by +extraordinary ability, extraordinary dishonesty, or extraordinary good +fortune, to raise himself out of the ranks of the exploited into those +of the exploiters. + +The history of Rome, therefore, cannot be so perverted as to teach the +lesson which some seem to draw from it, that the substitution of a +despotism for popular rule may, under some circumstances, be a +benefit to the community. It is never by the destruction of liberty +that the evils of popular rule can be eliminated. In the past, in the +present, and in the future, the only remedy for the evils of liberty +is more liberty; and the lesson which should be learned from the fall +of the Roman republic is that any country, where the privileged +classes are suffered to retain their unjust privileges at the expense +of the community, must in the end suffer some such terrible penalty as +that paid by Rome under the tyranny and misrule of the Roman empire. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE COMPARISON + + +The comparisons between the history and problems of the Roman republic +and those of our own country have been sometimes directly referred to, +sometimes merely indicated, in the course of this book. While it is +hoped that the reader has been able to follow the train of ideas +suggested by the author, and to apply the lessons taught by the story +of the fall of the Roman republic to aid in the solution of the +American problems of to-day, it is thought advisable, in this final +chapter of the book, to combine and summarize the difficult problems +of economics, civics, and politics anticipated in Roman experience. + +First of all comes the lesson, so often taught by Roman history, so +often already referred to in this book, that political equality is +never by itself sufficient to secure either the protection of the +weaker members of society or the general welfare of the community. +Political equality means nothing unless supplemented by laws which +secure economic justice. + +The oft-repeated cry that politics and business should be kept +separate is the product of a shallow, unreasoning, or hypocritical +mind--generally the latter. This cry is the argument of the +stand-patter, of the man who trembles for the existence of the United +States Constitution and of American institutions when any proposal is +made to pass a law in the interests of the mass of the community, but +who can view with complacency the enactment of statutes for the +benefit of certain favored classes. Economic problems and special +privileges were among the greatest problems and dangers in the Roman +republic, as they are in America to-day. + +When we come to the exact form of the economic questions, differences, +of course, begin to appear. Tariffs, trusts, regulation of commerce, +were never great political questions in the days of the Roman +republic. The greatest source of scandal and class favoritism at Rome +was to be found in the management and distribution of the public +lands. This particular problem was one which our country, for nearly a +century of national existence, was able to handle, in the main, wisely +and honestly. The great body of that vast expanse of rich farming +land, which was once the greatest asset of the United States, was +disposed of to actual settlers, who have played an important part in +the development of our wonderful West. Recently, however, corruption +even along this line has begun to manifest itself in America. Passing +over the numerous charges of actual corruption which have been made, +it is to be regretted that the United States government has of late +shown a decided disposition to favor great interests rather than +ordinary individuals in the management of the public resources. An +extremely indefensible discrimination is to be found in the act of +July 1, 1902, which established the form of civil government for the +Philippine Islands. Section 15 of this act, in providing for the +management of the public lands, provided that no more than sixteen +hectares of such land can be disposed of to any one individual, while +a corporation may acquire as much as 1,024 hectares. + +From the standpoint of pure governmental science the most interesting +comparison between Rome and the United States lies in the elaborate +and complicated system of checks and balances to be found in each +government. The framers of each system seem generally to have been +thinking more of securing perfect brakes than of installing sufficient +operating power. It is a mere hackneyed remark to say that the most +prominent characteristic of the work of the Federal Constitutional +Convention was the system of checks and balances it developed, while +this same principle was carried to such an extreme in the organization +of the Roman government that it almost seems strange to an outside +observer that at times the resisting power of the "brakes" did not +prove more powerful than the operating power of the government, with +the result of a total failure of all government, and chaos, or +anarchy. + +The most interesting of the "checks" in the Roman government was the +veto power of the tribunes--interesting alike for its contemporary +importance at Rome, and perhaps even more so for the great and +strangely directed influence which it has had upon the later +development of governmental institutions throughout the world. + +The veto power of the Roman tribune was an innovation in government. +It was, however, a political idea which was destined to take deep +root, and to be copied by countries whose very beginnings were, as +yet, far in the future. There is to-day no constitutional government +in whose organization the veto power is not found in some form; in the +great majority of modern governments the veto power occupies a most +prominent place. + +The modern veto power has departed far from that of the Roman tribune, +both in practice and theory. The veto power of the latter was merely a +check upon power; the modern veto power is both a check upon power and +a positive power in the hands of the official to whom it is given. + +The Roman veto was given to an officer who had no power except of a +negative character; it could be interposed against executive acts and +judicial proceedings as well as against legislative enactments. + +The modern veto power is directed solely against legislative acts and +is put in the hands of the executive department of the government. +Against the legislative department it is a check, but to the executive +department it is a grant of positive power. In the United States the +veto is more a club in the hands of the executive department than a +check upon the legislative. The veto power also tends to break down +the dividing line between the executive and the legislative +departments. In the United States the President and the governors of +the different states in reality constitute a third branch of the +respective legislative departments. + +The story of the Gracchi is replete with suggestions of comparisons +with modern conditions. The failure of these reformers was primarily +due to the lack of steadfast perseverance on the part of the mass of +their followers. It is this same phenomenon which does more than any +other to bring about the failure of needed and widely supported +reforms at the present time in our country. It is always much easier +to win the support of a majority of voters to a reform measure than it +is to retain such majority during the tedious delays which the +opponents of reform are so adept in producing. Delay is always the +great weapon of the supporters of any special interest which is +attacked. The beneficiaries from unfair discriminations or special +interests, and their allies, never desert the fight from weariness, no +matter how long it may be continued; but once the first spell of +enthusiasm has passed away, the supporters of the reform gradually +drop by the wayside. How many times have we seen the people vote time +after time in support of a certain reform only to weaken at the +crisis, and allow the ultimate victory to rest with the supporters of +special interests! For illustration we need only cite the long contest +in the metropolis of the West for a fair deal to the people from the +street-car companies, where after nine years of contest the majority +of the voters, at the critical contest, deserted the mayor, who had +resolutely stood for the principles for which the voters had declared +year after year, and gave to the companies a contract giving them all +that they had even dared to hope for. + +The deposition of the tribune Marcus Octavius is without question the +first historical application of the principle of the recall of public +officials. This precedent was never again followed at Rome, and the +recall of public officers never became a part of the Roman political +system. Such an expedient, in fact, could never have been necessary at +Rome, except in very extreme cases, on account of the very short terms +of office for which all Roman officials were elected. The only states +of this country which follow the Roman example in this respect are +some of the New England states. + +The actions of the Roman proletariat in so consistently supporting the +grain laws of Gaius Gracchus, and in so soon disregarding his +proposals for the allotment of the public land, are very typical of +the attitude of a vast element in every community. The too great +concern for the present and the too great disregard for the future are +among the greatest obstacles to be overcome by those who attempt to +line up the people of any community in the support of true +constructive reforms. + +Side by side with the lack of true proportion in the view taken by the +majority of men, of the relative importance of different measures, +stand the constant errors made by the people in their judgment of the +character and objects of different politicians. + +The tribune Carbo, the successor of Tiberius Gracchus as the leader of +the popular party, may stand as a typical representative of a +never-changing type of politician. + +No one can read of this life without being inevitably reminded of some +politician of his own acquaintance or locality. It is but another +proof of how slowly human nature changes, despite the vast changes in +the external conditions with which mankind is surrounded. + +The law proposed by Carbo furnished an illustration of that class of +laws directed against the rich, so often brought forward by +demagogues, not because of any justice in the law, not even because of +any benefit which the law will confer upon the people at large, but +merely for the purpose of winning popular favor and political office. +Such laws are generally supported by unrestrained and indiscriminating +abuse. It is the proposed laws and attacks of this character which +generally lead to a reaction, and in the end work to the benefit of +the classes against which they are directed. + +The whole story of Carbo is one well calculated to present in vivid +colors all that is lowest and most despicable. To the faults and +errors already referred to must be added the charge of absolute +insincerity. To Carbo the rights of the people and the popular cause +were dear only as a means by which he could acquire power and money +for himself. When it was for his interest, he became the servile tool +of the senatorial party. America to-day has her full share of +politicians who use popular measures only as a ladder for their own +rise; or, even worse, who seek the leadership of a popular cause with +the premeditated purpose of betraying it, at the proper moment, to the +special interests. Where the purpose at first is sincere, the advocate +of the object frequently deserts the cause when greater gain to him +may be had by a surrender. + +The impossibility of the voters being able to discriminate between the +true reformer and the unscrupulous demagogue is shown time and again +in the political history both of Rome and the United States. There has +always been a class of politicians without character, without honesty, +without any pretense of truthfulness, without any ability of a kind to +be of value to the public, but possessed of an almost superhuman +ability to deceive the public and to advertise themselves. Examples of +this class may be found in Roman history in such men as Carbo and +Cæsar; striking examples in recent American history will readily occur +to every one. Notably in municipal politics in the great American +cities, this aspect often appears. + +It is not only in great but also in smaller things that we see the +ever-recurring resemblances between Roman and American conditions. +Cicero's complaint, "Let me tell you that there is no class of people +so harassed by every kind of unreasonable difficulty as candidates for +office," finds a responsive chord in every modern American politician. +His account of his campaign for the consulship at Rome, as well as the +historical record of other Roman political contests, shows many points +of similarity between the details of the problems and methods of +ancient and modern political battles. + +Political expenditures, in the latter days of the Roman republic, had +become an even greater evil than is the case in the United States +to-day. It is interesting, though alarming, to note that the greater +political freedom became at Rome, the greater became the amount of +political expenditures and the greater the power of money in +elections. A similar alarming phenomenon has recently been noticed in +this country in the greater increase of political expenditures which +have followed the introduction of the direct primaries, and the +consequent greater difficulties of the candidate for office not +possessed of a large fortune. + +Innumerable other points of resemblance might be mentioned to complete +the comparison between Roman and American political conditions. A +strong point in the Roman character (at least during the greater part +of the republican period) is found in the fact that foreign +hostilities always produced a cessation, or at least a laxation, of +domestic political hostilities. This was in striking contrast with the +general rule in Grecian cities, where one political faction or another +would generally seize the opportunity offered by the external +difficulties of their state to advance their selfish individual +interests at the expense of the public. The public attitude in America +has always resembled the Roman rather than the Grecian attitude. +Perhaps this attitude in America has sometimes been carried too far, +and resulted in too great a degree of credit and support being given +to the party in power, for victories won by the united efforts of +members of all political parties in the country. + +The effect of a mere name, both in Rome and in the United States, has +always been unduly great. The charge (even when entirely unsupported) +that a Roman politician was aiming to make himself a king was +generally sufficient to drive him from power; though the Romans +finally calmly submitted to the rule of an absolute ruler under the +new title of emperor. The efficiency of denunciation by calling names, +instead of by argument, is known and made use of in American politics. + +The pretense of patriotism in America assumed by having one's self +designated by a name of patriotic appellation--such as "Honest" John +Doe, "Brave" Richard Roe, and the "Patriot" John Stiles--is but a +parallel to the schemes of the ancient tricksters. Truly, there is +nothing new under the sun, and as man so are republics of men--both +alike in greatness and in littleness. + +There is slight opportunity for comparison between the Roman colonial +system and that of our own country. It is true that of both alike it +may be said the beginning of foreign conquest came as an accident, and +the acquisition of territory beyond the seas found them unprepared +for its government. Here, it is to be hoped, the resemblance will be +found to have ceased. When Rome had once tasted the fruits of foreign +conquest, the extension of such conquests became the great object of +Roman ambition. It was not by accident but by deliberately planned +wars of conquest that the so-called world empire of the Romans was +acquired. + +With the United States the comparatively few and unimportant insular +possessions are still a matter of secondary concern. But few of the +citizens of this country give any thought or attention to these +possessions, and many even favor their abandonment. + +Both Rome and the United States found the problem of reconciling +foreign colonies with republican institutions a difficult one. The +Roman administration of her colonies was always tinged with corruption +and injustice; and, unfortunately, our own insular rule has not been +entirely free from these evils. A great trouble in the case of each +republic was that she failed or refused to make any real effort to +introduce her own principles of government into the government of her +provinces. There is much more excuse for this failure in the case of +Rome than in that of our own country. As was shown in the chapter on +Roman legislative assemblies, her ignorance of the principle of +representative legislative assemblies made the extension of free +government over extended areas impossible, or at least very difficult. +But our own system of local self-government is one adapted to any +country, and capable of indefinite expansion. The highly centered +bureaucracy of the Philippine government is one without precedent in +our own country, and without any fitness for the Philippines or any +other colony. The slight self-government given to the Filipinos is +merely enough to call attention to that which is refused them. No +successful government of these Islands, either by our country or by +the Filipinos themselves, will ever be secured while all questions of +government for so many diverse races are settled by a few high +government officials at the capital--Manila. Particularly will this +objectionable condition continue so long as the places of authority +are filled by men named from every portion of the country except that +part most nearly associated with the destiny of the Islands. The +system of rewarding political service--and that ofttimes of a +questionable character--given in America to men who served ballot-box +emergencies, and to men who hope to reward themselves by fruitful +opportunity, must cease, or government in these outlying possessions +will lead to internal revolt or external military imperialism. + +It is plainly to be seen that conditions in the United States of +America have tended toward those of Rome which preceded the latter's +downfall. Particularly true is this of latter-day conditions in the +United States. The monopoly of Crassus in town lots in Rome--and the +exclusive right to dictate the price of farm products by the Fabii and +their successors, which produced riots in the country and uprisings in +the cities--have their parallel in the "corners" of the stock +exchanges and grain houses of America, and in the monopoly in oil and +its elements. These methods and the domination of legislative bodies +by these massive interests, the corrupting of the assemblies of the +people and the defiling of the courts, have created a revolt in the +hearts of the Americans and awakened an insurrection among the +citizenship. These, if not abated by the government's action in +controlling these agencies or restraining with plenary punishment the +perpetrators of the wrong, will surely reproduce a parallel in the +results which befell the Roman republic. Cicero has well said, +"Governments, like all organized creations, have their time to perish +and to fade. The same conduct of persecution or protection work on +each alike in the final results"--a sure continuance of life, or a +sure result of certain death. + +Let it be remembered that man is ever himself and mankind ever human. +No ill will be borne that can be overthrown. It will all return to the +first principle of force--Byron puts it well--as the moral of all +human tales: + + "First freedom, then glory; + With that past--avarice--corruption-- + Barbarism at last-- + And all of history's volumes vast + Hath writ but one page." + +It has been the dream of those who in war fought for, and in peace +strove for, a just republic in the United States, that the awakened +conscience of a people educated anew under a Christian era would be a +guarantee against the repetition of those evils which harassed +government and injured men in the days of the Roman republic. It is +now seen that this dream is being to a most encouraging extent +gratified. In America wrong is at last condemned because it is not +right. Right is approved--for that it is right. Justice is praised and +sustained because it is just to do so, and the oppression of man +resisted and despised because it is unworthy civilized man and in +violation of the dictates of conscience speaking the voice of God. + +In this new era America is working out her destiny of equality of man +and equity of mankind, and this by the methods of peaceful +persuasion--dictated from the heart. War is abhorred and brotherhood +of man cherished as a coming state of modern citizenship proving in +all its effect the justice and right of the theory of the American +republic founded on the assertion that "Just governments derive their +power from the consent of the governed." Education, bringing +enlightenment in all avenues of life's pursuits, is rapidly giving to +the American man the assurance and security that his government will +be perpetuated by its citizens, not destroyed--will be glorified as an +ideal after which other nations and people may pattern. + + "Our Fathers' God! from out whose hand + The centuries fall like grains of sand, + + * * * * * + + Oh, make Thou us, through centuries long, + In peace secure, in justice strong: + Around our gift of freedom draw + The safeguards of Thy righteous law; + And, cast in some diviner mold, + Let the new cycle shame the old." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Two Great Republics: Rome and the +United States, by James Hamilton Lewis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41202 *** |