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diff --git a/old/10702.txt b/old/10702.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5776320 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10702.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11211 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of Rome, Book II, by Theodor +Mommsen, Translated by William Purdie Dickson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The History of Rome, Book II + +Author: Theodor Mommsen + +Release Date: June 2006 [eBook #10702] +Most recently updated March 16, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK II*** + + +E-text prepared by David Ceponis + + + + +Note: A compilation of all five volumes of this work is also available + individually in the Project Gutenberg library. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10706 + + The original German version of this work, Roemische Geschichte, + Zweites Buch: von der Abschaffung des roemischen Keonigtums bis + zur Einigung Italiens, is in the Project Gutenberg E-Library as + E-book #3061. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3061 + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK II + +From the Abolition of the Monarchy in Rome to the Union of Italy + +by + +THEODOR MOMMSEN + +Translated with the Sanction of the Author + +by + +William Purdie Dickson, D.D., LL.D. +Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow + +A New Edition Revised Throughout and Embodying Recent Additions + + + + + + +Preparer's Note + +This work contains many literal citations of and references to +foreign words, sounds, and alphabetic symbols drawn from many +languages, including Gothic and Phoenician, but chiefly Latin and +Greek. This English Gutenberg edition, constrained to the characters +of 7-bit ASCII code, adopts the following orthographic conventions: + +1) Except for Greek, all literally cited non-English words that do +not refer to texts cited as academic references, words that in the +source manuscript appear italicized, are rendered with a single +preceding, and a single following dash; thus, -xxxx-. + +2) Greek words, first transliterated into Roman alphabetic +equivalents, are rendered with a preceding and a following double- +dash; thus, --xxxx--. Note that in some cases the root word itself +is a compound form such as xxx-xxxx, and is rendered as --xxx-xxx-- + +3) Simple unideographic references to vocalic sounds, single +letters, or alphabeic dipthongs; and prefixes, suffixes, and syllabic +references are represented by a single preceding dash; thus, -x, +or -xxx. + +4) Ideographic references, referring to signs of representation rather +than to content, are represented as -"id:xxxx"-. "id:" stands for +"ideograph", and indicates that the reader should form a picture based +on the following "xxxx"; which may be a single symbol, a word, or an +attempt at a picture composed of ASCII characters. For example, + --"id:GAMMA gamma"-- indicates an uppercase Greek gamma-form followed +by the form in lowercase. Some such exotic parsing as this is +necessary to explain alphabetic development because a single symbol +may have been used for a number of sounds in a number of languages, +or even for a number of sounds in the same language at different +times. Thus, -"id:GAMMA gamma" might very well refer to a Phoenician +construct that in appearance resembles the form that eventually +stabilized as an uppercase Greek "gamma" juxtaposed to one of +lowercase. Also, a construct such as --"id:E" indicates a symbol +that with ASCII resembles most closely a Roman uppercase "E", but, +in fact, is actually drawn more crudely. + +5) Dr. Mommsen has given his dates in terms of Roman usage, A.U.C.; +that is, from the founding of Rome, conventionally taken to be +753 B. C. The preparer of this document, has appended to the end +of each volume a table of conversion between the two systems. + + + + +CONTENTS + +BOOK II: From the Abolition of the Monarchy in Rome to the Union + of Italy + + CHAPTER + + I. Change of the Constitution--Limitation of the Power of the + Magistrate + + II. The Tribunate of the Plebs and the Decemvirate + + III. The Equalization of the Orders, and the New Aristocracy + + IV. Fall of the Etruscan Power--the Celts + + V. Subjugation of the Latins and Campanians by Rome + + VI. Struggle of the Italians against Rome + + VII. Struggle Between Pyrrhus and Rome, and Union of Italy + + VIII. Law--Religion--Military System--Economic Condition--Nationality + + IX. Art and Science + + + + +BOOK SECOND + +From the Abolition of the Monarchy in Rome to the Union of Italy + + + + +--dei ouk ekpleittein ton suggraphea terateuomenon dia teis iotopias +tous entugchanontas.-- + +Polybius. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Change of the Constitution-- +Limitation of the Power of the Magistrate + + +Political and Social Distinctions in Rome + +The strict conception of the unity and omnipotence of the state in +all matters pertaining to it, which was the central principle of the +Italian constitutions, placed in the hands of the single president +nominated for life a formidable power, which was felt doubtless by the +enemies of the land, but was not less heavily felt by its citizens. +Abuse and oppression could not fail to ensue, and, as a necessary +consequence, efforts were made to lessen that power. It was, +however, the grand distinction of the endeavours after reform and +the revolutions in Rome, that there was no attempt either to impose +limitations on the community as such or even to deprive it of +corresponding organs of expression--that there never was any +endeavour to assert the so-called natural rights of the individual in +contradistinction to the community--that, on the contrary, the attack +was wholly directed against the form in which the community was +represented. From the times of the Tarquins down to those of +the Gracchi the cry of the party of progress in Rome was not for +limitation of the power of the state, but for limitation of the power +of the magistrates: nor amidst that cry was the truth ever forgotten, +that the people ought not to govern, but to be governed. + +This struggle was carried on within the burgess-body. Side by +side with it another movement developed itself--the cry of the +non-burgesses for equality of political privileges. Under this head +are included the agitations of the plebeians, the Latins, the Italians, +and the freedmen, all of whom--whether they may have borne the name +of burgesses, as did the plebeians and the freedmen, or not, as was +the case with the Latins and Italians--were destitute of, and desired, +political equality. + +A third distinction was one of a still more general nature; the +distinction between the wealthy and the poor, especially such as had +been dispossessed or were endangered in possession. The legal and +political relations of Rome led to the rise of a numerous class of +farmers--partly small proprietors who were dependent on the mercy of +the capitalist, partly small temporary lessees who were dependent on +the mercy of the landlord--and in many instances deprived individuals +as well as whole communities of the lands which they held, without +affecting their personal freedom. By these means the agricultural +proletariate became at an early period so powerful as to have a +material influence on the destinies of the community. The urban +proletariate did not acquire political importance till a much later +epoch. + +On these distinctions hinged the internal history of Rome, and, as +may be presumed, not less the history--totally lost to us--of the +other Italian communities. The political movement within the +fully-privileged burgess-body, the warfare between the excluded and +excluding classes, and the social conflicts between the possessors +and the non-possessors of land--variously as they crossed and +interlaced, and singular as were the alliances they often produced +--were nevertheless essentially and fundamentally distinct. + +Abolition of the Life-Presidency of the Community + +As the Servian reform, which placed the --metoikos-- on a footing of +equality in a military point of view with the burgess, appears to have +originated from considerations of an administrative nature rather than +from any political party-tendency, we may assume that the first of the +movements which led to internal crises and changes of the constitution +was that which sought to limit the magistracy. The earliest +achievement of this, the most ancient opposition in Rome, consisted +in the abolition of the life-tenure of the presidency of the +community; in other words, in the abolition of the monarchy. How +necessarily this was the result of the natural development of things, +is most strikingly demonstrated by the fact, that the same change of +constitution took place in an analogous manner through the whole +circuit of the Italo-Grecian world. Not only in Rome, but likewise +among the other Latins as well as among the Sabellians, Etruscans, +and Apulians--and generally, in all the Italian communities, just as +in those of Greece--we find the rulers for life of an earlier epoch +superseded in after times by annual magistrates. In the case of the +Lucanian canton there is evidence that it had a democratic government +in time of peace, and it was only in the event of war that the +magistrates appointed a king, that is, an official similar to the +Roman dictator. The Sabellian civic communities, such as those of +Capua and Pompeii, in like manner were in later times governed by +a "community-manager" (-medix tuticus-) changed from year to year, +and we may assume that similar institutions existed among the other +national and civic communities of Italy. In this light the reasons +which led to the substitution of consuls for kings in Rome need no +explanation. The organism of the ancient Greek and Italian polity +developed of itself by a sort of natural necessity the limitation of +the life-presidency to a shortened, and for the most part an annual, +term. Simple, however, as was the cause of this change, it might be +brought about in various ways; a resolution might be adopted on the +death of one life-ruler not to elect another--a course which the +Roman senate is said to have attempted after the death of Romulus; +or the ruler might voluntarily abdicate, as is alleged to have been +the intention of king Servius Tullius; or the people might rise in +rebellion against a tyrannical ruler, and expel him. + +Expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome + +It was in this latter way that the monarchy was terminated in Rome. +For however much the history of the expulsion of the last Tarquinius, +"the proud," may have been interwoven with anecdotes and spun out into +a romance, it is not in its leading outlines to be called in question. +Tradition credibly enough indicates as the causes of the revolt, that +the king neglected to consult the senate and to complete its numbers; +that he pronounced sentences of capital punishment and confiscation +without advising with his counsellors; that he accumulated immense +stores of grain in his granaries, and exacted from the burgesses +military labour and task-work beyond what was due. The exasperation +of the people is attested by the formal vow which they made man by +man for themselves and for their posterity that thenceforth they would +never tolerate a king; by the blind hatred with which the name of king +was ever afterwards regarded in Rome; and above all by the enactment +that the "king for offering sacrifice" (-rex sacrorum- or +-sacrificulus-) --whom they considered it their duty to create that the +gods might not miss their accustomed mediator--should be disqualified +from holding any further office, so that this man became the foremost +indeed, but also the most powerless in the Roman commonwealth. Along +with the last king all the members of his clan were banished--a proof +how close at that time gentile ties still were. The Tarquinii +thereupon transferred themselves to Caere, perhaps their ancient +home,(1) where their family tomb has recently been discovered. +In the room of the one president holding office for life two +annual rulers were now placed at the head of the Roman community. + +This is all that can be looked upon as historically certain in +reference to this important event.(2) It is conceivable that in +a great community with extensive dominion like the Roman the royal +power, particularly if it had been in the same family for several +generations, would be more capable of resistance, and the struggle +would thus be keener, than in the smaller states; but there is no +certain indication of any interference by foreign states in the +struggle. The great war with Etruria--which possibly, moreover, +has been placed so close upon the expulsion of the Tarquins only in +consequence of chronological confusion in the Roman annals--cannot +be regarded as an intervention of Etruria in favour of a countryman +who had been injured in Rome, for the very sufficient reason that the +Etruscans notwithstanding their complete victory neither restored the +Roman monarchy, nor even brought back the Tarquinian family. + +Powers of the Consuls + +If we are left in ignorance of the historical connections of this +important event, we are fortunately in possession of clearer light as +to the nature of the change which was made in the constitution. The +royal power was by no means abolished, as is shown by the very fact +that, when a vacancy occurred afterwards as before, an "interim king" +(-interrex-) was nominated. The one life-king was simply replaced +by two year-kings, who called themselves generals (-praetores-), +or judges (-iudices-), or merely colleagues (consules).(3) +The principles of collegiate tenure and of annual duration are those +which distinguish the republic from the monarchy, and they first meet +us here. + +Collegiate Arrangement + +The collegiate principle, from which the third and subsequently most +current name of the annual kings was derived, assumed in their case an +altogether peculiar form. The supreme power was not entrusted to the +two magistrates conjointly, but each consul possessed and exercised it +for himself as fully and wholly as it had been possessed and exercised +by the king. This was carried so far that, instead of one of the two +colleagues undertaking perhaps the administration of justice, and +the other the command of the army, they both administered justice +simultaneously in the city just as they both set out together to +the army; in case of collision the matter was decided by a rotation +measured by months or days. A certain partition of functions withal, +at least in the supreme military command, might doubtless take place +from the outset--the one consul for example taking the field against +the Aequi, and the other against the Volsci--but it had in no wise +binding force, and each of the colleagues was legally at liberty to +interfere at any time in the province of the other. When, therefore, +supreme power confronted supreme power and the one colleague forbade +what the other enjoined, the consular commands neutralized each other. +This peculiarly Latin, if not peculiarly Roman, institution of +co-ordinate supreme authorities--which in the Roman commonwealth on +the whole approved itself as practicable, but to which it will be +difficult to find a parallel in any other considerable state +--manifestly sprang out of the endeavour to retain the regal power +in legally undiminished fulness. They were thus led not to break +up the royal office into parts or to transfer it from an individual +to a college, but simply to double it and thereby, if necessary, +to neutralize it through its own action. + +Term of Office + +As regards the termination of their tenure of office, the earlier +-interregnum- of five days furnished a legal precedent. The ordinary +presidents of the community were bound not to remain in office +longer than a year reckoned from the day of their entering on their +functions;(4) and they ceased -de jure- to be magistrates upon the +expiry of the year, just as the interrex on the expiry of the five +days. Through this set termination of the supreme office the +practical irresponsibility of the king was lost in the case of the +consul. It is true that the king was always in the Roman commonwealth +subject, and not superior, to the law; but, as according to the Roman +view the supreme judge could not be prosecuted at his own bar, the +king might doubtless have committed a crime, but there was for him no +tribunal and no punishment. The consul, again, if he had committed +murder or treason, was protected by his office, but only so long as +it lasted; on his retirement he was liable to the ordinary penal +jurisdiction like any other burgess. + +To these leading changes, affecting the principles of the +constitution, other restrictions were added of a subordinate and more +external character, some of which nevertheless produced a deep effect +The privilege of the king to have his fields tilled by task-work +of the burgesses, and the special relation of clientship in which +the --metoeci-- as a body must have stood to the king, ceased of +themselves with the life tenure of the office. + +Right of Appeal + +Hitherto in criminal processes as well as in fines and corporal +punishments it had been the province of the king not only to +investigate and decide the cause, but also to decide whether the +person found guilty should or should not be allowed to appeal for +pardon. The Valerian law now (in 245) enacted that the consul must +allow the appeal of the condemned, where sentence of capital or +corporal punishment had been pronounced otherwise than by martial +law--a regulation which by a later law (of uncertain date, but passed +before 303) was extended to heavy fines. In token of this right of +appeal, when the consul appeared in the capacity of judge and not +of general, the consular lictors laid aside the axes which they had +previously carried by virtue of the penal jurisdiction belonging to +their master. The law however threatened the magistrate, who did +not allow due course to the -provocatio-, with no other penalty than +infamy--which, as matters then stood, was essentially nothing but a +moral stain, and at the utmost only had the effect of disqualifying +the infamous person from giving testimony. Here too the course +followed was based on the same view, that it was in law impossible +to diminish the old regal powers, and that the checks imposed upon the +holder of the supreme authority in consequence of the revolution had, +strictly viewed, only a practical and moral value. When therefore the +consul acted within the old regal jurisdiction, he might in so acting +perpetrate an injustice, but he committed no crime and consequently +was not amenable for what he did to the penal judge. + +A limitation similar in its tendency took place in the civil +jurisdiction; for probably there was taken from the consuls at +the very outset the right of deciding at their discretion a legal +dispute between private persons. + +Restrictions on the Delegation of Powers + +The remodelling of the criminal as of civil procedure stood in +connection with a general arrangement respecting the transference +of magisterial power to deputies or successors. While the king had +been absolutely at liberty to nominate deputies but had never been +compelled to do so, the consuls exercised the right of delegating +power in an essentially different way. No doubt the rule that, if +the supreme magistrate left the city, he had to appoint a warden there +for the administration of justice,(5) remained in force also for the +consuls, and the collegiate arrangement was not even extended to such +delegation; on the contrary this appointment was laid on the consul +who was the last to leave the city. But the right of delegation +for the time when the consuls remained in the city was probably +restricted, upon the very introduction of this office, by providing +that delegation should be prescribed to the consul for definite +cases, but should be prohibited for all cases in which it was not so +prescribed. According to this principle, as we have said, the whole +judicial system was organized. The consul could certainly exercise +criminal jurisdiction also as to a capital process in the way of +submitting his sentence to the community and having it thereupon +confirmed or rejected; but he never, so far as we see, exercised +this right, perhaps was soon not allowed to exercise it, and possibly +pronounced a criminal judgment only in the case of appeal to the +community being for any reason excluded. Direct conflict between +the supreme magistrate of the community and the community itself was +avoided, and the criminal procedure was organized really in such a +way, that the supreme magistracy remained only in theory competent, +but always acted through deputies who were necessary though appointed +by himself. These were the two--not standing--pronouncers-of-judgment +for revolt and high treason (-duoviri perduellionis-) and the two +standing trackers of murder, the -quaestores parricidii-. Something +similar may perhaps have occurred in the regal period, where the +king had himself represented in such processes;(6) but the standing +character of the latter institution, and the collegiate principle +carried out in both, belong at any rate to the republic. The latter +arrangement became of great importance also, in so far that thereby +for the first time alongside of the two standing supreme magistrates +were placed two assistants, whom each supreme magistrate nominated at +his entrance on office, and who in due course also went out with him +on his leaving it--whose position thus, like the supreme magistracy +itself, was organized according to the principles of a standing +office, of a collegiate form, and of an annual tenure. This was not +indeed as yet the inferior magistracy itself, at least not in the +sense which the republic associated with the magisterial position, +inasmuch as the commissioners did not emanate from the choice of +the community; but it doubtless became the starting-point for the +institution of subordinate magistrates, which was afterwards developed +in so manifold ways. + +In a similar way the decision in civil procedure was withdrawn from +the supreme magistracy, inasmuch as the right of the king to transfer +an individual process for decision to a deputy was converted into the +duty of the consul, after settling the legitimate title of the party +and the object of the suit, to refer the disposal of it to a private +man to be selected by him and furnished by him with instructions. + +In like manner there was left to the consuls the important +administration of the state-treasure and of the state-archives; +nevertheless probably at once, or at least very early, there were +associated with them standing assistants in that duty, namely, those +quaestors who, doubtless, had in exercising this function absolutely +to obey them, but without whose previous knowledge and co-operation +the consuls could not act. + +Where on the other hand such directions were not in existence, the +president of the community in the capital had personally to intervene; +as indeed, for example, at the introductory steps of a process he +could not under any circumstances let himself be represented by +deputy. + +This double restriction of the consular right of delegation subsisted +for the government of the city, and primarily for the administration +of justice and of the state-chest. As commander-in-chief, on the +other hand, the consul retained the right of handing over all or any +of the duties devolving on him. This diversity in the treatment of +civil and military delegation explains why in the government of the +Roman community proper no delegated magisterial authority (-pro +magistrate-) was possible, nor were purely urban magistrates ever +represented by non-magistrates; and why, on the other hand, military +deputies (-pro consuls-, -pro praetore-, -pro quaestore-) were +excluded from all action within the community proper. + +Nominating a Successor + +The right of nominating a successor had not been possessed by the +king, but only by the interrex.(7) The consul was in this respect +placed on a like footing with the latter; nevertheless, in the event +of his not having exercised the power, the interrex stepped in as +before, and the necessary continuity of the office subsisted still +undiminished under the republican government. The right of +nomination, however, was materially restricted in favour of the +burgesses, as the consul was bound to procure the assent of the +burgesses for the successors designated by him, and, in the sequel, +to nominate only those whom the community designated to him. Through +this binding right of proposal the nomination of the ordinary supreme +magistrates doubtless in a certain sense passed substantially into the +hands of the community; practically, however, there still existed a +very considerable distinction between that right of proposal and the +right of formal nomination. The consul conducting the election was by +no means a mere returning officer; he could still, e. g. by virtue of +his old royal prerogative reject particular candidates and disregard +the votes tendered for them; at first he might even limit the choice +to a list of candidates proposed by himself; and--what was of +still more consequence--when the collegiate consulship was to be +supplemented by the dictator, of whom we shall speak immediately, +in so supplementing it the community was not consulted, but on the +contrary the consul in that case appointed his colleague with the +same freedom, wherewith the interrex had once appointed the king. + +Change in the Nomination of Priests + +The nomination of the priests, which had been a prerogative of the +kings,(8) was not transferred to the consuls; but the colleges of +priests filled up the vacancies in their own ranks, while the Vestals +and single priests were nominated by the pontifical college, on which +devolved also the exercise of the paternal jurisdiction, so to speak, +of the community over the priestesses of Vesta. With a view to the +performance of these acts, which could only be properly performed by +a single individual, the college probably about this period first +nominated a president, the -Pontifex maximus-. This separation of the +supreme authority in things sacred from the civil power--while the +already-mentioned "king for sacrifice" had neither the civil nor the +sacred powers of the king, but simply the title, conferred upon him +--and the semi-magisterial position of the new high priest, so decidedly +contrasting with the character which otherwise marked the priesthood +in Rome, form one of the most significant and important peculiarities +of this state-revolution, the aim of which was to impose limits on the +powers of the magistrates mainly in the interest of the aristocracy. + +We have already mentioned that the outward state of the consul was +far inferior to that of the regal office hedged round as it was +with reverence and terror, that the regal name and the priestly +consecration were withheld from him, and that the axe was taken away +from his attendants. We have to add that, instead of the purple +robe which the king had worn, the consul was distinguished from the +ordinary burgess simply by the purple border of his toga, and that, +while the king perhaps regularly appeared in public in his chariot, +the consul was bound to accommodate himself to the general rule and +like every other burgess to go within the city on foot. + +The Dictator + +These limitations, however, of the plenary power and of the insignia +of the magistracy applied in the main only to the ordinary presidency +of the community. In extraordinary cases, alongside of, and in a +certain sense instead of, the two presidents chosen by the community +there emerged a single one, the master of the army (-magister populi-) +usually designated as the -dictator-. In the choice of dictator the +community exercised no influence at all, but it proceeded solely +from the free resolve of one of the consuls for the time being, whose +action neither his colleague nor any other authority could hinder. +There was no appeal from his sentence any more than from that of the +king, unless he chose to allow it. As soon as he was nominated, all +the other magistrates were by right subject to his authority. On the +other hand the duration of the dictator's office was limited in two +ways: first, as the official colleague of those consuls, one of whom +had nominated him, he might not remain in office beyond their legal +term; and secondly, a period of six months was fixed as the absolute +maximum for the duration of his office. It was a further arrangement +peculiar to the dictatorship, that the "master of the army" was bound +to nominate for himself immediately a "master of horse" (-magister +equitum-), who acted along with him as a dependent assistant somewhat +as did the quaestor along with the consul, and with him retired from +office--an arrangement undoubtedly connected with the fact that +the dictator, presumably as being the leader of the infantry, was +constitutionally prohibited from mounting on horseback. In the light +of these regulations the dictatorship is doubtless to be conceived as +an institution which arose at the same time with the consulship, and +which was designed, especially in the event of war, to obviate for a +time the disadvantages of divided power and to revive temporarily the +regal authority; for in war more particularly the equality of rights +in the consuls could not but appear fraught with danger; and not only +positive testimonies, but above all the oldest names given to the +magistrate himself and his assistant, as well as the limitation of the +office to the duration of a summer campaign, and the exclusion of the +-provocatio- attest the pre-eminently military design of the original +dictatorship. + +On the whole, therefore, the consuls continued to be, as the kings had +been, the supreme administrators, judges, and generals; and even in a +religious point of view it was not the -rex sacrorum- (who was only +nominated that the name might be preserved), but the consul, who +offered prayers and sacrifices for the community, and in its name +ascertained the will of the gods with the aid of those skilled in +sacred lore. Against cases of emergency, moreover, a power was +retained of reviving at any moment, without previous consultation of +the community, the full and unlimited regal authority, so as to set +aside the limitations imposed by the collegiate arrangement and by +the special curtailments of jurisdiction. In this way the problem of +legally retaining and practically restricting the regal authority was +solved in genuine Roman fashion with equal acuteness and simplicity +by the nameless statesmen who worked out this revolution. + +Centuries and Curies + +The community thus acquired by the change of constitution rights +of the greatest importance: the right of annually designating its +presidents, and that of deciding in the last instance regarding the +life or death of the burgess. But the body which acquired these +rights could not possibly be the community as it had been hitherto +constituted--the patriciate which had practically become an order of +nobility. The strength of the nation lay in the "multitude" (-plebs-) +which already comprehended in large numbers people of note and of +wealth. The exclusion of this multitude from the public assembly, +although it bore part of the public burdens, might be tolerated as +long as that public assembly itself had no very material share in +the working of the state machine, and as long as the royal power by +the very fact of its high and free position remained almost equally +formidable to the burgesses and to the --metoeci-- and thereby +maintained equality of legal redress in the nation. But when the +community itself was called regularly to elect and to decide, and the +president was practically reduced from its master to its commissioner +for a set term, this relation could no longer be maintained as it +stood; least of all when the state had to be remodelled on the morrow +of a revolution, which could only have been carried out by the +co-operation of the patricians and the --metoeci--. An extension of +that community was inevitable; and it was accomplished in the most +comprehensive manner, inasmuch as the collective plebeiate, that is, +all the non-burgesses who were neither slaves nor citizens of +extraneous communities living at Rome under the -ius hospitii-, +were admitted into the burgess-body. The curiate assembly of the +old burgesses, which hitherto had been legally and practically the +first authority in the state, was almost totally deprived of its +constitutional prerogatives. It was to retain its previous powers +only in acts purely formal or in those which affected clan-relations +--such as the vow of allegiance to be taken to the consul or to +the dictator when they entered on office just as previously to the +king,(9) and the legal dispensations requisite for an -arrogatio- or +a testament--but it was not in future to perform any act of a properly +political character. Soon even the plebeians were admitted to the +right of voting also in the curies, and by that step the old +burgess-body lost the right of meeting and of resolving at all. +The curial organization was virtually rooted out, in so far as it +was based on the clan-organization and this latter was to be found +in its purity exclusively among the old burgesses. When the plebeians +were admitted into the curies, they were certainly also allowed to +constitute themselves -de jure- as--what in the earlier period they +could only have been -de facto-(10)--families and clans; but it is +distinctly recorded by tradition and in itself also very conceivable, +that only a portion of the plebeians proceeded so far as to constitute +-gentes-, and thus the new curiate assembly, in opposition to its original +character, included numerous members who belonged to no clan. + +All the political prerogatives of the public assembly--as well the +decision on appeals in criminal causes, which indeed were essentially +political processes, as the nomination of magistrates and the adoption +or rejection of laws--were transferred to, or were now acquired by, +the assembled levy of those bound to military service; so that the +centuries now received the rights, as they had previously borne the +burdens, of citizens. In this way the small initial movements made by +the Servian constitution--such as, in particular, the handing over to +the army the right of assenting to the declaration of an aggressive +war(11)--attained such a development that the curies were completely +and for ever cast into the shade by the assembly of the centuries, and +people became accustomed to regard the latter as the sovereign people. +In this assembly debate took place merely when the presiding +magistrate chose himself to speak or bade others do so; of course +in cases of appeal both parties had to be heard. A simple majority +of the centuries was decisive. + +As in the curiate assembly those who were entitled to vote at all were +on a footing of entire equality, and therefore after the admission +of all the plebeians into the curies the result would have been a +complete democracy, it may be easily conceived that the decision of +political questions continued to be withheld from the curies; the +centuriate assembly placed the preponderating influence, not in the +hands of the nobles certainly, but in those of the possessors of +property, and the important privilege of priority in voting, which +often practically decided the election, placed it in the hands of +the -equites- or, in other words, of the rich. + +Senate + +The senate was not affected by the reform of the constitution in the +same way as the community. The previously existing college of elders +not only continued exclusively patrician, but retained also its +essential prerogatives--the right of appointing the interrex, and of +confirming or rejecting the resolutions adopted by the community as +constitutional or unconstitutional. In fact these prerogatives were +enhanced by the reform of the constitution, because the appointment +of the magistrates also, which fell to be made by election of the +community, was thenceforth subject to the confirmation or rejection +of the patrician senate. In cases of appeal alone its confirmation, +so far as we know, was never deemed requisite, because in these the +matter at stake was the pardon of the guilty and, when this was +granted by the sovereign assembly of the people, any cancelling +of such an act was wholly out of the question. + +But, although by the abolition of the monarchy the constitutional +rights of the patrician senate were increased rather than diminished, +there yet took place--and that, according to tradition, immediately on +the abolition of the monarchy--so far as regards other affairs which +fell to be discussed in the senate and admitted of a freer treatment, +an enlargement of that body, which brought into it plebeians also, and +which in its consequences led to a complete remodelling of the whole. +From the earliest times the senate had acted also, although not solely +or especially, as a state-council; and, while probably even in the +time of the kings it was not regarded as unconstitutional for non- +senators in this case to take part in the assembly,(12) it was now +arranged that for such discussions there should be associated with +the patrician senate (-patres-) a number of non-patricians "added to +the roll" (-conscripti-). This did not at all put them on a footing +of equality; the plebeians in the senate did not become senators, but +remained members of the equestrian order, were not designated -patres- +but were even now -conscripti-, and had no right to the badge of +senatorial dignity, the red shoe.(13) Moreover, they not only +remained absolutely excluded from the exercise of the magisterial +prerogatives belonging to the senate (-auctoritas-), but were obliged, +even where the question had reference merely to an advice (-consilium-), +to rest content with the privilege of being present in silence +while the question was put to the patricians in turn, and of only +indicating their opinion by adding to the numbers when the division +was taken--voting with the feet (-pedibus in sententiam ire-, +-pedarii-) as the proud nobility expressed it. Nevertheless, +the plebeians found their way through the new constitution not +merely to the Forum, but also to the senate-house, and the first +and most difficult step towards equality of rights was taken in +this quarter also. + +Otherwise there was no material change in the arrangements affecting +the senate. Among the patrician members a distinction of rank soon +came to be recognized, especially in putting the vote: those who were +proximately designated for the supreme magistracy, or who had already +administered it, were entered on the list and were called upon to vote +before the rest; and the position of the first of them, the foreman of +the senate (-princeps senatus-) soon became a highly coveted place of +honour. The consul in office, on the other hand, no more ranked as a +member of senate than did the king, and therefore in taking the votes +did not include his own. The selection of the members--both of the +narrower patrician senate and of those merely added to the roll--fell +to be made by the consuls just as formerly by the kings; but the +nature of the case implied that, while the king had still perhaps some +measure of regard to the representation of the several clans in the +senate, this consideration was of no account so far as concerned +the plebeians, among whom the clan-organization was but imperfectly +developed, and consequently the relation of the senate to that +organization in general fell more and more into abeyance. We have no +information that the electing consuls were restricted from admitting +more than a definite number of plebeians to the senate; nor was there +need for such a regulation, because the consuls themselves belonged to +the nobility. On the other hand probably from the outset the consul +was in virtue of his very position practically far less free, and +far more bound by the opinions of his order and by custom, in the +appointment of senators than the king. The rule in particular, that +the holding of the consulship should necessarily be followed by +admission to the senate for life, if, as was probably the case at +this time, the consul was not yet a member of it at the time of +his election, must have in all probability very early acquired +consuetudinary force. In like manner it seems to have become early +the custom not to fill up the senators' places immediately on their +falling vacant, but to revise and complete the roll of the senate on +occasion of the census, consequently, as a rule, every fourth year; +which also involved a not unimportant restriction on the authority +entrusted with the selection. The whole number of the senators +remained as before, and in this the -conscripti- were also included; +from which fact we are probably entitled to infer the numerical +falling off of the patriciate.(14) + +Conservative Character of the Revolution + +We thus see that in the Roman commonwealth, even on the conversion of +the monarchy into a republic, the old was as far as possible retained. +So far as a revolution in a state can be conservative at all, this one +was so; not one of the constituent elements of the commonwealth was +really overthrown by it. This circumstance indicates the character +of the whole movement. The expulsion of the Tarquins was not, as the +pitiful and deeply falsified accounts of it represent, the work of a +people carried away by sympathy and enthusiasm for liberty, but the +work of two great political parties already engaged in conflict, and +clearly aware that their conflict would steadily continue--the old +burgesses and the --metoeci-- --who, like the English Whigs and +Tories in 1688, were for a moment united by the common danger which +threatened to convert the commonwealth into the arbitrary government +of a despot, and differed again as soon as the danger was over. +The old burgesses could not get rid of the monarchy without the +cooperation of the new burgesses; but the new burgesses were far from +being sufficiently strong to wrest the power out of the hands of the +former at one blow. Compromises of this sort are necessarily limited +to the smallest measure of mutual concessions obtained by tedious +bargaining; and they leave the future to decide which of the +constituent elements shall eventually preponderate, and whether they +will work harmoniously together or counteract one another. To look +therefore merely to the direct innovations, possibly to the mere +change in the duration of the supreme magistracy, is altogether to +mistake the broad import of the first Roman revolution: its indirect +effects were by far the most important, and vaster doubtless than +even its authors anticipated. + +The New Community + +This, in short, was the time when the Roman burgess-body in the +later sense of the term originated. The plebeians had hitherto been +--metoeci-- who were subjected to their share of taxes and burdens, +but who were nevertheless in the eye of the law really nothing but +tolerated aliens, between whose position and that of foreigners proper +it may have seemed hardly necessary to draw a definite line of +distinction. They were now enrolled in the lists as burgesses liable +to military service, and, although they were still far from being on +a footing of legal equality--although the old burgesses still remained +exclusively entitled to perform the acts of authority constitutionally +pertaining to the council of elders, and exclusively eligible to the +civil magistracies and priesthoods, nay even by preference entitled to +participate in the usufructs of burgesses, such as the joint use of +the public pasture--yet the first and most difficult step towards +complete equalization was gained from the time when the plebeians no +longer served merely in the common levy, but also voted in the common +assembly and in the common council when its opinion was asked, and the +head and back of the poorest --metoikos-- were as well protected by +the right of appeal as those of the noblest of the old burgesses. + +One consequence of this amalgamation of the patricians and plebeians +in a new corporation of Roman burgesses was the conversion of the +old burgesses into a clan-nobility, which was incapable of receiving +additions or even of filling up its own ranks, since the nobles no +longer possessed the right of passing decrees in common assembly +and the adoption of new families into the nobility by decree of the +community appeared still less admissible. Under the kings the ranks +of the Roman nobility had not been thus closed, and the admission of +new clans was no very rare occurrence: now this genuine characteristic +of patricianism made its appearance as the sure herald of the speedy +loss of its political privileges and of its exclusive estimation +in the community. The exclusion of the plebeians from all public +magistracies and public priesthoods--while they were admissible to +the position of officers and senators--and the maintenance, with +perverse obstinacy, of the legal impossibility of marriage between old +burgesses and plebeians, further impressed on the patriciate from the +outset the stamp of an exclusive and wrongly privileged aristocracy. + +A second consequence of the new union of the burgesses must have been +a more definite regulation of the right of settlement, with reference +both to the Latin confederates and to other states. It became +necessary--not so much on account of the right of suffrage in the +centuries (which indeed belonged only to the freeholder) as on +account of the right of appeal, which was intended to be conceded +to the plebeian, but not to the foreigner dwelling for a time or +even permanently in Rome--to express more precisely the conditions +of the acquisition of plebeian rights, and to mark off the enlarged +burgess-body in its turn from those who were now the non-burgesses. +To thisepoch therefore we may trace back--in the views and feelings +of the people--both the invidiousness of the distinction between +patricians and plebeians, and the strict and haughty line of demarcation +between -cives Romani- and aliens. But the former civic distinction was +in its nature transient, while the latter political one was permanent; +and the sense of political unity and rising greatness, which was thus +implanted in the heart of the nation, was expansive enough first +to undermine and then to carry away with its mighty current those +paltry distinctions. + +Law and Edict + +It was at this period, moreover, that law and edict were separated. +The distinction indeed had its foundation in the essential character +of the Roman state; for even the regal power in Rome was subordinate, +not superior, to the law of the land. But the profound and practical +veneration, which the Romans, like every other people of political +capacity, cherished for the principle of authority, gave birth to the +remarkable rule of Roman constitutional and private law, that every +command of the magistrate not based upon a law was at least valid +during his tenure of office, although it expired with that tenure. +It is evident that in this view, so long as the presidents were +nominated for life, the distinction between law and edict must have +practically been almost lost sight of, and the legislative activity +of the public assembly could acquire no development. On the other +hand it obtained a wide field of action after the presidents were +changed annually; and the fact was now by no means void of practical +importance, that, if the consul in deciding a process committed a +legal informality, his successor could institute a fresh trial of +the cause. + +Civil and Military Authority + +It was at this period, finally, that the provinces of civil and +military authority were separated. In the former the law ruled, +in the latter the axe: the former was governed by the constitutional +checks of the right of appeal and of regulated delegation; in the +latter the general held an absolute sway like the king.(15) It was +an established principle, that the general and the army as such should +not under ordinary circumstances enter the city proper. That organic +and permanently operative enactments could only be made under the +authority of the civil power, was implied in the spirit, if not in the +letter, of the constitution. Instances indeed occasionally occurred +where the general, disregarding this principle, convoked his forces +in the camp as a burgess assembly, nor was a decree passed under +such circumstances legally void; but custom disapproved of such +a proceeding, and it soon fell into disuse as though it had been +forbidden. The distinction between Quirites and soldiers became +more and more deeply rooted in the minds of the burgesses. + +Government of the Patriciate + +Time however was required for the development of these consequences +of the new republicanism; vividly as posterity felt its effects, +the revolution probably appeared to the contemporary world at first +in a different light. The non-burgesses indeed gained by it +burgess-rights, and the new burgess-body acquired in the -comitia +centuriata- comprehensive prerogatives; but the right of rejection on +the part of the patrician senate, which in firm and serried ranks +confronted the -comitia- as if it were an Upper House, legally hampered +their freedom of movement precisely in the most important matters, and +although not in a position to thwart the serious will of the collective +body, could yet practically delay and cripple it. If the nobility in +giving up their claim to be the sole embodiment of the community did not +seem to have lost much, they had in other respects decidedly gained. +The king, it is true, was a patrician as well as the consul, and the +right of nominating the members of the senate belonged to the latter as +to the former; but while his exceptional position raised the former no +less above the patricians than above the plebeians, and while cases +might easily occur in which he would be obliged to lean upon the +support of the multitude even against the nobility, the consul--ruling +for a brief term, but before and after that term simply one of the +nobility, and obeying to-morrow the noble fellow-burgess whom he had +commanded to-day--by no means occupied a position aloof from his +order, and the spirit of the noble in him must have been far more +powerful than that of the magistrate. Indeed, if at any time by +way of exception a patrician disinclined to the rule of the nobility +was called to the government, his official authority was paralyzed +partly by the priestly colleges, which were pervaded by an intense +aristocratic spirit, partly by his colleague, and was easily suspended +by the dictatorship; and, what was of still more moment, he wanted +the first element of political power, time. The president of a +commonwealth, whatever plenary authority may be conceded to him, +will never gain possession of political power, if he does not continue +for some considerable time at the head of affairs; for a necessary +condition of every dominion is duration. Consequently the senate +appointed for life inevitably acquired--and that by virtue chiefly +of its title to advise the magistrate in all points, so that we speak +not of the narrower patrician, but of the enlarged patricio-plebeian, +senate--so great an influence as contrasted with the annual rulers, +that their legal relations became precisely inverted; the senate +substantially assumed to itself the powers of government, and +the former ruler sank into a president acting as its chairman and +executing its decrees. In the case of every proposal to be submitted +to the community for acceptance or rejection the practice of +previously consulting the whole senate and obtaining its approval, +while not constitutionally necessary, was consecrated by use and wont; +and it was not lightly or willingly departed from. The same course +was followed in the case of important state-treaties, of the +management and distribution of the public lands, and generally of +every act the effects of which extended beyond the official year; +and nothing was left to the consul but the transaction of current +business, the initial steps in civil processes, and the command in +war. Especially important in its consequences was the change in +virtue of which neither the consul, nor even the otherwise absolute +dictator, was permitted to touch the public treasure except with the +consent and by the will of the senate. The senate made it obligatory +on the consuls to commit the administration of the public chest, which +the king had managed or might at any rate have managed himself, to two +standing subordinate magistrates, who were nominated no doubt by the +consuls and had to obey them, but were, as may easily be conceived, +much more dependent than the consuls themselves on the senate.(16) +It thus drew into its own hands the management of finance; and this +right of sanctioning the expenditure of money on the part of the +Roman senate may be placed on a parallel in its effects with the +right of sanctioning taxation in the constitutional monarchies +of the present day. + +The consequences followed as a matter of course. The first and +most essential condition of all aristocratic government is, that +the plenary power of the state be vested not in an individual but +in a corporation. Now a preponderantly aristocratic corporation, +the senate, had appropriated to itself the government, and at the +same time the executive power not only remained in the hands of the +nobility, but was also entirely subject to the governing corporation. +It is true that a considerable number of men not belonging to the +nobility sat in the senate; but as they were incapable of holding +magistracies or even of taking part in the debates, and thus were +excluded from all practical share in the government, they necessarily +played a subordinate part in the senate, and were moreover kept in +pecuniary dependence on the corporation through the economically +important privilege of using the public pasture. The gradually +recognized right of the patrician consuls to revise and modify the +senatorial list at least every fourth year, ineffective as presumably +it was over against the nobility, might very well be employed in their +interest, and an obnoxious plebeian might by means of it be kept out +of the senate or even be removed from its ranks. + +The Plebeian Opposition + +It is therefore quite true that the immediate effect of the revolution +was to establish the aristocratic government. It is not, however, the +whole truth. While the majority of contemporaries probably thought +that the revolution had brought upon the plebeians only a more rigid +despotism, we who come afterwards discern in that very revolution the +germs of young liberty. What the patricians gained was gained at the +expense not of the community, but of the magistrate's power. It is +true that the community gained only a few narrowly restricted rights, +which were far less practical and palpable than the acquisitions +of the nobility, and which not one in a thousand probably had the +wisdom to value; but they formed a pledge and earnest of the future. +Hitherto the --metoeci-- had been politically nothing, the old +burgesses had been everything; now that the former were embraced +in the community, the old burgesses were overcome; for, however much +might still be wanting to full civil equality, it is the first breach, +not the occupation of the last post, that decides the fall of the +fortress. With justice therefore the Roman community dated its +political existence from the beginning of the consulate. + +While however the republican revolution may, notwithstanding the +aristocratic rule which in the first instance it established, be +justly called a victory of the former --metoeci-- or the -plebs-, +the revolution even in this respect bore by no means the character +which we are accustomed in the present day to designate as democratic. +Pure personal merit without the support of birth and wealth could +perhaps gain influence and consideration more easily under the regal +government than under that of the patriciate. Then admission to +the patriciate was not in law foreclosed; now the highest object of +plebeian ambition was to be admitted into the dumb appendage of +the senate. The nature of the case implied that the governing +aristocratic order, so far as it admitted plebeians at all, would +grant the right of occupying seats in the senate not absolutely to +the best men, but chiefly to the heads of the wealthy and notable +plebeian families; and the families thus admitted jealously guarded +the possession of the senatorial stalls. While a complete legal +equality therefore had subsisted within the old burgess-body, the +new burgess-body or former --metoeci-- came to be in this way divided +from the first into a number of privileged families and a multitude +kept in a position of inferiority. But the power of the community now +according to the centuriate organization came into the hands of that +class which since the Servian reform of the army and of taxation had +borne mainly the burdens of the state, namely the freeholders, and +indeed not so much into the hands of the great proprietors or into +those of the small cottagers, as into those of the intermediate class +of farmers--an arrangement in which the seniors were still so far +privileged that, although less numerous, they had as many voting- +divisions as the juniors. While in this way the axe was laid to the +root of the old burgess-body and their clan-nobility, and the basis +of a new burgess-body was laid, the preponderance in the latter rested +on the possession of land and on age, and the first beginnings were +already visible of a new aristocracy based primarily on the actual +consideration in which the families were held--the future nobility. +There could be no clearer indication of the fundamentally conservative +character of the Roman commonwealth than the fact, that the revolution +which gave birth to the republic laid down at the same time the +primary outlines of a new organization of the state, which was in +like manner conservative and in like manner aristocratic. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter I + +1. I. IX. The Tarquins + +2. The well-known fable for the most part refutes itself. To a +considerable extent it has been concocted for the explanation of +surnames (-Brutus-, -Poplicola-, -Scaevola-). But even its apparently +historical ingredients are found on closer examination to have been +invented. Of this character is the statement that Brutus was captain +of the horsemen (-tribunus celerum-) and in that capacity proposed +the decree of the people as to the banishment of the Tarquins; for, +according to the Roman constitution, it is quite impossible that a +mere officer should have had the right to convoke the curies. The +whole of this statement has evidently been invented with the view of +furnishing a legal basis for the Roman republic; and very ill invented +it is, for in its case the -tribunus celerum- is confounded with the +entirely different -magister equitum- (V. Burdens Of The Burgesses +f.), and then the right of convoking the centuries which pertained +to the latter by virtue of his praetorian rank is made to apply to +the assembly of the curies. + +3. -Consules- are those who "leap or dance together," as -praesul- is +one who "leaps before," -exsul-, one who "leaps out" (--o ekpeson--), +-insula-, a "leap into," primarily applied to a mass of rock fallen +into the sea. + +4. The day of entering on office did not coincide with the beginning +of the year (1st March), and was not at all fixed. The day of +retiring was regulated by it, except when a consul was elected +expressly in room of one who had dropped out (-consul suffectus-); +in which case the substitute succeeded to the rights and consequently +to the term of him whom he replaced. But these supplementary consuls +in the earlier period only occurred when merely one of the consuls had +dropped out: pairs of supplementary consuls are not found until the +later ages of the republic. Ordinarily, therefore, the official year +of a consul consisted of unequal portions of two civil years. + +5. I. V. The King + +6. I. XI. Crimes + +7. I. V. Prerogatives of the Senate + +8. I. V. The King + +9. I. V. The King + +10. I. VI. Dependents and Guests + +11. I. VI. Political Effects of the Servian Military Organization + +12. I. V. The Senate as State Council + +13. I. V. Prerogatives of the Senate + +14. That the first consuls admitted to the senate 164 plebeians, is +hardly to be regarded as a historical fact, but rather as a proof that +the later Roman archaeologists were unable to point out more than 136 +-gentes- of the Roman nobility (Rom, Forsch. i. 121). + +15. It may not be superfluous to remark, that the -iudicium +legitimum-, as well as that -quod imperio continetur-, rested on +the imperium of the directing magistrate, and the distinction only +consisted in the circumstance that the -imperium- was in the former +case limited by the -lex-, while in the latter it was free. + +16. II. I. Restrictions on the Delegation of Powers + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Tribunate of the Plebs and the Decemvirate + + +Material Interests + +Under the new organization of the commonwealth the old burgesses had +attained by legal means to the full possession of political power. +Governing through the magistracy which had been reduced to be their +servant, preponderating in the Senate, in sole possession of all +public offices and priesthoods, armed with exclusive cognizance of +things human and divine and familiar with the whole routine of +political procedure, influential in the public assembly through the +large number of pliant adherents attached to the several families, +and, lastly, entitled to examine and to reject every decree of the +community,--the patricians might have long preserved their practical +power, just because they had at the right time abandoned their claim +to sole legal authority. It is true that the plebeians could not but +be painfully sensible of their political disabilities; but undoubtedly +in the first instance the nobility had not much to fear from a purely +political opposition, if it understood the art of keeping the +multitude, which desired nothing but equitable administration and +protection of its material interests, aloof from political strife. +In fact during the first period after the expulsion of the kings we +meet with various measures which were intended, or at any rate seemed +to be intended, to gain the favour of the commons for the government +of the nobility especially on economic grounds. The port-dues were +reduced; when the price of grain was high, large quantities of corn +were purchased on account of the state, and the trade in salt was made +a state-monopoly, in order to supply the citizens with corn and salt +at reasonable prices; lastly, the national festival was prolonged for +an additional day. Of the same character was the ordinance which we +have already mentioned respecting property fines,(1) which was not +merely intended in general to set limits to the dangerous +fining-prerogative of the magistrates, but was also, in a significant +manner, calculated for the especial protection of the man of small means. +The magistrate was prohibited from fining the same man on the same +day to an extent beyond two sheep or beyond thirty oxen, without +granting leave to appeal; and the reason of these singular rates +can only perhaps be found in the fact, that in the case of the man of +small means possessing only a few sheep a different maximum appeared +necessary from that fixed for the wealthy proprietor of herds of oxen +--a considerate regard to the wealth or poverty of the person fined, +from which modern legislators might take a lesson. + +But these regulations were merely superficial; the main current flowed +in the opposite direction. With the change in the constitution +there was introduced a comprehensive revolution in the financial and +economic relations of Rome, The government of the kings had probably +abstained on principle from enhancing the power of capital, and had +promoted as far as it could an increase in the number of farms. +The new aristocratic government, again, appears to have aimed from +the first at the destruction of the middle classes, particularly of +the intermediate and smaller holdings of land, and at the development +of a domination of landed and moneyed lords on the one hand, and of +an agricultural proletariate on the other. + +Rising Power of the Capitalists + +The reduction of the port-dues, although upon the whole a popular +measure, chiefly benefited the great merchant. But a much greater +accession to the power of capital was supplied by the indirect system +of finance-administration. It is difficult to say what were the +remote causes that gave rise to it: but, while its origin may +probably be referred to the regal period, after the introduction of +the consulate the importance of the intervention of private agency +must have been greatly increased, partly by the rapid succession of +magistrates in Rome, partly by the extension of the financial action +of the treasury to such matters as the purchase and sale of grain and +salt; and thus the foundation must have been laid for that system of +farming the finances, the development of which became so momentous and +so pernicious for the Roman commonwealth. The state gradually put +all its indirect revenues and all its more complicated payments and +transactions into the hands of middlemen, who gave or received a round +sum and then managed the matter for their own benefit. Of course only +considerable capitalists and, as the state looked strictly to tangible +security, in the main only large landholders, could enter into such +engagements: and thus there grew up a class of tax-farmers and +contractors, who, in the rapid growth of their wealth, in their +power over the state to which they appeared to be servants, and +in the absurd and sterile basis of their moneyed dominion, quite +admit of comparison with the speculators on the stock exchange +of the present day. + +Public Land + +The concentrated aspect assumed by the administration of finance +showed itself first and most palpably in the treatment of the public +lands, which tended almost directly to accomplish the material and +moral annihilation of the middle classes. The use of the public +pasture and of the state-domains generally was from its very nature +a privilege of burgesses; formal law excluded the plebeian from +the joint use of the common pasture. As however, apart from +the conversion of the public land into private property or its +assignation, Roman law knew no fixed rights of usufruct on the part +of individual burgesses to be respected like those of property, it +depended solely on the pleasure of the king, so long as the public +land remained such, to grant and to define its joint enjoyment; and it +is not to be doubted that he frequently made use of his right, or at +least his power, as to this matter in favour of plebeians. But on the +introduction of the republic the principle was again strictly insisted +on, that the use of the common pasture belonged in law merely to the +burgess of best right, or in other words to the patrician; and, though +the senate still as before allowed exceptions in favour of the wealthy +plebeian houses represented in it, the small plebeian landholders and +the day-labourers, who stood most in need of the common pasture, had +its joint enjoyment injuriously withheld from them. Moreover there +had hitherto been paid for the cattle driven out on the common pasture +a grazing-tax, which was moderate enough to make the right of using +that pasture still be regarded as a privilege, and yet yielded no +inconsiderable revenue to the public purse. The patrician quaestors +were now remiss and indulgent in levying it, and gradually allowed it +to fall into desuetude. Hitherto, particularly when new domains were +acquired by conquest, allocations of land had been regularly arranged, +in which all the poorer burgesses and --metoeci-- were provided for; +it was only the land which was not suitable for agriculture that was +annexed to the common pasture. The ruling class did not venture +wholly to give up such assignations, and still less to propose them +merely in favour of the rich; but they became fewer and scantier, and +were replaced by the pernicious system of occupation-that is to say, +the cession of domain-lands, not in property or under formal lease for +a definite term, but in special usufruct until further notice, to the +first occupant and his heirs-at-law, so that the state was at any time +entitled to resume them, and the occupier had to pay the tenth sheaf, +or in oil and wine the fifth part of the produce, to the exchequer. +This was simply the -precarium- already described(2) applied to the +state-domains, and may have been already in use as to the public land +at an earlier period, particularly as a temporary arrangement until +its assignation should be carried out. Now, however, not only did +this occupation-tenure become permanent, but, as was natural, none but +privileged persons or their favourites participated, and the tenth and +fifth were collected with the same negligence as the grazing-money. +A threefold blow was thus struck at the intermediate and smaller +landholders: they were deprived of the common usufructs of burgesses; +the burden of taxation was increased in consequence of the domain +revenues no longer flowing regularly into the public chest; and those +land-allocations were stopped, which had provided a constant outlet +for the agricultural proletariate somewhat as a great and well-regulated +system of emigration would do at the present day. To these +evils was added the farming on a large scale, which was probably +already beginning to come into vogue, dispossessing the small agrarian +clients, and in their stead cultivating the estates by rural slaves; +a blow, which was more difficult to avert and perhaps more pernicious +than all those political usurpations put together. The burdensome and +partly unfortunate wars, and the exorbitant taxes and task-works to +which these gave rise, filled up the measure of calamity, so as either +to deprive the possessor directly of his farm and to make him the +bondsman if not the slave of his creditor-lord, or to reduce him +through encumbrances practically to the condition of a temporary +lessee of his creditor. The capitalists, to whom a new field was +here opened of lucrative speculation unattended by trouble or risk, +sometimes augmented in this way their landed property; sometimes they +left to the farmer, whose person and estate the law of debt placed in +their hands, nominal proprietorship and actual possession. The latter +course was probably the most common as well as the most pernicious; +for while utter ruin might thereby be averted from the individual, +this precarious position of the farmer, dependent at all times on the +mercy of his creditor--a position in which he knew nothing of property +but its burdens--threatened to demoralise and politically to +annihilate the whole farmer-class. The intention of the legislator, +when instead of mortgaging he prescribed the immediate transfer of +the property to the creditor with a view to prevent insolvency and to +devolve the burdens of the state on the real holders of the soil,(3) +was evaded by the rigorous system of personal credit, which might +be very suitable for merchants, but ruined the farmers. The free +divisibility of the soil always involved the risk of an insolvent +agricultural proletariate; and under such circumstances, when all +burdens were increasing and all means of deliverance were foreclosed, +distress and despair could not but spread with fearful rapidity among +the agricultural middle class. + +Relations of the Social Question to the Question between Orders + +The distinction between rich and poor, which arose out of these +relations, by no means coincided with that between the clans and the +plebeians. If far the greater part of the patricians were wealthy +landholders, opulent and considerable families were, of course, +not wanting among the plebeians; and as the senate, which even then +perhaps consisted in greater part of plebeians, had assumed the +superintendence of the finances to the exclusion even of the patrician +magistrates, it was natural that all those economic advantages, for +which the political privileges of the nobility were abused, should go +to the benefit of the wealthy collectively; and the pressure fell the +more heavily upon the commons, since those who were the ablest and +the most capable of resistance were by their admission to the senate +transferred from the class of the oppressed to the ranks of +the oppressors. + +But this state of things prevented the political position of the +aristocracy from being permanently tenable. Had it possessed the +self-control to govern justly and to protect the middle class--as +individual consuls from its ranks endeavoured, but from the reduced +position of the magistracy were unable effectually, to do--it might +have long maintained itself in sole possession of the offices of +state. Had it been willing to admit the wealthy and respectable +plebeians to full equality of rights--possibly by connecting the +acquisition of the patriciate with admission into the senate--both +might long have governed and speculated with impunity. But neither +of these courses was adopted; the narrowness of mind and short- +sightedness, which are the proper and inalienable privileges of +all genuine patricianism, were true to their character also in Rome, +and rent the powerful commonwealth asunder in useless, aimless, +and inglorious strife. + +Secession to the Sacred Mount + +The immediate crisis however proceeded not from those who felt the +disabilities of their order, but from the distress of the farmers. +The rectified annals place the political revolution in the year 244, +the social in the years 259 and 260; they certainly appear to have +followed close upon each other, but the interval was probably longer. +The strict enforcement of the law of debt--so runs the story--excited +the indignation of the farmers at large. When in the year 259 the +levy was called forth for a dangerous war, the men bound to serve +refused to obey the command. Thereupon the consul Publius Servilius +suspended for a time the application of the debtor-laws, and gave +orders to liberate the persons already imprisoned for debt as well as +prohibited further arrests; so that the farmers took their places in +the ranks and helped to secure the victory. On their return from the +field of battle the peace, which had been achieved by their exertions, +brought back their prison and their chains: with merciless rigour +the second consul, Appius Claudius, enforced the debtor-laws and his +colleague, to whom his former soldiers appealed for aid, dared not +offer opposition. It seemed as if collegiate rule had been introduced +not for the protection of the people, but to facilitate breach of +faith and despotism; they endured, however, what could not be changed. +But when in the following year the war was renewed, the word of the +consul availed no longer. It was not till Manius Valerius was +nominated dictator that the farmers submitted, partly from their awe +of the higher magisterial authority, partly from their confidence in +his friendly feeling to the popular cause--for the Valerii were one of +those old patrician clans by whom government was esteemed a privilege +and an honour, not a source of gain. The victory was again with the +Roman standards; but when the victors came home and the dictator +submitted his proposals of reform to the senate, they were thwarted +by its obstinate opposition. The army still stood in its array, as +usual, before the gates of the city. When the news arrived, the long +threatening storm burst forth; the -esprit de corps- and the compact +military organization carried even the timid and the indifferent along +with the movement. The army abandoned its general and its encampment, +and under the leadership of the commanders of the legions--the +military tribunes, who were at least in great part plebeians--marched +in martial order into the district of Crustumeria between the Tiber +and the Anio, where it occupied a hill and threatened to establish +in this most fertile part of the Roman territory a new plebeian city. +This secession showed in a palpable manner even to the most obstinate +of the oppressors that such a civil war must end with economic ruin +to themselves; and the senate gave way. The dictator negotiated an +agreement; the citizens returned within the city walls; unity was +outwardly restored. The people gave Manius Valerius thenceforth the +name of "the great" (-maximus-)--and called the mount beyond the Anio +"the sacred mount." There was something mighty and elevating in such +a revolution, undertaken by the multitude itself without definite +guidance under generals whom accident supplied, and accomplished +without bloodshed; and with pleasure and pride the citizens recalled +its memory. Its consequences were felt for many centuries: it was +the origin of the tribunate of the plebs. + +Plebian Tribunes and Plebian Aediles + +In addition to temporary enactments, particularly for remedying the +most urgent distress occasioned by debt, and for providing for a +number of the rural population by the founding of various colonies, +the dictator carried in constitutional form a law, which he moreover +--doubtless in order to secure amnesty to the burgesses for the +breach of their military oath--caused every individual member of the +community to swear to, and then had it deposited in a temple under the +charge and custody of two magistrates specially appointed from the +plebs for the purpose, the two "house-masters" (-aediles-). This law +placed by the side of the two patrician consuls two plebeian tribunes, +who were to be elected by the plebeians assembled in curies. The +power of the tribunes was of no avail in opposition to the military +-imperium-, that is, in opposition to the authority of the dictator +everywhere or to that of the consuls beyond the city; but it +confronted, on a footing of independence and equality, the ordinary +civil powers which the consuls exercised. There was, however, no +partition of powers. The tribunes obtained the right which pertained +to the consul against his fellow-consul and all the more against an +inferior magistrate,(4) namely, the right to cancel any command issued +by a magistrate, as to which the burgess whom it affected held himself +aggrieved and lodged a complaint, through their protest timeously +and personally interposed, and likewise of hindering or cancelling +at discretion any proposal made by a magistrate to the burgesses, +in other words, the right of intercession or the so-called +tribunician veto. + +Intercession + +The power of the tribunes, therefore, primarily involved the right +of putting a stop to administration and to judicial action at their +pleasure, of enabling a person bound to military service to withhold +himself from the levy with impunity, of preventing or cancelling the +raising of an action and legal execution against the debtor, the +initiation of a criminal process and the arrest of the accused while +the investigation was pending, and other powers of the same sort. +That this legal help might not be frustrated by the absence of the +helpers, it was further ordained that the tribune should not spend +a night out of the city, and that his door must stand open day and +night. Moreover, it lay in the power of the tribunate of the people +through a single word of a single tribune to restrain the adoption +of a resolution by the community, which otherwise by virtue of its +sovereign right might have without ceremony recalled the privileges +conferred by it on the plebs. + +But these rights would have been ineffective, if there had not +belonged to the tribune of the people an instantaneously operative +and irresistible power of enforcing them against him who did not +regard them, and especially against the magistrate contravening them. +This was conferred in such a form that the acting in opposition to +the tribune when making use of his right, above all things the laying +hands on his person, which at the Sacred Mount every plebeian, man by +man for himself and his descendants, had sworn to protect now and in +all time to come from all harm, should be a capital crime; and the +exercise of this criminal justice was committed not to the magistrates +of the community but to those of the plebs. The tribune might in +virtue of this his judicial office call to account any burgess, +especially the consul in office, have him seized if he should not +voluntarily submit, place him under arrest during investigation or +allow him to find bail, and then sentence him to death or to a fine. +For this purpose the two plebeian aediles appointed at the same +time were attached to the tribunes as their servants and assistants, +primarily to effect arrest, on which account the same inviolable +character was assured to them also by the collective oath of the +plebeians. Moreover the aediles themselves had judicial powers like +the tribunes, but only for the minor causes that might be settled by +fines. If an appeal was lodged against the decision of tribune or +aedile, it was addressed not to the whole body of the burgesses, with +which the officials of the plebs were not entitled at all to transact +business, but to the whole body of the plebeians, which in this case +met by curies and finally decided by majority of votes. + +This procedure certainly savoured of violence rather than of justice, +especially when it was adopted against a non-plebeian, as must in fact +have been ordinarily the case. It was not to be reconciled either +with the letter or the spirit of the constitution that a patrician +should be called to account by authorities who presided not over the +body of burgesses, but over an association formed within it, and that +he should be compelled to appeal, not to the burgesses, but to this +very association. This was originally without question Lynch justice; +but the self-help was doubtless carried into effect from early times +in form of law, and was after the legal recognition of the tribunate +of the plebs regarded as lawfully admissible. + +In point of intention this new jurisdiction of the tribunes and the +aediles, and the appellate decision of the plebeian assembly therein +originating, were beyond doubt just as much bound to the laws as the +jurisdiction of the consuls and quaestors and the judgment of the +centuries on appeal; the legal conceptions of crime against the +community(5) and of offences against order(6) were transferred from +the community and its magistrates to the plebs and its champions. +But these conceptions were themselves so little fixed, and their +statutory definition was so difficult and indeed impossible, that +the administration of justice under these categories from its very +nature bore almost inevitably the stamp of arbitrariness. And now +when the very idea of right had become obscured amidst the struggles +of the orders, and when the legal party--leaders on both sides were +furnished with a co-ordinate jurisdiction, this jurisdiction must have +more and more approximated to a mere arbitrary police. It affected +in particular the magistrate. Hitherto the latter according to +Roman state law, so long as he was a magistrate, was amenable to no +jurisdiction at all, and, although after demitting his office he might +have been legally made responsible for each of his acts, the exercise +of this right lay withal in the hands of the members of his own order +and ultimately of the collective community, to which these likewise +belonged. Now in the tribunician jurisdiction there emerged a new +power, which on the one hand might interfere against the supreme +magistrate even during his tenure of office, and on the other hand +was wielded against the noble burgesses exclusively by the non-noble, +and which was the more oppressive that neither the crime nor its +punishment was formally defined by law. In reality through the +co-ordinate jurisdiction of the plebs and the community the estates, +limbs, and lives of the burgesses were abandoned to the arbitrary +pleasure of the party assemblies. + +In civil jurisdiction the plebeian institutions interfered only so +far, that in the processes affecting freedom, which were so important +for the plebs, the nomination of jurymen was withdrawn from the +consuls, and the decisions in such cases were pronounced by the +"ten-men-judges" destined specially for that purpose (-iudices-, +-decemviri-, afterwards -decemviri litibus iudicandis-). + +Legislation + +With this co-ordinate jurisdiction there was further associated a +co-ordinate initiative in legislation. The right of assembling the +members and of procuring decrees on their part already pertained to +the tribunes, in so far as no association at all can be conceived +without such a right. But it was conferred upon them, in a marked +way, by legally securing that the autonomous right of the plebs to +assemble and pass resolutions should not be interfered with on the +part of the magistrates of the community or, in fact, of the community +itself. At all events it was the necessary preliminary to the legal +recognition of the plebs generally, that the tribunes could not be +hindered from having their successors elected by the assembly of the +plebs and from procuring the confirmation of their criminal sentences +by the same body; and this right accordingly was further specially +guaranteed to them by the Icilian law (262), which threatened with +severe punishment any one who should interrupt the tribune while +speaking, or should bid the assembly disperse. It is evident that +under such circumstances the tribune could not well be prevented from +taking a vote on other proposals than the choice of his successor and +the confirmation of his sentences. Such "resolves of the multitude" +(-plebi scita-) were not indeed strictly valid decrees of the +people; on the contrary, they were at first little more than are +the resolutions of our modern public meetings; but, as the distinction +between the comitia of the people and the councils of the multitude +was of a formal nature rather than aught else, the validity of these +resolves as autonomous determinations of the community was at once +claimed at least on the part of the plebeians, and the Icilian law for +instance was immediately carried in this way. Thus was the tribune of +the people appointed as a shield and protection for the individual, +and as leader and manager for all, provided with unlimited judicial +power in criminal proceedings, that in this way he might give emphasis +to his command, and lastly even pronounced to be in his person +inviolable (-sacrosanctus-), inasmuch as whoever laid hands upon +him or his servant was not merely regarded as incurring the vengeance +of the gods, but was also among men accounted as if, after legally +proven crime, deserving of death. + +Relation of the Tribune to the Consul + +The tribunes of the multitude (-tribuni plebis-) arose out +of the military tribunes and derived from them their name; but +constitutionally they had no further relation to them. On the +contrary, in respect of powers the tribunes of the plebs stood on a +level with the consuls. The appeal from the consul to the tribune, +and the tribune's right of intercession in opposition to the consul, +were, as has been already said, precisely of the same nature with the +appeal from consul to consul and the intercession of the one consul in +opposition to the other; and both cases were simply applications of +the general principle of law that, where two equal authorities differ, +the veto prevails over the command. Moreover the original number +(which indeed was soon augmented), and the annual duration of the +magistracy, which in the case of the tribunes changed its occupants +on the 10th of December, were common to the tribunes and the consuls. +They shared also the peculiar collegiate arrangement, which placed the +full powers of the office in the hands of each individual consul and +of each individual tribune, and, when collisions occurred within the +college, did not count the votes, but gave the Nay precedence over +the Yea; for which reason, when a tribune forbade, the veto of the +individual was sufficient notwithstanding the opposition of his +colleagues, while on the other hand, when he brought an accusation, +he could be thwarted by any one of those colleagues. Both consuls and +tribunes had full and co-ordinate criminal jurisdiction, although the +former exercised it indirectly, and the latter directly; as the two +quaestors were attached to the former, the two aediles were associated +with the latter.(7) The consuls were necessarily patricians, the +tribunes necessarily plebeians. The former had the ampler power, the +latter the more unlimited, for the consul submitted to the prohibition +and the judgment of the tribunes, but the tribune did not submit +himself to the consul. Thus the tribunician power was a copy of the +consular; but it was none the less a contrast to it. The power of +the consuls was essentially positive, that of the tribunes essentially +negative. The consuls alone were magistrates of the Roman people, not +the tribunes; for the former were elected by the whole burgesses, the +latter only by the plebeian association. In token of this the consul +appeared in public with the apparel and retinue pertaining to state- +officials; the tribunes sat on a stool instead of the "chariot seat," +and lacked the official attendants, the purple border, and generally +all the insignia of magistracy: even in the senate the tribune had +neither presidency nor so much as a seat. Thus in this remarkable +institution absolute prohibition was in the most stern and abrupt +fashion opposed to absolute command; the quarrel was settled by +legally recognizing and regulating the discord between rich and poor. + +Political Value of the Tribunate + +But what was gained by a measure which broke up the unity of the +state; which subjected the magistrates to a controlling authority +unsteady in its action and dependent on all the passions of +the moment; which in the hour of peril might have brought the +administration to a dead-lock at the bidding of any one of the +opposition chiefs elevated to the rival throne; and which, by +investing all the magistrates with co-ordinate jurisdiction in +the administration of criminal law, as it were formally transferred +that administration from the domain of law to that of politics +and corrupted it for all time coming? It is true indeed that the +tribunate, if it did not directly contribute to the political +equalization of the orders, served as a powerful weapon in the hands +of the plebeians when these soon afterwards desired admission to the +offices of state. But this was not the real design of the tribunate. +It was a concession wrung not from the politically privileged order, +but from the rich landlords and capitalists; it was designed to ensure +to the commons equitable administration of law, and to promote a more +judicious administration of finance. This design it did not, and +could not, fulfil. The tribune might put a stop to particular +iniquities, to individual instances of crying hardship; but the fault +lay not in the unfair working of a righteous law, but in a law which +was itself unrighteous, and how could the tribune regularly obstruct +the ordinary course of justice? Could he have done so, it would have +served little to remedy the evil, unless the sources of impoverishment +were stopped--the perverse taxation, the wretched system of credit, +and the pernicious occupation of the domain-lands. But such measures +were not attempted, evidently because the wealthy plebeians themselves +had no less interest in these abuses than the patricians. So this +singular magistracy was instituted, which presented to the commons an +obvious and available aid, and yet could not possibly carry out the +necessary economic reform. It was no proof of political wisdom, but a +wretched compromise between the wealthy aristocracy and the leaderless +multitude. It has been affirmed that the tribunate of the people +preserved Rome from tyranny. Were it true, it would be of little +moment: a change in the form of the state is not in itself an evil +for a people; on the contrary, it was a misfortune for the Romans +that monarchy was introduced too late, after the physical and mental +energies of the nation were exhausted. But the assertion is not +even correct; as is shown by the circumstance that the Italian states +remained as regularly free from tyrants as the Hellenic states +regularly witnessed their emergence. The reason lies simply in the +fact that tyranny is everywhere the result of universal suffrage, +and that the Italians excluded the burgesses who had no land from +their public assemblies longer than the Greeks did: when Rome departed +from this course, monarchy did not fail to emerge, and was in fact +associated with this very tribunician orifice. That the tribunate had +its use, in pointing out legitimate paths of opposition and averting +many a wrong, no one will fail to acknowledge; but it is equally +evident that, where it did prove useful, it was employed for very +different objects from those for which it had been established. +The bold experiment of allowing the leaders of the opposition a +constitutional veto, and of investing them with power to assert it +regardless of the consequences, proved to be an expedient by which +the state was politically unhinged; and social evils were prolonged +by the application of useless palliatives. + +Further Dissensions + +Now that civil war was organized, it pursued its course. The parties +stood face to face as if drawn up for battle, each under its leaders. +Restriction of the consular and extension of the tribunician power +were the objects contended for on the one side; the annihilation of +the tribunate was sought on the other. Legal impunity secured for +insubordination, refusal to enter the ranks for the defence of the +land, impeachments involving fines and penalties directed specially +against magistrates who had violated the rights of the commons or +who had simply provoked their displeasure, were the weapons of the +plebeians; and to these the patricians opposed violence, concert with +the public foes, and occasionally also the dagger of the assassin. +Hand-to-hand conflicts took place in the streets, and on both sides +the sacredness of the magistrate's person was violated. Many families +of burgesses are said to have migrated, and to have sought more +peaceful abodes in neighbouring communities; and we may well believe +it. The strong patriotism of the people is obvious from the fact, +not that they adopted this constitution, but that they endured it, +and that the community, notwithstanding the most vehement convulsions, +still held together. + +Coriolanus + +The best-known incident in these conflicts of the orders is the +history of Gnaeus Marcius, a brave aristocrat, who derived his +surname from the storming of Corioli. Indignant at the refusal of +the centuries to entrust to him the consulate in the year 263, he is +reported to have proposed, according to one version, the suspension of +the sales of corn from the state-stores, till the hungry people should +give up the tribunate; according to another version, the direct +abolition of the tribunate itself. Impeached by the tribunes so that +his life was in peril, it is said that he left the city, but only to +return at the head of a Volscian army; that when he was on the point +of conquering the city of his fathers for the public foe, the earnest +appeal of his mother touched his conscience; and that thus he expiated +his first treason by a second, and both by death. How much of this +is true cannot be determined; but the story, over which the naive +misrepresentations of the Roman annalists have shed a patriotic glory, +affords a glimpse of the deep moral and political disgrace of these +conflicts between the orders. Of a similar stamp was the surprise +of the Capitol by a band of political refugees, led by a Sabine chief, +Appius Herdonius, in the year 294; they summoned the slaves to arms, +and it was only after a violent conflict, and by the aid of the +Tusculans who hastened to render help, that the Roman burgess-force +overcame the Catilinarian band. The same character of fanatical +exasperation marks other events of this epoch, the historical +significance of which can no longer be apprehended in the lying +family narratives; such as the predominance of the Fabian clan which +furnished one of the two consuls from 269 to 275, and the reaction +against it, the emigration of the Fabii from Rome, and their +annihilation by the Etruscans on the Cremera (277). Still more odious +was the murder of the tribune of the people, Gnaeus Genucius, who had +ventured to call two consulars to account, and who on the morning of +the day fixed for the impeachment was found dead in bed (281). The +immediate effect of this misdeed was the Publilian law (283), one of +the most momentous in its consequences with which Roman history has to +deal. Two of the most important arrangements--the introduction of the +plebeian assembly of tribes, and the placing of the -plebiscitum- on +a level, although conditionally, with the formal law sanctioned by the +whole community--are to be referred, the former certainly, the latter +probably, to the proposal of Volero Publilius the tribune of the +people in 283. The plebs had hitherto adopted its resolutions by +curies; accordingly in these its separate assemblies, on the one hand, +the voting had been by mere number without distinction of wealth or +of freehold property, and, on the other hand, in consequence of that +standing side by side on the part of the clansmen, which was implied +in the very nature of the curial assembly, the clients of the great +patrician families had voted with one another in the assembly of the +plebeians. These two circumstances had given to the nobility various +opportunities of exercising influence on that assembly, and especially +of managing the election of tribunes according to their views; and +both were henceforth done away by means of the new method of voting +according to tribes. Of these, four had been formed under the Servian +constitution for the purposes of the levy, embracing town and country +alike;(8) subsequently-perhaps in the year 259--the Roman territory +had been divided into twenty districts, of which the first four +embraced the city and its immediate environs, while the other sixteen +were formed out of the rural territory on the basis of the clan-cantons +of the earliest Roman domain.(9) To these was added--probably +only in consequence of the Publilian law, and with a view to bring +about the inequality, which was desirable for voting purposes, in +the total number of the divisions--as a twenty-first tribe the +Crustuminian, which derived its name from the place where the plebs +had constituted itself as such and had established the tribunate;(10) +and thenceforth the special assemblies of the plebs took place, no +longer by curies, but by tribes. In these divisions, which were based +throughout on the possession of land, the voters were exclusively +freeholders: but they voted without distinction as to the size of +their possession, and just as they dwelt together in villages and +hamlets. Consequently, this assembly of the tribes, which otherwise +was externally modelled on that of the curies, was in reality an +assembly of the independent middle class, from which, on the one hand, +the great majority of freedmen and clients were excluded as not being +freeholders, and in which, on the other hand, the larger landholders +had no such preponderance as in the centuries. This "meeting of the +multitude" (-concilium plebis-) was even less a general assembly of +the burgesses than the plebeian assembly by curies had been, for it +not only, like the latter, excluded all the patricians, but also the +plebeians who had no land; but the multitude was powerful enough to +carry the point that its decree should have equal legal validity +with that adopted by the centuries, in the event of its having been +previously approved by the whole senate. That this last regulation +had the force of established law before the issuing of the Twelve +Tables, is certain; whether it was directly introduced on occasion +of the Publilian -plebiscitum-, or whether it had already been called +into existence by some other--now forgotten--statute, and was only +applied to the Publilian -plebiscitum- cannot be any longer +ascertained. In like manner it remains uncertain whether the number +of tribunes was raised by this law from two to four, or whether that +increase had taken place previously. + +Agrarian Law of Spurius Cassius + +More sagacious in plan than all these party steps was the attempt +of Spurius Cassius to break down the financial omnipotence of the +rich, and so to put a stop to the true source of the evil. He was +a patrician, and none in his order surpassed him in rank and renown. +After two triumphs, in his third consulate (268), he submitted to the +burgesses a proposal to have the public domain measured and to lease +part of it for the benefit of the public treasury, while a further +portion was to be distributed among the necessitous. In other words, +he attempted to wrest the control of the public lands from the senate, +and, with the support of the burgesses, to put an end to the selfish +system of occupation. He probably imagined that his personal +distinction, and the equity and wisdom of the measure, might carry +it even amidst that stormy sea of passion and of weakness. But he +was mistaken. The nobles rose as one man; the rich plebeians took +part with them; the commons were displeased because Spurius Cassius +desired, in accordance with federal rights and equity, to give to +the Latin confederates their share in the assignation. Cassius had +to die. There is some truth in the charge that he had usurped regal +power, for he had indeed endeavoured like the kings to protect the +free commons against his own order. His law was buried along with +him; but its spectre thenceforward incessantly haunted the eyes of +the rich, and again and again it rose from the tomb against them, +until amidst the conflicts to which it led the commonwealth perished. + +Decemvirs + +A further attempt was made to get rid of the tribunician power by +securing to the plebeians equality of rights in a more regular and +more effectual way. The tribune of the people, Gaius Terentilius +Arsa, proposed in 292 the nomination of a commission of five men to +prepare a general code of law by which the consuls should in future be +bound in exercising their judicial powers. But the senate refused to +sanction this proposal, and ten years elapsed ere it was carried into +effect--years of vehement strife between the orders, and variously +agitated moreover by wars and internal troubles. With equal obstinacy +the party of the nobles hindered the concession of the law in the +senate, and the plebs nominated again and again the same men as +tribunes. Attempts were made to obviate the attack by other +concessions. In the year 297 an increase of the tribunes from four to +ten was sanctioned--a very dubious gain; and in the following year, by +an Icilian -plebiscitum- which was admitted among the sworn privileges +of the plebs, the Aventine, which had hitherto been a temple-grove and +uninhabited, was distributed among the poorer burgesses as sites for +buildings in heritable occupancy. The plebs took what was offered +to them, but never ceased to insist in their demand for a legal code. +At length, in the year 300, a compromise was effected; the senate in +substance gave way. The preparation of a legal code was resolved +upon; for that purpose, as an extraordinary measure, the centuries +were to choose ten men who were at the same time to act as supreme +magistrates in room of the consuls (-decemviri consulari imperio +legibus scribundls-), and to this office not merely patricians, but +plebeians also might be elected. These were here for the first time +designated as eligible, though only for an extraordinary office. This +was a great step in the progress towards full political equality; and +it was not too dearly purchased, when the tribunate of the people as +well as the right of appeal were suspended while the decemvirate +lasted, and the decemvirs were simply bound not to infringe the sworn +liberties of the community. Previously however an embassy was sent +to Greece to bring home the laws of Solon and other Greek laws; and +it was only on its return that the decemvirs were chosen for the year +303. Although they were at liberty to elect plebeians, the choice +fell on patricians alone--so powerful was the nobility still--and +it was only when a second election became necessary for 304, that +some plebeians were chosen--the first non-patrician magistrates that +the Roman community had. + +Taking a connected view of these measures, we can scarcely attribute +to them any other design than that of substituting for tribunician +intercession a limitation of the consular powers by written law. +On both sides there must have been a conviction that things could not +remain as they were, and the perpetuation of anarchy, while it ruined +the commonwealth, was in reality of no benefit to any one. People in +earnest could not but discern that the interference of the tribunes +in administration and their action as prosecutors had an absolutely +pernicious effect; and the only real gain which the tribunate brought +to the plebeians was the protection which it afforded against a +partial administration of justice, by operating as a sort of court +of cassation to check the caprice of the magistrate. Beyond doubt, +when the plebeians desired a written code, the patricians replied that +in that event the legal protection of tribunes would be superfluous; +and upon this there appears to have been concession by both sides. +Perhaps there was never anything definitely expressed as to what +was to be done after the drawing up of the code; but that the plebs +definitely renounced the tribunate is not to be doubted, since it was +brought by the decemvirate into such a position that it could not get +back the tribunate otherwise than by illegal means. The promise given +to the plebs that its sworn liberties should not be touched, may be +referred to the rights of the plebeians independent of the tribunate, +such as the -provocatio- and the possession of the Aventine. The +intention seems to have been that the decemvirs should, on their +retiring, propose to the people to re-elect the consuls who should +now judge no longer according to their arbitrary pleasure but +according to written law. + +Legislation of the Twelve Tables + +The plan, if it should stand, was a wise one; all depended on whether +men's minds exasperated on either side with passion would accept that +peaceful adjustment. The decemvirs of the year 303 submitted their +law to the people, and it was confirmed by them, engraven on ten +tables of copper, and affixed in the Forum to the rostra in front +of the senate-house. But as a supplement appeared necessary, +decemvirs were again nominated in the year 304, who added two more +tables. Thus originated the first and only Roman code, the law of the +Twelve Tables. It proceeded from a compromise between parties, and +for that very reason could not well have contained any changes in the +existing law of a comprehensive nature, going beyond the regulation of +secondary matters and of the mere adaptation of means and ends. Even +in the system of credit no further alleviation was introduced than the +establishment of a--probably low--maximum of interest (10 per cent) +and the threatening of heavy penalties against the usurer-penalties, +characteristically enough, far heavier than those of the thief; the +harsh procedure in actions of debt remained at least in its leading +features unaltered. Still less, as may easily be conceived, were +changes contemplated in the rights of the orders. On the contrary the +legal distinction between burgesses liable to be taxed and those who +were without estate, and the invalidity of marriage between patricians +and plebeians, were confirmed anew in the law of the city. In like +manner, with a view to restrict the caprice of the magistrate and +to protect the burgess, it was expressly enacted that the later law +should uniformly have precedence over the earlier, and that no decree +of the people should be issued against a single burgess. The most +remarkable feature was the exclusion of appeal to the -comitia +tributa- in capital causes, while the privilege of appeal to the +centuries was guaranteed; which admits of explanation from the +circumstance that the penal jurisdiction was in fact usurped by the +plebs and its presidents,(11) and with the tribunate there necessarily +fell the tribunician capital process, while it was perhaps the +intention to retain the aedilician process of fine (-multa-). +The essential political significance of the measure resided far less +in the contents of the legislation than in the formal obligation now +laid upon the consuls to administer justice according to these forms +of process and these rules of law, and in the public exhibition of +the code, by which the administration of justice was subjected to the +control of publicity and the consul was compelled to dispense equal +and truly common justice to all. + +Fall of the Decemvirs + +The end of the decemvirate is involved in much obscurity. It only +remained--so runs the story--for the decemvirs to publish the last +two tables, and then to give place to the ordinary magistracy. But +they delayed to do so: under the pretext that the laws were not yet +ready, they themselves prolonged their magistracy after the expiry +of their official year--which was so far possible, as under Roman +constitutional law the magistracy called in an extraordinary way to +the revision of the constitution could not become legally bound by +the term set for its ending. The moderate section of the aristocracy, +with the Valerii and Horatii at their head, are said to have attempted +in the senate to compel the abdication of the decemvirate; but the +head of the decemvirs Appius Claudius, originally a rigid aristocrat, +but now changing into a demagogue and a tyrant, gained the ascendancy +in the senate, and the people submitted. The levy of two armies +was accomplished without opposition, and war was begun against the +Volscians as well as against the Sabines. Thereupon the former +tribune of the people, Lucius Siccius Dentatus, the bravest man in +Rome, who had fought in a hundred and twenty battles and had forty-five +honourable scars to show, was found dead in front of the camp, +foully murdered, as it was said, at the instigation of the decemvirs. +A revolution was fermenting in men's minds; and its outbreak was +hastened by the unjust sentence pronounced by Appius in the process as +to the freedom of the daughter of the centurion Lucius Verginius, the +bride of the former tribune of the people Lucius Icilius--a sentence +which wrested the maiden from her relatives with a view to make her +non-free and beyond the pale of the law, and induced her father +himself to plunge his knife into the heart of his daughter in the +open Forum, to rescue her from certain shame. While the people in +amazement at the unprecedented deed surrounded the dead body of the +fair maiden, the decemvir commanded his lictors to bring the father +and then the bridegroom before his tribunal, in order to render to +him, from whose decision there lay no appeal, immediate account +for their rebellion against his authority. The cup was now full. +Protected by the furious multitude, the father and the bridegroom of +the maiden made their escape from the lictors of the despot, and +while the senate trembled and wavered in Rome, the pair presented +themselves, with numerous witnesses of the fearful deed, in the two +camps. The unparalleled tale was told; the eyes of all were opened +to the gap which the absence of tribunician protection had made in the +security of law; and what the fathers had done their sons repeated. +Once more the armies abandoned their leaders: they marched in warlike +order through the city, and proceeded once more to the Sacred Mount, +where they again nominated their own tribunes. Still the decemvirs +refused to lay down their power; then the army with its tribunes +appeared in the city, and encamped on the Aventine. Now at length, +when civil war was imminent and the conflict in the streets might +hourly begin, the decemvirs renounced their usurped and dishonoured +power; and the consuls Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius negotiated +a second compromise, by which the tribunate of the plebs was again +established. The impeachment of the decemvirs terminated in the two +most guilty, Appius Claudius and Spurius Oppius, committing suicide +in prison, while the other eight went into exile and the state +confiscated their property. The prudent and moderate tribune of +the plebs, Marcus Duilius, prevented further judicial prosecutions +by a seasonable use of his veto. + +So runs the story as recorded by the pen of the Roman aristocrats; +but, even leaving out of view the accessory circumstances, the great +crisis out of which the Twelve Tables arose cannot possibly have +ended in such romantic adventures, and in political issues so +incomprehensible. The decemvirate was, after the abolition of the +monarchy and the institution of the tribunate of the people, the +third great victory of the plebs; and the exasperation of the opposite +party against the institution and against its head Appius Claudius +is sufficiently intelligible. The plebeians had through its means +secured the right of eligibility to the highest magistracy of the +community and a general code of law; and it was not they that had +reason to rebel against the new magistracy, and to restore the +purely patrician consular government by force of arms. This end +can only have been pursued by the party of the nobility, and if the +patricio-plebeian decemvirs made the attempt to maintain themselves +in office beyond their time, the nobility were certainly the first to +enter the lists against them; on which occasion doubtless the nobles +would not neglect to urge that the stipulated rights of the plebs should +be curtailed and the tribunate, in particular, should be taken from it. +If the nobility thereupon succeeded in setting aside the decemvirs, +it is certainly conceivable that after their fall the plebs should +once more assemble in arms with a view to secure the results both +of the earlier revolution of 260 and of the latest movement; and the +Valerio-Horatian laws of 305 can only be understood as forming a +compromise in this conflict. + +The Valerio-Horatian Laws + +The compromise, as was natural, proved very favourable to the +plebeians, and again imposed severely felt restrictions on the +power of the nobility. As a matter of course the tribunate of the +people was restored, the code of law wrung from the aristocracy was +definitively retained, and the consuls were obliged to judge according +to it. Through the code indeed the tribes lost their usurped +jurisdiction in capital causes; but the tribunes got it back, as a way +was found by which it was possible for them to transact business as +to such cases with the centuries. Besides they retained, in the right +to award fines without limitation and to submit this sentence to the +-comitia tributa-, a sufficient means of putting an end to the civic +existence of a patrician opponent. Further, it was on the proposition +of the consuls decreed by the centuries that in future every +magistrate--and therefore the dictator among the rest--should be bound +at his nomination to allow the right of appeal: any one who should +nominate a magistrate on other terms was to expiate the offence with +his life. In other respects the dictator retained his former powers; +and in particular his official acts could not, like those of the +consuls, be cancelled by a tribune. + +The plenitude of the consular power was further restricted in so far +as the administration of the military chest was committed to two +paymasters (-quaestores-) chosen by the community, who were nominated +for the first time in 307. The nomination as well of the two new +paymasters for war as of the two administering the city-chest now +passed over to the community; the consul retained merely the conduct +of the election instead of the election itself. The assembly in which +the paymasters were elected was that of the whole patricio-plebeian +freeholders, and voted by districts; an arrangement which likewise +involved a concession to the plebeian farmers, who had far more +command of these assemblies than of the centuriate -comitia-. + +A concession of still greater consequence was that which allowed the +tribunes to share in the discussions of the senate. To admit the +tribunes to the hall where the senate sat, appeared to that body +beneath its dignity; so a bench was placed for them at the door that +they might from that spot follow its proceedings. The tribunician +right of intercession had extended also to the decrees of the senate +as a collective body, after the latter had become not merely a +deliberative but a decretory board, which probably occurred at first +in the case of a -plebiscitum- that was meant to be binding for the +whole community;(12) it was natural that there should thenceforth be +conceded to the tribunes a certain participation in the discussions +of the senate-house. In order also to secure the decrees of the +senate-- with the validity of which indeed that of the most important +-plebiscita- was bound up--from being tampered with or forged, it +was enacted that in future they should be deposited not merely under +charge of the patrician -quaestores urbani- in the temple of Saturn, +but also under that of the plebian aediles in the temple of Ceres. +Thus this struggle, which was begun in order to get rid of the +tribunician power, terminated in the renewed and now definitive +sanctioning of its right to annul not only particular acts of +administration on the appeal of the person aggrieved, but also any +resolution of the constituent powers of the state at pleasure. +The persons of the tribunes, and the uninterrupted maintenance of +the college at its full number, were once more secured by the most +sacred oaths and by every element of reverence that religion could +present, and not less by the most formal laws. No attempt to abolish +this magistracy was ever from this time forward made in Rome. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter II + +1. II. I. Right of Appeal + +2. I. XIII. Landed proprietors + +3. I. VI. Character of the Roman Law + +4. II. I. Collegiate Arrangement + +5. I. XI. Property + +6. I. XI. Punishment of Offenses against Order + +7. That the plebeian aediles were formed after the model of the +patrician quaestors in the same way as the plebeian tribunes after +the model of the patrician consuls, is evident both as regards their +criminal functions (in which the distinction between the two +magistracies seems to have lain in their tendencies only, not in their +powers) and as regards their charge of the archives. The temple of +Ceres was to the aediles what the temple of Saturn was to the +quaestors, and from the former they derived their name. Significant +in this respect is the enactment of the law of 305 (Liv. iii. 55), +that the decrees of the senate should be delivered over to the aediles +there (p. 369), whereas, as is well known, according to the ancient +--and subsequently after the settlement of the struggles between the +orders, again preponderant--practice those decrees were committed to +the quaestors for preservation in the temple of Saturn. + +8. I. VI. Levy Districts + +9. I. III. Clan-Villages + +10. II. II. Secession to the Sacred mount + +11. II. II. Intercession + +12. II. II. Legislation + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Equalization of the Orders, and the New Aristocracy + + +Union of the Plebians + +The tribunician movements appear to have mainly originated in social +rather than political discontent, and there is good reason to suppose +that some of the wealthy plebeians admitted to the senate were no +less opposed to these movements than the patricians. For they too +benefited by the privileges against which the agitation was mainly +directed; and although in other respects they found themselves treated +as inferior, it probably seemed to them by no means an appropriate +time for asserting their claim to participate in the magistracies, +when the exclusive financial power of the whole senate was assailed. +This explains why during the first fifty years of the republic no step +was taken aiming directly at the political equalization of the orders. + +But this league between the patricians and the wealthy plebeians by no +means bore within itself any guarantee of permanence. Beyond doubt +from the very first a portion of the leading plebeian families had +attached themselves to the movement-party, partly from a sense of what +was due to the fellow-members of their order, partly in consequence +of the natural bond which unites all who are treated as inferior, +and partly because they perceived that concessions to the multitude +were inevitable in the issue, and that, if turned to due account, +they would result in the abrogation of the exclusive rights of +the patriciate and would thereby give to the plebeian aristocracy a +decisive preponderance in the state. Should this conviction become +--as was inevitable--more and more prevalent, and should the plebeian +aristocracy at the head of its order take up the struggle with the +patrician nobility, it would wield in the tribunate a legalized +instrument of civil warfare, and it might, with the weapon of social +distress, so fight its battles as to dictate to the nobility the terms +of peace and, in the position of mediator between the two parties, +compel its own admission to the offices of state. + +Such a crisis in the position of parties occurred after the fall of +the decemvirate. It had now become perfectly clear that the tribunate +of the plebs could never be set aside; the plebeian aristocracy could +not do better than seize this powerful lever and employ it for the +removal of the political disabilities of their order. + +Throwing Open of Marriage and of Magistracies-- +Military Tribunes with Consular Powers + +Nothing shows so clearly the defencelessness of the clan-nobility +when opposed to the united plebs, as the fact that the fundamental +principle of the exclusive party--the invalidity of marriage between +patricians and plebeians--fell at the first blow scarcely four years +after the decemviral revolution. In the year 309 it was enacted by +the Canuleian plebiscite, that a marriage between a patrician and +a plebeian should be valid as a true Roman marriage, and that the +children begotten of such a marriage should follow the rank of the +father. At the same time it was further carried that, in place of +consuls, military tribunes--of these there were at that time, before +the division of the army into legions, six, and the number of these +magistrates was adjusted accordingly-with consular powers(1) and +consular duration of office should be elected by the centuries. +The proximate cause was of a military nature, as the various wars +required a greater number of generals in chief command than the +consular constitution allowed; but the change came to be of essential +importance for the conflicts of the orders, and it may be that +that military object was rather the pretext than the reason for +this arrangement. According to the ancient law every burgess or +--metoikos-- liable to service might attain the post of an officer,(2) +and in virtue of that principle the supreme magistracy, after having +been temporarily opened up to the plebeians in the decemvirate, was +now after a more comprehensive fashion rendered equally accessible to +all freeborn burgesses. The question naturally occurs, what interest +the aristocracy could have--now that it was under the necessity of +abandoning its exclusive possession of the supreme magistracy and of +yielding in the matter--in refusing to the plebeians the title, and +conceding to them the consulate under this singular form?(3) But, +in the first place, there were associated with the holding of the +supreme magistracy various honorary rights, partly personal, partly +hereditary; thus the honour of a triumph was regarded as legally +dependent on the occupancy of the supreme magistracy, and was never +given to an officer who had not administered the latter office in +person; and the descendants of a curule magistrate were at liberty to +set up the image of such an ancestor in the family hall and to exhibit +it in public on fitting occasions, while this was not allowed in the +case of other ancestors.(4) It is as easy to be explained as it is +difficult to be vindicated, that the governing aristocratic order +should have allowed the government itself to be wrested from their +hands far sooner than the honorary rights associated with it, +especially such as were hereditary; and therefore, when it was obliged +to share the former with the plebeians, it gave to the actual supreme +magistrate the legal standing not of the holder of a curule chair, but +of a simple staff-officer, whose distinction was one purely personal. +Of greater political importance, however, than the refusal of the +-ius imaginum- and of the honour of a triumph was the circumstance, +that the exclusion of the plebeians sitting in the senate from +debate necessarily ceased in respect to those of their number who, +as designated or former consuls, ranked among the senators whose +opinion had to be asked before the rest; so far it was certainly +of great importance for the nobility to admit the plebeian only to +a consular office, and not to the consulate itself. + +Opposition of the Patriciate + +But notwithstanding these vexatious disabilities the privileges of the +clans, so far as they had a political value, were legally superseded +by the new institution; and, had the Roman nobility been worthy of its +name, it must now have given up the struggle. But it did not. Though +a rational and legal resistance was thenceforth impossible, spiteful +opposition still found a wide field of petty expedients, of chicanery +and intrigue; and, far from honourable or politically prudent as such +resistance was, it was still in a certain sense fruitful of results. +It certainly procured at length for the commons concessions which +could not easily have been wrung from the united Roman aristocracy; +but it also prolonged civil war for another century and enabled +the nobility, in defiance of those laws, practically to retain the +government in their exclusive possession for several generations +longer. + +Their Expedients + +The expedients of which the nobility availed themselves were as +various as political paltriness could suggest. Instead of deciding +at once the question as to the admission or exclusion of the plebeians +at the elections, they conceded what they were compelled to concede +only with reference to the elections immediately impending. The vain +struggle was thus annually renewed whether patrician consuls or +military tribunes from both orders with consular powers should be +nominated; and among the weapons of the aristocracy this mode of +conquering an opponent by wearying and annoying him proved by no +means the least effective. + +Subdivision of the Magistracy-- +Censorship + +Moreover they broke up the supreme power which had hitherto been +undivided, in order to delay their inevitable defeat by multiplying +the points to be assailed. Thus the adjustment of the budget and of +the burgess--and taxation-rolls, which ordinarily took place every +fourth year and had hitherto been managed by the consuls, was +entrusted as early as the year 319 to two valuators (-censores-), +nominated by the centuries from among the nobles for a period, at +the most, of eighteen months. The new office gradually became the +palladium of the aristocratic party, not so much on account of its +financial influence as on account of the right annexed to it of +filling up the vacancies in the senate and in the equites, and of +removing individuals from the lists of the senate, equites, and +burgesses on occasion of their adjustment. At this epoch, however, +the censorship by no means possessed the great importance and moral +supremacy which afterwards were associated with it. + +Quaestorship + +But the important change made in the year 333 in respect to the +quaestorship amply compensated for this success of the patrician +party. The patricio-plebeian assembly of the tribes--perhaps taking +up the ground that at least the two military paymasters were in fact +officers rather than civil functionaries, and that so far the plebeian +appeared as well entitled to the quaestorship as to the military +tribuneship--carried the point that plebeian candidates also were +admitted for the quaestorial elections, and thereby acquired for +the first time the privilege of eligibility as well as the right of +election for one of the ordinary magistracies. With justice it was +felt on the one side as a great victory, on the other as a severe +defeat, that thenceforth patrician and plebeian were equally capable +of electing and being elected to the military as well as to the urban +quaestorship. + +Attempts at Counterrevolution + +The nobility, in spite of the most obstinate resistance, only +sustained loss after loss; and their exasperation increased as their +power decreased. Attempts were doubtless still made directly to +assail the rights secured by agreement to the commons; but such +attempts were not so much the well-calculated manoeuvres of party as +the acts of an impotent thirst for vengeance. Such in particular was +the process against Maelius as reported by the tradition--certainly +not very trustworthy--that has come down to us. Spurius Maelius, +a wealthy plebeian, during a severe dearth (315) sold corn at such +prices as to put to shame and annoy the patrician store-president +(-praefectus annonae-) Gaius Minucius. The latter accused him of +aspiring to kingly power; with what amount of reason we cannot decide, +but it is scarcely credible that a man who had not even filled the +tribunate should have seriously thought of sovereignty. Nevertheless +the authorities took up the matter in earnest, and the cry of "King" +always produced on the multitude in Rome an effect similar to that +of the cry of "Pope" on the masses in England. Titus Quinctius +Capitolinus, who was for the sixth time consul, nominated Lucius +Quinctius Cincinnatus, who was eighty years of age, as dictator +without appeal, in open violation of the solemnly sworn laws.(5) +Maelius, summoned before him, seemed disposed to disregard the +summons; and the dictator's master of the horse, Gaius Servilius +Ahala, slew him with his own hand. The house of the murdered man was +pulled down, the corn from his granaries was distributed gratuitously +to the people, and those who threatened to avenge his death were +secretly made away with. This disgraceful judicial murder--a disgrace +even more to the credulous and blind people than to the malignant +party of young patricians--passed unpunished; but if that party had +hoped by such means to undermine the right of appeal, it violated +the laws and shed innocent blood in vain. + +Intrigues of the Nobility + +Electioneering intrigues and priestly trickery proved in the hands +of the nobility more efficient than any other weapons. The extent +to which the former must have prevailed is best seen in the fact +that in 322 it appeared necessary to issue a special law against +electioneering practices, which of course was of little avail. When +the voters could not be influenced by corruption or threatening, the +presiding magistrates stretched their powers--admitting, for example, +so many plebeian candidates that the votes of the opposition were +thrown away amongst them, or omitting from the list of candidates +those whom the majority were disposed to choose. If in spite of all +this an obnoxious election was carried, the priests were consulted +whether no vitiating circumstance had occurred in the auspices or +other religious ceremonies on the occasion; and some such flaw they +seldom failed to discover. Taking no thought as to the consequences +and unmindful of the wise example of their ancestors, the people +allowed the principle to be established that the opinion of the +skilled colleges of priests as to omens of birds, portents, and the +like was legally binding on the magistrate, and thus put it into their +power to cancel any state-act--whether the consecration of a temple +or any other act of administration, whether law or election--on the +ground of religious informality. In this way it became possible that, +although the eligibility of plebeians had been established by law +already in 333 for the quaestorship and thenceforward continued to +be legally recognized, it was only in 345 that the first plebeian +attained the quaestorship; in like manner patricians almost +exclusively held the military tribunate with consular powers down +to 354. It was apparent that the legal abolition of the privileges of +the nobles had by no means really and practically placed the plebeian +aristocracy on a footing of equality with the clan-nobility. Many +causes contributed to this result: the tenacious opposition of the +nobility far more easily allowed itself to be theoretically superseded +in a moment of excitement, than to be permanently kept down in the +annually recurring elections; but the main cause was the inward +disunion between the chiefs of the plebeian aristocracy and the mass +of the farmers. The middle class, whose votes were decisive in the +comitia, did not feel itself specially called on to advance the +interests of genteel non-patricians, so long as its own demands were +disregarded by the plebeian no less than by the patrician aristocracy. + +The Suffering Farmers + +During these political struggles social questions had lain on the +whole dormant, or were discussed at any rate with less energy. After +the plebeian aristocracy had gained possession of the tribunate for +its own ends, no serious notice was taken either of the question of +the domains or of a reform in the system of credit; although there was +no lack either of newly acquired lands or of impoverished or decaying +farmers. Instances indeed of assignations took place, particularly in +the recently conquered border-territories, such as those of the domain +of Ardea in 312, of Labici in 336, and of Veii in 361--more however on +military grounds than for the relief of the farmer, and by no means to +an adequate extent. Individual tribunes doubtless attempted to revive +the law of Cassius--for instance Spurius Maecilius and Spurius +Metilius instituted in the year 337 a proposal for the distribution +of the whole state-lands--but they were thwarted, in a manner +characteristic of the existing state of parties, by the opposition +of their own colleagues or in other words of the plebeian aristocracy. +Some of the patricians also attempted to remedy the common distress; +but with no better success than had formerly attended Spurius Cassius. +A patrician like Cassius and like him distinguished by military renown +and personal valour, Marcus Manlius, the saviour of the Capitol during +the Gallic siege, is said to have come forward as the champion of +the oppressed people, with whom he was connected by the ties of +comradeship in war and of bitter hatred towards his rival, the +celebrated general and leader of the optimate party, Marcus Furius +Camillus. When a brave officer was about to be led away to a debtor's +prison, Manlius interceded for him and released him with his own +money; at the same time he offered his lands to sale, declaring +loudly that, as long as he possessed a foot's breadth of land, such +iniquities should not occur. This was more than enough to unite the +whole government party, patricians as well as plebeians, against the +dangerous innovator. The trial for high treason, the charge of having +meditated a renewal of the monarchy, wrought on the blind multitude +with the insidious charm which belongs to stereotyped party-phrases. +They themselves condemned him to death, and his renown availed him +nothing save that it was deemed expedient to assemble the people for +the bloody assize at a spot whence the voters could not see the rock +of the citadel--the dumb monitor which might remind them how their +fatherland had been saved from the extremity of danger by the hands of +the very man whom they were now consigning to the executioner (370). + +While the attempts at reformation were thus arrested in the bud, +the social disorders became still more crying; for on the one +hand the domain-possessions were ever extending in consequence of +successful wars, and on the other hand debt and impoverishment were +ever spreading more widely among the farmers, particularly from the +effects of the severe war with Veii (348-358) and of the burning of +the capital in the Gallic invasion (364). It is true that, when in +the Veientine war it became necessary to prolong the term of service +of the soldiers and to keep them under arms not--as hitherto at the +utmost--only during summer, but also throughout the winter, and when +the farmers, foreseeing their utter economic ruin, were on the point +of refusing their consent to the declaration of war, the senate +resolved on making an important concession. It charged the pay, which +hitherto the tribes had defrayed by contribution, on the state-chest, +or in other words, on the produce of the indirect revenues and the +domains (348). It was only in the event of the state-chest being at +the moment empty that a general contribution (-tributum-) was imposed +on account of the pay; and in that case it was considered as a forced +loan and was afterwards repaid by the community. The arrangement was +equitable and wise; but, as it was not placed upon the essential +foundation of turning the domains to proper account for the benefit +of the exchequer, there were added to the increased burden of service +frequent contributions, which were none the less ruinous to the man +of small means that they were officially regarded not as taxes +but as advances. + +Combination of the Plebian Aristocracy and the Farmers against the +Nobility-- +Licinio-Sextian Laws + +Under such circumstances, when the plebeian aristocracy saw itself +practically excluded by the opposition of the nobility and the +indifference of the commons from equality of political rights, +and the suffering farmers were powerless as opposed to the close +aristocracy, it was natural that they should help each other by a +compromise. With this view the tribunes of the people, Gaius Licinius +and Lucius Sextius, submitted to the commons proposals to the +following effect: first, to abolish the consular tribunate; secondly, +to lay it down as a rule that at least one of the consuls should be +a plebeian; thirdly, to open up to the plebeians admission to one +of the three great colleges of priests--that of the custodiers of +oracles, whose number was to be increased to ten (-duoviri-, +afterwards -decemviri sacris faciundis-(6)); fourthly, as respected +the domains, to allow no burgess to maintain upon the common pasture +more than a hundred oxen and five hundred sheep, or to hold more than +five hundred -jugera- (about 300 acres) of the domain lands left free +for occupation; fifthly, to oblige the landlords to employ in the +labours of the field a number of free labourers proportioned to that +of their rural slaves; and lastly, to procure alleviation for debtors +by deduction of the interest which had been paid from the capital, +and by the arrangement of set terms for the payment of arrears. + +The tendency of these enactments is obvious. They were designed +to deprive the nobles of their exclusive possession of the curule +magistracies and of the hereditary distinctions of nobility therewith +associated; which, it was characteristically conceived, could only be +accomplished by the legal exclusion of the nobles from the place of +second consul. They were designed, as a consequence, to emancipate +the plebeian members of the senate from the subordinate position which +they occupied as silent by-sitters,(7) in so far as those of them at +least who had filled the consulate thereby acquired a title to deliver +their opinion with the patrician consulars before the other patrician +senators.(8) They were intended, moreover, to withdraw from the +nobles the exclusive possession of spiritual dignities; and in +carrying out this purpose for reasons sufficiently obvious the old +Latin priesthoods of the augurs and Pontifices were left to the old +burgesses, but these were obliged to open up to the new burgesses the +third great college of more recent origin and belonging to a worship +that was originally foreign. They were intended, in fine, to procure +a share in the common usufructs of burgesses for the poorer commons, +alleviation for the suffering debtors, and employment for the +day-labourers that were destitute of work. Abolition of privileges, +civil equality, social reform--these were the three great ideas, of +which it was the design of this movement to secure the recognition. +Vainly the patricians exerted all the means at their command in +opposition to these legislative proposals; even the dictatorship and +the old military hero Camillus were able only to delay, not to avert +their accomplishment. Willingly would the people have separated the +proposals; of what moment to it were the consulate and custodiership +of oracles, if only the burden of debt were lightened and the public +lands were free! But it was not for nothing that the plebeian +nobility had adopted the popular cause; it included the proposals in +one single project of law, and after a long struggle--it is said of +eleven years--the senate at length gave its consent and they passed +in the year 387. + +Political Abolition of the Patriciate + +With the election of the first non-patrician consul--the choice fell +on one of the authors of this reform, the late tribune of the people, +Lucius Sextius Lateranus--the clan-aristocracy ceased both in fact and +in law to be numbered among the political institutions of Rome. When +after the final passing of these laws the former champion of the +clans, Marcus Furius Camillus, founded a sanctuary of Concord at the +foot of the Capitol--upon an elevated platform, where the senate was +wont frequently to meet, above the old meeting-place of the burgesses, +the Comitium--we gladly cherish the belief that he recognized in the +legislation thus completed the close of a dissension only too long +continued. The religious consecration of the new concord of the +community was the last public act of the old warrior and statesman, +and a worthy termination of his long and glorious career. He was +not wholly mistaken; the more judicious portion of the clans +evidently from this time forward looked upon their exclusive political +privileges as lost, and were content to share the government with the +plebeian aristocracy. In the majority, however, the patrician spirit +proved true to its incorrigible character. On the strength of the +privilege which the champions of legitimacy have at all times claimed +of obeying the laws only when these coincide with their party +interests, the Roman nobles on various occasions ventured, in open +violation of the stipulated arrangement, to nominate two patrician +consuls. But, when by way of answer to an election of that sort for +the year 411 the community in the year following formally resolved +to allow both consular positions to be filled by non-patricians, they +understood the implied threat, and still doubtless desired, but never +again ventured, to touch the second consular place. + +Praetorship-- +Curule Aedileship-- +Complete Opening Up of Magistracies and Priesthoods + +In like manner the aristocracy simply injured itself by the attempt +which it made, on the passing of the Licinian laws, to save at least +some remnant of its ancient privileges by means of a system of +political clipping and paring. Under the pretext that the nobility +were exclusively cognizant of law, the administration of justice was +detached from the consulate when the latter had to be thrown open +to the plebeians; and for this purpose there was nominated a special +third consul, or, as he was commonly called, a praetor. In like +manner the supervision of the market and the judicial police-duties +connected with it, as well as the celebration of the city-festival, +were assigned to two newly nominated aediles, who--by way of +distinction from the plebeian aediles--were named from their standing +jurisdiction "aediles of the judgment seat" (-aediles curules-). +But the curule aedileship became immediately so far accessible to +the plebeians, that it was held by patricians and plebeians +alternately. Moreover the dictatorship was thrown open to plebeians +in 398, as the mastership of the horse had already been in the year +before the Licinian laws (386); both the censorships were thrown open +in 403, and the praetorship in 417; and about the same time (415) the +nobility were by law excluded from one of the censorships, as they +had previously been from one of the consulships. It was to no purpose +that once more a patrician augur detected secret flaws, hidden from +the eyes of the uninitiated, in the election of a plebeian dictator +(427), and that the patrician censor did not up to the close of our +present period (474) permit his colleague to present the solemn +sacrifice with which the census closed; such chicanery served merely +to show the ill humour of patricianism. Of as little avail were the +complaints which the patrician presidents of the senate would not fail +to raise regarding the participation of the plebeians in its debates; +it became a settled rule that no longer the patrician members, +but those who had attained to one of the three supreme ordinary +magistracies--the consulship, praetorship, and curule aedileship +--should be summoned to give their opinion in this order and without +distinction of class, while the senators who had held none of these +offices still even now took part merely in the division. The right, +in fine, of the patrician senate to reject a decree of the community +as unconstitutional--a right, however, which in all probability it +rarely ventured to exercise--was withdrawn from it by the Publilian +law of 415 and by the Maenian law which was not passed before the +middle of the fifth century, in so far that it had to bring forward +its constitutional objections, if it had any such, when the list +of candidates was exhibited or the project of law was brought in; +which practically amounted to a regular announcement of its consent +beforehand. In this character, as a purely formal right, the +confirmation of the decrees of the people still continued in +the hands of the nobility down to the last age of the republic. + +The clans retained, as may naturally be conceived, their religious +privileges longer. Indeed, several of these, which were destitute +of political importance, were never interfered with, such as their +exclusive eligibility to the offices of the three supreme -flamines- +and that of -rex sacrorum- as well as to the membership of the +colleges of Salii. On the other hand the two colleges of Pontifices +and of augurs, with which a considerable influence over the courts +and the comitia were associated, were too important to remain in the +exclusive possession of the patricians. The Ogulnian law of 454 +accordingly threw these also open to plebeians, by increasing the +number both of the pontifices and of the augurs from six to nine, and +equally distributing the stalls in the two colleges between patricians +and plebeians. + +Equivalence of Law and Plebiscitum + +The two hundred years' strife was brought at length to: a close by the +law of the dictator Q. Hortensius (465, 468) which was occasioned by a +dangerous popular insurrection, and which declared that the decrees of +the plebs should stand on an absolute footing of equality--instead of +their earlier conditional equivalence--with those of the whole +community. So greatly had the state of things been changed that +that portion of the burgesses which had once possessed exclusively +the right of voting was thenceforth, under the usual form of taking +votes binding for the whole burgess-body, no longer so much as asked +the question. + +The Later Patricianism + +The struggle between the Roman clans and commons was thus +substantially at an end. While the nobility still preserved out +of its comprehensive privileges the -de facto- possession of one of +the consulships and one of the censorships, it was excluded by law +from the tribunate, the plebeian aedileship, the second consulship +and censorship, and from participation in the votes of the plebs +which were legally equivalent to votes of the whole body of burgesses. +As a righteous retribution for its perverse and stubborn resistance, +the patriciate had seen its former privileges converted into so many +disabilities. The Roman clan-nobility, however, by no means +disappeared because it had become an empty name. The less the +significance and power of the nobility, the more purely and +exclusively the patrician spirit developed itself. The haughtiness +of the "Ramnians" survived the last of their class-privileges for +centuries; after they had steadfastly striven "to rescue the consulate +from the plebeian filth" and had at length become reluctantly +convinced of the impossibility of such an achievement, they continued +at least rudely and spitefully to display their aristocratic spirit. +To understand rightly the history of Rome in the fifth and sixth +centuries, we must never overlook this sulking patricianism; it could +indeed do little more than irritate itself and others, but this it +did to the best of its ability. Some years after the passing of the +Ogulnian law (458) a characteristic instance of this sort occurred. +A patrician matron, who was married to a leading plebeian that had +attained to the highest dignities of the state, was on account of this +misalliance expelled from the circle of noble dames and was refused +admission to the common festival of Chastity; and in consequence of +that exclusion separate patrician and plebeian goddesses of Chastity +were thenceforward worshipped in Rome. Doubtless caprices of this +sort were of very little moment, and the better portion of the +clans kept themselves entirely aloof from this miserable policy of +peevishness; but it left behind on both sides a feeling of discontent, +and, while the struggle of the commons against the clans was in itself +a political and even moral necessity, these convulsive efforts to +prolong the strife--the aimless combats of the rear-guard after the +battle had been decided, as well as the empty squabbles as to rank +and standing--needlessly irritated and disturbed the public and +private life of the Roman community. + +The Social Distress, and the Attempt to Relieve It + +Nevertheless one object of the compromise concluded by the two +portions of the plebs in 387, the abolition of the patriciate, had +in all material points been completely attained. The question next +arises, how far the same can be affirmed of the two positive objects +aimed at in the compromise?--whether the new order of things in +reality checked social distress and established political equality? +The two were intimately connected; for, if economic embarrassments +ruined the middle class and broke up the burgesses into a minority of +rich men and a suffering proletariate, such a state of things would at +once annihilate civil equality and in reality destroy the republican +commonwealth. The preservation and increase of the middle class, and +in particular of the farmers, formed therefore for every patriotic +statesman of Rome a problem not merely important, but the most +important of all. The plebeians, moreover, recently called to take +part in the government, greatly indebted as they were for their new +political rights to the proletariate which was suffering and expecting +help at their hands, were politically and morally under special +obligation to attempt its relief by means of government measures, +so far as relief was by such means at all attainable. + +The Licinian Agrarian Laws + +Let us first consider how far any real relief was contained in that +part of the legislation of 387 which bore upon the question. That +the enactment in favour of the free day-labourers could not possibly +accomplish its object--namely, to check the system of farming on +a large scale and by means of slaves, and to secure to the free +proletarians at least a share of work--is self-evident. In this +matter legislation could afford no relief, without shaking the +foundations of the civil organization of the period in a way that +would reach far beyond its immediate horizon. In the question of the +domains, on the other hand, it was quite possible for legislation to +effect a change; but what was done was manifestly inadequate. The new +domain-arrangement, by granting the right of driving very considerable +flocks and herds upon the public pastures, and that of occupying +domain-land not laid out in pasture up to a maximum fixed on a +high scale, conceded to the wealthy an important and perhaps even +disproportionate prior share in the produce of the domains; and by +the latter regulation conferred upon the domain-tenure, although it +remained in law liable to pay a tenth and revocable at pleasure, +as well as upon the system of occupation itself, somewhat of a legal +sanction. It was a circumstance still more suspicious, that the +new legislation neither supplemented the existing and manifestly +unsatisfactory provisions for the collection of the pasture-money +and the tenth by compulsory measures of a more effective kind, nor +prescribed any thorough revision of the domanial possessions, nor +appointed a magistracy charged with the carrying of the new laws into +effect. The distribution of the existing occupied domain-land partly +among the holders up to a fair maximum, partly among the plebeians +who had no property, in both cases in full ownership; the abolition +in future of the system of occupation; and the institution of +an authority empowered to make immediate distribution of any +future acquisitions of territory, were so clearly demanded by the +circumstances of the case, that it certainly was not through want +of discernment that these comprehensive measures were neglected. +We cannot fail to recollect that it was the plebeian aristocracy, +in other words, a portion of the very class that was practically +privileged in respect to the usufructs of the domains, which proposed +the new arrangement, and that one of its very authors, Gaius Licinius +Stolo, was among the first to be condemned for having exceeded the +agrarian maximum; and we cannot but ask whether the legislators dealt +altogether honourably, and whether they did not on the contrary +designedly evade a solution, really tending to the common benefit, +of the unhappy question of the domains. We do not mean, however, to +express any doubt that the regulations of the Licinian laws, such as +they were, might and did substantially benefit the small farmer and +the day-labourer. It must, moreover, be acknowledged that in the +period immediately succeeding the passing of the law the authorities +watched with at least comparative strictness over the observance of +its rules as to the maximum, and frequently condemned the possessors +of large herds and the occupiers of the domains to heavy fines. + +Laws Imposing Taxes-- +Laws of Credit + +In the system of taxation and of credit also efforts were made with +greater energy at this period than at any before or subsequent to it +to remedy the evils of the national economy, so far as legal measures +could do so. The duty levied in 397 of five per cent on the value of +slaves that were to be manumitted was--irrespective of the fact that +it imposed a check on the undesirable multiplication of freedmen--the +first tax in Rome that was really laid upon the rich. In like manner +efforts were made to remedy the system of credit. The usury laws, +which the Twelve Tables had established,(9) were renewed and gradually +rendered more stringent, so that the maximum of interest was +successively lowered from 10 per cent (enforced in 397) to 5 per cent +(in 407) for the year of twelve months, and at length (412) the taking +of interest was altogether forbidden. The latter foolish law remained +formally in force, but, of course, it was practically inoperative; the +standard rate of interest afterwards usual, viz. 1 per cent per month, +or 12 per cent for the civil common year--which, according to the +value of money in antiquity, was probably at that time nearly the same +as, according to its modern value, a rate of 5 or 6 per cent--must +have been already about this period established as the maximum of +appropriate interest. Any action at law for higher rates must have +been refused, perhaps even judicial claims for repayment may have been +allowed; moreover notorious usurers were not unfrequently summoned +before the bar of the people and readily condemned by the tribes to +heavy fines. Still more important was the alteration of the procedure +in cases of debt by the Poetelian law (428 or 441). On the one hand +it allowed every debtor who declared on oath his solvency to save his +personal freedom by the cession of his property; on the other hand it +abolished the former summary proceedings in execution on a loan-debt, +and laid down the rule that no Roman burgess could be led away to +bondage except upon the sentence of jurymen. + +Continued Distress + +It is plain that all these expedients might perhaps in some respects +mitigate, but could not remove, the existing economic disorders. +The continuance of the distress is shown by the appointment of a +bank-commission to regulate the relations of credit and to provide +advances from the state-chest in 402, by the fixing of legal payment +by instalments in 407, and above all by the dangerous popular +insurrection about 467, when the people, unable to obtain new +facilities for the payment of debts, marched out to the Janiculum, +and nothing but a seasonable attack by external enemies, and the +concessions contained in the Hortensian law,(10) restored peace to +the community. It is, however, very unjust to reproach these earnest +attempts to check the impoverishment of the middle class with their +inadequacy. The belief that it is useless to employ partial and +palliative means against radical evils, because they only remedy +them in part, is an article of faith never preached unsuccessfully +by baseness to simplicity, but it is none the less absurd. On the +contrary, we may ask whether the vile spirit of demagogism had not +even thus early laid hold of this matter, and whether expedients were +really needed so violent and dangerous as, for example, the deduction +of the interest paid from the capital. Our documents do not enable +us to decide the question of right or wrong in the case. But we +recognize clearly enough that the middle class of freeholders +still continued economically in a perilous and critical position; +that various endeavours were made by those in power to remedy it by +prohibitory laws and by respites, but of course in vain; and that the +aristocratic ruling class continued to be too weak in point of control +over its members, and too much entangled in the selfish interests of +its order, to relieve the middle class by the only effectual means at +the disposal of the government--the entire and unreserved abolition +of the system of occupying the state-lands--and by that course to free +the government from the reproach of turning to its own advantage the +oppressed position of the governed. + +Influence of the Extension of the Roman Dominion in Elevating the +Farmer-Class + +A more effectual relief than any which the government was willing +or able to give was derived by the middle classes from the political +successes of the Roman community and the gradual consolidation of the +Roman sovereignty over Italy. The numerous and large colonies which +it was necessary to found for the securing of that sovereignty, the +greater part of which were sent forth in the fifth century, furnished +a portion of the agricultural proletariate with farms of their own, +while the efflux gave relief to such as remained at home. The +increase of the indirect and extraordinary sources of revenue, and +the flourishing condition of the Roman finances in general, rendered +it but seldom necessary to levy any contribution from the farmers in +the form of a forced loan. While the earlier small holdings were +probably lost beyond recovery, the rising average of Roman prosperity +must have converted the former larger landholders into farmers, and +in so far added new members to the middle class. People of rank +sought principally to secure the large newly-acquired districts for +occupation; the mass of wealth which flowed to Rome through war and +commerce must have reduced the rate of interest; the increase in the +population of the capital benefited the farmer throughout Latium; +a wise system of incorporation united a number of neighbouring and +formerly subject communities with the Roman state, and thereby +strengthened especially the middle class; finally, the glorious +victories and their mighty results silenced faction. If the distress +of the farmers was by no means removed and still less were its sources +stopped, it yet admits of no doubt that at the close of this period +the Roman middle class was on the whole in a far less oppressed +condition than in the first century after the expulsion of the kings. + +Civic Equality + +Lastly civic equality was in a certain sense undoubtedly attained +or rather restored by the reform of 387, and the development of its +legitimate consequences. As formerly, when the patricians still in +fact formed the burgesses, these had stood upon a footing of absolute +equality in rights and duties, so now in the enlarged burgess-body +there existed in the eye of the law no arbitrary distinctions. +The gradations to which differences of age, sagacity, cultivation, and +wealth necessarily give rise in civil society, naturally also pervaded +the sphere of public life; but the spirit animating the burgesses and +the policy of the government uniformly operated so as to render these +differences as little conspicuous as possible. The whole system of +Rome tended to train up her burgesses on an average as sound and +capable, but not to bring into prominence the gifts of genius. The +growth of culture among the Romans did not at all keep pace with the +development of the power of their community, and it was instinctively +repressed rather than promoted by those in power. That there should +be rich and poor, could not be prevented; but (as in a genuine +community of farmers) the farmer as well as the day-labourer +personally guided the plough, and even for the rich the good economic +rule held good that they should live with uniform frugality and above +all should hoard no unproductive capital at home--excepting the +salt-cellar and the sacrificial ladle, no silver articles were at +this period seen in any Roman house. Nor was this of little moment. +In the mighty successes which the Roman community externally achieved +during the century from the last Veientine down to the Pyrrhic war we +perceive that the patriciate has now given place to the farmers; that +the fall of the highborn Fabian would have been not more and not less +lamented by the whole community than the fall of the plebeian Decian +was lamented alike by plebeians and patricians; that the consulate did +not of itself fall even to the wealthiest aristocrat; and that a poor +husbandman from Sabina, Manius Curius, could conquer king Pyrrhus in +the field of battle and chase him out of Italy, without ceasing to be +a simple Sabine farmer and to cultivate in person his own bread-corn. + +New Aristocracy + +In regard however to this imposing republican equality we must not +overlook the fact that it was to a considerable extent only formal, +and that an aristocracy of a very decided stamp grew out of it or +rather was contained in it from the very first. The non-patrician +families of wealth and consideration had long ago separated from the +plebs, and leagued themselves with the patriciate in the participation +of senatorial rights and in the prosecution of a policy distinct from +that of the plebs and very often counteracting it. The Licinian laws +abrogated the legal distinctions within the ranks of the aristocracy, +and changed the character of the barrier which excluded the plebeian +from the government, so that it was no longer a hindrance unalterable +in law, but one, not indeed insurmountable, but yet difficult to be +surmounted in practice. In both ways fresh blood was mingled with +the ruling order in Rome; but in itself the government still remained, +as before, aristocratic. In this respect the Roman community was a +genuine farmer-commonwealth, in which the rich holder of a whole hide +was little distinguished externally from the poor cottager and held +intercourse with him on equal terms, but aristocracy nevertheless +exercised so all-powerful a sway that a man without means far sooner +rose to be master of the burgesses in the city than mayor in his own +village. It was a very great and valuable gain, that under the new +legislation even the poorest burgess might fill the highest office +of the state; nevertheless it was a rare exception when a man from +the lower ranks of the population reached such a position,(11) and +not only so, but probably it was, at least towards the close of +this period, possible only by means of an election carried by +the opposition. + +New Opposition + +Every aristocratic government of itself calls forth a corresponding +opposition party; and as the formal equalization of the orders only +modified the aristocracy, and the new ruling order not only succeeded +the old patriciate but engrafted itself on it and intimately coalesced +with it, the opposition also continued to exist and in all respects +pursued a similar course. As it was now no longer the plebeian +burgesses as such, but the common people, that were treated as +inferior, the new opposition professed from the first to be the +representative of the lower classes and particularly of the small +farmers; and as the new aristocracy attached itself to the patriciate, +so the first movements of this new opposition were interwoven with the +final struggles against the privileges of the patricians. The first +names in the series of these new Roman popular leaders were Manius +Curius (consul 464, 479, 480; censor 481) and Gaius Fabricius (consul +472, 476, 481; censor 479); both of them men without ancestral lineage +and without wealth, both summoned--in opposition to the aristocratic +principle of restricting re-election to the highest office of the +state--thrice by the votes of the burgesses to the chief magistracy, +both, as tribunes, consuls, and censors, opponents of patrician +privileges and defenders of the small farmer-class against the +incipient arrogance of the leading houses. The future parties were +already marked out; but the interests of party were still suspended +on both sides in presence of the interests of the commonweal. The +patrician Appius Claudius and the farmer Manius Curius--vehement in +their personal antagonism--jointly by wise counsel and vigorous action +conquered king Pyrrhus; and while Gaius Fabricius as censor inflicted +penalties on Publius Cornelius Rufinus for his aristocratic sentiments +and aristocratic habits, this did not prevent him from supporting the +claim of Rufinus to a second consulate on account of his recognized +ability as a general. The breach was already formed; but the +adversaries still shook hands across it. + +The New Government + +The termination of the struggles between the old and new burgesses, +the various and comparatively successful endeavours to relieve the +middle class, and the germs--already making their appearance amidst +the newly acquired civic equality--of the formation of a new +aristocratic and a new democratic party, have thus been passed +in review. It remains that we describe the shape which the new +government assumed amidst these changes, and the positions in which +after the political abolition of the nobility the three elements of +the republican commonwealth--the burgesses, the magistrates, and +the senate--stood towards each other. + +The Burgess-Body-- +Its Composition + +The burgesses in their ordinary assemblies continued as hitherto to +be the highest authority in the commonwealth and the legal sovereign. +But it was settled by law that--apart from the matters committed once +for all to the decision of the centuries, such as the election of +consuls and censors--voting by districts should be just as valid +as voting by centuries: a regulation introduced as regards the +patricio-plebeian assembly by the Valerio-Horatian law of 305(12) and +extended by the Publilian law of 415, but enacted as regards the +plebeian separate assembly by the Hortensian law about 467.(13) We have +already noticed that the same individuals, on the whole, were entitled +to vote in both assemblies, but that--apart from the exclusion of +the patricians from the plebeian separate assembly--in the general +assembly of the districts all entitled to vote were on a footing of +equality, while in the centuriate comitia the working of the suffrage +was graduated with reference to the means of the voters, and in so +far, therefore, the change was certainly a levelling and democratic +innovation. It was a circumstance of far greater importance that, +towards the end of this period, the primitive freehold basis of the +right of suffrage began for the first time to be called in question. +Appius Claudius, the boldest innovator known in Roman history, in his +censorship in 442 without consulting the senate or people so adjusted +the burgess-roll, that a man who had no land was received into +whatever tribe he chose and then according to his means into the +corresponding century. But this alteration was too far in advance +of the spirit of the age to obtain full acceptance. One of the +immediate successors of Appius, Quintus Fabius Rullianus, the famous +conqueror of the Samnites, undertook in his censorship of 450 not to +set it aside entirely, but to confine it within such limits that the +real power in the burgess-assemblies should continue to be vested in +the holders of land and of wealth. He assigned those who had no land +collectively to the four city tribes, which were now made to rank not +as the first but as the last. The rural tribes, on the other hand, +the number of which gradually increased between 367 and 513 from +seventeen to thirty-one--thus forming a majority, greatly +preponderating from the first and ever increasing in preponderance, +of the voting-divisions--were reserved by law for the whole of the +burgesses who were freeholders. In the centuries the equalization of +the freeholders and non-freeholders remained as Appius had introduced +it. In this manner provision was made for the preponderance of the +freeholders in the comitia of the tribes, while for the centuriate +comitia in themselves the wealthy already turned the scale. By this +wise and moderate arrangement on the part of a man who for his warlike +feats and still more for this peaceful achievement justly received the +surname of the Great (-Maximus-), on the one hand the duty of bearing +arms was extended, as was fitting, also to the non-freehold burgesses; +on the other hand care was taken that their influence, especially +that of those who had once been slaves and who were for the most part +without property in land, should be subjected to that check which +is unfortunately, in a state allowing slavery, an indispensable +necessity. A peculiar moral jurisdiction, moreover, which gradually +came to be associated with the census and the making up of the +burgess-roll, excluded from the burgess-body all individuals +notoriously unworthy, and guarded the full moral and political +purity of citizenship. + +Increasing Powers of the Burgesses + +The powers of the comitia exhibited during this period a tendency to +enlarge their range, but in a manner very gradual. The increase in +the number of magistrates to be elected by the people falls, to some +extent, under this head; it is an especially significant fact that +from 392 the military tribunes of one legion, and from 443 four +tribunes in each of the first four legions respectively, were +nominated no longer by the general, but by the burgesses. During this +period the burgesses did not on the whole interfere in administration; +only their right of declaring war was, as was reasonable, emphatically +maintained, and held to extend also to cases in which a prolonged +armistice concluded instead of a peace expired and what was not in +law but in fact a new war began (327). In other instances a question +of administration was hardly submitted to the people except when the +governing authorities fell into collision and one of them referred +the matter to the people--as when the leaders of the moderate party +among the nobility, Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horatius, in 305, and +the first plebeian dictator, Gaius Marcius Rutilus, in 398, were not +allowed by the senate to receive the triumphs they had earned; when +the consuls of 459 could not agree as to their respective provinces of +jurisdiction; and when the senate, in 364, resolved to give up to the +Gauls an ambassador who had forgotten his duty, and a consular tribune +carried the matter to the community. This was the first occasion on +which a decree of the senate was annulled by the people; and heavily +the community atoned for it. Sometimes in difficult cases the +government left the decision to the people, as first, when Caere sued +for peace, after the people had declared war against it but before +war had actually begun (401); and at a subsequent period, when the +senate hesitated to reject unceremoniously the humble entreaty of +the Samnites for peace (436). It is not till towards the close of +this epoch that we find a considerably extended intervention of the +-comitia tributa- in affairs of administration, particularly through +the practice of consulting it as to the conclusion of peace and of +alliances: this extension probably dates from the Hortensian law +of 467. + +Decreasing Importance of the Burgess-Body + +But notwithstanding these enlargements of the powers of the +burgess-assemblies, their practical influence on state affairs began, +particularly towards the close of this period, to wane. First of all, +the extension of the bounds of Rome deprived her primary assembly of +its true basis. As an assembly of the freeholders of the community, +it formerly might very well meet in sufficiently full numbers, and +might very well know its own wishes, even without discussion; but the +Roman burgess-body had now become less a civic community than a state. +The fact that those dwelling together voted also with each other, no +doubt, introduced into the Roman comitia, at least when the voting +was by tribes, a sort of inward connection and into the voting now +and then energy and independence; but under ordinary circumstances +the composition of the comitia and their decision were left dependent +on the person who presided or on accident, or were committed to the +hands of the burgesses domiciled in the capital. It is, therefore, +quite easy to understand how the assemblies of the burgesses, which +had great practical importance during the first two centuries of +the republic, gradually became a mere instrument in the hands of +the presiding magistrate, and in truth a very dangerous instrument, +because the magistrates called to preside were so numerous, and +every resolution of the community was regarded as the ultimate legal +expression of the will of the people. But the enlargement of the +constitutional rights of the burgesses was not of much moment, +inasmuch as these were less than formerly capable of a will and action +of their own, and there was as yet no demagogism, in the proper sense +of that term, in Rome. Had any such demagogic spirit existed, it +would have attempted not to extend the powers of the burgesses, but to +remove the restrictions on political debate in their presence; whereas +throughout this whole period there was undeviating acquiescence in the +old maxims, that the magistrate alone could convoke the burgesses, +and that he was entitled to exclude all debate and all proposal +of amendments. At the time this incipient breaking up of the +constitution made itself felt chiefly in the circumstance that +the primary assemblies assumed an essentially passive attitude, +and did not on the whole interfere in government either to help +or to hinder it. + +The Magistrates. Partition and Weakening of the Consular Powers + +As regards the power of the magistrates, its diminution, although not +the direct design of the struggles between the old and new burgesses, +was doubtless one of their most important results. At the beginning +of the struggle between the orders or, in other words, of the strife +for the possession of the consular power, the consulate was still +the one and indivisible, essentially regal, magistracy; and the +consul, like the king in former times, still had the appointment +of all subordinate functionaries left to his own free choice. +At the termination of that contest its most important functions +--jurisdiction, street-police, election of senators and equites, +the census and financial administration --were separated from the +consulship and transferred to magistrates, who like the consul +were nominated by the community and occupied a position far more +co-ordinate than subordinate. The consulate, formerly the single +ordinary magistracy of the state, was now no longer even absolutely +the first. In the new arrangement as to the ranking and usual order +of succession of the public offices the consulate stood indeed above +the praetorship, aedileship, and quaestorship, but beneath the +censorship, which--in addition to the most important financial duties +--was charged with the adjustment of the rolls of burgesses, equites, +and senators, and thereby wielded a wholly arbitrary moral control +over the entire community and every individual burgess, the humblest +as well as the most prominent. The conception of limited magisterial +power or special function, which seemed to the original Roman state-law +irreconcilable with the conception of supreme office, gradually +gained a footing and mutilated and destroyed the earlier idea of the +one and indivisible -imperium-. A first step was already taken in +this direction by the institution of the standing collateral offices, +particularly the quaestorship;(14) it was completely carried out by +the Licinian laws (387), which prescribed the functions of the three +supreme magistrates, and assigned administration and the conduct of +war to the two first, and the management of justice to the third. But +the change did not stop here. The consuls, although they were in law +wholly and everywhere co-ordinate, naturally from the earliest times +divided between them in practice the different departments of duty +(-provinciae-). Originally this was done simply by mutual concert, or +in default of it by casting lots; but by degrees the other constituent +authorities in the commonwealth interfered with this practical +definition of functions. It became usual for the senate to define +annually the spheres of duty; and, while it did not directly +distribute them among the co-ordinate magistrates, it exercised +decided influence on the personal distribution by advice and request. +In an extreme case the senate doubtless obtained a decree of the +community, definitively to settle the question of distribution;(15) +the government, however, very seldom employed this dangerous +expedient. Further, the most important affairs, such as the +concluding of peace, were withdrawn from the consuls, and they +were in such matters obliged to have recourse to the senate and +to act according to its instructions. Lastly, in cases of extremity +the senate could at any time suspend the consuls from office; for, +according to an usage never established by law but never violated +in practice, the creation of a dictatorship depended simply upon +the resolution of the senate, and the fixing of the person to be +nominated, although constitutionally vested in the nominating +consul, really under ordinary circumstances lay with the senate. + +Limitation of the Dictatorship + +The old unity and plenary legal power of the -imperium- were retained +longer in the case of the dictatorship than in that of the consulship. +Although of course as an extraordinary magistracy it had in reality +from the first its special functions, it had in law far less of a +special character than the consulate. But it also was gradually +affected by the new idea of definite powers and functions introduced +into the legal life of Rome. In 391 we first meet with a dictator +expressly nominated from theological scruples for the mere +accomplishment of a religious ceremony; and though that dictator +himself, doubtless in formal accordance with the constitution, +treated the restriction of his powers as null and took the command +of the army in spite of it, such an opposition on the part of the +magistrate was not repeated on occasion of the subsequent similarly +restricted nominations, which occurred in 403 and thenceforward very +frequently. On the contrary, the dictators thenceforth accounted +themselves bound by their powers as specially defined. + +Restriction as to the Accumulation and the Reoccupation of Offices + +Lastly, further seriously felt restrictions of the magistracy were +involved in the prohibition issued in 412 against the accumulation +of the ordinary curule offices, and in the enactment of the same date, +that the same person should not again administer the same office under +ordinary circumstances before an interval of ten years had elapsed, as +well as in the subsequent regulation that the office which practically +was the highest, the censorship, should not be held a second time +at all (489). But the government was still strong enough not to be +afraid of its instruments or to desist purposely on that account +from employing those who were the most serviceable. Brave officers +were very frequently released from these rules,(16) and cases still +occurred like those of Quintus Fabius Rullianus, who was five times +consul in twenty-eight years, and of Marcus Valerius Corvus (384-483) +who, after he had filled six consulships, the first in his twenty-third, +the last in his seventy-second year, and had been throughout three +generations the protector of his countrymen and the terror +of the foe, descended to the grave at the age of a hundred. + +The Tribunate of the People as an Instrument of Government + +While the Roman magistrate was thus more and more completely and +definitely transformed from the absolute lord into the limited +commissioner and administrator of the community, the old +counter-magistracy, the tribunate of the people, was undergoing at +the same time a similar transformation internal rather than external. +It served a double purpose in the commonwealth. It had been from +the beginning intended to protect the humble and the weak by a +somewhat revolutionary assistance (-auxilium-) against the overbearing +violence of the magistrates; it had subsequently been employed to get +rid of the legal disabilities of the commons and the privileges of the +gentile nobility. The latter end was attained. The original object +was not only in itself a democratic ideal rather than a political +possibility, but it was also quite as obnoxious to the plebeian +aristocracy into whose hands the tribunate necessarily fell, and +quite as incompatible with the new organization which originated +in the equalization of the orders and had if possible a still more +decided aristocratic hue than that which preceded it, as it was +obnoxious to the gentile nobility and incompatible with the patrician +consular constitution. But instead of abolishing the tribunate, they +preferred to convert it from a weapon of opposition into an instrument +of government, and now introduced the tribunes of the people, who were +originally excluded from all share in administration and were neither +magistrates nor members of the senate, into the class of governing +authorities. + +While in jurisdiction they stood from the beginning on an equality +with the consuls and in the early stages of the conflicts between the +orders acquired like the consuls the right of initiating legislation, +they now received--we know not exactly when, but presumably at or soon +after the final equalization of the orders--a position of equality +with the consuls as confronting the practically governing authority, +the senate. Hitherto they had been present at the proceedings of the +senate, sitting on a bench at the door; now they obtained, like the +other magistrates and by their side, a place in the senate itself and +the right to interpose their word in its discussions. If they were +precluded from the right of voting, this was simply an application of +the general principle of Roman state-law, that those only should give +counsel who were not called to act; in accordance with which the whole +of the acting magistrates possessed during their year of office only a +seat, not a vote, in the council of the state.(17) But concession did +not rest here. The tribunes received the distinctive prerogative of +supreme magistracy, which among the ordinary magistrates belonged +only to the consuls and praetors besides--the right of convoking the +senate, of consulting it, and of procuring decrees from it.(18) This +was only as it should be; the heads of the plebeian aristocracy +could not but be placed on an equality with those of the patrician +aristocracy in the senate, when once the government had passed +from the clan-nobility to the united aristocracy. Now that this +opposition-college, originally excluded from all share in the public +administration, became--particularly with reference to strictly urban +affairs--a second supreme executive and one of the most usual and most +serviceable instruments of the government, or in other words of the +senate, for managing the burgesses and especially for checking the +excesses of the magistrates, it was certainly, as respected its +original character, absorbed and politically annihilated; but this +course was really enjoined by necessity. Clearly as the defects of +the Roman aristocracy were apparent, and decidedly as the steady +growth of aristocratic ascendency was connected with the practical +setting aside of the tribunate, none can fail to see that government +could not be long carried on with an authority which was not only +aimless and virtually calculated to put off the suffering proletariate +with a deceitful prospect of relief, but was at the same time +decidedly revolutionary and possessed of a--strictly speaking +--anarchical prerogative of obstruction to the authority of the +magistrates and even of the state itself. But that faith in an ideal, +which is the foundation of all the power and of all the impotence +of democracy, had come to be closely associated in the minds of the +Romans with the tribunate of the plebs; and we do not need to +recall the case of Cola Rienzi in order to perceive that, however +unsubstantial might be the advantage thence arising to the multitude, +it could not be abolished without a formidable convulsion of the +state. Accordingly with genuine political prudence they contented +themselves with reducing it to a nullity under forms that should +attract as little attention as possible. The mere name of this +essentially revolutionary magistracy was still retained within +the aristocratically governed commonwealth--an incongruity for the +present, and for the future, in the hands of a coming revolutionary +party, a sharp and dangerous weapon. For the moment, however, and for +a long time to come the aristocracy was so absolutely powerful and +so completely possessed control over the tribunate, that no trace at +all is to be met with of a collegiate opposition on the part of +the tribunes to the senate; and the government overcame the forlorn +movements of opposition that now and then proceeded from individual +tribunes, always without difficulty, and ordinarily by means of +the tribunate itself. + +The Senate. Its Composition + +In reality it was the senate that governed the commonwealth, and did +so almost without opposition after the equalization of the orders. +Its very composition had undergone a change. The free prerogative of +the chief magistrates in this matter, as it had been exercised after +the setting aside of the old clan-representation,(19) had been already +subjected to very material restrictions on the abolition of the +presidency for life.(20) + +A further step towards the emancipation of the senate from the power +of the magistrates took place, when the adjustment of the senatorial +lists was transferred from the supreme magistrates to subordinate +functionaries--from the consuls to the censors.(21) Certainly, +whether immediately at that time or soon afterwards, the right of +the magistrate entrusted with the preparation of the list to omit +from it individual senators on account of a stain attaching to them +and thereby to exclude them from the senate was, if not introduced, +at least more precisely defined,(22) and in this way the foundations +were laid of that peculiar jurisdiction over morals on which the high +repute of the censors was chiefly based.(23) But censures of that +sort--especially since the two censors had to be at one on the matter +--might doubtless serve to remove particular persons who did not +contribute to the credit of the assembly or were hostile to the spirit +prevailing there, but could not bring the body itself into dependence +on the magistracy. + +But the right of the magistrates to constitute the senate according +to their judgment was decidedly restricted by the Ovinian law, which +was passed about the middle of this period, probably soon after the +Licinian laws. That law at once conferred a seat and vote in the +senate provisionally on every one who had been curule aedile, praetor, +or consul, and bound the next censors either formally to inscribe +these expectants in the senatorial roll, or at any rate to exclude +them from the roll only for such reasons as sufficed for the rejection +of an actual senator. The number of those, however, who had been +magistrates was far from sufficing to keep the senate up to the normal +number of three hundred; and below that point it could not be allowed +to fall, especially as the list of senators was at the same time that +of jurymen. Considerable room was thus always left for the exercise +of the censorial right of election; but those senators who were chosen +not in consequence of having held office, but by selection on the part +of the censor--frequently burgesses who had filled a non-curule public +office, or distinguished themselves by personal valour, who had killed +an enemy in battle or saved the life of a burgess--took part in +voting, but not in debate.(24) The main body of the senate, and +that portion of it into whose hands government and administration +were concentrated, was thus according to the Ovinian law substantially +based no longer on the arbitrary will of a magistrate, but indirectly +on election by the people. The Roman state in this way made some +approach to, although it did not reach, the great institution of +modern times, representative popular government, while the aggregate +of the non-debating senators furnished--what it is so necessary and +yet so difficult to get in governing corporations--a compact mass +of members capable of forming and entitled to pronounce an opinion, +but voting in silence. + +Powers of the Senate + +The powers of the senate underwent scarcely any change in form. The +senate carefully avoided giving a handle to opposition or to ambition +by unpopular changes, or manifest violations, of the constitution; it +permitted, though it did nor promote, the enlargement in a democratic +direction of the power of the burgesses. But while the burgesses +acquired the semblance, the senate acquired the substance of power +--a decisive influence over legislation and the official elections, +and the whole control of the state. + +Its Influence in Legislation + +Every new project of law was subjected to a preliminary deliberation +in the senate, and scarcely ever did a magistrate venture to lay a +proposal before the community without or in opposition to the senate's +opinion. If he did so, the senate had--in the intercessory powers of +the magistrates and the annulling powers of the priests--an ample set +of means at hand to nip in the bud, or subsequently to get rid of, +obnoxious proposals; and in case of extremity it had in its hands +as the supreme administrative authority not only the executing, but +the power of refusing to execute, the decrees of the community. The +senate further with tacit consent of the community claimed the right +in urgent cases of absolving from the laws, under the reservation that +the community should ratify the proceeding--a reservation which from +the first was of little moment, and became by degrees so entirely a +form that in later times they did not even take the trouble to propose +the ratifying decree. + +Influence on the Elections + +As to the elections, they passed, so far as they depended on the +magistrates and were of political importance, practically into the +hands of the senate. In this way it acquired, as has been mentioned +already,(25) the right to appoint the dictator. Great regard had +certainly to be shown to the community; the right of bestowing the +public magistracies could not be withdrawn from it; but, as has +likewise been already observed, care was taken that this election of +magistrates should not be constructed into the conferring of definite +functions, especially of the posts of supreme command when war was +imminent. Moreover the newly introduced idea of special functions on +the one hand, and on the other the right practically conceded to the +senate of dispensation from the laws, gave to it an important share +in official appointments. Of the influence which the senate exercised +in settling the official spheres of the consuls in particular, we have +already spoken.(26) One of the most important applications of the +dispensing right was the dispensation of the magistrate from the legal +term of his tenure of office--a dispensation which, as contrary to the +fundamental laws of the community, might not according to Roman state-law +be granted in the precincts of the city proper, but beyond these +was at least so far valid that the consul or praetor, whose term was +prolonged, continued after its expiry to discharge his functions +"in a consul's or praetor's stead" (-pro consule- -pro praetore-). +Of course this important right of extending the term of office +--essentially on a par with the right of nomination--belonged by +law to the community alone, and at the beginning was in fact exercised +by it; but in 447, and regularly thenceforward, the command of the +commander-in-chief was prolonged by mere decree of the senate. To this +was added, in fine, the preponderating and skilfully concerted influence +of the aristocracy over the elections, which guided them ordinarily, +although not always, to the choice of candidates agreeable to +the government. + +Senatorial Government + +Finally as regards administration, war, peace and alliances, the +founding of colonies, the assignation of lands, building, in fact +every matter of permanent and general importance, and in particular +the whole system of finance, depended absolutely on the senate. +It was the senate which annually issued general instructions to the +magistrates, settling their spheres of duty and limiting the troops +and moneys to be placed at the disposal of each; and recourse was +had to its counsel in every case of importance. The keepers of the +state-chest could make no payment to any magistrate with the exception +of the consul, or to any private person, unless authorized by a previous +decree of the senate. In the management, however, of current affairs +and in the details of judicial and military administration the supreme +governing corporation did not interfere; the Roman aristocracy had too +much political judgment and tact to desire to convert the control of +the commonwealth into a guardianship over the individual official, +or to turn the instrument into a machine. + +That this new government of the senate amidst all its retention +of existing forms involved a complete revolutionizing of the old +commonwealth, is clear. That the free action of the burgesses should +be arrested and benumbed; that the magistrates should be reduced to +be the presidents of its sittings and its executive commissioners; +that a corporation for the mere tendering of advice should seize the +inheritance of both the authorities sanctioned by the constitution +and should become, although under very modest forms, the central +government of the state--these were steps of revolution and +usurpation. Nevertheless, if any revolution or any usurpation appears +justified before the bar of history by exclusive ability to govern, +even its rigorous judgment must acknowledge that this corporation +timeously comprehended and worthily fulfilled its great task. Called +to power not by the empty accident of birth, but substantially by the +free choice of the nation; confirmed every fifth year by the stern +moral judgment of the worthiest men; holding office for life, and so +not dependent on the expiration of its commission or on the varying +opinion of the people; having its ranks close and united ever after +the equalization of the orders; embracing in it all the political +intelligence and practical statesmanship that the people possessed; +absolute in dealing with all financial questions and in the guidance +of foreign policy; having complete power over the executive by virtue +of its brief duration and of the tribunician intercession which was +at the service of the senate after the termination of the quarrels +between the orders--the Roman senate was the noblest organ of the +nation, and in consistency and political sagacity, in unanimity and +patriotism, in grasp of power and unwavering courage, the foremost +political corporation of all times--still even now an "assembly of +kings," which knew well how to combine despotic energy with republican +self-devotion. Never was a state represented in its external +relations more firmly and worthily than Rome in its best times by +its senate. In matters of internal administration it certainly +cannot be concealed that the moneyed and landed aristocracy, which +was especially represented in the senate, acted with partiality in +affairs that bore upon its peculiar interests, and that the sagacity +and energy of the body were often in such cases employed far from +beneficially to the state. Nevertheless the great principle +established amidst severe conflicts, that all Roman burgesses were +equal in the eye of the law as respected rights and duties, and the +opening up of a political career (or in other words, of admission +to the senate) to every one, which was the result of that principle, +concurred with the brilliance of military and political successes in +preserving the harmony of the state and of the nation, and relieved +the distinction of classes from that bitterness and malignity which +marked the struggle of the patricians and plebeians. And, as the +fortunate turn taken by external politics had the effect of giving the +rich for more than a century ample space for themselves and rendered +it unnecessary that they should oppress the middle class, the Roman +people was enabled by means of its senate to carry out for a longer +term than is usually granted to a people the grandest of all human +undertakings--a wise and happy self-government. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter III + +1. The hypothesis that legally the full -imperium- belonged to the +patrician, and only the military -imperium- to the plebeian, consular +tribunes, not only provokes various questions to which there is no +answer--as to the course followed, for example, in the event of the +election falling, as was by law quite possible, wholly on plebeians +--but specially conflicts with the fundamental principle of Roman +constitutional law, that the -imperium-, that is to say, the right +of commanding the burgess in name of the community, was functionally +indivisible and capable of no other limitation at all than a +territorial one. There was a province of urban law and a province +of military law, in the latter of which the -provocatio- and other +regulations of urban law were not applicable; there were magistrates, +such as the proconsuls, who were empowered to discharge functions +simply in the latter; but there were, in the strict sense of law, +no magistrates with merely jurisdictional, as there were none with +merely military, -imperium-. The proconsul was in his province, just +like the consul, at once commander-in-chief and supreme judge, and was +entitled to send to trial actions not only between non-burgesses and +soldiers, but also between one burgess and another. Even when, on the +institution of the praetorship, the idea rose of apportioning special +functions to the -magistratus maiores-, this division of powers had +more of a practical than of a strictly legal force; the -praetor +urbanus- was primarily indeed the supreme judge, but he could also +convoke the centuries, at least for certain cases, and could +command an army; the consul in the city held primarily the supreme +administration and the supreme command, but he too acted as a judge +in cases of emancipation and adoption--the functional indivisibility +of the supreme magistracy was therefore, even in these instances, +very strictly adhered to on both sides. Thus the military as well as +jurisdictional authority, or, laying aside these abstractions foreign +to the Roman law of this period, the absolute magisterial power, must +have virtually pertained to the plebeian consular tribunes as well as +to the patrician. But it may well be, as Becker supposes (Handb. ii. +2, 137), that, for the same reasons, for which at a subsequent period +there was placed alongside of the consulship common to both orders +the praetorship actually reserved for a considerable time for the +patricians, even during the consular tribunate the plebeian members +of the college were -de facto- kept aloof from jurisdiction, and so +far the consular tribunate prepared the way for the subsequent actual +division of jurisdiction between consuls and praetors. + +2. I. VI. Political Effects of the Servian Military Organization + +3. The defence, that the aristocracy clung to the exclusion of +the plebeians from religious prejudice, mistakes the fundamental +character of the Roman religion, and imports into antiquity the modern +distinction between church and state. The admittance of a non-burgess +to a religious ceremony of the citizens could not indeed but appear +sinful to the orthodox Roman; but even the most rigid orthodoxy never +doubted that admittance to civic communion, which absolutely and +solely depended on the state, involved also full religious equality. +All such scruples of conscience, the honesty of which in themselves +we do not mean to doubt, were precluded, when once they granted to the +plebeians -en masse- at the right time the patriciate. This only may +perhaps be alleged by way of excuse for the nobility, that after it +had neglected the right moment for this purpose at the abolition of +the monarchy, it was no longer in a position subsequently of itself +to retrieve the neglect (II. I. The New Community). + +4. Whether this distinction between these "curule houses" and the +other families embraced within the patriciate was ever of serious +political importance, cannot with certainty be either affirmed or +denied; and as little do we know whether at this epoch there really +was any considerable number of patrician families that were not yet +curule. + +5. II. II. The Valerio-Horatian Laws + +6. I. XII. Foreign Worships + +7. II. I. Senate, + +8. II. I. Senate, II. III. Opposition of the Patriciate + +9. II. II. Legislation of the Twelve Tables + +10. II. III. Equivalence Law and Plebiscitum + +11. The statements as to the poverty of the consulars of this period, +which play so great a part in the moral anecdote-books of a later age, +mainly rest on a misunderstanding on the one hand of the old frugal +economy--which might very well consist with considerable prosperity +--and on the other hand of the beautiful old custom of burying men who +had deserved well of the state from the proceeds of penny collections +--which was far from being a pauper burial. The method also of +explaining surnames by etymological guess-work, which has imported +so many absurdities into Roman history, has furnished its quota to +this belief (-Serranus-). + +12. II. II. The Valerio-Horatian Laws + +13. II. III. Equivalence Law and Plebiscitum + +14. II. I. Restrictions on the Delegation of Powers + +15. II. III. Increasing Powers of the Burgesses + +16. Any one who compares the consular Fasti before and after 412 +will have no doubt as to the existence of the above-mentioned law +respecting re-election to the consulate; for, while before that year +a return to office, especially after three or four years, was a +common occurrence, afterwards intervals of ten years and more were +as frequent. Exceptions, however, occur in very great numbers, +particularly during the severe years of war 434-443. On the other +hand, the principle of not allowing a plurality of offices was +strictly adhered to. There is no certain instance of the combination +of two of the three ordinary curule (Liv. xxxix. 39, 4) offices (the +consulate, praetorship, and curule aedileship), but instances occur +of other combinations, such as of the curule aedileship and the office +of master of the horse (Liv. xxiii. 24, 30); of the praetorship +and censorship (Fast. Cap. a. 501); of the praetorship and the +dictatorship (Liv. viii. 12); of the consulate and the dictatorship +(Liv. viii. 12). + +17. II. I. Senate + +18. Hence despatches intended for the senate were addressed to +Consuls, Praetors, Tribunes of the Plebs, and Senate (Cicero, ad +Fam. xv. 2, et al.) + +19. I. V. The Senate + +20. II. I. Senate + +21. II. III. Censorship + +22. This prerogative and the similar ones with reference to the +equestrian and burgess-lists were perhaps not formally and legally +assigned to the censors, but were always practically implied in +their powers. It was the community, not the censor, that conferred +burgess-rights; but the person, to whom the latter in making up the +list of persons entitled to vote did not assign a place or assigned an +inferior one, did not lose his burgess-right, but could not exercise +the privileges of a burgess, or could only exercise them in the +inferior place, till the preparation of a new list. The same was the +case with the senate; the person omitted by the censor from his list +ceased to attend the senate, as long as the list in question remained +valid--unless the presiding magistrate should reject it and reinstate +the earlier list. Evidently therefore the important question in this +respect was not so much what was the legal liberty of the censors, +as how far their authority availed with those magistrates who had to +summon according to their lists. Hence it is easy to understand +how this prerogative gradually rose in importance, and how with the +increasing consolidation of the nobility such erasures assumed +virtually the form of judicial decisions and were virtually respected +as such. As to the adjustment of the senatorial list undoubtedly the +enactment of the Ovinian -plebiscitum- exercised a material share of +influence--that the censors should admit to the senate "the best men +out of all classes." + +23. II. III. The Burgess-Body. Its Composition + +24. II. III. Complete Opening Up of Magistracies and Priesthoods + +25. II. III. Restrictions as to the Accumulation and the Reoccupation +of Offices + +26. II. III. Partition and Weakening of Consular Powers + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Fall of the Etruscan Power-the Celts + + +Etrusco-Carthaginian Maritime Supremacy + +In the previous chapters we have presented an outline of the +development of the Roman constitution during the first two centuries +of the republic; we now recur to the commencement of that epoch for +the purpose of tracing the external history of Rome and of Italy. +About the time of the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome the Etruscan +power had reached its height. The Tuscans, and the Carthaginians who +were in close alliance with them, possessed undisputed supremacy on +the Tyrrhene Sea. Although Massilia amidst continual and severe +struggles maintained her independence, the seaports of Campania and +of the Volscian land, and after the battle of Alalia Corsica also,(1) +were in the possession of the Etruscans. In Sardinia the sons of the +Carthaginian general Mago laid the foundation of the greatness both of +their house and of their city by the complete conquest of the island +(about 260); and in Sicily, while the Hellenic colonies were occupied +with their internal feuds, the Phoenicians retained possession of +the western half without material opposition. The vessels of the +Etruscans were no less dominant in the Adriatic; and their pirates +were dreaded even in the more eastern waters. + +Subjugation of Latium by Etruria + +By land also their power seemed to be on the increase. To acquire +possession of Latium was of the most decisive importance to Etruria, +which was separated by the Latins alone from the Volscian towns that +were dependent on it and from its possessions in Campania. Hitherto +the firm bulwark of the Roman power had sufficiently protected Latium, +and had successfully maintained against Etruria the frontier line of +the Tiber. But now, when the whole Tuscan league, taking advantage of +the confusion and the weakness of the Roman state after the expulsion +of the Tarquins, renewed its attack more energetically than before +under the king Lars Porsena of Clusium, it no longer encountered the +wonted resistance. Rome surrendered, and in the peace (assigned to +247) not only ceded all her possessions on the right bank of the Tiber +to the adjacent Tuscan communities and thus abandoned her exclusive +command of the river, but also delivered to the conqueror all her +weapons of war and promised to make use of iron thenceforth only for +the ploughshare. It seemed as if the union of Italy under Tuscan +supremacy was not far distant. + +Etruscans Driven Back from Latium-- +Fall of the Etrusco-Carthaginian Maritime Supremacy-- +Victories of Salamis and Himera, and Their Effects + +But the subjugation, with which the coalition of the Etruscan and +Carthaginian nations had threatened both Greeks and Italians, was +fortunately averted by the combination of peoples drawn towards each +other by family affinity as well as by common peril. The Etruscan +army, which after the fall of Rome had penetrated into Latium, had +its victorious career checked in the first instance before the walls +of Aricia by the well-timed intervention of the Cumaeans who had +hastened to the succour of the Aricines (248). We know not how the +war ended, nor, in particular, whether Rome even at that time tore up +the ruinous and disgraceful peace. This much only is certain, that +on this occasion also the Tuscans were unable to maintain their ground +permanently on the left bank of the Tiber. + +Soon the Hellenic nation was forced to engage in a still more +comprehensive and still more decisive conflict with the barbarians +both of the west and of the east. It was about the time of the +Persian wars. The relation in which the Tyrians stood to the great +king led Carthage also to follow in the wake of Persian policy +--there exists a credible tradition even as to an alliance between +the Carthaginians and Xerxes--and, along with the Carthaginians, the +Etruscans. It was one of the grandest of political combinations which +simultaneously directed the Asiatic hosts against Greece, and the +Phoenician hosts against Sicily, to extirpate at a blow liberty and +civilization from the face of the earth. The victory remained with +the Hellenes. The battle of Salamis (274) saved and avenged Hellas +proper; and on the same day--so runs the story--the rulers of Syracuse +and Agrigentum, Gelon and Theron, vanquished the immense army of the +Carthaginian general Hamilcar, son of Mago, at Himera so completely, +that the war was thereby terminated, and the Phoenicians, who by no +means cherished at that time the project of subduing the whole of +Sicily on their own account, returned to their previous defensive +policy. Some of the large silver pieces are still preserved which +were coined for this campaign from the ornaments of Damareta, the +wife of Gelon, and other noble Syracusan dames: and the latest times +gratefully remembered the gentle and brave king of Syracuse and +the glorious victory whose praises Simonides sang. + +The immediate effect of the humiliation of Carthage was the fall of +the maritime supremacy of her Etruscan allies. Anaxilas, ruler of +Rhegium and Zancle, had already closed the Sicilian straits against +their privateers by means of a standing fleet (about 272); soon +afterwards (280) the Cumaeans and Hiero of Syracuse achieved a +decisive victory near Cumae over the Tyrrhene fleet, to which the +Carthaginians vainly attempted to render aid. This is the victory +which Pindar celebrates in his first Pythian ode; and there is still +extant an Etruscan helmet, which Hiero sent to Olympia, with the +inscription: "Hiaron son of Deinomenes and the Syrakosians to Zeus, +Tyrrhane spoil from Kyma."(2) + +Maritime Supremacy of the Tarentines and Syracusans-- +Dionysius of Syracuse + +While these extraordinary successes against the Carthaginians and +Etruscans placed Syracuse at the head of the Greek cities in Sicily, +the Doric Tarentum rose to undisputed pre-eminence among the Italian +Hellenes, after the Achaean Sybaris had fallen about the time of the +expulsion of the kings from Rome (243). The terrible defeat of the +Tarentines by the Iapygians (280), the most severe disaster which a +Greek army had hitherto sustained, served only, like the Persian +invasion of Hellas, to unshackle the whole might of the national +spirit in the development of an energetic democracy. Thenceforth +the Carthaginians and the Etruscans were no longer paramount in the +Italian waters; the Tarentines predominated in the Adriatic and Ionic, +the Massiliots and Syracusans in the Tyrrhene, seas. The latter in +particular restricted more and more the range of Etruscan piracy. +After the victory at Cumae, Hiero had occupied the island of Aenaria +(Ischia), and by that means interrupted the communication between the +Campanian and the northern Etruscans. About the year 302, with a +view thoroughly to check Tuscan piracy, Syracuse sent forth a special +expedition, which ravaged the island of Corsica and the Etruscan +coast and occupied the island of Aethalia (Elba). Although +Etrusco-Carthaginian piracy was not wholly repressed--Antium, +for example, having apparently continued a haunt of privateering down +to the beginning of the fifth century of Rome--the powerful Syracuse +formed a strong bulwark against the allied Tuscans and Phoenicians. +For a moment, indeed, it seemed as if the Syracusan power must be broken +by the attack of the Athenians, whose naval expedition against Syracuse +in the course of the Peloponnesian war (339-341) was supported by the +Etruscans, old commercial friends of Athens, with three fifty-oared +galleys. But the victory remained, as is well known, both in the west +and in the east with the Dorians. After the ignominious failure of +the Attic expedition, Syracuse became so indisputably the first Greek +maritime power that the men, who were there at the head of the state, +aspired to the sovereignty of Sicily and Lower Italy, and of both the +Italian seas; while on the other hand the Carthaginians, who saw their +dominion in Sicily now seriously in danger, were on their part also +obliged to make, and made, the subjugation of the Syracusans and the +reduction of the whole island the aim of their policy. We cannot +here narrate the decline of the intermediate Sicilian states, and +the increase of the Carthaginian power in the island, which were the +immediate results of these struggles; we notice their effect only so +far as Etruria is concerned. The new ruler of Syracuse, Dionysius +(who reigned 348-387), inflicted on Etruria blows which were severely +felt. The far-scheming king laid the foundation of his new colonial +power especially in the sea to the east of Italy, the more northern +waters of which now became, for the first time, subject to a Greek +maritime power. About the year 367, Dionysius occupied and colonized +the port of Lissus and island of Issa on the Illyrian coast, and the +ports of Ancona, Numana, and Atria, on the coast of Italy. The memory +of the Syracusan dominion in this remote region is preserved not only +by the "trenches of Philistus," a canal constructed at the mouth +of the Po beyond doubt by the well-known historian and friend of +Dionysius who spent the years of his exile (368 et seq.) at Atria, +but also by the alteration in the name of the Italian eastern sea +itself, which from this time forth, instead of its earlier designation +of the "Ionic Gulf",(3) received the appellation still current at the +present day, and probably referable to these events, of the sea +"of Hadria."(4) But not content with these attacks on the possessions +and commercial communications of the Etruscans in the eastern sea, +Dionysius assailed the very heart of the Etruscan power by storming +and plundering Pyrgi, the rich seaport of Caere (369). From this blow +it never recovered. When the internal disturbances that followed the +death of Dionysius in Syracuse gave the Carthaginians freer scope, and +their fleet resumed in the Tyrrhene sea that ascendency which with but +slight interruptions they thenceforth maintained, it proved a burden +no less grievous to Etruscans than to Greeks; so that, when Agathocles +of Syracuse in 444 was making preparations for war with Carthage, he +was even joined by eighteen Tuscan vessels of war. The Etruscans +perhaps had their fears in regard to Corsica, which they probably +still at that time retained. The old Etrusco-Phoenician symmachy, +which still existed in the time of Aristotle (370-432), was thus +broken up; but the Etruscans never recovered their maritime strength. + +The Romans Opposed to the Etruscans in Veii + +This rapid collapse of the Etruscan maritime power would be +inexplicable but for the circumstance that, at the very time when +the Sicilian Greeks were attacking them by sea, the Etruscans found +themselves assailed with the severest blows oil every side by land. +About the time of the battles of Salamis, Himera, and Cumae a furious +war raged for many years, according to the accounts of the Roman +annals, between Rome and Veii (271-280). The Romans suffered in its +course severe defeats. Tradition especially preserved the memory of +the catastrophe of the Fabii (277), who had in consequence of internal +commotions voluntarily banished themselves from the capital(4) and had +undertaken the defence of the frontier against Etruria, and who were +slain to the last man capable of bearing arms at the brook Cremera. +But the armistice for 400 months, which in room of a peace terminated +the war, was so far favourable to the Romans that it at least restored +the -status quo- of the regal period; the Etruscans gave up Fidenae +and the district won by them on the right bank of the Tiber. We +cannot ascertain how far this Romano-Etruscan war was connected +directly with the war between the Hellenes and the Persians, and with +that between the Sicilians and Carthaginians; but whether the Romans +were or were not allies of the victors of Salamis and of Himera, there +was at any rate a coincidence of interests as well as of results. + +The Samnites Opposed to the Etruscans in Campania + +The Samnites as well as the Latins threw themselves upon the +Etruscans; and hardly had their Campanian settlement been cut off +from the motherland in consequence of the battle of Cumae, when it +found itself no longer able to resist the assaults of the Sabellian +mountain tribes. Capua, the capital, fell in 330; and the Tuscan +population there was soon after the conquest extirpated or expelled by +the Samnites. It is true that the Campanian Greeks also, isolated and +weakened, suffered severely from the same invasion: Cumae itself was +conquered by the Sabellians in 334. But the Hellenes maintained their +ground at Neapolis especially, perhaps with the aid of the Syracusans, +while the Etruscan name in Campania disappeared from history +--excepting some detached Etruscan communities, which prolonged +a pitiful and forlorn existence there. + +Events still more momentous, however, occurred about the same time in +Northern Italy. A new nation was knocking at the gates of the Alps: +it was the Celts; and their first pressure fell on the Etruscans. + +The Celtic, Galatian, or Gallic nation received from the common mother +endowments different from those of its Italian, Germanic, and Hellenic +sisters. With various solid qualities and still more that were +brilliant, it was deficient in those deeper moral and political +qualifications which lie at the root of all that is good and great +in human development. It was reckoned disgraceful, Cicero tells us, +for the free Celts to till their fields with their own hands. They +preferred a pastoral life to agriculture; and even in the fertile +plains of the Po they chiefly practised the rearing of swine, feeding +on the flesh of their herds, and staying with them in the oak forests +day and night. Attachment to their native soil, such as characterized +the Italians and the Germans, was wanting in the Celts; while on the +other hand they delighted to congregate in towns and villages, which +accordingly acquired magnitude and importance among the Celts earlier +apparently than in Italy. Their political constitution was imperfect. +Not only was the national unity recognized but feebly as a bond of +connection--as is, in fact, the case with all nations at first--but +the individual communities were deficient in concord and firm +control, in earnest public spirit and consistency of aim. The only +organization for which they were fitted was a military one, where the +bonds of discipline relieved the individual from the troublesome task +of self-control. "The prominent qualities of the Celtic race," says +their historian Thierry, "were personal bravery, in which they +excelled all nations; an open impetuous temperament, accessible to +every impression; much intelligence, but at the same time extreme +mobility, want of perseverance, aversion to discipline and order, +ostentation and perpetual discord--the result of boundless vanity." +Cato the Elder more briefly describes them, nearly to the same effect; +"the Celts devote themselves mainly to two things--fighting and +-esprit-."(6) Such qualities--those of good soldiers but of bad +citizens--explain the historical fact, that the Celts have shaken all +states and have founded none. Everywhere we find them ready to rove +or, in other words, to march; preferring moveable property to landed +estate, and gold to everything else; following the profession of arms +as a system of organized pillage or even as a trade for hire, and +with such success at all events that even the Roman historian Sallust +acknowledges that the Celts bore off the prize from the Romans in +feats of arms. They were the true soldiers-of-fortune of antiquity, +as figures and descriptions represent them: with big but not sinewy +bodies, with shaggy hair and long mustaches--quite a contrast to the +Greeks and Romans, who shaved the head and upper lip; in variegated +embroidered dresses, which in combat were not unfrequently thrown off; +with a broad gold ring round the neck; wearing no helmets and without +missile weapons of any sort, but furnished instead with an immense +shield, a long ill-tempered sword, a dagger and a lance--all +ornamented with gold, for they were not unskilful at working in +metals. Everything was made subservient to ostentation, even wounds, +which were often subsequently enlarged for the purpose of boasting +a broader scar. Usually they fought on foot, but certain tribes on +horseback, in which case every freeman was followed by two attendants +likewise mounted; war-chariots were early in use, as they were among +the Libyans and the Hellenes in the earliest times. Various traits +remind us of the chivalry of the Middle Ages; particularly the custom +of single combat, which was foreign to the Greeks and Romans. Not +only were they accustomed during war to challenge a single enemy to +fight, after having previously insulted him by words and gestures; +during peace also they fought with each other in splendid suits of +armour, as for life or death. After such feats carousals followed as +a matter of course. In this way they led, whether under their own or +a foreign banner, a restless soldier-life; they were dispersed from +Ireland and Spain to Asia Minor, constantly occupied in fighting and +so-called feats of heroism. But all their enterprises melted away +like snow in spring; and nowhere did they create a great state or +develop a distinctive culture of their own. + +Celtic Migrations-- +The Celts Assail the Etruscans in Northern Italy + +Such is the description which the ancients give us of this nation. +Its origin can only be conjectured. Sprung from the same cradle from +which the Hellenic, Italian, and Germanic peoples issued,(7) the +Celts doubtless like these migrated from their eastern motherland into +Europe, where at a very early period they reached the western ocean +and established their headquarters in what is now France, crossing +to settle in the British isles on the north, and on the south passing +the Pyrenees and contending with the Iberian tribes for the possession +of the peninsula. This, their first great migration, flowed past the +Alps, and it was from the lands to the westward that they first began +those movements of smaller masses in the opposite direction--movements +which carried them over the Alps and the Haemus and even over the +Bosporus, and by means of which they became and for many centuries +continued to be the terror of the whole civilized nations of +antiquity, till the victories of Caesar and the frontier defence +organized by Augustus for ever broke their power. + +The native legend of their migrations, which has been preserved to us +mainly by Livy, relates the story of these later retrograde movements +as follows.(8) The Gallic confederacy, which was headed then as in +the time of Caesar by the canton of the Bituriges (around Bourges), +sent forth in the days of king Ambiatus two great hosts led by the +two nephews of the king. One of these nephews, Sigovesus, crossed +the Rhine and advanced in the direction of the Black Forest, while the +second, Bellovesus, crossed the Graian Alps (the Little St. Bernard) +and descended into the valley of the Po. From the former proceeded +the Gallic settlement on the middle Danube; from the latter the oldest +Celtic settlement in the modern Lombardy, the canton of the Insubres +with Mediolanum (Milan) as its capital. Another host soon followed, +which founded the canton of the Cenomani with the towns of Brixia +(Brescia) and Verona. Ceaseless streams thenceforth poured over the +Alps into the beautiful plain; the Celtic tribes with the Ligurians +whom they dislodged and swept along with them wrested place after +place from the Etruscans, till the whole left bank of the Po was +in their hands. After the fall of the rich Etruscan town Melpum +(presumably in the district of Milan), for the subjugation of which +the Celts already settled in the basin of the Po had united with newly +arrived tribes (358?), these latter crossed to the right bank of the +river and began to press upon the Umbrians and Etruscans in their +original abodes. Those who did so were chiefly the Boii, who are +alleged to have penetrated into Italy by another route, over the +Poenine Alps (the Great St. Bernard): they settled in the modern +Romagna, where the old Etruscan town Felsina, with its name changed +by its new masters to Bononia, became their capital. Finally came +the Senones, the last of the larger Celtic tribes which made their +way over the Alps; they took up their abode along the coast of the +Adriatic from Rimini to Ancona. But isolated bands of Celtic settlers +must have advanced even far in the direction of Umbria, and up to +the border of Etruria proper; for stone-inscriptions in the Celtic +language have been found even at Todi on the upper Tiber. The limits +of Etruria on the north and east became more and more contracted, +and about the middle of the fourth century the Tuscan nation found +themselves substantially restricted to the territory which thenceforth +bore and still bears their name. + +Attack on Etruria by the Romans + +Subjected to these simultaneous and, as it were, concerted assaults on +the part of very different peoples--the Syracusans, Latins, Samnites, +and above all the Celts--the Etruscan nation, that had just acquired +so vast and sudden an ascendency in Latium and Campania and on both +the Italian seas, underwent a still more rapid and violent collapse. +The loss of their maritime supremacy and the subjugation of the +Campanian Etruscans belong to the same epoch as the settlement of +the Insubres and Cenomani on the Po; and about this same period the +Roman burgesses, who had not very many years before been humbled to +the utmost and almost reduced to bondage by Porsena, first assumed an +attitude of aggression towards Etruria. By the armistice with Veii in +280 Rome had recovered its ground, and the two nations were restored +in the main to the state in which they had stood in the time of the +kings. When it expired in the year 309, the warfare began afresh; but +it took the form of border frays and pillaging excursions which led to +no material result on either side. Etruria was still too powerful for +Rome to be able seriously to attack it. At length the revolt of the +Fidenates, who expelled the Roman garrison, murdered the Roman envoys, +and submitted to Lars Tolumnius, king of the Veientes, gave rise to +a more considerable war, which ended favourably for the Romans; the +king Tolumnius fell in combat by the hand of the Roman consul Aulus +Cornelius Cossus (326?), Fidenae was taken, and a new armistice for +200 months was concluded in 329. During this truce the troubles of +Etruria became more and more aggravated, and the Celtic arms were +already approaching the settlements that hitherto had been spared on +the right bank of the Po. When the armistice expired in the end of +346, the Romans on their part resolved to undertake a war of conquest +against Etruria; and on this occasion the war was carried on not +merely to vanquish Veii, but to crush it. + +Conquest of Veii + +The history of the war against the Veientes, Capenates, and Falisci, +and of the siege of Veii, which is said, like that of Troy, to have +lasted ten years, rests on evidence far from trustworthy. Legend and +poetry have taken possession of these events as their own, and with +reason; for the struggle in this case was waged, with unprecedented +exertions, for an unprecedented prize. It was the first occasion on +which a Roman army remained in the field summer and winter, year +after year, till its object was attained. It was the first occasion +on which the community paid the levy from the resources of the state. +But it was also the first occasion on which the Romans attempted +to subdue a nation of alien stock, and carried their arms beyond +the ancient northern boundary of the Latin land. The struggle was +vehement, but the issue was scarcely doubtful. The Romans were +supported by the Latins and Hernici, to whom the overthrow of their +dreaded neighbour was productive of scarcely less satisfaction and +advantage than to the Romans themselves; whereas Veii was abandoned +by its own nation, and only the adjacent towns of Capena and Falerii, +along with Tarquinii, furnished contingents to its help. The +contemporary attacks of the Celts would alone suffice to explain +the nonintervention of the northern communities; it is affirmed +however, and there is no reason to doubt, that this inaction of the +other Etruscans was primarily occasioned by internal factions in the +league of the Etruscan cities, and particularly by the opposition +which the regal form of government retained or restored by the +Veientes encountered from the aristocratic governments of the other +cities. Had the Etruscan nation been able or willing to take part +in the conflict, the Roman community would hardly have been able +--undeveloped as was the art of besieging at that time--to accomplish +the gigantic task of subduing a large and strong city. But isolated +and forsaken as Veii was, it succumbed (358) after a valiant +resistance to the persevering and heroic spirit of Marcus Furius +Camillus, who first opened up to his countrymen the brilliant and +perilous career of foreign conquest. The joy which this great success +excited in Rome had its echo in the Roman custom, continued down to a +late age, of concluding the festal games with a "sale of Veientes," at +which, among the mock spoils submitted to auction, the most wretched +old cripple who could be procured wound up the sport in a purple +mantle and ornaments of gold as "king of the Veientes." The city was +destroyed, and the soil was doomed to perpetual desolation. Falerii +and Capena hastened to make peace; the powerful Volsinii, which with +federal indecision had remained quiet during the agony of Veii and +took up arms after its capture, likewise after a few years (363) +consented to peace. The statement that the two bulwarks of the +Etruscan nation, Melpum and Veii, yielded on the same day, the former +to the Celts, the latter to the Romans, may be merely a melancholy +legend; but it at any rate involves a deep historical truth. The +double assault from the north and from the south, and the fall of +the two frontier strongholds, were the beginning of the end of the +great Etruscan nation. + +The Celts Attack Rome-- +Battle on the Allia-- +Capture of Rome + +For a moment, however, it seemed as if the two peoples, through whose +co-operation Etruria saw her very existence put in jeopardy, were +about to destroy each other, and the reviving power of Rome was to +be trodden under foot by foreign barbarians. This turn of things, +so contrary to what might naturally have been expected, the Romans +brought upon themselves by their own arrogance and shortsightedness. + +The Celtic swarms, which had crossed the river after the fall of +Melpum, rapidly overflowed northern Italy--not merely the open country +on the right bank of the Po and along the shore of the Adriatic, but +also Etruria proper to the south of the Apennines. A few years +afterwards (363) Clusium situated in the heart of Etruria (Chiusi, on +the borders of Tuscany and the Papal State) was besieged by the Celtic +Senones; and so humbled were the Etruscans that the Tuscan city in +its straits invoked aid from the destroyers of Veii. Perhaps it would +have been wise to grant it and to reduce at once the Gauls by arms, +and the Etruscans by according to them protection, to a state of +dependence on Rome; but an intervention with aims so extensive, which +would have compelled the Romans to undertake a serious struggle on the +northern Tuscan frontier, lay beyond the horizon of the Roman policy +at that time. No course was therefore left but to refrain from all +interference. Foolishly, however, while declining to send auxiliary +troops, they despatched envoys. With still greater folly these sought +to impose upon the Celts by haughty language, and, when this failed, +they conceived that they might with impunity violate the law of +nations in dealing with barbarians; in the ranks of the Clusines they +took part in a skirmish, and in the course of it one of them stabbed +and dismounted a Gallic officer. The barbarians acted in this case +with moderation and prudence. They sent in the first instance to the +Roman community to demand the surrender of those who had outraged the +law of nations, and the senate was ready to comply with the reasonable +request. But with the multitude compassion for their countrymen +outweighed justice towards the foreigners; satisfaction was refused by +the burgesses; and according to some accounts they even nominated the +brave champions of their fatherland as consular tribunes for the +year 364,(9) which was to be so fatal in the Roman annals. Then the +Brennus or, in other words, the "king of the army" of the Gauls broke +up the siege of Clusium, and the whole Celtic host--the numbers of +which are stated at 70,000 men--turned against Rome. Such expeditions +into unknown land distant regions were not unusual for the Gauls, who +marched as bands of armed emigrants, troubling themselves little as +to the means of cover or of retreat; but it was evident that none in +Rome anticipated the dangers involved in so sudden and so mighty an +invasion. It was not till the Gauls were marching upon Rome that a +Roman military force crossed the Tiber and sought to bar their way. +Not twelve miles from the gates, opposite to the confluence of the +rivulet Allia with the Tiber, the armies met, and a battle took place +on the 18th July, 364. Even now they went into battle--not as against +an army, but as against freebooters--with arrogance and foolhardiness +and under inexperienced leaders, Camillus having in consequence of +the dissensions of the orders withdrawn from taking part in affairs. +Those against whom they were to fight were but barbarians; what need +was there of a camp, or of securing a retreat? These barbarians, +however, were men whose courage despised death, and their mode of +fighting was to the Italians as novel as it was terrible; sword in +hand the Celts precipitated themselves with furious onset on the Roman +phalanx, and shattered it at the first shock. The overthrow was +complete; of the Romans, who had fought with the river in their rear, +a large portion met their death in the attempt to cross it; such as +escaped threw themselves by a flank movement into the neighbouring +Veii. The victorious Celts stood between the remnant of the beaten +army and the capital. The latter was irretrievably abandoned to the +enemy; the small force that was left behind, or that had fled thither, +was not sufficient to garrison the walls, and three days after the +battle the victors marched through the open gates into Rome. Had they +done so at first, as they might have done, not only the city, but the +state also must have been lost; the brief interval gave opportunity +to carry away or to bury the sacred objects, and, what was more +important, to occupy the citadel and to furnish it with provisions for +the exigency. No one was admitted to the citadel who was incapable of +bearing arms--there was not food for all. The mass of the defenceless +dispersed among the neighbouring towns; but many, and in particular a +number of old men of high standing, would not survive the downfall +of the city and awaited death in their houses by the sword of the +barbarians. They came, murdered all they met with, plundered whatever +property they found, and at length set the city on fire on all sides +before the eyes of the Roman garrison in the Capitol. But they had +no knowledge of the art of besieging, and the blockade of the steep +citadel rock was tedious and difficult, because subsistence for the +great host could only be procured by armed foraging parties, and the +citizens of the neighbouring Latin cities, the Ardeates in particular, +frequently attacked the foragers with courage and success. +Nevertheless the Celts persevered, with an energy which in their +circumstances was unparalleled, for seven months beneath the rock, +and the garrison, which had escaped a surprise on a dark night only +in consequence of the cackling of the sacred geese in the Capitoline +temple and the accidental awaking of the brave Marcus Manlius, already +found its provisions beginning to fail, when the Celts received +information as to the Veneti having invaded the Senonian territory +recently acquired on the Po, and were thus induced to accept the +ransom money that was offered to procure their withdrawal. The +scornful throwing down of the Gallic sword, that it might be +outweighed by Roman gold, indicated very truly how matters stood. +The iron of the barbarians had conquered, but they sold their +victory and by selling lost it. + +Fruitlessness of the Celtic Victory + +The fearful catastrophe of the defeat and the conflagration, the +18th of July and the rivulet of the Allia, the spot where the sacred +objects were buried, and the spot where the surprise of the citadel +had been repulsed--all the details of this unparalleled event--were +transferred from the recollection of contemporaries to the imagination +of posterity; and we can scarcely realize the fact that two thousand +years have actually elapsed since those world-renowned geese showed +greater vigilance than the sentinels at their posts. And yet +--although there was an enactment in Rome that in future, on occasion +of a Celtic invasion no legal privilege should give exemption from +military service; although dates were reckoned by the years from +the conquest of the city; although the event resounded throughout +the whole of the then civilized world and found its way even into +the Grecian annals--the battle of the Allia and its results can +scarcely be numbered among those historical events that are fruitful +of consequences. It made no alteration at all in political relations. +When the Gauls had marched off again with their gold--which only a +legend of late and wretched invention represents the hero Camillus as +having recovered for Rome--and when the fugitives had again made their +way home, the foolish idea suggested by some faint-hearted prudential +politicians, that the citizens should migrate to Veii, was set aside +by a spirited speech of Camillus; houses arose out of the ruins +hastily and irregularly--the narrow and crooked streets of Rome owed +their origin to this epoch; and Rome again stood in her old commanding +position. Indeed it is not improbable that this occurrence +contributed materially, though not just at the moment, to diminish +the antagonism between Rome and Etruria, and above all to knit more +closely the ties of union between Latium and Rome. The conflict +between the Gauls and the Romans was not, like that between Rome and +Etruria or between Rome and Samnium, a collision of two political +powers which affect and modify each other; it may be compared to +those catastrophes of nature, after which the organism, if it is not +destroyed, immediately resumes its equilibrium. The Gauls often +returned to Latium: as in the year 387, when Camillus defeated them +at Alba--the last victory of the aged hero, who had been six times +military tribune with consular powers, and five times dictator, and +had four times marched in triumph to the Capitol; in the year 393, +when the dictator Titus Quinctius Pennus encamped opposite to them +not five miles from the city at the bridge of the Anio, but before any +encounter took place the Gallic host marched onward to Campania; in +the year 394, when the dictator Quintus Servilius Ahala fought in +front of the Colline gate with the hordes returning from Campania; in +the year 396, when the dictator Gaius Sulpicius Peticus inflicted on +them a signal defeat; in the year 404, when they even spent the winter +encamped upon the Alban mount and joined with the Greek pirates along +the coast for plunder, till Lucius Furius Camillus, the son of the +celebrated general, in the following year dislodged them--an incident +which came to the ears of Aristotle who was contemporary (370-432) in +Athens. But these predatory expeditions, formidable and troublesome +as they may have been, were rather incidental misfortunes than events +of political significance; and their most essential result was, that +the Romans were more and more regarded by themselves and by foreigners +as the bulwark of the civilized nations of Italy against the onset +of the dreaded barbarians--a view which tended more than is usually +supposed to further their subsequent claim to universal empire. + +Further Conquests of Rome in Etruria-- +South Etruria Roman + +The Tuscans, who had taken advantage of the Celtic attack on Rome to +assail Veii, had accomplished nothing, because they had appeared in +insufficient force; the barbarians had scarcely departed, when the +heavy arm of Latium descended on the Tuscans with undiminished weight. +After the Etruscans had been repeatedly defeated, the whole of +southern Etruria as far as the Ciminian hills remained in the hands +of the Romans, who formed four new tribes in the territories of Veii, +Capena, and Falerii (367), and secured the northern boundary by +establishing the fortresses of Sutrium (371) and Nepete (381). +With rapid steps this fertile region, covered with Roman colonists, +became completely Romanized. About 396 the nearest Etruscan towns, +Tarquinii, Caere, and Falerii, attempted to revolt against the Roman +encroachments, and the deep exasperation which these had aroused in +Etruria was shown by the slaughter of the whole of the Roman prisoners +taken in the first campaign, three hundred and seven in number, in the +market-place of Tarquinii; but it was the exasperation of impotence. +In the peace (403) Caere, which as situated nearest to the Romans +suffered the heaviest retribution, was compelled to cede half its +territory to Rome, and with the diminished domain which was left +to it to withdraw from the Etruscan league, and to enter into the +relationship of subjects to Rome which had in the meanwhile been +constituted primarily for individual Latin communities. It seemed, +however, not advisable to leave to this more remote community alien in +race from the Roman such communal independence as was still retained +by the subject communities of Latium; the Caerite community received +the Roman franchise not merely without the privilege of electing or +of being elected at Rome, but also subject to the withholding of +self-administration, so that the place of magistrates of its own +was as regards justice and the census taken by those of Rome, and +a representative (-praefectus-) of the Roman praetor conducted +the administration on the spot--a form of subjection, which in +state-law first meets us here, whereby a state which had hitherto +been independent became converted into a community continuing to +subsist -de jure-, but deprived of all power of movement on its own part. +Not long afterwards (411) Falerii, which had preserved its original +Latin nationality even under Tuscan rule, abandoned the Etruscan league +and entered into perpetual alliance with Rome; and thereby the whole +of southern Etruria became in one form or other subject to Roman +supremacy. In the case of Tarquinii and perhaps of northern Etruria +generally, the Romans were content with restraining them for a +lengthened period by a treaty of peace for 400 months (403). + +Pacification of Northern Italy + +In northern Italy likewise the peoples that had come into collision +and conflict gradually settled on a permanent footing and within more +defined limits. The migrations over the Alps ceased, partly perhaps +in consequence of the desperate defence which the Etruscans made +in their more restricted home, and of the serious resistance of the +powerful Romans, partly perhaps also in consequence of changes unknown +to us on the north of the Alps. Between the Alps and the Apennines, +as far south as the Abruzzi, the Celts were now generally the ruling +nation, and they were masters more especially of the plains and rich +pastures; but from the lax and superficial nature of their settlement +their dominion took no deep root in the newly acquired land and by no +means assumed the shape of exclusive possession. How matters stood in +the Alps, and to what extent Celtic settlers became mingled there with +earlier Etruscan or other stocks, our unsatisfactory information as +to the nationality of the later Alpine peoples does not permit us +to ascertain; only the Raeti in the modern Grisons and Tyrol may be +described as a probably Etruscan stock. The Umbrians retained the +valleys of the Apennines, and the Veneti, speaking a different +language, kept possession of the north-eastern portion of the valley +of the Po. Ligurian tribes maintained their footing in the western +mountains, dwelling as far south as Pisa and Arezzo, and separating +the Celt-land proper from Etruria. The Celts dwelt only in the +intermediate flat country, the Insubres and Cenomani to the north +of the Po, the Boii to the south, and--not to mention smaller tribes +--the Senones on the coast of the Adriatic, from Ariminum to Ancona, +in the so-called "country of the Gauls" (-ager Gallicus-). But even +there Etruscan settlements must have continued partially at least to +subsist, somewhat as Ephesus and Miletus remained Greek under the +supremacy of the Persians. Mantua at any rate, which was protected +by its insular position, was a Tuscan city even in the time of the +empire, and Atria on the Po also, where numerous discoveries of vases +have been made, appears to have retained its Etruscan character; the +description of the coasts that goes under the name of Scylax, composed +about 418, calls the district of Atria and Spina Tuscan land. This +alone, moreover, explains how Etruscan corsairs could render the +Adriatic unsafe till far into the fifth century, and why not only +Dionysius of Syracuse covered its coasts with colonies, but even +Athens, as a remarkable document recently discovered informs us, +resolved about 429 to establish a colony in the Adriatic for +the protection of seafarers against the Tyrrhene pirates. + +But while more or less of an Etruscan character continued to mark +these regions, it was confined to isolated remnants and fragments of +their earlier power; the Etruscan nation no longer reaped the benefit +of such gains as were still acquired there by individuals in peaceful +commerce or in maritime war. On the other hand it was probably +from these half-free Etruscans that the germs proceeded of such +civilization as we subsequently find among the Celts and Alpine +peoples in general.(10) The very fact that the Celtic hordes in +the plains of Lombardy, to use the language of the so-called Scylax, +abandoned their warrior-life and took to permanent settlement, must +in part be ascribed to this influence; the rudiments moreover of +handicrafts and arts and the alphabet came to the Celts in Lombardy, +and in fact to the Alpine peoples as far as the modern Styria, +through the medium of the Etruscans. + +Etruria Proper at Peace and on the Decline + +Thus the Etruscans, after the loss of their possessions in Campania +and of the whole district to the north of the Apennines and to the +south of the Ciminian Forest, remained restricted to very narrow +bounds; their season of power and of aspiration had for ever passed +away. The closest reciprocal relations subsisted between this +external decline and the internal decay of the nation, the seeds +of which indeed were doubtless already deposited at a far earlier +period. The Greek authors of this age are full of descriptions of +the unbounded luxury of Etruscan life: poets of Lower Italy in the +fifth century of the city celebrate the Tyrrhenian wine, and the +contemporary historians Timaeus and Theopompus delineate pictures of +Etruscan unchastity and of Etruscan banquets, such as fall nothing +short of the worst Byzantine or French demoralization. Unattested as +may be the details in these accounts, the statement at least appears +to be well founded, that the detestable amusement of gladiatorial +combats--the gangrene of the later Rome and of the last epoch of +antiquity generally--first came into vogue among the Etruscans. At +any rate on the whole they leave no doubt as to the deep degeneracy +of the nation. It pervaded even its political condition. As far +as our scanty information reaches, we find aristocratic tendencies +prevailing, in the same way as they did at the same period in Rome, +but more harshly and more perniciously. The abolition of royalty, +which appears to have been carried out in all the cities of Etruria +about the time of the siege of Veii, called into existence in the +several cities a patrician government, which experienced but slight +restraint from the laxity of the federal bond. That bond but seldom +succeeded in combining all the Etruscan cities even for the defence of +the land, and the nominal hegemony of Volsinii does not admit of the +most remote comparison with the energetic vigour which the leadership +of Rome communicated to the Latin nation. The struggle against the +exclusive claim put forward by the old burgesses to all public offices +and to all public usufructs, which must have destroyed even the Roman +state, had not its external successes enabled it in some measure to +satisfy the demands of the oppressed proletariate at the expense of +foreign nations and to open up other paths to ambition--that struggle +against the exclusive rule and (what was specially prominent in +Etruria) the priestly monopoly of the clan-nobility--must have ruined +Etruria politically, economically, and morally. Enormous wealth, +particularly in landed property, became concentrated in the hands of a +few nobles, while the masses were impoverished; the social revolutions +which thence arose increased the distress which they sought to remedy; +and, in consequence of the impotence of the central power, no course +at last remained to the distressed aristocrats-- e. g. in Arretium +in 453, and in Volsinii in 488--but to call in the aid of the Romans, +who accordingly put an end to the disorder but at the same time +extinguished the remnant of independence. The energies of the nation +were broken from the day of Veii and Melpum. Earnest attempts were +still once or twice made to escape from the Roman supremacy, but in +such instances the stimulus was communicated to the Etruscans from +without--from another Italian stock, the Samnites. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter IV + +1. I. X. Phoenicians and Italians in Opposition to the Hellenes + +2. --Fiaron o Deinomeneos kai toi Surakosioi toi Di Turan +apo Kumas.-- + +3. I. X. Home of the Greek Immigrants + +4. Hecataeus (after 257 u. c.) and Herodotus also (270-after 345) +only know Hatrias as the delta of the Po and the sea that washes +its shores (O. Muller, Etrusker, i. p. 140; Geogr. Graeci min. ed. +C. Muller, i. p. 23). The appellation of Adriatic sea, in its more +extended sense, first occurs in the so-called Scylax about 418 U. C. + +5. II. II. Coriolanus + +6. -Pleraque Gallia duas res industriosissime persequitur: rem +militarem et argute loqui- (Cato, Orig, l. ii. fr. 2. Jordan). + +7. It has recently been maintained by expert philologists that there +is a closer affinity between the Celts and Italians than there is even +between the latter and the Hellenes. In other words they hold that +the branch of the great tree, from which the peoples of Indo-Germanic +extraction in the west and south of Europe have sprung, divided itself +in the first instance into Greeks and Italo-Celts, and that the latter +at a considerably later period became subdivided into Italians and +Celts. This hypothesis commends itself much to acceptance in a +geographical point of view, and the facts which history presents may +perhaps be likewise brought into harmony with it, because what has +hitherto been regarded as Graeco-Italian civilization may very +well have been Graeco-Celto-Italian--in fact we know nothing of the +earliest stage of Celtic culture. Linguistic investigation, however, +seems not to have made as yet such progress as to warrant the +insertion of its results in the primitive history of the peoples. + +8. The legend is related by Livy, v. 34, and Justin, xxiv. 4, and +Caesar also has had it in view (B. G. vi. 24). But the association +of the migration of Bellovesus with the founding of Massilia, by which +the former is chronologically fixed down to the middle of the second +century of Rome, undoubtedly belongs not to the native legend, which +of course did not specify dates, but to later chronologizing research; +and it deserves no credit. Isolated incursions and immigrations may +have taken place at a very early period; but the great overflowing of +northern Italy by the Celts cannot be placed before the age of the +decay of the Etruscan power, that is, not before the second half +of the third century of the city. + +In like manner, after the judicious investigations of Wickham and +Cramer, we cannot doubt that the line of march of Bellovesus, like +that of Hannibal, lay not over the Cottian Alps (Mont Genevre) and +through the territory of the Taurini, but over the Graian Alps (the +Little St. Bernard) and through the territory of the Salassi. The +name of the mountain is given by Livy doubtless not on the authority +of the legend, but on his own conjecture. + +Whether the representation that the Italian Boii came through the more +easterly pass of the Poenine Alps rested on the ground of a genuine +legendary reminiscence, or only on the ground of an assumed connection +with the Boii dwelling to the north of the Danube, is a question that +must remain undecided. + +9. This is according to the current computation 390 B. C.; but, in +fact, the capture of Rome occurred in Ol. 98, 1 = 388 B. C., and has +been thrown out of its proper place merely by the confusion of the +Roman calendar. + +10. I. XIV. Development of Alphabets in Italy + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Subjugation of the Latins and Campanians by Rome + + +The Hegemony of Rome over Latium Shaken and Re-established + +The great achievement of the regal period was the establishment of the +sovereignty of Rome over Latium under the form of hegemony. It is in +the nature of the case evident that the change in the constitution of +Rome could not but powerfully affect both the relations of the Roman +state towards Latium and the internal organization of the Latin +communities themselves; and that it did so, is obvious from tradition. +The fluctuations which the revolution in Rome occasioned in the +Romano-Latin confederacy are attested by the legend, unusually vivid +and various in its hues, of the victory at the lake Regillus, which +the dictator or consul Aulus Postumius (255? 258?) is said to have +gained over the Latins with the help of the Dioscuri, and still more +definitely by the renewal of the perpetual league between Rome and +Latium by Spurius Cassius in his second consulate (261). These +narratives, however, give us no information as to the main matter, +the legal relation between the new Roman republic and the Latin +confederacy; and what from other sources we learn regarding that +relation comes to us without date, and can only be inserted here +with an approximation to probability. + +Original Equality of Rights between Rome and Latium + +The nature of a hegemony implies that it becomes gradually converted +into sovereignty by the mere inward force of circumstances; and the +Roman hegemony over Latium formed no exception to the rule. It was +based upon the essential equality of rights between the Roman state +on the one side and the Latin confederacy on the other;(1) but at +least in matters of war and in the treatment of the acquisitions +thereby made this relation between the single state on the one hand +and the league of states on the other virtually involved a hegemony. +According to the original constitution of the league not only was the +right of making wars and treaties with foreign states--in other words, +the full right of political self-determination--reserved in all +probability both to Rome and to the individual towns of the Latin +league; and when a joint war took place, Rome and Latium probably +furnished the like contingent, each, as a rule, an "army" of 8400 +men;(2) but the chief command was held by the Roman general, who then +nominated the officers of the staff, and so the leaders-of-division +(-tribuni militum-), according to his own choice. In case of victory +the moveable part of the spoil, as well as the conquered territory, +was shared between Rome and the confederacy; when the establishment of +fortresses in the conquered territory was resolved on, their garrisons +and population were composed partly of Roman, partly of confederate +colonists; and not only so, but the newly-founded community was +received as a sovereign federal state into the Latin confederacy +and furnished with a seat and vote in the Latin diet. + +Encroachments on That Equality of Rights-- +As to Wars and Treaties-- +As to the Officering of the Army-- +As to Acquisitions in War + +These stipulations must probably even in the regal period, certainly +in the republican epoch, have undergone alteration more and more to +the disadvantage of the confederacy and to the further development of +the hegemony of Rome. The earliest that fell into abeyance was beyond +doubt the right of the confederacy to make wars and treaties with +foreigners;(3) the decision of war and treaty passed once for all to +Rome. The staff officers for the Latin troops must doubtless in +earlier times have been likewise Latins; afterwards for that +purpose Roman citizens were taken, if not exclusively, at any rate +predominantly.(4) On the other hand, afterwards as formerly, no +stronger contingent could be demanded from the Latin confederacy +as a whole than was furnished by the Roman community; and the Roman +commander-in-chief was likewise bound not to break up the Latin +contingents, but to keep the contingent sent by each community as a +separate division of the army under the leader whom that community had +appointed.(5) The right of the Latin confederacy to an equal share in +the moveable spoil and in the conquered land continued to subsist in +form; in reality, however, the substantial fruits of war beyond doubt +went, even at an early period, to the leading state. Even in the +founding of the federal fortresses or the so-called Latin colonies +as a rule presumably most, and not unfrequently all, of the colonists +were Romans; and although by the transference they were converted from +Roman burgesses into members of an allied community, the newly planted +township in all probability frequently retained a preponderant--and +for the confederacy dangerous--attachment to the real mother-city. + +Private Rights + +The rights, on the contrary, which were secured by the federal +treaties to the individual burgess of one of the allied communities +in every city belonging to the league, underwent no restriction. +These included, in particular, full equality of rights as to the +acquisition of landed property and moveable estate, as to traffic +and exchange, marriage and testament, and an unlimited liberty of +migration; so that not only was a man who had burgess-rights in a +town of the league legally entitled to settle in any other, but +whereever he settled, he as a right-sharer (-municeps-) participated +in all private and political rights and duties with the exception of +eligibility to office, and was even--although in a limited fashion +--entitled to vote at least in the -comitia tributa-.(6) + +Of some such nature, in all probability, was the relation between +the Roman community and the Latin confederacy in the first period +of the republic. We cannot, however ascertain what elements are +to be referred to earlier stipulations, and what to the revision +of the alliance in 261. + +With somewhat greater certainty the remodelling of the arrangements of +the several communities belonging to the Latin confederacy, after the +pattern of the consular constitution in Rome, may be characterized as +an innovation and introduced in this connection. For, although the +different communities may very well have arrived at the abolition +of royalty in itself independently of each other,(7) the identity +in the appellation of the new annual kings in the Roman and other +commonwealths of Latium, and the comprehensive application of the +peculiar principle of collegiateness,(8) evidently point to some +external connection. At some time or other after the expulsion of +the Tarquins from Rome the arrangements of the Latin communities must +have been throughout revised in accordance with the scheme of the +consular constitution. This adjustment of the Latin constitutions in +conformity with that of the leading city may possibly belong only to a +later period; but internal probability rather favours the supposition +that the Roman nobility, after having effected the abolition of +royalty for life at home, suggested a similar change of constitution +to the communities of the Latin confederacy, and at length introduced +aristocratic government everywhere in Latium-- notwithstanding the +serious resistance, imperilling the stability of the Romano-Latin +league itself, which seems to have been offered on the one hand by +the expelled Tarquins, and on the other by the royal clans and by +partisans well affected to monarchy in the other communities of +Latium. The mighty development of the power of Etruria that occurred +at this very time, the constant assaults of the Veientes, and the +expedition of Porsena, may have materially contributed to secure the +adherence of the Latin nation to the once-established form of union, +or, in other words, to the continued recognition of the supremacy +of Rome, and disposed them for its sake to acquiesce in a change +of constitution for which, beyond doubt, the way had been in many +respects prepared even in the bosom of the Latin communities, nay +perhaps to submit even to an enlargement of the rights of hegemony. + +Extension of Rome and Latium to the East and South + +The permanently united nation was able not only to maintain, but +also to extend on all sides its power. We have already(9) mentioned +that the Etruscans remained only for a short time in possession of +supremacy over Latium, and that the relations there soon returned to +the position in which they stood during the regal period; but it was +not till more than a century after the expulsion of the kings from +Rome that any real extension of the Roman boundaries took place +in this direction. + +With the Sabines who occupied the middle mountain range from the +borders of the Umbrians down to the region between the Tiber and +the Anio, and who, at the epoch when the history of Rome begins, +penetrated fighting and conquering as far as Latium itself, the +Romans notwithstanding their immediate neighbourhood subsequently came +comparatively little into contact. The feeble sympathy of the Sabines +with the desperate resistance offered by the neighbouring peoples in +the east and south, is evident even from the accounts of the annals; +and--what is of more importance--we find here no fortresses to keep +the land in subjection, such as were so numerously established +especially in the Volscian plain. Perhaps this lack of opposition +was connected with the fact that the Sabine hordes probably about +this very time poured themselves over Lower Italy. Allured by the +pleasantness of the settlements on the Tifernus and Volturnus, they +appear to have interfered but little in the conflicts of which the +region to the south of the Tiber was the arena. + +At the Expense of the Aequi and Volsci-- +League with the Hernici + +Far more vehement and lasting was the resistance of the Aequi, who, +having their settlements to the eastward of Rome as far as the valleys +of the Turano and Salto and on the northern verge of the Fucine lake, +bordered with the Sabines and Marsi,(10) and of the Volsci, who to the +south of the Rutuli settled around Ardea, and of the Latins extending +southward as far as Cora, possessed the coast almost as far as the +river Liris along with the adjacent islands and in the interior the +whole region drained by the Liris. We do not intend to narrate the +feuds annually renewed with these two peoples--feuds which are related +in the Roman chronicles in such a way that the most insignificant +foray is scarcely distinguishable from a momentous war, and historical +connection is totally disregarded; it is sufficient to indicate the +permanent results. We plainly perceive that it was the especial aim +of the Romans and Latins to separate the Aequi from the Volsci, and +to become masters of the communications between them; in the region +between the southern slope of the Alban range, the Volscian mountains +and the Pomptine marshes, moreover, the Latins and the Volscians +appear to have come first into contact and to have even had their +settlements intermingled.(11) In this region the Latins took +the first steps beyond the bounds of their own land, and federal +fortresses on foreign soil--Latin colonies, as they were called--were +first established, namely: in the plain Velitrae (as is alleged, about +260) beneath the Alban range itself, and Suessa in the Pomptine low +lands, in the mountains Norba (as is alleged, in 262) and Signia +(alleged to have been strengthened in 259), both of which lie at +the points of connection between the Aequian and Volscian territories. +The object was attained still more fully by the accession of the +Hernici to the league of the Romans and Latins (268), an accession +which isolated the Volscians completely, and provided the league with +a bulwark against the Sabellian tribes dwelling on the south and east; +it is easy therefore to perceive why this little people obtained the +concession of full equality with the two others in counsel and in +distribution of the spoil. The feebler Aequi were thenceforth but +little formidable; it was sufficient to undertake from time to time +a plundering expedition against them. The Rutuli also, who bordered +with Latium on the south in the plain along the coast, early +succumbed; their town Ardea was converted into a Latin colony as +early as 312.(12) The Volscians opposed a more serious resistance. +The first notable success, after those mentioned above, achieved over +them by the Romans was, remarkably enough, the foundation of Circeii +in 361, which, as long as Antium and Tarracina continued free, can +only have held communication with Latium by sea. Attempts were often +made to occupy Antium, and one was temporarily successful in 287; but +in 295 the town recovered its freedom, and it was not till after the +Gallic conflagration that, in consequence of a violent war of thirteen +years (365-377), the Romans gained a decided superiority in the +Antiate and Pomptine territory. Satricum, not far from Antium, was +occupied with a Latin colony in 369, and not long afterwards probably +Antium itself as well as Tarracina.(13) The Pomptine territory was +secured by the founding of the fortress Setia (372, strengthened in +375), and was distributed into farm-allotments and burgess-districts +in the year 371 and following years. After this date the Volscians +still perhaps rose in revolt, but they waged no further wars +against Rome. + +Crises within the Romano-Latin League + +But the more decided the successes that the league of Romans, Latins, +and Hernici achieved against the Etruscans, Aequi, Volsci, and Rutuli, +the more that league became liable to disunion. The reason lay +partly in the increase of the hegemonic power of Rome, of which +we have already spoken as necessarily springing out of the existing +circumstances, but which nevertheless was felt as a heavy burden in +Latium; partly in particular acts of odious injustice perpetrated by +the leading community. Of this nature was especially the infamous +sentence of arbitration between the Aricini and the Rutuli in Ardea +in 308, in which the Romans, called in to be arbiters regarding a +border territory in dispute between the two communities, took it to +themselves; and when this decision occasioned in Ardea internal +dissensions in which the people wished to join the Volsci, while +the nobility adhered to Rome, these dissensions were still more +disgracefully employed as a pretext for the--already mentioned +--sending of Roman colonists into the wealthy city, amongst whom the +lands of the adherents of the party opposed to Rome were distributed +(312). The main cause however of the internal breaking up of the +league was the very subjugation of the common foe; forbearance ceased +on one side, devotedness ceased on the other, from the time when they +thought that they had no longer need of each other. The open breach +between the Latins and Hernici on the one hand and the Romans on the +other was more immediately occasioned partly by the capture of Rome +by the Celts and the momentary weakness which it produced, partly by +the definitive occupation and distribution of the Pomptine territory. +The former allies soon stood opposed in the field. Already Latin +volunteers in great numbers had taken part in the last despairing +struggle of the Antiates: now the most famous of the Latin cities, +Lanuvium (371), Praeneste (372-374, 400), Tusculum (373), Tibur (394, +400), and even several of the fortresses established in the Volscian +land by the Romano-Latin league, such as Velitrae and Circeii, had to +be subdued by force of arms, and the Tiburtines were not afraid even +to make common cause against Rome with the once more advancing hordes +of the Gauls. No concerted revolt however took place, and Rome +mastered the individual towns without much trouble. + +Tusculum was even compelled (in 373) to give up its political +independence, and to enter into the burgess-union of Rome as a +subject community (-civitas sine suffragio-) so that the town +retained its walls and an--although limited--self-administration, +including magistrates and a burgess-assembly of its own, whereas +its burgesses as Romans lacked the right of electing or being elected +--the first instance of a whole burgess-body being incorporated as +a dependent community with the Roman commonwealth. + +Renewal of the Treaties of Alliance + +The struggle with the Hernici was more severe (392-396); the first +consular commander-in-chief belonging to the plebs, Lucius Genucius, +fell in it; but here too the Romans were victorious. The crisis +terminated with the renewal of the treaties between Rome and the Latin +and Hernican confederacies in 396. The precise contents of these +treaties are not known, but it is evident that both confederacies +submitted once more, and probably on harder terms, to the Roman +hegemony. The institution which took place in the same year of two +new tribes in the Pomptine territory shows clearly the mighty +advances made by the Roman power. + +Closing of the Latin Confederation + +In manifest connection with this crisis in the relations between Rome +and Latium stands the closing of the Latin confederation,(14) which +took place about the year 370, although we cannot precisely determine +whether it was the effect or, as is more probable, the cause of the +revolt of Latium against Rome which we have just described. As the +law had hitherto stood, every sovereign city founded by Rome and +Latium took its place among the communes entitled to participate +in the federal festival and federal diet, whereas every community +incorporated with another city and thereby politically annihilated +was erased from the ranks of the members of the league. At the same +time, however, according to Latin use and wont the number once fixed +of thirty confederate communities was so adhered to, that of the +participating cities never more and never less than thirty were +entitled to vote, and a number of the communities that were of later +admission, or were disqualified for their slight importance or for the +crimes they had committed, were without the right of voting. In this +way the confederacy was constituted about 370 as follows. Of old +Latin townships there were--besides some which have now fallen into +oblivion, or whose sites are unknown--still autonomous and entitled to +vote, Nomentum, between the Tiber and the Anio; Tibur, Gabii, Scaptia, +Labici,(15) Pedum, and Praeneste, between the Anio and the Alban +range; Corbio, Tusculum, Bovillae, Aricia, Corioli, and Lanuvium on +the Alban range; Cora in the Volscian mountains, and lastly, Laurentum +in the plain along the coast. To these fell to be added the colonies +instituted by Rome and the Latin league; Ardea in the former territory +of the Rutuli, and Satricum, Velitrae, Norba, Signia, Setia and +Circeii in that of the Volsci. Besides, seventeen other townships, +whose names are not known with certainty, had the privilege of +participating in the Latin festival without the right of voting. +On this footing--of forty-seven townships entitled to participate and +thirty entitled to vote--the Latin confederacy continued henceforward +unalterably fixed. The Latin communities founded subsequently, such +as Sutrium, Nepete,(16) Antium, Tarracina,(17) and Gales, were not +admitted into the confederacy, nor were the Latin communities +subsequently divested of their autonomy, such as Tusculum and +Lanuvium, erased from the list. + +Fixing of the Limits of Latium + +With this closing of the confederacy was connected the geographical +settlement of the limits of Latium. So long as the Latin confederacy +continued open, the bounds of Latium had advanced with the +establishment of new federal cities: but as the later Latin +colonies had no share in the Alban festival, they were not regarded +geographically as part of Latium. For this reason doubtless Ardea +and Circeii were reckoned as belonging to Latium, but not Sutrium +or Tarracina. + +Isolation of the Later Latin Cities as Respected Private Rights + +But not only were the places on which Latin privileges were bestowed +after 370 kept aloof from the federal association; they were isolated +also from one another as respected private rights. While each of +them was allowed to have reciprocity of commercial dealings and +probably also of marriage (-commercium et conubium-) with Rome, +no such reciprocity was permitted with the other Latin communities. +The burgess of Satrium, for example, might possess in full property +a piece of ground in Rome, but not in Praeneste; and might have +legitimate children with a Roman, but not with a Tiburtine, wife.(18) + +Prevention of Special Leagues + +If hitherto considerable freedom of movement had been allowed within +the confederacy, and for example the six old Latin communities, +Aricia, Tusculum, Tibur, Lanuvium, Cora, and Laurentum, and the two +new Latin, Ardea and Suessa Pometia, had been permitted to found in +common a shrine for the Aricine Diana; it is doubtless not the mere +result of accident that we find no further instance in later times +of similar separate confederations fraught with danger to the hegemony +of Rome. + +Revision of the Municipal Constitutions. Police Judges + +We may likewise assign to this epoch the further remodelling which +the Latin municipal constitutions underwent, and their complete +assimilation to the constitution of Rome. If in after times two +aediles, intrusted with the police-supervision of markets and highways +and the administration of justice in connection therewith, make their +appearance side by side with the two praetors as necessary elements +of the Latin magistracy, the institution of these urban police +functionaries, which evidently took place at the same time and at +the instigation of the leading power in all the federal communities, +certainly cannot have preceded the establishment of the curule +aedileship in Rome, which occurred in 387; probably it took place +about that very time. Beyond doubt this arrangement was only one +of a series of measures curtailing the liberties and modifying +the organization of the federal communities in the interest of +aristocratic policy. + +Domination of the Romans; Exasperation of the Latins-- +Collision between the Romans and the Samnites + +After the fall of Veii and the conquest of the Pomptine territory, +Rome evidently felt herself powerful enough to tighten the reins of +her hegemony and to reduce the whole of the Latin cities to a position +so dependent that they became in fact completely subject. At this +period (406) the Carthaginians, in a commercial treaty concluded with +Rome, bound themselves to inflict no injury on the Latins who were +subject to Rome, viz. the maritime towns of Ardea, Antium, Circeii, +and Tarracina; if, however, any one of the Latin towns should fall +away from the Roman alliance, the Phoenicians were to be allowed to +attack it, but in the event of conquering it they were bound not to +raze it, but to hand it over to the Romans. This plainly shows by +what chains the Roman community bound to itself the towns protected +by it and how much a town, which dared to withdraw from the native +protectorate, sacrificed or risked by such a course. + +It is true that even now the Latin confederacy at least--if not also +the Hernican--retained its formal title to a third of the gains of +war, and doubtless some other remnants of the former equality of +rights; but what was palpably lost was important enough to explain the +exasperation which at this period prevailed among the Latins against +Rome. Not only did numerous Latin volunteers fight under foreign +standards against the community at their head, wherever they found +armies in the field against Rome; but in 405 even the Latin federal +assembly resolved to refuse to the Romans its contingent. To all +appearance a renewed rising of the whole Latin confederacy might be +anticipated at no distant date; and at that very moment a collision +was imminent with another Italian nation, which was able to encounter +on equal terms the united strength of the Latin stock. After the +overthrow of the northern Volscians no considerable people in +the first instance opposed the Romans in the south; their legions +unchecked approached the Liris. As early as 397 they had contended; +successfully with the Privernates; and in 409 occupied Sora on the +upper Liris. Thus the Roman armies had reached the Samnite frontier; +and the friendly alliance, which the two bravest and most powerful +of the Italian nations concluded with each other in 400, was the +sure token of an approaching struggle for the supremacy of Italy--a +struggle which threatened to become interwoven with the crisis within +the Latin nation. + +Conquests of the Samnites in the South of Italy + +The Samnite nation, which, at the time of the expulsion of the +Tarquins from Rome, had doubtless already been for a considerable +period in possession of the hill-country which rises between the +Apulian and Campanian plains and commands them both, had hitherto +found its further advance impeded on the one side by the Daunians +--the power and prosperity of Arpi fall within this period--on the +other by the Greeks and Etruscans. But the fall of the Etruscan power +towards the end of the third, and the decline of the Greek colonies in +the course of the fourth century, made room for them towards the west +and south; and now one Samnite host after another marched down to, +and even moved across, the south Italian seas. They first made their +appearance in the plain adjoining the bay, with which the name of +the Campanians has been associated from the beginning of the fourth +century; the Etruscans there were suppressed, and the Greeks were +confined within narrower bounds; Capua was wrested from the former +(330), Cumae from the latter (334). About the same time, perhaps even +earlier, the Lucanians appeared in Magna Graecia: at the beginning +of the fourth century they were involved in conflict with the people +of Terina and Thurii; and a considerable time before 364 they had +established themselves in the Greek Laus. About this period their +levy amounted to 30,000 infantry and 4000 cavalry. Towards the end of +the fourth century mention first occurs of the separate confederacy of +the Bruttii,(19) who had detached themselves from the Lucanians--not, +like the other Sabellian stocks, as a colony, but through a quarrel +--and had become mixed up with many foreign elements. The Greeks of +Lower Italy tried to resist the pressure of the barbarians; the league +of the Achaean cities was reconstructed in 361; and it was determined +that, if any of the allied towns should be assailed by the Lucanians, +all should furnish contingents, and that the leaders of contingents +which failed to appear should suffer the punishment of death. But +even the union of Magna Graecia no longer availed; for the ruler of +Syracuse, Dionysius the Elder, made common cause with the Italians +against his countrymen. While Dionysius wrested from the fleets of +Magna Graecia the mastery of the Italian seas, one Greek city after +another was occupied or annihilated by the Italians. In an incredibly +short time the circle of flourishing cities was destroyed or laid +desolate. Only a few Greek settlements, such as Neapolis, succeeded +with difficulty, and more by means of treaties than by force of +arms, in preserving at least their existence and their nationality. +Tarentum alone remained thoroughly independent and powerful, +maintaining its ground in consequence of its more remote position +and its preparation for war--the result of its constant conflicts +with the Messapians. Even that city, however, had constantly to +fight for its existence with the Lucanians, and was compelled to +seek for alliances and mercenaries in the mother-country of Greece. + +About the period when Veii and the Pomptine plain came into the hands +of Rome, the Samnite hordes were already in possession of all Lower +Italy, with the exception of a few unconnected Greek colonies, and +of the Apulo-Messapian coast. The Greek Periplus, composed about 418, +sets down the Samnites proper with their "five tongues" as reaching +from the one sea to the other; and specifies the Campanians as +adjoining them on the Tyrrhene sea to the north, and the Lucanians +to the south, amongst whom in this instance, as often, the Bruttii +are included, and who already had the whole coast apportioned among +them from Paestum on the Tyrrhene, to Thurii on the Ionic sea. In +fact to one who compares the achievements of the two great nations +of Italy, the Latins and the Samnites, before they came into contact, +the career of conquest on the part of the latter appears far wider +and more splendid than that of the former. But the character of their +conquests was essentially different. From the fixed urban centre +which Latium possessed in Rome the dominion of the Latin stock spread +slowly on all sides, and lay within limits comparatively narrow; but +it planted its foot firmly at every step, partly by founding fortified +towns of the Roman type with the rights of dependent allies, partly +by Romanizing the territory which it conquered. It was otherwise +with Samnium. There was in its case no single leading community and +therefore no policy of conquest. While the conquest of the Veientine +and Pomptine territories was for Rome a real enlargement of power, +Samnium was weakened rather than strengthened by the rise of the +Campanian cities and of the Lucanian and Bruttian confederacies; for +every swarm, which had sought and found new settlements, thenceforward +pursued a path of its own. + +Relations between the Samnites and the Greeks + +The Samnite tribes filled a disproportionately large space, while +yet they showed no disposition to make it thoroughly their own. +The larger Greek cities, Tarentum, Thurii, Croton, Metapontum, +Heraclea, Rhegium, and Neapolis, although weakened and often +dependent, continued to exist; and the Hellenes were tolerated +even in the open country and in the smaller towns, so that Cumae +for instance, Posidonia, Laus, and Hipponium, still remained--as +the Periplus already mentioned and coins show--Greek cities even +under Samnite rule. Mixed populations thus arose; the bi-lingual +Bruttii, in particular, included Hellenic as well as Samnite elements +and even perhaps remains of the ancient autochthones; in Lucania +and Campania also similar mixtures must to a lesser extent have +taken place. + +Campanian Hellenism + +The Samnite nation, moreover, could not resist the dangerous charm +of Hellenic culture; least of all in Campania, where Neapolis early +entered into friendly intercourse with the immigrants, and where +the sky itself humanized the barbarians. Nola, Nuceria, and Teanum, +although having a purely Samnite population, adopted Greek manners +and a Greek civic constitution; in fact the indigenous cantonal form +of constitution could not possibly subsist under these altered +circumstances. The Samnite cities of Campania began to coin money, +in part with Greek inscriptions; Capua became by its commerce and +agriculture the second city in Italy in point of size--the first in +point of wealth and luxury. The deep demoralization, in which, +according to the accounts of the ancients, that city surpassed all +others in Italy, is especially reflected in the mercenary recruiting +and in the gladiatorial sports, both of which pre-eminently flourished +in Capua. Nowhere did recruiting officers find so numerous a +concourse as in this metropolis of demoralized civilization; while +Capua knew not how to save itself from the attacks of the aggressive +Samnites, the warlike Campanian youth flocked forth in crowds under +self-elected -condottteri-, especially to Sicily. How deeply these +soldiers of fortune influenced by their enterprises the destinies of +Italy, we shall have afterwards to show; they form as characteristic +a feature of Campanian life as the gladiatorial sports which likewise, +if they did not originate, were at any rate carried to perfection in +Capua. There sets of gladiators made their appearance even during +banquets; and their number was proportioned to the rank of the guests +invited. This degeneracy of the most important Samnite city--a +degeneracy which beyond doubt was closely connected with the Etruscan +habits that lingered there--must have been fatal for the nation at +large; although the Campanian nobility knew how to combine chivalrous +valour and high mental culture with the deepest moral corruption, it +could never become to its nation what the Roman nobility was to the +Latin. Hellenic influence had a similar, though less powerful, effect +on the Lucanians and Bruttians as on the Campanians. The objects +discovered in the tombs throughout all these regions show how Greek +art was cherished there in barbaric luxuriance; the rich ornaments +of gold and amber and the magnificent painted pottery, which are now +disinterred from the abodes of the dead, enable us to conjecture how +extensive had been their departure from the ancient manners of their +fathers. Other indications are preserved in their writing. The old +national writing which they had brought with them from the north was +abandoned by the Lucanians and Bruttians, and exchanged for Greek; +while in Campania the national alphabet, and perhaps also the +language, developed itself under the influence of the Greek model +into greater clearness and delicacy. We meet even with isolated +traces of the influence of Greek philosophy. + +The Samnite Confederacy + +The Samnite land, properly so called, alone remained unaffected by +these innovations, which, beautiful and natural as they may to some +extent have been, powerfully contributed to relax still more the bond +of national unity which even from the first was loose. Through the +influence of Hellenic habits a deep schism took place in the Samnite +stock. The civilized "Philhellenes" of Campania were accustomed to +tremble like the Hellenes themselves before the ruder tribes of +the mountains, who were continually penetrating into Campania and +disturbing the degenerate earlier settlers. Rome was a compact state, +having the strength of all Latium at its disposal; its subjects might +murmur, but they obeyed. The Samnite stock was dispersed and divided; +and, while the confederacy in Samnium proper had preserved unimpaired +the manners and valour of their ancestors, they were on that very +account completely at variance with the other Samnite tribes +and towns. + +Submission of Capua to Rome-- +Rome and Samnium Come to Terms-- +Revolt of the Latins and Campanians against Rome-- +Victory of the Romans-- +Dissolution of the Latin League-- +Colonization of the Land of the Volsci + +In fact, it was this variance between the Samnites of the plain and +the Samnites of the mountains that led the Romans over the Liris. +The Sidicini in Teanum, and the Campanians in Capua, sought aid +from the Romans (411) against their own countrymen, who in swarms ever +renewed ravaged their territory and threatened to establish themselves +there. When the desired alliance was refused, the Campanian envoys +made offer of the submission of their country to the supremacy of +Rome: and the Romans were unable to resist the bait. Roman envoys +were sent to the Samnites to inform them of the new acquisition, +and to summon them to respect the territory of the friendly power. +The further course of events can no longer be ascertained in +detail;(20) we discover only that--whether after a campaign, +or without the intervention of a war--Rome and Samnium came to +an agreement, by which Capua was left at the disposal of the Romans, +Teanum in the hands of the Samnites, and the upper Liris in those +of the Volscians. + +The consent of the Samnites to treat is explained by the energetic +exertions made about this very period by the Tarentines to get quit +of their Sabellian neighbours. But the Romans also had good reason +for coming to terms as quickly as possible with the Samnites; for the +impending transition of the region bordering on the south of Latium +into the possession of the Romans converted the ferment that had long +existed among the Latins into open insurrection. All the original +Latin towns, even the Tusculans who had been received into the +burgess-union of Rome, took up arms against Rome, with the single +exception of the Laurentes, whereas of the colonies founded beyond +the bounds of Latium only the old Volscian towns Velitrae, Antium, +and Tarracina adhered to the revolt. We can readily understand how +the Capuans, notwithstanding their very recent and voluntarily offered +submission to the Romans, should readily embrace the first opportunity +of again ridding themselves of the Roman rule and, in spite of the +opposition of the optimate party that adhered to the treaty with Rome, +should make common cause with the Latin confederacy, whereas the still +independent Volscian towns, such as Fundi and Formiae, and the Hernici +abstained like the Campanian aristocracy from taking part in this +revolt. The position of the Romans was critical; the legions which +had crossed the Liris and occupied Campania were cut off by the revolt +of the Latins and Volsci from their home, and a victory alone could +save them. The decisive battle was fought near Trifanum (between +Minturnae, Suessa, and Sinuessa) in 414; the consul Titus Manlius +Imperiosus Torquatus achieved a complete victory over the united +Latins and Campanians. In the two following years the individual +towns, so far as they still offered resistance, were reduced by +capitulation or assault, and the whole country was brought into +subjection. The effect of the victory was the dissolution of the +Latin league. It was transformed from an independent political +federation into a mere association for the purpose of a religious +festival; the ancient stipulated rights of the confederacy as to +a maximum for the levy of troops and a share of the gains of war +perished as such along with it, and assumed, where they were +recognized in future, the character of acts of grace. Instead of +the one treaty between Rome on the one hand and the Latin confederacy +on the other, there came at best perpetual alliances between Rome and +the several confederate towns. To this footing of treaty there were +admitted of the old-Latin places, besides Laurentum, also Tibur and +Praeneste, which however were compelled to cede portions of their +territory to Rome. Like terms were obtained by the communities of +Latin rights founded outside of Latium, so far as they had not taken +part in the war. The principle of isolating the communities from each +other, which had already been established in regard to the places +founded after 370,(21) was thus extended to the whole Latin nation. +In other respects the several places retained their former privileges +and their autonomy. The other old-Latin communities as well as the +colonies that had revolted lost--all of them--independence and +entered in one form or another into the Roman burgess-union. The two +important coast towns Antium (416) and Tarracina (425) were, after +the model of Ostia, occupied with Roman full-burgesses and restricted +to a communal independence confined within narrow limits, while the +previous burgesses were deprived in great part of their landed +property in favour of the Roman colonists and, so far as they retained +it, likewise adopted into the full burgess-union. Lanuvium, Aricia, +Momentum, Pedum became Roman burgess-communities after the model of +Tusculum.(22) The walls of Velitrae were demolished, its senate was +ejected -en masse- and deported to the interior of Roman Etruria, +and the town was probably constituted a dependent community with +Caerite rights.(23) Of the land acquired a portion--the estates, +for instance, of the senators of Velitrae--was distributed to Roman +burgesses: with these special assignations was connected the erection +of two new tribes in 422. The deep sense which prevailed in Rome +of the enormous importance of the result achieved is attested by +the honorary column, which was erected in the Roman Forum to the +victorious dictator of 416, Gaius Maenius, and by the decoration +of the orators' platform in the same place with the beaks taken +from the galleys of Antium that were found unserviceable. + +Complete Submission of the Volscian and Campanian Provinces + +In like manner the dominion of Rome was established and confirmed in +the south Volscian and Campanian territories. Fundi, Formiae, +Capua, Cumae, and a number of smaller towns became dependent Roman +communities with self-administration. To secure the pre-eminently +important city of Capua, the breach between the nobility and commons +was artfully widened, the communal constitution was revised in the +Roman interest, and the administration of the town was controlled by +Roman officials annually sent to Campania. The same treatment was +measured out some years after to the Volscian Privernum, whose +citizens, supported by Vitruvius Vaccus a bold partisan belonging to +Fundi, had the honour of fighting the last battle for the freedom of +this region; the struggle ended with the storming of the town (425) +and the execution of Vaccus in a Roman prison. In order to rear a +population devoted to Rome in these regions, they distributed, out +of the lands won in war particularly in the Privernate and Falernian +territories, so numerous allotments to Roman burgesses, that a few +years later (436) they were able to institute there also two new +tribes. The establishment of two fortresses as colonies with Latin +rights finally secured the newly won land. These were Cales (420) +in the middle of the Campanian plain, whence the movements of Teanum +and Capua could be observed, and Fregellae (426), which commanded +the passage of the Liris. Both colonies were unusually strong, and +rapidly became flourishing, notwithstanding the obstacles which the +Sidicines interposed to the founding of Cales and the Samnites to that +of Fregellae. A Roman garrison was also despatched to Sora, a step +of which the Samnites, to whom this district had been left by the +treaty, complained with reason, but in vain. Rome pursued her purpose +with undeviating steadfastness, and displayed her energetic and +far-reaching policy--more even than on the battlefield--in the securing +of the territory which she gained by enveloping it, politically and +militarily, in a net whose meshes could not be broken. + +Inaction of the Samnites + +As a matter of course, the Samnites could not behold the threatening +progress of the Romans with satisfaction, and they probably put +obstacles in its way; nevertheless they neglected to intercept the new +career of conquest, while there was still perhaps time to do so, with +that energy which the circumstances required. They appear indeed in +accordance with their treaty with Rome to have occupied and strongly +garrisoned Teanum; for while in earlier times that city sought help +against Samnium from Capua and Rome, in the later struggles it appears +as the bulwark of the Samnite power on the west. They spread, +conquering and destroying, on the upper Liris, but they neglected +to establish themselves permanently in that quarter. They destroyed +the Volscian town Fregellae--by which they simply facilitated the +institution of the Roman colony there which we have just mentioned +--and they so terrified two other Volscian towns, Fabrateria (Ceccano) +and Luca (site unknown), that these, following the example of Capua, +surrendered themselves to the Romans (424). The Samnite confederacy +allowed the Roman conquest of Campania to be completed before they in +earnest opposed it; and the reason for their doing so is to be sought +partly in the contemporary hostilities between the Samnite nation and +the Italian Hellenes, but principally in the remiss and distracted +policy which the confederacy pursued. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter V + +1. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +2. The original equality of the two armies is evident from Liv. i. 52; +viii. 8, 14, and Dionys. viii, 15; but most clearly from Polyb. vi. 26. + +3. Dionysius (viii. 15) expressly states, that in the later federal +treaties between Rome and Latium the Latin communities were interdicted +from calling out their contingents of their own motion and sending them +into the field alone. + +4. These Latin staff-officers were the twelve -praefecti sociorum-, +who subsequently, when the old phalanx had been resolved into the +later legions and -alae-, had the charge of the two -alae- of the +federal contingents, six to each -ala-, just as the twelve war-tribunes +of the Roman army had charge of the two legions, six to each legion. +Polybius (vi. 26, 5) states that the consul nominated the former, +as he originally nominated the latter. Now, as according to the +ancient maxim of law, that every person under obligation of service +might become an officer (p. 106), it was legally allowable for the +general to appoint a Latin as leader of a Roman, as well as conversely +a Roman as leader of a Latin, legion, this led to the practical result +that the -tribuni militum- were wholly, and the -praefecti sociorum- +at least ordinarily, Romans. + +5. These were the -decuriones turmarum- and -praefecti cohortium- +(Polyb. vi. 21, 5; Liv. xxv. 14; Sallust. Jug. 69, et al.) Of +course, as the Roman consuls were in law and ordinarily also in fact +commanders-in-chief, the presidents of the community in the dependent +towns also were perhaps throughout, or at least very frequently, +placed at the head of the community-contingents (Liv. xxiii. 19; +Orelli, Inscr. 7022). Indeed, the usual name given to the Latin +magistrates (-praetores-) indicates that they were officers. + +6. Such a --metoikos-- was not like an actual burgess assigned to a +specific voting district once for all, but before each particular vote +the district in which the --metoeci-- were upon that occasion to vote +was fixed by lot. In reality this probably amounted to the concession +to the Latins of one vote in the Roman -comitia tributa-. As a place +in some tribe was a preliminary condition of the ordinary centuriate +suffrage, if the --metoeci-- shared in the voting in the assembly of +the centuries-which we do not know-a similar allotment must have been +fixed for the latter. In the curies they must have taken part like +the plebeians. + +7. II. I. Abolition of the Life-Presidency of the Community + +8. Ordinarily, as is well known, the Latin communities were +presided over by two praetors. Besides these there occur in several +communities single magistrates, who in that case bear the title of +dictator; as in Alba (Orelli-Henzen, Inscr. 2293), Tusculum (p. 445, +note 2), Lanuvium (Cicero, pro Mil. 10, 27; 17, 45; Asconius, in Mil. +p. 32, Orell.; Orelli, n. 2786, 5157, 6086); Compitum (Orelli, 3324); +Nomentum (Orelli, 208, 6138, 7032; comp. Henzen, Bullett. 1858, p. +169); and Aricia (Orelli, n. 1455). To these falls to be added the +similar dictator in the -civitas sine suffragio- of Caere (Orelli, n. +3787, 5772; also Garrucci Diss. arch., i. p. 31, although erroneously +placed after Sutrium); and further the officials of the like name at +Fidenae (Orelli, 112). All these magistracies or priesthoods that +originated in magistracies (the dictator of Caere is to be explained +in accordance with Liv. ix. 43: -Anagninis--magistratibus praeter quam +sacrorum curatione interdictum-), were annual (Orelli, 208). +The statement of Macer likewise and of the annalists who borrowed +from him, that Alba was at the time of its fall no longer under kings, +but under annual directors (Dionys. v. 74; Plutarch, Romul. 27; Liv. +i. 23), is presumably a mere inference from the institution, with +which he was acquainted, of the sacerdotal Alban dictatorship which +was beyond doubt annual like that of Nomentum; a view in which, +moreover, the democratic partisanship of its author may have come +into play. It may be a question whether the inference is valid, and +whether, even if Alba at the time of its dissolution was under rulers +holding office for life, the abolition of monarchy in Rome might not +subsequently lead to the conversion of the Alban dictatorship into +an annual office. + +All these Latin magistracies substantially coincide in reality, as +well as specially in name, with the arrangement established in Rome +by the revolution in a way which is not adequately explained by the +mere similarity of the political circumstances underlying them. + +9. II. IV. Etruscans Driven Back from Latium + +10. The country of the Aequi embraces not merely the valley of +the Anio above Tibur and the territory of the later Latin colonies +Carsioli (on the upper part of the Turano) and Alba (on the Fucine +lake), but also the district of the later municipium of the Aequiculi, +who are nothing but that remnant of the Aequi to which, after the +subjugation by the Romans, and after the assignation of the largest +portion of the territory to Roman or Latin colonists, municipal +independence was left. + +11. To all appearance Velitrae, although situated in the plain, was +originally Volscian, and so a Latin colony; Cora, on the other hand, +on the Volscian mountains, was originally Latin. + +12. Not long afterwards must have taken place the founding of the +-Nemus Dianae- in the forest of Aricia, which, according to Cato's +account (p. 12, Jordan), a Tusculan dictator accomplished for +the urban communities of old Latium, Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, +Laurentum, Cora, and Tibur, and of the two Latin colonies (which +therefore stand last) Suessa Pometia and Ardea (-populus Ardeatis +Rutulus-). The absence of Praeneste and of the smaller communities +of the old Latium shows, as was implied in the nature of the case, +that not all the communities of the Latin league at that time took +part in the consecration. That it falls before 372 is proved by the +emergence of Pometia (II. V. Closing Of The Latin Confederation), and +the list quite accords with what can otherwise be ascertained as to +the state of the league shortly after the accession of Ardea. + +More credit may be given to the traditional statements regarding the +years of the foundations than to most of the oldest traditions, seeing +that the numbering of the year -ab urbe condita-, common to the +Italian cities, has to all appearance preserved, by direct tradition, +the year in which the colonies were founded. + +13. The two do not appear as Latin colonies in the so-called Cassian +list about 372, but they so appear in the Carthaginian treaty of 406; +the towns had thus become Latin colonies in the interval. + +14. In the list given by Dionysius (v. 61) of the thirty Latin +federal cities--the only list which we possess--there are named the +Ardeates, Aricini, Bovillani, Bubentani (site unknown), Corni (rather +Corani), Carventani (site unknown), Circeienses, Coriolani, Corbintes, +Cabani (perhaps the Cabenses on the Alban Mount, Bull, dell' Inst. +1861, p. 205), Fortinei (unknown), Gabini, Laurentes, Lanuvini, +Lavinates, Labicani, Nomentani, Norbani, Praenestini, Pedani, +Querquetulani (site unknown), Satricani, Scaptini, Setini, Tiburtini, +Tusculani, Tellenii (site unknown), Tolerini (site unknown), and +Veliterni. The occasional notices of communities entitled to +participate, such as of Ardea (Liv. xxxii. x), Laurentum (Liv. xxxvii. +3), Lanuvium (Liv. xli. 16), Bovillae, Gabii, Labici (Cicero, pro +Plane. 9, 23) agree with this list. Dionysius gives it on occasion +of the declaration of war by Latium against Rome in 256, and it was +natural therefore to regard--as Niebuhr did--this list as derived +from the well-known renewal of the league in 261, But, as in this list +drawn up according to the Latin alphabet the letter -g appears in a +position which it certainly had not at the time of the Twelve Tables +and scarcely came to occupy before the fifth century (see my +Unteritalische Dial. p. 33), it must be taken from a much more recent +source; and it is by far the simplest hypothesis to recognize it as +a list of those places which were afterwards regarded as the ordinary +members of the Latin confederacy, and which Dionysius in accordance +with his systematizing custom specifies as its original component +elements. As was to be expected, the list presents not a single +non-Latin community; it simply enumerates places originally Latin +or occupied by Latin colonies--no one will lay stress on Corbio and +Corioli as exceptions. Now if we compare with this list that of the +Latin colonies, there had been founded down to 372 Suessa Pometia, +Velitrae, Norba, Signia, Ardea, Circeii (361), Satricum (369), Sutrium +(371), Nepete (371), Setia (372). Of the last three founded at nearly +the same time the two Etruscan ones may very well date somewhat later +than Setia, since in fact the foundation of every town claimed +a certain amount of time, and our list cannot be free from minor +inaccuracies. If we assume this, then the list contains all the +colonies sent out up to the year 372, including the two soon +afterwards deleted from the list, Satricum destroyed in 377 and +Velitrae divested of Latin rights in 416; there are wanting only +Suessa Pometia, beyond doubt as having been destroyed before 372, and +Signia, probably because in the text of Dionysius, who mentions only +twenty-nine names, --SIGNINON-- has dropped out after --SEITINON--. +In entire harmony with this view there are absent from this list all +the Latin colonies founded after 372 as well as all places, which like +Ostia, Antemnae, Alba, were incorporated with the Roman community +before the year 370, whereas those incorporated subsequently, such +as Tusculum, Lanuvium, Velitrae, are retained in it. + +As regards the list given by Pliny of thirty-two townships extinct in +his time which had formerly participated in the Alban festival, after +deduction of seven that also occur in Dionysius (for the Cusuetani +of Pliny appear to be the Carventani of Dionysius), there remain +twenty-five townships, most of them quite unknown, doubtless made up +partly of those seventeen non-voting communities--most of which perhaps +were just the oldest subsequently disqualified members of the Alban +festal league--partly of a number of other decayed or ejected members +of the league, to which latter class above all the ancient presiding +township of Alba, also named by Pliny, belonged. + +15. Livy certainly states (iv. 47) that Labici became a colony in +336. But--apart from the fact that Diodorus (xiii. 6) says nothing +of it--Labici cannot have been a burgess-colony, for the town did +not lie on the coast and besides it appears subsequently as still in +possession of autonomy; nor can it have been a Latin one, for there is +not, nor can there be from the nature of these foundations, a single +other example of a Latin colony established in the original Latium. +Here as elsewhere it is most probable--especially as two -jugera- are +named as the portion of land allotted--that a public assignation to +the burgesses has been confounded with a colonial assignation ( I. +XIII. System of Joint Cultivation ). + +16. II. IV. South Etruria Roman + +17. II. V. League with the Hernici + +18. This restriction of the ancient full reciprocity of Latin rights +first occurs in the renewal of the treaty in 416 (Liv. viii. 14); but +as the system of isolation, of which it was an essential part, first +began in reference to the Latin colonies settled after 370, and was +only generalized in 416, it is proper to mention this alteration here. + +19. The name itself is very ancient; in fact it is the most +ancient indigenous name for the inhabitants of the present Calabria +(Antiochus, Fr. 5. Mull.). The well-known derivation is doubtless +an invention. + +20. Perhaps no section of the Roman annals has been more disfigured +than the narrative of the first Samnite-Latin war, as it stands or +stood in Livy, Dionysius, and Appian. It runs somewhat to the +following effect. After both consuls had marched into Campania in +411, first the consul Marcus Valerius Corvus gained a severe and +bloody victory over the Samnites at Mount Gaurus; then his colleague +Aulus Cornelius Cossus gained another, after he had been rescued from +annihilation in a narrow pass by the self-devotion of a division led +by the military tribune Publius Decius. The third and decisive battle +was fought by both consuls at the entrance of the Caudine Pass near +Suessula; the Samnites were completely vanquished--forty thousand of +their shields were picked up on the field of battle--and they were +compelled to make a peace, in which the Romans retained Capua, which +had given itself over to their possession, while they left Teanum to +the Samnites (413). Congratulations came from all sides, even from +Carthage. The Latins, who had refused their contingent and seemed to +be arming against Rome, turned their arms not against Rome but against +the Paeligni, while the Romans were occupied first with a military +conspiracy of the garrison left behind in Campania (412), then with +the capture of Privernum (413) and the war against the Antiates. But +now a sudden and singular change occurred in the position of parties. +The Latins, who had demanded in vain Roman citizenship and a share in +the consulate, rose against Rome in conjunction with the Sidicines, +who had vainly offered to submit to the Romans and knew not how to +save themselves from the Samnites, and with the Campanians, who were +already tired of the Roman rule. Only the Laurentes in Latium and the +-equites- of Campania adhered to the Romans, who on their part found +support among the Paeligni and Samnites. The Latin army fell upon +Samnium; the Romano-Samnite army, after it had marched to the Fucine +lake and from thence, avoiding Latium, into Campania, fought the +decisive battle against the combined Latins and Campanians at +Vesuvius; the consul Titus Manlius Imperiosus, after he had himself +restored the wavering discipline of the army by the execution of his +own son who had slain a foe in opposition to orders from headquarters, +and after his colleague Publius Decius Mus had appeased the gods by +sacrificing his life, at length gained the victory by calling up the +last reserves. But the war was only terminated by a second battle, +in which the consul Manlius engaged the Latins and Campanians near +Trifanum; Latium and Capua submitted, and were mulcted in a portion +of their territory. + +The judicious and candid reader will not fail to observe that this +report swarms with all sorts of impossibilities. Such are the +statement of the Antiates waging war after the surrender of 377 (Liv. +vi. 33); the independent campaign of the Latins against the Paeligni, +in distinct contradiction to the stipulations of the treaties between +Rome and Latium; the unprecedented march of the Roman army through the +Marsian and Samnite territory to Capua, while all Latium was in arms +against Rome; to say nothing of the equally confused and sentimental +account of the military insurrection of 412, and the story of +its forced leader, the lame Titus Quinctius, the Roman Gotz von +Berlichingen. Still more suspicious perhaps, are the repetitions. +Such is the story of the military tribune Publius Decius modelled on +the courageous deed of Marcus Calpurnius Flamma, or whatever he was +called, in the first Punic war; such is the recurrence of the conquest +of Privernum by Gaius Plautius in the year 425, which second conquest +alone is registered in the triumphal Fasti; such is the self-immolation +of Publius Decius, repeated, as is well known, in the case of his son +in 459. Throughout this section the whole representation betrays +a different period and a different hand from the other more credible +accounts of the annals. The narrative is full of detailed pictures +of battles; of inwoven anecdotes, such as that of the praetor +of Setia, who breaks his neck on the steps of the senate-house because +he had been audacious enough to solicit the consulship, and the +various anecdotes concocted out of the surname of Titus Manlius; and +of prolix and in part suspicious archaeological digressions. In this +class we include the history of the legion--of which the notice, most +probably apocryphal, in Liv. i. 52, regarding the maniples of Romans +and Latins intermingled formed by the second Tarquin, is evidently a +second fragment, the erroneous view given of the treaty between Capua +and Rome (see my Rom. Munzwesen, p. 334, n. 122); the formularies of +self-devotion, the Campanian -denarius-, the Laurentine alliance, +and the -bina jugera- in the assignation (p. 450, note). Under such +circumstances it appears a fact of great weight that Diodorus, who +follows other and often older accounts, knows absolutely nothing of +any of these events except the last battle at Trifanum; a battle +in fact that ill accords with the rest of the narrative, which, in +accordance with the rules of poetical justice, ought to have concluded +with the death of Decius. + +21. II. V. Isolation of the Later Latin Cities as Respected Private +Rights + +22. II. V. Crises within the Romano-Latin League + +23. II. IV. South Etruria Roman + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Struggle of the Italians against Rome + + +Wars between the Sabellians and Tarentines-- +Archidamus-- +Alexander the Molossian-- + +While the Romans were fighting on the Liris and Volturnus, other +conflicts agitated the south-east of the peninsula. The wealthy +merchant-republic of Tarentum, daily exposed to more serious peril +from the Lucanian and Messapian bands and justly distrusting its own +sword, gained by good words and better coin the help of -condottieri- +from the mother-country. The Spartan king, Archidamus, who with +a strong band had come to the assistance of his fellow-Dorians, +succumbed to the Lucanians on the same day on which Philip conquered +at Chaeronea (416); a retribution, in the belief of the pious Greeks, +for the share which nineteen years previously he and his people had +taken in pillaging the sanctuary of Delphi. His place was taken by +an abler commander, Alexander the Molossian, brother of Olympias the +mother of Alexander the Great. In addition to the troops which he had +brought along with him he united under his banner the contingents of +the Greek cities, especially those of the Tarentines and Metapontines; +the Poediculi (around Rubi, now Ruvo), who like the Greeks found +themselves in danger from the Sabellian nation; and lastly, even the +Lucanian exiles themselves, whose considerable numbers point to the +existence of violent internal troubles in that confederacy. Thus he +soon found himself superior to the enemy. Consentia (Cosenza), which +seems to have been the federal headquarters of the Sabellians settled +in Magna Graecia, fell into his hands. In vain the Samnites came to +the help of the Lucanians; Alexander defeated their combined forces +near Paestum. He subdued the Daunians around Sipontum, and the +Messapians in the south-eastern peninsula; he already commanded from +sea to sea, and was on the point of arranging with the Romans a joint +attack on the Samnites in their native abodes. But successes so +unexpected went beyond the desires of the Tarentine merchants, and +filled them with alarm. War broke out between them and their captain, +who had come amongst them a hired mercenary and now appeared desirous +to found a Hellenic empire in the west like his nephew in the east. +Alexander had at first the advantage; he wrested Heraclea from the +Tarentines, restored Thurii, and seems to have called upon the other +Italian Greeks to unite under his protection against the Tarentines, +while he at the same time tried to bring about a peace between them +and the Sabellian tribes. But his grand projects found only feeble +support among the degenerate and desponding Greeks, and the forced +change of sides alienated from him his former Lucanian adherents: he +fell at Pandosia by the hand of a Lucanian emigrant (422).(1) On his +death matters substantially reverted to their old position. The Greek +cities found themselves once more isolated and once more left to +protect themselves as best they might by treaty or payment of tribute, +or even by extraneous aid; Croton for instance repulsed the Bruttii +about 430 with the help of the Syracusans. The Samnite tribes acquire +renewed ascendency, and were able, without troubling themselves +about the Greeks, once more to direct their eyes towards Campania +and Latium. + +But there during the brief interval a prodigious change had occurred. +The Latin confederacy was broken and scattered, the last resistance +of the Volsci was overcome, the province of Campania, the richest +and finest in the peninsula, was in the undisputed and well-secured +possession of the Romans, and the second city of Italy was a +dependency of Rome. While the Greeks and Samnites were contending +with each other, Rome had almost without a contest raised herself to +a position of power which no single people in the peninsula possessed +the means of shaking, and which threatened to render all of them +subject to her yoke. A joint exertion on the part of the peoples who +were not severally a match for Rome might perhaps still burst the +chains, ere they became fastened completely. But the clearness of +perception, the courage, the self-sacrifice required for such a +coalition of numerous peoples and cities that had hitherto been for +the most part foes or at any rate strangers to each other, were not +to be found at all, or were found only when it was already too late. + +Coalition of the Italians against Rome + +After the fall of the Etruscan power and the weakening of the Greek +republics, the Samnite confederacy was beyond doubt, next to Rome, the +most considerable power in Italy, and at the same time that which was +most closely and immediately endangered by Roman encroachments. To +its lot therefore fell the foremost place and the heaviest burden in +the struggle for freedom and nationality which the Italians had to +wage against Rome. It might reckon upon the assistance of the small +Sabellian tribes, the Vestini, Frentani, Marrucini, and other smaller +cantons, who dwelt in rustic seclusion amidst their mountains, but +were not deaf to the appeal of a kindred stock calling them to take +up arms in defence of their common possessions. The assistance +of the Campanian Greeks and those of Magna Graecia (especially the +Tarentines), and of the powerful Lucanians and Bruttians would have +been of greater importance; but the negligence and supineness of the +demagogues ruling in Tarentum and the entanglement of that city in +the affairs of Sicily, the internal distractions of the Lucanian +confederacy, and above all the deep hostility that had subsisted +for centuries between the Greeks of Lower Italy and their Lucanian +oppressors, scarcely permitted the hope that Tarentum and Lucania +would make common cause with the Samnites. From the Sabines and the +Marsi, who were the nearest neighbours of the Romans and had long +lived in peaceful relations with Rome, little more could be expected +than lukewarm sympathy or neutrality. The Apulians, the ancient and +bitter antagonists of the Sabellians, were the natural allies of the +Romans. On the other hand it might be expected that the more remote +Etruscans would join the league if a first success were gained; and +even a revolt in Latium and the land of the Volsci and Hernici was +not impossible. But the Samnites--the Aetolians of Italy, in whom +national vigour still lived unimpaired--had mainly to rely on their +own energies for such perseverance in the unequal struggle as would +give the other peoples time for a generous sense of shame, for calm +deliberation, and for the mustering of their forces; a single success +might then kindle the flames of war and insurrection all around Rome. +History cannot but do the noble people the justice of acknowledging +that they understood and performed their duty. + +Outbreak of War between Samnium and Rome-- +Pacification of Campania + +Differences had already for several years existed between Rome and +Samnium in consequence of the continual aggressions in which the +Romans indulged on the Liris, and of which the founding of Fregellae +in 426 was the latest and most important. But it was the Greeks of +Campania that gave occasion to the outbreak of the contest. After +Cumae and Capua had become Roman, nothing so naturally suggested +itself to the Romans as the subjugation of the Greek city Neapolis, +which ruled also over the Greek islands in the bay--the only town +not yet reduced to subjection within the field of the Roman power. +The Tarentines and Samnites, informed of the scheme of the Romans to +obtain possession of the town, resolved to anticipate them; and while +the Tarentines were too remiss perhaps rather than too distant for the +execution of this plan, the Samnites actually threw into it a strong +garrison. The Romans immediately declared war nominally against the +Neapolitans, really against the Samnites (427), and began the siege +of Neapolis. After it had lasted a while, the Campanian Greeks +became weary of the disturbance of their commerce and of the foreign +garrison; and the Romans, whose whole efforts were directed to keep +states of the second and third rank by means of separate treaties +aloof from the coalition which was about to be formed, hastened, as +soon as the Greeks consented to negotiate, to offer them the most +favourable terms--full equality of rights and exemption from land +service, equal alliance and perpetual peace. Upon these conditions, +after the Neapolitans had rid themselves of the garrison by stratagem, +a treaty was concluded (428). + +The Sabellian towns to the south of the Volturnus, Nola, Nuceria, +Herculaneum, and Pompeii, took part with Samnium in the beginning of +the war; but their greatly exposed situation and the machinations of +the Romans--who endeavoured to bring over to their side the optimate +party in these towns by all the levers of artifice and self-interest, +and found a powerful support to their endeavours in the precedent of +Capua--induced these towns to declare themselves either in favour of +Rome or neutral not long after the fall of Neapolis. + +Alliance between the Romans and Lucanians + +A still more important success befell the Romans in Lucania. There +also the people with true instinct was in favour of joining the +Samnites; but, as an alliance with the Samnites involved peace with +Tarentum and a large portion of the governing lords of Lucania were +not disposed to suspend their profitable pillaging expeditions, the +Romans succeeded in concluding an alliance with Lucania--an alliance +which was invaluable, because it provided employment for the +Tarentines and thus left the whole power of Rome available +against Samnium. + +War in Samnium-- +The Caudine Pass and the Caudine Peace + +Thus Samnium stood on all sides unsupported; excepting that some of +the eastern mountain districts sent their contingents. In the year +428 the war began within the Samnite land itself: some towns on the +Campanian frontier, Rufrae (between Venafrum and Teanum) and Allifae, +were occupied by the Romans. In the following years the Roman armies +penetrated Samnium, fighting and pillaging, as far as the territory of +the Vestini, and even as far as Apulia, where they were received with +open arms; everywhere they had very decidedly the advantage. +The courage of the Samnites was broken; they sent back the Roman +prisoners, and along with them the dead body of the leader of the war +party, Brutulus Papius, who had anticipated the Roman executioners, +when the Samnite national assembly determined to ask the enemy for +peace and to procure for themselves more tolerable terms by the +surrender of their bravest general. But when the humble, almost +suppliant, request was not listened to by the Roman people (432), +the Samnites, under their new general Gavius Pontius, prepared for the +utmost and most desperate resistance. The Roman army, which under the +two consuls of the following year (433) Spurius Postumius and Titus +Veturius was encamped near Calatia (between Caserta and Maddaloni), +received accounts, confirmed by the affirmation of numerous captives, +that the Samnites had closely invested Luceria, and that that +important town, on which depended the possession of Apulia, was +in great danger. They broke up in haste. If they wished to arrive in +good time, no other route could be taken than through the midst of the +enemy's territory--where afterwards, in continuation of the Appian +Way, the Roman road was constructed from Capua by way of Beneventum +to Apulia. This route led, between the present villages of Arpaja +and Montesarchio (Caudium), through a watery meadow, which was wholly +enclosed by high and steep wooded hills and was only accessible +through deep defiles at the entrance and outlet. Here the Samnites +had posted themselves in ambush. The Romans, who had entered the +valley unopposed, found its outlet obstructed by abattis and strongly +occupied; on marching back they saw that the entrance was similarly +closed, while at the same time the crests of the surrounding mountains +were crowned by Samnite cohorts. They perceived, when it was too +late, that they had suffered themselves to be misled by a stratagem, +and that the Samnites awaited them, not at Luceria, but in the fatal +pass of Caudium. They fought, but without hope of success and without +earnest aim; the Roman army was totally unable to manoeuvre and was +completely vanquished without a struggle. The Roman generals offered +to capitulate. It is only a foolish rhetoric that represents the +Samnite general as shut up to the simple alternatives of disbanding or +of slaughtering the Roman army; he could not have done better than +accept the offered capitulation and make prisoners of the hostile +army--the whole force which for the moment the Roman community could +bring into action--with both its commanders-in-chief. In that case +the way to Campania and Latium would have stood open; and in the then +existing state of feeling, when the Volsci and Hernici and the larger +portion of the Latins would have received him with open arms, the +political existence of Rome would have been in serious danger. But +instead of taking this course and concluding a military convention, +Gavius Pontius thought that he could at once terminate the whole +quarrel by an equitable peace; whether it was that he shared that +foolish longing of the confederates for peace, to which Brutulus +Papius had fallen a victim in the previous year, or whether it was +that he was unable to prevent the party which was tired of the war +from spoiling his unexampled victory. The terms laid down were +moderate enough; Rome was to raze the fortresses which she had +constructed in defiance of the treaty--Cales and Fregellae--and to +renew her equal alliance with Samnium. After the Roman generals had +agreed to these terms and had given six hundred hostages chosen from +the cavalry for their faithful execution--besides pledging their own +word and that of all their staff-officers on oath to the same effect +--the Roman army was dismissed uninjured, but disgraced; for the +Samnite army, drunk with victory, could not resist the desire to +subject their hated enemies to the disgraceful formality of laying +down their arms and passing under the yoke. + +But the Roman senate, regardless of the oath of their officers and +of the fate of the hostages, cancelled the agreement, and contented +themselves with surrendering to the enemy those who had concluded it +as personally responsible for its fulfilment. Impartial history can +attach little importance to the question whether in so doing the +casuistry of Roman advocates and priests kept the letter of the law, +or whether the decree of the Roman senate violated it; under a human +and political point of view no blame in this matter rests upon the +Romans. It was a question of comparative indifference whether, +according to the formal state law of the Romans, the general in +command was or was not entitled to conclude peace without reserving +its ratification by the burgesses. According to the spirit and +practice of the constitution it was quite an established principle +that in Rome every state-agreement, not purely military, pertained +to the province of the civil authorities, and a general who concluded +peace without the instructions of the senate and the burgesses +exceeded his powers. It was a greater error on the part of the +Samnite general to give the Roman generals the choice between saving +their army and exceeding their powers, than it was on the part of +the latter that they had not the magnanimity absolutely to repel such +a suggestion; and it was right and necessary that the Roman senate +should reject such an agreement. A great nation does not surrender +what it possesses except under the pressure of extreme necessity: all +treaties making concessions are acknowledgments of such a necessity, +not moral obligations. If every people justly reckons it a point +of honour to tear to pieces by force of arms treaties that are +disgraceful, how could honour enjoin a patient adherence to a +convention like the Caudine to which an unfortunate general was +morally compelled, while the sting of the recent disgrace was +keenly felt and the vigour of the nation subsisted unimpaired? + +Victory of the Romans + +Thus the convention of Caudium did not produce the rest which the +enthusiasts for peace in Samnium had foolishly expected from it, but +only led to war after war with exasperation aggravated on either side +by the opportunity forfeited, by the breach of a solemn engagement, +by military honour disgraced, and by comrades that had been abandoned. +The Roman officers given up were not received by the Samnites, partly +because they were too magnanimous to wreak their vengeance on those +unfortunates, partly because they would thereby have admitted the +Roman plea that the agreement bound only those who swore to it, not +the Roman state. Magnanimously they spared even the hostages whose +lives had been forfeited by the rules of war, and preferred to resort +at once to arms. + +Luceria was occupied by them and Fregellae surprised and taken by +assault (434) before the Romans had reorganized their broken army; +the passing of the Satricans(2) over to the Samnites shows what they +might have accomplished, had they not allowed their advantage to slip +through their hands. But Rome was only momentarily paralyzed, not +weakened; full of shame and indignation the Romans raised all the +men and means they could, and placed the highly experienced Lucius +Papirius Cursor, equally distinguished as a soldier and as a general, +at the head of the newly formed army. The army divided; the one-half +marched by Sabina and the Adriatic coast to appear before Luceria, +the other proceeded to the same destination through Samnium itself, +successfully engaging and driving before it the Samnite army. They +formed a junction again under the walls of Luceria, the siege of which +was prosecuted with the greater zeal, because the Roman equites lay +in captivity there; the Apulians, particularly the Arpani, lent the +Romans important assistance in the siege, especially by procuring +supplies. After the Samnites had given battle for the relief of +the town and been defeated, Luceria surrendered to the Romans (435). +Papirius enjoyed the double satisfaction of liberating his comrades +who had been given up for lost, and of requiting the yoke of Caudium +on the Samnite garrison of Luceria. In the next years (435-437) +the war was carried on(3) not so much in Samnium itself as in the +adjoining districts. In the first place the Romans chastised the +allies of the Samnites in the Apulian and Frentanian territories, +and concluded new conventions with the Teanenses of Apulia and the +Canusini. At the same time Satricum was again reduced to subjection +and severely punished for its revolt. Then the war turned to +Campania, where the Romans conquered the frontier town towards +Samnium, Saticula (perhaps S. Agata de' Goti) (438). But now +the fortune of war seemed disposed once more to turn against them. +The Samnites gained over the Nucerians (438), and soon afterwards +the Nolans, to their side; on the upper Liris the Sorani of themselves +expelled the Roman garrison (439); the Ausonians were preparing to +rise, and threatened the important Cales; even in Capua the party +opposed to Rome was vigorously stirring. A Samnite army advanced into +Campania and encamped before the city, in the hope that its vicinity +might place the national party in the ascendant (440). But Sora was +immediately attacked by the Romans and recaptured after the defeat +of a Samnite relieving force (440). The movements among the Ausonians +were suppressed with cruel rigour ere the insurrection fairly broke +out, and at the same time a special dictator was nominated to +institute and decide political processes against the leaders of +the Samnite party in Capua, so that the most illustrious of them +died a voluntary death to escape from the Roman executioner (440). +The Samnite army before Capua was defeated and compelled to retreat +from Campania; the Romans, following close at the heels of the enemy, +crossed the Matese and encamped in the winter of 440 before Bovianum, +the: capital of Samnium. Nola was abandoned by its allies; and the +Romans had the sagacity to detach the town for ever from the Samnite +party by a very favourable convention, similar to that concluded with +Neapolis (441). Fregellae, which after the catastrophe of Caudium had +fallen into the hands of the party adverse to Rome and had been their +chief stronghold in the district on the Liris, finally fell in the +eighth year after its occupation by the Samnites (441); two hundred of +the citizens, the chief members of the national party, were conveyed +to Rome, and there openly beheaded in the Forum as an example and a +warning to the patriots who were everywhere bestirring themselves. + +New Fortresses in Apulia and Campania + +Apulia and Campania were thus in the hands of the Romans. In order +finally to secure and permanently to command the conquered territory, +several new fortresses were founded in it during the years 440-442: +Luceria in Apulia, to which on account of its isolated and exposed +situation half a legion was sent as a permanent garrison; Pontiae (the +Ponza islands) for the securing of the Campanian waters; Saticula on +the Campano-Samnite frontier, as a bulwark against Samnium; and lastly +Interamna (near Monte Cassino) and Suessa Aurunca (Sessa) on the +road from Rome to Capua. Garrisons moreover were sent to Caiatia +(Cajazzo), Sora, and other stations of military importance. The great +military road from Rome to Capua, which with the necessary embankment +for it across the Pomptine marshes the censor Appius Claudius caused +to be constructed in 442, completed the securing of Campania. The +designs of the Romans were more and more fully developed; their object +was the subjugation of Italy, which was enveloped more closely from +year to year in a network of Roman fortresses and roads. The Samnites +were already on both sides surrounded by the Roman meshes; already the +line from Rome to Luceria severed north and south Italy from each +other, as the fortresses of Norba and Signia had formerly severed the +Volsci and Aequi; and Rome now rested on the Arpani, as it formerly +rested on the Hernici. The Italians could not but see that the +freedom of all of them was gone if Samnium succumbed, and that it was +high time at length to hasten with all their might to the help of the +brave mountain people which had now for fifteen years singly sustained +the unequal struggle with the Romans. + +Intervention of the Tarentines + +The most natural allies of the Samnites would have been the +Tarentines; but it was part of that fatality that hung over Samnium +and over Italy in general, that at this moment so fraught with the +destinies of the future the decision lay in the hands of these +Athenians of Italy. Since the constitution of Tarentum, which was +originally after the old Doric fashion strictly aristocratic, had +become changed to a complete democracy, a life of singular activity +had sprung up in that city, which was inhabited chiefly by mariners, +fishermen, and artisans. The sentiments and conduct of the +population, more wealthy than noble, discarded all earnestness +amidst the giddy bustle and witty brilliance of their daily life, and +oscillated between the grandest boldness of enterprise and elevation +of spirit on the one hand, and a shameful frivolity and childish whim +on the other. It may not be out of place, in connection with a crisis +wherein the existence or destruction of nations of noble gifts and +ancient renown was at stake, to mention that Plato, who came to +Tarentum some sixty years before this time, according to his own +statement saw the whole city drunk at the Dionysia, and that the +burlesque farce, or "merry tragedy" as it was called, was created +in Tarentum about the very time of the great Samnite war. This +licentious life and buffoon poetry of the Tarentine fashionables and +literati had a fitting counterpart in the inconstant, arrogant, and +short-sighted policy of the Tarentine demagogues, who regularly +meddled in matters with which they had nothing to do, and kept aloof +where their immediate interests called for action. After the Caudine +catastrophe, when the Romans and Samnites stood opposed in Apulia, +they had sent envoys thither to enjoin both parties to lay down their +arms (434). This diplomatic intervention in the decisive struggle of +the Italians could not rationally have any other meaning than that of +an announcement that Tarentum had at length resolved to abandon +the neutrality which it had hitherto maintained. It had in fact +sufficient reason to do so. It was no doubt a difficult and dangerous +thing for Tarentum to be entangled in such a war; for the democratic +development of the state had directed its energies entirely to the +fleet, and while that fleet, resting upon the strong commercial +marine of Tarentum, held the first rank among the maritime powers +of Magna Graecia, the land force, on which they were in the present +case dependent, consisted mainly of hired soldiers and was sadly +disorganized. Under these circumstances it was no light undertaking +for the Tarentine republic to take part in the conflict between Rome +and Samnium, even apart from the--at least troublesome--feud in which +Roman policy had contrived to involve them with the Lucanians. But +these obstacles might be surmounted by an energetic will; and both the +contending parties construed the summons of the Tarentine envoys that +they should desist from the strife as meant in earnest. The Samnites, +as the weaker, showed themselves ready to comply with it; the Romans +replied by hoisting the signal for battle. Reason and honour dictated +to the Tarentines the propriety of now following up the haughty +injunction of their envoys by a declaration of war against Rome; but +in Tarentum neither reason nor honour characterized the government, +and they had simply been trifling in a very childish fashion with +very serious matters. No declaration of war against Rome took place; +in its stead they preferred to support the oligarchical party in the +Sicilian towns against Agathocles of Syracuse who had at a former +period been in the Tarentine service and had been dismissed in +disgrace, and following the example of Sparta, they sent a fleet +to the island--a fleet which would have rendered better service +in the Campanian seas (440). + +Accession of the Etruscans to the Coalition-- +Victory at the Vadimonian Lake + +The peoples of northern and central Italy, who seem to have been +roused especially by the establishment of the fortress of Luceria, +acted with more energy. The Etruscans first drew the sword (443), the +armistice of 403 having already expired some years before. The Roman +frontier-fortress of Sutrium had to sustain a two years' siege, and in +the vehement conflicts which took place under its walls the Romans as +a rule were worsted, till the consul of the year 444 Quintus Fabius +Rullianus, a leader who had gained experience in the Samnite wars, not +only restored the ascendency of the Roman arms in Roman Etruria, but +boldly penetrated into the land of the Etruscans proper, which had +hitherto from diversity of language and scanty means of communication +remained almost unknown to the Romans. His march through the Ciminian +Forest which no Roman army had yet traversed, and his pillaging of a +rich region that had long been spared the horrors of war, raised +all Etruria in arms. The Roman government, which had seriously +disapproved the rash expedition and had when too late forbidden the +daring leader from crossing the frontier, collected in the greatest +haste new legions, in order to meet the expected onslaught of the +whole Etruscan power. But a seasonable and decisive victory of +Rullianus, the battle at the Vadimonian lake which long lived in +the memory of the people, converted an imprudent enterprise into a +celebrated feat of heroism and broke the resistance of the Etruscans. +Unlike the Samnites who had now for eighteen years maintained the +unequal struggle, three of the most powerful Etruscan towns--Perusia, +Cortona, and Arretium--consented after the first defeat to a separate +peace for three hundred months (444), and after the Romans had once +more beaten the other Etruscans near Perusia in the following year, +the Tarquinienses also agreed to a peace of four hundred months (446); +whereupon the other cities desisted from the contest, and a temporary +cessation of arms took place throughout Etruria. + +Last Campaigns in Samnium + +While these events were passing, the war had not been suspended in +Samnium. The campaign of 443 was confined like the preceding to the +besieging and storming of several strongholds of the Samnites; but +in the next year the war took a more vigorous turn. The dangerous +position of Rullianus in Etruria, and the reports which spread as +to the annihilation of the Roman army in the north, encouraged the +Samnites to new exertions; the Roman consul Gaius Marcius Rutilus was +vanquished by them and severely wounded in person. But the sudden +change in the aspect of matters in Etruria destroyed their newly +kindled hopes. Lucius Papirius Cursor again appeared at the head of +the Roman troops sent against the Samnites, and again remained the +victor in a great and decisive battle (445), in which the confederates +had put forth their last energies. The flower of their army--the +wearers of the striped tunics and golden shields, and the wearers of +the white tunics and silver shields--were there extirpated, and their +splendid equipments thenceforth on festal occasions decorated the rows +of shops along the Roman Forum. Their distress was ever increasing; +the struggle was becoming ever more hopeless. In the following year +(446) the Etruscans laid down their arms; and in the same year the +last town of Campania which still adhered to the Samnites, Nuceria, +simultaneously assailed on the part of the Romans by water and by +land, surrendered under favourable conditions. The Samnites found new +allies in the Umbrians of northern, and in the Marsi and Paeligni of +central, Italy, and numerous volunteers even from the Hernici joined +their ranks; but movements which might have decidedly turned the scale +against Rome, had the Etruscans still remained under arms, now simply +augmented the results of the Roman victory without seriously adding to +its difficulties. The Umbrians, who gave signs of marching on Rome, +were intercepted by Rullianus with the army of Samnium on the upper +Tiber--a step which the enfeebled Samnites were unable to prevent; +and this sufficed to disperse the Umbrian levies. The war once more +returned to central Italy. The Paeligni were conquered, as were also +the Marsi; and, though the other Sabellian tribes remained nominally +foes of Rome, in this quarter Samnium gradually came to stand +practically alone. But unexpected assistance came to them from +the district of the Tiber. The confederacy of the Hernici, called +by the Romans to account for their countrymen found among the Samnite +captives, now declared war against Rome (in 448)--more doubtless from +despair than from calculation. Some of the more considerable Hernican +communities from the first kept aloof from hostilities; but Anagnia, +by far the most eminent of the Hernican cities, carried out this +declaration of war. In a military point of view the position of the +Romans was undoubtedly rendered for the moment highly critical by this +unexpected rising in the rear of the army occupied with the siege of +the strongholds of Samnium. Once more the fortune of war favoured the +Samnites; Sora and Caiatia fell into their hands. But the Anagnines +succumbed with unexpected rapidity before troops despatched from Rome, +and these troops also gave seasonable relief to the army stationed +in Samnium: all in fact was lost. The Samnites sued for peace, but +in vain; they could not yet come to terms. The final decision was +reserved for the campaign of 449. Two Roman consular armies +penetrated--the one, under Tiberius Minucius and after his fall under +Marcus Fulvius, from Campania through the mountain passes, the other, +under Lucius Postumius, from the Adriatic upwards by the Biferno--into +Samnium, there to unite in front of Bovianum the capital; a decisive +victory was achieved, the Samnite general Statius Gellius was taken +prisoner, and Bovianum was carried by storm. + +Peace with Samnium + +The fall of the chief stronghold of the land terminated the twenty-two +years' war. The Samnites withdrew their garrisons from Sora and +Arpinum, and sent envoys to Rome to sue for peace; the Sabellian +tribes, the Marsi, Marrucini, Paeligni, Frentani, Vestini, and +Picentes followed their example. The terms granted by Rome were +tolerable; cessions of territory were required from some of them, +from the Paeligni for instance, but they do not seem to have been of +much importance. The equal alliance was renewed between the Sabellian +tribes and the Romans (450). + +And with Tarentum + +Presumably about the same time, and in consequence doubtless of the +Samnite peace, peace was also made between Rome and Tarentum. The two +cities had not indeed directly opposed each other in the field. The +Tarentines had been inactive spectators of the long contest between +Rome and Samnium from its beginning to its close, and had only kept up +hostilities in league with the Sallentines against the Lucanians who +were allies of Rome. In the last years of the Samnite war no doubt +they had shown some signs of more energetic action. The position of +embarrassment to which the ceaseless attacks of the Lucanians reduced +them on the one hand, and on the other hand the feeling ever obtruding +itself on them more urgently that the complete subjugation of Samnium +would endanger their own independence, induced them, notwithstanding +their unpleasant experiences with Alexander, once more to entrust +themselves to a -condottiere-. There came at their call the Spartan +prince Cleonymus, accompanied by five thousand mercenaries; with whom +he united a band equally numerous raised in Italy, as well as the +contingents of the Messapians and of the smaller Greek towns, and +above all the Tarentine civic army of twenty-two thousand men. At +the head of this considerable force he compelled the Lucanians to make +peace with Tarentum and to install a government of Samnite tendencies; +in return for which Metapontum was abandoned to them. The Samnites +were still in arms when this occurred; there was nothing to prevent +the Spartan from coming to their aid and casting the weight of his +numerous army and his military skill into the scale in favour of +freedom for the cities and peoples of Italy. But Tarentum did not +act as Rome would in similar circumstances have acted; and prince +Cleonymus himself was far from being an Alexander or a Pyrrhus. He +was in no hurry to undertake a war in which he might expect more blows +than booty, but preferred to make common cause with the Lucanians +against Metapontum, and made himself comfortable in that city, while +he talked of an expedition against Agathocles of Syracuse and of +liberating the Sicilian Greeks. Thereupon the Samnites made peace; +and when after its conclusion Rome began to concern herself more +seriously about the south-east of the peninsula--in token of which +in the year 447 a Roman force levied contributions, or rather +reconnoitred by order of the government, in the territory of the +Sallentines--the Spartan -condottiere- embarked with his mercenaries +and surprised the island of Corcyra, which was admirably situated as +a basis for piratical expeditions against Greece and Italy. Thus +abandoned by their general, and at the same time deprived of their +allies in central Italy, the Tarentines and their Italian allies, +the Lucanians and Sallentines, had now no course left but to solicit +an accommodation with Rome, which appears to have been granted on +tolerable terms. Soon afterwards (451) even an incursion of +Cleonymus, who had landed in the Sallentine territory and laid +siege to Uria, was repulsed by the inhabitants with Roman aid. + +Consolidation of the Roman Rule in Central Italy + +The victory of Rome was complete; and she turned it to full account. +It was not from magnanimity in the conquerors--for the Romans knew +nothing of the sort--but from shrewd and far-seeing calculation that +terms so moderate were granted to the Samnites, the Tarentines, and +the more distant peoples generally. The first and main object was not +so much to compel southern Italy as quickly as possible to recognize +formally the Roman supremacy, as to supplement and complete the +subjugation of central Italy, for which the way had been prepared by +the military roads and fortresses already established in Campania and +Apulia during the last war, and by that means to separate the northern +and southern Italians into two masses cut off in a military point of +view from direct contact with each other. To this object accordingly +the next undertakings of the Romans were with consistent energy +directed. Above all they used, or made, the opportunity for getting +rid of the confederacies of the Aequi and the Hernici which had once +been rivals of the Roman single power in the region of the Tiber and +were not yet quite set aside. In the same year, in which the peace +with Samnium took place (450), the consul Publius Sempronius Sophus +waged war on the Aequi; forty townships surrendered in fifty days; the +whole territory with the exception of the narrow and rugged mountain +valley, which still in the present day bears the old name of the +people (Cicolano), passed into the possession of the Romans, and here +on the northern border of the Fucine lake was founded the fortress +Alba with a garrison of 6000 men, thenceforth forming a bulwark +against the valiant Marsi and a curb for central Italy; as was also +two years afterwards on the upper Turano, nearer to Rome, Carsioli +--both as allied communities with Latin rights. + +The fact that in the case of the Hernici at least Anagnia had taken +part in the last stage of the Samnite war, furnished the desired +reason for dissolving the old relation of alliance. The fate of the +Anagnines was, as might be expected, far harder than that which had +under similar circumstances been meted out to the Latin communities +in the previous generation. They not merely had, like these, to +acquiesce in the Roman citizenship without suffrage, but they also +like the Caerites lost self-administration; out of a portion of their +territory on the upper Trerus (Sacco), moreover, a new tribe was +instituted, and another was formed at the same time on the lower Anio +(455). The only regret was that the three Hernican communities next +in importance to Anagnia, Aletrium, Verulae, and Ferentinum, had not +also revolted; for, as they courteously declined the suggestion that +they should voluntarily enter into the bond of Roman citizenship and +there existed no pretext for compelling them to do so, the Romans were +obliged not only to respect their autonomy, but also to allow to them +even the right of assembly and of intermarriage, and in this way +still to leave a shadow of the old Hernican confederacy. No such +considerations fettered their action in that portion of the Volscian +country which had hitherto been held by the Samnites. There Arpinum +and Frusino became subject, the latter town was deprived of a third +of its domain, and on the upper Liris in addition to Fregellae the +Volscian town of Sora, which had previously been garrisoned, was now +permanently converted into a Roman fortress and occupied by a legion +of 4000 men. In this way the old Volscian territory was completely +subdued, and became rapidly Romanized. The region which separated +Samnium from Etruria was penetrated by two military roads, both of +which were secured by new fortresses. The northern road, which +afterwards became the Flaminian, covered the line of the Tiber; it +led through Ocriculum, which was in alliance with Rome, to Narnia, the +name which the Romans gave to the old Umbrian fortress Nequinum when +they settled a military colony there (455). The southern, afterwards +the Valerian, ran along the Fucine lake by way of the just mentioned +fortresses of Carsioli and Alba. The small tribes within whose bounds +these colonies were instituted, the Umbrians who obstinately defended +Nequinum, the Aequians who once more assailed Alba, and the Marsians +who attacked Carsioli, could not arrest the course of Rome: the two +strong curb-fortresses were inserted almost without hindrance between +Samnium and Etruria. We have already mentioned the great roads and +fortresses instituted for permanently securing Apulia and above all +Campania: by their means Samnium was further surrounded on the east +and west with the net of Roman strongholds. It is a significant +token of the comparative weakness of Etruria that it was not deemed +necessary to secure the passes through the Ciminian Forest in a +similar mode--by a highway and corresponding fortresses. The former +frontier fortress of Sutrium continued to be in this quarter the +terminus of the Roman military line, and the Romans contented +themselves with having the road leading thence to Arretium kept +in a serviceable state for military purposes by the communities +through whose territories it passed.(4) + +Renewed Outbreak of the Samnite-Etruscan War-- +Junction of the Troops of the Coalition in Etruria + +The high-spirited Samnite nation perceived that such a peace was more +ruinous than the most destructive war; and, what was more, it acted +accordingly. The Celts in northern Italy were just beginning to +bestir themselves again after a long suspension of warfare; moreover +several Etruscan communities there were still in arms against the +Romans, and brief armistices alternated in that quarter with vehement +but indecisive conflicts. All central Italy was still in ferment and +partly in open insurrection; the fortresses were still only in course +of construction; the way between Etruria and Samnium was not yet +completely closed. Perhaps it was not yet too late to save freedom; +but, if so, there must be no delay; the difficulty of attack +increased, the power of the assailants diminished with every year +by which the peace was prolonged. Five years had scarce elapsed since +the contest ended, and all the wounds must still have been bleeding +which the twenty-two years' war had inflicted on the peasantry of +Samnium, when in the year 456 the Samnite confederacy renewed the +struggle. The last war had been decided in favour of Rome mainly +through the alliance of Lucania with the Romans and the consequent +standing aloof of Tarentum. The Samnites, profiting by that lesson, +now threw themselves in the first instance with all their might on the +Lucanians, and succeeded in bringing their party in that quarter to +the helm of affairs, and in concluding an alliance between Samnium and +Lucania. Of course the Romans immediately declared war; the Samnites +had expected no other issue. It is a significant indication of the +state of feeling, that the Samnite government informed the Roman +envoys that it was not able to guarantee their inviolability, if +they should set foot on Samnite ground. + +The war thus began anew (456), and while a second army was fighting +in Etruria, the main Roman army traversed Samnium and compelled the +Lucanians to make peace and send hostages to Rome. The following +year both consuls were able to proceed to Samnium; Rullianus conquered +at Tifernum, his faithful comrade in arms, Publius Decius Mus, at +Maleventum, and for five months two Roman armies encamped in the land +of the enemy. They were enabled to do so, because the Tuscan states +had on their own behalf entered into negotiations for peace with Rome. +The Samnites, who from the beginning could not but see that their only +chance of victory lay in the combination of all Italy against Rome, +exerted themselves to the utmost to prevent the threatened separate +peace between Etruria and Rome; and when at last their general, +Gellius Egnatius, offered to bring aid to the Etruscans in their own +country, the Etruscan federal council in reality agreed to hold out +and once more to appeal to the decision of arms. Samnium made the +most energetic efforts to place three armies simultaneously in the +field, the first destined for the defence of its own territory, the +second for an invasion of Campania, the third and most numerous +for Etruria; and in the year 458 the last, led by Egnatius himself, +actually reached Etruria in safety through the Marsian and Umbrian +territories, with whose inhabitants there was an understanding. +Meanwhile the Romans were capturing some strong places in Samnium and +breaking the influence of the Samnite party in Lucania; they were not +in a position to prevent the departure of the army led by Egnatius. +When information reached Rome that the Samnites had succeeded in +frustrating all the enormous efforts made to sever the southern +from the northern Italians, that the arrival of the Samnite bands in +Etruria had become the signal for an almost universal rising against +Rome, and that the Etruscan communities were labouring with the utmost +zeal to get their own forces ready for war and to take into their pay +Gallic bands, every nerve was strained also in Rome; the freedmen and +the married were formed into cohorts--it was felt on all hands that +the decisive crisis was near. The year 458 however passed away, +apparently, in armings and marchings. For the following year (459) +the Romans placed their two best generals, Publius Decius Mus and the +aged Quintus Fabius Rullianus, at the head of their army in Etruria, +which was reinforced with all the troops that could be spared from +Campania, and amounted to at least 60,000 men, of whom more than a +third were full burgesses of Rome. Besides this, two reserves were +formed, the first at Falerii, the second under the walls of the +capital. The rendezvous of the Italians was Umbria, towards which the +roads from the Gallic, Etruscan, and Sabellian territories converged; +towards Umbria the consuls also moved off their main force, partly +along the left, partly along the right bank of the Tiber, while at +the same time the first reserve made a movement towards Etruria, in +order if possible to recall the Etruscan troops from the main scene +of action for the defence of their homes. The first engagement did +not prove fortunate for the Romans; their advanced guard was defeated +by the combined Gauls and Samnites in the district of Chiusi. But +that diversion accomplished its object. Less magnanimous than the +Samnites, who had marched through the ruins of their towns that they +might not be absent from the chosen field of battle, a great part of +the Etruscan contingents withdrew from the federal army on the news +of the advance of the Roman reserve into Etruria, and its ranks +were greatly thinned when the decisive battle came to be fought on +the eastern declivity of the Apennines near Sentinum. + +Battle of Sentinum-- +Peace with Etruria + +Nevertheless it was a hotly contested day. On the right wing of +the Romans, where Rullianus with his two legions fought against the +Samnite army, the conflict remained long undecided. On the left, +which Publius Decius commanded, the Roman cavalry was thrown into +confusion by the Gallic war chariots, and the legions also already +began to give way. Then the consul called to him Marcus Livius the +priest, and bade him devote to the infernal gods both the head of +the Roman general and the army of the enemy; and plunging into the +thickest throng of the Gauls he sought death and found it. This +heroic deed of despair on the part of one so eminent as a man and so +beloved as a general was not in vain. The fugitive soldiers rallied; +the bravest threw themselves after their leader into the hostile +ranks, to avenge him or to die with him; and just at the right moment +the consular Lucius Scipio, despatched by Rullianus, appeared with the +Roman reserve on the imperilled left wing. The excellent Campanian +cavalry, which fell on the flank and rear of the Gauls, turned the +scale; the Gauls fled, and at length the Samnites also gave way, +their general Egnatius falling at the gate of the camp. Nine thousand +Romans strewed the field of battle; but dearly as the victory was +purchased, it was worthy of such a sacrifice. The army of the +coalition was dissolved, and with it the coalition itself; Umbria +remained in the power of the Romans, the Gauls dispersed, the remnant +of the Samnites still in compact order retreated homeward through the +Abruzzi. Campania, which the Samnites had overrun during the Etruscan +war, was after its close re-occupied with little difficulty by the +Romans. Etruria sued for peace in the following year (460); Volsinii, +Perusia, Arretium, and in general all the towns that had joined the +league against Rome, promised a cessation of hostilities for four +hundred months. + +Last Struggles of Samnium + +But the Samnites were of a different mind; they prepared for their +hopeless resistance with the courage of free men, which cannot +compel success but may put it to shame. When the two consular armies +advanced into Samnium, in the year 460, they encountered everywhere +the most desperate resistance; in fact Marcus Atilius was discomfited +near Luceria, and the Samnites were able to penetrate into Campania +and to lay waste the territory of the Roman colony Interamna on the +Liris. In the ensuing year Lucius Papirius Cursor, the son of the +hero of the first Samnite war, and Spurius Carvilius, gave battle on +a great scale near Aquilonia to the Samnite army, the flower of which +--the 16,000 in white tunics--had sworn a sacred oath to prefer death +to flight. Inexorable destiny, however, heeds neither the oaths nor +the supplications of despair; the Roman conquered and stormed the +strongholds where the Samnites had sought refuge for themselves and +their property. Even after this great defeat the confederates still +for years resisted the ever-increasing superiority of the enemy with +unparalleled perseverance in their fastnesses and mountains, and still +achieved various isolated advantages. The experienced arm of the old +Rullianus was once more called into the field against them (462), and +Gavius Pontius, a son perhaps of the victor of Caudium, even gained +for his nation a last victory, which the Romans meanly enough avenged +by causing him when subsequently taken to be executed in prison (463). +But there was no further symptom of movement in Italy; for the war, +which Falerii began in 461, scarcely deserves such a name. The +Samnites doubtless turned with longing eyes towards Tarentum, which +alone was still in a position to grant them aid; but it held aloof. +The same causes as before occasioned its inaction--internal +misgovernment, and the passing over of the Lucanians once more to the +Roman party in the year 456; to which fell to be added a not unfounded +dread of Agathocles of Syracuse, who just at that time had reached the +height of his power and began to turn his views towards Italy. +About 455 the latter established himself in Corcyra whence Cleonymus +had been expelled by Demetrius Poliorcetes, and now threatened the +Tarentines from the Adriatic as well as from the Ionian sea. +The cession of the island to king Pyrrhus of Epirus in 459 certainly +removed to a great extent the apprehensions which they had cherished; +but the affairs of Corcyra continued to occupy the Tarentines--in the +year 464, for instance, they helped to protect Pyrrhus in possession +of the island against Demetrius--and in like manner Agathocles did not +cease to give the Tarentines uneasiness by his Italian policy. When +he died (465) and with him the power of the Syracusans in Italy went +to wreck, it was too late; Samnium, weary of the thirty-seven years' +struggle, had concluded peace in the previous year (464) with the +Roman consul Manius Curius Dentatus, and had in form renewed its +league with Rome. On this occasion, as in the peace of 450, no +disgraceful or destructive conditions were imposed on the brave people +by the Romans; no cessions even of territory seem to have taken place. +The political sagacity of Rome preferred to follow the path which it +had hitherto pursued, and to attach in the first place the Campanian +and Adriatic coast more and more securely to Rome before proceeding to +the direct conquest of the interior. Campania, indeed, had been long +in subjection; but the far-seeing policy of Rome found it needful, in +order to secure the Campanian coast, to establish two coast-fortresses +there, Minturnae and Sinuessa (459), the new burgesses of which were +admitted according to the settled rule in the case of maritime +colonies to the full citizenship of Rome. With still greater energy +the extension of the Roman rule was prosecuted in central Italy. As +the subjugation of the Aequi and Hernici was the immediate sequel of +the first Samnite war, so that of the Sabines followed on the end of +the second. The same general, who ultimately subdued the Samnites, +Manius Curius broke down in the same year (464) the brief and feeble +resistance of the Sabines and forced them to unconditional surrender. +A great portion of the subjugated territory was immediately taken into +possession of the victors and distributed to Roman burgesses, and +Roman subject-rights (-civitas sine suffragio-) were imposed on the +communities that were left--Cures, Reate, Amiternum, Nursia. Allied +towns with equal rights were not established here; on the contrary the +country came under the immediate rule of Rome, which thus extended as +far as the Apennines and the Umbrian mountains. Nor was it even now +restricted to the territory on Rome's side of the mountains; the last +war had shown but too clearly that the Roman rule over central Italy +was only secured, if it reached from sea to sea. The establishment +of the Romans beyond the Apennines begins with the laying out of the +strong fortress of Atria (Atri) in the year 465, on the northern slope +of the Abruzzi towards the Picenian plain, not immediately on the +coast and hence with Latin rights, but still near to the sea, and the +keystone of the mighty wedge separating northern and southern Italy. +Of a similar nature and of still greater importance was the founding +of Venusia (463), whither the unprecedented number of 20,000 colonists +was conducted. That city, founded at the boundary of Samnium, Apulia, +and Lucania, on the great road between Tarentum and Samnium, in an +uncommonly strong position, was destined as a curb to keep in check +the surrounding tribes, and above all to interrupt the communications +between the two most powerful enemies of Rome in southern Italy. +Beyond doubt at the same time the southern highway, which Appius +Claudius had carried as far as Capua, was prolonged thence to Venusia. +Thus, at the close of the Samnite wars, the Roman domain closely +compact--that is, consisting almost exclusively of communities with +Roman or Latin rights--extended on the north to the Ciminian Forest, +on the east to the Abruzzi and to the Adriatic, on the south as far as +Capua, while the two advanced posts, Luceria and Venusia, established +towards the east and south on the lines of communication of their +opponents, isolated them on every side. Rome was no longer merely the +first, but was already the ruling power in the peninsula, when towards +the end of the fifth century of the city those nations, which had been +raised to supremacy in their respective lands by the favour of the +gods and by their own capacity, began to come into contact in council +and on the battle-field; and, as at Olympia the preliminary victors +girt themselves for a second and more serious struggle, so on the +larger arena of the nations, Carthage, Macedonia, and Rome now +prepared for the final and decisive contest. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter VI + +1. It may not be superfluous to mention that our knowledge Archidamus +and Alexander is derived from Greek annals, and that the synchronism +between these and the Roman is in reference to the present epoch only +approximately established. We must beware, therefore, of pursuing too +far into detail the unmistakable general connection between the events +in the west and those in the east of Italy. + +2. These were not the inhabitants of Satricum near Antium (II. V. +League with The Hernici), but those of another Volscian town +constituted at that time as a Roman burgess-community without right +of voting, near Arpinum. + +3. That a formal armistice for two years subsisted between the Romans +and Samnites in 436-437 is more than improbable. + +4. The operations in the campaign of 537, and still more plainly the +formation of the highway from Arretium to Bononia in 567, show that +the road from Rome to Arretium had already been rendered serviceable +before that time. But it cannot at that period have been a Roman +military road, because, judging from its later appellation of the +"Cassian way," it cannot have been constructed as a -via consularis- +earlier than 583; for no Cassian appears in the lists of Roman consuls +and censors between Spurius Cassius, consul in 252, 261, and 268--who +of course is out of the question--and Gaius Cassius Longinus, consul +in 583. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Struggle between Pyrrhus and Rome, and Union of Italy + + +Relations between the East and West + +After Rome had acquired the undisputed mastery of the world, the +Greeks were wont to annoy their Roman masters by the assertion that +Rome was indebted for her greatness to the fever of which Alexander of +Macedonia died at Babylon on the 11th of June, 431. As it was not too +agreeable for them to reflect on the actual past, they were fond of +allowing their thoughts to dwell on what might have happened, had the +great king turned his arms--as was said to have been his intention at +the time of his death--towards the west and contested the Carthaginian +supremacy by sea with his fleet, and the Roman supremacy by land with +his phalanxes. It is not impossible that Alexander may have cherished +such thoughts; nor is it necessary to resort for an explanation of +their origin to the mere difficulty which an autocrat, who is fond +of war and is well provided with soldiers and ships, experiences in +setting limits to his warlike career. It was an enterprise worthy of +a Greek great king to protect the Siceliots against Carthage and the +Tarentines against Rome, and to put an end to piracy on either sea; +and the Italian embassies from the Bruttians, Lucanians, and +Etruscans,(1) that along with numerous others made their appearance at +Babylon, afforded him sufficient opportunities of becoming acquainted +with the circumstances of the peninsula and of entering into relations +with it. Carthage with its many connections in the east could not but +attract the attention of the mighty monarch, and it was probably one +of his designs to convert the nominal sovereignty of the Persian king +over the Tyrian colony into a real one: it was not for nothing that +a Phoenician spy was found in the retinue of Alexander. Whether, +however, these ideas were dreams or actual projects, the king died +without having interfered in the affairs of the west, and his ideas +were buried with him. For but a few brief years a Greek ruler had +held in his hand the whole intellectual vigour of the Hellenic race +combined with the whole material resources of the east. On his death +the work to which his life had been devoted--the establishment of +Hellenism in the east--was by no means undone; but his empire had +barely been united when it was again dismembered, and, amidst the +constant quarrels of the different states that were formed out of +its ruins, the object of world-wide interest which they were destined +to promote--the diffusion of Greek culture in the east--though not +abandoned, was prosecuted on a feeble and stunted scale. Under such +circumstances, neither the Greek nor the Asiatico-Egyptian states +could think of acquiring a footing in the west or of turning their +efforts against the Romans or the Carthaginians. The eastern and +western state-systems subsisted side by side for a time without +crossing, politically, each other's path; and Rome in particular +remained substantially aloof from the complications in the days +of Alexander's successors. The only relations established were of +a mercantile kind; as in the instance of the free state of Rhodes, +the leading representative of the policy of commercial neutrality in +Greece and in consequence the universal medium of intercourse in an +age of perpetual wars, which about 448 concluded a treaty with Rome +--a commercial convention of course, such as was natural between a +mercantile people and the masters of the Caerite and Campanian +coasts. Even in the supply of mercenaries from Hellas, the universal +recruiting field of those times, to Italy, and to Tarentum in +particular, political relations--such as subsisted, for instance, +between Tarentum and Sparta its mother-city--exercised but a very +subordinate influence. In general the raising of mercenaries was +simply a matter of traffic, and Sparta, although it regularly supplied +the Tarentines with captains for their Italian wars, was by that +course as little involved in hostilities with the Italians, as in the +North American war of independence the German states were involved in +hostilities with the Union, to whose opponents they sold the services +of their subjects. + +The Historical Position of Pyrrhus + +Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, was himself simply a military adventurer. +He was none the less a soldier of fortune that he traced back his +pedigree to Aeacus and Achilles, and that, had he been more peacefully +disposed, he might have lived and died as "king" of a small mountain +tribe under the supremacy of Macedonia or perhaps in isolated +independence. He has been compared to Alexander of Macedonia; and +certainly the idea of founding a Hellenic empire of the west--which +would have had as its core Epirus, Magna Graecia, and Sicily, would +have commanded both the Italian seas, and would have reduced Rome and +Carthage to the rank of barbarian peoples bordering on the Hellenistic +state-system, like the Celts and the Indians--was analogous in +greatness and boldness to the idea which led the Macedonian king over +the Hellespont. But it was not the mere difference of issue that +formed the distinction between the expedition to the east and that +to the west. Alexander with his Macedonian army, in which the +staff especially was excellent, could fully make head against the +great-king; but the king of Epirus, which stood by the side of +Macedonia somewhat as Hesse by the side of Prussia, could only raise +an army worthy of the name by means of mercenaries and of alliances +based on accidental political combinations. Alexander made his +appearance in the Persian empire as a conqueror; Pyrrhus appeared in +Italy as the general of a coalition of secondary states. Alexander +left his hereditary dominions completely secured by the unconditional +subjection of Greece, and by the strong army that remained behind +under Antipater; Pyrrhus had no security for the integrity of his +native dominions but the word of a doubtful neighbour. In the case +of both conquerors, if their plans should be crowned with success, +their native country would necessarily cease to be the centre of +their new empire; but it was far more practicable to transfer the +seat of the Macedonian military monarchy to Babylon than to found a +soldier-dynasty in Tarentum or Syracuse. The democracy of the Greek +republics--perpetual agony though it was--could not be at all coerced +into the stiff forms of a military state; Philip had good reason for +not incorporating the Greek republics with his empire. In the east no +national resistance was to be expected; ruling and subject races had +long lived there side by side, and a change of despot was a matter of +indifference or even of satisfaction to the mass of the population. +In the west the Romans, the Samnites, the Carthaginians, might be +vanquished; but no conqueror could have transformed the Italians +into Egyptian fellahs, or rendered the Roman farmers tributaries of +Hellenic barons. Whatever we take into view--whether their own power, +their allies, or the resources of their antagonists--in all points the +plan of the Macedonian appears as a feasible, that of the Epirot an +impracticable, enterprise; the former as the completion of a great +historical task, the latter as a remarkable blunder; the former as +the foundation of a new system of states and of a new phase of +civilization, the latter as a mere episode in history. The work of +Alexander outlived him, although its creator met an untimely death; +Pyrrhus saw with his own eyes the wreck of all his plans, ere death +called him away. Both were by nature daring and great, but Pyrrhus +was only the foremost general, Alexander was eminently the most gifted +statesman, of his time; and, if it is insight into what is and what is +not possible that distinguishes the hero from the adventurer, Pyrrhus +must be numbered among the latter class, and may as little be placed +on a parallel with his greater kinsman as the Constable of Bourbon may +be put in comparison with Louis the Eleventh. + +And yet a wondrous charm attaches to the name of the Epirot--a +peculiar sympathy, evoked certainly in some degree by his chivalrous +and amiable character, but still more by the circumstance that he +was the first Greek that met the Romans in battle. With him began +those direct relations between Rome and Hellas, on which the whole +subsequent development of ancient, and an essential part of modern, +civilization are based. The struggle between phalanxes and cohorts, +between a mercenary army and a militia, between military monarchy and +senatorial government, between individual talent and national vigour +--this struggle between Rome and Hellenism was first fought out in +the battles between Pyrrhus and the Roman generals; and though the +defeated party often afterwards appealed anew to the arbitration of +arms, every succeeding day of battle simply confirmed the decision. +But while the Greeks were beaten in the battlefield as well as in +the senate-hall, their superiority was none the less decided on every +other field of rivalry than that of politics; and these very struggles +already betokened that the victory of Rome over the Hellenes would be +different from her victories over Gauls and Phoenicians, and that the +charm of Aphrodite only begins to work when the lance is broken and +the helmet and shield are laid aside. + +Character and Earlier History of Pyrrhus + +King Pyrrhus was the son of Aeacides, ruler of the Molossians (about +Janina), who, spared as a kinsman and faithful vassal by Alexander, +had been after his death drawn into the whirlpool of Macedonian +family-politics, and lost in it first his kingdom and then his life +(441). His son, then six years of age, was saved by Glaucias the +ruler of the Illyrian Taulantii, and in the course of the conflicts +for the possession of Macedonia he was, when still a boy, restored by +Demetrius Poliorcetes to his hereditary principality (447)--but only +to lose it again after a few years through the influence of the +opposite party (about 452), and to begin his military career as an +exiled prince in the train of the Macedonian generals. Soon his +personality asserted itself. He shared in the last campaigns of +Antigonus; and the old marshal of Alexander took delight in the born +soldier, who in the judgment of the grey-headed general only wanted +years to be already the first warrior of the age. The unfortunate +battle at Ipsus brought him as a hostage to Alexandria, to the court +of the founder of the Lagid dynasty, where by his daring and downright +character, and his soldierly spirit thoroughly despising everything +that was not military, he attracted the attention of the politic king +Ptolemy no less than he attracted the notice of the royal ladies by +his manly beauty, which was not impaired by his wild look and stately +tread. Just at this time the enterprising Demetrius was once more +establishing himself in a new kingdom, which on this occasion was +Macedonia; of course with the intention of using it as a lever to +revive the monarchy of Alexander. To keep down his ambitious designs, +it was important to give him employment at home; and Ptolemy, who knew +how to make admirable use of such fiery spirits as the Epirot youth in +the prosecution of his subtle policy, not only met the wishes of his +consort queen Berenice, but also promoted his own ends, by giving his +stepdaughter the princess Antigone in marriage to the young prince, +and lending his aid and powerful influence to support the return of +his beloved "son" to his native land (458). Restored to his paternal +kingdom, he soon carried all before him. The brave Epirots, the +Albanians of antiquity, clung with hereditary loyalty and fresh +enthusiasm to the high-spirited youth--the "eagle," as they called +him. In the confusion that arose regarding the succession to the +Macedonian throne after the death of Cassander (457), the Epirot +extended his dominions: step by step he gained the regions on the +Ambracian gulf with the important town of Ambracia, the island of +Corcyra,(2) and even a part of the Macedonian territory, and with +forces far inferior he made head against king Demetrius to the +admiration of the Macedonians themselves. Indeed, when Demetrius was +by his own folly hurled from the Macedonian throne, it was voluntarily +proffered by them to his chivalrous opponent, a kinsman of the +Alexandrid house (467). No one was in reality worthier than Pyrrhus +to wear the royal diadem of Philip and of Alexander. In an age of +deep depravity, in which princely rank and baseness began to be +synonymous, the personally unspotted and morally pure character of +Pyrrhus shone conspicuous. For the free farmers of the hereditary +Macedonian soil, who, although diminished and impoverished, were +far from sharing in that decay of morals and of valour which the +government of the Diadochi produced in Greece and Asia, Pyrrhus +appeared exactly formed to be the fitting king, --Pyrrhus, who, +like Alexander, in his household and in the circle of his friends +preserved a heart open to all human sympathies, and constantly +avoided the bearing of an Oriental sultan which was so odious to the +Macedonians; and who, like Alexander, was acknowledged to be the first +tactician of his time. But the singularly overstrained national +feeling of the Macedonians, which preferred the most paltry Macedonian +sovereign to the ablest foreigner, and the irrational insubordination +of the Macedonian troops towards every non-Macedonian leader, to which +Eumenes the Cardian, the greatest general of the school of Alexander, +had fallen a victim, put a speedy termination to the rule of the +prince of Epirus. Pyrrhus, who could not exercise sovereignty over +Macedonia with the consent of the Macedonians, and who was too +powerless and perhaps too high spirited to force himself on the nation +against its will, after reigning seven months left the country to its +native misgovernment, and went home to his faithful Epirots (467). +But the man who had worn the crown of Alexander, the brother-in-law +of Demetrius, the son-in-law of Ptolemy Lagides and of Agathocles +of Syracuse, the highly-trained tactician who wrote memoirs and +scientific dissertations on the military art, could not possibly end +his days in inspecting at a set time yearly the accounts of the royal +cattle steward, in receiving from his brave Epirots their customary +gifts of oxen and sheep, in thereupon, at the altar of Zeus, procuring +the renewal of their oath of allegiance and repeating his own +engagement to respect the laws, and--for the better confirmation of +the whole--in carousing with them all night long. If there was no +place for him on the throne of Macedonia, there was no abiding in the +land of his nativity at all; he was fitted for the first place, and +he could not be content with the second. His views therefore turned +abroad. The kings, who were quarrelling for the possession of +Macedonia, although agreeing in nothing else, were ready and glad to +concur in aiding the voluntary departure of their dangerous rival; and +that his faithful war-comrades would follow him where-ever he led, he +knew full well. Just at that time the circumstances of Italy were +such, that the project which had been meditated forty years before by +Pyrrhus's kinsman, his father's cousin, Alexander of Epirus, and quite +recently by his father-in-law Agathocles, once more seemed feasible; +and so Pyrrhus resolved to abandon his Macedonian schemes and to found +for himself and for the Hellenic nation a new empire in the west. + +Rising of the Italians against Rome-- +The Lucanians-- +The Etruscans and Celts-- +The Samnites-- +The Senones Annihilated + +The interval of repose, which the peace with Samnium in 464 had +procured for Italy, was of brief duration; the impulse which led to +the formation of a new league against Roman ascendency came on this +occasion from the Lucanians. This people, by taking part with Rome +during the Samnite wars, paralyzed the action of the Tarentines and +essentially contributed to the decisive issue; and in consideration of +their services, the Romans gave up to them the Greek cities in their +territory. Accordingly after the conclusion of peace they had, in +concert with the Bruttians, set themselves to subdue these cities in +succession. The Thurines, repeatedly assailed by Stenius Statilius +the general of the Lucanians and reduced to extremities, applied for +assistance against the Lucanians to the Roman senate--just as formerly +the Campanians had asked the aid of Rome against the Samnites--and +beyond doubt with a like sacrifice of their liberty and independence. +In consequence of the founding of the fortress Venusia, Rome could +dispense with the alliance of the Lucanians; so the Romans granted +the prayer of the Thurines, and enjoined their friends and allies to +desist from their designs on a city which had surrendered itself to +Rome. The Lucanians and Bruttians, thus cheated by their more +powerful allies of their share in the common spoil, entered into +negotiations with the opposition-party among the Samnites and +Tarentines to bring about a new Italian coalition; and when the Romans +sent an embassy to warn them, they detained the envoys in captivity +and began the war against Rome with a new attack on Thurii (about +469), while at the same time they invited not only the Samnites and +Tarentines, but the northern Italians also--the Etruscans, Umbrians, +and Gauls--to join them in the struggle for freedom. The Etruscan +league actually revolted, and hired numerous bands of Gauls; the Roman +army, which the praetor Lucius Caecilius was leading to the help of +the Arretines who had remained faithful, was annihilated under the +walls of Arretium by the Senonian mercenaries of the Etruscans: the +general himself fell with 13,000 of his men (470). The Senones were +reckoned allies of Rome; the Romans accordingly sent envoys to them to +complain of their furnishing warriors to serve against Rome, and to +require the surrender of their captives without ransom. But by the +command of their chieftain Britomaris, who had to take vengeance on +the Romans for the death of his father, the Senones slew the Roman +envoys and openly took the Etruscan side. All the north of Italy, +Etruscans, Umbrians, Gauls, were thus in arms against Rome; great +results might be achieved, if its southern provinces also should +seize the moment and declare, so far as they had not already done so, +against Rome. In fact the Samnites, ever ready to make a stand on +behalf of liberty, appear to have declared war against the Romans; but +weakened and hemmed in on all sides as they were, they could be of +little service to the league; and Tarentum manifested its wonted +delay. While her antagonists were negotiating alliances, settling +treaties as to subsidies, and collecting mercenaries, Rome was acting. +The Senones were first made to feel how dangerous it was to gain a +victory over the Romans. The consul Publius Cornelius Dolabella +advanced with a strong army into their territory; all that were not +put to the sword were driven forth from the land, and this tribe was +erased from the list of the Italian nations (471). In the case of a +people subsisting chiefly on its flocks and herds such an expulsion +en masse was quite practicable; and the Senones thus expelled from +Italy probably helped to make up the Gallic hosts which soon after +inundated the countries of the Danube, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia +Minor. + +The Boii + +The next neighbours and kinsmen of the Senones, the Boii, terrified +and exasperated by a catastrophe which had been accomplished with so +fearful a rapidity, united instantaneously with the Etruscans, who +still continued the war, and whose Senonian mercenaries now fought +against the Romans no longer as hirelings, but as desperate avengers +of their native land. A powerful Etrusco-Gallic army marched against +Rome to retaliate the annihilation of the Senonian tribe on the +enemy's capital, and to extirpate Rome from the face of the earth more +completely than had been formerly done by the chieftain of these same +Senones. But the combined army was decidedly defeated by the Romans +at its passage of the Tiber in the neighbourhood of the Vadimonian +lake (471). After they had once more in the following year risked a +general engagement near Populonia with no better success, the Boii +deserted their confederates and concluded a peace on their own account +with the Romans (472). Thus the Gauls, the most formidable member of +the league, were conquered in detail before the league was fully +formed, and by that means the hands of Rome were left free to act +against Lower Italy, where during the years 469-471 the contest had +not been carried on with any vigour. Hitherto the weak Roman army had +with difficulty maintained itself in Thurii against the Lucanians and +Bruttians; but now (472) the consul Gaius Fabricius Luscinus appeared +with a strong army in front of the town, relieved it, defeated the +Lucanians in a great engagement, and took their general Statilius +prisoner. The smaller non-Doric Greek towns, recognizing the Romans +as their deliverers, everywhere voluntarily joined them. Roman +garrisons were left behind in the most important places, in Locri, +Croton, Thurii, and especially in Rhegium, on which latter town the +Carthaginians seem also to have had designs. Everywhere Rome had most +decidedly the advantage. The annihilation of the Senones had given to +the Romans a considerable tract of the Adriatic coast. With a view, +doubtless, to the smouldering feud with Tarentum and the already +threatened invasion of the Epirots, they hastened to make themselves +sure of this coast as well as of the Adriatic sea. A burgess colony +was sent out (about 471) to the seaport of Sena (Sinigaglia), the +former capital of the Senonian territory; and at the same time a Roman +fleet sailed from the Tyrrhene sea into the eastern waters, manifestly +for the purpose of being stationed in the Adriatic and of protecting +the Roman possessions there. + +Breach between Rome and Tarentum + +The Tarentines since the treaty of 450 had lived at peace with Rome. +They had been spectators of the long struggle of the Samnites, and of +the rapid extirpation of the Senones; they had acquiesced without +remonstrance in the establishment of Venusia, Atria, and Sena, and in +the occupation of Thurii and of Rhegium. But when the Roman fleet, on +its voyage from the Tyrrhene to the Adriatic sea, now arrived in the +Tarentine waters and cast anchor in the harbour of the friendly city, +the long, cherished resentment at length overflowed. Old treaties, +which prohibited the war-vessels of Rome from sailing to the east of +the Lacinian promontory, were appealed to by popular orators in the +assembly of the citizens. A furious mob fell upon the Roman ships of +war, which, assailed suddenly in a piratical fashion, succumbed after +a sharp struggle; five ships were taken and their crews executed +or sold into slavery; the Roman admiral himself had fallen in the +engagement. Only the supreme folly and supreme unscrupulousness of +mob-rule can account for those disgraceful proceedings. The treaties +referred to belonged to a period long past and forgotten; it is clear +that they no longer had any meaning, at least subsequently to the +founding of Atria and Sena, and that the Romans entered the bay on +the faith of the existing alliance; indeed, it was very much their +interest--as the further course of things showed--to afford the +Tarentines no sort of pretext for declaring war. In declaring war +against Rome--if such was their wish--the statesmen of Tarentum were +only doing what they should have done long before; and if they +preferred to rest their declaration of war upon the formal pretext +of a breach of treaty rather than upon the real ground, no further +objection could be taken to that course, seeing that diplomacy has +always reckoned it beneath its dignity to speak the plain truth in +plain language. But to make an armed attack upon the fleet without +warning, instead of summoning the admiral to retrace his course, was +a foolish no less than a barbarous act--one of those horrible +barbarities of civilization, when moral principle suddenly forsakes +the helm and the merest coarseness emerges in its room, as if to warn +us against the childish belief that civilization is able to extirpate +brutality from human nature. + +And, as if what they had done had not been enough, the Tarentines +after this heroic feat attacked Thurii, the Roman garrison of which +capitulated in consequence of the surprise (in the winter of 472-473); +and inflicted: severe chastisement on the Thurines--the same, whom +Tarentine policy had abandoned to the Lucanians and thereby forcibly +constrained into surrender to Rome--for their desertion from the +Hellenic party to the barbarians. + +Attempts at Peace + +The barbarians, however, acted with a moderation which, considering +their power and the provocation they had received, excites +astonishment. It was the interest of Rome to maintain as long as +possible the Tarentine neutrality, and the leading men in the senate +accordingly rejected the proposal, which a minority had with natural +resentment submitted, to declare war at once against the Tarentines. +In fact, the continuance of peace on the part of Rome was proffered on +the most moderate terms consistent with her honour--the release of the +captives, the restoration of Thurii, the surrender of the originators +of the attack on the fleet. A Roman embassy proceeded with these +proposals to Tarentum (473), while at the same time, to add weight to +their words, a Roman army under the consul Lucius Aemilius advanced +into Samnium. The Tarentines could, without forfeiting aught of +their independence, accept these terms; and considering the little +inclination for war in so wealthy a commercial city, the Romans had +reason to presume that an accommodation was still possible. But the +attempt to preserve peace failed, whether through the opposition +of those Tarentines who recognized the necessity of meeting the +aggressions of Rome, the sooner the better, by a resort to arms, +or merely through the unruliness of the city rabble, which with +characteristic Greek naughtiness subjected the person of the envoy +to an unworthy insult. The consul now advanced into the Tarentine +territory; but instead of immediately commencing hostilities, he +offered once more the same terms of peace; and, when this proved in +vain, he began to lay waste the fields and country houses, and he +defeated the civic militia. The principal persons captured, however, +were released without ransom; and the hope was not abandoned that the +pressure of war would give to the aristocratic party ascendency in the +city and so bring about peace. The reason of this reserve was, that +the Romans were unwilling to drive the city into the arms of the +Epirot king. His designs on Italy were no longer a secret. A +Tarentine embassy had already gone to Pyrrhus and returned without +having accomplished its object. The king had demanded more than it +had powers to grant. It was necessary that they should come to a +decision. That the civic militia knew only how to run away from the +Romans, had been made sufficiently clear. There remained only the +choice between a peace with Rome, which the Romans still were ready +to agree to on equitable terms, and a treaty with Pyrrhus on any +condition that the king might think proper; or, in other words, the +choice between submission to the supremacy of Rome, and subjection +to the --tyrannis-- of a Greek soldier. + +Pyrrhus Summoned to Italy + +The parties in the city were almost equally balanced. At length the +ascendency remained with the national party--a result, that was due +partly to the justifiable predilection which led them, if they must +yield to a master at all, to prefer a Greek to a barbarian, but partly +also to the dread of the demagogues that Rome, notwithstanding the +moderation now forced upon it by circumstances, would not neglect on a +fitting opportunity to exact vengeance for the outrages perpetrated +by the Tarentine rabble. The city, accordingly, came to terms with +Pyrrhus. He obtained the supreme command of the troops of the +Tarentines and of the other Italians in arms against Rome, along with +the right of keeping a garrison in Tarentum. The expenses of the war +were, of course, to be borne by the city. Pyrrhus, on the other hand, +promised to remain no longer in Italy than was necessary; probably +with the tacit reservation that his own judgment should fix the time +during which he would be needed there. Nevertheless, the prey had +almost slipped out of his hands. While the Tarentine envoys--the +chiefs, no doubt, of the war party--were absent in Epirus, the state +of feeling in the city, now hard pressed by the Romans, underwent +a change. The chief command was already entrusted to Agis, a man +favourable to Rome, when the return of the envoys with the concluded +treaty, accompanied by Cineas the confidential minister of Pyrrhus, +again brought the war party to the helm. + +Landing of Pyrrhus + +A firmer hand now grasped the reins, and put an end to the pitiful +vacillation. In the autumn of 473 Milo, the general of Pyrrhus, +landed with 3000 Epirots and occupied the citadel of the town. +He was followed in the beginning of the year 474 by the king himself, +who landed after a stormy passage in which many lives were lost. +He transported to Tarentum a respectable but miscellaneous army, +consisting partly of the household troops, Molossians, Thesprotians, +Chaonians, and Ambraciots; partly of the Macedonian infantry and the +Thessalian cavalry, which Ptolemy king of Macedonia had conformably to +stipulation handed over to him; partly of Aetolian, Acarnanian, and +Athamanian mercenaries. Altogether it numbered 20,000 phalangitae, +2000 archers, 500 slingers, 3000 cavalry, and 20 elephants, and thus +was not much smaller than the army with which fifty years before +Alexander had crossed the Hellespont + +Pyrrhus and the Coalition + +The affairs of the coalition were in no very favourable state when the +king arrived. The Roman consul indeed, as soon as he saw the soldiers +of Milo taking the field against him instead of the Tarentine militia, +had abandoned the attack on Tarentum and retreated to Apulia; but, +with the exception of the territory of Tarentum, the Romans virtually +ruled all Italy. The coalition had no army in the field anywhere in +Lower Italy; and in Upper Italy the Etruscans, who alone were still +in arms, had in the last campaign (473) met with nothing but defeat. +The allies had, before the king embarked, committed to him the chief +command of all their troops, and declared that they were able to place +in the field an army of 350,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry. The +reality formed a sad contrast to these great promises. The army, +whose chief command had been committed to Pyrrhus, had still to be +created; and for the time being the main resources available for +forming it were those of Tarentum alone. The king gave orders for +the enlisting of an army of Italian mercenaries with Tarentine money, +and called out the able-bodied citizens to serve in the war. But the +Tarentines had not so understood the agreement. They had thought to +purchase victory, like any other commodity, with money; it was a sort +of breach of contract, that the king should compel them to fight for +it themselves. The more glad the citizens had been at first after +Milo's arrival to be quit of the burdensome service of mounting guard, +the more unwillingly they now rallied to the standards of the king: +it was necessary to threaten the negligent with the penalty of death. +This result now justified the peace party in the eyes of all, and +communications were entered into, or at any rate appeared to have been +entered into, even with Rome. Pyrrhus, prepared for such opposition, +immediately treated Tarentum as a conquered city; soldiers were +quartered in the houses, the assemblies of the people and the numerous +clubs (--sussitia--) were suspended, the theatre was shut, the +promenades were closed, and the gates were occupied with Epirot +guards. A number of the leading men were sent over the sea as +hostages; others escaped the like fate by flight to Rome. These +strict measures were necessary, for it was absolutely impossible in +any sense to rely upon the Tarentines. It was only now that the king, +in possession of that important city as a basis, could begin +operations in the field. + +Preparations in Rome-- +Commencement of the Conflict in Lower Italy + +The Romans too were well aware of the conflict which awaited them. In +order first of all to secure the fidelity of their allies or, in other +words, of their subjects, the towns that could not be depended on were +garrisoned, and the leaders of the party of independence, where it +seemed needful, were arrested or executed: such was the case with a +number of the members of the senate of Praeneste. For the war itself +great exertions were made; a war contribution was levied; the full +contingent was called forth from all their subjects and allies; even +the proletarians who were properly exempt from obligation of service +were called to arms. A Roman army remained as a reserve in the +capital. A second advanced under the consul Tiberius Coruncanius +into Etruria, and dispersed the forces of Volci and Volsinii. The +main force was of course destined for Lower Italy; its departure was +hastened as much as possible, in order to reach Pyrrhus while still +in the territory of Tarentum, and to prevent him and his forces from +forming a junction with the Samnites and other south Italian levies +that were in arms against Rome. The Roman garrisons, that were placed +in the Greek towns of Lower Italy, were intended temporarily to check +the king's progress. But the mutiny of the troops stationed in +Rhegium--one of the legions levied from the Campanian subjects of +Rome under a Campanian captain Decius--deprived the Romans of that +important town. It was not, however, transferred to the hands of +Pyrrhus. While on the one hand the national hatred of the Campanians +against the Romans undoubtedly contributed to produce this military +insurrection, it was impossible on the other hand that Pyrrhus, who +had crossed the sea to shield and protect the Hellenes, could receive +as his allies troops who had put to death their Rhegine hosts in their +own houses. Thus they remained isolated, in close league with their +kinsmen and comrades in crime, the Mamertines, that is, the Campanian +mercenaries of Agathocles, who had by similar means gained possession +of Messana on the opposite side of the straits; and they pillaged and +laid waste for their own behoof the adjacent Greek towns, such as +Croton, where they put to death the Roman garrison, and Caulonia, +which they destroyed. On the other hand the Romans succeeded, by +means of a weak corps which advanced along the Lucanian frontier and +of the garrison of Venusia, in preventing the Lucanians and Samnites +from uniting with Pyrrhus; while the main force--four legions as it +would appear, and so, with a corresponding number of allied troops, at +least 50,000 strong--marched against Pyrrhus, under the consul Publius +Laevinus. + +Battle near Heraclea + +With a view to cover the Tarentine colony of Heraclea, the king had +taken up a position with his own and the Tarentine troops between that +city and Pandosia (3) (474). The Romans, covered by their cavalry, +forced the passage of the Siris, and opened the battle with a +vehement and successful cavalry charge; the king, who led his +cavalry in person, was thrown from his horse, and the Greek horsemen, +panic-struck by the disappearance of their leader, abandoned the field +to the squadrons of the enemy. Pyrrhus, however, put himself at the +head of his infantry, and began a fresh and more decisive engagement. +Seven times the legions and the phalanx met in shock of battle, and +still the conflict was undecided. Then Megacles, one of the best +officers of the king, fell, and, because on this hotly-contested day +he had worn the king's armour, the army for the second time believed +that the king had fallen; the ranks wavered; Laevinus already felt +sure of the victory and threw the whole of his cavalry on the flank of +the Greeks. But Pyrrhus, marching with uncovered head through the +ranks of the infantry, revived the sinking courage of his troops. +The elephants which had hitherto been kept in reserve were brought up +to meet the cavalry; the horses took fright at them; the soldiers, not +knowing how to encounter the huge beasts, turned and fled; the masses +of disordered horsemen and the pursuing elephants at length broke the +compact ranks of the Roman infantry, and the elephants in concert with +the excellent Thessalian cavalry wrought great slaughter among the +fugitives. Had not a brave Roman soldier, Gaius Minucius, the first +hastate of the fourth legion, wounded one of the elephants and thereby +thrown the pursuing troops into confusion, the Roman army would have +been extirpated; as it was, the remainder of the Roman troops +succeeded in retreating across the Siris. Their loss was great; 7000 +Romans were found by the victors dead or wounded on the field of +battle, 2000 were brought in prisoners; the Romans themselves stated +their loss, including probably the wounded carried off the field, at +15,000 men. But Pyrrhus's army had suffered not much less: nearly +4000 of his best soldiers strewed the field of battle, and several of +his ablest captains had fallen. Considering that his loss fell +chiefly on the veteran soldiers who were far more difficult to be +replaced than the Roman militia, and that he owed his victory only to +the surprise produced by the attack of the elephants which could not +be often repeated, the king, skilful judge of tactics as he was, may +well at an after period have described this victory as resembling a +defeat; although he was not so foolish as to communicate that piece of +self-criticism to the public--as the Roman poets afterwards invented +the story--in the inscription of the votive offering presented by him +at Tarentum. Politically it mattered little in the first instance at +what sacrifices the victory was bought; the gain of the first battle +against the Romans was of inestimable value for Pyrrhus. His talents +as a general had been brilliantly displayed on this new field of +battle, and if anything could breathe unity and energy into the +languishing league of the Italians, the victory of Heraclea could not +fail to do so. But even the immediate results of the victory were +considerable and lasting. Lucania was lost to the Romans: Laevinus +collected the troops stationed there and marched to Apulia, The +Bruttians, Lucanians, and Samnites joined Pyrrhus unmolested. With +the exception of Rhegium, which pined under the oppression of the +Campanian mutineers, the whole of the Greek cities joined the king, +and Locri even voluntarily delivered up to him the Roman garrison; in +his case they were persuaded, and with reason, that they would not be +abandoned to the Italians. The Sabellians and Greeks thus passed over +to Pyrrhus; but the victory produced no further effect. The Latins +showed no inclination to get quit of the Roman rule, burdensome as it +might be, by the help of a foreign dynast. Venusia, although now +wholly surrounded by enemies, adhered with unshaken steadfastness to +Rome. Pyrrhus proposed to the prisoners taken on the Siris, whose +brave demeanour the chivalrous king requited by the most honourable +treatment, that they should enter his army in accordance with +the Greek fashion; but he learned that he was fighting not with +mercenaries, but with a nation. Not one, either Roman or Latin, +took service with him. + +Attempts at Peace + +Pyrrhus offered peace to the Romans. He was too sagacious a soldier +not to recognize the precariousness of his footing, and too skilled a +statesman not to profit opportunely by the moment which placed him in +the most favourable position for the conclusion of peace. He now +hoped that under the first impression made by the great battle on the +Romans he should be able to secure the freedom of the Greek towns in +Italy, and to call into existence between them and Rome a series of +states of the second and third order as dependent allies of the new +Greek power; for such was the tenor of his demands: the release of all +Greek towns--and therefore of the Campanian and Lucanian towns in +particular--from allegiance to Rome, and restitution of the territory +taken from the Samnites, Daunians, Lucanians, and Bruttians, or in +other words especially the surrender of Luceria and Venusia. If a +further struggle with Rome could hardly be avoided, it was not +desirable at any rate to begin it till the western Hellenes should +be united under one ruler, till Sicily should be acquired and perhaps +Africa be conquered. + +Provided with such instructions, the Thessalian Cineas, the +confidential minister of Pyrrhus, went to Rome. That dexterous +negotiator, whom his contemporaries compared to Demosthenes so far as +a rhetorician might be compared to a statesman and the minister of a +sovereign to a popular leader, had orders to display by every means +the respect which the victor of Heraclea really felt for his +vanquished opponents, to make known the wish of the king to come to +Rome in person, to influence men's minds in the king's favour by +panegyrics which sound so well in the mouth of an enemy, by earnest +flatteries, and, as opportunity offered, also by well-timed gifts--in +short to try upon the Romans all the arts of cabinet policy, as they +had been tested at the courts of Alexandria and Antioch. The senate +hesitated; to many it seemed a prudent course to draw back a step and +to wait till their dangerous antagonist should have further entangled +himself or should be no more. But the grey-haired and blind consular +Appius Claudius (censor 442, consul 447, 458), who had long withdrawn +from state affairs but had himself conducted at this decisive moment +to the senate, breathed the unbroken energy of his own vehement nature +with words of fire into the souls of the younger generation. They +gave to the message of the king the proud reply, which was first heard +on this occasion and became thenceforth a maxim of the state, that +Rome never negotiated so long as there were foreign troops on Italian +ground; and to make good their words they dismissed the ambassador at +once from the city. The object of the mission had failed, and +the dexterous diplomatist, instead of producing an effect by his +oratorical art, had on the contrary been himself impressed by such +manly earnestness after so severe a defeat--he declared at home that +every burgess in that city had seemed to him a king; in truth, the +courtier had gained a sight of a free people. + +Pyrrhus Marches against Rome + +Pyrrhus, who during these negotiations had advanced into Campania, +immediately on the news of their being broken off marched against +Rome, to co-operate with the Etruscans, to shake the allies of Rome, +and to threaten the city itself. But the Romans as little allowed +themselves to be terrified as cajoled. At the summons of the herald +"to enrol in the room of the fallen," the young men immediately after +the battle of Heraclea had pressed forward in crowds to enlist; with +the two newly-formed legions and the corps withdrawn from Lucania, +Laevinus, stronger than before, followed the march of the king. He +protected Capua against him, and frustrated his endeavours to enter +into communications with Neapolis. So firm was the attitude of the +Romans that, excepting the Greeks of Lower Italy, no allied state of +any note dared to break off from the Roman alliance. Then Pyrrhus +turned against Rome itself. Through a rich country, whose flourishing +condition he beheld with astonishment, he marched against Fregellae +which he surprised, forced the passage of the Liris, and reached +Anagnia, which is not more than forty miles from Rome. No army +crossed his path; but everywhere the towns of Latium closed their +gates against him, and with measured step Laevinus followed him +from Campania, while the consul Tiberius Coruncanius, who had just +concluded a seasonable peace with the Etruscans, brought up a +second Roman army from the north, and in Rome itself the reserve was +preparing for battle under the dictator Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus. +In these circumstances Pyrrhus could accomplish nothing; no course was +left to him but to retire. For a time he still remained inactive in +Campania in presence of the united armies of the two consuls; but no +opportunity occurred of striking an effective blow. When winter came +on, the king evacuated the enemy's territory, and distributed his +troops among the friendly towns, taking up his own winter quarters in +Tarentum. Thereupon the Romans also desisted from their operations. +The army occupied standing quarters near Firmum in Picenum, where by +command of the senate the legions defeated on the Siris spent the +winter by way of punishment under tents. + +Second Year of the War + +Thus ended the campaign of 474. The separate peace which at the +decisive moment Etruria had concluded with Rome, and the king's +unexpected retreat which entirely disappointed the high-strung hopes +of the Italian confederates, counterbalanced in great measure the +impression of the victory of Heraclea. The Italians complained of the +burdens of the war, particularly of the bad discipline of the +mercenaries quartered among them, and the king, weary of the petty +quarrelling and of the impolitic as well as unmilitary conduct of his +allies, began to have a presentiment that the problem which had fallen +to him might be, despite all tactical successes, politically +insoluble. The arrival of a Roman embassy of three consulars, +including Gaius Fabricius the conqueror of Thurii, again revived in +him for a moment the hopes of peace; but it soon appeared that they +had only power to treat for the ransom or exchange of prisoners. +Pyrrhus rejected their demand, but at the festival of the Saturnalia +he released all the prisoners on their word of honour. Their keeping +of that word, and the repulse by the Roman ambassador of an attempt at +bribery, were celebrated by posterity in a manner most unbecoming and +betokening rather the dishonourable character of the later, than the +honourable feeling of that earlier, epoch. + +Battle of Ausculum + +In the spring of 475 Pyrrhus resumed the offensive, and advanced into +Apulia, whither the Roman army marched to meet him. In the hope of +shaking the Roman symmachy in these regions by a decisive victory, the +king offered battle a second time, and the Romans did not refuse it. +The two armies encountered each other near Ausculum (Ascoli di +Puglia). Under the banners of Pyrrhus there fought, besides +his Epirot and Macedonian troops, the Italian mercenaries, the +burgess-force--the white shields as they were called--of Tarentum, +and the allied Lucanians, Bruttians, and Samnites--altogether 70,000 +infantry, of whom 16,000 were Greeks and Epirots, more than 8000 +cavalry, and nineteen elephants. The Romans were supported on +that day by the Latins, Campanians, Volscians, Sabines, Umbrians, +Marrucinians, Paelignians, Frentanians, and Arpanians. They too +numbered above 70,000 infantry, of whom 20,000 were Roman citizens, +and 8000 cavalry. Both parties had made alterations in their military +system. Pyrrhus, perceiving with the sharp eye of a soldier the +advantages of the Roman manipular organization, had on the wings +substituted for the long front of his phalanxes an arrangement by +companies with intervals between them in imitation of the cohorts, +and-- perhaps for political no less than for military reasons--had +placed the Tarentine and Samnite cohorts between the subdivisions of +his own men. In the centre alone the Epirot phalanx stood in close +order. For the purpose of keeping off the elephants the Romans +produced a species of war-chariot, from which projected iron poles +furnished with chafing-dishes, and on which were fastened moveable +masts adjusted with a view to being lowered, and ending in an iron +spike--in some degree the model of the boarding-bridges which were +to play so great a part in the first Punic war. + +According to the Greek account of the battle, which seems less +one-sided than the Roman account also extant, the Greeks had the +disadvantage on the first day, as they did not succeed in deploying +their line along the steep and marshy banks of the river where they +were compelled to accept battle, or in bringing their cavalry and +elephants into action. On the second day, however, Pyrrhus +anticipated the Romans in occupying the intersected ground, and thus +gained without loss the plain where he could without disturbance draw +up his phalanx. Vainly did the Romans with desperate courage fall +sword in hand on the -sarissae-; the phalanx preserved an unshaken +front under every assault, but in its turn was unable to make any +impression on the Roman legions. It was not till the numerous escort +of the elephants had, with arrows and stones hurled from slings, +dislodged the combatants stationed in the Roman war-chariots and had +cut the traces of the horses, and the elephants pressed upon the Roman +line, that it began to waver. The giving way of the guard attached +to the Roman chariots formed the signal for universal flight, which, +however, did not involve the sacrifice of many lives, as the adjoining +camp received the fugitives. The Roman account of the battle alone +mentions the circumstance, that during the principal engagement an +Arpanian corps detached from the Roman main force had attacked and +set on fire the weakly-guarded Epirot camp; but, even if this were +correct, the Romans are not at all justified in their assertion that +the battle remained undecided. Both accounts, on the contrary, agree +in stating that the Roman army retreated across the river, and that +Pyrrhus remained in possession of the field of battle. The number of +the fallen was, according to the Greek account, 6000 on the side of +the Romans, 3505 on that of the Greeks.(4) Amongst the wounded was +the king himself, whose arm had been pierced with a javelin, while he +was fighting, as was his wont, in the thickest of the fray. Pyrrhus +had achieved a victory, but his were unfruitful laurels; the victory +was creditable to the king as a general and as a soldier, but it +did not promote his political designs. What Pyrrhus needed was a +brilliant success which should break up the Roman army and give an +opportunity and impulse to the wavering allies to change sides; but +the Roman army and the Roman confederacy still remained unbroken, and +the Greek army, which was nothing without its leader, was fettered for +a considerable time in consequence of his wound. He was obliged to +renounce the campaign and to go into winter quarters; which the king +took up in Tarentum, the Romans on this occasion in Apulia. It was +becoming daily more evident that in a military point of view the +resources of the king were inferior to those of the Romans, just as, +politically, the loose and refractory coalition could not stand a +comparison with the firmly-established Roman symmachy. The sudden and +vehement style of the Greek warfare and the genius of the general +might perhaps achieve another such victory as those of Heraclea and +Ausculum, but every new victory was wearing out his resources for +further enterprise, and it was clear that the Romans already felt +themselves the stronger, and awaited with a courageous patience final +victory. Such a war as this was not the delicate game of art that +was practised and understood by the Greek princes. All strategical +combinations were shattered against the full and mighty energy of the +national levy. Pyrrhus felt how matters stood: weary of his victories +and despising his allies, he only persevered because military honour +required him not to leave Italy till he should have secured his +clients from barbarian assault. With his impatient temperament it +might be presumed that he would embrace the first pretext to get rid +of the burdensome duty; and an opportunity of withdrawing from Italy +was soon presented to him by the affairs of Sicily. + +Relations of Sicily, Syracuse, and Carthage-- +Pyrrhus Invited to Syracuse + +After the death of Agathocles (465) the Greeks of Sicily were without +any leading power. While in the several Hellenic cities incapable +demagogues and incapable tyrants were replacing each other, the +Carthaginians, the old rulers of the western point, were extending +their dominion unmolested. After Agrigentum had surrendered to them, +they believed that the time had come for taking final steps towards +the end which they had kept in view for centuries, and for reducing +the whole island under their authority; they set themselves to attack +Syracuse. That city, which formerly by its armies and fleets had +disputed the possession of the island with Carthage, had through +internal dissension and the weakness of its government fallen so low +that it was obliged to seek for safety in the protection of its walls +and in foreign aid; and none could afford that aid but king Pyrrhus. +Pyrrhus was the husband of Agathocles's daughter, and his son +Alexander, then sixteen years of age, was Agathocles's grandson. +Both were in every respect natural heirs of the ambitious schemes +of the ruler of Syracuse; and if her freedom was at an end, Syracuse +might find compensation in becoming the capital of a Hellenic empire +of the West. So the Syracusans, like the Tarentines, and under +similar conditions, voluntarily offered their sovereignty to king +Pyrrhus (about 475); and by a singular conjuncture of affairs +everything seemed to concur towards the success of the magnificent +plans of the Epirot king, based as they primarily were on the +possession of Tarentum and Syracuse. + +League between Rome and Carthage-- +Third Year of the War + +The immediate effect, indeed, of this union of the Italian and +Sicilian Greeks under one control was a closer concert also on the +part of their antagonists. Carthage and Rome now converted their old +commercial treaties into an offensive and defensive league against +Pyrrhus (475), the tenor of which was that, if Pyrrhus invaded Roman +or Carthaginian territory, the party which was not attacked should +furnish that which was assailed with a contingent on its own territory +and should itself defray the expense of the auxiliary troops; that in +such an event Carthage should be bound to furnish transports and to +assist the Romans also with a war fleet, but the crews of that fleet +should not be obliged to fight for the Romans by land; that lastly, +both states should pledge themselves not to conclude a separate peace +with Pyrrhus. The object of the Romans in entering into the treaty +was to render possible an attack on Tarentum and to cut off Pyrrhus +from his own country, neither of which ends could be attained without +the co-operation of the Punic fleet; the object of the Carthaginians +was to detain the king in Italy, so that they might be able without +molestation to carry into effect their designs on Syracuse.(5) It was +accordingly the interest of both powers in the first instance to +secure the sea between Italy and Sicily. A powerful Carthaginian +fleet of 120 sail under the admiral Mago proceeded from Ostia, whither +Mago seems to have gone to conclude the treaty, to the Sicilian +straits. The Mamertines, who anticipated righteous punishment for +their outrage upon the Greek population of Messana in the event of +Pyrrhus becoming ruler of Sicily and Italy, attached themselves +closely to the Romans and Carthaginians, and secured for them the +Sicilian side of the straits. The allies would willingly have brought +Rhegium also on the opposite coast under their power; but Rome could +not possibly pardon the Campanian garrison, and an attempt of the +combined Romans and Carthaginians to gain the city by force of arms +miscarried. The Carthaginian fleet sailed thence for Syracuse and +blockaded the city by sea, while at the same time a strong Phoenician +army began the siege by land (476). It was high time that Pyrrhus +should appear at Syracuse: but, in fact, matters in Italy were by no +means in such a condition that he and his troops could be dispensed +with there. The two consuls of 476, Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, and +Quintus Aemilius Papus, both experienced generals, had begun the new +campaign with vigour, and although the Romans had hitherto sustained +nothing but defeat in this war, it was not they but the victors that +were weary of it and longed for peace. Pyrrhus made another attempt +to obtain accommodation on tolerable terms. The consul Fabricius had +handed over to the king a wretch, who had proposed to poison him on +condition of being well paid for it. Not only did the king in token +of gratitude release all his Roman prisoners without ransom, but he +felt himself so moved by the generosity of his brave opponents that +he offered, by way of personal recompense, a singularly fair and +favourable peace. Cineas appears to have gone once more to Rome, and +Carthage seems to have been seriously apprehensive that Rome might +come to terms. But the senate remained firm, and repeated its former +answer. Unless the king was willing to allow Syracuse to fall into +the hands of the Carthaginians and to have his grand scheme thereby +disconcerted, no other course remained than to abandon his Italian +allies and to confine himself for the time being to the occupation of +the most important seaports, particularly Tarentum and Locri. In vain +the Lucanians and Samnites conjured him not to desert them; in vain +the Tarentines summoned him either to comply with his duty as their +general or to give them back their city. The king met their +complaints and reproaches with the consolatory assurance that better +times were coming, or with abrupt dismissal. Milo remained behind in +Tarentum; Alexander, the king's son, in Locri; and Pyrrhus, with his +main force, embarked in the spring of 476 at Tarentum for Syracuse. + +Embarkation of Pyrrhus for Sicily-- +The War in Italy Flags + +By the departure of Pyrrhus the hands of the Romans were set free +in Italy; none ventured to oppose them in the open field, and their +antagonists everywhere confined themselves to their fastnesses or +their forests. The struggle however was not terminated so rapidly as +might have been expected; partly in consequence of its nature as a +warfare of mountain skirmishes and sieges, partly also, doubtless, +from the exhaustion of the Romans, whose fearful losses are indicated +by a decrease of 17,000 in the burgess-roll from 473 to 479. In 476 +the consul Gaius Fabricius succeeded in inducing the considerable +Tarentine settlement of Heraclea to enter into a separate peace, which +was granted to it on the most favourable terms. In the campaign of +477 a desultory warfare was carried on in Samnium, where an attack +thoughtlessly made on some entrenched heights cost the Romans many +lives, and thereafter in southern Italy, where the Lucanians and +Bruttians were defeated. On the other hand Milo, issuing from +Tarentum, anticipated the Romans in their attempt to surprise Croton: +whereupon the Epirot garrison made even a successful sortie against +the besieging army. At length, however, the consul succeeded by a +stratagem in inducing it to march forth, and in possessing himself +of the undefended town (477). An incident of more moment was the +slaughter of the Epirot garrison by the Locrians, who had formerly +surrendered the Roman garrison to the king, and now atoned for one act +of treachery by another. By that step the whole south coast came into +the hands of the Romans, with the exception of Rhegium and Tarentum. +These successes, however, advanced the main object but little. Lower +Italy itself had long been defenceless; but Pyrrhus was not subdued so +long as Tarentum remained in his hands and thus rendered it possible +for him to renew the war at his pleasure, and the Romans could not +think of undertaking the siege of that city. Even apart from the fact +that in siege-warfare, which had been revolutionized by Philip of +Macedonia and Demetrius Poliorcetes, the Romans were at a very decided +disadvantage when matched against an experienced and resolute Greek +commandant, a strong fleet was needed for such an enterprise, and, +although the Carthaginian treaty promised to the Romans support by +sea, the affairs of Carthage herself in Sicily were by no means in +such a condition as to enable her to grant that support. + +Pyrrhus Master of Sicily + +The landing of Pyrrhus on the island, which, in spite of the +Carthaginian fleet, had taken place without interruption, had changed +at once the aspect of matters there. He had immediately relieved +Syracuse, had in a short time united under his sway all the free Greek +cities, and at the head of the Sicilian confederation had wrested +from the Carthaginians nearly their whole possessions. It was with +difficulty that the Carthaginians could, by the help of their fleet +which at that time ruled the Mediterranean without a rival, maintain +themselves in Lilybaeum; it was with difficulty, and amidst constant +assaults, that the Mamertines held their ground in Messana. Under +such circumstances, agreeably to the treaty of 475, it would have been +the duty of Rome to lend her aid to the Carthaginians in Sicily, far +rather than that of Carthage to help the Romans with her fleet to +conquer Tarentum; but on the side of neither ally was there much +inclination to secure or to extend the power of the other. Carthage +had only offered help to the Romans when the real danger was past; +they in their turn had done nothing to prevent the departure of the +king from Italy and the fall of the Carthaginian power in Sicily. +Indeed, in open violation of the treaties Carthage had even proposed +to the king a separate peace, offering, in return for the undisturbed +possession of Lilybaeum, to give up all claim to her other Sicilian +possessions and even to place at the disposal of the king money and +ships of war, of course with a view to his crossing to Italy and +renewing the war against Rome. It was evident, however, that with +the possession of Lilybaeum and the departure of the king the position +of the Carthaginians in the island would be nearly the same as it had +been before the landing of Pyrrhus; the Greek cities if left to +themselves were powerless, and the lost territory would be easily +regained. So Pyrrhus rejected the doubly perfidious proposal, and +proceeded to build for himself a war fleet. Mere ignorance and +shortsightedness in after times censured this step; but it was really +as necessary as it was, with the resources of the island, easy of +accomplishment. Apart from the consideration that the master of +Ambracia, Tarentum, and Syracuse could not dispense with a naval +force, he needed a fleet to conquer Lilybaeum, to protect Tarentum, +and to attack Carthage at home as Agathocles, Regulus, and Scipio +did before or afterwards so successfully. Pyrrhus never was so near +to the attainment of his aim as in the summer of 478, when he saw +Carthage humbled before him, commanded Sicily, and retained a +firm footing in Italy by the possession of Tarentum, and when the +newly-created fleet, which was to connect, to secure, and to augment +these successes, lay ready for sea in the harbour of Syracuse. + +The Sicilian Government of Pyrrhus + +The real weakness of the position of Pyrrhus lay in his faulty +internal policy. He governed Sicily as he had seen Ptolemy rule in +Egypt: he showed no respect to the local constitutions; he placed +his confidants as magistrates over the cities whenever, and for as +long as, he pleased; he made his courtiers judges instead of the +native jurymen; he pronounced arbitrary sentences of confiscation, +banishment, or death, even against those who had been most active +in promoting his coming thither; he placed garrisons in the towns, +and ruled over Sicily not as the leader of a national league, but +as a king. In so doing he probably reckoned himself according to +oriental-Hellenistic ideas a good and wise ruler, and perhaps he +really was so; but the Greeks bore this transplantation of the system +of the Diadochi to Syracuse with all the impatience of a nation that +in its long struggle for freedom had lost all habits of discipline; +the Carthaginian yoke very soon appeared to the foolish people more +tolerable than their new military government. The most important +cities entered into communications with the Carthaginians, and even +with the Mamertines; a strong Carthaginian army ventured again to +appear on the island; and everywhere supported by the Greeks, it made +rapid progress. In the battle which Pyrrhus fought with it fortune +was, as always, with the "Eagle"; but the circumstances served to show +what the state of feeling was in the island, and what might and must +ensue, if the king should depart. + +Departure of Pyrrhus to Italy + +To this first and most essential error Pyrrhus added a second; he +proceeded with his fleet, not to Lilybaeum, but to Tarentum. It was +evident, looking to the very ferment in the minds of the Sicilians, +that he ought first of all to have dislodged the Carthaginians wholly +from the island, and thereby to have cut off the discontented from +their last support, before he turned his attention to Italy; in that +quarter there was nothing to be lost, for Tarentum was safe enough for +him, and the other allies were of little moment now that they had been +abandoned. It is conceivable that his soldierly spirit impelled him +to wipe off the stain of his not very honourable departure in the year +476 by a brilliant return, and that his heart bled when he heard the +complaints of the Lucanians and Samnites. But problems, such as +Pyrrhus had proposed to himself, can only be solved by men of iron +nature, who are able to control their feelings of compassion and even +their sense of honour; and Pyrrhus was not one of these. + +Fall of the Sicilian Kingdom-- +Recommencement of the Italian War + +The fatal embarkation took place towards the end of 478. On the +voyage the new Syracusan fleet had to sustain a sharp engagement with +that of Carthage, in which it lost a considerable number of vessels. +The departure of the king and the accounts of this first misfortune +sufficed for the fall of the Sicilian kingdom. On the arrival of the +news all the cities refused to the absent king money and troops; and +the brilliant state collapsed even more rapidly than it had arisen, +partly because the king had himself undermined in the hearts of +his subjects the loyalty and affection on which every commonwealth +depends, partly because the people lacked the devotedness to +renounce freedom for perhaps but a short term in order to save +their nationality. Thus the enterprise of Pyrrhus was wrecked, and +the plan of his life was ruined irretrievably; he was thenceforth an +adventurer, who felt that he had been great and was so no longer, and +who now waged war no longer as a means to an end, but in order to +drown thought amidst the reckless excitement of the game and to find, +if possible, in the tumult of battle a soldier's death. Arrived on +the Italian coast, the king began by an attempt to get possession of +Rhegium; but the Campanians repulsed the attack with the aid of the +Mamertines, and in the heat of the conflict before the town the king +himself was wounded in the act of striking down an officer of the +enemy. On the other hand he surprised Locri, whose inhabitants +suffered severely for their slaughter of the Epirot garrison, and he +plundered the rich treasury of the temple of Persephone there, to +replenish his empty exchequer. Thus he arrived at Tarentum, it is +said with 20,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry. But these were no longer +the experienced veterans of former days, and the Italians no longer +hailed them as deliverers; the confidence and hope with which they +had received the king five years before were gone; the allies were +destitute of money and of men. + +Battle near Beneventum-- +Pyrrhus Leaves Italy-- +Death of Pyrrhus + +The king took the field in the spring of 479 with the view of aiding +the hard-pressed Samnites, in whose territory the Romans had passed +the previous winter; and he forced the consul Manius Curius to give +battle near Beneventum on the -campus Arusinus-, before he could +form a junction with his colleague advancing from Lucania. But the +division of the army, which was intended to take the Romans in flank, +lost its way during its night march in the woods, and failed to appear +at the decisive moment; and after a hot conflict the elephants again +decided the battle, but decided it this time in favour of the Romans, +for, thrown into confusion by the archers who were stationed to +protect the camp, they attacked their own people. The victors +occupied the camp; there fell into their hands 1300 prisoners and four +elephants--the first that were seen in Rome--besides an immense spoil, +from the proceeds of which the aqueduct, which conveyed the water of +the Anio from Tibur to Rome, was subsequently built. Without troops +to keep the field and without money, Pyrrhus applied to his allies who +had contributed to his equipment for Italy, the kings of Macedonia +and Asia; but even in his native land he was no longer feared, and +his request was refused. Despairing of success against Rome and +exasperated by these refusals, Pyrrhus left a garrison in Tarentum, +and went home himself in the same year (479) to Greece, where some +prospect of gain might open up to the desperate player sooner than +amidst the steady and measured course of Italian affairs. In fact, +he not only rapidly recovered the portion of his kingdom that had +been taken away, but once more grasped, and not without success, at +the Macedonian throne. But his last plans also were thwarted by the +calm and cautious policy of Antigonus Gonatas, and still more by his +own vehemence and inability to tame his proud spirit; he still gained +battles, but he no longer gained any lasting success, and met his +death in a miserable street combat in Peloponnesian Argos (482). + +Last Struggles in Italy-- +Capture of Tarentum + +In Italy the war came to an end with the battle of Beneventum; the +last convulsive struggles of the national party died slowly away. +So long indeed as the warrior prince, whose mighty arm had ventured +to seize the reins of destiny in Italy, was still among the living, +he held, even when absent, the stronghold of Tarentum against Rome. +Although after the departure of the king the peace party recovered +ascendency in the city, Milo, who commanded there on behalf of +Pyrrhus, rejected their suggestions and allowed the citizens +favourable to Rome, who had erected a separate fort for themselves +in the territory of Tarentum, to conclude peace with Rome as they +pleased, without on that account opening his gates. But when after +the death of Pyrrhus a Carthaginian fleet entered the harbour, and +Milo saw that the citizens were on the point of delivering up the city +to the Carthaginians, he preferred to hand over the citadel to the +Roman consul Lucius Papirius (482), and by that means to secure a free +departure for himself and his troops. For the Romans this was an +immense piece of good fortune. After the experiences of Philip before +Perinthus and Byzantium, of Demetrius before Rhodes, and of Pyrrhus +before Lilybaeum, it may be doubted whether the strategy of that +period was at all able to compel the surrender of a town well +fortified, well defended, and freely accessible by sea; and how +different a turn matters might have taken, had Tarentum become to the +Phoenicians in Italy what Lilybaeum was to them in Sicily! What was +done, however, could not be undone. The Carthaginian admiral, when he +saw the citadel in the hands of the Romans, declared that he had only +appeared before Tarentum conformably to the treaty to lend assistance +to his allies in the siege of the town, and set sail for Africa; and +the Roman embassy, which was sent to Carthage to demand explanations +and make complaints regarding the attempted occupation of Tarentum, +brought back nothing but a solemn confirmation on oath of that +allegation as to its ally's friendly design, with which accordingly +the Romans had for the time to rest content. The Tarentines obtained +from Rome, presumably on the intercession of their emigrants, the +restoration of autonomy; but their arms and ships had to be given up +and their walls had to be pulled down. + +Submission of Lower Italy + +In the same year, in which Tarentum became Roman, the Samnites, +Lucanians, and Bruttians finally submitted. The latter were obliged +to cede the half of the lucrative, and for ship-building important, +forest of Sila. + +At length also the band that for ten years had sheltered themselves in +Rhegium were duly chastised for the breach of their military oath, as +well as for the murder of the citizens of Rhegium and of the garrison +of Croton. In this instance Rome, while vindicating her own rights +vindicated the general cause of the Hellenes against the barbarians. +Hiero, the new ruler of Syracuse, accordingly supported the Romans +before Rhegium by sending supplies and a contingent, and in +combination with the Roman expedition against the garrison of Rhegium +he made an attack upon their fellow-countrymen and fellow-criminals, +the Mamertines of Messana. The siege of the latter town was long +protracted. On the other hand Rhegium, although the mutineers +resisted long and obstinately, was stormed by the Romans in 484; the +survivors of the garrison were scourged and beheaded in the public +market at Rome, while the old inhabitants were recalled and, as far as +possible, reinstated in their possessions. Thus all Italy was, in +484, reduced to subjection. The Samnites alone, the most obstinate +antagonists of Rome, still in spite of the official conclusion of +peace continued the struggle as "robbers," so that in 485 both +consuls had to be once more despatched against them. But even the +most high-spirited national courage--the bravery of despair--comes +to an end; the sword and the gibbet at length carried quiet even +into the mountains of Samnium. + +Construction of New Fortresses and Roads + +For the securing of these immense acquisitions a new series of +colonies was instituted: Paestum and Cosa in Lucania (481); Beneventum +(486), and Aesernia (about 491) to hold Samnium in check; and, as +outposts against the Gauls, Ariminum (486), Firmum in Picenum (about +490), and the burgess colony of Castrum Novum. Preparations were made +for the continuation of the great southern highway--which acquired in +the fortress of Beneventum a new station intermediate between Capua +and Venusia--as far as the seaports of Tarentum and Brundisium, and +for the colonization of the latter seaport, which Roman policy had +selected as the rival and successor of the Tarentine emporium. The +construction of the new fortresses and roads gave rise to some further +wars with the small tribes, whose territory was thereby curtailed: +with the Picentes (485, 486), a number of whom were transplanted to +the district of Salernum; with the Sallentines about Brundisium (487, +488); and with the Umbrian Sassinates (487, 488), who seem to have +occupied the territory of Ariminum after the expulsion of the Senones. +By these establishments the dominion of Rome was extended over the +interior of Lower Italy, and over the whole Italian east coast from +the Ionian sea to the Celtic frontier. + +Maritime Relations + +Before we describe the political organization under which the Italy +which was thus united was governed on the part of Rome, it remains +that we should glance at the maritime relations that subsisted in the +fourth and fifth centuries. At this period Syracuse and Carthage were +the main competitors for the dominion of the western waters. On the +whole, notwithstanding the great temporary successes which Dionysius +(348-389), Agathocles (437-465), and Pyrrhus (476-478) obtained at +sea, Carthage had the preponderance and Syracuse sank more and more +into a naval power of the second rank. The maritime importance of +Etruria was wholly gone;(6) the hitherto Etruscan island of Corsica, +if it did not quite pass into the possession, fell under the maritime +supremacy, of the Carthaginians. Tarentum, which for a time had +played a considerable part, had its power broken by the Roman +occupation. The brave Massiliots maintained their ground in their +own waters; but they exercised no material influence over the course +of events in those of Italy. The other maritime cities hardly came +as yet into serious account. + +Decline of the Roman Naval Power + +Rome itself was not exempt from a similar fate; its own waters were +likewise commanded by foreign fleets. It was indeed from the first +a maritime city, and in the period of its vigour never was so untrue +to its ancient traditions as wholly to neglect its war marine or so +foolish as to desire to be a mere continental power. Latium furnished +the finest timber for ship-building, far surpassing the famed growths +of Lower Italy; and the very docks constantly maintained in Rome are +enough to show that the Romans never abandoned the idea of possessing +a fleet of their own. During the perilous crises, however, which the +expulsion of the kings, the internal disturbances in the Romano-Latin +confederacy, and the unhappy wars with the Etruscans and Celts brought +upon Rome, the Romans could take but little interest in the state of +matters in the Mediterranean; and, in consequence of the policy of +Rome directing itself more and more decidedly to the subjugation of +the Italian continent, the growth of its naval power was arrested. +There is hardly any mention of Latin vessels of war up to the end of +the fourth century, except that the votive offering from the Veientine +spoil was sent to Delphi in a Roman vessel (360). The Antiates indeed +continued to prosecute their commerce with armed vessels and thus, +as occasion offered, to practise the trade of piracy also, and the +"Tyrrhene corsair" Postumius, whom Timoleon captured about 415, may +certainly have been an Antiate; but the Antiates were scarcely to be +reckoned among the naval powers of that period, and, had they been so, +the fact must from the attitude of Antium towards Rome have been +anything but an advantage to the latter. The extent to which the +Roman naval power had declined about the year 400 is shown by the +plundering of the Latin coasts by a Greek, presumably a Sicilian, war +fleet in 405, while at the same time Celtic hordes were traversing and +devastating the Latin land.(7) In the following year (406), and +beyond doubt under the immediate impression produced by these serious +events, the Roman community and the Phoenicians of Carthage, acting +respectively for themselves and for their dependent allies, concluded +a treaty of commerce and navigation-- the oldest Roman document of +which the text has reached us, although only in a Greek +translation.(8) In that treaty the Romans had to come under +obligation not to navigate the Libyan coast to the west of the Fair +Promontory (Cape Bon) excepting in cases of necessity. On the other +hand they obtained the privilege of freely trading, like the natives, +in Sicily, so far as it was Carthaginian; and in Africa and Sardinia +they obtained at least the right to dispose of their merchandise at a +price fixed with the concurrence of the Carthaginian officials and +guaranteed by the Carthaginian community. The privilege of free +trading seems to have been granted to the Carthaginians at least in +Rome, perhaps in all Latium; only they bound themselves neither to do +violence to the subject Latin communities,(9) nor, if they should set +foot as enemies on Latin soil, to take up their quarters for a night +on shore--in other words, not to extend their piratical inroads into +the interior--nor to construct any fortresses in the Latin land. + +We may probably assign to the same period the already mentioned(10) +treaty between Rome and Tarentum, respecting the date of which we are +only told that it was concluded a considerable time before 472. By it +the Romans bound themselves--for what concessions on the part of +Tarentum is not stated--not to navigate the waters to the east of +the Lacinian promontory; a stipulation by which they were thus wholly +excluded from the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. + +Roman Fortification of the Coast + +These were disasters no less than the defeat on the Allia, and the +Roman senate seems to have felt them as such and to have made use of +the favourable turn, which the Italian relations assumed soon after +the conclusion of the humiliating treaties with Carthage and Tarentum, +with all energy to improve its depressed maritime position. The most +important of the coast towns were furnished with Roman colonies: Pyrgi +the seaport of Caere, the colonization of which probably falls within +this period; along the west coast, Antium in 415,(11) Tarracina in +425,(12) the island of Pontia in 441,(13) so that, as Ardea and +Circeii had previously received colonists, all the Latin seaports of +consequence in the territory of the Rutuli and Volsci had now become +Latin or burgess colonies; further, in the territory of the Aurunci, +Minturnae and Sinuessa in 459;(14) in that of the Lucanians, Paestum +and Cosa in 481;(15) and, on the coast of the Adriatic, Sena Gallica +and Castrum Novum about 471,(16) and Ariminum in 486;(17) to which +falls to be added the occupation of Brundisium, which took place +immediately after the close of the Pyrrhic war. In the greater part +of these places--the burgess or maritime colonies(18)--the young men +were exempted from serving in the legions and destined solely for the +watching of the coasts. The well judged preference given at the same +time to the Greeks of Lower Italy over their Sabellian neighbours, +particularly to the considerable communities of Neapolis, Rhegium, +Locri, Thurii, and Heraclea, and their similar exemption under the +like conditions from furnishing contingents to the land army, +completed the network drawn by Rome around the coasts of Italy. + +But with a statesmanlike sagacity, from which the succeeding +generations might have drawn a lesson, the leading men of the Roman +commonwealth perceived that all these coast fortifications and coast +garrisons could not but prove inadequate, unless the war marine of +the state were again placed on a footing that should command respect. +Some sort of nucleus for this purpose was already furnished on the +subjugation of Antium (416) by the serviceable war-galleys which were +carried off to the Roman docks; but the enactment at the same time, +that the Antiates should abstain from all maritime traffic,(19) is a +very clear and distinct indication how weak the Romans then felt +themselves at sea, and how completely their maritime policy was still +summed up in the occupation of places on the coast. Thereafter, when +the Greek cities of southern Italy, Neapolis leading the way in 428, +were admitted to the clientship of Rome, the war-vessels, which each +of these cities bound itself to furnish as a war contribution under +the alliance to the Romans, formed at least a renewed nucleus for a +Roman fleet. In 443, moreover, two fleet-masters (-duoviri navales-) +were nominated in consequence of a resolution of the burgesses +specially passed to that effect, and this Roman naval force +co-operated in the Samnite war at the siege of Nuceria.(20) Perhaps +even the remarkable mission of a Roman fleet of twenty-five sail to +found a colony in Corsica, which Theophrastus mentions in his "History +of Plants" written about 446, belongs to this period. But how little +was immediately accomplished with all this preparation, is shown by +the renewed treaty with Carthage in 448. While the stipulations of +the treaty of 406 relating to Italy and Sicily(21) remained unchanged, +the Romans were now prohibited not only from the navigation of the +eastern waters, but also from that of the Atlantic Ocean which was +previously permitted, as well as debarred from holding commercial +intercourse with the subjects of Carthage in Sardinia and Africa, and +also, in all probability, from effecting a settlement in Corsica;(22) +so that only Carthaginian Sicily and Carthage itself remained open +to their traffic. We recognize here the jealousy of the dominant +maritime power, gradually increasing with the extension of the Roman +dominion along the coasts. Carthage compelled the Romans to acquiesce +in her prohibitive system, to submit to be excluded from the seats of +production in the west and east (connected with which exclusion is the +story of a public reward bestowed on the Phoenician mariner who at the +sacrifice of his own ship decoyed a Roman vessel, steering after him +into the Atlantic Ocean, to perish on a sand-bank), and to restrict +their navigation under the treaty to the narrow space of the western +Mediterranean--and all this for the mere purpose of averting pillage +from their coasts and of securing their ancient and important trading +connection with Sicily. The Romans were obliged to yield to these +terms; but they did not desist from their efforts to rescue their +marine from its condition of impotence. + +Quaestors of the Fleet-- +Variance between Rome and Carthage + +A comprehensive measure with that view was the institution of four +quaestors of the fleet (-quaestores classici-) in 487: of whom the +first was stationed at Ostia the port of Rome; the second, stationed +at Cales then the capital of Roman Campania, had to superintend the +ports of Campania and Magna Graecia; the third, stationed at Ariminum, +superintended the ports on the other side of the Apennines; the +district assigned to the fourth is not known. These new standing +officials were intended to exercise not the sole, but a conjoint, +guardianship of the coasts, and to form a war marine for their +protection. The objects of the Roman senate--to recover their +independence by sea, to cut off the maritime communications of +Tarentum, to close the Adriatic against fleets coming from Epirus, +and to emancipate themselves from Carthaginian supremacy--were very +obvious. Their already explained relations with Carthage during the +last Italian war discover traces of such views. King Pyrrhus indeed +compelled the two great cities once more--it was for the last time +--to conclude an offensive alliance; but the lukewarmness and +faithlessness of that alliance, the attempts of the Carthaginians +to establish themselves in Rhegium and Tarentum, and the immediate +occupation of Brundisium by the Romans after the termination of the +war, show clearly how much their respective interests already came +into collision. + +Rome and the Greek Naval Powers + +Rome very naturally sought to find support against Carthage from the +Hellenic maritime states. Her old and close relations of amity with +Massilia continued uninterrupted. The votive offering sent by Rome +to Delphi, after the conquest of Veii, was preserved there in the +treasury of the Massiliots. After the capture of Rome by the Celts +there was a collection in Massilia for the sufferers by the fire, +in which the city chest took the lead; in return the Roman senate +granted commercial advantages to the Massiliot merchants, and, at the +celebration of the games in the Forum assigned a position of honour +(-Graecostasis-) to the Massiliots by the side of the platform for the +senators. To the same category belong the treaties of commerce and +amity concluded by the Romans about 448 with Rhodes and not long after +with Apollonia, a considerable mercantile town on the Epirot coast, +and especially the closer relation, so fraught with danger for +Carthage, which immediately after the end of the Pyrrhic war +sprang up between Rome and Syracuse.(23) + +While the Roman power by sea was thus very far from keeping pace with +the immense development of their power by land, and the war marine +belonging to the Romans in particular was by no means such as from the +geographical and commercial position of the city it ought to have +been, yet it began gradually to emerge out of the complete nullity to +which it had been reduced about the year 400; and, considering the +great resources of Italy, the Phoenicians might well follow its +efforts with anxious eyes. + +The crisis in reference to the supremacy of the Italian waters was +approaching; by land the contest was decided. For the first time +Italy was united into one state under the sovereignty of the Roman +community. What political prerogatives the Roman community on this +occasion withdrew from all the other Italian communities and took into +its own sole keeping, or in other words, what conception in state-law +is to be associated with this sovereignty of Rome, we are nowhere +expressly informed, and--a significant circumstance, indicating +prudent calculation--there does not even exist any generally current +expression for that conception.(24) The only privileges that +demonstrably belonged to it were the rights of making war, of +concluding treaties, and of coining money. No Italian community could +declare war against any foreign state, or even negotiate with it, or +coin money for circulation. On the other hand every declaration of +war made by the Roman people and every state-treaty resolved upon by +it were binding in law on all the other Italian communities, and the +silver money of Rome was legally current throughout all Italy. It is +probable that the formulated prerogatives of the leading community +extended no further. But to these there were necessarily attached +rights of sovereignty that practically went far beyond them. + +The Full Roman Franchise + +The relations, which the Italians sustained to the leading community, +exhibited in detail great inequalities. In this point of view, in +addition to the full burgesses of Rome, there were three different +classes of subjects to be distinguished. The full franchise itself, +in the first place, was extended as far as was possible, without +wholly abandoning the idea of an urban commonwealth as applied to the +Roman commune. The old burgess-domain had hitherto been enlarged +chiefly by individual assignation in such a way that southern Etruria +as far as towards Caere and Falerii,(25) the districts taken from the +Hernici on the Sacco and on the Anio(26) the largest part of the +Sabine country(27) and large tracts of the territory formerly +Volscian, especially the Pomptine plain(28) were converted into land +for Roman farmers, and new burgess-districts were instituted mostly +for their inhabitants. The same course had even already been taken +with the Falernian district on the Volturnus ceded by Capua.(29) All +these burgesses domiciled outside of Rome were without a commonwealth +and an administration of their own; on the assigned territory there +arose at the most market-villages (-fora et conciliabula-). In a +position not greatly different were placed the burgesses sent out +to the so-called maritime colonies mentioned above, who were likewise +left in possession of the full burgess-rights of Rome, and whose +self-administration was of little moment. Towards the close of +this period the Roman community appears to have begun to grant full +burgess-rights to the adjoining communities of passive burgesses who +were of like or closely kindred nationality; this was probably done +first for Tusculum,(30) and so, presumably, also for the other +communities of passive burgesses in Latium proper, then at the end +of this period (486) was extended to the Sabine towns, which doubtless +were even then essentially Latinized and had given sufficient proof +of their fidelity in the last severe war. These towns retained the +restricted self-administration, which under their earlier legal +position belonged to them, even after their admission into the Roman +burgess-union; it was they more than the maritime colonies that +furnished the model for the special commonwealths subsisting within +the body of Roman full burgesses and so, in the course of time, for +the Roman municipal organization. Accordingly the range of the full +Roman burgesses must at the end of this epoch have extended northward +as far as the vicinity of Caere, eastward as far as the Apennines, and +southward as far as Tarracina; although in this case indeed we cannot +speak of boundary in a strict sense, partly because a number of +federal towns with Latin rights, such as Tibur, Praeneste, Signia, +Norba, Circeii, were found within these bounds, partly because beyond +them the inhabitants of Minturnae, Sinuessa, of the Falernian +territory, of the town Sena Gallica and some other townships, +likewise possessed the full franchise, and families of Roman +farmers were presumably to be even now found scattered throughout +Italy, either isolated or united in villages. + +Subject Communities + +Among the subject communities the passive burgesses (-cives sine +suffragio-) apart from the privilege of electing and being elected, +stood on an equality of rights and duties with the full burgesses. +Their legal position was regulated by the decrees of the Roman comitia +and the rules issued for them by the Roman praetor, which, however, +were doubtless based essentially on the previous arrangements. +Justice was administered for them by the Roman praetor or his deputies +(-praefecti-) annually sent to the individual communities. Those of +them in a better position, such as the city of Capua,(31) retained +self-administration and along with it the continued use of the native +language, and had officials of their own who took charge of the levy +and the census. The communities of inferior rights such as Caere(32) +were deprived even of self-administration, and this was doubtless the +most oppressive among the different forms of subjection. However, as +was above remarked, there is already apparent at the close of this +period an effort to incorporate these communities, at least so far +as they were -de facto- Latinized, among the full burgesses. + +Latins + +Among the subject communities the most privileged and most important +class was that of the Latin towns, which obtained accessions equally +numerous and important in the autonomous communities founded by Rome +within and even beyond Italy--the Latin colonies, as they were called +--and was always increasing in consequence of new settlements of the +same nature. These new urban communities of Roman origin, but with +Latin rights, became more and more the real buttresses of the Roman +rule over Italy. These Latins, however, were by no means those with +whom the battles of the lake Regillus and Trifanum had been fought. +They were not those old members of the Alban league, who reckoned +themselves originally equal to, if not better than, the community of +Rome, and who felt the dominion of Rome to be an oppressive yoke, as +the fearfully rigorous measures of security taken against Praeneste +at the beginning of the war with Pyrrhus, and the collisions that +evidently long continued to occur with the Praenestines in particular, +show. This old Latium had essentially either perished or become +merged in Rome, and it now numbered but few communities politically +self-subsisting, and these, with the exception of Tibur and Praeneste, +throughout insignificant. The Latium of the later times of +the republic, on the contrary, consisted almost exclusively of +communities, which from the beginning had honoured Rome as their +capital and parent city; which, settled amidst regions of alien +language and of alien habits, were attached to Rome by community of +language, of law, and of manners; which, as the petty tyrants of the +surrounding districts, were obliged doubtless to lean on Rome for +their very existence, like advanced posts leaning upon the main army; +and which, in fine, in consequence of the increasing material +advantages of Roman citizenship, were ever deriving very considerable +benefit from their equality of rights with the Romans, limited though +it was. A portion of the Roman domain, for instance, was usually +assigned to them for their separate use, and participation in the +state leases and contracts was open to them as to the Roman burgess. +Certainly in their case also the consequences of the self-subsistence +granted to them did not wholly fail to appear. Venusian inscriptions +of the time of the Roman republic, and Beneventane inscriptions +recently brought to light,(33) show that Venusia as well as Rome +had its plebs and its tribunes of the people, and that the chief +magistrates of Beneventum bore the title of consul at least about +the time of the Hannibalic war. Both communities are among the most +recent of the Latin colonies with older rights: we perceive what +pretensions were stirring in them about the middle of the fifth +century. These so-called Latins, issuing from the Roman burgess-body +and feeling themselves in every respect on a level with it, already +began to view with displeasure their subordinate federal rights and to +strive after full equalization. Accordingly the senate had exerted +itself to curtail these Latin communities--however important they were +for Rome--as far as possible, in their rights and privileges, and to +convert their position from that of allies to that of subjects, so far +as this could be done without removing the wall of partition between +them and the non-Latin communities of Italy. We have already +described the abolition of the league of the Latin communities +itself as well as of their former complete equality of rights, +and the loss of the most important political privileges belonging to +them. On the complete subjugation of Italy a further step was taken, +and a beginning was made towards the restriction of the personal +rights--that had not hitherto been touched--of the individual Latin, +especially the important right of freedom of settlement. In the case +of Ariminum founded in 486 and of all the autonomous communities +constituted afterwards, the advantage enjoyed by them, as compared +with other subjects, was restricted to their equalization with +burgesses of the Roman community so far as regarded private rights +--those of traffic and barter as well as those of inheritance.(34) +Presumably about the same time the full right of free migration +allowed to the Latin communities hitherto established--the title of +every one of their burgesses to gain by transmigration to Rome full +burgess-rights there--was, for the Latin colonies of later erection, +restricted to those persons who had attained to the highest office of +the community in their native home; these alone were allowed to +exchange their colonial burgess-rights for the Roman. This clearly +shows the complete revolution in the position of Rome. So long as +Rome was still but one among the many urban communities of Italy, +although that one might be the first, admission even to the +unrestricted Roman franchise was universally regarded as a gain for +the admitting community, and the acquisition of that franchise by +non-burgesses was facilitated in every way, and was in fact often +imposed on them as a punishment. But after the Roman community became +sole sovereign and all the others were its servants, the state of +matters changed. The Roman community began jealously to guard its +franchise, and accordingly put an end in the first instance to the old +full liberty of migration; although the statesmen of that period were +wise enough still to keep admission to the Roman franchise legally +open at least to the men of eminence and of capacity in the highest +class of subject communities. The Latins were thus made to feel that +Rome, after having subjugated Italy mainly by their aid, had now no +longer need of them as before. + +Non-Latin Allied Communities + +Lastly, the relations of the non-Latin allied communities were +subject, as a matter of course, to very various rules, just as each +particular treaty of alliance had defined them. Several of these +perpetual alliances, such as that with the Hernican communities,(35) +passed over to a footing of complete equalization with the Latin. +Others, in which this was not the case, such as those with +Neapolis(36), Nola(37), and Heraclea(38), granted rights +comparatively comprehensive; while others, such as the Tarentine +and Samnite treaties, may have approximated to despotism. + +Dissolution of National Leagues-- +Furnishing of Contingents + +As a general rule, it may be taken for granted that not only the +Latin and Hernican national confederations--as to which the fact is +expressly stated--but all such confederations subsisting in Italy, and +the Samnite and Lucanian leagues in particular, were legally dissolved +or at any rate reduced to insignificance, and that in general no +Italian community was allowed the right of acquiring property or of +intermarriage, or even the right of joint consultation and resolution, +with any other. Further, provision must have been made, under +different forms, for placing the military and financial resources of +all the Italian communities at the disposal of the leading community. +Although the burgess militia on the one hand, and the contingents of +the "Latin name" on the other, were still regarded as the main and +integral constituents of the Roman army, and in that way its national +character was on the whole preserved, the Roman -cives sine suffragio- +were called forth to join its ranks, and not only so, but beyond doubt +the non-Latin federate communities also were either bound to furnish +ships of war, as was the case with the Greek cities, or were placed on +the roll of contingent-furnishing Italians (-formula togatorum-), +as must have been ordained at once or gradually in the case of the +Apulians, Sabellians, and Etruscans. In general this contingent, +like that of the Latin communities, appears to have had its numbers +definitely fixed, although, in case of necessity, the leading +community was not precluded from making a larger requisition. +This at the same time involved an indirect taxation, as every +community was bound itself to equip and to pay its own contingent. +Accordingly it was not without design that the supply of the most +costly requisites for war devolved chiefly on the Latin, or non-Latin +federate communities; that the war marine was for the most part kept +up by the Greek cities; and that in the cavalry service the allies, +at least subsequently, were called upon to furnish a proportion thrice +as numerous as the Roman burgesses, while in the infantry the old +principle, that the contingent of the allies should not be more +numerous than the burgess army, still remained in force for a long +time at least as the rule. + +System of Government-- +Division and Classification of the Subjects + +The system, on which this fabric was constructed and kept together, +can no longer be ascertained in detail from the few notices that have +reached us. Even the numerical proportions of the three classes of +subjects relatively to each other and to the full burgesses, can no +longer be determined even approximately;(39) and in like manner the +geographical distribution of the several categories over Italy is but +imperfectly known. The leading ideas on which the structure was +based, on the other hand, are so obvious that it is scarcely necessary +specially to set them forth. First of all, as we have already said, +the immediate circle of the ruling community was extended--partly +by the settlement of full burgesses, partly by the conferring of +passive burgess-rights--as far as was possible without completely +decentralizing the Roman community, which was an urban one and was +intended to remain so. When the system of incorporation was extended +up to and perhaps even beyond its natural limits, the communities that +were subsequently added had to submit to a position of subjection; for +a pure hegemony as a permanent relation was intrinsically impossible. +Thus not through any arbitrary monopolizing of sovereignty, but +through the inevitable force of circumstances, by the side of the +class of ruling burgesses a second class of subjects took its place. +It was one of the primary expedients of Roman rule to subdivide the +governed by breaking up the Italian confederacies and instituting as +large a number as possible of comparatively small communities, and +to graduate the pressure of that rule according to the different +categories of subjects. As Cato in the government of his household +took care that the slaves should not be on too good terms with one +another, and designedly fomented variances and factions among them, +so the Roman community acted on a great scale. The expedient was not +generous, but it was effectual. + +Aristocratic Remodelling of the Constitutions of the Italian +Communities + +It was but a wider application of the same expedient, when in each +dependent community the constitution was remodelled after the Roman +pattern and a government of the wealthy and respectable families was +installed, which was naturally more or less keenly opposed to the +multitude and was induced by its material interests and by its wish +for local power to lean on Roman support. The most remarkable +instance of this sort is furnished by the treatment of Capua, which +appears to have been from the first treated with suspicious precaution +as the only Italian city that could come into possible rivalry with +Rome. The Campanian nobility received a privileged jurisdiction, +separate places of assembly, and in every respect a distinctive +position; indeed they even obtained not inconsiderable pensions +--sixteen hundred of them at 450 -stateres- (about 30 pounds) +annually--charged on the Campanian exchequer. It was these Campanian +equites, whose refusal to take part in the great Latino-Campanian +insurrection of 414 mainly contributed to its failure, and whose brave +swords decided the day in favour of the Romans at Sentinum in 459;(40) +whereas the Campanian infantry at Rhegium was the first body of +troops that in the war with Pyrrhus revolted from Rome.(41) Another +remarkable instance of the Roman practice of turning to account for +their own interest the variances between the orders in the dependent +communities by favouring the aristocracy, is furnished by the +treatment which Volsinii met with in 489. There, just as in Rome, +the old and new burgesses must have stood opposed to one another, +and the latter must have attained by legal means equality of political +rights. In consequence of this the old burgesses of Volsinii resorted +to the Roman senate with a request for the restoration of their old +constitution--a step which the ruling party in the city naturally +viewed as high treason, and inflicted legal punishment accordingly on +the petitioners. The Roman senate, however, took part with the old +burgesses, and, when the city showed no disposition to submit, not +only destroyed by military violence the communal constitution of +Volsinii which was In recognized operation, but also, by razing the +old capital of Etruria, exhibited to the Italians a fearfully palpable +proof of the mastery of Rome. + +Moderation of the Government + +But the Roman senate had the wisdom not to overlook the fact, that the +only means of giving permanence to despotism is moderation on the part +of the despots. On that account there was left with, or conferred on, +the dependent communities an autonomy, which included a shadow of +independence, a special share in the military and political successes +of Rome, and above all a free communal constitution--so far as +the Italian confederacy extended, there existed no community of +Helots. On that account also Rome from the very first, with a +clear-sightedness and magnanimity perhaps unparalleled in history, +waived the most dangerous of all the rights of government, the right +of taxing her subjects. At the most tribute was perhaps imposed +on the dependent Celtic cantons: so far as the Italian confederacy +extended, there was no tributary community. On that account, lastly, +while the duty of bearing arms was partially devolved on the subjects, +the ruling burgesses were by no means exempt from it; it is probable +that the latter were proportionally far more numerous than the body +of the allies; and in that body, again, probably the Latins as a whole +were liable to far greater demands upon them than the non-Latin +allied communities. There was thus a certain reasonableness in the +appropriation by which Rome ranked first, and the Latins next to her, +in the distribution of the spoil acquired in war. + +Intermediate Functionaries-- +Valuation of the Empire + +The central administration at Rome solved the difficult problem of +preserving its supervision and control over the mass of the Italian +communities liable to furnish contingents, partly by means of the four +Italian quaestorships, partly by the extension of the Roman censorship +over the whole of the dependent communities. The quaestors of the +fleet,(42) along with their more immediate duty, had to raise +the revenues from the newly acquired domains and to control the +contingents of the new allies; they were the first Roman functionaries +to whom a residence and district out of Rome were assigned by law, and +they formed the necessary intermediate authority between the Roman +senate and the Italian communities. Moreover, as is shown by the +later municipal constitution, the chief functionaries in every Italian +community,(43) whatever might be their title, had to undertake a +valuation every fourth or fifth year--an institution, the suggestion +of which must necessarily have emanated from Rome, and which can +only have been intended to furnish the senate with a view of the +resources in men and money of the whole of Italy, corresponding +to the census in Rome. + +Italy and the Italians + +Lastly, with this military administrative union of the whole peoples +dwelling to the south of the Apennines, as far as the Iapygian +promontory and the straits of Rhegium, was connected the rise of a +new name common to them all--that of "the men of the toga" (-togati-), +which was their oldest designation in Roman state law, or that of the +"Italians," which was the appellation originally in use among the +Greeks and thence became universally current. The various nations +inhabiting those lands were probably first led to feel and own their +unity, partly through their common contrast to the Greeks, partly and +mainly through their common resistance to the Celts; for, although +an Italian community may now and then have made common cause with +the Celts against Rome and employed the opportunity to recover +independence, yet in the long run sound national feeling necessarily +prevailed. As the "Gallic field" down to a late period stood +contrasted in law with the Italian, so the "men of the toga" were thus +named in contrast to the Celtic "men of the hose" (-braccati-); and it +is probable that the repelling of the Celtic invasions played an +important diplomatic part as a reason or pretext for centralizing +the military resources of Italy in the hands of the Romans. Inasmuch +as the Romans on the one hand took the lead in the great national +struggle and on the other hand compelled the Etruscans, Latins, +Sabellians, Apulians, and Hellenes (within the bounds to be +immediately described) alike to fight under their standards, that +unity, which hitherto had been undefined and latent rather than +expressed, obtained firm consolidation and recognition in state law; +and the name -Italia-, which originally and even in the Greek authors +of the fifth century--in Aristotle for instance--pertained only to the +modern Calabria, was transferred to the whole land of these wearers of +the toga. + +Earliest Boundaries of the Italian Confederacy + +The earliest boundaries of this great armed confederacy led by Rome, +or of the new Italy, reached on the western coast as far as the +district of Leghorn south of the Arnus,(44) on the east as far as +the Aesis north of Ancona. The townships colonized by Italians, +lying beyond these limits, such as Sena Gallica and Ariminum beyond +the Apennines, and Messana in Sicily, were reckoned geographically as +situated out of Italy--even when, like Ariminum, they were members of +the confederacy or even, like Sena, were Roman burgess communities. +Still less could the Celtic cantons beyond the Apennines be reckoned +among the -togati-, although perhaps some of them were already among +the clients of Rome. + +First Steps towards the Latininzing of Italy-- +New Position of Rome as a Great Power + +The new Italy had thus become a political unity; it was also in +the course of becoming a national unity. Already the ruling Latin +nationality had assimilated to itself the Sabines and Volscians and +had scattered isolated Latin communities over all Italy; these germs +were merely developed, when subsequently the Latin language became +the mother-tongue of every one entitled to wear the Latin toga. +That the Romans already clearly recognized this as their aim, +is shown by the familiar extension of the Latin name to the whole body +of contingent-furnishing Italian allies.(45) Whatever can still be +recognized of this grand political structure testifies to the great +political sagacity of its nameless architects; and the singular +cohesion, which that confederation composed of so many and so +diversified ingredients subsequently exhibited under the severest +shocks, stamped their great work with the seal of success. From the +time when the threads of this net drawn as skilfully as firmly around +Italy were concentrated in the hands of the Roman community, it was a +great power, and took its place in the system of the Mediterranean +states in the room of Tarentum, Lucania, and other intermediate +and minor states erased by the last wars from the list of political +powers. Rome received, as it were, an official recognition of its new +position by means of the two solemn embassies, which in 481 were sent +from Alexandria to Rome and from Rome to Alexandria, and which, though +primarily they regulated only commercial relations, beyond doubt +prepared the way for a political alliance. As Carthage was contending +with the Egyptian government regarding Cyrene and was soon to contend +with that of Rome regarding Sicily, so Macedonia was contending with +the former for the predominant influence in Greece, with the latter +proximately for the dominion of the Adriatic coasts. The new +struggles, which were preparing on all sides, could not but influence +each other, and Rome, as mistress of Italy, could not fail to be drawn +into the wide arena which the victories and projects of Alexander the +Great had marked out as the field of conflict for his successors. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter VII + +1. The story that the Romans also sent envoys to Alexander at Babylon +on the testimony of Clitarchus (Plin. Hist. Nat. iii. 5, 57), from +whom the other authorities who mention this fact (Aristus and +Asclepiades, ap. Arrian, vii. 15, 5; Memnon, c. 25) doubtless derived +it. Clitarchus certainly was contemporary with these events; +nevertheless, his Life of Alexander was decidedly a historical romance +rather than a history; and, looking to the silence of the trustworthy +biographers (Arrian, l. c.; Liv. ix. 18) and the utterly romantic +details of the account--which represents the Romans, for instance, +as delivering to Alexander a chaplet of gold, and the latter as +prophesying the future greatness of Rome--we cannot but set down this +story as one of the many embellishments which Clitarchus introduced +into the history. + +2. II. VI. Last Struggles of Samnium + +3. Near the modern Anglona; not to be confounded with the better +known town of the same name in the district of Cosenza. + +4. These numbers appear credible. The Roman account assigns, +probably in dead and wounded, 15,000 to each side; a later one even +specifies 5000 as dead on the Roman, and 20,000 on the Greek side. +These accounts may be mentioned here for the purpose of exhibiting, +in one of the few instances where it is possible to check the +statement, the untrustworthiness--almost without exception--of the +reports of numbers, which are swelled by the unscrupulous invention +of the annalists with avalanche-like rapidity. + +5. The later Romans, and the moderns following them, give a version +of the league, as if the Romans had designedly avoided accepting the +Carthaginian help in Italy. This would have been irrational, and the +facts pronounce against it. The circumstance that Mago did not land +at Ostia is to be explained not by any such foresight, but simply by +the fact that Latium was not at all threatened by Pyrrhus and so did +not need Carthaginian aid; and the Carthaginians certainly fought for +Rome in front of Rhegium. + +6. II. IV. Victories of Salamis and Himera, and Their Effects + +7. II. IV. Fruitlessness of the Celtic Victory + +8. The grounds for assigning the document given in Polybius (iii. 22) +not to 245, but to 406, are set forth in my Rom. Chronologie, p. 320 +f. [translated in the Appendix to this volume]. + +9. II. V. Domination of the Romans; Exasperation of the Latins + +10. II. VII. Breach between Rome and Tarentum + +11. II. V. Colonization of the Volsci + +12. II. V. Colonization of the Volsci + +13. II. VI. New Fortresses in Apulia and Campania + +14. II. VI. Last Struggles of Samnium + +15. II. VII. Construction of New Fortresses and Roads + +16. II. VII. The Boii + +17. II. VII. Construction of New Fortresses and Roads + +18. These were Pyrgi, Ostia, Antium, Tarracina, Minturnae, Sinuessa +Sena Gallica, and Castrum Novum. + +19. This statement is quite as distinct (Liv. viii. 14; -interdictum +mari Antiati populo est-) as it is intrinsically credible; for Antium +was inhabited not merely by colonists, but also by its former citizens +who had been nursed in enmity to Rome (II. V. Colonizations in The +Land Of The Volsci). This view is, no doubt, inconsistent with the +Greek accounts, which assert that Alexander the Great (431) and +Demetrius Poliorcetes (471) lodged complaints at Rome regarding +Antiate pirates. The former statement is of the same stamp, and +perhaps from the same source, with that regarding the Roman embassy to +Babylon (II. VII. Relations Between The East and West). It seems more +likely that Demetrius Poliorcetes may have tried by edict to put down +piracy in the Tyrrhene sea which he had never set eyes upon, and it is +not at all inconceivable that the Antiates may have even as Roman +citizens, in defiance of the prohibition, continued for a time their +old trade in an underhand fashion: much dependence must not however, +be placed even on the second story. + +20. II. VI. Last Campaigns in Samnium + +21. II. VII. Decline of the Roman Naval Power + +22. According to Servius (in Aen. iv. 628) it was stipulated in the +Romano-Carthaginian treaties, that no Roman should set foot on (or +rather occupy) Carthaginian, and no Carthaginian on Roman, soil, but +Corsica was to remain in a neutral position between them (-ut neque +Romani ad litora Carthaginiensium accederent neque Carthaginienses +ad litora Romanorum.....Corsica esset media inter Romanos et +Carthaginienses-). This appears to refer to our present period, +and the colonization of Corsica seems to have been prevented by +this very treaty. + +23. II. VII. Submission of Lower Italy + +24. The clause, by which a dependent people binds itself "to uphold +in a friendly manner the sovereignty of that of Rome" (-maiestatem +populi Romani comiter conservare-), is certainly the technical +appellation of that mildest form of subjection, but it probably did +not come into use till a considerably later period (Cic. pro Balbo, +16, 35). The appellation of clientship derived from private law, +aptly as in its very indefiniteness it denotes the relation (Dig. +xlix. 15, 7, i), was scarcely applied to it officially in earlier +times. + +25. II. IV. South Etruria Roman + +26. II. VI. Consolidation of the Roman Rule in Central Italy + +27. II. VI. Last Struggles of Samnium + +28. II. V. Complete Submission of the Volscian and Campanian +Provinces + +29. II. V. Complete Submission of the Volscian and Campanian +Provinces + +30. That Tusculum as it was the first to obtain passive +burgess-rights (II. V. Crises within the Romano-Latin League) +was also the first to exchange these for the rights of full burgesses, +is probable in itself and presumably it is in the latter and not in +the former respect that the town is named by Cicero (pro Mur. 8, 19) +-municipium antiquissimum-. + +31. II. V. Complete Submission of the Volscian and Campanian +Provinces + +32. II. IV. South Etruria Roman + +33. -V. Cervio A. f. cosol dedicavit- and -lunonei Quiritri sacra. C. +Falcilius L. f. consol dedicavit-. + +34. According to the testimony of Cicero (pro Caec. 35) Sulla gave to +the Volaterrans the former -ius- of Ariminum, that is--adds the +orator--the -ius- of the "twelve colonies" which had not the Roman +-civitas- but had full -commercium- with the Romans. Few things have +been so much discussed as the question to what places this -ius- of +the twelve towns refers; and yet the answer is not far to seek. There +were in Italy and Cisalpine Gaul--laying aside some places that soon +disappeared again--thirty-four Latin colonies established in all. +The twelve most recent of these--Ariminum, Beneventum, Firmum, +Aesernia, Brundisium, Spoletium, Cremona, Placentia, Copia, Valentia, +Bononia, and Aquileia--are those here referred to; and because +Ariminum was the oldest of these and the town for which this new +organization was primarily established, partly perhaps also because it +was the first Roman colony founded beyond Italy, the -ius- of these +colonies rightly took its name from Ariminum. This at the same time +demonstrates the truth of the view--which already had on other grounds +very high probability--that all the colonies established in Italy (in +the wider sense of the term) after the founding of Aquileia belonged +to the class of burgess-colonies. + +We cannot fully determine the extent to which the curtailment of the +rights of the more recent Latin towns was carried, as compared with +the earlier. If intermarriage, as is not improbable but is in fact +anything but definitely established (i. 132; Diodor. p. 590, 62, fr. +Vat. p. 130, Dind.), formed a constituent element of the original +federal equality of rights, it was, at any rate, no longer conceded +to the Latin colonies of more recent origin. + +35. II. V. League with the Hernici + +36. II. VI. Pacification of Campania + +37. II. VI. Victory of the Romans + +38. II. VII. The War in Italy Flags + +39. It is to be regretted that we are unable to give satisfactory +information as to the proportional numbers. We may estimate the +number of Roman burgesses capable of bearing arms in the later regal +period as about 20,000. (I. VI. Time And Occasion of the Reform) Now +from the fall of Alba to the conquest of Veii the immediate territory +of Rome received no material extension; in perfect accordance with +which we find that from the first institution of the twenty-one tribes +about 259, (II. II. Coriolanus) which involved no, or at any rate no +considerable, extension of the Roman bounds, no new tribes were +instituted till 367. However abundant allowance we make for increase +by the excess of births over deaths, by immigration, and by +manumissions, it is absolutely impossible to reconcile with the narrow +limits of a territory of hardly 650 square miles the traditional +numbers of the census, according to which the number of Roman +burgesses capable of bearing arms in the second half of the third +century varied between 104,000 and 150,000, and in 362, regarding +which a special statement is extant, amounted to 152,573. These +numbers must rather stand on a parallel with the 84,700 burgesses of +the Servian census; and in general the whole earlier census-lists, +carried back to the four lustres of Servius Tullius and furnished with +copious numbers, must belong to the class of those apparently +documentary traditions which delight in, and betray themselves +by the very fact of, such numerical details. + +It was only with the second half of the fourth century that the large +extensions of territory, which must have suddenly and considerably +augmented the burgess roll, began. It is reported on trustworthy +authority and is intrinsically credible, that about 416 the Roman +burgesses numbered 165,000; which very well agrees with the statement +that ten years previously, when the whole militia was called out +against Latium and the Gauls, the first levy amounted to ten legions, +that is, to 50,000 men. Subsequently to the great extensions of +territory in Etruria, Latium, and Campania, in the fifth century the +effective burgesses numbered, on an average, 250,000; immediately +before the first Punic war, 280,000 to 290,000. These numbers are +certain enough, but they are not quite available historically for +another reason, namely, that in them probably the Roman full burgesses +and the "burgesses without vote" not serving, like the Campanians, in +legions of their own, --such, e. g., as the Caerites, --are included +together in the reckoning, while the latter must at any rate -de +facto- be counted among the subjects (Rom. Forsch. ii. 396). + +40. II. VI. Battle of Sentinum + +41. II. VII. Commencement of the Conflict in Lower Italy + +42. II. VII. Quaestors of the Fleet + +43. Not merely in every Latin one; for the censorship or so-called +-quinquennalitas- occurs, as is well known, also among communities +whose constitution was not formed according to the Latin scheme. + +44. This earliest boundary is probably indicated by the two small +townships -Ad fines-, of which one lay north of Arezzo on the road +to Florence, the second on the coast not far from Leghorn. Somewhat +further to the south of the latter, the brook and valley of Vada are +still called -Fiume della fine-, -Valle della fine- (Targioni +Tozzetti, Viaggj, iv. 430). + +45. In strict official language, indeed, this was not the case. +The fullest designation of the Italians occurs in the agrarian law of +643, line 21; -[ceivis] Romanus sociumve nominisve Latini, quibus ex +formula togatorum [milites in terra Italia imperare solent]-; in like +manner at the 29th line of the same -peregrinus- is distinguished from +the -Latinus-, and in the decree of the senate as to the Bacchanalia +in 568 the expression is used: -ne quis ceivis Romanus neve nominis +Latini neve socium quisquam-. But in common use very frequently the +second or third of these three subdivisions is omitted, and along +with the Romans sometimes only those Latini nominis are mentioned, +sometimes only the -socii- (Weissenborn on Liv. xxii. 50, 6), while +there is no difference in the meaning. The designation -homines +nominis Latini ac socii Italici- (Sallust. Jug. 40), correct as it is +in itself, is foreign to the official -usus loquendi, which knows +-Italia-, but not -Italici-. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Law, Religion, Military System, Economic Condition, Nationality + + +Development of Law + +In the development which law underwent during this period within the +Roman community, probably the most important material innovation was +that peculiar control which the community itself, and in a subordinate +degree its office-bearers, began to exercise over the manners and +habits of the individual burgesses. The germ of it is to be sought in +the right of the magistrate to inflict property-fines (-multae-) for +offences against order.(1) In the case of all fines of more than two +sheep and thirty oxen or, after the cattle-fines had been by the +decree of the people in 324 commuted into money, of more than 3020 +libral -asses- (30 pounds), the decision soon after the expulsion of +the kings passed by way of appeal into the hands of the community;(2) +and thus procedure by fine acquired an importance which it was far +from originally possessing. Under the vague category of offences +against order men might include any accusations they pleased, and by +the higher grades in the scale of fines they might accomplish whatever +they desired. The dangerous character of such arbitrary procedure was +brought to light rather than obviated by the mitigating proviso, that +these property-fines, where they were not fixed by law at a definite +sum, should not amount to half the estate belonging to the person +fined. To this class belonged the police-laws, which from the earliest +times were especially abundant in the Roman community. Such were those +enactments of the Twelve Tables, which prohibited the anointing of a +dead body by persons hired for the purpose, the dressing it out with +more than one cushion or more than three purple-edged coverings, the +decorating it with gold or gaudy chaplets, the use of dressed wood for +the funeral pile, and the perfuming or sprinkling of the pyre with +frankincense or myrrh-wine; which limited the number of flute-players +in the funeral procession to ten at most; and which forbade wailing +women and funeral banquets--in a certain measure the earliest Roman +legislation against luxury. Such also were the laws--originating +in the conflicts of the orders--directed against usury as well as +against an undue use of the common pasture and a disproportionate +appropriation of the occupiable domain-land. But far more fraught +with danger than these and similar fining-laws, which at any rate +formulated once for all the trespass and often also the measure of +punishment, was the general prerogative of every magistrate who +exercised jurisdiction to inflict a fine for an offence against order, +and, if the fine reached the amount necessary to found an appeal and +the person fined did not submit to the penalty, to bring the case +before the community. Already in the course of the fifth century +quasi-criminal proceedings had been in this way instituted against +immorality of life both in men and women, against the forestalling of +grain, witchcraft, and similar matters. Closely akin to this was the +quasi-jurisdiction of the censors, which likewise sprang up at this +period. They were invested with authority to adjust the Roman budget +and the burgess-roll, and they availed themselves of it, partly to +impose of their own accord taxes on luxury which differed only in form +from penalties on it, partly to abridge or withdraw the political +privileges of the burgess who was reported to have been guilty of any +infamous action.(3) The extent to which this surveillance was already +carried is shown by the fact that penalties of this nature were +inflicted for the negligent cultivation of a man's own land, and that +such a man as Publius Cornelius Rufinus (consul in 464, 477) was +struck off the list of senators by the censors of 479, because he +possessed silver plate to the value of 3360 sesterces (34 pounds). +No doubt, according to the rule generally applicable to the edicts of +magistrates,(4) the sentences of the censors had legal force only +during their censorship, that is on an average for the next five +years, and might be renewed or not by the next censors at pleasure. +Nevertheless this censorial prerogative was of so immense importance, +that in virtue of it the censorship, originally a subordinate +magistracy, became in rank and consideration the first of all.(5) +The government of the senate rested essentially on this twofold +police control supreme and subordinate, vested in the community and +its officials, and furnished with powers as extensive as they were +arbitrary. Like every such arbitrary government, it was productive +of much good and much evil, and we do not mean to combat the view of +those who hold that the evil preponderated. But we must not forget +that--amidst the morality external certainly but stern and energetic, +and the powerful enkindling of public spirit, that were the genuine +characteristics of this period--these institutions remained exempt +as yet from any really base misuse; and if they were the chief +instruments in repressing individual freedom, they were also the means +by which the public spirit and the good old manners and order of the +Roman community were with might and main upheld. + +Modifications in the Laws + +Along with these changes a humanizing and modernizing tendency showed +itself slowly, but yet clearly enough, in the development of Roman +law. Most of the enactmerits of the Twelve Tables, which coincide with +the laws of Solon and therefore may with reason be considered as in +substance innovations, bear this character; such as the securing the +right of free association and the autonomy of the societies that +originated under it; the enactment that forbade the ploughing up of +boundary-balks; and the mitigation of the punishment of theft, so that +a thief not caught in the act might henceforth release himself from +the plaintiff's suit by payment of double compensation. The law of +debt was modified in a similar sense, but not till upwards of a +century afterwards, by the Poetelian law.(6) The right freely to +dispose of property, which according to the earliest Roman law was +accorded to the owner in his lifetime but in the case of death had +hitherto been conditional on the consent of the community, was +liberated from this restriction, inasmuch as the law of the Twelve +Tables or its interpretation assigned to the private testament the +same force as pertained to that confirmed in the curies. This was +an important step towards the breaking up of the clanships, and +towards the full carrying out of individual liberty in the disposal +of property. The fearfully absolute paternal power was restricted by +the enactment, that a son thrice sold by his father should not relapse +into his power, but should thenceforth be free; to which--by a legal +inference that, strictly viewed, was no doubt absurd--was soon +attached the possibility that a father might voluntarily divest +himself of dominion over his son by emancipation. In the law of +marriage civil marriage was permitted;(7) and although the full +marital power was associated as necessarily with a true civil as with +a true religious marriage, yet the permission of a connection instead +of marriage,(8) formed without that power, constituted a first step +towards relaxation of the full power of the husband. The first step +towards a legal enforcement of married life was the tax on old +bachelors (-aes uxorium-) with the introduction of which Camillus +began his public career as censor in 351. + +Administration of Justice-- +Code of Common Law-- +New Judicial Functionaries + +Changes more comprehensive than those effected in the law itself were +introduced into--what was more important in a political point of view, +and more easily admitted of alteration--the system of judicial +administration. First of all came the important limitation of the +supreme judicial power by the embodiment of the common law in a +written code, and the obligation of the magistrate thenceforth to +decide no longer according to varying usage, but according to the +written letter, in civil as well as in criminal procedure (303, 304). +The appointment of a supreme magistrate in Rome exclusively for the +administration of justice in 387,(9) and the establishment of +separate police functionaries which took place contemporaneously +in Rome, and was imitated under Roman influence in all the Latin +communities,(10) secured greater speed and precision of justice. +These police-magistrates or aediles had, of course, a certain +jurisdiction at the same time assigned to them. On the one hand, +they were the ordinary civil judges for sales concluded in open +market, for the cattle and slave markets in particular; and on +the other hand, they ordinarily acted in processes of fines and +amercements as judges of first instance or--which was in Roman +law the same thing--as public prosecutors. In consequence of this the +administration of the laws imposing fines, and the equally indefinite +and politically important right of fining in general, were vested +mainly in them. Similar but subordinate functions, having especial +reference to the poorer classes, pertained to the three night--or +blood-masters (-tres viri nocturni- or -capitales-), first nominated +in 465; they were entrusted with the duties of nocturnal police as +regards fire and the public safety and with the superintendence of +executions, with which a certain summary jurisdiction was very soon, +perhaps even from the outset, associated.(11) Lastly from the +increasing extent of the Roman community it became necessary, out of +regard to the convenience of litigants, to station in the more remote +townships special judges competent to deal at least with minor civil +causes. This arrangement was the rule for the communities of burgesses +-sine suffragio-,(12) and was perhaps even extended to the more +remote communities of full burgesses,(13)--the first germs of a +Romano-municipal jurisdiction developing itself by the side of that +which was strictly Roman. + +Changes in Procedure + +In civil procedure (which, however, according to the ideas of that +period included most of the crimes committed against fellow-citizens) +the division of a process into the settlement of the question of law +before the magistrate (-ius-), and the decision of the question of +fact by a private person nominated by the magistrate (-iudicium-) +--a division doubtless customary even in earlier times--was on +the abolition of the monarchy prescribed by law;(14) and to that +separation the private law of Rome was mainly indebted for its logical +clearness and practical precision.(15) In actions regarding property, +the decision as to what constituted possession, which hitherto had +been left to the arbitrary caprice of the magistrate, was subjected +gradually to legal rules; and, alongside of the law of property, a law +of possession was developed--another step, by which the magisterial +authority lost an important part of its powers. In criminal processes, +the tribunal of the people, which hitherto had exercised the +prerogative of mercy, became a court of legally secured appeal. If the +accused after hearing (-quaestio-) was condemned by the magistrate and +appealed to the burgesses, the magistrate proceeded in presence of +these to the further hearing (-anquisitio-) and, when he after three +times discussing the matter before the community had repeated his +decision, in the fourth diet the sentence was confirmed or rejected +by the burgesses. Modification was not allowed. A similar republican +spirit breathed in the principles, that the house protected the +burgess, and that an arrest could only take place out of doors; that +imprisonment during investigation was to be avoided; and that it +was allowable for every accused and not yet condemned burgess by +renouncing his citizenship to withdraw from the consequences of +condemnation, so far as they affected not his property but his +person-principles, which certainly were not embodied in formal laws +and accordingly did not legally bind the prosecuting magistrate, but +yet were by their moral weight of the greatest influence, particularly +in limiting capital punishment. But, if the Roman criminal law +furnishes a remarkable testimony to the strong public spirit and to +the increasing humanity of this epoch, it on the other hand suffered +in its practical working from the struggles between the orders, which +in this respect were specially baneful. The co-ordinate primary +jurisdiction of all the public magistrates in criminal cases, that +arose out of these conflicts,(16) led to the result, that there was +no longer any fixed authority for giving instructions, or any serious +preliminary investigation, in Roman criminal procedure. And, as the +ultimate criminal jurisdiction was exercised in the forms and by +the organs of legislation, and never disowned its origin from the +prerogative of mercy; as, moreover, the treatment of police fines had +an injurious reaction on the criminal procedure which was externally +very similar; the decision in criminal causes was pronounced--and that +not so much by way of abuse, as in some degree by virtue of the +constitution--not according to fixed law, but according to the +arbitrary pleasure of the judges. In this way the Roman criminal +procedure was completely void of principle, and was degraded into +the sport and instrument of political parties; which can the less be +excused, seeing that this procedure, while especially applied to +political crimes proper, was applicable also to others, such as murder +and arson. The evil was aggravated by the clumsiness of that +procedure, which, in concert with the haughty republican contempt for +non-burgesses, gave rise to a growing custom of tolerating, side by +side with the more formal process, a summary criminal, or rather +police, procedure against slaves and common people. Here too the +passionate strife regarding political processes overstepped natural +limits, and introduced institutions which materially contributed to +estrange the Romans step by step from the idea of a fixed moral order +in the administration of justice. + +Religion-- +New Gods + +We are less able to trace the progress of the religious conceptions of +the Romans during this epoch. In general they adhered with simplicity +to the simple piety of their ancestors, and kept equally aloof from +superstition and from unbelief. How vividly the idea of spiritualizing +all earthly objects, on which the Roman religion was based, still +prevailed at the close of this epoch, is shown by the new "God of +silver" (-Argentinus-), who presumably came into existence only in +consequence of the introduction of the silver currency in 485, and who +naturally was the son of the older "God of copper" (-Aesculanus-). + +The relations to foreign lands were the same as heretofore; but here, +and here especially, Hellenic influences were on the increase. It was +only now that temples began to rise in Rome itself in honour of the +Hellenic gods. The oldest was the temple of Castor and Pollux, which +had been vowed in the battle at lake Regillus(17) and was consecrated +on 15th July 269. The legend associated with it, that two youths of +superhuman size and beauty had been seen fighting on the battle-field +in the ranks of the Romans and immediately after the battle watering +their foaming steeds in the Roman Forum at the fountain of luturna, +and announcing the great victory, bears a stamp thoroughly un-Roman, +and was beyond doubt at a very early period modelled on the appearance +of the Dioscuri--similar down to its very details--in the famous +battle fought about a century before between the Crotoniates and +Locrians at the river Sagras. The Delphic Apollo too was not only +consulted--as was usual with all peoples that felt the influence of +Grecian culture--and presented moreover after special successes, such +as the capture of Veii, with a tenth of the spoil (360), but also had +a temple built for him in the city (323, renewed 401). The same honour +was towards the close of this period accorded to Aphrodite (459), who +was in some enigmatical way identified with the old Roman garden +goddess, Venus;(18) and to Asklapios or Aesculapius, who was obtained +by special request from Epidaurus in the Peloponnesus and solemnly +conducted to Rome (463). Isolated complaints were heard in serious +emergencies as to the intrusion of foreign superstition, presumably +the art of the Etruscan -haruspices- (as in 326); but in such cases +the police did not fail to take proper cognisance of the matter. + +In Etruria on the other hand, while the nation stagnated and decayed +in political nullity and indolent opulence, the theological monopoly +of the nobility, stupid fatalism, wild and meaningless mysticism, the +system of soothsaying and of mendicant prophecy gradually developed +themselves, till they reached the height at which we afterwards find +them. + +Sacerdotal System + +In the sacerdotal system no comprehensive changes, so far as we know, +took place. The more stringent enactments, that were made about 465 +regarding the collection of the process-fines destined to defray the +cost of public worship, point to an increase in the ritual budget of +the state--a necessary result of the increase in the number of its +gods and its temples. It has already been mentioned as one of the evil +effects of the dissensions between the orders that an illegitimate +influence began to be conceded to the colleges of men of lore, and +that they were employed for the annulling of political acts(19)--a +course by which on the one hand the faith of the people was shaken, +and on the other hand the priests were permitted to exercise a very +injurious influence on public affairs. + +Military System-- +Manipular Legion-- +Entrenchment of Camp-- +Cavalry-- +Officers-- +Military Discipline-- +Training and Classes of Soldiers-- +Military Value of the Manipular Legion + +A complete revolution occurred during this epoch in the military +system. The primitive Graeco-Italian military organization, which was +probably based, like the Homeric, on the selection of the most +distinguished and effective warriors--who ordinarily fought on +horseback--to form a special vanguard, had in the later regal period +been superseded by the -legio--the old Dorian phalanx of hoplites, +probably eight file deep.(20) This phalanx thenceforth undertook the +chief burden of the battle, while the cavalry were stationed on the +flanks, and, mounted or dismounted according to circumstances, were +chiefly employed as a reserve. From this arrangement there were +developed nearly at the same time the phalanx of -sarrissae-in +Macedonia and the manipular arrangement in Italy, the former formed by +closing and deepening, the latter by breaking up and multiplying, the +ranks, in the first instance by the division of the old -legio- of +8400 into two -legiones- of 4200 men each. The old Doric phalanx had +been wholly adapted to close combat with the sword and especially with +the spear, and only an accessory and subordinate position in the order +of battle was assigned to missile weapons. In the manipular legion the +thrusting-lance was confined to the third division, and instead of it +the first two were furnished with a new and peculiar Italian missile +weapon, the -pilum- a square or round piece of wood, four and a half +feet long, with a triangular or quadrangular iron point--which had +been originally perhaps invented for the defence of the ramparts of +the camp, but was soon transferred from the rear to the front ranks, +and was hurled by the advancing line into the ranks of the enemy at a +distance of from ten to twenty paces. At the same time the sword +acquired far greater importance than the short knife of the phalangite +could ever have had; for the volley of javelins was intended in the +first instance merely to prepare the way for an attack sword in hand. +While, moreover, the phalanx had, as if it were a single mighty lance, +to be hurled at once upon the enemy, in the new Italian legion the +smaller units, which existed also in the phalanx system but were in +the order of battle firmly and indissolubly united, were tactically +separated from each other. Not merely was the close square divided, as +we have said, into two equally strong halves, but each of these was +separated in the direction of its depth into the three divisions of +the -hastati-, - principes-, and -triarii-, each of a moderate depth +probably amounting in ordinary cases to only four files; and was +broken up along the front into ten bands (-manipuli-), in such a way +that between every two divisions and every two maniples there was left +a perceptible interval. It was a mere continuation of the same process +of individualizing, by which the collective mode of fighting was +discouraged even in the diminished tactical unit and the single combat +became prominent, as is evident from the (already mentioned) decisive +part played by hand-to-hand encounters and combats with the sword. The +system of entrenching the camp underwent also a peculiar development. +The place where the army encamped, even were it only for a single +night, was invariably provided with a regular circumvallation and as +it were converted into a fortress. Little change took place on the +other hand in the cavalry, which in the manipular legion retained the +secondary part which it had occupied by the side of the phalanx. The +system of officering the army also continued in the main unchanged; +only now over each of the two legions of the regular army there were +set just as many war-tribunes as had hitherto commanded the whole +army, and the number of staff-officers was thus doubled. It was at +this period probably that the clear line of demarcation became +established between the subaltern officers, who as common soldiers had +to gain their place at the head of the maniples by the sword and +passed by regular promotion from the lower to the higher maniples, and +the military tribunes placed at the head of whole legions--six to +each--in whose case there was no regular promotion, and for whom men +of the better class were usually taken. In this respect it must have +become a matter of importance that, while previously the subaltern +as well as the staff-officers had been uniformly nominated by the +general, after 392 some of the latter posts were filled up through +election by the burgesses.(21) Lastly, the old, fearfully strict, +military discipline remained unaltered. Still, as formerly, the +general was at liberty to behead any man serving in his camp, and to +scourge with rods the staff-officer as well as the common soldier; +nor were such punishments inflicted merely on account of common +crimes, but also when an officer had allowed himself to deviate from +the orders which he had received, or when a division had allowed +itself to be surprised or had fled from the field of battle. On the +other hand, the new military organization necessitated a far more +serious and prolonged military training than the previous phalanx +system, in which the solidity of the mass kept even the inexperienced +in their ranks. If nevertheless no special soldier-class sprang up, +but on the contrary the army still remained, as before, a burgess +army, this object was chiefly attained by abandoning the former mode +of ranking the soldiers according to property(22) and arranging them +according to length of service. The Roman recruit now entered among +the light-armed "skirmishers" (-rorarii-), who fought outside of the +line and especially with stone slings, and he advanced from this step +by step to the first and then to the second division, till at length +the soldiers of long service and experience were associated together +in the corps of the -triarii-, which was numerically the weakest but +imparted its tone and spirit to the whole army. + +The excellence of this military organization, which became the primary +cause of the superior political position of the Roman community, +chiefly depended on the three great military principles of maintaining +a reserve, of combining the close and distant modes of fighting, and +of combining the offensive and the defensive. The system of a reserve +was already foreshadowed in the earlier employment of the cavalry, +but it was now completely developed by the partition of the army into +three divisions and the reservation of the flower of the veterans for +the last and decisive shock. While the Hellenic phalanx had developed +the close, and the Oriental squadrons of horse armed with bows and +light missile spears the distant, modes of fighting respectively, the +Roman combination of the heavy javelin with the sword produced results +similar, as has justly been remarked, to those attained in modern +warfare by the introduction of bayonet-muskets; the volley of javelins +prepared the way for the sword encounter, exactly in the same way as a +volley of musketry now precedes a charge with the bayonet. Lastly, +the elaborate system of encampment allowed the Romans to combine the +advantages of defensive and offensive war and to decline or give +battle according to circumstances, and in the latter case to fight +under the ramparts of their camp just as under the walls of a +fortress--the Roman, says a Roman proverb, conquers by sitting still. + +Origin of the Manipular Legion + +That this new military organization was in the main a Roman, or at any +rate Italian, remodelling and improvement of the old Hellenic tactics +of the phalanx, is plain. If some germs of the system of reserve and +of the individualizing of the smaller subdivisions of the army are +found to occur among the later Greek strategists, especially Xenophon, +this only shows that they felt the defectiveness of the old system, +but were not well able to obviate it. The manipular legion appears +fully developed in the war with Pyrrhus; when and under what +circumstances it arose, whether at once or gradually, can no +longer be ascertained. The first tactical system which the Romans +encountered, fundamentally different from the earlier Italo-Hellenic +system, was the Celtic sword-phalanx. It is not impossible that the +subdivision of the army and the intervals between the maniples in +front were arranged with a view to resist, as they did resist, its +first and only dangerous charge; and it accords with this hypothesis +that Marcus Furius Camillus, the most celebrated Roman general of the +Gallic epoch, is presented in various detached notices as the reformer +of the Roman military system. The further traditions associated with +the Samnite and Pyrrhic wars are neither sufficiently accredited, nor +can they with certainty be duly arranged;(23) although it is in itself +probable that the prolonged Samnite mountain warfare exercised a +lasting influence on the individual development of the Roman soldier, +and that the struggle with one of the first masters of the art of war, +belonging to the school of the great Alexander, effected an +improvement in the technical features of the Roman military system. + +National Economy-- +The Farmers-- +Farming of Estates + +In the national economy agriculture was, and continued to be, the +social and political basis both of the Roman community and of the new +Italian state. The common assembly and the army consisted of Roman +farmers; what as soldiers they had acquired by the sword, they secured +as colonists by the plough. The insolvency of the middle class of +landholders gave rise to the formidable internal crises of the third +and fourth centuries, amidst which it seemed as if the young republic +could not but be destroyed. The revival of the Latin farmer-class, +which was produced during the fifth century partly by the large +assignations of land and incorporations, partly by the fall in the +rate of interest and the increase of the Roman population, was at once +the effect and the cause of the mighty development of Roman power. +The acute soldier's eye of Pyrrhus justly discerned the cause of the +political and military ascendency of the Romans in the flourishing +condition of the Roman farms. But the rise also of husbandry on a +large scale among the Romans appears to fall within this period. +In earlier times indeed there existed landed estates of--at least +comparatively--large size; but their management was not farming on a +large scale, it was simply a husbandry of numerous small parcels.(24) +On the other hand the enactment in the law of 387, not incompatible +indeed with the earlier mode of management but yet far more +appropriate to the later, viz. that the landholder should be bound +to employ along with his slaves a proportional number of free +persons,(25) may well be regarded as the oldest trace of the later +centralized farming of estates;(26) and it deserves notice that even +here at its first emergence it essentially rests on slave-holding. How +it arose, must remain an undecided point; possibly the Carthaginian +plantations in Sicily served as models to the oldest Roman +landholders, and perhaps even the appearance of wheat in husbandry +by the side of spelt,(27) which Varro places about the period of the +decemvirs, was connected with that altered style of management. Still +less can we ascertain how far this method of husbandry had already +during this period spread; but the history of the wars with Hannibal +leaves no doubt that it cannot yet have become the rule, nor can it +have yet absorbed the Italian farmer class. Where it did come into +vogue, however, it annihilated the older clientship based on the +-precarium-; just as the modern system of large farms has been formed +in great part by the suppression of petty holdings and the conversion +of hides into farm-fields. It admits of no doubt that the restriction +of this agricultural clientship very materially contributed towards +the distress of the class of small cultivators. + +Inland Intercourse in Italy + +Respecting the internal intercourse of the Italians with each other +our written authorities are silent; coins alone furnish some +information. We have already mentioned(28) that in Italy, with the +exception of the Greek cities and of the Etruscan Populonia, there was +no coinage during the first three centuries of Rome, and that cattle +in the first instance, and subsequently copper by weight, served as +the medium of exchange. Within the present epoch occurred the +transition on the part of the Italians from the system of barter to +that of money; and in their money they were naturally led at first to +Greek models. The circumstances of central Italy led however to the +adoption of copper instead of silver as the metal for their coinage, +and the unit of coinage was primarily based on the previous unit of +value, the copper pound; hence they cast their coins instead of +stamping them, for no die would have sufficed for pieces so large and +heavy. Yet there seems from the first to have been a fixed ratio for +the relative value of copper and silver (250:1), and with reference to +that ratio the copper coinage seems to have been issued; so that, for +example, in Rome the large copper piece, the -as-, was equal in value +to a scruple (1/288 of a pound) of silver. It is a circumstance +historically more remarkable, that coining in Italy most probably +originated in Rome, and in fact with the decemvirs, who found in the +Solonian legislation a pattern for the regulation of their coinage; +and that from Rome it spread over a number of Latin, Etruscan, +Umbrian, and east-Italian communities, --a clear proof of the superior +position which Rome from the beginning of the fourth century held in +Italy. As all these communities subsisted side by side in formal +independence, legally the monetary standard was entirely local, and +the territory of every city had its own monetary system. Nevertheless +the standards of copper coinage in central and northern Italy may be +comprehended in three groups, within which the coins in common +intercourse seem to have been treated as homogeneous. These groups +are, first, the coins of the cities of Etruria lying north of the +Ciminian Forest and those of Umbria; secondly, the coins of Rome and +Latium; and lastly, those of the eastern seaboard. We have already +observed that the Roman coins held a certain ratio to silver by +weight; on the other hand we find those of the east coast of Italy +placed in a definite proportional relation to the silver coins which +were current from an early period in southern Italy, and the standard +of which was adopted by the Italian immigrants, such as the Bruttians, +Lucanians, and Nolans, by the Latin colonies in that quarter, such as +Cales and Suessa, and even by the Romans themselves for their +possessions in Lower Italy. Accordingly the inland traffic of Italy +must have been divided into corresponding provinces, which dealt with +one another like foreign nations. + +In transmarine commerce the relations we have previously described(29) +between Sicily and Latium, Etruria and Attica, the Adriatic and +Tarentum, continued to subsist during the epoch before us or rather, +strictly speaking, belonged to it; for although facts of this class, +which as a rule are mentioned without a date, have been placed +together for the purpose of presenting a general view under the first +period, the statements made apply equally to the present. The clearest +evidence in this respect is, of course, that of the coins. As the +striking of Etruscan silver money after an Attic standard(30) and the +penetrating of Italian and especially of Latin copper into Sicily(31) +testify to the two former routes of traffic, so the equivalence, which +we have just mentioned, between the silver money of Magna Graecia and +the copper coinage of Picenum and Apulia, forms, with numerous other +indications, an evidence of the active traffic which the Greeks of +Lower Italy, the Tarentines in particular, held with the east Italian +seaboard. The commerce again, which was at an earlier period perhaps +still more active, between the Latins and the Campanian Greeks seems +to have been disturbed by the Sabellian immigration, and to have been +of no great moment during the first hundred and fifty years of the +republic. The refusal of the Samnites in Capua and Cumae to supply +the Romans with grain in the famine of 343 may be regarded as an +indication of the altered relations which subsisted between Latium and +Campania, till at the commencement of the fifth century the Roman arms +restored and gave increased impetus to the old intercourse. + +Touching on details, we may be allowed to mention, as one of the few +dated facts in the history of Roman commerce, the notice drawn from +the annals of Ardea, that in 454 the first barber came from Sicily to +Ardea; and to dwell for a moment on the painted pottery which was sent +chiefly from Attica, but also from Corcyra and Sicily, to Lucania, +Campania, and Etruria, to serve there for the decoration of tombs--a +traffic, as to the circumstances of which we are accidentally better +informed than as to any other article of transmarine commerce. The +commencement of this import trade probably falls about the period of +the expulsion of the Tarquins; for the vases of the oldest style, +which are of very rare occurrence in Italy, were probably painted in +the second half of the third century of the city, while those of the +chaste style, occurring in greater numbers, belong to the first half, +those of the most finished beauty to the second half, of the fourth +century; and the immense quantities of the other vases, often marked +by showiness and size but seldom by excellence in workmanship, must be +assigned as a whole to the following century. It was from the Hellenes +undoubtedly that the Italians derived this custom of embellishing +tombs; but while the moderate means and fine discernment of the Greeks +confined the practice in their case within narrow limits, it was +stretched in Italy by barbaric opulence and barbaric extravagance +far beyond its original and proper bounds. It is a significant +circumstance, however, that in Italy this extravagance meets us only +in the lands that had a Hellenic semi-culture. Any one who can read +such records will perceive in the cemeteries of Etruria and Campania +--the mines whence our museums have been replenished--a significant +commentary on the accounts of the ancients as to the Etruscan and +Campanian semi-culture choked amidst wealth and arrogance.(32) +The homely Samnite character on the other hand remained at all times +a stranger to this foolish luxury; the absence of Greek pottery from +the tombs exhibits, quite as palpably as the absence of a Samnite +coinage, the slight development of commercial intercourse and of urban +life in this region. It is still more worthy of remark that Latium +also, although not less near to the Greeks than Etruria and Campania, +and in closest intercourse with them, almost wholly refrained from +such sepulchral decorations. It is more than probable--especially on +account of the altogether different character of the tombs in the +unique Praeneste--that in this result we have to recognize the +influence of the stern Roman morality or--if the expression be +preferred--of the rigid Roman police. Closely connected with this +subject are the already-mentioned interdicts, which the law of the +Twelve Tables fulminated against purple bier-cloths and gold ornaments +placed beside the dead; and the banishment of all silver plate, +excepting the salt-cellar and sacrificial ladle, from the Roman +household, so far at least as sumptuary laws and the terror of +censorial censure could banish it: even in architecture we shall again +encounter the same spirit of hostility to luxury whether noble or +ignoble. Although, however, in consequence of these influences Rome +probably preserved a certain outward simplicity longer than Capua and +Volsinii, her commerce and trade--on which, in fact, along with +agriculture her prosperity from the beginning rested--must not be +regarded as having been inconsiderable, or as having less sensibly +experienced the influence of her new commanding position. + +Capital in Rome + +No urban middle class in the proper sense of that term, no body of +independent tradesmen and merchants, was ever developed in Rome. The +cause of this was--in addition to the disproportionate centralization +of capital which occurred at an early period--mainly the employment of +slave labour. It was usual in antiquity, and was in fact a necessary +consequence of slavery, that the minor trades in towns were very +frequently carried on by slaves, whom their master established as +artisans or merchants; or by freedmen, in whose case the master not +only frequently furnished the capital, but also regularly stipulated +for a share, often the half, of the profits. Retail trading and +dealing in Rome were undoubtedly constantly on the increase; and +there are proofs that the trades which minister to the luxury of +great cities began to be concentrated in Rome--the Ficoroni casket +for instance was designed in the fifth century of the city by a +Praenestine artist and was sold to Praeneste, but was nevertheless +manufactured in Rome.(33) But as the net proceeds even of retail +business flowed for the most part into the coffers of the great +houses, no industrial and commercial middle-class arose to an extent +corresponding to that increase. As little were the great merchants and +great manufacturers marked off as a distinct class from the great +landlords. On the one hand, the latter were from ancient times(34) +simultaneously traders and capitalists, and combined in their hands +lending on security, trafficking on a great scale, the undertaking +of contracts, and the executing of works for the state. On the other +hand, from the emphatic moral importance which in the Roman +commonwealth attached to the possession of land, and from its +constituting the sole basis of political privileges--a basis which was +infringed for the first time only towards the close of this epoch +(35)--it was undoubtedly at this period already usual for the +fortunate speculator to invest part of his capital in land. It is +clear enough also from the political privileges given to freedmen +possessing freeholds,(36) that the Roman statesmen sought in this way +to diminish the dangerous class of the rich who had no land. + +Development of Rome as A Great City + +But while neither an opulent urban middle class nor a strictly close +body of capitalists grew up in Rome, it was constantly acquiring more +and more the character of a great city. This is plainly indicated by +the increasing number of slaves crowded together in the capital (as +attested by the very serious slave conspiracy of 335), and still more +by the increasing multitude of freedmen, which was gradually becoming +inconvenient and dangerous, as we may safely infer from the +considerable tax imposed on manumissions in 397(37) and from the +limitation of the political rights of freedmen in 450.(38) For not +only was it implied in the circumstances that the great majority of +the persons manumitted had to devote themselves to trade or commerce, +but manumission itself among the Romans was, as we have already said, +less an act of liberality than an industrial speculation, the master +often finding it more for his interest to share the profits of the +trade or commerce of the freedman than to assert his title to +the whole proceeds of the labour of his slave. The increase of +manumissions must therefore have necessarily kept pace with the +increase of the commercial and industrial activity of the Romans. + +Urban Police + +A similar indication of the rising importance of urban life in Rome is +presented by the great development of the urban police. To this period +probably belong in great measure the enactments under which the +four aediles divided the city into four police districts, and made +provision for the discharge of their equally important and difficult +functions--for the efficient repair of the network of drains small and +large by which Rome was pervaded, as well as of the public buildings +and places; for the proper cleansing and paving of the streets; for +obviating the nuisances of ruinous buildings, dangerous animals, or +foul smells; for the removing of waggons from the highway except +during the hours of evening and night, and generally for the keeping +open of the communication; for the uninterrupted supply of the market +of the capital with good and cheap grain; for the destruction of +unwholesome articles, and the suppression of false weights and +measures; and for the special oversight of baths, taverns, and +houses of bad fame. + +Building-- +Impulse Given to It + +In respect to buildings the regal period, particularly the epoch of +the great conquests, probably accomplished more than the first two +centuries of the republic. Structures like the temples on the Capitol +and on the Aventine and the great Circus were probably as obnoxious to +the frugal fathers of the city as to the burgesses who gave their +task-work; and it is remarkable that perhaps the most considerable +building of the republican period before the Samnite wars, the temple +of Ceres in the Circus, was a work of Spurius Cassius (261) who in +more than one respect, sought to lead the commonwealth back to the +traditions of the kings. The governing aristocracy moreover repressed +private luxury with a rigour such as the rule of the kings, if +prolonged, would certainly not have displayed. But at length even +the senate was no longer able to resist the superior force of +circumstances. It was Appius Claudius who in his epoch-making +censorship (442) threw aside the antiquated rustic system of +parsimonious hoarding, and taught his fellow-citizens to make a worthy +use of the public resources. He began that noble system of public +works of general utility, which justifies, if anything can justify, +the military successes of Rome even from the point of view of the +welfare of the nations, and which even now in its ruins furnishes some +idea of the greatness of Rome to thousands on thousands who have never +read a page of her history. To him the Roman state was indebted for +its great military road, and the city of Rome for its first aqueduct. +Following in the steps of Claudius, the Roman senate wove around Italy +that network of roads and fortresses, the formation of which has +already been described,(39) and without which, as the history of all +military states from the Achaemenidae down to the creator of the road +over the Simplon shows, no military hegemony can subsist. Following in +the steps of Claudius, Manius Curius built from the proceeds of the +Pyrrhic spoil a second aqueduct for the capital (482); and some years +previously (464) with the gains of the Sabine war he opened up for the +Velino, at the point above Terni where it falls into the Nera, that +broader channel in which the stream still flows, with a view to drain +the beautiful valley of Rieti and thereby to gain space for a large +burgess settlement along with a modest farm for himself. Such works, +in the eyes of persons of intelligence, threw into the shade the +aimless magnificence of the Hellenic temples. + +Embellishment of the City + +The style of living also among the citizens now was altered. About +the time of Pyrrhus silver plate began to make its appearance on Roman +tables, and the chroniclers date the disappearance of shingle roofs in +Rome from 470.(40) The new capital of Italy gradually laid aside its +village-like aspect, and now began to embellish itself. It was not yet +indeed customary to strip the temples in conquered towns of their +ornaments for the decoration of Rome; but the beaks of the galleys of +Antium were displayed at the orator's platform in the Forum(41) and +on public festival days the gold-mounted shields brought home from +the battle-fields of Samnium were exhibited along the stalls of the +market.(42) The proceeds of fines were specially applied to the paving +of the highways in and near the city, or to the erection and +embellishment of public buildings. The wooden booths of the butchers, +which stretched along the Forum on both sides, gave way, first on the +Palatine side, then on that also which faced the Carinae, to the stone +stalls of the money-changers; so that this place became the Exchange +of Rome. Statues of the famous men of the past, of the kings, priests, +and heroes of the legendary period, and of the Grecian -hospes- who +was said to have interpreted to the decemvirs the laws of Solon; +honorary columns and monuments dedicated to the great burgomasters who +had conquered the Veientes, the Latins, the Samnites, to state envoys +who had perished while executing their instructions, to rich women +who had bequeathed their property to public objects, nay even to +celebrated Greek philosophers and heroes such as Pythagoras and +Alcibiades, were erected on the Capitol or in the Forum. Thus, now +that the Roman community had become a great power, Rome itself +became a great city. + +Silver Standard of Value + +Lastly Rome, as head of the Romano-Italian confederacy, not only +entered into the Hellenistic state-system, but also conformed to the +Hellenic system of moneys and coins. Up to this time the different +communities of northern and central Italy, with few exceptions, had +struck only a copper currency; the south Italian towns again +universally had a currency of silver; and there were as many legal +standards and systems of coinage as there were sovereign communities +in Italy. In 485 all these local mints were restricted to the issuing +of small coin; a general standard of currency applicable to all Italy +was introduced, and the coining of the currency was centralized in +Rome; Capua alone continued to retain its own silver coinage struck in +the name of Rome, but after a different standard. The new monetary +system was based on the legal ratio subsisting between the two metals, +as it had long been fixed.(43) The common monetary unit was the piece +of ten -asses- (which were no longer of a pound, but reduced to the +third of a pound), the -denarius-, which weighed in copper 3 1/3 and +in silver 1/72, of a Roman pound, a trifle more than the Attic +--drachma--. At first copper money still predominated in the coinage; +and it is probable that the earliest silver -denarius- was coined +chiefly for Lower Italy and for intercourse with other lands. As the +victory of the Romans over Pyrrhus and Tarentum and the Roman embassy +to Alexandria could not but engage the thoughts of the contemporary +Greek statesman, so the sagacious Greek merchant might well ponder as +he looked on these new Roman drachmae. Their flat, unartistic, and +monotonous stamping appeared poor and insignificant by the side of +the marvellously beautiful contemporary coins of Pyrrhus and the +Siceliots; nevertheless they were by no means, like the barbarian +coins of antiquity, slavishly imitated and unequal in weight and +alloy, but, on the contrary, worthy from the first by their +independent and conscientious execution to be placed on a level +with any Greek coin. + +Extension of the Latin Nationality + +Thus, when the eye turns from the development of constitutions and +from the national struggles for dominion and for freedom which +agitated Italy, and Rome in particular, from the banishment of the +Tarquinian house to the subjugation of the Samnites and the Italian +Greeks, and rests on those calmer spheres of human existence which +history nevertheless rules and pervades, it everywhere encounters the +reflex influence of the great events, by which the Roman burgesses +burst the bonds of patrician sway, and the rich variety of the +national cultures of Italy gradually perished to enrich a single +people. While the historian may not attempt to follow out the great +course of events into the infinite multiplicity of individual detail, +he does not overstep his province when, laying hold of detached +fragments of scattered tradition, he indicates the most important +changes which during this epoch took place in the national life of +Italy. That in such an inquiry the life of Rome becomes still more +prominent than in the earlier epoch, is not merely the result of the +accidental blanks of our tradition; it was an essential consequence +of the change in the political position of Rome, that the Latin +nationality should more and more cast the other nationalities of Italy +into the shade. We have already pointed to the fact, that at this +epoch the neighbouring lands--southern Etruria, Sabina, the land of +the Volscians, --began to become Romanized, as is attested by the +almost total absence of monuments of the old native dialects, and by +the occurrence of very ancient Roman inscriptions in those regions; +the admission of the Sabines to full burgess-rights at the end of this +period(44) betokens that the Latinizing of Central Italy was already +at that time the conscious aim of Roman policy. The numerous +individual assignations and colonial establishments scattered +throughout Italy were, not only in a military but also in a linguistic +and national point of view, the advanced posts of the Latin stock. The +Latinizing of the Italians was scarcely at this time generally aimed +at; on the contrary, the Roman senate seems to have intentionally +upheld the distinction between the Latin and the other nationalities, +and they did not yet, for example, allow the introduction of Latin +into official use among the half-burgess communities of Campania. The +force of circumstances, however, is stronger than even the strongest +government: the language and customs of the Latin people immediately +shared its predominance in Italy, and already began to undermine +the other Italian nationalities. + +Progress of Hellenism in Italy-- +Adoption of Greek Habits at the Table + +These nationalities were at the same time assailed from another +quarter and by an ascendency resting on another basis--by Hellenism. +This was the period when Hellenism began to become conscious of its +intellectual superiority to the other nations, and to diffuse itself +on every side. Italy did not remain unaffected by it. The most +remarkable phenomenon of this sort is presented by Apulia, which after +the fifth century of Rome gradually laid aside its barbarian dialect +and silently became Hellenized. This change was brought about, as in +Macedonia and Epirus, not by colonization, but by civilization, which +seems to have gone hand in hand with the land commerce of Tarentum; at +least that hypothesis is favoured by the facts, that the districts +of the Poediculi and Daunii who were on friendly terms with the +Tarentines carried out their Hellenization more completely than the +Sallentines who lived nearer to Tarentum but were constantly at feud +with it, and that the towns that were soonest Graecized, such as Arpi, +were not situated on the coast. The stronger influence exerted by +Hellenism over Apulia than over any other Italian region is explained +partly by its position, partly by the slight development of any +national culture of its own, and partly also perhaps by its +nationality presenting a character less alien to the Greek stock than +that of the rest of Italy.(45) We have already called attention(46) to +the fact that the southern Sabellian stocks, although at the outset in +concert with the tyrants of Syracuse they crushed and destroyed the +Hellenism of Magna Graecia, were at the same time affected by contact +and mingling with the Greeks, so that some of them, such as the +Bruttians and Nolans, adopted the Greek language by the side of their +native tongue, and others, such as the Lucanians and a part of the +Campanians, adopted at least Greek writing and Greek manners. Etruria +likewise showed tendencies towards a kindred development in the +remarkable vases which have been discovered(47) belonging to this +period, rivalling those of Campania and Lucania; and though Latium and +Samnium remained more strangers to Hellenism, there were not wanting +there also traces of an incipient and ever-growing influence of Greek +culture. In all branches of the development of Rome during this epoch, +in legislation and coinage, in religion, in the formation of national +legend, we encounter traces of the Greeks; and from the commencement +of the fifth century in particular, in other words, after the conquest +of Campania, the Greek influence on Roman life appears rapidly and +constantly on the increase. In the fourth century occurred the +erection of the "-Graecostasis-"--remarkable in the very form of the +word--a platform in the Roman Forum for eminent Greek strangers and +primarily for the Massiliots.(48) In the following century the annals +began to exhibit Romans of quality with Greek surnames, such as +Philipus or in Roman form Pilipus, Philo, Sophus, Hypsaeus. Greek +customs gained ground: such as the non-Italian practice of placing +inscriptions in honour of the dead on the tomb--of which the epitaph +of Lucius Scipio (consul in 456) is the oldest example known to us; +the fashion, also foreign to the Italians, of erecting without any +decree of the state honorary monuments to ancestors in public places +--a system begun by the great innovator Appius Claudius, when he +caused bronze shields with images and eulogies of his ancestors to be +suspended in the new temple of Bellona (442); the distribution of +branches of palms to the competitors, introduced at the Roman national +festival in 461; above all, the Greek manners and habits at table. +The custom not of sitting as formerly on benches, but of reclining +on sofas, at table; the postponement of the chief meal from noon to +between two and three o'clock in the afternoon according to our mode +of reckoning; the institution of masters of the revels at banquets, +who were appointed from among the guests present, generally by +throwing the dice, and who then prescribed to the company what, how, +and when they should drink; the table-chants sung in succession by the +guests, which, however, in Rome were not -scolia-, but lays in praise +of ancestors--all these were not primitive customs in Rome, but were +borrowed from the Greeks at a very early period, for in Cato's time +these usages were already common and had in fact partly fallen into +disuse again. We must therefore place their introduction in this +period at the latest. A characteristic feature also was the erection +of statues to "the wisest and the bravest Greek" in the Roman Forum, +which took place by command of the Pythian Apollo during the Samnite +wars. The selection fell--evidently under Sicilian or Campanian +influence--on Pythagoras and Alcibiades, the saviour and the Hannibal +of the western Hellenes. The extent to which an acquaintance with +Greek was already diffused in the fifth century among Romans of +quality is shown by the embassies of the Romans to Tarentum--when +their mouthpiece spoke, if not in the purest Greek, at any rate +without an interpreter--and of Cineas to Rome. It scarcely admits +of a doubt that from the fifth century the young Romans who devoted +themselves to state affairs universally acquired a knowledge of what +was then the general language of the world and of diplomacy. + +Thus in the intellectual sphere Hellenism made advances quite as +incessant as the efforts of the Romans to subject the earth to their +sway; and the secondary nationalities, such as the Samnite, Celt, and +Etruscan, hard pressed on both sides, were ever losing their inward +vigour as well as narrowing their outward bounds. + +Rome and the Romans of This Epoch + +When the two great nations, both arrived at the height of their +development, began to mingle in hostile or in friendly contact, their +antagonism of character was at the same time prominently and fully +brought out--the total want of individuality in the Italian and +especially in the Roman character, as contrasted with the boundless +variety, lineal, local, and personal, of Hellenism. There was no epoch +of mightier vigour in the history of Rome than the epoch from the +institution of the republic to the subjugation of Italy. That epoch +laid the foundations of the commonwealth both within and without; it +created a united Italy; it gave birth to the traditional groundwork of +the national law and of the national history; it originated the +-pilum- and the maniple, the construction of roads and of aqueducts, +the farming of estates and the monetary system; it moulded the +she-wolf of the Capitol and designed the Ficoroni casket. But the +individuals, who contributed the several stones to this gigantic +structure and cemented them together, have disappeared without leaving +a trace, and the nations of Italy did not merge into that of Rome more +completely than the single Roman burgess merged in the Roman +community. As the grave closes alike over all whether important or +insignificant, so in the roll of the Roman burgomasters the empty +scion of nobility stands undistinguishable by the side of the great +statesman. Of the few records that have reached us from this period +none is more venerable, and none at the same time more characteristic, +than the epitaph of Lucius Cornelius Scipio, who was consul in 456, +and three years afterwards took part in the decisive battle of +Sentinum.(49) On the beautiful sarcophagus, in noble Doric style, +which eighty years ago still enclosed the dust of the conqueror of the +Samnites, the following sentence is inscribed:-- + +-Cornelius Lucius--Scipio Barbatus, +Gnaivod patre prognatus, --fortis vir sapiensque, +Quoius forma virtu--tei parisuma fuit, +Consol censor aidilis--quei fuit apud vos, +Taurasia Cisauna--Samnio cepit, +Subigit omne Loucanum--opsidesque abdoucit.- + +_-'_-'_-'_||-'_-'_-'_ + +Innumerable others who had been at the head of the Roman commonwealth, +as well as this Roman statesman and warrior, might be commemorated as +having been of noble birth and of manly beauty, valiant and wise; but +there was no more to record regarding them. It is doubtless not the +mere fault of tradition that no one of these Cornelii, Fabii, Papirii, +or whatever they were called, confronts us in a distinct individual +figure. The senator was supposed to be no worse and no better than +other senators, nor at all to differ from them. It was not necessary +and not desirable that any burgess should surpass the rest, whether by +showy silver plate and Hellenic culture, or by uncommon wisdom and +excellence. Excesses of the former kind were punished by the censor, +and for the latter the constitution gave no scope. The Rome of this +period belonged to no individual; it was necessary for all the +burgesses to be alike, that each of them might be like a king. + +Appius Claudius + +No doubt, even now Hellenic individual development asserted its claims +by the side of that levelling system; and the genius and force which +it exhibited bear, no less than the tendency to which it opposed +itself, the full stamp of that great age. We can name but a single man +in connection with it; but he was, as it were, the incarnation of the +idea of progress. Appius Claudius (censor 442; consul 447, 458), the +great-great-grandson of the decemvir, was a man of the old nobility +and proud of the long line of his ancestors; but yet it was he who +set aside the restriction which confined the full franchise of the +state to the freeholders,(50) and who broke up the old system of +finance.(51) From Appius Claudius date not only the Roman aqueducts +and highways, but also Roman jurisprudence, eloquence, poetry, and +grammar. The publication of a table of the -legis actiones-, speeches +committed to writing and Pythagorean sentences, and even innovations +in orthography, are attributed to him. We may not on this account call +him absolutely a democrat or include him in that opposition party +which found its champion in Manius Curius;(52) in him on the contrary +the spirit of the ancient and modern patrician kings predominated +--the spirit of the Tarquins and the Caesars, between whom he forms +a connecting link in that five hundred years' interregnum of +extraordinary deeds and ordinary men. So long as Appius Claudius took +an active part in public life, in his official conduct as well as his +general carriage he disregarded laws and customs on all hands with the +hardihood and sauciness of an Athenian; till, after having long +retired from the political stage, the blind old man, returning as it +were from the tomb at the decisive Moment, overcame king Pyrrhus in +the senate, and first formally and solemnly proclaimed the complete +sovereignty of Rome over Italy.(53) But the gifted man came too early +or too late; the gods made him blind on account of his untimely +wisdom. It was not individual genius that ruled in Rome and through +Rome in Italy; it was the one immoveable idea of a policy--propagated +from generation to generation in the senate--with the leading maxims +of which the sons of the senators became already imbued, when in the +company of their fathers they went to the council and there at the +door of the hall listened to the wisdom of the men whose seats they +were destined at some future time to fill. Immense successes were +thus obtained at an immense price; for Nike too is followed by her +Nemesis. In the Roman commonwealth there was no special dependence +on any one man, either on soldier or on general, and under the +rigid discipline of its moral police all the idiosyncrasies of human +character were extinguished. Rome reached a greatness such as no other +state of antiquity attained; but she dearly purchased her greatness at +the sacrifice of the graceful variety, of the easy abandon and of +the inward freedom of Hellenic life. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter VIII + +1. I. XI. Punishment of Offenses against Order + +2. II. I. Right of Appeal + +3. II. III. The Senate, Its Composition + +4. II. I. Law and Edict + +5. II. III. Censorship, the Magistrates, Partition and Weakening of +the Consular Powers + +6. II. III. Laws Imposing Taxes + +7. I. VI. Class of --Metoeci-- Subsisting by the Side of the Community + +8. I. V. The Housefather and His Household, note + +9. II. III. Praetorship + +10. II. III. Praetorship, II. V. Revision of the Municipal +Constitutions, Police Judges + +11. The view formerly adopted, that these -tres viri- belonged to the +earliest period, is erroneous, for colleges of magistrates with odd +numbers are foreign to the oldest state-arrangements (Chronol. p. 15, +note 12). Probably the well-accredited account, that they were first +nominated in 465 (Liv. Ep. 11), should simply be retained, and the +otherwise suspicious inference of the falsifier Licinius Macer (in +Liv. vii. 46), which makes mention of them before 450, should be +simply rejected. At first undoubtedly the -tres viri- were nominated +by the superior magistrates, as was the case with most of the later +-magistratus minores-; the Papirian -plebiscitum-, which transferred +the nomination of them to the community (Festus, -v. sacramentum-, +p. 344, Niall.), was at any rate not issued till after the institution +of the office of -praetor peregrinus-, or at the earliest towards the +middle of the sixth century, for it names the praetor -qui inter jus +cives ius dicit-. + +12. II. VII. Subject Communities + +13. This inference is suggested by what Livy says (ix. 20) as to the +reorganization of the colony of Antium twenty years after it was +founded; and it is self-evident that, while the Romans might very +well impose on the inhabitant of Ostia the duty of settling all his +lawsuits in Rome, the same course could not be followed with townships +like Antium and Sena. + +14. II. I. Restrictions on the Delegation of Powers + +15. People are in the habit of praising the Romans as a nation +specially privileged in respect to jurisprudence, and of gazing with +wonder on their admirable law as a mystical gift of heaven; presumably +by way of specially excusing themselves for the worthlessness of +their own legal system. A glance at the singularly fluctuating and +undeveloped criminal law of the Romans might show the untenableness +of ideas so confused even to those who may think the proposition too +simple, that a sound people has a sound law, and a morbid people an +unsound. Apart from the more general political conditions on which +jurisprudence also, and indeed jurisprudence especially, depends, the +causes of the excellence of the Roman civil law lie mainly in two +features: first, that the plaintiff and defendant were specially +obliged to explain and embody in due and binding form the grounds of +the demand and of the objection to comply with it; and secondly, that +the Romans appointed a permanent machinery for the edictal development +of their law, and associated it immediately with practice. By the +former the Romans precluded the pettifogging practices of advocates, +by the latter they obviated incapable law-making, so far as such +things can be prevented at all; and by means of both in conjunction +they satisfied, as far as is possible, the two conflicting +requirements, that law shall constantly be fixed, and that it +shall constantly be in accordance with the spirit of the age. + +16. II. II. Relation of the Tribune to the Consul + +17. V. V. The Hegemony of Rome over Latium Shaken and Re-established + +18. Venus probably first appears in the later sense as Aphrodite on +occasion of the dedication of the temple consecrated in this year +(Liv. x. 31; Becker, Topographie, p. 472). + +19. II. III. Intrigues of the Nobility + +20. I. VI. Organization of the Army + +21. II. III. Increasing Powers of the Burgesses + +22. I. VI. the Five Classes + +23. According to Roman tradition the Romans originally carried +quadrangular shields, after which they borrowed from the Etruscans the +round hoplite shield (-clupeus-, --aspis--), and from the Samnites the +later square shield (-scutum-, --thureos--), and the javelin (-veru-) +(Diodor. Vat. Fr. p. 54; Sallust, Cat. 51, 38; Virgil, Aen. vii. 665; +Festus, Ep. v. Samnites, p. 327, Mull.; and the authorities cited in +Marquardt, Handb. iii. 2, 241). But it may be regarded as certain that +the hoplite shield or, in other words, the tactics of the Doric +phalanx were imitated not from the Etruscans, but directly from the +Hellenes, As to the -scutum-, that large, cylindrical, convex leather +shield must certainly have taken the place of the flat copper +-clupeus-, when the phalanx was broken up into maniples; but the +undoubted derivation of the word from the Greek casts suspicion on the +derivation of the thing itself from the Samnites. From the Greeks the +Romans derived also the sling (-funda- from --sphendone--). (like +-fides- from --sphion--),(I. XV. Earliest Hellenic Influences). +The pilum was considered by the ancients as quite a Roman invention. + +24. I. XIII. Landed Proprietors + +25. II. III. Combination of the Plebian Aristocracy and the Farmers +against the Nobility + +26. Varro (De R. R. i. 2, 9) evidently conceives the author of the +Licinian agrarian law as fanning in person his extensive lands; +although, we may add, the story may easily have been invented to +explain the cognomen (-Stolo-). + +27. I. XIII. System of Joint Cultivation + +28. I. XIII. Inland Commerce of the Italians + +29. I. XIII. Commerce in Latium Passive, in Etruria Active + +30. I. XIII. Etrusco-Attic, and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + +31. I. XIII. Etrusco-Attic, and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + +32. II. IV. Etruria at Peace and on the Decline, II. V. Campanian +Hellenism + +33. The conjecture that Novius Flautius, the artist who worked at +this casket for Dindia Macolnia, in Rome, may have been a Campanian, +is refuted by the old Praenestine tomb-stones recently discovered, +on which, among other Macolnii and Plautii, there occurs also a Lucius +Magulnius, son of Haulms (L. Magolnio Pla. f.). + +34. I. XIII. Etrusco-Attic, and Latino-Sicilian Commerce, II. II. +Rising Power of the Capitalists + +35. II. III. The Burgess Body + +36. II. III. The Burgess Body + +37. II. III. Laws Imposing Taxes + +38. II. III. The Burgess Body + +39. II. VII. Construction of New Fortresses and Roads + +40. We have already mentioned the censorial stigma attached to Publius +Cornelius Rufinus (consul 464, 477) for his silver plate.(II. VIII. +Police) The strange statement of Fabius (in Strabo, v. p. 228) that +the Romans first became given to luxury (--aisthesthae tou plouton--) +after the conquest of the Sabines, is evidently only a historical +version of the same matter; for the conquest of the Sabines falls in +the first consulate of Rufinus. + +41. II. V. Colonizations in the Land of the Volsci + +42. II. VI. Last Campaigns in Samnium + +43. II. VIII. Inland Intercourse in Italy + +44. I. III. Localities of the Oldest Cantons + +45. I. II. Iapygians + +46. II. V. Campanian Hellenism + +47. II. VIII. Transmarine Commerce + +48. II. VII. The Full Roman Franchise + +49. II. VI. Battle of Sentinum + +50. II. III. The Burgess-Body + +51. II. VIII. Impulse Given to It + +52. II. III. New Opposition + +53. II. VII. Attempts at Peace + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Art and Science + + +The Roman National Festival-- +The Roman Stage + +The growth of art, and of poetic art especially, in antiquity was +intimately associated with the development of national festivals. +The thanksgiving-festival of the Roman community, which had been +already organized in the previous period essentially under Greek +influence and in the first instance as an extraordinary festival, +--the -ludi maximi- or -Romani-,(1) --acquired during the present +epoch a longer duration and greater variety in the amusements. +Originally limited to one day, the festival was prolonged by an +additional day after the happy termination of each of the three +great revolutions of 245, 260, and 387, and thus at the close of +this period it had already a duration of four days.(2) + +A still more important circumstance was, that, probably on the +institution of the curule aedileship (387) which was from the first +entrusted with the preparation and oversight of the festival,(3) it +lost its extraordinary character and its reference to a special vow +made by the general, and took its place in the series of the ordinary +annually recurring festivals as the first of all. Nevertheless the +government adhered to the practice of allowing the spectacle proper +--namely the chariot-race, which was the principal performance--to +take place not more than once at the close of the festival. On the +other days the multitude were probably left mainly to furnish +amusement for themselves, although musicians, dancers, rope-walkers, +jugglers, jesters and such like would not fail to make their +appearance on the occasion, whether hired or not But about the year +390 an important change occurred, which must have stood in connection +with the fixing and prolongation of the festival, that took place +perhaps about the same time. A scaffolding of boards was erected at +the expense of the state in the Circus for the first three days, and +suitable representations were provided on it for the entertainment of +the multitude. That matters might not be carried too far however in +this way, a fixed sum of 200,000 -asses- (2055 pounds) once for all +appropriated from the exchequer for the expenses of the festival; and +the sum was not increased up to the period of the Punic wars. The +aediles, who had to expend this sum, were obliged to defray any +additional amount out of their own pockets; and it is not probable +that they at this time contributed often or considerably from their +own resources. That the new stage was generally under Greek influence, +is proved by its very name (-scaena-, --skene--). It was no doubt at +first designed merely for musicians and buffoons of all sorts, amongst +whom the dancers to the flute, particularly those then so celebrated +from Etruria, were probably the most distinguished; but a public stage +had at any rate now arisen in Rome and it soon became open also to +the Roman poets. + +Ballad Singers, -Satura- -- +Censure of Art + +There was no want of such poets in Latium. Latin "strolling minstrels" +or "ballad-singers" (-grassatores-, -spatiatores-) went from town to +town and from house to house, and recited their chants (-saturae-(4)), +gesticulating and dancing to the accompaniment of the flute. +The measure was of course the only one that then existed, the +so-called Saturnian.(5) No distinct plot lay at the basis of the +chants, and as little do they appear to have been in the form of +dialogue. We must conceive of them as resembling those monotonous +--sometimes improvised, sometimes recited--ballads and -tarantelle-, +such as one may still hear in the Roman hostelries. Songs of this sort +accordingly early came upon the public stage, and certainly formed the +first nucleus of the Roman theatre. But not only were these beginnings +of the drama in Rome, as everywhere, modest and humble; they were, in +a remarkable manner, accounted from the very outset disreputable. +The Twelve Tables denounced evil and worthless song-singing, imposing +severe penalties not only upon incantations but even on lampoons +composed against a fellow-citizen or recited before his door, and +forbidding the employment of wailing-women at funerals. But far more +severely, than by such legal restrictions, the incipient exercise of +art was affected by the moral anathema, which was denounced against +these frivolous and paid trades by the narrowminded earnestness of +the Roman character. "The trade of a poet," says Cato, "in former +times was not respected; if any one occupied himself with it or was a +hanger-on at banquets, he was called an idler." But now any one who +practised dancing, music, or ballad-singing for money was visited +with a double stigma, in consequence of the more and more confirmed +disapproval of gaining a livelihood by services rendered for +remuneration. While accordingly the taking part in the masked +farces with stereotyped characters, that formed the usual native +amusement,(6) was looked upon as an innocent youthful frolic, the +appearing on a public stage for money and without a mask was +considered as directly infamous, and the singer and poet were in +this respect placed quite on a level with the rope-dancer and the +harlequin. Persons of this stamp were regularly pronounced by the +censors(7) incapable of serving in the burgess-army and of voting +in the burgess-assembly. Moreover, not only was the direction of the +stage regarded as pertaining to the province of the city police--a +fact significant enough even in itself--but the police was probably, +even at this period, invested with arbitrary powers of an +extraordinary character against professional stage-artists. Not only +did the police magistrates sit in judgment on the performance after +its conclusion--on which occasion wine flowed as copiously for those +who had acquitted themselves well, as stripes fell to the lot of the +bungler--but all the urban magistrates were legally entitled to +inflict bodily chastisement and imprisonment on any actor at any +time and at any place. The necessary effect of this was that dancing, +music, and poetry, at least so far as they appeared on the public +stage, fell into the hands of the lowest classes of the Roman +burgesses, and especially into those of foreigners; and while at +this period poetry still played altogether too insignificant a part +to engage the attention of foreign artists, the statement on the other +hand, that in Rome all the music, sacred and profane, was essentially +Etruscan, and consequently the ancient Latin art of the flute, +which was evidently at one time held in high esteem,(8) had been +supplanted by foreign music, may be regarded as already applicable +to this period. + +There is no mention of any poetical literature. Neither the masked +plays nor the recitations of the stage can have had in the proper +sense fixed texts; on the contrary, they were ordinarily improvised +by the performers themselves as circumstances required. Of works +composed at this period posterity could point to nothing but a sort +of Roman "Works and Days"--counsels of a farmer to his son,(9) and +the already-mentioned Pythagorean poems of Appius Claudius(10) the +first commencement of Roman poetry after the Hellenic type. Nothing +of the poems of this epoch has survived but one or two epitaphs +in Saturnian measure.(11) + +Roman Historical Composition + +Along with the rudiments of the Roman drama, the rudiments of Roman +historical composition belong to this period; both as regards the +contemporary recording of remarkable events, and as regards the +conventional settlement of the early history of the Roman community. + +Registers of Magistrates + +The writing of contemporary history was associated with the register +of the magistrates. The register reaching farthest back, which was +accessible to the later Roman inquirers and is still indirectly +accessible to us, seems to have been derived from the archives of the +temple of the Capitoline Jupiter; for it records the names of the +annual presidents of the community onward from the consul Marcus +Horatius, who consecrated that temple on the 13th Sept. in his year of +office, and it also notices the vow which was made on occasion of a +severe pestilence under the consuls Publius Servilius and Lucius +Aebutius (according to the reckoning now current, 291), that +thenceforward a nail should be driven every hundredth year into the +wall of the Capitoline temple. Subsequently it was the state officials +who were learned in measuring and in writing, or in other words, the +pontifices, that kept an official record of the names of the annual +chief magistrates, and thus combined an annual, with the earlier +monthly, calendar. Both these calendars were afterwards comprehended +under the name of Fasti--which strictly belonged only to the list of +court-days. This arrangement was probably adopted not long after the +abolition of the monarchy; for in fact an official record of the +annual magistrates was of urgent practical necessity for the purpose +of authenticating the order of succession of official documents. But, +if there was an official register of the consuls so old, it probably +perished in the Gallic conflagration (364); and the list of the +pontifical college was subsequently completed from the Capitoline +register which was not affected by that catastrophe, so far as this +latter reached back. That the list of presidents which we now have +--although in collateral matters, and especially in genealogical +statements, it has been supplemented at pleasure from the family +pedigrees of the nobility--is in substance based from the beginning +on contemporary and credible records, admits of no doubt. But it +reproduces the calendar years only imperfectly and approximately: for +the consuls did not enter on office with the new year, or even on a +definite day fixed once for all; on the contrary from various causes +the day of entering on office was fluctuating, and the -interregna- +that frequently occurred between two consulates were entirely omitted +in the reckoning by official years. Accordingly, if the calendar years +were to be reckoned by this list of consuls, it was necessary to note +the days of entering on and of demitting office in the case of each +pair, along with such -interregna- as occurred; and this too may have +been early done. But besides this, the list of the annual magistrates +was adjusted to the list of calendar years in such a way that a pair +of magistrates were by accommodation assigned to each calendar year, +and, where the list did not suffice, intercalary years were inserted, +which are denoted in the later (Varronian) table by the figures 379, +383, 421, 430, 445, 453. From 291 u. c. (463 B. C.) the Roman list +demonstrably coincides, not indeed in detail but yet on the whole, +with the Roman calendar, and is thus chronologically certain, so far +as the defectiveness of the calendar itself allows. The 47 years +preceding that date cannot be checked, but must likewise be at least +in the main correct.(12) Whatever lies beyond 245 remains, +chronologically, in oblivion. + +Capitoline Era + +No era was formed for ordinary use; but in ritual matters they +reckoned from the year of the consecration of the temple of the +Capitoline Jupiter, from which the list of magistrates also started. + +Annals + +The idea naturally suggested itself that, along with the names of +the magistrates, the most important events occurring under their +magistracy might be noted; and from such notices appended to the +catalogue of magistrates the Roman annals arose, just as the +chronicles of the middle ages arose out of the memoranda marginally +appended to the table of Easter. But it was not until a late period +that the pontifices formed the scheme of a formal chronicle (-liber +annalis-), which should steadily year by year record the names of all +the magistrates and the remarkable events. Before the eclipse of the +sun noticed under the 5th of June 351, by which is probably meant that +of the 20th June 354, no solar eclipse was found recorded from +observation in the later chronicle of the city: its statements as to +the numbers of the census only begin to sound credible after the +beginning of the fifth century,(13) the cases of fines brought before +the people, and the prodigies expiated on behalf of the community, +appear to have been regularly introduced into the annals only after +the second half of the fifth century began. To all appearance the +institution of an organized book of annals, and--what was certainly +associated with it--the revision (which we have just explained) of the +earlier list of magistrates so as to make it a year-calendar by the +insertion, where chronologically necessary, of intercalary years, took +place in the first half of the fifth century. But even after it became +a practically recognized duty of the -pontifex maximus- to record year +after year campaigns and colonizations, pestilences and famines, +eclipses and portents, the deaths of priests and other men of note, +the new decrees of the people, and the results of the census, and +to deposit these records in his official residence for permanent +preservation and for any one's inspection, these records were still +far removed from the character of real historical writings. How scanty +the contemporary record still was at the close of this period and how +ample room is left for the caprice of subsequent annalists, is shown +with incisive clearness by a comparison of the accounts as to the +campaign of 456 in the annals and in the epitaph of the consul +Scipio.(14) The later historians were evidently unable to construct a +readable and in some measure connected narrative out of these notices +from the book of annals; and we should have difficulty, even if the +book of annals still lay before us with its original contents, in +writing from it in duly connected sequence the history of the times. +Such chronicles, however, did not exist merely in Rome; every Latin +city possessed its annals as well as its pontifices, as is clear from +isolated notices relative to Ardea for instance, Ameria, and Interamna +on the Nar; and from the collective mass of these city-chronicles +some result might perhaps have been attained similar to what has +been accomplished for the earlier middle ages by the comparison of +different monastic chronicles. Unfortunately the Romans in later times +preferred to supply the defect by Hellenic or Hellenizing falsehoods. + +Family Pedigrees + +Besides these official arrangements, meagrely planned and uncertainly +handled, for commemorating past times and past events, there can +scarcely have existed at this epoch any other records immediately +serviceable for Roman history. Of private chronicles we find no trace. +The leading houses, however, were careful to draw up genealogical +tables, so important in a legal point of view, and to have the family +pedigree painted for a perpetual memorial on the walls of the +entrance-hall. These lists, which at least named the magistracies held +by the family, not only furnished a basis for family tradition, but +doubtless at an early period had biographical notices attached to +them. The memorial orations, which in Rome could not be omitted at the +funeral of any person of quality, and were ordinarily pronounced by +the nearest relative of the deceased, consisted essentially not merely +in an enumeration of the virtues and excellencies of the dead, but +also in a recital of the deeds and virtues of his ancestors; and so +they were doubtless, even in the earliest times, transmitted +traditionally from one generation to another. Many a valuable +notice may by this means have been preserved; but many a daring +perversion and falsification also may have been in this way +introduced into tradition. + +Roman Early History of Rome + +But as the first steps towards writing real history belonged to +this period, to it belonged also the first attempts to record, and +conventionally distort, the primitive history of Rome. The sources +whence it was formed were of course the same as they are everywhere. +Isolated names like those of the kings Numa, Ancus, Tullus, to whom +the clan-names were probably only assigned subsequently, and isolated +facts, such as the conquest of the Latins by king Tarquinius and the +expulsion of the Tarquinian royal house, may have continued to live in +true general tradition orally transmitted. Further materials were +furnished by the traditions of the patrician clans, such as the +various tales that relate to the Fabii. Other tales gave a symbolic +and historic shape to primitive national institutions, especially +setting forth with great vividness the origin of rules of law. The +sacredness of the walls was thus illustrated in the tale of the death +of Remus, the abolition of blood-revenge in the tale of the end of +king Tatius(15), the necessity of the arrangement as to the -pons +sublicius- in the legend of Horatius Cocles,(15) the origin of the +-provocatio- in the beautiful tale of the Horatii and Curiatii, the +origin of manumission and of the burgess-rights of freedmen in the +tale of the Tarquinian conspiracy and the slave Vindicius. To the same +class belongs the history of the foundation of the city itself, which +was designed to connect the origin of Rome with Latium and with Alba, +the general metropolis of the Latins. Historical glosses were annexed +to the surnames of distinguished Romans; that of Publius Valerius the +"servant of the people" (-Poplicola-), for instance, gathered around +it a whole group of such anecdotes. Above all, the sacred fig-tree and +other spots and notable objects in the city were associated with a +great multitude of sextons' tales of the same nature as those out of +which, upwards of a thousand years afterwards, there grew up on the +same ground the Mirabilia Urbis. Some attempts to link together these +different tales--the adjustment of the series of the seven kings, the +setting down of the duration of the monarchy at 240 years in all, +which was undoubtedly based on a calculation of the length of +generations,(16) and even the commencement of an official record of +these assumed facts--probably took place already in this epoch. The +outlines of the narrative, and in particular its quasi-chronology, +make their appearance in the later tradition so unalterably fixed, +that for that very reason the fixing of them must be placed not in, +but previous to, the literary epoch of Rome. If a bronze casting of +the twins Romulus and Remus sucking the teats of the she-wolf was +already placed beside the sacred fig-tree in 458, the Romans who +subdued Latium and Samnium must have heard the history of the origin +of their ancestral city in a form not greatly differing from what +we read in Livy. Even the Aborigines--i. e. "those from the very +beginning"--that simple rudimental form of historical speculation as +to the Latin race--are met with about 465 in the Sicilian author +Callias. It is of the very nature of a chronicle that it should attach +prehistoric speculation to history and endeavour to go back, if not +to the origin of heaven and earth, at least to the origin of the +community; and there is express testimony that the table of the +pontifices specified the year of the foundation of Rome. Accordingly +it may be assumed that, when the pontifical college in the first half +of the fifth century proceeded to substitute for the former scanty +records--ordinarily, doubtless, confined to the names of the +magistrates--the scheme of a formal yearly chronicle, it also added +what was wanting at the beginning, the history of the kings of Rome +and of their fall, and, by placing the institution of the republic on +the day of the consecration of the Capitoline temple, the 13th of +Sept. 245, furnished a semblance of connection between the dateless +and the annalistic narrative. That in this earliest record of the +origin of Rome the hand of Hellenism was at work, can scarcely +be doubted. The speculations as to the primitive and subsequent +population, as to the priority of pastoral life over agriculture, and +the transformation of the man Romulus into the god Quirinus,(17) have +quite a Greek aspect, and even the obscuring of the genuinely national +forms of the pious Numa and the wise Egeria by the admixture of alien +elements of Pythagorean primitive wisdom appears by no means to be +one of the most recent ingredients in the Roman prehistoric annals. + +The pedigrees of the noble clans were completed in a manner analogous +to these -origines- of the community, and were, in the favourite style +of heraldry, universally traced back to illustrious ancestors. The +Aemilii, for instance, Calpurnii, Pinarii, and Pomponii professed to +be descended from the four sons of Numa, Mamercus, Calpus, Pinus, and +Pompo; and the Aemilii, yet further, from Mamercus, the son of +Pythagoras, who was named the "winning speaker" (--aimulos--) + +But, notwithstanding the Hellenic reminiscences that are everywhere +apparent, these prehistoric annals of the community and of the leading +houses may be designated at least relatively as national, partly +because they originated in Rome, partly because they tended primarily +to form links of connection not between Rome and Greece, but between +Rome and Latium. + +Hellenic Early History of Rome + +It was Hellenic story and fiction that undertook the task of +connecting Rome and Greece. Hellenic legend exhibits throughout an +endeavour to keep pace with the gradual extension of geographical +knowledge, and to form a dramatized geography by the aid of its +numerous stories of voyagers and emigrants. In this, however, it +seldom follows a simple course. An account like that of the earliest +Greek historical work which mentions Rome, the "Sicilian History" of +Antiochus of Syracuse (which ended in 330)--that a man named Sikelos +had migrated from Rome to Italia, that is, to the Bruttian peninsula +--such an account, simply giving a historical form to the family +affinity between the Romans, Siculi, and Bruttians, and free from all +Hellenizing colouring, is a rare phenomenon. Greek legend as a whole +is pervaded--and the more so, the later its rise--by a tendency to +represent the whole barbarian world as having either issued from the +Greeks or having been subdued by them; and it early in this sense spun +its threads also around the west. For Italy the legends of Herakles +and of the Argonauts were of less importance--although Hecataeus +(after 257) is already acquainted with the Pillars of Herakles, and +carries the Argo from the Black Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, from the +latter into the Nile, and thus back to the Mediterranean--than were +the homeward voyages connected with the fall of Ilion. With the first +dawn of information as to Italy Diomedes begins to wander in the +Adriatic, and Odysseus in the Tyrrhene Sea;(18) as indeed the +latter localization at least was naturally suggested by the Homeric +conception of the legend. Down to the times of Alexander the countries +on the Tyrrhene Sea belonged in Hellenic fable to the domain of the +legend of Odysseus; Ephorus, who ended his history with the year 414, +and the so-called Scylax (about 418) still substantially follow it. +Of Trojan voyages the whole earlier poetry has no knowledge; +in Homer Aeneas after the fall of Ilion rules over the Trojans +that remained at home. + +Stesichorus + +It was the great remodeller of myths, Stesichorus (122-201) who first +in his "Destruction of Ilion" brought Aeneas to the land of the west, +that he might poetically enrich the world of fable in the country of +his birth and of his adoption, Sicily and Lower Italy, by the contrast +of the Trojan heroes with the Hellenic. With him originated the +poetical outlines of this fable as thenceforward fixed, especially the +group of the hero and his wife, his little son and his aged father +bearing the household gods, departing from burning Troy, and the +important identification of the Trojans with the Sicilian and Italian +autochthones, which is especially apparent in the case of the Trojan +trumpeter Misenus who gave his name to the promontory of Misenum.(19) +The old poet was guided in this view by the feeling that the +barbarians of Italy were less widely removed from the Hellenes than +other barbarians were, and that the relation between the Hellenes and +Italians might, when measured poetically, be conceived as similar to +that between the Homeric Achaeans and the Trojans. This new Trojan +fable soon came to be mixed up with the earlier legend of Odysseus, +while it spread at the same time more widely over Italy. According to +Hellanicus (who wrote about 350) Odysseus and Aeneas came through the +country of the Thracians and Molottians (Epirus) to Italy, where the +Trojan women whom they had brought with them burnt the ships, and +Aeneas founded the city of Rome and named it after one of these Trojan +women. To a similar effect, only with less absurdity, Aristotle +(370-432) related that an Achaean squadron cast upon the Latin coast +had been set on fire by Trojan female slaves, and that the Latins +had originated from the descendants of the Achaeans who were thus +compelled to remain there and of their Trojan wives. With these tales +were next mingled elements from the indigenous legend, the knowledge +of which had been diffused as far as Sicily by the active intercourse +between Sicily and Italy, at least towards the end of this epoch. +In the version of the origin of Rome, which the Sicilian Callias +put on record about 465, the fables of Odysseus, Aeneas, and Romulus +were intermingled.(20) + +Timaeus + +But the person who really completed the conception subsequently +current of this Trojan migration was Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily, +who concluded his historical work with 492. It is he who represents +Aeneas as first founding Lavinium with its shrine of the Trojan +Penates, and as thereafter founding Rome; he must also have interwoven +the Tyrian princess Elisa or Dido with the legend of Aeneas, for with +him Dido is the foundress of Carthage, and Rome and Carthage are said +by him to have been built in the same year. These alterations were +manifestly suggested by certain accounts that had reached Sicily +respecting Latin manners and customs, in conjunction with the critical +struggle which at the very time and place where Timaeus wrote was +preparing between the Romans and the Carthaginians. In the main, +however, the story cannot have been derived from Latium, but can only +have been the good-for-nothing invention of the old "gossip-monger" +himself. Timaeus had heard of the primitive temple of the household +gods in Lavinium; but the statement, that these were regarded by the +Lavinates as the Penates brought by the followers of Aeneas from +Ilion, is as certainly an addition of his own, as the ingenious +parallel between the Roman October horse and the Trojan horse, and the +exact inventory taken of the sacred objects of Lavinium--there were, +our worthy author affirms, heralds' staves of iron and copper, and an +earthen vase of Trojan manufacture! It is true that these same Penates +might not at all be seen by any one for centuries afterwards; but +Timaeus was one of the historians who upon no matter are so fully +informed as upon things unknowable. It is not without reason that +Polybius, who knew the man, advises that he should in no case be +trusted, and least of all where, as in this instance, he appeals to +documentary proofs. In fact the Sicilian rhetorician, who professed to +point out the grave of Thucydides in Italy, and who found no higher +praise for Alexander than that he had finished the conquest of Asia +sooner than Isocrates finished his "Panegyric," was exactly the man to +knead the naive fictions of the earlier time into that confused medley +on which the play of accident has conferred so singular a celebrity. + +How far the Hellenic play of fable regarding Italian matters, as it +in the first instance arose in Sicily, gained admission during this +period even in Italy itself, cannot be ascertained with precision. +Those links of connection with the Odyssean cycle, which we +subsequently meet with in the legends of the foundation of Tusculum, +Praeneste, Antium, Ardea, and Cortona, must probably have been already +concocted at this period; and even the belief in the descent of the +Romans from Trojan men or Trojan women must have been established at +the close of this epoch in Rome, for the first demonstrable contact +between Rome and the Greek east is the intercession of the senate on +behalf of the "kindre" Ilians in 472. That the fable of Aeneas was +nevertheless of comparatively recent origin in Italy, is shown by +the extremely scanty measure of its localization as compared with +the legend of Odysseus; and at any rate the final redaction of these +tales, as well as their reconciliation with the legend of the origin +of Rome, belongs only to the following age. + +While in this way historical composition, or what was so called among +the Hellenes, busied itself in its own fashion with the prehistoric +times of Italy, it left the contemporary history of Italy almost +untouched--a circumstance as significant of the sunken condition of +Hellenic history, as it is to be for our sakes regretted. Theopompus +of Chios (who ended his work with 418) barely noticed in passing the +capture of Rome by the Celts; and Aristotle,(21) Clitarchus,(22) +Theophrastus,(23) Heraclides of Pontus (about 450), incidentally +mention particular events relating to Rome. It is only with Hieronymus +of Cardia, who as the historian of Pyrrhus narrated also his Italian +wars, that Greek historiography becomes at the same time an authority +for the history of Rome. + +Jurisprudence + +Among the sciences, that of jurisprudence acquired an invaluable basis +through the committing to writing of the laws of the city in the years +303, 304. This code, known under the name of the Twelve Tables, is +perhaps the oldest Roman document that deserves the name of a book. +The nucleus of the so-called -leges regiae- was probably not much more +recent. These were certain precepts chiefly of a ritual nature, which +rested upon traditional usage, and were probably promulgated to the +general public under the form of royal enactments by the college of +pontifices, which was entitled not to legislate but to point out the +law. Moreover it may be presumed that from the commencement of this +period the more important decrees of the senate at any rate--if not +those of the people--were regularly recorded in writing; for already +in the earliest conflicts between the orders disputes took place as +to their preservation.(24) + +Opinions-- +Table of Formulae for Actions + +While the mass of written legal documents thus increased, the +foundations of jurisprudence in the proper sense were also firmly +laid. It was necessary that both the magistrates who were annually +changed and the jurymen taken from the people should be enabled to +resort to men of skill, who were acquainted with the course of law and +knew how to suggest a decision accordant with precedents or, in the +absence of these, resting on reasonable grounds. The pontifices who +were wont to be consulted by the people regarding court-days and on +all questions of difficulty and of legal observance relating to the +worship of the gods, delivered also, when asked, counsels and opinions +on other points of law, and thus developed in the bosom of their +college that tradition which formed the basis of Roman private law, +more especially the formulae of action proper for each particular +case. A table of formulae which embraced all these actions, along with +a calendar which specified the court-days, was published to the people +about 450 by Appius Claudius or by his clerk, Gnaeus Flavius. This +attempt, however, to give formal shape to a science, that as yet +hardly recognized itself, stood for a long time completely isolated. + +That the knowledge of law and the setting it forth were even now a +means of recommendation to the people and of attaining offices of +state, may be readily conceived, although the story, that the first +plebeian pontifex Publius Sempronius Sophus (consul 450), and the +first plebeian pontifex maximus Tiberius Coruncanius (consul 474), +were indebted for these priestly honours to their knowledge of law, +is probably rather a conjecture of posterity than a statement +of tradition. + +Language + +That the real genesis of the Latin and doubtless also of the other +Italian languages was anterior to this period, and that even at its +commencement the Latin language was substantially an accomplished +fact, is evident from the fragments of the Twelve Tables, which, +however, have been largely modernized by their semi-oral tradition. +They contain doubtless a number of antiquated words and harsh +combinations, particularly in consequence of omitting the indefinite +subject; but their meaning by no means presents, like that of the +Arval chant, any real difficulty, and they exhibit far more agreement +with the language of Cato than with that of the ancient litanies. +If the Romans at the beginning of the seventh century had difficulty +in understanding documents of the fifth, the difficulty doubtless +proceeded merely from the fact that there existed at that time in Rome +no real, least of all any documentary, research. + +Technical Style + +On the other hand it must have been at this period, when the +indication and redaction of law began, that the Roman technical style +first established itself--a style which at least in its developed +shape is nowise inferior to the modern legal phraseology of England in +stereotyped formulae and turns of expression, endless enumeration of +particulars, and long-winded periods; and which commends itself to the +initiated by its clearness and precision, while the layman who does +not understand it listens, according to his character and humour, with +reverence, impatience, or chagrin. + +Philology + +Moreover at this epoch began the treatment of the native languages +after a rational method. About its commencement the Sabellian as well +as the Latin idiom threatened, as we saw,(25) to become barbarous, +and the abrasion of endings and the corruption of the vowels and more +delicate consonants spread on all hands, just as was the case with the +Romanic languages in the fifth and sixth centuries of the Christian +era. But a reaction set in: the sounds which had coalesced in Oscan, +-d and -r, and the sounds which had coalesced in Latin, -g and -k, +were again separated, and each was provided with its proper sign; +-o and -u, for which from the first the Oscan alphabet had lacked +separate signs, and which had been in Latin originally separate but +threatened to coalesce, again became distinct, and in Oscan even the +-i was resolved into two signs different in sound and in writing; +lastly, the writing again came to follow more closely the +pronunciation--the -s for instance among the Romans being in many +cases replaced by -r. Chronological indications point to the fifth +century as the period of this reaction; the Latin -g for instance was +not yet in existence about 300 but was so probably about 500; the +first of the Papirian clan, who called himself Papirius instead of +Papisius, was the consul of 418; the introduction of that -r instead +of -s is attributed to Appius Claudius, censor in 442. Beyond doubt +the re-introduction of a more delicate and precise pronunciation was +connected with the increasing influence of Greek civilization, which +is observable at this very period in all departments of Italian life; +and, as the silver coins of Capua and Nola are far more perfect than +the contemporary asses of Ardea and Rome, writing and language appear +also to have been more speedily and fully reduced to rule in the +Campanian land than in Latium. How little, notwithstanding the labour +bestowed on it, the Roman language and mode of writing had become +settled at the close of this epoch, is shown by the inscriptions +preserved from the end of the fifth century, in which the greatest +arbitrariness prevails, particularly as to the insertion or omission +of -m, -d and -s in final sounds and of -n in the body of a word, +and as to the distinguishing of the vowels -o -u and -e -i.(26) It is +probable that the contemporary Sabellians were in these points further +advanced, while the Umbrians were but slightly affected by the +regenerating influence of the Hellenes. + +Instruction + +In consequence of this progress of jurisprudence and grammar, +elementary school-instruction also, which in itself had doubtless +already emerged earlier, must have undergone a certain improvement. +As Homer was the oldest Greek, and the Twelve Tables was the oldest +Roman, book, each became in its own land the essential basis of +instruction; and the learning by heart the juristico-political +catechism was a chief part of Roman juvenile training. Alongside of +the Latin "writing-masters" (-litteratores-) there were of course, +from the time when an acquaintance with Greek was indispensable for +every statesman and merchant, also Greek "language-masters" +(-grammatici-)(27)--partly tutor-slaves, partly private teachers, +who at their own dwelling or that of their pupil gave instructions +in the reading and speaking of Greek. As a matter of course, the rod +played its part in instruction as well as in military discipline and +in police.(28) The instruction of this epoch cannot however have +passed beyond the elementary stage: there was no material shade +of difference, in a social respect, between the educated and +the non-educated Roman. + +Exact Sciences-- +Regulation of the Calendar + +That the Romans at no time distinguished themselves in the +mathematical and mechanical sciences is well known, and is attested, +in reference to the present epoch, by almost the only fact which can +be adduced under this head with certainty--the regulation of the +calendar attempted by the decemvirs. They wished to substitute for the +previous calendar based on the old and very imperfect -trieteris-(29) +the contemporary Attic calendar of the -octaeteris-, which retained +the lunar month of 29 1/2 days but assumed the solar year at 365 1/4 +days instead of 368 3/4, and therefore, without making any alteration +in the length of the common year of 354 days, intercalated, not as +formerly 59 days every 4 years, but 90 days every 8 years. With the +same view the improvers of the Roman calendar intended--while +otherwise retaining the current calendar--in the two inter-calary +years of the four years' cycle to shorten not the intercalary months, +but the two Februaries by 7 days each, and consequently to fix that +month in the intercalary years at 22 and 21 days respectively instead +of 29 and 28. But want of mathematical precision and theological +scruples, especially in reference to the annual festival of Terminus +which fell within those very days in February, disarranged the +intended reform, so that the Februaries of the intercalary years came +to be of 24 and 23 days, and thus the new Roman solar year in reality +ran to 366 1/4 days. Some remedy for the practical evils resulting +from this was found in the practice by which, setting aside the +reckoning by the months or ten months of the calendar (30) as now no +longer applicable from the inequality in the length of the months, +wherever more accurate specifications were required, they accustomed +themselves to reckon by terms of ten months of a solar year of 365 +days or by the so-called ten-month year of 304 days. Over and above +this, there came early into use in Italy, especially for agricultural +purposes, the farmers' calendar based on the Egyptian solar year of +365 1/4 days by Eudoxus (who flourished 386). + +Structural and Plastic Art + +A higher idea of what the Italians were able to do in these +departments is furnished by their works of structural and plastic art, +which are closely associated with the mechanical sciences. Here too we +do not find phenomena of real originality; but if the impress of +borrowing, which the plastic art of Italy bears throughout, diminishes +its artistic interest, there gathers around it a historical interest +all the more lively, because on the one hand it preserves the most +remarkable evidences of an international intercourse of which other +traces have disappeared, and on the other hand, amidst the well-nigh +total loss of the history of the non-Roman Italians, art is almost +the sole surviving index of the living activity which the different +peoples of the peninsula displayed. No novelty is to be reported in +this period; but what we have already shown(31) may be illustrated +in this period with greater precision and on a broader basis, namely, +that the stimulus derived from Greece powerfully affected the +Etruscans and Italians on different sides, and called forth among +the former a richer and more luxurious, among the latter--where it +had any influence at all--a more intelligent and more genuine, art. + +Architecture-- +Etruscan + +We have already shown how wholly the architecture of all the Italian +lands was, even in its earliest period, pervaded by Hellenic elements. +Its city walls, its aqueducts, its tombs with pyramidal roofs, and its +Tuscanic temple, are not at all, or not materially, different from the +oldest Hellenic structures. No trace has been preserved of any advance +in architecture among the Etruscans during this period; we find among +them neither any really new reception, nor any original creation, +unless we ought to reckon as such the magnificent tombs, e. g. the +so-called tomb of Porsena at Chiusi described by Varro, which vividly +recalls the strange and meaningless grandeur of the Egyptian pyramids. + +Latin-- +The Arch + +In Latium too, during the first century and a half of the republic, +it is probable that they moved solely in the previous track, and it +has already been stated that the exercise of art rather sank than rose +with the introduction of the republic.(32) There can scarcely be named +any Latin building of architectural importance belonging to this +period, except the temple of Ceres built in the Circus at Rome in 261, +which was regarded in the period of the empire as a model of the +Tuscanic style. But towards the close of this epoch a new spirit +appeared in Italian and particularly in Roman architecture;(33) the +building of the magnificent arches began. It is true that we are not +entitled to pronounce the arch and the vault Italian inventions. +It is well ascertained that at the epoch of the genesis of Hellenic +architecture the Hellenes were not yet acquainted with the arch, and +therefore had to content themselves with a flat ceiling and a sloping +roof for their temples; but the arch may very well have been a later +invention of the Hellenes originating in more scientific mechanics; +as indeed the Greek tradition refers it to the natural philosopher +Democritus (294-397). With this priority of Hellenic over Roman +arch-building the hypothesis, which has been often and perhaps justly +propounded, is quite compatible, that the vaulted roof of the Roman +great -cloaca-, and that which was afterwards thrown over the old +Capitoline well-house which originally had a pyramidal roof,(34) are +the oldest extant structures in which the principle of the arch is +applied; for it is more than probable that these arched buildings +belong not to the regal but to the republican period,(35) and that +in the regal period the Italians were acquainted only with flat or +overlapped roofs.(34) But whatever may be thought as to the invention +of the arch itself, the application of a principle on a great scale is +everywhere, and particularly in architecture, at least as important as +its first exposition; and this application belongs indisputably to the +Romans. With the fifth century began the building of gates, bridges, +and aqueducts based mainly on the arch, which is thenceforth +inseparably associated with the Roman name. Akin to this was the +development of the form of the round temple with the dome-shaped roof, +which was foreign to the Greeks, but was held in much favour with the +Romans and was especially applied by them in the case of the cults +peculiar to them, particularly the non-Greek worship of Vesta.(37) + +Something the same may be affirmed as true of various subordinate, +but not on that account unimportant, achievements in this field. +They do not lay claim to originality or artistic accomplishment; +but the firmly-jointed stone slabs of the Roman streets, their +indestructible highways, the broad hard ringing tiles, the everlasting +mortar of their buildings, proclaim the indestructible solidity and +the energetic vigour of the Roman character. + +Plastic and Delineative Art + +Like architectural art, and, if possible, still more completely, the +plastic and delineative arts were not so much matured by Grecian +stimulus as developed from Greek seeds on Italian soil. We have +already observed(38) that these, although only younger sisters of +architecture, began to develop themselves at least in Etruria, even +during the Roman regal period; but their principal development in +Etruria, and still more in Latium, belongs to the present epoch, as is +very evident from the fact that in those districts which the Celts +and Samnites wrested from the Etruscans in the course of the fourth +century there is scarcely a trace of the practice of Etruscan art. +The plastic art of the Tuscans applied itself first and chiefly to +works in terra-cotta, in copper, and in gold-materials which were +furnished to the artists by the rich strata of clay, the copper mines, +and the commercial intercourse of Etruria. The vigour with which +moulding in clay was prosecuted is attested by the immense number of +bas-reliefs and statuary works in terra-cotta, with which the walls, +gables, and roofs of the Etruscan temples were once decorated, as +their still extant ruins show, and by the trade which can be shown to +have existed in such articles from Etruria to Latium. Casting in +copper occupied no inferior place. Etruscan artists ventured to make +colossal statues of bronze fifty feet in height, and Volsinii, the +Etruscan Delphi, was said to have possessed about the year 489 two +thousand bronze statues. Sculpture in stone, again, began in Etruria, +as probably everywhere, at a far later date, and was prevented from +development not only by internal causes, but also by the want of +suitable material; the marble quarries of Luna (Carrara) were not yet +opened. Any one who has seen the rich and elegant gold decorations +of the south-Etruscan tombs, will have no difficulty in believing the +statement that Tyrrhene gold cups were valued even in Attica. +Gem-engraving also, although more recent, was in various forms +practised in Etruria. Equally dependent on the Greeks, but otherwise +quite on a level with the workers in the plastic arts, were the +Etruscan designers and painters, who manifested extraordinary activity +both in outline-drawing on metal and in monochromatic fresco-painting. + +Campanian and Sabellian + +On comparing with this the domain of the Italians proper, it appears +at first, contrasted with the Etruscan riches, almost poor in art. +But on a closer view we cannot fail to perceive that both the +Sabellian and the Latin nations must have had far more capacity +and aptitude for art than the Etruscans. It is true that in the proper +Sabellian territory, in Sabina, in the Abruzzi, in Samnium, there are +hardly found any works of art at all, and even coins are wanting. +But those Sabellian stocks, which reached the coasts of the Tyrrhene +or Ionic seas, not only appropriated Hellenic art externally, like +the Etruscans, but more or less completely acclimatized it. Even in +Velitrae, where probably alone in the former land of the Volsci their +language and peculiar character were afterwards maintained, painted +terra-cottas have been found, displaying vigorous and characteristic +treatment. In Lower Italy Lucania was to a less degree influenced +by Hellenic art; but in Campania and in the land of the Bruttii, +Sabellians and Hellenes became completely intermingled not only in +language and nationality, but also and especially in art, and the +Campanian and Bruttian coins in particular stand so entirely in point +of artistic treatment on a level with the contemporary coins of +Greece, that the inscription alone serves to distinguish the one +from the other. + +Latin + +It is a fact less known, but not less certain, that Latium also, while +inferior to Etruria in the copiousness and massiveness of its art, +was not inferior in artistic taste and practical skill. Evidently the +establishment of the Romans in Campania which took place about the +beginning of the fifth century, the conversion of the town of Cales +into a Latin community, and that of the Falernian territory near Capua +into a Roman tribe,(39) opened up in the first instance Campanian art +to the Romans. It is true that among these the art of gem-engraving so +diligently prosecuted in luxurious Etruria is entirely wanting, and we +find no indication that the Latin workshops were, like those of the +Etruscan goldsmiths and clay-workers, occupied in supplying a foreign +demand. It is true that the Latin temples were not like the Etruscan +overloaded with bronze and clay decorations, that the Latin tombs were +not like the Etruscan filled with gold ornaments, and their walls +shone not, like those of the Tuscan tombs, with paintings of various +colours. Nevertheless, on the whole the balance does not incline in +favour of the Etruscan nation. The device of the effigy of Janus, +which, like the deity itself, may be attributed to the Latins,(40) +is not unskilful, and is of a more original character than that of +any Etruscan work of art. The beautiful group of the she-wolf with the +twins attaches itself doubtless to similar Greek designs, but was--as +thus worked out--certainly produced, if not in Rome, at any rate by +Romans; and it deserves to be noted that it first appears on the +silver moneys coined by the Romans in and for Campania. In the +above-mentioned Cales there appears to have been devised soon after +its foundation a peculiar kind of figured earthenware, which was +marked with the name of the masters and the place of manufacture, +and was sold over a wide district as far even as Etruria. The little +altars of terra-cotta with figures that have recently been brought +to light on the Esquiline correspond in style of representation as in +that of ornament exactly to the similar votive gifts of the Campanian +temples. This however does not exclude Greek masters from having also +worked for Rome. The sculptor Damophilus, who with Gorgasus prepared +the painted terra-cotta figures for the very ancient temple of Ceres, +appears to have been no other than Demophilus of Himera, the teacher +of Zeuxis (about 300). The most instructive illustrations are +furnished by those branches of art in which we are able to form a +comparative judgment, partly from ancient testimonies, partly from +our own observation. Of Latin works in stone scarcely anything else +survives than the stone sarcophagus of the Roman consul Lucius Scipio, +wrought at the close of this period in the Doric style; but its noble +simplicity puts to shame all similar Etruscan works. Many beautiful +bronzes of an antique chaste style of art, particularly helmets, +candelabra, and the like articles, have been taken from Etruscan +tombs; but which of these works is equal to the bronze she-wolf +erected from the proceeds of fines in 458 at the Ruminal fig-tree in +the Roman Forum, and still forming the finest ornament of the Capitol? +And that the Latin metal-founders as little shrank from great +enterprises as the Etruscans, is shown by the colossal bronze figure +of Jupiter on the Capitol erected by Spurius Carvilius (consul in 461) +from the melted equipments of the Samnites, the chisellings of which +sufficed to cast the statue of the victor that stood at the feet of +the Colossus; this statue of Jupiter was visible even from the Alban +Mount. Amongst the cast copper coins by far the finest belong to +southern Latium; the Roman and Umbrian are tolerable, the Etruscan +almost destitute of any image and often really barbarous. +The fresco-paintings, which Gaius Fabius executed in the temple of +Health on the Capitol, dedicated in 452, obtained in design and +colouring the praise even of connoisseurs trained in Greek art in +the Augustan age; and the art-enthusiasts of the empire commended +the frescoes of Caere, but with still greater emphasis those of Rome, +Lanuvium, and Ardea, as masterpieces of painting. Engraving on metal, +which in Latium decorated not the hand-mirror, as in Etruria, but the +toilet-casket with its elegant outlines, was practised to a far less +extent in Latium and almost exclusively in Praeneste. There are +excellent works of art among the copper mirrors of Etruria as among +the caskets of Praeneste; but it was a work of the latter kind, and +in fact a work which most probably originated in the workshop of a +Praenestine master at this epoch,(41) regarding which it could with +truth be affirmed that scarcely another product of the graving of +antiquity bears the stamp of an art so finished in its beauty and +characteristic expression, and yet so perfectly pure and chaste, +as the Ficoroni -cista-. + +Character of Etruscan Art + +The general character of Etruscan works of art is, on the one hand, a +sort of barbaric extravagance in material as well as in style; on the +other hand, an utter absence of original development. Where the Greek +master lightly sketches, the Etruscan disciple lavishes a scholar's +diligence; instead of the light material and moderate proportions of +the Greek works, there appears in the Etruscan an ostentatious stress +laid upon the size and costliness, or even the mere singularity, of +the work. Etruscan art cannot imitate without exaggerating; the chaste +in its hands becomes harsh, the graceful effeminate, the terrible +hideous, and the voluptuous obscene; and these features become more +prominent, the more the original stimulus falls into the background +and Etruscan art finds itself left to its own resources. Still more +surprising is the adherence to traditional forms and a traditional +style. Whether it was that a more friendly contact with Etruria at the +outset allowed the Hellenes to scatter there the seeds of art, and +that a later epoch of hostility impeded the admission into Etruria +of the more recent developments of Greek art, or whether, as is more +probable, the intellectual torpor that rapidly came over the nation +was the main cause of the phenomenon, art in Etruria remained +substantially stationary at the primitive stage which it had occupied +on its first entrance. This, as is well known, forms the reason why +Etruscan art, the stunted daughter, was so long regarded as the +mother, of Hellenic art. Still more even than the rigid adherence to +the style traditionally transmitted in the older branches of art, +the sadly inferior handling of those branches that came into vogue +afterwards, particularly of sculpture in stone and of copper-casting +as applied to coins, shows how quickly the spirit of Etruscan art +evaporated. Equally instructive are the painted vases, which are found +in so enormous numbers in the later Etruscan tombs. Had these come +into current use among the Etruscans as early as the metal plates +decorated with contouring or the painted terra-cottas, beyond doubt +they would have learned to manufacture them at home in considerable +quantity, and of a quality at least relatively good; but at the period +at which this luxury arose, the power of independent reproduction +wholly failed--as the isolated vases provided with Etruscan +inscriptions show--and they contented themselves with buying +instead of making them. + +North Etruscan and South Etruscan Art + +But even within Etruria there appears a further remarkable distinction +in artistic development between the southern and northern districts. +It is South Etruria, particularly in the districts of Caere, +Tarquinii, and Volci, that has preserved the great treasures of art +which the nation boasted, especially in frescoes, temple decorations, +gold ornaments, and painted vases. Northern Etruria is far inferior; +no painted tomb, for example, has been found to the north of Chiusi. +The most southern Etruscan cities, Veii, Caere, and Tarquinii, were +accounted in Roman tradition the primitive and chief seats of Etruscan +art; the most northerly town, Volaterrae, with the largest territory +of all the Etruscan communities, stood most of all aloof from art +While a Greek semi-culture prevailed in South Etruria, Northern +Etruria was much more marked by an absence of all culture. The causes +of this remarkable contrast may be sought partly in differences of +nationality--South Etruria being largely peopled in all probability by +non-Etruscan elements(42)--partly in the varying intensity of Hellenic +influence, which must have made itself very decidedly felt at Caere in +particular. The fact itself admits of no doubt. The more injurious on +that account must have been the early subjugation of the southern half +of Etruria by the Romans, and the Romanizing--which there began very +early--of Etruscan art. What Northern Etruria, confined to its own +efforts, was able to produce in the way of art, is shown by the copper +coins which essentially belong to it. + +Character of Latin Art + +Let us now turn from Etruria to glance at Latium. The latter, it is +true, created no new art; it was reserved for a far later epoch of +culture to develop on the basis of the arch a new architecture +different from the Hellenic, and then to unfold in harmony with that +architecture a new style of sculpture and painting. Latin art is +nowhere original and often insignificant; but the fresh sensibility +and the discriminating tact, which appropriate what is good in others, +constitute a high artistic merit. Latin art seldom became barbarous, +and in its best products it comes quite up to the level of Greek +technical execution. We do not mean to deny that the art of Latium, +at least in its earlier stages, had a certain dependence on the +undoubtedly earlier Etruscan;(43) Varro may be quite right in +supposing that, previous to the execution by Greek artists of the clay +figures in the temple of Ceres,(44) only "Tuscanic" figures adorned +the Roman temples; but that, at all events, it was mainly the direct +influence of the Greeks that led Latin art into its proper channel, +is self-evident, and is very obviously shown by these very statues as +well as by the Latin and Roman coins. Even the application of graving +on metal in Etruria solely to the toilet mirror, and in Latium solely +to the toilet casket, indicates the diversity of the art-impulses that +affected the two lands. It does not appear, however, to have been +exactly at Rome that Latin art put forth its freshest vigour; the +Roman -asses- and Roman -denarii- are far surpassed in fineness and +taste of workmanship by the Latin copper, and the rare Latin silver, +coins, and the masterpieces of painting and design belong chiefly to +Praeneste, Lanuvium, and Ardea. This accords completely with the +realistic and sober spirit of the Roman republic which we have already +described--a spirit which can hardly have asserted itself with equal +intensity in other parts of Latium. But in the course of the fifth +century, and especially in the second half of it, there was a mighty +activity in Roman art. This was the epoch, in which the construction +of the Roman arches and Roman roads began; in which works of art like +the she-wolf of the Capitol originated; and in which a distinguished +man of an old Roman patrician clan took up his pencil to embellish a +newly constructed temple and thence received the honorary surname of +the "Painter." This was not accident. Every great age lays grasp on +all the powers of man; and, rigid as were Roman manners, strict as was +Roman police, the impulse received by the Roman burgesses as masters +of the peninsula or, to speak more correctly, by Italy united for the +first time as one state, became as evident in the stimulus given to +Latin and especially to Roman art, as the moral and political decay of +the Etruscan nation was evident in the decline of art in Etruria. +As the mighty national vigour of Latium subdued the weaker nations, +it impressed its imperishable stamp also on bronze and on marble. + + + +Notes for Book II Chapter IX + +1. I. XV. Earliest Hellenic Influences + +2. The account given by Dionysius (vi. 95; comp. Niebuhr, ii. 40) and +by Plutarch (Camill. 42), deriving his statement from another passage +in Dionysius regarding the Latin festival, must be understood to apply +rather to the Roman games, as, apart from other grounds, is strikingly +evident from comparing the latter passage with Liv. vi. 42 (Ritschl, +Parerg. i. p. 313). Dionysius has--and, according to his wont when in +error, persistently--misunderstood the expression -ludi maximi-. + +There was, moreover, a tradition which referred the origin of the +national festival not, as in the common version, to the conquest of +the Latins by the first Tarquinius, but to the victory over the Latins +at the lake Regillus (Cicero, de Div. i. 26, 55; Dionys. vii. 71). +That the important statements preserved in the latter passage from +Fabius really relate to the ordinary thanksgiving-festival, and not to +any special votive solemnity, is evident from the express allusion to +the annual recurrence of the celebration, and from the exact agreement +of the sum of the expenses with the statement in the Pseudo-Asconius +(p. 142 Or.). + +3. II. III. Curule Aedileship + +4. I. II. Art + +5. I. XV. Metre + +6. I. XV. Masks + +7. II. VIII. Police f. + +8. I. XV. Melody + +9. A fragment has been preserved: + +-Hiberno pulvere, verno luto, grandia farra +Camille metes- + +We do not know by what right this was afterwards regarded as the +oldest Roman poem (Macrob. Sat. v. 20; Festus, Ep. v. Flaminius, +p. 93, M.; Serv. on Virg. Georg, i. 101; Plin. xvii. 2. 14). + +10. II. VIII. Appius Claudius + +11. II. VIII. Rome and the Romans of This Epoch + +12. The first places in the list alone excite suspicion, and may have +been subsequently added, with a view to round off the number of years +between the flight of the king and the burning of the city to 120. + +13. I. VI. Time and the Occasion of the Reform, II. VII. System of +Government + +14. II. VIII Rome and the Romans of This Epoch. According to the +annals Scipio commands in Etruria and his colleague in Samnium, and +Lucania is during this year in league with Rome; according to the +epitaph Scipio conquers two towns in Samnium and all Lucania. + +15. I. XI. Jurisdiction, second note. + +16. They appear to have reckoned three generations to a hundred years +and to have rounded off the figures 233 1/3 to 240, just as the epoch +between the king's flight and the burning of the city was rounded off +to 120 years (II. IX. Registers of Magistrates, note). The reason why +these precise numbers suggested themselves, is apparent from the +similar adjustment (above explained, I. XIV. The Duodecimal System) +of the measures of surface. + +17. I. XII. Spirits + +18. I. X. Relations of the Western Italians to the Greeks + +19. The "Trojan colonies" in Sicily, mentioned by Thucydides, the +pseudo-Scylax, and others, as well as the designation of Capua as a +Trojan foundation in Hecataeus, must also be traced to Stesichorus +and his identification of the natives of Italy and Sicily with +the Trojans. + +20. According to his account Rome, a woman who had fled from Ilion +to Rome, or rather her daughter of the same name, married Latinos, +king of the Aborigines, and bore to him three sons, Romos, Romylos, +and Telegonos. The last, who undoubtedly emerges here as founder +of Tusculum and Praeneste, belongs, as is well known, to the legend +of Odysseus. + +21. II. IV. Fruitlessness of the Celtic Victory + +22. II. VII. Relations between the East and West + +23. II. VII. The Roman Fleet + +24. II. II. Political Value of the Tribunates, II. II. +The Valerio-Horatian Laws + +25. I. XIV. Corruption of Language and Writing + +26. In the two epitaphs, of Lucius Scipio consul in 456, and of the +consul of the same name in 495, -m and -d are ordinarily wanting in +the termination of cases, yet -Luciom- and -Gnaivod- respectively +occur once; there occur alongside of one another in the nominative +-Cornelio- and -filios-; -cosol-, -cesor-, alongside of -consol-, +-censor-; -aidiles-, -dedet-, -ploirume- (= -plurimi-) -hec- (nom. +sing.) alongside of -aidilis-, -cepit-, -quei-, -hic-. Rhotacism is +already carried out completely; we find -duonoro-(= -bonorum-), +-ploirume-, not as in the chant of the Salii -foedesum-, -plusima-. +Our surviving inscriptions do not in general precede the age of +rhotacism; of the older -s only isolated traces occur, such as +afterwards -honos-, -labos- alongside of -honor-, -labor-; and the +similar feminine -praenomina-, -Maio- (= -maios- -maior-) and -Mino- +in recently found epitaphs at Praeneste. + +27. -Litterator- and -grammaticus- are related nearly as elementary +teacher and teacher of languages with us; the latter designation +belonged by earlier usage only to the teacher of Greek, not to a +teacher of the mother-tongue. -Litteratus- is more recent, and +denotes not a schoolmaster but a man of culture. + +28. It is at any rate a true Roman picture, which Plautus (Bacch. 431) +produces as a specimen of the good old mode of training children:-- + +... -ubi revenisses domum, +Cincticulo praecinctus in sella apud magistrum adsideres; +Si, librum cum legeres, unam peccavisses syllabam, +Fieret corium tam maculosum, quam est nutricis pallium-. + +29. I. XIV. The Oldest Italo-Greek Calendar + +30. I. XIV. The Oldest Italo-Greek Calendar + +31. I. XV. Plastic Art in Italy + +32. II. VIII. Building + +33. II. VIII. Building + +34. I. XV. Earliest Hellenic Influences + +35. I. VII. Servian Wall + +36. I. XV. Earliest Hellenic Influences + +37. The round temple certainly was not, as has been supposed, an +imitation of the oldest form of the house; on the contrary, house +architecture uniformly starts from the square form. The later Roman +theology associated this round form with the idea of the terrestrial +sphere or of the universe surrounding like a sphere the central sun +(Fest. v. -rutundam-, p. 282; Plutarch, Num. 11; Ovid, Fast. vi. 267, +seq.). In reality it may be traceable simply to the fact, that the +circular shape has constantly been recognized as the most convenient +and the safest form of a space destined for enclosure and custody. +That was the rationale of the round --thesauroi-- of the Greeks as +well as of the round structure of the Roman store-chamber or temple of +the Penates. It was natural, also, that the fireplace--that is, the +altar of Vesta--and the fire-chamber--that is, the temple of Vesta +--should be constructed of a round form, just as was done with the +cistern and the well-enclosure (-puteal-). The round style of building +in itself was Graeco-Italian as was the square form, and the former +was appropriated to the store-place, the latter to the dwelling-house; +but the architectural and religious development of the simple -tholos- +into the round temple with pillars and columns was Latin. + +38. I. XV. Plastic Art in Italy + +39. II. V. Complete Submission of the Campanian and Volscian Provinces + +40. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +41. Novius Plautius (II. VIII. Capital in Rome) cast perhaps only the +feet and the group on the lid; the casket itself may have proceeded +from an earlier artist, but hardly from any other than a Praenestine, +for the use of these caskets was substantially confined to Praeneste. + +42. I. IX. Settlements of the Etruscans in Italy + +43. I. XV. Earliest Hellenic Influences + +44. I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform + + + + +TABLE OF CALENDAR EQUIVALENTS + +A.U.C.* B.C. B.C. A.U.C. +------------------------------------------------------ +000 753 753 000 + 025 728 750 003 + 050 703 725 028 + 075 678 700 053 +100 653 675 078 + 125 628 650 103 + 150 603 625 128 + 175 578 600 153 +200 553 575 178 + 225 528 550 203 + 250 503 525 228 + 275 478 500 253 +300 453 475 278 + 325 428 450 303 + 350 303 425 328 + 375 378 400 353 +400 353 375 378 + 425 328 350 403 + 450 303 325 428 + 475 278 300 453 +500 253 275 478 + 525 228 250 503 + 550 203 225 528 + 575 178 200 553 +600 153 175 578 + 625 128 150 603 + 650 103 125 628 + 675 078 100 653 +700 053 075 678 + 725 028 050 703 + 750 003 025 728 + 753 000 000 753 + +*A. U. C. - Ab Urbe Condita (from the founding of the City of Rome) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK II*** + + +******* This file should be named 10702.txt or 10702.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/7/0/10702 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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